A Different World: The Future and Fate of Equestria

by Riclo

Chapter 4 | And The Shit Goes On

I spent most of the ride back in silence, partially listening to what the others were saying and then putting in my input only occasionally. Rainbow Dash was persistent in defending Klade-- she didn't seem to believe that he had really turned against us. I was also trying to rationalize just what I saw in that room-- it couldn't have been some cardboard cutout because I had seen him move and even look at me, not to mention try to kill me. I was also still trying to remain critical in the fact that maybe Discord was trying to turn us against Klade through some magic trickery, but I was really starting to have difficulty juggling all of these possible explanations and trying to deduce logic in my decision-making, while also dealing with so much emotional turmoil. I could barely think straight at this point, and I felt like I was going to just start crying and have a breakdown really soon. Before I knew it, we had already arrived back at Ponyville, where my attention was brought back to the real world as I overheard the last of whatever conversation my friends were having.

"..And so I went over to see how Applebloom was doing after Sweetie Belle had told me how-- wait, we're here already?" Pinkie asked, before starting to smile. "It's about time! Gosh I'm really starting to hate train rides!"

"I sure hope what happened in Baltimare doesn't happen here too. My work will grind to a halt if it does!" Rarity exclaimed. We all proceeded to make our way out of the train, where Applejack was the next pony to speak up.

"Well ah'm headin' back to the farm. If y'all need anything I'll make sure that I ain't too caught up in anything major."

"I'm going back to my place too." Fluttershy softly stated.

"I'll be at Sugarcube Corner! I'm actually hungry too now that I'm thinking about it, so I'll go see what I can have." Pinkie remarked.

"Guess I'll see Nurse Redheart about this dumb wing." Rainbow said with an irritated tone of voice.

"I'll go tell Celestia about what happened." I spoke up. "I'll let you all know when I get a response." We all made our separate ways, and before long I had arrived at the library. I opened the front door and stepped inside, where I felt glad to be mostly done for the day. Despite that though, I still couldn't stop thinking about what had happened.

"Welcome back Twilight." Spike greeted when he noticed me walk in. "Uh.. Are you alright? You don't look too good."

"I'm fine, Spike." I replied a bit harshly as I walked straight towards the stairs.

"Uh... if you say so. I was actually about to start cooking something-- did you want me to make you up something too Twilight?" He asked. I had to think about it for a few seconds before replying.

"Sure, I guess so." I didn't feel all that hungry, but considering I hadn't eaten since this morning and it was currently the early afternoon, I decided not to pass it up for my own health and well-being. I made my way upstairs and grabbed a scroll, staring at it blankly for several seconds before eventually getting ready to begin my message for the princess.

'Dear Princess Celestia,

I've just come back from Baltimare, and unfortunately there was nothing me or my friends could have done to stop the events that are going on there. It was way too dangerous, and we had already done too much as it is which put our lives at stake-- something I take full responsibility for. However, through our investigating, I can say that I did see what appeared to be Klade within the city. He was inside the building that was emitting the magic blockade and was willing to kill us in order to make sure we couldn't get to it. In-fact, there already were several dead ponies inside that I saw with my own eyes.'

I stared blankly at the paper as memories of the traumatic event went through my mind again. I had never actually seen dead ponies before-- not freshly killed where you could even smell the death and the flesh. I could feel myself getting uncomfortable already, but after several more seconds I continued the letter.

'Whether it's actually him or just some magic trickery from someone like Discord, I don't know, but I know that Klade would be a very powerful enemy if he were to be one, and I think the possibility is definitely something that shouldn't be ignored, as much as I'd like for it not to be true.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle.'

I stared at the letter for several seconds before sighing, making my way back downstairs and over into the kitchen where Spike was cooking.

"The letter is on the counter over here for you to send to Celestia." I exclaimed to him as he turned to look at me.

"Okay Twilight." Spike replied. "Lunch should be ready real soon!"

I nodded lightly and walked into the dining room, sitting down at the table and staring mindlessly at it while I waited. It wasn't too much longer when Spike came in with all the food, and I didn't even take the time to look at him as I slowly started eating.

"Are you sure you're alright Twilight? You haven't been acting the same." Spike inquired once again. I was about to just respond saying that I was alright as usual, but the way it felt like he had been constantly asking me that question triggered me to elaborate in a more honest way.

"You know what Spike? No, I'm NOT okay!" I spoke up rather loudly, catching his attention. "I'm so sick of doing all of this annoying, aggravating stuff-- I don't feel like doing anything! I've never felt so unmotivated in my entire life and I just want it all to go away somehow; But, I can't let down Princess Celestia and I know this stuff is important. I can't just not do anything... UGH!" I stomped one of my hind-legs on the floor. "I don't even want to think about it and whenever you ask me it doesn't help! OF COURSE I'm not alright-- why would you even ask that?? The person I was in love with DIED right in-front of my bucking eyes and I've been struggling so hard over trying to keep a level head so I can do my job right as Celestia's student, but I just... I can't! My stress levels are off the BUCKING charts and I don't know what to do about it!"

Spike appeared caught off guard by my sudden, long outburst, and it took him several seconds to think of how to respond. "...I'm sorry Twilight. I uh... I didn't realize how much I was bothering you."

I sighed, pressing my hooves against my face for a short time before looking bringing them away. "I know you didn't mean to-- you're just being a good friend and you're concerned for my well-being. But... I'm not okay, alright Spike? Please don't ask that anymore."

Spike nodded lightly. "I won't Twilight."

The both of us continued eating, and before long I was making my way upstairs and onto my bed. I laid down and stared out the window for what must've been hours-- I felt both mentally and physically exhausted. It had taken awhile, but I had eventually found myself drifting off to sleep, only to wake back up when it was just starting to get dark out. I groaned to myself as I rolled over, feeling restless and constantly thinking about the events that had happened at Baltimare. It didn't take too long for me to realize that I clearly wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon, and I quietly cursed to myself as I got up from my bed.

'Of course I can't get back to sleep.' I dragged my body down the stairs and made my way over to the front door. Spike seemed to be asleep by now, and I decided to take a short walk out in Ponyville, hoping that would relax me and maybe get me to use some of my energy-- I was sick of lying in bed not falling back asleep. Opening the front door, I stepped outside, closing it behind me and making my way off in a random direction.

The moon was rising and coating the entire town of Ponyville in a deep blue light as I glanced at the last of the ponies who were getting ready to go to sleep for the day. The cool breeze was blowing against my mane while I calmly trotted through the town, and unlike how I would usually be, I wasn't thinking about anything at all-- no mindless ponderings or planning for the next day. My mind was completely blank and null, and before I even realized it I had already trotted all the way over to the outskirts of Ponyville.

'How long have I even been out here?' I perked my head up and looked around, seeing that the Everfree Forest wasn't too far away from me. 'I probably shouldn't get too close to there... I don't even know what I'm doing right now. I feel like I can't even think.'

"What are you doing Twilight?"

The voice that rang out behind me made my thought process stop in its tracks in utter shock. That voice... it couldn't be. I breathed in reflexively and then immediately turned around, and my hooves felt weak at who I was looking at.

"D...D...Duston...?" I blinked, gasping and feeling a million thoughts running through my head. Was I dreaming? What was going on? There was no way this possibly could've been real-- was I losing it now? I stared at the creature in-front of me as I watched him abruptly look confused.

"Duston? Oh right, I'm supposed to be dead. See ya!" He proceeded to pull out a gun, aiming it at his head and then blowing his brains out. I shrieked at this and fell back onto the grass in utter shock as I immediately found myself reliving traumatic memories of that night. I blinked rapidly and shook my head to try and wake myself up from whatever dream this must've been, when I started to hear maniacal and all-too-familiar laughter ringing out.

"Twilight what was that!?" The voice spoke. "That shriek was the weirdest thing I've ever seen come out of you! And the way you fell back like that-- what, did some magical force just push you down onto your flank?" I watched as a figure appeared above Duston's body, a figure who I immediately recognized with glaring hate as Discord. The human who had just shot himself turned out to just be a puppet he was controlling with his magic, and I felt body-trembling rage as I gazed up at that demon.

"DISCORD!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed at him as loud as I could. My horn flared up as I shot out an anger-fueled magical blast at him, but as I took the time to look at where I had just shot it out at, I saw that he was no longer there.

"Oh my, Twilight. Someone's awfully upset-- having a little temper tantrum?" He spoke from behind me, to which I quickly turned around to face him.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!! YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD!!" I shouted out to him, to which he started to grin.

"You mean like how Duston was killed?" He started laughing. "Oh boy, that was a good one! That was such a genuine reaction from you too, and I-" I cut him off by firing another magical blast at him, only to find out that he had dodged it as well.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM DISCORD!? HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?!" I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes as I hastily flung my head in different directions to look for him, only to then hear a voice coming from down below.

"Boo, what a boring question. Why think when you can just do and watch the results?" I looked down to see that he had shrunk himself to a tiny size and was currently standing on the ground in-front of me, and immediately I stomped my hoof where he was, only for him to teleport away again before I could squish him.

"YOU'RE EVIL DISCORD!!! Why!?" All I wanted to do was scream a thousand different things at him at the same time, and I perked my head up to see him floating in-front of me and looking at a watch on his wrist.

"I am? Wow, I hadn't noticed! Excellent observation, Twilight Sparkle, you truly are an intelligent-"

"SHUT UP!!" I screamed out, interrupting his presumptuous rant. "Where is Klade!? Did you kill him too?? Why is he working for you!?" I watched as he brought a hand up to his chin and began rubbing it.

"Ah, Klade-- I had forgotten just how nice it was to not hear that stupid human's name coming up all the time. Klade this, Klade that with all his stupidly overpowered weapons that I simply cannot imagine where he comes up with them, always having the tendency to ruin all of my games and make me look like some dumb, incompetent fool. I'm glad he's dealt with in such an oh so satisfying way-- it delights me just thinking about it!"

"What did you do to him!?" Tears were rolling down my cheeks at this point, and Discord snickered.

"Aww, is someone a little sad? Here you go Twilight." He held out a handkerchief to me, to which I slapped it out of his hand with my hoof.

"This isn't funny Discord!!! You're ruining my life!" I watched as he abruptly burst out laughing at this, which only fueled my anger even more. "You won't be laughing by the time I'm through with you!"

"Oh, really?" Discord replied as he wiped a tear away from his eye. "I guess I should thank you for gifting me with eternal laughter then!"

"THAT'S IT!!" I began charging up another spell, squeezing my eyes closed and tensing as my horn began to glow a bright purple light. I could feel the immense pressure on my horn as I aimed to make it as powerful as I could imagine, and I felt my head shaking as I opened my eyes back up. I scrambled to look for Discord who wasn't where he was before, and I felt even more rage coursing through me as I tried to look through the blinding light. "DISCORD!?!?!?"

"Sorry Twilight, but I have places to be, things to do. You sure did offer some great laughs though, and I thank you for that. So until later... ta-ta!"

"GAH!!!" I cursed out and barreled the magical discharge upwards into the sky. I fell back in exhaustion and panted as I tried to catch my breath, before quickly standing back up. "Come back here Discord!! I'm not done with you!" I didn't get a response this time though, and as I looked around in the darkness of the night sky, I couldn't see any glimpse of him anywhere. I stomped my hoof on the ground and sat back down, lowering my head and letting myself sob.

"I-I can't believe it... how could he be so... heartless!? So cruel..??" I stared at the ground and eventually laid down on my side as I continued crying. "He just leaves just like that... After doing the things that he did.."

I stayed laying on the ground for what must've been a whole hour, simply thinking to myself and about everything that had been happening. The only sounds I could hear were from crickets and other animals that must've been from the Everfree Forest, as well as wind occasionally blowing by. I felt like I had regained enough composure and had calmed down by now, so I stood back up on my hooves, looking up towards the night sky and then in-front of me.

'I should start heading back now... I guess Discord really is still around, but I couldn't get him to explain just what was going on with Klade. At least now I know he's done something apparently.' I exhaled slowly to myself as I began making my way back towards Ponyville. 'Whatever it was, he must be still alive if I saw him in Baltimare. If he is actually working for Discord now, I hope it's not willingly.'

Before long I had arrived back at my library, and I opened the front door, making sure to be quiet since I knew Spike was still asleep. I made my way up the stairs to my bed and laid down, sighing and pressing my head against the pillow. Unleashing that spell had made me pretty tired, of which I was extremely glad for as I lulled to sleep without too much
difficulty.

---

"Twilight!"

I groaned and stirred on the bed, pressing my head deeper into the pillow. I really didn't want to stop sleeping, and hearing that voice waking me up from my slumber had really irritated me. Waking up was the absolute last thing I wanted to do right now.

"Twilight?"

My eyebrows furrowed as I pressed deeper into the pillow, enjoying the seconds of peaceful silence afterwards after that voice stopped talking. It was staying like that for quite awhile this time, and I could feel myself slowly starting to relax again and lull back to sleep as the silence continued. It felt so nice to finally be away from that disruption so I could go back to sleep...

"Twilight, I-"

"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?" I shot up from the bed and screamed right at Spike's face, glaring at him and panting. He jumped in shock and fell backwards, staring at me wide-eyed for a few seconds before responding.

"I... I got a letter from Celestia..." He said quietly. I levitated the letter out of his hand, unfolding it and looking at it.

"Sorry Spike." I replied, not even bothering to look at him as I started reading the letter.

'Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Your warning has been duly noted. As of right now, I request that you gather up your friends and meet us in Canterlot as soon as you are able to. We have important matters to discuss.

From Princess Celestia,
And Princess Luna.'

I stared blankly at the letter for a few seconds before looking at Spike, who simply gazed back at me in silence. I knew he was curious though, so I spoke up.

"Celestia wants me to gather up my friends and meet her in Canterlot." I sighed and buried my face back into the pillow.

"Uh... are you sure you want to go?" I heard Spike ask from beyond the realm of the pillow my head was shoved in.

"Do I LOOK like I want to go!?" I shouted with a muffled voice. "But I have to. I don't have a choice."

"I'm pretty sure Celestia would let you have some time off if you asked for it." Spike replied. "I really, really think you need it Twilight, and-"

"I'm going, Spike." I interrupted, taking my face out of the pillow and sighing loudly. "Even if I did have a choice, this stuff is important not just for them but for Equestria as a whole. I can't just not go."

"I don't know Twilight..."

"Yeah, well I don't know either." I responded as I got off the bed. "Let's just get this over with."

I quickly got myself ready and gathered everyone up at the main room of my home. A carriage presumably sent by Celestia had landed in-front of the library, of which me and everyone boarded as it took us straight to Canterlot. We only had a short ways to walk after being guided by a royal guard, and we found ourselves in a room which I recognized as the planning room. Both the royal sisters as well as Princess Cadance and Shining Armor were here as well, and Celestia was the first to speak up as she watched us come trotting into the room.

"Hello, everyone." She greeted. "I'm glad you all were able to arrive on such short notice."

"It's not a problem Princess Celestia." I replied, which was a total lie considering how I had been acting when I woke up. "What did you need us all here for?"

"We need to come up with a plan of action against this new threat." Celestia answered. "As of last night, the city of Manehattan fell under the same magical blockade as Baltimare did, and we can only assume that this is going to happen to other cities as well. We have to stop this before it gets out of control."

"The neighboring city of Fillydelphia, which is located in-between Baltimare and Manehattan, is also partially experiencing some effects." Princess Luna added.

"I've taken note of the danger involved in such a task, as well as the apparent problem of Klade." Celestia continued. "Therefore, we are considering Klade an enemy of Equestria until we know with more clarity that he's not."

"What!?" Rainbow shouted out. "But that's so stupid! Klade would never turn on us, and I know that! Come on guys, it's so obvious it's Discord-- he's just tricking you and you're all actually falling for it!"

"I saw him at Baltimare, Rainbow." I spoke up. "I talked with Discord last night too, and he pretty much confirmed that he has in-fact done something with Klade. What it is I don't know yet though-- I couldn't get him to say-- but it's totally possible that he's working for him now."

"Wait, ya spoke to Discord last night?" Applejack asked, to which I nodded.

"I couldn't get to sleep so I went out walking during the night, which is when he appeared."

"Then he's just manipulating you too!" Rainbow replied. "You don't actually believe the junk that he tells you, do you? Klade hasn't turned on us! Are you all really just going to ignore everything he's done to help us?"

"Whether he has or he hasn't, we are still considering him an enemy for the time being." Celestia intercepted. "Until we know for sure that he's still on our side, we are going to treat him like he isn't. But for now, it seems more likely that he is working with Discord."

"But that's... you know what, I'm done." Rainbow frowned. "I can't believe you people are actually going to believe that."

"He might not be working for Discord willingly, Rainbow." I exclaimed. "We don't know what's going on, and until we do, I'm going to have to agree with the princesses here." Rainbow didn't reply, clearly not interested in continuing the conversation, which prompted Celestia to continue.

"I've spoken with Shining Armor about what we can do to free these two cities. Our best choice may be to disable these towers from a distance, to minimize casualties as much as possible. A full-on assault would be much too fatal if it really is as well defended as we are led to believe."

"So how do we go about doin' that?" Applejack asked.

"One idea was to use a multitude of trebuchets to hurl large projectiles at the tower until it collapses, which should stop the magic-blocking aura from being emitted." Celestia replied. "We aren't sure whether any magical projectiles will be effective inside the cities, even if they are casted outside the premises of the blockade, so such an idea will be reserved as a backup plan."

"And what if that don't work?"

"We thought about having a group of pegasai head up from the opposite end of the building while it's being attacked." Shining Armor chimed in. "Whoever is defending it would be distracted this way. We might still do it, even if it's really risky-- if they're caught, they're likely to get murdered. Coming up from the inside is a no-no though no matter what. Even if we did have magic to help defend ourselves, we don't know how many traps might be in there."

"And plus you'd have to watch out for the incoming boulders from the trebuchets while on the roof." Cadance added. "This is going to be done and nighttime too, so.. they're going to be hard to see. I personally don't think it's a good part of the plan."

"Well, what other options do we have?" Rarity asked.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt, but... What is our role in all of this?" I spoke up.

"You, Twilight, can help setup the trebuchets in the most optimal position to make sure that they'll hit the target." Celestia answered. "Each one of you will be assigned a role whenever necessary."

"I bet I could ram into the tower real fast." Rainbow spoke up. "I could probably take the whole thing down that way."

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy softly stated. "How do you expect to do something like that with your wing in the condition it's in right now?"

"Oh come on, I'm surrounded by literally all the princesses of Equestria. They've gotta be able to do some kind of magic stuff to be able to fix my wing."

"I think I can help with that." Cadance spoke up. "But, do you really think that's a good idea? The tower might be really solid and won't even budge-- you can really hurt yourself that way."

"I've ran into much worse before!" Rainbow replied. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"I believe such an idea shall be best reserved as a backup plan." Luna remarked. "If the trebuchets do not work, then perhaps Rainbow Dash can attempt to bring down the tower; however, I do advise the utmost caution on such an endeavor."

"Yeah! Don't go splat Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie added gleefully.

"We have until tonight to prepare." Celestia exclaimed. "If possible, we should try to keep the trebuchets out of sight from the two cities-- at least until nighttime arrives."

Everypony nodded, and we begun our preparations.

Author's Note:

Twilight's stress levels are off the bucking charts!