Discord
A million and one thoughts raced through Princess Celestia’s head at a mile a minute as she paced back and forth anxiously in one of Canterlot Castle’s many observational lounges. Just behind her, spanning the entire wall of the multi-story room, was a stained glass window, depicting a visual representation of Equestria’s history. From this window, one could look out and behold all of the majestic and multi-tiered capital city of Canterlot sprawled out below them.
At last, after what felt like an eternity, even to her, the doors to the room were flung open. The solar princess turned just in time for a rainbow-colored missile to collide with her chest, the force of the impact causing her to fall onto her haunches with a grunt of surprise. Despite the direness of the situation, she was able to find some small piece of joy at feeling her daughter’s embrace once more, a gesture she gladly returned.
“My daughter…” she whispered to Rainbow Dash, feeling all of her muscles relax with relief at seeing her alright.
“You don’t sound too good,” Rainbow noted pointedly before leaning back slightly to meet her adoptive mother’s gaze. “You called us here because of, well, the things going on outside, right?”
Celestia glanced past Rainbow to see the rest of her entourage entering at a brisk pace. Nodding grimly, Celestia squeezed Rainbow one more time before releasing her and standing back up, holding her head high. “Yes. Thank you all for coming.”
“Princess Celestia, what’s going on out there?” Twilight asked hurriedly, cantering ahead of the rest of the group anxiously. “Cotton candy clouds, the plants are going out of control, animals are mutating on the spot and, and- I don’t even know!” she managed to babble out, despite her growing sense of unease and borderline panic.
Luckily, Celestia lifted a hoof to command the silence of everyone present. “...Follow me,” she said simply before turning to lead the group deeper into the castle, trotting through a set of doors on one side of the room. Everypony followed her, sharing uneasy looks and anxious whispers.
Rainbow, however, opted to drift in the air next to the princess. “As long as we’re here… how’s aunt Luna doing?” she asked in a whisper, a small amount of worry in her voice. “I haven’t heard from her since the summer sun celebration.”
Celesta smiled softly. “She’s been sleeping most of the time if you can believe it,” she said, a happy look briefly replacing her unease and trepidation.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Er, define ‘most of the time.’ It’s been nine months.”
“As in I don’t think I have actually seen her awake more than four times since she’s come back to the castle. When you and your friends used the Elements of Harmony on her, she was restored to the body she had when she was but a child. She has been growing steadily the entire time, and growing so fast requires that her body conserve energy. She’s almost back to her adult self, now.” Celestia explained with a twinkle coming into her eyes.
Rainbow whistled, impressed. “Huh. How tall is she, anyway?”
“Perhaps a head or two shorter than I am,” Celestia said with a thoughtful look. “It’s… been amazing to watch. It is almost like watching a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.”
Rainbow play gagged before lightly punching her mother in the shoulder. “Ew, poeticism,” she said mirthfully before her smile returned to a frown.
Celestia noticed and lost her smile as well. “We are almost there. Come,” she said, raising her voice to ensure the group behind them could hear her.
A long hallway with a high roof and tall stained-glass windows lining the walls stretched before the group, colorful light from the outside painting the room in a myriad of shades and shapes. Celestia turned to the group about halfway down and cleared her throat. “Thank you again for coming. As this matter is severe, I shall delay no longer.”
“We’re listening, your highness.” Applejack nodded her head respectfully as she spoke.
Celestia closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. Then, she turned her gaze to one of the stained glass windows. “...it would seem that an old foe of mine, one that I had hoped was gone forever, has returned. His name is… Discord.” the name left her lips as if it were foul poison, and Celestia was unable to prevent her eyes from narrowing in a hateful glare at the window.
Depicted in the glass was a creature unlike anything the group had ever seen. It was long and serpentine, it’s head not unlike that of a pony’s. It had two arms and two legs, though these limbs were not alike at all. One arm was similar to an eagle’s claw, while the other was a lion’s paw. One of this creature’s legs was a skinny pony leg, while the other was that of a dragon. Behind these legs was a long snake tail, a ploom of fur and feathers fanning out of the tip. There were two tiny wings upon it’s back, one feathery like a pegasus’ wings would be,while the other was leathery and membranous, like that of a bat. Above this things yellow and crimson eyes were a deer’s antler and a mangled goat’s horn.
“He is the spirit of chaos and disharmony, a trickster and mischief maker of the greatest caliber.” Celesta elaborated, her eyes narrowing as she spoke more of her old nemesis.
Twilight looked at Celestia, wide-eyed. “Well, how did you defeat him before?”
Celestia closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose. “Discord ruled Equestria before Luna and I ever did. The history of his reign is murky at best, I am afraid, and even I don’t know all of the details. The ponies forced to live under him were miserable from dawn to dusk. My sister and I could not stand for this, and so we set out to locate and utilize the Elements of Harmony. Our efforts proved successful in our uprising, allowing us to turn him to stone.”
“Way to go, mom!” Rainbow cheered from next to the window, having floated up to it to examine it.
Celestia smiled softly at the praise before her frown returned. “I had hoped that the spell Luna and I cast would last forever. But… now that the power of the Elements answer to you six instead of Luna and myself, the spell was broken.”
“So that means…” Twilight began, looking to her friends uneasily.
“Yes, Twilight. I need all of you to take up the Elements of Harmony once more and stop Discord,” Celestia answered before flaring her wings open. “Before he plunges all of Equestria into a state of eternal chaos and misery.”
“HOLD UP!” Pinkie suddenly shouted, holding up a hoof with her face forming into a disapproving scowl. She turned to the rest of the ponies present. “Girls, eternal chocolate comes with chaos rain!” she said, her eyes widening for emphasis.
“Er… Pinkie, you wanna try that again?” Rainbow asked slowly while raising an eyebrow.
Pinkie blinked, then covered her mouth with a hoof, smiling sheepishly as she realized her error. “Oops… well, you know what I mean!” she said loudly and indignantly.
Twilight shook her head with a small smirk before looking up to Princess Celestia again. “Don’t mind her, Princess. We’d be honored to use the Elements again,” she said humbly before giving a deep bow.
Celestia nodded sagely before turning to the tall double doors that rested on the far end of the room. “Good. I have brought you all to one of Canterlot Castle’s most heavily guarded and warded towers. After you retrieved the Elements, I had them stored here for safekeeping.”
“Aw, yeah! Getting my necklace back!” Rainbow cheered excitedly, pumping her hooves in the air. Applejack and Rarity both shot her deadpan looks.
“Rainbow Dash, darling, since when have you ever cared about your fashion?” Rarity asked inquisitively. Rainbow blinked down at her in confusion.
“Fashion? What’s that got to do with it? I just like shooting rainbow lasers.”
Celestia tittered softly before shooting Rainbow a playful smirk over her shoulder. “You would, my daughter. You would.”
Rainbow merely huffed.
In short order, the group arrived at the doors. There were no handles and no other visible ways of opening the door. There was, however, a hole in the very center of the door, just large enough for a horn to slide it. Wasting no time, Celestia craned her neck down and did just that, sliding the tip of her horn into the keyhole before sending a surge of magic along the length.
A blinding golden light began to shine from the door, causing everypony present with the exception of Celestia to cover their eyes. When the light finally faded, the door stood wide open. Upon a single, ornate pedestal, rested a purple, jewel-encrusted case trimmed with gold.
“Oh, you can keep the elements, I’ll just have that case!” Rarity swooned as soon as she rested eyes on it. Ignoring the awestruck fashionista, Celestia withdrew the case from the room beyond with her magic before turning a confident smile to the assembled mares.
“Do not fear, my little ponies. I have every confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these.” as those words left her lips, the case opened up to reveal…
Nothing.
There was nothing.
A sharp gasp tore it’s way out of Celestia’s throat before her magic fizzled out in shock. The case dropped to the floor, the sound of its impact with the ornate tiles echoing in everypony’s ears for what felt like hours.
The Elements of Harmony were missing.
“But… how can this be…?” Celestia breathed, unable to comprehend what her eyes were showing her. She lifted the box back up and turned it over to look at it from every angle.
“Oh, boy…” Rainbow muttered under her breath, a small bead of sweat forming on the back of her neck.
“That door was sealed by a spell that only I can break!” Celestia protested in confusion before dropping the case back down. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
An old, raspy voice echoed in the air, chuckling in malevolent amusement. It was like listening to an old wooden door creaking while it’s bottom scraped along a cobblestone floor. “Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?”
“Discord…” Celestia breathed, her ears falling back, her eyes narrowing and her wings flaring out aggressively. “Show yourself!” she bellowed out, anger burning behind her eyes.
The laugh echoed again, resonating in the minds of all present and sending a chill into their minds. For a moment, there was silence. Rainbow, from where she stood, could feel the air shifting, as though there was another being moving through the same space as the rest of them. No matter how hard she looked, however, she saw no signs of movement or any intruders.
“Did you miss me Celestia?” the voice asked in an amused and condescending drawl. Then, with a flash, the depiction of Discord in the stained glass began to move. His yellow and crimson eyes turned to bore into Celestia’s, narrowing while a fond smirk spread across his face. “I missed you.” he sneered before his image slithered from one window to the next.
Already Rainbow felt her coat bristling and her fur standing on end. The way this creature spoke was just… angering.
“It’s quite lonely, being trapped in stone…” Discord mused while his image perched itself on a depiction of Fluttershy. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” he asked, his eyes narrowing and a bitter, wrathful edge slowly creeping into his voice. “After all, I don’t turn ponies into stone.”
“ENOUGH!” Celestia snapped, her horn igniting with fiery magic. “What have you done with the elements of harmony?!”
Almost instantly, Rainbow was by her mother’s side, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Woah, keep it cool, mom,” she whispered simply before turning her glare to Discord.
Taking a deep breath, Celestia let the magic dispel from her horn, but her eyes never lost her lock on Discord.
“Oh, how sweet. You two really are mother and daughter, aren’t you?” Discord chortled in amusement and mock charm.
“Don’t dodge the question, you’re royal flatness.” Rainbow shot back with a scowl.
Discord humphed. “Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while…” he snapped his eagle's claw. In the window he currently resided in, a depiction of the elements back in the castle of the two sisters suddenly vanished.
“Now give them back,” Rainbow growled, drifting towards the window somewhat.
“Rainbow,” Twilight called cautiously, her ears falling against her head. “Don’t do anything reckless.”
“Oh, I see you’re just as grim as your mother dearest, princess Rainbow Dash…” Discord grinned widely before his image disappeared from one window and appeared in another. This one depicted the day Rainbow Dash was first revealed to Equestria as it’s newest princess, those many years ago. In the window, her eyes were closed and a serene smile was on her face. “How boring…” Discord droned before the smile flipped upside down and morphed into a sad frown.
Rainbow grit her teeth but then shook her head. “Says the window.”
“Well, at least you have something of a sharp tongue in you,” Discord mused before chuckling again. “I suppose it goes rather well with your loyalty, the element of harmony you represent, hmm?”
Rainbow said nothing, slowly letting herself drift back to Celestia’s side.
“I do believe Rainbow has the right of it. We’re wasting our time talking to this tacky window.” Rarity scoffed while dismissively waving a hoof.
Discord appeared in the window right behind Rarity, a large smirk on his face. “Ah, and you are Rarity, representing the element of generosity aren’t you? Certainly beautiful enough,” he remarked.
“So you know our names. Big woop.” Applejack snorted while trotting up next to Rarity, who looked a little unnerved from having the voice of Discord speaking directly behind her.
Discord laughed, his image in the window swiftly growing until he was filling the entire thing. “Oh, I know a great deal more than that, honest Applejack.”
Twilight made her own approach, giving Discord’s depiction a leveled and serious look. “You seem to know our strengths, too.”
Discord’s eyes locked onto Twilight’s. His smirk turned vile instead of playful. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle. And you represent the most powerful and elusive of all six elements. Magic,” his gaze then turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy’s is kindness, and Pinkie’s is a personal favorite of mine. Laughter.”
Pinkie couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped her when Discord’s image suddenly got up and started walking goofily in place on top of the depiction of Twilight in the image.
“Pinkie!” Twilight barked out in dismay, shooting her friend a troubled look.
“Sorry, sorry!” Pinkie said between her laughs. “He’s just st- ha! Standing on your head. I’m sorry!” she finally managed.
“Stop stalling, Discord!” Celestia suddenly snapped, silencing Pinkie’s laughs. She came forward, her eyes burning with anger. “What have you done with the elements? Tell us now!”
Discord slumped and sighed. “Oh, for the love of… you’re no fun, Celestia, you know that?” he asked drearily before righting himself. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But I’ll only tell you my way.”
His eyes flicked briefly to Rainbow Dash before he vanished from the window in a flash of light.
“To retrieve your missing elements,
Just make sense of this change of events…”
His voice echoed around them.
“Twists and turns on my master plan,
Then find the elements back where you began.”
There was another flash before the entire hallway was restored to its former self, all of the alterations to the windows being undone. Everypony shared glances of unease and concern. From where she sat, Fluttershy shook and gave a fearful squeak.
“Can we go home, now?”
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I just looked at the coverate and the first thing I noticed is Twilight looking up at RD with her mouth wide open. The first thing I thought of when I saw it: "Mawp"
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image.ibb.co/foT96b/MAWP.png
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YOU ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD
pics.me.me/locate-meme-steal-27425011.png
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'kay
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Counter Trap: Seven Tools of the Bandit! For the low cost of 1000 life points, your trap is negated!!
😅 I...I'm sorry: you handed the joke/reference to me on a silver platter
Knowing Discord, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the catalyst. In fact, I'd say that the altered timeline is rather "chaotic". Is it possible that in this timeline, it wasn't the CMC who helped release Discord, but the change in timeline itself? For that matter, would Discord know that the timeline is altered? (And would it be possible for Discord to get "little glimpses"?)
Also, I wasn't trying to predict what will be the catalyst. In fact, I don't expect that. I'm just saying that Discord's chaos would have the power to throw the timeline into...well...chaos.
Yeah Discord is o my villain I can we knowing the mess up of time
I rather like this Rainbow, she really was holding her ground in time of uncertainty.
It would be interesting if Discord has the glimpses and decided to avoid all the drama ^^;;;
Line of the year right there.
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She had all of the previous story for Twilight's logic and Celestia's patience to rub off on her.
And Twilight is more athletic in this timeline then in the canon one. :P
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No, Discord does not and will not get flashes. As was detailed at the end of Little Glimpses, only the ponies currently destined to wield the elements are able to recieve them. Celestia only managed to get one flash before her flash privelages got transfered to the mane 6.
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orig00.deviantart.net/39ce/f/2017/060/6/1/61f9ba4e8165aebfc1c9a9382fac440a-db0ugxv.jpg
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N-NANI?!
Hello there. Thanks again for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. I mean, yeah it makes sense that the changes would be VERY subtle at first here. Still, VERY good job on the characterizations, exchanges and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Yeah, all the reactions shown by the other characters concerning Discord DOES make sense for them.
Anyway, I will certainly be looking forward to more, but will also be quite understanding if real world matters have to come first.
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Heh. SAO Abridged reference.
Good. Glad to see Discord's gonna throw a wrench in the timeline. This story could use a little derailment.
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But I activate Dark Bribe! You shall draw a card, and your Seven Tools are negated and destroyed!
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Are you guys realy playing a game of Duel Monsters in the comments of an unrelated story?
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(sighs) you're right: this isn't the time, nor the place
(and the joke's lost some of it's charm too)quote]“Don’t dodge the question, you’re royal flatness.” Rainbow shot back with a scowl.I think you mean "your". "You're" is a contraction for "you are".
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😐 You don't stand a ghost of a chance. BTW, you don't stand a ghost of a chance. Also, you don't stand a ghost of a chance. Did I mention you don't stand a ghost of a chance? On a related note, you don't stand a gho...
*Laser sound effects*
An amusing attitude, given that by season five they may as well be dating.