Prologue: Chaos needs 'help'
Outside of conventional space-time lies many different worlds, some possess ultimate stillness like Limbo as for the others...
"Oh for Pete's sake!!" exclaimed a draconequus named Discord sitting upside down on the ceiling of his house in a realm called Chaosville, holding a teacup, drinking the cup while tossing the tea into the dish rack.
are the exact opposite.
"I heard there was going to be this GIANT party called the Friendship Festival from Fluttershy a few days ago. Today's the day! Why wasn't I invited? Was the mail being lost again? Then again now that I think about it, I never really did show the mailpony who gave me the Gala invite the exit to this place..."
In the far flung reaches of Chaosville, the unluckiest mailpony in existence is still drifting through the endless void. Don't worry, we'll get to her soon enough...eventually.
What we are really focusing on is that another area of Chaosville was looking a little darker than usual. Sure enough, the primordial force of Darkness known as the Pony Of Shadows, using Limbo as a bridge, has now encroached upon the Domain of Chaos in it's attempt to return to Equestria.
"Those fools!! I may have lost my host, but I already had my own consciousness in the first place. How else could I entice that sap Stygian?!? No matter, once I find my way back to Equestria, they all shall know despair!! They just got lucky that time was on their side and my points of power have been lost."
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the plot-mandated villain of the day. Trespassing on my house no less, it's quite rude you know. Would it be that bothersome to knock?"
The Pony Of Shadows turned to find Discord right behind him.
"Spirit of Chaos!! Do you really think you can beat me? The primordial darkness existed long before the concepts of Harmony and Discord."
"Actually, I can. Since 6 fantasy heroes who have the misfortune of being in a show for kids meant that showcasing epic powers are out of the window still managed to banish you a second time without any fancy lightshows. I was watching the whole thing on my screen, I was expecting something more. Not to mention, I think we are both around the same age, after all, Chaos is the real beginning. Just ask the Greeks!!"
"What are you going to do? Turn your realm into the brightest place in existence and just erase me?"
Discord proceeded to isolate the section the Pony Of Shadows is in to prevent it from escaping.
"That will be too easy and anti-climatic like your previous farce of a showdown for me. On the contrary, I have a better idea. I am going to enlist the 'aid' of Equestria's worst heroes and use this as an opportunity to train them and make them less of a disappointment than they are while pitting them against you. The same gimmick while entertaining, gets old when you see it a septillion times in a row..."
Canterlot Castle Throne Room
Preparations for the Friendship Festival is underway and the ponies outside are busy singing "We got this together". Celestia, Luna and Cadance, after denying Twilight's proposal to use their magic to help out with the festival's fireworks was paid a visit from Discord.
"So the Pony Of Shadows sought to invade Equestria today, but was stopped by you since your house is in it's way? That's wonderful, Discord. Now that you are here, come and stay for the festival. You are on the guest list after all." Celestia stated.
"The thing is, while I love to join and return your mailpony, the Pony of Shadows seems to be less of a disappointment in my place compared to Equestria. History's constant lumping together of 'Darkness' and 'Chaos' as two peas in a pod resulted in an abstract giant point of power that had actually made it so strong in my realm that it is actually taking up all my power to contain it long enough for me to kick it out of my house. However, it can be overwhelmed if I had an army to assist me in terms of manpower so that I can cut back on the clones to focus properly." Stated by Discord.
"What do you propose?" asked Cadance.
"You do have your Royal Guards right? I'm going to need your ENTIRE local garrison. Right down to the last stallion or mare if there are any. Also that Shining Armor fellow as well, he seems to be absent for this festival which is rather odd." Discord suggested.
"ARE YOU INSANE?!?!? This is crazy even for you. Who's going to protect Canterlot?" exclaimed Celestia.
"You girls, of course. Your track record is slightly better than those idiots. Unless if any of you want to come too..."
"Don't worry, we will stay and protect the city. If any threat does come, we got this." Luna proclaimed.
"Not to mention, Shining himself is busy with a threat himself that is the likes of what you are facing, if you are wondering about his absence." Cadance explained
"Prove it." challenged Discord
"Taking care of our sick and currently unsealed Flurry Heart thanks to a magic surge that broke the seal when she sneezed. The castle turnover rate skyrocketed the moment she got sick. Him and Sunburst are desperately trying to at least make sure that the Crystal Empire is still in one piece and not covered in snow when I get back." Cadance replied.
Discord thought to himself that Shining Armor needed no more training from him but did not envy that poor stallion. Taking care of a sick, out of control baby Alicorn is worth a hundred boot camps.
"Very well, I will be taking the local garrison now. Have them spontaneously appear outside that Festival grounds for a briefing by your truly. They seem to be doing a very good job of making themselves scarce in there anyway. When your time comes, let's hope you can last more than 20 seconds."
After Discord left to 'stop' the Pony Of Shadows with the Royal Guard, Luna has something to say to her sister.
"Tia, of all the ideas we all agreed with, this is by far the worst in hindsight. Back at our discussion, I proclaimed that the three of us are worth the entire local garrison, which is absolutely true. But looking back at our own personal track record, I couldn't help but wonder if at least one of us should've gone with Discord to stop the Pony of Shadows and get our, what do you ponies call it..."mojo" back. Our battle competency is tampered thanks to a severe lack of practice due to having to run a nation. Our teacher is working together with Kibitz and Raven is an attempt to squeeze in "Combat Training" to our schedule."
"Luna, I know we aren't as sharp as we were 1000 years ago. But our combat powers back then, you have to remember that for all it's dazzling glory and power, it was meant to be a means to an end. Strip them of their "awesomeness" and you will get the undeniable truth that it's sole purpose at it's core is to hurt people. It had also set a negative example for our people, blinding them to the evils of bloodshed resulting in senseless violence for the sake of glory. It's a realisation I came to after I banished you. A sword that still has a ribbon tied on it is still a sword. A weapon, nothing more. If I can help it, I would trade all of our battle prowess for actual peace and harmony for not just Equestria, but also the rest of the world as well."
"I hate wars and conflicts as much as you, but Sister, doing so in the long run what you get is a world that has gone stagnant. You may get peace and harmony, but the world becomes nothing more than the equivalent of a giant farm. Living automated lives will result in mental entropy, an addiction to artificial bliss resulting in the loss of ambition and ethics, treading down the path to the annihilation of society. Not to mention, we would all be helpless from threats beyond this world like Sunset's world or horrors escaping from Limbo like the Pony of Shadows."
Cadance has her own argument against her aunt.
"Not to mention, as we all experienced first hand, unless it is death, there is no such thing as a "Happy" or "Bad" ending. Our lives don't spontaneously stop in a neat little final page once we hit our supposed "Happily Ever After" and if we do not act to keep our happiness, it will disappear before even you realise it. It's a painful reminder I get every time I got captured. Remember how Chrysalis captured us all in our own complacency?"
In the Crystal Palace, "Thorax" had appeared in Cadance's court, stating that he had found more likeminded Changelings and wishes to ask the Royal Couple to come to the Changeling Kingdom to help launch a coup against Queen Chrysalis to end the Changeling threat. After sending a letter to Celestia informing her about the situation, the couple arrived in the Changeling Kingdom only to realise too late that it's a trap when their magic spontaneously vanished thanks to the queen's throne. Chrysalis only has this to say to the Princess of Love and Family after cocooning her:
"We have yet to find that traitor but rest assured he will pay for his treachery. Like my new throne? After breaking out of my prison thanks to my brilliant acting and Twilight's obsession with books, I scoured the world in disguise seeking a trump card to use against you all. This throne is made out of a rock used in magical prisons that upon the first enchantment, imprints on the type of magic used and absorbs all other kinds of magic. If I had known of that during the Wedding we wouldn't have this conversation as you will be too busy serving me love as a drone. Do fret, for your family and friends will join you shortly."
Sure enough, the changelings' modus operandi of "Divide and Replace" worked terrifyingly well. Imposters of the Royal couple soon returned to the Crystal Empire, stealing away Flurry Heart in the dead of the night with under the guise of a "family vacation" with none of the guards questioning their actions of their supposed liege. On top of that, another couple of the imposters reached Canterlot and the Castle of Friendship. "Shining Armor" came to the Castle of Friendship under the guise of a family visit while 7 other disguised changelings stayed outside, systematically replacing the Friendship Council one by one before putting the 7 of them into cocoons and hiding them inside a hay cart to be delivered to the Hive while their imposters stayed behind to prevent arousing suspicion. Meanwhile, "Cadance" proclaimed to Celestia and Luna that the Changeling Hive has successfully overthrown Chrysalis and is requesting the formal appearance of the Diarchy to allow diplomatic talks to begin. When the Royal Sisters reached the borders of the Hive, the two quickly turned around and ran to the edge when they realised something's wrong.
"Our magic...It's a trap! We need to get out of here! Luna, it's night. If you can't escape, try to see if you can at least reach the edge with your horn and call for help in the dreamscape!! Surely there is somepony you can reach--ahhh!!"
"Sister!!" As the Princess of the Night ran to escape the throne's influence, she only managed to poke her front half out of the border before she got overwhelmed as trying to do teleportation that only affects half of your body is asking for a ticket to the Darwin Awards.
"Please, somepony worthy be sleeping...Starlight Glimmer...Starlight Glimmer, there is no time!!...You must get help!!... Not here! In the waking world! They've taken my sister and I! It's worse than the last time! Your dream called to me, and I was able to break through! You must find help!...Be careful who you trust! You need all the help you can find! The changelings have returned and— [gasps]"
As the cocooned Royal sisters were taken to the Hive,
"Well, Lulu. That's another blow to our competency and dignity."
"That implies that we had any of those to lose in the first place."
"If it wasn't for Sunburst's habit of laying low in his own house in turn noticing our imposters' behaviour and sent Thorax to Ponyville to aid Starlight, we would all be changelings. Even with the magic-absorbing throne taken into account, I could have taken precautions when the imposter first came to me with the proposal instead of blindly trusting at face-value. The same could be said when my imposter came to the two of you."
Celestia's response to that would have to wait, for an airship with storm clouds around it landed in the city.
"How did none of us or the local pegasi for that matter noticed that arriving? Twilight Sparkle herself ordered clear skies and the ship should had stuck out like a sore hoof!!" Luna exclaimed.
"Well, we can't push the job of security to our guards this time. I have heard of rumors from our meetings with Maretonians and Saddle Arabians that there is a warlord rampaging the globe. According to them, the defeated lands in his wake were stripped of their wealth similar to what happened in Griffinstone, crippling their communications leaving the other nations in the dark about what his army even looks like!! Could this be his vanguard?" Celestia questioned.
"Then we must have no time to waste!! Use our power conduit to send a royal proclamation to all available nearby forces and the Crystal Empire!! Shining Armor must know!!" Cadance implored.
"We shall do so. After that, we have to be 100% certain whether or not this is a hostile invasion. If it's simply the messenger demanding terms, we have to see what he or she has to say. I'll put in a Royal Order saying that if there is no reply from Canterlot in 20 mins, assume the worst case scenario, mobilize for war and advance on Canterlot ASAP." Celestia stated.
After sending the proclamation, the Princesses flew down to the Storm airship.
"Tempest, is it? How may we help you?"
Discord arrived back in Chaosville with the Canterlot Royal Guard. He then proceeded to put on his drill sergeant costume.
"Are you sick and tired of being dead-weights to your Princesses? Your actions as of the series premiere have been nothing but a total joke!! It's one thing to let 6 to 8 civilians do the job for you if they are more competent, it's another to be so bad that you are all essentially cannon fodder for them to worry about. It's time I whip you all into shape so that at the very least the main characters have less to worry about by actually defeating a bad guy!! Now where is it?!?"
Discord noticed that Chaosville is a little darker than usual.
"Oh dear, something tells me that this is going to take more than 5 minutes and why did I get the feeling I forgot about somepony?" As he pondered back and forth, he realised who he forgot. "Wait, oh yes the mailpony that gave me the gala invite!!"
After bringing the poor mare to his house that he turned into a military base much to her relief, he pondered his next course of action.
"I'm going to need a few more unused side characters, maybe it's time for the Pony of Shadows to be finished off by it's nemeses. A group of 6, I mean 7 fantasy heroes, maybe I can finally see what they are capable of that made them so special that their successors are 2 Alicorns!!"
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Hmm. So you're saying the reason that the entire guard was absent was because Discord took a training exercise too far? I suppose that's one explanation. Shining having to tend to the baby makes far too much sense.
I do have a few complaints. Characters are a wee bit too wordy at times, and you often seem to have trouble with tenses and making it clear who's talking when. I'm not one hundred percent sure the flashback to show how Chrysalis outsmarted them was necessary...on the other hand, it's more than we actually got in the series, so kudos for that. Let's see where this goes.