I Am (No) God

by Animatorsnake

Chaotic Aspect

Canterlot Castle, Royal Gardens, Hedge Maze; 3:30pm

Its been almost an entire hour since Twilight and the girls were split apart inside Discord’s chaos twisted maze, the first few minutes were bad… that’s until she was now being chased by what appeared to be a giant pony made of roses and vines. Without magic, all she could do was run unless she wanted to be covered in thorns.

WHERE IS THE EXIT!? I SWEAR I REMEMBER MAKING THIS TURN ALREADY THREE TIMES!

Suddenly she came face-to-face with something, luckily it wasn’t the giant thorn-pony, but a familiar face. “Ow, whu- APPLEJACK! Thank Celestia I found you!”

“Ohhhh~, hey Twi, glad to see you too,” said Applejack, picking up her hat that fell off.

After the two talked about their respective experiences trapped inside the maze – Applejack having to deal with a literal tsunami of pears from drowning her, to some sort of golem made of… bees? They soon would later reunite with the others – Pinkie and Rainbow met up with each other earlier, while Fluttershy would be found by Rarity.

“So I was being chased by a thunderstorm of those pink clouds, let me tell you, do not get hit by the thunderbolts those things make, feels like somepony hit me with a bucket of ice-water… I was really expecting the usual static-charge,” said Rainbow, her fur looking wet and frozen at the same time.

“Ohhhh that’s sound fun, though I wouldn’t call what happened to me fun though – these meanie balloons kept chasing me saying mean things… I know you girls wouldn’t do that… right,” said Pinkie. Rainbow gave Pinkie a pat on her head, saying that those dumb balloons were just being jerks.

“I’m sorry that happened to you dear, though my experience wasn’t that bad, all that happened was this massive boulder blocking my path… What’s with that look, that’s all that happened okay!”

“Ummm… nothing much happened to me, I mostly stayed in one place until Rarity found me,” said Fluttershy, fidgeting in place. “Are you and Applejack fine when we were separated?”

“Nothin much I couldn’t handle Flutters, though I wish Discord hadn’t split us up and removed the horns and wings from the rest of you – except for you Pinkie with… well you know,” said Applejack, pointing at the lack of said appendages.

As each of the girls talked about the various problems and trials they had to go through, suddenly a strange sensation seemed to envelop them all. With a puff of smoke the maze around them seemed to dwindle away to nothing and the missing appendages of the others returned. They found themselves back in the entrance of the maze prior to Discord manipulating it.

“Whoa, what happened here,” said Rainbow. Hearing Rainbow exclaim, Twilight turned to see what her friend was talking about, when she too was in shock at what she saw. What was the royal gardens, was the remains of a vicious battle as there were craters, scorch marks, and varying forms of destruction strewn around the royal gardens.

As everypony else got their bearings together at seeing the destruction before them, Twilight was busy with her own thoughts, specifically about what Discord said about where to find the Elements.

‘Twists and turns, are my master plan, then find the Elements, back where you began.’ Back where I began…

“PONYVILLLE!”

“Huh, what about Ponyville?” asked Applejack, spooked from Twilight’s outburst.

“The riddle, Discord wasn’t referring to the maze, he was talking about where my journey to finding the Elements began, Ponyville! We have to get back to Ponyville, quickly!”

As the girls watched Twilight run off without them, they soon followed her back to Ponyville; as they ran past the destruction, none of them noticed the splatter of blood staining the grass just a meter where they stood.

---

Earlier – Canterlot Castle, Throne Hall; 3:15pm

As Celestia and Luna continue to watch Canterlot under siege by Discord’s machinations, they sensed a foreboding presence coming from the hedge maze, where Twilight and company went to confront Discord.

“Sister, did you felt that?” asked Luna, eyes widening.

“Yes, but that didn’t feel like Discord nor Twilight using magic… it feels, almost wrong, like its something that shouldn’t exist.”

Before either of the two could respond to the strange sensation, they can hear some sort of commotion happening outside the throne hall. As they were about to investigate, several yells and muffled warnings could be heard beyond the large gates, when an explosion shook the entire castle. Some stone dust and pieces of marble fell loose, from the ceiling and pillars holding the majority of the hall together.

Several loud sounds and thunks could be heard from outside, until with a sudden outburst, both large doors banged wide open; sent flying into – and through said doors – and sliding before the hooves of both sisters is a beaten and bloodied Discord.

The dazed draconequus is dazed and confused, as he flops before the alicorn princesses, his eyes swirling in their sockets before focusing towards the two. “Oh, hi~! Nice to see you again Celly, and Loony, it has been ages girl,” said Discord, coughing some red specks of blood.

Both sisters are befuddled to find the same individual responsible for the actions occurring outside their city, beaten right before their hooves. Before anybody could respond, an unholy roar echoed from outside where Discord just came flying from.

“What in harmony was that!?” shouted Luna, her wings opening defensively.

With a wince Discord floats up weakly, before giving the two sisters a haunting gaze; attempting to snap his fingers – failing a few times – he leaves one final message to the two.

“If I were you two, I’d run as far away as possible… I may or may not have messed with the wrong stallion,” said Discord.

Before either princess could question what Discord was talking about, with a successful snap of his claw, he vanished with a loud audible pop, the draconequus was soon gone from their sight. Still confused about what he was referring to, they soon hear something approaching them from the now demolished throne hall doors.

The hallway outside was coated in a thick cloud of dust and some sort of black mist, the earlier sounds of intense battle was now silent, with the quiet titter-tatter of steps and something being dragged in the ground.

Soon a shadowy figure stepped forth from the mist and what they behold brought a shiver down their spines. The figure – if not creature is a better apt descriptor – wobbled on the two rear-hooves it stood on, to its sides it dragged two black-stained swords that dripped of a crimson ichor.

The blood that stained the swords wasn’t a lot, but it gave the sisters enough warning that this thing was a threat to them and their fellow ponies. Once the creature had fully stepped out of the black mist, said mist seemed to disperse… and what they saw within made their blood go cold; the hallway was littered with the still forms of guards, maids, and butlers that served within the castle.

Tiny cuts and slashes seemed to cover their forms – those without proper protection were struck with clean cuts, while the guards had more cuts than normal. The thing cackled as if not noticing the sisters, too busy sniffing the ground for more prey.

“Sister… what is that thing,” asked Luna, readying into a battle stance.

“I, I don’t know sister, but if Discord was scared enough to run away from that thing… we need to stop it, here and now.”

Before either princess could even twitch, the creature froze in place and with a snap of its head, it gazed at the two with pools of black with two crimson vertical lines. With a monstrous roar, it lifted one of the hooves holding a blade, made a mad dash towards them, a strange ooze dripping from it’s maw.

(Fight Music)

At this action Luna responded with firing a concentrated beam of dark blue energy that slammed into the foul monster. This paused the creature’s advance, but not for long as it simply swatted the magic beam with one of its swords, barely singed by the attack.

It deflected my attack and how was it not harmed at the slightest!

The creature responded with slamming both swords in the ground, shattering the marble floor and sending a shock-wave toward the sisters. Both flew up into the air and continued to send several magical construct weapons consisting of glowing golden and dark blue arrows. With a malicious smile, the creature proceeded to twirl both swords quickly, deflecting and destroying all the magic construct arrows.

Changing their tactics, Celestia continued her onslaught, while Luna summoned her signature weapon – a greatsword with symbols of the moon and stars covering every inch of the weapon; from the handle and pommel, to the tip of the blade itself. With a flash of her horn, Luna soon appeared behind the creature that appeared unaware of her sudden vanishing.

Charging swiftly, she struck her sword to the side of the creature, sending the equine-esque monstrosity into one of the throne hall’s pillars. A cloud of debris exploded from it crashing into the pillar, for a moment everything was silent, but soon the creature sprung forth, tossing one of its swords at Luna.

Seeing this Luna tried to grasp the weapon with her magic, but soon felt a sickly terrible sensation the moment her magic tried to touch the weapon. She felt wrong the moment she tried to touch that weapon with her magic, feeling the grasp on the weapon simply slipping away like some other force was rejecting her presence.

At the last second, she nearly had her head chopped off from the thrown sword, her cheek bleeding as the sword embedded in the wall behind her.

Within that split second, the creature struck her with the hoof that once held the sword that was thrown, sending her flying straight at Celestia’s direction. Seeing her sister flung towards her, Celestia caught her within a telekinetic grasp, gentling placing her back on the ground.

“Luna, are you alright!?”

Shaking off the hit, Luna stood back up to gaze back at the creature, who was currently pulling the sword out of the wall. “Sister, when I went to grab the sword it threw, I felt this overwhelming wrongness around it – as if something was trying to pull my magic into some vast emptiness. Whatever or whoever that is, we can’t be pulling our punches… we have to hit to kill.”

Hearing this, Celestia paused in thought then nodded in agreement, that this is unlike any foe they faced together before. Prepping themselves once more, the creature seemed to twitch grotesquely, with a snap of it’s jaw, the creature began sputtering gnarled sounds then words began coming out, shocking the sisters even further.

“Scanning threat level of individuals… Threats within manageable parameters; initiating stage two, prepping techniques. ERROR Technique: Dread Swath!”

The creature swung both swords in a horizontal direction, sending a dark crimson wave of energy towards the princess; rather than block the attack, both sisters quickly flew upwards to avoid the mysterious attack. The energy wave struck the wall behind them, obliterating it to dust as a gaping hole was left behind for the two to stare at, but their moment of shock was short lived.

“ERROR Technique: Destruction Slash!”

Celestia quickly turned around, only to see the glowing dark crimson sword inches away from her neck. Summoning out her personal weapon – a giant warhammer, one side flat, while the other is a spike, adorned with symbolism of the sun itself – she managed to divert the sword’s direction, watching as the remaining energy from the attack left a scarring trench in the hall’s floor.

Focusing her attention back to the fight before her, Celestia watched her sister attack the creature from behind, only for it to simply block her attack with its other sword, not even looking towards Luna at the slightest.

Still focused towards her, the creature snarled then flipping its body in a one-eighty roll, it went for a spinning blade attack, forcing both sisters to block the sudden attack. Giving themselves space from the creature, they went back to their original plan – Luna attacking close-up, while Celestia is attacking from a distance and supporting her sister’s blindsides.

Back to facing against the creature, Luna traded blows back and forth, the creature shrieking back whenever Luna seemed to make a hit, while she would grunt whenever any attacks from the creature nearly came close to her.

Believing they’re within a stalemate, things changed when the creature suddenly embedded Luna’s greatsword to the floor, by stabbing both it’s swords in an x-formation into the ground. Now forced into her hooves, the creature rushes up to her and pouncing on top of her. Not knowing what’s it plan is without a weapon, she stares up at it in defiance.

“DO YOUR BEST YOU FOUL MONSTROSITY!”

With a tilt of it’s head, a strange guttural noise could be heard coming from the creature and without warning, it opened it’s maw. From within Luna could swear she could see a faint light… a light that was quickly beginning to brighten with each passing second.

“LUNA!” Seeing what’s happening, Celestia tries to reach for her sister… but it was too late.

“ERROR Technique: DEVASTATION ORB!”

Flung from the creature’s maw is a dark crimson orb that’s the radius of at least 50mm from all directions, it flew at a moderate speed, but once it made contact with the tip of Luna’s snout, an overwhelming energy engulfed both her and the creature.

Celestia was sent flying back at the sudden force of energy, skidding against the floor, tumbling until she made contact with one of the hall’s columns. Once things cleared away and calmed down, she quickly ran to where her sister last was. Using a quick wind spell to blast away the leftover dust, she spotted her sister laying down on the ground, unconscious and covered in wounds ranging from cuts, burns, to one of her eyes bleeding.

“Sister! SISTER! LUNA!”

Terrified at the state of her sister, Celestia’s worries are quickly dashed, when she watches the creature, standing back up, unharmed and unfazed with both blades in hoof. Standing on its rear-legs, it gazes at Celestia, then rushes forth with renewed blood-lust.

Enraged Celestia glared at the creature, soon building up magical power within her horn then blasting the creature with it. Knowing that her magic wouldn’t be able to destroy or even dent the thing, so her best option was to instead use a high-powered teleportation spell to send it who-knows where.

Better to deal with it later once Luna is healed and we’re better armed and prepared… I need to get Luna to the castle’s hospital wing, state!

Gathering her sister and all those injured outside the throne hall, Celestia quickly teleported everypony to the hospital wing, unsure where the creature was sent… or what it will do now out of her sight.

---

Elsewhere – Everfree Forest, Castle of the Two Sisters; 4:00pm

The creature stumbles after the sudden teleportaion, examining it’s surroundings, it quickly sheathes both weapons, snarling to itself in frustration.

“Target elimination: failure. Proceeding to search procedures to locate target. KILL SLAUGHTER KILL DEATH KILL MURDER KILL KILL KILLKILLKILLKILL!”

With that exclamation, the creature wandered off towards the desolate castle, twitching sadistically with a manic grin. As the creature soon left through a random corridor of the castle, a figure from the shadows steps out, wearing a dark cloak shrouding their figure and face, the only two visible parts of them being their snout, and a dark purple unicorn’s horn.

The unicorn follows the creature, a strange aura shrouding them as they tail the creature within the darkness of the castle.

---

Meanwhile – Ponyville, Outside Golden Oaks Library; 5:00pm

Right after leaving Canterlot and taking the train back to Ponyville – which was a massive hassle, with the train being transformed into a giant snail, so they had to go by hoof back to Ponyville. When they finally got to Ponyville,they only found out later that the transformed train still worked like a normal train, with the giant snail moving at supersonic speeds.

The girls gawked at the speeding train being dragged along by a giant snail – Pinkie found it amusing and giggled as the giant snail left the girls behind in the dust.

When the group finally arrived just five minutes outside of Ponyville, they quickly went to the library, searching for where the Elements could be hidden, when Pinkie – just like the last time they were trying to find clues to the Elements – pulled out the same book about the Elements.

“Of course, the riddle was referring about the book about the Elements, on my first day at Ponyville!” said Twilight, taking the book from Pinkie. “Thank you Pinkie!”

“No problem-o!”

With a grateful nod, Twilight opened the book and inside she found the Elements, everypony happily gave out a victorious shout – in their own ways – putting the Elements on and heading back outside.

“ALRIGHT! Let’s kick some chaos spirit butt!” shouted Rainbow, pumping her hoof upwards.

“Did somebody call me?”

Facing where the voice came from, they saw Discord floating in the air with a mischievous grin, but his grin vanished when he saw the girls wearing the Elements and that none of them were discorded at the slightest.

“Huh! Why aren’t any of you discorded or even the slightest changed!? Oh well, can’t win them all,” said Discord shrugging.

Preparing to use the Elements, Twilight declares toward Discord in a confident smile. “Surrender Discord, your tricks won’t work on us anymore, we’ll use the Elements once more and turn you into a statue for another thousand years!”

Not if I have anything to say about that. With a grin, he prepares to snap his fingers and just as the girls are readying to use the Elements, with a loud snap, Discord’s magic quickly engulfs them all. As the sudden flash dissipates, the girls look around for any changes, but seeing nothing different they face where Discord is, but he’s now gone.

“Huh… that was easy,” said Applejack.

“Um, girls… where’s Twilight?” asked Rarity, worried.

---

Discord’s Chaos Dimension, Weirdville; Time… um… Banana?

Twilight was dazed, confused, and wondering where in Celestia was she right now; staring wide-eyed, all around her is a mesh of colors, shapes, and all manner of oddities that were beyond explaining and…

“Is that a duck riding on top of a pig with wings?”

Taking a careful look, it was indeed what Twilight spoke out, as the strange duo flew by, the duck waving at Twilight while wearing some dark shades.

A tilt of her head to display her confusion, she quickly became aware of her surroundings, as a sense of dread began engulfing her wholly.

In a flash of color and trumpets, Discord appeared in some flamboyant robe, a crown, and holding a scepter with his face on it. He gave a toothy smirk before making his outfit soon disappear, approaching Twilight nonchalantly.

“Welcome to my world of chaos and nonsense, isn’t it beautiful,” said Discord, extending his arms out to the mesh-mash of randomness.

“What are you planning Discord, why separate me from my friends, are you planning to keep me here forever?”

“Now why would I do that, I’m crazy my dear, not cruel, besides spending my time here may be fine once in awhile, but even I get bored seeing the same thing over and over and over.”

As Discord said this, a record player seemed to repeat the word “over” in his voice, before he proceeded to remove the vinyl record and tossed it away like a discus. “No no no no, I brought you here to make a deal with you.”

Twilight was befuddled by this new revelation, not sure whether to outright deny his words or outright call him insane. Though honestly, both is going to happen either way, I’m never going to listen to a word he’ll say.

“I would never follow whatever words you’ll say Discord!”

“Now now, before you ignore my words just listen first,” said Discord, floating around Twilight.

While yes, you and your friends can simply turn me to stone sooner or later, and sure maybe in the future the six of you go through some adventures, and various saving-the-world moments… but soon it’ll all come to an end – you, your friends, your families, everyone – why await the inevitable? Why follow such constraints and do a more… chaotic approach?

If you simply hand over your Element of Magic, I can grant you a much greater power that you’ll be able to outlast those so called friends of yours, heck you can rule Equestria if not the world… simply think, what’s so worth being with ponies you’ve only known for a short time that’ll end any time, any moment of your short existence?

At first Twilight was about to retort back at Discord… but paused, while she knows what he’s saying is just to manipulate and trick her… she also knows he’s not wrong either. Maybe she or her friends will distance themselves from each other, or they’ll soon past on from this world… that not all things can last no matter how much they’ll make it last.

While Twilight has only known her friends for a short time since she came to Ponyville, those moments she had with that, those memories and future ones were all worth it. Life isn’t about what you could do in it, but about how you spend it with those you cherish.

“You may be right Discord, but I’ll never accept your offer, even if all things will end suddenly, I rather spend my time with my friends and family! In every waking moment of my life, I’ll be with them and they’ll be with me, that’s what friendship is and nothing will split us apart!”

Annoyed at her declaration, he grumbles to himself until he remembers earlier about the stallion he encountered right after he sent the girls into the hedge maze. With a curious and mischievous glint in his eye, he gazes down at Twilight one last time.

“By any chance… are you acquainted with a dark-furred stallion who knows how to wield two swords?” asked Discord.

“I-what? Um, yes – are you referring to Eclipse – but why are you asking about him all of a sudden,” said Twilight, confused at the sudden question.

Hearing this, Discord chortles and laughs louder and louder hearing this, unable to control his excitement at this sudden change in things. Frustrated at Discord’s change of attitude, Twilight stomps her hoof to get his attention. “What is it Discord, did you do something to Eclipse!?”

“Oh did I do something to him! Well rather than that, its more like he did something to me, but speaking of that curiously tricky stallion-friend of yours, he has been quite the thorn in my side… especially considering he came towards me without your knowledge, apparently.”

Twilight eyes widened, unsure if what Discord is saying is true or not, before she could get any further words out, Discord’s continues with a vague statement about Eclipse.

He was quite insistent I wasn’t a threat before trotting away, I managed to catch him off-guard… but things… escalated afterwards. Now my dear, poor, naive, Twilight, you may have faith within your friends… but not all of them are being honest with you; there are some secrets that are capable of shattering that so called friendship you hold so close to your heart. Oh I can just imagine it, seeing that look of horror and despair at finding out what your friend Eclipse is keeping hidden behind those eyes of his – quite the twisted and estranged mind he has.

“Discord what are you talking about-”

Before Twilight could finish her question, a strange trembling could be felt throughout Discord’s bubble dimension, sending intense distortions and various shock-waves to emanate around the two. Wondering what’s happening, suddenly appearing above the two, an ebony vortex opens up without warning; feeling a powerful gravitational force, neither Twilight or Discord could stop themselves from being pulled up towards it.

“WHAT IN THE HECK IS THAT!? NOBODY SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF OPENING A PORTAL TO MY WORLD!?” shouted Discord, screaming as he was sucked into the portal.

Both shocked and overwhelmed by the sudden information dump by Discord, Twilight did nothing as she let the strange ebony vortex send her flying off to another unknown location, her last thoughts forever engraved in her mind.

Eclipse… what happened to you?

---

Ponyville, Town Square; 5:15pm

Twilight was sent being flung out the other side of the ebony vortex, until she landed harshly on the ground; standing back up, she took quick note of her surroundings until she found herself back in Ponyville, standing in front of the town hall.

“Twilight! You okay sugarcube,” said Applejack, approaching her alongside the other girls. “What happened to ya?”

As the girls checked Twilight’s sudden reappearance, Discord was in a daze, standing back up before twisting his head off. He gave his own head a good shake, the sound of gears and random knick-knacks bouncing around, before re-twisting his head back on.

“What in all that’s chaotic was that!? WHO’S THE BUSTER THAT TOOK ME OUT OF MY PRIVATE TIME WITH CELLY’S STUDENT! HUH! SHOW YOURSELF!” Discord screamed as he blasted his magic in random directions, either turning buildings, trees, and rocks into all manner of weird things.

While he was occupied with his own tantrum, Twilight got the attention of the girls as they all nodded and prepped themselves to finish this madness, once and for all.

“DISCORD!”

Turning around after turning a shrub into a six-legged sheep made of the leaves, Discord eyes bulged out as he saw Twilight and her friends magically floating. Each of the six girls began to glow a color representing their element, then all their eyes sprung open and glowed brightly white.

Welp, crab-baskets.

Discord wails in terror as he attempts to block the harmony beam, but it soon engulfs his entire form; after several long seconds, what stood in Discord’s place was the now petrified statue of Discord. After the girls floated gently back down, they gazed at their work and yelled in victory, coming together into a group hug.

“WE DID IT, HECK YEAH WE DID IT!” shouted Rainbow.

“Yippee, this calls for a ‘We defeated the meany spirit of chaos’ party!”

“Finally, things will turn back to normal.” As Applejack said this, slowly and steadily, all the chaotic actions and changes Discord made, soon up and vanished away, turning many of his strange creations back to what they were originally.

Once the afterglow of their victorious shouting died down, Twilight smile changed to one of confusion as she faced her friends.

“Wait… how did I managed to get free from Discord’s grasp, did something happen on your end girls?” asked Twilight.

After hearing this, Rarity trotted forth to retell the events that led to Twilight’s kidnapping just moments ago. “Well darling… after you left-”

---

Just moments earlier – Ponyville, Town Square; 5:10pm

“WHAT DO WE DO!? Twilight’s gone, the town is still a chaotic mess, and we can’t use the elements without her!” shouted Rainbow, angrily.

“RAINBOW! There’s no need to get mad at us,” said Applejack, reciprocating her friend.

Rainbow slumped sadly and gave a sorry look at Applejack, until Rarity was the next to speak.

“We need to tell the princesses, immediately!”

“But didn’t the princesses called us to stop that meany, wouldn’t they had stopped him without our help in the first place?” asked Pinkie, worried stretched across her features.

“Ummmm, girls…”

“Well its either that or we stand here like a bunch of lazy ducks,” said Applejack.

“Girls…”

“Now, no need for that attitude Applejack, let’s head back to the Golden Oaks Library and ask dear Spike to send a message to the princesses, then afterwards we-”

“GIRLS!”

After getting the attention of her friends with her – slightly loud but still quiet – shout, Fluttershy pointed a hoof upwards just behind them. Turning to see what she was looking at, they all stare at a mysterious cloaked stallion who stood on one of the rooftops just across the town square.

Out of all the buildings there, it was the only one left untouched by Discord’s chaotic magic; the individual itself held a strange black crystal that glowed an almost dark light, that pulsed every few seconds.

“Hey, who the heck is that?” asked Rainbow, flying up to get a better look.

Before anypony could respond, suddenly the black crystal shot a beam of black energy into the space that Discord was just moments ago, then suddenly a black vortex appeared and come tumbling out is both Twilight and Discord.

Gaping in shock at the sudden appearance of their friend, the group stare where the mysterious stallion was only for him to up and vanish.

---

Ponyville, Town Square; 5:20pm

“Then the rest you know by now, whoever that stallion was without him, who knows what Discord could had done to you,” said Rarity.

All the other girls gave their own nods of agreement, as Twilight gathered this information to herself, they then heard flapping wings. Gazing up, they spotted both princesses Celestia and Luna approaching them, when they got closer though, they spotted how disheveled the two looked, especially Luna who was pretty roughed up with a portion of her fur around her abdomen being slightly scratched up.

Once the two landed before the girls, they congratulated them in defeating Discord, but soon their congratulations turned into worrying news. “Well done Twilight, with the power of friendship you girls have defeated Discord and returned him to stone once more… sadly, there is much bigger pressing matters at hoof,” said Celestia.

Luna approached the group with a slight limp on her back leg, making a wincing noise each step she took. “A dangerous entity appeared before us in the castle just after you girls left to the hedge maze to confront Discord, it harmed and incapacitated both guards and castle staff without mercy. Good news is that no fatalities occurred, but many of our ponies, especially the guards had been heavily injured due to this incursion.”

The girls gasped hearing these news, wondering if Discord played one final harmful prank on the ponies of Canterlot, but after asking this, the princesses confirmed that this entity had no relation to Discord and simply appeared out of the blue.

“We both tried to find its whereabouts after I teleported it away from the castle to the Everfree Forest, but it soon disappeared. I have no clue what it was, but I wish to tell you to be wary of this new threat and that you and your friends be ready to face this foe against harmony. For now, let us reconvene back to Canterlot to let all of pony-kind know of your deeds.”

After hearing this, the group soon left, but in the back of Twilight’s mind, much of what Discord said still troubles her.

Just what did he mean… could he just be tricking me or is there really something going on behind our backs? What could this new mystery entity be? Who saved me from Discord’s realm? I hope things will slow down so I have some time to figure things out soon.

---

Sometime earlier – Everfree Forest, Outside the Castle of the Two Sisters; 4:30pm

The creature wandered the castle ruins, either destroying any random debris blocking its path or sniffing its surroundings for any living beings nearby. After much time, it ended up outside, gazing at the surrounding foliage and trees across the valley that separated the castle from the rest of the Everfree.

With a tilt and shake of its body, the creature stared hungrily around itself when a figure soon approached it from behind. Standing several meters away is a cloaked unicorn, her snout just poking out under the thick hood, leaving any visible features on them shrouded in darkness.

Seeing the cloaked unicorn, the creature grinned maliciously at its newest prey. “New target acquired – preparations for annihilation commencing! LET DEATH BE YOUR SONG; LET THINE SCREAMS BE MY MASTERPIECE! OH HORROR IS THEE, THINE SAVORY YOLK SHALL CONSUME!”

With a rapturous roar, the creature surged forth with a charge, demolishing everything in its path. The ground it trampled under turned to dust, any foliage or stones were sundered as it soon approached the cloaked unicorn.

The cloaked unicorn stood in front of the moss-covered statue of an unknown armored stallion, until they swiftly dodged; the creature soon rammed into the statue, leaving a cloud of stone fragments to burst from the now destroyed statue.

As the unicorn watched the dust cloud for any movements, in just a split second something rapidly flew out of the dust cloud. Just barely moving out of the way, the object was the smashed remains of the statue’s head, for within that moment of distraction, the unicorn didn’t see the creature hurling its entire body at them.

Slamming both hooves into the ground where the cloaked unicorn stood, the creature snarled in victory, before feeling neither flesh nor bone within their grasp. Instead of the pulverized remnants of the unicorn was instead the torn scraps of their cloak.

Looking for their now missing prey, the unicorn in question stood safely atop a lone column in the middle of the deteriorating castle’s garden. With nothing to hide themselves from the elements, the unicorn was in full view – and their bare form in plain sight.

Sat on the top of the ancient column, is a dark purple unicorn, staring down with a pair of cerise eyes. Her mane and tail were both respectively short, unlike the lengthy manes of most ponies and quite shorter than the usual short length of other ponies. Her horn protruded from the messy short mane – if it could be called a mane – of a mane she had, but the most remarkable details was elsewhere.

Her cutie-mark displayed a dark purple claw or paw of some kind that melded perfectly with her coat, making it near-impossible to spot from a distance. The claw itself has an upside-down purple star with a dark pink circle in the middle of said star. The next and final detail that showed that this was no ordinary unicorn was her hooves; sprouting out from both her fore and rear-hooves was three sharp claws, just barely poking out from the fur around her hooves.

If you looked carefully, you can just manage to spot the slight glint of carnivorous teeth from her snout, that would poke out at the slightest movement from her lips.

Not uttering a single word other than the usual snort and grunt, the unicorn hopped off the column to stare down the creature. Both would size each other up from the fair distance they had, waiting for the others next move…

(Fight Music)

Until the creature roared and charged, the unicorn responded by reaching a hoof to the column, then proceeded to tear the column and the stonework foundation below it from the ground. At first it appeared the unicorn was using magic, but no sign of her horn glowing was made evident, revealing she was using pure-strength to both lift and tear the column from the ground.

Perplexed by this sudden action, that moment of confusion swiftly changed when just as quickly, the unicorn swung the column like a bat, right at the creature. Unable to slow down fast enough, the creature was hit with the full power of the unicorn’s swing and the column itself, both sending the creature flying and obliterating the column even further from its already damaged state prior.

Sent flying, the creature recomposed itself, skidding on all four hooves on the garden’s ancient stone pathways, sending stone and dirt being flung everywhere. With a murderous gaze and snarl, it charged forth, sending several orbs of dark crimson energy towards the unicorn.

Seeing the energy orbs coming at her, she easily dodged them, with acrobatic flips and twirls. Once the two got close enough, both combatants responded with their own close combat moves – the unicorn responding with a swing of her hoof, while the creature went for a hoofpunch.

Their attacks collided, a shockwave being created from the source of their impact, sending their respective opposing auras to the nearby surroundings like tsunami waves. Surrounding foliage and debris was obliterated from the pair’s intense attacks. It was during this short moment of respite that the unicorn responded by striking with her other leg, doing an uppercut, right towards the creature’s chin.

Now dazed by the sudden attack, the unicorn didn’t end it there as she switched from physical moves to ranged. Lifting both her hooves, her horn glowed as a spear of ice coalesced from the surrounding moisture; soon what was once a spear of ice turned into a swarm of fifty.

With a flick of both hooves, the ice spears flew true to their target, as each spear struck they detonated a blast of energy, destroying the already crumbling gardens. As the dust grew and began to settle afterwards, the creature was somewhat scratched but stood up resiliently.

“Enough playing around… time to finish this,” said the unicorn.

Standing back on both rearhooves, she did several moves and dances when a glowing black symbol appeared behind her. The symbol was of a circle with four lines, making eight points with each point having an element that ranged from this order – fire to steel, ice to water, wind to wood, and thunder to earth – at the sides of the circle was a symbol to represent light at the left, and a symbol to represent darkness to the right.

In the center of the circle was a ten-pointed star with an eye in the middle, piercing forth was its gaze. The glow from the symbol intensified, causing the creature to snarl louder the more the glow increased; attempting to move forwards, the creature weakly charged, but was thwarted by the light of the symbol.

“Nzb gsv gvm vovnvmgh, xlmmvxgvw yb gsv gdrm-hrwvw xlrm lu ivzorgb, yzmrhs gsrh xsrow lu xszlh yzxp gl ulitlggvm wvkgsh lu xivzgrlm! Nzb blfi wvhgifxgrev dzbh, rmhzmv iznyormth, zmw mrtsgnzirhs gslftsgh, ulivevi yv wildmvw rm rmurmrgb’h yzgsrmt ortsg, zmw vgvimrgb’h vevi-ivzxsrmt tizhk!”

After saying those words, a strange dark crimson smoke began to spill out of every orifice of the creature, as a demented scream-like laughter came out. Focusing on her task, the unicorn with one final glare, spoke the final words of the ritual.

“Yvtlmv uiln gsrmv slhg, zmw yv uroovw drgs Elrw’h ortsg! Void Technique: Maker’s Lock!”

With those words, the creature screamed as billowing smoky energy was expelled out, after several seconds of screaming, complete silence soon descent within moments. Collapsed in place of the creature was Eclipse, who had his head tilted down with his eyes closed.

The unicorn watched Eclipse for a few moments until, he slowly opened his eyes and gazed up at the individual for helping him from his earlier possession.

“...How long was I under it’s influence for?” asked Eclipse, slowly standing back up.

“One hour, forty-two minutes, and seventeen seconds as of now, master,” said the unicorn, bowing respectfully.

“Hmmm, that was quite awhile, still was a surprise that so called spirit managed to break through my mental defenses that easily… I might not be as close to my full-strength, if it took that easy to break for a semi demi-god to crack them. Either case, we should go, no doubt the lingering energies will be sensed by the princesses soon.”

Nodding in agreement, the unicorn uses a claw on her right hoof to rip open a dark portal, first letting her master to enter first, then herself next. The two left just moments when both alicorn sisters arrived to search for the mysterious creature that attack them back at Canterlot. Having lost trace of the creature, they sensed a second unfamiliar energy signature that neither can recognize or understand; later on the two will soon sense Discord being sealed once more, heading back to Ponyville to congratulate Twilight and her friends at their victory… and to warn them of another threat that may still be lingering in Equestria.

---

Sometime later – Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library; 9:15pm

After being congratulated by both Princesses Celestia and Luna, and given warning of another threat out there, the town slowly returned to a sense of normalcy. Celestia promised to send a team of builders to do any repairs in Ponyville as well as the surrounding area due to Discord’s actions. Many of the ponies who were evacuated to nearby bunkers soon returned to their homes or at least what may had remained, so some of the townsfolk were given lodging in the town hall or some of the spacious barns in Sweet Apple Acres until their homes were repaired.

As Twilight sat at her desk in her room, she thought back to the words Discord said before they were returned by that mysterious portal in Discord’s dimension.

What could Discord be talking about? Is Eclipse hiding something… I mean I haven’t known him for long and technically speaking the girls only knew him for a month prior to my arrival in Ponyville. Sure he has some secrets that we don’t know or understand, but could it be that bad…

Sighing to herself in frustration with all these complicated thoughts, Twilight decides to sleep earlier than she usually would, hoping an early night’s sleep will help.

As Twilight began to slowly close her eyes, the deep embrace of sleep welcomed her; elsewhere, outside the library, on top the rooftop of the town hall stood Eclipse.

He overlooked the entirety of the town before turning to face two cloaked ponies – one was the unicorn who freed him from his possession who had their hood off, revealing their head and short-mane. The other individual was the Ominous Presence who spoke to Pristine in secret, he had his hood still on, only his snout being visible to the moonlight that bathed the town.

“Report.”

“Besides that spirit of chaos having nothing to do with the Chaos we know, while the entirety of Equestria, especially Canterlot was preoccupied, we managed to explore a little more of the Church’s major locations. There’s a hidden lower level under the Church’s cathedral in Canterlot, as well as two other major structures, one in Baltimare and another somewhere just far south, near the Forbidden Jungle.”

“Excellent, for now continue monitoring their actions until the preparations have been made, is that clear, Dark,” said Eclipse, gazing at the Ominous Presence, now named Dark.

“As you command my liege, it’ll be done,” said Dark, bowing.

After hearing Dark’s report, Eclipse turned to the unicorn with a somewhat, gentler gaze than his usual neutral flat one.

“How are the preparations with preparing a gateway within the tunnels at Canterlot?”

“They are… sufficiently done, however, the energy output isn’t enough… I need to borrow the energy signatures of items and artifacts from this realm, if I were to use something not belonging here, the energy signature will be noticeable almost immediately… Master, why must we do things this way and not strike now, none shall impede us as we deal a heavy blow to our enemy?”

Eclipse stayed silent but continued his gentle gaze, before placing a hoof on the unicorn, causing her in question to frown and lower her sight.

“It is so we aren’t noticed before the blow has been made… for now we should siphon the lingering energies from this realm’s sun and moon, the energy output will be enough and nobody shall notice due to both alicorns being present almost constantly in Canterlot. Those that notice would assume it is simply the lingering auras of the sisters… not realizing we are building up enough energy to obliterate a mountain…”

“Or to transport a hidden army… of course master, I am sorry for doubting your judgment… forgive me-”

“Forgiveness isn’t necessary my protege… Now we must move on with the next stage of the plan, the next and final stage shall begin by next year of the first month. Once everything is ready, those that enacted the flames, shall be bathed in the fire they worship.”

Afterwards, a swirling black portal soon appeared, both Dark and Eclipse’s protege stepped through the portal, leaving Eclipse alone to stare at the starry night sky. Closing his eyes in self contemplation, he could vaguely hear the chaotic laughter that dwelt deep within his soul, the voice of madness roaring within his psyche, knowing that this was far from close to the end.

Reopening his eyes, he soon gazes toward the portal and walks through it, leaving the townhall rooftop, towards an unknown future.

Author's Note:

And that is the end of part two of the prologue of Arc 2 - The Warrior, things are beginning to escalate, expect - hopefully - more action-packed chapters, as we are entering S2 territory and with, new characters, familiar faces, and most importantly, a villain to face against.

See you all for what's to come next! Also here is the opening theme for Arc 2: The Warrior

---

Next Time: Some voices can be heard, some voices aren't meant to be, and some... are left heard yet distant. Voices, voices, voices...

Thoughts:
Twilight Sparkle
Luna
Celestia
Discord

Narration/Dialogue:
[???Corrupted~ ~Data???]
Discord

Comments

[John bostock]

So he's planning an invasion

[Nightmare_Me]

It’s alive!

[Calmflame]

YES!!!! MORE!!!