The Final Stand
Discord lifted his head and his vision spun. Then he saw her. “Fluttershy?”
The pegasus lying in a hospital bed stirred. Gently, Discord crawled out of his bed and onto hers. He sat beside her and stroked her mane, watching her even and easy breaths. After a few quiet minutes, Fluttershy’s eyes cracked open.
“Discord? Where are we? What happened?”
“We seem to be in a hospital room, but that’s all I can remember.”
“Oh.” Sitting up, Fluttershy leaned into Discord and gazed around the room, trying to jog her memory. “Oh!” She exclaimed when her eyes landed on her own cloven hooves. Discord noticed as the mare stood to scrutinize the rest of her body that her movements now looked strong and healthy. “Someone did this to me,” she remarked, gesturing to herself.
“You’re right.” Discord rubbed his chin. “It was… It was Sombra! I rescued you from Sombra and brought you here!”
“Sombra,” she muttered, her eyes darkening. “I remember he convinced me you weren’t coming.”
Now Discord leaped up and levitated above the bed, subconsciously catching his tail in a stranglehold. “Well I remember he tricked you into loving him! I remember he convinced himself he loved you back, and he came to try to steal you away again!”
“And then you two were fighting! Oh, I was so scared I felt like I couldn’t move! Discord, I didn’t know who to root for. I didn’t want Sombra to get hurt—I still thought I loved him!”
Discord landed back on the bed and studied Fluttershy’s eyes. “You don’t still think that, do you?”
“I, well, no. I think something you said changed my mind.”
“Say, what happened to that pitiful unicorn, anyway? I remember fighting him, but I can’t recall how it all ended!”
“I think… I think he was about to kill you. Suddenly, I was so angry, and then, then there were crystals everywhere, and I felt like I was losing control of myself.”
Discord grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders. “What happened?”
“I don’t remember! I think I wasn’t quite myself at that point.”
“Gaah! Well we’re here and Sombra’s not, so it must have been something good. Let’s go see if we can find out!”
Discord’s teleportation landed them right outside the door of Fluttershy’s former hospital room. The mare tried jiggling the handle, but it was locked.
A hippogryph appeared around a corner of the hallway and started running at them. “Hey! What are you doing out here? You can’t go in there!”
“Alright, we do this my way!” Discord grabbed the handle and melted it in his paw. The door then swung open, Discord and Fluttershy dashed inside, and Discord fashioned a new lock onto the door out of a carrot he pulled out of his ear. A few seconds later, there was a jiggle, but the hippogryph in the hallway failed to get the door to open. Discord and Fluttershy turned around to investigate the room.
Their mouths fell agape. They were not in a hospital room, but an immense cave of clear, glowing crystals. In the center, they found Sombra, encased in the largest one.
Discord gawked at the still figure, then turned to Fluttershy and furrowed his brow. “Remember anything yet?”
Fluttershy didn’t stop staring at Sombra. “Yes…” Haltingly, as vague memories flowed in, Fluttershy told a transfixed Discord her story as she grew the cave, imprisoned Sombra, and healed her friend. “How did I do all that?”
Discord started laughing as realization struck. “My dear, you used chaos magic!”
“Huh?”
“Yes! Sombra had poisoned your heart and you were dying, so to save you, I switched our hearts!” Discord laughed again, and put his ear up to Fluttershy’s chest to listen. “That’s my heartbeat in there! You had chaos magic in your veins and somehow you wielded it!”
“Really?” Fluttershy held Discord’s gaze in wonder.
“And the switch must have worked! Look how much better you are!”
“But if you had my heart and it was sick, didn’t it hurt you?”
Then Discord leaned down and wrapped Fluttershy in a hug. “It certainly did, my dear, but not nearly as much as losing you would have hurt.”
Fluttershy blushed as she hugged the draconequus back. “Thank you.”
They both stood and breathed, savoring each others’ touch.
“Wait, we can’t just be hanging around here!” Discord shot up. “Your friends are in great danger. We have to go help them!”
“Oh my! But what about him?” She pointed to Sombra.
“Good point. First, here.” He snapped, and Fluttershy felt a brief rush behind her ribs. “We each have our own hearts again. And now...” Discord made broad motions with his arms as if he were gathering up a giant wad of something and crushing it down to fit in his palm. As he did, Fluttershy watched the crystal cave shrink, leaving only her old hospital room, completely back to normal, in its stead. Discord tossed up his ball of crumpled space and caught it again. “I had put a pocket dimension in this room for the battle. Now it can go right back in my pocket, and Sombra with it!”
Discord pulled out a section of his skin to form a pocket and dropped the dimension inside. Then he scooped up Fluttershy and with a snap, they vanished from the room.
“I will handle them.” Celestia now stood over the circle of friends, ignoring the blood caked to her muzzle. “Go and do what you need to do.” She was visibly shaking.
“But princess—”
“Now!”
Twilight teleported herself and her four friends away immediately. While Cozy Glow aimed Yksler’s Helm at them to try to halt the spell, Celestia fired a hasty blast right at the filly’s head. The magical impact hit the helm and nothing else, sending it careening off into the battlefield. Cozy Glow dove after it.
Lord Tirek watched unamused as his partner disappeared. “That will only delay the inevitable, you know.”
“A delay may be all I need!” Celestia powered her magic and Tirek did the same.
Starlight darted behind one boulder and then another for cover. “Think, think, think,” she muttered. Every few seconds, between incoming bursts of magical blasts and flying arrows, the unicorn would pause and cast a spell.
Removing the helmets did nothing. Halting spells only froze attackers for a few seconds. Desist spells would make them drop their weapons, but they’d immediately pick them up again. Awakening spells seemed to do the most. The green glow of her brainwashed friends’ eyes would diminish and they would vigorously shake their heads, but the effect never lasted. Starlight kept thinking and dodging and casting.
Finally, she tried a variant awakening spell combined with a clarity spell. The unicorn it hit halted, the green glow of his eyes vanished, and he removed his helmet.
“Sunburst? Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Starlight bounded up to her friend and lead him behind a boulder out of the line of fire.
“I… I think so. What’s going on?”
“You were brainwashed by King Sombra and fighting with him and his league of villains to take over Equestria.” Starlight hugged her friend. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay!”
She was so glad indeed, that she didn’t notice as Sunburst’s frame grew larger under her arms. Starlight didn’t even pull back until she heard the wrong voice laughing maniacally.
“What a simple little foal you are!”
This wasn’t Sunburst; it was Queen Chrysalis! Starlight fired up an attack.
“Don’t even try,” Chrysalis laughed again. Then she opened her mouth and drained some of Starlight’s love. Once in the Queen’s grasp, the unicorn was powerless to attack or escape. And when Chrysalis finally dropped her, she found she couldn’t move, for her hooves were trapped in green slime.
“Thank you for that refreshing snack. I may return for the rest of your love later. If you’re still alive, that is!” Queen Chrysalis flew off with a final chuckle.
An arrow struck the ground in front of Starlight as magic lasers flew overhead. She swallowed, and her face went white.
Rainbow Dash was standing again, but Applejack could see she was working hard to disguise the pain on her face.
“Alright girls, let’s do this!” Twilight powered her horn and her eyes started to glow. The others all tensed and shut their eyes in concentration as they lifted off the ground. Purple sparks erupted. Then some orange, and white, and pink. A rainbow stream of light began to weave among them.
Cozy Glow arrived, wearing Yksler’s Helm again. “Stop, in the name of me!” A white pulse went out and the filly looked among the floating, glowing ponies expectantly, but they were not disarmed. “What? Why won’t this stupid thing work?” She exclaimed.
All of a sudden, the rainbow dropped, and five ponies fell.
Rarity landed on her hooves with her amulet and horn already flaming red. “You little beast!”
“Aaah!” Cozy Glow retreated immediately.
“Rarity, we almost had it!” Rainbow Dash growled.
“Sorry darling,” Rarity retorted, clearly not sorry. “I simply cannot channel generosity or kindness or anything friendly in the presence of such a vile, dastardly character!” She gave her mane a flip.
“But how are we gonna beat the bad guys if you don’t make friendship magic with us?” Pinkie Pie pouted.
“Well, I suppose we can try again if we must, but—“
Twilight interjected. “Rarity, I think the Alicorn Amulet might be getting to your head. Maybe you could concentrate on friendship better if you took it off...”
“Take it off, now?! But this beautiful trinket is my only defense, my greatest power! Oh, I get it. You just want to see me fall!” With the last statement, Rarity lunged at Twilight, horn glowing and teeth bared. Applejack covered her eyes. Rainbow Dash crouched to pounce but fell over in pain instead. Pinkie Pie launched herself into the scuffle.
There was a blinding flash of light.
“Just what is going on here?” A large balloon appeared over the ponies’ heads and promptly popped. The noise and burst of air caused the four standing friends to fall backward onto their haunches, and the fighting stopped. After a pause for recognition,
“Discord! Are we ever glad to see you!” Twilight stood again and smiled, relief written all over her face.
“Who’s that?” Pinkie Pie gestured to the figure in Discord’s arms.
“Don’t you recognize your own pal Fluttershy?” The draconequus glanced back and forth to survey the battlefield as he replied, and the pony he held waved sheepishly. “No time for long explanations. You guys do your sparkly rainbow friendship thingy, and I’ll go see what I can do out there in the meantime.” Discord set Fluttershy down, put a safety helmet on his head, and whizzed away down an invisible zipline.
Nopony said anything as they stared at the stranger that was supposedly Fluttershy.
“Um, sorry to surprise all of you like this, but I’ll be happy to tell you all my story later. For now, could we pretty please do our friendship magic and stop all this awful fighting?”
Twilight opened her mouth to agree, but Rarity jumped forward first.
“NO! You all just want to steal my power, but I won’t let you!”
“Um—”
“It’s the Alicorn Amulet,” Twilight explained, “and we didn’t have any choice but to use it. The wearer is the only one who can remove it, but she refuses!”
“Oh my. Um, Rarity...”
The unicorn turned to Fluttershy with a snarl on her lips. Fluttershy kept her head low and took a step forward.
“You know I would never want to take away your confidence, but I think you don’t need that amulet as much as you think you do.”
Rarity’s horn glowed red. Fluttershy took another step forward. Everypony else held their breath.
“My friend Rarity is the boldest, chic-est, most beautiful pony I know. Her generous spirit is so powerful, it helped even a shy, weak little pony like me learn how to be confident and love herself.” Fluttershy had kept advancing toward her friend, and now that she was right in front of Rarity, she embraced her. “I missed you, Rarity. I still do, because you’re not yourself.”
The unicorn tensed at Fluttershy’s touch. In a few seconds, she relaxed, and in a few more, she de-powered her horn. “Dearest Fluttershy, you’ve been gone so long, and it looks like you’ve suffered so very much.” Rarity pulled out of the hug and looked her friend in the eyes. “I’ve decided to give you a gift in celebration of your safe return.”
Slowly, haltingly, Rarity sat and bent her hooves to the back of her neck. The Alicorn Amulet fell away and landed in the dust. Then the unicorn grinned and hugged Fluttershy again. While they were thus occupied, Twilight hastily teleported the amulet away to Canterlot Castle.
“Sorry for all the fuss, Twilight,” Rarity said when the hug broke. “I believe I’m quite ready to save Equestria now.”
“HALT, CENTAUR!”
Tirek turned away from Celestia to frown at Nightmare Moon. “What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“THAT PONY IS OURS. DO NOT STAND IN THE WAY OF OUR REVENGE.”
“What, and sacrifice this feast of magic just so you can live your petty fantasy? I don’t think so!” Lord Tirek and Nightmare Moon squared up to each other.
“Well, if you two can’t reach an agreement, maybe neither of you should have her!” The two villains turned in time to see Discord jump off an invisible zipline and stick a landing between them and Princess Celestia.
The Princess, standing but barely, perked up. “Discord. I am glad to see you.”
“I’m sure you are. Now, which of you shall I pummel into interdimensional quantum space dust first?”
Lord Tirek responded by giving Nightmare Moon a great shove to the side. “Nevermind, Moony, you can have your revenge. I want the draconequus!”
Nightmare Moon launched herself at Celestia. Tirek prepared to attack, but Discord summoned a giant pot of honey which poured itself over the centaur’s head. Snorting out smoke, Lord Tirek pawed the ground and charged.
“Tirek, desist,” a new voice commanded. Grogar marched into view. “I cannot allow you to consume Discord’s magic. You may become too powerful, and our league must maintain balance.”
“Oh, so you would have his magic, then!” Tirek bristled.
Discord crossed his arms. “Excuse me, I’m right here.”
“I know you are!” Grogar suddenly launched a bubble of magic at Discord which popped against his leg. The burst felt sharp, but Discord was too focused on retaliation to investigate an injury. Instead, he snapped his claw and a hundred pink blossoms sprouted from Grogar’s horns, continually dropping petals in the goat’s eyes.
“Very funny,” he grumbled, shaking the flowers away. “Tirek! Seek other prey!” Grogar caused a great gale of wind to erupt from the staff he held and carry the centaur to the other side of the battlefield. Then, speaking to Discord, “Do you really think you can defeat me?”
“I have no doubt of it!” Discord summoned a trio of porcupines and launched them at Grogar’s face. The porcupines screamed battle cries as they soared through the air.
Grogar deflected them with a shield of magic energy. “Well, I’m more worried about them than you.” He looked over where Twilight and her friends were gathered in the distance. Then he stepped upward and began galloping across the air. “I’ll deal with you later!”
“Oh no, you don’t!” Discord pursued, launching eclectic bursts of magic along the way.
Behind them, there was a dark explosion studded with stars. And there was a piercing scream, and a roiling, triumphant laugh.
The rainbow was just starting to weave between the six friends when Grogar’s landing jolted away their connection. “I don’t think so,” growled the goat.
“I don’t either!” Discord landed on Grogar’s back and roped him in a flaming harness. “YeehaACK!”
Now Discord appeared to be chocking himself with his own hands. While he was thus occupied, Grogar reared up to slide him off his back, then tore off the harness and stomped it into the ground.
“What’s the matter, Chaos Lord? Something in your throat?” Grogar grinned and Discord released himself, collapsing to the ground. The ponies moved as if to help their friend, but his face kept contorting back and forth between expressions of fear and malice.
“League, to me!” Grogar shouted across the battlefield, then turned his eyes back to Discord. The Lord of Chaos snapped, and Lord Tirek, Cozy Glow, Queen Chrysalis, and Nightmare Moon instantly appeared in a circle around the ponies. Grogar looked among them and muttered “Where is Sombra?”
“What are you doing to me?” Discord wheezed, still unable to get up. The ponies arranged themselves back into their magic circle.
“No matter!” Grogar shouted. He stomped and caused the ground to break up, some patches rising and others falling, thus tearing the friends and their magic apart again.
When she recovered her balance, Twilight roared. “I know who you are Grogar, and you won’t prevail!”
“Oh, won’t I? Since Discord so kindly returned to join my side, I cannot lose!”
“No!” Discord was flailing, but couldn’t seem to get control of himself. “Th-that’s not! I’m not on your side!”
“Maybe you aren’t,” chuckled the goat, “but your body and your magic now are! I struck you with a possession shard; the more you use your magic, the more control I gain over your will. And now that I can control your magic,” Discord snapped and fireworks made of fireflies exploded overhead, “you are powerless to resist! But don’t worry—I’ll make sure to reward you with an equal share of rulership in my kingdom.”
“WHAT?” The rest of the league exclaimed in unison.
“You would diminish each of our promised lands just so you can reward this last-second addition, who isn’t even fighting willingly for us?” Queen Chrysalis hissed.
Tirek shook his head and crossed his arms. “First Nightmare Moon, and now this? You already denied me the power I required to fight at my full strength, and now you add more and more unnecessary members to our league!"
“UNNECESSARY?!” Nightmare Moon glared. “WE WOULD HAVE THEE KNOW THAT WE HAVE PERMANENTLY INCAPACITATED THAT MISERABLE ALICORN PRINCESS CELESTIA—SINGLE-HOOFEDLY!”
Twilight gasped at this news. Lord Tirek began shouting over Nightmare Moon. Discord continued to writhe.
“So, uh,” Cozy Glow flew up to Grogar. “Are we gonna cut King Sombra out of our little rulership-inheritance thingy since he’s playing hooky?”
But Grogar didn’t hear the question. His face was taught with a smile and he was powering up the staff. “Twilight Sparkle!” He announced. “Your friendship magic overcame each of these pitiful characters I now command. I have been studying you, and I have finally mastered the technique that will end you and your precious harmony once and for all!”
Grogar, Cozy Glow, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Nightmare Moon all rose in a circle above the circle of ponies, and Discord flew up in the center and above all. The other villains were still arguing and glaring at each other when Discord’s eyes shone white and five streams of wild, sparking magic burst from his chest. A stream fell onto each of the villains’ shoulders, and everycreature went quiet with fear and wonder. Except for Grogar, who never stopped grinning. A black ribbon extended in either direction from his chest and grew to connect the whole league of villains.
“Behold, ponies, the magic of enmity!” At Grogar’s declaration, magic cascaded out of Discord’s body and down into the connected five. A beam of pulsing, blistering gray and red proceeded from each of them and joined into a massive, swirling storm. It stewed and thundered, kicking up a ferocious wind that tore across the whole battlefield. And then it dropped and berated the six ponies below.
Discord may have been unwillingly supplying the magical fuel for the attack, but he was still conscious, and he was in agony for his friends. They were consumed. How long did that awful magic fall? Seconds, minutes? Hours?
That rushing sound, was it the gale, or was it a scream?
That streak of red, was it the storm, or was it blood?
That crackle in the aether, was it lightning, or was it a spirit fleeing a body?
Was it her spirit?
Discord could see Grogar, too, was conscious, and wore a victorious expression. It angered him.
He tried to flee, to fall, to flail, anything, but he could not move and he could not stop the flow of magic. Well, he may not have his body or his magic, but he had his mind, and the mind of the Lord of Chaos is a very unpredictably powerful thing. Discord sucked in a huge breath.
And stopped his own heart.
His magic flickered, and in a few seconds, it went out entirely. Discord plummeted while the rest of the league descended more slowly. The ponies were on the ground and moaning, but alive. They had all faded to almost completely grayscale.
“What?” Grogar was practically foaming as he snapped at the fallen Discord. “I command you to rise!”
No response.
“Rise, you imbecile, rise!”
Twilight rose instead. “You’re wrong, Grogar. Enmity is not powerful enough to destroy friendship. Friendship creates harmony, while enmity is created by chaos. But the Spirit of Chaos found friendship!”
By now, the other ponies were rising to their hooves. The villains were dazed by the power that had flowed through them, Grogar was snarling, and Twilight continued.
“And when he found friendship, he didn’t want to create enmity anymore. Discord sacrificed himself for his friends, and now friendship will prevail! Ready girls?”
""READY!""
They joined hooves, and the rainbow started to form again, restoring color to each pony in turn as it reached them.
Grogar tried to retaliate, but the friendship magic swirling around the ponies simply snuffed his magic out like a candle flame. The rest of the league all watched in resigned amusement as their leader flailed and screamed; most of them had experienced this once already and knew resistance was impossible.
The rainbow poured onto each of the villains and then flooded out over the whole landscape. When the intense light faded and the rainbow evaporated, the sun shone.
Grogar had been vaporized, and the staff and his collar lay on the ground. Lord Tirek was slim and frail. Queen Chrysalis was a tiny green changeling egg. Cozy Glow was locked in a magical bubble, with Yksler’s Helm on the ground outside her reach. Nightmare Moon was little, de-powered Luna again. The din of battle had ceased, for all brainwashed ponies had been freed.
“Discord!” Fluttershy stumbled to Discord’s body, and her friends quickly followed her. The draconequus had a bluish cast, and he lay eerily still. “No, no!” Fluttershy started chest compressions.
“Let me do that part.” Twilight pushed Fluttershy toward Discord’s head and lowered her horn to his chest. “Stay back, everypony.” There was a jolt. The unicorn provided the compressions, and then Fluttershy filled Discord’s lungs once, twice. A jolt, compressions, borrowed breaths, they repeated several times, and minutes passed.
Fluttershy thought hard as she worked. “Twilight. This is going to sound crazy and it’s going to require a lot of explanation later, but—” she breathed into Discord again, “—but Discord’s heart knows my body, and my heart knows his body. Could you try switching our hearts?”
“What? No! What if you die, or both of you die? I won’t do it!”
“But this isn’t working, and it might be Discord’s only chance!”
“NO.”
“Twilight, please switch our hearts!” And then Fluttershy promptly collapsed onto Discord, and both creatures in the pile were so, so still.
Twilight froze mid-compression.
Applejack and Rarity traded glances.
Rainbowdash chewed on her hoof.
Pinkie Pie stared with laser focus, her whole body vibrating.
After a moment, the four ponies all turned and glared at Twilight.
“It wasn’t me! I didn’t!” Twilight glanced over her hooves. “I-I don’t think I did...”
“Well don’t ya’ll just stand there!” Applejack started pulling Fluttershy to lay her on her back on the ground. “Little help, Twi?”
But there was a sharp cough, and a desperate gasp. Discord shot up.
“What happened? Did you win?”
Twilight was reeling in confusion and shock, but she managed to point at Fluttershy and bark “Yes. Help.”
“For the love of chaos, what is this?” Discord had his ear to Fluttershy’s chest in an instant. Pinkie Pie bounded up to him, smiling now. Her left eye was winking and her ear twitched in bursts of three, so she had all the confidence in the world.
“Fluttershy was so worried about you, she asked Twilight to switch your hearts! And then Twilight was like ‘no,’ and Fluttershy was all ‘yes,’ and then she fell on top of you!”
Discord relaxed. “Oh, well, if that’s the case, this will be an easy fix!” The ponies all stared in confusion. Pinkie Pie thought Twilight looked especially funny and laughed at her furrowed brow and open mouth as Discord positioned his paw over Fluttershy’s chest.
A shiver ran up the draconequus’s spine, down his arm, and into Fluttershy. Discord withdrew his hand, and the pegasus inhaled. The ponies all cheered.
“Well done, my little ponies.” Princess Celestia landed nearby. “And Discord too, I see.”
There was a silence, and Twilight was the first to break it. “Princess, your… your horn!”
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Sorry this review took me so long and that you only get one for several awesome chapters.
So the ideas you used that I loved in particular were...
I hope my list makes up for my lack of loyalty, and I'm so excited for the rest.
9840209
Thank you for all the kind words! I'll admit I was afraid for a bit that I scared you off with all my headcannons. Glad to learn that wasn't the case!
Anyway, I've really appreciated all of your comments along the way, but I know that life is life sometimes and that's okay!