The Equestria Chronicles: Prelude

by Slippin_Sweetie

Discord Before Dishonor

As the Mare’s and Spike rushed to Rarity’s Boutique, Starlight made it a point to watch from a distance before she quietly snuck into the Castle, its Crystal Interior, and large scale impressed her, perhaps after her revenge. If she was successful enough, this could be her home.

The thought was tantalizing, but she quickly shook it off; now was the time to think of the here and now and the labyrinth that was in front of her. “Now, where exactly is that map….” pondered Starlight as she quietly crept through the castle hallways.

Eventually, she’d find the throne room through much trial and error. Starlight sighed, “I knew I should’ve just picked the room with the biggest doors in this place.” She’d grumble to herself.

Starlight went to the glowing Crystal map; her eyes lit up at the majesty and beauty of it, how it was perfect in every sense. The crystal was excellent, and how the map represented Equestria and the Griffinlands perfectly. Down to every tree.

Starlight didn’t hesitate and quickly pulled out a sheet of paper and quill before she began scribbling and copying where Twilight would go and how she could use each place to her advantage.

Perhaps she could use the Crystal Mountains and cause an avalanche once they needed to reach Yak Yakistan. Maybe she could misdirect and cause them to get lost in the deserts of Saddle Arabia. There were many opportunities and choices at hoof, all of which she’d use.

Twilight examined the three fillies alongside Doctor Greymare, who shook his head disapprovingly,

“Their condition is excellent, no fever, broken bones, and their vitals are fine. Er, tell me again, WHY exactly can’t you get out of the bed?” asked Doctor Greymare.

Scootaloo shrugged, “We don’t feel like it.”

“Uh huh….” Doctor Greymare slowly turned to Twilight, “I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do. This problem is rooted in magic, and what ails them isn’t an illness or disease.” He shook his head, “I’m sorry.”

Twilight, who was biting her cheek during the entire examination, gave a slow nod to the Doctor, “Thank you, Doctor, you are dismissed.”

As Doctor Greymare stepped out of the room, Rarity quickly fell to the bedside and turned to Twilight, “Oh, this is terrible! What are we going to do, Twilight!?” Pleaded Rarity.

Twilight gently rubbed her friend’s back with her right hoof, “We’re going to take a deep breath and see if we can fix this.” She’d turn toward the Fillies, who, despite the emotional state of Rarity, were unnaturally calm and apathetic toward the situation; at most, they gave a passing glance to each other.

“It’s like they had the life sucked out of them!” Wailed Rarity, “Sweetie Bell, say something, anything!”

Sweetie Bell blinked slowly before letting a quiet, ‘Eh’ slip from her lips.

Twilight snapped her head toward Rarity, “Wait, what did you say?”

“It’s like they had the life sucked out of them?” Sniffled Rarity.

“That’s it! It all makes sense; if a Cutie Mark represents someone’s special talent, then taking that away would make somepony without their Cutie Mark unexceptional, like the ponies from Our Town.”

“But they didn’t have their cutie marks; that monster Starlight gave them those horrible, awful Cutie Marks.” Sobbed Rarity,

“No, she didn’t, Rarity; Starlight used a removal spell on them, but there’s one problem. A Cutie Mark doesn’t define everything about you; a Cutie Mark doesn’t define your character and personality.” Explained Twilight.

“So what you’re saying is, Starlight removed their…personality? Oh my goodness!” Rarity quickly turned to Sweetie Bell, “Sweetie, this isn’t true; don’t you want to do something? Knitting, perhaps?”

Sweetie Bell raised her brow, slowly opening her mouth, as Rarity leaned closer expectantly.

“I…. don’t want to.” Yawned Sweetie Bell.

“You can say that again.” Lazily smirked Scootaloo.

“And how.” Remarked Applebloom.

Spike slowly clambered to the top of the bed before walking over to the three, waving his hand in front of their faces, watching the fillies’ eyes lazily follow his hand before giving Twilight an inconclusive shrug.

“On the bright side, their personalities aren’t all gone; we still have time to fix this. Rarity, get everyone. I’ll stay here and see if I can fix this with my magic.”

“Yes, do that! Sweetie Bell, girls, you just sit tight!” Rarity pressed as she galloped out of the room. Twilight turned back to the fillies, raising an eyeglass with her magic, and began examining them.

“You know, you’re taking an awfully boring approach to this.” Blurted Discord.

Twilight shrieked as she dropped the eyeglass, which now had a pair of yellow eyes and a snaggle-toothed smile looking back at her.

“Discord, what are you doing here?” Questioned Twilight.

Discord promptly revealed himself, stretching himself out as an audible set of cracks and squeaks were heard, “Oh well, I was just in the neighborhood when I heard the panicked shrill screams of our friend Rarity; she went something like this.”

Discord cleared his throat before mockingly imitating Rarity, letting out a half-hearted shrill scream. As he sarcastically feigned panic and dramatically raised his hands to his face.

“Discord! Not the time!” Snapped Twilight as she attempted to return to her examination of the fillies, taking a deep breath as she bowed her head and pointed her horn at the fillies as a purple glow slowly began to encompass her horn.

Discord quietly sat in a nearby chair as he pulled a bag of chips from thin air, quietly snacking as he watched Twilight attempt to perform her magic. He was stuffing a large handful of chips into his maul as he, rather loudly, crunched.

Twilight quickly lost focus of the spell before she turned to face Discord, stamping her hooves in annoyance, “Discord, if you aren’t going to help, you can leave.” Twilight blurted, desperately trying to control herself.

Discord gestured toward the fillies in reply; Twilight quickly turned back; her jaw dropped to the floor as she watched the fillies focus on Discord with genuine interest.

“I-what? What are you doing?” Twilight asked curiously.

Discord shrugged, “Perhaps they’re attracted to my charming personality.” he joked.

Twilight pondered for a moment before quickly looking between the fillies and Discord, “Discord, what do you know about Cutie Marks?”

“Oh, the same as everypony else, special talent, the thing that makes them unique, all that wonderful shlock. Not that I would personally know since I don’t have one.” Grumbled Discord.

“So you’re aware of the importance of having one as a pony, right?” Reaffirmed Twilight.

Discord chortled, “Yes! Where is this going?”

Twilight ripped the bedsheets off the fillies, revealing their dull grey Cutie Marks. Discord stroked the hairs on his chin with peaked interest, “....What am I looking at?”

Twilight paused, bashfully looking away before awkwardly chuckling, “Oh right, we never told you about that,” She’d clear her throat, “So when the map first called us, we went to a little town that had a friendship problem, and basically we ruffled a few feathers.”

“Don’t you always.” Scoffed Discord.

“Riiiight….and now there’s somepony who is most likely seeking revenge against us but…I don’t know why she picked on Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, and Applebloom…. wouldn’t she just go straight to us?”

Discord tsk’d, shaking his head, “No offense, Twilight, but you’re way out of your depth.”

“What do you mean? I’ve dealt with Starlight before; I’ve dealt with evil threats before too!” Argued Twilight.

“The problem is you don’t think the way she does; if you want to find Starlight, you have to think like Starlight…and to think like Starlight well… you’ll have to be….evil.” Chuckled Discord.

Twilight sighed as she relented to Discord, “What do you mean, Discord?”

“You need to think like a bad guy, the plotting, scheming, and of course,” Discord snapped his claws as a large throne appeared behind him before he gleefully took a seat, “Your excessively large and intimidating throne!”

“First, the plotting; if I were her, I’d snoop around and gather as much information as possible, so why don’t you look around while I do steps two and three, the scheming in my large throne.”

Twilight stared at Discord for a moment before shaking her head, “But where would I go? What am I looking for exactly?”

“Well, if you were trying to spy on a group of your enemies in a small village like this, I personally wouldn’t or couldn’t stay in town. Suffice to say, I’d go to the only place available to something like me, which is?” Discord gestured to Twilight with an open paw as he expectantly waited for an answer.

“The Everfree forest….”

“Bingo! Look at you; I’m so proud that I could just pinch your cheek.” Fawned Discord as he pinched Twilight’s cheek.

Twilight quickly pulled away, grumbling, “I guess I’ll look in the Everfree Forest, but what about the girls?”

“Oh, I’ll think of something with Fluttershy and our friends, don’t worry, you just look for our new ‘friend’ who’s planning for your downfall.” Discord waved her off before pushing Twilight out the door, “Now go out there, and remember, think like a villain!” Discord said before slamming the door behind her.

Twilight sighed, “Think like a villain…” she’d repeat as she marched toward the Everfree forest. Unsure of if she’d find anything at all, Starlight might be gone by now, but it couldn’t hurt to look for her. She needed to try for the fillies and for the safety of Ponyville.

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

“So what you’re saying is, Starlight removed their…personality? Oh my goodness!” Rarity quickly turned to Sweetie Bell, “Sweetie, this isn’t true; don’t you want to do something? Knitting, perhaps?”

Oh sweet mother of Celestia that's so low starlight

[Yoshifan30]

I would say very clever Starlight not only adding more problem you wanted Twilight out of the castle so you can check out the cutie map but you won't get away with that so Twilight tried to figure out how to take out that equal sign off of the Cutie Mark Crusaders but no luck and then Discord showed up asking what's the situation and Twilight told him about Starlight then he gave hurt some advice about being a villain and so they can find Starlight and they only location is the everfree forest so now she's heading down with the girls but unfortunately she won't be there