Spike's Nameless Brother

by Cold Spike

Chapter 26: The Truth

Princess Cadance focused on Twilight and her friends, her eyes never leaving their sight. You can do this, Twilight she thought with all of her hope.

“It won't work, you know…”

She tensed up in that moment, but was quick to turn around and scowl. “Discord…” Her head lowered as she took an offensive stance, her horn at the ready.

Discord floated above her, chuckling. “You know, I did quite grow bored of you ponies always freezing up or running away… not one for being hunters, are you?” he teased. She didn’t move, but didn’t appear to be ‘freezing up’. “Right. I suppose not you princesses, but oh… that’s why you’re so much fun!” He appeared to be gushing, then promptly snapped his talons causing the two to teleport over to two beach chairs. He was now sporting a one piece bathing suit with red and white stripes all over, and she was now donning sporting sunglasses. “Best get comfortable while we watch the end of the world,” he exclaimed with a sigh, before deflating slightly. “Pity I’m not the cause…” he said, mumbling.

“You…” Cadence attempted to get out a single sentence, but her anger toward the beast of chaos wouldn’t allow it. Just do as Twilight would, count to ten… even though I really don’t want to. After counting she turned to him, then used a tad bit of magic to snap his sunglasses in two. “How could you do that to me?!”

“Oh, it was all in good fun,” he replied casually and waved his claw in a rather lazy manner. “All I did was take a little something about you and tweaked it ever so slightly… and I may have amplified that a couple hundred times… which probably made you temporarily insane.”

In a single gesture that seemed impossibly fast, even for his standards, Discord witnessed the so called princess fly up into the air then transform into a literal ball of fire. “How dare you even think of doing such a thing!”

“I didn’t think! I don’t think! I just act! I’m sorry!” he yelled out in fear, then cowered on the ground while momentarily forgetting about his chaotic powers. “Don’t kill me!”

“I’m over here, doll,” Cadance exclaimed, just to his right.

Discord did a double take and quickly looked back and forth between what appeared to be a fiery devil from Tartarus (in the shape of her) and Princess Cadance laying on the chair he had summoned.

---

“Girls, if there was ever a time we need to hurry and do this. It’s now or never! Everypony ready?” Twilight asked hurriedly to all of her friends.

Pinkie Pie raised her hoof. “Uh, you know I have this teensy little feeling that this isn’t gonna work…”

Twilight watched the crazed creature known as Dee destroy practically everything in her path. Thankfully, no creatures got in her way… yet. The librarian knew that when it came to hunches, Pinkie was pretty much correct one hundred percent. “Pinkie! We have to try something!”

Pinkie turned somber and she began to think, a split second later she gasped. She quickly took her element off, then stuck her tongue out. “Huh? Huh?”

Twilight groaned when Dee’s whip crashed into a pillar which had been part of some old ruins. “I don’t even know why that worked! How’d is that gonna help?!” she questioned in a panic. She then suddenly felt somepony tap her on the shoulder, so she glanced behind her.

“Twi, maybe Pinkie’s onto somethin’.” Applejack spoke earnestly, but Twilight didn’t seem so convinced and only glanced back at Dee again. She tried again. “Ah mean she did that crazy thing by doing something silly, somethin’ funny. Maybe there’s more to these elements then how we’ve been using ‘em.”

Rainbow Dash flew up above them with her necklace at her side. “You mean I could just do something awesome and then--”

“Uh, wouldn’t it be loyal?” Fluttershy questioned.

Rainbow blinked, then nodded. “Loyal, right. I can just do something… like that and then something cool might happen?!” Her question was essentially rhetorical as Rainbow looked ready to burst and wanting to try at any moment.

Twilight shook her head frantically. “Girls! We don’t even know if what Pinkie did was a fluke or not. What if it’s only--” Twilight was forced to pause as another pillar came crashing down. “--if it was only isolated for Pinkie’s element? Or what if it’s too much power and one of us gets hurt?! I’ve barely had time to study the elements after all; nopony has!” Twilight felt as flustered as she could get. She wasn’t just paying attention to Dee because she was difficult to ignore; it was to ensure no one got hurt. She could, after all, theoretically teleport to almost anyone and get them out of danger. She had to be ready for anything.

Rainbow calmed down some, but her pulse quickened upon hearing another smash. “Desperate times, egghead!” Rainbow attempted to jump straight ahead, but before she could get far her wings were forcefully pulled back by a lavender-colored glow.

“Rainbow, we are doing this as a team. Got it?!” Twilight glared at Rainbow, who was now floating in mid air. Twilight wasn’t going to let her free until she nodded.

Rainbow Dash glared back and for a while none of them said anything. Eventually the mare sighed and hung her head. “Twilight, you five have been awesome friends. We’ve all stuck with each other even if one of us acts like a bone head. Or even when one of us losses our way.” Her friends looked at each other and smiled. Slowly Twilight released Rainbow from her grasp and nodded. “But I have to do this, for you five!” Just as she finished speaking a dull red glow appeared from her gem. Without noticing the glow she struck a standing up pose in mid air and pointed toward the rampaging Dee. “You are-- woah!” For the second time that day, Dee cried out in agony. A multi colored streak of lightning shot out from Rainbow’s body, almost leaching off her own colored mane and tail. Rainbow felt so dazed from the pure shock of what she did she nearly forgot to keep flapping her wings.

“A fluke, huh?” Rainbow didn’t have long to smirk or stare at Twilight’s worried expression.

“You sad excuse for a fly. I will bucking kill you!”

Twilight and her friends watched Rainbow Dash and Dee ‘dance’ around, as Rainbow shot out bolt after bolt. Dee wasn’t taking any chances and would easily teleport her entire form out of the way of each and every attempted assault.

“Hey, stop-” Pinkie paused with her talking and slipped her gem into her mouth. “-attacking my friend!” Twilight watched Pinkie run off, firing bean after bean of pink energy which practically swirled around the rainbow colored bolts of electricity.

“Uh, Twi, how--” Applejack ducked her head, narrowly missing a stray bolt. “Erm, how are they doing that? All Rainbow did was talk about us,” she pointed out and then started examining her element all over.

She shook her head and sighed. “Applejack, right now I’m trying to calculate Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s exact position while they’re in motion. Teleportation is kinda tricky like that!” she yelled frantically while her eyes zipped all around.

“Uh, but why…” Applejack trailed off when she noticed that Twilight had started on a spell.

Twilight had focused an insane amount of mana into her horn, so much that her eyes had begun to glaze over. Her gem came next with the star slowly glazing over with raw power. Applejack quickly stepped back in fear when her friend’s body had slowly begun to float high off the ground.

“Applejack,” she spoke, her voice echoed down with fear.

“Wha- what’s going on, Twilight?!”

“P- power!” Her voice cracked right before she unleashed her spell, a spell that had been quickly changed mid cast from a harmonic one to a destructive one.

Applejack watched the familiar fire-related spell hurtle toward Dee with hope that it would reach its target. Putting two and two together she started to consider things. Just how could honesty (if indeed it was elements of their own elements that activated their extended capabilities) be applied? That spell better hit, not sure that telling the truth about whatever I feel like is gonna do much of anything, she thought bitterly.

Dee had been concentrating so much that she barely had enough time to dodge the incoming projectile. Ordinarily, she would have teleported away; but with each subsequence of that she had been sapping her power. She watched the massive sun like fireball past around her with glee, but with a twinge of nervousness. “Is that all you- gah!” she screamed out in agony.

Twilight had not only just been watching their friends fly around, she had been tracking Dee’s position as well. As soon as her spell flew by, she watched Dee dodge around it. Quickly and almost painfully, she forced as much magic as she could into another spell which shifted the trajectory of her fireball backwards toward Dee. It hit her dead on.

All creatures in the vicinity watched in awe as the draconian monster was shot out of the sky with her crashing into a pillar at high speeds. When the debris and dust cleared, they could all see that she had not come out unscathed. Cuts, bruises, scrapes and mini fires littered her body. She breathed in and out, inwardly panicking. Her eyes darted all around, she noticed that each and every creature had seen that she, indeed, has a weakness. Only a matter of time before I’m taken down by those hideous ponies. I don’t have a choice. She knew she had been beaten, or would be very soon. Not enough magic to exit… but perhaps there’s another way. she thought darkly.

“Keep at it, Pinkie!” Dash yelled over the pink mare’s constant stream of harmonic energy. Rainbow flew in a circle around the pink mare, occasionally firing a bolt of her own. A sudden tidal wave of mystic energy washed over the battlefield. All though from surveying the place Rainbow seriously doubted it could be called a battle as most of them weren’t fighting. The flying mare took her eyes off of her friends for a single moment, then gasped. Dee had taken on a sudden change in appearance. In fact the air around her did as well. Dash watched another spell from Twilight launch at her, only to be knocked away effortlessly.

The girls were having difficulty assessing what they were witnessing. A strong stream of blue and purple energy was swirling around Dee. What was more curious was that it didn’t seem to be coming from her, but rather being pulled in from the sky itself.

The council of dragons not only sensed something amiss, they saw the very magic from their land being torn in from an unknown source. As did other creatures in other lands.

Princess Celestia gazed at the creature, trying her best to decipher what exactly Dee was attempting. It’s too dangerous to risk stopping her right now. Interrupting spells often lead to nasty results, particularly to the interrupter. Add to the fact that Dee was starting to look like her own sun, it just seemed too risky. So instead she considered one of two plans to get everyone out of harms way. Whatever it is, her spell must be of malicious intent. She surveyed the area and to her dismay found more creatures than she could safely handle. Still, I must try. Without bothering to double check things (including what a certain six ponies were doing) she began to cast a spell of her own. Energy started to charge into her horn. This feels more difficult than it should… what is she doing?!

“Sister!” Princess Luna cried out, as she ran up to her.

Celestia fumbled on her spell and quickly it died out, but not before feeling a twinge of pain. “W- what is it, Luna? This must be done now!”

Instead of speaking, Luna motioned to a small pebble on the ground, she gathered up a bit of magic and effortlessly lifted it off the ground. At least she didn’t appear to be straining until a few moments later. A bead of sweat fell down her head, and she let the pebble drop.

She’s pulling it all in… Celestia wracked her brain for a spell, any spell that could stop Dee. Eventually her thoughts and her eyes focused on Twilight. The elements, they… no…

On the other side of the battle, Twilight had begun to rally her friends. “Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, I don’t know how you would… activate any extra ‘power’ in your elements…” she trailed off when she noticed the whining noise that had been emanating from Dee had started to quiet down. “But right now that doesn’t matter! We have to use our Elements on her!”

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie ceased their firing to listen to their friend. It didn’t appear to be helping anymore anyway as each shot failed to actually damage Dee.

The three girls nodded, watching the miniature sun form was spooky enough. Everyone had started to back away, some creatures had run off for safety. It was moments like this that would ordinarily frighten Fluttershy out of her wits. Rare moments like this made her realize that there might not be anymore moments like it again, if she didn’t do something.

They all looked at each other and nodded. Rainbow landed near them, and shot out one last beam at Dee. “Man, girls, I feel kinda tired all of a sudden. What gives?”

Twilight considered Rainbow’s question while gazing at the false sun that was Dee. She could feel heat radiating off of it. “It must be the heat!” she guessed. “C’mon, girls. We can do this! Your Elements!”

Rainbow swiped some sweat from off of her forehead the nodded. She considered her friends, ponies who would quite literally see things through to the end with her. Her necklace had begun to glow.

Applejack glared at the menace that was Dee. As far as she was concerned, while she was still up and flying she threatened the very well being of her friends and family. Of Equestria in general too. “Girls, we can do this.” Applejack paused and waited for her friends to join ranks, to listen. “That menace there doesn’t belong here, not one bit! Why, Ah’ve seen animals in the Everfree who acted more civil. She’s practically the embodiment of evil, of everything we don’t stand for. Nopony, not our friends or families, will be safe until we take her down.” Applejack finished and stretched out her hat and made sure it was still on her head. It was time to take care of some business.

Fluttershy shuddered, while the others nodded in agreement. “Um, we’re not gonna try and… d- destroy her, right? I’m not a destroyer of things… or a k-killer.”

Applejack smiled and patted her back. “No, we’re the Elements of Harmony. She’s more chaotic than Discord. We have to stop her, we will.” In that moment Applejack’s gem glowed just as brightly as Rainbow’s. Fluttershy’s followed as well.

“R-right, you’re right.” Fluttershy smiled hesitantly and looked back up at Dee, as if challenging her.

Rarity couldn’t help but smirk. “Oh, Applejack, that was quite inspiring. I’ve always admired your speeches, so elegant. Even in the thick of battle, you keep a level head.” With that last statement, Rarity’s began to glow as well.

Each bearer of their element were able to show what they represented to Equestria. Laughter, kindness, honesty, loyalty, generosity, and finally magic. Their friendship wasn’t just required to make the elements work, it was their individual abilities, kinks and personalities that truly made them shine. They all represented harmony, something Dee would never know.

Standing together as one, their elements glowed. Twilight focused on her element, which linked the five other as one. Bright colors shot out through their trinkets, bright magic enveloped them. Their bodies floated high into the air. All six ponies focused in their minds what they wanted, they wanted Dee gone. They wanted their world safe and harmony and balance restored. They wanted, of all things, Discord to be the guy of chaos again. It was infinitely better than a crazy murderer obsessed with power and control. They focused their elements and aimed directly for Dee. THe magic of the elements shot out at an impossible fast speed, only to miss entirely. The rainbow striped beam had struck Dee dead on, but nothing happened. It appeared as if it shot right through her, and continued on to parts unknown.

The Elements of Harmony had failed.
The swirling mass of power around Dee eventually gave out, but what was left didn’t make sense to anyone. Dee was there, and yet she was not. Her body appeared to be transparent in nature, and once more she appeared completely unharmed. She unfurled her body and stretched out, then laughed. She laughed more than anypony had ever seen Pinkie at a party. Eventually, she wiped a tear and sighed. “My, you ponies certainly gave me a work out… too bad it was all for naught. Confused? Aww, don’t worry. I’ll explain as soon as you’re all safe and sound, in cages!”

Before Twilight, the princess or anyone else could respond, Dee flew over everyone. Over each group of creatures she would fly over, appear opaque again as if by some spell, then cast another that would imprison them into a cage. A familiar cage. Once finished she would vanish to become transparent again, looking entirely see through, then repeat to everyone else. She had won, by the time Twilight had figured out what was going on, her magic held no use. She could not cast a single spell, neither could the princesses.

Dee floated over to the ponies cage, ignoring the rest and smiled. “Comfy? Cozy?” she questioned calmly. Each of them backed up, feeling the cold steel bars push into their skin. “Well… I SHOULD KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU! You ruined everything! My plans, my escape routes! All of them are gone…” she said, distantly.

Twilight narrowed her eyes on Dee and shook her head in confusion. Escape route? What is she talking about?!

Dee eventually calmed down and looked up and sighed. “I won’t. I feel like a barren world is far too boring, to quote that moron I once worked with. None of you are any use to me dead… or confused. So, I’ll explain, while you’re all just sitting around.” She chuckled and cleared her throat. “You had almost beaten me, Twilight. I suppose that’s your stupid name, for a stupid pony.“

Twilight glared at her, but remained silent.

Dee continued, “When I said I wanted your dimension, I wasn’t joking. I travel dimensions, realities, realms; whatever you wish to call them. It takes quite a bit of magic to do so. I must also put up safety precautions, or there is no leaving them. Magical precautions, or safeguards. Doorways to enter and leave as I please, again this takes quite a bit of my magic.” Dee narrowed her eyes at Twilight and only Twilight; she didn’t even pay attention to her friends. “I was nearly defeated and nearly out of magic, so, in a last desperate attempt to stop you, I drained what was left of those guards. I have no way out of this place, no way back. I’m stuck here, for now.” Her body vanished for a moment, she then snapped a talon and it came back. “As you can see your little spell didn’t work, that is because I’m shifting between planes. Existing only in the ones I wish.”

Twilight focused on all the things she had learned about magic. She closed her eyes and tried to remember everything she knew on magical travel. Then she had it. “You’re Plane Shifting, Dee.”

Her draconian eyes widened in surprise, but then she smiled. “Yes, it means I can choose to exist here or not, but that doesn’t mean I get to leave. It simply governs what I can and can’t interact with. Very clever… for a stupid foal.”

Her friends looked at her in confusion. Twilight sighed. “It’s why the spell must have failed, if she choose not to exist on the same plane that we are on, then nothing would be able to touch her.”

“Correct again. Each ‘realm’ has more than one plane of existence. I’m simply phasing through them at will, if I choose to interact on yours-”

“Then you can interact with us,” Rainbow finished, banging her hoof on their cell bars.

“Correct. Oh, what would he say? This is so much fun! And to think, I wouldn’t have found this place if it hadn’t been for a single filly.” She raised a claw and in manner of moments a sign sprang up out of nowhere that lit up, pointing to Blaze Wings. The sign read ‘It was me!’ in bold letters. Some of the other unsympathetic ponies. and creatures glared at the filly who in turn sunk back into the safety of her two friends.

“Twi, what are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, Plane Shifting is supposed to be theoretical. I’m not sure what to do.” Twilight took a seat on the cold floor, looking defeated.

“That’s it, give up,” Dee taunted. “Heh, I almost did when I first came here. I figured I’d just move on after that failed experiment of mine. What was your pet’s name? Spike?”

“Hey!” Spike stood up and waved his his fist up at her in anger. “I’m not a pet!”

She snorted. “Then why do you sleep in a basket?” she asked, chuckling.

Spike’s eyes went wide. “H- how did you…”

“Oh, I wasn’t sure what to do when I got here. I had read about some heroes who could stop any foe. I needed someone on the inside,” she replied to him, making him shut his mouth. “I took just a bit of your blood while you slept. Wasn’t hard; you sleep like a baby. From that I made… him.” She pointed to the only other dragon in a cage, Shyfrost. Both dragons could only stare at one another in shock and horror. “Of course, I botched the spell by mistake, just my luck. What kind of dragon doesn’t breathe fire? Silly. I figured I couldn’t just have you walking around; you may run into them. So, I angered a few griffons, told them (in disguise of course) that a dragon had been spotted, terrorizing their young. I dropped him there and that was that.”

When she finished speaking Spike had began to hug Shyfrost, not believing the horrors he was hearing.

“After that I left this place for a few years, I never really wanted to come back, but there was just something about that filly. Coming from an alternate future? Another dimension? It made this place just seem so… enticing, so exciting even. I had to come back, so I did, and here we are. I discovered Discord and, well, you know the rest.”

Shyfrost could only shiver and think back to his earliest moments. He remembered nothing of a monster creating him, all he could think about was the griffon that saved him. Said griffon was staring at him, but he gave a subtle nod and a smile, as if to say ‘everything was going to be okay’. The young drake nodded while shaking, pondering his very being. He felt odd.

Spike, surrounded by various creatures who both friends and unknowns, walked up to Shyfrost. “Dude, did you just… flicker?”

Shyfrost blinked and raised a scaly eyebrow. “Huh?” He looked down at himself and sure enough, his body had begun to flicker, not unlike how Dee’s was. He flexed his claws and noticed that some had appeared to vanish, even if he could still feel them. “I don’t get it…”

Spike did, he smiled. “We may not be able to touch her, but I bet you can. You’re made from her, I bet whatever she’s doing, you’re doing now. I don’t know how that works, but it kind of seems like it.” Spike smiled at him, but Shyfrost shook his head and sighed.

“Yeah, made from her… real great.”

The fire drake walked right up to him and patted his shoulder, never letting his smile waver. “Yeah, she made you from me. Who cares why she did it… or how creepy it sounds. That makes us, like, brothers!”

For whatever reason, Twilight and her friends had been placed in the same cage. Meaning Twilight had heard Spike say that. She looked over and was about to rebuttal, when Spike beat her to it. “I told you he was my brother!”

“Uh, I guess that would make you his brother… not really, but you don’t have to know that,” Twilight muttered the last part, doing her best to keep her thoughts inside. Spike doesn’t need to know the ramifications of cloning and what not. Yeah…

Shyfrost smiled up at him. “Y-yeah, I guess it does.” Just as he finished his statement, his body flickered to appear entirely transparent. Then, he promptly fell through the bars and began to scream.

Thinking quickly, Shadow Mirror reached through and grabbed him with both his hooves. Both Shyfrost’s amulet and his artifact began to flicker as well. Instantly, Shadow Mirror’s body was washed over by a thin transparent looking material, giving him the same look as Shyfrost’s skin. Both creatures were now on another plane of existence, on Dee’s plane. They looked at each other and smirked.

---

“Well, uh, that just took an odd turn…” Discord uttered.

Cadence should only shiver and nod. “She’s a monster. We have to stop her.”

Discord snorted. “Well, if you look at it from the standpoint of the ‘turning griffons into violent beasts,’ then sure. She’s a monster, but she also gave life! That must count for something, right?”

Cadance glared at him. “She tried to exterminate that life,” she pointed out.

Discord nodded, looking down solemnly. “Yes, I suppose she tried… not the chaos way, indeed.”

For a split second Princess Cadance felt pity for the being of chaos. While she was still angry, she couldn’t help but notice his sour mood. It was very unlike Discord, if the stories her aunt had told her was anything to be believed. She hesitated, then spoke. “There aren’t very many of… whatever you are, are there?”

“Not really. Mom and dad are- wait, why should I tell you anything? I swear you ponies and your ways.” He folded his mismatched arms, turned around and ignored her, looking up like a snobbish noble.

“Discord…” She began, as if about to scold a child for not listening. “You’re just lonely, aren’t you?”

He started to chuckle. “No, just a very bored lord of chaos. She was my way out of it…” he replied, looking off in the distance, at a reality that only existed in his mind. He shook his head and grunted. “She just had to be… well--”

“A monster? Yes, she certainly is.” She chuckled herself and stood up from her chair. “You know, I was thinking you were; but if you can see evil in a living being, then truly you must see good as well, in others I mean.”

He snorted again. “Whatever.”

Cadance glanced back to Dee, and watched what was going on in fascination. “Those two, that’s not gonna be enough to stop her. What do we do?”

He shrugged. “Well, now that she’s distracted, I suppose I could use my magic to get all of those other creatures to safety. Not very chaotic, though.”

Cadance sighed. “Are you on our side or not?”

He looked at her in a boring manner and summoned a flag that had a pony insignia on it and lazily waved it. “Vote for the winning side, and just hope you don’t end up in stone!” He then vanished and went to work.

“He is, without a doubt, the strangest being I have ever met. And I’m in love with Shining…”

---

Shadow Mirror circled around Dee, with Shyfrost on his back. “I guess we can just phase through anything... uh, except her,” he quipped while Dee had swatted them away.

Shyfrost clutched onto Mirror for dear life, while worryingly glancing back up at Dee. “Are we even gonna question why I’m not falling?” he asked, gesturing to Shadow Mirror’s transparent form.

Discord, having heard the conversation, called up to them. “Questioning things is for bookworms, let them figure it out!” He indicated to Twilight and summoned a scientist outfit onto her. “Who cares why it’s working, now whoop her kiester!”

Unfortunately, Discord had called attention to himself. He had, in his claws, a massive pair of bolt cutters that he had summoned. Dee noticed them and sneered.

Discord sighed. “I really need to learn to keep my big mouth shut. One shot from her and I’m done for.” He snapped his talons and suddenly appeared in mid air, clutching some daisies to his heart while feigning death. He then glanced up at Shyfrost and called out again. “You gotta distract her, I’ll get the others!... Except Twilight, she scares me.”

“Shyfrost, hold on!” Mirror called out and started flying directly at Dee, interrupting her swoop by to the ground below. “We have to keep her away from the big goon, he’s saving them!”

“She’s, like, twenty times bigger than us! How are we supposed to do anything?”

Shadow Mirror couldn’t disagree, size did matter right now. Even if Shyfrost’s ice breath could touch her, he doubted it would stop her for long. “Just hang on, I’ve got an idea.” All the while he had been talking, Dee had been following them through the air. Shadow Mirror swooped down to the ground below, just barely hovering above it. “When I say now, I need you to turn around on my back and blow at her. Can you do that?”

Hesitantly he did just that, slowly turning around on his back, while they soared through the air at breakneck speeds. “O-okay…”

“Now!”

While others in the area couldn’t touch Dee, even the princesses who were being freed, Shyfrost and his ice breath could. Transparent forms of it shot out from his mouth in waves. Each one smacking into Dee’s head as quickly as Rainbow Dash could fly on a good day. Each one only angered her more and more. However, they also appeared to be slowing her down, weakening her.

What is that brat doing? It’s just ice! Hesitantly she looked back at her body and noticed with each passing explosion of ice, some had begun to stick. She tried brushing it off, but it only succeeded in getting some on her claw and talon. “No… NO!” she roared, not believing what she felt.

Shadow Mirror glanced back and slowly smiled. “It’s weakening her. Keep it up, Shyfrost!” he encouraged him.

Dee wasn’t the only one slowing down, though; with more ice came more exhaustion from the poor drake. He tried to keep up, but eventually his breath gave out. Dee saw this and smirked; all creatures had their weaknesses.

“I c-can’t… I’m out…” Shyfrost muttered, feeling more tired than he could ever remember feeling.

Shadow nodded and decided a new tactic was needed, or they would soon be in Dee’s clutches. He swooped around her and fell back to the cages. “I’ve got another idea, just hang in there, okay?”

Shyfrost turned back around and nuzzled his head into Shadow Mirror’s neck while grabbing on. “Alright.”

Right on the outside of one of the cages, Shyfrost’s group stood. Shadow looked down and smirked. “Shyfrost, did you notice our artifacts do something when we touched?”

“I think so; but why…? Oh.”

They both smirked. His ice may be out, but they still had friends who could fight back. Shadow flew down and promptly tossed Shyfrost onto the prince’s back. Instantly, the minotaur appeared transparent. Before he could fall down, he noticed Dee coming right at them. He jumped high into the air, and the two landed on her back.

“Get off me!” Dee tried to summon up a spell to do just that, but her claw felt frozen in place. What?! She looked over and inspected what was supposed to be a fully working claw. Instead, it had frozen over completely.

The prince smirked. “Can’t use any of your magic? Welcome to the club!” he jested. Although most creatures in Equestria did contain some magic, for Minotaurs it was raw strength they could channel. She didn’t need to know it, but she could certainly experience it. He brought his fist high into the air and immediately slammed it down onto one of her spines. She screamed out in agony a second later. Before he could pummel her into submission, though, she shot out downward.

“I’ll end you two, into the ground!” she announced, cackling like a mad creature.

Steel Valor looked down to the ground and connected the dots with what she wanted to accomplish, thankfully a bit early. She’s going to drag us into the ground and leave us to fall… or worse. He knew if she left them there, after falling off, she could come back and force her body to reappear again. Even if she didn’t, all it took was a simple slip to lose his physical touch with Shyfrost. As he watched the ground approach, he knew either way would be bad. Either he would fall through the earth and be trapped forever, or fall off too soon away from his drake friend and fall to his doom.

“I hope you enjoy being trapped in stone! Just like that fool!”

Shyfrost began to scream, witnessing the dirt and rocks below grow larger in his view. “What do we do?!”

Steel grabbed Shyfrost from behind his back and sighed. “Forgive me my friend.”

“What?!”

“This is going to hurt,” he announced, then promptly grabbed the end of his tail. He then positioned the dragon just above Dee’s head. Before she could retaliate, he pulled his tail with all of his strength. What came out could not only be described as pure ice, it was practically glowing like a gem. It encased Dee’s head in the stuff before they could blink. Steel smiled and just before they hit the ground, he pushed off of her while tossing Shyfrost into the air. “Shadow, catch him!”

The changeling in question did so, barely. As he caught the unmoving drake, they barely made it out without hitting the ground due to the increased weight and speed he had been falling. “Got ya!”

Steel smiled, and felt the ground coming quickly for him. So, he braced himself for either the end or a very painful crash. It never came. Instead he felt a gust of wind whirl around him, followed by himself being held upside down by his tail. I feel pain, but I see no dirt…

“Oh, I’ve got a minotaur. Collect them all!” Discord announced, while bobbing the prince up and down by the tip of his tail.

The changeling landed, momentarily forgetting that they were both still unable to touch the ground. It didn’t last long, Dee shifted back causing the ice around her to phase off. All of it. She felt dazed, hurt and exhausted. While she hadn’t crashed into the earth, as she was unable to touch it, that amount of magical ice surrounded her hadn’t done her any favors. “I’ll get that drake…” she muttered, almost feeling intoxicated. “Kill… him…” She wasn’t aware why the frost dragon’s breath could harm her so easily; she just knew it had extremely painful. She looked up and found she had been surrounded by the six mares she despised more than life itself.

“I’ll just let you all get better acquainted,” Discord announced, after dropping them off.

Dee snickered. “B- back for round two? It won't work you know…”

Discord floated above the six mares, still smiling. “Of course not. Jelly?” He offered innocently, holding out a massive jar of blue colored stuff.

She smiled, in her near drunken state of confusion, she nodded. “S- sure- wait, no!”

“If you insist!” Before she could vanish away, or even come up with the mental faculties necessary in order to do so, she was covered in the blue stuff. Her magic fizzled out, making it impossible to shift back. She looked at them and scowled. It was over. She had broken free before, but even if she had access to any of her magic, she didn’t show it.

Twilight walked up to the menace that had caused the entire mess. Before she could ask her friends to join together, Discord stopped her. He placed his talon in front of the mare and looked at her while shaking his head. Twilight hesitated, but slowly nodded.

“Dee, you could end this right now. I’d forgive you if you apologize,” Discord said, completely in earnest. Behind them all six mares shook their heads frantically; there was no forgiving what she had tried and they knew it.

Dee smiled up at him. “You know what I think?” she asked quietly, making Discord enlarge one of his ears and lean down. “I think you’re a brain-dead fool! Help me! We can stop them right now and--”

Discord nodded solemnly and placed his talon firmly to her lips. “Well, I’m afraid you must go,” he announced, making everyone turn their heads to him.

Twilight took that as as signal to get ready. “Girls, now! Your elements!”

Discord chuckled and turned around slightly, still keeping his talon firmly locked onto Dee. “Oh, you mistake me, Twilight. I’ll handle this,” he announced firmly. He reached out to summon forth an absurd level of magic. Surrounding Dee was a circular shaped hole that appeared before reality. “You may not be able to leave this dimension on your own, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do it for you!”

“What?!” Twilight shrieked in horror. “Girls, hurry, now!”

Discord gave her a pitying smile. “Sorry, Twilight. I owe her one, for breaking me free. A lord of chaos always repays his debts… usually.”

Dee smiled wickedly up at him. Such an idiot, a wondrous idiot. I’ll just return when I’m stronger.

Discord chuckled down at Dee. “Oh don’t go mistaking this for an easy way out. What sort of fun would that be? I’ll protect this realm from you. Meanwhile, I think you may find escape just a little difficult. You’ll be quite distracted. With him after you!”

Dee tilted her head in confusion, but didn’t have time to ponder this as the blackened hole swallowed her entirely. Before the rainbow beam of harmony could strike it, they all heard a voice call out just as the hole in reality began to close.

“Foul beasts! I will send you back to the depths of h-- what trickery is this?!”

When the hole closed, the beam had fired off, making DIscord dodge it by lifting his body and folding it like a rug. “Woah, watch your aim, girls. Wouldn’t want to hit me, right?”

Twilight scowled up at him, then turned around and saw all five of her friends had scowls of their own. “Girls…” she said, smiling wickedly up at Discord.

“Heh, woah!” Another beam shot off as the girls gathered together again. Making Discord dodge out of the way, from there they gathered another one and then another one. “Watch it! That one almost got me!”

“Good!” they all yelled, minus Fluttershy.

---

Shyfrost’s friends gathered around his limp form. The drake had yet to get up, with his only sign of life being shallow breaths. Steel looked up, then looked back to the changeling. “I swear, he should have been fine!”

Shadow nodded. “I’m not sure what to do, I don’t know anything about dragon health.”

Fluttershy, seeing that they were never going to actually hit Discord, stopped trying. She figured there were more important things to adhere to. Where did he go?! She looked around and quickly spotted the strange friends that he had traveled with. Seeing that he looked unconscious, she rushed over to him. “What happened?”

“I.. I don’t…” the prince stuttered, unable to reply. What have I done? he thought in horror.

“Pearls…” Shyfrost muttered, stirring awake.

All of his friends stared back in shock. Fluttershy’s face sagged to one of disbelief. He’s only resting… She sighed in relief and made a mental note to punish him later. Maybe she thought and then quickly brought out a sack full of some pearls. “Here you go, sweetie.”

Shyfrost cracked his eyes opened and smiled. “Hey there, Fluttershy.”

She giggled. “Hello, little one. I’m glad you’re alright.”

The two, reunited again, giggled while the drake scarfed down as many pearls as he could eat. He then began to explain as much as he possibly could about his adventures, barely even stopping to breathe. Fluttershy knew some of his stories, but they hadn’t had a moment to just sit down and talk until now.

On the other side of where the cages had been opened, Blaze Wings and her friends quickly ran away from the other angered ponies. She didn’t think any of them would actually hurt her; but she didn’t want to stick around and find out if they would.

“Uh, Scoots, when we’re done running, can you explain what she was talkin’ about?” Apple Bloom called out as they ran.

“I guess. It’s a long story.”

Sweetie Belle beamed. “Oh my gosh, I love awesome long stories! This one time I found this book and it had this weird thing on the cover and…” Sweetie Belle trailed off to catch her breath. She was about to speak up again, when she noticed Scootaloo had been looking away from them. Sweetie slowed down, which caused her friends to copy her. She smiled at Scootaloo then placed her hoof on her shoulder. “Scootaloo, we know you didn’t want to tell us what’s going on. But we’re your friends! We promise we wont get mad, right?” She turned to Apple Bloom, who quickly nodded.

Scootaloo turned back to them, blushing, then nodded herself. “Okay, just… I’ll tell you both later, alright?” She went to get up, but Sweetie stopped her.

“You Pinkie Promise?”

Blaze rolled her eyes and nodded, copying the gestures she had once seen the pink menace do. “Yeah, yeah, cross my heart, stick a cupcake… whatever.”

“It still counts!” Pinkie yelled out, startling her friends.

Apple Bloom smirked as they began to ran toward their sisters and friends. “We’ll hold ya to that, Scoots.”