Plan B
What Didn't Happen
by Zeg
Chapter XXI – Plan B
Finally, finally! After patiently biding his time to wait for the absolute perfect moment, Discord had managed to get even, and judging by the dejected look that Chrystallyn was casting to the floor, it had left quite a mark on her over inflated ego. The payoff was every bit as sweet as he had hoped. He stood there grinning like a mad man, his steepled fingers tapping against each other in a steady rhythm as he waited excitedly for a response.
Discord’s ears perked up, catching a sound coming from his defeated adversary. He raised his brow slightly and asked her, “What was that? Congratulating me on my brilliantly executed upset?” He took an exaggerated bow before her as he said, “Yes, yes, I admit, I have outdone myself this time.”
“I said” — she lifted her head, glaring at him — “I’ve had enough of you.”
“Oh, come now. Moi? The world will never get enough of Discord!” he said, laying one hand to his chest as he cast the other high in the air.
Chrystallyn only stared back at him, bearing her clenched teeth. Her puffy lower eyelids, still dampened from tears, twitched now and then. “Yes... you’re right,” she said quietly to herself, her raspy voice carrying through the room. “I should have disposed of him when he was no longer useful. Letting him live was a horrible mistake.”
The Alicorn Amulet suddenly beamed with light, sending red lighting skittering all across Chrystallyn’s body, though she seemed unfazed by its touch. She stood, and as she glared across the room at Discord her mane and tail darkened until they were both nearly blood red. Her horn lit with a crackle of power arcing all around her, and then she let out a forceful cry as she exerted her mental strength, wiping her head back. As she did so, the Crystal Heart was yanked upward through the floor, leaving a shattered hole near the center of the room. Tendrils of red lightning arced from her horn and danced around wildly as they seemed to grasp at the Heart like an extra set of limbs.
Chrystallyn began to channel power, letting out a growl from deep within her throat as the power passed between herself and the Heart. As she drew on its power, the light glow from within it seemed to dim. Discord looked on as the room glowed brighter and brighter with red light, his grin now long gone. “Oh, well then,” he quietly commented as he pursed his lips. He lifted his hands up, glancing at the bracers secured around his wrists. Rolling his eyes and giving a shrug with his shoulders, he then reached behind himself and produced a tiny umbrella. He popped open the umbrella that was barely bigger around than his palm, and then held the long, twisted shaft in both of his hands as he raised it above his head.
The built up power exploded from around Chrystallyn in a ring of pure red force. Discord was forced backwards, caught in the blast as it rolled out from the center of the room. He sailed out of the crystal double doors just as they were blown off their hinges, and then through the crystal windows beyond just as they shattered. The walls and ceiling of the crystal spire throneroom were reduced to a spray of tiny crystal shards scattered in all directions, and large chunks of the sides of the crystal spire began to fall away as they cracked and split off.
As Discord hung precariously on the edge of consciousness, looking back on the red ring of explosive power that was expanding across the sky as he fell backwards toward the city below, only one thought happened to cross his mind.
...Worth it.
---
“What happened?”
Twilight turned from the gathered group toward Luna’s distressed voice, just in time to see her touching down to a canter upon the crystal street. The Moon Princess had since dropped her disguise, and judging by the absence of the thunder clouds above the city, her Nightguard were no longer putting on the now unnecessary performance. The explosion that had splintered the crystal spire only moments ago would easily discourage any from approaching the center of the city on its own.
“I’m afraid I misjudged the situation,” Twilight admitted as she glanced toward the spire for a brief moment before looking back. “We did manage to get the Elements away from her, but even with just the Alicorn Amulet she was so much more powerful than I thought possible. We almost didn’t make it out alive.”
“Thank the heavens you all did,” Luna said as she took a moment to look out over the group. “What then of Chrystallyn?”
“We’re still not sure what happened to her. I was about to go back myself and check, but I wanted to be sure that everyone else was going to be safe before taking a chance at confronting her again. We were actually just deciding what to do next.”
“Twilight,” Graphite called to her, catching her attention. As he walked up to her, his glowing horn dimmed out. “We already have the Crystal Guard convinced to check homes along the city border now, but this is a lot more area to cover than the city center. It will take some time, even with our scouts all taking on guard uniforms to help.”
“Ask them to lead anyone they find to the nearest underground passage.”
Graphite began channeling his spell again, preparing to convey the message. “We’ll try, but it’s going to be a challenge to convince ponies along the borders of the city that they should head back in.”
“I know, but I’m not willing to take any chances with this,” Twilight said as she took another anxious glance toward the spire. “Just do what you can to get as many of them underground as fast as you can.”
Luna furrowed her brow slightly, asking, “Were we not aiming to evacuate the city if things took a bad turn?”
Graphite continued to concentrate on channeling his spell even as he answered. “We’re sending as many as we can to Canterlot as fast as is possible.”
“You’re using the platform now,” Luna said as she glanced down at her side to Twilight.
“I’m sure you felt it too,” Twilight said as she glanced up to Luna shortly before looking back out to the spire. “If Chrystallyn loses control of that much power, being anywhere near the Empire won’t be safe. Trains would be too slow and can’t possibly carry all of the Empire’s citizens.”
“Yes, I see your reasoning,” Luna said with a knowing nod as she too glanced out to the spire. The tension left in the wake of such destructive power being unleashed was near palpable. At any moment, Chrystallyn could attempt to use the power again. They had to assume that they had only a few precious moments to prepare for the worst and get as many to safety as soon as possible.
“Twilight!” Twilight quickly glanced to the side, her eyes scanning the skies to search for the voice. Spike’s form was easy to spot, and she quickly galloped to where he was landing. He came in quick, his clawed toes skidding across the crystal pavement for a short distance before he slid to one knee. He opened his arms toward Twilight just as she leapt from the ground into them, quickly folding his arms around her as he hugged her close and wrapped his large wings around her.
“I was worried,” he said as he nuzzled his jaw along the back of her neck. He opened his eyes, looking out at the group that was gathering nearby. “Everyone make it out of there okay?” he asked as he pulled his head back and looked down to her.
Twilight leaned back, resting her forehooves against his chest to look up to him. “Yes, we’re all fine, Spike,” she said with a happy smile before she leaned back in to rest the side of her face against him. “And I’m so glad to see you.”
“Well, good job on getting everyone out of there,” he said. She glanced up to him with a curious look as he lowered her down gently to the street. “Couldn’t have been easy to take Discord out,” he said as he cast a thoughtful glance up to the spire.
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, her brow furrowing deeply. Her ears splayed back as Spike glanced back to her with a confused look on his face. “Discord helped us.”
The uneasy silence that followed was broken a short moment later when Luna spoke up and asked, “Did I hear you correctly?”
Twilight only made a passing glance to Luna before turning her attention back to Spike. “What made you think I took him out?” she asked.
“Well, I kinda assumed it was you when I saw him laid out back there,” he said as he hiked a thumb over his shoulder.
The sound of a set of hooves scampering a few steps caught their attention. Fluttershy stood there slightly ahead of the rest of the group, a surprised if not somewhat hopeful look on her face. “You found him?” she asked of Spike as she took a couple more timid steps forward.
Twilight glanced back to Spike, who was nervously scratching at the scales behind his right ear. He glanced from Fluttershy to Twilight, seeming unsure what to say. Twilight reached out, laying her fetlock against his side as she asked, “Where did you see him?”
---
The journey had taken only a few short minutes as Spike led the gathered group to where he had last seen Discord. What they found had left the entire group staring on in stunned silence. A large chunk of the crystal spire had landed nearby, taking half of a house out with it when it had fallen from the sky and embedded itself in the ground. Among the scattered crystal rubble laid the twisted body of the draconequus, his body and limbs bent and turned in unnatural directions and covered with multiple gashes. He appeared completely motionless other than the slight movement of his bat wing that stuck straight up, waving back and forth as it caught the breeze.
Fluttershy let out a faint whimper, averting her gaze from the sight. Rainbow sat next to her, wrapping one of her wings around her friend and pulling her close to where she was resting against Rainbow’s shoulder.
“This isn’t right,” Rarity whispered nearby. She slowly shook her head as she looked away down to her hooves.
Twilight looked from side to side to her friends, finding them all to seem saddened or upset at the sight before them. She recalled a time long ago when most of her friends, and herself included, viewed Discord as nothing much more than an annoying problem they wished they could encase in stone, but as time had marched on, that had changed. Eventually, they had all at least come to an understanding of him. It seemed that events in this history had managed to led to a similar result, even if a bit sooner, but had then been brought to a very abrupt end. Taking a few steps forward, Twilight approached him, setting herself just within reach of him as she looked down upon his silent form.
It was at that very moment that his eyelids slid open, and his eyes rolled forward to look right at her. It took every fiber of her being not to scream, though she did jerk her forehooves back in shock, tucking them against her chest as she sucked in a gasp.
“Fancy meeting you hear—” Discord began to say, but his gravely sounding and gurgling voice was cut off by a torrent of hacking coughs. His limbs twitched wildly as he gasped deeply for air, and a spray of red droplets spattered the ground near his mouth when a second wave of coughs wracked his body.
“Don’t! Don’t talk,” Twilight pleaded with him. A few raspy gasps later and Discord managed to get his coughing fit under control, choosing instead to merely laid there as he laboriously drew breath. “You’re really badly injured,” Twilight said as she timidly reached her hoof toward him, keeping it just a short distance from actually touching him.
At her comment, Discord squinted his eyes slightly and then rolled them in an exaggerated manner that seemed to say ‘no kidding’.
“Can you help him?” Twilight glanced back to her side to find that Fluttershy had quietly moved up right next to her. She sat there next to Twilight, holding one hoof to her muzzle as she looked out over Discord’s injuries in close detail. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to Twilight, a slight whimper coming from her as her worried glance darted back and forth between them a few times. “We have to do something for him. It wouldn’t be right to just leave him like this,” she pleaded.
Twilight looked Discord over, taking note of the numerous open wounds and obviously broken bones. It was honestly a shock that he could still be alive, let alone somehow conscious, in that state, but then he was nothing like a pony. “I’m not sure my magic would do any good. I have no idea how his body would react to it,” Twilight said as she glanced back to Fluttershy. “Honestly, it could cause him a lot more harm than good for all I know.”
“Can’t exactly hurt him much more,” Applejack said as she stepped up to Twilight’s other side.
Twilight turned aside toward her group of friends, finding them all looking to her to do something to ease Discord’s suffering. “You’re right, but...,” she said as she cast a helpless glance back at him.
While the others debated what, if anything, they could do for Discord, Chrysalis silently approached his crippled form from beside them. She watched him as he struggled to draw breath, his eyes following her closely all the while. He didn’t speak, and only offered her a small grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth despite the ruined state he was in.
Chrysalis sighed, closing her eyes. “Discord,” she said. The others around her fell silent, turning toward her to watch as she looked upon him with a stoic gaze. Discord’s left ear perked just slightly, and the climbing of his eyebrows was only barely noticeable as he waited to hear what she had to say. She let go a another longer sigh, and then said, “Despite the part of me that thinks you really don’t deserve this... you have my permission to heal yourself.”
Discord’s heavy breathing paused for a few seconds, his eyes widening in surprise. Twisting his left arm around, he grimaced as he placed his open palm upon the ground and shakily pushed himself up. He drew in a deep gasp, and then let out many retching coughs, spilling mouth fulls of crystal shards upon the ground. His body popped and cracked as he twisted it and coiled it around under himself into a sitting position. Every snap and crunch that his body gave out caused most of the group to flinch or cringe away slightly, and more than a few of them were looking a bit squeamish after a moment.
“The binding spell,” Twilight said as she looked to Chrysalis. “I didn’t even consider trying that.” Chrysalis and Chrystallyn were technically the same being that had casted the spell, and now Chrysalis and her friends had possession of the Elements.
“To be honest, I actually had doubts it would work,” Chrysalis said with an indifferent shrug.
“Well, that was quite unpleasant,” Discord said between coughs. He hammered a fist against his chest, clearing his throat with a deep growl before spitting another saliva coated glob of crystal shards on the ground. He then tilted his head, shaking it as a glasslike rattling sound filled the air and more shards fell from his ear. “I’ll be tasting and smelling crystal for weeks,” he commented dryly as he worked a talon up one nostril, digging about profusely and then pulling it back with a snot covered shard pinched between two talons. He seemed not to pay any mind the disapproving and revolted glances he got as he flicked it away. “Though I must say,” he said, his voice slightly strained as he arched his back, filling the air with more sounds of bones grinding and popping, “I am a tad surprised.”
“The thought of being eternally indebted to you didn’t set well with me,” Chrysalis quipped.
“Oh-ho! So you did it for yourself then,” he said with a wide grin upon his face, all the while he was twisting his neck from side to side to work out the kinks.
“You’re one to talk,” she snipped back in a huff.
Discord let out a contented sigh, crossing his legs before himself as he sat a bit hunched over with his hands each resting upon a knee. His skin seemed to be nearly done knitting all of the open wounds back closed. “True, true. I’ll admit, what happened up there was mostly for my own benefit,” he said as he cast a satisfied glance over his shoulder toward the spire. “But it did work out well for all those involved, did it not? Well, other than for the other you, of course. Speaking of, I hardly consider our little showdown to be finished, but with these gifts she imparted upon me, I’ve found it rather difficult to stand on equal terms with her.” Discord raised his hands, giving both forearms a quick shake as he looked upon Chrysalis with a hopeful grin.
Chrysalis dryly said, “Forget it,” looking as if the very thought of freeing him of the bindings was the most repugnant thing that had ever been suggested to her.
Discord tisked, waggling a finger. “Now now, before you dismiss my generous offer to take care of this little mess so casually, you should at least ask everyone else what they think,” he said, gesturing toward the rest of the Element bearers.
Fluttershy took a cautious step toward him, holding a single forehoof lifted slightly as she glanced up to him. “You’d really help us?” she asked.
“Oh would I!” Discord declared as he jumped up and quickly swept his arms down to scoop Fluttershy from the ground. He held her out at arm’s length slightly above his head as she drew her legs up against her barrel and let out a surprised squeak. He then tucked her against his chest in one arm like one might hold a teddy bear, petting her on the head as he turned toward the rest of the group. “I would put on a show that none of you would ever forget!” he proclaimed as he cast his free hand up toward the sky, though he didn’t exactly receive an excited reception for his offer.
“Discord,” Twilight said, waiting just long enough for him to focus on her. “This isn’t a game. There are lives at stake here.”
“Ever the serious one, aren’t you,” he said with a slight grin. He leaned forward toward Twilight, relaxing his grip and allowing Fluttershy to scamper away to hide near Rainbow he drew his arms back to rest them on his hips. “Tell me then, Twilight Sparkle. Have you decided what to do about... that?” he asked, perking one eyebrow and pointing one talon at something behind her.
Twilight turned about, looking up at the shattered crystal spire. Near the top of the spire, many jagged spikes of red crystal were growing from the sides, and a red glow seemed to permeate the entire spire near where the upper throne room used to be. Arcs of red energy danced across the surface of the crystal here and there, and then a bolt of red lightning arced from the tip of one of the jutting crystals all the way to the residents down below.
Though they were a fair distance away from the impact, they could still see the large debris cloud it had kicked into the air. As the cloud began to settle, Twilight could make out movement inside. A large shadow lurched forward, and at the same time she felt the vibration and heard the rumbling as something enormous took a step and sent a shockwave through the ground. Then a large claw swung out of the cloud, striking a building and toppling it with ease much like a child kicking over a sand castle. After a few more slow, rumbling steps, Twilight could clearly see what appeared to be a gigantic scorpion made entirely of glowing red crystal.
“I could take care of that little nuisance with but a thought,” Discord offered, catching Twilight a bit by surprise. She had been so focused on the unbelievable sight before her that she hadn’t notice him leaning in to hover right next to her ear. She leaned away from him slightly as he grinned at her and asked, “Can you?”
Twilight knew the extent of Discord’s power. He could basically remake anything into whatever he wanted, bend the world to his will and completely upset the rules of the universe if he so desired. Right now, the only thing that kept him from doing so was the binding spell placed upon him. However, if his powers were to be released, the odds were very likely that he would focus his attention on one simple desire.
Twilight closed her eyes, sparing a moment of thought to consider his offer. Yes, this Discord was from a different history. Yes, given his nature, he could end up betraying them. But he had chosen of his own free will to risk his own life and save theirs, even if only to take a cheap shot at Chrystallyn. However, this wasn’t a choice that Twilight could make on her own. She glanced to the side up to Chrysalis. “He is the best match for her.”
Chrysalis silently regarded Twilight, her inner turmoil visible as the chitin covering her face flexed as she ground her teeth together. And then, another bolt of lighting cascaded from the top of the tower off in the distance, striking the city below. The situation was very quickly getting worse, and a decision on what to do next needed to be made soon. Chrysalis muttered something under her breath as she took a few steps around Twilight to stand before Discord. “I can’t believe I’m about to do this,” she said as she shook her head.
Discord held his arms up in front of her as his muzzle twisted to a smug grin. However, his grin quickly faded when she forcefully jabbed a hoof against his chest. “Know this,” she growled as she ground her hoof against his chest. “If I end up regretting this decision... So. Will. You.” She made a point to punctuate each of the last few words with a firm jab as she glared harshly at him.
The smirk slowly crept back onto Discords face as he said, “Point taken.”
Chrysalis let out a frustrated huff, stamping her hoof on the ground. She then raised her head, looking him straight in the eyes as she said, “You may use your powers... unrestricted.”
Discord blinked at her, still holding his hands up before her. “Oh...,” he said slowly as he glanced at the bracers still firmly locked around his wrists.
“What do you mean, ‘Oh’?” Chrysalis said angrily, stepping forward and nearly pushing her muzzle against his, causing him to lean back slightly.
“Well, I’m not normally one to complain, but... I suppose I just had something else in mind,” he said as he shrugged, but when he noticed that Chrysalis was beginning to bear her fangs at him she quickly added, “but, this will do!”
Clearing his throat, Discord stood tall and took a few steps in the direction of the spire. There were now two large crystal creatures lumbering about near the base of the tower, one resembling a scorpion and the other a dragon, both being large enough to topple any buildings that they came in contact with without any resistance. Discord rubbed his hands together as he flexed his neck back and forth, and once he had prepared himself, he lifted his talons upward, poised and ready to release a snap.
He struck a dramatic pose as he snapped his fingers, pointing them in the direction of one of the crystal behemoths. He remained in the pose for a few seconds until he shifted back, standing up and looking down at his talons with a bit of confusion. He then tried again, and again and again, then let out an annoyed growl as he grumbled, “Why isn’t this working...,” under his breath.
“Discord,” Luna snapped nearby, drawing his attention toward her. “This is not the time for your jokes.”
“Oh, zip it,” he said as he flipped his talons in her direction. Just as the words left his mouth, a zipper appeared across Luna’s lips, zipping them shut. Luna jumped back in surprise, lifting a hoof up to her mouth. She then turned a harsh glare back on Discord as she released a closed mouth yell in his direction. “Oh, well that worked,” Discord said thoughtfully as he tugged as his goatee.
“Discord!” Twilight quickly shouted, causing him to cringe. His eyes darted to her, and when he saw her giving him a weapon’s grade disapproving glare, he quickly back away a few steps.
With a flick of his wrist in Luna’s direction, the zipper on her mouth opened with a fast zipping sound and vanished. “Mistake! Just a slip of the tongue,” he said as he defensively waved his hands. His eyes quickly glanced about, noticing that Twilight wasn’t the only one that had turned disapproving look in his direction. “Honestly! I don’t know why it isn’t working!”
“You’re so useless,” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes.
“Wait! Wait, just let me think,” Discord said, pacing back and forth as he vigorously tugged at his goatee. After a couple circles, he suddenly stopped, seeming suddenly very interested in the ground just before him. He slowly squinted his eyes at a spot there were the edge of the crystal road met the grass that ran alongside it, and then slowly raised his talons before snapping them. As he did, the grass shifted and morphed into chocolate pudding right up to the edge of the crystal street. He stared at the pudding puddle for a few seconds, then turned a deadpan glance back toward Chrysalis.
Chrysalis backed away a step. “What!?” she demanded with a half angry, half confused look on her face.
“Oh you know what!” Discord said as he turned toward her and folded his arms across his chest. All eyes were now looking back and forth between the two as they both stared each other down. “The entire city? Really?” Discord finally asked as he swept one hand out at his side in a gesture.
The confused look on Chrysalis’s face slowly changed as understanding seemed to settle in. “Oh...,” she quietly said, glancing slightly off to the side.
“Yes, ’Ooooh’,” Discord said with a wide eyed, exaggerated look on his face. “Well go on! Tell them.”
Chrysalis sat back on her haunches, tucking a foreleg against her chest and splaying her ears back as all eyes looked her way. “Why are you acting like it’s my fault?” she shot back at him. “Can you blame me after what happened to Everfree?”
“Hold on,” Twilight said, stepping in between them. She turned toward Chrysalis, asking her, “What’s he going on about?”
Chrysalis cast one last angry glare in Discord’s direction before answering. “When I created the Empire, I made sure Discord’s power wouldn’t be able to touch it. I’d honestly forgotten it’s been so long.”
Twilight let out an exhausted sigh. So much for having Discord fix things the easy way. “So, there’s nothing you can do to help?” she asked as she turned her glance toward him.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Discord said casually as he snapped his fingers. As he did, a mallet with a handle nearly as tall as he was appeared next to him. The head on the mallet was shaped like a large drum barrel and covered with a black and white checkered pattern, except for the multi-colored lettering etched across it in twisted lettering that spelled out the word ‘Chaos!’. He took the mallet in hand, swinging it about effortlessly to bring it to rest across his shoulder. “Liberal application of blunt force trauma should make those things stop moving. It’s just not as interesting as what I’d had in mind.”
“Okay, well we better start doing something about this before it gets completely out of hoof.” Twilight turned her attention back to the rest of the group, looking first to Luna. “Luna, we need to try and stop these things before they tear up what’s left of the city.” Luna gave a curt nod in agreement. “The rest of you, head south to the underground entrance.”
“Hey wait just a minute!” Rainbow said, springing up from the ground. She quickly dropped back down right before Twilight, giving her a very stern look as she said, “We’re coming too.”
“Rainbow, no arguing,” Twilight said with a quick shake of her head. She caught Rainbow right before she could protest further, saying, “I need you all there. We have an entire city of scared crystal ponies trying to get to safety, and if anything gets past us then it will be on all of you to protect them.”
“She does have a point,” Chrysalis said. “We could use the Elements if necessary to safeguard the area around us, but only if we are all together.”
“Exactly,” Twilight said with a quick nod. She waited until Rainbow reluctantly agreed and stepped back to stand with the rest of the group. “Cadance, I need you to put up a shield over the entrance when you get there,” she said, to which Cadance confirmed with a quick nod. “Graphite, have the other entrances sealed and have the guards send anyone they find south. We can’t spread out and guard all eight.”
With the new impromptu plan in place, most of the group departed southward while Twilight, Luna, and Discord remained behind. Twilight looked to each of them on either side of her, then turned about as she said, “Let’s go.”
---
As Twilight and Luna had approached the city center from the air, they split up to each intercept one of the two crystal constructs that had sprung up. Discord had also ‘split up’, producing a duplicate of himself so he could follow them both.
Luna had chosen to take on the crystal creature that resembled a giant scorpion. As she and Discord landed on the street a few blocks nearby, they saw hundreds of smaller crystal scorpions skittering about, ranging in size from that of a small dog to those pony sized and everything between. Every time the titan scorpion took a step and plunged one of its sharp legs into the street, the resulting shards of crystal that were kicked up would slowly twist and reform, coming alive as tiny duplicates of the giant creature.
“I have to give her points for creativity,” Discord said as he hefted his mallet from his shoulder with one hand. He took a few steps forward, eyeing one of the dog sized scorpions that had noticed their arrival and was skittering quickly toward them. Just as it launched itself from the ground in a leap toward his face, he swung the mallet in a wide horizontal arc. The scorpion was caught against the flat of the mallet head mid jump, and made a satisfying pop as it was shattered into a spray of shards that showered the street. The red glow in the shattered shards quickly faded out, leaving behind only inert crystals fragments.
Luna quickly drew upon her magic, causing a silver mist to condense from the air around her and conform to her body. The mist solidified into her nightmare barding, though this was much more real than the illusion she had been using earlier. Her magic then crackled as it ripped at the space just before her, and from the dark tear that formed there she pulled her war mace, Fallen Star, from where it had slumbered for the past thousand years.
Discord looked back to her, grinning widely and quickly snapping his fingers. He instantly vanished then reappeared in a flash, sitting upon a saddle and holding onto the reins of the bridle that had somehow been added to her armor. Luna blinked in surprise, and then reared back at the sudden tug at her mouth when Discord pulled back on the reins as he shouted, “Charge!”
Luna firmly planted her forehooves back on the street, then turned an angry glare on him so intense, it was a wonder that it didn’t instantly singe the eyebrows from his forehead. “No!” she said in as demanding a tone as she could manage around the bit, pointing a forehoof at her mouth in a motion demanding its immediate removal.
“Oh,” Discord whined as he gave her a pathetic look. He let his bottom lip quiver a bit as he feebly shook the loose reins in his hands a few more times, but she wouldn’t relent. When he realized that she was going to have absolutely nothing to do with his recommended battle approach, he let out a defeated sigh before snapping his fingers again. He instantly reappeared standing next to her, the saddle and bridle both gone. “Fine, we’ll do it your way,” he said as he idly twirled his mallet.
Luna squinted a glare in warning at him, her lips a thin straight line across her muzzle, before she turned her attention forward. She leaned into her stride as she took off down the street, her metal shod hooves creating a rumble like an oncoming thunderstorm as she closed the distance between herself and her adversary. As she neared her target, the smaller and much quicker scorpions turned toward her first. They were so numerous it almost appeared like a wave of glowing red crystal was cascading down the street toward her.
The first few that made it to her ahead of the rest met a quick demise as they leapt through the air toward her, shattered into a fine spray of shards as Fallen Star twirled and dipped in perfect timing to catch each one squarely against the flat of the cubic war mace just as they were within inches of touching her. She didn’t slow her pace, even when the tide of crystal scorpions became so thick around her that she was shattering them by the dozens with each pass that Fallen Star made about her. Her weapon moved like a blur, parting the sea of crystal creatures as she galloped full speed toward the titan lumbering about less than a block away from her.
There was no doubt that her approach had been spotted as the titan shifted on its legs to face her. It extended its right claw, sweeping the enormous appendage forcefully through a building in an arc toward Luna and crushing dozens upon dozens of its own tiny crystal brethren in the attempt to strike her down. However, Luna had lept and left the ground less than a second before the claw passed just under her. She quickly angled her wings to descend toward the back of the titan, and had to fall into a spin as she tucked her wings tightly against her body and rolled to avoid the end of its tail as it swung so closely past her that she felt the gust of wind following it.
Luna landed on the titan’s back, sliding on her side a bit along the crystallized interlocking armored plates. Her hooves finally caught along the grooves between the plates and she used her wings to push herself up and leap just in time to avoid the left claw that was intent on catching her. Her hooves lit upon the claw just after it snapped shut, and she used the powerful muscles in her legs to push off from the side of it to propel herself forward toward the titan’s head. However, just as she was sailing forward with Fallen Star at her side, the right claw found its way back into the fight again as it blindsided her, snapping closed around her body.
She cried out in frustration as she attempted to wrest herself from the claw’s grasp, but the way that it had caught her had left one wing pinned against her body at a rather painful angle and had managed to pin her weapon against her side as well. Just when her magic was beginning to budge the claw, a sudden rush of speed took her off guard when the titan forcefully took its claw and slammed it down against the ground tip first. The resulting impact against the crystal street knocked the breath from Luna’s lungs, leaving her gasping, and also wedged the pincers together to keep her magic from finding enough leverage to escape. The second claw came around, slamming into the ground just behind the first one and constricting around her body to restrict her movement even further. Her enchanted armor groaned under the strain of being crushed by the claws as it managed just barely to keep the titan’s strength at bay. Laying pinned on her side, Luna’s eye could see the large tail as it swung back over the titan’s back out of view for just a second, then watched as the titan’s body lurched forward as it put all the force it could muster into bringing the stinger down upon her.
The tail stopped only a mere body length away at the same moment something loudly lashed at the air. Luna’s ears twitched as she picked up on the sound of chain links jingling. Wrapped around the giant tail near the base of the stinger was a golden glowing length of chain that trailed up into the sky. Luna squinted her eye just as the sun began to peak out around the edge of the solar eclipse, blinking a few times. Her sight adjusted as the glare softened, and there at the other end of the golden chain against a backdrop of the fading eclipse she saw Celestia. She had the remaining slack of Sunray wrapped around her foreleg and looped around her barrel as she feverishly beat her wings against the air to hold the titan’s attack back.
Luna saw her opening, and grit her teeth tightly together as she twisted aside as much as she could, just barely enough to loosen Fallen Star and pull it free. Her magic gripped the war mace, and with a resounding warcry she put a burst of magic behind it, sending it spinning upward. Fallen Star shattered the titan’s tail where it hit, leaving it a jagged stump. The giant stinger, now dangling loosely in Sunray’s coils, lifted skyward as Celestia hefted it toward herself. The links of Sunray retracted as she drew it closer until she had brought it up to her side. Her magic began to spin the ensnared stinger in a circle like the head of a gigantic morningstar, and once it had gained a considerable amount of speed, she cast the stinger back down toward its former owner. The sound of the wrecking ball sized stinger parting the air and the jingling of Sunray’s links mixed together, and then all ended in a spectacular crash as the stinger impacted the titan’s thorax just behind its head, demolishing the titan’s body in a single blow. The shattered crystal shards that remained hardly resembled the titan creature they had just been, with only a few noticeable body parts laying about here and there other than the two disembodied pincers still imbedded in the ground that held Luna captive.
“Luna!” Celestia’s voice rung out, though Luna couldn’t find her at the angle she was pinned to the ground. She could hear the sound of Celestia’s armor shod hooves touching down and quickly cantering up to her, then saw her sister’s worried face come into view around the side of the pincer. Celestia’s horn lit and her magic began to pry at the pincer holding Luna captive, and Luna wasted no time adding her own magic to the attempt to free herself. The pincer finally gave way, one half of it falling away as it fractured all the way through. Finally able to pull herself free, Luna quickly got to her hooves, wincing a bit when she rotated her wing back around to her side. Celestia wasted no time applying her radiant magic to Luna’s wing to check for injuries, asking, “Are you alright? You’re not badly injured, are you?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine, sister,” Luna said as she held a hoof to Celestia’s shoulder to push her back a step. Celestia reluctantly let her magic fade though the worried look on her face did not. Luna only let out a long sigh as she glanced back to the pile of rubble behind her left behind by the titan’s destruction. “Given more time, I would have likely finished the creature myself,” she grumbled.
“Hardly!” Celestia said, her worried look now replaced with an upset frown. “It was about to take your head off.”
Luna matched the frown with one of her own. For a time, the two sisters just silently stared at one another, until Luna let go a quick huff as she said, “Well, I thought I would have some help.”
“Hah!” Discord quickly quipped from nearby. Both sisters turned their head to find him pushing a large pile of crystal shards off to the side with a wide bristle broom. “I think I did more than my share,” he said as he gestured to the pile. “While you two spent all your time working on that one, I took care of the other five hundred thirty-two—whoops!” Discord quickly twirled the broom about in his hand, shifting it back into his mallet when he spotted a crippled crystal scorpion attempting to scamper out of the pile of crystals. He landed a quick crushing blow on the crystal creature, reducing it to nothing but a scattered pile of shards before shifting his mallet back into a broom as he corrected his earlier statement by adding, “five hundred thirty-three.”
“Yes, well, we did take out the biggest one,” Luna shot back at him, to which he only waved her off and blew a raspberry as he pushed the pile of crystal shards further down the street. Luna shook her head and rolled her eyes, then noticed the hopelessly confused look on her sister’s face. “He’s helping,” Luna said, quickly adding, “Do not ask why, please,” when Celestia turned her very confused glance toward her. “In all seriousness, what kept you? Did you not notice that things had gone rather awry until just now?”
Celestia gave her head a slight shake as she filed away Discord’s involvement in all of this as ‘something to worry about later’. “Keeping a solar eclipse in place does take quite a bit of focus, Luna,” she said, but then her expression softened considerably. “I apologize for not arriving sooner.” She then got very quiet, talking in just above a whisper as she said, “When I saw that thing holding you down...,” but she trailed off into silence as the worried look overtook her again.
To say that their relationship had been under strain lately would be an understatement, but at this moment Luna couldn’t help but feel a pang in her heart. It wasn’t often that she had ever seen Celestia with such a distraught look. Despite all that had transpired between them and how much things may have changed, she was obviously still the same older sister that often worried over her younger sister’s well being.
A flash of red followed closely by a rumble of thunder caught their attention. Both sisters turned toward the sound, finding another cloud of debris settling nearby. As the cloud dissipated, another large crystal creature rose, this one appearing as a minotaur towering above the buildings around it.
Luna’s horn glowed, and nearby her magic wrested Fallen Star from where it had landed in the crystal street nearby. “This is an endless foe,” she said as she brought her weapon to rest just across her shoulders, hooking her foreleg just over the weapon’s handle as she glanced upward at the crystal behemoth.
Celestia stepped up next to Luna’s side, the chains of Sunray clattering against her armor as the ends dangled from where it was draped across her shoulders. “Like old times, isn’t it?” she said thoughtfully as she too looked out upon the crystal monster.
“Very old times,” Luna said, and then momentarily closed her eyes as she recalled times past when she and her sister had stood shoulder to shoulder to face down Equestria’s foes. She then glanced to her side, the faintest hint of a smile on her muzzle as she asked, “Shall we?”
Celestia smiled back, giving a single nod before they both turned their attention forward and launched themselves into the sky.
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Yay!
New chapter!
4451194 What he said!
4451194 4451269
I know, right? I haven't managed to get this many chapters written in a month's time since I started this thing over a year ago.
4451335 Life keepin' ya busy? If you ever need a hand with anything fic-related lemme know and I'll help you however I can.
Yay, another chapter! I really like how everything has been playing out, and I'm thrilled to see the updates lately. :)
I don't see any mysteries here. I guess the Mysteries page will have to wait for now.
We are getting close to the end now aren't we?
4452764
Yup.
Yay! I love seeing Discord being the tentative-good-guy-for-the-moment, and Luna and Celestia just starting to repair their relationship. I wonder if the 'reformation' will stick, and if he'll really find friendship this way. I hope he does. Either way, lots of good feels in this chapter.
Also, yep, Chrystallyn is going insane under the Amulet's influence. Not surprised at all. That didn't take long.
4453021 Hey. I like your new avatar by the way. Its awesome.
4453407
Thanks! I took a go at using Inkscape to make it after I came across a youtube vid someone did that showed how to draw some simple vector pony stuff. I just did the avatar, the background is a snap from the show. Waaay to many books to draw myself.
Been thinking of taking a shot at redoing the cover art for the story too, but I'm kinda on a roll on the writing part so I think I'll stick with writing for now.
4453051
Crazy tends to happen at an accelerated rate when a certain draconequus gets involved.
I love Chrysalis' wording there - Discord's powers are unrestricted, and as long as Chysalis and the ponies keep the Elements Chrystallyn can't change that, but the binding's still there, so Chrysalis can still stop Discord if he does something she objects to.
Why do you split up the chapters when they get too long?
4463565
I've only done that on the last couple chapters. Main reasons where so I could post something sooner and because I ended up writing like twice as much as I thought I was going too.
Yes, this Equestria is much different from the one Twi knows. Not necessarily worse, considering that Luna is more herself than she has apparently ever been in Twi's world, Sombra seems reformed, Chrysalis is not (yet) on a war path with the ponies, Discord looks manageable with Shy already working on him and with Twi being the only one of the Six to be really affected by his antics from his escape, meaning it's that much easier for them to open up to him... welp, that was a sentence, all right.
And honestly, even if it wasn't that much better, does she even have the right to "fix" anything? This is partly her fault, sure. But the world has adapted and it is hardly her choice to alter the lives of millions of creatures. It's an interesting moral dilemma.
And don't even get me started on paradoxes. That's a headache and six, unless we go with the "alternate reality" option.
Keep up the good work!
4470881
Oops, my bad.
When I went through and fixed formatting on the older chapters recently I missed closing the italics after that block.
4471594
Glad you've found this crazy 'what if' ride interesting so far.
Not sure why, but i was kinda expecting Discord to use a Scythe......hmmm
on the same note: does Discord have a Celestial Weapon? (that is the name right?)
4525148
Celestial Weapons are an alicorn thing in this story, so no, Discord doesn't have one.
Not that he needs one. He can normally conjure up pretty much whatever he feels like, and then change it to whatever he feels like whenever he feels like it.
One of Discord's core traits is that he really does like to be entertained. Normally he entertains himself by inflicting his chaotic powers on everything around him just to get a reaction out of everyone, but in the absence of being able to do that, smashing things with a giant hammer can be pretty fun too.
This should be Demise, not Demize.
I think you forgot the er in owner.
Also, there are a couple cases of he, instead of him.
Great chapter BTW, really suspenseful and had me hanging off the edge of my seat.
Thus the ultimate trickster has spoken, and It, Was, GLORIOUS!
on another note why do none of the emotes feature discord..?
Discord's weapon should've been an inflatable balloon hammer that squeaked when it hit something.
Prophetic
Fun to see Celestia and Luna fighting together.
Not sorry.