> The Spears of Chaos: Wrath of Screwball > by Discorded SheepcityUSA > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Screwball's Awakening > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was the middle of the night in Equestria. A few hours ago, Celestia had lowered the sun to make space for her sister to raise her moon. The light of the shining orb in the sky covered all of Equestria in a beauteous aura that only the night can produce. However, all is not well on the kingdom’s capital… In Canterlot’s gardens, several statues had been placed throughout the lush landscape. Many of them representing some sort of harmonic value, whether it be friendship, teamwork, kindness, the central message was the same. But one stood out from the rest of them. This one in particular had been a replacement for another certain statue that represented something much more sinister than all the rest. Not that it’s replacement was much better in the aspect of harmony. Huddled around it, four pony-like figures stared at the thing, cloaked in black hoods with small horns attached to their heads. They appeared to be bowing to the statue. Moments earlier, these ponies had taken down eight royal guards, and managed to avoid the frightful gaze of Princess Luna, who appeared to be watching Canterlot from her balcony. “Take it all in my brothers. THIS is our new god.” One of them said, motioning his hoof to the statue. The other three ponies looked upon the stone figure in awe. It depicted a small Earth Pony filly, with a cutie-mark of a screw and baseball, and a beanie atop her head. The most noticeable feature of the statue, was her face. While her eyes looked swirled and twisted, her brow had lowered in fright, and her mouth was frozen in the middle of a silent shriek. “Are you positive that she is suitable for such a task brother? She is but a child after all.” One of them asked. “Do you forget who exactly you are look upon? This is the daughter of Discord. If she’s anything like her father once was, she’ll do just fine.” The stallion answered. The other ponies appeared to grow angry at the mention of the Chaos God. “To think I once kissed the ground he walked on. Now I wouldn’t even spit in his direction” one of them grumbled. The stallion’s accomplices murmured in agreement. “Believe me, I am just as angry as you are at Discord. But we cannot waste any time in being bitter. Chaos must be restored to Equestria. Without Chaos we’ll most certainly die off. Doomed to the eternal damnation of being forgotten in the pages of history. We require somepony with the same ability to bring disorder to carry on the way of disharmony.” The ringleader said. He turned back toward the statue. “That being said, shall we begin?” he asked, removing his hood, revealing a horn planted on his forehead. The rest of the ponies removed their hoods as well, also revealing themselves as unicorns. Simultaneously, the four ponies’ horns all glowed a bright orange, focusing all of their magic on the statue, causing it to also glow the same color, and start to shake. Many more seconds of this occurred, and pieces of the white statue started to fall off of it’s body, revealing a dark purple coat. Eventually, the pieces of the mouth broke off, turning the frightened, screaming filly, into a pony with a large, insane smile. The sound of giggling could be heard behind it. “Just…a little…more…” The ringleader groaned. Eventually, a white flash of light engulfed the unicorns entirely, taking the notice of Princess Luna. “What on Equestria?...” she said to nopony in particular. She positioned her telescope in the direction of the explosion, and spotted the unicorns laying on the ground in the garden, obviously very fatigued. “Wait…those uniforms…” Luna recognized those cloaks all too well. These unicorns were members of the Spears of Chaos. They were a group of terrorists that indulged in Chaos and Disharmony, worshiping Discord as their god. “But, what do they want? Discord is reformed. They should have dispersed…unless…” Luna focused her gaze onto the pony that stood before them. She was a little, purple filly, with swirled eyes, and a truly insane grin spread across her muzzle. Luna could just barely make out what they were saying. “How does it feel to be awake, my liege?” the ringleader unicorn asked the pony. The purple pony held onto her head in pain, and she appeared disoriented and dizzy. “Trippy. It’s like getting out of a really hot bath on a cold day. To scalding to stay in, to freezing cold to get out. Makes my wittle head ache.” She mumbled Upon realizing who she was looking upon, Luna gasped and recoiled away from her telescope. “Oh my sister no…” she whispered. It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, as was the usual. Everypony was happily going about their business, especially a certain orange cowpony who had just slammed her hind hooves into another apple tree, causing every last one of the apples to fall from it’s branches. Feeling quite tired from her work, she wiped a bit of sweat from her brow with her trademarked hat. “Phew. That outta do it. Big Mac, I got another load over here!” Applejack yelled to her brother. The muscular, red stallion wheeled a wagon over to her sister’s position, and started loading the buckets of apples onto it. Applejack looked up at the sky, taking a moment to admire the glorious scenery. “Mighty fine weather today ain’t it?” she asked. “Eeyup.” Big Macintosh responded with his usual, one-word answer. Applejack continued to stare off into space, until she noticed something really out of place. In the middle of the sky, there sat a large, pink cloud. Applejack hadn’t seen one of those since…well, you know. “What in tarnation?” she whispered. Suddenly, the cloud exploded with the sound of thunder, and a downpour of brown liquid emerged from it. Several more clouds of the same nature rolled in and followed suit. “Big Mac are you seein’ this?” she asked her brother. She turned her head toward him, only to find that all the apples she had harvested had sprouted arms and legs and were wrestling the squirming stallion to the ground. “What the-“ Applejack wasn’t even able to finish her sentence, as a red lightning bolt had erupted from one of the clouds and struck her right in the flank, singing her tail, and causing her to yelp in pain. Behind her, several of the tree’s large, busheled head of leaves were inflating, and exploding when they reached their capacity. At this point, the cowpony had begun to get very angry. Her face had scrunched up in rage, her eyes narrowed, and she was starting to foam at the mouth. She had experienced this kind of crap before, and she could only blame one person for it. “DISCOOOOOOOORD!” Applejack yelled into the endless sky of Equestria. > The Chaos Tornado Touches Down > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The once-peaceful Ponyville had been turned into an absolute jumbled mess of craziness after Sweet Apple Acres had turned to Chaos. The same, cotton-candy clouds filled the sky, sending a giant storm of chocolate milk across the town, the sun had been turned into a giant disco ball, and many of the animals had turned into vicious and muscular thug versions of themselves. After seeing what this blizzard of crazy was doing to the town, Princess Twilight Sparkle desperately tried to find her friends to help fix everything. “I thought Discord wasn’t gonna do this again. I can’t say I’m surprised, but what made him go berserk all of a sudden?” Twilight mumbled. “Twilight, you’re talking about a spirit of uncontrollable Chaos here. It only makes sense that he’d do something like this.” Responded Spike, who had been walking beside her the entire time. Twilight’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a ton of different instruments being played at the same time. She looked in the sound’s direction to see Pinkie Pie playing an excessive amount of loud instruments, leading a parade of Parasprites away from Ponyville. She led them out of the town’s entrance, getting far, far away… “Oh, hi Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed, somehow appearing directly behind Twilight, which made her jump back in shock. How is that possible? Because Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie. “How’d you...uhh nevermind. Have you seen everypony else around Pinkie?” Twilight asked. Pinkie gave a very fast and energetic nod. “Uh-huh! Rainbows up in the sky trying to get rid of these clouds, but I’m not sure why, I mean it’s chocolate rain for Celestia’s sake…just give me a second.” Pinkie said that all in one breath, ran under one of the clouds, and drank a large amount of the chocolate rain spewing from it. Twilight rolled her eyes at her friend’s sugar-crazed antics. Once Pinkie had had her fill, she ran back to her friend. “Aaaaanyway, I also saw Applejack in town, grumbling something that didn’t sound very nice about Discord making a mess of her farm, and Rarity was being chased down by Parasprites, which you saw me just get outta town, and then I popped up behind you and was all “Hi Twilight!” and you got all scared and…” “Okay Pinkie, we get it.” Spike interrupted. Suddenly, a blue blur fell straight from the sky and slammed into the ground next to the ponies and dragon, kicking up a lot of dust. “Hi Dashie!” Pinkie squealed. Rainbow Dash looked a bit less enthusiastic though. “Okay…OW! STUPID CANDY CLOUDS!” she yelled. “Are you alright Rainbow?” she asked, sounding concerned. Dash got up on her hind legs and stretched out her back, trying to get rid of the pain. “I’m just fine. What I wanna know, is why Discord’s making everything go ape shit again!” Dash shouted. Twilight and Pinkie nodded in unison. “We’re trying to figure out the same thing. From the looks of it, Discord’s turned evil again.” Twilight said. At that moment, Spike’s cheeks inflated, and he let out a large burp, followed by a flash of green fire, and a scroll. Twilight picked it up with her magic, and scanned her eyeballs across the paper, quickly reading it. “Princess Celestia needs us in Canterlot immediately. Rainbow, find Rarity and Applejack. Pinkie, get Fluttershy.” She said. “Will do Twilight.” Rainbow said. “Yeperooni!” Pinkie shouted. Her friends darted off in different directions to find the other ponies. “So, what’re you gonna do Twilight?” Spike asked. An angry expression came across Twilight’s face. “I’m gonna get Discord down here, and give him a piece of my mind!” Twilight yelled. Twilight focused her magic, and her horn started to glow a light purple, the light becoming ever more bright by the second. After a few seconds of charging her magic, Twilight released it out in front of her, causing a giant flash of purple light, making Spike slightly squint his eyes, trying to block out the light. A few more seconds passed, and the light disappeared, and in it’s place, Discord was seen headbanging, wearing a pair of earbuds, and playing an air guitar. “Discord…” Twilight growled. The Chaos God didn’t appear to hear her, as he was too occupied with his music. “Discord…” she said again, raising her voice slightly, sounding annoyed. Discord still paid the alicorn no mind, and continued to dance to his tunes. Now Twilight was pissed. She used her magic to rip the earbuds off of his head, and flew up to his head before he could react. “Discoooord!!!” She yelled right in his ear. His eyes grew wider and his teeth had clenched in a way that looked incredibly uncomfortable upon hearing Twilight’s rather loud voice. Discord’s head then proceeded to explode. About a second later, a new head sprung out of his neck, and Discord twisted a lion finger in his ear, trying to recover his hearing. “Yeesh. Give me a heart attack why don’t ya? If you needed to talk so badly, you could’ve just said so.” He grumbled. Twilight wasn’t amused. “Can it Discord. What’re you thinking turning Ponyville into all of this! Have you learned anything?!” She yelled. Discord had a confused look on his face. “Whatever are you talking abo-“ Discord was going to continue, but after taking a look around, he knew what she meant. All of Ponyville looked like something that only Discord could conjure up, especially a large flock of flying pigs floating overhead, and giant pillars of butter breaking out of the ground. “Well this is unexpected…but I love it! I commend whatever mad genius did all of this!” Discord exclaimed, admiring the chaotic landscape. “Stop playing dumb Discord! We know you’re the one behind this! Nopony else is demented enough to cause this much Chaos!” Spike yelled, pointing an accusing claw at the monster. Discord chuckled a bit. “Oh please Spikey Wikey. As much as I want to, I couldn’t possibly take credit for all of this. My dear friend Fluttershy had me reformed, remember? Honestly, would I lie to you?” He asked, with a halo appearing over his head and pinching Spike’s cheeks, much to his annoyance. Twilight gave an unimpressed stare. “Well that’s a tough one.” She said with obvious sarcasm in her voice. “You must believe me Twilight, I wouldn’t dare think to do anything that would upset my bestest friends in all of Equestria…for the most part.” He said. It looked weird to Twilight, but it looked like Discord was trying to actually be sincere…in his own, freaky, weird way. ‘Maybe he really didn’t do it.’ She thought to herself. “Oh would you just look at all this wondrous Chaos. And for once, I actually am not taking punishment for it. I am loving every second of this chaotic masterpiece of a town!” Discord said, raising his head up to one of the pink clouds, poking a straw in it, and proceeding to suck the chocolate milk from it. When the contents were emptied into his mouth, Discord sucked the straw in as well. A second later, he burped up a flurry of butterflies. 'Of course, I’ve been wrong before.’ Twilight thought again. “Alright. If you didn’t do this, then maybe you wouldn’t mind accompanying us to Canterlot to speak with the Princess about finding out who did.” Twilight said. Discord frowned. Although he no longer felt the absolute gut need to plunge Equestria into eternal torment, he still wasn’t much of a fan of Celestia’s attitude, and tried to avoid Canterlot as much as possible. “Awww. Do I have to? I’m having such fun here…uggh fine. I suppose that is what a friend would do.” Discord groaned. “Good. But remember one thing here. I’m trusting you Discord. DON’T make me regret that.” Twilight responded rather menacingly. Discord put a paw over his heart. “You have my word Princess Twilight. I swear I won’t try anything funny.” Discord swore, now wearing a clown nose and multicolored wig. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Oh right.” Discord said, snapping an eagle claw, causing the clown accessories to disappear. Afterwards, Twilight, Spike, and Discord went to search for the rest of their friends. Unknown to them, a group of three black-cloaked ponies had observed the whole spectacle. “Ugh. He’s worse than I thought.” One of them complained. “Indeed. Truly pathetic.” Another said. One of the figures, which appeared much smaller than the other two, preferred to stay silent. One of the stallions turned to the smaller pony. “Lady Screwball. What do you suggest we do?” he asked. The tiny pony removed her hood, which revealed her still-spinning beanie and her demented, purple eyes. “Stay here and have a little bit of fun. I’ll keep an eye on daddy and the elements. After all, if I’m going to spread my pwecious Chaos, I have to make sure absolutely nopony can get in my path.” She said with a slight giggle, drinking the glass part of a cup of chocolate milk, and throwing the frozen-in-place milk at the ground engulfing the purple filly in a cloud of brown smoke. When it cleared out, she was gone. The two stallions looked at each other and grinned with evil smiles. “You heard the lady. Let’s get out there and enjoy the Chaos!” one of them screamed. “Hail Screwball!” The other yelled. A while later, the elements and Discord had arrived in Canterlot and where on their way into Princess Celestia’s throne room. There was sort of a tense feeling in the air between Discord and the ponies, and everypony noticed it and were walking rather slowly…well all except Pinkie Pie who still bounced around everywhere she went. At first, a few of the royal guards gave Discord some dirty looks, but that was put down almost immediately by an icy stare from Princess Twilight. “Honestly, the nerve of some ponies. I’ve done nothing wrong.” Discord complained. “And how’re we to believe ya? It’s not like you haven’t lied before.” Applejack said, looking at Discord suspiciously. “I wouldn’t put it past you to do something so excessively insane to Ponyville.” Rarity said. Discord’s ears lowered and he had an annoyed look on his face. “Oh that hurt so very badly. And here I thought we were getting along so well Miss Rarity.” Discord said with fake, overdramatic despair in his voice. Rarity narrowed her eyes. “There are so many things I want to say to you right now…but being a proper lady, I can’t say them.” Rarity grumbled, swaying her mane out of her face. “Oh for the love of…Fluttershy, you believe me don’t you?” he looked at his friend with a trembling lower lip and puppy-dog eyes. “Of course I do. Now can everypony please stop blaming Discord for all of this? Everypony is innocent until proven guilty you know.” Fluttershy said to her friends. Discord let out a relieved sigh and wiped a bit of sweat off of his forehead…which dripped to the ground and burned tiny holes in the floor. “Fluttershy, Ponyville’s been turned to crazy-central! Who else is nuts enough to do something like that!?” Rainbow Dash asked with a bit of anger in her question. “Umm, I don’t know…” Fluttershy said in her usual whisper. The 7 slowly approached the doors to Celestia’s throne room, which were quite gigantic. It must take an awful lot of magic to open these things. One of the doors was enveloped in a yellow aura and slowly creaked open. Upon entering the throne room, everypony present gasped at what they saw. Standing next to Princess Celestia was her younger sister, Princess Luna…who’s horn and mane happened to not be present on her head. The lack of a flowing mane that looked like it was made from the night sky, or no mane at all for that matter, made her look absolutely ridiculous. “Umm…looking good Princess Luna.” Twilight said with a sheepish smile. “Uhhh, indeed. It’s really umm…stunning.” Rarity said with that same fake grin. “Yeah you look uhhh, real super de duper!” Pinkie said. Discord on the other hoof didn’t even bother... “Hahahahahahaahaha! I’m sorry. I-I just…I just…Bwahahahaahahaha!” Discord laughed really, really hard, floating in the air and holding his stomach. Twilight face-hooved, and her friends did the same. Luna’s ears lowered in annoyance, and her face grew into an irritated frown. Obviously, she didn’t find it as funny as Discord did. “Discord, that’s enough” Celestia said calmly but sternly. Discord wiped a tear from his eye with his eagle claw, gasping for oxygen. “H-Hey. A-At least I didn’t lie like everypony else.” He said, still with a hint of laughter. Celestia desperately tried to get the subject off of Luna’s lack of hair. “So my little ponies, I’m sure that you’re quite aware of the ensuing Chaos in Ponyville right now.” Celestia said to her subjects. Everypony nodded. “Now before you go pointing any hooves, I’m going to point out, once again, that I am NOT responsible for it…as much as I want to be.” Discord said, assuming that Celestia was going to accuse him of causing it all. “You don’t need to worry about that Discord. We know you are not responsible for it…or our-er…my current condition.” Luna said. “WHAT?!” The elements yelled in unison, excluding Fluttershy, who doesn’t like to yell. “Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are when Luna told me what happened. Care to clarify, Sister?” Celestia asked Luna gave a reluctant nod. “Very well. It is rather embarrassing, but it is relevant to the current situation.” Luna sighed. The ponies all gathered around the alicorn sisters to listen, with Discord hovering above them sitting in a leather recliner and eating popcorn. “Alright, so this is what happened-“ After spotting the Spears of Chaos in the garden reviving Screwball, Luna immediately flew down to their level to confront them. “HALT YOU TRAITOROUS SWINES! WE COMMAND YOU TO LEAVE WHILE THOU STILL HAS THY LEGS!” Luna shouted in the strongest Royal Canterlot Voice she could muster. The four stallions jumped at the sound of Luna’s very loud way of speaking. “Damn it! We’ve been detected!” One of them yelled. Luna aimed her horn at the four unicorns, and started charging her magic. The ponies knew they were no match for the Princess of the Night, and were prepared to die at her hoof. Many more seconds went by, and the ground started to rumble from the intensity of the alicorn’s magic, and her eyes were glowing a deathly white. Screwball looked between the Princess and her rescuers. She didn’t look very afraid for somepony staring death right in the face. The unicorns however, were petrified. They quietly awaited their fate, waiting for Luna’s magic to strike them down… But nothing ever came. Instead, they heard the sound of somepony chewing. They opened their eyes to look at Screwball, who appeared to be eating something that was a mix of dark black and purple on what looked like a stick. Luna was surprised that her magic wasn’t working, but what she saw in Screwball’s hoof shocked her even more, and she felt an unusually cold breeze on her head. “I-Is t-that…my MANE?!” She yelled. Screwball stopped chewing for a moment to answer. “Mmph. Maybe.” The filly answered with her mouth full. Upon closer inspection, Luna could see that the cone she was eating her mane off of, was in fact, her horn. That would explain why her magic wasn’t working. The stallions saw what Screwball did to Luna, and desperately tried to keep their intimidating composure, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous she looked without a mane. One of them took the opportunity to use their magic to levitate one of the nearby statues, and throw it over the alicorn, pinning her to the ground. Luna tried to push the stone figure off, but to no avail. “Nice work, Miss Screwball on saving our flanks. If you don’t mind, could you please come with us? We have very much to discuss.” One of the stallions hissed. Screwball, who was still eating Luna’s mane, shrugged. “Whatever, freaky. You guys really shouldn’t dress so depressing though. It looks boring.” Luna heard Screwball say as they galloped out of the gardens to Celestia knows where. Afterwards, Luna had lost consciousness… “The guards had heard my Royal Canterlot Voice and came to my aid, but that little abomination still has my horn.” Luna said, ending her explanation. “Whoa whoa whoa, hold up. So let me see if I got this straight. These Spears of Chaos guys resurrected a demon spawn specializing in Chaos, you tried to stop them but the demon pony used her powers to steal your horn and eat your mane?!” Rainbow Dash asked. Luna’s face turned red in embarrassment and she nodded sadly. “So now we have those terrorists running around wherever they please, and their new master causing Chaos all over Equestria.” Celestia said. “Y-You mean it isn’t just Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked. Celestia shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. We’ve gotten reports that several other cities all over the kingdom are under siege with the same problems. Las Pegasus, Manehatten, Appleosa, EVERYWHERE is infested with Chaos.” Celestia answered. Everypony in the room whispered nervously to each other, shocked at what the Princess had told them. Surprisingly, the only one who remained speechless…was Discord. > Backstory of Screwball, YAY! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I-I can’t believe it.” Discord said, “I know! It’s terrible! What monsters could be heartless enough to hurt innocent ponies?” Fluttershy cried. “No, I mean that I had a cult following this whole time and nopony told me!” Discord pouted, crossing his arms. Everypony sat there for a minute, taking in what Discord just said, and fell over anime-style. “Don’t ya’ll even care that Equestria is under a Chaotic takeover?!” Applejack yelled. Discord shrugged. “Not particularly. To be honest, I’m not sure why you ponies want life to be so boring and predictable. And can you really be surprised? This does sound like the sort of thing a Chaos Demon spawn like Screwball would do.” Discord said. Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “Hold on. You KNOW this pony?!” Twilight questioned. “More than that Twilight…I’m her dad.” You could hear the sound of glass breaking as everypony’s jaws dropped to the floor. “WHAT?!!?!” Everypony screamed. “You didn’t think to tell us this until now?!” Rainbow yelled. Discord rolled his eyes…literally, he threw his eyes to the ground, turned into dice, and levitated back into his head. “I’m sorry, but have we met? I’m Discord. You know, Lord of Chaos? Nature’s eternal troll? Must I draw you a picture?” Discord said now in an artist’s smock, in front of a blank canvas, and holding a paint can. “Anyway, allow me to elaborate.” Discord said, splashing whatever paint was in the can onto the canvas. When it dripped down, it revealed an image of a lonely looking Discord sitting on his throne, surrounded by a world of Chaos. “Once upon a time, back when I had been released from my stone prison and I turned Ponyville into my personal playground of Chaos, I had begun to grow a tad bit lonesome. Sure the Chaos was fantastic, but what good is it if you have nopony to join the fun?” he said, splashing the canvas with another coat of paint, this time showing a much happier looking Discord patting the head of Screwball, who was sitting next to him grinning from ear to ear. “That is where Screwball came in. I created the little filly to appreciate Chaos, to indulge in it, and when necessary, to PRODUCE it. But most of all, she was the only living thing that ever showed me any unconditional kindness and friendship…at the time anyway.” He said looking at Fluttershy before saying that last statement. Discord splashed the paper again, and this time it revealed Screwball blowing a blue mist from her mouth onto a yellow Pegasus, who appeared to be freezing cold, hence the icicles hanging from his mane and wings, with Discord watching from behind her, laughing hysterically. “During my reign, the two of us had such fun together spreading the anarchy. It was all quite hilarious, and she enjoyed herself immensely…unfortunately, it was all pretty short-lived, as that was around the time I got blasted back to stone.” “So, how’d she get turned to stone then?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I would guess that the big, rainbow-dome that returned Ponyville to normal after you ponies used the Elements of Harmony-(Gak,Gak!) Sorry, I just threw up a little in my mouth. I would say that that much harmony was a little too much for the poor filly, and she ended up meeting the same fate as yours truly.” Discord responded, snapping his eagle talons, making the canvas and paint disappear. “There’s one thing that still doesn’t add up. If those ruffians wanted to spread Chaos so badly, why go through the trouble of awakening Screwball? Why not just go to Discord?” Rarity asked. “Yeah, I mean when it comes to Chaos, Dissy can’t be beat! Why not just ask him to help? Isn’t he, like, their God or something? ” Pinkie added Luna, who had been mostly silent since explaining the loss of her mane out of embarrassment, decided to answer. “The Spears of Chaos USED to look up to Discord. But as of late they have become quite agitated with him. I guess the idea of the almighty God of Chaos befriending the very creatures he wished to destroy didn’t sit well with them.” She answered. Discord apparently took pretty big offense to that. “They’re angry at me for having friends? Pffft. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of many individuals coming together to make Equestria nuttier than squirrel poop, but their loyalty leaves much to be desired.” Discord grumbled in anger. “So, the Spears of Chaos resurrected Screwball to replace Discord as the spirit of disharmony, and now they’re out causing as much mayhem as they possibly can.” Twilight concluded. All of a sudden, loud giggling could be heard echoing throughout Celestia’s throne room. “Oooooo. Very good Twilight! You actually have something inside that noggin of yours, don’t you?” a voice that sounded really squeaky bellowed. The ponies frantically looked around the room for any sign of the demonic pony. “Screwball, would you please just be a dear and come out for Daddy Discord, hmmm?” Discord asked. A flash of white light appeared on one of the many stained-glass windows in the throne room, and when it cleared up, Screwball appeared inside of it, able to live like any other sentient being, only inside the window, just as Discord had done once. “I’ll humor you for one second, dad. You’re not gonna love hearing this, but I agree with the Spears of Chaos. After you were released, you’ve gone soft. You don’t wanna have fun anymore just because you don’t want to lose these friends of yours. It makes me want to…to…mmph!” Screwball’s face turned green and her cheeks puffed out wide. A toilet appeared next to her and she proceeded to stick her head into it. Loud vomiting sounds could be heard coming from it. Once Screwball was done throwing up, she flushed the toilet, which somehow made it explode into a muti-colored mushroom cloud. “Ooogh. Sorry you had to see that.” She said “Young lady, you are misbehaving very badly. And as funny as I find it, I don’t want you hanging around those Chaos-agents gone rogue. Being replaced by a filly makes me look bad.” Discord said, trying to sound stern with his daughter. Screwball however, looked like Discord’s scolding went right over her little head. “Uggh. So boring! I bet if I closed my eyes, I would swear I’d be talking to Celestia right now.” Discord’s jaw dropped at that. “B-B-Boring?! I can absolutely assure you that…oh my gosh she’s right. I’m becoming Celestia!” Discord wailed. He then literally zipped his mouth shut, and Celestia looked mildly offended. “Alright you little brat! Give the Princess her horn and mane back, turn Equestria back to normal, and get lost!” Rainbow Dash yelled. Screwball only giggled, and she moonwalked between a few of the windows. “And what can you possibly do to me if I don’t wanna play nice, huh Rainbow Crash?” Screwball asked. Rainbow clenched her teeth at the mention of that name. “If you don’t leave Equestria immediately, we’ll blast you back to stone!” Twilight screamed, answering for Rainbow. Screwball let out an overdramatic gasp that would put Rarity to shame. “Oh no! Anything but the Elements of Harmony, please! I surrender to your genius Princess Twilight! You really are the smart cookie of the herd!” Screwball wailed, conjuring a cookie that looked like Twilight’s head, and shoved it in her mouth. “Mmph. Although, I see one flaw in your plan.” Screwball said, with the cookie still in her mouth. Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “You gave up the Elements to keep Ponyville from being eaten by plants. Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten about that little incident.” Screwball pointed out Twilight’s eyes widened in realization and she facehooved. She had gotten so angry at the little filly, she had forgotten all about that. “Hahahaha! I seriously didn’t think you’d forget something like THAT Twilight! If you’re supposed to be the smart one, I’m afraid to even think about Pinkie Pie.” Screwball laughed. “HEY!” Pinkie yelled. Screwball wiped a tear from her eye. “Hehehe. Well you ponies sure are a riot, but I’m never one to miss out on some genuine Chaos, so I’ll be taking my leave. But before I go, can I just say Celestia that you may want to get all this broken glass cleaned up” Screwball said. “What’re you saying you little-“ Celestia was interrupted by the sound of every one of the stained-glass windows in the throne room shattering into a million pieces and exploding into the room. Everypony ducked to avoid the flying glass, all except Discord who used a large, pink umbrella to protect himself instead. To make matters worse, Screwball was nowhere to be seen. “Everypony alright?” Applejack asked. Everypony got up and responded that they were fine…all except for Twilight. “Umm, Twilight? Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “I’m fine Fluttershy. My ego’s bruised, but it’ll heal.” She responded, but it didn’t sound very convincing. Rarity almost immediately went into panic mode. “Oh nonononono! Equestria is being devoured by Chaos, and the only artifacts capable of stopping Screwball are gone! This is the WORST…POSSIBLE…THING!” she screamed. Everypony in the room gave her a stare that said “Seriously? You’re gonna do this now?” Rarity became self conscious when she saw her friends staring. “Well it’s true.” She mumbled. > Back to the Library > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mane 6 and Discord were heading back to Twilight’s Library to try and find a way to defeat Screwball, and they were all talking to each other nervously…all except for Twilight and Discord. Twilight was seething with anger and didn’t seem to feel like talking to anypony at the moment. That little brat had done the one thing that Twilight could not stand more than anything, and that was to insult her intelligence. If she had her way, that monster would be on an all-expense-paid trip to the deepest depths of Tartarus. Discord however, looked pretty depressed, and for once in his life, wasn’t able to enjoy the ensuing Chaos that plagued the town around him. Nopony, I shit you not, NOPONY had ever called him boring in his entire, long-ass life before about an hour ago. And by his own daughter no less! "I'm not boring am I Fluttershy?" he asked, sounding pretty torn up. Fluttershy shook her head. "Discord, don't ever say that. Screwball is just a little filly having a tantrum; I don't think she really meant that." she said, trying to make him feel a little better. Discord gave a warm smile to his friend. “What exactly are we supposed to do now? Can’t Discord just discipline his kid?” Rainbow Dash suggested. Discord teleported in front of Dash in a white light. “Have you ever tried grounding a Chaos Demon spawn? It’s a nightmare I tell you!” he said, now wearing a brown fedora and a clawed glove over his lion’s paw. 'Well, he sure got over that quickly' Fluttershy thought to herself Once the ponies and the Chaos God reached the library, they noticed that one of them wasn’t present. “Uhh, has anyone seen Pinkie?” Twilight asked. Not far behind them, the party pony could be seen chasing down a giant cupcake that had sprouted hooves across the soap-covered streets of Ponyville. “COME BACK HERE! GET IN MY MOUTH RIGHT NOW!” she yelled. “PINKIE!” Everypony yelled in unison Upon hearing her friends, a bewildered look appeared on Pinkie’s face. “Huh? Wha-AAAAAHH” Pinkie screamed as she slipped on the soap and tumbled toward the library, landing right at Twilight’s hooves. She looked up at her friend and gave a sheepish grin, which resulted in a facehoof. Twilight opened the door with her magic…only to find the library in shambles. There were books everywhere, furniture was busted, and Spike lay on the floor covered in bruises. “OH MY GOSH! SPIKE!” she screamed upon seeing the condition of her assistant. She ran to his side to try and help him get up. “Twilight…uuugh.” He mumbled. “Can you stand up?” she asked. Spike managed to get on his feet, but not without letting out a groan and cringing in pain. Discord once again teleported, and took a look at what was left of the library. “Yeesh, what a dump.” He said. Upon seeing that, he received a death glare from the ponies. “Oh, I mean uhh…the dragon isn’t hurt is he?” he asked. “Spike, what happened here?” Fluttershy asked. “There were these unicorns wearing black hoods. They came in here tearing everything apart. It looked like they were looking for something. I fought them off the best I could but-“ Spike was interrupted by a raging Rarity. “THOSE BUCKING SPEARS OF CHAOS! I’M GOING TO TEAR THOSE MONSTER’S APART FOR HURTING MY LITTLE SPIKEY WIKIEY!” she yelled. Everypony stared at Rarity, shocked by her sudden outburst. “…Remind me not to tick her off.” Discord whispered to Applejack. About a half-hour had passed since the Mane 6 had come upon the wrecked library. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were helping Twilight fix everything, Pinkie was looking over the checklist that Twilight always seemed to have on her person, and Fluttershy was tending to Spike’s injuries, with a bit of help from Discord, who had supplied kiddie bandages that had images of his face on them. They both explained that the cloaked unicorns were members of the Spears of Chaos. “Well that’s all fine and dandy, but remind me again why Discord is here.” Spike said. “His daughter Screwball is leading the Spears of Chaos, and I suppose he feels obliged to help dethrone her.” Fluttershy explained. Spike shook his head, processing what she said. “Wait, what?! You have a daughter?!” Spike asked. Discord nodded. “Yup. Buuuut it looks like she’s hit that whole “I’m a badass rebel that’s gonna replace my old man as the Spirit of Chaos” phase.” Discord replied. Spike scratched the top of his head. “Woah. Never pegged you for the type to have a wife and kid and stuff.” Discord laughed. “Wait, you seriously-Hahahahaha! Are you kidding? I made Screwball using my unlimited amount of Chaotic power. Nopony can tie down ol’ Discord!” he said, proudly pounding his chest with his lion hand. Discord then came to a sudden realization. “Wait, I just added more fuel to the shipping fire didn’t I?...DAMN IT!” Discord yelled at the readers. Spike and Fluttershy looked at each other with confused expressions, but shrugged it off as Discord being Discord. Meanwhile downstairs, Twilight and her friends had managed to fix the library up for the most part, and she managed to organize all the books back on the shelves. “Umm…Twilight.” Pinkie said nervously, which was pretty out of her usual, bubbly attitude. “What is it Pinkie?” She asked. Pinkie hesitated for a minute. “Ya alright there sugarcube? You look like ya’ll saw a ghost or somethin’.” Applejack said. “Well, one of the books is missing.” Pinkie said. Twilight facehooved. “Oh that’s just great. I’ll bet those Chaos jerks took it just to get under my skin.” Twilight groaned. “Ummm. I think it may be a little more serious than that.” Pinkie mumbled. “Well don’t keep us in the dark darling, which one was it?” Rarity asked. Pinkie handed the list to Twilight, who looked over the whole thing. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw which one was missing. “Oh that is so not good.” She whispered… Amid the absolute insanity of Ponyville’s Chaos, Screwball sat upon her horned throne that once belonged to her father. She sat there with an evil grin, petting a pink pony that looked like it was some sort of big ball of fur with a dopey expression on it’s face. Screwball looked at her masterpiece of a world and giggled. “Hehehehehe. I just love my artistic vision, don’t you Fluffles?” she asked the pony, which responded by sticking it’s tongue out and zooming around her throne like some sort of car. “Uhhh…alright?” Screwball said in confusion. She proceeded to conjure a juice box. She sucked on the straw, which sucked all of the color out of the box and into her mouth, causing the juice box to turn grey. She looked at it for a second after drinking it, and then proceeded to throw it behind her. A large explosion could be heard in the distance. “That joke never seems to get old.” Screwball said. At that moment, one of the cloaked unicorns approached Screwball’s throne and bowed before her. He was holding a book with his magic. “Lady Screwball. I come bearing something that may aid in your takeover.” The stallion said. Screwball raised an eyebrow. “Well spit it out then! If you know something that can help cause more of this glorious Chaos of mine, you’ve GOT to tell me!” she squealed, sounding rather excited. “Of course, my liege.” He said, flipping to a very specific page in the book and handed it to her. Screwball took the book in her hooves and read the contents of it’s pages. “Hmmm...The Al-i-corn…Amulet? “This ancient artifact blesses the user with untold power, and none other than it’s user can remove it once it is around it’s hosts neck…” Screwball read. Her insane smile grew wider upon the book’s revelation, and she started laughing. “Hehehehe. Ooooh yes. Mamma want…” She said menacingly... > The Great and Powerful Vs. The Crazy and Chaotic > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the outskirts of the chaotic mess that was Ponyville, a lone, blue unicorn, presumably a showpony, was towing a large cart toward the town. “Hopefully Trixie doesn’t need to deal with anymore of this Chaos nonsense in Ponyville like everywhere else.” She muttered to herself. “Aww, but nonsense is my specialty.” A squeaky voice from behind her whined. The unicorn known as Trixie quickly turned her head and was shocked to find Screwball reclining on the top of her wagon wearing a pair of shades. “And just who do you think you are, lounging on Trixie’s property as if it were some sort of lawn chair?!” Trixie yelled. Screwball just waved her hoof. “Oh cool your flank. I need information, and you’re the only one that can give it to me. So I suggest you tell me what I need to know, unless you want trouble.” Screwball said. That only seemed to make Trixie angrier. “Are you threatening the Great and Powerful Trixie?!” she yelled in response. Screwball was starting to get a little sick of this mare’s attitude, and she took off her shades. “Listen to me, oh Great and Powerful blowhard. Word on the street is that you were the last one to use this Alicorn Amulet thing. And I happen to want it. So be a good girl and tell me where it is. And make it quick, I’m missing out on some excellent Chaos here.” Screwball demanded. Trixie recoiled at the mentioning of the dreaded artifact, but attempted to keep her overconfident composure. “Trixie suggests that you listen, little filly. That amulet is not a toy. If it fell into the wrong hands, Celestia knows what they could do with it.” She said. Screwball did nothing but laugh. “Oh and you are SO convincing me otherwise. By the way, what’s up with the cape? You overcompensating for your pathetic attempts at magic or something Count?” Screwball laughed. Trixie’s expression grew overly hostile and angry, and her eye started to twitch. “You dare insult the Great and Powerful Trixie’s ability?! You will immediately regret that decision brat! Have at you!” she screamed. Screwball sighed. “So little miss ego wants to fight huh? Alright then, suits yourself” Screwball said, jumping down from her perch atop Trixie’s wagon, now standing firm on the ground, smiling insanely at the unicorn. Trixie didn’t know what exactly to make of the little filly. For trying to get her hooves on that cursed amulet, and accepting to battle the Great and Powerful Trixie, she figured this filly was either really evil, really crazy, or really stupid. “Can we hurry this up here? The sooner I beat you into a quivering pulp, the sooner you inevitably crack under pressure and tell me the location of the Amulet.” Screwball said with a disturbing laugh. ‘All of the above’ Trixie thought to herself. Trixie charged at the little pony, a pink aura enveloping her horn, and her mouth turned into an angry scowl. She fired a blast of pink energy at Screwball, but it collided only with air, as Screwball was not where she had been standing. This left a very confused Trixie, scratching her head at her supposed misfire. “What the-“ Trixie was cut off by the feeling of a hoof on her shoulder. “Boo.” Screwball whispered. “EEEEEK!” Trixie shrieked as the initial shock caused Trixie to jump back in fright, and Screwball to roll on the ground in laughter at her reaction. “Hahahahaha! Oh my gosh, you should really see your face right now!” Screwball howled, holding onto her stomach from the pain of laughing so hard. Trixie was at a sheer loss for words. “T-That’s impossible! Only unicorns can cast teleporting spells!” Trixie yelled, pointing an accusing hoof at the purple filly. Screwball gave an evil snicker. “You’ve got your powers, and I’ve got mine, let’s just leave it at that. Anything beyond that would just sail right over your big empty head.” Screwball said, now pointing to a small boat literally sailing over Trixie’s head, with words on it that read “S.S. Screwlogic.” To say the least, Trixie was pretty freaked out, but desperately tried not to show it. “T-Trixie doesn’t care h-how powerful you say you are. Anything you can do, Trixie can do better!” Trixie boasted, with a slight hint of nervousness. Screwball still held her signature smirk, and she cocked an eyebrow. This somehow caused Trixie’s hat to jump off of her head, grow a huge set of teeth, and growl at her. “Can your wimpy unicorn magic do THIS?” Screwball asked as she pointed a glowing hoof at the hat, making it turn completely white and start to grow into a bear-like shape. Once Screwball’s magic had taken full effect, the light settled and in the place of the demon-possessed piece of headwear, was a giant, blue bear with a sort of cosmic look to it’s fur. It glared at the blue unicorn with it’s teeth bared and it’s mouth salivating. Trixie’s eyes dilated on sight of the enormous beast. “A-An Ursa M-Minor?” Trixie said, nearly mute at the end of her sentence, her back completely pinned against the wagon behind her. Screwball had now climbed onto the beast’s back, wearing a cowpony hat. “How do you like my pet? Brings back some pretty cruddy memories doesn’t it?” Screwball snickered. Trixie had known the animal a little too well for her taste. She had previously boasted about defeating one of these things back in Ponyville, which led to two dumbass colts getting the wrong idea and leading an Ursa Minor into town. Of course, Trixie had been all bark and no bite, so Twilight had to take care of the thing herself. That turn of events had later led to Trixie becoming corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet, enslaving Ponyville, and well…you know what happened. “I’ll make you a deal. You tell me where I can find the amulet, and Fluffy here won’t eat you.” Screwball said with that same, menacing grin. Trixie couldn’t let this filly push her around like this. Playing on her fears as if it was some sort of sick and twisted game of hers. No. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie! The greatest unicorn in all of Equestria! And with such a title comes a sense of unbreaking pride that must be maintained at all costs if one is to- “A ZEBRA IN THE EVERFREE FOREST HAS IT!” Trixie blurted out. Oh…well…damn. Screwball giggled and used her power to turn the ferocious bear back into Trixie’s trademarked magician’s hat, and resumed her laughing. “Bwahahaha! Are you kidding me?! You are such a bucking SELLOUT! You went and doomed Equestria to save your own flank?! Why do I find that so funny?!” Screwball laughed. ‘Probably would’ve done the same thing if SHE was the one facing one of those monsters.’ Trixie grumbled in her mind. “Ah well. Once I get my hooves on that amulet, I may end up sparing you of my Chaotic wrath. You ponies are just too much fun to mess with!” Screwball declared before teleporting away in a flash of light. Trixie’s mind was reeling right now. In the matter of a few minutes she had discovered an Earth Pony that could do magic, attempted to fight her but ultimately failed, and had looked an Ursa Minor right in the face and lived. After taking all of that in, Trixie took a deep breath… And promptly fainted in the middle of the road. “Twilight, jus’ calm down!” Applejack shouted. Twilight looked like a nervous wreck. Her mane had become disheveled, her eyes had gone all crazy, and she was pacing around the room. She looked pretty similar to the way she did when she didn’t meet Princess Celestia’s Friendship Report deadline, only now, she was much more hostile and unstable. “Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! THE MOST DANGEROUS PONY IN EQUESTRIA NOW HAS KNOWLEDGE OF THE ALICORN AMULET, AND YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN?!!?!” Twilight screamed so loud it felt as if the entire tree was shaking. “Applejack is right Twilight. While the situation is grim, screaming about it will get us nowhere.” Rarity insisted, trying to get her friend to relax. “WHAT ELSE CAN I POSSIBLY DO?! DON’T YOU GET IT?! THE ELEMENTS ARE GONE, SCREWBALL IS ON THE VERGE OF GETTING ONE OF EQUESTRIA’S MOST POWERFUL ARTIFACTS, AND THE ENTIRE KINGDOM IS IN CHAOS! IT’S HOPELESS!” Twilight screamed again. Discord floated above the ponies, slightly snickering. “I think I like this Twilight a little better. She yells at YOU more.” Discord laughed. Twilight then turned her attention to Discord. “AND YOU! THIS WHOLE THING IS YOUR FAULT! YOU BRINGING THAT MONSTER INTO THE WORLD WAS A TERRIBLE CURSE ON ALL OF PONYKIND, AND YOU ACT LIKE YOU DON’T EVEN CARE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! ARE YOU REALLY SUCH A SOULLESS BEAST THAT YOU CAN’T SEE THAT OTHERS ARE SUFFERING BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!” Twilight shouted at Discord. After hearing that, Discord looked genuinely hurt. His ears had folded, and his yellow eyes softened, looking like they could burst into tears at any second. He said nothing, completely drained of any sarcastic or funny quotes, and he just floated his way upstairs. Twilight hadn’t fully realized what she had done until she saw Discord leave the room without some sort of smartass remark. When she realized what happened, she fell to her haunches. “Oh no... I’m the real monster.” > Spike the motivational speaker > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discord just sat at the foot of Spike’s bed sniffling, with both the dragon and Fluttershy trying to comfort him. “It’s okay, Twilight didn’t really mean any of that. She can just get a little stressed out in bad situations.” Fluttershy said, rubbing Discord’s back. Discord wiped a tear from his eye, which turned into a duck and flew out of the open window. “I’m perfectly aware that none of this was my fault. But that doesn’t make it hurt any less Fluttershy.” Discord mumbled. Spike decided to try a different approach, something that would actually appeal to Discord. “She’s right Discord. Twilight can tend to think very irrationally when she’s stressed. There was this one time where she hadn’t met the deadline for one of Princess Celestia’s friendship reports, and she went full-on psychopath. Seriously, she even made everypony in town fall in love with her stuffed animal.” Spike said. Discord’s face changed from one of sadness, to utter confusion, “Twilight did that?” he asked. “Yup.” “THIS Twilight?” “Uh-huh” “Twilight SPARKLE?” “Affirmative” A big grin grew across Discord’s face, and he tried to hold in a laugh. He failed. “Bwahahahahahaha! Unbelieveable! Twilight actually did something chaotic?! Did I somehow get sucked into another dimension or without realizing it? Do you see a Tardis anywhere?!” Discord laughed Spike soon found that his laughter was contagious. “Hahahahaha! Also, Fluttershy went crazy at the Grand Galloping Gala and let a whole bunch of animals in the castle, and they tore up the entire place!” Spike said. Discord was now pounding the floor, obviously in a lot of pain from his laughing. Fluttershy’s face turned a bright red out of embarrassment. “Hahahaha! Phew…alright. What about you Spike? Have you ever done anything particularly crazy?” Discord asked. “I tried to frame an owl once.” Spike said. Discord's laughing ceased, and he just gave him an unimpressed stare. “Hey, I thought he was trying to steal my job!” Spike shouted. Discord slapped his forehead. “Because that makes SO much sense…ugh what am I saying?” Discord said sarcastically. At that moment, Twilight came into the room, looking quite upset. “Discord, I’m sorry about what I said. None of this mess is your fault, and it was really dumb of me to say something so mean- spirited.” Twilight said, looking at the floor. Discord appeared behind her and his tail coiled around her shoulder. “Oh come on now Twilight, there is really no need for apologies. Everypony screws up now and then. Oh by the way, drive the town crazy over a doll lately?” Discord said with his usual bit of sarcasm. Twilight looked at him with confusion littering her face. “What are you…Spike! You told him about that?!” Twilight yelled. Spike gave his adopted sister a sheepish smile. “Hehe. Whoops.” He said Twilight facehoofed. “Um, now that that is out of the way, we should probably focus on taking down Screwball.” Fluttershy said. “Alright, so let’s think about this for a second. Yes, Screwball knows about the Alicorn Amulet, but she doesn’t know WHERE to find it. WE do. We just have to get to Zecora before she does, and hope to Celestia we can keep the amulet from her.” Twilight said. Everypony else nodded in agreement, when Pinkie Pie barged into the room. “Twilight! Twilight! Applejack just saw Screwball and a bunch of those bad unicorns going into the Everfree forest! She’s going after Zecora!” Pinkie screamed. “WHAT?! How’d she find out where…BUCKING DAMN IT TRIXIE!!!” Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs. “Well then, let’s get a move on everypony! We’ve got a world to save!” Discord shouted, now wearing a superhero cape as he flew his way out the door and down the stairs, with the other ponies following suit. The Mane Six, followed by Discord and Spike, were all trekking through the Everfree Forest to get to Zecora’s hut. When they finally came upon it, it was overrun with members of the Spears of Chaos, all of which where outside guarding it, though Screwball was not to be found. The ponies all hid in a nearby bush. “Crap! Looks like Screwball beat us here!” Spike whispered. “Alright, there are a ton of evil guards standing outside, and we're horrendously outnumbered. We need a plan of attack.” Twilight said. “I have a plan…attack.” Rainbow Dash said, immediately flying out from behind the bush and tackling one of the cult members to the ground. “Uggh. Why’s she got to be such a hothead?” Applejack groaned “Intruders!” One of the unicorns yelled, using his magic to throw Rainbow off of his partner. The ponies came out of their hiding place in a fighting stance, all ready for battle, even Spike who had green fire flaring from his nostrils, looked pissed. “You had better not hurt Zecora, or I swear I’ll tear you apart with my bare hooves!” Dash screamed. The unicorn that appeared to lead the group gave an insulting smirk. “Oh don’t you worry about your little zebra friend. Lady Screwball is in there getting the Alicorn Amulet out of her as we speak. It shouldn't be a problem as long as she cooperates” He hissed. “You heartless monsters! Get out of our way right now!” Rarity demanded. The evil unicorn just laughed. “I think it’s hardly appropriate to be calling US the monsters, Miss. After all, you all are the ones trying to get in the way of building our perfect world.” He snickered. All of a sudden, all the members of the cult were engulfed in light for about half a second, and were now wearing clown suits. “What in the-“ Before the pony could question what happened, Discord appeared in front of them and laughed himself to death. “Hahahahaha! Didn’t see that coming did you traitor?” Discord laughed at the unicorn’s misery. The stallions were very angry upon seeing their former idol laughing at them. “Traitors?! You’re the traitorous one here you pig! You turn your back on world domination and expect us to be okay with that?! Even when the Elements of Harmony were out of commission, you still chose to sit idly by like a docile fool?! What happened to you Discord?! You were legendary! A force to be reckoned with! And you give it all up for friends that are just trying to manipulate you?!” The stallion yelled. Discord floated on his back with an uninterested look on his face. “Can you just get to where you’re going with this? The author has a fight scene to write here.” Discord said. His response seemed to only make the unicorn angrier. “These so called friends of yours, are only trying to TAME you! They’re using this whole idea of “friendship” for their own intentions of keeping Equestria from falling into your grasp! I seriously don’t know how you are so oblivious to this!” The pony screamed. The unicorn then took notice of Fluttershy, who appeared to be cowering in the back of the group. “And while I’m at it, you really couldn’t do better than the cowardly animal hoarder of Ponyville?! Seriously?!” That remark, combined with the loud and threatening tone of the stallion’s voice, made Fluttershy even more afraid. She crouched close to the ground and made soft, whimpering noises. As you would imagine, Discord didn’t like that. He snapped his talons and a large ring of fire trapped them inside. The glow of the flames illuminated Discord’s yellow eyes, which made him look quite scary. The unicorns all cowered from the monster looming above them. “You gone and bucked up, son.” Discord growled. He tilted his head toward the ponies, motioning for the Mane Six to make their move. The six ponies and dragon slowly walked toward the evil unicorns, Fluttershy being stopped by Discord for a moment. “Oh and Fluttershy…” Discord said. Fluttershy looked at him curiously for a moment. “…bite their heads off.” Discord said. Fluttershy smirked, and a look of immense determination entered her teal eyes, and she too joined her friends in preparing for battle. Rainbow Dash cracked her hooves. “So, face or legs? Which do I break first?” She asked them. > Friends Vs. Cultists > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mane Six each took on the Spears of Chaos in separate groups; fastest way to get this over with. The more time they wasted, the more danger Zecora was in and the closer Screwball got to getting the Alicorn Amulet. And so the battle commences. Discord wrapped up his baddies rather quickly. With a snap of his fingers, their horns had disappeared from their heads, causing them to yell and scream in frustration. “Arrgh our horns! How dare you take away our magic you jumbled bastard!” One of them screamed. Discord yawned. “Oh I’m sorry, are you not entertained? Would you maybe prefer I did THIS?!” Discord said said, snapping his talons, which made the unicorns all get stuck in a big puddle of caramel, rendering them immobile. Before any of them could yell any obscenities at Discord, he made all of their mouths zip shut. With Discord’s batch taken care of, he looked to see how the rest of the Mane Six were fairing in their battles. It appeared that they had it handled pretty well. Twilight and Rarity were having a magic shoot out with a few cultists, Rainbow Dash was repeatedly punching one in his bloodied muzzle, and Applejack had been pinned for a moment by one of them, but was almost immediately thrown off and bucked into a tree, and Pinkie Pie was happily blasting away with her party cannon in their direction. The only ones who were having real problems were unsurprisingly Fluttershy and Spike. Fluttershy had gone in, fully prepared to have to fight…. …Until she saw just how menacing that these ponies looked up close, and retreated to the ground in fear. Spike on the other hoof wasn’t afraid to fight, but he was just so short that one unicorn had a hoof held to Spike’s forehead, keeping him from moving while Spike just threw random, helpless punches that went absolutely nowhere, while the unicorn stared with a deadpan expression. “…Okay, now this is just sad. Maybe I should spice things up a little.” Discord said to himself before snapping his fingers, which engulfed Spike and Fluttershy in light… Once it cleared, in their place stood a fully grown purple dragon, and some sort of demonic-looking, yellow, bat pony. The sight of the two terrified the unicorns, and they attempted to flee, but was stopped by one of Spike’s gigantic claws slamming down in front of them, blocking their path. Spike then proceeded to breathe a roaring flame from his maw and released it onto the ponies, erupting a few pained screams. “ARRRRGH! IT BURNS. MY MANE IS ON FIRE!” One of them screamed. Fluttershy (or Flutterbat in this case), let out an ear-piercing screech, which made the stallions all cover their ears in pain. After a few moments of silence, the trees in the forest began to rustle, and even started to shake the trunks just as violently. Then all of a sudden, a huge swarm of bats flew out of the trees and attacked the evil ponies, repeatedly flapping their wings in their faces and biting them in several places. After the struggle was over, the cultists lay in an exhausted and mangled heap, covered in bruises and cuts. Applejack wiped a bead of sweat from her brow with her hat. “Phew. They sure didn’t give up easy.” Applejack said. All of a sudden, large blasts of confetti shot out of the ground, nearly making everypony’s heart stop from shock. Damn it Discord. “Bravo everypony! Good job on beating the big, bad unicorns into the dirt!” Discord said, clapping his hands. “Yeah that’s great and all Discord, but we aren’t out of the woods yet. We still have Screwball to deal with.” Twilight responded. Discord proceeded to float towards the door to Zecora’s hut. “Well, what’re you waiting for then? Equestria isn’t going to save itself you know.” Discord said, about to open it, but was punched in the shoulder by Rainbow Dash. “Uhhh hello? Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked, pointing to the bat-pony and enormous, purple dragon. “Oh right.” Discord snapped his fingers, again covering the Spike and Fluttershy in whiteness, and returning them to normal. “Whoa. Haven’t felt like THAT in quite a while.” Spike said, holding his disoriented head. Fluttershy looked at the pile of injured ponies and gasped. “Oh my gosh! Did I do that?!” She yelled. Everypony nodded in unison, and Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment at her unusually aggressive actions. “Now that these ruffians are out of the way, we need to take care of the little monster before she hurts Zecora.” Rarity said. As you could imagine, Rainbow Dash was the first to react, immediately flying to the door and busting it down. “…This doesn’t surprise me.” Discord said. The ponies followed Rainbow Dash into the hut, only to be presented with a sight they had hoped NOT to see. Zecora stood motionless in the middle of the room, her coat turned slightly grey, and her eyes staring blankly into space. Screwball floated above her, giggling while spinning a silver amulet with a large, red jewel in the middle around her tail. “What’d you do to Zecora?!” Pinkie yelled. “Uhh, hello? Grey coat? Freaky eyes? Shouldn’t it be obvious? She’s all messed up in the head. And to think that all I did was get her to say the word “orange” and it did THAT to her. She’s like a vase; very easy to break.” Screwball jokingly said. Twilight stomped her hoof. “You better drop that amulet and turn Zecora back to normal Screwball! If you don’t we’re gonna just have to take it from you!” Twilight screamed. Screwball only waved her hoof. “You’re not in the position to be making demands Princess Twilight. I’ve got an all-powerful artifact, Equestria falling at my hooves, and an endless supply of Chaotic Magic at my command. So if you want this amulet so bad…” Screwball said before grasping the Amulet in her tail, similar to how a hand would. “…You’re gonna have to come and get it.” Screwball said with a threatening smirk. > Twilight Vs. Screwball > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To say that Twilight was angry would be an understatement. She didn’t think she’d felt angrier than she was right now. Screwball had been besting her at every turn, and she was beyond sick of it. Screwball has insulted her intelligence, mocked her unrelentingly, taken over Equestria, and was now in possession of the most dangerous things in Equestria. But the worst part of this was seeing Zecora, one of the wisest and most respected creatures she ever knew, reduced to a motionless, drooling, good for nothing thanks to Screwball’s powers. Screwball could make fun of her all she felt like, but messing with her friends like THIS, reminding her all too well of that sense of hopelessness she had when Discord did the same thing? No. This is where she drew the line. Screwball, thinking that she had the ponies stunned, had not expected in the least for Twilight to charge her and smash both of them through the ceiling. Not at all. Nopony else had expected that either. Sure, they knew that Twilight was angry, but this was beyond what they ever expected of her. Even Discord couldn’t see that coming, and he, just like everypony else, stared through the big, gaping hole in the ceiling at the sky where both Twilight and Screwball now resided. Both ponies were now at a considerable distance from each other, with Twilight giving a death glare, and Screwball shaking the impact from her head. “OW! Sheesh Uptight Sparkle, I knew I made you mad, but-“ “SHUT UP!” Twilight yelled, making Screwball flinch. “I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU HURT MY FRIENDS ANYMORE! I’LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE A STATUE WHEN THIS IS OVER!” Twilight continued to yell. Screwball was still a little surprised at how much she had managed to anger the alicorn. “…Yeesh, you really wanna fight me that badly? Alright, Twily. I’ll play this game. But know that I’m a compulsive cheater. Just a little heads-up.” Screwball giggled. “Kick her flank Twilight!” Rainbow yelled. “We’re behind ya all the way sugarcube!” Applejack cheered. “Umm, please be careful.” Fluttershy mumbled. “In all seriousness Twilight, please try not to hurt Screwball too badly. She sort of just needs a good spanking.” Discord said from below. Twilight didn’t take her glare off of Screwball even for a second. She charged the magic in her horn and surrounded herself in a magical blaze of purple fire. Still with a look of pure rage on her face, she flew toward Screwball at breakneck speeds. Trying to protect herself, Screwball conjured a big pink bubble around her. When Twilight charged into her, it bounced Screwball into the forest below, ricochet off a tree, and heading right back for Twilight. Twilight charged up her horn once again and fired a magic blast in Screwball’s direction. This time, the laser hit its target and popped Screwball’s bubble, making impact on her chest. “AGH! What in the-“ Screwball looked at her now singed fur, and winced in pain. “Woah…you actually managed to hurt me…you’re pretty pissed aren’t you?” Screwball asked. “That doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Twilight growled, preparing to fire another laser. Not looking forward to that pain again, Screwball didn’t hesitate in flying toward Twilight, summoning a giant, purple, magic hand from her eyes. The hand flicked Twilight’s horn, fizzling the spell, and grabbed her. Twilight struggled to break free of its grasp, but to no avail. Screwball then made the hand throw Twilight to quite a long distance. When Twilight was far enough, Screwball charged a magical, purple laser in her hooves. Many seconds of charging later, she fired it at the purple alicorn, who was frantically trying to regain the stability in her wings. Soon, Twilight managed to level out her flying and was stable in the air again. When she saw the laser coming her way, Twilight charged her own spell and fired another laser to intercept Screwball’s. The two lasers collided with each other, and both parties tried to strengthen their magic enough to overcome the other’s. Both ponies were sweating, and their teeth were clenched. “ARGH! BUCK ME SIDEWAYS, THIS HURTS!” Screwball yelled, referring to the injury to her chest and the amount of magic she was having to put into this. Twilight was trying so hard to keep her spell going, that her nose started to bleed. “Come on!” she screamed. Something told Screwball that she wasn’t going to win this. Her and Twilight’s magic appeared to be at too even a point for either to defeat the other. Being a child though, Screwball feared that her body would give out long before Twilight’s did. Screwball then looked toward the Alicorn Amulet that she still had wrapped around her tail. She used her tail to wrap put the amulet around her neck, in hopes that it would make her magic strong enough to defeat the alicorn. It did a lot more than she expected. There was an almost immediate change in Screwball’s demeanor. When she put the amulet around her neck, Screwball’s face looked almost like she was in pain. Her eyes started to slowly shift from their usual, purple and white color, to a much more sinister red and white, with a few tears starting to form in them. “No. No. Nononono! The Amulet it…it hurts!” Screwball cried, shaking her head violently. The laser that she was firing from her hooves also changed to red and appeared to become all the more powerful as it started to devour Twilight’s laser. Twilight saw what was happening and quickly teleported out of its path, causing the laser to burn many of the trees below. Twilight looked at Screwball, who had fallen to the ground in front of Zecora’s hut in pain, and gasped. “Oh my gosh…” Twilight whispered as she floated back down to the ground. Twilight’s friends hurried through the doors of the hut and gasped at the scene before them. “Twilight! Are you alright?” Spike asked as he hugged his surrogate sister to which she returned. “I’m fine Spike…but…” Twilight pointed to the pained filly who shivered on the ground, with a blood red aura resonating from her body. “Why’s she all…glowy?” Pinkie asked with a tilted head. “Is that amulet…hurting her?” Rarity asked. Discord bolted to his daughter’s side, a very serious and very concerned face that only a scared father could pull off. “Screwy?...Screwball please say something! Are you alright?!” Discord asked, in a terrified tone with wide, scared eyes. Screwball, still in very much pain, looked up at her father with tears now rolling down her face. “Daddy…help…” Screwball mumbled. Discord held onto his daughter’s shoulders like his life depended on it, completely abandoning any funny business at a point such as this. “Screwball, listen to me very carefully! You need to take that thing off! Your body can’t handle that much magic! It’s corrupting you!” Discord shouted, tears starting to form in his own eyes as well. Screwball tried to reach for the Amulet to take it off of her neck, but another wave of pain and the red aura stopped her. “AGGGGGGH!” Screwball wailed in agony. A large flurry of cotton candy clouds formed in the sky around Screwball and started to swirl around her position, and the sky grew dark. “Uhhh, Twilight?! Discord?! What’s happenin’?!” Applejack yelled. “I don’t know! Something’s wrong with Screwball’s magic!” Twilight responded. Before anypony could utter another word, a big, blue light erupted from the cotton candy clouds above Screwball and engulfed the little filly, making her pained screams become much louder. The explosion knocked Discord into the ponies, and he looked back in horror at the sight of Screwball being struck by the blue light. “SCREWBALL!!!” Discord yelled, reaching out for his daughter, who was still screaming. The Spears of Chaos cultists that the Elements had knocked out previously began to stir from the noise and the light. One of them looked up at their Goddess and gasped in horror. “Brothers…Look. Something’s happening to Lady Screwball.” He said as he poked another cultist, prompting them to look up and witness the terrible sight. The light started to disappear, quickly beginning to fade away back into the clouds, which uncovered Screwball once again, no longer screaming in pain… Only what stood there no longer appeared to be Screwball at all. “Screwball…are you alright?” Discord asked. The creature that now stood there was no longer the crazy, fun-loving pony the Elements had witnessed take over Equestria, but appeared to be something a lot more sinister and…evil-looking. It was about the same size as Screwball, and still had the purple and white mane and beanie, but had quite a few notable changes to it. It had a much more serpent-like body, a purple mid-section with a brown, scaly tail with a tuft of black fur on its end. It had a bear cub’s paw and a tiger claw. On her back was one bat wing and one duck wing. Her legs consisted of one zebra hoof, and a dog’s leg. On her head was a deer horn, and a purple and white striped goat horn. Her face wasn’t much different than her pony face, except it was much longer and she had a longer neck, which still held the Alicorn Amulet around it. Her eyes though…they were red and white, swirling orbs of terror, and she was smiling a much more frightening smile. “Oh, I’ve never felt better! How ya likin’ the new look everypony? Pretty snazzy huh? Although, I think I would’ve preferred a dragon wing as opposed to a duck’s though. Ah well, can’t win em all I suppose…Hehehehehehehe.” Screwball giggled menacingly. Discord backed up a little, and the Elements all gasped at the horror the Alicorn Amulet had turned Screwball into. “Oh dear…Screwball…” Discord mumbled.