> Born to Chaos and Nightmares
>  by Thorax
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Episode 1: Good Morning (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Note: This story works off the "Canon" set up in Equestria's Crazies, it might help, just a bit to read that before this. However, if you're willing to just accept a few things, there isn't any real reason this story cannot be enjoyed without reading the previous one.

Chapter edited by ZeroInfinity




Canterlot was quiet. The daily routines of the people of Equestria's capitol had not yet begun and those who went about their business during the night, had already retreated inside for the dawn approached, though this story does not belong to the domain sun, nor to the domain of the night. No, this story belongs to a rather strange filly, born to a rather strange family. Her name was Lucid Dreams, and this is her story.

The black filly slowly made her way through the large dark room, carefully avoiding any obstacle that would alert her prey to her presence. Even in the darkness, her mismatched features almost certainly gave away her heritage. For she was not a pony, she was a Draconequus, one of only two. Much like her father, her limbs were an assorted mash up of different creatures. Her left arm was a lioness's, her right an eagle's. She kept her father's original legs and wings, however. She did gain a few of her mother’s traits though, as would be expected. Instead of her body being a patch work of colors, its entirety was midnight black. She had her mother's eyes, too, blue and reptilian in appearance.

She was truly a strange creature. However, she was a strange creature on a mission, and her target laid across the room, sleeping soundly and probably dreaming about bunnies or something.

Not for long, the filly thought to herself

Tip-toeing across the room, the filly managed to navigate her way through the objects scattered about without managing to alert her target. Slowly she pulled herself up onto the platform on which the prey rested and, in one quick pounce, she struck.

"Dad wake up!" shouted the filly as she slammed against her father.

Discord groaned at the sudden impact, but quickly fell back into the comforting depths of sleep.

"Come on Dad, wake up already!" Lucid growled as she struck again.

Once again Discord stirred at the impact. However, instead of getting up, he rolled over in an attempt to block the impacts and return to his dreams of chaos and rampage.

Lucid was not one to give up, especially on a day like today. Once again she backed up, however she did not pounce. Instead, she snapped her claws and in a moment of complete, anticlimactic sadness a tiny bolt of lightning struck her father in the back of the head.

"Oh come on Dad, I know you're awake!" shouted the filly as she stamped on the bed."

Discord had finally had enough however, he wasn't about to get up just yet. Groggily he began poking his wife, who had surprisingly managed to sleep through their daughter’s assault.

"Wh...What?" groaned the still sleeping mare "I didn't do it, I swear that’s not my bat and Celestia was like that when I got here." mumbled the mare as she continued to sleep.

"Moony, wake up." whispered the male Draconequus

"What?" hissed the midnight Alicorn as she finally broke from her sleep; slowly she reached in the dark attempting to find a light source. After several seconds of flailing her leg in the dark, she gave up.

"Your daughter wants you to get up now." Discord answered trying his best to stay awake

"I've already told you" Moony growled "Before sunrise, she's your daughter." with that the mare of Darkness returned to her slumber.

Discord contemplated trying to wake his wife up again. However, thinking back on how well that had worked out in the past, he realized it was probably best if he just got up and did whatever Lucid wanted before that blasted ball of hate and light decided to kill any further chance of sleep.

For a few more seconds and his thoughts returned to Chaos and Rampage. Oh how often he had thought about snapping his fingers and plunging Equestria into darkness, not permanently or anything, just long enough to get a good night’s sleep. Once again, though, he was knocked out of his dreams by a soft impact.

Looking down he gave a chuckle as he starred at his little ball of chaos. "I'm up already, what more do you want from me?"

Lucid expression quickly changed from slightly annoyed to angry.

This made Discord uneasy; another one of her mother’s traits she had received was intimidation factor. Like her mother when angry enough, Discord could almost feel himself once again turning to stone.

"You promised you wouldn't forget!" Whined the filly

"Well I didn't forget so ha!" answered Discord

"Okay Dad, then what's today?"

"Your birthday!" shouted the older Draconequus as he snapped his fingers. Suddenly the room was filled with bright lights and streams as several clown ponies entered the room from the closet door. Dozens of balloons began to rise from beneath the bed. However, his daughter wasn't smiling and once again he could feel the bed rustle from beside him.

He didn't need to turn around, he could feel his wife's gaze of hatred on his back, without saying a word or turning around he snapped his fingers and the rooms returned to its darkened state.

"I was joking," he said with an awkward chuckle

"Then what day is it?" Lucid asked smugly

Discord began to run through the dates in his mind, sadly that wasn't something he was good with and he continued to draw up blanks. That is until a very cold and terrifying realization hit him.

"It's.....it's not our anniversary is it? If it is you have to hide me," whispered the terrified Draconequus.

Lucid crossed her arms and once again began to stare into her father’s soul with the stone turning gaze

"No Dad, it's my first day of school. You promised you'd bring me."

Discord gave a sigh of relief. "Good, if I had forgotten our anniversary I think your mother might kill me."

Once again the feeling of being watched returned to the Draconequus as a shiver ran down his spine.

"So honey," rang the voice from behind him. "When is our anniversary?" Moony asked as she starred at her husband’s back. Waiting for any sign to strike.

"Well look at the time!" Shouted the larger Draconequus "Time to get breakfast sweetie!" with a snap of his fingers both him and Lucid were gone. Leaving Nightmare alone in the bed.

"Don't worry honey, I know where you sleep." She told herself with a devious chuckle as she stretched out across her now almost empty bed, slowly drifting back into sleep.

With a flash of light the two Draconequus reappeared inside the castles main kitchen. Teleporting wasn't something the filly had mastered yet and as such was left slightly dazed as she stumbled to get a proper footing on the cold marble floor.

Discord gave another chuckle as he watched his daughter fall over in an attempt to climb up onto the counter. After a few more seconds of watching Lucid clumsily climb, he turned his attention to the large pantry door. This door held some of his best memories, sneaking food late at night, getting caught, that one time Flambé tied him to the shelf and left him there for three days, all great memories.

Though Flambé had long since passed away, he made it one of his primary goals to ensure that he kept a "close" relationship with his descendants, whether they wanted it or not.

"Found it" Discord stated triumphantly as he pulled his prize from the dark depths of the pantry.

"Pinkie O's?" Asked the confused filly as she stared at the box her father currently held. "What are those?"

"Just the single greatest Cereal known to anyone ever! I've had this box hidden for over 150 years!"

Lucid grimaced at the thought of the now rotten cereal that had to be sitting in the box.

"Oh don't be like that." Discord retorted "It's magically enchanted; this stuff will last longer than I will. See, it even says so on the box." He finished as he lowered the box so it was now eye level with his daughter.

"Laughter in every box." the filly read aloud. "What does that mean?"

"I'll show yo-" The larger Draconequus was cut off as the large wooden doors to the kitchen were opened.

"Good morning, Discord." came the soothing voice of the Sun Goddess as she slowly shut the doors.

"Good morning" answered Discord

It was only then that Celestia noticed the smaller Draconequus sitting atop the counter

"Oh hello Lucid, I didn't see you there, is my favorite niece getting ready for her first day of school?"

Before Lucid was able to answer, the echoing clatter of a spoon impacted the bowl cause the three of them to shift their attention to the table across the room. That was the first time any of them had noticed Princess Cadence sitting at the table.

"Feels bad man," muttered the pink Alicorn as she teleported away, leaving only an empty bowl and sadness where she once sat.

"Now that's awkward," Celestia said flatly before abruptly perking back up "So sweetie are you excited for your first day?"

The young filly nodded in excitement "Once I'm done eating, Dad is going to bring me to class."

Discord was about to open the cereal, when a devious idea unleashed itself on his poor innocent mind.

"Celestia," spoke the Draconequus in as sweet as possible voice "I seem to be having some trouble with this box, would you be so kind as to open it."

"God of Chaos, eh?" Celestia said sarcastically as she pulled the box towards her. "Can't even open a box of cereal."

As the Sun Princess finally managed to rip open the top of the box she was met with quite a chaotic surprise, as a torrent of balloon and confetti erupted from within the box, engulfing Celestia in a multitude of colors.

The two Draconequuses did their best to suppress any giggles. However their feeble attempts were quickly destroyed as the torrent of party favors began to dissipate and eventually stop, leaving Celestia's new hair "style" revealed for all to see. Both Discord and his daughter collapsed into a fit of laughter as the stunned Celestia stood in silence, her once beautiful flowing mane, had been blasted into an abomination of mismatched colors and spiked in different directions.

Slowly the traumatized mare lifted the box up to eye level, revealing the image of the familiar pink and puffy maned pony.
"Pinkie Pie...." muttered the shell shocked Princess "If you'll excuse me, I need to go have a talk with an old friend." With a flare of her horn and a flash of light she was gone.

"Dad, what's auntie Celestia going to do?" asked the confused filly as she shook the remnants off the boxed party off of herself.

"I believe she's going to go giggle at some ghosties," Discord answered flatly as he poured a bowl of cereal for his daughter.

"Not even the dead know rest from your aunts jimmie rustling," he added silently

Half an hour, two dead toasters and one broken door later they were ready to leave.

With a snap of his talons a small backpack appeared on the back of his daughter and with another snap they now stood outside the main entrance to Canterlot Castle.

"Are you ready, Kiddo?" asked the much taller Draconequuses as he prepared to snap his talons one final time.

"Wait!" Shouted the filly "You have to walk me there, we can't just appear. The other kid will think I'm weird."

Discord gave a reluctant sigh "Fine, we'll walk, but your mother has to come pick you up." All the Draconequus wanted to do was return to his warm bed.

For the most part the walk was uneventful, except for the odd pony who felt the need to bow to the passing Lord and his Daughter. However, there was one thing that caught the filly’s attention causing her to stop.

The large stone statue that sat in the middle of Canterlot, it was a statue dedicated to two heroes that had saved Equestria from total destruction. They stood back to back as if they were still ready to make their last stand, a Griffin and a Unicorn who had given their lives sealing the gates of Tartarus.

Lucid could not recall their names, though she remembered the stories her aunts and mother had told her. Apparently the heroes where partners with her mother, and they had chosen to dedicate their lives to protecting the peaceful creatures of Equestria from threats most ponies had never even known existed.

It wasn't for several years after the incident that her Aunts and Mother decided to give a formal speech for an event no one had ever known happened. Several weeks later the statue had been erected in honor of the two them. Their sacrifice also served to create almost total peace between the Griffins and Ponies, which had been maintained to this day.

The small filly continued to stare at the statue. When, I'm old enough, I want to be like them, I want to change the world. she silently told herself.

"Hurry up Lucid, or you're going to be late."

Picking up the pace the filly was able to eventually catch up to her father and in a matter of minutes they had arrived at the new building for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

With a quick hug and a wave goodbye, the filly darted off into the large stone building, leaving her father outside on the street.

"Poor fool; she has no idea what kind of nightmare she's forced on herself." He told himself and with the final snap of his talons and another flash he was gone, leaving a confused crowd of onlookers.

As Lucid made her way through the school she was met with several awkward glances and a more than a few stunned students and teachers. The filly couldn't help but laugh at some of their reactions, their reactions differed between each of them, some were stunned, some looked scared and other just looked in awe.  That was one of the many perks of being a Draconequus, she spread a little bit of chaos through her appearance alone.

After some careful searching and finally convincing one of the teachers to give her directions she was able to find her classroom, though unfortunately for her she was late.

Silently she opened the door, wincing as it squeaked. However, the students and teacher seemed to take no notice as she crept inside. As the teacher began to turn around to face the class Lucid did the only thing she could, she dived for the nearest open seat.

"Nice try." spoke the teacher in a smug voice.

"Crap..." muttered the filly as she knew she had been busted

"That kind of language is not acceptable in here, Miss Dreams. Normally, I'd give a late student a warning for being late, but you're not a normal student are you?" asked the teacher.

Lucid only shook her head.

"So which one made you late? Your mother or your father?"

"My Dad," answered the filly as she began to slightly rise from her seat, all eyes still on her.

"So, how many toasters did it take to make you late?"

"Two," answered the confused filly. "Wait... how did you know it was a toaster?"

The teacher gave a soft chuckle. "I have my ways," she said, and with that she turned back to the chalk board, magically picking up a piece of chalk as she began to write her name on the board.

"Hello class, my name is Miss Sparkle. I'll be your teacher this year."

> Episode 1: Good Morning (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Twilight Sparkle?!" stuttered the filly Draconequus.

The lavender mare nodded

Lucid was absolutely stunned; she hadn't recognized the teacher from behind. However, now that she was able to get a good look at her, she looked no different than she had in her aunt’s rather large collection of photos. She looked only a few years older than she had in the picture that sat above Celestia's desk.

"But that's impossible, you disappeared 160 years ago. You couldn't possibly be the same pony!"

Twilight gave an awkward chuckle Sure is an inquisitive child.

Remind you of anyone? answered a familiar regal voice from within her mind.

Nope, no one at all, she silently answered

The disembodied voice gave a soft regal laugh. You know very well who I'm talking about, my faithful student.

Nope, no clue she lied

Meanwhile beyond the confines of the mare's mind.

"Wow, nice going weirdo, you broke our teacher," whined one of the students, a brown Unicorn colt, his coat perfectly groomed and not a single strand of his mane lay out of place.

Lucid was cut off by another colt before she could give a proper retort.

"Don't call her a weirdo," spoke a white colt, also a Unicorn, as climbed out of his seat. "Do you even know who she is?!"

The brown colt laughed, then said, "Some freak from Trottingham? How the buck am I supposed to know?"

The white colt was stunned. How could anypony not know who that was? She was one of the future rulers of Equestria, heck, there were only two members of her species.

"She's Lord Discord and Princess Dreams' kid, do you live under a rock?" said the white colt.

The brown colt was about to speak when the realization finally hit him and a look of terror spread across his face. Without saying another word, he returned to his seat making sure not create any more eye contact with the newly discovered Princess.

After several seconds of awkward silence the voice of a filly somewhere in the room spoke up.

"Since the teacher's broken, can we go home?"

The other children slowly looked around the room at each other, each waiting for another student to be the first to stand up and leave, at least that way they could pin the blame on them, should they get in trouble.

Several Minutes later Back in Twilight's Noggin

I didn't spend that much time in Library! whined the mare

Oh one second, spoke the voice in her head. Luna put that down. *Silent Pause* No, I said you could have some when they've cooled off. *Silent Pause* Don’t do it, I swear if you put that in your mouth Luna, I will send you to your moon. *Silent Pause* That's it!

Twilight cringed as the sounds of large metal objects clattering and falling echoed through her mind

Oh for the love of me Luna, look what you did. I really liked that Oven too. Wait a second, Twilight are you watching the class?

Yes, answered the Lavender mare with a forced chuckle

Hmm, that's strange could you tell me why one of the staff member's foal is home? He says his teacher broke, so they could go home early

Twilight quickly snapped back to reality and her new found fears were confirmed. Almost all of her student had left during her little conversation, only three remained. A Filly Draconequus and Unicorn Colt and a Griffin sleeping at one of the back decks.

What? Twilight asked herself flatly. Why is there a Griffin in a class for advanced magics?

As she took a step forward she was met with the sudden impact of an unseen object. After several more failed attempts to advance towards the Griffin, she finally caught on to what was hampering her progress. During her little private conversation one of her little "ponies" had placed conjured a mime box around her, and she had a good idea which one.

With a flare of her horn she disappeared from her invisible prison. Only to reappear across the room seconds after.

The Griffin slept soundly at the small wooden desk, completely oblivious to everything that had occurred. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh, the first class hadn’t even begun and one of her students had already found her boring enough to sleep in her class.
"Kid wake up." She spoke as she shook the sleeping Griffin's arm

Life slowly stirred in the Griffin as he tried to bat his teachers hoof away
"I'm up mom, I'm up." he mumbled as he slowly rubbed his eyes. After a few seconds of awkward stares the young Griffin came to the realization he wasn't snug in his bed.

"I was listening, I was just closing my eyes I swear!" Blurted the panicked child

"It's okay kid." Twilight spoke softly "Due to some unforeseen events class has been canceled. Either way, I don't think this is the class you're supposed to be in."

A look of dread and panic spread across the Griffins face as he quickly darted over to the rows of cupboards that were designed to hold the student's belongings. A few seconds of searching and he had retrieved his backpack. With a bit of rummaging he pulled a crumpled piece of paper, which he quickly read over.

"Is this Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?"

"Yes" answered Twilight "I believe you wanted Luna's School for Mythical Creatures. It's actually right across the street"

"Nope, this is the right school."

"You are aware, this is a school for Gifted Unicorns, correct? In fact to gain entrance you have to pass a magical test"

Actually, we got rid of the requirement about 100 years ago, now we teach advanced magic to anyone who wants to learn it, rang the voice once again.

Why?  the lavender mare silently asked

Ran out of Dragon eggs, we were originally just going to turn the school into "Celestia's School for Gifted Bakers." However, it just didn't have the same appeal, so we gave that school to Discord.

Twilight was once again knocked from her conversation by an outside voice.
"Miss Teacher are you alright?"

Twilight gave a quick nod "You can call me Miss Sparkle, can you tell me why you enrolled in a school for Unicorns?"

"Well my dad is a Unicorn and my Moms a Griffin, but they thought that, even though I was a griffin, maybe I could use magic still."

Is that even possible?

You know, I've never thought about it. Do it for science, I know how much you love science

Mi amor science.

"Well then," Twilight said with a sigh as she looked across the row of sad looking empty desks. "I guess class is dismissed, I'll see you all tomorrow morning." Twilight turned back to her desk as she began to gather her lesson plans for the day.

"Wait," Lucid finally spoke "Where have you been? Auntie Celestia says you vanished a hundred and sixty years ago. In fact how are you even alive? Aren't you like Two hundred and fifty or something?"

"Did she now?" Asked the mare with a sly grin and a raised eyebrow. "I don't think vanished is the proper term, when something is planned, and I'll have you know, I'm only Two Hundred and twenty." She added with a hiss.

"What do you mean planned? You dropped off the face of Equestria!"

"Well kid, when you spend your life saving Equestria, you need a vacation eventually. So I spent most of my time in my own little world, if you will. I also spent a good amount of time training with many different mentors. As for my status of still living, you're all aware that powerful Unicorns are able to extend their lives through magic?"

The three children nodded in confirmation

"Well, what if I told you, having pure magic running through your blood stream does wonders for your health?  Though, it's a killer on security scanners and Television signals. Though, if you want a real explanation you'll have to bring it up tomorrow during history. Now run along, I've got a schedule to make for tomorrow."

With that the three children packed up their belongings and headed out the door. Each of them turning to head off in their own direction.

"Wait" spoke the filly.

The Colt and the Griffin halted in their tracks as they turned to face the Draconequus

"Yes?" they spoke in unison.

"We didn't actually get a chance to talk, my name is Lucid." she said as she stuck her hand out.

"Nice to meet you Lucid. My name is Quartz," answered the colt as he gave a quick shake. "And you, Griffin?" asked Quartz as he gave a quick glance to the Griffin.

The young Griffin gave a sigh "Fine, my names Finn, nice to meet you."

"Well then," Lucid said cheerfully. "Nice to meet you Quartz and Finn, I'll see you both tomorrow." With one final wave the three of them dispersed each heading off to their own home. Their first day of school was complete and they had already made new friends.
	
> Episode 2: Dreams (I)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(This chapter might seem weird, I'm still recovering from illness and I'm running under 2 extreme doctor grade doses of Tylenol. Everything seems good at the moment, but I don't know how it'll look in a few hours, as usual No Regrets.)
(Once again the edited version will be up sometime tomorrow as my editor is away on personal business)



Lucid lay in her bed, staring at the small photo taped to her wall. On it were the faces of herself and her two new friends, as they sat in the giant thrones of her family. Inviting friends over was nice, when you had so many places to explore and that's what they had done that day, explored many of the places they had been told not to. She couldn't help but fight sleep for a little longer as she went over the events of that week,

One week had passed since her first day of school. Though it had begun with a rocky start, everything had eventually fallen into place quite nicely. She had already made two new friends a Griffin and a Colt, Finn and Quartz if that wasn't good enough. Her first real school teacher, happened to be one of the most famous Unicorns in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle.

She had expected school to be fun, but she had never anticipated everything to go so perfectly, make friends. Check. Fit in with the rest of the class, check. She'd even learned how to make Check lists from Miss Sparkle; though part of her had a feeling her teacher had an unhealthy obsession with this type of organization tool.

The filly gave a soft yawn as she pulled her hoof sown Draconequus doll closer and slowly drifted off into sleep.
Once again she found herself in the realms of dreams, her mother’s domain.

The realm of dreams, a world very few could see it for what it truly was, a nexus of minds, that connects each and every creature, whether they knew it or not. A world, where every creature was an equal and in their own rights a ruler of this land.
However, the threads of this world were sown by her mother, a responsibility that would eventually be passed on to herself.

Lucid slowly floated in the vast void of a realm that had no true form. An infinite number of stars sparkled throughout the void, each a dream, one for every creature that had lived or would ever live a world.

Though most of these stars were unfamiliar to the filly she was able to make out those of her family and some of the ones her mother had taken a keen interest in. Her mother had taught her about certain types of ponies, the more creative ones, the artists, the singers and the writers were the best at shaping their dreams, whether they knew it or not and sometime they would take a little peek at some of the more interesting ones.

Lucid's thoughts were interrupted as a sudden shift occurred in one of the more familiar dreams as she scanned through the vast amount of stars she was eventually able to find the source of the shift in an instance she no longer sat in the star filled void. Instead, she found herself in the room of a scared Griffin boy.

"What's wrong Finn?" she asked her friend, who currently sat huddled in the corner

"Gigg...gig..Giant spider." stuttered the terrified child as he pointed at the closed door.

"Really? You’re not afraid of a little spider?" Casually Lucid made her way to the bedroom door and swung the door open. What she found wasn't some "little spider" instead sat a giant eight legged behemoth, a creature that could easily strike fear into the heart of almost any creature. Without hesitation she slammed the door shut and with a clap of her hands it vanished.

"You watched "Attack of the Giant Moon Spiders" didn't you?" she nervously asked as she scratched at the invisible arachnids that scurried through her fur. 

Finn didn't say a word, instead he only nodded

"Well you should know better than to watch something that will give you nightmares. Even my aunt had nightmares, and she was on the moon before."

"What d.. Do you mean? A nightmare, why are you acting so calm?"

"Oh you didn't know, you were dreaming? Didn't you tell me your bedroom had a bunch of Rainbolt poster in it?" the filly pointed out as she examined the almost bare walls.

This was the first time Finn actually noticed the missing pieces of his room.
"I must have taken them down." he answered nervously as he glanced to the empty walls it made more sense than saying he was dreaming, everything seemed to real to be a dream.

"What about the colors?" she once again pointed out as she stared at the grey walls. "You told me and Quartz they were Blue."

The more the young Griffin thought about his friends words, the more confused he found himself, she was right nothing in this room was correct. Sure it felt normal, and he hadn't second guessed anything before, but now that he took the time to think the room didn't match his memories. A window sat above his bed, there had never been a window there before, his posters were nowhere to be seen and the walls weren't the same cheerful cyan he had remembered.

"I'm dreaming?" he asked as he slowly rose from his corner.

"Ya and it was apparently a pretty bad one. Why don't you go open and tell that spider it isn't nice to ruin someone’s sleep?" she finished with a clap of her hands and once again the door returned.

At the thought of the beast that waited on the other side, Finn once again retreated to his corner. Even if it was all in his head, it was real enough and it wasn't going to get him. He didn't care what his friend thought of him, it was better than that nasty spider getting him.

"It’s okay" came the voice of Lucid as she placed her soft lion paw on his shoulder. "I'll go with you; we can make that big meanie go away together." Her smile clearly showing her confidence in both her friend and herself.

Finn wasn't sure why he had gotten up and waked towards the door, he knew what waited on the other side, one of his worst fears. It had chased him through the empty house earlier and he had finally found a safe haven in his room, and for some strange reason, he was about to go back out and yet, with Lucid at his side he wasn't afraid.

"Just remember, this is your dream. You're the boss here." 

Without hesitation Finn grasped the handle and flung the door open. Nothing, the hall was empty or at least it appeared that way. Had the two children bothered to examine the floor more closely, they would have noticed the small terrified spider scuttle away. 

"See, I told you there was nothing to worry about."

"Who was worried?" answered the Griffin with an awkward chuckle "I was completely calm, in fact I knew I was dreaming the whole time."

"Sure you were" retorted the Draconequus filly, Lucid was about to point out that she had found him in the fetal position. However, her thought was cut off as a small flash of light filled the room, quickly dissipating revealing none other than the ruler of the Dream Realm

"Hi Mom!" shouted the enthusiastic filly as she dived at Midnight Alicorn

Without hesitation Finn quickly dropped to his knees, and bowed as he had been taught. After several seconds of awkward silence the Griffin was unsure as to what he should do next. Normal the Princesses would announce when they were to rise.

"Finn" hissed Lucid "Stop being a weirdo!"

Slowly Finn raised his gaze, slowly following the towering size of the Princess that stood before him, eventually coming to a stop at her head, his friend happily sitting atop her head.

"There is no need for such formalities here, child." came the soothing voice of the Dream Princess.

Finn slowly nodded "Yes you’re Majesty."

"Call me Dream, please, as before there are no need for titles here."

"What are you doing here Mom?" asked the filly as she leaned off her mother’s white helmet and blotting out her field of view.

Dream gave a sigh as she pulled her daughter off her head and readjusted her helmet.
"Two reasons actually, one I haven't seen you since Tuesday and I wanted to make sure you where okay. By the way, we'll be back from the diplomatic meeting tomorrow."

"Okie Dokie" answered the filly "What's the other reason?"

The large Alicorn did her best to hide her frustration 
"I came to ask you if you've seen our keys."

The filly was confused
"Why would your keys be here?"

Once again Dream did her best to hide her frustration. However the thought of her husband’s earlier antics began to slowly breakdown her little dam and small trickles of angry were beginning to seep through.
"Apparently your father thought we didn't lose things enough, so he took everything that was in our luggage bags and chucked them into a black hole."

Lucid tried not to laugh as she saw the serious look on her mother’s face. Though, it sounded exactly like something her Dad would do, especially after being sent on a diplomatic meeting with Changeling Nation. Sure they were reasonably fun and good party guests, but her father could never get over how bland they all looked.

"Why don't you just ask Dad where he sent them?"

"I can't" Dream answered flatly

"Why not?"

"Because the fool threw himself in as well." she answered anger thick in her tone "so now I have to find our keys and your father and honestly, I think once I find the keys I'm going to throw him back in." After she had finished her little rant about her husband she finally noticed the tone she had taken on, and was using to question the children.

"What are you two up to?" she asked curiously 

A look of glee spread across the fillies lips as she prepared the story to tell her mother. After a couple of minutes she had finished explaining the events of the evening and how Finn was able to conquer his fear in record time.

"Well that's very good my little pon-" Dream was cut off as a small black vortex opened up on each side of the room.

The three sat in silence as pieces of the room were sucked into the void and disappeared, after several seconds items began to exit through the vortex near the door. It only took Dream a matter of seconds to realize what was going on as first her reading glasses came hurling through, followed by one of her favorite pairs of socks and finally the keys she had been searching for.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" came the hollow cries from the void

"What was that?" asked the confused Griffin as he clenched the sheets of his bed doing his best not to be sucked in himself. However, before anyone could speak up and answer his question, they answered themselves.

"Weeeeeeeeeeee" came the repeated cries of the large Draconequus as he quickly shot out one vortex and into another. Surprisingly he wasn't the only one in there, after several more seconds he was followed by a much smaller Pink Mare.
With another blinding flash the portals were gone, leaving the three stunned creatures in silence.

"That's great." muttered Dream

"What's wrong mom?"

"Not only is your father hurling through space, he's also hurling through time as well." Answered the rather angry looking black mare. "I'll see you tomorrow sweetie." Her tone quickly switching back to a more soothing one as she gave her daughter a quick hug and the young Griffin a pat on the head "You take care of her while I'm gone, okay?"

Finn gave a quick nod and a salute

"Where are you going mom?" asked the filly as she sat back down beside her friend.

Dream let a wicked grin slip across her face, one she hadn't shown in almost two hundred years.
"I'm going to track down your father and give him a nice little timeout and since he was kind enough to throw himself into the streams of time, I have quite literally all the time in the world to help him see the errors of his ways. Trust me, when I'm done with him, he'll remember the name Nightmare Moon." with a slightly evil cackle and a flash of Purple light the Mare of Dreams was gone.

"Not to sound mean or anything." spoke the nervous Griffin "But your parents are weird."

"Try living with them." Lucid answered flatly.

The rest of the evening went surprisingly well, no more giant insects or embarrassing outburst by her parents to make anything more awkward, after a few more minutes of searching she was able to locate Quartz's dream world and with a bit of weaving that would have made her mother proud, she had created a bridge between the worlds. They spent most of the night exploring the memories of the ponies that had long ago passed away.
	
> Episode 3: Rub a Dub Dub
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Within the Everfree forest a Unicorn colt, a young Griffin, and a Draconequus filly had spent their day deep within its depths exploring the ruins of the old Royal Castle. Throughout their exploration they had stumbled across many lost treasures, such as a golden helmet that now rested a top Quartz's head, though much too large to properly fit, it seemed to belong there.

Through Lucid's knowledge of Equestrian history she was able to make the symbol on its front out as that of the original Dawn Guard. The Dawn Guard was one of the fiercest group of ponies to ever walk Equestria, trained by Celestia herself. 

"So Lucid, what makes these Dawn Guard ponies so special?" Asked the Fin as he tapped his talons on the helmet.

Lucid continued to look at the stained glass paintings as she recalled what she had read in Royal Archives, being the daughter of two gods had its perks, one of which was knowledge, no piece of history was off limits to her.

"Well, the Dawn Guard was the first order of guards to be created, they were picked from the strongest ponies around, and trained by my Aunt herself. Some of the older legends say that alone they could stand their ground against any creature in Equestria."

Fin and Quartz made their way over to the Lucid and the window she was currently examining. Two unicorns occupied two separate a gold aura surrounding them, on the other side stood a large black sludge like creature, though it lacked any real limbs, it had what appeared to be several empty mask like faces covering its chest and back.

"What's that thing?" asked Quartz as he pointed towards the creature.

"Ruin" answered a voice from behind

The three children spun around to see the source of the voice was none other than Pleasant Dreams.

"What's Ruined?" the confused griffin asked

"No, the creature is called Ruin, it was foul beast that corrupted and destroyed all it came into contact with. However, that is all I will say, something’s are best lost to history, know that this creature was destroyed and is no longer a threat." 

"Hey mom! Why do you have your old armor on?"

This was the first time that the either Quartz or Fin noticed the armor worn by the Dream Princess was no longer her traditional white amour, instead it had been replaced with a light purple armor, which gave her a much more sinister and foreboding appearance.

"It is time Lucid, return your friends to their homes and meet me back in the library, we must prepare for the upcoming war."
With a flare of her horn and a flash of purple the Alicorn was gone, leaving the three children alone in the abandoned castle.

"War?!" blurted the confused colt "Who are we at war with?"

Lucid gave a quick giggle "No silly, we're not really at war, it's a code word for bath night."

"Bath night? Aren't you a little old to have someone else give you a bath?" Fin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Once again Lucid gave a laugh "It's not my bath night, it's my fathers. It only happens once a year, trust me, if we don't make him take a bath, he never will. So, I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

"Sure" both Quartz and Fin answered in unison. With a snap of her talons the three friends were sent off to their homes, two of them for rest and one for a battle she had waited a year for.

With a flash Lucid found herself a top the balcony of the main court room, her Aunt Luna stood at the front, preparing for her speech. Down below in the main area, stood every member of royal guard, both Day and Night and surprisingly a few Changelings.

Luna gave a quick cough to clear her throat 
"I thank you all for gathering here, I understand that many of you are off duty or retired and I apologize. But as you know, today is a terrible day, a day that comes once a year. Today is bath day."

The sound of chuckling could be heard from scattered members of the guard, surely it came from the newer members, those poor fools would have no way of knowing how serious this day was.

"I understand that the newer recruits may not understand or fully comprehend this, know that this is a day your fathers have taken part in and their fathers before them. Though it may not seem like much, Discord will do everything short of harming with his power to keep himself from being cleaned, I do not want any of you to directly confront him; you must lead, or guide him to our designated areas."

Celestia made her way over to her sister.

"I wish you all luck my little ponies, Discord has most likely already gone into hiding, as per standard procedure all access to 
Castle and its grounds have been sealed off, we have been sealed into to a closed space of its own, cut off from the rest of the world, and Discord cannot escape, find him and lead him to the designated areas."

With a salute and a command the guards marched their way out of the room, beginning their search throughout the castle.

The three Alicorns and one Draconequus jumped from the balcony, gracefully landing on the now empty floor below.

"So where do we start looking?" asked the curious filly

"You're aunts and I will be looking for your father, you however will remain here."  answered Pleasant 

"But mom, why can't I help?" whined the filly "you said this year I was old enough to help."

"Because my child, you're plan B" Her mother answered with a wicked grin

Before Lucid could ask her mother to explain, the large wooden chamber doors flew open as Discord darted in, quickly slamming them behind him. The four of them silently watched as Discord continually opened the wooden door and peaked out, completely oblivious to their presence.

"Ahem" Luna said with a smirk

Slowly Discords head began to turn and as his face came into view, they were able to see his features, twisted into an expression of absolute horror as he saw the last three mares he wanted to see on this day.

"Nope" he screeched as he broke into a gallop smashing through the wall

With a twisted grin Luna turned to face her Sister and her other half
"LET THE HUNT BEGIN" She boomed having finally had the occasion to use the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Both Pleasant and Luna both vanished in a flash of light as Celestia began her chase. 

Discord was quite the easy beast to track, he did little to keep himself hidden and his unique size and shape made every hole in the wall more visible. Though his panicked shrieking might have helped her in keeping up, poor fools also seemed to forget, he was the god of chaos.

"Discord, why do we have to do this every year?" Celestia shouted as she passed through a hole into the kitchen and out through one of the staff members bedrooms.

"Why do you feel the need to make me clean myself?!" Came the returned strained cries of the Draconequus as he slammed through another walls, this time allowing light to flood in through the hole.

Without hesitating Celestia continued her full speed gallop through the blinding light, sadly for both Discord and Celestia, during their little game of cat and mouse, they both failed to remember they were on the third floor. Celestia's shrieks were said to have reached as far as The City of Ponyville. The thud when she hit the ground echoed even further.

Several minutes later

Life slowly returned to the Sun Goddess as her body finished healing, slowly she rose to her hooves as she served her surroundings, her and Discord had most came crashing down into the Canterlot Statue Garden. Speaking of Discord, the Draconequus was nowhere in sight, however from the outline beneath her, she could only assume she had landed on him, meaning he wasn't too far away.

"Discord!" Shouted the now agitated mare "Come out and maybe I won't drown you in a lake"

Slowly she made her way through rows of statues, many of which had been created to honor the heroes of Equestria. 
Finally she came to the platform that had once held Discord, however instead of being empty, it once again held the figure of a Draconequus trapped in stone.

"Really Discord? You bloody fool, how could you possibly think I'd fall for a disguise as foalish as this?" with that, Celestia prepared herself to attack the idiot before he could flee again.

"Oh my dear Celestia, did you really expect me to make the same mistake twice?" retorted the Spirit of Chaos as he appeared with a flash. "I just needed a place to hold you till you come to your senses." he finished with a snap of his talons.

"What do you mean Discor-" Celestia paused as she realized she could no longer move her legs. "What have you done Discord?" She tilted her downwards and was stunned to see her body slowly being coated in stone.

"Discord I swear on my name, when I get out of here, I will do unspeakable things to yo-" The Sun Goddess was silenced as the stone finally coated her head. Leaving only Discord and an extremely grumpy looking statue.

Discord continued to look around the garden making sure no one was around. Once he was adequately sure no one was watching, he slowly placed Celestia on the pedestal that had once held him. Afterwards he causally walked away, whistling nonchalantly as he entered back into the castle on his way to his next hiding place and next victim.

Half an Hour Later
Pleasant had finally managed to break the seals her husband had placed on their bedrooms and with a mighty blast she had removed the doors and roughly eighty percent of the wall.

"Honey, I'm home."

Slowly the Princess of Dreams made her way into the bedroom, making sure to check for any traps that Discord might have lain.

Several minutes of searching later and there were no signs of the Draconequus anywhere. As she made her finally sweep of the room, she noticed something she had missed beforehand, claw marks, leading under the bed. Now that she thought about it, her husband had strange belief that there was a little world beneath his bed. She had always chalked it up to marrying the spirit of chaos, and him being a complete lunatic.

Slowly she lowered herself, giving herself what should have been a clear view beneath the bed. However instead of having a view beneath the bed, she was met with total darkness, in fact she would even call it advanced darkness, and something she saved for those who reached rock bottom.

"Discord?!" She shouted into the bleakness black void that had apparently lived beneath her bed.

"Go away!" came the returned shout

"You're really going to make me crawl under the bed, aren't you?" After several seconds of waiting Pleasant received no answer and slowly began her crawl into the abyss. A few small steps in and she immediately footing on the wooden floor below and began plummeting into the darkness, eventually the darkness was replaced with the light of the sun. As she continued her rapid decent she could make out a large island below. However, during her decent towards the island she forgot one important fact, she had wings.

*Thud*
"Ah, my everything" groaned the Alicorn as she picked herself up off the ground 

"Discord! Get out here now, every year dammit, every year you do this!" Pleasant shouted to nothing in particular.

"And every year you all make fools over yourself, priceless" echoed the voice of Discord "By the way, Welcome to the Shivering Isles, my home away from home! Good luck trying to find me!"

The Princess of Dreams facehoofed  Honestly, I love you, but you're a complete idiot with a flare of her horn and a flash of purple light she was instantly transported to her Husband’s location.

The Alicorn now stood in the center of a large castle, glancing around she was met with a slightly awkward sight, dozens of creatures lying dead on the floor, she hadn't take into account mortals when she had used the spell
Note to self, Bring these things back to life, after I've murdered my husband  In the center of the room sat a rather large fort, made entirely out of pillows.

"Discord, last chance, get out of there. Come take your bath like someone with a shred of dignity, or I'll go in there and I will bathe you in the flames of Tartarus."

"Haha" came the muffled laughs from within the fort "You can't enter here, the sign says no girls allowed." Discord finished with another victorious laugh

"I married a moron." groaned the mare "That's it Discord, I'm coming in."

Discord peered out the small window "I wouldn't if I were you, but what do I know, I'm insane."

However, Pleasant chose to disregard her husband’s warning and prepared her charge, horn ready to impale whatever she could, at this point it didn't matter if she came back with his corpse, she'd get this idiot clean if it killed both of them. The warning Discord had given suddenly gained some value when she slammed into an invisible wall and blasted across the room. 

Pleasant groaned as her vision returned to her, revealing Discord now standing above her.

"Wow, you've become a real cow." Discord said bluntly

The look of anger on his wife reminded him why she had been called Nightmare Moon. 
"Did you. Call me. Fat?!" Hissed the mare.

"Not at all, I'm just saying, you are quite literally a cow." the Draconequus finished holding up a mirror

Pleasant was horrified, instead of her usually beautiful self staring back at her, she was met with the image of a cow, black with purple splotches across her body.

"Haha" Discord chuckled to himself "Nightmare Moo"

If looks could kill, the glare his wife gave him would have wiped out all life in existence 

Though Discord could be considered stupid, he wasn't that stupid, he knew if Pleasant got to him, he'd wish he could die.
"I love you honey, I'll be back later to fix this I promise. I'll make sure Lucid eats all her veggies." with a panicked snap of his fingers the soon to be Dead Draconequus saved himself, for now at least.

One Hour, Back in Canterlot Castle

Discord had run out of hiding places, he had expected Luna to have planned everything out so well, she had sacrificed the others to buy her time, Honestly at this point Discord was no longer sure who's idea it really was to bring about eternal night.
Upon arrival at each of his preplanned hiding points and safe zones he was met with either complete destruction of it, or a squad of guards waiting to bring him in.

To make matter worse, Luna had finally found him and had not given him any rest so far, at this point he had been simply degraded to the point where he was now hiding in closets.

"Dad, you in there?" asked the filly Draconequus

"Lucid is that you?" answered Discord as he slowly opened the door, and pulled his daughter into his micro sanctuary.

"Why are you hiding in here Dad? Auntie Celestia said you'd been more elaborate than this." asked the confused filly

"I'm sorry honey, but that's classified and as long as you're helping them, I can't share my secrets with you."

Lucid gave a small giggle "Don't worry dad, I defected to your side, they wouldn't let me help find you, so I thought may you'd let me help hide you."  

"Well then" Discord said with a snap of his talons and in another flash the small closets was replaced by a large office room, a desk now sat between the larger Draconequus and his Daughter, who now sat in a cushioned chair, that was far too large for her. 

"What can you bring to this organization?" Discord asked crossing your arm

"Freedom" Lucid answered flatly "I have the only escape route, mom made it for me in case of emergencies."

Before Discord could continue the interview a large blast rocked the room, destroying one of the walls and knocking the paintings from their place on the wall.

"Found you" Luna said with a devious grin

"You're hired!" Discord shouted as He and Lucid darted past the Mare of the Moon.

For the next few minutes the two Draconequus had done everything in their powers to shake the Princess of the Moon; however she seemed to know every turn they'd make, two turns ahead. After a few more minutes Discord lost sight of Lucid, assuming her a prisoner of war, he vowed to buy her ice cream later.

"Dad!" Shouted the Filly as she stuck out from behind the large wooden door, blinding light flooding through the door way.
"Quickly this way, once we're out we can loose her!"

Putting all of his remaining strength to work Discord hurled himself at the wooden door, quickly he was engulfed in the warm sensation of hot water, quickly he rolled himself around till he could find the surface and gasped for air. After rubbing the water from his eyes he was greeted with a horrible sight.

Luna and Lucid, one holding a scrub, the other holding a bar of soap.
"Betrayed by my own flesh and blood" Discord cried in the most overly dramatic way possible
"I'm both horribly saddened and quite proud."

"Oh shut up and let's just finish this." Growled the drained Lunar Princess "It'll take weeks to fix the mess you made."

Discord shrugged "Well I can't make this easy, I have to keep you all on your hooves, what if an emergency happened?"

Luna turned her gaze to Lucid who was happily scrubbing her fathers head with the brush
"Brushy, Brushy, Brushy," she happily hummed to herself

"Lucid, sweetie, why don't you go get ready for bed. I'm going to have a conversation with you're father."

"Okie dokie Auntie" the filly said happily as she headed off to her room.

Once the coast was clear Luna returned her gaze back Discord.
"So, now that we're alone and there's nobody to listen in on what I'm going to say. Did you get the job done?" The Lunar Princess asked as she raised a large bag of candies.

Discord nodded as he tried to squirm out from beneath the brush that Luna now forcefully wielded against him.
"Celestia and Nightmare will be away till tomorrow evening, you'll have enough time to find what you need, though I can hardly see why you'd go through all this for a couple of boring journals."

Luna's expression changed from devious joy to slight anger as she put more pressure into her scrubbing.
"One of them ate my piece of cake and when I find out who, they shall know the fury of the night."

"Oh gag, I don't know how you can stand that foul cake, the cooks make." 

"Oh shut up and take your bath with some dignity." growled Luna

One Hour Later

Discord had finally managed to dry off and remove the water from his ears, though his day had been one long pain in the neck, he could at least find some joy in his rest.

Just as he was about fade into sleep he reminded himself to retrieve his wife an Celestia at some point tomorrow. With that he drifted off into the realms of dreams where he was created by his very angry bovine of a wife. However, through both sheer luck and bribery he had managed to calm her and return things to semblance of normality, if that even had some meaning for the spirit of Chaos.

*Thud*
Discord shot up from his bed and quickly glanced through the room, fear began to fill his mind as he was able to make out the shape of a large Alicorn standing in the corner of the room.

Slowly he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and when he opened them the Alicorn had moved to the foot of the bed. The fear he felt increased ten folds when he realized that the Alicorn in front of him was none other than Celestia still trapped  in stone.

*Blink*
Discord let out a yelp as he opened his eyes, the Statue now sat on his bed, face mere inches from him twisted into a look of complete horror as her hooves reached out towards him.

"Don't blink, don’t blink" the terrified Draconequus muttered to himself as he starred into the hate filled eyes of Celestia.
However, he knew he couldn't last forever and he could feel his eyes begin to burn, "No regrets!" 

*Blink*
*SNAP*

"Ah come on" groaned Discord "That much blood will never come out of these sheets."
	
> Mini Episode 1: Nightmare Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

{Author Note: Lately I just haven't had the urge to write, nor do I have many Ideas. This will serve as a form of filler and give me a chance to just go nuts. Please don't take anything in this chapter seriously; it's just me writing whatever comes to mind.} 

(To be properly edited tomorrow, depending on how I feel)




Nightmare Night
Three Hours after the celebration began

"Luna just jump out of the window, I swear to myself I'll push!" Celestia shouted as the flames crept beneath the door.

"But I don't want to die again!" Whined the Lunar Goddess as she stared out the tower window.

Down in the courtyard below the crowds of ponies that had gathered to celebrate Nightmare Night continued with the festivities completely oblivious to the events happening above, Ponies and a variety of other creatures continued to go about their activities.

Foals ran about as they played their games, some pretending to horrible monsters attempting to eat the rest, the other running in playful terror.

Meanwhile the unlikely part hosts continued to mingle with their guests. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or so it seemed, was having a nice conversation with some of the Lunar Guards.

Poor guards were so confused when the Princess of Love began asking who crafted their armor, and if she could get some in her size. 

At the opposite ends of the courtyard Chrysalis Queen of the Changeling Empire was having a rather awkward conversation with one of her soldiers, regarding sleeping habits.

"So you mean to tell me, you sleep in cocoons made of slime?!" Chrysalis asked the much smaller confused Changeling

"No my queen, we all sleep in beds, like everyone else." answered the solider 

Chrysalis mumbled in acknowledgement as she stared at her hooves. She continued you'd to do some moving her hoof in front of her face and giggling whenever a hole met her eye.

"My Queen," the Changeling began "you need to go back to the hive, you're drunk" he finished bluntly

"Don't be silly, I haven't even finished my first bottle, Stalliongrad Vodka, it's imported." Chrysalis said cheerfully as she pulled a bottle from some unseen place and pulled the top off.

The Changeling stood in absolute stunned silence as his Queen proceeded to down 40ouces of 140proof straight Vodka.

However all was not as it seemed and only two mares were aware of it. Chrysalis and Cadence had swapped places long before the party had even begun. An inside joke, long forgotten to history.

The merriment and music was quickly silenced as the sound of shattering glass from above, filled the air.
Followed by the sounds of the Princess of the Night screaming as she fell from the highest point in Canterlot, her sister watching in anticipation.

"Why Celestiaaaaaaaaa-" *Thud* Luna came to a dead stop as he she slammed into the garden below, landing perfectly in the rose bush.

"You're replanting those!" The Sun Goddess angrily shouted,

Luna put all of her remaining strength into rolling over, and with her last breath, she took the shot. She grinned as her infinite being was pulled back into the void, sure it was a short lived victory and she'd probably still have to replant the bush in a few days. But maybe, she didn't have to plant roses; poison joke looked lovely that time of year.

Back in the courtyard the crowd continued to watch the ongoing spectacle. The oblivious Sun goddess continued to laugh to herself unaware of the balls of magic quickly heading towards her. By the time her victory laugh and dance had been finished it was too late.

Celestia was blown away from the window as her sister's spell hit her, firing her directly into the blazing inferno that had already claimed half her room. Sure she could have put the fire out on her own, but then Luna would have won the game. The same game that started the fire to begin with.

Four Hours Ago

"Dare" Luna said the boredom thick in her voice

As Celestia continued to think about what horrible act she could possible get her sister to perform. With a wicked grin that slowly spread across her face she knew what she had to do.

"Celestia" Luna began "I love you sister, but I swear on the moon, if you dare me to eat another bug. I'll bring the moon down so fast on you; it'll make the Hero of Time cringe."

"Oh my dearest sister" The Sun Goddess said calmly "I would never do something like that, no, I dare you to only use destructive magic for the rest of the evening."

Luna raised an eyebrow "Very well Celestia, but this is a much larger dare then the usual routine, I have a dare for you."

Celestia nodded for her sister to continue

"Since I can only destroy with magic and due to your little incident yesterday, I'm incapable of flight. I dare you to live the rest of the evening as an earth pony, no flight and no magic."

Back in the flaming tower 
Thinking back on it now, we probably should have stopped the game there Celestia thought to herself as she charged towards the window, her body coated in flames.

"No regrets!" The Sun Goddess, now a ball of fire screeched as she plummeted towards the second rose bush.
"Oh me dammi-" *Thud*

Now that the quite common occurrence was coming to an end, Cadence ordered several guards to deal with the blaze in her aunt's room. While her and the rest of the guest continued their Nightmare Night party.

Near the edge of the Everyfree

The group of terrified foals and their parents slowly approached the menacing shrine. They're sacrificial offerings prepared to appease the beast waiting in the shadows.

"Citizens of Ponyville" came the booming voice, the source unseen "You were wise to bring me this Candy offering to me."

The ponies quickly picked up the pace as they hurriedly placed the small sacks of candy at the base of the shrine
"I am pleased with your offer-" the voice was cut off as loud rustling filled the air.

"Hey mom, when are we going to get our own candy?" came an equally loud, yet much softer voice

"Lucid sweetie, I'm trying to do my thing." Boomed the original voice

The confused onlookers continued to scan the surroundings. Attempting to find any source of the original voice, and its new partner. However, as it appeared the voices seemed to come from everywhere and yet nowhere.

"Moony, you left the Mic on." Came a new third voice.

"Discord, I know what I'm do- Oh son of a -" The sound was abruptly cut off. Once again leaving the confused foals and their parents to try and figure out what was going on.

"Dad, can we go home now? I'm cold." spoke one of the fillies.

"Sure honey, in a minute though I want to see what happens next."

After a few more seconds of Silence there was a loud click as the third voice returned
"We apologize for the technical difficulties, we now return to your regularly scheduled ritual offering. I'm your new dark over lord, Discord master of chaos!."

"Discord, I swear, if you don't give me back the megaphone, I'll teach you the real meaning of Nightmare Night." Came the original first voice, now even more aggressive.

"Come on dad, just give mom the mic back, so you guys can get your candy and I can go get mine."  Rang the second voice.

"Dad" asked the cold filly "What's happening?"

"Marriage" the unicorn stallion answered flatly

As the group continued to listen to the unseen argument, they couldn't help but feel sorry for the first voice, from what they could tell. The third voice was a complete and utter moron, and the second voice was a bystander who seemed to have been sucked into this argument.

"Discord give me the mic" hissed the first voice

"Make me" taunted the third

There was a loud growl and a sudden crash as two sources of the voices fell from a tree to the left of the group. From what the crowd go make out from the giant ball of snarling and hissing monsters, the black creature was winning, whereas the Frankenstein like creature was receiving quite a beating.

"Lord Discord?" Asked one of the more curious ponies.

The tangled mess of creatures stopped moving at the mention of one of their names.

"Is that Princess Dream?" asked another of the ponies

Pleasant and Discord quickly scrambled to their hooves, after finally realizing they were now quite visible to the entire crowd.
"Well then" Pleasant said awkwardly "You saw nothing!" they shouted before fleeing into the forest.

Lucid slowly made her way down from the tree and approached the large group of now extremely confused ponies.
"Could I, go with you guys? I'll be the first to say, my parents are weird and I don't think they'll be back anytime soon."

Needless to say, without her parents Lucid managed to have an almost normal night. Almost being a key term, returning home to find out only you, and your aunt are the only two to still remaining in the castle can make things a little difficult.
Though, after a couple of days Princess Celestia and Princess Luna returned to the land of the living and after a search and rescue part searched the forest for a couple days, they managed to find both Lord Discord and Princess Dream.




{Authors Note 2: I'm sorry, this is garbage and I know it, but it's all I can write at the moment. I'm going to be taking a break for a bit now. (Possibly till the end of the month) I've been going non-stop for over 2 months now, constantly writing and working on college projects. I love you guys and take care.}
	
> Mini Episode 2: Day in the Snow (Winter Mini Episode)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 24th, Hearth's Warming eve. All of Equestria is preparing themselves for the Hearth's Warming day and the yearly play that comes with it. The town of Ponyville was busily preparing their sets and making their costumes. Within the halls of Canterlot royal theater, the same process was happening on a much larger scale. However two rather important Princesses were missing.

Out in the Canterlot Gardens however, those said Princesses and a few others were happily playing in the snow. Completely oblivious to the panic within other parts of the Castle.

"For the New Lunar republic!" Shouted Luna and Nightmare as they opened fire on the Sun Goddess and Lord of Chaos.

"You'll never defeat the might of the Solar Empire!" Celestia shouted in return.

Discord paused and dropped his snowball as he turned his gaze to Celestia
"I thought we were the New Chaos Anarchy?!"

"No, we are the Solar Empire." The Sun Goddess answered as she drew a snowball.
.
"I had expected something like this from you Celestia."

"What do you mean? We discussed this while building the fort. You said "I get to design the flag." and I told you that I get to name it then."

"And what a flag it is!" The Draconequus stated proudly as he saluted the green wooden chair proudly waving from a stick."However, I have decided for the sake of this empire, you must be removed." Discord finished as he raised his own snowball, a devious grin spread across his face.

Celestia slowly backed away "Discord, what are you doing?"

"Agent L, prepare the catapult!" 

"Yes da- I mean General Discord." With a clap of her hands Discords secret agent who had apparently built her fort separately as an elaborate cover story, summoned a large wooden catapult.

"Discord, put me down." hissed the angered mare as she was thrown over the Draconequus's shoulder

"I'm sorry Celestia, but the majority has spoken."

"What?!" Shriek the now tied up Princess "There are three people in this fort."

"I'm sorry Auntie." Lucid said trying her best sound sad. "You were the one who told me that you have to do what is best for your people, and the people want you gone."

Celestia glared daggers at the larger Draconequus "I swear Discord, if you don't let me go I promise you, Five thousand yea-"

"Long live the Queen!" Discord whispered as he fired the catapult.

The two Draconequus watched stunned silence as Celestia rocketed into the air. They had apparently enchanted the catapult with slightly too much magic. The shrieks of the Sun Goddess as she rocketed through the clouds, startling several Pegasi as they prepared another small snow fall.

"Sweet sun and moon." Nightmare muttered as she watched the Shrieking Sun Goddess descend from the heavens.
"Wow, she got some height." Luna added

Sadly the two Night Goddess weren't really paying attention to Celestia's decent. Had they actually been watching, they would have quickly realized Celestia was hurling down towards them. With a ground shaking boom the two Night mares found themselves crushed beneath the immense weight of the Sun. 

"Get off of me fat flank." Groaned Nightmare as she tried to squeeze her way out from beneath Celestia.

Celestia managed to roll herself off the two mares beneath her. After struggling for several seconds, she was also able to escape her binds.

"Nightmare, you might want to go grab your daughter." Growled the Sun Goddess as her mane burst into flames.

It only took a few seconds for Nightmare to realize Celestia's intentions. With a flash of blinding purple light, Nightmare vanished from one side of the garden and reappeared. Discord and Lucid continued to laugh oblivious to their impending destruction. 

"Lucid sweetie, time to get out of here." Nightmare rushed as she picked Lucid up and once again vanished in another flash of light.

Several seconds later she reappeared in front of Discord holding a helmet.
"Here you go love, you'll be needing this." and with that, she vanished.

Discord took a moment to sneak a look over the top of his Snow forts, as he suspected, small pillars of flames continued to erupt from the fort across from him. Sensing his impending doom, he casually placed the helmet a top his head and braced himself.

"Hello Discord" Came the whispered hisses of Celestia "You look cold, how about I help you warm up." Discord felt the hooves on his back slowly shift into claws. "With a breath of solar flare." she said, her final words rang with an unholy voice. 

And then there was fire, so much fire.
Luna, Nightmare, and Lucid decided to roast some marshmallows. 

Canterlot 200 Years Ago
Outside the Guard Barracks
Hammer, Brass Beast and Forge sat on a small shoveled area in front of the large stone structure. The baby dragon was taking great joy in building small towers and then promptly burning them down.

"I think he's got some problems" Brass stated bluntly as the Dragon blasted another small tower.

"It's his first winter, let the little guy have some fun." answered Hammer as he began building small snow building too.

"Canterlot!" The dragon giggled happily as he put the final touches on a rather large snow building.

"Wow, it looks just like It." the younger guard said cheerfully

Several seconds later, the two guards watched in slight horror as the Baby dragon happily burned "Canterlot" to the ground.

"Okay" Hammer blurted "I think we should take a break from snow castles." 

Several minutes later they once again found themselves building snow castles as they waited for the final member of their group. 

"Hi guys!" Rang the cheerful voice of Thorax as he slowly made his way towards the group.

The two guards did their best to keep themselves from laughing as they watched the approaching Changeling. They had known Changelings weren't built for the winter, nor had many of them ever seen snow. What they hadn't expected was the lengths one would go to, in order to have a bit of fun in the snow.

Thorax had covered himself in multiple snow suits, followed by several scarves. The only thing visible through his impenetrable armor of warmth were his eyes and horn.

"Do you think you'll be warm enough?" Brass asked with a chuckle

"I'm a little cold, but I should be able to survive." the Changeling answered, the sarcasm going clean over his head. 

The two guards, Changeling and Dragon made their way down to one of Canterlot's many parks. Along their way, they had gained many strange looks, possibly due to the baby dragon, possibly due to the snow suit wearing Changelings. Though, it was most likely due to both of these. Though Changelings were beginning to pop up all around Equestria, however they had been rarely seen outside of Canterlot Castle.

The Changeling and Dragon quickly made their way to a large open area of the park, where they immediately began rolling large balls of snow. After a few minutes of watching the two guards caught on to what was happening and quickly joined them.

"Come on little, I'm sure we can find some stones for its eyes." The Changeling said enthusiastically as he shifted the snow around with one of his booted hooves.

"What about these?" Brass asked as he pointed to two large stones peaking from just beneath the snow.

Thorax used some of his magic to pick up the stones and place them on the snow pony’s face. After a few more minutes of searching they were able to find two stick small enough to serve as ears.

"What about the horn? Aren't we supposed to use a carrot for the horn?" Hammer asked as he searched around

As if some divine force was answering them, a small blue object fell from the sky, casually landing in the snow just in front of the group. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be a twisted blue horn, from some unfortunate creature. However, the baby dragon didn't give it a second thought as he placed it atop the ponies head.

Brass laughed "Isn't that something, a Dragon and a Changeling, building a snow pony."

After a few seconds, Hammer joined in the laughter as the strangeness of the events set in.

Back in Canterlot
An extremely toasty and currently hornless Draconequus and the mare that had roasted him calmly ate some smores.
Across from them, two terrified Alicorns and a young Draconequus hid inside their snow fort, oblivious to the fact that Celestia's rage had cooled quite quickly.

When the time finally came for the Canterlot play, nobody asked why Discord was so singed or why he was missing a horn. Nobody dared to ask Celestia what the small red dots on her alabaster coat were from. No, everyone was just happy to see that all five of them had managed to get there on time, and in a reasonable number of pieces.


Source

> Episode 4: The Moon is Boring
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This isn't fair." Grumbled the filly Draconequus as she stared out at the rocky lunar surface.

"I know," added Princess Luna. "You make your first attempt at eternal night in a few hundred years, and they send you to the moon for an hour." 

"I wasn't even part of it." Discord added as he lay flatly on the rocky terrain. "I just wanted toast."

The three gods stared out at Equestria so very far away from them. Two of them, in a fit of boredom and the side effects of a sugar binge, had attempted to over throw the government, both of which they were ruling members of. Discord however, had accidentally walked into the entire affair in an attempt to find some food. 

"Luna." The larger Draconequus grumbled as he rolled over

"Yes?" The Lunar Alicorn responded as she unfolded a large lounging chair she had conjured from some unknown place.

"Why do you hate me?"

"What makes you think I hate you?" The Alicorn continued as she summoned a rather large sun hat and glass of cold lemonade.

Discord wasn't sure what to make of the sight. Normally trips to the moon ended in Luna and Nightmare heading to their 'Lunar Castle' as they called it. Neither Celestia, Lucid or himself had ever heard about it's contents, let alone seen the interior. Now his mind began to wander away from his original question as he began to think of its possible contents and the reason fo-

"Equestria to Discord, come in Discord!" Luna shouted as she pelted him with small lemon pieces. "Why do you think I hate you?" The Goddess asked as she summoned another lemon piece for her drink.

"You used me as a living shield." The Draconequus stated bluntly as he turned to reveal two small daggers in his back. 

"Sorry, dad!" Came a shout from Lucid as she continued to build her 'sand' castle.

"That's not because I hate you, that's because you were the closest thing to me." Luna answered causally as she conjured two more drinks for Lucid and Discord. "I mean, when your daughter suggested we take over, I hadn't expected Celestia to respond so harshly."

"You're joking." Discord said flatly as he stared at the Goddess. "You poisoned Nightmare and Celestia's drinks and taught my daughter how to make high powered explosives." Discord paused for a second as he thought about that last part. With a flash of light he disappeared and reappeared by the Draconequus filly.

"Watchya doin?" Discord asked as he crouched down.

"Making a sand Canterlot." The filly answered without taking her eyes off of her project. A rather small, yet exact, replica of Canterlot sat in front of her. After a few more seconds she placed down a small red flag and stood up. "Hey dad?"

"Yeah kiddo?"

"Run!" shouted as she ran towards her aunt.

It took Discord a few seconds before he noticed the faint ticking sound that seemed to be emanating from within the small castle. Without hesitation Discord followed in his daughter's footsteps. For once, the God of Chaos managed to have some luck as he made it to safety just in time.

"Three... two... one..." Lucid and Luna counted down in unison. As they hit zero, Discord found himself both blinded and deafened as Lucid's homemade explosive engulfed the tiny castle and continued to expand before collapsing back in on itself. As both his hearing and sight returned to him, the stunned Draconequus stared in complete awe at the crater that sat in front of the group.

"Too much creation magic, not enough stability." Luna said as she surveyed the damage.

"Aw, I thought I had it that time." Lucid said with a sigh as she picked up the small scorched flag from the ground.

"First off," Discord began, "I'm proud of you, Lucid, you managed to take down both your aunt and your mother in a single blast." Discord hadn't been prepared when his wife had exploded in the middle of dinner, but that kind of thing was something you get used to when you've lived forever. "Secondly, Luna, I'm deeply disappointed in you. Why wasn't I informed of this beforehand? You know how much I enjoy an old-fashioned hostile takeover." 

"Actually, Dad," Lucid began awkwardly as she played with her talons. "Mom was in on the plan."

"So why did you poison her and then blow her up?" Discord asked as he tried to figure out what possible reason Nightmare would have to kill herself in a takeover.

Both Luna and Lucid took some time as they continued to shift their gaze back and forth between each other, each of them letting out an awkward chuckle as they hoped the other would be the first to try and answer his question. After roughly a minute of awkward silence Luna was the first to speak up.

"We weren't trying to poison her; we were trying to poison you." Luna finished as she continued to stare awkwardly at the ground. "We thought it would be cheating if we only took out Celly."

"So you tried to murder me?" The Chaos god asked flatly.

"Actually, no." Luna beamed as she conjured a scroll and unrolled it. Apparently Lucid had drawn up the plan in crayon.

"Lucid," Discord said firmly. "Did you plan to kill me?"

"Nope!" Lucid answered as she started work on her next castle. "Mom did."

Discord once again unrolled the scroll and began reading through Lucid's crayon drawn plan for overthrowing the government and taking control of Equestria. He felt a jolt of joy when he read Lucid's plan to take out Celestia, He especially enjoyed her plans to spread cheese across the lands. As he reached the bottom of the page he noticed the small scratched out piece of text obviously done by his wife.

"Poison Discord, make him sleep on couch." He read aloud. "What did I do?" He muttered in confusion.

"Anniversary." Lucid and Luna answered in unison.

"Oh, by the Abyss." Discord whispered as he placed his paw over his mouth.


-Meanwhile back in Canterlot-


"Wow." Chrysalis muttered in awe as she entered the royal dining hall. She had taken some time off from her royal duties and had made her way down from the Changeling Empire to check up on her unholy ex-roommates. The guards had escorted her to the dining hall, where she had expected a warm welcome. Instead, she found herself at the scene of some unspeakable horror show.

The room itself seemed to still be mostly intact, except a few chucks of pillars that had been apparently blown away. In the center of the room she could make out the remnants of what appeared to be a large oak table. Several of the large wooden chairs and cushions had either been shattered or thrown about the room in large heaps.

Finally the most horrifying part of the show were the pieces of Alicorn strewn about the room. A large white horn had impaled the chandelier that lit the room. Beneath the table, what appeared to be Celestia's jewellery and one of her legs lay in a pool of blood. Several patches of both white and black bloodied fur were scattered around the room.

"Hey, Moony, I found your head!" Shouted Celestia as she darted up from beneath one of the many piles of wood and other junk.  Chrysalis jumped in surprise; the scene had to have been older than she had thought for them to have already regenerated. "Hey, Chrysalis!" The Sun Goddess causally shouted as she tossed the bloodied head to the black Alicorn on the other side of the room.

"Hello, Chrysalis!" The pristine black Alicorn greeted as she caught the exact - if only slightly damaged - copy of her head and slowly lowered into the pile of what appeared to be more copied pieces of her body. "Heads up!" the Lunar Goddess shouted as she tossed a red stained leg towards the Sun Goddess.

"Am I interrupting anything?" The Changeling Queen asked awkwardly as continued to watch the two Goddess exchange bloodied body parts that they found.

"Not really." Celestia responded as she continued to sort through the rubble on the floor. "We're just cleaning up." she finished casting a glare towards Nightmare.

"Hey!" Nightmare retorted. "I suggested the poison, I didn't suggests the explosives!"

"Do I actually want to know what happened?" The slightly worried Queen asked as continued to survey the scene before her.

"Not reall-" Nightmare attempted to say before being abruptly cut off by Celestia.

"Nightmare here, my sister, and Lucid thought it would be a good idea to try and take over Equestria." Celestia finished by throwing one of Nightmare's legs at the black Alicorn.

"So you blew yourself and Celestia up?" Chrysalis asked as she cast Nightmare a confused look.

"No, why in the green fields of Equestria does everyone keep assuming I'd blow myself up on purpose?" The black Alicorn finished her words in barely a mutter. "I suggested we poison Celestia and Discord's drinks."

"Why Discord? I thought he'd jump at a chance to try and take over Equestria again."

"The foal forgot our anniversary; one hundred and eighty-nine years and he still can't remember a single date."  Nightmare finished, doing her best to hide her rage. Oh, but she knew, the moment that idiot got back from the moon, he'd be on the couch for the next week.

"Okay then..." Chrysalis responded awkwardly. "If you didn't suggest try to blow anyone up, then who did?"

"That would be Lucid." Celestia answered with a slight smirk. She was both proud and extremely worried; Lucid was still a child and she had already attempted her first take over. Apparently banishment ran in the family, though high powered bombs was a change of pace. "As far as I can tell, either Luna or Lucid mixed up the trapping and booby trapped Nightmare's set instead of Discord's."

"So where are they, then?" Chrysalis asked as she prodded what appeared to be a hoof. 

"Moon." Both of them answered in unison.

"When we finally regenerated they were all long gone," Nightmare continued. "We found both Luna and Lucid eating ice cream. They put up a great fight, and ran for quite some time. Hell, I think Luna used Discord as a living shield. The poor fool was making toast when we chased Luna and Lucid into the room." Nightmare paused and gave a quick shrug. "Works for me though, saves me the trouble of finding him."

Chrysalis bobbed her head as she processed all of what she had just heard and witnessed. "You know, I can honestly say I'm not shocked. Four years living in this place and I'm not surprised, nor do I miss living here."

"Fair enough." Celestia said with a shrug as she tossed another bloody leg towards the midnight Alicorn across the room.


-Back on the Moon-


The two Draconequui stood in front of the massive lunar castle. With a snap of his talons, Discord broke the seals placed on the entrance, and after several seconds the large stone doors stood fully opened.

"Dad, I don't think Aunt Luna or mom wants us to go in here." Lucid stated nervously as she glanced back at her now snoozing aunt.

"Well, they should have thought about that before trying to murder me." Discord answered flatly as he carefully entered the castle. He was well aware of the levels of paranoia Luna and Nightmare could reach when they wanted to keep a secret.

Lucid was conflicted. On one paw, she could get in even more trouble, which was the usual result for following her father. But on the other talon, exploring a castle could be pretty awesome, and on another paw she was already inside the castle closely following her father.

"Dad, what are you looking for?"

"I have no idea." Discord answered. After several seconds of staring a row of doors the God of Chaos did the only illogical thing he could think of for making this decision. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." When he found his winning door, he slowly began to open it and was met with a sight he hadn't seen in ages.

"Shuggy!" Lucid cheered as the large tentacle quickly shot out and pulled Discord into the room.

"Did someone say Shuggy?" Luna asked as she appeared with a flash. The look of joy on her face was indescribable, however it quickly melted into anger. "Do you know how long I was looking for you?" Scolded the Alicorn.

"Ph'nglui." The indescribable horror gurgled out, with almost a tone of sadness.

"I don't care if you broke Celestia's cactus, I spent a month looking for you." Luna continued angrily.

"Mglw'nafh!" Shuggy responded.

"You had us all worried! I spent a month searching every corner of Equestria. Cthulhu still hasn't stopped searching the Eternal Abyss for you."

"Fhtagn!" The creature hissed.

"Don't you use that kind of language with me, mister." Luna responded. "No, you're gonna put Discord down, march down to the Eternal Abyss and tell Cthulhu you're sorry. When you're done, I want you to go to the corner store and get Celly a new cactus." The Lunar Goddess finished with a stamp of her hoof. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Wgah'nagl" The horror gurgled defensively.

"Oh, r'lyeh?" The Alicorn asked. "Nightmare knew all about this? Well then, I guess she'll need a visit from the Elder Gods. I hope she remembers her way through the Red Fields of Sand and Rock." She finished with a wicked grin.


-Elsewhere in the Eternal Abyss-


"Here, Shuggy! Shug~gy!" Shouted the Elder God as he continued to search through the unheard sounds and forbidden colors.
> Episode 5: No Rest for The Elements
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

{Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to Toku, who harassed me for almost a year to make this chapter. Also, I'd like to say now that the next few chapters will feature Lucid more prominently, along with her two little friends, who I might have forgotten about in the past.} 

[Editor's Note: THORAX THERE IS A BOX FOR THIS]

[Thorax's Note to his Editor: But the box is so far away :(]




Those who contemplate death, usually also consider the possibility of an afterlife. There are many possible versions that the creatures of Equestria have created. Some believe it to be an eternal paradise, peaceful and relaxing and place for relaxation and rest. Other believe it a land of infinite adventure, an endless sea of new experience and eternal thrills.

For the Elements of Harmony however, they seem to have received a little of column A, and a little of column B. They had all lived full lives and achieved their goals. They had even saved the world on several different occasions. When they had began to pass away, it should have been a sad occasion. However, when you've got the Sun and Moon as friends, even death cannot separate friends.

The Elements of Harmony much like every other creature in the afterlife, found their pieces of heaven quite welcoming. Whatever they could possible want could be conjured on a whim and the food wasn't half bad either. However, they did have the unfortunate luck of still being the Elements of Harmony, even in death....





"Auntie Celestia, I think we might need a little more help," panted the young Draconequus 

"You might be right." The Sun Goddess answered as she finished wrapping another large bandage around her leg. "This is a task that will require more than two gods to complete."

"So does that mean we're going to wait for Dad to get home?" Lucid asked as finally collapsed on the ground, "because Auntie Luna won't be back from her vacation for another week and I don't know where Mom went." 

Celestia paused as she realized she hadn't explained what had happened to Nightmare or Discord.
"Well, Lucid sweetie, I've got something I have to tell you." Celestia began as she awkwardly played with her hooves. "You see, last night your mother and your father got into a little fight."

"Which one's on the moon?" Lucid asked flatly as she interrupted her Aunt

"Neither surprisingly, you see, your Father decided it would be a good idea to redecorate you mother's office and by redecorate, I mean replace with a swimming pool."

"Awesome," the Filly mouthed.

"Yeah, Nightmare didn't think it was too awesome, so Discord is currently being used as a coat rack at the castle entrance."

"Well that explains where Dad is, but where is Mom?"

The Sun Goddess gave an awkward laugh as she placed a hoof on the back of her head. "Well you see, after petrifying your father she decided she was going to go take a nap. However, you father also decided to redecorate his bedroom. Currently your mother is somewhere in the depths of Tartarus."

"Well that's good to hear," Lucid said happily. "Mom needs a break every now and again."

Celestia just stared at the filly. "Kid, I worry about you sometimes."

"Just wait," Lucid said excitedly, "Dad said he was going to let me take over Equestria for my Birthday."

"Well that's news to me, either way we'll discuss your Lunar Birthday another time. Right now, we've got a massive problem and possibly no solutio-" Celestia paused as a realization set in a wonderful, awful idea. "I know the perfect six little ponies who could help us out."


---Five minutes later, in the Eternal Fields---


Somewhere in the Land of the Dead five mares sat in an ethereal recreation of one of their favorite places, Sugarcube Corner. These five mares were none-other than five of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, a fail safe from the creation of the universe, able to restore harmony to almost any person, place or thing. These five mares were currently enjoying the benefits of their afterlife, mainly the ability to take a five minute break whenever they wanted. 

"Darling do you have any threes?" Rarity asked as she cast a glance at Fluttershy and back to her own cards.

"I'm sorry..." Fluttershy answered sadly, "I don't have any threes but if I did, I'd share some with you."

"Well looks like you have to go fish Rarity." Rainbow added with a bored chuckle.

"Please don't be mad at me," Fluttershy pleaded.

Knock, knock, came a loud rapping at the door to the ethereal building

"It's me." Came a regal voice from behind the door.

"Who's me?" Rarity asked suspiciously. 

"Princess Celestia..." answered the voice.

"Code Four everypony!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she dived from the table and behind the main sweets display. Several seconds later she arose with a metal helmet covering her head and warpaint on her face.

The other ponies quickly followed their multicolored friends hoofsteps. Rarity flipped the table, launching cards everywhere, turning it into a makeshift barricade. Fluttershy quickly assumed the fetal position in the corner of the room.

Applejack and Pinkie had been hanging out at a rather popular Afterlife beach and quickly found themselves summoned back to the now rapidly fortifying Sugarcube Corner. Nobody needed to tell them what was happening, they had faced this scenario several times. Without a word Pinkie slowly placed a metal war helmet on her own head, before passing one to her orange apple loving friend.

"Let's do this." Pinkie growled as she cocked the shotgun she had pulled from some unseen place.

"Not this time, sugarcube." Applejack said calmly as placed a hoof on the weapon.

Knock, knock came the rapping once again, however this time it was immediately followed by the voice of the Sun Goddess "Hello? you guys are still in there right? You didn't flee out the back door like last time?"

"I knew I was forgetting something," the white Unicorn hissed as she facehoofed. "Yes princess, we're still in here, what do you need?"

"Oh good, I was worried I was going to have to hunt you all again." Celestia answered with a sigh of relief. "Equestria needs you my little ponies."

"That's what you said last week!" Rarity shouted back.

"But I really mean it this time, you're the only ponies who can save Equestria!"

"Well excuse me Princess," Rarity began, "you don't really have a good track record for reasons to bring us back from the Dead." Rarity paused for a second as she tried to remember every time her 'beauty sleep' was ruined. "Oh, no, a horrible monster is attacking my rose garden, I better bring the Elements of Harmony back from the dead."

"Hey that was an accident, I thought it was a monster." Celestia whined.

"Oh no, Discord broke my favorite Sun, I better bring the Elements of Harmony back from the dead. This time so I can trick them into helping me with my revenge scheme."

"I didn't trick you, I just didn't give you all the details!"

Rarity took another breath as she prepared to continue her list of examples. "Oh no, I can't seem to open this pickle jar, I better bring the Elements of Harmony back from the dead so they can help me make this sandwich."

"Okay, in my defense, it was an evil pickle jar." Celestia pleaded, "come on my little ponies, I really need your help this time."

"What do you need us to help you with then?" Rainbow asked suspiciously. 

The Sun Goddess gave a nervous chuckle, "well, I can't really explain that here, if it catches on to what we're talking about there will be no way to deal with it."

"Well then, I'm sorry Princess, I truly am, but we can't help you." Rarity answered doing her best to force a bit of sincere sadness into her voice.

"Well then my little ponies, I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way."

"What does she mean by that?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

As if Celestia herself had heard Fluttershy's question a large clawed hand suddenly burst forth from the wall and carefully wrapped itself around the yellow Pegasus before quickly ripping itself back outside of the building.

"One down, four to go!" Celestia shouted victoriously.

"Holy crud." Rainbow Dash muttered as she stared at the large hole in the wall. After a few seconds the wall quickly resealed itself, leaving the four stunned mares in silence.

"Ah vote we surrender." Applejack stated flatly

"I'm with Applejack, I don't think my beautiful mane could handle something like that."

Both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie where about to agree with their two remaining friends. However, they quickly found themselves momentarily blinded by a brilliant white flash.

"Oh gods above she's breached the building!" Shouted Rainbow as she flailed her limbs blindly. "Everyone surrender!"

"Hmm," came a new voice, "not as impressive as I had thought."

The four mares rubbed their eyes as their vision slowly began to return and what they saw had managed to stun them even further. Standing on the table between them was what appeared to be a small black Draconequus.

"Oh gods above," Rarity whispered, "It's a mini Discord."

"Close, I'm actually the only way you're getting out of this still dead." the young Draconequus said smugly.

"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked the young Draconequus as she tried to figure out what games Celestia was trying to play.

"Well you see, my Aunt out there won't stop until she's captured you all. However, I know a backdoor that will buy you at least another day. At the moment, I've got a barrier up. I can keep Auntie Celestia out for about fifteen minutes."

"What's in it for you, Mini Discord?" Rarity asked as she slowly rose from behind her table.

"You help me with my homework." The filly answered flatly

"What?" three of the four mares said in unison.

"It better not be math." Pinkie stated flatly, "I hate math."

"It's nothing like math. You see, at school we have to write a report on famous creatures of Equestria and I'm writing my report on you ponies."

As the realization set in Rarity's felt a jolt of joy, nopony had asked to hear about her in ages and now somebody wanted to write a report on her, the Element of Generosity, the most fabulous pony in all of Equestria. Her eyes shimmered as she thought of all the creatures back in Equestria reading about true fashion.

"Why didn't you say something before?!" Rarity stated excitedly as she returned the table to its proper position. "I could have gotten ready sooner, oh Darling when we're finished you'll have the best report in all of Equestria!"

"Well actually, I just need to know how you all bit the dust." The filly said with an awkward chuckle.

Rarity's expression quickly shifted to a frown, "why would you want to know such a dreadful thing?"

"It's the only thing I couldn't find in the Canterlot Library, there are no confirmed stories for how you all passed away." Lucid said as she showed the white unicorn her report, every page had different information on each mare, some even contained letters they had sent to Princess Celestia. However, every section shared one common detail and that was a lack of explanation to time or date of their deaths.

"See kid, you're asking the wrong pony." Rainbow Dash began as she wrapped a hoof around Lucid. "Miss fancy-pants over here doesn't actually have a story, she went out because of old age. I mean, how lame is that?"

"Don't be absurd Rainbow, there's nothing better than going peacefully. Besides, you can't say that's lame, we all lived longer than you." 

"So how did you die, Mrs.Dash?" The filly asked as she opened her report to a blank page and conjured a quill and some ink.

"Well you see kid, it's a true tragedy, I was cut down in the prime of my life." Rainbow began but was quickly cut off by Applejack.

"Ya'll was 93, don't act like it was a tragedy, stupidity is more like it." 

Rainbow gave a chuckle "Well, I guess I was a bit out of my prime. But it was still a tragedy. I was minding my own business and going for a causal flight when the most horrible thing happened."

"Don't play stupid Rainbow, Ya'll decided it was a good idea to do a 'Triple Sonic Rainboom' and vaporized yourself on the last one."

"Aww, you didn't have to ruin my awesome story. Beside, none of you were even sad, in fact Twilight gave me a lecture on flight safety literally five minutes after I died." Rainbow said as she thought back to that three and a half hour lecture on why a ninety three year old Pegasus shouldn't try and break the sound barrier let alone the light spectrum.

Now it was Rarity's turn to speak as she placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "Darling, when the ghost of a loved one tells you they managed to vaporize themselves attempting to break the sound barrier at the age of 93, the only thing one can do is facehoof."

Lucid continued to take down notes as Rainbow Dash attempted to justify her actions. However, it seemed the only reason she had for the cause of death was 'because it would have been awesome'.

"So what about the yellow one? Fluttershy, I believe."

"Flutters went the same way as Rarity, booooring." Rainbow answered as she made her way to the window and checked to see if Celestia was still there. Sure enough, the Sun Goddess and Fluttershy were happily sitting on picnic blanket eating sandwiches and drinking what appeared to be tea.

"Okay, then," Lucid stated as she wrote down a few more quick notes, "how about you Applejack?"

"Well it isn't any thing special, I suppose." Applejack began as she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

"Are you kidding?!" Rainbow blurted, "I can almost say what you did was the most awesome thing I had seen."

"What do you mean?" Lucid asked nervously beginning to wonder if this pony had also managed to kill herself breaking the laws of physics.

"Well you see, Applejack's family has a history of basically living forever. Applejack actually lived for so long, that Death himself actually got tired and went to pick her up himself. So when the poor fool shows up to take Applejack away, she kicked him in the mouth and sent him back to the underworld."

"Hey, just wait a darn minute, ah didn't kick him." Applejack stated as she glared at Rainbow, "I made a bet with him."

"So you're telling me you made a bet with Death himself?" Lucid asked, a slight look of surprise on her face. 

Applejack nodded, "Ah bet him that he couldn't harvest every apple on the mah farm by sun down. Ah would go with him, but if Ah won he'd have to stop showing up every Tuesday."

"So I guess he managed to pick every apple?" Lucid asked as she continued to take notes.

"She doesn't know," Rainbow Dash answered with a laugh, "she got tired of waiting, stole his carriage and drove herself to the afterlife."

"So you stole Death's carriage?" The Filly asked only a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Ah felt bad for him, so Ah went back and picked him up." Applejack answered, slightly embarrassed at her little venture into grand theft carriage.

"Kid, you seem to be quite accepting that my friend Applejack stole a carriage from Death himself." Rainbow stated as she still had a hard time believing what Applejack had done and she had seen Death's carriage to prove it.

"Oh that's easy, Death watches me when everyone goes on important business trips." Lucid answered happily as she continued writing out notes in her book. "Also, I guess it's been about fifteen minutes, I guess I should help you get out before you tell me the res-"

Knock, knock, came the almost forgotten rapping.

"Go away, Celestia, we already told you we aren't going with you!" Rainbow shouted at the door.

"Celestia went to the bathroom, it's me Twilight," answered the familiar voice.

"Prove it, how do I know you're not a spy? or Celestia in disguise?"

"You thought it would be a good idea to bre-"

"I get it!" Shouted Rainbow, "sweet Sun and Moon, if one more pony tells me it was a bad idea, I'm going to snap." The mare growled as she slowly opened the door revealing their lavender friend.

"Hi girls!" Twilight stated happily as she embraced her rainbow maned friend, "it's been awhile, but I'm sure you know why I'm here, Celesti-"

"Nope." Rainbow stated flatly as she picked up her friend and causally threw her out the front door, making sure to lock it behind her.

"Well then, I guess Auntie Celestia is preparing to brea-" Before the Draconequus filly could finish her sentence she could feel a breach in her barrier. Several seconds later the clawed hand once again burst forth from the wall, this time managing to grab both Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"I'm not gonna lie," Rainbow said in a mixture of excitement and terror, "this is pretty awesome." And with that, the two ponies were pulled from the building, the wall quickly sealing behind them.

"What do we do now?!" Rarity blurted in terror.

"Don't worry," Lucid stated confidently, "I've got a plan."


---1 minute, 32 seconds later---


"This was a terrible plan!" Cried the white Unicorn as the pounding on the door continued.

"I didn't say it was a good plan!" Lucid shouted in response as she braced the closet door with another barrier.

"Wait a second, where's Pinkie?!" Rarity asked in shock as she realized they may have abandoned the pink mare.

However with a small flash and a pop, Pinkie apparently poofed into existence, partially squishing Rarity as she tried to sit up properly.

"Here I am!" She giggled, "oh, are we still playing hide and seek? I love hide and seek!"

"No Pinki-"

"You two hide, I'll count to ten, 1...2..3... why aren't you two hiding?"

"Pinkie, why don't you tell me how you died?" Lucid asked trying to change the subject and get the hyperactive mares attention.

The pink pony laughed at the question, "don't be silly, nobody dies in cartoons."

Rarity gave a sigh as she readjusted herself. "Pinkie, how many times do I have to tell you; this is real life, not a cartoon."

"Don't tell Rarity," Pinkie whispered to Lucid, "I think the truth might break her."

Rarity gave another sigh as she stared at her probably insane friend. "According to Twilight, our dear friend Pinkie here didn't actually die. Apparently Pinkie achieved the ultimate sugar rush and achieved a higher level of existence. But I'm almost certain that was just a nice way of saying Pinkie overdosed on sugar." 

"When I close my eyes the Abyss calls to me," Pinkie stated calmly and without emotion, "It sounds like the mall on a Tuesday."

"That's good to kno-" Rarity began but was cut off by approaching hoof-steps, after several seconds the sound of hooves quickly faded stopping just outside of the closet.

Knock, knock.

"Yes, princess?" The white Unicorn asked nervously.

"One last chance for you to surrender, my little pony." Celestia stated calmly, no hint of tiredness or anger, just her normal sweet voice.

"I'm sorry princess, but we refuse to surrender."

"Very well," a hint of sadness slipping into Celestia's voice, "I was hoping I'd never have to resort to something this horrendous, but sometimes the evil we're willing to risk will surprise even ourselves."

Rarity felt a bolt of fear run through her as her imagination began to run wild.

"My dear Pinkie Pie are you in there?" Once again came the sweet voice of the Sun Goddess.

"Yes-sir-y Princess Celestia, what do you need?" Answered the party pony.

"Chimicherry or cherrychanga?" The Princess asked a hint of remorse in her voice.

"Oh that's easy," Pinkie began to answer, "Chimicherry.... no wait Cherrychanga, no Chimicherry.... wait Chimicherrychanga or can it be Chimichangacherry?"

"You monster!" Cried the white Unicorn as she threw herself from the closet, landing at the Sun Goddesses hooves. "You truly are an evil, evil pony."

"I'm so, so sorry my little pony, I never meant for it to go this far." Celestia responded as she tried to comfort the tortured pony.

"You win Celestia, we'll do what you want, just make Pinkie stop," pleaded the mare.


---Five minutes later, back in Canterlot---


The six mares stood inside the royal living area with mixed looks on their faces. Most of them had expected this and wore looks of displeasure or anger. However, some of them were genuinely surprised at the levels of laziness their Princess of the Day could reach. In comparison, sending six mares to deal with a dragon sleeping above a small town all because you'd miss your favorite show if you went yourself, is pretty lazy. However, what was currently happening took the cake.

"Now you'll need to work as a team," Celestia began, "if three of you grab one side, and the other three get the second side, it'll work much better. Careful though, it's a brand new couch and I don't want it to get ripped."

It was at this point that most of the Elements snapped and the group began to wonder whether the dead could suffer from alcohol poisoning. 

Needless to say, three Elements took the express route back to the land of the dead and the other two were far too intoxicated to help move a couch, so they were dropped off literally on Death's door step. Sadly for Death it was his day off, his first day off in over three hundred years.

Twilight Sparkle eventually woke up in the arcane tower, several inappropriate images doodled on her face.

Celestia eventually remembered she was a god and just commanded the couch to where she wanted it. After roughly an hour of use, she decided the couch was rather uncomfortable and banished it to Tartarus.

Nightmare was making great headway on her trek back to Equestria. However, as she made her final approach toward gates of Tartarus she was struck by what appeared to be a rather uncomfortable couch.

Lucid presented her report to a rather hung over Twilight Sparkle and received an A+ for remaining a hundred percent accurate to the events, as well as noting where and when Twilight had misplaced her belongs during.

Discord was eventually able to break free from his stone prison and found a rather nice looking coat. After roughly a day of trying to get back on his wife's good side, he was told he'd have to sleep on a rather uncomfortable looking couch Nightmare had found lying around.

What I'm trying to say here people, is don't buy cheap couches, it'll ruin everyone's day.
> Episode 6: Laughing to Yourself
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mom, wake up," Lucid groaned as she attempted to wake her mother.

"Five more... minutes..."
 Nightmare mumbled as she drifted back into sleep, faintly trying to bat at the disturbance.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Lucid chanted as she continued her futile attempts.

"No, Luna.... my high scores shall last forever!" The sleeping goddess muttered as she rolled over.

"Dad is making you breakfast," the young Draconequus shouted in one last attempt.

"Keep him away from the toaster!"  Nightmare shouted as she shot up from her bed, sending her daughter hurling across the room. "For the love of all that is dark and terrible, keep him away from the toaster."

Lucid gave a groan as she pulled herself back on the bed.

"Calm down mom, dad isn't making breakfast. At least, I hope he didn't."

"Then where is he?" Nightmare asked suspiciously as she stared at Discord's empty side of the bed, "and why are there three copies of Mice and Mares where his pillow should be?" Nightmare picked one of the several novels up and carefully opened it, not sure what Discord was up to.

"Tee-Hee?" She read aloud. A look of horror spread across her face as she threw the book across the room.

"Why'd you throw it mo-" Lucid was cut off as the book started to fizzle and after several seconds exploded, taking a large portion of the bedroom was with it.

"Discord," growled the angry Night Goddess as she summoned her armor into existence. "When I get my hooves on you, I'm going to kil-"

"Miss Sparkle says attempting to murder your significant other is bad for a relationshi-" Lucid was cut off by her mothers' glare.

"Having Sparkle as our marriage counselor was another one of you fathers' sick jokes and I'll murder whoever I want, thank you very much." Nightmare finished as she stormed out of the room, Lucid trailing behind her.

"But mom, Miss Sparkle says seeing my parents kill each other... several times, could have a negative impact on my development." The young Draconequus shouted as she grabbed onto her mother's tail and began pulling herself up.

"I believe that damage was done when you blew me up." Nightmare stated flatly as she continued to search down outside of her chambers for any sign of her dimwitted husband. "So where is your father?" Nightmare asked as she came to the conclusion Discord had not left any clues.

"That's what I was trying to tell you, I was sneaking around looking for a midnight snack, when I heard dad laughing to himself in the hall, but when I went to see him, he was gone." Lucid  spoke as she hung from her mothers helmet doing her best to maintain eye contact. "I remembered the list of suspicious things he does that I should warn others about!"

"Laughing to himself?" Nightmare repeated.

"Yeah mom, I think he was just laughing to himself, as if someone had told him a joke. But when I went to see him, he was gone."

"Well then," Nightmare began uncertainty running options through her mind, "I guess we'll start looking near the kitchen."

After a few minutes of silently creeping through the halls, doing her best not to alert Discord should he happen to be creeping about himself, the Alicorn and her daughter eventually made their way to Chaos god's last known location and favorite hunting grounds.

"What's that?" Lucid asked as she pointed to barely visible object concealed in the shadows of the table.

Carefully Nightmare used her magic to grasp the object, not sure if this was another one of Discord 'surprises' left for her.
"It's a rubber chicken," Nightmare stated flatly as she used her magic to squeeze it. Unexpectedly enough, it squeaked instead of exploded.

"Well that went bette-" Nightmare was cut off as the chicken burst into a cloud of assorted colors leaving Nightmare coughing in a cloud of dust and powder. "Really?" the mare of Darkness groaned as she rubbed the residue from her face.

"We're not dead!" Lucid shouted, "I was really worried we'd have to go to the Abyss again, I don't think I can take anymore of Uncle Zeus's cheek pinching" 

"You should be happy he thinks you're 'the most adorable thing ever', or he would have made you rebuild all the parts of Olympus you knocked down." 

"That wasn't my fault, I told you. I just wanted to see what would happen if I blew out Uncle Hades hair, I didn't think he'd explode like that. Besides, you thought it was funny," Lucid stated, attempting to hide a grin.

"Baring the fact that Hades needed to cool off, destroying an entire 'Kingdom of the Gods' in one visit is a little excessive,"
Nightmare responded trying to suppress her own growing grin. After a few more minutes of carefully searching the kitchen for any other bombs or clues the Nightmare and Lucid had come to the conclusion that Discord was not in fact hiding in there, nor had he left traces of where he had gone. However, as the two began making their way towards the exit, the faint sound of hooves steps approaching caused them slight panic. With a single faint flash of purple both Lucid and Nightmare vanished into the shadows.

"I hate you Discord. I hate you sooo much," came a faint, but familiar voice from behind the door. Remain in the shadows Nightmare tried her best to remember it's source. Slowly the kitchen door began to open, revealing a rather miffed looking Changeling Queen.

"Chrysalis?" Nightmare asked as she stepped out of the shadows.

"For the love of the Hive!" Chrysalis shouted, doing her best not to fall back. "Don't do that!"

"What are you doing here?" Nightmare asked in confusion, "and in the middle of the night?"

"This would be the doing of that moron Discord. Sombra and I were attempting to hold evening court for some of the outer Hives when he literally pops into existence, shouts surprise and the next thing I know, I'm outside in your gardens." 

"Well then, any particular reason you think he'd do that?" Nightmare asked, her confusion only growing.

"I'd say him being a moron is good enough reason."

"Fair enough," Nightmare answered, "we could use another angry god-creature in our search party anyways."

"Fine," Chrysalis answered reluctantly. "I'm sure Sombra can handle some simple court issues on his own. Besides, I haven't had a reason to strangle the lizard in such a long time."

"Good," Nightmare stated with great satisfaction, "you can search one side of the castle, while Lucid and I search another." With a mention of her name, Lucid gave a wave to the Changeling Queen 

"Hi Aunt Chrysalis, sorry dad is being... well, dad."

"That's not your fault." Chrysalis answered as she patted her 'niece' on the head. "Your father is a very strange creature, and I've come to accept that. Doesn't mean I won't beat him with a blunt object though, just means I accept him for who he is."

"Okay, Chrysalis, you take the archives and the guards barracks, I'll take the Staff quarters and the rest of the eastern wing. If you see the idiot, try to leave him alive long enough for me to get a turn." Nightmare finished as she gave a quick salute before making her way out of the Kitchen, Lucid quickly giving a salute as well.


---Several minutes later---


"Royal Archives, Royal Archives," Chrysalis continued to repeat as she continued her search. She had already managed to go in three circles always ending back up at the Kitchen. She wasn't sure if she had actually forgotten the layout or if this was another one of Discord's many tricks. However, after several more minutes of futile searching she had stumbled upon two guards who were more than happy to help a foreign diplomat find what they need.

"Your services are greatly appreciated," Chrysalis stated happily as she stood at the entrance to the Archives, the two guards gave a quick bow before returning to their posts. Dang, it's good to be the Queen, Chrysalis thought to herself as she opened the door.

"Wow," Chrysalis muttered as she stared at the much larger room than she had remembered, "looks like they did some renovations." Though, that didn't surprise her too much seeing as how often they managed to blow up, vaporize or otherwise destroy parts of the castle.

"Hahahahaha," came the faint but extremely distinct laughter of Discord.

"Found you," Chrysalis muttered as she took off, the faint buzzing of her wings filling the halls of the archive, as the Changeling Queen made her way towards her target.


---Elsewhere in the Castle---


"Mooooooooooom," whined Lucid as she stretched out on her mother's back. "Do you think we're going to find dad soon? I want to go back to bed."

"We'll find him soon enough." Nightmare answered, trying to hide the agitation in her voice. "Your father might be quick, but he isn't subtle."

*Bang* came a echoed explosion somewhere further down the halls. Followed by some faint but angry cries to "stop that racket" or mumbles about "murdering a certain lizard."

"Told you, your father doesn't know how to be subtle." Nightmare stated smugly as she took off in her own efforts to catch her moronic husband. She had quite a good idea as to where he was, and if he she was correct they'd soon have another member in their hunting party.

"I'll kill you, Discord," came a cry as Nightmare made her way around a corner, revealing on extremely angry and slightly scratched up Sun Goddess.

Nightmare did her best to stifle her laughter as she looked at Celestia's mess of ethereal hair, she hadn't known it was possible to have bed mane with weird magical hair. "What did he do now?"

Celestia glared at Nightmare, her eyes blood shot and her teeth bared. Nightmare could have sworn the Sun Goddess almost had fangs. "That stupid lizard pops into my room and wakes me up. I thought he tried hiding in my closet, but when I went to yell at him, I was mauled by a badger." She finished her frizzled mane on the verge of bursting into flames. "Who in the seven fires of Tartarus hides a badger in someone's closet?!" She quickly added.

"Any idea where he went?" Nightmare asked still trying to hide her laughter.

"I don't know where he went, but when I get a hold of him. I'm going to make my self a fine set of leather boots out of his hide." The angry goddess finished with a snort of flames. However the dramatic moment was quickly destroyed by the approaching sound of buzzing. "I'll kill you Discord!" came the cries of Chrysalis as she blindly slammed into the Sun Goddess.

"Ugh" groaned Celestia as she rubbed her head "Did anyone get the number of that carriage?" she groaned as she picked herself up off the ground and started searching for her attacker. 

"Stupid lizard," groaned Chrysalis as she stood up.

"Chrysalis what ar-" Celestia paused for a second, "never mind, I'll just assume Discord has something to do with this."

"Bingo," Chrysalis stated flatly.

"Don't start the slaughter without me," came another voice, quickly followed by Luna and what appeared to be a large sack of weapons. "I heard everyone's planning to kill Discord, didn't want to miss my chance!" The Alicorn of the Night stated excitedly, "we haven't had a god old fashioned Discord murder in ages, we even have Chrysalis!"

"I'm glad to see you're enjoy this so much." Celestia groaned.

"Hahahahaha," came another laugh of the Chaos God.

"Not this time!" Hissed Celestia as she bolted, this time Discord wasn't getting away, the other gods quickly following in Celestia's hoofsteps. Several times they almost lost the faint sounds of the Draconequus's laughter, but after a couple of minutes of high speed chase, they eventually found their target; laughing to himself as he slowly walked in circles around the room.

"Well this is the creepiest thing I've ever seen," Chrysalis stated nervously as Discord continued to laugh to himself.

"Mom, what's dad doing?" Lucid asked as she slowly peaked over the top of her mother's head, not sure what to expect.

"I think he's sleep walking." Nightmare answered as she slowly approached Discord and stuck a hoof in his path. Sure enough instead of going around he slowly walked into the hoof and attempted to pass through it, leaving himself walking on the spot.

"Aww, does that mean we can't murder him?" Luna asked, disappointment thick in her voice.

"I vote we still murder him," Celestia stated flatly as she slowly began rummaging through Luna's sack of weapons. "I think it's time we bring back the classic mace," she finished happily as she examined the blunt object, her twisted grin growing. "I'm sure this will wake him up."

"As much as I'd like to see what you could do with a mace, I thinking waking him up would be an extremely bad idea. Waking up a normal sleepwalker is bad enough, what happens when said sleepwalker could wipe out all life with a snap of his talons?" Nightmare finished as faint glow began to cover her horn. "I'm going to have to wake him up another way." and in a flash of light she was gone. Lucid let out a faint cry as she was dropped to the floor.

"You could have warned me about that," groaned the filly. 

With a second flash of light Nightmare found herself standing in a large white room.

"Welcome," came the voice of Discord, "I was wondering when you'd get here. How do you like my little world?" Nightmare spun around to see the Draconequus sitting in a rather large chair.

Nightmare stared at her husband in confusion, "It's pretty empty..." she spoke slightly nervously.

"Not this one, my other one." He asked, slowly tapping his talons on the arm rest.

"What other one? Stop fooling around Discord, we need to you wake up. You're causing more of a ruckus than usual with your sleep walking."

"I need to wake up?" Discord asked with feigned confusion as he pointed to himself. "But I never went to sleep, maybe you're the ones who need to wake up." He continued as he stood up and slowly approached Nightmare, "I had expected at least one of you to figure it out, but, neither you, Luna, Celestia nor Chrysalis managed to."

"Figure what ou-" Nightmare paused as the full meaning of her Husband's words came into effect. "How did you know Chrysalis was here?"

"Well duh" Discord stated flatly "She's not here, in fact none of you are and I'm not the one who needs to wake up."

A look of fear slowly began to spread across Nightmare's face as she finally put the pieces together.

"That's right honey" Discord began with a grin "I took a page from your book, for once you're the dreamer and I the weaver."

"But why? Why go through all this trouble to pull some minor pranks in our dreams?" She asked, her fear still growing.

"Think of this as the appetizer before the main course." The Draconequus stated happily, "I needed to keep you all busy while I got everything ready, didn't want anyone spoiling the surprise. Except Chrysalis, I just wanted to draw a mustache on her. You three, on the other paw, are going to have a fun filled day."

Discord was about to wake himself and everyone else up with a single snap, when he thought to do one more thing. Slowly he leaned in towards his wife.

"I made breakfast for everyone," he whispered with a grin.

And then Nightmare woke up.
> Episode 7: Nightmare Night Round 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No Luna, you can't have your night back." Nightmare hissed as she dusted off her old helmet. "You transferred full ownership of this night to me remember?" added with a smug grin. "Besides, my names in the title."

"You cheated!" shouted Luna in response "Besides, you've had it for the last 200 years and I want it back."

"First off, I didn't cheat, I only sung to myself. Secondly, it's my night and my ownership of this night shall last forever."

"You used musical warfare to gain an unfair adva-" Luna was cut off as Nightmare placed a hoof on her mouth and with a wicked grin began playing her best card.

"♪Three months of winter coolness, and awesome holidays, we've kept our hoovies warm at home time off from work to play.♪"

Luna gave a muffled scream before promptly teleporting off in anger. Leaving a once again triumphant Nightmare Moon to continue you her yearly planning. Though she had already known how things would end, seeing as this was the exact same thing that had happened every year, for the last two hundred years.

"♪ But the food we've stored is running out and we can't grow in this cold ♪" The Alicorn of dreams continued to sing to herself as she dusted off another piece of her old armor. "♪ and even though I loves my boots this fashions getting ol-" Nightmare found herself cut off as a brilliant flash of light filled the room after a few seconds it disappeared leaving Nightmare with a rather strange sight.

"Celestia? Is that you?" Nightmare asked in confusion as she stared at a white Draconequus, the only tell that it was Celestia was her few remaining features scattered about. Her multicolored mane remained along with one of her legs; her necklace remained, though it seemed smaller now. Her left leg was obviously one that belonged to a blue dragon, but what type she wasn't certain. Her horn had been twisted and bent and was now accompanied by one that almost matched Chrysalis's, finally she had gained the arm of a griffin along with the arm of what appeared to be a Diamond Dog.

"How do I look?" Celestia asked as she spread her arms out.

"I think you went a little overboard on the costume" Nightmare answered flatly 

"Nonsense Discord and I now have the perfect costume."

"Wait wait wait, what do you mean you and Discord, where is the idiot and what did you two do?" 

"Honey I'm home!" rang a feminine but strangely familiar voice causing both Nightmare and Celestia to turn their gaze to the source and causing both Nightmare and Celestia to promptly facehoof.

At the other side of the room stood a grey female Alicorn, it's only distinguishing feature besides its horn and wings was its miss proportioned yellow and red eyes.

"Discord, I told you, we weren't doing that hold gender swapping thing too."

"You're just jealous because I look better than you." retorted Discord "My wings are so pretty"

*Facehoof*

"Normally, I'd ask why, get angry, then accept that this is what's happening and then eventually get horribly murdered by one of you. But today we're going to skip that and jump straight to acceptance and hope nobody tries to murder me." Nightmare spoke without emotion. "Celestia can you go find my daughter and tell her, that her mothers are ready."

Celestia gave a salute and with a snap of her claws she vanished, off to find her niece who should have been almost finished her costume.

"Wow Auntie" Lucid stated in amazement "Your costume looks amazing." 

"Thanks you Lucid." Celestia laughed "I made it myself" she answered with a wink "So how’s your costume going?"

"Good auntie, but I can't get the mane right" Lucid answered as she snapped her talons causing her mane to shift in color, this time stopping at a rather intensely dark shade of purple. After a few seconds she gave a defeated sigh before falling back onto her bed.

"Don't worry, I've got someone to help" the Sun Princess laughed as she snapped her claws and in a flash of light a rather confused Twilight Sparkle stood in the middle of the room. "Hello my faithful student!" Celestia exclaimed a look of joy growing on her face as Twilight's face was a mixture of horror and confusion.

"Princess wha- what happened?"

"Nothing Twilight, it's just a little bit of a magical costume, nothing you haven't seen before."

"Well then, not to sound rude Princess, but why did you summon me then? Spike and I were in the process of a great scientific breakthrough."

"Lucid needs help with her costume" Celestia answered as she pointed towards the Draconequus filly "She wants to go as you for Nightmare Night."

"Well that's a little silly" Twilight laughed "You can't go as someone if they're still alive, that's just impersonation"

"Well then" Celestia began with a wicked grin "We'll just have to remedy the situation, Twilight I need you to close your eyes, I've got a present for you."

"Nope" answered Twilight as she teleported away.

"Bah" scoffed Celestia "We don't need her anyways, we can make a better costume!"

"Like what auntie?" Lucid asked as she snapped her talons removing all remaining traces of her half-finished costume.

After a few seconds of thought Celestia's devious grin returned "How about Starswirl the Bearded. I'm sure your dad... er.. Mother still has her old robe and wizard hat."

"Wait why would dad have a robes and a wizard hat... and why did you call him my mother." Lucid added in confusion.

Once again the universe took this as a chance to show that even though everyone in this castle was a complete lunatic, it was always watching. In a flash of light both Lucid's mother and her... mother were standing in the center of the room. It took Lucid a few seconds to realize what was happening as she took in the sight of her mother standing next to a grey Alicorn. If it wasn't for the two mismatched eyes, the look of anger on Nightmare's face said everything that needed to be said.

"Dad... is that you?" Lucid asked hoping that some kind force would spare her at least one year of therapy.

"Yes" answered the Discord as she turned a glance towards her wife, hoping Nightmare wasn't trying to kill her with her gaze. "Aren't my wings pretty?" she blurted out,  

"Okay what's wrong with her.. him" Nightmare asked as she pointed towards her wif- husband. "He keeps blurting that out to everyone we run into."

"It's Alicorn Syndrome, it happens to all new Alicorns" Celestia answered as she continued to watch Discord examine her wings. "She can't help but share with everyone that her wings are in fact pretty"

"That's ridiculous" Nightmare scoffed "I never did anything like this."

"Sure you did" answered Celestia "You just don't remember it, we had all records expunged."

"That's ridiculous, I would remember me blurtin-"

"I don't think you guys understand how pretty my wings are" Discord spoke as she continued to open and close them.

"I never acted like this!" She shouted as she pointed at her wife

200 Years ago

Nightmare Moon had done it; she had killed Celestia, for the fifth time that week and successfully imprisoned Luna on the moon. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were on a wild goose chase for the for the Elements of Harmony, that thanks to Discord now found themselves attached to wild gooses.

"Ahaha" Cackled Nightmare as she addressed the crowd "You insolent foals shall now know the meaning of eternal night as you bask in my glory." Nightmare paused as she magically put on a pair of reading glasses and summoned her scroll of evil plans. The crowd continued to watch as she silently muttered to herself as she continued down the list.

"Okay then, are there any questi- Aren't my wings pretty?" Nightmare paused as she tried to think about what she had just said.

"Could you repeat that Queen Nightmare?" spoke some unseen pony in the crowd

"I said, aren’t my wings pretty?" Nightmare repeated as found herself entranced by her beautiful wings."

2 Hours later.

"But seriously aren't my wings pretty?" Nightmare repeated as most of her new subjects had already dispersed

Celestia and Luna had been silently watching the scene unfold for roughly the last half hour and had finally decided it was time to put an end to Nightmare's terrible plague of eternal night and pretty wings.

"Nothing to see here folks" Celestia shouted as Luna grasped her other half and silently carried her off. "Moony forgot to take her medicine today and she gets a little loopy" 

Back in the present.

"That never happened" Nightmare stated angrily

"Maybe it did, maybe it didn't" Celestia answered with a shrug. "But that's beside the point, Discord should get over how pretty his wings are, within an hour or so, if not we'll change him back and he'll be fine."

"Why can't we change him back now?" Nightmare asked with a raised brow "Seeing my husband as my wife is a little bit weird even for us."

"Because if I turn him back, I have to turn myself back and personally, I'm enjoying thumbs, it makes all those back itches so much easier to reach."

"Auntie" coughed Lucid as she tried to gain their attention "Shouldn't we ask dad where he keeps his old robe and hat?"

"Hey Pretty wings!" Shouted Celestia 

"Yes!' answered Discord a clueless grin on her face.

"Where's your old Starswirl outfit, your daughter needs a new costume"

Discord paused for a second as she thought back to the last time she had seen her old outfit back from when she was considered "The father of magic" after a few more seconds of thought, she knew exactly where her Starswirl outfit was.

"Moony burned it" she answered flatly "I'm a princess are you a prin-" Discord found herself silenced by the sudden appearance of a rope around her muzzle.

"Is that what that was?" Nightmare asked as the glow faded from her horn "If so, yeah I burned it years ago. The foal wouldn't stop putting it on at inappropriate times."

Lucid gave another sigh as a look of defeat washed over her. "So what now? We were supposed to be out getting candy half an hour ago."

"Pretty wings, you think you can make our Daughter a good Starswirl Costume?" Nightmare asked as she glared at her wife.

Discord gave a nervous nod as her horn began to glow and in a flash of light. Lucid was the spitting image of Starswirl the Bearded, well not counting the fact that she was tiny, a different species entirely and being female probably shouldn't have a beard. Other than that though, it was the perfect Starswirl costume.

"Thank you dad!" as she lunged at the grey Alicorn latching onto her neck in an embrace.

Discord tried to answer but her response was muffled, so she just resorted to returning the hug and nodding.

"This is all good." Nightmare began "But you two are going to switch back now."

"Nope" answered Celestia "Guess who's got two thumbs and plans to enjoy them for the rest of the night? This Dranconequus!" she finished as she pointed towards herself before promptly teleporting off, Nightmare quickly following behind her, leaving Discord and Lucid alone.

"So Dad, I'm going to untie the rope, we're going to head out and get candy and then we'll never speak of this night again. Okay?" Lucid finished as she pulled the rope off.

"Lucid, are you a princess?"

"Aaaaand the rope goes back on" 

Meanwhile in the Eternal Fields 

"I don't need my stupid night back" muttered Luna as she wandered through the ethereal fields of the afterlife. She didn't need a bunch of foals offering her candy to be happy; she had friends who would gladly spend the night keeping her company. Though at least half of them were dead, being the Goddess of Death did have its perks.

After a few more minutes of walking, she eventually found herself in front of a familiar confection shop, as she approached the front door she felt as if watchful eyes had fallen upon her and hesitated as she pulled her hoof away from the door. Taking a few steps back just in time to see the door splinter as a buckshot ripped through it, causing the Night Goddess to drop to the ground and tuck her head between her hooves.

"Ah know ya'll are out there Celestia" came the familiar southern voice of the Element of Honesty

"Your Princess demands you cease firing immediately" Luna shouted in response

"Luna, ah don't know what your sister sent ya, to get us for, but ya better turn around and head home" Applejack answered as she loaded two more shells, her sights still set on the doorway.

"Your Princess demands you relinquish your firearms and allow us entry." 

"Luna, ya'll aren't fooling us, we're dead which means ya'll aren't our princess anymore."

Luna gave a sharp laugh as she rolled to the side and picked herself up out of the trigger happy pony’s sights.
"That is where you're only partially correctly my dear Applejack, I drew the short straw this time, which means I'm also the Goddess of Death and by extension Queen of the Afterlife, therefore making me your Queen. So I apologize for my mistake earlier." Luna gave cough to clear her throat. "As your Queen, I demand you relinquish your firearms and allow my entry"

Applejack made a gesture towards Rainbow Dash who quickly but silently made her way through the store, making sure not to cross into Rarity's line of sight as Element of Generosity remained in her snipers nest, prepared to be quite generous in the giving of lead. Ducking underneath the make shift platform Rainbow also made sure to avoid Pinkie's kill zone of explosives.

"What do you think AJ?" Rainbow asked as she dived behind the counter, landing next to the still watchful farmer.

"Ah think she's tellin the truth." Applejack answered

"So what do you want to do?"

"Take er down when she tries to get in obviously, ah ain't too keen on bein somepony's work horse to move another piece of furniture." Applejack answered as she prepared to take another shot "Luna, ah'd like ta believe ya, ah truly would, but your sister has a track record of lying, so ah'll have to ask you ta kindly leave."

"Very well" answered Luna "I was just hoping to talk to Ms. Rarity in order to offer her a position as Princess of the Afterlife."

At the mere mention of "Princess" Rarity's ears perked up as her gaze rapidly shifted between the sights of her rifle and the judgmental gaze of her farmer friend. After several seconds of internal conflict Rarity had decided that even if she was princess of a bunch of spirits, it still counted and quickly found herself sprinting for the exit, barely managing to avoid getting shot herself as Applejack attempted to stop her from abandoning her post.

Luna gave a smug grin as she pulled Rarity over to the side, binding the white Unicorn in place with her magic as she returned to her position beside the doorway.

"I was also coming here in order to find someone capable of throwing the largest party the afterlife has ever seen. I also needed someone capable of serving as the team leader for the Shadowbolts in the after show."

Applejack wasn't able to reload her weapon fast enough as both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie bolted for the door, quickly finding themselves trapped along with Rarity.

"I also need someone to keep all the animals in che-" Luna didn't even get a chance to finish as Fluttershy bolted out the door at the mere mention of animals, promptly followed by a defeated Applejack.

"Fine, ya'll win, what do ya need us for?"  Applejack's fear only growing more as Luna's grin continued to grow.

Ponyville Library 10:34PM

Twilight had managed to finish her experiment in a timely manner with the help of Spike, who would only remain pink for hopefully two or three hours, giving her the rest of the evening to hand out candy to all the foals who stopped by. In her panic to create a costume she had wiped up a half-flanked Nightmare Moon costume, which had so far managed to get a few laughs from the colts and fillies that had stopped by so far.

*Knock Knock*

Twilight opened the door, bowl of candy ready but what she was greeted with still managed to catch her off guard.

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!" Chanted Lucid and Discord as Twilight stared in awe.

"Nice costume" Nightmare added trying to stifle a giggle. "Lucid said we had to stop by her teacher's house, she really wanted to show off her costume. She thought you'd love to see a perfect recreation of Starswirl the bearded's robes" she added with a smug grin.

"That's not possible, Starswirl vanished six thousand years ago and the only images of him are recreati-" Twilight was cut off as Nightmare placed a hoof over her mouth.

"Trust me Sparkle, its accurate." she spoke as she pointed towards her Lucid who was wearing a pair of robes, unlike any she had seen in any of her books, followed by a hat that only resembled the ones she had seen in shape. "We got Starswirl to make them her... himself" she quickly corrected. "In fact, Discord why don't you stay here with Sparkle and tell her all about Starswirl, seeing as you're the one who knows him the best." Nightmare watched with a grin as the grey Alicorn that was now Discord casually made her way past Twilight and into the library pausing to say a single thing.

"My wings are so pretty!" with that she continued on her way into the library and presumably straight to the fridge.

"Why?" Twilight asked as she turned back to face Nightmare "Why do you still torment me?"

"Because it never gets old!" Nightmare answered with a laugh "Besides it's not all bad, the fool does know everything about Starswirl,"

"Yeah" Lucid interrupted "Don't tell anyone, but my dad was Starswirl" she whispered.

*Bang*

Lucid and Nightmare were left in stunned silence as their brains tried to process what had happened in roughly the span of half a second. Twilight had taken in the message almost instantly and without hesitation taken off like a bat out of Tartarus. Leaving the bowl of candy on the stairs and slamming the door behind her.

"Well then, I guess this is ours now" Nightmare laughed as she emptied the bowl into Lucid's candy sack.


Ponyville Library 11:41PM

*Knock* *Knock*

"Nobody’s home" shouted Twilight as she made her way back towards the library. If one good thing had come out of Celestia and Discord swapping Species, it was the fact that Discord was actually useful, even if it required several offerings of Candy, she had already learned over a dozen spells that had been lost to history.

*Knock* *Knock*

Twilight gave an angry growl as she made her way towards the door, determined to not have her night of learning ruined. However when she opened the door, she was met with a sight that beat her earlier visit. 

Princess Luna stood at the door; her mane dyed a dark blue with a single streak of purple and pink. However, the Night Goddess was not alone as Twilight was surprised to a rather disgruntled looking Applejack along with the rest of her friends standing behind Luna. This however was not what worried her the most, it was the fact that all of them appeared to be wearing their Elements of Harmony, along with Luna who had somehow managed to obtain Twilight's crown.

"Alright girls" Luna spoke with a grin "We've cornered Nightmare Moon, it's time to teach her a lesson about tricking ghosts into doing manual labour " with that Twilight watched in horror as a familiar glow began to cover Luna and her friends and without a second thought she slammed the door shut and made her back to Discord, the sound of an exploding door echoing through the library as she calmly took her seat and waited for whatever horrible thing was about happen.

"Aren't my wings pretty?" Discord asked as Luna rose up from behind Twilight, her eyes glowing a brilliant white and with a flash of light both Discord and Twilight were engulfed in a multitude of colors.

Canterlot Castle 12:41AM

It had been a long day and night for Nightmare Moon. After spending several hours with her daughter as they traveled through both Canterlot and Ponyville in search of Candy, she had discovered that when Lucid managed a sugar rush, the young Draconequus could reach a level of insanity that put Discord's old self to shame.

After Lucid eventually crashed from the sugar rush she had to go retrieve both her Husband and Twilight who had somehow been banished to the moon and finally to top it all off, she had to track down Celestia who had gone into hiding in order to keep her thumbs.

But in the end, she had managed to track down Celestia and "Convince" her to switch back with Discord ending her husband's dreams of having the prettiest wings.

"Moony" came the voice of Discord as the two of them lay in their bed.

"Yes?" 

"Are my wings still pretty?"

"The prettiest" Nightmare answered as she tried to fall asleep.

Elsewhere in the castle

Luna and Celestia had decided to meet with each other back in Celestia's room and share stories of their evening.

"So you're telling me, you banished my student to the moon?" Celestia repeated for the third time, a slightly angry expression on her face.

"No" Luna answered once again. "The Elements of Harmony banished her to the moon, I was just filling in the role of Element of Magic." she finished with an innocent smile.

"Sure" Celestia began with a roll of her eyes "And you had nothing to do with their sudden revival or their sudden belief that Twilight had been my spy all thi- Aren't my wings pretty?" Celestia placed a hoof over her mouth in horror at what she had just said.

"You didn't just say what I think you said, did you Celly?"

"Don't be silly Luna why wou- I'm a Princess are you a Princess too?" Celestia blurted out causing Luna to roll over in a fit of laughter.

"Looks like Discord isn't the only one with pretty wings" Luna managed to choke out between laughs.

"Lulu this isn't funny, my wings are so pretty!" The Sun Goddess blurted out once again, this time teleporting off in anger before her sister got any more free laughs.

"This was the best night ever." Luna sighed as she stretched out on her sister's bed and slowly drifted off into sleep. Sadly for her, she was met by a rather angry looking Twilight Sparkle who had somehow managed to obtain several of Starswirl's spells for Dream walking.
	
> Mini Episode 3: Auntie Chrysalis & Uncle Sombra
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Celestia

We're coming for a visit

Sincerely the Best Queen
Queen Chrysalis 

PS: Sombra says "Hi"

The Sun Goddess stared in confusion at the scroll that had appeared in front of her only a few seconds ago.
"That can't be right" Celestia muttered to herself "I thought I was the best Queen" However her new found sadness of not being the best Queen was cut short as another scroll appeared in front of her.

Dear Celestia

Open the back door, we're freezing

Still the best Queen
Queen Chrysalis

"Well that was fast" Celestia said aloud to herself as she teleported off to the back door, without hesitation she flung open the back door and was instantly hit with a torrent of snow and icy wind. Celestia managed to pull herself to her hooves just in time to be hit by several Changelings clad in what appeared to be a large amount of snow suits.

"Sombra don't you dar-" spoke a muffled voice from outside that was quickly cut off as the source was thrown into the room.

Celestia and the many Changelings gave a large grunt as the much heavier Changeling Queen landed on top of them, completing the dog-pile

"Sombra, I hate you" came the muffed groan of Chrysalis through her own many layers of winter protections.

"I love you too" answered Sombra as finally entered the castle, sealing the backdoor behind him.

"I hate all off you" groaned Celestia as she slowly managed to pull her head free from the pile of Changelings taking in as much air as her semi-crushed lungs could hold. "Why didn't you come in through the front door?"

"Hi Celestia!" the grey Unicorn shouted happily as he used his magic to pull her free from the pile "Nibbles wanted to surprise you guys, but the door was locked."

"Surprise?" 

"Maul and/or maim you" Chrysalis answered as she pulled her many scarves off her muzzle, finally able to breath and speak properly. "I don't know where he went" she added as she searched around the room and promptly started sifting through the Changeling pile in search of her child. 

"Aaaaaaah" echoed the familiar cry of Discord throughout Canterlot Castle 

"Found him!" Sombra stated happily as he stared off into a dark hall.

[5 Minutes Earlier]

"Fo-for the lov-love of the Hive, it...,it's cold." Thorax managed to stutter out between shivers. "Why didn't we go in through the front door?"

"We need the element of surprise." Prince Nibbles stated as he stared up at the castle walls 

"Wh-why do.. do we need surprise?" the Changeling asked

"For the attack" the Changeling Prince answered as he tapped a hoof against the wall.

"Who are we attacking?" King Sombra asked a he leaned in towards his son.

"Discord"

"Ah" Sombra responded as he too stared up at the wall "I think that's his Bedroom" the grey Unicorn added as he pointed up towards one of the balconies barely visible through the snow.

"Thank you father" Nibbles answered as he began his stealthy infiltration of the castle, black tendrils emerging from beneath his shell to form his wings as he slowly lifted off towards the window.

"Uh, my Lord" spoke another Changeling

"Yes Commander Mandible?"

"I think Thorax is dead." Mandible spoke as he poked the possibly dead changeling with a hoof "No wait, he's breathing"

"Wi... wimp" the Changeling Queen managed to stutter out between shivers as contemplated blowing the entire wall down.

Nibbles silently made his way up the castle wall, rapidly making his way towards the Balcony a faint voice coming into earshot as he finally managed to touch down.

"Winter wrap up, winter wrap up" Discord sung aloud as he continued searching throughout his room for some unknown object. The Draconequus completely oblivious to the Changeling Hybrid silently emerging from the shadows.

"Hi uncle Discord" Nibbles whispered causing the god of Chaos to jump.

"Oh gods no!" Discord managed shout as Nibbles lunged at him, Discords scream echoing throughout Castle as a sign of Nibbles' victory.

[Presently]

"Found him!" Sombra stated happily as he stared down a dark hallway.

"One day he'll outgrow the need to maul Discord" Chrysalis stated as she pulled the rest of her snow gear off "But I truly hope that isn't for a long, long time."

"Auntie Chrysalis!" came the joyful shout of Lucid as she dived out from some unseen hiding place, latching onto the Changeling Queens neck. "What did you bring me?"

"Your own Changelings!" Chrysalis stated happily as she pointed towards the Changeling Pile that was slowly but surely managing to pull itself apart.

"Wait what?" Mandible blurted out.

"I thought you were briefed on this" Chrysalis stated awkwardly "Sombra did you brief anyone?"

Both Sombra and Lucid took their gaze away from the tiny snow pony they had managed to build in the span of about five seconds from the snow that had blown in.

"Noooo" he answered with a nervous chuckle "I thought you told them."

Chrysalis gave a facehoof "Well my little Changelings, I've decide that Lucid here needs her own guards. I mean, I can't leave my niece completely defenseless, what if, and this is completely hypothetical, but what if someone tried to kidnap her before her wedding. Who would be there to protect her?"

"This is because of the Squirrels isn't it?" Mandible asked as he helped Grub and Pupa.

"Oh come on!" The female changeling groaned "Grub and I had nothing to do with the Squirrels."

"Now, now my Changelings, this has nothing to do with the Squirrels, even if I know for a fact you let all those squirrels into the hive."

"Ahem" Celestia cleared her throat in an attempt to gain everyone's attention. "I don't think Lucid needs her own guards, it's not like she really wants them and I'm sure her parents..." Celestia paused as she thought about what she was about to see. "Actually, I don't think her parents would really care." as if on cue Nightmare appeared with a flash of light.

"What's going on in this thr- Oh we have guests" Nightmare spoke as she released who had come to visit.

"Mom, Auntie Chrysalis gave me my own Changelings." Lucid shouted happily as she sat on Mandibles back happily poking at his wings.

"Awesome" the Alicorns of Dreams spoke as she approached the Changelings "Hey Chrysalis, can I have some Changelings?"

"Gods no!" Chrysalis answered "These are my people I'm not just going to give them away like toys."

"I'll give you two Bat ponies."

"Deal!"

"Can I have a Changeling?" Sombra asked as he finished his now much larger snow pony, everyone present paused as they tried to figure out how he had got that much snow from what had been blast inside.

"You've got the only Changeling you'll ever need" Chrysalis stated as she nuzzled up to her husband.

"Oh gag" Nightmare forced her food back down.

"Why don't you say things like that to me?" came the wheezing coughs of Discord as Nibbles dropped the slightly battered and bloody Draconequus into the group.

"Because you're gross" Nightmare answered "And you're bleeding all over the place."

"So where are we sleeping?" Chrysalis blurted out, interrupting the two embodiments of a weird relationship.

"I think we've got a few spare rooms." Celestia answered as she tried to remember any specific rooms that might be available.

"Good we'll need enough rooms for about 200 Changelings." Chrysalis casually answered 

"Well that shouldn't be to- Wait what?" Blurted the Sun Goddess as she realized what the Changeling Queen had just said.

"Oh did I forget to mention that in the letter?" Chrysalis answered feigning innocence "Yeah, someone let a "few" Squirrels into the hive and now we're doing repairs. The rest of my Changelings should be here any time now."

*Thud* came the sound of the now unconscious Sun Goddess

"I thought she would have taken that better, at least we didn't bring the entire empire, I wonder how she would have reacted to two million Changelings." Chrysalis paused as she placed a hoof under her chin "Actually, now I really wish I could have seen Cadance's face when those 100,000 Changelings showed up at the Crystal Empires front door. 

"You're only using this as free pass to harass Celestia aren't you?" Nightmare asked with a devious grin.

"That and Sombra still doesn't get out much so I thought he'd enjoy seeing old friends." Chrysalis answered with a laugh.

“Sooo cold” Thorax whispered to himself as remained on the floor still shivering within his many snowsuits.
	
	
> Episode 8: A Mission
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What are we doing?" Grub asked as she tried to adjust herself inside of the dark closet, doing her best to position herself amongst the three other Changelings and one young Draconequus.

"Probably something stupid" Thorax said bluntly as he continued to sit in the corner of the dark cramped room.

"Quiet, you're going to ruin everything" the young Draconequus hissed as she carefully opened the closet door in an attempt to check if the coast was clear.  "Now you two" Lucid spoke as she turned to face Thorax and Mandible "I need you two to create a distraction, there's two Guards by the third door down the hall and we can't continue while they're there."

"This is ridiculous" Mandible muttered "I'm a Commander of the Changeling Army, not a distraction for some pointless plan."

"My dear Mandible" Thorax began to speak as he placed a hoof on the Commanders back "You're going to quickly learn that in this eternal hell, we're all equal. It's easier to just go with it and hope that Queen Chrysalis doesn't join in." With that the Changeling stood up saluted his comrades and blindly ran out in to the hall quickly followed by Mandible.

"Ahem" Thorax cleared his throat gaining the attention of the two Night Guards "Celestia rules, Luna drools." 

[Back in the closet]

Lucid, Grub and Twitch weren't sure what was happening outside of the closet, but the sounds of screaming Changelings and hissing guards gave them a good idea, after several seconds of silently listening to the horrors outside the screams and hisses slowly faded away along with panicked hoof beats.

"They will not be forgotten." Lucid stated proudly as she and the two remaining Changelings saluted their fallen comrades. "Now that the guards are out of the way, it's time for us to move out."

Slowly the young Draconequus pushed the door open making sure that both the guards and fallen for their trick and that the coast was completely clear. After of few seconds of carefully scanning the hall from top to bottom she made her move silently followed by her two guards. 

"Now when we get in, I'll need one of you to cover the door while we gather the goods." Lucid whispered as she carefully opened the door and slide in her guards following behind her nervously checking to ensure nobody had seen them. As the two Changelings stood in the darkness of the room they hadn't expected the blinding lights to spring to life as Lucid flicked the light switch with her magic.

"A kitchen?" Twitch muttered unsure if they had entered the correct room.

"Not just a kitchen" Lucid spoke as she made her way towards the large fridge a black Insignia on its face "Aunt Luna's private kitchen." she whispered as she ran a claw down its side. Slowly the young god concentrating all of her energy into breaking her aunt's wards and after several seconds the faint sounds of the metal latch releasing signified another victory.

"Ms. Lucid" Grub spoke nervously "Why exactly are we in your Aunt's private kitchen?"

"For this" Lucid answered as she pushed the fridge door open revealing possibly the most amazing cake ever crafted by mortals. "I give you Princess Luna's triple layer strawberry cheese cake. Made with the finest ingredients gathered throughout time and space by my aunt herself, and now we're going to steal it." Lucid finished with a devious grin. However her victory was short lived as the faint sound of approaching hoof beats caused her to panic. 

"Everyone hide" she hissed as they scrambled to find a place to hide. The young Draconequus rapidly scanned the room as she searched for the safest place to hide her two guards quickly cramming themselves inside one of the larger pair of cupboards. The filly quickly decided on her hiding spot as she pulled open on the lower cupboards, but what she saw surprised her.

"Aunt Celestia?" Lucid asked in confusion as she stared at the white Alicorn cramped inside the lower cupboard. 

"You saw nothing" Celestia hissed as she grabbed the cupboard door with her magic and slammed it shut.

"Well then" Lucid muttered to herself as she opened the next available cupboard and climbed in. 

[Meanwhile]

"Love I really don't think this is a good idea." Sombra spoke as he and his wife made their way towards Luna's private kitchen.

"Nonsense" Chrysalis answered dismissively "Celestia and Luna told us to make ourselves at home."

"I don't think that entailed raiding their private food stores." Sombra chuckled 

"Quiet you" the Changeling Queen hissed as they approached the kitchen door surprised to see that none of the guards remained "We've got to be careful, Luna is insane so the entire place is probably booby trapped." Chrysalis spoke as she carefully examined the floor for any sort of trip wires or pressure plates.

"Luna's not all that crazy." Sombra defended as he thought back to the last few times they had come down to visit a slow-mo montage of all the times his wife had been blown up flashing through his mind. "Actually you're probably right Love, we should watch for traps."

Chrysalis nodded in confirmation as she slowly and incredibly nervously began opening the door, waiting for any sight or sound that would signify her impending death. But it never came as the door slowly creaked open revealing the still lit room. Chrysalis shrugged off the lights being on as some forgetful creature's mistake as she carefully entered the room. Sombra following behind, but not close enough to be taken out by a wife sized explosion.

A the Changeling Queen made her way through the potentially deadly kitchen she kept shifting her gaze back and forth and hopes of finding any signs of death before they got to her and her search eventually paid off as she noticed something dangling from one of the cupboards.

"What is it?" the grey Unicorn asked as he tried to focus on the strange black object.

"Let's find out." Chrysalis answered as she backed up a few steps and grasped the object with her magic and in one quick tug she watched in complete amazement as a Changeling came plummeting out of the cupboard followed by a second changeling who had been dragged out by her comrade during her fall.

"Did not see that coming" Sombra spoke as he stared at the two Changelings on the floor, who were quickly trying to climb to their hooves.

"What is all that racket?" Discord hissed as the drawer he was sleeping in shot open. "Some of us are trying to get some sleep here."

"I did see that coming though" Sombra stated proudly as he and his wife stared at the Draconequus 

"Discord, I know I shouldn't" Chrysalis began to speak "But what in the seven fires of Tartarus are you doing in the drawer."

"Sleeping" Discord answered flatly

"Yes, I know sleeping, but why aren't you using your bed?"

"I spilt milk in it." He answered

"Why didn't you just clean it up?" Chrysalis asked with a raised brow. "I know the one thing you take the most seriously is your sleeping."

"Exploding Milk" Discord answered with a nervous chuckle.

"So where's Moony?"

"She was in the bed" Discord answered with another nervous laugh.

"Where is she now Discord?" Chrysalis asked firmly trying to force him to answer the question.

"All over the room." The Draconequus answered as a semi-shell shocked expression covered his face. His poor bed didn’t deserve what had happened to it, he loved that bed and now it was gone.

"It's okay" Sombra tried to comfort Discord as he patted the Draconequus on the back. "Everyone blows up their wife once in a while. Let's go find you a proper bed." He finished as he led the shell shocked Draconequus out of the kitchen.

"Well now that that mystery has been solved" Chrysalis spook as she shifted her attention to the two Changeling she had just discovered who were currently trying to sneak away. "What are you two doing in here?" The Changeling queen asked as she pulled the two Changelings towards her. "Aren't you two supposed to be protecting Lucid?"

"Ah huh" Grub nodded as her Queen maintained eye contact.

"So where is she?"

"In the cupboard" Grub answered as she pointed towards a row of cupboards across from them. Chrysalis made her way towards the row of cupboards the two Changelings floating along behind her. 

"That one" the Changeling stated as she pointed towards a cupboard and quickly fell to the floor as Chrysalis released her grip in order to open the door.

"Celestia?" Chrysalis asked in confusion as she stared at the Sun Goddess currently cramped in the small cupboard. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to steal a cake but you foals won't stop messing up my plan." Hissed the goddess as she struggled to free herself from her hiding place. After several seconds of struggling she found much to her horror that her flank was currently stuck. "If you say anything I'll annihilate your entire kingdom."

"You sure you didn't already eat the cake?" Chrysalis laughed as she watched the white Alicorn continue to struggle in an attempt to free herself form the cupboards unbreakable grasp. 

"That's it, I'm friendship bombing the fu-" Celestia's threats were cut off as once again the sound of faint echoing hoof beats filled the air.

"Push over fat flank." Chrysalis hissed as she shoved the white Alicorn back into the cupboard and climbed in herself. Making the already cramped cupboard impossibly full. "You two better hide to" Chrysalis whispered to the two remaining Changelings who quickly scrambled back to their original hiding spots.

"I hate you so much" Celestia hissed under her breath.

"Love you too Celly" Chrysalis whispered in response as she could hear the kitchen door open and eventually the sound of it closing.

"I have to thank you both again for your assistance" spoke the voice of Princess Luna "I have no idea where my guards went, but it's nice to have some assistance in order to transfer this cake to my private Chambers" she continued to speak as she opened the large fridge and carefully levitated down onto the cart.

"As we said before, it's not a trouble at all." Spoke a second familiar voice "Isn't that right Commander Mandible?"

"Yeah...." Mandible answered nervously as he searched the room. "Like Thorax said, it's no problem at all."

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you moving the entire cake to your room?" Thorax asked as he and Mandible began pushing the large cart.

"Just some safety concerns, that's all" Luna answered with a grin a she levitated a small metal object from her saddle bag. Thorax and Mandible watched as she pulled a small metal pin out of the top before opening one of the cupboards and tossing the whole thing in.

"Where did she find a grena-" Sadly for Celestia and Chrysalis that sentence was cut off as the grenade detonated blowing both of them straight to Tartarus. 

"Sweet Moon how I love Griffin weaponry." Luna stated happily. "Now come along," She stated as she made her way towards the exit the two cart pushing Changelings following closely behind.

Several minutes later Lucid stumbled out of her hiding cupboard her ears still ringing from the blast that had almost claimed her too.
"Those dirty traitors." Lucid muttered to herself as she cast a glance towards the now empty fridge. She was so close and now her prize was gone.

"Grub" Twitch spoke fearfully

"Yeah?"

"I want to go home." the scared Changeling muttered.

"I know I do too." she answered as she patted her friends back.

[15 Minutes Later]

Thorax and Mandible slowly entered Lucid's chambers, expecting anything from the young god.

"So, the Traitors retur-" Lucid paused as she noticed three plates levitating around the two Changelings. "Clever Changeling."

"The mission was a complete success." Mandible stated confidently as he lowered the plate onto the bed. "Sadly your aunts did not survive”

"You know Auntie Chrysalis is still going to know you tipped Auntie Luna off right?" Lucid asked with a curious expression. "You Queen probably won't be lenient to a traitor."

"But you're our Queen." Thorax said with a slightly maniacal laugh. "She gave us to you and we followed our orders." Thorax continued as he opened one of the new saddle bags he was wearing. "Besides, your Aunt gave us a few new toys to defend ourselves." he laughed again as he used his magic to begin juggling three more grenades above his head. 

"The Queen is dead, long live the new Queen." The Changeling muttered to himself as his eye continued to twitch.
	
> Episode 9: Not Dead
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Now can anyone tell me what happens when chaotic magic is overpowered by harmonious magic?” Twilight Sparkle asked as she circled the class room.

“My Dad becomes a hat rack?” Lucid answered with a giggle 

“Now Lucid” Twilight began preparing to scold the young Draconequus but quickly found herself pausing “That’s actually surprisingly quite accurate. However, from a scientific viewpoint when the two forces of magic meet the more powerful magic overpowers the first.” The purple Alicorn paused as she summoned several diagrams.

“Ms. Sparkle what’s that?” a young unicorn filly asked as she pointed to one of the diagrams

“Well Terra, this diagram shows the results of chaotic magic overpowering harmonious magic, the end result is both magics becoming unstable and detonating. In a reverse scenario harmonious magic will encase the chaotic magic resulting in both becoming stable and inert.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the first result” Pleasant Dreams stated flatly as she stood in the classroom doorway

“Oh good Nightmar- I’m mean Princess Dreams has decided to grace our class with a visit.”

“Now, now Twilight” Pleasant began as she approached the purple Alicorn. “You’ve turned me to stone and or blown me up several times, I don’t think we need to be so formal.” She finished with a devious grin as she turned to face Twilight’s class who were now whispering amongst themselves. Both Twilight and Pleasant were able to make out the odd mention of blowing up a Princess.

“Thank you Nightmare” Twilight hissed as quietly as she could “I can’t wait for all the parents hearing how Ms. Sparkle tried to assassinate the Princess.”

“Always a pleasure Sparkle” Pleasant whispered back
“So what brings you here this fine day?” Twilight asked trying to regain her composure as her students continued to talk amongst themselves.

“Oh, I came to pick up Lucid, I thought she’d be done by now.” Pleasant stated with an awkward chuckle “Apparently I was wrong, also weird question but did Lucid happen to bring several Changelings with her to school”

“Oh them?” Twilight asked with a hint of annoyance “Two of them were sent to the office for fighting, another one of them snuck out during lunch break and third is over there.” She finished speaking as she pointed towards the Changeling at the back of the class who was currently frantically waving a hoof in the air.

“Ms. Twilight! Ms. Twilight!” the Changeling shouted as he waved a hoof in the air

“Yes Thorax” the Alicorn sighed

“Can I go to the washroom?” Thorax asked as he lowered a hoof

“I don’t” Twilight answered with a grin that showed the true evil all teachers have buried deep within them. “Can you?” she asked 

Thorax sighed “May I go to the washroom?”

Twilight nodded a yes and both she and Nightmare watched as the Changeling quickly galloped out of the room, sadly he went in the wrong direction and after several seconds he passed the door again going at twice the speed.

“And you think I’m evil.” Pleasant chuckled

“You are evil and now you wasted the rest of my student’s precious learning time.” Twilight spoke as she pointed toward the clock that now read 3:15PM “I guess, you and Lucid a free to go.”

“Awesome!” Lucid shouted as she bolted from her desk and out the door as she ran to grab her hat and gloves for the walk back to the castle. The two silently watched from the Class room window as Lucid bolted from the school and out into the snowy streets of Canterlot city. After several seconds of waiting they watched as Lucid quickly bolted back into the school and eventually the class room.

“Mom come oooooon” Lucid whined as she pointed towards the door. “Dad’s going to eat all the good snacks without me.”

“For a bunch of Immortal beings you’re all pretty immature.” Twilight scoffed

“First off, you’re just figuring that out now? And secondly just think, in a couple thousand years you might get the stick out of your butt and have some fun once in a while.” Pleasant finished speaking with a laugh as she bolted out of the classroom, picking her daughter up on the way out the door.

“Ms. Sparkle?” A Unicorn colt asked as he approached his teacher

“Yes Iron Bull?” Twilight answered doing her best hide her annoyance with their previous guest.

“Who put a stick up your butt?” the colt asked completely oblivious to what Pleasant had actually meant.

“Princess Celestia did” Twilight answered flatly “Let me give you some advice kid, if a Princess ever asks you to be their personal student, you say no. No matter what they offer or how much they ask, say no.” she sighed as she began packing her papers.

Outside of the school Pleasant and Lucid were finally on their way home, it had taken them a couple minutes to gather Lucid’s “Personal Guard” from around the School.
Twitch and Mandible had received a suspension from a school they had never actually attended. Both of them had been repeatedly reminded that their parents would be informed; neither was quite sure how that was going to work.

Thorax was found hiding in the school’s Cafeteria under the foolish hope that everyone might just forget about him and he could live his life in peace within that one room. 

Finally they found Grub hiding out behind a set of bleachers apparently trying to befriend “The Cool Kids” apparently being a cool kid required you to touch poison joke. Grub was now bright pink. Don’t do Poison Joke kids; you’ll end up pink or sounding like a dude.

The four Changelings silently followed along as they did their best to stay warm in their snow gear as they marched along behind their most recent leaders. Three of them doing their best not to giggle at their now pink friend’s situation.

“So what did I miss today Mom?” Lucid asked as she walked through the snowy streets with her mother.

“Sombra and Celestia started a game of chess this morning and when I left they were still playing. Luna and your father were planning to mess with them but that didn’t turn out to well. I always forget that Sombra has such high military training, for someone so calm he can really kick some flank.” Pleasant finished speaking as both her and Lucid laughed at the image of kind and innocent Sombra land a beat down on Discord and Luna, they both knew he had gone easy on both of them.

“And Chrysalis and her Changelings have been getting themselves settled in still, last time I checked on them they were converting the east wing of the castle into a make-shift hive.”

A couple minutes later the group found themselves back within the warm walls of Canterlot Castle and had made their way to where both Sombra and Celestia continued their game of Chess. As far as Pleasant could tell after a day long battle both sides were running out of solders, but it appeared Sombra still held some advantage.

“I take your Queen in two moves and your King one move after that.” Celestia stated smugly as earlier fears of defeat finally gave way to a sense approaching victory.

“But my dear, there’s a slight probably with your plan.” Sombra spoke as he kept the same calm and happy look he had worn since they began their match. “I take your King in two moves.” Sombra finished with a smile as turned to face the new arrivals. “Hello Lucid, hello Pleasant.”  He spoke with an added wave.

“How goes the war Uncle?” Lucid asked as she threw her gloves aside and approached the table.

“Celestia has put up quite the battle, it’s commendable but in the end she lost too many men in the opening battle. Now the war is coming to an end and your dear aunt hopes to postpone the finale” Sombra stated with a sly grin as he turned back to face Celestia.

“How?” Celestia asked her face filled with frantic fear and confusion as she tried to figure out Sombra’s plan, but no matter how she looked at it Sombra couldn’t win. “You’re bluffing…” Celestia tried to argue

“He’s not” Pleasant and Lucid answered in unison causing and remaining hope in Celestia to quickly crumble as not one, but three agreed she had lost the long battle. No matter what in the end she would lose and it only left her with a single option.

“I surrender” the Sun Goddess stated mournfully

“Shame” Sombra stated as he looked up at Celestia “You would have won in three moves.” He finished with a laugh as a torrent of green flame covered engulfed him leaving Chrysalis in his place.

“Son of a” Celestia and Pleasant mouthed in Unison as they stared at the Changeling Queen.

“If I had known it was this easy to trick you into surrender I could have taken Equestria hundreds of years ago.” Chrysalis laughed as she continued to stare at their stunned expressions “I can’t believe none of you caught on either.” 

“I did!” Lucid shouted as she waved a talon in the air. “Uncle Sombra doesn’t know how to play Chess; he is really good at Checkers though.”

“Well at least someone pays attention.” Chrysalis spoke as she patted the small Draconequus on the head. I switched out with Sombra after the second move when you went to “deal” with Discord. Sombra is currently helping Nibbles and Luna with some science experiments, in fact.” Chrysalis paused as she looked at the clock. “We should be do for the results any momen-“ Chrysalis was cut off as the expected explosion ripped through the castle.

“Oh good” Pleasant and Celestia spoke in unison once again.

After a couple seconds Luna, Sombra and Nibbles came rushing into the room followed by a trail of smoke.

“Okay” Luna wheezed as she tried to catch her breath. “Probably a little too much of everything.”

“You think?” Nibbles answered as he put out a small patch of flaming fur. “I told you, Chimera spit and Hydra fur doesn’t play nice with each other. He added as he shook some soot from his mane.

“Oh excuse me for thinking that after several thousand years I might know a little more about Science than you.” Luna responded with slight annoyance

“Well seeing as I am a science experiment, and the most deadly one at that, I might know a bit about Science myse-.”

“That was incredible!” Sombra finally spoke up after catching his breath. “There was fire, explosion a Llama and an underground rollercoaster, can we go again?!” He asked enthusiastically as he too put out several large patches of flaming fur.

“Father, I don’t think that’s the wisest course of actio-“ Nibbles was cut off as both Luna and Sombra bolted out of the room most likely in search of another disaster to cause. “You know what; if anyone needs me the Cookie God will be claiming his Snackrifice in the pantry.” Nibbles sighed before trotting off, leaving everyone in awkward silence.

“So where is my Dad?” Lucid asked as she turned to face Celestia and Chrysalis who had already begun another game of Chess while the previous events were going on.

“Oh he said something about getting a snack from the pantry and ran off….” Chrysalis paused before mouthing a silent “Oh” to herself “That poor fool has no idea what’s coming, may the universe show mercy on the fool who gets between the Cookie God and his prize.

The universe did not show Discord any mercy that day, the wrath of the Cookie God was swift and painful, but let it be known that even when faced with assured death Discord never released the double fudge cookies he had claimed for himself and in a way Nibbles respected him for that. Respected him, didn’t spare him of course but he did respect him.

“Hey Lucid sweetie” Pleasant spoke as she looked towards her daughter “Wasn’t the whole reason you wanted to rush home so you could get “The good snacks” as you put it?”

Lucid’s grin from the earlier quickly vanished as she realized not only was her father eating the good stuff Nibbles was on his way to devour it too.

“Aw man” the young Draconequus filly sighed as she fell to the floor in defeat

“Don’t look so glum.” Pleasant spoke as she picked up her daughter. “Do you want to go ride some weird science rollercoasters?”
“Really?!” Lucid shouted in excitement “Auntie Luna says those things are dangerous.”

“Luna’s a party killer.” Pleasant stated flatly as she turned to face the four Changelings that had assumed guard position after their earlier arrival. “You there!” she spoke as she pointed towards the on furthest on the right.

“Yes?” Thorax asked waiting for whatever stupid order he would receive this time.

“Pull the lever!” Pleasant shouted

Thorax was rather stunned and confused when he looked to his right and noticed several levers on the wall. He could have sworn there was nothing there when they had first arrived. He paused for a second as he decided which to pull and eventually just picked a random one.

Everyone watched in stunned amazement as a hole opened up beneath Celestia and Chrysalis as they continued their game of chest and the two plummeted in.

“Wrong leveeeeer!” came the echoed fading shouts of Alicorn and Changeling Queen.

“Wrong lever” Pleasant spoke with a smile “But good results never the less.” She added.

After another second Thorax pulled another lever and watched as another hole opened up and both Pleasant and their new “Queen” vanished into its depths.

“I wonder what the other one does.” Thorax muttered as he looked at the last unpulled lever, deep down inside though he knew it did something stupid and in the end he returned to his bunk with his fellow Changelings for a nice earned rest.