> Agents of Discord
>  by Scarlett Haze
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue to Disaster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Alright, first off, don't you dare start writing down 'Oh look! Another human in Equestria story, I haven't read that before, hur dur!' Don't give me that bullshit, I've had enough of it from Discord. Yeah, you read that right, I've had a smartass godly creature breathing down my neck for over a month now, and I'm getting sick of it.

In fact, I've been losing patience ever since Richard and myself were first fired from the call center, that first time I got to hear him.

I mean, don't get me wrong, its not like I really hate the guy. In fact, if I wasn't part of his scheme and I just met him, I might have liked him in an ironic way. But no, instead he had to pull me, Richard, Linda, and her sister, Marian, into a cartoon fantasy land of talking ponies. All for him to take over the land of Equestria, and then the world (muh-ha-ha-ha, you know the spiel).

Now don't expect some grand story made by a professional author, no, its just me. Me, the guy that made a 'C' in Composition in high school. The guy that will, no doubt, be making grammar mistakes and the potential misspelling of words, because spell checker can't check for sense.

Maybe if Discord wants to try some other crap with me again, I'll let Marian write down the next story, she's the writer, not me. Oh god, did I actually ask for more time with Discord? No, I take it back, PLEASE don't let me ever see him again.

No shivers. Thank the one above, I didn't want to get thrown into some other adventure while working on this.

I'll need to explain the shivers. I've always had this 'sense' for danger. Building blown up? Shivers. Someone got attacked a block away? Shivers. A chaotic god wants to send you into a jungle and say 'GL, have fun. LOL :P'? BIG Shivers. In short, if I'm not paying attention and I shiver, just be careful.

Marian and the rest of my friends are willing to just laugh this little excursion into another world off as some joke of a deranged creature that wanted attention, but I believe it was something more.

Of what, I can't really be sure of. You'd think as an agent working for such a being, you'd at least have some idea as to why you were chosen and what you are told to do. However, Discord doesn't like to make sense when you want him to, and that just makes me pissed off more than the rest because of it.

Richard told me, 'He's the god of chaos. He'll never make sense, so stop trying to make it some personal attack against you all the time.' Well, he has more experience about the world of Equestria... technically. Too bad he couldn't have told me that he was a fan of MLP:FiM sooner, then I would've at least had a small idea of where I was when I got flung into the Everfree Forest. So, I'm going to act however I damn well please.

Right, my friends, I should be a bit more descriptive about them.

First, Richard 'Radiant Radar' Fulwood, 25, best friend since we were Freshmen in high school. He became a unicorn, apparently his OC unicorn as well. Before the incident, he mostly kept to himself, showing me little formulas and inventions he had made before going into high school. He's a genius when he puts his mind on something, but for the longest time, he just wasn't finding what he wanted. For seven years, he was a depressed mess and I was probably the glue that kept him from killing himself.

Linda 'Limonade' Delany, 26, great woman, and I am blessed to be her boyfriend. She became an earth pony, but still kept the bob in her hair she works on consistently. She and I met on the first day of junior college, head to head. Both of us needed stitches in our heads. We talked after a week of awkwardness in Philosophy, and had a date within the second month. She's so energetic, hopeful, beautiful, I'm the lucky guy that managed to catch her attention. She says its how I'm fast to answer to anything,even if its a nonsensical question.

Marian 'Min Tea' Delany, 20? I'm not going to ask her for her age, not if I'm going to save face as a man. She also became an earth pony, same color and everything. She does have glasses and a different hairstyle, so telling the difference isn't too difficult. I have only just started to learn more about her, and it was only after the trip, mostly. She's Linda's sister, a writer, and basically is equal in brains to Richard. That's what I put down in my head when I first saw her. However, she's more complex. Marian has problems acting civil with other people, its not a mental disease, just the symptoms. She writes things down in a notepad because she's more comfortable speaking on paper than with her mouth.

I can't imagine how difficult it was for her to be without that security blanket when she crossed dimensions.

I met a lot, I mean, A LOT of ponies as well. You know 'em, the Mane 6, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Zecora, the Princesses, Lyra, Ditzy(or was it Derpy?), even a brief talk with Doctor Whooves. If I knew who that was before I came in, I'd be geeking out, I'm a fan of the doctor. Well, a recent convert really, but I've been digging a bunch of the seasons.

And Discord. Every time I even think about him, or his plans, or how he speaks, I get mad. It's because I lost to him, we all did. Now he's loose in Equestria, causing problems, misery, suffering, and I can't do a single thing about it.

I'll let you know now, I'll be using myself in the first person. The rest is in third person and may not be quiet accurate. Don't get me wrong, I got a bunch of the missing pieces filled in by my friends, however, I can't let them know about this project. Because if they know, then he knows. And if he knows, then he's going to buck everything up. Oh man, I'm already slipping back into that mental state. I guess it's fine, the story is not truly based on this earth and therefore its rules, but on Equestria's earth and its rules.

I believe I've fit enough in here to get you prepared.

Maybe?

I'm Quentin 'Quick Fix' Clemens, 25. This is a story about a human turned Pegasus, and how he and his friends became the agents of a creature that wishes to control Equestria with the Elements of Chaos.
> The First Trot in Another World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Teleportation?" Familiar words felt like sandpaper. I watched Richard Fulwood flip more switches and fiddled with wires. Well, I had to hand it to him, when he called me up to say he had a surprise for me, I didn't expect a teleportation pad in a basement and another pad just up the stairs to the first floor. I sat in a somewhat collapsed chair with Tyrone, Richard's beagle and one of my favorite pet compatriots when I visited Richard.

"You got it, my suspicious friend. I'm about to hit the science fiction button and make what people have thought to be nothing more than fairy tales of crackpot scientists and all I need to do it is a power generator and imagination." Richard was recently very excited about doing his experiments again, although he won't tell me why he suddenly got back at his crazed work. He had only recently lost his job as a phone representative. You know the kind, 1-800-whogivesadamn and you get a friendly voice on the other end saying 'Thank you for calling us, how may you abuse me today?'

Sorry, I got a little bitter there, don't generally do that.

I gave a look at Tyrone, his brown face looking at me. He had an even coat of black on his back and a white belly. He seemed to be just about as confused as I was about what the hell Richard was doing.

I then gave a shiver as the hairs on my neck stood on end, the twitch I always had if something bad happened recently or when something bad was going to happen soon.

Of course the first person I revealed such a grandiose super power was Richard himself, so when he looked at me after my shakes his eyebrow raised out of curiosity before turning back to his computers and tacking on the keyboard carefully. He was surrounded with wiring, lights, and a mini-fridge that if looked in the right light, seemed to be suspended in the air.

"All clear. Teleportation procedures are all in the green. Guess it must be the neighbors having their quarrel again that made you shake." Tyrone put his nose in the air and began sniffing as he started up the stairs, must've smelled something good to him. Richard grabbed an apple from his mini-fridge and wrote a name down on it. He set it down and I read 'JACK' written in black sharpie.

"So. Apple Jack is going to be your first test subject?" I asked as I noticed a smile cross his face. Richard mumbled something to himself as he then looked at me in... embarrassment? I couldn't read Richard like I used to, although he wasn't exactly a hard guy to read before he got fired. He was just depressed all the time, any time he was happy was when he was out of the house. But now he was here, a large goofy grin, spring in his step, and not a care in the world as he started up (or at least it sounded like starting up) a teleportation device.

A knock came from the first floor. We were waiting for another guest for the event, she did this all the time when we asked her to be at a place at a specific time. Always seventeen minutes behind, almost like she purposely does it.

And she does, I've had enough dates with her to know what she tries to do in order to look as beautiful as she is.

“That's Linda, I'll get the door.” I rushed up the stairs and reached the front door, making sure my brown hair was at least somewhat presentable by running a hand through it.

Opening the door I was greeted by the face of Linda, her blonde hair perfectly curled at the front, no doubt the culprit every time she would run late as she obsessed heavily over it. She was accompanied by another girl, black hair split in the front and placed behind her right ear, and wearing large oval glasses.

"Hey there, Quentin! I hope you and Richard don't mind that I had to bring my sister. This is Marian.”

The girl in glasses immediately pulled out a note pad and began writing feverishly. Both of them stepped inside as a column of light rose from the teleporter pad.

"DON'T STEP ON THE PAD! Applejack's coming through!” Richard yelled up from his dark dungeon of science.

Marian's eyes glimmered for a moment, as her full attention was drawn into the spinning column of light, her hand still writing as she started circling the device. Linda and I could only look at each other and then marvel at what was happening. We all gave a gasp as we all watched an apple slowly take form in the blue light. Richard Fulwood was moving an apple from his basement to the first floor in the flip of a switch. He was going to be the richest man in the world because of this!

Soon the light faded and we all carefully looked a the apple. I went forward to touch it, but I wasn't even sure if it was going to explode, or was irradiated, or hell, explode TWICE.

Can something explode twice? That would be interesting to find out...

Marian picked up the apple herself and in a snap, bit down and started chewing the apple. Both Linda and myself watched in horror as we expected the oncoming terror. To see if Marian's flesh would begin to fall off as she would start walking towards us, her arms extended, moaning out for brains.

I've watched too many horror movies, note to self, don't do that.

"Well?" Linda asked as Marian balanced the apple on the notepad and continued writing, seriously give this girl a hand, that's just cool.

"Apple is a bit gritty, still retained a lot of its juices. I'm curious if it was the apple that wasn't hydrated, or if the process dehydrates things as they get sent.” Marian flipped a page of her notebook, and I saw a bunch of mathmatical formulas, lots of words, and even small diagrams. One being the device itself.

When Richard came up, I gave him a hug and a handshake. “You freaking did it! An actual operating teleportation device! This is going to to get you SO rich man!”

Richard gave a chuckle and pulled out a piece of paper. “It's all thanks to this, remember when you saw me run into that guy as I was leaving work? He dropped it and it had all the missing formulas and little tips that I needed to make it!”

“How good is a return trip on it? Or is it a one-way process?” Marian seemed more than curious about the machine, personally, I didn't want to focus too much into it. Thing goes in, thing goes out, how much more complicated should something be?

Richard took the apple from Marian and placed it back on the teleporter pad and motioned her to come downstairs, already running down the stairs again. Marian without making a word, continued to write down on her notepad as she walked down the stairs. Leaving Linda and myself on the top floor to talk. She seemed a bit more happy than she normally was.

"Soooo, Quentin. Have you made up your mind about where our date is going to be?" Linda approached me with her warm eyes on me and my knees ready to buckle under pressure.

I completely forgot about the date. I was so busy with trying to find another job, why didn't I think about it?!

"Um. It's a surprise. We'll go straight out to it after Richard finishes... you know." I waved my hand toward the direction of the teleportation pad, already beginning to warm-up again. I could already see that Linda knew I didn't have a clue about where we would go for a date.

"You don't have an idea about where our date should be at do you?" Linda gave a slight chuckle and then latched onto me with one of her patented hugs.

A loud snap came from downstairs as the blue column of light enveloped the half-eaten apple, however the sound of Richard swearing downstairs was not a good sound.

What'd I tell ya? Shivers get it right all the time.

Linda tried to go for the door as she read my face and was immediately greeted by her being lifted from the ground as she gripped a door handle. This thing was sucking us in! Gripping hard into the wood paneling of the basement door as best I could, I screamed out downstairs to Richard as I tried to brace my legs against something in a vain attempt to try and keep myself from going any further. "Shut the damn thing off! We're getting pulled in!"

"I TRIED THAT! THE THING IS RUNNING ON IT'S OWN ENERGY!" Richard screamed back as the sound of what sounded similarly to a vacuum going 'Fwump!' was heard. "IT GOT MARIAN! DID SHE COME OUT ON YOUR END?!"

Linda screamed out, "WHAT?!"

I yelled back as the sound of the wind being sucked in got much louder. "SHE DIDN'T COME OUT OUR END! RICHARD WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

Those were the last words I said as Tyrone came into the first floor hallway and was propelled forward into me, causing me to lose my grip on the wood.

The last thing I saw and heard was Linda crying out and holding out her hand in an attempt to catch me.
The last thing I felt, was an intense burning all over my body and then... nothing.


***


Spinning. Spinning and Falling. Any time my eyes went open I was bombarded by color, shapes, creatures, all of it burning and painful to watch for only a second. I felt limbs being pulled and pushed, my head getting cracked open, stuffed, then all of it grabbed from inside my mouth and yanked out. My back was torn open and left that way for God knows how long before it was apparent that it was only an imaginative thought that I fooled myself into believing.

If I could throw up, I would, no really, I would. But when you can't even open your mouth to scream in fear or pain, it can be difficult. All the while I couldn't help but feel I was being carried in a lion's paw and an eagle's claw.


***


Dirt. This is definitely dirt I was feeling. I must've been shot halfway across the world, that was my guess. I wanted to make sure my body was moveable, especially after that crazy feeling I had while I was flying through... wherever that was.

Okay, right foot twitching, excellent.
Now for the left foot. Another twitch, good good.
Hands? Yes.
Fingers? Oh, fingers?
That's not good, I'm not able to feel my fingers. Wait, what's the feeling on my back? Am I controlling it? Oh great, now I'm even more confused. So with a better idea about what I had to deal with, I had one other plan in mind. If someone was looking at me twitch on the ground, I just needed to explain that I wasn't a local.

That should work, right?

Taking a good look around, I could see trees. Miles and miles of trees. And I was in a  clearing with nothing but dirt and the occasional struggling grass blade trying to rise up in the lack of sunshine. Already dark out here, so my best bet was that it was night. So far the theory of being propelled halfway across the world is sounding about right. That's when I decided to look down at my fingers and figure out why I couldn't feel them.

Of course, I couldn't feel them because they weren't there. Now, normally that'd be stressful. But, it was worse. I had hooves. I tried to fool myself into thinking I was actually holding a horse leg and I only looked further, which made things more complicated.

Orange-red fur. All over me. I just about passed out from shock until I remembered that fluttering feeling on my back and realized if I moved certain muscles, it would move. Testing something, I flexed as much as I could and felt a feather touch my snout. I pulled back, flexed and met the feather again. Following it, I saw more feathers, and eventually a wing.

"WHAT THE HELL AM I?!"

I tried to keep calm, counted to ten, while breathing deeply, thinking in my happy place. All of it failed. I could only think of one word as I continued to lie down on the ground.

Pegasus. I had become a  red-orange Pegasus. I was a human that became a Pegasus. I was shaking horribly, this was a problem. This was a MAJOR problem. So many questions, all of them more unbelievable than the next.

Where was I? Where are my friends? Did they get pulled into the teleporter too, or did they manage to shut it off? Why was I a Pegasus? Was I even on Earth? Why didn't the colors here look real? Was this even real life?

Then, I heard snapping twigs in front of me, and out came out a brown faced, white chest, black back behemoth that started sniffing the air. It resembled a dog in some way, but it's front arms were massive and it seemed to stand on it's hind legs.

“No!” I cried out, which only made it look at me and forced me to try to get up to run. I neglected to take into account that trying to run on two legs as a equine is outright foolish and I felt myself fall on my back.

“Beta!” The creature called out, seemingly shocked for a moment, giving me another chance to get away. This time, I flapped my newly gained wings and felt myself shoot up into the air, and then fall onto my face. This wasn't a good turnout, I was scared out of my mind.

“I'm not going to be some 'good boy' treat for you!” I screamed, as I finally managed to get on all four hooves and stand my ground, my legs still shaking as I tried to get used to having to stand in a totally new way. That's when I noticed that the dog creature was lying down and whining. Something that struck me as familiar as something that Tyrone would do.

Then it struck me, the color of the fur, and how it was acting. Could it actually be Tyrone?

“Sit.” I watched as it sat up and his tail started wagging. Time to amp it up.

“Stand.” The dog creature reared up, standing above me as a giant, with his hands in the air, looking like he was going to surrender. I put a hoof up and tried to cock it in a way it would look like a gun, and only managed to just look like I was sticking a hoof straight at Tyrone.

“Bang.” I watched as Tyrone gave a dramatic “erk!” and hit the ground, his eyes still open and looking at me.

“Oh my Celestia, it is you Tyrone.” 


***


"Okay, let me explain this to you again, Tyrone. Maybe in better detail so you can understand." I carefully began walking around again. Trying to get used to walking with four legs. Tyrone thankfully figured out how to talk a little bit, and if I'm patient, I'll teach him how to make legitimate sentences. He managed to also keep his color of his fur with him, so I guess it wouldn't be difficult to pick him out if for some reason there were more of the large beasts like Tyrone came by.

I was confused however that I didn't say God when I said 'Oh my Celestia'. It was as if I had a filter of some kind around my mouth so I couldn't say certain words. I tried a few other words to see if it would do it again. It turned out cussing was the first thing that was censored, and it felt weird that I said, “I swear to Celestia, I am not a bucking dumb assistant.” I'd say what I really said, but I don't want to get in trouble if for some reason swearing is unacceptable to where I'm going to send this story to.

From the little I was able to learn from the limited vocabulary of Tyrone, I was considered the Beta of his master's pack. So if I was in need of help, he'd be able to come to me and give me some assistance. Richard was the Alpha of the pack, and so his orders took precedence against mine. However, with Richard not here, Tyrone is going to do his best to stay by me.

"Alpha, Richard, made a machine that could move things without picking it up. So he could take a bone, and without touching it, make it go into another room." I began to do a small trot in a circle around Tyrone and got a good beat going. I just needed to keep myself from tripping over this time, and I may be able to consider myself at a competent level.

"Like fetch!" Tyrone happily quirked,his tail thumping the ground.

"Something close to that," I gave a once over the area we were in again. Sure was dark, even in the clearing where a few beams of moonlight would touch down, it was practically pitch-black. "So, the machine thought it needed to bring over more than the apple. Or the bone in your case. It pulled you, myself, Alpha, and the two women that came in.”

Tyrone sat quietly for a moment, his tail no longer thumping. "Home? Back to Alpha?"

I looked down at myself, orange-red fur, wings, hooves. My mind still trying its hardest not to crash from disbelief. "I don't know, Tyrone. Something just tells me that it's going to be difficult."

That's when the shivers kicked in. "Guard up, Tyrone. Something is going to happen."

Tyrone ran up beside me and started growling and speaking. “Bad animals. Coming here!”

Tyrone and myself kept our eyes on the shadows. Then came the sound of shuffling leaves and panting. The eyes in the dark were an icy blue and the figures started to take form. They were... wolves? Well they had a form like wolves, but it seemed like they were made from branches. So could they really be that harmless?

Well given the fact that a group of five of the wooden wolves were rather large and now circling myself and Tyrone, I'd give that answer a good fair YES.

Tyrone grabbed hold of one of the wolves and rammed it into a tree, carrying it into the forest, causing a mess of splinters from both the tree and wolf as he ran. I was plenty shocked to see such power from Tyrone, let alone see him move that fast. That's when two of the wolves decided to jump at me.

Ducking down, I could only think of one thing as what had felt like the moon, sun, all of the planets, universes, stars all align for the grandest shot I could go for. From the ducked position, my wings beat hard against the ground, making me rise rapidly into the incoming assault and cracked two jaws with a rising uppercut. OH MAN, you don't know how it feels to have done that. And to do it in such a grand fashion too.

Landing could've used work, but hey, I was getting the hang of it.

After such a shot, now it only left two of the wolves that were flabbergasted over how amazing a blow I had landed on two of their buddies. They looked at each other and then crouched down towards me.

Before they could strike though, in came Tyrone yet again, his arms spinning around like mad as he tore into a wolf and resumed his mad path of destruction through the woods. "Guess it's now 1-on-1, eh wolfy?" I cockily mentioned, my wings rising as I bent down. We both knew what to do. The Timberwolf charged out with his claws already ready to open me up, and then came me, speeding straight into inevitable doom.

That's when a large smack of wood on face could be heard across the woods. You could also hear the accompanying sound of cracked bones and branches falling from a tree.

I'll answer your question. Yes. Yes, it really bucking hurt.

I couldn't move without something hurting, from what little I could remember from high school health class, is that if everything hurt, you had to lay still. And here I was, shaking uncontrollably as the Timberwolf made his way to me, almost sauntering in the wake of my defeat. That's when a hooded figure came down with a staff in her hooves and crashed it into the Timberwolf, causing it to yelp in pain. "Get back fowl creatures! Or an ugly scar I'll add to your features!"

The Timberwolf began to back down, some of his badly wounded friends began to follow suit as they ran off into the forest yet again. I couldn't be more happy if I tried, but maybe if I felt less pain I'd feel even MORE better.

Tyrone began to approach me and the stranger when she wheeled to Tyrone and held out her staff threateningly. "Get away from us beast! Diamond Dogs deserve mercy the least!"

I tried to get the hooded pony's attention by coughing out. Okay, so I was trying to talk, but blood got in the way, so coughing was the best I could come out with.

"Beta! Let me help Beta!" Tyrone whiningly protested as he pointed to my crumpled figure, the pony began turning her attention back and forth between us trying to connect the dots.

"No time for question or talk, tell me my orange friend can you walk?"

Another spurt of blood from my mouth, I was getting good at that. I had to shake my head as I tried to keep down as much vomit and blood as I could. The pony pulled off her hood, revealing that in fact, this wasn't a pony, it was a zebra.

I couldn't understand where I was, this was a zebra, so maybe I was in an area similar to the African Rainforest?

"I have no choice but to trust, pick him up Diamond Dog and follow, or your head I will bust."

This zebra have a fetish for rhyming everything? I mean don't get me wrong, I love a good poem or rap song, but when you do it while your just talking normally just isn't... well, normal. I felt Tyrone gingerly pick me up and put me on his shoulder, oh good. Now my life laid in the large paws and forearms of Tyrone.

"Run forward with haste, Diamond Dog or your friend will die. Just keeping running forward no matter what, and don't ask why." With that the zebra seemed to vanish from sight. And with immediate speed, Tyrone crashed through the forest with nonstop power. I'd admire it a bit more if the trip didn't have so many bumps on the road though.

"Tyrone! Try not to run into EVERY bush!" I managed to spurt out, holding my chest as well as I could. Soon we came to a tree covered in masks and dangling bottles. More horror movie tropes came running in. Was this zebra a gypsy mare? Voodooist? Hippie?!

The zebra from before opened her door for us (how'd she do that? By all accounts it shouldn't make sense!), ushering us in. Tyrone had to duck down to fit in through the door and set me down on the floor. Gotta hand it to Tyrone, he knew when to be gentle with those arms of his. The zebra stared into Tyrone's eyes with distrust, but after awhile she moved over to me and started chanting in a foreign tongue. Oh good, I got the voodooist. Now I was going to be healed AND cursed at the same time.

Happens all the time when you meet a voodooist. Get cursed while getting what you want, that's prime objective from these kind of ponies. Although, maybe I could be cursed as a were-human, then at least I could laugh at her and mention about who I really was.

My heart sank as I thought back to home. It hadn't been two hours since I got pulled into a teleportation device and created into a red-orange wreck of a Pegasus and it hadn't been thirty minutes after a fight with Timberwolves that I had broken ribs. This was the worst day.

Once she had finished her chanting she began pushing down on my chest in specific areas. I wanted to scream from the pain, but all that would release was the sound of air hissing out. She was moving the shattered bones back in place was my best guess. And lo and behold, I felt the bones snapping together like legos being forced into place by a five year old.

It was less than thrilling to not be able to utter a sound in response to the ridiculous amount of pain, but it was working. This zebra character has some skill to this voodoo thing. The zebra began to walk away when she then turned back to see me try to get up. "Don't dare move, Pegesi, so bold! The mending is not complete, do as your told!"

The zebra went to move again and made her way to a... cabinet? I couldn't really see as much as I want to know what sort of witchcraft was taking place here. What exactly was she-?

From out of nowhere! A bottle! Practically shoved down my throat, and it was the good kind of medicine because you wanted to wretch it back up when it hit your throat. Another spasm, another wave of pain, and then a one-two punch from the floor on my head.


***


Linda felt herself being helped up by somepony, she was practically walking on three legs as the stranger began to start talking.

"I remember looking up at the night and saw this really bright green star shooting across the sky, and I said to myself, 'That's odd. Stars aren't green.' I mean unless you make cookies in a star shape and color them green! I'm not partial to green frosting though, tastes a little more sour than red and more sweet than yellow frosting. Not that I think green is all bad, I mean with you being a green pony yourself, I also like your mane, it's so bobby, like mine! GASP! We should be mane buddies! And we can make a party out of it, actually, I'll make it a DOUBLE party! I always make parties for ponies new in Ponyville."

Linda groggily opened her eyes, the colors everywhere were very bright, even in the night. Her head pounded hard and she reached up to put a hand to her temple. She was then greeted by a hoof pressing against her. The immediate shock caused her to fall to the ground and was greeted to stifled giggles from her rescuer.

"Oh dear, you look absolutely smashed! You must be good friends with Berry Punch, now there's a pony that takes partying seriously! By the way, did I mention my name was Pinkie Pie? I'll mention it anyway! I'm Pinkie Pie!"


***


Marian's eyes shot open as she found herself surrounded by apple trees. She couldn't remark to Richard now about how impressive it was that the backlash of such a machine could send her hurling through space into some unknown location. She remarked her new body with thoughtfulness after her initial shock, she was a green pony. Forget that she was a pony, no, she was green. She began running possibilities through her mind. Is this the same earth, but she changed? Or was she in another world and subsequently changed to a form appropriate to this earth?

She looked around for any sign of her notepad and was only greeted by the sight of more apple trees and a farm. She began nervously clacking her hooves together, she hadn't expected to lose the only thing that kept her from talking with others. Her glasses managed to survive the jump of dimensions and seemed to comically fall down slightly whenever she wanted to think. After finally shoving her glasses back up her snout one last time, she stood up and carefully maneuvered herself toward a large red barn. The only place she could reside for the night. How appropriate that her new life start after sleeping in a barn. Or if not a new life, a new adventure to get back home. And she'd need to find somepony to help her out.


***


Richard felt himself being carried away by guards. His head was too dizzy to make out anything. All he could see was colors mixing in with each other.

"Where 'm I?" he managed to croak out.

"Keep quiet, the princess wants to see you." came a forceful voice from one of the guards

Richard soon felt himself fall to the floor as a voice called out. "Hail! To the Princess of the Night, Luna!"

Richard heard that name and his ears and eyes perked up to see Luna cautiously eying him. He immediately stood and bowed down. "A good night to you, I trust you and your sister have been doing well ever since your incident as Nightmare Moon?"

A pin dropped in the great hall. Luna's eyes widened in shock and then furrowed angrily to the unknown unicorn that stood before her. "HOW DARE YOU REMIND ME OF THE HORROR WE BROUGHT UPON TO PONYVILLE! AND WHO ARE YOU TO DISCUSS MATTERS OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MY SISTER?!" The lunar princess swooped down with a vengeance, but Richard kept his smile in front of the booming princess. After more threats and tales were told, eventually the princess stopped, perplexed by how unfazed this unicorn was.

"Who are you?" Luna asked, her eyes giving away her immense curiosity. Richard gave a bow and his horn shown brightly in the illuminated hall of the Canterlot castle.

"I am the unicorn, Radiant Radar. And I am a brony!"
> Hiding behind a Name
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I woke up. Covered in my Oakland Raiders blanket and in my room. I looked down and saw my  hands, fingers, and lifting the blanket up to see my toes wiggling around. I wasn't a pony that had his ribcage cracked open by wooden wolves. I was me again.  My head hit the pillow and I sighed. A dream. The teleportation device, the transportation into a dark forest, becoming a Pegasus, being saved by a zebra, all a dream.

I sat up and noticed something different about my room. It was clean. I mean, spring clean. Nothing on the dresser, nothing on the floor, no clothes in the hamper, and even the closet was bare. I was getting scared. That's when I saw something move in front of me, in the mirror. I got out of bed and wheeled around to check if someone was in my room. Bare walls.

I was going insane, that had to be it. Why else would I have such a weird dream and then wake up in an empty bedroom? I turned to the mirror where I saw the movement and looked at my hair, it had the familiar color of orange-red, and I started shaking my head in disbelief, my eyes never leaving the reflection in front of me. This wasn't real. It was a dream!

“A dream?” a voice from behind me said, making me spin to see a man in a brown suit, grey hair, a yellow glove on his right hand and a brown glove in his left. He was sitting on the end of my bed, and his head lifted up to look at me. His gray hair parting to show that he had yellow eyes and red irises.

I swung out my fist to hit the man, and I watched him float away from me and stayed above my sheets. My hand then went to grab the dresser from keeping me from falling, this nightmare was still going. I was staring down a man, no, a demon from hell.

“Hell, my boy, is a very overused place.” The man had pulled a pipe from a coat pocket and started smoking out water. “Now, the River Styx is more obscure, and to be honest, who wouldn't want to ride a gondola to their final resting place?” He took another drag out of the pipe and spat out sand. Giving a few smacks into it, he put it back in his mouth and then released a stream of bubbles. Seemingly satisfied he left the pipe in his mouth.

“Who are you?” I could feel my mouth was very dry, I could barely get enough spit to not sound hoarse with fear. My mind began racing again, calculating how fast I could run, if I could even escape from something like it. I tried going through a few possibilities when I started to wonder why this guy sounded familiar.

"Oh, the voice, of course. You see, your kind has this bad habit of comparing my voice to a certain John DeLancey and a character he played in some science-fiction show, now what was he called? Q?" A snap of his fingers and he disappeared, making me even more stressed. “Over here.”

The voice came from behind me again, from the mirror. When I turned, my eyes nearly burst from my head. A creature was standing in the mirror, his arms crossed and a confident smirk on his lips. I noticed his eyes were the same color of the human that I saw floating over my bed.

I went to run my hand through my hair and saw that it was a hoof again. I had the orange-red fur on me again and looking back up at the mirror, I could see myself fully. My eyes were brown, the only thing that didn't change. My hair, or rather, my mane was actually a darker shade of the orange-red fur and I could see my wings as they laid on my sides.

I began to cry, the nightmare just didn't want to end. I began to hear laughter from the creature, as I broke down in front of it. My hooves still on the dresser, no, the illusion of a dresser. I felt my rage against the laughing beast boil over as I crashed my right hoof into the mirror, leaving me crying in a floating void.

“I didn't mean to make you cry,” the voice called out, as I now tried to find where it was coming from. “I just wanted to get you someplace where we could talk, but you had to break the illusion,” the voice said, almost impressed. “Not many ponies can do that. But then again, you aren't really a pony, now are you?”

“This is the curse, isn't it?” I choked out, still struggling against the tears of anger and sadness. “I have to be driven to madness by demons.” The creature began laughing again, my muscles straining as I wanted to find it and make it pay.

“I would be appreciative if you did go insane, but I don't want you to snap. Not until I'm finished with you.” I felt its breath and I spun to hit it with a hoof, and succeeded in breaking a puppet jaw of the same monster. “You're the bait.”

“Bait?” I said questionably, turning from the puppet and going back to finding some sign of where the monster was. “Bait for what?”

“I'm not going to tell you,” it responded, sounding insulted. “That's part of the beauty of my 10,000 year plan.” I began to get tired, and the dark void started to fade. “Looks like our talk is over.”

“W-who are you?” I gasped out, before lying down on the ground and watching my vision blur on the beast as he walked up to me and put his face next to mine.

"I am Discord. Draconequus. And you and your friends are going to be working for me."


***


I began waking up, to the smell of something similar to pea soup being made. I slowly got up from the floor and started stretching, feeling all of the new bones pop as I moved from the hooves to the wings. Taking a glance at my 'bed', I remarked that I was given a pillow and blanket while I was unconscious. Slowly regaining my memory of last night, I began looking around for the zebra that helped me. However, I was in an empty hut with a pot of what looked like green ooze, wincing as a rather large bubble popped up.

I contemplated on what to do, I had a routine that I had gotten used to back home and I didn't know if I wanted to even do it. I finally just got up and explored the hut, not expecting a bathroom that had a sink or toilet. After some much needed rest in the restroom and throwing some cold water in my face, I looked up to see a small mirror, still confirming that I was still a Pegasus. I got mad as I began to remember the Draconequus that laughed at my misery. Then I thought about what he last said before I finally passed out, 'You and your friends are going to be working for me.'

I leaned on the sink for some time, trying to figure out what Discord meant. He wanted me to be bait, bait for what? He said this was a plan of his for 10,000 years, how old exactly was this being? What was this plan exactly that had to involve my girlfriend, her sister, my best friend, and me? The questions did lead me to a theory however, if Discord was really older than 10,000 years, and he was able to perform all of those tricks and illusions, then Discord had to be a god of some kind.

The door opened and I watched the zebra and Tyrone come in carrying a variety of plants and gems. “Good Morning, Pegasi with no mark of his own. Come over here so I can look at your rib bone.” Approaching the zebra I could see Tyrone's tail wag as he walked over to where the pot was and set down the plants and picked up a diamond. He popped it into his mouth and the sound of loud crunching followed as he munched on it. I just sighed, not wanting to ask how Tyrone was able to chew up a stone as if it was dog food.

As the zebra began poking at my ribs again I felt uneasy, not because she was poking me and I was in a hut of a dangerous forest, but because I was looking at her flank and actually thinking to myself that it was attractive. “So, uh, I don't want to be a rude guest,” I said as she poked closer to my neck. “My name is Quentin. The dog is named Tyrone. We're from... far away.” My mouth shut tightly and my eyes tried to avoid direct contact with her own.

She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, “A name of old, how very curious. Although it would explain that against the Timberwolves, you were courageous.” I blushed, I've never been called courageous, in fact, I would've said I was the opposite. During the whole fight, I was frightened that I was going to die, alone, in a place I didn't know, as a pegasus. She then gave me a smile and trotted towards the pile of plants and gems, and started placing a few into the pot and took the rest to a table and set them down.

“I am Zecora, come and have a seat,” she motioned to a pillow and went to the ladle that was set on the pot. “We have a big day, so come and eat.” I sat down and watched as she stirred the soup, leaving me to my thoughts again. Trying again to figure out why a god would need to send four humans into a world like this. I had zoned out enough to not see that Zecora had filled a bowl full of the green liquid and set it in front of me.

“Forgive me if the soup did not mix, I only had enough time for a quick fix.” I blinked and mumbled a thanks before trying to think of a way to drink from the bowl. Carefully moving my hooves on both sides of the bowl and pressing against it, I lifted the warm and bitter soup down my throat. No doubt it was meant to help me recover further, and I tried to keep from retching it up again. I promised myself that if I ever got back home, I would need to learn how to fight.

“It's fine.” I coughed, feeling my head tingle as whatever ingredients started to take effect. Whatever it was, it acted like a good cup of coffee and I was waking up much faster. “I gotta ask, you say that Quentin is an old name. Why?” Zecora gave me another look that told me that I had to explain what I meant. “I mean, its kind of obscure, but I'd think it would be just as common as Zecora.”

Zecora gave a sigh as her eyes closed and she set her bowl down. “I do not know how you came to be here, but who you truly are is very clear.” Her eyes opened, looking at me seriously. “Equestrian born no longer carry forbidden names such as yours. All because of the Discordian Wars.” The word Discord stuck out like a sore thumb, and she saw how I reacted when I heard it. “However, you speak in the modern tongue, so a pony from the past, you cannot be, you're too young.”

Zecora went back to her bowl and finished drinking from it.  I didn't know if I should tell her the truth, but if she already knew that much about me, then perhaps she would understand as to who I was. I silently debated with myself before finally resolving to telling the truth.

“Alright. I'll tell you who I... was. I'll answer whatever question you can throw at me.”


***


Richard was in a room with both Princesses of Equestria, how lucky could a brony be? Not just to be sent to Equestria, but to have an audience with the actual royalty that raised the sun and moon! “This has got to be the coolest thing that could've ever happen to me,” he thought to himself.

Princess Celestia walked around Richard, eying him carefully. Occasionally shooting glances back at his flank, and his lack of a cutie mark. Richard however knew what it was going to be,  one of the spinning radar screens with a few green dots inside it, after all, that was the mark he made for himself. Princess Luna gave a yawn, but kept herself awake.

“Radiant Radar, was it?” Celestia finally spoke, doubt clearly hanging in the room. “How come we don't have records of you attending Magic School? Or living in any town in Equestria?”

Radiant gave a shrug, “Guess your record keepers messed up somewhere down the line. I didn't attend Magic School, I was home schooled. And I suppose you can actually be correct that I haven't lived in any town in Equestria because I'm always on the move.” His heart was running so fast, but his outside expression was calm and collected. This wasn't the Richard that was mopey and sad, he was Radiant Radar, a former scout pony in the war before Celestia took control from Nightmare Moon and sent her to the moon for a thousand years.

Princess Luna stamped her hoof, “LIAR!” she cried out. Richard knew she was right, but she didn't have proof.

“Sister! Calm yourself, go to sleep and I'll wake you for when the night is to start.” Celestia's horn glowed around the door, making it open and watched Luna walk out, still watching Radiant. With the door shut, Celestia grabbed ahold of Radiant and shoved him into the wall.

“How did you get here?! I thought I shut the portal off between worlds after the Discordian Wars!” Celestia sounded more afraid than Richard had ever heard her before.

That's when he saw a familiar Draconequus floating behind Celestia, he used his fingers to resemble a mouth talking, pointed it to it and then pointed out to the gardens where his statue was before disappearing. Radiant's face went white as he knew exactly who brought him over.

“Somepony else managed to open it back up.”


***


Marian was awoken to the sounds of roosters crowing, curse natural animal habits, why can't they have snooze buttons? Marian managed to pull herself up from the hay bale she was sleeping on and groggily grabbed for her glasses, picking them up and sliding them to her face. While she would've enjoyed having to argue logical thinking about how a hoof can grip a pair of glasses and place them on her face, she knew she had to get moving before the local farmers got up.

And sadly, she was looking dead center at a large red stallion with an angry expression. "What're you doin' in the barn? Tresspasin'?"

Marian's ears folded back instinctively and tried to look around for a way of escape. Finding the best option, she decided to go for it. Jumping over a barrel to the red stallion's right, Marian made a bolt for the door. It was wide open, not a thing could stop her as she streaked past the gateway into freedom.

Then a lasso grabbed one of her hooves and she fell flatly on the ground. Trying to get back to thinking, she tried to roll over and get the lasso off, but was instead hogtied by an orange mare in a cowboy hat.

"Got 'er! She ain't goin' nowhere!" she called back to the red stallion, who nonchalantly went about his business in the barn. Marian looked as the orange pony looked ahead of her and watched her iris briefly shrink back as she mouthed 'Why is she awake?'

From a distance she could hear the sound of somepony hopping right behind her. "Howdy Applejack! Oop! You're the one that says that, not me. Who's this pony? OOH! That's two new ponies I need to make parties for! And she's green like the one that I brought back to Sugercube Corner! What if they know each other? They do kinda look the same. This must be the sister that Limonade was talking about! Why were you tying her up Applejack? Was it because she did something bad? Oh, don't get upset though! If she's like her sister, she must've been completely overhauled on the cider!"

Marian could feel her head begin to condense all of the words, but found she couldn't quiet process them faster than the pink pony could speak. What was this about Limonade? Why would she be thinking that a drink was actually her sister?

"We caught this here trespasser in the barn. Big Mac set up the trap before she could wake up. Have to say though, she almost got away before she upped and handed me her hooves for tying." Marian could only cry as the two continued their conversation, so this is how the adventure starts, getting caught trespassing and about to go to jail. It was then that she heard somepony familiar.

"Pinkie? Hello? I couldn't have lost you that easily." It was Linda! Linda was here, she was going to save her and then both of them could run for home. Get a cup of warm tea and laugh this off as a strange circumstance.

"Well now, these two do look alike. Same coat color, mane color, save for the glasses, they could be twins." Applejack began lifting Marian to her hooves as another pony came up, lime green coat, hair that bobbed in the front as though she had been fussing with it for seventeen minutes before getting back on track. The moment Marian felt a loosening of the rope, the two sisters embraced each other and began to cry.

"Woah. Didn't quite think that'd happen. You'd think they haven't seen each other in years." Applejack remarked, trying to coerce Pinkie away from the two so they could have their moment.

The road just had Linda and Marian. Both crying because they had managed to find each other. Soon the tears stopped flowing long enough for the two to end their embrace and sit down on the road, staring at each other. For a moment, a period of laughter and then silence.

"So this is what we've become," Linda quipped, "Ponies. Lime Green, talking ponies." Marian gave a nod, still wishing that she still had her notepad so she could write down everything that had happened at this point.

"What time is it?” Marian asked, her glasses slipping slightly down her snout. Linda put a hoof to her chin and started thinking.

“Just about 8 in the morning. You wouldn't believe it, Marian. They have practically all the things we have. Ovens, clocks, cash registers, it's so weird!” Marian could only nod as she tried to process the information, the barn suggested they didn't advance as far as humanity, they still had horse drawn plows and hand tools. Maybe it was only off by perhaps fifty years or less from their own track of technology. Which meant if they could find Richard, then making another teleportation machine like on Earth wouldn't be a viable option home.

Linda got up and made Marian stand up as well, both of them slowly approaching the pink pony and orange cowpony, whose conversation was currently about something called 'Cutie Marks'.

"Marian, this is Pinkie Pie,” Linda introduced the smiling, curled maned mess as Marian felt her entire body shake as Pinkie grabbed one of her hooves and started violently shaking it.

“Hello there! Your sister told me a lot about you,says you came all the way from Fillinois! That's really far, I mean ridiculously crazy far. No wonder you two were out drinking the town dry, after walking from there to Ponyville you had to be thirsty!” Marian did her best to try and look to Linda for help, and could only see her look away in embarrassment.

“She's part of a group known as the 'Elements of Harmony',” Linda began to say, trying to create another line of conversation to distract Pinkie. “She's Laughter, the other pony, Applejack, she's the element of Honesty. Pinkie told me that she's going to visit the rest of the Elements and introduce me to them personally." Linda went quiet as she saw Marian finally settled down from Pinkie's rattling hoofshake.

"Why's the earth spinning?” Marian wearily asked, as her eyes rolled around.

"Well, I can't let your sister outta my sight,” Applejack said with conviction towards Linda. “She still broke the law, and I'll need to report it regardless. But, I'm willing to let it go if I can go with you around town. But first off, where exactly do you plan to even start this little tour, Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie went into her tail and pulled out a map, it looked like it had been scribbled heavily on with markers, each color winding around the countryside. “We'll take Green into the marketplace and then shift into Yellow towards the Carousel Boutique to meet with Rarity. Then we go on Pink and take a break at Sugercube Corner for lunch. From there, we ride on Blue to the library and give a howdy doody to Twilight. Then we all run off of Brown towards the Mayor's office, turn on Red towards Fluttershy's house and circle on Purple.”

The three ponies stared confusedly at Pinkie as she stuffed the map back into her tail. After a small time of silence, Pinkie gave a sigh. “Just follow me.”


***


I stared into Zecora's eyes as she tried to process what I had just told her. I explained about my world, humans, how we function, how myself and my friends managed to get thrown out into Equestria. Zecora was also able to share a little about how Equestria worked too. Their rule of government was based on a Monarchy of two princesses, one that raised the sun with magic, and the other raising the moon with her own magic. She talked a bit more about the Discordian Wars as well. In a nutshell, it happened before another disaster happened when one princess turned on the other and adapted another name to only be banished to the moon.

The Discordian Wars was the equivilant to the World Wars back on earth. Zebras, Griffons, Diamond Dogs, Ponies, Changelings (whatever they were), every creature was at each others throats. And the reason it was called the Discordian Wars was because Discord watched over all of the fights as the ruler of Equestria. That's when the princesses stepped forward and led every creature against Discord. Establishing a weapon that was called the 'Elements of Harmony' and using it to turn Discord to stone.

He was singing a ballad in another language when they turned him to stone, but to this day no pony has yet to know what song he was singing and why. Soon, the war itself was forgotten, except for Zecora. “My family is a direct decent from the leader of my people at that time. And all of us were taught to speak in the old language, in rhyme.”

“So that explains it.” I softly spoke, watching her still looking me over. “I don't want to cause trouble. Really. I just need to find my friends and get us all home.” Zecora and I went quiet, leaving only the sound of Tyrone gnawing on an emerald in the hut. Zecora got up and went to her table with the plants and herbs she picked up and started organizing them. I kept quiet as I watched her crush some seeds in a mortar and pestle, she started mixing something together and then pulled a canteen out and dumped whatever formula inside it.

She came over and slipped the canteen on me, I quietly remarked on how it seemed to stick just right so it wouldn't be bumping against me. “You're going to come with me into Ponyville, but a new name for you we need to think of before we will.”

“Well, what exactly is a name I could use? If not Quentin, or something like that, then what?” I leaned against the pot and tried to remember any foreign names that I could think of that would make sense for what Zecora wanted. Zecora was also thinking of a name herself as she began pacing.

“Names of the current age is most related to who they are, or what they do. Start telling me more about you.” I began going through my life story, trying to see if anything could hit the mark of what she wanted, with each question she gave me, I answered without pause. I took another sip of the now mild 'quick fix' soup and downed the whole thing when the perfect name came to my head.

“You said this soup, it was a quick fix, right?” I excitedly remarked as I started pacing, something I would do when I had an idea. “Well, that could mean anything really, a doctor, engineer, cook, builder, it's perfect!” I turned to Zecora and with a grin stated my new alias. “Quick Fix the Pegasus.” Zecora gave some thought into what I had said and gave a meaningful nod.

“Quick Fix is a fine name for your disguise, now off to Ponyville and its open skies.”


***


Celestia and Radiant entered the castle gardens and trotted up to the encased statue of Discord, frozen in a permanent state of fear as his hands tried to hide himself from the sun. “Discord couldn't have been able to open the rift again, it would've required a high amount of magic in order to even scratch the surface of the interdemensional plane.” Celestia looked over at Radiant, still unsure as to why Radiant wanted to see the imprisoned Discord.

Radiant started looking around the statue, trying to find some sort of crack in the surface. He was trapped inside the stone prison, so how could have been able to escape? “Maybe all he needed was to scratch the surface and the other side was just weak enough for him to bring me through.” Richard hadn't told Celestia the whole truth, he had yet to mention the fact that it wasn't just him that was sent through the teleportation device. But if he made this more complicated than what it already was, then perhaps none of them could go back.

Radiant tried to figure out how to use his magic, if he could do that, he could pinpoint any discrepancy on that statue. He tried focusing on his horn to see if it would work and felt his head start to feel like it was expanding, this had to be it. He could feel a lot of power inside ready to explode, and he soon released it all into the sky. Once it ended, he leaned down on his left forehoof and tried to gather his thoughts. Celestia looked on at Radiant and then up at the sky.

“How did you-?” Before she could finish, the yellow magic screamed down from the sky and hit Radiant. His eyes turned green and he started pinpointing all of the ponies in Canterlot, saying who they were and what position they were in. After a moment of clarity, the scan was narrowed down to the statue of Discord.

“Report shows broken nail of Discord on statue, left foot. Analysis, Discord still in captivity. Theory, Broken piece of Discord was enough for communication while in imprisonment. Sending report to Command.” After Radiant finished his sentence, his horn pulsed a telegraphed message that was received by Celestia. Once the last pulse ended, Radiant fell to the ground unconscious. A mark became visible on Radiant Radar's flank, the scanning radar that Richard had indeed made for his OC character.

Using her magic, Celestia picked up Radiant Radar and brought him back in the castle. “Get this pony to a guest room and call a doctor for a house call.” She said to a group of guards, as they all saluted her and split off to do their duties. Celestia went up to her throne and slumped into it, shock and disbelief on her face. “Discord. How could you have done this?”


***


As the four mares walked across the bridge into town, Marian couldn't help but shrink back a little bit. She wasn't used to just going into town, let alone an entire town that seemed to hold many ponies that filled the streets. Linda tried to keep close to Marian for comfort and they began approaching what looked like a carousel was sitting on top of a house, it certainly stood out in a town of houses made with wooden frames and straw roofs. "Name check!" Pinkie Pie shouted out. "PINKIE PIE!"

Applejack sighed, "Applejack."

Linda went to say her name when Pinkie Pie huddled the four together. "She's going to say Linda, but I don't like that name, doesn't go off the tongue like a rounded jawbreaker. So instead, we're calling her Limonade."

Marian gave a sideways glance at Pinkie, "That's what you've been calling my sister? Why?"

Linda rubbed the back of her neck, "When I had breakfast with Pinkie, I asked her to pass the limonade when it was actually lemonade. You know how I've had a problem with saying certain words and how they come out sounding different." Then Linda got an idea, "Say, Marian, how about we call you Min Tea? Like what you love to make all the time."

Pinkie gave a gasp and narrowed her eyes at Limonade, "I like that name, how do you make the best names since ever?" Marian went to object when Pinkie held out a hoof for the huddle, "Limonade and Min Tea on 3." Applejack gave an apologetic look to Linda and Marian before putting her hoof on Pinkie's, Linda then following suit. Marian dejectedly put her own hoof in the pile. "1 2 3! Limonade and Min Tea!"

The newly named Limonade gave a reassuring smile to the now gloomy Min Tea as they all prepared to step into the Carousal Boutique to meet the element of generosity.
> A Plan in Motion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Doctor Stable put his stethoscope on the chest of Radiant Radar and listened for any irregularities in the beat of Radiant's heart. "This would be easier to diagnose if I had a way to scan what may be happening inside this stallion's head without causing magical interference." The doctor put the stethoscope back around his caramel colored neck, still clueless about how he could help. "The only thing I can say as of now is that we need to wait and monitor on his condition if it gets better or worse."

The door opened and Shining Armor, a white unicorn with a blue mane and tail stepped through, wearing his purple armor as he addressed the doctor. "Princess Celestia would like to hear about the unicorn's condition from you." Shining Armor pointed to the guard by the door as he gave a salute, "Accompany Doctor Stable to the Princess. I'll take over guard duty from here." The guard finished his salute and guided Doctor Stable out of the room, leaving Shining Armor with Radiant Radar. He stood by the door and stared at the lying unicorn on the bed and mentally sighed. Whoever this Radiant Radar character was, it greatly disturbed Princess Celestia. So it was safe to say that he was a high-profile guest or criminal inside the castle walls, and it was his duty to keep track of Radiant while he was in Canterlot.


***


Radiant Radar was floating in a sea of information, all of it useless to him. He didn't want to know where ponies were in Canterlot, he only wanted to get out of this delusional dream to start searching for Discord. "He brought us here, it only makes sense after I saw him." Radiant tried to stop himself from floating upside down, waving his hooves frantically, but realized it didn't matter anyway. What exactly was this place? Was it some part of his mind? Or the imagination of what his brain was doing?

"You'll wake up." Discord's voice echoed in the void and images of Discord began to fill the walls, most of it fan created. "How very interesting," Discord spoke again, this time Radiant could see him walking with a stack of books wrapped up in his red dragon tail and one open in his hands. "This story says I'm just plain evil," he threw it away and picked another book. "This story says I'm actually a sympathetic creature," he threw that book away and then lifted the rest of the books in front of him. "And these, thinking I would have a loving relationship with half of Ponyville?" He dropped those books and was now in front of Radiant Radar, the same devilish smile that Radiant first saw in the first episode of the second season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. "You humans are so interested about a dimension that you can't even enter and create all of these stories, pictures, and even animations just on how much you really care about what you believe to be an illusion."

"It's a good show," Radiant answered, his heart beginning to race as he was looking into Discord's mischievous eyes. He just had to keep away from Discord and he'll report what is going on inside his mind. Perhaps try and get help from the Princesses themselves to help him and his friends. Discord shook his head and clicked his tongue. Radiant could feel the 'room' shrink, as the pictures faded into darkness.

"Planning to tattle on me? The god of chaos and anarchy? When I have my own show to present by April Foal's Day?" Radiant tried to go through the days in his head, what day was it when they got pulled in? Radiant's eyes shrunk, March 28th. So that meant time was equal from Earth to Equestria, at least in days. But that also meant that eventually people would start to question where they were if time was still running back home.

"What do you want from us? Quentin, Linda, her sister?" Radiant started backing away from Discord and felt his rump hit something behind him.

"Me?" Radiant jumped up in shock and felt himself in a large hug by Discord, the claw that he used to corrupt the Mane 6 dangerously close to him. "Just what every ruler of the world wants," Discord whispered in Radiant's ear and poked his head. "Soldiers."

Radiant was then set down as he felt his head begin to spin wildly, visions of the Discordian War filling his mind. So much mindless destruction, hunger, madness, all for the amusement of the terrifying leader of it all. Radiant screamed out in agony and slumped down, his mane and coat now having a grey shade to it. "What do you wish for me to do, Lord Discord?" Radiant droned, his eyes no longer shining as he looked up to his Commander-in-Chief.

Discord sauntered over to Radiant Radar and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Okay, I'll tell you what I want you to do when you wake up. First off, you and I are going to conquer the castle, but only when I give you the signal." Discord gave Radiant a wink before continuing, "You are going to need to keep this next part a secret," Discord put his claw up to Radiant's lips, "so, shhhh."


***


After a brief excursion with a cockatrice and having to shake off stiff bones, Zecora and myself reached the end of the Everfree Forest with minimal damage. The light of the sun was more than bright as I tried to shield my eyes. "I cautioned you of the sun when I first spoke, what was needed for the trip was what I wore, a cloak." Zecora lifted her head up to look at me behind the shadow of her hood.

"I'll get over it." I responded, still rolling my shoulders and getting feeling back in them. Looking up into the sky, I could see spots of colors moving around and pressed against clouds. My wings opening up, seemingly ready for flight. "Are those more pegasuses? Pegasi?" I turned to Zecora, "Whats the plural for pegasus? I'm thinking pegasi, but I don't really know."

"Indeed they are, Quick Fix of Fillinois. I need you with me, so there is no time to enjoy." Zecora began trotting towards a house nearby, it kinda looked like the house of the seven dwarves, except with birdhouses surrounding the area. As we crossed the stone bridge, I could hear a multitude of chirps, squeaks, and calls coming from behind the house, each one I could pick out as other animal sounds. Was Zecora leading me to a zoo? Zecora lightly knocked on the wooden door, just barely making an audible sound.

"This is a friend of mine that is very quiet, so don't make any loud noises as if you're going to start a riot." Zecora whispered as the door began to creak open. A sky blue eye poked out from the side and then the door opened further, revealing a light yellow pegasus with a long pink mane covering one of her eyes. "Good morning, Fluttershy. I wanted to introduce you to somepony as I was walking by."

Her door opened further and she looked at me, she turned over to Zecora and timidly spoke. "Um, did you bring the drink I asked for Angel?" Zecora pointed to the flask on me and Fluttershy gave a small 'Eep!'

I took the flask off, slowly offering it to her to show I wasn't going to jump out and scare the shy mare. "Quick Fix," I introduced my name in a hushed tone, doing my best not to look dangerous. "I don't know anypony in Ponyville since I came from Fillinois." Fluttershy took the flask from my hoof and backed into the house.

"I need to get back to Angel, he's still running that high fever, and I need to take care of the rest of the animals as well." Fluttershy went to shut the door, until I spoke up.

"Would you like some help?" I asked, seeing the door stop from closing and Fluttershy looked back at me. "I mean, nopony should be just left alone to deal with so many animals. I could've heard at least about a hundred of them back there."

We all stood there quietly in the sound of peaceful cheeps from birds for a time until a small cough came from the inside of the home. "Oh, I'm sorry. I have to tend to Angel, but thank you for your offer, perhaps another time then. Good meeting you." Fluttershy finished closing her door and Zecora began to go back across the bridge.

"She likes you very much, don't be fooled by her evasiveness. Due to her timid nature, it won't be something she will easily confess." I could only nod, I was familiar with dealing with quiet people before. When I worked as a over-the-phone representative, I may have hated a lot of the people that called in, but the quiet ones were always the most kind and easiest to work with. Not only that, but the way she looked at me, I felt the same feeling of lust as I did when I looked at Zecora's flank. I could tell something was wrong, I wasn't normally like that back home.

Back on Earth, I would talk and meet with multiple people, including buxom women. I may have remarked how they have looked, but I've never thought about doing things with them, not like I was doing here. I shook it off as something else and kept walking with Zecora. Instead, I opted to start making a plan in my mind. With Discord keeping tabs on myself and my friends, goal one was to find them and get somewhere safe, perhaps establish a base out in the Everfree Forest where we would be far enough away from public so they wouldn't be in danger.

Goal two, with a base of operations, we would need keep protected. Which means that all of us would need to learn how to protect ourselves with traps, hoof-to-hoof combat, making weapons.

Goal three, and the most important goal of them all, get home. Make another teleportation machine, get Discord to send us back by force, or some alternative, it didn't matter. After more trotting, I began to notice more hooves on the ground that I was looking at. Looking up to see that Zecora and myself were in the middle of a large town, no doubt Ponyville.

"Holy Bajoly, this is a lot of ponies," I remarked, looking at the amount of colors roaming around astounded me. What was more astounding was that each one of the ponies had a picture of something on their flank. A sawblade, hourglass, book, sunglasses, tennis racket, it was like each one of them had a different tattoo and they all decided to place it in the same location on their bodies. Out of curiousity I turned to my own flank and didn't see a mark at all, which I was curious as to why. If Discord made us into these ponies, then why didn't he complete the full disguise?

"You have no cutie mark, another reason for the cloak. So don't try to be upset, as they may laugh at you, like a joke." Zecora quietly mentioned as I began to notice the unusual stares from some of the locals and even some hidden laughter. I suddenly felt naked, and nothing to remedy it.

"There wouldn't happen to be a clothing shop of some kind we can go into, is there?" I quietly asked, fearing the answer would be a no.

"Another friend I could let you see while I shop for ingredients to perfect my technique," she pointed to a shop that was being entered by a small group of ponies, "Go inside and ask for Rarity of the Carousel Boutique." She then reached inside her cloak and retrieved a small bag and put it in my hoof. It felt like it was filled with little coins.

"I can't ask for you to give me that much, it'd be wrong." I tried giving it back to Zecora who just pushed it back. I put the bag in my mouth, as walking with three legs would be the worst thing I could've done while still learning how to keep trotting in a straight line. I gave a silent bow of my neck to Zecora in thanks and went off to the Boutique she was talking about. At the door, I could hear conversation going on. I kept near the door, not wanting to disturb what was going on.

"That's why I wanted you to meet them! So you could make one of your fancy dresses as a gift for the party! Oh, wait. What if you wanted to make it a surprise? Agh! How could've I forgotten rule one of presents? It's ALWAYS supposed to be a surprise!" Somepony with high energy said, I was already worrying about even entering the place and having to deal with somepony that spoke 75 and a quarter miles an hour.

"Well, you are leading them on a tour of the town really, its not like afterwards you can really surprise them." Another voice, reasonably responded with a southern drawl. My confidence coming back as I readied myself again to enter when I heard something else that I didn't expect.

"Well, I wouldn't know Applejack, Pinkie has been surprising enough with what she's done already." My legs gave away as I hit the ground in shock, causing the conversation to go quiet as my head became visible to the group. I looked up to see two lime-green ponies, one with glasses and the other with a familiar curl in her mane. Beside them was a orange cowpony and a messy maned pink pony. I hurriedly got myself back up, grabbed the bag of coins, and stepped inside. I went straight to the green pony with the curled mane that I had heard speak and tried swallowing.

"Linda?" My heart rushed, it couldn't have been this easy to find them. It had to be somepony that would look at me and say that she never heard of a pony called Linda. I couldn't help but back off a little as my mind went blank.

"Quentin?!" She responded with a squee and rushed up to tackle me with the biggest hug I had ever received from her. I just barely came to falling over before the two of us kissed, only to have the pink pony ruin it by going 'Awww!' We pulled away and both of us circled each other, looking over everything. We soon stopped as another pony walked in, purple mane with multiple curls as well as her tail, a white coat with three diamonds on her flank.

"Did I just miss something girls?" She looked over to the pink and orange ponies who both had smiles of their own. The white pony had a horn on her head and spoke in an eloquent tone. "Honestly, with so much drama about parties and now a stallion in the store, its a wonder how I can get anything done in here." The unicorn approached me and held up a hoof, "Forgive me, sir, I am Rarity. I was getting ready to work on a dress for the young lady." I scooped the hoof up and gave a gentleman's kiss, figuring I was dealing with a more prim and proper pony.

"Don't let me hold you up, take care of my friend here and we'll talk business later then." I responded, trying to hold a semblance of calm composure after knowing I had just completed part of my first goal by finding Linda. I shifted my attention back to her and whispered in her ear. "For now, call me Quick Fix, I'm trying to keep a low profile." She then turned her head to whisper in my ear as well.

"I'm called Limonade, Marian is Min Tea." She nodded her head towards the other green pony with the glasses who was sitting in a corner away from the group. So now I had two for three, leaving Richard as the last one I needed to find. She went to the bag of coins that I had dropped when I talked to her and set it on the table. "We'll need to catch up after this, I'll be back soon." Limonade followed the unicorn into another room and the door shut. I leaned against the wall and gave a sigh of content, lady luck was smiling down at me.

"So you're the coltfriend that Limonade was telling us about," the cowpony spoke, making me jump, feeling embarrassed that I had forgotten there were other ponies in the room. "Might I say, that you don't look half-bad for a pegasus. If I had known that their were stallions like you in Fillinois, I might've taken a brief trip up there." I began feeling that awkward feeling again, my mind tried its best to keep itself from thinking about how I could wrestle with the mare in bed.

"Yeah, thanks," I managed to say before going to the table with the bag of coins and took a seat by Min Tea, looking in the mirror I just decided to run a hoof over my mane. "So far this has been an eventful day." I kept my eyes on both ponies as they also sat by me and Marian. "My name is Quick Fix," I mentioned as I began thinking of any topics of conversation to try out.

"This is truly bluey super ridiculously fantastic," screamed the pink pony as she managed to hop over all three of us to start shaking hooves with me. "Pinkie Pie, party player, organizer, maker, taker, host, waiter, caker, baker, and smile generator!" She then did a crab walk back to her chair and sat down, still wearing the large smile she had when she first saw me. I looked over at the cowpony in hopes of an explanation.

"I take it she does that on a regular basis?" I questioned, causing both Applejack and Pinkie to laugh.

"She's always like this, can't get her out of your hair once she latches on to you," she responded, giving her own tip of her hat. "I'm Applejack, proud owner of Sweet Apple Acres here in Ponyville." I looked back in the direction of where Limonade was taken towards.

"So, this Rarity, she's a clothes designer?" I began to notice the models of mares and stallions adorn with suits and dresses that glinted in the sunlight.

"Worried about Limonade?" Applejack asked, my face giving away the answer. "Don't worry about her, Rarity is a good friend of ours and the best dress maker in all of Equestria." Applejack pointed to a picture of herself and Pinkie in designed dresses, alongside Rarity, Fluttershy, and two other ponies. "She made those dresses for us and caused Hoity Toity to fall out of his chair impressed. What about you?"

"Huh?" I felt the light on me, and started getting nervous.

"Just tell us about a bit of yourself, from what Limonade told us, you're quite the catch," Applejack explained, making my throat tighten nervously. I had to think of something and fast.

"I had a job before I came here, dealing with ponies that called in." I started explaining.

"Ponies calling in? Oh, that's right! It's that new thing they've got going around. What was it called again?" Applejack turned to Pinkie who put her hoof on her chin and replicated 'The Thinker'. Before she pulled her head up and turned to me.

"A telephone?" She guessed, looking into her eyes, I wanted to see what would've happened if I had told her it was wrong, to see what reaction she would give me, but my heart didn't want me to be a jerk.

"That's right. A whole building of them," I answered, seeing Pinkie's eyes get big. "So the ponies would call in with questions about things, mostly why their phones didn't work as well as the company said they would and just complain."

"Doesn't seem like it would be a fun job to have," Pinkie remarked, her tongue sticking out to show her dislike. My mind again playing tricks with me as I thought what kind of look she would have if I kissed her.

"It wasn't," I admitted. "I needed the money though, so I thought if I could stick it out long enough, I could go to college to become a doctor."

The two of them leaned over to check my flank and both of them responded, "He doesn't have a cutie mark either."

"What is this deal with cutie marks? Is it some sort of thing I didn't do right? Do I have to sign up for it?!" I frustratingly asked, watching Pinkie lean back in disbelief and Applejack raise an eyebrow.

"It's a right of passage." Min Tea dejectedly said, still sitting between us in the conversation. "When you find what you are destined for, or find your special talent it just appears." I looked over to Applejack and Pinkie Pie to confirm what Min Tea said and got reassuring nods. So to add to the list of goals, figure out exactly what kind of destiny I had, because I still felt unsure about becoming a doctor.

"She's all done! Set the stage for fabulousity!" Rarity called out as she introduced Limonade in a flowing green dress that seemed to wave on its own as she stood there. Her mane wasn't changed, and I could already imagine what the conversation may have been about it. "But, dear," I could imagine Rarity trying to get a plea as she kept missing with a comb to the dodgy Limonade. "You would just look gorgeous with a Formal Updo with curls!"

"Get that blowdryer away from me," I could see Limonade doing her best to stave off the stylist with a roll of fabric. "I worked for nearly a half hour to make this curl look right, and you're not going to change it!" I may not have been too far off from the truth, looking at Rarity, I could see a little distaste about Limonade in her expression. Another thought, this time thinking of Rarity coming into the bedroom with a riding crop in her hooves. My mind kept spinning with those thoughts, it was difficult not to show frustration about it.

"Now, take good care of this dress," Rarity said to Limonade distracting me from the images that continued to haunt me in my mind. "It does need to survive until Pinkie's party, and then the real test begins."

"Test? You make it sound like the dress is an experiment." I commented, Rarity giving me a sly expression.

"Because it is, sir," Rarity went to a sink and pulled down a bottle of dye. "Watch this." Rarity splashed the dress with the dye and the dye rolled off, leaving no trail of color behind.

"What in tarnation is in that fabric, sugercube?" Applejack curiously asked, all of us unanimously agreeing to get an answer. Rarity's horn glowed blue and a roll of fabric came floating in from another room. Min Tea and myself watched as the fabric was set down on the table and rolled out.

"The latest in fashion technology, the first ever, Pinkie Pie party approved apparel!" Rarity layed on the fabric and caressed it in her arms, treating it like a treasured possession. "Think of it girls," Rarity rolled the fabric back up with her magic and sent it back into the room it floated in from. "A dress, that can survive against all the stains, strains, and pains of anything in the world, and it doesn't chafe."

"Challenge accepted." Pinkie Pie stood on her hind legs, crossed her fore legs, and squinted at Rarity. The shock of seeing such an image where a world of ponies didn't have the internet, but could make jokes about it made me burst out laughing. Causing the whole room to look at me, so I tried to do the one thing I could to not look like an idiot, try to make it seem I did it on purpose.

"Really?" I cheekily mocked at Rarity,and went to Limonade's dress, "Can it stand, THIS?!" Gripping the dress with my teeth, I pulled hard against it and accidentally threw Limonade into the fabric room. A lot of crashing noises and falling objects came from inside the room, a cat ran out of the room in a panic and hid behind Rarity. "Sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen!" I called out, hoping Limonade wasn't mad at me. Limonade stepped from the room with her mane entirely messed up, her lips puckered in frustration, the one habit Linda had when she didn't like something. I nervously squeaked out, "I love you?"

The fit that Limonade had was enough to make me NOT want to mention the details, but I could tell you it involved screaming and me getting thrown into the same room. I'm guessing that the rules on relationships become a bit more exaggerated, as Linda wouldn't have been as violent with me. She'd just make me feel bad if I made a mistake for the next week. After the chaos ended, Rarity checked on the dress and found a tiny string had popped out. She spent the next few minutes crying on a sofa that just appeared, while we all tried to recover from the chaos.

"Well, it's no party, but I had a blast watching that." Pinkie chirped up, causing all of us to give her glances, making her nervously chuckle before petering out as she stared back down at the floor

"I'm sorry, Que- Quick Fix," Limonade caught herself from saying my actual name. "I didn't mean to make that more... violent than it came out to be." I put a hoof around her neck and chuckled.

"Don't apologize for that, I'd be mad too if I got picked up by the suit and flung into a cabinet of fabric, a sewing machine, and a basket of yarn." I popped a bone in my neck, and gave a small cry of pain, she got me good. Rarity finally pulled herself from the couch and approached me.

"Well, you at least saved me from making more of those dresses in that fabric," Rarity tried to swallow the last of her disappointment and I couldn't help but feel worse because of it, "I'll be asking for a refund later, but it is on to business. What can I do for you?"

"Suit with pockets," I stated, already with an idea of what I thought I would need, a uniform that would make me look professional and ready for everything. "Aerodynamic, for no drag while I fly," as I spoke my mind set the next goal for me, learning how to fly. "In short, a uniform meant for everything and nothing." Rarity got a notepad and pencil with her horn and began writing down what I suggested.

"Are you a member of the royal guard or related to a member in someway?" Rarity asked, causing me to be taken aback. "It seems like you want me to make you a lighter version of this." She showed me a design that looked like an armored horse, except with small pockets in the front of the chest and flank.

"I'm not related to any soldier in the guard, but that design looks like something I would like to use," I thought carefully for a moment before saying something else. "Could you use that fabric that you used with Limonade?" Rarity gasped as if I had asked her to murder another pony.

"NEVER!" She cried out, causing me to back up before trying to stand my ground. "That fabric is not fit to be worn by anypony in its current condition, especially after its test run you just made it go through." I gave a grin and chuckle, making Rarity look at me as if she knew I had something on my mind.

"You called that fabric an experiment, any true scientist would try to test something multiple times to see if the same effect would happen," Rarity pulled her head back in shock, not expecting me to give her an ultimatum. "The first dress may have failed, as you call it, but if it was a fluke, you could be sending perfectly good fabric for some other pony to just take and use." Rarity went to argue, her mouth open as she took a breath, she then put a hoof on her chin, closing her mouth as she started thinking on what I had told her.

"I don't think I've seen Rarity at a loss of words before," Pinkie remarked, turning over to Limonade who was taking off the dress. "How did you meet this stallion again?"

"Well played, Mr. Fix," Rarity finally relented, I gave her a reassuring smile. "Let's make that suit of yours."


***


"Hold still!" Rarity hissed as she poked me again with a needle.

"You're making it easy for me to NOT hold still with those sharp pokes you're giving me." I gritted through my teeth, regretting every moment while Rarity tried to put on the finishing touches on the pocket in the front. The entire experience was like a roller coaster, starting slowly as she measured my body and making short rough drafts of designs, then she exploded with speed in wrapping me up in fabric, cutting it, sewing it, making adjustments, and now she was slowly approaching the end and making it excruciating for me to get off the ride.

After a final pull of string and a snip of scissors, Rarity exclaimed, "Done! the Pinkie Pie party approved apparel, mark two!" She moved a mirror in front of me and I gave an "Oh." of surprise. The uniform was a dark blue that wrapped the chest and flank, buttons hidden in the front made sure that the suit didn't fall off as I moved. Giving a smug look at Rarity, I began trying to strain the suit by flexing my muscles and moving my wings, the suit didn't make a sound and stayed strong. Rarity gave me a confident smirk as I stepped off, "Think you can try and get that suit dirty or damaged this time?"

Stretching out my legs from standing for a long time, I shook my head, "Are you kidding? I don't want to ruin good clothing." Stepping out of the room I presented the look to the girls and even gave a few good flexes, making them giggle. "I am one good looking beast." I remarked as I went to the bag of coins and stuffed it into my front pocket, seeing that there was plenty of space for more objects if I needed. "How much is it for a custom made suit?" I asked, seeing Rarity approach a cash register.

She gave a small thought into it and the price of '40' came up, "40 bits, for the suit." I gave a whistle, and pulled out the pouch again, pouring out the coins in it. I began counting the bits and came up with the 40, leaving only about 20 left that I slid back into the pouch and back in the pocket. So if a bit was the equivalent of a dollar, this suit I got was a bargain.

"Fabric test!" Pinkie screamed out and rushed towards me.

"No, no, no, no, no!" I cried out as both of us began rolling around the shop, hoof-in-hoof, and crashing into everything, eventually we both slowed to a halt and like a tire we went to our sides and stopped moving, Pinkie laughing like a maniac. I shot up and started checking the fabric for cuts, fading, discoloration and saw nothing wrong with the suit. I gave a raised eyebrow to Rarity, showing her that I was impressed with what she did. "Worth every bit."
> Party Preperations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shining Armor remained at his post by the door, watching Radiant Radar as he moaned and opened his eyes. Shining Armor opened the door and motioned a guard to come to him, the guard gave a salute to the Captain. "Send a report to Princess Celestia on the condition of her guest, he is awake." The guard finished his salute and began to trot away before Shining Armor poked his head out and yelled out, "And tell her quickly!" Shining Armor then shut the door and looked over the now upright Radiant Radar, who was holding his head in his hooves. "You should lay down, that spell you casted must've drained you entirely in order to use it."

Radiant's hooves dropped from his head and he looked up to Shining Armor, he hadn't seen this pony before in the show. Was this one of the background ponies? Radiant got off the bed and wobbled a little before putting a hoof out onto the bed to steady himself. He then started remembering the rumors on the final episode of the second season and where he saw that face, this was supposed to be Twilight's brother.

"I'm fine," Radiant croaked out, feeling upset about something that he saw while he was asleep, but couldn't remember what it was. "Am I still in Canterlot?"

Shining Armor gave a nod, "Still in Canterlot Castle." Both unicorns eyed each other as Radiant shook off the remaining sleepiness in him. "There have been a lot of rumors about you already, Radiant Radar," Shining Armor remarked as Radiant gave him a look of confusion. "Some ponies here think you're a secret agent," Shining continued. "or a criminal, a spy, even a few of the guards have debated if you're a time traveler from the past." Shining Armor approached Radiant and his smile went away, seriousness pulsed out of him. "But, I think that no matter what you are, you aren't going to leave this castle without answering some questions."

The door opened and Shining Armor turned to Celestia who had entered, giving a bow to the princess. "Princess Celestia, I was just informing your guest about the rules of the castle while he is here." He rose up from his bow and stood by Radiant.

"I will take over from here, Captain. Return to your post," Celestia commanded, letting Shining Armor walk out of the room. Celestia looked over to Radiant and spoke threateningly, "Tell me everything you know about Discord, right now."


***


"So you slept in Zecora's hut?" Applejack asked, as we all had sat down in Sugercube Corner for lunch. I bit into a muffin and involuntarily gave a 'mmm' as my tongue played around with the chocolate chips in the bread. Swallowing the goodie, I opened my eyes to Applejack, Rarity, and Min Tea. Pinkie Pie and Limonade were in the back making treats and drinks for us to enjoy, the shop was half filled with other ponies at tables having their own conversations. One in particular I had been listening to involved a 'crackpot theory' that humans existed.

"That's right." I finally answered, still getting so much useless but exciting gossip from listening carefully to the others in the store. One of the ponies in the store was telling a story about a blue box that was in an alleyway and how she saw a brown pony enter and a brown pegasus with the same cutie mark exited. "After the attack by those Timberwolves, she saved me from dying right then and there, and now we're here."

"How bold of you," Rarity folded her hooves and rested her chin on them, "and you say that you just woke up in the middle of the Everfree Forest?" I had made a story up that while trying to fly into Ponyville, I got hit by a rouge hail stone and it sent me crashing into the Everfree Forest, making me miss meeting up with Limonade and Min Tea. Thankfully, Min Tea had managed to acquire some paper and a pencil and she was writing everything down, so she knew how to keep the story straight.

"Yeah, and I was lucky that Tyrone followed me," I said nonchalantly, drinking some of the limonade that Limonade made, it was freaking delicious. "He's probably still in Zecora's hut worried about me, I hope he can take care of himself."


***


Tyrone left the Everfree Forest and shielded the sun's rays with his large paw. He had become bored of waiting in Zecora's hut and when he figured out that he could open doors, he left and started trying to track his Beta. His nose led him into a door which he bashed his head into, making him fall over. The door opened a little bit and Tyrone saw a yellow pegasus with long pink hair at the entrance.

"A Diamond Dog?" she meekly questioned, watching Tyrone rub his head to ease the pain. "What are you doing above ground?" Tyrone got up and started sniffing around again, ignoring the pegasus as he began to walk away. He then heard the sound of soft wings fluttering and the pegasus came right beside him. "I'm sorry. But I really want to know what you are doing. If it's something bad, then I'll need to tell the police, so can you tell me?"

"Looking for Beta." Tyrone flatly responded, Fluttershy noticing that he was walking into the direction of Ponyville. Fluttershy flew in front of the Diamond Dog, but kept floating in front of him as he continued walking.

"Oh, no, Mr. Diamond Dog, you can't go into Ponyville. You'll make a lot of ponies scared and then you'll be put down because of it." Fluttershy softly begged, but Tyrone kept going. Fluttershy then pressed her face into Tyrone's and her eyes burrowed into Tyrone's with a fury. "I said, you can't go into Ponyville. Now go back to your Alpha and tell him that if his Beta is in Ponyville right now, then his Beta is going to be put down as well."

Tyrone's ears shot back and tears formed in his eyes, this pegasus was terrifying him. "Beta the only one I have!" Tyrone howled sadly, making Fluttershy pull away and put her hooves over her mouth.

"Oh dear. You mean to tell me that you don't have an Alpha to go back to?" Fluttershy settled to the ground and consoled the sobbing Diamond Dog. "What happened to cause that?" Tyrone tried his best to wipe his eyes and keep himself from blubbering.

"A-Alpha m-m-made th-thing that sent u-u-us here, and-and-and can't go baaaaack!" Tyrone leaned against Fluttershy as he continued crying, Fluttershy doing her best to hold up the leaning creature. She had to do something for the poor Diamond Dog, if the Beta was the only one left, and he was gone, then this Diamond Dog wouldn't survive on his own.

"I'm sorry that I can't let you go to Ponyville," Fluttershy pulled away and looked up at the Diamond Dog. "But maybe I can find him, well, I mean my friends can maybe find him, then you can try and join with another group of Diamond Dogs." Tyrone sniffed as Fluttershy began leading him over to her house and entered with her. "Angel, are you feeling any better?" A bunny rabbit pulled himself up on a table and started flexing to show how fine he was and then he let off a cough.

"It looks like you're still not all better Angel," Fluttershy leaned to the stubborn rabbit who turned from Fluttershy and shook his head. "Please, I don't want you to get worse if you aren't fully rested." The rabbit continued to refuse, Tyrone poked his head on the other side and gave a hungry grin, causing the rabbit to latch onto Fluttershy's face in fear. "That's better, now let's get you to bed Angel."

Tyrone sat down and scratched an itch in his ear, the home was more what he was accustomed to. A couch that he could curl up in and sleep, or better yet, a nice spot in front of the fireplace. The only problem left was food, he felt himself wondering towards the kitchen in some hopes of leftover food on the table, like back home. When Richard wasn't looking, he would hop up on a chair and then the table and snag a treat before retreating to a corner to enjoy his sweet capture.

He looked out a window and saw Fluttershy talking with a lot of different animals, he put his paws on the window and started barking. "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hello! Hi!" he cried out, making a lot of the animals look over at him and nervously back off, Fluttershy trying to keep them calm. Another pegasus set down by Fluttershy and Tyrone could see they were also talking, his attention at barking now turned to the rainbow maned and sky blue pegasus that was being explained about Tyrone's situation.


***


"So if I can get those fireworks from the Joke Shop, then I'll be able to complete the last piece of the puzzle for your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" Pinkie Pie excitedly finished her lengthy plan to all of us.

"If I could put that in list format," Min Tea's eyes shifted from her paper and up to us. "It's invitation, baking, setting, invitations again, more baking, invitations, baking, baking, invitations for AFTER party, presents if applicable, surprises abound, fireworks."

"Jeez!" I put a hoof to my head in disbelief, "how in Equestria are you even going to pull this off?!" Pinkie just laughed and then leaned over the table at me.

"That's one of the surprises." She grinned and then shot back to her chair, twiddling her hooves as she waited for this semi-meeting to end.

"Well, certainly best of luck on your quest Pinkie," Rarity got up from the table and excused herself. "I will need to get back to the Boutique and handle some more clientele." Once she left, Pinkie's eyes lowered and stared at me, her grin never leaving.

"Do you want to help make cupcakes with me, Quick Fix?" she said, a slight hint of evil behind her words.

"I'll help you out Pinkie," Limonade perked up, breaking Pinkie's concentration on me and her smile becoming less sinister. "We've been working well as a team already, I think I could do some baking while you're out doing invitations so the party will be ready on time."

"I'll make the invitations," Min Tea remarked, pulling another sheet of paper and creating a rather fancy outline on it. "We'll just need to copy it at some point."

"Twilight can make copies with her magic," Applejack mentioned, keeping track of everyone's hoof in the plan. "I'll take that copy to her and get a lot of 'em made."

"Leaving me with what exactly?" I asked, the mares turning to the odd stallion out. Each of them looked at each other and then back at me.

"Erm. Mascot?" Applejack shakily suggested. I couldn't fault her for trying though.

"I guess it's fine, I've had something else I wanted to do anyway." I got up from the table and put my hoof at its center, each pony following suit. "Operation 3 for 1 Party is underway, meet back in two hours for status check." We all gave a grunt of confirmation as we all split off in our own directions. Pinkie and Limonade went straight to the kitchen, Min Tea was busy trying to get the invitations just right, leaving Applejack and myself to hang outside Sugercube Corner.

"What exactly do you have planned, if I may ask?" Applejack asked as I began trotting away.

"Crash course in flight!" I hollered back, breaking out into a run out of town and towards a hill. Reaching the hill, I looked off to see how far down the fall was and shrunk back a little. The crevice was a good fall, and if I screwed up, I was bound to have a sprained hoof because of it. I kept trying to psych myself, telling myself that if I failed, that I could always try again. That if I failed, I could still walk. That if I failed, that I didn't have insurance to cover for damages when I went to the hospital.

Eventually I swallowed and screamed as I held my eyes shut and ran off the hill, opening my wings in the hopes that I wouldn't fall too hard. After a moment, my eyes went open to see I was actually in the sky, clouds flying by me. I stopped in my tracks, and gasped as I looked towards the ground. I was WAY high up. My wings kept beating as I felt myself slowly descend to a cloud and felt it hold me up, my heart racing as I gripped the edge of the cloud and peered down to the town. I knew I said I needed to learn to fly, but heights were absolutely not my thing.

When I was a kid, I'd keep my back to the glass elevator door so I wouldn't watch the ground as we rose up. Ladders made me shaky, the thought of zip-lining high above forest trees made me nauseous, and when I had a chance to go on a ski trip, I buckled down in fear when I realized I had to ride in a cart suspended over packed snow. I was screwed, I couldn't get down without having to get off the cloud, and the ground looked REALLY hard.

"Hello!" a chipper voice came from behind, making me jump off the cloud. I waved my hooves in a panic to get back on and grabbed the edge, hanging off of it with some difficulty. "Need some help?"

I couldn't see who was trying to talk to me, with the cloud blocking my vision, but I managed to get out a manly scream of "HELP ME!" A pair of hooves grabbed mine and pulled me up back on the cloud, after shaking off the fact that I nearly went free falling to my death, I looked up to say thank you to my rescuer and paused. Two golden eyes peered off in different directions in front of me. Trying not to stare, I looked at the rest of her, gray pegasus, blonde mane and her cutie mark was a bunch of bubbles.

"You looked like you were lost, mister," the pegasus quipped, her eyes blinking and seeing them shift to different positions. I couldn't help but stare, they were remarkable, and I believed to be very sexy before I slapped myself with a hoof.

"No," I said, after feeling my jaw after the punch, "just confused." The gray pegasus began laughing as she thought about what I just said.

"That happens to me all the time! Like my name, I get confused about it all the time, I mean is it Derpy, or is it Ditzy? I can't ever tell!" Oh dear, I was dealing with one of those blondes wasn't I?

"I also have problems with knowing where I work, one day I'll be giving mail away, the next day I'm moving things, the next day I'll be running around with the Doctor, the next day I'll be-"


***


"-but that's only on Saturdays when they can't get DJ Pon3 to do a live show. By the way, what's your name?"

By that point I had settled into the rhythm of her talking and I had to go back to paying attention, "Huh? Oh, right. My name is Quick Fix. And you said yours was... wait, you said you had two different names right?" She nodded her head. "I don't mean to sound dumb if I ask this, but how do I get down?"

Ditzy put a hoof to her mouth and then slammed it into the cloud, making it split between the both of us. "You just float off!" The cloud finished splitting and it began to float away from Ditzy, leaving me to panic and try to move around the small puff. "I need to get going mister," Ditzy called out to me as she began flying away. "It was nice meeting you!"

"Don't leave me up here!" I screeched, gripping onto the cloud for dear life as I watched her go away. I kept swearing in my head, mainly the 'F' word multiple times, but I kept creatively coming up with multiple ways of saying that I was screwed. My wings flapped occasionally, making the cloud go forward in my death grip. I began to think what I could do in order to even lower myself, realizing that I was on a mobile platform. Leaning down on one end of the cloud, I began beating my wings carefully and soon found myself going down.

With newfound confidence I rose up from my transport and began riding around on the cloud, watching as other pegasi were watching me go around in my makeshift plane. I began laughing as I started to enjoy the freedom of going everywhere in the sky. I even did a few loops and twists on the cloud feeling ecstatic about my little chunk of land. I couldn't wait to show Linda and Marian, if I could, perhaps I could take a big piece of cloud and we could all ride around the sky together.

From this height, I could see more than just Ponyville. I was able to notice a farm a good distance away from Ponyville, a Castle and town on the side of a mountain, and even a town in the clouds, where a lot of pegasi came to and from it. With the sun beginning its decent, I gave a content sigh to the sight I was looking at and guided down with my cloud to Sugarcube Corner again. When I reached the ground, I noticed something similar to a bike rack and a lock. I wrapped a chain around the cloud and locked it into the rack. I was about to enter Sugarcube Corner, when I started wondering how I could tie a cloud to a bike rack in the first place.

"Aliens," I jokingly said as I pushed open the door to see Pinkie Pie and Applejack talking to a sky blue pegasus. "We get more help for this insanity we've deemed a party?" I asked, smelling a copious amount of sweet smells that almost made me want to float.

" 'Fraid not," Applejack disappointingly said. "It turns out there's a Diamond Dog running around Ponyville." My heart leapt into my throat, they weren't talking about Tyrone were they? "Turns out that Fluttershy found this lone Diamond Dog that was going to enter Ponyville, saying he was looking for his Beta."

"And when we find him," the rainbow maned pegasus said, clacking her fore hooves together threateningly, "we'll beat him up and tell 'em to get out of town!" My ears flicked back and my eyes shrunk in my head, I thought I was dealing with cute, friendly ponies, not vicious attack ponies.

"You feeling alright, Quick?" Applejack asked, noticing my frozen fear. "It's alright, Rainbow Dash doesn't mean everything she just said. She probably only meant that we were going to take the Diamond Dog out of town and wave him goodbye." Turning to Rainbow Dash,she tried to keep her comforting smile and spoke through her teeth, "Right, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash scoffed and looked away from Pinkie, "Whatever, it's not like we're taking the scaredy pony with us." When I heard that, my ears shot up and my blood began boiling.

"Scaredy pony?!" I yelled, making Rainbow Dash look over at me again, "I broke Timberwolf jaws in the Everfree Forest, and you're calling me a scaredy pony?!" Rainbow Dash's eyebrows rose up breifly before she regained her cool composure.

"So? I fought against Nightmare Moon and Discord," she noticed my eyes widen and an angry glower cross it. "That's right, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty took down two of the biggest threats to Equestria."

"Not alone, you didn't," Applejack objected, causing Rainbow Dash to try and recover.

"Well I may have had help from the rest of you guys, but I put in the most effort in those attacks." Rainbow Dash hurriedly responded. Another fantasy came into my mind, myself and Rainbow Dash fighting off all kinds of animals and beasts, and then the two of us would look into each others eyes and then slowly bring our lips together.

In response, I went to the nearest table and smashed my head against it, causing the group to look at me like I was crazy. "Fly." I embarressingly answered, rubbing my snout in pain. "This Diamond Dog you're talking about," I began to recover as I sniffed to show a more tough look. "Did he happen to have a black back, white belly and a brown face?"

Rainbow Dash tilted her head at me, "That's what the Diamond Dog at Fluttershy's looks like, but we're supposed to look for the Beta."

"You're looking at him." I smiled, making the group look at me again as if I had lost my mind. "It's true, Tyrone was the one that came with me to the Everfree Forest."

"That was a Diamond Dog you were talkin' about?!" Applejack gawked, remembering back to what I had told her and Pinkie during lunch.

"You're lying," Rainbow Dash adamantly refused.

"That's incredible!" Pinkie Pie gasped.

"Let's go to Fluttershy's and I'll prove it." I gave a cocky grin at Rainbow Dash who looked over both Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

"Both of you stay here, I'll be back once he proves that he's lying to me." Rainbow Dash pushed me out of the door and went into the air, while I went back to the bike rack for my cloud. After wiggling the cloud out, I hopped on it while Rainbow Dash started laughing. "You're still using a training cloud?!" My wings pushed up to Rainbow Dash, the cloud sticking with me.

"I'm only giving myself a handicap so I won't leave you choking on my skill," I upsettingly huffed.

After Rainbow Dash stopped her laughing she looked me over again."You think you can beat me in a race to Fluttershy's?" I gave her an authoritative nod. Both of us lined up in the air and I only heard her say, "GO!"

Both of us rushed, she left a rainbow trail behind her, a orange-red trail behind myself. She began to pull away and I beat my wings faster, the cloud underneath me fading away without me knowing. The two of us were going neck and neck as we sprinted against each other, both of us locked eyes and pushed harder, a speed cone started building up for both of us until I saw Fluttershy's home and shot down. Rainbow Dash continued forward and with a loud BOOM a circle of rainbow light spread across the sky, she was no longer in sight, but she left behind a really good looking one.

The loud noise however served to startle a lot of the animals behind Fluttershy's home, in a startled fit, I walked around to the back to see a wide variety of animals running around in fear. From small chicks to large bears, the courtyard of animals were all going mad. Knowing that Fluttershy wasn't going to be happy if she saw this, I hopped the fence and put on my best imaginary commander hat. "At-ten-shun!"

The courtyard grew silent as all the animals looked right at me, my brain already telling me that this was a bad idea. However, I like to see plans follow through, even the bad plans. "You! Fox!" I snapped to a fox, who had a chicken in it's mouth, "Spit her out!" The fox nervously shook his head and I leaned further towards it, "Are you denying an order from your superior officer, soldier?!" The fox began sweating nervously as he opened his jaws and let the chicken run off into its coop.

I patrolled the premises for more discrepancies, mice that were drowning in a pool were lifted out, CPR was only applied on two, eggs were checked and double checked, the bear made me do a river dance on his back to relax him. After a rundown of all the animals, I settled down by a tree and wiped my forehead, I had averted disaster by having no animals want to eat me.

"That was, um, a bit forceful," I heard Fluttershy speak as I looked up at her, she didn't look upset that I had wrangled up the scared animals and restored order, but I could tell she was a little disappointed.

"I didn't see you back here," I tried to explain. "If I let it continue, you'd be down... one chicken, five mice, four eagle eggs, and a complaining gopher." The gopher shot up as I mentioned her and she started chattering away.

"Mrs. Gopher," Fluttershy laid down to look at the gopher in the eye. "this pony was trying to make sure your house wasn't rattled worse than what had happened. He was just trying to help." The gopher chattered again, this time sounding more upset than angry, Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement to whatever she was saying. "Alright, I'll tell him." Fluttershy looked over at me with her pleading eyes, "Mrs. Gopher wants you to apologize for causing a small earthquake that buried part of her house."

Figuring that I probably did do something while running around, I laid down beside Fluttershy and gave a breath before looking down at the gopher who now had her hands on her hips. "I didn't mean to have made a mess of your home while I was going around the courtyard, and I can only apologize and hope that you forgive me." The gopher gave her own sigh and chattered a little before going back down into the dirt. "What'd she say?"

"She told you to watch where you step next time," Fluttershy calmly answered, getting up and going around the courtyard herself. When she came back to me again, I had hopped the fence again and was waiting for Rainbow Dash, if she was even going to come back. "A lot of the animals thought you did fine with keeping everything together while I was, um, in the house."

I looked over at her, and saw her not looking at me directly. "Well, I'm just glad that I got here," I softly spoke back. "Rainbow Dash and I were supposed to see Tyrone, but she flew off someplace else."

Fluttershy put her hooves on the fence and looked over at me, "You know the Diamond Dog?" I gave her a smile and nodded. "So that must mean that you also know about the Alpha and Beta of his pack, do you think you can help Rainbow Dash find them?"

"Already did." I said, causing the shy pony to give me a smile.

"Oh, good," she happily said. "Are they coming to pick him up?" I again nodded and heard the sound of jet engines flying above us, looking up it was a rainbow streak that was coming down at us. Rainbow Dash landed by me and looked right at Fluttershy.

"Where's the Diamond Dog?" she demanded.

The door flew open and out bounded Tyrone who jumped the fence and hugged me. "Beta! Beta! Beta! I missed you!" Tyrone cried out, my ribs straining to not break AGAIN. He set me down and both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stared at me.

"Ha! Told you!" I pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash who was blubbering. Fluttershy went over the fence and looked up at Tyrone.

"Tyrone, this pegasus can't be your Beta, the Beta is supposed to be the second in command of your pack." Tyrone's head shook at Fluttershy.

"Beta is Alpha's friend! He comes over all the time and gives me snacks he hides in his pockets!" Tyrone barked, his tail still wagging in excitement. I then noticed something different about how he arranged the sentence he just spoke.

"Did you happen to learn more about speaking while I was gone?" I asked, seeing Tyrone nod excitedly.

"He's such a fast learner," Fluttershy remarked, "I taught him how to speak properly and he picked up on it so well."

"You should see his acting chops," I jokingly added. I had finally realized that it didn't matter what I said or did, everything just kept coming up well for me. The fight with the Timberwolves, meeting with Zecora, getting a suit, finding my friends, and now Tyrone was able to talk without sounding like a special needs case. This entire day had just been rushing by, and it all came out well.	


***


Min Tea walked silently with Applejack as they approached a large building built in a tree. "This is it, Ponyville's Library." Applejack introduced the building to Min Tea as she opened the door and entered. Min Tea cautiously followed her, hoping to meet whoever this Twilight was that could copy papers without a copier machine. "Twilight?" Applejack called out to the empty room, "Ya'll in here?"

The sound of feet padding made Min Tea's ears perk in interest, all she had been hearing was the sound of clopping from ponies going around town, and to hear the soft thumps of feet came as a breath of fresh air to her. From another room came a small purple dragon with green spikes and scales as he gave a yawn. "Twilight's been busy with some project Celestia gave her, she's probably in the basement if you want to see her, but she's been extra nutso ever since she read the letter."

Spike opened the hatch to the basement and motioned the two to follow him, Min Tea felt nervous as she kept hearing the echoing voice of a frustrated pony. "If I could figure out how to- DARN IT! Why won't this work?!" When all three of them reached the bottom they were greeted by a large wall of books, blocking any sight of who was behind it. "I have to get this to at least work for a few seconds!" The sounds of a whirling saw came on and scraping metal could be heard.

"What's going on back there, sugercube?" Applejack called out, the sound of the saw slowing down. The wall of books began to glow in purple light and it split to show a lavender coated unicorn with a straight mane and tail, her cutie mark featuring a prominent pink star surrounded by smaller white stars.

"Applejack, who's the other pony with you?" Twilight asked, making Min Tea try and keep from being noticed.

"That's Min Tea," Applejack answered for the awkward pony. "She's one of three new faces that have shown up in Ponyville, and ya'll know what that means."

Twilight gave a sigh of exasperation, "A party. Goodie. It had to be when I'm in the middle of working for a major project for Celestia." She walked back into her miniature fortress of books and science and revealed a circular cap connected with wires and to something resembling an antique computer, "She needs me to get this device working so we can get somepony out of this universe and quickly."

"Hold on a minute," Min Tea perked up recognizing a few of the designs that Twilight was using. "Is that a teleportation device?" Twilight gave a smile and set the cap back down.

"Yes it is," she said, going back to the antique computer and trying to read off of some paper that printed a line going back and forth, "and I don't know how to keep it generating enough power for it to work on its own."

"And this thing is for Celestia?" Applejack poked at the device, trying to see what would happen when she stopped, "What did you mean that she want's somepony out of this 'universe'?" Twilight stopped in her tracks as she leaned against a table, unsure of what to say.

"It's... actually a someone." Twilight said sadly. Twilight turned to Applejack and Min Tea in a dramatic fashion, "Equestria has a human in the Canterlot Castle for the first time in 10,000 years."
> The First Day Ends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Human?" Applejack flicked her hat up to get a better look of a book that Twilight was setting down on the table, "are they bad?"

Twilight shifted the book towards Applejack and Min Tea, letting them look at the diagram of a bipedal creature that stood around six feet high, with hands, feet, and genitalia. "They are Applejack," Twilight nervously responded. "10,000 years ago, Discord had begun ruling over Equestria and used these beasts as slaves to slaughter millions of animals. They destroyed forests, blocked rivers, and even created a large portion of the Canterlot Castle that stands today."

"You said they were slaves though," Min Tea pushed in between the two ponies and shoved her snout into the page, reading every word on it. "They may have been a peaceful race before Discord led them to do those things." Min Tea, or rather, Marian at this point, was shocked to see that the book had described humans as the most chaotic creatures, second to the god that was called Discord. The book described incidents of the human race battling against unicorn magic with handmade explosives and physical force, pegasi that were captured and ridden upon into battle with their own kind, earth ponies that were enslaved as well, with their tongues cut out so they could not speak.

"Actually, Min Tea," Twilight sadly remarked as Min Tea turned a page to see an illustration of the draconequus shaking hands with a human that had a crowd of other humans and captured ponies behind him. "They were always violent." The picture made Min Tea back off in shock, her head shaking in disbelief. Humans weren't always violent and hateful, they created medicine, they help each other, they grow bonds of friendship like what these ponies have, they did more than what the book told them all, and Min Tea knew if she argued, then it would cause more problems and even a panic if she told them she was a human as well.

"That's why Celestia needs him sent back as soon as possible," Twilight had went back to her project and popped open the bottom of the teleportation cap and magically floated a magnifying monocle and a tiny welders torch, "If he gets out of that castle..." She paused, not wanting to think about what kind of consequences could happen before she started working again on the device. "What's worse, is that he's a mix breed."

"Huh? A mix breed?" Applejack flipped over a few more pages in the book with Min Tea and both of them saw pictures of Discord transforming the humans into the ponies that the humans had enslaved, often exact copies of the ones they captured. "D-don't tell me that..."

Twilight gave a solemn nod to Applejack, "He's a unicorn, and has a fake name," she put the cap back on the teleportation device and flipped a switch, testing what would happen. "After some interrogation, Celestia got his name, and its a name that definitely fits many of the old names that I was able to find for the Discordian Wars. Richard Fulwood, using a name that he claims he made up called Radiant Radar."

Min Tea gave a gasp and hurriedly rushed up the basement steps hearing Applejack call out to her, "Where are you going?" Min Tea didn't want to stop, she had to find Limonade or Quick Fix, she had to tell them that Richard was being held captive in Canterlot Castle and may be in danger. She had to tell them everything she learned, and she needed to do it fast. When she began thinking more clearly, she found herself in a dark alleyway and went to turn around when she heard shuffling from the back. A tall creature stood up, still hidden in the shadows and a pair of yellow eyes and red irises appeared on it.

Min Tea screamed as the creature sped towards her and she saw who it was, the god of chaos, Discord.


***


I was flying with two mares that looked pretty good in my mind. Some would call this a dream come true, but when you want to stay loyal to the girl of your dreams and you kept imagining how to convince two mares into a three-way in the mile high club, it was hell. Tyrone followed beneath us, making sure he didn't lose me.

"Where did you learn to raise animals?" Fluttershy asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence the flight was taking. I snapped from my mantra of focus and looked over at Fluttershy, my face flushed, but thanks to the color of my fur, she probably couldn't tell.

"I just took care of a few animals since I was small," I tried calmly saying before having to look away to continue my thought. "Track record is for three cats, two hamsters, a gerbil, and a brief excursion with a snake." I thought back on that day, we got a corn snake and I went to handle it. At first everything was fine, he slithered around me and I made a game to try and keep him in my hands. He fell off into my shirt and snapped down underneath my bellybutton making me scream in pain, and the snake would not let go until my father had to pry it off with his hands. Needless to say, we gave the snake back to the pet store owners and just got the gerbil.

"Can't you move faster Fluttershy? I'm tired of listening to this guy talk," Rainbow Dash snapped at Fluttershy, who briefly locked up her wings, but managed to get back up in the air in time.

"What's the matter," I angrily turned to Rainbow Dash, "still bitter over the fact that I beat you in the race and proved that I was Tyrone's Beta?"

We came to a dead stall as Rainbow Dash rammed her head against mine and stayed there, "I'm not bitter," she screeched, "I just want to get to the party and then never see you again!" Rainbow Dash turned away and continued flying, my mouth couldn't stop what my mind wanted to say.

"You know you're beautiful when you get mad!" I screamed, my hooves going up to my mouth as Rainbow Dash stopped where she was. She turned over at me, and with a look of anger and confusion, just gave a grunt of frustration, and continued flying away. Fluttershy came next to me with my hooves still in my mouth and softly encouraged me to move again by patting my back.

"Did you really mean what you said?" Fluttershy asked as my stomach wanted me to throw up everything that I had ate. My eyes shot over at Fluttershy, still small in fear and panic of what I had let slip out, and what I didn't want to say to Fluttershy. "It's okay that you're not wanting to say anything until you find the right pony, but don't drive yourself crazy because of it."

I gulped before letting down my hooves and shakily giving a sigh, "That's just it, I do know who's the right pony for me, and I really love her, but I'm seeing all of these mares and my head wants me to do... things with them. I just want them to stop!" Fluttershy nuzzled against me as we flew, making me nervous before calming down as she probably wanted to give me a hug, but in the air would probably been difficult.

"Who's the lucky mare that has your heart?" She whispered, making my own wings lock up and restart again, I couldn't understand how such a mare like Fluttershy wouldn't court any stallion with a soft voice like hers.

"Linda," I absentmindedly said before realizing I had said Limonade's actual name and tried to catch myself. "But her real name is Limonade." I began cursing myself, how was I going to keep quiet about myself and my friends when I could answer any question to a beautiful mare just to have a chance of going to town with her. "Maybe I shouldn't even go to the party," I choked out, my eyes shut as I tried to ignore everything in the conversation we had while going back to Ponyville.

"Pinkie worked really hard to make this party for you and your friends," Fluttershy cautiously objected. "It would be a shame if you didn't go and have some other stallion catch  your mare's eye." I looked down at Tyrone and swept down to walk alongside him. Fluttershy had agreed that she and Rainbow Dash would make sure the town would know that a friendly Diamond Dog was going to come into town with me.

"Fluttershy is a good mare," Tyrone mentioned, making me feel worse that I could barely restrain myself with her or any mare I even looked at. We both stopped outside a bridge into town and waited, seeing the occasional pony that would look at us and then start trotting faster to get away. I laid down in the grass and Tyrone followed suit, both of us breathing deeply and staring off where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash would lead us in.

"I remember you," a familiar bubbly voice called out, my eyes shutting at the prospect of seeing the pony that left me to my own devices and a cloud puff. "Oh, darn, he's sleeping. I wanted to give him something." My eyes wearily opened and I stood up, looking right at Ditzy, a blue hat donned her head and a bag at her side. "Hello again, mister," she said her eyes closing in an innocent way before opening them again to reveal her skewed eyes. "I have a late day letter to give you, guess it was just floating around the office when I first spoke with you."

She opened the bag with a bend of her wing and reached a hoof into the bag, the sound of shuffling papers didn't fill me with confidence when she worriedly looked inside. "I know I put it in here, it was right next to 'Q'." She dropped the bag and shoved her face into it, muffling something as she moved around inside it. When she pulled her head out, she pulled a large envelope from it and spat it out to the ground in front of me. "Knew I'd find it!"

I looked down at the information on the envelope and got nervous.


Quick Fix
Outside Ponyville's Main Bridge
IMPORTANT


I looked over at the sender information and my jaw dropped and then shot back up in a scowl.


D. S. Chord
Canterlot Castle
Gardens


"Something wrong?" Ditzy asked, looking over the front of the envelope with me, "Did I pick the wrong mail again?"

I picked up the envelope and tore it open with my teeth, opening it to see an elegant letter and a wrist watch. I began reading.

From the Desk of Princess Celestia,
Dear Bait, how has your first day in Equestria? Did you make friends? Or did you make enemies while I wasn't looking? My day has been exceptional, I have been able to contact two of your friends along with you and I'm missing one, however I know she's in Sugercube Corner right now making the most delicious root beer. Now, I'm not going to tell you anything else about my plans involving each of you, but I am willing to give you a gift that will tell you when my plan will have been completed.

(See enclosed watch)

Keep an eye on this watch, Bait. I've personally infused it with my magic to countdown the days, hours, minutes, seconds, and firsts left until Equestria falls into my hands again. It also still works under five hundred meters underwater, shatterproof, glows in the dark (my personal favorite) and is indestructible until it meets an immovable object. I'll be keeping in contact with you by letter, but it will NOT be delivered in the hooves of that ridiculous gray pegasus. Rather, I'll be sending out a pony which I consider a daughter to me.

Oop! I've not been paying attention to the time on my end,I will need to pick up my pace in order to catch up again.

Wishing you luck in your endeavors,
God of Chaos, Discord


I looked down at the watch on the ground and held it in one hoof while rereading the letter again when I saw the letters vanishing from it, leaving just a clean sheet of paper. I looked back down at the watch and read the time. '4 days, 4 hours, 29 minutes, 37 seconds, 0 firsts.' Slipping it onto my hoof I felt it snap on, looking around the strap I couldn't see a place where it held it on, it was just a tight band that I couldn't push off.

"That's weird," Ditzy commented as I dropped the paper to the ground and looked up at her, "I don't think I've sent a blank letter before, but I see you got a present, so that makes this a successful delivery!" She grinned and turned to see Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash approaching, she gave a wave at Rainbow Dash who briefly paused on the bridge before slowly continuing. "Hi, Rainbow Dash!"

"Hi, Derpy," Rainbow Dash mumbled, making Derpy smile(please don't be confused, it's Ditzy still, remember? The two name problem?). Rainbow Dash turned her attention to me and Tyrone and turned back in the direction of town, "Come on, let's get to the party and get this day over with."

"Have fun, Quick," Derpy cried as we started crossing the bridge, "enjoy your party! I'm going to see The Doctor about seeing somepony called 'Subbermen'!"


***


Entering the town during sunset was a completely new place, the marketplace that had multiple stalls spanning the streets were gone and instead replaced by tables, games, and a whole slew of ponies. "It looks like our girls have brought our third new face in Ponyville!" I turned up to see a large stage, with amplifiers, microphones and a DJ Table in the back, Pinkie Pie was holding on to the microphone stand in the front with Limonade and Min Tea behind her waving at me. "Being accompanied by animal lover and caretaker, Fluttershy, and super mega athlete, Rainbow Dash, please put your hooves together for Quick Fix!"

The town began cheering for me as I was led towards the stage and went up it with Tyrone behind me, Pinkie Pie pulled the microphone out of it's holster and shot over to me. "Tell me, Quick Fix, who's the big dog with you? Is he your security guard to hold off the mares tonight?" A lot of the mares gave out 'oohs' and wolf whistles at that statement that made me freeze in place, the microphone now pointed at me, I don't know how, but I answered the question.

"He's there to hold me off from taking away all the mares from their beloved husbands and coltfriends," that statement got laughter, and more fawning at me. One pony shouted out, "Have my foals!" and I had to trot away from the microphone at that point to laugh. Coming back, I could see Pinkie didn't want me to say anything else as she pulled the microphone back to her.

"Well, you've got some of us flustered, get back there with your two friends over there so we can start this off!" Pinkie exclaimed, motioning me to a position right in between Limonade and Min Tea. Pinkie put the microphone back on its stand and leaned back on her rear hooves gripping the microphone, "Hit the lights." The lights went down and left a single spotlight on her, the crowd starting to cheer 'DJ-Pon3, DJ-Pon3, DJ-Pon3!'. "For the thousands in attendance," Pinkie started, her voice low and intense. "And the millions viewing at home," she gave a sly wink out beyond the crowd as if she saw something, but I wasn't sure.

"LLLLLLLLLET'S GET READY TO PARTYYYYYYYYY!!!!" The lights kicked back on to show off a colorful display of lasers, behind us a white unicorn wearing purple shades placed a record on the table and music began blasting out of the speakers causing the crowd to go nuts. Pinkie Pie grabbed Limonade and threw her into the crowd were she began fan surfing, she then looked over at Min Tea who started shaking her head about the idea. She then looked over at me, and gave a slight tilt to Min Tea, signaling what her intent was for me to do.

Giving a shrug, I picked up Min Tea as she screeched in protest and threw her into the crowd shouting, "Forgive me!" I then turned from the crowd and looked at Pinkie, giving a smile and a salute before back-flipping off the stage and into the waiting hooves of the crowd as well.

I should've been worried about Discord, really I should've. However this party, with so many ponies in one area having fun and laughing, I ignored it. I was laughing like a fool as I got dumped at the far end where Pinkie was waiting for us, "Were you surprised? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

I gave multiple nods around me, very impressed that Pinkie had managed to create a freaking event over three new faces in a town. "If these are the parties that you make, then I'm sure every one of them I'd be surprised to attend." I then looked down at my suit, it had been through a little trouble, but Rarity had wanted to truly test the fabrics mettle in a Pinkie Pie Party Event, PPPE for short.

"Let's find someplace to talk," Limonade shouted over the noise as she motioned all of us to enter Sugercube Corner, the store had become a bar of sorts, many ponies were drinking away mugs of root beer and cider, having a blast as well. In one corner, I could see Applejack playing poker with a group as if she was in an old time saloon. Limonade went behind the counter of the bar and started filling up more mugs of root beer and cider for the guests before leading us into the kitchen, which also managed to be infiltrated by ponies, however, they were a lot smaller.

"Did ya reach it yet?" a yellow filly with a red bow at the bottom asked, her legs shaking from the weight.

"Flap your wings harder! I can't keep holding you up!" a white unicorn filly with purple and pink mane grunted.

"If you could use your magic, we could've gotten the root beer already!" an orange pegasus filly with a purple mane complained.

Pinkie leaned down at the yellow filly and started chatting with her, "Whatcha doing Applebloom?" The yellow filly opened an eye and gasped.

"Abort the mission! We've been spotted!" She shouted, running out from under the two other fillies above her, making them both fall on the table and get covered in flour. Pinkie locked the door before Applebloom could escape and she blocked the path. "Aww, c'mon Pinkie, I can't go out through the front door, my sister will see me and ground me for staying up after bedtime!"

"I'll only let you out if you tell me what you, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were trying to do." Pinkie adamantly stood her ground as the two other fillies got up and shook off the flour that was on them.

"Alright, I'll talk." Applebloom dejectedly sighed.

"Don't do it, Applebloom! We're supposed to be Cutie Mark Secret Agents, not Cutie Mark Tattlers!" Sweetie Belle cried out, making me smile as she realized that she had just told Pinkie what they were doing.

"Way to go, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo mumbled under her breath. She then looked over at Limonade, Min Tea, and myself as we had been watching the little drama unfold. "Witnesses!" she yelled out, "Use the smoke pellets!"

Each of them reached behind them and threw a pebble at the ground, each of them giving a tiny puff and fading out. "So far, I'm not thinking you're the greatest of secret agents, or ninjas if that was your next effort on the smoke pellets," Limonade lightly chuckled, making each of the fillies dejectedly hang their heads.

"We just wanted to get some root beer," Applebloom said sadly. "The secret agent stuff was to try and earn our cutie marks, and I guess we failed." They all sighed, and then Applebloom glanced over at us and then gasped. "Wait a minute, girls!" She zoomed to Limonade, and the rest followed Applebloom as they looked at her flank, "She doesn't have a cutie mark at all, and she's a full grown mare!"

Limonade shook her rump a little and leaned over the fillies, "I don't need one to know that I'm the best at being me." The fillies let those words fly over their heads as they looked at her with confused eyes.

"But, everypony has a cutie mark that tells them what they're best at." Sweetie Belle protested.

"Besides it's the worst when you're the last to not have your cutie mark in school and everypony else has theirs!" Applebloom dejectedly whined.

I figured I'd cut these kids a break and I took off my suit, showing my own flank to them, "She's not the only one." The fillies gave a gasp as they now surrounded the both of us as if we were mysterious creatures. "Even the pony with the glasses doesn't have one, if you want to check." Each of the fillies went up to us and remarked at our flanks before they all huddled together away from us. They all turned back to us after a little time and each of them gave us a big grin.

"Would you like to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Applebloom asked, her smile unwavering. I looked over at Limonade who already stepped forward with an answer.

"To join a group to find our talent? That's very thoughtful of you, however, I think we all can find it on our own in time. After all, there is plenty of it left for us." Limonade looked over at Min Tea and myself for an agreement nod and I gave her mine. The Cutie Mark Crusaders all went 'Aww!' before they began filing out the back door that Pinkie had now unlocked.

"I won't tell your parents that you were still awake, but you'd better head back home and go to sleep before they find out you're gone." Pinkie cautioned the group before shutting the back door and locking it again. "I've forgotten why we came here." Limonade went over to Pinkie and started guiding her to the door leading out to the main room.

"My friends and I need a little time to talk with each other, catch up on things, talk about boring stuff, the usual. So would you think it's fine if we talked in here for about twenty minutes?" Limonade began trying to push Pinkie out the flap doors as she tried to get her last words out to us.

"Sure, don't take too long, we've got a karaoke contest coming up and you don't want to miss it!" After those words, she shot out of the room and we all gave a sigh of peace. We went around the kitchen table and tried to pick spots were we could all talk with each other.

"They have Richard." Marian blatantly started, causing Linda and myself to jump back a little from the sudden forwardness from the socially awkward girl. "He's in Canterlot Castle, and he's in trouble with the law since they found out that he is human." I looked over at Linda with worry and then back to Marian.

"How is he in trouble with the law?" I asked, watching Marian stare at the flour covered table with intensity.

"There were humans here 10,000 years ago, when Discord led them to destroying a large chunk of Equestria." Marian flatly answered, her eyes moving side to side as if she was reading a book. "Discord, as god of chaos, looked at humans as his equal that functioned without magic. They were a problem for Equestrians and other creatures as well, not just by sheer numbers, but due to their, OUR, ingenuity, whatever defenses were put up against them, they managed to take it down with little effort."

"Richard wouldn't hurt these ponies," Linda argued, putting a hoof down on the table in protest. "They've been so kind to us, complete strangers, and they think that we're a threat?"

Marian closed her eyes, "That's how racism works." Her eyes looking at both of us as she finished her thought, "Get a majority of the same group to do something and that's what the group is known for, whether of not it is related to a single one of that group." We all stood there, hooves on the table in silence.

"This is his fault," my focus regained on the real problem. "Discord wants us to do something and he won't open up his stupid grin in order to tell me anything!" My hoof slammed down on the table, causing a few objects to fall off from the force. I stretched out the hoof with the watch on it to show it to Linda and Marian. "This is what he gave me recently, a timer."

We all looked at the time now that it read '4 days, 3 hours, 19 minutes, 17 seconds, 1 firsts.' "What's it a timer of?" Linda asked, a look of concern as she looked at each passing second go.

"End of the world." I began pacing in frustration, if I charged the castle, I'd be caught for sure, but I needed to get Richard out of there.

"That timer may work in our favor," Marian got down and started pacing with me, trying to look in my eye to get my attention. "One of the unicorn's in town is making a teleportation device right now to send him back, if she can get it finished before that timer ends, then we're home free."

I shook my head, "It can't be that easy, he wouldn't toy with us unless he wanted to do specific things. For example he calls me Bait."

"Bait for what?" Linda asked, now also joined in the pacing around the table.

"I don't know what," I frustratingly barked, making Linda jump back and for me to stop. I had to calm down, we needed a plan. "Are they going to get Richard down to help make the teleporter?" I asked Marian, who had also stopped her own pacing with me.

Marian shook her head, "From what I found out, Richard's not going to be moving from that castle, maybe shoved in a cell until its time for him to get out." Marian then looked down at the floor, "From what I've seen of the progress however, they may not be able to make it time." We all let those words sink in for a moment, before I said what we all were thinking.

"With the machine unfinished, we can't get home, and when this timer reads zero," I gave a tap to the watch, "then we'll be too late." I tried to think of what to do, a jailbreak? We'd risk getting caught and if we came into town then we'd be spotted for sure. None of us had knowledge in how Richard made his machine, so we couldn't try to push progress further. Which left the last option that we could try, make Discord send us home before he could complete his plan.

"We need to start thinking of ways of contacting Discord, but we also need to learn how to protect ourselves because there is no telling what kind of power that... thing even has." After trying to rally the troops we all went quiet, each of us worried about the mess that we were all facing. "We have a party to attend though, we can't be bad guests after all that the town has done for us already."

We all gathered together in a circle, and Linda started saying a prayer. "Dear Celestia, keep us strong during this trial. Let us have fun tonight and fight tomorrow against a foe we have never faced. Bless us with clear hearts and conscious as we go out in your name, amen." I never really believed in the whole religion thing, but with all the problems we now faced, I hoped that there was a higher being that could help us. We all broke away and I put my blue suit back on, snapping the buttons on as Pinkie came back in.

"Karaoke time! Come on!" With the force and speed of a lion, I was yanked back outside and was placed on stage where a TV screen with a list of songs were displayed on it. "Let's see what the random button gives our first contestant, Quick Fix of Fillinois!" Pinkie pulled out a device with a red button and pressed it, making the list of songs scroll quickly through. All kinds of songs that looked familiar crossed my eyes, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' by The Beat-L's, 'Dreams' by Van Hooven, 'Don't Stop Believin'' by Journey, and the song it landed on was...

My hooves shot up to the microphone stand and looked as if I was standing up, the machine had picked one of my most favorite songs 'Smooth Criminal' by Mic L. Jackson. (Give it a listen if you'd like, I mean if that's okay with you. Here it is. )

The song started up and I knew that I was in hot water, I knew I had to put on a dance number as I sang.

Ow!

I tried to do a small two-step in order to get the beat down as the audience started coming up to the front of the stage to see what I was doing. No doubt confused as to why a pony was going to dance on two legs.

As He Came Into The Window
It Was The Sound Of A
Crescendo

He Came Into Her Apartment
He Left The Blue Stains On
The Carpet

She Ran Underneath The Table
He Could See She Was Unable

So She Ran Into The Bedroom
She Was Struck Down, It Was
Her Doom

I gave a kick with one of my rear legs and began moonwalking on stage, making the onlookers clop their hooves and cheer. Getting to the chorus, I spun in place and my fore hooves shot out to my sides, now seeing I was accompanied by a small dragon in a white suit, red jacket, and a white fedora with a red stripe and feather in it that was mimicking my movements as well.

You've Been Hit By
You've Been Hit By-
A Smooth Criminal

So They Came Into The
Outway
It Was Sunday-What A Black
Day
Mouth To Mouth Resus-
Citation
Sounding Heartbeats-
Intimidations

A blue fedora hat came flying in above me, and with a jump, I had nabbed it and placed it on my head as the song continued, and the dancing became more complicated as I tilted my hat down in front of my eyes and began tossing the microphone stand in place before continuing to sing and got to the breakdown.

Okay, I Want Everypony To
Clear The Area Right Now!

I regret not having the ability to explain all of the motions that I was able to do on stage, but I did that thing were you tilted at a fourty-five degree angle and came back up, and even did the infamous crotch grab. The song hit it's last piece and the dragon was helping sing background as I sung out the chorus. As the song neared its end, fireworks were being shot out into the sky and the crowds had gone insane by that point.

Dad Gone It!

(Left Blue Stains On The
Carpet)

Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!

(Then You Ran Into The
Bedroom)

Doggone It!

(You Were Struck Down)

(It Was Your Doom-Annie!)

Aaow!!!
> Party Crasher and Potential Ally?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The song reached it's end as I struck a pose and let the crowd applaud heavily and I set down to talk to the dragon over the noise. "Good work, man, that was something I wouldn't have been able to do back home!" We shook, hoof and claw, and walked offstage to a lot of ponies that were remarking on how well of a performance I made, a few even offering me drinks as I came by them. I was way out of my comfort boundaries as I wasn't the kind of person that would be surrounded by heralding fans, at all.

Tyrone helped clear the way as the dragon wiped some sweat off his forehead, "I don't know what came over me, first I thought wearing the hat I got for my birthday tonight would give me luck with Rarity. Then I found this suit while backstage and that song started playing, it just felt right."

"It fits the part," I remembered that the blue fedora was still on my head and decided to do one last thing before I left the sight of the crowd held back by Tyrone. Standing up, I began spinning in place again and grabbed the hat off my head. Timing the spin so that I was facing the crowd, I let the hat fly out, making some of them try and jump for it and one managed to get it and looked over at me with shock. Giving a wink and a smirk I again set down and continued walking with the baby dragon. "If you want to learn something about tonight, its that you always give back what you receive."

We reached a break area and started chatting, mostly over the fact that both of us were not exactly performers, but we rocked the stage. The baby dragon introduced himself as Spike and we both got a mug of root beer to toast our performance and downed the sweet drink. For some reason as the fizzy soda went down my throat I began thinking that it was similar to actual beer, but that couldn't have been right, I mean the small dragon downed it like a champion and he looked happy to have drunk it.

"If only Twilight could've seen that, but 'Oh, no, Spike, I can't. I have to finish this teleporter as soon as possible, I don't have time for parties.'" My drink come out in a fine mist of shock as I barely missed hitting anypony with it.

"Teleporter?!" I screamed, before trying to regain composure. "I mean, a teleporter? What is this Twilight going to do with a teleporter?"

Spike motioned me to get closer and whispered across the table, "It's for the Princess, she's got a monster held up in her castle and instead of trying to destroy it, she wants to send it back to its home. Twilight called it a 'human'." I tried to act surprised, it wasn't very difficult as the day kept turning up more and more luck for me in finding out where every one of my friends were, getting free food and drinks even if we were unknown, and meeting the nicest ponies a guy would ever meet.

Except Rainbow Dash, she's mostly rude.

Spike's eyes looked behind me and he gave an audible gasp, "She's here!"

"Who, Twilight?" I turned and saw Rarity walking up to us and going over my suit. She picked me up over her head, spun me slowly with her magic, stopped at one point to inspect something.

"Quite the performance that you both had up there," Rarity flicked off a button and looked on the inside of the suit as I hung upside-down and with a satisfied nod, she let me down again to regain my sense of balance again. "You especially Spike, that suit and hat look that you had was simply daring and darling at the same time."

Spike blushed and pushed his fedora over his eyes, "It wasn't anything special," he lied. I had to admire the kid that had a crush on a mare. My ears perked up as a duo of ponies began singing 'Behind Blue Eyes' by The Who-ves, looking over it was a aquamarine unicorn with a lyre on her flank and a creme colored pony with 3 wrapped candies on her flank, both singing a song about not knowing what its like to be the bad mare.

"Who's the couple on stage?" I asked, motioning to the two on stage, the aquamarine pony now standing up like I was and getting scolded at by the creme pony as they continued on.

"Bon Bon and Lyra," Rarity answered, giving a sigh and then turning over to me. "After your little routine on your rear hooves, Lyra's gotten antsy again. Still hanging on to the belief of humans, poor dear." Another spray of shock as I had to shoot it up in the air to not make a direct hit on anypony. I looked over at Spike, "I thought you told me that Twilight has a-" Spike shoved a apple in my mouth before I could continue.

"A special mission about the mythology of humans for Celestia." Spike finished, giving Rarity a nervous grin. Rarity looked over at me as I angrily bit down on the apple at the defiance the dragon had done against me.

"Well, Spike, do tell Twilight that she needs to stop doing her research and come out to the party. The fact that Pinkie was able to get permissions for an open event throughout the town is remarkable on its own, but the fact that it is such a grand event, it is the most intense case scenario for my fabric." Rarity gave a tug at my suit, still hanging strong and with no discoloration. She then gave me a peck on the cheek which made my wings shoot open and Spike to get jealous. "One for the favor," she then leaned to Spike and kissed him in the forehead, making him melt in his seat, "and one for the performance. Good night to you both."

"Good night." Spike and I dreamily cooed as we watch her trot away and into the crowds. "She's such a charmer," Spike sighed, his arm leaned on the table with his head in his hand. I sat back down and forced my wings shut with difficulty, I guess the muscles in the wings were shocked and were hard to move because of it.

"Quick, that was amazing!" Limonade latched onto my back, giving me a hug. "You never told me you could dance." I reached up to Limonade's neck and returned the hug, looking at her eyes.

"I didn't give you a chance to see," We kissed then and there, the party, ponies, and earth fading away as we finished and her eyes continued to lovingly look at me.

"Youuu've got talent, hic!" a plum coat and mulberry maned pony approached the table Spike and I were sitting and slammed herself into it, leaning heavily on a bottle she managed to carry over. "I wanted to sing, but, psssshhh, I forgot to say wordssss. That happens. I'm Drunk, and I'm Berry Punch. No... hang on... yeah, that order..."

"This place has everything!" I excitedly burst out laughing, watching Berry Punch try and catch herself from falling over. "Drunks, games, a bit of insanity, it's Earth with talking ponies!" Berry Punch started laughing with me, ignoring the fact I had made it sound like I was from a completely different planet and nudged the bottle towards me.

"I dare you to chug it," she smirked.

Turning the bottle to see if it had a label, I saw it was a bottle of 'High Concentrate Apple Cider'. It was unopened and looked tempting enough an offer that I contemplated taking up the offer of the pony. Spike gave me an excited look as he leaned on his two arms and rested his head on them like Berry Punch. "This is going to be good."

Limonade stopped me from opening the bottle, sensing something was up. "I don't think it's a good idea to drink that Quick."

"Ha!" I flicked the top off the bottle and saw little bubbles flow slowly from the top, "It's just Apple Cider, its not going to kill me to chug it down!" Without giving Limonade a chance to answer back, I pulled the bottle back and began drinking down the drink, letting the apple flavor shoot down my throat and practically inhaling the bottle. A few passerby's gasped in shock as Berry Punch and Spike started chanting 'Go! Go! Go!' and watched as I pulled the bottle away and put it on the table, flexing my arms and letting out a roar of manliness. It was college drinking all over again, but with cider!

Oh if only I realized how right I was at that time. Because I don't remember ANYTHING beyond that point, my head shut off and I woke up... well, I'll get to that. However, Linda knew exactly what happened afterwards...


***


Quick Fix gave an audible gasp of fear as he started falling sideways off his chair, "The earth is tilting! EARTHQUAKE!" Quick Fix hit the ground and Limonade helped him get back upright.

"Quick! Are you okay?!" Limonade looked at Quick Fix, whose eyes blinked out of synch with each other before he burst out laughing.

"I get it! Cider equals liquor! I'm hammered!" Quick Fix lifted his arms up and fell on his back, prompting Limonade to lift him up again and try to move him back in the chair. "B- Berr- Beatrice! That's your name isn't it?" Quick Fix pointed at Berry Punch who was already in her own giggling fit, "You tricked meeeee. And I love it." He went to get up again and managed to stand up and get on his rear hooves. "Give us a hug."

Berry Punch got up as well and both of them went to hug, and both missed their targets as they both faceplanted into the dirt.

"Oh great," Rainbow Dash approached the now rolling duo on the ground trying to find out how to stand up again. "He drunk from Applejack's private stash of Cider didn't he?!"

"Thasss MY private stash, missy! And he deserved it, 'cause I love him." Berry Punch argued from the ground now trying to stand on her head to get up.

"Awwww, I love you too, silly pony! Hugs all around!" Quick Fix responded, doing a somersault on the ground and finding himself in a sitting position with a confused expression.

"That's just great," Rainbow Dash pulled Limonade aside so the drunk pegasus and pony couldn't hear, "You're going to need to get him out of here, its bad enough when Berry Punch is on the cider, but if he's already this out of it so soon..."

The lights of the stage and lamps went out, causing multiple easily panicked ponies to scream and yell out that the world was ending. Quick Fix started crying when he heard this, "Game Over, Man! Game Over!"

"Ladies and Gentlecolts, returning to your town from her Equestrian tour, a one night performance of The Great and Powerful Trixie!" The lights returned, now focused on a carriage that began to unfold to reveal a stage. Fanfare began to play and fireworks lit from the carriage as a cloud of smoke appeared on stage and from it, a blue pony wearing a purple cape and hat adorned with stars. A cocky smile on her face as the smoke faded and left sparkling dust around her.

"Not her again!" Rainbow Dash exasperatedly screamed. "Why is she back?!"

The crowds already began to boo her as she lifted her hat and swept it in a small bow to reveal a unicorn horn. Placing the hat back on her head, two unicorn colts, one opal and rather fat, and the other yellow and skinny ran up onto the stage and began bowing down at Trixie.

"Oh, Great and Powerful Trixie! What grand exploits have you done when you left us?" The opal one with the scissors on his flank cried out, not quiet getting past the prepubescent stage.

"We thought we'd never see you again!" The yellow one with a snail on his flank also cried out, sounding like he was more on the dimmer side, if you know what I mean.

"Who's Bulk and Skull on stage with Ms. Smarmy?" Quick Fix asked as he tried to move closer to the front of the stage against the restraining pull of Limonade.

"Good guess, but you're not even close," Rainbow Dash kept close to Quick Fix, unsure of what he was doing going towards the unicorn that fled from Ponyville after being revealed as a fake. "The one with the scissors on his flank is Snips, the one with the snail on his flank is called, well, Snails." Rainbow Dash finally pointed out to the now reveling traveling magician, "And that, is Trixie."

Finally, Quick Fix reached the front and tried to pull himself up on the stage, with Limonade still pulling at his tail now to stop him. "What are you even doing?" Limonade said through her teeth. "Don't get on that stage!" Quick Fix turned to face Limonade, his eyes slightly skewed before he blinked and they corrected themselves.

"That...fffffffffff, mare. That's the word. She needssss to learn some manners about crashing a good party." He drunkenly spoke aloud, catching the ear of Trixie who snapped her attention on the orange-red pegasus.

"Party? What party? I thought this was the welcoming of The Great and Powerful Trixie!" The pegasus began to get lifted in the air and thrown onto the stage in an unwelcoming grace. "If this was a true party, then this was truly a sad excuse of an attempt. I've gone to countless galas, towns, and even forests that have done better parties than this!"

From the back, Pinkie gave a howl of rage and charged through the crowd and got to the front with Limonade and Rainbow Dash, "You're calling MY party a sad excuse?!" She breathed heavily for a moment before cheerily spoke again, "Parties aren't excuses, you silly unicorn!"

Quick Fix had managed to get himself back up and wrap an arm around Trixie, leaning on her, "Yeah, Trident, get your, hic, grammar right."

"Get your filthy hoof off of the Great and Powerful Trixie this instant!" Trixie shoved Quick Fix off of her and watched him nearly fall off the stage before regaining his balance and butt his head into hers, giving out his breath of cider.

"You're no fun," Quick Fix mumbled, making Trixie gag as she smelled the heavy cider. "We're here to have fun, and you RUINED IT."

"Quick! Get down from the stage, she's not worth it!" Limonade cried out, making him turn and put a hoof to his lips and let out a long "Shhhhhhhhhh."

"Big kids are talking baby, I'll be there after I school this lady." Quick Fix turned back to Trixie who now had rope trying to magically wrap him up, after multiple drunken steps, Quick Fix managed to step on the rope and start chewing on it before spitting it out. "That's not liquorice..."

"You two," Trixie pointed at the colts who gave a sigh of affection about being noticed, "get this pegasus off of my stage so I can do my show!"

"Wait!" Quick Fix yelled out, making the colts stop in place, "I've got gypsy magic too, I can see the future." He gave a burp and Trixie scoffed out in disbelief.

"You are no unicorn! How can you even have an ounce of magical talent when you can barely keep yourself from standing up right!" Trixie then gave a small shove at Quick Fix who began wobbling side to side, "This foal is nothing more than a drunk with no ability and is blatant about his lies!"

"Sound familiar?" Dash called from the front, making Trixie get even more upset and frustrated.

"How dare you?! Weren't you the one that I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, made a mockery out of you and your so called talent?!" Now Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity were in the presence of the front row, Trixie's eyes squinted in loathing. "So you're all here, did you come back to be embarrassed and shown up by my expert ability again?"

"Actually, we wanted to see Quick Fix read the future, and perhaps show off that he's a better pony than you with that talent." Rarity snapped at Trixie, making Trixie back away and seeing the rest of the crowd begin a chant.

"Quick Fix, Quick Fix, Quick Fix!"

Trixie turned to the stumbling pegasus who grinned and put a hoof to his head, "Ah'm gonna start with you, Greet and Potent Tree." Trixie glowered at the pegasus, but put on her own cocky grin in response.

"Go ahead, show us all, Cider Boy!" Trixie watched as Quick Fix moved around her, his eyes dancing either by the drink, or perhaps something more.

No, it was defiantly the drink.

"A trip." He finally said, causing Trixie to laugh.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is a traveling magician, you have to do better than that to prove yourself to Trixie!" Quick Fix motioned Trixie to come near the front of the stage and pointed out to the stars, his voice losing the drunken tone.

"It will be a hard trip, it will test your body as well as your mind. However, once you finish it, it will make many ponies happy and remember you in a different light." Trixie turned over to Quick Fix, seemingly impressed.

"Tell Trixie more about this trip, when? How? Why?" Trixie sounded at ease with the pegasus as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

His voice went back to the drunken state as he tripped Trixie off the stage and into the audience, laughing uproariously. "It's going to be in the 'fall'! Courtesy One-Way! Because I can! HA! HA! HA! HA!" Quick Fix also fell from the stage and hit the ground, still laughing. "I also took a trip! HA! The joke has been doubled!" The audience had begun laughing as Trixie went to attack the fallen pegasus and was cut off by Rainbow Dash.

"Back off, Trixie!" Dash yelled at Trixie, who grunted in frustration. "You mess with him, then you mess with me!" Both egos touched heads and soon found their lips touching as Quick Fix pushed the two together.

"Now kiss," he cried out, getting punched in the face by both ponies and falling over unconscious, before either of them could continue to beat him, Limonade shot out and grabbed Quick Fix.

"I think we're done for tonight, thanks for the party, bye!" Limonade shot away with Quick Fix, into Sugarcube Corner and into Pinkie's room, throwing him onto the bed. She locked the door as well to make sure that any certain unicorns that were mad wouldn't be able to enter without a little bit of difficulty. "Damn it, Quentin." Limonade gasped as she covered her mouth, when she tried to swear other times it changed into another word, that had to have been her imagination. "Damn it." In her shock, she started swearing up a storm at Quentin and eventually stopped.

"Quentin, what are we going to do?" Limonade sat on the bed with the silent pony and put a hoof through her hair. "I mean with this whole situation, the thing with Discord, with Richard, and now this? Do you even have a plan?" She sat quietly in the room as the party continued outside until a knock came at the door.

"You in there, Limonade?" Pinkie Pie asked from behind the door, prompting Limonade to unlock the door and open it, revealing the five friends as they entered and looked over the now drooling Quick Fix. "And I thought you were the heavy drinker," Pinkie remarked, remembering seeing Limonade yesterday night before she brought her to Sugarcube Corner.

"Dash told me that he downed a whole bottle of our 'High Concentrate Apple Cider'," Applejack said with impressiveness. "Knowing that, and what he did to Trixie on stage, I'm impressed he could speak, let alone even move and trick Trixie."

"He may be annoying," Dash said, leaning against the door frame and moving her hair out of her eyes. "But any pony that can fool Trixie and get away with it is alright by me."

"Oh, I hope he'll be alright," Fluttershy mumbled as she approached Quick Fix and helped move him to a more comfortable position on the bed, removed the suit, and put a blanket over him.

"Fluttershy, may I see that suit?" Rarity asked, Fluttershy cautiously handing the blue suit to the seamstress. She looked over the suit, and after some time, she smiled and pulled out the purse of money that was in the front pocket and put some bits in it before putting the bag back in the suit. "Limonade, if you can tell this young stallion that I paid him 40 bits for testing the fabric, I would be most appreciative."

"But, that's the amount that Quick paid for the suit," Limonade answered in shock, seeing Rarity chuckle.

"It may be the same amount of bits as the cost of said suit, but I can assure you, this isn't refunding him at all." Rarity carefully folded the suit and placed it on the edge of the bed. "You are lucky to have somepony as diverse as he is, Limonade. Most stallions are all about machismo, or being a gentleman, or not even caring, but he is a surprise every time you look at him."

The girls finished by saying good night to Pinkie and Limonade and leaving Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie and Limonade looked over at the bed and both of them sighed.

"There wouldn't happen to be a spare bed or couch that we could use?"


***


I awoke in a room, it was dark and I had a bad headache. The suit I had been wearing was removed and set at the end of the bed I had been placed in. Setting my head back down on the pillow I tried to recall anything that happened between me putting the bottle of Apple Cider to my lips and waking up here. A tap came from the window and something I believed to be a familiar unicorn as she struggled to keep herself from falling off a ladder. Forcing myself up I opened the window and continued to watch the unicorn attempt to balance herself before she noticed me and gave a 'Meep!'

"Need some help robbing a house?" I groggily joked, watching the unicorn try and not hit the house too hard and make a noise. "Or are you one of those stalker types that I have to watch out for?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Even when you aren't drunk you're a pain to listen to." She tried to grab at me and started falling off the ladder before I caught her and we both dangled out the window. "Don't let me fall!" Something about what she said sounded off, but it made me want to pull her up and into the room. After trying to shake off a bit more pain throbbing in my head I watched her pull out a box and start laughing. "You foal! Now taste the wrath of The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

She opened the box and threw out blue flowers that whacked me in the face, not wanting to be attacked with flowers, I managed to take a hoof full that hit me and threw them back at her, to which she screamed "Don't you dare!" The flowers hit her and she gasped in shock. "Do you realize what you have just done?!"

My body began to tingle and in a 'Foomp!' I found myself covered in fluffy fur and my scream sounded like it had inhaled helium. "What did you do to me?!" I squeaked.

"I threw Poison Joke on you, I wanted you to wake up and be embarrassed publicly like you did to me!" Trixie screamed, her hooves trying to cover her mouth. "I can't lie! This is only slightly inconvenient compared to my incident with Twilight Sparkle against the Ursa Minor! WHY CAN'T I STOP?!"

The door opened, showing a just awoken Limonade, which became an incredibly shocked Limonade when she looked at both me and Trixie. "Quick?!"

"Hi, Limonade," I chirped, making Limonade faint in front of the door and Pinkie to poke her own head in the doorway and gasp at the fact that Limonade landed on a group of the Poison Joke, each of us looking at each other and realizing how much trouble we were all in.


***


"I feel regretful for doing this to you, only because my plan backfired!" Trixie yelled out, each of us waiting outside the salon's doors for it to open.

",ygolopa na sa elbatpecca eb ot gniog ton s'tahT" Limonade said, her effect having made not only her head turn in the wrong direction, but also made her speak backwards, so having to understand her was even more difficult.

"Wierd idea," I squealed and turned to Limonade, trying not to get stabbed by a rouge hair in my eye. "Try speaking backwards and maybe we'll understand you."

",uoy oN" Limonade said, with a sour expression on her face, at least giving me a clue that she was really unhappy.

We all looked up to see two ponies, exact copies, but just swapped in color.

"Oh my! Look here, Aloe! Customers here so early?" The pink pony with blue hair spoke, revealing a European accent as she gaped at our group.

"They all look so odd, I may know why they're here Lotus!" The blue pony with pink hair responded, with a similar accent and we all nodded and said in unison. "Poison Joke."

We were all led inside and placed in a waiting room, "Wait here, we do need to get the area prepared before we can get you all started on your bath." Aloe went into the back room, soon to be followed by Lotus.

"Maybe even more for those cracked hooves and something to melt those stresses away."  Lotus went through the door as well, and each of us were left to the elevator music in the room and a bunch of magazines. Grabbing one, I decided to start reading, trying to ignore the fact that I only had a few hours of sleep because of this excursion.

"I think you're kinda cute when you're angry!" Trixie yelled, causing me to lower the magazine and pause before raising the magazine again.

"When are you going to apologize for what has happened tonight?" I squeeked, causing Trixie to look shocked at me. "Being petty about something I don't remember doing and not a single apology from your mouth."

"I feel it was unfair that you made me look bad in front of those ponies! I want you to apologize first!" She screamed, her voice sounding like it was already straining from the volume she had to keep up. I closed my eyes and gave a small prayer of patience to myself.

"I'll admit that I was drunk, stupid, and most importantly wrong to have done those things to you." I put the magazine down and took a breath before continuing, "I am very sorry for having made a fool out of myself and you last night."

"!ti devresed ehs ,kciuQ , snoitca ruoy rof reh evigrof ot deen t'nod uoY" Limonade gave an angry glance at Trixie before turning back to me. "!flesreh tuoba serac ylno dna ,taehc a ,rail evislupmoc a s'ehS"

"I can agree that we were wrong, I would never be able to say it however, only to preserve my image as a perfectionist!" Trixie yelled out, giving a cough as her throat started to dry out. Going to a water fountain and getting a small cup, I filled it and placed it in front of Trixie before sitting back down.

"So say it now, at least while you still can." I solemnly spoke. We were then interrupted by Lotus as she stepped in.

"Come with me, we have your bath ready to cure what is ailing you, and we also have the steam room warming up so when you finish you can head in to let those pores open and last night's troubles wash away." Lotus led us into a large room, a giant bucket was being stirred by Aloe and we all walked up to the edge of the bath and we all stepped inside, the warm water almost knocking me back to sleep again.

I felt my fur shrink back down and my voice start to deepen again back to its normal state, I watched as Limonade had managed to get her head rotated back in place, and Trixie, well, she still looked the same. After awhile of shampooing and soap, we all headed towards the steam room and took our seats, Limonade and myself on one end, Trixie on the other. While I and Limonade were relaxed after last night's craziness, Trixie still looked uneasy.

"Something the matter?" I said, enjoying the fact I didn't sound like Alvin anymore. Trixie continued to squirm in her seat and then looked up at me.

"I'm sorry," she quietly spoke, shocking myself and Limonade. She then gave us a death stare, "You will only hear this once, from the Great and Powerful Trixie, so be gracious I would allow such a honor."

"You spoiled little-!" Limonade went to stand up, but I put a hoof up to stop her, looking into the eyes behind her cold stare, I knew she meant it. And what better way of keeping a secret than in a steam room with no other ears except your own and theirs. I took a breath of the air in and then released it, looking as if I had smoke pouring from my nostrils.

"I do want to perform on that stage again," I said, watching Trixie open her eyes in fear before she went back to her cocky attitude and look. "I'll be in town still for a few more days, how long are you willing to wait?"

Trixie eyed me, noticing I had a cocky smile as well, practically mimicking Trixie's happy mood. "3 days," she said standing up to leave the room, but stopped at the door. "What was your name?"

I gave a small thought to a title before answering, "The Fast and Furious Quick Fix, with his assistant, the Wondrous and Caring Limonade." Trixie gave a quick laugh, and opened the door.

"Until we meet again, Fast and Furious Quick Fix."
> Hello there, people of Earth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	How are you all? Enjoying this little tale that Bait has been making? Please tell me that you've been spreading the word about this, after all, this is a real story.

Or perhaps the imaginings of a boy that doesn't know when to grow up. A child reaching out for his own attention and dying to be loved because he is actually alone. I'll leave whatever is on the table for you to decide, if you actually care.

You see, that's the funny thing about humanity in general, you get obsessed over something so simplistic as a show about talking magical ponies, but can hate complex and confusing things like politics, reality TV, and chocolate eggs with caramel in the middle (seriously, how can you not love those?).

By the way, Bait, don't panic that you aren't able to get on your computer, I've just have it under my spell for the moment. You can go back to whatever you were making up after this, but I wanted to tell the segment that you have clearly missed and may actually give you a little more 'insight' as to what I really want from you and the rest of the gang.

Pay attention here, you just may miss your chance. Now, let's rewind the clock, as it were, and go back to when I first met Min Tea, or as I called her, Messenger.


***


Min Tea screamed as I wrapped around here and winked away from the alleyway and into a cell. This was the place that Conquest had been chained inside, he was being overviewed by two guards at his cell door. I say WAS, because with a little whisper from my lips, both of them fell asleep on the ground.

"Marian," Conquest moaned, causing Messenger to gasp and approach Conquest and look at his eyes, the normal shine was gone, a symptom I had been able to replace in lieu of turning his coat into a gray shade. Give me credit people, mama didn't raise a foal. Because if she did, I didn't know. Twilight Sparkle's last encounter actually taught me something about discretion, if I made his coat turn gray, then Celestia and a few other ponies would link that to him being underneath my control.

Messenger looked down at the guards at the door and rushed to the rusty gate and slammed her hooves against it, "Help! Somepony help us!"

Grabbing the startled girl, I wiped my hand over her mouth, covering it with duck tape and silencing her. "Oh shush, how can I have a proper discussion between the two of you when you're mouth won't stay shut." Playing it unusually safe, I stuck my head through the bars and looked down the hallways to insure that nopony had heard and that we weren't going to be disturbed. Turning back I could see Messenger struggling to remove the tape and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of a pony that knew how to pinch fingers but had none to use.

"Alright now, Messenger," I softly spoke, leaning down to speak to the upset mare. "I would like you to tell your friends about Conquest and get them all riled up so they feel like they should do something." Taking the glasses off of her face, I gave a breath on it and wiped it on my fur, making sure it was nice and tidy before sliding them back on her and watched her eyes go wide in shock. "Do you see the future? You can thank me later, because that's the next part after you tell Bait and Trigger about Conquest. Be my prophet and cause the townfolk unease before I reveal myself to them and what this place and all of Equestria will become."

Messenger could see me, standing right there, in a fog of fallen stone and pony bodies around her. The sky was on fire and slowly burning away into a nice annoying shade of yellow, followed with flying coat hangers, and she could also see four familiar looking shadows standing with two other ponies on top of the hill, a dark rainbow shooting from them and over the world. She shut her eyes to stop looking, trying to ignore what I pictured Equestria to become when the Elements of Harmony fell and no other pony could stand up against me.

Not wanting to be stopped by a seclusive mare, I tapped her mind and made her open her eyes again. "Don't be a spoil sport, you do want to be truthful about the Aponylypse don't you?" I saw her eyes begin to slowly turn, the favorite part of my power over the minds of my victims. To confirm her full conversion, her coat turned into a gray shade and then faded back into its original state. Not only did I have to make sure that she looked the part, but they still needed to act the part, which was a pain to even try and figure out with those pure hearted ponies, but with humans, it wasn't hard to make the connections I needed without making them acting like a 180 degree version of themselves.

A clank came at the cell door and I cautiously turned to see who it was, and gave a sigh of relief to see Shining Armor at the door with the keys. He gave a smile and unlocked the door, his eyes flashing blue and stepped inside. "Discord, I trust you have what you promised the Queen?" The fake Shining Armor held the keys close to him until I revealed the heavy scroll I had behind my back.

"I'm glad that Crystal did get my message, for a moment I believed she had forgotten about me." I held the scroll out to the now shifting Shining Armor as I placed it in his holey whooves.

"Her name is Chrysalis now, Lord Discord," the changeling buzzed revealing his true form to keep his power from waning.

"Oh, she will always be my Crystal," I cooed, tickling the chin of the changeling who gave an involuntary buzz of affection. "Find enclosed, the information about Cadence and the wedding plans that she and Shining Armor are trying to keep under wraps. Do tell her that once I'm finished here that I'll take her out to dinner sometime, we have catching up to do after 10,000 years of imprisonment, hmm?"

The changling changed back into his disguise as Shining Armor and threw the keys at me, allowing me to pocket them in my front fur coat pocket and giving it a pat of satisfaction. The disguised changeling gave a bow to me and then began trotting away so he could make his escape from the castle and left me to continue my talk with my converts. I started rubbing my hands together and looked over Messenger. "You can go back now, dear. I'll tell you when to start crying out in the streets tomorrow." Snapping my fingers I sent the mare back to the alleyway that she saw me, letting her believe that she had only saw a shadow and got scared of it.

"Come with me, Conquest," taking the keys and unlocking him from his chains we both began walking out of the dungeon and were greeted by the sound of guards rushing down the hallway. He looked over at me in fear, and I only gave him a smile as we both fazed through the guards like ghosts. "Don't you worry, my little brony," I humbly spoke, listening to the sound of the guards now panicking about how Radiant Radar was not in the cell and the guards were asleep. "I've made sure that we won't be seen or heard as we are."

We continued to walk around the castle, watching the guards, some butlers, and even the princesses begin to run around to find my servant, I finally made it to Princess Celestia's room and gave a bow to motion Conquest inside. We both entered and found exactly what I needed. A pen and paper.


***


"Imperfect!" I kissed the paper and set it inside the envelope, balling my claw in a fist and gathering energy in it, when I had finished, I had made a snazzy watch that Bait was sure to enjoy. Stuffing the watch inside as well, I began to make calculations in my mind. "Now let's see, if Bait is at Fluttershy's and Messenger is with Trigger making root beer, then... the bridge." I wrote out the destination for where Bait was to be found when the gray mailmare would notice the extra piece of mail in her bag during her catch-up run.

"Best to take things slowly before he sees my, ahem, daughter. Trusting faces and the sort, you are already aware I'm sure." I talked to the emotionless Conquest, and gave a sour face before turning back to the envelope and walked towards the window. "You're not a good conversationalist like Bait is, now he's a hoot to mess around with." Giving a gentle blow on the envelope, I pulled back and sent it flying out like a Frisbee as it began to fly erratically towards it's destination. Giving a sigh of satisfaction we left the room of Celestia and soon re-entered the now closed cell of Conquest.

"Have a seat here," I pointed and watched him plop down, staring at the doorway. "I'll keep the keys with me until we begin the assault tomorrow night, but for now, make sure you do your mental exercises, because Celestia is going to have fun trying to read your pretty little head."


***


"For the last freaking time! Discord is still imprisoned! Remember? The radar? The cutie mark?!" Radiant screamed at Celestia as I watched over the conversation taking place underneath me as I sat on the support beam of the throne room. Everything is also fun to watch if you're upside-down too, so I slid down and got a bucket of popcorn.

Screw physics, I'm Discord.

"Then how come I can read his presence in your mind?! You've been in contact with him somehow!" Celestia bellowed back, using the Royal Canterlot Caps Lock. I gave a deep breath to the smell of 'Slow-Cooked Celestia' and gave a squeal of delight, reminded of the times of our first meetings and driving her crazy by announcing to everyone that we were getting married for years. It made it even more fun that she knew I was actually in the room, but couldn't sense me. "Your mind is so convoluted it's neigh impossible to even get the truth out of you!"

Her horn pulsed again and made Radiant scream out in pain, making me cringe, I enjoyed when ponies were mad, but when they started getting violent, it killed the mood rather quickly. I tried to keep Conquest's mind under wraps, basically making Celestia tear off a layer, and I would secretly put one on right in front of her eyes. I pulled out a tape recorder and pressed the record button, "Note to self, say you're sorry to Conquest about having him deal with Celestia and not fight back." Releasing the button, I went back to my popcorn to see a lavender pony wearing a propeller cap inside it and the popcorn was gone, she gave a gulp and looked up at me with her swirling eyes.

"Hi, Daddy!" Screwball gave a smile to me and made me melt a little on the inside, I was becoming old, sentimentality was not normally my forte. In fact, I don't believe music fit into it at all.

"And how's my little ball of energy been?" I lovingly whispered, giving a small kiss to her forehead and making her squirm in joy in the bucket. She may not really be my daughter, but she has been the closest one that I would consider to not be a fan, or a convert, just a pure lover of chaos.

"I'm boooorrreed," she whined, something I had only started to sympathize with, in 10,000 years I actually enjoyed floating in my own little mind world, I had friends that liked to be pranked and would prank back, our government was based on King of the Hoard rules, and everyday was pizza day. But ever since I was released by those three fillies that called themselves the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders', things weren't the same. I did go back at one point, but it just didn't settle with me anymore. I suddenly felt as if I had looked at a picture I had made as a child and I couldn't appreciate it now.

"Well, my dear," I softly spoke and flicked the propeller and watched it spin slowly, "we'll both be having fun very soon." Flicking the propeller again, it went faster, once more and it was fully spinning and she began sliding out of the bucket. "Daddy has work to do until then, so be patient a little longer, okay?"

Screwball gave me a sad expression as she popped out of the basket and flew away, I again centered my attention to the arguing unicorn and alicorn and watched as she then called guards over as they surrounded his worker. "Get him in a secure room, until we find the master keys, do NOT lose sight of him, I want guard swaps done on a fifteen minute basis!" She yelled, causing the guard she was looking at to lose his helmet from the force of her voice. He gave a salute and then ran to get his helmet as Radiant was led out of the throne room.

I managed to slide around the beam, scattered down to the floor, and moved behind a pillar to get a closer look, likening myself to a secret agent avoiding the watchful eye of a camera. Of course, I was still hiding via my own magic, but a god can imagine can't he? I watched as she went to her throne and put her hooves in her face and tried to calm herself down. "I thought you'd be used to my tricks by now, my dear," I whispered, seeing Luna approach the throne to take her turn as ruler.

"Be careful tonight, Luna," Celestia quietly whispered, making me smile cheekily, she still kept herself together just for her sister. I had to admire that at least, for her to deal with a grieving sister who turned to loneliness as her escape while I was gone, it had to have been as hard or worse than anything I could've done. I broke hearts, sure, but they mended, hers however remained broken until Luna finally returned from her own punishment on the moon.

Kinda makes you tear up doesn't it? It was a beautiful drama, and it tugged at your heart and made you care about them.

Gag me with a silver spoon. Not the filly, I mean an actual spoon, I can actually do magic tricks with that kind. Her on the other hand requires Diamond Tiara in order to have their brain cells actually crash into each other. If there is one thing I hate more than goodie two-shoes, its spoiled and arrogant ponies.

Forgive me, I realized I've gone on a tangent, you don't like those very much do you? Well, my mind works off of those tangents so give me a break if I ramble for intense periods of time over things. Let's see what happens if you become a god and told to cause untold suffering and hate to ponies and see how well you hold up, hmm? I could've been something special, god of commerce, god of communication, god of cider, OF CIDER! But, no, I took the humble way out, I took what I considered the hardest job that one could have and had to wind up having to try and stop harmony at all costs!

Although, I will admit the god of harmony does have a good plot. Maybe I should try and make up to her?

No!

Yes! It'll be perfect! I'll come in with a suit, tie, flowers, be the perfect husband, and then after a year we'll get into arguments and then settle for divorce! I'll call it, 'The One Night, One Year Stand', BRILLIANT! Wait, how long have I been standing behind the pillar?

"Oh, crap," I mumbled to myself and shut my eyes, unsure of where the process of the plan was. That's when I got to see you again Bait, chugging down a bottle of High Concentrated Apple Cider. I knew I picked a good one when I saw you stumbling around on stage and laughing like a maniac, if the spot wasn't taken by moi, I'd say you'd be just about a perfect candidate for god of chaos.

Or cider, have you thought about being a god of cider?

Trigger also cared about you a lot, saving you from a beatdown by Rainbow Dash and that other unicorn. You picked a good mate with her, Bait. Messenger had left the party area already, no doubt because she was getting sick by seeing the dead ponies lining the streets of the town. So I figured I'd stop by and take the lady to her home. Well, she called it a place to stay, I called it a barn with no bed. So with a snap of my fingers, I was now walking alongside Messenger, who at first gasped in shock, but then returned to her tired look as we kept on the trail.

"So, did you tell them?" I asked as we strolled along, the trees whispering their hellos and goodbyes as we passed them. I gave a wave to many of them as we passed along, not wanting to be rude.

"They know about Richard," she droned, poor girl must've been getting sick of seeing the destroyed world that she walked on, but it was all for a good cause, so I didn't pay too much mind. I did raise an eyebrow as to why she didn't call Conquest by the name I had given him. I did make sure she was to call him by the code name I had given him didn't I? I gave a few taps to her head and checked, it was working right, or at least it should've.

"Why aren't you calling Conquest by the name I had given him?" I said with a little frustration following it, making her know I wasn't happy about how she was able to override something I put in her head. She however kept quiet, this was the problem with humans as well, you can manipulate them easily, but they could play the game just as hard back. This was going to be a hard group to control, but with two days time, I could hammer out whatever mental blocks they had.

Maybe.

Alright, I'll be honest, I was playing with fire. But the last time I did it, I had thousands following my every word, I was being called the god I should be. It was glorious.

You don't change much after 10,000 years, right?

We reached the barn and I could see the big red stallion was still awake and waiting by the house door, poor fella. I felt tempted to give him a good scratch behind the ears and make him act like a dog again, but that wouldn't be something that I want to do. You don't play the same trick twice unless it's for a good reason, and its hilarious. If you have to debate about it, then you don't play the cards that are dealt for you.

"You're not sleepin' in the barn tonight, missy!" The stallion stopped Messenger from opening the barn door and took her by the hoof, looking at her eyes. "That party must've been hard on you, it's like you saw everything you didn't want to see and more." Messenger closed her eyes and nodded at the stallion who began leading her to the home, I could feel the wretch of vomit creep up my throat, I will never get over how disgusting a caring pony is. She was able to go in, but I stayed outside, leaving Messenger to her own devices as I turned back to the town.

Instead of teleporting into town, I just walked. Plain. Simple. Something that I hadn't really done for a long time. It was always, click, I'm here, click, now I'm here, click, where could I have gone? I had even started doing a small dance as I got to the entrance of Ponyville, and went towards Sugarcube Corner to see the unicorn that was on stage with Bait was trying to reach a window and was intercepted by him.

"Need some help robbing a house? Or are you one of those stalker types that I have to watch out for?" Bait said, still showing how impressive he was in a pinch for sarcasm. I got worried that he may not be able to do the work that I needed him for, so I figured a small test would be fine. Pushing the ladder ever so slightly as the unicorn reached out to Bait, I saw him catch her before she fell. Underneath the unicorn, I saw a box fastened underneath her cape and could smell the Poison Joke inside.

I gave a shrug as she got pulled in and let whatever plan go through, sometimes chaos doesn't even need a shove from me. 

Oh wait, I did shove that ladder didn't I? Well, that statement still stands, just not there. I gave a yawn and transported back to the garden and my 'house' being the statue that was meant to keep me from running around. Going down to the broken toenail in my (or is it 'our' since I'm looking at me from the outside?) left foot and seeped back inside. I wasn't at full power, but I was getting close, and I needed Conquest to make the full jail break so that the two of us could tear apart the castle and proceed into the next phase.

I called it, 'Step 2: Electric Boogaloo' or the more appropriate title, 'Conquest the Castle'. Settling down for the night, I made a beanbag and curled up for the night. Even gods need sleep when they have big days to plan after all.

So, Bait. After you read this, let us all know if you want to continue with this side project. Because I do happen to know a nice rainforest that I could send you hurling towards and wish you 'Good luck', and 'Have fun,' and of course laugh at your unfortunate circumstance. In fact, I'm giggling right now as to what your decision is going to be!
> Panic at the Discord
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Oh buck.

Oh buck!

OH BUCK!

How'd he figure out about this?! I made sure that no one else in my group knew about this! I'm so screwed, very VERY screwed! This is why I can't have nice things happen to me, I can't go without having to listen to something he says, reading what schemes he comes up with, or even feeling his breath on the back of my neck!

He does know the answer about this story however, I'm not going to stop. It barely hasn't started and he's already threatening me with throwing me out into some other land, probably filled with tigers, panthers, bobcats, cheetahs, maybe an annoying cat, I DON'T KNOW.

Alright, give me a second to cool down, I need to get back on track here and go into the second day. Or in countdown clock time, 3 days 14 hours 44 minutes 59 seconds 2 firsts.


***


Limonade and myself left the spa with some extra pep in our steps, Aloe and Lotus weren't kidding about making worries melt away. Both of us however remained strong about how we had to figure out a way to get out of this ticking time bomb plan that Discord had made that involved us. "Limonade, I need you to go to Zecora's." I was adamant on getting a place where Min Tea, her, and I could at least have a plan made at somepony's that could be trusted, and Zecora was the closest one that I had at this point.

"Who's Zecora?" Limonade asked, making me regret not telling her sooner about what happened in the Everfree Forest that first night. We began walking in that direction as we continued.

"Voodoo zebra, she knows that I'm human, from a different world, and she was very accommodating to the fact that I didn't have any money," I shook my pocket, making the bits hidden inside jingle. The bath and spa treatment was a rather hefty one, we managed to escape with a price tag of 50 bits after some bargaining and coercion into a membership that required at least one visit a month and gave a discounted rate. I felt miserable about it too, I still had that little problem of wanting to bed every mare I saw in my head and I could already feel the strain on me returning.

"Voodoo? Wait, so she's a unicorn zebra?" Limonade gave me a confused look and raised an eyebrow, making me somewhat chuckle at the sight of seeing Zecora with a horn as she cackled maniacally into her brew. Stopping right away as Limonade gave me a disapproving look.

"No, she's a potion maker, and also great rhymer," I cringed at the unfortunate pun I just made. Limonade began laughing as she saw the twitch I gave after I said it. "Let's just say she's somepony that you have to see in order to believe." We reached the edge of the forest and were greeted by a sprinting Tyrone who promptly tackled me and began licking me. After being lifted up from the ground, I flopped in his arms and felt the world fade around me as I tried to get any breath of air I could.

"Beta! I missed you so! Why didn't you come home? I cried all night about not seeing you!" Tyrone barked happily as he also picked up Limonade. "Zecora has been waiting for you, says she wants to know what happened last night!" Soon both Limonade and myself were thrown over the shoulders of Tyrone and rushing into the Everfree Forest towards Zecora's, or at least I thought it was going to be at her house. We reached the clearing that I had originally landed in and Tyrone set us down to catch our sense of direction again.

"Zecora?" Tyrone sniffed around, trying to catch the scent of the elusive zebra. Limonade and myself managed to get up and look around as well, I already felt uneasy about the place that I just about died, but at least I could see a little more than I did the last time I was here. "Found a note! But, I can't read it..." Tyrone whined, so he managed to learn how to speak appropriately, but reading in a cartoon world of ponies, OUT OF THE QUESTION. Limonade managed to reach the note first and started reading it aloud.

To the pegasus and human, Quentin Clemens,person and pony trying to make amends
You have told me of your dream with Discord and I have a destination that you must afford
It is a ruined building of where the Elements were once stored, and a secret that can't be ignored
Only a human may enter its chambers and get to the power, I will be at the entrance in an hour
Take the map on the back, I fear the time is coming for Discord's final attack.

Limonade flipped the page and it was indeed a map, reading it showed a trail which involved a mountain side, a manticore resting ground, really angry... trees, a river, a rickety wooden bridge (not an adventure without a rickety wooden bridge), and ending on a broken down castle.

I was less than thrilled.

"At least Zecora was kind enough to point me in the direction of an actual weapon I could use, but to go through all of that on the map?" I looked over at Limonade and then over at Tyrone, getting a feel of what I had to work with. "I've got a better idea."


***


"This is not going to work," Limonade said as she tried to balance on my back and I opened my wings. "Can I at least get a seatbelt for the ride?"

"Whiner," I responded, rising up so Limonade could yank a vine down and tie it around herself, as she started making a knot I looked down at Tyrone who was already whining at me. "Go find Min Tea and tell her whats going on, give her the map and then we'll meet at the castle," I yelled down, "hopefully," I thought quietly. Tyrone gave a bark and ran off to try and get Min Tea's attention. Rising up past the tree cover I scanned for anything resembling a castle, or at least one of the landmarks.

"I think I see the river over there," Limonade pointed, right next to my face so I had an idea of where she was talking about. With a whinny and spinning my hooves in the air, we were off towards the river, I may have been fast as a standalone, but with a passenger, I could just barely pass the speed of running. I could tell this may not have been the brightest plan, but I figured it'd be easier than dealing with manticores and whatever else was down underneath the tree cover.

"Hey Quick, can you turn the radio on?" Limonade cheekily remarked at me.

"Don't make me pull this flight over." I responded in kind.


***


Min Tea awoke to the sight of a ruined home, the doors had been broken into, small blood trails led outside her door, when she blinked she was in the same room, no broken doors, no blood, just Applebloom poking at her side.

"Are you awake yet? I swear you can sleep through anything." Min Tea turned to see a variety of instruments, pots, and burned out firecrackers behind the bored filly. When Applebloom noticed Min Tea was awake, she perked up and started trying to pull her out of bed. "Come on! You have some chore work to do!"

Applejack came to the door and looked in and shook her head, "Applebloom, you don't wake up guests in your home and get on their case about working. It's called common courtesy." She then looked over at Min Tea and gave an apologetic smile, "Sorry, my little sister tends to forget how to act right when we have a guest sleeping over."

Min Tea reached for her glasses and slipped them on, ignoring the returning image of the torn apart farm that shadowed with her as she turned to Applejack. "It's fine, I'm used to being woken up every morning by my big sister calling me." She slipped out of the bed and went to pass Applejack when she stopped her and looked at her eyes.

"You look terrible," Applejack said, remarking at Min Tea's non glimmering eyes and dark circles that had formed underneath them. "Maybe it's not a good idea to let you go out, I know what happens when you overwork yourself, and you don't look even ready to go to town in your condition."

Min Tea pushed past Applejack, determined in a mission that had now formed in her mind, "I'm fine, there's no need to worry about me at all. It's your family and friends you need to start worrying for." Applejack again stopped Min Tea at the stairs, trying to keep the droning pony from continuing on.

"Now you just wait a minute! Where's this depressed pony come from? What happened to you last night?" Applejack again found herself shoved aside, this time more forcefully than before by Min Tea as she went down the stairs and now reached the door and an extremely mad Applejack. "Now, darn it! You're going to tell me what's going on or I'll knock your teeth down your throat!"

Min Tea's eyes locked onto Applejack's, making Applejack feel a little scared as she saw something reflect off the glasses. "All of the trees will be lit by lightning, this home and farm will no longer stand, and everything that you have cared about will be on the ground as they bleed out and scream in agony against the power of Discord. This is the vision of the end, and I must tell all."

Applejack's eyes went small and she began quivering as Min Tea past her, something about what she said, how absurd as it was, she believed her and started running towards town. She past the slowly moving Min Tea and rushed into town and straight to the library. When she entered she saw the basement cover was already open and she ran down it to where Twilight was still working. "Twilight! I've got bad news! And it's not the kind of news anypony would like!"


***


Take on me, take me on
I'll be gone
In a day or twooooooo

We finished our impromptu song of 'Take me On' by A-Ha as we touched down at the edge of the river, Limonade jumped off of me and I started stretching out my back. The trip did a number on me in regards of endurance and made a note to myself to start working out again. Limonade started to cross the river and I noticed that a purple rock began to move towards her, jumping after Limonade I tried to pick her up and go when a large purple sea dragon came out of the river.

"Why hello there! It's been a while since I got to see more of you cute little ponies going across the river!" I restrained any laughter in me as I listened to his voice, he sounded WAY out of character for what a sea dragon would sound like. Not only that, but if I did laugh, I could be facing stomach acid as he may eat me out of anger.

"So I take it this is the road less traveled that we chose," Limonade yelled up, making sure the tall guy could hear her.

"Actually, I have checked, in this forest this has become the most used path. There was a group of six that came by and gave me this little piece of wondrous mustache," he twirled the uncharacteristic purple side of his mustache as he said this, "a zebra that rhymed, and now you two. That makes nine ponies that have crossed this side of the river, and it now exceeds my brothers side in the amount of travelers that pass!"

"Great, so at least we're on the right track, we're trying to follow a zebra with the description you just had," I also bellowed up, finding a bit more at ease with the friendly sea dragon. "She told us to meet at this broken down castle, so we just keep going down this trail and we'll get there?"

The sea dragon nodded and scooped us out of the river and placed us on the other side, "Do come back, I would love to see how the pony with the curl in the front keeps it so well maintained in conditions like these, especially with the heat beginning to come down." Limonade gave a nice nod and looked over at me.

"I would love to, and if I don't come back, just ask the locals for Limonade and I'll be right there." Limonade puffed the front of her curl and then turned to go down the path.

"And if she doesn't answer, then ask for Quick Fix and I'll drag her here, see ya 'round then!" I gave a small salute and then ran after Limonade to catch up. "Chalk up another incident that I didn't expect to cross off my bucket list," I laughed with Limonade as we continued on our way. Eventually we reached the pinnacle of our trip, and one of the worst tropes of adventurers could face, the rickety old bridge. "Alright, let's make bets now, which one of us is going to break through the wood and plummet to their death? I put 10 bits on me."

Limonade looked over the edge and then over at me, "Can I ride on you again? Or at the very least let you walk ahead of me on this thing?" If it was anypony else, I'd have said no, however, this was Limonade, this was Linda, and I had to be there for her. Taking a shaky breath I went out on the first plank and began carefully watching my step as I went from plank to plank. I could hear Limonade behind me as she did her best not to scream in fear as we continued.

Looking across the way, I could see one of the support beams starting to bend and making a not-very-good sound. "Hang on to the rope, Linda!" The beam snapped and the bridge tilted to its side and both of us were hanging on the rope and now another unstable beam was liable to break at any moment. Getting my wings running, I pulled away and slid underneath Limonade to catch her on my back. She got down and I strained to get altitude and finish reaching the other side. As we touched down, I collapsed and stayed there for awhile as I tried to sort through the pain in my wings and back from the exertion.

"Never again!" Limonade screeched at me, giving me time to gasp and nod furiously in agreement. After a moment of admiring life, we both got up and continued on our way. When we entered the first stone building, it had no roof, the sun shining down on the torn apart hall. Zecora was waiting for us in her cloak, her hood down so she could see us both.

"Quentin and a guest I have not seen, please introduce me to your friend of green," she spoke with seriousness, as she began walking up stairs and motioned us to follow. We started up the winding case of stairs and I kept seeing more signs of disrepair in the walls and stairs.

"This is Linda, she's one of the other friends that came with me in this world," I turned back to her and gave a comforting smile. "And she's my girlfriend that I'll take to a date that I promised to her." We reached the top and began crossing a wall walk and into another tower that had no exit. Zecora started walking around the walls and tapping it.

"This place has many secrets that no pony has been able to discover, it's because some of the ways are blocked by a magical buffer." She then motioned to us to come over and look at a segment of the wall, looking at it shown that it was an imprint of a human hand and in that hand was a hoof, "All of them requiring the touch of a human, one that has been in contact with Discord's plan."

"No freaking way," Limonade gasped, her hoof reaching out and pressing against the wall, expecting something to happen. When she pulled her hoof away, we stood in silence. "Is it broken?"

"He did say that we were all working for him now, so what could be missing?" I began thinking, back to the letter he sent to me, it did say that along with me that he contacted two of the others out of the four. So one of us had yet to see or hear him at all. "Linda, have you even seen Discord? Heard him?"

Limonade shook her head, "The only thing I know about him is what Marian told us last night in Sugarcube Corner about him. God of Chaos, ruled over Equestria, used humans as slaves, that's it." The wheels began turning in my mind, if Linda was the last one that Discord had yet to see or talk to, then that meant Richard and Marian were the other two that got to see him. So if Marian did see him, why didn't she tell us? Ignoring that problem, I instead placed my own hoof on the button and heard the sound of something moving. The tower started shaking as the floor revealed a slide the seemed to delve into a black nothingness.

"Anypony else thinking that it's a bad idea to go down there?" I asked, my body beginning to shiver as it did when I first noticed danger with the Timberwolves, leaning my head down to try and see further. Limonade poked her head on the other side and started whimpering.

"Down there is what I believe to be where your kind made plans of war," Zecora sat on the end where the slide began and gave us a confident smile. "The only way to be sure is see what's in store," with that she pushed off and started going down. Linda began shaking her head at me that she didn't want to go, standing beside her as my shivers started to diminish, I locked hooves with her and both of us jumped down on the slide and began the descent into the unknown.


***


Min Tea finally reached town, tears already forming as she reached the center of town and sat down. Discord had been whispering in her ear and keeping her eyes open to the torture. She wished to wretch and cleanse herself from these images of violence and hate, but relief wouldn't come. The only thing that could come was her words, the only thing that could save the town and perhaps make her nightmares go away.

"Ponies of Ponyville! Listen to my cry!" Min Tea screamed, making many in the town stop in their tracks as they watched the weeping mare. "You are all in grave danger! The world will be tore open like a scab and it will bleed out lava and plagues on you all! Your homes will not be safe for you, and running from the terror will only get you so far before it reaches you and tears your life away!" The town began murmuring to each other, some calling the mare crazy and needed to be locked away, others thought it was a really bad joke and ignored it. However Min Tea's tears kept flowing as she howled out in anger and pity.

"Don't ignore the signs! The first sign is the fall of the grand town of Canterlot and the end of the crowned princesses! The second sign is that the clouds will fade away, and with it Cloudsdale and its weather factory! The third sign will reveal the one who will have caused these problems and will choose six ponies to ride with him and face the Elements of Harmony! The final sign is that a dark rainbow will spread across the sky to signify that his plan has been completed, and Equestria will have fallen and never rise again!" Min Tea kept at her plea's, doing everything she could to warn the town. Her plea did manage to catch the attention of the purple unicorn she first met that was working on the teleporter and Applejack who kept alongside her.

"Min Tea, what has gotten into you? Are you being controlled?" Twilight went to use her magic to try and figure out who was behind the wailing mare and was shot back. An invisible barrier protected Min Tea from the magic and Twilight began to worry even more. Min Tea's eyes had lost any sign of white in them and looked as if they were just pure black as she stared at them all.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You'll all perish by Discord's agents and the Elements of Chaos, forced to burn in an eternity of pain and suffering forever." Twilight gasped as she heard Discord's name and a look of determination crossed her face, gripping Min Tea by the shoulders she looked into the black eyes and focused her power to try and reach out to Min Tea, causing sparks of energy to go in between them.

"Min Tea! I know you can hear me behind this guise! Discord is just using you! We will stop him! Please don't give in to him!" Twilight screamed, finally being forced away as she had to catch her breath. Min Tea's eyes stopped tearing up and she shook her head, "I'm only a Messenger. I carry the burden of Lord Discord's will and let his people know of what he wants to speak to them about. Leave me in peace to cry this message so that all may hear, and weep for the end as I am."

Min Tea went back to screaming her message out, leaving Twilight in shock. Applejack and Twilight looked at each other and ran off to the library. "Spike! Emergency Message to the princess! Get the lead out!" Spike watched as the two ponies entered and started pacing nervously as he got the parchment and ink out.

Celestia, a new face in town by the name of Min Tea has started crying out that Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and Ponyville are all in danger. She has a protective barrier around her that won't allow me to see who is controlling her, and her eyes are entirely black. Get the Elements prepared for myself and my friends, because Min Tea also mentioned that Discord is going to be behind the attacks. Please be wary about what is going to happen, because I believe, no, I know that she isn't lying to us about the fact that Equestria is going to fall.

-Faithful and Frightened Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Spike finished the message and lit the parchment on fire immediately to get the message to Celestia as soon as possible. Even he was feeling uneasy over the fact that Twilight had never been as panicked as this before. "Twilight, is it true? Discord is back?!" Twilight looked down at the dragon in worry and then looked away, not wanting to tell him the truth. Instead she looked over at Applejack and tried to breathe.

"I need you to help me find the girls as fast as possible, we need to get to Canterlot and be prepared right away before Discord can start his scheme." Twilight could already feel her hair becoming messy, time was of the essence and the clock was ticking way too fast. "I'll get Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, you get Rarity and Rainbow Dash, there's no time to waste."


***


Limonade and myself finally reached the bottom of the long slide and found ourselves in a large, well-lit rectangular dungeon lined with art, armor, weapons, books, large machines, and even stores of food. What made it even more perplexing was the fact that all of it looked untouched by age at all. There couldn't have been a reasonable explanation, not even Discord's magic could possibly be able to do something like this, right? All three of us gaped in wonder, Zecora more than us about the many objects that she crossed.

"All of these things, could it really have been true?" Zecora questioned quietly, cautiously handling some alchemical items. "All of the current technology we have, came from human's own hand we accrue?"

I started moving toward the armor, admiring the fact that steel and bronze were able to be made before our time on our current Earth. I was even impressed by the fact that there were little designs that lined its entirety and looked beautiful, when I looked over my shoulder I gave a gasp. "Limonade, come check this out." Limonade came over and we both stared at a large tapestry, a long history of what had to have been the Discordian War, even depicting Discord's fall at the Princesses hooves. But in the middle of it, was a picture, showing a yellow unicorn, an aquamarine unicorn, two lime green earth ponies, a gray pegasus, and an orange red pegasus, a streak of gray lines behind them. There was no detail behind them, just the outline and a fill of the color, but we knew what it was telling us.

"N-No way. Th-those can't be us! It's not possible!" Limonade backed away from the overpowering image and collapsed to the floor, still staring at what was a prophecy. Zecora had finally came over and looked at the shocking image as well, and all of us shook out of fear. This was planned, 10,000 years ago it was planned, and now we were going to be the fruition of a mad god's long wait.

I don't remember how long it was until I decided to do something about the tapestry itself, flying up to the top, I tore it with my teeth and brought the entire thing down, only revealing more horror at the hand written word of none other than Discord.

Hello to you all, or perhaps only one of you made it down here, I can't tell as I'm only in the early stages of my plan for the Aponylypse. I do know that Bait will be down here at the least, using a special contact with a certain zebra tribe that has protected this place from being reentered. A little gut feeling about a chance to help always gets them.

Step Two has undoubtedly already begun, but I need you to start working on Step Three, leaving. That's right, Bait. I would like you to escape from here, and I'll let you try and figure out a little riddle that one of my servants made to help you try and find the exit. I do hope that you are an intelligent one, otherwise this plan will never work.

Guess that's the risk a god takes to keep somepony away from saving a town from being taken over by his best friend.

The person who makes it, sells it. The person who buys it never uses it and the person who uses it doesn't know they are. What is it?

I felt like throwing up, Discord was going to use Richard to destroy Ponyville? I wasn't going to let the bastard get away with it! I went to go to the slide and fly up it in order to get out, but when I saw that the slide was gone, I was infuriated. "You piece of shit! Using my friend to get what you want?! Damn you!" I slammed into the wall where I knew the stairs were hiding and hammered against it until I lost feeling in my arms and fell to the ground, crying. I looked down at the watch, 3 days 10 hours 00 minutes 14 seconds 0 firsts. I still had time, why would he begin this plan so early if he said that the timer was connected to when his plan was to end?

I went back to the words that he wrote down, he did say that when he wrote this it was during the early stages of the creation of the plan, perhaps he didn't expect me to find this place so quickly. That however only made me more worried, if I was here early, then what if he had to shift the entire time in order to accommodate for it? Not only that, but the picture had two other ponies that I didn't know about besides Richard, if the picture was right, then he could either be an aquamarine or yellow unicorn or a gray pegasus.

"We need to figure out that riddle, and fast. Also try and gather as much gear together so when we figure out this thing, we can at least get suited up and ready to take Discord head on." I went towards the armor and found the pony gear, I started throwing out whole suits to the ground and moved towards the weapons, staffs, pikes, halberds, axes, maces, swords, all of it also thrown to the floor. I started moving around the room and throwing any item that may have been of use on the ground away from the walls and into small piles of organized messes.

I stopped at a small burial site in the wall and saw a skull of a human fall out and roll out to me, I hadn't stopped shaking ever since I pulled the artwork down. Zecora and Limonade had been looking at me as if I was crazy, I picked the skull up and threw it back at the walled coffin and watched as the skull shattered into a button in the wall and the feel of vacuumed air rush out. Could this have been another trick? Another ploy on my sanity? I turned to Zecora and Limonade, and went toward the armor, fitting on the steel on my legs and chest before sliding on two long spears in the holsters on my sides and went back to the cold entrance.

"I'm going to check this out, keep working on the riddle until I come back with either a way out or a dead end."
> The Bait has been Released
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Limonade and Zecora were slowly going through the items in the room, trying to find some clue to Discord's riddle. Limonade had begun to feel the annoyance of  the enclosed place, slowly becoming a tomb if they weren't able to escape in time. Limonade looked to the dark hole in the wall that Quick Fix had crawled into, worrying about what he was doing. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes and continued her prayer. Quentin had told her about his belief that there was never a god of any kind, that there was no heaven or hell, and that if they had died, then it was all over.

However, she believed that there was a god, a god that gave his son to Earth to die for her sins and the world's. Even now, as she had been thrown into another land, she still held on to that belief. People would mock her, but she knew that she never had to give up. She had to keep pressing on, and she would, no matter what.

"The person who makes it, sells it. The person who buys it never uses it and the person who uses it doesn't know they are." Limonade whispered, going back to her task, swearing that she was going to do everything she could to get them out, and to help Quentin in fighting against Discord. "All these things can be easily made and sold, but they can be used by whoever buys it!" She threw down a goblet in frustration, making it dent as it hit the floor. "The person using it doesn't even know? Then how can something that was bought, be unused by the buyer?"

"Could you give me a lift?" Zecora asked, letting Limonade push her higher and helped reach for a box that had a bow in it. "Perhaps the answer is a gift?" Zecora was set down and she opened the box to reveal prank snakes shooting out and startling them both. With the initial scare finished, the gift box exploded into air and left a message made from the dust before disappearing, "Wrong-O!"

Limonade gave a yell of frustration, and scuffed the floor, "Dumb Discord!" The room was already messing with her, and she could understand now why Quentin disliked the concept of such a being. She again looked over at the hole in the wall coffin and worriedly sighed, "Quick, I hope you're alright in there..."


***


"What was the line from 'The Breakfast Club'?" I asked myself as I had slowly been crawling forward in the confined stone, "Naked blonde walks into a bar with a poodle under one arm, and a two-foot salami under the other." I recognized the situation was easily similar to when Bender was crawling in the air ducts in the school and let the irony slip in with me. "The bartender says, I guess you won't be needing a drink. Naked lady says..." I reached out a hoof to push forward with and met nothing, now regretting letting said irony follow me.

"OH SHHHHIIIIII-!" I fell forward and got to see the first glimpses of light rapidly approach, and cracked my head against the stone. Instead of being welcomed with a concussion, or worse, I rolled forward and laid on the ground as I let the bump on my head well up. It wasn't as bad as having your ribs broken and then snapped back in place, but DAMN IT HURT. The cool air in the room had started becoming even colder, and I heard a little girl's voice call out. "Help meeee..."

Forcing myself up, I tried to shake off whatever cobwebs I had and tried to regain my focus, hearing the voice again, "Helllp meeee..." My eyes shot open and scanned the open room, hoping to see where that cry was coming from. The entirety of the cavern was lined in ice and I had noticed my breath had become visible, today was going to be my karmic retribution day. Yesterday, tons of luck. Today, I was liable to be frozen to death.

"Hello?" I called out, reaching for a spear on my right side and met nothing, turning I got to see that the weapon had broke during the landing. Turning to my left, I could see that the left side spear was at least somewhat usable still even though it was bent. Taking out that spear I pressed forward, not letting any crevice I passed without being glanced at in some way. The air kept getting colder as I continued, and soon met a wall of ice, and a dark shadow behind it.

"Heeelllp meeee..." The shadow moaned out, making me nervous. I played my video games with caution at all times, and this was a situation that I knew had to be taken care of without causing problems. I set my spear down and cautiously placed a hoof on the ice, getting a feel as to how thick it was.

"Can you hear me in there?" I yelled through, making the shadow shift back and then forward.

"Heeelllp meeee..." The girl's voice called out again, pleading now directly at me. I could feel a lot in what she moaned, sadness, loneliness, fear, it made me want to cry. I couldn't let my emotion cloud my judgement however, I had to be sure that this wasn't a trap. I had played enough to know that if I let something out calling out like that, then either I got haunted, or killed.

"What's your name? I'll help you if you tell me your name." I answered back, hoping not to hear those words again.

"Luuunnnaaa..." The voice called out, I closed my eyes and started thinking things through, there indeed was somepony back there, and something made this wall to keep her in there. Gripping the spear, I threw it away and took a few steps from the wall and formed a plan. Using my wings to propel forward, I twisted and bucked the wall, making it crack. From the crack came a sound similar to a whinny, but was also akin to wind blowing. Something else was in there as well, and I knew if I made another buck, the wall was going to go down and the shadow named Luna and whatever else was in there were going to be freed.

"Is there something else in there with you, Luna?!" I yelled out, the shadow now looking as it was shrinking away.

"Yesss, Wendigo..." Luna cried out, now weakly. I wiped my snout and went to the spear I had, whoever this Wendigo was, I didn't trust it. With another speeding buck and rushing back to the spear, I watched as the crack soon broke the wall of ice down, revealing... an empty room. I bashed myself in the head, I must've released some freak of nature out into the world. Considering that this was in connection to Discord's secret stash room, I may have only irritated the plan to proceed faster. My frustration however was greeted by stairs that ascended in the empty icy room. This was the way out, every other area that I could see were all dead ends except that one.

Still hanging on to the spear, I moved into the room and felt a presence in it. Looking above it was an icy blue, transparent horse that circled above, making the sound of the whinnying wind. And it didn't look happy at all. From it's circle it shot down at me and I had barely managed to avoid the dive bomb. Hoping to shove my spear into it, I found out that it was covered in ice and had even encompassed some of my hoof as well. I had to run, to get back to Limonade and Zecora. More importantly to perhaps something to fight this thing with.

Taking a deep inhale, I felt that I was choking on something. As if a bug had managed to get shot up my throat and wouldn't get out, in fact it felt like it got bigger inside me, making me unable to breathe. I tried to cough up whatever it was, and was greeted to a sight of night blue and white spots coming from my mouth that faded away. It didn't alleviate the choking and now sudden pounding of my head, I did manage to get one breath of air before I yelled as loudly as I could from the pain as the Windigo charged forward at my stiff body.


***


Zecora's ears twitched as she and Limonade heard a scream come from the coffin area, both of them recognizing the sound. "It's Quentin!" Limonade screamed, grabbing an axe and rushing towards the open coffin hole and shuffling forward as fast as she could.

"Wait, Linda! You don't know what is down there! Don't rush off and die, you stupid mare!" Zecora grabbed a staff and followed Limonade, hoping to try and stop her from doing something idiotic. The two managed to make record time, sliding down the hole and into the cavern. Limonade had already ran over to Quick Fix, who was lying on the ground and convulsing furiously. Limonade tried to calm Quick Fix, running her hoof through his hair.

"Quentin, I'm here, I'm here." Limonade whispered, watching his eyes shoot around furiously, his body was cold. She tried looking for anything that could be done to warm him up, and noticed the stairs. "That must be the way out! We need to get Quentin out, right now!" Limonade found herself, forcing herself to picking up Quick Fix with her neck and on her back, feeling all of the dead weight on her. It didn't stop her from taking slow steps towards the stairs, and eventually being helped by Zecora, who had pulled some of Quick Fix on her own back and the two of them began to ascend the stairs toward freedom.


***


I found myself floating around in black space again, figuring to myself that I was going to have to get used to it since my head was already damaged enough as is. This time however, I was looking at somepony else that was there with me, a little dark blue filly with wings and a horn was just hanging, watching me. "Uhm... hi?" I weakly opened up, watching the filly give me a smile.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought I'd never get out," she cutely yelled. I was melted butter, looking at the filly bounce around me and rolling around. I did show a little concern however as to why she was here, was she a ghost? An illusion? Some really cute alternate version of me that I had just made up? "I'm none of those, Quentin! I'ma queen!"

A-yep, I was dealing with another mind reader, oh goodie. I kept watching the filly go around me, making me wonder as to what exactly she really was. "You can't be a queen, unless the title of queen can be passed down to babies... And that's just..." I paused, forgetting that I was in a different place, with its own rules, its own government, and its own annoyances.

"Like Discord! The big meanie!" Luna chirped up, making me now stop enjoying her little runarounds of me and rub my eyes. "I don't like him either, he brought humans into Equestria and made my other fall in love with one." The filly seemed to spurt up a few inches taller as she spoke, her voice also slightly changing to accommodate for it. "And when her sister killed them, she came to me for support. And now she's lost me. All because of the Elements." She flapped her wings and looked me in the eye, "I need to be back to her, because without me, she could do so much damage to herself. Will you help me?"

I started seeing images, specifically, Canterlot Castle, two alicorns, one white with multiple colors in her mane that flowed on its own, the other the same color as Luna. The focus was now on the night blue alicorn as she slowly transformed, her color turning black, her mane becoming long and flowing, but dark blue and with white dots that resembled stars, even armor had formed on her hooves and she gained a chestplate. The entire time she was crying, and then she looked over at me, and smiled evily.

The smile forced me to awaken on the backs of Limonade and Zecora, making me fall off and slide down a few stairs. I gripped a step before I continued my descent and looked up at the two mares that were leading me out of the frozen wasteland. My head still hurt like a sonofabitch, this time, not from the bump, but from the fact that I was being haunted by something calling itself Luna. "Quentin, are you okay?!" Limonade came to pick me up, and I found myself slapping her helping hoof away.

"We are fine," I angrily scowled before blinking and feeling the shivers take over. We were in danger somehow, but I didn't know from what. I looked up at Limonade and shown her my fear, and in a confirmation to it, came a sound of whinnying wind from below us. "Move!" I yelled, gripping both mares in my open arms and started flying up the stairs, causing my muscles to strain from the effort I forced myself to endure to escape the windigo that now began chasing us and bringing a cold death for us all.

"A Windigo! Creature of hate," Zecora had managed to turn her head to see the incoming beast and then to us. "What sort of coffin did you desecrate?!" I kept pushing, ignoring all feeling in me to give up, the creature now breathing down on me, making me catch light layers of frost that slowly began to solidify around me. Looking up the stairs I could see sunlight, knowing that we all couldn't make it as is, I gave a heavy push to Zecora and Limonade and gripped the windigo in a head lock, feeling the cold take over my entire body and the ice now encompassing me.

"I'll hold it off! Get out of here!" I yelled, the ice now covering it and soon the rest of me. However, the windigo started howling in pain from my selfless act and started trying to shake me off. Somehow I was hurting it, and it wasn't happy at all about it. From my icy prison, I saw Limonade and Zecora run for the exit and now tried to make my own escape with whatever energy I could muster up. "We need us to survive," I heard in my head, the filly from before was talking to me. "We can offer little, but it will be enough." With that, my body lit up with heat, my muscles had grown larger and the windigo was now whining louder in pain.

Taking the strength in me now, I forced open the ice that surrounded me and hit the ground. The windigo running away from me back to its cavern of darkness as I had begun laughing. "That's right! You don't mess with us and our power!" I found myself saying, sounding as a mix of the filly's voice and my own. I wanted to question it, I wanted to figure out why that was the case. A melting piece of ice reflected at me, prompting me to move towards it, my hoofsteps heavier than before. Reaching the ice, I reacted with surprise, I was taller, my mane seemed to be longer and more... airy? The armor I had been wearing as well now had a prominent etching of a quarter moon on it.

"This is our gift of power," we said aloud. Talking now seemed as if it was taken away from me, as if whenever I wanted to speak for myself, now I was talking as if I had somepony else with me. "It will pass, watch." I felt the energy lifted away from me, as if somepony had injected me with enough sedative to keep me awake, but barely able to move. With the energy gone, I went back to the reflection, and I was back to normal. Well, about as normal as a guy turned pegasus anyway. "We are so weak, Quentin," Luna whispered in my mind, making me feel bad along with the tiredness that had now fell on me. "Please get us back to our other..."

With that she stopped, I felt as if my mind was now no longer occupied by the filly and I was with myself again. I looked over at the doorway to freedom and the amount of stairs to it, making me give an upset sigh.

I hate karma.


***


Tyrone had now reached Ponyville, to the shock of many ponies that seemed to have forgotten that he was the Diamond Dog that was at the party that was held last night. Tyrone stopped and tried to look for Min Tea, as per his Beta's orders. He ran from place to place, scaring many ponies as they were running from the behemoth as he went about his plans. "Tyrone, over here!"

Tyrone's ears perked up and looked over to see Rainbow Dash, who was waving at him to come to her. Tyrone went over to Dash and saw that Min Tea was being surrounded by medical ponies, each with a needle or rope. Tyrone saw one of the medics stick a needle into Min Tea who screamed in pain, making him jump to action. Swatting away a few of the medics, he reached down to Min Tea and heard a loud bang. A sharp pain hit his back and he howled in pain, ignoring it however, he picked up the now sleeping Min Tea and started to run away, hoping to get away and get Min Tea to Beta.

His run managed to get him to a park, as his steps had become out of synch with each other and he fell, feeling tired. Looking back at where the pain was, he saw a needle poking in it and pulled it out. His breaths becoming heavy as he looked up to the nearest thing he could see, sitting on a bench in front of them. "He- He- Help." Succumbing to the drug that now went through him.

"Lyra? What are you doing?!" The creme colored pony asked, as her aquamarine friend slipped off the bench. "That's a Diamond Dog! You can't trust them!"

"Well, this is a pony," Lyra snapped back, showing concern for the lime green pony with glasses that was on the ground. "You may think I'm different for believing in humans, but I haven't changed my heart." Lyra picked up the pony with her magic and started to take her away. "Come on, let's get this pony to a hospital, Bon Bon, she looks terrible." Bon Bon watched as her friend began carrying the unknown pony away and gave an exasperated sigh, if it wasn't humans on her mind, it was her sense of being there for every event for support, even if one just fell in front of her in the arms of a Diamond Dog.


***


Radiant awoke from his slumber, now in a lavish room with two guards that watched him as he went from the bed and looked out a window. He was very high up, so the thought of escape through a window was out of the question. His attention shifted to the guards, calculating what he could do to knock them out and begin walking towards the garden where his master waited for him. Looking back out the window, he still saw the sun was up, so he decided to wait longer before proceeding. He had been struggling against Discord's handle on him, but he finally relented.

Discord wasn't evil, he was just like him, like all of his friends. He hated kissass ponies that would hide behind titles and money as he did. He hated self righteous bigots that hid behind religion and faith to carry them through as if they were constantly in a holy war, the same thing he believed. The both of them also hated being held captive for doing nothing wrong, for being betrayed by what they had believed to be trusting ponies. All that Discord wanted was control, the same thing that he was looking for.

Looking out beyond the castle gardens, Radiant Radar could see the other towns surrounding Canterlot as if they were leeches, picking up the fallen scraps of what Canterlot threw away. He couldn't wait to make this castle fall, and show all of these ponies that he had believed to be loving and kind that everything needed to change. The monarchy. The control of the rich. The power of the corrupt. Everypony that would stand against Discord, his loving master and future ruler of Equestria.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


YOINK! Gotcha writing piece again! Calm down, Bait, it won't be for a moment.

So, there I was, waking up from the gardens and getting myself set for Step Two, when I saw this smoke flying through the sky. Figuring it was something that was important, I shot up and intercepted it, and you know what? IT WAS! It was a note to the dear Princess Celestia from her loyal subject and student, Twilight Sparkle. I regard Twilight with some of the highest regards, kind of like you Bait, she's one of those 'I won't give up until I've lost everything' kind of unicorn. In fact, when she actually came back from my spell that I had placed on her, I was genuinely surprised, because as I said before, ponies are easy to control and keep in control, but she managed to fight it off.

It's the little failures in life that keep you going.

Giving the mail a once over, I had a good feeling it was going to be a good day. You and Trigger were over in the Everfree, no doubt heading towards my old base of operations. Messenger was yelling, screaming, moaning, doing it all in the center of Ponyville and making everypony there feel awkward. Conquest was nice and cozy in Canterlot Castle, being watched over by guards that were plenty mad about having to watch over something as insignificant as a unicorn that could barely do magic.

Of course, when you are a god of chaos that deals with magic, you can give anypony an immediate graduation slip in magic school when you have me as a tutor. I am that good, look me up, 'D.S. Chord, Tutor for hire, payments as small as your sanity.' How do you think Starswirl the Bearded got so competent in magic anyway?

I stood there for a moment, crumpling up the paper and eating it for breakfast. I was forgetting something... but I couldn't remember what it was. I had you four to help take over Equestria and bring about the Aponylypse, I was ready to bring down Canterlot Castle and have the first official sign of the end times happen, but I was forgetting something. I started counting out the amount of Elements of Harmony, as they too were necessary in my scheme.

"1, Loyalty, Conquest. 2, Honesty, Messenger. 3, Kindness..." I paused, neither Trigger or Bait fit that bill, Trigger may have been close, but I couldn't have placed her there. I decided to skip to the next Element, "4, Generosity..." Another pause, again the same predicament. Forcing myself to skip another of the Elements I continued, "5, Laughter, Trigger. 6, Magic, Bait."

I ran through the list again, each element had to connect in someway to my recruits, Loyalty to Conquest for his steadfast nature in his world, not bending against his bosses that wanted to fire Bait and paid the price for it. Honesty to Messenger, because of how she was about the facts and nothing more. Laughter to Trigger, because she kept an air of aloofness, not as much as Pinkie, and she didn't have the out of control power that Equestria gave her counterpart, so I had to make do. And finally Magic to Bait.

I'm already hearing the call for foul, and I'll debate you for it. You see, If Magic is equal to Friendship, and Bait was a very friendly individual to be around, then Bait's friendship is equal to Magic. Or rather what I really wanted, the opposite, Power. Ah, see? Allllll makes sense now doesn't it? I can't believe I have to be 'logical' to you people in order for you to comprehend what's going on here. Can't you just figure this out on your own? Do you need Daddy Discord to hold your hand to the bus?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Daddy? Can you hold my hoof to the bus?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


No, Screw Ball, I'm talking with the kind on the other end of the screen right now. Daddy's got to help Bait with this story and then we can all go out for Snow Cubes, preferably the kind that has that grape flavor that actually tastes like cherries...

Oh, darn it. I've lost my train of thought again, I shouldn't have put it back on the tracks. It just goes off wherever it pleases by that point.

Okay, so I was talking about the fact I was missing two ponies for my plan, Kindness and Generosity. So that meant I had the right to start panicking on the spot. I didn't have power to go into the human world and pick out two more! I barely had enough to find Bait and Conquest, and just got lucky on Trigger and Messenger. My plan was going to bomb at the end of it, because I was missing two ponies that weren't part of the normal lifestyle of Equestria.

However, as if a sign from the heavens that responded to my great woe, a gray pegasus came flying overhead and bashed into the castle wall, causing multiple letters to fly out of her bag. It was the same pegasus I used to send the message to Bait! While she tried to pick up her letters, I kept my eye on her right eye, and the other eye on her left. I pulled on my beard in thought, I could use this pony. The question then became if she was generous or kind, and then I'd have a fifth member to initiate.

"Got 'em!" She happily said, going out to the guards and presenting them multiple letters, some for the princesses, some for the guards in their barracks, and even a little letter to the garden keeper.

"Thanks kindly, Derpy!" The garden keeper said, as Derpy flew off and then stopped in her place. I had been following her around, slowly leaning towards Kindness for this one.

"Okay, now that I finished the mail, I need to go to Carrot Top and help her with some of her farm work. Then... Ooh! I'll go to Carousel Boutique and ask Rarity if she is ready for me to model for her next line of designs!" The gray pegasus sped off, and now I was conflicted. That goofy pegasus sure was generous enough with her time, so does that even count towards kindness?

So, I made a resolve to myself, regardless of whatever Element I'd put her in, she was going to be an agent too. And now, came the hard part, the name. So I settled with Wild Card. Not original, but I had to make something up on the fly.

Each name had a meaning, a reminder to myself mostly as to what they were supposed to be doing. After a brief check over the rest of the team, I saw that Messenger was being moved into a hospital, another thing that I had not taken into consideration into my plan. Already things were unraveling, and I was enjoying it. Now, I did notice that aquamarine unicorn that was taking her was taking exceptionally good care of my fallen Messenger, and was getting hassled by some other pony.

"Her too," I checked off the sixth agent on the unicorn and again went to the list. I had, two unicorns, two earth ponies, two pegasi. I hit the nail on the head for the appropriate team needed, now to get them in the right places though. I decided to give the agent name, Plan B, again unoriginal, I know. And so, I began a game of 'Stalk the Pony', and decided to keep track of what was going on with them, starting with the unicorn.


***


I managed to get out of the boxed cavern and entered back into the Everfree Forest, Limonade and Zecora waiting for me. They kept me from falling over in exhaustion as we all went towards a resting place that consisted of a willow tree and a lake. After we had all started to catch our breath, I took the armor off of me, leaving the suit I still had on and really tired muscles. I kept falling in and out of sleep, wanting to rest, but forcing myself awake to keep focused on Discord's plan.

"After a trip like that, we're all not great," Zecora finally mentioned as she reached into her cloak and pulled out two flasks of blue liquid and handed them to myself and Limonade. "Drink this, and it will help you reinvigorate." I swallowed the warm medication and continued to gasp for air, hopefully this equivalent to Ibuprofen would kick on soon, because we were going to go back and get some of the supplies in that room.
> The Fall of Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"You're WHAT?!" Limonade screamed at me, forcing me to cover my ear from the high pitched pain. "You are not going back in there! Not while I have a say in it!"

"We're not going to fight Discord empty hooved," I responded, trying to shrug off whatever remaining pains I still had in me, "and that place is the closest thing we got to a freaking armory." I turned my attention back to the fallen castle in the back and then to Limonade again. "Linda, you're going to need to trust me. Get to town, get to Marian, get to whoever you can to help, I want to at least get stocked up and get these ponies ready to take him down."

"What are you going to even do, Quentin?" Limonade asked me, concern making me choke slightly. "We're dealing with a god, and you want to get sticks to poke him with?" I tried to keep myself from shouting at Linda, an angry grimace on my face as I shut my eyes and paced in front of her. "You're not a hero, Quentin! Why risk your life for something like this? We should be more worried about getting out of here!"

"He has my best friend!" I yelled out, the stress finally breaking my demeanor, "He is going to use him to destroy a town that I just began to like and then turn to us to cause more problems!" My eyes opened and I gripped onto Limonade's shoulders, "I am not going to let him take away anymore from me, he can take me out of Earth, he can degrade and humiliate me, but when he said in that message that he's going to use Richard for annihilating a town, I take that as a personal insult! I'm not losing anypony else," with that I hugged Linda, the fear of losing my love to Discord pushing through my voice, "I won't let him take you."

Pulling away, I turned to the castle and began to head back, only pausing to look behind me at Linda and Zecora before lifting my wings and going back to the entrance tower to Discord's war room.


***


Lyra Heartstrings entered the hospital with the pony that was carried in the arms of a Diamond Dog, she recognized her as one of the three ponies that got a large party from Pinkie Pie last night. She knew that she had to be a friend of the orange-red pegasus that danced on two legs, so perhaps this was the entrance she needed to talk with him. Perhaps ask how he was able to do a lot of moves similar to the kind that was rumored to have not existed at all.

The books of Canterlot's library reached deep into the history of the past. Each book she had used to find a hint for their existence kept leading her into the long ago Discordian Wars. It did seem to make sense, humans were considered an old relic of pain and torment, so they disappeared when Discord had fallen for the first time. Lyra knew better however, each modern convention they had was helpful, each a tool that made life better instead of worse.

"Can I help you?" Nurse Sweetheart asked, tending to her duty behind the reception desk. When she turned her eyes up to Lyra, she gave a gasp to the pony that she had been carrying. The lime-green earth pony she had brought in was dehydrated, and needed attention straight away. "Where'd this pony come from in order to get to this bad of condition?" She placed a hoof on the comm and pulled the microphone up to her lips, "Will Redheart and Coldheart please come to the front desk, straight away!"

The pink mare ran from behind the counter and towards an available stretcher, pushing it towards Lyra who put the lime-green pony on it. "She just ran up to me and collapsed," she said, trying not to look like she was lying. If she told the truth about the Diamond Dog, she wouldn't know what would happen to the pony.

"Does she have a name?" Sweetheart asked, pulling a clipboard out and writing out as much information as she could from Lyra.

"I don't remember," Lyra answered honestly. "All I can remember was that she was a new face in Ponyville and she was one of the guests of honor at Pinkie's party last night." Sweetheart still wrote heavily into the clipboard when the pony that was brought in sat up immediately and opened her eyes, showing that they were entirely black.

"The first sign has begun," she rasped out before collapsing back onto the stretcher again. When she hit the bed, a loud BANG rang outside that seemed to shake all of Ponyville. Sweetheart began pushing the stretcher into the back, to both prep the exhausted patient and check if any of the other patients may have been affected by the rumbling blast. Bon Bon ran into the hospital and shook Lyra who stood in shock, not noticing the sound of muffled laughter of Discord in the vents.

"Lyra!" Bon Bon pointed towards Canterlot Castle, a plume of smoke spewing from a high tower and the sight of yellow light shooting out occasionally from the castle itself. "We need to tell the town about this! The princesses may be in danger!"


***


"Somepony call the Magic Fleet! We can't hold this unicorn o-!" A blast of yellow energy pierced into the guard shouting orders and he collapsed into an unconscious slump on the floor.

"We need to retreat to the entrance way! Delta team on me! We'll hold him off!" Shining Armor called out as he began to charge into the flurries of energy rocking magic. He soon managed to reach the supercharged Radiant Radar, his body giving out crackles of energy around him. Using his own magic, the two pushed against their forces and now struggled to not get blown away.

Radiant Radar's eyes were purely black, looking at them they seemed to let off a fog of emptiness. "Do you like bananas, Armor?" He spoke, deep and evil, making Shining Armor wince only once before being thrown out a window from the castle. Radiant Radar continued his slow trek through the hall, ending resistance pony by pony until he reached the main hall.

Stopping where he was. he leaned down in a bow towards the stained glass picture depicting Discord's reign. "I claim this castle by the right of Lord Discord, and am proud to be his servant to the end times." Radiant Radar stood and continued to the entrance where he knew the Elements of Harmony lie, knowing that with them, he would gain power from the very essence of the Element of Loyalty.


***


The train was still on the way to Canterlot, Twilight could only watch in shock as her mentor's castle began to collapse. All of them did. Rarity had begun crying, not dramatically as she would normally do, but genuinely. Pinkie Pie's smile was gone entirely, and her normally puffy hair had gone down. Fluttershy had her back turned from seeing the town, softly crying. Applejack had punched the window in frustration, making it crack. From further away, as Rainbow Dash had begun trying to catch up to the girls, she had stopped. Seeing the destruction unfold and ponies running out of the gates in fear from afar.

In the train, Applejack had begun to punch the seat in front of her, it was empty, but to her it wouldn't have mattered. "CONSARN IT! Why can't this train go faster?!"

"It's falling," Pinkie sadly remarked, seeing a tower break off and start going down the mountain. "And there's nothing we can do..."

"This isn't fair..." Rarity choked out from her sobs, seeing the once beautiful town slowly crumble in front of her eyes.

"Princess..." Twilight worriedly whispered, not seeing Celestia's chariot leading her out of the castle to safety.

From the far cloud, Rainbow Dash beat on her chest once and gave a battle roar before speeding towards the castle to fight off whoever was in there. Anger took over her judgement as she crashed through a stain glass window and stood in front of Radiant Radar, who now held onto the box with the Elements inside. With Dash's incredible speed, she bucked Radiant in the face and forced him to drop the box. Taking the Element of Loyalty and affixing it to her neck, she looked over at the now bruised face of the would-be thief.

"You are too late, Element of Loyalty," his menacing voice coldly lashed at Rainbow Dash. He revealed his own necklace, the Element of Distrust. A simple chain wrapped around his neck, the pendant resembling the radar as his cutie mark. "The end of Equestria has already begun, and when the second sign has appeared, there will be three more that will rival your harmonious power that will be revealed to the world. The box you now have will only serve as a false sense of security."

"Shut up!" Rainbow Dash gave a large kick to Radiant's chest and in turn was hit in the back of the head with a section of the stone wall, used by the unicorn's magic. Trying to recover she noticed that the wall was now being used to attempt to crush her. With a gasp, she barely dodged the projectile and watched as it shattered on the floor. Using the time she now had, she went to the box with the Elements of Harmony and made a run for the window. The room that they were both in was collapsing, and she had turned to see that the unicorn was staring at her with his blackened eyes and the room fell down on him.

She flew in front of the now blocked window for a moment, trying not to heave about what had happened. Holding the box of Elements in her hooves she descended to the castle gates and sat there. Unsure of what to do, or where her friends were.


***


Going down the slide again, I went straight for anything resembling a pack, or bag, or anything I could safely carry without accidentally impaling myself with something. Settling with what seemed to be a large sturdy bag, I picked out some choice weaponry, leather-like armor, a bunch of books that had the word 'Explosive' on it in some form, and a good lunch as I was hungry as all could be. Taking a bite of bread, I looked over at the fallen tapestry again, still shaken by how surreal it was that Discord was able to make a plan of this magnitude and know who he was going to pick. I still gave a kick at the fabric, upset that it didn't show a clue as to what his next step was so I could be prepared.

Turning to the coffin again, I made a check on my bag to see for absolutely sure that it didn't have some hole in it. This would be a bad time for a tear to appear when I would ascend the long staircase again. Tearing off some of the tapestry and finding a large stick, I made sure to wrap it up tightly. Going to some of the buckets and opening lids, I found liquid and gave a good whiff. It smelled flammable, whatever it was. Praying it was, I dumped the fabric wrapped end of the stick and pulled it up. Setting it down, I looked for something to light the thing and found a convenient flint piece and what looked to be it's mate, a slightly charred piece of metal.

After some unsuccessful attempts to create a spark, eventually I was able to light up the torch. If that Windigo was going to pull something with me, I was going to make sure that he kept away. With  the theme song of Skyrim going through my mind proudly as I came down the pathway and towards the hole I had first fallen down from, I managed to reach perfect unison of me hitting the ground with my bag, looking face to face with the Windigo again. Lifting the lit torch up in front of my face, I yelled "FUS RO DAH!"

I don't know if it was the shock of my fearless attitude or the confusion about me yelling at it in a weird tongue, but it flew off, this time far away from the staircase and just sat down watching me. "Yeah, recognize this face? I'll bet." I smugly spoke, shifting the large bag back on my back. That reminds me, I really do need to finish that game...

Getting to the stairs I went up slowly, not wanting to overexert myself more than I already have. However, this was going to be worth doing a double trip, we now had a base of operations... kind of... We had a way to protect ourselves, finally, and we were going to take Discord down with medieval weapons.

It was at least a start in the right direction, although I was kind of upset that we as humans in this world couldn't have made GUNS. There was plenty of gunpowder and other ingredients, but I didn't know how to use them. "Perhaps Zecora could figure something out? She is the alchemy expert..." I found myself saying aloud and now outside the willow tree and lake again. I set down the bag and sat down to rest again, the lack of sleep from last night's excursion with Trixie and poison joke finally breaking my ability to keep my eyes open. I didn't want to sleep, but my eyes refused to listen to anything my head had to tell them. Resigning to the immanent nap ahead of me, I began to develop my own plan to capture and potentially kill the bastard that was using Richard as a scapegoat.


***


"You've been hiding swords in my house!" Bon Bon screamed, throwing a pot at Lyra and forcing her to duck. "What kind of irresponsible pony would even give you a sword!"

"Bon Bon, please," Lyra pleaded, trying to keep an eye on the mad pony. "It was for my research, I swear!" She held up the sword now, hoping to keep any other projectiles at bay.

"RESEARCH?! YOU ARE USING A DEADLY WEAPON AS RESEARCH ON HUMANS?!" Bon Bon threw a head of lettuce at Lyra, who managed to slice the deadly vegetable before it came at her head. "It's like every time I turn my head away from you, you present me with more..." Bon Bon tried to find a word to say and eventually just settled for screaming.

"It doesn't matter at this point," Lyra set the sword on the table and tried to wipe off the lettuce juice with a rag. "My research won't mean a thing if what's being told around is true," Lyra closed her eyes, she swore that in her research into humans there was some sort of mention about something like this happening, but she couldn't remember from where. "The end of Equestria..." She whispered, letting the realization get to both her and Bon Bon. "We need to find him."

"Who?" Bon Bon asked, looking into Lyra's determined eyes, swearing that they weren't as bright as before.

"The pegasus from last night, he has something to do with this, I'm sure of it!" Lyra took the sword with her, back outside to Ponyville, all over the town was panic. She set the weapon on her shoulder with her magic and went back into the hospital, the lounge now filled with worried ponies that were injured from the explosive force in some way. Lyra pushed past the crowd and into the waiting halls, Bon Bon catching up to her as they both walked past closed doors and towards a room that had the name of 'Jane Doe' on the side.

"Lyra, what are we doing back here?" Bon Bon asked frightfully, unsure of what was possessing Lyra to act as if she was on a mission. Lyra opened the door and the two looked in on the sleeping lime-green pony with glasses.

Lyra tapped the sword on her shoulder and looked over at Bon Bon, the same determined look that she had before. "Answers, Bon Bon. We're here for answers."


***


Ditzy had finished her work out at Carrot Top's farm and had been munching on a few things from her kitchen. Hopefully she would understand, it had been a long day for both of them. She hadn't noticed Canterlot had been under attack, and the shake she had only figured was The Doctor returning from one of his many trips. Carrot Top came inside her home and slammed the front door in a panic. "Derpy!"

Ditzy gave a sigh, "I'm sorry, Carrot Top, I emptied your fridge."

Carrot Top shook her head, fear in her eyes. "I'm not worried about that! Canterlot is blowing up outside, and you're just sitting here acting like you can't see it!" Derpy gave an angry look at Carrot Top for the unappreciated joke at her eyes before shifting her attention to the window and gasping.

"Carrot Top! Canterlot is blowing up!" Carrot Top closed her eyes in frustration and took a breath before saying another word.

"You're going to need to get back home, if what I have heard from rumors, there was a green pony screaming that Canterlot was going to fall, and then Cloudsdale was next." Derpy gave a gasp, if Cloudsdale was going to fall, that meant the weather of Equestria was going to be entirely out of whack! And not only that, but Cloudsdale was where she kept her stuff! They can't blow up someplace that had her stuff in it!

"Why did the Doctor have to go on a solo mission now?!" Derpy Hooves shot up from the couch and out the door of Carrot Top's house, opening her wings and going off to Cloudsdale. When she entered a large grouping of dark clouds she got yanked down by unseen claws, and into the arms of Discord.

Tapping her head gently, hopefully to not get the full effect on her, Discord began to whisper in her ear. "Find the one I call Bait, and lead the Elements of Harmony to him."

With that, he let the pegasus go and faded back into the cloud cover. With a confirmed fading of her blonde mane that shot back to its normal color, Ditzy's eyes opened. Both eyes now normal and with no shine in them. A mission now placed in her mind, after she would go to Canterlot, she would find the orange-red pegasus and bring him to the Elements of Harmony.


***


"Don't you dare let me go, Zecora!" Limonade screeched, giving away her fear of falling down the cliff face. Reaching the bridge again, they had both agreed it was the only way across. However, Zecora had to keep a hold of Limonade's tail as she reached down to the snapped piece of the support beam. Limonade grabbed the broken piece of support and tried to pull herself up again. Zecora kept a tight grip on the tail until Limondae was holding the rope taut. Zecora pulled out her staff and jammed it into the ground, giving a few pulls to make sure it didn't bend.

"This will hold for the time being," Zecora said as she prepared to step onto the bridge to cross one last time. "No more walking on this bridge, is what I'm foreseeing." Limonade gave a shake of her head before screaming as she ran from the one edge of the cliff towards the other, her eyes shut to the fear and unknowingly rushing over the river. As if by law she had to complete the gag, she opened an eye and looked down at the river before making a KASPLOOSH into the running water.

"Hello again," the excited sea dragon cried out, pulling Limonade from the water and she looked up at her bobbed hair and noticed it had completely flattened. "Oh dear, your mane..." The purple sea dragon carefully flicked the hair in front of Limonade's eyes up and watched it flop back down.

"Don't have time for the lesson on maintaining hair right now," Limonade spoke, letting out whatever remaining water spill out of her mouth. "I need to get to town and get some help."

"Help? What possibly for? Is it about that castle?" The sea dragon lifted Limonade up to see the Canterlot Castle had been almost eradicated and she nervously gulped.

"Absolutely."

The sea dragon set Limonade back on the other side and also the same with Zecora. "Well, I won't get in your way."

"Wait a moment," Limonade held up a hoof, stopping the descending sea dragon. "I'm going to bring a lot of other ponies to the other side, and the bridge is way too dangerous to cross again. Do you know if there's another crossing point we could use?"

The sea dragon put a claw through his mustache in thought, "There isn't really another path that I know of, but I do know of somepony that I could get to take a look at it for you. Perhaps improve it a little more, I always thought it needed a more modern design really..." With that last piece of thought out of the way, he shot down into the water, disappearing from sight. Zecora and Limonade gave a shrug to each other and continued on their way out of Everfree Forest.


***


"Rainbow Dash," Twilight called out to her slumped over friend, holding the designed box of the Elements of Harmony. Dash looked up at Twilight and the rest of her friends coming up to her. "How did you get the Elements? Was it because of Celestia? Is she alive?"

"I- I don't know. I may have killed a pony..." Rainbow Dash said with regret, making the group feel uneasy. "It was a unicorn, and he had these eyes... those eyes..." She closed her own eyes to try and fade away the image she saw before he got crushed by the walls of the castle. The entire town had been evacuated to Ponyville to recuperate from the disaster. No sign of the Princesses of the sun or moon were found, as if they had vanished. However, the sun continued to fall as if it was still in control, so no pony believed that they would have died.

"Well, if that's true, then we should need to worry about any more damage caused to Canterlot." Twilight tried to mention positively, her eyes watching over the once proud castle now turned to rubble. From the light that now began to fall over the horizon, she caught the sight of a golden glint. With immediate speed, she ran past Rainbow Dash and into the stone remnants. Stopping at the sight she saw, she lifted a golden crown up with her magic, the crown of Princess Celestia. "Celestia! Please give me a sign you're still alive!"

In response, a bubble of rock rose and rolled off a protective bubble of energy. Within the bubble was Celestia and Luna, both of them looking to be in bad shape. The Elements all ran over to the fallen princesses and began to help them up from their downed states. "Th-That human... He's unnatural," Celestia gasped out, trying to get a stable foothold as she was led out.

"Where is thine, fowl beast?" Luna questioned, horn alight and ready to attack. "He has seeked the wrath of the Princess of Night, and we shalt end his existence!" A large rumble and a column of yellow light shot from the underground, rising from it was an untouched Radiant Radar, who put his hooves down on the stone and looked over at the group.

"Nary a thing wilt touch me, Night Princess. Thine castle walls are only one of four signs of the end." With that, a bubble of magic surrounded him and began to expand. Soon the fallen castle and the gates were covered in the magic, Radiant on the other side still watching the fearful group. "For the rest of you, you're time will be better spent asking for forgiveness of your new master that will rise from this broken castle and tear this world asunder." With that, he winked away, the group unsure where the unicorn had disappeared to.

"Let's go into Ponyville," Celestia sounded, trying to regain her resolve. "I can at least comfort my little ponies in the fact that I am still alive, and perhaps tell them of this battle we all now have to face."

As they went to leave, Derpy came down in front of them. "Thank goodness I found you," she said, looking over the damage behind the intrepid heroes. "The pegasus, Quick Fix, has ran off from town, he's behind the attack and also working for Discord! I heard him talking to him!" The group looked over at Derpy, seeing the seriousness in her eyes.

"He couldn't be," Applejack spoke up. "He may be a little weird, but he's one of the kindest and most trusting ponies I have seen in some time."

"It's true!" Derpy responded, looking hurt that she wasn't being believed. "He was talking about humans with Discord and I ran off to find anypony that would believe me!"

"This situation is getting out of hoof," Celestia spoke up, a furrowed brow crossing her features. "Let's just all get to Ponyville, and then we can start working things through about this logically." Each of them agreed and began to go to the train station to be led down to Ponyville. Each of them looking out the window at the enclosed destruction that had rocked Canterlot.

***

"Wake up!"

Lyra had been trying to awaken the pony in the hospital for awhile now, shaking her, screaming in her ear, nothing seemed to work. When she was ready to give up, she saw the pony rise up in her bed and turned her head around the room.

"The first sign is completed, tomorrow will be the time of the second and third signs, and more of the agents will be revealed upon this world." The green pony spoke slowly, her words accepting of the tragic fate that now laid in front of herself and the Equestrian race. Bon Bon gave a look over at Lyra before speaking to the morose pony that was sitting up.

"What... What could we do to stop these signs?" Bon Bon asked fearfully, now seeing tears forming in the dark eyes of the pony.

"You can do anything that you must, but the signs and the end of Equestria will never be stopped." The pony blinked, only slightly gaining some semblance of shine before it again faded to darkness. "Tell Linda that I miss her."

With those final words she fell back down on the bed, this time her eyes remaining open, but her body was stiff. Lyra gave a huff of frustration.

"That doesn't tell us anything!" Lyra got on the bed and gripped the shoulders of the green pony and started shaking her angrily. "Who is Linda? Who are you? Who is the pegasus that you are friends with?! ANSWER ME!" Bon Bon tried to pull Lyra off the pony, thinking that she had gone mad. "WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!"

In a soft whisper, the pony spoke, "My sister, Marian Delany, Quentin, I am the Messenger of Discord..." With that, her eyes shut, leaving Lyra and Bon Bon to the silence of the room. Lyra pulled away from the pony who named herself Marian and sat down in a chair, in shock and anger. Lyra knew a name like Marian was forbidden, only given to ponies that requested special permissions could even attempt to get such a name. The pieces continued to fall into place, but there was still not enough to know what the whole picture was.

"Bon Bon, we're going on a pony hunt," Lyra picked up the sword she had brought in and left the room, followed by Bon Bon who stopped her by spinning her around to look at her.

"Lyra, this is enough," Bon Bon looked at Lyra and saw that she was angrily breathing. "What are you going to gain by seeing this pegasus? What we should be doing is getting as much as we can and helping the town instead of looking for a lone pony."

Lyra continued her heavy breathing before closing her eyes and resigning her control of the situation. "You're right, Bon Bon. If that pegasus, which she called Quentin, is a part of this destruction, then we're going to need a few good ponies to take him and the rest of these secret agents that Discord has around town." They both left the hospital, seeing Ponyville had its streets now flowing with the populace of Canterlot, all of them wondering what they were going to do about the travesty that had befallen them all.

That's when murmurs of a lime-green pony and a zebra were walking around town and telling ponies about a rebellion force that was being built in a broken castle in Canterlot. Already stocked with weapons, food, and being headed by an orange-red pegasus called Quick Fix.
> The Second Day Ends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I just laid there, sitting next to the willow tree, listening to the sounds of wind and leaves around me. I was at peace, at my zen, I was one with Mother Nature and her creatures.

Actually, I lied, I was conked out pretty hard.

"Brother?"

Even then as I lay there, I would get hounded by more of the odd images that the creature that now resided in my mind would give me. I know that she called herself Luna, but a gut feeling told me that whatever it really was, was bad news outright.

"Brother?"

And not only that, but I swear that she could also mess with my senses, like the smell of someone breathing that was similar to warm sour taffy, or the sound of an annoying buzz hanging in the air.

"BROTHER!"

My body jolted up, and soon found myself latched onto a branch of the willow tree I had been peacefully sleeping under, looking down at a lavender pony wearing a propeller hat and looking at me with swirling eyes. I had to admit, after all of the things I had already went through, the hat that made her fly AND the eyes, it was new.

"S-sorry! I'm not your brother," I attempted to say without revealing that she scared the living daylights out of me. "Just a pony that was really tired... in the Everfree Forest... with scary animals living in it." At that moment I had just realized that sleeping in the open was the WORST, POSSIBLE, THING, I could've done while I was in the Everfree Forest.

"B-But Daddy Discord said he wanted to send a message to you..." she whined, causing me to only latch onto the branch harder, this must be the 'daughter' that he talked about in the last letter he sent me.

"Alright, if you have a message from 'Ye Who Sent Me Through Time and Space To Buck With Me', then I'll need you to back up, don't want to mistakenly fall on you and break a bone or something." The pony backed away from the tree, beginning to carefully let go of the branch and use my wings to descend to the ground. Now eye-to-eye with the curious pony, I began thinking how kinky it would be to sleep with my 'sister'. "RRRAGHH!!!" I gave a loud roar before running headlong into the tree, it was getting worse, these longings were going to be the death of me.

"You're funny, brother. You have fruit punch running down your head!" The pony remarked as I tried to keep focused on the pain rather than the other thoughts. "Here you go," she handed me a VHS tape and watched me remark in confusion how this was supposed to work.

"What do you expect me to do with this thing? Whip up a TV and VHS player from thin air?!" I had gotten so sick of Discord's sick pranks that I outright threw the tape to the ground and crushed it under my hoof in frustration, greeted then by a loud boom and forceful... force that sent me through the air and do a few flips before I landed again, this time, on my hooves rather than any other body part.

"Hello again, Bait," Discord was now right in front of me, hands behind his back and head turned up as if he was staring down at me in a prudish sense. Without thinking, I had hit a fast speed and stopped in place to hit him with a right cross to his smug face, only to see it faze through him. Only after a few more failed punches and kicks, did I land on the ground and could only stare burning holes into the visage that now laughed at me.

"Aww, what's wrong? Can't hit a God? It's alright, I've never really been touched by pony hooves, it's always been that rainbow that has been able to keep me from running around." His eyes met mine, my teeth gritting in frustration that I couldn't do a bucking thing to him.

"Not yet, you son of a bitch! I'll take these hooves and shove 'em straight down your throat to make you eat your own words!" I already felt taller, more energetic, almost as if I was on fire as I burnt with hate and loathing against him. He only continued to look down at me, a bemused smile on his face.

"I can wait, I have 3 days, 5 hours, 17 minutes, 54 seconds, and I believe 1 first." Checking the watch quickly, I could see he was right, guess the run into the armory was timed to what he wanted, and that made me even more worried as to what else he could do. "Since I know you've been gallivanting around the old stomping grounds of my war room, I figured you need a brief news bulletin." With a snap of his fingers, we were all now in a staged studio, myself behind the cameras, the lavender pony working the prompter, and Discord, now wearing a pair of rectangular glasses and shuffling paper in front of him.

"Okay, we're live in 3, 2-!" The lavender pony mouthed out "1." and pointed out to Discord.

"Good day, I'm Discord, God of Chaos, Anarchy, and the best looking draconequus this side of the universe." With that, he shifted his sight to another camera to his right. "Tonight's top story, Canterlot's castle has fallen. Police and the royal guard have proof of a unicorn going by a false name has destroyed the entire castle in under an hour, this has been the fastest takeover of the castle recorded to date, previously held by myself. With that being known we now go to our Messenger on the street to talk with the suspect, Messenger?"

My sight now focused on the TV screen beside me, showing an image of Marian, her eyes completely black and unholy to look at directly and not think that you were actually staring into her skull. Beside her was a yellow unicorn, his eyes also black and unfeeling. "I'm here with R-R-" Marian was trying to say his name, but it looked like she was having difficulty, however I knew what she wanted to say.

"Richard!" I found myself yelling out, wanting to help Marian against the force that held her now. After some ill silence, Marian finally looked back into the screen.

"Conquest," she said the name dejectedly, only making me feel worse that Discord now had Linda's sister under his control. "Both of us are currently in Ponyville hospital, hiding from the authorities and beginning to prepare ourselves for the next sign of the Aponylypse." My head turned to Discord, looking for answers, then turning back to the screen, because I knew he wouldn't give me any.

"C'mon Marian, give me a clue, give me something I can use," I thought, making sure that even if Discord could read my mind, it would be hard to hear.

"Conquest, what would you like to say to the audience that is watching right now?" Marian turned her attention to Richard, my heart already breaking that I knew he had to have been the first one that had to get wrapped up in Discord's plan.

"This resistance that you're making, Bait, it won't work, it will only serve to annoy our leader," Richard spoke, but I knew it wasn't his words, I was only looking at a fake. Much like the pony that looked like Marian was a fake. Discord had the real ones, locked in a cave, restrained in a warehouse, in a SAW movie, wherever they were, I knew that who I was looking at wasn't the real thing. "Give up now, and you can join in on this power."

I shook my head, tears forming unconsciously, "Damn it, Richard! That isn't you!" My wrath had been growing since I had entered this imaginary room and I had begun tipping over cameras in anger, kicking power boxes, struggling against wires that had managed to wrap around me, only to tear them from their walls. After it all, I pulled myself with half of the room now entangled on me in front of Discord and his desk.

"Give them back," I coughed out, trying my best not to show my exhaustion. Discord only laughed. "Give them back," I spoke louder, my second wind now rising up in my soul. His laughter continued permeating into my mind, teasing it, mocking my efforts. "GIVE THEM BACK!" I jumped up to tackle Discord but was stopped in place by one of the cameras catching on the floor, making me fall down in front of him.

He went out to touch me with a claw, thinking perhaps I didn't have any fight left in me. I responded by biting down on the eagle claw and letting the sweetening sound of Discord yelping in pain echo out, making him instinctively teleport away. With him teleported, both myself and the lavender pony were back at the willow and lake, she didn't look happy about what I had did. I only gave a smile of my own and held out a hoof, wishing I still had fingers so that I could show her the middle one. "You can tell daddy, to kiss my ass and I'll see him at the family reunion to tear his house down."

The lavender pony huffed and flew off, leaving me to the grass and peaceful surroundings again. I was getting tired too easily, if I was going to fight against Discord, I needed to make sure I could last longer than fifteen minutes in battle, otherwise, I'd be dead the moment I would step in. My ears twitched slightly to the sound of gruff voices from afar.

"Ouch! Watch where you're putting the stone!" I could tell that they were somewhat close to where the bridge was, so getting myself up from the ground I decided to do some espionage on what was going on. Poking my head from the bushes, I could see a few Diamond Dogs moving rectangle pieces of rock and trying not to cause much damage to it. The largest one, a dog with blue-gray coat and wearing a diamond collar, was trying to balance a rather lengthy piece and was trying not to have it slam down on the other side making it break, The medium sized one, a dog with a gray coat wearing a diamond collar and an orange jewel hanging from it, had apparently been plowed into the ground with the excessive weight as he tried not to get crushed by the immense thing. The smallest one, a dog with a light brown coat and wearing his own diamond collar, was hanging on the other end where I was, hoping to get down and not hurt himself. Each of them also wore vests that had a small variety of gems stuffed in the pockets.

Figuring they were like Tyrone, I stepped out into the open. "Need some help, gentlemen?" The dogs attention shot over at me, in an instant, the stone was dropped. The three dogs on one end, myself on the other.

"What are you doing over there, pony?" The middle dog growled out, letting me know he wasn't exactly friendly. I gave a shrug and took a seat on the ground, not answering. "Are you mocking us? How dare you!"

I kept quiet, something about not saying a word and watching the dog try to figure out why I was staring at him actually made me chuckle a little. He seemed easily agitated about it though...

"You will answer us, pony, or we'll... we'll..." The leader of the group gave a pause, trying to think of a suitable punishment. Feeling sorry, I figured I'd throw him a bone... of sorts.

"Build the bridge to come over and pummel me?" I offered up, watching the dogs eyes glisten angrily at the idea.

"No! We'll build a bridge to come over to the other end and pummel you!" The middle dog barked back, making me roll my eyes, how dumb was this mutt? The dogs ran off and came back with more stone, each of them on a different bridge duty. The biggest one was placing out the stone and placing in supports by digging underground and then placing them underneath the walkway.

As the big dog would hold up the support, the smallest dog would run over to the other end and carry his own stone with him. He had... cement duty? It's the best I could reason, he would go underground, poke out near the end of the support beam and chew the stone. After some time, he would hock it out and spread the gunk around the beam.

The middle one seemed to have supervisor duty and was directing the effort on the other end, I knew that it would take them some time in order to get a working bridge made so I just laid down on the ground and watched the clouds above me. Unlike the other clouds that seemed to be controlled by pegasi, these clouds were like back home, slowly moving, no control of their own. I remarked on how long it had been since I just looked up at the clouds and just relaxed, my body needed it after all of the effort that I had already done.

I gave a look in the direction of where I left my bag of goodies that I left at the willow tree and started going off in the direction, hopefully no ants figured out that I had my lunch-now-dinner inside it.Bringing out the bag back out in the open to the dogs, I could see they were eying the meal I was revealing piece by piece. Slice of bread, a piece of lettuce, tomato, and something that resembled bacon, made of hay. Beggars can't be choosy. Folding the bread in half, I had made a BLT fit for a pony. Giving a satisfying munch on it, I gave a wave to the shocked dogs that noticed my lack of caring at them.

They returned to their work, leaving me to my dinner, I had noticed I hadn't ate a lot today, but really I never came across a situation where I was just hungry, as if I thought about it only made me realize that it was time to eat. I guess another thing I had to chalk down for this world as a positive, because to be hungry while worrying about what was going to happen next would be a terrible thing to experience.


***


Tyrone awoke in an instant and started to panic, he was hungry, he was in an unknown room, and he still needed to find Marian for Quentin. He tried to move, but found that he was in a large jacket that tied his arms to his back and couldn't allow him to get out.

"Hey, Chestplate. The dog is awake," A young mare was speaking behind the door that Tyrone could see was rather unsure about what she was looking at.

"Let the doc know," the other voice was male, tough, experience easily told from it. "I'll stick beside the door until you come back."

Tyrone's ears then perked up when he heard barking. He hadn't heard a single bark since he was here, and he knew now that there was another dog in this prison. "Let me out! Need to play!" The barking was from a female was all that Tyrone could tell, but something seemed off about it in someway.

"And get that freak a bone or something to shut her up, I'm getting tired of listening to her bark!" The male yelled out, making Tyrone bark back in defense for the female dog.

"You shut up! Get us out!" Tyrone bashed against the door and watched a small square open near the middle, green eyes peering out at him.

"Oh, you want to bark too? How about I tell the doctor that you don't deserve food?" The stallion kept his eyes on Tyrone, up until Tyrone bashed his face into the square and spoke up.

"She wants to play! Let her outside and run around at least!" Tyrone yelled at the startled stallion, making him pull out a long prod. The stallion shoved the prod into Tyrone's face and shocked him, causing Tyrone to yelp in pain and try to rub the now sore spot that he received.

"You don't tell me what to do Diamond Dog!" The stallion screamed back, Tyrone only forced to look at the square of freedom being blocked by the bully. "We'll make sure that you're put down appropriately and then you're clan won't try bothering Ponyville again!" The stallion shut the window forcefully, leaving Tyrone to his pain and worries. Moments passed until he heard the soft growling from the female dog he heard before.

"It hurt?" Tyrone heard concern in her voice, and he could only cry softly in response.

"Yes." Tyrone whimpered, the spot on his cheek beginning to swell up where he was poked at. "Where are we?"

"Ponyville Asylum," the response came, still trying to remain hushed. Tyrone could only assume that the guards were too preoccupied with their own business to know what was happening. "They say you're going to die, tonight."

Tyrone hit the back of his head against the padded wall, tears already coming down his face. "I don't want that. I want my Beta." More silence came between the two conversationalists, Tyrone's heart breaking from the sadness of dying alone.

"We can escape." The female dog determinedly barked making Tyrone open his eyes in surprise as he began barking as well.

"How?"

"Dinner, the door gets opened, if one of us can get out of the room and knock out the bad ponies, we can make a break for it!"

Tyrone thought carefully about what she was saying, if she was a Diamond Dog as he was, how come she knew what the procedures of when the feeding times came? Was he just unlucky? As he continued his thoughts, he heard the click of the door in front of him. Springing to his legs, he charged forward and managed to jump from the wall beside the door and kick it open, shocking the pony that had a tray of food in his hooves.

With another kick, the pony was knocked across the hall and slammed against the wall, making the guards move to the alerts. Not caring about making a mess, Tyrone took a large bite from the tray itself and rushed out trying to listen for the barks so he can open the door for the female dog.

"The Diamond Dog is out! Open fire!" The male stallion called out, the sound of compressed air being released alerting Tyrone that he was getting attacked. Moving back into his room, he took notice that the 'bullets' were needles filled with liquid, no doubt a sedative to knock him out. If he could get out of the suit, perhaps he could use the door as a shield. The needles however gave him an idea. Being careful not to be noticed, he leaned his head to pull one of the needles from the wall and kept to the corner, waiting for a pony to enter.

The mare he had heard, in an instant, turned from the door and pointed the needle gun at him, before getting a needle of her own being thrown by Tyrone's mouth. It hit the target, making the mare briefly lower the gun in pain, Tyrone using his strong legs to kick it away from the now woozy mare. Again, using his mouth, he gripped the pony's uniform in his teeth and began to use her as a shield against the stallion on the other end.

"In here! In here!" The female dog barked out, letting Tyrone know where she was and slowly work his way to her position. When he reached the door, the stallion began approaching him slowly, the gun still trained on him.

"Don't even think about it, Diamond Dog!" The stallion screamed over the sound of the alarms, only prompting Tyrone to kick open the door, revealing a light blue pony, her mane and tail a tangled mess. Tyrone gave a look behind the pony into the dark room behind her.

"Where's the dog?" Tyrone politely asked the pony, seeing a look of confusion cross her face.

"I am the dog," she growled. She stepped from the room, only covered in a medical garb and stood behind Tyrone, trying to untie the binds the wrapped his arms. The stallion broke out in a run, throwing the gun on the ground and pulling out his shock prod. When he jumped, Tyrone felt the wrappings loosen as he raised his large arm to swat the pony down to the ground, making him slide far away from them.

Tyrone let go of the mare he had been using as a shield and turned back to the pony that had helped him, only to see her running down a flight of stairs. Tyrone began running after her and followed her through winding passages, several circles, and finally outside the building. The alarms were still going off as Tyrone managed to finally reach the light blue pony as she was barking happily.

"We need to hide from the bad ponies! Come with me!" Tyrone barked at the light blue pony, trying to lead her towards the Everfree Forest to his Beta.

"This is fun! I am Screw Loose!" The light blue pony howled, making Tyrone smile as he had begun to notice that the sun was going down on one end, and the moon was beginning to rise in the other.


***


"Gasp, hah, We've, phew, made it," The large Diamond Dog had managed to utter out before collapsing.

"Mah jaws hort," the small Diamond Dog attempted to say.

The medium dog looked at both of his companions and then over at me in unease, "Uh, can you excuse us for a moment?"

I kept on the ground, waiting for them to turn so I could pull out a sword. It was more of a lengthy dagger, really, but a pony probably didn't need great length in comparison to humans, and the way it felt was exceptionally light as I opted to just toss it once in the air to see what would happen before seeing it impale on the ground between my open legs and just letting it sit there. The medium dog looked over at me and my now revealed sword and tried to pull the group further away.

Maneuvering around the sword I gave a frustrated sigh, "Oh come on, aren't you gonna fight me? Or are you just too scared to go against me without your boys?"

"I said, give us a moment, you impatient pony!" He snapped back, prompting me to only creep up behind him and listen in on the conversation.

"We can't back down now, we need to establish our dominance over this pony. Curse that Rarity, after tricking us and embarrassing us, all of our soldiers left us for another clan!" The medium dog tried to lift up the big dog from the ground and seemed to struggle against his weight.

"He's noot worph ih," the little dog spoke up, still trying to massage his jaw.

"Can't we just rest? I'm tired," the biggest dog whined, making the medium dog shake in anger.

"I think you all deserve a break," I said, managing myself into the small circle they had tried to create. "Tell you what, I've got a place where you can crash for awhile, you can rest up and THEN you can proceed to challenge me so I can embarrass you, sound cool? Sounds cool." I pulled away and put the sword back in the bag, leaving it again by the willow tree.


***


Twilight and her friends had all reached Ponyville again, now filled with Canterlot's population that lined the streets, hoping to get an answer as to what they should do. Princess Celestia stepped from the train and the entire crowd went silent, each of them in awe and surprise.

"Citizens of Canterlot and Ponyville," Celestia started, hoping to get as many of the worried populaces ears to hear her. "This is a dark time for all of us, the castle is gone and the town of Canterlot is in shambles. We will all need to work together now to live together, as a new threat has made it clear that he will not stop until all of Equestria is torn apart."

Celestia started to hear the worried mumbles as she took a breath for her next segment of speech, "We however will not be frightened of this evil, for we can all trust in the Elements of Harmony to bring this unicorn to justice as they have in the past with Nightmare Moon and Discord. Until then, we will all need to sacrifice a little more, a spare bedroom, food from the cabinets, some of our own privacy and dignity, and when the threat is over, I can only hope that this won't be a disparaging experience, but rather a new and wonderful experience as we all learn to be together in unity."

"OR YOU CAN FIGHT!" A voice called out, causing the crowd to rabble louder and shift away from who said the bold claim, a lime-green pony with a bob in her mane. "We all know this isn't the end of the attack, it's only going to continue! So why wait for it? Why hide in your homes and pray that it will go away? I and my good friend Quick Fix can get this town prepared for battle! There is an entire store of weapons and useful items in the broken down castle in the Everfree Forest!"

This statement made the crowds begin to shift over to Celestia, looking for a comforting word. The green pony was then approached by the zebra, Zecora. Some of the town was still uneasy of her presence, and the sound of windows closing would occasionally echo across the audience. "We cannot let him come back fully restored. I regret to let you all know, it is the draconequus, Discord!" The mention of the name made the group all start worriedly mumbling.

"We've stopped him before," Applejack intruded. "Even if Discord is really behind this, I and my friends can put him down easily!" She looked over at Zecora, slightly hurt, "Don't you trust us?"

"This is bigger than the six of you can handle, we all have to work together to avoid this scandal!" Zecora cried back, some of the ponies in the crowd seemingly agreeing. "We won't ask with force, but with your help we can alter Discord's course!"

Zecora whispered into Limonade's ear, "Let us go back, even without a pony, we can still ready ourselves for his attack."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie will go with you!" All the ponies turned to the yelling unicorn, on her mobile stage, ready to head out. "Such things like draconequus are nothing to myself!" Twilight gawked at the sight of Trixie even considering going against something like Discord. Soon Trixie was pulling her cart to Limonade and Zecora, her ever confident smile plastered on her face. "Lead Trixie to the Everfree so that she can help lead this rebellion against the fowl beast!"

With Limonade leading the way, a small group of ponies began to follow her towards the Everfree, each of them unsure as to what they could do, but knew that action had to be taken as soon as possible. Within the small bunch of followers was Lyra Heartstrings, still carrying her sword and her own twisted smile on her face.

Derpy looked over at the Elements of Harmony, showing concern to them. "He's trying to trick them! Please, you got to come with me to see what he's doing!" The six friends looked up at Celestia and Luna, hoping to get an answer.

"We all need to rest and think on what we need to do," Celestia finally spoke, her mind still abuzz at the concept that a pegasus was willing to risk lives of her ponies and himself in order to stop Discord. "Perhaps, the answer can come to us by tomorrow, and we can all create our own plan to stop this madness."

Celestia began moving towards the Mayor's office, the only place now that she could maintain her authority and perhaps sleep. Luna looked over at the yellow bubble that covered the side of the mountain and frowned as she began her control of the moon for the night. Each of the Elements began to go on their way home, Twilight in particular the most conflicted. This entire incident had shocked even the princess of the sun, and her own doubts began to form. Perhaps... they would need help.
> Dreams of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I am getting sick of waiting!" I yelled out to the air. I felt like nothing was getting accomplished, and I was ready to just sleep. But I can't sleep, because I need to wait for Linda and get back inside our base. But if I don't sleep, I'll become paranoid. But I'm already paranoid from Discord constantly poking fun at me and taunting me at every turn-

"SHUT UP HEAD!" I finally screamed and beat it once with my hoof. I had been going down a spiral of madness since I came here. A slow, annoying, constantly sawing madness. I really needed to relax, and sadly, the moment that would happen is when I know that either Discord or this 'whatever-is-floating-around-in-my-head' named Luna would try and pull something. I could only do so much with faking that I wasn't getting sick of the constant pressure that was on me.

It didn't help either that I realized that I let in three dogs into the secret base that I had found, all three ready to slice my throat off the moment that they stopped being exhausted. All I could do was wait at the other edge of the bridge for Linda, and then, perhaps, have some sense of peace.


***


Discord, again.

Just letting you know.

At this point, I had my talon bit by Bait, and let me tell you, he bites hard. When I had gotten away, I had to restrain myself from bawling like a little child in front of Conquest and Messenger! Do you realize what would happen if your servants see you crying? Complete and hostile takeover, THAT'S WHAT! The night was still fresh, and with the threat of Luna being in the same town of the hospital that we were currently in, it would take a miracle for a distraction to take place.

"Hey! There's been a breakout at Ponyville Asylum!"

I felt my heart leap for joy as I heard all available hands begin to panic from the possibility of wackos escaping their cells and reeking untold havoc on the town. However, I had to remain focused, we had a castle to rebuild and a setting for when the end would finally start.

"Here's the plan, Conquest, you will be sent back to Canterlot so you can rebuild the castle. I want it put back together as if nothing happened to it, just so we can all enjoy the confusion of the ponies when they all wake up!" I watched Conquest as he slowly nodded. Putting the pony on my shoulder and sticking my head out the window, I took careful aim and threw the unicorn in the direction of Canterlot.

He'd be off by about... a lot, but I was sure he'd get back in time for my next step when I entered the castle itself. The next part was Messenger. The poor girl had no other mission, all she was designated towards was for sending the message out to the town, and it was already completed.

I leaned down to her and sighed, "Not much need for somepony to shout and holler, when the entire town is already abuzz. I do hope you understand, I can't let you go. It's not a personal thing, it's not like I like you, but you simply know too much."

I gave her a glance and shut one eye, using my imagination for a moment. "You talk a big talk, but what if you can write? No risk, no chance of capture, and the potential to make this a global news situation..."

While no light shown in her eyes, I could tell that I hit a trigger. That's good. I didn't want some simple little invitational thing to be sent out. I'd do it, but at the same time, you have to show that sometimes you're serious about something. I looked out the window, yet again, to see the gray mailmare again. Despite the order I gave her to convince those six annoying pests of Harmony, she seemed to still show signs of confusion. It was certainly interesting, having complete control over a pony, and still seeing it struggle with whatever brain cells they had.

"Wild Card... I guess I hit the nail on the head with that one. No idea what she's going to be doing..." I muttered to myself. Thankfully, I knew Plan B would at least know what she needed to do. When she was ready, she would bring back the girl. I could see the reaction on Bait's face, his heroics and snide attitude would be turned to despair and rage. It would be so delicious.

I looked back down at the talon he bit as I thought, and I flexed it. Something seemed off, as I had told Bait, no pony had even touched me. Celestia and Luna had to use magic in order to fight me, never had a chance to get close to me. I began to wonder, if I really was losing my touch. I joked in my head that I was getting old and decrepit before, but now... I began to worry. I couldn't shut off that feeling, as hard as I tried, it wouldn't leave. I clenched my talon and paw into fists and released them, I had so much power, and a simple boy that I had brought over was making me nervous? I could do so much to him in an instant, and I could do it so fast.

But where would the fun in that be?


***


From the other end, I saw Linda being followed by a large group of ponies. I gave a smile to them all before trying to walk with Linda to the entrance.

"Pretty neat bridge," Linda commented, looking at me with her green eyes.

"Yeah, the workers are resting inside. Hopefully, the ponies won't mind dogs," I sighed.

A presence split between Linda and myself, Trixie had made her way to the front with us. "Are you two crazy? Giving a town weapons?! These ponies were all locking themselves into their houses from an Ursa Minor, and you think that this group of rag-taggers can fight off the God of Chaos?"

I looked up at the moon, it was so full, so white, and oddly, very familiar to me. "You have us, and we have ourselves," I said, feeling everything finally catch-up to me as I passed out.


***


“Thank you for calling AT&T, can I get your name and account number for security purposes?” I droned out the opening line, the same line that had been beaten into my head since I began training for the job. It had already been a month of hell, between getting on phones and getting yelled at by people and going to training and getting pelted with having to learn what new offers we were going to start and why it was important.

It really wasn't.

“Greg Ashur, account number is... 985402389.” The person calling in sounded like a reasonable gentlemen, hopefully I wouldn't need to help him out too much. “I'm reading this advertisement that new customers get phone, internet, and TV for $69.99 a month for two years. And I'm getting the same products for $79.99, so I want you to move me into the advertised price, or I'm disconnecting.”

Of course. If they aren't yelling at you incoherently, they were calling in to get free things. I hate scum like them. I accessed his account information and looked over what he originally signed for. “Very well, let me see what is available for offering in re-enrollment of our services. According to this you have an older bundle, and a re-enrollment for keeping you at the lowest rate available to you, 79.99,  I can increase the internet speed and update your TV package.”

“No, I want the package for 69.99.” Greg stubbornly responded, already giving me the sound of disappointment and frustration in his voice I had become too familiar with.

“Well, that's what I have in regards for re-enrollment as an already existing customer with AT&T.” I said as I readjusted my headset for a brief moment, “I can either give you the re-enrollment offer of 79.99 a month for two years, with the increase of internet speed and TV packaging, which will give you a better experience of our internet service by increasing the download and upload speeds to 15/5 and 25 more channels that will become available to you, or you can keep what you have, and still pay the 79.99 you've already been paying for.” I don't bend over easily, especially not for bullheaded morons that can't understand what 'New Customer Offer' meant.

“You're not even trying to get me that offer, I'd like to speak to your manager, right now.” The adrenaline shot of anger and madness went through me, I wanted to yell at this guy that he doesn't even deserve the prices he was getting, all of the notes saying he was mistreating representatives, the profane language he used on a constant basis, and now that he was speaking with me in a professional tone, he felt that he deserved a reward for doing nothing.

Assholes. All of them that call in.

“Alright, I do want you to be aware that my manager uses the same system and will see the same offers that I am looking at right now. The wait for a manger is just about five minutes if you are willing to wait.” I, however, am a gentlemen. I am the bigger man and am willing to let a manager give this prick whatever he damn well pleases.

“Yes, I will. Thank You.” Greg said, prompting my finger to place him on hold and put my hands in my face, moaning in frustration.

“Another sup call? Geez, are you insulting all the customers that call in, or are all of them managing just to get you?” Richard asked as he rolled from his hole to talk to me.

My fingers clacked on the phone pad as I opened the second line to be waiting for a supervisor to pick up, “I don't know, all of these people that have called in the past few days have all been asking for the same thing. 'I want a free DVR', 'I want you to waive these phone charges I made on purpose, I mean, accidentally to Italy', 'I want you to make my bill lower, but not remove anything because I don't know how economics works.' All of it the same fucking thing.”

Richard gave me a shrug and rolled back into his office compartment to handle a customer that called in. Leaving me to the elevator hold music and my slowly developing dementia.

“For the money, Quentin, for the money. You can't go postal yet until you have at least $50,000 dollars to your name and a fake ID.” I whispered to myself as I took a drink of 'Mr. Pibb' and let the caffeine try to keep me from losing my mind.

“This is Ripley.” A voice came on and I tried to recompose myself.

“Yes, this is Quentin, badge number 49874, I'm handling account number  985402389, under Greg Ashur.” I waited quietly as I heard the sound of a tacking keyboard and an annoyed sigh. Ripley and I were not in the best of work buddies, and it was only because he continually threatened to fire myself and Richard for any wrong that we have done.

Richard and myself are however the most notoriously clean workers in the building, with no late clock-ins, never being under goal for sales, and being the friendliest dudes with our other coworkers. We were both uncontrollable and unstoppable, something we would both remark to each other from time to time.

“Alright, and how can I assist Greg today?” Ripley asked, already letting out his disappointment seep through the phone.

“Greg has an advertisement for the new customer promotion for landline, internet, and TV for $69.99, and he wants that offer. I did attempt to inform him that for the same price he is paying for right now, he can get the 15/5 internet and 1st Tier TV with his current phone plan for $79.99 which is the same price for his 10/3, 2011 1st Tier TV, and phone. He refused the offer and is still wanting the new customer promotion, asked for a supervisor. I did inform him that you had access to the same offers and that I was giving him the best offer available to him.” I don't leave anything out in my details, much to the frustration and amazement of every supervisor in the building.

“Alright, you already left your notes as I see, go ahead and bring him over.” Ripley said, and without thought, I had already pressed the 'Xfr' button on the phone and leaned back in my chair. “Only twenty more people, and the day is over. Just hold on, Quentin.”

“Will the agents of segment 'B' please sign out for meeting? There is a meeting to be held in the Conner Conference room. Once you wrap up your calls, go to Conner Conference room!” A walker yelled out, giving me a hope of escape, as I went to sign out, the phone beeped at me, telling me another customer was calling in. I clenched a fist and tried not to swear as I went into my loop.

“Thank you for calling AT&T, can I get your name and account number for security purposes?” My computer pulled up an account and I paused for a moment. The account wasn't the normal white screen with words saying who the person was, showing what they had, and it wasn't the search screen that sometimes popped up when there wasn't any information that they gave when they repeatedly jammed on '0'.

The screen was the same format as an existing customer, but it had two ovals, yellow with red irises, the background color being an odd shade of brown, heavily grayed. The name read 'D. Chord', the billing information said that he owed '17,AP♫', and he only had internet services with us...

Someone was fucking with me on purpose and probably watching right now to see if I would slip up.

“Of course, I am Discord. My account number is...” A random set of sounds came blasting into my ears, ranging from cars starting up to cricket chirping. Yeah, I was getting screwed around with. However, I wasn't going to get mad, it had to be a test of my patience, that Ripley was trying to get me fired.

“Alright, and how may I be able to assist you today Mr. Chord?” My eyebrow rose up, my natural instinct whenever I was curious about something.

“Well, I'm actually conducting a social experiment on over-the-phone customer service representatives. I want you to answer a few questions for me.” This guys voice seemed to drip with confidence and ease, it was kinda relaxing for a moment. I kept my guard up, unsure about what was going to happen.

“All right, that's what I'm hired for, really, to answer questions.” I looked around briefly to see if I could see any telltale signs of someone watching me. “Lay 'em on me.”

“Good. Now, tell me, how happy are you with your work?” He hit the right question, I had to answer without sounding like I didn't need this job, because I did.

“I'm still getting used to the job, I've only been here for about a month, but I've been feeling good about it.” I wasn't lying, at least, not entirly. I don't like 98% of the people that call in, but the 2% that actually had a problem and was gracious enough to stay on the phone to say that I actually do a good job made the day of angry men and shrill women worth it. I had actually been working at the company for a good four months and the pay was exceptional for minimum wage plus concessions.

“Do you dislike any of your coworkers?” Something about the voice wanted me to release the call and not answer, something about this was fishy. I couldn't give up though, not if it was some sort of trap set for me.

“I've developed a good relationship with a lot of the workers here, some of them don't quite like me, but I don't let it disturb me.” I had to play carefully, whoever this guy was, he was planning something. It may actually be for a project, but paranoia hasn't failed me entirely.

“Would you rather go on vacation with your friends, or by yourself?” I noticed the screen was flickering slightly, the power cord had a bad time trying to stay in its place but the screen of the bright colors seemed to mesh and blend each flicker that happened. I could even swear that those ovals were blinking from time to time.

“I would like to go on vacation with a group rather than alone. Makes late night partying a blast.” The last sentence slipped out, my sarcasm was a very cruel one, only lashing out when I least expected it. The guy on the other end seemed to laugh it off, my eyes again whirling around the area to see if anyone was looking in at me or acting suspiciously.

“So you would say that you are honest, kind, loyal, generous, fun, or all of the above?” He was leading up to that question, the stress on it was heavier than the other ones he asked. I started thinking carefully about it. I didn't pull punches when telling my buddies if they were doing something stupid, so I checked honesty in the list. Kind? Well, I have had plenty of times that I had to boost moral in a group, that's similar to kindness, right? Loyal. Damn straight I am. In a bar fight, I wouldn't be afraid to step up against some beefed biker guy if he was hassling someone I knew. Generous... I'm a little hesitant on it, only because I'm debating whether or not making time in my schedule for hanging out at a friend's house counts. I'm the wild card when it comes to fun anywhere I go, so the answer ranges from yes to YES.

“All of the above would be the best answer.” I finally said, giving a good ten second debate into the generosity portion. If you'd like to see a report card, blow me.

“Excellent. Thank you very much for the talk.” The voice said, as my screen went black. The power button however still read that it was on. These computers didn't have a screen saver, so I was already believing that I had lost my mind. “And I will get to talk with you again, very soon.”

The computer and screen both blasted into a sparking mess in front of me, making me fall out of my chair and scream. The cord attached to the phone made the entire thing hit my knee, hitting it in the funny bone and almost bringing me to tears. “What the hell did you do, Quentin?!” Ripley was behind me already, this was his chance, I was so screwed.

“I didn't do jack!” I managed to get out from my clenched teeth, trying their best to keep myself from howling in agony. I got up and surveyed the damage, the screen had burst out, as if something punched a hole through the plastic of the flat screen. Thankfully no liquid acid junk got on my shirt, my pants however were less lucky and caught a fair amount of the black goo that leaked on the table. The computer was also destroyed, the front cover of it flew off and hit a wall, the side panel had a giant dent in it, and finally the inside of the computer was charred beyond any recognition.

“Get our security guys to check the cameras, we may be dealing with explosives.” Ripley whispered to a floor walker as he went out towards the security department. Ripley kept looking at me, upset because of the situation, but he believed me when I told him that I was an innocent victim. “I'm not going to be able to get you signed back into another computer in order to finish your work schedule. So, go to your meeting and then wait in the break room until it's time to clock out.” Ripley walked into the supervisor meeting room and shut the door, I wouldn't have blamed him for doing so. I'd be pissed if someone I wanted fired was part of an attack and didn't get hurt.

Going into the bathroom and shoving as much of my pant leg into the sink in order to get the crap off, I began to recollect the last sentence the guy said to me before the fireworks display of monitor and computer went off. He said that he was going to talk with me again, so could this have been done by someone I knew?

“Well done, damaging company equipment is more than enough to get you out of this place.” My eyebrows went down in anger automatically, the voice of Bradford Godwin, son of the building owner, can do that to anyone. I pulled my pant leg out of the sink and set it next to the drain on the floor so the water could run out.

“Do you honestly believe that I would rig my own monitor and computer to blow up and quite possibly kill me?” I asked as I tried to balance my other leg into the sink, “If I was mad enough to do such a crime, I'd have done it on your computer,” our eyes locked as I finished my sentence, “just enough to make you get your head out of your ass.”

He went to throw a punch, my right leg whipping up from the sink ready to meet him. I didn't take Tae Kwon Do lessons to be the cool kid that learned martial arts, I did it to show idiots like him that he didn't have power to take me down, physically or mentally. I held my leg next to Bradford's head before pulling it back to the ground and putting it next to the drain. “You will be removed from this building, I already have a good majority of the supervisors agreeing with me that you don't deserve to be here.” Here we go, old argument, same spiel.

I shook my legs out of any water as Bradford continued to menace and harass me, talking about how he was the most influential person in the building, how his father would do anything for him, what he would do to celebrate my day of being drummed out. All things I heard over and over again from other obnoxious rich pricks and privileged chumps that only managed to get where they were by being connected by someone else with influence.

“Great to hear,” I interrupted the drawn out speech of Bradford with an uninterested wave and began walking away, he grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me to face him again.

“Don't you dare go away from me while I'm talking to you!” He screamed, showing his childish whining at me, believing he could intimidate me. I only got closer at Bradford and tapped my teeth together in an unamused smile.

“Watch me, silver spoon ass.” I stepped back and exited the bathroom into an area that was not watched over by any cameras. If Bradford was going to try anything, it would be here, but I knew he was too scared to fight me, he would rather carry on with his scheme of trying to break me by throwing his power on managers to push me out of the way. And all because I made him look bad after he made a callous mistake when he mentioned to our class as a team leader that he didn't need to take any supervisor calls that was deemed unnecessary.

After I corrected him, he got defensive and started saying that I didn't know anything about the company or its policies. What was trained and what was agreed by everyone in attendance was that any time a customer requested a supervisor, they would not be denied, even if they could not secure their accounts. It caused a stir in the building, and it turned out that any supervisor call that Bradford took was dropped once they were transferred over. He got put down as a representative, only because his father still believed that his son could still be a quality worker for the company.

And I was the one that was being considered to be released?

I reached the Conner Conference room and set myself in the corner with Richard, looking down at my wet pants and then back up at me. “Did a toilet jump out and throw up on you?”

“Ha, ha, ha. No. A computer screen tried to make my skin melt off.” I was a bit upset still from Bradford and gave a half-growl and sigh. “Sorry, I just had a run-in with Daddy's boy, so forgive me if I'm not in the best of moods from nearly dying and then seeing him.”

We both looked over as Bradford entered the conference room with his normal group, each of them were slime in a different way. It didn't help that they were all managers or senior representatives that I wanted to strangle. We knew the meeting was about the immediate removal of unneeded workers, so this was going to be an interesting piece of debate. My eyes still locked on Bradford's as Ripley entered the room.

"Thank you all for coming to today's meeting. As you are aware, our company hasn't been receiving as many calls as they have and sales have also been extremely low." Ripley didn't have his usual 'oomph' of frustration that he carried with him everywhere, and that was enough to make me look in his direction and almost double take.

Ripley looked like shit. His hair was grey, his skin was pale, and the most noticeable thing was that he was wearing glasses. The only time I had ever seen Ripley wear glasses was when he was interviewing me before I got hired, and he gave away that it was only meant to look professional for those interviews and that was it. I had practically ignored everything else that he had said until I heard my name.

"E-excuse me, what?"

Bradford was grinning ear-to-ear. I looked at the room and all of them were staring at me. What did I miss?

"As I have stated before, Mr. Clemens, due to the situation that we need to follow on both work ethic and seniority, you, Richard, and a few more of our recent hires are to be released."

"Work ethic and seniority?!" I yelled, bashing my fist into the large table that we were all sitting around in. "How about you check it again, because I and Richard have been the leaders of sales for this month! If you want someone to fire, take Bradford out! He's been in the position that we've been in for just as long!"

"Quentin, please. I've been here for two years, stop acting like a child and get out," Bradford cockily chuckled.

I jumped on the table and tackled the son of a bitch into the wall and started punching his ribs and face, his friends were already there to try and fight me off, but I had given them a small piece of my fist to them as well before going for the door. I got to my car and started it up as I saw our residential fat man security officer try to drag himself to me before I escaped.

I peeled out of the parking lot and into the nearest highway. The radio blasting loudly and my speed at a consistent 66 miles an hour. I didn't care where I was going, just far enough away from those fucking bastards that didn't know how to keep a good worker with them. I had fucked up.

When I had enough sense, I made a turn in the direction of my house and stopped at the nearest bar. I never had alcohol before, in fact that was the only thing that was straight in my life. It didn't matter anymore. Now I had no job, and probably the company's personal police force out to arrest me and make my life a worse hell.

I just sat at a barstool and laid there for awhile until the bartender came up to me.

"Jesus, man, what'd you do, get hit with a rock?"

I sighed, I really didn't want to talk at all. "I've got twenty dollars and my adrenaline is running low, do your worst."

He just kept looking at me before he started to mix up something and setting a shot glass in front of me. It looked so beautiful.

"One .46 Magnum," he said with solace.

"Cool, I get the drink that wants me to commit suicide, fuckin' brilliant." I sat up and with no regard downed the sucker in one gulp. My head hit my arm on the bar and I started shaking, the universal sign of something bad that had or was going to happen. And, by God, this was it.

"Rough day?" A voice asked.

"Like none other in the world," I flatly responded. Still laying down in the comfort of my sheltered arm. Call me crazy, but I could feel a lot of weird energy as I could tell the guy I talked to sat down next to me.

"Listen, I'm only going to be in town for awhile. I've been meaning to giveaway a little something to someone like you. If you want it, I'll leave it here for you, otherwise, you can just let the next guy come in and take it." His voice sounded so elegant, so confident. I heard the crinkle of paper and the presence next to me leave as I looked up to see what he left. It was nothing more than a paper lunch sack.

Curiosity forced me to tilt the bag in my direction and then yank the bag closer from what I saw.

A lot of freaking money. I could read on some of the labels that it read out for $5,000 per roll and there had to at least be three of them in it!

I felt a lot of thoughts go at me. "Dump it out, count each bill, return it to the bank where this was stolen, keep it," all of those thoughts except to just leave the bag there. I gripped the bag tightly and then walked out of the bar and back into my car.

"-And by request, here is Manilla Road with 'Into The Courts Of Chaos'" The radio DJ spoke up as the song began to play. I felt a little better, ignoring all instinct to run, I was ready to go home and sleep. With this money I could actually hold out for awhile longer, and maybe... Maybe I will buy that ring I've been wanting to get for Linda.
> Dreams into Nightmares
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"That's what happened, I wouldn't bullshit you if I could try."

I had finished explaining the situation that happened after I had raised hell at my former workplace to Richard, I had taken up temporary residence in his house and threw the paper bag with the money on the coffee table.

Richard's place isn't too bad. Simple little place that had a basement, kitchen, living room, and bathroom. The living room doubled as the place where he and I would sleep, myself on a futon that folded in half to resemble a couch, and he in a chair that was extremely over-padded with foam. It was designed so perfectly to be able to have both pieces of furniture aimed at a 32" TV that was hooked up to my Xbox 360 and his Playstation 3. The coffee table that I had thrown the paper bag on, had a box of pizza that had already been opened and almost eaten entirely from yesterday's 'dinner'.

Richard kept gawking at me before he grabbed the bag and looked in it. He pulled out a roll of the money and started hyperventilating. "There's no way that this is, like, legally owned money. At all."

I shoved a slice of room temperature cheese pizza in my mouth and yanked off a piece, "Ah domph care, I-" I gave a gulp of the chewed slice before continuing, "I needed some luck after decking Bradford in the face, and karma sought fit to grant me some."

Richard cautiously removed the tape around the roll and gently unfolded the large wad. He started holding the bills in some light to see if they were fakes and pulled out his laptop. "If they aren't real, then I think you can say that you were simply conned. If they are, we're finding out what bank got fucking robbed and sending this back."

I had to agree with him. As horrible as my moral compass was at that point, I wasn't going to be a scumbag and keep money that belonged to someone else. He did some Google searches and tried to find everything possible that could say if the bills were faked, but they weren't. He then started trying to find if any news articles came out with recent bank robberies in town, one came close, but the criminals were already caught, money returned safely.

Richard shut his laptop as I had drawn my attention to Tyrone, who was laying his head on my knee and looking at the pizza slice I held in my hand. "Well, Quentin. Congratu-fucking-lations. You've got easy money to last for a good year if you don't waste it all, and somehow find a job that'll take a guy that got fired for employee abuse."

"I'll argue against it, I got released before that, the company can't put that on me if they had all the papers and shit done," I snapped back. We looked at each other and then slumped into our seats in exhaustion. "So. Back to square one."

Richard rolled his head back and looked at the ceiling, "What would Twilight Sparkle do?"

My eyes looked over at him, "Who?"

Richard's head snapped forward and his reaction of fear caught me off guard, "Oh, um, no one in particular. Just a character." He leaned forward and grabbed the last slice of pizza on the table and started inhaling it, giving me a signal that he didn't want to talk about it.

I only sighed and pulled out my cell phone, checking it for any messages before calling up the usual number. "Can't let good money go to waste," I muttered as the line picked up. "Hey, order for Clemens, quick question before I give the address, how much is a large Meat Lovers pizza and how much is it if you double the amount of ingredients you would put on it?"


***


The rest of the night consisted of caffeinated beverages, video games, and stupid arguments on who's fault it was that the mission was failed. I had learned to play Battlefield 3 with one hand and knee as I unloaded clips of ammunition onto the incoming forces that came for my head.

"Ha Ha! See that shot?! I got the sneaky, snakey, son of a bitch as he jumped out the window to try and ambush me!" I yelled out, finding the pizza slice I had held in my mouth land in my lap before I snatched it up again and saw that I had got shot in the head by a sniper. "FUH!" I angrily shouted through the baked dough and sauce.

"This is exactly what we both needed," Richard remarked, throwing a grenade in a corner and watching an unsuspecting enemy rush by it and blown up.

The match ended and Richard set his controller down as I started to shut things down. He pulled out his sleep items that consisted of a yellow blanket and a neck pillow, getting comfortable in his spot. I had only brought my Oakland Raiders blanket and two pillows that were shoved into a single pillow case.

I laid down on the futon, making Tyrone worm around me before finally just getting off. Giving a sigh, I shut my eyes.


***


The instant my eyes shut, I found them wide open again. I was still in Richard's home, but Richard was no longer in his chair. Tyrone was missing as well, which only made me feel concerned. I pulled the covers off and set my feet on the floor, stopping as I thought the creak of my weight shifting sounded like laughter coming from a woman. I stood up and noticed the bathroom door was open, the light was on as well.

"Rich? You takin' a dump or something?" I called out, still feeling tired after staying up so late. The lights went out and I saw a creature hidden in the shadows, it was on four legs, but it was bigger than Tyrone. A light shown above it, letting off a yellow glow that let me see it was a pony, yellow fur, black hair with white streaks. It's eyes were black, no sign of coloration whatsoever. I felt a need to run and turned to do so, only to see a light green pony with glasses in the way. It too had no color in its eyes as it looked at me.

I kept trying to find a way around, but kept meeting pony after pony that would stand in my way. A grey pegasus, an aquamarine unicorn, another light green pony. They all didn't attack, but approached me slowly. I couldn't move as I felt myself shrinking as their eyes kept staring into me. I tried to scream, yell, anything that could give someone warning, but nothing escaped my throat.

"You are alone, there is no pony you can trust besides yourself. All of your friends will betray you, and then you will die." I heard the voice of the laughing woman talk out, only making my fear worse as I finally got enveloped in the pure darkness of the ponies soulless eyes. "But that's all you need, let us take over and we'll let you have all of this..."

The darkness was now replaced by a burning world, the sun and moon were high above the sky and meeting together to form an eclipse that only seemed to make the heat only more intense. With no control, I felt myself walking. I wasn't walking on two legs like I was, but on four.

I had been walking on four legs for some time.

As I stepped, I felt my wings flare up and engulf the ground in its shadow as I began to approach an edge of water that had remained, despite the ungodly dry earth.

I have had wings, I haven't been human for a few days...

I reached the water and saw the reflection show a dark orange unicorn with wings opened up, his eyes betraying his madness as he revealed sharp rows of teeth.

"Now, JOIN US!" The reflection screeched and reached out for me.


***


"NOOOOOO!!!"

I shot up from my slumber and looked around where I was at. Back inside Discord's old base, surrounded by a few good ponies and beside me was Linda. Despite my loud scream of fear, no pony seemed to have noticed. I sat quietly as I let my heart start to slow down as I looked down at the watch that glowed a good shade of green.

2 days, 19 hours, 45 minutes, 29 seconds, 0 firsts.

I rubbed hooves down my face and removed the sheet that was on me, heading to the direction of where the food was. My head pounded, the sound of that woman chuckling following me from the dream land into my reality. Or at least this reality, I still have yet to understand anything at this point. When I had got there, I noticed a beefy white pegasus was up as well, cracking eggs and eating them raw in front of my eyes. He noticed my awkward staring and gave a wave.

"What's going on, brother? You have a workout regimen for your mornings too?" He asked, coughing slightly to keep the egg down.

I felt sore, the word 'workout' only made me elicit a groan of protest.

The pegasus seemed to understand and he pulled out a banana and a juice box. "Yeah, I figured that'd happen. When you conked out, it looked like you overexert yourself. Your muscles must be torn to Tartarus and back, but that's still cool. Have a banana and drink that orange juice, trust me, it's good stuff for helping out getting it back together."

I didn't even bother protesting and went right after the food, speaking words felt like it was going to hurt to do anyway. I jammed the straw into the juice box and sucked it dry before going to the banana and ripping off the peel. Taking a bite into it, I unconsciously started thinking that this was Richard's kitchen and went to start up the coffee machine. After taking another unnoticed bite of banana, my mind finally told me that there wasn't a coffee pot to be seen.

"Alright, brother. Seems like you and I are ready to go, let's get out and start it up!" The white pegasus gave me a pat on the back and caused me to choke a little on banana mush.


***


"Come on! Just one pull up is all I ask!" The white pegasus yelled at me as I hung off a branch.

"I've never been able to do one before," I yelled back, already feeling my grip start to falter. "I could barely fly high enough to reach this branch, and I swear to Celestia if you don't catch me, I'll punch you!"

I figured my anger was justified, especially after learning that Snowflake was only kidding with me about doing a workout with him. He did promise no charge for the lessons, but still, exercise is something that I avoid even harder than the Bubonic Plague.

Snowflake moved away from where I was and watched my reaction, a bit of a smirk on his face as I flailed my lower limbs..

"YOU SONOFA-!" A hoof slipped out and I was only hanging on by an arm. I kept there, trying my hardest not to fall off. I had felt so frustrated about this unexpected turn of events, but part of me knew I had to do this. I had to get stronger, faster, anything to get an edge over Discord. I felt something snap inside my mind as I wrapped the loose hoof up and struggled to pull up on the branch. I soon got the pull up and felt myself slowly doing more, gaining a rhythm and feeling a lot of energy pouring into me.

"That's it, and you say you haven't done a pullup before!"


***


I felt myself going through actions faster than I could believe. Doing situps by hanging off the branch I felt my abs get tight and ready to go. In another moment, I was at a tree, punching it for a few moments before bucking once and rolling forward from the impact that I had made. Going from bucking and punching, Snowflake then started applying holds on me. In an impromptu wrestling match, I was learning how these holds were applied and what to look for as a signal to apply it. My attempts didn't seem successful at first, but Snowflake went easy on me and continued to help as best he could.

Every time I hit the ground, I could only feel more frustration than pain. After around the sixth time of eating dirt, I had resorted to just trying to tackle Snowflake to the ground.

"You keep making mistakes and not adjusting because you're so mad, you need to learn to keep calm, brother." Snokwflake looked at me as I laid on the ground, trying to catch my breath after getting gator rolled again. I took a few more breaths and then got back up again, ready to go once more.

More ponies came from the exit and noticed our segment. Each of them started going through a group regimen led by Snowflake while I continued to punch at the tree, each blow breaking off bark as I finally reached the actual hardwood. I kept the image of Discord in my mind and realized at the height I was at, I would be only hitting his legs and went higher with a flap of my wings. Going into hard, right haymakers, I began to feel my forehoof start to hurt and went down to the ground, holding the hoof to my chest before shaking it and going back on the attack.

With the little I could remember from Tae Kwon Do, I had used my wings to lift myself before swinging a hind leg into a roundhouse kick and trying to not have my back turned. I taught a few of the locals on how to rear up and stand, showing a few of them that they can perform a few boxing jabs and different punches, which was surprisingly a new concept for them.

Running through the forest gave my legs a good workout, and only served to make me face against random animals that jumped out. Grabbing hold of a random Manticore that decided to take me on, I began dancing around it with fast jabs with my left and right hooves. After a few punches, I managed to reposition myself on top of the beast and forced it to run off and try to get me off.

"I'm getting them back, and I'll get us home. No God is going to stop me!" I screamed, finally jumping off the beast and extending my wings; flying off to a mountain and landing at the base. I was going to scale the sucker. The slope came up fast, and I resorted to climbing up the rock face. My focus seemed so intense as I reached for any crevice and jammed a hoof into it before pulling up and doing it again. The mountain was really high, and I could smell the remnants of smoke. I didn't care, come hell or high water, I was getting to the top.

Nearly falling off, I gripped with the only free hoof I had and continued on, ignoring the large cavern that contained the smokey smell, until I reached the peak. Standing on my rear legs, I looked out to the yellow bubble that now had a castle being built inside it. My rage and testosterone had finally hit its peak as I screamed out a single name.

"DISCOOOOOOOORD!"


***


Inside my castle, I felt drawn to look out the window at a mountain from far away.

"What in the?" I asked, passing by Conquest as he replaced a pillar and looked to the peak as the sun began to rise alongside it. Even with the orange color of the horizon, I could see him looking at me. Bait was calling me out, and he was mad. I kept looking out the window as I heard his scream. I could only stand there, my nervousness beginning to show as my talon twitched.

"Lord Discord, will you move so that I may replace the glass?"

I moved away and allowed Conquest to reform the pane glass for the window, unable to speak. If they asked, I could blame the fact that it was early, but I knew that it would only be a weak excuse. I couldn't stop now, I was too far ahead on my plan to be stopped. "Cloudsdale, the next town to fall."

I started chuckling lightly and then went into a full laugh. I couldn't wait to make Cloudsdale fall to the ground and be destroyed, and along with it's fall would come the fifth member. I cracked the knuckles on my paw before mimicking a phone, "Yes, Plan B? Please be sure to take Trigger tonight, after the Elements are taken by Plan B."


***


I stood on top of the mountain for awhile, taking in the sight that the early morning sun was giving me. The open fields covered by long shadows from the trees, the town of Ponyville looking barren with no sign of life from this height. The chill of the air around me made me shiver for a moment before trying to descend.

"All yours."

The whispering voice of the beast from my dreams echoed out, making me stop and look around me. I hated to say this to myself, but I felt like I was nearing my mental break point and I needed to stop and breathe for a moment.

"Is that you causing this, Luna?" I whispered aloud, perhaps hoping to get answers as to what was causing these pieces of mental duress.

"Me?" The voice in my mind responded, "Of course not, we are!"

The voice in my mind now sounded VERY similar to the female voice in my dream, and I felt dread fall down around me.

"We? There's no 'we' there is only-" I tried to say 'I' but felt my voice cut off before it would come out.

"Quentin Clemens, the boy that has fought for himself for nearly twenty years. Your pain and fears were what drew me to you, and they are what will give me the strength to return to the host body." The voice calling itself Luna spoke, her confidence and a hint of sultriness. "It also gives you strength, as you can recall with your interaction with the windigo. Even now, you are able to use some of it."

I started connecting pieces at that moment, the dream, this voice, and more importantly what I know had to deal with on top of the issue with Discord. "You want me to beat him so you can take over..."

The voice in my mind laughed and I soon found myself laughing alongside it with no control, our voices merged as they passed through my lips. "We only need one goal, Quentin. All of this land at our command and the night lasting for all eternity. If not by our host, then we can certainly use ourselves. After all, you only continue to lose yourself in us, and soon we will merge together and become one."

The image of the beast I had seen in the lake of my dream shown up again. The dark orange coat, the flaming mane, the horn, wings, and pure stature, that is what the creature wanted me to become.

"We need a new name if we are to merge with you, for the old name would not be suitable for our needs. The control of sun and moon would indeed be at our disposal and when they meet, we could become even greater in power. Yes, our name will be Solar Eclipse, and our rule will be indomitable."

With that statement, the control of my body finally returned and I sat down on the mountain top, unsure of what to do anymore. Things kept becoming harder for me to try and control, when I would make a step forward, I somehow find myself taking five steps back. On that mountain top, I went through my options. It was either allow Discord to keep my friends under his control and take over the world, or I would defeat him, save my friends, but in turn would be used as a puppet for the beast that now lived as a part of calling itself Solar Eclipse.

With nothing else to do, I decided to go back to the ponies at the base camp, or more specifically to Zecora. She had to know of some way to fix this new problem, or if not fix it, perhaps hold it off so that I could beat Discord and then shove it off to whatever this 'host' was. Instead of flying, I made a slow trot back down the mountain side and to the camp, hoping that perhaps the slower route would give me more time to try and come up with a plan.


***


As I arrived at the base camp, there was a large stir of activity that seemed to be going on. All of it was about Elements or something...

"I can't believe it! Lyra has never acted like that before, and Ditzy as well! Why would they steal Elements and then take away Limonade?"

When I heard that statement from one of the ponies that gathered, I went into a rage. "What happened?!"

"Is that you, Quick Fix of Fillinois? I must tell you a truth, you will not enjoy..." Zecora spoke up, passing through the crowd and looking slightly up at me. "As we set for the day, a unicorn named Lyra took away Limonade like she was prey. She wore an Element of Harmony, to add to the absurdity."

Zecora then shifted a little bit as I continued to process what she was telling me. "She ran with Ditzy, who helped her escape with a lift. And as they left, they wished for you to have a gift." She then revealed a necklace, the chain was closely knit together and the pendent had shown a cracked star.

All I could do was stand still as Zecora set the necklace down in front of me, my head going low from the heavy depression that now set down on me. I took the necklace up and shoved it into my shirt pocket before pushing through the crowds towards the entrance of the base.

"Fix, if there is anything that I could-" Zecora started up, but was cut short from me ignoring her as I descended. It happened, and I wasn't there to stop it. To add to the pain, I was given a necklace as a mocking 'thank you' from Discord. I couldn't trust these ponies to do a damned thing, who was I kidding? With an entire town watching, somepony took my girlfriend away and watched her escape.

I found a table and a chair, not caring what it was for and sat down. I slumped onto the table and covered my face with my arms, trying my best not to cry or show my complete frustration now. I knew I had to try to get calm again, or at least allow myself more time to think over what has happened in only a few hours. I looked down at the watch on my wrist and watched the seconds go down for a few moments.

2 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, 0 seconds, 12 firsts

I had a lot to think about, and if it meant having part of the outside collapse for a little while longer, then I was going to let it happen.


***


The news of Cloudsdale falling from the sky was nothing shocking to me, I didn't live there, so why would I care? The ponies at the base started looking to me to do something, but I didn't move. All I had been able to do was play the same situation in my mind. I would come up to the castle gates, armed to the teeth in weapons and armor, and as I would take the first step forward, the entire town would take a step back.

"Enough moping."

My face rose up from the wooden desk to see Zecora, Trixie, and a brown pony with an hourglass cutie mark in front of me. Zecora looked the most stern out of the three as she continue to speak.

"You've had enough time for your coping."

I rubbed my eyes for a moment, still trying to hide the fact that I had practically fallen asleep with my eyes open. "Why wasn't she stopped Zecora? Why didn't anypony stop Limonade's capture?"

"That was my judgement," the brown pony spoke up, a bit of honor backed up in his voice. "Because Lyra was acting so differently, I made the call to try and reason with her instead of allowing the ponies around her to tackle her or hurt her." He then lowered his head slightly, "When Zecora had told me that Limonade was somepony close to you, I could understand why you would feel so hurt."

"But we have no more time to waste on hurt feelings and bruised egos," Trixie interrupted. "There must be a focus on the now, not of what was in the past."

I tried to let those words seep in. She was right. I... no, we could save them. The town wanted Canterlot back, and I wanted my friends to be returned to me. This was going to be a war, and we weren't going to be able to do it so far away from the battlefield. I looked up to Trixie, a plan formulating in my mind.

"Do we have carts, baskets, or anything that we could store these weapons and armor in?"

"What's the plan, leader?" Trixie smugly grinned.

I got up from my chair and set my hooves up on the table, "We're moving the camp to Ponyville."
> Watching Cloudsdale Break Apart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Beyond this point, my mind is fuzzy on details.

If you couldn't figure out already, it was because of Luna... or Solar Eclipse... I don't even know what to call it. Look, in short, it's bad. Not only was I getting moody because of Discord's attacks and mental games, but I was also getting massive headaches from... fuck it, I'll tell you what it is. Nightmare Moon, or rather the last surviving piece of it.

I can remember having a conversation with it, but the details were all scattered. Didn't seem to make sense until later.


***


"Where?"

My body now set itself into a stone throne room, it was very damp, very dark, and most importantly, I felt like it was a very familiar place.

"Where's the-?"

Torches lit up the room, covering the once dark room in an orange glow. I did find it interesting that I wanted to have light and it came on, but it also felt commonplace. My eyes drew to the throne and what was on it. A black alicorn sat on the throne, her eyes drawn to one of her hooves.

"Your mind is a mine of horrid memories of pain and emptiness, something that I readily appreciate," she said, an aura wrapping around the hoof.

"Each experience of those moments you've forced yourself to become hardened, cold, and secluded. Until you met others you could open up to, namely your friends that now are locked away in the grip of Discord's talons."

The aura pulled away revealing an armored gauntlet of blue, making the alicorn smile. "It's only through going back to those memories and becoming an unfeeling creature that you can win against Discord. You know he will use your friends as bait, as a way of torment, but if you have no feelings for them, he loses his only tactical advantage against you."

I felt ill listening to those words, I couldn't stop being a friend just like that to any of them. True, I barely even knew of Marian, but I felt like it was unfair to just drop her off without really knowing about her.

"Wait, you NEED me to defeat Discord, but that means it has to be on my terms. I'm not turning my back on Rich, Linda, or even Marian," I responded with malice.

The alicorn gave a sideways smile, like she knew that I'd be defiant.

"That's what I want to see. A situation that puts you through conflict, and the only answer you can find is doing the opposite of what you need to do," She watched as wisps of the aura came around her, letting me see what was happening as she continued to talk. "If you win, you lose. And yet, in your defiance, if you lose, you lose."

The alicorn let the aura shroud her, her voice becoming more like mine as she spoke.

"Sadly, even now you don't control your physical form fully. Oh, it's true that you can still talk with your 'allies' and your 'compatriots', but when we reach the gates of Canterlot's castle, you'll be left with only your sight as I take your hooves and end Discord's life," she said, ending the speech with the aura blowing off, showing the alicorn self that I saw in my dream.

With a sudden rumble, the alicorn's eyes shot open. "Wait! What is he doing? He couldn't be-!"

The alicorn poofed out of existance as a familiar chuckle echoed through the stone halls.

"Hello! Hello! A rather ye olde setting for a mind, surprised to see one like this in ages."

Instead of reacting with anger like I would, I acted more tired and upset. The short conversation with Solar Eclipse had made me lose a lot of energy for some reason.

"What are you doing in my head, Discord?"

Discord stepped out, in his humanistic form, just as I saw him the first time. He looked more curious than wily than I had anticipated.

"I was wondering the same. I picked you because you were thick-skulled, someone that would do anything to get something done his way and no other way."

Both of us stepped around each other, not leaving eye contact for the eternity it took to go in a full circle.

"So that's what's wrong... this makes the game so much more complicated than I think both of us anticipated," Discord murmured.

I gave a nod, letting him confirm his suspicions. He pulled his eyes from me and gave a snap, although no flash followed. His eyes seemed to show a different color and a sideways smile came on his face.

"This looks so much like I anticipated, not dark, dank, depressing, or any other 'd' word that I can think of that's negative."

I rolled a shoulder and heard a pop before I spoke up.

"So you're just here to enjoy my head? Wouldn't expect you to do anything else of great importance, except steal my girlfriend from me."

Discord's eyes returned to normal and scratched his chin for a moment. "Well," he said, letting the word elongate before snapping his fingers again. Finding myself in a theatrical chair beside Discord, he pointed out to the screen. He wore slim glasses and seemed to try and act like a professional artist.

"This is the latest theatrical event that I've directed and produced, using nothing but a budget of seven bits, a Q-Tip, and laser-guided scissors."


***


Rainbow Dash woke up, still reeling from the attack on Canterlot and upset that she still had to go to work in Cloudsdale.

"This isn't right, here we are in the middle of some controversy and we're still moving clouds around."

Getting off her bed, she set her hooves on the cloud floor and remarked that it felt a little weaker than it usually was.

"Well, I guess I've been neglecting to remodel the house for awhile. I'll need to do it later."

Dash prepared a quick breakfast and went for the door, finding out that the door collapsed as she pushed against it.

"What the-? Not the door too!" Dash complained, picking herself up and seeing other pegasi finding similar problems with their homes.

"Something's going on here, and I aim to find out what."

Dash went straight to Cloudsdale's cloud factory and found out that many workers who were usually laid back or who worked in another department were all rushing around the mechanism.

"Cloud fill is at optimal levels, no blockages, and yet the clouds are not going out," a supervisor exclaimed.

"Where are the manual cloud makers?" A worker asked.

"They're all gone! We don't know where they are!"

Dash kept away from the activity and began to look around for any hints for where the manual cloud makers were. As she prepared to enter in a room, a blur of gray passed by her and she felt an immediate pain to her head. The pegasus fell down as her vision blurred, seeing the gray streak continue on its way.

"D-... Derp-...?"

Rainbow Dash fell into a state of unconsciousness as Cloudsdale began falling apart.


***


Twilight awoke and made an immediate plan for the day. She had to talk with Celestia and Luna about what happened last night and what their thoughts were on Fix's sudden need to round up the town to fight Discord. While in her morning state, she looked out the window to see a cabinet fall outside her window.

"Guess Ditzy is up unusually early for deliveries," she murmered, turning her attention back to the mirror and her brushing of teeth.

After more time getting cleaned and groomed, Twilight looked out again to see more furniture falling, some impacting other homes around her.

"That... can't be Ditzy..." Twilight managed to let out, still trying to shake the morning cobwebs from her mind. Going outside the library, she looked up to see Cloudsdale unusually lower than she had seen it before. Further more, it seemed that the falling sinks, mechanical gears, and other things seemed to be coming from it.

"The second sign, Cloudsdale's falling!"

Twilight attempted to do some protection of the places around her and the houses, catching objects and throwing them away from houses. The effort was at first strenuous until Celestia and Luna came to assist Twilight.

"Try and split the town into three sections and get any unicorn out here to try and help deflect these as soon as possible," Celestia yelled over the sound of crunching wood.

The three mares split and slowly gathered a few volunteers that were willing to keep the area safe.

After a tense hour of heavy objects falling from the sky, everypony saw the shadow of Cloudsdale eventually pass over Ponyville and descend with a loud BOOM into the plains nearby.

Twilight looked over to the crater and saw the once proud weather factory utterly destroyed. She looked around the sky of descending pegasi for rainbow colors and didn't see any. With each pony that landed from the sky, Twilight asked one question, "Have you seen Rainbow Dash?"

Each pegasi couldn't answer, all shocked that their homes were gone. Livelihoods ended. Even talk of some not being found.

Twilight began thinking of the worst, Rainbow Dash, her pride in her other friends and home, may have been crushed in her effort to keep the cloud city in the air. She began crying, now unsure if one of the best ponies she had known was alive or not.

The response by some of the firefighters and rescue workers was slow in comparison to Twilight's panicked running. She had to know, to see if Rainbow was in the rubble. To see if she was alive, hurt, but alive. Her usual need to plan and keep things together didn't matter for her.

She reached the crater to see Rainbow at the lip, covered in bruises and soot. Twilight slid down to Rainbow and stopped, unsure of what to do. She had remembered the practice of what to do in the event of someone who was injured, the most basic of medicinal magic, but found that at the moment, none of it would come to her.

"Dash... Dash, please, tell me you're alive..." Twilight choked out, tears still going down her face.

"We need to get this pegasus to the hospital, boys, check inside, may be more down there," a firefighter ordered as he tried to pull Twilight away for the medical team to take over.

"Ma'am, this is a serious situation, please just remain calm and-"

"Calm?! That's my friend they're taking! Where's she going?! DASH!" Twilight screamed, struggling against the firefighter's grip on her.


***


Discord waited for the screen to go to black before removing the glasses from his face.

"As you can see, it's still not fully completed, the movie, I mean. We still need to shoot some more key scenes, a bit of a comedic spot in one section-"

"You killed her."

I turned to Discord, a look of rage and embitterment all to my own as he sat there.

"You fucking bastard, you killed somepony. And all you can do is JOKE ABOUT IT."

Discord twirled the glasses on his finger for a moment, "Miss Dash is not gone from this world, I will assure you. At this moment, however, she's taken up residence at the hospital for some broken bones and internal bleeding."

"Now you understand," Solar Eclipse whispered out, unseen by both myself and Discord in whatever corner of the mind he was hiding in.

"Killing him will do the world a service, not only will it make sure that lives are saved, but they are given order. Our order."

Getting up from the seat I turned to face nothing, "You mean the order that YOU want! I want no part in it! But you're damn right about ending Discord's life, it would make everything a hell of a lot better!"

Discord seemed to take some minor interest in the debate that had now developed and put a claw on my shoulder, of course thrown off by myself backing away a step and raising my fists.

"Both of you want to kill me? A god? First off, good luck trying, but secondly, I think I can make everything a little easier on all of us with a little... bet."

He was greeted with silence, so he continued. "My bet, and what I am most interested in myself... Is let Bait fight me, not with you, Sir-slash-Missus Possesser, but him."

I immediately nodded, already ready to knock Discord out.

"How dare you make such a bet? Clearly this physical form is not strong enough without my guidance and power! Such a bet would be foolish and I would stand to gain nothing except for what I already have planned."

Solar Eclipse's lack of interest made me irritated, but part of me agreed with what he/she said.

"Including my power?"

The room became suddenly brighter, the form of Solar Eclipse's shadow between myself and Discord.

"You mean to imply that if the boy wins-?"

Discord crossed his arms and stared down the dark beast, "Gets full title, crown, and abilities of myself, Discord, God of Chaos."

"However, with such a bet, that does mean if Bait loses, or you interfere in some way... then you die," Discord ended, a wicked smile crossing his own face.

I lifted out my hand, already ready to do anything I could to get this finished. If I were to in fact get Discord's ability, it would give me something advantageous to use to rid myself of Solar Eclipse for good.

"He did not make the deal with you, idiot," Solar Eclipse mocked, making me only further irritated.

"Maybe not, but as the physical form, I get some say in this, and it's an enthusiastic 'Hell Yes'."

Discord nodded to say he understood and put a claw out to the shadow as he clasped mine.

"I agree to your terms," was all Solar Eclipse said before I was ricocheted back into reality.
> A Pony's Dog
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Hey! Daydreamer!"  

I blinked and realized that I was walking alongside Trixie and Zecora. It took me awhile to realize that the group was already partway through the warpath towards Ponyville.

"You've been mumbling this whole time, would you be as so kind as to explain what it's about?" Trixie huffed. At the moment, before I pieced everything together, I didn't know what she was talking about.

"I... was mumbling about how you are able to curve your hat?" I jokingly replied.

We kept walking, letting the sounds of the Everfree go on its own. Occasionally we would stop as a beast would cross our paths and make a decision if we needed to fight it off or let it pass. Every so often I could feel a rumble underneath me, and after the third time it happened I stopped the trek.

"Is something the matter?" Zecora asked. "You seem on edge, should we scatter?"

I shook my head and gave a few experimental stomps. "Something's going on underneath me, and I'm thinking it's not something natur-."

With a FOOMP, the ground collapsed and I was set on top of a pile of dirt with a couple of dog legs sticking out.

"Who forgot the supports?!" A screeching sound came from the sudden tunnel that was revealed. From the darkness, the gray dog from before came out. Both of our eyes met and reacted with a jump, yelling, "You!"

We both stared each other down until another familiar face came up from the dirt.

"Hello, Beta," Tyrone coughed out, trying to shake off the dirt that fell on him. I got off the mound and tried to push some dirt off to help get Tyrone free, soon finding the rest of the trio that I met and a light blue pony inside the pile as well.

"Great to see you again, Tyrone. Was wondering where you were after last night's... oddities."

Tyrone gave a little nod. "I know, when I came back to see you, you were out cold."


***


Tyrone and Screw Loose managed to get to the entrance way of the base, both of them exhausted from the run from the asylum.

"Th-This is where you live?" Screw Loose huffed.

"I think," Tyrone grunted with a little uncertainty. "I can smell Beta, but it's very weak." 

Tyrone gave a scratch where Quentin's scent was strongest and felt a small give in the wall. With a little push, the wall moved in and the entrance was revealed. Both of them gave a little nod and entered inside. As they came in, another smell unknown to Tyrone made him pause.

Screw Loose gave an angry growl, "More dogs, and they smell aggressive."

The two kept hidden as they looked on to an unusual scene.

"Since your Alpha is unable to fight, then I shall be the new leader! And as such, I'm ordering all of you ponies to come with me to your new home!" Tyrone heard the gray dog bark out.

"We don't follow the rules like you Diamond Dogs do! You leave him alone, and get out!" A brown pony responded, an hourglass adorning his flank.

"And if we don't? What are you going to do about it, little pony?"

Tyrone looked down at the Alpha they were supposedly talking about and his eyes sparked in rage and shock. "They're going to attack Beta!" Tyrone quietly rumbled out.

"Then you should take them out then," Screw responded.

Tyrone nodded and slipped in between the shadows to get behind the trio. Keeping quiet, he managed to yank the smallest one away, only showing his face in the light for a brief moment and bonked him on the head, knocking him out.

Ponies looked over the two other dogs, making them look behind them to see nothing.

"Where'd Spot go?" the blueish dog asked, briefly scratching his head.

"It doesn't matter! Batter these ponies and let's get that blasted pegasus!" The gray dog barked back.

Tyrone jumped out from his hiding spot and bashed the blue dog in the back of his head before standing between them and the ponies, growling angrily.

"Get away from Beta, right now!" Tyrone barked.

The ponies looked to each other, unsure of what Tyrone had said.

"This pony? Your Beta? Don't make me laugh. Diamond Dogs would never let a pony rule over a pack!" Rover howled back.

Tyrone kept his arms up, and growling at the two dogs that stood before him.

With no warning, Rover and Fido jumped out to Tyrone and tackled him down, making the crowd of ponies scatter as the fight began.

Rover bit down on Tyrone's right arm as Fido began choking Tyrone. With a little struggling, Tyrone began punching Fido with his left fist, enough to get Fido to weaken his chokehold and thrown back. Tyrone gripped onto Rover's right side of his face and began squeezing as hard as he could.

Rover attempted to readjust his bite and was punched off of Tyrone's arm. Tyrone forced himself up and gripped his bleeding arm. Fido went to swipe at Tyrone, Tyrone dodging what would've been a ferocious tear. With a roar, Tyrone rammed into Fido and bashed him into a pillar, cracking the stone with his force.

Backing up for a moment, he was gripped from behind by Rover, getting pulled back into another choke hold.

Tyrone's attempts to get Rover's hold off of him were failing as he began gasping out, falling down on a knee.

Rover tightened the hold, Tyrone feeling his eyes were going to burst out of his head.

A moment of relief came unexpectedly when he felt the pressure of the choke stop, a scream of pain coming from behind him.

Tyrone took rapid breaths of air before turning his head, seeing Screw Loose bounce around Rover, jumping past him and hitting him slightly; multiple times. With a bit of struggle, Tyrone got up in time to see Fido running at him. Ducking down, Tyrone used the running force to his advantage by lifting him up with his left arm and flinging him into Rover.

Seeing both dogs down he slowly moved over to Quentin's body and sat by it, gripping the wound that still bled out.	Screw Loose also came over and sat down as well, watching the dogs as they struggled to get up.

Rover gave Tyrone a dirty look, but didn't move from where he was. "Another pony? How weak are you that you need help from those weak creatures?"

Tyrone went to move, but Screw Loose held out her hoof to stop him, her eyes locked on Rover. "And how weak are you that I could run circles around YOU?"

Rover gave a loud bark, his eyes revealing his frustration.

"C'mon, Rover. That pony isn't worth this annoyance," Fido whined.

"I'm NOT GIVING UP! You know what would happen if I did that!" Rover screamed.

"You mean... like that pony?" Fido whimpered, thinking back to when a pony had managed to get them to rule over them and their soldiers.

Tyrone kept his eyes on the two, not knowing that the smallest dog, Spot, had been sneaking up to them from behind.

One pony went out to stop the small dog, but Spot slid underneath its body and gripped onto Screw Loose's tail. With a mighty spin, the pony smashed into Tyrone's back and made him fall forward. The dogs all opportunistically jumped on Tyrone and a mess of biting, scratching, and howling was witnessed by everypony in the room.

For a moment, the dogs all stopped, although they still all growled in anger. Spot, Fido, and Rover had latched themselves on Tyrone and refused to let go. A slow tremble began to happen to the pile as two legs forced themselves to stand and with a loud roar of pain and determination, the legs rushed forward and tripped into the back entranceway, down into the cavern where the Windigo had remained after the fearful run with Quick Fix the first time.

The windigo stirred and let its frosty wind take hold of the room, each dog now separated from each other. Tyrone knew he couldn't move, his last effort was put into his legs in a chance of escape, and from the bite and claw wounds he suffered, it seemed that bleeding out in the cold room was to be his fate.

Tyrone watched the white eyes of the windigo approach him and let his eyes shut.


***


"You couldn't beat him alone."

Tyrone's ears twitched at the familiar rumble of Screw Loose. He began trying to get his eyes open, finding it difficult from the pain he was in.

"And so what if I couldn't? He still lost according to the Pack rules!"

Tyrone's eyes began to clear, seeing Screw Loose confronting Rover. Trying to determine which arm was stronger, he began to make his effort to get up.

"And the Pack rules also mention that any outside influence that determines the winner which is not in accordance to a natural event or by skill means that the fighter automatically loses!"

Tyrone felt two arms lifting him up, shocking his body from pain and making him hiss.

"Perhaps by your rules, pony, but we're Diamond Dogs. If you can't survive, then you are meant to die!"

Tyrone licked his lips and hoarsely spoke out, "Screw..."

Screw Loose and Rover looked over the wobbling dog as Fido moved over to Rover.

"Saw his eyes shoot open, he tried to get up so I helped him out," Fido said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No! No! No!" Rover yelled out. "He didn't beat me! He didn't! He didn't! He didn't!"

"But, I thought that our rules were-?"

Rover snapped at Fido, "Shut up!"

Tyrone panted a few moments as he looked around him, "Where are we?"

Rover went to speak before he was cut off by Screw Loose. "Supposedly, the home of these dogs."

Tyrone's eyes saw the small dog named Spot walking around. "How much did I miss? Last I can recall, where eyes. Big... white eyes."

Screw Loose grimaced slightly, unsure of how to answer. "A big pony with freezing power tried to stop the fight. When I came in, it started backing away for a moment."

The five animals kept watching each other, silence keeping the strenuous peace for as long as it would.

"We put on some medicine for your wounds," Rover spoke, his eyes drifting away from contacting Tyrone's look. "But because we helped you, doesn't mean that you're meant to be Alpha."

Tyrone nodded. "I wouldn't want that responsibility. All I wish to do is help my Beta with everything I can." His eyes shot open in fear. "I need to get back to him!"

Spot gave a shrug, "He's leading a bunch of those ponies down to that pony town."

Tyrone looked around for and exit, and saw the many holes that surrounded the place. "Where? Where? WHERE?"

Fido looked over to Rover and gave a "Ahem."

Rover put a paw behind his head, "Well, you could-"

Before his sentence was finished, Tyrone had barreled forward in a random direction and began digging, his speed unmatched from anything the trio of Diamond Dogs have saw before.

"H-Hold on!" Rover screamed out, running forward into the dark hole after Tyrone.


***


"I got stopped by Rover, he told me to follow the harder ground that would've been made by walking a trail, and here we all are."

I thought over what Tyrone said, not knowing that the excursion could've happened while I was out cold.

"Let me see your arm," I asked.

Tyrone folded his left arm to himself, letting me see the circular mark of missing fur. I tilted my head past Tyrone and gave Rover the hardest stare I could muster. "You. Me. Private conversation. Later. Your tail. Gone."

Tyrone put a paw on me, turning my attention back to him. "We're making a tunnel to Ponyville."

Before I could ask, Trixie asked my question. "Why?"

Tyrone gave a shrug, "At first this tunnel was made to catch up to you, and now that I have, why not make this tunnel a one-way trip from Ponyville to our new home?"

I felt my head tilt slightly and give a little grin.


***


"Remind us why we're underground in this hole again?" Trixie complained.

I turned around, still moving forward down the tunnel that was being created as we trotted along. "My response. Would you rather fight off a cockatrice?"

Trixie went quiet after the question, making my already big smile get a little bigger. The smile went away however when I checked the watch.

2 days, 11 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds, 0 firsts.

It was coming. I would face against a god. When I do, I would need to make a choice, either surrender and doom an entire world to the creature that would see it turned into a toy, or manage to kill him and get taken over by a creature that has the same aspirations of domination.

"There has to be something else, there's never a situation that you couldn't win SOMETHING," I thought to myself. Even back when I was fired, I won the battle against Bradford thinking that he was untouchable. I went to clench my hand in a fist to relieve some stress and had to look down to remember that I didn't have hands. I figured some idle conversation could help, so I decided to talk a little to the brown pony with the hourglass mark on him.

"I don't suppose you can tell me what your talent is?" I asked.

As if by an immediate reaction, he responded, "Time specialist. Work on clocks and the sort."

I gave a little confirming nod and asked, "What's with the accent?"

"Accent?" He questioned before immediately hitting his face with his hoof. "Oh! Right, need to remember that I'm not in Trottingham. I usually am more of the proper English pony."

My eyebrow raised up momentarily, I didn't know if English would be a language in this world. I mean, I did speak it, but I considered the possibility of an England-like land that had English as its language. My mind connected Trottingham to England and its respective language as English, leaving it as it was. I knew I was treading thin with the introductory questions, but I thought of one last thing to get him to open up.

"What are you fighting for?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"You know, are you fighting for your store? Fighting for a purpose? Fighting just because?"

The pony went quiet as he looked down at the ground for a moment before turning to me. "I'm fighting for my assistant."

My eyebrow raised again, not expecting the answer. "Your assistant? What happened to him?"

"Her," he corrected. "She seemed to vanish away for awhile. When I saw her again, she was nearby Canterlot. I don't know what her fate was."

I gave a grimace, not knowing if Discord was willing enough to take prisoners and hold them hostage. Remaining quite, I went back to the front by Zecora.

"You seem so tense, can you tell me why? I would like to know before we see the blue sky."

I grit my teeth, even when I stood by the one creature that helped me, I couldn't bare myself to tell her the whole truth. "I'm scared. Not of the upcoming war that is coming, but its end."

She gave me a look of understanding. "In all things in our lives, we all walk on the edge of knives. When we are asked to choose left or right, of all that choose, their futures are not all bright."

She stopped me and put a hoof to my shoulder as the crowd began to move around us. "With that choice we make on that day, we will still stand together and yell 'Neigh!' Don't doubt yourself, Quentin, you're as strong as all of us. Don't think of your success or failure, there's nothing else to discuss."

She set her hoof down and began moving with the crowd again. My thoughts continued for a moment before I agreed with what she said. I didn't need to think about the end just yet, not when my goal was to save my friends. Perhaps I could find another answer, but for now my focus was revived as I began making my way back to the front again.

"We're going up, don't get blinded by the sunlight!" Rover yelled back.
> Conflicting Interests
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When we climbed out of the hole, I knew that if I'd see something like what we had done would happen on my street, I'd be a little confused too. We were a literal dirt parade as the long line of ponies continued on, all carrying weapons, shields, armor, caravans slowly filled the town square.

"We're baa-aack." I said to myself, taking in the afternoon sun and the sight of the residents coming out of their homes to look over some of their friends coming back. I couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride as fathers came to their families and telling them of what they were given. Mothers, friends, acquaintances, everypony had begun to surround the center of town. Figuring that the best opportunity could be made to make a statement on what needed to be done, I made way to an open porch and stood at it.

"To everypony here! What you see is that we have at least one-fourth of what has been found in the Everfree's secret cavern! You see the pikes, the spears, the armor, almost every need to protect ourselves and fight back, we've brought here!"

A roar of approval came out from many in the crowd. Zecora's eyes kept to me, encouraging me to continue.

"The reason we're here is to go to Canterlot. Look around! Many ponies that have lost homes are now here. From residents to business owners, we've all lost something. Let's make a stand, not later, NOW. Let's bring everything together here, the armor, the weapons, the necessary essentials such as food, water, and shelter! And once we're all here, we'll march to Canterlot and look at Discord in his beady eyes and yell out 'I want my life back!'"

The crowd had started going into 'Hip Hip Hoorays' momentarily before they all begun to grow silent. All of their eyes looked beyond me as a shadow lingered over myself. Turning around, I found myself face-to-face with Celestia, a bitter disappointment in her eyes as she looked down at me.

"Are you Quick Fix?" she asked.

My mouth went dry, the presence of this alicorn bearing down on me made it difficult not to continue standing in front of her. "Yeah."

She watched me for a few more moments before moving past me and directing her attention to the crowd. "I can understand your frustrations, and as your princess, I too want action to be taken. However, we can't lose sight of what makes us better than Discord."

As she spoke, she moved in the crowd, meeting eyes with everypony around her. "Our honesty. Keeping true to others and ourselves. Our kindness. Looking beyond the faults and offering a second chance. Our laughter. Because even when we get hurt, when others see our joy, they realize that we are stronger than they believe. Our generosity. Giving not only to ourselves but to everypony around us so that we can all work together. Our loyalty. Without it then what we are means nothing and the code that we all stand by is worthless."

She finished by going back on the porch and looking back out again. "Together we are more than ponies, we are all friends united to make the world as great of a place that we possibly can, even when the circumstances become difficult."

The crowd murmured their agreements, making me feel that Celestia was trying to ruin what needed to be done.

"Hang on a minute!" I yelled out, my eyes staring at Celestia's again.

"You want to talk about what makes US better? Let me tell you something! HONESTLY, there are so many hurt, lost, and needy looking for a sense of redemption! Don't take this opportunity away from them, encourage it! You believe in kindness, but from where I come from, kindness can easily be taken as a sign of weakness! What needs to be done is a different kind of kindness than you think, a kindness to the world at large by ridding Discord's evil forever!"

Celestia went to interrupt me, forcing me to flap up and put my hoof over her mouth, "Don't talk 'till I'm finished, Prissy Princess."

My hoof went off her mouth, but remained in the air as I yelled at her. "Generosity? What has Discord given them? Pain, Suffering, Loss. If you want generosity, then listen to these words, 'Eye for an eye, Tooth for a tooth.' With Discord gone, I'm sure many will be able to smile and laugh with less stress in their lives, I for one will be one of them. And as for loyalty? What do you mean by that? Loyal to a code, or loyal to your fat flank?"

We bore into each other with our stares, Celestia doing all she could to not hit me in front of her subjects.

"I'm warning you, right now. If you even dare attack, approach, or conspire to enter Canterlot, you'll find yourself in a very unpleasant position." She said, watching if I would react.

"What's the worst you can do? Kill me?" I responded. "Besides, look at them. They want to take back the town, and they also want to get Discord out of here!"

Turning from Celestia, I expected to hear a cheer of approval, but noticed many of the ponies looking away or at the ground. My heart sank quickly as Celestia motioned some white pegasi in armor to approach me. "G- guys! Say something!"

I could see Tyrone attempting to go forward, but he was being held back by the other Diamond Dogs as they began moving back to the hole they made. Zecora kept looking around, unsure of what to do. Trixie had leaned her hat forward, blocking her sight.

"For conspiring action against my request of peace," Celestia started as the guards slapped a pair of hoofcuffs on me. "You are going to be placed into a holding cell away from the public and under the observation of myself and Princess Luna."

My jaw dropped for a moment before I began to be pulled away by the guards. "H- hey! This isn't right! Discord's going to take over everything!" I struggled for a moment as the crowd watched on. "Why aren't any of you standing up for me?! Zecora! Trixie! DAMN IT, ANYONE!"

I unconsciously began tearing up, my sight blurring as I continued to be pulled away. "I trusted you! I trusted all of you! She's wrong! Discord's not going to be peaceful! You all know this! PLEASE!"

Celestia turned from me and continued addressing her subjects, but I had ceased listening.


***


"I can't believe they're using the asylum as a jail now," an angry voice yelled out.

I had already known it was one of the guards of the building and his complaining was the only thing that I could focus on. The room I had been left in was a simple room, bed, single window, and the walls had been padded. I had resigned myself to the bed, staring at the wall and wondering why no pony had bothered to stand with me.

"They haven't liked you," the inner voice of Solar Eclipse whispered. "All they wanted was to take away what you brought them."

My eyes wouldn't blink. They refused to. Not that I wanted them to shut, more like I had forced them open and everything else in my body was shut off. I could listen, but I didn't bother to hear. Probably how Discord was able to appear in the room without me noticing.

"Yoo-hoo..." Discord said, waving a talon in my face to see if I would react. "A- are you dead? Are you dead and not able to fight me anymore?"

"Say what the hell you want," I groaned out, unmoving from my lying position. "It It won't matter by the end of tomorrow since I'm now stuck in here."

Discord moved away from my sight, looking out the window from the sound of his walking. "You listen to Celestia? Psh, typical. Princess wants you to behave and you resign to it."

I let him ramble for a bit. It had something to do with me not being rebellious, against the system or some shit. He continued on for a moment before he just outright lifted me up and started shaking me.

"REACT TO ME, DAMN IT!" He yelled out.

I let my body slump, I didn't want to bother anymore. But I did ask one question that came to mind.

"What do you gain?" I dryly spoke.

Discord stopped his shaking and set me down on the bed before promptly going to the door. His hand moved to the knob and began locking locks that began to appear in sequential order before stopping at opening the door slightly and hanging a 'Do Not Disturb' sign. "Needed privacy in order to answer that one," he grinned.

He moved over to my bed, putting one leg up on it and leaning towards me. "What do you know about Harmony?"

"In general?" I responded.

He seemed to mull over the answer for a moment, "Let's go with that, sure."

Our eyes locked, though I felt no change in my facial expression, I let Discord know that I loathed him with everything I could portray with my eyes. "Harmony is order. A unity of all things working together and maintaining peace."

Discord gave a little nod, a little curl of his lip in a smile letting me know he was leading me somewhere. "So your definition of disharmony is that nothing works and peace cannot be made with it?"

I didn't respond.

"Those two definitions are so... black-white. But even here, in Equestria, the land of ponies, peace, and friendship, there is never true harmony." He said, moving away from my eyesight before being picked up and held towards the window.

"But think of it! If I, Discord, Demigod of all things chaotic, can make a world of PURE disharmony, then maybe from that there could in fact be PURE Harmony!" he spoke, letting the scenery of the town corrupt through the glass. "That's why I need you and your friends, Bait. It's not for taking over Equestria specifically, its for making it a better place. Through our actions we can force her to come out."

"Her?" I repeated, turning my head to Discord.

"Oh, good," Discord softly spoke. "You can move now, so I'll just carry on without holding on to you." With that, he let go and I plopped to the ground. He turned back to the window, his talon and paw behind his back. "Your earth doesn't call her by that name, it's so straightforward, strict, lacks a sense of mystery behind it." He turned slightly to look at me, "They call her God."

I just sat on the floor, staring up at the creature. His dark figure covering the sunset light from the window made me shiver in fear as his eyes gleamed red for the slightest moment. "And if Harmony is God, then you would know me by the antithesis of God. Even with your lack of religious ongoings, I'm sure you know of the many names that I also go by."

My face scrunched up, in anger and confusion. "But, how could you be known as Satan?"

Discord sat down on the bed and patted the side, motioning me to sit next to him. In caution, I did, wary of his touch. "There are few ponies that know of a war that happened many centuries ago. Slowly, the knowledge is getting leaked out, but its not enough. Humanity is mythology. And if Humanity and its race is mythology, so was the war that kick started Equestria to begin with."

A snap of his fingers, the wall in front of us fell off to reveal many armored humans rushing out in a field, cutting down ponies, griffons, manticores, and all kinds of beasts. "Look out there, Bait. Do you see anyone out there that resembles a leader?"

My eyes were drawn to a tall, skinny man. He held a golden pistol in one hand, a clawed gauntlet in the other. His armor was a patchwork of different things. His pants had scales on one leg and the other resembled fur. A simple piece of leather covered his chest and his head was covered by a metal helmet. Looking between Discord and the man, I easily made the connection.

"How young I was," Discord solemnly hummed. "With nothing but the scavenged pieces of clothing that I made, I was the one that brought a fight to Harmony."

As Discord mentioned Harmony, an echoing whinny came from the sky. The alicorn that made its cry was pure white, as if dirt or smoke could not affect her coat or color. I watched as the alicorn bore down on the soldiers with its magic, blowing lines of humans into the air, only to fall and break apart, bleeding to death as they were trampled on. It happened for a few moments before the alicorn turned to the human Discord. It looked to impale him on its horn, and Discord lifted his pistol up to the careening beast.

Time went slow as Discord focused the image of the horn entering the pistol and Discord pulling the trigger.

Discord snapped his talon again and the war image was gone, replaced by the asylum wall again. "Needless to say, I lived. Well, kind of. More importantly is that the war hasn't finished yet, not technically anyway." He got up and moved to the door, unlocking the locks.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "If I can recall, there aren't any humans in Equestria, and if they were, they're already dead by this point."

Discord gave a small laugh, "They would be, if they weren't relocated. And now its time to call them back. My agreement must be completed Bait. Which is why I'm going to get you a Get Out of Jail Free card, and even better, I'll personally welcome you when you arrive at the castle."

"You want me there, that's why you-?" I began.

Discord gave a wink at me, "It's either you come save your friends or let the world burn around you. Either way, this game we're playing will end with us." With that he vanished. No snap of fingers, no magic, nothing. It felt surreal, how I knew that he was there, but another part of me said that he couldn't have. As much as I tried to shake off the inevitable feeling growing in my stomach, it wouldn't let up.

I went back to the bed and lay on my side again, this time letting my eyes shut.
> Trapped
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	My eyes went open at the sound of the door being opened. Sitting up from the bed, I held my breath for a moment at what I saw. A night-blue alicorn with starry mane and tail stood at the entrance, her eyes showing compassion as she stepped in and let the door seal her in with me. My head lit up in activity and I unconsciously grinned before losing track of my memory. With a bit of convincing from Luna, however, I could fill in that piece in here.


***


"Hail, Princess Luna," Quick Fix groaned out, his smile still wide on his face. He went to move from the bed before Luna's magic restrained him from getting off. Giving a few taps  to the field that surrounded him, he turned back to Luna, his smile still present.

"We've already been aware-" Luna started before stopping herself and speaking again. "I, am already aware of what you are trying to do. It's brave in of itself, but foolish for any pony to take on Discord. Army or not, you and the followers you had gained would be corrupted, killed, or left to watch the attack backfire with your legs broken."

Quick Fix reared his head back and gave a slow laugh before lowering it to Luna again, his smile now bigger than before. "Perhaps my body dies, but the spirit lives on. And if the spirit is strong enough, even without a body, it can do more than any physical form can muster."

Luna had been moving closer to the bed and Quick Fix, unsure of the familiar feeling she was getting from the orange pegasus. "Do you truly believe you can beat a creature that took fifteen years of my sister's and my own lives? A pegasus such as yourself can match the strength of two of Equestria's finest magical users?"

Luna's face was right in front of Quick Fix's, staring deeply into him. Quick Fix's eyes shifted into slits as he gripped onto the neck of Luna. "Of course not! But with you, my other, we can be free again!"

Luna's magic failed her as Quick Fix's mouth opened wide and the dark energies of Nightmare Moon went out of him and into the horn of Luna. The tight hold of Quick Fix kept Luna down as she spasmed in his grip. No sound was uttered, but between Quick Fix and Luna, the sound of pure torture and pain echoed out in their minds.

Quick Fix's mouth shut as his head slumped and hit the floor, his body still resting on the bed.

Luna had pulled away and took uneasy steps back as she choked out. She crumpled to the floor and began crying, pulling her legs close to her as she wailed.

The guards had opened the door to Luna's cries and watched as the princess' magic power filled the room. They watched as the dark sphere that had formed around Luna rose up and burst out, revealing the rebirthed form of Nightmare Moon. Her eyes shot open and her laughter echoed across the asylum and into the ears of Celestia.


***


Waking up, I found myself in the odd position of my head on the floor and my body still bent on the bed. A ringing alarm had been going off as I regained my sense of hearing. Getting up, I tilted into a wall and held a hoof to my head. The odd hangover I had been given was making things unbearable, the ringing wasn't making it any easier either. Keeping with what I could remember, all I could think of was the night-blue alicorn and the sudden wake with my head on the floor.

Forcing an eye open, I noticed the door was still open. I had guessed that this was the so called 'Get Out of Jail Free' card Discord was talking about. Trying to keep a hoof to my head, I stumbled into the door and bashed my head into it.

"Uggghhh, damn it," I moaned before righting myself through the doorway.

The hallways were empty, but all of the doors were shut and no doubt locked from anyone to attempt escape. The sound of the bell ringing had gotten louder and I found its source. Forcing my wings open, I took a leap to the bell and swung at the bell to make the ringing stop. Not only did I silence the bell, but I made it fly across the hall and dent a steel door at the end.

Landing down, I took solace that my head was clearing up. Moving to the dented door I took a brief look at it.

"Holy shit, Quentin, lay off the steroids," I joked to myself.

The dent was fairly deep, a decent three or four inches. I didn't know how strong I was, but I could bet it had something to do with the Nightmare spirit. Feeling up for punching out a door, I pulled back a few steps.

With a burst of wing speed, I twisted my body so my rear hooves would hit the door.

I expected to be stopped by the door, but had only been slowed as I landed on the fallen door. It began tilting downwards as I regained my stance. Turning my head, I noticed a flight of stairs greeting me and my new sled. I let out a sound of fear as the tilt finished and the door began sliding down the stairs.

After a moment of sliding down the stairs, the door stopped halfway and my back bashed into another door. Hitting the floor, I held my back for a moment before turning to the door and angrily punching it and pulling my hoof away.

With a creak, the door fell over and I was greeted by the sight of a group of shocked guards. Each of them looked from the door to me and the sound of moving armor and unsheathing of spears greeted me.

My hooves went up and I gave a sheepish smile. "Hi, guys. See any good shows lately?"

Thinking quickly, I moved to the side and pushed the spears into the other side of the doorway, spinning my rear hooves with my movement it clashed into the head of a guard and shook up the group enough for a spear to get loose for me. Pulling it away, I snapped the metal tip off, not wanting to harm the guards. Pushing past the gang with the newly made staff in my mouth, I began running out. I didn't know where to go, but I figured the best bet was to follow the trail of guards.

Throwing up the staff from my mouth, the first wave of incoming guards kept their eyes on the staff long enough for me to leap in between two of them, one rear hoof cracking the jaw of a guard on my right and a left fore hoof wrapped around the neck of the left guard, making him flip and land on his back.

The staff came down in time as another two guards began attacking me with their spears. Clacking in between the two spears and dodging each thrust was surprisingly easy.

"Can't we talk about this?" I asked in between swipes. Ducking down from another swipe and leaping the next I spun around and cracked down on both of the guards spears. Stepping down on the flat tips with one hoof, I swung my staff into one guard and forced him back and off his spear. With one backing away, I spun on the remaining flat tip and brought the other hoof down on the wooden stick, leaving the guard with a small twig.

Still standing on my rear hooves, I spun the staff with one of my hooves before stepping forward and saying, "Boo!"

The other guard began retreating with his friend, making me chuckle for a moment. I raced after them in the hopes of getting out. The doors blurred together as I felt my hooves leave the floor and my wings took me up and forward. Neglecting to remember that the place wasn't exactly open, I saw the incoming wall and forced myself to brace for impact.

Slamming into the wall, I left a pony-sized imprint in the concrete as I stuck fast to the wall. My eyes slowly went open and felt the pain going through my chest and left shoulder. Letting out a shuddering sigh of agony, the wall began to crack. At first, I reacted with shock, but sighed and let my eyes shut halfway.

"I'm in a world of cartoon ponies, why wouldn't this happen to me?" I mumbled out just before the wall I was stuck on fell forward with me on it. I let out a scream as I fell with the concrete block. With my body still tense in pain, my wings refused to open as I plummeted. After landing on top of another ceiling of the building, I kept still as I took in deep breaths and saw the night sky.

"Oh, good. How long 'till the end of the world?" I asked myself before lifting the hoof with the watch on it.

2 days, 3 hours, 2 minutes, 2 firsts.

"2 days? More like two..." I paused and let my hoof fall back down, leaving my remark unanswered. The silence in my mind finally got me thinking as to where the possessive spiritual head bitch was. Maybe the alicorn at the door before I went under had something to do with it, and it was the only decent answer I could muster up. Thinking back to the visions I got from it in my dreams I started panicking. If it was able to not only change me, but make me so powerful as to completely decimate the world, what it could do with an alicorn was even more unsettling.

Finally finding the strength to push myself up, I started to move up until I heard more cracking underneath me.

My eyes shut as the crackling got worse, "Fuck me."

The ceiling gave way and I fell another floor into the building again. I gave a groan of pain before simply rolling off the pile of concrete and dust.

"How interesting it is to see you on the outside, Quentin," a sultry voice I was already familiar with spoke out. From the ground I looked up to see a pure black alicorn with a starry mane similar to the night-blue alicorn's that I had seen before. It had armor on its hooves and chest, a helmet covering its head. I forced myself up and kept observing the thing that had been living in my head.

"If you weren't crazy, I'd say you'd be worth at least a dollar," I choked out from the dust. "You've got the body for it."

She looked at me with judgmental eyes, "Body for what exactly?"

I picked up the staff that managed to survive along with me, "Being a cheap stripper." Swinging the staff overhead, I expected to crack it over her skull and get the hell out. The staff didn't even get close to her as it was held away with her magic. She fired the staff back and over my head as it impaled the other side of the wall.

"How droll," she mocked, lifting blocks of broken concrete with her magic. "Perhaps a lesson in humility for your new queen will teach you some manners."

The alicorn fired the concrete at me, forcing me to put my hooves up in defense. Each rock that hit my arms sent shockwaves of pain throughout my body, forcing my eyes to tear up and try to close. After a moment of waiting for the next rock to hit, I brought my hooves down and was greeted with a magical blast that hurled me into the wall. I felt a familiar twinge in my chest from the first fight with the timberwolves. She had aimed there specifically, I'm sure, as she started moving over me as I coughed out to the ground.

"What's wrong, Quentin? Can't get up from something as simple as rocks?" She taunted, making me look up to her with a snarl on my face. My heart began beating in my ears as I reared up and cracked the back of my head against her jaw. She was taken aback, moving a hoof to her jaw as I pushed forward with my wings and tackled her through a wall. With my upper body on her, I pulled back my right hoof and prepared to slam it into her chest.

As I nearly hit her, she had faded into starry dust in front of me. It moved over me and I felt a hoof on the top of my head before being shoved into the floor. From the floor, I noticed the starry dust had reformed as the alicorn.

Through my teeth as I attempted to get up, I growled out, "Cheatin' bitch!"

She had once again let me go and I prepared to attack again, knowing that she could phase out instead of being hit made things harder for me to plan around. I thought to outsmart her or perhaps catch her before she could try it again.

Jumping forward, I brought my forehooves up and above my head, ready to bring it down on the alicorn. I watched her smirk and was ready for her attempt at escape. Instead of bringing the hooves down on her, I landed with my rear hooves on the ground, looking at the smirk of the alicorn disappear. Bending backward, I brought both rear hooves up and cracked into the alicorn's jaw again, this time making a sick pop as I rolled and landed back on all four hooves.

Looking up, I got to see the wide eyes of shock on the alicorn and the ripped jaw that had came with my attack. I froze in fear for a moment, not used to the sight of gore.

The alicorn moved a hoof to the jaw, still not letting out a sound. It moved it around for a moment before lowering her hoof just below the broken bone and slowly lifting it. I watched in shock as the broken jaw wasn't appearing as she rose the hoof up and revealed it was completely healed as if it wasn't touched. She licked her lips for a moment before snapping her teeth.

"Impressed?" she asked me before leaping forward and punching the side of my face. The force sent me off my hooves, prompting the alicorn to hold me up with its magic. With her power, I got tossed into the nearest wall and dragged to the floor before being smashed into the ceiling and hurled across to the other wall. After hitting the wall, I collapsed to the ground and struggled to even lift my head.

With her magic, she forced my unmoving body up from the ground and looked me in the eye. "You've done your service well enough, Quentin. Not only have you restored my former strength, but I am complete again. With that, I must terminate our partnership." Her slick smile made me cringe as I felt my neck being wrapped around by her magic. "I do hope that you aren't too upset about this, after all, you get what you want even in your death, the end of Discord."

I kept trying to grasp at what choked me to no avail. "I. Don't want. that!" I gasped out.

Her grip tightened around my neck as she continued to stare me down, "So what do you want?"

My head was probably red from the lack of air and with how pissed I was at this cocky alicorn. "I. Want. You. To. Burn." I let out as I felt my hooves actually grip something around my neck. Using every ounce of the remaining strength I had, I pulled at it. My eyes remained shut as I put everything in my arms, getting more and more air as I pushed off the magical force until I had completely removed it and fell to the ground.

My eyes kept shut, unable to move from the last ditch effort I gave to save my hide. I did hear the sound of many hooves approaching and a breath at my ear.

"Remember this night, Quentin. The night that Nightmare Moon let you live for one more day," I heard the voice of the alicorn say to me, a bitter anger in being interrupted from the fight.
> You, Me, & Elements of Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stirring up, I could tell I was sitting up and my forehooves were locked together. My eyes took some time to adjust to the change in setting and to the ponies that stood in front of me.

"He's awake," I heard a mare say as I tried to clear my sight. When it did clear, I got to see the mares that introduced me to the town. I kept trying to remember their names, but I came up blank. The princess was there too, her expression of unhappiness made me cringe back. I attempted to pull the cuffs that locked my forehooves, but it didn't work.

"After your escapade in the asylum, I insured that the cuffs you are wearing right now were magically enhanced," Celestia coldly explained.

I remained quiet before turning to the window and seeing the night sky, "Shit! I slept too late!" In the panic, I pulled harder on the cuffs, this time making it glow as I grunted.

"The cuffs are meant to get stronger against the strength of the wearer," Celestia warned me as I continued pulling with everything I had. "Not even the strongest pony in the world can-"

She stopped as the cuffs began to crack, releasing more light with every snap I was able to create. My grunts had become a loud yell. Closing my eyes, I continued to purely focus on the arms, thinking only of breaking them out so I could rush to Canterlot and stop Discord. My arms shook with intensity, knowing I was near escape. With a final roar of effort, my forehooves came free.

The effort nearly wiped me, before my eyes came open and I prepared to crash out the window.

"Can't stay, saving the world," I shouted before bursting through the glass. Attempting to open my wings and finish the escape, I found out that I was plummeting to the ground. Looking back to where my wings were supposed to be, I was shocked by a restraint jacket that had pinned them down. I expected to meet dirt, instead, as I turned I fell flat on a wooden floor.

"Not very bright for a human, aren't you?" I heard a pony say as a purple hoof stepped into my sight. Lifting my head, I groaned at the realization that I was back in the room I had started in.

"Although, I've had some time with the book of the Discordian Wars. You could be easily trying to dupe us into believing that you're not bright at all," the purple unicorn said.

I began to get up, knowing that I wasn't going to get anywhere with these ladies if I could try. "You could give me credit, I'm sure that I'll be the only guy you know that's willing to save your ass from being fried."

"Do you even realize the full extent of what you and your friends have done to my ponies and my kingdom?" Celestia huffed.

"I'm not the one that said we should stand around and do nothing," I yelled back. "As I was getting dragged away, what'd you tell your subjects? 'Oh, everything is going to be just fine. Remember the light in your heart and believe in the power of sunshine, happiness, and love. With our faith, we won't be horribly taken over by a madman.'" I ended my mock of the princess with a flurry of eye batting before turning to the other ponies in the room.

"I'm not crazy enough to just make this up, you've seen me before at least once," I said, hoping to at least get an agreement of some kind.

"One of your friends helped destroy Canterlot Castle," Rarity sneered.

"Another one of your friends ranted in the streets making the town worried," Pinkie added.

"And this, just came from the last one of your so-called friends," Applejack said, sliding a wine basket towards me.

Carefully looking down at it, I picked up the bottle and looked at the label. On it was the face of Limonade, no emotion on it along with empty eyes. I began shaking at the concept that Linda was now under Discord's control, but set the bottle down. A card sat at the bottom and I quickly brought it up and opened it, a little red card slipping out as I did.

Good work, Bait. You've managed to both simultaneously ruin my fun and made things harder for me to control. With Nightmare Moon now in this equation that I had not foreseen and you still after my throat for taking your precious little friends, I now have to wonder why I'm working so hard to even get your attention anymore.

You know what? Just don't show up at the castle anymore. I don't need you or the necklace that I had spent my precious, hard-earned time on. I don't need you to arrive with anypony else, army or otherwise. I just don't want you in general. Here's hoping that you enjoy the last vestige of your girl's free will, a drink of her own efforts and love (Bluh.).

With love,
Discord

I dropped the card in my hooves and let it fall to the ground before looking to the bottle and pulling it to me. I hugged it close for a moment, maybe hoping that I'd at least feel her own hug come back to me.

"It's all been the fault and plan of Discord to use them, and he's going to use you the moment you try to enter the castle," Twilight explained as I shut my eyes, envisioning Richard, Marian and Linda all turned from me.

I continued to shake, doing all I could from not tearing up again. "How can-" I swallowed the large ball that had grown in my throat, "How can he be stopped?"

"He can't," Fluttershy answered, prompting me to look up to her. "Rainbow Dash is still in the hospital, she's been getting magical and modern treatments but she won't be cleared until tomorrow."

"Which brings up the final straw I've had with you," Celestia interrupted. "You, in all of your trickery, spite, and hate have brought Nightmare Moon back into Equestria." Her eyes looked to the window, "Watch."

Looking out the window, the horizon began lighting up. The sun began slowly rising up before it was stopped and was sinking back where it had risen. Looking to the princess, her horn was alight. She had stopped the magic and I saw the sun drop from the horizon, leaving the night again.

"So, you can't raise the sun?" I asked, dumbfounded with the knowledge that an alicorn could do that.

Her head turned to me, keeping her disapproving stare at me. "I can't raise the sun until my sister, Luna, lowers the moon. Now that Luna is Nightmare Moon again, she will never lower it. The crops will die without sunlight, my little ponies will be left in the dark, and the harmonious nature of the world will shatter apart."

I forced myself up and stood in front of Celestia, my own anger boiling over. "So, it wasn't the castle breaking apart. It wasn't the ponies ready to go up in arms to take back their homes. NO! It's the other princess going nuts that you suddenly get your feathers ruffled over!" I pulled away to put some distance between us before turning again. "Let me guess, NOW, you want to get an army together. NOW, you want to take back your castle. NOW, after TWO, you count them, TWO CITIES have fallen under your EVER so watchful eyes. NOW, after a god damn alicorn princess becomes a force of destruction, you finally say you should do something."

I sat on the floor and clopped my forehooves together slowly before setting them to the floor again. "Truly, you are a grand leader."

"Don'tcha dare think you're better than the princess," Applejack admonished. "Luna's the only sister she's got, so you keep your mouth shut!"

"And Richard, Linda, and Marian are the closest damn friends I got," I bellowed back. "If you want something done, then get this wrapping off of me and I'll take down Discord and Nightmare Moon. Even if I don't, then you can take solace in the fact that I'll die before Discord can corrupt me or let Nightmare Moon try to fuck with my mind again."

"You are staying here," Celestia ordered. "The Elements of Harmony will be led by myself and the remainder of my guard to the castle gates. Only they can defeat Discord and Nightmare Moon with their power."

She pointed to the mares, and only then did I realize they all had necklaces on, besides Twilight who wore a golden crown. They seemed to react like I did.

"But, Celestia, what about Rainbow Dash? We can't use the Elements without her," Twilight advised.

"I will hold on to the Element of Loyalty when it comes time for the magic of friendship to be brought forth," Celestia explained, revealing a necklace with a red lightning bolt on the front. "Even if I'm still distracted in a fight, my own magic should be enough to replace the missing piece."

"So that's it," I huffed. "I spend days with being toyed with by Discord and brought to my mental breaking point, and now I'm just thrown out of it."

Celestia nodded and looked to Twilight. "Is it finished?"

Twilight nodded and Celestia opened the door with her magic. Two guards were set at attention as they awaited command.

"Take the pegasus to Twilight's library, she will take it from there," Celestia requested. Twilight past me and I felt a push behind me from the princess. "Put another set of cuffs on his forelegs before you do."


***


"I wish to know more about you," Twilight said as I was moved to the center of the room. "Your species anyway."

Looking at the place I followed the wired mess that wrapped around the entirety of the basement to the platform and consoles on the floor. The center lit much like the other teleporter that Richard made and my heart sank knowing what was going to happen.

"You're sending me back," I softly said.

"Yes," Twilight nonchalantly responded. "Once you're back in your proper dimension and earth, you'll never bother any of the ponies of Equestria again."

The cuffs on my arms went heavy as I kept my eyes to her, "What about Rich? Linda? Marian? Are they going to come back?"

She stopped briefly before resuming her actions. "You will be sent back with your memory wiped of-"

"You didn't answer me," I snipped, already trying to work the cuffs off of me like before. "Are. You. Sending. Them. Back?"

Twilight shut her eyes and sighed before looking to me. Her expression was something I had seen many times before, uncertainty.

"Can you promise they'll be back?" I asked, my arms beginning to shake from the strain of trying to break the cuffs again with my back turned to Twilight.

"I-" Twilight started before she stopped herself. "I'm not sure of what the fate of your friends will be."

When she finished her words, the cuffs broke off and I pinned her against the wall. "Then I ain't leaving!"

Her horn lit up and forcibly transported me back to the center. "I'm sorry, but this is for every pony's good." Still holding on to me with her magic, she flipped a large switch as the room began humming.

Fighting back with all the energy I had, I managed to stand and face Twilight with the light around me growing brighter. I could already feel my body being sucked away as I yelled out. "I'm not leaving them!"


***


My body kept feeling and unfeeling around me. I refused to look at what was around me, instead attempting to focus on where I needed to be. I needed weapons, armor, an army. I needed the underground base.

Everything I had experienced in Equestria came at me in a moment. The timberwolf fight. Being rescued by Zecora. The suit made by Rarity. Flying for the first time. Racing Rainbow Dash. Standing tall against wild animals. The party. The dancing. The drunken ass I made of myself. Finding the underground base. Being possessed by Nightmare Night. Running from the windigo. Getting allies for the fight. The nightmares. The day of training. All of the moments Discord had messaged me or openly laughed at my situation. The night in the asylum.

Through it all, I continued my cry out as I began to fade.

"I'm not leaving them!"
> Trial by Wood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Traveling through planes of existence is not a pleasant experience. Think about one of those spinning dryers for a moment. Put a rubber ball in it and imagine it being thrown around in the dryer's fastest speed and heat. This time, instead of winding up back home, I was right back where I started, in a open area of the Everfree Forest.

"H-hang on a minute here. What the hell just happened?" I quietly told myself before hearing howls around me. I cringed, knowing that it was timberwolves.

"Not this again," I moaned.

Getting close to the ground, I kept shifting around to check for movement.

"Come on, come on, I know you're out there watching me," I whispered.

Hearing the rustle coming from behind, I had spun, bringing up my forearms up and roundhoused a rear leg into the side of a timberwolf's face, making it break apart. After the initial shock of watching the entirety of the creature fall to the ground as a pile of sticks, I grabbed the longest stick from the fallen beast and wielded it as close to a staff I could.

"What I'd give for a flamethrower by this point," I said, backing back into the center.

The glowing eyes of the timberwolves had started appearing in multitudes, making me nervous about my chances.

"Come and get me, firewood!" I yelled out. "I got a stick and a temper that's red hot right now, let's go!"

The eyes faded away, letting me ease up for a moment. When the ground started shaking, I got tensed all over again. That's when a huge timberwolf stepped out and roared into my face, an obnoxious smell blowing out of its mouth.

"JEE-ZUS! Get a breath mint for that thing!" I yelled before a giant paw came over me.

Zipping out of the way, the paw hit the ground as I took to the air. The thing took up a huge chunk of forest, It looked to have built itself from entire trees.

"Alright, Quentin. If you expect to take down a god, you'd better be able to take THIS out in some way," I attempted to say to myself confidently.

Moving into a dive, the wolf reared up and took another swipe as it stood.The push of air alone made flight difficult, I was surprised how well I took the shift and rolled around the head. The stick I had didn't have that much luck as it managed to break in two, making me drop it. It's head followed the roll by twisting as I flew back up in preparation for another dive attempt.

"How do you work, anyway?" I asked myself, now curious how wood could form around into a shape of a wolf. "Are you alive? You must be, because you breathe..."

Swooping down for another attack, I pushed against the air with my wings and threw my hooves forward, aiming for the side. Hoping to complete this ridiculous concept of maybe hurting it, I decided to yell out something random before cracking through its body.

A loud cry of pain rumbled from the giant wooden monster as I had to resign myself back to the ground and out of its sight. Despite feeling proud about hurting it, my body refused to feel happy about it. Keeping my sight on its movement, it had started sniffing around. Knowing hiding wasn't going to be option for long, I tried thinking of another way of taking down a giant pile of lumber.

I gave a quick look to my mental map of the forest and locked onto the river. If I could lead the wolf to the waters, the wood could begin floating away and stripping the wolf before it finally would keel over. Nodding to myself about the plan, I shot up back into the air and whistled out.

"Yo! Kindling!" I called out, making it twitch it's ears before turning to where I was shouting. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, bundle of sticks! Come and get me if you can!" Flying off, I tried to remember where the river was. Seeing the ruined castle grounds that marked the base territory, I began speeding off towards it. The sound of loud crunches from behind me let me know that the wolf was hunting me down.

I heard a bark before a sharp pain came careening from my back and my flight suddenly failed. Being so close to the tree line, I hoped not to get battered too hard or to at least get to the deeper waters of the river to carry out my plan. I hit a lot of branches, mostly with my face, but many more whipped against my body and legs to a point that the pain had already become numbing as I hit the forest floor. I was right by the river side as I hoped to be.

Hoping that the sea dragon was still there I tried to call out. "Help," I coughed out, my throat unable to get loud. The pain that had wracked my body was focused into my chest. Looking down at it, I had nearly gagged. A long, straight stick was poking out. The entirety of its length had only gone through about three quarters of the way and was tinted red with blood. Taking both hooves and placing them on the pole, I gave a hard tug and felt the intense pain that came from the effort of pulling out the rest of it.

Letting out the only scream of agony I had left, I felt the presence of the giant timberwolf bearing down on me. With little energy in me and blood continuing to fall out, I resorted to using the spike that had impaled me to try and stand again. The wolf's stench of its open mouth let me know he was close. Turning to greet his eyes, I held the pole up to defend myself.

"You-u-u-u w-w-want m-m-me," I shuddered out, already losing my sight as I gripped the hole at my chest. "Th-th-then get i-i-i-t."

With a final look of victory, the timberwolf's mouth opened, turning its head to chomp down on me. Seeing a light inside the wolf's mouth, I chucked the wooden spear that had crippled me towards it. The mouth closed, but I wasn't swallowed. The sound of falling trees, branches, and lumber simultaneously hit the ground as I was also brought down with it. Laying on the wood pile that used to be the wolf's head, I saw the light and stick come rolling down to me. The light came from a green gem, the stick I had thrown managed to pierce into it.

I could barely think anymore, but I could only focus on one thing; digging myself from the pile with the help of my new best friend, the walking stick with a green gem on the end. Gripping the blood encrusted spear, I pulled myself out of the wood and back up on my rear hooves. Both forehooves wrapped around the stick as I had started dragging myself toward the direction of the broken castle ground. How I managed to get to the entrance was beyond my recollection, but eventually I got to where the hidden entrance had to be and banged into the switch, revealing the slide and hole.

Falling on the opposite side of the wound, the slide took me right back into the base.

"What the-? HAY! Somepony get over here, this pegasus is hurt bad!"

My vision had finally gone down that I couldn't even see anymore from the pain and how tired I had become. Different flashes of ponies and light came through certain times and the sounds had been muffled throughout it.

"-through withers and out through the chest-."

"-clean dish to start removing splinters-."

"-isn't the healing spell working-?!"

"-naturally resistant? That's insa-!"

"Rest easy, Quentin. You'll awake with healed skin."


***



URGENT NOTICE


Princess Celestia, I have some unfortunate news that I had recently came across. In the book about the Discordian Wars, I managed to learn more about human strengths and weaknesses. I had little time to truly focus on it with the teleportation machine that I had created. The machine is actually an amplifier on a transportation spell. On other ponies, I'm sure it is rather effective in sending them across dimensions, albeit with a massive drain of power as a result on the end of the machine.

The reason I mention it works with other ponies is because I was horrified to learn on how humans were able to fight against the magic of Equestria's unicorns. Their bodies have a heavy resistance against magic itself, making many offensive magics completely fruitless against even a single warrior. What is even more shocking is that Discord is not unfamiliar with the concept of making humans into ponies either. He purposely changed their looks to infiltrate behind Equestrian lines and gather further information about battle tactics, weapons, and positioned forts. Even in their changed state, they managed to retain this resistance.

I'm worried that despite having seen Quick Fix being enveloped by the spell and transported away, I'm unsure if he made it back to his Earth, let alone be able to break through the dimensional barrier itself.

I'll continue my research for now, but as warning to you, I believe without doubt that Quick Fix is still in Equestria. He may be far away or close to Ponyville, but either way the threat of his presence has still not been taken care of. As such, I apologize for not being able to complete your task and will attempt to remedy it by the next night if he is found.

Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle


***


Stirring up, I could hear a bunch of activity around me. The ceiling I was looking at was indeed the stone ceiling of the underground base, so I was curious as to what was going on. Tensing myself to get up made my body freeze in pain, enough to shut my eyes and clench my teeth for a moment before relaxing again. I could at least turn my head, and I was surprised to see the pole with the green gem laying next to me. The wood had a darker tint of red from the blood that had now seeped into it, making me feel slightly uneasy about what happened last night.

The effort to bring up my hoof with the watch still sent echelons of pain from my body, but I forced through it, opening an eye to the time remaining.

1 day, 15 hours, 43 minutes, 19 seconds, 0 firsts

"Nothing like added pressure to go along with your pain," I grumbled, slowly lowering the watch.

"Mr. Fix?" I heard a voice call me. "I'm Doctor Stable, medical doctor that worked on your wound."

He looked down at me, giving me a face to associate with the voice. Looked to be a golden colored unicorn with a long brown mane. He looked to be somewhat flustered, but I would guess it would've been having to work under the conditions of perhaps one of the worst places that could be operable on.

"Good to know," I crackled out, my throat unable to create any spit. "Got a drink?"

"I'll tell Zecora that you'll need a drink," Stable responded. "She's been giving me a lot of knowledge about you, despite the lack of medical records or any potential complications that you may have gone through in the past. Of course, the standard practice for open wounds is a regenerative spell, it regrows broken muscle fibers, any potential fractures, and of course is able to cover the wound with new skin."

His face grew dark before continuing, "However, such a spell had little effect on your body. Blood loss was becoming a major problem and the hole, despite showing slow signs of recovery, wouldn't be able to be shut. Zecora made aware the fact that you are human to me was indeed shocking, but worse so the fact that humans are practically immune to magical effects and spells themselves." He went to the bandages to my chest and slowly removed them, showing a hole still apparent in me. "Hold still, I'll be giving your dose of the spell now."

The doctor's horn lit up and focused onto the wound. Sure enough, it was just barely even reacting. Despite that, the pain had been stopped and held up from the magic that was being used on me. He slowly dropped the spell from me, bringing back the pain as he replaced the old bandages with new ones.

"As you could tell," he began, "my own magic cannot heal a basic wound like this without an extensive period of time. This spell for other wounds similar to other ponies can be taken care of in roughly two cycles, one if I am not under duress with other patients."

I grimaced, not from pain but from disappointment. If I wasn't going to get healed in time, I wouldn't even be able to have an attempt to reach Canterlot's gates.

"Zecora will be with you for a moment, said she wanted to do something with you when you woke up," Stable finished before moving off.


***


"This stone and staff, pushed through the body, let his blood and spirit embody," Zecora chanted, lifting the staff up and above me.

"Let weapon and warrior be together, through every trial, war, fire, and weather," she continued, moving the staff across my body.

"With purest intent of protection and defense, let both their fury's be intense!" She finished, swinging the staff towards the ground before halting it and setting it down gently.

She knelt down afterwards and looked down to me. "Rise up, warrior, your training must begin. Take up your staff and fight me, until you win."

She moved back and got her staff, readying herself for a fight.

"I can't get up," I answered. "I'm not healed yet."

With a cry, Zecora brought her staff up and down toward me, forcing me to roll and get my own staff. Barely standing, the pain in my chest and back was enough to make me cough.

"If you expect to fight creatures beyond your might, you must push beyond your restrictions in order to smite," Zecora ordered before she began her charge.
> Trial by Zebra
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Zecora bore down on me, her staff blocked against my own. The shockwave of my block, made me yell out in pain, my body still not close to being repaired. With my thoughts on my pain, she already pulled her staff away and slapped it against my wound. I silently yelled out and fell to the ground, dropping the staff and holding my chest.

"Get back up, right this instant! Your enemy will attack your weakness, you must survive their torment," Zecora yelled at me before moving back and waiting for me to get up.

Struggling to move, I got the staff in my mouth and leaned against the wall to get up. Dropping the staff back in a hoof, I coughed out in pain.

"Why-?" I began to ask before seeing the blunt end of the staff prepared to strike my head.

Ducking from the staff, it hit the wall, but Zecora had followed up with a hoof punch to the back of my head and made me hit the ground again.

"In times of war, zebras learned quickly by nearly dying and forcing themselves beyond limits. Should they have died there, they were of no use as they could not use their wits," Zecora explained, again backing away for me to get up again. "Focus and reaction are the two things all fighters need. Now get up, Quentin! Prove to me you can succeed!"

Pushing back up, I tried to keep my sight on Zecora as she started shuffling around. She circled to my right, and I unconsciously blocked her attack with the staff. More surprisingly so, I had jumped and twisted with the staff to wheel my back legs to try and hit Zecora. I missed, but after landing back on my hooves, Zecora had a small smile on her face.

"Pushing through pain is a hard task to do. Now to try and take me down, if you can go through," Zecora taunted, flipping her hoof to me and motioning to come to her.

With a push into the air, I lifted the staff in my hooves up and prepared to bring it down on her. With a fast block and wheeling kick into my side before I hit the ground, Zecora moved away as I hit the ground again. She shook her forehoof before speaking again.

"You believe power is key in winning fights. But if that power can't be used, you can expect your last rites," she explained as I finally kept to the floor. My gasps of air were met with the shadow of Zecora now looming over me. 

"I can't-" I had started before receiving a whack of Zecora's staff into my side.

"There is never a can't when you are in war," Zecora angrily scolded. "Wills and Won'ts are what dictates victories and defeats, never a can't."

I had barely noticed, but Zecora had not rhymed in her usual way when she said that to me.

With little thought, I had began to waylay hard into Zecora. She was blocking each blow I had attempted, but I was forcing her back and soon she was trapped in a corner as I began smashing down on her. She then spun past me and tripped up my rear hooves and on my back, her staff now brought down on my throat. She kept it there as her eyes, showing every intent to bring the duel to an end, kept to mine.

"You will not leave this place without first bringing me to my knees," she challenged. "With tomorrow's battle over your head, you must do so or your life will end with ease."

She again moved back and allowed me some time to think. What did I learn from being in Equestria to begin with?

The first fight with the timberwolves had the hard lesson that if I got too excited or confident, I would very easily be overtaken. Each mental hurdle with Discord taught me that his ego was his biggest strength and weakness. Nightmare Moon's very strength came from negativity that was stored in the mind of her possessed. The attack with Nightmare Moon also let me know that despite my resistance to magic, she was still able to throw me around like a ragdoll.

It finally began to click as I began focusing on breaking the strengths. We all had wings, and should they get broken for any of us, we'd lose a heavy amount of offensive and evasive maneuvers. Breaking a leg or arm would further ground any attacks, and finally after being knocked to the ground, the final blow could be made.

I got back up and played scenarios in my mind as I swept my fallen staff back up and focused on Zecora. With the speed needed from my wings, instead of directly attacking, I began circling her repeatedly. After a few quick circles and causing Zecora to become dizzy, I stopped in place and wound up the gem side of the staff.

The attack was just barely halted by Zecora as she began regaining her sense of balance. Back to the ground, I had started spinning the staff with a hoof, my eyes still on Zecora as she had her composure back. I kept the staff moving before suddenly throwing it forward and causing her to jump. In her jump, the speed I had pushed forward with managed to get me under her. Gripping her lower body, I rotated so her back was to the ground before she hit the floor.

Pushing forward after the fall, I kept on top of her, my right hoof raised up to knock her senseless and the left hoof restricting her weapon and hoof. It was then I found out that I was bleeding on her and prompted me to get off and grip my chest.

"What you've done is show the capability to go beyond," Zecora grunted as she got back up. "The only question remaining, is how you'll face your friends and if you can break their bond."

She was right. If Discord had full control over them, what's to say that he wouldn't use them to stop me? Would I be able to even fight against the friends that I had? My mind tussled between the lie and truth. They wouldn't be my friends if they are under the control of Discord, but it wasn't there decision to begin with! I would be able to punch one of them in the face, but I don't really want to hurt them.

The confliction kept going as I sat between the floor and the wall. What is Discord going to do with them?


***


"The concert hall is currently in use for rehearsal, Lord Discord," Ditzy announced, wearing a formal gown that glittered with gold thread.

"Why, that is the best news I've heard of tonight, Wild Card," Discord answered, turning to her as he readjusted his sleeve and powdered wig. "Tell me, have the invitations been sent out for tomorrow's affair?"

Ditzy gave a nod and looked out to the grand hall. Everything was bright, shining, and eloquently placed for just the guests that Discord would want. The stairs gleamed, no dust or look of wear on them. At the stairs peak before they split to the left and right was an oil painting of Discord's upper body, a look of seriousness about him.

"Very good, they should be receiving them shortly," Discord said, putting his hands behind his back before letting up a smirk at the sudden explosion of noise outside the castle walls.

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! COME TO DISCORD'S WAR PARTY! AT THE CANTERLOT CASTLE! You are cordially invited to BLOW, YOUR, MIND! MUSIC! FOOD! BLOOD-LETTING! BLOOD-LETTING! DOORS OPEN WHEN THE SUN RISES TOMORROW MORNING! But, Discord, the moon is still ou-. SHOVE IT! WE GET BOTH MOON AND SUN IN THE SKY FOR THE MADNESS! DISCORD'S WAR PARTY! YOU BETTER MAKE IT OR THE END OF THE EARTH IS GOING TO BE PLAIN OLD BORING!

Discord cleared his throat after the obnoxious advertisement that had been heard all around Equestria and began moving away to the stairs. "Do tell Trigger that she will need to make at least twenty barrels of the finest drink she can make, and also be sure to notify Messenger that she will be at the door greeting the guests as they come for tomorrow."

Ditzy gave a bow as best she could before accidentally plopping forward with her head on the floor and rear in the air.


***


"What... is that?" Trixie asked us, looking at the staff I laid down on the table.

I gave a slight shrug, "It's a jewel on a stick, basically."

"More of a colored rock," Time Turner observed. "It's so cut up and scratched, it's practically worthless."

It was true, the wooden part of the staff was tough and the red look of it made it seem intimidating in some variety. The green gem though was complete crap. Not even a cloth and cleaning gear would make the jewel redeemable.

"Well, if its that bad, then we might as well get it off," I sighed.

Trixie's face brightened as she shut her eyes and focused her energies into the staff, ready to separate the wood and rock. It then tensed up as she kept trying, finding out that it was still stuck to it.

As she kept trying, the gem started to shine like it did when I first saw it. It also began growing in shape.

"Tell me that's supposed to be normal," I said, watching the lump begin to smooth out into a spherical shape. Trixie finally stopped as the gem turned orb completed itself and slid off the spiked pole.

"A-ha!" Trixie exclaimed, her eyes still closed. "No rock is a match for-" she started, her eyes now staring through the green orb to me. "-or-or-or- or that's not what I just pulled out!"

The four of us stared at the ball as Trixie set it on the table beside the staff.

"Can we put that back on the staff?" I asked after a moment of silence. "Because, seriously, that looks cool."

"We all just witness a phenomenon before our eyes and your first thought is to put it on a stick?" Time Turner asked me.

"Both rock and wood are Fix's alone. His choices with both are his very own," Zecora advised.

Time Turner rotated the orb in his hoof, seeing that it still had the hole for the staff. Moving the hole to the staff, he slipped it into place. "It's curious that a giant timberwolf would have something like this inside it," he postulated, putting his two hooves together and leaning forward on them.

"We're talkin' a thing made of trees, branches, and sticks from a large and dangerous forest," I responded, briefly moving the staff around and making sure the orb didn't pop out. "I'm pretty sure there may have been more than wood that made it up, but you don't pay attention to what's inside when it tries to brutally murder you."

"So you're not at all curious about what that rock can do?" Trixie asked, annoyance in her tone.

"Not really," I casually responded, now briefly giving little swipes at the table. "I'm learning that by this point, everything is fair game. Gods, talking creatures, becoming one, magic, self-flight, I can go on. I'm more curious-" I was stopped as one swipe had let out a green spark past Time Turner's ear.

"What the devil?" Time Turner exclaimed, reaching to his ear to feel if it was okay. "Was that a spark that came out of that?"

I was dumbstruck, now realizing that something had just landed in my hooves that I had a power to apparently shoot electricity from. "Uhhh... magic?"

I set the staff to the side, hoping it wouldn't suddenly discharge and fry a pony.

"Let's focus on tomorrow," I quickly said, my eyes still wide at what could happen now.

Time Turner sighed and revealed a overhead map of Canterlot, laying it out on the table. "Well, since you've been away in the asylum, we've had to rethink our strategy about allying ourselves with the citizens of Ponyville. We let ourselves known, we cause a panic, we all die."

Pulling out a marker he began making a line on the map. "We're using the tunnel to Ponyville as an extension to Canterlot." His eyes went up to me, "Tyrone's been making it a personal mission since your capture, if he wants to, he's probably going to finish that tunnel and then turn right over to the asylum and pull you out."

"So, let him know I'm out and alive," I muttered before I nodded. "Got it. I'll do it after this thing we've got going."

Trixie continued on, "There is only one real entrance to the castle, which is the front gate. With Nightmare Moon now added into this pile-up, we should all expect a crowd. So the only other ways through is in the air or in the garden."

"From the garden, we'll rise like plants," Zecora continued. "And through the back door, we begin our war chants."

I gave a few nods and looked to the overhead map again. "So, this railroad tunnel, is this the main entrance to the town in general?"

"Right," Time Turner confirmed. "The railway's been shut down because of the incident and what Discord and Nightmare Moon will expect any resistance to come from."

All of us finished up and I had started going down through the tunnel entrance. I would hopefully find Tyrone and explain to him about what happened in the asylum, keeping him from doing anything extreme. It was during the trip I had begun to wonder what Tyrone had been doing since I had been gone. Every time I seen him, he matured to a degree. I stopped for a moment and began asking myself if I really was maturing from this as well, or if it was just the same stubbornness that I had been accustomed to.
> The Upcoming 16 Hours
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	During the trot through the extended tunnel to Canterlot, I got to see small segments along the sides that had been dug out. In each segment, a few beds had been set out or it had a small arsenal ready to be picked out. I had started to become nervous, mostly due to not knowing that I would be going to, you know, war.

I had been in small fights before, usually school related tussles that etched out a place of who I was. But, war? Never liked the concept in my life. There were things to fight for, I wouldn't deny that, but to torment innocent lives on top of murdering thousands? I actually stopped in the tunnel and began to question if I could seriously take away a life. Would I cower out if it was a choice between my life or my attacker?

I tried to picture a pony in front of me, beaten and bleeding out with its horn lit up. I readjusted the staff and went to strike down the visage. Before I could fully bring it down, I forcibly stopped and began swearing at myself, pulling away and moving from the vision I had placed down. How could I do it? Simple answer, I couldn't. Did I really think I could KILL someone? I tried to imagine Discord in the same position and made him smile through the blood that had dripped into his mouth.

"Come on, Bait," I made him say. "You said you'd do it, and here it is. Ram your stick into my head and save your precious friends!"

I let the taunts go on and again tried to bring the staff down. My eyes had shut before the crack of the orb hitting the ground let me know I had committed to kill something that my imagination had tried to accurately make me go through if I had done it in real life. When I had opened my eyes, the staff was still there, orb and all. I grudgingly got up and shouldered the staff again. I began to wonder why the orb wasn't even lighting up like it did when Trixie had made it when she pulled it out.

"Maybe it's magic controlled or something..." I muttered to myself, continuing down the dark path. The thought of everything was beginning to crash against me, war, Discord, Nightmare Moon, my friends forced to fight against me, others getting hurt or killed, it had slowed my usual pace to a slow and monotonous beat. I stopped myself and took a deep breath, trying to calm down and think clearly.

"This is worth fighting for," I repeated to myself as I continued on, this time with some determination behind my steps. I continued on before hearing the sound of audible digging.

"Put up the beam, come on!" I heard, a threatening bark following after the order.

The digging kept going as I approached, the hunks of dirt and rock flying as I forced myself against the wall. Doing the best I could to keep moving, I finally caught the attention of Spot.

"Tyrone," Spot called out.

The dirt and rocks had stopped, and Tyrone pulled into my eyesight. He looked ragged and wild eyed as he forcibly lifted Spot up by the throat and into the wall.

"What do you want, you stupid pup?" Tyrone screamed, letting Spot's eyes nearly pop out.

Spot pointed out to me and Tyrone snapped his head to where I was. His look softened and Spot was let go. He stood there panting like he had been running for a long time. He approached me, towering over me as he tried to speak.

"Ty," I softly spoke, "Do you feel okay?"

Tyrone's knees hit the floor and he fell forward, leaning his whole weight on me. The strain was a bit much, but I managed to roll him off to his back. The other dogs had since stopped working and were also sitting down or laying on the ground.

"Y-You don't happen to have any-" Rover dryly gulped, "-water with you, pony?"

I began hearing a cart from the other direction of the tunnel and started backing up. "Not yet, but it sounds like somepony is coming with some stuff, hang tight."

Rushing back to the cart, it was stocked with more beds and weapons for the rooms. The cart puller was kind enough to let me have his flask of water after explaining that the dogs were thirsty. Going back, I watched as each dog took a drink and handed the now empty flask back to me.

"We're going on break," Fido huffed, wiping sweat from his forehead.

The blue pony barked her agreement, at least, I think she barked her agreement. The four workers began trekking back as I was left with a passed out Tyrone. He did look awful, like he didn't sleep the entire time I was gone. I felt bad for leaving him and even worse for not even asking him how he had been or what he done since we last saw each other. I made a mental note to ask him about everything that he did when the fight was done and attempted to pull Tyrone to a bed or to the cart so he could be looked at.


***


Night eventually came after lolling around and trying to get the staff to fire something out again with no success. Doctor Stable told me that I really shouldn't be moving at all, but he gave his permissions that I could be able to at least walk around.

I guess I had completely forgotten about it at some point, it still hurt, don't get me wrong, but it was like an itch that you just left alone. So, you know the itch is there, but you get to a point where it doesn't really bother you. The hole at least was filling in, just about two centimeters to go until it was gone. It still felt awkward each time the bandages were taken off, being able to feel air go through you when it isn't supposed to was just weird.

I really couldn't sleep, not with the threat of impending doom awaiting me once I had gotten up. A suit of armor, being trooped with other ponies that were just as nervous as I was to try and get over the potential fear of killing another pony, the attack itself.

Not to mention that the dreams had become more confusing than I had ever dreamed before. Seeing my mom and dad, I had unexpectedly pulled out a railgun and blew them both up into giblets before entering Canterlot castle. From there I pulled out a microphone and started singing something, though it was really more a high pitched squeal that kept getting higher and higher until Nightmare Moon appeared. She towered over me like a colossal giant as she raised her forehoof into the air to stomp me.

I did stop the stomp by holding it between myself and the floor in an anime-eque style, complete with grunting and uncomfortable close-ups. The stomp was then interrupted by Discord freezing time and stealing me from beneath the hoof, giving out a Curly "Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop!"

I called quits on the dream when Celestia had come out from nowhere and fire began spewing from her mouth and the sky.

I had let myself sleep as close to the Canterlot entrance that had been made and silently greeted the yellow magic wall that Richard was making after forcing myself up from the oddest dream I had experienced in a long time. I gave a sigh as I sat between the floor and the wall, staring down at the ground and at my watch.

20 hours 21 minutes 0 firsts.

I began refocusing on basic weak spots on any pony type that would come across me.

For every pony type, the rear legs, take them out and you leave a pony with little option to protect themselves or attack. Pegasi have the wing advantage and disadvantage, bust the wings, they lose flight. Lose flight in the air, and its over, period. Unicorns utilize magic as ranged attacks and defensive mechanisms. Thanks to the resistance of the human genome (that's what it's called right?) I can at least get in close range without having to get fried as badly. Since it comes from the horn, breaking it will make most control over said magic gone or partially broken.

The rules of breaking wings can apply to Nightmare Moon, but perhaps not to Discord. Discord has wings, but seems to fly without the need to flap them. The rule of magic breaking is also applied to Nightmare Moon, but getting close will be close to impossible as she can actively break me like a Kit-Kat bar. Best case scenario, both Nightmare Moon and Discord focus on each other, leaving me with open opportunities to attack who may be winning from the shadows. Worst case scenario, both Discord and Nightmare Moon jump me, forcing any potential fight out of me before they turn to each other.

The staff still had no response like it did when he made a small spark come out of the orb, but made me start thinking as to why it acted like it did. It involved magic, in some way, shape, or form. Looking to the reflective yellow barrier that still was in the way until Discord was ready to take it down gave me an idea.

With all the distance I could muster between the wall and myself with the staff, I let the orb graze it. Pulling back, I got to see a little light inside the orb when there wasn't one before.

"So you are magical... or at least something that holds magic until it gets shot out..." I whispered, now trying to get the spark to come out again.

"Damn it, get out of there!" I yelled out in a hushed tone, not wanting to disturb any other ponies as I continued frantically swinging the staff every way I could. "What am I missing here? A target?"

After waiting for something, I groaned and set back on the ground.

"Well, if worst comes to worst," I thought aloud, "I'll just use the orb to take up any magic blows if I can't figure out how to make it work."


***


"Remember! Cloud cover is your best and worst enemy!" Snowflake shouted out, a soldier's helmet placed firmly on his head. "The enemy comes to where you are near the cloud, you can strike with the lightning and catch them off guard! However, they will do the same, so reflexes must be sharp! Intense!"

I readjusted the strap that now acted as my holster for the staff. It hung off to my right side, keeping the gem out towards the front when I needed to pull it out. As for armor, it seemed both heavy and light. An open faced helmet that strapped around just below my jawline kept my ears out and my eyes still able to look out. The body armor was a complex wonder, being able to maintain a solid looking cover for both the back and sides, but allowing free mobility of the wings.

Along with the staff, I had decided to maintain a bag of 'Heated Cider', the Equestrian equivalent of Molotov Cocktails.

"Your Heated Cider should be released after immediate lighting! Each of you should have up to three bottles and a piece of flint! Use the flint and any hard surface you are on to create the sparks!" Snowflake continued to order as he swiped a flint piece across the wall and lit the enclosed space with a shower of sparks.

The magical wall fell down and the Diamond Dogs began digging upwards towards the surface.

"We're front line, so any resistance we find up there we need to take down immediately! If we don't the unicorns are going to have a tough time defending us in the air and helping take down the troops on the ground we can't get!" Snowflake shouted, turning toward the now breaking sunlight that had greeted us from the created entrance.

"Showtime, ponies! Move!"

We all rushed out through into the garden and found... nothing. No resistance, no enemies, in fact, we were standing in a quiet garden with a golden sun in the sky with a bunch of clouds overhead. Of course, on the other side of the castle was the moon and the dark night that the sun couldn't pierce through. It was certainly an odd experience as the garden had begun to fill with the other ponies.

"Uh... Drizzle! Blue Bell! Check the skies!" Snowflake ordered out, sending two pegasi to look out over Canterlot.

"This is... rather unusual to say the least," Time Turner murmured to me.

"Yeah, I get what you mean," I whispered back. "Shouldn't there be some sound at least going on? Or are we really that early?"

"If we are that early, then we've got the first shot at Discord before Nightmare Moon has arrived," Time Turner surmised.

Drizzle and Blue Bell came back to Snowflake and began their report.

"It's empty, nothing is out there," Drizzle explained.

"It's just quiet, very, very quiet," Blue Bell added.

Snowflake gave a nod and motioned the pegasi team around him. "New plan, we're going in and going in hard. Everypony to me on the back door and on the windows, when I give the signal, we all jump in and take over the main floor."

We all stumbled over each other until the pegasus team was lined in position. With a single hoof dropped by Snowflake, the simultaneous sound of glass breaking came from all of us jumping in... on an 18th century party.

The guests that filled the entry room all seemed to take the matter in stride after an awkward pause as they continued sipping wine and conversing with each other.

"Well," I finally sighed. "Now I just feel stupid."
> 15 Hours 30 Minutes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Umm...sir?" I meekly called out to Snowflake. "Shall we proceed to... mingle?"

Snowflake readjusted his helmet and prepared to speak before Discord in a butler's costume had swept up to us.

"Your coats?" Was all he asked before a whisk of movement had stripped the entirety of the pegasus platoon. He then stood before us and graciously bowed. "Enjoy your stay at Lord Discord's castle, entrées are being regularly served around the room until 8:75 Y.U. where the guests are requested presence in the Lord's main dining room for T."

We all kept our jaws on the floor as the butlerized Discord skated away and served a guest with a plate of hot wings.

"D-Did he just-?" Snowflake started before seeing more of the butlerized Discord around the room, six if I counted right.

"Which one is the real one?" I asked myself, unconsciously reaching for my staff and realizing that it was missing alongside the armor.

"Troops," Snowflake calmly called out, "group huddle."

The huddle was moved to a corner as the rest of the small rebellion leaped through the windows, each being caught and served by a Discord butler.

"We don't know what he's planning, but for now, we need to take advantage of Discord's open matter to the castle. I'm dividing the entirety of this group into pairs."


***


"Sooo, Lightning Dust, huh?" I awkwardly attempted at conversation with my partner in the entrance room. "That's... That's a name."

Lightning Dust had this rather bright and annoying sky blue color for her coat, but her mane and tail resembled that of a blonde with streaks in her hair. She didn't look so interested about being left to the room as we looked on to the many guests.

"Urrgh, we should be fighting Discord while he's right there instead of standing around," Lightning Dust angrily grit through her teeth.

"Not with this many ponies that could get hurt," I argued. "Besides, if Discord really bothered to notice the group, he'd have at least stopped for two seconds or more at me."

Lightning Dust huffed and briefly shuffled in place. She looked antsy, WAY too antsy in fact.

"Hey," I whispered to her. "We'll get our shot when he's in the open. By then, the other groups will have searched enough of the castle to not only find out where our stuff was hidden, but they may find some other stuff that'll put Discord on his ass."

A loud clearing of a throat was made that made the entire room go quiet as the butler Discord's stood at the top of the staircase.

"Attention, Fillies, Gentlecolts, Esteemed Guests. At this time we have entertainment in the ballroom. Please make your way there for a performance by the Lady of Records"

Lightning Dust and I gave a look of confirmation, knowing that this could be our moment to strike. We kept to the back as the guests began moving to the ballroom. I kept my eyes on the crowd to see when they would all enter the room before hearing a rush of wind beside me. Lightning Dust had just leapt towards the Discord's and knocked over a few other ponies in her takeoff.

Before I could say a word, the butler Discord had jammed his pawed hand outward and caught Lightning Dust by the face, her wings still pushing forward as the butler carefully stepped down the stairs with her still with him. I forced myself to keep away as there were still too many ponies that could get hurt but cautiously approached to at least try and see what was going on.

"Madam," the butler Discord said, still holding tight to Lightning Dust as her wings began to feverishly beat harder. "I do believe you've knocked over quite a few of our guests. Such action is unbecoming of a lady, and as head of the staff for Lord Discord, I ask humbly-"

The butler promptly shifted Lightning Dust's head to the floor, letting the full force of her flight smash her face. "-suggest that you apologize."

The guests had finally ran into the ballroom and let me get what I needed to step in.

"Back off, Discord!" I yelled, trying to stand on my rear legs to get some height over Lightning Dust and to try and intimidate Discord.

The obvious clones started laughing, not the Ha Ha Ha kind, but more of a Doh Ho Ho Ho, ya know?

"Sir, I may resemble the master of the house, but I am not the Lord you are thinking that I am," the butler said, a hint of a grin hidden behind his stern demeanor.

I had to think fast, and perhaps I thought a little too fast when I started making something up.

"R-really? I can barely tell who anyone is anymore," I began, trying to make up a persona that I could try and use. "I only saw this young mare get thrown to the floor, and I only know because my ears at least can pick up on those kinds of sounds a lady's voice makes. Without my cane and walking dog, I'm practically useless."

The butler looked to the others in mild confusion as I attempted to glass over my eyes and continue on. "Perhaps you can help me? I remember coming in through a window by accident and my cane and uniform attire was completely stripped off me, no doubt by a scoundrel!"

The head butler looked toward one of the clones who had started to avoid eye contact and whistling a ditty.

"No doubt a fact that may have been glanced over by one of the servants I'm afraid," the head butler responded, still looking at the perpetrator. "If you could be as so kind as to describe your uniform and cane, I'll let the one responsible get it back straight away."

I attempted to hide my grin, somehow I was fooling this copy into believing I was blind. "It is a rather unique cane, green orb on its top if I can recall. A red wood finish, like oak soaked in red water. Let me think... the uniform is rather basic. A holster for my cane when I would sit, and a bag with three bottles of cider. It should also have my lucky rock."

The head butler waited till I was finished before shooing off the servant to get what I had described. I decidedly set down on four hooves and stared to the floor. "I can only hope to continue enjoying the soirée with a pleasant lady and a fine drink in hoof with my things back to me."

"O- of course, sir," the butler stammered out apologetically.

The sound of metal clinking and screeching claws on laminate came as the servant came barreling out with the staff, armor, and bag. Carefully setting them in front of me, I reached down for the staff and continued the act.

"Joy! My cane! Let me see if it still has a good whack to it!" I happily cried out before bashing the side of it into the butler's face as I danced around.

The butler wobbled for a moment before falling to the floor unconscious, the servants gasped out in shock and looked to me as I set back at where I had been.

"Now," I said, my head looking up at the servants. "Let's play Whack-a-Clone."

With a yell, the staff came raining down on top of each of the servants, whacking heavily into each of them and making them all hit the ground and try to block the beating I was giving them.

"Where's the Lord? I'll beat the freakin' truth outta ya! Where is he?!" I continually yelled, still beating down on them until they had disappeared to the sound of a snap.

My pupils shrank when my body began shivering. BIG trouble.

"Why, Bait, I'm right here," the sound of Discord came from behind me, prompting my head to turn slowly to see him in full garb as a General. His fingers snapped and the armor and bag were back on me. "Do you wish to discuss the terms of your surrender after I beat you, or would you rather it be done now?"

With little thought, I swung the staff up at Discord, who wormed his body away and gripped my sides, blocking my wings from opening as well. With a heave over his head, I watched as the closed ballroom door came right for my head. Bracing for impact, my head and half my body had gone through the wood.

The music wasn't 18th century, I could tell that much. Even upside-down I could tell that I was looking at a house rave party, complete with laser lights, smoke screens, and a DJ standing in between two giant speakers.

With little option of escape, I felt a click on the door before forcibly swinging alongside it and cracking my head against the opposite side of the wall and falling out back from the door's hole.

"Check it, the Lord of Chaos is in the house," a female voice cheered out through the speakers. "Let DJ PON-3 put down a song ya'll can go insane over!"

The room erupted into cheers as Discord moved through the crowd, slapping his talon and paw with open hooves before reaching the center and clearing away a large circle for the fight that I had now resigned myself to. Shaking as much of the pain I could, I flew over the wall of ponies and landed into the semi-arena before spinning my staff with my right hoof.

"Seems like we got a battle goin' on, ponies!" The female voice called out. "Discord versus a nopony, should be a bit of entertainment along with the jams."

"In more ways than one," Discord grinned, cracking his knuckles before jumping out to attack.

Sliding out from the leap to the other side, I began spinning until I was up on rear hooves. With a smile, I beckoned Discord to come and get me.

Both of us leaped, this time, my staff and his talons beating into each other in midair. The clacks of his claws against the wood was enough to let me know he wasn't putting enough force to crack the pole, but I had begun to worry about how much pressure it could hold off. The tussle went on for a moment until I noticed his tail attempt to strike me at the side. With a push up with my wings, the tail missed. This time Discord was below me as I beat the staff into his face, multiple squeaks and squacks coming from each strike as he tried to get his hands up to fend off the blows.

Discord's hands gripped the staff and pulled me down into a spin. I kept the grip on the staff as best I could before I felt the spin stop. Discord held me up to the high ceiling with the pole, my back touching it as I tried to understand what was going on. With a loud grunt, Discord hurled me with the pole still in my hooves down to the floor, the impact cracking the floor and sending rockets of pain through my back and the hole still present underneath the armor.

"Oh, come now, Bait, I've only just begun to warm up to this fight!" Discord taunted, not knowing that his words were going to be coming true as I rolled on my stomach and pulled out the first bottle of Heated Cider. With a strike against the ground with the flint and towards the cloth, the bottle lit up, making Discord freeze briefly at the change in light I had in hoof. The pause was enough to roll back on my back and heave the fiery glass of cider towards his body.

With an audible crack, the bottle shattered and Discord's body was alight. His screams of agony were chilling as he hastily tried patting out the fire for a few secongs before he snapped his talons and disappeared.

"Got the some bitch," I smirked, getting back on my hooves before noticing the crowd had begun to rush me.

"Get him! He hurt Lord Discord!" Was all I heard as the crowd began to leap at me, biting and trying to pile on me. I attempted to only shake them off to escape so I wouldn't injure them, but the numbers were too much as I was forced to fall under the weight of the crowd.

Thinking that suffocation was going to be my fate, the room shook, making many of the ponies fall off. With a heave, the rest were thrown back. The dark room had become much lighter and the open wall told me why it was.

"All subjects!" A booming male voice called out through the brightness of the sun. "Stand down or you will face judgement on behalf of your new Queen!"

"Queen?" I silently repeated.

The sun was then covered by the body of an alicorn, dark, armored, and knew me rather well no less.

"Quentin!" She called out.

"Damn it, and I thought this was going to be a fun party before you showed up," I sarcastically moaned.

"Today, this ends in the castle with your life and Discord's," she dramatically began. "With both of your corpses underneath my shining hoof, Nightmare Moon shall control ALL of Equestria!"

Nightmare Moon cackled maniacally, making me picture every stereotypical villain I could think of, which gave me an idea.

"Control? You?" I began, attempting to create enough space to rush through the door on the other side back to the entrance room. "How? There'll still be others! They can take you down easily!"

"Of course, always the aftermath," Nightmare Moon crooned. "I can deal with insolent uprisings, much like the one you have attempted to create, and now look at you, alone, and helpless as I begin my assault. It's sad if it wasn't so pathetic!"

The door was almost reachable, but I still needed to buy some time.

"Alright, you may be right that I'm alone now... BUT HERE THEY COME NOW!" I screamed out, pointing back to the sky.

With that outburst, Nightmare Moon and her guard had briefly turned away as I flew as fast as possible to the next floor to gain some distance.

"Chase him down! Don't allow that pegasus to escape me!" Nightmare Moon screeched out, her voice now following me as I bashed through the second floor door.
> 14 Hours
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!" I huffed out, hearing the sound of tromping hooves following after me from behind the door. The second floor consisted of a hallway that had doors ranging down on its left and right before sharply turning at the end.

With no time to think, I just picked a door and rushed through it.

"Don't enter, don't enter, don't enter," I kept quietly repeating.

"Psst!" I heard come from behind me. Opening my eyes, I had just realized the room was entirely black. "This is my room," a childish voice whispered out as I turned, seeing only a white pony face. It just floated in space, no eyes, no ears, just a neck, a smile, and a crack coming from its eye going down its cheek to the side.

Alongside the floating head was a chair, just below a hangman's noose... or I guess a hangmare's noose, really depending.

"Do you see how dark it is?" The face asked, it's mouth not moving as it kept staring at me.

I kept my back to the door and briefly jiggled the handle to see if the door was locked and was confirmed to my horror. I figured that I was going to be stuck, so why not answer the creepy looking skull... face... thing.

"I... Yeah. Plenty dark. Could use a flashlight or something to add to the mood," I cautiously suggested, still keeping my eyes on the face.

"It's cold," the voice shivered out. "But I can look at you."

The face started to slowly float towards me, prompting me to start jiggling the handle a bit more harder.

"N-nice to know! Cold? Sucks, man! Let me find you a blanket or something!" I hastily said, now hearing my heart beating slowly in my ears.

"Look at me," the voice ordered, prompting my heart to beat faster as the face kept approaching. "Are you scared?"

"Scared?! Me? Ha Ha!" I shakily chuckled. "I'm just, uh, claustrophobic! Room's way to small for me, listen, you have a key?"

The face was now only a few inches from my muzzle as a cold air rushed behind me. "I am scared," it whispered.

With a click at the door, I forcibly left the room and slammed the door behind me, breathing hastily as a small laugh was let out behind the door. I had figured that the Nightmare crew would've been swarmed in the hallway already. That was when I realized that many of the doors were gone and a few had remained. I was curious as to why when I noticed a green tail had slipped beyond the corner on my right.

"Linda!" I yelled out, sprinting to the corner and finding she was gone.

More doors and another need to make a decision. I had no doubt that this was some odd maze that Discord had built up to screw with any intruders, or worst yet, just me.

Not taking chances, I crept up beside a door and twisted the knob slowly. With the click, I cautiously pulled the door open a crack to see inside. The sound of a loud city block, complete with car horns, mumbling pedestrians, and a baby crying met my ears. Not wanting to get into a town inside a castle, I passed.

Picking another door, I proceeded to do the same action. At the click of the knob, this time the door was shot open by Discord. He had kicked the door so hard, that the grip I had on the knob flung me further down the hallway. Stepping out, he had a glock in one paw, a doorag on his head, and a pair of sunglasses on.

"Hey, lookit here," Discord cockily mentioned as he strolled to where I was on the floor. "Guess scum wanna stay on the floor and make the place look bad. Not in this household, no sir, not in front of me."

He pointed the glock down at me, sideways. Idiot. Rising up, I rolled the gun out of Discord's paw and tried holding on to it with both forehooves at him.

"How'd you not get burned?" I yelled at Discord, who had already ditched the doorag and sunglasses.

"Really? That's the first question on your mind?" Discord sarcastically questioned. "Not, 'Why are you dressed like a gang member?' Not, 'How come you have a gun?' Just that?"

"I'll shoot ya," I threatened, pointing the gun at his face. "Don't think I won't do it, maniac."

Discord laughed as I attempted to cock the gun with my chin. "And how are you going to pull the trigger, hot shot? I don't think you have fingers that can do that for you."

With a click, I gulped. I now held a loaded gun with no way of actually firing it. With no time to think, I whipped back my forehooves and then forward to throw the gun at Discord as a distraction before picking out another door and entering.

Hoping that escape could be relatively easy, I scanned the room for any other doors or options of escape.

"There you are, let's get him!"

By this point I had realized two of Nightmare Moon's guards were also in the confined space.

With nowhere to go but forward, I met their charge and attempted to throw them off balance to get a better idea of where exactly I was. After hitting the guard on the right, I jumped on his back to get minor leverage on his partner and to make him hit the floor. I had realized that the guard was charging a magic blast and pulled the staff out to meet his attack.

Sure enough, the blast was contained in the orb, making it shine brighter. The shocked guard watched as I wound up and struck him in the chest. As the orb hit the chest though, a loud boom came from it and sent the guard flying through the wall. Getting off the other guard, I looked to the orb to find it was not shining again.

"Now you can hit hard as well as shoot sparks?" I asked the inanimate gem. "Come on, jewel, gimmie some instruction as to what the hell I can do before it happens."

The room looked to be a simple bedroom. A bed, drawers, a television set... hang on just a moment.

Going to a window and looking out it appeared that I was inside a hotel in... Las Pegasus?

"How in the-?" I began to question before the door opened, Discord with a tray in his hand as he entered.

"Did somepony order the knuckle sandwich?" He asked, revealing on the tray was a breaded fist. The fist came to life and jumped from the tray towards me at an unnatural speed. It followed my movements as I tried to leap from bed, to chair, to the top of the television set. Discord had been laughing at the antics going on before I found the opportunity to pass him and out the door back to the hallway in Canterlot.

Jumping from the TV set and glancing the wall with my wing, I passed Discord as he spun to see me leave through the door.

"Oh no you-" he started before getting hammered by the flying fist that bashed the back of his head.

"Gotta find the rest of the guys," I thought, now trying to find another door. Opening one, I was knocked over by a wall of playpen balls that covered half the hallway. Popping up and spitting out a ball, another face pulled up from the avalanche.

"Turner? What the hell are you doing in a room full of playpen balls?" I angrily asked, still upset about being bowled over by plastic balls.

"I don't know, really," he started. "After the idea of splitting up to cover more ground, all of us picked a door and I had fallen through mine into the pit. Been trying to find a door through all of the bright colors and somehow I kept getting lost."

I gave a small nod, thinking back to a really old memory of being unable to get out of a ballpit once and crying out for my mother. I was five, okay? I had a right to cry when I was that young.

"Well, when I got through a door I met a white face that just stared at me in a room with a hangmare's noose and a chair!" I exclaimed. "I think it wanted me to kill myself, or just be really creepy."

"Ha ha," the chuckle of the White Face had called out, very close by.

"Wheresit?!" I screamed, knowing it wasn't far.

"What are you yelling abou-?" Turner began to ask until he saw another face raise up from the ball pit.

I turned to see the White Face had come up, now staring down at both of us.

"Stay with me, I'll always be here," it said before both of us screamed in fear and started running for our lives down the hallway.

"It's right behind us!" Turner yelled as I picked a door and opened it.

"Go! Go! Go!" I yelled, ushering Time Turner in and then shutting the door behind me.

When we both entered, the lights were off as both of us tried to catch our breaths.

"And what was that just now?" A female voice questioned.

I gave a yelp, and found out it was more high-pitched than usual. "Who's there?"

I paused, now trying to make my voice sound like it had before, but finding it was more feminine.

"What the fuck?! This room makes us sound like women!" I screamed.

A light clacked on and Discord was sitting on a barstool... but he looked different. His beard was gone, but now he had long white hair. His form looked leaner too, and where those lumps under his coat?

"No, Bait. This room makes you the opposite gender," Eris giggled, turning on the rest of the lights to see Time Turner was now a mare.

We both screamed and pointed to each other, "You're a mare! I'm a mare?!"

Promptly we looked down at ourselves and gripped each other in a hug of fear, screaming out as Eris laughed at our panic.

"Calm down," Time Turner attempted to calmly say. "We're still us, just in a different gender. I'm still The Doctor and you are still you!"

"I'm not going to get calm!" I screeched back. "Discord, you stole my manhood, and now my stallionhood. I'm killing you, now!"

Yelling out in a rage, the staff was whipped out and bashed into the side of Eris' face, careening her through another door and promptly switching her back into Discord's male self. Discord rubbed the side of his face before he saw me rushing after him with the staff raised up to strike him again. Discord jumped up and slammed a steel wall down were the door was.

"Can't catch what you can't catch!" Discord taunted out from behind the barrier.

"Don't make me wreck your shit," I threatened. "I'll do it! Entire castle in smoke!"

With no response I pulled from the door and back to Time Turner. "We got to get out of this stupid hallway maze, got any ideas?"

"Besides going through those doors, not really," she pondered.

"Maybe that's the problem, the doors," I wondered, trying to find another way out and seeing a sag in the ceiling. Without warning Time Turner, I wound up the staff and struck the sag, making a portion of the ceiling open up.

"Hey, look! It's a dining room!" I cheered, going back down to Time Turner. "That should be the third floor... right?"

"Honestly, it could be, or it couldn't," Time Turner answered. "Discord can do anything, even change the rooms themselves to what he wants. This entire maze could just be one endless loop of madness and we'll never know."

"Then, let's get crazy," I grinned, lifting Time Turner on my back and pushing her up through the hole and then following suit.


***


"Celestia," a scout yelled out, rushing back to the approaching leader of Equestria's army. "The castle has already gone under attack. It's possible that Nightmare Moon has already infiltrated the building!"

Celestia continued her proud march with her guards and the Elements of Harmony. "Then we will greet her as she greets Discord at his throne, soldiers, charge forward!"
> Min Tea - Element of Deceit... and Waitress
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Pushing Time Turner off into the dining room, I followed through with him.

"A bit odd that the ceiling was weak enough to break," Time Turner noticed, briefly massaging his throat being brought back from maredom.

"Just have to think differently," I responded before stamping a hoof in frustration. "Damn it! Why am I still a mare?!"

Time Turner just shrugged and began observing the large dining room. "This place almost seems impossible, you can't see the ends of the room!"

The dining room was a rather long one, having enough room to slide chairs in and out with extra space for mingling. The table was worn, like each inch had received some kind of punishment from the glasses and plates that lay on it. A clock began to chime a tune that echoed out in the room.

"It's lunch time, may all guests report to the dining room immediately," a crackled voice from an unseen speaker called out.

The moment the speaker voice ended, the room had filled with multiple ponies that were seated immediately. The same was done for myself and Time Turner. We couldn't move from the seat and I had just realized who I was sitting across from.

"You!" Celestia screamed, now squirming in her chair to move.

Nightmare Moon had calmly begun chuckling beside her as she looked at me. "Seems that you've found your true self while in Discord's castle. I knew for sure that you didn't have balls."

The dining room erupted in curses, taunts, and threats as enemy soldiers sat beside each other. The swearing soon came to a halt as a roll of white cloth had begun covering the table, setting plates for each individual that was in place. Every so often, a candelabra would pop up and light up as the cloth continued on. On each plate was a different image, blank, a pair of wings, or a horn. For Celestia and Nightmare Moon however, their plates had both. That was when I noticed that neither one of them had their wings or horn.

"Welcome! Welcome! One and all!" Discord hollered from a megaphone swinging across the ceiling. "It's good to have you all here, each with your own quirks and kinks sitting alongside each other like brother and sister!"

I kept my eyes on Discord, waiting for any moment to present itself so I could choke him out. I hadn't noticed that there were a few other ponies walking the edge of the room as the presentation continued on.

"Some even have kinks that have gone down in some of my very special rooms, let's take for example a zebra named Zecora!" Discord called out, pointing out Zecora from my far right. "♪Oh where, oh where, have your little black stripes gone? Oh where, oh where, can they be? Hee, hee, hee!♫"

Sure enough, I could see the white zebra as she scowled at Discord and struggled to reach her staff.

"Let's not forget a few others that have gone by, one in particular is Pinkie Pie," Discord announced, pointing out a white mare with yellow mane. "Or should they start calling you 'Whitey Pie'? HA HA HA HA!"

Pinkie growled angrily, "You big meanie! I'll make you pay for this! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Oh, I hear you quite well," Discord snidely responded. "But sadly, Nightmare Moon cannot," he cheekily said, stopping right by Nightmare Moon, her reaction remaining still as she kept her eyes to me. "HELLO! MY! NAME! IS! DISCORD!" Discord bellowed out in Nightmare Moon's ear, still getting no response. "Don't worry, folks! She'll hear again in time, and every word in a single blow as well, so feel free to speak your mind."

Discord stepped around the table and slunk behind me. "And then, there's this fine creature, sitting down like a proper lady."

"Get me off this chair and I'll tear your eye sockets out, bastard!" I screamed.

"Certainly doesn't act ladylike at all," Discord announced, jumping back on the table. "Perhaps it's because this fine specimen of a mare that no doubt many of you are probably wondering if she's single-," Discord slunk down to a soldier and unabashedly whispered, "-and probably a virgin too-," before finishing his announcement, "-is actually one former stallion! Stallions, for all of your broken dreams, she's Quick Fix!"

Some had begun laughing and others remained shocked at the change of looks. I had been vibrating in rage as I sat, forced to endure the embarrassment.

"That is to name a few, of course, but many more have suffered similar embarrassments." Discord continued, catching the swinging pendulum again. "Peeing themselves in fright, falling down an infinite flight of stairs, being combined with another pony, drowning in jello water, I could go on, really. But, it's lunch time! And our servers are prepared to get you any food you desire! No tricks or gimmicks, alright, perhaps just one."

Back on the table, he flipped a plate up with his foot and caught it in his paw. "Each plate has something on it and is the only thing keeping you in your seats! Order your food, chow down, and you get freed! As an added bonus, for those that had wings or horns or both, you get those back as well!"

Setting the plate back down and flipping off the table, a menu appeared in front of everypony. "Please, look over our fine selection and make your choices! Your server will be with you shortly."

Still firmly embarrassed by Discord, I was incredibly annoyed and figured the best option on getting out was eating light. Scanning through the menu appeared to do no good however, every time I'd look for another option, the words would intermingle and create something else.

"Fuck it, I'll just have a burger," I huffed before a green hoof shot out and took the menu from me.

Looking over, I was shocked to see the green hoof came from Marian, her eyes still showing no life, but her mouth continuously murmuring as she walked.

"Burger, Taco, Pizza, Pizza, Salad, Soup, Bread, Bread, Garlic Bread, Cheese," she murmured out as she walked away, seemingly trying to remember the order of each order she was given in a precise way.

"This is certainly different," Time Turner spoke up. "Why would Discord treat us to any sort of meal? Of course, it's partially a game to get off of these chairs, but it's confusing."

Celestia nodded towards Turner's statement. "It's how he's always been. There is nothing that he does that is not played to what he wants to see or hear." She looked to me, a bitter expression on her face. "Even now he's playing his game with creatures from another plane of existence. As long as they are here alongside Discord, they must pay for their crimes against peace."

"It's not their choice," I argued, slamming a hoof at the table. "He did something to them, I know he did!"

At that moment, Nightmare Moon's eyes shot open and her hooves shot over her ears as she screamed out in agony. "My ears! Stop! Stop the noise!"

Her head smashed into the table and kept pressing her hooves to her ears. Despite any hope that she would've passed out, she raised her head and snapped up the menu in frustration. Despite not seeing him, I was sure Discord was stifling laughter nearby.

The room was quiet as food began appearing from nothing on the plates. The burger I had was a bonified, 100%, I'm totally a cannibal, hamburger. The burger was a sight of itself, bun, lettuce and tomato, cheese, burger, bacon, cheese, burger, bun. Many of the ponies looked to my plate and delighted salivating in sheer horror. Not only did the plate come with an awesome burger, it came with a fair amount of french fries that got me whooping up a storm.

"It's happened," I finally spoke up. "I've found a way to both hate and love someone all at one time."

"You are NOT!" Rarity gasped as I lifted the burger to my lips.

With no warning, the burger was torn into, and being eaten as I began reminiscing on my past life and how long it truly has been since I ate any meat. I even began laughing behind the closed mouth as I chewed, thinking how it looked from their perspective. A mare, eating a burger made from a cow and pig, was downing this abomination to society with no sense of manners and no worries about what the others were thinking about.

"Oh! OH!" I crooned, letting the taste circle around my taste buds. "Oh my god! Where's the cook so I can hug them?"

Nightmare Moon had shut her eyes to the despicable act I was doing, making me feel a small sense of victory. If I couldn't beat her in a fight, I could beat her in being a villainous bastard.

The mood shift was enough to make me forget about the inevitable ending of myself going against some of the most powerful beings I could ever go against. I should've been panicking about the concept of Celestia being thrown into the mix and still having nothing hanging between my legs, but the concept of potato and meat going down my gullet was kicking away the nagging feeling.

Before I had known it, the food was gone and the ponies that sat around the table had disappeared as well. Pushing up from the chair, I felt a difference in my body again. Looking down, it was clear I was back to being a man, or as close to one as I could be at that point. The wings that were removed were fluttering behind me and were well attached. The problem was that looking down to my left was Marian, moving down the table towards me.

Moving up on the table, I stepped up to stop Marian from moving any further. "I know Discord's fucked with your head, he's done it with Rich and Linda too. You don't have to listen to him, you don't have to do anything for him!"

Marian kept quiet before butting her head into my nose and striking my chest, right where the hole was underneath the armor. After multiple blows, she pulled back and let me collapse to the table, coughing out in pain.

"There's no saving us, we listen to the call of complete madness that has been shown to us." Marian coldly said as I pulled out my staff to help me back up. "This world will burn, and not even Discord's death will stop it."

With a quick movement, the staff was placed behind Marian's neck and pulled her down with me. Rolling onto my back, I flipped her over and rolled back over on my hooves. "Don't bullshit me, Marian! I'm ending this entire mess and we're going home!"

Marian moved back on her hooves and leaped forward tricking me into thinking she was going to tackle me and instead went back toward striking my chest. With no thought, I swung toward Marian's head and felt my hoof hit her. With a slump, Marian hit the table and made me take a step back in shock. With a quick move, I checked to see if she was breathing and gave a sigh of relief that she was okay.

"Marian, if you can hear me, please don't tell Linda about this," I whispered before getting off the table.

"How cute," Nightmare Moon's voice echoed out. "You still have feelings for your friends, even after you knock them out."

Turning to Nightmare Moon, I pointed my staff out to her and kept near Marian. "Get out of here, before I stick this straight up the place where the sun never shines."

Nightmare Moon laughed out, walking around the table and past myself and Marian's unconscious body. "One problem, boy."

Nightmare's aura surrounded me and shot me into the ceiling and continued pressing against me, making the ceiling crack under the pressure she was pushing with. I felt like I was being choked out as my breaths became shallow.

"The sun never shines down on the Queen of Eternal Night."
> Bearing our Scars
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The choking was getting bad. Nightmare Moon's power was crushing my lungs against the ceiling and my lunch was trying to escape through my throat. I kept a hold of my staff and hoped that my arm could be released so I could throw the staff. Picturing in my mind, I had thrown the staff and it struck her directly in the horn.

A burst of light and loud bang shot down towards Nightmare Moon, striking her horn directly. The look of confidence that Nightmare Moon had was changed to fear before her magic let go of me. I attempted to keep control of my fall with my wings, gliding uneasily back to the floor. I crumpled up and tried to stop shaking, breathing and attempting to recover from my pain.

Nightmare Moon was doing the same, trying to ease her head and not hit her horn into anything. The end of her horn was blackened and smoking from the unknown strike that I was able to perform. Her eyes locked on mine as we tried to steady ourselves back up.

"It can not be possible!" She screamed in frustration. "How can you bring down a lightning bolt from no cloud at all from nothing but a stick?!"

My best bet about my staff was that it had once again saved me from complete destruction and I didn't know how. Keeping a look over at Marian, I got worried that she may get hurt if we stayed near her.

"You don't know? Good." I taunted, moving away from her. "All you need to know is that it's my secret weapon that'll shift everything in my favor."

Nightmare Moon began to follow me, ignoring Marian as she lit up her horn again. "Ha! A likely story. Do you realize who you face? What I am? I am your repression, your secrets hidden under the shadow of my moonlight!"

"Overdramatic bitch," I groaned. "I'll give you a chance to get out of here before I take this stick and beat you silly."

"You don't believe," she whispered before a beam of magic struck my forehead. "I know your secrets, and I'll tear them open and bring you into my fold!"


***


I was held captive by a man that was running from the police. He came into the outside lot of the school where we were having recess and wrapped an arm around my body before putting a gun to my head. Many of the children had run off, fearing for their own lives.

The man was someone that had been arrested previously for breaking a restraining order. After his release, he managed to find the woman that had placed the restraining order and murdered her in cold blood. She had a husband as well, newly wedded. He too fell victim to the man's madness and the murderer began his chase with the police into where the incident happened with me.

"No! I'm not going to jail again!" He yelled out to the cops. "She deserved to die! DIE! If she wouldn't have me, then neither should he!"

I kept screaming out, the gun pushed into the side of my head, shaking in the unstable man's hand. I only heard a shot and the gun hitting the ground. Hitting the ground, I was facing the gun and looking up was the officer, unmoving and bleeding out. The man kept pulling me away, trying to escape now into the school with me as a hostage. His gun was close to my chest now as he pulled and without thought, I had managed to pull the gun away and aimed it at him.

The man yelled out in anger and caused me to pull hard on the trigger, fearing now that the large man was going to crush me. He stood there, the bullet wound in his chest, blood pouring out to me before finally collapsing on the ground.

I stood in shock, the gun held tightly in my hands as the officers surrounded the man and called out the medical team that had just arrived. Despite being comforted and told that I had done the right thing, I knew that I was a murderer.

The pain continued until I was brought to court and declared a child that had only performed self-defense against the man that held me hostage. The family of the man was enraged, saying that justice wasn't served at all, claiming that the courts were wrongfully withholding punishment because I was just a child.

I was kept out of sight from the public for many years by my parents and eventually was moved out into a different state with them, hoping to escape the persecution that I had wrongfully killed someone. The move was the beginning of the block I placed into my past. I wasn't a killer in my new home, I was a strong willed teenager that stood up for others that were being humiliated or picked on.

I never wanted friends because I felt I was undeserving of any at all. Until I had met Richard, I had no intention of having anyone get to know me.


***


I kept standing in the dining room, feeling the recoil of the pistol in both of my hands and the sight of the man's head blowing apart from my shocked actions. I had dropped my staff and let it hit the floor as old tears began to flow again.

"Oh how the righteous truly are," Nightmare Moon jeered. "Always showing how pure and wonderful they really are until they're shown their shadow."

My vision had blurred horribly from my half-closed eyes and watery tears, but I knew Nightmare Moon was right in front of me.

"Let it out," I heard a familiar whisper. "Let us out."

I pushed both forehooves into my temples and pressed into the floor. "I'm- I'm innocent. I was too young to understand!"

"Don't you dare give me that excuse!" Nightmare Moon snapped. "For one thousand years I suffered from a decision because somepony was 'too young to understand'!" She gave a small hum. "Although, I at least have the pleasure of getting my rightful reward, unlike the man you killed."

The memory refused to go away, not this time. The old questions I asked myself came back all over again. Did you purposely want to kill him? Why didn't you just run? Shouldn't you have felt anything when you pulled the trigger?

"Don't worry, little boy," Nightmare Moon crooned. "Your existence is just as worthless as it was then. Now, it's time for fate to deal its final blow and end your nonsensical fight against the impossible."

Despite the complicated memory coming back, the staff was brought up and broke the stream of magic between myself and Nightmare Moon. Moving away from her, my mind continued to whirl with thought and had made me wobble uneasily. My vision was interjected with images of the man, Nightmare Moon, and an alicorned version of me, all prepared to strike.

A loud screech whizzed by my ear and into Nightmare Moon, cutting any remainder of the illusion out of the way.

"What manner of trickery is this?!" Nightmare Moon growled, trying to pry a white object from her face. Pulling it away, she threw it away, only for it to circle behind her and letting me see what it was. The white face from the room had returned and was circling Nightmare Moon, laughing out continuously at her frantic swipes.

"Never let him go, never let him go, never let him go," it repeated, still swinging around Nightmare Moon.

With a grunt of frustration Nightmare Moon faded into her dusty form and retreated from the white face, passing through me as she did. In an unfortunate moment, I had breathed in some of the dust and began coughing heavily. I began to hear the whispers of what formally possessed me again, but it sounded very simplistic in its instruction.

"Make us whole," was all it whispered in my mind.

Looking up to the white face, I had felt little fear of it now. It had chosen to protect me instead of continue the torture I was undertaking. It followed every movement of my own head, tilting itself like I would and rocking back and forth when I did like a child imitating an adult.

"You are like me," it sadly moaned. "Watching, observing, forced to live with scars."

"Who... are you?" I asked, confused as to what this smiling white face was.

It gave its short laugh and began floating away.

"H-Hang on a second, where are you going?" I asked it, trying to catch up to it. The face had long since passed my field of vision and left me in the dining room with no exits. Knowing that I needed to think differently like I did in the last room, I started thinking about where any hidden latches or pressable brick could be. The large windows served as a reminder of how backwards everything outside must be.

One end was dark and let out a soft white glow, the other was bright and gave its yellowed shine. An idea formed in my head as I moved to a chair. Keeping careful and checking if I would hit anything, I gave a swing with the chair and hit the window, cracking it open and giving me an open space to get out. Taking a look outside and to the sky, I made sure that there wouldn't be any other flying Pegasi.

Stepping out and beginning my flight, I pulled away from the castle, seeing it shift around. It was clear that picking the right room where Discord would be was going to be impossible, or at least a very slim chance. The cloud cover was unusually thick, prompting my curiosity as to if something was above its cover.

Without warning, bright circles began forming in the air and moving in erratic jumps. One jumped towards me, making me throw my hooves up in defense. The circle phased through and I heard a yell that continued alongside the circle. "It's time for an Equestrian Death Battle!"

Looking up from my block, I jolted around to see what sort of attack was coming for me. For the tense moments, I slowly let down my guard and watched a small circle go by, this time showing a fight between myself and a blue pegasus. The battle looked intense, but the clarity was foggy at best. Were these circles a vision to the future? I tried to avoid getting near the circles, but was forced to endure some of the odd visions and sounds coming from it.

Reaching the edge of the clouds, I began to notice the circles were making a line toward a building. The line was twisting around a tower and slowly continuing its spiral upwards. These circles had to do something with Discord's continued plan in some way, but I was unsure as to what.

A series of circles had then encapsulated me, trapping me in midair. Each circle held a face of Discord, some different from others.

"Figure it out yet?" The Discord's simultaneously asked, each a smug grin on their faces.

"How impossible we can make this for everypony?" One cockily asked.

"Why I want to have so much fun with you?" Another giggled.

"When you realize the truth about who I really am?" Another still taunted.

I let them continue spinning around me, ignoring each question given to me. Instead, I gave my own.

"How do you plan?" I asked, silencing each of the Discord's. "You could do this at any time, so why make a plan this complicated?"

The circular Discord's blew away and revealed the real Discord floating in front of me, his focus on me more intense than smug.

"That's the question, now isn't it?" Discord huffed. "How can I, God of Chaos, make a plan that has no fault or error? Or maybe, the better answer is, who really made the plan?"

Keeping to the air, I kept a hoof to my staff, readying for any attack. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "The underground base is yours, the message in it is yours, the kidnapping, the corrupting, every action has been yours. You had to have planned this."

Discord gave a smirk, "Those are all the actions, but not the planning. Don't you recall what I told you in the asylum? Through a world of complete disharmony, we can make a world of pure harmony. And all I need is her help."

I did recall he mentioned something about a 'her' and she was called God while he was named Satan. I kept ready, thinking on what he was proposing to be the truth, or at least his version of the truth. He was saying God had made the plan already and he was acting on it.

"Look's like you understand," Discord quietly crooned. "I can see it in your eyes, that little shine was all I needed to see."

Turning his back to me, he looked to the spiraling circles. "With the help of every point of time, past, present, future and every choice that has and has not been done, the dark rainbow will fly across the sky and tear off the final piece of string in a line of my mistakes." His head snapped to me, his back still turned and his expression angry. "No more humans, no more imprisonments, and no more of me. I've had enough of being the butt of jokes and mockery of mortal ponies. In one resounding pound of ultimate chaos, all of us will go up in smoke."

As he said this, he vanished, leaving a smoke doppleganger hanging where he was that began blowing away.

I checked the watch to see how much time remained and cringed.

11 hours 53 minutes 11 seconds
> Diamond Dogs are Forever
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Here it comes again!" Rover screeched, ducking from the swinging pendulum.

Tyrone let the pendulum pass him, knowing his sword wasn't going to be any use against the steel ball that swung back and forth. Thanks to the arsenal that the underground base had, he and the rest of the diamond dogs were ready for a fight.

Just not against obstacles.

"Ow! My foot!" Fido howled. "Why 's there a step there?!"

"Step?" Screw Loose barked. "That means stairs!"

The gang continued their dodging and weaving toward the stairs and reached them. After catching their breaths, they took a head count.

"All here," Tyrone sighed thankfully. "Didn't want to go back to pick any certain dog out of a jam like last time."

"That jam was sticky and you know it!" Spot growled.

Tyrone rolled his eyes and continued up the stairs, followed behind by his pack.

"Why are we doing this?" Rover huffed. "We could be back home, digging up all kinds of gems for us to enjoy!"

Tyrone gave an angry look to Rover before continuing. He knew Richard was here, and it was his duty to find him and protect him. Not only this, but he trusted Quentin when he said that he was going to bring him back. He still felt confused as to how the castle worked, but shrugged it off as another test to his loyalty. He had come too far to be kept away from his duty.

"What's that out there?" Fido remarked, pulling himself up toward a window.

The others tried to crowd the window, each cramping up the tiny space.

"Is... that a piano flying out there?" Spot asked in confusion.

"No, that's a giant rock... I think," Screw Loose hummed.

Each of them beginning barking out to catch the attention of whatever was outside. It certainly worked as the object reached the window.

"Tyrone? Is that you in there?" The flying object with wings called out.

"I recognize that voice," Tyrone happily shouted. "Beta! What are you doing out there!"

"Trying to pick a good room to burst in," he said behind the glass pane. "Move outta the way, I'm gonna break through!"

The dogs fell off the window sill and waited to see Quick Fix shatter through the glass. With the approaching yell, they turned away to make sure glass wouldn't fall into their face. Instead of hearing glass breaking, they heard the sound of rubber bouncing. Looking back to the window, it looked untouched. Looking back outside, the dogs couldn't find a sign of the pegasus that said he would be coming in.

Giving a poke at the window, Tyrone's paw pushed against a rubbery surface. "It's... not solid."

"What happened to the pony?" Fido asked.

Giving a few more testy pokes, Tyrone sighed and dropped off the window sill again. "Come on, let's get going. Don't want to stop now that we could be close."

"You are," a voice came from further up the stairs. The group turned up to see a gray pegasus with a deck of cards in her hoof. "You'll need to go through a few more trials, but you are near the end of a long process."

Screw Loose began growling angrily, "Her eyes aren't normal."

The dogs all cautiously held up their weapons and began growling menacingly at the black eyes of the blonde mare.

"Allow me to lead you to your next task," the pegasus offered before turning away and going up the stairs.

Each of them gave a look of concern to each other before slowly pressing onward. The stairs led to a door, a large scratch etched into it done by a four fingered creature of some kind. Tyrone held up his sword and leaned up against the door, his hand on the knob and head turned to his team to give them a signal. With a confident nod, he pushed the door open and all of them were greeted to an empty bar room.

The lights began to flicker on and a jukebox began playing a song. A light flashed on, revealing the gray pegasus with her deck at a dealer's table. She had been shuffling the cards in her hooves as the dogs reached the table.

"You approach the Element of Greed, fifty-two cards in her hooves," the pegasus crooned. "She challenges you to a game of Poker, 5 draw, one redraw. If you take my tokens, you will be led to the exit. If I take yours, then you will be left in this room forever, under the debt of myself."

Tyrone looked to each of the Diamond Dogs and shrugged his shoulders, not knowing how to play the game she was talking about.

"I'll take her on," Screw Loose grumbled, moving up to the stool in front of the pegasus. "Lay them out, just as I do before I dig up the ground to bury my toys."

The pegasus didn't say a word as she made one final shuffle and dealt the cards, five for herself and five for Screw Loose.

"The house start's with 500 tokens," the pegasus stated before sliding a small pile to Screw Loose. "You will start with 50. Minimum bet is at 10 tokens to play."

Screw Loose gave a nod, a furrowed brow on her face as she lifted her cards.

Jack of Hearts, 9 of Spades, 4 of Diamonds, 10 of Diamonds, 4 of Hearts.

She thought carefully on what to do as she pushed out her initial 10 tokens to start. She already had a pair, but she knew if she played the cards, she could have a straight.

Taking the chance, she put down the 2 cards and received 2 more. She watched as the dealer picked out three cards and put three others in her hand.

"The house raises 30," the pegasus chuckled, knowing that if Screw Loose were to call, she would only be left with 10.

Screw Loose did call, and hoped that her hand would top the house.

The pegasus began revealing her cards left to right.

5 of Diamonds, 2 of Spades, 5 of Spades, 5 of Clubs, Queen of Clubs.

"Three of a kind," the pegasus coolly remarked, waiting now to see Screw Loose's results.

With the encouragement of the Diamond Dogs behind her, Screw Loose took a deep breath and revealed her hand.

Jack of Hearts, 9 of Spades, Queen of Spades, 10 of Diamonds, 8 of Clubs.

Screw Loose shuffled her extra 40 tokens toward her. She was making progress, and with a little extra firepower, she felt a bit of hope that she could pull this off.

The battle of wits and luck continued, Screw Loose continuously being brought to the edge of losing, but managing to slip away with a victory to survive another match. The deck continued to be shuffled, again and again the sound of cards smacking against each other filled the room.

The game continued on, a calmness somehow mixed in the game. The jukebox began playing along to the tune that the bar gave. Despite the lulling sense of relaxation that the bar gave, Screw Loose kept her focus on the game as the saxophone began to play.

"You are very good," the gray pegasus remarked, fiddling with a card in her hoof. "Every time I try to keep track of the cards that have been played, you manage to surprise me in a different way."

Tyrone kept a grip on the table edge next to Screw Loose, staring down the pegasus as he tried to find a sense of danger behind the darkness of her eyes. His claws dug into the wood, a sense of fear behind him not knowing what the gray pegasus with bubbles on her flank was thinking.

"One last game," Screw Loose growled quietly.

Despite not knowing what Screw Loose was saying, the pegasus nodded and dealt out the final cards as both ponies pushed their tokens to the table.

Screw Loose kept her cards hidden, not wanting Tyrone to see, instead she whispered something in his ear. With a jerk of her head, Tyrone solemnly stepped back and went toward the jukebox.

Both ponies made their exchange of cards and sat there, waiting for the other to reveal what lay in their hooves. The gray pegasus began chuckling, her laughter increasing in volume as she revealed her hand.

5 of Hearts, 6 of Hearts, 7 of Hearts, 8 of Hearts, 9 of Hearts.

"The Straight Flush," she continued laughing, ready to take her tokens. Tyrone pushed a button on the jukebox, finding something

Holding a hoof up to stop her, Screw Loose revealed her cards. A straight face as each one was revealed.

Ace of Diamonds, King of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, 10 of Diamonds.

"Royal Flush," Screw Loose said clearly, watching the pegasus' face drop in shock. "The game is over."

Pushing a button, the jukebox started to play a song as Celestial and Lunar soldiers began to surround the area.

The Diamond Dogs gathered together, each a back against each other as they put their weapons up. Tyrone's sword slashed out an attacking guard, ripping the neck open and spurting blood out over the floor. Screw Loose's unusual combination of stumbling and heavy blows kept many more of the Celesital army on guard, not knowing if she was going to attack them next. Fido lifted Spot up and threw him with one arm, flinging the small dog into an incoming crowd of soldiers and knocking their balance off before he charged in with his axe. Rover's spear matched the skill of the other pony's that attempted to fight with him, but his height and agility would keep knocking his opponent's weapon away before he plunged the point into their chest.

Tyrone's sword clashed against the armor of a Lunar Guard before he noticed the gray pegasus trying to slip away.

"Follow that pony!" Tyrone ordered, shoving off three ponies that had tried to restrain him.

He kept a cover to the back as the fight became a full brawl between the Celestial Guard and Lunar Army with the Diamond Dogs attempting to wade through the battlefield the bar had become. Tyrone's sword kept slashing into ponies that dared to get close, some ponies becoming unfortunate enough to have their wing cut off as they fell to the floor screaming in agony.

A Celestial Guard jumped from the bar and attempted to stab at Rover, but Tyrone managed to get in between him and the stabbing spear.

"Keep going," Tyrone barked out, making Rover hurry faster with his team. Tyrone kept grip of the spear that had pierced just enough into him to still see the spear's point. With a loud grunt of effort, Tyrone's sword swung overhead and cleaved into the pony's head, making the struggle between the two animals end. With a slick pop, Tyrone torn the spear out of him and threw it into the mosh of ponies as an act of vengeance against his wound.

The gray pegasus had indeed led them to the way out, a trapdoor hidden in a corner of the room. It looked just big enough to crawl through one at a time.

Tyrone kept to his guard as Screw Loose went first. "Everyone, keep going! I'll hold them off!" Tyrone hastily ordered, running back into the fray with his sword out. His vision became clouded with a tunnel vision for anything that moved, it needed to be slashed with his fury. Ponies became terrified as he would pounce at them, sometimes not using his sword as he would just grip their heads and twist them until he felt a pop. His smell was only blood, his tongue continued to lap up the splashes of red that hit his nose, and his teeth would tear into other ponies as he would forcibly shake them before flinging them across the room.

Knowing most of his enemies were now either dead or hiding, his next instinct was to get out. He hadn't realized how hurt he was until he began limping towards the trapdoor. He attempted to ignore the pain and forced himself through the trapdoor.

"And here's the final Diamond Dog of the night, Tyrone," a showman's voice announced. "He looks to be cut up, bruised, and even may be in a state of shock. But, don't fret Tyrone, because you and your friends are now in the top sixty-four that will make it into the finals before the ultimate showdown!"

Discord stepped down from a podium, wearing a tweed jacket as he ushered Tyrone in, ignoring the growls.

"Rest up, check those wounds, we only have fifty more spots to fill and when they fill, the castle's going somewhere no pony can follow." Discord gave a look out beyond the window, expecting to see someone looking back. "Take your guess, I hope you can get it right before the real show starts..."
> If your Chaotic and you know it, Clap your hands
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Trixie cautiously peeked around a corner, making sure there weren't any other surprises waiting for her. With a deep breath she zipped to the other side of the room and peeked out again to see what she had feared was right there, a pony at the door.

She gave an audible groan of frustration. After keeping out of sight from all of the guards, all of the soldiers, and even restraining her urge to reveal herself to Twilight and her stupid friends, her only escape was blocked by a single unicorn. She had made it too far to turn back, and every fiber of her being wanted to just run. Run and scream.

She kept quiet as a Celestial guard rushed past her, still unnoticed.

"Stand aside," the guard called out. "I have a fight to win for the Princess of the Sun, rightful ruler of Equestria, Celestia."

The unicorn shuffled as her horn lit up.

"I will not stand aside and let you pass," she said. "Beyond here is the trip to the end. I have the ticket, but you must pry it from my fingers."

The guard blinked in confusion as he looked over the pony. "Fingers?"

With a sudden slam, Trixie saw a large 5 digit object crush the guard into the wall. It's digits bent and kept attached like live tentacles as it pulled away, seeing them bunch together and then stretch out again.

"These fingers," the unicorn finally responded as the magically created object picked up the dazed guard from the scruff of his neck. "These fingers hold the ticket, and these fingers belong to the Element of Cruelty."

Dropping the guard, the object came flying towards where Trixie was, making her gasp before she leaped away from the corner. She watched the hand bash through it, confirming her fear of how strong this unicorn was.

"Come out, Great and Powerful Trixie," the unicorn called out. "I want you to face a demon, she's called Lyra Heartstrings. She believes in humanity, and Discord has shown her the way for them to come back."

Trixie reached into her bag and pulled out a firework rocket. She was well-versed on how to make them, and she considered herself one of the best in setting them off. Aiming the fuse to her horn, she lit the rocket and hurled it out from her corner at the giant hand. With a loud whistle and pop, the firework burst the magic hand and made her grin. She pulled out another firework from her bag as she walked from her hiding spot.

"It seems that Trixie will need to teach this demon a little respect," she confidently said, throwing and catching the rocket in her hoof. "And I'll even make it fair by not using my incredible magic talent to take you down." She lit the rocket and threw it toward Lyra, watching it fly towards her face.

Lyra's horn was still lit from her standing position, unmoving as two giant hands walled in front of her, blocking the explosion. Trixie became confused, thinking that the hands were going to fade away. The hands moved away to reveal Lyra grinning ear-to-ear, making Trixie take a step back.

"Good," Lyra said, making the hands move out over her head and pointing to her. "I like to see others test themselves."

Trixie panicked and pulled out another set of fireworks and lighting it. Throwing it out, the firework burst out in a bright light, blinding Lyra and giving Trixie time to hide again. She began looking around at where she could go as she retreated.

"You're very good at running away," Lyra called out. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say your cutie mark would have been a trail of piss from running like a scared chicken."

Trixie grit her teeth and waited for a hand to come by to try and strike again. She watched as Lyra walked by and checked for the door, seeing a hand walking on its fingers and pacing back and forth. Knowing she was in trouble she did the next best thing she could try and pulled out her 'disappearing' spell egg. It was nothing more than dust trapped inside, but she knew one good shot could blind the unicorn and get her past the danger.

The guard had gotten up and wiped his mouth off before readying his pike. Giving a charge toward Lyra, he was stopped by the hand that went with her. A mighty swing cut into the hand and a cry of pain went out from Lyra.

The hand gripped the guard and began crushing him, the sound of bones snapping as the guard let gave out gasps of air.

"I won't let you die," Lyra coldly proclaimed. "I'll just leave you here, your bones tearing into your organs, but not enough to bleed out to death. I'll refuse you that right, in fact I'll let the wounds heal, then I'll break it again, then let it heal again, and then break it once more for the encore of letting you see the malformed mass of flesh that comes from it."

Trixie came out from her hiding place and stomped a hoof to gain Lyra's attention. When Lyra turned, Trixie's bag of dust was thrown into her eyes, letting her scream out in agony. Lyra's horn shut off, making the hands disappear and drop the guard on the floor. Trixie ran for the door and hastily attempted to open it.

The wails of Lyra started to become louder as Trixie realized that the half-blind unicorn was trying to rub the irritant dust from her eyes and stumbling toward her.

"I'll tear off your tail," she screamed, continuing her taunts as a cloudy shadow began to form over Trixie. "No, your spine! Leaving you unable to move as I parade your limp body across the town and torment you. I'll take your eyes! Your hooves! Your muzzle! I'll let your ears capture every wailing child and every pony screaming out 'Merciful Discord, what is that thing!'"

Trixie finally wrenched the door open and held it closed tightly behind her, still hearing the threats and painful sobs of who she had barely made it by.

A slow clap began behind her, prompting her to put her back to the door to see what else was waiting for her. She watched as two giant hands clapped behind her and an insane laugh coming from the complete darkness.

"This, is your final destination," an echo of Lyra's voice called out. "There will be no escape!"

Trixie felt the floor around her lift up and stumbled forward. When she stood back up, she was surrounded by stars and the platform she was on didn't have much option in the escape department. She had to fight or be thrown out into space and left to an unknown fate.

She gulped nervously as both hands took opposite sides of the platform. With nothing to lose, she lit up a firework rocket and threw it to the hand on the left that was jutting its fingers in and out wildly. Her focus then came on the shadow that came over her as the other hand had made a fist and started to move to crush her.

Moving out of the way in time, she bit at the hand that attempted to harm her for good measure, making the hand go up and wave off the pain.

Her focus was too drawn to the waving hand as the left hand had crawled out like a spider and trampled over her, tearing her cloak and making her hat fly off into the void around her. She gave a snort and ripped the rest of her cloak off.

"You call upon the wrath of the greatest magician in all of Equestria!" she screamed out toward the wiggling hand. "And you shall have it!"

The hand attempted to sweep her off, but Trixie jumped up in time and began riding on top of the wiggling hand. She lit a cluster of fireworks as the other hand went to flick her off. Jumping off, the cluster went off, hitting both hands. They went back to their sides, but Trixie jumped up at the right hand and began flailing her hooves at it before dropping back to the floor.

She went back into her bag of tricks and lit a bottle of Hot Cider, throwing it up in the air as the two hands prepared to charge her in the middle. Hoping to time it right, she avoided being hit by the bottle and jumped in time for the hands to clap down on the bottle and light both of them on fire. Her rage was halted as she noticed bright lights at the fingertips of the right hand.

A stream of light burst out of its fingertips and struck Trixie, knocking her back into the left hand as it started dropping it's own explosives. Trixie tried to block herself with the little time she had and had been blown near the edge of the platform, her hoof kept a grip on the edge as she looked down to see an infinite void. Both hands began to move to where she was before a far away scream of excitement was heard.

The hands tried to locate the sound of the noise, but still couldn't seem to find it.

"-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-" the happy squeal continued until one hand was stomped to the ground, shocking the other hand back.

Trixie finally managed to pull herself up to see curly, bouncy, annoyingly happy, Pinkamena Diane Pie.

"That. Was. AMAZING!" She screeched out. "I just kept falling and falling and falling, and at first I was really scared that I was going to die because I couldn't fly. Then I saw the star stuff around me as I fell and I went 'OOH! I'm in space!' then I kept falling and did space stuff like moonwalk, see the stars, watch the void, and met this giant flying frisbee that had these things with eyeballs on it living inside!"

The hand underneath Pinkie pulled up from under her and pulled back two fingers while pointing its remaining fingers at her with it's thumb pointed upwards. Trixie heard a sound of ignition and pushed Pinkie out of the way as two cylindrical objects came from the two fingers and exploded when they hit the ground.

Pinkie had no time to thank Trixie as the other hand had decided to try and sideswipe them. Both ponies barely avoided the flying hand and watched it circle around and settle back to its spot.

"What are these things?" Pinkie asked Trixie, her backside against Trixie's own.

"Hands," Trixie hastily answered. "That's what the other unicorn called them."

Before any other questions were asked, the right hand made a motion that seemed to taunt them to come to him. Trixie pulled out another rocket and was ready to light it when with a gasp she was pulled up with a stretching rope that was around her body. The left hand had made a fist and was ready to crush the two ponies against the wall of the right hand.

Trixie and Pinkie landed back down and Trixie had realized she was wearing a blue snowsuit and Pinkie was wearing a pink snowsuit. They both had hammers too for some odd reason.

"Hit it!" Pinkie screamed as the left hand came close to them. With a stomp of the hammer in her hooves, the left hand began exploding, a loud scream of pain coming from it. Both Trixie and Pinkie turned to the right hand as it went to sweep them off the map. Trixie threw a firework up to her horn, lighting it as it continued up. Pinkie pulled out a cannon and readied it, the time feeling slowed down for both as the hand came barreling towards them.

Trixie swung out her hammer and smashed the firework towards the hand and in unison, Pinkie shot her cannon. The explosion was large; the right hand gave out it's cry of agony as it also exploded and fell out into the void.


CONGRATULATIONS! YOU WIN!


With a flash of light, both Trixie and Pinkie arrived at the slowly filling room of survivors, many held back by magic walls to prevent them from attacking others.

"I'm digging the look," Discord lisped as he wormed out from behind the two ponies. "It has that sense of saying 'We're a team, but we're different!' to it while keeping extra toasty!"
> Death with Glasses - Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy finally hit the ground from her long fall and remained still. She was not in pain, but the sudden surprise of falling away from all of her friends caught her very off guard.

"♫I took all of his money and it was a pretty penny
I took all of his money, yeah, and I brought it home to Molly
She swore that she loved me, no, never would she leave me
But the devil take that woman, yeah, for you know she tricked me easy

Musha rain dum a doo, dum a da
Whack for my daddy, oh
Whack for my daddy, oh
There's cider in the jar, oh♪"

Fluttershy cautiously peeked out from her hiding spot to see Berry Punch stumbling forward, a large axe on her back and a bottle of cider hanging off her lips before she threw the bottle away from her. Fluttershy stepped out, knowing she could trust Berry Punch to at least keep her company in her time of need.

Berry Punch stopped mere inches from Fluttershy's face and her eyes squinted and widened to try and get a clear visage of what she was seeing.

"Oh, hi! It's the animal mare!" Berry Punch clumsily announced. "I dun see you too offen, probably because you have a bajillion pets to take care. Now, me, I jus' need to make sure this axe dun get scr- scratched."

Berry Punch began laughing as she reached into her bag and shook out a whip. "They di'n't say 'nything 'bout whippin'! HA HA HA!" She went to strike the whip out, but it was just laid forward without a crack. "H- hold on, I can do it."

Fluttershy watched in disappointment as Berry tried again and again to make the whip crack. She went beside her and tenderly gave a tap on Berry's shoulder.

"Um, I can help you with-" Fluttershy started before Berry Punch wrapped the whip around her neck and began continuing on her stumbling trot.

"Tha'ss the spirit pet lady! Come with me for a... psssh... thing at the castle." Berry Punch said, pointing to an ominous looking castle in front of them. As she pointed to the castle, cracks of lightning and thunder came down before a cloud line revealed a moon. "Lookit, juss wants comp'ny. How can you say no to a face like that?"

Fluttershy had bitten down on the whip to restrain her whimper of fear as Berry Punch dragged her along, still singing her song.

"♫Being drunk and weary I went to Molly's chamber
Takin' my Molly with me, but I never knew the danger
For about six or maybe seven in walked Captain Far Roll
I jumped up, fired my pistols, and I shot him with both barrels

Musha rain dum a doo, dum a da
Whack for my daddy, oh
Whack for my daddy, oh
There's cider in the jar, oh♪"

After passing through the gate, it shut on both mares as Berry Punch hefted her axe off and brought it to her mouth to swing.

"You smell dat?" Berry Punch muffled through the axe's bindings in her teeth. "It's death."

As Berry Punch said this, a skeleton pony came forward towards them and then moved back as Berry Punch made a swing at it.

Fluttershy's eyes shut for a moment before she heard something coming at her. A bat went to swoop down at her and it didn't look like he was willing to talk to her. She gave a squeal and twisted her neck away from it by instinct.

SNAP!

The whip cracked out and the bat burst into flame before disappearing from sight. Fluttershy at first felt horrible, she had just murdered an innocent animal. She then thought that it would be odd that a whip would make something burst into flame.

"You got it, sister!" Berry Punch yelled out. "Take that holy whip to it!"

Fluttershy saw another bat coming and went to turn away again, but instead of keeping her eyes shut, she kept them open as the whip cracked against the next bat. At the crack, the bat's mouth opened revealing long rows of sharp teeth, each covered in a film of red. She knew what bats these were and knew right away that these weren't the kind of animals that she would allow in her care.

"Vampire bats," she murmered, this time with a sense of bitterness behind her word. She took the whip and snapped it again before looking toward the skeleton and realizing that nothing she would see here would be of kind nature and would not respond to it. She briefly moved the whip from her mouth and made a silent prayer to Celestia for the safe passage of any evil to whatever beyond waited for them.

She struck her whip out to the skeleton and watched it blow apart its bones before they burst into dust. If this was what she needed to do to continue and get to her friends, she would do so with fervor.

"Heh, heh, yeah!" Berry Punch cheered. "Le'ss do it!"

Both Berry and Fluttershy went further into the courtyard and were greeted with more skeletons. Some pulled a rib bone from their rib cage and held it up in fury.

Berry took a big swing with her axe and knocked a skeleton over in the first attempt and knocked another skeleton over as she moved back.

Fluttershy's whip struck out in accurate shots, one knocking the skull off of one skeleton pony and making the body fall to the ground before turning to dust. The duo seemed to be working well as the skeletons began retreating further into the castle. Entering inside, Fluttershy and Berry were met with a staircase going up and a hallway continuing on.

"Git up tha stairs," Berry ordered, giving a slight shove to Fluttershy toward the ascending path. "Somethin' called out back there for me."

Before Fluttershy could argue, Berry charged away down the hallway into inky blackness. She gave a nervous gulp and started creeping up the stairs. The light in the castle was well lit and its look was very elegant despite its worn appearance of the walls. Reaching the top of the stairs, she noticed a large gap she wouldn't be able to go over. Her eyes went down and instead of seeing the hallway that should have been below her was a row of spikes jutting up. She tried to flap her wings, but despite her resolve to fight the monsters, her fear still kept them shut.

Looking up, she noticed a hanging ring and wondered why it was there. She began thinking of turning back until an idea came to her head. She thought that this would be a rather silly plan, but decided to strike her whip at the ring and swing across. As the whip snapped to the ring, she felt herself pulled from the floor and begin swinging. She let out a peep of fear as she rocked back and forth for a moment before she managed to fall down on the other side.

Fluttershy rubbed her backside and got back up with the whip in tow. Her trip was continually halted by more skeletons, vampire bats, and ghouls, each meeting the fate of her whip striking them down. She kept walking on before seeing a part of the castle she was in was collapsed and filled with water. She could see large beasts swimming in the water and what she was sure would be the exit.

Her caution and precision had been a remarkable advantage for her during the trip, further assured by a piece of the ceiling coming down before she was ready to jump splashing in the water in front of her. She kept moving forward when a sudden pony head came flying out at her, snakes striking out in its mane. Fluttershy yelped and held up her hooves and wings to defend herself. She felt a rush of air and then wet droplets momentarily hit her, making her worried that something came out of the water.

She hurriedly dropped her wings and hooves and struck out with her whip toward whatever was in front of her. She kept their for a moment, seeing a tall, muscular mare wearing a mask look down at her as a small cut from the lash went across her chest. Fluttershy began to try and step back to gain some space, but a sea creature leaped out of the water behind her. Before she could react with her whip, the giant mare swung an axe and sliced it in half, making a torrent of red blood spurt from it before hitting the water.

"So, animal mare," the giant purple mare began. "Ready to continue on?"

Flutttershy recognized the voice, a chill of familiarity against the harsh contrast of what she knew the voice belonged to. She cautiously peeked at the cutie mark and noticed that it was grapes and a strawberry.

"Berry?" Fluttershy whimpered.

"Now, how'd ya guess?" The masked mare standing above her chuckled. "I thought the Terror Mask would throw off any suspicion to who I was..."

Fluttershy tried to see if Berry's eyes could be seen beyond the mask, but was greeted with red circles staring back. Berry Punch looked completely different, and not as abhorrently slurred as she normally was. The axe she wielded looked to be a simple house axe in her hoof when before it was almost as big as she was. Her once normal and somewhat padded belly fat of a body had become a beastly ripped form, her abdomen stretching against skin, leg muscle tight enough to show the veins that pumped underneath.

"We can stay and chat, but I'm afraid that business needs to be done," Berry finally spoke up. "We have blood to spill, adventure to be had, and according to Masky-" she said, tapping the mask she was wearing. "-says that at the end of the castle is the way out."

Fluttershy gave a nod and pointed out to the door she was going to. "I was ready to go over there and-"

Berry Punch didn't let Fluttershy finish as she rushed forward with a loud roar. She burst through the door and instantly impaled a monster with her axe into a wall before gripping a ghoul and crushing its head to the floor and making the head smash out. Other monsters attempted to jump her, but the strength she had kept them away as she threw them around. Two jumping midgets for mares attempted to leap at her simulataniously and were rewarded by being bashed into each other before they were kicked forward into a stone wall and plastering their blood.

Soon the entirety of the hallway was leaking red everywhere as Berry Punch gave a few deep breaths from her exertion. She decided to move back and get her axe as she noticed Fluttershy, mouth gaped in pure horror at what had happened. Berry Punch removed her axe from the wall, dislodging the corpse from its held place and gave a nod to Fluttershy.

"Like I said," Berry Punch said, briefly wiping the remnants of gore and blood from the metal. "Blood to spill, adventure to be had, and getting the fuck out."


***


Fluttershy and Berry Punch continued on their way, both attacking any deterrents along their way with their own style. Berry Punch had continued her animalistic approach on killing her enemies as she forcibly broke them apart with her bare hooves and by every slash of her axe. At one point, she just stopped where she was after making one rather large snake creature become decapitated and let the spraying blood fall down on her like a shower.

Fluttershy still kept to her caution and accuracy, feeling a sense of pride after taking down a large pony knight that needed to be struck at its helmet to be hurt. She was worried about Berry Punch however, she had never seen her act this way before and had begun to doubt how noble her intentions really were. In one instance, she watched how Berry Punch struggled against a mangled flesh creation of a pony, a bag over it's head and long rotating blades replacing its forelegs.

Fluttershy's whip struck out multiple times at the pony's shoulder to disable the blades that were making a sound similar to a cat howl. She was sure that the pony was losing the battle and would surrender itself before Berry Punch ripped one of the forearms off and used the spinning blades to cut into the back of the pony's neck and letting the blood spray all over her. Berry Punch's laughter mixed with the rev of the spinning blades sent chills down Fluttershy's spine as the now disemboweled and decapitated pony fell to the ground.

"This is fun," Berry Punch slurped, putting up a dripping hoof above her mask's mouth and letting blood drop down.

"This is murder," Fluttershy argued. "And you're enjoying hurting others at the expense of spreading their blood everywhere you can."

Berry Punch set her hoof to the ground and turned to Fluttershy, the red eyes of the mask looking at her. "This is how Masky works. I don't argue as long as we stay alive and bring Discord to hell."

A chill came over the two as they tried to see where it was coming from.

"How annoying," a reverberating voice stated. "A brutal killer with a holy pony. I've always hated 'odd couple' relationships. They are so easy to read."

A heavy fog started to cover the ground and began slowly rising up as the female voice continued. "Both of you will leave here and be met with a true destiny. You will turn against each other and one of you will perish while the other will move on and ignore the consequence. Then, the war is over. The gloves are removed and you see the bodies."

A ghostly apparition began to appear in front of them, a pony cloaked in long black robes and holding a scythe.

"I've seen the bodies. Lining the streets. The world set ablaze," the apparition continued in its speech. "And what is ironic, despite Discord summoning the Dark Rainbow to secure his place as Equestria's ruler, he never hurt a one."

She became solid and brought her head up to reveal a glint in her eye.

Berry Punch snatched up a severed limb of the corpsed pony and threw it at great velocity at the cloaked pony. The limb was avoided, but snatched up in the cloak revealing a green pony wearing glasses.

"It is my mission to end all that wish to end Discord's victory. It is my purpose to end one of your lives, and it is up to one of you to make that choice." The green pony calmly continued, despite being revealed. "If only one of you remains then you may gain safe passage," she explained, showing a door beyond her covered in a thorny bush. "If you cannot make a decision when this hourglass ends, then both of your lives will be forfeit."

The green pony set a small hourglass down and looked out to both ponies. "Know my name is Min Tea, and I am the Element of Deceit. With my word, I promise that no harm will come to the one that survives."