Chapter 1
Discord woke up with a start, someone was banging on his door!
"Discord!" A familiar voice called. "Get your butt down here! We need ya!" With that he teleported onto his porch.
"Hello, Rainbow Dash..." The draconequus yawned. "What seems to be the problem? Must be awfully serious for you to come here." Suddenly a toothbrush popped into his hand and he began to brush his teeth.
"Listen, Celestia called me and the others for a meeting and we decided we needed you there too. So come on already, lets go! We don't have all day!"
"I see you still lack a sense of patience.~" He smirked. "But alright, if Fluttershy needs me I'll go... Just give me a moment to wake up."
"We don't have time!" Rainbow Dash flew up and slapped his face.
"That works too, I suppose." Discord said, slightly shocked.
---
"I got him, like you asked, princess." Rainbow Dash landed in the castle and bowed slightly towards Celestia and Luna.
"Wow, we just got everypony don't we?" Discord looked around the room and saw several ponies he recognized. "Fluttershy, what's going on?" The draconequus flew over to the shy mare.
"Well, uh, um... Somepony we thought was gone has came back, and, uh-"
"He's threatening to kill hundreds of innocent ponies and animals." Celestia finished for her and glared at Discord.
"And that's not good. How do I come into play, princess?" Discord glared back at Celestia.
"You were once evil yourself, we were hoping you could analyze the situation for us." Luna said stepping between the two of them.
"Maybe try talking to him, darling. See if we can negotiate." Rarity said raising an eyebrow.
"Who exactly are we talking about?" Discord looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with Celestia. With that question, Twilight used her magic to throw a book down on the table, it was the history of the Crystal Empire. On the page was an illustration of King Sombra chasing his subjects, fire all around them. "Oh my..." Discord fluffed up some. "I don't think I want to."
"Discord..." Fluttershy whispered. "I'm scared too... It's okay."
"Me? Scared? Psh! Where is he anyway?"
"He's built a palace made of crystal not far from the Empire. If we're not careful he may attack." Celestia frowned slightly.
"Alright, I'll go to the Crystal Empire then. But on one condition." Discord smirked.
"And what is that?" Applejack asked in a worried tone.
"Can I have a companion or two go with me? They don't have to stay the whole time but just... For support." He looked down at Fluttershy.
"Ha! He really is scared! A big guy, like him... scared!" Rainbow Dash laughed.
"Rainbow, it's perfectly okay to be scared, I thought we went through this already." Twilight glared at the Pegasus mare.
"Sorry..." Rainbow frowned.
"Fine, three ponies can accompany you on the way to the Empire, there Cadence will give you more details of what is happening." Celestia straightened up, vaguely looking like an elegant swan. Discord hugged Fluttershy, possessively and waited for others to volunteer for the other two positions. But it never came. Discord felt like crying, they still didn't trust him.
"Well? Anyone else coming?" Discord frowned and looked around the room.
"I have to look after my farm."
"The Pegasi need me to help with the weather."
"I have a huge dress order to fill."
"I've been studying a lot lately and need to finish a book." All the ponies, except for Fluttershy, were making excuses! Celestia frowned again.
"Twilight, Pinkie, you'll go."
"I just said I needed to finish a book."
"What's more important, a book, or a life?" Discord snarled.
"Fine..." Twilight looked away from everyone, embarrassed.
"You'll leave tomorrow, that gives you this afternoon to pack. Dismissed." Celestia strolled away, trying not to get too stern.
---
Twilight went home to pack up for her trip, wondering why she had to go. "Discord's a big boy, he doesn't need a baby sitter. Besides, he'll probably just annoy me..." Suddenly a gust of cold air came from no where. She looked around. "The windows aren't open..." She felt something strange about the wind. "This trip isn't going to end well. Is it?" Twilight was very concerned with the unusual wind and began to research. "There has to be something here!"
"Twilight, what are you doing?" A young dragon yawned.
"Slept in again I see..."
"Sorry..." Spike frowned.
"Anyway, I'm going to make a trip to the Crystal Empire."
"Why?"
"Sombra is back."
"Oh man, not that creep!"
"Can you please help me study a little before I go?"
"You mean, I'm not going?"
"I don't want you to get hurt, I'm sorry. It sounds very serious."
"Oh, okay, I'll stay here and finish the dusting I started the other day."
"Thank you, Spike." The purple alicorn smiled at the little dragon. "Now, can you please help me find books on wind?"
"Sure..?"
---
Pinkie Pie was happily packing. She liked going on adventures with friends. "This is gonna be fun!~" The same wind blew around her. "Hm? My Pinkie sense is tingling... Something bad? When? Where? I shouldn't go should I..? But now I'm curious! I need to go!" The wind made one of her balloons fly out of the suitcase. "Hey!"
---
Discord was pacing around his house, he didn't really need to pack because of his magic, so instead he was panicking. "What if I fail? Would Fluttershy hate me? I don't want to loose her..." The draconius continued to pace, back and forth, back and forth. "Fluttershy shouldn't leave me if I try my best? Even if I fail if I do that hopefully I'll be okay..." A mysterious wind also blew around him, and he paused. He looked around and sighed. "Weird. But... Thank you, wind, I actually needed a distraction." Discord made some tea pop out of thin air and sat on a chair. "I just need to stop worrying about it."