> Silent Voracity
>  by AkumaKami64
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> End of the World, and the Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord tapped his claws impatiently on his forearm.

That had been his main activity for a month now.

He sat upon the railing of one of Canterlot Castle's many balconies, arms crossed and tail wrapped around it loosely. He was looking out over the great plains far below the mountain city and into the distant horizon; until recently, a grand view and beautiful sight for most beings.

With a glance to his left, he spied the city proper. It was bustling with activity, crammed with "visitors" from all over the lands. Any other time, one would guess some major social event or holiday was about to begin, attracting the various foreigners.

One need only look up into the sky to know that wasn't the case. The sky was red, with deadly and slowly twisting rifts of blazing orange cutting enormous gashes into the sky. Chasms marred the countryside, widening several inches a day with putrid ooze bubbling in their depth. Mount Canter was one of the mountains that were still standing and unburnt by wild mystic lightning.

Thanks in no small part to the Draconequus in question.

The old god exhaled as he murmured the same words he had many days ago.

Flashback

"This world is ending."

If the words didn't shock Celestia and Luna off their thrones, the disposition of the speaker did. The ever nonsensical Lord of Chaos looked up at them with the bearing of a weary elder, resigned in bitterness to the events to come.

"Discord, that's a rather peculiar joke of ill-taste, I must admit," Luna stated warily, rubbing a hoof to her chin.

"Trust me, I wish this was a joke, Luna," Discord stated bluntly, appearing as grim as he had always called Celestia.

"And what could possibly make you believe the world is in danger, Discord?" Celestia inquired with a concerned scowl as she approached her ancient nemesis.

"Because I am holding it back," Discord claimed boldly, fixing her with an irate stare before sighing heavily. "You remember Cozy Glow, I take it?"

"The filly that tried to absorb the magic of Equestria? Yes, we have been discussing when to transfer her out of Tartarus," Celestia mused before blinking in understanding. "Are you sayi-"

"What she and Tirek attempted to do tore at the seams of this world's magic," Discord elaborated with a dark look upon his face.

"But Twilight's students, they restored the magic, didn't they?" Luna pointed out in bewilderment and growing dread.

"They stopped the cause, they didn't fix the damage. If anything, the rebound of magic suddenly returning to the fractured system of the world might have accelerated things," Discord explained with a disturbing amount of patience as he waited for the two princesses to accept the truth.

"...What is happening, exactly, Discord?" Celestia all but demanded, her brain working frantically behind her wide eyes to find a possible solution.

"This world is more magic than it is anything else, Celestia," Discord answered, glancing off to the side and out a window; His eyes we distant, as if witnessing the future disaster right before him. "With magic in flux like this, it will tear the world apart. Storms that shatter mountains, the sky burning from astral magic absorbing too much from the sun, the earth swallowing and vomiting itself, frost so cold it will freeze and shatter towns in the same gust, volcanoes melting as lava churns into vapor and plasma. A million disasters all at once," Discord foretold with all the certainty and direness of a military general.

The diarchs paled at the apocalypse presented before them. "What can we do to fix this?" Luna asked softly.

Discord shook his head slowly. "I've already tried. Honestly, I have. But the damage is done. The world may repair itself in ten thousand years or it might crumble into oblivion. All I can do now is delay it."

"But there has to be-" Celestia started certainly, only for Discord to bring his head down to stare directly into her eyes.

"Celestia. This world, and everyone on it, is Going To Die," the Draconequus reaffirmed with brutal clarity.

Celestia looked ill, feeling the bile starting to rise in her throat as she tried and failed to comprehend it. The world, not just the kingdom to which she had dedicated her life but the entire world…gone. No ponies, no griffons, no dragon, no nothing.

"...How long?" Celestia whispered, begging beyond anything for a chance, a hope.

"A month, if that."

The solar monarch's foreleg buckled as she struggled and failed to prevent herself from retching.

"Sister!" Luna crouched and placed a comforting hoof on Celestia's back. Only the cultural shock of returning after a thousand years gave her the strength to not do the same, for now. Their senior in immortality watched on, not making a single comment or joke on Celestia's reaction. Luna shivered, knowing if this was a cruel prank, the punchline would have come by now. Steeling herself and hoping against hope, she looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Can you save us, Discord?" she asked softly.

Discord smiled a tired but true smile. "Not everyone, but I can give it a shot. But...I'm going to need some help if you want to save more than a few dozen," Discord explained with a nod.

"Discord!" Celestia forced out with a sob as she gave an imploring glare up at the Spirit of Chaos. "I will give you everything! If it is for even the slightest chance that ponyki- no, any of the creatures of this world have a future!" she swore desperately.

"I can steal them if need be, but...I kind of knew you'd want to save some of the rest," Discord mused, a scroll appearing in midair, unfurling before them.

The Alicorns went wide eyed. "They will never part with these items without proof," Luna said grimly.

"When the dragonlands are swallowed by the seas and the Frozen North shatters, I think they'll believe it."

End of Flashback

With a scowl, Discord watched the crowds in Canterlot shifting about like waves of ants. It had been nearly a week before most of the species believed that something was indeed wrong. But even then, many refused to believe the world was really ending or that the infamous Discord had a way of saving some of their people. Hence, many of them refused to give the requested items.

That was fine by Discord. He wasn't giving them a choice on that topic, just the opportunity to cooperate. Still, as much as Twilight had wanted to believe there was a solution, a way to save the entire world, she was even more opposed to the idea that they couldn't save at least some of as many of the species as possible. But there was only so much they could do and that was zero if the other nations wouldn't work with them.

"It's almost time."

Discord hardly realized it wasn't himself saying that, for he knew it was true.

But his voice wasn't that feminine.

He turned to meet his company and found Starlight Glimmer looking up at him with a solemn expression. "Gave up on trying time travel, I see?" he asked knowingly.

Starlight looked down, flinching back her tears, before she looked up at him again. "It was just like you said. Every time I tried, I just ended up in the middle of some disaster," she confirmed, her own failures weighing heavy on her withers.

"The effects of the magical disruptions followed you through time. I'm almost never wrong when I don't want to be. Thankfully, they cancelled out in the past when you returned to the present," Discord muttered to himself. "Any idea how it went?"

"I just got caught up with Twilight. Ember came with five adult Dragons, who are up in the Crystal Empire, while she is here with eighty young drakes and about two hundred eggs," Starlight began with some good news.

"Good thing those things never expire, or we'd both be missing out on having a certain little dragon for a friend," Discord mused half-heartedly before looking a tad frustrated. "Novo is staying behind."

"But sent her daughter to join the Egress," Starlight reminded gently. "She wanted to look after the survivors, just in case..."

"There's a hurricane that'll head right for Seaquestria and Mount Aris the moment I'm gone," Discord retorted apathetically before sighing. "Sorry. Holding back the End of the World pulls the fun out of everything."

"I can tell," Starlight acknowledged, not the least bit offended. "The Buffalo refused to come, but they know it's true."

"They have no desire to leave this world, even if it dies. I can respect that in some way," Discord all but waved off as he looked off into the distance. "To think, one little filly doomed the world."

"Discord, none of us saw this coming. Not you, the princesses, or even Harmony," Starlight assured before she smiled in gratitude. "But, thanks to you, we might just have a future still."

Discord remained silent for a moment longer before rising from his perch. "It's time."

Starlight silently stood by and followed him inside, steeling herself to not look back out over the ruin of the lands. She couldn't help wondering, too often...was that final timeline she saw with Twilight, that wasteland...had that been the true future all along, this world's future? She logically knew that wasn't true. Her spell hadn't been designed to go forward in time, but that didn't stop her doubts.

Doubts she'd keep to herself. A great many lives depended on this, the last remnants of everything they ever knew and she had her part to play.

Discord paid no heed to the troubled mare behind him as he entered the room. It was a good size, but mostly empty of furniture. Save a table…a crystal table; a crystal table that happened to double as a magic map, and was covered in several items.

Around it, four stood. Twilight's mane and tail looked like it hadn't been cared for properly in days and the stress of everything had loosened some of her wing plumage. Her eyes were bloodshot, but she had been through a six hour forced slumber to prepare for this.

Celestia and Luna at least looked better off, but that was only because their age granted their bodies an extra resistance to bodily damage caused by stress and fatigue of the mind. Still, their manes were notably drooped. Luna had long since taken on an expression of deep melancholy, whereas Celestia looked as she often did this past month: like she was lost, her eyes miles away.

Under normal circumstances, Discord would be amused to note that Starlight's appearance remained in good condition due to nothing more than to the habitual use of temporal stasis spells that kept her presentable at nearly all times. But these times were not normal.

"I take it everything is ready?" Discord asked plainly.

Twilight still shivered in the presence of a non-whimsical Discord, but answered nonetheless. "Y-yes, Cadence is waiting near the Crystal Heart as we speak."

Discord nodded in understanding, glancing over to the wall on his left, behind Celestia. "I take it you've said your goodbyes?" Discord mused without really asking, looking away from the Crystal Mirror.

Celestia nodded numbly. "Yes...after all this time...I can't expect her to leave another home. Not just to build a new one with us," Celestia answered in grieving resignation.

"She will be safe over there," Discord assured with a breath through his nostrils. 'Hopefully,' he added in his head. That human world and this were too tightly bound and alike to use it as an escape option. As it was, he couldn't be sure that world would be perfectly alright, but his plan should severe the connection regardless.

"I'm still wary. Are you sure these items will be enough, if even your power is not enough on its own?" Luna questioned in concern.

"I could have taken you four and over a hundred more," Discord answered without hesitation, raising his talon. "But with these amplifying and smoothing things over? Taking a couple crammed cities shouldn't be out of the question," Discord mused with a ghost of a smirk on his face as he levitated the Bloodstone Scepter of the Dragonlord to Luna and the reformed Pearl of Transformation to Starlight. "The Alicorn Amulet is in your castle?"

Twilight nodded, still very mixed feelings about that. She knew why Discord made it a rule that she and her friends all be in Canterlot for this. Canterlot was the only real guarantee he was making. Everything else was up to the odds. "I still can't believe you anchored it to the castle and fused half of Flurry Heart's magic into it," she murmured in amazement.

"Yes, well, at least she'll be less of a hoofful," Discord quipped absently as he held the Staff of Sacanas, the weapon of the Storm King.

"The map links you to the cities, anchoring them to you for the Cosmic Ejection," Starlight recounted to herself. "The mirror can be used to create a cosmic rift, lowering the power needed to make our exit. The Staff acts as a guiding rod in the process, so we don't get scattered across space and time all over the cosmos. The Bloodstone Scepter should help...keep things from getting in mid-travel. The Amulet will help boost the Tree to shield Ponyville; Cadence will be charging the Crystal heart with Shining Armor's shield reinforcing it to protect the Crystal Empire. Twilight supercharges the map, Celestia holds open the rift, Luna feeds the Staff, and...why is this important, exactly?" Starlight asked in confusion, holding up the pearl.

"Trust me, you'll understand by the time we're done" Discord assured with a wry smirk as he floated over the map and raised his talons once more, holding up the last set of items. "It really is the End of the World, if you're letting me use your precious baubles...Harmony," Discord mused as the Elements of Harmony all shined brightly and circled him. "And these six to amply everything."

The three Alicorns and one time traveler looked on with wide eyes as they felt the magic of the Tree and the Draconequus flowing through and to one another freely. The six gems took on an unnatural and intense glow as they blazed with the combined might of the two greatest forces this dying world had ever seen.

"When I start, I won't be able to hold back the devastation anymore," Discord warned with a scowl. "We buck this up, everyone loses."

"We understand, Discord," Celestia vowed. If she had hands, they'd probably be bleeding from her own grip now.

Meanwhile

"'Cuse me, pardon me," Applejack grunted as she squeezed by a batpony and a particularly large griffon. The two barely acknowledged her, moving out of the way as if on instinct.

It probably was, Applejack decided, gazing up on the formally opulent streets of Canterlot. It had been once the home of the elite, the powerful, the rich, and so on. The streets were rarely crowded, despite the large population of the city. Now it was cluttered with bodies. Everywhere you looked, there was some group or another sitting where they could; huddled together, as if afraid to lose each other in this ever shifting crowd. A valid fear Applejack herself had at times.

It was just as bad outside the city, in the fields of grass on the mountain, were camps as far as the eye could see, and the Dragon Den, as they called where they kept all the dragon eggs, guarded by no less than fifty adolescent drakes.

It pained Applejack to see so many torn from their homes to live on the streets, even some of her kin, but it couldn't be helped. The nobles and the castle had taken in a great many, but even they only had so much room. The panic had long bled out of the majority of them. Now there was just a fearful resignation as they were given clear view to the world's ending, all the way up on this mountain.

Better here than out there when everything went bottoms up, she mused while making her way to what had been an area to sit on the grass to look out over the edge of Canterlot and onto the horizon. Now it was largely where everypo- everyone came to use the bathroom. Thankfully, most tossed it over the side, keeping the smell pollution limited. And she had smelt worse on the farm.

She trembled in her bones as she took it in for the millionth time; the gapping maws of the earth that had once helped grow her crops and the searing and tearing twists of the sky that fed them. She looked out east. She could see patches of the Everfree burning from here. Why the fire didn't spread, she was blissfully ignorant of, but she was grateful they didn't reach Ponyville.

"...I hate this," she murmured through grit teeth. She knew, she knew it was selfish. That the same thing was at stake for everyone, but she hated the reality she was forced to face.

They were going to lose their world and a lot of people. There were a lot of people trying to get in still, but there just wasn't room. There was barely space on the roads to bring food and supplies out to everyone. Most had taken to the perilous idea of finding or even making space on the mountain itself in hopes of getting a ride.

She took a deep breath, remembering not to use her nose here. Everything was fine...as it could be. Applebloom and her friends were with Rarity and Fluttershy. She was having a hard time finding Big Mac after he returned from helping Granny Smith up the mountain, but she had checked with the guards: he had come back, it was hard missing him.

She wanted to hope, to tough it out, but all she felt like doing was crying. They were really giving up on this world, on Discord's word no less? But she had seen his eyes, eyes with the harshest honesty she would ever know. And she had seen it, was seeing it right in front of her. But it still felt like they had given up. All of them: Discord, the princesses, even Twilight!

As a mare like herself, Applejack despised the notion of anyone claiming it was impossible to fix something or make it work. She would have given up on a lot of things on the farm a long time ago if she thought like that.

"Sis."

Her head shot up and her ears turned to the voice long before her eyes did. "Mac!" she cried in relief as she barreled over to her brother and wrapped her forelegs around his neck in what was almost a tackle hug.

The brick wall of a stallion smiled, patting her on the back as he straightened her Stetson hat on her golden head. "Rough?"

"Like Applebucking season three times over," Applejack confirmed with a chuckle.

Big Mac smiled softly before scrunching his eyebrows. "...Whole city stink like this?" he asked in mild concern.

Applejack's chuckle turned sheepish. "We're kind at the unofficial emergency public bathroom, Brother," Applejack informed awkwardly. The red giant blinked, calmly looking around himself to make sure he hadn't stepped in something unsightly to Applejack's continued amusement. "So, where's Granny? Did she have any trouble getting up the mountain?" Applejack asked in concern.

Big Mac didn't answer, his ears drooping as he looked away. "...Nope," he answered softly.

"Huh? What's wrong, Mac? Where is she?" Applejack pressed, scrunching her eyes.

"She's not coming, Sis," Big Mac answered soberly, hanging his head in grief.

Applejack held in a gasp, her heart ready to leap out of her chest. "T-that's fine, Big Mac. Getting up he-here might have been a bit much for the old gal. Sh-she'll be fine in Ponyville," she said, more to herself, begging to believe that was true.

"Applejack," Big Mac called, his voice bold but sorrowful. "She isn't coming with us. She...she says she's stayin behind," he stressed, tears threatening to reach his eyes.

Applejack stared and stared and stared as those words echoed numbly in her ears and her heart defied the obvious meaning. What did that mean? If didn't she come with them, that meant she stayed behind in Ponyville, so why state that twice? And if she stayed in Ponyville, she should still get to the New World if it di-

Her pupils shrunk and her mouth went dry. "...No," she whispered as denial set in. "Nononononononononono!"

"I know, Sis," Big Mac consoled as he wrapped his hooves around her, only for the mare to wretch out of his embrace.

"Why the buck did you leave her?!" she roared at her brother. She knew he didn't deserve it, but she didn't care. Not right now.

"Neither of us could make that mare do anything she plum didn't want to, and you know it," Big Mac retorted without any spite or rage, taking the verbal lashing. He thought worse of himself on the trip here.

"You could have stayed! You could have made her stay in the house until we got there!" Applejack accused, barely able to see through her own tears.

Her words stabbed at her own heart, knowing that she would risk losing a brother and her grandmother in that scenario.

"I tried...was gonna," Big Mac murmured, looking away. "But...she told me I couldn't leave my little sisters without a brother...and she was right," he explained, his heart weighing heavy on his words.

Applejack was about to continue on when she smelled it. Felt it. Heard it.

The pungent, sweet smell assaulting her nostrils.

A comfortable, unseen weight lifting off her.

The deafening sound of a city suddenly gone silent.

Her brother must have sensed it too, as they both just stood there with eyes slowly going wide. As one, they and all others began to peer outward again, towards the disaster they were all trying to escape.

There was a simple warning from Discord that had spread to every creature in the exodus cities: It would get worse before it got better.

After a month of this, it was hard to imagine it being worse.

With a crack of doom, they know how wrong they were.

The ground lurched under them, nearly sending Applejack sprawling with many others. Cries of shock and horror began to ring in her ears, but they were far off as she watched what unfolded before her.

The deep gashes in the earth roared as they tore themselves wider and wider, with geysers of putrid ooze flooding into the heavens and raining down on the world below. The magical flames blazed to life, rapidly spreading as a great plague upon the trees and the grass. The orange rifts in the sky twisted more severely and spider webbed as if they were tearing it apart. They all soon vanished as clouds formed from nowhere, bringing arcane lighting that left great craters where they struck and dozens of spiraling tornadoes that upended the very ground itself.

In the far north, Yakyakistan found itself engulfed by spikes of ice, snapping out from the ground. Too cold and too solid to break and even as the Yak's stubbornly tried, they realized all too late that the chill had seeped so far into their bones that they were becoming statues of frozen flesh, many shattering themselves in their death throes. Prince Rutherford, in his final moment, broke through a single spike. He froze solid in his moment of victory and hope.

Down below, the jungles of the south were steadily being overrun by a flood as the entire region seemed to collapse into itself. Daring Do sat atop of a temple, barely above the new sea level and almost blissfully ignorant of the events as she shared a drink with Ahuizotl, somber laughs and jokes of past adventures shared between the two adversaries.

Further beyond that, the many unsavory denizens of Klugtown desperately tried to get to an aerial transport of any kind as they and their city began to sink into the sands. Capper covered his ears to try to block out the terrible sound that was screams drowning in sand.

The feline lands of Abyssinia could only be so lucky. They found themselves surrounded by twisting sandstorms that glowed hot; sand became like glass. The Abyssinian Queen and King desperately embraced each other in their throne room, trying to block out one another's agony as the fragments tore through flesh and buildings alike, the tormented screams echoing in the wind.

The Abysmal Abyss yawned widely as an all-consuming mouth, spreading in all directions as it made to swallow land and sea whole. The griffons were forced to flee to the skies and watch as their home and kingdom crumbled into the deep chasm below. And as Greta fled to the sky, it was all she could do to ignore the smell of burning flesh as great jets of lava spat up as if to devour them.

Queen Novo had barely time to order her subjects to flee before the mountain was torn apart by the oncoming hurricane. For all her power, she could only stare in horrified fascination as the rubble never splashed into the water, the winds of such force that boulders flew and even Seaquestria far below was upended by the force of it.

Cities across Equestria fell and crumbled before wind, lightning, fire and earthquakes. Ponies fled and hid, but there was nowhere the disaster would not reach, no place or power that could protect them now.

All of this, in ten seconds.

Applejack barely recognized the screams as she bore witness to the death throes of a planet. All she could do was look to her brother, who in turn, looked to her. An eternal second past between them, with one unspoken line of conversation: This was the end.

With renewed tears, Applejack rushed to her brother as they both embraced for dear life and shut their eyes.

And then it stopped, as the deafening quiet returned. But where fear rang in the first silence, this one resonated with hope.

As one, the siblings slowly opened their eyes and looked up.

A great barrier of bright blue and dark violet surrounded the city like a cocoon. The horror of the outside world fell muted against it.

As if struck by understanding, Applejack's head lurched to the castle.

They might actually survive this.

Meanwhile

"Celestia! Do it now!" he yelled to the solar Alicorn, knowing that this situation could not hold indefinitely.

Without hesitation, Celestia turned to the Crystal Mirror. With blazing white eyes, she blasted the mirror with a ray of solar magic.

"Like Tartarus the world ends in a whimper!" Discord grunted with a harsh scowl as he held the Staff of Sacanas at the ready. The elements floated in pairs at equal distant edges of the map, one duo pointed away from the balcony. The gems were now encased in small pillars of light, the same light as the barrier surrounding the mountain city. And the other locations as well, he knew.

Twilight was kneeling by the map, pouring her magic into it while Luna and Starlight stood by with sweat on their brows as they waited to do their part.

As a testament to its creation, the mirror held up for nearly five seconds, cracks creeping along its surface, until it burst open, revealing a roaring vortex that, for an instant, threatened to suck them all in.

But only for an instant, as Discord surged his power into the staff, aiming it into the now uncontrolled rift in space and time, zapping it with thunderous might and making all the mares in the room shield their eyes.

Discord smirked like his usual self for the first time in weeks. This was utterly insane. Any rationale entity would use the staff to contain or close the rift. He, on the other claw, was doing something very opposite.

The howling ceased as Discord glanced up to the ceiling and past it. "This is where the real fun begins," Discord stated ominously as he twirled the staff upside down and stabbed the crystalline end into the center of the map.

All at once, Discord felt his perspective shift, his sense of self permeating throughout Canterlot in a limited likeness to omnipresence. He was everywhere in these shields, he saw and felt everyone. From the small child crying in their mother's embrace to the greatest of warriors and leaders standing helpless before the apocalypse. It was as if he was becoming one with these locations.

He turned his collective senses upward, gazing past the DiscHarmonic barriers. High in the sky was the vortex; only a thousand times larger, akin to a great leviathan breaking through the sky like a cosmic maelstrom.

He felt Harmony too. They were connected rather intimately, not to put too lewd a context to it. It was such a young but powerful existence. A shame this didn't happen in another thousand years. The two of them then might have been able to stop this, but that was neither here nor there. However, he did need her help on a little something more.

High above Canterlot, a burning image of a pink heart made its appearance, before dissolving into a paradoxically peaceful inferno. Propelled by the wills of the Tree and the Draconequus, it was sent rushing to Ponyville, covering its barriers with an extra layer of protection.

Discord thought it would be a lot longer before he ever felt Harmony expressing gratitude to him, but it was there now. He returned it in a polite gesture, keeping his attention on the portal. With as many odds in their favor as possible, Discord knew there was only one thing to do...

Blank white tendrils emerged from the vortex; three large ones and then many lesser limbs. They came plunging down onto the protected cities, as if to crack them open like eggs. Instead, they molded and twisted around the tops. Shock and trepidation rocked every soul as their visions started to fill with white until everything was just in outlines and even that soon faded into oblivion.

Once the cities had visually become one with the otherworldly appendages, the tendrils appeared to both retract and fade, rushing away back into the abyss as quickly as they had arrived.

On a hill near Ponyville, two old ponies watched the mass cosmic migration with a sense of peace about them.

"That old snake better take good care of my kin," Granny Smith murmured fondly, tears of hope leaking as she knew in her heart they would make the journey safely.

"My kin too," Grand Pear reminded gently towards his old rival. "Think they'll be okay though, wherever they go?"

"Their a tough lot. If they're not okay, they'll try to make it okay," Granny Smith answered knowingly, looking to the empty plains where Ponyville had been. "Shame, always wanted to be buried on my farm."

Grand Pear chuckled as he stood. "Shall we?" he asked, motioning to the raging disasters that would, no doubt, soon overcome them.

Granny Smith smiled in acceptance as they made their way to their own ends. "Yeah, it's been too long since we've seen our children...,"

Meanwhile

True teleportation has only two speeds, for the passenger of the transportation: Instant, and Almost Instant. Instant is simple, straight forward and perfected. You arrive across a great distance in what feels like an instant. This might not be true for the world around them, but no time passes for the teleported.

Almost instant is an entirely different experience. The length of time within is unknowable. Not enough to truly matter, but enough to comprehend and know what is happening to yourself. That their bodies, their minds and their very souls have been broken down and fused into pure, raw magic. They and all with them are formless and laid bare to one another in unperceivable ways. For in that moment, all are one and yet they are themselves, like a collection of puddles forming a lake or sea of essence.

It is glorious and overwhelming. It would be easy for one to lose their sense of self in this great rush. But Luna didn't have that luxury. She focused hard on the image of herself, clutching the Bloodstone Scepter with all the strength in her hooves and in her magic. She could...feel terrible things trying to intrude on them from between the spaces of reality. What they were, she would never dare ask, but she took comfort in their steadfast avoidance of Discord at the "head" of their stream.

Was he one of them? Or was he something even they feared?

She didn't know and it didn't matter. All that mattered was survival. All that mattered was pushing away Applejack's fresh grief, the heart wrenching tears of Fluttershy over all the souls they could not save, Ember's instinctive rage of dragons in a helpless situation and much more that tried to wander unknowingly into her mind. All that mattered was her hold on the staff and not imagining herself bleeding from her mouth and ears and eyes and- She seared away one sneaking, slimy, pincer of a thing. She shivered before feeling Harmony washing over her and banishing the perceived wounds and image of such.

Her mind latched onto Harmony for an instance to make the inquiry: Was everything going alright? Was this really working?

The image given in answer was Discord. She saw him on the map, staff stabbed into it...and using it to direct them through this unknowable reach of unexistence. And yet, he was not there. Rather he was also out and ahead of them, as if the tip of the blade to cut them an opening between realities.

She could see his gaze and it was long. But his face...was smirking. It was triumphant.

That was a good a sign as any could give.

They were coming close now and everything within their...vehicle grew greater in volume. The wailing of Celestia's soul for all that was lost, the terror in Twilight's mind at all the possible ways this could fail, the uncertainty of Starlight's heart and the cacophony that was every soul's hopes and fears and grief echoing though the sea of magic they had become.

Never in eternity would she have thought Discord's presence would be as much as a steady rock as Harmony's.

She could feel it, the world they were coming to. It was...strange. She expected more resistance or trouble with this leg of the journey, but it was almost as if they were expected…they, or someone else.

That thought halted and died as a feeling of slowness came over her existence. She squinted as she could once more see lines again. Faint and thin, they thickened until color itself began to fade back into reality. Smudges became blurs until her eyes adjusted and sharped. She only barely registered she was back in the same room before she collapsed to her knees, using the scepter as a support. She panted deep, long, clear breaths of clean air. Her digits clutched so hard her knuckle tu-

Wait.

Luna blinked as she realized something was...off, different. Looking to the Bloodstone Scepter, she found that it was not magic or hooves holding it, but hands that were not unlike a minotaur or centaur would have. Strangely, they did not feel awkward or strange to her mind. It was as if she was born with them. Looking down, her physical senses went into overdrive. Her body was...different. It was still her own, but her rear hooves were gone as well, replaced by what Twilight described as "feet" once: Semi-flipper shaped ends to appendages that, like hands, were all flesh rather than being covered in keratin.

Glancing herself fully over, she found her body had changed from a quadrupedal unguligrade to a bipedal plantigrade. She still possessed her tail and, with some quick feeling, she determined her skull structure was all or mostly the same. More confusingly, there were two...globes of flesh on her chest. Teats, she believed, if those sensitive nubs were any indication; though, why they were so near her head instead of her pelvis, she wasn't sure. They were also quite large for some reason.

Even more bizarrely, she was covered in an admittedly beautiful black and silver dress. Her black regalia had been reformed into bracelet-cuffs on her wrists and ankles and a necklace similar to a broad collar.

Shaking her head free of her confusion, she discovered her mane of stars was now normal cyan hair. Not surprising, giving how much magic was used. Ignoring that, she stood, completely comfortable with her new center of gravity somehow. She looked around and was relieved to find her comrades were all as well off as they could be.

Celestia was leaning against what remained of the mirror, the white of her attire almost blending with her fur if not for the lightest of blue tints, but accented by the golden accessories.

Twilight had her head rested upon the Map of Harmony, adorned in robes a purple darker than her coat, and accented with a sash of amber. To Luna, while royal, they appeared a bit more suited for a mage, fittingly enough.

Starlight was collapsed on her back and, apparently, got the most "normal" of attires with a sea green sweater and a magenta pair of pants that went down to her knees. She was also the only one of them sporting footwear, for some reason.

Luna's sigh of relief cut short in her mouth as her eyes went back to the map. There was the Staff of Sacanas, still impaled on it, but Discord was nowhere to be found. Her heart sped up a beat as she tried to locate the Draconequus. Thankfully, he was right behind her, but her calm shattered as quickly as it came, her dropping of the scepter grabbing the attention of her fellow mares.

It didn't surprise Luna or any of them, that Discord was still unchanged and unclothed. That was expected of him, the normal rules of anything never affected him without his consent, why would this be a change?

But that was the extent of happy thoughts. Discord was leaning again the back wall, near the door. By the cracks and dent around him, he had been launched into it before their senses had returned to them. He wasn't moving.

"Discord!?" Celestia cried in alarm as she rushed over to him with Luna. They both grasped one arm and gently pulled him out of the wall, bits of stone rolling off his back as they did. They made to sit him down, but Discord suddenly pushed his hindlegs up to stand.

"I'm fine," Discord grunted quietly as he opened one eye, smirking at them. "It will be...a long time before I can do something like that again."

"Discord, are you okay?" Celestia asked in concern as she gazed up into his red eyes.

"Did...did something go wrong?" Twilight asked, worry etching her every utterance as she treaded forward, occasionally glancing at the new forms of herself and the others.

Discord shook his head in assurance. "No, I knew what I was getting into when I decided all this," he assured fondly before glancing to the table, the quartet of women following his gaze.

There, perfectly still, were the stones that had been the Elements of Harmony. As if his gaze had a hidden force to it, they crumbled like sand sculptures.

"Harmony," Discord sighed heavily as they faded like dust in the wind. A long, solemn silence fell over the room.

"Did Harmony just...die?" Starlight whispered with wide eyes, not sure what to make of this.

"Hard to tell yet," Discord admitted with some measure of defeat in his voice as eyes went back to hi-

"Discord! Your wing!" Twilight yelled in surprise and dread.

"It's glowing!" Luna exclaimed, watching as the leathery wing glowed with an ethereal glow.

"Ahh, was wondering when that would start," Discord mused cheekily, barely looking upon the limb while golden specks began to float off him.

"Discord, are you...did you...?" Celestia tried to inquire with wide eyes, imagining the worst.

Discord smiled with a bit of playfulness. "Don't be so grim, my dear."

Celestia blinked as she realized Discord sounded... a bit like his usual self again. Staring into his red eyes, she didn't know if that was his truthful reassurance or his attempt at comfort for what was to come.

"As I said, I'll be fine," Discord promised as the glow spread to both wings, looking towards the balcony. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to see this New World of ours," he stated as he started to trudge forward. He leaned on Luna for support as he raised his lion paw up off of Celestia. The Staff of Sacanas creaked in its placement, nudging towards him before it was dislodged. Twilight and Starlight leaned away instinctively as the crystal-tipped staff shot into Discord's grip. He clutched it firmly and pulled himself out of the grip of the lunar princess before walking to the balcony.

With looks of uncertainty, the mares watched and followed after the Tyrant turned Savior

Meanwhile

Rainbow Dash stared uncomprehendingly up at the sky; the clear, pure, blue sky. How long had it been since she saw that? It had been weeks, but it felt like years. Years since it was safe to fly any true distance from the ground, since the encroaching doom felt more like imprisonment while counting down the days to a death sentence.

"Dash, you okay?"

The voice was far away in her ears, but it dragged her gaze back toward to..."Gilda?" she asked in confusion.

It was Gilda, the face and voice were undeniable, but her form was...two-legged, for some reasons. And she was wearing an open brown jacket for some more reasons. Her chest also seemed a bit bigger, but her white feathers naturally covered up whatever that might be.

"Yeah, weird, I know. Now don't dweeb out on me," Gilda prompted with an eye roll, reaching her yellow clawed hand out to help Rainbow up.

The prismatic pegasus arched an eyebrow at the gesture before realizing that the griffin wasn't the only one changed. Taking the offered appendage, she pulled herself up on her new limbs. First things first, she signed in relief when she found her wings right where the always had been. A bit bigger and the structure was modified to her form, but it was definitely her wings. Looking down, she scowled curiously as she found her body was changed much like Gilda's.

Albeit, she was a bit smaller in muscle mass and size, which didn't surprise her much. More curiously, she was clothed a bit more than her griffon friend. Thankfully, it was just a small top and what she guessed were short pants, both black. But weren't pants supposed to cover the thighs? Oh well, she didn't care. In fact, much more, and they'd probably affect her flying. At the very bottom, she spied a pair of sandals on her feet that went up to her thighs. They reminded her of ones she saw in school books about early or pre-equestrian Pegasi culture. Budkins? Caligs? Something like that.

She glanced and saw Gilda's hind...well, her legs had no footwear, showing off the claw tips of her feline digits.

All of that seemed irrelevant as she remembered the clear blue sky.

She looked up, turning her head every which way. There were ponies, changelings, young dragons, griffons, hippogriffs and more. All in a similar state of being: New, two legged bodies and some manner of clothing upon them. She turned back to Gilda, who was starting to look impatient, before glancing up again. "Is this real? Did we make it or did we just buck the bucket with the rest of the world?" Rainbow asked curiously, still in the midst of processing this.

"Oh, we're alive. Now come on, let's get a good look at the place," Gilda suggested with an understanding look as she spread her own wings- Rainbow idly noted they were a bit larger than her own- and took to flight. Before the griffon even had a chance to stop and wait for the pegasus, Rainbow was already flying past her. "Yep, she's still Dash alright," Gilda murmured with another eye roll as she made to follow after the speed demon.

Reality hit Rainbow like a gleeful brick. They made it, they were alive and they were safe! Yes, everyone else had died, but sorrow came after jubilation.

She seemed to hardly be alone in that thought as she rushed over Canterlot, seeing and hearing cries of happiness, screams of triumph, and plenty of people dancing or hugging one another. She saw Thorax spinning his brother around in a bear hug, Hoity Toity dancing with a Yak and she knew she saw a hippogriff and a dragon kissing somewhere.

For right now, these next few seconds, the reality of what they lost was forgotten in place of what they had gained. And before she knew it, Rainbow was at the edge of Canterlot and saw exactly what that was.

They were on the side of a mountain, which wasn't very surprising. In fact, she barely registered that being on any other landform was even a possibility. But not only was there a clear blue sky, but far down below was a vast forest that was all too similar to the Everfree; The leaves of trees for miles and far, far in the distance were green fields. It was all too easy to imagine that Ponyville might be down there, somewhere.

"We really made it," Rainbow whispered without really knowing it, soaking in all that she had missed: The wind in her feathers, the rays of the sun on her face, a much cleaner smell than the one to which she had been forced to grow accustomed. That made her glance down and wonder if the teleportation came with a city-wide clean up spell, because Canterlot did seem cleaner than it had been since everything started going to Tartarus.

In her glancing down, she realized she wasn't the only one taking in the sights. Hundreds of various creatures had taken to the air, looking around in awe at their new home, as were the wingless species, crowding near the edges to get a better look over one another.

"Okay, I'll admit it," Gilda said with a smirk on her beak as she hovered behind her childhood friend.

"Admit what?" Rainbow asked in surprise as she flapped to spin around.

"Ponies are pretty awesome," Gilda answered in feigned resignation.

Rainbow grinned sheepishly at that. "Yeah, well, we can't take too much credit he-" she started, only to pause as she heard a hush rolling over things, the amazed chatter of thousands dying down in mere seconds. Looking out, she saw why.

There, on the balcony was Discord the Draconequus. The only one of them unchanged, to her secret amusement and outward exasperation. The one to whom everyone here owed a great debt. All her misgivings about the former villain had dried in the past few weeks and were evaporating at this very moment.

"That's him, eh?" Gilda asked idly, knowing it could only be him. 

Rainbow nodded, hearing his name whispered over and over again amongst the survivors. Yet, he didn't seem to notice them, staring out over the land with- "Wait. Something isn't right," Rainbow muttered as her eyes focused on him. It looked like he was just holding a staff, the same one the Storm King had wielded. But Rainbow was an athlete, among other things, which granted her certain insights into body language. Discord was holding it for support, as if he were injured or exhausted.

Very troubling thoughts, but not as much as what Gilda pointed out. "Does he always glow like that?" Gilda questioned doubtfully.

Rainbow blinked. That hadn't been her imagination? There were golden lights around Discord, slowly spreading over his....everything? "No, no he doesn't," Rainbow confirmed with dread.

Was Discord dying? She didn't know magic like Twilight or Starlight, but she knew this plan required power far beyond just the Alicorns, but had it actually been something too much for even Discord to pull off? A cold fear crept into her stomach at the thought of Discord perishing as a result of saving them. Yet she had a hard time imagining that defiant, pleased look on his face to be the gaze of a man heading for the grave.

Discord closed his eyes as his body became completely covered in light. His form seemed to warp and change for an instant before the coat of gold burst off him.

Discord still stood there, but a Draconequus no more.

Meanwhile

The Lord of Chaos hummed to himself as he took stock of his new form through his mind's eye. Having changed form on a dime in the past, subtly checking the makeup of his body was something he knew how to do very well. At first glance, he appeared to be an Alicorn, but as always, it wasn't that simple. His wings were leathery, more like a drake's than a bat's. His tail was wrapped around his waist like a belt, now more like a "normal" snake's as it was only four inches thick and barely five feet long. Upon his head were still two horns, but unlike before, they were both blue unicorn horns with one right below the other.

Other than that, he was essentially a grey Alicorn. He was a bit more muscled than he was used to, but he blamed that on his powers feeding into the earth pony aspect. And since Alicorns didn't get old and he couldn't be bothered to waste the mana on changing his appearance, he had a messy mane of black hair now. With some pleasure, he found his goatee was still there, albeit smaller. He was wearing an open brown overcoat and a pair of moss green walking shorts.

Good! The actual Alicorns could dress up all they wanted but he'd go casual, thank you very much.

"Discord! Discord! Discord!"

He was startled out of his self-inspection by the cheering of his name over and over again. He turned in surprise to seeing tens of thousands of creatures all gathered in the sky and at the edge of Canterlot, packed in for as far as the naked eye could see, all cheering him on. Even guards and occupants from inside the council were looking out windows and other balconies, chanting with the crowd.

He stared for a good long moment as he slowly smiled. It was nice to be praised, few could deny. Glancing to the side at the staff, he smirked; The Staff of Sacanas, of the Trickster. How fitting, he decided. He lifted it up, bathing Canterlot in a brief flash of golden light, accompanied by a sense of warmth. Everyone fell silent as they heard his voice wash over them:

 "Welcome To Our New Home."

With a content sigh, he turned away as the cheers seemed to redouble, only to find the Alicorns and Starlight all staring at him. Celestia and Luna had the most owlish expression he had ever seen while Twilight's jaw just hung open with a faint coloring of her cheeks and Starlight Glimmer was now Starlight Crimsonface.

"....What?" he asked in confusion. His fly wasn't down, right?

No one answered for a second until Starlight did. "Since when are you hot?" she blurted out, covering her mouth instantly in embarrassment.

Discord scowled with a raised eyebrow before he remembered something. Alicorn power does actually manifest as proportionately enhanced looks, in attractiveness and/or intimidation. Given his remaining powers still outranked anyone in Canterlot- Oh. Riiiiight.

"Since I've been nerfed down to Alicornhood," he stated wryly as he laid the staff against his shoulder.
> The First Steps Are In Blood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flashback

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I think we and every last thing in this city has earned a day or two of just relaxing before everyone has to get their act together," Discord commented as he headed past the four.

"Discord," Celestia spoke, placing a hand on his shoulder as he made to pass. Crimson and violet eyes met as the princess looked upon him with adoration. "Thank you. For everything."

Discord smiled, tired, but nodded all the same to her. With that done, he exited the room, leaving the Staff of Sacanas leaning against the wall. He paused in his walk, to look back upon the two stallions guarding the door. They were obviously bipedal now and their armor was now full bodied. A cuirass covered their torsos and arms in golden metal with the traditional blue star, as did the greaves for their shins and lower thighs but the upper half of their thighs were exposed. The helmets and spears, while resized, were exactly as they had been.

The only primary difference from before was the short sword each had at their side; a curious development, but not surprising in Discord's mind.

"Make sure this room is guarded at times. Don't let anyone besides me, the Alicorns, and anyone else we allow in there," Discord instructed, knowing that room and map would have its uses soon.

The guards, who had been looking at him in something akin to awe, suddenly snapped to attention to salute him. "Yes, of course, Discord!" they affirmed dutifully.

Discord nodded, wondering when and if the princesses would start complaining about him ordering around their soldiers, but dismissed it as unimportant. With a nod, he turned back around to head forward-

-and phased through the floor like it was a sheer drop, passing many levels of the castle while eliciting many gasps from the inhabitants he passed on his way down. With the faintest of thuds, he touched down in a hall on the ground floor.

The castle had been opened up to allow more souls inside for the migration to this world. Like the rest of Canterlot, the whole place had begun to smell as it took great effort just to keep things sanitary for the time being. Mud, grass, dirt and even a bit of blood had stained most of the halls and rooms to some extent as a stench of unwashed bodies permeated the royal household.

Well, no more. He had used a bit of spare magic, when they were magic soup between realms, to remove all the filth and such that had built up in Canterlot. The whole city was pristine again, for now. It might have seemed like a waste, but they spent more magic on the clothes to be honest. And those were all infinitesimal compared to altering everything's body structures, which in turn was little compared to just displacing entire cities.

Besides, a fresh start should be, well, fresh.

All of this passed through Discord's mind as he stood in the hall, not surprised to see it filled with many different species, all frozen in shock by his arrival. A changeling near him was holding a young-ling up in the air in a moment of merriment. Three kirins had been singing nearby, if he had heard correctly upon entering. A griffon- wait, was that Gallus? Yep, that was Gallus with bloodshot eyes as he hung onto Sandbar and Silverstream.

Point was, everyone had stopped to stare at him in silence. He was used to people, mainly ponies, being surprised by him but this was a bit mu- oh, right, Alicorn now. Did they even recognize him?

"Is...is that Discord?" Someone, a mare if he guessed correct, asked in a whisper.

"That's him alright."

"Discord."

"He really did it..."

Huh, he supposed word had already spread of his change in the last few minutes? That or maybe it wasn't that hard to figure out? He shrugged it off, walking forward with his arms crossed behind his back. The crowd made way, all eyes watching his back. Whenever he glanced to his left or right, whatever creature he made eye contact with lowered their eyes instantly. And if it was a mare, they did so with a blush.

Yeah, his Alicorn aesthetics were definitely in overdrive, he deduced with a mental snort.

It didn't take him long to get to the end of the hall and reach the main doors. He was a bit annoyed that he couldn't just will them open as simply as before. Well, he could, but it took more than a thought now. He could phase through it, but it was time these creatures saw the clear sky again. So, with a glow of his horns, the large double doors slung wide to the courtyard.

He half expected the crowd of ponies, griffons, dragons and all other creatures that had gathered outside the castle.

However, once again, he was a little surprised to find the crowd cheering upon seeing him.

And right at the front of the pack were three ponies he knew well.

"Discord!" Fluttershy shouted as she barreled into him. As tall as he was, she barely reached past his stomach, her joyful tears tickling his fur. But that didn't stop him from reaching down with a laugh to return the embrace of the pegasus.

"Flutters, I hope you enjoyed the trip," he joked as he ran a hand through her mane before pulling back. Yep, dark green sweater with pink elastic pants, about what he expected.

"It was great!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, hands up in the air and suddenly right next to them and giving Discord a hug as well, while wearing a red and white striped shirt and skirt. "I mean, yeah, it was scary and sad and then it was all nice and bright! Then we got all magicy-goupy with each other and suddenly we're here!" she summarized in a single breath. "Oh, and Discord, what are the-Oh?!" Pinkie asked, grasping her chest and blinking at the sensation. "That feels kind of nice," she mused, groping herself.

"Um, Pinkie, you might not want to do that," Discord commented, trying to hide how his mouth was twitching towards a smirk as he placed Fluttershy down.

"Huh? Why?" Pinkie Pie asked, not noticing how a lot of the crowd leaned in, curious over their new anatomy.

"Would you masturb-" Discord began before someone interrupted him

"AHEM!" Rarity spoke up, fake coughing into her hand. She looked apologetic as Discord raised an eyebrow at her, causing her to point downward. Discord followed her finger, seeing three more familiar faces: Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle all looking up at him with wide and curious eyes.

"...Yeah, sorry, this needs to be said. Besides, they survived the end of the world, they can hear this," Discord refuted dryly to the fashionista. He idly noted she was wearing some sort of black gloves, probably for protection against hands-on sewing injuries- it sounded like something thoughtful that Harmony would do. Besides that, she was wearing a light-blue dress shirt and short black pants.

Okay, he'd admit it, Rarity wore the business-look well.

"Oh, very well, but do try not to make this too crass please?" Rarity accepted, resigned to giving her sister "the Talk" later.

With that, Discord turned back to Pinkie Pie. "Those are you're new mammaries. Playing with them can make you horny," he answered bluntly. Pinkie Pie blushed with wide eyes, retracting her hands quickly as every female pony suddenly looked down in shock, while other races looked down curiously. "Oh, and males do get aroused by those, so don't be too weirded out if any of you guys start thinking about them," he informed cheekily as several males already looked sheepish. Oh, it was going to be so fun watching everyone get used to their new bodies.

"Umm, w-why are we like this, exactly?" Fluttershy asked in confusion.

The former Draconequus waved the question off for now. "Eh, I'll explain it to the higher ups later, but let's just say it should help you all in this new world some," Discord answered offhandedly. Thankfully, the crowd seemed appeased by that. "Now, I think we've all earn a day to enjoy ourselves."

"Discord! Discord! Discord!"

"Huh...so this is what it feels like," he mused with a small smile as the crowd cheered him on once more, his friends looking upon him with gratitude, pride and fondness in their eyes.

End Flashback

"Discord?"

"Hm?" Discord pulled himself out of his memories, looking towards Twilight and the rest of their company.

They were back in the room with the Crystal Map, which had become an impromptu meeting room for the current leadership of Canterlot. Around it was all the rulers of the various races brought along with the city.

Or, at least, those that had a ruler.

"W-we were wondering if you were ready to begin, Sir Discord," Princess Skystar stated, wearing a simple red sleeveless top and pink skirt. Standing behind her was the stone faced General Seaspray, obviously there as emotional support and advice. He was clad in the full body biped form of the hippogriff's green and yellow navy uniform…and had a sabre sword on his waist.

Discord hid a fond smirk, knowing Harmony had gotten sabers and cutlasses mixed up.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Still surprised you all had a seat ready for me," Discord remarked idly, having been stumped upon entering to find a spot reserved for him, nearest the balcony with Twilight to his left.

"Were we not supposed to, Lord Discord?"

Discord turned his attention to his right, to the one immortal in this room he had no history with. "I'm not exactly the council type, Rain Shine," Discord pointed out as he took her in.

The Kirin in general had a style about them that made it hard to say where they began and where their clothing ended. Prior to the change, they had scales on their back going up onto their heads and ending at the snout. This was still true, but the scales had spread around the front, forming some mixture of armor and natural-clothing. Their rich manes framed the top of their scale-cloth in a manner resembling a fur-lining. The scales had even extended into what Discord could only describe as a battle-skirt.

Discord sorely hoped there were elves in this world, because was vaguely sure the Kirin were their Equestrian equivalent.

"And yet, here you are," Celestia noted with a smile from between Twilight and Luna.

"Yes, well, I got the impression you were all about to get to work with this whole colony thing or whatever we're going to call this," Discord mused knowingly. "I can't exactly let you go into this world blind."

"And where have you been, if you don't mind me asking, Sir Discord?" Seaspray inquired with a raised eyebrow. "No one has seen hide nor hair of you since the...Migration, if you will."

"Resting," Discord answered with a shrug before anyone else could say anything.

"For three days?" Ember questioned from the other side of the table, decked out in her full golden armor, sans helmet.

"Says the Dragon Lord to the Draconequus that warped us through the multiverse," Luna remarked with a smirk.

"...Point," Ember relented in acceptance. Her people did take long naps sometimes.

"I said it once, I'll say it again: I'm not going to be able to do anything like that again for a long time. But I may have also been checking out this world's magic in between naps in my tree," Discord added on in mock casualness.

"Checking it out?" Twilight repeated curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Magic has varying rules on different worlds," Discord stated as simply as possible. "Rules I can...read, for lack of a better term. Thankfully, most spells and magical abilities from your world are compatible with this one. At least, that's what I've seen so far."

"Most? Are there any specifics that are not?" Luna inquired with a concerned frown.

"Well, manipulating the weather isn't nearly as easy now for pegasi," Discord gave out before scowling to Twilight. "You, Rainbow and I need to have a talk sometime."

"Why?" Twilight asked curiously.

"You'll see," Discord evaded vaguely. "But in general, magic is less safe."

"What?!" came several cries of shock.

"What do you mean "less safe," Lord Discord?" Rain Shine questioned.

"More dangerous?" Discord rephrased unhelpfully. "The magic in Harmony's world was more stable than it otherwise would have been. Magical accidents and mistakes were less often to cause serious problems. Buck, it practically made it impossible to kill anyone without intending to do so."

"Should we be worried?" Twilight inquired, eyes dancing back and forth.

"I'm sure you'll get on top of it soon," Discord assured without doubt.

"Me?" Twilight repeated in confusion.

"You ARE  the Alicorn of Magic," Discord pointed out.

"I thought she was the Alicorn of Friendship?" Skystar asked with a scrunched brow.

The way Discord silently shook his head spoke more volume than any words.

"Oh..." Twilight stated as the meaning sunk in. "Friendship isn't  Magic. Not here, is it?" she deduced with a sad smile.

"If it is, only as an ideal rather than a force of nature," Discord clarified as Celestia put a comforting hand on Twilight's shoulder.

"Is that why the Elements of Harmony...?" Luna brought up.

"Harmony may or may not be alive. If she is, she is basically in a magical exhaustion induced coma," Discord supplied.

"And yet, you became an Alicorn?" Seaspray redirected with a raised eyebrow.

"I've been temporarily "demoted" to Alicorn, yes," Discord agreed, putting stress on demoted, before ultimately shrugging. "As for why it's different for me: Harmony is a brat compared to me. That isn't an insult, that's just fact."

"But...if this Harmony spirit is out of commission, why is this still here?" Ember asked, tapping the table with her claws.

"Because some magic artifacts disappear without a power source and others will work for just about anyone," Discord responded before smiling wryly. "Speaking of which..." he paused to tap the table with a rather pronounced and echoing tap.

*WHOOSH!*

Several of the leaders leaned back, while Twilight and Ember almost fell out of their seats in surprise as the map suddenly came to life. A glowing, translucent, three-dimensional map appeared on the table, with Canterlot over the center, every detail to scale. However, the rest of the map was dark and murky. All that could be made out was some of the mountain Canterlot rested up and a sliver of the forest far below.

"It can still do that!?" Twilight exclaimed in surprise and joy.

"But why does it only show Canterlot?" Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because no one has gone too far from Canterlot," Discord answered, stroking his goatee. "It works more like a regular map now, just magically generated: It shows and records more of the world as we explore it."

"Still very useful," Rain Shine commented, glancing at the former Draconequus. "It tracks everyone in the city?"

"I'd imagine so," he acknowledged with a nod. "Especially since we all became one for a time, via teleporting to this world."

"Yes...that was a most...enlightening experience," Thorax stated carefully. The King of the Changelings was much like Rain Shine in that his features naturally looked almost like clothing now. His wings even folded into a cloak-like shape that appeared like a cape of lights. However, his were more obviously part of his anatomy and less mistakable as something artificial. "Is there anything about that we should worry about regarding that?"

"No. Most just shrug it off after a week of trying out new things they see in someone else's memories. Worse cases are a few very unlikely friendships from meeting the original owner of a given memory and maybe a couple broken relationships from exposed secrets. Between everything, I imagine everyone will be too happy to be alive in the second case," Discord explained, almost absently as he stared at the map.

"Yes, well, that wasn't the only change that took place in-between worlds," Twilight pointed out awkwardly.

Discord let out a small sigh, putting his chin in his hand as everyone looked at him expectantly, "Okay, I'm sure you all have a few obvious questions, so let's just get them out of the way. Yes, Thorax?"

"I'd ask why the form changes, but I'm more curious by this sudden desire for modesty that varies among the races?" Thorax asked curiously.

"Right, why do ponies and hippogriffs suddenly feel the need to wear clothes and everything, while many others like the changelings don't," Discord summed up as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "This relates back to WHY the form change. I didn't say anything about it since I wasn't going to do this for sure until after I confirmed what was on this world in mid-jump."

"Some of that wasn't planned?" Skystar asked in slight alarm.

"No, I just planned for more than one type of world," Discord elaborated. "The clothing and bipedal forms most have now should help integrating among the locals of this world. Hmm? Yes, Ember?"

"Why do the female dragons and changeling not have those lumps on their chests?" the dragon lord asked, truly confused by the topic as she glanced to every female in the room besides herself.

"Twilight?" Discord redirected.

"Huh? Oh! Dragons are reptiles, so they don't have those glands to begin with," Twilight supplied helpfully.

"Exactly. That would have been an addition rather than a reformation. As for changelings?...They don't have them either, but they can grow them if they want to. I think," Discord continued thoughtfully.

"And those things are for feeding young, right?" Ember continued for clarification. These questions had come up a lot, even among the "flat" races.

"Well, and potentially attracting males, but yes," Discord confirmed with a shrug. "On that note, there are changes that have nothing to do with me, per say," he informed, recapturing their attention. "This world has creatures like what you are now. Technically, you would be considered new subspecies of what I'm guessing are either called beastmen or demihumans. As a result of us assimilating to this world, there may be some new instincts and minor abilities filtering in from that," Discord elaborated.

"Humans?" Twilight repeated in surprise.

"You know of them, Princess Twilight?" Rain Shine inquired with a head tilt.

"Yeah, they're a race similar to our new forms. I...became one temporarily by going through the mirror to another world," Twilight explained thoughtfully.

"...A mirror to another world?" Seaspray repeated with a narrow look.

"Before you say something you might regret, General, we already tried that avenue. The world was too closely tied to our own, an alternate copy in most way. Mass use of the mirror to it would have simply condemned that world as well," Luna informed coldly.

Seaspray looked surprised by the response but nodded deeply to the chaos lord. "My apologies, I didn't mean to offend."

Discord just shrugged it off with a wave. "While they may look it, the humans here are not like the ones you know, Twilight," Discord warned. Of course, he didn't state that he didn't consider the ones she knew as humans at all. To him, those were just Humanizations or ponies in human skin, a mirror of Equestria rather than a truly separate world. But he didn't have a way to say that without demonizing humans, which was something they really didn't need at the start of this adventure they were all on. "Now we need to talk about Canterlot. So, what's the final count come to?"

The leaders around the table nodded as Celestia started off. "Canterlot was built to hold a population of three-hundred thousand, but ideally only two-hundred thousand. Thankfully, it had never reached that capacity. Prior to the Exodus, Canterlot had about one-hundred one-thousand five hundred living in it. Of those: sixty-five thousand were unicorns, twenty-five thousand were pegasi, ten thousand were earth ponies and the remaining one-and-a-half thousand were of various other races," Celestia stated, having memorized those numbers from weeks of trying to find more room to fit more people.

"After some squeezing and setting up camps outside the city, we managed to get a migration population of nearly three-hundred thirty-five thousand in Canterlot," Twilight read off before looking concerned. "We're unsure of the numbers in the Crystal Empire and Ponyville...if-"

"The Crystal Empire is fine," Discord answered bluntly, causing sighs of relief all around the table.

"Do you know where it is then?" Ember asked sternly, trying not to sound hopeful.

"I know this'll sound weird, but it hasn't arrived yet," Discord stated vaguely.

"It hasn't? Is that bad?" Skystar asked in worry.

"No," Discord assured with a head shake. "In cosmic terms, we arrived at the same time, but that doesn't mean the same planetary time. A cosmic "instant" can be anything between a second and a year. So, it'll appear sometime in the future. Ponyville, is more of gamble, I'll admit."

Twilight nodded, knowing she'd have to accept that for now. She turned forward, steeling herself to continue with that news. "The Exodus count is as follows: Three-Hundred Young Dragons and Eggs."

"If what you say is true, there'll be more with the empire," Ember mused. If she felt any grief still over the loss of the rest of her kind, she covered it up well.

"Two-thousand Yaks," Twilight continued with a sigh. "Prince Rutherford refused to believe or even help with the plan to very end. All the Yaks that came were the ones that left without permission."

"It wasn't like we were going to turn them down for their leader's stubbornness," Celestia reasoned as she looked over her own list. "Due to their population, we were able to bring all one-thousand of the Kirins and all ten-thousand Changelings," she read off, the leaders of said two races looking grateful hearing that again, that they didn't have to leave anyone of theirs behind.

"Yes, well, other races were not so fortunate," Seaspray lamented with a sigh as he put a comforting hand on Skystar's shoulder. "Twelve-thousand of our own came. Queen Novo remained with many more that refused or just couldn't bear the thought of being forced out of our homes again. With us, she also sent her entire royal guard and their families."

"As tactless as it sounds, I'm happy we got the more warrior-sided portion of your people for this world," Discord commented with a knowing tone.

Seaspray nodded, understanding the meaning: It was good to have more muscle to work with.

"With us-" Skystar spoke up, her voice only barely faltering in her attempt to participate. "-came seven-thousand batponies and most of the now-twenty-thousand griffons."

"Batponies? I thought those were your department, Luna?" Discord inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Their tribes were traditionally nomadic, but had a meeting place for trade that was shared with the hippogriffs," Luna explained. "On the note of the griffons, they will need a representative soon, as I imagine others will as well."

"Give it time," Discord instructed. "They'll probably pick their own in a few months. For now, we're all just surviving," he mused idly as he leaned back in his chair, balancing with a foot on the map. "Four-hundred centaur, three-hundred gargoyles and fifty cyclopes," he counted off from memory.

"The ones you personally brought in," Twilight recalled curiously.

"By the time news got to the gargoyles and centaurs, they would have all been dying just on the trip to Equestria. And the cyclopes are a rare bunch so I had to scrounge together what I could find," Discord waved away to the amusement of the Alicorns. After everything, it was hard to take his "I don't really care, I helped you on a whim" attitude seriously anymore.

"Among the last of the non-ponies, there are five-thousand Diamond Dogs of various packs from all over and beyond Equestria, one-thousand five hundred Minotaurs and two-thousand Phoenixes," Celestia finished.

"Lucky, in a dark way, that the minotaurs saw their land falling apart enough to spook a lot of them into coming," Discord muttered absently.

"Yes, lucky," Ember said blankly. It was a well believed theory that Discord had been directing the bits of the apocalypse he couldn't hold back to scare the most people into believing the end of the world was coming, to save them from their own skepticism.

Something Discord would never confirm or deny it seemed.

"Unless my memory is wrong, there were also about twelve-thousand miscellaneous creatures," Thorax noted idly. "Donkeys, deer, moose, caribous, perytons, abyssians, ornithians, zebras."

"We don't even know if the message ever reached Zebrica," Luna commented wistfully. Long distant message became more and more dangerous as time ticked away, until contracting outside Equestria and much of Equestria itself was nigh-impossible.

"And once the final week rolled around, you let in as many as you could still make room for: which brought the total of new ponies to fifty-thousand Unicorns, fifty-five-thousand pegasi, fifty-five-thousand Earth Ponies," Discord concluded the summary before frowning as he felt the mood shift.

"That's... well over two-hundred fifty ponies. The ratio between ponies and all other species combined is well over four-to-one," Twilight realized with a sigh. "It feels like we focused too much on own kind."

The council members all traded uneasy looks at that, not wanting to voice simi-

*SNAP!*

Everyone jumped as Discord's tail struck the floor. The serpentine appendage twisted and curled about like an wrathful and displease predator, but the fallen god just sat there with his arms crossed.

"...Discord?" Celestia asked in concern. They were seeing many new sides of him these days, she noted.

Discord took a breath as he spoke. "If the Alicorns had been truly indiscriminate in whom we brought, it would ONLY be ponies," he stated bluntly.

"What?" Ember spoke up as she stood up. "What nonsense are you speaking?"

"Unfortunately, I'm talking perfect sense," Discord retorted with a hard look on his face. "Equestria was a pony nation, that was an apocalypse we escaped. If there hadn't been any rules in trying to save other creatures, all the locations would have flooded with ponies immediately. Instead, they waited until the time was almost up to let in everyone they could. It's only natural there would be more ponies than anything else." Discord explained. A numb silence came over the room as Discord's point sunk in, but he wasn't done yet.

"...Things are truly dire if you are all but demanding cooperation and an abandonment of grudges, Discord," Luna remarked.

"There is a good chance that there are those of this world that might hate us just for existing, for any reason they can imagine. I don't need this city tearing itself apart over such petty doubts about one another," Discord countered evenly. "This world doesn't need me for chaos; that I can promise."

The gathering let those ominous words settle over them heavily. They had all known in one way or another that they might not be welcomed in this New World, but Discord's phrasing put fresh worries into their psyches.

At which point, Discord decided to lighten the mood with a casual tone, "Besides, the population ratios are a smaller issue thanks to a little tweak you were all given."

"Tweak, Discord?" Thorax inquired with a head tilt, his pure purple eyes betraying nothing.

Discord nodded before smiling impishly. "Harmony and I made sure every species can safely interbreed with one another," he pointed out. Everyone looked taken back by this. Interbreeding wasn't impossible, but it didn't always take and the health of the potential offspring was a concern. "It might result in more subspecies, but most children will be one creature or the other," Discord added on, waving off the obvious questions in their mind.

"That should solve the problem over time," Rain Shine acknowledged with a nod. As the leader of the smallest population at the table after the dragons, she didn't have much room to complain.

"Well, it wouldn't do for the species we saved to go extinct from lack of breeding partners," Discord mused before grinning. "Now, let's get down to business," he declared as he held up an open hand in the air.

The various leaders looked on in confusion until the three Alicorns all went wide eyed, snapping their attention to the front of the room. Seaspray quickly pulled Skystar aside as the Staff of Sacanas spun by between her and Ember, the Dragon Lord leaning away on pure fear-driven instincts. The weapon of the storm king came to rest in Discord's waiting grip. Without further ado, he leaned back on his chair.

With a flourish, he slowly waved the staff over the map. All eyes watched it intensely, as if entranced by this mysterious action. The tip came to rest south of Canterlot. A spark of magic travelled through the staff and Discord's eyes glowed an eerie, solid red.

Breaths caught in their throats as small ball of fire appeared above the map. But it was not normal red, the green of dark magic or any other expected colors. It was...grey. And its wisps of flames looked to be pulling towards its core, rather than bursting out and upward. With disturbing suddenness, the ball of inversed fire exploded silently in all directions. Past its shimmering outline, regardless of the angle viewed, displayed an image; the image of a forest, looking from just over the tree tops and far into the horizon.

Twilight stole a look at Discord, still balancing his chair with ease, and spied a smirk of amusement. That was a troublingly rare sight these days. Yet what captured her attention was his subtle movement, his head turning to the left, as if to her, but then up.

She quickly looked back and saw just what she theorized was correct: The image turned, bring into view a mountain; A tall mountain, just the first of many in a range. But this on had an unnatural white object on its side.

Canterlot.

"Astral Eyes, Secret Sight, Magic View, Grand Voyeur," Discord listed it off with a chuckle, his eyes still glowing. "Give it whatever name you want, Twilight. End of the day, it does the same thing."

"You can keep that concentration and hold a conversation?" Rain Shine asked, clearly impressed as she looked toward their collective savior.

While clearly to raise a point, it was somewhat disturbing how Discord turned to raise an eyebrow at her with red orbs staring right through the Kirin, yet the Astral Sight did not change its own angle this time.

Having proven his measure, Discord turned back to his magical viewing spell. He only had to turn his head slightly and hold it to keep the direction moving, saving him the trouble of standing and turning all about. Once again, this forest was Everfree levels of massive. "Well, we'll have plenty of room and material to start building a settlement down there," Discord advised.

"Yes, we've already started making plans for that," Celestia confirmed.

"We're just unsure of to the hazardousness of this forest's plants and inhabitants," Luna added in.

"I'm sure there are ones in this city with a talent for plants in general, or have studied them in any case," Discord commented with lack of interest. "Researching plants rarely changes across the multiverse. As for protection against the locals and wildlife, if you want peace of mind, one of you take a hundred guards and look over the arrangements personally," he assured absently. "Now...let's test this out a bit."

With a narrowed gaze and a wider smirk, the forest zoomed by under him rapidly. Not quite Rainbow fast though. No need to miss anything obvious.

"Umm, Discord?" Thorax spoke up. "Is the map supposed to be doing that?"

"Depends: is there a clear trail of sight on the map, over where I've been?" Discord asked in amusement as the point of the staff followed him on the map.

"Well, yes there is that, but..." Thorax trailed off uncertanly.

"There's a flickering glow in the undiscoverd part," General Seaspray summarized, stroking his chin. "Southeast of the city, by the looks of it. Is it some sort of alarm?"

"..." Discord glanced down at the table map with a curious scowl before returning his attention. "Color?"

"Huh? Oh, it's um, red," Twilight answered, knowing that was rarely a positive color in these situations. "Is that bad?"

"Yep," Discord answered bluntly as he and his view came to a halt and looked all about. "Going to have to practice with this more, I suppose. Rain, would you mind moving my tip for me?" Discord requested offhandedly.

The Kirin leader blinked at the instruction, but grabbed the rod firmly and gently brought it into place, the Astral Eye following her path across the lands. "Is that alright?" she asked, not sure how precise she was being or how much she needed to be.

"More than alright," Discord answered with a purr, chuckling as he felt her release the staff after registering his phrasing. If this wasn't important, he would have checked her expression. Returning to his task, he looked about until he saw it. "...Not exactly what I was expecting," he announced in interest as the rest took in the image.

"Is that a village?" Twilight asked, eyes going wide with a mixture of inquisitive joy and paranoid-yet-logical worry.

"Houses and farm fields would suggest that, yes," Luna noted with a small smile. It almost looked like one of the many small hamlets of Equestria.

"...Something is wrong," Discord noted with an even expression as his sight zoomed towards and into the settleme-

"AAAAHHHHH!" Skystar screamed in terror at the sudden image of a bipedal creature, clad from head to toe in steel armor, swinging a sword as sanguine liquid sprayed through the air.

Seaspray held Skystar to comfort and assure her, but he was just as transfixed as the rest of the room stared with wide eyes as the...soldier cut down what most assumed was a human, who fell to the ground dead. The view turned, seeing that it was not just a lone incident: dozens of identically armored beings were striking down every human in sight: females, males, young, elderly. It was an indiscriminate spilling of blood, against those without weapons or protection.

"What...what is this?" Twilight asked in horror as she saw a father trying to hold off two of the attackers, as his daughters tried to flee.

"War," Discord whispered under his breath, but heard throughout the room.

"This...this isn't war," Thorax refuted with a quiver in his voice. "It's a massacre."

"Not mutually exclusive things, unfortunately," Discord corrected solemnly.

"Those...humans slaughter each other so ready?" Luna questioned with a scowl as she balled her fist.

"I'm assuming they're from a different country," Ember voiced, affected much less than the others even if the scene still baffled her on some fundamental level.

"They're killing civilians! Even a war doesn't excuse something so vile," Seaspray denied vehemently. He had at least theorized plans to go to war with most of the people in this room at one time or another. The mass execution of their people was never even an entertained thought. Well, minus Ember's, but that was if ALL the dragons fought to the bitter end.

"What do we do then?" Rain Shine redirected them, her scowl something of the Frozen North, if it existed. "Should we truly get involved? As disgusting as this is, this appears to be a matter between two different powers native to this world."

"Could we even journey fast enough to make a difference?" Twilight asked, more to herself than them. "Flying would take too long and teleporting in this world is untested and unsafe in a new location to begin with."

The table dissolved into talks of all of them wanting to do...something, but with no way how. And through it all, Celestia remained silent as she watched the bloodbath...and turned her gaze upon Discord with a concerned look as she saw his red eyes were now dulled, his expression lost and far away...

"You're seeing it, aren't you, Discord," Celestia stated suddenly, her voice cutting through the conversations as all eyes looked back to the silent dual-horned Alicorn as he stared on. 

In their attempts to comprehend the situation, they had all forgotten that Discord was viewing this all in first person. That he was essentially right there in the midst of it all.

"I was," he said simply as he sat his chair down and stood up in the same motion. Every last person looked taken back as he stabbed the Staff of Sacanas into the map, right into the village's location. His eyes faded back to normal but the view remained.

With that done, Discord turned away and started to walk away...towards a wall.

"Discord, what are you doing?" Twilight asked in confusion and worry.

"Hm? Isn't it obvious?" Discord asked as he turned back to look at her. As he did, a portal sprung opened up on the wall behind him, a swirling vortex of violent green. "I'm going to go save them."

"But...why?" Ember questioned with a frown. Surely he of all beings was prepared for such events, so why did he want to personally get involved?

Discord looked up for a moment before shrugging. "It seems like a good chance to see how dangerous this world really is," he reasoned without much care if they believed it.

He was about to turn back to the portal, when Celestia suddenly stood up with a scowl on her face. "I'm coming with you."

"Princess?!" Twilight exclaimed in surprise as everyone looked at her strangely.

Except Luna.

"That's an interesting look about you, Celestia," Discord noted with interest. "Why?"

"You are at the weakest you have ever been,"' Celestia reminded sternly, Discord's looked unimpressed with the observation. "I can't in good conscience let you go into danger without help."

There was an infinite list of ways Discord could refute that reasoning. But she knew that, or suspected it at least, and yet her eyes still blazed with determination. It was a positive development as far as Discord was concerned, but there was something else in her eyes. Something Discord had never recalled aimed at him. Something he doubted he even really needed.

It was an unusual feeling, knowing someone was protective of you.

Completely ignoring the tense silence, he nodded his acceptance with his lips quirked in amusement.

This would be interesting.

Meanwhile

Enri held desperately onto her sister, her wounded back exposed to the knights standing sinisterly over her with their weapons poised. If only for a few seconds, she'd keep Nemu alive and try to give her a chance to run and escape into the forest.

"Time to finish this," one of the false-knights murmured as he raised his sword, intent on stabbing both girls in one stab.

*Snap*

"Wha...?" the knight wheezed, staring down without comprehension as he saw his now hilt-less blade impaled into his chest.

"What...just happened?" Enri asked numbly as she saw the man collapse, the red of his life flowing out of him. His partner backed away in fear, looking around frantically for an attacker.

"Big Sis, look," Nemu whispered in some mixture of fear and awe.

"Rest easy, kiddo," a voice called as a hand patted her on the head.

"A demihuman?!" the uninjured knight yelled as Enri looked up behind her at what Nemu already saw and it made her blood run cold.

There was a grey horse in the shape of a man, but with two curved horns in the middle of his head. He wore a large and surprisingly finely made coat over his impressive form, as well as some form of green pants. But he was huge, easily eight feet tall. And his ruby blood eyes shone in a way that made her feel even smaller than his size did.

And still, he was smiling down at her. "You're safe now," he spoke. It wasn't reassurance. It was simply fact.

He didn't even react as the second knight's blade came inches from his head.

*ZWRRRRLL!*

He did look a bit impressed when a yellow beam roared by, evaporating the armored man from the waist up. The cauterized lower half fell back with a thump, to Enri's disbelief and growing fear.

"That was overkill, Sun," Discord mused as he looked to the new arrivals.

Enri gulped at the two new demihumans. At least, she assumed they were demihumans. It was hard to tell with how they were covered in full body armor, but between her current savior's equine head and their horned-horse shaped helmets, she was going to assume they were demihumans as well. She was also assuming they were female, by the shape of the armor.

The first was the taller of the two, a full foot shorter than the two-horned one. The horn of her helmet was smoking rather ominously. Her armor was a radiant and glowing white with burnt orange edges that resembled flames in shape.

The smaller of the two was merely so by half a foot, but she was clad in pitch black armor with sapphire accents in the impressions of waves. She was the one who spoke, her voice royal and refined, "I'm sure you had the situation under control, but please handle foes sooner for our peace of mind," Luna requested in a polite tone that Enri interpreted as respectful.

Discord merely tilted his head.....as his snake tail lashed out, removing the head from the dying man nearby, doing so with a single sudden blow. "There is a reason I'm not the one in armor," he commented ominously.

Celestia glanced down at the two female humans. And when she spoke, Enri was struck by how....kind and warm her voice was. "We need to heal her soon before the blood loss overwhelms her."

"I already stopped the bleeding," Discord answered dismissively.

Enri went wide eyed. In the confusion, she thought she had merely gone numb to the pain. Now that it was pointed out, she realized her pain had in fact lessened.

"Moon, would you mind finishing her up? I have to take care of something," Discord requested.

Enri shifted away as the black one leaned down, holding an open palm to her as the horn piece glowed blue. "P-please, don't hurt my sister," Enri begged feebly. Logic said that none of these demihumans wanted either of them dead, but between the nightmare she had just barely survived and all she knew about demihumans, she could only imagine the horrible reasons they wanted them alive.

"Fear not, I mean neither of you harm," Luna assured in a gentle tone as her magic enveloped the two.

Enri blinked when she felt a calming wave wash over her body as fatigue and injuries seem to wash off her being.

"Big Sis, you're okay!" Nemu spoke up as they both tried to look at the elder sister's now healed back. "Thank you!" she cried up to the literal goddess- not that they knew that.

"Yes, thank you all!" Enri repeated quickly, bowing her head lest she disrespect whoever and whatever these three were.

Discord decided to pretend not to notice that the Alicorns were smiling beneath their helmets at the embracing sisters. Instead, he reached into his coat and seemed to rummage through it before pulling out a black flat disk, about the size of a coconut. His eyes glowed briefly as his pointer finger on his free hand did a circling movement. The village girl jumped in alarm as a circle of red light formed around her. "That should keep you safe until we're done, but here's this just in case," Discord said as he handed the item towards her.

"What....what is it?" Enri asked, much less wary but still confused ultimately; both with the situation and what she was supposed to do with that.

Discord snorted under his breath and smirk as he moved his hand up and down in a snapping motion.

Enri looked taken back and Nemu looked mystified as the disk was revealed to be a top hat with a purple band. "If anything gets by this barrier, just reach in and you'll pull out something that will help," Discord promised with a smile.

Enri nodded, gently but firmly taking the hat from the great creature before her. "Who....who are you?"

Discord hummed as he stood back up as he looked down the path to the village. "My name is Droc," he answered simply, ignoring the odd looks the Alicorn sisters gave him.
> Batter Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flashback

"The world is ending. Riiiiiight, I'm going to believe that one," Rainbow Dash said with an eye roll.

"You ponies have serious misconceptions about my sense of humor," Discord commented, arching a brow as he floated about the crystalline cavern beneath the School of Friendship.

"This is still amazing! To think that the Roots of Harmony were still growing for so long after my castle appeared!" Twilight gushed.

"Yes, well, making the school so close helped speed things up," Discord mused as he crossed his arms. "Are you really ignoring me?"

"No offense, Discord, but when ya start talkin extra on the crazy, we tend to tune ya out," Applejack informed bluntly.

"Regrettably, I'm not joking or crazy," Discord corrected coldly as he looked at the farmmare, who actually swallowed at that completely serious face.

"Oh please," Twilight said with a sigh as she turned to face him. "Discord, I'm in the middle of studying one of the greatest discoveries in the history of magic-"

"You have one every season," Discord pointed out dryly.

"-so please finish up or postpone whatever prank this is," Twilight scolded impatiently.

Rarity cleared her throat to address the reality warper more diplomatically. "While not as harsh as Twilight, I do agree, that is a rather over the top jo-"

"Ohhhh Headmare Twilight!" Pinkie Pie called as she literally rolled into the room, coming out with a bump and a pronk, holding out some papers for Twilight, who blinked in bewilderment at the documents now pressed against her snout.

"Um...Vacation time, Pinkie?" Twilight asked in surprise.

"Yeah, it's my mother's birthday in a few days, so me and Maud are heading to the old farm!" Pinkie Pie explained with a bright, wide smile.

"And you're only filing now?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"..." Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "I didn't know I had to put in papers for birthdays until a few days ago. The Cakes just always sent their regards. Why, should I have done it sooner?"

Twilight, shrugging off the informal work ethic and personal relationship between her friend and the Cake family, just made a noise of understanding. "Admittedly, how to properly file for a vacation was one thing I never thought about needing to inform you all on, soooo  that's a bit on me. Sure, Pinkie. Just put it in a month early next time and say hi to your family from us," Twilight answered with a warm smile, their other three friends seconding the motion.

"Thank a bajillion, Twilight!" Pinkie hugged her quickly before racing out of the room.

"Now, Discord, was there-" Twilight began, blinking in surprise as she noticed that Discord was gone. "That was surprisingly easy."

"You don't think he really meant anything like that, right?" Applejack asked, slightly on edge from Discord's attitude.

"Nah, he's just pulling us hard. Besides, if the world was ending, someone, anyone else would notice it too!" Rainbow assured confidently.

Flashback End

Twilight shook her head clear of the memory that haunted her for so many nights. If only she had asked Celestia sooner, if only she hadn't blew off Discord's warning with such assurance. Could she have saved the world, with a little more time?

The answer was no, she intellectually knew. Even if she took Discord completely serious at that time, it would have given her less than a week more to work with. And everyone from Pinkie Pie to Discord to Harmony herself knew there was no way to fix their old world. But what-ifs had plagued her constantly with guilt and shame up until the end.

She could no longer afford to be bogged down by her own doubts over the past if she was to support all their survivors through this uncertain future. She had to be strong to keep the people from splintering, to make a good and safe home for those still coming through the aether, for her fellow leaders and for Discord to aid him in guiding them through this mess.

That said, as she steeled her inner resolve, she couldn't help frowning while she watched the viewing portal follow Discord and the armored princesses walking towards the bloodbath. She had seen Discord casually behead a human and Celestia herself incinerated half of another.

Such a willingly lethal use of magic, by her mentor no less, should have left her in shock. She was sure that she should not be emotionally prepared to handle watching this. Despite a slight aversion to the violence, Twilight couldn't find her disgust or horror in this display. She almost felt...not happy, but at least relieved that those vile humans were dead, calming an angry ball that formed in her stomach while watching this village get slaughtered. It had been almost like hatred, a feeling she was most unfamiliar with. She had only felt its cold heat when Tirek had destroyed her home, nearly killing Owlowiscious with it.

Looking around the table discreetly, only finding one reacting how she expected she herself would. Slight whimpers reached her twitching ear, and she knew Princess Skystar indeed wasn't prepared for this. But Seaspray and Thorax kept faces of stone. The hippogriff general looked far more grim while the changeling king appeared neutral on the exterior. Rain Shine had a look of concern, but Ember had a look of distinctly grim satisfaction from the displays.

Discord had said their minds had been altered, granted new instincts and basic information to go with their new forms. Perhaps it was gratitude for being their savior, perhaps it was some understanding she came to while their minds were all one in the teleportation. All she knew was that she trusted Discord with whatever was changed about them. That said, these changes, he implied, were based on similar creatures in this world. New instincts from this world would explain these new feelings, or lack there of, and the natural acceptance of fighting and killing being necessary.

She was logical and practical though, or at least tried to be. Others might react much more adversely to such things. She'd have to observe and hope for now, both on that matter and on the imminent battle.

Meanwhile

There were no words spoken between the three immortals when they marched out of the forest, their magics rippling with angry impatience. They made their way to the village center where these so called knights brought the remaining villagers, who could only kneel and wait for the slaughter. They were unnoticed for the time, something they did not desire in this instance.

Discord raised his hand and clenched in into a fist, one of the armored humans screaming as he was yanked through the air at breakneck speeds. His fellow soldiers turned in shock, their gaze following the flailing human as he landed on the ground.

Looking up just in time for Discord's foot to come down and crush his skull inside his helmet, the metal screaming almost as much as the man did before the grey matter of his brain splattered around the offending limb. Discord stared with a cold, even gaze. With hate and fear, their enemies began to yell, "Beastmen!" Discord spared a glance to each of the armored mares at his sides, finding the eyes of their helmets blazing with sapphire and golden magic. Settling his eyes back upon their new, charging quarry he simply nodded and resumed their walk towards the survivors.

There were roughly two dozen knights in all and six were charging them with steel swords drawn. Two for each of them. Or, that's what Discord thought until they got within range.

It was over in three seconds.

Two metal-covered Alicorn horns glowed with magic as Celestia swiped her hand to the side, sending one of the men flying and crashing into a fence, splintering the wood as the force of the blow caved in his armor. Luna, not to be outdone, extended her hand and used her magic to snap the neck of another enemy, dropping him dead before he even hit the ground. They both looked at the center two most opponents and both mares raised their hands, sending out a hail of blue and golden magic needle-like projectiles.

Celestia reached out to grab the blade of the penultimate attacker, her arm not budging and her armor unscratched. At the same time, Luna leaned out of the way of the swipe of the final knight and reached passed his guard to grab his face.

Discord arched a brow as the two displays of human Swiss cheese fell with blood flooding out of their armor. It was still an unusual experience, others being protective of him. It was a bit touching, but he wasn't sure if he was annoyed or amused that they were worried over so little.

"AHHHHHH!"

He didn't show it, but he was genuinely surprised when the screams of agony reached his ears.

"IT BURNS! STOP IT! STOP IT!"

Celestia's foe had tried to remove his weapon from the beastman before him, but found it unmovable. Then he started to sweat, panicking as he realized his hand wouldn't let go of the weapon. The appendage grew hot as the sharpened metal began to glow in the armored equine's grasp. She pulled him forward, laying a hand on his chest. It was nearly melting already as his flesh began to burn and bubble in his own body.

"NOMORE! NOMORE! MAKITSOP! NONONONonononono...P-please no more. I'll be good mommy, please?"

Luna's display was far less telling, but equally brutal. Her eyes glowed black for an instant as the man fell to his knees with a twisted and pained look of utter horror upon it, sobbing and begging for mercy from some unknown nightmare. And then, he just stopped with a slight jerk, his eyes lifeless as he fell from Luna's grasp. Death by overwhelming fear.

'Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon,' Discord mentally concluded as he watched the gruesome kills they had made. 'I'm not surprised those parts of them still exist, but killing like that came far easier to them than I expected,' he thought to himself, noting to keep an eye on them after this.

Without word, he stepped over the corpses with long strides as he moved to the remaining soldiers, surrounding the remaining and clearly scared villagers.

"W-wait! Stop right there, Beastman!" A soldier yelled. Unlike the other, his face was partially exposed to reveal a cowardly expression topped by blonde hair. He looked ready to soil himself. Discord, amused, humored him and halted his progress. "W-we have no quarrel with your ilk here! I-i-in fact, I believe this can be a good exchange for both of us!"

"Captain Belius!" one of the other soldiers yelled in alarm and caution.

"Shut up you bastards!" Belius exclaimed in outrage. "It doesn't matter if it's us or a beastman that does it, so long as this place is taken care of"

"We don't don't even know if it can speak-!"

"I can talk just fine," Discord informed bluntly, relishing how the humans nearly jumped out of their armor at his voice. "Now, what were you saying, Belius?" he inquired conversationally, being sure to use the name to unnerve him a little.

It was clear they were put off by him not only talking, but almost politely. Perhaps even that he was articulate. Beastman-type creatures could be on the less intelligent side of things in the multiverse, he knew.

Still, the named Belius gathered his nerves as he forced a conspiratorial look upon his sweating face. "We are Knights of the Baharuth Empire, sent to wipe out these villages."

Discord took note of the air growing hotter on his right and colder on his left as the Alicorn mares joined him, making the knights tense and hold their weapons a bit higher with tremors in their hands. "Go on?" he prompted with a cool smirk, deciding to let him dig a bigger grave.

"We didn't come here to fight demi-humans, so let us go and you'll have these heathens all rounded up and ready for feasting," Belius offered in a manner he probably thought magnanimous, but only came off as craven as the villagers let out cries of alarm and renewed fear behind him.

Discord tightened his tail around his waist as he tried to suppress any notable change in Luna and Celestia's magics, their rage rising with every word. Days ago, he could have down that without breaking a sweat. Now, it was much harder to make it look effortless.

"Well? Do we have a de-?!" Belius went wide eyed as his voice died in his throat, taking slow and gasping breaths.

"Captain? Captain Belius?" one of the knights said in confusion.

"GAH!" Belius cried out, spitting up a mouthful of blood as he stared at the large, dual horned Beastmen with a coldness running through his veins, as if death itself was approaching. "Wh...what did you do to me?" he asked incomprehension..

Discord rose an eyebrow...and faded into nothingness, to the shock of even his companions.

Belius stared...and then he screamed in agony as his heart was phased out the back of his body, still pumping blood as magic kept the connection operable despite flesh and metal being in the way.

All stared upon Discord in disbelief as he stood behind the captain, holding Belius's still beating heart in his hand. "You know you can still be alive and aware for a few minutes after losing this, Belius?" Discord asked conversationally as he examined the organ in his hand. "Most injuries make you pass out or die before that, but it's quite a way to go."

"P-put it back!" Belius yelled, unsure if he was demanding or pleading as he saw his own life beating in this creature's grip. His own men were too petrified by the display to do anything that might endanger their captain's life, unloved or not.

"Relax, that kind of stress isn't good for the heart," Discord informed in amusement as he channeled magic into the organ. "Poor thing might give out."

Belius's eyes dilated as, right before his eyes, his heart stopped beating. He struggled, trying to force himself to breath as he took an involuntary step forward. A strangled, airless scream ripped through his mouth as his heart slipped from Discord's hand, ending the magic. The fresh, unnatural agony racked his chest as he felt his arteries infused through his back and ribs. He collapsed, crushing the heart hanging out of his back. His final fading, terrified vision was of the mysterious Beastman.

Discord looked down at the corpse with contempt, but he was pleased that Celestia and Luna didn't immediately come to his defense as two more knights screamed while taking a stab at him. He merely glanced at the first man, making no move to block the sword.

He had no need to.

Right as the tip was inches from his arm, it bent. As if it were made of rubber, it turned at an acute angle. The knight didn't even have time to register what was happening before he moved close enough to stab himself in the throat.

Only those watching closely noted that not a drop of blood stained the chimeric stallion's body, rolling off his fur and clothes like water.

Discord sighed in annoyance as the other didn't stop, not seeing what had happened from his angle. Like the snap of a whip, the fallen Draconequus hit the ground with his tail. A green wave of magic washed over the ground before fading away and sending the attacker skidding back, leaving them all in stunned silence.

"...What are you?"

Discord hummed as he looked to the knight, another with a partially exposed face. A second in command most likely. "My name is Droc," he answered plainly as he glanced over the wary soldiers eyeing his every move. "You could say we all recently moved in nearby," he explained vaguely as he scratched his chin to sell the aloof vibe he was going for. "I just thought I'd stop by and see why those of the Slane Theocracy were attacking the Re-Estize Kingdom and pretending to be knights of the empire."

There was a cold chill that ran over them all and Discord could see Celestia and Luna look up in confusion at his sudden knowledge of this land. "I...don't know what you me," the knight tried to deny.

"Yes, you do, Londes di Clamp," Discord answered, making the human take a step back. "I didn't come here to kill these humans, I came here to stop you. Honestly, I was planning on letting most of you run away, but there's a problem with that," he monologued, waiting to see if any would dare interrupt him.

He was almost disappointed when they didn't.

"Villages, Londes. Villages," Discord repeated with a knowing smirk. "That's a lot of blood on yours hands, Soldiers of the Theocracy."

"BE SILENT YOU IGNORANT BEAST!" a random soldier yelled.

"Soldier!" Londes yelled in a voice of reprimanding and fear.

"No, Londes! We have done the work of the Gods by killing these heathens! And I will not be judged by a bunch of filthy beastma-GHRA!" the knight yelled zealously, right up to the moment he felt something constricting and cutting into his neck.

"Well, that's about all I need," Discord said with a shrug and a flick of his hand. All at once, vines shot out of the ground below the false knights. Vines that were pitch black and covered in thorns.

"Sister, are those...?" Luna asked suspiciously at the distinctly familiar plants.

"Yes. Plunder Vines," Celestia confirmed grimly.

The knight hacked and wacked at the plants trying to ensnare them, but plunder vines were tough. It took more than one swing to cut through even a thin one and under Discord's power, they grew rapidly.

"You bastard!" the loudmouthed knight yelled as a comrade managed to severe the grip on his neck, running to the enemy with some strange, stubborn hope of killing him.

Discord looked up and the vines shot out from either side of him, impaling his would-be attacker through the gullet, the vines worming their way up through the torso and right into the brain as they shredded organs and snaked around bones.

"Sun, Moon, we have runners," Discord called over his shoulder as several knights made to flee from the battle.

The armored sisters saw them, three of their enemies running for their lives and clearly terrified.

They hesitated, for a second, but then the word echoed in their ears. Villages, Discord had claimed, and none had denied it. They had not prevented a tragedy or even minimized it by coming here. They had just...ended it.

They resolved themselves, intent on ending it and teleporting behind them. Luna raised an outstretched hand, sending a gust of wind that sent the men tumbling off their feet. Celestia used her magic to telekinetically pull a discarded sword to her hand. The ponies of the earth coursed through her veins as she hurled the weapon, landing it in the back of one foe, strong enough to go through the armor and emerge out the front.

Luna made short work of the other two, sending out two sickle-like blades of magic, lopping one's head off and cutting diagonally half-way through the other.

Discord smiled softly while witnessing this. It was good they hesitated to kill enemies that had chosen to flee. If they hadn't, he'd start to worry about the killer instincts consuming them. Still, it was time to wrap this up.

With a snap his fingers, his little plants were instantly like iron and chainsaws. The agonized death screams of the knights echoed over the village of Carne as they were ripped and shredded, their blood soaking into the earth they had already stained with innocent blood today.

The plunder vines began to recede into the ground while Celestia and Luna walked back to Discord, who turned towards the clearly scared but partially relieved villagers. The mortal humans stared up at the overwhelmingly tall humanoid creature, flanked by two females of a slightly short stature yet garbed in what they could only think of as divine armor.

"Apologies for the mess," Discord offered offhandedly, breaking the ice the best way he knew: by ignoring it entirely. "But it should be safe to go home and bury your dead now."

That seemed to shock some of them back to their senses. "P-pardon my rudeness, but why would you save us?" one man asked nervously.

Discord could almost feel the confusion and worry the Alicorn princesses had in realizing these humans were still scared of them after being saved. "You should keep your ears open, Chief of Carne," Discord suggested, making a show of pretending to pick his ear for a second as the man and his wife flinched. "I said we made a home nearby and wondered what was going on, and that was what I meant. After that?" Discord paused as he looked up, considering his answer.

As he felt Celestia and Luna turn their attention on him, he shrugged and decided to tell the truth. "I was under the impression that helping someone in danger was common sense."

The suspiciously magnanimous answer shocked humans and Alicorns alike, but for different reasons.

As the survivors of the slaughter began to whisper among themselves, Discord decided to throw a line out. "That said, I also thought you wouldn't mind explaining some things to me, Chief."

"E-explain, sir?" the villager asked in surprise.

Discord chuckled. "I'm new to these lands, and my information seems a bit outdated."

The Chief blinked as the villagers all shared looks of surprise. "You just want information?" he clarified cautiously, getting a nod in response. The survivors all gained looks of relief and surprise at the claim. "I...would gladly share what little I can, Sir...?"

"Droc."

Timeskip

Celestia watched as the sun slowly inched across the clear sky. It was strange; she could feel some connection to this great sphere of light, just like the one she had wielded for millennia, but she could not move it. It was on an entirely fixed course. An unnervingly similar feeling to the Cozy Glow incident, but Discord had vaguely warned them about this some time before the big jump. Something she'd have to ask Discord about, she supposed.

Along with what they were still doing here.

Celestia was not above helping people with her own muscle and magic, but beyond piling the cadavers of all the knights outside the village, there wasn't much to help anymore. They had already helped repair a few houses and she personally saw to the fence she broke. Most of the villagers that had been harmed had died by the end of the battle, so there was few to heal to begin with. All that was left to do was prepare the burials. The ages had taught her that it was often best not to help with that in these settings, as a stranger. A savior perhaps, but she did not know these people or their dead. Burying one's own was something that had been universal in her world among nearly all creatures and she wasn't prepared to say even that wasn't true here until she learned otherwise.

So here she stood at the edge of the village, glancing out to the open plains beyond, as if the world had its arms wide open to embrace them with all its wonder and horror.

"That's the last of the bodies, in addition to an odor spell to nullify the stench for a few days," Luna announced as she came to join her. "Are they still talking?"

Celestia looked down at the armor covering her little sister, and knew it was a craftsmanship of beauty and intimidation. "About what, I can't be sure," Celestia answered with a sigh. "...Sister, what did we do?" Celestia asked softly.

Luna's shoulders sagged while she deeply wished they had a silence ward of some kind. Unfortunately, instant and discrete warding was not a skill either of them had picked up. That was Twilight's area, unsurprisingly. "What we had to, Sister. Or that's what I thought at the time," Luna responded.

"I haven't killed in hundreds of years," Celestia admitted in an exhausted voice. "I just...I saw them and knew that they wanted nothing more than to kill us, to kill Di-Droc."

"The same is true for me. And the thought of them laying a hand on him...I saw red," Luna confessed. "He is not weak though. Diminished, finite, but not impotent."

"But he'd never let us know if he was," Celestia countered, looking away sorrowfully. "He risked everything to save us and he still helps us. Losing him isn't an option for me. I don't know if its me, this new body, or sharing a mind but..." Celestia trailed off with a lost voice.

"It is true for me as well, more I imagine. I doubt it was intentional, but he made his fall from grace a public event. Every creature in Canterlot knows who saved them and have some idea of what it cost him," Luna agreed solemnly. "The ones that ran away though...I killed them for those they had butchered," she added in a dark tone.

"What kind of gods condone this behavior?" Celestia asked rhetorically, practically spitting the question out.

"Ones that are either fake or not here."

They turned and saw Discord stalking up to them with a tired yet amused look. "Is it wrong I want to steal Twilight's talent for teleporting, just for the weekends?" Discord inquired with a laugh.

Both mares looked to each other for a moment at that. "You can't teleport?" Celestia asked in concern.

"As much as I never thought I'd say this, having to walk doesn't make me a cripple. And yes, I can teleport, but that mare can naturally spam that spell like I can only do while unnerfed," Discord explained with a shrug as he let a mostly comfortable pause come over them. "I can practically taste the awkwardness, so ask away."

"Did you learn anything from him?" Luna asked curiously.

"How much did you hear?" Celestia added uncertainly.

"Enough," Discord answered vaguely as he reached up to massage the bridge of his nose. "He confirmed everything I already knew, giving me an excuse to know it, while expanded on a few points I didn't know."

"Excuse for whom?" Luna inquired with a scowl under her helmet.

"Everyone in this world that comes snooping," Discord supplied readily.

"Does this have something to do with our sudden use of code names?" Luna asked in confusion.

"Honestly, no, but, well, it's one part plausible deniability, but I had doubts they'd react well to a name like Discord," he explained with an eye roll. "As for our situation, we're smack dab in the middle of three countries and none of them really like each other."

"Yes, you seemed to already be aware of that, somehow," Celestia noted with a hint of dryness.

"Another something you were researching in your seclusion?" Luna inquired exasperation.

Discord glanced at both of them with a raised eyebrow before smirking coolly. "I'm a very old being, ladies. And as you know, age begets certain qualities," he informed, drawing their attention. "Between the passing of time and traveling between entirely different worlds, I grew annoyed of keeping track and up to date on the history and culture, or lack there of, wherever I went. So, I did the only reasonable thing: I made...a spell of sorts," Discord explained ominously.

"...What kind of spell?" Luna asked after a pause, almost unable to believe that Discord was actually revealing how some of his abilities worked.

"The kind that allows me to absorb knowledge from somebody's mind," Discord answered bluntly, feeling their startled reaction. "I won't lie. I killed a few people making that. Too much power made the brain explode and too deep of a read lead to complete mental death and the information was never complete with just one person. I was a young being back than, but I didn't particularly like leaving a corpse trail for the sake of learning about a place. So I changed the method: It reads the surface knowledge of every sapient creature in a given area and shares with me what is, essentially, common knowledge for them," Discord concluded, patiently waiting for them to digest this.

They were stunned to say the least. By the information or who it was given by, they really weren't sure which. "That's how you adapted to modern society so well," Celestia concluded as her mind raced. "And-"

"And how I knew who the elements of harmony all were. By the point you all knew me, I had perfected the technique and with my powers, I had it passively on almost always and had limited its requirements in terms of how many needing to know something while broadening its scope without harming the mind," Discord confirmed with a nod. "Twilight and her friends knew each other fairly well by that point, as did you, Celestia. It wasn't hard to pick up their general natures between seven minds."

"And now?" Celestia inquired curiously.

Discord groaned softly. "Among other things, I did it when I struck the ground with my tail. Can't have that thing on passively and I need about a dozen people to clearly know the same something to learn it myself. So, much more limiting, but it gives us something to work with. I have the general geopolitical layout, the names of the countries and locations and other fairly useful stuff," he explained before chuckling. "But all the fake knights knew they were just impersonating Baharuth Knights from the Slane Theocracy and the names of their two commanders, so I did learn that."

"...I wish I had words, but I do not. I am in awe," Luna admitted in fond amusement.

"What was their goal in all this?" Celestia questioned in distaste. "Was this to fabricate an incident to cause a war between two rivals of their country?"

"I would have assumed so, but the Kingdom and Empire already are on bad terms, to say the least. There was a more specific target in this mess," Discord explained before frowning. "Speaking of which, we have company. Act natural until I give us some privacy."

The two immortals were confused by the instruction until a voice greeted them. "E-excuse me, Lord Droc? Ladies Sun and Moon?" They all turned to see a villager approaching them with a nervous but grateful look upon his face. "Might I have a moment of your time to express my gratitude to our saviors?" he inquired humbly.

Celestia and Luna rose brows as Discord nodded to the human to come closer. The female alicorns became more confused as Discord spun a finger to subtly put up a silencing ward. "There, no one can hear us without me know, but do keep the disguise up," Discord instructed.

"Disguise..." Celestia repeated as she turned to the villager, a man approaching elder years with graying hair and thread bare cloths.

"King Thorax sends his regards, Princess," the "human" answered in lieu of explanation.

"Please tell me there wasn't an incident back in Canterlot while we were here," Luna requested grimly.

"No, Princesses. My king merely ordered us here in case you need assistance. My name is Caleph, by the way," he introduced with a smile.

"Us?" Luna repeated knowingly, wondering how many changelings were already in hiding. "How did Thorax arrange for reinforcements so quickly?" Luna asked curiously

"Hivemind," Discord answered fondly, practically grinning. The changeling hivemind was a fairly unique specimen in his experience. It was also why he didn't just discordize some changelings outside the hive when Fluttershy and the others all got kidnapped by Chrysalis: That would have either not worked at all or completely wrecked those creatures and their children for...ever, probably. "You wouldn't have revealed yourself without a reason," Discord commented knowingly. "And if its not in Canterlot..."

Caleph nodded with a scowl. "The others are hiding in the forest, Sir. We've avoided some...confrontations with the wildlife, but there are two groups of humans nearby," he informed severely.

"Two? Are you sure they're not just traveling separately?" Celestia asked as the mood turned dark.

Caleph nodded firmly. "One group is radiating purely malicious intent towards the other and has been lying in wait in the forest since before we arrived. The second just recently arrived and is giving off emotions of anger, sorrow, and ...determination, I believe," he elaborated.

"The rescue team and an ambush for them," Discord summarized, stroking his goatee. "Which means that they at least think the one they're after is in this responding team."

"King Thorax and Prince Pharynx were wondering how you would like to deal with this," Caleph answered inquisitively, tilting his head at the former chaos lord.

"Leave the ones approaching alone," Discord answered thoughtfully. "As for the rest of our zealous new friends..."

The three watched as Discord stared up at the sky, contemplating Harmony could only guess what about their current situation. "Caleph, exactly how many of you are there?" Discord asked with a scrunched brow.

"Fifty," Caleph answered instantly. "The enemy, I believe are only half that count."

Discord gave off something between a growl and hum as he absorbed that. "...We've already showed off enough for the day," Discord decided, nodding to himself.

"We do nothing than?" Luna questioned in surprise.

"Didn't say that," Discord answered in with a small, devilish smirk on his lips to the disguised creature. "Pharynx, everyling?"

Caleph blinked, both at the words and at feeling so many in the hivemind suddenly staring through his link so intently, hanging on Discord's everyword.

"Batter Up."

Timeskip

As the sun began to descend on the horizon, Gazef Stronoff wasn't sure what to make of the surreal image confronting him. He and his entourage entered a village, mercifully not destroyed, but had been greeted with a pile of empire knights piled outside of it. Now, in the center, stood four figures. One man, a farmer he believed,...and three beastmen, horse folk to be exact, but with horns. Two were covered in the greatest armor he had ever laid eyes upon and flanking a third. A much taller and completely unarmored third beastman, almost taller standing taller than Gazef was on his horse, that had, of all things, an amused smile on his face.

"Chief Warrior," the human called with a respectful tone. "I am the Chief of this village. These three, who saved my people and our home, desire an audience with you," he informed.

"You saved this village?" Gazef repeated, looking intently on the imposing creatures.

"Well, the Theocracy will never be friends of ours, I'm sure, so what's one more strike," Discord offered with a shrug as the rest of the human soldiers looked on cautiously. "My name is Droc. These are my companions, Sun and Moon. And I believe we have a lot to talk about, Gazef Stronoff."