Chapter Only
It had been such a pleasantly normal day in Canterlot before the sky tore itself open.
Princess Twilight Sparkle had dealt with a few busybody nobleponies, signed off on some new public works projects, and listened to the concerns and complaints of her citizens in the open court: all run-of-the-mill daily duties for Equestria's reigning princess. Better still, today was one of her Summit Days, which meant her friends would be coming to visit her to discuss matters of state, and more importantly, to hang out and relax, giving them all a little time to unwind and catch up. Twilight had just set the table for tea in anticipation of their arrival when her ears involuntarily swiveled towards the distinctive sound of ponies screaming in the streets.
Taking to her wings, Twilight raced out of the castle as fast as she could manage, but was frozen in horrified fascination at the sight which awaited her.
A great tear had opened in the sky, like a great quill had been poked through the parchment of the sky. Within the tear an angry red light shown, casting Equestria in a strangely dark glow. Twilight saw beyond the red a series of colors and shapes that caressed her retinas and tickled her brain with a loving caress of madness, and she slammed her eyes shut in response. She was driven to carefully open her eyes again when she realized she could now hear another sound apart from ponies screaming.
Someone was laughing. It was a high-pitched, screaming cackle of a laugh that seemed to echo from all directions and teased her ears with the same madness the rift had visited upon her eyes. Twilight's eyes went wide and she whipped her head around, searching for the source of the maniacal noise. She saw no source for the noise, but she did spot something much more pleasant.
"TWILIGHT!" her friends were all galloping (or flying, in Rainbow Dash's case) towards her at high speed, and she raced to meet them.
"Girls!" she cried as they all met on the cobbled street just outside the palace grounds. Pinkie Pie rushed forward in a blur of pink and snatched Twilight into a bone-crushing hug.
"Hiya, Twilight! What's new?" she said as if it was their normal teatime meeting. Applejack and Rainbow Dash approached next, concern etching both their faces.
"Ah think we can save catchin' up fer later, Pinkie. Twi, what's goin' on? What's up with the sky?" Applejack inquired, prying Pinkie away from Twilight as gently as she could. Twilight shook her head.
"I have no idea, but I already feel a lot better knowing you girls are here to help me deal with it." she said with a smile. Her friends smiled back at her, but an ear-piercing laugh from the sky above them shattered their good feelings.
"Wow, what a nice sentiment!" the voice seemed to shout as they all turned to look at its source. There above them floated a being unlike anything any of them had ever seen. It was a bright yellow triangle wearing a top hat and bow tie, with four thin pitch-black limbs, a cane, and a single wide eye staring at them malevolently. It had no mouth, but every time the voice spoke the strange creature would pulse with yellow light in time to the voice, leaving Twilight quite certain it was the one who was speaking.
"What's next? Are you all going to sing a song about how friendship will always win the day?" the triangle mocked.
"Nah, we'll save the song for after we've blasted you with our rainbow laser of friendship!" Pinkie exclaimed helpfully.
The triangle seemed to pause a moment.
"You... you're serious, aren't you? That's actually how you think this is gonna go!" the triangle laughed again, "Oh, this should be fun! First I get to give all of you namby-pamby critters a reality check, then I get to start my reshaping of the multiverse! There's no dumb weirdness bubble keeping me locked in place this time!"
Twilight spread her hooves beneath her, firming up her stance as her friends gathered around her, preparing to overcome yet another evildoer the way they always had.
"I'm not certain what you mean," she admitted, "but we're not going to let you get away with whatever you're planning!"
This elicited more laughter from the triangle. "Oh please, pony princess, you're embarrassing yourself!"
"Am I?" she asked, and nodded to her friends. She felt the magic of her connection to them begin to warm her from the inside, and she saw they were beginning to glow with the ethereal light of Harmony. She began to smile, almost involuntarily, as the warmth of their love and friendship filled her to bursting. But before it could overflow towards their foe in a torrent of raw magical power, she felt the magic falter. Confused, Twilight glanced around. Four of her friends were suspended off the ground, but not buoyed by the light of Harmony. Instead, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were glowing an eerie red, and their eyes were rolling back in their heads, tinged a sickly yellow. She gazed back at the triangle in open-mouthed shock.
"Yeah, no." the triangle said, "I have no idea whether whatever you were about to do would have affected me or not, and I'm not about to waste time finding out. The only reason I'm here is because some multiverse-meddling morons want me to kill somebody here. Luckily for you," the triangle's eye seemed to sneer, "it's not you! Unluckily for you, well, you're the first stop on my new train of Weirdmageddon!"
Twilight felt a strange sensation overtake her then, and she swiftly blacked out.
"Discord?"
Twilight awoke to Fluttershy's voice. Her mind was hazy, and she couldn't for the life of her understand why she seemed to have fallen asleep on the pavement. Blearily, she blinked her eyes and stood up. She was in Canterlot, and everything looked as it always had. Her friends were all around her, most of them lying unconscious or just beginning to stir, but Fluttershy was standing among them all, looking fearfully about.
Twilight stood slowly and approached her timid friend. "Fluttershy? W-what happened?" she asked hazily.
Fluttershy's gaze shot in Twilight's direction. "Twilight! You're okay! Please, help me find Discord!"
"Discord? Why?" Twilight's mind began to clear more fully, and in a flash of panicked realization she remembered the mysterious triangle creature. "That triangle thing! Where is it?! What happened?!"
Fluttershy was frantically scanning her surroundings as her words tumbled out of her in a rush, "He called himself Bill, he was here to kill Discord! He wanted to use me to make sure Discord showed up! Now they're both gone!"
"Kill Discord? Why would he-"
"I don't know, Twilight! Just help me look, please! Discord? Discord?!" Fluttershy seemed nearly frantic now, and Twilight decided helping her friend was more important right now than figuring out what had happened. As Twilight looked around, she noticed something strange: a single scroll, unrolled, moving with a faint crinkling sound in the light breeze. She would have sworn it hadn't been there moments ago.
"Fluttershy?" Twilight said, and gestured vaguely at the scroll. Fluttershy trotted slowly over to it before taking it in her hooves and beginning to read. She stayed completely silent for several long moments, moments which Twilight used to rouse their other friends. When she looked back over at Fluttershy, she was still sitting with the scroll, holding very still. Twilight approached Fluttershy slowly from behind.
"Fluttershy? What is it? What does it- Fluttershy!" Twilight gasped her friend's name when she saw that silent tears were pouring down her face like twin waterfalls. The gasp seemed to reach Fluttershy, as she snapped her attention to Twilight, leaving her grief-stricken face bare for all her friends to see. They held frozen like that for a minute. Fluttershy's lips parted to let out a quiet whimper, which then built slowly to a moan, and then to a scream, and she flung herself violently at her friends, clinging to them fiercely with one forehoof and beating at their chests and backs with surprising force with the other. Twilight, caught in the brunt of Fluttershy's grip, was horrified. She had seen Fluttershy cry numerous times, but it had never been anything like this. Her other friends all gaped at her, and Twilight found herself picking up the scroll with her magic and bringing it to where she could just read it over Fluttershy's violently quaking shoulder.
My Dearest Fluttershy,
I am afraid I probably won't survive to see you alive and well again. Don't get me wrong my dear, you look lovely as a tapestry, but I must admit I prefer the genuine article any day, and this Bill fellow's tastes are much too broody for me at the best of times.
I'm joking, of course, about the tapestry, but sadly not about my probable death. Say what you will about this particular interdimensional interloper, but he does have the power to back him up, and I daresay it may be more than I can handle. Still, if I'm right, I'll be more than able to send him back to where he came from and ensure he never troubles Equestria again before I'm gone.
Honestly, if I knew you were safe before I died, I think that would make it all completely worth it to me.
I suppose this is goodbye then, Fluttershy. I do hope somehow we can see each other again someday.
Much Love Always,
Discord
P.S. Do tell the others I say goodbye to them as well, won't you?
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity gazed at the letter before them, eyes wide and growing wet.
"He... he didn't." Rainbow Dash murmured. A few tears leaked down her cheeks. She took no notice of them.
"I... I do believe he did." Rarity intoned. Her mascara was running. It didn't matter.
"He saved us." Applejack finished. She pushed her hat down over her eyes. "All of us."
The friends gathered around Fluttershy, holding her tightly as she wailed her sorrow to the world, each of them quietly sobbing along.