> Doctor Whoof presents:Discord in Time! > by Muleicous > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Epilogue... Wait. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Blue... Blue... Blue... Blue... That’s all I see... Every day. It’s like an endless sea of pure blueberry juice. Hmmm, note to self: Blueberry juice filled trees. One buck and SQUISH! Hehe, yes... nice. “Oh, hello! Yes you, the person reading this. Yes you! Any idea what’s going on? No? Good, then I’ve got someone to talk to for a while. I know you can’t see me, and I can’t hear you, so this will be a one sided conversation. Unless you want to talk to your computer screen, and if you do I suggest you do it with no one around to hear you. Any way, where are my manners? My name is Discord, Lord of Chaos in the Land of Equestria. Ever heard of it? You probably have, otherwise why read something on a fan-fiction website?” I yawn as I close my eyes, “What? I had to break up the text... Head’s up, new paragraph below!” “Oh, before we go any further, have you read Doctor Whoof: Day of Discord? No? Well, I think you should otherwise this fanfic will spoil it for you. I’ll wait...” sits back as I pull a glass of chocolate milk from behind me, I drink the glass and throw it into the big swirling Time Vortex and it disappears. “Wonder what that did? You’re back? Good! So, you’re probably wondering ‘Hey Discord, where are you and why are you talking to us through this fanfic?’” “Well,” I begin, pulling out a bubble pipe and putting on a monocle, “ the answer to the first question is that I’m in the Time Vortex. It’s pretty much the place where time and space meet, so people are able to travel time using it. I’m in here because it was the only way to stop a certain... Pony that you’ll meet soon.” the pipe and monocle turn into cats that fall into the Time Vortex, and I look at you, “They’ll be fine. As to why I’m using this fanfic to talk to you... Well, I got bored so I asked the author to write up the details of my exciting adventures through time and space! That, and they took down my Youtube account.” “SO! Without further interruptions, it’s time for Discord in Time! I’ll just... have to go and do some adventuring... Maybe put that blueberry juice tree idea into effect...” We now return you to your normal format... Blackspine had no clue how long he had been trapped in this Celestia forsaken place. It felt like minutes and years at the same time, but he knew it couldn’t be more then a month or two. The blood red colt had never felt so enraged in his life, and he knew who to blame for it all. It wasn’t that bumbling Doctor, or his companions, or even the Elements of Harmony... No, it was his former master, it was Discord. “That piece of slime stabbed me in the back,” Blackspine said to nopony, “and all because I had to brain wash those... those animals into giving up their Elements. And then he helped the Time Lord, The Doctor. He got us both locked in this hell!” “And why should you have to suffer?” a voice echoed in the pony’s ears. “What?! Who’s there?!” Blackspine used the wings he had grown to save his life to turn, but saw nopony... Not a soul. The colt looked at the feathered wings with disgust, they had been made with Discord’s powers... The powers that Blackspine truly deserved! “You could take them Blackspine Mulecious...”the voice seemed far away, but Blackspine felt as if he could feel someone breathing on the back of his neck. “Find the Draconequus, and I will help you exact your revenge.” “How?” the red colt’s eyes became pinpricks at the mention of vengeance against Discord. “Let us just say, I am very skilled at navigating time. A master at it, if you would.” The voice chuckled, as if it had told the pony a joke. “Tell me where to go, and I will go there... Just promise me I’ll get justice.” “I promise... Now ride, he is close!” And with that, Blackspine flew through the Time Vortex. His blood boiling with new found energy, and new found anger. *** Discord had never really liked the Time Vortex too much, it always had rules to it. You can’t go back into your own time line... You can’t change important events in time... You can’t play polka music on Sunday’s or the last day of March, it all just seemed like too much for a god of chaos. Then again, it was Celestia who made it, her and Luna. Discord really didn’t hate the two princess ponies, in fact he was always fond of Celly. It was just that they never let him do anything fun, even harmless stuff like his trademark cotton candy clouds got the alicorn sisters after him. “I mean, it’s not like Celly and Lulu don’t know what fun is... Well, Lulu mite not, but Celestia does.” Discord seemed to lay down on his stomach, even though he was floating in mid air, “Maybe I went too far trying to control all of Manehattan, and forcing them to do an all pegasus version on Hair.” Suddenly, Discord felt the vortex shift around him. A second traveler was making their way towards the Chaos God, and he knew exactly who it was. “I can’t let Blackspine get close to me... Not after I almost lost that little battle of wills in Canterlot.” The draconequus’ head spun on his neck, searching for an exit until his eyes came across something very rare. A thin part of the Time Vortex, a way for those who didn’t have a time machine to get out of the worm hole. This was Discord’s only chance... And he took it. He flew to the thin wall as quick as lightning, then phased right through just in time to escape his hunter. *** Ponyville... three days after Discord was sent to the vortex. “Lyra!” Bon-bon yelled, throwing the door to her marefriend’s study open, “How many times do I have to say it? If you want a cookie, take one. Not the whole tray!” The mint green unicorn was sitting at her desk, looking up at her cream colored marefriend. “I’m sorry BB,” Lyra said, a half eaten cookie in her hoof, “you know how good your food is. I just can’t take one, it’s addicting.” Bon-bon blushed, knowing that her beloved was just trying to butter her up, “I don’t care, those cookies where for the party Pinkie Pie’s planing for. You know, the one for that new brown clot.” “Oh yeah... What’s his name? Daryl? Dunkin? Devo?” Lyra munched on the cookie, the book she was reading still open to the page on humans in Equestrian legends. “The Doctor...” The cream colored pony cocked her head to the side, “You know, you could be practicing your lyre instead of reading up on your hobby.” Lyra looked down and dog eared the page she was on, then closed the book and placed it on the shelf next to her. The mint unicorn then kissed Bon-bon on the cheek. “Only when you stop making those cookies, sweet cheeks.” was Lyra’s only reply. Bon-bon couldn’t help but blush, she was happy she moved in when Lyra asked her to. The sweets maker felt like it was the best decision she had ever made, aside from putting a dash of vanilla in her chocolate chip cookies. Bon-bon walked back into the kitchen, getting the ingredients out to make another batch of sweets. She had already made about six dozen, but knowing how Pinkie made parties... Well, she just knew that they would need more. “So,” Lyra called from the living room, “why does Pinkie ask you to make this stuff? Doesn’t she live with the Cakes?” “Yes, but she knows that nopony makes cookies like me.” Bon-bon began to mix up the batter for the cookies, then a green aura enveloped the spoon and her marefriend took over stirring. “Now that’s scary.” the musician unicorn said, stepping next to the cream colored pony. “What?” “Pinkie Pie being smart and hiring you.” Lyra replied, blushing softly as she looked out the window. “So... About what we where talking about last night.” Bon-bon’s eyes went wide and she turned to her marefriend, “Lyra... We barely make enough to... What’s that?” the sweets maker pointed out the window, at a large flaming object hurtling towards their home. “It looks like a comet... Coming straight for us!” Lyra stopped stirring and grabbed Bon-bon with her magic, making a run for the door. However, once outside the two knew there was no need. The flaming object’s fall had been broken by a giant blob of cotton candy. Suddenly, Discord popped out of it and raised his hands. “Um... Can somepony help me out of here? Please?” > Chapter 1: Senseless Adventures in Time and Space! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Senseless Adventures in Time and Space! Discord sat in a slightly uncomfortable chair, his lion’s paw holding a cup of warm tea as he looked across the room at Lyra and Bon-bon. The two ponies eyed the Chaos God cautiously, their hooves also holding tea. Each of them took an awkward sip, first Discord then Lyra and Bon-bon. It went on like this for about an hour, until finally Discord spoke up. “Lovely place you have here,” the draconequus looked at the clock, “is that from Trottingham?” “Yes...” Bon-bon answered, “So... Why are yo-” “WHAT’RE YOU DOING HERE?!” Lyra yelled, using her magic to keep the tea from falling to the ground. Discord jumped back a bit, the mint unicorn actually managed to surprise him. “Well, it’s a long story...” after a few more hours of awkward tea sipping and story telling, Discord finally summed it up , “...And then I found a weak part of the Time Vortex, and well, here we are.” Needless to say, the two ponies had their mouths gapping by the end of the tale. Finally, Bon-bon spoke up. “That was... Interesting. But I have a question, why don’t you just use your powers to fight off this Blackspine character?” “A good question,” the God of Chaos paused to finish off his tea, then snapped his fingers to fill the cup with hot chocolate, “you see, Blackspine and I have a psychic link since I gave him a bit of my ability. After the incident in Canterlot, he has found a way to steal more of my powers. If I where to fight him, or even summon anything chaotic around him, he would just suck more of my magic from me.” Discord smiled, then took a sip of the the cup, leaving only the hot chocolate hovering in the air. He then tossed it to Bon-bon, which then turned into a baby duck in the cream colored pony’s lap. Lyra cocked her eyebrow, then glared at Discord. “You honestly think that we’re going to believe Discord, the Spirit of Disharmony? I mean, it’s not like you have some sort of pardon from Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna. Hay! I’d rather believe that you’re marrying the princess, and Twilight went crazy and is trying to turn you to stone!” Discord looked out the window, as if he was looking out at an audience of strange creatures. “You know, I really didn’t want to do this. But,” the Chaos God stood, cracking the knuckles on his eagle claw, “since you don’t, I’ll just have to burn your house down.” Just as the draconequus was about to snap his fingers, somepony knocked on the door. “Miss Lyra! Miss Bon-bon!” Dinky Hooves called out, “I’m here for my lessons!” Slowly, Discord walked to the door and opened it. He stood in front of the filly, using his old ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ trick. “Who dares to interrupt Discord, King of Chaos, whilst he is ruling his subjects! SPEAK!” The God of Chaos looked down, expecting the small grey foal to be trembling in fear. Instead, Dinky looked up at Discord and smiled softly. “My mommy’s a friend of The Doctor’s.” the foal said matter-of-factly. Discord stood there for a moment, trying very hard not to slap himself in the forehead... Then after facehoofing himself, he moved to the side to let Dinky in. Lyra walked up to the foal and smiled, visibly trying not to laugh as the little filly walked into the kitchen. Bon-bon followed Dinky, a look of pure confusion on her face as she prepared to start the grey pony’s baking lesson. “The great and powerful Discord, the King of Chaos, and you can’t even scare a little filly.” Lyra said, snickering between every other word, “So, what about burning our house down?” Discord sat back in the uncomfortable chair and summoned another cup of hot chocolate. “Meh, I wasn’t really gonna do it anyway.” the draconequus finished another cup, literally, and threw the liquid at the wall behind him. It turned into a portrait of an Ursa Minor on a unicycle juggling small fish. Lyra took a moment to admire the painting, it wasn’t half bad considering it was made from delicious chocolate beverage. “So, you don’t really hate ponies... Like you said.” the mint pony asked, noting Discord’s nod, “And you really are being chased my a maniac with magic powers?” another nod, “Well... Mother bucker.” “Lyra!” Bon-bon yelled from the kitchen doorway, “Not when Dinky’s here! Really, such language...” The cream colored baker returned to her teachings, trying to make the grey foal understand that there was such a thing as too much vanilla in a cake. The mint pony just shook her hoof at the wall separating the two rooms, “Wouldn’t I like to turn her to stone some days, but Celestia do I love that pony.” Discord couldn’t help but laugh, “Now that sounded a little forced, wouldn’t you say?” The Chaos God disappeared, the reappeared behind Lyra, “Maybe, you and I are very similar creatures after all Lyra Heartstring.” “W...What does that mean?” the musician asked, a little afraid to move, “And how do you...” “Know your name?” Discord finished, “Well, I’m a God after all. Each and every pony has a little piece of me inside their hearts.” The draconequus batted his eyes mockingly, then chuckled, “As for us being similar,” Discord slid closer to the mint pony, his lips inches from her ear as he whispered, “I can give you the freedom you truly want. No more rules, no more Bon-bon saying,” The Chaos God’s head morphed to look like Lyra’s marefriend’s face, “‘Lyra don’t do this, Lyra don’t do that... Lyra, I’m not ready to make our relationship public. Lyra... I’m not ready to get a ring on my hoof.” Discord’s face returned to normal, “All you have to do, is come with me.” Lyra pondered this for a moment, it was true that she wanted to get the last of her adventurous side out. She had never truly been away from Ponyville since she answered Bon-bon’s room mate add in the paper. But she couldn’t just up and leave without telling her marefriend, they where in the middle of... Of what? Of Bon-bon being ok with sex, but not ok with publicly hugging each other? With Bon-bon kissing her good night, but not even a peck on the cheek when Lyra had to get on a train to Canterlot last year for the Gala? At this rate, it would be twenty year before the two of them tied the knot. Maybe... Just this once... “Discord,” the mint pony looked at the Chaos God, who was flossing his teeth with a piece of paper with the words 'Magna Carta’ written on it, “I’ll come with you, as long as we’re back here by tomorrow. According to your story, this time tunnel thingy can let just do that... Right?” “Absolutely,” Discord lied, he knew he’d gotten lucky finding one thin wall in time, but two right next to each other was unheard of. “I give you my word as... Well, me.” Lyra nodded and turned towards the kitchen. “Bon-bon! I’m goin’ out, ok?” the mint pony teleported her saddle bags onto her back and pulled a few books into them. Hopefully, Bon-bon wouldn’t notice them gone for a while. “I’ll probably be back late!” “Ok Lyra, I’ll see you to... No Dinky! Don’t put baking soda in with that!” Lyra could see from the door that the little grey foal had found the vinegar. The cream colored mare would be mopping all night, it was too perfect. From behind Lyra, Discord chuckled at the damage he caused. Sometimes small chaos was the most satisfying, “Let’s go.” he whispered to his new ally, and the two quietly slipped out the door. Slowly, the two started to fade and where pulled into the Time Vortex... *** Blackspine landed on the roof of the small Ponyville house, the smell of cookies and vinegar heavy in the air. "I smell is energy,"the voice said weakly in Blackspine’s head, "Discord is close."The blood red pegasus slid off the roof and quickly entered the home, the walls of the house decorated with photos of a pair of ponies: one was a mint green unicorn, the other was a cream colored earth pony with a dark blue and pink mane. “Lyra? Is that you?” Bon-bon called out, “I sent Dinky home early, so now we have the whole afternoon to ourselves.” The earth pony smiled sassily as she walked in from the kitchen, but her smile was soon replaced my a frown and a confused look in her eyes. “Who are you? Where’s Lyra?!” “I’m looking for Discord.” Blackspine took a step toward’s the cream colored pony, “Where is he? Tell me now!” Bon-bon shrinked back, she knew that this pony seemed like trouble but now she knew exactly who he was. “I... I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she answered, looking for something to defend herself with. However, Blackspine teleported over to Bon-bon and stared into her eyes. The blood red pony’s own eyes had changed, one iris was red and the other was blue, a side effect of absorbing some of the powers of Discord. “Lie to me again Bon-bon LeGateau. I dare you...” Mulecious waited a few moments, then he smiled the most dark, threatening smile Bon-bon had ever seen cross a pony’s face. “Now tell me, Where.Is. Discord!?” To be continued... --- Author’s note: Hey guy’s Muleicous here. Just a couple of things I want to say. First off, I want to thank you for reading this story... Thank you. XD Second, the bit where Lyra says that she’d believe Discord marrying Celestia over Discord’s story is actually a nod to Legacy55‘s story An Unlikely Couple. It’s a great story, and it’s probably much better at portraying Discord then this story, lulz. (Did I just troll myself?) So, go check it out a bit. Till next time! > Chapter 2: Just can't wait to be Caesar! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just can't wait to be Caesar! Lyra kicked her legs hard against the tide, her magic helping her to shore slowly. Discord, on the other had, was floating by lazily with his oversized sunglasses on. The two had barely been inside the Time Vortex for a few seconds (at least it felt like seconds) before they fell through another thin wall in time, but this time the hole lead them right to a vast ocean. “Hey,” Discord said as his mint colored companion crawled onto the sandy beach, “it could be worse... We could’ve landed in the Canterlot Dungeons.” Lyra looked up at the draconequus, panting in frustration. “At least the dungeons are dry...” She popped open her saddle bags to check on her books, which where still dry as a bone. “Well, last time I try and cheer you up.” the Chaos God crossed his arms, then looked around at the deserted sandy shores. “Any idea where we are?” “No clue... And I thought you knew where we were going!” the musician pony at Discord angrily, “You said you’ld take me to find humans.” “I didn’t say that, I said you should have a little bit of freedom before shackling yourself to miss 'prim and proper’.” Discord yawned, and snapped his fingers. A small, black device with a touch screen fell out of the sky and into his hand. “I’ll check our location with my DPS.” “DPS?” Lyra shot the draconequus a confused look. “Discord Positioning System, my little pony.” he pressed a few places on the screen and smiled, “Ah huh! We’re on the island of Muleta, birth place of Democracy.” “Demo-what?” the mint pony continued to look confused, scratching her back with a stick she had found. “Democracy, it’s where you vote for the person ruling you. It was very popular in Equestria, until the last person they elected made them so mad they revolted.” Discord tossed his DPS into the sea, where it morphed into a small shark. “Who was that?” the unicorn asked, then regretted it as Discord pointed to himself, “Wait... Ponies voted for you to rule them?” “You ever hear of anyponies from back then? No? That’s why.” The Chaos God cracked his neck and began walking towards what seemed like a small grey path. Suddenly, a chariot roared towards him and halted just inches from the draconequus’ feet. There where two earth ponies in silver armor pulling the cart, the tops of their helmets had what looked like push brooms on top. Standing on the cart was a young male foal, no more then ten, who wore a white toga over his grey coat. “You there!” the foal called, “Dost thou know that trespassing upon my beach is a travesty punishable by death?!” The foal seemed to use the 'Royal Canterlot Voice’, but with a deep accent behind it. “Nope,” Discord answered simply, then turned around to face his companion, “Lyra! Did you know that this beach belonged to tiny over here?!” “No!” she answered, then teleported to her ally’s side. “Ok, nope. Sorry mister...” By this time, the foal was fuming with anger. His fiery red mane looked as if it had actually burst into flames. “Hooficus! My name is Hooficus the Second! Son of the great and powerful Hooficus Caesar, lord of all he sees. And you two, shall be locked in the dungeon till thy bones rot! Guards!” Quickly, Discord tried to snap his fingers, but the two guards where fast. One of them head butted the Chaos God and then tackled him down, knocking the draconequus out. As Lyra rushed at that guard, the second one clobbered the mint unicorn on the back of the head to bring her down quick. The last sound the two heard was the snickering of Hooficus II, as he loomed over their bodies like a giant. *** “Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!” the crowd called as Discord opened his eyes, the draconequus felt the ropes that tied him to the column as he tried to walk away. He looked to his right and saw Lyra, already awake and with a strange blue goo covering her horn. “Discord,” Lyra called, “You awake?” “Yeah,” he replied, “I could’ve gone for five more minutes but I knew you wouldn’t just let me sleep.” “Now really isn’t the time for jokes. Can’t you phase through these things or something? Turn them into taffy, or make them melt?” “I would, If I could snap my fingers. Which is a bit hard to do when they tie this to your hands!” the Chaos God nodded to the two rocks which where secured to his palms. “What about your magic?” “I tried that, then they put this weird paste on my horn.” Lyra looked up and winced, “It’s all tingly but it hurts like a mother bucker at the same time!” As soon as she finished, the sound of trumpets blazed across them. The crowd cheered as a red colt with bronze armor walked up the steps towards them. His mane was white, and his eyes showed that he had lived many years, but his steps where strong as he walked towards the two prisoners. “I... Am Hooficus Caesar, lord of all I see.” the old colt began, “I work for the ponies, my ponies, and see that all laws are fair and just.” He paused, looking into Lyra’s eyes, “My son, Hooficus II, has told me that you two tried to attack him while he patrolled the eastern beach.” “That’s a lie!” the mint colored unicorn yelled, “That little brat told us that beach was his, then he sent his goons on us!” “Silence!” Hooficus called out, “I will not have my son’s name taken in vain... Especially by a mare.” “Oh... Now I’m mad!” Lyra pulled on her bonds, growling at the emperor as she tried to bite his muzzle. “I don’t care if you’re Celestia herself! I’m kicking your flank, you old sack of manure!” “Lyra! Calm down...” Discord said, his eyes on Hooficus, “he can have you be-headed just for that.” The old colt walked toward the draconequus, a small smile on his face. “Well well... You must be the one the winged colt told us about.” “Winged colt... With a green cape?” Discord asked. “Yes, Lord Blackspine I believe he was called. He dined with me, told me of a creature from our legends being real. He even told me of the source of your powers, your 'magic fingers’. However, he wanted us to turn you over to him if we saw him... I think it would be better if we left you here, tied to this stone for all time.” Hooficus turned towards the crowd of earth ponies, “What say you, fine ponies of Muleta!?” “Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!” was their response, calling out the name of their lord and master. Hooficus turned back towards the two prisoners. “You heard them, they wish for my will... And so, I shall fulfill their wishes. Guards!” More ponies in silver armor appeared from nowhere, small swords in their mouths aimed at Discord and Lyra. “Kill the mare... Leave the monster.” He then turned and began to walk away. “What? No!” Discord called, “Kill me, I’m the bigger threat!” This made Hooficus’ ears perk up. The old colt turned and eyed his prisoner suspiciously. “Why would you risk yourself for this... Cow? She has no value to you, so why?” Discord sighed and glared at the emperor, “Because I wont let anypony get hurt, whether they have value or not.” This just made the old colt laugh, “Yes, Lord Blackspine told us of this weakness... Fool... Kill them both then!” Slowly, the guards edged closer to Discord and Lyra, their swords shining in the sun light. Inch by inch they moved, until finally one of their blades pressed softly against Lyra coat. The silver of it clashing with the minty color of the unicorn. Then, the group of silver clad earth ponies raised their sword and yelled, their weapons slicing through the air. “Stop!” a voice from the crowd called, and the guards obeyed. Hooficus looked into the crowd with a grimace on his face, knowing which pony called for the halt in action. Slowly, a figure trotted to the top of the steps. This pony had a white toga on, but it clashed with the bright pink of her coat. Her mane was also pink, and was combed straight at an arrow, but what really brought attention to her where her big blue eyes. “Sister!” Hooficus called out, “What is the meaning of this? How dare you use your privilege to halt the will of the people?” “It isn’t their will, brother, but yours that I halt!” The pink pony called out, then turned to the crowd, “I ask only that these two are put on trial, what say you proud Muleta’s?” The crowd was silent for a moment, then slowly but surely voices rang out calling the pony’s name. “Hail Pietus! Hail Pietus! Hail Pietus!” *** Discord rubbed his eagle claw with his lion’s paw as he surveyed the room Pietus had brought him too. It was a large red room with a huge pool in the middle, and on the walls where torches with flames in every color of the rainbow. The draconequus turned just in time to see Lyra walking in, dressed in a toga to cover her saddle bags. Following her was their savior, Pietus Pinkamin, younger sister of Hooficus Caesar. “How arth thou enjoying thy chambers, Discord of Equestria?” Pietus asked, smiling softly. “Hmmm... could use a fridge.” he answered, then Lyra jammed her elbow into his ribs. “It’s beautiful Pinkie... um... Pietus.” the mint pony blushed as she corrected herself. “Pray tell, who is this Pinkie you continue to mistake me for?” the royal pony asked, “If she looks so similar to me, she must be of my blood.” “Well... You wouldn’t believe us if we told you...” Lyra walked over to one of the torches and tilted her head, “How does it burn blue?” “Oh, now that’s is very interesting,” Pietus began, “each of these torches burn for one of our gods. The blue one is for Draggle and Reeka, the goddesses of the sea, while the red one is for Ambrus, the god of the sun.” “Cool... Our sun’s controlled by Cel...” Discord placed his paw over Lyra’s mouth quickly, and pulled her away with out Pietus noticing. “Do you want to cause a time paradox?!” he whispered harshly, “If we mention Celestia, don’t you think that’ll mess us history even more then we already have? I mean, I’m all for causing a little chaos, but I’d rather not destroy time.” Lyra nodded after a while, then slipped out of Discord’s grasp. “So, Pietus... Why did you save us?” Lyra asked, walking back toward the pink pony, “I get that your brother’s kind of a jerk, but it’s a little confusing why you’ld risk you neck for us.” Pietus turned towards her new friend, a soft smile on her face. “It is actually very simple Miss Lyra. Over the past two year, my brother was a just ruler who put the ponies before himself. However, that changed last harvest season, when our island was visited by a strange colt. He claimed to have the powers of a god, yet he had no horn as our mages do. He did have wings and a strange look in his eyes...” “Blackspine,” Discord said, his hands behind his head as he floated in the air, “he must’ve passed us by somehow and ended up here.” “Indeed,” Pietus continued, “my brother and I dined with this Lord Blackspine, he seemed civil enough for some time. It was when my brother’s son, Hooficus the Second, joined us that thing became strange. After that dinner... My brother changed, he began to take orders from my nephew instead of the ponies.” “So,” Lyra sat on one of the couches, “you saved us to help you stop your brother?” “Yes,” Pietus nodded and smiled wide, “I know it’s presumptuous, but could you two please aid me? If you do, then I shall give you a full pardon of thy crimes, or at least what my brother called crimes.” At this point, Discord had sneaked out of the room with nopony noticing his absence. The Chaos God slinked down the halls of the lage palace, his mind reaching out to try and find Emperor Hooficus’ room. Finally, he found the room of the Caesar at the end of the hall and phased in. The room was a dark blue color and small, nearly the opposite of Pietus’ room. However, Discord quickly noticed something that was out of place... A small, round, metal ear piece. It looked like an ordinary hearing aid from Equestria, but they wheren’t in Equestria. In fact, Equestria wouldn’t be discovered for another sixty thousand years! “So, why are you here little ear piece...” Discord said to himself, “or should I ask you that, Hooficus Two?”The draconequus turned to face the grey foal, their eyes meeting in an angry stare. “Or am I asking the wrong person?” Hooficus II started to laugh, a deep throated familiar laugh. Slowly, the torches in the room started to go out one by one, enveloping the chamber in complete darkness. It felt like hours before the touches re-lit themselves, but once they did Hooficus’ son was gone. In his place was the blood red colt with a green cape, Blackspine Mulecious. “Hello... 'master’” the pegasus snorted at his former god, “I see you’ve found out my secret quiet fast, didn’t you?” “After hearing Pietus’ story, it was pretty obvious that you took control of the kid’s body.” Discord smiled sinisterly, feeling Blackspine trying to drill into his mind and steal more of his power, “By the way, where is the little brat?” “Oh, he’s safe... Unlike your new friends.” the blood red colt tapped his hoof on the marble floor, causing one of the walls to open. Behind it, Lyra and Pietus where hanging by a thin rope over a large cliff. Holding the rope was Hooficus and a few of his guards, their eyes pure white and pupil-less as they clenched the rope in their teeth. Discord took a quick step towards his hanging allies, but was cut off when Blackspine teleported in front of the draconequus. Mulecious held a young grey foal by the scruff of his neck, the real Hooficus II. Near by was a levitating knife, slowly inching its way to the young child’s neck. “Tsk, tsk, tsk Discord,” the blood red pegasus said, “you know better then that. You have to choose: the boy or your allies.” The two stared off at each other, Discord’s mind desperately trying to divulge a plan as he looked from the foal to Lyra and Pietus. “Of course, there is a way that you can avoid losing all of them... Just give me the power that I deserve!” The Chaos God kept his defenses up, but he could feel the mental digging of Blackspine’s mind getting deeper and deeper into his own. He knew there was a way out, some how, some way... Then he saw Lyra’s horn glow. The mint colored unicorn nodded to him, and Discord turned to his former follower. “I could do that... But will you allow me one last request?” “Of course, anything you want as long as it’s no ‘let everypony go.’” Blackspine mocked Discord’s voice perfectly, he had learned to use many of the Spirit of Chaos’ powers. Quickly, Discord snapped his fingers and produced a glass of chocolate milk, and slowly started to drink the milk. He left the glass intact, and his eyes narrowed as he threw it at Blackspine. The blood red pony flinched, but as the glass was inches away from his face it shattered and turned into a tall apple tree. “Blackspine, I’d like you to meet Bloomberg.” Discord said as one of the tree’s apples dropped. The apple, much like the last apples the Chaos God had contact with, where about the size of a medium sized colt’s head. The red fruit landed on the pegasus’ head hard, knocking him out, and giving Lyra enough time to finish her spell and teleport Pietus and herself into the room. The draconequus then snapped his fingers, and a small cage captured the knocked out Blackspine. “Well,” Lyra said, turning to Discord, “took ya long enough.” “Hey, I had to finish my drink.” he replied. *** “...So that’s how I figured out Blackspine was brain washing you with some sort of sound from the ear piece.” Discord finished his story, he layed on a cloud and picked his teeth with his eagle claw. “Nothing too big.” Hooficus, his son, and Lyra all had hats on and hid behind one of the many couches in Pietus’ room. The pink pony herself was out, Hooficus told her that she should take a walk on the beach to ease her nerves. “That’s all well and good Lord Discord,” Hooficus replied, “but I believe Miss Lyra said that everypony should be silent.” “But I’m not a pony.” Discord quipped back, but lowered himself behind the couch anyway. The draconequus didn’t feel like arguing, not today at least. Suddenly, the small door to the room opened and Pietus walked in. “Hello? Brother? Lyra?” “SURPRISE!!!”, everypony in the room called out as the torches all lit up brightly. The pinky pony looked around the room and saw her friend, her brother and nephew, even a lot of the royal guards had on strange party hats and plates with cake slices on them. Suddenly, Pietus felt something strange over come her, something warm filled her heart and slowly started to explode out of her. As soon as the party guests yelled surprise, Pietus Pinkamin’s mane became poofy like cotton candy and she started to bounce in place. Then, three balloons appeared on her flank, the pink pony had finally gotten her cutie mark. *** Hour later, Lyra and Discord had sneaked away from the party and disappeared back into the Time Vortex. Blackspine had seen them from the window of is cell, but the blood red pony did not become enraged. Instead, he laughed as the door to his cell opened, a cloaked figure unlocking it with a key in it’s teeth. “Very good my apprentice... very good.” Mulecious said, then he began to laugh. His laugh echoed through the dungeons of Muleta, until he and his follower disappeared into the Vortex themselves. To be continued... > Chapter 3: D&D! (part 1) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- D&D! (part 1) “I will never get used to that...” Lyra said as she looked down at her lunch. The Time Vortex always seemed to make her sick to her stomach, and the minty green unicorn somehow knew this wouldn’t be the last time she would toss her cookies. As she struggled to her feet, Lyra noticed Discord walking towards her... with his head completely upside down. “You think you have it bad?” The Chaos God laughed as he twisted his head back to normal, his chuckles filling the air as he knelt next to his pony companion. “So,” Lyra said, her knees wobbling as she fought to keep balance, “Are we lost again or do you actually know where we are?” “Well let’s see...” the draconequus snapped his fingers and summoned his DPS once more, his eyes skimming over the details of the small map. “According to this we’re at the edge of Canterlot... Just a few months after we left.” “Wait what? How?!” The unicorn raced past Discord and shook her head as she saw Canterlot Castle clinging to the side of Mount Mare. “Well, time has a weird way of moving, especially in the Time Vortex. It could seem like only a few days to us, but here it could be years... even centuries!” Discord smiled at the chaotic nature of the Time Vortex. “With out the right ship to go through it, we’re basically at the mercy of time’s whims. I thought you understood that when we wound up in ancient Equestria.” “I just... well...” Lyra looked up, catching her traveling companion snickering, “Shut up! At least I don’t look like the back of an Ursa Minor’s ass.” “True, that would be Bon-bon.” Discord started to laugh, but was then pulled down and forced to look Lyra in the eyes. “Say...that... again. I dare you.” “Alright alright, sorry.” The draconequus stood up and dusted himself off, “I keep forgetting how touchy you ponies are when it comes to love. Anyway, let’s get going. I want to see how my old castle is doing without me standing in the gardens.” Lyra cocked her head to the side, “Don’t ya think that if anypony sees you they’ll... you know, freak out?” Discord looked down at himself, the mix of various creature parts would make for a very odd reaction. Not to mention what Celly or Luna would to if they saw him out and about, after all the last time they saw him he was kind of hypnotizing them. “You have a good point...” the draconequus scratched his chin with his lion’s paw, then snapped the talons of his eagle claw. Slowly, Discord’s arms and legs morphed into hooves and legs, his wings disappeared and his fur changed completely to grey. The Chaos God’s mismatched horns then shrank, just as he cracked his neck. If Lyra hadn’t known any better, the tall grew pony in front of her could’ve been just somepony normal. Well, except for one detail. “No cutie mark Discord?” the green unicorn asked. “Oh... right...” Discord tapped his front hooves together and a large, green balloon with a twisted purple string appeared on his flank. “Call me... Silly-String.” The two then started for the huge city ahead of them, Lyra trying had not to laugh at how normal Discord looked as a pony. *** Princess Celestia stood in the Hall of Harmony, the part of the palace where stain glass windows of various events in Equestrian history where, looking at the face of her old enemy. Discord, immortalized in paint and glass, stood between the images of the two alicorn sisters as they defeated him. However, that was before Twilight Sparkle and her friends wielded the six gems, before Celestia had learned that she and Luna where no longer able to use the magic stored within them. As much as the princess of the sun loved her star pupil, it still pained her to see Twilight use the Element of Magic. Not because she realized that the little purple unicorn would one day grow up and leave her teacher, but because Celestia knew that meant Nightmare Moon was still somewhere inside poor Luna. That was the only explanation of why the Elements rejected them that made sense to the ruler of Equestria. “Luna...” Celestia sighed, her eyes closed. “Yes, Big Sister?” the moon princess called from the other end of the hall. Celestia jumped at the sound of her little sister’s voice, nearly sending a blast of magic at the medium sized alicorn. “Lulu don’t do that!” she shouted, instantly regretting it as a hurt look formed in Luna’s eye, “I’m sorry dear sister, but please be careful... You sacred me half to death.” “I’m sorry Celestia...” the dark blue alicorn looked down at her front hooves, “I was looking for you because... I felt something...” “What do you mean?” Celestia asked, leaning her head down to nuzzle her sister’s. The princess knew that Luna’s odd feelings where not to be taken likely, much like those of Twilight’s friend Pinkie Pie. However, while Miss Pie’s ‘Pinkie Sense’ could be set off by both good and bad future events, Luna’s feelings always meant something bad was soon to come. “I felt... Cold.” Luna began, “As if I was back on the moon, but with out the weightlessness. It was the same feeling I had when... When the Chaotic One attacked.” Celestia felt her spine tingle at the mention of Discord, especially from her little sister. Luna, thought brave as the next pony, often shied away from mentioning the draconequus. It was a bad day for her, and Celestia had always thought that the day the first defeated the Spirit of Chaos was the day Nightmare Moon first appeared in the moon princess’ mind. “Should I have the guard set up a double watch tonight?” the sun princess asked her sister. Luna nodded, “It would make me feel at ease dear sister... Especially with the reports from General Stormbreaker.” As if on cue, a white unicorn in black armor stepped into the hall. His hoof beats sounded loud and powerful, like a herd of buffalo followed him. A scar from the Pony/Griffon wars covered his eye, a scratch he had gotten that caused his right eye to go blind. As he approached the two matriarchs, the general bowed his head in respect. “Your highnesses,” Stormbreaker began, “the reports from Appleloosa where true. We found the strange creatures, but we had a slight problem with the brown colt you mentioned.” “Problem?” Celestia asked, cocking her head to the side. “Yes, the pony known as The Doctor tried to interfear in Torchwhoof’s investigation...” “General, my sister and I allowed you to make Torchwhoof to protect Equestria from threats that the royal guard couldn’t handle, “Celestia’s eyes leveled with General Stormbreaker’s, “and The Doctor is not one of them. The next time he enters an investigation as well, he shall take over. Understood?” Stormbreaker’s gaze never wavered, his eyes, however, did narrow a bit as he spat out a quick, “Yes ma’am.” The unicorn then turned and left the Hall of Harmony to catch the next train back to Appleloosa, his thoughts full of ways to keep The Doctor out of his way... The brown colt was trouble all his own and Stormbreaker knew it. However, before the general could leave, the doors to the hall literally shattered apart. The large wood and metal doors turned to nothing but dust and tooth picks, and in the center of it all was the familiar shape of a tall, thin, draconequus. “Celly,” Discord said, his grin almost wider then his face, “I’m home!” *** Lyra smiled as she looked up at the familiar buildings of Canterlot, the blue skies of Equestria where a much better alternative for the swirling Time Vortex. Even Discord seemed a bit more calm, waiting more then five seconds before he turned the road under one pony’s hooves into oatmeal. The earth pony sunk slowly, yet at the same time enjoyed at taste of this particular trap. It reminded the mint green unicorn of a pony back home, that was strangely obsessed with pots of jelly. “So,” Lyra began, “any ideas on what to do here? I mean, Canterlot’s always been a really stuffy place.” The grey pony next to her yawned, he already felt tired of his old home. Maybe it was the fact that he was stuck in the body of a pony, or maybe it was that he was forced to actually walk instead of enjoying his usual levitation. Either way, it was effecting his creative side, “I’m not sure Lyra... I’ve pulled almost every prank in the book here, before I was turned to stone. Itching powder in the walls, exploding tea bags, hay! even the old ice cream on the horn trick!” “Wow, you’re a bit boring when you’re a pony...” the unicorn observed, then turned her eyes to the white unicorn with a long, flowing, blonde mane. “Isn’t that Prince Blueblood, Disc... um... Silly-String?” Discord’s ears perked up as he also saw the royal brat. He licked his lips and rubbed his front hooves in anticipation, “Oh this is going to be delicious...” the Spirit of Chaos chuckled, but just as he was about to tap his hooves on the ground a flash of light blinded him. Once he could see straight, the Chaos God turned pony and his companion fell to the ground laughing. Prince Blueblood, who obviously took care of his mane for at least three hours a day, now looked more like Pinkie Pie. The royal unicorn’s mane was bushy and nearly poofed up into a spike, and once he found this out the laughs kept coming. “WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MANE!” the prince called out, but his voice was extremely high and squeaky, like he was a small rat. “My voice! My beautiful voice!!!” Quickly, Prince Blueblood ran from the main street of Canterlot, with even the most stuffy pony laughing their top hat off. Slowly, after he recovered from his fit of laughing, Discord ruffled his brow in thought. Lyra, on the other hand, could still barely contain herself. “String! That was amazing!” the mint unicorn paused to laugh again, “That was probably your best prank yet, even that colt laughed!” Lyra pointed to a dark grey pony with a white mane, not recognizing the chuckling Hoity Toity. “That’s the thing, it wasn’t me.” Discord replied, his gaze turning to Canterlot Castle, “I mean, I was going to do it, or something better... But that looked more like... Like Celestia’s magic.” “What?” Lyra finally stopped laughing at the mention of Princess Celestia’s name, “Why would the princess pull a prank?” “That’s what I’m going to find out...” the Chaos God answered, and with that he and Lyra where off. Their hooves moving almost as fast as Rainbow Dash, slowing only when they got close to the palace. ----- Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day! > Chapter 5:D&D! (Part 3): Discord and Lyra's Excellent Adventure! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- D&D! (part 3) or Discord and Lyra’s Excellent Adventure! (Hey everypony, Muleicous here. This chapter, as well as the next, is based off an idea from Legacy55. He's another author here on FIMfiction, and tends to write great stories about everyone's favorite draconequus. If you want to go to his page, click here .) ------ Discord and Lyra flew through the Time Vortex like a bat out of hell, the mint green pony riding on the back of the draconequus. The Spirit of Chaos hand never felt this much pure adrenaline in his system since he was banished to this place by the Elements of Harmony, the memory of that day seemed so clear in his mind, but he pushed it to the back of his thoughts. He had to focus on the task at hand: finding his doppelganger before that Discord could harm the time line in anyway. “Discord,” Lyra said, breaking the Chaos God’s train of thought, “back at the palace you said this guy was like you, but he hurt those guard ponies...” “I never said he was exactly like me.” Discord replied, the wind (if the Time Vortex had wind) roaring in his ears, “I said he reminded me of my old self, the me who didn’t give a buck about anypony but myself.” The draconequus hoped that the green unicorn would accept his lies at face value, otherwise he would have to explain himself... Explain why he hadn’t killed the other Discord right away like Stormbreaker had suggested. Finally, he saw a familiar red tail quickly diving into a second hole in time. Discord took his chance and plunged right after him, Lyra using all her magical strength just to stay on her draconequus friend’s back. *** Celestia Beambright sighed as was walked into the tavern on the edge of the city of Canterlot. The white alicorn hid herself deeper in her large, ragged cloak once she saw how many grey armored ponies where in the large building, apparently someone had the guards that The Dancing Griffon was the closest thing to a headquarters that the resistance had. She knew that it would be suicide to run, it would just tell these monsters that she was part of the traitors. So, Celestia took a seat at the bar instead. “What’ll it be?” a pale yellow colt with a light brown mane asked her. “Cider Joe, the biggest mug of cider you have.” she answered. Cider Joe was an old friend of Celestia’s, he had always been an ally to the resistance and even thought up the code phrases for the various members to use. “Sorry ma’am,” Joe said, absent mindedly polishing a mug with his magic, “we’re all out of cider. I’d suggest some apple whiskey, maybe a nice mug of Haven-Hoofed.” Celly nodded, the code meant that Luna had taken the other freedom fighters to their hide out in the Everfree Forest. Joe brought out a shot of Haven-Hoofed whiskey and she drank it down fast, the brown liquid burnt her throat but left a sweet after taste on her tongue. “Thanks.” “Not a problem Celestia.” Joe said, just as the ten guard ponies blocked her only exit. The white alicorn turned to her former ally, a shocked look breaking out of her face. “J... Joe?” She asked. “Sorry Celestia,” the bar-tending pony wiped the yellow paint from his face, reveling a more greyed shade of fur underneath. “He got to me, and he’ll get to you. Nopony can stop Lord Discord, don’t you see that?” Joe took a step towards his old friend, pulling the tattered cloak off of her. The alicorn was indeed the one the guards where looking for: sun cutie mark, long rainbow-like mane, taller then most ponies, and one of the only two ponies with both wings and a horn. “Cease the traitor!” the captain of the guard cried, his wings flapping out as he charged toward Celestia. The alicorn closed her eyes, mouthing th words ‘I’m sorry’ as a brilliantly bright, white light erupted from her horn and blinded the guards and Cider Joe. It took a few moments for the group of ponies to actually see again, but Cider Joe knew what had just happened. He stumbled for the door, but his front hooves got caught on a guard’s suit of armor and he tripped. “She escaped! She went to Everfree!” Joe called out, his normally loyal nature was gone now, maybe forever. However, he didn’t care, all the bar tender unicorn wanted to do was serve his lord and master now. His Lord Discord was the only friend he needed. *** Lyra’s eyes opened slowly, but once she saw where they were the mint green unicorn wished she had never met Discord. The musician unicorn was, once again, tied to something, this time a strong oak tree, and her magic didn’t seem to be working. In front of her was a small, dark blue pony with a crescent moon cutie mark, she wings folded by her sides as her horn was pointed straight at Lyra’s belly. “Thou hast awakened, good.” Luna said, her eyes full of burning rage, “Then thou can stand trial for thy crimes against thy own race.” Lyra couldn’t believe what she had just heard, “Crimes against my race? I’ve never been cruel to ponies! Not even the last jerk who tied me up! And why are you talking like that princess? Why do you look like you did after Twilight and her friend’s beat Nightmare Moon out of you? Oh, and before I forget, WHY AM I TIED UP!?” Before the mint colored pony could say anymore, the dark blue alicorn used a spell that made Lyra tongue tied... literally. The knot her tongue was in wasn’t painful, but it did make it impossible for Lyra to ask anymore questions. “We shall ask the questions knave! And... one moment, did thou just call us princess?” Luna blushed for a moment, the only one who had ever called her princess was her father. Surely this common unicorn couldn’t have met the old king, but she did fall out of the sky. “What dost thou know of thy Royal Family? Speak now!” The alicorn released the tongue tie spell, but kept her magic at the ready. “Family?” Lyra asked, “Why should I tell you anything?! You tied me up! And where’s Discord? Is this how you treat everypony who saved your flank? It would explain why Pinkie’s so nutty.” “Hmmm... We see that thou hast inquiries as well.” Luna placed a hoof to her chin as she pondered, then smiled. “Fine then, we shall answer one question if thou answers one as well.” Lyra nodded, “Fine... Well, the royal family right?” the mint pony watched as Luna nodded, “There’s you, Princess Celestia, and... A couple of other ponies. Prince Blueblood, but I’m pretty sure you and him arn’t related too closely. You’re more level headed then he is.” “What of our father? And mother? Do you know where the chaotic one has them?” “Your mom and dad?” Lyra cocked her head to the side questioningly, “Well, I know that the king died in the...” “Don’t tell her anything!” Discord’s voice echoed through the trees. Lyra turned to the right and saw a group of ponies (three unicorns, a pegasus, and two earth ponies) trying to surround the draconequus, but Discord kept teleporting out of their way. “Silence monster!” Luna cried, galloping at Lyra’s friend as fast as she could. “Thous hast not corrupted this child! Thou shall not corrupt us!” Her horn came close to his side, but the Chaos God quickly dodged it. He smiled as Luna came at him again and again, blasting at him with her magic before trying to cut him with her sharp horn. It was an enjoyable game that he vaguely remembered playing once before, with very disastrous results for him. Just as Discord began to reminisce about his old days, the lunar princess saw an opening. She quickly shot a paralyzing spell at the draconequus’ legs, making them stiff as stone and causing Discord to trip and fall backwards. The Spirit of Chaos raised his lion paw, getting ready to snap his fingers and fight back as Luna stepped closer. “Well well,” the dark blue alicorn smiled, “the Spirit of Chaos brought down by a little filly like us. We wont spare you the knowledge of your fate Discord, we shall tell it to you. We shall blast thou apart, piece by piece... Just like you did to our guards. Our friends, and most likely our parents. Enjoy eternity draconequus, and give our thanks to Death.” Discord sighed, a look of boredom and resignation on his face. He didn’t want to hurt Luna, but it seemed like he had no choice. Slowly, the Chaos God placed the ends of his lion paw together. “LUNA! STOP!” a deep, dark voice cried from the skies. Everypony looked up to see the bright white form of Celestia, slowly floating down from her spot in the heavens. “No sister! He must be punished!” the lunar alicorn called out, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. However, Celestia landed in front of her sister and wrapped her white wings around Luna. This made the small alicorn sob hard, nuzzling her older sister’s chest as she herself shuttered in sorrow. “Its been years, sister... Years...” “I know Lulu,” Celestia said, calling her little sister by her pet name, “I know, but we will find them. I know we will.” A single earth pony stepped forward, her bright green eyes shining in the dim light of the forest. “We’ll help you princess... All of us. We promise we wont stop till Discord’s dead as dust!” The draconequus cleared his throat, calling everypony’s attention to him. “Still here.” he said. “Oh, right.” the earth pony said, “Sorry... Wait!”The Chaos God couldn’t help but laugh as he regained the ability to move his legs. He stood and walked to Celestia, looking her in the eyes as if the two where talking. Nopony moved, all eyes where on the sun princess and the Spirit of Chaos. It felt like hours had passed, when it was only minutes, until finally the white alicorn nodded and turned toward the freedom fighters. “Untie our guest,” Celestia ordered, “we need to keep moving, and we’ll need all the help we can get to defeat Discord.” “Sister, he’s right there!” Luna cried, pointing at Discord, “We could stop him now!” “No Luna, this isn’t the same Discord that now lives in our old home.” Celestia walked past the draconequus, and used her pointed horn to slash through the ropes that held Lyra to the tree. “This one is different. I sense a deep sympathy for our kind, and regret for past actions. Even if he still has his chaotic nature, this Discord isn’t the one who turned Cider Joe against us... He isn’t the one who shattered our father and mother’s crown.” “Wait, shattered the crowns?” Discord asked, now floating inches above the ground, “I don’t remember destroying them. I wore them. I used them to taunt you until you two stole them from me.” The Chaos God shook his head, “Something’s wrong... Somepony’s changed our time line.” Lyra reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a large, hard covered book. The title, A Complete History of Equestria, was written in elegant cursive with gold letters. The unicorn quickly opened to the chapter on the ‘Chaotic Times’ as they where called, assuming that Discord and she had landed in the time when the princesses hadn’t taken control of Equestria. She skimmed through the chapter until she found the paragraph she was looking for: And so, Discord, Lord of Chaos and Disharmony, turned King and Queen Beambright into statues (much as he himself was) and stole the symbol of their authority. The crowns of the royal family, which he wore himself for a long part of the war. It wasn’t until the sixth month of the war, on the sixth day, when Celestia and Luna infiltrated the palace themselves to take back their birth rights. The crowns where then melted down by a blacksmith who lived in what is now modern Ponyville, and the gold was forged into five necklaces and a tiara. The jewels from the crown, which had known magical properties, where then placed into the jewelry. Thus the Elements of Harmony where... It was there that the paragraph stopped, the ink now fading on the rest of the letters. Unknown to Lyra, Discord had been reading over her shoulder. The draconequus’ eyes flooded with dread and he shook his head. He turned towards the princesses and other resistance fighters and frowned, “We need to attack the palace, now!” he said. “Why should we believe thou, monster?” Luna asked, glaring still, “Because our sister says you are different? Ha! Our sister has been wrong before...” “Luna... Please hold your tongue.” Celestia looked down at her little sister, a bit of shock in her eyes. Luna had never spoken like this before, it was like she was possessed by something. “No Celestia! We shall not hold back our words any longer!” the moon princess stepped forwards, “Give us one reason why we should believe thou.” Discord leaned down, glaring menacingly into Luna’s eyes. However, it was Lyra who spoke up. “Because we’re from the future,” she said, “And so is this book.” The mint unicorn tossed the open tome in front of the two alicorns, the word Celestia fading fast from the top of the page. Quickly, Luna flipped through the book using her magic, and found that the same thing was happening on every page. The words where slowly fading, as if the book was being erased and re-written. “Wh...What can we do?” Luna asked. “We need a plan.” Discord replied, he snapped his fingers and was now wearing a human army helmet on his head with his horns sticking out the sides. > Chapter 4:D&D! (part 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- D&D! (part 2) Celestia stood in awe, her eyes seemed glued to the draconequus who had destroyed the doors into the Hall of Harmony. Discord cracked his knuckles and walked towards the two alicorns and their unicorn general, his teeth showing in a psychotic smile. “Well,” the Chaos God began, “it looks like someone threw up in my old throne room. And what’s this?” Discord’s eyes rested on a familiar sight in the hall, the stained glass window depicting how Twilight Sparkle and her friends turned the draconequus into stone. “I’m actually impressed, you managed to find other ponies that could use the Elements... Which means that...” He turned to his old foes and snapped the claws on his eagle talon, teleporting Discord right in front of Luna. The blue alicorn gasped and backed away from her old enemy, “Leave us alone Discord! We don’t want to fight you, The Doctor told us about how you helped him defeat Blackspine just... Just please leave us in peace.” “Doctor? Doctor who?” Discord replied, scratching his head in confusion, “I don’t know what you’re talking about Luna, but I do know that a certain alicorn should hold her tongue about the Great Lord Blackspine. That is... before that alicorn looses her tongue.” With that, the draconequus let out a deep laugh from the back of his throat before he snapped his claws again. Suddenly, bars erupted from the castle floor, surrounding the three ponies in the room. The bars seemed to pulse as a large, grey metal roof grew out of them. “Now...” Discord turned toward the door where the Elements of Harmony where kept, “Time to redecorate.” *** Lyra panted as the two time travelers finally stopped to catch their breath. She and Discord, still disguised as Silly-String, had been running up the hill to Canterlot Castle for what seemed like hours. The entire time they passed some strange things, like that restaurant that turned into a giant pile of noodles topped with a thin layer of red sauce and that weird tiny, chubby pony that looked like Rainbow Dash if she where just a cute head with legs. “Discord,” Lyra said between deep breaths, “These all seem like your type of pranks... Are you sure that you didn’t mess with any of this stuff?” The ponyfied chaos god shook his head, he seemed to have more control over his breathing then the mint unicorn... Then again, he did have a flank load of magic. “No, I wish I could take credit for this stuff. But, it’s strange... It feels like my magic, but it obviously wasn’t me... which means it could only be... Blackspine!” With that, the grey pony resumed his charge up the hill at full speed. The musical unicorn sighed and began to trot after him, until she his her forehead with her own hoof. “I forgot I can teleport... Discord! I can teleport!” Lyra called after her companion, but he was out of ear shot, “Oh well, I’ll meet him up there.” She then closed her eyes and was enveloped by a blinding light, before she was quickly zapped to the front gates of the castle. *** As he finally reached his old castle, Discord skidded to a halt just as Lyra appeared next to him. “What took you so long?” “Oh nothing,” Lyra said, “just took in the sights, got a drink of water, and... oh yeah, REMEMBERED I COULD BUCKING TELEPORT!” “That’s nice...” Discord said, completely ignoring his minty green ally as he took a few steps towards the door of Canterlot Castle. Suddenly, the stone building flashed with a bright light and seemed to morph. The once bright white stones that made out the walls of the castle where now a dirty black color, the towers where now curved and twisted (one was actually twisted into a knot), and the tallest tower seemed to have a slide that looped and drop until it reached a new moat filled with lime green jello. “Ok, that tares it!” Discord shouted, shedding his pony form as he stormed through the doors of his former castle. “I can stand you taking my magic! I can stand you pulling pranks, especially of that caliber! But I will not, WILL NOT, let you steal my style of house decorating! No one steals tha...” The draconequus paused as he reached the Hall of Harmony, now transformed into a large throne room with his usual skull throne at the end of the huge corridor. Sitting on that throne was a draconequus, but not just any draconequus... It was him, Discord... The two chaos gods looked at each other with wide eyes as their mouths dropped to the floor. All the two could say was one simple phrase: “What the buck?” “Hey what’s up?” Lyra asked as she entered the room. Instead of seeing the obvious second draconequus in the room, the unicorn charged toward the three ponies in cages. “Princess Celestia! Princess Luna, are you two ok? Who did this to you?” The two royal alicorns pointed to the figure on the throne, and as Lyra turned she joined the two Discords in their wide eye stares. “You know what?” the Discord on the throne said, “For an obvious copy, you’re very handsome.” “Thank you for the compliment good sir,” the Discord that came in with Lyra answered, “but I think it’s obvious who the clone here is... Let’s just skip all this and go straight to the fight, what do you say old bean.” “Sounds like a plan... One second.” the sitting Discord pressed down on his gazelle horn, causing it to disappear into his skull, “Able to tell us apart Celly?” The princess just nodded to this, her eyes now wide as well. “Good... Now... Let’s have some fun.” The seated Discord snapped his claws and... *** Hello? Um... Hi everypony, this is Muleicous here. Now, I know a lot of you where probably expecting a big fight scene with the two Discords, right? Well, the thing is... I’m not too good at fight scenes... That and I deleted the old version of this scene and can’t remember how it went. So instead, enjoy this Haters Gonna Hate picture. We now resume out normal story, thank you for your time and patience. *** Discord stood over his foe, the four ponies cheering for him (which was a new experience for Celestia and Luna). Quickly, the good Discord (his gazelle horn showing) snapped his eagle claws and released the two princesses and their general. “That was amazing!” Lyra called out, “How did you pull Fluttershy out of the wall and make her attack him with that ax?” “Probably the same way he made lightning come out of his mouth... It was a good fight wasn’t it?” Discord said, smiling proudly, “I’d hate to be the guy who missed it.” “So,” Princess Celestia approached the now unconscious evil Discord, “What do we do with him?” “I say we finish the job,” Stormbreaker chimed in, he had been dead silent during the fight, “ we need to make sure he can’t hurt anypony else.” “Sorry general... But I have a better idea.” Discord replied, quickly seeing the rip in time near the wall of the room. The draconequus quickly pushed his doppelganger into the hole in space and time, letting him slip through. He then turned to Lyra and nodded, “We should probably go after him.” The mint unicorn nodded and jumped into the rip behind her companion. The two princesses looked at each other as their castle began to morph back to its normal state, and the two knew that this day was only beginning for their saviors. --- Authors Note: Hey everypony, Muleicous here. I just want to apologies for how late this chapter and the next where. I also want to apologies for this chapters... possible borringness(?). I was having problems with this one. Next week is The Iron Horse 's week, so expect to see the next chapter of Discord in Time! the week after next. Have a Great day, sighned, your humble author. > Chapter 6: Discord and Lyra's Excellent Adventure! (part 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discord and Lyra’s Excellent Adventure! (Part 2) (Once again, this was thanks to the idea that Legacy55 had on the fic, here's his page.) Discord, the past Discord, sat at his throne. He sipped his chocolate milk from a golden goblet as he looked out the giant, gaping hole in the wall of his fortress. Surveying the day, his steward walked up from behind and bowed grandly for his chaotic master. “Hail Discord, Lord of the Lawless, King of Chaos, Duke of...” “Blah, blah, blah Heartfelt,” the draconequus sighed in boredom, “tell me the news.” “Y... yes sire...” the grey pony said as he sat down in front of his master and cleared his throat, “It seems your forces have chased out all the interlopers and traitors that had infested the city.” “The wizard will be the judge of that Heartfelt... Bring him to me.” The Chaos God demanded, slamming his eagle’s claw against the arm of his chair. “Oh my... Y...Yes sire!” Heartfelt dashed to the open door behind his master, racing through the halls until he came upon the door to the tower where the one Discord had called the wizard lived. This tower had once been the living quarters of Star-Swirl the Bearded but now a more malevolent magician lived here. Heartfelt had always feared the tower, ever since the incident with the giant spider a few weeks before... “But I have to get over that...” Heartfelt whispered to himself, “I... I need to get the wizard, or master Discord will hurt me...” And so, Heartfelt slowly acceded the stone staircase to the top of the tower. *** Lyra had just had the most amazing dream. It had her and Bon-Bon in it... It was a warm summer day in Ponyville park and everypony she knew was sitting and waiting. They where all dressed up in fancy outfits, she could see Big Macintosh in a top hat, Rarity in a peach colored dress, even Pinkie Pie looked nice (considering she had chocolate cake all over her face and nopony seemed to notice). That’s when she realized that she was standing next to her sister, Octavia, and wearing a bow tie and tuxedo for some reason, and Princess Celestia was standing there too with a big book in front of her. Then, Bon-Bon walked into few... And she looked beautiful in her wedding dress. That’s when Discord woke her up by snapping his fingers, and causing a bucket of water to dump all over her. “Oh come on!” the mint pony called out, “This was my ONLY sleeping bag Discord!” The draconequus couldn’t help but laugh his arms off, literally. “I’m sorry Lyra, but it was too perfect! A classic.” Suddenly, Princess Luna emerged from the brush near the two and shot her floating foe with a paralyzation spell. “We knew of such!” the dark blue filly yelled, “We knew that thou couldn’t be trusted!” The princess turned toward Lyra, “Art thou unharmed, fair Lyra? We wished to stop him, however, our sister ordered us not to harm the foul beast.” “N...no, I’m ok.” The musician unicorn snickered a bit as her friend’s predicament, “You can unfreeze him Luna, he was just pulling a prank on us... um, me.” “Hmmm, if thou insists.” the alicorn’s horn shone as she unfroze Discord, “Consider that a warning, creature.” The princess then turned and walked towards the other resistance ponies in the camp, as Discord rubbed the back of his now sore head. “What’s her problem?” Lyra asked her friend. “Don’t ask...” Discord sighed, closing his eyes, “Let’s just say I wasn’t always a harmless prankster.” *** “Oh...dear...sweet... Discord...” Heartfelt gasped as she reached the top step. It had always felt like he was walking to the top of the mountain itself when he got to the top, but he wasn’t finished yet. The grey pony looked at the door in front of him in fear, shaking at the thought of who sat on the other side of that door. Still, if he didn’t get the wizard, the master... Heartfelt shuttered at the though before he knocked. “Entrude!” a booming voice called from the other side. Slowly, Heartfelt entered the dark room. The wizard didn’t seem to like light, so he hid himself in almost complete shadow as he worked. The room was so foreign the the steward that he bumped his hoof against a very heavy table and screamed. “Silence you fool! Can’t you tell that I’m working?!” “Oh, ah... I’m sorry sir...” Heartfelt forced out, “I... Lord Discord has asked for you...” The wizard sighed as the sounds of two sets of hooves walking came towards the door, “Very well,” the wizard replied, “lead on steward.” Heartfelt turned and looked down the stairs, sighing as he closed his eyes and started to flap his wings. At least, the pegasus though, the wizard doesn’t mind my flying as much as Lord Discord. *** Discord and Lyra sat next to Celestia as the meeting started, and all eyes where on the draconequus. They all still listened to their leaders, of course, but their thoughts where on the image of their enemy that sat near them. “I suppose you’re all wondering why Discord is among us?” Celestia asked, which the other freedom fighters answered with nods, “Well, it seems that the Discord from our time has begun upsetting the past enough that it is effecting the future.” This was met by many blank stares, “Perhaps I should explain..” “Allow me princess,” Lyra stood as she faced the crowd, “Um... Well, I’m Lyra Heartstrings, and I’m from Ponyville...” a few ponies called out ‘Hi Lyra’ from the crowd, “I’ve been traveling with Discord through time. I know that sound weird, but it’s true. Anyway, we where in Canterlot in our time and another Discord, the one from this time period, was there and wrecking everything. “We drove him out of our time,” the minty green pony continued, “but then he came back here, and ever since the book on Equestrian history that I brought with me has been rewriting itself. So, we think that if we over throw the Discord from this time one June 6th, when the book said the princesses took him down, then everything should go back to normal... So we need to get in that castle, stop the evil Discord and save Equestria! Who’s with me?!” The crowd was silent, all of them just sitting there and staring at the unicorn trying to stir them up. Lyra turned to sit back down, her head down in shame... Until the sound of somepony stamping their hooves loudly. Soon, a second and third pony joined them, then the entire crowd was stamping for Lyra. Even the princesses and Discord where applauding her loudly, Discord throwing in a few whistles and woots for his friend. The mint green pony stood there, her head held up as she looked to the sky. She had only one wish... That her Bon-Bon was there to see this. *** The wizard’s cloaked assistant looked out the hole in the castle wall, toward the forest, as if the cloaked pony was being called there. However, when its master stepped into the room, the cloaked pony stayed by his side like a filly clings to her older brother. The wizard walked slowly, until he stood in front of the Chaos God, Discord. “Good to see you’re doing well sorcerer,” Discord yawned in boredom, “I was just wondering if your advice has indeed worked as well as my steward has told me.” “Of course it has, you highness.” The magician bowed slowly, then looked up to the draconequus, “My predictions have come true, and you now hold all the power in Canterlot and Equestria. All you need to do now is out last the 6th day of the sixth month this year, and you shall remain in power for the next twenty thousand years.” Discord tented his fingers maliciously, looking out into the blue sky, “Excellent... I believe it is time to double the guard, and stop taking prisoners.” The wizard trotted to the hole in the wall, his red wings stretched out as his red and black hair blew in the breeze. “A very good idea, Lord Discord...” Blackspine smiled evilly as he kept his back turned, his plans going right on track. > Chapter 7: Discord and Lyra's Excellent Adventure! (part 3) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discord and Lyra’s Excellent Adventure! (Part 3) (Anypony know what I’m gonna put here? That thing about Legacy55 coming up with the idea for this fic? Yeah, it’s all true, and here's his page!) Lyra sneaked through the brush outside of Canterlot, leading a group of the freedom fighters to the meeting point. The mint green pony shuttered as she looked behind her at the starved looking ponies. Many of them hadn’t used magic to fight their entire lives, and this included Lyra. The musician unicorn sighed as her thoughts turned toward Bon-Bon again. She wished that her wonderful marefriend could be there to give her confidence, but if this battle didn’t turn in the resistance’s favor there mite not be a Bon-Bon... Lyra growled and stood just as a pair of Discorded guards walked by. The unicorn blasted them with a strong telekinetic wave of magic, sending the two armored ponies into a wall and knocking them out right away. Then Lyra sent up the signal, a single shot of pure green magic into the air. She hopped that the others weren’t too far behind. Just then, a second shot of magic erupted in the air, but this one was a dark blue color... Luna was in position. Seconds later, a rainbow colored magic beam shot into the air, Princess Celestia had given the sign to attack. Lyra reared back and called out, “CHARGE!” She galloped forward, blasting any guard she could see with her knock-back spells. She noticed how the earth ponies would run head on and buck the guards, while the unicorns other then herself would stay back and shoot knock out spells at the guards of heal the injured. Lyra would’ve looked up at the pegasi battling, but she had to stay focused. The fight would be a long one, each guard would shake off the spells eventually and keep on defending their despot until he was either over thrown, or the ponies themselves would die. The minty green unicorn shook her head, trying to erase the idea of anypony dying from her mind. She just charged at the ponies of the past and kept on blasting, trying to keep her thoughts on one thing and one thing alone... Bon-Bon. *** “There’s the signal princess.” a pegasus resistance fighter said as Lyra’s green shot flew into the air. Luna nodded and shot her own dark blue magical blast after, and kept her eyes to where her sister and that monster from the future where. Though her sister had told her that they needed to trust the future Discord, Luna Beambright had doubts about the beasts intentions. She felt that the monster could turn on them at any minute, teaming up with his past self and ruling all of Equestria with an iron paw. However, since Celestia was the eldest of the two alicorns, she had the full right to command the freedom fighters. “She had promised that she would consider our opinions on matters such as these.” Luna said under her breath, tightening her jaw as she breathed heavily. The lunar princess’ skin felt as if it was going to burn right off if the battle didn’t commence at once, and then she saw Celly’s rainbow beam shooting into the heavens. “ATTACK!” shouted Princess Luna, her wings spread as she took to the skies to aid the pegasi in battle. She had always preferred being along side the sky-loving ponies, it felt like they had a sort of kinship with her. The pegasi grouped up in a 'V’ formation as they flew, pulling up as they got close to a group of Discord’s aerial assaulters and letting a hail storm loose on their heads... Literally. The airborne ponies began to jump on the clouds above the enemy guard’s heads, letting the stored up lightning and hail strike and fall on their unsuspecting opponents. If Commander Hurricane could see them, Luna thought, he would be proud of his descendents. The princess, on the other hand, flew straight into the masses of grey guard ponies. The surrounded her, smiling and laughing at the small mare in front of them. “Ok men,” a female pegasus capitan called out, “you have your orders! Lord Discord wishes for all these traitors to be deposed of...” the mare looked into Luna’s eyes, “No prisoners.” As the hord of pegasi charged at the princess, Luna created a magical bubble around herself. The attackers who didn’t bounce right off of the shield became stuff, and that’s when the dark blue filly unleashed her fury. Luna cried out as she closed her eyes, her horn erupting in a light show of sparks. The sparks electrified the bubble, shocking the metal wearing guards into submission. Slowly, Luna started to relax, but this was short lived. Suddenly, the princess’ heart started to beat faster and faster, like she had just finished the Running of the Leaves. She felt her bones crack and grow quickly, and a black, velvety substance extending down her hooves and up her wings. Her mane became dusty and long, taking on the appearance of the night sky, and finally her horn grew to the size of her sisters. Nightmare Moon opened her eyes and laughed, her voice sounding like the cackle of some creature from before time began. “You think that you can defeat me so easily?!” the queen of darkness rushed at the capitan pegasus and lowered her head quickly. The guard capitan screamed, then coughed and gaged as her own blood filled her mouth. Nightmare Moon’s horn had gone straight through the capitan’s armor and lung, and to make matters worse the horn was still electrically charged. Moon sent another lightning spell through her horn, making the pegasus on the end of it dance in pain. The mare in the moon then lowered her head once more, letting the mare slip off her spear of a horn and through the air. The pegasus capitan looked up at her killer, just as the color was returning to her coat and mane. The cyan pegasus just smiled as she fell to the ground, her subordinates calling out her name. The guard capitan died smiling, happy just to be free. Soon, the princess returned to normal, her body reverting to a filly’s body. However, each of Discord’s pegasus guards turned tail and ran screaming while Luna returned to battle. *** Celestia shot her beam into the air and turned to Discord, the draconequus cracking the knuckles in his lion’s paw. “Discord...” the sun princess said, her eyes on the creature she had thought would always be her enemy, “do you know why it came to this?” Discord sighed, closing his eyes. He turned, an uncharacteristically serious look covering his face before he spoke. “You don’t remember when we met, do you Celly?” “It comes and goes... I remember you and Luna and I, but that is all.” Celestia Beambright took a step closer to her old enemy, her new ally. She studied his face for a sign that she was even close to being right. “Yeah,” Discord said with a heavy sigh, “all three of us where there. Is that really all you remember Celestia? Nothing else?” “No, I’m sorry.” the alicorn replied, a truly sad look in her eyes. Discord turned from her and nodded, “That’s ok... Are you ready?” Celestia nodded, then a bright white light enveloped her and the draconequus as they where teleported to the throne room of Discord’s fortress. *** Half of the throne room was dark and foreboding, while the other half didn’t seem to be there. Discord and Celestia took a few steps towards the gaping hole in the wall, the sounds and sights of battle could be seen all over and above Canterlot. “Do you like it?” a voice from behind the two called out. The past Discord stepped into view, a dark smiled on his lips as he glared at the two. “I thought you two, especially you... me, could appreciate the pure and utter chaos of something that hasn’t happened in centuries. Ponies fighting each other for something meaningless.” “Freedom isn’t meaningless Discord!” Celestia replied, her eyes staying on the creature in front of her, “Something you’ll apparently learn in time, according to your future self.” “Bah! What does he know? Or should it be ‘what do I know’?” the past draconequus put his eagle’s claw to his chin and thought for a moment, before waving it off, “Either way, I doubt that he can see how beautiful this moment is... I can thought. I can see the art of ponies bashing and bucking each other, the powerful dance of your friend Lyra wanting her poor Bon-Bon, the sight of your sister Luna loosing her mind, and, of course, the irony that I’m going to fight myself.” “What happened to you Dizzy?” the princess said as she walked towards the past Discord, “When we where children, we used to be friends. You never talked like this...” The past Discord’s eyes shot up and looked straight into Celestia’s, then he teleported to where his face was inches from hers. “WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF ME?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH CELLY?! DO YOU?!” the past draconequus snapped his claws and sent the alicorn princess flying into a wall, the sound of crunching bone filled the room. “You rejected me from your perfect life! You life of order and friendship! I don’t need your pity any more... Not yours... Not anypony’s...” He then turned to his future counter part. “I know that you can’t kill me, but I can still kill you!” He lunged at the future Discord, his claws bared. (From this point on, Discord, the good one, will be F.Discord. While past Discord will be P.Discord. Thank you, Muleicous) F.Discord snapped his claws, teleporting himself to the other side of the chamber as P.Discord fell out the gap in the wall. Knowing that he had little time, the draconequus from the future headed down the stair case to the main hall of the castle. F.Discord began to pant as he skidded to a halt in front of a pair of large, wooden doors. He knocked hard and waited, and then the small pegasus opened the door. Her coat was still a shade of bright yellow, while her mane was a bright pink. The filly smiled and looked up at the creature in front of her. “Hewwo Mistah Discowd.” the filly said, her big bright eyes shinning. “Hello Butterflight, is your papa home?” F.Discord asked, panting still as he tried to catch his breath. The little filly went inside and called for her father, Heartfelt, who dashed out the door and bowed as quickly as he could. “Please sire!” the grey pegasus pled, “Don’t punish my little girl for not bowing, I... I’ll do anything...” “Shut up and listen then,” the draconequus said, he knew he had no time to loose, “I need the jewels from Celestia and Luna’s crowns, now!” “Sire...” Heartfelt swallowed hard, “You told us to give the crystals to the wizard.” “Wizard? I never had a...” that’s when it hit F.Discord like a ton of bricks. he turned, facing the figures that he knew where going to be behind him. “Hello, Blackspine.” “Ah, Discord, good to see you.” the blood red pegasus smiled eerily as he dropped the bag in his teeth, the Elements of Harmony inside it. Behind the colt was the cloaked pony he called assistant, some how wrapping Discord’s past self in a large rope. (We now return to your normal way of saying Discord’s name, thank you.) “How did you...” “Your magic, ‘Lord’ Discord.” Blackspine said, his smiled growing, “I’ve almost gotten it all. At least from this one.” He nodded over to the Discord behind him. “Now... Surrender and I’ll end this war, today.” “The war’s going to end today either way, you bag of...” “Silence!” the malicious pony called out, “I’ve out smarted you Chaos God! I used the Time Vortex to my advantage, and this time I’m keeping my hold on the high ground... I doubt you could understand it all any way, draconequus...” “Oh?” Discord asked, “Try me.” “... With your powers, the ones I posses, I was able to ride the currents of time easily.” Blackspine closed his eyes for a moment and paused, picking his words carefully before he continued. “I was able to infiltrate your past self’s inner circle by pretending to be a wizard, it was pretty easy. All I had to do was contend with you and him,” the colt pointed at Heartfelt with his hoof, “After that, it was simp...” Suddenly, Blackspine was blasted away by a wave of rainbow magic. “Oh...be... quiet...” Celestia gritted her teeth as she leaned against a wall to support herself, “Am I late?” “Nope, right on time.” Discord said as he charged at the assistant. However, Blackspine had recovered quickly and tackled his former master hard, knocking them both into a wall. “You really though that Princess Celestia could defeat me?!” Blackspine smiled and laughed manically, “Especially now?! With a broken leg!” The colt bucked Discord in the chest, knocking the draconequus down before he could answer. Slowly, the Chaos God looked up at his former underling and smiled. “No... But I figured Lyra could...” he replied. Blackspine turned to see his assistant just standing there as the mint green unicorn used her magic to levitate the jewels to Princess Celestia and Luna. The Elements of Magic, Honesty, and Generosity landed on Celestia Beambright, while her sister gained the Elements of Loyalty and Kindness. However, the Element of Laughter just hovered in the air, as if it’s owner wasn’t present in the small chamber. Blackspine Mulicious began to laugh again, his eyes growing wide as he fell to his knees. “REALLY?!” the colt couldn’t hold back, “After all your plans and precautions, you’re stopped by THAT element?! The most useless element of all of them!? This is too rich!” Then, in a streek of light blue, the Element of Laughter flew past Blackspine’s head and landed on Discord’s neck. “Well...” Lyra sat down, just staring at the necklace on her friend, “I actually think I saw that coming...” Suddenly, the room filled with a bright light. Luna and Discord flew behind Celestia, and all three’s eyes turned bright white as a beam of rainbow energy careened toward’s Discord’s Past self and Blackspine. “Oh no! Not again!” the colt dashed through the main hall and grabbed his assistant, then plunged into a hole in time. However, past Discord couldn’t be saved. The rope that bound him broke, and just as he was standing to stretch the beam hit him and turned the draconequus to pure stone. *** Lyra and Discord left as soon as they could, after handing the Element of Laughter back to Celestia of course. The mint green unicorn smiled as she rode on her friend’s back through time, but still her thoughts wen to Bon-Bon. “Hey Discord...” Lyra said, “I... I think I want to go.” “Go where? We can go anywhere we want Lyra.” Discord smiled, their newest victory had made him feel invincible... Even if it was against himself. “Home, Discord.” the mint green unicorn finally choked up, “I want to go home. I miss Bon-Bon, and I want to at least... you know... Pop the question.” Discord screeched to a halt, even making the sounds of a cart screeching as it stopped. “Are... are you sure?” “Yeah... You can stay if you want. I think after I tell Bonny all the stories, about our traveling and stuff, that she’d be more then happy to let you stay in our house.” “You think?” the draconequus’ ears went up, he was getting a bit tired to running too. “Of course!” Lyra smiled. “Alright then! Next stop, Ponyville!” Next time, the furthest thing from Ponyville... > Bonus Chapter: Luna's Nightmare > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey everypony, author Muleicous here. You're all probably wondering what a 'bonus chapter' is. Well, in all honesty, this is a bit of a continuation of the last chapter. Why would I do this? Two reasons: 1) This chapter does not feature Discord and Lyra, it's more of a epilogue for the last chapter so it wont feature the two main characters. 2) Because I felt that I could've ended the last chapter a bit better, and this seems like a good way to finish things off. Ok, there is a third, secret reason why I made this bonus chapter. I wont tell you what it is exactly, but I'll give you a hint: it has to do with my on going series of Doctor Whooves fics called Doctor Whoof. That's all you're getting out of me for now. So, sit back, relax, and grab your favorite rich chocolaty dairy beverage, it's time to delve into Luna's Nightmare. *** Luna awoke with a scream, her eyes forced wide open as her heart pounded in her chest. The lunar princess had returned to her duties just a few days after Lyra and the beast left Canterlot, so the sun was streaming through her window. The princess sobbed softly as she held herself with her front hooves, but the more Luna tried to forget the horrible dream she had just awoken from, the more it came back to her in more and more detail. Suddenly, a knock came from the heavy wooden doors of the moon princess’ bedroom. “Princess Luna?” the voice of Heartfelt the pegasus called out, “Are you well princess? Is something the matter? May I come in?” Luna’s fear driven panting slowed as she called out to the pegasus to enter her chambers. Heartfelt looked the same as he did when Luna and her sister had taken the castle back, aside from his mane being a dark pink and his coat a bright yellow. “We are fine, squire.” The princess said, though she was visibly shaken, “We just... had a very realistic nightmare...” “Oh, um... I’m sorry.” The pegasus colt said, “May I ask something, princess?” “Of course, speak!” Luna’s voice grew loud as she used her Royal Canterlot Voice to push her authority on the already meek pony by her bed. Heartfelt shied away, but then sat back down next to the lunar princess’ bed, “Well, um... When my little filly has a nightmare, she tells me about it and it makes her feel better. Do you think that would work for you, your highness? I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t...” “No... No, we believe it could help us.” Luna said, her thoughts escaping back to the days when her father would ask her about her dreams, telling her that the bad ones where all false and the good ones where real. “Where should we start, Sir Heartfelt?” “The beginning princess, of course... I mean, if that’s all right.” “Yes, well... It began normally...” *** Luna was running through a meadow of wild flowers, the wind running through her hair as she spread her wings out far. The filly’s eyes stayed closed the whole time, but she could smell the sweet scent of the flowers. Suddenly, she heard laughter, but this was not the kind of laughter she was used to. Instead of kind, jolly laughter at a joke... This laughter was cold, cruel, and malicious, as if an older pony was picking on a smaller filly. With the speed of the night itself, Luna rushed towards the hurtful laughter; however, once she got to the source she regretted it deeply. In front of the lunar princess was her sister, Celestia Beambright, a hoof over her mouth as she continued to laugh at a small dark blue filly with a lighter blue mane. Luna edged closer to the filly, hopping that her sister wouldn’t notice her. The princess of the night crawled to the filly’s side, edging as close as she could to the shaking, crying pony. “Hello young one...” Luna whispered to the small pony, “Please, tell us why our sister is laughing at thou. We are sure it is not a very bad reason, we will ask her to stop for we see it... is...” Luna’s sentence trailed off as her eyes moved up the filly’s body, to the young pony’s face. The dark blue filly looked exactly like Luna, except for one single difference... Blood. Blood so thick it was black was dripping from the sides of the filly’s mouth, and the same blood was filling the filly’s eyes as well. Soon, Celestia stopped laughing, and the other Luna pounced and began to bite at the larger alicorn. The sounds of flesh being pulled from the white alicorn princess filled the air, and the real Luna turned away and began to cry. “Princess Luna... Why are you crying?” a voice within the lunar alicorn filly’s mind asked, “Are you afraid?” “Yes...” Luna answered, “We... I do not wish to harm my sister...” “You will not,” the voice promised, “I can ensure that you shall never harm you sister. All you must do, it let me stay with you... Forever.” “Can... Can you truly promise that?” Luna asked, her voice starting to crack. “Of course...” The voice replied, then Luna felt her body change again... Just like it did in the battle earlier that day. She grew taller, stronger, but also more enraged at the thoughts of her sister’s sun stealing the glory away from Luna’s own beloved moon. Suddenly, Luna heard another voice, but it was different from the one in her mind... And this one came from her own mouth. “I, am Nightmare Moon,” the black coated alicorn declared, “and my night shall reign supreme!” *** Heartfelt was shaking as he stood, but the colt’s eyes had only comfort for the younger princess. “Princess Luna, I know this will not happen. You love your sister, and you rule with her... Not against her.” “Thou... Really thinks so, Heartfelt?” Luna sobbed softly as she looked at the kindly pegasus colt. “Of course, you are the holder of the Elements of Loyalty and Kindness...” Heartfelt smiled as he spoke, “If that is not proof that you are noble, then I do not know what is.” Luna smiled shily, then looked into Heartfelt’s eyes. “Thank you, Heartfelt. You are one of the kindest ponies we... No, one of the kindest ponies that I know of.” With that, the yellow pegasus took his leave. Luna knew she still couldn’t get to sleep, this time because of talking to another pony. The younger princess stood and walked around her room, stopping at the large, full-body mirror in the corner of her bed chamber. The reflection, to Luna’s glee, was still the same small, happy filly she knew she was. The lunar princess turned and walked back to her bed to fest; however, the reflection didn’t move an in. It smiled wide as it began to morph magically, taking the form of Nightmare Moon once more. Nightmare Moon chuckled and closed her eyes, “Soon, my master...” “Yes Nightmare,” the voice from Luna’s dream replied, “I shall be free...” > Chapter 8: Oh the Hew-Manatee!! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh the Hew-Manatee! Lyra could barely feel her legs as she woke. Her desert dry mouth told her that she had just exited the Time Vortex yet again, but this time she knew where she was. The mint colored pony could feel a gentle breeze flowing through her mane as she stood, she could feel the grass under her hands. Lyra Heartstrings knew she was home, she knew she was in Ponyville. “Wait what?!” The unicorn finally opened her eyes and looked down, noticing that she had... Hands. Real hands, like a... a... “DISCORD!” The snoring of the God of Chaos could be heard just inches away from Lyra’s head. The pon... No, not pony, she thought to herself, human. The young woman looked up to see a strange looking man in a bright orange suit with slightly greying hair floating above her. “I don’t want to go to school today mommy...” Discord said, still half asleep, “I want to stay home and bake cookies with you.” “Dammit Discord, get up!” Lyra fumed, glaring at the Spirit of Chaos and trying to use her best teleporting spell to get the big lug down to the ground; however, the former pony noticed that her horn was missing. In its place was a smooth, blemish free, forehead. The young woman reached up to feel her mane, it was still there, and from the look of it the thing was the same color it always was. Lyra then looked down at her arms and noticed some strange, loose fur. According to her books, this substance was known as clothing, and it was used to shield humans from the elements. She seemed to be wearing an all green outfit, consisting of a long sleeve ‘shirt’, a ‘vest’, and a pair of green ‘pants’ with black ‘shoes’. The only thing that was strange to her was the gold charm around her neck, it seemed to be hanging off a chain, not to mention if looked exactly like her Cutie Mark. Finally, after she had taken note of her new garb, Discord let out a yawn and looked down at his ally. “I see you’ve been checking yourself out. See anything you like?” he asked, jumping off the cloud he was resting on and slowly floated down to the grass below. “I... It’s amazing.” Lyra responded, looking behind her. She had managed to find her saddle bags, which were now transformed into a single bag with two straps. “But... I thought we were going back to Ponyville. I miss my... I mean, I miss Bonny.” Discord frowned, shaking his head in a mix of confusion and slight anger. He had just taken his mare to the one place she had always wanted to go, the one place where she could see that humans aren’t just in the minds of ponies, and now all she wants is her ‘Bonny’. “I just don’t understand you ponies sometimes,” the God of Chaos said, trying to keep as calm as possible, “but I guess you of all beings can literally look a gift horse in the mouth.” “Oh haha, very funny.” Lyra gave her best fake smile as she turned from the former draconequus and sighed in frustration, “Just take me home ok? We can come back to this place some other day, but for now all I want is Bonnie.” Discord smiled and teleported behind the green haired human, his eyes still just as strange as they were in Equestria. “Oh come on Lyra, you might not get a chance like this again.” the Chaos God’s voice was soothing to the former unicorn, her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly as he spoke. “Now, why don’t you just look around for a bit... Have some fun. After all, when will you ever be able to come back to this place once you and ‘Bonnie’ are an item? In fact,” Discord stepped in front of the slightly shorter woman, “when will you be able to do anything when you and her are hitched? How do you even know she’ll say yes?” Lyra shivered and blinked, like she had just been staring into the sun for the past ten minutes. Her once light green hair seemed a bit darker, as if it had been mixed with some grey dye. “You know what Discord...” Lyra Heartstrings looked into the eyes of her ‘friend’ and smiled excitedly, “You’re right! Bon-bon and me aren’t a sure thing, especially with the way she acts around me. But this place, this...” “Earth.” Discord said with a malicious smile. “... This Earth is exactly where I want to be right now.” The former unicorn smiled like she was a filly again just before running to the closest thing she could see, a city. “H...hey! Wait up!” Discord started running after her, then stopped and gave an annoyed look at no one in particular. “I forgot... I can fly...” He slapped his forehead with his palm and jumped into the air, and started floating after the excited young woman. *** Jason did a double take as he watched the two strange character just run and... fly off. “Wait... FLY!?! Th... That guy’s...” the man known as Jason shook his head and slapped his cheeks, checking to see... No, hopping that he was dreaming. “People don’t fly, people don’t fall from th sky and just walk away! And that guy, he just kind of... Hypnotized her! This is something out of a bad fan fiction...” The poor man was so busy trying to make sense the scene he had just seen, that he didn’t notice another large, blue, swirling hole appear. This time it was on the ground, but that didn’t stop the people from walking out of it like it was the door from their favorite restaurant. The first one was a man in a red dress shirt, green vest, and khaki dress pants. Behind him was a woman in a long, brown cloak that had her face completely hidden from the world. Blackspine smiled as looked across the green field, the wind blowing through his slicked back hair. The could taste that this planet was full of completely chaotic beings, capable of anything... And he both loved, and hated this. You’re wasting time, the voice in Blackspine’s head shouted, we must find Discord now! This is the perfect time to take his power, while he’s distracted by these pathetic humans. “I take it you’ve been here before then?” the former pony asked his voice. Yes and no, I’ve been to this place but not this part of it. Not to mention, I do not want to stay here any longer then I have to. Now... FIND THE DRACONEQUUS! Blackspine winced at the volume of the formerly weak voice, it had been like this ever since he had fled the first Era of Discord. It was like the voice was getting stronger, oh well... It didn’t matter now. Blackspine walked up to the human who was slapping his face and tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me, but what city is that?” Jason turned, slightly dazed from his own slapping. “Oh, um... That’s not really a city, well kind of. It’s Joliet.” “Hmm... Jolly-ette. I enjoy that name,” Blackspine smiled sinisterly and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, two large, red pegasus wings erupted from his back, tearing through his shirt and vest like paper. The winged man then jumped into the air, flapping his new appendages as he followed after the two he had been chasing for what seemed like years. The hooded woman took a few steps forward, then turned to Jason and smiled before running after her master. Jason just shook his head, “Ok... No more watching pony videos till three in the morning.”