After an eventful night, the Mane 6 must resist being torn apart by Racial problems. Friendship is tested by new magics and living conditions. Also, Discord works to save Twilight's life.
In one night, five of the mane mares get attacked by monsters. Twilight manages to save the others, but not without concequences. Now, the other five must find a way to overcome new lifestyles, living requirements, and instinctual rivalries. The only help they have is Discord's parting words.
"Read the books. Remain in Harmony. If you don't, Twilight Sparkle will die."
Working to find a cover image This is Alternate Universe because the events of Magical Mistery Cure never happened.
Dedicating this chapter to lamphobic, for being my first follower. Thank you.
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Six mares. Six plans. One night to ruin them all.
Applejack’s plan was a complete lack of any plan. She simply wanted to take the night off. She had finished clearing the trees of apples early this year and felt that she deserved a break.
Pinkie Pie planned to perfect her previous proprietary experiments on chocolate chip cookies. She vowed to find the perfect balance of dough and chocolate chunks.
Fluttershy settled in front of her fireplace with a romance novel. All the critters around her house slept peacefully.
Rainbow Dash had the night shift on weather duty this week. Something about flying by starlight filled her with appreciation for the simple pleasures of life, so working the graveyard hours caused no problems for her.
Rarity sat in the center of a whirlwind of cloth. Inspiration for a new ensemble filled every fold of her brain.
Twilight Sparkle floated above a lake, caught in a sphere of her own power. She had retreated to the Everfree Forest to train her magic. All of the water in the lake levitated in a ring with the lavender mare at the center. If something went wrong with the training exercise, nopony would get hurt out here in the forest.
Pity that none of their plans would be carried out this evening.
An odd tone, like running a hoof around the rim of a wine glass, rang out through Ponyville. None of the six mares noticed the sound. They did shiver at the sound even though the ringing did not reach their conscious notice, but they ignored the momentary sense of unease.
One being, all the way over in Canterlot sensed the tone.
So. It has begun. I hope that you are ready, my little ponies.
As Applejack sat on the porch, a malevolent entity gazed out at her from the tree line of the orchards. Blank teal eyes identified her.
This is one of them. They stopped us. They will pay. Starting with this one. I will avenge you, my fallen brethren. And the irony of vengeance will taste like cotton candy.
With that thought, the entity started creeping forward. Unfortunately for it, Applejack had incredible hearing. She heard its approach before it had covered half the distance to the porch.
“Who’s there? Nopony should be on mah property at eleven in the night!”
The entity silently cursed. Holding still and breathing lightly, it waited for the mare to move. She got up and walked out onto the lawn, closing in on the teal-eyed entity.
Wait. This could be to my advantage. Just a few steps closer…
The farmpony fulfilled its hopes as she approached three more paces.
Now!
In a flurry of motion, the silent one bolted up to Applejack. Before she could even register its form, it had jabbed her in a pressure point in the neck. She was catatonic before she hit the ground. Grabbing the mare, the entity started moving toward the Zap Apple orchard.
We have plans for you.
This goes here, that goes there, and… Done!
Rarity sat back with a sigh. The new dress rested on the mannequin.
Rarity darling, you’ve done it again. Another first class ensemble.
She glanced at a clock.
Only midnight? That one took less time than I expected.
A noise from downstairs startled her. It sounded like something crashing around in the kitchen. Before she had taken a step, something pounded up the stairs. As it burst into the Inspiration Room, Rarity beheld the source of the noises.
The monster glared at her with glowing, slit-pupiled, crimson eyes. Before the fashionista could react, it lunged across the room and smashed into her. Seizing Rarity in its massive jaws, it shook her like a doll before defenestrating her. Rarity closed her eyes and screamed.
When she opened her eyes, she saw stars. Not the stars of being injured, but the real stars. As the white unicorn gathered her senses, the beast leapt through the broken window and approached the supine mare. Its jaws closed in on her pale flesh.
The light of the fireplace warmed Fluttershy. Gentile shoring came from all the animals around the cottage; their breathing formed a soothing background noise. Fluttershy finished the last page of the book and stretched.
Glancing at the clock, she realized that she had read for longer than intended.
Midnight already? Time sure does fly with a good book.
Unnoticed by the butter-yellow mare, a hungry shadow crept out of another room. It had carefully slipped into the cottage through a window. It approached the gentile mare. Before she even had a chance to scream, it bit down on her neck.
Despite being outside, Rainbow Dash did not see anything abnormal on the ground. Then again, all her attention was focused on a strange cloud.
Clouds don’t glow in the dark unless there is electrical discharge in them. There is no noise, no thunder, from this cloud. Something fishy is going on. Something magical had to be involved.
Despite what many believed, the cerulean pegasus actually did know the meaning of caution. She demonstrated this caution as she approached the cloud. Circling the cloud, Rainbow tried to figure out what could have turned the cloud fluorescent.
Twilight didn’t say that she was gonna do any experiments on clouds lately. The Everfree Forest has not had any unusual activity lately. Celestia said in her latest letter that Discord has been behaving. So what is this?
As the flying mare made her latest fly-by, the cloud reacted by bursting open. A small quick creature charged Dash before she could register the action before her. It ensnared her in tendrils of silver magic. Rainbow was forced to watch as the tendrils seeped through her skin. She tried to struggle, but as the tendrils slipped into her body, she grew weaker.
Pinkie pulled the latest batch of cookies out of the oven and replaced it with the next batch. Taking a bite out of one of the new cookies, she evaluated the new recipe.
“Too much chocolate, not enough cookie,” she whispered to herself. “Batch eighteen still holds the record. Don’t worry, batch twenty-nine. I will eat you as well. Batch eighteen is just better than you.”
Suddenly, a doozy shook her whole body. This one felt like it was centered on several places. Something was happening in Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville, the sky above Ponyville, and the Everfree Forest.
“Wow. That is the biggest doozy I’ve ever felt. It almost felt like part of the doozy would occur in Sugarcube… Corner…” Realizing the implications of that, Pinkie instantly went on high alert.
“Alright doozy. I know something is gonna happen here. Just don’t take too long. I need to watch the cookies.”
Sitting down, she waited for the inevitable. The twitch fulfilled its promise. Something Pinkie had never expected to happen, happened.
A weird creature phased into existence in front of Pinkie. Its eyes glowed blue as it trapped the party pony in a cobalt orb of magic. Even as the magic started tickling Pinkie all over, the creature pulled the finished cookies out of the oven. While passing Pinkie a cookie, it ate one of the cookies itself.
Pinkie ate the cookie. Even though the magic trapped her, she started dancing.
“I DID IT! I found the perfect chocolate chip cookie! Recipe thirty will go down in my permanent cookbook!”
Letting all of her magic out exhilarated Twilight Sparkle. Because most structures lacked sufficient shielding against dangerous magic, the lavender mare usually held most of her magic in check. Cutting loose endangered all life around Twilight. Only in a situation like this could she safely use everything at her disposal.
Twilight closed her eyes. They only distracted her from the true point of the exercise. Reaching out with her magic, she stared at everything.
Each leaf on each tree stood out more clearly than they do in broad daylight. Individual water droplets hung suspended like diamonds in her magical sight. Deciding to test herself, she stretched her senses to Ponyville. There, she saw troubling things.
A changeling was just finishing its labors. Applejack floated in a changeling cocoon suspended between several Zap Apple trees.
A large, wolf-like beast bit down on Rarity’s helpless form. She lay on the verge of death because of a lycanequus, a wolf-pony.
Something that looked like a pony bit into Fluttershy’s neck. No blood reached the air, as the creature licked up the blood as fast as it came out of her throat. Clearly, this was one of the legendary Vamponies.
Silver light extended from the Solpony, the daylight equivalent of Vamponies, to Rainbow Dash. The structure of the magic indicated that the Solpony had its mind set on enthralling the polychromatic mare.
A wind elemental had Pinkie in its clutches. Even as Pinkie celebrated her new recipe, elemental magic flowed into her flesh. She was being turned into an elemental.
Twilight’s mind filled with rage at the sights. NO! I will not allow my friends to come to harm! Those creatures will pay!
Reaching out with her magic, Twilight prepared to save her friends. Unfortunately, she forgot that all of her magic currently was being unleashed. Even the surge she unleashed when she hatched Spike didn’t hold a candle to the magic currently at her disposal. Instead of simply stopping the monsters, Twilight’s magic did something unexpected. The surge altered all five of her friends. They noticed the magic as a wall of white energy coming from the Forest.
Twilight suddenly noticed a magical anomaly surrounding her body.
What is this? It looks like a teleportation spell, but the quantum-spatial folds are way off. What is happening? Even as she thought, the anomaly vanished, along with the mare inside of it. A strange sphere of solidified magic remained behind.
The first thing that Rarity noticed upon awakening was the dirt. The second detail she noticed was the blood that covered her body.
“Ew! I’m filthy! What happened last… night…” Even as she spoke, the memories returned.
What was that horrid monster? And, why are all of my injuries healed? Wait. There was that flash of magic. Maybe Twilight helped me.
Deciding to thank her friend, Rarity started out toward the library. Magically cleaning off the filth, Rarity achieved a state of cleanliness and fabulosity before reaching the tree. Inside, she found something unexpected. Discord flew around the library, collecting books and setting them on the table in the center.
“Discord! What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
The reformed Spirit of Chaos stared at the white unicorn with an unexpectedly serous expression on his face.
Rarity got an earful from the Chaos master. “Listen carefully. This is important. All of our friends are in trouble. First, read the letter on the table. Then, you need to gather the other Bearers in this library and make them read these books. They will explain most of what happened to the five of you last night. I must leave to help Twilight with the trials ahead of her. You five must remain strong and in Harmony, or there is a better than fifty percent chance that Twilight will die. I have no more time to explain. Adios my friend.”
With those parting words, Discord snapped his fingers and vanished.
That was the most serious Discord has ever been in my presence. I had better find the others. Oh, I hope they’re safe.
… fifty percent chance that Twilight will die. What could Discord have been talking about? What is going on? Rarity sat on the library floor as the meaning of Discord’s words finally reached her brain. Shaking herself upright, Rarity shouted up the stairs.
“SPIKE! I need you down here immediately!”
Spike set a speed record as he sprinted down the stairs. “What’s going on? What is it? Wait, you’re not Twilight. Oh, hi Rarity.”
Rarity trotted over to the table, looking for the letter that Discord mentioned. “Where was Twilight last night? We need to find her soon.” Finding the letter, Rarity pulled it out and unrolled it.
Spike replied quickly. “Twilight went to the Everfree Forest for some training.”
Rarity read the scroll. Surprisingly, Discord only changed the color of the letters, not the handwriting.
Dear Bearers of Harmony,
Last night, each of you received a ‘visitor’. None of these visitors were regular ponies, and two were not even ponies. These visitors assaulted each of you with malicious intent. Twilight managed stop them from killing or brainwashing any of you. Unfortunately, critical instability in the magic caused unforeseen side-effects. For you five, the side-effects turned you into the same race or species as your assailants. Twilight herself got trapped in a miniature universe. She cannot escape from the mini-universe without going through numerous deadly trials. I will go to her and try to keep her alive and sane. The only thing you five can do to help her is this: remain in Harmony. If the five of you go your separate ways, Twilight will probably die.
Do not contact Celestia about your new ‘conditions’. She does not take kindly to ponies with your afflictions. If you must contact anypony, Luna is your best bet. She can and will help if she hears that Twilight is in danger.
Your assailants, and therefore your new species, were and are as follows.
Changeling: Applejack {The love of her friends and family should be enough to keep her satisfied. }
Solequus: Rainbow Dash {Warning: Solequui and Vamponies have an instinctive hatred toward each other. There is enough magic in the Everfree Forest to keep her fed.}
Vampony: Fluttershy {To drive the point home. Warning: Solequui and Vamponies have an instinctive hatred toward each other. She should have a supply of blood that she feeds to her vampire bats. That should tide her over for a while.}
Lycanequus: Rarity {Hope that Fluttershy has fish to spare. Rarity will need the meat if she doesn’t want to attack anypony.}
Nature Elemental: Pinkie Pie {It is likely that her new status as an elemental will only increase Pinkie’s ability to do things that cannot be comprehended. Persuade her not to throw a party about your changes. That would advertise to any hunters that the five of you have changed. What sort of element she has been infused with is unknown at present time.}
The books on the table are the most accurate books on each race or species that I could find Life will be difficult until Twilight comes back. Do your best to hold together.
Sincerely yours in friendship, Discord Spirit of Chaos
The fashionista dropped the scroll and dashed to the books. Rarity’s imitation of study-mode Twilight would have fooled anypony into thinking that she was Twilight in a disguise. All the books on the table levitated before Rarity as she skimmed their contents.
“What’s going on Rarity?” Spike seemed completely focused.
“An emergency has cropped up. I will go and get the others. You need to stay here and prevent anypony from entering the library.” With that, Rarity trotted outside with the books in tow.
Applejack is in the most immediate danger. I’ll fetch her first. A growl emanated from Rarity’s stomach. Why am I so hungry? Never mind, that can be dealt with later.
As Rarity approached the apple orchards, she noticed the smell. Weird. The apples usually have weaker scents. The smell is like a wall. Wait. Discord said that I am a lycanequus. The book said that my senses are sharper. Ooo, maybe I can find her by scent.
Sniffing around, Rarity picked up on a smell she despised; the cloying scent of that slime from inside changeling cocoons. Just follow toward where the smell is stronger. Nothing to it.
As she trotted toward the Zap Apple groves, the smell grew more pungent. Finally, she reached the source of the smell. A dead changeling with a green thorax lay on the ground. Nearby, a broken cocoon dangled from thick webs. In the pool of slime beneath the cocoon lay a twisted, black form.
Is that Applejack? Wow. Discord was not joking. Well best to wake her up at a distance. A stick floated up in Rarity’s aura. Rarity poked the black form.
“Applejack. You need to wake up.” No response. “Dear, it is time to get up!” Still no response. “The orchard is on fire.” The black form bolted upright, roaring out orders.
“Applebloom, run down the path to Ponyville, get help. Mac, get Granny out of here. I will- wait, where am I?”
“Yep. That is Applejack. Welcome back to the waking world.”
“Rares, where are we?” Applejack clearly remained deep in the grip of early morning confusion.
“We are in the Zap Apple fields. Last night you were assaulted by a changeling. It tried to trap you in one of those cocoons. Twilight stopped it.” Rarity gestured to the black corpse. “According to Discord, something went wrong with Twilight’s spell and it turned you into a changeling.”
Applejack sat as still as stone for a few moments before glancing down at her legs. Looking at her own body, she and Rarity took a full view of the farmpony’s new form. It was mostly similar to the changelings from the invasion. The only differences Applejack could see were the yellow mane in her own manestyle and the orange thorax section. Rarity spotted the other visible difference. Slit pupils stared out from green and orange irises.
Looking up at Rarity, Applejack stated, “How do ah know that ya aint a changeling trying to trick me.”
“Remember Tom? The rock that Discord tricked me into believing it was a diamond? The six of us are the only ones that know about that.” Rarity managed to keep a straight face, even though the memories filled her with rage.
“Yep. Yer Rares.” Applejack said. “You said sometin’ about Discord. What does he have to do with all this?”
“He told me what happened to us. I am gathering the girls in the library. You should try to disguise yourself, and then trot over there.” A loud growl came from Rarity’s gut. Her cheeks turned pink as Pinkie Pie. “When you get there, could you be a dear and make some breakfast for all of us? I, for one need a large meal.”
“Can do… once I figure out the shape-changin’.”
“According to the book Discord left, you just have to focus on an image of your target form.”
“Thanks.” A gout of orange flames surrounded Applejack, leaving her old appearance behind. “Wait. You said ‘us’. Did a changeling attack the others?”
Rarity let out a sigh. “All five of us were attacked by something. Twilight saved all of us. I will tell you everything at the library.”
With those parting words, Rarity trotted off toward Fluttershy’s cottage.
Ten minutes later, Rarity walked into Fluttershy’s living room, only to spot the yellow mare lying on the ground with a pile of ashes next to her.
Rarity awakened Fluttershy and gave a basic explanation of last night’s events.
“You were attacked by a monster last night. Twilight saved you, but there are lingering damages from the assault. Go to the library and wait. I will get all the other girls.”
Rarity’s short, simple explanation bypassed Fluttershy’s panic response. She got up and started heading out the door before she could even formulate a question. Then Rarity remembered Discord’s advice.
“Bring one of those blood packs you use for your vampire bats to the library. The blood will be important. Also, bring some fish.”
Even as Fluttershy complied with Rarity, the unicorn walked out the door to find Pinkie Pie.
By the time she reached Sugarcube Corner, Rarity could barely see straight. Maybe I should have eaten something at Sweet Apple Acres. Just to hold me over until we are all at the library with Applejack’s cooking.
Unlocking the door with magic, Rarity strolled right into the kitchen. Now for some food.
Grabbing a few cookies off the counter, Rarity happily munched away. She didn’t even notice that Pinkie was passed out on the floor.
Pinkie woke up to some unknown twitch. She glanced around the kitchen and immediately took stock of the situation
“Hi Rarity! Let me guess, you are here about the thing last night. Some monster attacked you and now you are gathering the others.”
Rarity’s jaw dropped for a moment before remembering that this was Pinkie Pie. “Yes. But before you go to the library, would you mind helping me find Rainbow Dash?”
“Okey Dokey Lokey! You wait here. I’ll be back in a click!” With that, Pinkie vanished from the bakery in a blur. Rarity took the time to think about their conditions.
I am surprised that only Applejack had any visible changes because of the attack. All the others seem normal. Even I seem normal, other than waking up covered in blood.
As Rarity finished thinking, the clock on the wall emitted an odd click. Instantly, Pinkie was in the room with Rainbow Dash on her back.
“Wow. I didn’t realize a click was a real unit of measurement. Now, we should head to the library.” The two mares, with Dash still asleep on Pinkie’s back, reached the library in five minutes. Even as the door opened, the smell of Applejack’s cooking caused Rarity to start drooling. Fluttershy had also arrived.
Grabbing a heaping plate of food, Rarity stated taking. “Pinkie, wake Dash up. Then gather around the table. I need to tell you everything Discord told me.”
Consciousness returned slowly to Twilight. As she slowly regained the use of her senses, she tried to piece her memories back together.
I went to the forest to train. I started the magic sensing exercise. Then what?
A posh, high class voice interrupted the mare’s musings. “Ah. You are awake. Splendid. Now we can get on with the trials.” Twilight looked up towards the source of the voice. Floating three meters off the ground while drinking a cup of tea, a draconequus entered Twilight’s vision. Strangely, he was wearing a top hat, tuxedo, and monocle.
Leaping to her hooves, Twilight started backing away, only to back into something that gave way. Looking behind, she spotted another draconequus, this one sitting as still as stone on the ground. Letting lose a shriek, Twilight jumped away. Desperate glances in all directions revealed that there were four other unknown draconequui present. One whose coat was black and white, one who was twisting herself in knots, one who seemed to be made only of reptile pieces, and one who looked mostly like a pony, except it was much taller, wore a simple black tuxedo, had tentacles coming from its shoulders, and had no face. They simply watched her as she huddled down in a ball, fear evident on her face. For a moment the only sound was trickling water and Twilight’s gasps of terror.
A familiar voice rang out. “Sorry I’m late. I had a bit of urgent business to attend to. Hello Twilight Sparkle.” That got the mare to stop stroking her tail and look up.
Discord flew down to Twilight, picked her up, dusted her off, and set her on her hooves. “Well, I think introductions are in order. Spirits, this is Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, these are all the draconequui in the world, gathered here to help you through the trials ahead of you.”
Twilight twitched at the word ‘trials’. “What trials? What is going on?”
“I will explain. No. That would take too long. I will summarize. Last night, your friends were attacked by monsters. You saved them, but you lost control of the magic and created a miniature pocket universe. We are here to help you escape this prison of your own devising. As for why we want to help you, I cannot tell you that. I think of you as a friend and want you to survive, but the motivations of the others are a secret to everypony.”
The tea-drinking spirit spoke up. “I like her too. She is crazy, I want her to get back out there and continue the crazy.”
Twilight glanced at Discord, silently asking for an explanation on this draconequus’s behavior. He obliged. “Each Draconequus holds dominion over a concept and is naturally drawn to sources of that concept. I control chaos, and am drawn to Pinkie. Psyc commands insanity and mental disorders in all their forms. He likes most of Ponyville since everypony in that town has a mild to severe mental disorder.”
Twilight digested that statement. “So my outburst all those months ago wasn’t hyperbole,” she mused.
The spirit that Twilight had bumped into spoke up. “Enough chatting. Pony, these are the rules. You will only be able to master the magic of this place and escape by overcoming a series of tests. They will push your spell casting to your limits. Do not be afraid to go all out. Between each test we will provide enough time for you to recover all of your magical strength. If you fail a test, you will die. We cannot provide anything more than advice. This universe has strict rules on it that prevent us from interfering any more than that.”
“Aw, you’re no fun, Static.” Discord sounded disappointed, but a note of rage slipped in when he said the name.
“Fun does not matter. So, pony, are you ready for the first trial?”
Twilight gathered her thoughts and focus for a moment. “Yes.” As soon as she said the word, she was transported to another location.
Pink light flooded the sky. Far below, a massive ocean of lava spread to all horizons. Then Twilight realized that she was falling.
“AHHHHH!”
Static suddenly appeared beside the falling mare. “Like I said, I can only give advice. This little planet of lava has a North and South Pole situated as far from the equator as possible.” With that, the spirit vanished.
What good does that do me? I am falling to my death with no land in sight! Wait. The poles are situated as far from the source of light, and therefore heat, as possible. Could he have meant that there is land to the north and south? Well, first thing’s first. Stop falling.
Twilight closed her eyes and focused. She ignored her increasing velocity. She ignored the growing heat. The only thing that existed to her was a list of spells to defy gravity.
Morning Dew Wings take too much magic and will burn in the heat. A cloud walking spell does no good without clouds. Levitation takes too much focus to maintain for too long. Teleportation does not counteract inertia. Hmmm. AHA! Gravity spells! Stops my approach toward the lava, and directs me to the land masses. Simply use a sensing spell to find the equator, find the source of greatest heat, and direct my gravity up and away from the heat source.
Three flashes of magic later, Twilight stopped falling toward the lava, instead she started falling toward the south.
As she continued to fall, Twilight started trying to figure out how to land safely at terminal velocity. That took all of twenty seconds. After that, she started getting bored.
Wow. I am falling around a world of lava, and I am bored. All the adventures over the past year have really changed my perception of exciting.
“Discord? Psyc? Static? Are any of you there?”
Discord popped up in a shower of snowflakes. “Yes? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just that falling like this is growing boring and I want a conversation to pass the time.”
“Oh. So you just want to talk.”
“Yes. First, who were those draconequui? What do they control? What are they like?”
“Like I said, Psyc commands insanity. He acts all proper and fancy to tick others into trusting him. Then he drives them crazy.”
Twilight thought for a moment. “So, he is like a pitcher plant. Smells pretty, but lure’s prey to their doom.” Discord nodded.
With a growl, Discord said, “Static is my opposite, order. We despise the methodology of each other. He tries to maintain the status quo. I try to change it. He is boring to the extreme. I am sometimes dangerously exciting.”
“Why is he called Static?”
“Because everything around him is static and unchanging.”
Discord shook away his momentary rage and went on. “The one with the black and white color scheme was Jude, mistress of legal justice. She chose that coloring to represent how the law sees everything as right or wrong, with no middle ground. She has no emotion. Even Static think’s she is dry and emotionless, which is a case of pots and kettles. She just presents the facts and makes the most legal choice.”
“Wow. She sounds boring to be around.” Twilight remembered back to the time she had tried to read the Equestrian Legal Codex. She had been asleep before reading five pages.
Discord chuckled. “Nay, she is not boring. She is scary. If you break the law, she will hunt you to the ends of the world to punish you. She cannot be reasoned with, unlike me. Even at my worst, I would still adjust my chaos to something more amusing. She will never relent or change unless the laws change.”
“Lo, the girl who was twisting herself in knots, is the spirit of hatred. She created the Windigoes. Don’t mess with her.”
“The guy, or girl, with a body made of nothing but reptile parts is Vim, Spirit of Overindulgence. Vim spends a lot of time in Ponyville and in whatever club DJ Pon-3 is preforming at. Pinkie is the first mortal to out-party him or her. Applejack is the first pony to drink Vim under the table in a drinking contest. Vinyl is the only creature, mortal or immortal, who can beat Vim in a dance-off. He or she likes your friends. And before you ask, Vim changes his or her gender so often that none of us can keep track of Vim’s current gender. I once got in a talk with Vim. Vim changed gender twenty times in an hour. Most of us simply use one gender to refer to Vim, even if it is not true at the moment.”
“Wait, what do you mean, Vim spends a lot of time in Ponyville?”
“Vim shapeshifts into various forms to be among mortals without drawing attention. Some of the time, when you see Time Turner or Bon-bon, you are actually seeing Vim.” Discord chuckled at the shock on Twilight’s face.
“The tall, dark, and faceless one goes by a different name in whatever land it is in. Ponies have called it the Fear, the Shade, and more recently, Slender Mane. None of us really want to know what Slender’s real dominion, form, or name is. Slender is too terrifying. It never makes a sound, so it could be the spirit of silence, and being scary is a hobby. There are records of Slender being sighted as far back as fifty thousand years ago. If they are real, that makes Slender the oldest draconequus.”
“Wait, Slender Mane is a character in a horror series. Is that thing connected to the stories? Does that spirit do those things?” Twilight felt seriously disturbed at that idea.
Discord showed true fear on his face and in his voice as he said “I do not know. Slender cannot be tracked. It may be writing the novels as a hobby. I don’t want to know.”
Twilight shook herself to clear the fear and decided to change the subject. “Why are you called the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, when the others are only spirits of one thing?”
“Well, I really am only the Spirit of Chaos. Disharmony was my hobby.”
Silence fell for a few moments as Twilight took in all the new information.
“Okay. Now for a more serious question. What did you mean when you said that this is a prison of my own devising?” Twilight asked.
Discord glanced to the south. “Long explanation, and I can see land, so there is not enough time. I will tell you later.” With that, Discord vanished in another cloud of snow.
Twilight started focusing on gradually slowing her ‘fall’ with telekenitics. Ten minutes later, she was approaching ground. A few teleports and a bit of psionics later, she safely touched down.
“Land! I never thought I would miss you so much!” Twilight shouted as she embraced the cool rocks. Even as she restored the feeling in her legs, a surge of magic appeared around her. Ten seconds later, she was back in the cave with the seven draconequui.
Static spoke up. “Rest, pony. You will need your strength for the next trial.”
