Octavia's mouth dropped open as her heart kicked into overdrive. Sweat began to pour out of her as she turned back to Discord.

"Wh... What?"

"I said, not even for Whooves?"

Octavia stared at him, her mouth still open agape, "Whooves?"

"Is there an echo? I said Whooves, not anyone else."

Octavia gulped as she stared into the red and yellow eyes of her enemy, "H... How do you know Whooves?"

This comment caused Discord to cackle condescendingly, "I've known you both for a very long time, and you've both been a huge thorn in my side. Foiling my plans to throw Equestria into eternal chaos and mayhem... You're both the bane of my exsistance ever since I decided to switch back to the dark side of the universe."

"What are you talking about?" Octavia inquired, "Whooves wasn't here when you attacked the Tower of Noon and Princess Celestia. He was long gone."

"Oh my sweet and simple Octavia," The multi-beast chuckled, "I'm not talking about the Tower of Noon. I'm talking about its close counterpart, the Tower of Midnight."

For a moment, Octavia was confused as to what Discord was implying, "...What do you mean?"

"Remember when Bonbon speculated that there was a higher power involved in the collapse of the tower?" Recalled Discord, "Take a guess as to who that higher power might just be."

Octavia's heart nearly stopped, "Impossible! You can't be responsible for that whole fiasco! You'd have to have months and months of-..." She paused, "Oh..."

Discord nodded, "Time travel, dear Octavia. It's much simpler when you're an omnipotent being of pure chaos." A small charm appeared in his paw: a blue, irregular shape that looked as though it had suffered damage, "Don't believe me? This little decoration belonged to Nightmare Moon. Have a look for yourself."

He tossed Octavia the charm that ended up landing in her lap. Immediately, the familiar dizziness kicked in and her sight faded into black, plunging her into a different time and place.

Octavia found herself back at the very top of the Tower of Midnight. Luna stood at its edge, looking up at the beautiful full moon above. She seemed to be happy and content with it, for a smile was on her face. However, that smile quickly faded when a familiar, deep-throated cackle sounded through the area. Luna whipped around, her senses kicked into overdrive as her eyes darted around, searching for the enemy.

"W-who's there?" The princess asked, appearing unafraid, but her shaky voice suggested otherwise.

The laugh sounded again, "A friendly visitor, Luna dear."

Octavia watched as the familiar sight of the mismatched beast appeared before Luna. She took a defensive stance, her horn glowing with a hostile light.

"Save the attacks, princess," Said Discord with a hateful sneer, "You know your attacks are like you throwing stuffed animals at me; they have no effect."

"What are you doing here?" Luna asked calmly, "The Gears banished you from Equestria."

"Can I not come and visit my favorite princess?" Asked Discord, the hateful sneer becoming a playful smirk.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION, FOUL BEAST!" Luna screamed at the top of her lungs.

Discord held up his hands defensively, "Easy with the caps locks, Luna... You want to know why I'm here? Obviously, to alert you of a horrible villain lurking Equestria."

"You mean yourself, correct?"

"Incorrect! There's a certain somepony who's been stealing the Gears of Harmony in order to bring about Equestria's downfall. I know who he is and I'll tell you who... But it will come with a price."

Luna stared hard at the chimerical creature, "Why should I trust you? You shall leave here immediately, beast! Take your bag of tricks with you!"

Discord was suddenly holding a large bag labeled "TRICKS". He sighed and threw it over the side of the tower, "You're just a huge spoilsport, aren't you, Luna?"

"Leave me!" The Alicorn growled, "Before you force me to do something that you will regret!"

Discord ignored her threat and steadily approached her. At first, Octavia thought he was going to do something annoying, like smash a pie in Luna's face. Instead, he started to circle around the nervous Alicorn, all the while smiling evilly.

"I would think that the princess of Equestria herself would want to help protect her own kingdom," He began, "Being that this villain is targeting Equestria's only protection. He means to bring about the fall of Equestria into eternal darkness and confusion... Don't you think I'm telling the truth, since I usually support worldwide confusion?"

Luna was silent.

"I see... Well, since you obviously care nothing for your subjects, I'll just be on my way..."

"Wait!" Luna interrupted, "Tell me who this villain is and how I can stop him."

This reply pleased Discord, "Very well. You asked for it."

Unexpectedly, the draconequus lunged at Luna with avian talons and feline claws bared. The ebony alicorn was ready, immediately avoiding the attack with ease. However, Discord planned ahead and used his tail to knock Luna off balance. She landed face-first into the floor, hurriedly standing back up before her opponent could attack again. She attacked with a blast of magic, but Discord was gone before the blast could even leave her horn. Luna was jerked backwards by her hind legs, as she felt something slithering up those same legs. The familiar sight of her enemy's red, reptilian tail had grown to an impossible length and was now coiled around her body, keeping her limbs secure and keeping her from escaping.

"It's about time I take back what is rightfully mine," Snarled Discord, bringing the imprisoned Luna up to his face, "In other words, the respect that so many of you judgemental ponies lacked."

This made Octavia confused. She thought that Discord wanted power, but instead, he said he wanted respect instead. That didn't match up with his behavior whatsoever. What did he mean by judgemental ponies? The comment made no sense, but then again, this was Discord after all. Octavia was forced to watch and see if she could gather up more info from the scene.

"Release me, beast!" Luna demanded, struggling around in Discord's tail. This only resulted in him tightening his tail around the alicorn, nearly choking her in the process.

"It's time that Equestria relives its biggest Nightmare." The multi-beast said with a sadistic chuckle.

For the first time since Discord had invaded her tower, Luna looked truly afraid, "Don't you dare! Get away from me, you-!"

She was cut off when Discord lifted her closer, held her chin with a vice-like grip, and did what Octavia expected him to do. His red and yellow eyes quickly changed into hypnotic, multi-colored spirals that put Luna under his spell. This was signaled when Luna's eyes changed to match her captor's. When the hypnosis was complete, Discord released Luna, who fell to the ground, passed out.

Her attacker was pleased and disappeared, erasing any evidence of him ever being there. Luna in the meantime, was surrounded by a pitch-black aura that began to overtake her body as a familiar, violent red storm cloud began to form above, ready to attack the tower vigorously. The vision cut out, thrusting Octavia back into Discord's throne room. He was still standing there with a smug smirk that matched the one he wore before brainwashing Luna.

"You know what else I did to make your life miserable?" Discord added, "I split you up from Whooves. It was me who sent you to the past in hopes of getting rid of you so you couldn't foil my plan to end Equestria's peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, Whooves found you, you went to the Tower of Midnight, blah blah blah... The rest is history."

Rage began to boil deep in Octavia's soul. She realized her life had been a huge mistake, revolving around the plans of a madman. She realized that it had to have been Discord who sent Sombra, the stallion who was responsible for taking Whooves away from her. She realized that it was Discord that had been stalking her the past week, as the strange whistle-bird, the shadow in Blizzard Island, and the unnatural feeling of constantly being watched.

Octavia's eyes burned with rage as she looked back up at Discord, "Why me?"

He shrugged, "Truth be told, that's the exact flaw in my plan. Whooves was clever enough to restore your memories and get you back on his side, even through Sombra's clever ploy. I now see that I should have sent Whooves back and took his memories instead of targeting you. Perhaps I hoped for Whooves to be emotionally damaged? Nah, I don't know what I was thinking..."

Octavia didn't say anything. She simply stared at the floor with a saddened look on her face.

"Anyways," Discord interrupted, making the glue on Octavia's seat disappear so she could stand up, "Back to our little negotiation... What I was thinking was that I could give you Whooves, but you would have to leave my Domain and never again interfere with my plans. Or, I could give you Rainbow Dash and the blank flanks, but you'd have to fight and defeat me for them. Sounds fair, doesn't it? Whaddaya say?"

For the longest time, Octavia was silent, too submerged into her thoughts. All this time, her entire life had been a huge mistake. It all seemed like one big lie now that she knew the truth. However, she started to think optimistically.

If Discord hadn't sent her to the past, Octavia would have never met Derpy, Lyra, Bonbon, Minutte, Lucky, Carrot Top... Heck, even Trixie and Team Vengeance meant a lot to her. Most importantly was Vinyl, the first pony she met upon washing up on the beach. That single mare had become her best friend and had been there by her side through thick and thin. Vinyl had never left her side intentionally. Octavia was hit with a painful realization as to what had happened.

She had left Vinyl's side. She had left all of her friends at the guild's side. Vinyl wasn't the jerk, Octavia was. If she chose Whooves, she would be abandoning all of the ponies in Equestria's side.

Octavia stood up, now knowing what she was going to do. Drawing her cello bow, she glared at Discord with an angry purple fire in her eyes that made even the cocky spirit of chaos cringe slightly.

"Sorry, Discord," She growled, "But your tricks aren't going to work on me. I know Whooves is gone forever, and I've refused to accept that ever since he sacrificed himself. It might have been my downfall if you haven't given all that precious info about you attacking Luna and turning her into Nightmare Moon. I know now that I have made a terrible mistake by stabbing my best friend in the back. I'm not going to make that same mistake in saving Equestria again. We fight. End of story."

For a moment, Discord was stunned. He eventually sighed and looked at Octavia with an annoyed expression.

"Suit yourself," He said, "We'll do this the hard way."

Octavia was expecting him to lunge at her. She sidestepped, but Discord recovered quickly and attempted to use his tail to knock her off balance. Octavia had seen the ploy before and quickly jumped over his tail like a filly skipping rope. Using her cello bow, she attacked his backside with a quick slash that caused him to squeal in surprise. However, it didn't do much to harm him, but only seemed to make him angry. He was however, stunned for a couple seconds, allowing his opponent to make an escape towards the door.

"In your dreams, pony!" Hissed Discord.

With the sound of snapping fingers, the door slammed shut on its own, right before Octavia reached it. She tackled it with all of her might, slamming her shoulder against it in hopes of breaking it open. Her opponent rose up again, laughing intimidatingly.

"As any other corny villain would say," Discord taunted, "Nowhere to run now!"

Octavia disobeyed his comment and ran to the other side of the room, only to have the floor attack her; quite literally. There was a crack formed in the floor that wasn't there before. Octavia's hoof struck the crack, causing her to fall face first into the floor. She was dazed just long enough for Discord to grab her with his tail, restrain her with said tail, and lift her up to his face.

Octavia was a little too stunned to know what was coming next. This was exactly what happened to Luna, right before...

Oh no...

"You know, Octavia," Discord began, "You've been too much of the goody-goody hero type. You've got too much confidence, too much self-esteem, and too much love of you prissy pony friends and Equestria's harmonious ways. I think you need just a tiny... Attitude adjustment..."

Octavia's quick thinking decided to flee her as Discord turned her head towards him. She tried to look at any other part of his face other than his eyes, but to no avail. That hypnotic, spiraling stare drew her in like a fish on a reel to where she could escape it no matter what. A dizzy, nauseating feeling overtook Octavia as she felt Discord release her and coldly drop her on the floor. Darkness clouded her vision before she fell unconscious. The last thing she remembered was Discord, laughing at her failure to beat him.

---

It seems as though people are really enjoying this. Well, that's easy to say, considering the 80 plus reviews. I'm so happy that so many people are enjoying my simple little story!

And I leave you with another tragic cliffhanger. *evil Discord laugh sounds in the background*