"Get off my face!"

Vinyl scrambled to get off Thorn's face. He stood up and glared at her.

"Thank you." He said.

Vinyl looked around. She discovered that they were standing in a long hallway, with shifting walls and black and white tile floor.

"I think this is the hallway that Octavia saw in one of her visions," Vinyl stated, "Where do you think she is?"

Thorn glanced at the end of the hall, "Let's try that door at the end."

They started to gallop down the hall as fast as they could. With no hesitation, they burst through the doors. The room appeared to be empty.

"This had got to be Discord's throne room," Thorn said, "If he's anywhere, he's gonna be here."

"Then let's get outta here." Vinyl replied, immediately turning tail, but Thorn stopped her.

"Aren't we supposed to be stopping him?" He asked.

"I'm not going anywhere near that freakshow until I find Octavia," Vinyl explained, "Do you really think we stand a chance on our own?"

Thorn didn't answer.

"Exactly. Now where do you think she's being kept?"

Thorn rubbed his chin, "Well, maybe a dungeon? Dungeons are always underground, so maybe we should find a staircase and head downwards."

Vinyl nodded, "Good idea." She bit her lower lip, "Wait... But this is Discord we're talking about. Everything's mixed-up with him."

Thorn looked out the window, "Looks like we're on the top floor. I doubt Discord would keep his prisoners on the same floor as his throne room."

Vinyl nodded, "True. But can we get out of here before we meet up with Mr. Patchwork?"

They exited the throne room and returned to the hall. Both of them noticed that there were tons of doors everywhere, causing their spirits to fall.

"This will take hours!" Vinyl cried, "How do we know which door leads downwards?"

Thorn looked around, "Only one way to find out." He ran to a door and opened it. When he discovered nothing of interest, he slammed it shut and quickly ran to the next one.

Vinyl sighed, "Ugh... I hate trial and error..."

The white unicorn reluctantly followed Thorn's example and began to examine the doors. They continued this process for quite a while until Thorn finally called out:

"Found something!"

Vinyl rejoined her changeling companion. He had found a door with a staircase leading down into darkness. The musty smell coming from down below was almost overwhelming, as Vinyl gagged.

"This has got to be it." She said. Her horn began to glow as she stepped onto the staircase, "C'mon. Let's go."

Thorn assisted her by also lighting up his horn, so that the staircase was bathed in a combination of light blue and green. They slowly trotted down the stairs, careful to watch for loose steps or missing ones. The stairs extended far down into the blackness, so much so that neither Vinyl nor Thorn could see the bottom.

"How long can these stairs possibly go on?" Asked Vinyl.

Thorn was too concerned about something around them, "I wouldn't be worried about that if I were you."

"What do you mean?" Vinyl questioned, turning back to the changeling.

She heard him gulp, "The walls are gone."

Vinyl turned her magical glow to the walls. Indeed, they had disappeared and left nothing but pitch-black voids.

"...Thorn...?" Vinyl asked with a shaky voice.

Thorn's pupiless blue eyes seemed to be filled with fright. He didn't answer Vinyl, for a noise shot through the blackness before he could say anything. Mechanical grinding echoed through the empty void, as light began to slowly leak through the blackness. With a blast of wind, color shot through the void. In a mere half-second, the blackness became a nauseating mix of psychedelic colors, constantly spinning and mixing together. All around the changeling and the unicorn, their single staircase had become tons and tons of stairs, running sideways, upside-down, completely vertical, and other impossible ways.

"Discord must be friends with M.C. Escher." Thorn joked.

"Never mind that!" Vinyl dismissed, "Which one goes where? Which way is down?"

Thorn looked at all of the staircases, "It's illusionary magic. Those stairs are fake. The only one that's real is the one we're standing on right now."

Vinyl tested Thorn's theory and waved it out in the supposedly open air. An invisible force field caused her hoof to bounce back and distort the other stairs in the distance.

"So..." Vinyl began, "It's just a trick?"

Thorn nodded, "Exactly. It's just to intimidate us. If we keep going on these stairs, we should end up in the dungeons."

Vinyl nodded, "Good thinking."

They continued on the staircase they were one, ignoring the other staircase as they went. Further down, the illusion of multiple stairs slowly faded out until Vinyl and Thorn were back in a normal staircase. With a triumphed chuckle, Vinyl turned and smiled at her companion.

"Dude, I don't know what I would do without you." She said.

This caused Thorn to blush a bit.

Eventually, with a little more walking, they came upon a wooden door. Slowly they opened it, coming out into a long hallway lined with empty cells. They galloped down the hall, glancing at each cell before they finally came upon an occupied one.

"Miss Vinyl!" Apple Bloom cried, sticking her head between the bars with her two buddies quickly following.

"You came for us!" Scootaloo squealed.

"I knew you would all along!" Sweetie added smugly.

"Crusaders!" Vinyl exclaimed, running to their cell, "Oh, I'm so glad to know you're all okay! Where's Dash?"

"Right behind you!" The familiar, raspy female voice answered. Vinyl turned and discovered the cyan pony in the cell behind her.

"Oh thank Celestia you're all okay," Thorn sighed, "See Vinyl? I told you we would save them in time!"

"Yeah, but where's 'tavia?" Vinyl asked, glancing between the two cells.

The Crusaders exchanged nervous glances before they parted away from the cell door, revealing another occupant. Curled up in the shadow of the corner was Octavia, staring at the floor with glazed over eyes. Vinyl's heart skipped a beat as her smile widened.

"Octavia!" She exclaimed.

Octavia took one glance at the white unicorn before she turned her back and faced the wall, grumbling as she did. This confused poor Vinyl.

"...Octavia?"

"Surprise surprise," Octavia growled lowly, "The fraidy-cat came after all."

Vinyl cocked her head, "...What?"

Octavia turned to glare at her ex-best friend, "Oh, it just surprises me that a scared little filly like yourself would come out here; being that you didn't even give two cents about me."

"Now wait just a minute-!" Vinyl started to object, but Rainbow Dash interrupted her.

"Scratch," The cyan pony said, "It won't do any good. Discord got to her. She's discorded."

"She's what?" Vinyl asked, turning to the Guardian of Loyalty.

Rainbow sighed as she stared at Vinyl through the bars of her cell, "It's a form of magical brainwashing that makes a pony act like somepony they aren't. It happened to me, so I know what it looks like."

"That's crazy!" Cried Vinyl, "Octavia's the strongest mare I know! She would never-"

Thorn gently grabbed Vinyl by the shoulder and pointed to Octavia, "Vinyl, she's right. Look at her eyes."

Vinyl looked hard into the eyes of her once-friend that glared hatefully into her own. That determined, fiery purple glow was absent, replaced with emptiness and mindlessness.

"Octavia..." Vinyl began, her voice breaking.

"Look, we can worry about Octavia later," Rainbow said, "For now, you need to get us out of here. I don't know where Discord is, or when he will be back, but we need to leave before he does get back, or we're in serious trouble."

Thorn nodded, "Right." He immediately went to work, undoing the locks on the Rainbow's cell with his magic. Vinyl however, stared sadly at Octavia who had turned away from her again. Her friend had been brainwashed, leaving her to wonder if it could be reversed, and if Octavia would ever be the same again. Rage boiled inside of her, realizing that Discord had taken her only friend from her.

"Vinyl!" Thorn exclaimed, managing to unlock Rainbow's cell, "Let's move it!"

"Oh, right." Vinyl started on the Crusaders' cell, opening it with ease. As Rainbow stepped out of her own cell, her horn and wings were returned. The same happened to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, as the white filly gained her horn back, and the orange filly gained her wings back.

"Oh man!" She squealed, "I'm so glad I have these babies back!"

Octavia came out of the corner, trotting towards the group with the angry emptiness still in her eyes. She did not acknowledge any of them. The only acknowledgement she actually gave was a glare to Vinyl, who was pained by it.

Rainbow sighed with relief, "Now, let's get outta here. The faster we escape, the less likely Dipcord will find us and recapture us. C'mon."

As they ran back to the exit, they froze stiff when a familiar voice echoed through the halls.

"Going somewhere?"

---

Sunset Shimmer paced anxiously outside the castle. Now what was she supposed to do? The stupid DJ and her stupid changeling friend had gotten to Discord before she could. Once again, they would most likely be the heroes of the day, and she would be known as the half-bald, molasses-and-pie-covered weirdo.

It's my turn to be the hero! Sunset thought to herself, They get enough attention from the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco already! I deserve that attention! Not them! Can this possibly get any worse?

A tingly feeling shot through Sunset's body. Looking down, she noticed her body was glowing with a golden aura. She shrieked in surprise when her surroundings began to change rapidly.

I spoke too soon!

---

Vinyl's head shot up. Almost immediately after, Thorn also shot up. They glanced at each other before looking around and taking in their new surroundings. They appeared to be back in Discord's throne room. Rainbow Dash, the Crusaders, and Octavia lain around them. While they had been transported, Sunset Shimmer had joined the group. She too was knocked out.

"What happened?" Vinyl asked.

Thorn bared his teeth at something in the room, "Discord happened. He's here. I can smell his chocolate scent with ease."

"Ah! So you noticed my new cologne!"

With a flash of light, the creature responsible for their teleportation appeared in the empty throne, smiling with glee.

Immediately Vinyl got into a battle stance, "You! I gotta bone to pick with you, freakshow!"

Discord dramatically put his mismatched hands to his chest and gave his best puppy-dog eyes, "Moi? Whatever did I do to you, Batch?"

"That's Scratch!" Vinyl objected, "Vinyl Scratch! And you know exactly what you did! Why I oughta-"

Thorn grabbed her by the tail, "Whoa! Vinyl, you don't know what kind of tricks he's got planned. He'll have you knocked out before you can even realize it!"

"Cheeselegs is right, Vinyl dear," Agreed Discord, "You obviously have no clue who you're up against."

Vinyl pushed Thorn away, "I want my friend back."

This caused Discord to raise an eyebrow and point to Octavia, who was still knocked out on the floor, "If I'm not mistaken, isn't the Psycho Cellist your friend?"

"My real friend!" Vinyl shouted, "I know what you did! You brainwashed Octavia into becoming somepony she's not! Turn her back, NOW!"

Discord held up his hands defensively, "We're getting a bit ahead of ourselves, aren't we? I'm not going to reverse any of my actions until I have a valid reason. In fact, Octavia is better this way. It's much more entertaining to see her as a broken, hopeless shadow of her former sel-"

However, the chaotic spirit was surprised when Vinyl suddenly rushed at him and jumped on him, grabbing his face and yanking it upwards so he was forced to look her in the eye.

"You change her back," Vinyl snarled with a deadly edge of steel in her voice, "Or so help me, I'll litterally rip that smug smirk right off your face!"

Thorn gasped quietly, What happened to that timid and reserved Vinyl I know? He knew however, that he should probably get the others awoken so they could assist in fighting Discord. Using his magic, he immediately woke the others up. They started off slow, but they were all back on their hooves momentarily.

Vinyl backed away from her opponent and stood in front of her group, "Besides, it's seven against on-"

"Pass." Octavia said gloomily, backing away from the group.

"I'm with her on that." Sunset agreed, joining the gray mare.

"Er... Five against one," Vinyl corrected herself, "You don't stand a chance, you old fart."

Rainbow stood with wings outstretched while Thorn bared his sharp fangs. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders were in battle stances and were wearing intimidating scowls. Unfortunately, none of this intimidated Discord. If anything, he was more amused.

Rising from his throne, the chaos spirit gave a sneer, "How about we even the playing fields? Mono é mono."

Immediately, all of the ponies except for Vinyl were seized by an invisible force and shoved into a giant bird cage that had magically appeared beside Discord's throne. At first, Vinyl looked to be let down, but she only returned to her battle stance almost immediately.

"Afraid of the competition?" Vinyl remarked. With no hesitation, she expanded her bass cannon and aimed it directly at Discord, "You should be."

For a moment, her opponent looked rather surprised, "Is that... A Bass Blaster 5000?"

Vinyl stared at him, "Uh... I guess? Why? You gonna cheat some more and malfunction it?"

"No..." Discord replied in an annoyed tone, "But it does give me an idea for a completely equal battlefield... How about a Dubstep Duel?"

Vinyl continued to stare at him, "A what?"

"A Dubstep Duel," Discord repeated, "Similiar to the classic Magic Duel, but in which two competitors battle it out in a high-powered competition involving the most chaotic genre of music there is: Dubstep."

Vinyl scoffed, "How do you know anything about dubstep? You're as old as dirt!"

This comment caused Discord to laugh, "Au contraire, my little pony; I'm the daddy of all dubstep. Like I said before, it's the most chaotic genre of any music there is. It's only natural that I'm attracted to it."

Vinyl scowled, "How do you play?"

"Easy," The spirit scoffed, "Who ever can survive through the most bass drops is the winner."

Survive? Vinyl thought, "Seems simple enough. What's the stakes?"

"Hmm..." Discord took a moment to think, "How about... If -or rather when- I win, all of you will have to stay here as my prisoners. And you," He pointed to Vinyl, "Will be joining your Psycho Cellist of a friend in discord-ization."

"How about if I win?" Vinyl asked, "You have to let us go, leave Equestria alone, and turn my friend back to normal."

"Deal. Let's shake on it."

They approached each other, hoof in claw and sealed the deal. The ponies in the cage seemed nervous about this. Even confident Rainbow Dash didn't like the idea.

"Prepare to have the bass in your face." Growled Vinyl.

"Likewise, my opponent." Discord shot back.

---

So... Yeah. This is how the final battle's going down. I know some people are frustrated when people assume that Vinyl only plays dubstep and no other genre of electronic, but can you really see Discord and Vinyl blasting each other with house or trance?

Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter. This story is fast-approaching it's climax, which I promise will be totally awesome. Stay tuned!