"Oh Celestia!"

Luna rushed towards the exit of the island with Vinyl and Scootaloo holding on to her tightly. The other Guardians rushed to the ground, picking up the ponies there. Twilight had Octavia, Rainbow picked up Sunset Shimmer, Applejack picked up Apple Bloom, and Rarity picked up Sweetie Belle. The rest of them followed Luna, careful to avoid the sinking island that was closing in on them, forcing them to fly closer to the ocean above.

"Follow my lead!" Luna commanded, "Do not split up! We risk being attacked by Discord if we split up!"

Octavia held tightly to Twilight as the purple alicorn shot foward, right behind Luna. The rest of the Guardians, along with Thorn, followed close behind. Luna flipped when the gravity changed, causing all of them to feel temporarily nauseatious. The gray mare watched as the upside-down island sunk into the sea and the protective clouds above dissipated into thin air. They now soared high over the ocean in the blissful silence.

"That seemed too easy!" Cadance called.

Luna nodded, "I agree, that was too easy."

Octavia scanned the area where the upside-down island once floated. She caught sight of something heading towards them, gaining on them at an incredibly fast pace. Before she could register what the something was, a force slammed into her and Twilight, nearly throwing them into the ocean below. Luckily, the alicorn regained her altitude.

"What was that?!" She asked.

Octavia looked all around. She turned to look up front for only a second to where Vinyl and Scootaloo were riding on Luna. She looked back and nearly leapt off of Twilight's back. There, flying mere feet away was none other than Discord. There was something different about him than when she had met him back in the throne room. There wasn't an ounce of that malicious jolliness he was so well known for in his expression. Oh no, he was mad. Scratch that, in an insane rage.

...And it was aimed directly at Octavia.

Discord grabbed Twilight's tail and pulled her backwards. The alicorn counteracted it by blasting him in the face with a beam of magic. He was stunned, allowing Twilight to dive down, to where she was only a few feet away from the ocean surface. Discord followed, more so chasing after the mare riding on her back than her. Octavia fought back, throwing her cello bow and hitting him in the face. However, he quickly disappeared before the bow came flying back to Octavia's grasp

"Why is he only chasing after us?!" Twilight demanded.

"Because I and Vinyl foiled his plan the first time!" Octavia yelled back, "I'm pretty sure he wants to kill me! But..."

She remember what Whooves had said long ago, concerning why Sombra had dragged her into the future. Since she was from the future, if she was killed in the past, the universe would implode and fall in on itself.

And Discord was dead set on getting rid of her once and for all.

Twilight suddenly stopped short, slamming into something solid. Octavia turned back, discovering that Discord had appeared directly in front of them. He caught Twilight by her wing, quickly plucking Octavia off her back before tossing the alicorn aside. Now, the gray mare was dangling hundreds of feet above the ocean, the only thing keeping her from falling was Discord's loose grip on the scruff of her neck.

"You've... Ruined... Everything..." The multi-beast growled with a deadly edge in his voice, "You and that accursed two-hearted stallion! I could have been ruling over Equestria in enternal chaos as it was meant to be!"

At that very moment, Octavia became dizzy. The familiar feeling of right before a vision came to her.

Oh no, not now! She begged, Not now! It's really not the time!

Her visions did not obey. She was plunged into darkness before emerging into a bright light. Standing there in a peaceful cottage was newly-made alicorn, Fluttershy, along with Discord. At first, Octavia was confused by it until she remembered that Fluttershy and Discord were once friends.

"My goodness!" Discord exclaimed, poking the horn on Fluttershy's head, "That's new..."

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made us into alicorns!" The butter-colored pegasus annouced, "They want us to protect the Gears of Harmony after they planted themselves in the earth."

"Sounds like quite the job," Discord replied with a chuckle, but he seemed not to care about Fluttershy's "alicornination", "Anyways, are you still on board with giving Pinkie Pie a taste of her own medicine? As in pranking the prankster?"

Fluttershy bit her lower lip, "I'm sorry, but I can't. This new assignment that the princesses gave us... It sounds like we aren't going to have much of a break for free time. It's very important that I protect the Gear with my life, because it now protects all of Equestria from monsters and other bad guys."

Discord seemed let down. His ears lowered and his smile drooped, "Oh, I understand. Maybe next time."

The vision cut out and went to somewhere different. It seemed to be later, for Discord was now greeting Pinkie Pie, who was fixing up the new place where the Gear of Laughter was placed.

"Hello, Pinkie!" Discord greeted.

"Oh hi Dizzycord!" Pinkie replied, taking a break from decorating the cave, "Oh! I bet you came here for some cake! What about cookies? Oh! Ice cream?"

"Actually," Discord began, "I was wondering if you'd like to join me in a little afternoon of pranking unsuspecting ponies. How about it?"

Pinkie suddenly frowned, "Oh, I'm sorry Dizzycord, I can't! I have to watch this Gear of giggles!" She snorted, "But maybe next time when I'm not so busy! Okay?"

This time, the draconequus looked slightly enraged, "Oh, of course. Maybe next time."

The vision cut to something else. This time, Octavia found herself standing upon the top of Mount Magic. It appeared to be much, much later in time, for the familiar purple alicorn, Twilight Sparkle, was much older and mature. As expected, the draconequus in the past visions appeared before her.

"Hi Twi!" Greeted Discord.

Twilight turned, looking rather annoyed, but she tried to appear welcoming, "Oh, hello Discord."

"Got some time?" The multi-beast asked, seeming as though he was up to something.

"For what?" Twilight replied.

"Duh! Some free time! I was thinking about helping you with..." Discord coughed, "Organizing your books!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "I don't have the time, Discord. You know I have to guard the Gear, so I don't understand why you keep asking. How long has it been? A year or so? And you've come to me every week, asking if we could hang out. I'm sorry Discord, but my duties come first. Maybe next time."

This time, Discord's smile was clearly hiding the venom he wanted to show off, "I understand... Maybe next time..."

However, as he took off, Octavia could hear the chimerical creature mutter under his breath, "There won't be a next time..."

Just when Octavia thought the vision was going to end, it cut again. This time, she was standing in the Canterlot palace throne room, where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were having a verbal battle with a very angry Discord. However, the battle didn't look as though it was going to stay verbal for much longer.

"You did this on purpose!" Discord roared, baring his teeth. The hackles on his back had risen, making him look very intimidating, "You made them alicorns and gave them this stupid, twenty-four/seven job, just when I was starting to become close friends with them!"

Celestia held up a hoof defensively, "Discord, they were destined to do this. It wasn't in our control when the Elements became the Gears."

"Somepony has to protect them from evil-doers!" Luna added, "The Element bearers were supposed to protect them!"

Octavia wasn't sure, but it almost seemed as though Discord was turning a redish-orange and smoking slightly, "Don't give me that junk! You just want me to get mad so you can turn me back to a lawn ornament, don't you?!"

Celestia seemed apalled, "We don't want to turn you into stone! We only did that because you were causing pain and suffering to ponies with your chaos!"

"Oh you lying dog!" Discord spat, "Who do you think is suffering now that he has absolutely no one to support him through the torturous boredom of reformation?! That's right!" He pointed to himself, "This guy right here!"

Luna snarled, "How dare you address our sister like that!"

Celestia held her angry sister back, "We can't help that they are the Guardians of the Gears now. If you can't accept that, Discord, then I am sorry."

As soon as Celestia said this, Discord seemed to calm down, "Very well... I never liked this stupid forced reformation anyway!"

Unexpectedly, he fired a beam of magic at the two princesses. However, his attack was blocked by the sudden appearance of six newcomers. The Guardians had appeared in the nick of time and had blocked Discord's attack.

Octavia's vision seemed to be skipping parts, because all of the sudden, she found herself standing on a beach that wasn't Ponyville's. Standing there in the surf was Discord, his paw resting on an invisible force field that responded to his touch with a slight glow. Behind Octavia stood the six Guardians, all looking rather pained.

"You asked for this, Discord," Twilight growled, "You attacked Celestia and Luna in an aggressive rage. That's not something we can just ignore. I-"

But Discord didn't let her finish. In an act of rage, he kicked the force field before flying away, out over the ocean.

Finally, the vision was finished. Octavia was still being held tightly by Discord. She suddenly understood why he was doing this, why he despised the Guardians and all the ponies in Equestria.

"You felt like your only friends were being taken away." Octavia said out of the blue.

For a moment, Discord looked shocked, but rather understanding. The murderous snarl immediately returned however, "And what does that have to do with anything?"

"The Guardians, who were once your friends," Octavia repeated, "You didn't like that they had become alicorns because you felt like their job was their main priority, and they didn't care about you."

"Perhaps I didn't like the fact of the princesses taking away my only friends," Discord growled, "Just so I would get angry and they would have an excuse to turn me back into a lawn ornament, which is exactly what happened, except those accursed Elements, Gears, whatever the heck they're called now, banished me out of Equestria. I did absolutely nothing! Nothing I say! It was simply an excuse to get rid of me!"

Despite his ranting, Octavia listened closely. She suddenly saw Discord in a different light. Instead of the psychotic, vengeful beast, she saw someone who just needed to be accepted into society and have his looks and... Eccentric personality pushed aside.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Discord's laughing. His obnoxiously loud voice broke through her deep thinking and almost startled her.

"Oh, you think I'm going to change my ways just cause you had a stupid vision and learned my past?" He asked, "Even if you accepted me, the rest of Equestria will always see me as nothing more than a mindless monster!"

With no warning, Octavia found herself free-falling towards the ocean below. Her limbs flailed uselessly, hoping to catch something in the air and stop her plumit down. Luckily, she landed on something that caught her right before she hit the ocean. She looked down, discovering the jet-black fur of a familiar half-equine, half-insect.

"Celestia, when are you and Vinyl not falling to your death?" Thorn groaned.

"Thanks, Thorn." Octavia quickly said, ignoring the changeling's sarcastic comment. She quickly checked over her shoulder, expecting Discord to be chasing them out of rage. Surprisingly, she saw him simply floating in one spot with his mismatched arms crossed. There was a displeased look on his face, but nothing like it was when he was first chasing after Octavia. Suddenly, he took off in the opposite direction, no longer determined to destroy them all.

"Huh, wonder why he isn't chasing us," Thorn thought aloud, "Maybe he's tricking us."

"Or maybe he sees it as pointless to keep chasing after us," Octavia replied, "We've foiled his plans twice now. Or maybe..." She trailed off.

"Maybe what?" Thorn insisted.

"I talked some sense into him."

This caused Thorn to give a raspy laugh, "Talk sense? Into the guy who thinks making sense is a felony?! That's insane!" He suddenly fell silent, as if he could feel Octavia staring into the back of his neck with a deadly glare.

"I'm serious," The gray mare insisted, "I saw exactly why he went crazy the second time. His only friends refused to even be his friend."

"That's a great reason to almost kill the entire race of ponies and cause eternal darkness and chaos to all of Equestria." Thorn quipped sarcastically.

Octavia sighed, "Perhaps you're right..."

But it still left her wondering, why had Discord finally left them alone?

---

It was about five minutes before Thorn caught up with the Guardians, who had been making their way back.

"What happened?" Luna asked, "Are you both alright?"

"We're fine," Octavia answered, "Luckily, Discord fled."

Cadance cocked her elegant head, "Odd. Why would he suddenly give up when he's so close?"

"Maybe he finally realized that he can't win!" Scootaloo cheered.

Vinyl popped up from behind Luna, "Octavia! You okay?"

Thorn rolled his eyes, "She's fine."

"If fine means almost falling to my death, then yes, I'm fine." Octavia quipped.

They started to make the long journey back to Equestria. Octavia and Vinyl had asked Luna and Thorn to fly close together so that they could talk.

"So what was up with Discrud?" Vinyl asked, "Why did he suddenly run away when he almost had us?"

Octavia shrugged, "I don't know. He dropped me, Thorn saved me, then he just... Flew away. Why he didn't chase me down and try to kill me for the umpteenth time, I guess we'll never know."

Vinyl looked down at the passing ocean below, "Yeah. Too bad. I wanted to kick his butt again."

Octavia laughed, "What is it with you and kicking butts recently?"

"Dude, did you or did you not see me and Discrud blasting each other with dubstep?" Vinyl asked, "The adrenaline's still pumping from it! I wanna kick some more bad guy butt!"

Octavia rolled her eyes with a smile, "Sorry, V. But since Discord apparently gave up, I don't think we'll be kicking butt anytime soon."

"That was kinda anticlimactic though," Vinyl stated, "I'd expect one final battle before we finally put an end to Discord and his crazy plans."

Octavia sighed, "It doesn't matter now. What does matter," She wrapped an arm around Vinyl's shoulder, "Is that we're back together again; as best buddies."

Vinyl clapped her hooves together, "Ha! You're right! Just wait until we get back to Ponyville though. Everypony's gonna be cheering us on!"

Luna promptly interrupted them, "I will not be one of those cheering you on."

"Wait, what?" Vinyl asked.

"You deliberately disobeyed me!" The night princess yelled, "I gave a direct order to not go to Discord's Domain, and you went anyway! Disobeying an order given by a ruler is punishable by law!"

Thorn bared his teeth, "You're still stuck on that, your majesty? They saved Equestria from one of your biggest enemies!"

"Quiet, changeling!" Luna snapped rudely, "They could have killed themselves, or worse, lost all of their free will!"

"Hey, whoa Luna!" Vinyl argued, "Don't talk to Thorn like that! He saved my life, 'twice!'"

Luna only snarled, "Do you not understand? You almost killed yourself ten times over!"

"Are we dead, Luna?" Octavia shot back, "No. We defeated Discord and saved Equestria. So quit your whining. I've put up with too much this past few days -from almost drowning in chocolate milk to being brainwashed- to be scolded for saving the freaking universe from destruction. So for your sake and my sake, shut up."

Vinyl, Thorn, and Luna stared at the gray mare with mouths agape. They couldn't believe what they had just heard come out of the usually sweet and quiet Octavia's mouth.

The mare rubbed her temples, "Sorry. My brain's been magically scrambled. I probably still have some... Discord-ization left over. Please forgive me, your majesty."

Luna sighed, "No no. Perhaps you should forgive me, for I have overreacted a bit."

"A bit?" Thorn asked, but Octavia quickly slapped in the back of the head to keep him quiet.

"It's just that..." Luna began, "Ever since I became Nightmare Moon for a second time, I fear the safety of my subjects. I did not want anypony to travel to Discord's Domain for fear that it would bring about their insanity. Or worse -their death."

"Don't remind me how many times we almost died or lost our sanity in that place." Vinyl quipped.

"But..." The princess continued, "I commend you, for successfully defeating Discord without the need of the Elements of Harmony -his only weakness. How did you do it anyway?"

Octavia and Vinyl shared a smirk.

"Just a little thing we like to call..." Octavia began.

"The Cello-Bass Blast of Awesomeness!" Vinyl finished.

Thorn chuckled, "It's true. It was pretty awesome."

"So, perhaps I can let this little offense slide," Luna concluded, "After all, you were the mares who saved me from my dark side, and saved Equestria from eternal confusion and darkness."

Octavia and Vinyl shared a smile.

"Thank you, Princess Luna." Octavia said.

"And thanks for saving our behinds back there!" Vinyl added.

---

It was about sunset when they returned to Ponyville. All of the Guardians dropped off Octavia, Vinyl, Thorn, Sunset, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"We must bid you farewell." Luna said, "I do not entirely trust Discord in his throwing in the towel act. We are going to attempt to cast a force field over Equestria in hopes of keeping him out."

When Vinyl, Octavia, their changeling, unicorn, and filly companions entered the Guild, still soaked with chocolate milk and covered with scratches and bruises, they were greeted by the ecstatic members of the Guild.

"Welcome back you guys!" Lyra greeted, "We told the Guild all about your trip to Discord's Domain. We were all worried sick about you!"

"Sweet Celestia!" Gasped Minuette, "What in the world happened?! You all look awful!"

"I was attacked by living licorice." Octavia answered.

"I just about drowned in chocolate milk." Vinyl added.

"I lost my mind."

"I almost died from dubstep."

"We both nearly died on a sinking island."

"And nearly lost our friendship."

"But we found it again in the end."

"And kicked some butt."

The Guild members cheered loudly, despite not really understanding Octavia and Vinyl's nonsensical speech.

Bonbon suddenly glared, "Sunset Shimmer."

"Whoa there, Bonbon," Vinyl interrupted, "She's cool. Yeah, she tried to kill me, but she did save my life."

"No, I'm concerned as to why she's half-bald." Bonbon said blankly.

Sunset laughed, "It's a very long story."

Lyra managed a chuckle, "Well, you can tell us all what happened at the dinner table. Carrot Top prepared her greatest edible creation ever!"

---

"You wouldn't believe how hard Discord could drop the bass! He may be as old as dirt, but I had to hand it to him, he could do it!" Vinyl squealed,

"Was it easy?" Questioned Derpy, shoving a muffin into her mouth.

"Easy?" Octavia laughed, "If it wasn't for Rainbow Dash, I would have been dead ten times over!"

"Yeah!" Vinyl agreed, "Technically, I lost the dubstep duel, but Octavia saved me just in time."

"I thought you said you were still discorded at that point?" Lucky Clover asked, directed towards Octavia.

"I was!" The gray mare answered, "But I luckily managed to snap back, with some help from Vinyl's bass cannon!"

"Oh yeah, did we tell you about how Discord was behind the whole Tower of Midnight incident?" Vinyl asked.

The guild seemed shocked.

"He what?" Bonbon questioned, mouth agape.

Octavia hastily began to explain what Discord had told -and shown her- while she was conversing about getting the Crusaders and Rainbow Dash back. She explained how he was responsible for manipulating Luna back into Nightmare Moon. She also explained how he was responsible for sending her back to the past and taking her memory.

"That's insane!" Exclaimed Cloudkicker.

"Who woulda thought?" Carrot Top added.

"I knew there was something suspicious about the whole thing." Bonbon announced. She turned to the mint-green unicorn sitting next to her, "See? I'm not paranoid! I was right all along!"

Lyra rolled her eyes before turning back to Octavia and Vinyl, "Well, I suppose we have to thank Discord, for allowing us to meet the both of you. If it wasn't for him, you never would have joined the Guild and met all of us!"

"I suppose Discord did do us a good deed," Octavia replied with a smile, "If he hadn't sent me to the past, I never would have gone on this amazing adventure, and..." She turned to Vinyl, "Not to mention, Discord -unintentionally- taught me that friendship is a very important thing and shouldn't be given up so quickly. I almost lost my best friend in the entire world."

Vinyl squealed, "Thanks, 'tavia! You're my best friend too!"

"It certainly seems as though you've had a great adventure," Lyra continued, "I'm almost jealous!"

Trixie scoffed, "Trixie is not!"

The entire Guild turned and glared at the blue unicorn.

"I mean uh..." Trixie rephrased her sentence, "Trixie is very jealous! She wishes she could go on that adventure too!"

"It definitely wasn't a walk in the park," Vinyl sighed, "But hey, it was a new experience. Plus, we saved the world again!" She gestured to a certain changeling and a certain, half-bald unicorn, "Although, we couldn't have done it without Thorn and Sunset Shimmer. Yeah, Shimmer almost killed me, but she did save my life beforehand and apologized afterwards!"

Sunset glanced away while Thorn giggled, "Thanks." They muttered quietly.

"I'm still confused as to why you're missing half of your fur." Bonbon stated offhandedly towards the orange unicorn.

Sunset blushed crimson red, "Um... I ran into some flypaper. Let's leave it at that."

Without another word, the Guild members quickly chowed down on the delicious feast.

---

It was late evening. The moon was starting to come up as Octavia and Vinyl walked down the beach.

"About what I said while I was discorded..." Octavia began.

"Ah!" Vinyl interrupted, "Save the speech. That wasn't the Octavia I knew who was talking to me. That was brainwashed... Evil Discord minion... Thingy..."

"I still feel bad," Octavia continued, plopping down into the sand with Vinyl quickly following her, "I mean, I broke the promise of not-going to Discord's Domain... I stabbed you in the back, Vinyl, why are you not mad at me?"

"Mad?!" Vinyl laughed, "Why in Celestia's name would I be mad at you?! You've took me on an adventure that only a hoof-full of ponies ever get to experience in their entire lifespan! We've done some of the most amazing things, from fighting monsters and the baddest of bad, to meeting amazing heroes and the closest of our friends. Mad? Puh-lease!"

Octavia chuckled, "I suppose you're right." She looked up at the stars, "Where do you think he's at?"

"Who, Discrud?" Vinyl inquired.

"No, Whooves," Octavia answered, "Since we're on the subject of closest friends... I haven't told anypony this, but... Discord offered me Whooves if I agreed to never again foil his plans."

"Really?!" Vinyl exclaimed, "So... I guess you chose wrongly and that's why he brainwashed you..."

Octavia nodded slowly, "I think he would have brainwashed me either way. I probably wouldn't have gotten Whooves even if I chosen him."

"I'm still a little worried about Discord though," Vinyl stated, "Why would he just turn around and leave when he was so close? There's just something fishy with it all."

Octavia decided to leave out the vision she had seen of Discord and the Guardians, "I don't know. Maybe he had a change of heart."

"Or maybe he finally saw that he couldn't win. But let's hope that he'll never return again. Celestia knows I don't want to run into that guy again."

Octavia wasn't sure why she was leaving out the vision she had just seen recently. Maybe she had a feeling that Vinyl wouldn't believe her if she said that Discord might have had a reason for doing the things he did.

"I wonder why though?" Vinyl thought aloud, "Why did he chose to send you back in time and take your memories instead of doing it to Whooves?"

Octavia shrugged, "He said it was a mistake and a flaw in his plan. I don't really know if that's true."

Vinyl sighed, "Well, I'm praying that he's long gone... Discord I mean, not Whooves."

Octavia looked down, seeming saddened from the thought of the strange and adventurous stallion.

"Hey, who knows?" Vinyl quickly rephrase to keep Octavia from feeling depressed, "I bet he's still out there somewhere, looking for us; or you mainly. He would never forget about you, Octavia. Who could? You're amazing, talented, brave-"

"Or he's dead." Octavia interrupted glumly.

Vinyl scoffed, "Whooves? Dead? Please, that guy's harder to kill than a cockroach!" She shrugged, "Look at the bright side of things, 'tavia. I guarantee he's out there, and he's looking to reunite with us again."

Octavia sighed, "Maybe you're right. I still miss him though."

"Well, maybe while we wait for him, we can find a new adventure," Vinyl suggested, "Hopefully one which doesn't involve us almost dying over ten times in one weekend."

"Where's the fun in that?" Octavia replied in a familiar imitation of a deep and throaty voice.

Vinyl laughed before she copied the same voice, "Yes! There must be fun in everything or else I'm gonna destroy the world! Mwahahaha!"

They both giggled before they looked up at the stars and noticed how late it was.

"Whoa! We better get back to the bluff," Suggested Vinyl, "It's almost ten o' clock!"

"Yeah, I need my sleep after this insane adventure." Octavia agreed.

They rose and trotted through the sand, traveling up the road that would take them back to Ponyville, laughing about their adventures and bad imitations of Discord.

---

In a distant galaxy, a brown stallion leaned against a control console within a large, alien-like room filled with strange designs and advanced technology. He was looking at a small screen, showing coordinates for a very specific place. He was covered in dirt and scratches, signaling he'd been on a long journey to get to where he was now.

The stallion growled as the coordinates were having difficulties in loading. Finally, a map showing a specific planet in a specific galaxy. He smiled with satisfaction before pulling a lever. The sound of metal against metal reverberated through the room. A powerful engine that had not been used in a very long time groaned and began to move the room, slowly but surely.

The stallion simply smiled with glee.

Whooves is back in business.

---

I am terribly sorry for the long wait. I've had no motivation over the past few weeks, so...

Anyways, this is the last and final chapter. I did not stone or reform Discord again, because I figured it would be the cliché and predictable thing to do (plus, I hate reformed Discord). No, there will not be a sequel, even though this chapter kind of points to one. I'm not entirely happy with how it ended, it almost feels as though it's missing something, but I don't know what.

But... I enjoyed writing this so much. I loved reading all the reviews and getting the favorites/follows. You guys are awesomesauce! I hope you enjoyed, and I also hope to see you all on Fanfiction in the near future!

Until next time...

-Delusional Potato.