Twilight and her friends walk through the Everfree Forest in determination. So far, they have made it past a few obstacles in their way like falling off cliffs, the Manticore, spooky trees, and a crying serpent. Each time, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity succeeded, showing off Honestly, Kindness, Laughter and Geneority. And those times had made Twilight think.

The ponies went around a corner and saw something in the distance: some sort of ruins. Twilight, recognizing it, exclaims, "There it is, the ruin that holds The Elements of Harmony. We made it."

Twilight rushes towards the ruins, Applejack calls out, "Twilight, wait for us."

We're almost there. Whoa!"

Twilight said this as she realizes that her feet are no longer on solid ground: the pony is about to fall off a cliff. Luckily, Rainbow Dash grabs the unicorn in time and pulls her back. Twilight felt her heart racing. That was a close one!

"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" Rainbow jokes to Twilight a bit.

The ponies took a glance at the bridge. It appears to be out as one side has the fallen bridge which they are on. The question is getting to the other side and since magic is no good in the Everfree Forest, teleportation is out of the question unless it's to leave the forest.

Pinkie Pie sighs a bit, "Now what?"

"Duh," Rainbow scoffs as she rolls her eyes while showing her foots. The Pegasus pony flew up, preparing to head to the other side to work on the bridge...

At least, Rainbow was but without warning, her wings disappear, making the pony gasps in shock as she hits the cliff hard. Fluttershy, the yellow Pegasus pony, looks shocked as her own wings disappear.

Suddenly, Twilight and Rarity's horns disappear, making them exclaim in shock and horror, "Your horn! My horn! AHHHH," The two unicorns jumps back as if seeing mice on the floor.

"What 'de Sam hill just happened?" Applejack asks in confusion. "Is 'dis Nightmare Moon's work or..."

Suddenly sinister laughter is heard, making the ponies startle as a green glow appears. A creature appears laughing sinisterly before smirking. He remarks while wiping the tears of amusement out of his eyes, "Oh my. You ponies should've seen the looks on your faces; Priceless!"

"Hey, who are you?" Rainbow demands to the creature as she got up. "What did you do to our wings and horns?"

"Oh what? You never heard of me? I almost feel hurt. Then again, most of you never heard of Nightmare Moon until now so it fits."

"How did you know who Nightmare Moon is?" Twilight ask the newcomer in worry.

"Oh, let me do some introductions first, shall we? My name is Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. Perhaps you heard of me?" The creature known as Discord asks the ponies with a grin. They just stare him, making Discord frown a bit, "No; Figures."

"Discord," Fluttershy ask in concern. "I thought that was a word meaning disharmony amongst ponies."

"Oh, come now. Where did you think the word came from; Time for a little history lesson, my little ponies. I came to Equestria centuries ago and cause chaos. Your princesses, including Luna who is now Nightmare Moon, uses the Elements of Harmony to turn me into stone which was in front of the maze."

"Oh my..." Twilight said, her eyes widen in shock. "I remember that statue...Princess Celestia told us students to never fight or argue near it. But I didn't know why...until now."

"Your princess did a wise thing...too bad that she didn't put me in the right place." Discord said with a sinister smirk.

"But how did you escape?"

"Oh, let's say an old friend of mine helped me..."

"Nightmare Moon," The ponies gasp in shock and alarm. So that's it. Nightmare Moon must've released Discord; But why?

"Yes, old Princess Luna released me as extra insurance. I guess she's worried that you may use the Elements of Harmony against her." Discord said with a shrug as he made clouds appears, causing it to rain chocolate.

"What? Magic clouds in the forest?" Rarity ask confused then yelps by the chocolate, "Eeew! What's this?"

"Chocolate rain, yes!" Pinkie exclaims happily as she ate some of the chocolate, "A dream come true! Come on, make animals dance in tutus!"

"Ugh, okay, now 'dat ain't right." Applejack remarks to Pinkie, disturbed by her randomness.

"Discord, move out of the way; we got business in the ruins and you can't stop us!" Twilight snaps to Discord in determination. "If we don't stop Nightmare Moon..."

"Yes, yes, I know, Eternal Night. No more Princess Celestia, blab, blab. I'm bored. Let's try something new." Discord said bored as he snaps his fingers. Suddenly the spirit and the ponies disappear.

---------------

"Hey, where did you take us," Twilight ask Discord in shock as they and the ponies appears in some dark dimension. Suddenly a maze appears right in front of them. "What..."

"I decided to play a little game with you ponies, nothing fancy, just some chaos and fun." Discord said to the ponies with a sly grin. "You are all going into the maze and must get to the end in one piece. You will be separated and have to find one another to succeed."

"And what are the rules?" Rainbow asks Discord bored.

"Well, they are simple. Rule one: no flying and no magic! The second rule: every pony must play the game...or it is over and I win. If you make it to the end, you will be send home and you can continue on to find your precious Elements to beat Nightmare Moon. If you don't...you will be trapped here forever!"

"But by then, Nightmare Moon would win!" Fluttershy exclaims to Discord in horror. Either if the ponies win or lose, how will they know if they themselves can get back in time to stop Nightmare Moon? And how will the ponies know that Discord will keep his word?

"Well, you better get going then." Discord said as he made barriers appear, blocking the ponies off from one another. "Let the game begin; Ha ha ha ha!"

"Stay calm, girls! Everypony head to the middle as fast as you can, and we'll regroup there!" Twilight calls out to the ponies. She has to get herself out of here, if only to save Equestria from both Nightmare Moon and Discord.

"Moving out," Rainbow exclaims as she begins to run off. Even without her wings, the pony still got her speed.

"See you in the center." Rarity said as she heads on out as well.

"Yee-haw," Applejack cheers on.

"See you guys there!" Pinkie exclaims happily as she bounces way.

Fluttershy is gasping as she moves on, frantically while asking ,"What's that? Who's there? Girls!"

---------

Nightmare Moon frowns as Discord appears, showing her a vision of the ponies in the maze. The former Princess Luna snarls, "You are supposed to kill them...not play with them!"

"Oh, relax, Luna..." Discord taunts Princess Luna who glares at him. "This is where the big game begins. Trust me, they won't have the ability to use the Elements...at least, not after I'm done with them; Heh heh heh."

"You better be right about this, Discord..."

----------

Meanwhile, Applejack was running through her part of the maze to get to the middle, until something caught her attention; some apples on the ground as she walked up to them. Just then, the apples started rolling away from the Earth pony by themselves.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack asked in surprise before she chased after the rolling apples.

--------------------

Nightmare Moon watches from where she's at, glancing at what's going on.

"If that fool Discord could keep this one from interfering, I would be surprised indeed." Nightmare Moon mumbles to herself.

-----------------

Applejack follows the apples until she ends up in a clearing, all of them are closed off.

"Dang; got 'ta find another way out." Applejack mumbles to her. She has to find her friends and get to the end before...

"Applejack?" A familiar voice asks, much to Applejack's notice. She turns and is surprised to see a familiar shy friend approaching.

"Fluttershy; How'd ya get here," Applejack asked in surprise.

"I don't know...I got lost." Fluttershy said with a squeak. "I don't know if we can make it."

"Shucks, 'dat ain't a problem. Ah found yew, so we need 'ta find 'de others." Applejack said in confidence.

"Are you sure about that?" Fluttershy asked Applejack weirdly.

"Sure do! Why, 'dat's 'de honest truth." Applejack said with a smile.

Fluttershy's eyes narrows as she asked, "You don't really believe that...do you?"

"Now what are yew on about?" Applejack asks Fluttershy puzzled.

"Come on, you may believe that...but we don't know anything about Discord or Nightmare Moon. Heck, we didn't even think about what Twilight wanted when we came on this mission!" Fluttershy snaps to Applejack, a bit mad.

"But we didn't want 'ta leave a friend 'ta do 'dis on her own!" Applejack exclaims to Fluttershy in worry.

"Oh, sure you were her friend?" Another voice snaps as a familiar Earth pony bounces into view.

"Pinkie Pie!"

"Sure am. But let me tell you something: what makes you think you're her friend?" Pinkie snaps to Twilight madly.

"Ah...Ah greeted her when she first came 'ta Ponyville." Applejack exclaims nervously. "Ah even saved her when Ah told her 'ta let go so Fluttershy and Rainbow can catch her! It was 'de honest truth!"

"Ha!" Fluttershy exclaims with an amusing scoff. "She's a unicorn; Twilight would've saved herself with magic! She didn't need us to catch her."

"'Dat's 'de honest truth, Fluttershy," Applejack said in concern.

"Well, Darling, sometimes the truth hurts doesn't it?" A third familiar voice scoffs as Rarity appears.

"Rarity; Oh, not yew, too," Applejack groans a bit.

"Tell us: what do you really think of us?" Rarity asks Applejack sternly. "Are we good friends or do you have any negative feelings about us?"

"O' course we're good friends! Really," Applejack insisted in worry

"Oh come on!" Rainbow's voice snaps as she flies into view. "You got to at least find us a bit annoying!"

"Well...okay, maybe yew tend 'ta be a bit boastful an' has a huge ego...an' Rarity tends 'ta be nitpitcky, especially when it comes 'ta dirt...Fluttershy...Ah'm worried whenever she is scared an' when her animals git in my garden...but those were accidents!" Applejack insists to her friends in concern. "An' Pinkie Pie..."

"Ha!" Pinkie snaps right into Applejack's face. "Because I am pink and I do crazy things! Isn't it, AJ?!"

"And you think I have an ego problem?! I hate that truth!" Rainbow snaps furiously as she turns her back on AJ.

"How could you say that about my animals?" Fluttershy demands to Applejack hurtful.

"If you were a good friend, you would just lie instead of telling me how much of a neat freak I was." Rarity exclaims furiously to Applejack.

"But... but Ah..." Applejack stuttered, her feelings getting hurt.

"My, my, the truth hurts, doesn't it, AJ?" An amusing voice spoke up as Twilight appears. "You know that I can teleport, but just let two Pegasi saved me anyway. You got me scared by telling the truth. What kind of friend does that?"

The other ponies taunt and insult Applejack, making her cover her ears while ducking.

"Shut up! Leave me alone!" Applejack exclaims in fear. "Ah won't tell 'de truth again if it hurts yer feelings so much; Just stop insulting an' taunting me!!!"

Applejack's eyes closed...not noticing that her coat is turning a bit gray. Soon the clones disappear, which she didn't notice...and a hedge disappears, revealing a familiar purple unicorn.

"Applejack, I found you!" Twilight exclaims with a smile, but noticing something's odd with her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...Ah'm fine." Applejack lied.

"Wait, are you sure?" Twilight ask Applejack puzzled. She notices that the pony is looking back; her mouth is closed in a weird way. "I thought I heard yelling."

"Shucks, yew were imaging things, Ah saw nothing. Ah was...talking 'ta mahself." Applejack lied once more.

"Oh...okay." Twilight said in concern. "Well, we better get going. We have to find the other end of the maze and get to the Elements."

"Elements, Shucks, never heard o' them. Don't exist none." Applejack lied as she heads on her way, making Twilight more concerned and surprised.

"Sure...no problem..." Twilight said, then spoke to herself, "Did Applejack just lie?"

Unknown to Twilight, something familiar appears behind her as she leaves, smirking evilly...Twilight Sparkle? The other appears, all of them are glowing eyes.

Discord chuckles as he appears, saying, "1 pony down, 5 more to go; now let's see which one of the so-called Elements of Harmony that I will visit next."

Discord disappears, along with the pony clones that he used to trick Applejack.

-------------------

A familiar pink haired pony walk around, looking nervous and concern, mumbling, "Hello? Anypony...I'm lost. Where are you girls?"

Unknown to Fluttershy, a familiar enemy is above her, with a smirk on his evil face.

"Let's see...how to discord this one...butterflies? No, wait, that's a foalish idea. She may try to counter me somehow." Discord said thoughtfully. "Hmmm, I need something that can guarantee to work but what?"

"Oh dear, this place is big...I hope I don't run into..." Fluttershy bumps into a part of the maze, causing her to squeak in worry, "Eeek!" Discord notices, giving out a smirk.

"That pony looks like a pushover...which gives me an idea..."

Discord disappears. Fluttershy, meanwhile, nervously goes around a corner, looking around...then bumps into someone.

Fluttershy looks up to see a huge blue Minotaur blocking her, glaring at the pony. The big guy snaps, "What does pony want with me, Iron Will?"

"Oh, sorry, sir...but can you move around please?" Fluttershy ask nervously, seeing that there's no other way around Iron Will. The guy is too big to do so and going back the other way is scary. "I need to go around."

Iron Will glances at Fluttershy, then laughs madly, "Ha ha ha! Yeah, right. Iron Will don't move for no pony!"

"Oh, sorry...if you want, I can wait until you decide when to leave."

"Pony, you're pathetic. You should've just barged me down instead of that."

"Oh, I don't want to be mean." Fluttershy said with a gulp then the Pegasi gasps as Iron Will pushes her down. "Ooh! Why..."

"Iron Will sees a pushover when he sees it! When somepony tries to block, show them that you can rock!" Iron Will exclaims as Fluttershy got up, shaken but okay. "In other words, just move your way through me!"

"Oh sorry...I..."

"Never apologize, when you can criticize! You see, that's the problem! Kindness never works when you want things your own way! In fact, being assertive or cruel works better."

"But I don't want to..." Fluttershy yelps as Iron Will just pushes her way. She is getting a bit annoyed. "Hey, stop that."

"Ha ha ha! Kindly pushover! Whatcha going to do to Iron Will; you can't go around me and asking me kindly move won't cut it with Iron Will!" Iron Will sneers to Fluttershy. The Minotaur laughs cruelly as he pokes the Pegasus pony a few times.

Fluttershy frowns, getting angrily. She doesn't know what it is, but the pony is getting fed up of being pushed over. Come to think about it...her friends sometimes push her around...they once tried to take on the Manticore without stopping to realize if it was hurt or not! And why must Rainbow tried to scare or pull pranks on her? Fluttershy didn't ask for them!

"Treat me like a pushover, and you'll get the once over!" Fluttershy exclaims furiously as she knocks down Iron Will, stomping on him a few times. The pony fails to notice that her yellow coat is turning gray. "No more Miss Nice Fluttershy! Get out of my way, moron!"

Fluttershy scoffs as she goes down the maze hallway, not noticing Iron Will's eyes turning red as he smirks evilly before disappearing...

-------

Twilight and Applejack move down the maze, the purple unicorn is noting how oddly her friend is acting. Just then, the two ponies spot another friend of theirs.

"Oh, Fluttershy, there you are!" Twilight exclaims with a sigh as she comes over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine...but you aren't!" Fluttershy snaps as she pushes Twilight to the ground, much to her own shock. What gives? This isn't the nice Pegasi pony that she knows!

"Fluttershy, what the hay is that about?"

"Oh what? Don't like the new Fluttershy. I hate that you and the others push me around!"

"Uh, maybe this maze is getting to you." Twilight said to Fluttershy nervously, noting how cruel she is getting. "Maybe..."

"Maybe are for babies! Try using magic if you want to get an answer out of me. Oh wait, you can't! You got no horn! Boo woo woo!" Fluttershy snaps, slapping Twilight with her tail as she moves on. The purple unicorn looks stunned.

"Applejack, what's wrong with Fluttershy?" Twilight ask Applejack in concern. "She looks...gray and mean."

"Nothing's wrong with Fluttershy. She is always like that." Applejack lied, looking back while closing her back. She moves on, much to Twilight's stunned look.

What is going on here?

--------

"Well, what do you think so far, Luna?" Discord asks Nightmare Moon who saw the action so far, "Took two ponies down and without a sweat."

"Yes...but when will you destroy them?" Nightmare Moon asks Discord impatiently. "So far, you are turning them gray and discorded...like you would love to do. And stop calling me Luna!"

"Oh relax, 'Luna'! I got four ponies left." Discord chuckles cruelly as he made six pictures of the ponies appear, crossing out Applejack and Fluttershy. He took out a thorn and throws it. "Now which pony is next?"

The thorn hits Pinkie Pie's picture. Discord smirks devilishly and sinisterly, much to Nightmare Moon's notice. Both villains can tell that he's going to enjoy this.