Discord Arc: Draconequus Rising

Today had started like any other morning had for Celestia in the past few weeks, awakening to the early morning light. Twilight had been doing an excellent job with the rotation and elliptical path of the planet and maintaining the schedule of sunrise and sunset. While she had always held a great amount of pride in her work as the mover of the Sun in the past, she wouldn’t deny the pleasure she took from sleeping in. After thousands of years of waking up before dawn, it was a welcome change. It allowed her to take her time getting cleaned up in the morning, and not worry about sticking to a set schedule.

After having a light breakfast of oats with honey and several orange slices, Celestia perused through the morning’s issue of the Canterlot Sunrise. With Hearth’s Warming Eve having taken place the night before, the usual articles were replaced with stories of holiday events and gatherings that had gone on instead. The paper even mentioned the princesses’ caroling tour through the city’s neighborhoods. She still wasn’t sure how the news staff got the pictures, but she had long since given up on trying to understand how the photographers and journalists were able to take pictures of her and the others without her noticing.

Her eyes stopped upon a particular article. It wasn’t much in terms of length, but the heading had caught her attention.

Today’s weather report had called for partly cloudy skies with light snowfall during the midday, as stated by the Canterlot Weather Bureau and Princess Rainbow Dash herself. Instead of snow, locals within the Canterlot area, as well as the towns of Cloverton, West Trottsdale, and Withersdale received precipitation of what appears to be orange sherbet from the clouds above. Meteorologists were both perplexed and alarmed by this odd phenomenon. Tests were done on the odd precipitation, and results confirmed it was real orange sherbet, and safe for consumption. While this has provided locals with a chance to indulge in tasty sherbet, the effects of this weather are predicted to be harmful to the overall environment.

Several similar incidents have been reported as far as Appleloosa, which experienced a powdered-sugar dust storm this morning. Experts claim this may be a mishap in our Princess of Weather’s magic, but we cannot be certain. The Princess has stated that she has not intentionally caused these incidents to occur, and is currently looking into the matter. As of now, we have been told to advise all citizens to avoid going outdoors whenever possible.

Celestia dropped the paper, making her way to the throne room. She opened the doors without waiting for the guards to assist, and found a very distraught Rainbow Dash and Applejack speaking to a group of ponies wearing uniforms signifying their office within the Canterlot Weather Bureau.

“Look, I said before that I have no freaking idea how those clouds got like that! I’ve been up since four this morning, and as far as I can tell you, I didn’t make them!”

Rainbow Dash was reaching her limit with the ponies. Applejack, meanwhile, was scanning reports that were coming in via magical transfer. Scrolls had piled up by the hundreds alongside her chair. Every few seconds another would appear out of thin air with a sudden burst of arcane flame, varying in color and sound. It was both sad and comical to Celestia as she watched the orange alicorn attempting to read the documents, only to get interrupted by a random popping sound as a roll of parchment fell on her head.

“Rainbow Dash, Applejack, what’s going on?”

Both of the mares looked up, their bodies sagging with relief upon seeing the Sun Princess.

“Celestia! You gotta help me! I-I don’t know what the hay is going on! I’ve tried clearing away these clouds of sherbet, but...they just keep coming back! I don’t feel any magical connection to them at all!”

“That ain’t the half of it!” Applejack began. “We’re getting scrolls from Fillydelphia; apparently there was a bunch of Diamond Dogs who had decided to start doing something called a “flash mob” in the town square! What’s even weirder is that they were singin’ in French while wearin’ hot pink leotards! The local authorities were called to the scene, an’ then they started joinin’ in the dancin’ too! It’s a mess! Ponyville’s been callin’ in since six this morning. Somethin’ ‘bout flyin’ pigs and a parasprite circus!” She grabbed ahold of another scroll that magically appeared out of thin air. “Hoo boy...looks like Cloudsdale’s dealin’ with chocolate milk rainfall or somethin’ nasty. They’re worried ‘bout the milk puddles going sour later. Can’t say I blame them.”

“Diamond Dogs don’t speak French, do they?” Rainbow asked, looking to Celestia.

“N-no...well, very few do, at least. Most of the clans only speak Canid and Equinic,” Celestia answered.

Rainbow Dash groaned as she set down a few scrolls that she had been holding in her magic before turning to the ponies before her. “I...here, send copies of this out to the towns affected by the weather, and let them know that we’re dealing with this as best as we can.” She dug around through a small pile of documents lying on a side table before finding a particular sheet of written parchment. She lifted the paper with her magic, then took a quill and quickly wrote her signature on the bottom before handing the signed document to one of the pegasi. “It’s just a brief explanation of what we’ve figured out so far. We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise.”

The pegasus, whose badge of a golden cloud with two lightning bolts signified him as the highest ranking officer of the group, bowed, along with the others. “As you wish, your Highness.” The group then about-faced and made their way out the doors.

Applejack and Rainbow both visibly slouched as soon as the officers left. The halls were once again quiet, aside from the clicking of hooves on tile as the occasional castle staff or page would walk in to give another document of written concern from a distressed citizen or noble. Celestia frowned a little. “Please tell me you two have at least taken time to eat?”

Applejack chuckled. “Princess, have you ever taken time to eat durin’ a crisis?”

The Sun Princess had no argument for that. “Touché, Applejack.”

The doors burst open again, and a frazzled blue unicorn wearing purple and white robes galloped in. “Trixe and Twilight-er...” She gave a quick bow to the three mares before continuing. “Princess Twilight and I have been looking into the the strange clouds. Her Highness is still in the Arcana Lab, but she wanted me to give this to you right away.”

Rainbow Dash took one of the papers floating in Trixie’s magic, grasping it with her own red aura. The paper unfurled, and she immediately recognized the chicken scratch that Twilight’s writing devolved into when she was occupied with experiments and research. She cleared her throat before reading aloud to the others:

“5:07 AM- These clouds seem to be manifested from an alien form of magic. I have never seen anything like this before. Trixie and I are currently trying to tap into the magic flow of these clouds, but have...” Rainbow paused as she studied the writing for several seconds, letting out a snort of annoyance. “Ugh, what the hay, Twilight, were you having a seizure or something here? What’s...the magical influx capacity of...?” Rainbow Dash squinted as she tried to discern her friend’s writing.

Lines of ink were slashed across several equations and various formulas that made little sense to Rainbow Dash. She scanned further down the paper, and continued reading the notes, this time in a slightly neater penmanship, most likely Trixie’s.

“Right...uh...7:49 AM- After studying the presumed epicenter of these magical effects, we have determined the odd weather’s source to be within the general area of Canterlot. The initial spell casted to create this weather started with a larger than normal ‘affected zone’. This leaves a large area to search through to determine the first point of ‘magical contact’, for the lack of a better term. However, judging from the range and spread pattern of the spell, we hazard a guess of it being centered somewhere within the castle.”

Applejack turned to Trixie. “So...yer sayin’ that we should be concentratin’ our efforts on Canterlot to solve this problem?”

“Well, we have narrowed it down to the castle grounds, which is a decently sized space to start our search with. The sooner we find the source of this problem, the sooner we can get rid of it before it spreads further.”

Celestia’s breathing hitched a little at this revelation. “Trixie...do...Twilight or you know the nature or caliber of this magic?”

Trixie sighed, trying to regain her composure. She had been up since this early morning, and the research with Twilight had be hectic at best. While she wouldn’t admit it, she was more than a little freaked out by the powerful magic they were dealing with. Quite a way to start your first day as an advisor to the Princess of Magic.

She looked to Celestia while rubbing one of her temples. “Trixie has been unable to gauge it properly herself. Princess Twilight has done only a little better, placing its potency rating within the range of you and Princess Luna, your Highness...possibly stronger. She seemed rather distraught by this revelation. Trixie cannot help but feel the same.”

Celestia bit down a curse before looking to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She was silent for a few moments, trying to gather her thoughts as she looked to the two. Her eyes held a small hint of fear in them, yet her voice betrayed no emotions as she spoke. “Cancel all meetings. Go get Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Luna, and Fluttershy, and your families. Stay together, and don’t leave the castle for any reason.”

Applejack frowned. “Celestia...what’s wrong?”

“Meet me in my personal chambers. Luna and I will explain, I promise.”

Rainbow and Applejack wanted to press her further, but held off, closing their mouths and slouching a bit as the Sun Princess gave them a gentle, yet determined look. “Alright, Celestia. What ‘bout you?”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She turned to two of the guards standing at either side of the throne room doors. “Privates Stratus and Summer, please escort Trixie. Trixie, you and Twilight should also head to my personal chambers as soon as possible.”

Trixie gave a bow. “Trixie will get to Princess Twilight as soon as possible.” With that, she, along with the two pegasi guards, left the throne room and headed towards the Arcana Lab.

Celestia looked to the few guards stationed along the walls of the throne room. She cleared her throat before speaking in a loud, firm, clear tone of voice. “Spread word to your fellow guards. I want everypony within the castle on high alert. Follow high alert protocols, and all patrols will be done in pairs, if not more.”

The guards saluted in unison before exiting the chambers as well. All except a certain dark blue stallion. “Milady...may I ask what the cause for alarm is? Surely this weather is a problem, but...”

Celestia looked to Spark Fyre and frowned. “I’m afraid Equestria is on the brink of facing total catastrophe. This is likely the beginning of worse things yet to come.”

Spark Fyre’s eyes widened, but years of serving under the princess kept him from showing any other signs of alarm. “Milady...?”

“Commence with Code Haven, Captain. Be sure to spread the orders to Stalwart and High Road as well.”

Code Haven; one of the highest security orders that could be given. A complete and total lockdown of the castle. All guards were to patrol until the threat could be determined and taken care of. Usually it related to a threat within the castle walls, too.

“Code...Code Haven...I-I see...” Spark Fyre repeated, nodding slowly in understanding as his lips pursed into a thin line. “What of Head Captain Lily Wing?”

Celestia smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll inform her myself.” Her horn gave off a soft glow as she closed her eyes. “Lily Wing...”

“Yes, Princess? Is everything alright? You are unharmed?”

“All things considered, Lily Wing, I am fine, and unharmed.” Celestia noted the trace of concern in the pegasus’ thoughts. Lily Wing had nerves of steel. For the mare to be even a little distressed was a sign that she already had an idea of the situation. She was certain that Lily Wing had gone out at some point to check on the statue garden the moment she saw the weather outside. “I assume you’re already commencing with Code Haven?”

“As quickly as I can. Our unicorn guards have been stationed throughout every hall, and the pegasi patrols are now all within the castle walls. We’ve sent our best to guard the Restricted Chambers door, as you ordered.”
“Wonderful job, Lily. Please be careful though. We’ll do what we can once we find him. I’m fairly certain that Discord is the source behind these problems.”
“Very well, Princess. I shall continue patrol as planned.”

The white light of Celestia’s horn faded to a dim glow before disappearing. She turned to Spark Fyre once more and spoke. “Join up with the unicorn guards that will be stationed at the Restricted Chamber door.”

“What of you, Milady?”

“As you heard, Captain, I shall be in my personal chambers with the others. We’ll be fine.”

Celestia kept eye contact with the Captain as he studied her for a moment. She tried to appear as calm and collected as possible. The last thing she needed was one of her best Captains to be worried because she was trying to fight down a rising panic in her chest.

Spark Fyre bowed. “As you wish, your Highness.”

Celestia left the throne room, intent on getting the others together as quickly as possible. She couldn’t take any further risks. Not with all that she held dear being the price to pay if she failed.

Trixie didn’t like the feeling in her stomach. Why was Celestia so distraught all of a sudden? Yes, the weather was bad, and the magic was a powerful sort, but the princess looked like she had seen a ghost.

Trixie looked between the two pegasi, who were surprisingly calm, all things considered. “Does...stuff like this happen often?”

Stratus looked to the worried showmare and managed to flash her a small grin. “I wouldn’t worry too much, Miss Trixie. We’ve gone through magical mishaps in the past. Why, one time we had to stop a whole stampede of morels that had become enchanted somehow in the kitchen. That was an interesting weekend...”

Summer laughed as she began to remember as well. “I don’t know, Stratus. You weren’t here during the Grand Galloping Gala last year.”

“I’ve heard horror stories about that evening from Vice-Captain Stalwart. He says it was the worst incident to befall Canterlot castle in decades.”

The three ponies halted in place, looking down the far end of the hall. A bipedal figure stood in front of the doors leading to the entrance of the Arcana Lab. The air seemed to fill with a sudden, palpable tension that set the ponies on edge.

Summer and Stratus both tensed. Trixie’s magical senses were going haywire all of a sudden. Whoever or whatever that...thing was, it was very, very magical.

Stratus wasn’t sure what to make of this figure. An inkling of fear began to creep into the back of his mind as he studied the intruder. The kind of fear a foal has when they let their imagination run wild at night in the dark of their bedroom. It was not a logical fear, but it was there nonetheless.

The gray pegasus stallion took a step forward before speaking. “Wh-who are you? How did you get into the castle? Explain yourself, or you’ll have to answer to the Royal Guard and Equestria’s rulers!” Summer followed suit, training kicking in and overriding her instincts to stand in place and tremble. She took a step forward, now standing alongside her partner.

The creature chuckled as though the stallion had told an amusing joke, then shook his head. “Ohoho...that’s rich. Tell me, little ponies...how much do you truly know about your precious little princesses?”

Summer let out a snort of anger. “Are you the one behind the terrible weather we’re having?”

“Terrible? Oh, come now, that’s no way to speak about my work! I think it’s a lovely addition to Equestria’s climate, don’t you? Think of it; endless sherbet for everypony! Springtime downpours of chocolate rain!”

“Trixie hates sherbet! She prefers hot fudge sundaes with clovers and bananas, thank you very much!” Trixie shouted, her horn glowing. She stepped between the two guards, and whispered. “I’m sensing powerful magic from him. It’s the same kind of magic that Twilight and I had felt from those weird sherbet clouds...he’s definitely the source of the weather we’re having.”

The creature began to walk towards them, a smile on his face the whole time. “You must be Trixie...or, as they used to say, the ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie.” He placed his hands behind his back before floating in the air and adopting a thoughtful look. “I wonder...whatever happened to that title of yours, Trixie? Did you somehow lose your ‘Great and Powerful’ magic? Or, perhaps, you never had it to begin with?”

Trixie felt her patience snap. Her horn sparked to life before she shot a stream of fireworks at him. The fireworks exploded into a dazzling display of lights as the unicorn looked to the two. “Hurry! We have to find Twiligh–”

The mare was abruptly cut off as an invisible force slammed into her. She screamed as she hit the double doors behind her, flying through them and rolling to the ground. She groaned as she tried to get up.

Stratus and Summer both took a step forward, shaking a little, yet refusing to back down. Stratus drew out a short sword from his belt, gripping it in his teeth. Summer twisted her back heels a little, and two ankle blades slid out from her knee guards before setting themselves in place with a soft click. The sparkling lights of Trixie’s fireworks faded with the wave of the creature’s hands. Stratus and Summer finally got a good look at the creature, and didn’t know what to make of him.

He had the body and head of an equine, a pony to be precise, yet had a beard on his chin that resembled a goat’s. His grin widened as they studied him, a crooked grin consisting of a single fang that poked up from the upper right portion of his lip. Two yellow eyes with bright red irises seemed to glow with a mixture of malice and excitement. An antler and a goat’s horn protruded out of either side of his head. He idly scratched a spot behind one of his ears with an eagle claw while a lion’s paw slowly opened and closed on his right side. It was surprising how well he walked, too. The movement was both fluid and slightly off balance to the two ponies; one leg, a goat’s leg, bent back, while the other, a leg belonging to a dragon, bent forward. A leathery bat’s wing and feathered pegasus wing flexed themselves every so often as he continued circling them. His serpentine tail with a tuft of fur at the end slowly swung from side to side. “Stratus...wh-what do we do? I-I’m not a unicorn...I-I can’t fight against magic like...like that. I mean, Captain Spark Fyre’s electric bolts are one thing...but I didn’t even see him attack Trixie!”

Stratus said nothing, just continued to hold his ground. His eyes narrowed, hoping he could mask his fear behind a grimace. Who was this guy? He had never seen anything like him before!

They were facing down something that looked like a manifestation of some twisted dream or nightmare. How such a creature could exist, and produce such feelings of fear in the two ponies, was disturbing. Their training had never entailed fighting imaginary beasts that couldn’t exist.

“Hm...you two are quite a disappointment as far as security goes. I guess the fearsome pegasi warriors died along with Commander Hurricane. Sad, really.”

“Stop this instant! You’re under arrest for attacking a citizen of Equestria, and–”

“Oh spare me, flyboy,” the chimera of a creature groaned. “I’ve heard the same spiel dozens upon dozens of times before.”

The creature snapped his eagle talons, and Stratus began to shrink in size. His muscular body frame became softer. His legs shortened and his wings became a fraction of their normal size. Big, shiny cobalt eyes ,filled with confused innocence, stared up at Summer. The pegasus mare gasped. “S-Stratus?”

Stratus’ gaze went from Discord back to Summer, and then he sniffled before bawling. The little gray foal of a pony that had once been a proud stallion of the Royal Guard began to throw a tantrum as Discord laughed at the sight.

Summer took a step back, her mind telling her to run. She couldn’t handle this...this beast of a creature, whatever it was!

“Now then, how about you, little mare?” Discord rubbed his chin in thought. “I must admit, my imagination is a little rusty right now. Give me ideas; what could I turn you into that–”

“That’s quite enough!”

“Hm?” The creature looked over his shoulder before smirking. “Well, well...Twilight Sparkle. I was hoping to meet you.”

The alicorn looked to the creature with an icy glare so intense that it would have made the most hardened of Royal Guards shudder. She didn’t snarl, or growl, or do anything that showed outward aggression. Her steely gaze was one that mimicked that of Celestia. A very angry, yet at the same time, calm Celestia.

Twilight Sparkle’s magic suddenly flooded the area, relaying her emotions of anger to the draconequus. “You must be Discord. Luna just told me about you via telepathy. Simply put, you’re a big problem for our kingdom. You’re also apparently fond of abusing your powers.”

“Hmph. Luna always was a party pooper,” Discord groused. “Fine, so you know my name.” He gave her a mocking, overly dramatic bow. “Yes, I am Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, former ruler of Equestria for over one hundred years before it was usurped from me.” He grinned as he rose back up to his full height. “And you are Twilight Sparkle. Co-ruler of Equestria, Princess of Science, Magic, and the ‘Path’ as they call it. An absurd way to say you make the planet spin and orbit the Sun, really.” He chuckled. “Quite ironic that you of all ponies are associated with the sun, no? I’m sure Celestia is quite pleased with that.”

Twilight grimaced at the jeering remark, her wings twitching in agitation as her tail whipped from side to side. She didn’t even look to the others as she spoke. “Summer. Take Stratus and Trixie and get to Celestia and the others as quickly as possible.”

Summer looked from the draconequus to her princess, not liking the idea of leaving Twilight alone with the beast. She frowned, and voiced her protest. “B-but, your Highness-”

“I said go! That’s an order!”

“Y-yes, Milady!” Summer quickly picked up the still bawling Stratus before galloping over to Trixie. She helped the mare to her feet. Trixie gained her bearings before looking towards Twilight. “Twilight! Be careful, he’s the-”

“I know, Trixie. Now go.”

Trixie blinked, but made no argument. She knew that she was no match for that animal. Twilight was buying them time, at the very least, to escape and inform the others. The mare felt grateful, humble, and scared, all at once. Trixie’s forte was on the stage doing tricks, not combating mystical creatures. Her respect for the Princess of Magic had grown in that moment as the two shared a brief look. Twilight simply nodded to the blue mare before returning her gaze to Discord.

As the three ponies made their way to Celestia and the other princesses, the draconequus and alicorn stared each other down, as if daring each other to make the first move.

“So...Twilight Sparkle...how much do you know of me?”

Twilight frowned. “Enough to know that you’re powerful, and that it took the Elements of Harmony, Celestia’s, and Luna’s magic to imprison you and end your reign over Equestria.”

Discord’s smile became a malevolent sneer as he folded his arms together, a calculating look in his eyes. “Odd for a mare of logic to confront me, don’t you think? You’ve always been one to do the most logical thing, and follow the most thought-out plan.” He made a noise of disgust. “Sickening, really, living your whole life by rules of thought.”

“If it will help my friends, I’m not afraid to confront you.”

The draconequus blinked before bursting out into renewed laughter. “O-oh, wait you...that...ahahahaa!” He wiped a tear from his eye and let out a breath and shook his head, chuckling at the mare. “Twilight, Twilight, Twilight...you poor, naive pony. You really don’t know how wrong you are, do you? You have fallen right into my hands! By being here, you’ve allowed me to checkmate Luna and Celestia. You’re right where I want you!”

Twilight didn’t budge. “You won’t beat us, Discord.”

“Is that so?” The draconequus inquired. “Well, I’m willing to bet that I will not only succeed at defeating all eight of you, but also do so without breaking a sweat in the process. You were the x-factor here, little mare. Magic is the most elusive Element, after all.” He took a step forward, his tone low and menacing. “Still, just because you have fancy wings and a horn doesn’t make you all-powerful, your Highness. Some things can’t be controlled by magic and science.” He leered at her while chuckling. “Sometimes the world just falls into complete chaos, regardless of how much you yell for it to stop. In the end, entropy, decay, and disorder will always win.”

Twilight’s horn flashed with a sudden light before she vanished in a burst of pink light. Discord whirled around in time to see the alicorn reappear behind him, a spell forming at the tip of her horn.

The draconequus was hit dead-on with a pulse of purple magic. He flew back before exploding into hundreds of pieces of confetti and glitter. Twilight’s eyes widened. Her spell wasn’t supposed to do that! She had only intended to knock him down with a paralyzing spell.

Clap, clap, clap...

“Well, the little student of Celestia has some fire to her after all!”

Twilight looked up to see Discord hanging from a chandelier by his tail, giving a formal, polite golf-clap to the mare. He swung down from the chandelier and landed on the floor. Twilight felt her hooves slide, the floor warping like a trampoline would as the draconequus hit the ground. He bounced once before front flipping through the air. He landed before Twilight Sparkle, a grin promising nothing but trouble on his face.“Now then, let me show you how outclassed your magic and logic are compared to true chaos.”

Twilight flickered away with a burst of magic, reappearing once again behind the ancient creature. She manifested iron chains with her magic and wrapped them around the beast. She produced a lock, which clicked shut around either end of the chain.

Discord gave the chains an unamused look before staring at Twilight. “Really, Princess? Is this all you can do?”

Twiligth smirked. “Far from it.”

Several runic symbols formed a circle around the creature while Twilight began to chant, focusing her magic on the spell. Discord just chuckled.

“Honestly, you’ll need to do a lot more than this if you intend to–”

The runic symbols lit up with a bright pink light before Twilight teleported to the far end of the hall. Discord glanced down to the runes before blinking. “Hm...” He glanced back at the mare. “Touché.”

The hall lit up with a blinding, neon pink burst of magic as Twilight shielded her eyes from the brightness. Combat magic, while not prohibited in Equestrian society, was rarely sought after by any pony outside of the military. Twilight, however, for the sake of learning and understanding magic in all its forms, knew more than a few powerful spells that only served as a means to hurt others. Like anything else she applied herself to in terms of magical study, she had gone above and beyond the basic combat spells, simply for the sake of knowledge and understanding.

She lowered the hoof covering her eyes, glancing at the charred spot where the explosion had gone off, creating a pony-sized crater. The tiling was cracked, and resembled blackened glass now. Smoke filled the air, and there was a faint afterglow of radiating, arcane light saturating the small crater. She was certain that the spell hadn’t been powerful enough to destroy the Spirit of Disharmony. She had consciously restrained her powers enough to avoid such a thing from happening. Yes, Discord was a threat, but she would rather avoid killing anyone if she could help it.

“Well,” spoke a voice beside her. “That was quite the light show there. You almost burnt off the hairs of my beard.” Twilight jumped back to see Discord casually munching on popcorn from a bag. He quirked an eyebrow at her bewildered look. “What? Oh, do I have a kernel stuck on my fang? That happens more often than I’d–”

Twilight teleported back a few more feet before shooting a bolt of green lightning from her horn. Discord threw his bag of popcorn to the side while vanishing instantaneously with a flash of light. The bolt hit a wall and crackled with arcane fury before fizzling out.

The lavender alicorn looked around frantically for the chaotic being. “Discord! Where are you?”

“Right here.”

Twilight turned around, only to feel a talon grip onto her forehead.

“I’m afraid I can’t take any chances with you, Twilight. With this new power of yours, and the Element of Magic being bound to you, you’re quite the dangerous opponent to leave unattended to.”

Twilight’s eyes closed as she channeled magic throughout her body, and a second later she burst into bits of glittering light. The fragments of light flitted away from the draconequus before swirling together a few feet in front of Discord, reforming into the mare once more.

“That’s a new one...” the draconequus stated plainly. “Anything else, your Highness? I’d like to wrap this up, I’m expecting to have this kingdom conquered by the end of the day, if you don’t mind.”

Twilight gritted her teeth, and focused on her horn once more.

“Luna was right...he’s much too powerful to take on alone...but...” Twilight’s lips curved into a grim smile of determination. “...it’d be useless to try and teleport away from him. I’d just be leading him right to the others...assuming he doesn’t already know where they are.”

Discord noted the glowing runes forming around the two again. He sighed. “Oh, this again? Really, Miss Sparkle, I took you to be a mare with more originality in your tactics.”

Twilight just smirked. “Sorry, I tend to crack under pressure when things don’t go my way, and that often leads to me losing control.”

Discord’s eyebrows rose as he sensed an massive increase in the static charge of the mare’s spell. “Oh, that could leave a mark...”

Twilight unleashed her spell, flooding the room in a white light.

“Luna...”
The midnight alicorn looked up for a moment from her spot on Celestia’s floor, tuning out the conversation between the other princesses. She immediately recognized it as the voice of Twilight speaking to her via telepathy. She closed her eyes and concentrated. “Twilight? Where are you? We’re waiting for–”
“I’m fighting Discord right now. I...I’m really in over my head here. My best offensive spells aren’t doing anything. He just keeps slipping past them.”
Luna’s eyes snapped open. “W-what? Where are you? We’ll be there as soon as we can!”
“No, if you all end up here you’ll just make things easier for him. He planned this out; I fell right into his trap.”

Luna ground her teeth together. “What do you need us to do?”
“Take my Element of Magic. I’ll send it to you after I create a distraction.”
“Distraction?”
“Yes. It’ll do the trick, I think.”
Luna frowned. “Twilight, Celestia won’t be happy to hear of this, you know. As soon as you pull off whatever it is you’re doing, teleport to Celestia’s chambers and we’ll form a plan.”
Twilight let out a little chuckle. “Of course Celestia will be upset. That’s why I’m telling her younger, cool-headed sister. Luna...I don’t think I’ll make it through this battle.”
A chill ran down the midnight alicorn’s spine. “Twilight...?”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine as long as you have the Element of Magic.”
“Twilight, what are–”

“Don’t worry. Whatever happens, as long as we hold onto that connection we all share...I know we can beat him. I’m sure of it.”
“Twilight, wait, you–”

The connection between the two was cut off suddenly as the echo of a powerful spell being cast by Twilight rang out in Luna’s mind. She shuddered reflexively, her senses tingling from the feel of the spell. Whatever Twilight had done, it involved some very dangerous magic. No less than a second after the connection had been cut, a tingling sensation in the back of her mind signaled to her that Twilight had indeed sent her something via magic. Luna reached out with her senses, dipping into the magical field surrounding her. She grabbed hold of the foreign, yet at the same time familiar object, and a second later manifested the Element of Magic with a magical burst of light. The tiara clattered to the floor, landing beside her hooves.

The walls of Canterlot Castle shook as seven of the princesses of Equestria sat in a circle within Celestia’s personal chambers, along with the Apples, Spike, Sweetie Belle and her mother, and Scootaloo. The Sun Princess jolted up, her eyes widening as she looked to the door.

“That was Twilight.”

“Celly...”

“I need to go help–”

A dark blue aura held Celestia in place before she could run to the door. “Celestia, calm down!”

Celestia gritted her teeth while taking in quick and shallow breaths. The look of bottled-up fury in her sister’s eyes and the shimmering moisture was all Luna needed to see; Celestia was both terrified and ready to destroy something.

Dozens of thoughts flooded Celestia’s mind, all of them having bad scenarios involving something horrific happening to Twilight. While she was a wonderful, bright pony, Twilight had never gone against a creature like Discord. She wasn’t stupid, but Twilight still had a rather innocent mind, and violence was something the young unicorn had experienced very little of in her life as far as Celestia knew. The Sun Princess did her best to calm down, but her heart wouldn’t stop hammering in her chest. Discord was no doubt behind this.

Celestia eventually got her trembling muscles to stop. She slowly inhaled through her nostrils and exhaled through her mouth several times. It was a calming exercise of hers that she used whenever she was close to boiling over. When Celestia felt her sister’s magical hold on her vanish, she turned to the younger alicorn and glared. “Luna, do you intend to just let Twilight take on Discord by herself?”

“It’s too late to help her, Celly.” Luna replied. “She just sent me her thoughts through telepathy. She was having little success against Discord, and was turning to desperate measures.”

“All the more reason to–”

“She also told me to give you this,” Luna continued, lifting up the Element of Magic with a hoof. “That spell we just felt was her ace in the hole, so to speak. She intended to slow him down so she could transfer this to us while the spell went off.”

Celestia felt a weak sense of betrayal creep into her thoughts. “W-wait, why didn’t she tell me this, too?”

“She knew you would probably end up reacting like you are right now,” Luna answered. “She was right.”

“Wait, so our Twilight is out there in the castle somewhere fightin’ this jerk of a spirit right now without her Element? Is she nuts? Why ain’t we helpin’ her? Is she hurt? What happened?”

Luna looked down. “I-I don’t know. I can’t feel her at all, now. I...I don’t want to believe it, but I think she–”

Fluttershy suddenly spoke up. “No, Luna...Twilight’s just...not entirely here right now.”

“What do you mean? I cannot feel her presence at all within the castle.” Celestia asked, her face laden with worry.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I-I...I don’t think now is a good time to really explain it, but...I can still feel her connection to this world, however small it is. Just trust me on this.”

“You can ‘sense’ her, just like that?” Rainbow asked.

“W-well...yes, I can.”

Luna shook her head. “That’s good news, but she’s still not here with us right now. It was almost like she was prepared for something like this, though. She was more concerned about keeping the Element of Magic away from Discord than actually using it.” The Night Princess held the tiara of Magic in her dark blue aura. “I mean...she doesn’t necessarily lose her powers without the Element of Magic, but it’s a part of the Elements of Harmony; one of the only means to combat Discord. She said something along the lines of ‘as long as we hold onto the connection we all share, we can defeat him’, though I’m not sure how. My connection with her was disrupted by that last spell she cast.”

Rarity cleared her throat. “I hate to be the one to point out the obvious, but...well, we are missing the Spirit of Magic. How can we use the Elements fully without the Spirit of Magic? ”

Luna gave Rarity an impatient look. “Yes, we are quite aware of that, Rarity. Either way, Discord has already made his first move. We cannot allow him to win, or else Equestria will be plunged into complete madness.”

“Oh, you make that sound like a bad thing, Luna.” replied a voice mockingly. A sinister, yet at the same time amused, chuckle followed. Both Luna and Celestia tensed, immediately recognizing the unseen speaker.

The other five princesses jumped a bit, scanning the room for the source of the voice that had seemingly come from nowhere. A few seconds of searching revealed nothing to the alicorns.

“Rarity...” Sweetie Belle whimpered to her sister while trying to hide by her mother’s side.

“It’s alright, Sweetie Belle. Nothing’s going to hurt you,” Rarity whispered. Pearl nuzzled the filly, trying to offer her some comfort.

“Rarity’s right, Sweetie Belle. I may look scary,” Discord’s reflection suddenly appeared in one of the windows of Celestia’s chambers, “but I would never hurt a helpless foal. Private Stratus can vouch for me on that claim. ” His laughter didn’t do much to convince the little filly.

Celestia took a few steps forward, facing down the draconequus. “What did you do with Twilight?”

“Hm. Twilight? I’m not sure what I’d do with the time between sunset and dusk, Celestia. Isn’t that sort of thing more in yours and Luna’s line of work? I guess things must have changed with those other princesses entering the–”

“DO NOT MOCK ME, DISCORD!” Celestia growled, her voice amplified by magic.

“My, my, Luna, you should have warned me that Celestia had gained a temper since we last spoke.” He chuckled at Celestia’s expression. Her eyes were shining brightly, like flames from a roaring fire. Waves of heat poured off of her as she gave Discord the mother of all glares while tears welled up in her eyes. She was now right next to the window, and brought her face close enough so that it was only an inch away from the surface of Discord’s reflection. “I thought you would both be happy; the last time we were all in the same room together was eons ago.”

“Return Twilight Sparkle to us and leave, Discord. Never return to Equestria.” Celestia said, her tone disturbingly calm and promising nothing but regret and trouble for the draconequus.

Discord smirked. “Whatever happened to that vow of yours. How did it go again? Something about ‘opening your hearts up to all forms of life, benign or otherwise’? So far I’d say you’re doing a rather shoddy job at that, Celestia.” He let out a dramatic sigh. “Then again, you always were a pony with double standards.”

Celestia’s glare intensified. A full-grown dragon would have been cowering by now. “You came here for a reason, Discord. Out with it.”

“Aw, I’m hurt. You have nothing to say to me? No greeting? Nothing?”

“There are foals in the room. What I have to say would probably be deemed as inappropriate.”

Discord rolled his eyes at the display of aggression from the elder sister. “Very well, I didn’t think you’d want to talk anyway.” He snapped his fingers, vanishing with his typical flash of light, and reappeared in a different window. “I came here to make a deal with all of you.”

“We aren’t making a deal with a jerk like–”

Rarity held a hoof up before Rainbow Dash. “Hold on, Rainbow...” She leveled her gaze upon the draconequus’ reflection. “We’ll listen, for now. Speak, Discord.”

The chaotic entity grinned. “Oh, I like that, Rarity. Nice and calm on the outside. I can tell you’re scared for your family and friends, and probably wondering where Twilight Sparkle is right–”

“Just tell us what you want, Discord!” Rarity shouted while stomping a hoof to the ground. A small burst of glittering light sparked out from under her hoof as she let out a rather unladylike growl.

“Ugh, you ponies...” He snapped his fingers, and was suddenly standing in Celestia’s mirror, sipping a drink out of a tall glass from a swirly straw while yellow steam poured out of the top. “Look, all I ask is for you seven to step down from throne and let me have it back. I return Twilight Sparkle to you, become ruler of Equestria, bring chaos back to the land, and you can all go about your merry, immortal lives.” He sipped some more. “Mm. You know, I can’t remember the last time I had a good glass of lemon tea.”

“An’ how do we know you ain’t just gonna blindside us once we step down and let you take over, huh?”

“Oh, a good question, Applejack,” Discord smiled. “The truth is, you don’t know if I will or not. I suppose that’s part of the fun though, isn’t it?”

Celestia’s eyes continued glowing a burning, ethereal light as she closed the distance between her and Discord. “Return Twilight. Now.”

The smug look on Discord’s lips never left. “Just because you’re a princess doesn’t mean you get everything you want, Celestia. Empty threats won’t help you here.”

Celestia gritted her teeth, and her eyes ceased glowing. He was right. While she was a powerful pony, Discord had magic in spades as well. Yelling at his image projected on a mirror’s surface wouldn’t solve anything. “I won’t make any deals with you, Discord.”

Discord didn’t look surprised by the Sun Princess’ response. “Fine, we’ll do this the hard way.” He snapped his fingers, and suddenly Celestia found herself alone in the room. She looked around desperately before turning back to Discord. “Where–?”

“Oh, calm down, Celestia. They’re fine. I just separated them a little. Figured I’d split them up a little and see how well they fare against me.”

“This isn’t a game, Discord!”

“You sure about that? I’m liking the idea of a game more and more, to be honest.” The draconequus pulled a rag from out of nowhere and began wiping the inside of the mirror. “Don’t worry, Celestia. You’ll have your chance at me in due time. Not before a few of the others do first, though.” With that, he wiped away his image from the mirror, leaving no trace of his existence behind.

Celestia looked around once more, her whole body trembling with anger. He had gone too far. He was not only getting the girls involved, but now he had magicked off the Apples, Sweetie Belle and her mother, Spike, and Scootaloo. They had no involvement in this issue!

She was through playing nice. Discord had thrown down the gauntlet, and she would see to it that he paid. The draconequus would rue the day he had decided to slither back into their lives.

The tiling beneath her feet cracked and smoked as she glared at nothing in particular. Her mane’s usual serene waving flared violently with a bright, pastel-hued light before returning to normal once more. With a spark from her horn, Celestia teleported away, leaving behind the smell of ozone.

Discord casually floated through the Canterlot Castle gardens, which was now covered in a layer of melting snow that smelled strangely of orange dreamsicles and and bar soap. The draconequus hummed tunelessly as he admired the scenery, revelling in the chaos he had created.

“This is truly an improvement for Canterlot. Better than any winter that Rainbow Dash could make, I’m sure.”

“You wanna say that again?”

Discord spun around in the air and grinned at the newcomer. “Speaking of which, there’s the Weather Princess herself.” Discord smirked before producing a waffle cone and dipping it into the snow. “Like the improvements I made?” He pulled out a large scoop of orange sherbet from the frozen mush and gave it a lick. “I figured I’d give it a twist by adding some soap bubbles as well. It tastes a little weird at first, but the results are quite fun, actually.” He hiccuped suddenly, and a few bubbles floated out of his mouth before popping. “See?”

Rainbow Dash looked far from amused. “Change my weather back, now.”

“Hey, you’re the princess here. You do it if you’re so powerful.”

Rainbow let out a snort before pawing the ground. “I don’t know what your problem with Equestria is, but Celestia and Luna told me you like causing problems for ponies. You’re picking the wrong fight if you think Equestria will just let you walk all over it. Messing with ponies means you mess with me, punk. ”

“Oh, I’m shaking with fear,” Discord said, making his knees quake. He gulped down the rest of his frozen, soapy concoction before fanning out both wings. “I guess you’re not the kind that settles things with words, then?”

Rainbow flared her wings before blasting off the ground with, moving faster than any pegasus could ever hope to achieve.

“Like a moth to the flame,” Discord laughed. With a snap of his fingers, a gigantic glass jar appeared before him. The alicorn’s eyes widened as she tried to stop herself. She crashed into the bottom of the jar, her eyes spinning as she tried to regain her bearings. Discord snapped his fingers once more, and a large lid appeared out of thin air.

Dash’s quickly eyes looked from the lid to the jar, catching onto the situation. She rocketed out of the jar, a literal blur of cyan and rainbow colors. The lid snapped shut a moment later, but was empty.

“Hm, that did seem a bit easier than I had expected...” His eyes moved around, trying to catch sight of the speed-demon mare. He searched the area for the alicorn before craning his neck upwards, noticing a small dot flying in the clouds above. The Princess of Weather and Water was flying in a tight, circular pattern. The sherbet clouds began to blow away as the mare picked up speed. At the same time, gray clouds began to form over her. The low rumble of thunder could be heard as the skies suddenly darkened.

“Oho...this just got interesting,” Discord cackled as he took to the sky.

Scootaloo was huddled under a bench as she watched Rainbow Dash and Discord flying in the sky above. She wanted to help, but Rainbow had forbidden it. She had told the pegasus filly that it was too dangerous, and that she was to stay put and hide.

Scootaloo only wished she could fly. Hiding underneath a bench while her idol combated a magical monster just felt wrong to her. She should be out there too, helping fight the good fight, even if she was scared and didn’t have magic of her own. If she could fly, at least then she would be able to help assist with whatever weather Rainbow Dash was trying to create.

The cyan mare had stopped flying in circles, and was now hovering in the air. She and Discord looked to be exchanging words, though most of it appeared to be yelling on the pony princess’ part.

“Rainbow Dash...be careful...” Scootaloo whispered.

“You can’t just go and do this to ponies, Discord! With power over the weather comes responsibility in maintaining it! You’re abusing your powers!”

“Responsibility? You actually think you have the right to lecture me on responsibility? What about that little incident on the Serpent Isles? You mean to tell me that causing that catastrophe was being responsible?”

Rainbow Dash looked like she had been slapped in the face, but quickly recovered, choosing to glare. “We...did what we could. It was bad, but...we saved lives, too! It would have been a lot worse if we hadn’t been there!”

“Sounds like somepony is making excuses.”

Rainbow continued to scowl at Discord. Her wings snapped shut suddenly while she continued to float in the air. Discord watched with mild interest as her horn began to light up in a red glow while she spun around, legs tucked in close to her body. She was soon spinning like a top, a swirling mess of colors. The red aura of her magic encompassed her before its glow intensified.

“Heh...what are you planning now, Princess?” Discord thought aloud as he backed away a little, continuing to observe the alicorn.

A wind began to pick up, followed by low howling sound. The cyan alicorn’s body became shrouded in a veil of high speed wind that was interlaced with her magical aura. Streaks of red spun around her as the howling increased in volume. Within less than a minute, Discord was staring down a miniature tornado. The Spirit of Chaos grinned, thrilled by the challenge.

The draconequus was given little time to try and put more distance between himself and the sudden weather phenomenon as shards of ice suddenly shot out of the vortex. With a flash of light, he was gone, the ice shards flying past the spot he had been just a second ago. He reappeared on top of a random statue, only to flicker away a second time as more shards of ice crashed into the spot he had been standing.

Looks like she’s got a better grip over her magic than I had expected... Discord thought as he teleported onto a leafless tree. He watched as the tornado began to gain a white, icy layer around it.

“Eat this, jerk!” roared Rainbow’s voice from within the vortex.

A ball of ice about the size of a healthy stallion came hurtling out of the twister at incredible speed. The draconequus quirked an eyebrow at the sight before raising a paw at the incoming projectile. “Boring...”

The ball of ice crashed into Discord’s arm, but the draconequus did not so much as flinch. Upon impact, instead of causing harm to Discord, the ball of ice merely burst into hundreds of marbles. He retracted his lion’s paw and studied it in an uninterested fashion before looking back up to the mare.

“I commend your efforts, Rainbow Dash, but you’re making more of a mess than doing any good.” He gestured to the glass marbles all over the ground.

He turned his attention away from the scattered marbles and looked up towards the vortex. His eyes widened as a multi-colored blur blasted out of the tornado. The rainbow blur moved much quicker than anything Rainbow had previously thrown his way. He had little time to evade, his lower body still remaining in the path of the incoming pony. Much to his surprise, the pony-shaped streak of color passed right through his tail as he attempted to dodge.

“What the–?”

The battlecry of Dash rang through his ears, jolting him out of his stupor. He spun around wildly, alarmed to see the real alicorn princess suddenly in his face. He raised his hands up in defense a second too late, receiving a buck to the gut as punishment.

For the first time in several thousand years, Discord felt pain ripple through his body. He coughed up spittle and floated a few feet back, trying to catch his breath. She...she had created an after-image of herself? How?

“Had enough already?” She smirked “Tch, I was just getting warmed up,” Dash taunted as she punched the air with her forelegs. “I figured you wouldn’t be able to handle me if I really used my speed.” She did a little aerial backflip as she continued. “I bet I wouldn’t even need this magic. I probably could have taken you on before I was an alicorn. I was one of the fastest fliers then, and now I’m even faster. Heck, I am the fastest.” Her grin was full of confidence. “You don’t stand a chance against me.”

Discord managed to regain his breath as he straightened up to his full height. “Heh...I can’t say I’ve ever seen Celestia nor Luna fight head on like that. Not what I was expecting in the least.”

Rainbow just flared her wings out. “That’s just a taste of what I’ve got in store for you, punk!”

The cyan mare shot forth at Discord once more. Her hooves went through thin air as he vanished from sight. She whirled around, only to meet a scaled tail to the face.

“Gah!” Rainbow cried out as she was sent spiraling back down to the ground below. She cracked open her eyes, noticing that she was approaching the earth rather fast.

Ignoring the stinging pain across her face, she flared out her wings to right herself and halt her descent. She glared up at the draconequus while wiping a hoof across her lips before moving her wing muscles and flapping as hard as she could. She tucked in her limbs to help decrease her air resistance. Wind whipped at her face as she closed in on the Spirit of Disharmony.

Discord formed a ball of blue flames in his hand, and tossed it at the mare. She rolled to the side, avoiding the fireball as it suddenly exploded, bathing the area in a bright blue light for several seconds. Discord had no time to react to her dodge, as she was once again right in his face. She spun around in a single fluid motion and bucked him with both legs, sending him through the air. This time he recovered, halting his trajectory with a fanning of his wings.

“Well...” Discord wiped his chin, surprised to see a little blood. “You’re quite the fiesty little pony-goddess, aren’t you?”

“I’m not a goddess! I’m a Princess of Equestria!”

The afterimage of Rainbow Dash was all the warning Discord was given before he felt a jarring pain in his skull. Rainbow Dash had managed to cover the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

“Graagh!” Discord flew back several feet, rubbing his forehead as it throbbed with pain. “Watch it with that headbutt, will you? That horn of yours isn’t just a prop, you know!”

“Heh heh...” Rainbow Dash shot up into the air once more, quickly gaining altitude. “You know,” she shouted. “For some horrible spirit that wreaks chaos upon the world, you’re a real pushover.”

Discord smirked. “You have yet to see what I can do, little pony.” He clapped his hands together, appearing beside Rainbow Dash. Startled, Rainbow halted her ascent suddenly and put some distance between them with several hard flaps of her large wings.

“Looks like you can’t keep up with me without that magic of yours, Discord.” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Hate to say it, but you’re a disappointment. I’ve dealt with rain clouds that have given me more trouble.”

Discord opened up both hands. A pale, pink and violet sphere of light floated just above his open lion paw while a crackling ball of electrical energy sat in his eagle talons. Rainbow cringed at the magical energy that flowed out from the electric orb. Her horn was tingling, and the feeling in her gut told her that the magic in his talons was not to be taken lightly.

“Right now we’re approximately four kilotrots in the air. Quite the altitude, if I do say so myself.” He looked at the violet and pink ball of magic in his hands before continuing. “This ball contains your friend Twilight Sparkle, or rather, it contains the key to releasing her from the pocket universe I’ve placed her in.” He held out the other hand with the powerful ball of sparks. “This contains enough chaotic magic to...well...do something to Canterlot. Not sure what, but I’m sure it’ll be fun to watch.”

Rainbow Dash looked to the ball containing her friend, then to the dangerous spell. “What...what do you want?”

“Oh, I’m just thinking that we could play a little game. A simple game where I’m offering you one of two choices: release Twilight Sparkle, or save Canterlot from a possibly dreadful fate. If you choose Twilight, you save her, but who knows what happens to your precious little city. If you stop the ball, you save Canterlot, but lose your chance to rescue Twilight.”

“Why you–” She growled, but stopped as Discord held out either hand.

“Now then...let’s play, shall we?” Discord whipped the ball of chaos energy towards the earth below. He then held out the orb holding Twilight, offering it to Rainbow Dash. “I’d make my decision quickly, your Highness.”

Dash hesitated for only a second, gritted her teeth, and shot down towards the ball of chaos. She flapped her wings as fast as she could, stretching her legs out a little further in hopes of making herself more aerodynamic. The ball appeared to be plummeting faster by the second, if such a thing was possible.

No! Dash closed her eyes for a moment, tears flying out from her ducts as the air whipped at her face. I gotta stop it!

A cone of air formed in front of her before it thinned out. She could see thin strands of color flying past her as she strained to pick up speed.

Images of the hurricane flashed through her mind. She thought about the hurting ponies, of those mourning the family and friends they lost, and of the hundreds of letters she received thanking her for her bravery. She thought of Canterlot, Ponyville, and Cloudsdale. She thought of Scootaloo, and how proud she had become of the filly recently.

She thought about her friends, and what Twilight would have done in this situation.

This is part of my duty. To protect Equestria, by any means necessary...

The reds, yellows, blues, and the cone of air ripped away, and all air resistance vanished. She burst forth from the cone of air, breaking the sound barrier with a loud explosion and a shockwave of colors. She saw the ball of chaos energy coming closer to her grasp. She could feel the magic it oozed out, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Quickly, she grabbed ahold of the orb and jetted up into the air once more. A few second later, an explosion of yellow and pink light erupted forth from the magical ball.

As the cloud of fire expanded, Discord let out a raucous laugh. With a snap of his fingers, the ball of pink and violet in his paw blipped out of sight.

“Loyal to the end. How typical of her.”

Scootaloo watched in mute horror as Rainbow Dash plummeted like a rock, a small trail of smoke and...something pink and fluffy following behind her. The little filly ran as fast as her legs would carry her to the sherbet-snow covered trees where she saw her idol and teacher land.

“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!”

The filly slid on the slick ground, tripping over the groaning alicorn as she attempted to stop.

“S-Scoot...” Rainbow Dash croaked.

“I-it’s alright, I’ll hide you, he won’t–”

Rainbow Dash cut the filly off, her magic unstrapping the Element of Loyalty from her neck and floating it in front of the young pegasus.

“Y-you know what this is, right?”

Scootaloo nodded frantically.

“Take it. Run. Find one of the others, give it...” She coughed a bit. “...give it to them.” She then fastened the necklace around Scootaloo’s neck.

Scootaloo sniffled. “W-what about you?”

Rainbow smirked. “I’ll be fine. Discord...he ain’t that tough.”

Scootaloo let out a whimper before turning around, looking to the castle. She hesitated for a few seconds before galloping off towards the castle.

Rainbow watched the filly for a few moments, grinning a little. The kid had guts. She’d make one heck of a pegasus someday.

Seconds passed before a bright flash of light caught Rainbow’s attention. She looked to see Discord standing above her, smirking. He knelt down and pulled a thick, pink glob of cotton candy that had stuck to her mane. “Hm...TNT and cotton candy. Can’t say I’m disappointed with the results of that spell of mine, heh.” He threw the piece of cotton candy into his mouth as he continued. “I would applaud your martyrdom back there, but...well, either way, I would have won that little game.”

“H-heh...why am I...not surprised? I bet...cheating would be your special talent...heh...”

Discord ignored the verbal jab. “If you had decided to choose Twilight instead, I simply would have activated the spell, sealing you away the same way the same way I did with your friend Twilight.”

Rainbow just chuckled at Discord. “Whatever...my friends...they’ll beat you...”

“Oh, I doubt that, Rainbow. If anything, after dealing with you and Twilight, I’ll be taking extra caution when dealing with the rest, especially Applejack and Celestia.” He lifted the mare up by her mane. “Now then, let’s have that Element of Loyalty, if you would be–” He quirked an eyebrow upon noticing a certain piece of jewelry was missing. “Where is it?”

“Where’s what?” Rainbow grinned weakly.

“The Element of Loyalty. Where. Is. It?”

“Huh...” Rainbow pretended to mull over the question for a moment before giving a shrug. “I dunno. Must have forgotten when I bumped my head after crashing.”

Discord growled in frustration, then snapped his fingers. Rainbow felt a jolt of pain run down her body before a burst of light blinded her. The last thing she recalled was falling into a dark void before everything went black.

Scootaloo continued to gallop for all that she was worth. She had gotten inside the castle, and was now running down the halls. She shed silent tears, terrified for herself and for Rainbow Dash, but reminded herself of the task she had been charged with by her teacher.

A familiar blue unicorn suddenly came into view. She began galloping harder, sniffling as she called out. “T-Trixie!”

The unicorn mare jumped at the sound of her name. The filly was in the mare’s forelegs before she even had a chance to react. She held the distraught filly in her forelegs, taking note of the tears and runny nose she had from crying so much.

It took her a moment, but she recalled the poor pegasus’ name. “Scootaloo? What’s wrong? What happened to you?” Her eyes fell to the golden necklace around her neck. A sudden dread gripped her heart.

That’s the Element of Loyalty! Oh no...what happened to Rainbow Dash?

The filly babbled on, her words making no sense to the older pony. Instead she quietly waited, consoling the pegasus filly with a hoof patting her back gently. “Erm...i-it’s alright, Scootaloo. Trixie’s here now...”

Scootaloo eventually stopped crying so hard, allowing her to speak somewhat clearly. “R-Rainbow Dash...she...she said I need t-to give this to the others.” She tapped her hoof over the red lightning bolt necklace that she was wearing. “I...I had to run. Discord was going to find me otherwise, and Rainbow told me to get away...but...” She sniffled a few times. “I-I’m scared, Trixie. She looked really hurt...”

Twilight had briefly gone over all of the powerful jeweled artifacts earlier today. She was thankful she had decided to listen to that brief lecture this morning. No doubt Discord would be happy to get his claws on one of these.

Trixie suppressed a sigh. Fighting off incarnations of chaos and protecting the Elements of Harmony. Definitely a wonderful start to my new job...

“Trixie hasn’t been able to locate any of the other princesses, either. She got...she got separated from Stratus and Summer. Likely a spell cast by Discord,” The unicorn frowned, looking out a window as the weather outside worsened. It had become something akin to a orange smoothie blizzard outside.

“What do we do, Trixie?”

Trixie put on her most confident of smiles. “We need to find the princesses first. We need to make sure they get that Element of Loyalty, too.” She let go of the filly, and the two started walking down the hall at a steady pace. “Let’s stick together for now, Scootaloo. If we run into that loser Discord, I’ll hold him off with my brilliant magic while you make your escape.”

“Y-you really think you can take on Discord? I mean...Rainbow Dash tried, and well...she was doing really well, but...” The filly trailed off, her expression speaking louder than words.

“Hmph.” The corners of Trixie’s lips fell as she frowned slightly, her eyes holding a spark of determination. “Trixie owes that jerk a thing or two, and Trixie always repays those she owes...”

“Luna, you don’t think he kidnapped Sweetie Belle and my mother, do you?”

“I don’t know, Rarity. Discord was always hard to read. He’s been playing a rather subtle game with us, though. Usually he doesn’t make much of an effort to hide himself like he is. Then again...he’s never had to deal with eight alicorns.”

Rarity nodded in reply, though her mind was elsewhere. She had no idea where her sister or mother were. Twilight was apparently in some sort of limbo between this world and somewhere else according to Fluttershy. Not too long ago she saw what looked like a Sonic Rainboom from one of the windows overlooking the gardens, followed by a loud explosion of fire and pink fluff. Were it not for the malign feel that she felt from the explosion, she would have probably tried to recreate the image on a canvas. Then she would have put it on display, and if things worked out she would inspire a new wave of surrealism in Equestrian art–

She reined in her thoughts, scolding herself for daydreaming at a time like this. She had been finding her mind wandering like that quite often since she had gained her new powers. Likely a result of her affinity towards viewing things in a beautiful light.

“Discord’s chaos magic is interfering with the magical flow, it would seem. I’m having difficulty locating my sister right now.” Luna grimaced as her horn gave off the faint glow of dark blue. “He’s definitely planned out this assault on our castle. Splitting us up was a well-developed strategy, though I’m curious if any of the others were placed together like you and I when we were all teleported. Taking out Twilight definitely weakened our connection to the planet; just take a look outside. Knowing him, he’s probably trying to make this into some sort of perverse game to provide him with some amusement for awhile...” Her gaze fell upon the windows. “It’s already sunset and it’s barely past one in the afternoon. This meddling with the natural order of the planet is going to have dramatic effects if it continues much longer.”

The two princesses watched as the sun sank beneath the horizon. The sherbet blizzard outside was starting to worsen.

“Let’s go,” Luna continued. “We can’t waste anymore time. The longer we take to defeat Discord, the more damage he causes to the land and our subjects.”

“Attention, Equestria!”

The two mares stopped as a voice rang out in their ears. It was like a small speaker had been embedded into their minds.

“This is your once and future ruler, Discord. For those of you who have not heard of me, I am the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.”

“That ghastly brute, what is he doing this time?” Rarity inquired.

“As I’m sure many of you are aware, the weather has been a bit...chaotic, so to speak. Unfortunately, your current princesses have resisted my requests for the throne, so I’ve been forced to make my move and create this sherbet storm that most of you are likely buried knee-deep in. Your princesses have yet to do anything about it, and I have already taken care of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Rainbow Dash.”

“No, not Rainbow Dash too!” Rarity gasped.

Luna’s eyes narrowed as she continued to listen to the draconequus.

“Celestia’s sun has also been proven useless in staving off this storm, as I have control over the weather and the planet itself now. I’ll continue to take out your rulers one by one until they either surrender willingly, or until I have gained complete control of the land.” Discord laughed menacingly. “Anyway, I thought I’d just let all you delightful little equines know that things will be changing around here soon enough. A bit sudden, I know, but that’s just the way things go sometimes. That’s not to say there won’t be some wonderful benefits with the changes. Picture it...exploding rocks filled with confetti. Floating houses!” Discord’s laughter echoed, louder than before. “Chaos is on the rise, Equestria. Nothing can stop–”

“Attention, Equestria, this is Princess Celestia!”

Luna and Rarity both smiled upon hearing Celestia’s voice drown out Discord’s. “Sister...”

“What Discord has said holds some truth to it. He is the cause behind this weather, but we are not helpless to his powers. We are doing all we can to stave off his magic, and will continue to resist until he is defeated. Be strong, my little ponies. He may be powerful, but nothing can conquer the power of love and friendship. We will persevere. You have our word.”

“Ugh...honestly, Celestia, must you ramble on about such frivolous things like ‘friendship’ all the time? Look where it got your dear little Twilight Sparkle, or that upstart of a pony Rainbow Dash: nowhere.”

Luna felt the tingling magic of Celestia. She seemed to be thinking of a response, but had none to give. Luna looked up, her eyes now glowing.

“Citizens of Equestria, this is Princess Luna. We know you are all suffering from Discord’s power. Remain strong, as my dear sister has asked of you. We will not fail you!”

“Yeah, that’s right! He seems like an okay guy, but he’s a really big meanie, right Fluttershy?”

“Um...well, y-yes, I mean...he isn’t being especially friendly right now...”

Luna smiled before continuing. “As you can see, my dear ponies, we are still standing, and doing what we can to find a way to combat this heinous magic Discord has cast upon our land. We vowed to protect and rule this land, and will continue to follow through with that vow!”

Rarity cleared her throat before her own horn glowed. “Quite true, Luna. As for you, Discord, consider this your final warning. We have had quite enough of your rude behavior!”

“Um...is this...workin’?”

“Applejack? Woohoo! You can use the super mind-speaking powers too!!”

“Waah! Yeesh, lower the volume will ya? Um...oh, right, er...hi there, Pinkie. Anyway, Equestria, if ya’ll can hear me, this is Princess Applejack. I give my word that the next time I see this Discord feller, he’s getting a kick right to the jaw, courtesy of Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee. So, the next–”

“Alright, enough!” shouted Discord. “Harmony has reached its end, Equestria! You’ve all been warned!”

Luna and Rarity both blinked as they felt their connection with the others vanish suddenly. The Princess of the Night smirked. “It appears Discord didn’t enjoy the limelight being stolen from him.”

“Luna...do...do you really think that we can stop Discord? I mean...he said he defeated both Rainbow Dash and Twilight...”

“Yes, Rarity. I know we can stop Discord. As long as we believe we can, we’ll win. You all helped free me from that dark prison that I had built around my mind and heart ages ago. If you can do that, then stopping him should be no problem.”

“You...you really believe we can, don’t you?”

The midnight-colored alicorn flared her wings proudly. “Of course, Rarity.”

Rarity smiled, admiring Luna for the confidence she carried in her voice. “Then I suppose I should do the same, then.” She stood up to her full height, tossing her mane a bit as she looked ahead. “Right! Come, let’s find the others, then give that scoundrel what’s coming to him.”

Luna smiled, nodding in agreement. “That sounds like a good plan, Rarity.”

End of Chapter Eight- Discord Arc Part 1

Next Up: Things get turned up a notch as Canterlot’s forces prepare their counterattack on Discord.