Chapter Twenty-Five: One Step Ahead

Twilight and company began to run toward the castle. Suddenly, Rainbow and Fluttershy fell from the sky, wingless. Twilight tried to use her own magic, but found that her horn, and Rarity's, were gone as well. Luna, too had lost both her wings and horn. She looked quite different without them. Sounds of laughter, Zach's laughter, something they'd seldom heard before then, could be heard from somewhere in the distance.

"Agh, he did it again!" Rainbow exclaimed, rising from her not-so-graceful landing.

"We must drive onward. Our powers are not needed for this, we have the Elements," Luna said.

"The Princess is right. We don't need fancy magic or wings to save Zach and the Princess," Applejack added.

"Alright girls, we've got to get to the castle. Magic and wings or not," Twilight said.

"Umm, Blitzle still has his." Fluttershy pointed at her foreign companion, who perked up at the mention of his name. He hadn't really been given a name yet, he was a just called by his species' name. But, since he was the only one of his kind in Equestria, it didn't really matter.

"Yes, but Blitzle's talent is electricity, and we don't really need electricity right now." The zebra-like creature then took on a slightly discouraged look as the group continued on.

They stuck close together, in case of any ambush or separating obstacle. If any of them were to be caught alone, they would be in danger. They now knew that Discord's magic had travelled with him into Zach's body, and they could only assume that he was just as powerful as before, and probably not very much impeded by the apparent harmlessness of Zach's form. It wasn't Zach they were dealing with, it was Discord. The very same creature that had manipulated them in ways that made them go against their morals and beliefs, to work against their best friends.

The twisted road that Twilight knew led to the castle was a dead end. They all looked about for another way.

"You thought I'd just let you into the castle? You all know that I don't work in direct ways." Discord's voice was heard, but a source could not be determined. It laughed, then faded.

The group went back through the street from which they came, and sought an alternative route to the castle. When they did find a way, they found themselves surprised. The castle was now surrounded with warped houses, forming a very tall wall. There was only one way in, a gap in the wall.

"Why would he inconvenience us in such a way?" Luna asked, rhetorically. There had been little point in blocking their other entrance. It was evident that, while they were his foes, Discord loved to trick, to play.

"I don't know, Princess. Come on, girls," Twilight ordered, and the group entered the castle grounds. Zach- or rather, Discord- appeared in front of them again.

"I would conjure some hedges or something to keep you occupied," he began, jovially. "But we should really get this over with. Come in, we should settle this inside." He casually walked toward the entrance of the great castle.

"You aren't pulling any of your tricks this time!" Twilight said, and nodded at her companions. Each focussed their Element.

"You foal. You know that I cannot actually evade this attack of yours, you're attacking an illusion. Now please, step inside, and we can discuss this like civilized people. But not you, Princess Luna. You will have to wait outside, or you'll end up like your sister. Surely, your Elements are all that are needed, that goes for you too, zebra-thing," Discord said.

"Blitzle, stay outside. Don't worry, listen to Luna, okay?" Fluttershy whispered to her companion. He nodded understandingly, and stood beside Luna. The others held their ground.

"You can stand there and not trust me forever, or you can follow me, accomplish your objective and save your beloved kingdom and not trust me. Either works, but please, tell me which you plan on doing, I have things to do myself."

The Elements looked at each other. Each nodded in turn. "Fine," Twilight said, "we're coming in."

"Ah, good. Let me get some... refreshments." The illusion of Zach disappeared, and the Elements proceeded carefully into the warped castle, making their way toward the throne room.

Canterlot Castle gardens

Discord entered the garden area, moving toward the statue.

It may be wise, when he releases you, to act as though he is in control.

I agree, but... Aren't you supposed to have an extreme sense of honesty?

Honesty with one's enemy is only deserved when one's enemy is honest.

Works for me.

"Ah, now, let's see how much easier this prison is to open from the outside..." He lay his hand on the statue, which began to glow.

Now is the time.

My body fell to the ground. It felt very odd to have such a shape. I wiggled my now-serpentine body and flapped my mismatched wings and tried to rise. I found the wings to be unnecessary, and that I could just float.

"Zach, your enemies are here. Now, see them out the door." Discord chuckled heartily, and headed into the castle. I followed wordlessly to the throne room, where a surprised Mane Six stood. Scattered about the room were stone statues of several guards and Princess Celestia.

"D-Discord!? But you're..." Twilight stammered.

"Dear friends, meet... Zach." He spread his arms and gestured to me. I chose to reveal myself then.

"Hello, everyone." I picked up my body. "That's mine, thank you very much." It was interesting speaking with Discord's voice, very much so.

"Huh!? What? What do you think you're doing? They are your enemy, not me!"

"Discord, had you forgotten that I'd been possessed before? You are clever, I'll give you that, but the Elements of Harmony are stronger than that. Especially if they're inside your mind."

"That's... impossible! They left you weeks ago!"

"I thought so too. Now, give up. You've lost."

"What is goin' on here?!" Applejack asked.

Discord wriggled in my grasp. I tightened it. I was pretty heavy, but Discord had been pretty strong.

"Discord corrupted me in my sleep yesterday night, and made me go to Canterlot. There, he transferred me into his statue, and took full control over my body. Then, the Elements of Harmony themselves, which had stayed in my mind in case of an emergency or whatever, took action, bringing me back to my senses. Some time later, Discord tried to make me think of you six as my enemies. He was going to use me as a weapon. But, since I was uncorrupted at the time, and his influence failed to subvert me. So, here we are now."

"I should've..." Discord mumbled. His borrowed body glowed orange, and found that his spell fizzled.

"Shut up. Hey, girls, mind blasting us with those Elements of yours?"

"But dear, your body. Discord told us that-" Rarity began.

"Just do it. Discord wouldn't give me my body back, anyway."

The Elements began to charge their attack. As they did, I heard my own laughter. My point of view changed back to that of my own body. He grinned, and punted me with a clenched claw across the room. The beam missed Discord entirely as he made erratic maneuvers, ones the homing beam of energy could not beat, and the beam hit the floor without any effect.

"I may not have planned for this, but you haven't won yet!"

I got up from my sprawled position, quickly assessing my body's condition. I was very tired, thirsty, and hungry. I felt tingling all over and I had to use the bathroom. Obviously, Discord hadn't taken account these needs. Discord had taken to smashing through one of the windows and going through it.

"Zach, you okay?" Rainbow asked, walking toward me. I noticed then that none of them had horns or wings.

"Yeah, I've been worse. Let's go find Discord and end this. I want to go home."

The Elements freed the guards and Celestia, who remained unconscious. We proceeded back through the castle toward the exit. As we did, I heard a very loud noise, like thunder.

"What was that?! It sounded like thunder!" I said.

"I think it was Blitzle..." Fluttershy said.

"Blitzle?!"

"Fluttershy brought Blitzle with her. He and Luna are waiting outside."

"Oh..."

We ran out the door to see Discord laying in a heap in front of Blitzle and Luna. He had developed a serious twitching problem. The two turned around.

"Our ally here has stunned the creature," Luna announced. "Quickly now, strike him with the Elements!"

So they did. However, as the beam struck, he disappeared in a flash of light instead of turning him to stone. His changes were reversed before our very eyes, and Canterlot returned to normal once again.

"Good going, Blitzle!" Rainbow praised the Pokémon, testing her newly-restored wings. The young Pokémon looked very happy with himself.

"I should set the sun now," Luna said. The light level decreased dramatically as the sun set and the moon rose in the sky. Everything was back to normal.

"Come on, everypony, let's go see Princess Celestia!" Applejack said.

"We should. I'm sure she will want to commend you all for your bravery," Luna said. "Come." She walked toward the castle's doors. We followed. When we arrived back at the throne room, Celestia was on her hooves again.

"What has happened? Where is Discord? Is that you, Zach?"

"We've handled Discord, Princess, don't worry."

"But what of the universal barrier? Luna, is anything out of the ordinary?"

The other of the diarchs' horn glowed for a moment, and she closed her eyes. She shook her head slowly.

"This is not good..." she said. "Discord has damaged many barriers, not just one this time. The breaches are not going to heal on their own accord, and I detect Discord's meddling. It looks like Discord has fled into many different universes at the same time."

"How many universes are we talking about?"

"From what I can tell, more than twenty." That was not a friendly number.

"How long do we have, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"It is impossible to tell, but a while yet. I must continue my analysis of these damages."

"I'd hate to ask you for help again, Zach, but..." Celestia sighed. "Can you help us again?"

"Obviously. After all, I'm the only one who can get to these universes. But... that's a lot of them."

"You may all take your leave. We can discuss this matter in the morning," Celestia announced. "Thank you again, Elements of Harmony, for saving Equestria once again."

I decided to sleep at the castle for the night. After all that, I didn't really feel like walking home. More importantly, though, more universes had to be saved. A lot more. Even with just a simple glance into the multiverse, Luna had discerned more than twenty different damaged barriers. I had a lot more on my plate now, and I probably wouldn't have any time to deal with trivial matters again for a while.