"What happened?" Shining Armor groaned as he pushed himself back up. He was expecting to be covered in bruises from being thrown around so much when this was all over.

There was an audible poof as his horn reappeared, once more attached to his head. He was so glad to have it back. There was another poof as Rarity's horn returned as well. With a third one, Fluttershy's wings were also back. There was suddenly a fourth, which drew Shining Armor's attention to the new arrival.

"I'll tell you what happened," Discord said, walking toward them while dressed as a train conductor. "You lost. Rainbow Dash flew away, so you all forfeit."

"But how's that possible?" Shining asked as he turned to face his opponent. He pointed a hoof. "You took away our horns and wings. Didn't you take hers too?"

"Oh, I took them, alright," Discord answered with a grin. He let out a sigh and looked down at his lion's claw and flexed, watching the claws unsheathe. "I guess that her wings were just more important to her than her friends."

The statement -- the very idea -- made Shining Armor freeze, jaw hanging open. Rainbow Dash? Abandoning her friends? She was supposed to be The Element of Loyalty. If any pony was supposed to stay by another's side, it should be her. She had even wanted to have the chance to stay friends with Gilda, for crying out loud.

At the same time, a lot of her was tied up in her being able to fly. Her dreams of being a Wonderbolt, her hours of training, even her job as a weather and her very house all were connected to her being a pegasus. Shining Armor could not imagine how scary or traumatizing it must be to face a future where the most important thing to you is no longer possible. Granted, he had some idea when he could not use magic, but it was not quite the same thing. There was still a lot he could do in the magic field, such as working on theories or teaching others.

Discord clapped his front limbs together.

"There is some good news," he announced. "We have reached our destination. Last stop, Ponyville." His eyes narrowed as his voice dropped. "Everybody off." He then snapped his fingers, and vanished.

The entire car shook, knocking Shining Armor and the others off-balance. One of the walls fell away as one side of the floor start to raise up, becoming a sharper and sharper angle. With nothing to hold onto, Shining Armor, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack slid out of the car, skidded across the ramp of the wall, and stopped on the platform.

The train looked like Discord lying down along the tracks. Unless it had somehow managed to turn around since arriving, it was facing in the wrong direction, with Discord's head facing the way they had come, and his tail the way they were going. The car that the five of them had been in -- around the point of his mid-section -- closed back up. With a toot from the tail end, the Discord Train started to move backwards along the tracks. It left the Ponyville train station, then the tracks. Zigzagging back and forth, it flew up into the sky over the town.

The train then exploded, leaving the words "Welcome to Discordia" written across the sky.

Shining Armor stood up and brushed himself off. He looked up at the sky, reading the words as his mind worked.

"Okay," he said. "Bad news is we don't know where Rainbow Dash is."

"I know where she is," Applejack said. Her face scrunched up as she continued to look up at the ceiling of the platform.

"The good news," Shining continued, "is that Discord is still here in Ponyville." He turned to face the others. "So, we need to find Rainbow Dash, go back through The Everfree, re-claim The Elements, come back, and use them to stop Discord."

"Why?" Pinkie Pie asked. "What's the point?" She let out a sigh, staring at her hooves.

"I need to wash my mane," Applejack stated, "then have to start digging up them apple trees."

"You expect me to go out there?" Rarity called out. "My stuff could get stolen." She then narrowed her eyes. "Or are you planning to take it. Well let me tell you now, that's not going to happen."

"It's not that I don't want to," Fluttershy said, "but... well... I don't want to." She then gave a smirk. "Although if you decide you want to have some fun--" she stuck a wing out, swatting it across Shining Armor's flank "-- come by my cottage later." She gave a wink and started to walk off.

At the same time, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity also started to walk off. None of them looked back as they went, leaving Shining Armor standing alone on his platform.

A lump formed in his throat, and there was a dull ache in his chest. He could not believe it. Even seeing it, he could not. It had only been a few months since he had met them, but he thought he knew his friends better than that. He never could have imagined them walking away from this, from him. His eyes started to burn as his vision blurred.

"Fine!" he shouted after them. "Go ahead and leave!" He stamped his hoof on the last word. "I was fine before I met you, and I'll be fine with out you now!"

His chest rose and fell as he tried to breathe, finding it hard. Tears started to run down his cheeks.

"Some friends you turned out be! I don't need you!" His voice cracked on the last word. "I don't... I don't..."

Hind legs giving out from under him, Shining Armor fell onto his rump.

"I don't..."

His head sagged, nose now inches from the floor.

"I... I..."

He stopped, sitting there. Tears flowed from his eyes and down onto the wood, forming two halves of a broken heart.

The tip of Shining Armor's tail turned gray. The loss of color climbed up along the length toward his body, spreading faster as it reached his backside.

With a sigh, he slowly got up. Nearly every part of him sagged as he started the long, lonely walk back to the library.