STAR HORSE

Prologue: Breaking

The world was at peace. Harmony had been returned to the landscape of Equestria; the chaos that had overcome it for a short while now bottled up within the fallen statue of the Draconequus, Discord. A sigh of relief washed over the land, shortly followed by an explosion of cheer. The six heroes of Equestria were soon mobbed and carried off by all of the ponies of Ponyville, who had returned to normal or come out of hiding.

Unheeded, however, was the fallen statue of the Draconequus, left undefended where anything or anyone could take it. All were either too absorbed in the joy of the victory to take notice, or believed that the beast of chaos would be trapped in stone forever, and thus there was no need to pay attention to it at this moment.

Their ignorance would be their downfall.
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Sensory deprivation can imprison people to the point of insanity. There is nothing to grip onto the world with, no way of knowing what is happening, who or what you are, or when the torment will end. The tides of nothing push and pull the person trapped within its depths until they are ripped apart and become no more than a heaving heap of confusion.

“This is awful, just awful..it's so boring! Nothing ever changes in this state! How did I let myself get beaten like that!” Discord rambled within the sanctuary of his mind. For Discord, a being already insane and a person of godlike power, his sense of self was stronger than most. And thus, with his consciousness and thought still intact in his petrified state, he was able to remain whole. The immobility, however, was pure torture to the living embodiment of chaos.

“I don't understand; they had all given up, I had won!” Discord reviewed, trying to ascertain how his second defeat had come about. The ponies had come together and combined again, with one more among them. How could that have made a difference? It made no sense to him.

“The land was covered in sweet chaos! I had a thousand years of surprises planned; exploding ducks, flying rocks, ponies turning into trees and more! But it's all ruined,” Discord continued to grumble. His loss at the hands of harmony drove him to misery, the opportunity he had finally gotten snatched away from his claw-tips.

“Celestia...” Discord's thoughts rose in anger. “She must have done something. That accursed mare, always having some sort of backup plan. I should have taken care of her first thing! Turned her into stone, see how she liked it!” Discord gave a mental sigh, defeat taking hold of him. There was nothing he could do. He knew that his prison was total, and that he had no way of acquiring freedom on his own. “That's what I get for trying to take the high road on stoning. Well, it looks like I'm going to have to find some way to amuse myself for a while. I'll just have to start plotting everything from scratch, just like last time. Now let's see...”

“AWAKEN NOW, BEING OF DISCORD!” A voice penetrated the tides of nothing. It was a parting of the sea to Discord, a mysterious path forward presenting itself before him, leading to what he saw as salvation.

“Whoa!” Discord gasped as he felt a sudden burst of energy flow through him. Power coursed through his veins, and his senses returned to him. He slowly regained the movement of his body. Discord whooped with glee; the spell had failed, as he thought it would, and he could return to have his revenge and re-open the doors of chaos over Equestria.

“Rise from your stony prison!” the voice of salvation boomed again, seeming to shake the very fabric of Discord's mind, the last of his prison's power evaporating into nothingness.

Maniacal laughter vibrated outwards from Discord's lungs as he was fully revived and able to take in his surroundings, which he quickly discovered to be non-existent. Darkness filled the nearby land and the infinite horizon. Darkness, blanket of both security and fear, the latter sensation rising unexpectedly through Discord as he tried to gauge where exactly he was. The only other creature present was a horse, tall and strong as Celestia herself, dressed in a shadowing dark cloak that made the horse seem like an extension of the void around them.

“Well, this is about as boring as the prison. I think I'll be headed back to Equestria now. Adios!” Discord addressed the creature in front of him, suppressing any fear in his voice. He prepared to teleport, but paused as the other creature spoke.

“Going so soon? Why would you want to do that?” The voice was as icy and chilling as a frozen wasteland. Discord felt as if his blood started to slow, his veins seeming to freeze as the sinister speech reached his ears.

“I have some chaos to spread, and some ponies who need to learn another lesson; that Discord never loses the game,” Discord justified, his passion for revenge lighting a fire within him, melting away all the ice and snow that had begun to crystallize within him.

“But how can you beat them? You couldn't before,” the hooded figure reasoned, as it started to walk a slow circle around Discord. “You got hit by one blast, and were defeated. And one thousand years ago, the exact same thing happened with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Do you really think you have the power?”

“Of course I-” Discord began, but cut himself off. Something about the speech of the creature, as well as his reflection on the events of the past, made him question whether he really did have the ability to take on the elements of harmony. A feeling of helplessness began to fester in the corners of Discord's mind, but he shook them off with a combination of curiosity and frustration.

“Why am I even listening to you, anyways? How do you know about what happened to me?Who are you? And where exactly are we? And how did I get set free?” Discord sent question after question to the figure, desperately trying to fight a battle he did not realize he had begun.

“My name is Darth Renatus. But that is of little importance, I am really nobody. We are here to talk about you,” Renatus kept his cold, emotionless tone, unshaken by the rampant inquiries. “I know what happened to you because I am an..admirer of your work, you could say. For your freedom, I merely tapped into your own power; essentially, I accelerated the process that let you break through the stone the first time. We are in the darkness, where all things come in the end. There is no reason to fear it. As for listening to me, well, you and I both know that you are not really listening to me. You are listening to the fears and realities of your situation. You cannot defeat the elements of harmony as you are.”

“I'm done with this,” Discord said immediately. “This is getting far too boring. I just won't take them lightly. This time they will feel my true power. I am Discord, spirit of disharmony, ruler of chaos! I don't need anybody else, to show them who has the real power,” Discord surmised, partially trying to convince himself. In a great desire to escape the awkward situation, Discord brought his claws up and snapped them. Nothing happened. Discord tried to cast the spell again, glaring down at his fumbling claw, but there was still no reaction.

“You are already losing, Discord,” Renatus spoke grimly. “Your power is in tatters after your last encounter with the Elements. You will find yourself quite unable to do things as you have before, if you do not adjust.”

“What?” Discord bellowed out, a rare loudness in his voice. Rather than continue the banter with the mysterious colt, Discord confirmed his deepest fears by trying every spell he could think of. A few, tiny clouds of chocolate milk formed above him, as opposed to massive storms; only half of a tutu appeared, instead of the full ballet number he had tried to call; he could not even manage to conjure up his favorite assortment of chaotic ponies!

“How can this be?!” Discord raged, his mind an inferno of hatred. He had broken free, had gotten his next chance to set things right in the world without having to sleep for another millennium; now it would all be dashed by some bizarre power drain?! His ability to wreak chaos was what defined him. If he no longer had that, what was he? Discord felt an identity crisis punch him in the gut, as he twisted and turned in his tantrum. A red haze began to cloud his vision.

The half dozen fluffy, soft, pink candy clouds filled with sweet chocolate milk began to grow with Discord's blazing anger. The dark realm around them shifted as well, clown faces and balloons popping into existence, aimlessly floating in the empty space. From beneath his cloak, Renatus smiled.

“Yes, feel the anger. It gives you control, makes you less of a fool. Let the anger flow through you, and then accept your place by my side. Only then, will you defeat the Elements of Harmony,” Renatus voiced softly, his words transforming from a hard iceberg to a silky soft whisper of encouragement, still sending icy shocks through Discord.

“What do you think you can offer me!” Discord shouted, lashing out his anger at the cloaked horse. He focused his magic on a transformation spell, making his form much large and his face more beastly, taking on the appearance of a massive dragon. It was purely cosmetic, but it had a distinct power to inspire fear into whoever he revealed it to. He put his now monstrous snout into the open hood of Renatus, and glared down with the fire of one thousand suns.

“All you need to know is that I am the path that will get you your revenge, your kingdom, and your precious chaos. I can give you the power you currently lack. Much more, I can give you power you have never even imagined. With my teachings, you will become the most powerful being in the universe. All you have to do is obey me. Join me, and Equestria will be yours,” Renatus was unphased by Discord's transformation, his speech maintaining the chill of the night.

“You want me to play second banana to you? Maybe you don't know who I am,” Discord growled. As enticing as the offer sounded, his anger and him clinging to his core principles (one of which was always to work alone) refused to just submit to the strange being talking to him. “I am Discord! I work alone! I am the greatest force of chaos!”

“Who continually loses to greater numbers of harmony as a direct result of such unfounded arrogance,” Renatus retorted. “I do not ask you to abandon your quest for chaotic domination; merely to let me guide you, and share in the glory and enslavement of the world to our mutual ends. I shall not give you chains, but new weapons with which you shall conquer all. Weapons of anger that you can use to defeat Celestia, defeat the wielders of harmony, and whoever else stands in your path!” Renatus' voice rose with passion, impatience melting away the former frost residing in his throat. “Join me, or you shall never succeed!”

Discord huffed smoke in and out of his nostrils, an odd calm coming over him. He sighed and reverted to his previous form. He struggled to think about why he had taken such an action. He was always one to stay lighthearted, never one to be angry. And yet his chaos seemed to amplify when he had lashed out in his rage; could that really be the key to overcoming the elements of harmony?

“How exactly will you give me these weapons?” Discord said reservedly, maintaining a stone wall in front of his inner turmoil.

“I will teach you,” Renatus answered. “Teach you the ways of the darkness, the ways of manipulation, and the ways of destruction. The ways of the Sith. And these tools, combined with your own chaos, will make you unstoppable,” Renatus put every ounce of his power into the movements of his throat, trying to make his voice as alluring as he possibly could. “Just shake my hoof, Discord, and you shall soon rule.” With that, Renatus lifted up a leg and extended a limb; it was long, slender, and black as midnight.

Discord paused for a moment, again considering the proposal being presented to him. Discord was still confused with the slithering ambiguity of Renatus, but a sixth sense had him convinced that there was truth to the power Renatus was offering, and that the power would be the way to get what he wanted. He loathed the idea of having to work with anyone else, but the fresh scars of being defeated by those six ponies seared within his mind, shutting down those prideful notions. His freedom, and his power, had to come before his ego.

Discord swiftly reached out and grabbed the hoof presented. He immediately felt another surge of energy flow through him, a power he had never felt within him before. Red sparks flew out from where their hands met, sealing their new pact. Discord laughed delightfully as the sparks ran up his arm and through the rest of his body.

“Now, let us go. And from now on, you shall take on a new name: Darth Discord.”

A long, long time ago in a land far, far, away...

It is a period of coming chaos. Discord, after his revival by the sinister Darth Renatus, has begun plotting for the take-over of Equestria. He has recruited many a creature to his forces, known as the ‘Chaos Alliance’, which have begun to initiate small strikes of disharmony throughout the land.

Foreseeing their movements, Princess Celestia managed to acquire plans to the Chaos Alliance’s ultimate weapon, the Chaos Sphere, an armored battle station with enough power to cause permanent disharmony and chaos wherever it is used.

Pursued by Discord’s sinister agents, Princess Celestia races towards Ponyville carrying the stolen plans. She hoped to reach Twilight and her friends before the weapon became fully operational, saving Equestria from certain doom...

Chapter 1: The Hunt

To be hunted is to be alive. The heart throbs, a steady drum beat, pumping revitalizing fear through the bloodstream. The body moves in a dance that it can not do at any other time, its new-born speed and strength a sight to behold. Only when the end's snarling teeth, or in this case the end's mighty force, is near does the value of life become clear. The life force fights desperately, giving all the power it has, to preserve itself. Thus, ponies only truly live when their life is to be put to an end.

The night sky was as beautiful as it always was in Equestria, an infinite number of stars and a shining moon beaming down on the land. The sky was on this night was also filled with large creatures and magic that few ponies would ever comprehend. Wings flapped, spells flashed, and screamed and shouts filled the cold air. The bizarre scene was unseen by any pony on the ground even though the fate of Equestria lay in its final outcome.

Princess Celestia had no time to contemplate any of these things as she desperately fired spell after spell at her pursuers, the life of her and her comrades depending on her success. Life-threatening combat leaves no chance for any thought that is not your next move to survive. Celestia's mind was focused on tearing through the pages of her memories on spells, or else thinking of a route they could pursue to lose the monsters that were after them. Survival overrode everything.

“This is bad princess! They're catching up!” the blunt voice of her faithful General penetrated Celestia's thoughts like a battleaxe, further adding to the stress of the pursuit.

“I can see that General!” Celestia replied sharply. After blocking yet another onslaught of dark magic from her pursuers, her churning gut flew to a snap decision. There was no time for more thought on the matter; her mind was too preoccupied with magic, and thus only instinct could dictate a change in course. “I want you to make a landing down at the Everfree Forest,” Celestia shouted to her General.

“The Everfree Forest?! But Princess, the creatures in there-” the General began to say, his different fears at war with one another.

“It's our only hope of losing them at this point, General,” Princess Celestia interrupted. “We will not be able to lose them like this.” Celestia was being pulled by two of her guardian pegasi, one of them her general, in her golden chariot; Her focus had to stay on spell work, and thus she could not fly on her own. The chariot was surrounded by eight other pegasi, all with uniform golden armor, white coats, and short, blue manes. Celestia wore two saddlebags on her sides, carrying objects of infinite value; objects that would save Equestria if brought to the right hooves. It was for these objects that the hunt was waged, the hunters reflecting their evaluation of the items in their sheer ferocity.

Celestia was concentrating all of her energy trying to blast away the forces pursuing them with magic, to little avail. Her intricate spells were being blocked out by another force, and as night had fallen and the moon had risen, her powers were weakened, having set with the shining sun.

“You heard the Princess; DIVE!” exclaimed the General, order and confidence stiffening the spines of his troops at his commanding tone, developed over years of training. Immediately, all of Celestia's guardian pegasi curved downwards at high speeds, dashing like bullets to try and reach the surface, their trajectory heading straight for the edge of the Everfree Forest. The winds tried to restrict them, the air slicing like knives across their bodies, but the pegasi kept their speed steady. Celestia hung on with a sticking spell on her hooves, still firing magic at her pursuers despite how the roller-coaster of her chariot shaked and twisted.

The pegasi made a rough landing into the hard earth outside the forest, having to dig in their hooves and use heating friction to stop themselves. The chariot slammed down to the ground with a crash, pieces of it exploding outwards, Celestia leaping from the chariot before she sustained injury.

Celestia wasted no time; they were still the hunted despite a successful landing. She summoned up all the magic she could spare and unleashed a blast into the sky towards their pursuers. They immediately slowed down, time itself was working against them. The Princess wobbled, the powerful spell draining much of her remaining energy. She managed to keep her hooves, standing strong as she had to.

“That spell won't hold them for long,” Celestia spoke clearly, facing her guardians. “We need to run through the Everfree forest to Ponyville and lose them that way. Quickly!” Celestia kept her composure, but urgency turned her usually warm orders into stone.

Celestia began to trot into the forest, but slowed when her hooves sang alone; none of her guardians were following her into the forest, opposing her direct order.

“What are you all waiting for?!” Celestia asked with anger. The clock was ticking, and the hunter was merely sleeping. It would soon make a leaping pounce to catch its prey. They had to keep moving to survive.

“Princess..we will hold them off for you,” the General spoke softly. “You take the extra time and get to safety,” the rest of the guardians nodded, huddling close together and smiling at the Princess. The sacrifice silenced the world, and stopped Celestia's heart.

“What? I can't let you do that. You will follow me. That is an order,” Celestia exclaimed, desperately trying to keep her calm and save her guardians.

“We all swore an oath to protect you, Princess Celestia. This is the best way to do it; we are not going anywhere” the General said, standing proud and firm. The rest of the guards huffed their approval, comrades till the end. The knights and guardians of Equestria, ready to fight to protect what they loved no matter what the odds or the cost. They were the roaring flame of bravery, ponified.

Celestia's armor finally broke at the mighty blade of her guardians, and water leaked from the cracks. She shook her head in despair, and tried to catch the breath running away from her. Celestia opened her mouth and let cool air flow over her inner pains. The breath numbed her, allowing her to carry on. Once again wearing her royal armor, she dictated as she had to.

“Do not get yourself killed, or captured. Do not be arrogant. Run away if you have to,” Celestia ordered, before dashing off as fast as she could into the forest, not wanting to waste a second more of the precious time her followers were giving her.

“Yes Ma'am,” the General answered her, for what would be the last time.

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The group of golden armored guardians turned their attention to the now rapidly advancing hunters. It was Discord himself who led the pack. His appearance was far darker than it was before; his array of colors had all been washed out, only black and gray now dominating his body. The only remote color came from his blood red eyes. Behind him, forty pegasi followed in an orderly formation. The pegasi were a dark reflection of Celestia's guardians; coats painted with midnight, bloody eyes and manes, dark draconian armor, and shadowy auras that constantly twisted around them. They were pure nightmare.

“Hold the line men! Let none of them pass!” the General neighed a rallying cry, his voice again instilling confidence into his subordinates. The guards dug their hoofs in and prepared for an onslaught. They were the doomed; the sacrificial lambs, given to a pack of hungry wolves to save their lord and master. Despite this, they would fight on proudly. As warriors, they would face their nightmares and their fears, all for the glory of their nation, and all so others could live and carry on the war.

Suddenly, the earth beneath them shifted, and their hooves began to sink. It felt like the ground was trying to swallow them, as it lost all firmness and destroyed their foundations. The guards looked down in shock to see that they were now standing in a big pool of quicksand. They desperately tried to fly out of the sand, their minds now thoroughly preoccupied with the sudden threat of sinking to their death, the warriors unable to handle the sneak attack from below. This gave their nightmares the perfect opportunity to strike.

The pegasi of Discord crashed into the guards. They rammed them with all the force they could muster, smashing those that had begun to fly out of the sand back into the ground, or else crashing into those guards still stuck in the quicksand and throwing them like rag-dolls. The guardians of Equestria stood up, determined, and tried a counter-assault, their wills unbroken, however bruised their bodies were. Those that could charged the nightmares, butting heads or ramming into them with their own force. The hunted slashing out a desperate claw against the bigger and more powerful predator.

Though a couple of the nightmares would fall to the strength of the guardians, their greater numbers proved to be overwhelming for the sun's protectors. Soon, each guardian was swarmed, and one by one the brave soldiers of Celestia fell to the power of the darkness. A number of the guards knew there was no more hope, and flew off into the sky, hoping to escape and fight on another day. The nightmares prepared to pursue, but Discord, who had been watching with glee, stopped them, having an alternative solution.

“I can take care of those that got away,” Discord bragged, thoroughly pleased by the carnage of Celestia's precious guardians, as he snapped his fingers to unleash obstacles that were unknown to even him upon those that had escaped. Chaos would see to it the stragglers did not escape easily.

At the end of the battle, the numbers were counted; as always in war, individual beings becoming mere tallies on a piece of paper. Discord was left with thirty able-bodied horses; ten of his nightmares were on the ground injured, but they would live to fight another day. Five of the guardians that had not escaped were on the ground, thoroughly broken and beaten, their courageous flames extinguished.

“No sign of Celestia then?” the dark figure of Discord spoke as he paced slowly around what had been the battlefield. Discord walked at ease; his mood was light as he tried to relish in the joys of the hunt, and how wonderful it was to hold such an advantage over his old rival.

“No, my lord,” replied a nightmare pegasi walking next to Discord. The nightmare spoke with reverence, as all of them did to their leader.

Discord lashed out and grabbed the neck of one of the Equestrian guardians with his claw, hoisting the pegasi up with ease. Discord started to squeeze the life out of him, blocking out any oxygen from entering his airways.

“Where is Celestia?” Discord demanded angrily, his mood turned on its head. Discord had turned rage into a weapon to get what he wanted; and more than anything, he wanted to find and exact his revenge on Celestia, the one who had imprisoned him.

“I'll never tell you, you scum,” the General replied, his flame still managing to burn brightly. He launched a wad of saliva towards the eye of Discord, an arrow of defiance.

Discord blinked his eyes, and the spit wad stopped in mid-air, floating and revolving like a planet, shining under the light of the moon. Discord smiled, and the spit-wad transformed into chocolate milk, darker and muddier than the clear wad of spit. He then blew the milk straight into the face of the guard, where it exploded in a flash of heat and light on contact, the explosion curving so that it only hit the captive guard. Discord let the empty husk fall back to the ground. The guard's mane and face were burned completely black, the ghost of his last gasp still etched upon his face.

“You should be more careful when handling your explosives,” Discord gloated gleefully, enjoying being able to display his power in such a fashion. He had learned now that true cruelty and chaos were partners; to use only one was to make himself weak and to let his enemies be victorious. He now held the two together, the combination echoing the power of the reaper.

Discord prepared to interrogate the next guard, but was interrupted by one of his nightmares.

“Lord Discord, we found some tracks leading into the Everfree Forest. Do you want us to pursue?”

“Hmm..the Everfree Forest. Overgrown, filled with assorted monsters, amusing plants..my kind of place,” Discord mused aloud to his ponies. Discord snapped his fingers, again utilizing his technique of acting indirectly to devastate his opponents. Why not let the forces of nature do the hard work for him, and then sweep in and delight in finishing off his foes? “That will make the forest even better. Now, get in there and find her; she'll be weakened and no match for us,” Discord instructed.

“Yes sir! You heard him, let's go!” Twenty of the nightmares went running into the forest to find the greatest threat to their conquest, the rest staying to protect their lord.

“Now...” Discord began, bending over one of the four remaining prone forms that had tried to fight them off. His voice mimicked the chilling evil of his new teacher. “It's time you be introduced to the school of Discord...”

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Celestia panted desperately under the cover of a large pine tree, doing her utmost to find her breath and keep moving. Again, the instincts of the hunted had overcome her, and now survival was the only thing inside her mind. The only comfort she had was the thumping of her own heart, still beating despite the onslaught of pressure. As long as she had that, she could make it.

The Princess had ran for an hour into the massive forest, but had been impeded heavily by the unfriendly and chaotic landscape, and was now thoroughly exhausted both from the trek and her heavy use of magic. Celestia had been forced to undo many of the spells that had sprung up into the forest, reverting it to normal where Discord had left traps or more chaos.

“Do a loop around this area; I smell something, maybe we can find her tracks here,” shouted a sinister voice.

Celestia's eyes widened, and her ears ringed with the voice of the hunters. They had already come. Somehow, they had gotten through her guardians and closed the gap between them. Celestia could not comprehend how this was possible, but she could not afford to focus on that. Nor could she even spare a thought to the guardians she so loved who had laid down their lives for her. Even survival was impossible now; she was too drained for any spell strong enough to fight her pursuers off, and there was no way she could move or run without being heard or spotted. The hunt was over, and all that was left for the hunted to do was hide and wait for death to arrive.

The Princess, however, was always prepared with a backup plan; something she felt a royal should always have. Celestia thus levitated a blank piece of parchment, an ink bottle, a quill, and a heavy scroll out of her bag. She desperately scrawled a message onto the parchment. Then, with her last ounce of magic, Celestia sent the message to Ponyville in a burst of light. She had lost the battle, but with her last action, Equestria could still win the war.

Celestia collapsed, and allowed herself to be ripped apart by the tremors of emotion. A quake of sadness for her failure. A quake for her guardians. A quake for her sister. A quake for her subjects. A quake for the war. A quake for what was to come. Finally, a quake for what she was about to put the six heroes of harmony through.

“What was that?” one of the nightmares spoke, hearing the sobs. The single nightmare ran towards it, and discovered the prey, weak and helpless.

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“Well, well, well, look what my loyal subjects brought in,” Discord said as his nightmares escorted Celestia right to him. Celestia was walking weakly, but she held her head up high in defiance, her strength having somewhat returned to her. Beside the new lord of darkness there were fourteen other nightmares, standing as tall and proud as Celestia was. “Did you get the plans?” Discord asked the nightmares bringing her in.

“No, sir. She didn’t have them when we caught her, and we couldn’t find them anywhere in the forest.”

“Discord..what have you done to my guardians?” Celestia spoke with restrained rage, unable to see any of them, and noticing Discord’s ranks had swelled slightly. Celestia scanned around once more in an effort to find them, and to her horror, she saw her General on the ground at Discord's feet, head burnt horribly. The General was dead.

“Well, some have finally seen the light, so to speak. This one,” Discord gave the broken Pegasus at his feet a good kick, a cat playing with its fallen prey. “Couldn't handle his chocolate milk,” Discord laughed, joined in by all of his troops.

“You..you won't get away with this, Discord,” Celestia hissed, at a loss for stronger words. She could not believe the changes Discord had undergone. No longer was chaos enough for him, and Celestia knew just how bad that was for Equestria. Discord teleported directly in front of her, and gazed deep into Celestia's eyes.

“But I already have, my dear Celestia, I already have. Now tell me...” Discord stuck his hand out and Celestia was suddenly lifted up into the air by an invisible force. Celestia gasped, the force pushing on her neck and stopping any life from throwing through it; truly a death grip. “Where have you put the plans?”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Celestia gasped out as best she could.

“Well, perhaps if you get a little..stoned, you'll loosen your tongue,” Discord laughed, and then snapped his fingers. The back right leg of Celestia turned into solid rock, and the spell began to spread to the rest of her body, journeying over the plains of her coat and heading for her head. “Now tell me!” Discord demanded.

“I still don't understand-” Celestia coughed, trying to breathe in what little air she could under Discord's invisible hold. “-What you're talking about.” Celestia refused to do anything except play dumb; she had failed the people of Equestria enough in being unable to escape. She would not fail them further by giving up the location of the key to their survival.

“That's too bad,” Discord sighed, releasing Celestia and reversing the petrification process. He acted thoroughly beaten and downcast, his previous anger now leaving him. His emotions had again flip-flopped. “Well, you're of no use to me in that case.”

“What?” Celestia panted, thoroughly confused.

“See, my dear Celestia, your magic is all used up trying to defend your precious guardians instead of flying away and escaping as you could have. Quite the poor strategy as they lost to us anyway, but I digress. Even the great solar princess of Equestria can only do so much. But, what fun would it be beating you like this? I daresay a good villain should beat the hero when at his, or her, strongest, don't you agree? It is much more fun to tear someone down when they are strong,” Discord ranted in a long monologue, deliberately playing the fool and enjoying every second of it. He had waited a millennium to get satisfying revenge on Celestia, and he was going to take his time and enjoy it.

“What on Equestria does that mean?” Celestia responded indignantly. She had always loathed Discord's mind games, and her opinion of them had not changed in the slightest.

“Well, since I can't fight you, we're going to play a little game. I'm going to give you about thirty seconds to fly away and try your best to escape, during which me and my nightmares will do nothing. Then, we'll proceed to chase you, and we'll see if you can get away or not. So, break a leg! Thirty seconds starting..now,” Discord exclaimed, before curling up into a ball and closing his eyes, the sandman seeming to have already knocked his lights out. All of the red and black pegasi did likewise, following the will of their lord and master.

“You must be joking,” Celestia said, looking down at the suddenly inattentive creatures of chaos around her. She could not process the sheer idiocy of such an eccentric action.

“Twenty-five seconds,” Discord snored, reminding her, smiling in his sleep.

Celestia, deciding that she could not waste the opportunity however unlikely that it was honest, rose up into the air and flew as fast as she could towards Ponyville. The easy trek back to Discord had restored some of her physical energy, but she still could not fly very fast. The pursuit had begun anew, a phoenix rising from the ashes. She was again the hunted instead of the caught, and there was a slim chance she could this time elude her hunters.

Within ten seconds of Celestia starting her flight, she turned into stone and crashed down into the Everfree forest. The hunt had ended as quickly as it had began. The Phoenix died, and did not rise again.

Discord stretched up and yawned. “I've learned a thing or two about how to play games, Princess Celestia. Now then, let's go see if her leg broke off, shall we?” Discord gloated sarcastically, to the roaring laughter of the nightmares

Chapter 2: The Message

All beings pursue a sense of completeness. A sense that life is completely fulfilling, that all our desires are being met, that things could not be better. Perfect contentment and happiness. Not a single hole or problem wearing us down from the inside, and no pressure pushing down and restricting us from the outside. A sense of soaring, the world below you, its many horrors unable to extend far enough to bring you down.

Discord's lack of this feeling weighed heavily on his mind. An echoing emptiness seemed to be resounding through him after the triumph of the night. He had succeeded in acquiring his first taste of revenge, a taste of sweet blood, and has greatly enjoyed his new abilities, but contentment was a bird constantly flying out of his reach.

Darth Discord pondered his lack of happiness as he watched his nightmares cart the horrified statue of Celestia out of the chaotic Everfree forest. Equestria's sun conquered by his chaos, wrapped in stone and under his complete control. To Discord, however, slaying the sun did not at all appease his doubts as he hoped it would.

“You have done well, my pupil,” said a voice, its power striking Discord like an impact with an iceberg. Always chilling, always filled with darkness and power. Power was what Discord felt eluded him; his new hunger for it not nearly satiated, which greatly frustrated the lord of chaos.

Discord turned to his right, where his master, Darth Renatus, appeared out of nowhere, still completely covered in a black cloak. What is he hiding? Discord asked himself. Darth Renatus kept himself constantly shrouded in shadow; speaking little about his own reasons or desires, always concealing his image, and rarely displaying any of his power. He did not seem to ever do anything for himself, always delegating Discord or others to do the work of the Chaos Alliance.

“You know, I am starting to seriously get annoyed,” Discord decided to say. He would not keep his growing uncertainty silent. He had agreed to be work with Renatus, and had given up many aspects of himself to do it. Concessions had to be made if he was to be Renatus' student. His tongue, however, was one thing Renatus would never take from him. Discord would always be a defiant speaker.

“Whatever for?” Renatus questioned, a laughing ghost haunting his tone.

“I thought I'd be more powerful than I was before. Before, I could unleash chaos over all of Equestria with ease; now, I can barely do that for a forest!” Discord complained, getting to the heart of his issue. No longer could he shape the world in his own image, and partake in the opportunities such an action would give him. Now, because of his lack of power, he had to work much harder to get anything done, and there was always something to be done now that he had people working under him. There were benefits, but in Discord's mind, they would never outweigh the negatives unless he got his power back, or obtain this power that would be greater than what he had previously.

“You must have patience, my apprentice. I'll remind you that I had to draw much of your former power to release you from your prison, and that your battle with the elements of harmony weakened you. Even though some time has passed, you will not see the full return of your powers of chaos for a while yet.”

“How long are we talking about?” Discord demanded to know.

“That is not for me to determine. As you obtain more agents to serve you, your power to spread chaos will increase. And as you did before, the elements of harmony must fall before you can cover the entire world in discord. When that happens, will be up to you and your men. Soon enough, you will be unstoppable,” Rentaus reassured his apprentice. His speech was again light and comforting, somehow able to freeze all of Discord's doubts and stoke the flames of his heart at the same time. A two-sided knife that drained the life from the rebellion within Discord.

“Well, I suppose that makes sense,” Discord said, concerned that somehow his protests were fading away after a few simple sentences from his master. “But it's just not as much fun as I thought it'd be without my full powers over chaos.”

“You will have more of “your fun” than ever once the Chaos Sphere is fully operational. Speaking of which, you should return there to oversee things, along with your latest catch,” Darth Renatus explained, gesturing his head to the stone Celestia.

“But, the plans haven't been recovered!” Discord managed to protest. Again, he was being delegated to do work he had little interest in, when he would rather be out on the hunt and having fun tormenting ponies on his way.

“We'll send nightmares to handle that. We have more pressing matters to attend to. The Chaos Sphere is more important, and your training with me must continue,” Renatus said, his tone becoming commanding. The lord of darkness grew weary of trying to keep Discord under his hoof, and in impatience turned to force of will to get the draconequus in line.
“I'm starting to get annoyed at your constant, cold, commanding of me,” Discord noted, eyes directing a glare at his master.

“Three days at the Chaos Sphere,” Renatus spoke softly, beginning a bargain. “I will have your nightmares prepare a special treat for Ponyville in the meantime. After three days, you'll be able to have all the fun you want in Ponyville; at the home of your hated foes, the foes that ripped your world from beneath you.” Renatus added the reminder to help him win Discord over to the idea.

“I thought that Ponyville was untouchable as long as the elements of harmony were active, and considered it their home?” Discord reminded, but amid the seas of his skepticism was a boat of hope at the prospect. He would like nothing more than to have free reign over Ponyville, the perfect place to extract his revenge on the six mares that had, with Celestia's guidance, sent him back to his stoney prison cell.

“The Chaos Sphere being fully operational would circumnavigate that,” Renatus mentioned, a not-so-subtle hint to Discord. “But, there are other methods that can be used to open up a foothold to that harmony protectorate, that coincide well with our next movements. All that I need is time, and all you need is patience. With that, we shall all be justly rewarded,” Renatus explained in vague terms, silver tongue working its magic.

“Oh, very well then,” Discord conceded. “But if Ponyville is not ready for the return of Discord in three days, I make sure the havoc I wreak ruins your precious schemes,” Discord threatened. Renatus' schemes had contributed to Discord's constraints as well, despite the previous promises to the contrary. The weapons that Discord had been given were a delight, but always held back by Renatus' various plans. Renatus had a desire to take the spread of chaos slowly, so that their foes could not well counter their movements, and so their strength could build up. Discord, in contrast, wanted to to start his fun quickly, and thus found himself constantly butting heads with his teacher when they outlined their next actions (something Discord also had a distaste for; he preferred improvisation).

“I will not fail you, if you did not fail me,” Renatus replied. “Now, go to the Chaos Sphere,” he ordered. Discord sighed and snapped his fingers, instantly teleporting to said location.

“As for the rest of you,” Renatus shouted to the the nightmares who had watched the converse in formation with stoic expressions. The nightmares tensed up, stomped their hooves in unison, and responded with a loud:

“Yes sir?”

“Head for Ponyville,” Renatus instructed. “Keep a perimeter and search the area outside of it. Celestia almost certainly sent the plans there, but the message may have failed to deliver. Keep an eye out for Twilight Sparkle and her friends, as well; do not attempt to fight them directly, but inform me of any of their movements. I will give further orders when you arrive there. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir!”

---

A world away, a busy happiness flowed through the home of Ponyville's resident librarian, Twilight Sparkle. Stress accompanied it, but with friends, as Twilight had learned, anything could be enjoyable. Thus, Twilight smiled as she flew across her home to make sure everything was in order, joy radiating from her.

The inside of Twilight's library home, a giant tree, was cleaner than it had been in months. The books had been put away neatly on the shelves, and the walls and floors sparkled and shined. Banners, ribbons, streamers, and other assorted decorations in a wide array of colors had been put up to make the tree look more vibrant. A soapy, clean smell wafted from every nook and cranny, also carrying a trace of the scent of the bark of the tree. Oddly, a number of birds and bunnies scampered about with tiny rags, tweeting and hopping, making the tree a flurry of movement. In addition to the woodland creatures and Twilight herself, were two other ponies and a baby dragon, also scurrying about to make the inside of the home the best it could be.

“Alright Spike, let's start that checklist,” spoke Twilight Sparkle, an uplifting note in her voice matching the spring in her step. She did not pause to delegate the checklist, still busying herself with dusting and organizing books on the shelves with her magic. “Decorations?”

Spike, the purple and green baby dragon, grabbed a quill and a clipboard with a small list on it, and surveyed the room. It was beautiful. The lengths of cloth that surrounded the inside of the tree filled the tree with a charming elegance, courtesy of one white unicorn named Rarity (who, Spike thought, had merely spread a fraction of her beauty throughout the tree). Rarity was still making slight adjustments around the room in her pursuit of perfection.

“Check,” Spike replied, punctuating his word with a check-mark on the sheet. He tried to give a heartfelt grin to Rarity, but she was turned away, seeming completely ignorant of him.

“All books put away?” Twilight went on, breaking Spike from the cage of his own love-struck heart to continue his work. Twilight shook her head at her assistant, still amazed that Spike could be so dedicated to his crush on Rarity, and further amazed that he was unable to voice that crush.

“Check,” Spike responded as he shook his head to reclaim his focus. Having done most of the book organizing himself, he knew instinctively that almost everything was in its proper place.

“Floors, walls, and ceiling clean?” Twilight pressed.

Spike gazed around again, noting the cleanliness of practically every corner of the tree. The floor was so shiny he could even see himself in it; how that was possible in a wooden tree was beyond him, though he suspected Twilight might have been experimenting with cleaning magic. The primary culprit of the cleaning, the pink-haired yellow pegasus named Fluttershy, was gently letting all of her friends leave the home with her sincerest thanks at a job well done.

“Check,” Spike answered happily, finding himself delighting in a clean home. Too often, he realized, he took for granted how nice it was to have a clean place to live.

“Food?” Twilight continued, a shade of hunger filling the question. She had forgone eating in the preparation of her home, but had stayed strong in resisting the baby-like moans and pleas of her stomach.

Spike turned his eyes to a long table filled with all sorts of treats, refreshments, and snacks; from apple cupcakes to zucchini muffins (Spike wasn't sure what “zucchini” was, but Rarity had insisted that it was a food craze that was sweeping through all of Canterlot). The delectable smells bombarded him every time he walked past it. There was even a bowl of gemstones just for him.

“Check,” Spike said, drooling at the enticing gems that unleashed a siren call to his mouth and belly. Spike tried to tip-toe over to the bowl, but Twilight Sparkle noticed this and intervened, halting his progress with a well placed hoof.

“Well, I guess that's everything then. Thanks for all your help you two,” Twilight Sparkle addressed Rarity and Fluttershy, as the trio moved to meet in the center of the room, Twilight dragging a hungry Spike along with her.

“Hey, what about me!” Spike complained from under Twilight's leg, not wanting to bee under-appreciated. Though he had learned a valuable lesson about the dangers of seeking too much affection, he had hoped Twilight had also learned to avoid such ignorance of his insecurities.

“And of course we wouldn't have been able to do it without my number one assistant,” Twilight said lovingly, affectionately rubbing Spike's head with her hoof. She knew she had to constantly appreciate her little dragon pal. Spike grinned, eating up the attention, and enjoying the sensation of Twilight rubbing his spines.

“It was my pleasure, darling. It is not everyday you get to decorate for royalty, after all,” Rarity responded with her usual tone filled with charm and grace. A lady both in appearance and voice.

“It was no trouble at all Twilight, me and my friends are always happy to help,” Fluttershy said softly, as usual, her voice barely above a whisper. Fluttershy bit her lip in nervousness as she struggled with her confidence issues in trying to ask a question she saw as slightly rude. Eventually, the more daring side won out, and she asked:

“But, why couldn't we get anyone else to come help us get the place ready? It was an awful lot of work, and I'm sure plenty of ponies would have been willing to help. Not that there's anything wrong with doing it on our own, but-”

“Celestia doesn't want anyone but us six to know about this, because she wants to talk to us about the elements of harmony. In fact she said she would just be teleporting straight into my room. Cleaning is not really Rainbow Dash's or Applejack's thing. And Pinkie Pie..well, you can tell her first thing tomorrow morning; any sooner and she'll turn this into a huge party before we can say anything,” Twilight responded logically, reciting the reasoning she had given herself earlier. She was always ready to explain her actions for any of her decisions, planned out as she was.

“I guess that makes sense. What time does Celestia want to see us here tomorrow?” Fluttershy asked, brightening now that she was past the awkward question. She dearly wished she didn't feel so shy when she asked such questions. But she didn't want to be too aggressive or pervasive even more.

“Bright and early in the morning; Eight o'clock, sharp. I'll see you guys then-” Twilight said, while escorting Fluttershy and Rarity to the door, who were leaving to attend to other matters. Her final words of farewell would be interrupted, however, by the loud belching of a baby dragon.

“BURP,” Spike croaked, as a magic trail of green flame left his lips, a message popping out of it. The message was fairly unusual in that it was unfurled, as well as worn and faded. Shortly afterward, Spike let our a bigger belch, and a large, gray, rolled-up scroll popped out as well. Spike stumbled around after the delivery was complete, stomach aching after processing such a large piece of mail.

“Hmm, I wonder what these could be. Could you two stay a minute? It might be from Celestia; she may be changing the time,” Twilight requested, walking towards the unfurled parchment and lifting it up with her telekinesis, as well as lifting the large scroll and placing it on a nearby unoccupied table. Rarity and Fluttershy followed in behind her, reading the letter over her shoulder.

The message was crumbling and illegible. Most of the words had faded out, making them impossible to decipher. Only a small scrawl at the bottom of the page could be made out, and even then only barely. This pleading scrawl read:

“Save me, Twilight Sparkle. You're my only hope.”

“What does this mean?” Twilight asked to nopony in particular. A shiver ran down her spine at reading the message. The joy that had filled her tree mere minutes ago now seemed a distant memory. “Who is it from? There's no name on this thing that I can see. Are you sure there isn't anything more, Spike?” Twilight inquired, turning towards her assistant. She was desperate for answers, and even though she knew deep down that Spike wasn't able to hold messages like that, her clouded thoughts prevented her from realizing it.

“No, I don't feel anything else at all,” Spike answered. Twilight gave him a disappointed look, and Spike couldn't help but feel guilty. He had never failed to deliver a full message before. What if his own dragon magic had failed, burning away most of the letter? It was the only thing that made sense; after all, who would send a message that they could not read? Sinister memories crawled upwards to his consciousness, increasing his guilt. All he was supposed to do, beside his assistant chores, was act as Twilight's messaging system. Apparently, he could not even do that right.

“This is bad. Well, let’s take a look at this scroll here then,” Twilight suggested, walking over to the table, the rest of the group following in behind her. She hoped that it would shed light on the other message; there were few things she hated more than being kept in the dark. She unfurled the scroll with her magic. The three ponies gasped at what was revealed. The scroll was completely blank.

“This must have been sent by accident,” Twilight figured, annoyance evident on her face. “As for the message, they must have been in a hurry and couldn't write it neat enough to make-out,” Twilight reasoned. “But it sounds like somepony must really be in trouble for that to happen.”

“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy inquired, highly concerned. Her fears took a backseat to her desire to help any creature in need, and she too had the sense that somepony was in desperate need of help. “Shouldn't we try and go look for whoever sent the message?” Fluttershy paused when she saw Twilight's frustrated face. Fluttershy recalled the visit that was to occur the next morning, and realized how the visit and the message were tearing apart Twilight's mind, and thus quickly tried to counteract her previous position

“But, it would be an awful lot of trouble,” Fluttershy began, “and we wouldn't know where to start. Besides, the Princess is coming tomorrow.” Fluttershy frowned as she spoke out against her own desire to go and help whoever was in trouble. But, she felt her friends' wishes had to come before hers in this case.

“Exactly,” Rarity added. “We have an important meeting with the Princess; We don't have time to go gallivanting off when we do not even have the slightest clue where to start looking for this pony. It would just be a waste of time,” Rarity explained. A part of her wanted to help whoever needed it, but she desired direction in where she was going. She didn't want to go out on an adventure if it would not lead anywhere. Besides that, a meeting with the most powerful and royal creature in Equestria overrode virtually everything else, in her mind.

“Rarity is right,” Twilight confirmed, deciding to choose her mind's choice over her heart's. “It's getting late, and we have an early rise tomorrow. I'll try and look into a spell that might make the message clearer. If I can't find anything, Celestia should be able to help us figure out what this means when she gets here tomorrow,” Twilight assured, both to her friends and to herself. If books did not have the answer she sought, then her teacher had to. She would just have to be patient. She had learned from Pinkie to be willing to accept that she could not explain everything, but her moral sense refused to do this when it could be a pony's life at stake.

Spike watched on as the ponies debated the issue, still feeling like the blame lay with him. He held his tongue, however, for fear of being scolded for his failure. He hated feeling like he was failing his friends, especially Twilight, who had raised him, and Rarity, who he adored. Failing both of them tore him apart.

After Fluttershy and Rarity had departed, Twilight ripped through book after book that dealt with writing and reading. The tree was thick with the sound of flipping pages and thumping tomes, strewn errantly across the floor when Twilight had finished with them. All the previous efforts to organize the library's vast collection would soon be destroyed by Twilight's drive to find the answers she sought.

While Twilight was doing this, Spike decided to try a bit of his own reading. He carefully sneaked behind a busy Twilight towards the “D” section of the library, and found the book he was looking for: “Dudley’s Dynamic Guide to Dragon Messages”.

Spike had seen the book before and was interested, but not being much of a reader, had ignored the heavy text. Reading big words or big books had always intimidated him, even after spending so many years living with Twilight Sparkle. He was, however, ready and willing to overcome his deficiencies to help Twilight and try to fix any inadvertent damage he may have caused to the message.

Spike opened up the book and scanned through the table of contents. 'Let's see.. “How to send a message”, “How to get a message”..no, none of those are any good,” Spike read, continuing down the page, before stopping at an interesting chapter titled: “How to trace a message”. Rather intrigued by the promise of that, Spike opened up the book to said chapter and began reading.

“Sometimes, junk mailers, often menacing monsters known as trolls (for more information on trolls, see chapter 13), will spam your stomach with a number of messages you do not want. Though there are ways to prevent these messages from getting through your system, sometimes the best method to stopping them is a more direct approach of finding out where these trolls live and flaming them.

Thus, the attention of this chapter focuses on tracing. Whenever a message travels by magic, a small magical residue is left. This is because instant-messaging is not a direct transfer from point A to point B. It is, instead, the message traveling at super-fast speeds through the air in a manner untraceable to the dragon eye. This is called “warping”. “Warping” leaves a distinct residue, or trace, in the air due to the power of the magic used. This magic is invisible to the eyes of most ponies; however, a dragon can easily follow this trace residue.

The reside can be seen by the green transportation flames of a dragon. Simply by spitting out flames on the residue, the trail will become visible for a few seconds. Alternatively, a dragon can trace the residue by its distinct scent, that of new parchment. By doing either of these things, a dragon can follow the trace all the way back to where the message was sent.”

Spike stopped reading at that point, too excited by the information he had just obtained to continue. He could just trace the message back to the sender! He had never realized such a thing was possible; as he lived with Twilight, a highly studious person, the scent of fresh parchment was always present in his home, overwhelming most other smells. In addition, he had always been careful about spitting out flames for fear of damaging the books or the tree itself, and thus had never seen the residue either.

Spike had been so engaged and lost in thought that he had not noticed a certain purple unicorn pop up behind him.

“What are you reading, Spike?”

“Aah!” Spike screamed out, jumping upward like a frightened rabbit. He turned to see Twilight Sparkle giving him a curious look. Spike took a deep breath, preparing to explain his findings. “Well, I wanted to help you out, and I think I found a way we can find out who the sender of that letter is!”

“Really? Great! What is it?”

“It's..well, uh...” Spike was flabbergasted as to how to explain this, or whether or not he should explain it. He wanted to be honest and open with Twilight, but a part of him wanted to find the sender on his own to try and make up for his previous failure of delivering the message intact.

Twilight, having been reading for hours, suddenly released a massive yawn, tiredness overcoming her. “It's getting late, and we should really have been to bed a while ago. Listen, why don't you just tell it to all of us tomorrow, and after Celestia comes by, we'll all go out and search together, okay?”

“That sounds great!” Spike answered with enthusiasm. Twilight turned to go to bed, and Spike let out a sigh of relief. He climbed up to his bed at the foot of Twilight's and crawled underneath the soft, warm covers.

“Good night Spike,” Twilight said before turning out the lights with her magic and closing her eyes.

“Good night, Twilight,” Spike replied. He waited for Twilight to fall asleep, in the meantime pondering his own position; a difficult ask as he had to fight against his own heavy eyelids, which were supported by his comforting bed. Should he just wait for tomorrow, as Twilight said? But the person seemed to be in real distress, and might not have much time left. And as the trail would only go to where the message was sent, the longer they waited, the less likely they'd be able to find the sender.

Spike figured it would be best to do this on his own, and do it now. Twilight needed her rest, and the rest of their friends would be entertaining Celestia tomorrow, likely for the “Elements of Harmony” stuff he had no part in (despite Twilight's half-hearted previous attempt to include him; he still had a lump from where Rainbow Dash hit him). He could do this on his own; his own adventure, his own chance to save the day.

Spike's imagination also got the better of him. He envisioned himself as a hero again: Sir Spike, the mighty warrior with muscles hard as rock, rushing off to save a beautiful damsel in distress. He would journey through freezing tundras, blistering deserts, monstrous forests, to eventually slay the monster guarding the message sender. The messenger would be Rarity’s long lost twin sister, and would be extremely thankful, kissing him in repayment. He would then take the damsel back home, where Rarity would be waiting, thoroughly impressed with his heroics, and insist on giving him a kiss to show her admiration for him.

“That does it. I'm going to do this!” Spike whispered with conviction, his imagination slipping into the realms of his reality. Very carefully, he got up and tip-toed down to the ground floor, not making a sound. Spike grabbed a piece of parchment and quill and wrote a hasty note for Twilight in case he did not get back by morning. He also grabbed a small saddlebag and put some food and the letter in it, as well as the large blank scroll, as he needed to ask the sender exactly what they meant. He then began searching for the trail; he let out tiny wisps of green flame from his mouth, hoping to illuminate the residue. Luckily, Twilight was soundly asleep and did not notice the flashes of green light or the sounds his flames made.

Eventually, Spike found the trail; it was a glittering, ghostly wisp hanging in the air. Spike continued puffing out green flame, following the trail right out the door (which he opened and closed with extreme caution), and onwards into the star-filled night, the tempting mistress of adventure leading his path.

A curious owl watched him depart, knowing he likely could not stop the dragon. He was thoroughly perplexed by Spike’s actions.