The air was still as Twilight looked at her foe. Discord, master of chaos, standing proud and defiant against her, a smug look of superiority upon his face. His rejection had been spoken for all to hear, and while most of Twilight's friends looked on as though this would always have happened, that he could not be reasoned with, Twilight was not of the same mind. She looked at him, half-shocked and half-disbelieving over what she'd just heard, and opened her mouth to speak. She tried, over and over to get the words out, but each time, she couldn't bring herself to speak a single syllable. Discord, watching this, merely conjured a wrist-watch and observed the seconds passing by as Twilight remained silent, growing ever more bored as he did so. In time, Twilight finally spoke, but her words were hushed.

"...Why?"

Discord raised an eyebrow at the young unicorn.

"Why? Are you seriously asking me that question? I already told you, your proposal was logical and made absolute sense. And where's the fun in making sense? I'm Discord! Chaos incarnate! The lord and master of all things random and unexpected. And you honestly expected me to follow a plan that had nothing but logic at its core? You are truly the most foolish mare I've ever met."

Twilight stood there, aghast at the words that had been thrown at her.

"But...but...it would have solved everything! You'd have your freedom! We would have our normal lives back! Everypony would have won! I don't care how illogical you are, surely you can see that this plan benefitted everypony, right?"

Discord scoffed.

"Of course I saw it! I'm not an idiot, unicorn. But, if there's one thing you should know about me, it's this; I never let my enemies set the terms of my life. Not Celestia, and certainly not you!"

Twilight looked at him, sadness filling her eyes.

"Discord...please...we don't have to be enemies. We can leave in peace together, if only you'd be willing to do so!"

Yet again, Discord rolled his eyes.

"A passionate plea, my dear...but of little use, I'm afraid. Chaos knows no peace. Chaos knows no limits, no restraints, no borders where it cannot pass. And that's exactly what you wanted of me. But I will not accept that. I go wherever I want, doing whatever I please at whatever time it suits me. I...am...chaos!"

The look of annoyance on his face made it clear that he meant every word of that. He...he won't accept. I offered him a chance and he just rejects it. Does all this disharmony really mean so much to him that he'd rather throw peace back in our faces rather than give it up? Looking down, Twilight hung her head low. Discord, as expected at this point, merely chuckled at the sight of her like this. But, seeing the draconequs mock their friend, the other mares found that they could no longer sit idly by while it happened. They charged forward, each bearing a look of determination, as they stood ahead of Twilight, lined up to form a veritable wall between her and the chaotic spirit. Seeing this, Discord simply laughed out loud even further.

"Oh! How precious! The little ponies coming to save their friend! How sweet!"

Rainbow stamped her hoof down in an imposing manner.

"You'd better watch it! We're not afraid to fight if it comes down to it!"

Yet again, the ancient spirit let out a loud and mocking laughter.

"Fight? You? You are nothing but a handful of meddlesome equines! There was a time when I could have snapped my fingers and turned this entire country of yours into pudding if I so desired. I may be fairly fresh from that accursed stone prison you ponies put me in, but my power has lost none of its potency, I assure you!"

Despite the threat, the mares stood their ground, glaring angrily at their enemy. But, through it all, Twilight watched, saddened by everything that was going on around her. This is wrong. Discord becomes our friend. I know he has it in him to be better. To me, he's been a friend for a long time, and yet...I can't help him. He won't accept friendship. He won't accept peace. He only wants fun for himself, and chaos for everypony else. He doesn't care. But, before she could speak of any of this, Twilight was prevented from doing so by Applejack, who spoke up in a defiant manner towards Discord.

"Ha! Y'all wanna talk bout power? This ere is Equestria's most powerful unicorn! She tossed a dragon about like a ragdoll, and ah'd just love to see what she does to y'all at the end of all this!"

But, rather than intimidate their opponent, the earth pony's words had the opposite effect, as Discord once more let out a bout of howling laughter.

"You compare me to dragons? Silly Applejack! Dragons are nothing but newts to me! Try talking about something dangerous and then we can talk about me feeling worried."

As if on cue, Rainbow took a step forward, snorting loudly before adding her own voice to the mix.

"Don't forget! We still have the Elements!"

At the mention of his ancient bane, Discord's smile vanished, instead replaced by a look of utter contempt.

"Ah yes! I'd almost forgotten about that. Thank you so much for reminding me!"

His tone, and the newly-formed smirk on his face, made it clear to all of them that he intended something nefarious, leading to all of them assuming a defensive stance, with Rainbow especially spreading out her wings in an aggressive manner. Twilight watched with dismay as all this happened. No! We can sill stop this! We don't have to fight! But she was prevented from speaking yet again, when Discord raised his hands and continued smirking at the ponies.

"Let's just see how high and mighty you ponies are...when I send your precious Elements to the four corners of Equestria!"

He snapped his fingers, and all of the mares pre-emptively tensed themselves, waiting for his power to take effect. But, as the moments passed, they each gained looks of confusion, as they found, to their shock, that nothing was happening. No flash of light, no strange occurrences and, most importantly of all, their Elements remained where they were, around their necks and upon Twilight's head. Discord, although initially looking rather smug about his supposed position of power, waited in silence as absolutely nothing happened from his snapping. Eventually, his expression morphed into a look of sheer embarrassment.

"Um...to the four corners of Equestria!"

There was another snap of his fingers, and once again the mares braced themselves. But, like before, nothing came of it. Eventually, the chaotic spirit gained a look of frustration, looking at his fingers angrily.

"I...ugh...argh...TO THE FOUR CORNERS OF EQUESTRIA!!!"

Time and again, he snapped his fingers, gradually growing faster and faster with each snap. But, after about the hundredth snap or so, he stopped, panting furiously, before turning to the ponies. He looked past their front lines, right at Twilight, who was still looking unhappy with the way things were going. Gradually, his expression became one of anger as he rose up to his full height again, glaring at her in a menacing manner.

"What...did you do?"

Sighing, Twilight walked forward, moving ahead of the rest of her friends before addressing their foe.

"An anti-teleportation enchantment. All of the Elements have them. It was a safeguard I put on them a while back. Powerful and ancient enchantments too. I doubt anypony else has used such magic in a long time."

Discord, upon hearing this, narrowed his eyes at the young unicorn.

"You think this will change anything? You truly think that protecting your little Elements will make me bow down and accept what you offered? You pitiful little filly! I will not accept! I will keep my freedom, my true freedom, no matter what little magic tricks you perform!"

Twilight took another step forward, her expression soft and her voice pleading.

"Discord...please...don't make us do this!"

But the spirit merely snarled at her.

"I...will be free...on my terms. Not yours!"

There was silence between the two, as the other mares looked from one to the other. Nopony knew what was going to happen next, but as Twilight looked at Discord, with his smug grin and defiance filling his eyes, only one thought crossed her mind; I tried...but you give me no choice. So, closing her eyes, Twilight began to concentrate, leaving Discord to raise his eyebrow in confusion. But, that confusion vanished as, all of a sudden, the gem of Twilight's Element began to glow, and soon afterwards, the gems of all the others did too. Discord backed away, showing genuine concern for the first time in this entire exchange. He watched as the Elements grew brighter and brighter, bathing their respective bearers in their power. The mares soon found themselves lifting high above the ground, carried by the power of those ancient artefacts, much to Discord's chagrin. Eventually, they all opened their eyes, revealing the bright glow they had there, and moments afterwards, the Elements unleashed their power, sending a helix of rainbow-hued magic up into the sky. Seeing this, Discord immediately spun around and flew off as fast as he could, desperately trying to escape the power of the Elements.

But, it was too late for him, for the power had already reached its apex, and was now immediately shot down towards him. Try as he might, he could not simply teleport himself away, not with such powerful harmony magic so very close to him. And so, he watched with horror as the power finally struck him, a yelp escaping him as it did so. The magical rainbow swirled around him, encasing him in its power. But, as this happened, Twilight watched, a growing look of concern upon her face. This...this isn't right. Something's different. And sure enough, to her shock, she heard the ancient spirit begin to let out an almighty scream, as if the magic surrounding him was a fire burning his very flesh. His howls of pain carried across the whole area, and soon enough, his body began to change, a surface of stone forming from the base of his tail. Moments after moment passed as the stone continued to grow, with Discord struggling at every moment. But soon, it was at his head, and as he looked back, giving his enemies a final look, he gave Twilight a glare of utter fury as the stone finally covered him. There was a bright flash, spreading all over, covering Canterlot and all the lands beyond. And when that flash died down, the mares opened their eyes to see, to their joy, that everything was back the way it was before, with the garden just as beautiful as it was always meant to be.

They landed back on their hooves, watching with amazement as the final aura of the harmony magic faded, before turning to each other with massive smiles. So great was their relief that they did not notice Twilight, who walked towards the now-imprisoned Discord. The young unicorn looked up at him, and saw what he was now like. His body was twisted in a position to show his clear struggle against the rainbow, but it was his face that made Twilight's heart sink. It wasn't a look of defiance, nor anger, noir shock, but of pain. It was the face of somepony who had just experienced great agony. Stepping forward, Twilight placed a hoof to the stone, feeling the life still within it. So transfixed on this that Twilight did not realise that Rainbow was walking up behind her.

"Isn't this great, Twilight? We won!"

But, as Twilight turned, the cyan pegasus' smile faded, for she now saw that her friend was crying, tear upon tear flowing down her cheek.

"No...we haven't."