Spike had laid back in his bed. While he wanted to go get through with the rest of the problems something was keeping him from moving. Those words Hector spoke were obviously a lie but even he couldn’t be sure. Every lie had a kernel of truth behind them and sometimes those legends had come true. Nightmare Moon was supposed to be an old pony tale but that turned out to be the truth beyond shadow of a doubt. Even when Discord had told his lie it wasn’t a lie. He had worded his confession in a way that would be impossible to figure out without lateral thinking. At least, that was what he told him during one of their guy’s night.

“Lateral thinking is the act of using creative solutions to problems that don’t follow logic-by-logic problems. Sometimes you gotta think about what you want from a problem then do something unexpected to get something done. “ Discord mused as he placed on his archer costume becoming the vigilante known only as Captain Wuz.

“So how does that relate to the Elements of Harmony from back then?” Spike looked up at his stalwart archer trying to figure out what he meant about thinking like this.

“Remember what I said back then? Oh wait you weren’t there. And I quote ‘To retrieve your missing Elements just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the elements back where you began.’ and unquote. When I said that I had already seen what had occurred while I was inside my stony prison. Remember one thing about this Spike. If anyone decides to trap you within stone you will still be conscious of everything around you and without the capability of reacting visibly whenever someone does talk to you.” Discord pensively stared off into the distance while Spike just watched his new friend actually be serious. They were rare moments but whenever they happened it did make Spike worry less about him relapsing.

“What was it like?” Spike asked almost on instinct before covering his mouth.

“Well… it was boring. I couldn’t feel heat or cold. There was no light but it wasn’t dark. I just was. Even then I could hear everything around me. I thought it was a dream but it never stopped. When I was first released I actually did something I thought I wouldn’t do. I stopped time for a half hour. It was the most complicated magic I’ve ever done and no one ever knew I did it. Can you guess what I did during that time?” Discord smirked widely at Spike wondering if he could guess.

Spike remained motionless as he thought about what possibly could’ve happened during those thirty minutes. There was also the sheer audacity behind his words which involved time stopping and an unspecified amount of time. Spike could only shake his head unable to even think up a real answer to that question which could be anything at that point.

“I stabbed my leg repeatedly with my talons just to make sure I actually was awake. I kept doing it because I didn’t know what physical pain was until twenty minutes into the procedure. What I remember is that the Elements of Harmony caused mental pain instead of physical. Strangely enough it causes physical alterations which is what makes magic of this world almost impossible to explain at least in terms of Harmony based magic and Chaos based magic. Even I couldn’t explain chaos magic to you because I can’t explain it well. It just is and I know it does what it does.” Discord mused while stroking his beard in his talons.

“Don’t worry about it. Unlike Twilight I can take some things at face value. Still I do wonder if you are messing with me instead. Can’t forget about the Blue flu you had right?” Spike elbowed him playfully while Discord merely mused with an odd glint in his eye.

“True enough. Still something to keep in mind about life. Either way the lesson is clear. Not everything is as it appears. Anyways Garfunkel shall we join Sir Biggins and fight against the forces of the Squizzard?” Discord took on his persona of Captain Wuz and soared off into the distance.

Spike was quiet for a moment. While they had finally become friends the frankness of his statement was unsettling. Belief had made him disprove that he was still stuck within the dream because his eyes wouldn’t follow what he felt. Spike learned some more about how much power Discord really had. ‘Still was it just a one time thing he could do or was it more?’ Spike quieted his thoughts and fled off to join his friends in their assault.

Spike finally moved himself off the bed and stumbled out into the main room where Discord was looking over the five pillars of light. Each corresponded to the main color of their elements yet some felt more chaotic while others felt harmonious. He didn’t know how he knew that but it seemed to be something to watch out for. The pieces were falling into place but the puzzle was still too out of mind at the moment.

“So I get the colors for the elements of harmony are originally these colors but shouldn’t the chaos ones fit in better with my color schemes? Where’s the plaid, stripes, and mishmash of colors?” Discord growled out but not menacingly though.

“We would but right now Spike is in no mood to actually do anything. We are slaves to our fatigue if you don’t know. Can you tell us anything about the worlds we have been to?” Discord merely sat on his tail using it to prop himself up rolling his talons for emphasis.

“That does explain why that monster was chasing us but those ponies were dead and turned into zomponies.” Discord pointed out how each of them got back up from the dead.

“Don’t remind me. I still have the bruises…”

“I see well when Spike finally hears that he’ll get off his lazy butt and get into gear. Twilight’s door awaits.” Discord peered over his shoulder spotting the tiny drake attempting not to be noticed.

Discord just grumbled sourly at the floating pink sphere while Spike managed to chuckle at the sight of him being made a fool of. Lightened up and now certain of her safety Spike finally strode up confidently to the door emblazoned with Twilight’s cutie mark. Discord looked on expectantly as Spike’s claw gripped the handle. With the slam of the door both of the two flew through the door onto a strange desert area covered in pollution. The door slammed behind them leaving them stranded on the strange world.

“So looks like we’re getting into the harder doors now. Any ideas then?” Spike spoke up first, While he had this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach he knew Twilight would have a chaos based element since then.

“I feel it off in the distance and down. Seems like we’re gonna be in a heap of trouble tonight though. Something about this world also feels off as if it’s dying from something.” Discord peered around noticing that there were several metal shutters surrounding the cliff faces and far too little cover for them to get by. Off in the distance were several rocks though.

“So we just walk out over there then?” Spike began to amble on not fully in a confident stride but one of determination. Then a tail stopped him.

“Let’s do this my way. Besides there is probably something wrong going on here. “ Discord picked up Spike and using a nearby rock warped to the next rock near one of the metal shutters dodging several miles of terrain to traipse over. Spike unfortunately did throw up and Discord was stuck on the ground near the rock heaving for breath. The mark on his back strangely enough was only a third gone. ‘Guess that means I got three warps now…’ Discord managed to think about it before breathing took up his thought processes.

“Warning before you do that… please? I think I just hacked up a lung,” Spike poked his chest tentatively looking for the spot. “Nope never mind… still here. Ow…”

“We needed to move and I doubt that this place is uninhabited. Besides look up towards space. This planet has no visible moon. Most likely we’re on another planet right now. A dangerous one with its own army if I’m guessing right.” Discord managed to stumble back up taking a few cautious steps towards the metal. While he didn’t touch the metal he still eyed around for something that should be glaringly obvious.

Several paces away a door slid open allowing two monkeys dressed in sleek armor to step out. Neither looked over at the pair but they tensed up the moment that the guards, they guessed, appeared. Quietly Discord grabbed spike and with a little luck managed to sneak back behind one of the rocks.

“Have you heard the news?” The taller monkey spoke up.

“What?” The shorter one answered.

“Boss says we’re going to invade the Lylat System again. He said something about avenging the legacy of his grandfather or something like that. What a goddamn blowhard.” The taller one groused as he lifted a flask to his lips chugging down the contents as if it was his only comfort on this world.

“Don’t you think he’s been a little lost lately. I mean they kicked him out and now he’s going full force into another hopeless battle. What about the rest of us? We never asked for this bullshit. Now we’re stuck under this racial profiling throughout the system just because we decided to follow someone who wanted better for us.” The short one ranted though his eyes seemed to betray how he really felt.

“Don’t give me that excuse. We knew what we were getting into. It's going to take years just to fix this so our entire race isn’t looked at like warmongers. Even this will pass and while we may hate it we gave an oath to the boss regardless of how much a tool he truly is. Look we have a few more days before things get out of control. In that time we start building up a case to get out of this. If we’re following orders the most they could do is lock us away for a year or so. We do good behavior and sign away some secrets and bam no prison time. Even better we join their military. Might not be the best idea but at least we’d do something useful instead of feed an ego.” The tall one tossed the flask away and began walking inside the shutter again. The short one didn’t follow right away. He pulled out a small transmitter and turned it on.

“You may start. He indeed will turn.” The short one spoke coldly as the sound of a cannon went off. The scream was short lived as a severed arm flew out of the shutter door and slid across the ground until it landed behind the short guard. When he turned around he stomped on the hand crushing it and managing to snap the bone that was still within into shards.

The dragon and draconequus stared at the severed arm of the unfortunate guard who wanted a better life. Spike was clearly scared but his eyes never wavered from the arm. Discord, though, stroked his beard fully lost in his thoughts as the shutter sealed off.

“Did we have any way to block damage or are we sitting ducks in this case?” Discord didn’t turn to gaze at Spike but his eyes did manage to pull him into his peripheral.

“I don’t know. Maybe that new ability I have is? I never got a chance to test Rarity’s ability.” Spike mused while he pulled out a gem and looked at it. As he focused on the gem it heated up with magic.

The gem floated up around Spike orbiting him in an elliptical pattern. It expanded into a large octahedral gem then folded out from the point into a shield. Spike stared at it as it floated in place around him. Discord craned his head down creating a tiny cotton candy cloud. With a poke he sent a bolt of lightning against the gem watching the electricity dissipate against the shield which shattered on the hit. The gem returned back to its small state and turned to dust before their eyes. The mark of the diamond on his back was slowly filling back up revealing that he could only use one shield at a time.

“Well that should be useful for this then. Look we’re going to warp one more time inside now that we got something to use for defense. You brace yourself up otherwise we’re gonna be in trouble the moment we get in.” Discord checked over his talons and his own marks now. The signal he was feeling was deeper inside this particular place.

“Oh joy…” Spike could already feel his stomach lurch. This was gonna be an experience.

Discord picked up Spike and stood closer to the rock he had appeared near. Part of Discord thought how badly he would want to create some shades just to signal his confidence but they other parts either disagreed, snarled, laughed, or sneered at the thought. His mind was much more complicated without his powers and the look Spike was giving him didn’t alleviate that notion.

“Contact.” Discord said as he slipped behind the rock and the two appeared behind the sealed door within a long metal corridor.

Several crates adorned the walls and floors and the lack of guards at least allowed the two to regain their bearings. While neither were sick the warping left the two agitated and dizzy. How Pinkie handled this was anything short of a miracle. Spike recovered first and started to peer around several boxes plotting out a decent path for the two to sneak through in case any guards did return to the exit. Discord, still dizzy, stayed low to the ground walking along his talon, paw, claw, and hoof. It was uncomfortable but stealth required some sacrifice.

“So we can hide pretty well but I gotta ask. Do we have a plan?” Spike looked around noting a few vent covers they could possibly go through if worse came to worse. Discord said nothing at first while he peered over the crates looking for something that would help them in the long run.

“Not really. Right now our plans have mostly been following the feeling that we get and tracking the artifact that represents our friends and the new bearers. So far we’ve done well enough though the enemies that have faced us are usually out of our league with how powerless I’ve been made to be. Still even due to that we’ve done a decent enough job. I have even managed to kill monsters as have you and I was shocked either of us had it in them. I guess predatory natures still lead us in some way.” Discord mused as he made his way to the vent. A quick summon of cotton candy popped the bolts holding it closed. Spike walked in first though the contemplative look on his face said volumes.

“Is that good? Aside from Ember and Mina and those from Dragon Town there has always been a large disconnect between me and draconic society. I’m not sure aggressiveness is going to be that useful when this mission is over.” Spike mumbled loud enough for Discord to hear as the two made their way down the vent passages.

“You never know. While I can pride myself in never truly killing anything I can say the creatures we’ve face haven’t fallen to our combined might. The zombie creature was crushed by a trap, Zero and most of his minions were magically created, that phantom thing was only trapped, Psycrow escaped, and we didn’t do anything wrong to the skeletons. I’d say we’re doing pretty well on the ‘thou shalt not kill’ rule we’ve established for ourselves. I won’t say that we’re gonna be able to keep doing that though seeing as we’re getting into the more dangerous worlds that are out there not excluding Starlight’s. If we have to do it we have to have a decent enough reason to do so.” Discord impassionedly surmised.

“What about those bug creatures where Applejack was stuck?” Spike pointed out.

“Unfortunately those were predators and those would be in the same level as Timberwolves which you have killed before. And don’t deny that they are alive in some sense being the will of a forest. Besides at this point semantics dictate it was to save lives. Ours and Applejack’s respectively.” Discord countered though it was more confident as if to alleviate the false guilt from taking the life of another so wantonly.

Sighing, Spike felt a weight disappear from his chest he never knew was there. It was true that sometimes things couldn’t be so easy. The Gauntlet of Fire proved that when he was forced to physically deal with Garble alongside Ember. Protecting others proved that sometimes force was necessary. Peewee would be alongside the same level though Twilight teleporting them away helped immensely against the violent responses.

Another left, straight ahead, then a turn to the right left the two completely lost. While their debates on the necessities of fighting and violence was simply too short and nuanced to go very long with all the worlds they had seen so far it had also distracted them from figuring out the right direction to go. A few more passed over grates and several mumbling cranky guards left the two feeling they were getting close. It didn’t help that Discord was now pointing at a wall since precision didn’t seem to be in built with the artifact detecting senses they now had.

“You sure its that direction? I mean there must be better ways to go about this.” Spike looked at Discord who was trying his best to keep the confined spaces from getting on his nerves.

“Yeah but its gonna require a little firepower if you catch my drift.” Discord managed to elbow Spike lightly enough to seem playful about the situation. He was actually not in the mood for his plan. Several guard patrols could be heard near their location and the wall in question was thin enough that sounds would echo if either hit the wall.

“Plan or winging it?” Spike muttered as the apple mark on his back started to shine. He also pulled out a gem and pushed some magic inside of it as well though the gem kept small in his claw. The gem mark on his back drained steadily reducing the apple mark as well.

“A little of both. The plan is quite straightforward while the aftermath is where improvisation is key. Don’t sweat the details I got this covered decently enough. Fire when ready and I’ll make sure we can get through at least the fall. Also it seems using two abilities is draining you faster probably should have held onto the gem for when we land.” Discord prepared his talons in his trademark snapping motion confusing the drake who quickly dismissed it as he readied his flame breath.

Steadying his aim Spike breathed a concentrating torrent of flames to melt off the metal and a portion of the wall behind it. As the flames punched through Spike closed his mouth and watched the section he just melted fall to the floor below but there was no clang to signify that it reached the floor. It was tiny but he had heard the snap of a talon and the enflamed edges were covered in constantly melting cotton candy. The continuous stream of the sugary treat cooled the edges around allowing Spike to peer down into the room below.

“Well this is interesting. Looks like a big empty room but there are cylinders all around the edge. Also there’s a… Wait! Look over there!” Spike pointed to the center of the room. Floating in the center on a pedestal was a strange looking bracer with Twilight’s cutie mark on it. It was golden and adorned with several decorations but the gem itself was the cause of concern. It was glowing the same purple light as the Element of Magic.

“Before you go jumping down there let’s figure out if there is any traps in there.” Discord placed his talons on Spike’s head to keep him from jumping out there.

“I wasn’t going to do that.” Spike innocently darted his eyes back and forth to not look at Discord at all.

“Of course you weren’t. Anyways let’s see what’s going on in here first-” Discord was cut off as the lights of the room came on. The tubes came to life as one figure came into the room with a small clipboard. In his infinite propensity for stealth Discord immediately summoned a cloud to cover the hole. Several spaces were left open to let them see through.

Within the room, in every single tube, were several figures that resembled either a pegasus or a unicorn. It wasn’t what was shocking though. Each pony that were inside the tubes had purple fur with a mane of sapphire blue, violet and a rose streak through it. They were exact copies of Twilight Sparkle.

The figure with the clipboard was even stranger as they had no discernible form but their eyes glowed with the same intensity of a chaos infused being. Pressing a few keys on one of the tubes it was lifted into the wall and sent off elsewhere. The one that was sent was merely a unicorn. The base on this planet had managed to clone Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Notes:

Looks like I'm finally getting to the dark chapters. I have a feeling if you are reading this you should know. Next chapter will be one of the darker chapters of this story.