My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Discordian Troubles

Chapter 15

Face your Fear

When the flash of light passed, Twilight found herself in a hospital bed wearing a gown like what Cadence had.

“what….?” she gasped. “how did I… get here?” Suddenly, a pony she never met before came in and grabbed something; a baby, out of a bed. “Wait? What are you doing!?” she frighteningly asked.

He looked to Twi with a cold scowl. “Princess Celestia deemed you unworthy on being a mother. She ordered me to take your child away from you before you can do irreparable harm.”

Twi’s heart sank. “no. no no no, you’re lying!”

“No.” Celestia said in a booming tone. “he’s not.”

Something was wrong here. Very very wrong. “but… you can’t take Starlight away.”

“yes I can.” Celestia said with a mean scowl. “and with good reason.” she took the baby from the guy’s hooves. “you failed to eliminate Discord, you killed my husband, you destroyed Ponyville…”

“What? That doesn’t sound like me at all!”

“well, you did, Twilight Sparkle! You caused all those things and many more. Last I checked, that makes you a unworthy mother! You’ll be lucky if I decide you can visit Starlight.” Celestia walked out the door with the baby in hand. Twilight just looked up like she lost her soul.

“no.” she gasped. “no, she can’t take Starlight away. She can’t…” she curled up into a ball and cried. “she can’t….”

Applejack found herself back home, just outside the barn. “how’d I…”

“Applejack!” a voice called out; a voice she hadn’t heard in years. “Come keep an eye on your baby sister.”

“baby sister?” A.J. gasped. She remembered this day and ran into the barn. She pushed the doors opened and saw what she feared; herself as a little filly. Filly Applejack was hanging off a railing, reading a book. “no. no no no, not this day.” Adult A.J. said in fear.

“Applejack!” the voice called out again.

“Coming, Dad.” Filly Applejack called out. She closed the book and jumped down from the railing. The railing shook, causing a lantern to fall into a pile of hay. Filly A.J. didn’t notice it as she ran out. She ran right though her adult form like she wasn’t even there.

Applejack shakingly shivered as she slowly back up. “no. not again.” the pile of hay ignited on fire. “I don’t want to relive this again.” the fire quickly spread and covered the barn. “not again…”

“Applejack. Stay here and look out for your sister.” the male said as a female ran by to the barn with a bucket of water.

“Okay dad.” a shaken Filly Applejack said. Her father took off his Stetson hat and placed it on her head.

“we’ll be right back.” he said, filling the filly’s heart with hopeful chance. Her father grabbed a bucket, filled it up, and headed to the barn. Big Mac also ran by but he headed to town to get help.

Applejack’s mother and father ran into the barn to put out the fire, which was a… big mistake. The supports snapped into two and collapsed, causing the flaming barn to fall on them both.

“Mom! Dad!” both Adult and Filly Applejack yelled out.

“NO! no, Edge, you have to believe me!” a tearful Fluttershy cried.

“Believe you?” Edge angrily scoffed. “that’s a laugh. You never truly loved me, did you?”

“no, I do love you! I came back to Canterlot for you. When you turned evil, I never stopped loving you!” Edge angrily scoffed and looked away. “Edge, please, you have to believe me!”

“Shut up!” Edge slapped her across the face, sending her to the ground. A shocked Fluttershy rubbed where he hit her. He… he hit her. “just shut up, you bitch! Just shut up and leave me alone!” Edge’s wings flapped, taking him to the air. “I should’ve stayed Chrysalis’ lap dog.” he angrily muttered before flying away.

Fluttershy’s vision blurred as tears fell at a great pace. “Edge………… don’t leave us alone……….. Please………” she closed her eyes and fell over, holding her stomach tight.

“Spike, stop this!” Rarity cried out.

Spike, now full grown as he was in Secret of my Excess, roared loudly and rampaged though town. He stomped down on the Boutique, killing Sweetie Belle and their friends.

“SPIKE, STOP!” Rarity cried. Spike snarled and turned to her. Rarity’s heart dropped when she saw that his eyes were soulless. “s-spike…” Spike walked over, opened his mouth wide, and proceeded to eat her. “SPIKE!” Rarity tried to cover herself but what could that do?

“Luna!” Trixie yelled out with cheer as she ran over to her wife. Luna snarled and blasted her with a powerful spell, sending her into a pillar.

“What are you doing here!?” she angrily asked. “I thought I told you to stay away forever!”

Trixie struggled to get up,, grunting in pain in the process. “w-what?”

“I should’ve seen the signs earlier but I didn’t expect it from you, Trixie!”

“w-what are you talking about?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

“what am I… did you forget already?” Luna used her magic and shoved Trixie beneath a stain glass mural. Trixie looked up and gasped she when saw that she was attacking Luna, Celestia, Cadence, and Chrysalis. The Alicorn Amulet she bought was clearly shone. “5 years ago, you tried to kill us all; You tried to kill me!” Luna pulled her ex-wife over to her. “you stabbed me in the gut; killing our child.”

“What…”

Luna shot Trixie down to the floor. “you were banished to the farthest reaches of the world with no hope back. But here you are, ready to kill us again!”

“no! no, I’m not!” Trixie pleaded. “I would never try to kill you. Honest. I love you too much to even think about it.”

Luna scoffed. “love. Pshaw. Thanks to you, I lost all feeling for it.” she turned her back to her tearful ex. “have your fun.” she said to someone that wasn’t Trixie.

Worried that something bad was going to happen, Trixie got up and ran for the exit only to find someone worse then a angry Celestia standing there. “no…”

“I’ve been looking forward to this for a LONG time.” Trixie’s father evilly chuckled. He raised a knife and charged at her.

“no no no no no no no!”

A black crystal at the top of the door shone with dark pulses. The effects of the crystal had sent everyone into a trance like state where they are being forced to confront their worst fears and nightmares.

The only ones not effected were Soarin’, Shine, Adolf, and Derpy, since she already went though it already.

Those affected had a little red jewel in the middle of their foreheads, showing them their worst fears.

The jewels on the humans head broke and shattered, cutting them off from their worst fears… after they happened. Sora and Cynder fell to the ground, silently sniffling while some of the other shook in fear. Requiem held herself and shivered. The rest were just shocked.

“what happened?” Shine asked.

“n-n-nothing you want to experience.” Req shakingly said.

“it……. Definitely….. Lived up to it’s expectations.” Emil said with shocked eyes.

“our worst fears? More like nightmares.” Ash softly gasped. “very horrible… very real… so very vivid nightmares.”

Lina took a shuddering breath and sighed. “if possible, can you… not ask us what we saw? To take about it will….” she held herself as she shivered.

If Lina is scared, then it must’ve been frightening. So, Soarin’ didn’t pursue it. Besides, he and Shine are more worried about Dash. What nobody knows is that she and Manni are having the same vivid nightmare.

Dash found herself near a house on top of a big hill.

“Where…? I don’t remember this place. I never even been here.” she heard laughter behind her. She looked and gasped at what she saw. She saw Scootaloo, who is a bit younger, walking up with a couple of ponies she didn’t recognize.

“This is going to be the best birthday party ever!” Scootaloo cheered.

“I’m sure it will, my darling daughter.” the female Pegasus said with a smile.

“daughter?” Dash softly repeated. The 3 walked though her like she was a ghost and kept on walking to the house. “This must’ve been when she lost her parents and was rescued & adopted by Soarin’.”

The 3 entered the house, everyone inside yelled surprise, Scootaloo laughed and wooped, and they went in.

‘Soarin’ said it was a fireball that hit the house, killing all but Scoots. But… why am I seeing this? I didn’ even know Scoots was in Ponyville till just 3 weeks before Twilight came. So how is this my worst fear?” she heard shaky breathing nearby. She spread her wings and took to the air and found in instantly; Manni. She flew down to her. “Manni? Why are you in here?”

“it’s…… I don’t want to see this again.” she gasped in fear.

Before Dash could ask what, they heard a boom from above. She looked up to see the meteor fall to the house. “Scoots!” she started to run to it but remembered that this was the past and that this was a dream- a nightmare. Can’t change nightmares.

“no. no no no.” Manni gasped. “I don’t want to lose them again. I don’t want to lose Sunny again.”

“sunny?” Dash asked in confusion. The meteor hit the house, causing it to explode and sent bodies flying.

“SUNNY!” Manni yelled.

“Who?” the dream distorted then turned to white. Dash flew over to Manni. “Just who is Sunny?”

Manni didn’t want this to be brought out like this. She didn’t want anyone to know. “I… she…” she took a deep sigh and finally gave in. “Sunny…… was my sister. She… her last letter told me that she had a filly. A orange filly with purple hair that she named sc--”

“Scootaloo.” Dash said with her. It didn’t take long for Dash to piece it together. “You’re Scootaloo’s aunt.”

Manni softly nodded. “yeah. When I saw that you were trying to adopt her, I… I thought I should take her with me. I didn’t think you would be perfect for Scootaloo. So…”

“you tried to take her.” Dash finished. She shook her head and snarled. “Why didn’t you say anything!? We could’ve avoided this whole mess; going to Manehatten. Having to deal with Discord. Me losing ERIS! If you had just told us, this all could’ve been avoided!”

“I KNOW!” Manni yelled, catching Dash off guard. “I know. When I found out Scoots was alive, I didn’t think. And when I found out you were adopting her… I just lost it. I quit using my brain.”

“we noticed.” Dash angrily said. “That little stunt with releasing Discord really showed us that you weren’t thinking!” Manni didn’t argue. She deserved this for all the crap she pulled. Dash sighed. “listen, Manni. I hate you for all the crap you pulled on me and Scoots. And thanks to you, we have Discord on the loose. But…” but? Manni wasn’t prepared to hear ‘but’. “…I… forgive you for all you did to us.”

“you… forgive me?”

“yeah. If I had known you were Squirt’s aunt, I would’ve stopped trying to go though with the adoption. Hell, I’m sure even Celestia would’ve done something for all of us to be happy.”

Manni sighed. “it’s okay, Dash. Scootaloo must really care about you if she’s willing to stay with you despite what I said.”

“she thinks of me as her idol.” Dash chuckled with a smug smile. Manni chuckled and looked up at Dash with a smile. “come on.” Dash offered her hoof to her. “you want to make nice with Scoots, just stick with me.” Dash winked. Manni smiled and took it. Dash helped her up. “but…” Dash’s cheerful mood quickly changed to anger. “you ever try to take Eris away from me again, I will personally see to it that you get sent to Tartarus! Got it?”

“got it.” Manni squeaked. Dash let her go and sighed. Once Manni calmed down, she asked… “I have to ask, where did you find Eris?”

Dash chuckled and thought back to that day. “she found me.” Manni raised a eyebrow in confusion. “she helped me help myself when I tried to… kill myself when I heard that my mom died and when I lost Shadow. If it wasn’t for her…” Dash held her heart, giving Manni her answer.

“Dash…” both Dash and Manni gasped in surprise when they heard the voice. “Manni… wake up!” the ground opened wide and absorbed them both.

The jewels on Dash’s and Manni’s foreheads shattered, bringing them back to reality. By the looks of it, they were the last ones out as the ponies were crying and holding each other close.

“whoa. What we miss?” Dash asked, feeling the same as ever.

Fluttershy, being held by a lamentful Edge, sniffled and wiped her eyes. “how can you be so cold-blooded!?” she cried. “didn’t you face your worst fear?”

“eh…” she and Manni looked at each other. “no, not really, no.”

“no?” Rarity wiped her eyes. “how could you not have faced your fear?”

Dash shrugged. “guess I already faced them in real life and overcame it. Although, I did find myself in Manni’s. turns out there’s more to her then we realized.” Manni nervously chuckled and scratched the back of her neck.

Nobody could believe what they were seeing. Dash and Manni, getting along? Weren’t they mortal enemies not that long ago?

Dash unfurled her wings and took to the air. “come on. What are we waiting for? We got a tome to get to.”

She flew on though the door, revealing another spiral staircase. She flew up it, leaving them behind. “Wait up!” Manni exclaimed before running to catch her.

Everyone’s mouth’s hit the floor when they saw that they were getting along. “I think we just entered the Twilight Zone.” the earth-based humans said in unison.

Author's Notes:

damn. so everyone's fear was someone very close leaving. damn. wait, did Fluttershy say 'us?' does that mean.... ho, boy.
and to those who thought Manni was Scoot's mother, nice guess but you missed it by that much.