The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 9: Deadpan

Thankfully, it had gone quickly. It wasn’t so much that Clockwork hadn’t wanted to say goodbye, it was just that he couldn’t stand to watch it. He wasn’t aware of the details of his father’s disappearance, but he wasn’t sure it was something he wanted the details of. To see Twilight lose anything more…

She already seemed kind of dead in comparison to the other ponies, as though some sort of force had come along and readily sucked the life out of her, leaving nothing in its path. He knew that to have such lively friends... Surely, the unicorn had once been as alive as they had been?

The previous night, he had discussed with his mother the best route to take from Ponyville to travel through Dystopia to reach the source of the disturbance. Twilight had spent most of the time carefully outlining their road with a shaking hoof. After a desperate search through the library, she managed to find a map almost identical to the one Celestia had given the foals and done the same thing to both, in spite of the fact that the map they had found belonged to the library and was in the middle of a book. Oddly enough, it was one of the few books Twilight hadn’t read. He vaguely remembered her saying something about how she’d never seen it before, but... He hadn’t questioned her actions.

After having been forced to recite everything he knew about first-aid, poison treatments, ward spells, and essentially anything in the large encyclopedia that Princess Celestia had granted them, Clockwork finally had forced his bleary-eyed mother to bed, while he sat awake by the candlelight, (careful not to be too loud as to avoid disturbing those staying in the library with them while they slept.) and studied. And studied. And studied. He read everything.

Equestrian mythical creatures, their behaviours, the best defences against them. Try as he might, he was, peculiarly, unable to find anything about any region called ‘Dystopia’ in any kind of history or geography book aside from that single book Twilight and him had discovered after a mutual search.

He shrugged it off before he took a groggy glimpse at the clock. It was 3 in the morning. They were leaving in two hours. He sighed, closing Myths and Legends of the Known World, Volume 4 and grabbed his candle, one of the few things he could lift with magic, (This was due to the fact that there was a direct wick between him and the energy of the burning flame when he grabbed it with his magic. That, and it was light.) and began to slowly step up the solid wooden steps of the library. They were carved right into the hollowed-out tree.

The tree’s rings were plainly visible in the steps, resembling something of water damage. He continued trotting up the spiral staircase that was also carved directly into the tree. From an architectural standpoint, the Ponyvillian library was a masterpiece.

As a place to hold literature? Not so much. The library barely held a tenth of what the Canterlot library held; a factor he hadn’t considered when initially agreeing with Twilight to move to Ponyville.  He was starved for a good novel, (Something his mother hated. She preferred books that catalogued and categorized. Information, information. Never expanding her mind to the possibility of this universe or any other.) and found himself only able to amble around the library restlessly, humming a nervous tune or tapping his hooves or laying on the couch and trying to write his own novel in his head.

Clockwork had considered becoming a writer before, but his general attempts had been failed. Without many friends in Canterlot and a mother who despised novels with every fibre of her being, he hadn’t known anyone who could give him legitimate constructive criticism, so he’d essentially given up on the possibility and looked for something else to do with his life. (As his magic career was going nowhere.)

Getting to the top of the stairs, he had tiptoed across the polished, solid-wood floor, the marbling effect from the rings of the wood remaining a constant as he passed several doors, the quiet coos and murmurs of ponies, sleeping soundly muffling through the tree as he crept by. They were preparing for the emotional and physical exhaustion of the next day, and he was making sure none of them died.

Fan-bucking-tastic. He had two hours to sleep. Twilight and him had made estimates of how many days the trip should take. About a week and a half, one way, on foot. Twilight had attempted to see if there was any way to teleport them as a last resort, but she was unable to do it, for lack of power, and in order to perform a teleportation spell, you need to know the area.

All in all, they’d be gone roughly three weeks, and that was if they ran into no major obstacles. Like, you know, dragons on the loose, or diamond dogs, or bandits. Or diseases, or anything poisonous, or if something ate their food. The usual.

The colt moved tediously through the hall until he came to a door on his right. The door to his room. He sighed in relief, nudging the door open and pushing it closed with a hind leg. He had set the candle on a stand and blew it out, immediately slamming onto the bed, his eyes burning as he shut them for the first time in what seemed like days. He didn’t recall blinking for the past several hours. Almost immediately, he had fallen asleep, not even bothering with the velvety green blankets that he often had to sleep under.

It seemed almost as though he blinked, and the morning he was so going to dread had arrived. The first rays of dawn filtered in through his window. In spite of how tired he was, he was still a ridiculously light sleeper. It became immediately apparent that he was the only one awake, so, he took it upon himself to wake up the others in the house.

He turned to the first door, finding Miss Fluttershy’s family. It was a rather comedic sight, the large crimson stallion, the tiny orange filly, and the small young mare crammed together into a single bed. He caught himself smiling, but dropped it immediately. “Uh, miss? It’s morning.” He smiled nervously, and Fluttershy looked up, her mane slightly ruffled.

“O-oh. Thank you.” She smiled good-naturedly at him. “I’ll take care of these two.”

Clockwork nodded, going to each of the rooms and gradually waking them up, however begrudgingly. He was aware that Candied Chaos had stayed over at Sugarcube Corner for the night, and left that to them. Whatever they did was up to them.

By the time Fluttershy and her family were up and about, Clockwork had already set out breakfast for them, (being something he had to do routinely for his mother.) and had eaten, and had his saddlebags strapped onto his flanks.

“Ah, Apple Core, please hang on…” Fluttershy begged. “Let me tie your mane and tail.”

The filly’s mane and tail were hanging comically in a messy fashion, as opposed to her general braid or ponytail. Clockwork decided to take one last glance through the book he had been reading last night. His eyes still burned from exhaustion.

Big Mac glanced over at him. “Ya look mighty tired, son.”

“I was up late.” Clockwork answered blearily. “Studying.” He mumbled, walking over to the collapsible tent on the floor and setting it in his saddlebag. “I wanted to make sure we were…” He trailed off, shutting his eyes and blinking rapidly. “Sorry.”

“S’alright.” Big MacIntosh turned to him, supporting the colt. “You feelin’ alright?”

“Not much we can do.” Clockwork sighed. “Hang on, I think Mom bought some, uh,” He forgot what he was gonna say, then shook his head rapidly. “Coffee.” He mumbled, walking sluggishly to the cabinet to get some instant coffee. A spoon was another one of the items he could lift. The coffee most often available to the common ponies in Equestria was instant, so he had no problem stirring several spoonfuls of the dried, bitter brown powder into some hot water he had poured into a cup.

He tediously stepped over to the table, taking a free step and sitting down, gulping the scalding liquid feverishly. He received almost instant relief. He sighed contentedly and slumped back in his seat, the scent of coffee, daisies and hay filling the room. He shut his blue eyes, for but just a moment. When he jolted himself out of his relaxed state, everyone was sitting at the table, staring at him.

“You alright there, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked, munching on several blades of grass.

Clockwork nodded, rubbing his eyes of sleep. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He mumbled, walking over to the rolled up map. It didn’t entirely fit in his saddlebag, so it stuck out somewhat and he just left it partially unzipped. He knew the roads they had to follow until they hit the edge of Equestria and entered Dystopia. It was then that he was going to need the map, but they could hopefully get to Dystopia within a couple of days.

For some reason, he was entirely numb to the heinousness of what he was preparing to do. It was just something else he was going to do, going about his daily life. It was just something else. No big deal. Vaguely, somewhere in the little corner of his consciousness that was reality, he heard Apple Core groaning, “MAAA, Ah’m a big pony! Ah can take care of mahself. Ah’ll be fine.”

But that couldn’t be farther. He was at his hooves, wandering around the library. His eyes fell upon the same old photo of his father and mother, and he reached over, pushing it over so it faced downward. His mother didn’t need any more stress. Perhaps… Perhaps, if this worked out okay, maybe she’d be back to her lively self. Whatever it was that had caused her to be friends with these other ponies.

He briefly wondered if these other foals could become his friends. It was an odd notion, between the dragon-pony hybrid, the draconequus-pony, the overly-ambitious country boy unicorn, the lively farm girl, and the depressed Pegasus. He scoffed. Yeah, it wasn’t happening.

Maybe, he could just get this over with, return home, find a nice novel, and curl up on the couch that smelled so oddly of the beach, and lose himself once again.

Clockwork wasn’t depressed. No, that wasn’t the case at all. He was perfectly content with where he was. He simply had little to no interest in socializing, and he found the universes and ideals in novels to be so much more understandable and interesting, as opposed to real life.

It was a mixture of that, and concern for his mother. The most that he understood of her and her relationship with his father was that he had a Buckingham accent, and was often referred to as ‘The Doctor’.

To an extent, he was spiteful. Perhaps, if this Doctor fellow had been sensible, he would have done something for his family, for Twilight. But, at the same time, his reading had given him an edge. Everyone had a reason for doing what they did. Sometimes, it didn’t make sense to everypony. But, misunderstandings happen.

Clockwork snapped out of his musing, apprehending that almost everypony was ready to go. He glanced up. “Is everypony ready?”

The general attitude of the group was decidedly somber, but there was an odd sense of melancholy that went along with it. Clockwork opened the door, and the early summer morning breeze rolled in.

It was a short trek to Sugarcube Corner, where the group picked up Candied Chaos. Several feet away was the road that they would turn down off of Mane Street to head west. Slowly, foals pulled away from their parents, until the six foals were left in a line, sitting on one end of the road.

A peculiar silence had befallen the group as a couple of the older parents seemed slightly misty-eyed. Twilight was the only one to move forward, briefly resting her head on top of Clockwork’s. “Be safe. Always remember that I love you. Come home soon.”

Those were the only words spoken between them as Clockwork inhaled deeply. Twilight gave them a confirming nod that slowly resonated through the group, and Clockwork turned to lead the group down the first turn of their journey.

Now, that’s where he was. They had been walking for something of ten minutes now, not a word spoken between them, even the two cousins of the Apple family. They’d taken several turns since then, and they were now walking on some kind of off-road. The road was dusty, and they kicked up a light coating of the chalky, sandy stuff with each step that they took. Around them was a seemingly endless expanse of thorny shrubbery and briar patches. They could still see Ponyville, though no one had bothered to glance back.

Finally, someone broke the silence. It was Solar Flare. “So, uh,” She Pegasus began slowly, as if unsure what to say. No one glanced at her, though their ears were pricked. “We’re gonna be with each other for a while. We might as well get to know each other.”

“Eeyup.” Apple Core agreed plainly. She had developed a habit of fluttering around the group occasionally, and no one had protested it, though, she was currently walking next to Sir Prize.

“… What do you propose we do, then?” Clockwork asked quietly, still not bothering to glance backward, like the rest of them.

“We could ask each other questions.”

“Yeah!” Candied Chaos suddenly cheered. “That’s a great idea! Let’s do that!”

“Alright, sure.” Clockwork agreed with a shrug. “Why not?”

“I’ll go first.” Sir Prize began. “Uh, Solar Flare?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you fly?”

“Barely.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well,” She paused. “I don’t know.” She sighed shamefully. “My parents are the best fliers in all of Equestria, and… I can barely get off the ground. Scootaloo, my sister, is trying to tutor me, I guess, but… It doesn’t help.”

“I’m sorry. Time and patience, maybe?” Sir Prize suggested.

“Maybe.” The Pegasus grumbled.

“Okay, uh, you next.” Sir Prize suggested to Solar Flare.

“Alright, fine. Clockwork.”

Clockwork groaned. These were foal’s games. He just wanted to get his job done and go back home. “Yessss?” He exaggerated.

“Celestia; Sorrrrry.” Solar Flare muttered. “I was just gonna ask you why you’re always in such a bad mood.”

“Can I make something very, very  clear? Before I have to endure any sporadic instances of bedlam and anarchy?” When nopony answered, he sighed. “Listen, I just want to get this done. Okay? I want to get this done, save Equestria, whatever, and go home, find the last novel I can find in that stupid, limited library, endure whatever schooling system this place has, and be done with it. I don’t want to be doing this! I’m terrified! I just want to go through my life and get old or something.” He snapped. “I’ll run the library, whatever. I’m just being brutally honest.”

“… Someone’s grumpy!” Candied Chaos sighed dramatically.

Murmurs of agreement rang through the group. Sir Prize trotted ahead. “Weeeeelll, I suppose I’ll lead the group since Mister Cranky’s having a bad day.” He pranced ahead, and Clockwork just groaned.

“Honestly-“ Clockwork began, but he was cut off by Chaos.

“SHH. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all! Gem, you’ve been quiet this entttiiiire timeeee!” She bounced over to the dragon hybrid, who remained silent. “What’s wrong?”

“I have to agree with Clockwork.” He snapped. “I want this over with. Look, we’re risking our lives here. We’re not going to a club to go hang out! Why do you think people took it so seriously?” He growled.

“Okayy, so that’s two whole Mr. Crankies we have to deal with.” Chaos let out a breath of exasperation.

Gem and Clockwork exchanged glances while Candied Chaos bounced off toward Apple Core and Solar Flare.

“Is that really an efficient method of transportation?” Clockwork asked, raising an eyebrow, but Candied Chaos merely stuck out her tongue. Clockwork rolled his eyes. “Hey! Sir Show-off!” He growled toward the front of the group, throwing the map at the other unicorn. “You know where we’re going?”

Sir Prize caught the map with magic. “Of course.”

After that event, the only speaking was meaningless chatter between the fillies. The early morning dew began to evaporate, leaving nothing but the dry, dusty road in its wake. Ponyville was now a blur on the horizon, and Clockwork realized with a sinking sense of terror in the pit of his stomach that he was moving farther and farther away from the only things he knew were familiar. He gulped.

“What tiiime is itttttt? We’ve been walking for hourrrssssss…” Candied Chaos skulked.

Gem glanced into the sky, now a swimming sea of blue, with Celestia’s sun perched perfectly in the center. “It’s noon.”

“Can we stop to get a burger?”

“Wha-?”

“A burgerrrr! I want a daisy burger and hay fries!”

“No- are you entirely incapable of understanding where we’re going?” Gem snapped. “This princess lady decided it would be just fine and dandy to send us off  to our deaths, even though we have no clue what we’re facing or why. Neither does anyone else! Better start writing your will!” Gem snapped.

“Oooo-kay. Jeez. I was just kidding.” Chaos muttered. “It’s really hot out, though.” She observed.

“No dip! It’s in the middle of summer, and in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a desert!” Gem snapped, stopping to wipe sweat from his brow with a hoof.

“Is everything I say just going to get you to yell at me? Gosh, you’re no fun!” Chaos pouted.

“Eeyup.” Apple Core interjected.

“That might not happen if you didn’t have to talk about pointless things every two minutes! I don’t care about ANYTHING that you talk about!” Gem hissed.

“Hey, calm down.” Clockwork sighed. “This isn’t worth it. We have to come back alive, remember?”

Gem only glared at Chaos, who rolled her eyes and bounced forward again. “Jeez.”

Silence rang out once again for several more hours, the sun not easing up. Every step taken shot a searing pain up Clockwork’s leg. The bottoms of his hooves felt charred and black. Sand covered his pelt. He couldn’t see any water for miles, so he wanted to preserve it.

“Wha- time izzut?” The colt slurred, looking desperately over to Gem. The roof of his mouth was dry, his lips felt cracked.

“About five. Sun’ll be going down in a few hours.”

Clockwork nodded desperately. The hunger had seeped into his stomach as well, occasionally building up and vocalizing a roar of protest every time he denied himself the hay that was in his bag. He needed to preserve everything he had.

The exhaustion hit him like a brick wall. The coffee and a few endorphin rushes from his lack of sleep had kept him going just fine until then. His eyes grew bleary, particularly around the edges, and he was rubbing them nearly constantly. He realized he was stumbling around on his hooves.

Gem glanced over at him. “Dude, are you feeling okay?”

“Nuhh…” Was all he choked out before the ground rushed up to meet him.

A stallion’s voice. He had an accent. It was… Buckingham. He chattered something about harnesses and pears, Fillydelphia and five minutes. The smell of the ocean… the beach was overwhelming, washing over him like the tide. He opened his eyes. He laid on the shore, purplish water gently lapping over him. The colt struggled to his feet. Sand and water stuck together messily in his purple mane, but he did his best to shake it out, giving it a drolly spiked appearance, as though he had used gel or some other styling agent.

Bits of sand had stuck to his damp coat. He shook it out to his best effort. The colt had the vague sense of importance. He needed to be somewhere… doing something. This wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He examined the sky. To his shock, he recognized none of the constellation, though it was clearly night time. Somehow, it was light enough for him to see fine. There was no visible moon, or sun. The sky matched the deep shade of purple that the ocean was. The taste of the water lingering in his mouth was sweet, like sugar water, maybe with honey.

He brushed off his sandy brown coat to the best of his ability before looking around for what he thought was important. He walked along the beach. The sand was immaculate, white. He was almost sure it was quartz. Not even stray chips of driftwood had wandered into the mix.

Looking up again, he came across of the stony likeness of the draconequus King of Chaos himself: Discord. He felt every hair stand on end, until he recognized it was simply a statue. A harmless statue. He laughed at himself, out loud, for being so silly. Something was very… Off, about the chimera’s expression.

Scrutinizing, he trotted closer, kicking up sand behind him with a soft sshft, sshft noise. He paused, looking up. His expression was not that of when he had been imprisoned, according to the illustrations. He always had a look of fear on his face.

This statue, for whatever reason, had its hands up to its face, and seemed to be laughing obnoxiously, an expression of static jubilance frozen on his face. Clockwork bit his lip. There was something unsettling about this. He couldn’t place his finger on it. Slowly, he backed up, turning away and deciding to leave it alone and find whatever his objective had been.

For good measure, he glanced behind him after several seconds of cantering away, the sound of the ocean was now pounding in his ears. He glanced behind him and gulped. Had the statue moved closer?

No, no. How silly. Statues couldn’t walk. Discord was imprisoned. He quickly continued, now galloping away at full-speed, his heart thumping deafeningly in his chest, threatening to overtake the normally soothing sounds of the ocean.

Again, he looked back. It was closer now, just two or three feet away. His eyes widened and he ran backwards, tripping over himself and accidentally looking away once again. Oops.

Bad mistake. Discord’s grey face was looming over him, his laughter echoing in his ears. Clockwork screamed, flailing and throwing his limbs around to get away from the draconequus. No! No!

“CLOCKWORK! Ah’m gonna smack him!”

“Don’t hit him, that’s mean!”

“He needs ta wake up, he’s havin’ night terrors!”

“Chaos, let Apple Core do it, he needs to wake up.”

“SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU! I’M TRYING TO SLEEP! LET HIM HAVE NIGHTMARES!”

The last voice, yelling, jolted him into consciousness. He sat bolt upright, screaming at the top of his lungs and gasping for air that he hadn’t been breathing. Tears ran down his face, sweat gathered in abundant amounts on his forehead.

“Now, now, Sugarcube. It’s alright.” Apple Core insisted. “Lay back down.”

“Wha- happen?”

“You passed out while we were walking.” Solar Flare explained, worry lines appearing on her forehead. “You okay?”

Clockwork laid back immediately, slapping against… Wait. Where was he?

He relaxed slightly when he recognized the blue inside of the plastic tent he had packed. The floor was lined with the blankets Celestia had given them, of various colours and textures. His back audibly slapped against his blanket.

“Y-yeah.”

“You’re just shaken up, is all.” For once, Candied Chaos seemed serious. “We dragged you off the road and figured you should rest. Here.” She passed over a somewhat disorderly plate of hay.

Clockwork’s stomach immediately roared. He sighed in relief. “Thank you.” He sighed happily, consuming the lot of food In a matter of seconds, his appetite satiated for the first time today. He made an attempt to identify who had been the person yelling to wake him up. Gem was fast asleep on the other side of the tent, though Sir Prize was laying down, though glaring.

“Great,” Prize muttered. “He’s up. Now, can someone please put out the lantern so I can sleep?”

“Wait! Clockwork, mah mom always sang this one lullaby to me when I had night terrors.” Apple Core added. “D’ya wanna hear it?”

“Mrrff.” Clockwork mumbled into the blanket, not particularly opposed or excited about the idea.

Apple Core cleared her throat promptly after putting out the lantern. “Good night, everypony.”

“Good night.” The other groans sounded out.

“Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head.

Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed.

Drift, drift, off to sleep, exciting day behind you…”

That was all Clockwork heard before he fell back into his sleep, every muscle in his body completely relaxed.

“I knew I’d regret not taking him to that Coltillion class. He said he wanted to sleep in. I said ooookay!” Blueblood stamped a hoof, and Applejack chuckled.

“He’s just a colt.” Applejack smiled. “Calm down. “

“Eaugh, but… He’s so… uncouth! Vulgar!”

Applejack had no clue what any of those words meant, neither did anypony in the room aside from Twilight and Blueblood. His use of his vocabulary went unacknowledged.

“It’d be nice if this thing showed dreams, as well…” Twilight mumbled, hovering over the glass sphere.

“Ah don’t think it does, Sugarcube.” Applejack sighed. “S’pose you’ll just have to ask ‘im when he gets back.”

“Eeyup.” Big MacIntosh agreed. For some reason, he seemed almost unperturbed by the entire situation.

Fluttershy turned to MacIntosh. “I’m going to go to bed. Are you coming?” She murmured quietly. She, however, was quite obviously shaken up. When she walked, she walked more delicately than usual, as though stepping on eggshells. Her wings quivered if she stretched.

“Nnnope.” The stallion sighed, nuzzling the top of her head. “Ya should sleep, though.”

“Screw sleep! I’ll sleep when I’m dead!” Rainbow interjected.

“That totally didn’t involve you.” Scootaloo replied from the ground, watching her adopter swirl around the high ceiling. Soarin only watched from the ground, shrugging it off. “She’ll burn herself out.” He assured to those in the locality.

“Guys, nothing’s going to happen while they’re asleep.” Twilight guaranteed. “Clockwork and I are both light sleepers, we’re up at the slightest hint of light. I’ll wake you all. We’ll probably be up at the same time.”

“Sleep is irrelevant to me,” Discord suggested. “I can stay up and warn you if anything happens.”

No protests sounded as the ponies went up to bed. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle?” Discord asked, raising and eyebrow and blocking her doorway, seeming to come from nowhere.

“Yes?” Twilight huffed.

“Do you happen to have that map?”

“Yes.” Using her magic, Twilight chucked the book at him.

Discord slipped back down the stairs, hovering, with his book in hand. Several ponies were still downstairs, around the sphere. He supposed he understood the comfort they took in watching their foals sleep, in spite of how far away they were.

Spike, Big MacIntosh, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Scootaloo, and Pinkie were the only ones left when he returned. He flipped the book open to the map. He froze, and his blood turned to ice as he realized with an increasing sense of dread what the map actually was.

“Everything okay, dude? You look-“ Spike asked with concern, but he was cut off when the panicked draconequus blew right by him.

“I’ll be back!” He called, not looking back as he soared through the night air that carried the leftovers of the day’s heat. He had to save them. He was breathing heavily. He had to hurry.

“Going somewhere?”

He knew that voice. “Yes!” He called without a second thought.

“Ah, ah, ah. Tut tut, Discord. Did you really think I’d be so foolish?”

The draconequus was slammed into the ground, met with a faceful of dirt and sand. “Celestia- I’m going to- I’ll kill you!” He roared. “If anything happens to them…”

“Oh,” The alicorn chuckled, smashing one of her hooves down onto his tail, grinding it into the ground. Pain exploded in his tail, but he continued trying to pull away. “They’ll be just fine. You know, I should have killed you when I had the chance five thousand years ago.”

“I’m going to smear you across that damn castle!” He finally slipped from her grip, struggling more in the direction of his destination.

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” Celestia feigned laughing, slowly and deliberately. Discord’s stomach twisted when he began to feel a familiar, creeping stiffness, starting at his tail and his feet. It was much slower than usual. She was teasing him!

“You can’t do this! You can’t send them to Discordia, Chaos’ blood will show! Pinkie will notice me! I should have known it was you and bashed your pretty little head in! You can’t do this!”

Celestia’s smile faded. Discord’s entire lower half was now turned to stone. He was unable to move, and the bottoms of his wings were just now seeing the effects. “Discord, darling, what are you talking about? Pinkie married Braeburn Apple. It’s such a shame he had an,” She paused to smile deviously, for good measure. “unfortunate accident. His death was untimely, but he was a good pony and will be remembered for how much he loved his wife and daughter. However deformed his poor daughter may have been.”

Discord scowled, throwing his lion hand at her, claws unsheathed. “You’re not going to get away with this! They’re not that stupid! I’ll find a way out!”

“Oh, no. I’ve already won. Don’t you see? Equestria is mine! Forever!” Celestia smiled, walking circles around him. “With no pesky draconequi or little sisters to disturb the peace.” She looked up, toward the moon and smiled. “You know what’s the best part? Pinkie Pie never loved you! No more than I ever did.” Celestia swung her head around and smiled. “It’s good thing that the Elements of Harmony turned that evil old Discord back to stone, isn’t it?” She smiled, and Discord opened his mouth to retort, a tear rolling down his cheek, pathetically, until he found he could no longer move his face.

Somewhere, back in Ponyville, a certain pink party pony’s hair began to flatten out.

~XXX~

If whatever I recommended last chapter is fixed now, please let me know in a comment.

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