The throne room was a cacophony of chaos as the Noble Ponies inside ran for their lives. Monsters fell out of the hat by the dozens.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" The thing that called it self Discord laughed uproariously, as it vigorously shook its hat.

"Everypony out!" Tia exclaimed. If anypony heard her they didn't react.

They were already trying to flee the throne room.

It was now my turn to do my duty.

I stepped forward and lowered my horn.

The thing looked at me, amusement written across its features.

"Well go on Looney, fire away." it smirked.

I obliged.

A crackling ray of cerulean and silver dove at the thing with deadly intent.

That damnable smirk never left the thing's face.

Instead, it head split down the middle and allowed my attack to pass harmlessly by.

It rejoined a moment later.

"Take two?" it chortled.

I repeated my attack.

But this time when the ray of magic hit, it knocked the thing's head off its shoulders like it was a vase on a table.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" the thing caught its own head with the top of the lizard claw, gently kicking it several times to keep it off the ground. With a final hearty kick, the head sailed back through the air, and landed firmly back on the thing's neck.

"Third times the charm?" it grinned at me as its head rotated into proper position.

"Fall back Lu, it's toying with you." Tia called out.

At some point she had reached one of the broken windows and had dove out of it as I looked over.

I swore quietly to myself as I realized she was right. There was no hurting this thing.

I swiftly followed after Tia.

"Don't forget Lulu! Take your chill pills!" the thing called behind me.

Whatever 'chill pills' were, I resolved to never take them if it was at the recommendation of this thing.

As I flew, the City of the Everfree below, was in utter pandemonium.

Monsters both familiar and unknown were wrecking merry havoc in the densely populated settlement. Timberwolves were common, as were manticores. Ponies, initially confused, started to run towards the Castle for safety, unaware that was where the monsters were coming from. But they swiftly ran into the Ponies who knew better, and were fleeing towards the outer edge of the settlement.

The result was two stampedes colliding.

Chaos.

I spotted the familiar pink mane and white coat amongst a crowd of armored Ponies, both in Earth Pony steel and Unicorn gold.

I plunged into a dive and landed amongst the Ponies.

Tia was busy giving orders to the soldiers.

"Fourth Cohort, keep a path clear for the peasants! Fifth Cohort, form a front vanguard for them! Establish an evacuation point!"

The various soldiers were running to and fro as they organized themselves to obey Tia's orders.

I didn't see anything wrong with her strategy so I didn't interrupt, but I joined Tia's side all the same.

"Lu, did that thing follow you?" she asked.

"I think it was too busy in the throne room. If it will stay there, I know not."

"Curses... Then do you-"

Suddenly a song began to tickle my ears.

It was sweet and melodious. Like a pretty barmaid playing her violin and singing about her lover.

But my horn felt the truth of what that song held.

It was the façade of a smile that hid a burning hate. A clever lie that seeded the land with salt.

"Shields! Now!" I exclaimed, summoning a large shield into existence, covering as many Ponies as I dared in a shimmering cerulean dome.

Several of the Unicorns in earshot brought up their own, smaller domes around themselves.

"What was that?" Tia asked, not to anypony in particular but to anypony who could answer.

Something with shimmering yellow orange scales swam through the air outside my shield.

The air hummed with the muted melody, just enough to block the magic, but not enough to totally block the sound.

"Tia... I need you to take over my shield. I left my new sword nearby and I think I can take whatever these are..."

A shimmering fish tail the color of ocean water gently slapped the forcefield.

Raucous laughter could be heard through the song.

"Are you sure Lu? We both could-" Tia began.

"No. The song is a spell, keep as many Ponies safe as you can. I can keep my own ears pro-"

"L̵̡̈́E̵̘̒̊T̴͈̺͊ ̵̙͌C̷̜̰͝Ḣ̴̬̯̈́Ä̷̙͔́Ǫ̴̡͊͂S̸͍͐ ̶̨̲́̆R̴̡̔̂E̸̢̓I̴̩̚͝G̷͑̊ͅN̵͍̾!̵̏ͅ"

A splitting headache ruptured my thoughts.

"Discord! What are you doing?!"

Besides me, Tia was also wincing, her face contorted in pain.

"Sun! No!" she grunted through grit teeth.

The mare in silver screamed as something important was ripped from her chest.

I shivered as something vitally important disappeared from the world.

"Discord you bastard! You mongrel cur! You know full well what you have done!"

Moon? What has happened?

"Luna! Sweet Luna my champion! You must destroy Discord! And you must hurry!"

Moon? What has happened?!

"Discord, that cur, he's- He's wounded my brother and I. We- We can't travel across the sky.

I felt the blood drain from my face as I looked up.

The Sun still shined.

If he couldn't fall below the horizon...

"Tia..." I whispered as I licked my lips. "What is the Sun telling you?"

"He- He can't move..." she whimpered.

"Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? What has happened?" A soldier in Earth Pony steel asked.

I looked over at him, he was so afraid and out of his depth.

As I studied his fearful face, I happened to glance at the City Everfree behind him.

The monsters were overrunning the Pony citizens. Legionnaires stood were they could, but they could barely protect themselves, much less the citizens. Already, a healthy plume of smoke rose above the city as a fire somewhere grew out of control.

Moon... I don't think we can destroy Discord...

"Discord is an ancient being, born of Chaos and opposed in everyway to Order. There has always been a chance that he would declare war on Order. As such there has always been a contingency in place."

A contingency?

"Yes, I can not tell you what you will find, but I can tell you where you must go."

And suddenly, as if somepony had shown me a map with a highlighted point upon its surface, I knew where to go.

It will take days to get there and back... Will the Sun be safe in the sky for so long?

"The Sun will be fine. But mortal kind will not. Existence as you know it will be scorched and burned away under his unrelenting gaze."

Ah...

"Fear not, there may yet be hope in the meantime. I shall inform you of any developments."

The silver presence in my mind faded back to its usual dim glow.

"Tia..." I started, fully returning to the waking world once more. "Did you-?"

"Yes. He told me." she responded, rubbing her forehead with a hoof.

I glanced about, observing the situation. The surrounding guards had kept my shield dome up when Tia and I were indisposed. Beyond that, Ponies fled the city, escaping into the Forest. Amethyst purple fins scrapped along one side of the shield, followed by a malicious chortle.

I felt a lump form in my throat.

It would be difficult... But the battle was not yet lost.

The nerve of some Ponies. You try to help a mare out and she shoots me in the face!

You know perfectly well that slang is from 21st century Earth!

Oh quit being a stickler. It's not like the outcome isn't already written and I can still change the outcome.

Stop it! You're ruining the immersion!

Am not! Watch I can prove it! I see you reading 'Jet_black1980'!

I'll get the broom! We both know I will!