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Pony POV Series Season Six: Dark World/Shining Armor

by Alex Warlorn

Chapter 13: Chapter 79: (Dark World) Picking Up The Pace

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Pony POV Series
"Dark World" Part Ten
Picking Up The Pace
By Alex Warlorn

"Master . . . I've been meaning to ask. You've told me so much about when you first ruled Equestria. But I never stopped to ask. Why did you exterminate the flutterponies?" Fluttercruel asked as they sat on a cotton candy cloud that rained empty soda cans and skittles.

"It was just on a whim. And I didn't. I saved one didn't I? Made her immortal and not even a 'thank you.'"

"And resurrecting the 'breezies' as a species?"

"Also a whim, and they're technically my original creations, since they now never existed before to begin with."

"I...don't understand."

"That's what makes it so funny. And I learned pinned butterflies are too predictable after you collect them and they stop moving. Speaking of which, which do you think would be better? A huge garden surrounding where they chose to settle where the flowers snap up any pony that gets close and inside the bud are turned into a new swarm of Breezies, or a fog that makes ponies fall asleep and then turns them into a new swarm? Or are both of those two predicable? Maybe ponies turn into a swarm if entire swarm tickles them all at once, werewolf rules are always a good time."

"Yeah, werewolves rules are always fun-WHAT!!" Fluttercruel snapped, "MASTER! You can't be serious! You're going to make another protected bubble community-?! You already have the seaponies! And you, you have-"

Discord actually blinked a little, looking a bit shocked at himself, then calmed down. "Yes and... they feel nice."

Fluttercruel felt a chill go up her spine from the serene look on her master's face.

It wasn't known to many: but anywhere from a hundred to a thousand years ago Discord had taken a cruise ship loaded with ponies and turned them into an island of immortal amazon mares in the middle of the ocean, all of them looking rather like the mare Mount Shadow was shaped like. All of them with names based around words like 'dark' or 'shadow.' Discord had taken only two others there on occasion. Twilight Tragedy, and Fluttercruel.

Discord had made both Pinkie Promise (and Pinkamena Swear just to be on the safe side) to never tell anyone about the little island, its mares, or what the trips were about.

Twilight Tragedy had been confused when her Master actually had her help organize the island community, and set up a provisional government.

The mares had barely a clue anything existed beyond their island, a nice ring of fog kept out the curious, and gave them different colored manes and shifted their cutie marks to different parts of their body of those who tried to enter before dumping them back where they started. All the mares knew was that Lord Discord was the reason they existed.

Their history began the morning they had woke up on the island, wondering who they were, instead of repeating his trick of revised history with his seaponies. Discord let the mares believe they were the only beings on Earth and praised their creator.

Discord had Fluttercruel practice with some, rather than practice ON them. The mares had complied with Discord's wishes. The end result had been 'Cruel learning how to fight other immortal ponies. And her own arrogance being taken down a peg.

Twilight Tragedy had found this island completely confusing, and was happy whenever they left. Fluttercruel didn't like the place at all, no one for her to toy with that couldn't kick her flank back. And she always was made to wear that pink fluffy dress when visiting! And the mares always felt the odd urge to bake her cookies and tell her how cute and grown-up she was while pinching her cheek.

Back in the present (and for some reason wearing the pink fluffy dress) Fluttercruel asked, "WHY MASTER! Aren't I enough-?! What use do we have for more stupid pets?"

" . . . It's . . . complicated," Discord whispered as he passively gave a stallion down below who had split personalities two heads. Then turned the tail of a mare who loved art into a brush. Plus a mute virgacorn the ability to speak in verse. Then gave the cutie mark of a pony who loved to hear himself talk a blabber mouth with a mind of its own. "Even I don't know why I do things sometimes, or what I'm going to do next."

Discord then looked down at a nearby settlement. He gave a small smirk, looking to Fluttercruel out of the corner of his eye. He pointed to a mare who loved to garden, her Cutie Mark a sunflower, Fluttercruel expected him to do something like make her able to grow plants with her mind or something...instead he snapped his fingers and made her garden suddenly die before her eyes, letting her watch it wither away. As she cried looking over the dead plants, he vanished and a sunflower grew in front of her, Discord's face on it. "My my, poor Sunflower, you should've realized. Everything dies eventually, that's just the way of life, so sad isn't it?" his eyes began to swirl as did hers. "And it hurts when it dies, doesn't it? Hurts to see something you raised from a seed wither and die in front of you. Knowing it could happen to them at any time without a moment's warning You know, the only real way to not get hurt, is to not see the value in any life," he stated, her colors draining away, not just pale but all the way to grey. "Then it doesn't hurt when its taken from you."

Discord teleported back next to a rather surprised Fluttercruel laughing. "Master...what...I thought..."

"Exactly, you thought I was going to have mercy on her," Discord replied, smiling. "See, that's the point I've been trying to teach you this whole trip my dear. When you become predictable, people expect things of you, and if it's expected, then it isn't chaos. When you're expected to be cruel, throw in acts of mercy, acts no one can tell whether or not it's good or 'bad', and just random chaos that serves absolutely no purpose. That way, no pony, maybe not even yourself, knows what you're going to do next," he said, putting a claw to his ear and handing Fluttercruel an earphone. "It makes the things you like even sweeter.

"And the BEST acts of chaos, are the ones with a ripple effect. Because you can't always be sure what they'll be."

"Momma? Why aren't you paying attention to me? Momma?"

Discord looked upon his work, and it was good. 'And with you my little Cruelty, is when I felt alive again!'

++++++

The entry halls of chaos were still like a bad mushroom trip, only occasionally with fire. You never knew what to expect. Or what you'd be in between. But as long as you kept going forward you'd always come out okay at least in body.

I had once gone through Old Everfree at night, the Rainbow Factory of pegasus horror stories, Canterlot as a filly with a wicked Celestia behind me, and a black and white geometric limbo, all in one trip.

And that was one of the saner times.

Discord actually got a kick out of going through it, because even he couldn't predict what might turn up.

Smashing through the walls with Spike would have been easier, but was bound to also get a lot more attention from Discord, let alone Fluttercruel and Dash. We didn't even know for sure if he was away or just oversleeping in his gelatin bath again. Sure, random explosions happened all the time around here, but we didn't want to push it.

I was leading, followed by Spike, then Rarigreed, and AJ bringing up the rear.

We kept our eyes straight ahead, putting one hoof, foot, or tentacle in front of the other, not looking at each other, not speaking, only moving at a calm confident pace. We had all figured out that this was the quickest way through the entry hall of chaos. The more you tried to run through it, the longer it seemed to become. Stupid sentient palace.

I didn't look at myself, I didn't look to my sides or behind me, I only kept looking straight ahead and not thinking about what I was.

I'm a bride at a wedding, keep trotting.

I'm a ewe at a slaughter house, keep moving forward.

Down the throat of a dragon, keep going forward.

Brony Con 2013...wait, what? No! Ignore it, keep going forwards.

In diapers having to crawl as a foal through a nursery with bright cheery toys.

"T-T-tom." I heard Rarity's voice. I ignored it, I didn't dare not to. Keep trotting forward!

"M-Mooondancer." Spike's voice.

"Granny . . ." I heard AJ grunt.

Voices of my parents, "Come inside Twilight, it's time for bed," Keep moving forward!

The exit, if it existed, looked further away than ever. I took one hoof step forward and-, we were all outside the castle. That was normal.

The was sweat on Rarigreed's brow. "Sanity is such a burden," she said to herself. Spike folded a wing around her.

"We're here to carry it with you," AJ whispered. I nodded.

Those trips had been much easier when I was too emotionless to care or too scared of myself already to notice. AJ nuzzled me in turn. I nuzzled back.

I saw the wistful look on my number one's face. "It's alright Spike," I said lovingly looking up at him, to think this was the baby dragon whose diapers I changed as part of my 'lessons' with Princess Celestia, and I think I finally get what I was learning...

Healing Spike after the battle had been tedious, but necessary. Unlike us, he wasn't immortal. Thankfully, it turned out both sets of Elements had a few more secrets left to unlock... Rarigeed had left the huge pile of bloody diamonds where they lay.

It was day outside the castle at moment--never mind, night again. Oy. Makes sneaking easier for however long it lasts at least.

And I'm reminded of my imperfection again.

How can I be so smart and so dense? I considered Rainbow Dash and Fluttercruel to be the last two pegasi? I kept forgetting. There was a third one. And a third unicorn.

Derpy looked to be at the young adult part of her aging cycle, just old enough to be considered a mare.

The blasted birds would be back. Derpy's legs and wings crippled as always, like broken bones that had been set wrong.

She wasn't crying or begging for the birds to leave her be like I always remembered her doing. The birds seem even more vicious, like the trait of 'hate' had been added to the mix.

We all looked at the tireless mother and her precious cargo.

(Well what are you waiting for? Get a move on!)

Spike burned the crows to ashes. And AJ created an illusion Derpy and muffin that trotted along.

(What are you morons doing?!)

Spike took hold of Derpy in his claws. AJ whispered in Derpy's ear and the mother stopped struggling. AJ and Rarigreed gently held their hooves against her side. There was a glow shaped like a diamond at the base of her throat and on AJ's foreleg in the shape of an apple and their eyes lit up.

"MINE!" Rarigeed snapped and broke Derpy's legs and wings. Both AJ and Spike and Rarigreed all cringed at the sound of breaking bones. Rarigreed's legs broke in a flash of dark purple light and she fell but regenerated.

AJ's shoulder blades shattered to pieces in a flash of bright orange and were slower to put themselves back together but managed. For the first time in a thousand years, Derpy's wings and legs were perfectly mended in bursts of both colors. She stretched her wings and legs and gave a thankful look to the others, seeming completely unfazed.

(You are IDIOTS! She was perfectly fine as was! Now she's both a signal and a target for Discord!)

Thus why we're getting her out of here, which will be easier to do if she can fly and walk correctly.

(But you're-)

'Wasting time', I know.

(Don't roll your eyes at me!)

"Twilight," Derpy said like nothing had changed in the last thousand and one years, "my muffins?"

AJ nuzzled her, "As soon as we have six Elements of Harmony they'll be as right as water rain! We're already three down and three to go! We'll find'em!"

"Oh! You mean like this one Applejack?"

Derpy lifted up her front right hoof, showing a perpetually glowing bubble pattern underneath. Our eyes nearly popped out of our sockets. It took my heart a bit to regenerate from my cardiac arrest. Derpy just smiled as all of our brains blanked.

(You're kidding, you're kidding right? You have got to be clopping me! *The Obscenities printed here are so ugly that Sane Reality Himself rejects them*)

I managed to gasp out, "Derpy! When did, how did, why are you, but-" I had to stop before I'd need to regenerate a blood vessel in my head. More than that, we all recognized the color of the glow: Loyalty.

"How did you get Rainbow Dash's Element?" Spike pointed a claw down at her.

AJ kicked him lightly. "That's rude."

He felt her words more than the kick. "Oh, sorry."

"Rainbow Dash may bear The Element of Loyalty Spike, but so did either Princess Luna or Princess Celestia remember?" I ignore the pain of mentioning them by name, "We don't own the Elements, anymore than you 'own' fire-breathing or flying. And how Apple Pie described one of her lost friends, she could have been an Element of Magic." I looked at her, "But Derpy, when did you awaken as an Element of Harmony?"

"Around last night I think."

While my brain finished regenerating from the stroke the other continued in my place.

"Last night darling?" Rarigreed, "Tell us more, the whole thing."

Derpy instantly launched into several inane and minute details, and a lot of words about Dinky state of moment by moment survival that would fill a book, but eventually she got to what we needed to know.

"So after the little purple filly went inside the castle, oh! Is she-"

"She's perfectly fine, better than ever! Continue," I said quickly.

"Well, after that, I was making my way around the castle, And I saw a pegasus flying around in front of the moon, I'm always watching the sky for more crows, or for roots that seem to pop up without warning or-"

"Derpy."

"Oh, well, I heard her shouting 'I'm sorry! I don't deserve forgiveness! Just let me be! Leave me alone! I'm not worth your time!' For a second I thought she was my mom, erm, not my foster mom, but my other mom."

"Your real mother?" Rarity asked.

"My foster mother was my real mother. The pay she was rowing on about not wanting to be forgiven I thought it was her. Since she kinda, erm, tried to drown me."

"WHAT?!" We all exclaimed.

Ok, how many more surprises are we going to get hit with before this is over?!

"Why the bucking Tatarus would somepony do that-?!" 'Jack exclaimed.

"Well, it took me six hundred years to realize it, but I think she didn't want a filly who had . . . lots of problems like I did. She was trying to 'accidentally' drown me, she gave me a really heavy good luck charm and had me fly over a river during winter for my first lesson and she helped, pushed, me over the side when I was nervous. But that's also why I got my cutie mark so maybe she was trying to help after all, and after I dragged myself out of the river loosing my good luck charm I met my foster parents, but they weren't actually yet-"

"So who was it?" I asked, I got a glare from Applejack for interrupting Derpy's life story. "Who was the pegasus?" It could have been Fluttershy or-

"It was Rainbow Dash! Whoo-hoo! Me and Dinky both saw her! I think she was crazy, she was seeing ponies who weren't there, or they were invisible ponies who-"

"Don't turn into Pinkie Pie on us," Spike said and got another kick from Applejack. I had a good guess as to who Dash may have actually been seeing...

Derpy deflated. "Well, she finally saw me, and dived right at me, and got rid of the crows again, she does that when Discord isn't looking, and she flew a bit in front of me. She looked real scared. She then asked me lots of questions. Things like, 'Would I ever give up on my muffins?' 'Why would I never give up on them?' 'What would I do if I had to choose between them?' 'Who were important to me?' 'Why was I still going?' 'Was I scared I'd never finish?' and lots of stuff like that. It was really weird. And . . . she began crying at the end, it was really weird seeing Rainbow Dash cry."

The sun came up.

"When I was in the middle of explaining how I'd have to trust in Sparkler to take care of herself if I got caught where I had to look after only one of my muffins she grabbed my shoulders, I didn't like that because it meant I was losing time on getting my muffin back."

And it hit like a knife. For the first time in a thousand years. Derpy wasn't trotting. It as surreal. Did she, did she trust in us so fully? So completely? After so long, a flicker of light at the start then a thousand years of blackness?

(Because she is retarded.)

No, I think for her, the darkness was just one long tunnel. She knew there was light at the end. She has more faith than any of us put together. And don't EVER call her that again!

(No! She's self-deluded! She never knew such a thing!)

Whether she knew or not, the evidence is apparently in her favor.

(Not if your recklessness get her and her foals killed!)

...

(What? 'I'm not going to let that happen?' 'That won't happen?' Or some other tripe?)

Life is an adventure, adventure is risk. Just because it can happen doesn't mean it will. And I choose to believe in the better outcome. I choose to hope, just like she has.

(Easy way out.)

No. The easy way is surrender. The easy way is hiding in a cage, for a thousand years.

"-and she hugged me. Told me I was 'the most loyal pony to ever live.' Felt kinda familiar. I tried to think of what to say, but I couldn't really think of anything that made what she said wrong. She flew away crying. I trotted along. And I noticed a glow under my hoof."

We slapped our hooves to our faces, Spike made a thunder clap with his.

"And my mouth started doing what I wanted to blue a lot more. Erm, mostly. The birds make more noise, but I noticed I wasn't getting older or younger anymore. Weird huh?"

Rarigreed gasped, "You have got to be joking!"

AJ shrugged, curiously looking at the ground. "Out of all the crazy horseapples that've happened to us today, Ah'd say this here's pretty tame darlin'."

Rarigreed took an avenue of escape, "Applejack . . . you don't need to hide yourself anymore. You can speak like a lady if it's what you really want. No one's going to think you're not you."

"Ah figure the Apples and Pies would be more accepting of me if Ah speak without an accent."

Rarigreed politely and calmly and quite honestly proceeds to bang AJ into the castle wall several times -What? We're immortal- until AJ finally admits that 'accent' refers to the dialect of a particular region, and being in the minority, the Apple and Pies are therefore the ones with accents, but still wanted to speak how they'd be comfortable with her.

"But seriously!" Rarigreed rambled, "What?! Where's the epic journey across the land in search of those worthy? We haven't gone one mile out of the castle we find Loyalty falling into our laps?!"

"That's Derpy for you," I said.

"It wouldn't be right for Derpy if it happened any different," AJ added.

"And besides, we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, you taught me that," I reply, getting a small smile out of her.

"Derpy. Welcome to the 'Going To Save The World Club'," I said to her proudly, "You and Dinky. Erm, if you want."

" . . . but Discord promised. Dinky would be her again if I went around the castle enough times. And Sparkler too. And-"

"And what kind of happiness do you expect Dinky and Sparkler to have in a world ruled by Discord? You don't need him to save them."

Derpy looked at me in awe, her one track tunnel like mind coming to a screeching halt. For the first time in a thousand years, Derpy had another road to take that wasn't giving up.

(This is just another form of giving up.)

No, it's called 'taking a third option'.

Derpy stood adamantly. Her opposing eyes looking determined and her face smiling. "I'm with you until the end!"

Spike said, "Doesn't it feel wrong to just, replace Rainbow Dash?"

Derpy startled.

I said harshly, "She's NOT the 'New Rainbow Dash.' She's help, which we need, and she's a friend, end of story. We'll save Dash later when we can."

"Don't talk about Derpy like she's not even here," AJ said putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"It's okay I'm used to it. My parents and teachers talked about me like I wasn't in the room all the time."

We heard crows. The murderer formed from the ashes and rose again right near Derpy.

None appeared around the illusion of Derpy and Dinky AJ had created that was trotting around the castle.

(Oh look! Sitting on your flanks just speaking had consequences, how unexpected!)

If you have nothing useful to say then don't bother!

"There's lot more than before," Spike observed.

"There get to be more if I stay in one place," Derpy said as she tried to remember motor skills she hadn't used in a thousand years to fold her wings around Dinky.

We all came between the murder of crows and Derpy and Dinky.

There were so many, they were like a cloud. A single creature. A mass of black blotting out the sun with countless red pairs of hungry eyes looking at Derpy, no, Dinky.

"I am so not interested in a boss battle right now," Spike deadpanned.

"Likewise," Rarigreed said.

"Ditto," 'Jack nodded.

Derpy looked ready to run again.

"Don't worry Derpy," I smiled at her, "that's just means we're going to wipe them out of existence fast!"

"But darling don't they just keep coming back no matter what?" Rarigreed asked.

"I'll think of something."

The murder congealed into a formation of one giant crow.

"Oh that is so original," 'Jack said.

"What an uninspired attack formation. Are we supposed to be intimidated?" Rarigreed shouted, "Spike! Immolate!"

Spike's green flames hit the murder as it came closer, the individual crows being incinerated, reducing the formed giant black bird into a hill of ashes in seconds. Spike gave Rarity a smirk.

"I am happy Spike is on my side," Rarigreed whispered.

There was a look of calm satisfaction on Derpy's face.

"Why didn't my decoy work?" AJ asked herself, tapping her hooves on the ground.

That was when the ashes moved, and before our eyes, the ashes reformed into the crows. Reforming fast, I guess that made sense for Discord to program his toys to 'up the ante' if Derpy somehow began getting clever.

"That's rather unsportmare like!" Rarigreed fumed.

"You expected Discord to play fair?" I asked her.

"Okay, anyone here not seen The Alicorn's Apprentice?" Spike growled seeing the swarm forming into a large black bird again.

"For the last time it was not based on me!"

"Hey! what about yer 'eat somethin' different spell' so they don't hurt little Dinky? Make'em eat each other!"

"What? You mean the one I used on the parapsites?! These birds aren't alive! They're constructs! They don't 'eat' anything!"

Spike simply breathed fire again, the murder split in two letting the flames pass between them and the murder fused back together.

"They learn fast!" Spike snapped.

Derpy said, "They always have."

"We should run! I doubt they're made to be much faster than a crippled mother!" Rarity suggested.

"They'll just follow us! And ponies might get in the crossfire who aren't immortal!" I said.

Derpy blinked away tears of rage, "Makes them disappear forever!"

"We are not losing! We are not retreating! We are not going to be stopped! We are not even going to be slowed down by worthless soulless toys of Discord's that exists only to torment one loving mother and her foal! You can just forget it! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!?!" I wasn't speaking to my friends by that point.

AJ kept tapping her hooves against the Earth. Her image became that of Derpy, along with another illusion decoy. The two ran under the crows who ignored them. AJ looking like Derpy skipped away from the group but still between Derpy and the crows who became to close in again. She then picked up a rock and used an illusion to make it look like Dinky's muffin self and threw it through the murder, but it was ignored as well.

This time Spike flapped his wings so hard the murder was forced back.

My eyes were opened. "They may be constructs but they still need air to fly! But that won't get rid of the problem. We can't just keep blowing them away, they'll just learn to avoid it. But this means they still have to follow the rules of aerodynamics."

"Ah could fool Queen Cadence, but Ah can't fool these things." AJ said, again to herself, the wind not knocking her over even if she was in the path of it.

"Which means these things are wired to you Derpy, and/or Dinky, they must be programmed to sense your spirit, lifeforce, or something not easily replicated," I said, "anything you can tell us?"

"They just keep coming back, always for Dinky, they always come, never stopping, never tiring, if some are sent far away, more appear, if they're stopped, more appear, if they're ... broken, more appear."

AJ kept tapping her hooves. She looked at the crows as they broke out of the ineffective formation and began to circle around so Spike's gail couldn't stop them all.

AJ said out loud, dismissing her illusions, "How can they learn if they keep getting turned to ashes? Ya can't make notes in a book if the book gets burned to ashes too!"

I remembered. One time I had been beheaded in battle(by the way, the theory that a head can remain conscious for several moments after being severed is true). A new head regenerated, but I was told for few moments it was a 'brain dead' husk until my memories and identity were loaded into it via my immortality, powered by my Element of Chaos. Similar thing had happened to Rarigreed once when her collection had fallen on her skull and the piano incident.

"If these things can learn! That means there must be a server for them to store their experiences somewhere!" I said. Everyone looked at me as we circled around Derpy and Dinky. She didn't flee. I wouldn't risk them adapting to my barrier unless we were out of options. "I mean there's somewhere the birds are storing what they're learning since if it was spread out among them burning them to pieces should reset them! It isn't!"

Spike asked, "Rarity! Create yer army to help out!"

"I can't! They're gone!"

"What do you mean 'they'?"

"It can't be somewhere obvious, Discord is too smart to do that..." I said, thinking, looking around for where Discord would hide it.

AJ stomped in frustration hard enough for her hoof to go into the ground. She then gasped suddenly. "Wait a minute..." she said, closing her eyes. I could feel Earth Pony Magic crossing into the ground, she was feeling the Earth. She gave another gasp.

"That's it!" AJ shouted at last. "Twilight! The ground! The magic is flowing through the ground and up into the air! Them black birds are made of dirt!"

"No, 'made from dirt is the proper saying since they are instantaneous magic rather than-"

"TWILIGHT!" Rarigreed snapped.

"Sorry!"

Rarigreed began levitating rocks and began shooting down the birds. Who were more being replaced more and more quickly. She bought some time by forming a stone shell around them, but I knew it wouldn't hold long with how fast they adapted.

I concentrated on what Earth Pony magic I'd copied over the centuries and felt the magic. It was just like at the rock farm; magic channels through the ground, only these seemed to move and flow, connected to the murder. I'd figured out the game.

"Derpy, do you remember how to fly?" I asked hopefully, the birds managed to find their way out of Rarigreed's barrier by having some of them bash the rock back while the others flew through.

Derpy looked at me for a few seconds then nodded.

"Derpy! Give Dinky to Spike!" I shouted.

"No!"

"Please! This is going to need your help too. Trust me!"

Derpy looked at me for a tiny bit like she had seen a ghost.

"Protect her?" Derpy asked Spike.

"Like a treasure," said the dragon.

Like she was cutting out her heart and hoofing it to someone else, Derpy gave Dinky to Spike to protect. Rarigreed carefully fashioned a protective 'coat' of stone around Dinky to protect her.

"Now, here, I, GO!" I shouted as my horn nearly gave off fireworks. What was first a soft breeze exploded in pegasus wing-power in seconds as I created a tornado, the black birds individually didn't have enough flight strength to resist and were caught up in the storm. I didn't stop there.

"AJ!" I grunted. "How far out is it?"

She told me. Whao boy. This might actually be hard.

"Derpy! Push the funnel of the tornado around the castle!"

"Can't you?"

"I'm feeding all my power to keep them from escaping! PLEASE Derpy!" Then it hit me. I remembered the thing who her loyalty towards had driven her for all this time. "This is the only way to save Dinky from them for GOOD!"

Derpy's eyes suddenly reminded me of Fluttershy when that dragon had hurt us.

The gray pegasus who was perhaps the only undiscorded or paled-colored pony in existence flew and pushed against the tornado with her bare hooves, flapping her wings like mad. It helped more than she could possibly know! With Derpy's extra added help I could move the tornado around the castle, sucking up the upper layer of Earth, dirt and rocks and all. My one hope was that Discord hadn't bothered to enchant the ground all the way to the planet's core!

The murder cawed, AJ stood firm, Rarigreed's telekinesis held her in place, Spike used himself as a wall around Dinky.

"Twili! Ya did it! That's all of it!"

"Thank you Applejack! Derpy! Push the top end of the funnel over the castle!"

Derpy grunted. Her muscles must have been on fire by now. But she didn't even hesitate, her wings flapped in a blur, her eyes were full of tears. "I'm tired of you birds coming for my muffin! My little Dinky means everything to me and I'm not letting you hurt her anymore! You won't hurt my muffin! You won't touch her! EVER AGAIN!"

Her Element of Loyalty glowed brighter and her eyes lit up while moving the funnel cloud suddenly became easier, her body's safety-limits turned off.

"Alright! Derpy, over the skylight! No! The other one! Yes that one! Steady! Steady! Push it down! Down!"

Derpy screamed in exertion.

(Twilight stop this! You can't sense where is what in the castle!)

NO! But I can sense a rip in the same/time continuum as big as a stadium!

"ALL THE WAY THE DERPY! AND AWAY THEY GO!!!"

The murder cawed insanely as the force of the tornado pushed them all along the way of the funnel, which I'm sure would have gotten a pegasus a citation for breaking several meteorological laws.

The murder was flushed down, through the skylight, and deep into the pit of no return. Its ravenous cawing becoming fainter and fainter until nothing was left, not one feather, not one speck of dirt.

My entire body shuddered.

(That was actually clever.)

OH RIGHT!

"Spike! Quick! Take a letter!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

What an idiot I was, of course he wouldn't carry parchment with him wherever he went now. Oh well.

"Spike! Brace yourself and don't crush Dinky!"

"Huh?"

"Don't hold her tight. This will hurt!"

I quickly pulled out of Spike's scales (sorry Spike) and bit on my fetlock, and rapidly wrote a message in my own blood before my skin regenerated. Then I teleported the message where I had dumped the murder.

"Yeow! Twilight! What was that about?"

"Just being polite to someone who deserves being polite to."

+++

Ponythulu was looking forward to a nice relaxing dip in the hot tub. He had on his favorite bathrobe with a crossword puzzle under one tentacle. It was a beautiful day in his home dimension, he wanted to invite his cousin earlier, but Discord wasn't there, what a shame. Humming to himself, Ponythulu opened the door to his hot tub.

"CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!CAW!" A solid wall of black birds slammed out of the washroom like water from a hose, hitting Ponythulu and sending him careening back down the hallway, the birds panicked screeching echoing through the house.

After the flood, the black birds lay in piles twitching mindlessly.

A purple dragon scale fell on the nephew of Havoc. Ponythulu picked it up and read it, "Dear Ponythulu. Here are some black birds birds for some black bird pie. The ground with them will infinitely recreate the blackbirds after they're eaten, though the spell may need some reprogramming, as it requires a focus to regenerate them around. We no longer have use for them, so I thought you might like to have them and I'm very certain you'll enjoy the recipe. Yours, Twilight."

"What a nice pony. How polite," Ponythulu said pleasantly.

+++


Derpy had fallen asleep on the roof after the task was done. I check first to make sure she was still breathing. I wasn't going to gamble on the Elements of Harmony giving immortality too. I had drained my reserves, but I still had enough to teleport to her and back again with her. She woke just long enough to look at Dinky and make sure her child was safe before going back to sleep. I examined her closely, and found no permanent damage to her body from pushing it past its limits, something I could only credit to the Element of Loyalty. After all, Loyalty let you push your limits for those you care about. Just had to mend some torn ligaments and muscles and cracked bones from her doing the work of an entire flight of pegasi single hoofedly in one third the time.

"Rest, you've earned it," I said, smiling to her. I'd love to see the looks on the faces of the ponies who'd mocked her all those years ago if they could see what she'd just done. Hay, what she'd BEEN doing for a thousand years.

"Hey everypony," I said smiling, "Anyone feel like a trip on dragon back?" I looked at Spike.

"I'd be glad to give everyone a ride!" I put the sleeping Derpy on Spike's back holding her tightly. Followed by Rarity, who had taken over protecting Dinky. Finally AJ who sat in front of Rarity, and spoke kind words to the muffin pony.

I wasn't sure if Dinky was conscious in there or not or presently had The psyche of a pony of a muffin... I didn't know which would be better or worse. To be conscious and watch your mother give everything she had for you? Or to spend a thousand years with no conscious mind.

Feeling like a five year old again I put a struck a dramatic pose like the captain of a sailing ship and shouted, "To Sweet Rock Acres!"

"AYE-AYE!" Spike said proudly. Applejack chuckled.

(Idiot! Aren't you worried about being spotted! Everypony will want you dead!)

Let them see. Let them see the mare who Discord tortured for so long is free. Let them see his slave free. Let them all see.

(With his minions riding with her on his dragon!)

For the first time without Discord there with him. That will make them curious, and a little curiousity can do wonderful things. Besides! I've wanted to ride a dragon since I got Spike! "Tally-ho!"

Next Chapter: Episode 80: (Dark World) Happy Birthday Estimated time remaining: 48 Hours, 12 Minutes
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