Shining Armor looked to the sun, now ominously suspended on the horizon mid-way through setting. Celestia had told him it was to provide him and his guards with sufficient light to complete their mission, as it was of the utmost importance that all the Bearers were recovered if Discord was to be re-contained; and that doing so whilst said draconequus was present could prove dangerous under the best of conditions, never mind if they had to fight in the dark.

However, Shining figured it was equally likely that Celestia simply didn't want to distract herself by setting the sun whilst these events were playing out. As much as the Princess obviously tried to remain professionally neutral through their short telepathic exchanges, it was clear that she was anxious about what was about to happen, which, all in all, he was happy about. It showed she cared.

Shining stopped and turned on the spot, the guards trotting behind him coming to a halt immediately. He scanned over them briefly. Twenty four. Twenty five including himself. His own escort of eight crystal ponies that had accompanied him since he left the Crystal Empire stood directly before him. They wore little armour, having no real need for it, their crystalline epidermis able to deflect most small weapons with relative ease, especially those of the slicing variety. It would take a very sharp blade, or considerable crushing force to break through the toughest parts of their natural 'armour'.

He checked over the ponies behind them, members of the Solar Guard, or at least, the ones that were left to spare in Canterlot after a good amount had been sent away in search of the Bearers a week prior. Something about that struck Shining as strange. The guards had been searching ever since the incident, yet the closest backup unit was still over an hour's trot away, it unnerved him, and he resolved to bring it up with Celestia afterwards. Their armour held the standard gold finish of all Solar Guard gear, but differed slightly to the standard armour in that protective plating had been added over the legs, and the helmets did not have their usual decorative plume, instead having a sloping front; more overall protection to the face and torso in the form of added plating had also been implemented - a small amount of mobility sacrificed to gain a much higher chance of survival should the draconequus try to attack them in any of the more 'conventional' ways.

As for armaments, each carried the weapon with which they were most proficient. The most common were swords of many sizes and designs, but Shining could also see a multitude of other weapons: Spears, halberds, bows, the newly introduced wingblades on one pegasus, or no weapons at all in the cases of the particularly magically adept unicorns.

Shining cleared his throat and regarded them expressionlessly, speaking in a commanding tone as he delegated Celestia's orders, "I'm going to say this one final time. If you screw up and end up catching my sister or her friends in a crossfire you'll be getting punishment far worse than a dishonourable discharge, though you'll get that afterwards, understood?"

A unified chorus of voices responded loudly, "Yes, sir!"

"Good. Now, Princess Celestia has made it very clear what needs to happen. This is a relatively simple retrieval mission. We are to recover all three mares as quickly as possible without harming them, and retreat just as quickly. Be mindful that any needless injury to them will not be tolerated. However, these three are, for the most part, non-combatants, so that shouldn't cause too many problems. The problem, as I'm sure you're all aware, is the draconequus."

He surveyed his troops carefully. Though none of them moved a muscle he could sense the apprehension building in the air, he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel it himself somewhat, "The Princess's orders are clear. We are to avoid direct combat with him if at all possible. The moment we have secured the objective, we run. Fast. Discord is a reality-warper with powers far greater than any of us here could hope to wield, myself included, and he's not likely to let us go easily. Once we have the package, we are to head to the river to the north, where our backup will be arriving from to provide relief support until we can put some distance on the monster. Once there we will rendezvous with the others, who are setting up a mass-teleport spell back to Canterlot as we speak. If you haven't already guessed, that's our extraction point."

Shining scanned the crowd before him for any confusion, and, satisfied that he found none, continued, "So, to break it into steps: We go in, secure the girls, run like hell, and go home." He eyed them seriously, "I said this plan was simple, and it is, but remember that simple and easy are two different things, it might save your lives out there." He pointed to their destination, far off behind him, before turning back to them, "Any questions?"

One hoof stuck out near the centre of the group, belonging to the pegasus with the wingblades. She spoke after Shining gave her permission, "Sir, I understand our mission, but what are we supposed to do about the draconequus afterwards? Surely he'll head to Canterlot if he wants these mares that badly?"

Shining nodded, "Likely, but the whole point of this mission is to get those three to Canterlot so that the six Elements of Harmony can be re-united again. Once that happens, it won't matter what Discord does, he'll be a garden ornament again by the end of the day."

The guard nodded in response, and no more hooves were raised. Shining called out confidently, "Alright, we're approximately three thousand meters from the mission zone. From here on out we're not stopping, so check your weapons and armour over before we go." He remembered a similar mission of his own when he was still a lowly ranked guard, and offered them some timeless advice, "And if you need to 'go', just 'go' somewhere. Find a bush or something. I mean it when I say we're not stopping, and dignity doesn't mean anything if you die because you were too stubborn to water some plants beforehoof." He smirked at the uncomfortable expressions of some of the guards, remembering being in their position long ago.

He turned about face and stared off into the distance, where Twilight was waiting for him. His horn glowed as he brought his sword up to eye-level, examining its flawless blade and jewel-encrusted hilt as he thought of his sister being held prisoner by the beast, her mind being controlled by him at his every whim, the things he might have done to her. He levelled his sword against the horizon and stared down the length of the blade with angry eyes, 'I don't know if a draconequus can bleed, but after what he's done to my family, I'll be more than pleased to perform a hooves-on experiment.' He focused and exhaled slowly through his nose in an attempt to calm himself and remain focused on the mission. Succeeding, he raised his voice without turning, "Okay, we've wasted enough time already! The Princess has a sun to set, and I have a sister to save! Let's get moving!" He marched purposefully towards the objective, and was followed promptly by twenty four determined guards.

Celestia's horn glowed, the spell's field of vision shifting slowly until several silhouetted figures could be made out in the distance. The guards. Another flare of her horn, and the perspective shifted so that it hovered in the air above the marching guards, moving with them as they neared their destination. The sounds of the area carried through the spell too, filling the ballroom with the sound of marching hoofsteps being muffled by grassy earth. Everypony watched with bated breath as they drew ever-closer to their destination.

Twilight winced as Fluttershy finished brushing one of her larger cuts with a strong-smelling alcohol-based substance. It stung, but avoiding infection was far more important to the unicorn. That, and the fact that falling seriously ill due to an act of downright clumsiness on her own part would, quite literally, add insult to injury. Fluttershy brought away the cotton pad and spoke soothingly, "I'm sorry, I know it hurts, but at least you shouldn't have to worry about infection now. Just make sure to wash them thoroughly and you'll be fine."

"Thank you, Fluttershy. I'll try to stop hurting myself in future, otherwise you'll probably run out of supplies at this rate."

Fluttershy finished discarding the used pads and began placing the others and the alcohol back into her saddlebags, "Don't worry about that, that's what they're here for. Besides, if I need more I'm sure I could make something if I had the right ingredients. At least, I-I think I could, it d-depends, I'm not that good..." She looked away briefly, but Twilight caught the sad look in her eye, even if it was only momentary. "Besides, if it was serious I'm sure Discord wouldn't mind helping me gather what I need... You w-wouldn't mind, would you?"

Discord turned his attention away from animating the contents of Pinkie's saddlebags; a rather messy procedure considering most of the items were confectionery, "I suppose not, but I guess it depends. I mean, if Twilight was being really nasty, and gravity just happened to de-stabilise around her for no apparent reason, and then it came back and she broke all her legs in the fall, I might not be inclined to get supplies to help her until she apologised... and ran a marathon." He chuckled to himself, but stopped when he realised that not even Pinkie was laughing with him, all four just stared at him disapprovingly, "Even you, Pinkie?"

Pinkie shook her head, "It just wasn't funny. It was pretty horrible in all honesty. I don't even know how you can laugh at things like that." Pinkie seemed more upset about his choice of humour than angry with him.

He turned to the pegasus in the room, "Et tu, Fluttershy?"

She turned her head to the right, but looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "Th-That was mean, Discord... There w-wasn't any n-need for that..."

The look on her face and her tone of voice told him all he needed to know. She wasn't upset, or angry. She was disappointed, and it actually hurt him slightly to know such. He let his shoulders droop as he met the condescending stares of the other two, "I don't even have to ask you two. Seriously though, what do you all expect? Yes, I've changed, but I think you'll find that it's hard to completely change sadist levels from 'I'm going to plunge Equestria into eternal war, because it's fun to watch', to 'I'm going to help three ponies who imprisoned me in stone - Twice! - on their quest for righteous justice'."

Twilight scowled. Her day had been ripe with magical failure, depression, and the very real fear of being discovered, and this was the final straw. Her patience snapped, "Don't bring up the sealing again! You know we were deceived, and Fluttershy didn't have a choice! Hell, you even said yourself that you forfeited your escape because you cared about her, so don't pull out the 'incurable psychopath' card on us!"

Discord growled at her, "You're right, you'd be a much better holder of that card right about now, wouldn't you Twilight? Let's see... You tried to murder your mentor; dragged your friends away from their homes, lives and loved ones; lied to the friends you couldn't convince; discarded them completely when you realised they weren't necessary; and watched the friends you have here suffer, yet never brought it up with them once! Truly the 'magic of friendship' must be a very dear value to you, mustn't it?" He was almost nose-to-nose with her by the time he had finished speaking.

Twilight ground her teeth and glared at him, "Like you'd know anything about friends! It took a thousand years, a metric tonne of sympathy, and the Element of fucking Kindness herself for you to make one!"

Discord deadpanned, snapped his fingers to summon Fluttershy's burn ointment into his grasp, and proceeded to apply it to himself deliberately slowly, all the while maintaining bored eye contact with Twilight to show how much he really didn't care, "Oh, making comparisons now, are we? Then, I'm sure since you're so much better than me it won't affect you if I let you deal with your nightmares again like a big filly instead of shielding you as if you're an infant. You're so much better you don't even need my help to learn chaos magic! I'm sure you could practice just fine and not kill yourself in the process, couldn't you? In fact, you're so much better than me that you don't even need my magic, do you? Obviously you can crush your enemies with the magic you already have..." His flat expression scrunched into a sinister scowl, "Oh wait! No. You. Can't! Not even close!"

Twilight snarled at him, feeling the overwhelming urge to blast him in the face at point-blank range, "Of course you'd know about crushing your enemies, wouldn't you? It's the only thing you're even good at! You've never used your magic to protect anypony else in your entire life! And on the rare occasion where you did try and help some ponies, what happened? You split their damned minds in half and let it carry down generations so that several thousand more could suffer! Nice one!"

Discord's frown deepened momentarily, but abruptly curled into a smile, "Yes, yes, you're right, Twilight Sparkle. But at least in my case I protected them sufficiently enough to ensure they survived. Remind me, what happened the last time you tried to pr-"

"STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! BOTH OF YOU!"

Both Twilight and Discord jolted in surprise, swivelling their heads to see Fluttershy staring furiously at them. Though her eyes were watery and her top lip quivered slightly, the tone and sheer volume of her voice still left the two speechless. Even Angel had taken to cowering behind Pinkie's hind legs. Pinkie's expression was similar to Fluttershy's, though anger was substituted for sadness in her case as she looked at them with a pained expression and a slowly deflating mane.

The two felt their resolve crumble under Fluttershy's gaze, though it wasn't due to intimidation. It was the intense sorrow present in her eyes, and the hurt in her voice, "S-Stop saying those horrible th-things..."

The pair glanced at one another from the corners of their eyes before moving to sit on the chairs furthest apart from each other. Everything fell quiet as Twilight hung her head and Discord observed Fluttershy, who had sat down herself and was being comforted by Angel. The draconequus looked between the three depressed ponies and shook his head, 'First the cloud accident, then the 'Applejack encounter', plus one little joke and we end up with this.' He sighed, 'This has been a very bad day...'

As the guards approached their destination they broke their march and slowed their pace considerably. As per the plan they began treading carefully, surrounding the area before attempting to dispel the illusion. Shining watched and held up his hoof, ready to give the signal the instant his troops were in position. Once the area had been encircled, he waved his hoof to the side sharply, his horn glowing in conjunction with those of the other unicorns as they got to work burning away at the edges of the mirage. Surely enough, over the course of the next few minutes the image receded. All they had to do was wait just a little more.

Twilight shook her head, trying to rid herself of her pride. She owed an apology to Discord, more so to the others, for her outburst. Though she wasn't sure how much it had hurt the draconequus, it had clearly hurt her friends enough seeing them argue so bitterly, "Discord, I'm stressed, tired, and scared, as you're probably aware. But that was no reason for me to say the things I said just now. I overreacted and blew things way out of proportion... and I'm sorry." She didn't look up at the draconequus nor her friends, and her tone remained dejected as she continued, "Pinkie, Fluttershy, I'm sorry for losing my temper and making you see that..."

Fluttershy trotted to her side and placed a hoof on hers, "It's alright. I just don't want to see my friends arguing like that, we need to stay together, no matter what." Twilight nodded in response without looking up at her friend.

Pinkie smiled, "It's okay, Twilight, I forgive you. You're having a really bad day, we all have them, don't sweat it! And Fluttershy's right, we need to bring ourselves together, not push each other apart! We'd be like, the worst team in history if we did that, right Discy?"

Discord looked blankly at her, "... Right." He let out a deep sigh as he realised what was coming next, 'Three, two, one...'

Fluttershy glanced up at him, "Discord, don't you have something to say to Twilight?"

'Right on cue.' He kept a neutral expression as he regarded his friend before sparing the unicorn beside her a glance, noticing the depressed aura she was exuding, "I suppose so..." It wasn't that he really wanted to apologise, especially not twice in the same day to the same pony, but the alternative meant Fluttershy tracing his every move with her disapproving eyeballs, and the others having the personality of a wet mop for the remainder of the week. His tone was a little over-enthusiastic and he waved his arms occasionally as he spoke, "Twilight, as you know, I'm the spirit of chaos, and being such makes it difficult not to mess things up from time to time. Regardless, my joke was rather..." he fought not to grit his teeth, "tasteless, and I should have known better considering what has already happened today. So, from the deepest depths of my tainted, twisted heart, I offer you my most sincere apologies. I, Discord, am well and truly..."

He sensed it, "Wait!"

The other four regarded him with varying degrees of impatience. Fluttershy's expression fell from approving to angry, irritation filling her voice, "Discord!"

He waved his arms defensively, his expression and tone deadly serious, "No, listen! Everypony get your things! We have to leave, now!"

"W-What?" They looked at him with confusion and disbelief.

Realising they weren't going to move, Discord snapped his fingers, materialising the saddlebags and Elements on their respective owners, "I'm serious! There are ponies outside!" He closed his eyes for a second, "Guards. Your brother too."

Twilight's eyes widened, "B-But how? I thought we were safe here?"

Discord began channelling the energies needed to teleport the five of them away, "Either they're very lucky, very meticulous, or - most likely - you were seen and followed!"

Twilight's face fell in dismay, "I... No way! There's no way! She didn't see me... did she?"

"We can worry about it later! Just stay close to me until I-"

The room began shaking violently, cutting him off as he levitated to avoid toppling over. Angel promptly clambered into Fluttershy's saddlebags, even as she stumbled erratically and her friends were thrown from their seats. Just as suddenly as the tremors had started, they stopped, leaving the mares to shake away the dizziness, though their confusion was plain on their faces.

Discord's expression hadn't changed since the shaking began, a look of intense annoyance plastered into place. He spoke in a sarcastic monotone as he held up his paw, "Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic." With a snap of his fingers, the room around them disappeared, revealing them to now be above ground and surrounded by a multitude of guards.

The three younger mares in the ballroom released a collectively held breath. Their friends were fine, from what they could see, at least. Rainbow nudged Applejack on the shoulder lightly, "You really did find them! Good job, AJ!"

The farmer smiled but spoke seriously, "Thanks, but it ain't over just yet. Let's save the celebrations for when our friends come home."

Rainbow smiled back, "Sounds like a plan!"

For the first time since the viewing spell had been cast, Rarity looked away from the image and over towards the Princesses, and Celestia in particular. She decided to set her personal grudges aside, the well-being of her friends came first, and she had to know, "Are you absolutely certain they won't get hurt? Those guards are carrying weapons, Princess!"

Celestia turned to the unicorn and spoke confidently, "They're going to be fine. Shining has made it very clear that your friends aren't to be harmed. The weapons are purely for self defence should Discord attack them." Her features darkened, "Not that they'd be of much use if he were at full strength again. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case."

Rarity nodded, turning her attention back to the image as Shining's voice transmitted over the spell too.

"Don't move Discord, you're surrounded!" Shining's face was calm, but just beneath the surface the fires of rage were burning away at his nerves, "Release those three to us at once, and we'll let you go."

Discord yawned and stretched his arms far above his head, "Now, now, 'released' implies that I'm holding them captive against their will, which I assure you I most certainly am not. Perhaps there's been a misunderstanding, officer?" He smirked as he saw the Captain's eye twitch ever-so-slightly.

The mares edged towards each other as quietly as possible as they looked around at the guards, though Twilight's eyes were fixed on her brother.

Shining looked to the mares in the centre of the ring and noticed the fearful expressions in their eyes, especially in Twilight's. His rage bubbled even further and his tone fell from commanding to dangerously cold, "I won't ask again. Step away from them. Now."

Discord chuckled darkly, "How very bold of you. You earn points for guts, I'll grant you that." Shining growled and drew his sword, taking a single step forwards, the surrounding guards brandishing their weapons in preparation to follow his lead. The draconequus became serious in an instant, his tone dropping to menacing levels, "Please, let's not resort to violence. We have three young mares here, remember? Why expose them to unnecessary bloodshed? Besides, I would not be pleased if you forced me to do something... drastic in front of Fluttershy here." He let his words sink in, noticing a few of the guards shivering slightly, causing him to grin sadistically, "And by drastic I mean killing half of you and forcing the other half to eat the bodies." His tone alone was enough to unsettle them, and the imagery he had used sent a wave of revulsion through the guards, and turned the stomachs of the three beside him.

Shining looked to his sister, "Twilight, I know things seem bad, but you have to trust me! You can't stay with that monster! You heard him just now! He's sick, and twisted!" His voice almost fell into pleading, "Please, you and your friends, just come back to us." The mares stood in silence, staring at him with regret plain on their faces. "Twilight, please! I'm your brother! You have to trust me! No matter what has happened, nothing is worth going anywhere with him!"

Twilight stared as if she were in a daze, her eyes filling with tears as she shook her head.

"Twilight..."

She shook her head again.

Shining felt his head droop as he blinked back tears of his own. His next words sounded almost choked to begin with, but quickly returned to his cold tone as his soldier's resolve took over, "You know your orders. Force is only to be used against the monster." He whipped his head up, his sword following suit, levelling at Discord, "Seize them."

The sounds of weapons being grabbed and rapidly advancing hoofsteps filled the area, and it served to snap the mares from their sadness. In mere seconds the guards would close the distance and apprehend them, and there wasn't enough time for the four to defend themselves or retreat.

But Discord had been preparing for such since the room had disappeared. With a snap of his fingers, a glowing white orb materialised around the four, briefly pulsating with energy before exploding outwards, sending the guards flying several dozen meters in all directions. He took advantage of the window of opportunity and addressed the others, "I'll need time to get us out of here. Stay close to me, and each other. Do not get separated, or they'll take you." He sighed as some of the hardier guards pushed themselves back to their hooves, "Fluttershy, I probably already know your answer, but would you terribly mind if I kill them? Or at least break them so they can't attack us? It would save us a lot of time."

Fluttershy looked up with frightened eyes, evidently terrified by either the advancing guards, Discord's proposal, or both, "Y-Yes! P-Please d-don't hurt th-them! They're j-just d-doing their j-job!"

He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Only for you, Fluttershy."

Some of the guards were climbing back to their hooves now, and the few that had already done so were advancing. Two earth ponies charged towards Pinkie, but changed their course to Discord and raised their weapons to strike him as he turned to face them. Discord vanished and appeared behind the two, grasping them both in his suddenly huge hands and hurling them in opposite directions. A pegasus swooped down and attempted to cleave at him from above, though her aim was well off, and he dodged by simply tilting his head.

He cursed as he realised his mistake.

She hadn't been aiming for him. The pegasus banked in the air and stopped expertly above where Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie stood, folding in her wings and dropping to the floor between the three of them. She spread her wings again, taking care to only catch them with the blunt wing-guards rather than the sharp blades, forcing each to stumble from their positions. Now effectively separated, the pegasus made a show of lunging her wingblades at each, forcing them further away from one another, and closer to the other guards.

Discord was upon her in seconds, furious that he had been outsmarted so quickly. The instant he appeared she lunged a blade at him, only for it to phase through him. The second the blade exited his side, Discord slammed his paw against her throat and brought her up to eye-level. He considered throttling her into unconsciousness before looking past her horrified face and seeing Fluttershy backing tearfully away from a trio of guards. He settled for slamming her into the ground at his feet before teleporting to his friend's aid.

Twilight teleported around the guard before her - a halberd-wielding crystal earth pony - searching for her friends frantically as she did so. She spotted them off to her right, and galloped towards them. She didn't take more than a few steps before a bolt of energy blasted a smouldering crater just in front of her. She yelped as the unicorn that had fired it appeared and blocked her path. Twilight shot a spell of her own at the unicorn, to no avail. The unicorn deflected it with relative ease before charging another spell. Twilight jumped to the side reflexively, narrowly avoiding the shimmering blue net-like construct that shot by her.

She span at the sound of approaching hoofsteps, glancing over her shoulder to see Halberd barrelling towards her. Again, Twilight fired another lavender missile, but it ricocheted harmlessly off the pony's crystalline coating. She cursed and turned to run, only to see another two earth ponies moving to cut off her avenue of escape should she head that way. With Halberd only a few seconds behind, and the unicorn charging another spell, Twilight entered full panic mode.

In one of those rare adrenaline-fuelled moments where time seems to slow down just for the individual, Twilight formulated a crude plan. She span, seeing the earth pony was now only a few meters away, and snatched his weapon from his grasp with her magic before sidestepping him and directing her attention to the unicorn. Before the guard could fire her spell, Twilight rotated the halberd in mid-air and smashed the blunt shaft hard against the knees of the mare's forelegs where the armour didn't overlap, eliciting a grunt of pain from her and disrupting her spell. Twilight wasted no time and ran past the unicorn back towards her friends, the earth pony still hot on her tail.

Pinkie glanced between the pair of guards advancing towards her, fearfully back-pedalling away from them, 'What do I do!? What do I do!?' She stopped in place and squinted her eyes in preparation as she came up with an answer.

The guards stopped and did a double-take before staring in abject terror. One second they were moving to apprehend a harmless non-combatant, the next they were staring down the barrel of a cannon that had appeared out of nowhere! They roared in horror as the pony smashed her hoof down onto the firing mechanism, desperately trying to dive out of the blast radius in time.

Their screams were drowned out by the thunderous eruption of the cannon.

*BANG!*

Everything stopped. All present, guard and fugitive alike, froze their current actions and wheeled around to face the source of the horrendous noise. Shining snapped out of it first and, fearing the worst, darted across to see two guards rolling around in agony with their hooves clasped over their now-bleeding ears and their bodies... half-buried beneath a pile of confetti?

Discord shook his head in disbelief, 'Pinkie Pie... How the f-' He barely avoided the swing of a sword as the pony beneath him took advantage of the situation and lunged forwards. As suddenly as everything had stopped, it began anew.

Shining stared at Pinkie in absolute bewilderment. The cannon was nowhere to be seen, and all the pony was doing was rubbing her ears against the apparent tinnitus the blast had caused. He waited for a few seconds until she looked back up and shrugged at him sheepishly before turning and running to her friends. He regained his senses and gave chase.

Discord snapped his fingers as a guard drew closer to Fluttershy. The guard's sword instantaneously morphed into a length of rope which coiled around his legs like a snake, causing him to tumble to the ground sharply. Discord appeared beside Fluttershy immediately afterwards, glaring as he watched the guard struggle with his binds, making little progress, 'I should hang you with that rope for trying to get to her!' He kept his anger to himself and focused on the spell. It would take several more minutes, at best. He noticed Twilight and Pinkie dashing towards his position from behind, and each had pursuers of their own. A snap of his fingers later they were dealt with, sinking into large pools of quicksand. He chuckled as he remembered using the same trick on Pinkie, but stopped when Fluttershy yelped in fright behind him.

Discord span, registering the guard approaching Fluttershy, and the two advancing upon himself in an attempt to delay him. He prepared to deal with Fluttershy's would-be captor first, but froze as the pegasus darted across to face the other two guards. She stood defensively, even though she was evidently terrified; backing away slowly as they approached despite Angel's best efforts at repelling them with every threatening gesture in his arsenal.

The meaning behind her actions wasn't lost on the draconequus though, and he felt something flare within him at the sight, 'She's deliberately putting herself in the way to shield me...' He stared in wonderment for a moment longer before dealing with the guards. The armour of the solo guard began constricting tightly, forcing the air from his lungs until he fell unconscious. The duo was even simpler to deal with, and Discord took great pleasure in utilising one of his favourite tricks for the first time in so long. A simple tap on the head of one resulted in the other defending himself from the onslaught of the - now grey - pony that was his ally only four seconds ago.

Pinkie skidded to a halt next to Discord, Twilight following suit; they all backed up close to him as more guards drew in close. Twilight glanced around frantically, "How much longer!?"

Discord sighed, "Calm down, panicking here won't help. About five to six minutes, depending on how much these insolent bastards decide to interfere."

Despite his advice, all three had to fight to avoid hyperventilating as the guards recovered from their various hindrances, formed back up, and began encircling them once more at Shining's command.

The draconequus surveyed the situation critically before making his move. The spines on his tail vanished, promptly replaced by huge, jagged shards of metal, glass, and various other sharp objects. He raised his voice just enough so that the surrounding guards would hear him, "I'm going to have to bend the rules a little here, Fluttershy. I won't kill them..." He lashed out behind himself with his newly-formed weapon, deliberately swinging it in an arc so as to drive all the guards in its path to one side, "PROVIDED THEY CAN RUN! FAST!" He made sure to put extra emphasis into the demonic laugh that followed, attempting to intimidate his targets as much as possible as they barrelled out of the way. True, he could've swung faster and gone for the kill, but the aim of the attack was to scare them; and he could definitely do scary.

He waved his claw at the now guard-free area behind him, making sure he had the attention of the Bearers, "We'll back up that way. Make sure you keep your eyes out for them trying to get smart with us. Let's go." The four backed away steadily, Discord remaining at the front of the group for defensive purposes, shooting bolts of lightning close to the ponies he had previously swung at to ensure safe passage by them.

The guards advanced in a 'V' shape towards the retreating group, trying - and failing - to surround them once more. Shining growled furiously, "This is ridiculous! We're having circles ran around us like it's some sort of joke!"

Discord flashed a delighted smile, "Well, it's certainly hilarious to watch, if that's what you were aiming for."

Shining seethed, the guard beside him shrinking back slightly even as he spoke, "With all due respect, sir, it's far too difficult when we're only permitted to use force on the draconequus."

The Prince nodded, "We'll lose them at this rate... Very well. Guards, you're permitted to use reasonable force to apprehend the targets." He almost blew a fuse as he glanced back to the draconequus to see him smiling even wider, 'Piece-of-shit monster! Of course he's smiling, this entire operation is failing...'

Discord chuckled, casually waving his claw at the guards to his left, causing the earth beneath them to erupt and send them sprawling in all directions, "It seems your brother is more than a little pissed with me right now, Twilight."

Twilight gave Discord a stern look, even though she was behind him, "Don't. This is hard enough for me as it is without you trying to start more drama. I don't want any part in it."

Discord shrugged but complied nevertheless, "Fair enough, I suppose." He looked back at Shining once again, desperately trying to hold back his laughter as the prince stomped past his guards and towards him, "Oh dear! Whatever will I do! Celestia! Save me from the dangerous pony with the love blast at his disposal! I don't want to be loved! Please! Anything but love!" He wiped a tear away amusedly, even as Shining broke away from the guards behind him and advanced further, oblivious to the potential dangers of doing so.

The draconequus let out a satisfied sigh and tipped his head slightly to look up at an apparently empty patch of sky to his left, "Really though, Celestia. Would it kill you to get off your flank and deal with your own problems for once? You ran out of all the mares that trust you, so you start throwing their relatives at me instead? How sad..."

Shining took advantage of Discord's momentary lapse in concentration. Grinding his teeth angrily as he did so, he summoned a powerful shielding spell around the draconequus, trapping him inside. Before Discord had the chance to break it, he summoned another one above it. And another. And another. Piling several layers of the same spell atop one another. Satisfied that he had gained precious seconds, Shining darted in close and conjured several magical shields between the three mares, separating them from each other. With a final glow of his horn he entrapped each of the mares in their own barrier and sent them hurtling back towards his waiting guards.

Discord smashed the last barrier and lashed out at Shining violently at the others being separated from him once again. The unicorn prepared to teleport away, but Discord was faster, wrapping his barbed tail around one of his hind legs and pulling it tight.

Shining cried out in pain as he felt the blades dig into his flesh and the muscle beneath, but finished his teleportation regardless and rejoined the ranks of his guards, not even bothering to inspect his injury as he hobbled over to Twilight's new position, barking commands as he went, "I want no less than ten of you keeping that bastard away from them! Now! The rest of you, get a move on!" The guards moved swiftly to comply, though some lingered for a split second at the sight of the blood that was flowing freely down their captain's right hind leg.

Fluttershy yelped as a pair of guards grabbed her firmly and began dragging her away from her friends, "Stop! Please! Stop it!" The pegasus struggled against their iron grip to no avail, frantically looking around for her friends, "Twilight!? Pinkie!? Discord!?" She could see none of them past the group of guards that had surrounded her. She heard a slight metallic ring from within her saddlebags, and turned her head to see Angel poking his head just out of the bags, the tip of a scalpel visible beside his head as he readied to pounce at the guard holding her right side, "Angel! No!" She glared threateningly at the rabbit, causing him to reluctantly shrink back into the saddlebags before the guards realised who she was talking to.

She gave up struggling, it was pointless and only served to tire her out. There was nothing she could do but trot in step with her captors dejectedly, "I'm sorry, everyone... At least you won't have to deal with my dead-weight any more." She stumbled sharply, squealing as the guards - mistaking the action for a desperate escape attempt - yanked her forwards harshly and tightened their grips.

Twilight backed away hastily, almost tripping over her own hooves as she blindly fired blast after blast of magic at the guards around her. It was useless. No matter which spell she used, each was blocked with relative ease by the unicorns around her, and she was losing hope, "Stay back! Stay away!" She lowered her head and fired a particularly powerful beam of magic, though the results were no different. She backed up further, only to collide with something behind her. She span, only to realise that she was now entrapped within another barrier. She glanced around desperately before finding the caster.

Shining trotted quickly - albeit unsteadily - to his sister's makeshift prison, "That's enough, Twilight. We're going home." He nodded at the unicorns beside him to help him maintain the spell. They did so, and the group began cantering in the same direction Fluttershy had been taken.

Twilight fired everything she could think of at the barrier, but it held firm, absorbing all her efforts. Just as she was about to give up, a last-ditch idea came into her mind, 'I could...' She shook her head to herself, 'I can't use that magic here. I could lose control again...' She swore loudly at her inability to utilise the magic she had worked so hard to learn, 'I just don't dare to use it. I could kill myself, or somepony else...' She looked into her brother's tired eyes, feeling her final option slipping away, 'I can't...' She slumped to the bottom of the orb dejectedly, looking up at her brother with sorrow in her eyes, "Shining?"

He acknowledged her with a nod, but his expression stayed neutral, and he said nothing.

Twilight panicked as she realised that he wasn't going to release her, "Shining, please! Don't take me back there! You know what she did!" She bashed her hooves against the edge in vain, "Don't take me back to her! Please, Shining! Please! She's using you like she used Spike! Please just let me go!"

Shining felt his heart ache at his sister's pleas, but on the outside he remained stoic. Regardless of what Celestia had done, it was better the devil she knew than staying with Discord and turning into just as much a monster as him.

"She'll hurt me, Shining! She tried to kill me! She's a murderer! If she-" She gasped as she saw the blood that now covered almost the entirety of his right hind leg, "Shining, you're bleeding..."

His expression softened slightly at her concerned tone, "Discord did this to me, Twilight. Don't you see how dangerous he is!? He could kill you if he felt like it!"

She shook her head, "He wouldn't! He won't!"

Shining's voice turned to ice, "Yes. He. Would. The minute you'd be of no more use to him, he'd kill you, just like that. I've seen enough monsters over the years to know what I'm talking about, Twilight, and I'd sooner die myself than let you stay with him and literally throw your life away!" Twilight moved her mouth to speak, but was caught off guard by the edge of malice in her brother's voice, one she'd never heard him use before, "No! You're coming home! Mum and dad are suffering all the time because of your selfishness! And enough is enough!" He stomped his hoof, his face contorted in anger as he stared down his little sister. He let out a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, "All that matters to us is that you're safe; everything else is secondary!"

Twilight sat, unable to look her brother in the eye further. It wasn't because she was angry with him, or even because she was ashamed at leaving her parents distraught at home. No, it was because - for the first time in his life - her brother had directed pure, unrestrained anger at her.

And it scared her.

Discord's eyes shifted rapidly between the three he was supposed to be protecting. Each had been separated from one another, Fluttershy and Twilight already in the clutches of the guards and being dragged away, Pinkie running out of places to run as guards closed in all around her. 'Pinkie first, that'll save me the task of having to free her. Then Fluttershy, she's the farthest away. Then Twilight, I'll just have to break the holding spell she's stuck in.' Or at least, that was the plan.

Then Fluttershy screamed.

'Fuck the plan.'

He was before the guards holding her in an instant, drawn up to his full terrifying height, casting a sinister shadow across all beneath him. The ground trembled slightly; the air became dense, almost unbreathable; and the sky itself darkened several shades as his anger literally forced the sun further down, as if it were trying to cower from him behind the horizon.

The guards were terrified. A crystal pony reflexively reached for his sword in a desperate attempt to defend himself, but as Discord's demonic gaze fell upon him his hooves trembled uncontrollably and the weapon fell from his grasp.

Discord remained there for a moment longer, allowing his intimidating presence to fully sink in before speaking, "I will say this only once." His voice held the awe of a thunderclap, the ambience of a raging battlefield, and the chilling presence of a death rattle rolled into one, "You will drop your weapons, you will release her, and you will run away." He snapped his fingers, screams of agony from the depths of hell itself permeating the air, his entire face fading into complete darkness except his glowing, crimson pupils, "Or you will die."

Despite the fact that she knew Discord's intention was to save her, Fluttershy still shrank back in time with the guards at Discord's truly horrifying display of power. The guards looked between each other, their ears flat against their heads in fright, hoping that somepony else would make the decisive call. They didn't.

And time wasn't on Discord's side, "You have three seconds."

"Three."

The crystal pony from before scrambled to grab his sword, stepping between Discord and the others, holding it before himself defensively, "Take her to the Captain, now!"

Discord never even gave them the chance to process the pony's words, "Wrong choice."

The ponies surrounding Fluttershy screamed collectively, clutching their heads and collapsing to the ground in agony, most of them begging for mercy or death as each experienced not just their own darkest nightmares, but those of others too. The nightmares of murderers, of monsters, of demons. Fluttershy trembled at the sight of their suffering, looking up at her friend with pleading eyes and an exponentially greater pleading tone, "Discord, please stop!"

In an instant the draconequus had reverted back to his usual form, the changes to the environment gone, and the ponies no longer screaming, laying unconscious around the two, "But I was just getting to the good part! Now, where are the other two?"

Fluttershy intended to help him look for her friends, but her eyes settled on the nearest guard immediately, "W-What did you do to them?"

Discord waved his paw dismissively as he scanned for the others, "Oh, I didn't actually hurt them, just smoke and mirrors, mind tricks. They'll be fine once they wake up." Fluttershy sighed in apparent relief, making Discord glad he'd omitted 'Physically, at least.' from the end of his sentence.

Pinkie was out of places to run, and with the guards now forming a complete circle around her she realised as much. 'What do I do!? I can't run, I can't fight, the internal components of the party cannon are probably fried after the overcharge...' Her heart was pounding in her ears as she rethought her situation, she wasn't just out of places to run, she was out of options. She swivelled her head, frantically searching for anything, or anypony, that could help her. What she saw was less than encouraging.

Twilight, pounding against the inside of a bubble-like spell before slumping down and curling up into a ball.

'Twilight!' Darkness swept over the area as the sun fell on the horizon, causing the guards to halt their advance to look for the cause. 'I have to help her!' But as the guards turned back to their target, Pinkie realised that even if she reached her friend, there was nothing she could do. "Discord!? Fluttershy!?" She shrank to the ground as the guards approached, now barely a few meters away, "Somepony!?" She clenched her eyes shut, but she couldn't block out the sounds of approaching hoofsteps and the clinking of metal armour, "Anypony?"

'You called?'

She recognised that voice, 'Pinkamena?'

Darkness was replaced with a familiar cell, "Yes." Pinkamena was still sitting in the chair, but it had obviously been moved, for she now faced Pinkie directly, "We don't have much time."

Pinkie looked around in confusion, "Wh-What do you mean?"

"You're about to be captured, and your friend already has been. I can help you."

Pinkie almost leapt backwards in shock, "You want t-to... help me?"

Pinkamena flicked her hair from her eyes, "I... don't know." She turned her head to the side, "Regardless of whether I want to or not, you need help, and I can provide it."

Pinkie was utterly bewildered, "B-But after everything, why would y-you help me?"

"It's of mutual benefit to the both of us. I gain my freedom, you avoid being captured."

Pinkie's eyes widened, "F-Freedom?"

Pinkamena looked back at her jailer, "Correct. Freedom. You will swap places with me, become my prisoner, and I, in turn, will save your life. Our life."

Pinkie swallowed the lump in her throat, "P-Pinkamena, I know you w-want to escape, and I d-don't blame you, b-but now isn't a g-good time..."

Pinkamena tilted her head slightly, "You're scared, aren't you? Afraid that I won't let you back out? That I'll have you experience the years of loneliness that I did?"

Pinkie nodded.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe. I'm not a monster like you, but we'll see if I'm feeling monstrous when I have the power, won't we?"

Pinkie remained silent, shuddering at the thought of being locked in isolation for years on end.

Pinkamena flicked her hair again, "But for me to be free, you have to release me and take my place in this cage."

Pinkie still said nothing, staring at the floor, considering her options: Be captured by the guards and imprisoned in Canterlot, or escape from the guards and be imprisoned in her own mind.

Pinkamena kept her expression neutral, "You're considering your options, aren't you? Either way, it's a cell for you, isn't it?"

Pinkie have a single solemn nod.

Pinkamena stood up slowly, causing Pinkie to look up and into her eyes, "But consider this, what happens not just to you, but your friends if you refuse?"

Pinkie's eyes widened as she realised what her alter-ego was implying, "P-Prison... Or worse..."

"Precisely." She stepped forwards, now almost muzzle-to-muzzle with Pinkie, staring seriously into her eyes, "I can help them. Release me, and I promise you I'll save them. Even if I don't let you out."

Pinkie considered the new ultimatum for but the briefest of moments before nodding, tears welling in her eyes, "I-I'll let you g-go. But you have to save my friends."

Pinkamena nodded to the cage door, "Open that, then stay here whilst I walk out and lock the door. That's all you have to do, I'll take care of the rest."

Pinkie nodded, trotting to the door and tapping the lock, causing it to disengage. The door swung open, and she felt the overwhelming urge to bolt straight out of it, but she couldn't. If this was what it would take to save her friends, so be it. Pinkie was trembling, forcing herself not to cry as Pinkamena came face-to-face with her once more, "Anything you want to say before I go?"

Pinkie bit her lip before speaking, "I-If you d-don't let m-me out, tell my f-friends that I r-released you, and t-tell them why. Otherwise they'll think y-you stole c-control..."

Pinkamena nodded, "That's all?"

Pinkie closed her eyes in thought. No, it certainly wasn't all, but she had no idea how much time had passed since she entered the cell, or even if the guards had grabbed her yet or not. Time was of the essence. She took a deep, shaky breath, "Th-That's all..."

Pinkamena strode to the exit, smiling as she stepped over the threshold, a moment she'd dreamed of for years. She turned and placed her hoof on the door, ready to close it. Just as she was about to, Pinkie spoke up once more, "P-Pinkamena?"

"Yes?"

Pinkie looked up at her soon-to-be-jailer. She was obviously suppressing her tears as best she could, but even so, it was clear that her spirit was broken, "Wh-What... What were y-you thinking about, all th-that time?"

Pinkamena's smile disappeared, "I was considering whether or not to forgive you."

Pinkie gasped slightly at the revelation, "D-Did you?"

Pinkamena took a deep breath, about to reveal her verdict, but after a moment she let it back out again as a sigh. Instead, she slammed the door shut, staring Pinkie in the face as she did so, "Would you have forgiven me?"

Pinkamena disappeared, and Pinkie stood alone in the cell. Years of solitude? No parties? No laughter? Could Pinkie ever forgive somepony for putting her through that?

"No..."

The locks shunted into place.

Pinkamena took a deep breath, smiling as she did so. She was the one breathing. She was the one in control. She opened her eyes, almost lost in the simple pleasure of truly being alive, despite the guards around her. Then she laughed, feeling her mane droop over her face as she did so.

The guards were temporarily caught by surprise. They halted for a moment as the pony between them laughed quietly to herself. A deep laugh for a mare, certainly, but not an unpleasant one. Had the situation been different they might have confused her laughter to be in response to a whispered joke. In the situation they were in now, it left them unsure of themselves and the pony herself, but they shook it off quickly enough.

Pinkamena licked her lips, once again revelling in the simple bliss the action brought her. She didn't stop laughing, though. For she knew her current ecstasy was nothing compared to what would come next.

The nearest guard reached down to grab her, but just as he brushed the fur against her side with his hoof, she moved.

"It's time."

She jumped to her hooves, drawing the guard's sword from his scabbard with her mouth before anypony could react. Those around her drew their weapons defensively, but the guard to whom the weapon belonged had no such luck. He wheeled around to face her, only to be met by the blade of his own sword. He lurched away, quickly enough to avoid having his head sliced off, but not quickly enough to avoid the blade cutting a deep wound into the side of his face.

And straight across his eye.

The guard recoiled, shrieking in pain and clutching at the remnants of his perforated eyeball. The others wasted no time, drawing in on the mare with weapons drawn before she could do any more damage.

Pinkamena spat her weapon into her hooves and looked from the fallen stallion to her blade, the end of which was now dripping with a splotch of blood and the fluid from her target's destroyed eye. She watched as clear liquid mixed with crimson, causing the blood to trickle down the blade slightly, and let out a depraved moan to herself, "Oh, yes..."

Once the initial, incredible thrill had passed, she couldn't help but laugh at the sight. It all just felt so good, and laughing made it even better.

This was what it felt like to be alive.

Every occupant of the ballroom watched with their mouths agape. Discord's earlier display had been horrible to watch, yes, but this? Even Celestia and Luna were shocked out of their wits, though Celestia's shock was deeper than that of the others, 'I knew it... This is bad! This is extremely bad!'

Applejack stared in disbelief, "P-Pinkie?"

Rarity covered her mouth for fear of vomiting. The anguished cries of the injured stallion didn't make the prospect of doing so any easier to resist, "Pinkie Pie... How could you?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head assuredly, "That's not Pinkie Pie. At least, not the Pinkie Pie we know. Discord's done something to her, there's no way she'd ever do something like that to another pony. Ever."

Applejack nodded in agreement and began trembling with rage, "Ah knew he was evil... but this has crossed the line." Her tone didn't rise in anger. Rather, it fell to a fearsome level. The tone of somepony making the promise of a lifetime, "No matter what it takes, Ah'm gonna track him down. Ah'm gonna find him. And Ah'm gonna hurt him." Rarity and Rainbow Dash were startled by the chilling anger in their friend's voice, and the Princesses shared a solemn glance at her words.

"Ah told Twilight. Ah told her this would happen! Ah told her he'd do this to us all if he got free! And now look!" She ground her teeth as another bout of trembling took hold, "Ah hate him so much..."

Rainbow tentatively placed a hoof on Applejack's side, "I'll be there with you, every step of the way. He won't get away with this."

Rarity said nothing, for as she looked upon Pinkie's visage memories from many months ago flashed before her eyes.

Her tone, 'Spike, my friend... I'm very sorry that things had to end this way. I'll remember everything, I promise. I'll never forget you.'

Her attitude, 'There's something you're not telling us, Princess Celestia...'

Her demeanour, 'SHUT UP! MY NAME IS NOT PINKIE! AND YOUR SISTER IS A LIAR!'

And that hair...

They'd seen this before.

Rarity gave Celestia a sideways glance. Though all the room's inhabitants seemed to be displaying shock and worry to a certain extent, the look on the Princess' face seemed almost fearful.

Princess Celestia, who - despite what else Rarity thought of her as - was undoubtedly one of the most powerful beings in existence.

Rarity looked back to the image of her pink friend and shuddered. Whatever was going on here, it was far more sinister than she dared to imagine.

"Drop the weapon! Now!"

Pinkamena sighed, "I'd suggest you get out of my way, unless you're all sure you have enough eye patches?"

"Disarm her."

Pinkamena giggled playfully as an earth pony swung his sword ferociously at her own, intent on knocking it from her grasp. She raised her own casually and swung it back at his. Faster. The collision sent him stumbling backwards as he tried to bring his sword back up, but Pinkamena didn't stop her swing, allowing it to carry through and smash against his helmet, the sheer force of the impact sending him sprawling to the floor - and after a few seconds, vomiting on it from disorientation.

Pinkamena smiled innocently at the remaining guards, "Would you excuse me for a moment? There's just one little thing I have to take care of, then you boys can have as much of me as you want." She winked, and grinned to herself as she noted their varied reactions, from discomfort to disgust.

Before they could regain their senses, she twirled her sword, caught the hilt in her mouth, and darted off towards Twilight's location.

Twilight scanned the area for her friends, catching sight of Discord and Fluttershy stood side-by-side. She remained quiet, not wishing to alert the guards around her that the two had broken free. She checked around for Pinkie, but couldn't find any sign of her.

That was, until a half-gasp, half-scream and the sonorous ring of colliding metal from behind her made her jump and hit her head nastily against the spell imprisoning her. She span - as did the guards around her - and caught a glimpse of pink through her swimming vision, happy to see her friend was safe.

But as her vision cleared and her friend came into focus, her happiness quickly dissolved into confusion. Pinkie was smirking menacingly around the hilt of the sword she held in her mouth, and a splotch of blood was clearly visible around its tip. That, and her mane had lost its usual bounciness, instead hanging heavily over her features. Twilight recognised the signs and leant backwards slightly, "P-Pinkie?"

Pinkamena chuckled and shook her head, spitting her sword into her hooves and sidestepping a tackle from one of the earth pony guards, "Close, but no cigar. Guess again." She watched Twilight's jaw drop in her periphery, "There! You've got it! Now then..." She balanced on her left forehoof, delivering a harsh buck to the face of the guard she had previously dodged, "Will you piss off while I'm thinking? Thank you."

Shining drew his sword defensively, speaking as calmly as he could despite his injury, "Pinkie, put the sword down. Nopony needs to get hurt here."

She cocked her head, "It's a bit late for that now... One of your guards over the way suddenly seems to be lacking in the depth-perception department. But we're wasting time. Let her go, or I'll cut you. All of you."

Shining almost recoiled at the change in the bubbly pony, "Pinkie?"

She lowered her tone, sounding almost seductive rather than threatening, "Time's up, and it's Pinkamena to you, handsome."

She lurched for him, and Shining parried expertly, their blades held in deadlock for a moment before the stallion of the pair pushed back with force, leaving Pinkamena no choice but to disengage. She held her weapon at the ready, "Interesting..."

Twilight looked on with wide eyes, "Pinkie, STOP!"

Pinkamena waved a hoof, "I'm not answering you if you won't call me by my name, Twilight."

Shining turned his head slightly towards to the pair of unicorns on his left, but kept his gaze firmly on Pinkamena, "You two, take the spell, and go." He raised his voice, "The rest of you, focus on her. I don't know why, or how, but she's dangerous."

Pinkamena laughed, "You flatter me, really." She scanned around, the five guards before her, the two with Twilight, and Shining, that made eight. And the others closing in behind her. Thirteen, maybe fourteen? "This is going to feel so good."

She feigned a downwards sweep at Shining with her blade, but withdrew it before the moment he parried and span around him, hurtling towards the unicorns behind him, "But first..."

They turned to face her, one drawing a sword with his magic, the crystal unicorn beside him charging an orange aura around his horn. Pinkamena leapt into the air, catching them off-guard at the sheer height she reached. She somersaulted, then drew the blade above her head, preparing to strike. Before either of them could reposition their defences she landed, her sword swinging down onto the crystal guard's horn like a guillotine. Blood and crystalline shards erupted from the now shattered appendage as the unicorn moaned and stumbled away before collapsing in agony. Pinkamena almost squealed at the near-orgasmic sensation that flooded through her as she witnessed the display.

Twilight looked away. She had to escape somehow, but that still didn't make the events unfolding before her any less gruesome.

Pinkamena took a steadying breath, trying to slow the excited beating of her heart, "And now there's you..." She turned to the other guard who had rushed to the side of his injured comrade, "Drop the spell holding her, now. Otherwise," She flicked her sword outwards effortlessly, droplets of blood flying through the air as she did so, "you die." She cocked her head and smiled sweetly.

The guard looked between the mare and his friend beside him, assessing the situation. The captain would be here in a matter of seconds anyway. Better not to put any more lives in danger when he wasn't sure if he could even protect himself. He dropped the spell, in turn dropping Twilight unsteadily to her hooves a few meters behind him.

Discord and Fluttershy materialised out of thin air behind Twilight, the draconequus sighing exasperatedly, "I'm just about sick of this. Every time I'm about ready I have to waste more magic saving you three."

Twilight ignored him, pointing a hoof to the group of guards - her brother included - approaching the mare from behind, "Pinki-amena! Behind you!"

Discord and Fluttershy looked over at Pinkamena in alarm at mention of her name. Upon confirming their fears, Fluttershy hid behind her friends, and Discord looked around everywhere, throwing his arms up in surrender to the universe that so clearly hated him, "You have to be joking. NOW!? OF ALL TIMES, YOU CHOSE NOW!?" His expression became distraught as he rested his head in his paw, "Fuck my life..."

Pinkamena rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes. At least we're on a 'remembering my name basis' now." She strode towards Twilight, apparently unconcerned about the guards approaching from behind. Out of nowhere she changed course, swinging a foreleg around the neck of the unicorn guard she had conversed with and hurling him to the ground near the others.

The guard gasped from the pain in his side where he had landed and tried stand up following the unexpected assault, but was met with a hoof to the back of his helmet, smashing his face into the hard earth.

Pinkamena's voice turned to venom, "Stay down, or I'll break you until you can't get up."

The reactions of the others varied. Fluttershy yelped and cowered, Twilight visibly flinched, and Discord simply raised an eyebrow.

Pinkamena turned her attention to the wave of guards approaching and flicked her sword so that the blade stopped centimetres from the neck of the guard below her, "I'm sick of all this running around! Nopony comes any closer or you carry him home in pieces!"

The guards skidded to a halt immediately. After a few seconds Shining emerged from the ranks, "Alright, let's not-"

"Somepony's not a very good listener..." The guards could only look on in horror as Pinkamena twirled the blade around her hoof and slammed it downwards through the stallion's forelegs, pinning them to the floor with a sickening crunch as the armour around the knees crumpled and the bones within shattered. The guard writhed in agony beneath her, but all she did was close her eyes and take a deep, refreshing breath before continuing, "Consider that a warning. He'd be dead if I didn't need a hostage. But make no mistake, hostage or not, another step and his head comes off." She brushed her hair from her eyes serenely, "Now then, if you'd be so kind as to drop your weapons?"

Shining slowly lowered his sword to the ground with his magic before turning to those behind him, "Drop your weapons." Unbeknownst to Pinkamena or the others, Shining made several quick hoof signals to one of the unicorns nearer the back of the group. The unicorn nodded, and as Shining turned back around said unicorn's horn glowed briefly before he faded into the background, along with a quiver of arrows. The - now invisible - unicorn quietly stepped away, taking extreme care not to make a sound with each hoofstep as he gradually manoeuvred into position.

Pinkamena smiled as the guards all lowered their weapons to the ground, though she didn't look away from them as she spoke, "Twilight, you wouldn't mind fetching those weapons over here would you? And while you're at it, hover one above this one here." She gave the agonised stallion beneath her a gentle tap, making comforting shushing noises momentarily, "I don't like the look your brother's giving me. Likelihood is he's planning on blasting me as soon as I drop my guard. This way he won't dare."

Twilight looked at the stallion beneath Pinkamena, still writhing in agony from his injuries with a small pool of blood beginning to form beneath him. Her horn glowed as if she was in a trance, her eyes distant as she nodded. A few seconds later the weapons were in a heap beside her, save for the one sword that was now suspended above the stallion.

"How much-" Pinkamena paused, and spat on the - now crying - pony beneath her, "Will you shut up!?" She stomped her forehoof onto his head, finally silencing him as the impact knocked him out cold. She leant on the sword's hilt with her forehooves as she spoke, "How much longer, Discord?"

Discord spoke evenly, as if he hadn't just witnessed an outright display of cruelty, "Oh, about two minutes. Probably less."

"Good. Fighting is fun and all, but there's so much more I want to experience now that I'm in control."

Discord turned as he heard a sniffle behind him. Surely enough, Fluttershy was crying, curled up into a ball on the ground; it didn't take a genius to figure out why. He noticed something, however, that concerned him deeply. She was shaking. Violently.

"Fluttershy?" He coiled his form around her slightly in an attempt to steady her, "Are you alright?" No response. He frowned for a moment in thought, he wasn't an expert when it came to comforting distraught ponies, "Angel." The rabbit poked his head out of the saddlebags and immediately noticed the state of his owner, "Take care of her." For once, the rabbit didn't make any attempt to insult the draconequus, instead hopping to the floor before his owner and nudging her nose gently, attempting to get a response. Discord nodded his thanks and left the rabbit to his work.

Fluttershy raised her head, nuzzling Angel gently, though she didn't stop shaking. She couldn't. She looked around, purposefully avoiding the immediate vicinity of Pinkamena and the guard she had impaled. She didn't want to see that again. She felt sick to her stomach just thinking about it, and the noise it had made. She squinted as a sudden beam of light flashed past her eyes from somewhere off to her right. After blinking several times, she scanned the area for the cause, but found nothing.

She saw it again.

A brief flash of light. A slight shimmer that reflected the sunlight towards her like a piece of glass would on a bright day. She focused, despite her trembling.

Another flash. A little farther to the right this time.

Another, even farther to the right.

Whatever it was, it was moving.

Fluttershy didn't want to take any chances. She forced herself to stand, her legs threatening to give out beneath her at any moment. She trotted over to Twilight as quickly as she could manage without toppling over, watching the spot to her right from the corner of her eye for the slightest shimmer.

It moved again.

Discord levitated to Pinkamena's side and whispered to her, "Keep the threats and violence to a minimum." She looked up at him and cocked a disapproving eyebrow. Discord, however, returned a death glare back, "I won't ask twice. Any more and she might break. Do not make me lock you back in your cage, because you know I can."

Pinkamena glared back defiantly for a moment before blowing her mane out of her face, "Fine. But once you're done tending to your marefriend I'd like to get out of here."

"T-T-T-Twilight?"

Twilight almost let go of the sword in surprise, "Don't scare me like that, Fluttershy! What is it?"

"I-I-I think I s-saw something, over there." She pointed a trembling hoof at the apparently empty area to their right.

The unicorn guard stood stock still as the mare pointed in his general direction. He stopped and prayed that they couldn't see him in his current position. After several suffocating seconds, the purple mare turned to the yellow one and shook her head. The guard released a deep breath, waited a few seconds, and continued to move, now almost in position.

"There's nothing there, Fluttershy..."

"B-But I... I-I saw someth-thing..."

Twilight placed a hoof around her friend gently, "Another minute, and we'll be done with all this horrible stuff. Even if you did see something, it's obviously gone now." Twilight hid her concerns about Fluttershy seeing figments of her imagination. The pegasus was still trembling uncontrollably and was evidently extremely upset as it was; she didn't want to make things any worse. "Just another minute, okay?"

Fluttershy eyed the area where she had seen the light, but it was gone now. Perhaps Twilight was right, "O-Okay..." She gently shrugged off Twilight's hoof and gave her some room to concentrate on her spell, trotting a few paces and dropping to her haunches.

The orders were clear. 'Rescue. Non-lethal. Injury acceptable.' The unicorn's horn glowed, but he made sure to mask his presence as it did so. He drew three arrows from his quiver. They would have to be fired in sequence. The first, at the sword currently levitating above Pyre's head, to knock it from the unicorn's magical grasp. The second would be a crippling shot to the leg of the pink one, disabling her for long enough for the others to move in. The final one was for the unicorn, to prevent her recovering any of the weapons before Pyre could be saved; a simple grazing shot would do the trick. They were relatively simple shots, yes, but Pyre's life depended on the timing. He took a deep breath and dropped the cloaking spell.

Fluttershy glanced over at Discord, apparently he and Pinkamena were arguing about something, but she couldn't hear what. She inadvertently caught a glance at Pinkamena and averted her eyes reflexively. She sighed, but it came out as more of a rattle, her trembling still taking its time to subside. Angel clambered up and began patting her head gently, but she found herself incapable of any real response. Unwilling to look back towards the horrific scene before her, she scanned the area to her right one more time, and her breath caught in her throat.

By the time Fluttershy found her ability to speak the arrows were being drawn back, "TWILIGHT! DISCORD! PINKIE!"

One, two, three. The arrows shot across the area with little more than a whoosh of air.

The three in question whirled around, but by the time they had realised what was happening it was already too late. None could do anything but watch with wide eyes as time seemed to slow to a stop.

After several seconds, the arrows were still there, suspended in mid-air.

Enveloped by a yellow glow.

A glow Fluttershy's Element shared.

Twilight felt a cold trickle of sweat drip down from her forehead at how close she had been to being shot, and Pinkamena took several deep breaths before muttering, "Nice catch..."

Fluttershy turned to the stallion responsible, blazing fury evident in her eyes and voice, "What were you going to do?..."

A second glowing layer appeared over her Element as the arrows vanished and reappeared above Fluttershy, "You were going to kill them!"

She wasn't shaking in fear any more. Now she was shaking with pure, unbridled rage, "You were going to MURDER MY FRIENDS!"

A third overglow appeared, and the arrows drew back slightly. The stallion desperately tried to grasp at the arrows with his own magic, knowing what was coming, but every attempt to get past the yellow aura was met with failure. "You... You monster! YOU ANIMAL!"

Discord snapped his fingers to cancel out Fluttershy's magic before she did something she'd regret. It didn't work. "Fluttershy!"

She carried on, oblivious to the world beyond her and the stallion, "YOU DANGEROUS. RABID. ANIMAL!"

Discord appeared behind her, grabbing her and pulling her backwards. The arrows remained primed to fire, "Fluttershy, NO!"

Twilight regained her senses, "FLUTTERSHY! STOP!"

"I'LL PUT YOU DOWN!"

The three golden arrows exploded forwards. It took only a second for them to find their mark. His armour couldn't save him, all three punctured straight through, continuing their journey, rending flesh, tearing muscles, breaking bones, rupturing organs. A burst of blood shot from the other side of the stallion as the first arrow completely perforated him. The second followed instantly with a similar crimson spray. The third did not, the arrow remaining lodged somewhere deep within his body.

The guard said nothing. Did nothing. He simply stood, staring into the middle-distance with his mouth hanging open as if he couldn't comprehend what had happened. Not a single sound escaped him as he toppled forwards, and only when he collided with the earth, and the impact forced his breath from his lungs, did a ragged wheeze of pain escape his throat.

And at this very instant, unbeknownst to Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness cracked.

Fluttershy looked upon the guard for several seconds before realisation dawned in her eyes. At first, all she could do was blink in disbelief.

Then the full weight of her actions came down upon her. She took a tremendous breath, only to release it immediately and repeat the process again. She couldn't look away. The blood, his blood, it was on her hooves. She tried to scream, but all that escaped was a strangled cry.

So she wept in silence.

The spell was ready. Discord exhaled slowly, adopting a calm façade. He didn't release Fluttershy from his grasp as he teleported back to the other two.

Twilight understood the meaning behind the action and dispelled the shock of the moment for long enough to discard the sword she held above the guard.

Pinkamena stood from her leaning position against her own sword, but didn't remove it from the hostage.

Discord's face betrayed no emotion, but as he looked up to the same patch of sky he had addressed earlier, his voice clearly did, "You did this, Celestia. You sent them after us. You had them hunt us down..." His hold tightened around the pegasus protectively as his voice shook slightly, "You. Did. This."

A final snap of his fingers and they were gone. Discord left only one thing behind: A truly deafening, echoing roar; not of anger, but of pain.

"CELESTIA!"

It terrified all who heard it more than any cry of rage ever could.

Author's Notes:

So... things get pretty damn heavy...

Just want to say sorry about not getting this out to you guys earlier, something important came up that simply couldn't wait.

Also, despite this being the longest chapter so far, I actually had to CUT some of the ending and carry it over to the next chapter :D I got far too into writing this one, evidently.

I know the long chapters are a pain in the ass to read, but I really don't want to split every chapter into parts (I only do that with chapters that exceed 20k usually. If I started splitting chapters into like 6k sections I would effectively be getting my story bumped to the main page three times for something that I should have published in one chunk. I dunno, it feels like I'd be cheating somehow if I split them.

I need feedback from you guys on this, if you can spare a moment, of course. Are the chapters too long in your opinion? (Don't worry, I won't write shorter ones if you say that's the case, I'll just split them and publish them on consecutive days when they're ready).

Thanks very much for reading guys. This chapter was an absolute pleasure to write, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

On a side note, the next chapter will probably be quite short, plus I already have about 2k words down so the deadline shouldn't be too far off. :)

- Mikemarksman, bringing you guys the 'scope' of things to come.