"Hm? What's this?"

An expression of shock became plastered across the face of the draconequus. He saw, standing before his throne, the six mares he had turned against one another, now fully restored in color and preparing to finish him off.

“No.”

With a flash of light, the Elements of Harmony activated, and a beam of prismatic energy arced upward and pierced downward toward the spirit of chaos. This was it. This was the end of it all.

“NO!”

The blast of rainbow light crashed into the ground, surrounding Discord in its magical power and starting to wrap around him, shifting his normal body to solid rock. He struggled to resist, but it did not do much to stop the harmonious magics from continuing the transformation.

Slowly but surely, from the soles of his feet to the tip of his snout, his entire body had morphed to stone. With a crack, the petrified chimera hit the ground, remaining intact but still completely motionless. It was over. Discord lost.

The blaring sound of a trumpet’s fanfare signaled the six mares, now heroes once more, to begin their march down the red carpet toward the throne, where the sun princess Celestia awaited them.

“Citizens of Equestria!” the solar princess announced. “We are gathered here today to once again honor the heroism of these six friends who stood up to the villain Discord and saved Equestria from eternal chaos!”

Applause and cheers overlapped throughout the entirety of the room as the alicorn princess revealed a stained glass window depicting Discord’s defeat, with the six young mares standing on the ground below, returning him to his stone prison. All was as it should have been. Discord was sealed away, and peace had been restored...or had it?

An interesting and disturbing place, the void of chaos. An ordinary realm to its regular residents, yet to an outsider, it is an extraordinary enigma. The first thing to be noticed is that absolute nothing in this strange world is consistent. It is ever-changing in at least one aspect of its existence. If nothing else, the one constant change is the instant transition from night into day that occurs almost hourly.

A long stretch of road made up of stone with a checkerboard pattern bore several small town-like communities along its path, each taken residence by families of impling creatures. They were rather small beings, only two and a half feet tall, with horns of various shapes, sizes and colors, and their bodies were partially draconic like their great ruler. They shared the land with gargantuan titans called ‘Ogres’ by the chaos lord himself. They were over ten feet tall, muscle-bound beasts with fangs and claws, and they acted as nothing more than guardians of the imps.

One of the implings came barrelling down the road, past the logs of obsidian, through the forest of bubbles and soap and across a rickety bridge built over a roaring rapid of chocolate milk. His destination was clear as day, or in this case, night: a large, ominous castle towering so high over a dozen towns down the road, yet all the while, it gave off no shadow in any direction, as if its owner denied the sun and moon themselves, or as if the celestial bodies denied themselves to him.

The impling came barging through the door, tripping over his own feet and tumbling down a red carpet past several dozen doorways to the left and right, each marked with its own categorical code. He rolled down into a large stone room, where at the end, the draconic figure of the castle’s master swung a brush across the back wall, finishing his mural: a depiction of Ponyville, totally decimated by an endlessly-flowing void of chaos from the sky.

The impling’s roll stopped just before he touched the draconequus’ heels. His labored breaths alerted his master to his arrival, causing him to turn around and look down at the small creature.

“You’ve arrived just in time,” spoke the draconic lord. “I take it you have what I’ve been waiting for?”

“Of course, Lord Discord,” sniveled the impling, pulling a leather-bound note from within his cloak. “It arrived just moments ago. The letter to the princess from her protege.”

Discord swiped it from the impling and dismissed him. The room was empty of all but the draconequus himself in all of five seconds. He opened it and read the note’s contents aloud, albeit abridged slightly.

“Dear Princess, blah blah blah, small problem, blah blah blah, entire town in total chaos...ah, so my little ponies do miss me...”

Discord crumples up the note and tosses it to the floor, creating a white gateway before him. With a snap of his fingers, he dismisses his brush and palate and looks into the rift, face lit up with a twisted grin.

“I suppose now is as good a time as any to try again...but this time I’ll do it right. I’ll go for my dear Celestia and Luna first, and then turn Equestria into my personal canvas of disharmony! A terrible catastrophe, played by a symphony! What a terrifying work of art it will be!”

The ivory rift now showed an image, and the draconic demon grinned even greater. He could see into Celestia’s own throne room, and she had just finished reading the friendship report from her student and her friends.

“Ah, dear Celestia...so long have you tormented me...so long have you despised me...so long have you believed I was your prisoner...when all this time, you were just setting yourself up to become mine.”

The sun princess Celestia dismissed the letter, sending it to the room she stored all of Twilight’s friendship reports. She glanced around the empty room, void of even her royal guards, and sighed. It was far too quiet for her tastes. She almost enjoyed chaos.

“Bored without my magic, are we, Celestia?”

Celestia looked around rapidly for the source of the voice. In her panic, she failed to realize that it stood, or rather, floated, right in front of her.

“...How?”

“What, no hello? How are you, Discord? How have you been since my tools turned you back to stone? How disappointing.”

“Stop beating around the bush, Discord,” Celestia said, glaring at the chaos spirit. “How did you escape?”

The draconequus chuckled. “Oh, my dear princess...how can one escape from a prison that does not exist to him?”

Celestia’s glare did not falter. “What are you talking about?”

“I was never sealed away, Celestia...I only had you believe that I was, so that when you were in a position like this, isolated by your self in your chambers, I could come and talk with you.”

“I’m done talking, Discord. I trusted Twilight Sparkle and her friends to put you back where you belong, but apparently it is not enough to keep you there...so instead, I’ll seal you in stone personally!”

A powerful magic aura surged from Celestia’s horn, and a mighty blast of energy shot forth toward the draconic spirit. Discord merely twisted his body slightly to evade the blast, giving the alicorn an unamused look.

“Really, Celestia, all I want to do is have a little chat, and you’re making such a big deal out of this.”

“Why should I even listen to you?” inquired Celestia. “You ruled the land in total disharmony, broke free and stole the elements, and now you return, claiming that you somehow were never really a prisoner? Give me one good reason I should hear out anything you say.”

“Well, you’ve got me there, Celestia. I really have no good reason to talk...but perhaps your sister would like to step forth and speak her mind.”

Celestia’s eyes turned to the shifting of one of the window curtains closest to the door, where the figure of a midnight blue alicorn stepped forth out of hiding.

“Luna? Why art thou in hiding among the curtains?” Celestia asked, taking on the royal Canterlot dialect as she naturally would with her sister.

“I had been listening in on thine letter from Twilight Sparkle and her companions. I do so apologize for sneaking about, sister.”

Luna glared at Discord, her horn flaring up with powerful magic. “But now we must work in unison to banish this demon once and for all!”

“I could not agree more, my sister,” Celestia said, aiming her horn at the chaos spirit.

“Oh...so that’s how it’s going to be, is it, Luna?” Discord pouted.

“Thy trickery dost not work on me anymore, Discord!” Luna declared, taking on her booming Canterlot voice. “Thou shall be sealed away once more, no matter what thou may say against it!”

“We, the princesses Celestia and Luna,” added Celestia, taking the mighty tone as well, “deem thou far too dangerous to be imprisoned in any known part of Equestria!”

“We seal thee in stone once more,” spoke Luna.

“And send thee deep into the planet’s core!” yelled Celestia.

The alicorn sisters each let off a powerful flare of magic energy from their horns. Discord knew this was it. This was the spell he was waiting for them to cast. He held his arms up and smirked.

“I won’t be losing this time, Celestia...It’s time I turned the tables on you and your sister...”

With the swipe of his paw and claw, he created two twisting vortexes, one in each direction he was being attacked.

“What?” yelled the princesses in unison, but their cries meant nothing as their spells passed through the rifts and shot right out at one another. The two could not dodge in time, and the magic had begun to take effect. Slowly, from their hooves up, they began morphing into statues.

“How does it feel, Celestia? Tell me what being petrified feels like to you!”

“I thought you said you don’t turn ponies to stone, Discord!” Celestia exclaimed, panicking as she attempted to cancel out her sister’s spell, while Luna did the same, both failing completely.

“Well, there are two things wrong with that statement, my dear Celestia,” Discord noted, forming a glass of chocolate milk in his hand. “The first is that you are far beyond that mortal coil, and the second is that I’ve done nothing but redirect your spells. You brought this upon yourself, and you will have to live with it.”

The stone transformation was up to their necks. The sisters struggled to counter the spell, but to no avail. After attempting such a powerful spell, the most either of them would be able to do would be mere teleportation, and they would be petrified regardless.

“One thing still perplexes me, Discord,” Celestia growled, still straining to break free.

“Oh? And what is that, Celestia?”

“What is your real goal?”

“Well,” Discord said with a grin. “I suppose you could say that you were merely my...”

The stone had nearly wrapped around their bodies completely. Discord floated up to Celestia’s ear and whispered the answer.

“Stepping stones to taking back the throne.”

Celestia managed a gasp, followed by a transition of expression from anger to shock as the petrification spell finished the job. Celestia and Luna stood at opposite positions in the palace throne room, and they had been completely turned to stone. Discord tapped the side of Celestia’s head, as if there was reason to double check, which he knew there wasn’t.

“And now,” the draconequus chuckled, “time for the finishing touches before I plunge Ponyville into a void of chaos...”

Discord snapped his fingers, and in an instant, he vanished along with the petrified princesses.

It was a brisk night throughout Ponyville, and the library in the small town was not as quiet as it usually was. On this particular night, after the events of Twilight Sparkle’s backfiring ‘Want It, Need It’ spell and the friendship report written by her and her six friends, the librarian unicorn had invited the group to stay for a sleepover.

“And then,” spoke Rainbow Dash, holding a flashlight beneath her chin for dramatic effect, “the filly stared off into the forest, only to see the twisted image of a pony before her...”

She flicked the device off and suddenly bolted up into the air, turning it back on again, but this time, holding it above her. “A skeletal pony!”

The five girls, and the baby dragon Spike, screamed and jumped back in fear as Rainbow Dash slowly descended to the floor of the library, roaring with laughter.

“Oh, man,” she laughed, wiping a tear from her eye, “you guys are way too easy!”

“That was not funny, Rainbow Dash!” announced Rarity, pulling herself out from beneath a stack of pillows. “That was the most sick and twisted thing I’ve ever heard anypony come up with!”

“I have to agree with Rarity, Rainbow,” Twilight added. “That was a pretty messed up story.”

“Well, don’t blame me!” Rainbow proclaimed. “It’s not my story! Zecora told me that one! She said it was an old story from her homeland.”

“Sounds believable,” Applejack said, glancing around the room out of instinctual fear. “Zecora’s probably got a whole bunch’a creepy tales ta spin.”

“I-if it would be all right,” stuttered Fluttershy, hiding beneath several layers of blankets, pillows and a table, “could we p-please...stop the scary stories now?”

“All right, all right,” Dash said, waving her hoof dismissively. “I’ll give it a rest. Besides, isn’t there one part of this sleepover we almost forgot about?”

“Aw, yeah! I know what yer talkin’ bout, Rainbow! Pillow fig-” Applejack began, interrupted by a pillow to the face, courtesy of Rarity.

“Too slow,” Rarity giggled before she was pelted by Pinkie Pie from behind.

“Pillow fight! Pillow fight!”

The girls began flinging pillows around the room, while Fluttershy cowered beneath her fortress of blankets, avoiding the feathery war zone entirely. Spike failed to escape the conflict in time and became fully buried under a barrage of pillows. The girls’ laughter filled the room, and for a moment, everything was as it should have been: normal.

The ordinary night did not linger, as a pair of mighty crashes sounded out from outside the library, and the pillows hit the floor with a soft thud. Silence reigned for several seconds before Twilight began a slow trek towards the door. With a slow creak, she opened the door and peered outside, only to jump back and shriek in terror at what she had seen. She rubbed her eyes, hoping what she’d just witnessed was only an illusion conjured by her exhausted mind, but it was not true. She made her way outside, and her friends slowly followed.

Now standing before the library, parallel to one another on each side of the door, were the petrified forms of Celestia and Luna. Twilight thought at first that they could just be mere works of art, but their expressions too greatly resembled the princesses. She also took notice to how terrified they are...similar to a certain draconequus when he was being sealed in stone.

Twilight couldn’t bear it any longer. With the sudden stress of the situation crashing upon her, she collapsed to the ground, burying her face into the dirt and breaking down into tears. She tried to stop herself. What would the princesses think of how she was acting? Surely they’d want her to buck up and handle this with tenacity...but she couldn’t. Any single thought of her mentor brought even more tears to her eyes. Even the consoling calls of her friends failed to penetrate the mental barrier she’d put up on her mind.

“Twi!” exclaimed Applejack. “C’mon, girl, ya gotta snap outta this! It ain’t that bad! We can fix it! We’ve done the impossible before, remember?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie added, hopping around the moping unicorn. “We’ll make all the bad stuff go away just like before!”

“I don’t think it will be that simple this time, Pinkie Pie,” spoke a familiar disembodied voice.

A blinding flash of light exploded before the six mares, and the twisted draconequus Discord now floated before them with a huge grin on his face.

“Discord!” exclaimed a furious Rainbow Dash, who upon getting him in her sights, charged at him with blinding speed, only to be stopped by a brick wall materializing out of thin air. The cyan pegasus slid down the wall, curling up into a ball, crying softly in pain.

“There will be none of that this time, my little ponies. For you see, I did not just turn your glorious princesses’ petrification spells on one another, but in redirecting the spells, I absorbed a portion of their magic. Now I am in full control of Equestria and beyond!”

Discord hovered in toward Twilight and tapped her horn thrice with a claw on his talon hand. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle...it seems you won’t be much of a threat this time around. Excellent. With just one of you confirmed out of the way, I’ve nothing to fear...”

Discord soared up high into the sky, but close enough to the ground so he could properly rant. “And now,” he proclaimed, raising his claw to the sky and generating a black void of sorts in it, “Pure, untamed and glorious chaos!”

The void in his clawed palm shot up into the clouds, seeming to absorb them completely as it began to generate a large, twisting warp of black and white. It seemed to do nothing at first, but as the seconds ticked on, the rift began to release a flurry of implings wielding sharpened candy cane swords and checkerboard shields.

“What in tarnation?” was all Applejack could manage before Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy were dragging her, Rainbow Dash and the still-sulking Twilight back inside the library, safely away from the rain of chaos that had just been unleashed onto Ponyville.

“Ah, I think this is a good first day,” Discord said with a chuckle. “Well, back to the palace to begin transforming it. I won’t have this kingdom until I have turned Celestia’s old decrepit hovel into the perfect castle for the perfect realm of chaos!”

Discord glanced around, spotting about a dozen nearby implings and heading over to them. “You!” he demanded. “You are now my palace guards. Come with me. We’ve much redecorating to do.”

The implings were quick to obey, as they always were. They followed their master on foot as he floated above them, back toward Canterlot, which was already overflowing with heavily-armed implings. The pony guards attempted to fight back, but the mass number of Discord’s imp minions was far too great for them, and they were immediately overpowered and tossed into the palace prison cells.

“Hmm...” Discord made a mental note. If, by some chance, the Elements of Harmony could bring Twilight Sparkle around, he may want to keep at least one of them far away from her friends. Not Applejack, he thought. Being the strongest of the six, she could break free with little to no effort. Not Rainbow Dash, he mused. She would escape just as easily, utilizing speed rather than brawn.

Just then, it hit him. The one pony who was just as chaotic as he was. “Pinkie Pie,” he thought aloud sinisterly. “She enjoyed my chaos the last time, to an extend...perhaps I can...tempt her to my side.”

Back in the library, Spike, just pushing his way out of a pillow mountain, looked at the six in total confusion. “Did something just happen?” he inquired, quickly glancing over at his sobbing friend. “Twilight!”

Spike made a mad dash to Twilight, evading any and all obstacles in his path as he jumped at her, wrapping his arms around her neck in a hug. This finally got the lavender unicorn to glance up and see the baby dragon staying as close to her as possible, his face plastered with worry.

“Spike?” she muttered tearfully, wiping her eyes so she could see more clearly. She didn’t speak another word. The only thing she did next was return the young dragon’s embrace, wondering what just happened, how Discord broke free, and how she was going to put him back in stone. For the remainder of the night, the library was depressingly silent.