Transcending Equestria

by BlueDWarrior

Rating: teen
Tags: Discord, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna
Length: 12542

For nearly all death is an end; for the Bearers of Harmony it's only the start of a new beginning.

For time immemorial, Mortals have divided the Immortal into two camps.
Those that wished to preserve the established order and system were known as 'gods'.
Those that wished to destroy the established order and plunge the world into chaos were known as 'demons'.

An incident with a once-vanquished foe will forever change these perceptions for six young mares, and perhaps, lead to a world that is greater than who inhabit it could ever think possible.

(Story is divergent from canon re: the history of Equestria, and the events post "Keep Calm and Flutter On")
----

The primary thrust of the story will be the evolution of the characters through their interactions, though there may be some mild adventuring and whatnot in between.
Rated Teen for general discussion of somewhat mature themes for the purpose of either drama or comedy, whatever strikes my fancy at the time of writing.
Much thanks to Aegis Exemplar for his help in preliminary editing. I do, though, appreciate any questions regarding errors or other clarifications necessary.
Any edits to chapters will be noted in Author's notes at the end of said chapter.

Published 2013-08-27 12:30:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-27 12:30:03 UTC

Prologue

Transcending Equestria

-- Prologue --

There is a saying out there, you know?

They say that everything that is immortal can be divided into two main groups.

On one hoof, you have those that wish to maintain Order and certain strict kinds of systems, mortals tend to call these immortals “gods”.

On the other hoof, you have those that wish to generate Chaos and constantly shake existing systems up, mortals tend to call these immortals “demons”.

Even as recently ago as a couple of years, I would have been one to to say “Yes, there are gods among us who want to maintain Order, and there are demons lurking that want to sow Chaos and disrupt everything we hold dear.”

Boy, were my friends and I ever wrong about that…

Twilight Sparkle looked up from reading a book of general philosophy, spying a certain now part-time farmer gliding over the courtyard at low altitude.

“Come on Lady Terria, I know you’re originally borne of Earth Pony stock, but everyone with wings eventually learns how to fly!” one of the Air Royal Guard trainers shouted encouragingly, having to treat the orange Alicorn far more like a skittish child than he (or anypony else for that matter) was comfortable treating her.

“Ah know that, but Ah’m still nervous as all get out when Ah’m in tha air! And Ah told y’all before, when Ah’m not on duty just call me Applejack!” said orange Alicorn replied, the nervousness evident in her voice as she flew relatively slowly, but at least steadily, through the air.

“Oh come on AJ, you are honestly looking worse than me when they were helping me learn!” Twilight shouted at the circling white Pegasus trainer and orange neophyte Alicorn.
“I d-d-don’t need this right now Twi!” Applejack shouted back, her voice wavering slightly as she lost her bearings for a few moments.

“Please Lady Umbria, leave Applejack alone while she performing her flight practice,” a calming matronly voice called; followed by a familiar white Alicorn flanked on one side by one of her primary aides.

“Oh come on~ Princess Celestia, it feels weird and stuffy when you call us by our new titles and names,” Twilight whined a bit. Though she was easily an adult by normal Pony standards, given who her new peers, she was barely a newborn.

“Dear Twilight-Umbra, do you mind if I call you that? In any case, it’s just something you all will have to get used to. Seeing as Celestia saw fit to make you six regents while you've barely gotten the training wheels off of your new bodies, you will just have to roll with the punches,” a somewhat snide masculine voice chirped, as the pink cloud of smoke heralded the ‘Demon’ of Chaos, Discord, as he took up a lounging seat next to the Lady Regent of Shadows.

“Well at least he uses part of my old name, though Twilight-Umbra sounds kinda stiff,” Twilight pouted as she rolled her eyes at her senior. “Anyway, like Discord said, it’s done now so we all will just have to get used to it,” Twilight sighed as she magically marked and sat her book down.

“Whee~~!!” a partially pink, partially fire-engine red Alicorn with strange combination of curly and wavy mane shouted as she literally rode through the paved walkway on a hoop made out of fire.

“Lady Ignia, please don’t ride flaming wheels through the courtyard~!” one of the Unicorn instructors shouted as he and a pair of others tried to catch up with the rather odd sight.

“You know, usually you jump through flaming hoops, not run around on them…” Discord mused as he rubbed a talon under his chin.

“You do know who we’re talking about, right?” Twilight responded curtly.

“Point taken,” the draconequs concluded.

The giggling Alicorn, though, had her fun interrupted as another Alicorn appeared out of the fountain, sighing as she doused the flaming wheel, much to the chagrin of the pink-and-red Alicorn, who cartoonishly skidded across the grass.

“Oh come on Fluttershy, it wasn’t like I was going to burn anything down this time…” Pinkie groused as she dusted grass out of her mane.

The royal blue Alicorn shifted back to a more ‘natural’ seeming butter yellow, minus some fringes along her (somehow even longer) pink mane. “Yes I know Pinkie, but still, safety first. We’re just now starting to get our budgets for projects, and rebuilding our auxiliary residence because of accidental fire-starting is not something I want to explain to the committee.”

“Boo. Oh well, can’t exactly blame you anyway…” Pinkie replied as her tone went back to what was normal for her.

“Glad to see you… understand.” Fluttershy responded back with quite a bit of surprise in her voice; honestly expecting to get more of an argument out of the baker-and-party-maker.

“It seems like you have quite the talent for negotiation, Lady Aquia,” Celestia chuckled.

“Well she did help me turn into a model citizen, after all,” Discord chimed in, conjuring a medal that stated as much in Equestrian print.

“Yeah, the jury is still out a bit on that, but at least you aren’t making the sun go all crazy like last time,” Pinkie responded.

Discord laughed his hearty laugh, as he remembered the good-and-bad times. “Yes, yes. Being locked in stone for millennia kinda does that to you. I had to see if I still had it.”

“Yeah, you had so much of it left we had to put you back in stone for another two years after that…” a rainbow-maned Alicorn added for herself as she and the second white Alicorn entered the courtyard.

“You know if it weren’t for your niece and your sister being currently indisposed, we’d have the makings of a nice little get together,” Discord mused aloud, as he perched himself on the back of the second white Alicorn, while talking to the first.

“I would appreciate it if you did not perch yourself on my back. I might be a little bigger, but you are still HEAVY!” the second white Alicorn barked; Discord thankfully taking the hint and dismounted to stand on the ground next to her.

“Taking Royal Canterlot voice lessons from my sister?” Celestia asked of the violet-maned Alicorn.

“No, Princess Celestia, that’s just me. Thought now that I think about it, being able to clear 90 decibels without having to strain my throat would make a nice arrow to have in my quiver,” Rarity thought aloud, as she imagined being able to yell Blueblood’s head off should he get too cross with one of the maids.

“You’re forever gobbling up new spells and techniques. I swear maybe in some universe you’re really Twilight!” Rainbow Dash joked as she gave Rarity a gentle shove.

“It is unbecoming of royalty to not be well-versed in all aspects of life. I must be a Lady, a Scholar, and a Warrior if need be (hopefully I won’t need to be the last one, though.)”

“Hrmph,” Rainbow Dash grunted as she responded. “I think giving me a horn and stronger body just made me completely unfair. I mean I was already totally awesome, now I’m just indisputably awesome.”

The pose Rainbow Dash struck would have looked stupendous on a poster, but just looked downright silly in the courtyard with the several aides and many Alicorns and one Draconequs.

“Seriously, Lady Aeria, indisputably awesome? I bet you hardly use that horn beyond the basic telekinesis, do you?!” Rarity asked in an incredulous tone as she stared at the slightly taller, cyan blue Alicorn.

“Um… eh…” Rainbow Dash hemmed and hawed, as she stumbled in her head for a good sounding answer. “I totally do Lady Lucia!”

Rarity sighed as she moved in close to Rainbow’s face, speaking in a hush tone where only they could hear without straining. “You know lying is not becoming of a Princess; if you need help, you know Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and I will all do whatever we can.”

Rainbow Dash sighed heavily as she waited a bit to join the small gathering in the center of the courtyard, Rarity having already joined the little cluster.

“Is Spike still in the Serpent’s Pass? I do hope he’s alright…” Fluttershy thought aloud, her worried tone evident to everyone there.

“The letter I got from him last week said the trek had been harrowing, but he was holding up well enough. Seriously you go through a growth spurt and suddenly a world’s worth of responsibility is slammed right on top of your head,” Twilight replied, as she magicked the letter onto the table that she was lounging near.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Applejack responded as she landed, panting a bit but otherwise none the worse for wear.

Leave it to the Element of Honesty… though I guess we can call her the Honest Land now…

Oh wait look at me banging on about our current lives. You all are probably wondering how the six of us ended up as the six newest Lady Regents of Equestria.

You may be asking yourselves “Wait Twilight, how did you six become Alicorns and Princesses to boot?”

Well to be honest, the origin of this little fact is quite harrowing, but since you all are there, I might as well.

Anyway, like I said before… it all started around two years ago…

Author's Note

Well here is the start of a brand new work of mine. While it might feel like I am spoiling things in the prologue, believe me, it's going WAY beyond this little bit of daily insanity out of the Court of the Elementals in Canterlot...

but let's see what Twilight Sparkle was talking about, when she said our story started two years ago.

EDIT HISTORY:
[08/30/2013] Changed the reference to the Mane Six being "Princess"es to "Lady" as in "Lady of the Court", which'd make them a special collection of Nobles at this point in the chronology.

CH 1 - Wandering Souls

Transcending Equestria

-- Ch. 1: Wandering Souls --

--- TS ---

Like I was saying, everything started roughly two years ago. We thought we were going on a normal mission to stop somepony who had gotten in way over their head regarding, as Princess Celestia politely put it at that time, “forces they could not understand”.

In retrospect, she could not have been more right in that assessment. If only we had some inkling then of the ‘somepony’ in question.

“It is so cold in the outlands. Seriously, all it would take are a couple of nice redirected siroccos to thaw this place out,” Rainbow Dash griped as the crew of seven trudged through the snow and permafrost to a large cavern. Their cloaks flapped in the wind as the arctic gales seemingly came out nowhere and disappeared just as quickly, giving the Pegasi and Unicorns there the impression there was something at work besides natural patterns.

Twilight Sparkle sighed loudly as cleared drifting snow from her goggles with her magic. “We’ve been over this before, Dash. We have to keep the world in general balance in all respects, and that includes the weather. The sheer amount of energy it would take to make every corner a temperate zone would be astronomical. I know it’s an inconvenience, to say the least, but it is much better this way.”

Rainbow Dash snorted in derision; even though she knew Twilight was right, she still wanted to somehow voice her dissent at the force of nature at work here.

“So Twilight dear, what are we doing out here in the frozen north again? Ever since the unpleasantness a few years ago, with the reclamation of the Crystal Empire, we haven’t dared set foot in these mountains,” Rarity asked, her indigo cap keeping her head toasty-warm despite the near-freezing winds whipping all around.

“Princess Luna was detecting a large amount of unknown magic emanating from these mountains. On top of that, Discord has reportedly started feeling rather… ill, for some strange reason,” Twilight Sparkle explained in her usual schoolteacher-ish tone.

“Yes, he has been complaining about excruciating pain where his missing fang is. Which I’ve found kind of odd, since he’s never complained of any pain there before,” Fluttershy reasoned, her constant proximity to Discord proving useful in many ways.

“While Ah would say that Discord withholding information should not sound strange, he’s been on the up and up with us. And Ah really hadn’t felt any particular dishonesty from him. So Ah guess if he says he’s in pain, he’s in pain,” Applejack concluded as they continued to approach the cave entrance; the winds gusting ever harder.

“Indeed. He’s also admitted to me that he’s been feeling, somewhat weak in recent weeks. Like his Chaos Magic doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to,” Fluttershy added, her tone becoming hush as if she had let slip a secret that she shouldn’t have.

“Waaaiit wait wait… Discord? Weak?! Ok now something is definitely up. Even when he’s been relatively calm and friendly, he’s still a load and a half to deal with,” Rainbow Dash shouted over the still gusting wind, the path toward the cave entrance seemingly longer than it had any right being.

“Not to mention he’s been awfully grumpy the last few days. I mean usually he’s up for a joke, or a game, or a mild pranking session. But lately he has been the father of all spoilsports. Something must be eating at him, really, really badly,” Pinkie Pie added, before she began to spasm fiercely.

“Woah, Pinkie. Are you sure that’s ya Pinkie Sense and not something more major?!” Applejack shouted as she corralled the jerking pink baker and finally got her body under some semblance of control.

“I…I…I… don’t know. That… I can’t… I… even bigger than a doozy…” Pinkie gasped and wheezed, as if her brain was under a ton of pressure and she was being suffocated by something.

“Ok, ok. Pinkie, breathe,” Twilight Sparkle asked, as the entire group circled around Pinkie who was still quivering fiercely in the snow. After a few moments, her breathing and movements began to return to normal, or at least calm enough to where she could speak coherently.

“Oh man, something really bad is going on in there. Whatever it is we have to stop it fast, otherwise everything is going to go all, kablooey!!” she shouted, as she began to positively sprint toward the cavern entrance.

“HOLD ON PINKIE! We don’t know if whatever is in that cave has traps or something set up!” Spike shouted at the fading image of the curly magenta tail, as he hopped on Twilight, thankful he was still small enough to ride on her back.

“No time Spike, when she gets that tunnel vision there’s hardly any derailing her. Everypony follow her!” Twilight Sparkle shouted as she and the other Bearers of Harmony rushed off in the same direction.

--- !! ---

Despite the how they got there, the seven finally managed to get in out of the winds, as they found themselves in a cavern.

“Pinkie, are you done running off on your own? Because we seriously don’t want to have to chase you all over these mountain passes,” Rainbow Dash snorted, as she was glad she was out of the arctic wind for the first time in a few hours.

“Yeah, whatever was giving me that bigger-than-a-doozy warning is somewhere in this cave. But I can’t tell where in the cave. This whole cave is like… well… it’s really cave-y,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, as her mane seemed to be becoming a bit spikey, which everyone there found to be quite odd.

“Cave-y?” Applejack asked incredulously.

Pinkie Pie nodded excitedly as she dashed all over the entrance tunnel, explaining what she meant. “Yeah I mean there are stalactites and stalagmites and lots of tunnels and other stuff that would be in a cave. Everything here except bats, though. I haven’t seen one bat, or anything that looks a bat, in the whole five minutes I’ve been here. I’m a little disappointed honestly.”

“I would think that’s a good thing, Pinkie. Fewer… unpleasant things I have to be on the lookout for,” Rarity sighed with relief; though she kept the cap on her head to protect her mane against the mineral-laden water that might drip on her head.

“Actually, this cave should be full of roosting cold-weather bats. It might always feel like winter up here, but there are enough insects down in the valley to support them,” Twilight started, while the rest of the group (minus Pinkie) was looking around disinterested, except for Applejack who started kicking around the edges of the tunnel as they walked inside. “The problem I see… there are absolutely no signs of life at all in this cave. Not even the microscopic organisms that wouldn’t require light. These caves are almost completely sterile.”

As the crew travelled deeper into the caves, Rarity and Twilight took turns lighting the way with their horns, the alternating magenta and cornflower glows creating an eerie ambience in the otherwise dim caverns and tunnels.

“There’s something’ else weird, Twilight. Some of these walls feel unusually hollow…” Applejack mentioned as they all proceeded on.

“I was wondering why you wandered off from time to time,” Twilight thought, as the group stopped to contemplate this last bit of news. She then shook her head, and sighed; her nauseated face apparent to everyone.

“Twi’, are ya okay? Ah might not be a doctor but I know when somepony’s sick,” Applejack asked, as she rubbed hoof across Twilight’s forehead, checking for a fever or chill.

“No, no… it’s just… something is in the air. The mana around this place feels all messed up,” Twilight said, as she tried to concentrate and endure the mana imbalance picked up by her horn, and the subsequent queasiness caused by it.

“Now that you mention it, something does feel… off. But I couldn’t tell you what it was. I just thought it might have been some kind of cave gas or whatever have you,” Rarity mentioned offhandedly, as the group continued on down.

“Alright, so we have weird mana flow, hollow tunnels, absolutely no signs of life where there should be. That’s strikes one, two, and three – there is something definitely up with this cave,” Rainbow Dash quipped as she flapped for a bit, before getting tired immediately and landing on a loose rock.

Said landing was immediately followed by a very loud click, and a slab of the cavern wall sliding out of place, revealing a relatively well lit corridor.

Pinkie Pie giggled a bit as she looked inside. “If there was such a thing as a ‘fourth strike’, that’d be it.”

“Ow ow owww, whatever it is causing this weird mana disruption is definitely coming from that corridor,” Twilight complained, the nausea now growing into a full-blown headache.

I believe you are right, Miss Magic. It’d probably help if you summoned the Elements, it should act as a sink for the free-flowing Chaos Magic. Whatever it is that’s trying to leech off of me isn’t controlling my magic very well, the seven of them heard a rather distraught masculine voice explain, far from his usual jovial tone.

“Alright Discord… I just… need a little time to concentrate…” Twilight said, as she struggled to concentrate through all of the disruptions of the Chaos Mana. Eventually though, her mind’s eye found the physical Elements of Harmony in their vault back at Canterlot Castle – and in that instant, found themselves on the persons of their respective bearers.

“Wow that… feels a lot better already!” Twilight said, as her headache abated completely, and the nausea completely gone.

You shouldn’t have to worry too much about Spike. Dragons aren’t as sensitive to Chaos Magic like Ponies, though they aren’t quite immune either, Discord mentioned off-handedly, as he could see, through Twilight, they were all moving through the hoof(?)-made corridors.

---- !! ----

“These must be very flattering pictures of you, Discord,” Rarity quipped with quite the sarcastic tone, as she and the others looked at all the hieroglyph looking images of Discord causing all kinds of trouble; not sure if was tribute or warning to whomever were viewing them.

Yes, past lives and all. I’m glad to say that Fluttershy helped get all that out of my system. Now I’m just content to shake things up a little instead of shaking things apart, Discord replied, before groaning in pain some more.

“Are you sure you’re all right, Discord. I mean not that there is any love lost between us, but you’ve been on the up and up with us and I just don’t like seeing anyone I consider a friend or acquaintance in pain,” Rainbow Dash asked.

Where my missing fang is… this pain is positively excruciating. Someone must be trying to channel my magic through it, that is the only thing that I can think of at the moment, Discord explained, before groaning in pain again.

I think it is best that you all hurry to the source of this issue, Discord’s body is starting to… look odd, to say the least, Princess Celestia added, as she joined the telepathic party line Discord had forged through the Chaos Magic interference.

“He is a chimera, I’m not sure how much more odd you can look to be honest,” Rarity groaned, as the torches lining the hallways were growing a bit brighter.

Not to be overly graphic, but he is turning ashen gray, and is literally being hollowed out - imagine a monochrome balloon replica being slowly deflated. Being an Immortal, he is as much an abstract concept as much as he is a physical body when he decides to live amongst us, like Luna, Cadence, and I. Whatever has his fang is trying to drain his very being from him… Celestia replied curtly, as she looked on with concern at the struggling Spirit of Chaos.

“That’s… gnarly. I can’t even think of a good word for something like that…” Twilight thought, as she imagined the balloon replica being deflated, like Celestia intoned.

“We have to find whatever has his other fang. If we don’t, then all that work we put in to turning him around will just go up in smoke,” Fluttershy said, her face suddenly steeled with determination as she thought of her friend literally wasting away.

----- !! -----

Discord laid on the bed in his guest house near Fluttershy’s cottage, his remaining and steadily dwindling magic dedicated to keeping up appearances. Without saying much to the reality of the situation, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all were gathered around him. Despite Cadence’s young age, her status as true Immortal demanded her presence at what might have very well been Discord’s final moments amongst the ‘living’.

“Is this how everything ends… slowly turning into basically a gray scale, deflated balloon of myself?” Discord mused, as he just looked up at the ceiling, his body barely being supported by the mana ingrained in his system.

“I’ve never known you to be so melancholy in your worst days, Discord. Do you have that little trust in my faithful student and her friends?” Celestia asked, as the grandfather clock slowly ticked the seconds by.

“I’ve never been brought this low before. Do you remember that little fight that we had, dear Tia and Lulu?” Discord mused, as he turned over in the bed and cracked a wry smile; one that induced a good deal of confusion in the eyes of one relatively young Pink Alicorn.

“Tia? Lulu? What’s the meaning of this, aunts?” Cadence asked, as she looked on at her elder Princesses and crown monarchs with evident trepidation.

“Eons ago, Dissy, my sister, and I were far closer and far more familiar with each other. You could have called us the best of friends then. Now, we’re like old acquaintances that have grown far apart, struggling to rebuild what was once decimated and thought forever lost,” Celestia looked, with a warm smile toward Discord, one Discord found somewhat patronizing, and yet at the same time welcoming.

“You have the Bearer of Kindness to thank for that. Fluttershy has been instrumental in not only convincing Discord to cease his destructive acts, but she has also been instrumental in helping us reconcile from those very dark times,” Luna added, with an air of deep remembrance and undying respect for the demure yellow Pegasus.

“As much as I hate to admit it, Cadie, Lulu’s entirely right. I’d probably still be trying to stir and overturn the pot if it weren’t for her. Now I just hope they can make sure I’m still around past today,” Discord groaned; the pain was reminding him he could still feel and was alive, relative to the numb-grayness that now claimed his lower extremities.

‘Cadie’? Really? Well I guess your imminent demise makes a little hard to come up with a good nickname, but still… Cadence thought to herself as she answered the withering Spirit of Chaos. “I have the utmost faith in the Elements of Harmony. Even if you do not particularly care for their magic, I think it couldn’t hurt to have a little faith yourself.”

“At this point, I don’t have much of a choice…” Discord sighed as he went back to staring at the ceiling.

When I get my paws and talons on the jackass that is trying to drain my magic, they are going to feel my retribution right down to the very core of their soul…

~- !! -~

“Ya know girls, Ah’ve been thinking…” Applejack started, as the rest of the group stopped to hear the orange farmpony out. “Ya know ever since Discord started talkin’ the Princesses and Fluttershy, he’s gotten a lot more… hrm what’d be a good word for it?”

“Less obnoxious?” Rarity suggested.

“Less random?” Rainbow Dash added.

“Oh oh, how about ‘cerebral’,” Pinkie Pie offered.

“Goin’ with ‘cerebral’ since it’s actually one word and it does fit,” Applejack answered, much to the delight of Pinkie. “In any case, Discord has been a lot better since then. And not even in the sense of being a good guy. It just seems like everything he does seems to have more logic to it. Alien Logic yeah, but it’s at least consistent now.”

Twilight and Spike thought about it for a few moments, and couldn’t find a reason to argue with the farmpony.

As the seven of them approached a giant stone door, they took a brief moment to check the door for traps and the like. While they could not find any physical traps, and reasoned Chaos Magic traps might go undetected, they couldn’t help but notice the giant mural plastered over the door.

It was Discord, looking far more regal (or at least that was the impression given in the engraving) and surrounded by six other creatures. All of whom had a distinct lack of malice or viciousness in their eyes, despite many of them appearing as predatory species.

“Do you see what I see?” Twilight asked, as she and the others looked over the mural, and tried to find a way to part the giant stone doors.

“Anything besides ah giant carvin’ of Discord surrounded by lackeys?” Applejack asked in response.

“No, something in particular, look at Discord closely…” Twilight replied in turn.

“Oh Oh, I see it. That Discord has two even fangs. Our Discord only has one fang, right?” Pinkie offered.

“Correct Pinkie, it seems like there is something up with Discord’s missing fang. Remember…” Twilight started before she went into her explanation.

That was, before she was interrupted by Discord telepathically. I’ve been complaining about toothaches for the last two or three days, you were about say Miss Sparkle? While I do enjoy watching you play detective, time is kinda sorta OF THE ESSENCE HERE!

“He’s right Twilight, less dawdling and more getting these doors open. Although, I don’t know how we’re supposed to get these doors open,” Rarity thought aloud.

While We might be currently indisposed with infirmed Spirit of Chaos, We can still do that much for you all. Twilight, We are writing a spell that should open the vault for you and the Bearers… and… done. Please make haste; We shudder to think of what we might have to do should some mortal successfully siphon away Discord’s power in its entirety, Luna reported, as the other six watched Twilight’s horn flicker azure and magenta, before finally settling on magenta.

“That will never stop feeling weird. But we’re on the clock here so whatever works…” Twilight complained briefly before she set to her task. She took in a deep breath, and then weaved the spell written for her by the Night Princess. Soon the entire door was glowing with Twilight’s magenta aura, the ancient lines once traced by the Equestrian Princesses, now traced by their protégé.

“Ahhahaha, you do well to come here, agents of that Avatar of the Sun… but there is precious little time left for you and that rotting system she purports to support. I told her before that her ‘free will’ will eventually be the death of her…” they heard a disturbed, deep, and gravelly masculine voice cheerfully shouting through the crystal covered halls of the natural vault.

Oh no… I think I recognize that graven voice… the seven-strong crew heard of Cadence in their minds.

“Uh, Princess Cadence, mind telling us what’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked as said seven-strong crew slowly and carefully walked through the center path in the vault.

I thought the power of the Crystal Heart had destroyed what was left of his soul… but apparently it only destroyed the power that was roaming the surface world.

“Surface world?” they all responded in unison.

“Oh, someone must have mentioned the surface world to you. How very interesting, I wonder who’s talking in your head…” they heard the same voice call out from what felt like was the center of the vault.

They then looked as what appeared to be pure ‘chaotic’ mana was streaming through the air, mana that appeared to be inverted in color… as if negatively-colored unicorns were all casting magic at once. They carefully treaded, looking to avoid any possible traps, until they found the center of the vault.

And a pony they believed vanquished once and for all.

“KING SOMBRA?!” Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs, as she looked with absolute shock at the silver-armored, charcoal black unicorn with his back turned to the group.

“Oh my, yes. You all have finally arrived. Proverbial moths to the flame, you are,” Sombra replied, slowly turning around, and then instilling shock into the other six figures as the got a good look at his face.

He looked, to be frank, completely insane. His teeth looked long and serrated, not unlike a row of shark’s teeth, his eyes were slitted like a reptile’s, possibly a demons. He had two smaller horns growing from the reddish one that crowned his forehead naturally. Simply put, the Chaos Magic he was siphoning was altering him physically and mentally.

“SOMBRA! STOP THIS! You have no idea the powers you are messing with. Heck, I even question if the owner of those powers have any idea what he is messing with half the time,” Twilight Sparkle tried to reason with the long-deposed despot.

Said pleas were falling on the deafest of ears. “Oh sweet little Twilight Sparkle, you could have been me! Just think, with my Dark Magic at your command, you would have been a Queen to have been feared, a Queen that would have been respected. Celestia has grown old, grown soft, none of them have the will to do what is truly needed to be done in order to create the Perfect System!”

Twilight Sparkle blanched visibly at the thought that she would have been anything like Sombra, dabbling in any way with the horribly corrosive and dark forces that Dark Magic obviously employed. Yet, despite her internal protestations, the despot continued to speak.

“Free Will? What use is ‘free will?’ All it does it destroy, it mangles, and it makes any solution you could come up with completely unworkable. As soon as you devise a system that would work, Ponies and others would completely wreck it by intentionally trying to break it…”

“What is the point of a life where you were forced to do what some overseer told you to do?!” Rainbow Dash shouted; but to no avail, as the Dark King was in a full-blown rant.

“But I’m too smart for that. Oh yes, far too smart for that… otherwise how would I have been able to steal the Crystal Empire right out from Celestia’s nose, huh? Oh the look on her face when the ancient Emperor calmly ceded his power to her student instead of herself. And how SHOCKED she was when she saw me transform into the handsome devil you see before you,” Sombra calmly intoned for once, while he wiggled his eyebrows at the two Unicorns of the room. This elicited clear and obvious signs of disgust from said unicorns.

“See, that is what I mean. You would think being the unchallenged despot of an entire ancient Empire would get you more respect, more mares! But no, aside from the concubines and those who were hanging around me for a taste of my power, NOT ONE SINGLE MARE WOULD LOVE ME!” Sombra shouted, the insanity creeping back into his voice.

“But that’s all going to change now. No one will deny me. No society or kingdom will deny my vision, no mare will deny my advances. My word will become law, and my ‘will’ shall become reality. I will become the god this world deserves, a god imposing a Perfect Order and System!” Sombra shouted triumphantly, as he lifted the dagger-sized ivory fang into the air in his eerie green-and-crimson aura.

“Yesss, this fang is my one-way ticket to godhood. All that Discord is, flows through this disembodied tooth, and with it, I will command his vast powers to remake the world. But instead of it being a nonsensical mess, it will be orderly. It will be serene. IT WILL BE PERFECT!”

The subsequent laughter echoed through the chamber hauntingly, as the seven of them looked at the intense ‘glow’ of Sombra’s Dark Aura getting even ‘brighter’.

“Sombra, it can’t be beyond your comprehension about the powers you’re messing with. How do you think you can just simply will Chaos into Order. Do you even understand how powerful Discord truly is!?” Twilight tried to shout, as the sound of rushing wind began to fill the chamber; Sombra already beginning the arcane spell to graft the fang onto his primary horn.

“Don’t you talk about Irony to me, young miss! I have walked this mortal plane for centuries, trapped in my own abominable purgatory. I heard Celestia even argued for me not to be chained up in Tartarus personally. OH how much will she curse her existence once I depose her, just like she had her niece depose me!” Sombra shouted, as the fang lowered onto his own horn.

Once Discord’s Fang met Sombra’s Horn, the entire world seemed to stop, even for a brief instant. All noise ceased, all words quieted. It was as if someone was watching a video tape, and pressed pause to take in the full breadth of the scene.

When time started again, then entire chamber remained silent. The six ponies and one dragon slowly approached the statuesque Dark King, whom had fell quite still.

“You think he’s… he’s… dead?” Fluttershy quivered, not seeing even a hair on Sombra’s having moved in the last minute or so.

“Nah, Ah don’t think we’re gettin’ of that easy. But still, something is really odd about this…” Applejack reasoned in response, as she adjusted her hat back to its proper angle.

“Power…” the Dark King said nearly inaudibly; the six plus one quickly retreating back to a supposedly safe distance.

“ULIMITED POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Sombra then boomed, with constituent echo; black-and-blue lightning arcing around him like a giant dome.

“What in tarnation? Where is all of that energy coming from?!” Applejack shouted as she tried to shield her eyes from the flashes of light.

“The horn! The fang! Whatever that is on his head now!” Twilight shouted, as the seven of them were dodging wildly fired lightning bolts.

“There's no one that can match me. My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious!” Sombra shouted, any calm and sanity in his voice now completely lost, as pillars of earth erupted from each heavy stomp he took.

“What on Equus is he shouting about?” Rarity shouted, as she dodged pillar after pillar, trying to figure out if she needed to be away from Sombra or closer to him to attack.

“I don’t care what he’s shouting about, we need that Fang back and we need it RIGHT NOW!” Twilight shouted as she fired magic bolts near Sombra, only for them to deflect off his passive magic shield.

“Ugh of course he’d have a magic shield. And it looks even stronger than my brother’s…” Twilight groaned, as she dodged hailstones conjured by the clearly stark-raving mad King.

~-- !! --~

Discord laid in his bed, almost his entire body deflated and grey, a small tear running down his yellow and red eyes. He just quietly sighed as the three Alicorns kept watch over him, wanting to be a calming influence in this most trying of times.

“If I knew it would come to this, I would have taken a sojourn to the frozen north earlier. There is no reason for Twilight to have to be suffering the mistakes the three of us made all those millennia ago,” Discord said quietly, almost all of his strength having been leeched away by Sombra.

“Despite my ability to scry the Akashic Records, the probabilities of this incident were reported as vanishingly low. It is if by dumb luck he, or more to the point, the last vestiges of him would have found the one thing that could restore him,” Cadence reported morosely, as she looked at the forlorn face of her aunt.

“Sombra… where did I fail? You were a model student. Curious, and yet tempered. Sociable, and yet not overbearing. Honest, but it didn’t distract you from your duties to me or your kingdom. It was as if you were the perfect embodiment of Harmony. And yet…” Celestia thought aloud, as she tried to rationalize that which was becoming wholly irrational.

“Yet he pulled the wool over your eyes, just like he did Emperor Quartz and everyone else at the time. He became addicted to Dark Magic, thinking it would solve the question that always gnawed at the back of his head…” Discord responded, his imminent demise making him far more somber and contemplative than usual.

“Why does anyone fight?” Princess Luna added.

“I see even in your respective sealed states, you could see the travails I had. It’s oddly comforting…” Celestia replied, a bit of a wry smile on her face.

“We’ve all done things that we regret. The question is always how do we grow beyond those failures and mistakes, and correct what can be corrected,” Princess Luna stated, as she saw Fluttershy’s animals starting to crowd around Discord’s guest house a bit.

“Do you believe they can sense it?” Cadence asked, as she witnessed the same.

Discord chuckled, and coughed a bit before reply. “I did have a paw or a talon in helping mold their evolution; so yes, I would say they can.”

The look for forlorn returned to her face, as she pieced together what Discord was referring to. “Though… there is something else you and they can sense too, can’t you.”

“Unfortunately yes… I can only hope that he is strong enough to do what needs to be done should it come to that,” Discord replied, hoping the young dragon would see the greater picture of what was mostly likely going to happen.

~--- !! ---~

“There is no weapon you can forge against me that can touch me! I am invincible! Impregnable! Invulnerable! I am beyond all that you can conceive! Beyond everything! I am the very pinnacle of all creation!” Sombra shouted as flames arced from his body, and lightning raced all along the crystal-lined walls.

A tired group of Bearers looked on as they tried to figure out some way to separate Discord’s Fang from Sombra before the vault became their tomb.

“This is completely MAD! What is he? The Crystal Heart vaporized him well enough, but now it’s like he is the sum-total of all magical power, or, or… something!” Rarity tried to grasp, as the exact nature of Sombra now seemed to be beyond her.

“I will have my Perfect Order! And all Order demands Obedience! I demand that you cease this fruitless resistance,” Sombra shouted, as seven sets of ears perked up at what he was shouting, a set of purple ears in particular.

“What did he just say, he wanted us to stop?” Rainbow Dash looked on, as she looked at all the magic that was starting to subside, bit by bit.

“I don’t know but… this might be our one and only chance…” Twilight replied, keeping her voice low.

“Oh come now ladies. We don’t have to fight! Look, let’s just make a deal, you give me the Elements of Harmony, and you will forever be by my side. Truthfully it will be as my primary concubines, but look, beggars can't be choosers now,” Sombra asked, his tone sounding almost romantic, at least as romantic as an insane King and dark sorcerer could sound.

Twilight took a few moments to contemplate the matter, before shouting her response. “Oh Sombra, how could I have ever ignored your strength, your passion, your assured virility. Oh I, and I am sure my friends, would be ever so glad to serve you, our new Eternal King!”

The response was met with quite the bit of shock, to say the least, from all directions.

“Twilight have you lost your ever-loving MIND! What in the blue, red, and every other colored flames of Tartarus are you thinking, agreeing to a proposition like that!” Rarity snarled directly into Twilight’s face, as she about five seconds away from wringing the librarian’s neck with her bare hooves.

“Not to mention involving the five of us in it as well!” Rainbow Dash snarled at the same time.

“Girls, we’re out of options. The only way he’s letting us anywhere NEAR him is if it looks like we’re giving up. And he’s so starved for… attention… that if we even look like we’re that close to doing it, he wouldn’t care to keep his defenses up. We just need to grab the fang and get out of here, right?!”

The five mares and one male dragon looked on at the mulberry Pony, only to sigh and accede to her assertions.

“So let’s just take the opportunity while it’s sitting there for the taking. I quite honestly have no other ideas, anyway,” Twilight concluded. “And Spike, I need you to stay clear of all of us. If push really comes to shove, I’ll try and throw the fang somewhere away from all of us, and I need you to be able to run it down. Dragons are resistant to Chaos Magic, so if we break the link he shouldn’t be able to do anything in response, especially given how jumbled his mind must be right now.”

“Twilight, this sounds absolutely insane, and bordering on suicide, to be honest…” the young drake responded.

Fluttershy reached out and hugged, him, slowly rubbing her forehooves over the back of his head like a mother would his child before responding. “I’m… sorry. But this is all we have left. We will have to gamble everything on this… feint. It’s called a feint right?”

Twilight and Applejack nodded.

“We are gambling everything on this feint, apparently,” Rarity continued. “Either it works and we save Equestria; or it doesn’t at another War of Chaos breaks out. If I… if I… if I have to give everything of ourselves, even down to the very last breath we all take, in order to prevent that… then so be it!” She then hugged Spike tighter than she ever had before, something Spike would have appreciated more had the circumstances been different.

Applejack patted the shoulders of Spike as she walked past and joined the group. “Honestly, can’t think of a higher callin’ than this. I don’t care what I have to do to protect my family, but dangit I’m gonna do it!”

“The cruelty Sombra would impose on the world is too much to even think about. If this is what I have to do to stop it once and for all, then that is the kindest thing I could ever think of,” Fluttershy added.

“What kind of laughter would you get in a world where somepony just told you what to think and how to think it? That’s just crazy to me, and… I just couldn’t stand it if I didn’t do anything that would stop something like that from happening. So… wish us luck then!” Pinkie Pie added, trying her best to bring some levity to the situation, and assuage her own fear as to what her earlier near-catatonic spasm was warning her about.

This must have have been the beyond-a-doozy I felt… if it really is that… then… NO! Stop it Pinkamena Diane, there are no regrets, and you are definitely going to come back out of this, bigger and badder than ever! Pinkie thought to herself as she steeled her reserve and stepped forward as well.

“They’re right Spike. My loyalty is to preserving real harmony, and all my friends. I don’t care if someone looks down at me for what I have to do to maintain that loyalty, but… dammit if this is the only way to finally put Sombra down; then it’s going to be done!” Rainbow Dash resolved aloud, as she joined the rest with Twilight on the red-carpet that Sombra had conjured for the six of them.

“Spike, and listen to me very carefully. I don’t care what it looks like… DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get close to us. You are the last line of defense if any of this goes badly. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I sacrificed the last thing that could save Equestria because of how I felt. Please, please just trust that we have things under control, and that all of this will work out. Can you do that for me, Number One Assistant?”

Spike, though overwhelmed with emotion, set aside his feelings long enough to respond. “Yes, you can count on me Twilight. Please… please be careful.”

“So, you have decided to bet on a winner. Believe me, I am the very best horse to bet on!” Sombra mused excitedly, as he was almost out of his armored-boots with glee at having the greatest concentration of both Harmony and Chaos at his hoof-tips, and six wonderful new mares to while his assuredly infinite time away with.

Twilight stepped up to respond, but a white, well-kept foreleg forestalled her, as Rarity silently ‘told’ Twilight to let her do the sweet-talking. “Oh dearest Sombra, the six of us will be ever so glad to give of ourselves to your service, in every respect.”

“Delicious. Simply delicious. Oh I just can’t wait, you all will have the world, and all I ask of in return is yourselves!” Sombra chirped, giddy at the prospect of Celestia’s six in his hooves, and imagining them various compromising positions.

“Good Celestia, is he desperate or what?” Rainbow Dash noted under her breath.

“Just shut up and go with it. Twilight, have you figured out how to get that fang off his head?” Rarity sneered before turning her attention to the focus of the plan.

“Luckily I have, just give me a few more moments to get a good magical leverage point. If my hunch is right, it’s only barely tethered to his being,” Twilight responded.

“I wonder where I should go first. Perhaps get that whelp out of my throne room in the Crystal Castle, and plunge the entire Empire back into overcast dreariness. Nah that’s too obvious, I need to show Celestia I’m beyond that, better than that. What do you think, Twilight Sparkle?” Sombra asked with genuinely inquisitive tone.

“What do I think?”

“Yes, what do you think should be my first act as new Emperor of the Crystal Empire, and soon to be the God-King of this entire world?!”

“I think it should be begging Discord for mercy once we give him his fang back!!” Twilight shouted much to Sombra’s surprise. And immediately after, began wrenching the fang off his head with her magical grip.

“NO! NO! YOU ARE NOT TAKING THIS AWAY FROM ME!” Sombra shouted as he yanked back down on the fang with his own magic aura, desperate to keep it in physical contact with his horn.

“THAT WAS HER PLAN?! Just yank the fang off his head?” Spike muttered under his breath as he silently, as much as an adolescent dragon could, sneak his way close enough to the seven Ponies to where he could clearly hear and see them.

“That belloooongs to Discord. I don’t care what he’s done to us in the past; at least he’s someone we’ve beaten already, and still can deal with now!” Twilight shouted, as she pulled Discord’s missing fang up with her magic and the rest of the bearers braced her.

"I AM THE GOD THIS WORLD DESERVES, AND I DON’T CARE WHO I HAVE TO BOWL OVER TO PROVE IT!” Sombra screamed as he tried to clamp the fang down on his head, his magical grip failing to the younger and still-technically-alive mulberry unicorn.

“Shut up! That fang belongs to Dissy and that’s the end of it!” Pinkie Pie shouted as her body began to waft with a light pink aura.

“You are a horrible creature, and don’t even deserve to rule a household, much less an entire planet,” Fluttershy added.

“I bet you lied to get your position as Celestia’s student all those years ago. How much do you think you hurt her?! Huh?” Applejack added.

“I can’t stand anyone, Pony or otherwise, who cares more about themselves than others!” Rainbow Dash piled on, as her and the other non-unicorn Bearers of Harmony added their magical strength to Twilight.

“Need a little help Twilight. Always remember, we’re here for you. Regardless of where we might end up.” Rarity told Twilight as she weaved her magical grip in with hers, now all six of them yanking up and out on Discord’s fang.

“STOP IT! CEASE! DESIST! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU DESTROY MY VISION! MY WORK! THIS FANG IS MINE, I WILL GROW BEYOND DEMON, BEYOND A GOD, I WILL BECOME ALL!!” Sombra shouted as he used the fang’s extant magic to clamp down on his horn as hard as he could, sparks and flares starting to whip around the seven of them.

“Ugh, he’s creating a magical backlash, he’s trying to force Discord’s power into himself. If he keeps going…” Twilight shouted, before she stole a glance upward. “Oh dear Celestia no…”

She saw time-and-space itself starting to warp and bend, as reality began to fail, forming what appeared to be a magically induced black-hole above their heads.

“GIRLS! THE ELEMENTS! WE’RE USING THEM!”

“Isn’t that dangerous with all this magic flying around, I mean I don’t think even the Princesses have any idea what’d happen if pure Harmony and Chaos mixed,” Rarity shouted above the growing maelstrom of ambient magic.

“I DON’T CARE! If he keeps using the fang the way he has so far, he’s going to destroy everything, literally! That black hole is the end-result of unrestrained Chaos Magic. He can’t control it at all, and he’s too far gone mentally to see it!” Twilight shouted as she could see the infinitely black maw beginning to form along the vault’s ceiling.

~---- !! ----~

“Sister, what is… what is wrong…” Luna asked, as she looked at the now quiet but still breathing Discord, and white Alicorn that was silently beginning to shed tears.

“I was deathly afraid of this…” Celestia responded, her voice eerily devoid of emotion.

“Afraid of what? Oh no… no you can’t”

“Yes, Twilight must have realized that Sombra’s logical mind was destroyed the second he attempted to graft Discord’s missing fang to his being. All that is left is his soul’s impulse, and now that she is directly challenging it, it will go to any length to achieve its ultimate end.”

“Wait… a soul’s impulse. With Discord’s Magic, I might be relatively young as far as Immortals go, but if a Mortal steals an Immortal’s power and is not completely compatible with it…” Cadence asked, attempting to suss out for herself what Celestia and Luna had suddenly become so crestfallen about, at least on top of everything going on with Discord.

“Then reality itself will begin to fail. No mortal is designed to ever fully contain an Immortal’s power without prior consent being given, and several other measures being taken,” Celestia responded dutifully.

“And now that Sombra is trying to literally embed Discord’s power within him, Twilight will most likely take any measure she possibly can to stop him… including…” Luna added, the fear evident in her eyes, even if not in her voice.

“Just tell me, Aunt Luna, Aunt Celestia… I can handle it…”

“She would bring the greatest Harmony to clash with the greatest Chaos, which would result in nothing less but annihilation,” Celestia responded, the tears flowing down her cheeks more freely now.

“No… aunts, please… tell me there is some other way… there is something else that you must be overlooking…” Cadence stammered, her voice quivering and her body shaking.

Sombra… is this your final act of betrayal against me? Celestia thought to herself.

“Please… ‘Tia. Have… some faith. Chaos… is nothing… if not unpredictable…” Discord said, his voice graven and weak; his ultimate cessation nearly imminent as even his face was now becoming monochrome.

“I… I…” Celestia stammered as she looked at the dying draconequs in front of her.

“You heard me. Have some faith. They… there is something about them… something about them that might preserve them.”

“I hope so. I hope and pray to all those above us that you are right…” Celestia sniffled, as she looked up, in the same way that Discord was currently.

~----- !! -----~

“THIS IS MINE, MY POWER, MINE! MY WORD WILL BECOME LAW!! MY VISION WILL BECOME REALITY!!” Sombra shouted, as black smoke began to billow out from his physical being; his mane had turned green and billowed in the magical wind in all directions, and his eyes turned solid red, and glowed with arcane power.

“What in Tartarus is he? That, that looks like no pony… it looks more like some kind of demon…” Rarity said in an unusually quiet voice for the situation.

“Because that isn’t a Pony anymore, that’s just the shell of Sombra now. His body is decaying and his soul is being shredded. Eventually all that will be is just unrestrained Chaos,” Twilight stated morosely, her voice straining as she continued trying to wrench the fang off Sombra’s being.

“I think we’re out of options, Twilight…” Rainbow Dash stated, her Element of Loyalty starting glow with the others, as they had just now noticed that Elements starting to pulse with light.

“Ah agree, either we use the Elements and permanently sever his link. Or we eventually get worn out,” Applejack concluded.

“So what do we do?” Fluttershy asked.

“A lasso,” Applejack answered.

“We’re gonna lasso that fang right off that silly black shadow of a Pony’s head!” Pinkie shouted.

“Alright then girls, you know what to do!” Twilight shouted in response, getting the gist of the plan.

“Please don’t tell me they are going to do what I think they’re going to do!” Spike shouted as he backed up to what he felt was a safe distance.

Spike… please… I can sense what the Elements are trying to do. I need you to shield your eyes as soon as you see them lift the fang off his head… Celestia telepathically told Spike tersely.

“Wait, why!?”

Just trust me… I will be able to sense through you when it is safe for you to approach, just hunker down for right now. Celestia responded.

“Yes ma’am!”

“LET GO!” Sombra shouted, his voice turning into a distorted cacophony of noise, as Celestia and Twilight’s hunches were bearing out.

“NO! We are going to save this world, even if it kills us!” Twilight shouted in response, as the white and rainbow fringed extension of their and the Element’s collective magic continued to yank on Discord’s fang.

“This is it girls, one big pull!” Rarity shouted.

“One! Two! Three! GO!” Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all shouted in sequence.

With one mighty, and almost primal scream, the six mares finally yanked the fang off Sombra’s horn.

“NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!” They all heard the cacophonous voice shout, as the world once again came to a halt.

Spike… I’m so sorry… please forgive me… Twilight thought; as now, free of any other influence, the greatest and most pure Harmony interacted freely with the greatest and most pure Chaos.

And she knew, as well as any Pony, what happened when pure Harmony and pure Chaos mixed with nothing to regulate them…

SPIKE CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COVER YOUR HEAD NOW!! Celestia ordered, as the three Alicorns braced themselves for the magical feedback.

The entire mountain quaked with the mother of all magical explosions.

“MY DREAM! MY Dreammmm…” the last remaining vestige of Sombra shouted, as the backlash vaporized what was left of him.

The six mares all screamed very primal screams of pain, as the backlash claimed them as well.

“TWILIGHT! EVERYONE!” Spike shouted as he tried to get up, before feeling the oppressive weight of Celestia’s mental link interrupt his motor commands.

I SAID STAY DOWN UNTIL I TELL YOU! YOU HAVE TO TRUST ME! DO NOT GET UP UNTIL I TELL YOU TO! Celestia shouted, though Spike could sense she had to fight back tears as she did.

Spike felt the wind and energy continuing to rush over his dorsal ridge and his scales, until the maelstrom finally abated; despite the intensity and ferocity of the explosion, it only lasted for a few moments.

SPIKE! Please, Spike, you may get up now… hurry, I need a complete status report of everything that you can see. Celestia ordered, as Spike finally got up from his near curl position.

Spike readjusted his eyes, as he saw everything in the center of the vault blown to smithereens. The entire area had become like a shallow bowl, as if someone had sat a perfect sphere and indented it into the ground where Sombra and Twilight and the others stood. He carefully crept toward the edge and looked down, as he saw six bodies lying inside the depression, and an ivory fang lying on the side of the round ridge opposite them, near the center.

“I… I see Twilight and the others… and… I don’t see Sombra, although I see Discord’s Fang just lying there,” Spike reported aloud.

Good, I need you to retrieve that Fang, we have to get it reattached to Discord, otherwise the Chaos Magic will start leaking out again.

“He’s still alive?” Spike said solemnly as he slid down to the center of the depression.

Barely… the clash just now restored enough of his own power to where he won’t die right now, but his reprieve will only last a few more minutes at best, Celestia answered.

Spike picked up the Fang, noting how he didn’t necessarily feel any kind of malice or insanity after touching it. He then walked over to Twilight, and began to shake her to wake her up.

“Come on Twilight… let’s get out of here…” Spike said in his usual tone.

Spike… please… Celestia tried to tell him, yet Spike was not listening.

He shook Twilight some more, but she didn’t respond.

“Twilight… come on… wake up…”

He then tried shaking the others, hoping one of them could rouse the librarian and surrogate sister.

“Rarity… Pinkie… Dash… AJ… ‘Shy…”

Spike… please… just… Celestia once again tried to tell him through their link, the sorrow in her voice now clear as day.

“No… No… this isn’t happening… it’s a joke right… a joke… Come on guys…” Spike said, as he began to retreat from the six prone bodies, noticing how they were all hardly moving, if at all.

“This… This… NO! THIS ISN’T HAPPENING!”

“SPIKE! STOP!” Princess Celestia shouted, as she had manifested in the flesh, along with a veritable squadron of EMT Ponies following her.

“What’s… what’s going on Princess… I…” Spike said, tears streaming down his eyes and clutching the Fang as if he were ready to throw it in a tantrum.

“SPIKE! I need you to stop it and listen for my Sister’s voice, you have to get that Fang back to Discord right now! If he dies, all the Chaos Magic that was drained out WILL leak and it will begin to eat this world alive. I will not have the sacrifice my faithful student made be in vain!” Celestia shouted, nearly lapsing into the Royal Canterlot her sister was more well known for.

“I… I… can’t… I…”

Spike… Spike can you hear me. We are ready, but you have to steady yourself; holding an artifact of Chaos makes it harder than usual to remotely teleport you, Luna asked of Spike, attempting to project as much calm into the young dragon as she could.

“Please, just… get me out of here…” Spike said, as he watched the EMTs going through their normal protocol with his six best friends.

With a flash of azure magic, Spike disappeared from the cavern vault.

“Guiding Light, I want you to be as honest as you can, what have you found of them so far,” Celestia asked of the head medic.

“Princess… there is little to no reaction of any kind in their bodies, yet… I feel it would be too early to declare them dead. They… it…” Guiding Light started, before beginning to lose the track of her words.

“I see, allow me please,” Celestia said, as the EMTs cleared away from Twilight’s body, which had been shifted into a less prone position. She bent down and touched her horn to Twilight’s.

After a few moments, her eyes flared open, much to the surprise of the EMTs surrounding her and the mulberry body.

“I want all six of these Ponies placed into a Rank-I Stasis Field. Their souls have been forcibly separated from their bodies, and any damage, no matter how minor, can hinder us mooring their souls back should we find them!” Celestia ordered, as all of the EMTs began placing the six unconscious bodies on stretchers and strapping them as down as firmly as they could.

~~- !! -~~

“Last time I get my priorities mixed up that badly,” Discord mused, as he sat on the edge of the bed, his body back to it’s normal size and color, though his power barely above its theoretical minimum.

“I hope you happy…” Spike sneered with great derision at the draconequs, in between his crying as he had his head along Cadence’s foreleg.

“Believe me, I am as broken up about this situation as you are. It’s my fault that I had to put Fluttershy, Twilight, and everyone else through what they are going through right now. I can only hope should they find their way back to us, they can forgive me for my gross oversight,” Discord said, as he tried to stand under his own power, only to tumble back to the bed he had spent the entirety of the last week in.

“Please, Discord, you may be an Immortal but you are still just recovering your power after having it forcibly stripped of you. At least pretend to try and work yourself back into shape,” Luna mused.

“Wait… wait… what do you ‘find their way back to us?’ I saw them myself they were… they were…” as Spike began to dry his tears.

“Dead? As of this very moment, no… but if they can’t make it back to this plane in three days, we will have to start making funeral arrangements,” Discord stated as he managed to shuffle his way very gingerly into a nearby chair.

“How can you… I don’t… their bodies weren’t even breathing… I couldn’t even FEEL anything from any of them as I touched them…” Spike stammered, not sure of how the whole thing worked.

“Metaphysics is a strange thing, young dragon. Even us Immortals have to work at keeping the entirety of it within our grasp. Losing your soul puts you in a state of near-death. Your body becomes completely inert, and yet still warm to the touch somewhat, as if you had fallen into a deep sleep. We should be thankful that whatever fundamental powers that direct the Cosmos saw fit to give the Bearers at least some semblance of a second chance,” Luna stated firmly, as she looked at Angel rapping on the outside of the door. She then let the rabbit in, who quickly hopped in and hugged her on the leg, silently saying ‘I’m alright, and I know Fluttershy will be too.’

“I do love an animal’s sixth sense, a very fine piece of evolution if I do say so myself,” Discord chuckled as he looked around.

“You said three days, right? What exactly is going on?” Cadence asked, before they saw the flash of golden light, heralding Celestia’s return to the side cottage.

Celestia calmed herself as she began explaining what Discord meant. “Three days - the standard length of time a separated soul has to return to their body, lest the Spiritual Bureaucracy force them to enter the Path of Judgment. In any case, I will inform their immediate families of their current status and condition. Discord, I will hope that you will join us in Canterlot once you lock up here, yes?”

“Seeing as I am a principal figure in this entire incident, I don’t believe I have a real right to refuse a polite request like that,” Discord responded, as he snapped his fingers, conjuring a suitcase full of clothes and other travelling supplies.

“At least some of my magic is coming back to me, though I suspect it will be at least four days until it is fully reintegrated into my body.”

“Discord, I… I’m sorry I snapped at you a little bit ago. I… just… thought I had lost Twilight… and…” Spike said as he rubbed a hand along an arm, not quite looking the now two-fanged draconequs in the face.

“Spike… I accept your apology. And trust me, I understand. To be honest, I would have expected either Celestia or Luna to blow their top with me,” Discord responded.

“I will stay that outburst; contingent on any of those mares not making it back to us. Until then, I will have the best medics keep vigil over their bodies… while we wait,” Celestia responded in kind.

“Spike, you know how to lock up the library don’t you?” Cadence asked, as she headed toward the cottage door.

“Yeah sure, I guess either way it goes we won’t be using it for the next little while. I just hope we have a re-opening instead… of something else,” Spike replied, as he walked out the door with the Crystal Princess.

When the young Alicorn and even younger dragon left the two elder Alicorns and draconequs alone, the conversation shifted.

“You should have some idea where that explosion probably blew their souls to…” Discord asked of the two remaining Alicorns.

“Yes… we had a feeling that piece of our history would eventually be revisited,” Celestia responded, as she looked sternly at the still recovering draconequs.

“They will, in all likelihood, be quite cross with your six heralds.”

“But they knew why we had to… do what we did, to begin with…” Luna responded defensively to the untold implication.

“You know how grudges are, dear Luna. Were you any less angry when you finally broke free of your lunar imprisonment, despite what you had done to Celestia in your rage?”

“No…” she responded morosely.

“Nor was I when I broke free those years ago and tried to turn this world upside down. Anger and wrath can be very slow to cool. I suspect the internment in the admittedly nice part of Purgatory, has done little to quell their rage against you, and all that represents you,” Discord concluded.

“And now Twilight and the others will have to deal with the aftermath, all these years later…” Celestia thought aloud.

Discord stood up, wobbling a bit but now more steady on his paws. “Sometimes the child must pay penance for the sins of their parents… though neither of us at the time thought we were in the wrong, did we?”

~~-- !! --~~

“Ugh, where are we? I… feel so light-headed and dizzy…” Twilight asked, as she looked around. All that met her eyes though, were her friends, and white.

“This place looks kinda freaky…” Pinkie thought aloud, disturbed as her senses just seemed to reject a room that was decorated in nothing but white.

“Oh look, our guests are finally awake…” a mysterious feminine voice said.

“Perhaps we should inform them of their fate?” a mysterious masculine voice chimed in as well.

Suddenly, two giant ogres, one female and red, the other male and blue, appeared before the six Ponies. They were both clothed in white robes with black sashes, as they stood in front of a door that manifested on a wall of the room they were all in.

“Who are you? Where are we?” Applejack asked, as all six were now on their hooves, looking up at the ogres that were around three times their height.

“’Where are you’ indeed, my dear farming pony. You just so happened to be latest to have suffered a truly untimely death!” the female ogre responded.

“WHAT?!” the six of them all responded by yelling loud enough to rattle the windows that room would have had, if it were a ‘real’ room.

“Oh my, such vitality in your voices, you all must have been quite young when you bit the dust. But, lucky for you, your universe is insured under our ‘Premature Death Prevention Policy’!” the male ogre responded, his white robe turning into a charcoal gray business suit with red tie.

“Ok, I’ll bite. What, pray tell, is a ‘Premature Death Prevention Policy’?” Rainbow Dash grumbled, as she found it far easier to hover in the air as a disembodied soul.

“Simply put, your planet exists in a universe which allows for the restoration of life should a soul be separated from its body through a forcible means. Now contingent upon a background check and other protocols, you will have three days to return yourselves to your bodies, at which point we simply flip the switch and you return to your normal lives. At least that is the policy normally,” the male ogre responded.

The female ogre, in a matching slate gray business suit, then took over the explanation. “However, you six are a special exception. Because of the specific circumstances of your not-quite-deaths, there are some extenuating circumstances that we have to deal with before you can proceed to the process to return to your bodies.”

“And that would be?” Twilight responded, already feeling that familiar pang of being nerve-wracked by something.

“There are six beings who specifically requested ‘If any Ponies or other beings that represent Celestia and her high-and-mighty Harmony ever pass through this space. We would like to have a few words with them.’” the male ogre responded, handing a note to Twilight.

“’Sincerely, the Heralds of Primal Magic’, what in the heck does this mean?” Twilight replied, as she and the others read the note.

The female ogre responded. “It means the six of you, and the six of them, need to resolve some long-standing difference between each other before the twelve of you can collectively move on. So if you don’t mind, could you please move on through the door, I am sure they can explain things better then we can.”

The door then opened, with bright light shining from inside.

“Twi’ I got a weird feeling about this,” Pinkie Pie started, as she looked at the unperceivable room beyond the doorframe.

“At the same time Pinkie, I think we’ve been put here for a reason. We just need to figure out what that reason is and what it has to do with us,” Twilight mused.

Rarity huffed as she walked up to the precipice. “So I guess we’re going through that door, aren’t we?”

“Might as well, sugahcube,” Applejack responded as she walked through.

“Better than standing around here all afterlife with those two…” Rainbow Dash added as she walked through.

“If there are truly six others that have been waiting for someone to talk to all this time, then I guess we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer,” Fluttershy added as she stepped through.

“No, a lady should not keep guests waiting, should they, Twilight,” Rarity resolved as she stepped through.

“OH well, making friends is what I do, so that’s what I’m gonna do through that door, see ya on the other side!” Pinkie responded as she trotted through.

“Three days huh? Well a conversation shouldn’t eat up that much time…” Twilight thought aloud as she walked through, and the door closed behind the six of them.

“Oh, just a little word of warning. Time passes here at a different rate than in your mortal world. So I wouldn’t dawdle if you can at all help it. Anyway, good luck!” the female ogre chirped in a far too happy a tone, as far as Twilight was concerned.

“So, you think they’re gonna make the time limit?” the male ogre asked of his female partner.

“They could, kind of a coin flip. I mean anytime we try and talk with those six they just go on and on and on…” the female ogre responded as the two of them walked out through a different door.

Author's Note

You know, usually when people talk about Death only being the beginning, it's the villains claiming their plans will out-live them... show you what I know, huh?

Anyway, in the next iteration of our little tale: what happens when six modern bearers have to reconcile after milennia with six ornery heralds of the theoretically opposing power?

Quite a bit actually...