Chapters Discord, Mania And Charlie Mare
It sucked to be Charlie Mare; constantly teased at school because of his straight bright orange hair and pale complexion, pestered by his big sister, constantly overlooked and never got a break. He lived on a farm out in the country and lived in a house next to the horse pen. The only friend he had in the whole world was his horse, Run Run, but not for long.
That’s when he noticed it; a small yellow envelope, quite possibly one of the smallest in the world, sitting on his bedside table. He was a little suspicious at first, it could have been a trick letter sent by The Bully Brothers. They sent a Christmas card covered in itching powder once, why wouldn’t they do something else? Charlie carefully opened the letter with a butter knife from a plate on the bedside table and seeing no tricks or traps of any kind, put his hand in the envelope and took out the card. It read:
Hi! I hear you’re having a few problems out in your world. I think I can help. Come to the Big Old Apple Tree nearby and bring the key in the envelope with you.
Ok, this definitely wasn’t a fake letter from the Bully Brothers OR Mega Mean Megan. The handwriting was way too good. Charlie turned over the envelope and sure enough, a small gold key fell out of the envelope. It was something unlike he had ever seen. The teeth of the key were so intricate; it looked like a music box. There wddas a rainbow on the handle. This was either real or a really well planned prank. But Charlie couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this. He grabbed a torch, his coat, the key and letter and strode to the door. Only to be blocked by Mega Mean Megan.
Charlie flicked on his torch and jumped over the fence. He jumped over fallen logs and ducked under branches until he made it to a small clearing. In that clearing was the biggest apple tree he’d ever seen. Though the tree had clearly died a long time ago, it must have been huge in its time. Charlie could just imagine the shiny, crisp apples that must have grown on it. Now, the branches were bare of fruit and leaves, and the wood was as grey as steel. Suddenly, something moved behind the tree! Charlie moved his torch to a nearby shrub to see who, or what, it was. Out stepped something Charlie never thought he would see.
The portal was beautiful to behold. The frame was made of ebony and encrusted with every kind of precious stone, and for some reason some odd things as well. But somehow, it all fit together perfectly! Diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies meshed together seamlessly with dirty socks, snail shells, apples and, somehow, clouds. The portal itself was amazing; a shimmering curtain of all possible and impossible colours that wafted in the non-existent breeze. The odd uni-pony was standing next to the portal. Then, to Charlie Mare’s amazement, it opened up its mouth and said “Hi! I’m Twilight Sparkle!”
Discord, Mania And Charlie Mare
He woke up. He couldn’t remember anything. He remembered the rainbow veil, the hairy fist, and that horrible grinning mouth. But who was he? He remembered somepony helping him up, walking to a tree house together, and seeing a small dragon. What was his name?
As Pinkie Pie dragged the nameless pony down the street, he couldn’t help wondering, when will this end?! But also, why were these ponies so friendly to him? Nopony was ever so kind or friendly before. But then again, he couldn’t remember anything before entering the tree with Twilight Sparkle. Finally, Pinkie Pie skidded to a stop just outside a candy shop.
Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies were on the other side of Ponyville when this was going on, looking for a rogue Pinkie Pie and her hostage.
“And this is Canterlot Palace!” Pinkie Pie yelled excitedly. It was amazing the distance she could travel in such a short period of time. The nameless pony was dazed to say the least. “Do you wanna go inside? It’ll be fun!”
The other ponies cantered into the royal hall just as Pinkie Pie wheeled out her welcome wagon. Loud music was playing, streamers and confetti littered the gleaming marble floors, most of the guards were dancing around drinking impossible amounts of cider, and in the middle of it all, Pinkie Pie was throwing the other pony up into the air again and again, while Princess Celesia was laughing at the silliness of it all.
Discord was bored. One tended to get bored if there was nothing to do. Yes, he could choose to invade another Brony’s fan fiction novel and make it a bit more interesting, but what was the point? He was frozen in stone yet again, beaten by the power of love and friendship and rainbows, but somehow, still alive. It was best not to think about it too much. If he thought about it, the delicate spell holding his chaotic consciousness together might dissolve like an ice cube in the sun.
Far away in Equestria, Veil and his new friends were continuing the party at Pinkie Pie’s house.
At the brink of dawn, the ponies set out for the Everfree Forest to seek out Zecora. Hopefully, she would know where Discord was hiding. They passed through the first wave of trees, occasionally brushing spider webs out of their way. After hopping over some roots seeking the light, Rainbow Dash spotted Zecora’s hut. A small yellow filly trotted out of the low hut to greet us.
Charlie’s Mother was getting worried. It had been a few days since Charlie went for his walk, and he hadn’t come back since then. She asked Megan where he was but she just shrugged and slammed the door to her room. She must be going through a rough patch. After all, she went through one when she was growing up. But this couldn’t find Charlie. Just as she opened the door to go look for him, the phone rang. She went to answer the phone and after an hour, she completely forgot what she was supposed to be doing. Then she remembered. She had to get dinner ready. Some very important businessmen were coming over for tea. If They didn’t like her steamed pudding, her farm might be sold to some yokel from overseas.
At the ruins, Twilight was getting worried. The other ponies had split up to try and find Zecora, but the twisting corridors and confusing lay of the land ensured they got lost. Veil was with Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash went together, Pinkie Pie and Spike went off in another direction, and Twilight went with Rarity.
Everypony was blinking furiously as they each struggled to find out where they were and how. They were all back at the entrance, standing on top of eachother in a giant pony column. Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie was standing at the bottom and the entire thing collapsed. After dusting themselves off, they headed back to Ponyville.
All the ponies and the Draconequus had decided that they needed to confer with a higher authority. After a brief period of explaining everything to Celestia and her royal guard, they started talking about why Discord was attacking and how.
Discord, Mania And Charlie Mare
“Well, that was much quicker than I had expected.” Discord said as he finished off the last of those delicious steamed puddings one of the humans had made for him. In the space of an hour, Discord had taken over half the continent some of the humans had shouted ‘America’. Nice name, nicer steamed puddings. He was just about to pour himself another glass of chocolate rain when Victor stumbled into his throne room.
The plan was working perfectly. With Mania bound to a tree the ponies were dragging, the ponies were striding through Discord’s massive army of horrid, misshapen creatures. The ponies were striding to Discord’s surprisingly brightly coloured tower of solidified Chaos. Though something felt very wrong for Veil.
Celestia was fighting her way through the hordes of chaos creatures when she noticed Discord on the stairs of his palace. She flew into the air and dived to the steps. She landed with grace and poise, and trotted over to Discord who was- no, he couldn’t be, he was weeping!
Dementia was plotting. She had a massive army, unlimited resources of chaos and some of the most powerful ponies of Equestria corrupted and at her command, but where, oh where did she attack first? Equestria, or the Chaos Realm? Both were VERY good choices, but she was afraid that she would need a much bigger army to attack Equestria, and a veritable galaxy of soldiers to attack her home realm. So invading another realm sounded like a good idea. But where to start? And how could she find a portal? Her train of thought was interrupted as a human slammed open the door, startling her guard ponies.
Charlie Mare was furious. He remembered everything. The mocking laughter of Dementia was burned into his memory, and the fact that he may never see the only friends he had ever had again fuelled his anger even more. He brandished the sword so tight, his fingernails gut into his hand and made it bleed. But Charlie didn’t take any notice.
WHAT IS THIS? I CAN SEE NOW THAT YOU ARE NO MERE MORTAL. VERY WELL. YOU SHALL HAVE YOUR FIGHT! BUT FIRST, YOU MUST PROVE TO ME THAT YOU ARE WORTHY! DESTROY THESE PONIES! THEY ARE OF NO USE TO ME.
Discord and Celestia were watching the battle from a safe distance, but Discord wasn’t treating it very seriously. He had summoned a row of movie seats and a bucket of popcorn for him and Celestia. Only his side had more butter.
The ponies that were stuck to the wall were still raging. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were struggling and pushing to fly away, but the chains holding them back were too strong. But something happened. Twilight Sparkle was watching the two titans fight and she began to wonder. Why was he doing this? He had nothing to gain from fighting her. He could lose his life fighting her. Why? Then she remembered. He was doing it for them. The chain around her neck began to steam.
GIVE IT UP FOOL! YOU CAN NEVER DEFEAT ME! Cried Dementia. Knightmare was in a bad way. He was bleeding heavily from his shoulder, his vision was blurry and he had nearly nothing left. He raised up his hand in a feeble attempt to block what should have been the last blow, but Dementia’s hand was stayed. Everything stood still. Dementia looked up to her hand to see what was wrong. A purple particle cloud surrounded her hand, which could only mean one thing. Twilight had broken Dementia’s spell! And sure enough, she had freed her friends too. They looked at Knightmare with a grim look in their eyes. They knew he was doing what had to be done. They just had to help him.
Dementia laughed triumphantly. YOU FOOLS! NOTHING CAN STOP ME! I AM INVINCIBLE! I WILL DESTROY THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE, AND EVERY SINGLE LAST THING IN IT! STARTING WITH YOU! She lunged at the small boy. He stood up. The world had been slowed. Discord was using the last of his magic to save Charlie. He gave Discord a nod, and the raised the sword. He raised it far above his head and brought it down with a thunderous yell. He heard the blade sink into the flesh of Dementia, and then, she started to change. It was slow at first, then gradually, from the hilt down, the sword turned to stone. Dementia reeled back in shock as her face slowly turned to stone. She tried to scream, but only a muffled gasp of air came out, but somehow, it was scarier than any scream. In a few minutes, it was all over. There stood a perfect statue of Dementia. But then, cracks appeared. The cracks quickly spread and soon, the whole statue was crumbling. All that was left was a small pile of dust. Charlie collapsed and became Veil Otherworld once again. There was a small flash on his flank, and there appeared a pair of golden swords crossed behind a shield.
The ponies carried Veil back to the portal, while Discord was made to clean up the mess he had created by Celestia. Hopefully with all the blanked memories of humans, none would ever believe this happened. When he awoke, Veil was back in the library again. He slowly sat up, but Fluttershy told him to lie down again. His injuries had not been able to heal completely. Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Celestia walked into his room.
“I think I stirred up a bit of trouble when I came here. I’m sorry.” Veil moped
The party was an amazing success. Even Discord was invited. He was showing magic tricks to some of the young fillies while the cider drinking contest was underway yet again, and it was down to Veil and Applejack. Pinkie Pie was dancing with what looked like multiple copies of herself, along with other ponies who were watching with amazement, confusion and happiness. Many of the other ponies were playing games and eating the delicious cakes and pies from Sugar Cube Corner and most importantly, everyone was having fun. Celestia decided that it was time. She walked over to Veil who had just won the cider contest and was now celebrating by taking a long sit down.
Charlie Mare woke up just outside the portal. Celestia had made it quite clear. It was a shame. He hated to say goodbye to his friends. Pinkie Pie was crying a river that almost washed away Ponyville and Rarity could barely hold back her tears. Even in times of great sadness, she had an image to protect after all. Veil was about to step through the World Veil when Celestia tapped her horn on his head. He stepped through the portal into the human realm. But he remembered everything; before entering the portal, his stay in Ponyville, defeating Dementia and all of Pinkie Pie’s fantastical parties. This last memory is what made Charlie smile the most. He shed a single tear and felt something fall out of his pocket as he stood up. It was a photograph. It was all of them, smiling together, laughing together and playing together. It also had a small note in the corner. It read:
Discord, Mania And Charlie Mare
Ten years passed since Charlie Mare had his adventure in Equestria, and his life had turned around for the better. He had friends at school, his mother loved him more than ever, and even Megan stopped pestering him. Every night, Charlie would lie down in his bed, and when no one was looking, he opened the bedside table drawer and took out the photograph of his pony friends. Then he would write a letter to Twilight. In the back of his mind, he thought such memories as childish. Sometimes, even a little bit naieve and stupid. But every time he saw something just a little bit magical, he thought of Twilight. When his friends told him something completely honestly, he remembered Applejack. Every time he saw a rainbow, Rainbow Dash sped at full speed through his mind. Every party he atended, he could swear he heard Pinkie's stifled giggling. In every reflective surface he saw, just out of sight, was the perfectly pampered tail of Rarity. Every cute animal he saw reminded him of Fluttershy, and even when he saw something odd or out of place, he even thought of Discord. These were the things that had propelled him into his life, that explosion of non-sensical glee just added more fuel to his fire of happiness. He just was glad that he, someone from a completely different universe, species and reality, learned to make friends with another. He shook his head and sighed. 10 years is a very long time. he decided to sit himself down and write one.
Dear Everypony,
Charlie sighed as he stepped out of the car. he said goodbye to his mother and kissed her on the cheek. He picked up his suitcase and swaggered towards his new dorm. His pony friends may be gone, but he can make some new ones. After all, not everyone sticks with childhood friends their whole life. He found his room and opened the door to be greeted by some strangely familiar faces. Many with brightly coloured hairstyles.