Friends on the other Side.
Prologue - Freedom
Princess Celestia sat on her throne, listening to the usual nobles who would attend the day court and waffle on about their petty little problems and how they should be given this, that and the other. She was used to these kinds of demands. The noble who was talking, a stallion named Money Bags, would always claim there was never enough bits to fund the private sector. The sector he primarily ran.
“And that, my Princess, is why I believe we should divert more bits to the private sector,”
“Yes, thank you, Money Bags,” Celestia replied. “We shall see what can be done.”
The stallion nodded, seemingly content for the time being. As he sat down, a mare stood up and delicately coughed to clear her throat.
“I would like to, once again, bring forward the matter of the working ponies who are still—”
“Oh, not this drivel again,” Money Bags interrupted.
“Please, Money Bags. You’ve had your turn, please be respectful to the others,” Celestia said sternly.
“Apologies, your majesty,” Money Bags grumbled
Celestia raised her brow at him as Money Bags held back a sigh that threatened to escape his lips. He turned his attention to the mare and gritted his teeth, “I apologise, Lily Swan.”
“That’s fine, Money Bags,” Lily Swan replied with a glare. “Now, as I was saying...”
Celestia shook her head softly as the court listened to Lily’s request.
Sometimes I wonder if this is a court of nobles or a foal’s playgroup...
“But the private sector has more than enough bits!” Lily yelled.
“Poppycock!” Money Bags retorted. “You and the miserable bit benefit scroungers have got more than enough!”
“No, they don’t! And how dare you call them bit benefit scroungers, you cad!”
“It’s the truth! And how dare you call me a cad, you… you… hagfish!”
Celestia sighed. The two ponies had suddenly broken out into a loud argument the minute Lily had suggested cutting some of the funding to the private sector and diverting it to urgently needed benefit funds. It started off with reasonable arguments; Lily Swan had tried to defend her suggestion, but Money Bags immediately denounced it. Then all tartarus broke loose.
“You stupid-minded, old, wrinkled wind bag!” Lily snorted.
Money Bags spluttered at her insult, “W-what did you call me you… you… ass!”
Several nobles gasped at his retort. Then, like a dam breaking, the entire courtroom burst into a large argument between both the side defending Lily and the side backing Money up. Celestia sighed once more before rearing her head up.
“Enough!” she bellowed in the royal voice, quickly quieting the ruckus, “I think it’s best if we all adjourned for a break, does that sound fair?”
The nobles grumbled and nodded in agreement before they started to pour out of the throne room. Finally, Celestia was on her own. She sighed and flopped against the throne and rubbed her temples.
“I need some air…”
She rose up from the throne and headed towards the balcony, stepping outside to overlook the gardens. However, something felt off about the air, the way the wind gently blew over her body just felt... wrong. Celestia closed her eyes and concentrated her magic. After a few moments her eyes shot open and she stared into the garden.
“So… it’s starting… just like I knew it would,” she muttered, allowing a small smile to appear on her face. “Then… it is good that I have planned for this day.”
Celestia was about to turn around and head back inside when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She saw the group of colts and fillies that had arrived earlier on that day on a school trip to visit the palace and smiled to herself. The group spotted her, and she giggled as they waved at her excitedly. She looked over to them and returned the wave.
“Look, Miss Cheerilee! It’s the Princess!”
“What’s that, Sweetie Belle?” Cheerilee replied doubtfully before she looked up. “Oh! So it is!”
Twenty or so eyes turned to see Princess Celestia looking down on them with a smile on her face. The foals giggled when she waved towards them.
“Wave back, everypony,” Miss Cheerilee smiled.
The group began to wave frantically at Celestia who was more than happy to wave madly with them. After a few seconds more, Miss Cheerilee eventually shooed the giggling class away but not before waving to the Princess herself. The Princess waved back to her before turning and heading back inside the palace.
“Okay, as we are nearly done. I want to finish our field trip here, in the world-famous Canterlot sculpture garden!” Miss Cheerilee announced.
The group entered a large garden with long hedges and stared in awe at the many status that lined the pathway of the area.
“Miss Cheerilee, what’s that one?” a young colt asked.
“That one there, represents ‘Friendship’, Button.”
“Oh, oh!” a filly cried, running to another statue, “What about this one?”
“That one, Pinchy, represents ‘Victory’.” Miss Cheerilee replied.
Scootaloo gasped as she stared in awe at the statue, “How cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?”
“Cool, if you were actually victoryful at somethin’,” Apple Bloom replied.
Sweetie Belle blinked and giggled, “That’s not a word!”
“What are you, a dictionary?” Scootaloo scoffed.
Miss Cheerilee stamped her hoof, gaining the three filles attention, “Girls! Now this is a really interesting statue.”
Cheerilee pointed to a statue nearby and the group walked over it it as she continued to talk.
“What do you notice about it?”
“It’s got an eagle claw!” Apple Bloom cried.
“And a lion paw!” Scootaloo added.
“And a snake tail!” Sweetie Belle finished.
“It looks like a video game boss!” Button exclaimed excitedly.
Pinchy rolled her eyes and giggled, “Trust you to say that.”
“Can anypony tell me what it’s called?” Miss Cheerilee asked the class.
The group chattered among themselves and tried to think of what the creature could be called, however, no one knew what it was and they gave up guessing.
Cheerilee smiled and waved a hoof over the statue, ”This creature is called a draconequus. He has the head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things. What do you suppose that represents?”
The group were quiet for a short moment as they tried to figure out what it represented.
“Confusion!” Apple Bloom cried.
“Evil!” Sweetie Belle shouted.
Scootaloo shook her head at Sweetie Belle, “Chaos!”
“It’s not chaos, you dodo!” Sweetie Belle stuck her tongue out at her.
Scootaloo glared at Sweetie Belle, “Don’t call me things I don’t know the meaning of! And it is too chaos!”
“Is not!” Sweetie Belle argued back, pressing her face against Scootaloo’s
“You’re both wrong!” Apple Bloom snorted, jumping on top of them.
As the three started to fight, Miss Cheerilee rolled her eyes and walked over to the three, using her hooves to separate them and scowled at them.
“Actually,” she started, “in a way you’re all right. This statue represents ‘Discord’, which means a lack of harmony between ponies. In fact you three have demonstrated discord so well…”
The three fillies looked up at their teacher with smiles.
“...that you’re each going to write me an essay explaining it.”
The three looked down, slightly embarrassed and upset as the other fillies and colts snickered behind them.
“Stupid blank flanks,” Diamond tittered.
“Now let’s go, and I don’t want any more fighting.” Cheerilee said, giving the three a quick look at the end of her sentence.
As the group walked onwards, the three fillies began to argue once more in hushed whispers.
“It’s confusion!” Apple bloom glared at her friends.
“Evil!” Sweetie Belle whispered.
“Chaos!” Scootaloo hissed.
“I said no more fighting!” Cheerilee snapped.
Unbeknownst to anypony in the group, the statue began to crack from the right leg up and along the body. A deep laugh rumbled from within as the crack reached the statues neck before it stopped suddenly, there was a silence that hung over the area before the statue wobbled slightly.
“Are you kidding me?” a voice grumbled from within.
A light tapping came from within it, as if someone was wrapping a knuckle against it.
“Just… hold on,” the voice said to no one in particular.
The sounds of footsteps faded away before coming to a stop. There was a brief pause, the area becoming quiet again. Then, the footsteps suddenly grew louder and increased in tempo followed by a loud bang that echoed inside the statue, as if something had collided with it. The statue rocked slightly as a pained whine escaped from it.
“RIGHT!”
The footsteps faded away before they returned and the sound of something heavy was dropped onto the ground with a grunt. The footsteps began to walk away again before stopping.
“Fire in the hole!” the voice shouted.
A low rumble sounded as something exploded within the statue, causing it to gently rock back and forth. But nothing happened.
“You know what? Screw this,” the voice muttered.
The sound of keys rattling echoed inside the statue, followed by the sound of a wooden door creaking open and shutting. A wooden door appeared in front of the statue and a creature that looked exactly like the statue stepped out, it slammed the door which vanished and the statue crumbled to dust.
“Should have done that in the first place…” he muttered. “Oh well, time to get to work!”
The creature yawned loudly and stretched, popping his back and grinned. He clicked its talons and vanished in a flash of white light.
Chapter I - Start of something bad (in a good way)
Friends on the other Side.
Chapter I - Start of something bad (in a good way)
As the town of Ponyville continued its normal daily routine, a small flash of light shone outside of the town, just on the Everfree forest line. A creature poked its head out carefully from behind a tree and chuckled to itself, before clicking its talons and vanishing in another flash of white light.
“Okay Rainbow… on the count of three… one… two…” Rainbow retracted her wings to her body, “THREE!”
She hollered loudly as she dove down from the cloud she had been standing on towards the ground. The wind pulled against her and her speed increased by the second. As the ground rushed up to meet her, she opened her wings suddenly and arched back up into the air.
“Oh man, I love doing that!” Rainbow cheered.
She started to glide up and down, enjoying the coolness of the wind on her feathers.
Suddenly, Rainbow was assaulted by a blur of pink that whizzed past her, spinning her in circles.
“W-what? Pinkie?” she cried as she struggled to steady herself.
She looked back to see who the culprit was. A pink cloud, and growled. “Come back here, you!”
She took off after the cloud and quickly caught up to it, laughing in triumph until she felt something stick to her fur.
“Eww, what is this?” she shook it off before taking a quick lick of the substance and smacking her lips. “Cotton floss?”
She blinked and looked around her, seeing dozens of pink clouds zipping about. A thunderous rumble boomed over her head and she looked up to see a cloud drip a drop of coloured water onto her.
“Wait a second! It’s not supposed to rain until tomorrow. You can’t just—”
She was interrupted as the cloud started to rain chocolate rain, “You did.”
She squinted her eyes and saw in the distance a large pink cloud over Cloudsdale , the next town over, and the same kind of rain raining down on it. The cloud then suddenly took off towards sweet apple acres, shaking her mane to get rid of the rain she growled at the cloud and took chase.
“Hey, I didn’t tell you to go anywhere!”
“Rainbow Dash,” she heard below her to see Applejack, standing in a field of corn “what’s going on with this rain? I mean chocolate milk? I mean chocolate milk rain!?”
“There’s crazy weather all over Equestria, I can feel it!* And something is going on in Cloudsdale, looks like chocolate milk or cola or something! But don’t worry. I’m not leaving until I get control of Ponyville.”
Just as she took off, the corn around Applejack started to pop rapidly into popcorn and sent her flying. Nearby, Pinkie was jumping into individual piles of popcorn, giggling to herself in glee.
“Why would you want to stop this?” she asked as she slurped some of the chocolate rain.
Applejack rolled her eyes at her pink friend’s antics and heard a polite cough, turning round to see Rarity in a bunch of waterproof clothing and an umbrella.
“I heard about your troubles, Applejack, and I came to see if there’s anything I can do without getting wet. Or dirty. Or out from under my umbrella,” Rarity smiled.
Applejack rolled her eyes again before they widened in alarm. She watched as the apples on her apple trees suddenly grew in size, causing the trees to double over and strain under the newfound weight. She panicked as a bunch of squirrels and rabbits ran past her being chased by Fluttershy and jumped up into the trees, quickly starting to devour the apples.
“Fluttershy!” Applejack wailed. “Do somethin’!”
Fluttershy climbed up to one of the trees where a white rabbit was currently munching on an apple, “Now, Angel, you shouldn’t really—”
Her eyes went wide as Angel’s legs and arms suddenly grew into slender legs with hooves on the ends, “No! It’s not possible! I must be seeing things!”
She started to panic as dozens of rabbits raced past her, all in the same, deformed condition Angel was in. Twilight walked over the fields with Spike in tow, levitating a book in front of her.
“Don’t worry, everyone,” Twilight said confidently. “I’ve learned a new spell that’ll fix everything.”
Twilight tossed the book away and focused all of her magic into her horn, shooting out a blast of magic that was followed by a rippling wave that sailed over the surrounding area.
And did nothing.
Twilight stared dumbfounded at the unchanged area, “My fail-safe spell… failed. What do we do?”
“Uh,” Spike replied. “Give up?”
Rarity came over and gave levitated her umbrella onto Twilight, “Spike,” she scolded, “Twilight will come up with something.”
Twilight tapped her hoof in thought, “Hmm, time for plan B. Rainbow, can you corral all those clouds in one corner of the sky?”
Rainbow Dash saluted and quickly took off on her task.
“Applejack, I need you to bring those high-strung storm clouds down to earth.”
Applejack nodded, got her rope and quickly lassoed the clouds once Rainbow had managed to clump them together. Yanking them harshly, she began to pull them down to earth, much to Pinkie’s chagrin.
“Hey, what happened?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight ignored her, instead whispering something into Fluttershy’s ear which the pegasus grinned at and nodded.
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy gasped, “I hope none of the animals see these delicious chocolate-filled cotton candy clouds. I’d hate to have to share them.”
Pinkie giggled as she looked over at her from munching on the tied up clouds, “You and me both, sister!” she was bumped out of the way as a horde of animals rushed to eat the clouds.
“Hey!” she protested.
“And when y’all are done with that, feel free to have some popcorn for dessert,” Applejack chuckled.
“You see, Spike?” Twilight smiled, “You should never give up. There’s nothing we can’t overcome if we all work together.”
Spike was about to reply but burped instead, green flames and a scroll flew out of his mouth. Twilight opened the scroll and read it. She inhaled sharply as her eyes darted across each word.
“Come on, girls. Princess Celestia wants to see us all in Canterlot immediately!”
As the girls quickly departed to catch the next train to Canterlot, a white flash appeared behind them. As the light resided, a tall creature was left in its wake and watched the ponies dash frantically for the train.
“Not bad…” it chuckled. “But I’m just getting warmed up!”
The creature snapped its talons and vanished once more in a brilliant white light.
Princess Celestia paced silently back and forth at the top of the stairs in the main lobby of the palace, waiting for the arrival of the Elements.
“Patience, Celestia…” she muttered to herself. “It’ll be over soon.”
The doors burst open and the Elements rushed inside with Twilight in the lead.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight started. “We came as fast as we could!”
Celestia smiled at the Elements as they approached the stairs, “Thank you, Twilight. Thank you, all.”
“Is this about the weather? And the animals’ weird behaviour? What’s happening out there? Why isn’t my magic working? Is there—”
Celestia raised her hoof and silenced Twilight before speaking calmly, “Follow me.”
She lead the Elements down a long corridor. The group walked in silence until they were out of earshot of anypony else. Only once they had journeyed far enough away from the main part of the palace did Celestia finally speak up.
“I’ve called you here for a matter of great importance. It seems an old foe of mine — someone I thought I had defeated long ago — has returned. His name,” Celestia paused for emphasis, “is Discord!”
Fluttershy stared up at a stained glass window with a strange creature on it and squeaked as Celestia continued talking.
“Discord is a mischievous spirit of disharmony. Before my sister and I stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness. Luna and I saw how miserable life was for all the ponies, so after discovering the Elements of Harmony, we combined our powers and rose up against him, turning him to stone.”
The creature in the window rolled its eyes, then glared at Rainbow as she grinned and punched the air.
“All right, Princess!” she cried.
“I thought the spell we cast would keep him contained forever… but things changed and—”
“Because you and Luna no longer are connected to the Elements… the spell has been broken?” Twilight asked, putting the pieces together.
“Exactly, Twilight,” Celestia nodded coming to a stop in front of a door that was extravagantly decorated with banners and an intricate design around and on the door. Two statues stood guard on either side of it.
“This is Canterlot Tower,” Celestia continued, “where the Elements are kept inside since you all recovered them.”
Celestia paused and looked to the six mares with a smile, “I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once more and stop Discord before he thrusts all of Equestria and possibly the entire world into eternal chaos.”
The six mares shared slightly nervous and confused glances between one another before Twilight spoke up, “But… why us? Why don’t you—”
She was interrupted as Pinkie rushed to a window, “Hey, look! We’re famous!” she gasped.
“You six showed the full potential of the Elements by harnessing the magic of your friendship to beat a mighty foe. Although Luna and I once wielded them, the power to control them now falls to you, and it is you who must defeat Discord!” Celestia explained.
Twilight smiled confidently up at her mentor, “ Princess Celestia, you can count on—”
“Objection!” Pinkie interrupted, “Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys. CHOCOLATE. RAIN!”
Twilight shook her head and looked to Celestia, “Don’t listen to her, Princess. We’d be honored to use the Elements of Harmony again.”
Celestia smiled and walked over to the door, inserting her horn into the small hole in the center and charging up her magic. She pulled her head back as he door reacted to her magic, opening up to reveal a beautiful case that Rarity instantly gasped at in awe.
“Keep the Elements. I’ll take that case!”
“Have no fear, ponies. I have total confidence you will be able to defeat Discord with these!”
The creature in the window watched in glee as the the box slowly opened, a white light glowing under the lid. The creature’s smile threatened to tear its face apart.
Here it comes... it thought to itself.
The chest opened to reveal the Elements which Celestia levitated over to their respective bearers. The creature stared in disbelief and blinked, rubbing its eyes to make sure it wasn’t seeing things.
It wasn’t.
“WHAT!?” it roared.
They all turned round as a white flash filled the room and a very angry looking creature stood in the center of the corridor.
“Discord,” Celestia hissed.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Discord demanded. “How the fuck do you have the Elements!?”
The girls stood and stared at Discord in confusion, unsure of what was going on. Celestia chuckled quietly to herself.
“What’s so funny?” he growled.
“Oh, Discord. Did you really think I wouldn’t have prepared for your return?” Celestia tittered, “I knew this day was going to come, and so, I made preparations.”
“But… you can’t do that!” Discord protested. “It’s not in the script!”
Discord clicked his talons and a large stack of papers appeared in his claws and a pair of spectacles on his face, he licked his talon and flicked over the pages muttering to himself.
“Lets see… ah! The Return of Harmony Part One… Twilight says the Elements are gone… Sun Butt goes on about the protection spell on the chamber that I brilliantly broke...” he took his glasses off and threw them into the wall where they exploded into confetti. “See!? You can’t just change the rules like that! Only I can!”
“Discord!” Celestia snapped. “Stop delaying the inevitable, just surrender now and I promise this will be quick.”
Discod watched as the girls prepared themselves to use the Elements and chuckled, “Really, Celestia? You think you can still stop me?”
He clicked his talons, but nothing happened. He clicked them repeatedly as his face started to show the signs of his panic.
“What’s the matter?” Celestia asked with a smirk. “Can’t use your magic on the Elements and the bearers?”
“W-what did you do?” Discord stuttered, “How did you do it!?”
“Simple… I prepared. GIRLS. NOW!”
Discord’s eyes went wide as the girls quickly charged up the spell that would seal him back into stone. He started to back away, but just as the beam was fired at him, he found his bearings and clicked his talons, managing to teleport away as the beam bounced harmlessly off the ground where Discord had been standing not a moment beforehand.
“Dagnabbit!” Applejack huffed. “He got away!”
“Don’t worry, my friends,” Celestia smiled, “it won’t be too long before he tries something.”
“So what do we do now, Princess?” Twilight asked.
“Take the Elements back to Ponyville with you. Discord won’t take this minor defeat lightly and I’m certain he will try something again soon. Do not worry, he will not be able to get near any of you without the Elements reacting to his chaotic magic, even if he tries to use others to obtain them,” Celestia replied.
“Why does he need them?” Rainbow asked.
“They won’t work unless they are all together, Rainbow.” Twilight deadpanned. “If he has even one of them, we may never be able to defeat him.”
“Oh… yeah,” Rainbow chuckled sheepishly.
“Exactly,” Celestia nodded. “As long as you believe in yourselves, Discord will be unable to get close to you or anyone around you. The spell I cast on them will automatically teleport you to each other if he even so much as tries to take them by force.”
“You really thought through this, didn’t you, Princess,” Twilight giggled.
“Of course, what else would you have expected me to do? Hope for the best that the Elements wouldn’t get stolen?” Celestia tittered back.
The ruined castle that stood abandoned within the Everfree forest was silent, save for the roaring of a disgruntled draconequus who was beyond livid.
“How dare she!” Discord roared.
He threw a ball of magic at an old wooden chair that exploded and revealed an animated chair with two, black slender arms with white gloves on the end. They danced for a few seconds before keeling over and reverting to their inanimate state.
“How dare she alter the rules! I was assured by the script everything would… more or less go according to my plan. And even then, I was just going to alter the ending!” Discord fumed.
He flopped down on the stone floor of the castle and propped his chin up with his paw, scowling at the wall.
“Stupid Sun Butt…” he muttered. “Now I have to re-think everything!”
Discord tapped his fingers against his chin as he concentrated on thinking up a new plan. He remained in his pose for a good hour or so as he ran plan after plan through his head, but with each one ending up the same.
A stoney end.
“GAH!” he suddenly roared in frustration. “Why can’t this be easy!? Why can’t I just—”
He abruptly stopped and blinked before a wicked grin curled its way onto his face as an idea popped into his head, “Yes… yes that could work…”
Discord quickly snapped his talons and a yellow book, with a black hand skimming over a book with the words ‘The Yellow Pages of Villains’ written below it, appeared in his paw. He snapped his talons again and donned some glasses as he quickly skimmed over it.
“Lets see… Ursula? Nah, she sounds to fishy… Jafar? Hmm, not sure I could trust a genie…”
He skimmed over a few more pages as he read the individual names.
“Hades? That guy still owes me money… Maleficent? She sounds like a riot…” Discord grumbled sarcastically.
He licked his talon and flicked over the page.
“Hook? He can’t even beat a child!” He looked at the next name and grinned.” Ah! Now this guy looks like he knows how to be fun!”
Discord slammed the book shut and snapped his fingers, creating a swirling green portal in front of him. He took a few steps back as a distant scream grew louder and louder until the portal spat a strange creature out.
“What the…” it muttered with a deep male voice as it stood up.
The creature was a tall bipedal that was quite skinny with dark skin, he had a thin pencil moustache and a small necklace with two sharp teeth dangling from it. He was wearing a purple waist coat as well as a purple with black trim tail coat, a red sash around his waist and purple trousers. Atop his head sat a black top hat with a skull and crossbones as well as a small purple feather that tucked into a red band.
He dusted himself off before he turned around and blinked in confusion as he noticed a large wooden desk sitting in what appeared to be a small office—despite him clearly seeing he was in a ruined castle—and a desk chair facing away from him.
“Ah, welcome, welcome. I’ve been expecting you!” Discord greeted him.
The chair spun round revealing the draconequus, who was wearing a back formal business suit with a red tie as well as his glasses. He snapped his talons and a chair appeared opposite him, “Won’t you have a seat, human?”
The human raised an eyebrow before walking over to the chair and sitting just in front of it, Discord watched as the chair moved by itself just as the creature sat down and grinned.
“Now, how about we skip the formalities, Dr. Facilier, and get down to business?” Discord said.
“Fine by me,” Facilier replied, surprised yet intrigued how this creature knew his name.
“I need your help, I’ve gone through dozens of applicants,” he shifted some papers he made appear in his hand, “but you, Facilier, stand out as the best candidate!”
“For what exactly?” Facilier asked.
Discord chuckled and snapped his talon and a globe appeared in the middle of the desk which showed the entire world, including Equestria, and gave him a toothy grin, “World conquest.”
Facilier smiled and looked at his shadow. Discord smiled as he noticed the shadow’s mouth opening and forming into a curled smile.
“Sounds enticing,” Facilier chuckled before leaning forwards, resting his hands on his knees. “But what’s in it for me?”
Discord gritted his teeth, annoyed that the human didn’t immediately comply, “Name it.”
Facilier chuckled as he looked to his shadow who nodded back at him, “Alright, ah have two conditions.”
Discord glared at the human but held back his annoyance, “And they are?”
“First, you clear my debt with some… ‘friends’ of mine,” Facilier started. “Second, I can tell that you possess a large quantity of power… when we take over, I want my own share of it.”
As Facilier stuck out an open hand and smirked, the draconequus held back the urge to outright deny Facilier. But because of Celestia’s detection spell, he was unable to simply demand the human work for him, let alone use his powers on him, as the Elements would be alerted to the chaotic magic running through the human’s discorded body.
“Fine, but only if I succeed,” Discord agreed as he shook his hand.
“Fantastique!” Facilier chuckled. “Now… lets have a chat with my friends on the other side…”
