Justice

A/N: Well, here it is. The last chapter of Justice.

I hop out through the orphanage window. I shift the backpack of food and water more securely over my shoulder, and I sprint for the tree-line. Once I reach it, I glance back at the orphanage, nestled into a niche in the forest.

“I’m never going back there…” I mutter to myself.

I was in there for all of five minutes, but I hated it nonetheless. I continue walking through the aspen trees, the occasional red or yellow leaf drifting beside me. I was heading to my usual meditation spot. When I had begun to learn Tai-chi, I had found a small clearing near a cliff edge. It was a beautiful place, and I was always able to find calm there. While I doubted I would be able to today, I had to try.

Hours pass. There’s the occasional stop to eat or drink, but not much else. I’m lost in thought.

“What am I going to do now? Where will I go? What if…”

I shake my head to clear my thoughts. It is pointless to try and come up with a plan now. Once I reach my meditation grounds, then I will decide. Just as I finish thinking this, I break through a tree-line overlooking the cliff. I’m here. A small cluster of rocks to my right, a fallen tree to my left. Everything is just as I remember it. At least some things are the same. I go right into the middle of the clearing. I draw my kilij, and hold it above me. I slowly turn the blade, allowing it to glint in the afternoon sunlight. I re-sheathed it, and held out my arms into the beginning Tai-chi position.

I breathe in the cool mountain air as I shift my stance…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I slowly wake up to something poking me in my side. Thinking its Twilight, I mutter,

“Five more minutes…”

I’m jolted up by a swift kick.

“Twilight! What the he-“

I look up and see a glowing suit of armor standing over me. I scramble to my feet and stand between the armor and Twilight, who is just now stirring. The armor just stares at me. A flicker of recognition crosses my brain. I glance down at my left forearm where the Element of Justice is supposed to be.

It’s gone.

I look back up at the armor.

“What… How did you… Huh?”

My perfectly articulate speech must have roused Twilight, because she looks up at the armor and screams. I bend down and clamp my hand over her mouth to prevent further noise.

“Hey Twilight, this is… uh… the Element of Justice. I know you haven’t seen it like this, but this is what I found it as.”

She raises an eyebrow, clearly questioning my sanity. I remove my hand, and thankfully, she doesn’t resume screaming. I look back to the Element in armor form and ask,

“What are you doing?”

“I wish to converse with you.”

I roll my eyes.

“Oh, now you want to talk?! What’s with the silent treatment you’ve been giving me this past week? We really could have used your help planning for the dragon, but noooooooo. You’re too busy doing Justicey stuff in the bracelet. I see how it is.”

I know I must sound like a five-year-old, but Twilight and I could have died fighting the dragon, so I am understandably pissed.

“I was building my strength for what is to come.”

Twilight and I glance at each other, wondering what he is talking about. Twilight steps forward.

“And what, pray tell, is that?”

She’s just as pissed as I am.

“Chaos.”

What an infuriatingly simple reply.

“Yeah, we know. Chaos is Discord’s domain, so we should be prepared for that. That doesn’t excuse you for zoning out for a week.” I reply.

“I have sensed it approaching on the horizon, and today is the day it all happens. There are many things I must tell you if you are to survive, but even then it is unlikely.”

“Gee, thanks. Love the support.”

Twilight speaks up again.

“What do we need to know? We found out just yesterday that we have no hope of killing Discord, or Celestia and Luna for that matter. Why didn’t you tell us before? Did you just not know?”

“I knew, I just didn’t tell you because you would have given up.”

With enough sarcasm to kill a small animal, I say,

“The amount of faith and confidence you have in us is staggering.”

The Element of Justice ignores me and continues.

“All is not lost; it is still possible to defeat them. You can either use their attacks against them, or become an immortal yourself.”

“I personally like the idea of being immortal, but I don’t think you have any get-immortal-quick-schemes, do you?”

“No, I do not. There are only two ways to become immortal. Being born immortal is one way. The other is extreme, unselfish sacrifice. And the second can only be done in the presence of another immortal.”

“Great… Wait a second. You are immortal, aren’t you? Why can’t you just kill them?”

“While I am immortal, I have no physical body. The armor, shield, and sword you see before you are the abilities of the Element of Justice. I am merely the ghost of the previous bearer, manipulating my Element. You cannot use my sword to slay an immortal.”

“Shit…”

I sit down and bury my head in my hands.

“Then what hope do we have? It’s like what the dragon said, it’s physically impossible for us to kill Discord…”

Twilight sits down next to me and rests her head on my shoulder.

“We can’t give up yet… there has to be a way.”

I raise my head slightly.

“Well, we could try to get them into three-way crossfire, so they all kill each other?”

“Do you really think that’ll work?”

“No… but Mr. Doom over there hasn’t left us many options.”

The element takes a few steps towards us.

“I’m sorry there aren’t many options, but you had to know. Is there anything else I may be able to answer for you?”

I think about what happened last night.

“Actually, yeah. In the dragon’s den I found a piece of armor with a human hand in it, how do you explain that?”

“As you know, humans have been in Equestria in the past.”

“Actually, I thought you and I were the only ones ever to make it here. How did you get here anyway? And how did others make it here?”

“You don’t need to know how I was brought here, but our world and Equestria are more closely connected then you might think. There are many natural portals occurring all over the place that connect the two.”

“So you’re saying the part of a dead human I found was just some unlucky guy who happened to stumble into a portal?”

“Pretty much.”

“Alright, but that still doesn’t help us any.”

“No, it does not.”

I turn my head to look at Twilight.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“No, but I do wish to clarify something.”

She looks up at the Element.

“With all three Greyscale Guardians dead, Discord is now in a physical form, correct?”

“Yes. With them dead Discord is now vulnerable.”

“Fat lot of good that does us when we can’t kill him…” I mutter.

Neither of them says anything. Probably because it’s true. I instead opt to look out over the valley. The rising sun casts warms rays over the rocks, making everything look surprisingly warm and welcoming. I look in the direction of Ponyville, and I see a large dust cloud. I stand.

“Twilight, what is that?” I say while pointing towards the cloud.

Twilight gets up and casts a spell that makes her eyes glow. After a few seconds she says,

“Well that’s not good… It appears to be just about everypony from Ponyville galloping this direction. And they’re all armed.”

“Great. Coming for us no doubt.”

“Well, if we go over the mountain we can probably get away from them…”

“No, you heard the Element. Something is going down, so no more running. It ends today, one way or another.”

Twilight cancels her spell and looks up at me.

“You’re sounding awfully dramatic…”

“It’s a rule. You have to sound dramatic before you die.”

Twilight frowns.

“Please don’t say that…”

“Sorry. Anyways, we should head down. If we hurry we’ll beat them there, and then have time to set up some defenses.”

“Okay.”

Just as Twilight and I turn to head back down the mountain, the Element speaks again.

“I hate to add more bad news, but there is something else you must know.”

I sigh loudly.

“Now what?!”

“Even if we somehow manage to kill Discord, it won’t be over.”

“What do you mean?”

“Discord is not the Spirit of Chaos. He is only the host for it. Becoming the host has made him immortal, but he is not the actual Spirit. The Spirit itself is a higher power. I’m not even sure how you would go about destroying it, if it’s even possible.”

“Just another impossible on our to-do list. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

If we get there…

Twilight and I begin the trek down the mountain, and the Element follows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight’s POV:

As I trot down the mountainside next to Ty, I can’t help but wonder what might happen when we reach the bottom. He’s good at fighting, but not so much at thinking ahead. If I was his enemy, and for a time I was, I’d wait to ambush him at the bottom when he would be weak from fighting the dragon. That’s what I would do, and I learned almost everything I know from Celestia. She and Luna are no doubt waiting for us…

I just hope we both can survive this…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty’s POV:

Seeing Twilight trot next to me, I can’t help but think about Fluttershy’s threat towards her. Fluttershy swore to kill her, and honestly, I don’t know if I could prevent her from doing it. Fluttershy is no doubt watching us, waiting nearby. She’ll probably be looking for an opportunity to murder Twilight, and to spy for Discord…

What if we actually survive to the point of attacking Discord? What then? Would Fluttershy try to kill me? Would I be able to raise my hand against her? If it was to protect Twilight, I think I’d be able to do it. But to protect myself? I don’t think I could.

I just hope it doesn’t come to that…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Element of Justice’s POV:

Wow this kid is stupid.

He really doesn’t expect to be ambushed when we get to the bottom?

No doubt Discord has set up a trap. He would feel it if he had become physical again. He must know we killed the dragon, so he probably thinks Ty is weak right now. In the kid’s favor, he did hold up better than I would have thought, but he is still tired. Physically, and emotionally.

He doesn’t stand a chance.

I wonder what my new bearer will be like… I hope it’s another human like me. Just hope I won’t have to wait forever like last time for him to show up…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty’s POV:

“Well, we’re here.” I state to no one in particular. “And surprisingly enough, we beat the Ponyville Mob here.”

I turn to the Element.

“Do you think we have time to set up some sort of defense against them?”

“No. They’ll be here in just a few minutes; you can already make out individual ponies in the group.”

“Alright, so what’s the plan?”

I glance over at Twilight. She gives me a blank look.

“Okay, no plan.”

“Just as well…” Says an eerily familiar voice behind me.

Twilight, the Element, and I all turn around at once.

There, hovering on a cotton candy cloud with a serene smile on her face, is Fluttershy.

“If you had a plan I bet I would just ruin it anyway… Oh well.”

It takes a moment to formulate a complete thought, and when I do, all I say is:

“Shit.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy’s POV:

“Ahh… aren’t you happy to see me?”

I use the best cutesy voice I can, but of course they see through it. Ty steps in front of that infernal mare Twilight.

“I knew you’d be here… what do you want?” He growls.

“Humph. Skipping the formalities huh? Alright. You know why I’m here. Now if you’d please just step away from Twilight…”

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”

Ty draws his kilij. I glance over at the Element in full armor. I’m surprised he’s out and about, but it doesn’t matter. I know what the Element is capable of, and what it can’t do. I look back to Ty.

“I didn’t expect you would, but you have no choice. You see, I originally planned to swoop down and murder that traitorous mare while you were busy dealing with the mob from Ponyville. But where would be the fun in killing Twilight if you didn’t know it was going to happen? When the mob comes, you’ll have to choose between defending her, and protecting yourself. Eventually, you’ll have to stop protecting her and fight the mob, and when you do, that’s when I’ll kill her.”

He growls again. He’s so cute when he’s angry.

“I’ll never let you hurt her, even if I have to fight you myself!”

Well this is new. I didn’t think he’d be able to fight me… still doesn’t matter. The mob is here.

“Looks like we have company…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty’s POV:

I turn my head slightly away from Fluttershy to see the mob. About one-hundred ponies stand just a few yards away, most of them panting heavily from their gallop. They’re all armed with various weapons. Butcher knives, pitchforks, frying pans, just about anything that could cause bodily harm are in their mouths, or for the unicorn’s case, in their magic. While examining the mob, four ponies trot forward.

“The other Elements of Harmony… my friends.” Twilight whispers.

Seeing Fluttershy just as curious of the four as I am, I turn fully to them and ask,

“Why are you here?”

Rainbow dash is the first to answer. She looks much greyer than the last time I saw her, as do her friends.

“I’m just here to watch the fireworks; I couldn’t care less if Ponyville burned.”

She quickly flies up, grabs a cloud, and settles about 30 feet off the ground to watch.

Rarity steps forward. She looks half starved, but the greedy glint in her eyes is as strong as ever.

“I’m not here to fight, just to pick up the pieces afterwards. There is always good loot to be found after a battle.”

She trots away from the group, and settles on a large rock to watch.

Applejack then steps forward.

“I didn’t come here to fight because if ah did mah farm wouldn’t be burned down, and ah’d like nothing better than to see it gone.”

It takes me a minute, but then I say, “You mean you came here to fight so that Celestia wouldn’t burn down your farm as punishment?”

She nods her head.

“Nope. If we do nothing to stop you Celestia will be very happy and spare Ponyville. Ah have everything personal about this towards you, but ah have to do nothing.”

Another minute.

“Alright, I get what you’re saying. Celestia said if Ponyville didn’t try to stop me, then she would burn it down. You have nothing personal against me, but you have to save your farm.”

She nods again.

She can only speak lies. Apparently being Discorded doesn’t affect her movements, which is why she can still nod yes.

Pinkie steps forward. Her menacing expression makes me take a step back.

“You laughed at me! I’m going to tear you apart for that!”

Wow, she’s still not over that? Geez.

Behind me, I hear Fluttershy snicker.

“You’re still mad at him over that?”

She snickers again.

“How pathetic.”

Pinkie ignores me in favor of glaring at Fluttershy. That’s when the mob notices her as well. Murmurs break out over the crowd.

“Isn’t that the pony that tried to kill Luna?”

“I wonder what Celestia and Luna would do if we killed her?”

“Do you think they would pardon us?”

Hearing the crowd talk, I’m suddenly filled with hope. I step forward, catching all their attentions, and say,

“Everypony, please listen up! I am not your enemy. I’ve successfully killed all three greyscale guardians. Discord is now vulnerable. This pony,” I point to Fluttershy, “Is an agent of Discord. She temporarily killed Luna, which incited Celestia’s wrath. She is your enemy, not me.”

The entire crowd of ponies is silent. I can’t believe I had just said that about Fluttershy. She used to be my ally, and now I had practically marked her for death. She couldn’t believe it either. She is just staring at me, her expression of hatred growing deeper and deeper with each passing second. Eventually, the dam bursts.

“I’m going to kill you! You betrayed me!”

She hurtles herself at me from her cloud, but before she even gets halfway a magic blast knocks her aside.

It came from the crowd.

She shakily stands up, and glares at the mass of ponies, trying to figure out which one did it. Mayor Mare instead steps forward.

“The human is right. Fluttershy is our true enemy. If anything, the human is our ally.”

The entire mob from Ponyville shifts their focus from me to Fluttershy.

“F-fine then! Don’t attack them! I’ll kill you all myself!”

Fluttershy’s words were brave, but it would be impossible not to see the fear in her eyes. The mob advances on her, murderous expressions on their faces. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of grief.

“Fluttershy’s about to die…”

Twilight looks up at me and nods solemnly. The crowd draws closer to Fluttershy. She picks up Discord’s knife, and smiles.

“Why is she-?”

I don’t have time to finish my sentence. Fluttershy stabs the ground in front of her, and half the mob turns into various kitchen appliances.

“Discord’s knife! He must have imbued it with chaos magic before he gave it to her.” I say to Twilight.

Twilight responds, “That must also be how she controls her cloud…”

The ponies that had just turned into machinery quickly turn back, looking only slightly confused.

“Obviously she can’t control it very well…”

The mob, looking more wary, prepares to attack. Fluttershy lowers her stance. Just as the two enemies lunge at each other, two things happen. A bright flash of blue and red light explodes between them, sending both parties reeling. Once the smoke and dust clears, two figures step out of the crater.

Celestia and Luna.

Everyone, including the Element and I, simply stare at them. Celestia sees me right off the bat, and trots towards me. On the other hand, Luna sees Fluttershy, and trots her direction. Luna calls out,

“COME AID YOUR PRINCESS IN KILLING THIS PATHETIC PONY! I WILL NOT BE SHAMED BY HER AGAIN!”

I wince as the words barrage my ears. Immediately the mob is at Luna’s side, just as ready as before to kill Fluttershy. Hearing Celestia speak, I turn my attention back to her. She is still trotting slowly towards me, but I can feel the wrath hidden beneath the calm. Each step she takes leaves a scorched hoof print on the barren, rocky ground. I can feel the temperature rising. Once she is only twenty feet away from me, she speaks,

“So, human, how would you like to be cooked? Rare? Medium? Or well done?”

“None of the above. You should be asking for mercy. You’re outnumbered, three to one.”

“Why should I care about being outnumbered when you are so obviously outmatched?”

I give my best bluffing smile.

“Because I know how to kill you Celestia.”

Her eyes widen and she takes a step back.

“No, you’re bluffing! You don’t know how to kill me!”

She tries to regain some of her bravado, but it doesn’t really work. Then I notice something strange. She keeps glancing up. It only takes a second to realize she is looking at her horn.

A thought occurs to me.

“Hmm. Her horn… Thanks Celestia, you just turned my bluff into a reality…”

Far in front of me, I see Luna and the mob from Ponyville attack Fluttershy. She is holding them off well enough with her knife’s chaos magic, but it won’t last forever. I take a few steps closer to Celestia, Twilight and the Element on either side of me.

“I know how to kill you, and I will. You have abused your power long enough, and you have been a tyrant to your ponies. Now, you will face justice.”

I raise my sword towards her. The Element of Justice does the same, and Twilight charges her horn. For the briefest of seconds, Celestia looks genuinely afraid. Then her rage returns, with none of the calm to hide it in.

“YOU ARE JUST A PUNY MORTAL! YOU STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST ME! I’LL FRY YOU AND SCATTER YOUR DUST TO THE FOUR WINDS!”

Ouch.

R.I.P. my ears.

Her voice is even louder than her sister’s.

Any other thought is instantly gone as I see her create a sphere of fire the size of a wrecking ball. I can only mutter one word.

“Run.”

Celestia shoots the fireball at us, and we all scatter. It explodes into a huge pillar of fire, but we all got away in time. Twilight teleports right behind her, the Element runs left, and I run right. We each then charge her from three different sides.  Celestia resorts to firing quick burst of fire in each of our directions, but we can dodge them easy. Once we are all just a few feet away, she teleports in a concussive burst of light, knocking us all back. She appears right where she fired her original fireball, and we all quickly get back to our feet. Now Fluttershy, Luna, and the mob are behind us. None of us dare to look behind ourselves and risk getting fried. We all cautiously advance towards Celestia, and she cautiously watches us. Just as we all prepare for another strike, Fluttershy zooms past us and careens into Celestia. Fluttershy uses her knife to swipe at Celestia, but she is quickly knocked away by Celestia’s magic. Following Fluttershy, the mob mills about us. All of a sudden, everything is chaos. The mob doesn’t attack us, but they do try to get Fluttershy. The mass of ponies separates the Element and Twilight from me, and over the ponies I see those two fight Celestia alone. Fluttershy regains her balance, and instead of targeting Luna, decides to go after me. Fluttershy ignores or deflects the attacks of the mob, and flies right over them. Fluttershy slashes at me, and I use the flat of my blade to block. Fluttershy keeps on going, and attacks Luna, who is behind me. I turn around and rush up to Luna, and help her fight off Fluttershy. We succeed, and Fluttershy flies a few yards in front of us. The mob is behind us, Fluttershy in front of us. Both of them just stare at Luna and I while we stand side by side, catching our breaths.

It takes all of five seconds for us to realize we were supposed to be fighting each other as well.

I swing my sword at Luna, and due to her being right next to me, she can’t dodge. My kilij scores a deep hit, from shoulder to flank.  Blood pours out of the wound and she collapses. It wouldn’t kill her, but it certainly did take her by surprise.

I hadn’t planned on doing it this way, but I suppose it’ll work.

Before Luna can recover, I swing my sword with as much strength as I can muster right at the base of her horn. It cuts half-way through.

She screams.

The sound echoes across the battlefield, and out of the corner of my eye I see my two allies and Celestia stop fighting to see what made that noise. Upon seeing me and Luna, they freeze. The mob and Fluttershy are stock still, completely in shock over what I had done. With Luna immobile from pain and shock, I bend down and grab her horn. I drop my sword, raise my right hand, and strike with all my strength right at the cut.

SNAP

It breaks clean off.

A collective gasp rises from the everypony present.

Luna passes out in front of me, the pain being too much. But still, she is alive. The rise and fall of her chest proves that.

I raise the blood-stained blue horn above me, and jam it into Luna’s heart.

A few seconds pass, and then her body slowly turns to dust. A few more seconds later and there is nothing left of Luna besides some metal pieces of armor, her horn, and a pile of alicorn-shaped dust.

I pick the horn back up and turn to the mob behind me.

“Your princesses are not invincible. I have just killed Luna. Raiser of the Moon, Goddess of the Night. You don’t have to suffer under their tyranny any longer. Join me, and help me kill Celestia as well. You will never have to be afraid of her again.”

The mob murmurs amongst itself. Twilight takes a step towards them, and speaks.

“Citizens of Ponyville, please, you have to help us. I am the Element of magic, leader of the Elements of Harmony. I support Ty. He is the bravest person I’ve ever met. You can trust him. With your help, we can kill Celestia once and for all.”

“Thanks for the support Twilight, but aren’t I the only person you’ve ever met?”

“Don’t ruin the moment.”

“Sorry.”

The crowd turns to face Celestia. Up until this point, Celestia was just staring at Luna’s remains. Unable to comprehend that her little sister was gone. Now though, she turns her attention to me.

“You… you killed her?”

She is obviously in shock.

“No… nopony can kill us… we are immortal…”

“Immortal doesn’t mean invincible, even you have weaknesses.” I say.

She seems to fully grasp what just happened. She looks at me and takes a deep breath. I prepare myself for some longwinded speak about vengeance and killing me. But she only says a single word.

“Die.”

In the space of three seconds she sets herself on fire, flies up fifty feet, and hurtles herself at me like a flaming meteor. I only have time to flinch and close my eyes.

CRASH

After realizing that I am still alive, I open my eyes to see a multi-colored barrier shielding me from Celestia. Behind her I see every unicorn in the crowd with their horns aglow. All of them together were just enough to stop her. The barrier fizzes away, leaving a confused alicorn standing just two feet in front of me.

I don’t hesitate.

I lunge forward, and bury Luna’s horn deep into the center of Celestia’s chest.

As soon as the horn broke through her chest, her fire died.

And so did she.

In seconds, she was nothing more than a pile of steaming dust with some armor fragments in it.

Oddly enough, her horn was still intact.

I pick it up and almost immediately drop it due to it being so hot.

I look up at the mob, and for some reason they aren’t even looking at me. I follow their gazes, and my blood runs cold.

Fluttershy has Twilight in a chokehold, and has Discord’s knife right against Twilight’s throat.

“This isn’t exactly how I planned on killing Twilight, but it’ll do.”

Twilight looks at me, absolute terror fills her eyes.

“Fluttershy, please… don’t” I say with desperation evident in my tone.

“Ah, good. I was hoping you’d plead for her life. It’ll make it all the more fun when I kill her anyway.”

I open my mouth to respond, but am interrupted by a small flash of light behind me. I turn, and all but faint.

Discord.

…………..

……………………..

………………………………..

My enemy, my rival, and the thing I have fought against my entire time here. And this is the first time I’ve actually seen him. The stained glass doesn’t do him justice. Disgustingly mismatched, with various animal parts seemingly stitched together to make one abhorrent creature. I instantly feel an intense hatred for the thing.

Discord speaks in a silky smooth voice laced with malice.

“So you are the human, Ty, is it? I must thank you for your help; you’ve been far too cooperative. Killing my guardians to return me to flesh and blood? Killing my hated enemies Celestia and Luna? Really, you’ve done too much, how can I ever repay you?”

I growl and open my mouth to say “Go to hell” or something similar, but he ignores me and turns to Fluttershy and Twilight.

“Fluttershy dear, how have you been? I must thank you as well for your help. I have to ask one quick thing though, could you please release Twilight? After all, she is a dear friend of mine.”

Fluttershy looks only slightly curious at Discord’s arrival, but very grudgingly takes her knife off Twilight’s throat. She quickly flies to Discord’s side. Once free of Fluttershy, Twilight gallops up to me. The Element joins us as well.

Twilight yells out, “What do you mean, ‘dear friend’?!?”

Discord feigns a hurt expression.

“You wound me Twilight… Without your pathetic spell casting, I might still be encased in stone. Besides, out of all the Elements of harmony, I had the most fun breaking you.”

Twilight practically threw herself at him, but I was able to hold her back. While pulling her back as Discord laughed at her, I caught a glimpse of the mob. They were all huddled fifty feet away from us, looking completely terrified. We’d be receiving no help from them.

“Ha Ha Ha Ha! You are just priceless Twilight Sparkle. While I would love to continue insulting you, there is another matter I must take care of. Fluttershy dear, would you please give me back my knife?”

Fluttershy looks slightly confused at the request, but hands him the knife nonetheless.

“Thank you, and while I do appreciate your help, it is time to cut away the dead weight.”

Fluttershy looks at him with an expression of alarm.

“What do you-“

Discord slices her throat.

As if the world had suddenly gone into slow motion, I see Fluttershy fall to the ground with a soft thud. All I can do is stare at her dead body while my brain attempts to figure out what happened. All the while Discord wipes the blood off the knife and then makes it disappear. Only after seeing that does my mind begin to put it together. Fluttershy, the pony who I saved, and who saved me; Fluttershy, the pony who said she loved me, and at one point I loved her, is now dead in front of me. I fall to my knees and lean against Twilight for support. She’s leaning just as much on me as I am on her. I can feel her shaking. She’s terrified. I stand.

With a voice of ice, I command:

“Element, return to me. I don’t need the shield or sword, just the armor.”

“As you wish…”

The Element dissolves into a stream of blue light, and the Element of Justice reappears on my left forearm. I immediately summon my armor. Discord sees all this and bursts out laughing.

“You… hehe… you really think you can fight me? HAHA, that’s precious! You pathetic human, I’ve been pulling the strings since the beginning!”

I ignore him and begin walking forward, Celestia’s and Luna’s horn in each hand. Seeing the horns, I see just a glimmer of fear in his eyes. That’s all the encouragement I need. I quickly dash forward and try to stab Discord with Celestia’s horn. He dodges easily. I spin and attempt to stab him with Luna’s horn, but he ducks under the attack. He places a single claw on the center of my armor. I repulse backwards as if I’m shot from a cannon. I tumble over the rocky ground until I crash into the side of a large rock. The armor absorbs most of the impact, but I am still barely conscious. I scoot into a sitting position and look toward Discord. He grins at me and points at the ground in front of us. Halfway between us, Celestia and Luna’s horns are lying on the ground. I try to stand, but fall back down instantly. Discord snaps his fingers, and the horns levitate a few feet off the ground. He snaps again, and they shatter. As I watch the pieces fall to the ground, I feel as if my hope is falling with them. I see Twilight far behind Discord, looking just as distraught as I feel upon seeing our only weapons against Discord shatter. I turn my attention back to Discord just as he points his clawed hand at me. It shakes for a moment, and then a large ball of glowing energy appears on it.

“You should feel privileged, it’s not often I bother to use this. Pure chaos energy. I know you must feel so hopeless right now. Don’t worry though; it’s all about to end.”

Discord’s face twists into a snarl of malice as he chucks the glowing sphere. I can only sit helplessly and watch as the ball of energy hurtles towards me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight’s POV:

No.

This can’t be happening.

Even while my mind desperately says no, my eyes say yes as I see the sphere fly towards Ty.

The world seems to slow down around me. The horrified faces of the mob, the snarl on Discord’s face, and finally the look of resignation on Ty, as if he has given up.

No.

You can’t give up.

I won’t let you.

I’m sorry Ty, but I have to do this.

I light my horn and disappear instantaneously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TY’s POV:

Twilight appears right in front of me in a burst of light. I have less than half a second of confusion before the chaos sphere hits her. Even before all the light of the teleportation spell has faded, she drops to the ground in front of me.

Dead.

I stare at Twilight’s body. My brain is trying to tell me what just happened, but I refuse to listen.

She can’t be gone.

I see Discord looking genuinely surprised. I see the other bearers of the Elements look at her body in shock. But I don’t really see any of that. All I see is her body lying there, immobile. It takes about ten seconds of staring at her body to fully realize what just happened. I drag myself over to her body, and sob. While crying, my mind is in absolute turmoil.

She’s really gone.

I’m alone.

How could I let this happen?

What am I going to do now?

It wasn’t until this last question popped into my head that I stopped crying. Like a flood of ice water, the answer came to me.

I’m going to kill Discord.

I slowly stand, head down.

Discord, having apparently recovered from his shock, says,

“Well, that’s not quite how I planned that to go, but no matter. I’ll just kill you now.”

He takes a few steps forward until he is six feet in front of me.

Only then do I look up at him

He recoils and takes a step back. In his eyes, I see mine reflected.

Rage, fury, anger, pain.

I now have nothing to lose, and he knows it.

I draw my sword, not giving a damn that it won’t be able to kill him. He eyes me warily, then attempts to chuckle.

“You know that you can’t-“

I cut his head off.

Before it even hits the ground, a flash of light reconnects it back onto his neck. Before he can even blink, I slice his right arm off. Another flash of light and it reconnects. Even though the damage isn’t permanent, each strike causes him immense pain.

And that’s good enough for me.

The first two caught him by surprise, but now he is dodging my wild slashes. As he ducks under a wide cut, he lashes out with his claws and scores a hit on my left side that breaks right through my armor.

I couldn’t care less.

I ignore the pain, and cut with all my strength right for his waist. My kilij cuts him cleanly in two. Another flash and he’s whole again. Using my aura sword would probably be slightly easier, but I enjoy the use of cold steel. I prepare for yet another strike, but before I can execute it, he catches my sword blade on his armored hand. With a flick of his wrist, my sword goes flying. Without hesitating, he rears back and slashes me with his claws. They score a deep wound on my chest, and I fall backwards into the dirt.

This is it.

No more fighting, no more pain.

It’s all over now.

I’m vaguely aware of my own blood moistening the soil underneath me as Discord leans over.

He’s probably just going to gloat some more… doesn’t matter. I only regret that I couldn’t avenge Twilight, or save Fluttershy.

I see Discord’s savage face over mine, and I smile serenely at him. This only infuriates him further.

“I wasn’t going to do this, you know. I was just going to let you die in peace! But no, you had to try and chop me into little bits. I don’t appreciate that. So I’m going to tell you some things, and make you suffer just a bit more before you die.”

Fine, whatever. What could he possibly say?

“How do you think you got here?”

That’s a dumb question. I got here by falling into this portal thing that looked a lot like chaos magi-

Click.

The first piece of a puzzle I didn’t even knew existed falls into place.

“I brought you here! Don’t you find it convenient that one of my greyscale guardians just happened to be where you appeared?”

Click.

“I wanted you to kill it! I hated being in my ethereal form!”

Click.

“How do you think royal guards found you in Zecora’s hut? I led them there so they would capture you and take you to Celestia!”

Click.

“I did that so you would find out about the greyscale guardians, and then so you would try and kill them all!”

Click.

“I influenced Fluttershy to take you to the ruined castle so you could find the seventh Element! I knew you would need it to kill the other two guardians.”

Click.

“I led Twilight and her friends to you! I corrupted them just enough so you would barely survive!”

Click.

“I influenced Celestia to send Twilight after you alone; because I knew you would heal her, rather than kill her! I knew you would need her help for killing the dragon, and I was right.”

Click.

“So that just leaves one final thing. I had to get you away from other people, and into the right state of mind to successfully cross over. Guess how I did that?”

With a shuddering finality, the final piece of the puzzle falls into place. Even dying, I cannot conceal the look of horror on my face.

Discord smiles.

“That’s right. I’m responsible for the fire that killed your parents. I mentally pushed a person into spreading that wildfire to your house, just so your parents would die. That in turn led you to coming here, killing my greyscale guardians, and giving me back my physical form. All as I have planned. I’ve been pulling the strings this entire time. You’ve served your purpose remarkably well. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

I mentally communicate with the Element, telling it to heal me. Before, I didn’t have the strength nor willpower to keep fighting, but now I have it to spare. I continue to lie on the ground acting weak. Right where I lay is the spot where Discord shattered the horns. In my right hand I grasp a splinter of Celestia’s horn, no more than the size of a pencil.

“Dis…Discord… come closer…”

He raises an eyebrow at me.

“What? No crying? No cursing me?”

“I… need to tell you something…”

“Fine. Might as well hear your dying words.”

He leans close over me, and I whisper,

“The Element of Justice has the ability to heal, but only if you have the willpower for it. I promised on the graves of my parents that I would find and kill the one responsible for their deaths. I had all but given up, but you gave me the strength to heal myself and keep fighting. Thank you.”

“Now burn in hell.”

I give him a savage grin, and his eyes go wide.

Before he can react further, I plunge the horn splinter into his neck.

The splinter isn’t much, but it’s enough. He twists and convulses while crying out in agony as his entire body glows brighter and brighter. Eventually, I have to look away. As soon as I cover my eyes, Discord implodes. The force of the implosion literally shook the ground I’m lying on.

A few seconds pass, and I deem it safe to look again. There is nothing more than a crater where Discord used to be.

He’s gone.

I did it.

He’s finally dead.

I struggle to my feet, and look at the crowd of ponies that witnessed the entire thing. Once they recover from their shock, they all drop to one knee and bow. I smile, but it is short lived as my gaze sweeps over Twilight’s body. I solemnly walk over to it. I don’t even get halfway before Twilight’s body is enveloped in a bright purple light. The light lifts off the ground, and hovers there. After what seems like an eternity, but was only a few seconds, the light drops back down and fades. Instead of seeing Twilight, all I can see is a mass of purple feathers.

“Twilight doesn’t have feath-“

The feathers, which actually turn out to be wings, open up; revealing an alive, taller, Twilight with beautiful purple wings.

I can only stare with awe at the figure before me. Twilight looks at her new wings, apparently just as awestruck by them as me. She then looks at me and smiles with such a look of happiness that words can’t truly describe it.

She did it… she gained immortality. Sacrificing herself to Discord to save me must have been enough. Discord is dead, and we both survived.

I smile back at her, and take a step forward. The smile drops off her face and is instantly replaced by a look of absolute horror. The expression on her faces turns my veins to ice. A cold presence is drifting behind me, I can feel it. I slowly turn around and face the crater where Discord was vaporized. A revolting, mismatched spirit is hovering over the crater. If Discord was made out of maybe five or six different animals, this thing is made out of hundreds. Its form constantly shifts, and I can feel the malice drift from it. In a terrible screeching sound, it speaks.

“You have killed my bearer, human. It has been millennia since I last needed a new bearer. Now I need another.”

This is the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. This is the thing that possessed Discord and created the monster he was. And now it has its sights on me.

I don’t even have a second to blink before the spirit shoots itself into me, passing right through my armor.

I scream.

The sensation is like a worm slowly eating through my chest. Out of the corner of my panicked eye I see Twilight attempt to cast a god-level spell on me, but it just dissipates on impact. A phrase the Element told me earlier pops into my head:

“Discord is not the Spirit of Chaos. He is only the host for it. Becoming the host has made him immortal, but he is not the actual Spirit. The Spirit itself is a higher power. I’m not even sure how you would go about destroying it, if it’s even possible.”

I continue to thrash in agony as the Spirit slowly worms its way inside my head. I can hear it whispering.

“Just give in mortal… the pain will soon be over…”

“I must have a new host… chaos must continue.”

“It is pointless, absolutely nothing can destroy me.”

When the spirit says that, I get a sudden flashback to what the dragon said:

“The most powerful forces in the universe can sometimes only be truly destroyed by themselves.”

Now I understand what this means.

In my mind, I say to the spirit:

“You think you cannot be destroyed, but you can. I know how to kill you.”

The Spirit at this point has enough access to my mind to know what I’m thinking.

“No! You can’t! You would destroy yourself!” It hisses in fury.

“I know.”

All of a sudden, the spirit tries to wiggle itself free and escape.

I don’t let it.

Using every ounce of mental strength I have, I keep it locked inside me.

Seeing my sword lying just a few feet away, I slowly stagger towards it.

All this time Twilight has been trying spell after spell, but each one fails before it reaches me. Every time she tries to get near me, a barrier created by the Spirit pushes her away.

I fall to my knees, and pick up my kilij. The spirit is screaming incomprehensibly at me, but I ignore it. I turn around and face Twilight as I put the tip of my kilij to my chest. Barely keeping myself conscious under the Spirit’s attack, I mouth the words:

“I’m sorry.”

I thrust the sword through my heart.

I feel the Spirit of Chaos slowly die inside my mind. I fall on my side and as my eyes slowly close, I watch Twilight gallop towards me. I smile.

And then I die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One Week Later:

Twilight’s POV:

I slowly trot down the wide corridor, trying my best to block out the sounds of the construction ponies at work. The Royal Canterlot Palace had fallen into disrepair during Discord’s time back in Equestria. That would soon be fixed. As I walked into Celes- I mean- my throne room, I can’t help but look at the stained glass window depicting Discord’s battle with Celestia and Luna. If they had been stronger and just killed him back then, maybe nothing would have happened. Or maybe the Spirit would have found a host in them, who knows? All that matters now is that the Spirit is gone for good. All the ponies that were under Discord’s influence are now fully healed, and life will finally return to normal. All thanks to Ty.

I trot up to a series of empty arches by my throne. Several glassmaking ponies are working on them, getting them ready for new windows. Each window is laid out by its arch. I gaze at them. Each on shows a different step in Ty’s adventures. The Manticore, getting the Element of Justice, the Hydra, the Dragon, and eventually the battle with Discord and the Spirit of Chaos. I already know all this. After all, I commissioned them. The human who originally bore the Element of Justice is long forgotten, but I will make sure Ty never is.

I continue past my throne room and onto a balcony. Seeing that the end of the day is here, I raise my wings and fly a few feet off the ground. Using two powerful bursts of magic, I lower the sun and raise the moon simultaneously. I then alight back onto the balcony.

“It’s ironic really, that my name is Twilight, which is the connection between the day and night. And now, I’m the one who raises and lowers the sun and moon. Maybe it was always meant to be.”

I trot back into my throne room with increasing excitement. Tonight’s the night. The night that I will get to see if my spell worked. A few days after I became the princess of Equestria I remembered what the dragon had told me. I went down into the Royal Archives and searched for the specific book he mentioned. It was about god-tier spells involving dimensional and time travel. I instantly knew what I had to do. And tonight’s when I’ll get to see if it worked.

After the battle with the Spirit of Chaos, Ty actually survived, but not quite. He gained immortality just like I did. Extreme and unselfish sacrifice. Unfortunately, the Spirit’s attack on his mind caused him to remain unconscious for a few days. He was in the Palace’s infirmary for that time. That was when I found the spell. Using it, I could send Ty back to his dimension, but send him back a week from when he left. Since he killed Discord and the Spirit, there will be no arsonist to send the fire to his house, and his parents will survive. Still, it was a hard decision. They spell needed an exact star alignment. One that popped up only once every couple thousand years. And the day after I found the spell was it. I had the one chance to send him home. I didn’t want to. I loved him. Still do. But it’s because of that that I sent him anyway. Due to differences in our time, while it has been three days here, he will be just arriving in a few minutes there. I have a scrying pool in my throne room for looking at other dimensions. I’ll be able to see if he got there safely or not.

I finally step into my throne room, and I trot over to the middle of it. As I pass my own throne, I can’t help but to admire it. It is black and white; the materials from Celestia’s and Luna’s thrones were used in making it. Now that I raise the sun and moon, it seemed only fitting to have bits of their thrones built in. Also, Ty’s armor was black and white. So it also reminds me of him. I trot past it. In the center of the room is the scrying pool. It looks simple enough, just a large silver bowl with water in it. I trot over to it, pluck one of my own feathers, and drop it in. As soon as the feather makes contact with the water, it shows an image of a small room. I can’t recognize many of the things in it besides the bed, but I know it has to be Ty’s room. In his world, today is the day the fire kills his parents. But this time, that won’t happen. It’ll be as if nothing happened.

“So I’m still a few minutes early… It’s alright. I can wait. Since the Spirit attacked his mind, he may have some memory loss, but he should remember who he is eventually…”

Being immortal, waiting is something I’m going to have to get used to. I’ll be busy though. Repairing the damage Celestia caused, and in finding a new Element of Kindness. Now that my friends, the other Elements, are healed, they’ve been helping me in the search. So many things to do, all eternity to do them. My gaze flicks back to the pool as a distorting light goes over the image.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TY’s POV:

I yawn and stretch out on my bed. I feel as if it’s been forever since I slept in it. I swing my legs over my bed, and hold my head in my hands. I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I’m almost remembering it. I stand up, and step on my kilij.

“Why are you down off your hook?” I ask the inanimate object.

Getting no reply, I pick it up and hang it back on its usual spot on the wall.

Noticing something odd, I look closer at the handle. I swear it almost looks like teeth marks…

As soon as I think that, I get this one second vision of a yellow pony jumping out of a tree with my kilij in its mouth. I shake the vision away.

“I must be having residual dreams…” I mutter to myself.

I walk out of my room, and to the kitchen. Seeing my parents, I ask,

“What’s for breakfast?”

My Dad replies,

“It’s a fend-for-yourself day.”

“Alright.”

“There is a big wildfire just over the mountain, but it looks like it’ll miss us.” My mom said, while looking out the window.

“Okay.”

I walk back towards my room, and turn into the bathroom right next door. I flick on the switch, and gasp. For just a second, I see myself with a horrendous burn mark over my right eye, and a long scar going from my right shoulder all the way down to the tip of my middle finger. But then they are gone.

Another random thought pops into my head.

My immortality has healed my scars…

“Now that’s just freaky… where are these thoughts coming from?” I mumble.

I decide to go back into my room and get another hour or two of sleep. As I walk in, I notice something that should not be there. On my nightstand, there is a gold and sapphire forearm bracer. Every second I look at it I remember something about a place called “Equestria.” I slowly walk towards it, and pick it up. Various scenes flash through my mind, killing a dragon, killing a hydra, talking to a suit of armor, weird things. I put it on my left forearm. It shrinks down to a perfect fit. I hold my right hand out, and summon my aura sword.

I remember everything. From being dumped in Equestria all the way to killing the Spirit of Chaos.

I say out loud:

“Thanks for sending me back because of my parents, Twilight. I appreciate it.”

I look up at my ceiling, and I see a shimmering reflection of Twilight looking down at me.

“Save me a place up there, will you? You can bet that someday I’ll be back.”

She smiles.

A/N: Done! Finally! I had no idea this would take so long to finish when I first started. I just finished this, and I’m already 3 chapters into another one. That’s right, I’m already writing another fanfiction. This one is called: Raising the Reborn. It is a pony-on-earth story, and I have my two best friends as co-authors. The story is told for our three POVs, in the towns we actually live in. Almost everything about the story, (minus the ponies of course) is real. For my followers on Fimfiction, I am using a separate account that is shared between my two friends and I. It is called Liquid Ice: http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Liquid%20Ice

And this is the actual story:  http://www.fimfiction.net/story/47905/Raising-the-Reborn-

For my followers on Fanfiction, I have the story under my own account.

My name is actually Ty. I used my name for the main character of this story due to it being fairly rare. In Raising the Reborn, one of the three characters is also named Ty. That is actually me. The character Bryan is actually my friend Bryan, and Joe is Joe. The story is quite interesting, and you’ll even be able to see into our lives a bit.

Now that I’m done self-promoting, I’d like to ask everyone to leave a comment or review saying what you thought of the story, and what I can do to improve in the future. Thanks for sticking around!