2 Discovery

Discovery

Three days ago in the peaceful little town of Ponyville, an escaped being from Canterlot, called Discord, invaded the rural village in a storm of chaos. Altering minds and bending reality, Discord conquered Ponyville within minutes. But thankfully, six young mares known as the Elements of Harmony managed to defeat the Spirit of Disharmony, even after he tried to manipulate them so they couldn't fight back against his reign. Yet the Elements overcame his horrid magic and stood together stronger than ever before, showing that even when everything is bleak, friendship is a beacon of light that will never abandon you. Discord was petrified and returned to Canterlot, where he will rest once more in the Royal Gardens under watch by the Royal Guard, to ensure he doesn't escape  ever again. Details on page B-7

Dusty Scout folded his newspaper in half, as he shook his head in mild annoyance, causing coal colored locks of hair to settle over his eyes. He gently brushed his mane to the side, noting that his mane needed to be cut, then given a good brushing. He sighed a little, then gripped a coffee mug and took a much needed gulp of Arabian coffee. Dusty glanced around the diner he sat in, taking in the neon lights, the plush red cushions, the shining white tables, and a polished counter where stools lined up. A stallion stood behind the counter, polishing a few glasses and getting everything ready for the day. Dusty got up from his seat, and hobbled over to the stallion.

"Hey, Joe! Could you get me one of those lettuce cut lunches you like to make every day?"

The stallion, now called Joe, set the glass he was polishing down, and trotted through a back door, coming back out with a lettuce sandwich. He walked over to Dusty, placing it right in front of him. Joe raised an eyebrow at the pegasus in front of him

"Do you want a soda with that, or are you good?"

Dusty shook his head, raising his mug to allow Joe to see in it. Joe nodded, and went back to polishing a shot glass as Dusty begin to eat the sandwich he had just gotten. Other ponies filtered in and out of the small diner as Lock munched on his lunch, thinking through his next move of the day, trying to decide if he should check out that statue of Discord once more, since something had felt off about it. Dusty finished off the sandwich, and looked at Joe. He placed a couple of bits on the counter, enough to pay Joe and give him a little tip, then walked out of the diner.

Dusty winced a bit at the sudden brightness of the sun, then blinked a few times. He glanced around at the cobblestone street, filled with posh nobles, simple merchants, and all those in-between. Dusty took off at a simple trot down the road, heading towards the castle gardens. Now Dusty was a dark brown pegasus, who wore a simple coat that helped keep out the cold out of he mountains, and had a messy coal colored mane. His pair of gunmetal grey eyes seemed to make any who dared to take more than a moment's glance into them dart their eyes away in fear of the stallion staring back. Ironically, if anyone he trusted stared into his eyes, his eyes would comfort them more than anything else.

  As Dusty walked down the road, he waved to the few he had met since his arrival at Canterlot, which he found to be a city filled with lies, where nopony could trust anything that wasn't completely safe, and even then the nobles could swoop down on you for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. The guards seemed to be easily bribed, and the current captain wasn't even truly loyal to who he served- he was loyal to his fiancee, the niece of the Princesses, but even then, he wasn't truly that loyal. There were rumors of many nights the captain had gone out for late night parties, and slept with half the mares that came, married or not. So, the short way to put this was that the entire city was simply a place where nopony could be trusted.

The stallion finally arrived at the castle gardens, and looked at two guards standing on both sides of the Garden gate. Dusty waved at them, and they both produced spears which ended up pointing at him.

"Hey, if you wanna poke me with those spears of yours, you should treat me to dinner first!"

"...That was horrible, and you should feel like such."

Dusty lowered his head in shame, and the guards pulled their spears away, allowing him entrance to the gardens. As he walked past the guards, he felt one of them slap his flank, causing him to glance over his shoulder, but only saw the guards still stock still. He sighed, and continued on, heading past the path of violets. He grabbed one as he passed, and chewed on it as he walked into the Maze of the Gardens, in which Discord was kept, in order to prevent him from finding his way out. Dusty frowned a little, since Discord had enchanted the maze while he was loose, but hopefully when the chaos god was sealed, his magic also stopped.

Dusty finally arrived at the clearing, and took notice of Discord in the center with a panicked look on his face, which made him smirk a little. Discord must have been afraid at the last moment, and that was good, since the chimera being in shock made it less likely for him to decide to escape. So Dusty looked around the clearing, noting that there was eleven statues in the clearing, yet twelve circles of flowers. It was rather odd, almost as if...one of the statues here had escaped. Dusty hopped up, and sprinted over to the empty circle, and noticed that there was a slightly odd feeling that came whenever...chaos magic was used upon something. So Discord must have freed another foe trapped here, but why wouldn't he free all of them? Wouldn't that make more sense? Dusty stopped, then laughed as he realized he just asked if the chaos god would do something that made sense. Discord had thrived off not making sense, so why would he do otherwise?

Dusty facehooved as he stopped laughing. He knew that he had to tell somepony that one of the statues was missing, but who could he tell without causing a mass panic? A noble? No, a noble would panic. A guard? No, they would just call him a liar and throw him into jail. Pony Joe? He wouldn't even care that much... The princesses? Yes, they would work! Dusty sprinted out of the maze, bolting past the gardens, and using one of the guards as a springboard as he took off into the sky.

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Dusty arrived at the castle a few minutes later, landing on landing pad for the pegasi couriers. He knew that this could get him into serious trouble, but Equestria came first, right? As he ran past the guards stationed in the halls, they all jumped and began to chase after him, since a pegasus flying at high speed through a castle was never a good sign. When Dusty finally got to where th Princesses kept court, he landed on the door, knocking it open, then springing over to the two Princesses, who watched him with shock.

Dusty let out a breath, then noticed the whole room had gone silent from his dramatic entry. He trotted right in front of the Princesses and bowed his head, knowing that he would most likely get beaten down after this, since the reckless idea he had to just charge into the throne room of the Princesses was a bad one, since they were guarded by the..entire...royal..guard. Oops?

"Uhh...I'm sorry about my knocking, but there's a bit of an issue in the gardens...with you know...the clearing Discord's in? One of the statues is missing and there's a lot of chaos magic around the spot..So I thought y'all might want to know.... because I figured that Discord was...you know.... only one of the villains you'd sealed in stone over the years... " Dusty stuttered out, trying to keep the embarrassment on his face hidden. The two Princesses looked at him for a few seconds, then Luna laughed a little. The Solar Princess stepped down to him to say one thing

"Discord couldn't move one of those statues even if he used every last ounce of hi-"

The Princess was cut off as an explosion knocked her off her hooves, and launching Luna from her throne. Sitting in the Solar throne was a pony in full leather, looking rather amused.

"So, Discord can't break a statue open? Shame, I thought you were smarter than that, Princess. You should know by now that making sense to stop Discord, doesn't work. I mean, he's the damned god of chaos! Sense has this habit of simply going out the window!" said the hooded foe, who laughed a bit at the scene in front of him. He hopped off the throne, and looked all around at the stunned faces in the room. He laughed once more, even as he heard the sound of magic priming.

"Thou shall not get away from here, Deceit!" And with that, Luna launched a blast of telekinetic force at Deceit, who simply swatted it back at her. She couldn't jump back fast enough in time, and the blast launched her back into the wall. A second later, Deceit waved his hoof, making all of the guards and nobles within the room disappear.

"Luna, oh Luna. Are you still angry at me for walking out after that one night of passion we had? Honestly, you were one of the worst lovers I've had, and trust me when I say that I've had some very bad ones. Like a cactus. I mean, Sunbutt most likely isn't able to even get up right now. Kinda sad, don't you think?" Deceit flicked his hood back, and his mask faded away to show them all his smirk. He trotted right up to Celestia, who was laying on top of Dusty. He crouched down next to her face, and smirked a little.

"Besides, isn't this colt here a little young for you? But I'm willing to bet he loves this entire thing, with him being right and having his precious princess being on top? What stallion wouldn't wish for that! And Luna? Don't ever try to sneak on me again." Deceit twirled around, throwing a bolt of arcane energy into Luna's chest, who had removed herself from the wall, then tried to sneak up on him in order to capture him. Luna screamed as the bolt overloaded her systems, then Celestia's eyes widened.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY SISTER! THOU SHALL PAY FOR THY DEEDS!" Celestia screamed as she reverted to the old tongue. She got to her feet, and jumped at Deceit, using her magic to turn her into a force to be reckoned with. At this, Deceit smirked a little and waved at Dusty.

"Kid? Make sure these two-" Deceit gestures to the Princesses, then Celestia passes through him. "don't do anything stupid, like attacking illusions of me, since it won't exactly help contain me again, will it?" And with that, Deceit disappeared, and Celestia was slowly got up from where she landed. She picked up Luna with her magic, and trotted over to the door.

"My little pony, come with us. We have work ahead of us, and We think t- you will be a key piece in this game that Deceit is beginning to play..." Dusty nodded, and followed after Celestia, only voicing a single thought.

"If he was able to take out Luna in a single hit...then how will anypony be able to bring him down...?"