The Curse of Discord

Chapters

Chapter 2: The Cloud Cometh
Chapter 3: The Root of the Problem
Chapter 4: The Search Continues
Chapter 5: A Flood of Chaos
Chapter 6: The Stand-Off 2/2
Chapter 7: All is Well...Or So It Seems
Chapter 8: A Disease of the Mind 1/2
Chapter 8: A Disease of the Mind 2/2
Chapter 9: A Rude Awakening
Chapter 10: The Strangeness Amplifies
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 1/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 2/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 3/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 4/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 5/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 6/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 7/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 8/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 9/10
Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 10/10
Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 1/7
Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 2/7
Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 3/7
Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 4/7
Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 6/7
Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 7/7
Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 1/5
Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 2/5
Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 3/5
Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 4/5
Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 5/5
Chapter 14: Jump-starting the Princess 1/2
Chapter 14: Jump-starting the Princess 2/2
Chapter 15: The Age of Bedlam 1/3
Chapter 15: The Age of Bedlam 2/3
Chapter 16: The Next Course of Action
Chapter 17: The Course of Action
Chapter 18: Confronting Bedlam
Chapter 19: A Subconscious Clash
Chapter 20: One Last Loose End
Chapter 1: A Great Day Out
Chapter 6: The Stand-Off 1/2
Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 5/7
Chapter 15: The Age of Bedlam 3/3

Chapter 2: The Cloud Cometh

The cloud had almost reached the girls and Spike, and each of them felt some amount of worry. "Th-that cloud is g-getting closer," Fluttershy said as she cowered behind Rainbow Dash.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Rainbow said. "It's just a cloud, so I can handle it."

"A-are you sure?" she replied, still trembling.

"Of course! Why couldn't I?" Rainbow exclaimed.

"I think Fluttershy has a point," Twilight said as she walked up to Rainbow Dash. "I've studied all kinds of clouds, and I've never seen one like this before."

"Trust me, Twilight," Rainbow smugly replied as she placed her hoof around Twilight's neck. "I've dealt with clouds for most of my life, so I think I can handle a new one."

Twilight sighed. “You’re right, Rainbow Dash. I trust you,” she smiled.

“Exactly,” Rainbow replied as she pointed at Twilight. “Now, everypony stand back and watch the master at work,” Rainbow said as she flew up into the air so she was level with the cloud, which was just about to reach her. Rainbow rubbed her hooves together and readied herself, looking confident that she could handle this cloud. But then, suddenly, the cloud stopped moving just as it got right in front of Rainbow Dash. "Huh?" Rainbow Dash said, puzzled. Everyone below her also looked puzzled at the sudden cease of movement from the cloud.

"That's strange," Twilight said. "I wonder why it stopped moving?"

"Perhaps some pegasus has been pushing it the whole time," Rarity said.

"She's right," Rainbow Dash said. "I'll go check!" Rainbow then flew all around the large cloud, looking for any sign of a pegasus pushing the cloud. She then flew back to the spot where she was before and faced everyone. "I didn't see anypony at all! It's like this cloud moved here by itself!"

"But that can't be," Twilight said. "The way this cloud moved wasn't natural. It has to be some kind of outside force that's responsible!"

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, Twilight. I couldn't see anypony at all, so I don't know what's up with this cloud," Rainbow said as she gestured her hooves toward the cloud.

"Maybe the cloud itself is magic," Fluttershy said. "I mean, if that's possible..."

"Oh, please, Fluttershy," Rainbow scoffed. "There's no such thing as a magic cloud. I mean sure, unicorns have been able to control clouds with their magic, but that doesn't make the clouds magic. I know that doesn't explain what's going on here, but..."

Twilight had been listening intently to Rainbow Dash talk, but then she noticed something behind Rainbow Dash. Twilight tilted her head and squinted her eyes to get a better look. It appeared that part of the cloud was opening up right behind Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was so busy talking, she didn't notice a thing, and neither did anybody else, since they were all paying attention to Rainbow Dash. Twilight kept watching as the opening in the cloud started to glow, glowing brighter and brighter. Then, small electrical surges started to come out of the light, and Twilight’s eyes widened with horrific realization. “Rainbow Dash! Look out behind you!!”

“Huh??” Rainbow Dash said in confusion. She then turned her head around and saw the glowing part of the cloud, and with lightning-fast reflexes, Rainbow moved her body to the left just as a bolt of white lightning blasted out of the cloud. The bolt went right past Rainbow and zapped the nearby apple tree, making the tree glow white for a few seconds, then turn back to normal. Everyone gasped in shock at what had just happened. Rainbow was mystified with what just happened, and was trying to piece it all together in her mind. But then, as she looked up, she saw the cloud moving right over her, the others below her and the others.

"Hey, where's it going?" Pinkie asked. Everyone watched the tree as it passed over the apple tree near them. They all then looked around the tree as the cloud floated away by itself.

"It's...going in the direction of Ponyville!" Twilight exclaimed, horrified. “We have to stop it!”

“I’ll take care of that cloud!” Rainbow angrily said. “It tried to zap me, so now, it’s personal,” she said as she squinted her eyes in anger. “I don’t know where this cloud came from or what kind of cloud it is," everyone below turned towards Rainbow to listen to her. "But nothing will stop me from—woah!!” Rainbow was interrupted when she was suddenly pulled downwards. Everyone was shocked to see Rainbow being pulled around by a long tree root that had her by the tail. While that was going on, a noise was heard behind the other ponies and Spike, and they all turned around to see more long tree roots that were coming from the apple tree! Each of the tree roots started snatching up the others one by one.

When one of the roots tried to grab Applejack, she turned around and bucked her legs to kick the root, but the root dodged her attack, and then it wrapped around her hind legs and pulled her up into the air.

One of the roots wrapped around Fluttershy's body and her wings, and started pulling her off the ground. Fluttershy grabbed onto a root that was in the ground to hold on to feeling very afraid. But then, the root she was holding onto lifted out of the ground, making Fluttershy let go and get helplessly pulled into the air.

Chapter 3: The Root of the Problem

Everyone was being swung all around by the apple tree roots. "Let me go, you despicable tree!" Rarity shouted in anger, as the tree had wrapped its root around her body. "If you muss up my mane, Twilight is going to show you a thing or two!"

"What??" Twilight said in shock while being swung around the same way Rarity was. "Why me?"

"She's right, Twilight!" Applejack shouted as she was being swung around by her hind legs. "Yah havta use yer magic to stop this thing!"

"But I can't!" Twilight shouted back. "This tree is swinging me around too much! I can't focus hard enough to try and free us!"

"Then what should we do??"

"Maybe we should ask it kindly to let us go?!" Fluttershy shouted while being swung back and forth.

"Forget asking!" Rainbow shouted in return. "The only way to stop this tree is to make it stop!" Rainbow Dash then opened her wings and started flying against the pulling of the root. Rainbow flapped her wings as hard as she could, with the root, trying to pull her back, with neither side gaining or losing. As this is going on, the other roots slowly stop swinging the others around, and they all turn towards Rainbow Dash and the other root, as it drew their attention away from what they were doing.

Everyone besides Rainbow was now hanging from the roots that were wrapped around them. "Thank Celestia that’s over,” Twilight said.

"Yah," Applejack replied. "And now yah can use yer magic to stop this thing!"

"Right! Right!" Twilight then shut her eyes and started concentrating. As her horn started to glow, Twilight turned her head towards the tree and shot a purple beam of magic at the tree. The tree became covered with the magic and emitted a purple flash of light. As the light faded away, Twilight was shocked to see the tree had not changed at all. It did not even react to being hit by Twilight's magic, as if it felt nothing at all.

"Why is it that this filthy root still has a hold of me, Twilight?" Rarity asked, not sounding happy.

"My magic didn't work! The magic that cloud used on the tree must be more powerful than my own!"

"What?!" Applejack exclaimed in shocked horror. "Then what the hay do we do to get out of this??"

"I...I don't' know!" Twilight replies, sounding very worried. "I don't know at all what to do!"

Applejack couldn't believe what she heard. "That can'tbe!" she looked at Twilight, who looked back at Applejack with a look of defeat on her face. Applejack looked speechless at seeing Twilight not knowing what to do. She then looked at Rainbow Dash, whom was still struggling against the root, and then she looked around at her other trapped friends. "Doesn't anypony at all know what to do??"

"There's only one thing I know," Applejack turned her attention to Pinkie Pie, whom the root was holding by her tail. "And that's that I feel woozy," Pinkie said with an ill look on her face as she placed her left hoof over her stomach and her right hoof over her mouth.

"You're not the only one," Spike interjected, as he was looking just as sick as Pinkie was. Spike was also being held upside-down by his tail like Pinkie was, and he was lifting his head up so that he could talk with the others.. Spike's stomach then gurgled, and he grasped it with his hands. "Ohhh...I feel awful...I feel like I have to...have to..." Spike then placed his right hand over his mouth as his mouth became engorged. Then, suddenly, Spike jerked his head back to the front of his body and he belched out a large stream of fire. The fire struck the root that was holding onto Spike, and suddenly the tree made a loud shriek of pain as the root let go of Spike, causing him to fall to the ground. The pain caused by Spike's fire also caused the rest of the roots to let go of the other ponies, making them all fall to the ground as well. Rainbow Dash had still been pulling against the root that had her this whole time, and when it let go of her, she zoomed straight up into the sky in the blink of an eye, yelling with surprise and fear with her rainbow trail trailing behind her.

Twilight was feeling a bit dazed after the fall, but she shook it off. She soon realized that everyone was free, and knew now was the time to get out of here. "Come on, everypony! Let's get out of here!"she then started running away from the tree. After the others shook off their dizziness, they ran off after Twilight.

Spike, on the other hand, was still feeling sick, and he was lying on the ground, too sick to get up and run away. Twilight saw he was unable to get up, so she used her magic to lift up Spike and place him on her back. Just then, the tree had gotten over the pain of being burned, and started to go after the ponies and Spike again. It extends its roots to grab them as they're running.

"It's going to get us!" Fluttershy exclaimed in fright.

"Just don't stop running!" Twilight shouted.

The roots moved as fast as they could, and just when they were about to grab the ponies, they halted right where they were. It turns out that the roots had extended to their limited length, and couldn't go any farther. The tree pulled its roots back and watched as the ponies ran far off into the distance, and the tree made a very loud screech of anger at its failure to capture the ponies and Spike.

Chapter 4: The Search Continues

After they were far out of sight of the tree, the ponies stopped so they could catch their breath. "I'm glad...we're finally safe..." Twilight said as she panted. She also sat down on the ground because she was tired, and Spike slid off her back and onto the ground, as he was still feeling a bit sick.

"I'm glad, too.." Fluttershy said while also panting. "That was...really, really scary..."

"Not to mention sickening..." Spike said, clutching his stomach.

"Well," Rarity said, having caught her breath. "I believe we can owe our thanks to our dear Spikey-wikey!" Rarity said as she walked over to Spike and hugged him with her right leg.

Spike looked a bit surprised at first. "...okay, I feel better now," he said, smiling lovingly.

"Yah really showed that overgrown weed, Spike" Applejack said as she walked up to Spike, whom Rarity had stopped hugging. She then gave Spike a tough pat on the back, accidentally knocking him forward a bit.

"Thanks, Applejack," he replied, rubbing the hurt spot on his back from Applejack's pat.

"You did great!" Pinkie exclaimed as she hopped over to Spike. "Really great! Usually Twilight is the great one," she said as she went over to Twilight and pointed at her, then went back next to Spike. "but this time you got to be the great one! Isn't that just great??" she exclaimed as she stuck her face right up to Spike's face, smiling really big.

Spike looked back at Pinkie in silence for a few moments, feeling a bit surprised by her sticking her face right up to his. "...uhh...yeah. Thanks, Pinkie."

"You're welcome, Spike!" she happily replied.

"...anyways," Twilight said as she walked over to the others. "What we need to do now is find that cloud before it does any more harm to anypony else!"

"But we don't even know where it went!" Applejack said.

"Well, we're just going to have to find out where it went! All of Ponyville depends on us!"

"But how will we find it?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to find something like that cloud, since it's so—"

"Hold on!" Pinkie exclaims, interrupting Twilight. "I thought we wanted to look for the cloud! Now we're looking for something like the cloud??"

Twilight and Applejack exchanged looks with each other. "Actually, Pinkie, we are looking for the cloud," Twilight said.

"Now we're looking for the cloud again?? Sheesh, Twilight! Can't you make up your mind?" Pinkie exclaimed, sounding a bit frustrated.

Applejack and Twilight stared blankly at Pinkie Pie for several moments. "...so," Applejack said as she and Twilight turned their heads towards each other. "How are we gonna go about findin' that cloud?"

"It won't be too difficult. Just let me think for a bit," Twilight placed her hoof on her chin to ponder what to do. But, no sooner had she started thinking when something came down from the sky incredibly fast and crashed into the ground a short distance from the girls and Spike, making them all jump in surprise and turn towards the crash site.

"What in Equestria was that??" Rarity asked in shock.

"And where did it come from??" Fluttershy also asked.

"I don't know!" Twilight replied, also shocked. "Come on, everyone!" Twilight then ran towards the crash site, with the others following her.

In a short time they arrived at the crater, and everyone went up to the edge and peered over the side. The dust started to clear, and the silhouette of someone or something began to appear. Everyone watched as the dust cleared, wondering what it was that crashed. Then, when the dust finally dissipated, everyone was shocked to see that what had crashed—was Rainbow Dash! She was lying on her front with her eyes spinning around, feeling very dazed from her crash landing.

Twilight placed her right hoof over her mouth in surprise. "Oooh...I sort of forgot about Rainbow Dash..." Twilight says, embarrassed, as she rubs the back of her head with her hoof.

"Don't feel bad, Twilight," Spike said as he patted her right shoulder. "The rest of us forgot, too," Twilight turned her head towards Spike, then looked at Rarity and Fluttershy who were behind him on the edge of the crater, both smiling back at Twilight. Twilight lightly smiled, feeling a bit better.

"Yeah! Even you!" Pinkie interjected as she stretched her head over to Twilight from the left side, making Twilight feel bad again. Spike gave Pinkie a stern look, and Applejack grabbed pinkie and pulled her away from Twilight. Applejack then walked next to Twilight in the spot where Pinkie's head was and placed her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. She smiled at Twilight, and Twilight smiled back at her contently.

"My, she must have fallen from quite a dizzying height," Rarity said, looking down at Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah!" Pinkie added. "She must've gone up super-duper high to have taken so very very long to fall allllllll the way back down!" she exclaimed with a series of gestures.

"I just hope she isn't hurt too bad," Fluttershy said.

"Well, this is Rainbow Dash we're talkin' about," Applejack said. "She's taken some pretty hard hits before, so ah'm sure she's fine."

"Ohhh..." Everyone then turned their attention to the crater, which they heard the moan from.

"That doesn't sound too fine," Rarity said.

Everyone watched as one of Rainbow Dash's front legs stretched out of the crater and grabbed onto the outside edge. Then the other front leg reached out and grabbed the ledge. She then used her legs to pull the front half of her body out of the crater, after which she collapsed onto the ground outside the crater, still looking very dazed and her eyes still spinning around. Everyone gathered around her to see how she was.

"Are you all right, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow lifted her partly up. "Did I win?" she asked dizzily.

The others exchanged looks, wondering what she was talking about. Twilight was the first to realize that Rainbow was referring to her "tug of war" with the tree root. "Err...sure, Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied.

At that moment, Rainbow Dash snapped out of her dazed condition, and her eyes went back to normal. She then zoomed straight up into the air, looking incredibly proud of herself. "I knew that tree was no match for me! It didn't stand a chance against Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed in a sort of arrogant way.

"Well then, mighty Rainbow Dash," Twilight said in a non-serious way. "Perhaps you could help us find that cloud that almost zapped you before?"

Rainbow flew down in front of Twilight. "Sure thing! I'll find it easy!"

"All right, then; just fly up high and see if you can spot it anywhere," she said as she looked up at the sky and pointed up in the same direction with her hoof.

"O-kay!" Rainbow saluted. She then flew straight up, high into the air at least 40 feet, where she began hovering in place. She then placed her left hoof over her eyes and began searching. As she searched, she turned around while still flying, making sure to scan the land in each direction. Suddenly, she spotted something. "I see it!" she shouted as she pointed with her left hoof. "It's flying near a path that's leading to Ponyville!"

"Then let us not waste any time!" Twilight exclaimed. "Come on, everyone!" she used her magic to put Spike on her back, and she ran off in the direction that Rainbow Dash had pointed with the other ponies following behind her. Rainbow Dash flew down and joined up with the others as they all chased after the cloud.

Chapter 5: A Flood of Chaos

Since they had started running, the ponies and Spike had arrived at the path Rainbow said the cloud was following, and they had been following the path since. The path went through a small grove of trees, and everyone could see the cloud on the other side of the tree line where the path exited the trees. They all continued on the path into the grove, although it got a bit dense and hard to see the sky outside of the trees, so they couldn't see the cloud at all.

"Ah hope we don't lose that cloud while we're in here," Applejack said.

"I'm sure we can still catch up with it," Rainbow responded with fortitude.

"She's right, Applejack," Twilight added. "We just have to keep running and not stop."

"Are yah sure we'll be able to spot it once we git by these trees?" Applejack asked Twilight.

Just then, the ponies and Spike had exited the tree line. Twilight then looked up ahead of everyone. "I think we'll be able to spot it just fine," she said in a slightly jokey way. Applejack then looked where Twilight was looking, and she could see the cloud was only a short distance ahead of them.

"Ah think yah may be right," Applejack replied in the same jokey way Twilight talked.

"Then let's hurry up and catch that thing!" Rainbow exclaimed as she pounded her left front hoof into her right front hoof. She then started flying faster, and the other ponies began running faster.

Ahead of them, the cloud was still slowly moving along the path. The path then went up a small incline, and the cloud went over it, keeping its same distance from the ground. While it was going over the incline, the ponies were just about to catch up with the cloud, as they were about to run up the incline. But then, the cloud opened up on its bottom section, and fired a white magical lightning bolt at the path. The whole path glowed white, making the ponies and Spike look down as they were running over the path. The glowing then dissipated, and everyone was shocked to see that the path they were running on had turned into soap! Because of this, everypony except Rainbow Dash slipped on the soap, causing them to slide down the incline, all the way back to the bottom.

Rainbow, who was still flying overhead, stopped in midair and turned her head back as she saw everyone else sliding down the path. She looked worried for her friends, but then she turned her head back forwards and saw the cloud, which was still moving. Rainbow was having a difficult time deciding whether she should go after the cloud or help her friends and let the cloud get farther away. She kept looking back and forth a few times, but then she stopped and grabbed the sides of her head in frustration, making a grimace on her face. She then turned to the right and flew back quickly to help her friends. The others were sliding on the level part of the path now, unable to stop themselves. Rainbow then flew down to Pinkie, who was the first one sliding backwards, and pushed against the side of her body to slow her down. The others slid into Pinkie, all ramming together into a cluster, but with Rainbow kept pushing and stopped everyone from sliding any further.

"Whew...thanks, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said as she attempted to get back up on her hooves.

"No problem, Twi," Rainbow replied. "Is everyone okay?"

"Ah'm fine."

"I think I'm okay, too, I guess..."

"No soap got in my mane, so I am doing quite well."

"That was fun!" Pinkie exclaims as she bounced up on her hooves. "Anypony want to do that again??" she asked eagerly as she looked around at everyone, to which everyone except Fluttershy and Spike gave her a nasty look.

"Ugh..." Spike grumbled as he clutched his stomach. "I think that made me sick all over again..." He said with a bit of wooziness. "Can we rest for a little bit?"

"There's no time!" Twilight exclaimed. "We have to catch up to that cloud!" she then jumped to the right, off of the soap path and onto the ground. "Come on, everyone!" she exclaimed as she placed Spike on her back with her magic. The other ponies then jumped onto the side of the path Twilight was on, except for Rainbow Dash, who flew instead. They all proceeded to run up alongside the path back to the incline.

While the ponies and Spike were trying to regain the amount of distance they lost between them and the cloud, the cloud was still on the move. The cloud seemed to be aware that it was being followed by those seven, and it wanted to get rid of them. The cloud then zapped another magic lightning bolt up at a group of nearby clouds, and they all turned into cotton candy clouds. It zapped more clouds near and far, turning them all into cotton candy. Al the clouds started grouping together, forming into one giant cloud. While the clouds were been grouping together, the chaos cloud had flown through them. When the pink clouds were big enough, they started raining chocolate milk.

While still running, Applejack looked ahead and saw the pink clouds. "Uh-oh; everyone, ah think we have a new problem," she said as she turned her head towards the others.

"Oh, no..." Twilight said with fear.

"Is that what I think it is?" Rarity asks with worry.

"It looks like chocolate milk!" Rainbow Dash says.

Pinkie gasped loudly. "That's fantastic!!" she exclaimed with great joy. "I never thought this would happen again!"

"Well, it's going to take a lot more than chocolate milk rain to stop us!" Twilight exclaimed, and she and the others continued running, and they were almost at the incline.

Meanwhile, the chaos cloud had floated to the opposite side of the pink cloud that was facing the ponies and Spike. The chaos cloud zapped the pink cloud again, and the chocolate rain started pouring harder, and now the rain was gushing out of the pink cloud in large quantities.

Twilight and the others had finally arrived at the incline, and they were running up it. When they were almost at the top, there was a rumbling sound the made everypony stop.

"Ah don't like the sound of that," Applejack said.

"I especially don't like the sound of that..." Fluttershy said in a moderately frightened way.

"Maybe it's just my stomach," Spike said, still sounding a bit sickened. Then, the rumbling grew louder, and the ground started shaking more. "...that's not my stomach, is it?" Spike said, now sounding a bit frightened himself.

Everybody exchanged looks with each other, and when the rumbling got its loudest, they all looked forwards at the top of the incline, where, suddenly, a giant wave of chocolate milk rose up over the top of the incline!

At the sight of this wave, everyone was scared, so they all turned around and retreated—everyone, that is, except for Pinkie Pie. When she saw the wave, she stood where she was, marveling at its great, chocolatey wonder. After everyone ran away, Pinkie flopped her rump down on the ground, opened her mouth as wide as she could, and outstretched her front legs, more than eager for the chocolate tidal wave to meet her. The wave then came down and crashed onto Pinkie Pie, sweeping her away down the incline. Everyone else was still running, looking freaked out by the wave of chocolate. Rainbow Dash was flying right above the others, and she turned her head around, she saw the wave about to crash on her and the others, too! Before she could get a chance to fly away, the wave came down on her and swept all the ponies and Spike across the ground and out onto the grassy area next to the path, where the wave finally dissipated.

There were puddles of chocolate milk all over the ground, and the ponies and Spike were soaked as well. Everyone was moaning from the beating they took from the wave.

Twilight was on her back, and she lifted her head up. "You know, that apple tree is looking better right about now," she said with soreness.

"Well, I think both the tree and the wave weren't that good," Fluttershy said as she lifted her head up. "But if you think the tree was better, then I won't argue..."

Rarity partially sat up, and she used her left hoof to pick up her soaked mane so she could look at it. "Ewww!" she says in disgust. "My hair is completely soaked with chocolate! This will take me days to clean and perfect!"

"Ah think that's the least of our problems now," Applejack said as she lifted her head up.

"You're telling me!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with frustration as she sat up. "We just got beaten by chocolate milk!" she said as she clenched her hooves in anger.

"Chocolate milk..?" Pinkie Pie moaned. She was lying on her back with her head lifted up and her belly looked filled with chocolate milk. "Oh, no more for me, thanks..." she said woozily as she waved her left front leg in the air and flopped her back down onto the ground.

Spike groaned as he clutched his stomach. "Why is it that whenever I start to feel better, that cloud always does something to make me feel sick all over again??"

"Well, it won't be making anybody sick anymore!" Twilight exclaimed with determination as she stood up on all fours. "This is the last straw! We're going to put a stop to that cloud once and for all!"

"You said it!" Rainbow says as she flies up into the air. "That cloud won't be raining chocolate milk on me again!" she exclaims with anger and determination.

"I'm normally not one to be angry," Fluttershy said. "...but that mean old cloud will be punished for hurting my friends!" Fluttershy also said with anger and determination, but sounding a lot less big then Rainbow Dash.

"Yes!" Twilight added. "We won't allow him to get away with this!"

"Right!" Pinkie Pie and Applejack agreed.

"Ugh...right," Spike groaned in agreement as he lay on his back.

"Then let us quickly move out!" Twilight exclaimed as she pointed in the direction the cloud had gone with her hoof.

"Wait!" Rarity called out, making the others all look at her. "Can't I at least wash my hair first?" Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack all gave her demeaning looks. Rarity looked at each of them. "...yes, I do suppose I could wash it later," she said as she stood up.

"As I was saying," Twilight said as she used her magic to put Spike on her back. "Let us move out!" Twilight pointed in the same direction again. The other ponies stood up on all fours and gathered behind Twilight, looking just as determined as Twilight was. Then, with all deliberate speed, the ponies and Spike took off towards the cloud, more determined than ever to end the cloud's reign of chaos once and for all.

Chapter 6: The Stand-Off 2/2

Twilight was pushed backwards by the powerful force of the cloud's attack, but not very far. Twilight had planted her hooves firmly on the ground when she was struck by the magic lightning, and was able to keep herself from getting blown away by the cloud's immense power. Now she was standing still, trying her hardest to hold her ground against the cloud.

Everyone else looked on, dismayed as to what they had all just seen. Everyone had thought Twilight was a goner, but Applejack noticed something was amiss. The cloud's attack was still striking Twilight, yet nothing was happening to her.

Applejack felt stupefied as to what was occurring, or, not occurring. "Twilight! What in the hay is goin' on? Is that cloud doin' anything to yah?"

"No!" Twilight shouted back, sounding both worried and confused. "I don't feel myself changing at all! Something wrong must be going on with the cloud's magic!"

Twilight wasn't sure what was going on with the cloud, but there was something going on with her. Inside, she felt something; something powerful. An immense power the likes of which she had never felt before. She had no clue what this power was or where it came from, but when she looked back up the cloud, she came to a sudden realization.

"My horn! My horn is absorbing the cloud's magic!"

"Say what?"

"Oh my goodness!"

"Wowzers!"

"But how is it doing that??" Spike shouted to her.

"I think...my magic must have combined with the cloud's right when I was about to release it for my own attack! The energies merged together when mine was at its breaking point!"

"I don't believe it!"

"I can hardly believe it, either! I mean, I didn't think my magic was strong enough to even match the cloud's!"

"Well, what are you going to do now?!"

Twilight thought over what she could do with the cloud's own power. It was right then and there she knew there was only one thing she could do. "Well, it looks like I'm just going to have to give its power back!"

"What?!" Spike exclaimed in utter shock. "Are you crazy??"

"No! I am doing what I must to save Ponyville, my friends, and all of Equestria!!"

Twilight began concentrating, focusing her mind on the powerful magic stored inside her horn. Quickly, Twilight reared up on her hind legs and pulled her head back. When she did this, the magic lightning coming from the cloud was ripped away and absorbed completely into Twilight's horn. Everyone else was awed at the sight of Twilight's extraordinary feat. Twilight got back down on all fours, and know that she had the power, she knew exactly what to do with it.

Twilight felt prepared to finish the cloud off once and for all, but something was wrong. Twilight felt—off. She was feeling something: something strange; and it wasn't just the stress from having to contain such intense power all inside her horn. She felt what seemed to be a pang of some unknown force inside her head, a force that she was unable to tell was good—or bad. This strange force was having an unusual effect on her head, messing with her thoughts and her concentration, making the task of controlling her power even more difficult. But even with this unknown force inside of her, Twilight knew she still had a job to do, and it was top priority over everything right now. So, setting her curiosity aside, Twilight chose to ignore what was happening to her and focused her mind on the cloud.

During this whole time, the cloud had been going crazy, shaking around abruptly and spurting out more bits of magic from all sides. Everypony was having a hard time keeping the cloud under control, but were all still trying their hardest to prevent the cloud from escaping them.

"Everyone! Get out of the way! This is going to be big!"

Heeding Twilight's warning, Rarity and Applejack let go of the rope and ran for cover. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly flew away from the cloud. Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, being Pinkie Pie, placed her head on the ground and covered her eyes. Rainbow Dash flew down, grabbed her by the tail, and pulled her away. "All clear, Twi! Do your stuff!"

Twilight nodded at Rainbow Dash, and looked back at the cloud with sternness. Twilight then inhaled deeply, rearing up on her hind legs. As she did this, the magic emanating from her horn was all condensed into a smaller spherical form around her horn. Then, upon coming back down to the ground, Twilight released the magic, firing the largest and most powerful beam of all!

With intensely fast speed, the beam struck the cloud directly in its center. A few moments after impact, the cloud let out a loud screech, as if it were in pain. The cloud also did not move from its spot, as it appeared to be immobilized by Twilight's powerful attack. As the beam continued to bore through it, the cloud slowly started to swell. As it swelled more, small beams of light shot out of it from all sides, showing that the buildup of energy inside the cloud was getting to be too much for it to hold inside its form. The cloud grew more and more, and once it reached its critical mass, the cloud exploded in a brilliant and immense wave of light, with the wave blowing in every direction.

Each one of the ponies was struck by the force of this explosion; even Spike could not hold against it from behind his rock. Applejack and Rarity were blown across the ground, tumbling along it as they were pushed away.

Rainbow Dash was trying her hardest to fly against the intense wind, as this was incredibly difficult, especially with Fluttershy holding onto her, and Pinkie Pie holding onto Fluttershy. She was only able to hold her position for so long until the wave of light collided with her, sending all three of the ponies flying backwards through the air.

Twilight was also getting pushed back by the explosion, but out of everyone, she was doing the best at keeping herself upright as she skidded backwards across the ground. She then used her magic and projected a magical barrier all around her, blocking the force of the explosion and preventing herself from getting blown any farther back.

During this whole time, the wave of light that had been released from the cloud went in all directions, affecting every object the cloud had zapped before, reverting everything back to their original state. The clouds became white, the path turned to dirt, and the apple tree transformed back to its docile form once more.

Chapter 7: All is Well...Or So It Seems

Shortly after the wave had turned everything after normal, the explosion had finally ceased. The wind stopped blowing, everything was normal, and Equestria was once again safe from chaos. However, a great deal of dust was still blowing around in the aftermath of the explosion. The other ponies who were blown away found themselves surrounded by dust, coughing uncontrollably. Even Spike was afflicted by this storm of dust clouds, having been blown away after losing his grip on the rock he was taking shelter behind.

Twilight lowered her magical shield, and quickly became engulfed by dust herself, coughing just like her friends. "These blasted irritants!" she said while coughing.

Soon enough, the dust clouds dissipated, and everyone grouped back together at the site of the explosion—all except for Twilight, whom was still surrounded by dust. They all quickly went over to Twilight and gathered around her.

When the dust cleared, Twilight opened her eyes and was surprised to see that everyone had suddenly assembled around her. They all then gathered in closer to Twilight, giving her each of their respective congratulations.

"You did it, Twilight!"

"We knew you could do it!"

"You were simply marvelous out there!"

"Yes, you were really great, Twilight," Fluttershy said softly.

"Great?? She was just as great as how great she always is! And that's really really great!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced excitedly.

Twilight blushed from hearing the kind and supportive words of her friends. Spike then went up to Twilight and hugged her by the neck.

After that, Applejack walked next to Twilight and began rubbing her hoof in Twilight's hair, playfully mussing it up. "Yah certainly showed that cloud what fer."

"She indeedily did!" Pinkie exclaimed right next to Twilight. "That cloud never ever ever could have been beaten if it wasn't for Twilight!"

"Yeah! She's the best! Spike added.

Twilight looked quite glad. "Thank you very much, everyone, but not all the credit should go to me. You each did your own part in helping to defeat that cloud and save Ponyville, so we all deserve a piece of recognition."

Everyone smiled, feeling touched by Twilight's thoughtfulness.

"This looks like the perfect time for a group hug!" Pinkie Pie blurted out. She then pulled everyone together for a group hug, much to their surprise. After a few moments of indecision, everyone decided to go along with it and hugged one another.

Everyone was feeling quite contented right now; especially Twilight; but then, all of a sudden, a thought came to her mind. "Oh! Wait a minute!" she said as she pulled herself out of the group hug, causing the whole hug to disband.

"Awww, why'd you do that for?" Pinkie asked despondently. "You messed up the flow of the hug!"

"I'm sorry, Pinkie Pie, but I need to get back to Ponyville right away so I can write a letter to Princess Celestia about everything that's happened with that cloud. She'd surely want to know about such a strange phenomenon."

"Yeah, I was expecting you to say something like that," Rainbow Dash said. She then started laughing, and the others soon joined her. Twilight, on the other hoof, did not laugh like the others. Her laugh didn't sound convincing, as she did not think what Rainbow had said was all that funny.

Applejack walked up next to Twilight. "Hey, don't feel bad, Twilight. It's just a bit of fun, is all. We know the princess would want tah to know about all this," The other ponies agreed, which made Twilight feel better.

"Just make sure to tell her how brave we all were," Rainbow Dash said as she nudged Twilight with her elbow and winked at her.

"Oh, don't worry. I know the princess would definitely want to know the bravery of every pony—" Spike abruptly cleared his throat. "...and dragon, here," Spike and everypony else smiled in response.

"Well, it has been a big day today. We should go ahead and pack it in," Applejack said as she started walking towards Ponyville.

"Agreed. I'm going to need quite a bit of cleaning to get my mane back to its beautiful flowing form once more," Rarity said as she stroked her mane, which still had some stains of chocolate milk in it.

"Then let's be on our way," Twilight said.

"And on our way we go!" Pinkie said cheerfully as she hopped together with the others, all on their way back to Ponyville.

Not long after they had started on their way back to Ponyville, Twilight began feeling something strange inside her head again. A stirring in her head, making her feel uncomfortable. As the feeling progressed, she began feeling more in the way of pain, which transgressed into a mild headache. Twilight felt so sore that she shook her head around to try and relieve herself of the pain.

Fluttershy, whom was to the right of Twilight, noticed Twilight's strange behavior. "Is everything all right, Twilight?"

"What..? Oh..yeah, everything's fine. I just feel some sort of pang in my head."

"Oh, oh-my!" Fluttershy replied frightfully. "Do you need anything to make it feel better?"

"No, no; you don't have to do anything for me. I'm sure that whatever it is, it'll eventually just—"

Twilight abruptly stopped in mid-sentence. Her eyes had become locked onto a rock a short distance in front of her. The rock lay in the path of where Fluttershy was walking, but she was unaware of this approaching hazard. Twilight stared intently at the rock, her eyes unmoving. There was yet another stirring in her head, but this time she felt no pain of any sort. There was something else going on in her mind; something...sinister.

Twilight slowly closed her eyes, and then opened them again, but now her eyes looked much different than before. Her eyes had changed color, having a yellow tincture, with the pupils being of a crimson shade. With these new eyes, Twilight's expression progressed into a much more twisted look, now sporting a quite nasty-looking smile, devoid of any cordial qualities.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. "Are you sure you're okay? Because you still look a bit ill to me."

Twilight twisted her head towards Fluttershy. "Oh, I'm just fine, Fluttershy," she replied in a slightly demented manner. "Never been better. Oh, but you know what?"

"What?" Suddenly, Fluttershy found herself tripping over the rock in her path, causing her to topple onto the ground.

"There's a rock you're about to trip over!" Twilight proclaimed mockingly as she chortled at Fluttershy's misfortune.

As funny as Twilight thought this whole situation was, everyone else didn't think the same. Becoming solicitous, the other ponies rushed over to Fluttershy's side to see if she was okay.

"Fluttershy! are you okay??" Rainbow Dash asked fretfully.

"I..I think so..."

"Are you quite sure?" Rarity asked. "Does anything hurt?"

"Well, maybe.."

Pinkie Pie ran next to Fluttershy. "Let's see where it hurts!" she lifted up Fluttershy's right leg. "Does it hurt here? Or here? Or here?" Pinkie asked quickly as she poked Fluttershy's leg hard in several different places.

Fluttershy cringed during each poke. "Actually, it hurts wherever you poke me."

Pinkie gasped. "Oh my gosh! This is more serious than we thought!"

Then, the ponies were drawn to the sound of snickering. They all looked over to see Twilight, who was still laughing at Fluttershy's misfortune.

"Twilight! what's gotten into you?" Rarity says crossly. "How can you just laugh at poor Fluttershy?"

"Yeah! and it tweren't right of you to just let 'er trip like that, either!"

Upon hearing the scolding words from her friends, Twilight's mind blanks out. She then shakes her head, and her nasty disposition and eyes reform back to their original states. She then becomes horrified at what she had just done. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Fluttershy!"she exclaims as she runs over to Fluttershy. "I don't know what happened!" As she and the others helped Fluttershy up, Twilight thought back to how she had felt before and after Fluttershy tripped on the rock. Why did she do it? She would never play such a mean trick on her friends, or anypony. It was as if somepony else made her do this bad deed, but Twilight couldn't think of how that could be possible. After all, how could somepony control her in such a manner, and why would they do it? The answer to this question would obviously not be an easy one to figure out, even for Twilight.

Just then, Fluttershy got back up on her hooves. "Well, I think I'm okay. I mean, it wasn't that big of a fall, I guess.."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear that, Fluttershy; and I'm still really sorry for playing such a malicious trick on you."

"Oh, it's okay, Twilight. What's important is that I'm fine," she smiled, to which Twilight smiled.

"Well then, now that everything is all right, shall we continue going on our current route?" Rarity asked.

Nobody had any argument here, so they all began walking back to Ponyville once more. However, Twilight still didn't feel completely all right. It still bothered had that this had happened, and she still had no idea of how or why it happened. But, because of how horrible it had felt to her in particular, she hoped that it would not happen again, instead of trying to figure it out. But, that was not too likely...

Chapter 8: A Disease of the Mind 1/2

Evening had arrived in Equestria the same time the ponies and Spike had arrived back in Ponyville. They all stopped outside Twilight's house to take a short breather.

"Well, ah think we all deserve a good rest after today," Applejack said, taking off her hat and wiping some perspiration from her brow.

"Yes, quite," Rarity agreed. "Especially Fluttershy, after her incident."

Twilight then felt bad again after hearing those words, hanging her head down with anguish. Applejack then elbowed Rarity in her leg for making Twilight feel bad. Rarity rubbed her leg and looked at Applejack crossly.

Applejack walked over to the dejected Twilight. "Ah'm sorry, Twilight."

"No, it's okay. I deserve to feel bad for what I did to Fluttershy."

"Aww, don't say that. Nopony deserves to feel bad for somethin' they didn't mean tuh do."

"But the fact is that I did do it, and something inside me, for whatever reason, made me want to do it. There's no excuse for that..."

Having originally been pitying Fluttershy, everyone was now feeling pity for Twilight, as she looked to be feeling more hurt emotionally than Fluttershy was physically, and even Fluttershy was included with the grief-giving.

Fluttershy approached Twilight. "Twilight, really, it's okay. You don't have to continue feeling so bad for what happened. I don't like seeing you when you're like this; it makes me feel so sad inside..."

Twilight turned her head up towards Fluttershy, whom was warmheartedly smiling at her. Hard for her to do at first, Twilight smiled back at Fluttershy, feeling better than before, but still not completely forgiving of herself.

Suddenly, Twilight cringed as a sharp pain shot through her skull, equivalent to that of a splitting headache. "No, not again!" she thought to herself as she clasped her head with her hoof. "Why does this continue to happen? Why??" she thought frantically. With all the pain Twilight had just been feeling about Fluttershy's incident, this new pain magnified it tenfold.

Applejack clearly saw Twilight suffering from her ordeal. "Twilight, are you okay? You look downright dreadful to me."

Twilight tried her hardest to withstand the pain so she would appear normal, as she didn't want to worry her friends with her affliction. "Yes, I'm just fine, Applejack," she tried to smile, but made yet another cringe from the pain. This in turn made Applejack look more worried.

"I'm with Applejack," Rainbow Dash acceded. "You seriously don't look okay at all."

"Well, she has had the roughest time out of all of us today," Rarity affirmed. "I'm sure it was extremely difficult for her to handle the kind of magic that cloud threw at her; and the same goes for when she recoiled the cloud's magic back at it."

"Rarity's got a point," Applejack acceded. "Somethin' like that is certain to take a lot out of a pony."

"That's really right!" Pinkie exclaimed. "And what Twilight needs now is something to eat to energize herself back to her normal, Twilight-y self! And what better to use than something filled with sweetness!"

"No, Pinkie; really, it's fine."

"Don't worry, it won't take long! You wait here, and I'll just go to my nearest cupcake stash and—"

"Pinkie, please!!" Twilight shouted irately, making Pinkie Pie stop in her tracks, and also making everyone else look at Twilight in surprise. "I don't need something to eat. All I need is a good night's sleep. That's all. So, I don't want anypony worrying about me anymore, okay??"

The others were all silenced by Twilight's outburst., shocked from the disbelief to hear Twilight talk to them with such animosity, even though it was mild.

"...well, if you say so.." Fluttershy said, sounding quite cheerless.

Twilight looked around at the faces of her friends. Each one of them was feeling as much consternation as the last. The levels of frustration Twilight was feeling were significantly lowered when she saw how she had made her friends feel. "What did I just do?" she thought to herself, not being able to believe she would project such anger at her friends. "How could I do something so mean again? Why does this keep happening??"

Even though Twilight hadn't a clue as to the source of all this bedlam, she refused to let it come between her and her friends. "Hey, you know what would be fun?"

"Oooh! I know! I know!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she raised her hoof and hopped up and down. "Playing ball, making cupcakes, having parties, playing musical instruments, singing, dancing, jumping up and down—mmph!!" Pinkie was suddenly silenced by Rainbow Dash and Rarity, who both slapped their hooves over her mouth.

"...well, actually," Twilight continued. "I was referring to all of us getting together for another outing, since our first one was interrupted by that cloud," Everyone exchanged looks, none feeling too keen on the idea of spending so much time with Twilight after her outburst. "What do you all say?"

"...well, that does sound like it would be nice," Fluttershy said. The others still felt uneasy about Twilight's proposition, but Fluttershy's acceptance made them remember that Twilight was still their friend, and should be treated as such.

"Oh, that's great to hear," Twilight replied, feeling a great deal of relief that somepony had agreed with her. "How about tomorrow?" Everyone agreed, which made Twilight feel even better. "Well then, let us all meet up in front of the library in the morning. I'll be sure to have everything prepared by the time you all arrive," The others agreed with Twilight's plan. Everyone then began saying their goodbyes to one another, all looking forward for their plans of the next day. as they went to each of their respective homes. Twilight and Spike went inside their home as well, although Twilight was still not feeling as upbeat as the others.

Chapter 8: A Disease of the Mind 2/2

After coming inside the library and closing the door, Twilight's cheerful expression faded. She began to act as dejected as she had really been feeling the whole time while talking to her friends. Twilight started to feel the recurring pain again, but it was only a fraction of what she had felt before. This time it felt like more of a normal headache. She places her hoof on her forehead and tries to cope with the intermediate pain.

Spike now noticed Twilight looking disconsolate, and became concerned. "Twilight, are you okay?"

Twilight wasn't very focused on what was happening around her, but she soon snapped to attention. "What..? Oh; it's nothing, Spike."

"Oh, come on, Twilight. I know that you never actually mean it when you say nothing's wrong. Something's making you feel bad and I want to know what it is!" he said with gruffness.

Twilight looked towards Spike for a few moment, and then she sighed, knowing she couldn't deceive Spike any longer. "You're right, Spike. I didn't want you or anypony else to worry, but I've been feeling pain in my head that's been going on and off for quite a while now," she said as she cringed.

"Pain?" Spike queried. "What kind of pain?"

"The pain has always come in the form of a headache each time I have felt it. So far I have experienced several degrees of these headaches—some more agonizing than others," Twilight explained, sounding quite distressed.

"Woah..." Spike couldn't believe that Twilight had been going through such hardships without saying a word to anybody. "...how are you feeling now?"

"Right now, it's not that bad of a headache, but it still hurts very much," she cringed a bit again.

"How long has this been going on for?"

"I believe the first occurrence was right before I made Fluttershy trip on that rock. After that, I've just been feeling it at random times, each time feeling a different headache than the previous one," Twilight's face quickly turned to a grimace, stung by the memory of causing pain to her dear friend. "And when I shouted at you and the others...it felt even worse..." With Twilight feeling so bad, Spike walked over to her and placed his hand on her leg to show his concern. "I still can't imagine why I would do such terrible things. I mean, it isn't like me at all to act out in such cruel manners."

"Well, I have to agree that I've never seen you act like that before, but I'm sure nobody holds anything against you," Spike said as he patted Twilight's leg.

"It doesn't matter if they do or not. The point is that I projected my anger onto my friends, and that is not something that anyone should ever do," she said as she shook her head, feeling more anguished than ever.

Spike hated seeing Twilight like this, and tried to think of anything at all that would ease her troubled self. "...well..maybe it won't happen again."

"Well..maybe...but I'm still doubtful that a problem such as this would just simply 'go away'," she dropped her head down once more, lacking any confidence that she would be able to get through this troubled time. Spike was unsure of what else he could say to ease the tension that encompassed twilight, but still felt that he had to do something. Before he could make a response, Twilight had lifted her head back up again. "You know, Spike, there's one other thing about these pains that I didn't tell you."

"Really? What?"

"Well, it's very strange, and I don't know how to explain it, but..whenever I caused one those incidents—it didn't feel like it was me who was doing any of it," Spike looked astonished to hear this new circumstance. "To me it felt like...it was somepony else made me do those terrible things. Somepony who forced me to trip Fluttershy and be mean to my friends," a single tear fell from Twilight's eye.

"But who or what could, or would, make you do something like that?"

"I don't know, Spike...I just don't know..." Twilight was feeling exceptionally terrible right now, and she was afraid that she was going to feel yet another headache, and now was especially not a time when she needed to feel that kind of unbearable pain. "You know, Spike, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm really not feeling like dictating a letter to the princess right now."

Spike was even more shocked than he was before. "You really don't want to write a letter? But you love doing homework!"

"I know, Spike, but after all that's happened, I'm just not in the mood..." Spike was genuinely concerned for Twilight, since she had never been in a situation where she would willingly choose not to write a letter to Princess Celestia. He knew she must be in a lot of distress at the moment to be feeling such a way. "If it's all right with you, Spike, I'm just going to go to bed now," Spike was also surprised to hear this, but seeing how bad Twilight was feeling, he didn't want to put any more tension on her by talking about it.

"Well, if you say so, Twilight. I'll stay here and continue my chores while you go and rest up."

"Thank you, Spike," Twilight responded, sounding a bit better. "We can write the letter tomorrow, after I'm feeling better," Twilight then turned and walked through the door into her room. After closing the door, her face grew saddened again. "I hope."

Twilight walked up the stairs and got into bed. Still feeling troubled from everything that happened, she found it quite difficult to fall asleep, with so many aching thoughts in her head. She tossed and turned, trying to get herself comfortable, but she could not force herself to fall asleep, no matter how badly she wanted to. She then turned onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. "Come on, Twilight. Don't let all these bad thoughts get to you. Just remember what a good day tomorrow will be, and your troubles will melt away," Twilight took her own advice, and began focusing her mind on what enjoyable times she would have with her friends tomorrow, and it starts to work. The storms in her mind begin to dissipate, easing her troubled self and calming her to much more soothed state of mind. Twilight smiles, happy to get over the dreadful pain that ailed her so, and she quietly and peacefully drifts off to a nightly slumber.

For a while Twilight had been sleeping peacefully, but later on in the night, all was not well in her dreams, which were transgressing into the forms of nightmares. Inside her dream world, Twilight was surrounded by an endless veil of darkness. She was standing in the midst of it all, confused and frightened as to where she was. Even though she appeared to be alone, she felt a chill go up her spine, spawned from what felt to be a looming presence nearby. Twilight looked around, trying to see if there really is anypony watching her, but the everlasting darkness that surrounded her made distinguishing any object in the vicinity entirely impossible. Outside of her dreams, Twilight was also not doing well. She looked quite distressed, and was sweating excessively. She continued to toss and turn, kicking off her blanket as her tormenting dream continued.

Twilight had been feeling that she was not alone in her dream, but was unable to confirm this conjecture. But then, she became fully aware somepony else was accompanying her dream when she was startled by a noise. Regrettably, Twilight could not decipher what type of noise she was hearing. But, as the noise became more prevalent, it could be heard more clearly, and then Twilight became vastly alarmed when she realized that the noise was—a voice. A faint, ominous voice echoed from the dark void that engulfed her, and she could not discern what direction the voice was emanating from. Every time she turned around, the voice appeared to stem from an alternate direction, as if she was surrounded by voices.

As the voice became more clear, it began to sound a bit familiar, but also unfamiliar. The voice sounded like a garbled mix of two voices, which made it difficult for Twilight to comprehend what it was the voice was attempting to say.

"...Twiiiliiight..."

The voice grew louder and clearer each time it spoke.

"Twiiiiliiiight..."

Twilight's fear amplified each time she heard the voice.

"Twiiiiliiiight..."

"Wh—who's there?" Twilight asked with fear, as she was feeling great trepidation at this time.

"Twiiiiiiillllliiiiiiiight..."

"Who are you? Why do you keep talking to me?" Twilight fearfully searched the vicinity as she spoke, desperately endeavoring to locate the whereabouts of the voice's origin.

For a short time, the voice had ceased to speak, and there was absolute silence. This did not make Twilight feel any more at ease, as she felt that something, or someone, would soon emerge from the darkness, and even though she expected it, she knew in her mind that would not be ready for it. Then, without warning, a dark mist blew in, encircling Twilight as she filled with panic at what to expect next. As she frantically looked around, her eyes were drawn one part of the mist that was increasing in size. She watched as bulge in the most began to take shape, including growing arms, appendages in its head, and most notably, two large, red, menacing eyes that looked down on Twilight with unmitigated malevolence. Twilight became more frightened than ever before, and she hastily ran away from the figure as fast as she could. But, after running away, the mist easily caught up with her, and the figure reformed in front of her once more. Twilight was both shocked and horrified, and she took off in a different direction, but the figure pursued her yet again.

No matter how fast Twilight would run or where she would run, the figure would catch up to her every time, rearing up before her and gazing down upon her with its eyes that pierced through her very heart. She ran away once more, but this time the figure did not reappear to block her. This time, it followed her, talking all the while.

"You can't escape it, Twiiillliiiight...It's going to happen, and you can't stop it..."

"No!! leave me alone!!"

"You can run all you like, but you will never be able to run away from this..."

"Stop it!!"

Finally, the figure moved ahead of Twilight and obstructed her route. However, when Twilight tried to run away, a second identical form of the figure appeared to block her. Each time she ran for an open spot, the figure created another duplicate, until Twilight was completely surrounded. Twilight gazed at each of the apparitions with unremitting dread. Then, all of the figures began to slowly close in on Twilight. Not wanting anything dreadful to happen to her, Twilight finally tried to fight back with her magic, but when she tried to shoot at the figures, her magic wouldn't work. Twilight was in utter shock that her horn's magic ceased to be. As she looked back up at the figures, she felt totally and completely helpless as the figures got closer, and closer, and closer, until Twilight's entire being was wholly engulfed by the malicious darkness.

Chapter 9: A Rude Awakening

The next morning, Spike was still in the main room of the library, but he was wide awake and cleaning up the place with his feather duster. He had fallen asleep in the room the previous night, so he had never gone into his and Twilight's bedroom to go to sleep. But he didn't mind, and was just as willing and able to complete his chores as always.

Soon enough, the door to the bedroom partially opened up, and Twilight stepped halfway out the door. She was not looking well: her eyes had bags underneath them, her mane was all mussed up, and she was just all-around exhausted.

Spike looked towards Twilight, and became quite surprised to see her looking so slovenly, which made him cease his cleaning. "Are you okay, Twilight?"

"Huh?" Twilight murmured, not looking to be very aware of her surroundings.

"I asked you if you were okay."

"Oh..yeah, I'm okay, Spike," she yawned. "Just feeling a bit tired. I didn't get a very good rest last night."

"Well, that explains why I woke up before you did, since you're always the first one to wake up each morning to prepare the day's schedule."

Twilight yawned. "I know, Spike, and I'm sorry I'm so behind. I'll make sure to get on the schedule right away. And then we can write that letter to Princess Celestia."

"Okay!" Spike said happily, glad to hear Twilight talking like her normal self. "I'll go get your paper and quill!" He then ran over to Twilight's desk to attain the necessary materials.

"Thank you, Spike," Twilight said contentedly. She then proceeded to walk the rest of the way into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Spike placed the feather duster down on the desk and began picking up the supplies. "So, what should we write first on the schedule?"

"Well, the first task should be completing the schedule for the day."

"Why did I even ask?" Spike asked himself.

Twilight continued speaking, taking no notice of what Spike had muttered. "Now the second task should be—"

"Writing the letter to the princess?" Spike said, completing Twilight's sentence.

Twilight chuckled. "You're certainly learning, Spike," Spike chuckled along with Twilight for a few moments. "Come on over here, Spike, so we can get started."

Spike collected all the materials in his arms, and turned around to face Twilight. "You got it Twili—" Spike's speech had halted the instant his eyes were on Twilight. He stared, mouth agape as the supplies lid out of his arms and fell to the floor.

Twilight looked to be both perplexed and surprised with Spike's actions. "Spike? What's the matter?"

Spike looked like he was unable to say anything, as his thoughts were still trying to gather themselves together. After several moments of stuttering, he was finally able to speak. "T—Twilight! It's...it's your leg!" he proclaimed with much dread in his voice as he pointed at Twilight's right hind leg.

Puzzled, Twilight turned her head to see what had Spike so alarmed, and as she set her eyes on her leg, a look of horror spread across her face as she saw that her leg was now a deer leg!

Several minutes earlier, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity were all heading towards Twilight's house together.

"I can't wait for our new day out!!" Pinkie gleefully exclaimed as she bounced along with the others. "Although I could have sworn that Twilight would have wanted us to come later in the morning—or is it later in the morning already, and my watch is just running slow?" she glanced to her watch, which currently had the arrow pointed on "early morning", with the next two sections being "morning" and "late morning".

"Actually, Pinkie," Applejack began to say "The reason we're comin' earlier is because we're all still feelin' a bit concerned for Twilight after her outburst the other day."

"You mean all that shouting stuff? She said she was fine! Why would she want to do something fun if she wasn't fine?"

"Because she didn't want us to worry about her. that's somethin' that friends do sometimes."

"So friends say they're fine when they're not...so their friends will have more fun?"

"No! I mean...ugh...never mind..."

"Oh, okay then!" Pinkie replied as she reverted back to her gleeful ways as if nothing had happened., with Applejack looking quite perturbed from their whole conversation.

"I do hope Twilight's feeling better today," Fluttershy said.

"She was certainly acting strangely," Rarity said in addition.

"Now that you mention it," jumped in Pinkie. "She definitely wasn't acting like Twilight! She was acting like somepony who wasn't Twilight!"

"Now that they mention..?!" Applejack blurted out in response to Pinkie, but her mind was too frazzled from trying to comprehend Pinkie Pie's train of thought, so she decided to just forget about it.

"Ahhh, you guys are making a big deal over nothing," Rainbow Dash said gruffly. "I'm sure Twilight's just as normal as she always is," Suddenly, Rainbow Dash's claim is proven to be false as the ponies hear the horrified scream of Twilight emanating from inside her dwelling. "That was Twilight!" shouts a terrified Rainbow Dash.

"That doesn't sound like normal Twilight at all!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Come on!" Applejack ordered to the others, and they all ran to Twilight's house. Applejack was the first pony inside, bursting through the front door. "Twilight! We heard yah scre—" Her sentence was immediately halted as her and everypony's else's mind's became consumed by the shock of seeing their friend Twilight with the leg of a deer!

"Oh my goodness!"

"What the..??"

"Oh dear!"

None of the ponies could comprehend what they were seeing, or how to react properly to it. They all were just as confused and shocked as the next pony, each unknowing of what should be done or said. Each pony continued to contemplate their thoughts of this conundrum in their heads, until Applejack became the first to pull her thoughts together and form a response.

"Twilight!" Applejack exclaimed in alarm. "W—What in Equestria happened to yah??"

"I don't know!!" Twilight shouted, completely distressed over this entire situation. "I woke up with this leg in place of my normal leg, and I haven't a clue where it came from!"

"So you were like this before you went to bed last night?" Rarity asked.

"Yes!"

"Yeah, she was!" Spike appended. "She was just saying how tired she was feeling and went to bed while I stayed up to finish the chores—until I fell asleep, that is."

"So neither of you knows when or how this happened?" The two shook their heads in response.

"And you're sure this didn't come from some magic spell of yers?" Applejack asked, sounding a bit warily.

"No, of course not!" Twilight snapped. "I would never try out a spell on myself like this!" her eyes then sparked with the formation of an idea. "Although, this whole incident is definitely magic-related, which means I should be able to use magic to change myself back to normal!"

"How are you going to do that?" Fluttershy asked.

"There is only one spell I know will work: the amniomorphic spell, as it is used to change living creatures into other animals, so I'm sure I will be able to use it to transform my leg back to the way it was."

"That sounds perfect!" Spike exclaimed enthusiastically.

"So Spike, where is the book located?"

"...umm, well, I haven't gotten that book for you before, so I don't really know," he replied with much embarrassment.

Twilight looked a bit frustrated, but knew now wasn't the time for it. "We'll all just have to search for the book! Everyone! Take a different section of the library and look for any book that contains magic spells!"

Everyone agreed and each ran off to different parts of the library; perusing every book they find until they discover the correct one that will reverse this dreaded curse set upon Twilight Sparkle.

Chapter 10: The Strangeness Amplifies

Everyone in the library continued their hurried hunt for the spellbook that contained the only possible hope for Twilight's regression to her normal self.

Twilight was using her magic to quickly look at each book title, and if it looked to be a book containing magic spells, she would search throughout the book to see if it had the spell, but she had found nothing yet.

Rainbow dash was hastily looking at each book title, then throwing each incorrect book to the floor as she sped through each bookshelf she was on.

Rarity, on the other hoof, was diligently looking at each title for a few moments, and then placing the incorrect books in neat piles upon the floor.

When Pinkie Pie looked at a book, she took it off the shelf, flipped through the whole book, said "no", and then threw it to the side as she did it all over again with the next book.

"Umm, Pinkie," Fluttershy asked. "Are you sure you can tell that those books aren't the right ones by looking through them so quickly?"

"Sure I can! My eyes are super-fast! That's how I'm able to read these books so fast!"

"Oh...okay..." Fluttershy responded, albeit still confused on the whole matter.

With the others still looking through their chosen bookshelves, Twilight was looking through one at the top of the ladder, so she could look at the top books. As she was doing this, her eye caught Pinkie Pie, who was at the bookshelf adjacent to Twilight's left. Twilight suddenly ceased her searching, as her focus shifted to Pinkie Pie. Twilight looked at Pinkie as she rapidly looked through her books, and then Twilight looked above Pinkie, and could see that she had not gotten to the books on the top shelves yet. Twilight was wholly unmoving as she stared at Pinkie and the bookshelf, and then, she closed her eyes, only to open them and reveal that they had once again transformed into the same twisted eyes Twilight had gained the previous day.

Twilight smiled sinisterly as she saw this perfect opportunity for mischief; using her magic, Twilight pushed the books above Pinkie off the bookshelves they sat upon. Right at this time, Pinkie Pie felt the twitching in her tail, and looked back at her tail.

"Hey! my tail's twitch—" Pinkie's words became stifled as an avalanche of books came down on her, burying her beneath their many pages.

The crashing of the books to the floor alerted the other ponies, who all rushed over to Pinkie's side.

"Oh my goodness!"

"What happened??"

"Is anypony hurt??"

Pinkie Pie suddenly popped her head out of the books, looking quite dazed from that whole experience.

"Pinkie Pie, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked.

But before Fluttershy could receive a response, everypony's attention was drawn to the top of the bookcase, where Twilight was sitting, laughing sinisterly. "Pinkie, I believe the term is that you're supposed to hit the books, not the other way around!" she states mockingly as she continues to chortle at Pinkie's expense.

"Twilight!" Rarity bawled in utter disbelief. "What in Equestria do you think you are doing??"

"I think I'm laughing at something funny. Apparently you don't know what funny is," she replies rather haughtily.

Pinkie Pie then shook off her dizziness and looked towards Twilight. "I know what funny is!" she exclaims irately. "And what you did—was kinda funny, actually!" she continued in the same irate tone of voice. "But that doesn't mean you're not being a real meanie-pants today! And if it were yesterday, I would say the same thing!"

"...yesterday...?" Twilight sounded a tad confused with what Pinkie was talking about. Suddenly, her mind snapped back to normal, and the look of dread now was in place on Twilight as she gazed down at the peeved Pinkie Pie. "Oh my gosh! Pinkie!"

Twilight hurriedly used her magic, lifting all of the books off of Pinkie Pie and placing them all back on their respective shelves. She then leapt down off the shelf and landed in front of Pinkie. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me!"

Twilight instantly froze where she stood. What she had just said made her remember the events of yesterday: of what happened during the first incidence of playing a trick on one of her friends. It was now happening again, much to Twilight's great horror.

"Well, whatever came over you, it sure wasn't something nice!" Pinkie said gruffly. Twilight did not respond, as her focus was on her current thoughts, so most anything else was blocked out. Pinkie was puzzled by Twilight's lack of a reply. "Twilight?"

Applejack walked next to Twilight and waved her hoof in front of Twilight's face. "Twilight, are you okay?"

"...something's been happening to me," she said, sounding lightly distraught. "I first felt it yesterday when I let Fluttershy trip on that rock, and I just felt it again after what I did to Pinkie..."

"What do you mean?"

"What is this thing you're feeling?"

"I—I just...I..." Twilight was incapable of completing her sentence as her face began to cringe. Her eye twitched rapidly, her mouth stretched back on her face, and her entire head and body began to jerk around as well.

"What in the hay??" Everypony quickly backed away from Twilight as she convulsed more and more. Then, suddenly, Twilight ceased her jerking movements, and only her left front leg began to twitch as she stood up on her hind legs, totally incapable of controlling this movement. Her leg soon became engulfed in light, and burst into a bright, blinding flash that filled the entire room, causing the other ponies to shield their eyes from the intense flare.

After the light subsided, the other ponies unshielded their eyes, and when they looked at Twilight, they became taken over by dismay as they saw her leg had become the arm of a red dragon!

After staring at Twilight's altered limb for a few moments, Rarity could not handle all this shock and fainted in her usual dramatic fashion.

"Oh my..."

"What's happening to me?!" Twilight exclaimed in alarm.

"It looks like your legs are being turned into different animal parts to me!" Pinkie responded.

"She already knows that, Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash retorted.

"Well, why did she ask, then?"

Rainbow Dash looked mad with Pinkie, but was then drawn to Twilight's moans of distress.

"Ohhh, why is this happening again?? And it seems to be getting worse!"

"What do you mean?"

"What I did to Pinkie was similar to what I did to Fluttershy, but this time it was more harmful, and I also lasted in that malicious state longer than last time."

"Oh, I see what yah mean."

"So, what are we going to do about it?" Rainbow Dash asked as Fluttershy helped a dazed Rarity back up on her hooves.

"Well, if only we can find the spell we're looking for, then maybe I can combat it, but we still haven't been able to find it!" she said in frustration.

Suddenly, Spike bursts through the door leading to the second part of the library, carrying a large book in his hands. "Twilight!" he called out as he came to a stop, moving the book away from his face. "I found the—!" the book fell from Spike's claws as he gasped with horror at the sight of Twilight's scaly new appendage. "What happened??"

"I did something mean to Pinkie, and now I have this!" Twilight covered her face with her other hoof, filled with so much distraught wrenching apart her very being.

Spike was still in shock over this, but then remembered what he was going to say before. "Twilight, hold on!" he picked up the book and carried it over to Twilight. "I found the book you were looking for! It has the amniomorphic spell in it!"

Twilight's distress halted as she shifted her focus to the book, and quickly took the book from Spike with her magic, flipping the pages until she located the spell at last. "This is it! Thank you so much, Spike!"

"Oh, it was noth—herg!!" Twilight had reached over to hug Spike, but used her dragon arm, which was so strong that it choked Spike, with him gasping for help. Twilight promptly took notice of this, and let go of Spike, dropping him to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Spike! I guess I still don't know the strength of my new extremity."

Spike coughed. "It's all right, Twilight...cough...I'm okay," he rubbed his neck, still feeling a bit of aching.

Unfortunately for Spike, Twilight could tell he wasn't completely all right, and felt terrible for inadvertently causing such harm to yet another dear friend. She was now more determined than ever to bring this calamitous side of her to a halt once and for all.

"Okay, I'm ready to perform the spell, so everybody back away so none of you get hurt."

Everybody complied with Twilight, and they all backed away to the walls of the room as Twilight went to the middle. She planted her hooves squarely on the ground, and began concentrating her magic into her horn. Red light began to emanate from her horn, and three red bands of light emerged soon after. Twilight's friends watched in awe at this incredible spell as Twilight struggled as hard as she could to keep the spell under her control.

The three bands of light began circling Twilight's body as she lifted up into the air. They continued to loop all around Twilight until her entire being was covered, with Twilight now looking to be encased in a large, red orb. Once Twilight's body had been enclosed within the orb, the orb itself created a large flash of red light that pulsed throughout the entire room, with everyone having to shield their eyes once more.

After the light had dissipated, everyone looked back towards Twilight, and all gasped simultaneously at what they saw before them.

Twilight opened her eyes, and looked down. She lifted up her leg to see if the spell had succeeded in reverting her to her original form, and saw, much to her dismay, that her leg was still in the form of a dragon's arm! In addition, Twilight looked back at her other leg, which had also remained in its current state of a deer's leg.

"...it..it didn't work..." Twilight felt great waves of anguish flowing throughout her mind, deeply saddened by this lamentable outcome. The others all shared Twilight's feelings of anguish, but none of them felt those feelings to the extent that contained within Twilight.

"Ah...ah'm terrible sorry, Twilight."

"You tried your best!"

"And since it was you, nopony else could have done it better!"

Twilight's melancholy halted after hearing Pinkie Pie's words of encouragement. "Wait...that's it!"

"What's it?" Spike asked.

"The magic behind these transformations is clearly out of the skill level of a pony like myself, but there's one pony who may be able to combat this dark magic."

"Wait, do you mean..?"

"Yes—get yourselves ready, everyone; we're heading to Canterlot to see Princess Celestia!"

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 1/10

Twilight was rushing around the library, getting her supplies ready for their trip. "We must not waste any time! The princess has to know of this immediately!"

"Wait," Spike interjected, sounding inquisitive. "If the princess needs to know so soon, why don't you just send her a letter telling her about it? I mean, if she knew about it now, she could come to Ponyville and fix everything, right?"

Twilight stopped packing for a minute, so as to explain to Spike and everypony else why that was not an option.

"I know she could, Spike, but there's one simple reason why I cannot do that," she sighed dejectedly. "Even though I trust in the princess and know her power and wisdom to be great, I am still not one hundred percent confident that she will be able to do away with this dreaded magic within me."

"Oh...but, what does that have to do with not wanting her to come to Ponyville?"

"If the princess truly can't eliminate this dark magic, then I will have no choice but to stay in Canterlot...forever."

"What?!?" everyone shouted in complete disbelief.

"Leave Ponyville??"

"Not be where your friends are??"

"What are you saying??"

"I'm saying that because after what trouble I've caused so far, it's certain to get worse each time it happens, and that means I may cause even greater harm to you all; and I for one will not let harm come to my friends if I can do something to prevent it!" Everyone was agape from the shock of this revelation. "I don't like this decision at all, but in Canterlot I might at least be able to be contained, so I won't cause any more harm to anypony else; and I know in my heart that the safety of my friends, and of ponies everywhere, is what is most important here."

Twilight's friends were deeply mortified by this shocking and abrupt new decision of hers, and were unable to accept such a conclusion.

"Twilight! You...you can't leave Ponyville!"

"This is your home!"

"You belong here!"

"With your friends!"

"And that's who we are!"

Everypony seemed to be in a panic over this, but Fluttershy spoke her mind in a much more calm and collected way, "Twilight, we don't want you to have to leave just to protect us. We all care about you too much to see you leave us," everyone else nodded in agreement.

"That's my final word!" Twilight snapped, with everypony rearing back in alarm. "If leaving Ponyville is what needs to be done, than I am going to do it!! I could never forgive myself if I hurt any of my friends, so I will do whatever has to be done to protect you! And that is my absolute decision on the matter!"

Nobody could think of any form of response to Twilight's outburst. Twilight's friends were entirely taken aback by her unwavering attitude in this matter, and now contained senses of doubt that she could be persuaded by their pleas. Everyone exchanged looks with each other, each sharing the mindset that Twilight was clearly adamant in her choice of how to handle this situation, and now all they could do was help their friend through this time, and hope with all their might that Princess Celestia could indeed attain the remedy for Twilight's affliction.

Twilight turned her head back, looking at her friends' distraught faces. She felt rotten inside; a deep sensation of aching contrition for saying what had to be said. She had already hurt two of her friends physically, and now she was hurting them all emotionally, which filled Twilight with regret of her severe decision. But, even with all these feelings inside her, Twilight continued to be unyielding in her decision to remain in Canterlot if necessary, because she knew that it was of great importance that she do the right thing; even if it felt like it was wrong.

Twilight suddenly felt that enough time had been used up, and now it was of utmost important that everyone get moving. She gave one last sigh of dissatisfaction before speaking, "Let us be off. There's no more time to lose," she declared, and she quickly trotted out the door. However, her friends did not immediately follow after, as they all continued to contain the feelings of despondence brought upon by their friend's shocking words. But, even with these thoughts and feelings inside their minds, they also knew the importance of assisting their friend Twilight through this time, so they all ran out the door after Twilight, entirely set on alleviating her of this dreaded curse.

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 2/10

It had not been long since after the ponies and Spike had grouped together, all heading to the train station, and there will still a few inquiries from Twilight's friends that required answering.

"Do you know how you're going to tell this to Celestia?"

"I am just going to explain it to her, plain and simple; and hopefully she will conjure up the solution."

"I do hope that the princess has the power to alleviate you of this vile magic."

"Of course she will! She is the princess, after all!"

"I know...and I know she's a powerful pony—but I still can't help but keep a feeling of doubt inside me. I just cannot bring myself to believe that a blight such as this can be absolved in an effortless manner,” Twilight’s friends could see clearly the great deal of dolor she was expressing, and began to get affected by her anguish, even though they continued to present themselves as being hopeful.

"Well, even if she doesn't fix it easily, we know she'll be able to fix it eventually."

"And we'll all be with you every step of the way."

“Thank you, everyone,” Twilight replied, although she still retained her tone of torment.

Even though everyone showed their encouragement, Twilight’s doubtfulness had rubbed off on her friends, and they began to look gloomy once more. Pinkie Pie was particularly saddened to see her friends in such a state, and wished to herself for a way to lift everyone’s spirits through this difficult time.

Just then, Pinkie looked up to see that they were passing by Sugarcube Corner, and she instantaneously ignited with jubilance over this idea.

“That’s it!!” she shouted excitedly as she bounced up into the air, concurrently startling her friends with her outburst. “That’s what’ll make everybody feel bunches better! Treats from Sugarcube Corner! Let’s go get some now!” In an instant, Pinkie Pie speedily made tracks to the bakery, although not everyone shared her unbridled enthusiasm.

“Pinkie!” Twilight called out, looking and sounding quite frustrated. She then ran off after Pinkie Pie, with her friends following after her.

Once inside Sugarcube Corner, Twilight looked around to see Pinkie Pie zipping around the bakery, snatching any of the desserts she thought were best to take for their venture. “Pinkie!!” she shouted angrily.

“Oh, hey guys!” Pinkie replied, still seizing confections as she spoke. “Just making sure to get all the desserts we’ll need for the trip!”

"Pinkie, we don't have time for this!"

“Oh, Twilight, that’s the third silliest thing I’ve ever heard!”

“Third?” Rainbow Dash said, puzzled.

“Yeah! What she said was silly, but I’ve heard other things that are a bit sillier than ‘not having time for baked goods’.”

“Really?” Spike asked, sounding genuinely interested “What were they?”

“Well…”

“It doesn’t matter!!” Twilight angrily interrupted. “We don’t have time for these needless distractions! We have to get to the princess right away!!”

“Needless distractions?” Pinkie responded in shock. “Cakes and pies and other yummy stuff like that aren’t needless! They’re complete the opposite of that! Which makes them non-needless!”

Twilight groaned frustratingly as she pinched her forehead with her dragon fingers “Pinkie…”

“I mean, just look at all the baked delights around here! How can anypony resist them?”

“Pinkie, I’m…” Twilight stopped as she looked at all of the bakery foods that lie all around Sugarcube Corner. She becomes speechless and frozen—until her eye begins to twitch.

Just as before, Twilight’s face jerks and cringes around a few times, until she closes her eyes and quickly opens them, revealing the devilish chaos eyes for the third time.

“Well…I suppose we have time for a few of these confectionaries,” she says slyly.

“Hooray!!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she hopped up and down in delight, but suddenly she froze while still in midair. “Confectionaries are cakes and other baked foods, right?”

“Right.”

“Okay then!” she shouted, resuming her gleeful bouncing. She then bounced over to a counter laden with many baked sweets. “So, which ones should we bring?" she asked excitedly.

“Let’s see…” Twilight looked around as she walked towards Pinkie. “How about¬—ALL of them??" she exclaims, sporting an evil grin.

“Well, I know that would be great, but I don’t think we can carry ALL of the—woah!!” Pinkie had swiftly ducked, narrowly dodging the cake that had been so maliciously tossed at her by the use of Twilight’s magic. She turned her head in fright towards the now menacing-looking Twilight Sparkle, who currently had many desserts floating all around her body, with the other ponies and Spike standing behind Twilight looking just as alarmed as Pinkie Pie.

“Twilight what are you doing??”

“I think I’m doing this!”

The possessed unicorn then used her powers of magic to begin chucking all the cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pies, and muffins she currently possessed, splatting them into whatever or whoever would be in their path. As she continuously tossed the desserts around the bakery, she levitated more of the baked food into the air so as to carry on with her chaotic cyclone of desserts, laughing wickedly all the while. Her friends were not enjoying this bedlam as she was, as each and every one of them found themselves being smacked by the bakery treats flying every which way throughout the shop, the whole time attempting to coax the crazed mare to halt her dastardly doings.

"Twilight, stop it!"

"Stop? Why would I stop when I'm having so much fun?" she shouted with delight.

“Because you’re wrecking the Cake’s’ shop!”

“And you’re hurting your friends!”

“And you’re ruining all the food I was going to bring!” Pinkie shouted in distress.

“And…?” an unconvinced Twilight inquired.

“And you’re acting crazy!”

“I know! Isn’t it all just so glorious??” Twilight snickered gleefully.

“Glorious??” Pinkie shouted in anger as she wiped a pie off her face. “You think tossing all these foods at your friends is glorious?!”

“That’s what I said, or is that poofy hair of yours plugging up our ears?” she laughed nastily.

Pinkie was absolutely fuming. Normally it took a lot to get her mad, but this assault against her friends and the wasting of such delicious treats was more than she could ever tolerate.

“You think it’s so great??” Pinkie leapt up and snatched a nearby cake that was flying through the air. “Let’s see how you like it!!” Pinkie reared back and tossed the cake at Twilight with such ferocity that she fell flat on her face after heaving the said dessert. As Twilight was so busy laughing and causing chaos, she did not even notice the cake coming at her until it was too late.

The stunned unicorn fell to the floor after the cake had collided with her face, splattering frosting and pieces of baked batter amongst her head. Right after she hit the ground, all of the baked goods that has previously been airborne immediately ceased their movement as Twilight’s magic wore off, causing every last piece of floating food to plummet to the floor, causing an even greater mess of splattered food upon the bakery flooring.

Twilight’s friends ran up to her in fear for her well-being.

“Oh my goodness!”

“Twilight!”

“Are you okay?”

“Well, if I had cake all over my face, I’d definitely be okay!” Pinkie stated whilst licking her lips in delight.

Right then, moans of aching were heard emanating from Twilight. The dazed unicorn sat up as her friends leaned forward to see if their friend was still in her chaotic way. Twilight then wiped the cake off her face with her hoof and dragon hand, and when her face was exposed, her eyes were shown to have returned back to normal once more.

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 3/10

Twilight looked around at her friends, seeing them covered with frosting and batter, then looked down at her hoof and hand, seeing the same. Without a word, she looked all around at the walls and floors of Sugarcube Corner, unable to discover a single spot devoid of the stains of desserts she so savagely assaulted the bakery with. Twilight was wholly disheartened by this level of chaos and devastation inflicted by her upon the bakery and her friends, and could not even muster the courage to lift her head up from its dejected hanging and look in the eyes of the very friends she pasted with sweets.

“Twilight…?”

“…I can’t believe I did this again,” she responded, clasping her head with her hooves. “When will this horror end? How long must I endure the torment of this evil affliction?? And why must everyone I care about succumb to the harm brought upon by my actions??”

Twilight’s friends felt reasonably sorrowful for their crestfallen friend, as her feelings of despair were growing more and more extensive, and she even appeared to be losing her mind in the process. Applejack could not let such a thing happen to her dear friend. Intercession was what must be done to bring Twilight out of the depths of misery she had confined herself to.

“Oh, come now, Twilight,” Applejack began to say in a comforting manner. “Yer makin’ it sound like it’s all your fault, and we all know you never meant tuh do any of the evil stuff you’ve been doin’.”

“Indeed not,” Rarity appended. “Such vile acts as these could never stem from a dear friend such as yourself. It is simply inconceivable.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie shouted. “The Twilight we all know and love so very, very much would never do mean things like this! And since you’re the only Twilight we all know, there’s no way it could be you trying to be so un-nice!”

Twilight lifted her head up, looking back at her friends through her tears. “…sniff…you all really believe that..?”

“Totally!”

“Of course, Twilight”

“We wouldn‘t think of it any other way” Spike said reassuringly as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“And we couldn’t even if we wanted to,” Applejack added.

“Not that we would want to, because that’s not something that friends like us would do!” Pinkie interjected.

Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes, actually showing a smile. “Thank you all so much,” she said as a tear trickled down her face. “This whole circumstance has been rough on me and you, but what keeps me going is knowing my friends will always stick with me, no matter how terrible the situation,” her friends all heartily agreed with Twilight’s statement. “I don’t know what I would do without—erk!!”

Twilight’s completion of her sentence had been deterred by the abrupt jerk of her head into a 90 degree angle, startling all of her friends. “Oh…no…” she endeavored to say, her head, limbs, and body lurching at every word. “…not…again!” her eyes rolled and twitched, and her mouth juddered along with her face. Suddenly, Twilight was forced upon all fours as she leapt up onto her hooves, causing her friends to quickly back off in alarm. Once she became upright, the convulsing on her body slowed down to a slight shuddering. However, this did not calm the anxieties of her friends, as while the majority of Twilight’s body had discontinued its lurching, her tail was undulating side-to-side at a rapid pace, with everyone estimating that her tail would be that which is transformed next. Their presumptions were shown to be correct, as her tail ceased its movement whilst being engulfed by light, and just as with the last two occurrences, the light surged throughout the room, with the others screening themselves from the stunning luminescence.

After the light had diminished, twilight's friends uncovered their eyes to look upon what had befallen Twilight's tail, and gasped with shock at what they had just witnessed.

While Twilight's friends had their eyes fixated on her transformed tail, the frightened unicorn was not so willing to look upon what her tail had become, as shown by having her head down on the floor and the covering of her eyes with her hand and hoof. However, she could still hear all that happened, and felt inclined to ask what had happened.

"I heard you all gasp in shock. What is it?"

"Uhhh..."

“Is it bad?”

"Uhh..."

"Umm..."

"Well..."

"I think..."

"Your hesitant statements are not filling me with much hope that it didn't turn out that bad."

"Well, actually," Rainbow Dash responded. "I think it's kinda cool!" she said with a sense of awe.

"What?" Twilight replied, sounding genuinely befuddled.

This, along with her natural penchant for inquisitiveness, led Twilight to look up at her tail, and, with the same level of shock as the others, beheld that her pony tail had transformed into that of a scorpion tail!

"I...I have a scorpion tail!" she stated in distress.

"That's why I thought it looked cool," said Rainbow Dash.

"This isn't cool at all!! Not only did another part of me change, now I have something that could actually hurt somepony on its own!"

"Ohh, don't be sayin' things like that, Twilight," a displeased Applejack said. "I know you're not the type to be careless with somethin' dangerous."

"That's not the point! The point is that I'm becoming more dangerous with each of these new changes And it will only be a matter of time before I become a permanent danger to everypony!" Twilight slumped down on her rump. "Ohhh, why must this get worse every time I start to feel better?? It's like there's no point to even try to stop this from happening!"

"Now hold on there, Twilight" a disgruntled Applejack said. "You're really gettin' carried away now."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ah'm sayin' that if you keep tellin' yerself that bad things are gonna happen, then ah course they're gonna happen!"

"Applejack's right," Rainbow appended. "If you keep worrying about every bad thing that happens, then how will you ever stop it all from happening anymore??"

"You really have to believe you'll get out of this!"

"Agreed. You must be confident in yourself during this time."

"Just like we all keep saying you need to be, because we believe in you as well, Twilight."

"Yeah, that all sounds like stuff that Twilight would know!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight stared back at her friends, her expression signifying that she was mulling over these thoughts within her mind. After several moments of careful pondering, Twilight sat up straight, closed her eyes, and took a deep, cleansing breath. "Thank you, everybody. I needed to hear that again," everyone looked to be relieved in seeing Twilight back to normal. "I'll admit that I was getting quite hysterical. It feels to me that all of these occurrences are slowly making me lose my mind, so I break down incredibly easily," Twilight then felt her front leg being lifted up, and looked to see it was Pinkie, whom was holding up her leg as she examined it.

"Hmm...you don't look broken to me."

"Well, I'm not right now," she said as she pulled her leg out of Pinkie's grasp. "And even though I didn't mean I was broken down in that sense, I am still not going to let it happen again, or else we'll never get to the princess in time."

"That's the Twilight Sparkle way to think!" Rainbow Dash said fortuitously.

"Well, it was Twilight who said it, so yeah!" Pinkie Pie added.

Twilight felt glad in having gained more of a drive to fix her personal dilemma. And that was not the only thing causing her delight. "Also, on a positive note, I should mention that I believe I have gained a better understanding of this problem."

"You have?"

"Yes. You see, from what knowledge I've obtained from each of these anarchic outbursts, I've learned two facts: The first fact is that whenever I see some kind of way to cause chaos, my normal mind switches to that chaotic state of mind, and the second fact is that I can remember what I do when I'm under the manipulation of that mind status, but I do not have any real control over it," Twilight's friends were absorbed into the details passed on to them by their friend. "Unfortunately, that's all I am currently able to discern at this present time, but hopefully I'll learn more as time passes."

"You actually want to learn more about this horrible curse?"

"Of course I do! It's important to understand the facts surrounding any type of magical disturbance so one can know what to expect in the probability that their affliction will carry on, which it clearly will with me," she explained, looking at her dragon arm during her last statement.

"Oh—well, you're the egghead, so I guess you know what you're talking about."

"Thanks..." Twilight replied sarcastically. "And what else I know is that we can't waste a bit more time! It's time we get moving again!" Twilight then teleported herself right in front of Pinkie's face. "And no more snack stops!" she exclaimed, and after walking away, Pinkie's face drooped in solemn cheerlessness.

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 4/10

Twilight had marched adamantly out of Sugarcube Corner, unfaltering in her effort to make it to the train station; even if it meant having to make her friends catch up with her swift pace, as she left without waiting for them, her mind set only on reaching her destination.

"Twilight, wait for us!" Applejack shouted as the others followed behind her.

"No time for waiting!" Twilight shouted without looking back. "We cannot afford to be waylaid again! That is why I'm going straight to the train station without stopping or even looking around!"

Twilight's friends had just caught up with her. "We understand how much you want to get rid of your curse, Twilight..."

"...but you can't leave without us to assist you!"

"Especially not after all that we said back there!"

"Back where?" Pinkie inquired.

"At Sugarcube Corner, remember??" Rainbow retorted.

"Oh yeah!"

"I haven't forgotten what you've all said to me, which is exactly why I don't want to see or hear anything that may tempt my chaotic side to come out! I don't want all of your efforts to help me go to waste!" Such determination within Twilight could be clearly heard through her words, and her friends started to think that they should just go along with their friend's decision.

"Whatever you say, Twilight," Applejack said. "If you think that's the right thing to do, then we won't argue," the others all stated their agreement along with Applejack.

"I'm glad to hear you all agree. Now let us keep moving before anything else—"

Twilight slowed to a stop in the middle of her sentence, halting fully with her trotting as well. Her friends were bewildered with her sudden actions.

"Hey, Twilight, why are you stopping?"

"Didn't you say we didn't have any time to waste?"

"Twilight is making my head all confusled," Pinkie Pie said as she clasped her head.

"She seems to be looking at something," Fluttershy said, looking off in the same direction, which the others did as well.

Once focusing in the same direction as Twilight, her friends hurriedly discerned that the point of interest for Twilight was the nearby town well, which Twilight had her eyes wholly fixated upon.

"Why is she staring at the well?"

"Maybe she's thirsty!"

"No, she wouldn't want something taking time away from seeing the princess."

"Well, she's certainly taking a lot of time away now!"

"Yer right. Twilight, what's the matter?" Twilight made no response of any kind to her friend. Her seemingly lifeless eyes staring intently at the well, without a single noise or movement averting her concentration from the underground water container.

Applejack then realized that this whole situation looked familiar, and began to think about why it appeared so recognizable. That was when it hit her, and her entire being became encompassed by consternation. "Oh my gosh!" she shouted in fright. "It's her chaos side! It's gonna come out again!" the others became intensely alarmed by this realization, and were unsure of how to prevent it from happening again—but Applejack came up with an idea. "Everyone move Twilight's head!"

Without hesitation, the ponies and Spike swiftly converged on Twilight, with their hooves(and one pair of hands) scattered around her body and tried with all their might to lug their friend's gaze away from the ignition point for her untamed side. But, much to their astonishment, the combined strength of the five ponies and one dragon was entirely futile in the effort to draw Twilight's fixation away from the well. It was clear that the evil force within Twilight indeed how great power, which was much more than any of her friends could do anything about.

"This isn't working!"

"Well, we can't just let Twilight change into that mean, cake-throwing Twilight!"

"She's right! We have to do something!"

"Well, what would you suggest??"

Everyone was getting flustered over what should be done to help their friend. But then, one voice spoke out, "Might I make a suggestion?"

"What is i—" Applejack suddenly gasped in fright. The pony who had just spoken was Twilight, and, to everyone's horror, she had regressed to the malevolent, anarchistic Twilight yet again!

"In case you're all wondering, my suggestion...is this!" Without hesitation, Twilight formed a magical field around her body, and with one great burst, all her friends were thrusted away from Twilight, dispersed by a powerful bubble of magic and crashing on the ground in all different directions.

"Oh no!" Spike shouted as he quickly sat up.

"We're too late!"

"Yes, indeed," Twilight replied slyly. "It looks like you all were just a tad too belated," as Twilight nattered, she began to float up into the air, not looking like it was taking her any real effort. "Really much too bad, considering you managed to actually notice it this time before it happened. But I guess some of us are just a bit too slow on the pickup—and by us I mean all of you," she snickered loudly.

"Now then, where was I..? Ahh, right! I have a well to empty!" Twilight then floated herself over to the well, stopping right in the front. She peered down into the seemingly vacuous channel, which led down to the gallons upon gallons of fluctuating liquid: it was indeed a vast amount of water needed for Twilight's newest chicanery.

Twilight raised her arm and front leg, pointing them both down towards the well's shaft. She focused her powers and her mind down through the well into the pool of water that lies within. And then, to the shock of everyone there, Twilight's very hand and hoof began to glow with the energy of her incredible magical prowess.

"What's she doing?" Fluttershy asked in astonishment.

"It looks like she's using her magic, but without her horn!" Pinkie stated.

"Twilight's never done her magic without her horn before!"

"I don't think any unicorn has ever done that!"

"Somethin' tells me that Twilight isn't the one who got that power..." Applejack surmised.

As her friends conversed, Twilight continued her eddying of the water inside the well, swirling her leg and arm around to shake up the water. The vast amount of liquid swirled and swished around, splashing with force against the walls of the shaft. More and more violently did the water churn, splattering higher and higher onto the well walls.

Then, Twilight reared her arm and leg back, and threw them both aloft, with a hefty stream of water blasting out of the well with tremendous force and straight up into the sky shortly after. She then proceeded to bend her arm and leg down forward, with the water erupting from the well reacting the same way, now pouring up and to the side, and thusly the flooding of Ponyville had commenced.

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 5/10

The residents of Ponyville were all enjoying this day as they would any other day, all minding their own business and each having a normal day. But then, the ponies out and walking around Ponyville halted what they were doing when a certain sound was heard. Initially low in resonance, the sound grew louder, becoming clear that this was the sound of rushing water. And then, without warning, a large wave of water suddenly came out from behind a building, rushing towards several ponies, who, on the sight of the flood, began running away in a panic so as to escape this aqueous doom.

Ponies ran every which way they could across the streets of Ponyville, trying to avoid the onslaught of flood water in any way possible. They ran inside houses, climbed on top of crates and barrels, or hid inside carts, but many ponies still managed to be caught in the raging rapids and were washed away with the flood.

Up in the sky, Rainbow Dash had gotten an aerial view of the flood's wave of destruction, much to her horror. She flew back to her friends to inform them of this disaster, and they all became just as horror-struck as she was.

"This is terrible!"

"It's a disaster!"

"It's a terrible disaster that's really bad and also horrible!" Pinkie exclaimed in alarm.

"Well, what are we gonna do about it??"

Applejack looked around at the disaster befalling Ponyville. Ponies running and screaming, terrified for their lives as their town is drenched in the water of an unstoppable flood. This had to stop, and it had to stop now.

"There's only one thing we can do," everyone turned towards Applejack. "...we have to stop Twilight again."

Everyone gasped in shock.

"Stop Twilight?"

"How can we stop Twilight??"

"Yeah! I don't have any cake to use this time!"

"Everypony calm down. Ah know what we have tuh do."

"Really?" everyone huddled together in front of Applejack.

"What do you want us to do?"

"Fer now, I want y'all tuh wait here," everyone was perplexed by this decision. "Ah'm gonna go and try to talk tuh Twilight."

"Talk??" Rarity responded in astonished distress. "This Twilight doesn't want to talk!"

"Rarity's right! She's going to try and hurt you!"

"Yeah! She'll just use her magic to blast you away or something!"

"Ah know that may happen, but ah'm willin' to take that risk for my friend, and ah was hopin' you'd all be willin' tuh do the same," Applejack looked around at her friends, who all looked unsure in Applejack's assertion. Applejack was none too pleased to see her friends not immediately in agreement with her, and she had to remind them again as to why they needed to be of the same mind. "Well, no matter how evil Twilight may seem right now, she's still our friend, and ah still believe that if we try hard enough, we can pull our friend out of that evil cursed mind," soon after her speech, Applejack's friends shifted to much more determined expressions, right along with Applejack's. "Glad tuh see y'all in agreement," the pleased Applejack stated. "Now, ah'm goin' over there tuh start talkin' Twilight out of there," she turned around and began walking towards Twilight.

"Wait! Don't you want us to come, too?"

"No, not yet," Applejack said as she stopped and turned partway back around.

"Why not?"

"Because she'll think we'll be tryin' to fight her into stoppin' with her chaos, and she'll stop us with her magic. If just one of us approaches her right now, she'll probably just do her jokin' around instead. That's why I just want it tuh be myself right now. Ah don't want tuh see any of you get hurt, understand?" Everyone appeared to understand Applejack's plan, saying their agreements concerning it. "Okay then, ah'm headin' over there," she began walking over to Twilight again, but turned her head back while doing so, "Just wait until you think it's time to join in," her friends nodded in concurrence. Now that that loose end was tied up, it was time for Applejack to face down this evil being, though she knew this would not be an easy task, due to the fear welling up inside her; not fear for her own safety, but the fear of losing her friend trapped within the confines of this malevolent individual.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha haa!" Twilight laughed wickedly as she continued her literal wave of destruction upon the town of Ponyville.

"Twilight!"

Twilight turned partially around to see Applejack standing behind her. "What is it?" she complained. "Can't you see I'm busy spreading my glorious pandemonium to the ponies of Ponyville?"

"Twilight, it's me: Applejack!"

"Yes, I know who you are. Why are you reminding me?"

"'Cause I'm remindin' the real Twilight that her friends are still here, and they want her to stop this catastrophe!"

"So are you asking me to stop this flooding?"

"No, I'm asking Twilight to stop the floodin'! You're not Twilight!"

"Oh, I'm not?" she replied slyly.

"No, you're not!" Twilight and Applejack looked to see it was Rarity who had just spoken out. "Twilight is a kind pony who has only ever done what is best for Equestria: never intentionally causing harm to anypony or anyone!"

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash shouted, having just come over. "That's something that you don't have, which shows that you're not Twilight!"

"Yes, I can see why you would think tha—"

"You may have Twilight's body," Spike interrupted. "And you may tell us you're Twilight, but those things aren't what makes Twilight Twilight!"

Twilight's smirk began to fade a bit as she noticed the rest of her friends gathering around her, giving her a strange sense of uneasiness.

"Twilight has many things on the inside that make her who she is! Special qualities that make her the good and true friend she is to everyone!"

"Oh...really?" Twilight stuttered.

"Yeah! Like how she's super-smart!" Pinkie Pie threw in. "Really really super-smart! So smart that she's smart enough to know that doing means things like this doesn't make anypony happy!"

Twilight looked around at everyone, looking to be fully taken with what they were all saying, and looking more and more nervous with each new line spoken.

"And she's a sweet and gentle pony!" Fluttershy affirmed, sounding much more obstinate then usual. "A pony who knows how to treat others nicely and not treat them with such cruelty!"

With each friend's new comment about the real Twilight being a good friend, Twilight slowly floated closer and closer towards the ground, until she finally landed on her bottom, looking relatively deflated from everyone's remarks.

"We all know the real Twilight is in there!"

"The real Twilight would not cause all this chaos!"

"And ah fer one know that if yer the real Twilight, then yer definitely not going to flood Ponyville with all this water!" Applejack stated unwaveringly, and now everyone was silent so as to see how Twilight would react to all they had said.

Twilight looked around at all her friends as she sat upon the ground. Her distraught eyes and sagging ears gave her a rather crestfallen appearance—as if Twilight was actually feeling remorse for what she had just done; meaning that all of the words spouted at her friends contained the strength to have drawn out the real Twilight trapped within and bring her back up to the surface, giving them back their friend.

Everyone stood, waiting in almost unbearable anxiousness to see what Twilight's next move would be.

Twilight continued to sit in that one spot, completely unchanged n her outward appearance of gloominess. Then, after a short while, she finally uttered some speech, "...you know...you're right."

The faces of Twilight's friends slowly turned to joy over this sudden revelation.

"...if I'm going to flood Ponyville, I'm going to need a lot more water!" Twilight finished, sounding just as sinister as ever.

Twilight's friends instantly switched from joy to horrified shock.

On that note, Twilight swiftly levitated herself up into the air, and hovered off to find and additional source of water in town, leaving her friends wide-eyed, stunned, and speechless.

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 6/10

After only a very small amount of time, Twilight had come upon the water source she needed: the Ponyville water tower.

"This looks like an adequate source of water," she remarked, and without a second though, she pointed her hoof at the left side of the tower's base, which began to creak and splinter, this the support beams getting weaker by the second.

While she was performing this heinous act, her friends had not budged an inch since they became so shocked, but then Spike suddenly broke the silence.

"I...I can't believe it! I really thought that was going to work!" he stated in distress.

"Yes, I thought so, too," Fluttershy added, sounding a bit distraught herself. "Oh, dear..."

"It really did seem that Twilight had been able to regain control of herself, but she was merely toying with us," Rarity affirmed, just as downtrodden as the others.

"Yeah..." Applejack said disconsolately as she slumped down on the ground. "Ah was so sure that we had gotten through tuh her...but that evil inside her is just too strong..."

Twilight had both hooves pointed at the structure now, and it was then from her use of magic that the water tower finally gave away as the support beams on its left side snapped at the bottom, causing the tower to collapse onto its side and the container on top to also plummet down and crash onto the ground. The force from this collision caused the water inside to come bursting out of the top of the container like a shaken up can of soda, blasting a new, albeit smaller, flood into Ponyville, increasing the intensity of mayhem and fear already brought about by Twilight's nefarious plot. "It may not be too much more, but I think it'll do," Twilight stated as she levitated herself up higher to oversee her new wave of bedlam.

"Hey now!" Rainbow Dash barked in response to Applejack's deprivation of self-assurance. "We can't just tell ourselves that Twilight's been totally taken by that evil mind controlling her! Just because the evil Twilight was messing with us before doesn't mean we should just quit trying to save our friend!"

"What else could we do?" a disheartened Applejack inquired.

"Well, we tried doing things your way, Applejack. But since we know that talking won't get our friend back, there's only one thing left to try."

"Asking politely?" Fluttershy suggested.

"No—force!" she proclaimed vehemently as she pounded one of her hooves into her other hoof. There was a unified gasp amongst her friends in response to this. "It's obvious that's the only thing thisTwilight understands! So, I think it's time to speak her language and let her know that we want out friend back!" she stated, unwavering in this decision.

"Can that really be done?"

"How could we force our friend back to normal?"

"Yeah! I don't have any cake to use this time!"

"Simple—like this!" And on that word, Rainbow dashed off towards Twilight in the blink of an eye.

Twilight was very much enjoying the destruction she was wreaking upon Ponyville, which was clear from her continuous evil chortling. But, unfortunately for Twilight, because her attention was set wholly on the chaos spreading throughout Ponyville, she did not immediately take notice of the blue pegasus flying at her with high velocity. But soon enough, Twilight did sense something coming. Not sure what it was, she turned in the direction of what she was sensing, and all she had time to see what something light blue and lightning fast coming straight at her.

Rainbow Dash rammed into Twilight, hard—forcing her right out of the sky. Twilight, who had been entirely unsuspecting of this sudden assault, was unable to do a thing to keep herself from falling down towards the ground, as her mind seemed to lock from the shock of the impact. Twilight continued to plummet towards the ground at a 45 degree angle, and at the same time, Rainbow Dash had flown herself away from Twilight and was attempting to slow down after the exceedingly high rate of acceleration she had been going. After she had finally stopped herself, Rainbow looked around for Twilight and saw how rapidly she was falling down through the sky. "Uh-oh. I think I might have gotten carried away..." Even after the realization of her error in judgment, there was nothing Rainbow Dash could do to stop or even slow down her friend from falling, and just as Twilight was about to impact the ground, Rainbow turned and covered her eyes so as to avert her gaze from the imminent disaster.

Twilight crashed headfirst into the muddy ground(which had previously been affected by the flood), splattering a great deal of muck and water from the initial impact. Because of the speed and force of the collision, Twilight continued skidding headfirst along the ground, spraying more mud around the landscape as she slewed through Ponyville. After several seconds of plowing through the ground, Twilight began to slow down, and she at last came to a stop, with the front half of her body still embedded in the ground, and the back half flopping up into the air before collapsing onto the ground.

Rainbow Dash led the others to where Twilight had stopped, and they were all horrified by this disastrous crash landing. Applejack soon changed from horror-struck to irate as she turned towards Rainbow Dash.

"Now look what yah've done!" she angrily exclaimed.

"What I've done??"

"Yeah! You made Twilight crash right smack into the ground! What in tarnation were yah thinkin'??"

"Hey, at least I stopped her! You didn't even want to try to do anything to help Twilight! If I hadn't done anything, she would have completely demolished Ponyville!"

"Well, I still don't think yah needed tuh be so rough in tryin' to stop 'er!"

"I told you before that force is the only thing she would understand now! And it sure looks like I was right!"

"Oh, like hay yah are!"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were right up in each other's faces, but suddenly they were pushed apart by an aggravated Rarity.

"Stop at once, you two!" she exclaimed irately. "Now is the least appropriate time for bickering such as this!" Rainbow and Applejack didn't say another word, but they did both shut their eyes and turn their backs to each other. "You both need to remember that we all need to work together more than ever in order to help save our friend! Don't let silly little squabbles about who thinks who is right get in the way of what's really important!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash both opened their eyes and tilted their heads back a bit towards Rarity, now more attentive to what she was saying. "What's done is done, and that cannot be changed. All that we can do now is whatever is necessary to make sure Twilight remains as her normal self until we get to Canterlot."

"That is if she is her normal self now," said Rainbow Dash as she walked over to Rarity.

"Yeah," added Applejack, who did the same. "We still don't know if that crash knocked all the evil outta her."

"Well, it looks like we're about to find out now!" Pinkie stated, which made everyone look over at her. "Look!" she pointed to where Twilight had crashed, as the back of Twilight's body had slowly began to stand up, albeit wobbling a bit, showing the disorientation she received from her ruinous collision with the terrain. Everyone promptly gathered around Twilight, but still kept their distance as they were all still unsure as to how Twilight's mental state was. Twilight continued to haul her body out from deep within the mound of muck. She was able to extract her front legs from the mire, but her head was still stuck well. She then placed her front hooves on the mud heap and pushed against the pile with all her strength to remove her cranium and finally be free of the accursed mass of dirty ooze. Then, after a short time of constant pulling, Twilight had at last hauled her head out of the mud, now completely liberated—well, not actually completely.

Even though her head was freed, a great conglomeration of the mud had stuck to Twilight's face, wholly obscuring her appearance from everybody around her. Twilight quickly remedied this predicament, as she promptly shook her head, flinging the mud off and away from her face, albeit her appearance still retaining a bit of messiness from the few splotches of filth that were unable to be removed from her facial exterior so effortlessly. Once the mud in its near entirety had been removed, everyone could now plainly see Twilight's face, and once the unicorn had opened her eyes, a great sense of relief swept through her friends in seeing that Twilight had returned to her normal self once more! But, even though Twilight was currently not being controlled by her evil self, all was not fully well in the addled unicorn's mind and body.

"Oww..." Twilight groaned as she felt her head. "What hit me?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie answered as she pointed over to Rainbow Dash.

"Whaa...?" Twilight rubbed her eyes with her hoof, as her vision was quite blurry. "What's going on?" Twilight was considerably befuddled at this time, not understanding what was happening, having retained none or very little memory of her being assaulted by Rainbow Dash or the events that transpired previously, due to Twilight's fall from extreme height and immense crash into the terrain.

"Just relax, Twilight," Applejack told her reassuringly. "Everything's goin' tuh be fine"

"Yes, there's no need for you to worry."

"What? Why? What's happen—oh my gosh!" Suddenly and instantaneously, all of the evil acts Twilight had performed as her other self resurfaced in her memory. With so much having come to her all at once, Twilight could not believe she had truly executed such turmoil upon Ponyville. Twilight then hurriedly rubbed her eyes and face, and soon afterwards, her vision shifted back to normal, and she could now see with her very own eyes what was happening to Ponyville, and sure enough, Twilight was more aghast than ever before at what she beheld. The flooding she had caused before was still rampant in Ponyville, with confused and frightened ponies fleeing any which way to avoid this disaster. This assailment ravaging her town was much more than Twilight could take, slumping down on her behind as her eyes welled up with tears. "Oh, no...what have I done??" she cried into her hooves as she clasped her face, feeling dreadfully distraught over all that she had elicited. Twilight's woe was so overt, her friends began to look dismayed themselves, feeling sympathy for their friend who felt so penitent for the actions that she never intentionally caused. As none of this could be helped or changed, Twilight's friends knew that all that could be done for now was to take their distressed friend away from this disastrous sight, so she at least would not have to be subject to the horrific sight of what she truly believed to be liable for.

"Come on, Twilight. There's no need for you to be here any longer," said Rarity as everyone gathered around Twilight to move her away.

"Yeah, let's get a move on," Applejack appended as everyone took Twilight away without haste, though she remained scarred from this tragedy, escalating the condition of her slipshod psyche ever more, which she and all her friends would ultimately see the consequences thereof.

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 7/10

Rather than heading towards the train station, Twilight had been taken out of sight of Ponyville so she could begin her recuperation in the wake of this tumult. Regrettably, things were not looking up for Twilight any more than before, as her head had been hanging down in anguish ever since she and her friends left Ponyville. After believing they had gone far enough, everyone stopped walking, with Twilight subsequently flopping down on her behind again, her head still drooping low. It was clear that a tragedy as awful as this would not be so simple for Twilight to overcome the guilt of having been the sole perpetrator of. She would need all the help and consoling from her friends she could get, which they were all more than willing to assist with.

"How are you feeling now, Twilight?" Spike asked worriedly.

"Still sick to my stomach, Spike; but thanks for asking," she replied without lifting up her head.

Feelings of awkwardness were setting amongst Twilight's group of friends, as it was rather thorny to compose what could be said to Twilight that would make her feel better without reminding her of the unpleasant incident.

"So...how's the weather?" Pinkie Pie asked, to which Rainbow Dash elbowed her in her front leg.

Rarity elected to correct Pinkie's mistake herself, "I believe what Pinkie meant to ask was: would you like to take some time to rest now?"

"What?" Pinkie asked in puzzlement as she rubbed her leg. "That's not what I meant! I just asked her how the weather was! Why would you think it meant anything else, silly?

Rarity slapped her face in aggravation over Pinkie's invariable jabbering, and Applejack was about to interject, but was stopped by the advanced interjection of Twilight.

"Look, I know what you guys are trying to do, but taking my mind off of what I did won't work. Nothing will ever make me forget any of terrible deeds I performed; whether they had been on just my friends or all of Ponyville—I...I just can't do it..."

All of her friends were rendered wordless from Twilight's disheartening dialogue, with Twilight's unenthusiastic temperament beginning to make her friends feel just as bleak as she was—and the longer this carried on, the more dispirited everyone was becoming. It was apparent that Twilight's disconsolate outlook on these events as they passed was rubbing off on all those around her, and was making it more and more difficult for each of her friends to keep their confidence high enough to carry on with their quest to Canterlot. But then, in a surprise to everyone, the one to change the tone of this collective downbeat frame of mind was Twilight.

"But," Twilight spoke up, causing everyone to look towards her in astonishment. "There is one thing that will make me feel better," everyone leaned forward to hear Twilight out. "...and that's getting Ponyville back to the way it was," and, without another word, the anxious unicorn turned herself around and began walking right back towards Ponyville.

Though initially stunned by this sudden assertion, Twilight's friends realized why she couldn't return to Ponyville, and hurriedly ran ahead of Twilight, blocking her path and halting her advance back to town.

"Whattya think you're doing?" Rainbow Dash asked crossly.

"I'm going back to Ponyville to undo all the damage I've done, and I'm doing it all myself—it's the only way to make up for what I've caused," she tried to move forward again, but was halted by Applejack, who had outstretched her leg right in front of Twilight, stopping her with her hoof.

"Ah'm afraid not, Twilight."

"Hey! Let me through!" Twilight snapped, quite agitated by her friends' constant hindrances.

"No way, Twi-lay!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"This is something we simply must insist upon."

"Even though we're all really sorry we have to insist so hard!"

Twilight continued to struggle against her friends' constant impeding, becoming more goaded the more they opposed her. "Come on guys, this is serious!" she bellowed.

"We know, and that's why we can't let yah through!"

Then, much to the shock of everyone, Twilight's horn began to glow, and there was a burst of magic from her body, creating a field of magical energy entirely surrounding her being. Everyone swiftly backed off from Twilight, all quite astounded by this new occurrence. Through the energy field, Twilight's fury could be shown: her teeth baring and her eyes filled with rage. It seemed that the curse dwelling within Twilight's body was causing her to become more malicious, in contrast to her having enjoyment in her evil deeds previously. This somewhat deterred the perseverance of Twilight's friends, as seeing their friend appear so truly menacing—rather than the more flippant type of evil she was exhibiting before—was quite a fearful sight for them all to behold.

"You are not going to keep me from mending my misdeeds!" she bellowed fiercely. "You may be my friends, but that will not stop me from forcing you out of my way!" her energy field momentarily increased in size upon speaking that last word, and it may everyone even more anxious than before. Such a disconcerting display had nobody wanting to move or say anything, feeling apprehensive that anything would set Twilight off more.

However, Applejack wasn't as intimidated as her friends were, as she was unyielding in her belief that the real Twilight was still in there, and that she would never allow any true harm to fall upon her friends. Grasping these thoughts firmly in her mind, Applejack didn't hesitate as she began to walk slowly towards Twilight. Twilight took quick motive of Applejack's movement towards her proximity, and her magic sparked as the rage swelled inside her.

"Don't you dare come another step closer, Applejack! I will not allow you to halt my righteous quest!" she exclaimed as she intensified the output of her energy field.

With this demonstration of Twilight's immense magic skill, Applejack knew she required every ounce of cunning she had in order to pull this off without causing any harm to herself or her friends—and that included Twilight.

"Ah'm not here tuh try n' stop yuh, Twilight," she spoke slowly and diligently as she slowed her walking down to a crawl. "Ah understand where yer comin' from, and I just want to let you know that as your friends, we all want exactly what you want—hey, look over there!" she abruptly shouted, pointing off to the side.

"Huh?!" Twilight turned her head sharply in the direction Applejack pointed. In an instant, Applejack leapt onto Twilight, knocking her to the ground. This break in Twilight's concentration caused her energy field to dissipate immediately after she had been knocked down.

Applejack forced Twilight to the ground, holding her down as the earth pony stood on top of her. "You tricked me!" Twilight shouted, becoming angry once more. She struggled to force Applejack off of her body as magic began spouting from her horn. Everyone else was stunned by this sudden display, unsure of what to make of it.

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 8/10

Knowing she couldn't hold Twilight down by herself, Applejack shouted to her friends, "Don't just stand there: help me!" As quickly as she had shouted, the other ponies and Spike ran to her aid, each attempting to hold back the fuming unicorn and keep her magic from discharging once more. With this additional help from her friends, Applejack was able to get her hooves free, and promptly grabbed Twilight's face, forcing her head from jerking and facing her head so both of their eyes were looking straight at one another.

"Look, Twi—I can understand yer reasons fer wantin' to make everything better, but we just don't have the time fer it! We've gotta get you to the princess on the double, and we can only do that if you let us!"

Twilight's squirming lessened and her magic began to dissipate as she harkened further to Applejack's dialogue.

"Trust me, Twilight: everything's gonna be all right if we all get rid of this curse as fast as possible! And the only way tuh do that is tuh go and see the princess! Do you understand that??"

Twilight's fidgeting had slowed to a halt while she listened to Applejack, and all her magic receded back inside her horn. Seeing her finally pacify herself, everyone but Applejack slowly and carefully let go of Twilight, taking easy steps back and away from her. Once everybody else was off, Applejack moved herself off of Twilight's body, allowing the unicorn to have control over her own movement.

Twilight sat upright, remaining silent and entirely motionless—not even blinking her eyes.

"...Twilight...? You okay?"

"...yes...I am now," she gave a disenchanted sigh. "...I'm so sorry for doing that...I thought I had it more under control now, since no part of my body had changed since Rainbow broke me out of the mind control before. But obviously, this curse is getting to me more and more...it's affecting my mind so badly that even when I seem normal, it makes me do bad things...and worst of all, I almost directly hurt you guys...my friends..." Twilight rubbed the tears forming in her eyes before they had a chance to be noticed by her friends. "I think it would be best for you all to stay behind and help to repair the damage I've done to Ponyville and let me go to see the princess on my own—at least then you'll be out of harm's way."

It was astonishing to hear Twilight say she didn't want her friends to come with her, and before a proper response was formulated, Rainbow Dash blurted out one herself.

"Pfft! Yeah, right!" Rainbow retorted. "Like we're gonna let you have all the adventure to yourself!"

"She's right, sugarcube! We're not about tuh abandon yah now, and we don't plan on doin' so anytime soon!"

"We're with you all the way!" Fluttershy said as she put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

"As much way as way could be!" Pinkie said as she slammed the side of her face into Twilight's.

Twilight rubbed her face after Pinkie had moved away. "Are you sure you want to come with me even after knowing how dangerous I am?"

"Hey, if your evil side acts, up, then she'll have to deal with me!" Rainbow stated with coercion.

"We won't allow that evil Twilight force you to perform any more vile acts again!"

"You can trust in your friends!"

"And that's us!"

Twilight felt exceedingly glad that her friends' fortitude and dedication in assisting her had not wavered, as in reality, she was too frightened to want to go through this hardship alone, albeit feelings of concern for the safety of her friends still lingered within her.

"So, what say we start on back to the train station?"

Twilight gave a light smile as she was about to agree, but then halted herself before she spoke one word. She turned herself around and walked to the top of the hill they all had originally crossed over, and looked down towards Ponyville. Such chaos, panic, and destruction of the damaged, waterlogged town brimming with the terrified shouts and cries of frightened ponies repleted Twilight with her prior feelings of shame yet again, as she truthfully sought to erase the absolute ruination encompassing here beloved town and rectify all of her recent wrongdoings. Unlike before, however, Twilight took into consideration the words of her friends, as was not so focused on her desire that she ignored everyone else who tried to say otherwise. She ultimately came to what she believed to be the right conclusion.

"Part of me still feels defiant against the idea of leaving Ponyville in ruins—but it's certain to get worse if I am not restored to my normal self soon," she took a deep breath, her appearance now showing the great resolve stirring up inside her. "I am culpable for this crime against ponykind, so I must act with haste put right what I have wronged!" she turned around to face her friends, pausing for several moments before speaking, "...let's get a move on!" Everyone else was elated to see Twilight being so optimistic, which made things far easier for them all to bear with on their journey.

"It's great to see you back to normal, Twilight," Spike said, sporting a pleasant smile.

"Me too, Spike. I'm thankful to you and everyone else for helping me to get this far. I know I would never had gotten the courage to get myself to Canterlot on my own, and it's our stalwart and steadfast friendship that had gotten me back to normal after I went rogue each time it had occurred. You're all the best friends a pony could have, and, again: I am thankful for all you've done," warm smiles emanating from pleasant feelings extant in everybody's bodies were being exhibited quite vibrantly, with peace finally having been restored in this circle of friends once more.

Just then, Twilight began to speak one more time, "I am also very thankful that no part of me has cha—anged...so...far..." Twilight's face instantly began to jerk and wrench upon the utterance of that which she was certain would not occur during this time.

Everyone else was just as shocked and in horror as before—except for Rainbow Dash, who simply stated with a deadpan expression, "Well, I can't say I wasn't expecting this."

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 9/10

Twilight's body began wobbling and convulsing, and, unlike before, magic started shooting out from her horn at every spasm, with the magic blasting away sections of the surrounding area.

At the sight of this hazardous display, all of Twilight's friends ran behind Applejack, forming a straight line as they all stood behind the mare, poking their heads out from the sides so as to watch Twilight's transformation.

Following the multiple blasts of destructive magic, the magic around Twilight's horn suddenly changed from its standard magenta to a straight red. Now, whenever she fired off a blast, the blast did not destroy anything, but rather altered each nearby struck object in different ways, such as turning a bush into popcorn, giving a rock wings and causing it to fly away, and changing a patch of grass into a miniature tornado made out of spaghetti.

"Woah, this is just gettin' weird," Applejack affirmed.

As Twilight reared up on her hind legs, with her back bending backwards as far as it could go, the magic around her horn instantly dissipated, and Twilight fell back forward, landing on all her hooves, and she was now directly facing her aligned friends, so she was straightly situated with them as well. Before anyone could say a word, Twilight's back suddenly began to arch upwards, as if her spine was trying to pull itself up out of Twilight's backside. Her entire back started to glow as it continuously gave the appearance of being yanked up into the air; and, even more shocking, was that every time her back was pulled upwards, it got higher, but Twilight's hooves remained situated on the ground, so this time her body was changing gradually rather than all at once like the previous occurrences.

Applejack leaned forward as she watched the arch grow higher and longer, and the instant the glowing has ceased, Twilight's elongated body straightened itself out, which in turn sprang forward without much delay, causing her to slam into Applejack, who simultaneously crashed into everyone in the line behind her, with them all ending up in a pile a small distance away.

Much moaning and groaning emanated from the pile-up of ponies(and one dragon). Most everyone was underneath someone else(except for Fluttershy, who ended up on the top of the pile), and they were all struggling to get their minds straight after that rattling experience.

"Ohhh..."

"What just happened?"

"I don't know...I can't see anything," said the muffled voice of Spike from underneath his equestrian compatriots.

Rarity heard Spike's dialogue and made haste to assist her scaly companion. She used her magic to lift the others off of herself so she could remove herself from the heap and retrieve Spike from his equine grotto. Spike still appeared rather dazed, and looked around with his blurred vision, trying to ascertain exactly what each object in his field of blurred vision was.

"Are you all right, Spikey-wikey?"

Spike instantly turned towards Rarity, and at the sight of her, the blurriness in his eyes melted away, revealing the ravishing Rarity, with a prodigious gleam of luminescence radiating from behind her form, and a dazzling array of sparkles emanating around her entire being.

"Oh, yeah!" he eagerly responded, springing upright. "I'm a-okay!" he additionally gave a thumbs up with his response.

"Glad to know Spike's okay," Rainbow Dash said sarcastically as she pulled herself out of the pony pile.

"Yes, that is good to know, but I think it matters that we're okay, too," Fluttershy appended, to which Rainbow slapped her face in aggravation.

"Is everyone okay?" Applejack asked as she stood up erect, as did the others.

"Wow, that was pretty fun!" Pinkie said, wobbling around as she tried to stand upright upon the ground. "I'm gonna have to remember that to use at one of my parties!"

"Pinkie, this is no time to be thinking about parties!"

Pinkie blew a raspberry in response. "You make that sound like there's never a good time to think about parties!" she chuckled shortly after.

"Look," Applejack interjected. "I'm glad yer all fine, but what about Twiligh—" Applejack instantly gasped in shock at the first sight of her friend, after which everyone else did the same.

Twilight was feeling woozy after ramming her head into Applejack. She proceeded to stand up, but had trouble in doing so. She felt very unstable on her hooves, and her body felt very wobbly and unsteady itself. Still feeling a bit tired, Twilight lowered her head down towards the ground. A she did so, she peered between her legs, and was taken aback by the sight of her back hooves being so far away. She swiftly swung her head back upright and looked back, now seeing fully her newly elongated midsection, which had become five times longer than before, was green, and entirely covered with scales. Naturally, Twilight freaked out, which started with a yelp.

While yelping, she jumped up using only her front legs, flipping the front half of her body up, around, and backwards, her new scaly body wobbling all around, and Twilight attempting to gain control of her unsteady self. Twilight tried to force her body back forward, but every time she moved herself, she flung herself too hard, making herself feel like she was going to crash her face into the ground. She was also stumbling around relentlessly on her hind legs at the same time, trying to keep her balance on the ground, but this constant staggering impeded her efforts to regain the power to keep herself fixated firmly upon the earth beneath her.

This heart-rending display was beheld in dismay by Twilight's friends—still stunned by her latest transformation. This astonishment soon wore off, and now everyone realized the trouble Twilight was having right now; and after some immediate advocating from Applejack, the group rushed over to assist their distressed friend. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both held the front of Twilight's body while it was up in the air, whilst the others held Twilight's bottom half still until Twilight was finally able to situate herself at a perfectly level placement on the ground.

"Phew...thanks, guys," Twilight said, having calmed down somewhat—until she remembered her newest change and went into a bit of a panic once more. "What...what is this?!" she exclaimed as she examined her reptilian body all over.

"Looks like some kinda scaly animal body."

"Like a lizard?"

"I think she means more like a snake."

"Oh, great; I have a snake body now," Twilight remarked before she facehoofed herself. "That's just what I need in addition to my dragon arm, deer leg, and scorpion tail," she sarcastically uttered as she motioned to each body part she spoke of.

"Wait," Pinkie suddenly interjected. "Now you're saying you need these parts after all those other times you made such a big deal about how bad they were?? Will you make up your mind, Twilight? Sheesh!" Twilight said nothing in response to this, as she wasn't in the mood to deal with Pinkie's lack of sarcasm understanding.

Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 10/10

"There's one thing I find strange about this," Rarity said.

"Just one?" Rainbow responded jokingly.

"Very amusing, Rainbow Dash," Rarity replied in a sullen, sarcastic tone.

"Then why don't you sound amused?" Pinkie asked Rarity as she poked her head right up next to the unicorn's face, to which Rarity simply used her magic to push the oblivious mare out of her way.

"As I was saying—what I find so strange is: why did it take so much longer for you to go through your transformation than it has before?"

"Hmm, that's a good question," Twilight said, as she now began to contemplate this thought. "I hadn't thought about this previously, since so much else had been on my mind, but now that it has been brought up, it warrants further analysis," she then commenced her reflecting on the subject; making sure to get every last detail right so as to conclude her scrutiny properly. The others all watched the ruminating unicorn in silence; not wanting to disturb her while she was thinking deeply. "Hmm...the only conclusion I can draw is: when I had my emotional outburst at all of you earlier, the anger I was conveying was enough to prevent the transformation from occurring at the time it normally would, because the rage and what I was doing was chaotic enough to stave off the change until the chaos ended, and because nothing was happening after that, the curse sensed that more chaos needed to be wrought by me so it went ahead and began the alteration of my body into what it is in its present state," Twilight took a breath after her long speech, and scanned the blank faces of her wordless friends.

"...ahh, yes; of course," Pinkie agreed in a serious tone. "It all makes sense now."

"It does?"

"I don't know, but if Twilight says so, then it must be!"

"Well, thanks for supporting me on my theory, because I really thin—oh my gosh!!! What are we doing?? We have to get to Canterlot before this gets any worse! Let's get a move on!" Twilight quickly commenced her walking, but this was soon found to be much more difficult than previously anticipated. After only a few mere steps did Twilight find her body unable to keep still: it was shaking, wobbling, and just kept flopping all over whenever she tried to move all fours legs concurrently. "Ohhh, darn it! I can hardly even walk like this!" Her friends only watched as Twilight struggled to even walk in a straight line. This was something nobody felt like they could assist her with—unless they held her body steady as she walked all the way to Canterlot. The only one who didn't looked worried was Pinkie Pie, who could not help but chuckle at how silly Twilight was portraying herself as she attempted to walk. When Twilight noticed Pinkie's snickering, that was when her frustration had reached an all new high.

"Darn this curse!!" she shouted in a loud, extremely perturbed tone. "It has done nothing but bring misery and dread upon me and everybody I've been around!" Twilight grasped her head as she attempted not to let her rage take hold of her again. "Errrgh!! I just want to get to Canterlot so the princess can completely eradicate this curse from my entire being so it will never make me bring harm to anybody ever again! I want to go there now! Now! NOOOOW!!!" and on that final shout of "now", the magical field around Twilight's horn had changed into an intense glow, and in a bright flash of light, everyone had vanished from that spot in an instant leaving only the trace of a charred area of the ground behind.

As quickly as they had disappeared, the ponies and Spike reappeared in an entirely new location—and that location was none other than Canterlot! The sudden swiftness of this teleportation had everyone puzzled and unaware of what had just occurred.

"What th—?!"

"What just happened?"

"Where are we?"

Everyone looked around at their surroundings, and saw they were in the part of the castle's garden that was near the hedge maze, as was pointed out by Spike.

"Canterlot?? What in the heck are we doing in Canterlot? Weren't we just down by Ponyville?" Rainbow asked in bewilderment.

"Yes, indeed we were. Hmm..." Rarity began thinking about what had just happened. "The last thing I remember was Twilight becoming rather angry..."

"And her horn was glowing really bright! And then there was a big flash of light that hurt my eyes! Ow!" Pinkie exclaimed, shutting her eyes from thinking about the bright light pain.

"Huh...I must have unintentionally teleported us all to Canterlot somehow," Twilight conjectured.

"Unintentionally? You mean that wasn't what you were tryin' tuh do, Twilight?"

"No, and I agree that it does sound very strange that I would teleport all of us without my knowing about it," Twilight thought about this herself. "It seems that because I wanted to go to Canterlot so badly, my magic brought us here on that very whim—quite interesting..." Twilight rested her chin on her left front hoof as she contemplated her thoughts on this matter. Suddenly, her pondering was interrupted by the abrupt trembling of her hoof against her face. She quickly pulled her face back, then turned her attention towards her now convulsing leg. Nobody was more in shock now than Twilight, whom covered her eyes as her leg was engulfed in light like all her other body parts, with the light bursting at the end of the transformation to reveal that the disquieted unicorn's leg was now the muscular arm of a ferocious grizzly bear—all in the span of only six seconds.

"Wha—?! What th—??" Twilight was so dumbfounded by this abrupt transmutation that she couldn't even get her head straight—and that went especially for everyone else watching. "What just happened?? Why did I change just now?? I hadn't even done anything bad to invoke a change to my body this time!"

"That sounds bad."

"It's definitely not good."

"And not being good is the baddest thing of all!"

Twilight endeavored to grasp this sudden new dilemma, albeit still in a flustered manner. "This curse must be getting stronger to the point where it doesn't require the presence of chaotic happenings to grow more powerful!"

Pinkie gasped. "That really is the baddest thing of all!"

"Yes! And it's also why we can't waste any more time! We have to move now!" Twilight began to run(or at least tried to run) towards the entrance to the castle, but was abruptly halted by the calling out of Spike. "What is it, Spike? Can't you see we're in a hurry??"

"I know, Twilight, and that's why I wanted to ask: can't you just teleport us to the throne room?"

"NO!!" she hastily yelled back at Spike, with him falling backwards in surprise. "Not while I'm like this! I'm afraid that the use of any of my magical abilities would only accelerate my hexed condition! We'll just have to hoof it as fast as we can! I just hope that my evil side isn't triggered while we're here! I don't want the ponies here in Canterlot to go through what the ponies in Ponyville just went through! Ohhh, I'm wasting time talking again! Let's just go!!" On those last words, Twilight sped off into the castle without even waiting for her friends, leaving them all stunned in her wake. However, it was worriment they were all truly feeling, after seeing suck a panicky display from Twilight.

"Twilight's really starting to lose it," said Spike.

"Starting to?" Rainbow remarked. "She's been getting crazy ever since this whole thing started!"

"Yeah! She's totally cuckoo in her coco!" Pinkie shouted, but then paused for a bit. "...wait, I don't think I said that right. Preeetty sure that was supposed to rhyme..."

"Ah know she's not feeling herself right now, but that's why we're all here—it's our job as Twilight's friends to help her in any way we can! Remember, friends stick together, no matter what!" her resolute shout rang out amongst her friends, whom all shouted their agreement together, with Pinkie making a point of sticking her face right up against Fluttershy's face, showing how much she loves sticking together. The whole group then ran off after Twilight into the realm of Canterlot Castle.

"I do hope that Twilight will get to the throne room before it's too late," Rarity said to Applejack as she ran alongside her.

"Me too, Rarity," Applejack responded, afterwards turned her head straight forward again. "...me, too..."

Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 1/7

The orange-red hues of the evening sky over Equestria were beginning to fade away into the dark blue blanket of night as Princess Celestia lowered the sun from within her throne room, while at the same moment Princess Luna began her rising of the moon from her own tower's balcony, thusly blanketing Equestria with a beautiful, starry night sky for all to enjoy and admire.

While that was going on outside the castle, Twilight's friends were continuing their pursuit of their anxious friend ever further into the inner workings of Canterlot castle.

"Do you think Twilight's reached the princess yet?"

"Considering how much she was panicking, I think the answer is a pretty big 'DUH'!"

"Are you sure, Rainbow Dash? Because it looks like Twilight hasn't gotten there yet to me!" Baffled by Pinkie's statement, the others looked ahead to see Twilight sitting down right outside Celestia's throne room. Even more bewildered by this situation, the ponies and Spike all ran up to Twilight to see what was going on, although she had not noticed the arrival of her friends, as her eyes were firmly locked on her hands as she continuously rubbed them together nervously.

"Twilight, what's wrong? Why are you still out here?"

"Huh? What?" Twilight looked up to see her friends all around her, still containing a hint of panic in her tone.

"Did something happen? Does Celestia know about your curse yet?"

"No, she doesn't. I just can't bring myself to go in there and let her see me like this!" she responded with much dread, clasping her face with both hands as her panic-stricken eyes stared down at the floor.

"Well, how is she supposed to help if she doesn't know what's wrong with you?"

"...that's why you'll all have to go in and tell her," Twilight declared, much to the surprise of her friends.

"Us go in?"

"Are you sure that's the best idea, Twilight?"

"There's no time to question this! We have to move now! Now get in there!"

Twilight was clearly bent on staying put, so the others had no choice but to adhere to her wish, and promptly burst their way into the throne room.

"Princess! Princess!"

"Oh my word!" Celestia responded in astonishment. "What is going on here?"

"We're dreadfully sorry to come here unannounced and disturb you, princess," Rarity then cut in the middle of her explanation and hurriedly bowed before the princess.

"But we've got some bad news!"

"Really bad news!" Pinkie added, hopping up behind Rainbow Dash.

"It's horrible!"

"Really horrible!" Pinkie added again, smacking her face next to Spike's.

"It's about Twilight!"

"Really about Twilight!" she added one more time, putting the top of her head directly on top of Fluttershy's head as she came down from above the pegasus.

"Twilight?" Celestia responded apprehensively as she stood up on her throne. What has happened to Twilight??"

"She's been cursed!"

"Cursed? What is it that you mean by this?"

"We mean she's been cursed!" Rainbow dash exclaimed. "How much more do you need that that??"

Celestia was speechless—unsure of how to react to such abrupt news—especially considering that it involved her greatest student. "Explain to me what it is that has happened!"

"She got cursed yesterday!" Pinkie Pie shouted, and then started explaining the entire story—in her own Pinkie Pie way. "It all started when this big dark cloud showed up and started blasting everything! Zap! Zap! Za-POW! All this crazy, chaotic stuff started happening! Although it wasn't all bad, because there was chocolate milk—but even that was too much! And I never thought you could have too much chocolate milk! But it was everywhere! It flooded all over the field! And no matter how hard I tried I still couldn't drink it all! Sigh...what a waste of perfectly good chocolate milk..." Pinkie sat in silence, feeling sorrow for the loss of her chocolatey beverage which she held so dear to her taste buds.

Her friends exchanged looks with one another during this intermission until Rainbow spoke up, "Uhh, Pinkie? About the curse?"

"The what? OH! Right! Anyways, we all were able to catch the cloud, but it still kept zapping everything it could! so that's when twilight stepped in: ready to take on this mean ol' cloud! but then suddenly—ZAP! It blasted Twilight with its magic! But Twilight showed that cloud! Zhoooop! Ka-BOOM! Twilight exploded that cloud into a million much tinier clouds! Everything seemed to go back to normal after that, but boy were we wrong! Because the next day—which is today, because this all happened yesterday—Twilight started turning into a bunch of different animals!" Celestia was shocked to hear such staggering news. "...well, not animals, but just animal parts! Like her front legs got turned into arms, and her back legs got turned into different animal back legs! Oh! And her tail turned into this big ol' scorpion tail! And I remember that was right after she wrecked Sugarcube Corner! But I don't blame twilight for that, because it was her cursed evil side that made her do that! Yep! I knew that Twilight—"

"Wait, cursed evil side?" Celestia inquired.

"Yeah! She was really mean, and ruined everything in the Cakes' bakery! That's something even I can't forgive! I mean, the Cakes work really hard on everything they make at the bakery! And it really makes me sad to see all those cakes and muffins and—"

"Wait, wait," Celestia interjected Pinkie's unfocused storytelling. "If all this has indeed happened to Twilight, then I must see her right away so I can sort out this quandary before Twilight fall to any more of these chaotic outbursts. Is she here right now?"

"Well, yeahhhh...but she doesn't exactly want to come in here right now."

"Why in Equestria not?"

"Because I'm a hideous monster!" the distressed Twilight proclaimed from the hallway, with only her shadow partly visible upon the wall facing the throne room doorway. "I don't want you to see me like this, princess! I don't want anypony to see me as this sickening creature!"

"But Twilight, the princess isn't gonna be able to help you if you don't come out!"

"I know, I know! But I—I just...I...I..I..I.." Twilight's stuttering increased more rapidly, and her projected shadow displayed the hysteric unicorn flailing around wildly before collapsing to the side. Before anyone could do anything, there was a sudden flash of light from the hallway, which faded as quickly as it appeared.

Everyone was motionless as they watched the throne room doorway—unknowing of what to anticipate after witnessing another one of Twilight's transformations. The sound of groaning was heard emanating from the hallway, and soon after Twilight's shadow appeared upright once more; though this time, she was standing up instead of sitting. After lingering in her spot for a bit, Twilight began stumbling towards the doorway: her friends and the princess waiting in suspense at what they would soon behold.

Step by step, Twilight traipsed through the prodigious doorway, and now her change was evident to all those within the throne room. Unlike every other time, where a part of Twilight's body had transformed, this time she had gained an entirely new addition to her anatomy—or, more precisely: two. Sprouting from the unicorn's back were a pair of brand news wings—but these were not pegasi wings; oh no, these were the wings of insects that had just burgeoned from Twilight's backside, with a pair of long, buzzing, rapid-moving dragonfly wings on the right side of her back, and a single, beauteous, fluttering butterfly wing on the left. These new appendages were naturally greeted with surprise by Twilight's friends, but it wasn't just Twilight's latest inclusions to her form that had Celestia in such a state of shock. After having heard Pinkie Pie's muddled explanation, Celestia mostly knew not of what to presume had happened to Twilight, but now she saw for herself exactly what had happened to her pupil, and it was quite a disturbing sight to see.

Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 2/7

"See?? I told you that I'm a monster!!" Twilight exclaims as she clasps her face in despair.

"You're not a monster! Monsters are nasty and mean! You're just really weird-looking!"

"I don't believe that is helping, Pinkie."

"Ohh, what does it matter, anyway? I'm a horrible beast now and getting worse all the time!" Tears flew from Twilight's eyes, this whole experience having broken her down more and more into a state of hopelessness—even standing right before the princess had not given her any boost in confidence.

"T...Twilight..." Twilight peered up at Celestia. She was staring back at Twilight with an expression that showed no great emotion, but the state of shock she was in seemingly had her face almost paralyzed.

"P—princess...I..." Twilight endeavored to talk to the princess, but impotence had suddenly overtaken her ability for proper diction; but, it wasn't just her going through this complication—both ponies were at a loss for words at this moment, and what followed was what felt like a long period of silence and stillness—it seemed that neither pony could continue speaking due to this dumbfounding occurrence. What was the right thing to say? How could something like this be explained so easily? And how would Celestia react to an explanation? Twilight did not want to her teacher to be disappointed or upset with the actions she had performed since the day before, even though they were all carried out whilst under the influence of her evil side. But, would she really accept that as a proper reason? So much weight had been placed on Twilight's mind during the past day that her logical reasoning had all but ceased its proper functioning. Now she felt it may be better to just say nothing at all.

While Twilight was struggling with her inner turmoil, Celestia concurrently contained her own thoughts on this matter, though the focal point of these thoughts was her disbelief in such a horrific malady befalling her best and closest student. How could something of this magnitude happen to Twilight? And why did it happen? Being overtaken by these thoughts and feelings caused Celestia to nearly bring her proper ruminating ability to a halt, just as Twilight had—however, her irregular contemplation only lasted for a short time, as her shock quickly gave way to what should have been on her mind all along: getting to the bottom of this crisis.

"Why was I not told of this?" Celestia asked with a more stern tonality.

Surprised by this response, Twilight was not quick to formulate a response to her teacher's inquiry, but it was this question that had fortunately snapped Twilight back to her normal self(mostly), and she was soon able to recollect on her actions the previous night before her changes had begun.

"Well, uhh...I was going to write a letter detailing the particulars involved with the incident, but after I had gotten home I started feeling these terrible headaches, so I decided to put off writing you a letter until the next day, since I thought my headaches would be gone by then. But, it wasn't until today that I found out the headaches had to do with my affliction, and once my body started changing, I became so panicked that I forgot to write you the letter! But if I knew what was going to happen, I would have written you as many letters as possible describing every last detail so you would know the problem and do what you could as fast as you could to help me!!" Twilight ended her fast-paced, panicky speech with her face almost right against Celestia's face, staring eye-to-eye with a markedly piercing gaze.

Though still concerned(especially by Twilight's show of increasing lunacy), Celestia did not allow her student's abnormal behavior get the better of her own judgment. Twilight needed help more than ever, and Celestia would make absolutely sure that she receives the assistance she so desperately seeks.

"You needn't worry any longer, Twilight," Celestia said as she placed her hoof atop Twilight's head. "I know that you have been greatly distressed by the events of recent history, but what is important right now is that you are here now, and I will do everything in my power to assure that you are back to your exemplary, untainted self once more."

Twilight looked upwards at the princess, who was smiling back at the frightened unicorn. Though fear was once her companion, she had promptly foregone that triviality, the focus of her intent now solely engaged with the availing of the forlorn unicorn. Twilight was feeling such amazement that even with things looking as bad as they did, the princess showed no fear or lack of confidence in her own abilities to sort out this catastrophe. What Twilight considered to be a feat for herself to accomplish appeared capable of being finished with ease for the princess, and after minor ups and severe downs Twilight had trudged through over the course of this entire day, this was exactly the inspiration she so desperately aspired for and it was these new feelings of hope that were able to place a smile on Twilight's formerly despondent face. The tears flowing from her eyes were no longer tears of despair and torment, but of jubilation and optimism, and the grateful mare didn't hesitate to hug her teacher, who hugged her back just the same.

"Th—thank you, princess..." Twilight trembled with her speech, due to the amalgamation of both sad and happy feelings inside her.

"Don't give all your thanks to me. It was your friends who helped you in arriving here. They deserve their share of the merit as well."

Twilight turned around and faced her friends, whom were all joyful to see Twilight finally feeling happy once more after all the plights she had been forced through this past day. It was an extremely difficult time for Twilight, and after all she'd been through, Twilight deserved to receive this solace. She was more cheerful than she'd been all day, and her expression showed it well. There was even the sound of contentment in her tone as she spoke to her friends, sniffing every so often, "I just want to say to you all...how happy I am to have friends like you...it's been really difficult these past many hours...and even after all the damage and harm I had caused...you still stuck by my side through it all..."

"Ah course we did, sugarcube."

"We wouldn't have even dreamt of doing anything else!"

"After all, we're best friends!"

"Super-duper best friends!"

"And we always will be!" Twilight's friends all grouped together in a line, placing their legs(and Spike's arms) around each other's shoulders in their show of the unbreakable bond of friendship that coupled them all together.

Twilight could not help but cry even more tears of bliss, not ashamed to let everybody seeing her shed her tears. For a time it seemed that she would never be brought out of her pusillanimous state, and that even the princess' assistance would not cheer her up, but such a claim was now shown to be wholly falsified, which was a superb thought for everyone to know. It may have been a rough day for the group—and just about everypony in Ponyville, but all that mattered now was that Twilight was the jovial, self-assured pony she had always been before, and all was as it should be in the world—at least, up until now.

Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 3/7

Twilight's blissful bawling lingered, but nobody interrupted her, not wanting to get in the way of her emotional outputting. Things looked up even more when Twilight's crying partly changed to laughter, which seemed to boded well for Twilight in her present state, the others did think. Twilight's crying lessened as her laughter increased—and now was when a sense of uneasiness had settled amongst her friends and the princess.

Her laughter may have been fine before, but now it had grown much more rampant, with Twilight not even shedding a tear any longer. Her laughter no longer sounded like normal, blissful laughter, but demented, abnormal cackling. It was disconcerting to see—and even more so to hear. This was no longer normal, as everyone could clearly tell, and it was about to get much worse, as Twilight's friends were all too familiar with.

The princess, on the other hoof, was the only one unaware of that which was about to occur, as even though she was told of Twilight's transformations, she had never seen one herself, and could not predict the process Twilight would undergo whilst experiencing her execrable metamorphoses.

Before anybody had a chance to explain this outlandish phenomenon, Twilight whirled herself around hastily, her frontal form directly positioned towards Princess Celestia. The princess was aghast at the sight of Twilight's countenance, which was far beyond deranged. What had been a normal and heartwarming smile was now a psychotic grin draped across her face, along with the pair of yellow tinted peepers fixated upon the disquieted princess, formed a twisted expression that sent unnerving tingles up the princess' spine.

"Oh no! Not now!" Spike exclaimed.

"Ohh, what's wrong, Spike?" Twilight responded in a loony manner, chuckling a bit more. "You don't like to see me so very happy?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"Yeah! Go away and bring back the real Twilight!"

"Awww, you don't like me? That makes me feel so sad..." Twilight sniffed as she pulled a handkerchief from out of her ear and wiped away a tear with it.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you feel sad!" Pinkie Pie responded worriedly.

"Don't apologize to her! She's the evil one!"

"Oh, yeah...Give us back Twilight, you big mean friend stealer away-er!"

"Why must there be all this name-calling and negativity?" Twilight proclaimed as she walked towards her friends. "We shouldn't see now as a bad time, but a time for celebration! For the time draws ever nearer..." she said under her breath whilst rubbing her hands together, holding a sinister look on her face all the while.

"What did you just say??"

"I said the celebration should be nothing less than a grand celebration!" she exclaimed, flinging magically generated confetti from her palms.

"Hey!! Nopony creates party stuff out of nowhere but me!" a fumed Pinkie Pie retorted.

"Well, I guess nopony told me," Twilight riposted, lobbing additional handfuls of confetti into the surrounding air.

"Ohhh, that does it!" Pinkie wasted no time in her retaliation against the one who subjugated her position as the number one unsystematic/party pony in this realm. She swiftly extracted the invariably armed party cannon concealed within her matted mane, thrusting it against the ground with the force generated from her increasing vexation. Such a weapon of mass celebration was strictly used for fun, and rarely ever utilized for traditional warfare; especially against a close-knit compatriot. Though Twilight was one she saw a close friend, to whom Pinkie would never use as a recipient of her wingding weaponry, it mattered not during this juncture, as the actions of Twilight's evil half overruled the immunity clause in her friendship policy, rendering the stipulation null and void—and that made her fair game for the falconet of fun.

Pinkie Pie repositioned her singular armament, facing the forepart squarely at the figure of her friend-turned-crazy-evil, the look of retribution glimmering in her eyes.

"Get ready to have a blast, Twilight! Because it's a cannon!" and on that one-liner, the vindictive mare hastily depressed the firing trigger, releasing the plentiful payload of party paraphernalia from within the cannon's belly with a mere solitary shot. An elevated sense of self-gratification swept through Pinkie Pie, as exhibited by the sinister smirk she sported upon her visage.

Assured that her actions had proved successful, Pinkie turned her gaze upwards, expecting to witness a debased Twilight blanketed with her party ammunition, thusly being vanquished by the power of partying. But, after looking back at the demented mare, a staggering expression unfurled upon Pinkie Pie's face.

Lining the aperture of her party cannon was the bulbous stinger of Twilight's injurious scorpion tail. The devious mare had stretched out her tail just before the ammunition had discharged, thereby clogging up the cannon and detaining the implements which were still compressed within the structure of the party mortar. This not only brought considerable shock to Pinkie Pie, but the others residing in the throne room as well.

"Oops, did I do that?" Twilight said with a complacent grin.

"Of course you did! You're doing it right now!" Pinkie exclaimed whilst engaged in her futile effort to sunder her cannon's aperture from the arachnoid extremity.

During the juncture of this tribulation, the pressure inside the cannon had been slowly rising due to the prevention of the weapon's discharging. Pinkie was so preoccupied with the predicament of gaping her cannon that she did not take heed of Twilight's underhanded scheme.

"Oh, Pinkieee; I do believe that the problem with your cannon is about to fix itself."

"Really??" Pinkie Pie responded ecstatically. The overjoyed mare quickly turned her head downwards to discern how her cannon had been inexplicably mended. In that precise instant, the pressure in the cannon had reached its breaking point, and instead of firing out the proper side, the party cannon(literally) backfired, blasting Pinkie Pie with a multitude of party gear. The incognizant mare was hurled backwards through the air, crashing to the floor with tremendous force, along with her party ammunition, which the mare was inhumed beneath upon her impact with the rigid flooring. Party favors thrust past the impact site and were strewn about the floor. Several of the ejected balloons merely floated towards the ceiling, but those that did not make the journey upwards had been stopped short by the mound of party gear weighing each of the helium-filled commodities. All the while this happened, the last bits of the party ammo were falling leisurely through the air: it was the confetti, which no party would be complete without, as Pinkie would have put it. Whereas the balloons floated upwards, these tiny pieces of scrap paper drifted downwards, as do the faded brown leaves of a crisp autumn's day, guided by the gentle breeze as they complete their ephemeral journey to the ground that was the grass and earth—the confetti mirrored this action precisely, ultimately setting themselves upon the floor at the end of their voyage. This marked the completion of the chaotic array which was the failed strike of Pinkamena Diane Pie.

The friends of the downed party mare hastily gathered where their companion had fallen.

"Pinkie!!"

"Are you okay??"

Immediately following these questions, Pinkie Pie had popped her head out from the crown of the mish-mashed party gear pile, seemingly unharmed. "Yeah, I'm okay," she responded, afterwards turning her gaze towards the inaptly pleased Twilight. She stared at the crazed mare with yet another look of vengeance, but the words spoken next by Pinkie Pie would cancel out this vindictive appearance.

"You know, I would be upset at you for making my party cannon shoot the opposite of the right way—but being covered in so much party stuff is what I always love to do!" the overjoyed mare exclaimed as she took a backwards dive into the pile, frolicking in the misdirected cannon fire.

At first this was surprising to Pinkie's friends, but it did not take long for them to realize these are precisely the actions of their hyperactive friend. Their attention was then turned to the sniggering of Twilight, clearly laughing at the misfortune of Pinkie Pie—even though Pinkie wouldn't consider it to be all misfortune, obviously.

"Pardon my laughing," Twilight said as she wiped a joyful tears from her eye. "But I'm just so glad somepony's enjoying the festivities at last! The rest of you spoilsports could learn a lot from her!" she stated in a stricter tone, but subsequently went right back to laughing, falling onto her back while doing so. the other ponies and Spike looked just as incensed as ever, but was any one of them courageous enough to take on this unstoppable force? Though nobody was saying it, that was what they were all feeling—and Twilight knew this all too well, and was more than happy to take advantage of such an infirmity.

The manic mare brought herself upright, slowing down her laughing to a chuckle, "Huh ho...that was fun...heh heh..." she then ceased altogether with the clearing of her throat, regaining her composure. "Now then... who's next?" she inquired with an all-too-sinister grin.

Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 4/7

Apprehensiveness wafted through the air in Celestia's throne room. Even though Pinkie Pie had enjoyed how Twilight had duped her, the others were not so easily manipulated by the things they took pleasure from—this was a serious situation, and the other ponies and Spike saw it only in that manner. Twilight knew herself the shared thoughts amongst her friends, so she would have to go to even greater lengths to mess with them—but to her, that would simply make her spread of bedlam all the more pleasurable. But, the question now was: where would she begin? To any normal trickster, Fluttershy would seem the obvious choice, though maybe a bit too obvious. Besides, she could provide only so much of an entertaining reaction to whatever Twilight would cook up. No, Twilight would need someone whom she would procure a real kick out of tormenting. With that thought in mind, Twilight flew over to the center of the room, which was also in the center of where her friends were all standing. After a moment of contemplation, Twilight turned her gaze towards the second most fearful pony: Rarity.

Upon glimpsing Twilight's wicked gaze, Rarity promptly darted behind Applejack, sticking her head out from behind the Earth pony. Twilight waltzed over to the two ponies, holding her sinister smile as she bent down closer the ponies: Rarity feeling frightened and Applejack not showing any fear.

"Always the cowering one, aren't we, Rarity?"

"Actually, that would be Fluttershy."

"She's right" Fluttershy agreed. "I am that pony."

"But, in cases like this—yes, I would be frightened."

"Well, you can't always hide behind your friends, you know," Twilight explained as she suddenly appeared directly next to Rarity, her face right up in Rarity's. Rarity leapt up in fright and landed on Applejack's back. Rarity's fumbling had pushed Applejack's hat down over her eyes, causing the Earth pony to become irritated at the bothersome mare on her back, so she simply told Rarity in her own polite way, "Rarity! Get offa me!"

"Absolutely not! I don't want to be anywhere near that dreadful creature!"

"Well I don't want you anywhere on me! Now would you git off buhfore I havta buck you off?!" As enticing of a proposal this was, Rarity still preferred being perched atop Applejack rather than being face-to-face with the abysmal being that was evil Twilight.

Speaking of Twilight, she had been enjoying this spectacle laid out before her, but it could still use a little something—and Twilight knew exactly what that something was.

"Here: allow me to help!" Twilight snapped her fingers, and the three gems that made up the cutie mark on Rarity's right flank had detached from her body, much to the shock of the anxious unicorn. Each gem then made a turn so that the pointed ends of each gem were facing squarely at Rarity's bottom. Twilight snapped her fingers once more, and the gems were thrust straight at Rarity, prodding her directly in the flank. This was obviously the push Rarity needed in order to release Applejack, even though she was none too happy in receiving it. Rarity yelped in pain as she flew straight up into the air, holding her aching bottom. She fell back down to the floor with a crash, more in pain from the jabbing than the collision against the ground. The others gathered around the aching Rarity.

"Rarity! Are you okay??"

"I am anything but!" Rarity turned her head and glared at the sniggering Twilight. "How dare you treat my bottom with such disregard for its well-being!" she proclaimed irately whilst rubbing her hurt flank. Rarity then stood up and stepped towards Twilight adamantly and angrily. "You will pay for this atrocity!"

"Well, if you insist," Twilight then lifted up a coin purse from nowhere, opening it up and peering inside. "Hmmm...I do believe I've got enough. What do you think, Rarity?" Twilight presented the purse to the bewildered unicorn, who hadn't a clue as to what Twilight was speaking about.

"What?? I...don't think you can buy your way out of this, Twilight!" Rarity shouted as she continued taking her heavy step-taking towards Twilight.

"Are you sure? Why don't you take a look!" Twilight thrust the open end of the coin purse at Rarity, which in an instant discharged a tremendous quantity of gemstones with an identical velocity to that of Pinkie Pie's party cannon. The gems came rocketing forth, directly at the now terror-stricken unicorn, who in her petrified state engendered a shortfall of her instinctual reaction to evade the oncoming projectiles. Before anypony else had the opportunity to assist their imperiled companion, the unicorn was swiftly walloped by the looming gemstones, blasting her across the room and crash landing with the pile of precious gems forming into a pile around her—all directly adjacent to the still enamored Pinkie Pie.

Rarity popped her head from the gemstone mound. After shaking several gems from her hair and spitting out an emerald, Twilight asked Rarity if the gems would be a satisfactory payment for her previous actions toward Rarity. Upon hearing this query, Rarity became increasingly flustered. "You really think that assaulting me with all of these precious gems will entice me towards forgiving you? You are clearly a bigger fool than you make yourself appear for presuming I would care that much about these paltry, uninteresting, soporific...rather nice...lovely, gorgeous, incredible...alluring...exquisite..." Rarity continued her description of the gemstones in the unvarying monotone brought upon by her trancelike state.

Applejack watched Rarity's mindless bloviating, then remarked to the others, "Looks like we've lost another one."

"Your numbers are dwindling fast! You'd better do something about it!" Twilight supplemented a bout of chortling, but was abruptly cut short by the intervening of Rainbow Dash, whom had flown up from behind Twilight and grabbed her by wrapping her front legs around Twilight's arms and torso.

"How about we start by getting rid of you!" Rainbow squeezed as hard as she could in her effort to immobilize Twilight—however, her attempts would soon be seen as nothing short of futile.

Though generally surprised at first, Twilight quickly retaliated in the way she felt was most appropriate—with entropy and insanity. Holding her trademark grin, Twilight swiftly stretched out both her eyeballs and moved them up and around to Rainbow Dash, who was understandably flabbergasted at the sight of these elongated peepers. "You wanna see a real surprise maneuver?"

"Not really," Rainbow replied with a look of acute apprehension.

Without a second thought, Twilight proceeded to snake her stretched-out eyes around Rainbow Dash in a coil, effectively wrapping the pegasus in a tightly-bound convolution. Rainbow struggled with every ounce of brawn she had contained within her being, but this proved to be fruitless against the prodigious power of the metamorphosing draconicorn.

"And here I thought you were supposed to be the fast one," Twilight sniggered. "But don't worry, I can help you with that," Twilight lowered her outstretched eyes, placing Rainbow's bottom hooves squarely on the floor. It couldn't' be predicted what maltreatment Twilight was soon to inflict upon the ensnared pegasus, but Twilight was as eager as ever to exhibit her new showing of ignominy for the mortified Rainbow Dash. With a single vigorous tug, Twilight pulled away her eyes from Rainbow Dash in the same fashion as pulling a wound-up string from the crown of a spinning top, and Rainbow Dash consequently did just that: spin. Twilight had made Rainbow into her personal spinning pony top, and the draconicorn laughed and laughed at the pegasus' adversity as she rapidly spun around and around the floor of the throne room. Rainbow Dash was helpless in decelerating her gyration, as were her friends, who lacked any means to halt their friend's ceaseless whirling. After at least ten seconds had passed, a noticeable decrease in velocity came about. Steadily, the rotation of her spinning lowered more and more, until Rainbow Dash was now spinning around while stumbling on her own two back hooves. Eventually, Rainbow finally stopped, but she was too dizzy to stand up straight or even remember what had been going on. With one last moan, Rainbow Dash gave out in her balance and collapsed headfirst to the floor.

Applejack was increasingly anxious. Twilight had defeated three of her friends in no time, and hadn't even broken a sweat. She was merely toying with them, as was the nature her newfound insane personality. Applejack hadn't a clue on what to do; Twilight was unstoppable, and everypony knew it. The only thing any of them could do now was stand by and see what she would do next—and in each of their minds, they hoped that they would not be the draconicorn's next target.

Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 6/7

Nothing less was to be expected from the ponies and Spike after that array of power. Twilight's magical abilities had grown to such an immense volume that she managed to dispatch Princess Celestia with the utmost ease! Seeing their princess suffer such a harrowing defeat brought to the surface the conclusion shared amongst the Equestrians: if not even the princess could stand up against the deleterious force beget by the malefic Twilight, what hope did any of them have? Notwithstanding, the collective belief that none could win against the draconicorn's might was soon reduced. From the sense of doubt the Equestrians were linked to, a single link was severed: the one whom was the root of this unforeseen action just about had all they could take of Twilight's reprehensible comportment. It was time for this pony to stand up to the boisterous Twilight—and they were the last pony anyone would expect to do so.

"Hey!!" Twilight's smile vanished in an instant at the sound of the abrupt bellow. She turned towards the source of the shout, and was greeted with an unexpected sight to behold: a very ticked-off Fluttershy.

Even though the fumed pegasus had shown her indignation in the past, it was still as surprising as ever for Fluttershy's friends to witness her in this state—and she was not holding back(which still does appear exceptionally huge in the case of Fluttershy).

"You listen here; right now! I may not mind as much if I'm the one being picked on, bullied, or browbeaten, but when somepony is mean to my friends, then I get upset! We don't like your nasty tricks, or being used as targets for what you think is funny! It's not nice! It's crude and deplorable to behave that way to others, never thinking about how they feel when you bring harm to them, and only caring about what you want! Well, I've had enough! You are going to stop what you're doing, and you're going to stop right now!!"

Twilight was just as speechless as everybody else, just as she had done before with Celestia—and, just like before, her stupefaction lasted only so long.

Slowly, the trademark smile of evil Twilight appeared on the draconicorn's face. Fluttershy felt a bit confused as to what Twilight could be smiling at, but she did not let herself appear to be wavering in her firmness of stopping her cursed friend. Twilight placed both arms behind her back, and, step-by-step, began to walk over to the seemingly assertive pegasus. Twilight was not using any magic of any kind—she was simply walking over to Fluttershy, holding the same haughty smile on her face all the while. Fluttershy grew more anxious with each step Twilight took towards her, as the draconicorn showed not even an ounce of fear—it was as if Twilight was immune to fear in this form—never being intimidated by any power display put off by anybody. Thought none would say it, Twilight knew what they all saw her as: an unstoppable force of which no source of strength, magic, or ingenuity could overcome. The mad creature believed full well that none could measure up to the power she possessed—no matter what it was they would try, not a single being in this world could ever stop her—and she was quite content with that thought.

Finally, Twilight had ceased her striding. She was now directly in front of Fluttershy, leering down at the clearly frightened pony. Every ounce of ire drained from Fluttershy's body like blood seeping out of an open wound, leaving an empty husk devoid of any true undaunted essence. It seemed that as quickly as it had came, the boldness was gone, leaving Fluttershy with nothing left to aid the hapless pegasus in standing up against her probable aggressor.

"Well, well, everyone: doesn't this come as a surprise? Little Fluttershy being so uncharacteristically brave. Usually so diffident, but now so bold and aggressive. How confident she must be in believing she can take me on—especially after witnessing the defeats of everyone else who attempted the same. Color me impressed!" Each word uttered by the nefarious Twilight only made Fluttershy sink lower and lower into her own personal pit of consternation. "You know, this could make for a spectacular show! Come, everyone! Gather around and see the event of the season! A once-in-a-lifetime spectacle: Twilight the undefeatable verses Fluttershy the less-than-undefeatable! Will she be able to pull off a stunning victory? Or will Twilight defeat her without even trying like everyone knows she will? How will this all play out? Anything's a possibility!"

Everyone was glaring at Twilight—wanting to stop her but still having that part on the inside saying there was no way for any of them to do so.

"So, what will it be, Flutters? You ready to show your stuff and step up against the almighty, the powerful, the unstoppable Twilight Sparkle??" Fluttershy said nothing and did nothing—she only wished on the inside for this all to stop and for everything to be okay again. "Because I don't know about everyone else, but I for one..." Twilight bent down, moving her smiling face right up in front of Fluttershy's, her appearance both baleful and manic—more than it had ever been before. "...would just love to see you try."

It had built up to such an extent, that Fluttershy could contain her augmented terror no longer. As deafening as the screech of a maddened thunderbird, Fluttershy's scream reverberated amongst the walls of the throne room, with everyone becoming immobilized by the ear-splitting din—even Twilight cringed from the severity of Fluttershy's booming vocals(mainly due to her being so close to Fluttershy at the time).

The resounding screech roved out and into the connecting hallways of Canterlot, resonating throughout each and every corridor the sound found its way into. The sound of the shriek went so far that it managed to reach the chambers of Canterlot's other princess.

In the instant the noise had reached the outer doors of the room, the doors were both swung open by none other than Princess Luna! "There is a pony in need of help!" and on that proclamation, Luna swiftly extended the length and width of her night mane wrapping it all around her body and transforming her body into a stream of blue-violet smoke, which promptly took to the air and bolted off in the direction of Celestia's throne room. The smoke flew straight into the chamber and landed on the floor, re-materializing back into Princes Luna. Her gaze was instantly placed upon Twilight, who had yet to notice Luna's presence in the room, as she was so focused on fixing her hearing after Fluttershy's earlier ear-splitting scream. Naturally, Luna did not know the true identity of this beast standing before her, but she knew that they were the cause of Fluttershy's torment, and they would not leave this room unpunished.

"Away from her, foul beast!" Luna proclaimed as she soared up into the air, high above all watching in astonishment below. It was also now that Twilight's attention had finally turned to Luna, looking as surprised as the others to see her here.

"Creature!" she announced in her booming voice. "Thou darest to encroach the lofty citadel of Canterlot and terrorize the innocent inhabitants who occupy this capital city? Such illicit acts will not be tolerated by I or any other lawful beings of this land! I know not of who you are, creature, but because you choose to impel thy malevolence upon the good people of Equestria, you have forced my hoof, and in consequence shall receive no less than the most appropriate of punishments for this atrocity!"

Princess Luna's philippic was indeed shocking for everyone to hear; especially so seemingly out of nowhere, but would Twilight share the same reaction as all the others? That was certainly the appearance being given off by Twilight as she stared back at Luna in astonished silence. But, as most would expect, silence was never to last in the presence of Twilight the draconicorn.

"Oh yeahhhh," she spoke, as if having just recalled an old memory. "You're that other princess, aren't you? The one hardly anypony ever remembers? How hard it must be for you that Celestia still gets all the attention, while nopony ever comes to you for any kind of help. So very sad," Twilight stated with feigned sadness and fabricated tears. It didn't involve much difficulty for Twilight's fraudulent array of sympathy to swell the anger inside Princess Luna, which intensified owing to each passing second sited in the presence of the disreputable draconicorn—and she would weather this unsavory experience no longer.

"Silence, you odious creature! I have tolerated your presence far too long! If you know what will be the least harmful to your well-being, you will be quick to surrender immediately!"

"Quick to surrender immediately? That seems rather redundant, wouldn't you say?"

"Do not change the subject! You are simply trying to stall what may be your inevitable fate if you do not yield to me this instant! The power capable of vanquishing you is here, and I will not hesitate to use it!" Everyone was adequately intimidated by Luna's broadside, as the power she has shown in the past makes her a force to be reckoned with—although, not surprisingly, there was one who was not so easily dragooned into submitting to the power of the princess of the night.

"Well, I would...but I don't seem to see such a thing here currently. Would you be a lass and point out where this incredible power is?" she inquired, sporting an arrogant grin.

That was the final match in the powder barrel for Princess Luna. Twilight had her chance, but that derogatory statement had tossed it out the window. The time to end this was now, and true to her word, Luna's forthcoming strike showed no marks of dithering.

Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 7/7

Without a single word uttered, Luna rocketed down from the air faster than anybody could see—anybody except for Twilight, that is. The draconicorn effortlessly extends her legs and bends them outwards, with Luna flying right through the impromptu arch, with Twilight still holding her haughty smirk. This slight hurdle meant nothing to the princess of the night; she showed her quick response time by immediately swooping around and going for Twilight once more. But, as can be expected, Twilight dodged with ease by this time moving her bottom half to the side and making an arch with her body for Luna to fly through. Luna flew up near the ceiling and situated herself in the air, looking down at Twilight with a vengeful glare.

"Keep trying!" Twilight called out. "I'm sure it will work eventually!"

Luna paid no need the derisory statement, and swooped down towards Twilight, firing off several magic blasts from her horn directly at Twilight. Regrettably, magical assaults were no more difficult for Twilight to dodge than physical attacks; Twilight stretched her body like rubber to avoid each shot, not even moving her feet from their place on the ground. "Your aim is just a little bit off there, Luna. See, the trick is to actually shoot at my body."

Luna ceased her barrage, growing increasingly apoplectic, as it wasn't very hard for Twilight's comments to get under her skin. But even with all her fury fueling her powers, she was powerless against the might of the half-unicorn, half-draconequus beast and her limitless prowess. If Luna desired herself to be even the slightest of a match for this creature, she would need a plan so cunning that not even Twilight could get around it—but how could that be done?

Alas, the ill-starred alicorn had not the time to ponder such a query, as Twilight felt it was now her turn to be on the offensive, "Here: let me show you the proper way to strike your opponent," she stated as she reared back her arm and fired a single magic blast straight at Luna. This time Luna had scrounged together a hoofful of luck, and dodged Twilight's strike with ease. This luck proved itself to really be just a hoofful, as the blast bounced itself off the ceiling, then the wall, and then right back at Luna. The princess only barely dodged the attack this time, as she was preparing a counterstrike and partly left her guard down. Now Luna's defense was back on, and she would be needing it more than ever at this time, as Twilight's ricocheting blast wasn't through yet.

Over and over the blast rebounded off every object it came into contact with; and over and over was Luna evading the shot every time it rebounded back at her. However, she was not the only one facing this danger, as the other ponies and Spike were forced to avoid the blast when it came their way. Twilight paid no mind to the streak of magic as she sipped a cup of tea, the shot flying to and fro around her.

Going by the standard laws of physics, an object that can bounce a multitude of times will eventually be slowed by the force of gravity and stop—but that didn't apply to this object! It continuously ricocheted off and on just about every spot in the throne room, never showing even the slightest hint of slowing down, which was none too good for our heroes, but was plenty good for our antagonist.

Luna's ferocity had caught up with her once more, having had all she could take from the draconicorn's exasperating attack. When the blast headed for Luna again, this time she faced it head on. Without an inkling of doubt, Luna swiftly through her forelegs together at the last second and caught the blast with her bare hooves! Not only were the ponies and Spike shocked to see the princess accomplish a seemingly impossible task, but even Twilight appeared surprised by Luna's feat.

"Well, I say, Luna! That was pretty impressive! I didn't think someone could do that without hands!"

"You should have known better than to underestimate me, monster!"

"Very wise words to live by—too bad you didn't listen to them yourself."

Upon her utterance of these bemusing words, Twilight snapped her fingers. Quicker than even Luna could react, the ball of energy grasped firmly by her hooves detonated, engulfing the princess in a great explosion, and, to the shock of her allies: exploding the princess as well. When the explosion had detonated, the princess was forcefully dispersed into a multitude of dark blue wisps resembling snippets of the night sky itself—not unlike Princess Luna's own mane. These tendrils of magic floated slowly downwards through the air, akin to the falling ash which blankets the sky following a volcanic eruption—but not nearly as traumatic to those who were witness to this shattering display.

"My, my...I've created quite the mess, haven't I?" Twilight sniggered, showing not even the slightest hint of remorse for her reprehensible actions, and everyone else was still too shocked to even respond to her derisive remark.

What went unnoticed while Twilight prolonged her chortling, was that the strands of what was left of Princess Luna began to move about on their own. The strands flew around as the quickly joined together in a swarm, swirling around in a vortex of dark blue night. Then, as swift as the wind, the flock of wisps broke from the vortex and flew straight for the flooring directly in front of the still laughing Twilight. Just before they reached the ground, the wisps turned upwards in an arc. As they performed this action, the wisps also suddenly reformed back into Princess Luna! She flew straight up at Twilight with her front hoof stretched upwards, striking Twilight from under her chin and sending her flying backwards across the throne room! ...at least, that was her intention. Twilight had sensed that Luna was not beaten, and right before the princess could land her blow, Twilight reared her head up and back, the strike barely missing her head. The draconicorn followed through by performing a back flip up through the air and back onto the throne room floor, ending the routine by skidding to a stop on her feet and hands. Luna was both flabbergasted and exasperated that Twilight had dodged her seemingly unavoidable attack so effortlessly, and Twilight made certain to remind the princess of her recurring failure.

"Awww, did I mess up your little plan there? I'm so sorry...but, if you had used a bit more intellect, you'd have realized that you don't stand a chance against me!" Luna was angered at Twilight's incessant affronts, but part of her felt the draconicorn was right. But it didn't matter if the princess could win: all that mattered now as defending her subjects from this horrendous reprobate. She had to think of some other way to outsmart the beast.

While the princess pondered, Twilight noticed the inquisitive eye movement given off by the alicorn. "I spy with my not-so-little eye a pony who thinks they can outfox me. Well, let me tell you something, princess: Ingenuity doesn't win here; magic does! Allow me to demonstrate," Twilight said as her palms began to glow black and purple. Streams of magic of the same color expelled from her hands, moving around Princess Luna, who had her guard on for whatever it was Twilight was planning. Twilight began to spin her forearms around speedily, which in turn caused the streams of magic to spin around Luna, subsequently forming into the form of a sphere. Seeing that Twilight was trying to trap her, Luna quickly tried to escape, but her path was blocked on all sides by the orb of dark magic. This barrier proved to be quite powerful and dangerous, as any physical contact caused a shocking pain for the princess, so breaking through would not be the simplest of tasks.

"You see? Like this! How much good will cleverness do you here? Power is the only way to go, my dear princess," Twilight stated smugly as she laid herself on her back whilst floating in midair.

Without much thought, Luna replied, "Good point," and swiftly enveloped her entire body in a sphere of her own magic, then dispersed it outwards in all directions, subsequently eradicating Twilight's not-so-powerful barricade. "I thank you for the helpful tip, creature; but do not think that was the full extent of my power, as I am saving that for you!!"

"Well, well! You certainly are the tenacious one!" Twilight says as she lands back on the ground "Buuuut, if you're insistent on playing rough, then let's play rough!!" Twilight then forcefully rams her palms straight into the floor, releasing an energy spike which slices through the floor in a rectangular shape. She then uses her magic to slowly raise the slab from the ground, and once it had completely broken away from the rest of the throne room floor, Twilight tossed the wedge straight upwards at Luna with one big heave. Luna quickly counterattacks by flying straight down whilst enveloping herself in a field of her own magic and forcefully thrusting herself through the floor fragment, bursting out the other side. She swiftly made a turn for Twilight, racing towards the draconicorn, fully intent on bringing her down.

Before she could get that chance, Twilight claps her hands together, exploding the floor slab into a multitude of pieces; all of which rain down upon the helpless bystanders below. Luna hears the explosion, and immediately does an about face towards the scattered rubble. Moving herself underneath one end of the falling debris, Luna releases a field of her own magic, which halts every last piece of the destroyed floor before anybody comes to harm. The ponies and Spike are relieved, but this reassurance was fleeting, as Twilight had contrived an opportune time for her to attack Luna head on. In a simple tactic, the draconicorn extended her arms straight outwards at Luna, grabbing her by the waist. Just as Luna noticed what Twilight had done, the draconicorn initiated her actual attack by relentlessly tickling the princess, causing her to laugh uncontrollably. Due to her loss of concentration, Luna's control began to enervate, and her hold on the multitudinous fragments of stone was fluctuating. No longer able to endure the onslaught of titillation, Luna—against her will—severed her grasp on the debris, thereby causing it to plummet to earth—and directly towards Princess Luna! Everything having gone perfectly, Twilight retracted her arms from the princess's body to elude personal injury. Because of the ongoing after effects of the tickle assault, Luna was unknowing of the coming danger, and before she knew what hit her, the princes was crushed by the falling rocks, and buried beneath a mound of rubble.

Sounds of gasps and low shrieks of horror emanated from the many corners of the throne room where Twilight's friends found themselves standing. Did their princess truly become flattened by the hailstorm of falling stones? It seemed nearly improbable, but there it was in front of each and every one of them...a sight which could not be unseen...a notion which could not be believed...

As the ponies and Spike struggled with the belief their princess had truly been defeated, Twilight walked casually over to the heap of what was once a supplement of the throne room floor. She waved her hand over the debris; her magic brushing away the rubble as if it was nothing more than a pile of dust. Twilight shifted her glaring orbs downwards at the lone victim of her sinister machination; her roguish smile indicative of her malapropos pleasure in her victory over the princess of the night. Luna's prostrate body lay unconscious before the draconicorn, her front side facing away from Twilight. She was covered from head to hoof with bruises; thankfully the princess' magic-infused resistance prevented her from sustaining any grievous injures—though exempt from trauma she was not. These visible contusions were the proof that Twilight's attrition had finally paid off—at least for her. Twilight enjoyed the games she played with the alicorn during the majority of their clash, but even she grows tired of messing with the same pony repeatedly, so it had been time for a winner to be chosen; and it was quite apparent only Twilight would be leaving this throne room the victor.

"This has certainly been a fun experience for me," Twilight said as she leaned her head down towards Princess Luna. "And you were quite the resolute one for having tried so hard to defeat me even though you never stood a chance. I must give you point for that: what do you say to a 6 out of 10?" Luna did not show any form of a response. "Okay! Okay! 7 out of 10! You're rather insistent, aren't you? I guess that's just another one of your actually salvageable qualities," Twilight chuckled over the still body of the princess, whilst all others in the room watched with a searing rage—especially one pony in particular.

Celestia had finally managed to get back up on her hooves. Her eyesight was still impaired to a certain degree, but she could see well enough to make out the form of Twilight snickering at the defeat of Luna at the hands of the draconicorn—and as one would expect, Celestia was none too happy. Even though she knew it was Twilight underneath that villainous exterior, Celestia would not hold back against an attack from anypony on her own sister. So, without hesitation, Celestia charged what power she had and fired off a single blast straight at Twilight. However, even though fueled by the fury of the princess, her power was still no match for the unstoppable draconicorn, who simply turned the top half of her body around and smacked the blast back at Celestia with one swing of her hand. Celestia attempted to dodge though use of flight, but the blast reached the princess and blew her against the back wall behind her throne, with the princess collapsing down to the floor in a stunned daze.

"You see there?" Twilight pointed at Celestia while the rest of the people present in the throne room were dumbfounded by Celestia's expeditious defeat. "That's what happens when you try: you just make a fool of yourself; though it's obviously too late for you to avoid that mistake, isn't it?" Twilight chuckled a smidge. "But I guess I can't blame you; I can sense when and where any magic user utilizes their powers, so if you want to try getting the drop on me, try doing something a little less magic-y," she says as she leans her head in towards Luna, her voice as complacent as her grin.

With a strike as fast as lightning, Princess Luna(whose comatose state was merely a ruse) reared her hind legs and bucked Twilight squarely under her jaw with a bone-rattling clout. The draconicorn went flying up through the air, first crashing onto the floor with the crown of her skull, then jouncing off the floor like a rubberized ball and landing on her feet. She whirled around in a daze several times, mutters "Yep; that'll do it," and ultimately collapses to the floor of the throne room in a state of genuine unconsciousness.

Luna staggered into an upright position, and turned to face her fallen adversary. "It seems that you are no longer the maker of fools here, creature! And you shall be so no longer!" On that note, Luna rose into the air, and swiftly made a beeline for Twilight, fully set on raining her vengeance upon the insensible draconicorn.

"Luna, wait!!" Luna halted in mid-flight, her passage blocked by the sudden advent of Twilight's friends; all of whom voicing their own pleas for the princess to heed their words.

"Don't hurt her!"

"She hasn't done anything wrong! Wait, she actually has—but don't hurt her anyway!"

"What are these nonsensical words you ponies speak? And why do you intervene on my responsibility to end this monster's reign of terror?"

"This isn't a monster! It's Twilight!"

"She's just been cursed!"

"Curse? What curse?"

"A curse of the most heinous kind," everyone looks to see Princess Celestia limping towards them.

"Sister!" Luna exclaims as she flies to her sister's side, fretting wildly about the condition of her sibling.

"You need not worry over me, Luna. I have not sustained any serious injuries," Celestia explains before cringing from the pain in her foreleg; almost falling to the ground until Luna catches her and assists her sister into standing upright again.

"This most certainly merits worry, Celestia! We must send medical aid for you at once!" But before Luna can perform said action, she is stopped by Celestia's further vocalizing.

"We have no time for that. We must first perform aid for Twilight," Celestia motioned towards the still unconscious draconicorn, and Luna was shocked to see Celestia also proclaim the creature to be Twilight Sparkle.

After several moments of contemplation, Luna inquires as to how Twilight had become this horrid monstrosity. Celestia has the other ponies and Spike gather around Princess Luna, so they may elucidate the recent goings-on to the unaware princess.

Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 1/5

Upon being informed the entire account of what unfortunate fate had befallen Twilight Sparkle, the natural reaction from Princess Luna was nothing short of utter shock. She was speechless; still overtaken by this stunning news. It takes her a few seconds, but she regains her composure and her own mindset on the next course of action for them all to take.

"We must remedy this situation forthwith!" the princess proclaims for all to hear.

"That's what we came here to do!"

"But we haven't a clue as to how to do it!"

"We just thought Princess Celestia might help!"

Everyone turns to Celestia, who is now forced to relay her regrettable answer to Twilight's friends, "I understand your coming to me in this dire time, but I simply haven't a clue as to how this problem can be solved. I have never seen curse of this kind at any time in the past, and I do not contain the knowledge necessary for said curse's removal from Twilight."

It wasn't easy for Celestia to tell everyone that she could not help, but it was even harder for Twilight's friends to hear that not even Celestia had the solution to this dilemma. Everyone looked completely demoralized by this blow, not knowing where to turn next.

As everyone contemplated as to what they should do, there came a stirring from the grounded draconicorn. Her fingers began to twitch, her arms following with the same sensation. Twilight's eyelids fluttered as her conscious mind returned to her. She struggled to get back up on her feet, as her head was not one hundred percent normal as of yet. Twilight clasped her face as she stumbled about, attempting to keep herself upright. While she did this, Celestia took notice of Twilight's return to her wakened state, and alerted to the others of the draconicorn's condition. Everyone turned their attention to Twilight, and quickly ran over to check up on their ill-fated friend.

"Twilight!"

"Are you all right??"

"You're not hurt too bad, are you?"

"How many hooves am I holding up?"

It was already difficult for Twilight to get her head straight, but the barrage of questions being thrown at her from all directions was not helping. She was now clasping both sides of her head, trying in vain to ease the throbbing in her skull, but each new word reverberated throughout her cranium like a booming echo inside a capacious cavern.

"Would everypony...STOP?!!" bellows the infuriated draconicorn, whose outburst forced back all who had gathered around her. Everyone stared back at the exasperated Twilight, silenced by her alarming upsurge. But as quickly as it had come, the silence was ruptured by none other than Twilight, who at that moment began to exhibit uncontrollable convulsions. Twilight's friends dreaded what was coming next, though Celestia and Luna had yet to witness this particular characteristic of Twilight's cursed state. Though Twilight's entire form was experiencing a spasm, her mane was flailing much more wildly than the rest of her body, and soon this very mane began to glow brightly. The length of Twilight's mane decreased, receding to just the back of her neck, ending above where her serpentine body began. Its shape then took on an upwards, straightened position, before bursting into a blinding luminosity, temporarily immobilizing all of Twilight's friends. After assuming it was safe to uncover their eyes, everyone turned their attention back to Twilight, horrified to see that their friend's mane had transformed into the spiny dorsal fin of a fish! Even the hair on top of her head had been adapted to this new form! However, this was not the most troubling sight for Twilight's friends to witness.

Even though her transformation appeared complete, Twilight's body had yet to cease its incessant contortions. Though initially perplexing, the answer to this problem was soon given to the onlookers by the display of Twilight's left hind leg, which was now thrashing excessively. Yet another glaring illumination was produced by the draconicorn's rear limb, with the ponies and Spike acting in the same manner as they had just previously conducted. Upon her appendage's evanescence of its coating of light, Twilight's body at last halted in its incessant trembling. With her mind functional once again, Twilight's attention was drawn to her metamorphosed leg, which she was utterly shocked to see it had transformed into the leg of an insect(most similar to the smaller back leg of a green grasshopper)! Though already in a state of alarm, Twilight became even more panicked when she realized her mane was gone. She felt around the top of her head for any remnants of hair, and her scouring hands came upon the dorsal fin now aligning her nape.

"Oh no..." Twilight said; so horrified in her realization that she could barely raise her voice to an audible level. "It's accelerating...it'll only be a matter of time before I change entirely..." The disheartened draconicorn clasped her face as she fell to her knees, having lost nearly all assurance that things would get better. Her friends stood by in silence as they watched their dispirited companion.

"Twilight...?"

Twilight removed the palms from her countenance at the sound of her name. She looked around at her fellow ponies and Spike, having momentarily forgotten they had all encircled her. However, not even the sight of her dear friends could do much to renew her bygone sense of hope, and it took all of the sapphire-maned girl's remaining strength to keep herself from bawling all over the throne room floor.

Unable to stand by while the former pony suffered, Princess Luna approached he dejected draconicorn, placing a hoof atop her bald-pated head.

Twilight looks upwards towards the princess. At first she could say nothing, but soon the recent memories came flooding back to her: every harmful act she thrust upon the princess with every intent of causing harm to her person. Just the knowledge that she herself was responsible for these contemptible acts tied Twilight's stomach into knots; she grasped her chest, unable to bear the weight of this plight.

"I'm so sorry..." Twilight proclaims as she seizes Princess Luna's legs. "I...I'm just...I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for what I've done to you...for what I've done to everyone here: Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Celestia," there came a pause. "Oh, princess Celestia..." Twilight moved herself over to Celestia, grabbing onto her legs as well. "Princess...I... wish I could take back everything...all the pain and torment I caused you and Princess Luna...just everyone I've hurt while I've been like this...this—dreaded monster I've become!!"

At last, Twilight could hold it in no longer: the suffering draconicorn fell to the floor, overcome by guilt and despair. Nothing could hold back the flood of tears pouring from the girl's eyes. This breakdown was just as hard to watch as any of the others that Twilight had gone through, and all her friends felt just as hurt that Twilight was forced to suffer it all alone.

"That will be quite enough!"

Twilight slowed her weeping as she peered upwards to see Luna standing before her.

"I apologize for my seeming lack of sympathy, but now is no time for these forlorn outbursts!"

"Huh?" Twilight said, perplexed by Luna's pronouncement, whilst all the others were otherwise dismayed.

Luna sighed deeply, "I understand your predicament, Twilight Sparkle, but this senseless sobbing will do nothing to mend it! We must act with haste if there is any hope of returning you to your original self!"

"But how??" Twilight pleaded with the princess. "It's not like a solution is just going to poof in out of nowhere!"

As one would expect, nobody was prepared when there came a sudden explosion in front of Celestia's throne. After shielding themselves from the blast, a familiar voice emanated from the mass of smoke as it settled onto the floor.

"Not necessarily a 'poof', but I suppose we needn't argue semantics here," stated the master of chaos: Discord, whom nobody was particularly happy seeing—well, except for Fluttershy, who would consider herself more neutral than upset here, but that's just here.

"I'm relatively sorry to interrupt," the draconequus explained as he walked towards the congregation. "But I have been sensing quite the bit of activity today: numerous bursts of magical imbalances from around Ponyville, and then here! That's when I felt I should come and see the commotion for myself—mostly due to the fact that there has been much chaos going on, and yet I'm not the cause of it! That is something I simply cannot tolerate!"

After voicing his frustration on the matter, Discord finally notices that Twilight resembles him in a way, to which he is naturally surprised.

"...my, Twilight: I'm enjoying this new look you're trying out for yourself! A bit lanky; but it's nice to see somepony else finally getting some good taste around here!"

"This isn't some fashion statement!" Twilight retorted.

"And if it was, it would make for a very poor one!" Rarity added.

"Anyways," Applejack interjected. "Twilight didn't do this to herself!"

"It was a cloud!"

"A cloud that was causing chaos just like you!" Rainbow proclaimed fiercely.

"Is that so?" Discord asked, sounding a bit intrigued.

"It is most so!"

"And I think we can all agree that one particular draconequus is the one behind all this!" Rainbow affirmed, with her friends all strongly agreeing(except for Fluttershy, who naturally wasn't so quick to place blame on her reformed friend.

"Well, aren't we so quick to judge! Even though I'm the only one who appreciates some good chaos around here, I would never try to curse any of you! Scout's honor!" Discord stated, holding up his right hand and magically donning a scout's uniform.

"As if his word can be trusted!"

"And he's probably not even a scout!"

Discord could feel the tension as his so-called "friends" ganged up on him. So much for the magic of friendship, right? However, as the disconcerted draconequus cast his gaze upon Fluttershy, he could see by the expression on her face that this pegasus was not on the same page as her friends; she would be certain to hold a little trust in his word.

"Oh, my dearest Fluttershy: truly you of all ponies know that I have mended my evil ways and have become a decent and productive member of society," Discord explained in an overly dramatic fashion, which was clearly not working on anybody but Fluttershy.

"Don't let him entice you, Fluttershy! He is not nearly as charming as he makes himself out to be!"

"Oh, miss Rarity; can you not see that all of that is in the past? I may have been a bad seed back then, but today, I am naught but an angel," Discord said as he teleported himself over to Fluttershy, though when he did, he made himself look like a tiny angel, floating to the left side of her head.

"Believe you me, Fluttershy I am most certainly not the source of these recent acts of misconduct; I am an honorable creature through and through," he stated, playing a pleasant tune on his tiny harp.

Fluttershy looked to be trusting Discord's words, but then she heard a similar voice from the opposite side of her head.

"Don't listen to him, Fluttershy! He's lying and everyone knows it!"

These denigrating accusations were coming from a second Discord, who unlike the other one, was dressed as a devil. Fluttershy did not even know what to think at this sudden turn of events, and neither did any of her friends.

"You're the one who's lying! I would never even think of bringing such vile acts upon this beauteous land which I now call home!"

"Suuure—you say that now."

"How dare you say that!"

"I most certainly do!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

"You don't make any sense!"

The argument between the two micro-Discords raged on, with Fluttershy doing nothing but staring blankly at their quarreling.

"Umm...I'm very confused."

"That's it!" Applejack shouted, halting the verbal fracas. "Quit tryin' tuh mess with 'er head!" she shouted whilst shooing away the miniscule draconequui.

The angel and devil then poofed away, and Discord reappeared as his normal self and size before the ponies and Spike.

"All right, all right; I was just having a little fun there. But in all seriousness I am not responsible for turning Twilight into the spectacular creature she is now."

But alas, Discord's proclamation of honesty had no effect on his supposed friends as each held the same judgmental look upon their faces(minus Fluttershy, who still looked a bit puzzled from before). Discord was becoming a tad flustered by all this visual denouncing, and showed his emotion quite clearly.

It was this very expression which gave rise to Fluttershy's feelings of friendship she held for Discord. As everyone else was against him, she knew that as his only true friend, she must stand up for him, and not leave him a victim to such scorn from her pony pals.

"Now hold on, you guys," the pegasus situated herself over by Discord as she spoke her defense of the draconequus. "I know Discord hasn't had the most...reputable history...but that doesn't mean we should point all hooves at him just because he's the most likely one to have been behind all these wrongdoings."

"Thank you, Fluttershy—I think..."

"Discord is our friend now, and as such, he is entitled to full benefit of the doubt—just as we would do for any of you."

Nobody was happy with Fluttershy defending the one who should be the clear perpetrator of these malfeasances; but, as Fluttershy was their friend, she was deserving of trust, and thusly the ponies and Spike reluctantly chose to trust Discord's word as well.

"Oh, I am so happy my friends are finally coming along in seeing what an upstanding gent I have become," he proclaimed as he stretched multiple arms out to bring everyone in for an undesirable hug(by all except Fluttershy, of course).

"And I am so glad that we have put all this nonsense behind us," Discord stated once letting everyone go. "I mean, come on: why would I create a cloud to do my work for me when I prefer spreading chaos myse—" Discord's face froze in mid-sentence. His entire body had done the same. It was as if his mind locked up on him; which certainly made for a strange and uncomfortable sight for the others to witness.

"Discord? Are you all right?"

No response.

"What they hay is he doin'?"

"Is his brain broken?"

"Ooch! That sounds painful!" Pinkie stated, grasping her head.

With still no reaction from Discord, Fluttershy flew over to his head to see if he could hear her better.

"Discord?" she tapped the side of his head, with a small echo heard bouncing around inside his cranium.

Fluttershy turned to her friends, entirely unsure of what to make of this situation.

"I remember..."

Everyone swiftly placed their attention back on Discord upon hearing his barely audible words.

"It was so long ago...I'd completely forgotten..." Discord's body regressed back to its non-rigid state as he sat himself down on the floor of the throne room. The tone of his voice was very odd indeed...he spoke as if he had just recalled a horrible memory—and considering what he had said so far, that may very well be the case. So instead of responding to the draconequus, everypony and Spike listened to the master of chaos as he began his elucidation of events long past...

Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 2/5

Thousands of moons ago; long before the coming of the Celestial/Lunar Reign, Discord ruled the once-proud nation of Equestria with an iron fist and paw! All ponies feared the draconequus and his crazed antics: turning rivers to jelly; making grass poke whomever walked on it; replacing all salt with sugar—truly he was a madman of the highest kind...

Though his love of chaos was still very evident, this Discord was different than the one the ponies of the present time had come to know; this Discord appeared much more malicious in his brand of chaos—he seemed to enjoy causing much suffering to others, as long as it brought him amusement. Additionally, he never intentionally created anything that anypony could obtain any form of enjoyment out of—that's why he did away with his jelly rivers, as some ponies began eating them. He instead replaced the jelly with even more salt, and the lord of chaos did indeed get a hoot out of that one.

But, even with all the anarchy rampant throughout Equestria, Discord was still not satisfied...there was clearly more of this world that demanded his attention, what with all those creatures trying to live in "peace" and "harmony"...those words made Discord wretch...

Now, why does Discord not simply go out and disseminate mayhem and ruination to the rest of the world himself?

Well, even though the draconequus' heart did not feel for any but his own self, Discord had grown accustomed to the land of Equestria and the ponies who live there—meaning he enjoyed tormenting the Equestrians more so than any other species he has previously reigned over. But "feelings" aside, Discord could not idly sand by while there was certainly so much peace and tranquility somewhere out there, and he was determined to find a way to put an end to it.

For many a moon Discord pondered this dilemma, believing there to be an ideal solution that would bring about chaos to every corner of the world. He would stay up for days and nights(though you wouldn't be able to tell, as Discord only moved the sun and moon when he felt like it) racking his brain to come up with something—anything at all that could be a viable idea. Then one day, as Discord was fly-fishing(which is exactly what you think it would be concerning Discord), an idea hit him like a bolt of lightning(whilst a pony's home was simultaneously incinerated by lightning upon his forming of the idea).

If Discord could not strew bedlam across the world himself, he would need someone else to do it for him—or in this case, something...

Discord acted quickly on his idea, and began to form the object which would carry out his will...a cloud imbued with his very dark magic which would give the cloud all the power it needed to wreak havoc in the same manner as the lord of chaos himself.

Why a cloud, you ask? Because Discord felt a cloud would not be too conspicuous, enabling it to surprise whomever it came across with its hidden powers—which just adds to the fun!

But, merely creating a cloud and giving it his own power wasn't good enough—the cloud would need to think and act just as Discord so it would perform properly...and this was the difficult part for Discord...

Discord readied himself before his vaporous creation. He stared at its billowy mass as it radiated with the dark energy surging through its entire form. How very proud Discord was with his creation...out of all that has spawned by the draconequus' hands over the course of history, none could match this weapon of mass disorder. Though Discord was already a legend for all that he has caused in the past, he believed it would be this very object which would cement Discord into his place in history as the one and only lord of chaos! These thoughts of infamous prestige caused Discord to burst into maniacal laughter, which is when one could truly see the draconequus' predominant insanity. He fell to the ground as his cackling continued, unable to hold back his deranged laughter. He rolled through the dirt and banged his fist on the ground; never holding an instant of silence with his chortling. Not many would doubt that there was no other creature in this world as unhinged as Discord.

Eventually, the lord of chaos managed to tire himself out from his seemingly inexhaustible laughter, and pulled himself back up onto his feet. It was then that Discord asked himself what he had been doing, as he had actually made himself during his fit of uncontrollable cackling. Upon noticing his chaos-bringing cloud, the memory resurfaced, and Discord set himself back on track with completing his magnum opus; and the ultimate constituent of his creation was something which even Discord dreaded to obtain—but obtain it he must...

Taking a deep breath, Discord enveloped his hand with dark magic, and aggressively rammed his fist into his own chest. Already the piercing pain struck right through the draconequus, and even managed to draw out a tear from the unfeeling Discord's eyes. But something as trivial as pain would not impede the chaos lord's personally laudable work. Discord sucked the tears back into his eye socket, and persevered with his modus operandi.

Though this procedure does indeed seem painful, it is not entirely as it sounds. When Discord forced his fist into his chest, the magic surrounding his hand allowed for the limb to phase through his body without causing any physical harm to Discord—but of course, physical injury is not the only kind...

When the initial blow was made, Discord was not attempting to punch through his body, but rather inside it—into the part of him which existed beneath his mortal body, just as with all other living creatures in the world; a part which could not be reached by any physical means; the part which made every sentient being who they are; and it was this very part which would make Discord's cloud the way he wanted it to be...

The lord of chaos pressed on, pushing to the limit the level of abuse he could endure to obtain the crucial component in his master plan. Eyes straining and teeth grinding, Discord reached further within himself, utilizing every ounce of willpower he had to keep going. Then at last, Discord felt a stirring deep down in his soma; he had gotten hold of that which he required, but it was not over yet. Neither quickly or slowly, Discord pulled back his arm. As his hand emerged from the inner workings of Discord's physique, something else followed suit; grasped between the tips of Discord's talons. Discord continued to pull delicately until the Stygian object was fully extracted; severed from its link with the draconequus' inner body. Discord slowly felt the relief returning to him, his dreadful experience finally over. He then cast his gaze towards the strange item clasped within his eagle talons, showing his pleasure with a sinister grin.

Cloaked in pure blackness, the strange object was unlike anything seen in this world. It was not too large; about the size and length of Discord's arm. The wispy item swayed about, as if it were a living entity itself; which, in a way, it was, for this arcane object was an extract of Discord's very essence—it contained Discord's personality, his mind, and all other traits which formed Discord into the feared bringer of chaos as he has made himself known to all. This is the reason why this component was the most necessary of all, for without it, the cloud could never carry out Discord's intentions in the exact way as the master himself. It was worth every ounce of excruciating pain Discord suffered in order to acquire it, and now was the time for the rest of the world to see and know the work of the lord of chaos for the remainder of history.

Discord approaches the pulsating cloud, and enveloped his lion's paw with dark magic, just as he had done before. He laid the piece of his essence against the exterior of the cloud, and gently placed his other hand against the wisp, letting go of its other end. The dark magic pulsed greatly from Discord's paw as it surrounded the wisp, the energy flying outwards in undulating streams. Discord opened his paw flat, forcing his magic against the essence, which only discharged the dark energy with even greater ferocity. But Discord did not relent—he would not accept failure! Especially not from himself! Discord pushed against the essence wisp with all the strength contained within his mighty lion arm. This auxiliary effort showed itself to be working, as now the wisp began to gradually sink into the fluffy exterior of the cloud: penetrating its billowy layers and delving deeper within the internal workings of the supernatural gaseous object.

Discord continued to drive the slice of his essence through the outermost shell of the cloud, not holding back for even the slightest second. Suddenly, Discord was taken aback by the abrupt upsurge of dark energy bursting from the spot where the wisp was. This surge grew and grew, until at last it erupted from the spot, blasting the draconequus several yards away. He tumbled across the round before coming to a stop. Discord lifted his head, shaking off the aches and pains felt all around his body. But these minor discomforts did not trouble him long, as his attention was swiftly drawn to the sounds of warped crackling.

Gushes of dark energy flared up all around the cloud; both on the surface and underneath. Small spouts of magic shot up from the cloud's exterior like a ruptured volcano, whilst simultaneously formed bulges all over the cloud's body, showing the magic kept within had just about reached its breaking point upon the acquisition of Discord's essence. As these malformations persisted, the mass of collected magic, evil, and water droplets lifted up into the air, with the magic surges gradually decreasing in size and activity. The cloud soon came to a stop, hovering a short distance above Discord's head. At the same time, the constant churning of the unstable power inside the cloud had evanesced, which put a smile(albeit a creepy one) on Discord's face.

Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 3/5

"Yes...it worked...it finally worked!" Discord shouted to the heavens. "My essence has taken hold of my power in the cloud! It now has all the magic it will need to spread glorious chaos to the entire world!!" Discord laughed more maniacally than ever before; even falling to the ground again as he did so(though this time he didn't forget what he was doing once finished).

Once back on his feet, Discord felt that before sending his creation out to disseminate pandemonium to all corners of the world, he should give it a test to make sure it will perform exactly in the manner Discord had envisioned. Discord scanned the surrounding area for suitable subjects for the cloud's first test run.

Discord's attention was caught by the most evident object that was situated nearby: an old, barren tree, which clearly had seen the end of its days long ago. Discord was a tad perturbed there wasn't something more suitable to use, but beggars can't be choosers.

Discord promptly ordered his creation to use its powers on the lifeless oak, and to make it good, as Discord did not want his name tarnished by substandard causations of chaos. The cloud responded quickly to its creator's command, charging up one of its dark energy lightning bolts and firing it directly at the departed plant. With a brilliant flash of dark energy, the spell's work had been carried out, and the tree began its metamorphosis. The many branches of the tree shifted; amalgamating themselves together in five separate groups. As this occurred, the trunk of the tree rapidly extended straight up into the sky, reaching an elevation five times higher than in its previous form. The five bundle of branches had finished their integration, and thusly the entire process was complete: the previously deceased pile of rotten wood had transformed into a not-so-dead-anymore giant arm! Discord was astonished at his cloud's handiwork; even he himself had never conceived such an idea! But, the demonstration had yet to conclude.

The colossal hand bent down towards the ground and took hold of the earth beneath it. The ligneous limb began to pull vigorously—not with its hand, but with the opposite end. The newly-armed tree was not entirely changed—the bottom of its trunk still retained tree-like qualities, by means of the myriad of roots embedded deep in the rock and soil. This fixture proved to be a crutch for the arboreal appendage, impeding its ability to roam further than its current situation. The tree exerted itself more and more, with some of the roots snapping from their bonds whilst others were pulled completely from the dirt. Finally, the tree gave a final, powerful tug, and yanked the rest of its body from the ground, finally free.

Now that the transformed timber was no longer tethered to the earth, it could move anywhere of its own accord. The tree did so by grabbing the ground with its hand, then moving its behind forward, allowing it to crawl across the ground like a caterpillar across the branch of a tree in springtime. So, the tree-arm continued on its journey; crawling away from the site of its transformation towards a life of freaking out anypony it would come across(since who wouldn't be freaked out by a giant, wooden arm?)

Needless to say, Discord was delighted by the exhibition of his cloud's abilities. Its performance well exceeded Discord's expectations, and showed truly that the spirit of the lord of chaos resonated deeply within its billowy form.

"That was certainly quite the spectacle," Discord proclaimed to his creation. "You have proven yourself to be a bona fide bringer of chaos, and I couldn't be more proud," Discord said as he wiped a tear from his eye using a handkerchief pulled from his wrist. The cloud responded with several sounds of booming thunder, as it evidently could not speak; but Discord understood all the same.

"Anyhoo, now is the time for you to fulfill your duty; go out, my creation, and purvey your newfound power throughout every last city, town, or settlement that lie across the entirety of this world! Go now! And make them all know the name of Discord: the master of all chaos!!!" Discord laughed his most depraved laugh yet as he released bolts of dark magic from his palms. The dark lightning streaked up into the sky, cracking through the air as if coming off a storm of black magic! As Discord continued the display of his prowess, his opus drifted away; starting on its journey to travel the world and inflict any and all manner of disarray and anarchy upon all who cross its path!

Discord watched the cloud float until out of sight. The lord of chaos was quite pleased with all that he had accomplished that day: Creating a new way to disseminate his form of turpitude across all lands and races in the world? Not many others can say they did that during their day! Discord chuckled at the thought, then returned to his throne, which towered over the checkerboard plains, which sits between the field of foul-smelling flowers and the recently formed river of salt. The draconequus sat himself down, feeling comfortable and content with himself. Discord observed at the surrounding area of Equestria, looking upon all the nearby ponies feeling pain, misery, sadness, and fear due to the various chaotic works Discord produced for himself and them(mostly for him, though). Just the thought that the rest of the world would eventually be just as Equestria currently was made Discord feel absolutely giddy.

Feeling he had put in a good day and/or night's work, Discord decided he had earned himself a good day and/or night's sleep, so the draconequus prepared for his rest by first conjuring up a lever on the side of his throne, pulling it back, and moving his throne backwards into a reclining position(with a part for his legs lifting up in front of the throne simultaneously). Discord then laid back his head and drifted off into a peaceful slumber; the only time when this draconequus would ever be shown in even the slightest state of harmony, as was shown by the drop in chaotic activity upon his going to sleep. This was also the only time anypony could take a rest themselves, and made sure to take advantage of it before the lord of chaos returned to his conscious state.

As the ponies of Equestria moved out to enjoy what little time they had before Discord awakened, the cloud carrying Discord's powers and essence drifted towards Equestria's eastern ocean: ready, willing, and able to engender all the disharmony that it was capable of...

But, that is not where the story ends for Discord's superlative creation...

Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 4/5

As you may already know, Discord's reign over Equestria was not everlasting. Though nopony dared to stand up to his power beforehoof, there came two individuals who did just that: two pony sisters by the names of Celestia and Luna. He knew not of the origins of these two ponies—nor did he know why they possessed both wings and horns, as Discord had never seen such a thing before—he was really quite intrigued by this sudden occurrence, and decided to hear the ponies out.

Celestia, the elder pony, proclaimed to Discord that his time as the tyrannical ruler of Equestria had come to its end, and that they would be the two to break his hold over the defenseless ponies of Equestria. Luna interpolated her own thoughts on the matter, saying that no living being in this world deserved to live in such horrid conditions and under the rule of a despicable creature like him. Of course, this being Discord, he simply thanked the winged, horned pony for her complimenting his methods and bowed before her.

Celestia and Luna had had enough of this depraved draconequus' debasing of their disparaging declarations. It was time for the sisters to show Discord why they were no pushovers—unfortunately for them Discord wasn't what one would call a "pushover", either...

The ponies contained considerably more magic than any other pony in Equestria—but as they soon discovered during their first encounter with Discord, his dark magic was still more than a match for their light magic. The ponies left in defeat, with Discord simply jubilant with his simplistic victory over the ponies who so foolishly believed they stood a chance against him; it was to laugh—which is exactly what Discord did right afterwards, making sure Celestia and Luna could hear him well...

What a delightful encounter that was for Discord—nopony ever had the courage to stand up to him before, and even though the clearly didn't stand a chance of beating him, it was still quite amusing to see them try and fail at it. Discord laughed and laughed till the sun went down—and the moon came up, and then the two celestial bodies continued switching places for the short time Discord spent cackling.

Discord's laughter soon receded, as something stirred within him—a thought stuck in the back of his mind. It had to do with the cutie marks the two ponies had: the elder with the sun on her flank, and the younger with the moon on her own. He felt he had seen those images someplace...someplace specific...and then it dawned on him.

The tree! That magic, crystal tree thing he discovered some time ago bore the same sun and moon markings as those two ponies on its trunk. He never understood why it had those markings before, but now he suspected that it had something to do with this Celestia and Luna...and it might not be so good for him.

Even though Discord had always considered himself the most powerful being in the world, his conviction in that had wavered upon discovering the tree. It was unlike anything before encountered by the lord of chaos, and he could sense that it held powerful magic inside it—magic far greater than any he himself possessed, as was shown when Discord attempted to destroy the arboreal menace, only for his dark magic to not leave even a scratch upon the crystalline plant. What a shocking blow this was to the self-proclaimed king of all things dark and chaotic.

Discord had been understandably flustered ever since his humiliating defeat at the hands(err, branches) of that accursed tree, and had not gone a single day without thinking about it. Though the tree never seemed to act on its own when using its magic(unless provoked by an outside force) Discord still retained a fear inside him that another user of light magic may unearth the tree and figure out how to harness its power for themselves—and then Discord's reign over Equestria would be threatened, which was something he could not allow...

Day by day, Discord had always spent some amount of the day(because he had reserved the majority of each day for spreading chaos, naturally) pondering over what could be done about that detestable hunk of crystal. This proved to be a difficult task, as normally Discord's magic was enough for him to solve any problem he managed to come across; but an object of such great magical power as this—he was at a total loss as to how he could get rid of it in one fell swoop!

And that's when it hit him(releasing yet another bolt of lightning in concurrence, which sent several nearby ponies flying).

Though the tree's power far exceeded his own, there existed a way for Discord to stop its magic once and for all—well, to a point, that is. Discord would not use his power to destroy the tree, but instead weaken it. The way the draconequus went about doing this was by creating small seeds, which he called "Plunderseeds". These seeds contained a sizable amount of dark magic in them that would prevent the tree for destroying them instantly. This would lead into the second phase of the plan, where many colossal vines would sprout from the tiny seeds and wrap their tendrils around the tree's entire body. Then, all together, the vines would generate a field of dark energy that surrounded every inch of the tree's exterior, severely weakening its power, albeit not destroying the tree itself, as the power would still exist within it.

As impressive as the power of the Plunderseeds was, incapacitating the tree alone would clearly not be enough, as if the vines were removed, the full power of the tree would be restored. But, Discord had thought of this as well, and thusly, he created the seeds to be somewhat sentient, as they would attack anyone who attempted to free the tree from their grasp; and with so many seeds, nobody could possibly stop them all at once—especially since the nearly unstoppable power of Discord resonated within each and every one of these chaotic little seedlings...

However, there still remained one final snag: those two sisters whom Discord had just encountered. He still remembered of their very possible connection to the tree, and though he did not fear them in the slightest upon their first meeting, he now retained a slight sense of trepidation that those sisters might find some way past his seemingly impenetrable Plundervine defense. Discord could not allow even the slightest possibility for those ponies to succeed in their mission to vanquish him and all he has created, and that is where the final phase of his Plunderseed plot falls into place.

Though Discord's magic was already present in the seeds, that would not be enough for his devious creations to stop the sisters, as they may not be present at the tree during the time of ensnarement. They would need to know to locate the ponies so they could be properly captured and detained; that is why Discord also inserted a small amount of intelligence into the Plunderseeds(which is not the same as the essence he gave to the cloud, as that contained more than just the ability to think), so they would know who it was they needed to track down so as to keep with their creator's plans of keeping Equestria the chaotic country that Discord has come to know and enjoy ruling over.

Now, the magic itself is what would give the odious plants the power needed to apprehend the Celestia and Luna, but how would they go about searching out the two ponies? Well, in all magical beings, whether they be creatures or objects, project an aura unique to themselves—it is this very aura which the Plunderseeds will utilize in their efforts to seek out and imprison the two sisters in confined quarters from which their limited magic cannot escape from; that is the final cog in Discord's perfect machine created for ensuring his sovereignty over Equestria can never and will never be jeopardize by any one(or more) beings in this world ever again...

Not much time had passed since Discord had finished the planning stage for his wicked scheme, and at this time his miniscule creations were completed: an entire small sack of them was grasped firmly in his talons. A devious smile was draped across Discord's face, as soon there would be no creature or object in this world that could ever hold the power stand up to him ever again. Discord laughed and laughed as he felt the glory of his perfect plan well up inside him. While enjoying himself so immensely, Discord reached into the bag of Plunderseeds and casually tossed one into his mouth, eating it like it were popcorn(the reason being that Discord made plenty extra for him to consume, as he loved the taste of his own dark magic—even if the seeds did taste a little planty). Discord continued eating the seeds and tossing them about, with the seeds burying themselves in the ground in order to begin their search and ensnarement of the tree and the two sisters. Certainly, this has been quite the productive day for Discord!

Chapter 13: Some Much Needed Clarification 5/5

Speaking of the those ponies, who should arrive just moments later than Celestia and Luna themselves! Discord was unsure why they were back again, but he felt no change in their individual magical power, so they obviously had not discovered that tree as of yet, which meant Discord had nothing to fear, and as such, decided to remind the two ponies that he was still in charge here.

Discord turned his throne around to face Celestia and Luna, who were both sporting resolute(and a bit dirty) faces, as if they still believed they could defeat him. What silly little fools they were, and how much fun it was going to be mess with them this time.

"Oh ho ho, huh hoo!" Discord laughed gleefully. "This is so much fun! How about a game of 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'?" he proposed, lifting up a tail adorned with four stripes of light cerulean, light turquoise, very light cobalt blue, and pale heliotrope. Celestia instantly recognized the tail as her own, turning around to face her own tail-less behind with a gasp. Inside, Discord was cracking up from how simple it was to bedevil the sisters, and the fact that they approached him closer with their adamant expressions still held only forced the lord of chaos to have to use all his strength to keep from flat-out bursting into laughter from the pitiful attempts at not showing fear these ponies continued to present to the him.

"Play time is over for you, Discord!" Celestia proclaimed staunchly.

"Oh, I doubt that," Discord stated in a disinterested tone, tossing his Plunderseeds about whilst eating a few in front of the sisters to show his lack of apprehension. And interestingly, the seeds actually tasted better now than they had before, as shown by the sounds of pleasure Discord produced upon consumption of the seedlings. These ponies just seemed to make everything better! "Hungry?" Discord asked as he presented the bag of seeds to the sisters, with two seeds falling out and hitting the foreheads of the sister inadvertently(or maybe not...). However, the ponies didn't change their expressions in the slightest, and Discord took that as a saying that they weren't particularly hungry at the moment. "Suit yourselves," the draconequus said, tossing another talonful of seeds into his mouth afterwards. Discord closed his eyes casually as he savored the taste of his seeds, now having more for himself.

Upon reopening his eyes, Discord was a bit surprised at what he beheld: six gemstones of different colors were being magically held up by the sisters, with three held by Luna and three by Celestia. "Ohhh! What have you got there?" Discord inquired, though in reality he was feigning interest. At the same time, he had dropped his bag of seeds, which mattered not, as the seeds would still act on their duties all the same. Discord also eyed the open saddlebags the ponies had on, which meant they must have carried these objects of unknown purpose all the way to him. How touching that they would make the effort for Discord! He must be the luckiest draconequus in the world!

"The Elements of Harmony," Celestia had responded whilst Discord was in the midst of his rumination. She and her sister proceeded to spin the so-called "Elements of Harmony" around their bodies in two separate circles, rapidly speeding up the movement of the stones until a large sphere magically appeared, surrounding the ponies as the stones took on a more ring-like form in their swift gyrations.

"With them, we shall defeat you!" the younger Luna appended.

Whatever these "Elements of Harmony" were, they clearly possessed a magic of their own, and just as clearly, these ponies had found something they believe can defeat him; upon his assimilation of this information, Discord simply could not hold back anymore, and finally burst with a volley of uncontrolled laughter, almost falling back off his throne as he chortled. These ponies were so laughably desperate! Discord's sides pained him from his disreputable enjoyment. He just had to keep this going!

"You should see yourselves right now!" he said as he leaned back upright. "The expressions on your face! So intense! So sure of yourselves! Ha ha haaa!" Discord again closed his eyes as he sniggered to himself as he clasped his sides, unable to stop himself—though why in Equestria would he want to do that? He was taking in so much pleasure from debasing these ponies that he didn't even bother to look as he heard what sounded like something magical being released(most likely from this stones), and continued to belittle the sisters further.

"Hilarious! Ha ha ha ha—" is all he had gotten to say, as in what seemed like an instant, Discord felt his entire body freeze as if he had turned to stone—which he did! Though Discord could not open his eyes to show it, he was overcome with shock. Not a single part of his anatomy would move! He even attempted to use his dark magic powers, but nothing worked! How could those ponies have actually discovered something that could be greater than his own power? They never could have gotten past his Plundervines!

During this bout of frantic thinking, something penetrated his freshly mineral ears: it was sound—specifically, the sound of someone talking. It appeared that though the entirety of his flesh and organs were transmuted to that of stone, his hearing was apparently fully active(though he knew not why). Soon enough, Discord realized he was actually hearing two voices, and they belonged to no other than those accursed ponies who imprisoned him in this granite sheath. Being immobilized as he was, Discord could only listen as the sisters spoke unaware to the draconequus' still functional auditory perception.

A heavy breath of relief was heard. "It's is finally done," stated the voice of Celestia. "Everything is as it once was."

"The lands have returned to their natural form, and there is not a hint of the impish draconequus' influence anywhere in sight," the younger alicorn Luna added.

"Even with all of his dark magical prowess, not even Discord could stand up against the power of the Elements of Harmony."

"We could have never accomplished our mission without them. The Tree of Harmony has indeed assisted us immensely."

Tree of Harmony? That must be where those elements...wait! TREE of Harmony?? That must...must be the same tree Discord had discovered! The same tree which held the greater power than his! That's how those stones were able to defeat him! They came from that tree!! How is this possible?? Why had his seeds not done their job?? How could the tree still be unprotected?!? Discord pondered these thoughts frantically, no longer paying any mind to the alicorns outside his stone prison.

It was near impossible for the draconequus to grasp how those two ponies had overcome his vines. They hadn't the power in themselves to fight against his dark magic! They should have been captured on the spot! How?? HOW?? How...

Over and over, the dethroned lord of chaos repeated the single syllable word in his mind. After all, what else could he do? He hadn't the power to escape—he hadn't the power to do anything but hear and think.

For the first time in as long as he can remember, Discord felt truly powerless...and truly afraid...

That is the tale of Discord's final days as ruler of Equestria...but the tale of Discord has not yet ended, because one question remains: what became of the cloud holding Discord's essence and powers?

Though he and his essence were separate in the physical sense, they still held an unbroken link: one where if Discord was affected in a certain way, the cloud would be affected in the same way.

Across the western sea, the chaos cloud was spreading Discord's chaotic influence across whatever land it floated over; affecting any and all living or inanimate creatures or objects it felt the desire to inflict bedlam upon. However, the instant Discord was defeated by the hooves of Celestia and Luna, the cloud and its essence felt an instant and drastic change as well. At a lessened pace, the cloud ceased its rain of chaotic magic, and everything it had once affected was changing back to normal. The once fluffy exterior of the billowing mass of dark magic felt itself transforming into a stiffer, more mineral texture. It knew not what was happening, but soon realized it was powerless to stop this transformation.

As the conversion persisted, the cloud had also gradually been sinking from the sky, unable to hold up its increasing weight. The cloud drifted lower and lower until it entered a deep chasm, where it did not stop until it dropped down into the darkened depths of the chasm, where no other living creature did exist.

All the way to the bottom did the cloud plummet, where it would remain—unknown to any other—for many moons to come...

That is, until the eventual revival of the lord of chaos due to the Elements' spell over him weakening since the time of Luna's banishment to the moon, which severed the bond the sisters shared with the Elements of Harmony, thereby turning the elements to stone to await the day the new holders of the Elements of Harmony would come forth. However, even when that day had come, the spell containing Discord still came undone, and the devious draconequus was unleashed into the world to bring about a second "Chaos Reign".

However, unbeknownst to anyone(including Discord), at the time of Discord's escape from the enclosure of stone, his cloud had been revived as well; the layers of minerals reverting to their fluffy form once again, and the billowy bringer of bedlam was free to fulfill its creator's will once again—that is, until Twilight and her friends re-sealed Discord in a new statue of imprisonment, and the cloud changed back to stone before it had even floated back out of the cavernous chasm...

"...but evidently, when I became de-statue-fied for good, my aged creation was freed along with me, and must have been bringing about chaos ever to the outer world ever since," Discord explained, nearing the end of his story. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't proud of it for never departing from its original purpose," he stated proudly, shedding a tear from his eye.

"Yeah—fantastic," Rainbow responded sarcastically.

"It is, isn't it?" Discord responds with a smile.

"Hold on a second," Applejack interjected. "When we first found the tree tangled up in your vines, it was dyin'! You said they were only supposed to weaken it!"

"That's because the Plundervines were made to incapacitate the entire Tree of Harmony; I didn't plan that a sizable amount of its power would be taken away, but because that's the case, my Plunderseeds performed higher than originally expected; things were really going my way that day!"

"Not counting the 'being turned to stone' part?"

"But of course."

"Enough with the reminiscin'!" Applejack shouted irately. "It doesn't matter how yer seeds were supposed tuh work! All that matters now is that we know yer the one responsible for what happened to Twilight, so yer the one who's gonna remove her curse!"

"Must I? Because, personally, I rather like this change," Discord responded, with his response being met with the faces of enraged ponies directly in his own face. "...but I'll see what I can do."

Chapter 14: Jump-starting the Princess 1/2

The friends of Twilight Sparkle watched intently as Discord worked his dark magic on the comatose draconicorn, reluctantly attempting to free her from her new, unwanted persona. Time rolled on as the black-grey magic streamed from Discord's palms and surrounded Twilight's body, attempting to remove all of her dark and evil powers before her condition worsens any further.

A quizzical expression appeared on the draconequus' face, which Fluttershy promptly took notice of. "What is it Discord? Is something the matter?"

"Huh? Oh...well, actually, there is something strange going on with Twilight."

"We already told you that!" Rainbow Dash blurted out irritatingly.

"Not that! I mean that my powers can't seem to remove this new mass of dark magic from her body," Discord explained, eliciting a collective "What?!" from all of Twilight's friends.

"What do you mean you can't remove the powers?!"

"How can that be??"

"You're supposed to be the one with the super-powerful magic, so start super-powerful magic-ing Twilight back to normal!!"

"Now hold on, everyone," Fluttershy said, sticking up for her draconequus companion. "Don't berate Discord like that. He's tried his very best to get Twilight back to her old self, and if he says he can't do it, than he can't do it," Fluttershy turned her head back to smile at Discord, letting him know he's got her support, and he returned her gesture with a sincere smile of his own.

Discord's magic receded back into his palms, his recovery undertaking a palpable failure. "I apologize for not being able to cure Twilight. I guess there are some things even I cannot do," Discord stated with a pair of sad puppy dog eyes, which only made Rainbow roll her own eyes.

"It's all right, Discord," Fluttershy responded, placing her hoof on his shoulder. "You did your best, and that's all we can ever ask for," she finished in a pleasant tone, though the feeling wasn't mutual amongst her other companions. Applejack, on the other hoof, was more puzzled than mad at this time.

"Ah still don't understand this—ah mean, how could Discord's not work?? His powers are the best out of anypony we know!"

"I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for why he couldn't help Twilight. Isn't there, Discord?"

Discord rubbed the back of his head whilst sporting a discomfited appearance. "Well...it's rather difficult to explain."

"Not like we have anything else to do today," stated Rainbow Dash.

"Actually, there's probably a lot of things we could do, but I still want to hear Discord," Pinkie made a point to say before turning her attention to Discord.

All eyes were on the draconequus now, which wasn't exactly helping him feel any more at ease, but Fluttershy's supportive expression did aid in raising her friend's composure, so he felt ready to try and explain the current goings-on to his fellow ponies and Spike.

"Well, the only way I can explain it is that it's...it's as if my powers don't want to leave Twilight."

"Don't want to leave her?"

"What? Like the magic itself is 'alive' somehow?"

"Yes, that's just it. I think this is beyond her simply receiving my powers—Twilight may have acquired something else during the skirmish with the cloud."

"How do you mean?"

"You told me(while Discord was trying to heal Twilight) that the cloud struck Twilight's horn just as she was about to attack; what I believe may have happened is that the magic of both Twilight and the cloud must have...combined when her horn was struck, and during that point in time my essence inside the cloud, believing it was going to lose the battle and wanting to save its life, transferred itself into her body to avoid the same fate that befell my cloud creation."

Everyone stared at Discord in stunned silence at his elucidation, needing some time to come to terms with the fact that their friend was being possessed by an anarchic spirit.

"My goodness," Fluttershy said, breaking the silence.

"That's horrible!"

"So this is even more your fault than it already was!" Rainbow proclaimed irately.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, you know what I mean!"

"Now hold on a dang second!" Applejack interjected, not all of her questions having been answered. "Ah understand that part of you is inside Twilight, but that doesn't explain why you can't just go and take yerself out of 'er!"

"Well, my powers are inside Twilight, correct? The very same dark magical powers which reside within myself. My essence is using those powers to impede my efforts to remove them and it from her body, so it can continue to corrupt Twilight's body and mind until it gains full control over her," multiple gasps arose from the others upon hearing this horrifying possibility.

"I can't believe it!"

"I can believe it, but I still don't like it!" Pinkie added in a quite panicked voice.

"You mean you can't do anything??"

"I'm sorry, but because what is inside Twilight has the same power as me, I can't 'out-power' it!" Discord exclaimed defensively before returning to his calmer voice. "I must say, I'm actually quite impressed with myself—I mean, that myself, not me myself."

"We get it," Rainbow responded with both a flat and nettled tone.

All of this new information may have let everyone know more about the current dilemma, but this knowledge had only made the situation even worse for everybody, as if Discord couldn't fix this, then who could? Twilight's friends were growing increasingly distressed, with Princess Celestia and Luna attempting to conciliate the anguish rampant amongst the ponies and Spike, though the fact that the princesses were not feeling perfectly composed themselves made the task difficult.

Discord was not feeling particularly good himself, as though he stated previously he prefers Twilight's new look, the fact that he was not able to help Twilight as his dear friend Fluttershy so hoped he could made Discord feel genuinely disappointed in himself. Fluttershy was the only other person Discord had ever truly cared about besides himself, and believing he had made her feel bad made Discord feel absolutely miserable.

During all of the current shouting, running around, and any other panicky-type noises, the eyelids of the slumped draconicorn began to twitch. Slowly, Twilight's eyes became fully open, her blurred vision just as slowly re-adjusting itself to a clearer sight.

Though she could not make anything out, Twilight could tell there was much movement going on in front of her, and soon her hearing came back to her, and not as slowly as her vision did. She looked around as the figures in front of her came more into focus, and soon came to realize she was surrounded by her friends. What was going on here? And why did everyone look to be in such a panic? Twilight needed to be brought up to speed.

The draconicorn felt her body aching all over, and she found it difficult to move—still, Twilight forced her throbbing muscles to move, and began pushing against the ground to get herself off the ground. Her back legs joined her arms in their shared endeavor to bring the draconicorn back to her upright position.

It took quite a bit of strained effort, but Twilight finally managed to get back up on her two feet. She shook her head, still not feeling 100% back to normal, but she was getting there. It took several seconds for Twilight to notice the room had gone quiet. She looked around at the stunned faces of her friends, all of whom were motionless as they stared back at their companion. This lasted only a short time before Twilight asked what was going on, only to be hastily clustered by her friends, all asking if she was okay at the same time, which only create an incomprehensible mish-mash of noise for Twilight's ears.

"STOP!!" Twilight suddenly shouted, her friends all quickly backing away in alarm. With the silence having returned, Twilight could now get a proper word in. "Okay, now let's start over: What's going on here? What happened while I was asleep? And what is Discord doing here?"

Twilight's friends exchanged glances with one another, with none of them feeling particularly eager to fill Twilight in on the details that took place during her possessed and unconscious states.

"Much has transpired since your change into your wicked form," Celestia states, everyone bringing their attention to the princess.

"My change?? Oh no..." Twilight grasped her face as it became draped in dread—the fear of having hurt somepony yet again in that form took little time to become rampant in her mind. "What happened?? Did I hurt anybody?? Please tell me!!" Twilight pleaded, sounding more panicked than ever.

"Please, Twilight; I will explain to you of all that has happened, but you must calm yourself."

It was difficult at first, but Twilight mustered the strength to take a deep breath, her nerves and mind much more at ease now(though still not perfectly unperturbed). She informed her teacher that she was okay now and extremely willing to listen, so Celestia began her account of the current past events, though Twilight was certain to be none too happy in hearing them.

"Twilight?"

"Hey, Twilight!"

"Twilight, you in there?"

"Or is somepony else in there pretending to be you?"

Try as they might, the friends of the stupefied draconicorn could not get through to her, as after being told the whole story of what happened during her "episode" Twilight seemed to have entered some form of shock-induced trance, which none of her friends could seem to extricate her from.

"And I thought she had been taking this all hard before," Spike said as he waved a hand in front of Twilight's still static face.

"Well, this is Twilight, after all," said Applejack. "She's one of the last ponies ah know who'd wanna hurt anybody else—'specially not her friends or either of the princesses."

"Indeed; it was quite a bit for her to take in," Princess Celestia stated. "But Twilight wished to know everything down to every last explicit detail, and I would never hold back any of that information, regardless of how it may affect her," the others understood the words of their princess, but they still had the matters on hoof to deal with, and none of them were so easy to fix.

Chapter 14: Jump-starting the Princess 2/2

"Isn't there any way to snap Twilight outta this?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Do you think you could do something, Discord?" Fluttershy asked her draconequus companion.

"Is this really a matter calling for the use of my powers?"

"Hey! Your job is to fix anything none of us can!" Rainbow vociferated as she flew right up in Discord's face.

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy said in a mildly upset tone as she flew between her two friends and faced Rainbow. "You know better than to make such forceful demands of others!"

"She does?" Discord inquired, eliciting a glare from the cross pegasus.

Rather than prolong this hostile altercation betwixt her two friends, Fluttershy elected to ask Discord herself if he could aid the others in bringing Twilight back to her conscious state.

"Well, I'll give it a shot, but don't blame me if it doesn't work this time, either," he replies as he begins walking over to Twilight.

"Don't worry, none of us will do anything of the sort," Fluttershy turns her head back to her friends. "Will we?" she asks sweetly, receiving several nettled "no's" from a few of her friends.

"Well, even with that outpouring of encouragement, are my powers really necessary for this particular situation? Waking someone from what I'm going to call brain-lock? Surely you ponies have some way to remedy this problem yourselves—or, of course, if nothing else works, you can always rely on your 'Elements of Harmony', since those always seem to magically solve any problem you have—pun partially intended."

At the instant the name was uttered, a noticeable stirring transpired with Twilight's eyes. Her pupils budged, her eyelids shifted to a slow blink, and barely audible words began to emanate from the draconicorn's mouth.

"...elements..."

Nobody could hear her speak.

"...elements..."

Applejack, whom was standing right next to Twilight, turned towards her reawakening friend.

"...the elements..."

"Hey, guys! Ah think Twilight's comin' around!" This declaration immediately shifted everyone's attention back to Twilight, whose speech was now becoming loud enough for everyone to hear.

"...the Elements of Harmony!!" Twilight exclaimed in a sudden outburst, surprising everyone into backing away from her(and making Fluttershy fall down herself, though Discord caught her).

"Oh my gosh! The Elements of Harmony!" Twilight slapped her face in disbelief. "How could I not have thought of that at the beginning??" the draconicorn stated in a fraught manner, now having her face in the palms of both her hands. She wasn't alone in these feelings of foolishness, as her friends felt almost as distraught as Twilight did.

"You know, I'm rather surprised none of you thought of that sooner."

Twilight's reflecting of her folly halted as she turned her head to face Discord, as did everyone else.

The draconequus reached down and took out a pocket watch from nowhere and flipped it open to check the time. By the looks of it, it took...quite a bit of time to do so."

"Woah! Hold on!" Rainbow flew right up to Discord, now face-to-face with the draconequus. "Are you telling us you'd already thought of using the Elements of Harmony to fix Twilight and you didn't tell us?!?" the apoplectic pegasus shouted, having moved her face closer to Discord's during her entire tirade, her eyes now adjacent to his.

"Well, I can't always be the one to solve your problems for you," he replies nonchalantly. "I simply wanted to give you ponies the chance to figure out solutions for yourself."

It was taking every ounce of Rainbow Dash's strength and willpower to prevent herself from going completely mental from Discord's "lesson". It looked as if she may need to be held back so nopony could get hurt—but luckily for both her and Discord, Fluttershy stepped in as peacemaker once more, defending Discord's unintentionally tough teaching methods, saying how he's doing the best he can to help his new friends in the way he thinks is best, and that they all need to understand Discord can't be expected to behave like everyone else in every way. Needless to say, Fluttershy's other friends were none too pleased to see Fluttershy side with Discord over them, and they could see she was quite adamant in her position(at least, for Fluttershy standards).

Luckily, before the quarreling could be prolonged, Celestia put in a word herself to stop the bickering, "Listen, everypony. It matters not that Discord did not give us his information before, because now we know the Elements may be our key to restoring Twilight to her former self, and that is to be our focus from this moment forward."

It was difficult to argue with the princess, as she was right: Twilight's well-being was what mattered most to her friends, and they intended to get their friend back to the way she was. With that, everypony and Spike agreed unanimously with the princess, and the mattered was settled.

"Now all we gotta do is go an' retrieve the Elements of Harmony from the library in Ponyville."

"That shouldn't be so hard," Fluttershy said, turning her head towards Discord. "Discord will be able to get them faster than anypony."

"Why, yes—I do believe that I can," Discord said, rubbing his hand on is chest in a smug manner.

"Well then, you'd better hurry before you make us do any more waiting," Rainbow Dash proclaimed spitefully.

"Still cross about earlier, are we?" Rainbow responds to him with simply her dirty gaze. "...I'll just take that as a yes and be on my way; toodle-oo!" Just as the draconequus was about to teleport away, a voice had suddenly spoke up amongst the group, causing Discord to stop and turn his attention towards said voice.

"Thanks, everyone," Twilight said, having calmed down thanks to Celestia's statement and the support of her friends. "Though I still wish we could have thought of this plan before all of the chaos I had caused, I'm just glad my friends are with me no matter what, and have stayed with me through these difficult times."

"Pffft! You kidding? That's what buds are for!" Rainbow replied with a wink.

"Ah can't imagine it any other way, Twilight."

"And that goes double for me!"

"And double-double for me!!"

Many a tear of joy was born from Twilight's eyes at that moment. Surly, she could not ask for better friends than these— she even looked like she was about to cry, as was shown by her sudden twitching, as if she was trying to hold back from crying. However, the twitching did not let up: it continued to increase in rapidity, and Twilight's eyes changed from a look of jubilation to one of shock. Soon enough, the twitching spread from just her head to the rest of her body, and once her entire body had begun convulsing, her head alone began jerking around harder than ever, and everyone was naturally filled with shock and horror in seeing this.

"Oh no! not now!"

"She's changing again!"

"Really? So now I'll be able to see how this looks for myself." Discord stated inquisitively.

Twilight's head slowed down to a quiver, and her mouth opened up, revealing a bright glow emanating from the roof of Twilight's mouth. Her jaw opened wider until it reached its maximum, and in just a matter of moments, a colossal flash burst from the draconicorn's maw, with everyone blocking the light like before(with Discord using sunglasses, as one would expect).

The light having faded away, the friends of Twilight once more turned their collective gazes towards the changed Twilight, and now saw what the latest inclusion to her transmogrified appearance was: a pair of long, deadly, and quite frankly terrifying snake fangs. Such a sight was shocking for some, though more frightening to others(mostly Fluttershy), and then there was Discord, who was quite fascinated now that he has seen for himself exactly how the curse affected Twilight.

Twilight herself was still attempting to regain her composure after her transformation, though it was not coming as easily as before. Twilight could feel the protruding incisors with her mouth, but could not see them. She gradually reached up with her hands and felt the fangs with her fingers, the hair raising on the back of her neck in alarm at these horrible new appendages.

"Twilight? Are you okay?"

Twilight looked towards those standing in front of her. She uttered not a single word, and her eyes did not shift from their forward gaze. Her arms remained locked in their current position and the same look of terror hung on her face this entire time.

"Twilight? Is something wrong?"

Again, no dialogue was spoken. The draconicorn did nothing but stand absolutely motionless in the middle of the throne room—until, suddenly, Twilight's eyes began to glow; from a faint dim to a bright light that blocked out all features of her eyes, Twilight was changing once more, but this time was different—her body had yet to convulse, and had remained immobile. Twilight's friends were unsure how to react to this occurrence, not knowing what else could be done other than simply watch.

But these feelings of uncertainty did not last long, as just then, a ring of darkness formed around the draconicorn's still body. The ring of light swirled around Twilight, and her body started to rise upwards into the air just as a pillar of darkness came up from the ring below, surrounding the motionless Twilight. Not only was this an entirely new event, but it induced more fear than ever into the fries of Twilight, as it was clear something significant was about to happen to their friend, and it may just be the worst change yet...

What can only be described as a "dark light" shone from the pillar of darkness, fading out all real light present in the throne room. This truly was dark magic at work, though its work had yet to complete.

The same darkness surrounding the draconicorn now shone from her eyes, doing away with the white light contained there previously, and the dark light shone with greater and greater intensity, until at last, a burst of darkness erupted from all around Twilight's body, the entire room now black as pitch.

Right before the room went dark, a single scream was heard for just a second—and the scream came from Twilight.

"Twilight!!" rang out above the darkness, having come from the voices of all the draconicorn's friends.

It had taken a bit of time, but eventually the darkness faded away, and natural light returned to the throne room. Nobody had needed to cover their eyes this time, due to darkness being what had coated the room.

Everyone had kept their eyes on where Twilight had been until the darkness had dissipated, and now Twilight's placement had back down on the floor, though now she was on her knees and hands, her face turned towards the floor.

"Twilight!!"

"Are you okay??"

"What the heck happened??"

Though she said nothing, Twilight was clearly conscious, as she had lifted up her body a bit from the floor, though she was still facing down.

"Is everything all right, Twilight...?" everyone looked on in nerve-wracking anxiousness, awaiting any kind of response to let them know their friend was okay.

Just then, Twilight lifted up her head a bit and began to speak, "...there is no Twilight...only—Bedlam!!" the draconicorn exclaims as she lifts up her face towards everypony, revealing her eyes to have changed to a shade of yellow with purple pupils in the center of each, and revealing the expression of a truly insane entity.

The curse had done its job: Twilight's transformation...has reached its zenith...

Chapter 15: The Age of Bedlam 1/3

It seemed unreal. It...it just happened so fast...nobody could believe what they were seeing with their wide-eyed countenances.

The one who called herself "Bedlam" stood upright, examining the fingers of her dragon and bear arms, all the while holding onto that same sinister smile that now seemed permanently glued onto her face.

"...T—Twilight...?"

Bedlam turned her head towards the soft-spoken Fluttershy, and now that their eyes had met, Fluttershy had actually become even more uneasy—and then Bedlam began to talk.

"Oh, I'm sorry; Twilight isn't here at the moment," Bedlam bent over backwards as she spoke, eyes still locked with the disconcerted pegasus. "Please leave a message after the beep," Bedlam opened her mouth as the aforementioned "beep" was produced, her eyes flashing in conjunction with the sound.

"Oh! Well...umm...if you could tell me where Twilight is, that'd be nice."

"Message received!" Bedlam exclaimed, her eyes reverting to their normal, insane appearance as Bedlam stood upright again. "Let me just transfer your message over to Twilight so I can transfer her reply back to you, alrighty?"

"Umm...okay; if you say so."

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow exclaimed, surprising the pegasus. "She's just messing with you! She's not actually talking to Twilight!" The attention of the pegasi was swiftly drawn to Bedlam who had seemingly started talking to herself, saying things like "yep" and "mm-hmm" repeatedly.

"It looks like she's given Twilight my message. Maybe now we'll hear back from her and see she's all right," Fluttershy said to Rainbow before turning her gaze back to Bedlam, not seeing Rainbow smack her hoof to her own face in aggravation.

"Uh-huh...yeah...okay then—so! Twilight has just given me her response, and I'm happy to say she won't be coming back ever again!" Bedlam stated with a satisfied smile on her face.

Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief, "Thank you; that's good to—excuse me??"

"What's that? Need to hear it again? Might want to clean out your ears!" she shouts before poofing away, then reappearing a second later, only now smaller and sticking out of Fluttershy's ear. "Looks like you've got a bit of me blockage in here! she stated, following up with another one of her trademark chortles.

Bedlam's tittering was ceased when she felt herself pulled out of the pegasus' ear by Rarity's magic, and the draconicorn was pulled right up in front of the cross unicorn's face.

"Now see here, you foul creature! You listen now and you listen well! I do not know what it is you want with our friend Twilight, but I insist you stop using her body as your own puppet for harassing her friends and relinquish control of our friend's mind and body back to her at once!"

Bedlam placed her hand to her chin and began cogitating Rarity's suggestion, so she could adequately formulate the appropriate response.

"Hmmmmmmmmm—no."

"No?? What do you mean 'no'??"

"Please: allow me to put it in a way you'll apprehend," Bedlam poofs out of Rarity's grasp and reappears right next to her, now normal sized. Right when Rarity turns to look at her, Bedlam quickly withdrew a megaphone and yelled directly into Rarity's eardrum: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

Rarity was only able to hold her ground for mere moments before the amplified holler through the megaphone blew her away, slamming Rarity right into the others behind her who were also unfortunate enough to be caught in the path of the sonic bellow, with all being sent crashing into the wall next to the doorway and collapsing into a pile on one another afterwards.

Bedlam poofed away the megaphone and surveyed the exiguous level of chaos induced by her doings. "Was that clear enough for you, my dear? Or do you need to make it even more clear?" she inquired, which garnered a profusion of "no"s from the pile-up of ponies.

It still couldn't be believed by anyone that this had really happened: that Twilight could be overtaken by this malevolent being. She was here, but now she was gone..and Bedlam had taken her away—away from her friends; away from everyone she cared about, and everyone who cared about her...

"Well, now that we've got all that squared away," Bedlam says as she creates a large black-lined square with her hands, following up by tossing it over to Spike who catches the two-dimensional object, which turns out to be heavier than it looks and ends up making Spike topple over onto the floor with a crash. "Howsabout we really get down to business...?" Bedlam said menacingly as she rubbed her hands together in a typical supervillain fashion.

"Wha...what are you going to do...?" Fluttershy asked, overcome with pure, unadulterated fright.

"Such a difficult choice; there's so much to do, but I haven't the faintest where I should start—oh, what's a girl to do?" she says as she leans backwards whilst placing the back of her hand to her forehead in an overly dramatic manner while using her other hand to fan herself with a fan she magically conjured up.

"Here's a suggestion," Rainbow says as she pulls her way out of the pony pile. "How about you say your prayers, because in case you forgot, you're not the only draconequus around here!" Rainbow asserted as she motioned Bedlam to look over at Discord.

"Oh; I see," Discord asked agitatedly. "You never want me around when you're all having fun, but when a super-powerful creature with near-limitless powers of destruction and chaos shows up, then I'm suddenly your best friend!" Discord turned his head away, simultaneously crossing his arms in an expression of contempt for the discourteous pegasus.

"Now is not the time," Rainbow whispers irately into Discord's ear.

"It never seems to be," he responds flatly, refusing to look the pony in the eye.

"Come on, don't start this now!"

"I think it's pretty clear who started it."

Rainbow growled as she pulled at her bangs, and was just about to continue their contretemps when an odd sound entered her ears. She and Discord both looked over to see Bedlam sitting in a movie theater-style chair while eating out of a bucket of popcorn and watching Rainbow and Discord's argument.

"Don't mind me! Keep going!" she requests before shoveling another talonful of popcorn into her gaping maw, the pegasus and draconequus staring back at her without a reaction to be had.

Chapter 15: The Age of Bedlam 2/3

Bedlam stared back at Rainbow Dash and Discord, feeling disappointed that they stopped right in the middle of their performance, and she swallowed her popcorn to tell them that. "Awww, what's wrong? Did you forget your lines? You were both doing so good! Though I think Rainbow's performance was a bit over-the-top and Discord's was a bit lacking in terms of conveying agitation, but other than that, what I've seen so far has been deserving of at least one thumbs up!" she states blissfully, giving a thumbs up to the confounded duo.

"I...Wha..." Rainbow could barely form a sentence until she was able to reawaken her inner "pony who shouts a lot". "This isn't a show! Stop acting like you're having a fun time!"

"Acting?"

Like usual, Rainbow's anger was getting the better of her, and she really wanted to stop Bedlam and get her real friend back by any means necessary. Suddenly, a devious, underhoofed idea popped into the fumed pegasus' mind, and she quickly turned to Discord.

"Why are you letting her get away with this??" she questioned in her Rainbow Dash brand of loud and angry conversing. "Messing with everyone is your thing! Are you gonna just let her sit there and laugh at you??"

"Oh, please; like anybody would ever try to challenge the one and only master of chaos," he affirmed through his hubris. In mere moments following this statement, the entire throne room echoed with the bellows of hysterical laughter engendered by the less-than-intimidated draconicorn.

"You?? The master of chaos?? That's a laugh! Which is exactly what I'll continue doing!" Bedlam proclaimed as her boisterous cackling resumed, the draconicorn toppling onto her back from her excessive amount of insane laughter.

Discord felt more surprised by this behavior than he had initially, which Rainbow took to her advantage. She cleared her throat to get Discord's attention, and proceeded to mime "see what I mean?" expressions to the draconequus, causing him to start feeling concerned about this threat to his self-appointed title.

"Awww, what's the matter? Not so fond of the improved, modern draconequus for the new millennium?" Bedlam stared intently at Discord. "Do I frighten you? Make you feel—uncomfortable...?" she said with the most conceited of smirks.

Threatened was not so much what Discord was feeling now—galled was more of an appropriate term, as this foul being had quite gotten on Discord's nerves with each disparaging word produced from her yammering trap. Who did this Bedlam think she was, stepping in on his territory like this? Not only was she harrying everyone else, but she even had the temerity to treat Discord like he was nothing?? This was not something Discord could let stand...

Naturally, the draconequus was not the only one bothered by Bedlam's antics—Rainbow Dash was visibly perturbed, thought for reasons dissimilar to Discord's. Even though the pegasus' previous display showed her to care about Discord's interests, it was naught but a fabrication to incite the draconequus' desire for satisfaction against the nefarious Bedlam for her incessant misdeeds. Not only was it the deliberate targeting of Twilight's friends with her vexatious japing that caused Rainbow Dash so much irritability, but also just the fact that it was Twilight's own body Bedlam was manipulating for her own twisted pleasures made Rainbow's blood boil. "All these things she'd done...she cannot be allowed to get away with them..." Rainbow thought to herself.

Rainbow's eye glanced over to Discord, who was glaring straight at Bedlam with as much ferocity as Rainbow herself was. However, he was doing all this in silence, which was not what Rainbow wanted at all. Discord wasn't going to win any fights with intense staring alone. If anything was gonna happen, it looked like Rainbow was going to have to be the one to instigate it.

"You'd better watch it, or else Discord will show you what he can really do!" the impatient pegasus blurted out, drawing attention to herself from both Discord and Bedlam.

"Oh, please! That old thing??" Bedlam replied as she started up with her mocking laughter once more. She even fell to the ground again and began pounding the floor with her fist while in her state of hysterics. Needless to say, Discord did not take this reaction with good grace.

"I resent being referred to as a 'thing'," the draconequus stated sternly, finally talking back to his adversary.

"Well then, I'm glad I said it."

Several seconds of silence passed before words were exchanged. "...I somehow get the feeling you don't take me seriously."

"Wherever could you have gotten that idea?' Bedlam replied in the most blatantly sarcastic tone she could muster.

Discord's clenched fist quivered with indignation. How dare this abhorrent beast talk in such a manner to the one and only true master of chaos in all the world! She was infuriating! Maddening! Downright...rude! Already Bedlam had gotten underneath his skin, but now she was so far beneath the surface she was like a newly hatched parasitic larva, crawling around Discord's insides and irritating every part she touches; and try as he might, Discord could not alleviate the torment brought upon by Bedlam—she would just continue to feed on the draconequus' power until it was time for her to emerge from his hollowed-out shell, ready to take on the world as the new master of all that is chaotic!

"...no...that won't happen..."

It didn't take much thought for Discord choose what needed to be done—this villainess needed to be stopped, as if she wasn't, then everyone may see her as the greatest at causing chaos instead of him! And that was something Discord could not allow to happen! He refused to take it anymore, and instead decided to turn the tables on Bedlam. Simply speaking: she had gotten on his nerves, and it was time for Discord to get on hers.

"That's it!" Rainbow exclaimed as she hovered into the air, clenching her hooves in righteous fury. "I'm putting an end to this right—" the pegasus' discourse was halted mid-sentence by a lion paw thrust in front of her face. Rainbow looked in astonishment over to Discord, who had a vindictive glower fitted upon his own countenance. "If you don't mind, Rainbow Dash; I think I'll take it from here."

Rainbow watched as Discord began walking over to Bedlam, not breaking his eye contact with hers for even a moment.

Bedlam stopped her chortling when she saw Discord marching towards her. However, this act did not disquiet the sedate draconicorn, who responded to Discord's advancing with more of her derogating dialogue, "Oh, has Discord finally decided to come out and play?"

Discord stopped walking. "Play time is over for you, Bedlam. It's time to put the order of chaos back in its place."

"That seems rather contradictory," Luna murmured to Celestia.

"Frankly," Bedlam replied, clenching her fists as she grinned a particularly wicked grin. "I'd say play time is finally going to begin!"

Chapter 16: The Next Course of Action

Now that Bedlam had gone, the effects of her chaos magic began to dissipate, so the princesses felt it was safe enough to lower the shield they had created. Celestia and Luna then turned to face the ponies, Spike, and Discord, most of whom were still in utter shock, except for the still dazed Discord.

“Is everypony all right?” Celestia asked worryingly. It took a few moments, but Applejack was the first to respond.

“Wh…wha…what just happened?!” Applejack finally exclaimed after a brief bit of stammering.

“…I think…Twilight just kicked Discord’s butt!” Rainbow Dash answered, her eyes still focused in the direction where Bedlam made her expeditious exit.

“…she did…but…” Rarity said in a moderately distressed tone.

“But that wasn’t Twilight…” Spike finished, no less anxious than she was.

Fluttershy was in such shock her mind was unable to form a response to what had just occurred, but then shifted her attention to Discord as his head began to stir.

“Discord! Are you all right?” she asked worriedly.

“In a matter of speaking…” he mutters as he magics up an ice pack to place against his head, “Ugh…it feels like I’ve been out for 4 years and 3 months…hmm…not sure why I chose that particular time frame…”

As Fluttershy and Spike helped Discord to sit up, Celestia turned to Luna, who had turned back to look up at where Bedlam had flown off. “This is very troubling, sister,” she stated before turning her head towards Celestia, “And that is putting it quite mildly.”

“Indeed…and after what we just witnessed…” Celestia turned her gaze up to the sky, “I haven’t any such idea on how to stop this Bedlam creature…”

“I mean, seriously!!” Rainbow Dash suddenly exclaimed, drawing everypony’s attention to her, “Just…what happened?!? Why wasn't Discord able to keep up with her? He was doing it at first!"

"That's because Bedlam wasn't being serious at first,” Applejack responded sullenly. “She was just toying with Discord until she changed up her game—and ah’m sure everything is a game to her…”

“Though not entirely, I would say…” Luna spoke, stepping towards the others.

“How do you mean, Luna?” Celestia inquired.

“I mean that Bedlam seems to fight more with real violence rather than comical violence like Discord. Some of her tactics were not humorous at all, such as when she assaulted Discord with the floor itself.”

“Just hearing about that again gives me a headache…” Discord stated in a pained tone before magically creating a second ice pack to put against the other side of his head.

“Hmm…I see your point, sister; and it’s clearly due to the merging of Discord’s essence merging with Twilight’s. The two together have created something new: an entity that desires only wanton destruction and chaos—one that holds Discord's enjoyment for causing chaos while at the same time having the intelligence to know when to use more effective tactics in battle.”

“Bedlam knows how to have fun, but takes real fighting more seriously than Discord ever would,” Applejack interjected. “And she wanted to let him know she could beat him at his own game if she chose to play that way."

“So she was just leading him along the entire time,” said Spike, “She probably could have beaten Discord at any time, but just took her time to have her own kind of fun…” Spike shuddered as he clasped his shoulders. “Such a twisted thing to do to anypony…”

“And such a horrid thought, too,” Rarity added fearfully, “That she could have done the same to all of us…any time she wanted…” a feeling of apprehension wafted across the group as they all stood motionless in timorous silence—well, all but one.

Fluttershy turned towards Discord as he gradually got up on his feet, holding on his face an expression of noticeable irritation. “She might think she can beat me just like that,” he said as he snapped his fingers, conjuring up a small figurine of Bedlam in his right hand, “But I will show her who the real master of all things chaotic is!!” he exclaimed angrily as he crushed the figurine with his lion’s paw.

“Now hold on a minute!” Applejack interjected, “Ah wanna stop bedlam just as much as the next pony, but yah can’t ferget that Bedlam is still Twilight!”

“Oh dear, Applejack is right!” Rarity concurred, “I don’t want to stop bedlam if it means anything too horrid happening to poor Twilight!” she said in a distressed tone, with the others agreeing with her.

“I understand, but we can’t just let Bedlam run rampant!” Celestia responded, “Something must be done! But what?” Everyone began to ponder on what the next course of action should be.

“Umm…what about the Elements of Harmony?” asked Pinkie Pie, with everyone turning in her direction.

“Oh, DUH!!” Rainbow exclaimed as she slapped her hoof to her forehead, “How do we keep forgetting about those! Good thinking, Pinkie Pie!”

“Just glad to finally contribute something this chapter!” Pinkie happily replied.

“Chapter…? What is she…oh, never mind…”

“Hmm, an intriguing idea,” Celestia said as she contemplated the suggestion, “I suppose the Elements could purge the evil from Twilight while not harming her—similar to what they did with Nightmare Moon,” Celestia looked towards Luna, who nodded back at her.

“Well, if we’re gonna use the Elements on her, we’re gonna havta find her first!” Applejack stated firmly.

“Uhh…”

“But she could be anywhere by now!”

“Umm…”

“Well, knowing her Discord side, she’s sure to leave a trail of her chaos around!”

“Hey…”

“But even if we find her, she’s not going to just be still so we can go and defeat her!”

“Err…”

"Just give me five minutes with her—I know I can get her to hold still," Discord said, sounding quite adamant.

“You guys…”

Discord then shifted his attention down to Fluttershy, who was standing by his side, “Oh, Fluttershy—did you want to add something to our council of war!”

“Well, it’s just…how are we supposed to use the Elements of Harmony to save Twilight if Bedlam still has the crown?” These words caused a shocking revelation to surge through the others in the throne room.

“Oh no, she’s right!” Applejack exclaimed in distress.

"We can't use them without all of us!" Rarity added.

“So what are we supposed to do??” Spike asked, just as distressed as Applejack.

Everyone turned towards Celestia and Luna, with neither looking to have an immediate answer available to alleviate their newest predicament. But before they even had a chance to respond, a colossal burst of light appeared outside, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“That looks like it came from Ponyville!” Rainbow exclaimed in shock and horror.

Celestia looked disconcerted at first, but her countenance transformed to a more austere expression, and she turned her head to Luna, who looked back at her sister, having the same look on her face as well.

“Well, we know where she is now…” Celestia turned to face the ponies, Spike, and Discord, “But before we see to Bedlam, it is best to see to the safety of the residents of Ponyville first,” she firmly declared, with the others nodding their approval, with the expression of every creature showing their determination to stop Bedlam and her ignoble ways. Celestia looked at Discord and nodded her head. Understanding her gesture, Discord snapped his fingers, teleporting everybody out of the throne room and to where the wicked draconequus was now spreading her new, personal brand of chaos…

Author's Note

After all this time, I decided to put up another part to see if anyone still cares about this story. If nobody comments within a month, I'll cancel the story. If enough people do, then maybe I'll keep going, though I don't care about the show or this story so much anymore. But I still felt that it didn't hurt to check, so let me know if you want to.

~Creative Charmer

Chapter 17: The Course of Action

In a literal flash, the ponies, Spike, and Discord arrived at the center of Ponyville, and upon arriving they took horrified notice of Bedlam’s quick work with the town.

Buildings were floating around, some even in pieces with ponies still stuck inside them; the town’s fountain was spewing fire all around it, torching anyone and anything that came too near; flowers had grown sharp teeth and uprooted themselves from the ground to chase unfortunate ponies around and attempt to bite them all; inanimate objects like carts, chairs, tables, and more had come to life and were stampeding around town, trampling each and everything they came across; bridges had stretched up into the air and became twisted and warped while ponies were still walking on them, and so much more—it was complete, unmitigated chaos for the entirety of Ponyville. There was no direction one could look without seeing some form of chaos: not even the sky, which was nothing but constant thunderstorms, spreading rain and blasting lightning down at anything the bolts could find—but that wasn’t the only thing seen up there.

Floating high up above the town, Bedlam had reconstructed town hall into a giant throne for her to sit upon and observe the mayhem she found so desirable to produce. Though nobody could see it, Bedlam smiled a wicked smile, casting her gaze to the disarray going on below, feeling ever so gleeful.

“It hasn’t even been 5 minutes since I’ve been here, but I think things have turned out oh so delightful!—not for everyone else, of course, but what does that matter?” Bedlam then cackled dreadfully, retaining nothing but pure joy from watching ponies running and flying around in terror from her maniacal prowess.

Down below, the ponies, Discord, and Spike had their gaze up towards Bedlam, all looking clearly incensed with her actions.

“Well, ah knew it’d be bad, but ah never could’ve guessed it’d be this bad!” Applejack stated ash she looked around.

“Yeah! This is like when Discord had taken over Ponyville, but-like, a THOUSAND times worse!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Indeed…” Discord responded in an irritable tone. “Part of me wants to congratulate her on doing such a fantastic job spreading chaos everywhere—but then the rest of me remembers why I don’t want to do that,” he said irately as he clenched his talons.

“And spreading is right—look!”

Rainbow pointed out farther beyond Ponyville, and everyone could see that Bedlam’s influence was slowly moving across the landscape of Equestria in all directions, affecting whatever the chaos magic touched in whatever ways would bring more chaos to the world.

“What are we supposed to do about that??” she exclaimed, and after a few moments, everyone turned to Discord.

“Me??...look, it’s not that I’m clearly the right choice for the job, but I have business to settle with that Bedlam, and we all know that I’m especially the right choice for that job!”

Celestia approached Discord. “We understand how you feel, Discord, but it’s important that Bedlam’s influence doesn’t spready too far, or it may become unstoppable. Your powers are all that we have to combat hers, so it is of utmost importance that you assist us in this way.”

Discord looked to be pondering Celestia’s words. He looked to Fluttershy, who didn’t look like she wanted to tell him what to do, but then spoke up.

“I know you want to get back at Bedlam for what she did to you, Discord, but right now we really need your help to keep has chaos contained as best you can,” she placed her hoof in his paw as she looked up at him. Discord gazed back at Fluttershy with a look of worry, though for more reasons than one.

“Hmm…well…I know why you need me to help with all that, but…” he peered up at Bedlam’s throne, then back towards the group, “What makes you ponies think you can handle her without me? I mean, she practically wiped the floor with me, and she may do worse to all of you…especially Fluttershy…” Discord kneeled down as he took Fluttershy’s hoof in his hands, both looking at the other with concerned countenances.

“I know it all seems dire,” Celestia spoke up, “But we haven’t much choice in the matter. Bedlam’s destruction could spread to even beyond Equestria if we do not keep it suppressed.”

“These circumstances are clearly more than reprehensible, but that is why we must act quickly before Bedlam’s power becomes entirely unstoppable!” Luna declared in a serious tone.

Discord still looked unsure, and then Applejack spoke up. “Ah know none of us have yer magic, but if there’s anypony in the world who can get through to the real Twilight inside that body, it’s all of us,” Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all gathered around Applejack after she finished.

Discord contemplated the pony’s words further, than took on a serious look himself. Discord snapped his fingers, donning a military uniform, then saluted. “Awaiting your orders, princesses!” Celestia and Luna both smiled, then turned to face the ponies and Spike.

“Thank you for your help, Applejack. I trust the judgement of you all.”

“Thank ya kindly, Princess Celestia,” the pony replied, tipping her hat.

“Indeed, well done—and while I desire to assist you all against that dreaded draconequus—that is, the other one, Celestia and I must give our aid to Discord. Even with his power, there is still much that needs to be done if Bedlam’s power is to be contained.”

“And many ponies that need saving, as well.”

“Well, we’re not going to get all that don by standing here talking all day!” Discord exclaimed after stretching his neck in between the two princesses.

“Very well,” Celestia responded. “We leave Bedlam to you all.”

“Good luck.”

“As if they need luck,” Discord said as he winked at the ponies and Spike. Then, with the snap of his fingers, he and the princesses disappeared in a flash of light.

“Actually, some luck wouldn’t be so bad right now,” said Rainbow Dash

“Make that a lot of luck,” Rarity added.

“Like a whole mountain of luck!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Well, luck or not, we’ve got a job to do,” Spike said, slamming his fist into his palm.
“Yeah…” Applejack replied before looking up at Bedlam’s throne. “…and a friend to get back…”

Chapter 18: Confronting Bedlam

Author's Note

I've decided, after all this time, to finally and officially finish this story! I don't know how many, if anyone else, is left who wants to see it finished, but I really don't want to leave this incomplete any longer, because, sometimes, it's about closure, and if I can make even one person happy by completing this, it'll be worth it~

Chapter 18: Confronting Bedlam

The tension was palpable as the five ponies and Spike gradually approached the hovering seat of power for Bedlam, sitting high up above their heads.

“So…what exactly is the plan?” asked a worried Spike.

“Well, we can’t fight ‘er, obviously, so we’ll jus’ havta try talkin’ tuh Twilight again!”

“Umm, not to rain all over your plan, Applejack, but that plan hasn’t exactly been working so well lately,” Rainbow responded, her tone as unsure as her statement.

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Rainbow, dear. I mean, how do you think things can go differently this time?”

Applejack stopped walking, now sporting her own irresolute expression. “Honestly…ah’m not sure how it’ll go,” she turned her gaze upwards towards the still cackling Bedlam atop her throne. “But Twilight wouldn’t give up on us, and there’s no way in Tartarus ah’m ever gonna give up on her! We still gotta try!” she declared resolvedly, with the others voicing their agreements just as earnestly.

Sitting high atop her perch, Bedlam surveyed the surrounding landscape, feeling ever so giddy at it all being quite to her liking. Off to the west, the water from Ponyville’s nearest river was congealing into massive quantities of gelatin, flying up into the air, and dropping onto Ponyville like bombs, splattering gelatin everywhere and wrecking the town. Opposite to that, in the east, the trees of Whitetail Woods were marching into town, whipping at ponies with their roots, tearing apart buildings, carts, and stands, and terrifying all creatures they came across. Similarly, in the south, dangerous animals and plants from the Everfree Forest were stampeding into town, bringing ever greater dangers to the citizens of Ponyville, something Bedlam didn’t even need to create: just needed to push them out of the forest to where they could cause far greater chaos and destruction…

Those were the three directions that Bedlam could currently see from atop her throne, but she didn’t need to look everywhere: because she already knew that calamity could be found anywhere and everywhere outward from where she sat, as well as upwards in the sky, where clouds of varying colors and patterns, from hot pink to wavy rainbows to plaid, raining down all manner of unordinary and hazardous materials, from jagged ice cream cones to flaming snowballs to live piranhas. Chaos was ramping up throughout all of Ponyville and beyond its borders—just the way Bedlam liked it…

Bedlam cackled as she watched over this personal world of her own vile desires, and never ceasing to take humor from it in whatever way she felt.

“Yes! Ha ha! It’s all going so well!” she proclaimed jovially as she sat herself sideways on her throne, her rubbery snake body conforming to the shape of the seat. “But, if it all goes so perfect for too long, maybe I’ll get bored? HA! Not likely!” and Bedlam continued her wicked chortling, her legs kicking around in the air as she did so. “Besides, it’s only a matter of time before those ponies come and try to ‘stop me’,” Bedlam stated mockingly, using finger quotes as she did so. “Well,” she uttered with a more sinister tone, “I can’t wait until that come to try…” she finished, smiling the evilest of smiles one could witness…

Just as Bedlam desired, the five ponies and Spike stood directly below her, at the base of her hovering throne, looking up directly at the maniacal draconicorn. All looked ready and adamant in confronting the villain (Fluttershy, not so much), and now it seemed they were just waiting for whoever it was to call Bedlam out.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash asked, feeling impatient. “We’re here; we just need her to come down so we can get our friend back!” the resolute Pegasus declared, punching her forehoof into her other.

“Ah know, Rainbow!” Applejack responded as she glared up at Bedlam. “Ah just gotta…make sure we do this right.”

“What do you mean?” asked Rarity.

“Ah mean…remember when we tried talkin’ tuh Twilight before she finished changin’? it stopped workin’! An’ ah don’t think tryin’ to talk Twilight back to her normal self is gonna work this time, either!”

“But what else can we do?” queried a worried Fluttershy. “The only other thing that worked was hurting Twilight,” she turned up towards Bedlam as well. “And I really don’t want to do that to Twilight, even if she is Bedlam now…”

“Ah know yer feelin’, Fluttershy…but if worse comes tah worse…we’ll havta do whatever it takes to help Twilight.”

Though nobody outright agreed with Applejack, none were quick to argue against her. After all, what other choices were available? How much could they do? Only so much, with five ponies and one baby dragon. But, they had to do what they had to do. No more time could or should be used in delaying the inevitable: Bedlam needed to be confronted, and she needed to be confronted now.

Applejack turned back up towards Bedlam, and, not hesitating, shouted as loud as she could, “HEY! YOU UP THERE! GIT DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW! WE’VE GOT SOMETHIN’ TUH SAY TUH YA!” Applejack sounded so steadfast in her bellowing that it felt all the more disheartening to see her expression recede upon the instant appearance of Bedlam directly in front of the Earth pony’s face not even a second later.

“Well, my little ponies? What is it you wanted to discuss?” Bedlam asked quite sinisterly as she stuck her faced close up to Applejack’s, twirling a single dragon finger around the top of her hat’s brim. Absent again was her more jokey, silly side, and that served to make her look and feel more apprehensive than ever before.

For several seconds, Applejack felt unable to speak, paralyzed by the beast which stood before her, unflinching in her own knowledge and abilities that placed her far above these puny ponies. But, slowly but surely, Applejack regained her composure, took a deep breath, and returned Bedlam’s expression with her own glare.

“We came…fer Twilight.”

“Sorry, she’s not here at the moment; may I take a message?”

“Don’t play games with us!” yelled Rainbow Dash in a fury.

“And don’t reuse old jokes! That’s just hackneyed!” Pinkie Pie, sounding almost as angry as the pegasus.

“Oh, I’m quite certain I can do whatever I want,” Bedlam uttered as she slithered around through the air above the ponies and Spike. “After all, why shouldn’t I? Just look at all this glorious chaos!” she proclaimed jovially as she poofed up a pair of glasses for herself, along with a pointing stick and easel with a graph, “As you can see by this graph, there has been a 100 percent increase in disasters, terrified ponies, and tons of fun for me!” she laughed again as she poofed away the objects. “It’s all so fantastic! Now why would little ol’ me want to so much of a buzzkill (she said as she turned into a pony-sized bee with her face) to get rid of all that?”

“Because we know the real Twilight is still inside you! And she’d never want all of this!”

“Yeah, Twilight’s our friend!”

“She’s as good as can be!”

“And super fun to be around!”

“The smartest pony we know!”

“And she’d never hurt anypony!”

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Bedlam replied as crocodile tears formed around her eyes, her making a tissue box appear so she could use it. “The kind of words to make somepony—not sure whether to laugh their brains out (the top of her head opened to have her brain spring out like a jack-in-the-box before receding) or make them be sicker than sick (her entire body turning green whilst she covered her mouth)! I mean, seriously!” Bedlam shouted, those last words uttered with noticeably more ire than the words before. “After all that’s happened before, you really think that all this useless talking would work now?” Bedlam proceeded to poof up sock puppets of Twilight’s friends around her. “You think it will be like…” Bedlam started, herself now mimicking the voices of the ponies and Spike when she talked through their respective puppet, albeit each voice sounding like her own voice imitating each creature in an insultingly exaggerated manner.

“Twahlight! We’re friends! That meyens sayin’ it over an’ over again will fix ever’thang!”

“Yeah, Twilight! Friendship is totally cool and awesome! So you be awesome and remember how awesome it is to be friends with us!...awesome!”

“Daaarling, you simply must understand that you are quite thedear friend to us all, and faaarr too good a pony to allow yourself to be controlled by that clearly more powerful Bedlam, daaarling.”

“Umm…yes…umm…please be friends…umm…with us…Twilight…umm…please…”

“Parties! Fun! Yippee! Fun! Friendship! Fun! Hooray! Fun! Cake! Fun!

“…and I’m here, too!” which was all that came from the Spike puppet, which greatly irritated the real Spike.

Bedlam dissipated the puppets, placing her hands on her snake body’s midsection. “I think you get my point,” she uttered in an irked tone. “You think all your happy, fancy, friendship-y words can fix what’s happened: BUT…THEY…CAN’T!” she shouted right into the faces of Twilight’s friends, managing to frighten them all back a bit. “You can’t do anything to help her. You can’t do anything to stop me! Because I am me, and you are all you; and no amount of ‘caring about friends’ will ever change that!” Bedlam finished with bolts of lightning flashing across the sky as she did so.

Twilight’s friends stood motionless, their collective faces aghast at the words and the powers of the malevolent draconicorn. After several seconds, Rainbow turned her gaze around at her friends, seeing fear amongst all of them (especially Fluttershy). But when she looked to Applejack, the frozen eyes that stared back at Bedlam felt greater fear than any of them, which served none too well in bringing up the spirits of this pegasus. It was in this moment in particular that even Rainbow Dash couldn’t muster the willpower to stand up to this most wicked of creatures.

Bedlam herself looked around at the faces of the six petrified creatures before her, and the most impious of grins spread across her face. “Well, it would appear you’ve all smartened up at last. You know there’s nothing to be done. I’ve won, and you’ve all lost,” Bedlam said as she rose up into the air and landed back on her throne. “After all, that’s what Twilight had already known for a while, and why she gave up, so now you’d all best do the same, and start getting used to the new world order of Bedlam!!” she bellowed to the heavens, with multicolored lightning bolts coming down around her.

“But I’d enjoy it better without any of you around anyway, so…” Bedlam then snapped her fingers, and three considerably large brooms appeared next to the ponies and Spike, and immediately began sweeping them away from the throne, much to the dismay of the collective friends.

As they were all swept off and out of sight of Bedlam, she turned her gaze forward, her elongated smile as unnerving as ever, and let out a slow, sinister chuckle, as her ideal world continued on all around her, just as full of chaos, destruction, and misery as she saw fit…

Twilight’s friends collapsed in a heap just outside of Ponyville, with the brooms disappearing once their work had completed. One by one, the ponies and Spike clambered out of the pile and started getting back upright, all feeling dazed from that whole unpleasant experience.

“Ohhh…I’m glad I haven’t eaten anything for a while,” Pinkie Pie said as she walked around dizzily.

“Ugh…” Rainbow Dash uttered exasperatingly. “I can’t believe we just let our butts get kicked all the way out here!”

“Well, I can!” Rarity responded in her own galled tone. “That Bedlam is just so…so…I can’t even think of the right word to use, but I know it exists!”

“And we can’t let her get away with this! We’ve got to go back there and try something else! I don’t care how strong she is!”

“But what can we do?” asked Fluttershy. “She’s so strong…and smart…and we can’t use our Elements on her without Twilight,” Fluttershy said touched her own Element, looking quite despondent.

“I know! I know! But we just can’t give up on Twilight! She never gave up on us before! And she never would! No matter what that Bedlam says!” Rainbow turned her head to Applejack. “Right, Applejack?”

Applejack was sitting on the ground, not facing Rainbow Dash or any of her other friends.

“Applejack?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“Applejack? What is it?” Rarity added in the same tone.

After a few more seconds of silence, Applejack spoke, “…maybe she’s right…” she uttered in a noticeably dispirited manner.

“Who’s right?”

“Bedlam…maybe she’s right…”

“What??” Everypony else exclaimed.

“Bedlam’s just…so powerful…” Applejack turned her head partly back to her friends. “She’s got Twilight…she’s got ‘er crown…she’s got…everything…” Applejack hung her head down low.

“Applejack! You can’t mean that!”

“But it’s true, Rarity!” Applejack refuted as she turned around entirely. “After all that’s happened! Everything we’ve done! Bedlam still ‘as Twilight! Nothin’ we said could work…nothing we did…Celestia an’ Luna couldn’t stop ‘er…Discord couldn’t stop ‘er…” Applejack’s behind slumped back down on the ground as her head tilted downwards once more, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “This whole time ah thought, if we jus’ believed in Twilight, she could fight back against Bedlam…but…maybe she’s jus’ gotten too strong for even us to git through tuh Twilight…”

“You mean…you’re giving up??”

“But you can’t!”

“Ah’m sorry…” Applejack looked back amongst the eyes of her friends, seeing them all looking almost as lost in despair as she herself was. “This whole time, ah’ve tried tuh take the place of Twilight tryin’ tuh motivate everypony an’ do whatever it takes to save mah friend…but, now that she’s trapped inside her own body by that…monster…ah jus’ don’t see any way outta this…”

During Applejack’s speech, her friends all sat down around her, all looking to be feeling as she was now: complete and utter hopelessness. Maybe Applejack was right? Maybe it was all for naught…it was just so hard for any of them to believe that after everything they’ve all been through together, that anything could tear apart their friendship—and, in a way, it was their own friend who did so…

All together the six friends sat in their collective dejection as the world around them continued in its anarchy, it all appearing that Bedlam had won, and won quite overwhelmingly…a fact that had brought ever more melancholia amid the ponies and Spike, was shown by the tears present on each and every face amongst them.

Pinkie Pie sniffed as tears formed around her eyes. “That…nasty old…Bedlam…”

“Nasty is too kind a word for a beast like her,” Rarity added, her mascara running down her face.

“All those horrible things she said about us,” Fluttershy said as she wiped away some of her own tears.

“And what she said about Twilight,” added Spike, albeit in a more maddened tone.

“Yeah,” Rainbow responded, sounding quite irate herself. “Like Twilight would ever give up on us…or anything!”

“Yeah…” Applejack said, though she herself sounded the most down out of all of them.

Suddenly, her ears perked up.

“Wait; what did you say?”

“Huh?”

“That thing you said about Twilight givin’ up! What exactly did you say?”

“I said that Twilight would never give up on us or anything.”

“Huh…” Applejack went, and the look of a pondering mind was present in her face.

“Applejack? What is it?” asked Rarity.

Though she didn’t reply for several seconds, Applejack’s face soon lit up,” That’s it!”

“What’s it?” Everyone responded simultaneously.

“Twilight! That’s the reason she hasn’t been able to beat Bedlam!”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s not that Twilight hasn’t been believing in us; it’s that she’s hasn’t been believing in herself!”

Nopony looked to be understanding what was meant by Applejack’s words, so she explained further.

“Twilight’s always believed that we all could do anything we can tuh help ‘er, but after everything she’s done that she blamed ‘erself for, she never tried tuh believe she could stop Bedlam on ‘er own!”

“You mean…she lost her confidence in herself?” Fluttershy replied.

“Exactly!” Applejack said back as she stood up on all fours.

“So what are we going to do?”

“We’re gonna head on back there and let Twilight know that no matter ‘ow strong Bedlam is, Twilight can beat ‘er! Now who’s with me?”

“I am!”

“Me three! I mean too!”

“You’d better believe I’m with you!”

“Hear hear!”

“Let’s do this!”

“Let’s show that Bedlam what happens when she messes with our friends!!” Fluttershy bellowed angrily, much to the shock of the others. Upon noticing her outburst, Fluttershy gently lowered herself back onto the ground, cleared her throat, and said, “Yes, I’m with you!”

“Then let’s git goin’, ev’rypony!” Applejack proclaimed, and she dashed back in the direction of bedlam’s throne, with all her friends behind her.

“This time,” Applejack thought, “That Bedlam is goin’ down…”

Chapter 19: A Subconscious Clash

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 20: One Last Loose End

Before too long, the pillar of white dissipated back down from the sky to the ground, growing weaker in power and intensity as one by one Twilight’s friends uncovered their faces to see what had come of that unexpected phenomenon. The five ponies and Spike all walked closer to the diminishing glow. The light receded until what looked to be the shape of a body could be seen, everyone noticing how much smaller it appeared compared to Bedlam’s body beforehoof. From this form the light faded away completely, and now everypony could finally see all that had remained.

“T—Twilight?” said Spike, as what lie before him was the body of Twilight Sparkle herself: no other parts from Bedlam remaining. The young unicorn had finally regained herself.

A sound emanated from Twilight as her body began to stir. One by one, Twilight placed her hooves on the ground as she began to stand up, though she staggered a bit in doing so. Fluttershy and Applejack grabbed Twilight as she stumbled, helping their friend to keep from falling down, showing their worry for her as they did so. After finally getting herself upright properly, Twilight placed a hoof to her forehead as she groaned lowly.

“Twilight, darling? Are you all right?”

“Ehh…Rarity? Is that you?”

“Yes, dearie! I’m here!” Rarity responded jovially. “And so is everypony else!”

Twilight’s eyes were not very open, and she appeared to be in a daze of sorts. She peered around at the smiling faces of Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike. Then, albeit slowly, a smile of her own appeared upon her own face as she lifted her head more upright. “You guys…you’re all right,” She looked at her hoof, then at the rest of her body. “And I’m all right, too! I’m me again!”

“Yes, you’re definitely you! The only version of you we’d ever want!” Pinkie said joyfully with a jump.

“And we’re all glad tuh see it, sugarcube.” Applejack added as she patted Twilight on the back.

“Yeah! Whatever you did to Bedlam must have really worked! It sure as hay sounded like it!” Rainbow responded, punching her hooves through the air.

“Yeah! Good thing Fluttershy suggested using the Elements of Harmony on you!” Spike added.

“Oh, it was nothing,” Fluttershy said in response as she blushed. “We’re all just glad to see you okay again, Twilight.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re all okay, too. I don’t really remember much of what happened inside my head, but I knew I couldn’t have beat her without any of…any of…of…of…” Twilight continued repeating, her eyes twitching as well. Everypony else gained nonplussed reactions to Twilight’s actions as parts of the unicorn’s body began to twitch too. The ponies and Spike backed away from Twilight as her body began to convulse, her head shaking back and forth and undistinguishable noises emerging from her mouth. Twilight’s hooves then stopped shaking as they reached up and seized her own head, which became the only part still jerking around, though only from side to side.

“Oh no, not again!”

“I thought it was finally over!” a distressed Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Twilight fell down on her behind, unable to cease the uncontrollable vibrations of her own head—until, suddenly, it all stopped on its own.

“Huh?” collectively went Twilight’s friends, clearly as dumbfounded about this abrupt occurrence as Twilight herself was.

Twilight looked at both her hooves, pondering over what had just happened, when through her horn shot a piercing pain! Twilight yelped as she instinctively clasped her horn in her hooves, trying in vain to quell the torment.

“Twilight! What’s ‘appenin’??”

“It’s…my horn! It…hurts!”

“Oh, will these atrocities never cease?”

“What do we do??”

“I don’t know!”

With everypony in a panic and unknowing of how to alleviate Twilight’s suffering, nopony was prepared for what came next.

Inside her horn, Twilight could feel more than just pain: she felt…something moving; like some sort of living entity moving itself through her horn. She also soon realized that whatever was in there was increasing in size, as she could so acutely feel the pressure building up within her horn to the point that she feared her horn would soon become shattered! Just the thought of such a misfortune befalling her was far too much for the unicorn to think about, but nothing could be done but to sit and wait until that pressure reached its breaking point.

And it did just that.

For a brief moment(though nopony noticed), the tip of Twilight’s horn glowed a pure black before an absolute eruption of smoky black magic burst from the end of the young unicorn’s horn. The discharge came out so powerfully that it blew back all of Twilight’s friends, with the unicorn herself having her body forced down into the ground. The cloudy substance shot out higher and higher into the air in a spiraling motion, growing larger on the end the farther it went out, looking like some manner of smoky tornado. After it reached a certain height, the dark cloud stopped where it was, though still it was still swirling around. While Twilight was currently clasping the sides of her head with her eyes shut as the pain of this substance being released was shooting throughout her head, all her friends could only gaze on in shock and horror at the sight before them, nopony even uttering a word this time.

But then, it began to change.

The smoke’s spiraling had started to slow down. It was contorting and shifting its mass, its shape altering itself to…whatever it was becoming. The width of its form shrunk inwards as it also was extending outwards at the top and both sides. The more they all grew, the more they looked like—body parts?

On one side grew an arm, though it looked very much like the leg of a lion. On the other side came another arm, appearing to be the talons of a hawk or eagle. Then, protruding from the top came the shape of a head, itself changing in shape as well. It formed eyes, ears, a mouth, beard, and two types of horns: one deer, and some kind of warped goat horn. It was during all this shape-changing of the dark smoke than everypony watching soon came to realize what it was they were looking at—or, more accurately: who.

Still attached to Twilight’s horn by the barest of threads was that body of Discord himself! At least, the top half. Only gasps of disbelief emanated from the mouths of the ponies and Spike at this most unexpected of happenings. The insanity never seemed to stop! Would it ever? And what else could possibly happen next?

Twilight’s onlooking friends didn’t have much time to look upon this draconequus display, as this seeming essence of Discord suddenly began to flail about his body, looking to be in pain, which was made more apparent by its sudden descent into shouting out in agony as it continued to shake its body all about. As this clamor began, the essence started to inflate simultaneously, never ceasing in its shrieking all the while. More and more its body expanded like a balloon, filling to edges of its own form, where it could not grow any larger! Everypony did nothing but stare upon this essence of Discord swell and scream and grow, until, finally, with a sound and force most potent, the essence exploded in a massive blast of dark clouds and magic! Everypony could only attempt to cling to the ground beneath them as the force of the blast blew against them all! Spike himself had to be held onto by Fluttershy, who herself was held onto by Rainbow Dash to try to keep them all from being blown away! Fortunately for this group of friends, the power of the explosion did not last for long, soon dissipating into smaller blackened wisps that would turn to nothing as well.

“OW!!” went the real Discord, clutching his chest as he fell to his knees on the grass beneath him.

“Discord??” went the nearby startled Celestia.

“Are you all right?” Luna asked as she approached him.

“Yeah…” Discord replied as he attempted to stand back up, still clutching his chest. “But that was…quite odd.”

“Indeed…I wonder what—”

“But,” Discord interrupted, turning his head towards Ponyville. “I believe I know why.”

One by one, the ponies and Spike got back on their respective hooves and feet. The dark smoke had dispelled. All was clear; all was quiet. For the first time in what felt like so long for Twilight and her friends: they finally had some peace.

“Twilight!” Spike spoke up, running over to the dazed unicorn who held one hoof to her head as she stood back upright herself.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked as she and the other ponies crowded around their thankfully not fallen comrade.

“Anything hurt, sugarcube?”

“Or any bruises or anything like that?”

“Like anything unsightly, dear?”

“Err…” went Twilight as she finally opened her eyes and took away her hoof. “…does a headache count?” The sore unicorn shook her head, attempting to alleviate the meager throbbing in her skull, thought the aching felt to her that it was fading. “It’s starting to feel better, though.”

“Oh, that’s good, darling,” Rarity responded with relief.

“So yer not feelin’ any more a that Bedlam inside of ya anymore?”

“It…doesn’t feel like I do,” Twilight placed a hoof on her chest. “…yes—I think she’s finally gone, guys,” Twilight replied with the first smile she had shown in a while. “Gone for good.”

Pure relief could be felt in the air amongst this group of friends. An evil had come spread its malevolence across the land, and now had gone. They had all been through so much within just the past two days, which all felt like so much closer to a lifetime. The hardships they faced, the relationships that almost strained, and the mighty despair felt by all—each were obstacles to faced by this group of friends, and faced them they all did. Triumph was achieved by no simple ease over any of these difficulties, but in the end, friendship, determination, and self-belief guaranteed victory over an entity most foul and destructive. Chaos was wrought, chaos was overcome, and that malevolent being would be around never again to wreak such havoc upon this world, its inhabitants, or this particular group of friends.

The Age of Bedlam had ended.

With a sudden flash of light, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Discord found themselves now next to the ponies and Spike, who turned their collective attention towards the newly materialized trio.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” Twilight shouted with delight as she dashed over to the two royal sisters.

“What? No greeting for me, Twilight Sparkle? That’s manners for you!” said Discord, sounding annoyed with Twilight, though not sincerely.

“Oh…sorry, Discord,” Twilight sheepishly replied.

“We’re all happy to see you, too, Discord.” Discord looked to see it was Fluttershy who had spoken, having just flown up to Discord as the rest of her friends arrived next to Twilight.

“Well, thank you, Fluttershy! Glad to know somepony around here still has manners,” Discord said in Fluttershy’s direction as he took her hoof and patted it, though it was obvious who his words were really meant to be spoken towards, Twilight amusedly rolling her eyes as her own response.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna interjected, “Tell us: have you truly done away with the foul creature, Bedlam?”

“Yes, Princess. I can honestly say that she is finally gone. Thanks to me, and my friends,” she replied as she gestured to her friends. Princess Luna looked relieved by this confirmation.

“I knew that if anypony could do it, it would be you all,” Celestia added.

“Was there every any doubt? Sure! Lots of it! But hey—whatever works, right?” Said Discord, as wryly as ever.

“Uhh…thanks, Discord,” Rainbow said flatly, not as amused with Discord’s antics as ever.

“At any rate, we are all pleased to know that this entire matter has been dealt with.”

“Indeed. Having to keep Bedlam’s magic from going everywhere all willy-nilly was such a chore—even for me!” Discord stated before summoning an electric fan and waving it at his face to cool himself.

A thought then came to Applejack. “Say, if y’all saw that ever’thing was normal again, why’d ye take so long gitten back ‘ere?”

“Oh, that,” said Luna. “We wanted to make certain that all was well outside of Ponyville before we returned. Then when Discord informed us of what he had felt, we made sure to return here at once.”

“What Discord felt?”

“Indeed, my dearest Fluttershy. Me and the princesses were in the midst of our chaos inspection,” Discord poofs up a large magnifying glass. “When all of a sudden I feel this just horrible pain in my chest!” He says as he clutches his chest as small red lightning bolts appear around it. “I could feel right then and there that the part of me that was in Twilight was no longer using its room and board inside our dear friend! Which was all well and good, since I’m sure its rent was overdue,” Discord finished as he poofed up a piece of paper that said “RENT” in large letters at the top, making Fluttershy and even Pinkie Pie giggle a bit.

“That was when we knew there was nothing more left to examine, and Discord transported all three of us to this location soon after,” said Luna.

“So then there is definitely no lingering magic of Bedlam left,” Twilight responded contentedly, though her expression soon changed to one of realization. “Oh; Discord, I’m sorry what happened to Bedlam hurt you the way it did. I had no idea anything like that would happen,” she finished, looking legitimate sorrowful.

“Oh, pshaw and psh,” went Discord as he waved off her words. “No need to get your mane in a tizzy,” Discord said as he twirled his finger above Twilight’s mane, making it all twist up together. “I’ve felt worse, believe it or not. Don’t even get me started on that time with those giant anti-magic spiders…”

“What?”

“Nothing! Anyways, it doesn’t matter now. Our little Twilight has proven herself so strong in all this!” He stretches his head over to Celestia. “Maybe you should make her a princess too; eh, Celestia?”

Celestia giggled a bit at Discord’s jesting suggestion, though afterward looked to be considering the idea, though nopony seemed to notice this expression.

“Discord is right, Twilight Sparkle. You should be proud of what you and your friends have accomplished here today. I believe we never could have overcome Bedlam without any of you, my little ponies.”

Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike exchanged appreciative looks with one another before al seven come together and share in a warm group embrace.

“Celestia’s right: I never could have beaten Bedlam without you guys.”

“An’ we couldn’t a done it without you, Twi.”

“It was a great team effort for everyone,” Fluttershy stated in her gentle voice.

“The great, moistest bestest team ever!!”

“Yeah, a team of ponies who kicked some serious bad guy butt!”

“Yes, I suppose that’s an accurate way to put it, Rainbow, dear.”

“Accurate or not, you guys all did great!” Spike added cheerfully. “Equestria’s lucky to have you all!”

“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight replied before the group hug separated itself. “We’re all very lucky that we managed to overcome Bedlam and her power by working together.” Twilight’s face and smile then dipped a bit, which was noticeable enough to her friends.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?”

“…although, for a time, we all almost lost to her…and that felt really scary for me,” Twilight hung her head down lower. “I gave up on myself for a while; I was really lost. I really believed it was the end of Equestria,” Twilight looked at her friends. “And, truly: if it wasn’t for all of you guys, it really would have been…”

Everypony was feeling commiseration for the poor unicorn after her little speech. Even after her amazing victory over that dastardly draconicorn, Twilight couldn’t seem to help but feel partly like a failure. It was disheartening for anyone to see: especially her closest friends. After all, how much more would it take for Twilight to stop feeling like the letdown everypony knew she was not?

For a short time, nopony responded to Twilight’s words. But then, Applejack stepped forward, ready to say something—before Celestia stepped ahead of her, moving over to Twilight first, causing the earth pony to stop in her tracks.

Twilight opened her eyes as she felt something drape over her backside. She looked up to see Princess Celestia standing over her, her wing covering Twilight’s back. She looked into her mentor’s smiling face as the alicorn began to speak:

“Twilight, my faithful student: there can be so many times in our lives when we go through some manner of turmoil. It can be difficult to be strong when it feels the whole world is weighing down on you. But of all of that is precisely why you mustn’t ever give up on yourself.” Twilight lifted her head up more, no longer looking so sad as she kept her eyes on Celestia. “Sometimes doing just that may feel the easiest at the time, but will prove to lead more hardships down the line. I know you felt like giving up when it appeared there was no way out for you, but in the end, thanks to the help of your friends, you were able to overcome those very hardships you came against. It was from your friends that you learned a most important lesson: that it isn’t just important to believe in your friends, but yourself as well; for friends will not always be there to personally fight back against powerful enemies, and you must know how to be able to help yourself, because one’s inner strength has the potential to be the strongest kind of power they can have, as everypony who saw that from you knows fully well,” Celestia motions her other wing over to Twilight’s friends, all of whom were smiling at Twilight, whom was returning that beaming smile right back at them.

“My sister is correct, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna spoke up as she approached the young unicorn. “We all have our times of weakness, and our times of strength. I myself know all too well the feeling of giving in to one’s own weaknesses—to one’s own anger…but you, Twilight Sparkle: you have proven this day what you are made of—what you are truly capable of; and we are all here more than proud of you for it,” Luna finished with a prideful smile for the young unicorn, who looked nothing but touched by the princess’ words.

“Indeed, we are,” Celestia added. “And the you and your friends succeeded with your use of the Elements of Harmony—I believe there are none who have proven themselves as worthy of being their bearers than you six,” Celestia turned to Twilight’s friends. “You should all be proud of yourselves as well.”

“Aww, shucks, Princess. We couldn’t ‘av’ done it without Twilight.”

“And I couldn’t have done it without all of you. You all reminded me that I need to know how to be strong on my own, and I was able to do so. Thank you all so much for that,” Tears formed in Twilight’s eyes as she finished speaking.

“Tweren’t nothin’, Twilight!”

“Actually, I think it was something, but still a good something!”

“Right, Pinkie,” Rainbow added. “But she’s right! We’re all the best! And always are together!”

“Hear, hear!”

“You guys rock!” Spike appended.

“Yay for us,” Fluttershy also added, though not as noticeably loudly.

With smiles beaming and joyousness felt throughout the air itself, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike all came together in the most heartfelt of group hugs. Tears were shed, and warmness permeated throughout the bodies of the seven close friends. With all the chaos, the horrors, the hardships, and heartbreaks, these ponies had come out on top once more, and their bond felt stronger than it had ever been before.

The two princesses and the lord of chaos watched the wholehearted display before them, all three smiling the entirety of the time. Luna turned her head partly towards Discord, having noticed that he had not spoken for some time. “Anything you’d care to add, Discord?”

“Moi?” Discord replied as he turned his head towards her. “Because, honestly, I don’t see any extra amount of sappy words that have yet to be used,” he said as he poofed up a jar of tree sap with words floating around inside the sap.

“Is that so?” Luna slyly responded.

“Quite so, Princess,” spoke Discord as he stretched a lengthy and wordy piece of sap out from the jar. “I could say how oh so very pleasing it is to see our young Twilight Sparkle once again overcome impossible odds with the help of her friends, all of whom helping to save Equestria from eternal doom and growing together in their close, loving, and ceaseless bond which showcases the very heart and soul of all in the world that can be called magical and friendship?” Discord paused shortly after his dialogue, the blank expressions of the princesses staring back at him. “…but of course, I would never say something like that. A bit too out of character, wouldn’t you say?”

Celestia chuckled. “I suppose so, Discord. Good thing you didn’t say that, then.”

“Indeed,” Princess Luna added.

“In-deed,” spoke Discord, with the three of them looking on as the six ponies and Spike embraced and laughed together, with naught but joy and frivolity to be seen. After all the turmoil and bedlam, peacefulness encompassed the land of Equestria as it had before, and would hopefully do so for a long time to come.

All thanks to this group of friends;

The power of self-assurance;

And the magic of friendship.

THE END

Author's Note

And there we have it, folks: After 12 years, 7 months, and 11 days, The Curse of Discord is at last complete! Hard to believe it's been so long, or that I've ever actually finish this! Still, I'm glad to not leave what is technically my most popular story incomplete. I stopped writing it at first because I grew disinterested in it, and later the show itself, not feeling as impactful on me as it did before. That's something that will always make me feel sad. But, this show will always have a special place inside me, and I'm grateful that it ever made me feel the way I did about it, and that I had a show like it that I had cared about so much and meant so much to me at the time. I thank you for that, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
And thank you to everyone who cared about this story and cared to see it finally concluded. Not certain what the future is for me with this franchise, but I'm still glad it exists.
So for now: goodbye, and thanks for reading~!

Chapter 1: A Great Day Out

It was the middle of the day in Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were on the outskirts of town, having a relaxing day out. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were bouncing a ball back and forth to each other, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Spike were lying back against an apple tree, and Rarity and Twilight were busy conversing with one another.
"Ahhh," Spike sighed. "I don't think I've ever had a day where I didn't feel like I had to do anything."

"Well, how often does Twilight not have work for you to do?" Rainbow Dash laughed.

"Yeah, I know!" Spike replied, laughing.

Twilight turned her head back towards Spike and Rainbow, as she overheard what they said, and she looked a bit irritated by it.

Rarity saw Twilight looking upset. “Oh, dearie, don’t be bothered by them. A little hard work doesn't hurt anyone. Whatever chores Spike has to do, I'm sure they are quite fair."

"Thank you, Rarity. Besides, I know those two are just joking. I just need to work on my sense of humor."

"Well, I hope that's working well for you, Twilight," Rarity kindly replied.

"Oh, it certainly has!" Twilight brightly exclaimed. I've been reading this great book that teaches ponies how to understand humor! I think I am learning quite a lot from it!"

Rarity's face looked blank for a moment. "Well..." she said with a nervous smile on her face. "I'm glad it could help you, Twilight."

"As am I," Twilight replied, smiling cheerfully.

While that was going on, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were still playing with the ball. "Okay, Fluttershy," Pinkie said as she bounded the ball up and down on her head. "Get ready to catch the ball!"

"Okay; Just please make sure not to throw it too hard," Fluttershy said shyly.

"Don't worry! I'll toss it so lightly that even a Fluttershy half your size could catch it!” Pinkie then tossed the ball lightly, Fluttershy flew up into the air to catch it, and when she caught the ball, the force of the ball caused Fluttershy to fall backwards onto the ground, landing on her back. Pinkie then ran up to Fluttershy. “Are you okay??”

Fluttershy lifted her head up, looking a bit dazed. “I guess not being half my size makes me less strong," she said in a slightly dizzy voice.

"But that can't be!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in worry. "You're twice as much as half your size! Doesn't that mean you would be stronger??"

"Oh! I don't know!" Fluttershy said after she got back up on her hooves, starting to get worried herself.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted, causing Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy to turn in her direction. Rainbow was still lying against the tree, and she lifted herself up to talk. "I think you guys are getting a bit too worried about Fluttershy not being able to catch the ball."

"She's right," Applejack added. "Why don't ya'll take a break and come relax by the tree with us?"

"Well...that does sound relaxing," Fluttershy said.

"I have to admit," Pinkie also said. "It does sound better than trying to figure out how strong half a Fluttershy is!"

"I'm sure it is," Rainbow Dash responded in a slightly joking and condescending way.

"Alrighty then!" Pinkie replied. She and Fluttershy then walked over to the tree and lie down against it.

Rainbow Dash then turned her head towards Twilight and Rarity. "What about you two?"

"Thank you, Rainbow Dash," Rarity replied. "But I'm rather enjoying talking to Twilight."

"Actually, Rarity," Twilight said. "I think it would be great for all of us to relax against the tree, since we'll all be doing the same thing as friends."

Rarity looked surprised by Twilight's response. "Are you sure about that, Twilight?"

"Aww, come on, Rarity!" Applejack said in a frustrated tone. "Why don't yah just try it? After all, relaxin' doesn't mean havin' to be in some hoity-toity spa, yah know."

"Hmph," Rarity angrily grunted. She then looked at the tree, where Twilight had joined the others in lying against it. Rarity then sighed, knowing she didn't want to disappoint her friends. Rarity then walked up to the tree and looked down at the ground. She looked a bit repulsed. "Do I really have to lie down on the grass?"

Applejack then groaned and slapped her face with her hoof.

"Oh, all right!" Rarity exclaimed frustratingly. She then turned around and very slowly laid herself against the trunk of the tree, feeling repulsed the more she touched the ground.

"Now that Rarity's decided to join us," Applejack said. "Let's all just spend a bit of time relaxin' in the calm, peacefulness of nature." The others all agreed with Applejack, and they all lie against the tree, being quiet so as not to disturb the calmness around them. Suddenly, the calmness was disturbed by the sound of grumbling, and it was coming from Spike's stomach.

"Spike," Twilight asked, still having her eyes shut to keep with being tranquil. "Do you think you can keep your stomach quiet for a little while longer so we can enjoy the serenity?"

"Sorry, everyone," Spike said, feeling his stomach. "I didn't eat much today, so I'm feeling a bit hungry. But I'll try to keep my stomach quiet."

"Thank you, Spike," Twilight said, feeling contented. Everyone stayed quiet for a little while, with no noises or distractions to bother them from their nice tranquility. But then, Twilight hears a low rumbling noise, and she gets very frustrated. "Spike! I thought I told you to keep your stomach quiet!" she shouted in aggravation.

"But I am keeping my stomach quiet! I haven't been thinking about eating since you told me to be quiet before!"

"But...I thought I heard a rumbling noise," Twilight asked, feeling perplexed.

"It was probably just your imagination, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, still leaning against the tree with her eyes closed. "After all, I didn't hear anything," suddenly, another rumbling sound was heard, and Rainbow opened her eyes instantly. "But I did hear that."

"Ah heard it, too!" Applejack said. The others said that they also heard the rumbling.

"It sounded louder than before," Twilight said as she got up on all four hooves. "But where is it coming from??" The other ponies got up as well, and they all looked around to see anything that may be the cause of the rumbling noise.

Another rumbling noise was heard, which was also louder than the previous one. Rainbow Dash flew up above the tree and looked around. She placed her hoof over her eyes to block out the sunlight as she looked in every direction. Rainbow kept looking around, and then something caught her eye, which made her turn her head back in the direction where she had seen something. Far off in the distance, something that looked round and gray was moving in Rainbow's direction. She moved closer to get a better look at whatever it is that was in the distance.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!! Do you see anything??" Pinkie Pie loudly shouted, totally freaking Rainbow Dash out.

Rainbow angrily turned towards Pinkie Pie. "Yes! I see something, Pinkie Pie!!" she shouted back.

"Oh; all righty, then!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully replied, to which Rainbow Dash grumbled and rolled her eyes in frustration.

"What is it you see?" Twilight asked.

Another rumbling was heard, and Rainbow turned back in the direction of the sound. She could now make out the shape of the gray object coming towards her. "It looks like a...cloud."

"A cloud?" Spike asked, sounding very disinterested. "Is that all?"

"But this cloud is hovering right above the trees. Why would it be doing that?" Rainbow asked, scratching her head in bafflement.

That is strange,” Twilight said, also sounding confused. “What could be the cause of this?” She and the others all exchanged confused looks, with none of them knowing what was going on with this cloud. They all then turned their heads back towards the cloud as it floated ever closer to them seven of them.

Chapter 6: The Stand-Off 1/2

Ever since the chocolate tidal wave, the chaos cloud had been spreading more chaos than before. It gave tongues to rocks, had clumps of leaves turn into miniature tornadoes, made daisies shoot fire, and made nearby flying birds fat, causing them to plummet to the ground, unable to fly back up.

As the ponies and Spike were catching up with the cloud, they passed by the trail of chaos left behind by the cloud.

"This is gettin' crazy!" Applejack said. "That cloud just won't let up with causin' all this ruckus!"

"I'm gonna make sure it stops when I catch it!" Rainbow Dash said with angered determination as she pounded her hooves together while she was flying.

"Well, just don't try to hurt it too badly," Fluttershy said softly.

Rainbow looked down at Fluttershy and gave her a mean look, but when she saw Fluttershy's worried face, she sighed. "Fine," she said sternly.

"Well, hopefully, there won't be too much fighting, as I want to stop all this chaos with the utmost speed!" Twilight said.

"Well, we're all right behind yah, Twilight!" Applejack said. The other ponies all wholeheartedly agreed, making Twilight smile.

"I'm right behind you, too!" Spike said with readiness. "I'm feeling better again, so now I'm ready to show that cloud what it gets for making me sick so much!" he said boldly.

"Well, here's your chance! Look!" Applejack said as she pointed with her head. Up ahead, everyone could see the chaos cloud, still on the move and spreading chaos. The cloud zapped another one of its lightning bolts at the ground, which made everyone stop moving.

Spike cowered a bit when everyone stopped. "Uhh...now that I think of it, it might be better for me to wait here, so I don't slow you guys down," he said as he chuckled nervously.

"You can't leave!" Twilight shouted at Spike as she turned her head back towards him.

"May I wait instead, please?" Fluttershy asked.

"No!" Twilight exclaimed. "Nobody's leaving! And that's why!" Twilight pointed in the direction the cloud was going, and everyone could see that Ponyville was in sight! "That cloud is almost to Ponyville! That's why we have to stop it now! We can't let it hurt any innocent ponies!"

"You mean besides us?" Rarity asked.

"Yes, besides us. Now let's go!" Twilight began running again, and the others followed her.

The ponies and Spike were once again catching up to the cloud, and luckily it did not seem to notice them this time, as it kept on spreading chaos all around it. Unfortunately, Twilight could see that running to the cloud was taking much too long, and the cloud would reach Ponyville in only a short time.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to catch up to it in time!’ Spike said with worry.

“Oh, yes we will!” Twilight exclaimed. “It’s not getting away this time!” Twilight then used her magic and teleported herself and Spike in front of the cloud’s path. Twilight skidded to a stop after she had teleported, and turned around to face the cloud. "You're not getting one inch further!" she shouted, and the cloud stopped moving. "I won't allow you to spread chaos any longer!" she exclaimed.

"Me, neither!" Spike shouted.

"Neither will we!" The other ponies shouted, having just arrived, and were facing the opposite side of the cloud that Twilight was facing.

"...umm, me too," Fluttershy said shyly.

The cloud remained where it was, not doing anything.

"What's it doing, Twilight?" Spike asked. "It's not doing anything."

"I think it may be assessing the situation to try and determine what methods it should utilize to prevent us from defeating it," Twilight replied.

Spike looked confused for a few seconds. "...you mean it's thinking of a way to stop us before we stop it?"

"Yes," Twilight replied. "And thank you for understanding what I said," she said as she turned her head back towards Spike.

"Hey, no problem," Spike said as he smiled.

Twilight then heard a noise. She turned her head back around and up towards the cloud, and could see the cloud was shaking. Twilight could tell the cloud was getting ready to do something, so she quickly tried to think of a plan. "Think, Twilight," she said to herself. Twilight looked over at the other ponies, and then she got an idea. "Applejack!" she called out.

"Yeah??" Applejack shouted back.

"Do you have your lasso??"

"Of course!" Applejack then proceeded to take her hat off, pull out her lasso with her mouth, then place her hat back on her head.

"Pardon me for asking," Rarity said. "But why do you have your lasso in your hat?"

Applejack took the rope out of her mouth. "Just in case."

"Of a lasso emergency??" Pinkie Pie blurted out.

"Uhh...sure, Pinkie."

"Then quickly!" Twilight shouted to Applejack. "Lasso the right side of the cloud from where you're standing!"

"Right!" Applejack placed the rope back in her mouth and ran towards the right side of the cloud. As she ran, she started twirling her lasso around to get it ready to grasp the cloud. Applejack then hurled the lasso with all her might, and the rope latched onto the right side of the cloud, holding it firmly.

After roping the cloud, Applejack wrapped her rope around a nearby tree so as to give it more hold with the cloud.

The cloud pulled against the rope, but it was staying in place. Applejack smiled as she held the rope with her teeth, feeling proud of herself. But then her prideful face became horror-struck as the cloud began focusing its lightning on the rope, getting ready to zap Applejack!

"Hey cloud! Over here!!"

The cloud stopped charging its electricity when it heard this noise. On the opposite side of the cloud where Applejack was, Pinkie Pie was bouncing up and down, waving her front legs around in the air. "If you want a pony to zap, try me! I'm way better at being a target than anypony! Now, c'mon! Try and zap me! C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!"

Pinkie Pie kept shouting, and the cloud actually began to grow irritated. It re-directed its lightning at Pinkie and tried to zap her, but she swiftly dodged the cloud's attack, either running or hopping to get out of the way.

Whenever the cloud tried to zap Pinkie, it zapped the grass when she dodged, turning the grass into paper airplanes that flew around in the air.

As the cloud kept missing Pinkie Pie, it tried to move closer to her to get a better shot, but it was still being held back by Applejack, and she was not letting up. The cloud pulled against the rope harder, as its power was focused on Pinkie Pie, so it did not try to use any of its magic to get rid of the rope. But then, the rope started to very slowly move, with the cloud pulling with all its might.

Applejack was befuddled when she felt herself moving. She looked at the part of the rope wrapped around the tree, and could see that the rope was unfurling. Applejack now became frightened, and began pulling the rope back to try and stop the cloud from moving any further, but the cloud was much too strong for her.

Applejack looked towards Rarity, whom was standing the closest to her. "Rrrty! Ah ned hlp!" she shouted with the rope clenched in her teeth, making her words barely audible.

"I beg your pardon?" Rarity asked, feeling puzzled. "I cannot understand you, Applejack. Could you say again?" Rarity lifted her hoof to her ear to listen for Applejack's response.

"Ah sed, HLP me!!" Applejack said louder and in a more irate tone.

"Oh! Why didn't you say so?"

Applejack gave Rarity a quite nasty look.

"Ahh, yes, right. Well, I am on my way!" Rarity dashed over to Applejack and used her magic to hold the rope, giving it a much firmer grip on the cloud.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy watched from where they were.

"We gotta help 'em out, too!" Rainbow said to Fluttershy.

"Oh, I don't know; they seem to be doing pretty well on their owwwwn!!" Fluttershy was pulled off by Rainbow Dash before she could finish talking.

Rainbow took Fluttershy over to the side of the cloud that was opposite of where Applejack and Rarity were.

"Okay, Fluttershy! Help me push!"

"But that cloud might zap me and do something horrible!"

"That's just a risk that you and I are both going to have to take to help our friends!"

Fluttershy looked around at her other friends who were risking their own selves to stop the cloud, and she sighed. "You're right Rainbow Dash. Let's do this!" she said in a much sterner voice. She then rammed into the side of the cloud, helping to keep it back, with Rainbow Dash looking proud of her friend.

The cloud was shaking violently, with small bursts of its magic coming out from all sides. With so much happening around it, the cloud could not focus its magic on any one target, and was thusly at the mercy of the ponies. Twilight was the one pony there who could see this weakness in the cloud, and she knew that now was the one perfect time for her to strike.

“Spike, there is something I want to try, so I am going to need you to stand back so you won’t get hurt, if you please.”

“Gotcha, Twilight,” Spike got down off of Twilight’s back and ran behind a nearby rock. From there he watched so as to see what spell Twilight would use on the cloud.

Twilight faced the cloud, and spread her legs apart. She took a deep breath, and prepared herself, for this spell she was going to cast was going to be one heck of a doozy. Twilight began charging up the magic in her horn. Her horn illuminated with purple light flashing around her horn, glowing brighter as her magical energy levels increased.

The cloud suddenly stopped its twinges of spurting energy. It was now sensing something: magic. A very large, very high, and very powerful level of magic.

Because this concentration of magic was so high, the cloud quickly detected it to be coming from Twilight. The cloud now knew what to focus on, since because Twilight's magical power was so great, she was quite clearly the cloud's number one threat right now, and she had to be taken care of.

The cloud pooled together most of its power together in a single spot that was in the perfect position. Twilight was just about complete with charging up her own power, unaware of the cloud's forthcoming attack.

In an instant, the cloud blasted a bolt of lightning at Twilight, far stronger than any of its previous attacks. At the same time, Twilight reared her body upwards to launch her own attack, but right as she came back down to fire her own magic beam, the cloud's magic lightning struck her horn.

Chapter 12: A Chaotic Clash 5/7

With three of her friends out of commission for the time being, Twilight pondered on who out of her present quarry would be most suitable as her next victim. Since Rainbow Dash was her previous choice, she chose against following up with the next obvious pony which was Applejack, and still desired not tormenting the other obvious pony, which was Fluttershy. It was apparent that the best choice left to make would be the one non-pony in her presence: Spike, who was trembling profusely as Twilight stepped towards the timorous terleugg.

"Well, well, Spike. How are we doing today?"

"Well, right now; not so great."

"Awww, I'm so sorry to hear that. Lucky for you, I have just the remedy," Twilight moved her left arm to the right, about to produce some horrible act upon Spike, who was frozen with fear and could not move. But, before a blow could be struck, Twilight's actions were halted by the booming voice of Celestia which resonated throughout the throne room with the magnitude of a roaring thunderclap.

"This has been quite enough!!" Glaring light emanated from behind Celestia with such intensity that the previously distrait and/or muddled Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were abruptly clouted from their disorderly states and back to the realm of reality, in turn reacting to the light given off by Celestia by shielding their faces from her onslaught of illumination. Even Twilight was momentarily incapacitated at the initial dissemination of Celestia's prowess. The fury of the alicorn had been unleashed, and Twilight about to bear the full brunt of the princess of the sun.

"It does not matter if you are Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia vociferated, her booming tone reverberating against the partitions and contiguous corridors that lie beyond the throne room. "I will not stand idly by while you treat innocent Equestrians so abysmally!" Celestia rose into the air as her speech progressed. "You are no longer Twilight Sparkle! You are a being of foul and wretched intent, and the deplorable actions begat by your demented psyche will not go unpunished! Your power is great; I cannot deny this. And I myself may not be seen as a sizable threat to one as powerful as yourself, nor does any other in this room."

"Hey!"

"But I can, with the utmost conviction, affirm to you that I am no pony to be taken lightly. No matter how great your strength or extensive your abilities, I will not falter in my duty to safeguard my fellow Equestrians, for if to defend them I must, then defend them I will!"

Though her mien was staggered through an exterior aspect initially, Twilight took little time to retract her startled appearance for a haughty smirk. "You know, I was wondering when the so-called 'defender of Equestria' would finally step forward to defend her people as she so claims to do and as so many would expect of her," Twilight leaned partway towards Celestia. "It's really quite embarrassing when you think about it," she spoke in a half-loud whisper.

Celestia did not even hesitate. In her rage, the alicorn pooled together her powers of the sun, and in one concentrated blast, discharged an immensely potent beam directly at the still supercilious Twilight Sparkle.

Being as unintimidated as she was, Twilight merely outstretched her arm with the palm facing the oncoming blast, and on the following collision, blocked the attack in its entirety, with the shock wave being deflected to the sides, with not one particle of the strike coming into contact with the form of the dexterous draconicorn. Adding insult to injury, Twilight proceeded to magic up a pair of sunglasses and place them on, afterwards saying, "My, is it bright in here, or is it just me?"

Even though Twilight was halting Celestia's assault with ease, the princess did not relent in her efforts to subdue the virulent pony. She held her beam in its continuous level of power for as long as she was able, while Twilight was simply standing by, looking rather stultified with Celestia's feeble attempts to defeat her. It was then that Twilight decided that this one-sided duel had taken enough time out of her day. She was a busy little bringer of chaos, and now was the time to bring that very chaos to the princess of the sun.

"Say, Celestia: haven't you heard? Staring at bright light is bad for ponies. Can't you see your friends aren't too fond of your overblown light show?" Twilight motioned her hand to the ponies and Spike in the throne room, who were all immobilized from the dispersed glare emanating from Celestia's offensive. But even after her words of wisdom, Celestia remained unwavering in her attack, not letting up by even the slightest degree.

Seeing that she had yet to subside, Twilight knew it was time for a visual aid, "Well, if you don't believe me, then why don't you see for yourself!"

On that note, Twilight reared back her arm, and unlike before where she was only blocking it, this time she was actually absorbing the power Celestia was bombarding her with. With the amount of power situated in her palm increasing, Twilight added a bit of her own "zing" to the mix, intensifying the luminosity of the magical energy to a dangerously high magnitude. It took little time for Celestia to notice what the draconicorn was up to, and, not wanting to impart any more of her power to the mad pony, Celestia cut off her attack. Unfortunately, this did not stop Twilight. She absorbed the remaining traces of Celestia's magic into her scaly hand, and in one short thrust, rebounded the collective energy, sending a blinding ray straight back at Princess Celestia!

The princess hadn't even the shortest of time to avoid the attack. In what seemed like an instant, a searing pain disseminated across Celestia's visage. The severe sensation felt like the exhalation of a dragon's fiery breath being propelled against her entire face, along with what felt like the blinding rays of a thousand suns thrusting directly into her retinas. The ferocity of this offensive strike was so agonizing for Princess Celestia that she plummeted out of the air, screaming in torment all the way down to her throne. The princess rammed hard against the base of the throne, subsequently tumbling down the stairs and onto the floor—though, none of that appeared to have bothered the injured sovereign, as she was preoccupied with the intense searing of her face, which she clasped as the pain pierced every modicum of her being, leaving the crippled Celestia sightless and immobile.

As the princess clutched her eyes and shrieked in pain, Twilight removed her sunglasses and gazed downwards at the lame alicorn. "Hmm...or was that just sunlight you weren't supposed to look at? Oh, well," Twilight placed her sunglasses away in a pocket she conjured up on her side. She then clapped her hands together as she turned to face the ponies and Spike, rubbing her palms in relishing anticipation. "Now—where was I?"

Chapter 15: The Age of Bedlam 3/3

From the sidelines near the entrance of the throne room, everypony and Spike watched with baited breath each at the cosmic clash about to unfold before them all.

"Shouldn't we do something to help?" Fluttershy asked with worry in her voice.

"There's nothing we can do at this point," Celestia says to the fretful pegasus. "None of us are a match for Bedlam but Discord; we would simply be putting ourselves in harm's way to no avail."

"But..."

"My sister is right,' Luna appended. "I had difficulty defeating her even before she fully transformed into her Bedlam persona, which I believe may have made her vastly more powerful than before."

"But..."

"Ah think it's best to listen to the princesses, Fluttershy. Even though it pains me tuh say it, we should just stay out of Discord's way so none of us can get hurt again."

Fluttershy's other friends seemed to be in agreement on this—even Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy decided that the others knew what was best, and that she should allow Discord to do his thing without any distractions. The pegasus turned her head back over to Discord. As she watched him standing his ground against Bedlam, she raised a hoof to her chest and placed it over her heart, her eyes stirring concurrently.

Bedlam takes a step forward as she spreads her arms to the side, taking her fighting stance. Bedlam's sinister yet haughty smile denoted her aplomb in that she believed she was more than prepared to meet any challenge her draconequus opponent would throw at her. "So, shall we begin? Or would you like to do the smart thing and give in to the clearly superior draconequus?"

Every condescending word she spoke was like venom dripping into Discord's ear canal: only a moment of relief was felt between each stinging drop burned his flesh, irritating the already smoldering draconequus ever more. But Discord had had enough of taking Bedlam's verbal maltreatment. She thinks her larking about is so amusing? Well, this draconicorn was about to get a lesson in true lesson in japing...

"Sorry, Bedlam," Discord says as he magics up a cowboy outfit on himself. "This world ain't big enough fer the two of us," he swishes the saliva in his mouth around before spitting off to the side, inadvertently eliciting Rarity to recoil in disgust.

"I couldn't agree more," Bedlam replied, donning a cowgirl outfit herself. "But I do rather enjoy the theme you've chosen—a bit archetypal for a showdown, but still classic."

"Enough talk! It's time to draw!" Discord readies places his hands by his holsters, wriggling his fingers in preparation to draw his weapons.

Despite her appreciation for Discord's devotion to the theme, Bedlam did not feel the same about herself. "If you say so!" she shouted, following up by pulling two revolvers from her own holsters and aiming both at her draconequus opponent.

Discord ceased his finger waggling after seeing Bedlam unveil her choice of armament for their duel. "Don't you think that's a bit violent for this show?"

"I just felt we should start this off with a 'bang'," Bedlam replies, pulling the triggers abruptly, with tiny poles springing out of the barrels of both guns, followed by flags unraveling on each, the word "Bang!" shown on their sides.

"...okay, now it makes sense," Discord said, Bedlam merely responding to him with a larger of her minatory grins.

Without warning, both flags fired out of their respective guns straight at Discord. While shocking to the others, Discord didn't even bat a eye as he raised his hands and caught both projectiles effortlessly. Discord examines the flags for a bit, then looks back at Bedlam, "While your joke was adequate, I'm afraid puns alone won't be enough to—" and then both flags swiftly exploded in his hands.

"I guess my joke works on two different levels," Bedlam said, snickering afterwards.

Though seeing Bedlam use the guns was already surprising to the ponies and Spike before, this time they felt they had even more reason to contract this sense of dread infecting each and every one of their psyches. Discord was not entirely shared in this feeling himself. He was more...unamused, as one could tell by the expression he was currently holding underneath all the after-explosion residue. Rather than saying anything, Discord summoned forth a vacuum cleaner and used it remove the residue from his body, poofing away the appliance afterwards.

"Did you make sure to get behind your ears, too?" Bedlam sniggered.

Discord glared back at his opponent for a second, then smirked, "Yes I did, but you look to be dirty yourself, Bedlam, so allow me to clean you up!" he proclaimed, snapping his fingers

Bedlam looked up as a small rain cloud suddenly appeared over her head. Immediately following its creation, a downpour drenched the unsuspecting draconicorn in rainwater, and as soon as that finished, a second downpour doused Bedlam with liquid soap, cleaning her thoroughly and getting behind her ears as well. With the actual cleaning part finished, an additional deluge of rainwater soused Bedlam, completing the entire rinse cycle. "Please: allow me to dry you off as well," Discord says, and the cloud zaps Bedlam with a bolt of lightning, effectively drying her off and scorching her body a bit.

"I'd say that makes us about even for earlier, wouldn't you say?" Discord was the one being smug now, and he was enjoying every second of it.

Bedlam didn't look to be too happy herself, but the duplicitous draconicorn was up to more than she was letting on, and it would be her turn to be the one smiling once more...

"In terms of playing childish pranks, but now..." Bedlam replied, sounding most ominous. She then got down on all fours and shook the ash off her body in the way a dog would, even shaking her hiney up in the air for last. "I will say that your retaliation was pretty good—for amateur hour; but that ended about..." she checks her watch. "...17 seconds ago, sooo..." she suddenly claps her hands together, and sections of the floor on both sides of Discord swing up and smash together around him. "...the hour for the real fighting has just arrived..."

"Discord!" Fluttershy cried out for her fallen friend, as she rushed forward to aid him. The fraught pegasus suddenly found herself immobilized: held back by the combined efforts of Rainbow Dash and Spike. However, this impediment did not coerce Fluttershy relent in her efforts to tear away from them, frantically endeavoring to rescue her imperiled companion.

Bedlam flicked her wrists downwards, setting both pieces of the floor back into their respective slots. Between where the slabs had done their dirty work, stood Discord, who was flatter than a pancake that had been but through a wringer and subsequently stomped on. Slowly, his two-dimensional body wobbled down like a piece of paper, ending up in a folded-up pile of his own body.

Fluttershy ceased her struggles against the restraining pegasus and dragon. She turned her face away—the sight of her friend having been trounced so severely was far more than the sensitive pony could endure. Though it was naught but for a few seconds, that dreadful scene beheld by the young Fluttershy was more horrible a sight than she had ever seen(even if it was a tad goofy). And even though Discord was the only one Fluttershy had treated as a real friend, none of her other friends took in any sort of pleasure or satisfaction from seeing Bedlam maltreat anybody.

As Discord remained ensnared in his stupefaction, Bedlam sauntered over to the debilitated draconequus, hands held behind her back in a casual manner. After reaching Discord, Bedlam summoned forth a bicycle pump, inserting the nozzle into Discord's mouth, and used her magic to begin pumping away, oxygen flowing through the rubberized tubes down into the gullet of the once proud and peerless master of all things chaos! Oh, most humiliating of humiliations!

After only a matter of seconds, Discord's body had become engorged with the sufficient amount of air necessary to return the draconequus to his rightful form! On the surface, this would be the cause for great relief amongst Discord's allies, but that time had yet to pass, as Discord's head had taken quite the whopping blow, and his mind was not in the same place as the rest of his body. With visible exertion, Discord lifted himself up from the split throne room floor, figure trembling and vision hazy. His mind was in such a state of stupor that he almost couldn't remember what was happening. He staggered when attempting to stand up straight, his motor skills enfeebled by this lapse in mind functionality. Back and forth Discord's body undulated, feet stumbling around in a small circle as he dazedly attempted to keep balance. While all this activity had transpired, Bedlam came up to Discord, staring down at her innocuous opponent. Needless to say, Fluttershy felt nothing but terror for her friend's well-being, and that same fright is what held the pegasus back from saving the unfortunate fellow.

"I must say, I'm disappointed in you, Discord," Discord turned to Bedlam as she began her monologue. "I know how you are—I understand it, but still I feel rather let down. So much raw power exists inside you, but even when the time comes, do you use it right? No...you use it to fool around and make a fool of yourself! It is truly a waste..." gradually throughout her speech, Discord's memory was coming to the surface, and he was able to discern what it was that Bedlam was saying to him. "I'm sure there was once a time when you were feared by all who knew your name, as ridiculous as your torment was. It may have been the prime of your life back then, but that time has long since passed," Discord had finally come to completely, and could perfectly understand all that Bedlam was saying to him. Needless to say, he did not enjoy it; and though the contemptible Bedlam knew Discord had regained consciousness, she still kept going, "You've been having fun and enjoying your absurd form of chaos for so long that now...you're just a joke yourself..." Bedlam's finger prodded Discord's chest, maddening the draconequus further, who refused to keep quiet at this point.

"Now see here—"Discord's planned reproach was cut short when his muzzle was abruptly seized by Bedlam as she squeezed it tight between her fingers. "There's nothing more to talk about. Everything has been settled, and you are of no more concern to me," Bedlam pulled Discord's face to her own, her eyes mere centimeters from his face. "Equestria has a new master of chaos, Dripcord; but here's a little something for ya," Bedlam says as she pulls on Discord's muzzle, stretching it out for several feet like an oversized rubber band. The draconicorn whirls her hand over Discord's head, twisting the elongated mouth all around his body and tying him up nice and tight, the bound draconequus unable to move a single extremity. Pleased with her handiwork, Bedlam concluded her performance by yanking on Discord's muzzle like a string on a spinning top, which of course sent the ensnared man gyrating throughout the room for a short time before slowing to a stop. The draconequus unwillingly returned to his woozy state; after just having gotten out of it, no less. Similar to before, Discord's muzzy state forced him to collapse onto the ground, though this time he looked more akin to a pile of noodles.

A collective gasped emanated from the ponies and Spike, but nobody's gasp was more audible or distressed than Fluttershy's. The pegasus could no longer stand idly by while her friend was subjected to this torment. With a powerful tug, the resolute Fluttershy broke free from the respective grasps of her friends and hurriedly darted to Discord's side, clasping his head in her hooves and cradling the incapacitated draconequus.

As the other companions of Fluttershy rushed over to the fretful pegasus, Bedlam floated up into the air. Everyone's attention was soon drawn back to Bedlam, who was gazing down at the daunted ponies and Spike with a gaze so foreboding it sent shivers down their spines. This creature...she wasn't like anything else they had faced before. She was something...something so fiendish that these simple Equestrians could hardly comprehend it. Even when she was acting in the manner of a clown, she had this aura of malevolence wafting in the air around her body. Without needing to utter a single syllable, the others could sense how much she was willing to hurt others—and how she thoroughly enjoyed every second of doing so...

"I really should thank you all for giving me such a stimulating time," Bedlam spoke, her tone holding no indication of malice. "But as I said several pages ago: play time is over, and I've got quite a bit of work to do," Bedlam lifts her hands to the sky, and the entire throne room begins to quake. The ponies and Spike huddled together in alarm as they apprehensively awaited what troubles were about to come. Ruptures in all corners of the ceiling began to form, with debris scattering all along the bases of the walls. Everyone looked on in horror as the roof tore away from ceiling of the throne room and twirled off into the sky, all the while a massive windstorm tearing through the landscape outside. There wasn't even any underlying gag in all this: it was just pure, unadulterated, unrestrained, chaos...and frankly, nobody was prepared for it.

"Well, I best be heading off now," Bedlam turned herself around and faced up at the room-sized skylight she just installed. She started to float away, then abruptly stopped, "Although, if any of you think you can still stop me," she turned her head to face everyone, "I'd just love to see you try..." she said in the most doomy of tones, instilling fear in all those who heard her. Bedlam turns back around and soars off into the sky like a jet-propelled eagle, leaving a sonic boom in her wake the almost blew the ponies and Spike out of the throne room, if not for the shield put up by the princesses.

After Bedlam's departure, the windstorm died down a bit, but was still present. The shaken Equestrians could hardly move as each of them kept their eyes fixated on the area where Bedlam had flown off to, speechless in the aftermath of her unimaginable prowess. Not only was Bedlam more intelligent and powerful than Discord, but she was for more violent and destructive than the former lord of chaos. It was the most haunting realization that dawned on all who resided within the confines of the defaced throne room: if one of Discord's power could do nothing to stop her, what chance can the rest of them have...?