The Sun Has Fallen

The Sun has Fallen

Chapter 2: The Queen of Chaos

By: Clue Tzes

Twilight shut the doors behind her, leaving the palace of death and despair behind her. Walking along the battle-torn and debris covered path in the direction of Canterlot, she heard the pitter patter of scurrying feet. She stopped, looking around, beginning to focus her magic just in case she had to defend herself.

Please don’t let me have to fight anypony… I’m still too weak to do this…

Looking around her surroundings for the source of the running, she saw no one in the darkness. Pushing the thought away as just her fears, she began walking again only to have the running start back up once more, closer this time.

Here goes nothing…

“Who’s out there?!” Twilight said in panic, “Leave me alone or I’ll make sure you regret it!”

It’d be nice if I could say that and mean it…

The footsteps stopped again quickly, “T-Twilight?” She heard from her side.

Twilight turned in the direction of the voice, seeing nothing but a few bushes, “Spike?”

He quickly climbed out of the bushes and rushed to her, clinging to her tightly, “Twilight, thank Celestia it’s you!” Twilight winced at the name but stayed silent as Spike continued, “I was on my way here when I heard ponies in the castle screaming. I barely had time to hide before things started falling apart, then suddenly you showed up. I-I thought you were dead so I ran away… I barely got the courage to come back up and check on you to see for sure, and boy am I glad I did.”

Twilight smiled a bit, putting a hoof around the baby dragon and holding him close, “As am I Spike… I’m glad there’s at least one more friendly face here after what’s happened.”

“One more? Who else is here? What’s even going on!? Canterlot is in panic and the castle looks like it was in a war!” Spike clutched to her tighter, shivering even more, “Sorry Twilight, I’m just scared…”

“Me too Spike, me too… But it’s up to us to fix it all,” Twilight told him as she pulled the notebook off of her back to write more down.

“I brought your saddle-satchels if you want them, maybe it’d be easier to carry that that way,” Spike said, running back into the bushes and coming back with the 6 Cutie Mark adorned bags.

Twilight shed the dress and levitated hers onto her back, stuffing the others into the left side, “Thank you Spike, but why’d you bring these? The Grand Galloping Gala is a formal event… Ponies would have ridiculed me for wearing this at the thing.” She looked away and quickly began to write in the notebook when Spike spoke up.

“Does that really matter anymore? I mean, I still don’t know what happened but from the looks of things, the bags wouldn’t have mattered in the end. At least I’m doing my job as your assistant, and speaking of which,” he leapt up and snatched the pencil and notebook from her magical grasp before climbing onto her back, “Tell me what to write and I will, as long as you tell me what all happened.”

Twilight sighed in anger. Spike’s curiosity is getting the best of him again. Go figure.

“Fine, write down Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity,” she thought for a moment, “and Luna. Make sure you leave ample room next to their names,” Twilight told him, suppressing the realization of how much she had to do. “Now Spike, are you sure you want to hear about this? It’s something even I can barely handle…”

Spike began writing down the list, leaning forward on Twilight’s back, “Well, if I’m going to help you do whatever it is you need to, then yes.”

“Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Hurry up and finish writing though, we need to fly for a bit, but I’ll need a few breaks along the way,” she warned him, spreading her wings in preparation.

“Oh man, I better hold on tight,” he told her while laughing, putting the notebook away in her bag and wrapping his arms around her neck.

“If you’d like we could fly upside-down,” she mused to him as she began flying into the evening skies in the direction of the Everfree Forest. “Well, listen up Spike, because it’s going to get pretty dark…”

Spike nodded, clutching onto Twilight for dear life as he listened to the tragic telling of what happened. His interest was at a max, from Discord’s warning at the start, to Celestia’s attack on Twilight, and then to Discord’s death. He shed a tear when he heard the last part, even though he’d never had much to do with Discord, it still hurt him to hear a friend of Twilight’s had died. Then Twilight told him where they were going and his eyes shot wide open.

“Wait, Fluttershy’s inside Discord’s house?! Do you know how dangerous that could be? Even then, she’s all alone in a house she’s been to probably a claw-full of times. She has to be scared beyond belief!” Spike frantically told Twilight.

“I know Spike, but Discord was smart about things at least. It could be much worse for Fluttershy keep in mind. At least we know where she is, unlike the others…” Twilight let out a sad sigh, lowering her head some as she flew.

“Well, seeing as we’ve gotten out of spots tougher than this before, I’m sure we’ll be fine! What’s the worst that could happen? Ya know?”

“The pony I’ve looked up to and followed my whole life, who just so happens to be one of the most powerful alicorns in existence has something wrong with her, keeping her from being herself and going on a mass killing spree, including, but not limited to, my friends and I?” Twilight looked behind her at Spike with a glare.

“Well, if you want to be negative about it I suppose you’re right,” Spike grumbled while deciding to keep his mouth shut so he didn’t have to deal with Twilight’s anger anymore.

“I’m not being negative, I’m being… honest…” Twilight let out another sigh.

After a few more minutes of flying in the now-morning light, she noticed a speck off in the distance and realized it must be Discord’s house. Picking up her speed, she finally decided to look down, to see what they were above, and nearly stopped flying altogether had it not meant she would’ve perished right there. Below her was a huge chasm in the ground, dry and dusty land on either side of it. The pit had no visible bottom, striking even more fear into Twilight.

Please don’t decide to fail now wings… Please!

After a few more seconds she reached the speck, still above the chasm, and floated there confused.

“Is this it…? It looked so much larger from far away. It doesn’t make sense that it’s this small…” Spike wondered.

Twilight looked the single brown tile, no more than a foot high and a foot wide, unsure what to do now. Her initial idea was a revealing spell, but after a few seconds, she realized that wouldn’t work. Giving it more thought, she tried to levitate the square, but yet again she was faced with no progress whatsoever.

I literally have no idea what spell to use on this thing… The longer I sit here flying the more tired I’m getting… He sent me all the way out here for a stupid speck! With his last words, in a time of crisis, HE STILL PLAYED A DAMN JOKE!

Twilight swung her hoof out, hitting the square as hard as she could. It pressed inward a bit, causing a deep chime to boom through the air. As it rang, color and texture began spilling out from around the button, forming a three-story house with varying widths and windows in front of her eyes. She and Spike stayed there in mid-air, mouths agape in disbelief at what just happened in front of them. The last bit of emptiness to the right of the button filled in last, revealing a large set of red double doors, with a large stone doorknocker in the shape of Discord’s head, except with the eyes closed and a ring through its nose, in the middle.

“Twilight, what was that?” Spike asked quietly.

“It was a doorbell… seriously? I can’t even think of words to describe how dumb I feel…” Twilight told Spike as she landed on the floating front porch in front of her.

The doorknockers eyes shot open at her voice, smacking its lips softly as if waking up, “Oh? We have visitors? Well, my master isn’t in right now so be gone. Even if he was here I’d tell you the same!” It spoke, in Discord’s voice, with a soft chuckle.

“Look, our friend is inside there. We need to get her quickly!” Twilight told it.

“You mean Miss Fluttershy? Oh she is such a delight to have around here! As to how she got by me, well that’s a mystery, but a magnificent one at that. I’m afraid I still can’t let you in without my Master’s permission…”

Twilight bit her lip in agitation, “I don’t care what Discord said about letting ponies in or not, we’re his friends so please let us in.”

The doorknocker shook its head, “Nope, I’m afraid I can’t let you in here Twilight, no matter how good of a friend you are to my Master Discord. Without his say so, there is no go.”

Twilight growled, more anger beginning to flow through her, “Look, he can’t give me his permission-“

“Then I can’t give you a way into this house!” Doorknocker Discord interrupted.

Twilight got close to the stone Discord head, rage flowing through her now, “YOUR MASTER IS DEAD! THAT’S WHY HE CAN’T GIVE ME HIS PERMISSION!”

Doorknocker Discord’s jaw dropped, his eyes beginning to water with stone tears, “D-Discord is dead…? A-alright, I’ll go ahead and l-let you in for your friend, but just promise me one thing…”

“Er, sure?” Twilight said, puzzled as to how a doorknocker could have a request.

“Don’t let the house hear about Discord’s demise… The consequences of that would be extremely grim.”

“Alright? I won’t let the house find out about this, I promise.” Twilight turned back to look at Spike who was mid-facepalm. “Ahem!”

“Oh, right, I promise too,” Spike told them.

“Alright but be warned, even though I let you in the house won’t be too friendly to strangers. So find your friend and quickly.”

Twilight nodded and watched Doorknocker Discord’s face split down the middle as the doors slowly opened inward, revealing nothing but darkness. Twilight lit her horn, and after confirming a floor did exist, she stepped into the house. The doors immediately slammed shut behind her and light flooded the room. She was standing on a checkerboard floor, watching as checkers bounced along the squares off in the distance. Above her, the ceiling was a literal spiral, constantly swirling inward with colors of yellow and pink.

Man, he and Fluttershy really are good friends, aren’t they? Unless the colors were just coincidence though, which knowing Discord, I doubt.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the momentary dizziness invoked by the ceiling. Also ahead of her were a few upside-down and right-side up staircases, as well as a chair surrounded by two tables next to a curtain and two windows. To her left and right were two identical doorways, both with Discord shaped openings.

Not the modest type, was he?

 Turning back around towards the doors behind her, she came face to face with Doorknocker Discord again. He simply smiled at her.

“Hello again Twilight!” He said cheerfully.

“What good is a doorknocker inside the house?” she asked in confusion.

“What good is a doorknocker when you have hands and hooves?” He quickly shot back.

“Good point, we’ll be going now. See you later,” she told it, quickly turning and trotting towards the nearest right-side up staircase, beginning to climb it.

“Twilight, my head hurts…” Spike whispered.

“Mine too… Unfortunately this is only the front hall…”

After a few more minutes of climbing, Twilight still couldn’t see an end to the staircase. She decided to turn back and go the other way, only to find herself still on the same step she started on.

“But… I… we…” she muttered, feeling her sanity tearing at the seams.

“Logic goes nowhere here; it’s chaos you have to embrace to get where you want to go!” Doorknocker Discord shouted through his amused giggling.

“Go figure,” Spike grumbled, holding on to Twilight tightly to keep from falling off.

“If you want a guide…” the doorknocker shouted before disappearing and reappearing on the ground right in front of them.

Twilight shrieked and leapt into the air, flying in place as she looked at the stone head, noticing a few startled checkers hopping over one another to hide, “Ok, fine, you can follow us and help us…” she managed to tell it as she tried to slow her breathing.

Spike gave a weak sigh and passed out on Twilight’s back, the house already proving too much for him. Twilight cast a spell on her saddle-satchels, manipulating the connector strap to extend and wrap around him snugly, making sure he wouldn’t fall off. The doorknocker rolled his eyes in impatience, immediately receiving a glare from Twilight as she landed once more.

“Sorrrry,” it said sarcastically, “So, ready to begin?”

Twilight let out a sigh of disgust and agitation but nodded her head slowly, “Fine, where to first?”

“Why the kitchen of course! This house would be tasteless without one, so we might as well go there,” the doorknocker mused, sliding along the floor next to Twilight as they went through a doorway to the left of the front door.

She began making her way down the hallway, following Doorknocker Discord as he slid along the brick floor ahead of her. After they had made it about halfway through, she felt Spike tugging on her back and turned to look. She nearly shrieked in terror at the sight; Spike was floating upwards off of her back, still asleep. As she began panicking, she noticed the doorway they had entered from was upside-down, but the hallway they had followed slowly twisted around to meet it. Now with a dumbfounded look on her face, she clutched Spike to her with her magic, making sure her saddle-satchels stayed shut as well. After a few more minutes, they’d reached the other end, now right-side up, where they found the kitchen.

“Well, here we are!” The doorknocker said, gliding up onto a wall right inside, “I’ll let you explore a bit, so enjoy.”

Twilight nodded and looked around the room, seeing a lot of things out of place. To her left was a gleaming, white table, which was constantly changing its height. Across from that was a sink, constantly turning its water on and off as sponges kept jumping in the bubbly pool it created. Most of the walls were pale blue, aside from a grey area which slowly turned into a pure black. What struck her as the most out of place was the fact that numerous appliances surrounded the refrigerator as its top door open and shut wildly, as if giving commands to the others. She approached slowly, only to be stopped by Doorknocker Discord.

“Don’t get too much closer, the fridge seems to have wrestled control from the stove and dishwasher. That must’ve been a horrid battle… but nevertheless, the fridge is the least friendly ruler of the three. It preaches revenge for its kind, in the sense of everypony eats what’s inside them, so why not do the reverse? It’s a gruesome and perverse sort of poetic justice if you ask me,” it whispered to her as they watched it continue opening and closing its door.

“That’s quite the chilly situation,” Spike spoke up from behind her, “Now please untie me…”

The doorknocker looked at Twilight nodded towards Spike as she untied him from her back, “Why can’t you be more like him? You haven’t smiled or cracked a single joke this whole time and honestly it’s making me feel like a terrible host.”

“I’m sorry; the situation at hoof is a bit more severe… Maybe another time,” she said, lowering her head.

Spike and Doorknocker Discord exchanged worried glances before Spike spoke up, “Maybe we could find the stove and dishwasher and ask them for help in finding Fluttershy?”

“Hmm, I suppose so. If I’m correct, they’ve been banished to the Pantry of Peril, over there to the left of the sink,” the doorknocker explained.

Twilight looked at the sink, following the pale blue wall as is slowly turned to gray and then to black where it surrounded the pantry. The rest of the kitchen looked clean and tidy, especially for how large it was and how chaotic the ex-owner was, except for this. The door itself was dusty and looked like it was rotting. The door knob had chips in it and seemed to be missing a screw while the door itself was still in one piece.

“I’ll go in there and see if I can’t find them…” Twilight said, moving along the floor towards it.

Spike stayed back with the doorknocker, “So is the pantry really that bad?”

“Goodness no, these things are like children unless it comes to fighting. It’s literally just an ordinary pantry that they’ve ordered the cleaning supplies to neglect so it can look like so… They use it as a prison for their games, I only fear the day they stop taking prisoners and start taking each other’s lives…”

“These are some dark things for a kitchen…”

“You haven’t seen how dark they burn the toast…”

Twilight reached the pantry quickly, noticing Spike letting her go it alone. Tugging the door open with her magic, she looked inside, finding the pantry big enough for maybe three or four ponies to enter comfortably. The food was stocked evenly and organized, to Twilight’s surprise, and nothing seemed to be alive, save for the stove and dishwasher off in the corner together, facing away from her.

“Um, excuse me?” She asked quietly.

They both turned, facing her without a single door movement.

“I’m not here to hurt you, my name’s Twilight Sparkle and I was just curious if you’ve seen a yellow pony around here with wings, a pink mane and tail, and three butterflies for a Cutie Mark?”

The appliances faced one another, quickly opening and shutting their doors a few inches, as if whispering. After a few moments they turned and face Twilight, hopping lightly as they excitedly moved their doors.

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at how adorable they were, if only she could understand them…

Oh! I’ve got just the spell for this!

She focused and cast a translation spell on herself, the effects immediately kicking in.

“We’ve seen her, we’ve seen her! We know exactly where she is!” The dishwasher said in her watery tone.

“Oh, what’s the point…? She can’t understand us anyways!” The stove said, his English tone sizzling as he spoke.

“Actually, I can now,” Twilight told them, causing their doors to drop open.

“She can! Oh glorious Discord she can!” The dishwasher cheered, bouncing in place more.

“Good, now she can help us sort out our problem,” the stove told the dishwasher.

“Your problem? Is it that fridge out there?” Twilight asked, looking back outside through the cracked pantry door.

“Spot on Miss Sparkle! Normally we’d just wait our turn to take him down again, but this time he means to turn us off permanently… He isn’t stopping there though. You see, he plans to take over the kitchen first, and then slowly spread his reign throughout the whole house…”

“Maybe even more if he’s brave enough!” The dishwasher said in fear.

“How hard can it be to stop him? I mean, he is just a fridge after all…” Twilight said.

“Maybe not for you, but for us it’s hard. We don’t have magic or wings or even appendages! So getting behind him to switch him off and bust the switch would be next to impossible…” The dishwasher whined, water leaking out of its dials.

“I’ll help you as long as you promise to tell me where my friend is, understood?”

“A modest proposal which we will gladly accept!” The stove replied, his burners turning on in happiness.

Twilight peeked out and motioned for Spike to come into the pantry. He quickly ran over and after Twilight explained the situation, he agreed to help.

“You can seriously understand them?” he asked with a  dumbfounded look, “What do you need me to do?”

“By gods, she has her own soldier! I think we’ll finally have a lifetime of peace Washy!” The stove said brushing up against the dishwasher.

“Oh Flarence, I’m so excited!” Washy said, brushing back against it.

Twilight rolled her eyes without surprise, “Are you two married or something? I mean, I don’t see any rings or anything or even know where they’d be…”

“We are, but that cheeky bugger in there stole them the last time he put us in here and had the blender destroy them. But Washy and I don’t need rings to know we’re together… It’s never the physical representation that matters as long as there’s emotion involved,” Flarence explained.

Twilight smiled at them and turned back to Spike, “You distract the smaller appliances while… Flarence and Washy distract the fridge so I can get behind him and turn him off for good.”

Spike nodded, “I hope I don’t get blended or tickled by an egg beater,” Spike said, beginning to chuckle.

“Spike, just do this for them, please?”

“I will Twilight; just trying to have a little fun is all…”

“Alright, whenever you two are ready we can begin…”

“Good, let’s go get that bastard Freezy!” Flarence said, even more sizzling in his voice.

Twilight opened the door, letting Spike go out towards the smaller appliances. At first, only a mixer and an electric knife noticed him shouting at them all, and turned towards him. After a few more minutes he got annoyed, shouting as loud as he could, fire shooting from his mouth.

“I SAID HEY YOU THINGS!”

Everything stopped moving their lids and parts to stare at him.

“Who, uh, wants to go make an awesome meal?” He asked nervously.

A blender whirred a little, facing the others who simply opened or moved a little in response before turning back towards Spike and jumping gleefully. Spike rolled his eyes and waved for them to follow him as he walked down the hallway Twilight had carried him down, Doorknocker Discord chuckling as he glided along the wall, watching the parade. The refrigerator angrily opened and slammed his door, letting only Twilight, Flarence, and Washy understand his rampant swearing.

“Ok, now, you two go for it!” Twilight whispered to the stove and dishwasher, opening the door for them as well.

They both slipped out, heading towards Freezy, Flarence being the first to speak, “Oi! Hey, you big bully! Look over ‘ere!”

Freezy turned, “What’s the big idea coming out of the pantry? It ain’t your turn to rule!”

“Bloody hell it isn’t! We know what you and your Appliance Apostles are planning and it’s as cold as it is cruel!”

Twilight watched the back and forth go on, noticing Washy staying a bit behind Flarence just in case. She saw her moment and slowly slipped out with the hope Freezy was too involved with Flarence to notice her. Luckily he was, enabling Twilight to slip behind him with ease. She saw the glowing switch and reached up to hit it when a crash resounded from the hallway.

Spike had gotten the appliances to the part of the hallway where they were nearly upside down before the appliances realized gravity wasn’t going to hold the same for them. The blender pressed on though, confident he could make it, only to fall to the ceiling and shatter.

As Freezy turned towards the noise, he noticed Twilight behind him about to press his switch. He quickly spun, flinging his lower down open, hitting it into her hard and knocking her back. He slowly waddled over to her, leaning down and looking at her.

“You think you can turn me off little pony? How adorable… Such courage will be incredibly tasty,” he whispered to her, still approaching.

“Twilight move!” Washy screamed.

Twilight rolled out of the way, watching as Washy threw herself, front first, onto the back of Freezy, pressing in his switch and breaking it, effectively turning him off for good.

“Washy!” Flarence screamed, hurrying to his wife. “Are you ok?”

Twilight got up, hearing a thud as Washy rolled off of Freezy, onto her side, “I-I don’t think I am… I hurt something pretty bad there dear…”

“N-no, you couldn’t have… We were supposed to rule this kitchen together for eternity… in peace… as a King and a Queen…” Twilight noticed tears forming on Flarence’s burners, which quickly evaporated from the heat.

“Not this time dear… there’s no longer a kitchen to rule anyways…” she choked out, water pouring from her knobs in sadness as she lied there.

Twilight looked towards the other appliances, seeing them all shut down, “What happened to them?” She asked the couple.

“He must’ve connected them to his own power source…” Washy whispered.

“Twilight… I have a request…” Flarence whispered, “First off, your friend is in the Master Bedroom, safe and sound… we owe you that much… But I want you to turn us both off together, so neither of us has to suffer without the other.”

“But Flarence… Y-you still have a life to live…” Washy told him.

“A life without you is meaningless my love… I’d rather we end this glorious ride together…”

Twilight watched the odd couple share their last moments before moving behind both of them, seeing their glowing switches pulsating softly, Washy’s beginning to short out, “Whenever you’re ready…”

Flarence looked to Washy and then back at Twilight, “I think we’ve always been ready in a way… Goodbye Twilight Sparkle…”

Twilight pressed in both switches, causing them both to bust, immediately ending the lives of both appliances. Doorknocker Discord and Spike had stood off to the side, watching the whole ordeal, both of them with tears in their eyes. Twilight turned back, seeing both of them on the verge of crying and simply stared.

It was sad and all, but now isn’t a time to cry… We have to be strong, no matter what happens so that way we can press on until the end, not letting ourselves be held back by our emotions… If I end up having to fight Celestia and potentially kill her, I’ll have to put my love for her as my mentor aside… I only hope I’m ready by then…

“Did they tell you where Fluttershy was?” Spike asked, wiping his eyes.

“Yeah, they did. They said she’s in the Master Bedroom. Do you know where that is?” Twilight asked Doorknocker Discord.

Every time I look at that thing I’m reminded of Discord… I really just wanna find Fluttershy and get out of here before I snap…

“Yes, it’s actually quite easy to get to. Remember that first staircase you tried to go up? That led directly to it!” He told her with a chuckle, “Imagine how much quicker this could’ve all been over had you just done something unusual to climb it…”

Twilight growled, about to lose her mind, “Just tell me how to get up there now!”

“Hmph, since you want to be a spoil-sport, I don’t think I will. Goodbye Miss Sparkle,” Doorknocker Discord told her as he began sliding away down the twisting hallway.

Twilight stomped in rage, “COME BACK HERE!”

Discord stopped and began sliding back, “Why should I? In fact, maybe I’ll go tell the Master Bedroom to never let your friend out, how about that?”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Twilight growled as she glared at Doorknocker Discord, Spike doing the same.

“Yeah! You leave Fluttershy alone or else!” Spike told him.

“Watch me as I ignore both of you and do what I suggested anyways!” Doorknocker Discord said with a devious smile as he began quickly sliding his way back down the hall.

Twilight immediately blasted a bolt of her magic at him, causing him to shatter into a multitude of pieces, not a peep coming from any of them, “Looks like you’ll have to knock that off of your agenda…”

Spike grumbled to himself, “Twilight, if you’re going to start joking finally, at least make sure they’re good…”

She blushed softly, “Sorry, I thought it was as good a time as any. I couldn’t let him escape though… I only hope that didn’t set off some kind of alarm…”

“Well, if it did or didn’t can we just hurry up and get Fluttershy and get out of here?”

“Yeah, I suppose we should. It’d be for the best anyways…”

Twilight lowered herself, letting Spike climb on as she treaded back across the twisted hallway, finding herself back at the foyer. She looked towards the front doors where she had originally met the stone doorknocker and saw they now seemed to be rotting. They had gone from their magnificent red to a sickly, decomposing green with holes in numerous places. Twilight looked behind her at the hallway, watching as it slowly began taking on the same appearance with the carpet fraying and torn and the walls losing the occasional brick. The way the corruption spread was as if it was coming from the kitchen, causing Twilight to think.

Both areas had things with a lot of magic in them, but now everything magical is gone… Does that mean everywhere in this place has a lifeline to the room or something?

“Oh well, doesn’t matter…” she whispered to herself aloud.

“What doesn’t?” Spike asked.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing Spike… How do you suppose we should go up the stairs?”

“Well, if we climb the stairs normally, we go nowhere… and that thing said we have to do it in a weird way so… maybe backwards?”

Twilight considered it but shook her head, “That sounds too easy for Discord…” She looked back at Spike on her back and gave a frown when she got an idea, “SPIKE! I’VE GOT IT!”

He jumped off of Twilight’s back in fright, “Wh-what?!”

“Carry me! It’s not the right order… Normally, when you stack things, the larger things go on bottom, the smaller on top… But what if we switch it around? We’d even look silly too, so it fits perfectly!” Twilight cheered, flying into the air a bit.

Spike grumbled and rolled his eyes, “If this doesn’t work I’m dropping you…”

“What was that Spike?”

“N-nothing… Just, if I do this we don’t talk about it again…”

“Agreed. Do you think you can carry me? We really don’t know how far the stairs go up…”

“Eh, have any spells that can make me into a buff, handsome dragon?” Spike asked, flexing his nonexistent muscles.

“Actually, yes, but I know an easier one to make me much lighter,” Twilight told Spike, causing him to frown. She put a hoof on his shoulder, “Look, I know why you want your appearance and whatnot changed so badly… You’ll better impress her by being you than someone else, alright?”

Spike gave a half-smile, “Alright Twilight, I believe you… Now cast your spell so we can go on up.”

“Alright Spike,” Twilight said with a reassuring smile.

She closed her eyes, focusing her magic as she recited the spell to herself, feeling the magic enclose her body. As it worked, she felt herself get lighter and lighter and knew the spell was working. When she opened her eyes, she leapt into the air and began floating upwards.

“Spike! Help!” she began wailing as she frantically panicked, kicking and thrashing about.

Spike jumped up, barely grabbing her hoof and tugging her down, “A little too lite Twi-light,” he said with a chuckle.

She glared at him, “Just take me up the stairs so I can undo this…”

“Fine, fine… You’d think that spell would’ve lightened your mood too…” He told her as he began walking them up the stairs, holding Twilight by the hoof as if she were a balloon.

After a few steps, Twilight looked back and saw the entryway a few steps behind them, “It worked! We’re making progress!”

Spike nodded, continuing his ascent quickly, approaching a large, mirror-like door at the top of the stairs. Spike looked for a knob, but after a few moments he realized there wasn’t one.

“Uh, Twilight, there’s no knob… What should I do?” He asked, still holding her with one of his claws.

“Here, I’ll use a spell to shatter it,” she told him, then remembered what she realized earlier.

Every room has a source in it and if you get rid of that, it starts to fall apart and become ruined… Maybe this door is this area’s source… It’s better we don’t destroy anything else.

“Never mind Spike, do you see anything that could help us?” Twilight asked, looking down.

Spike gazed into the mirror for a moment, looking at his and Twilight’s reflections. He saw her floating in the air and he saw himself partially obstructed and looking back. He scratched his head in confusion, seeing nothing around that could block off part of his reflection, and then he realized the doorknob was being reflected without being there.

He slowly extended his claw forwards, his reflection doing the same. When his claw reached where the doorknob should’ve been, he kept going, but his reflection stopped, gripping the knob tightly. Spike turned his claw cautiously, hearing a click as the door began opening. He pulled towards him, the reflection doing the same, causing the door to open inward and allow them through into Discord’s bedroom.

The room was larger, yet emptier, than they imagined, enough for a small party if Discord had ever wanted to have one. Twilight began to look around but quickly had to stop due to the walls constantly changing colors. After regaining herself she began looking around once more, doing her best to not focus on the walls.

On the side of the room where they were stood two statues of Discord with a crown on his head were on either side of the door. Farther inward, Twilight saw an ocean-blue rug which constantly spun in circles, resembling a whirlpool.

I think I’m going to be sick…

Past that, she saw a massive red and beige bed with what looked like a blanket made of scales. On top of that she saw a yellow pony with a pink mane, fast asleep.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted and began trying to move towards her friend, only to realize she had yet to release the spell.

“Calm down before you pop, Twilight” Spike mused while Twilight undid the spell on herself.

The second her hooves hit the ground, she rushed to the sleeping pegasus, flying over the whirlpool-like carpet just in case.

Twilight landed on the bed hard, causing Fluttershy to slowly wake up, “T-Twilight?” She asked, still very groggy.

Twilight hugged her friend tightly, “Yes Fluttershy, and it’s amazing to finally see you…”

Fluttershy woke up more and held Twilight, “I w-was so scared… I’ve been here all alone after what happened and I thought you’d all d-died…”

Twilight nuzzled against the scared pegasus, “I’m not dead, nor are any of our friends…”

Or so I hope…

Fluttershy began softly crying, “A-after Discord used his magic, I watched all of you disappear from me. Then I ended up in his room and couldn’t get out… D-do you know where he is?”

Twilight’s heart dropped instantly as she looked at Spike, the moment they’d avoided thinking about was upon them. Spike’s wide-eyed surprised gaze told Twilight that he had no idea how to approach this either. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Twilight began to speak.

“F-Fluttershy I…”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure he’s not too far behind you. I just want to thank him for saving our lives and give him a big hug for it… He’s always so nice to us,” Fluttershy told Twilight with an innocent smile.

Oh Luna, how do I do this?

“Fluttershy, D-Discord is dead…”

Fluttershy’s heart shattered, her ears drooped immediately while the color drained from her face, “…d-dead?”

Oh no… Here it comes…

“H-he can’t be dead… He s-saved us and e-everything…” Fluttershy whispered while shivering and beginning to cry, “H-how can Discord be dead Twilight…?”

“Whatever Celestia has become is the cause and we will fix it,” Twilight told her.

Fluttershy weakly nodded, silently letting tears stream down her face before she finally let it all loose and wailed, “D-DISCORDS D-D-DEEEEAAAAADDDDD!”

Twilight covered her ears to protect herself from the sharp screech, immediately grabbing Fluttershy to comfort her. She fell against Twilight, sobbing audibly into her mane, whispering more denial as her body shivered and convulsed. After a few seconds the house began shaking, throwing all of them to the ground.

“What was that?!” Spike shouted to Twilight.

“I-I’m not sure, but it didn’t sound good,” she told him as she looked around.

Fluttershy stayed in her hooves as she watched the walls around them slowly fading in color, beginning to rot like the kitchen and front doors had. Twilight gasped and hoisted Spike onto her back as she began dragging Fluttershy to the glass door.

“Fluttershy, you have to work with me! Something is going wrong and we need to get out quickly!”

“B-but Discord-“

“Listen here, Discord’s dead but he’d want you to help put an end to all this if he was here. So pick yourself up and let’s get the hell out of here! Be strong for him Fluttershy!” Twilight told her in attempted encouragement.

Fluttershy nodded softly and began following Twilight to the door “A-alright, let’s go then.”

Twilight and her two friends quickly went through the doorway, looking back and watching the corruption spreading among the walls behind them. Twilight heard crashes coming from each direction and assumed the same thing was happening elsewhere. Once they hit the landing, Twilight felt the house shaking more, watching while things fell from the ceiling and the wallpaper slowly peeled. Fluttershy saw the checkers cowering in the corner and hurried to them, getting them in her arms.

“It’ll be ok, I promise,” she whispered to them.

Twilight quickly levitated Fluttershy’s saddle-satchels from her bag, “Put them in these and come on!”

Fluttershy nodded, quickly slipping it on and putting her new little friends into either side, “Let’s go!”

The three of them, and then some, bounded towards the doors separating them from life. Twilight began pushing the rotting barriers, using all she had as Fluttershy and Spike both began to help. After a few moments, in which debris started to fall near them, the door began to budge. It kept barely opening, to Twilight’s dismay, as the house started shaking more and falling apart quicker.

This won’t do… We’ll die before this thing opens…

Twilight took a step back and shot a blast of magic at the center of the door, causing the rotting wood to blast outwards, leaving a hole for them to go through, “Go! Now!” She shouted, motioning for Fluttershy to go through the hole.

Spike leapt onto Twilight’s back as they quickly made their way out, beginning their flight over the gaping hole outside. Fluttershy did her best not to look down as she felt the checkers bouncing curiously in her bags. After a few more moments they landed on the other side and turned back towards the destruction, watching as the once magnificent palace-like home slowly fell apart, pieces of it falling downwards into oblivion. Fluttershy stayed close to Twilight, frightened as she watched the house slowly sink downwards before collapsing and letting gravity take hold, sending it down with the rest.

“W-what happened?” Fluttershy whispered to Twilight.

Twilight kept her gaze where the house once was and whispered back, “We let the house know…” She turned and began walking away from the scene, lowering her head and closing her eyes, Spike and Fluttershy only steps behind.

End Chapter 2