Stone Cold

by M_D_Quill

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Octavia, Comedy, Shining Armor, Prince Blueblood, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, DJ P0N-3, Human
Length: 37130

Pulled into a strange world, meeting fantasy creatures, and stuck in stone. Isn't life grand...

Pulled into a strange world where myth and legends are real. Unable to communicate to the native creatures here, or even able to move for that matter... How is a human supposed to adapt to this strange world, or even manage to keep his sanity when he is encased in stone.

Published 2012-03-31 03:04:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-29 05:44:05 UTC

Chapter 2

Ya know, the night sky is an extremely beautiful thing. The stars twinkle playfully, the moon soars majestically over the shadow-covered land, and everything feels so... peaceful.

Thinking back, I kinda regret not taking time to study the sky... I mean I did occasionally look at the stars, but I never took the time to truly study them. Though if I can remember correctly, you really couldn't see much of the night sky where I lived because of light pollution. Here in this garden there is nothing to block the view of the sky and... it is just breathtaking. Figuratively speaking of course.

I have started playing a game of connect the dots with the stars to see if I could make my own constellations. Those stars over there connect to make a picture of a sheep. Those one over there make a tree. I think that star is a planet... not sure but it seems to flicker differently than the rest of the stars. Their flicker proves if it is a planet or not, right?

Oh! And the moon! I have been attempting to find the proverbial man on the moon, but I don't see any major craters to make that image. This moon is a solid pale silver that illuminates the garden giving it a beautiful romantic feel. Not a bad spot to bring a date, if you get my meaning. Not that I have much of a reason to be looking for a date at the moment. I’ve recently had a problem with giving people the cold shoulder...

Get it?

I am made of rock...

...

Alright! My jokes are still a little rough, but I am sure I will find the proverbial jewel of one someday. And when that day comes, everyone will marble at its awesomeness!

...

God my jokes are lame...

Hmm? Is that clopping I hear in the distance... is it already that time of the week?

I get a visitor once a week you see. She seems to be a very sweet girl, even if she is thinking I am someone else. I’m assuming she thinks I am the creature who trapped me here, but I’m not positive. I really can't complain though, at least she is talking to me.

Is it her? Yes it is! I wonder what she is planning on talking about today? I remember the first day she visited me...

I must have been screaming for hours inside my prison. I didn't know what was happening to me... What's going on, this can't be real...

*clip clop, clip clop*

What was that sound? It sounded like a horse was coming this way... Wait! A horse! Horses mean civilization, and that means people!

*clip clop, clip clop*

They can get me out of here!

I gazed down the path, waiting for my savior. Soon enough I could see a horse in the corner of my vision. I screamed out for help, but they didn't seem to hear me. I started to cry out louder to catch their attention. I kept calling out for help until they came fully into my line of sight.

And my cries for help were immediately silenced when I gazed upon...

A unicorn.

I was looking at a unicorn...

A real life unicorn...

Oh my god! unicorns are real!!!

It stopped right in front of me and... wow... look at its beautiful dark blue mane. There was a strip of pink and purple running through said blue mane, as well as a sleek coat of purple covering its body... It gazed at me with large shining eyes of purple. Ok, she was very purple. I am not an artist so don't expect any fancy kind of color names! But it truly was a magnificent creature... no wonder there are so many myths and legends abou-

"Hey Discord..." the unicorn whispered in a feminine voice.

...

Unicorns can talk? UNICORNS CAN TALK!!!

It is now official. I am either dreaming or I am dead...

"I just want to say I am sorry..." she said.

Sorry about what? Is my subconscious feeling guilty about something?

"I thought that using the Elements, we could have saved you like we saved Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon... but all it did was imprison you again..." She pawed the ground with her hoof guiltily. "You might have done a bunch of bad things, but I don't think you deserve to be imprisoned like this..."

Ok, I understand now... I am dead and this is purgatory, right? Or am I in a coma? That would explain why I can't move.

"It must be horrible to be locked away in stone..."

Yep, sure is! But don't worry imaginary unicorn, things could be worse. I could be getting lectured by my mother-in-law instead of you.

"Listen... I..."

...I'm listening?

"I know I probably sound crazy, talking to a statue and all, but I think you were just lonely. Maybe if you had a friend you wouldn't have been so mean. So... if you want, I would like to try and be your friend."

Friends with a mythical creature? Doesn't sound too bad. Sure, let's be friends. Just get me out of here and we can go and do... friendship stuff... frolic through the meadows of heaven, dance around rings of fire, whatever you want!

"Well I feel better getting that off my chest." She walked a few paces back and looked up at my face again. "I will visit again soon." She smiled and a light surrounded her. When it faded away, she was gone.

Wait! Come back!!! You can't leave me like this! I don't want to be a statue in a garden in nowhere! Friends don't let friends stay stoned!!!

... Nope, not purgatory... I am in hell...

That was almost half a year ago if I have tracked time correctly. She tends to visit me at least once a week and tells me stories of what's happened to her during the week, or about some problem that has been bugging her. Most of it flies over my head, but just hearing her talk is soothing.

The few bits that I do understand are quite informative. I seem to be in a land called Equestria which is ruled by tyrant Queen Sisters. These sisters claim to raise the sun and moon in order to keep their subjects in line, and this unicorn is the personal student to the Sun Queen. It makes me very glad that I am now a piece of lawn furniture... I can't imagine how horrible it must be to live out there... Especially after learning how they punish criminals. Someone had a nightmare about overthrowing the Queens, so the sun queen banished her to the moon... harsh...

"Good evening Discord." She says when she got closer.

Good evening Miss Twilight. What misadventures have you and your friends had this week?

"You won't believe what happened this week." she starts, "A few days ago, it was the annual dragon migration, and Spike wanted to learn what is was to be a 'real' dragon." She let out a giggle. "You see, he got a little upset when my friends and I-"

And here we go again. I wonder how how long she is going to talk this time.

I gaze into the sky to check the sun’s location. It looks to be near three o'clock...

I listen to her story of how she followed her pet dragon Spike to the dragon migration grounds, and how they 'subtly' assisted him to look good for the other adolescent dragons. At the end, I laughed hearing how they ran to get away from the angry dragon bullies and saved the phoenix egg. I do admit... even though I am not a big fantasy fan, I have always had a fascination with phoenixes... Such powerful and graceful creatures of nature, with the power of flame and practically immortal... I would give almost anything to see one in person.

"-and that is when Spike sent his letter to Princess Celestia. I guess we all learned that even though someone might be of a different species, it does not mean they can't be family."

"That is a mighty fine lesson ya learned there Miss Sparkle," says a chuckling crackly voice.

I shift my gaze to stare at the old gardener. He stands by a bunch of bushes leaning on his hoe and was chewing a piece of straw. His beat up straw hangs off his ear as his body silently shook, as if he was laughing at a secret joke.

Twilight shifts on her hooves nervously. "Um... Thank you Mr... um."

"Name’s Scruffy, I'm the gardener." the gardener states.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Scruffy." Twilight says nervously. "Um... How much did you hear?"

"I heard the end of yer story. Gotta say it was entertaining," he points at me. "And I can promise ya that he enjoyed it as well."

"Do... do you really think Discord enjoys my stories?"

Heck yeah I do! Your visits are one of the few breaks I get from the monotony of this garden! You are much better company than that old geezer, anyway...

"Discord, eh?" Scruffy asks with a raised eyebrow as his gaze moves up to study me. "Didn't think ya were the serpent type..."

"Oh! No no no..." Twilight stammers, her face blushing. "I just want to be his friend, nothing else. He really isn't my type anyway..." She starts to look around the garden. I can tell she was trying to gaze at anything but my majestic beauty... Can't blame her, my figure is rather intimidating.

"Never said ya were," Scruffy laughs. "Just an observation here. This one seems to be more talkative than other stones here in the garden, and this old retired stone farmer has met a lot of stones," he chuckled with a wink.

Wait? You mean you can hear me?

"That is sweet Mr. Scruffy." Twilight laughs. She looks to me, "I am sorry to cut this short tonight Discord, but I have to get home. We have a baby phoenix running around the library, and I need to make sure the place does not burn down." She took a few steps back and said "See you next week!"

In a flash, she disappeared.

Bye Miss Twilight! I am looking forward to your stories next week!

"Yup... It is always sad to see such pretty ones go, eh?" Scruffy laughs as he looks up at me.

You really can hear me then?

"Sorry sonny, but I didn't catch that." the gardener sighs, "I don't know exactly what ya are saying. I can’t hear the words, I can only feel your emotions as ya are saying it."

Well this sucks... you can hear me, but you can't hear me hear me!

"I understand how frustrated ya must be, but I really can't help ya." Scruffy chuckles. "Whelp, I have a job to get back to. See ya around," he picks up his hoe and wanders out of my line of vision.

I look up at the sky. If my estimation is correct, it seems to be near five o'clock now... Only two hours... short visit this week...

I sigh... looks like I am back to only my thoughts again... how to keep myself entertained until the next visit...

I wonder how long it will take me to count to ten thousand again...

1... 2... 3...

Chapter 3

I am cold...

Winter has arrived here in Ponyland and snow blankets the silent empty garden. In solitude, my thoughts turn to the great questions of life: Who are we? Why are we here?

WHY DO I FEEL COLD WHEN I AM MADE OF STONE???

It makes no logical sense! I don't have any body heat, I can't feel the snow that covers my body, and I have not felt anything resembling temperature since I was trapped here! Whose sick mind decided "oh, I feel sorry for this poor sod, let's give him feeling again."

Whoever you are buddy, once I get out of here I am going to make you into glue!

Dear lord, I think there is something wrong with me... I am now beginning to lie to myself. I don't even know how to make glue! How bad would it be if I promised revenge and had no way to see it through... I have to think of something more realistic, like hamburgers. Yeah, that will work! I will make that villain into a hamburger. No! Even better, a cupcake! I will bake him into a delicious sugar coated treat and feast upon it!

Now that the important stuff is out of the way, I have to find out how to get out. Hmm...

Nope, no ideas... Maybe if I ask Twilight she will think of something. She seems like a smart little horse and I am sure that changing someone from stone to flesh is a simple task. I mean really, she has magic, and if I remember correctly, magic can do just about anything! That means the next time I see her I can become human again!

Now that I think about it, when was the last time she visited? Lets see... she popped in and told me about some children writing horrible gossip about her and her friends. The gardener sneaked into our conversation rudely interrupted her. She finished her story and picked one of the blue roses that grew by my feet. Then she disappeared.

That was... at least one full moon rotation ago... which means... she is extremely late!!

I am going to have to give that filly a stern talking too. You don't make promises like "I will visit you once a week" then ignore them for an entire month!

I thought you wanted to be my friend...

"Daddy?"

Huh? Who is that? Who is there?

I look down and realize that a small pink purple filly with curly purple and white stripped hair was peaking out from one of the bushes. Her eyes looked like pink and purple whirlpools and she was wearing a beanie hat (obviously not a very stylish pony).

"I am here to free you Daddy," she whispered as she crawled up the the base of the statue. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here. Those guards are mean and wouldn't let me in..."

Let me get this straight little pony... you have been trying to sneak in and free me?

Hold on! DADDY?

"Don't worry Daddy, I will do my best."

How can I be your daddy? I haven't left this spot in ages. I haven't even hugged for goodness sake! How in the world could I have made a kid! Unless... they reproduce in a different way in this world... Which means they obviously wouldn't have children by any physical means since I haven't touched anyone since I have arrived. In fact, I haven't even met any ponies here besides that Scruffy fellow and... Twilight?

Oh... my... god... I have had a baby with Twilight...

No wonder she doesn't want to visit me anymore! I haven't been paying her any child support! Her parents must be furious with me for ever doing such a thing as talking to her without consent! I can see it so clearly now, she wanted to talk to me with a one sided conversation! Why else would she talk to a statue? I was not supposed to say anything back to her because a two way conversation had very serious consequences... I should have used protection. A breathing mask or a muffler or something!

Oh lord... I deserve to be impris- Is that a pink cloud?

Wow... it's so cute!

"Do you like it Daddy? I learned how to make one just like you!" The little pony wheezed. She looked very tired for some reason. She tossed the cloud into the air and frowned when it slowly floated down. "But I can't get it to fly like yours did..."

I think it is adorable! Have you shown your mother yet? She must be so proud of you.

"Hey Octy! i think I see something over there." A voice in the distance said.

The little pony jumped in fright. "Oh no! I threw it up too high!" She looked up at me with her crazy spiral eyes, "I promise I will be back to free you Daddy!" She turned and scurried into bushes.

I watched the cloud flutter onto the ground. I felt so sad... the little thing just wanted to fly like other clouds but gravity is a harsh mistress. Maybe if we used a cannon we could get it to stay in the air...

"Aww... it looks like somepony dropped their cotton candy..."

I looked down and notice two ponies standing in near of me. One had a gray coat and a black mane with treble clef was tattooed to her... flank. I think that is right term. The second pony was a snow white unicorn with a bright blue turquoise stripped mane. Two music notes were on her flank.

Needless to say, I am enthusiastic. I got three visitors in one day!

The gray mare was looking around the garden, as if trying to find something. "That's strange..." she mumbled.

"Whats the matter Octy?" the unicorn asked.

"Where is the pony who dropped this? I don't see any hoofprints leading up here or leaving?" she replied.

The unicorn moved her head close to the gray mare's face, and gazed deeply into her eyes. An evil grin spread across her face. "Maybe nopony was here? Maybe it was a ghost from the past coming here to gaze at the dead frozen garden! Whoooo!" She flailed her arms dramatically in the air.

The gray mare (I assume she is the one called Octy) cringed from the giggling unicorn. Her gray coat seemed to be a slightly whiter shade of gray. "N... now is not the time to tell g...ghost stories Vinyl! You know how I h...hate ghost stories!"

I giggled. This mare is funny.

She flinched and stared strait at me. I swear, She is nearly as white as that unicorn now!

"Maybe it isn't a ghost, but a spirit of the ponies that these statues represent!" Vinyl teased. "Like him! The draconequus of chaos has returned to turn your cello into foam noodles again!"

"Vinyl!" she screamed.

I couldn't help it! I started laughing at these ponies antics! They are so much more lively than Twilight!

"Shut up you!" Octy screamed.

"Oh calm down Octy. You know I was joki-" Vinyl began.

"Not you! Him!" the gray mare pointed at me. "That stupid rock is laughing at me!"

Laughter was replaced by shock. She heard me laughing...

You can hear me?

"I said shut up!" she screamed. "I am not a rock farmer anymore... I have left that life behind me a long time ago!" she turned to a stunned Vinyl, "Lets go." she started trotting off.

Wait! Don't leave!

She ignored me and continued to trot away. Vinyl stood still for a second, then muttered something too quiet for me to hear before following her.

I don't want to be left alone in the cold again. You can't leave yet... not before at least talking to me! Don't you know how hard it is to live when everyone will talk to you but won't listen! They can't hear me but you can! Stop ignoring me and come back! I am not a lawn decoration! COME BACK AND MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A LIVING PERSON AGAIN!!!

*Crack*

Chapter 4

There is something different now... as if something gave in... but I just can't put my finger on it!

Hours have passed since I 'cracked'. There is a change in the air and I have been trying to figure out what it was, and if it is an improvement to my situation. Let me clarify; the stone does not feel quite as confining as it did before those mares arrived... it is almost like I was at the bottom of a dog-pile and the top layer of people just got off. The downside is I can feel... wind again. You are probably wondering how that is a bad thing... well it is. I had forgotten you can feel wind. I am starting to realize how long I have been trapped in here (a very, very long time...)... what worries me is how I forgot something this important... I mean, how can someone forget a feeling...

How much have I lost? What is this feeling of panic? I can't recall the last time I have felt this way... actually... I can't recall much before I became stone now that I think about it. Where exactly did I come from? Have I always been here?

Am I really just a stupid rock?

I refuse to acknowledge that train of thought! I am more than a rock, I am a human!

Rocks also don't feel cold. They also don't feel cramped, or tired. They don't feel... lonely...

I crave moving, but I don't remember what it was like to do so. I just know that I should be able to lower my arms to my sides. I know my face shouldn't always feel this way. When I talk I should feel my mouth moving, and be able to blink. What is blinking anyway?

Now knowing that I have forgotten such... important and basic stuff is a shock. I am now thankful for the cold, it is helping me keep my mind focused. My mind seems to wander all too easily nowadays. I have found myself comparing everything around me to were I am from... but I can't recall where that is. It is somewhere far away, that much I know. It is a place where there are no unicorns, no pegasus, and no flying serpents...

I should of hit him in the head harder.

I can remember his face! I remember that mocking laugh! It was that serpent who did this to me. This is his prison, his cage, his body, his rock... and he forced me into it! Now everyone thinks I am him... but I am not! I am not Discord, I am...

I am...

... who am I?

When was the last time I have heard my name? When was the last time I thought of my name? What is my name?

Have I forgotten myself...

Am I nobody...

That can't be true! I am obviously someone. Nobody can be no one. If they were no one, then they would be a someone? Someone without an identity obviously, but that is still someone... but if they are someone without an identity, is that their identity? Their identity would be to have no identity...

What is that called? A Paradox?

That is who I am! I am Paradox!

I am the living embodiment of what cannot be. I am a living manifestation of the bane of logic...

Or I would be if I was not made of rock...

I am still trapped in stone, but the bonds that are holding me in feel... looser than before. Whatever broke earlier must have weakened the barrier between me and this world. So if I want it to loosen them up some more, I need to do what I did before... What did I do before?

I focused on those mares. They were leaving. I didn't want them to leave. I tried to stop them, I wanted them to stay. I broke something by my wanting. So if I want to break more of that 'something', then I need to want something even more than the company of those mares.

But what?

Twilight Sparkle

Yes... I need to focus my 'want' on the only horse to show interest in me. She is the only one who has believed I am something more than a statue. The only one to care about what I am thinking about. She is the one I have had a child with... I want Twilight Sparkle!

x.X.x

"No is no Vinyl!" Octavia growled to her friend.

"Oh come on!" the white mare grumbled, "That statue is probably the most interesting thing in this whole boring city!"

"We are not going back."

Vinyl smacked her head on the cafe table with a groan. She had been trying to convince her friend to go back to that weird statue. There was just something that felt... interesting about it but Vinyl couldn't put her hoof on it. She would have gone back on her own except the castle guards wouldn't let her into the castle without Octavia with her... some stupid rule about non-court members crowding up the halls and such.

"Can't you just come with me until we get through the castle?" Vinyl begged, "Once I am in then you can leave! You don't have to see the statue at all!"

The gray mare glared, "Absolutely not! I won't risk my place in the royal symphony just because you want to look at that weird rock in the gardens. What is so interesting about it anyway?"

Vinyl combed her hoof through her mane, "I'm not sure really... It was a feeling... I felt something different in the air when I was near it. I can't really explain it..." She looked at her friend, "Some weird unnatural vibe surrounded it. I need to find out what that vibe means..."

"Vinyl..." Octavia began.

"Octavia? Is that you?" Octavia turned and looked at a purple unicorn mare with a pink strip flowing through her dark purple mane walking toward them. When she got close enough, Octavia gasped.

"Twilight?" She jumped out of her seat and gave Twilight a hug. "Oh Twilight! Where have you been for the past year! Everypony has been worried about you."

The purple mare blushed. "Oh, sorry Octavia. I have been doing some advanced studies down in Ponyville. I have not had too much time to come up here and say hi to anypony except my family..."

Octavia laughed. "Well do you have time now? Pull up a seat. How have you been? What kind of advanced studies are you doing? What is Spike up to nowadays? "

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by Vinyl. "Hey Octy? You going to introduce us?"

"Oh sorry!" Octavia stammered. "Twilight, this is Vinyl Scratch, a good friend of mine in the music business. Vinyl, this is Twilight Sparkle, she is the protege of Princess Celestia. We met at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

"Hold it?" Vinyl jumped up. She pointed her hoof at the her friend. "Are you telling me you, an earth pony, got into a school for 'Gifted Unicorns?'" the white mare asked.

Twilight giggled. "Celestia's school teaches a lot more than just magic; It is also the center for all musically gifted ponies, as well as astronomical and geothermal research." She gave Octavia a small smile. "I am sorry Octavia. I would love to stay and chat, but I have an appointment to keep. It's great to see you again though."

"Where are you off too, if you don't mind me asking?" the gray mare inquired.

"I am off to meet somepony in the Canterlot gardens-"

"TAKE ME WITH YOU!" Vinyl shouted causing Twilight to jump back.

"Um... Excuse me?" Twilight asked, clearly nervous.

Octavia facehoofed. "Sorry Twilight, but I took her to the gardens earlier today. She wants to go back and look at some weird statue." the gray mare glared at her friend. "Something about it having an 'interesting vibe'."

"Oh. If that is all, I don't see what the problem is." Twilight looked at Vinyl. "You're welcome to follow me to the gardens. I will make sure the guards will allow you access, at least for today."

"YES!!!" Vinyl cried out as she did a little dance around the table. She is going to be going back to see the statue!

Octavia leaned in toward the purple mare, "Good luck." she whispered. "You're stuck with her now whether you want her or not."

Twilight groaned. What did she get herself into?

x.X.x

From the roof of the cafe, a pony in a beanie was watching the two ponies who visited her Dad. She watched as the white one bounced away with a purple unicorn. The gray one sat at the table for a few more minutes, then she stood up and began to walk down the street.

She floated down behind the cafe and walked around the building onto the streets. She carefully weaved through crowds keeping the gray mare within her site.

She didn't know who this mare was, but for some reason she was able to hear her Daddy. And more than anything else, she wanted to be able to talk to her Dad again, and this mare was her ticket to do so.

Chapter 5

Octavia weaved her way through the crowded streets of the city. Spending the morning and most of the afternoon with Vinyl was extremely taxing on her. As much as she liked her friend, the white unicorn's odd behaviors and eccentric ways tended to tire Octavia more than hours of practice with the strictest conductors.

Soon, she found herself at the edge of her humble home. She was proud to say that even though she was not rich enough to live in the upper quarter, she still earned enough bits to be allowed to live in her two story home in an upper-middle class neighborhood. The streets were empty, most ponies at this time were still at work. She quickly made her way to the front door and unlocked it. Once inside, she dropped off her saddlebags and made her way into the music room.

A variety of stringed instruments covered the walls. There were a number of harps covering one wall. They were organized by their sizes, from a lyre hanging at one end to a folk harp sitting in the corner on the other side. On another wall hung a single Stradivarius violin. The same instrument her tutor once played.

Her tutor's name was Perfect Pitch, and he was a first chair violinist in the Canterlot Symphony for almost thirty years. During his career he played solos at over a dozen Gala's, and was requested by name to preform in front of Princess Celestia herself on numerous occasions. He always boasted the Princess told him that he was one of the greatest musicians to grace her courts within the past thousand years.

A tear came to Octavia's eye as she lovingly dusted the ancient instrument. When she finally mangaed to get into Celestia's School, Professor Pitch singled her out form the rest of her class and taught her everything he knew. He proudly claimed that she was going to surpass him someday if she practiced hard and never gave up. She broke her gaze away from the violin and looked at her cello. It sat in the middle of the music room next to her music stand.

Making her way to her pride and joy, she remembered the piece that her tutor always enjoyed and picked up the bow to play. Slowly, the strange day with Vinyl began to fade away. The stress of having her childhood hardships at the rock farm that the statue reminded her of melted away. Meeting Twilight dimmed and soon the only thing she was aware of was the magical sound of her music.

But as with all good things, Octavia had to end her piece. The final note echoed throughout the house with its low calm tone. A sigh escaped her as she opened her eyes and gazed lovingly around at her prized instruments. She looked at her clock and saw that she had been playing for a few hours. She chuckled at losing track of time yet again and getting lost in her world of music. With a glance outside she saw the sun was touching the horizon and the sky was a glowing in the multitude of colors called twilight.

Suddenly, a loud thud sounded below. Octavia jumped out of her chair in shock and ran out her room to the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, she noticed that her front door was slightly ajar. Cursing herself for being careless, she walked over to close and lock it. Even though crime was almost non-existent in Equestria, it never hurt to be careful. Especially when one of your friends enjoyed pranks that tended to be unhealthy for a few very expensive instruments.

Her stomach growled, causing Octavia to blush. How long ago was her lunch with Vinyl? She glanced at the clock again. Almost six hours ago... she needed food.

She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge only to freeze in shock. It was stuffed from top to bottom with pink cotton candy. With a sigh, she grabbed a hand full, making a mental note to have a talk with Vinyl about her pranks. Maybe she could convince her to help clean up the mess for once... It is going to be a nightmare to get all the sticky stuff out of there. At least she didn't paint her cello green with pink polka dots again. That was embarrassing, especially since the symphony was preforming in front of the Princesses the next day.

Taking a bite of the treat, she gasped in surprise. It tasted like chocolate? How on earth did she do this?

Octavia took another bite and savored her unique meal. Maybe she could forgive the white mare of this prank if she was willing to give her this recipe... it was delicious.

In the corner of her eye, she noticed a shape ducking out of site. Octavia giggled to herself. It seemed that Vinyl was still here. Octavia tended to practice for a few more hours before she left her music room, so she must have surprised the prankster by coming down early.

I guess I can get a little revenge for the sticky mess she left in my fridge.

Calmly walking into the hall, Octavia turned and made her way to the small closet under the stairs. She paused and looked both up and down the hall to see a fleeting shadow in her living room. Smiling, she opened the closet and pulled out a long tube.

She carefully crept to the entrance of the living room and peaked around the corner. The shadow of her friend was cast on the wall behind her coach. Tiphoofing, she makes her way to the unsuspecting shadow. Jumping onto the coach, she puts the tube in her mouth and shouts 'Eat Poison Joke You White Nightmare!' as she fires the blue plant onto... the floor?

How? How did Vinyl get away?

A giggle echoed throughout the room and the coach began to glow an eerie pink color. Octavia jumped off and backed way to the opposite wall. The coach slowly rose from the ground, not because it was floating, but because the coach's legs were growing longer. One leg moved, then another. The Coach was slowly walking toward Octavia like a predator stalking up to it's prey, it's cushions cracked open and a large pink tongue rolled out and licked the coach's 'lips'. She was watching both doors that lead into the living room.

"Come out and fight like a mare Vinyl!" she shouted as she gazed at the approaching furniture. Octavia had to admit that Vinyl was starting to get really good with magic if she was able to do this. She only hoped that this spell was not permanent... she couldn't afford to own a pet and she always enjoyed how comfortable this couch was.

She waited until it was within a tail-length of her before she kicked off the wall and rolled under it. Once she was behind her furniture she made a break for the door to the kitchen. The living furniture was way too large to enter there.

Once she made it inside a loud thump came form the living room. She glanced back to see the couch was pressed against the door frames, the large pink tongue slapping back and forth trying to reach her. Octavia giggled at the site.

"If that is the best you can do, you need to do better than that!" she laughed. A quiet click sounded behind her. She turned to see the refrigerator opened and a large pink fluffy hoof reaching out from the inside. "Heh... so that is where you were hiding." Octavia giggled as she approached the pink mess. "Games over, come on... out?"

What came out of the refrigerator was not her friend, but a large pink creature with glowing white eyes with purple swirls for pupils. Octavia froze. She realized that this could not be the work of Vinyl. Vinyl didn't have this much magical power...

She gave a shaky grin. "Oh... um... Twilight? Did Vinyl get you into... this... too?" she stammered, slowly backing up as the pink monster lumbered it's way across the kitchen to her. She froze when she felt something slimy touch her tail. Quickly glancing back, she realized she was trapped between the pink monster and her living coach.

When the coach noticed her looking back at it, it gave a large smile, reveling large pointed teeth. Octavia gulped and cowered down realizing this wasn't a practical joke!

"Octy!" the Pink monster slurred. "You will come with me."

"Go where? What are you?" Octavia whimpered.

"You are coming with me to talk to my Daddy," the creature... slurred? No I can't say that, I used ti already... slinked? That doesn't even make sense...

Oh! Look! Twilight has finally decided to visit!

I looked up the path to see the beautiful purple mare named Twilight and the white mare from earlier walking up the garden path. I can't believe I am getting so many visitors these days!

The two mares stopped at the base of me. Twilight looked up and greeted me in the usual manner and the other mare looked at Twilight with a funny look.

Hey Twilight! You wouldn't believe what I was doing just now. You see, you are always telling stories of your friends, and I though it would be fun if I told a story too! But those birds and animals are all soooo boring... they decided to sleep through the entire thing.

"Twilight? Is this the pony you came to see?" Vinyl asked.

"Um... yeah..." Twilight mumbled with a blush. "Vinyl... This is Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. Discord, this I Vinyl Scratch, also know as DJ-Pon3."

Yeah yeah. I have already met that pony.

Hold on? DJ? As in music? HOLY BALDING DONKEYS BATMAN! You have music! Sing me a song!

"Um... Twilight? Isn't this just a statue?" the white mare asked, clearly confused.

"No," Twilight slowly replied. "He is a spirit of great power that my friends and I have had to lock away in stone so we can keep everypony safe..." She looked sad. "I wish I could of done something else though... nopony deserves to be encased in stone like this. But he is too dangerous to be allowed to roam free."

Vinyl looked taken back. Her head was swerving between Twilight and me as if she couldn't believe what she heard.

"Then... that is probably why I have been getting this funny vibe from him." she said. "I knew something was different with him, I just couldn't put my hoof on it."

Wait? Different? There was something different...

Yeah! The Crack! I cracked! I need to want something to break free! I can't believe I let my mind wander like that... I forgot I needed to want Twilight Sparkle.

She is here

"Different?" Twilight asked puzzled.

TWILIGHT!!! I am here! Listen to me! Talk to me!

"Wait?" The purple mare said, giving me a strange look. "Stand back for a second Vinyl. I need to check something." Her horn began to glow with a pink aura. The white mare backed away from Twilight and stopped at the bushes.

I felt something... It was almost like eyes were touching me, examining me, checking me out...

Oh Twilight, you naughty naughty unicorn. I knew you couldn't keep your horn off of me for long...

That sounded a whole lot better in my head...

This is all in your head

There is a major difference between subconscious and conscious thoughts. Now please stop butting into my conversations!

"Something is different here. But what is it?" Twilight mumbled to herself. Vinyl was gazing at something in the bushes. She plucked out a pink ball of fluff...

It is the cloud that my daughter made! Oh... sorry Twilight, the cloud our daughter made. (For some reason woman get mad when you exclude them. Especially when it comes to children.)

Vinyl's head glowed for a second, illuminating the cloud for a spit second. Suddenly, Twilight cried out and the cloud shot up in the air. Vinyl was looking at Twilight in shock, and Twilight was gazing at me in... fear?

Oh god... I put on weight, didn't I? I knew you didn't like fat guys...

"Vinyl. We have to go tell the Princess." Twilight turned and run out of the garden.

"What's wrong Twilight?" Vinyl asked as she ran after the purple unicorn.

And unfortunate, I don't know why Twilight ran away from me since they were already out of ear-shot. Rock for ears tend to not have a very good range for hearing...

And Now I am alone ag-*WHAM*

Chapter 6

Rainbow Dash flew over the hedges of the Canterlot Statue Garden. There was plenty of room to stretch her wings out here, which is what she desperately needed after being cramped up in a tiny train cabin for forever. Not that the train cabins were small or anything, or that the streets of Canterlot tended to be a little too narrow or crowded, but she never felt like she could work out the kinks in her wings unless she had plenty of open space to fly around in and practice some tricks.

She and Twilight decided to come to Canterlot to pick up a few old books in the Royal Archives. Well… to be more specific, Twilight decided to grab a lot of old books and needed Rainbow Dash to help her carry all of them back to Ponyville. As a good friend, Rainbow couldn’t say no to an opportunity to help out one of her best friends in her time of need (Twilight's promise to give me VIP tickets to the next Wonderbolt show didn’t hurt things either).

Today was the easy day. We will settle into the apartments that Princess Celestia gracefully supplied for us, and then are able to relax from their trip from Ponyville. Tomorrow will be the day we start… ugh, digging through those dusty archives for those old books. Twilight said we should be able to gather all the books within a few days... But those tickets will be worth it.

After doing a couple of corkscrews and quite a number of flips, she decided it was time to rest. She settled into a small puffy cloud that was lazily floating over the gardens and began one of her favorite pastimes: Pony watching. Gazing down at the snow covered ground; she noticed two ponies strolling through the garden. One was easily recognizable to the cyan Pegasus; her the purple coat and the pink stripe through her mane shouted out that it was her friend Twilight. The other was a white mare with bright blue spiked hair. She seemed vaguely familiar... but Rainbow couldn't place where...

She watched as the two ponies make their way through the garden and stop before a statue. Rainbow Dash was too high up to be sure which statue it was, but it was probably some old unicorn that helped Princess Celestia something hundred years ago doing who knows what that. Twilight was probably the only one who remembered that unicorn’s name, much less what they did. The white mare, Rainbow concluded, was probably an old fellow student that Twilight knew when she still attended school up here and they were chatting over some boring stuff that they were taught back in the day.

Rolling over and watching Twilight circle the statue like a vulture, Rainbow got an idea. A smile spread across her face as she burrowed into the cloud began her decent. Twilight was way too busy paying attention to the statue to notice if a lonely cloud that just happened to lower itself into the garden… and would never suspect a single blue pegasus to appear out of thin air and tackle her. If the great Rainbow Dash was going to suffer in a library looking for some old boring books for the next few days, she might as well have a little fun before then. Today was about relaxation, and pranking a good friend was always relaxing.

Rainbow Dash was so focused on Twilight that she didn’t notice a small pink cloud rising up beneath her until it was too late. The sticky substance engulfed one of her wings and stiffening her feathers, causing her to loose control. As soon as Rainbow realized that her smooth decent changed into a plummet, she attempted regain control with her free wing. Unable to gain control, she looked down at the quickly approaching ground. The single thought ran through Rainbow's head before she crashed.

"At least bushes are soft".

Then world to burst into a painful white haze.

x.X.x

The ground is a lot less exciting to look that I expected… Let’s see… there is some dirt, some snow, more dirt, dead grass, and more dirt…

Ya know, I think I prefer standing up… it’s a little more exciting than this… why am I down here again?

*groan*

Oh yeah, that blue blur hit me. Seriously, how can you hit a statue? It is not like I was moving or anything. You really need to watch where you were going.

“Ow… what hit me?” the Pegasus asked.

Me? Hit you? No no no… I think you have something switched there.

The Pegasus looked at me, her pupils shrank down to pinpricks (I wish I could do that). She jumped up and her breathing quickened.

“You…” she gasped.

We stared at each other for a few seconds before she relaxed slightly. A nervous giggle bubbled out of her as she took a careful step to me.

“Heh… Looks like I got you good.” She chuckled, “Not like there was any doubt, I am pretty awesome.”

… I beg to differ. If I remember correctly, awesome things don’t crash into stationary objects. Actually, now that I think about it, they tend not to crash at all.

“Ya know Discord; you’re not so tough, are ya?” The pegasus was holding herself a little higher now (she was hovering over me. Not to self: I have recently learned I don’t like being looked down upon). “Yeah, how can a big bad ‘spirit of disharmony’ lose to a bunch of young ponies? Not that there was any doubt you would lose to me and my friends, but how uncool is it that?” She landed on my stomach and glared into my eyes. "Oh, don't think I don't see you shaking in fear and awe." She cast a pose, "I know I know, I am rather intimidating. You should of seen me when..."

I'm sorry... I can't keep narrating what this creature is spewing out... I mean, holy molly. I have seen people with big egos, but this pegasus is starting to make a Hollywood movie star look humble. Seriously, look at her? Her hair is literally every color of the rainbow? How much does she have to pay to dye it like that? If that isn't someone screaming for attention, then I don't know what is...

I she still talking...

"And then I was like VOOSH! The crowd was going-"

Yeah, she still is. Man, talk about long winded...

Heh... Get it? Winded? She is a pegasus?

Nevermind...

Now what was I doing before I was rudely interrupted by this multi-colored horse...Twilight visited, got scared, then ran...

Freedom

Oh yeah! I was trying to break free. Duh. How silly of me.

Lets see, lets review. The dog-pile on me has been getting lighter slowly. I can breath easier now (I really can't breath, but it is kind of the same feeling) and I can curl my fingers and wiggle my toes.

You can move

Of course I can move you moron! What else did you think I meant when I said I could curl my fingers and-

"Well, lets set you back up. We don't want any ponies to get the idea your breaking free again do we?" the blue pegasus announced.

I could feel her hands... hooves grab hold of me and began pushing.

"Umph... you are heavier than you look..." she growled.

I guess I have gained weight... note to self, Twilight is not a chubby chaser. Maybe I should lose a few pounds.

*crack*

Hey, It's that crack again!

"uh... I hope that was not what I thought it was..."

*crackle*

Hey, that sounded different! Ooomph!

That pegasus just dropped me... Young lady, don't you know how rude it is to drop someon-

"Oh Sweet Celestia this isn't good!" she cried out as she flew onto my stomach. Her hooves started to put pressure on me as if she was trying hold something down. At first she was just muttering to herself 'stop oh gosh stop' but soon she was yelling it in my ear... ouch...

Ok miss, I don't know who you think you are, but... hold on... This is different. I'm getting a strange feeling... It is somewhat familiar... What was it called...

Pain

Yes! This is what they call pain! I can feel pain again! The wonderful joyous beautiful...

PAINFUL PAIN!!! OH MY GOD IT HURTS! HA HA IT HURTS!

The pain is coming from my back! I don't bend this way!

I struggle to straiten my back. Being forced into a statue that curves into unnatural angles for someone like me is nowhere near what you would call comfortable. With a very loud crack the pain dulled down to a tolerable level. From a rating from one through ten, ten being "oh my god I am dying," it went from a 9.9 down to a 6.7.

I was lying in the snow gasping for breath... I CAN BREATH!!! I began to laugh! I stood up and began to dance!

I could feel the grass in between my toes, I could feel the wind on my skin, I could smell the chill in the air!

I looked over and saw that wonderful blue pegasus sitting by a pile of rubble. I ran over to my savior and gave her a huge hug!

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" I shouted. She was stiff as a board, but her wings were as soft as a cloud and it was as if she radiated warmth from her body. Oh god it has been so long since I felt something as soft and warm as her!

The pegasus began to scream I felt something hit me in the stomach, knocking me back a few feet. That hurt! Wonderful painful hurt! I laughed at the joy of feeling pain again! It was also cold... the snow and ground were very very cold... I have had enough of the cold as a statue.

I glanced over at the nice, soft, warm pegasus... I knew what I wanted for Christmas!

x.X.x

Rainbow Dash stared at the recently released Discord. He had a different form than before. It was not nearly as big as he once was, but it was still almost twice as tall as her. He laughing and began to sit up. She bucked him as hard as she could and it didn't seem to even faze him. She was certain of only one thing, she needed to get Twilight and Princess Celestia. Rainbow attempted a takeoff, only to realize that the pink cloud was still stuck to her wing. She felt a stab of terror when she realized that she was grounded next to the Terror of Chaos...

And he was looking straight at her. Her heart raced and her breathing quickened as soon as he spoke...

"Here pony pony pony... Daddy wants some warmth..."

[A.N. And we now have freedom! This chapter was really hard for me to write... but now that it is done we get to have some fun with our new favorite human in Equestria: Paradox! See you next update!]

Chapter 8

It was easy, painless, and quick; just the kind of breakup that he liked.

Paradox skipped down the streets of the pony city and briefly wondered: 'Where did all the colorful ponies go?' When he first left the garden there were numerous booths lining the street; merchandise of all sorts were being displayed in the shop windows, and the entire plaza was packed with vibrant, colorful ponies. A funny tune came to mind, and he began to whistle it earnestly. The eerie melody bounced across the abandoned plaza, echoing throughout the city. He paused his skipping at times he paused to hit the counter of a booth like a makeshift drum.

“And what do you think you are doing?”

The human turned around to stare at his rainbow maned savior hovering a few feet from him. The blue Pegasus was looking very irritated… then again, he was feeling a little cranky at her too since she was unwilling to give him a hug… He debated with himself for a few seconds whether he should answer her or if he should ignore her and keep walking…

“Well?” the Pegasus crossed her arms… legs and glared. (Dawww… Isn't she adorable. She is trying to look tough)

Maybe I should answer her. It isn’t like she was cruel or mean to me, and I am a proper gentleman. A true gentleman is never rude to a lady, and should answer any and all questions she may ask to the best of his abilities. Now, before I can answer, I must ask myself: Where am I going? Where am I? Answering her question will be a little hard if I don't know the answer myself. Maybe if I beat around the bush a little she won’t realize I don’t know.

“In the heart of this city beats a warm heat, after being trapped in stone it's what I seek.”

Perfect! Vague enough to sound like I know what I am talking about and still tell her nothing! Oh Parodox, you are a genius!

“What the hay are you talking about? A warm heat in the center of the city?” the pegasus’ eyes grew wide. “You’re going after Princess Celestia?!?”

Oh snap! Mission abort, mission abort!!! How on earth did she get the idea I was trying to go against her Tyrant Queen! I might be new to this world, but I am not crazy!

She hovered dangerously close to me and backed me into a flower stall. Her eyes were flashing, I could see fire down in their depths (Literally. If I was not about to die I would comment on how cool that is) I could tell she was out for blood (I wonder if that is what they eat… dear god I am living in a world of flesh-eating ponies!) I glanced back and forth searching desperately for something to distract this hovering carnivorous nightmare… there were flowers everywhere. I guess I need to get creative.

I grabbed a bunch of roses and threw them into her face.

She screamed in shock when my flowery assault struck. I, being the masterful tactician I am, made the best of the situation... I made a break for an alleyway. Once inside, I jump between a pile of snow and a trashcan and tuckered down to hide.

The blue blur flew in and passed my spot clever hiding place. I am not sure how far she flew into the ally, but after a minute or so I heard her grunt in frustration.

“Where are you, you freak!” her voice echoed off the walls of the alley. I turned my head saw her hovering nearby. If I was not looking straight at her, I would never have known she was only a couple dozen meters away from me… which gave me an idea.

“Hide and seek is the game we will play, will you find me who can say. ” I bellowed into the alley, my voice bouncing off the walls and out into the streets. I grinned at the shocked expression that appeared onto the pegasus’ face.

Are you trying to kill us?

Nope, I just want to have some fun. We couldn’t play many games when we were stuck in stone so I might as well have some now.

I watched the pegasus’ head swerve around and gaze out of the ally. I turned my head and glanced out as well to see some a few ponies slowly leaving their homes and heading out into the streets. It is at times like these that I start to get strange ideas and thoughts. Nothing major, just little things like ‘what does it feel like to ride on the back of a flying Pegasus?’ ‘Would it be rude to call unicorns horny horses?’ ‘What do pony bathrooms look like?’ And my personal favorite:

“I wonder how loud I can make this alley echo?”

My grin grew as I took in a deep breath. I glance up at the blue Pegasus to make sure she has not seen me yet. (she hasn’t) and turned to face the ally opening. I cuffed my hands around my mouth like a megaphone and roared:

“I WILL HIDE WITHIN YOUR WALLS, BIDING MY TIME TO PLAY, COME OUT AND FIND ME, OR I WILL WIN THE DAY!!!”

Why are you rhyming?

Because it is fun and I can. Now shut up so I can see what the Pegasus will… crap, she already flew out of the ally… thanks a lot buddy! Now what am I going to do for fun?

Stay hidden and hope the entire thing blows over?

Bah! Where is the excitement in that? There is no point in winning if my victory is easy. I need to find a pony to chase…

I crawled deeper into the alleyways of the city. It is shocking to see the difference between here and the street. On the street, the sun was shining down on the city, reflecting off the stonework to both melt the snow and warm the people. The buildings were bright and cheerful to bring out a smile on you as you walked down the plaza... but here... everything was draped in shadows. Where beautiful colors shined on you on the street, dull gray stone and mortar loomed over you. Trash cans full of junk were placed next to each door that lined the ally instead of colorful booths with merchandise overflowing on the shelves. The small patches of snow that managed to fall between the buildings piled up into large mounds of cold, and a chilly breeze solidified the foreboding feeling of the back alleys.

Needless to say, I didn't like it. It was dark and cold... much too close to being trapped in stone again. I shivered... why does it feel so cold? I was mostly warm on the street! What do people wear to keep warm...

A coat.

I need a coat. First stop will be a clothing shop. The pony chasing can wait.

I wandered through the chilly labyrinth of alleys looking at each trashcan for fabric. If I could find fabric, I will find a clothing shop! Logic, you are a wonderful friend to have!

After much, much too long of searching, I finally found a trash bin with shreds of fabric bursting from under the lid. I lifted up the lid to see that it was full of pin holders, thread bobbins, and (surprise) more fabric. I think I have found my store.

Like the gentleman I am, I politely knocked on the door with my foot. However, the door was made of some flimsy material because after i knocked it flew off it's hinges with a loud crash. I shook my head in disappointment... whoever owned this shop must have been a major cheapskate... I will need to have a few words with them if I see them. If I don't, I will leave a delightful letter expressing my displeasure with their establishment.

I made my way inside and found myself inside the lobby. Much to my disappointment, it was a clothing shop... for women. Dresses lined the each and every corner of the store, shoe racks dotted the clothing sections with shoes that matched each and every dress.

Though I was moderately upset at the moment, I am a man. We have the wonderful ability to suck up any discomfort and irritation we have when the moment calls for it. I take a deep breath and begin to search through the dresses. Eventually, I found what I was looking for. It was a kilt with a beautiful combination of brown and green. Gems sewed into the fabric and intertwined in the lacing that lined the fabrics edges. I pulled it off the rack and headed toward the dressing rooms.

They were too small... seriously, why don't they have anything in my size! Not the kilt, it fit perfectly. It is the dressing rooms that are too small! Such sloppy service in a store that looks so high class... My letter is going to be a lot less delightful that I first thought.

I managed to cram myself into one of the tiny rooms so I could examine myself in one of the mirrors. I look like that guy from braveheart, only I am a lot better looking. Come on, how many men wear makeup into battle? That movie is almost embarrassing to watch...

They are wearing battle paint

Really? Why would they send painters out into battle? It seems kind of silly to send painters to fight when soldiers would be the better choice.

They are Scottish rebels who were fighting for independence from Kind Edward the first back in the thirteenth century. The war paint was part of their traditional war uniform.

It is still girly. Real men don't paint their face!

You are wearing a dress... Your opinion on what real men do doesn't hold much weight right now.

Bah, this isn't a dress, it's a kilt!

You are in a dress shop that is full of gems and lace. You picked a dress out of the 'earth's beauties' beauties. It is a dress.

...

I am ignoring you from now on.

Once I finally got something to cover myself with, me and my kilt moved over to the window to see what was going on outside. Maybe I could find a pony and make this boring hide-and-go-seek game more exciting...

I stared out onto the streets. Lots of white ponies dressed like roman soldiers were stomping around. I am going to assume they are the moderators to the hide-and-go-seek game because they look kinda cool. A few other ponies also strode by with their noses pointed almost strait up into the air. I swear they had to have neck problems looking up like that all the time... How do they even see where they were going? I have half a mind to go out and put my foot in front of them to see if they will trip...

Can you trip a four legged animal? Note to self: Test theory at a later time.

The last ponies that past by my window were so boring looking that I couldn’t begin to contemplate choosing them as my target… How is that even bloody possible… I am in the middle of a city of talking ponies, Pegasi, and unicorns and they are all so boring that I can’t even play a small game of--

Oh! Isn't that the white unicorn from earlier! Yep, it's her! I know that blue spiky hair anywhere! She was fun when she visited me when I was still a statue!

It is finally time to begin a game of hide-and-go-seek-tag. Obviously, I will be 'It' first because I thought of the game…

I crouched down and began to slink to the door of the store.

“He he he” I chuckled.

This is going to be fun...

x.X.x

Vinyl’s heart was racing… The strange voice shouted out its threat to take over Canterlot not even thirty minutes ago. The guards were on high alert searching through every nook and cranny of the city trying to find the creature that broke loose from the Canterlot gardens…

She shuddered at the thought of being so close to a dangerous creature as Discord… No wonder there were no high security prisons in Equestria, the Princess turned all the most dangerous criminals into stone and placed them in her private garden where only she and a few select ponies were allowed access. No wonder Octy was so nervous about going in there.

Now one of those criminals were free and plotting something terrible for the city. The guards have called the city in to martial law until the threat is dealt with and the Princess has had to call for the Elements of Harmony to take him out. Vinyl remembered the last time the creature broke free; she remembered all the chaos he caused as he flew across Equestria. At least back then he did everything out in the open laughing like it was a huge game… now he was using subtlety and silence to attack the city… that was one hundred times more frightening because nopony knew where he was going to strike first… He still called it a game, but now he sounded completely insane. Whatever 'game' he was planning, it won't end well for the Canterlot, or Equestria if escapes the city. Vinyl prayed to Celestia that they will be able to stop him before anypony gets hurt.

A small pressure on the back of her neck appeared making her jump in surprise. She crashed onto the ground the world burred into a bright flash of bluish white. She gasped and grabbed her horn. It felt as if something was trying to pull it off her head. The feeling couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds, but it felt as if the yanking, pulling feeling lasted hours. Her sight cleared up quickly, and she swerved her head around to stare at… something pink. Her eyes slowly moved up the pink surface until it reached two shining yellow eyes. Her mouth opened and closed but nothing came out. The creature spoke to her in a quiet, terrifying voice.

“Tag, you’re it.”

She panicked and attempted push him away with her magic… but where her magic used to be she could only feel emptiness. Cold terror surged through Vinyl. Reaching for magic always felt like placing a small pipe next to a reservoir of water and controlling where the small stream of liquid would go, but now it felt as if the reservoir was completely empty.

She did what any unicorn would do in that situation. She screamed.

[A.N. Well... I said it would be an extra long chapter in my blog, and it is! It is the longest chapter in the story yet! (2400 words) Especially when it ends in a perfect cliffhanger!

Parodox: Exactly! You are a terrible person.

Midnight: Hold on? How did you get here? You can't be here? This is the Author's Notes! You are a character!

Parodox: Please... I'm Parodox and this is my story. I feel that I should be allowed to answer any questions that the audience should have for me. Especially since we finally hit 100 favorites.

Midnight: Audience? You are not supposed to know about them!

Parodox: Then next time don't forget to lock the door on the 4th wall. Seriously, what kind of crummy author are you.

Midnight: Gah! Forget this! I am going on vacation! I will see y'all in 2 weeks.

Parodox: Don't forget to lock the door on your way out!]

Chapter 9

The last barrel in the pile lifted and flew through the air. Shining Armor tore the lid off the barrel and peered inside. It was filled to the rim with heads of lettuce and no sign of the creature.

The city was in high alert. All citizens were to stay indoors until the threat was secured… unfortunately they were in Canterlot, where the residents assumed danger would not come near them if they had enough money… Protecting citizens became a lot harder when they walked straight into danger instead of listening to the guards.

Shining turned and made his way out of the warehouse. They were combing throughout the city searching for a dangerous creature that escaped the Statue Prison. The creature was classified as a class S danger and not to be attacked under any circumstances. Their goal was to locate it and notify the Princesses or the Elements of Harmony so they can subdue it.

Shining grumbled to himself. His job was to protect Canterlot, and more specifically, his family from danger… but now he had to send his baby sister into danger because the threat was too dangerous for the guards to deal with. It was not fair… But those were the orders from the Princesses and he was not going to be the one to disobey them because of pride. He knew Twilly was the Element of Magic and had saved Equestria on multiple occasions, but it didn’t feel right to him to send her into danger.

He exited the warehouse and observed multiple squads of guardponies trickled in. From the looks of things they had found nothing, but unfortunately discipline called for reports… Shining groaned on the inside as he prepared himself.

“Fall in!” he roared.

The squads rushed toward him and lined up in a perfect orderly fashion. The squad leaders stood in front and called roll call to be sure every guard had made it back. Even though they moved quickly and efficiently like a well oiled machine, Shining could not but help feeling irritated as valuable minutes that ticked away. After too long they finished their routine and each of the squad leaders stepped forward to state that all every guardpony was present and accounted for..

Shining looked at each of the squad leaders. "Report any findings." he ordered.

The unicorn from the first squad stepped forward. "Captain, the marketplace is clear."

The second squad unicorn stepped forward. "Captain, the smithing district is clear."

The pegasus leader from the third squad jumped forward, "Mane street and streets one through fifteen is clear, Captain."

Before the leader from the fourth squad stepped forward, a bloodcurdling scream shattered the relative silence of the city. The entire unit burst into life and rocketed through the streets looking for the source. It seems like the monster finally decided to strike... and the guards were not prepared. Now a random citizen was got hurt because of that. Shining shouted a curse and began running toward where he thought the scream came from.

"Captain!" One of the pegasus guards called out. "The shout came from the clothing district!"

Shining gave the guard a brief nod. "Understood. All units move out!"

x.X.x

Paradox skipped away from the screaming unicorn. He jumped into a barrel of hats and peeked out to watch the new ‘it’. She just sat there... screaming... The howling grated at his ears and almost managed to ruin his good mood. Getting caught was never fun, but it was the way of the game. You can’t get that mad at being it... it was not fair to the other players, and nobody likes a poor sport.

Then the moderators flew in. Dagnabit! She is going to be taken out of the game for being such a big baby... that means I am still it, doesn’t it.

Oh man... I guess I have find someone else to get... Once the mods clear out the search will begin again.

x.X.x

Shining Armor rushed toward the cringing unicorn mare. Her screams had softened down to quiet sobbing. Shining looked around at his unit with a grim face.

“Lock down and search the area and get a medical team over here ASAP.”

“Yes Captain!” the guardponies called out before rushing off.

Shining turned back to the trembling mare and placed his hoof around her. “Everything is going to be fine.” he soothed, “Can you tell me what happened?”

The mare gazed up at Shining, here magenta eyes filling with tears. “M-Monster a-appeared behind m-me. He said t-tag and... and...” her voice trailed off.

“He what? Did he hurt you?” Shining inquired.

“I-it touched me and... and... my magic is gone!” she wailed flinging her forelegs around Shining and squeezing tightly.

“He did what!” Shining gasped. “He took your magic away?” She responded with a shutter and weak nod. “Sergeant Tall Shield!” the Captain cried. “Go to the Princesses immediately informing her that the Monster has the ability to take away a Unicorn’s magic. We are changing the threat level to Nightmare.” The guard saluted and flew off. Shining turned to another nearby pegasus guard. “Cloud Cover! Inform the squad sergeants one through three that they are to begin evacuating citizens into the shelters at once. Move out!” He turned back toward the unicorn mare. “Don’t worry miss, we have the situation under control.”

Shining glance up from the crying unicorn and noticed a rainbow trail flying toward his location.

x.X.x

Rainbow Dash landed with a loud thump near Twilight’s brother. She glared around the empty street, looking for any sign of the monster. She sighed in aggravation and turned to the large white unicorn next to her.

“Did you see him? Was he here?” she inquired.

Shining Armor growled, “No, he wasn’t here. This unicorn just got injured by falling off one of those barrels.” he spat.

“Then tell her to be more careful! There is a monster running around and we don’t need accident prone ponies running around!” She noticed Shining’s glare. “Oooh... he did this to her...” Rainbow shuffled her hoofs in feeling her face heat up. “Well why didn’t you say so! Where did the ugly monkey go!” She jumped up and hovered above the Captain.

Shining Armor sighed. “I was hoping you knew...”

Rainbow’s face flushed even hotter. Was Twilight’s brother blaming her for losing the monster? “What do you mean by that?”

Shining glanced up at the rainbow maned pegasus, “You are the fastest flyer in Equestria, right?” Rainbow nodded, “Then you should be able to search the city faster than all my guards. I was hoping you at least caught a glimpse of it somewhere.”

Rainbow landed on the pavement with a thump and shouted in frustration. He was right, how could she, the fastest flyer in Equestria, lose a six foot tall pink creature! It was impossible... but it happened. After getting flowers thrown into her face it ran into the alleyways and disappeared.

Rainbow snorted and stormed over to one of the market stands. This was a very dangerous time for somepony to lose her cool, especially the Element of Loyalty. She knew that she was not the best at dealing with stressful situations, but after the Young Fliers competition, Fluttershy gave her some advice on how to deal with the stress. She started taking in deep breaths... in and out... in and out. Next came stretches to loosen up her tense muscles, but that took up too much time. Rainbow glanced at the barrel next to her. It was full hats... nothing breakable. She pulled back her hind legs and stuck the barrel like Applejack strikes her apple trees during applebucking season.

“What in the hoof do you think you are do-” Shouted Shining Armor.

“Ah, that felt good,” Rainbow sighed. "What were you saying?" She glared at Shining and noticed him staring at something behind her. Glancing around, she saw the large monkey creature lying in a pile of hats.

“Oh darn... game over already...” he moaned. The creature turned and faced Shining Armor. “Ok Moddy, I guess it’s time to go, isn’t it?”

The large white stallion’s mouth opened and closed multiple times. After almost half a minute he managed to call out for his unit. The guardponies arrived quickly and surrounded the creature with spears pointing inward at him.

“You are under arrest for threatening the city of Canterlot and the Princesses, attacking one of its citizens, and attempted escape.” Shining Armor stated.

Rainbow watched as the creature shook his head and mutter something about a stick in the mud, but he stood up and began to shuffle away with the ring of guardponies.

“Miss Dash.”

“What do you want Shining?”

“I need you to fly and inform Twilight and the Princesses that the creature has been located and under the watch of the guards. We await further orders... though I am not sure how long we will be able to hold it...” Shining shook his head and turned back to the cringing mare. She was still trembling and staring at the ground, as if she didn’t even realize what just transpired... maybe she didn’t. “I will be joining the guards shortly, once the medics arrive, but the Princesses are the only ones who can deal with that creature.”

“Don’t worry Shining. I can fly to the Princesses and tell them everything in ten seconds flat!” bragged Rainbow Dash. She jumped into the air, but before speeding off she had to ask, “Will she be OK?” she pointed at the mare.

“I hope so...” was all Shining replied.

Rainbow shook her head and sped off for the castle.

_______________________

Authors Notes:

Midnight: Kinda of a short chapter today, but this chapter was really bloody hard to write...

Paradox: Maybe because you are a second rate writer.

Midnight: We also got no questions for Paradox, so he will go back into his box and be a good character.

Paradox: Hold on, what bo--

Midnight: See y'all next week!

Chapter 10

I underestimated her... I underestimated the rainbow maned pegasus... And it was awesome! She was a worthy opponent, someone to play the game of life with.

Someone to defeat!

She won’t find it so easy to beat me a second time, I know her game now. I vow that I will someday defeat her.

In order to defeat your enemy, you must know your enemy. In order to know your enemy, you must become your enemy.

Exactly! I will sit back and watch. I will study her moves, I will mimic her style, and I will become strong enough to defeat her.

I was not talking about the horse.

Then what are you talking abo-

“Ouch!” Paradox shouted. He turned and glared at the mod who poked him with the spear. “Watch where you’re pointing that thing.” I glanced down and noticed a red liquid slowly sliding down his side. “Great... now I’m leaking,” he muttered.

First my back when I broke free, then my chest from the pegasus, then my head when the same pegasus kicked over the barrel, and now the mod with his spear. I am really starting to not like this ‘pain’ feeling...

There are wounds that are deeper and more painful than anything that bleeds.

Ok buddy! You need to start explaining yourself! I don’t want to have to listen to some crazy voice in my head all the time!

“Sergeant!” I groaned as a white pegasus in Roman armor flew in... another interruption... can’t I have a decent conversation in my head in peace? “You are to escort the...” he waved his hoof at me, “to the main hall at once.”

“Understood!” the pony who poked me with the spear shouted. “Come along prisoner,” he ordered. I stared down at the pony as he glared up at me.

“No.” I sniffed.

Every moderator stopped moving and stared at me with shocked expressions. Many of them grasped their spears and pointed them at me, including the rude one who ordered me to follow him.

“W-what do you mean no?” he stammered.

I brushed his spear aside (and cut my hand in the process... ow). Towering over him, I gave him my biggest smile (don’t want to look too intimidating).

“I didn’t hear you say the magic word!” I giggled... no, laughed in a deep manly voice. Men don’t giggle…

The stallion moved back a step with a nervous expression. “Um... Come along... please?” he hesitantly muttered.

“Sure!” I shouted causing many of the ponies to jump back. I leaped past the ring of guards and began skipping down the street. If I am out of the hide-and-go-seek game, I am still allowed to have a little fun!

x.X.x

Octavia glared at the floating earth pony in front of her and suppressed a groan. She didn’t know who this purple and pink nightmare was, but for some reason she broke into her home and... convinced her to assist in something. So far, assisting meant sneaking into the Canterlot gardens.

Octavia shivered as she trudged through the banks of snow. The bare branches scraped against her back as they forced their way through the bushes.

“Why couldn’t we take the normal path again?” she groaned.

The pink pony turned around and blinked at her captive. “I have been caught too many times sneaking in here, so the guards know my face.” A smile bloomed on her face, “And it is fun to sneak through bushes! We are like spies going to save our captured friend!” She giggled and flew ahead almost out of view.

Octavia grimaced and pushed forward to keep up. Her insane captor might find this fun because she was not the one getting scrapes and cuts from the branches. When Octavia focused, she could watch as the bushes would literally twist away from the floating pony as she flew by, as if they were unwilling to touch her… and at the same time each brand moved and attempted to twist around her hooves or grab hold of her fur as if trying to hold her back to keep her away from the floating pony. She flinched at every snap and crack as she trudged her way through the brush. The magic of the Garden was afraid… and with good reason…

Octavia felt a shiver flow down her spine as she remembered the event in her apartment… when the pink pony ‘convinced’ her to assist her… and where Octavia learned the pink pony’s sense of ‘humor’…

Octavia sighed and peered through the branches to catch a glimpse where they were in the Garden. They were skirting the edge of the maze, keeping just inside of it, and were heading toward the statue section. She could just make out the form of the Three Captains through the brush. It meant that they were entering the same section her and Vinyl visited that day.

“Hurry up!”

Octavia jumped at the shrill whisper of the pink pony. She was hovering just above her and didn’t look very pleased.

“I am going as fast as I can thank you very much.” Octavia growled.

“Well, move faster! We are almost there.” She flew off through the brush and disappeared from view.

Octavia shook her head and trudged through the brush and breaking into a small field. Looking around, Octavia noticed a winding path that curved its way around the field along with statues randomly placed throughout the grassy sections.

Her captor was hovering over a pedestal surrounded by rubble. Stomping through the snow, Octavia made her way to her.

“Ok, we are here. What do you want me to do?” Octavia sniffed. The sooner she could finish whatever task the pink nightmare wanted, the faster she could go home and finally sleep all this madness off.

The pink pony turned around and gazed at Octavia with tears forming in her eyes. “He is gone...” she whispered. “Daddy broke free and left me here all alone... again...”

Octavia glared at her captor. Was she trying to make her feel pity? If she was she was hitting the note pretty flat. “Does this ‘Daddy’ of yours have to do with why you brought me here?” she growled. The pony slowly nodded her head. “Then good riddance!” Octavia shouted, causing the pink pony to jump back in surprise.

“Wha... What do you mean?” she gasped.

“What do I mean? WHAT DO I MEAN?!?” Octavia was fuming, “You broke into my house, terrorized me until I followed you, and brought me into a high security garden to look at some rubble! Now tell me in all that why I should give two bits about your ‘Precious Daddy’!”

The pink pony’s mouth opened and closed a number of times. Tears formed at the bottom of her eyes and slowly trickled down her cheeks. She sniffed and dropped onto the ground.

“I thought we were having fun...” she sobbed.

“Fun? How can anypony have fun when they are being held captive by an insane earth pony who can fly?!?”

“But...”

“No buts!” Octavia screamed. “I am done playing games. I am going home. Go find your Daddy on your own and STAY AWAY FROM ME!”

She turned to trot off, but a large cage of licorice burst from the ground and surrounded her. The pink pony flew in front of her and glared through the thick bars. Octavia shrank back into the cage and tripped over a piece of rubble. She glanced down at it to see it was part of the face of Discord. Her heart began to race and she quickly crawled to the far corner of the cage when she realized who she just yelled at... a daughter Chaos. Her ‘Daddy’ was the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony... the same one who destroyed half of Equestria a couple years ago.

“You are being a meanie,” she growled. “You are grounded! No supper for-” A scream erupted from somewhere in the city causing both ponies to turn. Octavia quickly glanced at her captor and noticed her large smile had returned. “Daddy is still here!” she giggled. With a small bounce, she slowly rose into the air.

“Where are you going?” Octavia asked.

“I’m going to find Daddy!” the hovering pony laughed and began to soar away.

A chill coursed down Octavia’s back as she watched her captor fly into the city. She glanced at the sun and realized that it was almost half way down to the horizon. Thoughts of her being stuck in the garden at night crossed through her mind. “Wait! Let me out of here!” Octavia cried out to the flying pony. There was no change in the direction the pony was flying, so either she was ignoring Octavia, or she didn’t hear.

Steadily, the form of the pink pony got smaller until she was lost in the roofs of Canterlot. Octavia sniffed and curled into a ball in the snow covered grass. She was locked in a cage inside the royal gardens... alone. Discord was free again and probably wrecking chaos all over Canterlot again... She wished she at least had her cello with her; then she would be able to get lost in creating music so she wouldn’t have to think on her situation.

She sat and watched the sun slowly descend.

“What did I do to deserve this...” she whimpered.

x.X.x

“Are we there yet?” I whined.

The lead moderator grunted and shoved me forward (he was a rude one). We have been walking for forever and the castle looked no closer than it did when we started... or is that just another shop... I can’t tell. All these pony buildings look the same.

“Is that the castle?” I asked only to have another grunt from the moderator. “How about over there? Is that the building...” I leapt over one of the moderators and glanced at what I pointed at... it was a trashcan.

“Sir, can we please gag him...” one of the moderators asked.

Yes, please gag him...

You do know you talk through my mouth too, right?

It is a sacrifice I am willing to take.

“Unfortunately we cannot, Private. The Princess wishes to speak with it, and it would inconvenience her if it was gagged.” The leading Moderator grunted.

“Then how about we tie it up so it can’t jump around?” another moderator asked. “We don’t want to inconvenience the Princess by him leaping around when she is trying to talk to him.”

The lead Moderator paused for a second and raised a hoof to his chin, as if thinking. (a preposterous idea, horses thinking.) He lowered the hoof after a second and a creepy grin crossed his face. He looked around at the other moderators and gave a small nod.

The moderators all turned toward me and began to form a circle. It is hard to look at all of them at once when they do that... I had to spin in a circle so I could see them. A few turns or so passed before I heard a faint poof sound, and tripped over something on the ground. I rolled over and realized that my legs were covered by a fluffy pink substance that leaked a brown liquid. Looking up, I saw a pink pony hovering above me with swirly eyes. Her eyebrows were knotted together and she wore a big frown.

“Who are you and what have you done with my Daddy?”

_______________________

Author's notes:

Midnight: I am back!

*muffled sounds come from a box*

Midnight: Ok, not completely back... I still won't be able to hit every week consistently.

*more muffled sounds*

Midnight: No! It is not from laziness. Life on this side of the screen is still kinda wacky.

*muffled question*

Midnight: Absolutely not! You will stay in there until I deem you fit to leave.

*muffled groan*

Midnight: *clears throat* Now, if you follow my blog, I did mention that this would be an extra long chapter (over 3000 words)... well, it is kinda true. I decided it would be best to break this up into smaller increments to keep the length of chapters as constant as possible. That, and I would force y'all to wait a bit longer if I wanted to finish the entire thing.

*muffled laughed*

Midnight: Author's don't get more powerful by the suffering of our readers! How can you even say something like that?

*muffled explanation*

Midnight: Cliffhangers are an exception... Everyone enjoys them!

*more muffled laughter*

Midnight: Enough! I think that is it for now. I will see y'all at the next update!

_______________________

A special thanks goes to primalcorn1 and Bronymaster for helping me break through my writer's block and plan the next part of the story. Also, a special thanks goes to ismartman, dax388, Crimson Lionheart, and Electro Light for editing the story so it isn't horrible.

Thanks guys!

Chapter 11

“Your Daddy?” Did Twilight never tell her who her father was? I might be off the hook! Yay!

“Captain! It is her!” A moderator blurted out. I turned and faced his funny expression. Eyes wide, pupils pinpricks, his jaw opened and closed as he tried to push his head back. Not that it helped him; his entire body was covered in the pink stuff that was holding me.

“So you’re the pony that has been breaking into the gardens the past year,” the lead moderator muttered.

“Shut up and tell me where Daddy is!” the pink pony cried.

Ya know, I’m getting tired of calling her Pink Pony...

“Ya know, It is rude to ask questions without introducing yourself.”

Are you trying to get us killed?

Of course not. I’m trying to bring some manners into the conver-Dear God! What is with these ponies and hitting me!?

The pink pony just punched me with her front leg! It looks like a marshmallow, but it feels like a brick! It is official, I don’t like pain. It is time for me to get serious, no more Mr. Nice Guy.

“Now what is the big idea, Miss Pink Horse?” I growled, grabbing the sticky substance. I pulled it off me and stood up to glare at the pony in the eyes. “All I am asking for is to be shown some manners. Even that large snake thing that shoved me into the rock gave me his name!” I grabbed her ear and yanked it downward. She squealed and tried to force me to let go. “Now I want your name and an apology for hitting me.”

The pony squirmed and and pleaded for me to let her go, but I was not going to have any of it! I have been kicked, prodded, punched, and bent all day and I’m tired it! The more she squirmed, the more I pulled her ear.

“Stop it!” she cried out. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry...” Large tears started running down her cheeks. “I just want my Daddy...”

“I’ll let go if you promise to behave.” She promised and I let her go. She clutched her ear tenderly, flew a foot away from me, and glared. “Now, what is your name?”

“I-I’m Screwball...” she sniffed.

I put on a wide smile. “Glad to meet you Screwball. I call myself Paradox. It is a pleasure to meet you.” I stretched out my hand to give her a handshake before realizing she didn’t have any fingers. Thinking fast, I made a fist and gave her a fist bump... or fist/hoof bump... whatever you call it. “Now, who are you looking for again?”

“My Daddy...” Screwball whispered. “He was locked in a statue in the garden. When we went to the garden to save him, we found his statue broken.” She turned her head toward the moderators. I followed her gaze and noticed that every moderator was surrounded in what looked like transparent pink marble. He was glaring at both of us through it. “I thought the guards would be after him since he is considered a bad guy around here,” Screwball continued, “but I only saw you with them.”

I turned my head and began to scratch my beard, which was quite interesting because I didn’t even know I had one. I can’t believe I didn’t look at myself when I was in front of the mirror! I guess that changes my plans a little. I had to find another mirror and see how I look.

“I would love to help you look for your Daddy, but I need to do something first,” I told her. Her large swirly eyes drooped down and more tears began to leak out of her... what is wrong with this horse? Is she part sprinkler or something?

Promise to help her?

Why would I do that?

Because it is the right thing to do! The girl has lost her father, she needs someone to help her.

Humph... sounds boring. Why would I spend my valuable time looking around for some stupid horse for another horse?

Did I mention you can pretend to be a detective as you look?

… A detective you say?

Yes, just like Sherlock Holmes.

Then my dear Watson, what are we waiting for? We have a damsel in distress to assist!

“Now, can you tell me what your father looked like?” I asked the sad filly.

“Huh?” Screwball glanced up at me and wiped her eyes.

“What did your Daddy look like?” I repeated. I hate repeating myself. “Come on, girl, we are burning daylight!”

She flew toward me and raised her hoof a few feet above me. “He is about this tall, has a horse face, white beard, and eyebrows. There is a goat and deer horn on his head. He has yellow eyes with red pupils...” she trailed off as she glanced down at me. She flew down and hovered only centimeters from my face as she gazed into my eyes. “Similar to yours...” she murmured.

Busted.

Shut it!

I quickly pushed her away and smoothed out my kilt. “What else did he look like?” I asked.

She kept staring at me as she flew back to continue her description. “He has two arms and two legs, all from different animals. His body is long and curly, like a snake with a dragon tail.”

Snake body? Wait a minute... “Did he also fly around and laugh evilly a lot?” If he is who I think he is...

“Yes!” Screwball cried out. “So you have seen him!”

Yes, I have... he is the one that took me from my world and shoved me into that statue.

I think fun and games are over for now, what do you say?

Oh, I quite agree.

I could feel a smile creep onto my face. “Yes. I have met your ‘Daddy’,” I answered, “And I would very much like to meet him again.”

“Yay!” cheered the pink spawn. “Then let’s get to looking together!” She flew above the moderators and through the street. They looked to be listening to something, but what that was didn’t matter. I had a pony/serpent to find.

I walked through the pink marble, causing them to pop like bubbles. I could see the pink pony hovering near a corner of a building calling out for me to hurry, but there was no need to run. I was here and free, and nothing was going to keep me away from ‘Daddy’.

x.X.x

Captain Strong Shield watched as the creature and flying earth pony turned the corner. He turned and glared at his superior officer.

“Guard Captain Armor, why did you stop us?” he growled.

A white unicorn strode out of the building he was taking cover in and made his way up to the soldier. “If you charged in there, you could have been seriously injured,” he stated.

“We are guards, our job is to take pain so civilians don’t have to.”

Shining sighed and glanced over in the direction the creatures went. “You saw how easily the creature broke through my shield?” he said, “Even my sister, the Element of Magic herself, was unable to touch him with a single spell when we made first contact.” He turned and glanced at the unnerved soldiers. “And that is just the creature, not to mention the Pony Touched by Chaos is now with him as well.”

“Are you telling me we have two monsters roaming around the city?” Sergeant Brightblade gasped.

The white unicorn winced as he faced his troops. “Unfortunately... yes.” He stood tall and looked each of the soldiers in the eye. “Even if you had him in your custody, you did not have any control over him. It was safer for all of you to let him leave so we can keep an eye on him and keep the citizens away. Buildings can be repaired, but if anypony else gets injured, then the guards will be disgraced. We have already had one casualty, and I won’t let that happen again.

“We are evacuating and closing off this section of the city. I want all pegasi ponies to watch the creatures and keep track of their movements. Earth ponies are to evacuate the citizens. And... unicorns are to leave because the situation is too dangerous.”

“Hold it!” Strong Shield shouted, “Are you telling me we are fighting these creatures without any magical artillery?”

Shining groaned. “Yes, I am. The creature cannot be touched by magic, and the pony is full of chaotic magic.”

“Then what are we to do? Let them run free just watch them terrorize the city?”

“No,” replied Shining, “We wait for the Elements of Harmony to be gathered.” He gave the unit one last glance before turning away to find the next. “Once they arrive, they can force these monsters back to whatever hole in Tartarus they crawled out from.”

x.X.x

Twilight and Rainbow Dash watched the white unicorn breath lightly as she slept. She tossed and turned, while on occasion she cried out and clutched her horn. If it wasn’t for the sleep spell that was cast on her she would be suffering a lot of pain at the moment.

“What is wrong with her?” Rainbow Dash asked, “What did that thing do to her?”

Twilight could only sigh and look at her friend. “Something that all unicorns have to be careful of,” she said as she turned back to the suffering pony, “What she is suffering through is a severe case of magical exhaustion, which occurs when a unicorn uses too much of their magic and depletes her magical reserves to a dangerous point. It is not fatal if you can get medical help quickly, but... I’ve never heard of a case as bad as this. That creature somehow sucked all the magic out of her, there is nothing left.” Twilight felt a chill run down her back, she couldn’t imagine how much pain the poor unicorn had to have been going through at the moment.

“Is... is it permanent?” Rainbow Dash blurted out.

Twilight glanced back at her friend, a small smile on her face, “No, it isn’t. All it takes is rest and she should be back to her normal self again.” The smile disappeared as she looked back to the green pony, “It is a good thing the guards got her help quickly, this could have been a lot more serious.”

The sound of the door clicking turned the two ponies attentions to the entrance. It slowly opened, revealing a grim faced Cadance. The pink alicorn trotted into the room and stopped in front of Twilight.

“Shining has the creature monitored, and ordered nopony to confront it except the Elements of Harmony,” she announced, “I told Auntie about the situation as well, and she has sent for your other friends. They should be here within the next couple of hours. By then, Auntie should have the Elements out of the vault and we will be ready to confront this invader.”

Rainbow grinned and spread her wings out, “Finally! we can send this monster back to where he came from!” she cheered.

Twilight shifted her hooves and glanced between the other two. The creature was trouble, that much was certain, but she was not sure if he needed to be treated like an enemy. And, if her suspicions were true and he was actually Discord harmonized by the Elements, wouldn’t it be better if they at least tried to talk to him before attacking?

Twilight nodded as she made up her mind, “I’m going to try and talk to him,” she announced.

Cadance and Rainbow snapped their head toward Twilight in shock.

“What?” they blurted together.

“I’m going to talk to him,” Twilight repeated, “It is always better to try and find the diplomatic solution before taking up arms.” She quoted, “Cadance, please go inform Celestia my plans, and tell big brother I’m going out to meet him, and Rainbow,” she looked at her rainbow maned friend, “I want you to watch from the skies and come to my rescue if he tries anything hostile.”

“Twilight, you’re nuts!” the pegasus practically shouted.

“I guess you have to be to try and be a friend with chaos,” Twilight murmured as she teleported out of the room.

_______________________

Midnight: Well, we are back and ready for action! Chapters should be coming back on a (near) weakly basis, depending on if I am going to be actively writing some of my other stories.

Paradox: Is that your most recent excuse?

Midnight: Hey! How did you get out of your box?

Paradox: Well, I was bored, so I started to play with fractions. I got a full one, broke it in two, the two halves made a hole, so I crawled out!

Midnight:... That makes no sense? Things don't work that way!

Paradox: Really? It sounds good to me. Well, I guess it is time to call it a day! Until next time Reading people!

Midnight: Hey! You can't do that! That is my... Don't touch that but-

_______________________

There might be some errors in the fic still since most of my editors are either not answering or having troubles and cannot edit at the moment. So if you see any, send a PM or comment and I will fix them. Thanks everyone, and thank you for your patience as I got my life back together.

Chapter 12

Things were coming together. The creatures was in place, everypony in position, and all that was needed was for Twilight to make the first move. The purple unicorn gulped and glanced up into the clouds. The flicker of a rainbow mane occasionally popped out from a cloud. Twilight sighed in relief knowing that at least Rainbow was up there ready to protect her if things went wrong.

“Twilight! You’re acting crazy!” the pegasus shouted.

Twilight groaned. Even though she teleported out of the hospital room her rainbow maned friend was able to quickly find her, and ever since then she had been lecturing Twilight and trying to convince her not to go through with ‘the crazy idea’.

“Do you even realize how dangerous what you are planning is?” Rainbow ranted, “You are going to be talking to something that was able to outrun me! How do you plan on getting away if he starts going after you?”

Twilight chuckled and did a quick teleport to the other side of her friend. Rainbow Dash jumped into the air with a squeal. Her face turned beat red and quickly landed on the ground.

“Never mention this to anypony...” she muttered with a glare, “especially to Applejack.”

Twilgiht giggled and Rainbow intensified her glare, “Sure,” Twilight said, “If you agree to help me.”

Twilight peered around the corner as the creature sat at a table talking with the Chaos Pony. She glanced around to see if she could spot her brother, but knew she wouldn’t be able to until she turned the corner and was in view of the creatures. He didn’t like the idea any better than Rainbow Dash, maybe even less, but she was thankful she managed to convince him to help.

“Twilly, what has gotten into you?” Shining questioned as he barged into the makeshift planning room.

“Oh Shining! I’m so glad to see you,” Twilight cheered, “If I get your help things will be a lot easier.” She shifted through piles of maps of the city, marking different locations on them.

The large white unicorn snorted and moved close to his little sister, towering over her. Twilight ignored him and continued to focus on her paperwork.

“I’m not going to let you do this,” he growled.

Twilight looked up from one of the maps with a serious expression. “Wasn’t your order that nopony was to confront them except the Elements of Harmony?” she asked.

“Exactly,” confirmed her brother, “and you are not the element. You are the bearer of the element and I will not let you go out there!”

The two siblings stared at each other, neither giving any ground. Twilight needed her brother for her plans to have the best chance of success, and obviously he will need some extra convincing. She didn’t want to use this, but she had no choice at the moment.

“Where were you when Nightmare Moon freed herself from her moon prison?” she slowly spoke.

“What does this have-”

“Where were you when Discord broke free from his prison?”

“I was protecting the princes-”

“What were you doing when the Changlings were taking over Canterlot?”

“I was under her spell!” shouted Shining, “I was not in control of myself!”

Twilight glared into her brother’s eyes. “The Canterlot Guard are the elite soldiers of Equestria. They are trained to use the the restricted spells solely for destruction in order to protect their country. At the same time, they are taught how to guard themselves from the same sort of hostile magic, and how to notice when such spells are cast on them.” She took breath, “Where were you? What happened to your training, Captain of the Guard?”

“Twilly...”

Twilight cringed inside as she watched her brother’s defences slowly break, but she really needed him. “Let me tell you where I was. I was right where Nightmare Moon landed, I fought her in the ancient castle where both Princesses used to rule. I fought Discord and defeated him when all hope was lost. I tried to stop the changlings when everypony thought I was crazy.” At each work, Shining’s towering pose crumbled until he hung his head, looking away from his sister, “And I am going to talk to these creatures” Twilight finished, “Are you going to help me or not?”

Shining sighed and reluctantly agreed.

Twilight finally checked off the last note on her mental checklist. She peered around the corner to see if the two hadn’t moved from their position... yep, they were still there. Her knees were shaking and her heart was beating like a drum, but she knew she had to do this. She took in a deep breath and stood up straight. It was now or never...

She closed her eyes and quickly stepped out from her corner onto the street. Once free from her cover, she opened her eyes back up and faced the two creatures. They were still talking to each other, she hadn’t been noticed yet. Thats not be good, she didn’t want to scare them too badly. The best thing to do now was to announce her presence.

Twilight sucked in some air and called out.

“Discord, I need to talk to you!”

x.X.x

“Well, last I saw him he was playing with a town called Ponyvial,” Screwball said.

I groaned... why can’t this pony answer the question...

“Ok, how long ago was that?” I asked

The pony twisted her hoof up to her chin (do ponies have chins or just snouts?) and thought for a second. She opened her mouth to answer when a voice called out that chilled my blood...

“Discord, I need to talk to you!”

I turned my head a and there she was Twilight, purple coat and all, standing at the corner of the street, glaring at me. I knew it... she was after me...

I stood up to leave before she noticed me (she was after a guy named Discord), but I tripped over my own feet and fell backward. I crashed into some other tables around me, tipping them over and spilling some liquid on my kilt. And it was orange, yuck! Do you even know how hard that is going to be to get out? I mean, it isn’t hard to get the obvious orange out, but it always leave that slight stain that makes you just look messy...

“Oh my goodness, are you ok?”

Gah! How fast is that pony?!?

Twilight was five feet away from me, watching me like a predator eyeing its prey before the strike. I tried to crawl away, but my arms were very feeling very heavy. Obviously it was my pride as a man holding me down, forcing me to never show weakness to this girl... mare. CURSE THE TERMINOLOGY DESCRIBING OTHER SPECIES!

“I’m fine,” I replied calmly, or I thought it was calmly. Twilight’s eyes narrowed and her back arched... like a cat, “Just a small fall, I’ve had worse.”

She said nothing and kept staring at me. Didn’t she want to talk? Do I start talking? What should we talk about? Maybe the weath-Hey? Was that a rainbow I saw up in that cloud?

I quickly pushed myself up to get a better view of the clouds (which was a lot harder than I thought it would be), and for some reason a big pink bubble surrounded me. I looked around me and noticed that Daddy’s spawn was also surrounded by another bubble. Twilight was also yelling something at a window nearby, but I didn’t see anything in it.

I shrugged my shoulders and poked the bubble with my finger.

*pop*

“...not shield him unless he did something dangerous!” Twilight shouted so loud I had to cover my ears with my hands. I mean ouch! That girls has some powerful lungs!

Lungs of a horse, if I might say so.

Oh shut up. My head is already starting to hurt because of that unicorn’s yelling and you are not helping...

Who said I want to help?

Maybe I’ll forget about Daddy and you will have to find him yourself.

…

I thought so.

“Whoa!” Twilight cried out, jumping a couple feet or so away from me, “How did you get out?”

“Do you really think a bubble can hold me?” I asked. Is that really a problem with them? Bubbles?

“Um... maybe,” Twilight mumbled and quieted down. She started to back away slowly from me, looking into the sky searching for something. Maybe she saw the rainbow too! I was going to ask her if she did, but she glanced at me and her eyes widened. She was up to something, I know it. She is a smart one, I know from the stories she told me.

I poked my smallest finger in my ear to try and get the ringing out, but it was a vain effort. I sighed and looked at the unicorn. “So what do you want to talk about,” I asked her, “I have a lot of stuff to do and we are burning daylight.”

“Oh, um,” Twilight muttered, “Are you sure ok?”

“Me, Oh I’m perfectly fiiiiine!” Wow, did the world just move? Look! it’s the ground....

Slam! Faceplant into the street. Wow, I just lost a lot of cool-points. I reached down and tried to pick myself up, but my hand slipped on some red water.

Wait? Red water?

I glanced down at my side at the hole the moderator poked into me. It was really flowing out. I glanced up at Twilight and smiled.

“Do you have a... valve... so I can stop this stupid leak?” I inquired.

Her eyes were really wide by then. She rushed up to me and looked down at my side. She started saying something to me, but it was too quiet for me to understand it... I guess she did break my ears.

As I watched her, her hair started to shimmer. It sparkled like the stars I watched every night for the past forever as the statue. But these were different... they looked closer... I reached up my hand to touch the beautiful dots in my sky.

My fingers brushed up against one of the stars I heard Twilight gasped. I opened my mouth to tell her how beautiful this lovely pink star was.

“Hey... this is pret-”

_______________________

Paradox: Hold it... what just happened?

Midnight: Story is over, you died and I killed you.

Paradox: Now hold on just a second! You can't kill me in such an anti-climatic way!

Midnight: Says who?

Paradox: Says that mob holding torches and pitchforks that used to be your readers.

Midnight: Oh...um... maybe I can write... a little bit more... *nervous grin*

Paradox: Good, now rewrite this chapter. I want to die with gun blazing, the city lit up in flames, and a girl handing onto my leg in a loving manner.

Midnight: ... ... ... I think I'll risk the mob.

Paradox: What?!?

Midnight: Until next week everyone!

_______________________

And no worries, the story isn't over quite yet.

Chapter 13

Twilight stared at the most recent reports of the creature. No matter how many times she scanned him, the results never seemed to come out properly. The purple unicorn concluded that the scanning machine must be broken... just like the rest. And by the rest, she meant all the machines she borrowed.

“Doctor Red Cross!” She called out, “I don’t think this one works either.”

A groan sounded from the hallway, followed by the creak of an opening door. An irritated white pony in a doctor's coat entered the room and moved briskly toward the purple unicorn. He flicked Twilight’s horn with his hoof, causing her to squeal and the paperwork she was holding to fall on the floor.

“How many times have I told you,” the doctor grumbled, “you need to be resting so you can recover your magical strength. This means no magic!”

“I am resting,” Twilight retorted, plopping onto the floor and crossing her hooves, “I just tend to relax best when I am doing research...”

Red Cross sighed and carefully picked up the fallen papers, “Then do your research... without using your magic,” he placed the papers in a neat pile in front of her, “All you are doing right now is delaying your recovery.”

Twilight looked between the papers and her test ‘subject’. “Ok Doctor, I’ll take it easy with my magic use... it isn’t like it is any use around this guy.”

Red Cross glanced over at the creature who terrorized Canterlot only a few weeks before. It was connected to numerous machines that the Princess’ pupil imported in from various storage spaces throughout canterlot. Many of them were ancient, dating back to close to the time when Equestria was first founded.

The room flickered in blinking lights and steady beeping and clicking sounds. He watched as the purple unicorn roamed between the machines, checking on their progress. One of the machines started clicking loudly with a red light flashing on it’s tip. She rushed over to it and snatched the newest results. After a second of skimming through them, she sighed.

“I’d love to continue... but these machines are all broken. I can’t get an accurate reading with any of them.”

The doctor cocked his head in curiosity, “You mean you are actually trying to use these machines to diagnose somepony, or... something?” he asked. “You do know that we have better equipment you could have used instead, right?”

Twilight turned to the doctor, “I need them to know what is going on in this creature,” she explained, “Magic does not affect him at all, so I needed something that doesn’t use magic to get a reading on his recovery. All the ‘modern’ equipment in his hospital are run by magic... So I needed to find something more... primitive.”

She stood up and walked over to the bed, “But I can’t seem to get any consistent results with these old machines. I am literally starting from scratch on helping him out because I can’t discover what kind of species he is! I have to guess if he is getting better or if he is dying. The worst part is I don’t know what I should be doing something to help him recover! At the moment, I can only observe him... but what if my inaction causes him to get hurt even more?”

Red Cross gave the unicorn a sympathetic pat on the back, “You are feeling what most doctors feel when someone we can’t help asks us to help them...” He glanced at the top sheet in front of Twilight, “So what exactly is the problem with the readings anyway? They look accurate to me.”

The purple unicorn growled and pointed at numerous spots on the page, “I never said they were not accurate, I said they were inconsistent? Look at these points! This sheet here says the wound on his side has already been healed, but this one says the same wound still has another week to go!” She grabbed the page and started reading off a list, “Dislocated back disks, they should have healed a week and a half ago at the latest. But, according to these records, they are estimated to heal up in another three weeks. Here is another, cracked ribs, they should have healed five days ago, but the charts say he has another SEVEN! Do you hear me, Seven Weeks!” She released an irritated sigh, “If he was a pony, he should be mostly healed by now. But for some reason his injuries seem to be healing a lot slower...”

She trotted over and pulled the blanket off of the creature, “Look at this! The blood on the ‘healed’ side wound has hardened on his skin forming a weak cast over the injury? Is it supposed to do that, or is this some sort of infection that I should get rid of? I’ve never seen anything like it!”

The Doctor examined the unique blood clot with the unicorn, “It is indeed an interesting phenomenon. You can say it is breaking natural laws by hardening liquid. But you can say the same thing with water when it freezes into ice. Maybe his blood has a unique chemical reaction to replicate the freezing effect.” he turned away from the bedside and started to the doors, “This is a creature of chaos, remember. Not everything about it can be explained.”

“But... His other injuries! He is healing too slow!” cried out Twilight, “What if he is dying!”

Red Cross gave the mare one last glance, “Then we should let him pass away in peace instead of probing him with ancient technology.”

Twilight watched the doctor leave and shut the door. She sat there for a minutes before getting up and going back to the machines, “No, I won’t just give up... I will find a way to save you Discord, no matter what anypony says.”

Outside the door, the doctor sighed and shook his head. As he looked back up, he noticed a couple nurses looking at him with worried expressions. He opened his mouth and a musical beat began to ring throughout the hall.

“Something’s wrong with Twi,” He chanted, “Something’s wrong with Twi,” He looked between the nurses before releasing another defeated sigh, “Worries for the creature, claimed she won’t see him die.”

“She is all alone in there, lock away with it,” replied one of the nurses.

“Rarely eats her food,” the second nurse said. She looked up at the Doctor, “Shining’s had a fit.”

“Something’s wrong with Twi, something’s wrong with Twi,” They all sang as they started through the building to find the Twilight’s brother.

Inside the room, Twilight’s ears twitched in frustration. She paced around the room, in beat with the music. She glanced over at a discarded pile of papers in the corner of the room.

“Discord’s fate is buzzing in my brain,” she quietly sang, “Will he make it through? I can't ascertain.” The pile of papers began to glow with a pink light and flew over to singing unicorn, “There are so many variables here, I cannot act with such shoddy-” A grinding sound started to emanate from the nearest machine, “Oh dear!”

The ancient scanner began to make a loud grinding and sparks began to fly into the air. Twilight quickly ran to it and attempted to shut it off, but smoke started to rise from it. In an act of desperation, she grabbed it with her magic and threw it across the room. It crashed into the wall with a loud clang. The grinding sound continued for an extra second before it died down and became silent. With a look of distaste, Twilight turned away from ruined machine. “Through these ancient machines answers slip, like a snowflake in a fiery grip.”

She moved close to the unconscious creature, staring at his face. “Something’s here I’m not quite getting, as I stare he looks offsetting, like a picture through fogged glass...”

She turned to a chalkboard next to the bed, a diagram with distinct facial traits of the creature and Discord, “Discord an instant, stranger the next... What does it mean? What does it mean?” she sang the last two parts in a thoughtful voice.

The unicorn moved away from the chalkboard and back to the pile of papers. “In this pile of stats and scans, The answers here about the man,” A whirling of beeps and click announced the next round of information was ready. Twilight ran over and snatched up the first sheet that was printed. After a brief scan, she threw it to the side in disgust when she saw the information was the same as the last batch, odd and obviously inaccurate. “These old machines annoy me so...” She turned away from the repeated information and glanced at the creature. His breathing was coming lightly, but he showed no sign of waking. She pang of pity formed in her stomach after a few seconds and she threw up her hooves in frustration, “Confound it all I have to know!” she grabbed the rest of the pile and started skimming through each page, absorbing the new information then throwing the pile with the others.

“Simple readings, nothing more,” Twilight whispered to herself, “but something is hidden through a door...” She got up and began to circle the creatures bed, mentally trying to piece together why the machines kept giving her bad information, her ear twitching slightly as she stared at the creature, “though I do not have the key. Something’s here I cannot see!” She jumped up on the side of the bed, barely avoiding touching the creature, “What does it mean? What does it mean?!?” she shouted in frustration into his face. She paused and looked at him. His eyes were still closed and there was no change to his breathing pattern. A snort escaped her as she hopped back off the bed. “What does it mean?” she asked one last time to herself.

Another beep sounded from one of the quieter machines, A single sheet of paper slowly slid out. “Hmm” she hummed. With a steady trot, she made her way to the sheet. Lifting it up, she studied the newest chart. “I've read these scanner sheets so many times,” she sang in a quiet voice, “I know their beeping and I know their chimes,” She carefully flew the chart she was holding and set it with the rest of the pile, “I know the readings all by heart... I plotted them all out on all these charts.” She swung her hoof around at all the sheets lining the room, “As often as I’ve read them something’s off...” She glanced at the door hearing some commotion outside, “Why do all those doctor’s seem to scoff,” She noticed a forgotten chart that was hidden behind the door before the doctor closed it. She slowly approached it and noticed something strange on it... a pattern of sorts.

“Perhaps there is a little nick,” she smiled, “for to see how Discord ticks,” She grabbed hold of numerous papers from her pile and recorded them down on the new chart. The pattern slowly began to come into clearer focus. “Now listen here chaotic one,” Twilight laughed, “I will know you before I’m done!”

She jumped over to a table and grabbed a quill, making notes on the new discovery. She made a copy of the chart and began to compare it to the other readings that previously didn’t make any sense. “I will see through your bag of tricks,” There was a gap in her notes... some vital information she needed was missing. She jumped up to check if the machine that scanned for said information was almost ready to print out the newest results, but she discovered that it was the one that started to smoke and was thrown across the room. She glanced over at the ruined machines, “Once all of my machines are fixed”

The room door burst open to reveal her brother. The music hit it’s climax, and before Shining could say anything Twilight sang out, “Glad you’re here big brother of mine! I have something for you to find!”

She skipped over to the broken machine, “A mechanic to fix this here,” she turned to the creature on the bed, “So I can fix my Discord dear.” She looked back over to her brother and gave him a questioning look. Shining’s mouth dried up when he saw a familiar crazed look in his sister’s eyes. He gulped and slowly nodded.

The purple unicorn plopped down on the ground and started to rub her hooves together, giggling evilly, “Excellent! He’ll be mine...”

The music that was sounding throughout the room ended, and Shining armor slowly backed out, closing the door. He turned to Doctor Red Cross.

“There is definitely something wrong with my sister. We need to inform Her Majesty immediately,” he said.

With a nod from the doctor, they both turned down the hall and made for the hospital exit. As he exited the building, Shining Armor shivered as he heard his sister’s crazed laugh echo in his head.

Chapter 14

Frantic pacing sounded from behind the hospital door. Celestia grimaced and turned to her Captain of the Guard. “You said she has been like this for at least an hour now?” she asked.

Yes, Your Majesty,” Shining said, “Ever since I left to come and get you... It hasn’t even been a year since her last episode and I'm starting to fear for her mental health.”

The Princess gave him a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, my little nephew. Even Star Swirl had bad moments like this in his life...” she glanced at the door, “Though fortunately, he only had extraordinary control over his magic, and not the raw power we see in your sister.”

She turned to her other side, where Doctor Red Cross was standing, “We need to find a way to get her out of that room and bring her in contact with one of her friends. I’ve started hearing rumors that she has ceased responding to all messages sent to her.”

The doctor grimly nodded, “Contact with her friends would probably be for the best. I will send for Miss Rainbow Dash immediately.” He left the group and called out for a messenger to be sent to his office.

Celestia watched the doctor leave and turned back to the door. The pacing still sounded from behind them. She started to take a step forward to the door, but stopped and set her hoof back down with a small sigh.

Shining Armor give the Princess a questioning glance when he noticed her hesitation on entering the room. “Is there something wrong, Your Majesty?” he asked.

The ancient Alicorn sighed and turned away for the room and began to leave. “As much as I wish to help my faithful student, I fear in her current condition, my presence might be more harmful than helpful.”

Shining paced next to the Princess, “What do you mean you would be more harm? Twilly adores you!” he exclaimed, “You are almost a second mother to her...”

Celestia paused and glanced over at her nephew, “That may have been true once,” she nearly whispered, “but ever since she moved to Ponyville to study the Magic of Friendship, we have grown... distant.” She faced forward, “Send out a call for anypony with mechanical knowledge. If they show promise, bring them in so I can interview them.” She started to walk away before pausing again, “And please try to get your sister away from the creature for a bit. Her obsession is clouding her mind, and I’ll need her to have a clear head to help solve any problems that might arise.” With that she continued walking and left the hospital.

The white unicorn stood in place watching his monarch leave. He looked back and glared at the door. It was all that creature’s fault...

With a growl, he called for some guards and gave them the Princess’ order. After that he called for a nurse to send for Red Cross.

x.X.x

Shining groaned as another pair of unicorns walked into his office.

“If your machines use magic, then we cannot use your skills,” he stated, “We can only use ‘non-magical’ devices.”

The two unicorns glanced at each other for a second before taking a seat. “Need you worry not, my good sir. My brother and I are experts in both magical and non-magical pieces of machinery.”

Shining raised his eyebrow. Mechanics were rare in Equestria due to the country’s high reliance in magic. In fact, they were so rare that few called themselves professionals in the field. Technical engineering was considered more of a hobby than an actual profession. To find not one, but two who can confidently call themselves professionals in the field came as a surprise to the unicorn.

“Experts you say?” he asked, “I’m sorry but I need more than just your word. Do you have any proof you are as you say?”

The two unicorns smiled at the captain and pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper. Shining grabbed it with his magic and carefully unrolled it.

On the sheet was a diagram of a complex contraption. He studied it looking for any aspects that would require magic. He spotted two large metal cylinders at the top that had marked on them ‘magic required’.

“You said this didn’t require magic. It clearly states here it does.” Shining pointed out.

The second brother smiled wider and pointed further down on the page. “The magic is only used to push those cylinders down to trigger that switch,” the unicorn used a pencil to point out what he was talking about, “We only use magic because otherwise we would have to build a ramp up so we can physically force them down.”

The second brother jumped in, “It would be very unpleasing to look at if we did.”

“Other than that, it is purely mechanical. No magic whatsoever,” the first brother finished.

Shining studied the blueprint for another minute or so before he rolled it up and handed it back to the brothers. “Alright, it seems like you know the basics of what we are looking for,” he said, “but I need more than theory. Do you have physical proof that your concepts work?”

“Why yes we do,” The first brother laughed, “Come outside and we will show you.”

The second brother bounced up and quickly opened for the door, holding it open for captain and his brother to pass. The group left the office and made their way outside into the courtyard.

Shining stopped in his tracks when he saw the large contraption sitting in the middle of the field. It stood twice as tall as him, and easily twice as long as a wagon. Pipes and gears adorned the entire thing, looking more like decorations than actual working devices. He turned and looked at the two smiling brother, “Is that...”

“Why yes,” The first brother said. The two brothers looked at each other.

“Let us introduce you to The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.” They both cheered.

x.X.x

“Are you sure these two are fit for the job?” Twilight asked, her eye twitching as she watched the self-proclaimed engineers study the broken scanner.

“You asked for some engineers to fix that machine, so I brought some,” replied her brother, a smug smile adorning his face.

The purple unicorn growled and pulled her brother to the side, “Shiny, I’ve met these two before,” she harshly whispered into his ear, “They are charlatans and con-artists!”

“Twilly, I doubt they-”

“They tried to run my friend Applejack out of business.”

“Actually, my dear mare,” Flim cheered from across the room. Twilight jumped up and squealed in surprise at being overheard. She quickly recovered and turned to face the brothers. “We offered her a business deal, and she declined.” He turned back to the machine and Flam looked up.

“So, we decided to make it more fun. A competition, so to speak.”

Twilight glared at the two salesponies, “Winner got to own my friend’s land. Doesn’t seem fair, does it.”

“We played by the rules and they were agreed upon,” Flam shrugged, “Whether they were fair or not, they were still the rules set and agreed upon by both parties.”

“It is normal business practice, dear mare,” Flim agreed.

Twilight growled and took a step to the mechanics. Before she could say anything though, Shining surrounded her with his magic shield and started to carry her out of the room.

“We should let them work in peace, Twilly,” he chuckled as he watched his sister struggle against his magic, “We can stay if you have any objections though.” Twilight’s mouth opened and closed angrily, but no sound escaped the bubble. “Ok then. I guess it is time to go.” He turned to the mechanics. “Work quickly, we don’t want to keep the Princess waiting, and she is the one who ordered this.” He exited the room, carrying the bubble behind him. He gave a nod to the two guards outside the door and signaled that he wanted them inside the room. They saluted and hurried inside, closing and locking the door behind them.

The white unicorn nodded in satisfaction as the door clicked and started down the hall toward the main lobby. The shield holding his sister began to flicker and he looked over to see Twilight was using her magic to try and dispel her brother’s shield. With a grunt, Shining shook the bubble like a snowglobe, knocking his sister around like a ragdoll. When he stopped, Twilight was lying on the bottom of it, her eyes spinning.

Shining chuckled and he hurried to the front desk. The receptionist already had the paperwork to release his sister on the desk. Shining signed it and the pile of papers quickly disappeared into the filing cabinet. Since everything was in order, he left the hospital and headed downtown.

Ignoring the stares, Shining wove through the streets, holding the bubble high above the crowds. Shortly, he was in front of the train station. He dispelled the bubble, causing Twilight to plop onto down onto the ground.

“Hey, what was that for?” she shouted once she recovered from her fall.

“It is time for you to go home,” Shining said. He took out a ticket from one of his pockets and handed it to her. “The train to Ponyville leaves in fifteen minutes. Your friend Rainbow Dash is waiting at the terminal.”

Twilight stared at him for a second before growling. “I can’t go back yet. Not until I finish studying the creature.”

“So you are abandoning your studies on friendship?”Shining asked with a growl.

His question caused Twilight to blink in surprise. “What? No!” she cried out.

“Then what are you doing here looking at some creature when your friends are waiting for you in Ponyville?” Shining asked, “From my experience, studying something at long distance doesn’t work out very well.”

“But...”

“Princess Celestia asked you to study the Magic of Friendship, Twilly. Not that creature.” He glanced at the clock, “You should hurry. Train will be arriving soon.”

“But what about my research here? I’ve almost discovered-”

“We have other scientists here in Canterlot, Twilly,” the captain sighed, “They can study your notes and continue where you left off.” He gave her a sideways glance, “I promise I’ll have them send any new discoveries to you, but it is time for you to head home now.” He turned and started to trot away from the station to the castle.

Twilight slumped to the ground as she watched her brother leave. With a dejected sigh, she stood up and slowly made her way into the station.

x.X.x

Flim and Flam smiled at each other once the ancient device lit up and began to beep steadily. They both turned to the guards stationed at the door and waved their hooves at the fixed machine.

“Well lookie here, Guard number one and two,” Flim cheered.

“It looks like we finished our task, and none too soon,” Flam laughed with a glance at the setting sun.

The two guards grunted in agreement. Flim and Flam stared at them as the two soldiers stood in place. A minute passed before Flam coughed.

“Um... shouldn’t you go get the doctor or the white unicorn to tell them we are done?” he asked.

The two guards looked at each other before shrugging and leaving the room to find Shining. When the door clicked, the two brothers glanced at the other, an evil smile spreading across their faces.

“Well, now that we are alone, let us try this out,” Flim chuckled.

“An excellent notion, brother of mine,” Flam responded. They grabbed the wires and hovered them over the creature. “Shall we?” he asked.

With a nod from Flim, they both stuck the wires onto the creature. Instantly, the magical energy they were using to hold the wires disappeared. The machine’s lights doubled in brightness before exploding in a loud bang, throwing the two brothers back and into the walls.

Silence filled the room before the door burst open revealing Red Cross, flanked by the two guards. He coughed at the smoke and looked around the room to see what happened.

Two unconscious unicorns imbedded in the walls, a room full of destroyed machines, and...

Red Cross gulped as he stared as the creature sat up, rubbing its eyes.

Chapter 15

I saw a ceiling. A white tiled ceiling. Why are they always white? Why can’t they be something interesting, like yellow and black. A ‘bee colored’ ceiling! That drips honey! Brilliant!

I used my elbow to prop myself up and looked around. Smoke was hovering around a pile of metal pieces, and there were two horses leaning inside the walls. And not a trace of honey or bees anywhere. I was severely disappointed.

A yawn forced itself out of me. I realized that my arms and legs were feeling really stiff, so I stretched them out. I felt a small burst of pain on my side, so I looked down and noticed a scab... I guess I stopped leaking not too long ago.

A gasp sounded on the other side of the room, and I looked over to see a white pony in a lab coat thing. At least I’m assuming it was a lab coat. It was long, white, and he had one of those ice cold things doctors put on you to hear your heart. Oh, and he was flanked by two moderators.

Me, being the nice and polite person I am, smiled at them and greeted them. And would you believe it, the white pony in the coat just fell onto the floor and went to sleep. He must have been tired, the poor thing. But he could've at least said ‘good night’ or something.

I moved to stand up, but there were some more sharp pointy objects blocking my way. I looked up to see the moderators holding their spears at me.

“Excuse me, you are blocking my way,” I informed them.

“You have to stay in bed,” one of them growled. I scrunched my eyes shut and took in a deep breath. Seriously, he needed a tic tac. That smelled worse than a fish locked in a car for a week in the summer (trust me, that smells pretty bad).

After a second, I recovered enough ask him why I had to stay in bed.

The second moderator cleared his throat, so I looked at him. “You need to stay in bed until... um, we... clean up the mess,” he managed to get out.

The first moderator jumped in, “Yes! It would be... bad if you accidently stepped on something sharp and hurt yourself again.”

I looked between them both. Something was fishy, and I don’t mean that one’s breath. It was like they were not telling me everything, but they did make a good point. If something sharp was down there, I could step on it and feel pain again, and pain was bad.

Or was it bad? I pinched myself and flinched. Yeah... pain was bad.

I gave them both a smile and laid back down on the bed, staring at that boring ceiling. I heard them sigh and move around the room. They grabbed both the unicorns that were leaning on the walls and the white pony. They exited the room and I heard a click.

I looked around the room and saw that the piles of metal junk were still lying around. I guess they must have left to get a broom to sweep it all up. I sat there, counting to myself and twiddling my fingers together. Once I reached three hundred, I began to think...

“Ya know, I don’t think they are coming back,” I said out loud.

I waited for the voice to answer back, like he usually did, but all I heard was silence. With a shrug, I sat up and got out of the bed. Carefully avoiding the metal pieces, I moved over to the door and knocked.

“Hello?” I called out, “Is anyone out there?”

More silence... I growled in frustration and knocked on the door with my foot, but it wouldn’t budge. With a shrug of my shoulders, I decided I was probably stuck in here for a while.

I glanced around the room, examining each of the piles of junk. If I didn’t know any better, I would say they used to make something...

An idea popped into my head! I let out a laugh and jumped at the piles of debris. I was going to make a toy to play with! Maybe with it this room wouldn’t be so boring.

x.X.x

“Geez Octi, cut back a little!” Vinyl scolded as she grabbed the almost empty bottle of wine.

The gray mare growled and snatched the bottle out of the air and quickly guzzled down the remaining liquid. With a hiccup, she threw the now empty container onto the floor with a shattering crash. She stared across the room at the glass fragments for a minute before attempting to get out of the chair.

Vinyl jumped up and grabbed her friend before she moved very far away. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Vinyl held onto the intoxicated mare as she spluttered about getting another drink and struggled to break free. In her struggles, Octavia’s hoof slipped on a small puddle of spilled liquid and the two mares tumbled onto the floor, where Octavia’s struggles turned into a wrestling match to see who was going to stand up first.

Fortunately, Vinyl had the advantage of being mostly sober, so she managed to get on top of Octavia and pin her down.

“Let me up!” Octavia shouted.

Vinyl shook her head. “No. I won’t let my friend drink herself to the grave,” she soothed.

“Let... me... up!” cried the struggling pony. “I’ve lost everything! So let me go!”

“You have not lost everything, Octi!”

Octavia ceased struggling and curled up on the floor, sobbing. “Yes I have Vinyl... I have nothing left.”

Vinyl relaxed her grip on her friend with a sigh. “Suspension is not termination, Octi. You can still go back to the orchestra in a couple months.”

The gray mare glared at the white unicorn. “Yeah, go back and be at best, second chair!”

“Octi...”

She sat up. “Don’t tell me it won’t be that bad! I’ve worked half my life to get to first chair. And now that... that... this has happened, I’d be lucky if I could be even third! The orchestra takes great pride in having the best of the best play in their ranks. Not just in talent, but in lawfulness and morality!”

Vinyl could only watch at her sobbing friend.

“A black mark... this is all a big fat black mark on my records,” she cried. “I’ll never be first again... I’ll never play at the Gala again... or in front of the princesses because of this one, single, stupid mark.” She fell back to the floor and curled up in misery. “I wish I froze to death in that garden instead of being found and saved.”

Vinyl’s breath caught and she smacked Octavia before she could think. The intoxicated mare jumped at the strike and stared at the unicorn.

“Don’t you ever say something like that again!” Vinyl shouted. She stood up and stomped over to the bar and slammed the liquor cabinet shut. She turned the key and with a resounding click locked it. “There, no more alcohol for you,” she gloated holding the key in front of the shocked mare.

“But—” Octavia started.

“No buts!” Vinyl growled, “I can’t stand seeing my best friend drinking her life away and wishing she died. Do you see me crying at me losing my job because I was hospitalized by that monster a few weeks back?”

Octavia gulped and slowly shook her head. Vinyl was right. The DJ was replaced during her hospitalization and was now struggling to find any work. DJ’ing is a very competitive field to get into, especially in Canterlot where dozens of new DJ’s wandered into the city every month.

“Then what do I do?” Octavia asked. “Accept being second best for the rest of my life?”

“That is the best thing you can do, Octi.” Vinyl sighed. “Unless you can somehow get one of the Princesses to pardon you completely, that is what you are going to have to do.”

Octavia’s ears perked up. “What did you say?” she asked intently.

Vinyl looked at her friend in a confused manner. “I said unless you can get one of the Princesses to—”

“Thats it!” Octavia shouted, jumping up in the air. She started to gallop to the door when she tripped on her own hooves and crashed onto the floor.

“Woah Prim and Proper, where do you think you are going?” Vinyl asked.

“I’m off to get the Princesses to pardon me.” Octavia declared. She stood back up and started to the door, wobbling dangerously back and forth.

“In your condition?” The white unicorn snorted. “You’d be lucky to get to your own front door by how drunk you are right now.” She watched as the gray mare stumbled closer and closer to the door. Right when she reached it, she fell over on her side and crashed with a snore.

Vinyl trotted over to her. She picked her up with some magic and placed her on her back. She carried her friend up to the bedroom and tucked her into bed. “If you are going to go to any princess, you might as well go to Princess Celestia after you sleep all that wine off. She is known to be the more forgiving of the two.”

With a sigh, Vinyl blew out the candle and closed the door.

x.X.x

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Twilight, are you sure that is why your brother is sending you home?”

“It’s the only logical explanation I could think of!” Twilight practically shouted. “He told me that my studies were about ‘the magic of friendship’, and I can’t do it from a distance. That means I need to gather up everypony and bring them back here!”

“Twilight, you can’t have everyone just pack up and leave because you want to study something,” Rainbow growled.

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Of course not.” She took a sheet of paper out of her bag. “I need to gather the element bearers just in case the creature wakes up. My readings show that he is stabilizing, and should be waking up soon. We need to be there to stop Discord if he decides to rampage through Canterlot again.”

“Hold it!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “Since when is Discord breaking free gain?”

“Rainbow... That creature is Discord. We cured him of his chaos.”

The pegasus sat back in shock. “We... cured him?”

“And that is why we need to bring everypony up to Canterlot.” Twilight said as a smile spread across her face, “Once he wakes up, all of us are going to teach Discord the magic of friendship!”

x.X.x

Deep in the holding cells underneath Canterlot Castle, a single pink pony sat in a pile of fresh straw.

“They might hold me now Daddy, but I will get free and save you from those mean, ugly, logical ponies. And then we can have fun playing with chaos all over again.”

A crazed laughter echoed through the halls, sending shivers down the backs of the guards who watched the forbidding jail.

Author's Note

Midnight: Woo! Back to writing. I might be off for a few days to a week since I'm moving my room to the other side of my house. So my internet and stuff will be off for a while, but I'll be right back to writing once it is fixed back up!

Paradox: It would be easier if you organized the room before you moved the computer.

Midnight: Blasphemy! Move everything, organize later!

Paradox: Whatever you say, Mr. Author (who can't write quickly to save his life). Sorry to say, reader people, that this bozo will be busy, so he won't be able to write the next chapter until he 'cleans his room'.

Midnight: We are off hiatus, and I plan on finishing this story before I work on the others. Until I update again!

Chapter 16

The great doors to the throne room opened and a large white stallion strode in. To prevent looking at any of the plebeians who would be begging his aunt for some pointless favor, he walked with his nose pointed up at the ceiling. As he passed the second chandelier, which was roughly half way through the room, Blueblood realized that court was strangely quiet today. He carefully opened one of his eyes and peered around. The throne room was empty. Blessedly devoid of any of the common rabble that frequently filled it at this time of day.

With a sigh of relief, the Prince lowered his head and looked straight ahead. As he expected, his aunt was sitting just in front of the throne. Though, strangely, the captain of the guard was sitting at the foot of the steps leading up to the throne and speaking to Auntie Celesita.

Even though the position the guard held was very respectable, he was still a commoner. Well, maybe he was not that low, but a minor noble really isn’t all that much better.

Using his superior position as prince, Blueblood strode past the guard and sat in front of him. He cleared his throat, interrupting any conversation that the two might have been having. It was probably not important, since only the upper nobles were allowed to handle any of the really important issues in the kingdom.

“Auntie, where are the servants?” Blueblood asked with a huff. “This morning I had to wake and dress myself today. I would have fired those lazy mares, but I cannot find the headmistress.”

A forced smile crossed her face. The guard must have been trying on her patience before he arrived. Blueblood felt a burst of joy when he realized he came at an opportune time to cheer her up or his Auntie might have been in a poor mood again.

“Many of the servants have been sent home for the next few days, my dear nephew,” the Princess said. “I sent a notification out to all residence in the castle a few weeks ago.”

Blueblood let out an irritated sniff. “Then the messenger must be punished as well,” he huffed, “I did not receive any notification of this... change.”

“Is that so?” Auntie asked with a sly smile.

“Indeed!” The prince stomped a hoof on the ground enhance his point. He watched as the princesses smile grew slightly wider. She must have thought up some sort of fitting punishment for the lazy plebeians. They were graced to be given to job to take care of the castle and the noble ponies living in there, and all they try and do is find ways to get out of work. The laziness of ponies nowadays was astounding! If they were serving in the castle a hundred years ago, they would have been whipped in the town square. Well, that was if they were caught being lazy when the princess was away on a diplomatic mission, at least.

“I will see that everything is fixed in due time, my dear nephew,” Celestia said. “Unfortunately, I have dire needs that need attending to that cannot be put off.”

Blueblood nodded his head in agreement. With so much riffraff running about the castle, work for all nobility had nearly doubled. All the extra security needed so commoners won’t get their noses into things they shouldn’t. It was a right pain in the flank.

Sadly, as much as it pained Blueblood, the Princess received the worst of the workload. Especially since she took in that minor noble mare as her prized student. But, as it always was with the Princess, taking in the student was a great boon to the castle. Her power and intelligence was a great resource that many of the of the nobles were anxious to put to use. At least it will be properly used when she came back from her abroad studies.

With a proper nod, Blueblood excused himself from his Auntie and made his way to the entrance of the throne room. He paused in front of the doors and waited... and waited. A full minute passed before he coughed loud enough for the cough to echo through the hall. Both Celestia ceased speaking again and stared at him.

“Guard, these doors won’t open themselves.”

The Captain had the nerve to roll his eyes before his horn began to glow. When the doors finished opening, Blueblood smiled and left the two to their chat. He had some important business to attend to in his study. He only hoped that his wine was there before he arrived or yet another of the common servants will have to be punished, and he really didn’t want to have to triple his current workload filling out all those documents to have them all punished. Writing that much might tire out his horn, after all.

x.X.x

“Tell me why you put up with him again?” Shining Armor asked the Princess.

Celestia chuckled. “Don’t be like that, Shining. He is not all bad you know.”

The Captain sighed and shifted his armor slightly. “If only we had somepony else who was as good at doing surveying as he is...”

“Not to mention as easy to play tricks on.”

Shining blinked and turned to stare at the giggling Princess. “What do you mean tricks?”

Laughter was barely being suppressed by the alicorn. “Have you read your sisters report on not judging a pony before you get to know them?”

The guard sat puzzled at the Princesses question. “Of course I have. What does that have to do with -” Shining’s eyes widened when he realized what the Princess might be planning. “You didn’t... please tell me you didn’t.”

Celestia’s mirth slowly changed into embarrassment. “Only a couple leaves of it. Not enough for anything too drastic to occur. Maybe.”

“Princess! I just informed you that the spirit of chaos might have finally awoken, and you are playing pranks?”

The embarrassed smile disappeared, replaced by something grimly serious. “Shining Armor, we are inviting, as Twilight put it, a ‘cured’ Discord into the castle. No matter what form he might have taken, Discord is still extremely powerful and needs to be handled with care.

“A small prank that causes mild chaos won’t upset any of the harmony in this castle, but it should calm Discord down enough that he won’t go out of his way to make ‘fun’. We need him to be comfortable, at least until we know for sure he is reformed or not.” She stood up and walked over to the side of the throne. “I have already sent Spike a letter to gather the other elements of harmony and bring them up here. If anything goes wrong we need them to imprison him again.”

The captain just gaped at the Princess. Is she seriously asking to bring his sister back, after all it took to finally get her away from the creature?

“But -”

“Captain, what is more important. The safety of nation, or the feelings of a concerned brother?”

“Princess...” The guard was speechless. Of course the kingdom had to be defended. But the attachment Twilight started to develop for the creature was too dangerous to continue to grow. What would happen if Twilight decided to not turn Discord back to stone?

A hoof rested on Shining’s shoulder. He looked up into the concerned eyes violet eyes. “I know you are worried, but have faith in Twilight. She has always persevered when we have needed help. I am confident she will do so again.”

Shining sighed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

With a bow, Shining stood up and left the Princess alone in the throne room, doubts still swirling around in his mind.

x.X.x

The Princess of the night watched as her sister’s captain left. Quietly, she crept out of the shadow of a hidden door behind the throne and made her way up to the white alicorn.

When Celestia noticed her sister approaching, she smiled and moved to meet her. They met with a quick nuzzle and sat down.

“Anything new last night, sister?” The regal white alicorn asked.

Luna sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Tia. Twas the same as the past few weeks. Glimpses and fragments of strange structures and bipedal creatures. As well as a view of the garden and constant chills coursing through oneself.” Luna gazed in the direction she knew the hospital was located in. “If the creature is Discord or not, I have been unable to discern.

“The creatures with the structures could be the world before the Windigo’s destroyed the old continent. We both learned that many a species disappeared during those dark cold years. The garden is obvious, Twas him reliving his imprisonment.”

Celestia sighed as well, “I thought so.”

“It also remains very difficult to get into his dreams and stay in them. As stated, I only was able to catch glimpses due to being kicked out many times. Though, a few times I believe he noticed me entering. I caught him staring at me as I watched him.”

Celestia bend down in thought. “Maybe he was purposefully kicking you out to guard his latest plan to take over?”

“Or maybe thou is being a tad paranoid.” Luna flicked Celestia’s nose with the tip of her wing. “I believe Twilight’s reports. I have seen neigh hide nor hair of any mischievous thoughts in his dreams. Only one desperately searching for something lost, though I have been unable to discern what that may be.”

A small smile appeared on the white alicorn’s face. “That is encouraging, Lulu. But it is always best to be safe than sorry. The safety of all the ponies in Equestria are relying on that.”

“I’ve never doubted you on that, Tia. Now come, lunch will be served shortly and we do not wish to be... tardy.”

Celestia glared at her younger sister. “You have been sifting through the friendship reports again, have you?”

“I know not what you speak of, Tia,” Luna chuckled as she started back to the secret door.

x.X.x

The guard glared at the large piece of scrap metal that conveniently found it’s way into the hallway. It sat near the far wall with a short trail of splintered wood leading to a funny looking large door. And by funny, he meant the new hole in the center of it.

“Come on, Mr. Talking Pony, do something,” the creature, whatever it was, whined. It holding a long pole through the hole and constantly prodding the poor guard in the side.

Poke...

Poke...

Poke...

“Coooome ooooon!” it cried.

Breathing in and out, using every bit of self control he had, the guard resisted the need to flinch away from the pole as it poked and prodded his unprotected flank. Unfortunately, the guard was unable to cease the recently acquired twitch that infected his eye.

“Hey!” the creature called. “Hey! Listen!”

He glared at the metal object again. Ever since it decided to evacuate the room, the creature had tried ceaselessly to get his attention. The shouting, crying, whining... the poking, prodding, and calling. It just wouldn’t stop.

“Hey! Listen!”

He blinked and flicked his ears, trying to clear out the poison that the creature was trying to feed him. This was just like in training, when the sergeants would get into their faces and tried to force them to break position. Well, monster, I’m not going to lose to you! I won’t lose.

“Listen! Hey, hey! Listen”

You won’t break me. I’m one of the best. I’m a guard in the royal army, under the command of the greatest captain in all of Equestria. Do your worst, monster, I’m invincible to your powers.

“Hey! Listen!”

I’m... immune. I will hold out... I... I...

“Hey!”

“What!?!” the guard shouted, turning to glare at the creature.

The creature blinked at him for a second before putting on a thoughtful expression. “Um... I don’t know. I’m bored.” A wide grin appeared on his face. “Oh! Oh! Do a trick!”

The guard refused to reply to the idiotic comment and grumbled as he went back to his post, a few steps further away from the door so the infuriating pole wouldn’t poke him again.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me!” the creature cried out.

After a few minutes of whining and pleading, the creature grew quiet. The guard spared a glance at the broken door to see the hole was empty. he breathed a sigh of relief and faced straight ahead with a smile.

Until something tinked against his helmet. Looking down he noticed a small... marble?

*tink*

The creature was standing by the door again, holding a handful of tiny crystals. The guard quickly bucked back, hitting the door causing it to vibrate. The creature cried out in alarm as the door shook his hand and loosening his grip on his ammo. A large pile of marbles fell on the floor with a clatter, scattering around in all directions.

Grumbling, the creatures left the hole again. The guard could only hope for good.

Suddenly the world began to shake and a loud clang sounded. The guard saw a few stars flying around his head and watched as a second large clump of metal rolled off his head and fell with a bang on the floor. As he moved his hooves to regain his balance, he stepped on some small round crystals. He struggled to regain his footing but his hoofs kept slipping and sliding until he landed with a loud crash on tip of the large chunk of metal.

The guard let out a pained and furious shout. He turned and tried his best to give the creature one of the legendary stares that could cower a dragon.

It smiled. “Tag! You’re it!” it said with a laugh.

The crashing sound of a shattering door could be heard through the hospital, along with the battle cry of a crazed guard.

Chapter 17.5

I looked up and the ground was rushing toward me. I would have gasped, but I was unable to take in a breath. And it was all this horse's fault! It was really holding onto me, squeezing me so tightly that my breathing was harder than it would have been anyway.

And he made me drop my pole. I kinda liked my pole.

I think we have something more important to worry about than that scrap metal.

But...

I think we are about to become another lawn decoration. And not the pretty kind.

I don’t wanna be a lawn decoration again... and I like being pretty.

Then do something!

I start flapping my arms and screaming, and that is about when I blacked out.

x.X.x

Tall Shield groaned when one of the nurses barged into the hospital’s makeshift guardroom. He rolled over and raised his head to look at her. The earth pony fell forward, gasping for breath and sweating like a fresh recruit at basic training. Her eyes were very small, near the point of just being dots, and were fixated right on him.

“Is there something you need?” he asked, dreading the news that her actions were foretelling.

“Fight...” she managed to say, “Creature... room... breaking glass.”

Tall Shield leapt out of bed and grabbed his helmet and spear. He looked around the barracks, watching the other two guards stationed there doing the same.

“Sword Sheath!” Tall Shield called, “Go check outside. The only things glass in that room were the windows.” He shuddered a little when the thought of what must have happened to Cannon Ball. That soldier was a good pony, but he seemed to always look for a fight; and a dangerous creature of this caliber must have been too much of a temptation to pass up. He mentally chastised himself for not having them guard in pairs. That was basic training 101.

He turned to the second guardspony. “Javelin, with me.”

They all charged out of the room. Thankfully, the hospital was not overly large, so he and Javelin were able to reach the creature’s room quickly. When the broken remains of the door came into sight, Tall Shield held up his hoof to halt Javelin.

There were two large iron balls and a few marbles in the hall. The door was broken inward, confirming his fear that Cannon snapped and charged at the creature. All the machines inside the room were completely demolished and scattered everywhere. All except for a single path leading to the bed and a broken window.

Tall Shield turned to Javelin. “Get to Sheath, quickly. The creature has escaped.” The guard saluted and ran out the room. Tall Shield left the room to follow, but noticed a teal-colored pony in a white hospital gown. She was curled up in the far corner of the hall, growling at the broken door.

He hesitated for a second before approaching the pony. He stopped a few feet away and tried to look calm and nonthreatening.

“Excuse me Miss, but did you see what happened here?”

The pony just curled tighter into her ball and growled again.

Tall Shield sat down and opened his forehooves wide. “Miss, I need you to answer. Please tell me what happened here?”

Watching him, the pony’s ears curled back and she bared her teeth at him in a threatening manner.

Tall Shield snorted and stomped down. He needed answers and needed them now. He had no time to play with a crazy pony. He stood up and before he could turn around the pony before him whimpered and curled into an even tighter ball.

“I’ll talk!” she cried out. “Please don’t get the hose again...”

Tall Shield just stared at the quivering pony. How a hose got into this, he had no clue, but he needed information on what had occurred.

“Tell me what happened here?”

The teal pony turned and gazed at him before quickly breaking away back into her ball. “Shouting, then glass breaking. Then more shouting and another glass breaking. Then quiet...”

“Shouting what?”

The pony just sat there sobbing, as if she expected to be hit. The sounds of other ponies sounded from the hallway, and a green unicorn with a lab coat appeared. He glared at the teal pony before turning to the guard.

“My apologies, sir,” he said in an oily voice, “I did not realize this one has escaped. Don’t worry, her growling is just a condition of her thinking she is a dog. We are working to treat her now.”

Tall Shield blinked in confusion. “A dog? She just informed me of what the situation here. I have seen little to no signs of her believing she was a dog.”

The doctor smiled. “Good, then she is improving. Nevertheless, you obviously have a situation to attend to. Your charge has already made a mess of this place and has upset many patients here.”

He quickly picked up the teal pony and carried her off into the hospital. Tall Shield watched with his mouth hanging open until the doctor disappeared around the corner. Such disrespect for the law. But he was right, there was a situation and it was the guards’ responsibility to see it fixed.

Tall Shield ran back through the hospital and exited the building, almost running into Javelin.

“What is the situat-” Tall Shield started before the rest of the question disappeared in his mouth. They found both Cannon and the creature. They were outside surrounded by sparkling shards of glass and lying in a large fluffy pink cloud that covered a large portion of the hospitals’ grounds.

“Sir,” Javelin breathed, “I think we need Miss Sparkle back, and soon.”

x.X.x

A clock rang across the room. Vinyl cracked an eye open and growled at the offending wooden griffon figure singing from it. After seven loud chimes, the clock finally decided to quiet down and resume its regular ticking. With a groan, Vinyl sat up on the couch and grimaced as a small twang of nausea assaulted her. She rubbed her face, grumbling at having a little too much to drink the night before, when her ears perked up at the sound of soft music.

Vinyl got onto her hooves and started heading toward the melody. She moved upstairs and ended up standing outside her friend’s ‘music room’. With a smile, she quietly cracked the door open and peered inside.

A somber gray earth pony was standing with her cello in the center of the room. Her eyes were closed as the bow gracefully glided back and forth on the instrument’s strings. Around her were six tall mirrors, each facing inward. Vinyl gasped and rubbed her eyes in disbelief at what she saw reflecting off the mirrors. Each of them were her friend playing their instruments, but they were not playing the same thing the pony in the center of the circle was playing.

All of them performed their own rhythm, collecting together to create a large seven-cello piece. In one mirror, Octavia was steadily tapping on the body of the instrument, as if it was a drum. In another, they used the bow like a piano hammer, tapping the strings to make a sharp sound. And in the center, Octavia clearly played the main melody.

A few tears formed under the white unicorn’s eyes as she watched her friend pour her passion into creating something magical. It was one of the greatest powers in Equestria. One that nopony was left untouched by: Music. True and pure, music that can only be called the soul of a pony singing out into the world.

Vinyl made her way into the room, careful so the door wouldn’t make any noise as it shut. Moving into a corner, she sat down, content to just watch the pony play. The longer she sat there, the sadder the music seemed to become. The player’s shoulders began to steadily slump more and more, but her face remained passive, refusing to reveal any emotion.

Vinyl trotted toward her friend. Once she was at the edge of the circle of mirrors, she noticed a glint rolling down the player’s gray cheeks. It clicked in the unicorn’s mind that her friend was not singing out to the world, but crying out. Trying to grab hold of one ray of hope when her dreams had been shattered. Instantly, she jumped in and gave Octavia a crushing hug.

“Everything will be okay, Octi,” she whispered. “We will get through this.”

Octavia released her cello, and it fell to the ground. The other six Octavias continued playing on, but without the main melody, the song sounded mocking and hollow. What magic that was in the room disappeared and the two ponies held onto each other as the sun set. Both praying that when they meet with the princess, a miracle might occur.

x.X.x

The two mares quietly left the music room. Vinyl watched Octavia, trying to figure out what was going through her mind. Because of that incident a few weeks prior, her dream was taken from her. Those noble snobs were too uptight about their rules. So what that a pony had one or two things on their record. They should be judged by their talent, not their history.

Her friend turned and smiled at her, mouthing a silent thank you before turning and heading toward the bathroom. Vinyl grinned back. Even if she couldn’t make everything right, she can at least give her a smile in the worst times. And what better way to make somepony smile than with some food?

With a skip, the unicorn arrived at the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, only to recoil in disgust. Brussel sprouts. What was with this mare and brussel sprouts! Yes they were healthy, but they tasted absolutely terrible. What she needed was something extremely sweet and unhealthy.

She dug into the cabinets, pulling out flour, sugar, and other delicious treats. Using some of the strange and unorthodox tricks and a catchy tune a pink pony once showed her, she had some cupcakes in the oven within a few minutes.

A wide grin spread crossed her face as she imagined Octi taking a big bite out of one of these treats and watching a large smile overtake her face.

The timer went off in what felt like no-time, and Vinyl pulled the cupcakes out of the oven. With a flourish, she spun the warm tray around and threw frosting all over it. When the tray stopped, the cupcakes looked delicious. How that pink pony discovered this easy and quick way to make pastries was beyond her, but Vinyl wanted to give her a huge hug right then.

Grabbing one of the cupcakes, she quickly made her way up to the bathroom, where her friend was still cleaning herself up. It had been nearly a half-hour, and it baffled the DJ that anypony needed to take longer than ten minutes to get cleaned up. Ten minutes tops!

She took in a deep breath and burst into the bathroom, shouting surprise while presenting the cupcake to her friend!

And the earth pony was surprised. Surprised to get a fresh and still warm cupcake splattered all over her recently cleaned mane.

Vinyl gave Octavia an awkward smile and slowly started shutting the door.

“Whoops... sorry Octi.”

Even when the door shut, the DJ could swear she could feel the evil, hostile gaze piercing her as she made her way back to the kitchen.

x.X.x

The train whistled and slowed to a stop. Twilight and Rainbow Dash disembarked quickly, hoping to gather their friends as fast as possible. As the reached the end of the platform, they both froze in place as they saw the other four, and Spike, standing there waiting.

“What are you-” Twilight started but was interrupted by Applejack.

“Never you mind Sugarcube. We gotta catch that train.”

The four ponies hurried the two bewildered mares back up onto the platform and onto the train.

“What is going?” Twilight asked again.

Spike hopped onto her back and grabbed a rolled-up letter and handed it to her. “I think you need to see for yourself.”

Twilight grabbed the letter and opened it up. After reading it, she shrieked and charged out of the car in the direction of the engine.

Still confused, Rainbow Dash leaned down and peered at the opened letter.

Dear Spike,

I need you to gather the Elements of Harmony and meet Twilight and Rainbow Dash at the train station. We have just been informed that the creature, whom Twilight calls Discord, has just awakened. We need her expertise to be sure it feels welcome at the palace, and we need the Elements of Harmony prepared in case it decides to go on another rampage.

Princess Celestia

Author's Note

Midnight: I bet you thought the very short chapter I put up yesterday was just an April Fools. Well guess what, APRIL FOOLS! It was an actual section of the story.

Paradox: Wait? You April Fooled them by pretending to do an April Fool chapter, but not really doing it? So you April Fooled them by not April Fooling them, meaning you fooled them... Never mind, I have a headache...

Midnight: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was pretty fun to write!

And the bit about the Teal-colored pony is reference to an amazing picture by one of my favorite artists in the brony fandom. Link to said picture

Chapter 18

The captain of the guard growled at the sight of the room. A small pile of leaves had collected on the bed, barely covering the few pieces of glass that didn’t fall out of the window his subordinate crashed through. All the ancient machines were in shambles, thrown around carelessly as if someone was trying to figure out how each piece would look if it were chucked at a wall. Their dents in the walls barely noticeable next to the giant holes that once held the two ‘expert mechanics’. Pieces of the walls flanked to the ground and swirled in the wind around the guard.

Shining turned to an obviously upset doctor, “I have to apologize for this incident,” he said. He glared behind the fuming pony at his two remaining subordinates. “I will be sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

The doctor huffed and stormed out the room. “The crown better compensate for all of this!” he shouted. “Generous compensation!”

“I’m sure the Princesses will pay for any damages, and for the cleanup.” Shining Armor sighed.

The captain shook his head as the doctor’s steps faded deeper into the halls. He pulled out a scroll and began to write out the report describing the entire incident.

He was putting the finishing touches on the report when he heard a quiet knock at the door. He turned to see his second-in-command just inside the room.

“Sir, the creature and Cannon have both arrived at the barracks and have been properly detained,” she said.

Shining nodded. “The creature tied up in the iron chains, as I ordered?” He asked as he carefully rolled up the scroll.

“Yes sir. Gagged as well.”

“Good,” Shining placed the scroll in a niche in his armor. “Hopefully this will finally keep that menace from causing trouble for a while.”

The second-in-command shuffled her hooves nervously. “Sir, is it really necessary to use the chains? Can’t we just tie him up in something less… barbaric?”

Shining stood up straight and gave the guard a glance. “We have no idea how strong this creature is, Moonlight,” he said quietly. “My sister reported that he took multiple solid kicks from Rainbow Dash and it barely phased him. Not to mention he has some strange ability that makes all magic just disappear from any pony it touches. He is far too dangerous to leave free to move at the moment.”

“But Princess Celestia said-”

“The Princesses do not need to know about this!” Shining shouted. “It is our duty as the Royal Guard to keep the royalty safe. No matter what any of them say, they will not be told how the prisoner is held, they will not be told where he is held, and they are not to visit the prisoner at any time until we, the guard, deem it safe for him to be seen.” He kicked one of the broken machines, “They have already tried to be civil with him, but he has proven himself a menace, not once, but twice now.”

He marched out of the room and into the halls. “The report will say that he escaped after he broke out. We only found Cannon in the pink clouds, but the creature was nowhere to be seen.”

“Sir? You can’t mean we are going to lie to the Princesses?” Moonlight gasped.

“I mean it and you will do it,” ordered Shining. “I will not have another incident like what happened with the changelings.” He growled.

Moonlight nodded her head in silent agreement.

“We will be going back on high alert, so start banding search parties together and start roaming the city. Order them to keep an eye out for the creature, but their main goal is to keep the citizens of Canterlot calm,” Shining said. “I want a message sent to one of the generals for a platoon to of the militia to be sent out into the country to be sure he does not escape. Make sure no traffic arrives or leaves the city.” He paused for a second before continuing. “This will include the trains.”

Shining stopped walking when he realized his second-in-command was not with him. He turned to see her frozen in shock a few paces back.

“Sir, the Elements of Harmony are supposed to be arriving soon.” She cried out. “We need them to keep the creature in check.”

Shining gave the guard a stern look. “Magic has no affect on it,” he said. “Not unicorn magic, not alicorn magic, and not even those earth pony contraptions were able to do anything to it. What makes you think that throwing something as powerful as the Elements of Harmony will make it different.” He turned and continued his walk out of the hospital. “We just have to accept that this creature is immune to all forms of magic and can only be handled through physical means.”

Moonlight caught up to her commander as they were exiting the building. “If that is true, then where can we keep him? The barracks won’t be secret for long. You know how much soldiers talk.”

Shining thought about the question for a few minutes. “The only place in Canterlot where magic holds no power. We will lock him in the crystal caverns.” Shining stood at the corner of the street and sent a blue light into the sky. “Gather up only your most trusted soldiers for the guard. Nopony else is to know of this, understood?”

Moonlight gulped. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now go, we do not have much time to lose.”

The mare galloped off, leaving Shining standing at the corner. He gazed into the sky until he spotted a pegasus flying toward him. He took a few steps back, leaving just enough room for the courier to land. The pegasus slammed down on the pavement and turned to Shining and saluted. “You called for a courier, sir?”

Shining nodded and pulled the report out of his armor and handed it to the pegasus. “To the Princesses. Let them know I have everything covered.”

The courier nodded and took off toward the palace.

Shining growled and moved down the street. He had to pay a visit to the commanding general, and he was not looking forward to it.

x.X.x

Blueblood sighed as he gazed in the mirror. No matter how hard the servants tried, they were just never able to groom his hair correctly. Every day he had to keep going over it with his comb to tidy up their sloppy work. Not that he could blame them for their shoddy work. They were commoners, prone to laziness and just not gifted enough to make perfection.

Not like him, of course. He was born and bred to be perfect in every way. It was a heavy responsibility to have such a standard thrust on him from birth, but he could proudly say he was the embodiment of the perfect pony.

This was because he was a Blueblood. The closest bloodline to the original royal line, the Platinums. One of the oldest families in Equestria. The founding family of Canterlot and the stewards of the throne while the Princesses are away with their duties.

The Bluebloods knew their purity because every single one of them had the exact same cutie mark, proving them pure. While other ponies out in the world muddled up their line with a haphazard array of markings, they managed to keep their family beautiful. Each flank sparkled with the exact same star as the other. All of them had the same beautiful white coat, the golden curled blond mane and tail.

‘And the same beautiful, mare swaying smile,’ Thought Blueblood as he gave his mirror twin a perfect smile.

He turned and looked down at the package his Aunt left for him. She always bought wonderful gifts during her travels, and it was something he loved to see. His position and responsibilities didn’t allow him much time to travel. Not that he wanted to see the common world, but the option for it would be nice.

He grabbed the box and opened it to see a beautiful flower. It was bright blue, and almost in the perfect shape of his cutie mark. He grabbed a note Celestia left in the box and read it.

“This flower is only found in the famous Everfree Woods. It is rarely collected due to the dangers of the forest, and by the dark history of the abandoned castle. It was once the home to both my sister and I, before our fight and one thousand year separation. This flower was picked from the center of my sister’s garden. I hope you enjoy it, my nephew.”

Blueblood smiled and carefully folded and stored away the letter. He picked up the flower and place it on his jacket.

“Today is a good day,” he laughed as he left his room.

In the hallway, he saw a number of guards running around. He sighed, feeling tired at all the energy they wasted as they rushed around with their busywork. With a tilting back of his head, he assumed his regal position of staring at the ceiling and started down the hallway to his study. Hoofsteps sounded all around him, but nopony ever touched him. They were trained better than that, after all. That is why they were the castle guards, and not one of those lowly town ones.

Slowly the hoofsteps quieted until there were none. He carefully lowered his head and looked around to be sure there were no ponies around. He chose to make his study far away from the living portion of the castle on purpose, since he did not like being disturbed while he worked.

With a happy trot, he arrived at the long awaited door. With a flick of his magic, he opened the door and walked into his little safe haven in Canterlot.

“What took you so long?” an annoyed voice asked, causing Blueblood to jump in fright.

He whipped to the side and saw a dark blue mane billowing in a non-existent breeze. The Princess of the Night was lounging around on a couch Blueblood had placed near the window.

“Auntie Luna!” He gasped. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Luna raised an eyebrow at Blueblood’s question. “Cut the formalities, nephew. We have something serious we need to discuss.” The dark alicorn stood up and moved over to a window. “You are a position of power in this country. The only Prince born into the family within the past hundred years, I’ve heard.”

Blueblood raised his head proudly. “That is true, Aunt Luna.”

“Then why have you been locking yourself away from the people when they needed you most?” She shouted. The alicorn turned and marched over to the unicorn, glaring down at him. “After the creature was detained those weeks ago, you should have been one of the first ponies out there to help them.”

“Why should I care for a few commoners?” Blueblood met Luna’s gaze. “As you said, I’m the Prince. The first in centuries. All of those ponies have no idea how much pressure is put on me to keep up the perfect image of the royal family.”

Luna growled at the prince’s arrogance. She opened her mouth to speak, but paused when she noticed something odd. With a smile, she backed off the unicorn and sat down on the floor.

“It seems somepony else has heard your arrogance and has seen fit to correct it.” She sneered.

Blueblood stared at his aunt in confusion. She raised her hoof and pointed behind him. Blueblood looked back and looked around, not noticing anything different. Then he spotted the problem. His flank was blank. The pride of the Blueblood family, the star of the pure line, was gone.

“Wha… wha…” He stammered.

“It seems that some magical power has deemed it fit to lower you down to the ‘commoners’ level.” She said. “Perhaps if you learn some humility, it will come back.” She stood up and left the room, laughing the entire way out.

Blueblood just sat and stared at his blank flank.

x.X.x

Blackness. Nothing but deep dark blackness surrounds me yet again.

This is all your fault, you know.

“Bite me!”

I told you to stop taunting that horse.

“How was I supposed to know it was going to attack me?”

COMMON SENSE!

“Pffff. Common. Everyone knows common sense is a rare commodity nowadays.”

More so in some places than others, it seems.

“Seriously. If you were actually quiet for once, then he would have left us alone. It was your constant yelling that provoked him.”

GAAAAAH!!!

x.X.x

“He wants us to do what?” Tall Shield cried out.

“To the crystal caverns. He will be detained there and your squad will be assigned to keep all trespassers from seeing him. That includes the Princesses.”

Sword Sheath flinched as the body of the creature started to flail around, fighting the restraints they placed around him.

“At ease soldier,” Tall Shield comforted the uneasy guard. He turned back to Moonlight. “This goes against our oaths.”

“You are sworn to protect the crown and the country,” retorted Moonlight. “And if that means keeping the Princesses away from a danger, then it is our duty to be sure it is done.”

Tall Shield stomped his hoof. “But keeping them in the dark is close to treason. How can we protect her when it is literally hidden just under her nose and she doesn’t know about it?”

Moonlight turned to leave, “Then you better be sure you do your job and keep it contained to those caverns.”

Tall Shield growled as he watched his commanding officer leave. “Those fools…”

“It seems that the Captain was correct to lock the creature in chains,” Javelin said.

“So it seems,” agreed Tall Shield. He stared at the struggling creature. It was covered in sweat, and its face was contorted in obvious pain, but the chains were holding it down. “Ok, men. We have to keep all this a secret. so we move tonight when most of the populous is asleep. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tall Shield moved to the edge of the room and sat down. He dropped his head into his hooves and let out a weary sigh.

“Tall, you ok?” Sword Sheath asked, sitting down next to him.

Tall Shield nodded. “Yes… at least I think I am,” He rubbed his temples in an attempt to stop the slowly growing headache. “It just feels like we have just gotten involved in something way above our heads. Keeping stuff from the Princesses, a creature impervious to magic.” He looked over at his comrade. “Who would ever think of the day I would miss patrol duty.”

Sword Sheath let out a quiet chuckle. “Oh yes. The fierce sergeant, loudest of all the royal guard on his displeasure of babysitting the pampered purses.” He scratched his chin, gazing at the ceiling. “That is what you called them, right?”

Tall Shield laughed, leaning back onto the wall. “They were the fat pampered walking purses. But you were close enough.” He glanced at the creature, who was finally calming down and settling down into hushed whispers and the occasional twitch. “Fat purses are easier to deal with than this thing, though. They are a known enemy.”

“The unseen enemy is always the most fearsome,” whispered Javelin.

Tall Shield’s ears perked up at the quiet remark. “What was that, Javelin?”

The guard sidestepped, keeping the table in his line of vision as he faced his commander. “I fear that this creature is no longer our main enemy,” he said. “He may have been the catalyst to all the chaos now erupting in Canterlot, but I do not see him as the true enemy anymore.” Javelin lowered his head, his ears folding back, “I fear we are becoming the villain.”

“What nonsense are you speaking?” blurted Sword Sheath. “We are protecting everyone from it. We are the heros here!”

“Then why will we have to move in the shadows, under the nose of the crowns.” Javelin retorted. “If we are heros, then why are we commanded to act like kidnappers and thieves?”

Sword Sheath opened his mouth to counter Javelin’s comment, but was silenced at a glare from Tall Shield. The sergeant stood up and moved over to the uneasy guard and placed his hoof on his shoulder.

“I know this might not feel right, but I trust Shining Armor’s judgment here.” Tall Shield said calmly. “If you want out of this, I’ll speak to Moonlight to get you transferred to another platoon until this is all over.”

Javelin’s head whipped around to stare at his commander, his eyes wide in shock. “I would never leave you, Sergeant!” He cried out. “I’m just a little uneasy at these recent orders.”

Tall Shield nodded in agreement. “So am I. But as I said, I trust Shining Armor’s judgment.” He moved back over the wall and leaned against it. “I am going to get some rest before the move.” He turned to Sword Sheath. “You should too, Sword. Javelin, you take first watch and make sure nopony gets into this room. Wake me in three hours and I’ll take second watch.”

The two guards nodded in agreement, one more hesitantly.

Tall Shield closed his eyes as he slumped against the wall. He had his doubts on the orders and wondered if he was making the right decision on trusting Shining Armor. With a sigh, he laid his head on his hooves, hoping he could get those few hours sleep before his watch.

Patrol duty was never this stressful.

x.X.x

The pink pony sat in the dark. The cellar had no windows. No fresh breeze. Nothing new or exciting.

Screwball poked at the pink shield surrounding her. It still didn’t budge. She growled in frustration, summoning a hammer to try and break it, yet again.

The hammer broke into a dozen pieces, each piece turning into a yellow, sticky liquid and sliding down the wall like thick honey.

Her hoarse, dry voice crackled as she started to scream again.

Daddy was awake. Daddy was lost. And he might be locked away like her in another cell.

Screwball was going to free him no matter what.

And she was going to make that white unicorn pony pay for putting her in this ball.

The pink pony sat back down, pulling out a cup from nowhere and sipping on another glass of chocolate milk. Thoughts of how to torment the unicorn flowed through her mind, occasionally a fragment of it would appear just out of the corner of her eye and disappear just as quickly.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a flicker of light at the edge of the room. He bounced off the ball and hovered in the air, watching it get steadily brighter. Soon, hoofsteps were heard stopping in front of her door.

“I’m telling you, you don’t need to feed this one,” a gruff voice spoke from the other side.

“I heard ya the first time,” replied another equally gruff voice. “But I don’t care what the higher ups say, I won't let a prisoner starve on my watch.”

A loud click resignated around the room, and the door to the cell slowly opened, flooding it with a blinding light. Screwball screeched in pain as the light pierced her vision, her hooves flying up to her face to protect eyes from the pain.

“Sorry there, lass,” the guard who opened the door gasped. “Didn’t realize you were awake.”

The light quickly faded down to a very dull pulse. Screwball carefully lowered one hoof and tried to look at the intruders. The spots from the bright light slowly faded and she was able to make out the two guards, one a unicorn with a very dull white light at the tip of his horn, the other an earth pony holding a spear.

“Came here to feed ya, that is it,” the unicorn said. “Dunno when the last time you were fed was, but it must have been quite a while ago.” He turned to the other guard. “Look at the poor girl, all skin and bones now.”

Screwball noticed the plate full of food being held by the unicorn. An idea started to form, and she dropped down onto the bottom of sphere.

“P… please,” She cried out. “I’m so hungry. I have not eaten in weeks.” She crawled forward in the sphere, clawing at the edge toward the food.

The unicorn smiled and took a step closer, but was held back by a hoof from the other guard. “Don’t do it, Biggs.”

The unicorn shrugged off the hoof and growled at him. “I ain’t gonna leave a little filly like this to starve.”

Screwball smiled internally when the unicorn stopped in front of the sphere. His horn poked it and opened up a small slit, just large enough to fit the plate. He then quickly flew the plate inside and closed up the opening. It took less than half a second, but Screwball smiled when the food landed at her feet. She snatched it up and scarfed down the food, causing a good bit of crumbs to go flying around. Once the plate was empty, she jumped down in search of the crumbs.

“The poor dear,” the unicorn named Biggs sighed, “Weeks with no food. Don’t worry, Lass, I won't let you starve.”

The earth pony moved up next to unicorn. “We should get out of here. I don’t like this one bit.”

The unicorn nodded and gave one last soothing goodbye to Screwball before he left. Once the door closed and the lock clicked shut, the pink pony quit her frantic searching and gagged, trying to get the taste of horrible food out of her mouth. She summoned up a cup of chocolate milk and guzzled it down and gasped in relief.

With a smile, she hovered over the small pile of crumbs. Perhaps a way for her to escape had opened itself up, finally.

With a content chuckle, she laid back in the air and stared at the ceiling. She started going over her plans again for the white unicorn, a wide smile spread across her face knowing it may all come true.

Author's Note

Midnight: Long time to see, FimFiction! We are back (somewhat) and are writing again. The story is coming off of Hiatus and I'm chugging away at the chapters again. Hopefully I'll be updating more frequently than once a month again.

Paradox: Once a year...

Midnight: Whatever. Sorry for the wait, but lets continue this. Thank you all so much for your patience!

Chapter 1

I’m bored…

Not that being bored is a new thing for me nowadays, but you really can’t help but feel it when all you do is sit in the garden. Don’t get me wrong, the flowers and bushes are beautiful this time of year! The gardeners who take care of this place have plenty of reasons to be proud of their work. I just don’t think it is very exciting to watch the flora grow. Not that I have much of a choice since I am part of the garden decorations...

Oh, did I forget to mention it? I’m a statue. The most masterful and beautifully-crafted work of art in this garden if I do say so myself. I mean, if you're going to be trapped in stone, you might as well have a good attitude about it!

Now, I don’t want to come across as a complainer, but being stuck in stone is not all it's cracked up to be... I think the worst part is the discomfort. The best way to describe it is like being buried in sand, only instead of sand it is cement. And the cement hardened as I was being folded into a pretzel. Though I do admit, I never thought I was this flexible. It took awhile for the pain to fade, but when it did it was pretty cool to feel how my body twisted and turned in the design without my breaking my bones...

Oh, and there are a few perks being a statue too! The wildlife adores me. The squirrels tend to come by and play at my feet... or to be accurate, at my hoof and claw (still trying to get used to that). I have had many birds fly onto my shoulders and arms and sing wonderful tunes that help me pass the time. Sometimes when I am in the mood, I try to sing along with my horrible gravelly voice. Don't judge! When you sit around doing nothing for as long as I have, you would be doing it too!

I don't scare the birds with my voice anyway. I am the only one who can hear it since statues can't talk... wait a minute? That means I am talking to myself now, doesn't it...

...Crud...

At least when I am talking to myself I can guarantee I will have an intelligent conversation, right? It doesn't mean I am slowly going crazy because I can't talk... or move... or eat... or breathe... I never thought I would miss breathing. It is kind of something you take for granted. And only when you can no longer do it do you realize how comforting it is. Then again... when most people stop breathing, they really don't have time to realize it’s comfort before they... well, they just don’t have a lot of time left for anything really...

But now I am rambling. If I am going to talk to myself, then I will spend it discussing something important. So what do I want to discuss today... Something smart and entertaining!
…

The sky is really blue today...

…

Ooook, that was embarrassing... Time to forget that ever happened... Forgetting... now!

…

I'm still bored...

Being bored is not so bad considering the alternative. I could be forced to meet that creature again. I am still trying to figure out what it was because it sure wasn’t anything I had ever seen before. I was never really a big fantasy person when I was flesh and blood, so my knowledge of mythical creatures is kind of limited. All I know is that it is something I hopefully will never have to meet again. You know what they say: “First impressions are always the most important,” and boy did it give me an interesting first impression...

I was walking on the wooded trail, admiring the new growth of spring. It rained recently, so there were large puddles of mud covering the trail. Not that it bothered me, my love for the scent of newly fallen rain far outweighed any discomfort I gained from walking through those puddles. While walking through one such puddle, my foot snagged against something which caused me to trip. I picked my face out from the grime and grumbled a curse. I looked behind me to see a claw clutching my ankle. Fear coursed through me as I watched it slowly sink back into the mud, dragging me with it. I reached into the mud and attempted to pry the claws off me, but they held on with an iron grip.

I felt myself angle steadily downward, until my entire body was vertical. I sank down further and further causing my fear to change into panic. I gave up on prying the claw free, and it didn’t take long until only my head was above the mud. I took a deep breath and began to pray. Once my head sank beneath the mud, I realized that there was something different. I was hanging upside down in the air. I opened my eyes to see if I was in heaven and the first thing I saw were two large red and yellow eyes staring at me.

"Hello."

Now don’t get me wrong, that creature was very nice to me during the short time we were together. Well... as nice as a serpent, dragon, pony thing could be. I have only met one, so my knowledge of how they normally act is limited, and I don’t see me finding any others anytime soon to learn more about them.

After I finished screaming in terror, it was considerate enough to give me a glass of chocolate milk and even asked if I was feeling any better. Being the gentleman I am, I accepted the glass and we had a very enlightening conversation.

”GET AWAY FROM ME YOU MONSTER!” I croaked. My throat felt as dry as a desert, but I wasn’t going to accept any offerings from this creature. I threw the glass at the creature and started to run away from it as fast as I could. In my escape, dived behind a bush in a vain attempt to hide.

“Oh wow! I didn’t realize the hairless monkey could talk!” the monster exclaimed. “This is sooo much more fun than I originally hoped.”

“You will never take me alive!” I grabbed a broken branch and prepared to defend myself.

I must say the creature has a major temper problem. All I did was beat it on the head a few dozen times with a branch, which is by no means a reason to get cranky or rude. I mean seriously, what is a concussion or two between friends? It grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and rudely slammed me into the statue. I mean, the creature could have at least asked if I wanted to be imprisoned in stone. I would have said no, but asking is a polite thing to do. All in all, I am glad it is gone.

Oh! The bluejays are returning! I wonder what they are going to perform today!

Chapter 7

Twilight and Vinyl were running through the streets of Canterlot. They had run into one of the pegasus guards and informed him of the situation with Discord. Twilight concluded that since he was able to fly, he could reach the Princess a lot faster than either herself or Vinyl could, so he was the best choice to carry the message to the Princess. He immediately took off and Twilight and Vinyl turned back to keep an eye on the statue. Twilight grumbled to herself (not for the first time) and cursed the many spells that protected the castle... especially the anti-teleportation enchantment that Starswirl the Bearded cast after an attempted assassination on Princess Celestia. Even if it made perfect sense, it was still very inconvenient when situations like this occurred and Twilight was unable to teleport directly to the Princess and inform her herself.

Which brings them to where they are now... Twilight and Vinyl running as quickly as they could back to the gardens... It will take time for Princess Celestia to gather the Elements of Harmony and their bearers, so somepony has to make sure Discord stayed locked away until then. Unfortunately, there was nopony who is strong enough to solidify the containment spells, so Twilight was hoping that she was strong enough to at least slow down their degradation. If he did break free, she prayed that he would focus all his attention on her until the Princess was ready. Shes the logical target of his anger since she was the one who managed to gather all the Elements and stop his previous attempt at taking over Equestria... But she was scared at whatever chaotic games the Draconequus has planned for her... Needless to say, Twilight hoped that he was still locked away in his prison...

Those hopes were dashed when they heard the first scream rise down the street. Both mares looked at each other and grimaced while quickened their pace. Soon they began passing ponies who were running in the opposite direction, all of them yelling about a monster attacking the city. Twilight charged her magic and prepared a stun spell... if Discord is free, then she will only have one shot to stun him before he would notice her and start his chaotic games.

The streets quickly became empty. Closed windows and locked doors lined the streets, and she watched as a rainbow maned pegasus with pink substance covering one of here wings. She was being chased by a large creature... who was not Discord. Twilight stopped running and surveyed the scene.

One of her best friends was being chased by a large bipedal creature. Said creature estimated to be close to seven feet tall with a slim build. Muscular strength was apparently its main weapon due to not having a horn of any kind, nor any wings. It was very muscular, though how much strength the creature had was unknown and too dangerous to test at the moment. Physical features include a dark gray mane with a dark black strip running through it similar to her pink and purple. No apparent coat was noticeable, so peach/white skin was visible throughout most of it's body except for a few small patches of fur. Creature had four limbs, with five digits at the end of each. The top two limbs had digits similar to those of a dragon, except they had no scales and had five digits instead of four. The bottom limbs has small digits, their purpose unknown. There were tiny claws at the end of each digit, the strength of the claws also an unknown.

As Applejack would say in this situation, "Hand me mah rope, we need ta stop this critter."

Sadly, Twilight didn't have any rope on her, so her magic would have to do. A blinding flash erupted from her horn followed by a beam of pink light. The beam flew across the street and hit the creature... but the creature kept moving as if nothing happened. She fired her stun spell with similar results. Growing irritated, Twilight summoned more magic and attempted to pick up the creature... except once she closed her grip on it, her magic slipped off him. It felt as if she was trying to grab a greasy ball with her hooves.

Twilight stood in shock when she realized that her magic was useless against this creature. Questions roared in her head trying to think of an explanation to this impossibility. Magic was the constant in the world, everything was affected by magic! Pegasus flew because of it, Earth Ponies grew food because of it, Griffons had unnatural strength because of it. Everything had magic, even Discord had magic, and Unicorns learned how to harness and control this universal force... except for this creature.

Twilight's eyes narrowed as she focused on the impossibility. This creature was obviously part of some game Discord stewed up. What better way to hold off the Elements of Harmony than with something that cannot be affected by their magic.

"Get away from me you monster!" Rainbow Dash cried out as she jumped over a few tables by an abandoned cafe.

"Run run as fast as you can, you can't avoid me, I'm the former statue man!" the monster shouted back at the frightened Pegasus as he flipped every table and threw every chair that got in his way. It reached out and grabbed Rainbow Dash's tail, only to be bucked in the chest. It flew back and crashed into one of the piles of tables it overturned. A loud laugh escaped from it and jumped back up to resume the chase.

He might not be affected by magic, but physical attacks seemed to do affect it, if only slightly... A plan formed in Twilight's head. She turned to Vinyl.

"Vinyl, I need you to go get the Guards to come this way. We need to subdue this creature before he can harm anypony, but we need the guards numbers and strength to hold it down." She said.

Vinyl gave Twilight a glance and nodded. She turned and ran back up the street to find another guard. Twilight turned to the creature and her friend and gulped...

"Rainbow! I need you to lead it over here!" She shouted to her friend.

Both Rainbow Dash and the creature looked up and noticed Twilight. Rainbow Dash gave a brief nod and turned to run toward her friend... but the creature stopped running only to stare at the purple unicorn. It's mouth was moving as if it was talking to somepony, but he did not move from his spot.

When Rainbow Dash made it to her friend, she paused to catch her breath and glanced behind her to see the creature was no longer chasing her.

"What is that thing?" she gasped.

"I don't know Rainbow... where did you find it?" Twilight inquired. The creature was pacing back and forth but still hadn't moved any closer to them.

"He popped out of Discord's Statue when it cracked open..." Rainbow said.

"What?!" Twilight shouted loud enough to cause both Rainbow Dash and the creature to flinch. "Are you telling me Discord has already broken free?"

"I don't know! His statue broke and this creature came out of it. I didn't get a good look to see if Discord was anywhere because the creature has been trying to grab me." Rainbow shivered. "I don't know what it wants, but it has been yelling about wanting my warmth..."

They both looked at the creature who quit pacing and began a slow walk toward them. Rainbow quickly ran behind her unicorn friend and crouched down. She started to pry the sticky substance off her wing. Twilight held her ground as it got closer. More Detail became apparent the closer it got, the first was the creature was a male. It had a thin gray beard and had a very thin and sparse coat of dark hair. Not enough to cover the skin, but it was there. But what stood out most was it's eyes... they were a golden color that seemed to almost glow. There was something familiar about those eyes.

It... He paused right in front of Twilight and took in a deep breath.

"Twilight," He said in a deep, gravely baritone voice. "You know why I am here."

It clicked. His eyes were the same as Discords. The gray mane was the same color as the upper coat on the Draconequus, and the black stripe was the same as his cropped mane. The claws on his digits were similar to the claws that were on both his lion paw and eagle claw. But... he was symmetrical... both his arms and legs were the same. He no longer had his horns, wings or tail, but the long thin body was similar to his old body, except both sides matched each other. She realized that she was looking up at Discord... only he was no longer chaotic. He was... harmonious...

The Elements of Harmony cured Discord of his chaos.

"Yes... I think I do..." she murmured.

A smile broke out on the former Draconequus' face. "Then this will be easy for both of us then." he said bending down. He brought his face close to Twilight's and gazed into her eyes. "I am sorry, but this isn't working out between us." he announced.

Twilight blinked in surprise... "What?"

"I am sorry... It isn't me, it's you... please don't take this too hard." The former Draconequus continued. "And to show I have no hard feelings, I won't take our daughter away from you." He stood back up. "Take care Twilight."

With that he turned and began to skip away shouting Freedom and occasionally breaking into small dances. Twilight stared at him until he turned a corner. Her mind was a flurry of activity attempting to make sense of what Discord just said...

"Twi?" Rainbow Dash hovered just in front of her friend, the pink mess cleaned out. "What just happened?"

Twilight glanced up at the pegasus. "I think I just got dumped..."

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Author's Notes:

Yeah yeah, shorter chapter than I have been trying to do (attempting to 2000 words at least), but I just couldn't continue the story after this scene... I mean come on! It is the perfect cliff-hanger!!!

I will try and have the next update done by next week. Until then, beware of crazy statue men who want your warmth!

Chapter 17

Paradox watched as the guard charged into the room. He smiled and jumped up onto his bed, holding the pole out before him.

"Stay back, evil spawn of something evil!" He roared.

The guard shoved the piles of scrap away and cautiously approached the creature.

"Just... shut up," he fumed. "I don't know what kind of game you are playing, but I'm not going to-"

Paradox raised his hand to silence the guard and cupped his ear. "Wait? Did you hear that?"

The guard's eye twitched, "Hear what?"

Paradox smiled, "Listen!"

"What am I trying to hear?"

"Hey, listen!"

With a blood lust roar, the guard charged at the creature and tackled the creature. Paradox gasped out as his broken and cracked ribs collapsed in, causing a rebirth of pain in his chest. He tried to push the guard away, but the guards momentum pushed them both off the bed and through the note-covered window.

The two of them fell out of the room along with a shower of broken glass.