Even As...

by cloudedguardian

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Discord, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Princess Luna, Queen Chrysalis, Twilight Velvet
Length: 13060

"Even as they lied to me, Even as I broke- Even as the world crumbled, Even as it died, Even then you searched for me, And tried to reach my side." Twilight Velvet is going to find her daughter. No matter what it takes.

Canterlot has fallen.

Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen, has taken her prize, unhindered by Equestria's precious heroes. Celestia is little more than another prisoner of war now. The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony are lost, and the Elements themselves have turned away from Equestria's plight. As the world they once knew begins to crumble, a single question is asked among the people as they look up at their fallen heroes.

It is no longer the question that needs to be asked, however.
It is no longer about what has been done, but what must be done now.

There is no such thing as "miserably ever after," for someone will always be fighting for things to change. Hope doesn't die just because someone's turned off the lights. Truth doesn't vanish when deceit begins its reign, and Harmony can only shine brighter among chaos.
Even as this world falls, we'll work to build it up again.
Even as you lose yourself, you can find greater things within you.
Even as fear rises up like a tidal wave, we'll forge a sanctuary to stand against it.
Even as you break, someone will always be standing there next to you to carry you through it.

And even if this entire broken world stands against me, as long as you do not give up, I will find my way back to you.

Cover art is by Odin-odin.
Story theme (Equestria in Grey) is by Omnipony.
Main Characters are Twilight, Velvet, Discord, Nightlight, Luna, and Chrysalis, in that order.
See you in the comments, my dear readers.

Published 2014-05-17 14:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-09-30 19:36:22 UTC

They lied to me

Twilight felt cold. She was shivering, even now that her tears had ceased and her choking sobs fallen silent to hiccupped breathing. The pain hadn’t faded at all. It was still there, a lead chain that kept her anchored to the sea of despair she had been cast into. If anything, the pain had only grown, for even after all this time, no-one had come back to see if she was alright.

She understood. They didn’t care anymore. She didn’t matter to them anymore. Which meant that, in a way, nothing really mattered at all anymore.

Twilight lifted her head an inch from the stair it had been resting on to look out the window. She didn’t even remember walking to this spot, or collapsing on to the stairs to cry, but she had clearly done it, for that was where she had laid for the last twenty minutes. It had felt like an eternity longer than that, but she knew the palace clocks didn’t lie... Not like her “friends.”

Hadn’t they promised once, that they’d listen to her? That no matter how stupid or insignificant her worries were, that they, as her pony pals forever, would make them matter to them as much as they mattered to her? Celestia had told her that she had nothing to fear from being tardy, but she hadn’t known that, had needed comfort and help from her friends. They had failed. They had promised to do better, said that they’d failed because it had seemed so petty.

This wasn’t petty. Even through the numb despair, the thought remained. This wasn’t petty, or insignificant, or minor. It didn’t matter now, if she had been right or wrong about Cadence. What did it matter if the bride was evil? What did the wedding matter if it was going to ruin her brother’s life? Let him spend the next century miserable, she didn’t care anymore. She had only wanted her friends, or at least one of them, to stand beside her and hold her head above water as she lost a brother. That was all, nothing more.

But they didn’t.

They’d turned their backs. Gone after the crying Cadence, and abandoned the drowning Twilight. That was it, nothing more; the end, goodbye, that was all she wrote. They’d chosen the Princess over her.

Even Spike...

Twilight would have cried again, if she could. The memory of him walking past her, a look of disappointment on his face, along with something else she didn’t want to think about, flashed before her eyes and left her reeling from what felt like a blow to the stomach. It was just another drop of pain in an already overflowing ocean, but it was making her feel sick. She would cry again, if she could, but there were no more tears left. She was hollow. There was nothing left inside her but the pain, and the fading, almost mocking voices of her friends and enemies.

Somehow, Twilight found a way to rise her hooves. It was so hard to move. Everything felt so heavy. Still, she managed to stagger forward, so as to stand in front of the west window. The sunlight was dimmed, shining through her brother’s-

Twilight lifted a hoof and placed it against the glass. The glass held for a moment, before turning like liquid, and allowing her hoof to slide through, and settle on the carved stone ledge on the other side. The sun was so dim, hidden behind clouds and filtered through the barrier created by the Captain of the Royal Guard. It left everything inside a horrible cheerful pink. She’d hate it, if she could only bring herself to care.

With a rock forward, Twilight staggered out on to the ledge. The magic she’d subconsciously cast told her that her tail was still caught in the glass, but she ignored it. If she severed the spell, her tail would get a rather erratic trim. So what? It didn’t matter. Nothing really mattered.

It didn’t matter that the ledge was, really, far too small to hold her weight. It didn’t matter that it had echoed out a warning crack as soon as she stepped onto it. It didn’t even matter that it was already degrading under her weight; a considerable chunk off of the corner had already broken off to smash on the cobblestones a hundred feet below, probably from when she'd lost her balance and her back hoof had landed awkwardly on it in her turn.

Twilight couldn’t remember why she’d stepped out here now. There was no breeze to enjoy, and the already clouded over sun was disappearing even further as the barrier was recast. The weather ponies would clear the clouds for the actual wedding, but in the meantime they had better things to do, so it was only natural that a cloudy day would precede what would no doubt be a lovely, star-filled night. Perhaps she’d stepped out here to leave the voices behind. They were quieter now. She couldn’t make out what they were saying. Every familiar inflection, accent, or laugh was distorted, as if she was far under-water and they were playing happily far above her on land.

Twilight looked down, and wondered briefly what it would be like to fall.

“Don’t turn away.”

Twilight’s ear flicked, her head lifting an inch. A gentle voice had called out to her. It was pleading, sorrowful. It had been distorted as well, but in a different way. It was as if someone was down here with her.

She lifted her head a little more, and looked around. There was no-one here. Even the room behind her was as empty as it had been twenty minutes ago, when Celestia had ushered the guards out with her, so as to leave Twilight alone. And she was alone, too. There was nothing left. She had absolutely nothing.

I bet my friends will be happier with Cadence. She’s so perfect after all. Rarity finally has true Canterlot royalty to schmooze up to. Pinkie and her will get along great once the wedding’s over. They’ll throw lots and lots of parties. The one for Valentine’s Day would be amazing, I bet. Cadence is amazing with animals too, so I know Fluttershy’ll be happy. Dash finally gets her flying buddy too. And Applejack-

The numbness faded for a second for a sharp stab of pain to rocket through her chest. A dull sob was choked out, and she shivered again. Maybe she had come out here in a dull attempt to get warm again. She couldn’t remember. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, the sun was long gone after all... It probably didn’t matter.

Why... I know you’ve already chosen and nothing I can do will change that- So it doesn’t matter, not really, but... Why AJ? I thought...

Twilight was shaking. She couldn’t help it.

I thought we were friends.

Twilight’s eyes struggled to focus again as she looked down. Her sight was blurred, but it couldn’t be with tears. She was almost sure she had no more left to shed. The stone underneath her hooves gave another ear-splitting crack. She couldn’t remember why she should care. It wasn’t as if it would matter if it broke. It wasn’t as if she would be missed, if it broke. It wasn’t as if her friends would care if it broke.

“I’ll miss you.”

Twilight barely acknowledged the voice, not knowing if it was her own crying a goodbye, or someone else’s calling out. Perhaps, just perhaps, it was both.

She smiled slightly, even as she found herself shifting forward. She couldn’t help but think that it would be nice, if it was both. If this mattered to someone, then maybe she could feel just a little bit of happiness in that.

Far off and yet within her, something stirred. It was a tiny movement, but it was quick, almost sudden, as if desperately grasping out to catch something precious that was about to fall out of reach; A feeling much like grasping at straws.

“Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you.”

Twilight abruptly rocked backwards at the sound of Discord’s voice. Heart pounding, she staggered back, off of the ledge and through the window again, landing heavily onto her side. Her spell severed itself suddenly, and the window returned to solid glass.

Her breath was shaking as she rolled onto her stomach and blinked, her ears swiveling as she tried to figure out where Discord’s voice had come from. It had been so loud. Her eyes locked onto the window again, and she quietly noted that her tail had gotten caught after all, and was now three inches shorter in an odd diagonal cut. It was fine though. She didn’t really care what her tail looked like at the moment anyway. She was more curious as to the sudden appearance of that memory.

“It’s quite lonely being imprisoned in stone, but you wouldn’t know that, would you?”

“Discord,” Twilight breathed, her eyes widening as the memory played. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, as she had been more concerned with what he had done with the Elements, but now...

There had been no deceit in his voice, then. None of the twisting trickery in his tone then, like there had been in what had followed. Discord truly had missed Celestia. He had wanted her to be there in that long millennia of cold imprisonment. He had been... lonely.

The thought struck her with an almost ringing resonance. Without knowing why, or even caring much for the answer, Twilight let the resonance fill her. It was giving her numbed mind and heart motion again, and for the moment, she would embrace it without question.

Somehow, when she stood this time, it was easier. It was as if a bit of the weight that had been pressing down on her had lifted. It was still heavy, it was still painful, but as she stepped forward, felt her magic rise to her bidding to throw the doors almost violently open, it was bearable.

Twilight stepped over the dazed guards, paying little attention to them as she wove her way down the hall. She turned sharply left at the second doorway, and found her pace quickening as she continued down it. She knew the way. Down this hall, turn right at the third, down the stairs, then left, and left again, the gate to the statue garden would be just ahead then.

Had they been friends once, too? Celestia had clearly never missed Discord for a second during that millennia, was furious to feel even the slightest drop of his magic again... But did that really mean that they had never, once, been friends? Celestia had said they were old foes. Discord had made it sound as if the two had been enjoying a delightful game together, until she had to go and ruin it by turning him into stone. Twilight suddenly wondered if he had meant any harm by it at all. Celestia had claimed that the ponies were miserable under his rule, but it wasn’t as if there were any ponies still alive to affirm that claim.

He would make a terrible King though. Twilight noted to herself with a cold smirk. He’s too impulsive and selfish. Discord wouldn’t be able to make anypony happy as a ruler. To rule a country correctly you need proper order and planning.

Did that make Discord himself evil though? Was chaos itself bad? Pinkie had loved the chaos Discord had brought. The chocolate rain and the cotton candy clouds were the greatest thing ever in her opinion, and she hadn’t been the only one. A lot of ponies had enjoyed certain parts of his magic. If Discord had only shown restraint, perhaps they wouldn’t have had to been enemies at all. Another question came to mind, one stronger than the other before.

Did the fact that he had ruled with chaos and whim, mark him as the villain, or the fool? On the day they had first met, everypony around her had pointed and called him evil. That he was going to ruin all their lives unless stopped.

“Because you’re evil! Evil! And if I don’t stop you, you’re going to ruin my brother’s life!”

“What are you talking about Twilight? Cadence is an absolute gem!”

Perhaps, Twilight thought, as she looked up at the terrified grimace that Discord’s statue held, perhaps it’s all a matter of perspective.

After her encounter with the cockatrice in the Everfree forest, Twilight had been determined to never fall to such a horrid fate again. She had been exceedingly lucky that Fluttershy had been able to rescue her. Now, more than ever, she was glad she had found a way to be self-sufficient if a similar incident ever occurred again. A month after her encounter, she had discovered what was known as a stone reversal spell. It was incredibly complicated, but nothing above her level. It had taken her four days to learn, but nearly five months to perfect. The spell’s main focus was on awakening a pony’s, or for that matter, any living creature’s inner magic, and then using that to breathe life into the petrified flesh once more. As Twilight had been determined to reach a level where she would be able to cast the spell even when petrified herself, it had taken her far longer to learn it than it normally would have. She had been forced to completely rewrite certain parts of the spell altogether, and then adjust the unchanged parts of the spell into perfect synchronization with little to no room for error. By many ponies’ definitions, it had been an impossible task.

There was a reason why her special talent was in magic itself.

After five months of constant revisions, quirks, nearly a full crate of temporary stone-skin potions, and far too many magic hangovers from deliberately overdosing on said potions, she had done it. She had brought the already complicated spell to a new level, and then mastered it there. A small, irritated voice, that sounded suspiciously like a male Rainbow Dash, told her rather bluntly that there was no way that the spell would work on Discord. His petrification had been caused by the Elements of Harmony, the voice stressed, not some lame little cockatrice. There was no way it could work!

“It’ll work.”

Twilight smiled, feeling a tiny surge of pride at the two simple words. She was right, Twilight was sure of it. This was a spell she had poured all of her time, determination, and studies into. It would work. They were sure of it.

Twilight took a step back, and a deep breath. She looked up at Discord’s terrified visage once more, before closing her eyes and letting everything but the threads of magic around them fall to silence. It was surprisingly easy. The hollowed out numbness that filled her was almost like a blanket that she could pull over her head, blocking out everything that wasn’t wanted. Twilight smirked slightly at the thought. Even pain could be helpful.

The spell wove itself together in her mind. One string after another, quickly binding together into a web of thousands that could leave many a mind reeling. It called upon her inner magic, deep as it was, and then deeper still, until she felt as if her whole body was humming with magic. The spell wasn’t for her though, this time, and as the humming came to a vibrant crescendo, she directed it on with a mental flourish towards Discord. The effect was immediate, and a loud crack echoed out in response. A peal of laughter reached her ears a moment later, and she began to feel Discord answering the spell’s call for his magic as well with undeniable glee. The spell required great amounts of concentration and magic, however, and Twilight could feel hers beginning to waver. The voice had had a point. This wasn’t a cockatrice’s spell, but one crafted by the Elements of Harmony. She had been tired to begin with, but now exhaustion was starting to creep into her limbs. For a split-second, she thought about giving up. The thought was banished as she realized how close Discord was now to freedom; to take that away at this point would be the cruelest thing one could do. She had to at least try.

Twilight poured the last of her magic into a final burst through the spell. In the split second before the spell tore apart and vanished, she felt Discord answering in kind. Even then, it was only when she heard Discord’s gleeful whoop as he shot up into the sky that she knew she had succeeded.

A small, sad smile crossed her face as she watched the draconequues wind his way up into the sky. She could take pride in her accomplishment... But what was left past this? The resonance had dulled into silence. She had found a purpose, if only for a moment... A reason to keep moving forward. She had righted something she had felt was wrong. There was no way to know if it had been the right decision, but it was one she had made herself for no other reason than... Than because... because why? Was it because they had lied to her? Because she had been left in a despair she knew she never wanted anyone else to have to suffer in... Yes, that was it. There were others to rule above Discord. His chaos couldn’t bring any kind of misery even close to what that black ocean could. If there was anything left past this, that mattered even a little, it was that she couldn’t help but wonder what Discord thought of this grand mess.

“Well, speak of the devil.”

She raised an eyebrow as she lifted her gaze from the cobblestone path to look up at the draconequues instead. He was looking at her with a mixture of bemused curiosity and complete fascination. There was something searching in that mismatched gaze as well, and she held his curious stare with one of her own. She was realizing a reason behind the resonance, and for a moment, she stopped to study him.

The mismatched limbs, along with the draconic tail and serpentine body, truly did give Discord a look that simply screamed “villain.” It was no secret that ponies feared what they didn’t understand. The general reaction to the “unnatural” Everfree Forest was a perfect example of that.

So, which was it then? A villain assigned by appearance, or choice? Twilight’s lips twitched as an answer came to mind, one that seemed fitting. Perhaps it had been both, an assigned role that had been completely embraced.

Even if he was an enemy, last time the lines had been drawn before they had even began. The teams had been chosen from the start. They had given him no more a choice as to his role that time than whatever had happened in the past- A past, admittedly, that she was merely guessing at. This time however, he was as free to choose his role as she was to walk away from the entire game. Which was exactly what she intended to do.

Twilight dropped her gaze from the curious figure before her, turned, and walked away. She had done what she had come to do. That was it. Everything past this point didn’t matter. The numbness had come back with the exhaustion of her magic, and she found herself too tired to care what happened now. Celestia would no doubt soon find out what she had done, and Twilight mused coldly that if she had still been the Princess’s student, she might have been able to care what Celestia’s first move would be. This time, she wouldn’t have the Elements to call upon. Not right away, at least... She would be replaced, soon enough.

“You know that isn’t very polite, Twilight Sparkle. Appearing out of nowhere and waking me up without so much as a good morning? Really. I thought your manners were better than that!”

Twilight came to a stop at the sound of Discord’s voice. She hadn’t expected him to call after her. His words were mocking as always, a part of her deadpanned, nothing new there. It took a moment, or perhaps more, for her to think past through the tired, numb fog that filled her to realize that there was something new. There was something very new and different indeed. He wasn’t mocking her. There wasn’t a hint of malice in his tone, or even bored irritation. Quite the opposite, now that she was thinking about it. He sounded rather...Happy. Benevolent wouldn’t be a stretch. Even the exasperation in his tone was a false one crafted from huffed amusement. Discord wasn’t mocking her at all. He was... teasing. As if they were old friends meeting for breakfast and she’d arrived too early and woke him up. The thought hurt, as it was far too close to now bitter memories, painful wounds that had yet to have chance to heal... And yet, somehow, it made her smile, for in a way, it was oddly amusing as well.

She turned slowly, finding that much of the weight from before had returned, although whether it was because of exhaustion or simply because her purpose had come to a close, she didn’t know. It probably didn’t matter. As she looked over her shoulder at her old enemy, the odd smile didn’t slip, and when she spoke, it was with a quiet serenity she doubted she’d ever truly feel again.

“Good morning, Discord.”

The tiny part of her that had sparked in amusement at the thought of tea, did so again at the look of confusion that replaced just a little bit of his cocky smile. It was worth turning around just for that, it said, and Twilight somehow found herself inclined to agree, if only a little.

“Hmm,” Discord hummed as he slowly stretched himself out in the dim afternoon sun, his joints crackling like popcorn, “perhaps morning is a bit of a stretch...”

Twilight shook her head as she began walking again at the draconequues’s pun, knowing full well that only more would follow.

“...And perhaps it being good as well.”

Had their conversation ended at that, Twilight wouldn’t have paid the oddly quiet finish to Discord’s reply any attention at all. In hindsight, she would realize that her expecting Discord to simply leave such an interesting prospect alone had been rather foolish. It really should have come to no surprise to her when he flew over to gently glide beside her. As it was, however, it did surprise her, and she raised a questioning eyebrow at the spirit, as it was quite clear that he had no intention of flying off somewhere else any time soon.

“Do you need something?” Twilight asked, curious as to what more the draconequues could want from her.

Discord’s attempt at curious indifference nearly made her laugh. It was such an utterly unfitting expression for the spirit.

“Oh, just pondering what could possibly possess the lovely Miss Sparkle to make her free the Dreaded Draconequues of Chaos,” he replied breezily, waving a paw for effect.

Twilight smiled sadly. She wondered if he realized how deep that question ran.

“I realized it wasn’t right for you to be locked up like that,” she said simply. She could think of no crime great enough to warrant a punishment like that...

“Oh I see, I see,” Discord hummed, nodding sagely at her answer, “it wasn’t ri-” The spirit stopped both flying and nodding abruptly, his face freezing in a look of complete confusion and surprise.

“Wait, what?”

On any other day, his reaction would have made her laugh. It’s not often that one manages to catch the spirit of chaos and disharmony by surprise after all. Today, however, his reaction was ignored in favor of his question, and Twilight’s sad smile slipped a little as she tried to reach for the only explanation she had.

“You and Celestia were friends once, right?” She asked softly, refusing to stop walking lest she lose the little control she had.

“Well, yes,” Discord spluttered, his composure temporarily broken, “but that was a very long time ago-” The draconequues suddenly grinned, his voice regaining its normal, almost irritatingly chipper tone, “We were barely your age! Why-”

So she had been right. The realization stopped her in her tracks. The quiet resonation hummed again, and she found herself forcing back tears she didn’t know she had left to shed as she cut Discord off before he could even begin his story. He had wanted to know why, and now she had his answer.

“It’s lonely, isn’t it?” Twilight could barely hold her voice steady; but as long as she could, as long as she could hold it as if this was nothing but another blasted lesson, then she would.

Discord’s confusion only seemed to grow. “What?”

“In the statue like that,” Twilight explained, “It’s lonely, right? Lonely, and cold? Without anyone being there to hear you, or for you to speak to? Just you and your own blasted dark thoughts about what went wrong, or what happened…” She could feel her control slipping, could feel her shoulders shaking, could feel the lump gathering in throat, making it harder to speak; And yet it was if a dam had been opened, and now the words wouldn’t stop pouring out- “Or why the one person you trusted the most, who you always thought would be there for you, wasn’t?” – Even as her voice began to crack, making her suddenly realize that she didn’t know if she was talking about Discord or herself. “O-or about how the ponies you thought would always understand you,

“Turned out never to have understood you at all.”

Twilight nearly tripped over her own hooves as she struggled to spin around to look at Discord. His voice had joined hers in perfect understanding on that final line. His mismatched eyes held that same perfect understanding, and he was looking at her as if he was reappraising her.

A surprisingly bitter smile crossed the draconequues’s features. It looked odd, as normally the spirit was so blatantly, gratingly cocky. For today however, it was perfectly fitting.

“Yes, that’s quite it exactly, Miss Sparkle…” Discord replied softly, his eyes settling on the ancient cobblestones beneath them. With an almost dark chuckle he lifted his gaze to fly forward and glide beside her once again, and she rewarded him with a quietly bitter smile of her own as he sighed, the two moving forward once more. “That’s quite it exactly.”

The two walked together in almost peaceful silence along the palace paths that Twilight knew so well. How many times had her hooves crossed these old stones? Her eyes traced each smoothed stone’s edge, how each cobblestone piece seemed to fit perfectly into the next, a winding puzzle that fit together into a pathway that wound around the gardens, courtyards, and castle. There were so many colors hidden in each stone as well; Faint reds, and blues, shades of silver and slate that she had never noticed before. She’d walked this path countless times, but not once had she noticed what care had been put into what she had carelessly paced over. She had always been looking up, back then, up at her beautiful white teacher, so perfect, wise, and beloved... Now the thought nearly made her laugh. Or possibly choke. It was hard to tell.

“So what happened between you and your friends?”

Discord’s rather unwanted question broke her abruptly from her reverie, and her eyes flicked upward with an anger that she didn’t quite understand herself. Rather suddenly, she wanted the spirit that had been quietly walking alongside her to go away. The moment of peaceful companionship was broken and gone. A mixture of emotions suddenly swelled up through the numbness, anger, grief, pain, betrayal, but it was all brushed aside as abruptly as they had bubbled up as Discord barely suppressed a burst of laughter.

“Oh come now, Twilight,” He chided gently, his voice filled with benevolent amusement, “it’s quite obvious that something happened- You can’t blame this old coot for simply dying to know what it was, can you?”

Nothing but simple and honest curiosity. The little bit of anger she had held momentarily faded back into numbness as her eyes dropped back to the cobblestones. The pain and betrayal held for a moment longer, and the sudden wish for him to go away was replaced with a stronger plead for the moment of peaceful companionship to return. It was lonely, wasn’t it...? Whether literal stone or metaphorical ocean, it hurt being imprisoned in those depths. What happened? Twilight loved having the answers to everything, and she wanted to answer his question- But she didn’t have an answer to begin with. She didn’t understand what went wrong, no matter how many times the damned moment looped in her mind. All she knew, was that for some reason, the ponies that had once been her friends simply didn’t care anymore, that she didn’t matter to them anymore... Which meant, really, that...

“…It doesn’t matter. At least, not anymore.”

Discord hummed quietly, noting her answer without a word. For a moment, the silence held between them once more. Twilight’s eyes drifted back to the draconequues’s distant gaze, and a bitter smile crossed her lips as she broke him from his reverie with a question of her own.

“What happened between you and Celestia?”

The spirit blinked, surprise showing on his face for only a second, before slipping away into a look of quiet understanding. They both already knew the answer.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, now does it?” Discord asked softly, a bitter smile matching her own appearing as she nodded.

“No, it doesn’t.”

For a while, it was peaceful again, and Twilight walked on, along the abandoned paths, just watching and observing the world as it silently wound past her. Discord seemed oddly content to just glide alongside her, and although she probably knew it no more than she would want to admit it, she enjoyed having him there. It wouldn’t be much longer before their sheltered path would come to an end, however. Twilight knew that around the next corner were the outer palace gates, and that was where the cobblestones would cease, and the busy streets of Canterlot would begin.

Twilight slowed to a stop, a mossy corner of the castle the only thing blocking her from seeing the guard posts on either side of the gates. Already she could see the bright ivy that grew along the ivory walls. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do now. Then again, now that she was thinking about it, Twilight realized she hadn’t really known what to do ever since she had collapsed crying on the stairs. Everything up until now had been almost... Instinctual. Resonance, whim, gut, however she put it, it came down to the same thing- She had no plan. She hadn’t had one all morning, rather frankly. Even her attempt at confronting Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had been unplanned- It was something she had just done, with no thought other than protecting her idiot brother. She had stepped out of the glass because she had no reason not to, had rescued Discord because she had felt it was right, and had walked along the old paths for no other reason than because they were bare and welcoming. Now, it was quiet. She could hear the guards ahead, talking and joking with each other, but it meant nothing to her. Everything felt as hollowed-out and silent as she did. So, now what?

The sound of Discord snapping his claws jolted Twilight out of her loop of thoughts. She blinked twice, before swivelling her head to look and see what the draconequues was doing now- Except, well, he wasn’t a draconequues anymore.

Discord took a couple smooth steps ahead, adjusting a fine black dinner jacket around his shoulders as he did so. He swiped a hoof along the left sleeve, smoothing out a wrinkle or two before sliding his gaze sideways to smirk at Twilight’s stunned expression. He had taken the form of a tall, slender, unicorn stallion, coat a dusty velvet brown, and his mane a swept-back black except for the white bangs that hung in front of his eyes. His eyes were still a bright, mischievous red, but they were now even, with none of the yellow remaining. If Twilight didn’t know better, she would have thought the spirit a normal pony. Discord’s smirk grew a little bigger as her eyes continued to search his new form, trying to find a mistake in his shape-shifting. It took her longer to notice than she would have liked, but the only thing off was that his stallion form was lacking a cutie mark. It had been hard to tell, as his jacket was long enough to cover the area without looking suspicious.

“Huh. That’s really impressive....” Twilight muttered, a tiny part of her reluctantly admitting that the spirit was rather talented when it came to magic.

Discord chuckled, taking another step forward before looking back at Twilight and holding a hoof out.

“Well, shall we go?”

I remember

Harmony was dead to begin with.

What a marvelous way to begin a story. Solemn, quiet, simple. A resonating curse upon the land as its precious protectors turn away in disgust for the first time in over a millennia. A lovely, fun, wonderful curse.

Equestria had been so dull, all trussed up in order and perfectly planned peace. Oh yes, the land was bright, and pretty, all the little ponies running around in manufactured happiness that had been handed to them on a plate. Perhaps even saying that they had free will was a stretch, each one of them being nothing more than a pawn in a goddess’s game. Celestia had been so righteously indignant, saying that he used ponies as nothing more as toys, but really, what was the difference? Toy, pawn, worshiper, follower, friend, lover, wasn’t it all the same? The strings may be different but they are still there all the same. Celestia may have hid hers better, but that only made them harder to cut. Oh, but they could still be severed, they could still break given the strain, and when they did, they snapped so spectacularly.

Twilight walked alongside him, the two traversing peacefully along an untended path along the lake side, unbothered by the happy-go-lucky fools that were skipping obliviously towards the Royal Wedding. They only passed the occasional pair of lovebirds, other ponies who preferred to ignore the fairy-tale wedding to write one of their own making instead. Even those little lovey-dovey ponies were quickly left behind once the two turned out of the shaded forest to traverse the rough untended paths around the lake instead. Not nearly as good for sneaking kisses perhaps, but much better for dusting off some old magic.

Discord chuckled as a toad backwards hopped its way across the broken cobblestone path, watching it try to unsuccessfully get back into its pond. The little thing looked so utterly confused as every hop towards its home sent it skittering another foot away from it- Until it knocked right into Twilight’s hooves.

The purple mare paused in her walking as the creature rolled onto its feet again. Discord’s grin faded as Twilight looked up at him with a bored look of irritated indifference. She almost looked disappointed in him.

“Awww, come on Dissy, is that really the best you can do?”

The young draconequus span around to glare at Sunbeam, who was practically making a show of yawning. Moondrop was muffling laughter beneath her hooves, as a pair of large bullfrogs, so desperate to fight a moment ago, were now hopping quizzically in circles as they tried to figure out how to go forward.

“I mean, really, toads?” Sunbeam practically drawled the words out, looking over her painted hooves with a look of irritated indifference.

“Well why not?” Discord asked huffily, putting his matched hands to his just as mismatched hips as he attempted to glower back at the white furred shaman.

She, in return, shrugged. “Well I suppose if you only want to play with your little froggies that’s just fine.”

Discord raised an eyebrow as the two sisters shared a look, Moondrop having finally stifled her giggles to smirk coyly at the two of them. Sunbeam rolled her shoulders forward into a half-hearted shrug as she rose to her hooves, flicking her pink mane behind her ears with a practiced toss, and slunk delicately over to Discord, her smirk growing into something a little more daring and mischievous as she placed a hoof against his chest.

“Mm, yes... Frogs are fine and all, but can’t you do something a little... bigger?”

Discord blinked, clear amusement crossing his features. He hadn’t quite expected that. If Pinkie Pie had one thing right, it was that surprises were one of the best things in the world.

The tiniest smile crossed Twilight’s face as her spell faded away and allowed the frog to bounce forward into its pond again. The look it gave her as it did so was one more dose of utter gratitude away from being total worship. Discord ran his mind along the strings of magic, and found with a hint of fascination that Twilight hadn’t cancelled out his spell, but had rather... rewired it. She had given the little wretch the guide to the new controls, so to speak. How delightfully interesting.

“Picking on frogs seems a bit petty for you.”

Discord drew his gaze away from the far too content and lazy driftings of the pond to raise an eyebrow at the unicorn mare behind him instead.

“Oh?”

Twilight rolled her eyes at him as he flicked her side with his tail, continuing their walk forward as she rolled her shoulders into a half-hearted shrug.

“I suppose I expected you to be celebrating your release with something... Bigger, I guess.”

“Something bigger, is it? Oh well now that can be arranged!” he laughed, sweeping an arm out to the area around them, “I could turn the whole forest into forsicles! Make the bugs ten times their size! Make the cobblestones into a chessboard perhaps, or set the skies clicking into a clock!”

The mares just rolled their eyes and walked away.

“Or perhaps I should make it rain chocolate milk from cotton candied clouds,” he mused, and was rewarded with Sunbeam pausing to look over her shoulder at him with interest.

“Or perhaps make the hills bloom in icing sugar flowers, let the bees get drunk on bourbon nectar.”

Twilight stopped and looked at him with a hint of curiosity, and his grin didn’t quite fit the mask he’d chosen as the air snapped. The rolling green hills suddenly burst into checkerboard blue and orange, the sickly sweet scent of sugar and alcohol filling the air. Magenta magic reached out, and Discord chuckled as Twilight pulled a sapphire blue blossom to her nose, before biting it cleanly in half. It was all he could do not to burst out laughing as she wrinkled her muzzle at the strong taste. Then, she laughed, something he joined joyfully in on, even if hers was something a little bitterer, a little darker, than how it felt it should be, but it wasn’t as if it mattered.

“Impressive,” Deadpan or not, there was genuine admiration hidden underneath it, even if it was a bit reluctant.

“That’s more like it,” Sunbeam could barely contain the delight in her voice even with that perfected deadpan of hers, but Moondrop wasn’t even bothering, and had already managed to pounce one of the smaller clouds, and had buried her muzzle in it.

“Of course! I am the Spirit of Chaos, after all. I can do this and much more! Including making more after your sister eats them all on you...”

Sunbeam’s head whipped around with such speed that it sent all her jewelry clinking, and Discord was treated to the most undignified squawk to ever come out of her mouth.

“Moony!Don’t eat it all- Leave some for me you twerp!”

Discord burst out laughing as Sunbeam’s attempts to push the other earth pony off the cloud not only utterly failed, but got her soaked as Moondrop jumped off the cloud and bucked it, showering her elder sister in a wave of chocolate milk. The two stared off for a moment, the pale violet mare prancing proudly, blue mane flouncing around silver bands and jeweled chains, looking quite the contrasting picture as she stuck her tongue out in perfect childish glee at her now brown-furred sibling. Then dust flew and Discord laughed louder as Sunbeam tackled her, gold and silver jewellery ringing like the start of a tournament bell as it devolved into a full out fight. It was a truly ridiculous sight. Two proud, high and mighty shamans, just out of their apprenticeship, rolling around in a squabbling wrestling match in the summer grass like a pair of colts.

He was broke quite suddenly out of his laughter by a large dirt clod hitting him in the back of the head, and he span around, teeth playfully bared at the two panting mares, each with a mischievous grin on their face and leaves in their hair, one of whom had just nailed him one. The draconequus gave out a loud, rolling growl, creeping along the ground towards them like a lion, before lunging forward at Moondrop, who ran off in shrieking laughter, her bracelets the only ones caked in mud as her sister laughed at her for getting caught red-handed. Then Moondrop was laughing back that that phrase didn’t make any sense as Sunbeam ran shrieking off, the high-pitched giggles escaping past pants of breath as Discord wheeled on the elder mare instead, knowing full well that she had been about to soak the both of them with a water bubble.

Discord blinked, staggering back as he shook his wet mane out of his eyes. Twilight’s shoulders were shaking slightly as she stood stock still, water dripping off her now soaked bangs to run down her cheeks, and leaving him to be the one to glare up at the pegasus who had just unceremoniously doused them.

“May I ask what that was about?” He growled, trying to keep his voice to the pitch and tone of the noble-pony form he had taken.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you two there. I’m clearing clouds for the wedding, you know, I guess that one had a little more rain water in it than I thought.”

“No, you think?” Twilight hissed, her voice cracking slightly as she lifted a hoof to wipe the water out of her eyes.

The pegasus either didn’t catch it, or didn’t care, because he shrugged with barely the slightest hint of apology before turning to fly off to the next cloud.

“Shall I turn his wings around backwards?” Discord asked lazily, a snap of magic drying them both off in a blink.

Twilight’s look of surprise at the assistance disappeared under a glower a second later. “You know what, yes. Go ahead. Please do.”

He smiled, a sadistic smirk that split across his face as the air vibrated with a loud, second snap. The moment of silence that followed was like the anticipation of a faulty firework’s bloom. Then the very quiet, very satisfying, and very familiar noise of a pegasus’s crash landing rang out. Discord’s grin only grew at the brief, darkly gleeful smile that flickered across Twilight’s face.

“I enjoyed that way too much...” She chuckled slightly, a laugh that almost sounded forced as she walked forward again. There was an odd look of pain, or perhaps guilt in her eyes as she turned away.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. What’s wrong with a little chaos?” He asked lightly, and was pleasantly surprised to see her eyes spark with curiosity at his words. Just for a second, it wasn’t just the hollowed mare there, but it wasn’t just the perfectly prepared and sculpted pawn of Celestia’s either. It was something between- Something greater. And something he very much wanted to see more of.

“What do you mean?” She asked, turning to look at him, even now the attentive student.

He would have to be a fool to let such a perfect opportunity go to waste, now wouldn’t he?

“I mean that the world needs a little chaos, don’t you think? Where’s the joy in never stepping outside of order? Everypony never looks past what they have right in front of their noses. It all just falls to rhythm and habit in the name of perfect harmony without anyone looking outside the box at the possibilities!”

“What possibilities?” Her tone implied it was more of a sarcastic statement, but Discord caught the flicker of hope in her eyes in the moment before she turned away. That silenced voice betrayed it for what it was, an honest question wanting to look past what she knew. Wanting to look past what was just "possible."

A millennia back, two earth pony shamans stood together with a spirit of chaos underneath an eclipse. The three stood quietly in a darkness that everyone else feared, and whispered blasphemous things. They spoke of the forgotten spirits of the world, of the gentle fire of the sun, and the lonely songs of the moon.

The youngest would close her eyes and speak about how the stars above could be just so much more than lost little lights towed across the sky by uncaring magical fools who could see nothing of the possibilities that was so plainly there above them. About how the black canopy above the was simply waiting for a masterpiece to be created, to be forged into beauty with a caring hoof.

The elder would grin wildly and laugh, daring the world to defy what it thought was possible, to not just stand there happy in peace and quiet, but to craft their new land into something greater than the three kingdoms of old. She spoke of ancient magic locked away, of immortality and dreams. She would spread her arms to the sky and sing of such forbidden things as rebellion and power, order and chaos, gods and mortals... And when the eldest of the three wrapped his lions paw around her shoulders, and asked what possibilities it was that she seen so far off on the dawn's horizon, she'd turn to him, fire in her eyes and a manic grin upon her face and hiss;

“All of the possibilities.”

Twilight’s gaze snapped back to him at his words, and he smiled. The realm of possibility meant nothing to him anymore, for he had long ago become the Master of The Impossible. And perhaps, he thought as he wrapped an arm around Twilight’s shoulders, he had a new apprentice.

“Just think about it. When you throw away order, what’s left to chain you down? You can do whatever you want, whenever you want. The figures in the olden tales never let little things such as laws, or limits, slow them down, and they reached heights nopony else could. The greatest goods, the most extreme evils, they wrote themselves immortal in a way that even the alicorns cannot match, by making sure they would be remembered for eternity. Even after the Sun burns out or Love finally dies, people will still whisper of the stories of Starswirl the Bearded and Sombra the Great, because they are stories that push the limits of what equine kind knows. It reminds all of you of what is past order and harmony, past the fake smiles and polite lies. The things of my age that you have forgotten.

“I have seen things you could never imagine. I have watched as ponies have dared to bend the laws of magic and pull them into shapes that everyone else feared to even dream about. I have seen civilizations fall through stagnant perfection, and others rise through rebellion and war. It is everything your perfect picture of Harmony isn’t. There is no success without failure, no progress without defiance... And it all starts with a little chaos.”

Twilight was staring at him with nothing short of amazement. There was light in her eyes again, he could feel her mind churning, pushing away the fog to think over what he was saying. With her brow furrowed, mane ruffled and fur matted, her gaze glued to the ground without seeing a single stone that passed beneath them, Twilight looked like the typical academy student pondering carefully over the newest professor’s great speech. Discord couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

“I’m... Surprised.”

Discord looked over to Twilight with no small amount of curiosity. They’d been silent for over five minutes now, and he was quite looking forward to hearing what the pony who had been so groomed to be the epitome of Harmony would say.

“I honestly never would have thought of any of that. It’s such a foreign idea... It’s like, throwing away the concept of sense and logic itself in the name of discovery. It’s everything I’ve loved about science while completely ignoring every method I’ve had drilled into my head for the past... I don’t-know-how-long. It’s ridiculous, and yet...”

“It’s fascinating, isn’t it?” Discord hissed sweetly, and Twilight’s look of deep thought slipped for a moment to the most delightfully devilish smirk.

“It really is... Except-” And the smirk was gone, the darkness was back, and Twilight shrugged out from under his arm as she sped up to walk ahead. “Except it goes against everything Celestia taught me about magic.”

Discord scoffed so loud that he was sure he’d been heard across the street, and going by the glare he was getting from Twilight, she though so too.

“Celestia, bah. Are you really still so stuck on everything that self-righteous Princess spouts?”

A mixture of emotions flickered across Twilight’s face, and it wasn’t long before she broke his gaze and looked away. “I... I don’t know any more. I’ve always trusted her-“

“Oh, yes, trust- like that’s never screwed anypony over.” Discord snarked, rolling his eyes in exasperation. Perhaps he’d been a bit... Impatient thinking she’d be able to see the light so soon.

“What do you mean?”

He nearly did another double-take at the honest curiosity in her voice. Amusement quickly replied his surprise however. How long had it been since someone could so easily keep him on his toes like this?

“I mean that blind trust is a fool’s folly. If you’re going to trust your back to someone, then they better have earned that place, don’t you think? You really have to stand back and say, “What have they done for me lately?” You better have a good answer for that too, otherwise the next thing they might just do for you is stab you in the dark.”

That delightfully devilish grin was back. “The latest thing you’ve done for me lately is try and turn my hometown into your Capital of Chaos after trying to drive me to despair. According to that, I shouldn’t trust you one whit!”

“Exactly!"

Now it was Twilight’s turn to double-take, and she stared at him slack jawed as he beamed. There was hope for this mare yet.

“Of course you shouldn’t trust me, if I had Elements, Betrayal and Dishonesty would definitely be among them. But. You know I’m not lying right now. Why, you’re even clever enough to know why.”

She stared at him, stock still. There was a moment of perfect quiet, him grinning wildly while she slowly frowned, her mind refusing to ignore the riddle she’d just been presented.

“...You don’t have any reason to lie to me,” Twilight said slowly, realization dawning proudly in her voice. “You don’t have any reason to hide your intentions at all. You never have. The only thing you intend to do is... Do. No great plan, No vast scheme- Just... One. Big. Game.”

“Correct, Twilight Sparkle. That’s quite correct indeed. My plans tend to extend no farther than lunch, really. Maybe an occasional plotted game or riddle... But the only one I really feel the need to try and out-scheme is Celestia. But that’s mostly because I hate people being better than me at something,” He chuckled, “that, and she truly is a fascinating opponent.”

“You make Celestia sound like she’s some grand chess-master,” Twilight protested, “Sitting back on her throne and barking out orders to move the board into position.”

“Oh no, Celestia doesn’t bark out orders, she whispers them,” Discord replied simply, enjoying the look of shock on Twilight’s face as realization once again began to dawn. “Sweetly. Gently. Like a mother teaching their foal that the stove is hot, or that the lake is deep. She doesn’t take her pieces as needed, she grooms them decades ahead of time. Perfectly loyal little knights and bishops, all lined up, stars in their eyes as they look up at their beloved Princess Celestia. You even know this yourself. You’ve never feared or doubted anything Celestia’s done, have you? You’ve always known it’s all just part of the plan while ignoring the fact that it means that you’re nothing but part of her plan too.”

He could tell he’d hit something there, he could see the recognition shoot across her face, and it was all he could do not to stop there and ask her what devilish little thing Celly had come up with that she was only now starting to recognize.

“I wonder...”

So he took a guess.

“How long has she been so carefully shaping you for her oh so great plans? Twilight Sparkle, the Princess’s personal protégé. Her perfect, precious student. Her little Queen. Her Element of Magic. She needed new bearers to free Luna, and she’d need perfect ones to face me. You did the job marvelously too, I might add, to be honest I‘d underestimated her. I didn’t think she’s do such a good job...” he chuckled slightly, scratching his chin, “I wonder how much of your life she’s planned out... Your friends, your home, perhaps even your future husband?”

A blast of magic zipped past his head. It was quite the wide miss for her, and he stifled his chuckles to read her face. Anger was there, oh yes, bright and blazing, but doubt was burning there even stronger. So he smiled, sweetly, apologetically, and the anger on her face slipped away a little. Oh, Twilight... Still so tired, still so scared... Still so very lonely.

“Oh come now, Miss Sparkle, I‘m not your enemy. Don’t take an old coot’s ramblings to heart, I don’t mean any harm. I have nothing but sympathy for you, all tangled up in her webs and only now just breaking free. We’ve both said it, you have no reason to trust me, but you know I have no reason to try and deceive you either. I don’t hide what I want behind honeyed lies; why I’m sure you already know what it is I want. I imagine it’s really quite obvious.”

“...Me,” She said quietly, and he nodded gently as she spoke, “You want me. I don’t know why but-“

“Because every King needs a Queen of course! Not another piece on a chessboard, oh no, but an equal. Another factor in the equation, a yang to my yin, someone to keep things interesting! I’m no Princess, with their punctual plans for perfectly poised pawns, prompting and positioning so everything all falls into pretty petty pathetic lines. That’s all just so boring. There’s no freedom in it! What is life but a game, and what is a game with no choices?”

“I could choose to blow your head off right now,” Twilight snapped, but her voice was trembling, and he could practically see the exhaustion winning out, the desire to fight fading to nothing but a big show.

“Oh I don’t doubt that one bit,” He said sweetly, still smiling as calmly as could be, “That lovely dark magic you’ve got going there says volumes- But I don’t believe you will. Oh you can, of course, I won’t even stop you. It is after all your choice, and I won’t make any moves against it... Heh, I’m sure it would hurt like the dickens...But it wouldn’t actually injure me. So go ahead, blow my head off if you so desire! Why, I take myself apart all the time! Makes cleaning out the cobwebs a lot easier, you see.”

They stood off like that, for a while, her glaring at him, horn crackling, and him just smiling back. Then, as suddenly as a magic tank finally sputtering out at empty, she closed her eyes and straightened up, the magic and anger disappearing in barely a blink.

“...There’s no point. I’ve already lost my friends, I’ve already drove away my brother, I don’t want to make an enemy out of you as well.”

Discord nodded and smiled, and walked forward to rejoin her at her side as if nothing had happened at all.

“Quite the wise choice, Miss Sparkle. I don’t think Celestia gives you nearly enough credit-”

“-But if you think I’m going to agree to be your Queen of Chaos, you’re a fool. I have no intention of choosing any path so utterly against what I stand for. In fact, if you try the tricks you tried on me and the other Bearers on anypony else, I promise I will make you regret it.”

Her exhaustion was clear, but he refused to underestimate her again, so when she said those words, so perfectly calm, her eyes dark, sharp, and promising pain if defied, he listened with every note of solemn respect he had in him.

“Why, of course, Twilight. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

The world crumbled

“No.”

That single trembling word was more than just the trembling pain it overflowed with.

“No... No, no, please no...”

It was begging. It was a desperate, weak plea for this not to be real, and to hear it come from her Princess’s mouth was an abomination that pushed away Velvet’s own despair and rekindled the anger that had momentarily been lost.

“This can’t be happening.”

Velvet’s eyes flickered from the slumped, shivering form of the alicorn who had fallen to silent tears, to the pale seamstress who had just spoken. Rarity matched her gaze, and gave her a terrified, timid smile.

“It can’t be. We are clearly all just having a terrible nightmare,” Rarity said primly, trying to force confidence into words that were still quivering with fear.

Velvet held her gaze until the other unicorn looked away, eyes brimming with tears and lips pursed. No-one seemed willing to meet her eyes, not even the pegasi that were gently hovering in the air above them.

“Now, girls, just, just calm down, alright?” The gentle southern twang of Applejack’s voice cut through the growing cacophony of noise from outside, as well as the stifling silence that surrounded them. “Ah’m sure... Ah’m sure there’s a way outta this mess. We’ve been in plenty of awful situations, every bit as bad as this, and we made it out just fine all of those times so... So we’ll figure this out.”

“Every bit as bad? Every bit as bad, Applejack?” Rainbow Dash growled, her voice clearly cracking as she slammed back down to the ground, stomping over to go nose-to-nose with her friend. “No. No we have bucking not been in any situation this bad. This is as bad as it gets AJ. We have an entire freakin’ army outside, a mad monster Queen back at the castle, a missing princess, and no Elements. Unless the Princess has some amazing plan to fix this.... This bucking disaster- We. Are. Screwed.”

“Why do you have to start bein’ a realist now of all times.”

“The buck is that supposed to mean?!”

“GIRLS!” Fluttershy crammed herself between them, wings spread and eyes pleading. “Fighting isn’t going to solve anything, so stop, please, it’s only going to make things worse.”

The two looked away from each other. Applejack turned and walked over to Pinkie, running a hoof down the shaking mare’s back and trying to assure her that things were going to be alright. Pinkie’s shoulders only shook a little harder at the hitch in her friend’s voice. Of course she didn’t believe her. Applejack always had been a terrible liar.

Canterlot was burning. Ponies were screaming. Velvet hadn’t heard chaos like this since an era gone by, back when she was a soldier with darkened armour and a special title under the Solar Princess, the only ruler they had ever known. The elements were something lost to time back then, something that most ponies didn’t even believe existed.

“I don’t know!”

-Back before they were Equestria’s one and only last resort.

Fluttershy staggered a step back from Celestia, fear dawning in the timid mare’s eyes at the madness barely hidden in the alicorn’s. It occurred to Velvet that the timid mare must have asked her Princess what they were to do next. After all, the Princess always had a plan, right?

“I don’t know,” Celestia repeated, her wings twitching as the royal demeanor shattered altogether. “I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what comes next- I have nothing. This wasn’t supposed to happen... None of this was supposed to happen! I’ve planned for hundreds, thousands of scenarios, I considered every possibility I knew, I thought-“

Celestia’s voice hitched, broke into choked sobs, something visibly snapped, and before their eyes their goddess fell. A sobbing, frightened mare slumped in her place, mane as unmoving and dim as a mortal’s, and any illusion of divine strength altogether gone.

“I thought that I was enough... And I’m not. I’m still not enough. I’m sorry. I’ve failed you and I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t solve anything.”

It took exactly five seconds for them to all process who it was that had spoken, and who she had dared spoken to. Rainbow Dash was, unsurprisingly, the one to get into Velvet’s face about it.

“Sorry doesn’t solve anything? The buck is wrong with you?!”

The pegasus's anger sputtered out in confusion as Velvet sneered at her, effortlessly pushing her away with a brush of magic to walk past her.

“Absolutely nothing,” Velvet replied quite easily, “and you can look at me with righteous indignation on the behalf of our beloved Princess all you like, but it doesn’t change the blunt reality of where we are right now.”

The last of the warmth Twilight Velvet held in her voice as a mother and a professor dropped away, and instead she felt the comforting coldness of the iron she’d wielded so proudly as a soldier that had never truly left.

“Canterlot has fallen. There’s no changing that. You can beg, you can plead, you can hope to wake up, but us standing here throwing a pity party for us and all of Equestria and her future will accomplish exactly nothing for our benefit. It’ll help the enemy out plenty though, I assure you of that- So if you’d like to see what a changeling-crafted battering ram looks like, please continue. I’d bet you ten bits that it’ll be a lot more magically enhanced than the usual sharpened logs we bother with.”

Velvet enjoyed watching the seven seconds it took them to realize she was genuine about the little gamble. The look of confusion spread across the room at the bits jingling in her aura, before slowly turning to annoyed anger that only grew over the next five seconds.

“Do ya really think this is the time for games?!”

So it was Applejack that got up the fire to admonish her. Good girl.

“Hmph. Nighty would have taken me up on it,” Velvet mused, and was rewarded with the anger sparking up higher as she calmly dropped the bits back into her wallet. “And no, Applejack, I don’t think this is the time for games, but if it gets you doing anything but sitting here and mindlessly waiting for our future role as slaves, food sources and/or cadavers, I’ll take what I can get.”

Confusion was beginning to replace the anger again, and Velvet strode forward before she lost the fire she needed to forge them.

“Princess, am I correct in assuming that the last resort has indeed failed, and we are, as Rainbow Dash so eloquently put it, screwed?”

Celestia stared at her, surprise clear at the calm tone, before breaking their gaze and nodding sadly, “The Elements have abandoned us.”

Velvet nodded once, sharply. She had figured as much, but it was best to make sure anyway. No point in writing the eulogy before checking the pulse, after all.

“This is horseapples!”

Rainbow Dash again. Not surprising, she’d shown herself to have quite the temper, and certain ponies found anger their only solace in times of trouble. At first Velvet only raised an eyebrow at the outburst, fully intending to ignore what was no doubt going to be maddened ramblings, but then stopped. Anger was a force that could move ponies forward, even when there was nowhere left to go forward to. It would be rather foolish to waste such an important fuel.

“And how's that, Rainbow?” Velvet asked nicely, fully aware that her tone had somehow managed to skip “pleasant” and jumped straight to “mocking” halfway through her own question. Oh well.

“This! This whole, bucking, mess!” Rainbow Dash spat, wheeling around to glare at her. “The Elements’ rejecting us, that freakin’ bug ruining everything, Twilight ditching us, this is all horseapples! This shouldn’t be happening it’s a whole load of dung and you all know it so why are you all just sitting there accepting it?! How can they do this to us? We’re not dishonest, or cruel, or selfish or any of the nonsense they spewed so how dare they-“ Tears were biting at the corner of those burning rose eyes, and her voice cracked as she snapped, “How dare they judge us-“

“For being equine?” Velvet finished, allowing the pegasus to snap her jaw shut and nod before the indignance of a sob slipped out. “Because, rather simply, they are not. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Elements are essentially the distilled magical essence of what they represent. They synchronize to you due to each of you having the trait that they hold in highest regard, the “element” they themselves represent. In contrast to that, however, is the fact that each of you are indeed equine, not god, nor abstract- As such, you are each flawed, not perfect. It is our flaws that allow us to grow, but it is also our flaws which make us fall. We are all selfish, cruel and dishonest, Rainbow Dash, and ignoring that fact will only make you stumble more.”

Velvet paused, frowning, as she stopped to think of how to explain what she had theorized from what the Element of Loyalty had allowed her to hear, without revealing everything she knew.

“What are you getting at?”

Velvet looked up at Rainbow Dash’s question, but her gaze quickly switched over to the mare beside her instead.

“Pinkie Pie? If I’m recalling correctly, you said that the Elements were, to quote, judging you the way you judge yourselves. Is that right?” At the nod, Velvet continued, “Am I correct in assuming that there was a time where each of you rejected the Elements due to something you did? Any time, or moment where you lost your connection to your Element for a time because you simple believed you didn’t deserve it anymore?”

Five ponies refused to meet her gaze.

“Well?” Velvet prompted, taking a step forward in quiet emphasis.

“Yes,” Fluttershy said quietly, and when she caught the hopeful look Velvet shot her at the squeaked reply, she folded her wings tightly at her side and struggled to explain;

“I was tricked into hurting Twilight.”

...Tricked?! It was all Velvet could do not to say, ‘That’s it?’ and instead she blinks, stunned, before sliding her gaze over to where Applejack is fidgeting with her hat.

“I... Ah told a lie. At the time Ah told maself just the once would be okay because it was to protect my friends, but then Ah couldn’t stop telling them. And twisting the truth into something it ain’t for any reason just isn’t right.”

“A lie told to protect someone isn’t something to be ashamed of, and neither is making a mistake you are tricked into,” Velvet said softly, as was a little surprised to find a gentleness slipping back into her voice. When had the mother in her begin to over-rule the soldier?

“That’s not the point!”

The snapped reply in two voices is enough to make Velvet jerk her head back for the split second it takes her to notice the tears budding at the corner of the young mares’ eyes.

“Then, what is it? What detail am I missing that shames you two so?”

Applejack and Fluttershy share a look, and through some unspoken agreement, Fluttershy speaks first.

“I still hurt a friend. It doesn’t matter that I was tricked because I should have been strong enough not to fall for it. Being cruel is far easier than being kind, you simply don’t have to care about what your actions mean. I’ve made that mistake too many times and I can never forgive myself when I make them. So it doesn’t matter if it was a trick. It was still me that did it.”

Those words, although different- Although stubbornly, naively idiotic- sounded almost hauntingly familiar as well. They sounded like a stallion general who had patted her head and praised the path she had chosen, but had one very important lesson to teach her. “Remember, my love, that above all else, the easiest thing to do is to let go. To let go of everything to the exclusion of one thing, that is the easiest thing you will ever learn to do. It’s holding on that will be hard. Holding on to those things such as kindness, empathy, patience, those very important things that make a soul equine and not monster. Remember that.” Velvet had promised back then that she would, and she always had.

“...And Applejack?”

The cowgirl twisted her hat in her hooves before plopping it roughly back onto her messy blond hair and sighing. “It doesn’t matter that it was a white lie, because it was still a lie. Ah promised my friends to always be honest with them, to never twist the truth when I’m speaking to them, and yet Ah did it anyway. Ah knew what was gonna happen, and when they asked me about it Ah told them something else entirely. They deserved to know what Ah did, what the risks were, and Ah kept it from them. And that ain’t right. Ah ended up needing Twilight to remind me that our friendship was more than that, and of course it is, but Ah still broke that promise.”

“I don’t remember you making any promise like that...” Rainbow Dash grumbled and Applejack turned and glowered at her for a moment, before replying stiffly;

“Ah said Ah’d do it, and that’s the exact same thing. A promise isn’t made by the words it’s said with, it’s made by the meaning behind it. When Ah say Ah’m gonna do something, Ah’m giving my word that Ah’m gonna do it. It’s as simple as that.”

Velvet nodded. It was almost ridiculously upfront, but she couldn’t think of anything more fitting for the earth pony.

“So that’s why the Element’s rejected us. Because we’ve already done this once.”

Several surprised gazes looked up at Rarity, who gave them a bitter smile in return.

“We promised we’d take her fears and concerns seriously, and we didn’t. We told her we’d value her above all else and we didn’t. We said we’d chose her above all else and then didn’t. We’ve hurt her so bad she’s... She’s turned away from us. It’s not right. It’s completely and utterly not right...But I suppose that’s just how things are now.”

“HORSEAPPLES!”

“Rainbow!”

“I’m not going to stand for this! Just how things are now?! What a load of dragon dung! I’m going to do something about this mess if it’s the last thing I do!”

“Good.”

It was all Velvet could do not to laugh as they all turned to look at her once more in stunned surprise. If the situation wasn’t so dire it would all rather be quite comical.

“Good,” She repeated, rewarding them with a proud smirk, one that grew as she seen a drop of steel settle into each one of them. “Don’t stand for it. Don’t stand still. When there’s nowhere left to go, go forward. It’s the only choice you have, well, aside from rolling over and dying.”

“You- you honestly don’t think we have a-a chance, do you?” Fluttershy asked timidly, and winced as Velvet snorted loudly.

“I think we approximately have the chance of a snowball’s in Tartarus. Since we’re all, inevitably, going to die, regardless of whether we make it out of this in one piece or twenty, I have decided that if I must go out, I’m going to do so with a fight they will remember.”

Velvet smirk grew downright cocky as from behind her she felt solar magic sparking into fire as Celestia rose to her hooves. The alicorn was no longer trembling, or crying, was no longer cowering weak and lost without her chessboard, but rather standing tall and strong. The divine strength pouring off of her was no longer nothing but an illusion.

Something defiant was definitely taking root now. Velvet could see it in each girl’s eyes. Fluttershy had stopped hiding behind her mane, and although her wings were still twitching, she seemed ready to stand her ground. Rarity’s lips were set in a thin line, but there was steel there now where there used to be nothing but fear. Rainbow was grinning like a mad pony, ready it seemed to dash headlong into danger. Applejack sighed and met Pinkie’s gaze, the two of them sharing a grim smile as they took a deep breath- And let go. Velvet’s eyes widened, first in surprise and then in wicked pride as she felt the shift in the magic surrounding the two. Applejack had potential, she could sense that, but it was nearly drowned out by the raw empathic magic that was suddenly surrounding Pinkie like a protective cloak. Steel and ice, hatred and despair, defiance and a desire to protect that she hadn’t seen in a long time. There was nothing warm in the blue eyes that met her questioning look, and it made the older mare grin.

To speak within the realm of reason was to admit that they didn’t have a chance. Each and every one of them knew it well.

“I’m going to return to Canterlot Castle, and there I will stand by my sister and we will take our palace back. If Luna has fallen to the Changeling Queen’s tricks, then I will face Chrysalis by myself, and drag that cursed bug into Tartarus with my final will. She will not harm my little ponies any further.”

“Sorry Princess, but you’re not going to do that, not by yourself. I’m with you.”

Celestia blinked, a flicker of surprise crossing her face as she looked down at the proud pegasus that had spoken. Then she smiled, a tiny, mirthless chuckle escaping her as she swept a wing around the smaller pony. “How silly of me. Of course, Rainbow, how could I have ever thought otherwise?”

Pinkie’s ears twitched at a dull thud.

“Beats me, Princess, let’s go kick some changeling flank!”

“Well if you’re going to do it, I suggest you do so quickly,” Velvet said lightly, knowing full well that she was interrupting and not caring in the least. “I dare say we have perhaps three minutes before they come barging in here and flood us. By the sounds of it they even have that battering ram all set up.”

As if punctuating her statement, a second loud thud echoed out, and a chorus of excited buzzing drifted through the walls at the answering creak of splintering wood.

“Mm. Perhaps two minutes,” Velvet corrected, eyeing the barricaded doors with more boredom than wariness.

“Are we still taking bets on what it looks like?”

Velvet beamed. “Why yes we are, Pinkie! Thank you for reminding me, care to make one?”

“Yep. Ten on it being drilled full of holes.”

Velvet laughed and swiped the tossed coins from the air depositing them safely in the between. “That would completely compromise the ram’s structural integrity, it would break twice as fast!”

“So in other words, I’m so, totally on?”

Velvet only grinned. “That you are sweetie. My money’s on black, at least one illusion charm and two strengthening.”

“Is this really the time?” Rarity asked timidly, and Velvet only turned her lazy grin on the other unicorn instead.

“Would you rather us sit and strategize for the next forty seconds? We could probably accomplish the same effect by running around yelling random letters as we do whatever comes to mind, because let’s face it,”

Another thud, louder this time, and the wooden doors groaned-

(Perhaps this was all nothing but false levity. Perhaps every moment spent right now was done so in complete futility. In all likelihood there no point at all in what they were doing right now, it could all just be the last few moments before the end... But perhaps, just perhaps-

What they held right now was the spark of hope that dared to defy the inevitable.)

-and shattered inwards as buzzing filled their ears.

“We’re out of time darling.”