Chaos Reborn: The Corruption of Harmony

Chapter 22: It’s Morphin’ Time!

As the rainbow colored beam shot towards her, Discordia flung her wings forward to shield herself from the attack. The dark unicorn’s eyes lit up and her entire body began to glow with a purple energy as she exerted a large portion her power into protecting herself from the magical force that bombarded her.
Discord took this opportunity to attack from behind. He fired a beam of green chaos magic directly at the unicorn’s exposed back. Discordia let out a scream of pain as she lost her focus and was engulfed in the center of both blasts. The meeting of the two streams of energy caused a blinding flash which forced everypony to shield their eyes.
As vision restored, Discordia lay in the center of the throne room, her wings destroyed and smoke rising from spots of charred fur. Nearby, Slendermane was brought to his knees as the last of his strength failed him under the princesses’ combined attacks. The creature let out a roar as he finally collapsed over on his side, and lay there, unmoving, other than an occasional twitch.

Future Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “It’s finally over.”

Discordia coughed as she wheezed, forcing a maniacal laugh. The girls stood ready to fight, as the injured unicorn slowly pulled herself up on her hooves. “Hahahaha! You think this is over? (cough) You cannot defeat me. I am Discordia! Chaos reborn!” She limped over to her fallen minion.

Celestia stepped forward. “You and your monster are defeated, Discordia. You cannot win this fight. There is no need for anypony else to die. This is your only chance. Leave now while I still allow it and never return.”

“I still have one last trick up my sleeve. You can’t defeat me. No pony can ever defeat me! I’ll kill all of you.” Discordia’s horn flickered as she struggled to conjure the last of her magic.

Everypony took a fighting stance, preparing for an attack.

As the last of her energy focused into her horn, her legs began to shake and the once bright white pupils of her black eyes dimmed to nothing. Slendermane lifted his head to face his master, as she turned to match his gaze. “You’re all dead…”, Discordia struggled to say as she fired the last remaining bit of magic she had at the slender pony, burning a hole clean through his head.

They all just stared in confusion, as Discordia and Slendermane both fell limp to the floor.

“What in tar-nation was that?” Applejack exclaimed in confusion.

“I don’t know, but they can’t hurt anypony anymore.” Future Twilight said in somber relief.

Not wasting any time, Discord smiled and drifted over to the princess. “Well Celestia, you know our deal. Say your goodbyes. You belong to me now.” He put his arm around the white alicorn and with the opposite arm, placed a digit of his claw under her chin.

“Over our dead bodies!” Present Twilight argued, preparing to protect the princess.

“No, Twilight!” Celestia halted her. “Those were the terms of his assistance.”

“But Princess!” The purple unicorn stopped momentarily to think, then turned to Celestia’s sister for help. “Princess Luna, surely you can do something to stop this.”

“I’m afraid not, Twilight Sparkle. Though he may be a villain, Discord helped us save Equestria this day, and we must honor our bargin.” The princess said, lowering her head in sadness and defeat.

“B-but your majesty?!” Rarity chimed in. “You can’t be serious! There has to be another way.”

“You heard her! I saved the day. And fair is fair. I’ve earned my reward. Isn’t that right, my dear?” Discord stuck his tongue out at the girls and turned to Celestia, nudging her to force a response.

“I’m afraid so, my little ponies.” She said, looking away hide to her tears.

Rarity stepped forward and stomped her hoof. “Hey! She’s not some piece of property you can carry around and show off like a gem! She’s a living creature.” She said in a scolding tone.

“Yeah! Deal or no deal, y’all can’t just take her like some sort of trophy. Equestria needs her! We need her.” Applejack agreed

“Well that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” Discord frowned, tauntingly pretending to show pity.

As they argued, the body of the slender pony started to shift. The solid mass began liquefy and flowed to the fallen Discordia, covering her.

Sensing the impending danger, Pinkie’s entire body started to shake. “Hey girls! My Pinkie Sense is acting up. I think something big’s about to happen.” The pink mare tried to gain their attention but was drowned out by the arguing between Discord, and the other girls.

Fluttershy was the first to notice her friend’s pleas for attention and tried to help. “Um…excuse me. I think Pinky’s trying to tell us something.” She spoke softly, intimidated by the arguing.

The black liquid began to pour into her mouth and nostrils, as the unicorn’s chest expanded and took a breath.

Fluttershy noticed the movement through her peripheral vision and panicked as she caught a glance at Discordia’s bright glowing eyes opening. “Um…I really think you need to see this.” She weakly tried to call attention to what was happening on the ground, but was unheard amongst all the yelling.

As the last of tar-like ooze found its way into Discordia’s body, she began thrash around violently as if going into a seizure.

Terrified, Fluttershy let out a small high pitched shrill.

The Doctor heard the yellow pegasus’s cry and looked to see what was the matter. When he caught sight what was going on, Whooves was frozen in fear. “Um…GIRLS! I hate to interrupt, but I think something’s going on over here! I think we have a bloody problem!” He shouted.

Everypony stopped and looked only to see Discordia writhing on the ground in front of Fluttershy and Doctor Whooves. A tendril burst from each side of the unicorn’s back, piercing the flesh on its way out and standing her upright. Bones cracked as her entire body stretched and grew, matching Celestia in size. Looking down, the still changing creature pulled back a tendril readying to attack the petrified Fluttershy.
The yellow pegasus shrieked in fear, closing her eyes tight and pulling forward a wing in an attempt to shield herself.

“NO!” Future Twilight cried as leapt forward to push her friend out of the way, only to be rewarded for her actions with the feeling of intense pain. Twilight saw a look of horror in Fluttershy’s eyes as a splash of blood sprinkled her face. Whatever happened, it was bad...really bad. It hurt unlike anything she’d felt before, and Twilight could feel a warm liquid pouring down both her sides. The purple unicorn was almost afraid to look but turned anyway to identify the source of her agony. The tendril had pierced straight through her side. Blood tricked from the wound as Discordia smiled, exposing a mouth full of jagged fangs, and lifted her high into the air.

“I told you it wasn’t over!” The monstrous unicorn said as she grinned up at her victim, piercing her counterpart again with the other tendril.

Twilight could hardly speak. The limbs piercing her side had punctured at least one lung, if not both. The pain was unfathomable. She gasped as she looked down at her past self, her friends, and her mentor. Tears ran down her cheek as she forced out her last words.
“I’m…sorry. I- ” She coughed up a large amount of blood. “I couldn’t stop her.” The purple unicorn closed her eyes, knowing her end was near. All she could do now was hope the others were able to stop Discordia without her. Twilight a scream in anguish as her foe tore her in half and flung the remains to opposite sides of the room.

The others gasped, still trying to process what’s they’d just seen. Doctor Whooves, unable to handle the sight and smell of the blood and gore, vomited involuntarily.

Discordia spread her tendrils wide apart. Everypony backed up, unsure if she was preparing another attack. The black wriggling appendages suddenly became rigid, splitting into several long boney offshoots in the back. The gaps between them filled with a thin black membrane, forming a new pair of bat like wings. She flexed them momentarily to test her control and proceeded to flare them open as wide as she could. Discordia laughed with evil delight, looking at with satisfaction at everypony’s faces. They were scared and unsure of what was to come. Even Discord seemed to be struggling with the sickening display he’d just witnessed. The newly formed dark alicorn grinned as she locked eyes with the group. “One down…ten to go.”