Discord Cannot be Reformed

Chapters

Chapter 1: You Can't Reform Chaos
Chapter 2: A Turning Point
Chapter 3: Manipulation and Creation

Chapter 1: You Can't Reform Chaos

All stories have a beginning, every tale a start and every essay an introduction. This story is no different. If you are reading this book, then you wish to know the true events pertaining to the second great rise of Discord and of his defeat thanks to the combined efforts of the Elements of Harmony. Before we begin I must make you aware: this tome is the unabridged, truthful accounting of history and is utterly factual. If you are looking for a story to read to your foals, or a tale to recite to your friends about good triumphing over evil, this is not for you.
It all began in the village of Ponyville. The place we now call the Desolate Wastes.
-From “Discord’s Second Reign” Vol.I:

An Introduction

Chapter 1 – Discord Cannot be Reformed

It was another perfect day in Ponyville thanks to the brilliant work of the pegasi, with the sun high in the sky and not a single cloud in sight. The inhabitants of Ponyville were happily going about their normal day-to-day tasks, and nothing seemed out of place. Outside Ponyville, in one of the many wide-open fields stood a group of 5 friends. Most of the group stood calmly near the centre of the field discussing the upcoming day; however, as always, a certain pony just could not stay still, and, with an overly enthusiastic bounce, she sprung forward, startling one of the others and causing her to sigh in exasperation.

“Oh, I just love it when Princess Celestia comes to Ponyville! I got my hooves shined just like Rarity for the occasion, you like?”

Admiring herself in the somehow reflective shine of Pinkie’s hooves, Rarity gave a proud smile, and said “I certainly do.”
Raising an eyebrow, Rainbow Dash nudged Rarity and ended her self-admiring session “You like the shine or you like what you see in the shine?”

Giving a bashful grin, Rarity raised a hoof to hide the embarrassed blush on her cheeks. “Well, obviously I… hmm, well—”

“I knew it!” Rainbow dash let out a laugh and gave Rarity a playful shove. “It doesn’t matter, besides, if anyone should be admiring themselves it should be me! After all, I’m the coolest pony in all of Equestria!”

Cutting off the two’s conversation, Twilight trotted to a nearby hill and sent a worried look up to the sky. “I’m surprised she’s not here yet,” she said, wondering where Celestia could be.

Always looking to back Twilight up, Spike nodded. “Yeah, I wonder what’s taking so long. It’s not like Celestia to be late.”
“No it’s not; it’s not like Fluttershy or Applejack to be late either… Where are they?”

Continuing to admire her complexion in Pinkie’s hooves, Rarity muttered something about Fluttershy helping Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres before looking over to Twilight with a reassuring smile. “I'm sure they’ll be along any minute.”

Spike clenched his claws together in panic. “But I still don’t get why the Princess would be late!”

Turning to face the young dragon, Twilight shrugged. “She’s supposed to be bringing along an important visitor. That could be part of it.”

Rainbow Dash flew over in a rush, leaving a glowing rainbow streak in her wake and a very flustered Rarity where she was a moment before “Yeah, important and slooowww, I mean—”

“Maybe it’s somepony so terribly important that she still had many terribly important things to attend to before she got here, or maybe”—Rarity started, before throwing a haughty look in Rainbow Dash’s general direction—“she’s just more patient and collected than some of us.”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash retorted. “It’s not my fault if most ponies can’t keep up with my awesomeness!”

“It’s not a matter of keeping up, it’s-“

Letting out a gasp of fear, Spike pointed one claw skyward while grabbing Twilight’s mane, trying to draw her attention away from their bickering friends. “Maybe the visitor has a deer antler, a goat’s leg, a bat wing and a snake tail!”

The nonsensical comment quickly and smoothly shut down the petty argument as all three ponies stared in confusion and, in Rainbow Dash’s case, amusement at Spike. The first one to actually get over their confusion and respond was Twilight “Yeah right Spike, that’s Discord.”

Over her initial shock Rarity nodded in agreement “Why in the wide wide world of Equestria would Celestia bring along someone like that?”

Finally bored of admiring her hooves, Pinkie Pie bounced along just in time to hear the end of the conversation. “Yeah, silly, Discord’s a big old meanie grumpy pants, Celestia wouldn’t bring him here.” Letting out a gasp of excitement she continued “Unless… She wants us to throw a super duper big ultra-special happy welcome-to-the-good-guy reform party!”

Rainbow Dash let out a groan and facehoofed, while Rarity turned to face Pinkie, an irritated look in her eyes. “Now really dear, why would someone as smart and graceful as Celestia want us to do something as drab as that?”

Huffing in frustration, Spike yelled, “Maybe you should ask her!” This finally got the ponies’ attention and, turning simultaneously, they watched Princess Celestia’s chariot land smoothly on the field before gradually coming to a stop. The sight would have been awe-inspiring if not for the duplicate chariot that landed shortly after.

Resting on the chariot was, just as Spike had said, the solid stone form of a certain Draconequus stuck in his final pose. The sight brought forth gasps of shock and fear from the group of ponies and, once again, it was Twilight who recovered first.

“Princess Celestia, with all due respect,” she forced through clenched teeth while trotting over to look her mentor in the eye, “HOW COULD YOU BRING DISCORD HERE?” Quickly noticing the shocked look emanating from the Princess and the guarded stares she was receiving from the royal pegasi, she covered her mouth with a hoof and said in a much quieter tone, “Ahem… your majesty.”

Celestia nodded, and gave that knowing smile she did so well “I'm well aware that the last time Discord was here, he wreaked serious havoc bu-“

Rainbow Dash flew forward with a look of outrage on her face. “Havoc? Havoc! If by havoc you mean turning Ponyville into the chaos capital of the world, flipping Equestria upside down, and forcing us to be the opposite of our true selves, then yeah, he caused havoc!”

Stepping forward with an angry look in her eyes, Rarity nodded in agreement. “While ruining our friendships and my perfectly styled mane!” she added.

Putting her hoof down, Pinkie Pie glared at the Ruler of the Sun. “And making it rain chocolate milk with not a dollop of whipped cream in sight! Not one dollop!” she moaned, shivering at the thought of chocolate milk without whipped cream.

“Yes, yes, I understand,” Celestia nodded, and turned to look at the statue that had caused so much pain in the past. “But I think we can find a use for Discord’s magic if it can be reformed to serve good instead of evil.” Turning to face the ponies, she told them, “This is why I have brought Discord here, because I believe you are the ponies to do just that.”

The group was still staring askance at the statue with looks of disbelief on their faces, but after hearing the news, Spike quickly descended into panic. “This is never going to work, this is a disaster, how can we possibly control him, we’re doomed!”

Celestia shook her head and, giving a motherly smile, tried to calm them down. “Need I remind you that you were the ponies who turned him back to stone?”

Twilight frowned and spent a moment collecting her thoughts. ‘I can’t believe she is actually trying to get us to do this! She knows how badly he hurt us before… but I guess Celestia knows best.’

“Well, I guess we could just use the Elements of Harmony on him again if he gets out of hand.”

Noticing a way out, Spike nodded with a little too much enthusiasm. “We probably need somepony to run away really quickly and get them, I’ll do it!”

However, before he could get more than a step or two away, Celestia intervened. “There’s no need for that Spike, I have them right here. I knew you’d need them so I made sure to bring them along.” As Celestia said this, a group of royal guards placed an ornately crafted chest in front of Celestia. The chest was gilded with precious metals and gems and glowed with a shimmering aura of golden light.

A worried look spread across Twilight’s face. “W-wait, they’re in there? What if Discord just makes them vanish again?”

“Calm down, my pupil, I’ve put a spell on the Elements so Discord cannot get rid of them like last time.”

Grinning up a storm, Rainbow Dash rushed over and stared at the box with an expectant face. “Aww man this is so cool, I don’t know about you guys but I just feel so… so… amazing, when we have these. It’s like everything is…just… awesome!”

“I know, right! It’s like a superduperawesomespecialwarmglowy feeling in your body that just fills everything up and makes you go wheeee!” Springing up into air Pinkie Pie began to bounce around in ecstasy. Showing no signs of stopping, the task of halting her came to her friends, and it took both Rarity and Twilight to get her to come back down to earth.

“I understand where you’re coming from, Dash. I wonder if that’s just the feeling we get or if it’s a feeling that the Elements of Harmony actually create to make us work together. Hmm… maybe I should do some research.” At the thought of research Twilight seemed to come alive, eyes sparkling and body tingling with energy.

Putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, Rarity sighed. “I know how much you love your experiments darling but now’s not really the time is it?”

“I guess not… Oh well, maybe another time,” Twilight nodded and seemed to slump with a sigh.

“Fear not, my faithful pupil, after this I am entrusting the Elements to you for safekeeping, so if anything ever happens you’ll have instant access to them. I’m sure you will be able to experiment on them then.” Turning to face the chest, Celestia leant down and placed her horn on the lock. With a brilliant golden light, the magical glow that had surrounded the box faded and the chest opened.
A gasp of awe was the only sound heard as the radiance of the Elements was revealed, bathing the entire area in an aura of tranquillity and peace.

“I’ll never get over seeing these, they’re beautiful,”

“…magical,”

“…amazing,”

“…and so cool!”

All four ponies moved forward and, as they approached, the Elements began gravitating towards their bearers. Seconds later the four ponies stood together, magical energy emanating from them as they attuned to the Elements and, in turn, the Elements to them. As the energy dimmed, Celestia stepped forward and looked over the group with a frown. “Now where is Fluttershy, I believe she may best know how to reform Discord.”

With a look of disbelief on her face Rainbow Dash flew to Celestia’s side “Fluttershy… really?”

“Yes Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy.”

Dropping to the floor, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and shook her mane in annoyance “Okay… I guess you know best and It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to say Discord’s an animal... which means Fluttershy would know how best to deal with him.”
Gasping in shock, Twilight looked at her friend. “You can’t say that about someone Dash...” the look of shock turned to giggles as the thought went round in her head. “Although I guess he is a bit primitive…”

“Primitive? Darling, he’s an absolute savage!”

And with that, the conversation left the serious topic of the upcoming freeing of Discord and turned to more trivial matters.

[Dreamscape]

Snarling in anger, Discord raged inside his shell of stone, his dream form resting on a bed of ethereal energy and observing the ponies as they mocked him. HIM! ‘I’ve toppled kingdoms, lived for millennia, destroyed anyone foolish enough to challenge me and yet this is the second time in a single century that I’ve been beaten by these pathetic, snivelling… ponies! ‘

He reached out in rage and grasped a handful of energy, moulded it into a small replica of Twilight and stroked it softly. “Oh my little pony, when I finally escape this wretched place, I will take no chances…” Placing his claw on the replica, he turned its vibrant violet to a dark, dull grey, covered in black and purple energy. “Yes… Next time your corruption will be complete.”

Looking back, he still couldn’t understand how it was possible, even with the help of those blasted Elements that they’d managed to shrug off his corruption so easily. No one had ever resisted the corruption of their true self and he had made sure to personally deal with each of them. Slowly but surely, as it always did during his moments of retrospection, his mind drifted back to that accursed day when his freedom had been taken from him. And due to his location the events of that memory began to form around him, forcing him to relive it.

Again.

There he sat, on his throne of chaos, looking out over his domain. Celestia and Luna were powerless, those pathetic bearers had been dealt with and he could finally start shaping this world to its original form.

His form.

A group of ponies jumped out from behind a building and, within seconds, a horde of long legged bunnies had carried them off into the distance. Laughing, he leant back in his throne.

“Oh it’s good to be king, but all this work is making me thirsty…” Reaching out, he summoned a candyfloss cloud along with a simple glass cup and, with a flick of his wrist, chocolate rain began to move upwards into the cloud whilst simultaneously manifesting in the cup, filling it from right to left in direct defiance of the natural order. “Oh, chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing,” he chuckled to himself, sipping from his drink and getting glass rather than chocolate.

“Not as wonderful as friendship!” Eyes narrowed, he turned to face the fools who dared argue with him in his domain. To his utter shock, he saw the six ponies whose friendship he had broken and corrupted. However, no one ever called Discord jumpy and with a smooth grin he leant to the side and raised an eyebrow cockily. “Ahhh, this again…”

Ignoring the assembled “friends” in front of him, he smirked and finished the drink in his hand. As the glass was sipped away the chocolate was left hovering, without any glass, and with a shrug he threw it away, and promptly heard it explode into shards of glass and mud.

The small orange pony stepped forward and stomped her hoof down. “That’s right! You couldn’t break apart our friendship for long!”

“Oh Applejack, don’t lie to me.” Raising his claw, he summoned his magic and with it grabbed her Element and dragged her upwards to face him. “I turned you into a liar, and I can tell when you’re lying.” He sneered, grinning manically.

Channelling his magic he clenched his claw into a fist and, using the motion to control said magic, pulled the puny Elements and their bearers to his side with the exception of Twilight, who stubbornly remained standing, the Element of magic atop her head. “Will you fillies ever learn?”

Glaring angrily, Twilight channelled her magic through her Element and teleported herself into the middle of her friends as a shield of purple energy manifested around the group.

Seeing this, Discord growled in anger. Leaning back in his golden throne, he glared at the six ponies and waited for their next move. His interest was piqued and, although he would deny it, fear came with it when the shield connected with the ground and dispelled his chaotic influence.

“I’ll tell you what we’ve learned, Discord! Friendship isn’t always easy but there’s no doubt it’s worth fighting for!” As Twilight’s rant continued, her five friends gathered around her, eyes narrowed and sending looks of venom in Discord’s direction. He gave them a sly smile, but in the back of his mind the image of Celestia and Luna banishing him to stone flickered, like a distant nightmare, warning him of the possible danger. Ignoring his instincts, Discord glanced over at them with a look of disgust on his face.

“Urrgghhh gag, fine, go on, use your little Elements, just make it quick, I'm missing some excellent chaos here.” He grinned devilishly, resting back on his throne.

“Alright girls! Let’s show him what friendship can do!”

“Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait!” Groaning collectively, the ponies looked over to see Pinkie Pie sitting under a cloud, slurping up as much chocolate rain as she could.

Seeing the whole scene, Discord shook his head and banished the memory of his imprisonment. These ponies couldn’t touch him.
After having her fill and letting out a slightly disturbing moan of happiness Pinkie Pie skipped over and joined her friends. As she took her place, Twilight began to channel the Elements, and with a harmonious ring, the magical energy started to charge. After a few seconds it gathered so much power than it caused the six ponies to raise of the ground, practically vibrating with energy.

Discord, unimpressed, continued to stare at them, yawning loudly.

Finally, the Elements finished attuning to their bearers and stared to glow, sending bolts of iridescent energy flying towards Discord. Frowning, he dodged the first few and looked at the ponies in confusion. “Huh… what’s this, they can’t possibly be…” Eyes widening he gripped his throne and called out to the chaotic energy surrounding him, black mists forming and all manner of strange items appearing. “No!”

It was too late to do anything as Twilight opened her eyes and the energy of the Elements flowed through her, banishing the chaotic magic he had summoned. Seconds later, a beam of energy flowed out from her Element and rose into the sky, glowing brightly for all to see before crashing down towards him in a burst of multi-coloured light.

“No! You can’t do this! Nooooooooooooo…” Growing desperate, he called forth his full powers and dark cracks began to appear in the very fabric of reality itself. But he was too late to stop the petrification.

Roaring in pain Discord did everything he could think of to stave off the pain of being forced into one form but nothing worked. And as he was wrenched back out of the memory, gasping in pain, his rage grew ever higher.

Banishing the memories for now he leant back and started to plan his revenge once more. He was brought out of his planning when he heard a pony shout in anger and rotated the collection of dreamscape windows that he had arrayed about himself so that he could see where the shout emanated from.

He was pleasantly surprised when he saw Applejack and Fluttershy standing next to a beaver dam arguing over something or the other. “Hmmm… It seems like the perfect friends are not so perfect after all,” Summoning some popcorn he leant back in his now extremely comfortable armchair, and turned to face the screen.

‘At least this will relieve some of the boredom this frustratingly singular realm brings…’ sighing in annoyance he let the thought fade ‘Oh well, on with the show!’

[Physical Realm]

“What’s he goin’ on about now?”

Applejack turned to look at her friend and tried to rein in her anger once again as she contemplated just kicking this stupid beaver’s dam down and releasing the water that was flooding her precious orchard. However, seeing Fluttershy’s kind face smiling back at her caused her anger to disappear. “Good news! Mr. Beaverton Beaverteeth has agreed to take his dam apart and move it.”

“Well, it's about time. My apple trees are so waterlogged, I can practically hear 'em gargle!”

Seeing the look on her friend’s face, Fluttershy hesitantly added “But you have to apologise for calling him a nuisance.”

In a flash all of her anger returned, and Applejack stomped her hoof down, turning to face the… the… creature that had dared to damage her orchard “Apologise! He’s lucky I didn’t call him a varmint!

The beaver in question took offense to that and began to chatter aggressively, staring defiantly at Applejack. Fluttershy was having none of it however and proceeded to give him a piece of her mind. “Mr. Beaverton, such language!” Having chastised the beaver, she turned to face Applejack and gave her a firm stare.

Her patience at an end, Applejack swallowed her pride and looked at the beaver, sighing in frustration before saying, in as nice a tone as could be managed, “Fine, fine… I apologise.”

“Now what do we say Mr Beaverton?” Fluttershy said kindly, looking hopefully to the beaver. The only response that was given was a rude raspberry. Shocked, Fluttershy was about to intervene but before she could say anything Applejack growled and took a step forward, her eyes narrowed in anger, staring directly at the animal that was so rude to insult her on her own orchard! Quickly seeing the mistake he had made, the beaver began to pull the dam apart and very quickly the offending structure was disassembled and the water began to flow out. Letting out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, Applejack smiled. “Thanks Fluttershy, I don’t know what I would’ve done without ya.”

“I'm just glad that I could help my friend.”

Applejack’s reply to this was cut off as a streak of rainbow lit up the sky and, without warning, a very flustered and irritated Rainbow Dash hovered above them with a stern expression. “Hey slackers! Double time it on down to Ponyville would ya? We’re all waiting on you!” And with another burst of speed she was gone again before either pony could respond.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going, Fluttershy!”

Nodding her assent, the two began to walk down to Ponyville where their friends were waiting.

Finally, the six ponies had gathered and as one they stood before the statue of the Draconequus. Princess Celestia stood next to the group as she calmly tried to reassure Fluttershy that she would be fine. “I realize that this is a tall order, but I wouldn't ask if I weren't confident you could get him to use magic obediently of his own free will.”

Looking slightly mollified, Fluttershy stared up at the radiant princess beside her, “And you really think I'm the pony to do that?” she muttered weakly.

Realising the fear her little pony felt, Princess Celestia gently tilted Fluttershy’s head up with her hoof. Looking into her eyes she smiled warmly and nodded “I do.”

Seeing the support that her princess was giving her Fluttershy blushed and smiled happily.

“Now I must return to Canterlot for the Royal Summit. You may release Discord whenever you’re ready.”

With that the Princess’ chariot was pulled away by her royal pegasi and the friends were left alone with the statue.

Twilight turned to face the statue and looked up at it with a determined glare. “Alright ponies let’s get started; and hope that the releasing spell works.”

Looking over Twilight’s shoulder with a confused face, Spike shook his head. “Or we could not?”

“Spike, now’s not the time to back out, we’re going to do this and we’re going to do it right.”

Drawing the chest over with her magic, Twilight opened it, and the remaining two elements practically leapt to their bearers as all six ponies took up positions around the statue. “We’d best keep our elements on at all times until further notice.”

A chorus of “checks” came from the group. Seeing everyone was ready, Twilight closed her eyes and searched inside herself for the power to activate the power of the Elements. The initial struggle was difficult but as soon as the Element detected its counterparts its energy began to spill out in waves.

All around her the other Elements were activating and releasing the auras of energy that signalled their use. As the six Elements began to power up the background level of magical energy began to skyrocket, and soon the very ground was shaking with the power wielded by these six ponies.

Looking on in awe and fear, Spike backed away slowly as the rainbow energy that was the Element’s mark began to link the ponies and complete the spell. Opening her eyes to reveal the white light of the energy searing through her, Twilight took the beams of power and directed them towards the statue of Discord. As the light swirled around the statue a certain Draconequus’s face dropped in amazement before lighting up in excitement.

[Dreamscape]

‘You have got to be kidding me! When Celestia came up with this plan I thought she was just torturing me.’ Grasping the sides of his throne Discord pushed himself to his feet and stared through the main screen that had enlarged to give him a detailed view of his surroundings.

‘I know she knows I'm aware… why would she possibly…’ Shaking his head, he grinned and stood up, stretching himself, and looked to the screen. “Well if she’s going to give me this chance then I'm going to take full advantage… Prepare yourself Equestria,” flexing his suddenly huge muscles, Discord smiled darkly and flashed a black grin, “Discord’s back, baby... And this time I mean business!”

[Physical Realm]

With the spell finished the six ponies dropped to their hooves and stared at the cloud of stone dust that was currently swirling around the spot that the statue had occupied. Frowning, Twilight stepped forward and looked into the cloud, trying to discern what was in there, but the cloud was so thick it was practically opaque. Trotting closer, ever so slowly, her horn lit up and she began to clear the dust away.

It was at this moment that Discord burst out of the smoke, clearing it instantly, and sending Twilight scurrying back in a state of panic. Rising upward, he grabbed her neck with a claw before she could get further away and brought her up to look at him. Giving a smug grin he threw her backwards to land painfully on her flank and clutched his own neck, groaning melodramatically.

“Ahhhhh! Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!”

Most of the ponies ignored the nonsensical comment, rushing over to see if Twilight was okay, however Rainbow Dash frowned and turned to face the Lord of Chaos. “Wait a second, ten thousand years? You’ve only been in that statue for a few months since we last sealed you away!”

“Oh my little Dashie…” Discord teleported towards her, in such a way that it looked as if he was slithering between the dimensions – a truly disconcerting site – and patted her on the head. “…you may not get it but they do!” Grinning he turned and waved an arm as if motioning to an invisible audience.

This just left Rainbow Dash more confused as she turned to look at the empty field. “But… there’s no one there?”

“That’s what you think. Now. Why have you brought little old me back from…?” –At this, he brought his hands into air quotes – “…‘eternal’ banishment?”

Behind Rainbow Dash, Twilight shook off the hooves of her friends and got to her own. “We’ve released you because Celestia asked us to.”

Realising where she was and how close to Discord she had gotten, Rainbow Dash scampered back, forgoing her wings in her panic to get away. As soon as she noticed what she was doing, in front her friends no less, she instantly took to the air and joined the other five ponies (and dragon) that were standing together glaring daggers at Discord.

“Good! It’s about time someone got me out of that prison block! What a relief.” Stretching out with a pleased smile on his face, Discord snapped his fingers and all around the edges of the field that they stood on grass began to blacken and turn into long sharp-looking vines.

Gasping in surprise Twilight stomped her hoof down. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Turning around mid-air in such a way that as many basic rules of the universe were broken as possible, Discord grinned maliciously. “Stretching of course, when one is a being of pure chaos solid stone forms are not the particular go-to fashion choice,”

The joking tone died and his grin became cold. “Especially when you are aware of your situation.” Snapping his fingers again the vines began to spread across the field, turning the normal grass black and capturing any small animals unfortunate enough to come into range. One particular animal caught was a small bunny rabbit that disappeared into the depths of the black vines. Seconds later it emerged, eyes dark and body grossly mutated.

Eyes wide, Pinkie Pie let out a growl. “You make that bunny cute again, now!”

Letting out a soft chuckle Discord floated over to the bunny and scratched its fur under the chin. “I think he’s adorable just the way he is.”The bunny promptly responded by taking a bite at his hand, which prompted a dark glare from the Draconequus and with a small snap of his claw the bunny ceased to be.

“Do you know what else is adorable? You ponies actually believe you can try to reform me.” Looking at each of them in turn he could see the courage they held knowing their precious Elements were there to keep them safe. The thought brought a rage-fuelled glare to his eyes and a menacing tone to his voice. “Or that you can stop me if I don’t.

The funniest thing by far though, is that you’re putting all your trust in this one here!” Teleporting over to said yellow mare, Discord looked at her through an oversized magnifying glass before throwing it away and teleporting again. This time he materialised on the other side of Fluttershy with the attire of an old grandmare. “It makes me want to pinch your little horsey cheeks.” Acting on his words, Discord grabbed one of Fluttershy’s cheeks and pinched it, hard, hard enough for two small pricks of blood to form and for Fluttershy to pull back with a cry of pain.

“Oh come now Fluttershy… Don’t cry because of me.”

With a huff Rainbow Dash rushed forward and put herself between Discord and Fluttershy. “Hey, stay away from her!”

Brought out of the daze she was in by Dash, Twilight took a step forward as well. “And how about telling us how you knew we were planning to reform you!”

Discord spun his head around, body spinning the opposite way, and frowned. “Oh Twilight, being sealed in stone doesn’t keep me from hearing every word Celestia says. Although I admit it makes rolling my eyes rather a challenge.” His grin back, but subdued, Discord popped out his eyes and rolled them along the floor letting them fall into two small holes that had appeared out of nowhere.

“I mean, can you imagine it? Year after year stuck there with absolutely nothing to do. Every day forced to listen to that Princess’s nonsense about friendship and mercy.” The Draconequus let his shoulders slump and sunk to the ground, tears streaming from his empty eye sockets. “It’s ironic really… for so long I sat back and enjoyed my chaotic rule. Not once thinking about what I was doing. Now after so long with nothing to do but think, I seem to have changed.”

“That’s not ironic...That doesn't even make sense!” Twilight said with an insulted tone.

"Exactly!" Discord’s body vanished then rose back up from the ground, complete with eyes, to face the annoyed glare of Twilight. “And unless you want to be turned back to stone you’ll zap those animals back the way they were pronto!”

Clutching his sides, Discord let out a dark laugh. “Oh you wouldn’t use the elements on me and risk disappointing your precious Princess!"

Diving down from her position above the group, Rainbow Dash prodded him sharply with a hoof. “Try us, Dipcord!”

Flying close behind was Fluttershy. “Who do you think you are? You can’t just show up and start ignoring me and my friends, that’s just cruel!”

Shaking his head Discord merely smiled, eyes flashing menacingly. “Oh but I can. You see, you ponies seem to have missed something rather important.”

A worried frown crossed Twilight’s face as she stepped back. “And what’s that?”

With a mood change that that came out of nowhere, Discord teleported directly in front of Twilight and lifted her up into the air, his face a mask of rage and his eyes full of millennia of hate. “I am Discord…”

A flick of the wrist sent Twilight crashing into the floor. “Master of Anarchy…”

A wave of his arm and the black vines all around the field began to grow. “God of Chaos…”

A snap of his claw caused the sky to blacken with clouds of obsidian. “Ruler of this world!”

Rising up into the air Discord gathered chaotic energy to him and glared down at the ponies that were beginning to panic, his eyes awash with lightning, his body surrounded by an aura of crackling darkness. Discord threw his arms wide and a wave of energy surged across the ground, throwing the ponies and the dragon flying back in different directions. “And it’s about time that I ended you pathetic creatures!”

Staggering to her hooves, Twilight brought her magic up just in time to stop a bolt of chaotic energy. Expanding the energy to cover both her and Rarity, who had landed nearby, Twilight looked around, searching for the rest of her friends.

She found Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy first. The blast had sent them both flying off in the opposite direction to Rarity and herself, and it seemed that Fluttershy had been stunned by the force of the blast.

Always quick to react, Rainbow Dash had managed to right herself in mid-air. The move was just in time as barely a second later a projectile similar to the one Twilight had just blocked flew past her, missing by inches.

Gasping in surprise, Rainbow twisted to the side then launched forward and grabbed Fluttershy, pulling her up onto her back and away from the grasping vines that clawed at her from the ground as Twilight watched.

“Rainbow! Over here!” Galloping forward, Twilight levitated Rarity alongside her and moved the shield to cover them as they ran. Hearing Twilight’s shout, Rainbow made a sharp turn in the sky and dove towards the safety of the shield.

Seeing this, Discord growled and brought his hands together and from them launched a volley of grasping claws towards the pegasi.
“Rainbow Dash, watch out!”

Dash threw herself to the right, several claws flying past her. Up ahead, she saw Twilight on her way. She pulled out of the dive hard, another claw barely missing her hind legs. Two strong flaps brought her and Fluttershy over the next claw. A tight roll to the right narrowly dodged another, and before Discord could adjust his aim Rainbow threw herself into another dive. Her trademark rainbow streaking behind her, she forced herself to go faster; every single second counted.

Down below, watching her friend dodge the claws with hardly any time to spare, Twilight prayed for Dash to reach the shield in time. And reach it she did, but at the last second a claw grazed her hoof and with a horrible screeching folded in on itself, latching onto Rainbow’s leg.

Her concentration broken by the claw, Rainbow Dash crashed into the ground, hard, her body rolling over in the dirt as Fluttershy fell from her back. Instantly Twilight was by her side, horn glowing as she lowered Rarity down and focused on fighting the chaotic energy that Discord was channelling.

Rainbow cried out in pain as she flapped her wings frantically, panic setting in. “Get it off, get if off!”

“I can’t get it off if you don’t stay still!” Reaching forward, Twilight grabbed Dash’s tail with her mouth and yanked her to the ground. Placing her hooves on her friend’s leg, Twilight leaned down and pressed her horn to the black claw that was travelling along the cyan mare’s fur.

With a flash of light and the crackle of magic, the claw vanished. Noticing the claw was gone, Rainbow Dash immediately sprung into the air, the relief evident on her face. “I… I could have dealt with it, you know… but thanks, that was pretty scary”

“Don’t worry, I think we’re all a bit scared at the moment. Now, could we please get back to Discord?!”

The four ponies nodded in agreement and got to their hooves. What graced them when the shield faded was a sight to inspire awe. Discord was roaring in fury and launching waves of fire, bolts of chaos and volleys of grasping claws at Pinkie Pie. The force of the magic was immense, but that wasn’t what was so shocking. Standing in the middle of it all was Pinkie Pie. Laughing.

As the magic rained down upon her, Pinkie Pie was laughing. Her melodic giggles echoed beautifully across the field, and as each spell neared her it fizzled and vanished. On her neck the element of laughter was glowing brightly, the light shining from it reflecting in Pinkie’s eyes.

Twilight looked on in wonder, her anxiety allayed briefly by the amazing sight. “How… how is she doing that?”

Applejack stopped for breath and looked up at Twilight “I dunno, sugarcube, but it’s working!”

“Applejack! When did you get here?” Looking to her friend in surprise, Twilight glanced behind Applejack to see a trail of hoof prints leading from a patch of grass far away to where she’d landed to where she stood now.

“While Pinkie Pie was distractin’ him I thought ah’d hightail it over here and help ya’ out.” Twilight nodded.

“You’re right; with you here that makes all of us. Now Pinkie’s given us a chance. We need to use the Elements on him, now!”

Nodding in agreement the five ponies stood together and galloped towards Discord.

The Elements, already primed and ready, linked together and began to charge up. Seething in rage at his failure to kill even one of the blasted Elements, Discord spun around to see the other five together and ready.

Bringing his powers to bear, he sent a wave of black vines, shimmering with energy, lancing through the air to deal with them once and for all. His efforts were for naught, however, as the Elements reacted and brought up a shimmering shield of chromatic light.

Seeing his plan ruined and realising he couldn’t win this fight, Discord shrugged and snapped his fingers. The vines and clouds vanished, all of the animals that had been affected instantly disappeared and within seconds everything was back to normal aside from the shimmering form of the six Elements, radiating enough power to send him back to eternal damnation. “Okay, you passed my little test; I’ll give ‘reforming’ a try.”

“Oh no, your little stunt has shown us that you cannot be trusted. You’re going back to stone!” Twilight responded.

“No! I refuse to be trapped in that horrible form ever again,” Raising his hands Discord gathered the magical energy of chaos to him once again and clicked his fingers.

Eyes wide, Twilight brought the magic of the elements to her horn and, eyes glowing white with the stored energy, sent a chromatic beam in Discord’s direction. It was too late, however. With a spectral pop, and a puff of green smoke, Discord vanished; leaving no sign he was ever there at all.

“No!” Dropping to the ground, Twilight galloped forward, her horn flaring and sending waves of magical energy across the field; hoping, desperately, that she could somehow catch Discord in the middle of his teleport and disrupt his spell. It wasn’t possible, but she didn’t know what else to do.

Her friends merely stood where they’d landed, shock running through them at the events that had just transpired. Not only had Discord gone completely out of control, but they’d let him get away. And no one felt the pain of failing more acutely than Twilight; as her magic faded, she collapsed to her haunches, tears streaming down her face as the implications of their – her – actions sank in.

Author's Note

Well there you have it. Chapter 1. I'd love feedback and know that I've started work on the rest of the story but expect very slow updates. My time to write is very restricted and exams are coming up soon. I just really wanted to post this and see what people thought.

Chapter 2: A Turning Point

That first day is common knowledge amongst all the races. It can be found in history books in all the libraries of Equestria. What is not so well known is the day that followed. The day that, if it had gone differently, could have changed the course of history. If one pony had been more cautious, so much bloodshed could have been avoided, and so many may have been spared.
-From “ Discord’s Second Reign Vol.I:

An Introduction ”

Chapter 2 – A Turning Point

Ponyville was once again bright and sunny. Since the previous day seemingly nothing had changed, but inside the great tree which doubled as a library, nothing was the same. Everything had changed.

To the six ponies and one dragon within, the future was an unknown. And for one pony, Twilight Sparkle, this lack of knowledge was leaving its mark.

At the centre of the library Twilight paced, following a set path which looped around and around a small bust of Celestia in the centre of the room. It was this bust which Twilight focused on as she paced. Her eyes were bloodshot, with dark rims surrounding them, and her mane, fur and tail were messy and un-groomed.

As she paced she muttered pleas for forgiveness along with varying explanations for the events of the previous day. Her attention was so concentrated that she had yet to notice the discharge her horn was letting out, traveling through her body and causing her hooves to leave dark marks on the floor, which as she paced slowly grew into grooves. And by the substantial depth of the groove she was currently walking in, it was apparent she’d been pacing for some time now.

Standing to the side, watching, were her friends and number one assistant. True to his title he’d stayed up all night to make sure she was ok. It was obvious that she wasn’t, but at least he’d managed to make sure she stayed warm and ate enough over the night to keep her strength up.

After one particularly long stream of muttering Twilight fell back on her haunches and let out a choked sob. “How did this happen… how did I let this happen? The Princess is going to be furious! She’ll lock me up… or worse, banish me!”

Pinkie Pie bounced forward with a small smile and leant down so that she could look Twilight in the eye. “Or maybe she’ll banish you then lock you away in the place where she banished you!?”

Twilight looked up at Pinkie, her eyes wide. A few seconds of silence passed, and then a cry of despair was released. Collapsing to the ground, Twilight began to sob weakly into her hooves.

Applejack stepped forward and gently pulled Pinkie Pie back. “Sugarcube, ah don’t think that helped.”

Pinkie Pie frowned and went still, a disconcerting difference from her usual attitude. “I was just trying to make a joke.”

Shaking her head, Rarity patted Pinkie and gave her a small smile “Darling, its ok. These situations require a subtle touch. Allow me.”

With that Rarity slowly lowered herself into the groove created by Twilight’s pacing and sat down. Now in a position to look Twilight straight in the eye, Rarity reached out and put her hoof beneath Twilight’s chin, raising her head so they were looking eye to eye. “Darling, look at me.”

“I failed, Rarity. I failed to stop Discord even with the Elements. Celestia isn’t going to let me stay here after that! She’ll send me back to magic kindergarten and I’ll never get to see any of you ever again!”

“Maybe Celestia will punish you. But, darling , we’re your friends… turning back to face the rest of their group Rarity gave them a pointed look. Applejack was the first to notice.

“Yeah! We’ll always be by your side!”

Pinkie followed with a happy smile as she bounced forward “And we’ll always make sure a smile’s on your face!”

Shortly followed by Rainbow Dash. “And you know you’ll never be let down with us by your side.

Giving a bashful smile, Fluttershy nodded and came to join the rest of them. “Ummm… I… What they said...”

Twilight looked up at her friends and a small smile formed on her face “You guys… really?”

Rarity nodded as she climbed out of the groove, offering her hoof to Twilight. “We’ll be by your side always. Even if that means going to magic kindergarten with you.”

Spike up until this point had been watching from the side lines, not wanting to interrupt the obvious "best friend" moment. However, now he felt it was time to lend his own support, and with a warm smile on his face he joined the rest of the ponies in helping Twilight out of the groove that she'd gotten herself into during the night.

Once Twilight had regained her footing Spike stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her barrel, muttering into her fur, “I don’t care about Discord. I'm just happy you’re ok.”

At that statement Twilight finally seemed to have a genuine smile and as she looked around at her friends her smile only grew. "You know, I've said it before. But it's times like these when I realise that I could never have gotten where I am today without you. You really are the be-"

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE" The door to the library was blown open by a burst of energy and into the library strode what seemed to be the sun itself , eyes blazing and wings outstretched. Twilight was suddenly reminded of an old pony’s chant.

All shall lay happy beneath her light, for her love is as bright as the sun.

All shall be content with what they are given, for her kindness is as warm as its glow.

And all enemies shall fear her wrath, for none can escape its reach

Twilight had never understood the final line of the chant. It seemed so at odds with the Princess’s actions that she couldn’t imagine her having any kind of wrath. However, in that moment the line fit all too well, and left her shaking as Celestia approached.

"P-Princess! Please forgive me, it was my fault, I didn't respond quickly enough. Whatever you do, punish me and not my friends. It was me who failed, not them." As she spoke her voice steadily grew softer and as she finished she stepped forward and bowed down.

"WHERE IS DISCORD?" Celestia moved forward and the temperature in the room skyrocketed. Nopony felt it more than Twilight, whose entire world had narrowed down to the two burning orbs of her mentor and the gaze that they were giving her.

She tried to respond, but the moisture in her mouth had vanished, and it felt like a choir of dragons had decided to perform inside her head.

Despite the pain, Twilight managed to raise herself up off the ground to look at her mentor directly. Forcing the words out of her mouth proved to be a much more difficult challenge, however, and as she spoke each word came out strained "He got away... I'm sorry Princess, but we had no idea that he would respond that way. He was so angry... we didn't know what to do!"

For a brief second the room was still and then, as if a blindfold had been removed, Celestia seemed to notice the ponies in front of her, most notably her faithful student cowering before her hooves. The change was almost instant as Celestia furled her wings back and let the magic she’d unconsciously gathered fade, leaving her eyes to return to normal and the room to cool down. With her magic no longer pulsing throughout the room it suddenly seemed a much less dangerous place, and the ponies before her seemed much less scared.

Seeking to ease the fears of her student Celestia lowered herself down and, with a gentle smile, took Twilight under her wing, humming a slow lullaby under her breath.

Underneath Celestia’s wing, Twilight’s body was beginning to relax as the panic of failure was soothed away by the familiar lullaby. However, as the panic receded a new unfamiliar emotion began to make its presence known.

“I’ve never seen the Princess react like that to anything. What reason could she possibly have to be that aggressive? Is it about the Elements, is it something to do with Discord, or is something wrong with Celestia?”

Her natural curiosity piqued, Twilight decided that there was a reason, be it something or somepony, that must have caused that reaction, and she was going to find it.

After a minute of watching, the rest of the group decided they were no longer at risk of inciting the Princess’ wrath and walked over to stand next to the Princess. As they did so Celestia got to her hooves and gave the six ponies, and dragon, a smile. "I know what you're going to say, and there is no need. I have no intention of punishing Twilight, and I must apologise for my entrance."

With a world-weary sigh Celestia dropped to her haunches, her voice barely audible. "I had hoped it would never come to this..."

Applejack frowned as her ears flicked forward. “Ah’m mighty sorry Princess, but could ya repeat that?"

Celestia shook her head "It is unimportant. What is important is that you listen to my next words very carefully." At this the ponies shifted, bodies tensing and eyes locking onto their ruler.

"I realise that you will be worried about Discord's escape. However, I do not believe that it is as bad as you think it is."

"Not as bad?!" With an outraged cry Rainbow Dash sprang into the air, her wings outstretched in an instinctive display of anger. The same anger which, momentarily, caused her to forget who she was talking to, and allowed her to voice her opinions honestly. "How can you possibly say that letting Discord, the very embodiment of chaos itself, go free is not that bad! If anything, it's not just as bad as we think, it's much worse!"

Celestia merely smiled and shook her head "Rainbow Dash, what is around your neck?"

The unexpected comment gave Dash pause, and with a hesitant motion she put a hoof to her neck to touch the Element of Loyalty. "My Element… why?

With a patient smile and an encouraging nod Celestia said "Yes, and what does that Element do?”
"I.... don't know. It saved Princess Luna and it..."

"Yes?"

Rainbow’s eyes lit up, and she let out a triumphant cheer. “It turned Discord to stone!”

"Well done Rainbow Dash, What you've got to realise is as long as you have the Elements there is nothing that he can do to you. And if he comes out of hiding to try something, it will be a simple task to bring you six to him and turn him back to stone."

A big smile now on her face, Pinkie Pie leant over and looked Celestia in the eye. "Soooo, you're saying that there's nothing to worry about?"

Celestia nodded once more.

"This calls for a... PARTY!" Bouncing into the air with an overenthusiastic cry, Pinkie Pie returned to the ground with a small pink cannon.

"Uh... Sugarcube, is that what ah think it is?"

"Sure is! I stored one in here ages ago in case of a super-special party emergency!"

An alarmed expression on her face, Rarity trotted over and placed a hoof on Pinkie. "Darling... I think maybe the party can wait until the Princess leaves, don't you agree?"

Pinkie dropped back on her flank and put a hoof to her chin, ‘hmmm”ing thoughtfully "I guess we could wait..." Rarity and Applejack both gave small sighs of relief...

...Which were extremely short lived.

“…Or we could make an extra special Celestia is in Ponyville and everything is super-duper-fun party!”

Taking mercy on her little ponies, Celestia shook her head "As lovely as that sounds Pinkie, I am needed in Canterlot post haste. Coming here was a serious breach in my schedule, so your party will, unfortunately, have to wait."

The effect was instantaneous. Pinkie seemed to deflate before everypony’s eyes. Her ears flattened against her head and her eyes filled with water. Without missing a beat, Celestia continued. “But of course it sounds delightful, and I can't wait to attend when you throw it... oh, say, two weeks from now?"
With a burst of streamers Pinkie Pie leapt back up into the air, landing on her hind legs and saluting. "You can count on me Princess! One super-duper Celestia is Ponyville and everything is super-duper-fun party in two weeks coming up!"

The small smile never having left her face, Celestia nodded and gave the group of ponies’ one last look-over. "I'm just glad you're all ok, and remember Discord is harmless while you have the elements, so there is no need to worry."

A round of affirmatives from the group resulted in a contented nod from Celestia as she walked out of the library, leaving the six friends alone again.

In the wake of Celestia’s departure the group turned to each other and exchanged small looks of relief.

Bumping Twilight with her hoof, a grin on her face, Applejack tipped her hat up. “Well ah guess all that worrying was for nothing, eh Sugarcube?”

Twilight didn’t respond, staring out of the open door and into the distance, her eyes glazed over and a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Ahhh… Sugarcube?”

With a small start Twilight turned to face Applejack, looking like she’d been caught with her hoof in a cookie jar and blinked. “I'm sorry Applejack, what did you say?”

“Ah said I guess all that worrying was for nothing, right?”

Twilight hesitantly nodded and looked back out of the door “I guess so… It’s just that—”

“The Princess was awfully frightening when she came in with those big glowy eyes with all the TWILIGHT SPARKLE and shouting and stuff, and that isn’t like anything you’ve seen before and now you’re questioning what you know about the Princess because of it and you think that if that’s how she can be maybe she’s not the omnibenevolent goddess you know. Pinkie Pie stated with a calm look on her face.

There was silence.

Broken, after a brief moment, by Applejack “Ah don’t know about you lot, but that sounded pretty farfetched to me; what’s actually the reason Twi?”

Six sets of eyes turned to the unicorn in question and most, but not all, were surprised to see Twilight nodding slowly. “Actually… that’s pretty much spot-on, Pinkie. The only time I’ve ever seen the Princess even slightly as upset as that was when she was telling me about the Crystal Empire!”

Fluttershy gave a small smile. “Maybe she was just worried for us. I know that if any of you girls were in any sort of trouble I’d be just so angry!”

Raising an eyebrow at the soft tone that was Fluttershy’s ‘angry voice’, Rainbow Dash grinned and placed a calming hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, we’re all safe now. Besides Twilight has a point!”

A brief few seconds of silence were spent with the room’s occupants looking expectantly in Dash’s direction, one or two of them with slightly annoyed looks at the sarcastic way Dash had treated Fluttershy. However when no extra information was forthcoming, Twilight decided the waiting had gone on long enough. “Go on.”

“Go on what?” Rainbow Dash replied with a confused look.

“You said that I had a point.”

“Well of course you have a point!”

Another few seconds of nothing were followed by an exasperated sigh from Twilight “Would you like to explain the point to the rest of us maybe?”

“O-oh right!” – Rainbow Dash shuffled about, a blush forming on her cheeks – “Yea of course… I was going to do that. I just thought someone else might have had something to say. Didn’t want to be rude and all so I just thou-“

“Rainbow Dash please ! Could you just… tell us?”

“Ok, geez Twilight, calm down would you? Anyway, the point is that we know all this stuff about Celestia but do we really know it? Do we really know what we think is true, is true? Like all this stuff she says to us, she just says and assumes we’ll believe it. Well I'm starting to question it all. Ok sure the Elements were needed to stop Discord, and I guess Celestia wasn’t around when Nightmare Moon showed up. But how come we are the only ones being sent off to unknown empires and through changeling invasions to get our elements, when the two all-powerful rulers don’t do anything!”

As she’d been talking Rainbow Dash had slowly but surely gotten angrier, her wings lifting her up higher and higher until with her final sentence she threw her hooves up with a shout.

“I mean come on, I didn’t even see Princess Luna at the wedding? Where was she, huh?”

A slightly offended, and shocked, look adorning her face, Rarity grabbed Dash’s wings with her magic and dragged her back down to the floor. “Rainbow! That is simply no way to speak about the Princesses. I'm sure they have a very good reason for the things they do!”

“Oh come on Rarity, surely even you can see through all that Canterlot glamor to all the strange things going on around those two!”

“Ah! How could you even think to question Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? I couldn’t even begin to imagine what would make you believe th–”

“She’s right.”

Cut off mid-rant, Rarity, along with Applejack, looked over at Twilight with dumbstruck expressions. “I'm sorry, darling, but it sounded like you just said this slander that Dash has been spouting was correct.”

“That’s exactly what I'm saying, Rarity. I’ve never questioned Celestia or Luna before, but did you girls see what happened yesterday!? That wasn’t just malicious pranking or dark tricks. That was straight up evil and… and… Celestia told us to free him.” Twilight finished her sentence with a heavy sigh, her body slumping down as tears began to gather at the corners of her eyes.

This, however, did not stop her from continuing. “I mean, what do we really know about the Princesses? All this power and we have no idea why we’re using it. I mean how long have the Princesses ruled? Over a thousand years, that’s for sure, and Discord ruled before them. We’re just simple ponies trying to understand the thoughts of immortal alicorns with more knowledge and experience than we’ll ever have!”

“Ah dunno about you, Sugarcube, but I think that’s a perfect reason for us to leave well alone. We have the Elements, and the Princess has promised us that we don’t need to worry. Way I reckon it, we just carry on as if nothing’s happened, and if Discord shows up again then we blast him with these,” – Applejack lifted up the Element around her neck, – “and show him who’s boss.”

During Applejack’s talk Rarity had begun to nod and as Applejack finished Rarity stepped forward. “I for one think that Applejack is right. Why should we question the Princesses? They obviously know what they’re doing, and it’s just like Princess Celestia said; we have the Elements, and from the light show that Pinkie was performing yesterday it seems Discord is unable to harm any of us while we’re wearing them.”

Pinkie Pie giggled and put her hoof around Rarity’s shoulders “Yeperoonie. I don’t know why you silly ponies are worrying so much!”

Shaking her head, Twilight looked to Pinkie and Rarity with a serious expression. “You girls know it’s not that simple. Even if we ignore the extremely convenient fact that Discord seems to have no defence against the elements, which makes no sense by the way ,” – Twilight added under her breath – “He can still cause serious chaos, and I think it would be best if we’re all careful in the future.”

The group of friends nodded, and so Twilight continued. “And I’d like to study the Elements over the next few weeks so I’ll probably be asking you to come over to the Library at some point, are you all ok with that?”

“Of course, Sugarcube…”

“Okie dokie…”

“Yea sure…”

“Ummm ok…”

“Of course darling.”

“Great! Well if you’d all excuse me, I have some research to get done!” With that statement the ponies began to filter out of Twilight’s home, leaving to catch up with their tasks for the day. One by one they went until only Applejack remained, stopping at the door and turning around to face Twilight.

“Ah, Sugarcube, I think before you start on your books maybe ya should get some shut eye?”

Twilight, who had already gotten three or four heavy-looking tomes set up on her study table, looked up and gave a sheepish smile. “Actually Applejack, I think that’s a great idea…thanks”

“No problem Twilight, always here to help.” Applejack replied before shutting the door behind her, leaving Spike and Twilight alone in the Library.

True to her words, Twilight pushed the books to one side and got to her hooves, beginning the walk upstairs. Despite her body’s exhaustion, her mind was racing at a million miles an hour, and as she entered her room she found herself walking towards the balcony rather than her bed, her hooves carrying her to the window as her brain tried to process the plethora of thoughts inside it.

“The Elements truly are amazing, but these past two days have thrown so much into confusion that I'm not sure where we stand. On one side Celestia has never steered us wrong before and the Elements don’t seem to have gone anywhere…” From atop her head a soft lavender glow began to emanate.

“But on the other side Rainbow Dash had a good point. How much does Celestia really tell us…? It seems like we’re in the dark most of the time, and yet we’re the ones who should know the most!”

A similar glow surrounded Twilight’s horn and little spectral images of her friends, the elements and Discord appeared around her.

“My friends and I are the bearers of the Elements…” The Elements floated towards their spectral bearers and connected.

“However we hardly know anything about them, and originally they were used by the Princesses…” Images of the Princesses appeared and the Elements moved to them.

“No one knows where the Princesses got the Elements except them, and no one really knows what they can do. We do know, however, that they have different effects in different circumstances… They turned Nightmare Moon back to Princess Luna… and they turned Discord to stone.”

Spectral re-enactments of those events occurred around Twilight as various pieces of information and scenes began to appear around her in the same shimmering form. As they did so Twilight turned and walked back into her room, giving the images room to spread out. “Of course these events link back to us meeting… and thus the sonic rainboom and…”

Very rapidly the room began to fill with different little floating images and lines of text that floated through the air to group together in an ever growing maze of information. After the room had been filled with these pictures, links began to join different parts, slowly at first but rapidly speeding up, and as the links began to appear faster and faster the Element on her head began to glow brighter with a shimmering aura.

Soon hundreds of connections had been made, the room becoming a web of information and links. And through this web Twilight strode, following the path she saw, leading her closer and closer to realisation, her Element continuing to shine brighter and brighter.

“All the different dots, all the unknowns. They all link up, everything connects and it all leads to one point…” The links began to glow, speeding from one point to another, all of them leading closer and closer to the centre of the web, and the closer they got the more brilliantly the Element shined.

Closer and closer they flew until with a burst of chromatic light they all reached one thing. “…Discord!”

Meanwhile in Canterlot, a certain princess had just returned, and as she landed on her balcony, she was greeted by a fearsome sight. Donned in silver and black armour, Princess Luna galloped forward, two shimmering blades of midnight energy floating beside her as she came to a stop.

“Sister! Thou hast heard of Discord’s escape! The Royal Guard have been mobilised and we have donned our royal armour, we wait naught but you to lead us into battle!”

Celestia took a step back, her eyes widening before shaking her head and removing the fearsome helmet Luna wore. “Worry not my sister. The problem has been taken care of, and the royal guard will not be necessary today.”

This statement was met with a cold stare, and after a few tense seconds Celestia raised her eyebrow and frowned. “What?”

“We doth mean no offense, but that is easily the most idiotic thing we hath heard you say since my return. And that is not a statement we would make lightly!” Luna strode forward and pushed her face close to Celestia’s own, their horns tapping together lightly. “Hast thou forgotten all the danger Discord poses? Hast thou grown complacent over our one thousand years of absence!? It is bad enough that you sent us away when thou knew the changelings were mobilising, but this borders on the insane…”-

“Luna please, I-“

“…and the arrogant! How could you possibly think…”

“Luna wait I was going to-“

“…that letting the most dangerous being go was anything but imbecilic, I can’t believe how stupid-”

“LUNA LISTEN TO ME!”

The entire castle seemed to go silent as the echoes of the elder sister’s Royal Canterlot Voice faded away, and in that silence the two were left eye to eye, muzzle to muzzle. One looked annoyed and the other looked very shocked, her ears pinned back and her eyes wide. “Now are you finished shouting at me? Because I’d like to explain.”

Luna had the decency to look abashed and nodded, stepping back. “O-of course.”

Smiling softly, Celestia pulled Luna into a hug, stroking her mane. “Listen to me, Luna. I did not just decide to let Discord go. I had a perfectly good reason.”

“I can’t think of any reason good enough to justify this.” Luna scoffed.

“Well it’s been so long since he last ruled that chaos no longer holds sway over Equestria. He is dangerous, yes, but he is nowhere near as powerful as he used to be.”

“I don’t understand.” – Luna leant back and looked her sister in the eye – “Why would he be any less powerful just because we rule and he doesn’t?”

“It is complicated, sister. There are many things that I learned in the years of your absence.” As she spoke Celestia broke the hug and strode over to a large blackboard on the wall, using her magic to draw rough diagrams to accompany her words.

“The magic of Equestria is constantly in shift, with chaotic and harmonic magic becoming stronger or weaker as the state of the world changes. Because it has been so long since Discord ruled, and because we have taught our ponies to live in harmony, the balance has shifted towards harmony.”

Celestia motioned to a scale in front of her diagrams and drew a large arrow towards the harmony side before continuing.

“Because of this, a natural inhibitor on chaotic and evil magic and, in counterpoint, an amplifier of harmonic and good magic is currently covering Equestria.”

Luna’s eye lit up and she grinned, jumping to her hooves. “Which means that Discord is less powerful, and we are more powerful!”

Celestia nodded and, giving her best motherly smile, erased the blackboard and strode over to Luna. “Correct you are, my little pony.” She said as she ruffled her sister’s mane with a hoof.

“Uhh, I am not one of your subjects, Tia.” Luna huffed and brushed Celestia’s hoof away. “I do not need to be babied”

“Maybe not, Luna, but I feel that perhaps your little outburst was not quite for the reasons you made it out to be.”

Luna’s eyes widened and she shuffled nervously on the spot, coughing awkwardly before continuing. “I… I have no idea what you mean, sister…” She looked down then, clearly distressed.

The silence in the room stretched on as Celestia waited patiently for Luna to compose herself, and almost two minutes later Luna looked up, her eyes damp and red. “I was worried for you! I thought you could have been hurt or that Discord might have captured you again. And I don’t think I could have lived with myself if I hadn’t been there to help you again…”

“Luna… I told you that it wasn’t your fault! What happened back then had nothing to do with your actions. It was entirely my fault for putting myself at risk without thinking of the consequences.” As she spoke, Celestia walked over to Luna and embraced her.

“Thank you sister… I know that it is wrong to blame myself, but sometimes I need reminding.” Returning the hug for a while, Luna eventually gave a sly grin and bopped Celestia on the nose with her hoof. “Now if we’re done being sad let us go do something! I tire of paperwork!”

“Wait, Luna… Luna… Wait for me!” The laughter of the two Princesses filled the castle halls that night.

Author's Note

Hey! So I've done another chapter! Woo is me!
I'd completely forgotten last chapter to mention my amazing beta reader: http://www.fimfiction.net/user/The+Pink+Mugsy
Big shout out for all his help.

Chapter 3: Manipulation and Creation

And so life returned to normal. At least as normal as it ever got in Ponyville. And as the days passed the group of friends put the worries they had to the back of their minds. Most of them at least.
-From “Discord’s Second Reign” Vol.I:

Chapter 3: The Calm before the Storm

Chapter 3 – A Confused Harmony

Twilight groaned and threw yet another book to the side, while simultaneously dragging the next dusty tome in front of her, “it just doesn’t make any sense! How can none of these books have any first-hand information on the Elements?”

Sat at her study desk, Twilight was surrounded by books of all types and sizes. Everything from ancient history books to state of the art modern magical theory were strewn about, some open with a sentence or phrase highlighted, and others tossed away.

The closed curtains and the bright white reading light at the tip of her horn gave the room an ominous air which was in no way eased by Twilight’s dishevelled state or the heavy silence that was only broken by the faint background hum of magic and the scratching of quill on parchment.

...seems like the true nature of the magic is much more complicated than I first assumed.

After researching extensively into the Elements of Harmony’s history I have managed to conclude that the Elements are more than simple enchanted amulets. Whereas an enchanted piece of jewellery can contain a spell or magical matrix that the user can use, the Elements seem to be much more complicated.

After studying the outer layers of the Element of Magic’s matrices once more I sensed the presence of a very familiar magical aura. That of Princess Celestia. In addition during my research I have come across a few references to ‘objects’ which I believe are the Elements of Harmony. It seems a strange coincidence that all of these mentions come after the supposed war against Discord.

This brings me to onto the final item of note. There is no evidence that there ever was a war against Discord and I believe that it is possible this is because there wasn’t one. There is not even a single mention of Discord anywhere and despite looking through many of the oldest history books in the Canterlot archives I have yet to find anything to disprove this theory.

In light of these facts, the complicity of this new magic, and it’s relation to the Elements, I will be setting up an Arcanum chamber to…

It was this scene that Spike walked in on, holding a tray of daffodil sandwiches and a glass of water.

“Twilight! You’ve been at this for days now, you need to get out of the library.” – Spike strode over, pulling the curtains back and filling the room with warm sunlight, a sudden change which left both pony and dragon shielding their eyes and turning away. – “All this reading can’t be doing you any good!”

There was no response from the studying unicorn and, snorting in anger, Spike strode over and placed the tray of food directly on top of the book Twilight was currently reading. “Are you even listening…Twilight?”

As the tray was placed in front of her, Twilight flinched back and looked up to see Spike standing before her, hand on hip with a very annoyed expression on his face. “Twilight really, when was the last time you went outside?”

Waving her hoof in apathy Twilight pushed the tray to the side, looking back to her book “Relax Spike, I’ll go out after I finish this section, I’m close to getting somewhere, I can feel it!”

“You said that the last time I came up, and the time before that! In fact I remember the book you were reading when I came up yesterday. It was ‘Enchanted Artefacts and Their Affect’s on Magic’ . How long ago was it since you finished that?”

Twilight looked up and for a brief second her element and her eyes shimmered with neon purple light. “Oh that’s easy spike, from Enchanted Artefact’s I saw a passage about magical amulets which lead me to ‘Mystical Jewellery’ which referred to ancient necklaces of power made long ago which of course led me to ‘Symbols of Authority Throughout the Ages’ and in there I saw a chapter detailing the removal of those symbols to make way for the harmony that came about when the Wendigos were defeated which led me to-

“Ok stop!”

Twilight blinked with her mouth half open then snapped it shut with a sheepish grin “Sorry Spike, I just feel so… alive you know? It’s like the more I study the Elements the more questions I find and every question just makes me that much more eager to keep studying.”

Rolling his eyes Spike nodded “Don’t worry, I know how you can get Twilight.”

“And just what is that supposed to mean Spike?” Twilight replied with a raised eyebrow.

Spike’s eyes widened and he turned away, blushing “ummm, nothing. Nothing at all.”

With a slightly disgruntled look Twilight said “You’re lucky I'm tired from studying, or else I’d probably find the energy to be angry about that. Regardless, what time is it?”

“Oh! Umm… Half past one.” Spike responded, happy that the topic of conversation had changed.

Twilight frowned, scratching her head with one hoof “Wait, I’ve only been studying for three hours?”

Spike looked at Twilight with a dumbfounded expression, “I can’t… How do you… Twilight it’s half past one on Monday! You’ve been studying for almost two days straight! I don’t even know how you’re still awake.”

“Two days? It doesn’t feel like two days…” Humming thoughtfully, Twilight glanced upwards towards the Element on her head however any thoughts she was having were swept away as, with a start, her brain processed what had just been said.

“Wait!” Jumping to her hooves Twilight looked around, her body shaking slightly “It can’t be Monday! I promised I’d help Rarity today with her magic.” Twilight pushed her chair away and levitated a few select books from around the room, stuffing them into her saddlebags as she rushed about. “Spike why didn’t you tell me what time it was?”

“I tried bu-” Spike began but before he could finish Twilight had already teleported out of the room.

For a few seconds the room was silent until… “Oh come on!”

Stomping out the room, Spike took a second to check the room was clear before slamming the door. “She didn’t even eat her lunch”

“Oh I do hope it’s nothing serious” Rarity moaned, pacing back and forth in her boutique. The steady tapping of her hooves against wood echoing through the Carousel. Much to the annoyance of a certain filly.

“Oh come on sis! Just let me go, she’ll be her soon, please.”

Rarity stopped her pacing and turned to face Sweetie “We agreed that once Twilight arrived to help me with my magic, and only once she’d arrived, you could out and play with your friends. And that’s only because Twilight didn’t think it would be good for you to be inside while we’re practising. Your still being punished for buying that ridiculous hairdryer with Applejack’s gem.

“Aww, but I told you Rarity, we only did that to look after all the pets we we’re pet sitting!” Sweetie replied with a whine.

“I don’t care what you were just doing, the fact of the matter is you spent Applejack’s hard earned money without asking her, now you’ll wait here until Twilight arr-“

The sounds of rapid knocking came from the door, cutting of Rarity mid speech. “Ah, that is probably her now. See Sweetie, a little patience goes a long way.”

Trotting over to the door Rarity pulled it open to the sight of a very dishevelled Twilight. Her mane looked like it hadn’t been brushed at all and her fur was slightly matted around the barrel. A clear sign that she’d been spending too long in her study.

“Oh my, dear you look positively awful! What happened to you?”

Twilight opened her mouth then shook her head and looked to the floor, panting. Rarity grinned, leaning against the door frame while waiting for Twilight to catch her breath. “Don’t worry darling, take as long as you need.”

After a minute or so Twilight managed to get her breathing under control and with one last deep breath she looked up “I’m so sorry I’m late Rarity, I was really busy and I lost track of time. Thankfully spike reminded me and I rushed here as soon as I could, I didn’t really have time to… freshen up.”

As she realised the kind of state she must be in, Twilight blushed and tried to smooth her mane down, brushing herself off as discreetly as she could.

“No harm done. Although perhaps we should head inside and have some tea before we start? Relax a bit.” As rarity spoke she stepped back and waved Twilight in with a hoof.

Nodding in agreement Twilight entered the boutique, thanking Rarity with a nod as both mares headed to the kitchen. “Sweetie Belle! Twilight’s here, you can go now!”

“Thanks sis!” The sound of filly hooves striking wooden floorboards sounded through the house for a few seconds, followed by the opening and closing of a door.

“So Rarity…” – Twilight started as she sat down, watching Rarity as she bustled about the kitchen making tea – “…is there any reason exactly you want to practise magic with me?”

Turning to face Twilight Rarity nodded, the different ingredients of the tea and the cups still moving around behind her.

“Well darling it really is quite simple. In my line of work I tend to always be moving a lot of different fabrics and I use magic so often that it’s second nature to me. However I never attended a magical school so the most instruction I got was some lessons from my mother and I really would like to know a bit more about magic in general, especially spell casting.” As she spoke Rarity finished creating the tea and moved to sit at the table, placing Twilight’s tea in front of her.

Twilight accepted the tea with a smile and took a sip “ Mmmmm , delicious as always Rarity. Although I must say you seem to have a firm grasp on magic already, if your manipulation of the teacups is any indication.”

Rarity placed her cup down and looked at Twilight with an unconvinced expression on her face. “Darling I hardly even use magic except during work and even that is just simple levitation, I’d hardly say I’m an expert, or even a good spell caster!”

“You say that Rarity but you just levitated over five different objects while talking to me, not to mention you were also manipulating those objects in a specific way to achieve an outcome as well.”

Rarity frowned and looked over her shoulder at the items she’d used to make the tea, “I guess, but that was just for a short period.”

“Don’t worry Rarity, I have no intention of refusing to help you. I just think maybe you underestimate yourself” Twilight smiled and finished her tea, levitating the cup over to the sink and raising from her chair. “Regardless, let’s get stared!”

Rarity nodded and followed Twilight out into the main open area of the Carousel. At which point Twilight turned round with a huge smile on her fact “Alright, Class is in session. Now you said your lessons came from your mother so you only got taught the basics. In that case I’ll be starting from the beginning, is that ok?”

Rarity nodded and smiled “of course.”

“Good! First thing’s first let’s look at your telekinesis.”

Twilight got out a small notebook and levitated it up “As you know a unicorn’s telekinetic ability is something that they are born with, the ability to move and manipulate objects in the world. This is usually the only thing a unicorn without a magically inclined Cutie Mark will ever learn. Although small utility spells can be learnt with relative ease.”

As she spoke Twilight began to draw on the notepad, levitating both in mid-air. “As you can see it is a simple task that requires almost no thought, at least for basic manipulation. Now let’s see how advanced yours is.”

Twilight reached into her saddlebag and drew out ten small orbs and levitated one over to Rarity.
“As you most likely know the more familiar a unicorn is with an object the easier it is for the unicorn to manipulate the object. I’m sure you can sense the difference between your favourite sewing tools and, for instance, the branches on a tree outside.”

“Of course, it’s why I usually spend a few hours practising with anything I’m going to use in my dressmaking. And it is of course vital that I know the feel of the fabric before I start using it.”

Twilight grinned “Yes, I’m sure it is. So take a minute to get a feel for the orb, practice moving it about, get used to the weight. It should be very easy to pick up considering it’s designed for practice. The balls are symmetrical, have a perfect centre of mass…” – As twilight continued to talk Rarity began to toss the orb back and forth, spinning it around and generally getting a feel for it – “…as smooth a surface as possible and the orbs are inlaid with faint lines of crushed topaz to increase magical sensitivity.”

After a few seconds of practising Rarity nodded contently “I’m ready darling.”

“Are you sure Rarity? That was awfully fast to get in tune to an object, even one like this.”

“I’m pretty sure.” Rarity said with a reassuring smile.

Twilight shrugged and nodded to herself “Well I guess if you’re ready…”

Raising the other nine orbs, Twilight started to explain, “now I’m going to throw these at you one at a time, all you have to do is catch each one and hold it in the air, ok?”

Rarity nodded and widened her stance, her eyes taking on a focused look as Twilight raised the orbs. A brief pause was all the time she had before Twilight tossed the first one. Purple magic was replaced by blue as the ball came to a stop in mid-air, perfectly still.

Twilight nodded, an impressed look on her face “Well you certainly have control over your telekinesis. That ball didn’t even wobble. Now let’s see how good you are at focusing on multiple things.”

Twilight continued to throw orbs at Rarity one by one, each one being caught in a light blue glow and coming to a complete stop. After almost no time at all Rarity was left with 10 orbs hovering in her magical grip, a slightly surprised look on her face.

“Is that it darling? I cannot imagine anypony having trouble with such a simple task.”

Grinning like an idiot, pleased that her ‘first’ student was so skilled, Twilight stepped forward and raised an eyebrow, “is that so Rarity? Because I’ll have you know that the majority of unicorns have trouble holding more than three orbs in such a steady state and most unicorns can’t hold more than six before they drop them all.”

“You have got to be joking me.” Rarity responded, her body relaxing as she stared at Twilight with a doubtful gaze.

“Not at all Rarity, your telekinesis is very well developed, but before I make any final opinions let’s test your ability to manipulate the orbs.”

Rarity nodded and Twilight started to run through a series of different manipulation practices. For the next ten minutes the room was full of small orbs flying left right and centre, spinning and being guided through small gaps. Despite the variety and the difficulty of some tasks, Rarity completed every task given to her even if some of them left her with eyes shut and horn shimmering brightly.

Eventually there was only one task left and, when told this, Rarity gave a sigh of relief.

“Ok Rarity, final task, I want you to do the ten exercises we just went through but I want you to do each exercise simultaneously with the others, putting one orbs through the motions of each exercise. Do you think you can do that?”

“If I’m honest darling I didn’t think I could do half of the exercises you just set me, but considering I did those I guess I may as well try this one as well,” Rarity responded with a weak smile.

“That’s the spirit Rarity!” Flipping through her notebook, Twilight gave a small nod, “from everything you’ve showed me so far it seems like you excel at basic telekinesis so I’m sure you’ll be able to do this.”

“Well if you’re sure darling…” Rarity brought the orbs in front of her, her horn flickering with a faintest traces of magic, as she got herself prepared, widening her stance and taking a deep breath.

After a few more seconds the orbs began to move, each one following a different path.

At first the orbs wobbled as Rarity hesitantly guided them along, her eyes squeezed shut and her face scrunched up in concentration as she tried to focus on guiding the ten different orbs along ten different paths, her horn glowing brightly as she channelled her magic to keep the balls steady.

As time passed however the orbs began to speed up. The easier motions becoming automatic, freeing up more attention for the complex tasks, until within minutes all orbs were travelling in perfect synchronisation, travelling around Rarity in various routes. Meanwhile the magical aura of her horn had died down to a soft glow.

Watching this spectacle, Twilight let out a small gasp “Wow Rarity, that’s amazing!”

“Hardly, I’ve seen you casting your spells, this is nothing compared to what you can do” Rarity responded, the Orbs still orbiting perfectly.

“My talent is in magical spell casting, I’ve never had such control over my telekinesis and by the very dim glow of your horn you’re using hardly any magic to cast it! That tells me you’re not only very skilled but that you are very confident as well.”

Eyes widening, Rarity looked at Twilight with a sceptical expression on her face. All around her the orbs dropped to the floor and the sound of enchanted crystal hitting solid wood resonated throughout the room. “No offense meant Darling, but that has got to be the worst lie I have ever heard.”

“Ignoring the fact you just dropped all ten of the orbs, something which wasn’t your fault, you completed those tasks without a single mistake. Something I’ve never been able to do.”

With her face still displaying shock, Rarity shook her head and brought a hoof up to rub her ear. “I must be mistaken, you can’t possible of just said that I am stronger than you!”

“Yep!” – Eyes sparkling in joy, Twilight galloped over to Rarity and showed her the notepad – “It must be all the telekinesis you do every day when you’re working. Admittedly I use my telekinesis often and occasionally I’ll do a big sort out at the library which will involve a lot of heavy lifting but it’s nothing compared to what you do.”

Rarity glanced from the notepad to Twilight. It was clear that Twilight was extremely happy to have someone to teach and from the sincere smile on her face and the excited sparkle in her eyes she was telling the truth. “I find that very hard to believe Twilight, all I do with my telekinesis is use my sewing tools.”

Looking to Rarity with a knowing grin Twilight said “Yes and how long do you work for each day?”

“Usually from nine to five on a normal day although I sometimes work much longer when I need to get a particularly big project finished…” Rarity responded hesitantly.

“And how many objects do you control with your magic on a regular basis?” Twilight continued.

“Well let’s see. I usually manage the sewing machine with my magic… When I'm working on a particularly delicate piece I’ll hold up the dress, my needles and thread of course, and any small gems or important materials up as well.”

“So on average you’re manipulating either two very complicated objects for long periods of time or you’re working with dozens of different simple objects and manipulating them with fine detail.”

Dawning recognition showing on her face, Rarity nodded “And because I do this so often I have developed a natural skill, as it were, for telekinesis.” – Twilight nodded, motioning for Rarity to continue. – “But because my telekinesis is so advanced I assume that my magical power is too low because my spell casting is less refined and I don’t use it as much!”

Rarity gave a little jump of joy and turned to Twilight, her own excited smile now mirroring Twilight’s, who said “Exactly! I think, and this is just an observation mind you, that you’ve gotten so used to your consistent use of telekinesis that you don’t realise how skilled you really are. As you can see here I have written out a few…”

The two unicorns continued to discuss the nuances of magic as they headed to the kitchen for another cup of tea. As they sipped at the tea Twilight racked her brain for a description which would explain the magical theory properly. “Listen Rarity, magic is a lot like… It’s like… Like….” Humming in thought, Twilight rested her head on her hooves and frowned.

Across the table from her Rarity took a long sip of her tea and smiled “Take as long as you need dear, no rush.”

After a minute or so Twilight threw her hoof up with a triumphant cheer “Got it! Magic is like Hoof ball.”

Rarity tilted her head in confusion and placed her tea down “Hoof ball? Darling I’m not seeing the connection here.”

“Well, Hoof ball players need to be fit, right?” Twilight said, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

“Of course.” Rarity responded.

“They need to be able to kick the ball hard and if they get knocked down they need to be tough enough to get straight back up don’t they?”

Nodding slowly, Rarity said “Yes… Still missing the point.”

“Well they also need to skilled at manoeuvring with the ball, don’t they?”

“Go on,” Rarity said, a hint of understanding entering her voice.

“Well magic is a lot like Hoof Ball. You can be as tough and fit as you like, you can do exercise every day and make sure you’re in top condition for every game but that isn’t all you need to do.”

“I see what you’re saying, there’s two different parts to magic, fitness and skill?”

“Well no.”

Rarity’s expression dropped and she seemed to sink in her chair.

“Now now! That’s not saying that you’re wrong. It’s just the analogy I’m using isn’t… as sophisticated as I’d like. But if we ignore that aspect, what I’m saying is that you, personally, spend every day working on your magic and practising your telekinesis, even if it’s just to fulfil another task, which means that your ‘fit’ and tha-“

Grinning, Rarity tilted her head to the side, her mane falling over her face seductively “What are you saying Twilight, you find me attractive?”

Twilight’s speech trailed off into spluttering, her entire train of thought derailed, and stared at Rarity. “Uhh… of course not I just… Well it’s not that you’re not attractive… I just didn’t… It wasn’t… Of course you are… I’m just not attracted… I’ll shut up now.”

Rarity grinned as Twilight hung her head, covering her face with her hooves. “Darling, no need to be embarrassed, I was merely joking. Regardless I think I understand what you’re saying. Telekinesis is how much stamina and endurance you have. And because I use magic so often I have high stamina, even higher than yours. On the other hand spells require training to use because they need you to learn them and remember how to use each spell before you can cast them, correct?”

Twilight looked up from behind her hooves and gave a slow nod “Yes… as I was saying, you are an extremely fit, magically speaking, unicorn whereas I am more studious. Which means I can cast spells which are more complicated than you but…” Twilight trailed off, motioning for Rarity to finish as she sipped her tea.

“…but… even though the more powerful spells look like stronger magic… they’re just more complicated and don’t necessarily mean the user is stronger!” Rarity finished, her speech hesitant at first but becoming more confident as she went.

Twilight smiled, nodding as she finished her tea “Exactly. Both types of magic require a different type of practice and we, specifically, have trained in different areas. Therefore despite my advantage in spell casting you are actually stronger than me, telekinetically speaking.”

Twilight levitated her cup over to the sink and dropped it in, gathering up her training orbs and notepad and putting them into her saddlebags. “If you’ve finished your tea I’d like to head out to Saddle Lake so that we can practice some area affecting spells.

Rarity let out a muffled hum of agreement and finished off the remains of her tea, placing the cup into the sink as she followed Twilight out. “I’d be happy to, lead the way darling.”

The two unicorns travelled north out of Ponyville and into the hilly regions between the Everfree forest and Canterlot Peak, trotting through the low lying regions to avoid the strong winds created by the winds from the plains north of Canterlot. After an hour of walking they came through a particularly high set of hills into a beautiful glade.

The shimmering-crystal clear Lake before them was nestled into a basin amongst the hills, protecting it from the harsh winds and allowing life to flourish in the warm sunlight. Surrounding the water were brightly coloured flowers, blooming in the summer heat and interspersed around the Lake’s edge were large fruit trees, filling the basin with the chirping of birds the smell of ripe fruit.

As the two travelled down to the Lake’s edge Rarity commented “I’ve never been here before and I find myself regretting it, it truly is beautiful.”

Twilight nodded, lowering herself onto the soft grass at the banks of the water “Mmhmm, I come here when I want to practice magic without the distraction of other ponies or when I just want some time to myself. Most of the time I end up falling asleep regardless of my original intentions…” – turning to look at Rarity, who was stretching out in the sunlight, Twilight grinned and gently prodded her with a hoof – “Of course we’re here to practice, so up you get.”

“Oh if I must” Rarity whined, getting to her hooves with a sigh.

“Now the first thing I need to know is how much you know about the uses of telekinesis and what the differences are between the various kinds”

Rarity gave a quiet hum of contemplation before starting, “well the main types I can think of are: Manipulative, Creative and… ummm.” Sitting back on her haunches, Rarity frowned as she tried to remember the last one she knew. After a few seconds this thinking was broken by muffled giggles coming from opposite her.

“Hey! What’s so funny?”

Waving a hoof, Twilight smiled and shook her head, “nothing Rarity. Nothing at all.”

“I hardly think it’s nothing considering those silly little noises you’re making!” Rarity said, stomping her hoof on the ground.

“It’s just that, your face gets all scrunched up when you’re thinking!” Twilight responded.

“It does not! I’ll have you know that…” Rarity started, as she walked towards the water, only to trail off as she saw her reflection.

“Well… Now that you mention it, I guess it is a little bit… scrunched” Rarity finished with a soft giggle.

Twilight joined in, the two mares laughing happily in the glade as they leant on each other, lapsing into peaceful silence as they simply watched the sun pass through the sky and the water on the lake shimmer.

The silence was broken a few minutes later when Twilight stood up and turned to rarity with a warm smile. “All right, time to get down to business.”

Rarity nodded and got to her own hooves, the two unicorns moving into a small-open field of grass near the lake.

“Now Rarity, you were correct when you mentioned Creative and Manipulative. The final one you needed to mention was Destructive”

As she spoke Twilight began to sketch runes into the field in a circle around the two unicorns, lowering her head and marking them into the dirt with her horn

“Manipulative is the simple act of moving things, pushing them or pulling them. Levitation and all applications of telekinetic force fall under this description.”

Finishing the circle of runes surrounding the two, Twilight began to make a second lap, briefly creating a small pillar of purple light over each rune.

“Now Creation is the art of making things with your telekinesis, be that shields or even hard magic tools. Pure magic objects require extremely high concentrations of magic to keep up but are practically unbreakable. Similarly shields made from solid telekinetic force will be extremely hard to penetrate however this is so taxing that most unicorns will simply use ward spells to create their shields. “

As Twilight finished powering the final rune a brilliant lavender dome encased the area, shutting out the everything from the gentle breeze to the noise of the birds, leaving the inside of the shield very, very calm.

“Finally Destructive telekinesis is the skill to rip apart an object at the magical level with your telekinesis. It is difficult to accomplish and whatever item you destroy will be removed completely as it will have been disassembled utterly. Because of the danger inherent in such a type of magic it is very rarely taught to a unicorn unless they have displayed extreme control and skill with their Manipulative and Creative telekinesis.”

“I’d heard about Destructive telekinesis but I thought it had been forbidden because of its power.” Rarity said as she gazed at the sparkling dome. The dome itself was opaque and blocked out all view of the outside world, leaving the two unicorns suspended in their own little world.

“Most assume this is the case because of its rarity, no pun intended, but there are still some masters who practice the art. Also I believe that the Zebra spell casters learn Destructive telekinesis first.” Twilight moved to stand opposite Rarity inside the dome, her hoofsteps rustling the otherwise still grass beneath her.

“I simple cannot imagine anypony having to learn how to do that! It’s simply barbaric!”

“I know Rarity, I know.” Twilight gave a sigh, staring off into space for a few seconds before shaking her head and smiling. “Anyway, we’ve looked at your Manipulative skills and I’d like to test your creative skills next.”

Rarity nodded, her horn lighting up.

“So, considering your skill with telekinesis we’re going to go straight in at the deep end. I’d like you to create a force shield and hold it up as long as you can, ok?”

A sceptical look on her face, Rarity questioned “One question, what am I going to be holding it up against?”

“Oh that’s simple, I’m going to be sending bolts of energy at it.” Twilight responded.

Rarity gasped, her voice taking on a slightly higher tone “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Don’t worry Rarity. The bolts are designed to destabilise a shield, they won’t harm you if the shield falls.”

“Promise?”

“Promise” Twilight said with a smile.

“Ok darling, give me a second,” Rarity responded, widening her stance and taking a deep breath. For a second everything was still then, with a flash of blue light, a shimmering field of azure magic sprung up between the two unicorns.

“That’s perfect Rarity, just hold that up as long as you can.” Hearing Rarity’s confirmation, Twilight closed her eyes and searched for the runes needed for her spell, locating and bringing each one to the front of her mind as she began to construct the spell she wanted.

As she did so the familiar buzz of magical energy began to flow through her, strands of luminescent energy gravitating to her horn and, after a few seconds of concentration, this energy took the form of a shimmering purple orb, hovering at her horns tip.

As soon as the spell was finished the hum of charged magic began to resonate throughout the dome, the energy causing the grass around Twilight to sway in the magical breeze. “Ok rarity, I’m starting now!” Twilight called over the sound of the magic, waiting a second to let Rarity prepare herself before releasing her spell.

The magic sped across the gap, leaving a glowing trail, before smashing into Rarity’s shield with a faint crackling and fading, motes of purple light flickering across the azure wall which seemed completely undamaged, much to twilight’s surprise.

“Wow… Well let’s see how long that’s lasts.” Gathering up the energy for the spell, Twilight once again weaved the different runes into a ball of energy, the process passing much quicker this time due to Twilight having already found the runes required for the effect she wanted.

On the other side of the shield Rarity had begun to smile. “Well that wasn’t so hard, I barely even felt tha-” Her joy was dashed however as another bolt of energy slammed into her shield, causing it to waver as purple and blue light mixed.

“Ok! Ok! Not finished, come on Rarity, focus!” Digging her hooves in and concentrating, Rarity repaired the shield and steadied it just in time for the third attack which, this time, didn’t damage the shield at all.

The next five minutes passed in much the same fashion, from outside everything seemed calm, the scene inside the dome hidden. However inside the dome was a completely different story. Orbs of magic consistently appearing in a circle around Twilight’s head before hurtling towards the shield Rarity had erected, sending sparks of purple energy fluttering around the dome.

However in spite of the consistent barrage the shield held strong, the only sign of it weakening being the blurred edges where Rarity had begun to draw the magic away in favour of a smaller, more concentrated shield.

And even with the magical energy being used neither unicorn seemed tired, the bolts of energy still as powerful as ever and the shield still holding strong as Twilight began to charge up one last spell. This time however the spell was noticeably larger than the ones before it, the energy causing a large hum to reverberate through the ground.

Seeing the spell being charged through the transparent edges of her shield, Rarity drew all of her magic into one tight point, creating a shield that just covered her rather than a wall of energy that protected the entire corner of the dome.

A few seconds later the spell was unleashed and, with a piercing whine, a beam of crackling energy sprung from Twilight’s horn and smashed into the shield Rarity had created.

For almost ten seconds the two stayed like that, bodies locked as magical energy washed over them, the backlash of magic causing the wind inside the dome to roar. Groaning in effort, Rarity squeezed her eyes shut, her horn flaring brightly as she pumped magic into stopping Twilight’s spell.

When it seemed like she couldn’t hold on another second, Twilight stopped the spell and, with a sigh of relief Rarity let the shield fade as both ponies collapsed to the floor, panting.

“Sorry… about that… Rarity. Didn’t mean to be… so aggressive with that spell.”

“Less talking… More resting…” True to her words Rarity proceeded to roll over and close her eyes, shortly followed by Twilight. As the two mares relaxed the dome they were in began to fade away, letting the warm summer sun and the cool breeze to flow across their bodies.

Unfortunately is also allowed a certain rainbow coloured pegasus to see, what looked like to her, a very interesting situation.

“Hey! Rarity, Twilight!” Landing with her typical stylish flare, Rainbow dash proceeded to trot over and sit down next to the two panting unicorns, grinning all the while. “Soooo… you two look like you’ve been having fun. Why are you all the way out here, anything I need to know?”

Waving a hoof in Dash’s general direction Rarity frowned and turned to face her “It is rude… to ask… about a ladies personal… life. Especially… when it involves… the bedroom.” – Frowning Rarity put a hoof to her chin then continued – “or… in this case a dome.”

Scrambling to her hooves, a panicked look on her face, Twilight was quick to correct Rarity’s words, a deep blush on her face. “N-not that we did anything like that! It was just a little… magic practice”

“Are you sure? Because it seems like you’re coming up with excuses pretty fast, are you sure you weren’t practicing a different kind of magic?”

Getting to her hooves slowly and patiently, a clear contrast from Twilight’s scrambling, Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash and with a very elegant motion, poked her on the muzzle. “H-hey! What was that for?”

“It is none of your business what Twilight and I have been doing, if you must know though we were just practising magic and I think it is rather rude of you to think otherwise without evidence. Now I’d be ever so grateful if you’d fly away and leave us alone.”

As Rarity spoke a faint-azure shield started to form around Twilight and as Rarity continued berating Dash she started to inspect it.

Ruffling her feathers, Rainbow Dash gave the two of them an annoyed stare before shaking her wings out and feigning disinterest, at the same time the shield began to fade, disappearing entirely by the time Rainbow dash finished speaking. “I didn’t care what you were doing anyway. Have fun practising your magic.”

Rarity and Twilight watched as Rainbow Dash flew off and for a few seconds both mares were content to enjoy the silence however it didn’t last for long. “You know darling, I think the mood has been utterly ruined. How about we head back to Ponyville?”

Twilight nodded in agreement “Lets, although I must say your telekinesis is truly amazing. When we’re next free I’ll be sure to give you some tips for weaving spells into your telekinetic fields.”

The two walked back to Ponyville in silence until Twilight, curious about what she’d seen turned to Rarity and said “Thanks for what you did back there Rarity, I may have gotten a little panicky.”

“It’s no problem at all darling, after all it’s only in my nature to protect my friends, even if it is from the annoying curiosity of my other friends.”

“Yea… What was that shield you were casting by the way? The one you created while you were talking to Dash?”

“Shield? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Frowning Twilight shrugged “Never mind, must have been my imagination. Anyway, I believe this is where we split?”

Rarity, seeing the two had arrived back at Ponyville, nodded and as she strode of towards the Carousel called back “Thanks for the day out, it was lovely!”

“No problem, we’ll do it again sometime!”

And with that the two unicorns went their separate ways however while one was basking in the glow of a day spent well the other was thinking long and hard.

“I know I saw that shield. Not only was it there but it was strong, stronger than any shield I’ve seen before except maybe Shining’s shields. And there’s only one reason that could be. Because just before it faded I noticed something… Rarity’s Element was glowing!”

Meanwhile in a certain Library bedroom…

“There has to be something in here, something to explain what I felt. Hmm what’s this?”

A claw reached down and, very carefully, plucked up a sheet of parchment.

I have begun to study the origins of the Elements of Harmony and the magic that they channel. I have made the assumption that the Elements use an, as of yet undiscovered, form of magic which is why they are so different from any other magical items I have come into contact with.

My first instinct was to try and explore the magical matrix in the Element of Magic as I would explore any other enchanted items. It seemed to work at first as I came across extremely complicated and powerful enchantments. However after painstakingly mapping the runes out I came to the conclusion that they were simple binding and constricting spells.1

This of course piqued my interest for how could something that is so powerful and benign require a binding spell. My initial thought was that it was the Elements own natural magic which stopped its power being released without the proper bearers. This was proven incorrect however when I managed to trace through the entire matrix and reach the second level of spells.

This level is the reason that my research into the Element’s history will continue. I found, beneath the first layer of spells, a strange and confusing combination of runes put together into matrices which, by all my calculations, should do absolutely nothing. This of course incited my curiosity and I continued to explore the various runes, slowly drawing each one out onto a different set of paper.2

However as I drew out more and more of these runes I began to feel light headed and weak. I was going to stop but despite the side effects there was some urge, some desperate need that push me forward and I continued writing out the runes.

Once the runes were complete my dizziness passed and a wave of power filled my body. However the energy felt wrong, uncontrolled and strange so I channelled it away. All I can say for sure is that this magic is nothing like any type of magic I’ve ever seen and, regarding the six Elements, it seems like the true nature of the magic is much more complicated than I first assumed.
After researching extensively into…

“My my my… The little pony has been busy. This explains the surge of power I felt. But why would Celestia store it there?”

The paper was placed down and a grin crept across the face of the intruder.

“The magic talked about here is certainly what I think it is and if she’s been channelling it then that means she’s not been fully restored…”

“The Elements complicate matters… I will need to see if she-“

Thunk

That must be her, Time to leave… Thank you Twilight, your advice has been invaluable. “

And with a whisper of shadow and the haunting echoes of a sinister laugh the bedroom was, once more, empty.

Author's Note

So here it is! Chapter 3!

Did some world building here as well as a little insight into how I view the magic.
My editor's internet has been down so expect more mistakes that usual. Sorry!

As always, I love it when you tell me what you think, either negative or positive.
Now stop listening to me and read chapter 4!

What do you mean there's no chapter 4?

Oh right... I need to write chapter 4....

Forgot about that. Thought I'd gained the power to write with my mind.
Give me a few weeks, I'll be done soon!