Armageddonby PRlNCESS CADENCEChaptersP̺͙̻͔̈̋̓̾ả͚͉ͣͪͅr̳̤͓̲̻̤̠̎ͬ͂ͅͅt͍̩͇̼̭͓̳̻̍ ̘͓͈͂͊1̫ͩ͊͗̊2 ʇɹɐd☩Pa☠rΩt 3R1:18P̺͙̻͔̈̋̓̾ả͚͉ͣͪͅr̳̤͓̲̻̤̠̎ͬ͂ͅͅt͍̩͇̼̭͓̳̻̍ ̘͓͈͂͊1̫ͩ͊͗̊Running behind a deserted building, I had scarcely begun to catch my breath when tears began streaming down my cheeks. How could this have all happened? My friends... my subjects... innocent ponies... dead... I couldn't cry too loudly. If he were around, he'd be able to hear me for sure. I did my best to stifle my tears, but with my heart beating from all the panic and running, I couldn't keep my breath inside for more than a period of a few moments. I had no idea what happened... Why did things turn out like this? It came out of nowhere... First Fluttershy... The poor girl... She did nothing wrong to him in her whole life, yet she was the first one who Discord betrayed, making sure to toy with her psychologically before leaving her motionless on the ground. "Oh, what's the matter, my dear girl?" "Please! Stop!" "Stop what? Oh, you mean this?" Discord had Angel in his tail, which he was using to squeeze around the poor rabbit's throat tighter and tighter. The bunny flailed in the air, biting, kicking, anything it could do to try to release himself from the draconequus' grip. Fluttershy wanted to do something, anything to help the poor bunny, but she was chained to the ground by the tail. The more she saw Angel coming closer to suffocating to death, the more adrenaline rushed through her body, which she used to flap her wings frantically, praying that her tail would just snap off. It never did, though. "YES! THAT!" "But Fluttershy, old buddy, old pal, you need to take some responsibility." "W-what? What do you mean?" "Why, you were the one who trusted me this whole time when you knew exactly what I was. You knew my past. You knew the risks associated with me. You know what I could do, yet you still invited me into your home, hoping that you were wrong. You didn't have the backbone to say no. You could have told your friends that you didn't feel comfortable with having a monster like me in your home, but you said nothing. Now your dear sweet bunny has to pay the consequences for your actions." "Discord! Discord STOP! DISCORD!" Fluttershy continued to struggle, but after a few bursts of energy, using all the strength she could muster, she fell to the ground, bawling into her hooves. "Don't you dare look away!" Discord screamed, grabbing Fluttershy's eyelids and pulling them open. "Is this what you wanted? You look your rabbit in the eye and tell him why he's about to die!" Discord waved his tail in front of Fluttershy's face. Angel's eyes were wide open, trying as hard as he could to cry for help, but with no oxygen left in his lungs, his screams remained silent. Fluttershy, on the other hand, could do nothing but scream. "ANGEL! I'M SO SORRY! THIS IS ALL MY FAULT! I... I... I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" "Forgive you? Your rabbit is going to die because of you! What part of that makes you think he'll ever forgive you?" "DISCORD! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING IF YOU JUST LET GO OF HIM!" "Oh, now this sounds interesting. Shake my claw." Fluttershy's sobbing stopped for a moment as she grimaced in confusion. "Once you shake my claw, we will be put under covenant. I promise I won't choke your rabbit to death and you promise that I can do anything to you in return. Do we have a deal?" "YES! Now please, let Angel go!" With a smile on his face, Discord grabbed Fluttershy's hoof. No sooner had he done so when a blinding light shone from their grip, filling the entire room with a white radiance. After a few moments, the light dimmed, Discord's tail unwound and Angel fell onto the ground beneath him. Without even taking a minute to catch his breath, however, he began sprinting his way to the door, only to be caught in a magical aura which turned him around and sent him running in circles. "Stupid rabbit," Discord said. lifting him into the air and pinning him into Fluttershy's wall. "WHAT?! NO!" "I'm staying by my covenant. I'm not going to choke him, but he's already gotten on my bad side." Discord turned his head to show Fluttershy the other side of his face, which was a mere skeleton, drenched in green pus. "Oh, well. Toodaloo!" Suddenly, Angel's body turned into a grid of squares, each of which individually flipped over, to reveal nothing but the wall behind him. Within a second, Angel had disappeared into thin air. "A...Angel...? Angel bunny? Where is he? Where's my baby bunny?" "Gone. There is no longer any trace that he ever existed, but why ruin the fun when we're just getting started? After all, you said that I could do whatever I wanted to you." "Angel... Is dead?" "I'm sorry you made the mistake of trusting me yet again. Yes, he's dead, but don't worry. I'm sure he won't stay mad at you for being the reason why he now ceases to exist. It may be all your fault, but I'm sure he understands." "No... NO! I-I-I can't do this! I-I couldn't have killed an innocent animal! I can't--I can't do this! Discord! Please! Just kill me so I won't make the same mistake again!" "Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. Just enjoy the ride." Suddenly, a chair lifted Fluttershy into the air, and the chains that held her to the ground turned into a seat-belt that ran across her chest. "After all..." Suddenly the walls of her cottage fell down, revealing a large butchering station in the form of some kind of amusement ride, and Fluttershy was now moving sideways as the ride pulled her away. "...The ride never ends..." Her chair was attached to some sort of belt that took her away like a roller-coaster, moving slowly past several pictures. They were portraits of ponies who she had never met before, but they all looked regal, like she was moving down some kind of mansion with opaque green walls. Turning the corner, however, the walls disappeared, and in the distance, she could see another conveyor belt merging with the one she was on. In the darkness, she could also see a few chairs moving closer towards her on the opposite belt... each carrying a pony who she knew in some way. "No... NO! Discord, stop!" The ponies were all passed out. How long they would stay that way, however, Fluttershy couldn't say. Suddenly, the conveyor belt pulled them all into another room with walls that matched the same grim color as the previous hallway. Being pulled further, she saw the pictures from before, only now their faces were melted, leaving nothing but a charred skull with blood coming out their eye sockets as if they were crying. Even without the ability to make facial expressions, they look horrified. As they moved further down the room, the portraits were replaced by large mirrors. Fluttershy could hardly look, but her seat-belt made moving her head or neck nearly impossible. After getting a good look at her shaggy mane, wide eyes and pale complexion, the image gradually changed into a face of Discord. "Wakey wakey, everypony." All the ponies on the conveyor belt then opened their eyes, yet still remained motionless. It was as if they were still too drowsy to react. It was as if they had no idea that they were on a conveyor belt, risking a fate that Fluttershy didn't even want to think about. "Oh, and you might not want to look straight into the mirror," Discord said as his face disappeared, replacing it with her own reflection again. "You look so dreadful right now that you might hurt your own eyes." Fluttershy had no idea what that meant, but rather than wait to find out, she averted her gaze to her right, trying as hard as she could to see what was going on beside her. She had no idea how long the line of ponies beside her was until she heard an ear-shattering scream coming from the distance a far ways off. Even with the chains preventing her from moving around, she began shaking in her seat. As she continued on, the screams grew louder, and now everypony to her right was weeping and wailing in fear of what was to come. Remembering what Discord said about the mirrors, and honestly not being able to watch anymore, Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that she would be able to just wait it out. Of course, Discord had other plans. The yellow pegasus then felt something cold suddenly run up her cheeks and down her forehead until they rested on her eyelids. "Oh, come now, Fluttershy. You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" At that moment, four metal hooks grabbed each corner of the pony's eyes and pulled them apart, forcing her to look straight forward. She wouldn't have it, though. Even with her body constricted and her eyelids being forced open, the yellow pony managed to avert her eyes toward her right. That's when she noticed the other ponies' reflections in the mirrors that they faced. She could see that the metal prongs that held her gaze were also being used to pull apart the other ponies' eyelids. Suddenly, just two ponies to her right, she finally saw it. The source of everypony's screams. As the pony two seats away from her looked into the mirror across from her, Fluttershy noticed a red beam in the center of the glass, and once the pony made complete eye contact with the beam... "No..." "AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" The pony's face then caught fire, melting away her skin, her eyes falling out of their sockets, leaving nothing but the trace of a charred skull in the mirror. Fluttershy could hear the whimpering of the stallion just to her right, and in just moments, the terrified breaths turned into wailing screams of agony until his vocal cords were completely burned away. Next, it would be her turn. Fluttershy, even with her body being held in place and her eyelids being held open, looked away, keeping herself from looking into the mirror. As she passed by the next mirror, her heart started beating faster than ever as she caught a glimpse of the red light that shone in the mirror. Death was literally staring at her through the mirror... But Fluttershy looked away... Before she knew it, the mirror was to her left in the opposite direction of where the conveyor belt was taking her. This didn't seem like a simple mistake on Discord's part, though. For some reason, Discord was letting Fluttershy survive the ordeal. The conveyor belt then wrapped around the corner and traveled down to a basement below. The metal hooks then released from Fluttershy's eyes as well as the ponies to her right, but as she saw the charred faces of the ponies beside her, she couldn't stop staring in horror. Her seat came to a complete stop and the chains around her fell to the floor, but Fluttershy remained still, her jaw agape and eyes dead set on the mangled bodies of dozens of innocent ponies. "Well done, my friend!" Fluttershy didn't move or respond. "I see you managed to survive the ordeal. How do you feel, knowing that all these ponies died because of you, yet you didn't even have the decency to let yourself die, even when I provided a way for you?" Fluttershy remained silent and still. "Fluttershy, they're dead. They will never wake up. They will never return home to their families. They will never go back to their daily lives in Ponyville. All that's left is for them to be forgotten forever." "Discord... Why did you do this?" Discord chuckled. "Because I'm God." And with the snap of his fingers, Fluttershy began to burn, but not on the outside like the other ponies. The fire itself burned her from the inside, coming out her eyes and mouth until her screams were completely engulfed in the sounds of the crackling fire that was using her body as tinder. Finally, Fluttershy would never have to deal with pain again. She could sleep... forever... "Princess Twilight!" Nearly dying of a heart attack, I looked up to see a regal white mare descending from the air until she landed just a few feet in front of my shaking hooves. "Princess Celestia!" I exclaimed in a hushed tone, praying that Discord wasn't anywhere he'd be able to hear us. "You know you can't be here! You're risking your life just by--" "The others are dead." I didn't move, speak or breathe for several moments as I attempted to interpret exactly what she was talking about, but as I looked into her deep, grim expression... "No..." I said, trying my hardest not to cry. "Applejack?" The princess nodded her head. "Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash?" "Now, Twilight--" "Rarity?" Silence. "Yes, Twilight... All of them..." Any capability I had at controlling my breathing was suddenly diminished in the total usurpation of my mind's decaying state of focus. I was unable to comprehend the fact that I was now sobbing emphatically, putting my own life in danger as well as that of the Princess, just as I was unable to grasp the idea of my five closest friends... being dead... Killed... by someone I thought was my friend... Gritting my teeth, my sorrow quickly transformed to anger as I said, "What. Happened." It was more of a demand than an inquiry. "I was able to collect their memories before their minds completely shut down, but Twilight, I need you to prepare yourself for what you're about to see." "Give. Me. Their memories." Celestia looked like she was about to interject. "Now." Celestia nodded her head and tilted her horn, which was now beginning to glow in a bright green aura until a stream of memories traveled from her horn to mine. I suddenly collapsed at the weight of the intense magic being transferred into my mind. Celestia had done this once with Fluttershy's memories, but receiving the memories of four ponies at once made me feel like I was being crushed under my own weight. Especially with memories this... strong. "Read them only when you are absolutely sure that Discord won't be able to find you," the Princess said. "I'm going to return to looking for any more damage. Please, be safe." Despite the huge weight that had been placed over me, I reached my hoof over my mentor's neck and brought her into a hug. "You too, Celestia." "I think Discord is far enough for you to read Pinkie Pie's last memories, but after that, you must find somewhere else to hide. Hopefully when I return, I'll know how to stop Discord." "Thank you, Celestia." Nodding one final time, Celestia took off into the air and disappeared within seconds, leaving me to make sense of what was going on. I took a large breathe, checked my surrounding area and let my horn glow a bright green, just like Celestia's, and in moments, I was engulfed in Pinkie Pie's final memories. 2 ʇɹɐdIt was a bright and sunny day, just like pretty much every day in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was on her way to visit the Cakes at Sugar Cube Corner to help out in making delicious treats... or just getting in the way and making a big mess. Either way worked for her. As soon as she opened the door, however, she wasn't met with the loving smiles that she was so used to seeing; she was surrounded by fierce scowls from every corner of the shop. "Hi, everypony!" she shouted, hoping that everypony's glares would transform at the sight of their bouncy pink friend, but rather than make them happy, their expressions became more enraged. "What's going on? Did something happen?" One stallion got up from his seat with a cupcake in his hoof, making a slow trek to the pink mare, never losing eye contact. Once he was within inches of the pony, he grabbed Pinkie's mane with one hoof and smeared the cupcake into her mouth and nose. "Hey!" Pinkie yelled as soon as she had enough space to breathe. "What gives?!" "Don't you talk to me that way!" Out of nowhere, the stallion threw a punch straight into Pinkie Pie's face, knocking her to the ground in a pile of cupcake and frosting. Other ponies got up from their seats and raced toward the action, readily cheering on the stallion as he stood above the terrified mare. "G-guys...?" Pinkie muttered timidly. "A-anypony?" "Shut up!" The stallion shouted with a swift kick to Pinkie Pie's stomach. Pinkie curled into a ball on the floor, grabbing her middle section in some attempt to ease the pain, but as she looked up for some shred of help, all she could see was a crowd of ponies cheering him on. In the midst of the ovation, she could hear the genuine malice coming out of the ponies' mouths, encouraging him to hurt her more. The stallion then began to stomp on Pinkie Pie's rib-cage, pressing as hard as he could in an attempt to break her bones. Pinkie remained in a ball, but her hooves shifted from her stomach to her face, trying to hide the others from seeing her cry into her hooves. They noticed, though, and their cheers began to grow louder as they laughed Pinkie to scorn. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!" "Step on her throat!" a pony in the crowd yelled. "Make her choke!" "No!" another called. "Break her muzzle first!" The stallion then began delivering blows to Pinkie's face, breaking her hooves away for him to get a good shot at her nose. After several hits to her muzzle, there was finally a snap, which filled Pinkie with insurmountable pain and the crowd with an abundance of cheering. In a state of panic and with no other options left, Pinkie bucked the stallion off of her, sending him crashing into the crowd behind him. Both Pinkie and the group looked at each other with wide eyes, stunned that the pink mare actually fought back, but that shock soon turned to rage in the circle and panic in the terrified earth pony mare. Pinkie quickly got to her hooves and ran out the door, using her adrenaline to help her escape while her hooves and stomach were still in mounds of excruciating pain. The crowd began chasing after her as if their life depended on it, but fortunately for Pinkie, her determination to escape was stronger than theirs to catch up to her. Finally, she had managed to lose the mob in the town market. Ponies were continuing to stare her down, but Pinkie was just hoping that it was because of the blood and frosting all over her face and coat. Eventually, she found a desolate alley in between two large buildings, made sure nopony was looking and broke down crying. "Awww. What's wrong, Pinkie Pie?" Pinkie Pie jolted at the sound. Turning her head to see that the wall beside her had two eyes looking up at her, she squealed and jumped again. A figure then grew an outline around the eyes, and Discord suddenly appeared, changing his colors like a chameleon. "Oh, it's just you," Pinkie said relieved. "Oh, my goodness! What happened here?" Pinkie's relief then immediately switched back into trauma as she began to cry loudly into her hooves. "It's so horrible, Discord! I don't know why it happened! I just walked into Sugar Cube Corner and this stallion... I don't know why... and there were other ponies and... Oh, Discord, I think they wanted to really hurt me!" Discord slumped down to the pink mare's level and put his paw around her. "Oh, Pinkie. I was afraid this would happen." Pinkie Pie sniffled. "W-what?" "Well, you see, the ponies around here, they... How do I put this? They hate you." The mare just stood there for several moments before giggling to herself. "Oh, wow, Discord! You really had me scared for a second! I mean, I don't do anything that makes ponies mad." Discord's grin had completely faded into a dull stare, and soon enough, Pinkie stopped laughing. "I don't... I can't!" "You do and you always have. Haven't you ever met a pony that rubbed off on you the wrong way, and you thought to yourself, 'I can learn to love this pony if I just put on a smile! I'll warm up to them eventually!' As you can see, whoever did this to you is tired of putting on the charade that he's trying to be your friend. Everyone in Ponyville wants you gone. You annoy them. So much, in fact, that if you were to drop off the face of Equestria right now, everypony would be happy that they'd never have to see you again. I guess they've just all gotten together and decided that they want you gone." "Everypony... wants me to leave?" "No." Discord then grabbed Pinkie's ear and whispered, "Everypony wants you to die." "No... NO! NOOO!!!!!" Suddenly, Pinkie was running away at top speeds again, even though she wasn't being chased. If anything, she was just trying to escape reality, hoping that she could run to a place where everything would be OK. Somewhere like... Fluttershy's cottage! That would work! As she approached her pegasus friend's house, however, she no longer felt like this place would be any safer. Attached to her door was a note that read: "Dear Pinkie Pie, I can't go on pretending any longer. You've made my life a living nightmare. I think it's time I finally let myself be happy, but I can't do it with you in my life. I'm sorry, but we can't be friends anymore." "Fluttershy..." Pinkie Pie said as a tear rolled down her cheeks, "not you too... Rarity! I'm sure she hasn't changed!" With tears welling down her face, Pinkie raced to Carousel Boutique, trying desperately to convince herself that Rarity would always be her friend. When she got to Rarity's boutique, however, she noticed a garbage can overflowing with games and presents that Pinkie had given her throughout their friendship. Pinkie's breathing began to grow sporadic until she finally broke down beside the garbage can, giving up all hope that anypony still cared about her. After several minutes of nonstop sobbing, it finally hit Pinkie that she had nowhere left to go, nopony left who cared about her, and nothing left for her in Ponyville. Her crying just got worse after that. "Awww, what's the matter?" The pink earth pony jumped, turning her head to see Discord laying down beside her. "Oh, nothing," she said, trying to make it look like she wasn't just crying her eyes out. "I just uh..." As she tried to come up with something new, though, the tears came back, and she just couldn't pretend like she was OK. "What happened, Discord?! I thought I made everypony smile, but they all hate me now! Even my best friends! What changed?!" "I'm sorry, Pinkie. I guess everypony was just tired of pretending. Here, let me show you." Discord reached behind his back and pulled out a mirror. As Pinkie looked on, her reflection changed into a party that she had thrown a couple months ago. "Remember this?" "Yeah!" the mare replied with a sniffle. "That was a party I threw for the Cakes to celebrate their anniversary!" "Do you know what happened afterwards?" "No... why?" The image changed into a room filled with deflated balloons and confetti all over the floor, which both Mr. and Mrs. Cake were attempting to sweep up. "Can you believe her?" Mrs. Cake said to her husband. "Who throws a party for an anniversary?" "I know, dear," Mr. Cake said with a sigh. "This was supposed to be our special day, but she ruined everything! The day is almost over and we're busy cleaning up her mess instead of spending time together!" "It's OK, honey bun." "It is NOT OK! Ever since Pinkie moved to Ponyville, we've been babysitting her instead of spending time with just the two of us! I just don't think I can do this anymore!" Suddenly, Mr. Cake dropped his broom and went into the kitchen. "And just where do you think you're going?" As soon as Mr. Cake walked back out, Mrs. Cake's jaw dropped, a smile reaching across her face. In Mr. Cake's mouth was a strawberry-flavored cupcake with chocolate frosting, Mrs. Cake's personal favorite, sitting on top of a glass plate. "Pinkie hasn't ruined everything. Happy anniversary." The image then changed to a slumber party that Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had together just a few weeks before. Pinkie pulled out a book that she had under her bed and said, "OH! You know what would be so fun? What if we told each other our most embarrassing secrets, but don't worry! I won't tell anypony!" The image changed again to Rainbow Dash sitting in Twilight's library, surrounded by all her friends. The five ponies were all laughing hysterically. "And you'll never believe this!" Rainbow bantered. "She actually believes that one day, she'll meet a tall, handsome stallion who will help her throw parties every day! Her dream is to meet a stallion who will say, 'Hey, candy-mane. You know where I can get somethin' sweet around here, cause I bet it's no match for you.'" All five of them erupted in laughter as the image of the mirror returned to Pinkie's reflection. "Rainbow Dash... How could you?!" "Oh, it's not all that bad," Discord said sympathetically. "Yes it is! I guess it's time I move back in with my family and farm rocks for the rest of my life." "Before you do that, you might want to look at this." The image in the mirror changed again, displaying Pinkie Pie's mother washing dishes and her father looking through his mail. "We got another letter from Pinkie Pie," her father said. "Oh, dear, I'm not sure if I'm in the mood right now," her mother retorted. "We'd better read it. She'd probably get worried if we didn't." "We just need to let her grow up!" "She's not like that, though. If she doesn't have a letter by the next day, she'll probably give us a surprise visit, using half our rocks for party decorations." "What if we moved? She wouldn't have to know! You could find a farm somewhere else, couldn't you? I'm sure the girls could use a change in scenery anyway! Maybe we could switch to farming beets or--" "No!" Pinkie's mother jumped back in surprise. "I'm not going to let her ruin our lives like that! We can write her a letter when she gets lonely every once in a while, and at least this way she's out of the house!" "You're right, dear... I'm sorry. Every family has its challenges, and I guess we should be grateful that it's not as bad as it could be." As the mirror returned to normal one final time, Pinkie's eyes were red, her coat pale and her cheeks covered with silent tears. "M-mom? Dad?" The mirror in Discords paw then shifted its shape into a pen, which Discord used to draw a circle in the ground. With a stern kick, the earth within the circle tumbled down, revealing an infinite black abyss beneath it. "Pinkie, I think it's time." "Time for what? What's going on?" "I'm going to let you decide whether or not you want to live. If you choose life, I'll let you continue in your endeavor and leave you where you left off. If you feel like nothing will ever get better, however, this portal is the most peaceful way to die. It contains a gas that will put you to sleep almost immediately, leaving you to pass away gently in your sleep. The option is yours." Pinkie peered over the black abyss, her mind racing back and forth between the options she had been given. On the one hand, she could easily forget about all of her pain, and maybe everypony would be better off this way anyway. Still, though, was she really ready to leave Ponyville behind forever? "Discord?" Pinkie gulped. "Do you think anypony will be sad if I'm gone?" Discord shook his head. "I think your friends deserve this," he said. "Let them go. Let them be free." The pink earth pony looked over the abyss one more time, her hooves shaking as she really took into mind what was about to happen. All those times she had spent with her friends, all the fun times she had in Ponyville would be gone. They were all a lie, though, and Pinkie couldn't kid herself anymore. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, took a step forward and fell into the hole... ...But she wasn't falling asleep... It felt like she was falling a thousand miles per hour, wind pulling her mane and tail into the air with violent force. Her eyes jolted open as she looked up and flailed her body, seeing that the portal back home was gradually disappearing above her. "DISCORD! I CHANGE MY MIND! I DON'T WANNA DIE! SAVE ME! PLEEEEASE!!" "It's too late for that." Looking down, Pinkie then saw the ground far beneath her. She was falling into the depths of Tartarus, with nothing but fire and brimstone left for her. If she wasn't crushed to death by her fall, she would surely be burned to death, or worse... she would spend eternity here, in Hell. "I TRUSTED YOU!!!" I suddenly snapped back to normal, remembering where I was and what Celestia had told me. Without taking a second to dwell on it further, I ran as fast as I could, looking for a new place to hide. I wasn't as concerned about finding a place where Discord wouldn't find me as much as finding a place where I could hide out while I read the others' final memories. I was too afraid that if I took to the sky, Discord would spot me in a flash, so on I ran, trying to run behind as many obstacles as I could. Finally, I found an abandoned carriage laying sideways next to a heap of rubble, probably the aftermath of one of Discord's attacks. I slipped inside the door of the carriage, closed it shut and ducked as low as I could get, hoping that if Discord showed up, he wouldn't see me through the side window. It had been just moments since I had woken from the vision, but with all that was going through my mind, it felt like hours, and I couldn't wait any longer. Maybe the next memories would give me some clue on how to defeat Discord. All I cared about, though, was what happened to my friends. Closing my eyes, my horn glowed green, sending me to the final thoughts of Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. ☩Pa☠rΩt 3Applejack took a sip of some freshly-squeezed lemonade. Wiping the dripping sweat off of her face, she sighed an exhausted breath as she reveled in all the sowing she had accomplished so far. The day was far from over, though. Even though it was hardly passed noon, the earth pony had a mountain of chores to finish before supper time, but such was her life. She took one last gulp of her beverage before she had to go back to work, but the minute she looked over in the direction of Ponyville, she saw that a large pillow of smoke was beginning to encompass the town. "What the--?" she muttered to herself, putting her cowpony hat back onto her head and turning to her brother. "Big Mac, can you take over for a little while?" Her brother set down a bale of hay by the farm and replied with a confused, "Eeyup." "Sorry, big brother, but I have a feelin' somethin' ain't quite right back in town." Meanwhile in town, many of the Ponyvillians had left their homes in an attempt to search for the origin of the smoke, but as the gas began to spread, many had also lost where they were. "Hello?" Rarity called, illuminating her horn to make navigation easier for her. "Is anypony there? Can somepony please tell me I'm at least walking in the right direction? I don't even care which direction is the right direction; I just want to get--OOF!" As Rarity aimlessly strolled forward, she crashed directly into the pony in front of her. Leaning her illuminated horn down, she said, "Oh, I'm so sor--Applejack!" "Rarity?" the earth pony said as the unicorn helped her to her hooves again. "Phewee! Boy, am I glad to see you! Now, just what in the hay happened that managed to cover half of Ponyville in this here smoke?" "I was just trying to figure that out myself. You wouldn't happen to know the direction out of here, would you?" "Sure I do! It's... uhhh..." Applejack grimaced as she looked behind her, which was now nothing but a puffy black void of gas. "I might have to get back to you on that one." "Guys!" a voice called as a blue figure pierced through the blinding smoke. "Something's gone wrong! This isn't normal smoke! Normally I could clear smoke in no time, but it just won't budge! It's like a living thing!" "Rainbow, is that you?" Rarity said, shining her light on the blue pegasus. "What do you mean? Like a dragon?" "No! That's just it! The smoke isn't coming from anywhere in particular! It's not spreading; it's just condensing. When I was up in the air, the smoke was circling around one big area like a giant bubble!" "So what yer sayin' is," Applejack began, "somepony is controllin' it?" "Oh, it's no pony," a low, mysterious voice echoed. The three ponies stood still, looking around for where the voice had come from, but like the smoke, the origin was nowhere to be found. The voice then laughed hysterically, making the three friends shudder silently. Suddenly, the smoke was beginning to spiral as the wind pushed it around like a whirlpool until the ponies could finally see that they were in a large circle of land with dozens of confused ponies... and a familiar face in the middle. "Discord!" Applejack exclaimed. The draconequus looked left and right. "Who? Me?" he said sarcastically. "Honestly, Applejack, do you need attention called to yourself all the time? Everypony here already knows who I am." "Quit the trash talk!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flying into the air until she was face to face with the god of chaos. "Are you telling us that you were the one who created this mess?" "You know, Rainbow Dash," Discord said, pulling Rainbow Dash's wings off of her back like they were ornaments, "you should really know by now that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." Rainbow Dash immediately fell to the ground, hobbling as she found her way back up. "Hey! What gives?!" Discord then pulled out a jar of honey from behind his back, filled it with a jar of flies and began using one of Rainbow Dash's wing as a spoon. As much as this enraged Rainbow, she realized she had no other options left and bowed her head in humility. "What's going on?" Rarity said, saving Rainbow Dash from the humility of having to speak. "Fiiine," Discord murmured, tossing the jar behind him and returning Rainbow Dash's wings to her back. Rainbow fluttered her honey-covered wing in disgust. "I'll tell you, but you're not going to be happy." The other ponies all stared in fear or anger, but remained silent. "I was just in the neighborhood when suddenly I came up with the greatest game ever, but sadly, I didn't know how to attract any ponies to play with." "So you just thought you'd make the town blind?" Applejack retorted sarcastically. "Oh, I'm SURE they'll play yer game now!" "You really should learn not to speak out when your elders are speaking. I'd hate for you to lose your voice." Applejack wanted to retort, but the moment she tried speaking, her vocal chords clenched in her throat, almost like she had experienced a sudden immense thirst. She then immediately fell to the ground coughing, trying to hack out this new pain in her throat. "Now," Discord continued, "as I was saying, I wanted to try out a fun little experiment, because that's what all games are, aren't they? Now, here's where it gets interesting. You see this half sphere where the smoke doesn't touch?" The ponies didn't notice this before, but the smoke was still billowing overhead, almost like they were all in an upside-down fish bowl. "Well, this is the area in which you're allowed to stay." "Forget that!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Come on, everypony! Let's go!" The pegasus then tried flying up into the smoke, but the second she would have come in contact with the outside, her face crashed into a clear surface. Falling back down, she could see the smoke being pushed away from the apex, just like how she had been pushed away from the inside. "What? A force field? That's no fair!" Discord then grabbed Rainbow Dash by the abdomen, squeezed her until she began to lose oxygen, and said in a low, stern voice, "It's my game, I make the rules, and I'll decide what's fair. Would you rather try escaping again? Here let me help you with that." With his free paw, he latched onto Rainbow Dash's tail and swung her into the top of the force field, nearly breaking her nose. "Oh, surely it'll work this time! All you need is a little determination!" Discord pulled Rainbow Dash off of the force field like a stamp off plastic, reared his arm back and swung Rainbow Dash back into the solid, invisible surface. The pegasus was holding back tears, but the draconequus continued his onslaught, pulling Rainbow Dash off and striking her against the force field over and over again. All the other ponies looked up in terror, too shaken up to speak as they silently prayed that Discord would stop before he killed her. After a half a minute of nonstop violence, and to the fortune of everypony in the circle, Discord eventually stopped, dropping Rainbow Dash onto the ground beside her friends. "Let this be a lesson to everypony," he said. "As you can see, the protective barrier that surrounds you all is absolutely impenetrable, even by magic. If anypony attempts to break through or teleport out of the force field, I'll find out," Discord then lowered his head to Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, "and it'll be game over for some unlucky pony. "Now, all you have to do to win the game is follow that one simple rule, and you'll be free to go! Sounds simple enough, right?" "Forgive me if I'm speaking out," Rarity said as politely as she could, trying to spare herself a punishment similar to what Applejack and Rainbow Dash received, "but I'm not quite sure if I follow. You say as long as we don't try to escape, we'll be set free? For how long, exactly?" "Oh, long enough. You'll find out if you decide to play." "You... won't... get away... with this..." Rainbow Dash said, trying her best to fight through the pain enough to look Discord in the eye. "I'm sure Twilight's on her way right now to come stop you!" "Who? OH! You mean--HA! You're hilarious! You think we're still in Ponyville?" Discord snapped his fingers, causing the smoke to disappear instantly. All the ponies looked outside the clear barrier wide-eyed as they saw that rather than their home, they were on a mountain surrounded by volcanoes, all of which were emitting mounds of smoke. "Now, is everypony ready to play?" The crowd of ponies remained silent, unsure of how to answer and timid as to what would happen if they did. "Perfect! I'll see you all in the morning!" With a snap of his fingers, he vanished, leaving a throng of ponies to silently question to themselves what was going on and what would happen to them. Rarity, seeing her friends in so much physical pain, put her hooves around them, bringing them into a warm hug. "It'll be OK, girls," she said softly. "It'll just be until morning." Time passed, and with no manner of telling how long they had been deserted there, they had no idea how close they were to Discord showing up again. They all began to grow a little bit anxious, expecting a visit at any second, just to be left waiting for several more hours. One pony in the crowd began to have serious panic attacks, hyperventilating and crying until she had no energy left to do anything but tremble where she laid. For the duration of the time, most of the ponies didn't speak. It was quiet, unnerving, and the least safe that any of them had ever felt. Luckily, the long period of panic was followed by a period of sleep, but as the group finally had some peace, Discord showed up, screaming at them. "OH, THIS IS THE THANKS I GET?!" All the ponies jolted up, hearts beating violently, shaking and praying that they would just be able to make it out of this unscathed. "I DECIDE TO LET THE GAME LAST ONLY ONE DAY, BUT YOU ALL FEEL THAT YOU CAN JUST SLEEP THROUGH IT?!" Discord then snapped his fingers and gas immediately filled the circle. Ponies screamed, fearing that they were about to die. "SHUT UP!" The circle fell silent, but the gas continued to pour in. "This gas," Discord said in a much more calming tone, "will not kill any of you. Actually, it's here to make sure you all survive. It's made with my own special recipe, and while it's here, you cannot die of hunger, thirst or sleep deprivation." "Wait..." a timid stallion blurted. "How long are we going to be in here? I have a family to take care of!" "Oh, you're going to be in here for a long, long time, and just think. If you hadn't tried cheating your sentence, you would have been out of here already, yet you call yourself a father? How could you just let your children and wife alone like that? They're probably in a state of complete panic right now, and all this just because of the decisions you made." "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know!" "Well, you're going to have a long time to learn." And with that, Discord disappeared in the gas. They were alone again, but for some reason, they almost wished Discord was still there, just so they had an idea of what to expect rather than wait for who knows how long. Hours passed, but there was still no sign of Discord ever showing up again, which made the ponies grow even more anxious. If the gas was supposed to keep them alive, what motivation would Discord have to ever return to them again? He could literally leave them there to die of old age, having everypony forget about them eventually, but then again, he could have also been lying about it. The group was beginning to grow hungry, which made them wonder if Discord had been lying when he told them he would keep them alive. At this point, some in the group were beginning to hope that he was lying, just so that their hunger and thirst wouldn't last forever. The gas itself wasn't keeping them from breathing normally, but it made breathing much more difficult due to the thinness of the air left in the circle. That was Discord's game, though. He wanted to keep them alive, but just barely. One pony began holding his breath in a feeble attempt to suffocate himself, but every time he felt like he was about to black out, he took in a deep breath, too scared to allow himself to die. The other ponies didn't even try. Most of them had at least some sliver of hope that they would eventually be able to return to their families again and return to the life they left off, and the few that didn't just saw no point in attempting suicide. They knew that there was nothing they could do. Discord wanted them there, in his prison, and they knew that as long as Discord was having fun with his game, he wouldn't let them cheat. One day passed, but as far as the ponies knew, they had been there for at least three days. There was no sun they could look to to tell them the time, and with the gas taking away their ability to sleep, the days would last far longer than expected. Most of the individuals in the group had lost all hope at this point, but Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all had some smidgen of faith left. Not that it mattered much, though. After a few hours, the entire circle fell silent, having little to talk about, and at this point even the most cheerful ponies of the bunch had fallen into a state of depression. Every hour or so, a pony or two would get up and move around, just to give them something to do to keep themselves from going crazy too early. Rarity, during her walking time, moved to the edge of the barrier, looking outside at the smoke that shielded them from anypony's view. As she looked on, though, she noticed her reflection, which she couldn't remember ever being there before. "Rarity," her reflection said. Rarity jumped back, afraid that the sleep deprivation was beginning to make her legitimately lose her mind. "You've been through so much lately." "I... I have..." the white unicorn replied to her matching image. None of the ponies in the circle seemed to notice, though. Some of the ponies had begun talking to themselves or even screaming in despair. "But it's no matter. The others are going through a tough time as well, and I need to keep myself in the best mental condition to help anypony who might need me." "But you need you," the reflection responded. "Why don't you... take it easy?" The form of the image began to contort into the face of Discord, whose visage was now tearing through the barrier. Rarity stumbled back and screamed, but again, nopony seemed to notice. "I know what you need, Rarity. You're so hungry; I can see it on your face." "There's no food here. Of course I'm hungry!" "Then between you and me, I know a way that everypony can benefit." Discord then reached behind his back and pulled out a platter with a large, red velvet cake with chocolate frosting spread on the top. "I know it's your favorite. Why don't you have a piece?" "What... Why are you giving me this?" "Does my answer really matter? I'm giving you food. Remember what happened the last time you weren't grateful?" "Well, then... Thank you. I'm not sure if Applejack or Rainbow Dash are especially fond of red velvet, but I'm sure they'll be happy that--" "Oh, what's this? Applejack and Rainbow Dash? Oh, no no no no no. This is for you, my dear. If I catch you sharing even a crumb with anypony else, I'll put you in solitary confinement, keeping you away from those delicate ponies that need you most." "But... I can't just eat selfishly in front of them!" "Then you'd better eat quick." The gas dispersed around Discord, and once it left, Rarity found the cake on a silver platter laying in front of her, waiting to be eaten. Her mouth began to water on the inside. Her stomach began contracting at the sight of the dish in front of her, reminding her of the blistering hunger that she was left to deal with. She wanted nothing more than to dig in, but she couldn't do something so selfishly in front of her friends. Her mind was going through a tailspin. The stress was kicking in, and she didn't know which decision to make. Finally, though, it happened. Rarity knew that if the cake stayed there, it was going to get eaten, and she knew deep in her mind that she would never have the self-control to keep herself from the greed that would eventually settle in with her growing hunger. Filled with shame, she dug her face into the cake. As she ate, she tried justifying herself, attempting to persuade herself that this way, she'd be able to think more clearly if somepony needed her, but really, she knew that she was just giving into a temptation. With her head hung low and every crumb licked savagely off of her plate, she returned remorsefully to her friends, who luckily didn't see a thing. "Do you think we'll get out of here soon?" she asked her blonde-maned friend. "I don't know, Rarity," Applejack said, oblivious of what had just happened. "I just don't know..." The next day was probably the worst day by far. One pony had finally dealt with so much anxiety that she started running into the force field at full speed, hoping that eventually she would break her neck or her skull. After several attempts, and after trying to run the complete diameter as fast as she could, she finally sat down and began crying to herself, covered in her own sweat and blood. Another pony, while screaming, tried bashing his face into the force field until he either died or passed out from blood loss, but he had the same problem that all the other ponies had. He was too afraid to actually let himself die. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were barely holding onto their sanity by a thread, which wasn't being helped at all by the sleep deprivation. They tried talking to each other as much as they could, bringing up any topic that they could to take their mind off of their situation, but eventually, they ran out of things to talk about, leaving themselves to drift away in their thoughts. "Rarity..." The white mare did a double take. It didn't seem like anypony else heard anything, but Rarity knew she heard something, she knew who it was, and she knew where to find him. "I'm going to go take a walk for a minute," she told her friends. "Please try and take your mind off of things while I'm gone, alright?" Her two friends didn't even look her way, still too exhausted, hungry and anxious to respond, but Rarity needed to find out what Discord wanted. She walked towards the edge of the force field, getting close enough to where she could see her reflection, which suddenly started to shape shift until it turned into a familiar figure. "Hello, beautiful," Discord said with an arrogant grin. "How are things treating you?" "Discord..." Rarity said, choking on her words as her emotions took over her. "Please, can't we go home? I just want to see my parents again. I want to hold my sister and tell her where I've been for the past few days. Can't you please just let us go?" "Well, you should have thought of that before you tried taking advantage of my generosity. I was going to let you free after a couple of hours, but you thought that you and your friends could just go to bed and pretend you weren't here. I'm afraid you're going to be in here for a long, long time." Rarity fell to the ground and began to sob quietly to herself, taking in deep breaths and crying them out again. "I... c-can't... do this anymoooore." "Oh, don't be so dramatic, Rarity. If you need something to calm you down, have this." Suddenly, a gallon of icecream appeared next to her, a spoon laying on top of the carton. As much as Rarity hated the situation she was in, she knew that there was nothing she could do to get out of it, and she knew that this was the only thing she had to help her calm herself. "Why are you giving this to me?" "I just thought I'd make life a little bit easier to bare. Seeing you so distraught is just too much for me to handle." Rarity was suspicious, but she had already paid the price for not taking advantage of Discord's generosity once, and she wasn't about to let that happen again. As her crying died down, she used her magic to lift the spoon and slowly feed herself, settling the hunger in her stomach, at least for the moment. "Oh, and by the way," Discord continued, "you might want to watch how much you eat. I think the cake from yesterday is already beginning to set in." As the image of Discord disappeared, Rarity was face to face with her reflection again, only this time, her jaw dropped to see a visible change in her weight. "No..." she said to herself. "No no no no no no! I can't let myself go! I can't get fat! OK, stay calm, Rarity. You're still young and beautiful. You don't need anything to eat right now. You'll be OK without eating like the others." Unfortunately for her, the temptation was too much for her to resist. She was in a war with herself. On the one hand, she could keep her beautiful figure, but on the other, she could give into her carnal desire to feed herself in the midst of starvation. She knew she couldn't resist. But she had to! But it looked too irresistible. But everypony else was finding some way to survive without it. But nopony else had a choice, and suddenly, Rarity began crying to herself again, feeling more and more depressed as she let herself give in, eating spoonful after spoonful of the strawberry icecream. Two weeks had gone by, and the group of ponies in the circle had grown more and more violent as their hunger and fatigue began to reach its peak. For no apparent reason, ponies would walk to another and bite them, beat them, stomp on their flank, anything that could hurt them. Applejack constantly found herself bucking stallions in the rib cage if they got even close to Rarity, who, for a reason unbeknownst to her, was becoming more and more apathetic. The orange mare thought it was just the fatigue and anxiety of being stuck in the dome, but every day, Discord would give her a new desert that Rarity couldn't resist, and each day, Rarity could see herself growing fatter. Rarity herself wanted to interject with Applejack's actions, hoping that one of the earth pony stallions would come break her jaw, but she had lost her motivation in doing so; she had lost her motivation to do anything. She was praying that at some point, Applejack would be too exhausted to fight anymore, which would leave Rarity as the prime target for some angry, confused pony to take out their anger. They had no sense of logic left anymore. They just wanted to kill... They just wanted to die. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were the only two left who had any thought in trying to keep each other safe, which was becoming increasingly more difficult as the other ponies' drive to kill was beginning to outmatch their own drive to stay alive. They no longer went on walks alone anymore, afraid of themselves losing what shred of sanity they had left more than anything. Eventually, though, Rarity lost her self-control and tried running away in a panic, leaving Rainbow Dash to go flying after their stray friend. "It'll be OK," Applejack muttered to herself every time. "Rarity is just losin' it a little faster than we are. She'll be OK, I'll be OK, and we'll all be able to return to our families real soon." "Are you sure about that?" Applejack jumped backwards, looking down at her shadow to see it acting on its own. "What makes you ever think that you'll get out of here?" the shadow continued. "Stop it! Git outta my head!" "This is your home now, Applejack. Your family has already moved on and is doing fine without you." "I said stop it! My family needs me, and I ain't gonna let 'em down!" "You won't be letting anypony down, Applejack. Your family doesn't need you at all. They're happy the way they are. You want them to be happy, don't you?" "Yes... But they can't do all that work without me! I keep the farm alive! I keep our business goin'!" "Your brother, sister and granny can take of everything by themselves. In fact, they've all grown stronger and more independent thanks to your sudden disappearance. They think you've abandoned them. They think you hate them." "What? No! I never did that!" "They loved you, and you betrayed them." "I didn't betray nopony! I'll be back soon, and things'll be just they way they were before--" "You can't leave." Applejack stopped and stared at her shadow, finally realizing that she was talking to a dark blob on the ground, but she still wanted answers. "Why can't I leave?" "Your family loves you, but they're stronger without you. They'll do anything for you, but you just get in the way. You've taken the role of leader in your home, even though nopony asked you to be. Your sister has her cutie mark now, which she would have received sooner if you had just let her grow up on her own. You think you care about them, but you only care about how well your business does. Your family, in its new adversity, has grown closer together than they ever have. Are you really going to ruin things again?" Applejack stopped breathing for a few moments, too traumatized to even cry at the thought that maybe what her shadow was saying was right. Sadly and quietly, she muttered, "No. I won't." The dome had taken over her ability to reason anymore. The dome... had won. On the other end of the dome, Rarity was running at as fast as she could to try to get away from her rainbow-maned friend, who was easily catching up to her. "I've got you now!" the pegasus said, but as she was about to close in on the unicorn, the reflection of three pegasi in matching uniforms raced up to the top of the dome. "Huh?" Leaving her friend behind, she darted towards the top of the dome, hoping that maybe somepony had found them and would help them escape. Once she got to the apex of the dome, she found herself face to face with the three leading members of her idols, the Wonderbolts. "Spitfire!" she shouted. "Am I glad to see you! Discord's gone crazy! He locked us in here without food or water for what I'm guessing is a couple of weeks. I need you to go find Twilight and--" "Can it, Rainbow chump," Spitfire replied. Rainbow Dash didn't respond. "You think that you can be a Wonderbolt one day when you can't even break out of a tiny glass jar? Let me tell you something. You've been to the academy. You've practiced with our squad. You've even competed with us in the Equestrian games, but I've got news for you. If we were ever going to let you be a Wonderbolt, don't you think it would have happened by now?" "But... I don't understand!" "I became a Wonderbolt about five years younger than you are now. Do you really think that we just let anypony become one of the most elite fliers in all of Equestria? You think you're Wonderbolt material because you can fly faster than a couple of pegasi from Ponyville? It's too late for you. You were too lazy." "But I can change! I can work harder! I'll be the hardest worker you've ever had!" "Face it, rookie. You've missed your chance. A real Wonderbolt doesn't just change their lifestyle. You're born a Wonderbolt. You work at it from the moment you're born. You, though... You're just egocentric, lazy, and above all, wasting your time. Go back to cloud clearing. You're going to be doing it for a long, long time." Without another second passing by, the Wonderbolts then shot into the air, completely out of sight with their signature smoke trailing behind them. Rainbow Dash, though, didn't move at all, still keeping herself hovering in that one spot as she said to herself, "I can't go back to cloud clearing... not forever..." Down below, Rarity had managed to find the edge of the barrier, where she was hoping that Discord would be back to bring her more sweets. Her face turned into disgust at the sight of her own visage, which had gone from beautiful to almost unrecognizable due to her weight change. "Oh, Rarity," she said to her reflection, "I'm so sorry this happened. Remember when we were beautiful? I'm surprised nopony has said anything by now. I guess the gas is just too much for anypony to notice..." Suddenly, Rarity's heart started racing. "But what will Sweetie Belle do if she finds me like this? What about my customers? No, I can't do that! I can't let them see me like this! They must never know that this ever happened to me! I can change this. I'll make you beautiful again if it kills me!" Rarity then stuck her hoof down her throat and began to vomit all the food that she had stored in her body, hoping that she would see some visible change to her appearance. When she looked up, though, she saw the same pony as before, only with red, teary eyes and bile on her lips. Again, she put her hoof into her mouth, squeezing her stomach once she hit her gag reflex in a desperate attempt to clear out everything she had eaten over the past few days. The vomit was beginning to burn her throat as it came out, but with tears in her eyes, she stayed determined and pushed herself until she was either skinny or dead. "Rarity! What are you doing?!" Rainbow Dash suddenly soared to her friend and began pulling her away from the pile of vomit on the ground. "NO!" she interjected. "Leave me alone!" "Come on, Rarity! You're going overboard!" "I said let go of me! I want to be beautiful again!" The white unicorn repeated the process, spilling bile all over herself. "Yuck!" Rainbow Dash said, flicking away the remnants that fell onto her hooves. "That's it. We're going to go find Applejack!" "No! I can't let her see me like this! I can't let anypony see me like this!" Unfortunately for her, though, Rainbow Dash had her out-powered and was already on her way back to the only sane pony left in the circle, but once they got there, Applejack was still staring blankly at her own shadow. "Uhh... Applejack?" Rainbow started. No response. "Hello? Equestria to Applejack. Can you hear me?" Rainbow Dash had to lean in to hear, but she could barely manage to make out Applejack whispering, "It'll be OK. It'll be OK. It'll be OK." Just then, as everypony's world had completely fallen apart, thunder roared throughout the dome, the smoke grew thicker, and a deep laughter filled the bubble. As the smoke thinned back into its previous state, a figure appeared in the center of the circle, and for the first time in two weeks, Discord was back. "Bravo, everypony!" he cheered. Everpony looked up at him, but they were too scared to know how to react. "You've made it to the end of your trial. I've come to let you all know that you've almost made it. You just have one teensy weensy little thing I need you to do." Everypony listened in eagerly, but suddenly, as Discord's next words escaped his lips, all the hope that they had dissipated as quickly as it came. "You need to kill somepony in this circle." Silence continued around the dome for a few more moments, but once the message finally sunk in, the silence turned into ear-shattering screaming. The violence had escalated into a bloody massacre. One pony grabbed hold of another and bit into his jugular vein while the stallion behind her reached across her neck and snapped her head all the way around her spinal cord. Some ponies saw that Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack weren't attacking anypony and began their own onslaught, but with one of Applejack's bucks, they were left on the floor, being torn to shreds by another desperate pony. Even after they had managed to kill somepony, they continued to kill, either to keep themselves alive or just because of the carnal adrenaline that rushed through them as they tore the skin off of each other's bones. All Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity could do, however, was look on in complete terror as their friends were beaten, torn and had their very organs chewed out of their body. Another pony lunged toward Rarity, which she blocked with a blast from her horn. Two more attacked from the side, which were both easily taken care of by Rainbow Dash as she picked them up off the ground and threw them into the crowd of blood-thirsty cannibals. Applejack had hardly any energy left, but with the energy she did have, she kicked away anypony who tried even getting close to her. Soon enough, there were only seven ponies left in the circle, three of which were the mares that hadn't killed even one single pony. "Well, look at what we have here. Not going to kill anypony?" The three mares didn't respond. "Well, do I have news for you! Anypony who killed anypony else in this circle is actually barred from escaping. You're going to stay in this circle forever." "But we had a deal!" one stallion shouted. Suddenly, Discord's amused demeanor dissipated. "Oh, really? I don't remember agreeing to any of that. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to my three winners." "Winners?" Rarity said quizzically. "Yes! You three get to leave the circle and go back to Ponyville!" Silence fell again. "Well? What's the matter?" After several more moments of silence, Rainbow Dash finally looked Discord in the eyes. "We don't want to be free." Discord laughed hysterically as the three mares that were the most hopeful throughout the entire ordeal had finally lost all hope in ever having the life they wanted. "You mean none of you want to go back to your families and your dreams and--" "We can't go back," Applejack said humbly. "Oh, no no no." Again, the look of laughter disappeared from his face into a stern look as he lifted up his claw. "I insist." Then, with the snap of his fingers, the three mares all landed back in the marketplace where this all began, but almost immediately... "THE GAS!" Rarity shouted, but the minute those words escaped her lips, her vocal cords began to clench tremendously, her stomach constricting and tangibly shrinking inside her. Then, as her mind completely stopped functioning, she fell to the ground motionless with Rainbow Dash and Applejack tumbling with her. Without the effects of the gas, the toll of 2 weeks without food, water or sleep had finally set in, and now the unicorn, pegasus and earth pony could all sleep in peace, never to be woken again. They no longer needed to worry. R1:18"No..." I mumbled. "Rarity... Applejack... Rainbow Dash... How could he do this to you?" Quickly, I ducked underneath the window of the carriage, noticing the faint silhouette of somepony moving towards me, its figure shadowed by the dust and smoke in the air. As it approached closer, I could begin to make out a pony-shaped figure, only it looked much larger than any pony, at least until I saw who it was. "Princess Celestia!" I shouted, but the moment I did so, I clasped my hooves to my mouth. Celestia's face looked like it was in complete distress, her eyes shining a dark green, her entire body being levitated off the ground. "No... this can't be happening! Not you too! You can't let him do this! CELESTIA!" Celestia's body then levitated higher into the air until it was practically with the clouds, and as my world was crashing down around me, my worst nightmare came true. Her body then tumbled to the ground, landing flat on her back and neck onto a pile of rubble beneath her, breaking her neck... and killing her instantly... I ran out of the carriage in a panic, not caring whether or not Discord was anywhere around me. I just wanted some glimmer of hope that he hadn't ruined everything and that there was still a chance that Celestia had survived the fall. Sadly, though, as I examined Celestia's now-mangled body, I looked into her opened eyes and began heaving. She was gone. She was dead. Suddenly, I heard the sound of something running towards me as if it were in pursuit. Jerking my shoulders backwards, I saw a purple unicorn stallion with a horrified look on his face galloping in my direction. Just as I was about to ask him what was going on or what he was running from, he pivoted to his side and jumped into the carriage behind me. I then quickly followed him inside, knowing that there was a good possibility that Discord would be here at any moment. "What's going on?" I asked. "Is it Discord?" The stallion, ignored me as he pulled out a pill from the satchel around him, completely out of breath and gasping loudly for any air he could muster. "Hey!" "No time!" he said, still refusing to make eye contact and focusing intently on the pill in his hoof. As he tried recovering his breath, his horn began to glow a bright blue aura, which then engulfed the pill in a dim luminescence. "Take this!" The stallion then shoved the pill into my hooves and went back to his satchel, where he pulled out another pill and repeated the process. "What's going on?" I asked more seriously. "It's Discord. He's coming. You have to eat the pill now." "What? Why? What does it do?" I could hear footsteps in the distance. "It's enchanted. Once you bite into it, it'll kill you instantly." "WHAT?!" The footsteps grew closer. "You have to trust me, Princess. This is a battle we can't win. If you don't eat the pill, Discord will torture you to death!" "No! Stop! There has to be another way! It's not over yet! We can still win this!" Then I saw him. His legs made their view into view in the window of the carriage as the two of us ducked down, hoping in vain that he wouldn't be able to see us. He made sure to walk as slowly as he could, knowing all too well exactly where we were hiding, and this time, I had no idea what to do. Finally, unable to wait for a miracle any longer, the stallion beside me put the pill into his mouth, bit hard, and instantly, his body went limp, collapsing beside me. "No..." liquid despair cascaded down my cheeks. "This can't be happening..." Just then, Discord had arrived to the side of the carriage. I had no more time to think, and if I wanted even a chance of hope, I had to act now, no matter how irrational the decision sounded. Without taking another thought, I quickly popped the pill into my mouth, keeping it underneath my tongue so that Discord wouldn't notice. He then unlatched the handle on the door to the carriage, gradually pulling it off of its hinges, leaving me to shiver in my unbearable anxiety. Suddenly, I felt a magical grip around my neck. Discord didn't even have the decency to choke me with his own claws, but that's when I noticed that the grip wasn't tight enough to strangle me. That wasn't what he wanted, but I wasn't about to find out what was. Shamefully, I flipped the pill from under my tongue to inbetween my teeth. I'm sorry to everypony I left behind. I'm sorry to my friends, my subjects, and every innocent pony that I couldn't help. I couldn't protect you, even when you trusted me to protect you with my life. It was my duty as a princess, and I failed. I FAILED EVERYPONY! Author's Note My life has taken a serious downturn lately. Everything in this story has either haunted me in my nightmares or actually happened to me. I hope none of you ever have to go through anything I've had to deal with recently and hope that you remember me in your prayers. Thank you for reading. It helped me get a lot off of my mind.
P̺͙̻͔̈̋̓̾ả͚͉ͣͪͅr̳̤͓̲̻̤̠̎ͬ͂ͅͅt͍̩͇̼̭͓̳̻̍ ̘͓͈͂͊1̫ͩ͊͗̊Running behind a deserted building, I had scarcely begun to catch my breath when tears began streaming down my cheeks. How could this have all happened? My friends... my subjects... innocent ponies... dead... I couldn't cry too loudly. If he were around, he'd be able to hear me for sure. I did my best to stifle my tears, but with my heart beating from all the panic and running, I couldn't keep my breath inside for more than a period of a few moments. I had no idea what happened... Why did things turn out like this? It came out of nowhere... First Fluttershy... The poor girl... She did nothing wrong to him in her whole life, yet she was the first one who Discord betrayed, making sure to toy with her psychologically before leaving her motionless on the ground. "Oh, what's the matter, my dear girl?" "Please! Stop!" "Stop what? Oh, you mean this?" Discord had Angel in his tail, which he was using to squeeze around the poor rabbit's throat tighter and tighter. The bunny flailed in the air, biting, kicking, anything it could do to try to release himself from the draconequus' grip. Fluttershy wanted to do something, anything to help the poor bunny, but she was chained to the ground by the tail. The more she saw Angel coming closer to suffocating to death, the more adrenaline rushed through her body, which she used to flap her wings frantically, praying that her tail would just snap off. It never did, though. "YES! THAT!" "But Fluttershy, old buddy, old pal, you need to take some responsibility." "W-what? What do you mean?" "Why, you were the one who trusted me this whole time when you knew exactly what I was. You knew my past. You knew the risks associated with me. You know what I could do, yet you still invited me into your home, hoping that you were wrong. You didn't have the backbone to say no. You could have told your friends that you didn't feel comfortable with having a monster like me in your home, but you said nothing. Now your dear sweet bunny has to pay the consequences for your actions." "Discord! Discord STOP! DISCORD!" Fluttershy continued to struggle, but after a few bursts of energy, using all the strength she could muster, she fell to the ground, bawling into her hooves. "Don't you dare look away!" Discord screamed, grabbing Fluttershy's eyelids and pulling them open. "Is this what you wanted? You look your rabbit in the eye and tell him why he's about to die!" Discord waved his tail in front of Fluttershy's face. Angel's eyes were wide open, trying as hard as he could to cry for help, but with no oxygen left in his lungs, his screams remained silent. Fluttershy, on the other hand, could do nothing but scream. "ANGEL! I'M SO SORRY! THIS IS ALL MY FAULT! I... I... I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" "Forgive you? Your rabbit is going to die because of you! What part of that makes you think he'll ever forgive you?" "DISCORD! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING IF YOU JUST LET GO OF HIM!" "Oh, now this sounds interesting. Shake my claw." Fluttershy's sobbing stopped for a moment as she grimaced in confusion. "Once you shake my claw, we will be put under covenant. I promise I won't choke your rabbit to death and you promise that I can do anything to you in return. Do we have a deal?" "YES! Now please, let Angel go!" With a smile on his face, Discord grabbed Fluttershy's hoof. No sooner had he done so when a blinding light shone from their grip, filling the entire room with a white radiance. After a few moments, the light dimmed, Discord's tail unwound and Angel fell onto the ground beneath him. Without even taking a minute to catch his breath, however, he began sprinting his way to the door, only to be caught in a magical aura which turned him around and sent him running in circles. "Stupid rabbit," Discord said. lifting him into the air and pinning him into Fluttershy's wall. "WHAT?! NO!" "I'm staying by my covenant. I'm not going to choke him, but he's already gotten on my bad side." Discord turned his head to show Fluttershy the other side of his face, which was a mere skeleton, drenched in green pus. "Oh, well. Toodaloo!" Suddenly, Angel's body turned into a grid of squares, each of which individually flipped over, to reveal nothing but the wall behind him. Within a second, Angel had disappeared into thin air. "A...Angel...? Angel bunny? Where is he? Where's my baby bunny?" "Gone. There is no longer any trace that he ever existed, but why ruin the fun when we're just getting started? After all, you said that I could do whatever I wanted to you." "Angel... Is dead?" "I'm sorry you made the mistake of trusting me yet again. Yes, he's dead, but don't worry. I'm sure he won't stay mad at you for being the reason why he now ceases to exist. It may be all your fault, but I'm sure he understands." "No... NO! I-I-I can't do this! I-I couldn't have killed an innocent animal! I can't--I can't do this! Discord! Please! Just kill me so I won't make the same mistake again!" "Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. Just enjoy the ride." Suddenly, a chair lifted Fluttershy into the air, and the chains that held her to the ground turned into a seat-belt that ran across her chest. "After all..." Suddenly the walls of her cottage fell down, revealing a large butchering station in the form of some kind of amusement ride, and Fluttershy was now moving sideways as the ride pulled her away. "...The ride never ends..." Her chair was attached to some sort of belt that took her away like a roller-coaster, moving slowly past several pictures. They were portraits of ponies who she had never met before, but they all looked regal, like she was moving down some kind of mansion with opaque green walls. Turning the corner, however, the walls disappeared, and in the distance, she could see another conveyor belt merging with the one she was on. In the darkness, she could also see a few chairs moving closer towards her on the opposite belt... each carrying a pony who she knew in some way. "No... NO! Discord, stop!" The ponies were all passed out. How long they would stay that way, however, Fluttershy couldn't say. Suddenly, the conveyor belt pulled them all into another room with walls that matched the same grim color as the previous hallway. Being pulled further, she saw the pictures from before, only now their faces were melted, leaving nothing but a charred skull with blood coming out their eye sockets as if they were crying. Even without the ability to make facial expressions, they look horrified. As they moved further down the room, the portraits were replaced by large mirrors. Fluttershy could hardly look, but her seat-belt made moving her head or neck nearly impossible. After getting a good look at her shaggy mane, wide eyes and pale complexion, the image gradually changed into a face of Discord. "Wakey wakey, everypony." All the ponies on the conveyor belt then opened their eyes, yet still remained motionless. It was as if they were still too drowsy to react. It was as if they had no idea that they were on a conveyor belt, risking a fate that Fluttershy didn't even want to think about. "Oh, and you might not want to look straight into the mirror," Discord said as his face disappeared, replacing it with her own reflection again. "You look so dreadful right now that you might hurt your own eyes." Fluttershy had no idea what that meant, but rather than wait to find out, she averted her gaze to her right, trying as hard as she could to see what was going on beside her. She had no idea how long the line of ponies beside her was until she heard an ear-shattering scream coming from the distance a far ways off. Even with the chains preventing her from moving around, she began shaking in her seat. As she continued on, the screams grew louder, and now everypony to her right was weeping and wailing in fear of what was to come. Remembering what Discord said about the mirrors, and honestly not being able to watch anymore, Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that she would be able to just wait it out. Of course, Discord had other plans. The yellow pegasus then felt something cold suddenly run up her cheeks and down her forehead until they rested on her eyelids. "Oh, come now, Fluttershy. You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" At that moment, four metal hooks grabbed each corner of the pony's eyes and pulled them apart, forcing her to look straight forward. She wouldn't have it, though. Even with her body constricted and her eyelids being forced open, the yellow pony managed to avert her eyes toward her right. That's when she noticed the other ponies' reflections in the mirrors that they faced. She could see that the metal prongs that held her gaze were also being used to pull apart the other ponies' eyelids. Suddenly, just two ponies to her right, she finally saw it. The source of everypony's screams. As the pony two seats away from her looked into the mirror across from her, Fluttershy noticed a red beam in the center of the glass, and once the pony made complete eye contact with the beam... "No..." "AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" The pony's face then caught fire, melting away her skin, her eyes falling out of their sockets, leaving nothing but the trace of a charred skull in the mirror. Fluttershy could hear the whimpering of the stallion just to her right, and in just moments, the terrified breaths turned into wailing screams of agony until his vocal cords were completely burned away. Next, it would be her turn. Fluttershy, even with her body being held in place and her eyelids being held open, looked away, keeping herself from looking into the mirror. As she passed by the next mirror, her heart started beating faster than ever as she caught a glimpse of the red light that shone in the mirror. Death was literally staring at her through the mirror... But Fluttershy looked away... Before she knew it, the mirror was to her left in the opposite direction of where the conveyor belt was taking her. This didn't seem like a simple mistake on Discord's part, though. For some reason, Discord was letting Fluttershy survive the ordeal. The conveyor belt then wrapped around the corner and traveled down to a basement below. The metal hooks then released from Fluttershy's eyes as well as the ponies to her right, but as she saw the charred faces of the ponies beside her, she couldn't stop staring in horror. Her seat came to a complete stop and the chains around her fell to the floor, but Fluttershy remained still, her jaw agape and eyes dead set on the mangled bodies of dozens of innocent ponies. "Well done, my friend!" Fluttershy didn't move or respond. "I see you managed to survive the ordeal. How do you feel, knowing that all these ponies died because of you, yet you didn't even have the decency to let yourself die, even when I provided a way for you?" Fluttershy remained silent and still. "Fluttershy, they're dead. They will never wake up. They will never return home to their families. They will never go back to their daily lives in Ponyville. All that's left is for them to be forgotten forever." "Discord... Why did you do this?" Discord chuckled. "Because I'm God." And with the snap of his fingers, Fluttershy began to burn, but not on the outside like the other ponies. The fire itself burned her from the inside, coming out her eyes and mouth until her screams were completely engulfed in the sounds of the crackling fire that was using her body as tinder. Finally, Fluttershy would never have to deal with pain again. She could sleep... forever... "Princess Twilight!" Nearly dying of a heart attack, I looked up to see a regal white mare descending from the air until she landed just a few feet in front of my shaking hooves. "Princess Celestia!" I exclaimed in a hushed tone, praying that Discord wasn't anywhere he'd be able to hear us. "You know you can't be here! You're risking your life just by--" "The others are dead." I didn't move, speak or breathe for several moments as I attempted to interpret exactly what she was talking about, but as I looked into her deep, grim expression... "No..." I said, trying my hardest not to cry. "Applejack?" The princess nodded her head. "Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash?" "Now, Twilight--" "Rarity?" Silence. "Yes, Twilight... All of them..." Any capability I had at controlling my breathing was suddenly diminished in the total usurpation of my mind's decaying state of focus. I was unable to comprehend the fact that I was now sobbing emphatically, putting my own life in danger as well as that of the Princess, just as I was unable to grasp the idea of my five closest friends... being dead... Killed... by someone I thought was my friend... Gritting my teeth, my sorrow quickly transformed to anger as I said, "What. Happened." It was more of a demand than an inquiry. "I was able to collect their memories before their minds completely shut down, but Twilight, I need you to prepare yourself for what you're about to see." "Give. Me. Their memories." Celestia looked like she was about to interject. "Now." Celestia nodded her head and tilted her horn, which was now beginning to glow in a bright green aura until a stream of memories traveled from her horn to mine. I suddenly collapsed at the weight of the intense magic being transferred into my mind. Celestia had done this once with Fluttershy's memories, but receiving the memories of four ponies at once made me feel like I was being crushed under my own weight. Especially with memories this... strong. "Read them only when you are absolutely sure that Discord won't be able to find you," the Princess said. "I'm going to return to looking for any more damage. Please, be safe." Despite the huge weight that had been placed over me, I reached my hoof over my mentor's neck and brought her into a hug. "You too, Celestia." "I think Discord is far enough for you to read Pinkie Pie's last memories, but after that, you must find somewhere else to hide. Hopefully when I return, I'll know how to stop Discord." "Thank you, Celestia." Nodding one final time, Celestia took off into the air and disappeared within seconds, leaving me to make sense of what was going on. I took a large breathe, checked my surrounding area and let my horn glow a bright green, just like Celestia's, and in moments, I was engulfed in Pinkie Pie's final memories.
2 ʇɹɐdIt was a bright and sunny day, just like pretty much every day in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was on her way to visit the Cakes at Sugar Cube Corner to help out in making delicious treats... or just getting in the way and making a big mess. Either way worked for her. As soon as she opened the door, however, she wasn't met with the loving smiles that she was so used to seeing; she was surrounded by fierce scowls from every corner of the shop. "Hi, everypony!" she shouted, hoping that everypony's glares would transform at the sight of their bouncy pink friend, but rather than make them happy, their expressions became more enraged. "What's going on? Did something happen?" One stallion got up from his seat with a cupcake in his hoof, making a slow trek to the pink mare, never losing eye contact. Once he was within inches of the pony, he grabbed Pinkie's mane with one hoof and smeared the cupcake into her mouth and nose. "Hey!" Pinkie yelled as soon as she had enough space to breathe. "What gives?!" "Don't you talk to me that way!" Out of nowhere, the stallion threw a punch straight into Pinkie Pie's face, knocking her to the ground in a pile of cupcake and frosting. Other ponies got up from their seats and raced toward the action, readily cheering on the stallion as he stood above the terrified mare. "G-guys...?" Pinkie muttered timidly. "A-anypony?" "Shut up!" The stallion shouted with a swift kick to Pinkie Pie's stomach. Pinkie curled into a ball on the floor, grabbing her middle section in some attempt to ease the pain, but as she looked up for some shred of help, all she could see was a crowd of ponies cheering him on. In the midst of the ovation, she could hear the genuine malice coming out of the ponies' mouths, encouraging him to hurt her more. The stallion then began to stomp on Pinkie Pie's rib-cage, pressing as hard as he could in an attempt to break her bones. Pinkie remained in a ball, but her hooves shifted from her stomach to her face, trying to hide the others from seeing her cry into her hooves. They noticed, though, and their cheers began to grow louder as they laughed Pinkie to scorn. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!" "Step on her throat!" a pony in the crowd yelled. "Make her choke!" "No!" another called. "Break her muzzle first!" The stallion then began delivering blows to Pinkie's face, breaking her hooves away for him to get a good shot at her nose. After several hits to her muzzle, there was finally a snap, which filled Pinkie with insurmountable pain and the crowd with an abundance of cheering. In a state of panic and with no other options left, Pinkie bucked the stallion off of her, sending him crashing into the crowd behind him. Both Pinkie and the group looked at each other with wide eyes, stunned that the pink mare actually fought back, but that shock soon turned to rage in the circle and panic in the terrified earth pony mare. Pinkie quickly got to her hooves and ran out the door, using her adrenaline to help her escape while her hooves and stomach were still in mounds of excruciating pain. The crowd began chasing after her as if their life depended on it, but fortunately for Pinkie, her determination to escape was stronger than theirs to catch up to her. Finally, she had managed to lose the mob in the town market. Ponies were continuing to stare her down, but Pinkie was just hoping that it was because of the blood and frosting all over her face and coat. Eventually, she found a desolate alley in between two large buildings, made sure nopony was looking and broke down crying. "Awww. What's wrong, Pinkie Pie?" Pinkie Pie jolted at the sound. Turning her head to see that the wall beside her had two eyes looking up at her, she squealed and jumped again. A figure then grew an outline around the eyes, and Discord suddenly appeared, changing his colors like a chameleon. "Oh, it's just you," Pinkie said relieved. "Oh, my goodness! What happened here?" Pinkie's relief then immediately switched back into trauma as she began to cry loudly into her hooves. "It's so horrible, Discord! I don't know why it happened! I just walked into Sugar Cube Corner and this stallion... I don't know why... and there were other ponies and... Oh, Discord, I think they wanted to really hurt me!" Discord slumped down to the pink mare's level and put his paw around her. "Oh, Pinkie. I was afraid this would happen." Pinkie Pie sniffled. "W-what?" "Well, you see, the ponies around here, they... How do I put this? They hate you." The mare just stood there for several moments before giggling to herself. "Oh, wow, Discord! You really had me scared for a second! I mean, I don't do anything that makes ponies mad." Discord's grin had completely faded into a dull stare, and soon enough, Pinkie stopped laughing. "I don't... I can't!" "You do and you always have. Haven't you ever met a pony that rubbed off on you the wrong way, and you thought to yourself, 'I can learn to love this pony if I just put on a smile! I'll warm up to them eventually!' As you can see, whoever did this to you is tired of putting on the charade that he's trying to be your friend. Everyone in Ponyville wants you gone. You annoy them. So much, in fact, that if you were to drop off the face of Equestria right now, everypony would be happy that they'd never have to see you again. I guess they've just all gotten together and decided that they want you gone." "Everypony... wants me to leave?" "No." Discord then grabbed Pinkie's ear and whispered, "Everypony wants you to die." "No... NO! NOOO!!!!!" Suddenly, Pinkie was running away at top speeds again, even though she wasn't being chased. If anything, she was just trying to escape reality, hoping that she could run to a place where everything would be OK. Somewhere like... Fluttershy's cottage! That would work! As she approached her pegasus friend's house, however, she no longer felt like this place would be any safer. Attached to her door was a note that read: "Dear Pinkie Pie, I can't go on pretending any longer. You've made my life a living nightmare. I think it's time I finally let myself be happy, but I can't do it with you in my life. I'm sorry, but we can't be friends anymore." "Fluttershy..." Pinkie Pie said as a tear rolled down her cheeks, "not you too... Rarity! I'm sure she hasn't changed!" With tears welling down her face, Pinkie raced to Carousel Boutique, trying desperately to convince herself that Rarity would always be her friend. When she got to Rarity's boutique, however, she noticed a garbage can overflowing with games and presents that Pinkie had given her throughout their friendship. Pinkie's breathing began to grow sporadic until she finally broke down beside the garbage can, giving up all hope that anypony still cared about her. After several minutes of nonstop sobbing, it finally hit Pinkie that she had nowhere left to go, nopony left who cared about her, and nothing left for her in Ponyville. Her crying just got worse after that. "Awww, what's the matter?" The pink earth pony jumped, turning her head to see Discord laying down beside her. "Oh, nothing," she said, trying to make it look like she wasn't just crying her eyes out. "I just uh..." As she tried to come up with something new, though, the tears came back, and she just couldn't pretend like she was OK. "What happened, Discord?! I thought I made everypony smile, but they all hate me now! Even my best friends! What changed?!" "I'm sorry, Pinkie. I guess everypony was just tired of pretending. Here, let me show you." Discord reached behind his back and pulled out a mirror. As Pinkie looked on, her reflection changed into a party that she had thrown a couple months ago. "Remember this?" "Yeah!" the mare replied with a sniffle. "That was a party I threw for the Cakes to celebrate their anniversary!" "Do you know what happened afterwards?" "No... why?" The image changed into a room filled with deflated balloons and confetti all over the floor, which both Mr. and Mrs. Cake were attempting to sweep up. "Can you believe her?" Mrs. Cake said to her husband. "Who throws a party for an anniversary?" "I know, dear," Mr. Cake said with a sigh. "This was supposed to be our special day, but she ruined everything! The day is almost over and we're busy cleaning up her mess instead of spending time together!" "It's OK, honey bun." "It is NOT OK! Ever since Pinkie moved to Ponyville, we've been babysitting her instead of spending time with just the two of us! I just don't think I can do this anymore!" Suddenly, Mr. Cake dropped his broom and went into the kitchen. "And just where do you think you're going?" As soon as Mr. Cake walked back out, Mrs. Cake's jaw dropped, a smile reaching across her face. In Mr. Cake's mouth was a strawberry-flavored cupcake with chocolate frosting, Mrs. Cake's personal favorite, sitting on top of a glass plate. "Pinkie hasn't ruined everything. Happy anniversary." The image then changed to a slumber party that Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had together just a few weeks before. Pinkie pulled out a book that she had under her bed and said, "OH! You know what would be so fun? What if we told each other our most embarrassing secrets, but don't worry! I won't tell anypony!" The image changed again to Rainbow Dash sitting in Twilight's library, surrounded by all her friends. The five ponies were all laughing hysterically. "And you'll never believe this!" Rainbow bantered. "She actually believes that one day, she'll meet a tall, handsome stallion who will help her throw parties every day! Her dream is to meet a stallion who will say, 'Hey, candy-mane. You know where I can get somethin' sweet around here, cause I bet it's no match for you.'" All five of them erupted in laughter as the image of the mirror returned to Pinkie's reflection. "Rainbow Dash... How could you?!" "Oh, it's not all that bad," Discord said sympathetically. "Yes it is! I guess it's time I move back in with my family and farm rocks for the rest of my life." "Before you do that, you might want to look at this." The image in the mirror changed again, displaying Pinkie Pie's mother washing dishes and her father looking through his mail. "We got another letter from Pinkie Pie," her father said. "Oh, dear, I'm not sure if I'm in the mood right now," her mother retorted. "We'd better read it. She'd probably get worried if we didn't." "We just need to let her grow up!" "She's not like that, though. If she doesn't have a letter by the next day, she'll probably give us a surprise visit, using half our rocks for party decorations." "What if we moved? She wouldn't have to know! You could find a farm somewhere else, couldn't you? I'm sure the girls could use a change in scenery anyway! Maybe we could switch to farming beets or--" "No!" Pinkie's mother jumped back in surprise. "I'm not going to let her ruin our lives like that! We can write her a letter when she gets lonely every once in a while, and at least this way she's out of the house!" "You're right, dear... I'm sorry. Every family has its challenges, and I guess we should be grateful that it's not as bad as it could be." As the mirror returned to normal one final time, Pinkie's eyes were red, her coat pale and her cheeks covered with silent tears. "M-mom? Dad?" The mirror in Discords paw then shifted its shape into a pen, which Discord used to draw a circle in the ground. With a stern kick, the earth within the circle tumbled down, revealing an infinite black abyss beneath it. "Pinkie, I think it's time." "Time for what? What's going on?" "I'm going to let you decide whether or not you want to live. If you choose life, I'll let you continue in your endeavor and leave you where you left off. If you feel like nothing will ever get better, however, this portal is the most peaceful way to die. It contains a gas that will put you to sleep almost immediately, leaving you to pass away gently in your sleep. The option is yours." Pinkie peered over the black abyss, her mind racing back and forth between the options she had been given. On the one hand, she could easily forget about all of her pain, and maybe everypony would be better off this way anyway. Still, though, was she really ready to leave Ponyville behind forever? "Discord?" Pinkie gulped. "Do you think anypony will be sad if I'm gone?" Discord shook his head. "I think your friends deserve this," he said. "Let them go. Let them be free." The pink earth pony looked over the abyss one more time, her hooves shaking as she really took into mind what was about to happen. All those times she had spent with her friends, all the fun times she had in Ponyville would be gone. They were all a lie, though, and Pinkie couldn't kid herself anymore. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, took a step forward and fell into the hole... ...But she wasn't falling asleep... It felt like she was falling a thousand miles per hour, wind pulling her mane and tail into the air with violent force. Her eyes jolted open as she looked up and flailed her body, seeing that the portal back home was gradually disappearing above her. "DISCORD! I CHANGE MY MIND! I DON'T WANNA DIE! SAVE ME! PLEEEEASE!!" "It's too late for that." Looking down, Pinkie then saw the ground far beneath her. She was falling into the depths of Tartarus, with nothing but fire and brimstone left for her. If she wasn't crushed to death by her fall, she would surely be burned to death, or worse... she would spend eternity here, in Hell. "I TRUSTED YOU!!!" I suddenly snapped back to normal, remembering where I was and what Celestia had told me. Without taking a second to dwell on it further, I ran as fast as I could, looking for a new place to hide. I wasn't as concerned about finding a place where Discord wouldn't find me as much as finding a place where I could hide out while I read the others' final memories. I was too afraid that if I took to the sky, Discord would spot me in a flash, so on I ran, trying to run behind as many obstacles as I could. Finally, I found an abandoned carriage laying sideways next to a heap of rubble, probably the aftermath of one of Discord's attacks. I slipped inside the door of the carriage, closed it shut and ducked as low as I could get, hoping that if Discord showed up, he wouldn't see me through the side window. It had been just moments since I had woken from the vision, but with all that was going through my mind, it felt like hours, and I couldn't wait any longer. Maybe the next memories would give me some clue on how to defeat Discord. All I cared about, though, was what happened to my friends. Closing my eyes, my horn glowed green, sending me to the final thoughts of Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.
☩Pa☠rΩt 3Applejack took a sip of some freshly-squeezed lemonade. Wiping the dripping sweat off of her face, she sighed an exhausted breath as she reveled in all the sowing she had accomplished so far. The day was far from over, though. Even though it was hardly passed noon, the earth pony had a mountain of chores to finish before supper time, but such was her life. She took one last gulp of her beverage before she had to go back to work, but the minute she looked over in the direction of Ponyville, she saw that a large pillow of smoke was beginning to encompass the town. "What the--?" she muttered to herself, putting her cowpony hat back onto her head and turning to her brother. "Big Mac, can you take over for a little while?" Her brother set down a bale of hay by the farm and replied with a confused, "Eeyup." "Sorry, big brother, but I have a feelin' somethin' ain't quite right back in town." Meanwhile in town, many of the Ponyvillians had left their homes in an attempt to search for the origin of the smoke, but as the gas began to spread, many had also lost where they were. "Hello?" Rarity called, illuminating her horn to make navigation easier for her. "Is anypony there? Can somepony please tell me I'm at least walking in the right direction? I don't even care which direction is the right direction; I just want to get--OOF!" As Rarity aimlessly strolled forward, she crashed directly into the pony in front of her. Leaning her illuminated horn down, she said, "Oh, I'm so sor--Applejack!" "Rarity?" the earth pony said as the unicorn helped her to her hooves again. "Phewee! Boy, am I glad to see you! Now, just what in the hay happened that managed to cover half of Ponyville in this here smoke?" "I was just trying to figure that out myself. You wouldn't happen to know the direction out of here, would you?" "Sure I do! It's... uhhh..." Applejack grimaced as she looked behind her, which was now nothing but a puffy black void of gas. "I might have to get back to you on that one." "Guys!" a voice called as a blue figure pierced through the blinding smoke. "Something's gone wrong! This isn't normal smoke! Normally I could clear smoke in no time, but it just won't budge! It's like a living thing!" "Rainbow, is that you?" Rarity said, shining her light on the blue pegasus. "What do you mean? Like a dragon?" "No! That's just it! The smoke isn't coming from anywhere in particular! It's not spreading; it's just condensing. When I was up in the air, the smoke was circling around one big area like a giant bubble!" "So what yer sayin' is," Applejack began, "somepony is controllin' it?" "Oh, it's no pony," a low, mysterious voice echoed. The three ponies stood still, looking around for where the voice had come from, but like the smoke, the origin was nowhere to be found. The voice then laughed hysterically, making the three friends shudder silently. Suddenly, the smoke was beginning to spiral as the wind pushed it around like a whirlpool until the ponies could finally see that they were in a large circle of land with dozens of confused ponies... and a familiar face in the middle. "Discord!" Applejack exclaimed. The draconequus looked left and right. "Who? Me?" he said sarcastically. "Honestly, Applejack, do you need attention called to yourself all the time? Everypony here already knows who I am." "Quit the trash talk!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flying into the air until she was face to face with the god of chaos. "Are you telling us that you were the one who created this mess?" "You know, Rainbow Dash," Discord said, pulling Rainbow Dash's wings off of her back like they were ornaments, "you should really know by now that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." Rainbow Dash immediately fell to the ground, hobbling as she found her way back up. "Hey! What gives?!" Discord then pulled out a jar of honey from behind his back, filled it with a jar of flies and began using one of Rainbow Dash's wing as a spoon. As much as this enraged Rainbow, she realized she had no other options left and bowed her head in humility. "What's going on?" Rarity said, saving Rainbow Dash from the humility of having to speak. "Fiiine," Discord murmured, tossing the jar behind him and returning Rainbow Dash's wings to her back. Rainbow fluttered her honey-covered wing in disgust. "I'll tell you, but you're not going to be happy." The other ponies all stared in fear or anger, but remained silent. "I was just in the neighborhood when suddenly I came up with the greatest game ever, but sadly, I didn't know how to attract any ponies to play with." "So you just thought you'd make the town blind?" Applejack retorted sarcastically. "Oh, I'm SURE they'll play yer game now!" "You really should learn not to speak out when your elders are speaking. I'd hate for you to lose your voice." Applejack wanted to retort, but the moment she tried speaking, her vocal chords clenched in her throat, almost like she had experienced a sudden immense thirst. She then immediately fell to the ground coughing, trying to hack out this new pain in her throat. "Now," Discord continued, "as I was saying, I wanted to try out a fun little experiment, because that's what all games are, aren't they? Now, here's where it gets interesting. You see this half sphere where the smoke doesn't touch?" The ponies didn't notice this before, but the smoke was still billowing overhead, almost like they were all in an upside-down fish bowl. "Well, this is the area in which you're allowed to stay." "Forget that!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Come on, everypony! Let's go!" The pegasus then tried flying up into the smoke, but the second she would have come in contact with the outside, her face crashed into a clear surface. Falling back down, she could see the smoke being pushed away from the apex, just like how she had been pushed away from the inside. "What? A force field? That's no fair!" Discord then grabbed Rainbow Dash by the abdomen, squeezed her until she began to lose oxygen, and said in a low, stern voice, "It's my game, I make the rules, and I'll decide what's fair. Would you rather try escaping again? Here let me help you with that." With his free paw, he latched onto Rainbow Dash's tail and swung her into the top of the force field, nearly breaking her nose. "Oh, surely it'll work this time! All you need is a little determination!" Discord pulled Rainbow Dash off of the force field like a stamp off plastic, reared his arm back and swung Rainbow Dash back into the solid, invisible surface. The pegasus was holding back tears, but the draconequus continued his onslaught, pulling Rainbow Dash off and striking her against the force field over and over again. All the other ponies looked up in terror, too shaken up to speak as they silently prayed that Discord would stop before he killed her. After a half a minute of nonstop violence, and to the fortune of everypony in the circle, Discord eventually stopped, dropping Rainbow Dash onto the ground beside her friends. "Let this be a lesson to everypony," he said. "As you can see, the protective barrier that surrounds you all is absolutely impenetrable, even by magic. If anypony attempts to break through or teleport out of the force field, I'll find out," Discord then lowered his head to Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, "and it'll be game over for some unlucky pony. "Now, all you have to do to win the game is follow that one simple rule, and you'll be free to go! Sounds simple enough, right?" "Forgive me if I'm speaking out," Rarity said as politely as she could, trying to spare herself a punishment similar to what Applejack and Rainbow Dash received, "but I'm not quite sure if I follow. You say as long as we don't try to escape, we'll be set free? For how long, exactly?" "Oh, long enough. You'll find out if you decide to play." "You... won't... get away... with this..." Rainbow Dash said, trying her best to fight through the pain enough to look Discord in the eye. "I'm sure Twilight's on her way right now to come stop you!" "Who? OH! You mean--HA! You're hilarious! You think we're still in Ponyville?" Discord snapped his fingers, causing the smoke to disappear instantly. All the ponies looked outside the clear barrier wide-eyed as they saw that rather than their home, they were on a mountain surrounded by volcanoes, all of which were emitting mounds of smoke. "Now, is everypony ready to play?" The crowd of ponies remained silent, unsure of how to answer and timid as to what would happen if they did. "Perfect! I'll see you all in the morning!" With a snap of his fingers, he vanished, leaving a throng of ponies to silently question to themselves what was going on and what would happen to them. Rarity, seeing her friends in so much physical pain, put her hooves around them, bringing them into a warm hug. "It'll be OK, girls," she said softly. "It'll just be until morning." Time passed, and with no manner of telling how long they had been deserted there, they had no idea how close they were to Discord showing up again. They all began to grow a little bit anxious, expecting a visit at any second, just to be left waiting for several more hours. One pony in the crowd began to have serious panic attacks, hyperventilating and crying until she had no energy left to do anything but tremble where she laid. For the duration of the time, most of the ponies didn't speak. It was quiet, unnerving, and the least safe that any of them had ever felt. Luckily, the long period of panic was followed by a period of sleep, but as the group finally had some peace, Discord showed up, screaming at them. "OH, THIS IS THE THANKS I GET?!" All the ponies jolted up, hearts beating violently, shaking and praying that they would just be able to make it out of this unscathed. "I DECIDE TO LET THE GAME LAST ONLY ONE DAY, BUT YOU ALL FEEL THAT YOU CAN JUST SLEEP THROUGH IT?!" Discord then snapped his fingers and gas immediately filled the circle. Ponies screamed, fearing that they were about to die. "SHUT UP!" The circle fell silent, but the gas continued to pour in. "This gas," Discord said in a much more calming tone, "will not kill any of you. Actually, it's here to make sure you all survive. It's made with my own special recipe, and while it's here, you cannot die of hunger, thirst or sleep deprivation." "Wait..." a timid stallion blurted. "How long are we going to be in here? I have a family to take care of!" "Oh, you're going to be in here for a long, long time, and just think. If you hadn't tried cheating your sentence, you would have been out of here already, yet you call yourself a father? How could you just let your children and wife alone like that? They're probably in a state of complete panic right now, and all this just because of the decisions you made." "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know!" "Well, you're going to have a long time to learn." And with that, Discord disappeared in the gas. They were alone again, but for some reason, they almost wished Discord was still there, just so they had an idea of what to expect rather than wait for who knows how long. Hours passed, but there was still no sign of Discord ever showing up again, which made the ponies grow even more anxious. If the gas was supposed to keep them alive, what motivation would Discord have to ever return to them again? He could literally leave them there to die of old age, having everypony forget about them eventually, but then again, he could have also been lying about it. The group was beginning to grow hungry, which made them wonder if Discord had been lying when he told them he would keep them alive. At this point, some in the group were beginning to hope that he was lying, just so that their hunger and thirst wouldn't last forever. The gas itself wasn't keeping them from breathing normally, but it made breathing much more difficult due to the thinness of the air left in the circle. That was Discord's game, though. He wanted to keep them alive, but just barely. One pony began holding his breath in a feeble attempt to suffocate himself, but every time he felt like he was about to black out, he took in a deep breath, too scared to allow himself to die. The other ponies didn't even try. Most of them had at least some sliver of hope that they would eventually be able to return to their families again and return to the life they left off, and the few that didn't just saw no point in attempting suicide. They knew that there was nothing they could do. Discord wanted them there, in his prison, and they knew that as long as Discord was having fun with his game, he wouldn't let them cheat. One day passed, but as far as the ponies knew, they had been there for at least three days. There was no sun they could look to to tell them the time, and with the gas taking away their ability to sleep, the days would last far longer than expected. Most of the individuals in the group had lost all hope at this point, but Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all had some smidgen of faith left. Not that it mattered much, though. After a few hours, the entire circle fell silent, having little to talk about, and at this point even the most cheerful ponies of the bunch had fallen into a state of depression. Every hour or so, a pony or two would get up and move around, just to give them something to do to keep themselves from going crazy too early. Rarity, during her walking time, moved to the edge of the barrier, looking outside at the smoke that shielded them from anypony's view. As she looked on, though, she noticed her reflection, which she couldn't remember ever being there before. "Rarity," her reflection said. Rarity jumped back, afraid that the sleep deprivation was beginning to make her legitimately lose her mind. "You've been through so much lately." "I... I have..." the white unicorn replied to her matching image. None of the ponies in the circle seemed to notice, though. Some of the ponies had begun talking to themselves or even screaming in despair. "But it's no matter. The others are going through a tough time as well, and I need to keep myself in the best mental condition to help anypony who might need me." "But you need you," the reflection responded. "Why don't you... take it easy?" The form of the image began to contort into the face of Discord, whose visage was now tearing through the barrier. Rarity stumbled back and screamed, but again, nopony seemed to notice. "I know what you need, Rarity. You're so hungry; I can see it on your face." "There's no food here. Of course I'm hungry!" "Then between you and me, I know a way that everypony can benefit." Discord then reached behind his back and pulled out a platter with a large, red velvet cake with chocolate frosting spread on the top. "I know it's your favorite. Why don't you have a piece?" "What... Why are you giving me this?" "Does my answer really matter? I'm giving you food. Remember what happened the last time you weren't grateful?" "Well, then... Thank you. I'm not sure if Applejack or Rainbow Dash are especially fond of red velvet, but I'm sure they'll be happy that--" "Oh, what's this? Applejack and Rainbow Dash? Oh, no no no no no. This is for you, my dear. If I catch you sharing even a crumb with anypony else, I'll put you in solitary confinement, keeping you away from those delicate ponies that need you most." "But... I can't just eat selfishly in front of them!" "Then you'd better eat quick." The gas dispersed around Discord, and once it left, Rarity found the cake on a silver platter laying in front of her, waiting to be eaten. Her mouth began to water on the inside. Her stomach began contracting at the sight of the dish in front of her, reminding her of the blistering hunger that she was left to deal with. She wanted nothing more than to dig in, but she couldn't do something so selfishly in front of her friends. Her mind was going through a tailspin. The stress was kicking in, and she didn't know which decision to make. Finally, though, it happened. Rarity knew that if the cake stayed there, it was going to get eaten, and she knew deep in her mind that she would never have the self-control to keep herself from the greed that would eventually settle in with her growing hunger. Filled with shame, she dug her face into the cake. As she ate, she tried justifying herself, attempting to persuade herself that this way, she'd be able to think more clearly if somepony needed her, but really, she knew that she was just giving into a temptation. With her head hung low and every crumb licked savagely off of her plate, she returned remorsefully to her friends, who luckily didn't see a thing. "Do you think we'll get out of here soon?" she asked her blonde-maned friend. "I don't know, Rarity," Applejack said, oblivious of what had just happened. "I just don't know..." The next day was probably the worst day by far. One pony had finally dealt with so much anxiety that she started running into the force field at full speed, hoping that eventually she would break her neck or her skull. After several attempts, and after trying to run the complete diameter as fast as she could, she finally sat down and began crying to herself, covered in her own sweat and blood. Another pony, while screaming, tried bashing his face into the force field until he either died or passed out from blood loss, but he had the same problem that all the other ponies had. He was too afraid to actually let himself die. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were barely holding onto their sanity by a thread, which wasn't being helped at all by the sleep deprivation. They tried talking to each other as much as they could, bringing up any topic that they could to take their mind off of their situation, but eventually, they ran out of things to talk about, leaving themselves to drift away in their thoughts. "Rarity..." The white mare did a double take. It didn't seem like anypony else heard anything, but Rarity knew she heard something, she knew who it was, and she knew where to find him. "I'm going to go take a walk for a minute," she told her friends. "Please try and take your mind off of things while I'm gone, alright?" Her two friends didn't even look her way, still too exhausted, hungry and anxious to respond, but Rarity needed to find out what Discord wanted. She walked towards the edge of the force field, getting close enough to where she could see her reflection, which suddenly started to shape shift until it turned into a familiar figure. "Hello, beautiful," Discord said with an arrogant grin. "How are things treating you?" "Discord..." Rarity said, choking on her words as her emotions took over her. "Please, can't we go home? I just want to see my parents again. I want to hold my sister and tell her where I've been for the past few days. Can't you please just let us go?" "Well, you should have thought of that before you tried taking advantage of my generosity. I was going to let you free after a couple of hours, but you thought that you and your friends could just go to bed and pretend you weren't here. I'm afraid you're going to be in here for a long, long time." Rarity fell to the ground and began to sob quietly to herself, taking in deep breaths and crying them out again. "I... c-can't... do this anymoooore." "Oh, don't be so dramatic, Rarity. If you need something to calm you down, have this." Suddenly, a gallon of icecream appeared next to her, a spoon laying on top of the carton. As much as Rarity hated the situation she was in, she knew that there was nothing she could do to get out of it, and she knew that this was the only thing she had to help her calm herself. "Why are you giving this to me?" "I just thought I'd make life a little bit easier to bare. Seeing you so distraught is just too much for me to handle." Rarity was suspicious, but she had already paid the price for not taking advantage of Discord's generosity once, and she wasn't about to let that happen again. As her crying died down, she used her magic to lift the spoon and slowly feed herself, settling the hunger in her stomach, at least for the moment. "Oh, and by the way," Discord continued, "you might want to watch how much you eat. I think the cake from yesterday is already beginning to set in." As the image of Discord disappeared, Rarity was face to face with her reflection again, only this time, her jaw dropped to see a visible change in her weight. "No..." she said to herself. "No no no no no no! I can't let myself go! I can't get fat! OK, stay calm, Rarity. You're still young and beautiful. You don't need anything to eat right now. You'll be OK without eating like the others." Unfortunately for her, the temptation was too much for her to resist. She was in a war with herself. On the one hand, she could keep her beautiful figure, but on the other, she could give into her carnal desire to feed herself in the midst of starvation. She knew she couldn't resist. But she had to! But it looked too irresistible. But everypony else was finding some way to survive without it. But nopony else had a choice, and suddenly, Rarity began crying to herself again, feeling more and more depressed as she let herself give in, eating spoonful after spoonful of the strawberry icecream. Two weeks had gone by, and the group of ponies in the circle had grown more and more violent as their hunger and fatigue began to reach its peak. For no apparent reason, ponies would walk to another and bite them, beat them, stomp on their flank, anything that could hurt them. Applejack constantly found herself bucking stallions in the rib cage if they got even close to Rarity, who, for a reason unbeknownst to her, was becoming more and more apathetic. The orange mare thought it was just the fatigue and anxiety of being stuck in the dome, but every day, Discord would give her a new desert that Rarity couldn't resist, and each day, Rarity could see herself growing fatter. Rarity herself wanted to interject with Applejack's actions, hoping that one of the earth pony stallions would come break her jaw, but she had lost her motivation in doing so; she had lost her motivation to do anything. She was praying that at some point, Applejack would be too exhausted to fight anymore, which would leave Rarity as the prime target for some angry, confused pony to take out their anger. They had no sense of logic left anymore. They just wanted to kill... They just wanted to die. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were the only two left who had any thought in trying to keep each other safe, which was becoming increasingly more difficult as the other ponies' drive to kill was beginning to outmatch their own drive to stay alive. They no longer went on walks alone anymore, afraid of themselves losing what shred of sanity they had left more than anything. Eventually, though, Rarity lost her self-control and tried running away in a panic, leaving Rainbow Dash to go flying after their stray friend. "It'll be OK," Applejack muttered to herself every time. "Rarity is just losin' it a little faster than we are. She'll be OK, I'll be OK, and we'll all be able to return to our families real soon." "Are you sure about that?" Applejack jumped backwards, looking down at her shadow to see it acting on its own. "What makes you ever think that you'll get out of here?" the shadow continued. "Stop it! Git outta my head!" "This is your home now, Applejack. Your family has already moved on and is doing fine without you." "I said stop it! My family needs me, and I ain't gonna let 'em down!" "You won't be letting anypony down, Applejack. Your family doesn't need you at all. They're happy the way they are. You want them to be happy, don't you?" "Yes... But they can't do all that work without me! I keep the farm alive! I keep our business goin'!" "Your brother, sister and granny can take of everything by themselves. In fact, they've all grown stronger and more independent thanks to your sudden disappearance. They think you've abandoned them. They think you hate them." "What? No! I never did that!" "They loved you, and you betrayed them." "I didn't betray nopony! I'll be back soon, and things'll be just they way they were before--" "You can't leave." Applejack stopped and stared at her shadow, finally realizing that she was talking to a dark blob on the ground, but she still wanted answers. "Why can't I leave?" "Your family loves you, but they're stronger without you. They'll do anything for you, but you just get in the way. You've taken the role of leader in your home, even though nopony asked you to be. Your sister has her cutie mark now, which she would have received sooner if you had just let her grow up on her own. You think you care about them, but you only care about how well your business does. Your family, in its new adversity, has grown closer together than they ever have. Are you really going to ruin things again?" Applejack stopped breathing for a few moments, too traumatized to even cry at the thought that maybe what her shadow was saying was right. Sadly and quietly, she muttered, "No. I won't." The dome had taken over her ability to reason anymore. The dome... had won. On the other end of the dome, Rarity was running at as fast as she could to try to get away from her rainbow-maned friend, who was easily catching up to her. "I've got you now!" the pegasus said, but as she was about to close in on the unicorn, the reflection of three pegasi in matching uniforms raced up to the top of the dome. "Huh?" Leaving her friend behind, she darted towards the top of the dome, hoping that maybe somepony had found them and would help them escape. Once she got to the apex of the dome, she found herself face to face with the three leading members of her idols, the Wonderbolts. "Spitfire!" she shouted. "Am I glad to see you! Discord's gone crazy! He locked us in here without food or water for what I'm guessing is a couple of weeks. I need you to go find Twilight and--" "Can it, Rainbow chump," Spitfire replied. Rainbow Dash didn't respond. "You think that you can be a Wonderbolt one day when you can't even break out of a tiny glass jar? Let me tell you something. You've been to the academy. You've practiced with our squad. You've even competed with us in the Equestrian games, but I've got news for you. If we were ever going to let you be a Wonderbolt, don't you think it would have happened by now?" "But... I don't understand!" "I became a Wonderbolt about five years younger than you are now. Do you really think that we just let anypony become one of the most elite fliers in all of Equestria? You think you're Wonderbolt material because you can fly faster than a couple of pegasi from Ponyville? It's too late for you. You were too lazy." "But I can change! I can work harder! I'll be the hardest worker you've ever had!" "Face it, rookie. You've missed your chance. A real Wonderbolt doesn't just change their lifestyle. You're born a Wonderbolt. You work at it from the moment you're born. You, though... You're just egocentric, lazy, and above all, wasting your time. Go back to cloud clearing. You're going to be doing it for a long, long time." Without another second passing by, the Wonderbolts then shot into the air, completely out of sight with their signature smoke trailing behind them. Rainbow Dash, though, didn't move at all, still keeping herself hovering in that one spot as she said to herself, "I can't go back to cloud clearing... not forever..." Down below, Rarity had managed to find the edge of the barrier, where she was hoping that Discord would be back to bring her more sweets. Her face turned into disgust at the sight of her own visage, which had gone from beautiful to almost unrecognizable due to her weight change. "Oh, Rarity," she said to her reflection, "I'm so sorry this happened. Remember when we were beautiful? I'm surprised nopony has said anything by now. I guess the gas is just too much for anypony to notice..." Suddenly, Rarity's heart started racing. "But what will Sweetie Belle do if she finds me like this? What about my customers? No, I can't do that! I can't let them see me like this! They must never know that this ever happened to me! I can change this. I'll make you beautiful again if it kills me!" Rarity then stuck her hoof down her throat and began to vomit all the food that she had stored in her body, hoping that she would see some visible change to her appearance. When she looked up, though, she saw the same pony as before, only with red, teary eyes and bile on her lips. Again, she put her hoof into her mouth, squeezing her stomach once she hit her gag reflex in a desperate attempt to clear out everything she had eaten over the past few days. The vomit was beginning to burn her throat as it came out, but with tears in her eyes, she stayed determined and pushed herself until she was either skinny or dead. "Rarity! What are you doing?!" Rainbow Dash suddenly soared to her friend and began pulling her away from the pile of vomit on the ground. "NO!" she interjected. "Leave me alone!" "Come on, Rarity! You're going overboard!" "I said let go of me! I want to be beautiful again!" The white unicorn repeated the process, spilling bile all over herself. "Yuck!" Rainbow Dash said, flicking away the remnants that fell onto her hooves. "That's it. We're going to go find Applejack!" "No! I can't let her see me like this! I can't let anypony see me like this!" Unfortunately for her, though, Rainbow Dash had her out-powered and was already on her way back to the only sane pony left in the circle, but once they got there, Applejack was still staring blankly at her own shadow. "Uhh... Applejack?" Rainbow started. No response. "Hello? Equestria to Applejack. Can you hear me?" Rainbow Dash had to lean in to hear, but she could barely manage to make out Applejack whispering, "It'll be OK. It'll be OK. It'll be OK." Just then, as everypony's world had completely fallen apart, thunder roared throughout the dome, the smoke grew thicker, and a deep laughter filled the bubble. As the smoke thinned back into its previous state, a figure appeared in the center of the circle, and for the first time in two weeks, Discord was back. "Bravo, everypony!" he cheered. Everpony looked up at him, but they were too scared to know how to react. "You've made it to the end of your trial. I've come to let you all know that you've almost made it. You just have one teensy weensy little thing I need you to do." Everypony listened in eagerly, but suddenly, as Discord's next words escaped his lips, all the hope that they had dissipated as quickly as it came. "You need to kill somepony in this circle." Silence continued around the dome for a few more moments, but once the message finally sunk in, the silence turned into ear-shattering screaming. The violence had escalated into a bloody massacre. One pony grabbed hold of another and bit into his jugular vein while the stallion behind her reached across her neck and snapped her head all the way around her spinal cord. Some ponies saw that Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack weren't attacking anypony and began their own onslaught, but with one of Applejack's bucks, they were left on the floor, being torn to shreds by another desperate pony. Even after they had managed to kill somepony, they continued to kill, either to keep themselves alive or just because of the carnal adrenaline that rushed through them as they tore the skin off of each other's bones. All Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity could do, however, was look on in complete terror as their friends were beaten, torn and had their very organs chewed out of their body. Another pony lunged toward Rarity, which she blocked with a blast from her horn. Two more attacked from the side, which were both easily taken care of by Rainbow Dash as she picked them up off the ground and threw them into the crowd of blood-thirsty cannibals. Applejack had hardly any energy left, but with the energy she did have, she kicked away anypony who tried even getting close to her. Soon enough, there were only seven ponies left in the circle, three of which were the mares that hadn't killed even one single pony. "Well, look at what we have here. Not going to kill anypony?" The three mares didn't respond. "Well, do I have news for you! Anypony who killed anypony else in this circle is actually barred from escaping. You're going to stay in this circle forever." "But we had a deal!" one stallion shouted. Suddenly, Discord's amused demeanor dissipated. "Oh, really? I don't remember agreeing to any of that. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to my three winners." "Winners?" Rarity said quizzically. "Yes! You three get to leave the circle and go back to Ponyville!" Silence fell again. "Well? What's the matter?" After several more moments of silence, Rainbow Dash finally looked Discord in the eyes. "We don't want to be free." Discord laughed hysterically as the three mares that were the most hopeful throughout the entire ordeal had finally lost all hope in ever having the life they wanted. "You mean none of you want to go back to your families and your dreams and--" "We can't go back," Applejack said humbly. "Oh, no no no." Again, the look of laughter disappeared from his face into a stern look as he lifted up his claw. "I insist." Then, with the snap of his fingers, the three mares all landed back in the marketplace where this all began, but almost immediately... "THE GAS!" Rarity shouted, but the minute those words escaped her lips, her vocal cords began to clench tremendously, her stomach constricting and tangibly shrinking inside her. Then, as her mind completely stopped functioning, she fell to the ground motionless with Rainbow Dash and Applejack tumbling with her. Without the effects of the gas, the toll of 2 weeks without food, water or sleep had finally set in, and now the unicorn, pegasus and earth pony could all sleep in peace, never to be woken again. They no longer needed to worry.
R1:18"No..." I mumbled. "Rarity... Applejack... Rainbow Dash... How could he do this to you?" Quickly, I ducked underneath the window of the carriage, noticing the faint silhouette of somepony moving towards me, its figure shadowed by the dust and smoke in the air. As it approached closer, I could begin to make out a pony-shaped figure, only it looked much larger than any pony, at least until I saw who it was. "Princess Celestia!" I shouted, but the moment I did so, I clasped my hooves to my mouth. Celestia's face looked like it was in complete distress, her eyes shining a dark green, her entire body being levitated off the ground. "No... this can't be happening! Not you too! You can't let him do this! CELESTIA!" Celestia's body then levitated higher into the air until it was practically with the clouds, and as my world was crashing down around me, my worst nightmare came true. Her body then tumbled to the ground, landing flat on her back and neck onto a pile of rubble beneath her, breaking her neck... and killing her instantly... I ran out of the carriage in a panic, not caring whether or not Discord was anywhere around me. I just wanted some glimmer of hope that he hadn't ruined everything and that there was still a chance that Celestia had survived the fall. Sadly, though, as I examined Celestia's now-mangled body, I looked into her opened eyes and began heaving. She was gone. She was dead. Suddenly, I heard the sound of something running towards me as if it were in pursuit. Jerking my shoulders backwards, I saw a purple unicorn stallion with a horrified look on his face galloping in my direction. Just as I was about to ask him what was going on or what he was running from, he pivoted to his side and jumped into the carriage behind me. I then quickly followed him inside, knowing that there was a good possibility that Discord would be here at any moment. "What's going on?" I asked. "Is it Discord?" The stallion, ignored me as he pulled out a pill from the satchel around him, completely out of breath and gasping loudly for any air he could muster. "Hey!" "No time!" he said, still refusing to make eye contact and focusing intently on the pill in his hoof. As he tried recovering his breath, his horn began to glow a bright blue aura, which then engulfed the pill in a dim luminescence. "Take this!" The stallion then shoved the pill into my hooves and went back to his satchel, where he pulled out another pill and repeated the process. "What's going on?" I asked more seriously. "It's Discord. He's coming. You have to eat the pill now." "What? Why? What does it do?" I could hear footsteps in the distance. "It's enchanted. Once you bite into it, it'll kill you instantly." "WHAT?!" The footsteps grew closer. "You have to trust me, Princess. This is a battle we can't win. If you don't eat the pill, Discord will torture you to death!" "No! Stop! There has to be another way! It's not over yet! We can still win this!" Then I saw him. His legs made their view into view in the window of the carriage as the two of us ducked down, hoping in vain that he wouldn't be able to see us. He made sure to walk as slowly as he could, knowing all too well exactly where we were hiding, and this time, I had no idea what to do. Finally, unable to wait for a miracle any longer, the stallion beside me put the pill into his mouth, bit hard, and instantly, his body went limp, collapsing beside me. "No..." liquid despair cascaded down my cheeks. "This can't be happening..." Just then, Discord had arrived to the side of the carriage. I had no more time to think, and if I wanted even a chance of hope, I had to act now, no matter how irrational the decision sounded. Without taking another thought, I quickly popped the pill into my mouth, keeping it underneath my tongue so that Discord wouldn't notice. He then unlatched the handle on the door to the carriage, gradually pulling it off of its hinges, leaving me to shiver in my unbearable anxiety. Suddenly, I felt a magical grip around my neck. Discord didn't even have the decency to choke me with his own claws, but that's when I noticed that the grip wasn't tight enough to strangle me. That wasn't what he wanted, but I wasn't about to find out what was. Shamefully, I flipped the pill from under my tongue to inbetween my teeth. I'm sorry to everypony I left behind. I'm sorry to my friends, my subjects, and every innocent pony that I couldn't help. I couldn't protect you, even when you trusted me to protect you with my life. It was my duty as a princess, and I failed. I FAILED EVERYPONY! Author's Note My life has taken a serious downturn lately. Everything in this story has either haunted me in my nightmares or actually happened to me. I hope none of you ever have to go through anything I've had to deal with recently and hope that you remember me in your prayers. Thank you for reading. It helped me get a lot off of my mind.
