Chapter Eight

Macto

“Reset reality?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

“The world was once far less complex than it is now,” Trixie explained. “In the glory days of old Equestria, we unicorns had all the magic for ourselves. Pegasi lived in treehouses, not cities in clouds. Mud, I mean, earth ponies had no powers at all. No magical weather or season control. Nature ran its course with just my race at the top of the mountain.”

She pointed a hoof at Discord. “But then this bizarre alien pest came along and ruined everything with his amorous attentions to Princess Luna. Discord damaged reality so badly, it began to unravel like a cheap sweater. Turning him to stone weakened Princess Celestia so much, she had to share her power with unicorns and the lesser races to keep this world from flying apart.”

Discord made a pfft noise and grumbled, “Keep this world from being more fun, you mean.”

“Wait a minute,” asked Twilight. “You plan to make Discord take away the magic that makes Cloudsdale possible?”

“That’s right.”

“But if you do that, the city will crash to the ground!” Twilight cried. “Millions will die!”

Trixie shrugged. “Eh. Small price to pay for order. Perhaps Cloudsdale will land on Ponyville and smear that wretched place off the map. I can only hope.”

I heard the growling of an angry bear behind me. Turning to the sound, I saw Applejack trembling and grinding her teeth.

“It’s interesting that your Elements seem more powerful here,” remarked Trixie. “I’ll remember to remove them before you’re all… processed.”

Her horn glowed as she switched on the stump grinder. The sound was suddenly familiar.

“How many ponies have you murdered with that thing?” Rarity asked.

Discord groaned as he shook his head. “Five hundred and seventy-three. I should know. She made me watch.”

Twilight gulped as she whispered, “And I actually drank this stuff.”

Twilight’s horn and Element flared.

Trixie held up a hoof. “Ah-ah! You’re not using those Elements on me. Oh, boys?”

The other ponies and I were suddenly gripped by magic. I looked around and saw five other unicorns surrounding us. They all had the same pin-pupiled mad gleam that I saw in Twilight’s eyes in the library. Their skins trembled in the warm air.

Gravity seemed to fail as we were all lifted up to Trixie’s eye-level. Fluttershy squeaked as she flapped her wings, desperately trying to escape the unicorns’ magic. Her hunting hawks were trapped in the magic bubble with her. Applejack hollered in anger as she flailed her muscular legs around.

Trixie licked her lips and studied us as if she were picking out a new hat. “Now, let’s see. Gilda? Who should go first?”

“I dunno. Star-butt, I guess.”

Trixie grinned. “Ah, yes. Rear legs first, of course. Maybe I’ll stop half-way and make her beg for a quick death. Perhaps… wait.” She frantically looked around the room. “Where’s the dragon?”

A ball of green fire shot out from the shadows. It splashed across Trixie’s platform, making the unicorn jump back with a shout.

I was suddenly jerked up and over Discord’s cage. The unicorn nearest me must have been the one holding me as he scrambled away from the fire while his horn was still lit.

Twilight and Applejack were released when another fire-ball hit one of the unicorns in the head. As the smoking unicorn screamed, he ran blindly into his partner, knocking him over the rails. He landed with a crunch, the head pointing the wrong way.

As Twilight scrambled to her feet, she hollered, “Spike! Get those other guards! Use your other attacks!”

Trixie hid behind the grinder and yelled, “Gilda! Shoot them! Kill them all!”

A livid green fire streamed beside me, hitting the unicorn that held me in the chest. Before I could blink, I fell on top of Discord’s cage. When I caught my breath, I looked up at the griffin. All I saw was the gleam of the aluminum arrow-tip as it was fired.

I tried to dodge the shot, but the arrow went through the right side of my gut with a meaty thwup. The arrow was stuck, having lanced through my body like a cocktail olive. It didn’t hurt for one second, but every moment afterward made me scream. The analytical part of my mind guessed that Gilda pierced my right kidney. The rest of my mind was only aware that I was in agony and that I was falling off the cage.

And diving into the Spectrum procured from five hundred and seventy-three homeless ponies that thought they were getting shelter from the cold.

After I bounced off the bottom of the vat and floated up through the sludgy goo, the pain of getting shot was instantly replaced with the sensation of being set on fire. Twilight told me that when she first tasted Spectrum, it burned her tongue as if it were hot sauce.

My eyes were squeezed shut as I broke the surface, coughing and pawing around for the vat-walls.

For some reason, my legs no longer ached. The stinging began to subside to a dull warmth. A few moments later, I found the wall and began to climb over the edge. My mane drooped over my left eye like a black curtain. My heart was pounding, and my blood felt like boiling oil.

I opened my eyes.

And saw the world with otherworldly clarity. I saw Spike punch a unicorn with his Element so hard, the pony crashed into the rafters. Rarity used her Element to shoot another unicorn into a wall. Trixie and Twilight were firing magic beams at each other. Applejack was running up a stairwell. Fluttershy’s hunting hawks were tearing the ears off of another unicorn.

I could smell the unicorn’s blood. Sweet Celestia, I could TASTE the blood. I grinned like a demon as I breathed in the intoxicating copper scent.

And I wanted more. My body was suddenly stronger than an athletic stallion’s, so I pulled myself out of the vat and landed on the floor. The arrow was still in me, but I didn’t even feel it.

I heard the flapping of wings. A large avian hand gripped my mane and lifted me up.

Time slowed for me as I saw every fiber of Gilda’s vest shine like silver coins. Her knives were so pretty, so I grabbed one. The edge was as sharp as any scalpel. And I was an expert at handling scalpels.

She didn’t even have time to react as I shoved the blade into her gut. I’ve had to examine griffins before, so I knew I just cut her liver in two.

Gilda screeched as she let go of my mane. I held onto the blade as we crashed onto the floor. Her life belonged to me. And I wasn’t done with her yet. Gilda’s blood smelled so good as it sprayed hot on my fur.

As I pulled another knife from her vest, I began to hear the griffin’s heart pound. An acid stink of fear drifted from her.

I climbed up her chest, my knife-tip pressing into her throat.

Her avian eyes widened as she realized what was happening. She whimpered and squirmed.

Yes… yes, be afraid of me. I am not some spooky little death-pony all alone in a school-yard, nose bloody, eyes blackened. I know how to hurt you, how to make you beg for death.

The flesh always gives way if the blade is sharp enough.

It will be easy to press this next blade all the way into her feathered throat. Look at her eyes, wide with terror. All I have to do is…

No.

No no no.

What was I doing?

Gilda stared at me as I shook the cobwebs out of my head. Finally she yelled, “Just kill me, you sadistic little shit! Don’t drag this out!”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you trying to cut my throat? You already stabbed me in the gut!”

My blood still churned hot, but my demon’s grin was gone. I felt as if someone changed the channel in my brain back to reality.

I suddenly remembered something Twilight told me. “That’s what Spectrum does. It makes you more of what you are.”

For one minute, I was my father.

White fur sopping wet with blood. Knives and smiles.

I leapt off of her, my head spinning. Where did the clarity of the world go? My legs started to ache again.

“You have some serious issues, dweeb,” sneered Gilda.

Regaining my composure, I pointed my knife at her. “You have no idea. Stay put.”

Gilda gripped the knife in her gut, trying to slow the bleeding. “Yeah. No problem. Freak.”

I looked around, trying to take stock of who was fighting whom. The hawks were wheeling around above the vat, looking for more targets to shred.

More ponies were charging down a hallway at the far end of the room. Twilight heard them coming. She looked at Spike, pointed at the approaching hoofbeats and hollered, “Spike! Spray and pray!”

Spike grinned as he ran to the doorway, took a deep breath and let a green sun escape his mouth. I had to shield my eyes and duck down as a livid wave of green flame flooded the hallway.

After lime spots stopped spinning in my eyes, I peeked around the vat and saw Spike on his knees, gasping and shivering.

I ran over to him. “Spike! Spike, are you okay?”

“Ooh, man. I should have eaten more pancakes. My tank’s officially running on fumes right now. Apart from that, yeah, I’m fine.”

We looked up at Spike’s handiwork. There was a molten slab of glowing steel where a doorway once was. I hoped no one got caught in that.

I patted Spike on the back as he got on his feet. “Just think of what you’ll be able to do in a few years.”

He turned to me. “Yeah, I’m looking… wow, dude. You look kinda freaked out.” His eyes widened as he looked down. “Cripes, don’t you know you got shot? Where’s the arrowhead?”

Feeling around behind me, I could only find a splintered nub.

“I… I don’t know, Spike.”

Suddenly, I heard Trixie scream.

Spike and I joined the others. Applejack was walking towards the stump grinder. She was on her hind legs, holding Trixie over her head.

Trixie’s horn was snapped off. Both her eyes were blackened, and her bloodied muzzle was smashed in. Applejack’s front hooves dripped with blood.

I spotted the ramp that led to that platform and ran towards it. My guts were beginning to grind as the arrow-shaft slid around. I didn’t realize it until then, but I had been bleeding ever since I climbed out of the vat.

My vision and sense of balance were going slantwise on me.

After what felt like a mountain-climb, I reached the platform.

I tried to ignore the building pain and dizziness as I cried out, “Applejack! Don’t do this!”

AJ turned her head towards me. Spectrum had soaked her hair. It must have hit her when I fell in the vat. Her pupils were tiny dots. She was becoming more of what she was.

And Applejack had been angry and grief-struck for a long time.

Taking a cautious step towards her, I said, “Just stop for a minute! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Ah already lost one pegasus. Trixie ain’t killin’ any more.”

“Do you think Rainbow Dash would ever condone murder?”

“Ain’t carin’, Equus.”

“You had better start, Applejack. The dead will always know the secrets the living keep.”

Applejack turned to look at me. Her muscles shivered, but Trixie was still held over her head.

“What are you gettin’ at?”

“You once asked me if I talked to Rainbow Dash after I was knocked out by my dad, remember?”

“So what?”

Taking a deep breath, I answered, “I lied to you, AJ. Rainbow did talk to me. She asked me to not tell you or the others I spoke to her because everyone needed to move on.”

I took another step. “But you haven’t moved on! Look at what you’re about to do! If you kill Trixie, Dash will eventually know. She’ll find out that you committed murder. You will no longer be the mare she fell in love with. You will be forever alone! Is that what you want?”

Tears streaked down her cheeks. Her arms buckled.

“Dash… Ah’m sorry…”

Trixie was dropped like a sack of wheat.

Applejack sat down and wailed like a wounded animal.

I ran over to her. She held out a hoof, and I held her close. The Spectrum in her hair burned my cheeks, but I didn’t care.

“Ah’m so sorry.”

“Shh. It’s okay. She’ll forgive you.”

Before I knew it, Twilight and the others had huddled around her.

A light blue hoof landed on my leg. I looked beside me. Trixie squinted through her bloody, puffed-out eyes. “Thank you,” she gurgled with broken teeth.

“Oh, shut up,” I said, scowling. “I didn’t do this for you.”

I looked back at Applejack as she wiped at her tears.

“I did this for her.”

Someone coughed theatrically. “Ahem, I said. As heart-warming as this group-hug is, I have to get going.”

We all stared, bewildered, as Discord sat on top of his wide-open iron cage. His box-collar was gone. He had a large hammer in one hand and a chisel in the other as he chipped away the stone skin from his feet.

Twilight ran down the ramp. “How did you get out of your cage and collar? I thought you said that iron and magic don’t mix!”

“They don’t. But aluminum is easy to reshape into whatever I like,” he replied as he waved a shiny key.

“Who gave you that?” Twilight demanded.

“Why, your graveyard-shift pal, Equus. Did you know that Gilda’s arrow-heads are made from aluminum? When the pale rider got skewered and fell into the vat, the head snapped off and drifted into my cage.”

Twilight planted a hoof on her face. “Very resourceful of you. We still have to take you back to Princess Celestia.”

“Pssh! Spike’s too tired to even breath fire. Applejack’s grieving, so she’s also out of the fight. Don’t worry your grape-colored head about me. I’m going home and never coming back.”

Rarity joined Twilight as she inquired, “What do you mean, going home?”

“I have get back. Someone needs to warn my world about you people. ‘Stay away from Equestria,’ I’m going to say. ‘These ponies are madder than mud flies.’”

“No, we aren’t!” protested Twilight.

“Really? I came here a thousand years ago to have a little boom-chikka-wow-wow with the local pony booty, and I get turned into stone. Then thousands of ponies get tortured to death to give my still-crazy girlfriend the power to fight her own sister. Luna then gets sent to the moon, which is also way out of line.”

“You almost tore the world apart,” Rarity reminded him. “Celestia had to stop you.”

“By keeping me in suspended animation for a millennium?” He stared at us, baffled. “Can you hear yourselves? I would have done anything Celestia wanted if she had let me out after a week! Such as tell her the secret method for making my formula.”

“It’s not really made from ponies, is it?” I inquired.

“Good grief, no! Every pony in Equestria could have had all the liquid rainbow they could drink if they had simply plugged my machine into the ground. The magic that naturally flows through the world is all I or Trixie ever needed.”

You could have heard a dust-speck hit the floor. We could only stare at him.

Twilight asked, “I take it you told Trixie this?”

“Five times. And five times she called me a liar. Or maybe she just wanted an excuse for a blood-bath. Either way, I don’t care. I have a lot to catch up on back home, so I’m taking my original device, the copy and every drop of my drink back with me.”

“Wait a dang minute!” yelled Applejack. “What are we supposed to tell Celestia?”

He looked at Applejack, rubbing his chin, pondering. “You lost someone very close to you, didn’t you? That’s one of the many things Celestia informed me of these many years. I’m very sorry for your loss. I know how you feel.”

“Ah don’t need yer danged…” Applejack retorted, before she saw the genuine sorrow on Discord’s face. “What do you mean?”

“An average member of my race can live up to two hundred years. The problem is, I’ve been locked away in a stone prison for a thousand years. That means everyone I ever loved or known has been dead for at least eight centuries.”

Discord sighed. “I will be a stranger in my own world. Don’t be a stranger in yours, Applejack. Stop clinging to the dead. Life is for the living. So live.”

He snapped his fingers. A white flash of light made us all flinch and blink our eyes.

The vat was empty. The device was gone. So was Discord.

No one said a word for a few moments.

“Say, Equus?” asked Spike.

“Yeah?”

“You need to get to a hospital. There’s a lot of blood on you.”

Suddenly feeling strung-out, I replied, “Not all of it’s mine, Spike.”

I only had the strength to hold onto Applejack.

She said nothing, but I could tell AJ had a lot to think about.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Fluttershy?”

“Yes?”

“Would you please bring the police here? Spike, go with her. When you can, send Celestia this message. ‘Discord’s escaped to his world, but Trixie has been arrested.”

Spike looked at Twilight quizzically. “What’s the charge?”

“Treason.” Twilight looked at the stump grinder. The inner workings were caked with blood. Some of it still glistened. “And mass murder. At the very least.”

Author's Note

Latin Lesson #8 Macto (slay, fight, punish)
Soundtrack for this chapter: "Utrenja (Ewangelia)" by Krzysztof Penderecki (The Shining soundtrack)