Rise of the Angel of Death

Back with Mal and his group, he and Trixie were pouring over the notes that Discord had given them. They had pulled out every book on magic and magic theory that was in the house and were using them to finish the equations that they had. Mal always considered himself to be pretty decent at math and physics, but this was literally an entirely different school of thought he was dealing with. Luckily, Trixie was with him every step of the way. She helped him fill in whatever blanks Mal may have had. He put his everything into learning the ins and outs of this world’s magic, determined to make Trixie’s dream a reality. Their work lasted over several days, neither of them getting more than a few minutes of sleep at a time. But all their work paid off in the end. Mal went over their research one last time and determined that they finally had what they were looking for. Trixie would gain immortality. He suggested that they wait to try it until they reached the next settlement. With nothing left to do, the two of them practically collapsed from exhaustion and mental fatigue.

Mal, Sunset Shimmer, Trixie Lulamoon, Nightmare Moon and finally Chrysalis were at the edge of the volcanic lands, despite it being. A bit colder the steam was a small amount of warm water was felt. "Let's stop here." He said. The charm flashed and the house was formed and the group walked into it. Chrysalis still couldn't believe it. Sunset headed for the new practice area it seemed to always change. Trixie herself looked over her notes. "So are you going to go use the spell?" Moon asked Trixie, her arms wrapping around Trixie from behind. Trixie blushed at this. "You know, perhaps we could have some time, Trixie?" She asked, "After your ascension."

"Sorry, but Trixie is still spending time with Mal. And she plans on celebrating the success of this spell with him." Trixie said with a smirk. "If it does work," Trixie muttered under her breath.

"Don't worry, it will work Trixie." Mal said placing a hand on her shoulder. Trixie placed one of her own hands over Mal's and smiled at the angel. "You will gain immortality, we checked those notes and restudied everything we could about magic theory. You're a talented woman Trixie, you can do it." Mal reassured. Trixie wiggled out of Moon's hug and wrapped her arms around Mal.

"Thank you, Trixie is looking forward to eternity with you." Trixie stated her confidence returning.

Mal and the others stepped away from Trixie to give her the necessary space to do the spell. Chrysalis, Moon, and Sunset threw up a barrier around Trixie in case anything went wrong. Trixie took several deep breaths and channeled magic into her hands. Arcs of electricity flew around Trixie and she could taste the energy in the air.
The flash was seen, and Trixie screamed for a moment. After the shock wave had cleared, Trixie was revealed, her magic increased, and in her right hand was a broom. "What in the world?" Trixie asked. The broom floated a little above the ground.

Mal looked over the theory. "Strange must be your mind altered it." He said. Sunset took it from his hands.

"You forgot to add the three. While Trixie did get immortality, she's unique now." Sunset explained.

Mal took the notes from Sunset and scanned the pages until he found the offending number. "Damn it! I always do this." Mal took his attention away from the pages and walked over to Trixie. "So how do you feel, Trixie?"

"Trixie doesn't feel too different. Are we sure that the spell worked?"

Sunset nodded at the new immortal and explained, "Yes, normally this spell grants the user the body of an alicorn. However Mal screwed up the spell so that you would craft a medium for your immortality."

"You can tell all of that because I forgot to carry a three?" Mal asked.

"Well yeah." Sunset said. Trixie looked at her broom.

"What happens if it’s destroyed?" Trixie asked. Mal held his sickles up to scan it.

"Amazingly, nothing this thing’s basically an extension of you. If it’s destroyed it can reform itself." He held his hand out a glowing thing was in it. "It's kinda like a soul, no matter what you do to it you cannot outright destroy it or even erase it." He said. The soul then disappeared. "So no matter what you’re immortal."

"Trixie must admit that she was looking forward to having wings of her own. But, that's not what's important." Trixie said, smiling at Mal.

"And what would be important?" He asked. Trixie rolled her eyes and pulled Mal's face down to deliver a long kiss on his lips. "Silly boy, Trixie thinks you already know."

"I guess I do." Mal replied with a dopey grin. "Still we should get going if we want to meet with whoever lives in the area by the end of the day." The girls all nodded and followed Mal out the door.

The group didn't have to go far, they soon found a mine. They went inside and found a town literally inside the mountain. The green beings were a bit smaller than a human. The beings paused as they saw them. "Strange, I almost mistook you for dwarfs." The being walking up was a bit bigger than Sunset. "You aren't from around here, are ya?" His accent was similar to someone from Brooklyn.

Mal nodded and extended his hand to the green being before him. "Nope, we're a group of travelers and we've got something important to discuss with whoever's in charge around here."

"You wanna talk to the chief?" The being asked while chuckling as if he was hiding something. "Alright, just head to the back of the mine, it'll be the largest structure you can find." Mal thanked his would-be guide and he and the girls walked toward their intended destination. Before they got too far the being called out to them, "Good luck stranger, you're gonna need it."

"Trixie doesn't like the sound of that." Trixie said, gripping her broom a little tighter.

"Yeah, I don't think this is gonna be as simple as pop in and introduce ourselves." Mal replied. "Then again, we never do things the easy way."

The group found the goblin chief building inside the mountain. With him were a few other goblin chiefs. "We have managed to push them back but if what we believe is true." The chiefs looked as the group came walking in. "Who do we have here?" The chief asked.

"Hello there I'm Malthael, Angel of Death." A few servants fainted on the spot. A chief held his sword out.

"I'm too pretty to die!" He said another looked at him.

"No you’re too ugly to die!"

Mal did his best not to laugh at their display, and just threw up his hands to show he meant no harm. "Whoa there, I'm not here to kill any of you. I just wanted to talk. I have some news that all of you might want to hear." The chiefs visibly relaxed but didn't lower their swords.

"What news could an outsider such as yourself have for us?" the chief in the center asked.

"I'm guessing you all have been having some problems with invaders lately?"

"How could you possibly know that?" The chief on the right edge spat.

"Because I helped a tribe of Earthern with their problem, and my associates and I took out one of their outposts."

The chiefs looked at each other. "Prove it." With a snap about 30 warriors held their weapons at him. "Attack." Malthael sighed.

5 minutes later. The last guard hit the ground. "Ok, so we done?” Malthael said with an unconscious bunch right under him. The chiefs were wide eyed.

"Are you a god?' One of them asked.

"Really a person takes down your men and you call them a god? Well never mind, I'm friends with the God of Chaos and went toe to toe with two local symbols of worship.... I should stop talking now."

"We are sorry that we doubted you. Please don't be angry with us." The central chief said getting on his knees with the others following suit.

"Hold on there, I'm really not a god. I'm just a guy that stumbled into some power. So get up, you don't have to be afraid of me."

"I don't know Mal, I kind of like the idea of you with a legion of worshipers."

"You're not helping Moon." Mal snapped, shooting her a cross look. The chiefs hesitantly got up before Mal continued. "Look, we're getting off track. I wanna help you guys out with your invader problem." Mal said while rubbing the back of his head.

A map showed the outpost and the goblins locations. "What we know is that they are using the natural region to help them fortify the outpost." One chief said. "They also are using a bit of the natural caves to help them fortify their positions we don't know how deep they placed themselves." Finally a few towers at the edges. "They have look outs as well as the high ground make it difficult to sneak up." They finished. Mal looked it over.

"It almost look like a fort were there other outposts?" Mal asked.

"Yes, a few around the area. A goblin showed.

"So it was the fort they made for a siege by your forces." Mal finished.

"Again, correct." The chief said. Mal studied the map for a while.

"Do you have a rough estimate on what their numbers are?"

"No, we've never been able to guess at that. We know that they have a mixture of all three types of ponies and that they have Diamond Dog mercenaries primarily in the caves. Does that tell you anything?"

"A little bit thank you." Mal said. A goblin spoke up.

"Sirs," they turned to the goblin. "I used to play around those caves." He pointed to a place away from the fort. "There is a way into the main tunnel system we can use this to attack from behind and into their camp." Malthael looked over the map. "It’s a far more perfect idea than attempting to attack the front." He pointed out.

"What about the ones trying to leave?" One chief pointed out.

Mal had a smile. "Ok it seems a few choke points exist, we should put a few goblins there and, Trixie, Sunset can chase those who attempt to escape." He looked at Moon and Chrysalis. "I'll go with Moon, Chrysalis, a few goblins and that guy." He pointed to the servant. "He will lead us though the caves, we attack at night fall." He finished.

Mal and the chiefs ironed out their plan and went to prepare for the battle that night. Mal found a relatively empty section of the cave community and set up his charm home. The girls followed him inside and made sure all of their battle attire was in order. A few hours before the fight Mal gathered the girls so they could run down their assignments together.

Mal looked over the group and noticed that Chrysalis was missing. "Girls, do you know where Chrissy is?" The girls all told him that they hadn't seen her since they had come home. "Alright, you all stay here and run over the plan, I'm gonna find Chrissy."

Mal started with Chrysalis' room but didn't find her in there. He then checked less obvious places like the bathroom or the greenhouse. In the end he checked the storage room, and after minutes of frantic searching in there he finally found her. She was sitting, cradling her knees in her arms in a shadowy corner. He had almost missed her due to her dark coloration but the occasional shudder gave her away. "Chrissy, what are you doing down here? Everyone's waiting for you." Chrysalis shot up, Mal had taken her completely by surprise.

"Oh, Mal, it's uh nothing. I was just making sure we hadn't forgotten anything important in here." Mal could tell she was lying. He walked up to the changeling/human hybrid and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Chrissy, is something bothering you? Does it involve the fight?"

"No, there's nothing wrong. I'm fine, really."

"Chrissy, please, I wanna help you, but I need to know what's wrong to do that." Mal said, gripping her shoulder a little tighter. Chrysalis looked like she wasn't going to say anything for a while but she eventually relented.

"Okay, I... may be a little scared to go and fight." Chrysalis admitted with a sigh. Mal raised an eyebrow. "The last time I fought ponies my Changelings, my hive, my children were forced to starve." She had a bit of tears in her eyes. "The other queens were right I was too young, I advanced too fast, I thought my ascension would help me invade, but I failed." She cried. Mal held the broken queen in his arms. He let her cry into his shoulder.

"Chrissy, it’s ok, it’s ok. Nothing like that is ever going to happen to you again, the other girls and I will make sure of it" The hybrid girl looked at him.

"Thank you." She said. Slowly, the two moved in close to each other and closed their eyes. The two pressed their lips together. Reluctantly, Mal pulled away from the kiss after a while and put a stray strand of Chrysalis' hair back into place.

"Chrissy, you don't have to fight if you don't want to. I will never force any of you girls to do anything." Mal said, running a hand along her cheek.

"No!" Chrysalis cried out burying her face into his chest. "I want to help you. I...I want to be useful to you. I'll fight. I promise I can do it."

"Okay, I trust you Chrissy. Just try to stay close to me. If you start to feel overwhelmed I wanna make sure you stay safe." Mal told her with a determined look in his eyes.

"I will," Chrysalis said with a slight nod. "Mal, thank you so much for everything. I'm glad I met you." Chrysalis finished one of the tears falling from her eyes.

"I’m glad I met you too," Mal replied before titling her chin up and planting another kiss on her lips.

As they started to get ready Trixie looked at her broom. She kept it in her room. Her room was filled with her old life. She had come a long way from the showpony she used to be. She recalled the alicorn amulet fiasco. Say what they will she managed to keep some knowledge form that. She picked up her weird broom. Mal had said that no matter what happened she could remain immortal and this thing could reform. 'What do I do with you?' She thought. She swung it a few times. She lost control of it for a moment, and it fell from her hand. It didn't land on the ground it floated.

Trixie looked at it she started to look around and suddenly place her weight on it. It didn't fall. She was soon sitting side ways on it. It floated up a bit more. It glowed a bit and Trixie was off. At first it was frightening but soon it became fun. Sunset walked out to see Trixie on her floating broom. "Trixie likes this." She passed her. Mal walked out with Chrysalis to see Trixie coming there. "Mal look what Trixie can do."

"Okay, that is one of the most adorable things I have ever seen." Mal said with a huge grin on his face.

"Now Trixie doesn't need the levitation amulet anymore!" She said circling around Mal.

"Alright Trixie, calm down. I'm starting to get dizzy watching you."

"Alright Mal," Trixie replied putting her feet on the ground. Chrysalis giggled for a moment and gave Trixie a grateful look.

"Thank you, Trixie. I needed something like this to ease my nerves."

"Trixie is always willing to help." Trixie answered puffing out her chest. Mal rolled his eyes at the witch girl's little display.

"Alright everyone, we still have a little time before the fight let's just relax us much as we can." Mal said.

Trixie herself wanted to get the hang of her new method of travel. Flying on the broom was way nicer then the amulet. It also didn't drain her as much. In fact she felt barely anything. As she got down, her broom floated with her. Trixie looked at it. It almost seemed a bit alive. 'Must be because it’s a part of Trixie,' she thought. Sunset herself had finished up relearning her magic. She actually wasn't as prepared as she was with her magic. Seeing Trixie fly around on her broom was something she didn't want to unsee, it was funny.

Trixie extended her broom and tried to channel a little magic through it. It worked almost immediately and Trixie fired a large beam of magic. The beam slammed against the wall and left a smoldering hole that revealed the insulation. 'Note to self, never practice magic in Trixie's room again.' Trixie left her room and moved to the storage area to minimize damage.

Finally, the night had fallen. Trixie and Sunset flew into place. The goblin chiefs and guards were at the choke points. Inside the caves Malthael, Moon, Chrysalis, and few goblins elites readied themselves as they went in servant led them though the caves. In the pony encampment the Commander there was sound asleep as were the forces. Slowly Malthael and his team walked out of the cave behind the HQ with the commander. A goblin assassin walked into the structure. The commander’s eyes opened right as the goblin pounced. The commander didn't scream. "Ok Commander’s out, let’s find anymore leaders and get them gone then we awake the ponies." Malthael turned to the goblin Assassins. After about a few minutes, with most of the command gone a watchmen finally spotted them.

A flare shot up awaking everypony there. However command was not going to form for them that night. Malthael had the elites fan out to help prevent the pony soldiers from running and had the assassins stick to the shadows and pick off anyone they could. While he was doing this the ponies and mercenaries came rushing out. They appeared to be half dressed in their armor and their movements were off. Malthael almost thought it was going to be too easy, but squashed that thought, he couldn't get too confident. That kind of thinking could spread to the goblins and could have them make stupid mistakes. Malthael slowly, calmly walked towards the approaching soldiers, trying to be as intimidating as possible.

Malthael started the fight blades at the ready. Up above a few pegasi attempted to leave, but Sunset and Trixie blasted them down. A few running earth ponies and Diamond Dogs stopped when they found goblins ready for them. Malthael clashed his blades against a watchpony. He spread his wings to help him get leverage over the battle he was having. Most of them thought ganging up on him was the best idea. It mostly was the best for them. Moon and Chrysalis were just mostly fighting pegasi and earth ponies using their magic to their advantage. The elites clashed a bit with the guards. Up in the air Sunset and Trixie were having their own battle. The pegasi had brought Equestrian clouds with them something to help them with their powers.

At the gates of the fort fighting between ponies and Goblins had picked up as well. Malthael just kept slashing with his sickles with so many of his own forces close by that was his only option. He couldn't use the Death Fog because it killed indiscriminately, and he couldn't use fire because it would have a chance to spread, and if the flames themselves wouldn't kill his forces then the smoke would. So for now he was just slicing into any soldiers that were foolish enough to get into his way and monitored the rest of the battle as much as he could. He took a small bit of pride in seeing that the number of pony bodies far outnumbered those of goblins. Mal thought the battle wouldn't last too much longer and hoped he could force the ponies to surrender. Mal motioned for the forces around him to circle up, in hopes of corraling the remaining ground forces.
The ponies where amazingly not giving up. The diamond dogs tried to surrender but where being sent anyway into battle. Malthael cut into the forces. Above in the air trixie and Sunset had finally stopped the pegasus. They circled around. seeing that the ponies were basically trapped. Sunset lit up a red flare with her magic. With that the goblins moved in to flank the ponies The sudden attacks form above and behind spelled the end for the ponies. Malthael finished as the chiefs entered the conflicted as soon as it happened victory was assured. The sun rose over the fort. A new flag few in the sky, the flag of the Goblin Cheifdoms.

The chiefs all strode up to Malthael with ear splitting grins. They all stopped before him and knelt down. "We cannot thank you enough, Malthael." The central chief told him. "Because of you we no longer have anything to fear from those pony invaders. We will use their very fort against them, and drive them back to their homelands permanently. I and the other chiefs have discussed this and we would like to make you our king. We will still handle the ins and outs of our settlements and offer what guidance we can. It is the least we can do for all you've done" The other chiefs cheered to affirm this. Mal just rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed by the display.

"You don't have to do all that you guys. I was just giving you a helping hand. Really, you should be honoring that goblin that brought up the rear entrance. It's thanks to him that our attack was so successful." The chiefs rose and nodded at Malthael.

"We shall do this, but we would still like you to lead our people." One of the chiefs told him.

"Sorry, but I don't think I'm cut out for all that. You guys enjoy your victory, you earned it." Mal told them and walked away, looking for a certain Changeling queen.
He found Chrysalis sitting on a makeshift chair. Mal sat right next to her. "So...." Mal started. Chrysalis looked at him. "So how are you feeling?" He asked. Chrysalis gave a sigh.

"Is it so wrong to take enjoyment in their defeat? At these ponies’ loss?" She motioned. Mal shrugged.

"That’s not my place to say." He finished. Chrysalis leaned on him.

"I'm glad I met you." The two watched the sun rise.

-------------A week later, in Ponyville. The griffin crisis had finally been over. Princess Gilda, who refused to be called that by Rainbow had finally burned the bridge with Rainbow and her friends. She left three days before, taking the guards with her. Twilight had not received word from Celestia, she assumed she was looking into Prance. There was a lot of legal stuff between Prance and Equestria was so complex that for more practical purposes it was better to call them two separate but interdependent countries, as well as the griffins whose empire was more of a federation (not like Twilight and most ponies understood that) of there colonies under a mighty king who the others swore loyalty to. A banging was heard on her window.

"Twilight, Twilight." It was Rainbow Dash.

"What is it?" Twilight asked, wondering why Rainbow was so excited.

"A new find by Daring Do is being sent to the museum in Fillydelphia, she said she found it in a ancient tomb dating back to before the royal sisters rule." That could be anything from Discord's reign, which twilight herself believed could have been avoided if the ponies didn't burn his race's home down and left him the last of his kind, to even before the unification of the tribes, when barely any of the world was known.

"I thought museums were for eggheads?" Twilight said, giving Rainbow Dash a playful look.

"Normally they are, but this is Daring Do we're talking about! Anything involving her is guaranteed to be at least a little awesome!" Dash cheered, performing a tight loop. "So do ya wanna see it or not?"

"Alright Dash, just let me get ready and we'll see if the others are interested too."

"Sounds like a plan! I'll go get my stuff and meet at the train station!" Dash squealed before rushing out the window again.

A few hours later and the mane six plus Spike were in the Canterlot museum, standing behind a massive crowd at the entrance to the new exhibit. Rainbow Dash was getting impatient. "Ugh, why did everyone in Equestria and beyond have to choose today to see this." She groaned.

"Because you ain't the only fan of Darin' Do sugarcube. Everyone wants to see what she found." Applejack told her with a roll of her eyes.

"Not to mention all the members of the academic community." Twilight continued. "Knowledge of the time before Celestia and Luna's reign is nearly nonexistent. There's no telling what we could learn.

"I know it's a big deal, but do we have to wait so long?" Dash complained. After what felt like an eternity to Dash they made it into the exhibit. They saw a bunch of simple tools and documents written in a strange language. But what drew their attention the most was the display at the back of the exhibit.

A stone statue of a batlike being. Its arms crossed and its eyes closed. "This statue appears to be of the race whose artifacts were found, no one knows why it was in the tomb or even if they are still alive." The curator said. "Well if you ask me I don’t think so." Walking out was Daring Do. Rainbow Dash and a lot of her fans were star struck. However another being was not so thrilled.

'What's going on? These voices....' Rainbow was pushing though the group.

"Out of my way!" She screamed. Suddenly the statue’s eye area glowed green. In a moment the stone gave way.

"Waaaagh!" Came a scream as the statue turned into a living breathing entity.

"Oh sweet Celestia/Dear Luna/My Nightmare Moon/holy Discord!" At this point, no one realized the two cultist groups with them because the sudden sight of stone becoming flesh broke the more rational minds. The being turned to Daring Do.

"You dare take me from mine home?" His accent was a mix of German and something that couldn’t be identified. He pointed a claw at her. "Suffer thine consequences." A glow covered her as a small triangle in a circle appeared on her. It disappeared soon later. He turned to his stuff. His wings shot out in a burst of wind he raided the exhibits and leaved though a window. Everyone’s shock finally came to an end when a flash of light showed Discord with a camera.

"Yes Fillydelphia, I'm here.... What’s with all of you?"

Daring Do shock her head only for her hat to fly off hit the wall and caused a vase to fall on her. Discord suddenly appeared right in front of her. He picked her up and looked her over. "Well I’ll be you seemed to have been cursed by a zebra... No wait." He gave a lick. "Holy chaos, you’ve been hit by a gargoyle’s curse."
He put her down... By that he dropped her.

"Discord was going on what’s a gargoyle!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Why another chaos race silly."

“You mean, that was one of the races you talked about? Twilight asked.

"Why of course." Discord said, his tourist outfit vanishing with a pop. “I’m just surprised that you all ran into one in a place like this. If I had to guess you all just ran into a gargoyle. They focus on luck. They're pretty easy to get along with. Unless you do something that angers them, then they'll most likely curse you with bad luck."

"That still doesn't explain anything. That gargoyle was a statue, how could it be alive?" Twilight asked, confused.

"Gargoyles are a little odd. They enjoy hibernating in a stone state for periods of time." Discord explained. "As someone who has spent time as a statue, I can honestly say I don't know what they see in it. I'm still finding pebbles inside my ears." Discord said, removing his head and shaking out a few small stones for emphasis.

A few ponies moved back at his head removal. A few however looked in awe. "So what I'm now cursed with bad luck my whole life?" Daring do asked. Discord placed his head back on his body.

"Oh don't worry it’s rare for someone cursed to live five years under a gargoyle's curse eventually the bad luck will kill you." Discord said was a casual wave of his hand. Daring Do paled. Her line of work was hazardous as it is with bad luck form a gargoyle's curse she'll be dead within a week, at least.

"Discord fix it!" Rainbow yelled in his have with her hooves holding him. Discord pushed her off.

"Look the only way to remove it is for a gargoyle to remove it, and given I have no idea where they currently live she need the one who cursed her to left it." He finished. He walked a bit off. "Oh yes she must do it before a full moon rises or it will be permanent." Daring Do paled again.

"But tonight’s a full moon!" She screamed.

"Boy you are unlucky." With that he disappeared, by walking right though the wall.

Discord get back here and help us!" Rainbow Dash boomed, pounding her hooves against the wall he walked through. Twilight pulled her down with her magic and held her back.

"Calm Down Rainbow. Discord has already helped us by telling us what we need to do."

"What do you mean us?" Daring Do asked, giving Twilight a stern look. "I work alone." She finished, grabbing her hat and walking out of the room. Twilight erected a barrier in front of the explorer, which she smashed her face into.

"And where do you think you're going?" Twilight asked.

"Back to where I found the damn gargoyle in the first place. Now, let me go, I have to hurry if I want to make it by nightfall."

"We're coming with you," Twilight stated, and before Daring could protest, "I don't care if you work alone the gargoyle might be more inclined to listen to you if there's a neutral third party present."

"I don't have much of a choice here, do I?" Daring asked, her shoulders slumped.

"Nope, now lead the way." Twilight answered with a grin.

"So where did you find his tomb?" Twilight asked.

"The badlands." Daring Do said. She suddenly looked down. As did everyone. The badlands were days away and were more likely to get themselves killed.

"Ok then so we know it will take a few days for us to get there so it must mean the gargoyle will have to rest." Twilight said. As they ran to find it a few running ponies however helped them find something.

----------------------On a tower the batlike gargoyle looked them over. "I know you’re there." Discord appeared right next to the gargoyle.

"Strange I thought you would be running home." The gargoyle gave him a glare.

"I am waiting for nightfall to get my bearings before mine leave. Why aren't you with your kind in your forest?" It asked. Discord depression almost broke though.

"I'm actually the last of my kind." He then shot up. "But I do hold my whole races combined magical might." He snapped his fingers and produced a glass of water for himself.

"My condolences the loss of a chaos race is a hard hit on the world."

"You know the little thing had no idea you were alive perhaps you should remove the curse seeing as how she knows where your tomb was."
The gargoyle thought about it. "I will but first she must learn humility she seems to prideful."

"Hmm, I suppose that's fair. You gargoyles always did love your little life lessons." Discord said with a chuckle.

"It is one's duty to spread wisdom where they go. Otherwise the world is doomed to keep repeating mistakes." The gargoyle said, bristling at Discord's tone.

"I suppose I've been doing a bit of that lately." Discord admitted, chuckling dryly. "Anyway, when this whole life lesson thing is over I should introduce you to my friend Malthael. He enjoys helping others in odd ways too. What's your name by the way?"

"Prince Victor." The gargoyle said. Discord almost spat out his glass, literally.

"The ruler of the gargoyles? Oh boy this will give Twilight a heart attack." Discord had the evil smile at the thought.

---------------------After running around in circles the mane six, Spike and Daring Do couldn't find anyone to give them an answer. "This is hopeless you seven are going to cost me my career and possibly my life." She was covered in a lot of bruises even flour and something else. The bad luck was not helping her at all.

"Hey, we're only trying to help!" Rainbow Dash growled. "It's not our fault that you have a curse."

"Well, you all aren't helping. I'd be better off just doing this myself." Applejack stepped between the two pegasi before Rainbow Dash could get into a fight with her idol.

"Calm down ya two. Gettin' in a fight ain't gonna help nuthin'. Darin' you aren't gonna get very far on yer own. This curse o'yers is gettin' worse by the minute. And Dash, we gotta keep a level head, we're here to help Darin' no matter how pigheaded she's actin'." The two pegasi each grumbled something that wouldn't make it into polite conversation and distanced themselves from each other.

The day dragged onward and the sun itself was starting to set a bit. Daring Do had enough of this. "I can't take it..." She started. "I should have gone it alone." Daring do said.

"Wait." Twilight started. "You can't leave now there's no telling what could happen."

"I'll tell you what'll happen." Daring shot back. "I'll get away from you and actually get this done!" she shouted before flying off from the group.

"Come on, we have to make sure that she's safe." Twilight told the others. "There's no telling what the curse could do to her!" The group fanned out and looked for the cursed explorer.

No one was having any luck until, "Ahhh!" a voice screamed out. The entire group heard it and rushed to its source. They all made it to the source of the scream and were horrified by what they saw.

Daring Do was in a deadly situation. If she moved her front hooves she would let a rope trigger that would release a barrel of stones which would crush her. Moving backwards meant getting pieced by spears, and even if she did a rope was around her neck with a weight, causing her neck to either snap or she choke. Daring do was noticeably afraid. To make matters worse her right wing was caught and if anything moved it would snap it or it would be broken. "Help me." She begged, afraid for her life.

"Why should we help you? You've been mean to us!" Pinkie pie said.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Daring started, her voice getting more and more strained by the second. "I should've realized I was in over my head the instant I got this curse. I let my pride get the better of me. I promise it won't happen again." Daring got out, barely losing her footing. The group shared a look and nodded before Twilight teleported Daring to where they were standing. "Thank you!" Daring cried out. "I should've trusted you guys from the start."

"Don't mention it, it's what we do." Rainbow Dash neutrally stated.

"I'm impressed." A voice was heard right above them. Landing was the gargoyle. "Your pride almost was your undoing." The gargoyle said. Behind him was Discord.

"Twilight, you’re not going to believe this, this gargoyle is Prince Victor, leader of the gargoyles." Discord said giving a bow. The gargoyle held his clawed hand out.

"You have learned your lesson." She glowed and the curse mark was erased. "There we are, back to your normal luck now." the prince finished.

"Thank you, Prince Victor. I'm sorry I took your things from your home! I thought you were just a statue, and I was only trying to preserve what I thought were artifacts so that others could study them." Daring said, bowing before the gargoyle.

"It is fine young one, you've learned your lesson. And it seems that my people have been too removed from interactions with others if we have been forgotten like this. If they are still around." Victor stated, his face falling. Discord placed his lion's paw on Victor's shoulder.

"Don't worry my friend; I'm sure they're somewhere. I've never heard anything about the demise of the gargoyles."

"Discord, if you were able to find Victor, why didn't you just take us to him?" Twilight hissed at him.

Discord rolled his eyes at the young princess and crossed his arms over his chest. "Twilight, if I had solved this problem with a snap of my claws then what would stop me from solving all of your problems that way?" Discord asked, earning confused looks from the ponies and dragon. "And if I did that what would you ever learn?" Again, he was answered by silence, "So, Twilight, instead I will point you in the right direction and let you solve your own problems. And if that doesn't work I may step in and save you." Discord finished.

Victor gave him a look. 'You’re lying.' Victor thought.

'Well half lying, I still do not trust them and never will, not completely anyway. After all, you try being turned to stone, twice.' Discord replied via telepathy.

'That's creepy, and you know my race turns into stone to sleep.' Discord rolled his eyes. He walked up to Daring Do and placed his paw on her head. For a moment things flashed through his mind.

"What did you just do?" Daring Do asked.

"I just read your mind to find out where Victor tomb was." Everyone save Victor looked surprised.

"Wait you can read minds as well?" Twilight asked. Discord gave a smile.

"Twilight I seem to recall me brainwashing Fluttershy, of course I can read minds besides why do you think Celestia has so many mental wards? To keep her mind from being read, unfortunately they only slow me down not stop me from mind reading her."

"Twilight, not to be rude darling, but out of all of Discord's abilities, reading minds is the most tame and least outlandish." Rarity offered.

"That's..." Twilight started before her mind came to a screeching halt, "... you make a good point. Still, why did you want to know where Victor's tomb was?"

"So, I could send him home of course." Discord said matter of factly.

"I thought you said you wouldn't just snap your talons and solve problems?" Rainbow Dash shot back.

"I'm not, besides I sent you all back home after Pinkie learned I was her half-father." No one argued with that and Discord turned to the gargoyle and grinned. "I'll see you soon my friend. We should get together with Malthael and have lunch."

"I'm looking forward to it." Victor said with a grin before Discord teleported him.

Discord looked around. "You know what this planet's a little boring.... I know." He looked up. "I'm off to outer space." He turned to the ponies. "Anyone wish to come with me?" He asked, "You're going to meet other races new cultures and new ideas and wonders." Twilight was tempted, oh so tempted. She always wondered what was out there. However she unfortunately was needed here. "Sorry Discord we'll have to decline..."

"I'll go." Spike jumped up. Everyone looked at him confused.

"Very well little buddy." Discord said with a snap of his talons spike was in a floating ball. "We are off." He teleported out of the planet's atmosphere and spreading his body, Spike was between his horns his ball of something became a captain’s chair.

"Where are we going?" Spike asked.

"Space the final frontier, these are the voyages of the Starship Discord, to seek new life forms new civilizations, new cultures, to boldly go where no dragon has ever gone before." Discord then shot out at FTL, leaving the ponies to stare at the sky.

Twilight gaped at what had just happened before her face contorted into pure rage and her mane erupted into flames. "Discord! you better make sure nothing bad happens to Spike or I swear I'll have you turned back to stone so fast that your head will spin!" Twilight boomed, somehow knowing that Discord would be able to hear her despite being separated by a vacuum. In fact she swore she could hear Discord laugh as a response. Twilight continued to shout threats for a long time constantly using words that most present didn't understand, but knew it couldn't be flattering. Eventually, Twilight calmed down, though her hair was still smoldering.

"Don't worry Twilight, I'm sure Spike will be fine." Fluttershy softly offered.

"Yeah, he could have all sorts of super fun space adventures!" Pinkie exclaimed. "He could defend a planet from evil robots, ooh or maybe he'll meet an alien princess and they'll fall in love!" She continued listing off several ideas before she concluded, "Besides, if Discord does let something happen to him then I won't get him a Father's Day present."

"Does that mean you're planning on giving him one, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Well yeah, he is my daddy, technically."

Twilight simply facehoofed and stated, "Let's just go home, I'm exhausted."