CHAPTER ONE.
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Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
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“Though wild is my home, the forest deep,
Still, a quiet mind I must keep.”
An odd haze lifted from the cauldron in the Zebra’s home. If Applebloom where to happen by as she often did, she might have thought Zecora was floating beside the bubbling concoction. In a way, it was true. Meditation, along with a nice herbal stew for later, helped her get in tune with the many changes that had been occurring through Equestria. Her mind was in nearly a dream, and while she wasn’t looking for any particular vision, one kept coming: one of a broken castle, and a troubled mind.
“Unsettling it is, to see these things
Of ill is this omen, of misfortune it brings”
Where was this castle? Who was she seeing? Her curiosity led her deeper and she slowed her breathing as she went further into the vision. It became more clear, but also unfocused. She saw an empty throne and two windows, alone in a shattered hall. A shadow made its way along the wall. Familiar, yet foreign. She knew this creature, of this she was certain. Was it the vision clouding her memory of who it was? Or was the creature changing as she watched? She heard a muffled voice call for something, she couldn’t tell what, but the angered roar that bellowed through the halls let her know that whatever had been called for was not what had come.
“Changing is his magic, the god of a chaotic world,
What is happening to the one named Discord?”
---
"I'm better off alone anyways." Discord muttered to himself, "Ever since Celestia and..." He let his words trail off as he began to reminisce, absentmindedly swirling a half- empty glass of chocolate milk. "No, now is not the time for this." Discord discarded the nearly empty glass and dragged himself out of the broken throne. he began to stride meanderingly through the old castle's halls, past intricate and ornate stained glass windows, those that weren't already shattered and faded began to explode under the weight of the Spirit of Chaos' melancholic pressure. As he left the throne room, only two windows remained whole and untouched, one of Twilight and her friends, and one of a pure white mare sparkling as it had a thousand years before.
---
"Twilight!" The purple alicorn dropped the book she was reading and nearly fell on the floor as a yellow pegasus sped into the library. "Twilight you Have to help! Something awful has happened!" Twilight hurriedly fixed her crown and mane, concerned at her normally timid friends sudden panic.
"Fluttershy! Calm down and take a breath. Now what happened? What's wrong? Is somepony hurt?"
"Discord is gone!" Fluttershy cried, "He never showed up for our tea, so i went to look for him, and nopony had seen him since..."
"Since he betrayed us". Twilight said bluntly.
Fluttershy dipped her head and quietly agreed. The two ponies let the silence sink in as they began to realize what this could mean. Twilight allowed her mind to wander as she thought about that day, nearly six months ago where her suspicions were confirmed. "Princess Celestia said the we could reform him. She assured me that he wouldn't turn back. That this time was different. She was wrong, and so much had happened because of him! Now he's loose, what if he decides to do worse? What if he tries to- No!" Twilight Sparkle shook herself from her day dream and looked at Fluttershy. She still had her head hung limply whimpering softly as tears began to flow. "Fluttershy..." She began, "Let's get the girls so we can make a plan to find him. I just hope to Celestia that you and the Princesses were right about Discord," Twilight began to put books and quills into a saddlebag when she spotted the necklace Discord had given to her. "For all our sakes." she finished quietly.
---
Princess Luna had gotten the letter first, and as she strode nervously into her sister's chamber, she found Celestia Sitting at her desk her pure white coat and flowing mane disheveled, reading books, staring at a page here and there before haphazardly tossing them into a pile. Over the rustling of pages and thumping of books into the pile, Luna thought she could just hear her sisters voice. "Why? Discord... broken... a thousand years... why?"
Softly the Lunar Princess stepped into the room approaching Celestia when she suddenly found an intricately engraved sword pressed to her throat.
"Tia?" The sword clattered to the ground as Princess Celestia turned quickly to her sisters fearful face.
"Luna! I'm so sorry! Oh dear sister, forgiv-" Luna had already taken her elder sister in a tight embrace, before assuring her sister.
"Dear sister, it is I who should apologize. I should not have snuck up on you like I did. I see you already know then?"
"Yes... I don't feel his magic anymore. I feared the worst. We both know what Discord is capable of when not in control of himself,” A heavy silence had fallen between the sisters as they began to think what he might be planning. His last great plot had nearly caused the nearly inseparable sisters to turn on one another, regardless of the Elements of Harmony. Celestia still felt that Discord may have planted the seeds of jealousy that brought her sister to become Nightmare Moon. Suddenly there came a knock at the door. A lunar guard opened the door slowly and spoke.
“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, pardon my intrusion, but Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends are here for you.”
“Thank you Smiles,” Replied Princess Luna, “Tia, shall we met with them?”
“Yes, let us go, maybe Fluttershy knows where he may be.”
---
Author's Note
Okay, So this is a thing now. Let me know how it is, critique is apreciated.
Be sure to let me know if you want more.
CHAPTER TWO.
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Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.
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“Sister? You still seem to be on edge.” Luna quipped at a pacing Celestia. “You are sure to wear holes in the carpeting before too long. I am as concerned about Discord as you are, but until we feel his power again, all we need to do is wait on the newest bearers of the Elements to arrive, which, if the guard’s yelling is any indication on the matter, should be in… three… two… one.”
The princess of the night couldn’t help but smirk a little as the doors to the throne room flew off of their hinges as Twilight Sparkle and her friends rushed in to meet the two princesses. Celestia all but fell on her flank as she found her beloved student and her friends panting and yelling, flanked by several harried guards. Celestia could only sit stunned at the chaos surrounding her.
The young Alicorn was visibly shaken, but not just by fear. There was a palpable air of rage about the Princess of Friendship as well, as she began,
“Princess Celestia, it was Discord. All Discord, and it was always Discord. Several days ago, he missed a tea party with Fluttershy. He does tend to randomly disappear from time to time, but this time was different. There was no showing up to bother someone else or any of his random creations or delusions either. Pinkie hadn’t even seen any chocolate milk rain! Discord hadn't shown up to turn my horn into flowers, or challenged Rainbow in a race, Rarity still hadn’t finished the suit he promised he would help her with and even AJ didn’t know why he hadn’t shown up to help with the bats like he promised! Then Angel, one of Fluttershy’s animal friends said he had shown up in Winnysor castle of all places! We thought maybe he was planning some kind of prank or maybe even a party for Pinkie or maybe Fluttershy, and then we found him.”
When she had started, she had shown a little agitation, yet there was still some worry. But as her tale turned to them finally finding Discord at the old Castle of the Two Sisters, her voice grew harsh. Several of the ponies there swore they could see actual fire glint in Twilight’s eyes, as the tips of her mane and tail began to smolder.
“We found him in the castle, in the remains of the throne room. There wasn’t any laughter, but he was smiling the whole time. Fluttershy asked him was was wrong, but he answered by snapping his fingers and throwing half the castle at us. I tried to stop him, but my magic wouldn’t affect anything he was using. Luckily I was able to teleport us out. I took us back to Ponyville, but when we got back, we saw that he wasn’t throwing the castle AT us, he was throwing it THROUGH us to Ponyville! Our home! HIS HOME! This is NOT the friendship we had taught him! AFTER ALL PONYVILLE DID FOR HIM, HE THREW THAT STUPID CASTLE ON TOP OF IT! ALL OF IT! PONYVILLE IS GONE!”
Twilight let out a yell that shook the stain glass windows of the great throne room, with little care for repose or decorum as she began to hover in the air. Flames sparked from her eyes then completely engulfed her. The guards scrambled away in fear, as Twilight’s friends tried to think of ways to calm her down, as even pinkie couldn’t, there came a noise from the center of the room.
“Sister?” Celestia asked, nearly a whisper, but it seemed that Luna had already taken action, and quite unceremoniously dumped a rather large bucket of water onto the smoking mare, along with a shocked squeal as she dropped to the floor.
“Twilight Sparkle, please do calm down,” Luna cooed, setting the bucket down beside the Princess of the Sun, “Tell us anything you might know about what discord has been doing these past months, please, and please refrain from spontaneously combusting, we have had enough of that from Tia as it is.” The princess of the moon gestured lazily towards a rather large scorch mark on the wall.
Applejack, hoping to keep Twilight’s nerves a little sated, picked up where the winded alicorn left off.
“Discord is loose, an’ we think he’s going ta do something worse than Nightmare Moon did.”
“Umm… we um got everypony out of Ponyville before the castle appeared.” mumbled a young yellow pegasus.
“No doubt Tirek’s time in Tartarus has corrupted Discord's mind by even proximity, not to mention his own time there. We do not feel he is so much plotting, as he is hiding, fearing a return, although Tia believes he may be plotting something foul.”
Celestia lowers her head and growls, turning towards the group, “Discord was the one responsible for Nightmare moon.”
---
Zecora had all but finished putting a few more thing she might have need when there was a knock on her door.
“Who could be knocking at my door at this hour?
Surely nothing could have gone too sour.
On second thought, knowing Pinkie Pie,
Something might have gone awry.”
The frowning zebra mused before opening the door to a familiar, if not grim looking lunar guard. “Ah if it isn’t Mr. Sunshine Smiles,
Judging from your face I take it you wish not to stay awhile?”
“No ma’am, Miss Zecora, though I would love some of your tea, the princesses and your friends have sent me to get you. It seems as though the situation is quite dire.”
“No doubt the draconequus is of their concern,
As his betrayal has left quite a burn.”
Zecora had been in and out of meditation for quite some time. While she had seen much and understood very little, some things started to come together in her mind. Whether she could do anything to help with her magic, she did not know. But, at the very least she could share her visions with the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony. Surely they could all come together to bring clarity to her visions and maybe even protect Equestria from whatever may be coming.
“Although in light of this new fear,
I have something they all should hear.
Help me to gather a few more things for a spell,
The news I have does not bode well.”
The zebra barely felt the addition of a second magic joining Discord’s in the ruins.
---
The sullen draconequus had been brooding through most of the abandoned castle for the good part of a week now, doing little more than reflecting and muttering to himself, quite literally at one point or another, and had only succeeded in finding more failures. It was enough to drive him even madder.
“Discord, there is no point in drowning yourself in sorrow. there are still a few things that may be able to be forgiven, given time. Although throwing a castle seems a little much.”
Discord’s visage had darkened noticeably when the mysterious voice had rung through the halls around him.
“Hiding is more my style, or it was last we had a somewhat civil meeting, or perhaps you’ve come around to my side of things? Oh do come out and let me see you again. I quite miss those lovely eyes of yours Harmony, or do you prefer Faust? Neither really suit your rather complicated god-complex, but even I’M at odds for a new name.”
“It matters not Pandaemonium, or shall i just call you friend?”
Discord scoffed, “I haven’t heard that name in well over a thousand years, but enough with the inane chatter, i have some EXCELLENT moping to get back to, and it seems as if my head is in another place today.” As if on cue, his head began to hop off on its own, leaving just a face, grinning a mad cheshire’s grin.
“As you wish, though i had hoped to find you brewing frogs made of chocolate milk, or perhaps spider cakes. I did always love those,” A shining white alicorn sighed, brushing her auburn mane from her muzzle as she stepped out of the shadows, reminiscing on Discord’s desserts, “Something about your chaos always made them a little sweeter, if not harder to catch.”
“Are you here to simply ask for sweets, or perhaps you actually have something to talk to me about? Let me guess, our little game of Balance?” Questioned Discord sarcastically, “Let me guess, with the whole Tirek fiasco, I tipped our little scale a bit too much?”
“On the contrary, because of that ... monster, you and I are in perfect balance.”
“I thought that was your job this whole time Harmony, ‘Perfect Balance’ and whatnot.”
“No, we are meant to always tip the Scales, never achieving balance. Those are our appointed roles. With the Balance as it is, Tirek is the least of our concern.”
“So it’s something worse than a magic stealing demon locked in an impenetrable prison guarded by all manner of monsters and Death itself, and his little pet too?” the mad creature inquired, with perhaps a little too much sarcasm, he thought to himself.
“Much worse.”
Author's Note
Alright, Thanks to my Lovely friend Dorian Cantus for helping get this off the ground and to the readers as well.