Dear Princesses Lulu and Tia

This is Princess Twinkle Shine and I’m asking you to both come to Ponyland for something thats definitely not a trick in any way shape or form why would you even think that thats just stupid.

You should probably come like right now too otherwise were all gonna explode or something.

Yeah thanks bye

Princess Twinkle Shine

Luna read over the letter and snorted with amusement. This surely couldn’t be serious! It clearly wasn’t Twilight who wrote this; the writing wasn’t even close to neat, as Twilight’s usually was, the grammar looked worse than a foal’s just starting their education, and even Twilight’s name was incorrect!

“What are you up to, James?” she whispered, smile slowly fading.

“What’s wrong, Luna?” asked Celestia as she entered the throne room again. “Who’s the letter from?”

“It’s from him,” Luna replied, rolling the letter up and hovering it over to her sister. “I think he’s up to something.”

Celestia unrolled it with a hoof as Luna held it with her magic and quickly scanned over it. When she’d finished, she smiled and sighed.

“Oh, James,” she whispered, shaking her head disappointedly. “What are we going to do with you?” She adopted a more serious expression and trotted over to the throne. “In all seriousness, this trick has to have some ulterior motive. I’m not sure what we should do about this.”

“Neither do I,” Luna said slowly, tucking the letter away for later. “Perhaps we should see what he’s up to just to make sure he’s not making too much trouble.”

“That being the case, I’d rather you didn’t go,” Celestia said as kindly as she could, frowning sadly.

Luna was silent for a moment. “But I’m the only princess left in Equestria with all their abilities!” she complained. “That being the case, I’m the one with the power to handle most of his power!”

“Luna, I know, and I’m sorry. I just… don’t want it to happen to you again.”

“Are you…?” Luna’s frown grew more severe. “Are you saying that I could become… her again?” Those words were hissed with such contempt that Celestia recoiled slightly. “Thank you, sister. Thank you very much. Your faith in your own sister is outstanding.”

“Luna, he made Twilight turn into her last night! A pony who has absolutely nothing to gain from becoming Nightmare Moon! You had something to gain at the time, and that’s what scares me! What if he does something that brings it all back?”

“No, I see what it is,” Luna spat, far angrier than she felt she should have been. “You think it will happen and that I’m too weak to stop it from happening.”

“Luna, think reasonably!” Celestia yelled. “It’s a small risk but the consequences are great! Do you really want to risk so much?!”

“It’s not a risk because I won’t let it happen again!”

“What if he makes it happen?! I’m not losing you again to this!”

Luna growled quietly. “Fine,” she spat, glaring daggers at Celestia. “You don’t want my help, so you won’t get it.” Her horn lit up, ready for a teleportation spell. “Good luck.”

She teleported from the room, leaving Celestia to shake her head in disbelief. How could she have been so thoughtless?! She’d essentially just told her sister that she was going to let Nightmare Moon take her over again! What kind of pony did that make her?

“Don’t feel too bad. I was gonna do it much worse than you did.”

Before she could even make a move to face the wretched human that had caused all of this, thick ropes shot out of the ground and wrapped around her tightly, squeezing her breath out of her. She tried to scream for help, but something was stuffed into her mouth to keep her quiet. She writhed and wriggled in her bonds as the sound of approaching footsteps drew closer.

“Yeah, it’s me,” said the… What had happened to him?! “Oh, that? I’m not entirely sure myself, but it’s probably something to do with an overload of chaos in my time.” His face twisted into a cruel grin. “But enough about me, let’s talk about you. How does it feel to have orchestrated the return of eternal night with the smallest amount of help from the god of chaos?”

She let out a muffled scream of fury and renewed her struggles. He was going to make it happen again! What kind of monster would…?!

Wait… He said god. Since when had his ego grown so much that he could so easily call himself a god?

“Oh, you know,” he stated indifferently. “Since I killed a whole world with minor assistance from some worthless individuals that I eradicated afterward anyway. It’s a long story.”

She screamed again, but only muted sounds slipped through her gag. She couldn’t let this happen!

“Well, uh, I don’t mean to… rain on your parade and such, buuuuut… you’re kinda… too tied up to do anything about it.”

She snarled and glared at the monster in front of her – calling him human was a nicety that he didn’t deserve anymore. He chuckled lightly and leaned closer to her face.

“You might be wondering what I’m doing.” His head rocked from side to side as he thought for a moment. “Okay, you’re not. But I’m gonna say it anyway. You see, tiny horse princess, I’m not the James you know anymore. Now… I’m somethin’ else. As for why I’m here, let’s just say I’m here to cause a little…” A pair of sunglasses appeared on his face suddenly. “Havoc.”

Whatever he was here for, he couldn’t get away with it. He’d become a tyrannical monster in every sense of the word, and he needed to be…

“Wait,” he said quietly, frowning. “Aw, dammit! I’ve been working on that joke for years and the first time I use it, I mess it all up! Great job, brain! Can I start again?”

He could fall into a bottomless chasm for all Celestia cared.

“That’s not very nice.” The ropes tightened, again squeezing the air out of Celestia’s lungs. “Anyway, I spent a loooooong time coming up with a new name for myself. I kinda need one now, being a god of chaos and all. I mean, Discord’s name was okay, but I want a better one. What’d you think of ‘Havoc’?”

Celestia gasped through the rag as her vision started to fade, lack of oxygen getting to her.

“As for why I’m here, that’s obvious. I’m just here to cause a little…”

Another pair of sunglasses appeared over the first pair on his face, most likely to add to that joke in some way, but Celestia blacked out before he could finish.

-=-=-=-=-

Fluttershy had seen Pinkie Pie and James heading into the Everfree forest not too long ago.

Naturally, she’d told her friends about this as soon as she could, fearing for the safety of both her friends. They’d all said that they were both probably safe but, just to abate Fluttershy’s worries, they’d agreed to head into the Everfree after them. The doctors had said that Spike needed some rest anyway.

Presently, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were waiting for Rarity and Applejack to sort a few little things out back at their homes, or in Rarity’s case, Twilight’s castle. They were only checking if their younger sisters were staying out of trouble, but that was very important at the moment, especially with a new spirit of chaos around.

“Do you think they’re okay?” Fluttershy asked anxiously, glancing back at the Everfree forest. “Oh, I hope they’re okay. Pinkie didn’t say she was meeting James in the Everfree forest…”

“They’re probably fine,” Rainbow reassured, patting Fluttershy’s shoulder. “James can handle himself and Pinkie’s got her ways of getting outta trouble.”

“They’re probably at that place where James came into Equestria,” Twilight stated.

“How’d you come to that conclusion?” Rainbow asked.

“I… It was the most reasonable place I could think of,” Twilight replied, not entirely sure where the thought had come from herself. “They… They’re probably just visiting where… Discord disappeared.”

“And they didn’t tell us? We coulda gone too!”

“James probably wanted to take each of us there individually. It’s pretty hard on him too, after all.”

“Sorry we’re late!” called Rarity as she and Applejack hurried over. “Sweetie Belle and her friends have… gone Cutie Mark Crusading.”

“Ah hope they’re bein’ smart about it this time,” Applejack added. “Not that ah’m doubtin’ ‘em, ah just hope they’re okay.” She smiled and stood up straight. “So, where’re we headed?”

“You know that place where Disc- James came here?” Rainbow asked. “Twilight’s got a feeling they’re there.”

“And I’m detecting something magically powerful there too,” Twilight put in. “The only one that would be is James, so it’s a pretty good feeling.”

“Then let’s get to it,” Rarity said with a stern smile. “We’ve got two friends to save!”

“Oh, I really hope they don’t need to be saved…” Fluttershy whispered.

“I… I didn’t mean it like… that…” Rarity replied sheepishly, ears flattening against her head.

“We can talk on the way!” Rainbow yelled, flapping her wings strongly to propel herself into the Everfree. “C’mon, guys!”

They followed her in quickly, Twilight leading the way with a magical light from her horn. There was little talk between them, something that only seemed to make them more uncomfortable as they got closer to where Discord… passed on.

It felt like hours, but it was only a few minutes before they reached the edge of the clearing.

“Alright, girls, remember,” Twilight began quietly, turning back to the others. “They’re probably… paying their respects. We can’t just go…” Her ears pricked up. “You hear that?”

“Look, I can’t say it enough, Pinkie,” came the muffled voice of James. “I’m sorry. I only wanted to use it as a contingency plan, so it might not have happened anyway.”

There was a small whimper in reply.

“What have you done now, James?” whispered Twilight as she pushed through the brush and into the clearing, ready to reprimand him for whatever he’d done now.

There was a collective gasp as they saw exactly what was going on.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow yelled, rushing forwards to her trapped friend. “What did he do?! You better not have hurt her, James!”

“Oh, yeah, because the one trapped in an unbreakable bubble is the one who hurt her,” James replied coldly. “Twilight, can you get me out of this thing?”

“Hold on, James,” Twilight answered, trotting slowly towards Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, are you okay? You look… upset about something.”

“I am,” Pinkie whimpered tearfully. “I thought my friend wasn’t going to betray me like he did, but he did and now I’m upset about it.”

“Dammit, Pinkie, I’m SORRY, OKAY?!” James roared through his containment bubble. “Do you want me to get on my knees and beg forgiveness?! Because I WILL do that!!”

“Whatever it was, we should get you out of that rock first, Pinkie,” Rarity whispered, horn already lit up as she chiselled away at the concrete restraining Pinkie Pie.

“Why do ah get the feelin’ ah ain’t gonna like what you got to say, James?” Applejack asked fiercely, glaring daggers at the human.

“Because you won’t,” James spat bluntly. “Just… get her out of that first. All of you deserve the truth.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “The real truth.”

“There we go!” Rarity cheered as the last shard of concrete dropped off of Pinkie’s hooves. “Quite well timed, if I do say so myself.”

“Alright, James,” Rainbow growled lowly. “What’s this truth that you haven’t already told us?”

“I think I can answer that a lot better, Rainbow Dash.”

The girls spun to face this newcomer, but no sooner had they done so did they gasp loudly and collectively.

“Hello, girls,” said Discord the draconequus, alive and well. “I can’t tell you how much I missed – “

He couldn’t get another word out before the girls charged at him and hugged him tightly, tears of joy and ear-to-ear grins of delight all around.

Author's Note

I am so sorry that I took so long with this and I know ~~all~~ some of you probably hate me by now but I actually have a pretty reasonable reason.

I've been so freaking depressed and damn near suicidal again and I've been venting all my frustrations in many ways and only recently got through it all.

Sorry for getting so depressingly morbid but it ain't happenin' no more. Pinkie promise.

But yeah, this is my... eighth or ninth plan regarding this story and this one should be okay. Should being the key term there.