No one can kill the Lord of Chaos....right?
All gasped as the labyrinth walls came in view. Grayish clouds covered the sky and gave the atmosphere an unsettling tone as the green archway of the labyrinth towered above them. Leafy walls spread east and west as far as their eyes could see.
The six mares slowed their gallop to a walk and cautiously approached the maze.
Fluttershy gulped, “w-we have to go in there?”
“Nope! Dopey Discord forgot these babies,” Rainbow smirked, flaunting her wings. Taking off she said, “ I’ll just do a quick fly over and we’ll have the elements in no time!”
As she approached the walls however, a bright light flashed at Rainbow’s side and she instantly landed on her back. “My wings!” she exclaimed as she looked to see that both her cyan wings had disappeared.
A squeal escaped Fluttershy as the same flash of light appeared and her wings vanished as well.
Before anypony else could react, The same light flashed simultaneously above Twilight and Rarity’s head and took their horns with it.
They faced each other and said in unison, “You horn, “ and then looking to their own heads said, “My horn?!”
Four ponies screamed in terror and despair, while Apple jack and Pinkie Pie just stood there quietly with no appendages missing.
Their screaming ceased when suddenly an orb a green magic appeared before them and steadily grew bigger until it exploded in a flash of light, leaving in its place the same draconequus from the stained-glass window, only larger and much more frightening.
The girls gathered behind Twilight as the creature drew up to its full height, laughing maniacally, while cracks of lightning only add fear to the situation. It took them by surprise when the lightning and his laughter stoppe.
Bending down to their level with an amused look, he said,“You should have seen the look on your faces. Priceless!” he chuckled.
“Give us our wings and horns back Discord!” Rainbow demanded.
“Oh, you’ll get them back in good time...” he assured them before teleporting next to Apple jack.
“...I simply took them to ensure there’s no cheating,” he said while nudging her side.
Slinking to the side of the two pegasi, he said, “you see, this is the first rule of our game.”
“No flying and….wait, what’s wrong with her?” he asked, cocking his head and looking over at Twilight.
Annoyed and Angry expressions changed to ones of confusion as all eyes looked to where Twilight Sparkle was standing. Her eyes, the pupils as small as pin heads, were fixed upon the spot where the cone-shaped appendage was supposed to be.
No pony moved as her hoof slowly rose to her forehead and hesitated.
“My...my….is it?” She barely whispered.
“Uh...come again?” asked Apple Jack.
“Is...is it...my horn. Is it?” She said, seemingly ignoring AJ.
Breaking out of her trance, she grabbed Rarity before the mare could respond and as she shook her, she violently screamed, “ MY HORN!!! Where is my Horn? Is it...is it gone! Is my horn gone!?”
Pulling away from Twilight’s grasp Rarity replied, gasping for breath, “ Ye-yes Twilight. My horn and your horn are missing. Darling, are you okay?”
Twilight’s hooves returned to her head and ruffled her mane, as if hoping to find it somewhere under her indigo bangs.
“I...I don’t believe it. Its gone. That...that’s unbelieveable. Preposterous....”
“English please,” Rainbow interrupted.
“….Ridiculus. Unfathomable. Questionable. Impossible…its...”
Discord interjected, “well...perhaps unfathomable, but not impossible. You see, all I have to do is-”
Twilight cut him off, “...Its amazing.” The way she said it, in such breathless awe, made everypony a little edgy.
“Why...Whatever do you mean darling?” Rarity ventured.
“This isn’t like losing a foreleg or hoof,” said Twilight. “Any bodily appendage that can be, if necessary, taken off without affecting the rest of the body. But...the horn. A unicorn’s horn is connected to the core part of an unicorns magical being. Yes, a horn can be broken or damaged and the unicorn still survive, but that’s just like corking up a bottle. Nothing can escape it, but the inside is not damaged.”
She shook her head, and with a confused expression.
“This is different. My horn...all of it is gone. Its disconnected from my magical energy core and yet….nothing is happening.”
“Is something supposed to happen?” Fluttershy asked meekly.
“I don’t know!” She yelled harshly at her, causing Fluttershy to cower.
“Hey, I know you just lost your horn and you’re pretty upset, but there was NO need to treat Fluttershy like that Twi,” Pinkie siad, coming to Fluttershy’s defense.
Twilight never notced however, too absorbed with her problem
“I don’t know anything about this,” she continued, “but something could, maybe even should be happening. I should be overwhelmed by uncontained magic, or exploding from the now released energy! I could BLOW UP!!!”
Several strands of her mane flung out with a little “twang” sound.
The girls looked at each other worriedly.
Rainbow Dash turned to the frantic mare and said, “Come on Twilight, just...calm down...”
“Calm down? CALM DOWN!?!” She looked up, her eyes glaring, “How can I calm down, I’m going to explode! Or...I might. I’m not sure if I’ll explode. What if I don’t explode? What if my horn not being there...means nothing will happen. What if I just stay like this?”
Her eyes widened in horror. “ What if I’m hornless….forever. What if I never ever have my horn again? How could I perform magic?” She didn’t wait for an answers and contiued pacing and going on about her horn. That was the last straw for Discord.
“Who cares!?” the draconaquus yelled angrily. “No one, that’s who. So get over it. There are more important things than your stupid horn, like, oh...I don’t know...ME! So if you would just get over your insignificant problem and pay attention, I can get back to taking over all of equestria!”
“Sorry, but ypu can’t do that,” said a voice behind him.
Turning around, he saw Pinkie pie with a mononachle look on her face watching Twilight.
“What do you mean I can’t?” Discord asked annoyed. “Of course I can take over equestira, I’m Disord, Master of chaos. I can do anything, I can-”
Pinkie interuppted him saying, “ No, not that. I mean you can’t stop her from ranting. Once you got her going, there’s no stopping her. Also, you owe twenty bits.” she held out her hoof towards a confused Discord.
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said before he could reply to Pinkie. “You got us in this mess, so why don’t YOU keep quite until this blows over.”
He spun around and faced Rainbow nose to nose, anger very apprent in his eyes. “You….DARE….tell me what to do? I am Dis-”
“Discord, yeah..’ah get it. Now will ya pipe down before ya add more to this chaos,” AJ said, before turning back to Twilight.
He looked ready to smash the country horse into the ground before something hit him. He blinked a few times, before an evil smile crept up his face.
“You’re right...heheh” he chuckled to himself, “this mare IS acting chaotically….very chaotic. “
He tapped his chin, “Perhaps...yes. Surely I could stop for a moment and enjoy this pure and geuinine scene of chaos? Yeah!” he laughed.
Snapping into reality a red sofa and a bag of popcorn, he sat back and enjoyed the scene, saying, “Alright then, carry on.”
“But...but, magic is a part of me,” Twilight said, completely oblivious to their converstation. “It is my special talent for Celestia’s sake! What if I can’t do magic? Would my special talent...not be my special talent any more? Can a pony lose their talent? Their mark? Would I go cutie mark-less? What if I do lose my cutie mark? Would I become a blank flank? Could I gain another mark? Is there another cutie mark to gain? Would that be my special talent?
She paused and glanced at her audience, but all were overwhelmed by her unending questions to say anything. She sighed, and began to pace around in a circle as she did when upset.
“My special talent is...or rather was...magic,” she continued, “I’ve known that since I was a filly. Ever since I saw Celestia use it to move the sun, I have wanted to study it, control it, use it, discover new magic and solve old spells. My new found love of magic is what caused my parents to have me enrolled in The School for Gifted Unicorns.”
“Isn’t that, like, where you earned your cutie mark?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Yes! Yes it was there that I gained my mark,” Twilight said, nodding her head enthusiastically in aggrement, before starting to pace again.
“It was during my entrance exam, after the your Sonic Rainboom, that my magical ability was discovered. I had so much potential that, with my mark signifying it was my destiny, I couldn’t wait to exploit it. I spent much of my child hood studying, reading, practicing, and more studying the art of it. No matter how long it took to learn a new spell or to read a 500 paged spell book, I did it.”
She stopped pacing and faced away from the group.
“Now,” she sighed, “All of that...is wasted. All the years, All that work, all that studying, the long nights, all of my accomplishments, all the spells I’ve mastered,...useless. It’s all useless without my horn to make use of the magic. So much time and energy gone. You don’t know how much of myself I put into learning and studying magic.”
“Oh, I think we have a pretty good guess,” said Rarity.
“To have all that effort amount to nothing,” she contiued, ignoring her, “I just feel so...empty. Heh...Funny that losing a horn can do that to you,” She chuckled eeirly.
The chuckle stopped abruptly as her eyes widened in realization. “My parents, what will they think of this? Mom and Dad were the first to ever mention the school. They knew how much I wanted to learn magic and it was their idea to enroll me there. I remember their faces, like it was only yesterday, glowing with pride as I not only passed my exam, but was enrolled as the princess’ personal protege.”
To her friend’s delight, Twilight began to qeiunly smile at the happy memory.
“They were always there during my time of studying there; encouraging me,” she continued dreamily. “Never did they give up on me, even when I was tempted to give up on myself. Their faith in me had an impact on my studies and only strenghtend my want of knowledge. Their support through all those years, was immense and it wasn’t just moral, it was financial too. Shinning even had to give up a year of guard training to help pay for all the expenses. My brother, my mom, my dad...they all had such faith and support in me.”
Her smile slowly faded to her previous despair as she said,” What would they think of me now? No horn, no magic. For all that they gave me I now have nothing to offer in return. I’m like a flower that was watered, but doesn’t bloom. They have no reason now to be proud of me. Their support, their faith in me, has failed. I’m nothing but a failure and nopony likes a failure. I have failed them as their daughter. I don’t even deserve to be their daughter after this! They should disown me. No...they will disown me.
She hung her head, letting the silence speak her sadness for her.
AJ waited a few seconds so as to make sure she was finished, before she approaching her.
Laying a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, she said compassionately,”Now Twilight it can’t be all that bad. Yer family will love you for who ya are, not fer whatcha can do. I’ma sure they never would er could disown ah pony like ya. I mean, fer Celestia’s sake, yer their daughter! I’m sure they love ya whether er not ya can do magic. And so do we, right girls?”
The four mares passionetly nodded their heads in agremment, while discord only rolled his eyes.
Twilight looked up gratefully, “Thank you….I...guess you’re right, my family would never- Sweet Celestia!”
She shot up in alarm, causing Apple jack to jump back.
“Oh goodness, I forgot about Celestia !” she said, going into a frenzy again.
Apple jack walked back to the girls, mumbling under her breath, “curse mah choice of words.”
“Oh the Princess, what will she think of me without my horn and without my magic!” Twilight exclaimed, waving her hooves around to exaggerate her every word.
why she choose her. What she taught her. how honored she was. who she wanted to do her best.
What Celestia has towards Twi: She choose Twi. She tuahgter her. what faith she has/had in her. So much hope in her. nightmare moon.
What Twilight has towards Cel: She is and was honered. Holds in hight estiem. Beides parents, biggest motivator.nightmare moon. never wanted to disappoint her.
