Of Dragons and Magicians

Chapter 9

"Discord, the Spy Creature"

While Twilight had been revealing to Trixie the reason why she had been dragged so forcefully back to the castle, two members of the pony group was at the stage where Trixie's benefit was to take place setting about the task of assembling the bomb that they hope would go off and finish Trixie and the rest of their targets for good. Once the bomb was fully assembled, the pony responsible, Big Bang, came forward to her supposed assistant.

"Is it complete?" she asked as her assistant came out from underneath the stage. "Have you assembled the bomb?"

"I have," replied the assistant, lifting up his glasses. "Everything's all set to go for the benefit tomorrow."

"Excellent," chuckled Big Bang. "Now, let's get back before these royal guards spot us. Who knows what happens if we're discovered?"

"I agree," remarked the assistant. "If we're discovered, then everything will be ruined and we would have to face Celestia, which is something that I don't want to do."

This caused Big Bang to become slightly suspicious at her assistant who was talking in a relatively strange manner. She began to realize that maybe that this pony is not who she seems to be. However, the mistress of bomb making remained committed to the task at hand.

"You learn fast for an assistant," she thought to herself. "There must be more to you than I thought."

So, the two ponies snuck away from the stage and met up at a rendezvous point near the entrance to the Everfree Forest. There, they made their way to a shack not far from Zecora's where Black Magic and several other ponies were waiting.

"Is the bomb set?" he asked, standing in front of a fireplace and warming himself by the fire. "Please tell me if it is."

"The bomb is set," replied Big Bang, laughing maniacally as he turned to face his comrades. "That Trixie won't know what hit her when it goes kaboom!"

"As well as the rest of our targets," laughed another pony. "Trust me, it would be nice if our goal was completed in one big blast."

Black Magic considered this matter very carefully. In his mind, if the bomb was powerful enough, then all his targets would be one area to meet their untimely fate. He just had to hope that there would be no interruptions or last minute changes to his plan.

"Yes, that is something we would all hope to be," said Black Magic. "But, we have to make sure that the plan goes off without a hitch. I don't want anypony to grow suspicious of us, is that understood? We have all suffered enough, haven't we?"

The rest of the ponies stayed silent, but all understood what their leader was trying to get across to them.

Meanwhile, the pony that was assisting Big Bang had snuck away from the shack and headed to a secluded part of the forest. Once the pony was in the clear, she produced an eagle claw on her left hoof and snapped it, reverting into a creature with mismatched animal parts.

"No wonder Celestia was worried," whispered Discord, peeking out from behind a bush and towards the small light of the shack. "Those ponies are clearly up to no good and I have to stop them before any damaged is caused. Let's just hope I'm not too late."

Snapping his eagle claw again, Discord disappeared in a flash back to Canterlot where Celestia had been waiting for him along with Princess Luna in the throne room. They both had looks on their faces that showed that they were clearly waiting for a way to stop this plot.

"Well?" asked Celestia, tapping her left front hoof on the throne. "What did you see and what did you learn, Discord?"

"It appears that they have a bomb set underneath the stage," explained Discord, producing a screen that played the events while he was disguised. "The timer is set to go off during the point of Trixie's grand finale."

"Yes, go on, Discord," said Luna, listening in intently. "We are listening."

"Well, because I was disguised as Big Bang's assistant," continued Discord, as the screen continued to play. "I was tasked with setting the bomb."

Both Celestia and Luna's eyes popped wide open upon hearing what Discord had just said to them. They couldn't believe that the creature they had entrusted with their lives would be the one to place the bomb that the group hoped would go off.

"Discord, do you realize what thou had just done?" cried Luna, her horn glowing with anger.

"Please, Princess Luna," said Discord, backing away slightly. "I had no choice. What was I supposed to do, tell them that I was a creature of chaos sent by you to stop their plan?"

"He does have a point, little sister," remarked Celestia, sharply draping a wing over Luna's neck. "We have to trust him."

Of course, Luna didn't take this very well, whether Discord was disguised as a pony or not. As far as she was concerned, Discord had been tasked to keep an eye on the group, not take part in their activities.

"Very well," Luna said reluctantly as Celestia removed her wing. "But, I implore you to be the one that disarms that bomb or else if anything were to happen, I will hold you personally responsible the same manner as when you betrayed us for that monster, Tirek."

When Discord stayed silent at Luna's demands, the Princess of the Night grew quickly impatient and used her royal Canterlot voice to ensure that Discord would listen.

"IS THAT NOT CLEAR?!"

The force of her voice blew Discord across the throne room and threw him against the newly repaired doors. After a few moments, Discord got to his feet and shook his head, trying to get the blast out of her voice out of him.

"I'm not deaf you know, missy," replied Discord, transforming into Granny Smith for a moment and using her voice, before turning back into his normal self. "You don't need to shout. There are ponies who are asleep, you know."

Luna didn't take this well and rather shouting some more, she merely disappeared and left Celestia and Discord alone in the throne room.

"Please forgive me for my sister's behavior," said Celestia, stepping off of the throne and trotting over to Discord. "Even I have my doubts about you, but I still think you are sorry for what you did."

"Thank you, Celestia," said Discord, slightly smiling as Celestia got close to him. "That means so much."

The two of them were just about to get close to one another, only for Discord to realize that he had to get back to his mission.

"Wait, Celestia!" he cried, backing away wildly. "They will be looking for me, so I must get back to my mission."

With a snap of his fingers, he disappeared and left Celestia alone in the room with her thoughts on whether Discord would be able to succeed at stopping this plot from being carried out.

However, little did Celestia realize that the group had started to realize that Big Bang's assistant was a spy for the princesses. It was only a matter of time until Discord was exposed for who he was to them…