Journey of the Spark

by LordMalevar063

Rating: everyone
Tags: Spike, Queen Chrysalis, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Main 6, Discord, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Drama
Length: 23661

Based on the unfinished movie

Twilight Sparkle and her friends attend a celebration hosted by Princess Celestia. During the celebration, a dragon attacks and tragedy strikes. Feeling responsible for the attack, Twilight goes into exile.

As Twilight goes self-exile, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, and the Changeling Queen Chrysalis have formed an alliance to end and bring an everlasting chaos in the lands of Equestria. During the process, Discord has made a deal that would divide Twilight from her friends forever.

Now, it is up to the rest of the Mane 6, including Spike, to find Twilight and rekindle their fractured friendship, if they wish to restore the Elements of Harmony once again and save the land they love.

(Cover art I've made myself.)

Published 2015-08-18 01:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-12-30 23:30:31 UTC

A Villain Team Up

It was a cold dark night in a castle far from the castle of Canterlot. In the castle stood an army of Changelings. Their queen, Queen Chrysalis, is alive and sitting in the castle's throne room. Since she deliberately failed to takeover Canterlot, being blown away by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, and falling towards places unknown, she rounded up what's left of her army and fled back to the castle, broken and weak. Now she regained most of her power and wants revenge against Twilight Sparkle, the pupil of Princess Celestia; Princess of the Sun, and her friends.

Twilight Sparkle was the one who found the dark secret of Queen Chrysalis in the guise of Princess Cadance. After nearly winning, Twilight appeared in the halls of Canterlot and ruined the queen's plans of a hostile takeover.

Now Queen Chrysalis wants her revenge against the purple unicorn, but she isn't strong enough yet to invade Canterlot. Even with her army, she couldn't get past the Royal Guards. She needed to find another enemy of Twilight and her friends. So she sent out a Changeling guard to find a perfect ally for her.

As she sat in the throne room, remembering what happened in Canterlot; a Changeling guard walks through the halls of the castle and enters into the throne room, bowing before the queen.

Queen Chrysalis, who had her eyes closed while having flashbacks, heard her guard walking towards her and opened her emerald eyes to see him coming.

"Your majesty!" said the guard, "We've found it."

Chrysalis gives a wry smile back to the guard and said, "Perfect."

The guard led the changeling queen to where they found him. The two Changelings exit the throne room and went out into the night; they headed straight for the castle of Canterlot. Landing on the outskirts of the castle, they both morphed into ponies. Queen Chrysalis turned into Princess Luna and her guard turned into a Royal Guard. Together, they flew toward the palace labyrinth. They traveled through the palace labyrinth until they come upon a large tower at the center of this maze of bushes.

They enter the tower through an open doorway and everything is dark before their eyes. The clouds above them moved, allowing the moonlight to shine through the roof of the tower. Before their eyes, stands a white statue of the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony: Discord in his stony prison.

The two Changelings morph back into their original forms.  The Changeling Guard led the defeated Changeling queen to another defeated villain defeated by Twilight Sparkle and her friends.  A potential ally the queen was looking for to have her revenge against the ponies that defeated her.

"This is it, your highness," said the guard, pointing at the statue.

"At last. I've finally found him," said Chrysalis. She turned to look at the guard and ordered, "Keep watch outside. I have some business that I would like to discuss with our new friend."

"Yes, your majesty," answered the guard and went outside. The guard exits the tower and keeps watch for other guards. Everything is silent and quiet until the door closes by itself, startling Queen Chrysalis.

"You know it's not often that I receive a visit from royalty," said a ghostly voice. "Queen Chrysalis, is it?"

"So you are Discord," said Queen Chrysalis, looking at the statue that seemed to have a disembodied talking voice.

"Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, at your service," said Discord’s voice, despite being in a statue form that is not able to move.

"I have come to-"

"I know why you're here," Discord's disembodied voice interrupted. "You want revenge against Twilight Sparkle. Tsk tsk, your majesty. Playing around with revenge is a very dangerous thing."

"I could have succeeded in conquering Canterlot had that pathetic unicorn not found me out! Perfect little Twilight. I want to make her pay for thinking she could humiliate me. But I can't act against her on my own. That is why I have come seeking your help."

"How exciting! Sadly, as you can see, I'm having some trouble getting around these days. I'm afraid I can only help you if I am freed from this prison."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" asked Queen Chrysalis.

"Tell me, your majesty, what happens when you remove one of the Elements of Harmony?" asked Discord.

"I don't understand," said the changeling queen, confused.

"Twilight Sparkle is the key to activating the Elements of Harmony's power," stated Discord. "Take her out of the picture and that puts a new spin on things."

"Go on," said Queen Chrysalis.

"Get Twilight's friends to turn against her," Discord advised. "Wreak chaos, spread disharmony! Make Twilight the villain and only then will you be able to separate her from the others."

"But how can I do that?" asked Queen Chrysalis. "They trust her too much to believe she would do something terrible of her own accord."

"Ugh," groaned Discord, impatiently. "And here I thought there was some smarts in that cheese-grated brain of yours. Think, Chryssy, think! Who does Twilight Sparkle care about more than anypony in Equestria?"

Now the queen was getting what Discord was taking about: the thought of harming somepony Twilight loves the most. "Mmmm, I see."

"Now you're getting it,” Discord continued, “Break the Element of Magic away from the others and I shall do the rest. Nopony will be powerful enough to stop us. Not even Celestia. You get your sweet revenge and I get to roam free as I did before, no longer chained by the Elements of Harmony."

"Very well. I will help you escape from your prison. But should you double cross me, there will be dire consequences," warned Queen Chrysalis, with a serious face.

"Oh! Perish the thought!" said Discord.

"We shall see," said Queen Chrysalis, flying to a mirror portraying the six ponies defeating Discord. "Heed this warning, Twilight Sparkle. The End of Harmony may arrive sooner than you think." The queen evilly chuckled.

A Letter from the Princess

A Letter from the Princess

The sun shined brightly down upon the small town of Ponyville. Life was normal here in the small town.  Ponies were out and about, saying “Hi” and “Good morning.”  As for the purple unicorn Twilight Sparkle with her dragon assistant Spike at her home in the library, sitting on the balcony of her home, engrossed in a thick, hardbound novel.  She was living in this library treehouse since she moved with Spike, who was her personal assistant when Twilight was just a filly.

Twilight was a pony that focused on studying and reading books instead of making friends with other ponies.  But when she moved to Ponyville, she was quickly befriended by the humble country pony Applejack, the daredevil yet dedicated pony Rainbow Dash, the hyperactive and laughable pony Pinkie Pie, the charming, beautiful, and generous pony Rarity, and the timid, gentle, caring pony Fluttershy.

These fives ponies quickly befriended Twilight when they met Nightmare Moon, and they quickly learn that the only way to defeat her was the Elements of Harmony, which were believed to be stored in ruined fortress that lied somewhere in the Evergreen Forest.  Along the way, they endure tests of their honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, and loyalty.  When they passed each test, they found themselves at the ruined fortress where the Elements of Harmony were believed to be held.

As they progressed, they came across stones that were believed to be the Elements and also came Nightmare Moon herself.  Twilight herself found out that the stones weren’t the Elements of Harmony; the ponies were Elements of Harmony.

After finding that out, the Elements of Harmony were unleashed from within the ponies.  Together, they unleashed a rainbow fury that defeated Nightmare Moon and redeemed her, bringing her back as the normal pony she originally was: Princess Luna, the Princess of the Night.  Soon thereafter, they used the same rainbow power on Discord, a deformed Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony that broke from his statue prison and let lose against the six ponies and nearly all of Equestria.

Discord was placed back into his stony prison and the six ponies were celebrated as heroes.  Not long after that, Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor, and her foulsiter, Princess Cadence were to wed, but only to find out that Cadence was a fake and the real Cadence was being imprisoned in a crystal cave.  They both got out of there and the fake Cadence was a Changeling queen and her army of Changelings invaded Canterlot.  And just when hope seemed lost, at the last moment, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor unleashed the love they had for each other and blasted the Changelings towards the horizon.

Now life was as it was all day every day.

“Twilight! Twilight!” Spike called out.

“Yes, Spike?” replied Twilight, who was still reading her book.

“We just got a letter from Princess Celestia! You’d better get down here quick!”

“Be right there!” Twilight replied back, putting the book down to turn and go downstairs. “What’s the letter say?”

Spike held a scroll in his claws, cleared his throat and read: “To my most faithful student, I am writing this letter to inform you that this year marks the return of the Royal Arckmage Coronation!”

“The Archmage Coronation!” gasped Twilight.

“Right!” Spike continued: “‘We are hosting a celebration in honor of this legendary event and it would be my pleasure for you and your friends to join us in Canterlot to discuss preparations. I await your response. Sincerely, Princess Celestia.’ Do you hear that, Twilight!?”

“It’s pronounced Archmage,” Twilight corrected.

“That’s what I said!  The Royal Archmage.”  Spike paused.  “What’s an archmage?”

“The Royal Archmage is the highest honor that any gifted and well-versed unicorn can receive!” Twilight answered, excitedly. “Quick, let’s send a response!”

Spike gets out a piece of paper and a quill and awaits Twilight’s instructions on what to write down.

Twilight spoke loud and clear: “‘Dear Princess Celestia, I would be more than happy to join you for the event. I will gather up my friends immediately and we will be on our way. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.’”

Spike finishes writing on the scroll, rolls it up, and sends it off with his dragon breath. A green cloud of smoke makes its way out of Twilight’s library.

“I’ve been reading up on the ceremony. Supposedly it only happens every hundred years. It’s one of Canterlot’s most prestigious events!”

“Wow, that is so cool! Do you think the Princess might give you the title, Twilight?”

“I think that might be a bit of a stretch, Spike. The Archmage position is rarely given to ordinary unicorns. It’s a position reserved for members of the Royal Family. But there has been an exception every now and then!”

“Ahh, well who needs a fancy title; you’re still the best magician ever. No doubt!”

“To be fair Spike, I think you’re the best assistant ever.”

They both chuckled and walk out of the door.

{The song, On Our Way, is to be played here.}

Meeting the Princesses

Twilight and Spike had gathered the other ponies: Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie and told them of the Archmage Coronation coming to Counterlot.  So all have packed their things for the journey to the castle where the Princesses of the night and day lived.  Once they have gathered all they needed, such as Pinkie getting her party cannon, they headed to the train station and towards the Canterlot castle.  After getting off the train, they immediately headed towards the castle.  At the castle’s entrance, they were greeted by the royal guards and took the ponies to the throne room.

The girls walk into the main hall of the castle. Celestia and Luna walk up to the six ponies. The ponies bow before the Princesses of the Day and Night.

“Good day, everypony!” greeted Luna, the Princess of the Night.  Next to her stood her older sister, Celestia, the Princess of the Day.  “Did you all have a pleasant trip?”

“It was absolutely lovely, thank you,” said Rarity.

“Well, the train could’ve had more sweets,” said Pinkie Pie, “But other than that, sure, it was super-duper-fantastic!”

“Pinkie ate all the hors d’oeuvres on the train,” Rarity said, annoyed about Pinkie Pie eating a lot of candy and goodies they brought.

Pinkie found herself being stared at by the ponies.  “What? They were good!”

Twilight turned to see her mentor.  “We’ve all come, just as you requested, Princess Celestia.”

“And not a moment too soon,” Celestia said to her faithful student.  Ever since Twilight was ever a filly, she was the most prized student of Celestia.  Celestia couldn’t ask for a better or brighter unicorn than Twilight Sparkle.  “We have a lot to prepare for.”

“Say, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “I forgot to ask this, but why are we here again?”

“For the Archmage Coronation!” signed Twilight.

“Ohhhh…,” Rainbow Dash said.  She paused and thought for a moment.  “What’s an archmage?”

Twilight rolls her eyes in circles, thinking she is the only one who knows what an archmage is. Celestia leads all the ponies out of the throne room and towards the castle ballroom, explaining what an archmage is and what the ceremony is all about.

On the way, Luna begins to converse with Twilight: “We think that you look fair today, dear Twilight. How have things fared for thee since last we met?”

“A lot has happened since the Changeling attack. How has the security of Canterlot been going?”

“We have been working hard to strengthen our walls,” Luna answered firmly. “But fear not, we have made sure that none shall breach the castle during the festivities. I do not know if my sister has told you this, Twilight, but you will be in charge of more than just organizing tonight’s event. You will be in charge of security as well.”

Twilight stops for a moment and turns towards the Princesses.

“Wait, me? In charge of security? What about my brother, Shining Armor?”

“He and Cadence have taken some time off to enjoy their honeymoon,” Celestia answered. “You’ve proven yourself time and time again, Twilight. I trust in your ability to keep things under control.”

“Yeah!” said a flying Rainbow Dash. “And we’ll be there to make sure that Twilight doesn’t mess things up!”

“I know you can do it, Twilight,” said Celestia, believing her most prized student is going to succeed as Celestia always does.

“I… I’ll try my best, Princess,” Twilight said with confidence. “Where do we start?”

The Evening Ball

The day came and went so fast like a running roadrunner being chased by a coyote.  The castle’s ballroom was being filled up with properly dressed and the upper-class ponies always dressing in style like they always are.  Dozens of ponies were gathering of the Archmage Ceremony.  The Unicorns especially were gathering in larger numbers than Earth ponies and Pegasus ponies.

Just on the outskirts of the city, Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings overlooked the festivities and the celebration going on.

“Yes, celebrate all you want, little ponies,” she said, mockingly. “Soon, everything you hold precious will be mine.” Chrysalis looks to two group of changelings.  “You lot, follow me. As for the rest of you, you know what to do.”

A small group of Changelings their queen picked morphed into the forms of the Royal Guards.  Queen Chrysalis flies off with them towards Canterlot Castle while the other group flies away from the city, for they have something special for tonight for the ponies and very chaotic.

The ballroom of Canterlot is bustling with activity. Ponies from all over Equestria are enjoying themselves and each other’s company. The six ponies: Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were dressed in their gorgeous dresses they wore at the Grand Galloping Gala.

In one spot, Applejack and Rarity are sampling fine beverages from the juice bar.

“Hoo-Wee!” said Applejack, after tasting a sip. “This sure is a fancy shin-dig, ain’t it, Rarity? I’m drinking juice from a champagne glass.”

“Of course, Applejack,” Rarity agreed. “I wouldn’t expect any less from the Princesses. Equestria’s brightest are all here in their finest apparel. Oh, this is simply marvelous!”

In one other spot, yards away from Applejack and Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are talking to each other just when Pinkie Pie appears to them, interrupting their conversation the Pegasi were having.

“Hey guys! Isn’t this awesome?” said Pinkie Pie, in a cranky, entotic tone. “This has gotta be the best party I’ve ever been to!”

“Pinkie, you say that about every party,” stated Fluttershy.

“Meh, it’s okay,” said Rainbow Dash, with an average thought. “I’ve been to way cooler parties back at flight school.”

“Hey, girls!” greeted Twilight, who was wearing her dress. “Everypony having a good time?”

“Oh, Twilight,” said Rarity, gleefully, “This party is simply smashing!”

Fanfare horns were suddenly blown by the Royal Guards, meaning Princess Celestia was entering.

“Hold on a second, Rarity,” said Twilight. “The Princess is about to speak!”

The fanfare horns continue playing as Princess Celestia enters.

“Welcome, everypony!” the Princess of the Light greeted all the ponies. “Thank you for coming to our celebration. As all of you are aware, this year marks the return of the Royal Archmage Coronation!”

The pony crowd erupts in applause.

“Every hundred years,” Celestia continued, “the Royal Family of Equestria holds a special test designed to select the most magically gifted unicorn. Only the wisest and sharpest ponies can have this honor bestowed upon them. However, this year, a candidate for the archmage position has already been selected.”

The ponies in the crowd mumble to themselves at this announcement.

Twilight looks over to her friends. “I wonder who could be so talented in magic to make the Princess decide so quickly,” she said, curiously.  Her friends exchange glances with one another.

“Until then, I hope you all enjoy the celebration. Rest assured, my sister and I will make sure that everypony enjoys themselves without worry for in a few minutes, we will crown the new Archmage!” Celestia finished.

The crowd once again erupts in applause. Celestia walks off of the stage and towards Twilight and her friends.

“That was a great speech, Princess!” Twilight commented.

“Why, thank you, Twilight,” said Celestia. “Oh! That reminds me! If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to attend to something of great importance.”  Celestia excused herself and walked away.

As the Princess walked away, a Unicorn pony sees Celestia walking out of the ballroom. She follows swiftly. As she walks out and away from the crowd, the pony turns herself into the form of Luna. She stalks Celestia intently and from a distinct so the changeling queen would get noticed by Celestia.

Celestia headed towards the archmage tower and enters an old study, lighting a single candle with her magic. Slowly, she walks to a dresser adorned with a mirror above it. Once again using her magic from her yellow glowing horn, she opens the top drawer and retrieves a small box in which she opens to reveal a locket. She looks at the locket for a brief moment before hearing a knock on the door and startles her. “Come in.”

The door opens and Luna, a fake Luna, enters.

“Oh, hello, Luna,” Celestia greeted her sister. “I’m sorry for leaving the ballroom so suddenly. I needed to retrieve this for the coronation.” Celestia paused and looks back at the locket. “Luna, can I ask you something?”

“Anything, sister,” said the Luna impostor.

“Do you think Twilight is ready?” asked Celestia.

“Oh, I think little Twilight will be more than ready,” said Luna, in a different, strange voice. “At least, you should hope she is.”  The Luna impostor's horn begins charging a great deal of green magic.

Celestia gasped at the sight. She is quickly pinned down to the ground by the fake Luna’s forearm. Suddenly, before Celestia’s eyes, Luna’s arm begins changing to the Changeling queen: Chrysalis. Celestia’s eyes shrink in terror. Laughing evilly, Chrysalis releases her magic spell onto Celestia as she screams for help. The green light of Chrysalis makes a silhouette of the attack against the wall. After the light dimmed, Chrysalis takes on Celestia’s form and exits the room, leaving a heavily injured Princess in the dark room.

After dealing with the powerful Alicorn Princess, Chrysalis’ eyes glowed green, seeing a vision of the second group of Changelings.  She saw them atop a tall mountain; the group stands outside the mouth of a cave.  A heavy snoring was heard coming from the cold darkness of the cave.

“Quickly,” said an Elite Changeling.

The changelings rush into the cave. One Changeling stops to stare at a giant horde of gemstones. A deep growl of a big, red monster awakes in the darkness, echoing through the cave. The changelings flinch and each grab a gem in their mouths. In the pitch black, a pair of glowing yellow eyes opens; a dragon had awakened from its slumber.

This made the queen laugh; she had plans with a dragon.

Repositioning

Repositioning

After a great deal of time passed since Princess Celestia, Twilight and her five friends look around the ballroom for the Princess. “I wonder where the Princess is. She should be out here by now.”

Princess Luna walks up to Twilight.

“Twilight, have you seen my sister?” Luna asked.

"She told me that she went to go get something,” Twilight answered, worried. “I wonder what’s taking her so long.”

“Don’t worry about it, Twilight; I’ll go and check on her.”  Luna walks away from Twilight to find her sister.

Celestia, who was really Queen Chrysalis in disguise, walks into the ballroom right and lightly bumps into Luna.

“Oh!” Luna grunted, bumping into her fake sister. “Celestia! I was just about to go looking for you. Did you get the locket?”

The fake Celestia raises an eyebrow out of slight confusion. “O-oh yes! I have it with me. I just put it away for safe keeping.”

Luna smiles and nods, walking passed the fake Celestia.

After seeing Luna walk away attending to other business, the fake Celestia walks up to Twilight. “Excuse me, Twilight. Could I have a word with you?

“Oh. Sure!” Twilight answered. “Give me just a second, girls.”

The Celestia imposter pulls Twilight off to the side away from the Mane Group.

“Is something the matter, Princess?” Twilight asked the fake Princess. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“I did, Twilight,” answered the imposter, “But there are more important things to worry about right now. It’s not safe to talk about it here though. Why don’t we step outside for a bit?”

“O-okay,” said Twilight, confused.

The fake Celestia leads Twilight out of the ballroom and into the hall outside.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“Do you remember how the Changeling Queen got into Canterlot?”

“Hmm… I think it was through the Crystal Caves,” Twilight guessed, “Where she trapped me and Cadence.”

“Well, as you know, Twilight, the Archmage Coronation is one of the most important events in Canterlot. You can understand why security is critical at this time. Enemies of the royal family have tried to disrupt the coronation before and I’m afraid they might do it again.”

“So if anypony wanted to invade during the coronation, they’d have the secret entrance through the Crystal Caves to slip in.”

“The safety of my subjects is at stake, Twilight,” stated the fake Princess. “We will need more guards on alert here at the castle if we want to avoid such a catastrophe from happening.”

“So what should I do?”

“If the invaders are going to attack from the inside, then it’s best to prepare strategically and reposition the guards from the outer rim of the city to the castle.”

“All of them?” Twilight questioned. “But-“

The fake Celestia places a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “This is an important task that I could only trust you with, Twilight.”

Twilight stood straight. “Alright. I’ll alert the guards and set up more security inside the castle.”

Fake Celestia nods as Twilight runs down the hall. Back in the ballroom, Spike notices Twilight running away from a window.

“Huh… Twilight? Where’s she…?” Spike runs out of the ballroom, after her.

Meanwhile, Twilight converses with a Commanding Officer. “Sir, we need to move the guards from the outer rim of the city inside the castle.”

“All the guards?” asked the Royal Guard, shocked. “But why?”

“There’s been word of a possible threat against Canterlot,” answered Twilight. “We’ll need everypony we can get, even those stationed at the Outer Rim.”

“Very well,” replied the guard. “I’ll alert the northern patrol and reposition the guards.”

Just as Twilight and the guard are talking, Spike catches up and listens to their conversation.

“You’ll have to hurry,” continued Twilight. “The ceremony will be starting shortly and it’s important that the guards be moved at once!”  Then she begins running into town.

“Twilight!” he shouted. “Wait I- ugh!” He begins running after her and painting. “What I wouldn’t give for a pair of wings.”

Dragon Attack

Back at the party, everypony were still enjoying themselves.  Then distant screeches and sounds of cocking crow-like sounds interrupted the talks. The partygoers stop what they’re doing and turn their heads towards the windowsill of the ballroom.

“What was that?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“That sounded like a... DRAGON!!” screeched Fluttershy.

Another loud screech is heard, louder and closer this time.

Twilight is at the wall, double checking that all of the guards have been moved. She hears reverberations and echoes of a roaring nearing around the mountain.

“What in Equestria?” she wondered, lightly gasped.

Twilight looks to the sky and hears same roars a second time, louder and very much closer. A shadow envelopes Twilight as she gazes to the sky, dumbstruck and horrified.

“Oh no,” she said, horrified.

A dragon had come to Canterlot Castle.  Twilight begins rushing towards the castle. “I hope I’m not too late!” she said.

The guests start to get anxious and mutter amongst themselves. They have just heard the second roar from a beast.  The five ponies brought this matter up to Princess Luna.

“A dragon? Unlikely. They’re a rather unsocial species, but they would never attack unprovoked. Especially not Canterlot.”

“Don’t sound too unlikely judgin’ from how loud that ruckus is gettin’,” said Applejack.

“It sounds as though it’s right on top of us!” stated Rarity.

Lune spoke: “We should head out to investigate the-”

Suddenly, a dragon bursts into the ballroom through the stained glass window as the entire crowd erupts in a panic. The dragon’s crash forces a chandelier to fall onto the crowd below from the ceiling. The crowd tries to evacuate from the ballroom from the attacking dragon.

“Everypony get to safety!” ordered Luna, shouting. “Rainbow Dash! Help to get everypony out safely!”

“Yes, ma’am!” replied Rainbow Dash, saluting.  The five ponies start escort the guests out of the ballroom before the dragon could hurt them or smash onto them. “Hurry!” shouted Applejack. “We don’t have much time!”

Then Luna began to gaze at all the ponies and she took a strong notice. “Where is Celestia!?” she asked.

The fake Celestia converses with a Royal Guard in a dark secluded area.

“The dragon’s been lured into the city, your highness,” said the guard.

“Good,” responded the imposter. “Now it’s time to put into effect the last step of my plan.”

Quickly, the fake Celestia changes back into Queen Chrysalis and the Royal Guard changes into the Celestia’s form while Chrysalis takes on the form of a normal pony.

“It has been an honor serving you, my liege,” said the guard, with Celestia’s voice.

“Play the part right. Just as we planned.”

The Changeling Guard, in Celestia’s form, nods as Chrysalis, who is in the guise of a regular pony, leaves.

The dragon continues to wreck the ballroom.

Twilight sees the dragon from the window.  “I hope I know what I’m doing,” she said, hopefully. Twilight quickly shoots a beam of magic at the dragon, getting its attention. “Hey!! You leave those ponies alone!!”

The dragon roars after being blasted by magic and quickly chases after Twilight. Twilight quickly runs away.

The ponies burst out onto the streets of Canterlot. Amidst the pushing crowds, Spike becomes lost in the sea of panicking partygoers.

“Twilight!?” shouted Spike. “Twilight, where are you!?”

Spike gets shoved to the ground, the giant dragon eyeing him with malice. Spike begins to slowly back away. The dragon begins to build up a great breath of fire and releases it from its mouth. Twilight jumps in front of Spike and encases the both of them in a magic bubble shield.

“Twilight!” exclaimed Spike.

“Spike, run!” said Twilight. “Go and find the others, I’ll try to fend off the dragon!”

Spike runs off to find the five ponies. The dragon begins swishing its tail about, breaking various buildings. The beast emits a great breath of fire on a group of buildings. As the ponies exiting the castle begin flooding the city, Twilight frantically begins looking for Celestia.

“Princess Celestia! Where are you!? I need your help!”

“Twilight, look out!” shouted Celestia’s voice, a short distance away

Twilight quickly turns to see the dragon trying to swipe at her with its enormous claws. Twilight quickly dodges out of the way. Suddenly, the dragon swipes its tail again, knocking Celestia to the ground. Twilight turns to see Celestia weakened.

“CELESTIA!”

Twilight starts running towards Celestia, but finds a group of ponies blocking her path. The dragon begins walking closer to Celestia, opening his jaws wider, preparing to devour her. Suddenly, the dragon’s head is hit with another beam of magic. The dragon quickly turns around and sees Luna walking closer towards it until she comes to a standstill.

The dragon furiously roars at the princess, blocking her view of Celestia. Luna builds up a great deal of magic from her horn. She fires it at the dragon, causing it to stumble towards an oncoming building. The dragon roars in agony and it falls onto a nearby tower, causing it to break. A few feet away, Twilight sees Celestia in the line of the falling debris. Before Twilight’s purple eyes, Celestia is crushed by the weight of the debris and the dragon.

Celestia cries out in an agonizing scream of pain.

“CELESTIA!! NO!!!”

Twilight’s eyes begin to water. She holds out her hoof, incredibly distraught. She was barely audible and begins to weep. “Princess… No, no no no no no no!”  Twilight frantically starts digging through the rubble to find her beloved teacher. After trying desperately to uncover her, she breaks down sobbing.

Luna, with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity, look on, absolutely devastated.  Luna walks up behind Twilight, shortly followed by the five ponies. Luna looks down at Twilight.

“Celestia...!” Twilight cried.

“Girls,” said Luna, somberly, “Take Twilight back to the castle.”

The girls try dragging Twilight away from the rubble, but she begins to struggle against them, shouting at the top of her lungs: “NO!!!! I CAN’T LEAVE HER!! I CAN’T LEAVE HER!!!”

Twilight's Corruption

Twilight's Corruption

The doors of the throne room open as the step inside, a few guards following suit. Twilight is seen crying as she is lead into the room, still devastated by what she had seen. Just then, Luna enters. All look tired and ragged, with looks of worry on their faces.

"What happened?" asked Luna

Twilight does not answer, hanging her head low with sorrow. A Royal Guard enters the throne room, followed by a few survivors.

"Your Highness," said the guard, "we've taken heavy hits. These are the last of the survivors I found. More are wounded, and many have gone missing."

"I do not understand," said Luna. "Why did your squadron leave their posts?"

"Forgive me, your Highness; my guards do not abandon their duties without reason. We were given strict orders to reposition and defend the castle from intruders."

Luna lowers her toward the guard. "Who was it that gave you this order?"

The Royal Guard glared at Twilight and signed. "Twilight Sparkle, your majesty."

Twilight winces and slowly lifts her head at the mention of her name the group looks at her.

"T-Twilight?" exclaimed Fluttershy.

Anger fueled in Luna's moony eyes. "You are dismissed," she said, hearing how it was Twilight who ordered the guards to reposition the troops. The unicorn she trusted to put in charge of the Royal Guards.

The guards exit the throne room. Luna looks to Twilight, a great look of anger on her face.

"Princess Luna… I-I…,"

"What were you thinking?" the princess snapped. "Why would you issue an order that would leave Canterlot virtually defenseless!? None of the events that happened tonight would have occurred if it weren't for your negligence!"

"That can't be right!" protested Rainbow Dash. "Twilight's smart! She would never make an order like that."

"Actually… it's true," said Spike.

"What?" said Rainbow Dash.

"I saw Twilight running away from the ballroom," he stated. "I thought something was wrong, so I followed her. When I caught up to her, she had already given the order."

"Spike, I -," Twilight mumbled.

"The verdict stands Twilight. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Twilight protested: "But Celestia was the one who-"

Luna's expression of anger grows and slams her hoof onto the ground. "How DARE YOU! Shirking off the consequences of your actions in an attempt to belittle my sister's judgement! After all that's happened!"

"N-No!"

Luna angrily glared at Twilight. "Get out."

"I'm so sorry," Twilight apologized, tearing up.

"GET OUT!" Luna shouted.

Twilight looks at her friends with an expression of absolute devastation and disbelief. Completely crushed, she breaks into a sob and bolts away, out the doors and toward the labyrinth.

Twilight runs into the palace labyrinth, her fast gallop slowing down to a gentle trot. Twilight stops in front of a great water fountain, a stone statue of Celestia facing her. Twilight looks into the fountain, a few drops of her tears rippling the surface of the water.

(The song: Twilight's Lament plays here.)

From out of the darkness, Twilight hears a female ghostly voice. "Twilight." The voice sounds like Celestia.

"Celestia?" gasped Twilight. Twilight looks up from the fountain to see a section of the labyrinth shrouded in shadows, making it appear far darker than most of the labyrinth. She hears the voice again: "Twilight…"

"Princess? Where are you?" The voice does not respond. Twilight begins walking in the direction of where the voice seems to be coming from. As the fog begins to clear, Twilight sees an enormous tower. Twilight stops dead in her tracks before walking towards the tower, examining her surroundings. "What is this place?" she asked herself.

Twilight stops in front of the door to the tower. She gulps, afraid and anxious of what awaits her inside. She enters and sees its dark inside. The moonlight peels back to reveal to her the statue of Discord. "Discord?"

"It's been a while, Twilight," said a male ghostly voice, closely resembling Discord's voice.

"Show yourself!" shouted Twilight. She cracked up when she heard another voice.

Discord's voice laughs and echoes throughout the tower. "Did you miss me Twilight Sparkle? I've certainly missed you."

"This is impossible! How can you-"

"How can I be talking to you when I've been encased in stone?" asked Discord, lightly chuckling. Despite being in his statue prison, the Spirit of Chaos knows how to talk. "Oh, Twilight, don't you know? Chaos has no limitations. Although you and the rest of your little friends valiantly defeated me, I am still very much alive."

"What do you want!?" Twilight demanded.

"Now, now, Twilight," said Discord, calmly, "No need to set your mane ablaze. It makes you look about as much of a drag as Celestia."

"Don't talk about the princess that way! She's-"

"Gone, from what I hear."

Twilight's anger dimmed out surprised to hear of Discord knowledge, despite being trapped in stone. "How do you know that?"

"You forget, Twilight, that I can feel the vibrations of chaos and disharmony. I can sense the grief in your heart. Something awful happened, didn't it?" Discord chuckled again.

Twilight started crying. "I-it was all my fault. I could've saved her but I didn't. Everypony hates me."

"Oh, Twilight, you knew that a day like this would come," stated Discord. "After all, nothing is eternal. Well… except chaos of course. The answer to your problem is simple. I can help make the sadness you feel simply melt away."

From outside, rain begins to fall slowly. Thunder pounded the air with freight.

"How do you expect me to believe that you could just take away everything I'm feeling? Nothing you say will help change the fact that everypony hates me."

"Ah, but consider this, Twilight," proposed Discord, "Why live in a place where everypony hated you, when you can live in a place where you were respected, beloved? Worshiped even?"

"Oh, please, a place like that can't exist."

"Oh, but it does, Twilight! Just imagine it!" said Discord. ""A place where all the pain could just fade away."

Suddenly, right before Twilight appears a ghostly vision of Celestia. "No!" gasped Twilight. The ghost closes in on Twilight who was frighten by the ghostly image, bringing back the horrible memory of rocks crashing down on Princess Celestia.

"A place where all the pain could just fade away," continued Discord. "A place where nopony would ever hurt you again."

"No! NO!" shouted Twilight. She cowers on the ground as the ghost of Celestia disappears through a puff of smoke.

"And getting there is easy as pie. All you have to do..."

Twilight's eyes begin to widen. Suddenly, Twilight's body begins to lose its color, becoming slightly desecrated and bland. The rain from outside begins to fall heavily. Twilight shakes her head, Discord's words echoing in her mind.

"…is take the first step."

"Where do I go?" asked Twilight, desperately.

"Anywhere," answered the Spirit of Chaos. "So long as it's far away from everypony who did you wrong."

Then Twilight looked at the door, which she came in. "The first step," she said. Without so much as a second thought, Twilight gallops towards the exit of the labyrinth, never looking back. A bolt of lightning strikes behind Discord. His evil laughter can be heard roaring loudly, pleased that all is going according to plan.

The Runaway

Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie are gathered around a circular table, each of them feeling glum from a few moments earlier. Rainbow Dash lets out a huge sigh. "Grr, I don't get it!" she said.

"Get what, Dashie?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"What do you think!?" replied Rainbow Dash. "Nothing about what happened with Twilight adds up! Come on guys, we know Twilight. She always thinks about what's right!"

"Well," said Rarity, doughty, "She does have a tendency to OVERthink things just a tad."

"But look at all the good that's come from Twilight thinking things through!" Rainbow Dash protested.

"I don't know what else we can do, Rainbow Dash," said Applejack. "If only Celestia were here, she'd be able to help us."

"If she was here," said Spike, "We wouldn't have this problem."

"Spike, you saw Twilight. What exactly did you see?" Rainbow Dashed asked.

"I told you! I saw Twilight giving orders to move the guards to the castle."

"But there's gotta be more than just that!"

Aggravated, Spike slams his claw onto the table. "Well, there isn't! I've told you everything I know." He lets out a sign. "Sorry. I just… I still can't believe all of this happened."

"I'm not gonna give up. Twilight never gave up on us!" stated Rainbow Dash.

"But, Rainbow, what if it is true?" Fluttershy asked. "What then?"

Rainbow Dash looks at Fluttershy in silence before hanging her head low. She raises her head up in determination. "Well, until I see proof, this case is still wide open!"

"Oooh! Let me get my detective hat!" Pinkie Pie puts a Sherlock Holmes-esque hat atop her head. "Detective Pinkamena Diane Pie is on the case!"

Applejack stood on top of the table. "You know what? Pinkie's got the right idea. Count me in!"

"Well, what friend would I be if I didn't help too?" asked Rarity.

"I don't know how much help I'll be," said Fluttershy, timid but slightly loudly, "But I'll do anything to help Twilight." All of Twilight's friends were grouping together to help solve out this mess they're in like Twilight would do for them.

"Well, it's worth a shot I guess," Spike agreed. "Actually, yeah! Why not?"

"Alright! Where do we start?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Before anypony could answer, a Royal Guard runs into the room, interrupting the ponies' planning. "Twilight Sparkle has disappeared!"

"What!?" the ponies and Spike cried out.

"The plot thickens!" said Pinkie Pie, in a dramatic, detective tone.

"We searched the whole city for her, but it appears as though she's vanished," the guard continued.

"Twilight's… gone?" gasped Applejack.

"But where could she be?" asked Fluttershy, worryingly. "Why would she run away? Does she… does she think we're not her friends anymore?"

The girls look to each other, looks of worry all across their faces. Rainbow Dash looks to the window, noticing the rain pouring heavily outside.

"We'll find her," said Rainbow Dash, with confidence and great loyalty. "I know we will."

Deep within the storm, in castle gardens, at the palace labyrinth, Discord's stoned body cracks begin to form. As cracks converge toward the center of one of his eyes, a somewhat muffled, almost faraway evil laugh is heard.

A light chuckling is echoing inside the tower.

A beat echos. Suddenly, the cracks on the eye burst open and reveal a blinking, rolling bright yellow eye. Suddenly, a massive explosion fills the room, the power of which completely destroys the tower, sending glass, chunks of rubble, and smoke flying everywhere as evil laughter fills the sky. A great amount of laughter echoed in the exploded area. A shadowy appeared from out of the smoke.

Discord has returned.

Saying Goodbyes

The ponies went back to their places and were saying good-bye to their loved ones and begin as the girls start packing materials and essentials for the long journey ahead of them. In Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack and Applebloom hug. Applejack then gives Applebloom a playful noogie.

At the Carousel Boutique, Rarity smiles at Sweetie Belle and lovingly nuzzles her. Rarity, with great determination, trots out of the Boutique and out into Town Hall with the rest of the girls. The group was ready to move out.

"Alright girls, let's get to it!" said Applejack. "We've got a long journey ahead of us!"

"We will search far and wide for Twilight!" said Pinkie Pie. "We will go wherever the wind takes us!" The party pony soon pauses for a dramatic effect.

"Or we could just start at the Train Station," suggested Applejack.

"That works too!" said Pinkie Pie, smiling with a squeaking sound and hopped to the Train Station. The girls followed after Pinkie Pie.

At the Train Station, a large group of ponies fill the train station as the girls are ready to disembark on their adventure. The girls are saying goodbye to various ponies. Big Macintosh and Granny Smith hug Applejack. Applejack and Rarity are bidding farewell to their respective sisters. Rainbow Dash is hoof-bumping a Pegasus pony when Scootaloo walks up to her.

"Hehe, you too," Rainbow Dash said to the Pegasus pony. "Hey, look after that wing!"

The Pegasus pony walks away. Rainbow Dash sees Scootaloo, her number one fan and a Pegasus pony she considers her sister.

"Hey, Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash greeted. "How's it going, kid? Heard you've been rockin' that new scooter of yours!"

"Yeah! I've been learning some pretty awesome tricks," Scootaloo said, excitingly. "But nothing as awesome as your moves, Rainbow Dash!"

"Heh, I know! Hey, Scoots, I have something I want you to do."

"Anything!"

Rainbow looks solemnly at the ground because of her worries of Twilight. She lifts her head up at the young filly. "Keep those friends of yours close, and make sure they don't do anything stupid… cause you never know what'll happen. Okay?"

"Huh?" responded Scootaloo, confused.

Rainbow smiles a bit, seeing herself in Scootaloo and pats her forehead.

"You'll understand when you're older. But now I gotta go find Twilight. She can't run away from her friends that easily. Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Knock 'em dead, Rainbow!" Scootaloo jumped. "I know you'll kick all sorts of tail out there!"

"Thanks, Scoots… I'll see ya when I get back!"

All the girls started to get on the train after saying all their farewells to their friends and families. Walking into an empty train cart, each pony sat on different beds.

"So, where to first, girls?" asked Spike.

"Hold on, let me check the map," said Rainbow Dash, pulling out a map of Equestria and examines it. "Well, we can rule out that she's not in Ponyville. She's definitely not in Canterlot and she's obviously not in Cloudsdale."

"Then where should we start?" asked Fluttershy. "I get the feeling that this is gonna be nothing more than a big goose chase."

Spike agreed. "Fluttershy's right. Discord won't tell us where Twilight is. The four days will run out before we even know where to look."

"Now you listen here, mister!" said Pinkie Pie, looking eye-to-eye at Spike. The group looks at Pinkie with surprise. "My granny pie always told me that laughing in the face of adversity always led to brighter days!"

"Pinkie, what are you talking about?" Applejack said.

"I'm saying that instead of thinking we WON'T find Twilight, say we will! It's all a matter of WHEN."

"Pinkie, dear," Rarity said, "You know something like that never works, right?"

"Not if you keep thinking that way it won't!" Pinkie Pie said. "Just keep focusing on what matters, and I'm sure we'll find Twilight!"

After that, the train's engines heated up and rode off.

(A song called The Journey Song was to be sung here.)

Arriving At Appleloosa

The train travels down the railway, crossing from the blossoming, lively nature country into the heated, lifeless desert. The snowy mountains and the green hills faded ways away as the train traveled into the desert. The ponies and the dragon sat on their seats looking out their widows. As the day went by and the train kept rolling, the ponies could do nothing until they got to their destination.

"So where we heading next, Applejack?" Spike asked.

"Next stop is good ol' Appleloosa," Applejack answered Spike.

"Appleloosa?" said Rainbow Dash. "But why are we heading there?"

"To visit my cousin Braeburn!" Applejack answered. "Maybe he might know a thing or two about where Twilight is."

"Well, we could use a bit of a rest," said Rarity. "We've been traveling for over a day now!"

"But after today, we only have two days left," Fluttershy stated.

"Well, I don't reckon a quick pit stop will hurt, Fluttershy," said Applejack.

"Yeah! This'll be a great time for me to stock up on some candy apples!" said Pinkie Pie, cheerfully.

"Yeah, let's see if we can get something to eat," said Rainbow Dash. "I'm starving!"

"Alright ya'll, we'll stock up on supplies and food once we get into town," Applejack suggested.

As more time passed, the more the train drew closer to the town of Appleoosa. Appleoosa was the hometown of Applejack's cousin, Braeburn, as well as with other ponies, built in a desert where the buffalos roamed. There was a big dispute between the ponies of Appleoosa and the buffalo that roamed there, fighting over a piece of land that ponies planted their apple trees. Eventfully, the ponies and the buffalos came to an agreement and peace came to the both inhabits.

The train pulls into the station, the gears of the locomotive coming to a screeching halt. The ponies and Spike disembark from the train.

"Okay girls," said Applejack, "Let's try and make our stay brief. Remember, we're on a mission!"

Just after they got off, Braeburn spots Applejack and gallops up to her. "Cousin Applejack!" he yelled.

"Braeburn!" Applejack yelled back.

Applejack and Braeburn ran to hug each other.

"Ha ha! So good to see ya again!" said Braeburn. "What brings ya'll to Appleloosa?"

"We're on an important mission, Braeburn," answered Applejack. "Our friend Twilight's gone missing and we're trying to find her!"

"We've searched high and low!" said Pinkie Pie, appearing above a flying Rainbow Dash and below Applejack's hooves.

"We've traveled far and wide!" said Rarity.

"And we've only got a few more days to find her!" stated Rainbow Dash.

"And we're in a big hurry," said Applejack. "So please, Braeburn, you think you can help us?"

"Of course I can help!" said Braeburn. "What are cousins for!? If ya'll need supplies, we can check out the Market Place and after that, we'll head on over to the Saloon and I'll tell ya what I know."

"Oh, thanks, Braeburn!" said Applejack.

As the group walk away from the station with Braeburn, two Changelings snuck from the caboose of the train. Before walking off the train, they changed shapes into the forms of two cowponies and follow after the group.

Skirmish At The Saloon

The five ladies, Spike, and Braeburn entered the town's salon and seat themselves at a large table centered in the middle of the saloon.

"So did you see Twilight pass through here at all?" asked Spike.

"As a matter of fact I did!" answered Braeburn.

"What? Twilight was here!?" exclaimed Applejack.

"What did she do?" asked Fluttershy.

"Did she say anything?" asked Rarity.

The ladies seemed to be very anxious of what Braeburn has to say about Twilight Sparkle, though they are quite intrigue that their friend was there.

"It was just yesterday," Braeburn continued. "She didn't say much. But something didn't seem right with her. She looked… well…"

"Purple!" said Pinkie Pie. "She looked purple right!?"

"Well, actually, she was lookin' a little gray," Braeburn continued with his crossing with Twilight. "I didn't notice her at first, but when I walked up to greet her, she just kept goin' on about how she had to get away."

"Get away?" said Fluttershy.

"Get away from what?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I don't know. But soon after, she bought a few apples and hightailed it onto the next train. Headed further south from here. Haven't seen hide or tail of her since."

"Well, great," Rainbow Dash signed. "With the exception of what direction she was going, we're back to square one."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," said Braeburn.

"No, its fine Braeburn," said Applejack, also sighing. "I guess we'll just have to keep on truckin."

Back further in the saloon, the two suspicious Changelings, in cowpony form, were eyeing the group. One of them was having an eye flashing green for a brief moment before that Changeling starts walking up to the group very slowly.

"I hope ya'll find your friend," said Braeburn.

"We sure hope so, too," said Applejack. "Thanks for everything, Braeburn."

"Anything for an Apple Family member!" said Braeburn.

The Changeling closes in. Just then, Applejack notices the Changeling from a small mirror placed off to the side. The Changeling is ready to pounce on the group. "Look out!" she shouted.

The Changeling reverts back to its original form and lunges at the group, starting a ruckus inside of the saloon. The ponies dodge as the Changeling slams into the bar.

"What in tarnation is-?" grunted Braeburn.

Suddenly, the rest of the Changelings scattered throughout the saloon blow their cover and revert to their original forms. It seemed the entire salon was filled with Changelings.

"Ah, think I'll go get the sheriff," suggested Braeburn.

Applejack nods while Braeburn runs out of the saloon and the rest of the bar patrons stare down the Changelings getting prepared to fight.

"Don't forget, girls!" Applejack recalling the Changelings could take any form. "They can disguise themselves as any one of us!"

"Isn't there a way where we can talk this out?" Fluttershy suggested.

Suddenly, a mug of apple cider is thrown at one of the Changelings. The breaking of glass knocks the Changeling behind the bar. Rainbow Dash prepares to throw another glass. "Not a chance!" she yelled.

"BAR FIGHT!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

A pony on a ragtime piano begins playing music as the ensuing fight goes on. Tables are flipped over as the girls duck and cover. The Changelings take on the forms of various bar patrons as chairs and tables are being broken.

"This is madness!" cried Rarity.

"There's too many of them!" said Spike.

Applejack quickly looks at the exit out of the saloon. "We gotta find a way to get back onto the train!"

"Don't worry!" said Rainbow Dash. "I'll give us a clearing out of here!" Rainbow Dash suddenly jumps into the heat of the fight and begins dueling with a few of the Changelings on her own.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy squeaked. "Rainbow Dash! She's gonna get hurt!"

"I've got an idea!" said Pinkie Pie.

As Rainbow struggles with one of the Changelings, the Changeling is suddenly knocked back when an apple pie hits it straight in the face; Pinkie Pie has plans with dessert with the Changelings.

"Who's ready for some dessert?" said Applejack.

The group begins throwing a barrage of apple pies at the Changelings, knocking them over the bar counter. A Changeling manages to pin on Rainbow Dash and take on her form during their struggle.

"Hey!" she yelled.

The fake Rainbow manages to knock down the real Rainbow Dash, with one solid hoof punch.

"Hurry, girls!" called out Applejack. "Let's get back to the train station!"

The girls quickly leave the bar. Unknowingly to them, the fake Rainbow Dash follows them. The fake Rainbow Dash looks back at the real Rainbow Dash, with a smug look on its face.

"No! Stop! Come back!" The real Rainbow Dash gallops out of the saloon and after her friends. Outside, the train begins pulling into the station, ready to head out South.

"Hurry!" gasping Applejack. "The train's leaving!" The group gets onto the train just as its closed its doors and left, managing to escape the attack on the town but leaving the real Rainbow Dash behind.

"WAIT! Come back!" Rainbow Dash leaps up into the air and flies after the speeding train, leaving the residents of the town to fend off against the additional Changelings.

Among the fighting, Braeburn watches the train ride off in the horizon. "Go get em', cous," he said.

Battle Over the Rigde

The train rushes farther away from Appleloosa as the girls catch their breath. The last time they ever fought that hard was at Canterlot Castle when the Changelings were attacking the group who were on their way to get the Elements of Harmony, in hopes of defeating the Changeling Queen.

The ponies and Spike calmed down after several seconds of hard breathing; hopefully they had lost the Changelings behind them. Unknowingly to them, there is a Changeling upon them, in the form of Rainbow Dash.

"You think we lost them?" asked Spike, still breathing heavily.

Applejack looks from out of the train to see another swarm of Changelings hot on their trail. It seemed Round 2 was about to begin.

"Criminy!" Applejack grunted. "It just never ends!"

The Changelings landed with great thuds on the top of the train, light clanging from their hoofsteps heard from the cabin below. The ponies inside the train were startled by the sounds above them.

"It's another ambush!" shouted Applejack. "Everybody get to the top!"

Just in a quick instant that happened faster than the blink of an eye, a few of the Changelings break through the windows and begin to drag Pinkie outside.

Pinkie Pie starts yelping, greatly and loudly.

"Pinkie!" gasped Spike.

The Changelings carried Pinkie out and lifted her high above the train. "Let me go!" she snapped. "Let- uh oh." Below the pink pony, she was gazing at an enormous gorge with one track going over it.

The train picks up speed as it starts rushing over the gorge.

Without any warning, the Changelings swing Pinkie forward and throw her off into the gorge below.

Pinkie Pie yelled out an elongated scream: "AARRRRGGGGGHHHH!"

Suddenly, Pinkie was caught by a flying blue Pegasus pony. The pony was Rainbow Dash, the real Rainbow Dash.

"Dashie!" said Pinkie, gleefully.

"Pinkie, listen to me!" said Rainbow Dash. "There's a Changeling on the train disguised as me!"

"Really? Wait." Pinkie studied the blue pony carefully. "How do I know you're not the Changeling!?"

"Would I lie!?" asked Rainbow Dash, smiling big and wide.

"...Yes."

"Come on!" said Rainbow Dash, soaring fast like a jet.

"Woahh!" Pinkie shouted, holding onto Rainbow's neck.

Rainbow and Pinkie fly off, back towards the train.

The other Changelings burst in through the windows and another fight ensues with the ponies and the Changelings. One of the Changelings pounces onto Applejack, pinning her down and choking her as the two struggle with each other.

"Gahh! Urgh! URGH!" Applejack was at the mercy at the Changeling. She gravely struggles with the Changeling until her hind-leg finds enough footing to buck him off. The Changeling is pounced against one of the doors, forcing it open. The air pressure sucks the Changeling outwards along with Applejack.

Applejack gave a quick yelp.

"Applejack!" shouted Fluttershy, in her timid voice.

Applejack holds onto the edge of the train railing with her hooves still barely holding on for dear life, looking at the deep chasm of the gorge below. She struggles to get back up.

"Hurry!" said Rarity. "Let's find some rope to pull her up!" Rarity and Fluttershy scour the cabin to find some rope.

Meanwhile outside the train, Rainbow and Pinkie fly closer to the train and land gently on top.

"Quick, let's get inside!" said Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement.

Back inside, Applejack begins slipping further and further. Just before she falls, the fake Rainbow Dash inside the train grabs AJ's hoof.

Applejack was so relieved not realizing the fake Rainbow Dash was holding her hoof. "Rainbow! Pull me up! Rainbow!"

But before her eyes, the fake Rainbow reverts back to the Changeling. Applejack's eyes widen. The Changeling lets go of his victim as he watches Applejack falls into the gorge below.

"Nooo!" yelled Applejack.

The girls then start to rummage through Applejack's saddle bag and pull out a long lasso.

The real Rainbow Dash alongside Pinkie Pie fall down into the main cabin and battle against the Changeling.

"Rainbow Dash!" said Rarity. "Hurry!" Rarity throws one end of the lasso to Rainbow Dash.

"I got it!" replied Rainbow Dash. "Tie that rope to something, I'm going in!"

Rainbow Dash dives out of the train after Applejack. Rainbow manages to catch up to AJ.

"Rainbow Dash!" called out Applejack.

"Urgh! Hang on!" grunted Rainbow, through gritted teeth.

Rainbow Dash flies at breakneck speed and manages to slip the lasso around Applejack, tightening the noose so the lasso is tightly secured.

"What're you doing!?" asked Applejack.

"We already lost Twilight!" answered the blue pony. "I'm not gonna lose anyone else! We're in this together, alright!?"

"Oh, thank Celestia, it's the real you!"

Meanwhile back on the train, Pinkie retreats to the cart where Fluttershy and Rarity are on as they're being surrounded by Changelings on both ends. From below, Applejack and Rainbow Dash notice how dire the situation is becoming while Applejack gets an idea. "Rainbow! Swing me back and forth!"

"Huh?!"

"If we can build up momentum to swing back topside fast enough, we can knock out two birds with one stone!"

"Then let's do it!" Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash begins swinging Applejack backwards and forwards. The orange pony soon gains enough momentum to swing back onto the top of the train cart, kicking a few of the Changelings off.

Rainbow Dash races back up to the main cart and backs up Fluttershy and Rarity. All the while, the Elite Changeling that took on Rainbow Dash's form retreats up top.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Rainbow Dash yelled at the Changeling.

Rainbow Dash joins Applejack and Pinkie on top of the train as the Elite Changeling becomes cornered by the three mares.

"Give it up!" Applejack demanded to the Elite Changeling. "You've got nowhere else to run."

"You ponies will suffer at the might of our Queen," the Elite. "I will see to it that you fail!"

A great green aura glows around the Elite Changeling as it begins to change shape. It quickly hops off the train and lands on the tracks as it continuously grows into a massive scorpion. Once again, the ponies were at a disadvantage.

"We're in trouble," said Rainbow Dash.

The newly formed Changeling scorpion roars in anger and starts clawing its way at the train tracks.

"We are in SERIOUS trouble!" Rainbow Dash corrected herself.

The Changeling scorpion begins shooting great blasts of magic at the strongholds keeping the tracks in place.

"Oh no!" yelped Pinkie Pie.

The scorpion continuously wrecks the tracks, causing the wood to break and some of the track's support beams to weaken. The scorpion holds on tightly to the track, forcing the train to start heading backwards. Applejack and Pinkie Pie are knocked back into the main cabin Fluttershy and Rarity are in.

Rainbow Dash, without thinking, flies to the back of the caboose and begins pushing against the tracks to stop the train from reaching the scorpion. "URGH! URGHHHH!" she grunted.

Sparks light up from the wheels underneath the train, showing the strain the locomotive is facing. Rainbow Dash can't hold on any longer and begins sliding down closer towards the scorpion. She screams loudly. Rainbow comes face to face with the Changeling scorpion. It growls and slobbers in front of her. Rainbow finds herself pinned down.

The scorpion raises its pincer. "There's no point in struggling," said the Changeling scorpion. "You were a fool to think you'd be able to find your friend and survive."

Back in the main cabin, the girls hold on for dear life, leaning on the walls.

"We gotta find a way to get the train going!" said Applejack. Just then, AJ eyes an emergency box labeled "TNT" on it. "Girls, I've got an idea!" She grabs the box of dynamite and heads towards the caboose.

Outside, the scorpion tightens its grip on Rainbow Dash. "I'll never give up!" she said, lightly choking. "Not until I find Twilight and bring her home!"

The Changeling growled in response.

From the train, Applejack and Rarity look out to see the scorpion.

"Light em' up, Rarity!" said Applejack.

"What? Are you mad!?" grunted Rarity.

"We've only got one shot at this!" stated Applejack. "Just do it!"

Rainbow Dash looks up and sees the two preparing to throw the dynamite unbeknownst to the Changeling scorpion.

"Why go to such lengths for another as pitiful as you?" asked the scorpion.

Rainbow Dash looks back and only smiled.

Rarity lights one of the sticks with her magic and struggles to throw the crate towards the scorpion. Applejack lifts the crate and allows it to fall towards the monster.

"Because that's called loyalty!" said Rainbow Dash.

The scorpion sees the crate flying towards him, but doesn't get enough time to react. Rainbow Dash quickly escapes his grip and gets back onto the train. The train picks up speed and manages to get back onto the track safely before the oncoming explosion sets itself off, leaving the Changeling scorpion to fall into the chasm below.

The ponies and Spike shouts cheers of excitement.

"We did it!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Phew… could we please not do that again?" asked Fluttershy.

"It's not over yet girls!" stated Rainbow Dash. "We're one step closer to finding Twilight. Now let's keep moving!"

They all glared out the windows. The train journeys on as the hardest part of the girls' adventure leaves them, continuing their search for their friend.

Timberwolf Chase

As the sun burns brightly high up in the sky, Twilight slowly trots along a dirt path, her belongings still hanging low upon her back. She stops for a moment and looks behind her.

Since her departure from Canterlot, to Appleloosa, and to the middle of nowhere, she felt deep remorse and a strong negativity that has driven her purple form to a frowning gray form. Twilight felt like Discord was right; there was no place in Canterlot or Ponyvile where her friends would never forgive her.

When Twilight continues on her way, she comes across a path leading in only one direction: a dark, menacing forest. Twilight stops for a second, a bit scared at what might befall her. She straightens herself up. And through a deep breath through her nostrils, she whispered: "Be brave."

As Twilight walks deeper into the forest, a shadowy creature slithers through the bushes and trees, growling and snarling, stalking its prey. Suddenly, the quick sound of a tree branch snapping is heard.

Twilight immediately reacts. She lightly screamed and paused. "W-who... who's there?" she nervously asked.

Nothing answers back. Silence befalls the forest once again. The air is deathly still. Suddenly, Timberwolves pounced out of the pushes and towards Twilight and begin to attack. Twilight drops her belongings and gallops at breakneck speed, desperately trying to escape from the monsters at bay.

Twilight had a pack of Timerwolves behind her. She ran, breathing fast as followed by more reactions of Twilight running from the Timberwolves.

Without noticing, Twilight falls down a small landslide and screams. When she landed, she was injured in the process. She grunted in pain. Twilight recomposes herself for a short while, taking very deep breaths.

Think, Twilight, think, she hastily thought.

Her composure is cut short, however, as the Timberwolves begin the chase once again.

As Twilight begins running, she sees a low hung branch from a tree dangling before her. Twilight stops and uses her magic to pull the branch as far back as she possibly can.

She strained grunts as she pulls the branch back.

A Timberwolf leaps before Twilight. Twilight releases the branch and knocks the Timberwolf back, damaging it greatly. Twilight breaks the branch off the tree and begins to knock back more of the Timberwolves, using the branch like a club.

She starts grunting more as she fights off against the pack.

A much thicker Timberwolf appears before Twilight. Using her magic, Twilight lights the branch on fire and begins to wave the flames in front of the Timberwolves.

"Get back! All of you!" she yelled.

The Timberwolves retreat, back into the shadows, leaving Twilight alone in the dark. The flame from the branch extinguishes. Twilight drops the branch onto the ground and slowly begins to limp through the forest, tears streaming down her face.

Twilight continues to wander through the forest for a short while, not noticing where she is going.

Finally, for some time that felt like hours passing like seconds, Twilight soon sees that she is walking on a stone path with a set of pillars covered in vines and various other plants on her left-hand side, a group of trees on her right. Twilight stops for a minute, a look of confusion on her face.

"Huh?"

A great amount of daylight shines in front of her at the end of the corridor. Twilight slowly starts approaching the light, hesitant and unsure of what lies beyond.

"W-where... where am I?" she asked.

The City of Drocsid

Twilight steps out of the shadows and into the sunlight, momentarily blinded by the brightness. Squinting, she peers forward in amazement as a breathtakingly beautiful city sprawls out before her, sparkling in the sun. She walks forwards towards a large stone archway and stops.

"What is this place?"

Suddenly, a pony bursts in front of Twilight with balloons and streamers.

"Surprise!"

""AH!" startled Twilight. Twilight jumps back, alarmed at the surprising shout.

Twilight's eyes widen in shock of this pony's appearance: an exact a carbon-copy of Pinkie Pie, except for a white body and a light golden mane and tail as well as a pair of Pegasus wings.

"Welcome! To the city of Drrrrrrrocsid!" the cheered white-colored, light-golden-mane-and-tail pony.

Twilight simply stands there confused and still slightly alarmed. "Drocsid?"

This cheering Pinkie Pie-like pony starts leading Twilight through the archway and into the city. Then the strange, cheering, white pony does a quick loop-de-loop in the air and lands back onto the ground, her face right in front of Twilight's face and begins shaking Twilight's hoof furiously.

"We're so excited to have you here!" the pony continued, energetically. "This is the greatest most fantabulous thing in the history of forever! You're bound to have the most wonderful, most fantastical, most fantasmagorical day of your life!" This pony, who looked like Pinkie Pie, flew to and fro and everyone.

"Now wait, wait, wait! Just a minute! Who are you!? And why do you look so familiar?" asked Twilight, confused.

"Surprise!" answered the pony. "I'm your new friend!"

"New… friend?"

"Oh, yeah!" said the pony whose name was Surprise. "I'm your new friend! You have lots of new friends! Dozens! Hundreds! Qua-billions and zillions!"

"Um... okay...," Twilight mumbled. It seemed she thought by leaving Equestia behind she had left her friends behind, never to be part of any pony world. It seemed she was wrong.

"Come on! They're all just dying to meet you! Let's go!" Surprise floated in the air and into the center of the city.

"Wait, but Pinkie…" muttered Twilight. She stops for a moment, shocked at what she just said. A look of sadness comes across her face and she lowers her head slightly. She follows Surprise.

Surprise lands and happily trots through the streets, leading Twilight to four other ponies. Surprise quickly bounces into the air and clicks both of her hooves before reaching the ground again.

"Come on, Twilight!" Surprise cheered again. "I want to introduce you to your friends!"

"Wait, how do you know my name?" asked Twilight, realizing this strange pony knows her name. "We've only just me."

"Oh, everypony knows you here, Twilight! We've been expecting you!"

A slightly frightened look comes across Twilight's face. "You've been expecting me?"

"Mmmhmm! Come on! You're keeping everypony waiting!" Surprise leads Twilight up to the other ponies.

The four ponies stood from left to right. They looked exactly like Twilight's friends but something about them felt a lot different. Something that felt they were some kind of lost generation of ponies; ponies that were from a different dimension. And these ponies had horse-like heads.

"Twilight, meet the girls," said Sunprise, going from left to right, "This is Firefly, Sparkler, Posey (exact copy of Fluttershy), and... Applejack."

From left-to-right, Firefly was a pink pony with a blue mane and tail and looking like Rainbow Dash; Sparkler looked like Rarity but with a lighter yet dark mane and tail and a light purple body; Posey looked like Fluttershy but with a head looking like a horse, and the last pony, whose name was Applejack, looked like Twilight's friend only with a horse head.

"Howdy partner!" said the strange-looking Applejack. "Apples, apples, apples!"

"We're so happy to meet you!" said Firefly.

These ponies, if that what Twilight was thinking, begin gathering around Twilight, almost just enough to make Twilight uncomfortable.

"Oh no!" said Posey. "The poor darling! She's so scratched up!"

"My goodness, love!" said Sparkler. "Your mane is an absolute wreck!"

"She looks a might' bit hungry, too," said Applejack. "Come on, sugarcube. We better get you somethin' to eat. We got apple fritters, apple pie, caramel apples, apple cinnamon crisps…" The pony kept on saying apple recipes.

"And after that we can play some games!" said Surprise, as Sparkler fawns over Twilight's bedraggled mane.

"But not until we get you tidied up," said Sparkler.

Posey holds up Twilight's injured leg. "And taken care of."

"And calmed down," said Firefly.

All start pulling Twilight forwards. Twilight shouts, "STOP!" And backs away from the ponies she barely just met. "I'm still very confused. Let's just start at the beginning. Where am I?"

"Like I said, silly; you're in Drocsid!" said Surprise.

(A song called The Drocsid Welcome Song was to be sung here.)

From the Canterlot Castle's throne room, Discord overlooks at Twilight through a small crystal ball he holds in his claw.

He gives a deep chuckle and said in a low tone: "Welcome home… Twilight Sparkle." And chuckles again.

Waving a figure on the crystal ball's top, Twilight's injured leg shows it changing very suddenly to that of a wooden leg.

Remembering Twilight

The train pulls up to one last station. The girls and Spike disembark from the train before it pulls out of the station. The group looks beyond, gazing into the distant horizon.

"Well, girls, this is it," stated Applejack. "There's no turning back now. We walk from here on out."

There was a big sign from the girls and the baby dragon. But they traveled through the countryside for the entire day. After a while, just before the sun begins setting, the group decides to stop and set up camp.

As tents and sleeping bags are set up, Applejack looks up into the sky, hoping to see the sunset. However, the sun quickly goes down with the moon rising up just as quickly.

"I really miss Twilight," Applejack admitted.

Rarity manages to get a bonfire going as the girls huddle around the warmth of the flames. "Gather round, everypony," said Rarity, "Let's all get warm."

"Oh, boy, am I beat," Rainbow Dash grunted. "This has been quite the adventure, huh, girls?"

"You said it!" agreed Spike.

"I wouldn't celebrate too quickly," said Applejack. "By the time that sun comes up tomorrow, we'll only have one more day left."

"And we still don't know where Twilight is," Fluttershy added in.

The group collectively sighs heavily. Just then Pinkie Pie starts giggling before going into laughter. The pink pony just doesn't know when to think about any negativity.

"What's so funny, Pinkie?" asked Spike

"I just remembered something really funny that happened with me and Twilight!" amswered the laughing pony. "One time, Twilight found my pet alligator Gummy in my bathtub!"

"Oh! Oh!" grumbled Rainbow Dash. "You guys remember the time that Twilight won the Running of the Leaves?"

"And it was against me and Rainbow, too!" said Applejack. "Granted she only got 5th place, that's still an achievement!"

"Or what about when she was Clover the Clever in the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant?" Rarity added in.

"I remember the days we spent back in Canterlot until Twilight and I went to Ponyville and met all of you," Spike also added in.

The cheerful memories made Flutershy sign with great saddness.

"Why, Fluttershy, whatever's the matter, dear?" asked Rarity.

"You know what I remember?" Fluttershy suggested. "Do you remember that day when Twilight asked us to help her write a friendship letter to the Princess? Twilight was so upset that day. She was scared that she might have to leave us and we didn't do anything to help. Now it's happened all over again." Then Fluttershy pulls out the locket Princess Celestia gave her and holds it in her hoof and signs again. "Oh Twilight… if only we were there for you when you needed us. Then maybe none of this would've happened."

"What's that you got in your hoof, Fluttershy?" asked Applejack.

Fluttershy lifts the locket up for the group to see. "Just before we left Canterlot, Celestia told me to give this to Twilight. Look! There's something written on the back. It says "to my most faithful archmage."

The group looks at Fluttershy and the locket with surprise. None of them say anything until Rainbow dash breaks the silence, "Celestia was going to make Twilight an archmage?"

"And she didn't even know," said Spike.

"The princess might still make her an archmage," suggested Rarity. "I mean… after we've dealt with Discord, of course."

"But then… where does that put Twilight?" Applejack complained. "And us for that matter?"

"Well, the role of an archmage I'd imagine would be extremely important," said Rarity, "Twilight would have to serve her duty to the royal family. If that's true then… she may no longer have time for us."

"But if it wasn't for Twilight then-" Rainbow Dash hangs her head low, in a somber tone, she spoke: "I wouldn't have any of you guys. Before Twilight came to Ponyville, I always had dreams of being something greater than anypony thought I could be. But I was too cocky to see the mistakes I was making."

"I've never seen you like this, Dash," Applejack said.

"Don't get used to it," said Rainbow Dash. "It's just that… I've never felt like this before. Twilight brought us all something special. I just feel like maybe we took advantage of it."

"Well then, if Twilight does become the archmage," Applejack sniffed, "Then we should support her! Even if it means that we might never get a chance to see her again."

"But that won't stop any of us from feeling lost without her," said Fluttershy. "I can only imagine what's she's feeling right now… wherever she is."

(A song called The Spark Within was to be sung here.)

Twilight's Dream

The day soared though the city of Drocsid. Even came faster than Rainbow Dash flying a Sonic Boom. Surprise gave Twilight a tour of the place; every building looked the same as in Ponyville only with more contrasted color. Surprise leads Twilight towards a small building near the center part of the city.

"Here ya go, Twilight!" said Surprise. "This is where you'll be staying!" Surprise opens the door and Twilight entered, to see a large glorious library nestled inside. Twilight looks on in amazement.

"I get to live here!?" asked Twilight.

"Isn't it wonderfully fantastical!?" asked Surprise.

"It's everything I…," Twilight gave a yawn, "Could've dreamed of."

"Sounds to me like you're getting sleepy! Here, I'll show you to your room." The white Pegasus leads Twilight to a small bedroom, adorned with more bookshelves and a glass window overseeing all of Drocsid at the end of it. Twilight quickly makes her way into bed and jumps right on it.

"Sleep well, friend," said Surprise, in a creepy tone. "Wait til' you see what we have planned for tomorrow!"

Twilight closes her eyes, not hearing Surprise's words and drifts off into a deep slumber. Snuggling in her bed and breathing peacefully, Twilight begins to snore. Then she starts to groan, increasing in volume with each one.

Twilight suddenly opens her eyes if she had a nightmare and finds herself back in Canterlot Castle. Twilight looks around, confused and frightened. For one minute, she was in a nice gorgeous bed only to wake at Canterlot Castle.

"H-hello?" echoed Twilight's voice. "Is anyone there?"

Suddenly, Twilight sees a few pebbles fall from the ceiling. The whole castle begins to shake. Twilight's attention is turned over towards her front. The entire ground begins to collapse in, revealing a dark sea of pony skeletons.

She screams with frightened noises, escalating in urgency.

Twilight tries running away from the collapsing ground but is pulled down, holding on for dear life. Flames erupt from the sea below, emitting giant streams of fire.

Twilight tries with all her might to pull herself back up but continues slipping. From out of the sea rises a horrific apparition of Celestia, made completely of fire and electricity. Twilight turns to see this terrifying creature as it roars ferociously.

She gives a terrified gasp followed by a scream.

The apparition roars once more as Twilight tries to scramble up out of the hole.

She was terrified, screaming; "NO! NO!"

The apparition shoots a great beam of electricity from its horn, destroying the remaining piece of rubble Twilight was holding onto, causing her to fall into the sea below.

"NO!"

Twilight falls into the sea before she is suddenly thrusted out of a nightmare. Her eyes closed for a second and opened them wide. She was back into in her bedroom, breathing heavily but slowing down as she calms herself as she sits herself up and tries to crawl out of bed. As she reaches the floor however, Twilight falls.

She gave a quick yelp. Twilight looks to see how she fell and soon sees that both of her hind legs have turned to wood. She gasped at the sight of her legs.

From Canterlot Castle, Discord eyes Twilight through his crystal ball. "Oh, Twilight, don't look so glum. At least you don't have strings to hold you down… yet," he chuckled.

Discord makes a few smalls motions with his talons, circling around the crystal ball.

From the darkness in Twilight's room, dark figures walked right in. The ponies lined in a creepy way.

Twilight confines to move her legs, worried. "Can you help me?"

The ponies walked closer, each of them silent and ominous. Twilight looks at them frightened. The ponies circle around Twilight, surrounding her.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Posey asked.

"The poor dear has lost her footing," stated Sparkler.

"I- I can't walk," Twilight announced. "What's happening to me?"

"Don't try to fight it, Twilight," suggested Surprise. "It's much easier to just give in."

"I don't understand," said Twilight.

"There is something troubling you," said Sparkler.

"Something awful," Firefly agreed.

Suddenly the pones being to feed of Twilight's emotions, making her feel weak. As they continue to eat away at Twilight's emotions, the room around them begins to gradually change into something darker and worn out.

"Stop it!" Twilight yelled. "Leave me alone."

"But why would you want us to leave Twilight?" asked Twilight. "We're your friends."

"No," Twilight argued. "My friends left me."

"Did they leave you Twilight?" asked Firefly. "Or did you leave them?"

Suddenly, before Twilight's eyes, all of the ponies suddenly morph from their original state into Twilight's real friends. Twilight's eyes widen with fear as they suddenly begin turning into marionettes. Twilight closes her eyes, wishing everything could just stop.

"Pitiful foal," said Discord's voice. "Thinking you could run from the truth."

"Please! Make this stop! Make it stop!" Twilight was up to her wits now. Having caused the trouble back home is making her feel unbalance and unstable.

"This is not my doing, Twilight," continued Discord's voice. "It's yours. What you see is a reflection of your heart's greatest fear. I'm afraid it can't be stopped."

Twilight opens her eyes in the darkness. "But I can't stop it on my own! The only way I could ever forget about the terrible things I've caused is if I just couldn't think or feel anything anymore."

"Is that really what you want?" Discord asked.

Twilight beings crying. "I… I don't know. All I ever wanted was to help. I tried as hard as I could to be perfect for the princess. But look what's become of her! Please… I just want the pain to stop."

"Then it shall be done," said Discord.

Twilight lifts her hoof up in front of her face and begins to see it change to wood just like her legs.

Discord laughs greatly as Twilight undergoes this horrific transformation. The only light source in the room is suddenly put out, covering everything in darkness.

Finding Twilight

Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike are fast asleep at their campsite, snuggling if they sleeping on their own beds.

Suddenly, a few feet away from Spike, a faint light begins to glow from Fluttershy's saddlebag. A spark floated into the air. Sparkling like fire, the light took the shape of a ghostly alicorn.

Spike woke up by the sounds of a strange wind. "Huh? What the—"

Spike becomes petrified as the alicorn stares at him. After a brief moment of silence, the alicorn leaves and Spike quickly follows suit.

"Hey wait!" Spike yelped.

Spike follows the alicorn deep through the woods until he finds the creature near a spring shining under the moonlight. Spike gulps, approaches closely, and attempts to speak to the sparkling creature.

"Umm… hello?"

"You needn't fear me, little one," said the glimmering alicorn. "You know who I am."

"T-Twilight?" gasped Spike

"You must find her," the alicorn warned. "Time is running out, and I fear both she and I are fading."

"What do you mean? What's wrong with Twilight?"

"There is no time," the alicorn answered. "You must move swiftly. Follow the light and you will find your friend. Hurry. Before it's too late."

With a quick flash, the alicorn disappears, leaving Spike alone. Quickly, he runs back to camp to tell the others.

"Girls! Hurry! Get up! We gotta move now!"

"What's going on?" asked Rainbow Dash, groggily.

"There's no time to explain!" Spike replied. "Twilight's in danger and we need to help her! Hurry, follow me!"

For some long seconds, the ponies shake their tiredness away. Quickly, the girls begin to gather their wits and follow after Spike through the darkness. After some time, Spike leads them to the same spring he was lead to earlier.

"Follow the light, follow the light!" said Spike, in a panic. "URGH! Where could she be?"

"Uh, girls," whispered Fluttershy, having stopped and her eyes gazing down. This caused Spike and the other ponies to stop running.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" asked Fluttershy.

"L-look!" Fluttershy gasped, pointing her hoof toward the ground.

Below the girls' hooves, a faint light begins to glow in the earth, creating a path for them to follow.

"Ooh! Look!" said Pinkie Pie, awe. "It's making a path!"

"It must lead to where Twilight is!" said Applejack. "Come on!"

The girls travel further into the forest, following the lights in the earth. Soon enough, the girls find their way to the end of the trail. Applejack stops at the end of it, shocked at what lays before her.

"What's the matter?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Why did we stop? What—"

Rainbow Dash turns to see the sight before her as do all the ponies. Before them, ruined buildings appear to be the remains of a once populated city. The ponies and Spike look on horrified.

"This is where Twilight is?" asked Spike.

"We won't know for sure until we find her," said Applejack. "Stay sharp, everypony. This place gives me the creeps."

"Don't you mean the heebie-jeebies?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Oh, no, wait the willies! No no the jibblies! Or what about the—"

"How about just all of the above!?" suggested Rainbow Dash.

The girls start walking into town. Various marionettes float through the city, lifeless and lacking of emotion. Pinkie hums giggle at the ghosties nervously.

"W-what… what do you suppose happened here?" Spike gulped.

"Could we please go home?" whispered Fluttershy, nervously.

"Not until we find Twilight," answered Applejack.

Just then, the girls hear the faint sounds of a strong crying. It echoes throughout the city, stopping the girls in their tracks.

"That sounds like… Twilight!" said Spike.

"She is here!" Rarity agreed.

"But where is that sound coming from?" asked Rainbow Dash.

They try to listen real closely. The crying sounded it was coming from everywhere and nowhere, sounding like it was more of a ghost crying in the wind.

"I hear it!" said Spike. "Over here!"

The ponies follow after Spike as they go towards a small house. And they open the door.

The Element of Magic Restored

The ponies and Spike enter the house rapidly. Once they've all entered, the door slams shut causing them to gasp in shock, and Fluttershy yelps loudly and locking noises could be heard from the door.

Applejack runs to the nob and tries to open the door to no avail. She turns around and proceeds to buck open the door a few times but it remains unaffected. "Shoot! Looks like we're stuck in here."

"I'm scared," gasping Fluttershy. "It's dark."

"Seems like something doesn't want us to leave," said Rainbow Dash.

"Does anyone have a light?" asked Fluttershy. "Please!"

Rarity lights up her horn to slightly illuminate the room. Then she sees a light coming up some stairs. "Look! There's a light at the top of those stairs."

The group slowly walks up the staircase, seeing an open door in front of them. Applejack slowly opens it, the door creaking loudly. There was soft crying being heard perfectly clear.

A pony hid in the darkness, crying her life away.

"Twilight?" whispered Applejack.

"Who are you?" asked the pony. "What are you doing in my house? GO AWAY!"

They knew the pony in the dark was Twilight Sparkle.

"Twilight, don't you recognize us?" asked Spike.

"Spike?" gasped Twilight.

"We're all here, sugarcube," said Applejack. "Come on out."

"No… don't look at me," Twilight nearly yelled.

"Twilight…" said Rainbow Dash.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Twilight shouted.

The whole group is taken aback, minus Fluttershy. Fluttershy walks up to Twilight and tries to comfort her fallen friend.

Please, Twilight, come on out," whispered Fluttershy. "There's no reason to be afraid."

Twilight hesitates for a long moment. She was afraid to to reveal herself to her friends. But from out in the open light, Twilight reveals herself: she has become a marionette, with thick black strings attached to all of her limbs. In her grey state, she was no longer under the influence of freedom.

The girls and Spike looks at Twilight, terrified of her transfigured form.

Twilight, ashamed of what she's become, covers her eyes with her two hooves. "Please… don't look at me."

"Twilight, what happened to you?" asked Fluttershy.

"It was Discord, wasn't it?" asked Rainbow Dash, angrily. "This has him written all over!"

"No," said Twilight. "Discord didn't do this. I did."

"What?" gasped Spike.

"Twilie?" said Pinkie Pie, uncomforting.

"I couldn't stand living with the fact that it was my fault Celestia's gone," said Twilight, tearfully. "Discord offered me a way out and I took it… now look at me. A doll that's nothing but a hollow imitation of what I used to be. I was so selfish… and this was the price I had to pay for it. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave this place before it happens to you too."

Rainbow Dash refused to belief this. "No! We didn't risk our lives traveling all over Equestria to go home empty-hooved! None of this was your fault, Twilight. You were set up!"

"You want me to believe that!" said Twilight.

"But it's true!" said Spike, agreeing with Rainbow Dash.

"Even then, I can't let go of the mistakes I made!" stated Twilight. "I put innocent ponies in danger! I ran away from my friends. I failed Celestia…"

"Twilight, I know you don't want to believe us but… Celestia is alive," said Applejack.

Twilight looks at Applejack angrily, her emotions starting to peak. "You're lying!"

"Twilight, you have to believe us!" said Rainbow Dash.

"NO!" Twilight was refusing to believe her teacher was alive. She raises her hoof, ready to strike Rainbow Dash. She suddenly stops herself, completely afraid of her anger. Twilight sees a mirror not too far from her and notices her reflection. She walks towards it, horrified of what she has become. She breaks down and begins sobbing greatly.

Fluttershy walks up to Twilight and hugs her tightly. "Twilight, it's okay to make mistakes."

"She's right," Rarity agreed. "You can't expect to achieve perfection every time."

"That's just silly and even I know that!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Making mistakes just means that you're like everypony else," said Rainbow Dash.

"The Twilight I knew always found a way to learn from her mistakes and fix them, even when things were rough," said Spike.

"I don't understand," said Twilight. "Even after the way I acted, how I completely disregarded all of you, you still came back for me?"

"Of course, we came back for you!" said Applejack.

"We've traveled all over Equestria looking for you," Rarity added in.

"We came here just to tell you how much we need you and that we forgive you," said Fluttershy.

"You really forgive me?" asked Twilight. "After everything that's happened?"

"Remember, Twilight, none of us would be together if it weren't for you," said Fluttershy.

"But Celestia's gone," argue Twilight. "How can anypony forgive me for that?"

"Twilight, the Princess wanted me to give this to you," said Fluttershy, holding out the locket Fluttershy hands Twilight the locket. "I think she wants you to open it."

Twilight, very slowly, opens the locket.

Suddenly, a great surge of magic erupts, causing Twilight to vanish. The purple unicorn finds herself in a great sea of stars, lights, and other ethereal entities. "Where am I?"

Before Twilight stands a great light shining bright as the sun and the size of Celestia. It was the light that led Spike and the ponies to Twilight.

"Who… who are you?" gasped Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle," said the light. "I am the spark that ignites the magic within you. The part that you long since abandoned. But now that you have discovered the key, you have found your way back."

Twilight has realized what the light was. "You're the Element of Magic. You're the manifestation of all magic in Equestria."

"You must return, Twilight," said the Element of Magic. "You must restore harmony to Equestria before it falls into the ruinous hands of chaos again."

"I can't," protested Twilight. "I'm not strong enough to help anypony alone. I failed to save someone important to me once. What if that happens again?"

"You have the potential to do great things, Twilight," said the Element of Magic. "I am proof of that power. But don't misguide yourself into believing you must do this alone. There are others close to you who are willing to guide you. Even Celestia."

"Celestia?"

The light suddenly forms a small portal showing Celestia's current condition. Celestia weakly calls for Twilight in her cell.

"Twilight… Twilight!" cried Celestia, weakly.

Twilight's eyes widen as tears stream down her face. Twilight tries reaching out to Celestia, but only manages to make the vision disappear.

"No! No… no…" Twilight sobbed.

"She is waiting for you, Twilight," the Element of Magic continued. "She has faith that you will return and come to her aid. But you must find the courage within you to end Discord's tyranny. If you ever hope to restore the balance, you must be willing to take the first step."

"Then I know what I have to do," said Twilight, standing straight. "I'm just scared that I might fail."

"It is alright to be afraid, Twilight. But failure is only the key towards success. Don't let the spark die out. Ignite it, and should you need my help, I will be there."

The Element of Magic fade and the light turned off.

Suddenly, Twilight finds herself back in the room with the girls, back to her normal self. A smile forms on Twilight's face as the confidence in her friends and herself regains. Twilight places the locket around her neck.

"Alright, everypony," determined Twilight. "Let's go save Equestria. Together!"

As Twilight looks towards her friends, she sees a smile on each of their faces. All of Drocsid vanishes around them, revealing to be nothing more than an illusion.

Hitching a Ride

The ponies galloped through the desert road with Spike riding on Twilight the morning after. Throughout the night, the ponies galloped unstop. With so little time to spare and so much land to cover in a short amount of time, they must gallop all the way to Canterlot Castle.

Fortunately, there was another way to get to Canterlot Castle. The ponies and the dragon must take a train, which would travel so much faster than galloping all the way to the castle.

"We're gonna have to hurry if we wanna catch the train!" said Rainbow Dash.

"There's no time!" said Twilight. "We need transport to Canterlot now if we're going to make it in time!"

"If only that dang Changeling scorpion didn't wreck up the train tracks so much," said Applejack.

"Why would the Changeling queen want to strike a deal with Discord anyway?" asked Twilight. "He'd just snatch the throne of Equestria right from under her hooves."

"Don't know, but I'd chalk this up to be her most boneheaded plan yet," answered Rainbow Dash.

"You think she's got holes in her head too?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Hmm. We'd never be able to make it back to Canterlot in time if we take the train," said Twilight. "There's gotta be a quicker way." Just then, Twilight notices a balloon race taking place off to the side of the road. "Hmm… girls, I think I have an idea."

The ponies try to find the source of the hot balloon race. Not too long, they find one and hitch a ride in a giant hot air balloon, lifting itself off the ground and into the air.

"Canterlot, here we come!" echoed Twilight.

At breakneck speed, the girls travel across Equestria, racing against the clock to get back to Canterlot Castle before the game runs out. Night soon falls over the land. Twilight stares out, a look of determination on her face. "Hold on, Celestia."

Confronting Discord

Discord sits upon the throne, drumming his fingers against the armrest. Celestia is laid out upon the floor in front of him as well as the Changeling queen Chrysalis.

"Time's almost running out," stated Discord. "A valiant effort from your little subjects, Celestia, but not good enough. A shame that the game had to end so soon. I'm afraid your kingdom now belongs to me."

Just a few feet away, a stained glass of Discord scoots into the window next to Discord's throne.

"Oh, congratulations, Discord!" said the moving Stained Glass Discord. "I knew you could do it, you're so cunning!"

"Oh, why thank you, Discord!" said the real Discord, taking to his glass-self. "I must admit this was a brilliant plan."

"And it couldn't have come from less of a handsome mastermind, Discord!" said the Stained Glass Discord.

"Oh, stop it, you're making me blush!"

"Ugh... I won't let you..." grunted Celestia, weakly crawling.

The Stained Glass Discord fades away. Then Discord jumps up from the throne and walks towards Celestia very slowly.

"Stubborn until the very end," Discord said to his fallen opponent. "I cannot deny I'll miss our little spats of fun together but all good things must come to an end. Goodbye, Celestia." The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony snaps his fingers, allowing a bright yellowish glow to emanate from his hand. Discord begins reaching for Celestia's horn, preparing to tear it off.

Suddenly, just before Discord touches Celestia's horn, the doors to the throne room open.

"Discord! Let. Her. Go!"

Twilight and her friends burst right in the throne room, ready to fight.

"Impossible!" whispered the Changeling Queen.

Discord holds up a hand, frowning at Chrysalis. He looks to Twilight and smiles sweetly. "Well, well, well, Twilight Sparkle! So good to see you made it out of your impending doom. And look, you brought the whole gang! But I suggest you notice the current standing. You are over there and I am aaall the closer, over here... where one snap means the sun's blotted out for good!"

Rainbow Dash was angered. "Why you-!" Rainbow Dash makes for a dash to Celestia, but Twilight stops her, holding her wings down with magic.

"Patience, Rainbow. After all, there's no need to fight when we've already won."

Discord blinks, then chuckles, rubbing his finger inside of his ear. His grin becomes less sweet. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I misheard. You've won?"

Rainbow Dash grunts, punching at the magic that is holding her wings down. "Yeah, we won!"

Twilight rolls her eyes, turning off the spell. Rainbow Dash instantly shoots in the air towards Discord, staring him down.

"We followed all your lame rules," Rainbow Dash said. "We found Twilight, and we brought her back just like you said!"

"But not within the time limit: 4 days, I believe it was?" Discord chuckled. "Look for yourself." Discord points to the window, the sun beginning to rise.

Applejack and Rarity look to each other in dismay. "We… we didn't manage?" Rarity gasped.

"All that work… all fer nothin'?!" asked Applejack.

"And don't suspect that I cheated, little ponies," Discord chuckled again, "I gave you ample time. I stayed within the confines of the castle. Every rule that we discussed, I followed. Now it's time for me to claim the prize and should you try to stop me, well… I'd hate for you to bring out the worst in me."

The group looks at Discord in anger. Twilight bites her lip and begins to think. She suddenly comes to the conclusion. "Now wait just a second! If what you've stated is true, one of the rules of the game was that you could not interfere, correct?"

"If you're trying to have me disqualified for what the Changelings did," said Discord, "Then you're wasting your time! Don't pin the actions enlisted by Queen Holes-a-plenty over there on me."

"But you did interfere… with me," Twilight pointed at herself.

"I beg your pardon?" said Discord, innocently.

"While you may not have affected the overall game, you interfered with the objective," Twilight stated. "You claim to be a fair player and yet you twist the rules so that you are the one who always wins. Let me ask you this, Discord… how can you have won the game when you've done nothing but meddle with it? You tried to force me away. You tried to hurt my friends. You tried to take someone very special away from me. I won't lose. Not today and especially not to the likes of you!"

"Is that a threat? You simple minded ingrates! I am Discord! Master of Chaos and Disharmony! Every twinge of fear, every selfish feeling, gives me power. Do you really think you're a match for ME!?"

"Then fight back!" Twilight shouted.

The smile flits off of Discord's face, taken aback from Twilight's comment. He slithers not too far away from the group. His demeanor becomes darker and more serious. "So you want me to fight, do you?" asked Discord, in a low tone. "Very well. I'll give you a fight that you will NEVER forget!" He stood up and snapped his finger.

From outside, the citizens of Canterlot stare up into the sky confused as dark clouds begin to roll in.

The Final Battle Part I

Discord suddenly releases a blast of magic from one of his talons and fires it at Chrysalis. Chrysalis is hit by the blast but quickly regains consciousness. The queen is hurt pretty badly. "Ohhh, what- what have you done to me!?"

"It's time to raise the stakes!" Discord laughed and snaps his fingers. "No more mister nice guy!"

Chrysalis suddenly falls to the ground in pain. Before the ponies, Chrysalis undergoes a horrific transformation, her bones cracking and her wings becoming elongated as she screams in pain. Chrysalis' hooves quickly change into enormous claws as she drags them across the marble floor, a screeching noise faintly being heard. The ponies stare at Chrysalis as she begins to tower over them. Chrysalis roars in anger as the girls cower in fear. Chrysalis, during the final stage of her transformation, spreads her wings and escapes through the roof of the throne room.

"Look out!" Twilight yelled.

The girls dodge out of the way as Chrysalis swishes the end of her tail against the walls, breaking countless window panes. The doors to the Throne Room opens as a swarm of Changelings invade and begin to attack.

Chrysalis eyes the Changelings and breaks through the roof, following her subjects. Chrysalis flies from out of the castle and towards the sky, overlooking the city of Canterlot as she sticks to one of the tallest spires of the castle. From the air, a giant swarm of Changelings overtake the city.

Rain begins to fall heavily onto Canterlot. Panic was in the streets. Multiple ponies are attacked by the Changelings, screams of horror sounding off from all corners of Canterlot. Some ponies are seen being tied down by the Changelings via some ooze-like substance.

"Oh great!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "Now what do we do!?"

Twilight sees Celestia from just a few feet away from her. She quickly gets up on her hooves and gallops towards her. "Princess!"

"Twilight…" gasped Celestia. "Stop Chrysalis. Defeat Discord."

"Not until I know you're safe!" Twilight argued.

Twilight quickly helps Celestia onto her hooves and tries leading her to safety. Quickly, Twilight notices Luna's statue and dashes over towards it. Twilight ignites the magic within her horn.

Luna suddenly bursts from the statue, completely free from her stony prison. "Twilight! What's going on!?"

"There's no time to explain!" said Twilight. "Help Celestia and get her to safety!"

"But what about you!?" asked Luna.

"I've got a monster to slay," said Twilight, looking at the sky. Twilight gallops off with the girls out onto one of the city walls and sees the destruction taking part. "Girls! We need to get to the Elements of Harmony!"

"But how?" asked Spike. "The Changelings have overrun Canterlot!"

Twilight looks off into the distance and sees the chamber leading to the Elements of Harmony.

"If we stick together, I think we'll-"

Suddenly, Chrysalis quickly grabs Twilight by her two hind legs and flies high up into the air with her, Twilight dangling for her life. The locket begins slipping from Twilight's neck, but she manages to grab a hold of it.

"Twilight!" Applejack yelled.

Twilight struggles to break free from Chrysalis' grasp, looking at the city below her. Twilight charges up her horn again and fires a blast of magic at Chrysalis' claws.

The queen growled, releasing Twilight her grip.

With nothing to keep her safe, Twilight fell from the Changeling's grip, towards the castle's rooftops as she screams with great fright. She landed on a steep rooftop of the castle. With the heavy rainfall, the roof made it slippery for Twilight to stand still.

Chrysalis immediately gives chase and flies after her, destroying more spires in the process. Chrysalis pounces at Twilight, shooting a beam of magic of her own at Twilight. Twilight manages to dodge, hanging onto the ledge of the rooftop for dear life.

The locket begins slipping again. "Urgh! NO!" Twilight had to sacrifice one of her hooves to keep the locket within reach, her other being the only thing holding on.

Chrysalis, having overheated her horn from the attack, roars at Twilight ordering a number of the Changeling swarm to dive bomb repeatedly into the tower causing it to fall over and Twilight to lose her grip and hurdles once more through the air.

She screamed loudly.

"TWILIGHT!"

Rainbow Dash flies to the rescue, but is stopped mid-flight by Chrysalis, barely missing Twilight.

Twilight crashes into a smaller tower below. Chrysalis attaches herself to the tower, clawing at Twilight from the hole in the roof.

Meanwhile, Luna lays Celestia onto the ground and begins casting a spell. "Come on, Celestia."

Luna's spell was restoring Celestia's youth, making her younger and stronger and back to Celestia's original form. Quickly, Celestia gets back up, looking alive and better than ever.

"Celestia! You're back!" Luna hugs Celestia tightly. Celestia looks to Luna with great seriousness.

"Twilight!" huffed Celestia. "Where is she?"

"We don't have much time, sister," said Luna. "Twilight needs our help!"

The two sisters rush off through the castle to find Twilight.

As the princesses try to find Twilight, Twilight's friends make their way into the heart of Canterlot, avoiding attacking Changelings left and right.

"Hurry! We gotta find the Elements!" said Applejack.

"AJ!" Rainbow Dash called out.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack called out. "What happened!? Where's Twilight?"

"I couldn't get to her," Rainbow Dash replied back. "Chrysalis is too strong!"

"Uh, guys-" Spike groaned.

The ponies find themselves surrounded by a massive horde of Changelings. It was Canterlot Wedding déjà vu to the girls.

"This sure is getting familiar," said Rainbow Dash.

"W-what do we do now!?" Fluttershy gasped in fright.

"We need to make a break for it!" grunted Applejack. "Get to the Elements no matter what!"

"Oooh! This is gonna be fun!" said Pinkie Pie, jumping for joy.

"Ready?" pounded Applejack.

"No!" gulped Fluttershy.

"GO!" Applejack yelled.

Suddenly, a great brawl erupts. A majority of the ponies fight their way through the onslaught of Changelings, some of them tag-teaming their way through the brawl. Applejack and Rarity do a few formations to take out a group of Changelings before they move onto the next wave. Fluttershy tries to stay passive throughout the battle, but continues to find herself up against the wall.

"Urgh! They just keep coming- gah!" Applejack gets pinned down by some of the Changelings. Eventually, Rainbow and the others get jumped on as well. Fluttershy sees her friends in danger.

Fluttershy gasps at the site of Applejack being pinned down. Rainbow Dash tries to fight her way through to Applejack.

"Fluttershy!" cried Rainbow Dash. "Go! Find the Elements!"

Fluttershy sees the open path, but straightens herself out and stomps her hoof on the ground. "No! I won't leave my friends!" Fluttershy leaps into the air and quickly dive bombs towards the girls and helps pull them out of the scramble, knocking away many Changelings in the process.

"Come on!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "We're getting close!"

The girls rush off to the chamber.

The Final Battle Part II

Meanwhile, Chrysalis continues clawing at Twilight from the outside of the tower. Twilight dodges Chrysalis and eventually blasts at her claws. Chrysalis roars in pain and manages to grab Twilight, dragging her back up into the air again. The struggle between Twilight and Chrysalis is great, the two of them crashing through a great deal of debris and rubble. Twilight breaks free of Chrysalis' grasp and grabs onto her tail until she is eventually flicked off.

Twilight screams as she gets sent flying. She crashes into the chamber holding the Elements of Harmony and faints after the great impact. The locket rolls out slightly onto the floor.

All the while, Luna and Celestia rush through the castle before they are suddenly stopped by Discord.

"Ladies! Going somewhere?" Discord sprouted like a flower from the ground in front of the sisters.

"Stand down, Discord!" said Celestia.

"Splendid seeing you in tip-top shape, Celestia. I was starting to worry that you wouldn't want to join in on our little game."

"I'm not here to play, Discord," Celestia snapped. "I am here to protect my subjects."

"Very well, your highness," said Discord. "Protect your subjects from this!" the Draconequus snaps his finger. From high up near the ceiling, a group of stone gargoyles begin to move. They break apart from their perches and begin to attack Celestia and Luna.

"Luna, look out!" yelled Celestia.

As the princesses struggle against the gargoyles, Discord sits and watches, his face alight with devilish amusement.

From outside, the ponies and Spike finally reach the chamber. They burst through the door and find Twilight injured on the ground.

"Twilight!" Spike runs and helps Twilight up.

"Ugh… girls!" Twilight grunted.

"There's no time, Twilight!" said Rarity. "Get the Elements of Harmony!"

Twilight runs further down the hall to get to the Elements. Pinkie Pie looks towards the window and sees Chrysalis coming closer towards the chamber.

"Twilight, wait!" cried Pinkie Pie, seeing Chrysalis coming closer towards the chamber through a window.

"Huh!?" Twilight replied.

Queen Chrysalis bursts through the chamber, splitting the entire room in half. Rainbow Dash is injured in the process. "Augh! My wing!"

Fluttershy and Rarity stay to help Dash, while Spike runs to Twilight.

"Twilight!" said Spike.

As more rubble falls down the mountainside, Twilight hangs onto the edge. The rest of the building collapses beneath her. Twilight sees the chest containing the Elements of Harmony falling down the mountainside with the rest of the chamber's remains.

"The Elements!" Twilight gasped.

Twilight looks over to the girls and suddenly notices the locket. Immediately, words begin to ring in Twilight's ears, hearing the Element of Magic's voice: "Twilight. You know what you must do. Reach your full potential!"

Twilight's eyes widen and look at her friends. "Girls! The locket! Give me the locket!"

Spike quickly picks up the locket and rushes over to Twilight, the girls following after him.

"Quickly! Give it to me!" Twilight headed towards the other Elements.

"What're you doing!?" yelled Spike.

"I'm going after the Elements!" answered Twilight.

"What're you crazy!?" yelled Applejack.

"There's no time!" stated Twilight. "It's the only way we'll be able to stop Discord and Chrysalis!"

"Yup, she's crazy!" said Pinkie Pie.

"You have to trust me!"

The girls look at Twilight with great worry and uncertainty.

"Please!"

Rainbow Dash looks at Twilight and gives her the locket. "We've always believed in you, Twilight, and we always will. Go!"

Without warning, Rainbow lets go of Twilight, allowing her to fall down the mountainside toward the chest holding the Elements of Harmony. Twilight eyes the chest and dives straight for it, holding the locket in her right hoof.

Chrysalis notices Twilight and flies straight towards her. Twilight closes her eyes for a brief moment, time seemingly standing still around her.

"Ignite… the spark," Twilight whispered. Twilight opens her eyes, a great surge of magical energy glowing from them. A great flash of light erupts and surrounds the entirety of Canterlot with a great light. A great explosion envelopes the city, quickly reverting Chrysalis back to her original form as she roars in pain.

The light travels over the chamber Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike are in.

"Quick! Follow that light!"

From inside the castle, the light destroys the gargoyles attacking Celestia and Luna. The sisters gaze at the light from within the castle.

"NO!" yelled Discord, seeing his creations being destroyed by the sparkling light.

Celestia looks out the window to see a great light floating towards the center of the city. "Twilight…"

Then the sisters escape from the castle and fly into the city below. Everypony is at a standstill, mesmerized by the great light with childlike wonder.

Twilight lands gently on the ground, slightly floating above the ground, her appearance that of a fully-grown alicorn. The girls finally catch up to Twilight as they, along with the rest of Canterlot, stare at her.

"T-Twilight?"

"It's alright," said both the Element of Magic and Twilight in one voice. "What you see is an extension of my elements' power. It's time we finish this."

Celestia and Luna land on the ground with the ponies as well. Suddenly, the citizens of Canterlot notice the princesses before them.

"Princess Celestia?" said one pony.

"She's alive!" said another.

A great mumbling is heard across the crowd.

Suddenly, Discord appears before Twilight and causes everypony to be silent. He starts laughing. "Look at you! The brave and valiant Twilight Sparkle, come to save Equestria. You may have made a dent in my plans but so long as I draw breath, the battle is far from over."

"It's over, Discord," said the infused Twilight with the Element of Magic. "You've lost."

"So what!? Are you just going to live happily ever after a while you re-incase me in stone!? Since the beginning of time, you ponies have done nothing but foolishly believe that harmony is the solution to everything!" Discord spat.

"If that really is the case, then why I am still here!? Why is it that even after your precious little sun goddess sealed me away that I returned? Why is it that even after Twilight Sparkle and her idiotic friends defeated me that the world continued to create disharmony? You fools… defeating me will not stop chaos. I am merely just an agent of its power. For centuries, I have seen the cycles of life change around me. I've seen the most caring of ponies turned astray by their selfish desires. You are no different from any other pony, Twilight."

"You're right about one thing." Celestia stands right next to Twilight. 'It's true. There always will be chaos. But while everypony can change, they can also change for the better. Everypony can find the strength inside themselves to learn from their mistakes. Twilight came back even when the world turned against her. Even when she turned against herself. But change can only happen to those who will it. When will you choose to grow up, Discord?"

"Tch! Spare me your lectures Princess and PERISH!" Discord fires a beam of magic at Celestia.

Twilight quickly jumps into the path of the beam and counters with one of her own. The two beams collide, completely unstable.

"Twilight!" yelled Applejack.

"We've got your back!" stated Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly, the girls' Elements materialize onto their necks, adding to the power of Twilight's magic. Discord gets pushed back a smidge, but continues to hold on.

"Why do you continue to cling to her!?" asked Discord. "She betrayed you, she abandoned you! Who's to say she won't do it again!?"

"We'll never leave Twilight!" said Rainbow Dash. "Whether she wants us around or not, we'll still be there for her when she needs us!"

"We'll never let go of the good times we've spent together and the laughs we've shared!" said Pinkie Pie.

"The ties of trust that keep us together grow stronger with each day we face!' said Applejack.

"There's no sacrifice we wouldn't make for one another!" said Rarity.

"The love that we share will never die!" said Fluttershy.

"We compromise with one another so that we can open our hearts to friendship," said the infused Twilight. "And the magic that friendship brings is more powerful than you will ever be!"

Twilight, in her elemental state combined with the Elements of Harmony, shoots an enormous beam of rainbow magic at Discord.

"No!" Discord grunted then screamed, seeing himself being changed into a being made completely out of stone. "NO!"  Discord screams as he is completely encased in stone, and the ground shakes beneath everypony.

The Changelings are completely blasted out of the city. A great smoke cloud envelopes the citizens and the group surrounding Twilight.

Deep Slumber

The smoke clears in a matter of minutes, show a slumped, unmoving Twilight surrounded by pieces of debris.

"Twilight!" yelled Spike.

Spike and the rest of the group run up to Twilight. The group backs away for a brief moment, seeing that Twilight has been hurt greatly. Celestia walks up to Twilight. She kneels before Twilight, who was remaining lifeless.

"Princess?" said Fluttetrshy. "Is… is Twilight okay?"

"Twilight? You alright, sugarcube?" said Applejack.

Spike walks over to Twilight's side. ""Twilight?" said Spike, hoping for a reply. "Come on, Twilight! Wake up… Twilight?" Spike shakes Twilight a bit to see if she will wake up.

Twilight still doesn't move.

"Twilight!? TWILIGHT! No… please!"

"Everypony, clear the way!" said Celestia. "Girls, follow me to the castle."

Spike lifts his head and backs away from Twilight's body.

From higher up the castle, Chrysalis looks down at the sight from below, damaged and fatigued from the battle. She looks on with a look of apathy and intrigue.

Twilight is placed on a small bed, her eyes shut and unmoving. The girls look at their friend, saddened and filled with sorrow. Each of them have tears welling up in their eyes.

"H-how… how is she Princess?" asked Rarity. "Is she-"

"She's alright," answered Princess Celestia. "She's still alive. But she appears to be lost in a deep slumber. The strain of magical energy was too much for her."

"She risked her life to save everypony," sniffed a tearing Pinkie Pie.

"You always gave it 120% everytime, huh, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash sniffed.

Spike walks closer towards the bed and looks at Twilight. "Twilight… if you can hear me… we just want you to know that… we… we love you Twilight." Spike began to cry. "We don't wanna lose you! You… you were the first friend I ever had. Please Twilight… come back. Please…"

The dragon was trying to hold back his tears. Then he whispered: "I'm not ready to say goodbye."

Twilight doesn't reply. The group hangs their heads low. Suddenly, a bright light begins to float into the room. The ponies and Spike look up, surprised and slightly startled by the light's presence. The light forms itself into the Element of Magic, in the form of a alicorn and turns to Celestia.

"You chose a wonderful pupil, Celestia," said the Element of Magic. "A pony capable of showing all of life's precious gifts to the world. Her trials were great. But she has earned the chance to start anew." The Element of Magic stands besides Twilight and closes her eyes.

(A song called {The Spark Within (Reprise} was to be sung here.)

Then Element of Magic disappears.

Twilight gave a small, tired groan.

"Tw-Twilight?" groaned Spike.

Twilight weakly turns her head. Her eyes flutter open. "S… Spike?"

"Twilight!" Spike runs to Twilight, burying himself in her arms and weeping tears of joy. Twilight grunts when Spike hugs her, still a bit weak. "I thought you were gone forever!"

Twilight's friends were gasping with relief.

"You were definitely a goner for a second, Twi'," said Applejack.

"Wha- what happened?" asked Twilight.

The girls shake their heads, unknowing of what they have just witnessed. All look to Celestia.

"What happened, Princess?" Rainbow Dash asked Celestia.

Celestia pauses for a moment, still half-surprised at Twilight's rebirth. She smiles. "She is ready." Celestia leads the ponies and Spike outside the castle.

The sun shines brightly as the ponies, Celestia, Luna, and Spike walk out of Canterlot Castle.

Below, all of Canterlot cheers wildly for Twilight and her friends. Confetti, streamers, and possibly balloons float down from the sky as triumphant music plays. Twilight begins to well up with tears of joy.

The Magic of Friendship

Twilight is in a guest bedroom somewhere in the castle.

As the denizens of Canterlot work diligently to restore Canterlot to its former glory, Twilight looks upon the city from the balcony of her room, her mind racing with many different thoughts.

Behind her, is a medium sized bed, adorned with thin curtains made of incredibly thin silk. On top of the bed lies Twilight's Archmage Robes. Twilight sits upon the bed, holding the robes with her two hooves, pondering and thinking. Suddenly, the door opens, Twilight looking up quickly to see who the visitor is. The door opens to reveal Celestia.

"Forgive me, Twilight. I'm not intruding am I?"

"Oh, no, Princess. Not at all. Please, come in."

Celestia lovingly nods and closes the door behind her.

"Are my friends okay?" asked Twilight.

"They're fine, Twilight. So much has happened these last few days, they felt that you deserved some time to yourself. Don't worry. They're hard at work helping to prepare for tonight."

"Heh, that's… that's great," said Twilight. She continues to stare at her robes. Celestia soon sits beside Twilight.

"Is something the matter, Twilight?"

"It's just that, something's been on my mind," Twilight answered.

"And what would that be?" asked Celestia.

"The locket that you intended to give me. You wanted me to become archmage, didn't you?"

"Yes. When you were a filly, I saw nothing but the best and brightest… I believe, Twilight, that this was what you were meant to do."

"That's just it," said Twilight. "I allowed myself to give into chaos. Discord manipulated me into seeing everything I hated about who I was. If I can't control who I am, then how am I qualified to control everypony else?"

"Twilight…" said Celestia.

"I was so afraid of losing you that I almost became Discord's puppet. I almost believed that I was capable of doing nothing more than making mistakes. I couldn't be an archmage. Not until I find out more about who I am."

Celestia lifts herself from the bed and puts her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, you have already done so much for me and Equestria. From the first day I met you, I knew you that you were special. You can choose not to take the Archmage position if you wish. Just know that no matter what you decide, you will always be the same pony who changed me for the better."

Suddenly, Twilight hugs Celestia tightly, a tear streaming down the side of her face and whispered: "I love you…"

Celestia looks at Twilight for a moment, taken aback by Twilight's words. She soon closes her eyes and lovingly smiles. Celestia lets go for a brief second and begins walking towards the door. Celestia looks back for a moment, Twilight looking back. Celestia, looks to the ground before looking back to Twilight. She smiles. The door closes as Celestia exits the room. Twilight smiles back.

The evening came in the Throne Room of Canterlot Castle. Atop the dais, Luna and Celestia stand side by side, waiting to present the ponies and Spike with medals.

"On behalf of the Royal family," announced Luna, "For protecting this land time and time again from peril, we, the Royal Sisters of the Land of Equestria wish to present these gifts of gratitude."

A royal assistant brings forth the medals on a pillow, and then brings the first one to Luna.

"For overcoming fear in the face of danger and death," continued Luna. "I present this to the fair Fluttershy. May you remain ever valiant for the rest of your days."

Fluttershy blushes, then steps forward as Luna places the medal around her neck. She bows, then steps back to make room for the next pony. Royal Assistant 1 brings forth the next medal to Luna.

Luna continued: "For holding fast to the joy and spirit our enemy so wished to rob us of, I present this gift to Pinkie Pie. May the light of laughter never leave your eyes."

Pinkie Pie steps forward and Luna places the medal around her neck. Pinkie Pie bows and steps back. Royal Assistant 1 brings the next two medals to Luna.

Again Luna spoke: "For pureness of words, and an unselfish heart, I present these gifts to Applejack and Rarity. May you never falter from these noble traits."

Applejack and Rarity step forward as Luna places the medals around their necks. They bow and step back. Royal Assistant 1 brings the next 2 medals up.

"For never giving up on someone, and for conquering a great enemy against insurmountable odds, I present these gifts to the noble Rainbow Dash and the gallant Spike. May your faith and bravery never fade."

Rainbow Dash and Spike walks up to Luna as she places the medals on their necks. Rainbow Dash admires her medal smugly, Spike grins widely at his medal. The two bow before stepping back.

"Finally, we come to the virtuous, the valiant, -the true, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight walks up to the dais.

"For fulfilling far more than what any other pony would have. For persevering, when it seemed she had completely and utterly failed- when all she knew and loved abandoned her. Her example of love and faith were the purest and most admirable above the rest."

Celestia brings the final medal to Luna, which is larger and more intricate than the others. Luna takes the medal. She smiles sweetly at Twilight and places it around her neck.

"Not only for that, but for how you saved my sister's life," said Luna, slightly softer, more intended for Twilight than the crowd.

Twilight smiles, nodding as if to say thank you. Tears welling up in her eyes. And Twilight and Luna embrace.

"Thank you…" whispered Luna.

A brief look of surprise flashes across Twilight's face. She then smiles, closes her eyes, and hugs Luna tighter.

Applause erupts from the crowd. Epic fanfare is heard. Confetti and streamers float down from the ceiling. Everypony begins dancing. All of the girls except Twilight join in the fun.

Twilight smiles, then looks out the window a moment. She walks out onto the balcony to see the Element of Magic before her. "You came back?"

'I had to see my kindred spirit be rewarded for her bravery," said the Element, in its alicorn form.

"Heh… I'm not that brave," Twilight admitted.

"You are braver than you think, Twilight," protested the Element and stares out into the nightly sky. "My time on this earth is almost up. I'm afraid I must leave you, Twilight. You needn't worry about me. So long as you continue to wield your Element, my powers will always be available to you."

"I just wish there was more I could do to thank you."

"There is one thing."

Suddenly, the small locket appears before Twilight's eyes. It hovers just a few inches away from her.

"Open the locket and tell me what you see."

Twilight gently grabs the locket and opens it. Inside, she sees a reflection of herself. "I see… myself. Only… I look a little different. What does that mean?"

"It is said that whomever is capable of opening the locket will see themselves grow stronger than they were before they opened it," answered the Element of Magic. "You've grown wiser than anypony I have met, Twilight. And it is that wisdom that will lead you towards greatness. Farewell!"

The locket materializes into many stars as the Element of Magic flies up towards the moon.

The girls walk out onto the balcony to join Twilight who smiles. "Thank you."

The girls embrace. They look up into the starry night as they wonder where their friendship will take them next. As the Element of Magic flies off into the moonlight, a single spark in the shape of Twilight's cutie-mark shines brightly in the distance.

THE END

Epilogue: Cellmates

During the awarding, a dozen Royal Guards manage to capture Queen Chrysalis.  They led her toward the dungeon cells where Princess Celestia was thrown when she was weak.  There, Chrysalis is thrown into a highly-secured prison cell. She lands with a thud as the bars are slammed shut.

"That'll teach ya to mess with the royal family," shouted one of the guards.

"Defeated again by a pack of technicolor equines," grunted the fallen queen.  She walked near a wall and flops down. "How can this get any worse?"

"Surprise!" yelled a familiar voice.

"Oh, no!"  Chrysalis looks over to see Discord's statue completely wrapped in chains. She sighs, heavily.

"I'm your new cellmate!" laughed Discord.

Now Chrysalis was stuck with her former partner.  This could't be more awkward or more annoying than Discord's endless laughs of annoyance.

The Challenge

The Challenge

Morning sprung in the halls of Canterlot Castle. A weakly Luna walks through the halls of Canterlot Castle as the sunlight shines through the windows. After the dragon attack, Luna now had to raise the sun and the moon, and this greatly weakened her. Luna's duty was to raise the moon, and not to raise the sun. Now, seeing her sister's fate, Luna had to take over her sister's duties as Celestia did Luna's when Luna was known as Nightmare Moon and was banished to the moon for a thousand years.

After raising the sun, Luna headed back to her chambers. From behind Luna, Celestia suddenly appears. The Princess of the Sun was alive before Luna's eyes.

"Luna," said Celestia.

"Celestia?" gasped Luna.

Luna turns around to see Celestia disappear into dark shadows. Luna rubs her eyes to see if her mind isn't playing tricks on her. She was thinking if it was really was her sister or a hallucination. "It can't be," she whispered. Luna gives chase, galloping down the halls of the castle after Celestia. "Celestia, wait! Come back!" Luna shouted and quickly follows after her. Luna followed her all the way to the Throne Room. "Celestia!"

From nowhere the ponies: Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy came behind Luna. The group stops in front of the throne, with Celestia eying them. All of them are dumbstruck at the site of Celestia, who was thought to be buried beneath rubbles.

"Celestia!" said Luna, smiling at the site of her sister. "You're… you're alive!"

Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, Celestia's eyes glow green and she morphs into a different form. A form of black skin and legs and a horn, and green wings and eyes.

It was Queen Chrysalis, not the Princess of the Sun.

The ponies, including Luna, gasped.

"Surprise, surprise, little worms!" the queen laughed.

"Wow!" said Pinkie Pie. "I didn't know Princess Celestia could imitate a changeling!"

"Pinkie, that IS a Changeling!" stated Applejack.

"I know!" said Pinkie Pie. "She looks just like one!"

I apologize for arriving unannounced," said Queen Chrysalis. "But… better to ask forgiveness than permission, I suppose."

"What are you doing here!?" asked Rainbow Dash. "How did you get back into Canterlot?"

"Oh, I had a little help, my dear," answered the changeling queen. "A force of incredible power. Said to have once ruled the land of Equestria through chaos and disharmony."

The group's eyes widen as they realize what Chrysalis means. With a quick flash, Discord appears before them. "That's right, mon petit ponies! He's back!"

"Discord!?" exclaimed Spike. "But-how?! You were sealed in stone!"

"I had a little help from her majesty here," said Discord, pointing at Queen Chrysalis.

"Wait a minute," said Luna, thinking and gasped. Luna realized what was going on. "Discord! This is your doing, isn't it? You had Chrysalis take the form of my sister to deceive Twilight!"

"I don't believe it!" said Pinkie Pie. "That means that they're in cahoots!"

"Bingo!" said Discord "Tell her what she's won Chrissy!"

"Excuse me?" replied Queen Chrysalis.

"Quite the sleuths you've become!" Discord said. "But I'm afraid, dear Luna, you know too much. Allow me to fix that." With a snap of his figure, Discord shoots a beam of magic from his fingertips at Luna.

Luna yells out loudly, but is quickly changed to stone. The Princess of the Night was trapped and useless. The whole group looks on in horror.

"W-why you… that's it!" yelled Rainbow Dash. "You're gonna pay for what you did!" Rainbow Dash bursts forward wanting to clobber Discord for his wicked ways. Discord simply rises up his hand, snaps his fingers again, making a brick wall appear in front of Rainbow Dash who rams into the wall instead of Discord. The crashed pony fell to the ground as the wall evaporated.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Really?" Discord said. "Have you learned nothing from my last visit? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Although, I do admire the fact you think you have a chance against me."

"Enough foolin' around, Discord," said Applejack, stepping in. "What do ya want?"

Discord began mocking Applejack: "Well, shucks darn, sugarcube. I was hopin' for some good ole hospitality. After all, is that any way to talk to Equestria's TRUE ruler?

Rainbow gets back on her feet, rubbing her head. After hitting the wall, Rainbow felt really dazed but quickly regained conscious. "Cut the schtick, Discord. What have you done with Twilight?"

"What have you done with Twilight!? Oh please!" Discord mocked again, mocking the girls in a whiny tone. "You ponies and your friendship! Blegh! If you really want to know what I did with that purple stick in the mud you ponies love to coddle, I've sent her away and there's nothing you can do about it."

"But that's not playing fair!" complained Rainbow.

"You know, sometimes I have to wonder if you really understand who you're talking to," debated Discord. "There's no point in playing the game if I KNOW I'm going to win."

"Hmmm… well if you're so sure you'll win," Applejack said, "Then why don't you give us a chance to go and find her?"

"HA!' laughed Discord. "Now why would I agree to something as ridiculous as that?"

"Well, if you're absolutely certain it's a futile endeavor," said Rarity, "Then surely you have nothing to be afraid of."

"Another game? Hmmm…" Discord thought. "Well, I suppose. But should we decide to play this little game, you'll have to follow some of my rules."

"If it means finding Twilight," Rainbow Dash bailed. "Then we'll take on anything you throw at us!"

Discord chuckled. "I wouldn't be so sure of that." Discord clicks his fingers again. In a lighting flashing faster than the eye could blink, Celestia appears before them, sickly and tiringly. The real Celestia falls before the ponies.

The ponies look on, horrified.

"The Princess," gasped Spike.

"She's alive!" said Rarity, with great relieve at the site of the real Princess instead of looking at Queen Chrysalis.

The weakened Princess crawled to Fluttershy. "Twilight," she whispered, weakly. "Give this to Twilight. Find her. Please."

The fragile Celestia hands over a gold locket to Fluttershy. Celestia lays her head back on the floor. Fluttershy quickly tries to hide the locket from Discord's view.

"As you can see," said Discord, she's not looking too good. I'd say she doesn't have much time left by the looks of things. All you have to do to save her is this one simple task: find Twilight Sparkle and return here.

"You better not have hurt Twilight too, you big meanie!" said Pinkie Pie.

"I'm giving you four days to find Little Miss Runaway," said Discord. "If you win, Celestia's curse will be undone. But if I win, the throne is mine, and I'll see to Miss Sparkle's well-being. But remember, no Twilight, no Celestia." Discord went to stand on the Princesses' throne.

"Why, you horrid brute!" muttered Rarity. "Why should we trust your word?"

"Oh, ye of little faith. Of course, what fun is a game with so many rules and restrictions?"

"A game without rules would be nothing but chaos!" Spike stated.

"Chaos? I'll show you what TRUE chaos is all about," said Discord, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, visions of past memories appeared all around, showing how chaotic things were. The ponies start to run out the castle.

(An Untitled Villain Song was to be sung here.)

As the Mane Group flee from Canterlot Castle, Queen Chrysalis looks over to Discord, who was sitting on the Princesses' thrones with his own chair, with anger and disappointment. "You idiot," she said.

"Pardon?" asked a sitting Discord, if he wasn't paying attention.

"Suppose they should find a lead on where Twilight is!" suggested the queen. "You're a fool for giving them the opportunity to ruin everything! How can we stop them if we can't get involved?"

"Actually, Chryssie, I never said YOU couldn't get involved," the Spirit stated. "So why don't you round up your little worker bees and follow them? Hmm?"

Queen Chrysalis raises a brow, looking at Discord with a confused expression. "Hmm. Your methods are… perplexing."

"Well, let's be honest, your majesty, I'm not really all there. But did you expect anything less?"

Queen Chrysalis scoffs. A few elite changelings came from the throne's entrance and bowed before their queen. Chrysalis looks to her elite changelings. "Follow them," she ordered. "Make sure they don't succeed."

"Yes, your majesty," said the captain. The changeling group got up and followed after the ponies, to make sure they failed in finding Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia's Downfall

Back at Canterlot Castle, in the darkest parts of the castle's dungeons, Celestia is thrown into a dungeon cell. She curls slightly in pain as she lands. Celestia, with all her strength, manages to sit herself up as she angrily eyes Discord through her cell.

"Tsk tsk tsk… oh, what's the matter, Celestia?" he asked, smiling. "Not having fun? I was quite looking forward to playing with you again. But I've come to see how much of a bore you really are."

The weak Princess begins mustering up strength but still struggles to barely stand. "W- why… why are you… doing this?"

"Why? Hmmm… such a vague question. So many possible answers, so little time. Let's start off with this, shall we? Do you remember the old days, Celestia? I would cause a little chaos, nothing big, just a bit of fun really." Discord paused for a small moment to look at his ancient enemy.

"All you ever had to do was ask me to stop," the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony continued. "But what did you do? You and your wretched sister waved your pretty little horns around and encased me in stone. Centuries… in stone… heavy is the weight on the head that wears the crown, hmm?"

Celestia begins to breathe heavily through her nostrils, with anger building up inside her.

"Although, that little protégé of yours is something else."

Celestia's eyes grow wide. "Twilight…"

"Mmm, yes, Twilight Sparkle. Once so proud. So loyal. Now, a lost soul abandoned and betrayed."

"I won't let you hurt her!" she weakly yelled.

Discord quickly lifts Celestia's chin to meet his gaze. "You forget Celestia that I am the one pulling the strings! I have more power in a single talon of my claw than you ever had! Twilight Sparkle will be mine and once she's become my little puppet, I will enjoy making her dance in front of you. Twilight won't return. Not to you."

'"She will come," said Celstia, through her tears.

"Hmph. I'd like to see her try," said Discord. "Because when she becomes mine, NOTHING will ever take what was rightfully mine again. And you Celestia… will perish."

"You… monster!"

"Don't act so surprised, Celestia," Discord laughed. "I'm just simply repaying the favor. After all, you made me a monster." Discord turns away from Celestia and exits the dungeon. Celestia collapses onto the ground, weeping greatly.