How to Take Over Equestria in Ten Easy Stepsby Forefront1ChaptersPrefaceStep OneStep TwoPrefacePreface Living in Ponyville is an absolute dream. By that I mean that it is crazy, random, and nopony seems to remember what happened afterwards. In fact, there was a time that the entire town was a dream and yet that seemed normal. Now, I was never one to get into all of the action. I am a more reserved pony, merely observing from the outside. Some might say that sounds tragic but I think it suits me. So when my entire life almost ended due to Equestria itself almost being destroyed, It was difficult for me to stand up against it. Oh, my name’s Glass Wing by the way. I’m the town librarian here in Ponyville. Now I know what you may be thinking. No, Twilight is no longer our librarian, ever since she became the Princess of Friendship or whatever. After she became royalty she passed down the job of town librarian to me, I was her best customer anyways. Plus, I already had a large collection of books to lend out to people, so it wasn’t that hard to get started. But enough about my boring life, you’re here for a story. Not just any story though, you’re here for a story of adventure, a story of good against evil, a story that will entertain you. Lucky for you, I have one personal story in mind. Now, this story happened not too long ago in fact. I could remember it like it was yesterday… =============== “Lily!” I shouted looking through a stack of books on my bedside table. “Have you seen the copy of “Simple Home Renovations”? I can’t find it and I need to hang up this mirror!” I shouted still looking the same stack of books. “I believe you lent it out to a Mr. Cranky Donkey two days ago!” Lily Sunset, my assistant and best friend, replied from downstairs. “Oh well, I guess it will have to wait…” I sighed to myself. “Thank you!” I shouted back to Lily. Walking over to my mirror I looked myself over before opening the library. I looked like any other average pony in this town. I was a pegasus with green fur and a thick, brown mane. I had a bunch of freckles on my face and a black pair of glasses in front of my eyes. Feeling that I looked adequate enough to start the day, I smiled and walked downstairs. Since becoming a librarian was so sudden for me I didn’t have time to open a separate location to work from. So I lived on the second floor of my house and the library was on the first floor, much like Twilight’s house before. My house was a simple two story cottage on the edge of town. I know it’s not the best business location but fortunately ponies in this town love to read so business was always pretty good. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw Lily dusting a bookshelf. She was a pink earth pony with a stunning golden mane and, of course, a lily in her hair. She thought it was her “lucky” flower. I always thought she was pretty cute, but since we were best friends, that’s where the thought usually ended. I had lived in Ponyville for as long as I could remember. My parents didn’t work for the weather ponies in Cloudsdale so they bought a house in the middle of town. I met Lily in school and we immediately became friends. I don’t know if it was her outgoing personality or the fact that she found by reserved personality charming, but for some reason we just clicked. We were always there for one another, so when I was asked to be town librarian, she practically begged me to let her work there. Although I insisted that we be equal partners, she alway said: “It’s your house, your library, your business. I’m just happy to help out.” Eventually, I did get her to agree to a 55% 45% split; and I have never regretted it. “Ready to open shop Glass?” Lily said with a smile. “I’m ready if you are.” I said walking over to my desk. “Well let’s get this show on the road.” Lily said quickly running to the open/closed sign. Now...If I had to look back on this whole adventure, I would notice a few mistakes with what I did. Some are major mistakes that almost ended me. Some are minor mistakes which were fixed in seconds. Opening the shop that day…THAT was mistake number one. Just as Lily flipped the sign from “Closed” to “Open” a bright flash of light filled the room. “Surprise!” Said a tall figure that just manifested itself in front of me. Despite the fact that I was almost blinded by the previous light, I knew by the voice of the figure who had just paid me a visit. “What do you want Discord?” I asked bitterly. I know that I was a bit harsh when I talked to him that day. It wasn’t like I didn’t like him, it’s just that I have trouble trusting ex-villains. “Oh, c’mon where’s the love? Gimme five ol’ pal.” Discord said jokingly holding up his claw. I looked down at my hoof in silence before looking back at Discord. “I suppose you want to know why I am here.” Discord said, awkwardly putting his claw down. “That is one of my many questions about you.” I replied bluntly. “Very well. I have been waiting outside this building for hours just to give you this.” Discord said as he held out an odd looking book. “Lily, could you go restock the back shelves? I need to have a chat with our...customer.” I asked her as I held the book. Everything about the book made me feel uneasy. The fact that Discord gave me the book, the strange cover, the size of it, it was all very weird. However, the thing that made me the most nervous, would be the title: “How to Take Over Equestria in Ten Easy Steps”. “Where did you get this book exactly?” I asked, putting it down on my desk. “I wrote it.” Discord said with a proud smile. “You wrote a book?” I chuckled in disbelief. “Look at the cover.” Discord said pointing to the cover. Sure enough at the bottom of the cover were the words: “Written by Discord”. “Okay, I guess a good question would now be why did you write this book?” I asked, still unable to process what we being revealed to me. “The reasons are unimportant, the point of why I am giving this to you is I need you to take it.” Discord said, putting the book back into my hooves. “What makes you think that anyone would ever want to check this book out?” I asked, slamming it back down on my desk. “No, no, no, you don’t understand. I don’t want you to display this book. I want you to hide it. Hide it, and never let anyone touch it again. Do you understand?” Discord said grabbing my shoulders and getting right in front of my face. “Uh, ok.” I said, clearly not understanding the entire situation. “Thank you.” Discord said, spawning a top hat and a cane out of nowhere. “Now if you excuse me, I am late for tea.” He said walking through the front door. “Weirdo…” I muttered to myself. So I sat there by myself staring at the book. I was trying to think about what could be wrong with this book that would cause Discord to flip out like that. In my infinite wisdom, I decided that the only way I would truly understand what was going on would be to go ahead and read the book. THAT was mistake number two. The book seemed harmless enough. I didn’t see anything too dark about it as my eyes scanned the page. I flipped to the table of contents and saw steps one through ten all lined up into columns. Again, nothing too strange. I then flipped the page again and saw the word “Preface” at the top. Once again curious, I began to read. This book has been written to help anyone from anywhere achieve their goal of ruling Equestria. In this book there are ten, very easy, steps that, when followed exactly, will guarantee the reader control over Equestria. However, let me be the first to warn you that if one step is skipped or done incorrectly, the consequences could be dire. Along with that warning, the penalty for failure will increase each step until you have successfully gained control of Equestria. Still not seeing the big deal, I flipped the page again. These two pages were very peculiar in that there was only four words on them. From left to right read the words “Visual Aid” followed by the words “Yes” and “No” below them. Not really knowing what to do, I tried to flip the page, only to find the rest of the book stuck together. Figuring magic would be involved, I decided that I had to answer the question before moving on. “Yes.” I said, nervously. Suddenly the book began to be surrounded by a magical aura as it was lifted off the table. The book then flew to the floor as the magic began to make a circle surrounding it. I hid behind my desk in fear that it was going to explode. Just then, a figure began to rise out of the book and land on the floor. The magic then faded as I peered over my desk. Standing in front of me, on top of the book was...me. The figure had the same green fur and brown hair, but when he turned around I saw that he did not have good intentions. Staring back at me was a pair of blood red eyes, contrary to my deep blue eyes. “Thank’s a million, suker!” He cackled in a gruff voice as he ran out the door and into Ponyville. I stood for a moment in silence, to in shock to do anything. I was shaken from my trance when Discord once again flashed into the room. “Glass, glad I caught you I forgot to mention one crucial thing! If for some reason you decide to look at the book, whatever you do...DO NOT say yes when it asks you if you want a visual aid. Got it?” Discord said in a panic. “Glass Wing?” he said quizzically as he stared at me. “I think we may have a problem.” I gulped in fear. Step OneStep One “You did what?!” Shouted Discord, his eyes literally bulging out of his head. “Hey don’t look at me! It was your book, and you didn’t say I couldn’t look at it.” I said, trying to defend myself. “I figured that you would understand that it was dangerous and wouldn’t touch it.” Discord said frantically, pacing up and down the walls. “I came back just in case, but I didn’t think that you would have already read it.” He continued, teleporting back in front of me. “Alright, I’m sorry.” I said throwing my hooves in the air and sitting down in a nearby armchair. “You still haven’t told me what happened.” I said, looking up at the draconequus. “Fine, We might as well get comfortable.” Discord said, creating a chair out of thin air. “It’s a long story.” He said with a sigh. “What’s a long story?” Asked Lily, walking into the confusing scene. “He’ll explain.” I said, shifting to the side of the armchair and gesturing for her to sit next to me. Discord went on to tell us the entire history of that book. He told us that he wrote it as a twisted practical joke a long time ago. He figured if he could get some random pony to be stupid enough to open the book, then the book could frame them and cause a bit of chaos along the way. However, he never got around to it. He said that he recently found the book again and wanted no part of it since he was “reformed”. That is why he gave it to me. “...and now, you’ve just unleashed a nearly unstoppable evil.” Discord said, finishing his story. “Is there any way to stop it?” I asked hopefully. “I believe I did put in two reverse functions.” Discord said scratching his beard. “What are they?” Lily asked hurriedly. “The first one is quite simple. Simply have the doppelganger touch the pages of the book, and it will be sucked back into it, along with any trouble that it caused. The second way is to have the copy say and I quote: If you follow these easy steps, then you can take over Equestria one day too.” Discord said, recalling memories of his creation. “That doesn’t seem too hard.” I replied skeptically. “On the contrary, the copy must voluntarily touch the book, you can’t simply throw it at him. Also, it is programmed to say the phrase only after it has successfully taken over Equestria. Plus, now that I think about it, I might have gotten rid of the second function.” Discord said sheepishly. “Discord!” I said, scolding him. “It would have undone all of my handiwork.” Discord replied. “Look I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made the book, it was a bad idea. But bickering about it isn’t going to solve anything. We have to stop the book before it’s too late.” He said standing up. “You’re right.” I said, hopping out of the chair and walking to my desk. “Let’s go!” I said grabbing the book. As Discord began walking out the door, I walked over and gave Lily a hug. “Can you stay here and guard the library while I’m gone? I’d hate for you to get hurt because of me.” I said to her, grabbing a saddlebag from a nearby hanger. “I’ll be fine. Now hurry, go.” She said, quickly pushing me out the door. =============== “So what’s the plan?” As asked Discord, book in hoof. “Your copy will follow each of the steps inside that book in order. Once it successfully completes one step it moves on, until it has taken over Equestria.” “Why can’t we just find him and take him down now?” I asked, hurriedly. “The doppelganger is an evil mastermind, modeled after yours truly.” Discord said giving a boastful pose. I stared at him blankly until he continued. “Anyways, it won’t be taken down by brute force. It’s smarter than that.” Discord continued. “Also, I might have...uh….buffed him up a bit.” Discord said nervously. “What do you mean...buffed him up?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I figured that since this clone needs to take over, it should have a slight advantage.” Discord said, staring at the ground. “Like?” I asked. “Nothing major...just some basic magic: teleportation, telekinesis, energy blasts, the usual. Then I gave him a bit of chaotic magic: a bit of reality warping and of course mind control.” I stared at Discord, flabbergasted. I could not believe the odds that we were up against. “And you can’t combat that can you?” I asked, my jaw hanging open. “It’s unlikely.” He shrugged. “Nevermind, we’ll figure it out when we get there. Right now we need know what his first step is.” I said flipping through the book. Quickly flipping past the introduction, I came to the first step in the process. STEP ONE Arrival Welcome to the first step in your journey to take over Equestria. Once again, this book will break down the journey into easy and quick steps in order to make sure your uprising is a successful one. Now, before we get into the complex steps found later in this book, we need to tackle the basics. Baby steps, remember, baby steps. Now, the first step in your plan is to simply arrive on the scene. Simple as that. Just show up in a nearby town and scope out the scene. I would advise that you stay away from the current leaders as to not bring attention to yourself. Speaking of not bringing attention, lay low. Blend in with the crowd and remain an observer. Pay attention to everything; town schedules, citizen’s daily routines, the freaking weather, everything. Once you feel that you could predict the future with the information you’ve gathered (Or you are bored and are bold enough to move ahead anyways), you can go on to step two. The next few pages had a few tips for hiding spots and suggestions of how to go about recording everything. Seeing that there was no other important information, I slammed the book shut and put it in my saddlebag. “Well, that’s just great.” I sighed. “The very first step in the book is telling the clone to go and hide. How are we supposed to track him down?” I shrugged, looking up to Discord. “We don’t, we follow what the book says.” Discord said grabbing the book out of the saddlebag. “What do you mean?” I asked him. “He is going to follow these steps to the letter in order to defeat the princesses and take control. I suggest we follow these steps to defeat him and take control.” He said flipping back to the first step. “Can we do that?” I asked, thinking over his plan. “Why not? Our goal is somewhat the same as his.” Discord pointed out. “Plus, I’m not hearing a better suggestion.” He said, continuing to look over the first step again. “I guess you’re right.” I sighed. “What’s our first step?” I asked him. “We need to make the clone think that we aren’t on his trail. That way we can trip him up when he least expects it.” Discord explained. “Alright, let’s go find a spot to stakeout. We’ll let him make the first move.” I said grabbing the book back from Discord. Discord nodded and teleported us to the other side of town. When we arrived, we decided to hide in an alleyway near sugarcube corner. Then we sat and waited. It was a good plan, at least, I thought it was a good plan. At this point we had no other options. Though, it’s funny, before we teleported, I could have sworn that I heard the bushes next to us...laugh. Must have been my imagination. Step TwoStep Two Discord and I had been sitting behind the same dumpster for about two hours, and did nothing. Well, except get a bag of flour dumped on my head as Mr. Cake threw it out the back door. I couldn’t take it any more, it was so boring. So boring in fact, that I could have sworn that I passed out at least twice. “Now?” I asked for probably the twenty third time. “For the last time, not yet.” Discord whispered back. “But why?” I groaned while sliding to the ground. “Because if he sees us then our cover is blown. If our cover is blown then we might never stop him.” Discord explained. I almost gave up my complaining until a thought poked its way into my head. Now I don’t like to be manipulative, but when you're dealing with the spirit of chaos, it might be the only option. “I thought we were going to save Equestria, but nooo Discord is afraid.” I said, rolling my eyes. That got his attention. “I am not afraid.” Discord protested. “Yeah you are, you would rather sit and hide in an alleyway than do anything of importance.” I said, continuing the charade. “I’d like to see you come up with a better plan.” Discord said, challenging me. “How about, you open that book up and see what our little friend will be up to next so we can beat him to the punch.” I said with confidence. “Fine!” Discord said, teleporting the book into his hand. “But just for the record.” He said before teleporting next to me and whispering in my ear. “I knew you were playing me the whole time.” He said with a chuckle. Opening the book to the next section, my eyes scanned the page and began to read. STEP TWO Reveal Yourself So, you’re finally ready for step two. (That or you realized just how boring hiding is.) I shot Discord a quick glare to which he shrugged and smiled sheepishly. This is where the plan finally takes off. Your next mission is to form an alliance. Or as those aggravating sisters in charge would say, you need to get some “friends.” This might be a challenge for you since you are the type of person to want total control over everyone so I’ll give you some tips. Act helpless. Most ponies cannot resist feeling empathy towards someone in need. Simply act like you need help with something and you can spark up conversation from there. Be polite Strange as it seems, most ponies don’t like it when you are rude or unkind to them. As painful as it might be, just bite your tongue if a mean thought creeps in your head and save it for later. Keep the focus on them The less your “friends” know about your plans the better. Keep them occupied by talking about themselves and what they like. If you need to talk about yourself have some sort of backstory and something you can relate on. Repeat until group is large enough. Just keep using these tips to gain more trust and more allies. “Large enough” is a vague description. I’d say a group of a few ponies, let’s just say six, should be good enough. After you know your friends and you know that they have your back, you can move on to step three. “Allies?” I asked nervously. “This book makes it sound like we are going to war.” “Well, I suppose in one sense we are.” Discord reasoned. “Granted, this book allows the user to win easily.” He added. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.” I muttered, putting the book away again. “So where do you and your friends normally hang out?” Discord asked casually. “What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “We need to get a group of your friends together to stop your clone from taking over, remember?” He said, jokingly knocking on my forehead with his claw. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the plan.” I said pushing his claw away. “So where can we find your friends?” He asked again. “Well, I don’t really have many close friends. It’s always just been me and Lily running the Library.” I shrugged. “Don’t you know anybody else?” Discord asked. “Oh of course! I know of a lot of ponies, I’ve met them. I just don’t know a lot of them.” I replied sheepishly. “So you’re telling me that you have to actually go make friends?” Discord said rubbing his temples. “Maybe not.” I realized. “Twilight and her friends! They are always saving Equestria from danger. I’m sure they can help.” I exclaimed. “You’re right. They’ve helped me defeat evil a few times. I’m sure that we can convince them.” Discord said grabbing onto my shoulder. “Yeah...wait, helped you?” “To the castle!” Discord shouted, dropping me to the ground. After picking myself off of the ground and following Discord I came to a shocking realization. “Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie...that’s six!” “What?” Discord replied, his head turning around to face me. “We have to go. Now!” I said, sprinting towards Twilight’s castle. =============== We must have looked very spastic as we ran towards Princess Twilight’s castle because nearly every single pony we passed shot us a disturbed glance. By the time we reached the front doors I was completely out of breath along with Discord who was a few feet behind me. “Quick question…” Discord huffed, sweat pouring down his face. “Yeah…” I sighed in response. “You have wings and I can teleport through time and space.” Discord said while creating a towel out of his tail. “Why did we run here?” I slumped to the ground in annoyance while letting out a big sigh. “I don’t know I panicked. Why didn’t you remind me before we got here?” I sighed again, shooting Discord a quick glare. “Fine.” He responded. With a click of his fingers we were back in the alleyway we started from. “You have wings and I can teleport through time and space.” “Nevermind!” I shouted. “Now, quick! Take us back.” I demanded. In a flash we were back in front of the castle. “What’s the rush?” Discord asked. “The book specifically specified that six ponies were enough for the group. Since the mane six are the most powerful ponies in Ponyville, my clone might be here.” “We have to get them on our side before he does!” Discord exclaimed. “Right, which is why we probably should have stopped talking and I should have just barged in without explaining anything!” I shouted back. “Okay!” Discord replied. I quickly ran to the front doors and threw them open to reveal the group of ponies inside. Looking up I saw Twilight Sparkle and her friends looking towards me. “Oh, hello Glasswing! You never mentioned that you had a twin brother!” She said with an innocent smile. =============== I’m not sure how long Discord and I stood there dumbfounded. It was like time had stopped all together. Looking forward I saw the mane six staring quizzically towards me and there, in the middle of the group, was the doppelganger with the biggest smile on his face. Realizing that I had to say something, my mind went into overdrive, searching desperately for the words, any words for that matter. “Uhhh…” I squeaked out. Suddenly the doppelganger slowly got up and began to speak. “I’m sorry girls, I have to apologize for not mentioning it. I believe my brother was about to explain why you’ve never heard of me.” He said shooting me a subtle smirk. Trying desperately I thought of what to say to expose him for the liar he was. “Uhhh…” I failed miserably. “I’ll explain.” The clone said walking towards me. “When Glasswing moved to Ponyville, I began studying cultures all around the world. I hadn’t always gotten the opportunity to write, so we never kept in touch.” The clone went on. “Uhh…” I said again, my mind screaming at me to say something with a hint of intelligence. “Anyways, I just got back to Equestria so I decided to pay my brother a surprise visit. That’s probably why he never mentioned me.” He said will giving me a pat on the back. The group nodded their heads in agreement as the bought the lie. “Now if you excuse me,” The clone began again. “My brother and I have some catching up to do. We won’t be long.” He said while guiding me into the neighboring room. As the door shut my mind finally processed what had just happened. As I turned to confront the doppelganger, a strong hoof pinned me to the wall by my chest. “Gah!” I cried out in shock. “Listen to me you little pest!” He spat out in anger. “I have big plans for Equestria and you are not about to get in my way!” He said as he stared at me maliciously. “What plans. Who? Me? Get in the way. Ha ha ha…” I replied playing dumb, my voice fading out nervously. “You think I was born yesterday?” The clone replied. “Actually a few hours ago.” I replied. “But continue.” Sighing my “evil twin” continued. “I know that I am simply a magical conjuring of a book made by Discord. However, that only makes my mission of taking over Equestria more important to my existence.” It stated. “I learned about the main six and, using your past interactions with them, befriended them to help my cause.” He said. “But they would never help you take over Equestria!” I protested. “No, but they will help make the job a whole lot easier.” He said bluntly. He lowered me from the wall and began to walk back into the main room. “Oh by the way,” He began “Mention this to anyone...and the mane six, along with everyone you ever cared about, is dead.” He said as he walked out the room. Nervously, I followed him out. On the other side of the door, the mane six was standing with concerned looks on their faces. Behind them was Discord with a triumphant smile. “I told them everything, Glass.” Discord said happily. My eyes went wide as I looked at my double. Strangely, he didn’t look angry or concerned. “Discord mentioned that you are Glass Wings “evil twin” here to take over Equestria.” Twilight said solemnly. “Oh really?” My twin responded without a hint of emotion. “That’s not true is it?” Fluttershy whispered. There was a moment of silent tension before the clone spoke again. “I don’t know brother.” He said turning to me. “Is it?” Remember when I said I made a few mistakes that day? Well, saying what I said next, was mistake number three. “No it’s not.” I said to the group. “What?” Discord said in shock. “Yeah, it was just a game that my brother and I used to play. Everywhere we went, one of us was always the “evil twin”.” I lied. The group let out a sigh of relief as they bought another lie. “Well I’m glad we got that sorted out.” The clone said giving me another side hug. Pulling me in he whispered to me quickly. “Don’t let it happen again.” Removing myself from the hug I walked over to Discord. “Let’s go.” I muttered bitterly. =============== Walking out of the castle, Discord floated next to me shaking his head. “Why didn’t you expose him are you crazy? ‘Cause I think you’re crazy, and I know crazy?” He exclaimed. “I panicked. He said he was going to hurt everyone if I told anyone.” I replied. “Well, he does have the ability to.” Discord said, remembering what tricks he gave the clone. “I was nervous, I didn’t want to lose everyone.” I sighed sitting down on the ground. “Well at least you had a good reason.” Discord said, creating a lounge chair out of nowhere to sit on. “So what now?” I said, looking back to the castle. “We still need allies of some kind if we want to stand a chance against him.” Discord said while flipping through a magazine he created. Sighing, I closed my eyes to think for a bit. However, I wasn’t thinking for too long before I was paid a little visit. “LOOK OUT!” Said a voice from above. My eyes shot open to see a gray pegasus dive bombing straight for me and Discord. Well just me, Discord had already teleported away to cover. Looking back up to the pony, I closed my eyes and braced myself. The collision hadn’t hurt too much. Especially since I was used to it. Derpy visited the library often while she was delivering mail. She fell on me at least 3 times a month. “Ugh...Hey Derpy.” I groaned in pain as I pushed her up off the ground. “Sorry Glass, I just got caught in a strong wind and lost balance.” The mailmare said, blushing. “No problem Derpy.” I said, picking myself off the ground. “Hey are you and Lily still on for game night on Thursday?” She asked cheerfully. Right, game night. Game night was the place where the few ponies that I did know would get together and hang out. We weren’t a very large group but we did have fun. “Maybe, I don’t know. I’m kinda dealing with something right now.” I replied, sadly. “Oh okay, no problem friend. Maybe next week.” Derpy said, slowly flying away. “Right.” I muttered in response. “Wait…friend?” I am such a moron sometimes. “Derpy!” I yelled quickly flying to her level. “I think you can help with my problem.” “Of course Glass Wing. What do you need me to do?” She asked with a smile. “I need you to get everyone that goes to game night and bring them to the Library. I’ll tell you more when you get there.” I said quickly. “Sure!” Derpy said happily. “Thank you so much!” I said as she flew away. I landed on the ground and saw Discord with a confident smile. “I take it you have a plan?” He chuckled. “One that I should have thought of a while back.” I said looking for a way back to the library. “Consider step two finished. We aren’t out of this game yet.” I said as we both started back to the library. “You know I can teleport us.” Discord said, still standing in the same spot. “Just let me have this one!” I shouted back to him. As Discord began chasing after me I looked back to see my copy staring at us through the castle window. Letting out a nervous gulp, I turned my attention toward getting back to the library as fast as we could...and to step number three.
PrefacePreface Living in Ponyville is an absolute dream. By that I mean that it is crazy, random, and nopony seems to remember what happened afterwards. In fact, there was a time that the entire town was a dream and yet that seemed normal. Now, I was never one to get into all of the action. I am a more reserved pony, merely observing from the outside. Some might say that sounds tragic but I think it suits me. So when my entire life almost ended due to Equestria itself almost being destroyed, It was difficult for me to stand up against it. Oh, my name’s Glass Wing by the way. I’m the town librarian here in Ponyville. Now I know what you may be thinking. No, Twilight is no longer our librarian, ever since she became the Princess of Friendship or whatever. After she became royalty she passed down the job of town librarian to me, I was her best customer anyways. Plus, I already had a large collection of books to lend out to people, so it wasn’t that hard to get started. But enough about my boring life, you’re here for a story. Not just any story though, you’re here for a story of adventure, a story of good against evil, a story that will entertain you. Lucky for you, I have one personal story in mind. Now, this story happened not too long ago in fact. I could remember it like it was yesterday… =============== “Lily!” I shouted looking through a stack of books on my bedside table. “Have you seen the copy of “Simple Home Renovations”? I can’t find it and I need to hang up this mirror!” I shouted still looking the same stack of books. “I believe you lent it out to a Mr. Cranky Donkey two days ago!” Lily Sunset, my assistant and best friend, replied from downstairs. “Oh well, I guess it will have to wait…” I sighed to myself. “Thank you!” I shouted back to Lily. Walking over to my mirror I looked myself over before opening the library. I looked like any other average pony in this town. I was a pegasus with green fur and a thick, brown mane. I had a bunch of freckles on my face and a black pair of glasses in front of my eyes. Feeling that I looked adequate enough to start the day, I smiled and walked downstairs. Since becoming a librarian was so sudden for me I didn’t have time to open a separate location to work from. So I lived on the second floor of my house and the library was on the first floor, much like Twilight’s house before. My house was a simple two story cottage on the edge of town. I know it’s not the best business location but fortunately ponies in this town love to read so business was always pretty good. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw Lily dusting a bookshelf. She was a pink earth pony with a stunning golden mane and, of course, a lily in her hair. She thought it was her “lucky” flower. I always thought she was pretty cute, but since we were best friends, that’s where the thought usually ended. I had lived in Ponyville for as long as I could remember. My parents didn’t work for the weather ponies in Cloudsdale so they bought a house in the middle of town. I met Lily in school and we immediately became friends. I don’t know if it was her outgoing personality or the fact that she found by reserved personality charming, but for some reason we just clicked. We were always there for one another, so when I was asked to be town librarian, she practically begged me to let her work there. Although I insisted that we be equal partners, she alway said: “It’s your house, your library, your business. I’m just happy to help out.” Eventually, I did get her to agree to a 55% 45% split; and I have never regretted it. “Ready to open shop Glass?” Lily said with a smile. “I’m ready if you are.” I said walking over to my desk. “Well let’s get this show on the road.” Lily said quickly running to the open/closed sign. Now...If I had to look back on this whole adventure, I would notice a few mistakes with what I did. Some are major mistakes that almost ended me. Some are minor mistakes which were fixed in seconds. Opening the shop that day…THAT was mistake number one. Just as Lily flipped the sign from “Closed” to “Open” a bright flash of light filled the room. “Surprise!” Said a tall figure that just manifested itself in front of me. Despite the fact that I was almost blinded by the previous light, I knew by the voice of the figure who had just paid me a visit. “What do you want Discord?” I asked bitterly. I know that I was a bit harsh when I talked to him that day. It wasn’t like I didn’t like him, it’s just that I have trouble trusting ex-villains. “Oh, c’mon where’s the love? Gimme five ol’ pal.” Discord said jokingly holding up his claw. I looked down at my hoof in silence before looking back at Discord. “I suppose you want to know why I am here.” Discord said, awkwardly putting his claw down. “That is one of my many questions about you.” I replied bluntly. “Very well. I have been waiting outside this building for hours just to give you this.” Discord said as he held out an odd looking book. “Lily, could you go restock the back shelves? I need to have a chat with our...customer.” I asked her as I held the book. Everything about the book made me feel uneasy. The fact that Discord gave me the book, the strange cover, the size of it, it was all very weird. However, the thing that made me the most nervous, would be the title: “How to Take Over Equestria in Ten Easy Steps”. “Where did you get this book exactly?” I asked, putting it down on my desk. “I wrote it.” Discord said with a proud smile. “You wrote a book?” I chuckled in disbelief. “Look at the cover.” Discord said pointing to the cover. Sure enough at the bottom of the cover were the words: “Written by Discord”. “Okay, I guess a good question would now be why did you write this book?” I asked, still unable to process what we being revealed to me. “The reasons are unimportant, the point of why I am giving this to you is I need you to take it.” Discord said, putting the book back into my hooves. “What makes you think that anyone would ever want to check this book out?” I asked, slamming it back down on my desk. “No, no, no, you don’t understand. I don’t want you to display this book. I want you to hide it. Hide it, and never let anyone touch it again. Do you understand?” Discord said grabbing my shoulders and getting right in front of my face. “Uh, ok.” I said, clearly not understanding the entire situation. “Thank you.” Discord said, spawning a top hat and a cane out of nowhere. “Now if you excuse me, I am late for tea.” He said walking through the front door. “Weirdo…” I muttered to myself. So I sat there by myself staring at the book. I was trying to think about what could be wrong with this book that would cause Discord to flip out like that. In my infinite wisdom, I decided that the only way I would truly understand what was going on would be to go ahead and read the book. THAT was mistake number two. The book seemed harmless enough. I didn’t see anything too dark about it as my eyes scanned the page. I flipped to the table of contents and saw steps one through ten all lined up into columns. Again, nothing too strange. I then flipped the page again and saw the word “Preface” at the top. Once again curious, I began to read. This book has been written to help anyone from anywhere achieve their goal of ruling Equestria. In this book there are ten, very easy, steps that, when followed exactly, will guarantee the reader control over Equestria. However, let me be the first to warn you that if one step is skipped or done incorrectly, the consequences could be dire. Along with that warning, the penalty for failure will increase each step until you have successfully gained control of Equestria. Still not seeing the big deal, I flipped the page again. These two pages were very peculiar in that there was only four words on them. From left to right read the words “Visual Aid” followed by the words “Yes” and “No” below them. Not really knowing what to do, I tried to flip the page, only to find the rest of the book stuck together. Figuring magic would be involved, I decided that I had to answer the question before moving on. “Yes.” I said, nervously. Suddenly the book began to be surrounded by a magical aura as it was lifted off the table. The book then flew to the floor as the magic began to make a circle surrounding it. I hid behind my desk in fear that it was going to explode. Just then, a figure began to rise out of the book and land on the floor. The magic then faded as I peered over my desk. Standing in front of me, on top of the book was...me. The figure had the same green fur and brown hair, but when he turned around I saw that he did not have good intentions. Staring back at me was a pair of blood red eyes, contrary to my deep blue eyes. “Thank’s a million, suker!” He cackled in a gruff voice as he ran out the door and into Ponyville. I stood for a moment in silence, to in shock to do anything. I was shaken from my trance when Discord once again flashed into the room. “Glass, glad I caught you I forgot to mention one crucial thing! If for some reason you decide to look at the book, whatever you do...DO NOT say yes when it asks you if you want a visual aid. Got it?” Discord said in a panic. “Glass Wing?” he said quizzically as he stared at me. “I think we may have a problem.” I gulped in fear.
Step OneStep One “You did what?!” Shouted Discord, his eyes literally bulging out of his head. “Hey don’t look at me! It was your book, and you didn’t say I couldn’t look at it.” I said, trying to defend myself. “I figured that you would understand that it was dangerous and wouldn’t touch it.” Discord said frantically, pacing up and down the walls. “I came back just in case, but I didn’t think that you would have already read it.” He continued, teleporting back in front of me. “Alright, I’m sorry.” I said throwing my hooves in the air and sitting down in a nearby armchair. “You still haven’t told me what happened.” I said, looking up at the draconequus. “Fine, We might as well get comfortable.” Discord said, creating a chair out of thin air. “It’s a long story.” He said with a sigh. “What’s a long story?” Asked Lily, walking into the confusing scene. “He’ll explain.” I said, shifting to the side of the armchair and gesturing for her to sit next to me. Discord went on to tell us the entire history of that book. He told us that he wrote it as a twisted practical joke a long time ago. He figured if he could get some random pony to be stupid enough to open the book, then the book could frame them and cause a bit of chaos along the way. However, he never got around to it. He said that he recently found the book again and wanted no part of it since he was “reformed”. That is why he gave it to me. “...and now, you’ve just unleashed a nearly unstoppable evil.” Discord said, finishing his story. “Is there any way to stop it?” I asked hopefully. “I believe I did put in two reverse functions.” Discord said scratching his beard. “What are they?” Lily asked hurriedly. “The first one is quite simple. Simply have the doppelganger touch the pages of the book, and it will be sucked back into it, along with any trouble that it caused. The second way is to have the copy say and I quote: If you follow these easy steps, then you can take over Equestria one day too.” Discord said, recalling memories of his creation. “That doesn’t seem too hard.” I replied skeptically. “On the contrary, the copy must voluntarily touch the book, you can’t simply throw it at him. Also, it is programmed to say the phrase only after it has successfully taken over Equestria. Plus, now that I think about it, I might have gotten rid of the second function.” Discord said sheepishly. “Discord!” I said, scolding him. “It would have undone all of my handiwork.” Discord replied. “Look I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made the book, it was a bad idea. But bickering about it isn’t going to solve anything. We have to stop the book before it’s too late.” He said standing up. “You’re right.” I said, hopping out of the chair and walking to my desk. “Let’s go!” I said grabbing the book. As Discord began walking out the door, I walked over and gave Lily a hug. “Can you stay here and guard the library while I’m gone? I’d hate for you to get hurt because of me.” I said to her, grabbing a saddlebag from a nearby hanger. “I’ll be fine. Now hurry, go.” She said, quickly pushing me out the door. =============== “So what’s the plan?” As asked Discord, book in hoof. “Your copy will follow each of the steps inside that book in order. Once it successfully completes one step it moves on, until it has taken over Equestria.” “Why can’t we just find him and take him down now?” I asked, hurriedly. “The doppelganger is an evil mastermind, modeled after yours truly.” Discord said giving a boastful pose. I stared at him blankly until he continued. “Anyways, it won’t be taken down by brute force. It’s smarter than that.” Discord continued. “Also, I might have...uh….buffed him up a bit.” Discord said nervously. “What do you mean...buffed him up?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I figured that since this clone needs to take over, it should have a slight advantage.” Discord said, staring at the ground. “Like?” I asked. “Nothing major...just some basic magic: teleportation, telekinesis, energy blasts, the usual. Then I gave him a bit of chaotic magic: a bit of reality warping and of course mind control.” I stared at Discord, flabbergasted. I could not believe the odds that we were up against. “And you can’t combat that can you?” I asked, my jaw hanging open. “It’s unlikely.” He shrugged. “Nevermind, we’ll figure it out when we get there. Right now we need know what his first step is.” I said flipping through the book. Quickly flipping past the introduction, I came to the first step in the process. STEP ONE Arrival Welcome to the first step in your journey to take over Equestria. Once again, this book will break down the journey into easy and quick steps in order to make sure your uprising is a successful one. Now, before we get into the complex steps found later in this book, we need to tackle the basics. Baby steps, remember, baby steps. Now, the first step in your plan is to simply arrive on the scene. Simple as that. Just show up in a nearby town and scope out the scene. I would advise that you stay away from the current leaders as to not bring attention to yourself. Speaking of not bringing attention, lay low. Blend in with the crowd and remain an observer. Pay attention to everything; town schedules, citizen’s daily routines, the freaking weather, everything. Once you feel that you could predict the future with the information you’ve gathered (Or you are bored and are bold enough to move ahead anyways), you can go on to step two. The next few pages had a few tips for hiding spots and suggestions of how to go about recording everything. Seeing that there was no other important information, I slammed the book shut and put it in my saddlebag. “Well, that’s just great.” I sighed. “The very first step in the book is telling the clone to go and hide. How are we supposed to track him down?” I shrugged, looking up to Discord. “We don’t, we follow what the book says.” Discord said grabbing the book out of the saddlebag. “What do you mean?” I asked him. “He is going to follow these steps to the letter in order to defeat the princesses and take control. I suggest we follow these steps to defeat him and take control.” He said flipping back to the first step. “Can we do that?” I asked, thinking over his plan. “Why not? Our goal is somewhat the same as his.” Discord pointed out. “Plus, I’m not hearing a better suggestion.” He said, continuing to look over the first step again. “I guess you’re right.” I sighed. “What’s our first step?” I asked him. “We need to make the clone think that we aren’t on his trail. That way we can trip him up when he least expects it.” Discord explained. “Alright, let’s go find a spot to stakeout. We’ll let him make the first move.” I said grabbing the book back from Discord. Discord nodded and teleported us to the other side of town. When we arrived, we decided to hide in an alleyway near sugarcube corner. Then we sat and waited. It was a good plan, at least, I thought it was a good plan. At this point we had no other options. Though, it’s funny, before we teleported, I could have sworn that I heard the bushes next to us...laugh. Must have been my imagination.
Step TwoStep Two Discord and I had been sitting behind the same dumpster for about two hours, and did nothing. Well, except get a bag of flour dumped on my head as Mr. Cake threw it out the back door. I couldn’t take it any more, it was so boring. So boring in fact, that I could have sworn that I passed out at least twice. “Now?” I asked for probably the twenty third time. “For the last time, not yet.” Discord whispered back. “But why?” I groaned while sliding to the ground. “Because if he sees us then our cover is blown. If our cover is blown then we might never stop him.” Discord explained. I almost gave up my complaining until a thought poked its way into my head. Now I don’t like to be manipulative, but when you're dealing with the spirit of chaos, it might be the only option. “I thought we were going to save Equestria, but nooo Discord is afraid.” I said, rolling my eyes. That got his attention. “I am not afraid.” Discord protested. “Yeah you are, you would rather sit and hide in an alleyway than do anything of importance.” I said, continuing the charade. “I’d like to see you come up with a better plan.” Discord said, challenging me. “How about, you open that book up and see what our little friend will be up to next so we can beat him to the punch.” I said with confidence. “Fine!” Discord said, teleporting the book into his hand. “But just for the record.” He said before teleporting next to me and whispering in my ear. “I knew you were playing me the whole time.” He said with a chuckle. Opening the book to the next section, my eyes scanned the page and began to read. STEP TWO Reveal Yourself So, you’re finally ready for step two. (That or you realized just how boring hiding is.) I shot Discord a quick glare to which he shrugged and smiled sheepishly. This is where the plan finally takes off. Your next mission is to form an alliance. Or as those aggravating sisters in charge would say, you need to get some “friends.” This might be a challenge for you since you are the type of person to want total control over everyone so I’ll give you some tips. Act helpless. Most ponies cannot resist feeling empathy towards someone in need. Simply act like you need help with something and you can spark up conversation from there. Be polite Strange as it seems, most ponies don’t like it when you are rude or unkind to them. As painful as it might be, just bite your tongue if a mean thought creeps in your head and save it for later. Keep the focus on them The less your “friends” know about your plans the better. Keep them occupied by talking about themselves and what they like. If you need to talk about yourself have some sort of backstory and something you can relate on. Repeat until group is large enough. Just keep using these tips to gain more trust and more allies. “Large enough” is a vague description. I’d say a group of a few ponies, let’s just say six, should be good enough. After you know your friends and you know that they have your back, you can move on to step three. “Allies?” I asked nervously. “This book makes it sound like we are going to war.” “Well, I suppose in one sense we are.” Discord reasoned. “Granted, this book allows the user to win easily.” He added. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.” I muttered, putting the book away again. “So where do you and your friends normally hang out?” Discord asked casually. “What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “We need to get a group of your friends together to stop your clone from taking over, remember?” He said, jokingly knocking on my forehead with his claw. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the plan.” I said pushing his claw away. “So where can we find your friends?” He asked again. “Well, I don’t really have many close friends. It’s always just been me and Lily running the Library.” I shrugged. “Don’t you know anybody else?” Discord asked. “Oh of course! I know of a lot of ponies, I’ve met them. I just don’t know a lot of them.” I replied sheepishly. “So you’re telling me that you have to actually go make friends?” Discord said rubbing his temples. “Maybe not.” I realized. “Twilight and her friends! They are always saving Equestria from danger. I’m sure they can help.” I exclaimed. “You’re right. They’ve helped me defeat evil a few times. I’m sure that we can convince them.” Discord said grabbing onto my shoulder. “Yeah...wait, helped you?” “To the castle!” Discord shouted, dropping me to the ground. After picking myself off of the ground and following Discord I came to a shocking realization. “Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie...that’s six!” “What?” Discord replied, his head turning around to face me. “We have to go. Now!” I said, sprinting towards Twilight’s castle. =============== We must have looked very spastic as we ran towards Princess Twilight’s castle because nearly every single pony we passed shot us a disturbed glance. By the time we reached the front doors I was completely out of breath along with Discord who was a few feet behind me. “Quick question…” Discord huffed, sweat pouring down his face. “Yeah…” I sighed in response. “You have wings and I can teleport through time and space.” Discord said while creating a towel out of his tail. “Why did we run here?” I slumped to the ground in annoyance while letting out a big sigh. “I don’t know I panicked. Why didn’t you remind me before we got here?” I sighed again, shooting Discord a quick glare. “Fine.” He responded. With a click of his fingers we were back in the alleyway we started from. “You have wings and I can teleport through time and space.” “Nevermind!” I shouted. “Now, quick! Take us back.” I demanded. In a flash we were back in front of the castle. “What’s the rush?” Discord asked. “The book specifically specified that six ponies were enough for the group. Since the mane six are the most powerful ponies in Ponyville, my clone might be here.” “We have to get them on our side before he does!” Discord exclaimed. “Right, which is why we probably should have stopped talking and I should have just barged in without explaining anything!” I shouted back. “Okay!” Discord replied. I quickly ran to the front doors and threw them open to reveal the group of ponies inside. Looking up I saw Twilight Sparkle and her friends looking towards me. “Oh, hello Glasswing! You never mentioned that you had a twin brother!” She said with an innocent smile. =============== I’m not sure how long Discord and I stood there dumbfounded. It was like time had stopped all together. Looking forward I saw the mane six staring quizzically towards me and there, in the middle of the group, was the doppelganger with the biggest smile on his face. Realizing that I had to say something, my mind went into overdrive, searching desperately for the words, any words for that matter. “Uhhh…” I squeaked out. Suddenly the doppelganger slowly got up and began to speak. “I’m sorry girls, I have to apologize for not mentioning it. I believe my brother was about to explain why you’ve never heard of me.” He said shooting me a subtle smirk. Trying desperately I thought of what to say to expose him for the liar he was. “Uhhh…” I failed miserably. “I’ll explain.” The clone said walking towards me. “When Glasswing moved to Ponyville, I began studying cultures all around the world. I hadn’t always gotten the opportunity to write, so we never kept in touch.” The clone went on. “Uhh…” I said again, my mind screaming at me to say something with a hint of intelligence. “Anyways, I just got back to Equestria so I decided to pay my brother a surprise visit. That’s probably why he never mentioned me.” He said will giving me a pat on the back. The group nodded their heads in agreement as the bought the lie. “Now if you excuse me,” The clone began again. “My brother and I have some catching up to do. We won’t be long.” He said while guiding me into the neighboring room. As the door shut my mind finally processed what had just happened. As I turned to confront the doppelganger, a strong hoof pinned me to the wall by my chest. “Gah!” I cried out in shock. “Listen to me you little pest!” He spat out in anger. “I have big plans for Equestria and you are not about to get in my way!” He said as he stared at me maliciously. “What plans. Who? Me? Get in the way. Ha ha ha…” I replied playing dumb, my voice fading out nervously. “You think I was born yesterday?” The clone replied. “Actually a few hours ago.” I replied. “But continue.” Sighing my “evil twin” continued. “I know that I am simply a magical conjuring of a book made by Discord. However, that only makes my mission of taking over Equestria more important to my existence.” It stated. “I learned about the main six and, using your past interactions with them, befriended them to help my cause.” He said. “But they would never help you take over Equestria!” I protested. “No, but they will help make the job a whole lot easier.” He said bluntly. He lowered me from the wall and began to walk back into the main room. “Oh by the way,” He began “Mention this to anyone...and the mane six, along with everyone you ever cared about, is dead.” He said as he walked out the room. Nervously, I followed him out. On the other side of the door, the mane six was standing with concerned looks on their faces. Behind them was Discord with a triumphant smile. “I told them everything, Glass.” Discord said happily. My eyes went wide as I looked at my double. Strangely, he didn’t look angry or concerned. “Discord mentioned that you are Glass Wings “evil twin” here to take over Equestria.” Twilight said solemnly. “Oh really?” My twin responded without a hint of emotion. “That’s not true is it?” Fluttershy whispered. There was a moment of silent tension before the clone spoke again. “I don’t know brother.” He said turning to me. “Is it?” Remember when I said I made a few mistakes that day? Well, saying what I said next, was mistake number three. “No it’s not.” I said to the group. “What?” Discord said in shock. “Yeah, it was just a game that my brother and I used to play. Everywhere we went, one of us was always the “evil twin”.” I lied. The group let out a sigh of relief as they bought another lie. “Well I’m glad we got that sorted out.” The clone said giving me another side hug. Pulling me in he whispered to me quickly. “Don’t let it happen again.” Removing myself from the hug I walked over to Discord. “Let’s go.” I muttered bitterly. =============== Walking out of the castle, Discord floated next to me shaking his head. “Why didn’t you expose him are you crazy? ‘Cause I think you’re crazy, and I know crazy?” He exclaimed. “I panicked. He said he was going to hurt everyone if I told anyone.” I replied. “Well, he does have the ability to.” Discord said, remembering what tricks he gave the clone. “I was nervous, I didn’t want to lose everyone.” I sighed sitting down on the ground. “Well at least you had a good reason.” Discord said, creating a lounge chair out of nowhere to sit on. “So what now?” I said, looking back to the castle. “We still need allies of some kind if we want to stand a chance against him.” Discord said while flipping through a magazine he created. Sighing, I closed my eyes to think for a bit. However, I wasn’t thinking for too long before I was paid a little visit. “LOOK OUT!” Said a voice from above. My eyes shot open to see a gray pegasus dive bombing straight for me and Discord. Well just me, Discord had already teleported away to cover. Looking back up to the pony, I closed my eyes and braced myself. The collision hadn’t hurt too much. Especially since I was used to it. Derpy visited the library often while she was delivering mail. She fell on me at least 3 times a month. “Ugh...Hey Derpy.” I groaned in pain as I pushed her up off the ground. “Sorry Glass, I just got caught in a strong wind and lost balance.” The mailmare said, blushing. “No problem Derpy.” I said, picking myself off the ground. “Hey are you and Lily still on for game night on Thursday?” She asked cheerfully. Right, game night. Game night was the place where the few ponies that I did know would get together and hang out. We weren’t a very large group but we did have fun. “Maybe, I don’t know. I’m kinda dealing with something right now.” I replied, sadly. “Oh okay, no problem friend. Maybe next week.” Derpy said, slowly flying away. “Right.” I muttered in response. “Wait…friend?” I am such a moron sometimes. “Derpy!” I yelled quickly flying to her level. “I think you can help with my problem.” “Of course Glass Wing. What do you need me to do?” She asked with a smile. “I need you to get everyone that goes to game night and bring them to the Library. I’ll tell you more when you get there.” I said quickly. “Sure!” Derpy said happily. “Thank you so much!” I said as she flew away. I landed on the ground and saw Discord with a confident smile. “I take it you have a plan?” He chuckled. “One that I should have thought of a while back.” I said looking for a way back to the library. “Consider step two finished. We aren’t out of this game yet.” I said as we both started back to the library. “You know I can teleport us.” Discord said, still standing in the same spot. “Just let me have this one!” I shouted back to him. As Discord began chasing after me I looked back to see my copy staring at us through the castle window. Letting out a nervous gulp, I turned my attention toward getting back to the library as fast as we could...and to step number three.
