The Warrior's Way

... in Equestria

Discord wrestled the tiny centaur once again. At least the centaur was tiny to him. In reality, he was as tall as a mountain. Behind Discord, three magic-less princesses stood, watching with great interest. Finally, Discord held the centaur down, panting.

"Give the magic back,"Discord told Tirek,"The Elements of Harmony may be missing, but that doesn't mean I won't destroy you to protect Equestria."

"Oh, really?"the smooth-talking centaur questioned, trying to break free of the other's hold,"But, you know what I can give, don't you? Freedom, magic. I'll even throw in a little bit of friendship!"

"Oh, please, like I'd fall for the same trick twice."

"You fell to the Elements twice."

"A trick is not the same thing as powerful magic."

"Sure, sure. What other lies have these ponies fed you?"

"No lies!"

"Poor Discord, fallen so deep under the curse of "friendship"?"

"Oh really? Then why am I still able to fight you?"

"Because I haven't taken your magic yet."

"You'd do it in an instant if you weren't so scared."

"Oh really? Of what am I so scared? Shadows? Changelings?"

Discord was about to answer, when two figures appeared in his peripheral vision. One formed out of Tirek's shadow, and the other looked like a burnt cheese statue.

"Oh, so you're too much of a coward to fight me alone?" Discord taunted, but a sickly feeling crawled up his throat.

"I'm much too smart to do so,"Tirek answered.

Discord knew that Canterlot would perish if he continued the fight in Canterlot Castle. He snapped his fingers and popped himself and the three bad guys away.

Dark watched as the three littermates fought. She had to time her jump perfectly, or she would land on Shadow or Black instead of Fog. It was of most importance because... because...

"Thats strange,"Dark thought,"Why are we fighting?"

"Why are we fighting?"Fog echoed Dark's thoughts.

"I... "Black trailed off.

Shadow looked similarly stumped.

"We... should probably go to that forest over there, see if we can catch some prey"he said after a bit.

"Yeah..."

Dark looked at the pine forest near them. Glancing at the three toms, who were still gazing at the forest apprehensively, she sighed.

"Come on. Are we going or not?"she asked.

"Yeah,"Fog said, finally shaking off his stupor.

Together, three toms and a she-cat entered the pines.