Strategy

It didn’t work, read the paper that Twilight was pressing onto the barrier.

Celestia nodded earnestly.

Tell me how it went.

it didn’t feel like we had any chance., Vi’s message read, after Twilight had communicated the events in a good amount of detail, spanning several pages total. if he told the truth about having given the universe its sense of justice just for fun, he probably made it so it doesn’t work against him.

She was already scribbling her next message while Twilight was holding this one up for her.

but he could easily be lying. he has a reason to, and I don’t know any reason to trust his word. do you know, princess? whether he told the truth?

Celestia shook her head. It was there for as long as I remember, but Discord is older than me. I don’t know if he’s telling the truth. Then, I’ve never heard him say this before. It’s concerning. He also didn’t use to be so unhinged when he was free.

Vi nodded, then crouched down to write a longer message. Since there was nothing in the room that could be used as a table, the only available options were writing on the stone floor and keeping the paper pressed against the wall, which was slower and took more strength.

we need to know how often he was free. we need to know what he did, how you beat him back then, what he said to you, how strong he really is, and anything else that could be relevant. can you tell us the entire story, from start to finish? before you say no, please consider if whatever reason you have is really good enough to keep things secret, if it could help us at all. please, remember how important it is that we win here, and how bad things look right now.

I was not going to say no., Celestia answered. With a stitch of pain she couldn’t explain at first, Twilight realized how quickly the princess had read the message. No mortal pony could read that quickly.

But why was that bothering her?

Probably because she had never seen it until now. And that meant that Celestia had been hiding it. She had spent too much time with her not to notice otherwise. Just like she had been hiding how smart she was. Because it had been part of a plan to keep everyone safe.

It felt as though she had grown up three separate times. The first time was back in Canterlot, after Shining had been promoted. When he had stopped being home all the time, she’d had to learn how to live without him. Live by herself. With the princess as her guardian, yes, but she had never truly been like a sibling...

That chapter of her life now felt like it was in a different lifetime. Impossible that it was barely four years ago.

The second time was her first year in Ponyville. When she had learned to talk to other ponies. Made friends. She had felt that now she had grown up...

And the third time was the current chapter. She hadn’t even realized it while it had been happening, but somehow, her horizons had widened so much during those months. The world seemed so much larger now, and so much scarier. So much more fragile. And she felt a responsibility, not just to ‘leave an impact’, to ‘build a legacy’, but to actually protect it. To protect everyone.

“Twilight?”

She snapped back into reality.

“... yes?”

“Did you... read what Celestia said?”

“I...” Frowning slightly, Twilight wanted to throw a look at the princess, only to realize that she was already looking at her. But there was no message there anymore. ‘No, I was... lost in thought. Sorry.”

write all of that again, please, Vi wrote, and Celestia nodded.

We will tell you everything we know that could be important. It will be a long story.

“There’s a lot more to this than I realized,” Twilight said, still staring at the point where Luna’s latest message had disappeared. Vi nodded grimly, already writing another message.

is there any time he’s shown that he can’t do something? anything?

“Okay, that’s two plans,” Vi said, scribbling something onto another page. “One that probably won’t work, and one that very likely won’t work. That’s a start, but it’s not good enough. We need more.”

we still don’t know enough. do you know anything that could defeat him? anything at all?

.su htiw gniyalp saw eh detcepsus syawla eW Luna wrote. .niw ot tnaw yllaer t’ndid eh fi sa demees tI

She said something to Celestia, who wrote the next message so as to make it easier for them to read.

Luna thinks he is tired of life. He wanted to wake up from time to time, but never stay for too long.

He talked about boredom at least two times, Twilight wrote in response, but Vi grimaced and wrote something of her own.

I don’t think that makes sense. If he gets turned to stone and wakes up ten years later, for him it would seem like no time has passed, right? From his perspective, getting turned to stone for any amount of time wouldn’t help at all to escape life, as unless it’s actually forever.

But Celestia shook her head. You are mistaken. Being turned to stone is not equivalent to a total loss of consciousness. It is more like dreaming, although unlike in dreams, time passes far more quickly. A year in stone might feel like a week asleep. There are differences, but dreaming is that state which it is most similar to.

Twilight and Vi exchanged a look upon reading this, though Twilight couldn’t tell what the filly was thinking.

Did you experience it? Twilight asked in writing, and Celestia nodded.

I would not put my enemies through something I do not understand. Discord is not the only villain we have turned to stone, and some of the others might never wake up. She looked at VI as she wrote the next part. It is not a form of suffering. Unlike normal dreams, they will never turn into nightmares. At least that is what Luna believes.

“I’m exhausted,” Twilight murmured, casting a look across the floor full of written pages, countless messages and the occasional idea for a plan. “We have to continue later. But... we really got more done than I thought we would. We might actually beat him.”

“Maybe,” Vi said grimly. “But probably not. So far you’ve had help without knowing it. Now that you don’t, I think you need to be more pessimistic. Anyway...” Her gaze trailed the mess of sheets on the floor. “... even if you’re all right and there is no way Discord can listen in on us here, he could still visit and read all of this stuff.”

“Right.” Twilight lit her horn, lifting up half a dozen sheets at once, and began to sort them into the two categories communication and planning. On one of the pages, her gaze lingered for a few seconds. It read:

Ideas to defeat Discord
– Change portal to lead into volcano, make Discord go through
– Set up trapping spell, make Discord step into it (will require weeks of channeling magic if possible at all)
– Drop heavy invisible object (might not work even if pulled off)
– Befriend → reform him
– Lure into trap & use elements of harmony
– Use elements while he isn’t watching (speed up process?)

“... burn everything that was just for communicating, and hide the rest?”

Vi shook her head. “Burn everything.”

Twilight looked at her unhappily but conceded with a sigh.

“You’re right. Yeah. You’re right. But let me make sure that I remember everything valuable.” Then, “I need to make a checklist. Even if I have to burn that, too. But hold on.” She put the already sorted pages onto two piles, then grabbed one page that was still partially free. We were discussing what to do with the paper trail, and concluded to memorize our ideas and burn everything. Do you have any better ideas?

Celestia shook her head, and so did Luna, and Twilight mentally conceded.

“Don’t forget Trixie,” Vi said on the side, “if you’re making this into a checklist. We didn’t write down anything about her.”

“Right...” Frowning, Twilight grabbed her quill, beginning to make a list of items.

“This is the dirtiest thing I’ve ever done.” Twilight cast a single spark of actual fire onto the pile in front of them, and then a second as the first one faded. Only after the forth did the pile finally catch fire, almost as if their notes were as indignant about this matter as she was. She yawned. Despite her words, she felt a certain sense of accomplishment, although it disappeared immediately as her thoughts drifted toward Ponyville.

“Let’s go back,” she said, a sense of urgency to her voice. “Who knows what happened in our absence.” Vi threw a final look around the room, then looked through the pile of unused pages one last time, before she stepped beside the older pony. With a nod to the two princesses, they made their way back into the tunnel.

Right before the portal, Twilight paused. Once they went through, they wouldn’t be able to talk about strategy anymore. There were a lot of things still on her mind, and presumably, there were more still which she wasn't thinking about...

But eventually, all she said was, “I am worried.”

“Me too,” Vi whispered. “It’s crazy. Everything about this is crazy. That we’ve always been at his mercy is crazy. It doesn’t fit.”

“But reality isn’t a story,” Twilight replied. “Even if the universe likes stories.”

“Yes.” Vi made a step closer to her, perhaps following an instinct to find protection. “That’s what makes it so scary. And so much could depend on this.”

“We could fail,” Twilight said next. But only after she said it did her own words hit her. Only now did she really understand what she had said, that they could really, actually fail. And that, if they did, Discord might rule Equestria for... well, they had no idea for how long.

“Yes.”

“Then let’s do our best. Let’s do everything we can to win.”