Chapter I : It never did strike twice

-“Chaos, is a wonderful; Wonderful thing!” - Discord chanted with gusto as he raised a glass of chocolate milk to cheer with no one in particular.

Chiming to himself and himself only, the draconequus and current Lord of chaos sat upon his throne, beholding his most recent work of art as the former city of ponyville got severely warped under his every whim. It was delightful to say the least, and the sight filled his chest with a burning joy… A warm effervescency that he couldn’t quite put his talon or claw upon; but it made him crack a broad grin nonetheless.

He dared think that nothing right now could possibly wash his over-joyous state away, but surprisingly a sudden voice reached his ears… The statement carried within the sound made him falter and shiver with displeasure.

-“Not as wonderful as friendship!” - Twilight hastily intervened, earning a mock glare from her new-found enemy.

-“Ahngh… This again?” - Snapping right back, Discord could barely believe his ears. If they were not so useful to him, he might have stuck his antler and horn to each one of them, just to avoid hearing the rest of Twilight’s nauseating claim that was to come. However, the country bumpkin orangeish earth pony seemed to step up this time, reinforcing her friend’s absurd claim.

-“That’s right! Ya couldn’t break apart our friendship for long!”

-“Oh, Applejack, don’t lie to me; I’m the one who made you a liar.” - Breaking her bravado, he raised his paw and a golden bright aura appeared around his finger, and soon enough the element of honesty shone in response.

Seriously; he had just eviscerated the very bonds of their friendship to tiny, bloody pieces… And here they were, trying to fool him into believing that they simply overcame that disaster after just few-

… Hours? Days? Discord wasn’t particularly good at keeping track of time, specially when he casted a spell upon the Alicorn’s horns to fizzle whatever attempt Luna and Celestia executed to move the celestial bodies.
Nonetheless, it didn’t matter. Their elements had already failed to synchronize once, and even if that tiny purple pony princess-wanna-be managed to round up the corrupted embodiments of harmony, she was still doomed to fail.
Sarcasm and mockery were crawling up his throat and soon enough would be oozing out with enough potential to kill. Startling the mane six, he suddenly dragged their whole bodies by surrounding their elements with a buzzing heavy magical aura and dragging them up several meters above the ground, towards the point where his throne stood upon.

-“Will you ever learn?” - Stating as they were trapped within his grasp, he had his brow furrowed and a large grin plastered on his lips that easily reached his ears. Despite his immediate desire to turn the world’s innards inside out and sideways, it was so refreshingly amusing to play with those powerless puppets… Twist and tangle their emotions to his will and pleasure.

However, the lord of chaos was left bemused as that tiny, insignificant bearer of magic suddenly teleported right in the center of the ring of her currently floating friends, quickly dragging them away as she formed a protective bubble shield around them. He could have easily popped the bubble and seized them back; still, he wouldn’t give his current “enemies” the luxury of knowing he was going to be cautious around a group of dead-weights. Once the bubble touched the ground as it delicately levitated everybody else to earth, it popped cleansing a small circular patch of his chaos magic, exposing what once were the original grassy grounds that spread through all of ponyville.

-“I’ll tell you what we’ve learned, Discord. We’ve learned that friendship isn’t always easy… But there’s no doubt it’s worth fighting for!” - Twilight just had the nerve to drop that bombastic assault onto his ears.

Every fiber in his body winced; his stomach tied a knot around himself as the draconequus couldn’t resist the sheer urge to protest. Teleporting uncomfortably close to Twilight Sparkle, his muzzle almost brushed into hers as he bit down his bifurcated tongue that was sticking out. She backed up a step or two in front of the dramatic display. - “UGH… Gag! Fine! Go ahead; try and use your little elements. Friend me. Just make it quick!”

They all seemed to reflexively flinch as he gestured with vigor by the end of his words, making his body stiff and glaring down at them as he flashed out of existence and re-appeared by his throne again, with his legs crossed and pointing all around him while stating. - “I’m missing some excellent chaos here!”

For just a moment, as the mares got into position, he actually tried to put some more attention and focus on their actions as Twilight spoke up once again.

-“Alright ladies, let’s show what friendship can do!” - Calling everyone to activate the elements, Twilight chanted at them with renewed spirits.

Had these ponies really have broken the vice grip of his “discording” spell on them? It was not supposed to last forever, however at the very least it could twist their personalities temporarily and with intensity. Nevertheless as soon as a he spotted the pink mare in the group making a dash for a nearby cotton candy cloud, he yawned; still smiling and convinced that if she couldn’t pick sending their hated enemy back to his uncomfortable prison block over quenching her chocolate milk cravings, then the spell must have been working just fine.

-“WAIT, OH WAIT!” - Pinkie Pie soon intervened as he already knew she would, stalling for time and clearly messing up her priorities right before re-joining the group comically with a very accurate dog-like growl as she grimaced and snarled.
Soon enough that slightly blinding and nauseating aura enveloped all the six mares and made them levitate like angels, the rainbow connections among their enchanted collar jewels glistening and fastened between each one of them. This should have been enough of a red flag to alert the uninterested spirit of chaos that he had played himself for a fool; and their fool on top of that. Although, the message just started to really sink in as the elements of harmony re-synchronized with each passing second and shot after-images of themselves cutting through the air, buzzing dangerously close to Discord’s head as his attention span snapped back to the group, wholly.

-“What’s that?” - Discord questioned, utterly perplexed by the sharp electrical bundles of raw harmonic magic being shot at him, badly aimed, but aimed overall at his individual with a crippling promise; chanting tales of stillness and cold, bitter, stasis and insanity as a small few of those flashing ghost-like images brushed the fur on his neck, sending a horrifying but brief sting of burning pain down his nerves and forcing the hackles on his spine to stand on edge.

-“ No…” - Vaguely muttering in pure shock and fear, realization finally flared up in his mind… They had broken his spell. They had been abysmally stupid to point it out to his muzzle over and over for the last two whole minutes, giving him the perfect chance to escape if so he deemed necessary… And yet, somehow, his gargantuan pride and arrogance made him so much more unbelievably stupid than they were; drowned in self gloating and convinced himself that his discording spell was still up and running!

His guts convoluted around each other in rapidly succession as if every millisecond was passing in slow motion; every muscle and tissue in his body sending a grim reminder that what was coming upon him was going to be unbelievably torturous and gruesomely familiar; his mind whispering sourly that he deserved it for being so painfully oblivious and arrogant, that if someone created a law against being so profusely stupid, he should be the first one waiting in line to be sent to a dungeon for breaking it.

Even though the Lord of Chaos had just achieved the epitome of stupidity on its most raw level; he still was not so imbecilic as to just stand there while the magical rainbow of doom rose up in the skies to come crashing down.

Those after images that were shot from the elements were able to draw invisible thin strings of harmonic magic around him, working just like spider webs; quickly numbing any flight response that might have kicked in due to how tightly they dug into his flesh, sending acute bolts of raw, melting and acidic pain through his veins. His stomach sank so deeply that he felt the urge to upchuck all of his currently throbbing internal organs; the magic of the elements had not hit him yet, but those ghostly images started to trigger the crystallizing of his internal chaos magic within his main arteries and veins, quickly forming agonizingly painful crystal clots that would erupt from his insides to the surface of his skin, tearing and consuming any type of tissue that happened to be in reach.
The unholy sensation of his magic stopping abruptly inside his body and violently turning into clusters like made the draconequus’ flesh burn as he writhed and screeched amidst his throes, his voice filled with pure terror as he still tried to deny his destiny out loud with a last and dragged out “NO!”; his very innards were twisting and tearing up, flooding every single inch of his long chimerical body with his own panicking magic that desperately tried to flee... Fighting against stasis itself was an uphill battle, which even the most powerful, rebellious and chaotic fragment could not stand up against.

The new heirs to the elements of harmony had rose up to the skies like deities in mere seconds, their eyes intensely possessed by a blinding white light; both the rainbow around them, and the one being shot up to the open skies were a type of magic that would rival and defeat even that of Alicorns... A rainbow arch of doom pierced the corrupted chaotic skies, and as it came crashing down upon their mighty, deceitful foe, the group of friends cherished and laughed as they slowly floated back down to earth; their hind hooves finally connecting to it again. The reminiscences of the rainbow blast spread in two arcs that fell to the ground, forming a rainbow colored circle that gave origin to a light dome, expanding all around and erasing all traces of chaos magic that once poured upon the land.

-"We did it! We did it!" - Pinkie couldn't help but beam and bounce all around, excited about their victory for a while until a sudden realization hit her as she came to a halt. - "Oh, on second thought I'm gonna miss the cotton candy clouds, chocolate rain, popcorn cornfields... But if that’s what it takes to make everypony’s life happy again, then so be it! Such a shame that Discord had to be a meanie thought, ‘cause those things were so yummy."

-"Oh no, dear, his creations were simply horrid! To just IMAGINE that unnerving vermin making any type of thing for anypony to actually consume is just plain revolting!"- Waving a hand to the air and placing it upon her forehead, Rarity could not be more disgusted with such an idea being blurted out loud by the pink mare; and of course, she spoke her mind with a small touch of drama that only she could deliver.

-"Well, time to take that old goat faced snake back to its garden. I hope that his statue crumbles to pieces this time around!" – The rainbow mare scoffed as she hovered near the ground.

-"Rainbow! I know we all are scarred from this conflict, but that’s still a bit too much to wish upon any foe. The elements of Harmony wouldn't do such a thing as destroying anypony... Or draconequus." – Twilight interfered, frowning slightly towards her friend. As bad as Discord was, the elements did purify Princess Luna out of her menacing form instead of blowing her up or sending her back to the moon for another thousand years, so the unicorn expected their effects to not be so extreme.

-"Besides... I think that it would be a hay of a mess to glue all the pieces togetha later on, since he gotta go back to the princesses’ garden.” – Applejack supported Twilight sternly, glancing to the duo casually as she crossed her arms.

Soon enough they engaged in casual chit chat as the feeling of safety embraced them after the elements had brought the landscape back to normal.

-"I still say he would make a great dessert maker if he was not a meanie!” - Saying with quite the determination, Pinkie gave a stomp to the ground with one of her hind hooves.

-"Girls..." - A timid voice tried to rise amongst the debate that had been reignited.

-"Oh Pinkie, even if you somehow see an ounce of talent in that monster, how could you possibly say that?! Such creature deserves no sympathy. Besides, too much chocolate can also be a menace to a pony’s health." - Rarity readily retorted, raising her muzzle in the air and frowning at the pink mare as she waved a hand by the side of her muzzle.

-"...Girls..." – The meek Pegasus tried to insist.

-"Like we’ve never seen ya drowning ya sadness in a big, deep pot of ice cream, huh?" - Applejack asked teasingly, with a small smirk directed at the white unicorn mare; that could only frown and feign indignance after hearing such an accusation.

-"Well, it's not my fault that I can find some comfort within the contents of-" - Rarity tried to protest, however she was surprisingly cut off by the mare they would least expect.

-"GIRLS!" - This time the timid soft voice was emitted much louder, almost turned into a full fledge scream; once Fluttershy got everypony's attention, she blushed ever so slightly and looked down, letting her long bang cover half of her face. -"I-I... Don't..." - her voice was fading back again, shivering and weakening by the second.

Immediately worrying about her friend, the bulky earth mare approached Fluttershy and put a hand to her shoulder trying to get her to focus again; gazing into those beautiful and terrified teal eyes. - "What is the matter, Sugarcube?"

But much for everyponie's surprise, Fluttershy suddenly snapped, unfolding her wings and squaring herself up as she said out loud. -" I DON'T SEE HIM ANYWHERE!"- After that, she quickly dashed behind Applejack's back, as she could only feel safer within her group of friends surrounding her.

-"WHAT!?"- The other five mares all questioned in unison.

Reflexively looking around frantically they scanned their surroundings quickly. Everything was turned back to normal, the ponyville they loved so much. There was not a single statue or trace of shattered rocks to be seen that could possibly point out to what was Discord’s fate. As the panic started to get on their nerves rapidly, they scanned high and low for any signs, anything that could have been overlooked... But the beast was just gone without a clue.

-"Twilight… You think that the elements..?-" – The yellow Pegasus mare tried to suggest, fearful as she looked all around her, nerves on her skin.

-"It can't be, Fluttershy! It's not in their nature to... Destroy something! They sent Nightmare Moon to the moon, turned Discord into stone, and purified Princess Luna from her corruption... They wouldn't disintegrate him, they shouldn't!" – Twilight was racking her brain for possible answers to whatever had happened, but nothing came to mind other than a growing restlessness.

-"Why should we care anyways?! Equestria would be better off with that THING dead and gone!"- Dash couldn't help but lash out a bit after she came back from her short speed flight. Nonetheless, even taking very high altitudes and scanning a great area, still she could not track a single trace of his departure or destruction.

-"Look, I'm upset about this too, but wishing that upon Discord would be as good as wishing it upon Princess Luna; If princess Celestia wanted him to be destroyed, he wouldn’t be petrified and well kept into the Canterlot statue garden."- With a tired and frustrated sigh, Twilight frowned at the blue Pegasus as her horn lit up; scanning for any traces left of his erratic magic... But she couldn't deny it was extremely hard to track chaos magic itself.

-"Hey, ya'll! Quick, Ah’ found somethin'."- Signalizing by waving, AJ looked down as everyone ran up to her as quickly as they could, even if Fluttershy and Rarity were the most reluctant in the group to deepen this matter even further. As they came closer, both the mares could feel their stomachs turn as their faces twisted in disgust and alarm.

-"Ugh, NO! I refuse to gaze upon this!" – Rarity turned her muzzle up and to the left as she closed her eyes and extended her arm and hand forward, as if to put distance between her and that hideous sight as she backed away.

-"Oh my..." – Fluttershy’s terror only grew steadily, as she froze in place and covered her lips with both hands, eyes wide and fixated on what AJ had just found.

Some meters ahead from where Discord previous stood with his throne, were huge splattered blood stains across the burnt grass blades... A trail of the crimson liquid led directly into the Everfree forest; blood cloths with dark crystal shards, burnt dark brown fur tufts, scorched blue feathers, and strange pieces of half crystalized flesh also were randomly laying about upon the trail of blood.

The trail possessed a horrid stench coming out of it, and following it deeper you could find more chunks of what previously was a talon: scorched and melting chunks of orange skin, scales, muscles and bone fused together, oddly erupted by crystal growths all through the broken arm piece, coming straight from the core of the bone within the other layers of tissue.

-“What the… How in the-… HOW IN TARTARUS DID THAT COWARD ESCAPE?!”- Feeling the rush of both adrenaline and anger pumping through her body, Rainbow threw her hooves wide open and jerked upwards in the sky as her wings flapped strongly; she was SO ready to punch that Draconequus into tomorrow the time she would lay her gaze upon him. -"Let's see how well he can handle getting a sonic rainboom to that ugly mug of his-"

-"I can't believe it... The elements didn't petrify him wholly?" – Twilight examined the pieces of maimed flesh partially consumed by crystals, trying to understand what just happened; her face contorted in disgust and frustration. – “Ugh, this doesn’t make any sense! He must have tempered with the elements in some way! We have to find him again and encase him for good!”

Turning sharply and clenching her teeth, the purple unicorn mare struck the ground a hoof, making some ashes and small particles of blood spread in the air as she stared directly to the edges of the Everfree with raw determination and seriousness in her features. Her horn lit up, crackling with purple electricity. - "There is no time to lose."

Tumbling and staggering, the Draconequus felt his body sting drastically every time that he would hit one of the sturdy and thorny trunks in this maze-like forest. With each and every step he left a long trail of damaged feathers and burnt fur mixed disgustingly with large quantities of fresh blood and raw bile that were uncontrollably puked by him with each unbearable wave of nausea that hit his body. His limbs and appendages could barely function as he had to heavily rely on his wings and scarce strength left in his legs and paw to pull himself through the forest faster in order to get away from the bearers. His chaos magic was even more corrupted and unbearable than before. With each heartbeat a sharp quantity of harmony magic would be pumped through his veins and accelerate the crystallization process, tearing him apart from the inside… His magic tried remaining together, but it was almost impossible as he could see the small crystals forming around his bleeding wounds. The pain was just excruciating and as much as Discord fancied a full fledge dimension spinning in all directions, getting such an effect through blood loss and lightheadedness was much uncalled for at such a critical moment.

Every sense within his body was so disconnected… The bleeding just wouldn’t cease. Reaching the edge of a river, the draconequus shakily dragged himself closer to it and finally let his body tumble down as he fell to his knees and paw by the river bank, shoving much more than just half of his muzzle inside the clear water and taking large desperate gulps of the fresh and cold liquid as quickly as he could. The water darkened by washing away the debris, blood, saliva and bile that once encrusted his muzzle, and now were flowing downstream. Closing his eyelids tightly and with effort, there was just the feeling of quick splashing wetting his fur… All sounds rang wildly inside his sensitive ears, all distinguished smells blurred together and his bifurcated tongue was not of much use when it was always burning with a rancid layer of sticky acid and blood over it. The vague sound of hooves in the distance briefly filled his ringing ears, but it was cut short as growls and howls started to be emitted much closer to his current position.

-“Great..!”

Barking in a low and harsh tone as he raised his muzzle out of the water, a thick thread of bloody saliva hung from his mouth, resisting against the stream that had washed his face prior. The Everfree was an area well known for being infested by timber wolves and this never did faze him in the least; but as the woody canines showed up, enclosing the beast in a circle, there was something in Discord’s head that just snapped.

And so would the frail wood that made those creatures rise in the first place…

-“Come on girls, we’re closing in now!” – Applejack chanted, trying to motivate the group to follow her lead as she hushed their stride.

Unable to fly, due to the risk of hitting one of the tall trees, all of the mares ran as fast as they could follow the messy trail left behind by the draconequus despite their chagrin. Twilight leading the group with AJ right by her side, as her horn illuminated their dim lit path and the farm mare leaded then to serve as a shield if necessary.

-“Ugh, another meeting with that ruffian! And this soggy environment will NOT, leave my poor mane unscathed. “– Clearly distressed, Rarity couldn’t help but complain as she ran alongside Fluttershy, both of them in the tail of the group.

-“Ya’ all, don’tcha think it’s fishy that not anything even tried to mess with us all the way here?” - Just as Applejack finished her question, loud howling, hollering and whining could be heard straight from up ahead. The forest was dense and naturally slightly dark, but fiery silhouettes came running and tumbling as they whined loudly and tried to put off the blue fire that was set upon their bodies by rolling around and hitting trees with their bodies, slightly disorientated. - “… What in tarnation happened to those woody critters?!”

-“…Discord.” – Twilight said without a shred of doubt as she enticed the whole group to speed up their gait. The trail they followed was still disgusting, but the scent of his metal, electricity and blood got stronger as they closed; the blood was charged with two distinctive magics that caused it to fizzle and boil by itself.

As they kept running and tried to avoid the panicking aflame timber wolves, the forest started to lose its density and a weak sunlight shone through the treetops; the sound of a running river up ahead filled their ears, as well as the sound of an intense battle between an angry pack of timber wolves and a creature whose grotesque roar sounded like all sorts of deadly things screaming in unison: A lion’s roar, an eagle’s screech, a dragon roar and a snake’s hiss.

Reaching the battle, their eyes caught sight of a rather disturbing vision… Discord stood tall amongst the few enemies he had left trying to attack him; as he rose up, one wolf that jumped straight for his neck was immediately blasted with a potent stream of a bluish white fire, not even having a single chance to reach the ground and try to run to the river to extinguish the flames; as it’s body hit the ground and exploded immediately, it sent fiery pieces and splinters flying in all directions while spilling a purple acid liquid from the blown remains of it’s make-shift guts, that started to burn and scorch both the earth and plants as soon as the liquid touched the ground. A pair of Timberwolves tried to flank him, one of them successfully sank their sharp wooden fangs deep into his “goat” leg while jerking its head from side to side as it tried to tear apart the muscle with all of it its strength. However, the second one was not as lucky as the hardy scales on the dragon leg deflected the bite; the wolf’s fangs slid off even with all the pressure it applied. Discord instinctively reacted by kicking its head clear off with his cloven hoofed leg despite having the other wolf firmly attached to it. The wooden skull came rolling close to Rainbow Dash’s hooves as it was oozing that purple goo from all possible holes it had in it right now, being deformed by the kick and having a dangling broken jaw.

Falling forward through the process of kicking, Discord emitted a guttural growl and quickly snapped towards the remaining timber; sinking his teeth with all of his strength on the wolf’s skull, he didn’t crush it immediately, but the pressure great enough to crack the wood deeply and force the skull to collapse under the sheer power of the crushing bite; eventually completely destroying the wolf’s head as its body fell limp on the river’s edge, the contents of said skull squirted in every direction as a mashed purple “bloody” matter. Toxic acid spilled on the clear water and the body promptly disassembled itself right after the loss of its head.

When the struggle was over, Discord swiftly gone back to standing on two legs as he huffed and snarled mindlessly… Every scratch and wound on his body sparked with peculiar white and purple electricity as they were healing themselves by the second. A cruel and tense silence fell upon the group as the wolves that emitted the howls prior had been all murdered one way or another. Only the tree’s leaves shook with the wind as the water also went downstream. Nonetheless, the silence didn’t last.

A large impact could be heard as the blue Pegasus bucked the decapitated wolf’s head right into Discord’s nape with a large thud, startling the beast that twisted it’s neck around to stare at her, immediately narrowing his eyes and pulling his lips back even further than before, snarling deeply with fury as his eyes shone with aggression and carnality.

-“Come on now you coward, we’re gonna shove you back into stone even if I have to kick you back into being a statue!” - Not sparing a second the female rainbow Pegasus took right off and lounged herself in the beast’s direction as the rest of the group stared in shock; Twilight reflexively charged up her horn in a split second as the scene unraveled in front of her eyes.

In the very moment Discord saw her flapping her wings to take off towards him, he launched himself in her direction with his jaws fully open as he extended his paw to perform a vice grip… Two dangerous rows of sharp teeth ready to powerfully lock down onto her skull just as he did with the fallen Timberwolves. Taken aback by this surprise attack, the Pegasus tried to maneuver but it was far too late to change direction now; as soon as she extended her hind hooves and tried brace for impact a stream of magenta light came buzzing overhead and exploded right in the draconequus gaping maw, throwing his face off course by the sheer strength of the impact and creating a smoke cloud in the process as it generated a tiny explosion.

Their bodies collided at very high speed as her hooves slammed on his chest first, scratching all the way down to his ribs as her weight forced the mare’s body to pivot forward; red sparks cracking in the air when Rainbow’s chest impacted itself on his shoulder, pressing her element onto his body as it lit up briefly.

Falling forward after pushing herself out of his strike range, Rainbow landed on the ground and quickly sprung to the air, getting airborne immediately and flying up and away from him to regroup with the other mares. Once she did so, the look of shock was plastered all across her features, having her wings fully extended and her feathers all prickled up around her neck, hackles standing on end down her spine.

-“What was that?! The guy is a coward! He should have teleported or created a brick wall, or, or… Something!” – A bit shaken by what had just happened, the cyan mare was trying to make sense of the unexpected attack.

-“Are ya crazy?!” – Screaming almost at the top of her lungs, Applejack pulled the smaller mare by the shoulders, staring into her eyes with an infuriated expression.

-“I’m not! I just didn’t expect him to-“ – Trying to explain her reasoning, Rainbow held the orange mare’s wrists to free herself from Applejack’s grip, but Twilight cut through their exchange sharply.

-“Girls! Stand back!” – The unicorn commanded calling their attention as the group followed her order; something was very off with Discord.

Coughing and shaking his head from side to side violently, the draconequus raised his muzzle and stared Twilight directly into her eyes. Ruby like irises expanded and glowing threateningly, as the pupils turned sharp as needles. A low growl rumbled into his throat as his teeth grinded against each other, emitting short lived sparks. As he squared up his body posture, Discord’s eyes darted to his shoulder which now possessed a burned area in the shape of a small symbolic lightning.

Twilight’s face scrunched in confusion, but there was no time to voice her thoughts or act further; the gapping jaws of the lord of chaos opened up to their full might again and from his throat were spilled a stream of extremely hot flames, brighter and more intense than before. Both the unicorns in the team created a magical shield to deflect the flames, however everything around them was set ablaze and quickly started to be consumed… The air was rising in temperature rapidly the quantity of oxygen within the dome shield was scarce for all the six ponies.

Among the violent blazing inferno of blue flames stood the silhouette of the devious creature… With crimson eyes that shone as bright as the fire around him, acquiring a faint purple glow from the blue light reflected on his ruby irises. The mares expected for the worst possible outcome as they were trapped and under his mercy, so they prepared themselves for whatever move he would pull next.

But much for their surprise, the draconequus extended his damaged wings, turned around and ran at full speed before taking off after jumping over the river. All of the mares were left speechless and stared in confusion as their magical shield was expanded by Twilight and extinguished the flames that were threatening them the most. Once the fire taken care of, a dangerous hoarse growling of anger could be heard within their own group.

-“No! YOU WON’T!” – Rainbow swiftly crouched to get impulse and extended her wings, fully prepared to take off as she jumped forward and into the air

-“Rainbows, don’tcha dare-“ - As fast as AJ tried to grab onto her tail hair to hold her, the mare was gone as she flew off to pursue Discord, increasing her speed fiercely with each thrust of her wings.

Discord’s ears twitched reflexively to the sound of the incoming angry Pegasus; even if he so was much bigger, his current state of mind wouldn’t allow any threats to remain pressuring him. Getting injured or captured was out of question… It didn’t matter if she was small. The Pegasus was in the way of his freedom, and this wouldn’t last.

-“You made me betray my friends and my home, and I’ll make you pay for that!” - Diving like a hawk, she prepared herself to strike his bat wing with all her strength, be it by claws or hooves, but unfortunately for Dash… She had underestimated his capacities.

The draconequus quickly spun his flexible body as if he was a cat mixed with a snake; maneuvering his wings to purposefully catch all of the drag possible… And as he came to a sudden break, he stared deadly into her eyes with a vicious look as his paw swiped at one of her wings in a speed her eyes could barely register.

Rainbow tried to dodge or even retract her wings in time, but it was far too late as she witnessed his light yellow claws sink deep into the connective tendon between her wing’s bones and muscles… A sharp pain hit her immediately and spread through her entire wing to her back, paralyzing it as she suddenly plummeted from the sky like a bird that had been torn apart by a hawk; that demon was just there, staring at her from above as he rotated back into his original position and thrust himself forward and towards his escape.

Flapping her wings was no use.

Screaming was no use. Her body was in shock.

As Rainbow fell from the skies, her blood droplets got carried by the wind, falling with her but still floating above the Pegasus. The pain was just unbelievable as she was far too stunned to react, or even try to save herself.

Two delicate hands of a soft yellowish fur suddenly broke off her fall with a strong jerk. As the velocity was diminishing rapidly but in an unstable way, Rainbow could hear the loud and fast flapping of a pair of wings behind her as her friend’s heart race, her chest raising and falling quickly with effort.

-“F-…Fluttershy?!” – Rainbow’s body tensed with pain and stain as she opened her eyes further and suddenly the whole world felt like too much to take in as she squinted at her savior from below.

-“Hng… Just… Hang in… There… It’s all gonna be okay!” – Squirming and struggling a lot, the delicate Pegasus mare did her absolute best to break her friend’s fall as her blood droplets rained back down on both of them.

The mare tried to reassure her with a firm tone in her voice, yet a sweet sound to it… Like always. In a few seconds they landed and the yellow Pegasus was gasping for air after releasing her friend; after all going so high and breaking the fall of somepony else put quite a strain on her unprepared svelte body.

Seeing her in such a state broke Rainbow Dash out of her previous shock.

-“Fluttershy! Are you okay? I’m sorry, I- ARGH!” – Screaming in agony as she moved her wings to fold them, the realization hit her like a full speed friendship express. Her muscles were badly injured, and a stream of fresh bright blood was trickling down her feathers in copious amounts. Clenching her teeth, she tried to bite some tears back… It was not only her wing that was hurt, but also her pride and her feelings. Flying was the world to her, and seeing her wing in such a state sucked all hope and confidence she had within her in seconds.

As the other mares finally caught up to the duo, they conglomerated around Rainbow, each one of them was panicking and distressed by what they had just witnessed, but once the cyan mare put her hands to the ground and grasped the grass looking defeated and gazing at the horizon, they all remained quiet for a moment as they lacked the right words to be spoken and didn’t quite know what to do to soothe their friend.

-“I… I can’t believe it.” – Tears of pure anger and revolt rolled down Rainbow's cheeks, wetting her fur and making it darker. A strong hand was placed upon her shoulder, as she was pulled in the embrace of Applejack; a comforting hug that she was in dire need of at the moment.

-“We can’t either Sugarcube… But first, let’s patch this up, and fall back… For now.”

As bitter as those words were for her, Applejack was right… They couldn’t do anything right now. They were defeated; even using the elements of Harmony had failed somehow, even if their friendship was tested… The draconequus still escaped, as the sun stood high in the sky and the scenery that was once beautiful and wild had been covered in blood, flames and tears that day.

The mane six retreated to ponyville, as not only they stood silent, but the entire Everfree forest did as well.

Author's Note

Welp, this was surely so much fun to write! Discord didn't quite get stunned this time around, much to our main mares' dismay.

This is my first mlp fic, and I hope you like it! Have fun, and do drop comments! I'd love to hear what you have to say about it. In the next chapter, I'll get deeper into explaining how our lovely noodle barely escaped his doom.

This fic is mostly created for fun and to back up how our next gen universe came to be! It won't have gore or swearings all the time, but due to chapters like this one, I added those tags for safety.