Author's Note

It took me a whole month to notice that I should update my fic. It's just so lovely how life just makes you stumble for a little bit too long. It's a surprise that I managed to put this out in a few days or so... And I still gotta figure out how indentation works in this site.

Nonetheless! I tried a lot of new things in this chapter related to the writing style, I hope you can all enjoy it! Any critique or questions are very welcome. as there is a part that might raise a bit of confusion.

Chapter II : Amidst misery and calamity

--Canterlot Castle,??? AM/PM--

A suffocating dark veil fell upon the the sky, consuming it with a quick voracity as the full moon rose to the highest point it could go for all to see. Bringing a glimmering blanket of stars to decorate the absolute black that surrounded it.

The lights all flickered once again; a piercing pain ran down her skull immediately as if someone had just hit a hammer to the tip of her horn in order to impale it inside her own brain.

The harsh warmth of sunlight flooded the land a few seconds later, making a drastic and dangerous shift in the palette of colors that were being held now by the day sky; the transition had been done in a very forcible manner, throwing off the delicate balance and synchronization on the magical fields of anything that dared receive it’s violent energy as raw as it was right now. Celestia could feel how the sunlight was uncharacteristically plunging everything it touched in a scorching heat… The once comforting hazy light had turned into a blazing inferno.

Light gallop echoed through the hollowed corridors of the Canterlot Castle, as the sunlight penetrated through each tacky stained glass window and cast on the floor the tales of the past, irradiating colors and bringing memories to the surface that she’d rather forget… Celestia had to act quickly.

Once again, the lights oscillated and fizzled all at once as the castle trembled on its ground and tiny particles of dust came from every corner. She stumbled to the side and fell to the icy ivory floor on her knees; stomach knotting upon itself as a skull-splitting migraine took over in the blink of an eye. Her horn lit up once again involuntarily and sparkled with enough radiation that it could badly scorch anypony that stood around her.

Celestia’s cutie mark stung as if the skin under it had just started to heat up and soon would melt right off. All of her muscles seemed to be cramping, taking turns to afflict her with a throbbing pain in each region of her body as all of her three different magics collided and conflicted with one another. So far she had been able to send the letters to Twilight in hopes that they would aid her to see past that fiend’s manipulation. The solar princess was sure that her pupil could do it. As for her… She had to be reunited with Luna; however that was no easy task as her world just randomly started to spin within a small time interval to each of the insanely intense waves of dizziness and nausea that hit home.

Her air pipes started to shut down in a dangerous short span of time as a grim feeling crept up her spine alongside a cold chill that made her heart freeze for a moment and then accelerate… Sharp talons trailed on her skin, pressing and clamping down upon her throat. The mare’s eyes started to roll back into her skull as an exorbitant lightheadedness struck at full force; her body weakened harshly as she couldn’t keep herself straight, bending forward and wrapping her arms around herself. The colored projection of one of the stained windows bathed her with multicolored light and sharp shapes of flames, chaos and despair as a grim laugh rang inside her ears dully. Weakly Celestia turned her gaze to the chimeric creature depicted in the center of the image.

-“Oh did you miss me, Celestia?” - His voice resurfaced her mind… A vicious tone that sounded almost painful. Her heart sank to her stomach.

Suddenly every layer of her horn flared up once again while shooting a searing pain through its whole length, causing the princess to shriek in agony and shot her wings open desperately as she threw her own body to the side in a reflex to the pain; her head slammed against the floor as her crown fell and rolled down the hallway with echoing metallic sounds. All other noises were fading in as the light started to dim and blur. Celestia could feel the scorching heat and light dying down, as the colored projection from the stained window diluted in a rapid pace, alongside the fading sunlight that slipped away from her grasp once again and was swallowed by the horizon.

-“- ..ster?” - One of her ears reflexively turned around and tried to pick up the whispery distortions that crashed upon her senses.

-“Lu… Na…” - Muttering back in an even weaker whisper, those were the last words she could pronounce as she caught a brief glimpse of dark blue hooves racing in her direction, carrying a vague but familiar figure that approached her with a heartful of worry, kneeling as soon as she reached her and pulling her body closer with her hands.

-“Sister!” - Luna tried to reanimate her sister by any means, even shaking her back and forth... But it was of no use; the sun bearer had passed out right there in her arms, and unfortunately for the princess of the night, her turn to endure the painful horn malfunctions were approaching too. She couldn’t possibly risk entering the dream realm in order to aid her sister in such a condition as it would be far too unsafe to have her magic fizzle out amidst such a task. The only thing that she could do for now was wait and make sure that her sister’s health was in no serious danger; hoping that the older Alicorn could escape her induced nightmares on her own.

-“Be strong sister… I know you can triumph over this demon.” - And as she held the white Alicorn tightly in her embrace, her horn started to heat up too; the moon rose in the sky as blood trickled down the cut that her teeth carved in her lower lip. Nonetheless, Luna had to endure it without a complaint for her own sake and everyone else's.

-“Guards! Take us to my sister’s chambers!” - Luna demanded as she had been followed all this time by a small portion of her night guard, some of Celestia’s solar guard joined them too. Laying in bed wouldn’t solve her problems, but it would be easier to deal with this conundrum if at least she had something comfortable to lay upon as she watched her sister, despite their combined agony.

--Dream Realm, ✖--

As light flooded into her senses, revealing everything with such a blinding pastel luminance; The colors melted and stained all of the skies above and ground below; funny shapes softly sprouted, twisted and climbed all over, hypnotizing the young filly with such a mellow show.

The rays reflected and refracted from beautiful puffs so fluffy and soft, that as the image sank into her eyes, the filly could feel her heart going aloft;

• “So wonderful, so beautiful!” - The filly rejoiced filled with joy and glee, as the rainbow cascades that fell seemed to have come straight up from a dream. Yet she couldn’t quite see, that as the colorful clouds merely filled up the seams; a dome stood powerfully above, mythical, glass like, hiding from prying eyes where the world ended… Kind of.

Doused and soaked, glittering and shimmering, beautiful flora danced gracefully with the breeze, and as the fauna came forth- a murmur was carried from the north. A whisper that cut deeply through the frolic; lost, broken? Perhaps melancholic. - All the living it seemed to displease, as they scattered, dispersed, the forest once again came to a freeze.

The filly that also had danced, singed, twirled and pranced; Thought that she could go on forevermore; but that wasn’t the case, as a sudden chill crept through her very core.

• “Is anypony there?” - She asked not for answer of the dancing flowers, blowing leaves or rushing rainbow outpour; as that whisper had carried a voice, albeit damaged, she had heard it once before.

Once lighting up the soft forest shadows, and brightening up the thick meadows, the colorful eyes now skittered and scattered back to the safety of the growth; all life dying down and fading away as that dim and distant voice once again, whispered softly to the winds with loath.

-“...Lie.”

As the whole body was stricken by a sudden quiver, the filly’s staggered as her hooves sank into a shallow river; where had it come from? Nobody could tell, but if one thing was certain, it seemed to desaturate everything that was once so soft colored, all things that once were pastel.

Luscious and mellow the forest was no more, as deeper and deeper the filly wandered leaded by the river, the colors were all devoured by the greying waters, and soon drowned and powerless as it was turned, the forest could not be alive anymore.

Paddling and sweating, shivering and withering, the sun bearer scrapped her hooves on the rocky and slippery river floor, as the lights finally pierced down in a harsh assault, transfixed, her meekly marching came to a halt. Eyelids tightly shut, all of the sounds that once reached her came to an abrupt cut… And then, there was only silence.

Opening her eyes, she bravely looked around in defiance… The forest had vanished, and alongside it all life seemed to be banished; there was only a smooth, crystalline infinite floor.

Shocked and astounded, she turned from side to side, confounded; nothing was like it had been before… Everything but a silhouette, standing above a unique pedestal, as all the lights were dying down, only a spot reminisced around, and nothing more.

-“I found you! But what happened to everyone that was here before? They were so lovely! But now they’re gone… Everything is gone.”

The silhouette did not ever shift, even as the skies above finally came to a rift… The last trace of a dream that tried to stand against oblivion, fading away, just like everything else, it succumbed to decay. And the whisperer dared to speak up once again.

-“None of you did stay… Why didn’t you stay?”

Celestia’s ears pinned back as her heart sank in pure dismay… A voice so sweet and familiar; the voice of a long lost friend that she could never associate with a killer.

-“Discord-”

-“What have I ever done to you? All of you?” - Turning sharply the cub sounded hurt as he roared, exposing to the pink maned filly a sight that she could only take in as abhorred. His chest was ripped open, all burnt away was his hide, and his left eye was completely gone, and you could see everything that bleed within it’s inside. In their places erupted magenta crystals, eating away his flesh, and spilling liquid as they formed blisters.

-“I didn’t… Mean to..!” - Doused in raw horror as she saw such a display, the filly tried to go back, to run away; however she couldn’t move or try to flee, as crystal snakes constrained her hooves and tattered her to the pristine floor, something she would had never tried to foresee.

-“LIAR!” - He screamed and his voice echoed in the hollowed dome, falling to shambles was the sky, as the gray water around her hooves had dispersed and faded away in foam.

She tried to speak, but the words didn’t come, as the echo still hollered above with the same word, and nothing else could possibly be heard.

“LIAR!” “LIAR!” “LIARS” “LIARS!” “LIAR!”

-“YOU ALL LIED TO ME! YOU HAD PROMISED ME!”

Dropping to the icy cold floor; the fear within her heart could not subside, as the filly couldn’t run and had nowhere left to hide; and she had no one here to call a friend, despite the fact that the chaotical cacophony had come to a bleak end.

She blinked, and there was a spot of dim light right above her head… Everything else was devoid of life, devoid of motion, devoid of sound and sights; As far as the horizon could go, the void was everything that she could possibly see below. Now standing on a pedestal, crystal chains pierced through her meat, but despite that, there was no feeling of pain as her heart had stopped to beat.

She tried to shout, but no voice came out… And from the crystalline darkness under, a fluttering sound came about; A million flapping wings as butterflies swarmed the sun, the only beam left of light…

-“You’ll come undone.” - A dozen strange voices thundered in her ears, a ringing noise quickly escalated and it she could not shun. The swarm had swallowed her, and as the butterflies melted into one amalgam, the feelings of dissonance and pandemonium had come.

The unholy abomination melted violently around her, convulsing corpses that scraped, screeched, quakeed and screamed all in unison, wrapping and reaping at her very soul, drowning the dying sun.

The fallen had come to tear her apart; they ate her alive… And as all lights came to be extinguished, one voice reverberated.

-“There will be no one who shall be left to survive.”

--Canterlot Castle, ✖--

-“S-stop! STOP!” - In her bounds, Celestia fruitlessly trashed around and struggled, screaming in silence as her words came out but never truly echoed through her surroundings. Their claws dug deeper into her… Their screams and shrieks got even louder; but she couldn’t look away, nor tear them apart from herself. Their claws were not digging at her flesh, but into her soul itself, ripping her very essence to tiny pieces as everything in her mind started to turn into a jumbled mess of broken thoughts and damaged memories that quickly lost their form and played over and over, corrupt and meaningless.

The pain resided in the despair, in the absolute mayhem of mixed feelings as the amalgamated souls dragged her into whatever THEY were. Drowning in what felt like quick sand, she lashed out as every ounce of life was sucked dry from her, leaving nothing but an empty shell that started to crack and fade away within the other disfigured forms.

Amidst this chaos, she unconsciously transited from screaming and lashing out to sobbing and weeping. Her clenched fists hitting over, and over, and over into the melting mass of corpses; sinking into the clingy matter as she pulled back for yet another pointless strike-

It hit something solid. It felt like a hard area that was covered in smooth fur as her right hand slid upon it, her palm touching that fuzzy skin. It was a body, a shoulder as she could tell by the shape of the bone lying under. The cacophony of screams and moving masses started to silence and fade away as the spot of light above her head shone intensely, in an almost blinding manner.

--Canterlot Castle, 19:47 PM--

Her whole body was shaken to the core; there was a strong pressure sitting on top of her shoulders now, irking her senses.

-“CELESTIA! SNAP OUT OF IT SISTER!” - A familiar voice erupted from the deadly silence after the horrid sounds of her nightmare had silenced.

Immediately Celestia’s body jerked up as she sat upon her comfortable bed, panicked and gasping deeply for more air, her senses still overwhelmed and her lungs overworked. Due to the sudden change in position, it took more than a few seconds for her body pressure to spread equally all over, causing the iridescence maned unicorn to wobble and fall back into Luna’s arms, which held her closer to herself in turn. Worry plastered all over her features very clearly, however she tried to sooth her older sister.

-“Calm down dear sister… Everything will be okay now, it’s no longer a nightmare in which you are trapped. This is the real world. Breath in-”

-“Princess Celestia, are you okay?!” - Hurried and deeply distraught, Twilight’s voice snapped out even if she were trying to hold herself back for Celestia’s sake. This earned a mild scowl from the Princess of the night that was trying to not perturb Celestia further. - “… I’m sorry. It’s just that seeing you trash around and scream in your sleep made me really, really,really worried and-”

-“Twilight Sparkle, we request thou to calm down and stop thy fussing at once. Our sister will be okay, now give her a moment to properly wake up.” - Luna demanded, and this time it seemed to be effective enough.

-“Okay! No hurry, no fuss! Everything is going to be just alright! Haah… I’ll be quiet now.” - as Twilight straightened her posture and tried to nod hurriedly in agreement with Luna, she ended up rambling; it was difficult to keep her overflowing anxiety in check in situations like these, and on top of that she smiled like some sort of maniac to try to be reassuring.

-“I… Huh? Twilight is that you?” - Finally as her eyes started to re-adjust to the real world, light started to flow in more naturally as she blinked a few more times, squinting her eyes as she supported her hands on her sister’s shoulders to push herself into a sitting position once again. - “You’re here...” - Saying mindlessly, the alicorn rubbed the back of her hand onto her eye for a few seconds trying to forget her excruciating nightmare. As her mind kicked back into work a spark finally went up. - “You’re here! You’re… The citizens! Discord! The sun...”

Looking about, the princess of the sun seemed disorientated for a moment before turning her head straight to the window and pushing herself up. She tumbled forward as her wings flapped aimlessly, powering a small jump that she made from the wide bed to close the distance between her and the nearest window, holding it’s frame to regain her balance after the stunt.

Luna and Twilight followed her movements, one with a mildly distressed expression, and the other trying to keep that extremely eerie smile of reassurance onto her features as she walked in Celestia’s direction to double check if everything was alright with her. The taller Alicorn made a slightly rough landing onto her hooves due to the lingering drowsiness of her disturbed sleep.

Pushing the windows open, Celestia took in the smooth moonlight that beamed down upon Equestria as she closed her eyes for just a moment of appreciation… The glimmering sky was such a sweet relief, and as her gaze fell upon the streets below, some citizens seemed to be still disturbed as the royal guards wandered about to calm them down and advise them to go back into their homes. There was a last minute curfew that went up since the towns were plunged into a crisis mode; Celestia just instructed such actions to be taken as to make sure that her ponies would all be fine and easy to find in case that more severe measures needed to be set in motion… She could not be cautious enough when dealing with the spirit of chaos.

Appeased, she turned around and sighed heavily as she leaned onto the wall and pressed a hand to her chest, allowing herself relax and support her weight on the icy sleek wall. Folding her tense and tired wings back into their place… She had tossed a lot in her sleep.

Her gaze connected with Twilight’s, the smaller unicorn suddenly seemed to lose her “everything will be fine” eerie smile as she swallowed dry and bowed down, lowering her head as she spoke up.

-“I’m very glad to see that you are okay Princess Celestia…” - Raising her head, her shoulders were still showing tension, but not like her whole body was showing before. - “I was so, so worried! As soon as we arrived and set Rainbow Dash to heal her wing with the local doctor specialist in Pegasi, I came straight up here and found you and Princess Luna-” - However Twilight was cut shortly as the Alicorn’s eyes went wide amidst her explanation.

-“Rainbow Dash was injured?! How badly?” - Asking directly, the princess had no regard for regality or the volume of her voice as automatically she stood up and firm. Not wasting a second to recall the locations within the castle so that she could go directly to the infirmaries and healing wing; the princess started walking, expecting the other two to join her.

-“Her wing was… Well...” - Twilight followed suit, marching alongside the princesses as her gaze feel down to the floor and soured in an instant. - “The main wing ligament tendon was brutally tore up-... Everything happened so quickly, that I could barely absorb the events as they unfolded. If I had only stopped her from pursuing Discord this wouldn’t have-”

Twilight’s words once again stricken the sun princess as she stopped dead in her tracks, forcing the unicorn to run face-first into the princess’ back and disheveled wings as she had no time to stop her own motions.

Stepping back, she rubbed her muzzle with the back of her hand and suddenly took in the scale of what had just happened, stuttering for a few seconds before trying to force out an apology.

-“I’m sorry princess, I wasn’t paying attention and well, I didn’t see when you stopped so-”

The gentle touch of dark feathers rustling on Twilight’s back called her attention to the Princess of the Night that now stood right by her side. A very light warning scowl adorned her features as she nodded pensively from side to side one time and pointed towards Celestia by raising her muzzle in the air in a quick gesture.

That’s when it caught the purple unicorn’s attention… Celestia was trembling slightly for several seconds all of the sudden, staring at seemingly nothingness with her eyes wide open and ears pinned back. It was as if she had been dragged back into her nightmare, but this time was just standing there instead. Swallowing her nervousness back, the element of magic raised a hand to try and catch her attention, however, before she could even touch the white Alicorn again, she spoke up.

-“Did… He do it? Did Discord injure Rainbow Dash directly, or was it an unhappy accident of his magic?” - Her tone seemed disheartened, and hid a suspicious glimmer of hope in favor for the later scenario.

-“I… I’m afraid that… We failed to capture him, your majesty.” - Hastily bowing once more in an apologetic manner, she couldn’t contain the bitter feelings that flooded her chest all at once. She had not only failed Princess Celestia, but failed Equestria, and her closest best friends as well. It was all too much to take in as her voice seemed to stagger with tears that she held back. - “ I failed to see through his tricks; and now he has just flied off somewhere!” - Getting back up, her horn fizzled with electrical magic as she felt anger bubbling up inside her. She held one fist with her other hand above her chest, clenching her grasp tightly around it. - “And Rainbow was hurt by a swipe of his claws… I’m so sorry, I-”

Before she could undo herself into a pool of frustration and anger, she felt the tender touch from the older Alicorn as Celestia pulled her into a comforting hug. The unicorn was surprised at first, but as tears welled up in her eyes, promptly she answered the hug and relished in the mother-like embrace that her mentor had to offer.

-“It is not your fault, or your friend’s for that matter… I should have known that it was far too dangerous to put you against a creature such as Discord on your own.” - Despite her soothing words, a heaving sigh escaped her lips and coated her words with a certain grievance. She finally let the smaller mare go after a few seconds and turned to continue marching towards the infirmary, where the others were waiting for the trio, and supporting Rainbow Dash through this harsh moment. - “I trusted fully and blindly that the elements of harmony alone could protect you and cease his wrongdoings… I should have known better.”

Raising up her head, her strolling motion turned into more of a canter as she had to quickly access the situation and regroup everypony so they could come up with a counter plan for this conundrum… If Discord was free, it wouldn’t be long until the draconequus would regain his powers and exact vengeance upon his offenders.

Luna picked up the pace as she stood by Twilight’s left side, leaving the pupil to walk between them as she spoke with determination.

-“Fear not sister, for all of us commit mistakes. It’s how we fix our mistakes that really matters by the end of the tale. That fiend might have chaos and madness to his aid, but Equestria has it’s champions and allies… We shall heal from this strike, and we shall prevail! That malevolent spirit will not get so lucky at our next encounter.”

-“Exactly!” - Twilight unconsciously beamed, raising her muzzle and almost bouncing with a renewed spirit, as the sisters glanced upon her jovial reaction. Celestia smiled warmly at the sight, while Luna had more of a smirk than anything else… It made the purple mare blush slightly and give a sheepish smile as she noticed their looks.

Princess Luna always was an excellent tactician, even if 1000 years of banishment to the moon might have made her slightly “rusty” at this whole game. Nonetheless, she had not lost all grip onto the art of war.

Discord for now was effectively mostly powerless for all that they knew, and despite the fact that he had somehow blocked the element’s power, he had not been totally immune to it’s damage either; the last time that they had seen him, his body was in a really rough shape, as he was coated in strange wounds and dark layered stains all over his left arm and shoulder. The rest of his body being adorned with dozens upon dozens of shallow wounds that trickled with fresh blood, burnt fur patches, and scratches that seemed to have been made almost surgically as they bleed intensely, but despite that, they were very clean and not ragged at all.

This game had become a cat and mice chase… For now the champions of harmony were the cat, and they had to make SURE to catch that chaotic rat that is the spirit of disharmony before he could stir tumult somewhere else. He could be anywhere in and out of Equestria, but they would find him even if they had to turn every single rock in the hellish pits of Tartarus.

As the main doors of the infirmary wing went open, most passer by doctors and nurses bowed down out of respect to their Celestial Princesses and their reputed student and current champion of harmony, Twilight Sparkle. Guards followed right behind to make sure that nothing unlikely was to happen to them, since of late the castle’s walls seemed to have eyes, ears… Or even claws and talons for that matter.

An eerie tranquility embraced everyone. Despite the dark feelings looming over, they had to follow suit for now and stay calm and collected. It was of no use to panic without even knowing their enemy’s whereabouts.

Coming to the door, the princesses let Twilight be the first to step into the room, as she caught the other mares’ attention almost immediately and they instantly beamed; some with complaints, others with sighs of relief and happiness.

-“Twilight! We are glad to see ya… We were almost going after ya, since ya said it was going to be quick.” - As Applejack came closer to greet Twilight, the angle allowed her to see the royal sisters as they were also coming in. Taken aback, she gave a light bow as they now entered the room fully. - “Ah mean, your majesties could have taken as much time as you needed… We were just a bit worried, it’s all.” - Lifting her head back up, the earth pony pulled her hat off and put it over her chest.

Soon enough the other mares started to imitate the royal greeting gesture; even a hospitalized Rainbow Dash tried to do a semi bowing gesture, despite being strictly told to not strain her muscles.

As Luna caught a glimpse of her movements, she hastily lifted a hand to stop Everypony and proceeded to say:

-“We inform thou that such manner of greeting shall not be necessary. We have most important problems to tend to than regality and mannerisms at the moment.” - And by the end of her small announcement she walked over to the side Rainbow’s bed. The cyan Pegasus was indeed very conscious, as she at least made sure to greet her with a small head bow. The princess of the night gave a small regal smile in return and laid a hand upon hers. Dash’s eyes went slightly wide as she stared at Luna both in awe and with nervousness as she commanded. - “Do report the extension of the damage, doctor Phoenix.” – Turning her gaze to the doctor, Luna expected him to speak up.

-“Well, there is deep damage caused to the main sustaining tendon of the right wing...” - Starting the report, he seemed to raise a folder with all the printed results of her exams, as he kept reading. - “Such an extreme tendon rupture could take 4-6 months to start creating proper scar tissue, and more than 5 complete years to get as similar as it’s previous total functionality-”

Nonetheless, he got quickly interrupted by a desperate shouting Pegasus that threw her hands to the air in pure exasperation.

-“WHAT?! 5 YEARS?! I can’t wait that long! I have to monitor the weather, and keep practicing to join the Wonderbolts; I just can’t be benched for that long! I gotta- Ouch!” - She cringed and complained as her wing muscles winced from the sudden movement. The injury was constantly hurting and starting to swell up rapidly, even after the proper disinfection, stitching and pain killers that were applied to the area.

-“Do rest and conserve your strength, now.” - Luna’s turquoise eyes looked at her imposing… Her gaze piercing through all the sourness and frantic feelings, making the Cyan Pegasus frown and close her eyes heavily, biting her lower lip with a transparent burning anger and frustration, however a hand gently lifted her chin and forced the surprised mare to gaze at those nightly jewels again. - “Do not fret. As the previous element of loyalty I could say with certainty that I would have risked myself just like you did. We shall do everything under our power to aid in the healing of your wound. We cannot promise that you’ll be magically up in the air overnight, but you shall not wait years for that to be.”

The entire mane six seemed instantly appeased to hear that from one of their Princesses as they sighed with relief. This injury had been the main reason of panic among them since much before in the day.

-“See? I always knew that the Princesses would have a solution to this crisis!” - Rarity spoke with confidence, smiling and raising her muzzle in the air with a sense of pride.

-“Really? Ah thought that I clearly heard you panicking over this and asking how in Equestria anyone could ever heal that.” - Applejack said smugly, confronting the unicorn as Pinkie giggled remembering how Rarity was fussing all around, with no fainting couch nowhere in sight.

-“Why, of course!” - Rarity protested exasperated with an offended tone as she placed the back of her hand on her own forehead. - “I could not stand the ghastly sight of that wound, specially inflected upon a dearest friend!”

But before anyone could further the conversation, they all heard a soft sob. All eyes in the room fell upon Rainbow Dash, as she used an arm to try and clear away the overflowing tears. Luna had not deviated her attention from the Pegasus, and grasped her shoulder as a signal of reassurance and motivation for her to speak up as everyone else stood quiet now in surprise.

-“T-..Thank you so much Princesses, I’ll be always loyal to you. And to Equestria… I’ll still be up and ready for battle when we gotta kick that filthy snake back into his stone coffin! Even if I have to do it from the ground!”

Luna silently nodded for a moment, observing in silence how Celestia’s expression contorted with sourness for some seconds, before she managed to pull a façade fake smile and closed her eyes in a friendly expression. This obviously raised suspicion, but she wouldn’t embarrass her sister or put her on a spot among her most faithful student and “warriors”.

-“Yeah, and while they brew some concoction or write a spell to fix you right up, or do something so utterly cool with their magic that you might spring rainbow wings and-” - As Pinkie beamed and jumped forward to land right beside Rainbow’s bed, she saw how the other’s expressions lightened up, some even exasperated at her antics, but Luna mostly smiled lightly at her. - “Well maybe not that, but I’m sure you’ll be up and flying soon enough, Dashie!”

Not only Pinkie reassured her, as all the other five mares gave their own agreeing nods and sounds, before Doctor Phoenix spoke up out of the blue… They had almost forgotten his presence after Rainbow’s short breakdown.

-"Well, for now I believe she will be fine, and until your majesties are ready to administer a solution that will further her healing, I shall leave you to your visit.” - The unicorn doctor said politely, as he gave a light bow and collected Rainbow’s exam results in it’s folder… He had other patients to get to after all. The chaos storm had not been kind to anybody after all.

-“... I’m truly glad that despite this unhappy event, you are all still quite alright.” - Princess Celestia finally spoke up as her wings fluttered open for a moment. She was legitimately happy about this however, as the mane six looked up to her, she came to a stop right beside Pinkie and also gently held upon Rainbow’s hand, earning a light bashful smile from the Pegasus mare. - “I already have something in mind from my and Luna’s old studies to aid with your injury… However, I would like to discuss the problem at hand if you all are not too worn out I’m afraid.”

-“I might be in a bed, but I’m ready to come up with a cool plan to kick flank, Princess Celestia!” - Rainbow beamed raising her hind hooves to the air in a kicking motion, groaning in a displeased tone as she couldn’t avoid moving her immobilized wing slightly.

-“Rainbows! Don’t fuss around like that!” - AJ protested with a scowl.

-“I’m not made of crystal, ya know. My wing hurts, but that’s about it!” - Retorting, she gave the earth pony an even more menacing stare as she crossed her arms.

-“A-ahn… I think it means yes, we’d like to hear your plans your highness.” - Fluttershy intervened politely and in a barely brave but bold enough tone, raising her head and squaring up for a few seconds before, meekly slumping back into her shy posture and letting her bangs fall over half of her face. - “If you still wanna talk, that is.”

Nodding positively, her yellow sparkling aura lit up as the chairs by the sides of the room were brought in closer, accommodating the currently standing five mares. Luna simply strolled to Celestia’s side as the sun princess spoke up.

-“We may not be able to pinpoint his location right now; however I have a very strong hunch of where he might be headed. I’ll first need to hear how did Discord manage to escape the elements? I assume that you read the letters that I sent back to you.” - Looking directly at Twilight, Celestia showed a concerned and perplexed expression.

Promptly the unicorn mare swallowed dry and frowned, bringing a hand to cup her cheek as she remembered the events that unfurled before and pondered.

-“Honestly, I’m not sure… After I cast a quick memory spell to bring everyone back from his discording spell, or whatever that greying malicious spell was; we assembled to shot him back to stone with the elements, but-” - And as she looked down slightly confused at this point, Pinkie shot her arms wildly to the air and cut Twilight shortly.

-“And then we all floated like we had super powers, and we felt that tingly and awesome, but warm feeling of the elements activating, and Discord was like: NOOO! And we were like: Yeees! Of course, we couldn’t actually say it because it’s like we kind of freeze when we’re floating up and the elements activate, but you get the drive!” - She laughed and swatted her hand in the air a few times, as if fanning in front of her mouth. Then her expression changed to a worried one as she had a bit of a scowl this time around. - “But when we came back down to the ground, he was nowhere to be seen! Then everypony started to look around frantically!” - She jumped up and precariously balanced her whole body weight on her hands that were supported by the chair’s thin back. - “Applejack found a trail, but much to Rarity’s horror and mostly a scare for us-” - This earned a mild glare from the white unicorn, that once more huffed and raised her muzzle in the air, looking to the other side. - “... IT WAS TOTALLY MADE OUT OF BLOOD AND STRANGE MEATY LIKE DARK PURPLE CRYSTALS!”

As she put a whole lot of emphasis on her words, the boisterous earth pony swung her body forward and fell back into her seat. Rarity’s face scrunched in disgust at the memory.

-“Ugh, if it wasn’t absolutely necessary for the Princesses to know the minimal crude details, I’d rather not have that imagery brought back to surface ever again.”

But as the mares looked to the princesses, Luna seemed to be slightly confused but mostly annoyed… It didn’t explain almost at all how he could have escaped. Celestia was mostly bewildered and puzzled, as she tried to make sense of Pinkie’s rather blurted explanation. Twilight intersected the silence this time, taking back her speaking role that was cut out.

-“Thank you for the… Summary, Pinkie.”

-“Anytime!” - The fluffy haired mare beamed up with a wide smile uncharacteristic of the situation’s seriousness.

-“However we got no clue of how he managed to escape… Maybe he overpowered the elements?” - Twilight questioned the sun bearer.

-“Not likely Twilight, the elements powers based of pure balance, diminishing powers that are being used erratically or are too concentrated… They bring back harmony to all things that are bestowed with their magic, and only that.” - Celestia spoke up, deep in thought as she looked to her sister… And the dark blue mare was strangely focused at the group, her gaze stuck on Fluttershy, as the butter colored Pegasus remained quiet and looked straight to the ground below, agonized.

-“Sister, is there anything in your mind that might aid us?”

-“Fluttershy.” - Luna hastily spoke up walking in the Pegasus’ direction. Immediately it snapped her attention as she looked up to the princess of the night. Timid as always.

-“O-oh, yes Princess Luna?” - She humbly asked, having her head pointing down but looking up from behind her hair with one of her teal eyes.

Luna’s expression softened as she spoke in a more relaxed manner, asking her a question. - “Those “fleshy dark crystals” as Pinkie dubbed them… Did they look anything like one of the animals that composed the body of that fiend?”

Now all eyes fell upon the duo. Even Celestia was confused for a brief second, before realizing where her sister might be going with this, so she closed her semi-open lips and raised her ears, expecting the answer of the shy mare.

Swallowing dry, she tried to exhale her nervousness away as she recalled the whole episode and put the most detail that she could remember into her description. - “Y-yes… Everyone was quick to follow the trail of blood puddles, scales, feathers and burnt fur that he had left behind, but I took a spare moment to look at those remains… They were shattered and scattered all through the grass, but...” - Her stomach turned into a knot. She exhaled again, shivering just lightly. - “But despite that, the chunks of looked like an arm that had been blasted to pieces and was crystallizing from the inside... It vaguely resembled the skin of an eagle at the surfaced, adorned with orangeish scales. Some even had tufts of brown feathers attached, and I could swear that if you align the bits, you could make out an entire giant sized eagle talon.”

Celestia’s eyes went wide, but Luna just frowned and sighed, nodding to the pegasus in a quiet “thank you” motion.

-“That’s a very risky and expensive trick that he pulled to escape this time around… He must be utterly powerless in the magical field, however we must haste to pinpoint down the beast, as he is still very capable of injuring more of our subjects.” - Pointing towards Rainbow Dash, Luna turned to her sister expecting for her to intervene now. All the other ponies looked puzzled however.

-“Ah’m sorry but, Princess Luna, can ya explain how that dirty rascal escaped? Ah’m not sure I or… All of us quite caught your reasoning there. What those fleshy crystal bits have to do with it?”

-“I believe it would be wise for us to finish explaining by tomorrow, Applejack.” - Celestia spoke up and sighed, trying to absorb in the speculation that her sister was throwing to her with those vague clues. - “I believe that you ponies should head to our guest chambers, you should all be very exhausted after the events that unfolded today.”

Most of the ponies agreed, even if Twilight did so reluctantly… She understood that it had been a very rough day for everyone, but she wanted to know how Discord had fooled them. And not only that; she was sure he did something to the princesses as well… They looked overly tired, and when she had came to fetch them at their personal chambers, Celestia was thrashing all about while trapped in some weird type of sleep from which Luna couldn’t wake her up even with magic! Nonetheless, she believed that her mentor knew best after all, so she wouldn’t press it right now.

-“Yes, we all should rest and prepare for what is to come. As soon as dawn rises in the horizon, I’ll go to the archives to research… If there is one thing that Discord proved, is that I was not enough prepared… Even my foolproof spell failed!” - That tiny detail resurfaced to mind as Twilight huffed in exasperation.

-“I’m sure your spell was working just fine Twilight Sparkle, however that fiend’s magic outranks ours in ways that are unimaginable.” - Luna corrected before turning towards Rainbow Dash now. - “As the moon stands outside, it is my turn to watch over Equestria… Sister, do lead the others to their respective quarters. Rainbow Dash.” - She called out, looking at the pegasus with a serious expression and a regal air back to her movements.

The cyan pegasus squared up as well as she could on top of a relatively stiff bed but supporting herself on a plush pillow. - “Yes Princess?”

-“I’ll start the research for a potion to aid you right away, as soon as I finish checking upon the Dream Realm and appeasing our rather distressed subjects. Do try and get a good night of sleep, despite everything… Know that you fought well, element of loyalty.”

Biting down onto her lower lip, Rainbow smiled and held back her tears with some effort. - “Onto it Princess! Thank you… I’ll always fight for my friends, and my home!”

Earning a gentle nod of the Princess of the Night, Rainbow watched her turn around and start to leave the room as she had to patrol the darkness and make sure that ponies wouldn’t succumb to fear… However, none did notice the mild suspicious glare that she threw at her sister, except for said Alicorn.

Princess Celestia just decided to let that slide for now, and allowed the mane six to all say their Goodnight’s to Rainbow Dash as they left the room for the time being… Pinkie Pinkie promised to see her with delicious pancakes first thing in the morning before they went off to rest themselves.

As Celestia guided the group of ponies to their chambers, there was little to no chattering to be heard behind her… All of her thoughts seemed hazy and messed up. She couldn’t stop a dreadful feeling that was building up in her chest from devouring her mind anyways. Someone’s touch snapped her out of her silent misery.

-“Princess Celestia? We’re at the guest rooms corridor. I’m sorry, it didn’t seem like you noticed that we’re here already.” - Twilight smiled sheepishly, but soon enough looked at the white Alicorn with worry in her features.

-“O-oh… Yes, thank you for warning me. I was indeed a bit distracted.” - She tried to give her most caring and warm smile, but her expression seemed tired and troubled despite her effort to hide it. - “I hope you all have a good night of sleep my little ponies!”

-“WELL, I’m super duper tired after those nasty things that happened today, so I’m ready to crash in!” - Pinkie beamed, already walking up cheerfully to a large door for one of the main rooms that were for the picking.

-“Ah think we’all can relate there with ya, Pinkie.” - Applejack however gave a small nod and pulled her hat to her chest one last time. - “Goodnight Princess Celestia.”

Smiling warmly, she nodded too and turned around to head back to her chambers, despite having waked up just about an hour ago. Twilight sighted heavily as she saw the Princess turning around the corner, her mane and tail slightly less wavy and lively than normal.

“I do hope she can sleep at all… Or that I can for that matter.” - Thinking to herself, she entered the main chamber that Pinkie had quickly convinced all to use. Somehow she felt that picking individual rooms would feel too lonely after what they had to endure with the discordance that was cast upon them before. Giving a light smile and agreeing with the notion, Twilight tried to redirect her thoughts to her friends and joined them to rest.

As for the princess… She was pacing back and forth in her room, incapable of sleeping. Dusty books flied about as she tried to make sense of everything that she saw and heard; the nightmare wouldn’t easily let go of her mind, and the Alicorn swore that she could still feel those desperate and miserable souls clawing at her magic and her own life-force. Something she deeply wished to be a lie… But what if it wasn’t?

-Appleloosa, 21:17 PM-

There was a gargantuan cluster of chaos magic, radiating with delicious energy directly at south… He just had to keep going a while longer. Keep pushing forward for just some more kilometers.

Of course it would have been so much easier if there wasn’t an alarming quantity of harmonics coursing through his veins… It wasn’t concentrated enough to actually totally petrify him, but from time to time it forced the draconequus to uphuck an actually dangerous quantity of putrefied blood that carried tiny crystals made of his own former flesh and soft tissues.

With every surge of paralyzing pain that hit him, he plummeted over and over, had even crashed a bunch of times already… His memory wasn’t registering the events that were unfolding anymore, blinded by sheer pain since the moment that the annoying pegasus had brushed her distasteful little crystal upon his shoulder.

Through his mind there were only faint flashbacks of the times that he fell… Each time a group of bones snapped and shattered at impact, naturally; and each time they painfully moved back to their places of origin and temporarily glued the shattered calcium formations back together as literal sparks of white, burning magic sealed the cracks. If only he had a slightly bigger reservoir of chaos magic at his disposal, he could heal all of those pesky wounds at the blink of an eye. Nonetheless, when he reached his “sanctuary” he would be able to both dispose of his injuries and finally purge the harmonic magic from his system. But as off now, he could barely stay conscious, and the pure disgust that dig at his guts was sometimes too strong to bear most of the time, as all of his nerves and senses screamed at him with every heartbeat and flap of wings.

His chest and lion paw were covered in dried up mud that stuck heavily to certain patches of fur and feathers that joined his body; even his formerly pristine goatee had the mud’s color dirtying it. Just after he managed to flee the mane six, he ended up crashing not far away in the Froggy Bottom Bog at the edges of the Everfree… A swamp that was house to cute slimy frogs, and hydras of course. Making his way out of there without disturbing the damned things had been almost impossible, and eventually they had indeed noticed him.

Some dozens of minutes later, he ended up spitting almost half of his liver worth in blood and fleshy crystals, going half unconscious in mid flight and barely being able to knock himself out of the stupor as he fell, pulling up in the last minute and avoiding falling into the Ghastly Gorge. The water below looked temptatively refreshing and cold, but chaos could offer him all the water that he could possibly desire with a snap of his fingers. Besides, he was mostly sure that he would have drowned anyways; despite being immortal, he could still get injured just like any other creature.

And once again as he came excruciatingly closer to his goal, another critical surge of harmonics hit him at full force as an electrical spark ran up his spine, sending paralysis to all of his limbs at once as the muscles contorted painfully; the Macintosh Hills at the horizon became smudged in reddish brown colored blur in a matter of seconds as the world went into a corkscrew all around him… Tumbling down from the sky, he felt the altitude rapidly decreasing as his eyes twitched and started to roll back into his skull; the pain was unbearable and crept onto every fiber within him, convulsing and shutting down all functions in his body at once. Feeling his wings barely twitch onto his back, the lord of chaos just tried to brace himself for impact as best as he could one more time… And soon it came.

Crashing at terminal velocity onto the rails that snaked their way out of the city, the draconequus could feel every bone in his neck splitting and shattering even as his head and chest were the first areas that crashed upon the metal and thick wood from the train tracks.

Lights quickly went on right behind him being emitted from the tiny town; the sound of his crash easily waking up the local residents as he tried to contort his own body back into shape… Flesh making disgusting noises as it had erupted alongside splints of bone, and said bones pulling themselves back into place, piece by piece… A pool of blood quickly forming under him from the open wounds as the pressure forced blood to squirt out from his exposed flesh and ruptured veins. Cracks loudly echoed as his jaw popped itself back into place; his disfigured form groaned in agonizing pain as the semi-healing procedure overran his senses.

Everything was covered by a red filter as he wobbled from side to side on his pained limbs; his cloven hoof and dragon claw stumbling over the broken rails… Murmuring was heard some hundreds of meters back, as his ears twitched uncontrollably and his neck twisted it’s own vertebrae back into place. And in the midst of the cacophony of whispers that flooded his ears because of the chaos magic chanting him tales of temptation and wonders from beyond the hills, there was but one interruption… A tumbling sound of various round bodies falling to the dusty ground, followed by the rapid clopping sounds of galloping hooves. A pony… No, a city full of them.

The hydra? Those had been a challenge… The element yielders? Pests that he underestimated… But defenseless ponies were just a treat. And he was so, so terribly starved for some old fashioned turmoil and calamity. Quickly glancing over his own shoulder, he saw a light caramel colored stallion running at full speed back to city, a single red apple cutie mark decorating his flanks. A twisted smile grew upon his now healed mouth.

However it faded away as he thought twice. He could come back for some fun really soon, just as soon as he had reached the quarantined deserts between the Saddle Horn Peaks and the Leota Forest.

As the convulsion like effects from the rush of harmonics had finally faded, and most of his bone structure was at least minimally healed up, he entered a rushed trot towards the hills in the distance as he could hear the screams of ponies coming from the city… They had spotted him. It was really painful to just flee from a defenseless bunch of hillbillies that he could have easily subdued and crushed, but with his recent miscalculations and the fact that his own body and magic were striking him randomly unconscious lately, it was just best to not test his luck right now.

Picking up speed, the chaos spirit started to strongly flap his wings again as he bounced up to the air once more with great effort… This time it would be wise to keep a lower altitude; heading to the hills, he just gave one last look at the panicked town he was leaving behind, and as the blood pressure of his body had subsided to normal levels again and his vision readjusted, the draconequus glanced straight into that light caramel pony’s eyes… Green as emeralds, full of terror as body shook with fear. A malicious grin grew upon his features-

-“Just the way I like them… Oh this will be fun later on.” - Giving a powerful thrust of his wings, the chimerical being dashed forward and upwards as he started to disappear in the line of the horizon and rust colored hills with his thoughts either revolving around chaos, or new forms of torture… Perhaps even both.

Far below in the Appaloosa city, Braeburn swallowed in dry as his head felt light… That demoniac being had just crashed a few meters away from him. He was so terrified that he dropped the basket of apples that he carried and high-tailed immediately as he heard the disgruntled sounds of that being’s flesh and bones… Snapping back into place? He honestly didn’t want to know, he wished he could just forget that whole scene. But whatever that thing was, it was heading either to the San Palomino Desert or the Forest of Leota.

The rails were devastatingly destroyed in a very wide area, that just had became a mini crater after “whatever that was” crashed into the tracks. His heart was racing as he looked at the jeweled night sky, ponies were panicked and running here and there as they gossiped and tried to understand exactly what had happened.

“It will be back...” - Braeburn felt his heart racing as cold sweat ran down his body. He wanted to believe the contrary just as his thoughts betrayed him, but that THING had sent him a soul tearing bloodshot glance from far above… Somehow he just knew that it was looking at HIM. Anypony could call him paranoid, but he just knew it.

Swallowing off the fear for a few seconds, the stallion turned around and ran straight up to his home. Now was a very late hour, but he had to prepare for a little trip first thing at the break of dawn. This was an emergency after all and he had to get help immediately, with or without the train available.

And as he fussed around searching for his one-strap bag, Braeburn just swallowed his nervousness one more time as his heart thumped into his chest.

• “Ah hope that thing doesn’t show up for a while… I gotta tell the sheriff. Maybe cousin Applejack might be able to help me.” - Reassuring himself was not much help, but it was better than the looping sounds of bodily terror that filled his mind constantly.