Madness and Chaos

Chapter 6

"Rainbow! Applejack! Nooooo!" Twilight cried, bursting from where Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and herself were hiding. As Discord turned his attention to her, she realized how grave a mistake she had just made. She had revealed where she and her friends were hidden, not only that, but to Discord who had just killed another being. As a wicked grin crept across the murderous spirit's face, Twilight felt that this may be the end.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle, just the unicorn I wanted to see. I do believe I found something of yours. Tell me: does this belong to you?" he asked mockingly as he held the lavender horn in the air with his paw.

As Twilight stared at Discord, her eyes watery and mouth agape, Pinkie and Rarity bounded out the hole to Twilight's side as Fluttershy slowly lifted herself up and peered out from behind her friends.

"Give that to her now, you brute!" Rarity demanded, striking the same fighting pose she had just the week before with Applejack while under Discord's influence.

"Yeah, or else I'll use this!" Pinkie threatened, pulling out her signature Party Cannon seemingly from nowhere.

"Not now, girls, Twilight and I are talking," he said mildly irritated as he snapped his fingers, teleporting Twilight just in front of him. As Discord towered above her, horn in hand, only a squeak escaped her lips, "What was that? I couldn't hear you. You have to speak up," he said, turning his ear to her and cupping it with his talon.

"Yes," she said in a voice meek enough to rival Fluttershy's.

"I thought so. Do you want your horn back, teacher's pet?" Discord asked with condescension. Twilight simply nodded, which made his smile even wider and more disturbing, "And I suppose you'll also want your friends too." Twilight's eyes shifted to Rainbow Dash and Applejack - the both of them still unconscious - then looking back to Discord, nodding again, "And that is what I have a problem with. You see, if I let you have both your fool-hardy friends and your horn, I'll surely be defeated again. However, if I refuse to give you either then I won't get to enjoy seeing you squirm as long as I'd like."

"That's it! Taste my hooficure you vile beast!" Rarity cried as she leaped in to the air to kick Discord only to be caught in a taffy net that he had spawned with a snap of his claws, "Ew! This is will take hours to get out of my mane."

"Rarity!" gasped Pinkie Pie as the fashionista struggled with the sugary bonds while Discord laughed madly, "You've done it now, you big meany! Eat baked bads!" Pinkie Pie roared, firing a giant moldy muffin from her cannon at the giggling chimera. As the enormous ball of moldy crumbs flew through the air, Discord caught it mid flight and threw it into the party pony's mouth, resulting in Pinkie Pie becoming suddenly and violently ill upon its ingestion. Discord then focused his attention to the quivering Fluttershy, a smirk on his face and his bushy brow raised in contempt for the yellow pegasus who merely continued to cower in the hole. Satisfied that everyone else was finished he looked back to Twilight.

"Now that your friends are done entertaining me, here's my proposal: Two precious treasures I have of yours, your unicorn horn and a couple of bores," waving the horn in one hand and gesturing toward Rainbow Dash and Applejack with the other, "You must choose which one you value most, and you will have it while exploring these coasts," Discord spoke in rhyme, waving his eagle claw across the horizon, then looking to Twilight with a malicious twinkle in his gaze  "The one you decide to discard however, will be lost unless you conquer the Xedilian's endeavor."

Twilight felt as if Discord had punched her square in the muzzle, for he was forcing her to choose between two of her friends or her horn. Twilight knew that the obvious choice should be her friends, something was off. She knew the right choice but there was a familiar darkness creeping across her mind telling her to choose her horn over her friends. The conflicting thoughts fought for supremacy in her head, but the longer she weighed the options the more difficult it became to choose. She stood there for a few minutes, trying to make sense of what was happening and what she should do, until Discord let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Okay, this is taking too long," the bored spirit groaned, "To speed this up you must now choose within the next thirty seconds or else your precious friends and horn will become very well acquainted with Tom's cousin, Bob," he threatened, tossing her torn over to Rainbow Dash and Applejack then levitating the boulder over them, then summoning a giant stop watch behind him. With a snap of his fingers the hand starting on thirty quickly worked its way to twenty-nine, then twenty-eight, twenty-seven. The pressure was truly on now. If she didn't make a choice soon, she'd lose both of her dear friends and her horn.

"Our friends Twilight, you must choose your friends," Rarity grunted through her teeth as she tried to chew her way out of her bindings. Twenty-three.

"But what about your horn, Twilight? The source of all your powers. The one thing that makes you special," asked the dubious spirit, the shadows gaining dominance in her mind. Fourteen.

"Don't listen to him! He's just a big, dumb, mean *belch*!" Pinkie pleaded before ducking her head into the bush again to throw up. Ten.

"And what of your studies, Twilight? What would Princess Celestia think if you lost your horn?" Discord asked her, his dark influence eclipsing every thought in Twilight's mind. As Twilight was about to give her answer to the maniacal monster, she took one quick glance to Rainbow Dash and Applejack just as the cyan pegasus's eyes opened looking back at her friend, igniting a spark.

One.

"My friends!" Twilight cried out as the hand struck zero, the corrupt shadows burning away, and Discord scowling. As Rarity and Fluttershy cheered and Pinkie giving a weak "whoop", Twilight gave Discord a smug smile, locking eyes with him, "Nice try, Discord. I fell for you tricks once, but I won't fall for them again," she proudly proclaimed, stomping her hoof down in front of him.

Discord stared at Twilight with extreme loathing for she had resisted his corrupting influence, again. However, rather than lash out over the fact his clever plan had failed, he simply let out a sigh, figuring it to be expected. His mouth then curled upward on his face turning into a most sinister smirk, "Fine, you can keep your friends, but I'll tell you this: You will not survive. Even if you were to have both your horn and your friends, this island is far more dangerous than anything you or your little friends have ever encountered in Equestria,"  he said levitating his hostages out from under the boulder to Twilight and her horn to his hand, "This place will tear you all apart and  when it does, I'll be there, laughing. So I hope you enjoyed your little victory, because it'll most certainly be your last. Arrivederci!"  Discord snapped his fingers and vanished from sight, the giant rock falling as his aura dissipated.

After getting Rarity out of her sticky snare, Twilight and Fluttershy quickly huddled around Applejack and Rainbow Dash while Rarity trotted over to see if Pinkie was doing any better. As Twilight helped Fluttershy drag the orange and cyan ponies to shelter, Twilight felt no remorse whatsoever that she didn't choose her horn. She new that her friendship was far more important; also, she knew where she would have to go to get her horn back: Xedilian.