Chapters Chapter 1
"It's been ages since we've visited the castle," Twilight Sparkle said, as she, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike walked down the soft mossy ground of the Everfree Forest, "I've really missed its library."
"I want to play the organ again!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, happily bouncing along the road with them.
"And I still have some tapestries to hang!" squealed Rarity, "Oh, I can't wait for you all to see them in place! They'll look simply divine!"
"Me and Dash have a bet on," said Applejack, "Whoever can walk through the whole castle and remember to avoid all the traps, wins. If Dash wins, I have to make her a week's supply of cider free of charge. When I win, Dash does all my chores for a week."
"If you win, AJ," corrected Rainbow Dash, "And you'll be the one supplying me with cider, thanks!"
She sighed dreamily and licked her lips at the thought of it.
"Well, you won't have long to wait," said Twilight, "There's the castle now."
They reached the end of the trees and spotted the Castle of the Two Sisters on the grass, beside the huge cavern that led to the Tree of Harmony.
"Two whole hours of pure reading bliss!" said Twilight, dreamily, looking round at the shelves as they opened the library doors and walked in, "All those books! So many left to read!"
"Ohoho, if it isn't Princess Twilight and her pals!" a familiar voice sounded, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
The Mane 6 and Spike looked over to where the voice had come from to see Discord sitting against a pile of fallen books, deeply engrossed in a book called Chaos Magic And Its Implications.
"Discord!" beamed Fluttershy, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just doing a bit of light reading," said the draconequus, lazily, turning the book to the next page, "Didn't expect to see you girls here. Oh, I found something that might interest you, Twilight," he said, reaching for a book, "Here."
He tossed her the book and she caught it with her magic. Her eyes widened as she read the title: Star Swirl the Bearded's Knowledge of Ancient Equestrian Relics.
Twilight's jaw dropped!
"Star Swirl the Bearded's Knowledge of Ancient Equestrian Relics!" exclaimed Twilight in delight, "OhmygoshohmygoshohmyGOSH! Thanks, Discord! Come on, Spike!" She grabbed her dragon friend with her magic and galloped over to one of the reading chairs, "You've got some notes to take! Hee hee hee!"
"I still have my tapestries to hang," added Rarity, heading out after them.
"Applejack and I are gonna go and watch Applejack fall into traps," added Rainbow Dash, cheerfully, fluttering out the door, "The cider is mine! I just know it!"
"Not if I have anythin' to say about it!" declared Applejack, galloping out after Rainbow Dash.
"And I have an organ to play!" declared Pinkie Pie, spiritedly.
"HANG ON, ORGAN!" she yelled, whizzing out of the door, "I'M COMING FOR YOUUUUUUUU!"
"Well, I guess that just leaves you and me, Fluttershy," said Discord, snapping his fingers.
With a flash of light, they were both sitting at an extremely fancy tea table, and Discord was dressed in his pitch-black dinner jacket, complete with the twirly moustache. The table was laid with a hot teapot, two teacups with saucers, and a tray of delicious-looking cupcakes with different coloured icing for each one.
"Care for a some tea?" asked Discord, in a very posh accent. He picked up the teapot and Fluttershy's teacup, turned it upside down and poured the tea up from the teapot into it.
Fluttershy giggled! "Yes please."
...
Meanwhile, Rarity strode into the castle hallways, levitating her saddleback behind her. Opening it up, the unicorn levitated one of her beautifully folded tapestries out and hung it up against the wall. She gazed at it, proudly. One half was a beautiful sea-blue, like the morning sky, and the other half was a deep indigo, with stars dotted here and there, and right in the middle was sewed Equestria's symbol: the two princesses circling around the sun and the moon.
"Oh, it's simply divine!" sighed Rarity, fanning herself.
She moved onto another wall and took out two smaller tapestries from her bag. The first was deep black, studded with sapphires and amethysts. The moon shone above the landscape and tiny stars were dotted around. At the top there was the symbol of Princess Luna. The second was a lovely peach colour, with a rising sun on the horizon, casting its rays over the land, and topazes and rubies were sewed into it. At the top was the symbol of Princess Celestia.
Rarity levitated them both onto the wall and straightened them out, feeling very proud of herself. "Fabulous!" she remarked, "Fabulous if I do say so myself!"
...
"OK," declared Rainbow Dash, "This is it! If either of us falls into a trap, the other wins!"
"Well I'm not fallin' into any traps!" declared Applejack, "I'll finally be able to relax while watchin' you try and plough a field and buck apples for a week."
"Or I'll be watching you make me a ton of cider while I relax," corrected Rainbow Dash.
"I guess we'll find out!" replied Applejack, "Unless you're too afraid!"
"Afraid?" repeated Rainbow Dash, "Perish the thought!"
She trotted down the corridor, keeping a sharp lookout for all the traps they knew. Applejack followed, avoiding all the stone hooves holding torches. She knew which of those activated traps.
As the approached the staircase, Rainbow Dash stopped suddenly.
"You, uh, go ahead, Applejack, I've just got...something in my hoof," Rainbow Dash said, innocently, pretending to pick something out of her hoof.
"Alright," answered Applejack, trotting down the staircase.
Rainbow Dash watched intently as the orange pony headed down, right towards the trick step near the bottom of the staircase. She got closer and Rainbow Dash's face split into a wide grin! But before Applejack reached the trick step, she took a leap and landed on the carpet at the bottom of the staircase.
Rainbow Dash's face fell.
"Thought I wouldn't remember to jump the trick step, Dash?" said Applejack, smirking.
Rainbow Dash scowled and fluttered down the staircase after Applejack. There was a sudden click as she landed on the carpet at the bottom. Realizing in an instant that this was another trap, she and Applejack immediately leapt aside and flattened themselves against the wall, a millisecond before dozens of needle-sharp arrows whizzed past where they had just been standing!
"That was close," said Rainbow Dash, exhaling. "N-not that I was scared or anything," she added, hurriedly.
"Well, me neither," said Applejack.
Suddenly, a loud intimidating organ sound echoed from below them!
On that one chord, the wall gave way, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash fell down into another trap! The floor beneath Discord and Fluttershy's table swivelled right down, dropping them both into a hole beneath the floor! A trapdoor opened beneath Rarity's feet, and she dropped right down, screaming! Twilight and Spike heard the scream, but before they could do anything, the floor beneath their feet dropped too!
All seven of them fell down their own holes and all dropped into a large metal cage! Then there was a clink from above them and the cage dropped! Everypony screamed, then the floor opened up and the cage fell right through the ceiling of the organ room!
The cage landed on the floor with an almighty BANG! and everypony saw Pinkie Pie at the organ, playing to her heart's content.
"Pinkie!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, crossly.
Hearing Rainbow Dash's voice, the pink pony stopped playing the organ and looked round to see all her best friends trapped in a cage.
"Hey you guys!" she beamed, "Looks like the organ still works great! Isn't it just super duper fun!?"
Discord snapped his fingers and the cage vanished in a flash of light.
"What in the world was that?" he said, looking up through the hole the cage had fallen through.
"The organ keys control all the traps in this castle," said Twilight, standing up and shaking out her mane, "We all once spent a night in this castle, where Pinkie played the organ all night long and we fell into traps like there was no tomorrow."
"Wow," mused Discord, approvingly, "That sounds—"
"Completely and utterly terrifying!?" exclaimed Fluttershy, grabbing herself and shuddering as she remembered that night.
"I was going to say "chaotic," but that works too," Discord said, patting Fluttershy on the head.
A little while later, once Rarity had hung all her tapestries, Twilight had read all the books she needed and Pinkie Pie had boomed on the organ to her heart's content, (Rainbow Dash and Applejack had eventually abandoned their bet, due to the fact that both of them knew the Castle and all its traps back to front) they all went down to the cave below the Castle to look at the Tree of Harmony.
"Seems like only yesterday you six were using these little trinkets to imprison me permanently in stone," said Discord, ruffling Fluttershy's mane affectionately as they all looked at the Tree of Harmony.
"This might sound a little weird to y'all," said Applejack, "But I kinda miss 'em."
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight, "They're still here. We can visit them any time we like."
"I know," said Applejack, "But I miss actually usin' them an' all. Remember when we first discovered them and used them to beat Nightmare Moon? Hoo-ee, was that excitin'!"
"It was pretty awesome," agreed Rainbow Dash.
"You never know," said Twilight, "Maybe one day we'll use them again."
"We'll have to find some incredibly-absolutely-completely-and-utterly evil supervillain to plunge all of Equestria into eternal disaster first!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "Think about it! Evil reigns supreme! Equestria blown to smithereens! Everypony DOOOOOOOMED FOREVER! And then, hey, what's that? It's Pinkie Pie and her super-duper friends come to save the day! YAAAAAAAAAAY!"
She whipped out her party cannon and blasted a huge explosion of confetti and streamers all over the others!
"Wouldn't that be FUN!?" squealed Pinkie Pie!
Twilight shook some confetti out of her mane. "Yes, Pinkie," she said, smiling amusedly, "It would."
"Oh, but that wasn't enough confetti!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, stuffing her cannon full again, "I can do it again!"
As she got ready to blast them all with confetti for a second time, they all braced themselves! Not wanting to experience Pinkie's confetti explosion again, Discord quickly snapped his fingers, and his hands vanished from his wrists, reappeared beside the cannon and quickly turned it round to face Pinkie Pie. It exploded in her face, with a huge bang of brightly coloured confetti!
Everypony laughed!
"Good one, Discord!" laughed Rainbow Dash!
"Thanks," replied Discord, his hands reappearing on his wrists.
Pinkie Pie spat out a mouthful of confetti. She looked a little annoyed at first, but then bounced back up with her usual goofy smile on her face.
"Wow!" she squealed, shaking confetti out of her mane, "That was fun!"
She jumped up onto one of the nearby rocks and used her mane to polish her party cannon. But as she did so, there was a strange noise, like gravel being scraped across stone, and the rock she had sat on began to slide down into the ground! She gave a yelp and jumped off it! There was another gravelly noise and a section of the wall detached from the rest of the cave and ascended up into the ceiling, revealing a hole in the wall with cold stone steps going down.
"Ooh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, jumping off the rock, "A secret passage! How fun!"
She bounced into the hole, trilling a tune.
"Pinkie, wait!" exclaimed Twilight, "You don't know what might be down—"
There was suddenly a loud scream, followed by a series of slipping noises and then a loud smack!
"Pinkie Pie!" everypony exclaimed, in horror, and all ran into the hole!
Suddenly, as they ran, the ground got considerably steeper and everypony's feet slipped from under them and hurtled towards the bottom of the slide! They all screamed, but then the slide ended abruptly, and everypony landed in a heap at the bottom.
"That was fun!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who was sitting a few metres away from them.
"Pinkie Pie!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, scrambling up and running over, "Are you OK?"
"Absotutely!" declared Pinkie Pie, jumping up and shaking out her mane, which instantly sproinged back into its usual bouncy shape.
"Where are we?" wondered Twilight, sitting up and smoothing down her ruffled mane.
Everypony got up and looked around. They were inside a round cave, a little bit larger than the late Golden Oak Library.
"I don't care," said Rarity, squeamishly, looking at the dirt on the floor, "All I care is that we get out immediately."
Spike brushed himself off and took a look up the hole they had just slid through.
"Wow," he said, leaning on a large crag of rock poking out of the wall as he looked up, "It sure looks deeper from the bottom."
Suddenly, the crag of rock he was leaning on jolted down like a lever, activating another trap! There was a loud crack! as the ground beneath Discord and Twilight's hooves split in two, and the pair instantly dropped through the hole!
"Aaah!" cried the others!
With a rather painful landing, Discord smacked onto a stone surface! He gave a SPLURK! of pain as Twilight landed right on top of him.
"Sorry!" apologized Twilight.
"Now that," said Discord between gritted teeth, "Really hurt."
He levitated Twilight off him with his magic, and brushed himself off.
Suddenly, a bright silver glow lit up from behind them. They both turned round. They were inside another wide stone cavern, probably somewhere underneath the Castle of the Two Sisters. The place looked long-forgotten; the cold stone walls were caked with moss and lichen, and puddles of water were dotted here and there. But at the very back of the cavern was where the silver glow was coming from. Twilight and Discord came closer to see what it was. Standing at the back of the cavern, was an ancient stone pedestal, which looked like it had been standing there for centuries. Its hard rock surface was cracked slightly, and the moss and lichen growing on it seemed to be the only thing keeping it from crumbling apart into dust. And sitting on top of the pedestal was a glowing silver gem about the same size and shape as the mysterious chest Twilight had gotten from the Tree of Harmony a year or so ago, that had released the Rainbow Light and created Twilight's castle.
"What is that?" breathed Twilight, as she approached the stone.
"I have no idea," answered Discord, following her over.
Twilight slowly reached out and touched the stone on its silver surface. Suddenly, as if triggered by her hoof, it lit up in a blaze of white light! Magical sparkles fizzed around it, as if it were warming up to explode!
"Whoah!" exclaimed Twilight!
She tried to back away, but she couldn't! Her hoof was stuck to the stone's surface! She gave a yelp and tried to pull it off!
"Aah!" she exclaimed, trying to pull her hoof away, "My hoof's stuck!"
Discord grabbed Twilight's hoof and tried to pull it off the stone, but as he did, his lion paw pushed against its surface, and became stuck too! They both tried desperately to get free, but their hands were stuck fast! Suddenly, two beams of bright white light zapped out of the stone, one hitting Twilight and one hitting Discord! Twilight gave a panicked shriek and they both tried desperately to free their hands! Then, as the white light from the stone engulfed them, a bright magenta glow suddenly lit up around Twilight, and Discord a deep blue!
"What's happening!?" screamed Twilight!
The pink light around Twilight drained out of her, gathering in an orb above her head! The blue light around Discord did the same! Then, with the velocity of two bullets, the orbs zapped down towards the other one, the pink into Discord and the blue into Twilight! As the orbs zapped into them, the light from the stone faded away, and Twilight and Discord's hoof and paw detached from it. They both fell backwards onto the stone floor, and looked up with an expression of shock on their faces.
"What," gasped Twilight, "Was that!?"
Chapter 2
"Are...you OK?" queried Discord, helping Twilight to her hooves.
"I think so," said Twilight, shakily, "That was...really weird. I felt like something was...draining out of me. Then it kind of...came back."
"I felt that too," said Discord, glancing over at the stone, suspiciously, "What do you suppose it did?"
"Well, I don't feel any different," said Twilight, slowly, looking over at the stone, too, "I don't think anything bad happened."
"Twilight?" called Applejack's voice from the top of the hole they had fallen through.
"Discord?" called Fluttershy's.
There was a loud "Whoah!" and then a thump! as Applejack landed on her hooves on the floor of the cavern.
"Look out below!" another voice squealed, and Pinkie Pie landed right beside Applejack and bounced back onto her hooves. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy descended down, holding Spike and Rarity in their hooves.
"Where are we?" wondered Applejack, looking around at the cavern, "Twilight! Discord! Are y'all OK?"
"Yeah," said Twilight, slowly, still taking in what had just happened, "I think so."
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Rarity, spotting the gem on the pedestal, "What in Equestria is that beautiful gemstone!?"
She trotted towards the pedestal, with a wonderstruck expression in her eyes!
"Rarity, wait!" exclaimed Twilight, throwing out a hoof, "Don't touch tha—"
But before she could warn her friend, Rarity was already at the pedestal, and placed a hoof on the stone. Twilight leapt down and shielded herself from any impact. But nothing happened. Slowly, she opened her eyes and stood back up. Rarity had her hoof on the stone, but nothing was happening. There were no flashes of pink and blue light shooting out of it, and Rarity's hoof didn't seem to be stuck.
"Rarity," she said, uneasily, "I really don't think you should touch that thing."
"But why, darling?" breathed Rarity, taking in the gem's magnificent glow, "I don't think I've ever seen such fabulousness!"
"Ooh, shiny!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, popping up beside it.
"It looks kinda like that chest we got from the Tree of Harmony," said Rainbow Dash.
"I really don't think anypony should touch that!" exclaimed Twilight, pulling her friends away from it.
"Why not?" asked Fluttershy, "It's just an ordinary gem."
"It's not, though," said Twilight, slowly, "Something really...weird happened when I touched it."
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Nothing happened when we touched it."
Twilight hesitated. "No," she agreed, uneasily, "It...didn't."
Taking a deep breath, she reached out her hoof and touched the stone. As her hoof grazed its silvery surface, the purple alicorn braced herself for the impact she had previously experienced. But nothing happened. No stuck hoof. No mysterious glow. No pink and blue light.
The rest of her friends watched her, curiously.
Discord ran his finger down the stone's surface. "Odd," he said, eyeing the stone, thoughtfully, "Nothing happened."
"It's—really nothing to worry about," said Twilight, nervously, as she withdrew her hoof from the stone, "We should all just head back to Ponyvi—"
Suddenly, before she could finish her sentence, there was a flash of bright white light from her horn, and the six ponies, dragon and draconequus appeared on the road leading down to Ponyville.
"Huh," said Twilight, looking up at her horn, "That was weird. I didn't mean to do that. Oh well. I guess it saved us a walk home."
They all began to make their way into Ponyville, but the Princess of Friendship had the oddest feeling that something strange was going on. She just couldn't put her hoof on it.
"There was something really weird about that gem, though," Twilight told the others, as they crossed the bridge that went over the river next to Ponyville, "You guys weren't there, but when me and Discord touched the stone, something really strange happened. We both got zapped with this weird pink and blue light from the stone. Nothing happened, but it was still pretty weird. I can't help but feel like something's going to happen."
As they headed into Ponyville, a strong breeze whistled through the leaves, and a bunch of dandelion clocks were blown off their heads. Dozens of them blew past the Mane 6 and the two friends, and a couple brushed against Twilight's nose, giving her a tickle.
Twilight's nose began to quiver and she started to sniff. "Ah-ah-ah-CHOO!" she sneezed!
Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light from nearby and a mailbox suddenly grew wings and fluttered off into the sky.
Twilight looked round, then scowled. "Discord," she said, tonelessly.
"What?" asked Discord, looking around.
Suddenly, Twilight shivered, and a few blue magic sparks fizzed around her mane. There was another flash of light from nearby, and the river they had just crossed turned into a pit of lava.
"Stop it, Discord!" snapped Twilight!
"I didn't do that!" exclaimed Discord, looking at the lava pit.
Twilight twitched and the magical sparkles fizzed around her again. A bed of flowers leaped out of the ground and started tap dancing with their roots. Two nearby ponies turned into hedgehogs in clown costumes. Flashes of light occurred all over the place, and buildings began to spin in the air!
"DISCORD!" shouted Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike!
"I swear, I am not doing this!" exclaimed Discord, frantically, as the pears on a nearby pear tree grew legs and jumped down.
"Just fix it already!" snapped Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, alright!" exclaimed Discord.
He snapped his fingers. The pears continued to waddle away, and none of the chaos ceased. That was odd. That should have restored things to normal. He snapped his fingers again. The ponies watched, impatiently!
"What's going on?" exclaimed Discord. He began to snap his fingers more frantically, but nothing happened!
"I said fix it!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
"I'm trying!" exclaimed Discord, snapping his fingers, "It's not working!"
"Stop messing around and fix it, Discord!" snapped Twilight!
She suddenly gave a shiver, and a pair of bunnies by the road mutated into huge sabre-tooth rabbits!
"DISCORD!" shouted the five ponies and dragon!
"I didn't do that!" exclaimed Discord, frantically, "I swear!"
"Come on!"
"HEY!" shouted Fluttershy! She flew protectively up in front of Discord and gave the other ponies her biggest Stare. "If he says he isn't doing this," she said, in a deadly whisper, as she advanced on her friends, "Then he isn't doing this! GOT IT!?"
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike gave a frightened nod, but Twilight would hear none of it.
"Well who else here has chaos magic!?" exclaimed Twilight, throwing up her hooves.
As she did so, Lyra Heartstrings suddenly turned into a pop-up jack-in-the-box with her head, which made squeaking sounds as it popped up.
Twilight gasped! "Turn her back right now!" she shouted, jabbing her hoof at the box.
As she jabbed her hoof at it, there was a flash of light and it suddenly turned into a bouquet of red roses. Twilight stopped. She turned round and realized that her hoof had been pointing at the bouquet when it had changed.
Not quite sure what she was doing, she raised her hoof and jabbed it at the bouquet again. With a flash of light it turned back into Lyra Heartstrings, who instantly scarpered.
Twilight gasped! "Did...did I do that?" she exclaimed, looking at her hoof.
"Wasn't me," said Discord, shrugging.
Twilight slowly turned round and jabbed her hoof at a nearby tree. With a flash of light, the leaves turned bright orange!
Twilight gasped!
Whipping round, she jabbed her hoof at a stop sign, which instantly grew legs and jogged off! She jabbed her hoof over and over again, and animals shape-shifted, buildings started to spin, objects came to life and chocolate milk rained down from the sky!
The Princess of Friendship gasped out loud!
"Jumpin' junebugs, Twilight!" exclaimed Applejack, "I didn't know you could do that!"
"That's just the thing," exclaimed Twilight, turning round, "I can't! This isn't my alicorn magic! I don't know what's going on!"
"And I can't seem to fix it!" exclaimed Discord, snapping his fingers frantically in one last attempt to fix everything. Suddenly an aura of pink magic lit up around them, lifting them up into the air! They all screamed!
"Twilight, what are you doing!?" exclaimed Fluttershy.
"It wasn't me!" exclaimed Twilight, frantically trying to stay upright, "I swear!"
"Wheeeee!" squealed Pinkie Pie, doing breaststroke through the air, still levitated by the pink magic, "I'm like a little fishy! La la la la la!"
"Twilight, get us down from here!" exclaimed Rarity!
Twilight tried to levitate them down with her horn, but all she succeeded in doing was make chocolate milk rain down all over them.
"Chocolate milk!?" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "I LOVE chocolate milk!"
"Make it STOP!" bawled Spike!
"I can't!" exclaimed Twilight, "Discord, do something!"
With a panicked look on his face, Discord snapped his fingers, and suddenly, Twilight's pink magic vanished, and they all landed painfully on the ground.
"Did I do that?" queried Discord, flexing his fingers, "Because that pink looked like your magic."
"It was!" exclaimed Twilight, "I mean...I wasn't the one using it, but..."
Then it hit her.
"Wait a minute..." she said, slowly, "My magic made us all float when you tried to use your magic. And your magic made that cotton candy cloud appear when I tried to use my magic. That means..."
Twilight and Discord suddenly gasped out loud!
"You've got my magic!" they both exclaimed in unison, "And I've got yours!"
"Jinx!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie!
Chapter 3
"I knew there was something weird about that stone!" exclaimed Twilight, in horror, "We both said we felt like we were being drained of something! That light that switched over must have been our magic!"
As she began to get agitated, sparks of chaos magic fizzed around her mane. There was a flash of light, and a nearby patch of daisies turned into blood-sucking flytraps.
"Come on!" she exclaimed, whipping round and galloping back down the road they had come down, "We have to go back and—"
There was suddenly a flash of light from her horn and the eight of them were suddenly back in the cavern. Twilight smacked face first into the stone wall, then winced. She looked round. They were back in the cavern, and the gem was still sitting on the pedestal, looking exactly the way they had left it.
"Wow," mused Twilight, "That was handy."
Not wasting a second, she galloped over to the pedestal and touched the stone. She waited for her hoof to stick and the stone to light up and zap her with the white light again, but nothing happened. Her eyes widened and she tapped the stone a few times. Nothing happened. Starting to get worried, Twilight grabbed it off the pedestal and examined it for any way to activate it. But nothing happened.
"Discord," said Twilight, "Maybe you need to touch it too."
The draconequus sprinted over and touched the stone too. But nothing happened. They exchanged worried glances.
"It's not working!" exclaimed Twilight, "What do we do!?"
"If the stone switched your magic, then surely it can switch it back," said Fluttershy.
"How exactly did it work?" pressed Rarity.
"I—I don't know!" exclaimed Twilight, turning round, "All I did was touch it! I don't know what activated it or how it works!"
"If only I had my magic, I could switch us back," Discord sighed, "Although if I had my magic, I wouldn't need to, of course."
"You can switch magic?" repeated Pinkie Pie, in surprise.
"Equestria to Pinkie Pie, I'm Discord," answered Discord, giving Pinkie Pie's nose a flick, "I can do anything."
Then his smile disappeared. "Or at least I could," he said, worriedly.
"What do we do, Twilight?" asked Rainbow Dash, worriedly, "Isn't there anything you know about power switching?"
"I've never even heard of power switching before!" exclaimed Twilight, hysterically, "Or anything about this weird stone! I don't know what I did, or how it works, or how to reverse it! Maybe you've gotta cast some kind of—spell—or something—I don't know! Maybe it's not possible to reverse it!"
"A spell!" exclaimed Rarity, "That's it! Twilight, surely you know of a spell that can switch magical abilities?"
Twilight shook her head. "I know a spell that can switch Cutie Marks," she said, "And a spell that alicorns can use to transfer their powers to other alicorns. But I've never heard of a spell that can switch magical abilities."
"That doesn't mean there ain't one," pointed out Applejack, "There are tons o' spellbooks in your library. Maybe we'll find somethin' in there."
"Good idea," said Twilight, shivering and accidentally turning some nearby rocks into gumball machines.
She tried to activate the same teleportation magic she had previously used, and they instantly all vanished. But instead of Ponyville, they all reappeared at the top of a waterfall.
"Sorry!" exclaimed Twilight, but there was suddenly another flash of light, and they reappeared in a snowy scene with huts dotted here and there.
"Yakyakistan!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, in delight, "I love this pla—"
Before she could finish her sentence, another flash of light teleported them outside a cottage on a floating chunk of grass surrounded by up-flowing rainbow waterfalls, upside-down landmarks and strange creatures of all kind.
"Oh!" exclaimed Discord, "This is my dimensio—"
There was another flash of light and they all disappeared again! One flash of light after the other, and they were all teleported to another dozen places: Maud Pie's home cave, a field in Sweet Apple Acres, the Crystal Empire, Flim and Flam's resort in Las Pegasus, Coco Pommel's fashion shop in Manehattan, the Tree of Harmony, the castle of Griffonstone, Rarity's boutique Rarity For You, Braeburn's rodeo show, Thorax's throne room, Fluttershy's garden, the Wonderbolts Academy, and then finally, after all that, they appeared inside the library of the Castle of Friendship.
Applejack let her breath out! "Never," she panted, "Do that again!"
"Alright, everypony," said Twilight, looking around the library, "Grab every book about magic you can find! I've got a really bad feeling about this!"
She suddenly twitched, and the doors turned into paper-thin wafers.
"Ooh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. She took a bite out of one of the doors. "Dee-LISH!"
"Pinkie Pie, stop eating my castle!" scolded Twilight.
"Sorry!" chirped Pinkie Pie, licking her lips and bouncing off.
They spread out, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash skimming the shelves and tossing any book that looked like it might be useful into a pile, where Twilight and Rarity started skimming through them. Discord summoned an entire bookshelf of books with Twilight's magic, and began to speed-read. It appeared that unicorn magic enabled one to read entire books in not much more than a few seconds. Not that Discord hadn't been able to do that already, of course, but he was lucky he could still do it.
"I sure hope we can find something," said Twilight, worriedly, flicking through a book, "And soon."
She suddenly twitched, and the chair she was sitting on sprouted wings and fluttered up, dropping Twilight onto the floor.
She sighed. "Something tells me this is going to take a while."
...
"Anypony...found...anythin'?" moaned Applejack, about six hours later, as she searched through the pages of another book, barely able to keep her eyes open.
"I haven't found anything," yawned Fluttershy.
"Me neither," said Rainbow Dash, rubbing her eyes, wearily.
Twilight yawned and took a look round at the others. Applejack was yawning and rubbing her eyes, Fluttershy was asleep with her head on Discord's lap, Rainbow Dash was lying on the side of her head, looking through a book with her eyes half-closed, Rarity was moving at snail's pace, turning pages in a very sluggish manner, Discord's eyes were almost shut, and Spike was sound asleep on top of the pages of a book. The only one who still seemed to be full of energy was Pinkie Pie. But that was expected, after all. Pinkie Pie made Discord look like a calm, quiet, inactive person.
"I think it's about time we call it a night," said Twilight, yawning, "We need our sleep if we're going to figure this out."
"Yup," sighed Applejack, closing the book she was holding and rubbing her eyes sleepily, "Alright, y'all. We'd better go home and hit the sack. I'm plum tuckered."
Everypony agreed and all put down the books they were holding. Then suddenly, as they all headed towards the library exit, Discord realized something.
"HOME!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands to his forehead, "How am I supposed to get home to Chaosville without my magic!? This is a disaster! And not in a good way."
"Relax," soothed Fluttershy, comfortingly, "You're welcome to stay at my cottage until we figure this out."
Discord exhaled. "I was hoping you'd say that," he said, with relief, "Thank you, Fluttershy. You're just too kind."
He snapped his fingers so to disappear and reappear at Fluttershy's cottage, but only succeeded in levitating the piles of books up with pink telekinesis.
"Oh yes, I forgot," he said, dully, snapping his fingers and dropping the books, "No chaos magic. Great. How am I supposed to get to Fluttershy's now!?"
"You can walk," said Twilight, firmly.
"Walk?" exclaimed Discord, in a terrified voice, "All...the way...to Fluttershy's? Ohhhhh..."
His eyes swirled round in their sockets, his knees gave way and he crumpled onto the floor.
"Hah! You call yourself the most powerful being in the universe?" smirked Rainbow Dash, "And the idea of taking a little walk makes you faint! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!"
"Oh, come now, Dashie, that's not nice," scolded Fluttershy, taking Discord's lion paw and helping him to his feet.
"I've just become a little reliant on magic these past few millennia," snapped Discord, scowling at Rainbow Dash as Fluttershy helped him up.
"And who wouldn't, with a magic as amazing as yours?" said Fluttershy, stroking his shoulder compassionately with her hoof, "But we'll figure out how to fix this, we promise. In the meantime," she added, "You will have to walk."
Discord sighed.
"We'll be right back here early tomorrow mornin', Twilight," said Applejack, as the she and the others headed out the castle library door, "We'll figure out somethin' eventually."
"Bye," said Twilight.
"Why do castles have to have so many stairs?" moaned Discord, as he and the other ponies trudged down the castle staircase, "When is Twilight going to hurry up and install an elevator?"
"She isn't," chirped Rainbow Dash, "Because everypony who comes in here is perfectly capable of using the staircase. Oh, sorry, I mean almost everypony." She smirked at Discord as they reached the bottom of the stairs and headed down the long crystal hallway towards the front door.
"Well, see you tomorrow, y'all," said Applejack, pushing it open and trotting out.
"Toodle-oo!" Pinkie Pie trilled, bouncing out and along the road
"See ya!" said Rainbow Dash, zigzagging through the sky and out of sight.
"Goodnight, everypony," said Rarity, graciously, walking out the castle entrance in a ladylike fashion.
Finally, Fluttershy fluttered out, and Discord staggered after her, his goat-and-lizard legs quivering from the pain of walking. Stepping out onto the road with his last bout of strength, he collapsed in a pile on the ground.
"Carry me?" he whimpered, raising his arms pathetically.
Fluttershy rolled her eyes amusedly. "Oh, come on, Discord, you can do it. It's just a little walk."
"Oh, poo," complained Discord, slithering after her.
...
"There you go, Discord," said Fluttershy, plumping the pillow she had set up on the couch for Discord, "You'll be as snug as a bug in a rug."
"Thank you so much, my dear Fluttershy," said Discord, gratefully, as he settled down onto the couch and Fluttershy pulled the covers over him, "It's just too kind of you to do this for me. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without you."
"It's no trouble at all," smiled Fluttershy, "Goodnight, Discord."
"Goodnight, Fluttershy," replied Discord, gratefully.
"And don't worry one bit. We're going to get your magic back," said Fluttershy, kindly, putting her hoof on his shoulder, "I'll look through every book in Equestria if I have to. Mmwuh!" She gave Discord a goodnight kiss on the forehead, then turned off the Discord-shaped lamp on her table and fluttered upstairs to her own bed.
"Goodnight, Discord."
Chapter 4
"Oh, this is so humiliating!" complained Discord, as he trudged through Ponyville with Fluttershy the next morning, using an extra-tall walking frame to help him stay on his feet.
Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops, who were standing nearby, noticed the Lord of Chaos walk by, having to use a walking frame to stay up, and instantly burst out laughing!
Upon hearing their laughter, Fluttershy whipped round, giving Lyra and Sweetie Drops the biggest death stare she had ever given! They gasped in fright, then immediately stopped laughing and looked away. Fluttershy gave a satisfied nod and carried on the road with Discord, giving anypony who dared to laugh at him another death stare. For a sweet, kind, animal-loving pegasus, Fluttershy certainly had a way of making ponies shut their traps. Her death stares really gave them the shivers.
"Don't worry," said Fluttershy, comfortingly, flying up and putting her hand on Discord's shoulder, "Things will all be back to normal soon. Oh, look, there are the others!"
She pointed ahead. As Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity saw Fluttershy approach with Discord and his walking frame, they all began to snicker! Rainbow Dash had clap her hoof to her mouth to stop herself into bursting into a fit of uncontrollable giggles!
Fluttershy's face darkened. "Nopony laughs," she snapped, in a deadly voice, "Nopony gets the Stare!"
The four ponies instantly stopped giggling and looked away.
"Thank you, Fluttershy," said Discord, looking irritably at them, "May I suggest we get to Twilight's castle and carry on looking for some answers? The sooner I get my magic back—"
"—The sooner you won't have to walk like an old lady?" snickered Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, Dashie, stop it," scolded Fluttershy, taking Discord's paw, comfortingly, "Come on, everypony."
With Rainbow Dash still snickering at Discord's condition, the six friends headed down the road to Twilight's castle.
"Honestly, I don't know how any of you ponies manage not being able to just snap your fingers and instantly go wherever you want," complained Discord, as he walked.
"Don't you worry, Discord!" declared Pinkie Pie, cheerfully, bouncing down the road alongside him, "We'll get your magic back! And then I'll throw you a big "congratulations, you've got your magic back" party!"
"And if you don't, I know a perfect retirement home in Ponyville where you can stay for the rest of your life," chirped Rainbow Dash.
"RAINBOW DASH!" shouted Fluttershy in Rainbow's face!
After that, Rainbow Dash seemed to get the message, and she stayed silent as they carried on down the road from Ponyville to Twilight's castle.
"I certainly hope Twilight isn't having any trouble," said Rarity, concernedly.
"Don't be silly, Rarity!" chirped Pinkie Pie, happily bouncing along behind her, "She's only been possessed with the most powerful and dangerous magic known to the entire universe! What could possibly go wrong?"
"Uh..." trembled Rainbow Dash, pointing upwards, "Maybe THAT!"
The others looked up, and their jaws dropped as low as they could go. Twilight's Castle of Friendship was rotating anticlockwise in the air, concealed inside an orb of deep blue chaos magic, with different-coloured bolts and flashes occurring all around it.
Everypony stared at in horror. Then a little snicker escaped Discord's mouth, and he collapsed over his walking frame in laughter!
"Discord!" snapped Rainbow Dash!
"Sorry!" laughed Discord, wiping a tear from his eye, "This is just priceless! Even I've never rotated a castle before!"
The other ponies looked at him with deadpan expressions.
"Sorry," snickered Discord.
He raised his lion paw at the castle, which glowed with Twilight's pink alicorn magic, and slowly, slowly, the castle's rotation started to slow down. Discord's expression contorted as he struggled to use Twilight's magic to cease the effect of his own, but eventually, the blue magic circulating around the castle dispersed, and it descended into the ground in its proper place. There was a loud cluttering sound from inside, like a lot of furniture falling to the floor.
"I sure do hope Twilight's OK," said Applejack, worriedly, "Twilight! Twilight, can you hear me!?"
"Twilight!" the others joined in calling.
After a couple of minutes, the Princess of Friendship fluttered out and shakily landed on the road. She was in a terrible state. Her mane and tail looked like they hadn't been brushed for years, and the bags under her bloodshot eyes indicated she hadn't slept a wink. But much more than that was the traumatic expression on her face. It was an expression that would be worn by a pony who had spent an entire night in a rotating castle.
"I'm guessin' you had a bit of a rough night, sugar cube," said Applejack, sympathetically.
"Rough!?" gasped Twilight, "A rough night!? That was the most horribly traumatic night I've ever had in my life, including that one with Princess Luna and the Tantabus! I honestly don't know how you can stand all that chaos, Discord."
A strong breeze suddenly swirled through the air, tickling Twilight's nose. She gave a little sniff. "Ah-ah-ah-CHOO!" she sneezed!
There was suddenly a burst of light, and all Twilight's body parts separated, cluttering onto the road!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" shrieked Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy!
"Oh, relax," said Discord, irritably, "It's just another thing I can do with chaos magic. Haven't you ever seen me dismember myself before?"
The ponies exhaled. "Yes," they all said, in relief.
"Um, a little help?" said Twilight's head, her loose hooves dragging themselves around, feeling for her other body parts.
Discord raised his eagle claw, and Twilight's pink magic glowed around it. Twilight's detached body parts glowed with her magic, too. Her ears bounced over and reattached to her head, her head reattached to her neck, her tail and mane reattached to the back of her head and flank, and her four legs reattached to her body. She stretched.
"Ah. Thanks, Discord," she said, in relief.
Then her eyes fell on what was in the Lord of Chaos's hands.
"Is that a—" Twilight stifled a laugh, "Walking frame?"
Discord gave a growl of frustration. "Yes," he snapped, "It is. Do you have anything else to say?"
Twilight held in her laughter and shook her head.
"Goodness me, Twilight," said Fluttershy, putting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, compassionately, "It sounds like you've been having a lot of trouble. I hope nopony was hurt."
"Don't worry," sighed Twilight, "Aside from psychological trauma, lack of sleep, and this SPLITTING HEADACHE!" She paused and took a breath. "Nopony was hurt. I sent Starlight to stay with Maud until this is over, and all Spike got was a little sweaty from tying cushions all over him."
"Oh, that sounds so unpleasant for you," said Discord, in an almost babying tone. "Poor you, Princess Twilight, having to go through all that in just one night," he said, pressing his cheek against hers and stroking the side of her face with his lion paw, "I'm so sorry my magic gave you such a terrible experience."
"Thanks," sighed Twilight, with a small smile, "I guess I needed that."
Then she stopped. "Wait. Was that supposed to be compassion or mockery?" she said, suspiciously.
"Mockery?" repeated Discord, "Why, I wouldn't dream of mocking you. Not after having such a dreadful ordeal." He clasped his hands together.
"Well," Twilight sighed, "I just hope it'll be the last one."
She turned round back to the castle and placed her front hoof on the front door. "Just to say," she said, uneasily, "After last night, the castle isn't exactly in perfect condition."
She pushed open the door with her front hoof and they all walked in. Six jaws dropped. The place was a disaster; the crystal pillars were wrecked, the ceiling and walls were webbed with cracks, and the tapestries and carpets lay ruined on the floor. To explain it as simply as possible, it looked like a tornado had hit it.
"Oh, I do wish I had a camera," said Discord, enviously, looking round as they walked through the absolutely ruined castle, "Oh, don't get your tail in a twist, Twilight. I'll fix your castle back up as soon as I get my magic back. Promise."
"Thanks," said Twilight, in relief, "That makes me feel a lot better."
"Twilight?" called Spike, peeping out from behind one of the pillars.
"It's OK, Spike," sighed Twilight, "The chaos is over."
Spike breathed a sigh of relief, and trotted out to join them. He was wearing a green military helmet, and a dozen plump white pillows were tied around his waist, to protect him from falling hard if the castle rotated again.
"Hey there, everypony," he said, looking nervously at Twilight.
Then Spike noticed something.
"Discord," he giggled, "Are you using a—"
"Oh, for GOODNESS SAKE!" shouted Discord, furiously!
Spike took a step back.
"When you're the most powerful being ever known to the universe, you don't walk around much!" snapped Discord, "I'm just a little out of practice!"
"Why can't you fly?" asked Spike, pointing to Discord's bird-and-bat wings, "I mean, you've got wings."
"Technically these wings are just for a boost," admitted Discord, "It's my magic that lets me fly."
"So, basically, what you're saying is," giggled Rainbow Dash, "That without your magic...you're completely and utterly useless!"
She burst into hopeless hysterics!
Discord's eyes narrowed, and he raised his eagle claw and activated Twilight's telekinesis. Rainbow Dash's hoof glowed with a pink aura, and shoved into her own mouth, bashing against her teeth! She gave a yell of pain and yanked it with her other hoof, trying to get it out.
"Dthcord!" she half-yelled, yanking on her hoof, trying desperately to free it from her mouth, "Cuth ith OUTH!"
After a few enjoyable moments of watching Rainbow Dash writhe, Discord snapped his fingers, and the magic forcing her hoof into her mouth dispersed. Rainbow Dash practically spat out her hoof, which was drenched in saliva. She coughed and coughed, massaging her jaw.
"Normally I'd say that was a little mean," said Fluttershy, glancing back at Discord, "But to be honest, Dashie, you deserved it."
"If everyone's done, then let's get to the library!" snapped Twilight, "I don't want any more of this chaos magic!"
She suddenly shivered, and sparkles fizzed around her mane. A swanky orange Zoot suit appeared on her, complete with a matching fedora and a bright purple bow tie.
"What in Equestria—?" she exclaimed, before she shivered again and the outfit shape-shifted into a black figure skating outfit with red flames and puffed white sleeves, as well as ice skates on her back hooves. She stumbled on the skates and fell over.
"Hey, I recognise that outfit!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie!
"It's one of Discord's," giggled Fluttershy, "Looks like you activated Discord's outfit-changing magic, Twilight!"
"Yes, and I'm more than familiar with that, " said Twilight, rolling her eyes as she kicked the ice skates off her hooves and started to pull off the outfit.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie's tail twitched! A spooked expression lit up on her face! "Something's going to fall!" she exclaimed!
"But there's nothing—" Twilight started, then she shivered again. With a flash of light, a huge anvil appeared tied to Rainbow Dash's tail, and instantly dropped down, hitting the floor with an almighty CLANG!
"Sorry!" exclaimed Twilight!
"Told you," said Pinkie Pie, breezily.
"I can't take any more of this!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, untying her rainbow tail from the anvil, and flying back up, "Let's get to the library and find some answers!"
The eight friends cringed when they saw the state of the library. Due to the rotation of the castle, it was wrecked, obviously. The floor was an ocean of fallen books. In fact, the only places that were clear of books were the shelves.
"Unfortunately, the books we've looked through got a little mixed up with the ones we haven't," said Twilight, nervously, "And they aren't exactly alphabetically organized anymore, so it might be a bit harder than yesterday."
"Oh, I can fix that," said Discord, idly.
He raised his lion paw and clenched his fingers, activating Twilight's telekinesis. The sea of books spread across the library floor began to glow with Twilight's bright pink magic, and then with the velocity of bullets, instantly shot back onto the shelves, arranged in alphabetical order.
The other seven clapped.
"It's good to know there's still something I can do," said Discord, flexing his fingers.
"Now come on, everypony," said Twilight, "Let's get to work!"
...
"Found anything?" called Pinkie Pie to Rainbow Dash, who was whizzing up and down the shelves, checking books as fast as lightning.
"'Magical Elements and Minerals'. Checked that yesterday," Rainbow Dash muttered, tossing book after book over her shoulder as she flashed past yet another shelf, "'A Study of Deep Magic'. Read that already. Oh, this is going to take forever!"
She skimmed through a book called Spells and Enchantments of Ancient Equestria, then tossed it over her shoulder and zoomed down the shelf, looking for anything helpful.
"Anypony found anything?" asked Fluttershy, looking up from Intermediate Magic.
"No," said Rarity, levitating book after book off the shelves and checking the titles and contents pages, "I still can't seem to find anything about switching magic or that mysterious gem!"
"I certainly hope we find something soon," said Discord, whizzing through the pages of a dozen books or so, "I've never gone this long without changing outfits at least a dozen times. It's truly something I miss."
Fluttershy laughed!
"Well if there's an answer in this library, then we're sure to find it," said Twilight, with a yawn, "I just hope it doesn't take too long. I don't want to see a repeat of last night."
She suddenly twitched, and the pile of books they had already looked through grew wings and fluttered around the room like bats.
"Aah!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, ducking the flock of winged books.
"Sorry!" exclaimed Twilight, but as she did so, there was another flash of light and one of the chairs started barking like a dog and ran out of the room!
"Sorry!" exclaimed Twilight, again, but then another flash of light turned one of her reading lamps into another anvil, which broke through the table and crashed to the floor!
"SORRYYYYYY!" screamed Twilight, as flashes of light occurred all over the place, turning books and furniture and shelves into who-knows-what.
The other ponies gasped!
"Twilight, stop freaking out!" exclaimed Fluttershy, "It only makes it worse!"
Hearing this, Twilight tried to breathe more slowly, and as she began to calm down, the flashes of light stopped. Then she suddenly twitched, and there was one last flash of light that turned one of her reading tables into a delicious-looking chocolate sundae.
"YUMMEEEEEE!" yelled Pinkie Pie, leaping over and diving right into the chocolate sundae, splattering the floor with chocolate, double cream and sprinkles.
"Twilight," said Applejack, uneasily, "This is startin' to get a little loco. You could turn the whole castle into a funhouse if you're not careful."
"I know," said Twilight, exasperatedly, "I can just never tell when it's going to spring up!"
She twitched again, and the chair she was sitting on turned into a unicycle, which instantly lurched over and Twilight smacked into the floor. She winced!
"Well, maybe then it wouldn't be such a bad idea for you to go out and work on controllin' that chaos magic o' yours, while we look through the library," said Applejack, "If you can't control Discord's magic, we can't be in for anythin' good."
"But I want to help you," Twilight protested.
"Darling, just look at yourself," said Rarity, sympathetically, touching Twilight's tired cheek with her hoof, "You're absolutely exhausted from your ordeal last night. It would help you so much if you managed to get control of that magic."
"Rarity's right. We don't want Ponyville to be turned into the Chaos Capital of the World again," added Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight, we all know how powerful Discord's magic is," said Fluttershy, gently, "If you can't control it, there's no telling what could happen. We could all be in grave danger."
There was a moment of silence.
"Well, when you put it that way," admitted Twilight. She looked over at Discord. "Discord, do you have any idea what might help me control your magic?" she asked, hopelessly.
"Relax," said the draconequus, knowingly, "Go somewhere quiet to calm your nerves. That'll help you keep control."
"Like the Ponyville spa," suggested Rarity, "I can't think of anywhere more relaxing than that."
"My friend Tree Hugger does lessons on meditation," added Fluttershy, "You could go and see her. She knows all about that sort of thing."
"Good idea," said Twilight, "I think I will." Then her expression turned sad. "Although I feel bad going to relax while you all have to look through all these books," she said, guiltily.
"Don't you worry 'bout it, sugar cube," smiled Applejack, "You can count on us. You go and relax, and we'll take care of things here."
Twilight smiled. "You really are the best friends a pony could ever wish for," she said, tears of happiness welling up in her eyes.
"Oh, and Twilight! Just one little tip!" Discord called, popping his head round the doorframe as Twilight left the library and headed down the hallways towards the castle exit, "Try not to get angry or upset or excited. Emotional outbursts like that can make you lose control."
"Thanks," said Twilight, gratefully, "I'll be careful."
...
Lotus Blossom dipped the brush in her bowl of greenish-grey mud and smeared it across Twilight's face. Then she picked up two slices of cucumber and placed them on Twilight's eyes. Aloe brought over a towel and tied Twilight's mane up on her head, before asking her to turn over for her massage.
"And what kind of massage would you like, your highness?" Aloe asked.
"Just call me Twilight, both of you," Twilight replied, "And I'd just like a regular massage, please."
"Right away, Twilight," said Aloe, wetting her hooves with some pink creamy lotion.
Twilight smiled lazily as the two spa ponies rubbed the lotion into her skin and massaged her back with their hooves. The others had been right. This was helping. She hadn't had a single spark or pop of chaos since she had come to the spa, and once that she had done, she would certainly be able to work on controlling her magic.
"Ohhhhhh," murmured Twilight, contentedly, "This is exactly what I need. I can't thank you enough."
"Nothing but the best for you, Princess," replied Lotus, "Sorry, I mean, Twilight."
Twilight moaned in overwhelming bliss for the next half hour as the two ponies massaged her back. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. This was just what she needed. Rest. Relaxation. Massages and smooth lotion. In fact, she had never been more sorry in her life than when the massage was over.
"Oh, thank you, both of you," she said, feeling utterly pampered to the skin, "Is there anything else I can get? I'm just feeling so relaxed right now. I don't think I can leave yet."
"May I suggest a hooficure?" suggested Aloe, holding up a nail file, "Three bits."
"Oh, I don't want to spoil myself, but…" Twilight said, thoughtfully, "Oh, go on. I'll take it."
She reached into the saddlebag she had brought with her and grabbed four bits between her teeth. She dropped them into Lotus's hoof. "Keep the change."
Lotus took Twilight's back hoof in her own hoof and began to rub with the file. A little snicker escaped Twilight's lips. Hooficures tickled a lot, and her hooves were very ticklish. As Lotus rubbed harder, the snicker in Twilight's throat turned into a louder giggle. Then, when she just couldn't take it anymore, she burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter!
But as she did so, the nail file in Lotus's hoof turned into a bunch of flytraps that snapped viciously at the air, looking for blood! Lotus gave a panicked shriek and dropped them!
There was another flash of bright light, and Aloe's sleek shiny blue hairdo turned into a sickly green mess of curls, and her headband turned into a large two-headed cobra, which hissed, showing its fangs! Aloe screamed and galloped away, trying to get the snake off her head!
Twilight's expression of laughter suddenly changed to that of pure horror! Oh no! She was laughing! No, no, no! Discord had warned her that any emotional outbursts would let her lose control of her magic! She tried desperately to calm herself down, but the anxiety rushing through her head was just too much! With a flash of light, the hot tub in the middle of the spa turned into a pit of bubbling slime! One of the spa chairs barked like a dog, and chased another around the slime-hot-tub, cluttering up the rest of the furniture!
"No, no, no!" exclaimed Twilight, grabbing her head in her hooves, as flashes of light materialized all over the place, turning the spa into a palace of disaster!
"What in Equestria is happening!?" exclaimed Lotus Blossom, staring incredulously at the chaotic spa!
"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Twilight, trying desperately to clear her head of any possible outbursts of emotions, but failing miserably.
There was a huge cracking sound, like the sound of a building being ripped off the ground—a split second before Twilight realized it was the sound of a building ripped off the ground!
"SWEET CELESTIA!" shrieked Aloe, as the spa began to rotate round and everything inside cluttered around and around, bottles smashing, slime from the hot tub splattering all over everything!
"I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Twilight, flapping her wings and avoiding the cluttering furniture and hot slime splatters, "Cancel the rest of my hooficure! I have to go!"
And with that, she shot out of the spa door and darted across the road outside, past a large group of astounded ponies, who were watching the spa rotate in the air, just like her castle had.
Stop spinning, please, please, stop spinning! Twilight begged, as she flew away from the rotating spa, Oh, this is NOT how I wanted my day to go!
...
Twilight breathed in the sweet-smelling fumes flowing round the room, and then gently breathed out. She was sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat opposite Fluttershy's friend Tree Hugger, with her eyes closed and her hooves turned outwards by her hips. Tree Hugger was helping Twilight meditate, and stay control of herself.
"Just breathe in and out..." crooned Tree Hugger, in a soft, musical tone, "Clear out your chakras, let your mind be empty, with no thought or movement to bother you. Go with the flow, be calm and be one with nature."
Twilight very slowly let the air out of her lungs as Tree Hugger continued her relaxation technique. She didn't think she had ever felt so relaxed in all her life. The perfumed smoke from the oil burner in the room flooded into her nostrils, calming her whole body with its mesmerizing scent. She let out a sigh of happiness.
"Breathe in...breathe out," Tree Hugger crooned, "Let your whole body be still and your life force be free. Have no thoughts, no tensions, no worries. Now, chant with me."
"Ommmmmmmm..." murmured Tree Hugger and Twilight, in unison.
"Bathe your mind in peace and tranquility," crooned Tree Hugger, standing up and placing her hooves on Twilight's shoulders, "Blisssssssss out. Let your whole body be completely reeeeeeeeeelaxed."
She ran her smooth hooves down Twilight's arms, giving her a feeling of comfort.
"Thanks, Tree Hugger," murmured Twilight, deep within a trance of Zen meditation, "This was just what I needed."
"Righteous," replied Tree Hugger, in that same melodic tone.
But then, as Tree Hugger walked back to her own yoga mat, one or two of her orange dreadlocks brushed past Twilight's face. Twilight felt a tickle in her nose, and gave a little sniff.
"Ah-ah-ah-" she sniffed, "Ah-CHOO!"
Instantly, the flow of peace that was circulating round her body disappeared! There was a flash of light, and Tree Hugger's oil lamp grew four frog legs and leaped across the room and out the window!
"What was that!?" exclaimed Tree Hugger, looking round.
There was a flash of light, and the patterned curtains folded into wing shapes and began to flutter around the room! Twilight gasped! No! Not again! She had to relax! She couldn't lose control again!
"Relax, Twilight!" she told herself, frantically, trying desperately to stay calm, "Bliss out! Bathe my mind in...have no thoughts...bliss out!"
As she began to panic and try desperately to stop, the rolled up carpets in the corner turned into jelly rolls, before growing wings and fluttering round the room like a flock of birds!
"Way out!" exclaimed Tree Hugger, staring at them disbelief, "What is happening!?"
There was a flash of light, and the lampshade hanging from the top of the room became a two-headed rabbit, which dropped to the floor and growled! Twilight began to hyperventilate! No! No! Not again! But getting stressed only made things worse! Flashes of light occurred all over Tree Hugger's meditation room, and all her furniture came to life, chasing each other all around the room! It was pandemonium!
There was only one thing to do!
"I've gotta go, Tree Hugger!" exclaimed Twilight, making a break for the door, "I'll pay you next time I see you! Promise! Bye!"
And with that, she galloped out of the door! The flying jelly rolls slowed down, and as Twilight got further away, transformed back into yoga mats. Tree Hugger sat there, staring at the scene in her room as there were flashes of light and most of the chaotic items transformed back.
"Far out," she said, in wonder.
...
Twilight galloped out of the building, litres of sweat cascading down her brow as she fled. A flash of light turned a nearby tree into a cloud of bright purple bats, which fluttered away into the sky.
I've got to go somewhere where I can't cause any damage! Twilight thought, frantically!
She galloped through Ponyville, flashes of light occurring all over the places, causing objects to come to life wherever she went! After all the table umbrellas at a nearby café turned into giant daisies, Twilight was losing it! Finally, she reached the outskirts of Ponyville and ran out onto the grassy landscape, turning patches of grass orange as she did so.
"I have to find some way to control this!" she wept, "I don't know what to do!"
She wiped the tears from her eyes and slowed to a walk. It seemed to work until she coughed, and one of the nearby rabbit holes turned into an interdimensional portal. She gave an exasperated moan as the grass around her began to change into all sorts of different colours, as if she were standing in Rainbow Dash's mane. A nearby family of rabbits turned into winged hamsters and fluttered off into the sky. Three green bushes exploded into a pile of different coloured squeezy balls, and the dandelions in the grass turned into tiny lion heads on green stalks.
Twilight smacked her forehead. This was hopeless. How in Equestria did Discord do it?
Probably because he's the Lord of Chaos and way more capable of using magic than I could ever be , she thought, dully.
Suddenly, Twilight grabbed her head in her hooves and doubled up in pain! A burning, searing sensation had suddenly lit up in her head, as if someone had poured a bucket of molten lava over it! Bright blue chaos magic fizzed all around her head, and it began to hurt even more! She clasped her head in her hooves, moaning in agony, as the red hot pain circulated through her head! She cried out, desperately, but the pain wouldn't stop! The blue aura of chaos magic writhed all around her, and she felt like her mind was being plunged into darkness. She struggled and strained, trying to free herself from the pain, but it was no use.
A deep, merciless laugh echoed in Twilight's head, and a series of horrifying apparitions began to flood through her mind! Chaos, disaster, catastrophe, disorder, mayhem, bedlam, turmoil, madness, havoc, pandemonium!
The mocking laugh in her head got louder and louder, and the searing pain got stronger and stronger, and the chaotic pictures got scarier and scarier, and—!
Suddenly, everything immediately ceased, and Twilight's eyes snapped wide open. But these were not the sparkling purple eyes of the Princess of Friendship that showed love and kindness to all who came to her. Her eyes had turned bright yellow, with two blood-red pupils, the left slightly larger than the right.
Twilight blinked once or twice, and then the blank expression on her face twisted into a malevolent grin.
"Heh heh heh heh heh!" she chuckled, rubbing her hooves together, evilly.
Chapter 5
"This is all to pieces hopeless!" exclaimed Applejack, throwing Ancient Relics & Magical Artefacts over her shoulder into the enormous pile of books they had already gone through, "I can't find nothin' about that stone or switchin' magic! We might as well be fishin' for clouds!"
"Oh, but we can't just give up!" exclaimed Fluttershy, "We promised Twilight we'd find a way to switch her powers back!" Her forehead creased into a frown. "And that's exactly what we're going to do!" she said, fiercely, "We're going to search these books, any books, every book, until we find a way to fix this!"
"Fluttershy, darling, we've looked through nearly every book in this library," said Rarity, exasperatedly, "And we haven't found anything."
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash gasped! "Maybe because we're looking in the wrong place!" she exclaimed.
"Whadda you mean, Rainbow?" asked Spike.
"That cavern we went into was long-forgotten," said Rainbow Dash, "And that gem looked like it hadn't moved for centuries. It's probably been down there as long as the Tree of Harmony."
"Rainbow Dash, darling, we don't even know how long the Tree has been down there," said Rarity, "Or how it even came to be in the first place."
"That's not the point," said Rainbow Dash, "The point is, we're looking in the wrong library. Celestia and Luna have been here since the founding of Equestria. If anypony would have a book on creepy magical artefacts or deep magic spells, it would be them. I bet if we look through the Castle of the Two Sisters, we'll find something."
"That's fantastic, darling!" exclaimed Rarity, "We'd better go there right away!"
"I'm a little bit worried about Twilight," admitted Spike, as they all headed down the castle hallways, "What's going to happen if we can't find anything to get her magic back to normal?"
"I don't know," admitted Fluttershy, "But we will. I'm sure we will."
She pushed open the castle door, and they all headed out. The sky was a deep blue, and stars were twinkling up above. The moon shone beautiful and bright like a glowing silver orb.
"Whoah! It's night!? " exclaimed Rainbow Dash, incredulously, "We must've been in there longer than we thought!"
"We can't have been," said Fluttershy, confusedly, "It's barely been a few hours!"
Suddenly, the moon dropped like a stone and the sun leapt up, turning the sky a breezy sea-blue.
"What in tarnation!?" exclaimed Applejack!
About ten seconds later, the sun dropped back down and the moon shot up, turning the sky deep blue and starry again.
Everypony sighed. "Twilight."
Suddenly, a bright beam of light zapped out from in the middle of Ponyville! It was followed by lots more flashes of light, and brightly coloured beams!
Fluttershy made a small noise and clung onto Discord, who held her protectively. "What's going on?" she whimpered, shuddering as she clung to him.
"I...have no idea," said Discord, stroking Fluttershy's mane with his lion paw, comfortingly.
"Come on, y'all," said Applejack, trotting down the road towards Ponyville, "We've gotta make sure Twilight's OK."
When they reached Ponyville, their jaws all dropped to see the checked grounds, upside-down landmarks and brightly coloured vegetation.
"Oh...I really should be enjoying this," Discord sighed, looking nervously around as they strode through the chaos-choked scene, "So...why aren't I?"
There was a bright flash of light from nearby, and three trees turned into three huge fidget-spinners on poles!
The ponies gasped!
"Anypony else getting worried?" whimpered Fluttershy, clinging onto Discord's snake tail.
"Eeyup," said Applejack.
There was another flash of light, and Sugarcube Corner turned into a cake-shaped bouncy castle!
"Ooh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
They suddenly heard a sound of uncontrollable laughter. They all looked round. Twilight was doubling up in the air, tears streaming down her face from laughing so much!
"Priceless!" she laughed, "Ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Twilight!" exclaimed Applejack, "What in the hay is going on here!?"
"Oh!" exclaimed Twilight, looking over at them and giving them a malevolent grin, "I was wondering when you would show up, my little ponies!"
The seven friends gasped! Twilight's face was twisted into a devilish smirk, and her eyes had turned bright yellow!
"Enjoying the scenery?" smirked Twilight.
"Twilight!" exclaimed Spike, in horror, "What's happened to your eyes!?"
"Twilight?" repeated Twilight, jamming her face up to Spike's, making him step back, "Twilight? What is this Twilight that you speak of!?"
She vanished and appeared back where she had been before.
"In case you haven't heard of my greatness, my name is Discord, the master of chaos!" declared Twilight, putting a hoof on her thrown-out chest, "And I shall thrust all Equestria into a realm of chaos and disharmony!"
Everypony instantly looked over at Discord, who looked as stumped as they did.
"I-if this is some kind of prank, Twilight, we're not finding it funny!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, in a panicked voice, "Remember what we agreed about pranks!? We make sure everypony enjoys them!"
"Well I'm certainly enjoying it!" grinned Twilight!
She gave a strangled evil cackle that sounded exactly like Discord's, and blasted the Town Hall with magic from her horn, which instantly turned it upside down and began to shake in the air! She whipped round, and zapped another building, which exploded into hundreds of Fluttershy-shaped squeezy dolls, which made hundreds of little squeaky noises as they fell onto the road! She aimed a beam of magic at the Ponyville stone fountain, which immediately started coughing a stream of different-coloured bubbles all over!
"What are you doing to Ponyville!?" exclaimed Rarity, in horror!
"Oh, don't mind my little touches," smirked Twilight, "I'm just making this place a little more homely!"
She summoned a flame on her horn, and blasted six cottages, which instantly broke off the ground and hovered in the air!
"And Ponyville is only a stepping stone!" she declared, turning back to the others, "Soon, I take all of Equestria! And your three precious princesses are first on my list! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"What has happened to you!?" exclaimed Fluttershy, "You're NOT our Twilight!"
"Come down from there and stop this!" yelled Rainbow Dash, "Whoever you are, Twilight or not, we want no more of this!"
Twilight's showpony smile disappeared. "Oh, you ponies are so boring!" she groaned, "Fine, if there is no fun to be had, I see no loss in doing THIS!"
And with that, she raised her hooves and blasted a beam of magical energy at the seven friends! They only just had time to scream in terror before the blast of magic hit and everything went black.
Chapter 6
"Something very strange is happening, Luna," said Princess Celestia, urgently, watching the sun drop like a stone and be replaced with the moon, "I can't get control of the sun. It's like there is something else moving it!"
"Let me help," urged Princess Luna, trotting over.
She lit up her horn with her night magic, as Celestia did so with her day magic. She tried desperately to lower the moon, and Celestia cringed in pain as she tried to raise the sun, but it was no use. There seemed to be some kind of other magic that was too powerful for even the two princesses to break through. Sweat ran down Luna's brow, and then her legs gave way and she crumpled to the floor before Celestia caught her.
"I am sorry, my dear sister," moaned Luna, wiping the sweat from her brow, "I cannot seem to gain control. This magic is too strong, even for us."
"I sense that trouble is coming," said Celestia, as she and Luna headed away from the window, and over to their thrones, where Princess Cadance was sitting.
"What should we do?" asked Cadance.
There was suddenly a flash of light from outside the throne room, and the doors opened. Princess Twilight Sparkle strode into the room with her eyes closed and a very relaxed expression on her face.
"Hello there, princesses," said Twilight, striding along the red carpet towards the throne.
"Twilight!" said Cadance, in delight, "It's wonderful to see you!"
"I'm so glad you're here," said Celestia, stepping up from her throne and up to Twilight, "I do not know yet what it is, but we have sensed a threat to Equestria, and I fear that we are going to need all the help we can get."
"Help?" said Twilight, softly, "Oh, yes. You'll be needing PLENTY of that!"
Her eyes snapped open, revealing lurid yellow sclera with blood-red pupils!
The three princesses gasped and automatically stepped back!
Twilight's face twisted into a malevolent grin! She unfolded her wings and rose up into the air, then jammed her hoof at the princesses and yanked it back, yanking the princesses through the air towards her!
"Twilight, what are you—"
"Did you really think I would just let you three keep Equestria as the peaceful and harmonious place it is today?" purred Twilight, her face practically touching Celestia's.
"What?" exclaimed Celestia!
"I am going to take what is rightfully mine!" Twilight declared, "And there is nothing you can do about it!"
She hurled the princesses against the back of their thrones, and channelled her magic! There was a loud, booming sound of stone breaking, and the room around them began to shake, as the Canterlot castle began to tear out of the ground!
"Twilight, what are you doing!?" exclaimed Cadance, "What's wrong with your eyes!?"
Twilight's only reply was a devilish cackle! Magic glowed around her hooves, and the castle ripped from the ground and started to rotate in mid air!
"Bwahahahahahah!" laughed Twilight, as the castle continued to rotate, the stained glass windows smashing up, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The princesses' eyes widened in horror!
...
Discord's eyelids moved, and his eyes slowly opened. The land around looked even more chaotic than it had before. In fact, it was even more chaotic than the original Chaos Capital of the World. He found that rather insulting, actually.
Discord tried to sit up, but a searing pain rocketed through his body, and he gave a wince!
Then he noticed Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike and Fluttershy lying on the ground, looking considerably burnt. The ponies' manes were sticking up in tufts, and Pinkie Pie's tail looked like a bolt of lightning.
Discord gasped and ran over to Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy?" he said, placing his paw to Fluttershy's cheek, raising it up to his face.
Fluttershy's eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes slowly opened. She shakily sat up and coughed out a lot of dust.
"Oh, thank goodness," exclaimed Discord, scooping Fluttershy up in his arms and pulling her into a tight embrace.
Pinkie Pie gave a small cough, and her eyes opened slightly. She sat up and gave a great heave, coughing up the dust and stones from her lungs. "Wow!" she exclaimed, jumping up, "What happened here!"
"I don't know," said Fluttershy, walking over, "Are you OK, Pinkie Pie?"
"Absotutely!" declared Pinkie Pie, shaking out her tattered mane, which bounced back into its usual shape.
"Are the others OK?" said Fluttershy, peering anxiously down at their unconscious friends.
"HEY, RAINBOW DASH!" yelled Pinkie Pie, shaking her best friend like a rag doll, "YOU GOTTA WAKE UP NOW!"
Rainbow Dash gave a moan, and her eyes opened. "Pinkie," she moaned, "Stop shaking me!"
"Sorry!" chirped Pinkie Pie, bouncing off.
"Applejack? Rarity? Spike?" queried Fluttershy, shaking each of them in turn.
Applejack gave a great moan and sat up, rubbing her head, gingerly. "What in tarnation is goin' on here?" she exclaimed, rubbing her head, "How'd this place get so darn chaotic!?"
"The last thing I remember is Twilight shooting off a load of fireworks from her horn and turning everything crazy," said Pinkie Pie.
"I'm pretty sure she said she was Discord," added Fluttershy, confusedly.
"And her eyes were the most sickly shade of yellow," added Rarity, "They looked like...Discord's eyes."
"What in tarnation has happened to our friend!?" exclaimed Applejack, jumping up, "This is makin' less sense than slingin' a hammock between two corn stalks!"
"Why would Twilight think she was Discord!?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "This has to have something to do with you two switching powers!"
"But the stone only switched their powers, " said Rarity, confusedly, "It didn't switch their heads. "
Suddenly, Fluttershy gasped! "Of course!" she exclaimed, "Girls, I know what's happening to Twilight!"
Six heads looked round. "You do?"
"Do you remember from a long time ago, when Trixie returned to Ponyville wearing that Alicorn Amulet?" Fluttershy asked the ponies.
"Trixie?" repeated Discord, "Oh, you mean that extremely obnoxious blue unicorn who does stage magic?" He made a face.
"Indeed, we all remember that terrifying experience," said Rarity to Fluttershy, "But what does that have to do with any of this?"
"Trixie's Alicorn Amulet gave her a huge amount of power," said Fluttershy, "So much power that it started to possess her."
The other ponies nodded.
"And Spike," said Fluttershy, turning to the baby dragon, "Remember when you gave Rarity that Inspiration Manifestation spell to help her with her outfits, but she used its power so much that she got corrupted by it?"
"Yeah," said Spike, shivering, "It was one of the creepiest things I'd ever seen."
"Having too much power can corrupt a pony," said Fluttershy, "And we all know that Discord's magic is a thousand times more powerful than an amulet or a spellbook. That's far too much power for Twilight to even try to handle. That chaos magic has corrupted her, and now there's no telling what she might do with it."
"Well, duh!" said Pinkie Pie, rolling her eyes, "She'll cause chaos, and go after the princesses in Canterlot. She said so, after all."
"Then we must stop her!" exclaimed Rarity.
"And how do you propose we do that?" asked Discord, flatly, "Nopony has ever been a match for my magic. Look how she practically destroyed us." He indicated to the bruised and battered ponies around him.
"Come on, you guys!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, looking at the other ponies, "What about when Discord first broke out and turned Ponyville into the Chaos Capital of the World!? We beat him! We've beaten Discord's magic before, surely we can do it again!"
"But you stopped me by turning me to stone with the Elements of Harmony," pointed out Discord, "And unless I'm very much mistaken, you ponies won't be wanting to turn your best princess pal to stone for the rest of eternity."
There was a moment of silence, then Rainbow Dash groaned! "Man, I hate it when you're right," she complained.
"Anypony got any other ideas?" asked Applejack.
"What about the Rainbow Light?" suggested Pinkie Pie, "You know, the one we used to beat Tirek that gave us those fun designs and made my hair all big and poofy!"
"Oh, the style of my mane was simply divine!" sighed Rarity, dreamily, "I'm all for it!"
"But the Rainbow Light doesn't switch the magical abilities of two ponies," pointed out Fluttershy.
"Couldn't we just use it anyway?" begged Rarity, "I would so love to have that mane again!"
"No. I think our only hope is to use that stone to switch their powers back," said Fluttershy, "Rainbow Dash, you were right. We were looking in the wrong place. If anypony would have a book about ancient artefacts, it would be in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Our best bet is to get the library and find our answers."
"But that could take five-ever!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "And that's even longer than four-ever!"
"Then we'd better not waste our time talking!" said Fluttershy, "Come on, everypony! We have to get to the Castle of the Two Sisters and find some way out of this before Twilight turns Equestria upside down!"
She dashed off down the checked roads, and Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike hurried after her.
Discord's face fell. "Oh," he sighed, "So this means more walking?"
"Yes!" shouted the others!
Discord gave a sigh and sprinted flat-footedly after them with his walking frame.
...
"Alright, y'all!" exclaimed Applejack, as everypony staggered into the library of the Castle of the Two Sisters, their hooves aching from running, "Grab anythin' you think might be useful and READ, DARN Y'ALL, READ!"
"Yeah!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike, dashing over to the bookcases!
"Okie-dokie-lokie!" declared Pinkie Pie, bouncing after them!
Discord, who was absolutely exhausted from running that far, instantly collapsed on the library floor. He gingerly got up and summoned an entire bookshelf of books with Twilight's magic, and started speed-reading them as fast as lightning.
"Anypony found anything!?" yelled Rainbow Dash, grabbing the ancient books off the shelves and tossing them to Rarity, who flipped through them in the blink of an eye.
"Nothing yet!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing along the bookshelves, using her Pinkie Sense to tell her which books might be useful.
"Oh, we simply must find something," said Rarity, in a distressed voice, as she whisked through a dozen of the ancient books Rainbow Dash had thrown her, "I can't possibly imagine what Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance are going through right now!"
"Actually," said Fluttershy, flipping through a book, "I'm pretty sure the princesses are perfectly safe."
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike stared at her.
"Beg your pardon, Fluttershy," said Applejack, in disbelief, "But did you just say perfectly safe!? Are you out of your mind!?"
"Think about it," said Fluttershy, "Remember from a long time ago when Discord first got free. What kind of things did he do?"
"Stole the Elements of Harmony," answered Rarity.
"Turned Ponyville into the Chaos Capital of the World," added Rainbow Dash.
"Used that labyrinth to separate us and turn us all into the opposite of our Elements," added Applejack.
"And made it rain chocolate!" declared Pinkie Pie.
"Exactly," said Fluttershy, "But he didn't try to instantly kill everypony off. He played tricks on us, and turned Ponyville into a disaster, but you'll notice he didn't try to destroy us immediately like Nightmare Moon or Tirek or Sombra did."
"I wasn't that kind of supervillain," said Discord, idly, levitating and speed-reading through another twenty-five books, "I never really saw the point of instantly destroying my enemies. It would only take the fun out of everything."
"You did like to have a good brag," said Rainbow Dash, flatly.
"Yes, and that's coming from the Wonderbolt who can't keep her mouth shut about how awesome she is," replied Discord, pinching Rainbow Dash's cheek between his finger and thumb.
Rainbow Dash laughed, nervously. "Noted."
"I'm pretty sure Twilight will only be causing chaos and teasing the princesses with her magic for the moment," said Fluttershy, flipping through the pages of the book in her hooves, "She'd have to get super, super bored with it before she destroyed them."
"She's right," exclaimed Pinkie Pie, excitedly, "I mean, they're princesses! Since when would Discord miss the chance to show off in front of princesses? And even if Canterlot miiiiiiiight be having a little trouble with chocolate floods and major popcorn catastrophes, Twilight-slash-Discord won't have destroyed them. Yet."
"But," said Rarity, scanning through the pages of yet another book, "We still have an entire library to search for answers! By then it might be too late."
"The answer is in here somewhere," insisted Fluttershy, "I just know it."
She reached for another book, but as she pulled it out, it suddenly it jerked to a stop, revealing it to be attached to some kind of mechanism. There was a large cranking sound, and one of the nearby bookcases ascended up into the ceiling, revealing a dark room hidden behind it.
"Oooh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
"I'll never get used to that," said Rainbow Dash, as they all headed towards the gap that had opened up.
The room was pitch-black, and there didn't seem to be any floor. But hovering by the wall opposite them, suspended in the air by a column of purple light, was a book.
"Y'think that might be the one we need?" queried Applejack.
"Welllllll, usually when creepy secret passages open up, showing mysterious things hidden in dark spooky rooms," said Pinkie Pie, "It's been important."
"Can't argue with that," said Applejack.
"I'll get it," said Fluttershy, fluttering into the dark room, her eyes fixed on the column of purple light.
"Be careful, Fluttershy!" called Rarity, "You never know what kind of traps could be in there!"
Fluttershy shivered. She remembered the time only too well when she, Rarity and Angel had entered the Castle of the Two Sisters to find tapestries to repair, and they had spent the whole night falling into all sorts of traps, and then screaming and running for their lives. And she certainly wasn't anxious to see a repeat of that.
She reached the column of purple light, and stared at the book hovering in the middle of it. Gulping once or twice, she slowly reached her hoof out and swiped it through the purple column.
The other six gasped!
Fluttershy shuddered in terror with her eyes screwed shut, expecting something terribly scary to happen. But nothing did. She opened her left eye. The book was still hovering there, and no traps had sprung. Slowly, Fluttershy reached into the column of purple magic, and closed her hooves on the book's smooth leather cover. Then, taking a deep, deep, deep breath, she yanked the book out of the column, and braced herself for anything.
But nothing happened.
Her eyes darted around, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she took a look at the book in her hooves. She wiped the dust off the title. Strange spirally silver writing wrote the words: The Switchy-Witchy Stone.
Fluttershy's eyes widened. The cover of the old book showed a picture of the creamy silver gem shaped like the Chest of Harmony.
"This is it!" exclaimed Fluttershy, fluttering back over to the others and showing them the cover, "I've found it!"
They all gathered round her as she opened the book to the front page.
"'The Switchy-Witchy Stone,'" she read from it, "'An ancient gem with the power to switch the magical abilities of any two ponies it comes into contact with.' Or any draconequui."
"Yeah, yeah, we already know it switches powers!" said Rainbow Dash, impatiently, "You can skip that bit! How do we switch 'em back!? If we can't find a way to get Twilight back to normal, then Equestria is in BIG, BIG trouble!"
"Let me see that," Discord said, taking the book from Fluttershy, "Nothing...nothing...nothing," he muttered, speed-reading through the pages with Twilight's magic, "Aha! Got it!"
"What!?" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
"It says we can use the stone to switch our powers back. For that, we need a spell," said Discord, pointing to a spell written on the page he was looking at, "And for that we need..."
"The Elements of Harmony," said Fluttershy, when the seven of them were standing back in front of the Tree of Harmony wearing their empty necklaces.
"Is this really, truly a good idea?" asked Rarity, anxiously, "You do remember what happened the last time the Tree wasn't able to survive without the Elements?"
"That was only 'cause Discord had planted a batch of plunderseeds to rob the Tree's magic and ponynap the princesses," said Applejack, "Besides, we're only borrowin' them for a little bit. We'll bring them straight back once we're done with them."
"Well, Discord, you'd better work your magic," said Fluttershy, "I mean, Twilight's magic. She's the only one who can take out the Elements."
Discord raised his eagle claw and channelled Twilight's magic. His claw glowed with pink light and sparkles, and a pink aura lit up around the Tree. The inside space in the middle opened up, and Twilight's star-shaped Element of Magic rose out. The other five spaces on the Tree's branches opened up, and the other Elements: the orange apple of Honesty, the pink butterfly of Kindness, the blue balloon of Laughter, the purple diamond of Generosity and the red lightning bolt of Loyalty rose out to join the sixth.
"I did say I wished we'd someday be usin' these again," said Applejack, as her apple-shaped Element fitted into her necklace, "Now I know why they say careful what you wish for."
"There's no time to lose!" exclaimed Rarity, "We must get to Canterlot at once and rescue Twilight!"
"But what about the sixth one?" asked Discord, holding up Twilight's crown, "We don't have Twilight to use her Element of Magic. And the Elements only work if there are all six of you, correct?"
The ponies faces fell. He was right.
"How do we use the Elements without Twilight?" exclaimed Rarity, "Equestria is doomed! DOO—HOO—HOOMED!"
Fluttershy's face contorted. Then her eyes snapped open! "I know how!" she exclaimed!
She flew over to Discord, grabbed Twilight's crown from his hands and plonked it onto his head.
"Congratulations, Discord, you're the new Twilight Sparkle!" declared Fluttershy.
"What!?" exclaimed Discord, "Me!? But I thought you six were the only ones who could use the Elements."
"You and Twilight have switched powers," explained Fluttershy, "Which means you now have her connection to the Element of Magic."
"I do?" repeated Discord. His expression suddenly turned flat. "Oh, goody," he said, dully, "I'm so honoured."
"We still need that stone," said Applejack, heading towards the passageway they had accidentally opened two days ago, "Come on, y'all, there ain't no time to lose. We've gotta find that stone and get to Canterlot before Twilight turns everythin' into a downright disaster!"
Chapter 8
"Ohh...ohh..." mumbled Twilight, wearily, opening her eyes. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike and Discord were all looking down on her.
"Her eyes are back to normal!" exclaimed Applejack, looking at Twilight's deep lilac eyes, "I think she's back!"
"Wh...what happened?" Twilight asked, shakily getting to her feet, "Are...are we in Canterlot?" She looked around at the checked ground, rotating buildings, chocolate cotton candy clouds and soap roads. "What in Equestria happened here?"
"You got corrupted by my chaos magic, turned Ponyville upside-down, moved on to Canterlot and told everypony you were going to rule Equestria for all eternity," said Discord, enjoying every moment of this, "Oh, and you also used the princesses as dartboards." He pointed over at Celestia, Luna and Cadance.
Twilight's face became struck with horror! "WHAT!?"
"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, enthusiastically, looking over at the dartboards a few metres away from the throne, "You kept throwing darts in their manes and made them wear clown costumes and—"
Twilight screamed! She ran over to the princesses, who were taking off their make up and wigs.
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance!" exclaimed Twilight, bowing down low, "I have absolutely no idea what happened, but I—"
She was suddenly cut off as Princess Celestia hugged her. "I'm so glad you're OK, Twilight," she whispered.
Twilight looked a little surprised at first, but complied.
"Now I think we all want to know what happened to Twilight," said Princess Cadance, striding over to the other seven, "What made her do all this?"
"We found this in a cave beneath the Tree of Harmony," said Fluttershy, holding up the Switchy-Witchy Stone, which had dulled back to its usual silver, "It switched Discord and Twilight's powers, and Discord's chaos magic started to consume her."
"Then she somehow thought she was Discord," said Applejack.
"And turned Ponyville into the Chaos Capital of the World again," said Rainbow Dash.
"And made it rain chocolate!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
At the sight of the Switchy-Witchy Stone, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia gasped! Quickly, Celestia zapped a magical beam from her horn and encased the Switchy-Witchy Stone in a protective bubble and it shot away from the ponies.
"My sister and I hid this artefact beneath the Tree of Harmony many millennia ago," said Celestia, looking at the Switchy-Witchy Stone inside the bubble, "Its power was too dangerous to be wielded by any pony, even Luna and myself."
"So we saw," said Rainbow Dash, flatly.
"We never expected that anypony would one day find it," said Luna.
"But I've noticed that you ponies do seem to have a knack for the unexpected," said Celestia, winking at them.
"I'm just glad it's over," smiled Cadance, walking over to Twilight, "I definitely didn't like the idea of my favourite sister-in-law ruling Equestria in a state of evil and chaos forever."
"Although it appears Canterlot still needs a little attention," said Princess Luna, glancing around at the chaotic Canterlot.
"Allow me," said Discord, breezily. He snapped his fingers, and with a flash of light, Canterlot was back to normal. "My magic worked!" he exclaimed, "Yes!" He tossed away the walking frame he had been using, which instantly vanished! He fluttered up into the air and turned a joyful somersault! "Oh, it feels SO good to fly again!"
He snapped his fingers, and a dozen different outfits appeared on him, one at a time.
"Although this one doesn't go with my shoes," he mused, examining a denim jacket he was wearing.
"Oh, but who cares!" he exclaimed, tossing away all the outfits, which immediately vanished, "My magic's back! YAH-HA-HA-HAAAAAH!"
He laughed with delight and slid over to the ponies in a white glitz 'n' glam outfit. All the ponies laughed. Except for Pinkie Pie.
"Awwwww!" whined Pinkie Pie, looking around at Canterlot, "You didn't even leave one chocolate milk cloud!" She burst into tears! "Not a single chocolate milk cloud!" she bawled!
Discord rolled his eyes, amusedly, then snapped his fingers again. A cotton candy cloud appeared above Pinkie Pie and began to rain chocolate milk again. Pinkie Pie's sad face instantly changed to delight!
"Chocolate milk!" yelled Pinkie Pie, happily, splashing around in the chocolate and catching it in her mouth, "Yaaaaaaaaay!"
"Oh, it's good to be able to do it again," said Discord, flexing his fingers, satisfied.
...
Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Discord watched as Rainbow Dash's red lightning bolt, Pinkie Pie's blue balloon, Rarity's purple diamond, Applejack's orange apple, Fluttershy's pink butterfly and Twilight's magenta star levitated back into the Tree of Harmony. The spaces closed for good and the Tree glowed with bright white light once again.
"It's good to know we'll always be able to rely on the Elements when we need to," said Twilight, smiling as the Tree's bright glow lit up in all its former glory, "Although it never occurred to me that I would one day be turning Equestria upside-down and Discord would have to substitute for me."
"I still say your chaos was only on an average level," said Discord, flexing his fingers, "I would have turned the grounds into Swiss cheese, reversed gravity and made everything an opposite colour. Ooh, now there's an idea," he said, stroking his goat beard, thoughtfully.
"Discord!" snapped Rainbow Dash.
"I said it was an idea, " said Discord, innocently, "Why do you always have it in for me, Rainbow Dash?" He squeezed her cheek rather hard and she fluttered off.
"I guess this is just another example of what a powerful thing friendship can be," said Twilight, looking up at the Tree, and then back at the princesses, "That no matter how dangerous or complicated a situation can be, as long as we have each other, the magic of friendship will always prevail."
She pulled Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy into a group hug.
"Even though they were facing one of the most dangerous threats to ever come to Equestria, my friends still didn't give up on me," Twilight smiled, at her friends gathered round her, "They proved once again that our friendship is stronger than any adversary. And now Equestria is safe. I'm proud to call you all my friends."
Discord gave a great yawn. "Oh, it's wonderful to have you back, Twilight."
THE END
Chapter 7
"Come on, everypony, there ain't no time for dawdlin'!" exclaimed Applejack, as they all hurried off the train and into the Canterlot train station, with the Elements of Harmony around their necks, "We've gotta find Twilight!"
Then, as they exited the train station and ran out onto Canterlot's roads, they all suddenly noticed the land around them. The grounds were checked with red and white, like a chessboard, dozens of buildings, trees and ground spaces were either hovering or rotating in the air, and most of the roads twisted all over the place, leading to who knows where. Everything had been turned into total chaos, with a design very similar to Chaos Capital of the World 2.0.
"Well, Twilight-slash-Discord's definitely been here," said Pinkie Pie, watching a shoal of purple and yellow fish swim through the air, "Oh, Twilight-slash-Discord's too long a name. Why don't we call her Dis-light? Or Twi-cord? Or—"
"I don't think it's the bettermost time to be jawin' about nicknames, Pinkie Pie," said Applejack, firmly, "We've gotta get to the palace and make sure the princesses are OK."
Everypony else agreed, and they headed down the road towards the palace in the distance.
"Wow," said Fluttershy, looking around at the checked ground, rotating buildings, winged bushes and sneezing stop signs, as they trudged along the Canterlot roads, "This is certainly chaotic alright."
"Twilight thinks she's Discord, of course it's chaotic," said Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes.
There was suddenly a flash of light beneath their hooves, and the group of friends all slipped over and landed smack bang on the now soap roads.
"Ow," whimpered Fluttershy.
"Twi-cord's turned the roads into soap!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, struggling to get up.
They all struggled to get to their hooves. Discord grabbed his walking frame and they all carried on down the road, slipping and sliding on the soapy surface as they did so. There was another flash up in the sky and all the clouds turned bright pink. Chocolate milk began to rain down in places.
"It's gettin' worse, y'all," said Applejack, worriedly.
"Worse?" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, bouncing around and catching the chocolate milk in her mouth, "I think you mean better!"
"Ugh! I really can't believe this!" exclaimed Discord, furiously, as they all trudged through the soap roads, getting soaked in chocolate milk, "This is utterly preposterous! How DARE she do this to Equestria!? Cotton candy clouds and soap roads were MY thing!"
"Ahem!" snapped Rainbow Dash.
Discord sighed. "And also because it's evil, and we're against that," he said, tonelessly.
...
"Hmmm hmmmm hmmmmm," Twilight Sparkle hummed pleasantly as she conjured up dart after dart and shot them at the three princesses, all of whom were pinned to dartboards in the air, dressed in clown costumes and rainbow-coloured Afros.
Princess Celestia flinched as two darts jabbed into the dartboards on either side of her ears.
"Oh, this is so much fun!" laughed Twilight.
She clapped her hooves and with a flash of light, apple pies began to rain down from the sky, splattering the princesses with crust and apple sauce. Twilight burst out laughing again!
"Twilight, what is wrong with you!?" exclaimed Cadance, struggling to escape from her bonds, "What has happened to my sister-in-law!?"
"Twilight?" questioned the purple alicorn, "I am Discord, the master of chaos! And I will take Equestria for my own this time!"
"Discord?" exclaimed the three princesses, incredulously.
"I don't believe this!" exclaimed Celestia, "Discord would never betray us!"
"But, sister, if it is Discord," said Luna, "Why has he made himself look like Twilight? It doesn't make sense!"
"Make sense?" repeated Twilight, grinning, "Oh, what fun is there in making sense?"
She fluttered over so her face was almost touching Celestia's.
"How does it feel," Twilight purred, "To know that you've lost and I've won?"
She cackled again and fluttered back over to her throne. She stuck out her tongue, which elongated and wrapped round a cotton candy cloud, slurping the whole thing into her mouth. Licking the cotton candy and chocolate milk off her lips, she cackled again.
"Chaos!" she declared, "Is a wonderful, wonderful thing!"
"So is this where I'm supposed to say "Not as wonderful as friendship?" a voice said from behind, "Because I really don't think that's my thing."
Twilight and the three princesses all looked round. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike and Discord stood boldly on the soap roads with the Elements of Harmony around their necks.
Twilight's surprised expression changed to an amused one. She hovered up from her throne.
"Ooooh, now what have we here," she purred, floating over with her chin in her hooves, "The little hero ponies with their little trinkets of harmony. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
She zapped a beam of magic from her horn, and with a flash of light, two nearby trees turned into huge pink Venus flytraps, which snapped menacingly at the air.
"Stop it, Twilight, this isn't you," said Fluttershy, "You're our friend! And you'd never do anything to put anypony in danger."
"Oh, and what are you going to do to stop me?" exclaimed Twilight, in mock fright, "Blast me with your magic little necklaces?" She wiggled her hooves above her head. "Oh, how TERRIFYING!" she exclaimed, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
She vanished and reappeared a few metres away in a Grim Reaper's outfit and scythe.
"Well, you've most certainly outsmarted me this time," she smirked, "I'm doomed!"
With a flash of light, a grave and headstone appeared on the ground.
"Oh, woe is me!" Twilight exclaimed, dramatically, collapsing on the grave and putting her hoof on her forehead, "I will never forget that fateful day when those ponies used the magic of friendship to defeat the great master of chaos! Oh, how will I ever defend myself against their terrifying power!?"
Twilight burst into hopeless hysterics!
"I take back what I said before!" laughed Twilight, writhing in the air from so much laughter, "You ponies are HILARIOUS! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Now who does she remind me of?" said Applejack, tonelessly.
The others glanced at Discord with deadpan expressions.
"Oh, please," scowled Discord.
"Twilight, stop it," Fluttershy said to Twilight, "This isn't you. The real Twilight Sparkle would never do anything to endanger Equestria or any of us. You're our friend. I just know you're in there somewhere. And our friendship is stronger than that chaos magic!"
Twilight yawned deeply through Fluttershy's attempt to get to her.
"You ponies are so innocent, " she sneered, grabbing Fluttershy under her arm and rubbing her forehead with her hoof, "It's really quite adorable!"
She vanished and reappeared back in front of her throne.
"Go ahead, try and defeat me with your little trinkets," Twilight drawled, dramatically, rolling her eyes, "Knock yourselves out. But do hurry up. I've got a whole lot more chaos to wreak!"
She zapped her horn at three houses, which all instantly turned into gargantuan card pyramids.
"Alright, everypony!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "Elements at the ready!"
"Check!" everypony said, in unison.
Fluttershy reached into her saddlebag and brought out the Switchy-Witchy Stone.
"Oho!" exclaimed Twilight, "What have you got there, my little ponies? A little token resembling the great and magical power of your friendship which you shall use to bring me to my downfall?"
She burst out laughing again! "I haven't laughed this hard!" she laughed, "In a millennia! Ha ha ha ha!"
"She's almost as annoying as you," Rainbow Dash said pointedly to Discord.
Discord gasped! "Impossible!" he exclaimed, "No one bests Discord!"
"Go ahead, blast me with your little Elements!" smirked Twilight, grabbing a hoofful of popcorn from the box she had conjured up, "Save Equestria from my reign of terror and let the magic of friendship last for all eternity!"
She burst out laughing again!
"Quick, Discord, use that spell you found in the book!" exclaimed Fluttershy, "Let's get our friend back!"
Discord snapped his fingers and the Element in Twilight's crown lit up with Twilight's bright pink magic. He and all the ponies around them began to glow with magical white light. Yellow butterfly outlines of Fluttershy's Element of Kindness flowed out from the place in her necklace. Purple diamonds and red lightning bolts flowed out from Rarity and Rainbow Dash's Elements of Generosity and Loyalty. Blue balloons and orange apples flowed from Pinkie Pie and Applejack's Laughter and Honesty. As the Elements vibrated, a glowing colourful rainbow joined the five together. The two ends of the rainbow curled round Discord, meeting at Twilight's Element of Magic and glowing with a bright rainbow light! He and the other ponies were lifted off their hooves (and lizard foot) and Discord's yellow eyes lit up with a bright white glow!
I don't think I could ever get used to this, thought Discord with a grimace, as he channelled the power of the Element of Magic in Twilight's crown and cast the spell he had found in the book.
The Switchy-Witchy Stone in Fluttershy's hoof lit up with a bright silver light, and started to vibrate! It hovered up into the air, glowing brighter by the second! It rose up into the air as the colourful beams continued to shoot out from the ponies' necklaces!
Twilight's jaw dropped, and the popcorn fell right out of her hoof.
"No!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing!? What magic is this!?"
"It's the magic of friendship, Twi-cord!" declared Pinkie Pie!
Six beams of brightly coloured light shot out from the Elements and joined in the middle, engulfing the Switchy-Witchy Stone in an orb of rainbow colours! Then one long blast of rainbow light shot out of it, and hit Twilight at full force! The rainbow colours swirled around her as she struggled to free herself from its power.
"No!" she screamed, "NO! NOOOOOOO—"
Her scream was abruptly cut off as the rainbow colours engulfed her body! Then both she and Discord glowed with the same pink-and-dark-blue light as they had before. The blue light surrounding Twilight and the pink light surrounding Discord both drained out of them and shot towards the Switchy-Witchy Stone, which zapped Twilight with the pink and Discord with the blue.
As the blue beam engulfed his body, Discord felt a huge surge of magic flow into him. His magic was back!
Slowly the light from the Elements of Harmony faded, and twenty-one hooves and a lizard foot touched back down to the ground. Discord rubbed his eyes.
"That's the last time I'm ever doing that, " he assured the others, scowling. He took off Twilight's crown and tossed it over to Spike, who caught it.
There was a sudden moan from the ground. Twilight Sparkle rubbed her eyes with her hooves, as if waking from a long, long sleep. A spark of panic crossed her seven friends' faces. They slowly gathered round the purple alicorn, hoping with everything they had that the spell had worked.
"Twilight?"
