Love for all

by TheStoryteller

Rating: teen
Tags: Flash Sentry, Main 6, Discord, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Soarin, Alternate Universe, Romance, Drama, Cheese Sandwich, Adventure
Length: 43154

This is the story of how those who have only known death and despair are able to love and forgive, all while a sinister plot gets in their way

It is said that "love conquers all", this statement is true, but how can love exist in a world filled with darkness and hate. This is the story of those who found love in this world, a story of friendships forming and breaking, and a story of those who were lost returning to the light.

Long ago, nearly all kingdoms of the known world waged a terrible, scarring, and heinous war, one that would take the lives of many and changed the world forever. That is until King Discord ended the war with his great magical power, however even the end of the war was not enough to fix the problems it caused. Naturally, the other kingdoms looked to the kingdom of Chaosville to support themselves and make King Discord give them aid. The way they would conduct such an alliance was through the bond of marriage between a representative of their kingdom and one of the six children of King Discord. In a world ruled by politics, money, power, and war, can true love be able to emerge and conquer all?

Current ships:
Rainbow Dash x Soarin
Pinkie Pie x Cheese Sandwich
Twilight x Flash
Fluttershy x Discord
Rarity x Fancy Pants
Applejack x OC
Ember x Spike

More ships will most definitely be added

Published 2018-11-19 14:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-03-27 02:34:43 UTC

Chapter one

In the world of Equis, there existed many kingdoms, empires, and smaller domains, so many that it would take forever to list them, but if there was one thing that all of these kingdoms had in common it was their desire for power. Some desired it to protect their kingdoms, others for land and resources, and for some a means of revenge. And that desire had never been more present in this era. Five years ago, there was a Great War amongst all kingdoms, all but one. A kingdom that was governed under the rule of King Discord, who, with his magic, sheltered his kingdom from the war. Biding his time, and allocating his support where needed, all sides eventually wore themselves out and the war came to an end due to a massive standstill. With the end of the war, recovery began for the economy and stability of each kingdom, however, many would use this as an opportunity for an alliance. Chaosville, the kingdom which King Discord rules, was bountiful in resources, land, and diverse population. Many of the rulers offered an alliance with Chaosville, knowing that with their shared resources they could easily recover and potentially resume their fights.

This alliance would, of course, be done through a marriage with one of Discord’s six adopted children.

When all rulers had suggested an alliance, King Discord refused, stating that he would not jeopardize his children’s wellbeing for the benefit of other nations, that and he knew that the only difference between an alliance through contract and one through marriage, was that an alliance through marriage would allow the other nation’s control of military powers and resources.

Discord has six children, all of whom are ponies, with their order of sibling status not being by age but by when they were taken in by Discord. The eldest was named Flash Sentry, a pegasus stallion with orange fur, a spiky blue mane, and curious blue eyes. He was well mannered and preferred spending his time helping others, training, studying history, and writing stories in his spare time. He was the most rational and compromising of his siblings, and acted as a Diplomat from time to time.

Then came the second eldest, a stallion Pegasus with light blue fur, a navy mane that was smooth and flowed back like his brother’s. But unlike his brother, Soarin was wild and full of energy, while Flash trained as a means of self-defense, Soarin trained to hone himself as a warrior in all ways. He was the general of Discord’s army, though there was never any use of them. He is determined, driven, courageous, and stubborn when it came to nearly everything.

Then came the third child, an earth pony stallion by the name Cheese Sandwich. He had darker orange fur, a brown poofy mane, and green eyes. Cheese Sandwich was like his brother Soarin in the way of how he was ambitious and wild, but Cheese preferred to use his energy in making those around him smile. His role is that of a jester, while some find the title demeaning, he takes great pride in it.

Then came the fourth child, a mare unicorn by the name of Sunest Shimmer. She has yellow fur, a red mane with stripes of yellow in it, and teal eyes. She was ambitious in a pursuit of both knowledge and magic, while also being the most cunning of her brothers. She is the most powerful of her siblings thanks to her advanced knowledge in magic, it is also why she is the city Wizard.

Then came the fifth child, a stallion unicorn by the name Fancy Pants. An esteemed gentle colt with white fur, navy mane, and bright blue eyes with a monocle on the left. Fancy is well mannered, kind hearted, and attentive to all, even going so far as to help out the staff. Fancy was like his brother Flash, in that he always saw how creatures could put their talents to their best uses. He is in charge of trade and keeping the kingdom organized.

Then came the sixth and final child, an earth pony stallion by the name of Johnny Appleseed. Jonny has light brown fur, a short green spiky mane, and hazel eyes. Jonny wasn't the most sociable type, as he preferred spending his time in the field rather than with others. However, he more than pulled his weight as he was in charge of attending to the food and supply of the whole kingdom.

These are the six children of the king, Discord. It was on this day, five years after the Great War ended, that their father asks of them a difficult task, one that he had swore to never do.

In the kingdom of Chaosaville, embedded in the mountain, was the castle within which the king, his children, and the servants dwelled. As the sun shined over the horizon, signaling that it was daybreak, that the members of the castle began to stir. It was at this time that the king Discord had requested his children to meet with him in the discussion room. A room with tall thin windows on both walls and tall marble pillars that held the ceiling up. In the center of the room was the round table where the king Discord sat in his chair. Discord was a stag with light brown fur, strong and mighty antlers, a red eye on his left and a green one on his right. He waited patiently for his children to arrive and then Fancy Pants entered through the door.

"Good morning, father." Fancy greeted with his pimp and proper voice, wearing his royal clothing which was navy blue with several gold plates along the chest and shoulder.

"Morning, Fancy." Discord greeted back, avoiding the word 'good'.

"Might I ask why it is that you have called myself and my siblings here?" Fancy asked, taking his seat at the table.

"Patience, Fancy." Discord responded, waiving his hoof over the table a can of red bull appeared which he drank to calm his nerves. "All will be revealed in due time."

After a while Flash Sentry entered the room, wearing an identical suit to Fancy's but his was red and white.

"Good morning, Father." Flash greeted in the same fashion as Fancy as he too took his seat.

Followed by Flash was Soarin and Cheese Sandwich, Soarin wearing a similar suit to Fancy Pants but his was green and black, Cheese wore the same only his was orange and blue. When the two entered they both appeared to be giggling over something.

When they took their seats, the doors to the entrance flew open as Sunset Shimmer entered with a messy mane that covered some of the front of her face. She wore a red dress with yellow plates on the shoulders. She glared at both Soarin and Cheese as she took her seat. Discord, his nerves beginning to dull as he sipped his monster energy drink, decided to ignore it.

"Now all we need is Johnny." Flash said.

Impatient, Discord clapped his hooves and Jonny appear on the table, snoring loudly. Fancy make a loud "Ahem" which woke Jonny up. He hazily looked around with half opened eyes, "oh...good night." Jonny said, returning to sleep on the table. Sunset, being in a bad mood, used her magic to lift Jonny's head and then slam it back down to wake him up.

"OOOOOOW." Johnny groaned, rubbing the welt on his head.

"Johnny," Fancy started, "would you be so kind as to take your seat?"

Johnny obliged and took his seat. Once Discord finished downing his cocktail of gatorade and redbull he began to explain the reason as to why he had called his children here.

"As you all know," Discord began saying, talking nice and slow like a yoga instructor, "The Great War ended and repairs have already begun. As such, many leaders have looked to my kingdom and have requested that I hold a ball."

"Heh," Soarin laughed, "I bet you sent those leaders home packing didn't ya?"

"Actually," Discord took another gulp of monster energy, "I accepted their request."

"WHAT?!" All of the siblings exclaimed in shock.

The reason for their shock was that a ball was a gathering of those who were either, noble, rich, or a part of royalty in the hopes that they would marry others who were either noble, rich, or a part of royalty. For many decades Discord had avoided the acceptance of a ball as he wanted his children to have the privilege of choosing who they wanted to be with. Unfortunately, this time was different.

"Why the buck would you say yes?!" Soarin demanded.

"Chaosville has always rejected the event of ball, why have you now accepted it?" Flash asked.

"Are you being blackmailed?" Cheese asked, quickly putting on a pair of sunglasses and pulling out a shotgun which he cocked. "Who do I need to silence?"

Johnny continued to snore, a snot bubble formed from his nose.

As his children continued to shout questions, Discord raised a hoof and their questions fell silent. "The Great War is over," Discord began, "Kingdoms are in ruin, resources have been depleted, and ponies are in chaos. As much as I love chaos...this kind only leaves a bitter taste in my mouth." Discord began going on. "Chaos should be fun and enjoyed, not abused like this. Which is why I made a decision to end the war completely."

This news came as a shock to each of the siblings.

"You...ended the war?" Flash asked in disbelief.

"Indeed." Discord confirmed. “Well…end is a strong word, more like we’ve all agreed to reach an armistice. I told each of the leaders of every kingdom 'one year from now, I will hold a ball where I shall offer my children's hand in marriage. Should you choose to accept, and should my children fall in love with the one you send, then I will happily accept any alliance between my kingdom and yours'."

"That's why the war ended." Flash summed up. "The offer of an alliance with our kingdom was so important that they stopped fighting in order to gain your approval?"

Discord took another sip of his energy drink, "you are correct, Flash."

"No offense or anything, but weren't you the one that said 'I want you guys to be the one's to find and choose true love'?" Cheese asked.

"I did." Discord replied.

"Then why are you putting us through this?" Cheese asked.

"I never said that you have to choose or fall in love with anyone." Discord restated. "You could choose to fall in love with nobody for all I care, I just wanted an excuse to end this pointless and silly squabble between everybody. I'm just holding up to my end of the promise."

The children couldn't argue with Discord's logic, they didn't necessarily have to fall in love or be forced into marriage.

"Besides, you all are somewhere between 20 or 18, it's time for you guys to at least put yourselves out there and meet somebody." Discord said with a slur, unaware that he had accidentally drank some coffee. "I'm (hic) looking at you there Sunset."

"Wha-me?" Sunset protested in awe.

"Yes, you." Discord slurred, some bubbles forming around his head. "I've seen how you treat the stallions of this palace, making them stay as far away as possible from you. What are you, allergic to them or something?"

A blush crept over Sunset's cheeks. Discord attempted to take another swig of water but it was snatched away by Fancy.

"Hey." Discord pouted. "Give that back."

"I think you've had enough." Fancy stated. "Besides, it's too early for coffee."

Discord huffed, crossing his hooves. "Fine, but that doesn't change my mind." Discord stated. "You six will attend the ball which will be held three days from now. I expect you to be nice and ready by then, no 'ifs', no 'ands', no 'buts', no 'coconuts'." Discord giggled before clapping his hooves together. "Now then, your servants have been made aware of the situation and will explain the rest of it to you. Chop chop, you all have work to do."

With that, all of the siblings got up and exited the room. All but one of them.

"Can I ask you a question, father?" Flash asked, standing at the doorway.

"Sure thing, kiddo. Fire away." Discord said, rubbing his head from the brain freeze he got when he drank his hot chocolate.

"Why the sudden interest in love?" Flash asked. "I know that you're the lord of chaos and all but...I don't think love and chaos go all too well together."

Discord grinned a devilish grin. "That's where you'd be wrong. You see, Chaos itself is like food and drink; there are some that have different flavors, different textures, different structures, there's so many forms of chaos." Discord said, bearing a frown. "Let's just say the Great War was like eating Brussel Sprouts with wood, it tasted awful so I decided to end it." Discord explained. "Love is no different, it's unpredictable, it makes ponies do crazy things, and it leaves a mess everywhere. Love is chaos and to me it's like ice cream mixed with doughnuts."

Flash, satisfied with Discord's answer, took his exit. While it was true that Discord was the Lord of Chaos, that didn't mean he wasn't without order. Discord preferred to live by the analogy of 'Chaos within order', not too much chaos so that way everybody could be having fun and not too much order so that way nobody couldn't have enough fun. This is how Discord always was, a riddle wrapped within an enigma.

Once Flash had left, Discord closed the doors and got up from his chair. He walked over to a window that showed him all of his kingdom, all of the small villages and their settlements. How much longer would he have dominion over them. how much time did he have left? These were the questions Discord pondered as he looked over his kingdom. Discord was nine thousand, two-hundred and eighty three years old, he had spent a thousand of those years learning to control his magic, three thousand years meddling in the affairs of others and causing chaos, another thousand making repairs to the damage he caused, another thousand causing more chaos which undid the repairs he had made, another one thousand he spent wandering the earth, a thousand and a half years he spent wallowing away, and the remain years he spent building his kingdom and his family.

Discord's eyes rose to the ceiling and he asked, "am I doing the right thing…Melody?'

Author's Note

And here is the first chapter. Leave a comment and a like if you liked this story and I'm always welcome to feedback.

Chapter two

There were two places Flash liked to spend his time, on the training grounds, where he practices his skills in self defense, and in the library where he reads books on history. Though there were times when he would feel inspired by what he read and then write something of his own. But today he was reading the itinerary for the upcoming ball which would take place in two days. As Flash was reading, he was interrupted by a metal object colliding with his head which rammed his head against the podium.

"OW!" Flash groaned, rubbing the red welt that formed on the back of his head. He whipped around and his eyes fell on the culprit of his pain. It was a steel sword that is sheathed in its leather scabbard. His gaze trailed up to see his brother, Soarin, flying with a bored expression on his face and a sheathed sword by his side.

"Fight me." Soarin demanded.

"Not now, Soarin." Flash responded, turning back around to continue reading.

Soarin flew above Flash and poked him with the tip of his scabbard. "Come on." He poke Flash again. "Come on." Every time Soarin said 'come on' he would poke Flash. "Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on."

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Flash roared at Soarin.

...

"Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on." Soarin continued to poke Flash.

"Soarin," Flash began, grabbing Soarin's sheathed sword, "you do realize that the ball is in two days."

"Uh huh." Soarin nodded.

"And that father tasked us to be ready for it."

"Uh huh."

"...you do know that a ball is a gathering of royalty and nobles to marry others to form alliances right?" Flash asked, suspecting that Soarin thought that the ball was some kind of fight. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Uh, yeah." Soarin stated matter-of-factly. "It's just...fighting helps me relax." Soarin admitted.

Flash eased up on Soarin when he admitted that. "I see...well, I wouldn't say that there's much need for stress."

Soarin scoffed as he landed. "Have you seen the guest list?" Soarin asked, naming off just a few names. "Prince Blueblood is gonna be there."

"He better stay clear of Sunset." Flash chuckled.

"Fleur Delis." Soarin added and Flash cringed.

"Oh, Fancy isn't gonna be too happy to see her."

"Gilda, from the Griffon empire and her mysterious brother, Vox." Soarin added.

"I'm keeping you away from them." Flash said, knowing all too well that Soarin would get into a fight with them the moment they showed up.

"Fair enough, fair enough." Soarin agreed. "But that's just a few names, who knows who else is gonna be here."

"Lightning Dust is coming."

The mention of her name sent a shiver down Soarin's spine. "...If you need me, I'll be hiding in the nearest closet."

"Well on the plus side," Flash quickly added, holding the sheet with all of the guests names, "Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Rainbow Dash are gonna be there."

That put a smile on Soarin's face. "Ah yeah, I can't wait to meet up with them." Soarin rubbed his hooves manically. "First thing I'm doing is challenging Dash to a race, this time I'll win for sure."

Flash chuckled, remembering the times when Soarin and Rainbow Dash would race one another almost 24/7 every time see came over to visit. Every time Soarin would lose to Rainbow and, Soarin being his determined self, he would challenge her again and again. Unfortunately, Rainbow was called into duty for the Lunar Empire and had to leave to tend to battle, so it would be nice to meet up with her again.

Flash continued on with the list, “It’s also interesting how many creatures are being sent. The griffons are sending two of their emissaries whereas the Yaks are only sending one. There are also some names on here that I've never heard of, some new royalty, or noble, or servants." Flash said, handing Soarin the list. "Look at this, even Twilight Sparkle herself is attending."

"Sounds glittery." Soarin rolled his eyes. "There are so many creatures coming here to try and create an alliance with Chaosville."

Flash paused for a moment, staring blankly at the sheet. "Why do you think Father is doing this?" Flash finally asked.

Soarin tilted his head, perplexed. "Whatda mean?" He asked. "King Discord said he's doing this to stop the war."

Flash turned around to face Soarin, "I don't think so, Father has never done something like this with us involved."

"What?"

"I mean..." Flash stumbled, trying to find the right words. "Father has always done reckless things like this, he stopped the war between the diamond dogs and the minotaurs by turning a mountain into rice. But all of those times he's never done something like that with us, his children, involved.”

“What are you talking about, course he has.” Soarin pointed out, “remember how you and I were in charge of negotiations with that one country.”

“This is different,” Flash stated, “Discord has never been one to stick to traditions but here is following the age old tradition of ‘alliance-by-blood’.”

Soarin rubbed his chin. "Hmmmm, you're right. That is strange."

"I don't think this ball is about stopping a war, I think it's about something else entirely." Flash pondered.

"Oh no, I know that look." Soarin grimaced.

Flash had a habit of solving mysteries, whether they be big or small he wouldn't stop until he learned the truth. This was why Flash had an interest in history, for he was obsessed with learning of the past and understanding its meaning.

"When I asked him about his sudden interest in love, he talked about how love is chaos. Perhaps he's losing his power and needs us to create chaos in order to restore power. Or maybe-OW!" Flash yelped as Soarin poked the red welt on the back of his head.

"None of that, I’m not in the mood for any of your conspiracy theories." Soarin stated flatly. "Look, one way or another, this ball is gonna happen. So you can either camp up in here and waste time speculating about 'what ifs' or you come with me and get your flank handed to you in sword to sword combat."

"I'll take the former." Flash chose and Soarin sighed.

"Very well," Soarin said, unsheathing his sword he held the handle in his teeth, "you leave me no choice."

Flash watched in horror as Soarin grabbed one of the books from a nearby shelf and tossed it into the air. He took his blade and sliced the book in two, a bookmark glided to the floor as it just so happened that Flash was in the process of reading said book. Flash's left eye twitched, he kicked his sword up and grabbed the hilt with his teeth and unsheathed his sword. "You are so dead!" Flash roared through gritted teeth as he lunged at his brother.

Sunset Shimmer's room had a queen sized bed in the back center of her room, sheets tucked nicely and the pillows arranged neatly. Two windows on the back wall, each visible from the side of the bed. Two nightstands stood beside the bed with scented candles lit. A dresser with a tall mirror on the far side of the room, a comfy chair beside a bookshelf on the other side of the room. Sunset shimmer was watching her reflection, pulling out dress after dress in an assembly line fashion as she compared each dress to the last. She would also try on jewelry to see what would match with what, or to see if it was too much or too little.

"Hiya, Sis." Cheese Sandwich greeted.

In response to his greeting, Sunset fired a bolt of magic at Cheese. Who pulled a frying pan out of his mane and used it to deflect the bolt. The bolt bounced across the walls of the rooms before it sunk into the floor. Sunset sighed in defeat and turned to face her brother. "What?" She frowned.

"Well, I just so happened to hear that you're trying on several dresses for the ball but can't decide upon which one." Cheese assumed correctly. "So I've come to provide some help."

Sunset opened her mouth to protest but found it to be easier if she let Cheese help her. She turned back around to the mirror and let Cheese do his work. "Isn't this more of a job for Fancy?" Sunset asked.

"Fancy is busy trying to teach Johnny how to be a proper pony." Cheese said, rummaging through the several dresses in Sunset's closet.

"That must be going terribly." Sunset chuckled.

"For the last time." Fancy repeated, pinching his nose. "You eat the salad with the salad fork."

“They're all forks!” Johnny pointed out.

“Each fork is different,” Fancy began to explain, “your first fork is your salad fork, its longer so that way you can pick up lettuce, your next fork is your appetizer fork which you use for your appetizer, you third fork is your entree fork which you use for your main meal, and lastly is the dessert fork which you use, in case it wasn’t obvious, for dessert. Do you understand?” Fancy asked.

Johnny looked down at his dish of salad and to the four sets of forks beside the plate. Irritated, and not losing eye contact with Fancy, Jonny scooped up all of the forks and used all four to stab into the salad and ate the pieces of lettuce with a loud chomp.

Fancy facepalmed.

"You said it." Cheese answered, pulling out a dress which he thought would work but after comparing it decided it didn't. "So you're taking this whole ball thing well."

"But of course," Sunset grinned with pride, "it is my responsibility to be the most proper and ladylike."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, Morningstar." Cheese muttered.

"What was that?" Sunset glared.

"I said, let's try this one." Cheese suggested, holding up a teal dress with a long skirt which Sunset used her magic to put it on her.

She admired herself in the mirror, the teal blue complimenting her orange coat.

"And...wear this." Cheese held up a gold necklace with a red ruby as it's center gem. "There ya go, just gotta fix up your hair and then everything will be all set." Cheese smiled.

"Wow, thank you Cheese." Sunset thanked.

"Anytime, Sis." Cheese smiled warmly as he took his leave.

"Cheese, hold on." Sunset said, making Cheese come to a halt.

"Yes?" Cheese asked.

"I just have to know," Sunset began, "You're always smiling and so optimistic. How do you do it?"

"Well, Sis, I'll tell you how." Cheese said, getting up close to Sunset he revealed his secret. "I lie to myself." He whispered. "I tell myself everyday that everything's gonna be alright, but I'm lying." Cheese admitted, placing a hoof on Sunset's shoulder. "And I don't know how much longer I can keep it up." Cheese said, still wearing his warm smile. "Have a good day, Sis." Cheese said as he exited the room.

Today was the big day, the day in which Chaosville would welcome its quests for the ball. Discord looked out the window and saw the several carriages that were arriving at his doorstep. He cracked his knuckles and used his magic to transform himself into a stag. He wore a green suit, black pants, and a green cape with the Chaosville symbol on it, which was a circle with eight arrows coming out from all sides.

"Showtime." Discord grinned.

Author's Note

And so the guests are beginning to arrive. They will be welcomed to Chaosville's finest hospitality and will receive the finest comforts one has to offer. Until the next chapter, then we shall see who the guests are. As always if you liked this story leave a like and a comment, feedback is always welcomed

Chapter three

Several carriages pulled up to the entrance of the castle, each decorated in their own way to represent their culture and customs. Of course, these were not the only carriages to arrive as more were to come later on.

The first carriage to arrive belonged to the Ponies of the kingdom of Canterlot, it was decorated with several jewels along its golden rim structure and its walls were made of pink marble. The windows were tinted black as to conceal those that were inside. It was pulled by four earth ponies who were adorned in golden armor.

The second carriage belonged to the Griffons of the Griffon Empire. It was made of several metal sticks and sort of resembled the structure of a birds nest but made of metal instead of twigs and leaves. It was pulled by four griffons who were adorned in grey Griffonion armor.

The third carriage belonged to the Pegasi of Lunum Empire. The carriage was made out of clouds with dark grey clouds on the bottom that became a lighter shade as it trailed up. It was pulled by four Pegasi who were clothed in Wonderbolt uniforms.

The fourth carriage belonged to the Dragons of the Dragon Kingdom. Their carriage was made of molten black rock that had several red veins that stretched along its structure. It was pulled by a single large and fat dragon.

The fifth and final carriage belonged to the Yaks of the Yak Kingdom. It had several horns sticking out of its rim and walls made of dark oak. It was pulled by two yaks that were adorned in traditional yak clothing.

When the carriages pulled up to the entrance to the castle, the doors flung open and two rows of Chaos guards marched forth. These guards were hollow green pony armor that had been enchanted thanks to Discord’s magic. They marched forth, then stopped, then turned to form a long line that faced the carriages. There was a space between these two lines where a red carpet rolled out from the entrance and towards the carriages. When the carpet had fully unfolded, from it Discord popped out and did several flips in the air before landing gracefully. The Chaos Guards stomped their hooves in applause before Discord silenced them. He cleared his throat and made his announcement.

“Greetings,” he welcomed, “allow me to introduce myself and my children. My name is none other than King Discord, Lord and Master of Chaosville.” Discord introduced. “And this is my firstborn son, Flash Sentry.” Discord introduced as Flash emerged from the entrance wearing the same green and black uniform as Discord, and stood next to Discord on his right. “And this is my second eldest, Soarin Skies.” Discord introduced as Soarin emerged, also wearing the same uniform as Flash and stood beside Discord on his left. “And this is my third eldest, Cheese Sandwich.” Discord introduced as Cheese emerged doing several cartwheels before standing next to Soarin, he too was wearing the green and black uniform. “And this is my fourth child, Sunset Shimmer.” Discord introduced as Sunset graciously emerged from the entrance, she was wearing a green and black dress, and she stood beside Flash. “And this is my fifth child, Fancy Pants.” Discord introduced as Fancy emerged from the entrance wearing the same green and black suit and he stood next to Sunset. “Finally, this is my youngest child, Johnny Appleseed.” Discord introduced as Jonny emerged from the entrance also wearing the green and black suit, he stood next to Cheese. When Johnny tried to itch at his suit he received a magical slap front Fancy.

With Discord’s children introduced it was now the rest of the other kingdoms turn to introduce themselves. All of the carriage doors opened up and those inside exited and introduced themselves. From the carriage belonging to Canterlot, emerged an Alicorn mare with a dark purple mane that had pink and violet stripes in it, her eyes were deep purple, and her fur was a sweet lavender. She wore the clothing that belonged to Canterlot royals (which was white as snow with gold along the rims of the clothing).

“My name is Twilight Sparkle.” The Alicorn bowed.

Then there was a unicorn Stallion with white fur, navy blue eyes, and a luscious gold mane. He too wore the garments that belonged to the Canterlot royals.

“My name is Prince Blueblood.” The stallion bowed.

Then came a unicorn mare that was slightly taller than Rarity who also had a white fur coat, but had light purple eyes, and her mane was a soft pink with a single white stripe. She too wore the Canterlot royal garments.

“My name is Fleur Delis.” The mare bowed, stealing a glance at Fancy.

Behind the four royals were the three servants, the first was an Earth Pony mare with pink fur, a poofy pink mane, and teal eyes. The second was a unicorn mare with dark pink fur, indigo colored eyes, and a dark purple mane with a teal stripe in it. The last was another unicorn mare with white fur, a deep purple mane which parted to the side and had a curl on the end of it, and baby blue eyes.

Next was the Griffons, the first was a female Griffon with brown feathers on the rear of her body and white feathers on her neck and head, three white feathers stuck out in front of her from her head, and she had yellow eyes.

"My name is Gilda." The female griffon bowed.

Then there was the second griffon who was a male, he had red feathers all over his body and black feathers all along his neck and head, and he had yellow colored eyes like his sister Gilda.

"My name is Vox." The male griffon bowed.

Behind the two of them were two other servants who introduced themselves as Gallus and Gabby.

With the griffons introduced, the pegasi then introduced themselves. The first was a Pegasus mare with yellow fur, an orange mane with some stripes of yellow in it, and amber colored eyes.

"My name is Spitfire." The Pegasus mare introduced.

Then there was the other Pegasus mare who had cyan colored fur, an orange mane with stripes of lighter orange, and amber eyes which were the same as Spitfire's.

"My name is Lightning Dust." The Pegasus mare bowed.

There was a Pegasus mare that stepped forth who had yellow fur, a soft pink mane, and teal eyes.

For a brief moment, Soarin's expression became somber before he returned to his normal composure.

With the Pegasi introduced it was now time for the dragons, the first was a female with cyan colored scales with a dark blue scale atop her head, she had red eyes and two horns which protruded from her cheeks.

"My name is Ember." The dragon bowed.

The second dragon was a male with red scales except for his underbelly which was made of tan flesh, he had an orange fin atop his head, and his eyes were black with the white portion of the eye being yellow.

"My name is Garble." The dragon introduced.

With the dragons introduced, the final ones were the yaks, a young female yak with brown fur and brown hair that was braided, and she had hazel eyes.

"MY NAME IS YONA!" The female yak roared.

"Haha," Discord chuckled, admiring the young girl's spirit, "now that we have all introduced ourselves, allow my children to show you to your rooms." Discord offered as his children broke off to guide them.

Sunset and Flash walked the royals from Canterlot to their room, Flash and Sunset remaining silent along the trip. Sunset preferred to keep quiet and had no interest in conversation whereas Flash wanted to say something but didn't know where to properly start the conversation. Luckily, he didn't have to.

"Is there a library in this castle, by any chance?" Twilight asked.

"Of course," Flash answered, turning back to face Twilight, "I'd have to show it to you, ponies tend to get lost in this castle if they’re not careful. Do you enjoy reading, Princess Sparkle?"

"Why, yes," Twilight answered, "I actually love reading. Do you enjoy reading as well...um, Prince Flash Sentry?"

"There's no need for formalities, Princess," Flash smiled, "and to answer your question, yes, I do enjoy reading a lot. I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit in the library.” Twilight's interest gained upon hearing that.

"Oh, what do you read about?" Twilight asked.

"Anything really," Flash shrugged, “sometimes it’s stories about companionship, sometimes they're slice of life novels, most of them are roman-“ Flash quickly caught himself before he revealed an embarrassing secret about himself. “However, I guess if I had to choose a favorite topic to both read and write about, it would have to be about history."

"Really?!" Twilight exclaimed with glee, for a moment she dropped her formal tone for a more friendly one. However, she quickly caught this and recomposed herself. "That's...amazing to hear." She blushed in embarrassment and Flash chuckled upon seeing her flustered. Sunset elbowed Flash in the stomach when he chuckled.

Meanwhile, Soarin was guiding the Pegasi towards their rooms.

"So you don't know where she is?" Soarin asked Fluttershy. "Like, when she's gonna get here?"

Soarin was, of course, inquiring about the whereabouts of Rainbow Dash. To which Fluttershy responded with a shake of her head,

"I'm sorry, Soarin, but she took off and...well you know how she is when she takes off," Fluttershy said.

"Uggggh." Soarin groaned. "Just when I was looking forward to beating her at a race she turns tail."

Fluttershy chuckled, "You really like Rainbow a lot don't you?"

"Well, duh," Soarin said matter-of-factly. "We've been childhood friends for the longest time, she's a very good friend."

There was a disturbance in the shipping community, almost as if thousands of fans suddenly flipped the nearest table.

Fluttershy let out a defeated sigh before her eyes widened in realization. "Oh dear, I forgot Mistress Lightning Dust' coat." Fluttershy quickly turned around and ran away to retrieve the item she had forgotten.

"Fluttershy, wait!" Soarin protested, chasing after Fluttershy before it was too late. "Don't go off on you're own, the castle-" Soarin was cut off as he turned the corner, where Fluttershy vanished behind, to see that Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen, "has a mind of its own...buck." Soarin groaned.

Cheese was bouncing up and down as he guided the dragons to their room. While he was bouncing, he failed to notice the tall pile of moving scrolls and papers that was heading in the other direction at the crossroad in the hall. Cheese crashed into this stack of papers and they went flying everywhere. Garble burst out laughing upon seeing the spectacle, to which Ember punched him in the arm to make him stop. Cheese shook his head to shake loose the papers stuck in his mane.

"I'm so sorry, Prince Cheese Sandwich." A purple scaled dragon with green scale underbelly, green eyes, who stood at the same height as Ember, and had wings. The dragon desperately started picking up all of the papers in no time flat and quickly ran away.

"It's cool, Spike," Cheese yelled so that Spike could hear him. Cheese stood up and dusted himself off before going back to his bouncing attitude.

"I didn't know that you had dragons here," Ember said in amazement.

"Yep, but Spike is the only one here. He works as a servant but we treat him like a little brother." Cheese explained.

"I see." Ember rubbed her chin.

The doors to the throne room opened wide, allowing Discord to step in. He walked up and sat on his throne, half of it was on fire and the other half was made of ice. When he sat in his throne, he ordered his guards and servants to leave, the moment they left Discord fell to the floor. All of the weight that he had been holding up was too much for him to bear and he caved in.

"Ugggg..." Discord groaned. "You don't let up do you, kiddo." Discord said as though he was talking to someone. "I can't keep this form." Discord knew, his body glowed bright and in a flash, Discord assumed his true form. His body was long like a snake, he had a bat's wing and a feathered wing, a pony leg, a lizard leg, a red dragon tail, an eagle talon, a lions paw, a deer antler, a bumpy antler, a white beard only on the left side of his chin, and his eyes were yellow with red pupils. Discord stretched his body as though it had no skeletal structure to restrict it. Once he was done stretching, he snapped his talons and a map floated in front of him. This was a map of the known world, and on it were several symbols and marks drawn over various locations. As he stared at the map, he noticed that several of the marks and symbols were beginning to fade and vanish from the map.

"No, no, no, no." Discord growled, tightly gripping the edges of the map in anger. "I need more time. I need-" Discord cut himself off when he noticed the wide eye, unhinged jaw, shocked expression of Fluttershy who was standing at the door.

Author's Note

Sorry for the late post, I was unable to write due to thanksgiving break and all

Chapter four

With the guests making themselves at home, the son's and daughter of Discord reconvened in the meeting room where they all sat at the round table in their respected seats. An awkward pause filled the room's atmosphere as the children didn't say a word as they waited for Discord to arrive.

Deciding to break the silence, Cheese Sandwich spoke, "they all seem nice." Cheese said, referring to the guests.

"You say that now, Cheese," Sunset said, "but just you wait until you realize their true intentions."

"Whada ya mean?" Cheese asked, tilting his head.

"It means," Johnny began, "that these gals aren't here for love, they're here for an alliance."

Fancy Pants sighed, "I must agree, it doesn't take an idiot to understand the situation," Fancy glanced at Jonny, "Jonny is living proof of that."

"Love ya too, bro," Johnny said, putting his hind legs on the table and resting his head.

"The point is that we don't know these girls, or guys," Fancy added for Sunset's benefit, "all we know is that they're here for business, nothing more."

This fact sank into Flash, Soarin, and Cheese. They couldn't deny Fancy's point, the girls were only here to ensure that their kingdom would be protected, not for love. Flash wore a saddened expression upon realizing this fact, the mare he had talked to had seemed so kind and nice, but her personality must've been a facade. Sunset noticed Flash's saddened expression,

"I know that it's hard to understand," Sunset reached to hold Flash's hoof, "but-"

Flash withdrew his hoof, making Sunset reel back hers, "You're right, Fancy, we don't know all of these girls or guys. Yet here we are, already making our judgments about them like we've known them for years." Flash began. "It's true that they may have come here only to marry for an alliance but we don't know if that's entirely true. Maybe some of them are here for the hopes to actually find love? Who are we to judge them without enough evidence to back it up?"

Silence returned as the five ponies pondered Flash's statement.

"If I know Fleur De Lis, she's only here with the interest of power." Fancy stated, based off of past experiences. "However, you are right brother. We cannot judge them just yet, it's not fair nor is it right. Therefore, we must give them the benefit of the doubt."

"But we also have to keep in mind to stay clear of those we know who is gonna be trouble," Soarin added. "Me and Lightning Dust, for example, no way is it gonna end well if she and I are together," Soarin stated, glancing over to Sunset. "The same goes for you and Blueblood."

Sunset nodded.

"Johnny, where do you think you're going?" Fancy asked his brother as he walked out.

"I have an appointment." He answered.

"Come again," Flash asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I have an appointment." Johnny reiterated. "I'm gonna go work and do stuff, you guys have fun with the whole ball thing."

"Johnny, you can't just walk away from this." Fancy stated.

"Hey Fancy, look at what I'm doing," Johnny asked rhetorically as he moonwalked out of the room like a baller.

Fancy face hoofed, Sunset sighed, Flash and Soarin chuckled, and Cheese wiped away a tear of pride at how impressive the moonwalk was. Then realization dawned on Cheese and he asked the big question.

"Hey um...does anybody know where King Discord is?" Cheese asked.

Indeed, Discord had not arrived despite him being the one to request all of his children to come and meet him. Unknown to them, Discord was currently preoccupied.

Discord had two moments in his life when he was frozen like a stone statue, the first was when Melody put him in time out, and the second was now when this pony saw his true form. Fluttershy stood in awe at the sight of Discord, her eyes the size of dinner plates and her jaw unhinged. She took a step forward and Discord's reflexes activated as a result. He snapped his fingers and the doors shut closed with several locks appearing over the door. The lights went out which caused Fluttershy to squeak in fear, and when the lights came back on Discord was standing right in front of Fluttershy in his deer form.

"What did you see?" Discord demanded.

"I, um...I..." Fluttershy sputtered.

"WHAT DID YOU SEE?!" Discord roared, the entire room shaking under the weight of his volume.

"Beauty." Fluttershy squeaked, one that Discord's ears picked up on.

"Wh-what?" Discord stuttered.

"I...well, um...you...you looked...you looked...amazing." Fluttershy admitted, a blush forming upon her cheeks.

Discord blinked, a look of utter confusion upon his face. He quickly shook away his confusion and placed a hoof on Fluttershy's forehead. He was going to use his magic to erase her memory but then a pink light shot through his hoof and sent him flying back. He returned to his true form as he laid on the ground, groaning in pain.

Fluttershy gasped before apologizing, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I-..." Fluttershy reached out a hoof to Discord to help him but the moment that she touched Discord he roared in pain as pink magic swirled around the spot where Fluttershy had touched him, leaving the spot on the body turned to stone. Fluttershy recoiled in regret, horror written on her face at the damage she had caused. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." Discord groaned, returning to his deer form. He used his magic to return the stone portion of his body back to normal. "What is your name?" He asked.

"Fl-...Fluttershy." Fluttershy answered.

"Well then, Fluttershy," Discord began, "tell me, are you good at keeping secrets?"

"Um...sometimes," Fluttershy answered honestly. "If they're really important."

"Well then, this secret is gonna be one that you're gonna have to take to the grave." Discord narrowed his eyes. "You are to tell no one, and I mean no one, of what you saw here." Discord growled, but then realized the terror in the young mare's eyes. He calmed himself and returned his composure. "Look...I apologize for my actions, what I did was wrong and uncalled for. I just..." Discord cringed, "I just...need to be sure that no one knows my true form. Please, I'm begging you, don't tell anyone about this."

Fluttershy stood still for a moment, processing the information she had been given. She nodded her head in understanding, and Discord let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." He used his magic to remove the locks and the door swung open. "Return to your quarters, and never speak of this." He ordered and Fluttershy left. When Discord was alone he used his magic to collect the remnants of the pink energy that flowed out of Fluttershy. A ball of pink magic formed in Discord's hoof, the magic felt old, really old, yet...

Somewhat familiar.

"Where have you been?"

Fluttershy was broken out of her daze by the orders of Lightning Dust. Fluttershy had returned to the room that the pegasi had been assigned too, with the guidance of some of the guards. On the way, she thought of Discord and the secret she now held, and of the consequences that would follow should she break that promise.

But Fluttershy was also plagued with the image of Discord's true form, Fluttershy had always been fond of animals and their appearance but Discord was something that she had never seen before and, to her, he looks...beautiful. A combination of all kinds of animals in the form of a creature that matched perfectly, not too much and not too little but the perfect amount of each species of creatures.

"Well?"

Fluttershy was once again broken from her daze by Lightning Dust.

"Huh?" She asked dumbfounded.

"My coat," Lightning Dust stated, "did you get it?"

"Umm..." Fluttershy trailed off. She couldn't tell Lightning Dust the truth, or else she would suffer the wrath of Discord. "It...was not there."

A lie, but one that Lightning Dust believed as her mind was preoccupied with more important things.

"You sure were chatting with Soarin a lot on the way here." Lighting Dust said. "Just what were you two talking about?"

"Oh, um...you know, the usual friend stuff." Fluttershy lied once more, not wanting to discuss Soarin's interest in Rainbow Dash.

"I see..." Lightning Dust trailed off. "I'd like to take a bath, come along Fluttershy."

Lightning Dust and Fluttershy entered the bathroom, with a large white tub in the center of the room. All bathrooms were enchanted thanks to Discord's magic to be somewhat sentient, the room instantly knew what Lightning Dust wanted and instantly made accommodations. The faucet turned on and hot water began pouring out, soap was dispensed and mixed with the running water. Candles were lit which gave off a sweet-scented aroma as well as illuminating the room. Lightning Dust slipped into the tub, letting out a pleasant sigh as she did so.

Fluttershy got to work, pouring lotion into her hooves which she massaged into Lightning Dust's back. Being gentle, and slightly firm, with the massage to ensure that Lightning Dust would be satisfied.

"I don't need to remind you how important this wedding is." Lightning Dust began speaking, "An alliance with Chaosville will provide Cloudsdale with exponential resources and a formidable army. Which is why it's imperative that this ball goes without any problems."

While it was true that Lightning Dust had intentions of only marrying in order to form an alliance with Chasoville, but to her, it was her second priority. Her first was to marry her ex, Soarin. The two dated when they were younger and when they were both members of Cloudsdale. That is until Soarin ended their relationship and a couple of months later he became a prince of Chaosville.

"My lady," Fluttershy spoke up to ask a question.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" Lightning Dust asked.

"Have we heard any word back from Lady Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked.

Lightning Dust paused for a moment before answering, "unfortunately, I have not."

When the invitations had been sent out for the ball, Lightning Dust had sent Rainbow on a mission that would delay her. She did this because she knew all too well of Soarin's crush on the rainbow-maned Pegasus, and didn't want the two interfering with her plan.

Suddenly, there was a flash of white light on the side of the tube and an envelope appeared. The envelope, being magical, opened itself up and hovered in front of Lightning Dust for her to read.

"What's it say, what's it say?" Pinkie asked, bouncing with excitement as she waited for Twilight to read the letter she just received.

With a roll of her eyes at Pinkie's joy, she read the letter out loud. "Dear my most humble guests, it is with a pained heart that I must postpone the ball. The reason for this is that I have suddenly become ill as well as other members of other kingdoms have yet to arrive. With that in mind, I have tasked my children with planning activities for each of you to participate in. I ask that you write the name of two of my children you wish to spend the day with and if they chose to, then you will spend that activity with them. Thank you, and apologies."

At the bottom of the letter was a blank area where the name of one of Discord's children was meant to be written.

"Ooh, who ya gonna pick?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight wrote down her response, making sure Pinkie couldn't see her answer. With her answer written, the letter rolled itself up and vanished in a flash of white light.

"Who'd ya pick, Who'd ya pick?" Pinkie asked over and over.

"It's a secret Pinkie," Twilight lightly chuckled, "now then, I'm in the mood for a bath."

Johnny was originally born in Chaosville, he was an orphan but was raised by a well-respected farming family here in Chaosville. They had a business with selling apples in all kinds of ways; apple pie, apple cider, apple slices, caramel apples, you name it and they no doubt sold it. Johnny had been raised by them and respected them his whole life, even when he became a prince he would still come down and help out around the farm.

The farm was placed on the outskirts of the town next to the castle, it had lots of farmland with the barn and silos in the center of the fields. Johnny went up and knocked on the door, he then waited for a response.

The door opened, revealing the two delighted smiles of his two father's who were known by everyone as,

Flim and Flam.

Author's Note

Hows that for a twist. As always, I hoped you enjoyed and thank you for reading.

Chapter five

"I dare say brother of mine, look who's at our doorstep." Flim smiled at his brother.

"There's no doubt about it, oh brother of mine, our son Johnny has returned." Flam smiled back.

"Welcome home Johnny." They both declared.

Flim and Flam were twin unicorn stallions with pale yellow fur, red manes with white stripes, and green eyes. They wore straw hats and white business suits with blue stripes and black bow ties. The difference between the two was that Flim had a red mustache that was similar to the Pringles logo mustache, Flam didn't have one.

"Nice to see you guys as well." Johnny said, entering the house.

The walkway lead into the kitchen, where the dining table was clean and tidy. The kitchen had the basic necessities; a stove, an oven, a sink, a countertop, cabinets, and drawers. There was food being made, a pie baking in the oven, and caramel boiling which was in preparation for making caramel apples.

"Pardon the mess, Johnny my boy." Flim said, picking up some of the mess.

"We were...getting ready for a meal." Flam said, smiling a little too hard.

"Really..." Johnny said incredulously. "It wouldn't just so happen to be that you're having guests?"

Both Flam and Flim stumbled for a moment, caught off guard by Johnny's claim.

"Wh-whatever do you mean, Johnny my boy?" Flam asked, beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead.

*Knock, knock, knock*

The two brothers jolted at the sound of the door knocking. The two shared a worried look at each other and whispered amongst themselves.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that's her." Johnny assumed.

The Flim Flam brothers held their heads low in shame.

"Sorry for not being honest, Johnny my boy." Flim apologized.

"We didn't want you to deal with this." Flam explained.

Johnny approached the door, despite the two brothers begging him not too. He took hold of the doorknob and opened the door. Standing in front of him was an Earth Pony mare with an orange coat, blonde mane under a brown cowboy hat, emerald green eyes, and some white freckles along the bridge of her nose.

"About dang time ya varmints." The mare spoke with a southern accent. "What took you too so-" The mare cut herself off when she realized who she was speaking too.

"And a good afternoon to you too, Applejack." Johnny said calmly, closing the door behind him. "Anything I can do for ya?"

"I...uh..." Applejack stuttered, completely caught off guard. She cleared her throat and resumed her composure. "I'm here to discuss something with Flim and Flam."

"They're busy at the moment." Johnny stated. "So why don't you tell me?"

"Uh...I'd prefer it if-"

"I insist." Johnny took a step forward, drawing closer to Applejack. "Walk and talk with me." Johnny said, making his way down the trail through the apple orchard, Applejack following him. "So what do you want to discuss."

Applejack was hesitant at first, but she responded nonetheless. "It's about the recent increase in Vampire Fruit Bats, and it just so happens that my families orchard is being plagued by these critters while yours is untouched."

Johnny stopped and turned to face Applejack. "Just what are you insinuating?"

Applejack didn't mince words, she came out and said exactly what she thought. "I think Flim and Flam released those bats on my farm."

Johnny sighed. "Look, I know that Flim and Flam and the Apple Family have their history, but you have to let this go. They've changed, their lying days are over."

What Johnny was referring to was the past when Flim and Flam were notorious scammers and liars. They went into the apple business and the two were always in competition.

"I'm sorry Johnny, but I can't believe it. A leopard can't change its spots." Applejack stated.

"Not unless you paint over it." Was Johnny's response. "Tell you what, why don't we settle this the old fashioned way, with a contest."

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "What'da have in mind, partner?"

"Hay-bail toss, pony that can throw the hay-bail the farthest wins." Johnny said, stating his terms, "If I win, you drop the accusation and leave Flim and Flam alone."

"And if I win, you fork over supplies to compensate for the damage done to my orchard." Applejack said.

"Deal." Johnny said and the two shook on it.

They both walked over to the barn where hay was stored and the two grabbed a hay-bail. They made sure that they were both equal in weight before the challenge officially began. A rope was tied around both hay-bails, Applejack took the rope in her teeth and she spun around a few times before tossing the hay-bail. It soared in the air for a minute before landing about a mile away. Applejack gave Johnny a smug look, knowing that she had won. Unfortunately for her, this was not the case for when Johnny took ahold of the rope he threw it farther than Applejack's, about five miles away. Applejack signed in defeat, knowing she had been bested. Johnny extended a hoof and Applejack shook it.

"Good game." Johnny congratulated. Then, out of nowhere, there was a flash of green flame and a scroll appeared in front of Johnny. He unrolled the scroll and read it.

"What's that?" Applejack asked.

Johnny crumpled up the letter and tossed it away over his shoulder. "It's nothing, just some annoying family business." Johnny said, when suddenly an idea came across his mind. "Say, Applejack, how's about another wager?"

Night had passed and Johnny decided to spend the night at Flim and Flam's house. Now it was morning and, after saying his goodbyes, Johnny was back at the castle, standing in front of Fancy's door. He raised his hoof to knock but paused for a moment, considering the consequences of his absence. Then he tossed aside that thought and knocked on the door, he waited a minute before the door opened to reveal Fancy Pants dressed in his pajamas. When he saw Johnny he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"There you are!" Fancy exclaimed, using his magic to drag Johnny into his room. "Do you have any idea the nightmare you have caused me, little brother?!"

Fancy had bags under his eyes, an indication that he hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, and his deprivation of sleep was the cause for his agitated tone. Of course, Johnny being Johnny, he had something on his mind that he needed Fancy to answer. Johnny opened his mouth to speak but was silenced when Fancy shoved a couple of papers at Johnny.

"What's this?" Johnny asked as he started to read the papers.

"King Discord has tasked us with planning an activity for one of the royals today, I've spent all night trying to figure out who I should go with." Fancy stated, holding up the three pieces of paper which belonged to the two royals that requested to meet with Fancy. They were Fluer De Lis, Ember, and Gilda.

Johnny took a look at his papers to see who had chosen him, he had only gotten one request and it was from Gilda. Johnny thought for a moment to try and remember who that was, he then remembered that it was the griffon. At first Johnny didn't have any interest in attending the event but then he realized that he could use this to his advantage. "Say, Fancy, what should I do for a date?" He asked, pretending that the question pertained to the event.

Fancy gave a tired sigh, "Can't you see I'm far too busy with my own problems at the moment?"

Johnny rolled his eyes, knowing all too well that his brother's intelligence would be useless in matters that involved the heart. He walked up to Fancy and took his papers, Fancy protested but Johnny ignored him. "Go with Ember, take her up to the volcanic spa." Johnny stated.

Fancy blinked a couple times in bewilderment before speaking, "Now hold on, why Ember?"

"One, you and Fluer are an accident just waiting to happen, and two, griffons aren't exactly your type. Therefore, by process of elimination, you should go with Ember." Johnny answered, giving Fancy back his papers. "Take Spike with ya, it'd be nice if he could relate with some other dragons."

"Speaking of which, she is a dragon." Fancy stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, and so is Spike and we live with him everyday." Johnny retorted.

Fancy opened to protest but all that came out was a defeated sigh, he was too tired to argue. "Fine."

"Great, now can you help me with some dating advice?" Johnny asked.

"Like what?" Fancy asked. "From what you just said it sounds like you don't need any advice."

"I don't need advice on how to get a date, I just need advice on what to do during one." Johnny explained.

Fancy raised a brow. "Very well, what do you want to know?"

"Mainly...everything, really." Johnny answered.

Fancy gave another sigh as he pulled up a chair, knowing that this was gonna be a very long talk.

As the morning became noon, some of the dates had already begun. For starters, the one date between Cheese Sandwich and Yona had gone underway. Cheese knew all too well that Yaks loved to stomp things more than anything, so he had the perfect activity in mind.

"YONA SMASH!!!" Yona yelled as she jumped high into the air and slammed down onto the purple mush within a large wooden barrel that used to be Joking Berries; a fruit only grown in the kingdom of Chaosaville that when eaten had the tendency to make the consumer giggle, or even burst out laughing.

"CHEESE SANDWHICH SMASH!!!" Cheese Sandwich cried out as he too jumped high into the air before crashing down onto the purple mush of Joking Berries in a wooden barrel.

Cheese Sandwich had planned that the two make Joking Berry pies for the whole castle as an activity. Yona was more than happy to participate, especially if it involved smashing stuff. The two continued to smash the Joking Berries until there was nothing left but a purple paste. Once their main ingredient was ready, they brought the wooden barrels to the outdoor kitchen. The outdoor kitchen sat on a light brown stone base with the countertops of the kitchen made of a black marble with white impurities of quartz in random parts of the counter ranging from big to small. There was four ovens that was made out of slick stainless steel. Cheese and Yona put the barrels on the counter in the middle of the kitchen, Cheese then opened a drawer and pulled out several pie pans.

"Yona has never baked before." Yona stated.

"Well then todays the day that you learn how to cook a pie." Cheese smiled, adorned in a chefs apron and hat.

"YEAH!!!" Yona cheered, taking a pie pan, threw it to the ground, and proceeded to stomp on it.

"Yona, Yona, Yona," Cheese shook his head, "We don't stomp on the pie pans."

Yona paused, holding up a mauled pie pan sheet. "We don't smash?"

"Nope." Cheese smiled, then a disturbing thought occurred. "Say, Yona, off-topic question, but how old are you?"

"Yona is 16 years old." Yona answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing, just needed to know if I should brace for the FBI or anything." Cheese Sandwich smiled.

Yona tilted her head quizzically, "What is a 'FBI'?" She asked.

"Friendly Buddies Incorporated." Cheese answered. "Now then, shall we start making a pie?”

Yona agreed vigorously. As the two were making the pie, Cheese decided to have some small talk with Yona. “Say, Yona, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why did your kingdom send only you here?”

“Whadda ya mean?” Yona asked as she was flattening the dough.

“Well I mean,” Cheese Sandwich began, “every other kingdom sent four or three of their representatives but they only sent you. Why is that?”

Yona took a moment (a long one) in order to figure out how to respond. “Elders say that it is because Yona is the most fair.”

“Ah, gotcha.” Cheese Sandwich smiled. “Nonetheless, I hope you’re enjoying your stay here in Chaosville.” Yona shuffled in discomfort, like she needed to get something off her chest. “Or…not?” Cheese guessed.

“Yona is very happy that she is here in Chaosville, but…” Yona avoided eye contact with Cheese. “Yona shouldn’t say, it would ruin everything.”

Cheese Sandwich had a good idea at what Yona wanted to say but wanted to clarify before he did anything. He tapped his chin as he thought of what to do until an idea came to mind. “Tell ya what, let’s play a game.” Cheese suggested, and the suggestion of a game caught Yona’s interest. “If I can guess what’s making you uncomfortable you have to tell me, if I guess wrong three times then…” Cheese trailed off as he thought of an adequate punishment. “If you win…then I’ll give you the Sandwich recipe passed down from generation to generation of the best cheese cake you’ve ever eaten. Deal?”

“Deal.” Yona agreed, licking her lips as she thought about how tasty the cheese cake would taste.

“Let me see…” Cheese playfully guessed, “Is it…my chaotic personality?” Yona shook her head. “Phew, that’s a relief, for a minute there I thought you didn’t like me.” Yona giggled at Cheese’s little quip. “Now then, is it…the Joking Berry pies?” Yona shook her head once more. “Dang it, I was so sure that time.” Cheese Sandwich wondered. “Is it…the fact that you don’t want to marry someone you don’t know just yet and you don’t like the idea of being put in a situation where you have to choose someone you’ve never met and have to spend the rest of your life with that person, and if you say no then your kingdom will suffer and you don’t know how to handle the stress of the situation?” Cheese guessed. “Or something like that?”

Yona nodded slowly. “Yona didn’t want to do this but when everyone in my village heard that Yona was gonna save the kingdom they were all so happy. What choice did I have, and if I don’t end up marrying someone then…then-“

Cheese extended a hoof to Yona as she was about to cry, and Cheese Sandwich refused to let anyone be down when he’s around. “Yona, you don’t have to worry.” Cheese Sandwich smiled. “If I remember correctly, the only issue with the Yak Kingdom is your shortage of food due to northern climate, correct?” Yona nodded, and Cheese pulled open a drawer that was organized like a filing cabinet with countless files in it. Cheese skimmed across the files before landing on the one he was looking for. He pulled out the paper and gave it to Yona.

“What’s this?” Yona asked.

Cheese Sandwich smiled as he began to explain, “Chaosville is home to many extraordinary creatures and brilliant minds, and some of those brilliant minds have created a type of soil that will allow any plant to grow from it no matter the season.” Yona blinked in confusion, unable to understand exactly what Cheese was saying. “Hehe,” Cheese scratched his cheek in embarrassment, “what I mean is, even if you don’t marry me or my brothers or sister, Chaosville will give you this soil which will save your kingdom.”

When Yona put the pieces together she became overjoyed. “YAAAAAAAAY!!!” Yona cheered, hugging Cheese Sandwich. “Thank you so much!”

“It’s not a problem.” Cheese smiled. “It’s my job to make all creatures smile.”

In the gardens of the Castle were some of the most exotic and beautiful plants from all around the world. The garden had been split up into four areas, one for each season. Flowers, grass, trees, all families of every plant felt at home in the garden. Watching over the garden were several statues, each of a different creature or object. It was here in the Gardens that Sunset decided to have her date with the Griffon Prince, Vox. Sunset quickly learned however, that Vox wasn’t much of a talker. However, Sunset didn’t mind this, she preferred someone that was quiet and listening rather than someone who was constantly talking. The two had spent a majority of the date touring the Garden and observing the plants, but whenever a statue would come into view Vox would ask about it and Sunset would give an explanation like a teacher explaining vocabulary to a middle-schooler.

“What about this one?” Vox asked, looking at the statue of a Griffon with two pairs of wings instead of one and the head of a bat instead of a bird.

“That statue is of Brabbarb, a creature of equivalent exchange.” Sunset began to explain. “Some say that it would arrive at a village or town and just sit in the center for days or weeks until someone asked it for something. For the right price, the creature would willingly do any favor.”

“I see.” Vox said, the two continued down the path until coming to another statue. “And this one?” Vox asked, indicating to a statue of a frog-like creature that stood on its hind legs, held a spear, and wore tribal clothing.

“That is Ishnu, an amphibious trickster that would plague nearby cities and towns by causing all kinds of mischief. My father vanquished him before he became more of a nuisance.”

“Interesting story, let’s continue.” Vox said, pressing onward.

Sunset followed suit but stopped when two voices caught her ear. Two voices which were coming from the nearby tower where the library was. She recognized the male voice as her brother Flash, but didn’t know who the other voice, a female, belonged to. Nonetheless, the sound of the two together made Sunset grit her teeth in anger. Not wanting to hear any more, she stormed off in the same direction that Vox went.

Sunset caught up to Vox who was standing in front of yet another statue. This one was of what appeared to be an alicorn but it’s horn was broken and the flared wings were not of feathers but of bone. The body and block upon which it stood had several cracks in its structure, but despite the cracks the statue’s expression was of joy with a sinister look.

Vox opened his mouth to speak but Sunset beat him to it.

“I know, I know.” Sunset sighed. “This statue represents calamity. A fate which befalls those who are evil…and arrogant…and just plain stupid, and not to mention a jerkwad. Someone who would just toss away seven years of time spent together like it was nothing, like it never happened. Like you can just replace someone you know and care about with some…some…floozie that just showed up one day out of no where! What is it huh?! What, is she prettier than me?! Smarter than me?! She sure as tartarus isn’t better than me! NO ONE IS BETTER THAN ME! NO ONE!!”

Sunset was breathing heavily after that outburst, then her eyes went wide after realizing that she was still in the present company of a Griffon Prince. She recomposed herself and cleared her throat before turning to face, an expressionless, Vox.

“Hehe,” Sunset chuckled nervously, “umm…that’s not actually what the statue means.”

“It’s quite aright.” Vox said. “I may not know much but I am no stranger to unrequited love.”

“Oh!” Sunset exclaimed, quite surprised. “Um, anyways…the statute does represent calamity, it is a depiction of one who was once pure and righteous has now become corrupt and evil.”

“There is also a title that befits one who was once pure but has fallen.” Vox said as he kept walking forward. “He who will bring destruction and ruin; the Cataclysm.”

“I did not know you believed in superstitions.” Sunset stated with surprise.

“It has less to do with superstition and more to do with history. You know doubt know of how the Great War started do you not?” Vox asked.

“Yes, indeed I do.” Sunset said proudly, still surprised she was now having a conversation with Vox. “To put it simply, the Great War was a political dispute between rulers of nations and kingdoms that believed the way others ruled wasn’t right.”

“You’re half right.” Vox said. “There was a leader of a kingdom that believed his way of ruling was the best way, the only way. So he tried to force his rule onto the other nations, and in doing so the other nations used the war as an excuse to fulfill their own goals.”

“Yet in the end, all sides ended up being left in poverty and ruin.” Sunset summed up.

“Yes.” Vox said. “One has to wonder wether or not this leader intended to lead every nation to ruin.”

“I doubt that.” Sunset scoffed. “The Queen or King would have to be mad to do something like that.”

“Yes.” Vox said, taking a glance back at the statue. “A mad king indeed.”

Chapter six

Twilight walked along the red carpet in the hallway with a hesitant pace. She noticed a mirror on the wall and stopped to look at her reflection. In her reflection she saw that her fur had been brushed so neatly that not a hair stood out of place, thanks to Rarity, her mane had been brushed and attended so that it glistened, thanks to Starlight, and Pinkie acted as her cheerleader to give her confidence. Twilight smiled when she remembered Pinkie chanting her name. Then gave a light giggle when Blueblood starting chanting with her.

Yet, with all that support she felt nervous. Or was it anxiety that Twilight was feeling? She couldn’t tell, but she wanted to the date to go off without a hitch. It had to because her whole kingdom’s survival depended on it.

”I forbid either of my daughters and son to attend your ball!”

The words of her mother, Queen Celestia, echoes in her mind the day Discord arrived.

THE PAST

In the Kingdom of Equestria, during the Great War, Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Blueblood approached the door to the throne room in Canterlot Castle. Twilight reached for the handle but halted when she heard the roaring voice of her mother.

“You dare show your face here?!” The voice of Queen Celestia screamed.

A blast of golden magic followed suit, shaking the whole castle. Dust shook from the ceiling and the walls trembled. Twilight looked frightened but Blueblood seemed unfazed.

“Celestia,” another voice, this one unfamiliar to Twilight, spoke, trying to calm Celestia down, “please reconsider.”

“You listen to me, Discord.” Celestia threatened. “I forbid either of my daughters and son to attend your ball! Now begone!”

The doors flew open, causing Twilight to jump in surprise, and Discord, in his deer form, exited the throne room with the doors slamming behind him. He paused when he noticed Twilight and Blueblood, he let out a sigh before walking past them.

“Please wait!” Blueblood requested of Discord, and Discord stopped in his tracks. “I can only assume you are King Discord, if I may be so bold, what were you and my mother discussing?”

Twilight was also interested in what the Lord of Chaos was doing in Equestria.

Discord turned to face Blueblood and answered, “I am hosting a ball for my children to find a significant other, should my children chose to wed someone from a kingdom I will use everything in my power and all of the power of my Kingdom to help repair any damages done due to the Great War. I made an offer to your mother to allow you two and your sister Fleur to attend but she has declined my offer.” Discord turned to walk away but was stopped once more, not by Blueblood but by Twilight.

“When will this ball occur?” Twilight asked.

Discord faced Twilight to answer, “one year from now, but your mother-“

“Our mother is not well,” Blueblood interjected. “The war has taken a toll on her and she is not thinking clearly. Also, we may be her children but that does not mean she has control over our lives, I will attend this ball of yours one year from now.”

A grin flashed on Discord’s face for a brief moment before returning to normal, he looked back to Twilight and asked, “what say you, Princess Twilight Sparkle?

Of course Twilight agreed, she had no choice as she wanted to help her kingdom. As for love, Twilight did not believe in such a thing. She looked at her reflection and reminded herself of her principle.

“The brain is a combination of nervous tissue, behaviors, and attitudes can be measured, predicted, and manipulated. I am a scientist, an explorer of knowledge and truth, I cannot waste time on such things like love.” Twilight said, and what she spoke she believed to be the honest truth. Twilight felt no love towards Flash, she saw him as nothing more than a means to achieve her goal to restore her kingdom. Nothing more and nothing less.

“For emotions are inferior to logic.” A voice spoke, making Twilight freeze in surprise and she turned to face the source of the new voice. A unicorn stallion with pale yellow fur, navy blue mane with the front pointed up, blue eyes, and a shooting star as his cutie mark approached Twilight. “It’s the quote of the apprentice of Star Swirl the Bearded, Ammonius. He believed that magic and knowledge was everything, and he would sacrifice anything and anyone to achieve his goals.” The unicorn stated, raising a brow at Twilight. “Should I find it concerning that you are quoting such a dangerous principle to live by?”

Twilight blinked in confusion before regaining her composure. “It...has to do with a test.” Twilight lied, her eyes looking away from the Unicorn’s, an obvious ‘tell’ that she was lying.

A lie which the unicorn did pick up on but chose to ignore. “Anyways, I’m here to guide you to the library, follow me.” The unicorn walked away and Twilight followed. After a while, the two came to the large wooden double doors of the library. The unicorn opened the door to allow Twilight to enter. She took one step in and the unicorn stopped her. “The library has a special enchantment, in order for one to acquire knowledge, you must provide knowledge that is unknown for the library. Just thought you should know.” The unicorn said, before letting Twilight enter.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked, “you can’t be a guard, you lack the build and armor, you can’t be a servant, you lack the respect and discipline of one, so who are you?”

The unicorn gave Twilight a smile that sent a shiver down her spine, “I’ll tell you my name, but if I do you must promise not to tell Flash.”

“I promise.” Twilight agreed, upon saying that a symbol flashed on her throat for a brief moment before disappearing.

“My name is *Malt Cetio*, and I am a close friend of Prince Flash Sentry.” The unicorn, now known as *Malt Cetio* answered before taking his leave.

Twilight waited until the doors shut and Totam Cile was no longer in sight before continuing into the library. Shelves as tall as a three-story building decorated the library, each filled to the brim with books. Twilight walked along in awe at the amount of knowledge that was held within each book.

“I feel like I could read these books for an eternity,” Twilight said to herself.

“Funny,” a deep voice bellowed behind Twilight, “you're not the first to say that.”

Twilight spun around and gasped as a massive owl with black feathers swooped down to Twilight. The smooth feathers on its face were as white as snow, and its eyes were black under eyelids like spits.

“I am Wan Shi Tong, keeper of the library.” The Owl stated. “I trust you are the one known as Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight nodded, “my knowledge to you is-“ Twilight tried to say her piece of knowledge for entre but the Owl stopped her.

Won Shi Tong extended a wing to make Twilight stop. “Your companion, Prince Flash Sentry has already paid the price for you. He is waiting for you in the History section down there,” Won Shi Tong pointed,” I trust that you will be respectful of the rules. Farewell.”

With that, Won Shi Tong unfolded his wings and took off. Twilight watched in awe as the massive owl flew away before heading off to where he had pointed to what was known as the nonfiction section. Upon entering the nonfiction section, Twilight saw Flash reading a book in a red cushioned sofa, the nightstand beside him had a lamp on it which illuminated his surroundings and allowed him to read. As Twilight approached Flash, she noticed the book Flash was reading when she saw the title ”History of Cantium”.

"You're reading about the history of the city of Cantium?" Twilight asked, gaining Flash's attention.

"Well," Flash began, "the history of the city before it became a part of the Equestrian Empire." Flash smiled, and Twilight smiled back.

"So, what did you have in mind for our da-," Twilight almost gagged upon saying the word 'date', but was able to keep her composure. "I mean...engagement."

Flash's grin grew, as he had made sure that the date had been thoroughly planned out. "Hmmm, why don't you give me a guess."

Twilight raised a brow in curiosity, she always enjoyed a good puzzle. She glanced around the room, taking in all of her surroundings. Then she glanced at a Flash, analyzing him with keen eyes she thought of everything that made Flash Sentry be Flash Sentry. He corrected her on a date for a book which meant he has an interest in history, he enjoys writing books of his own, he had a strong build but not too muscular which meant he exercised regularly, and he has a nice firm jaw and attractive face.

Twilight shook that last thought away, "Focus, Twilight." "I'm going to guess that you and I will be writing a story of our own."

Flash shook his head. "Sorry, but you're wrong."

Twilight was a tad bit disappointed because writing a story seemed rather interesting to her. "Then I guess you'll be giving me a tour of the history of Chaosville?" Twilight guessed but Flash shook his head once more.

"Nope, give up?" Flash asked, with a grin that looked like he had already won.

Twilight tapped her chin in thought before letting out a sigh of defeat, nonetheless, she kept her smile up. "I give up, what's the surprise?" She asked.

"Follow me," Flash said, walking off towards another room.

Flash Sentry was no fool, while he is oblivious to certain things, Twilight Sparkle wasn't one of them. In fact, Twilight was one of Flash's idols who he respected and admired very much. The reason was because of the similarities the two shared. Both Flash and Twilight had a knack for making friends out of enemies, both had a love for literature and acquiring knowledge, and both were ponies that didn't submit/back down so easily. However, while Flash wouldn't exactly call his feelings towards Twilight 'love' so much as...stirrings in his heart. Nonetheless, Flash would certainly make sure that this date went off without a cinch. He knew that Twilight was a fan of history and literature, so when planning the date he knew exactly what to do. There was a project that had captivated Flash's interests for a long time but he could never solve due to his lack of mastery over magic, something that Twilight, without a doubt, possessed.

The room both Flash and Twilight entered in was covered in grey marble from the walls to the ceiling and the floor. In the center of the room was an object that was concealed by a white blanket, with multiple candles the circled the object. Flash walked up to the object and, once he was beside it, faced Twilight, "Twilight, do you know of the city of Pronestian?" Flash asked and Twilight nodded her head as her answer. "What do you know about it?"

"The history of Pronestian is bit murky, it was a city that belonged to the kingdom of Chaosville that was the most culturally diverse city ever known. Races from all over would come and stay, but then one day the whole city was in ruin and its inhabitants were nowhere to be found. Many archeologists theorize that the cause may be connected to Starswirl the Bearded as that was his home city. As well as his two apprentices, Clover the Clever and Amontius, but neither of the two could ever be found."

"Until now," Flash stated, removing the blanket in a dramatic fashion to reveal a statue of a pegasus mare.

Twilight gasped in awe the moment she laid eyes on the statue, then she burst out laughing. The reason was that the statue depicted the mare tripping over something and landing of her face. The sight was quite humorous. Flash joined in with the laughter as well, once the two stopped laughing Flash started to explain, "This statue isn't actually a statue but it's actually a mare that has been imprisoned due to a stone imprisonment spell. After I did some research I discovered that this mare was, in fact, the assistant to Star Swirl the Bearded and his two apprentices." Flash said before revealing his true intentions of there date. "Twilight, many of the most powerful and wise magic users have both tried and failed to remove the spell, however, none of them could hold a candle to your genius and magical power, so what say you and I try to remove the spell?"

Twilight beamed with glee and excitement, this was better than anything she could've hoped for, and she was ready to enjoy every second of it. In a flash of lavender light, Twilight was adorned in a white lab coat, black gloves, and a pair of round goggles sat on her forehead. A bunch of chemical and scientific lab equipment the teleported into the room thanks to Twilight's magic. Just to show off, she also used her magic to dress Flash in the same apparel that she was wearing. She lowered the goggles over her eyes and smirked at the challenge before her. "Challenge accepted."

Meanwhile, Fancy Pants had exited the hot springs, hot steam escaping the room as he left. Just as his brother Johnny had suggested he chose Ember and took Spike along with him. While Ember was uncomfortable during the first part of the date, she became more affable when she and Spike began chatting. Fancy decided that it would be best to leave the two of them alone so he gave them some space. He removed his towel and hung it to dry before using his magic to make his clothes appear on him. He then began his way towards Johnny's room in order to thank him for the advice his brother had given him.

While on his way he paused upon catching a glimpse of something very eye-catching. It was the unicorn mare with white fur and a deep purple mane in an adjacent hallway, she was carrying a pair of folded clothing which was what caught Fancy's attention. "Excuse me, miss...!" Fancy trailed off, kicking himself for not knowing the name of the mare, especially someone who appeared to be so extravagant.

The mare stopped and turned around to face Fancy, she gasped when she realized that it was the prince of all ponies that spoke to her. "Oh, um..." Rarity stumbled on her words before regaining her composure. "How may I assist you, your majesty?"

"There's no need for pleasantries," Fancy waived, "however, I do believe that I am amiss to your name."

"My name is Rarity." The mare answered. "I am Fleur De Lis' maid, she talks very highly of you Prince Fancy Pants."

Fancy rubbed his neck awkwardly at the mention of Fleur. "Tell me," Fancy indicated to the clothing Rarity was holding, "do you mind if I have a look at that?"

"Not at all." Rarity said, levitating the clothing over to Fancy.

Fancy took hold of the clothing with his magic and unfolded it for him to see it fully. It was a purple dress that had been sown with soft fabric on the top and the bottom of the dress sparkled in the light. When Fancy was holding the dress with his magic, he held it in front of Rarity making it appear, to Fancy, that she was wearing the dress herself. That being said, it definitely looked very good on her.

"This is an amazing design." Fancy stated, receiving a bashful look from Rarity. "It's simply genius, the fabric is simple and cheap yet the design is exquisite. Miss Rarity, I simply must know who made this dress."

Rarity opened her mouth to answer, "It was-"

KA-BOOOOOOM!!!!

A massive explosion shook the foundation of the castle, the walls wobbled and furniture was rocked as the castle lightly bounced from the vibrations of the explosion. The shockwave was so startling that both Fancy and Rarity jumped and crashed into each other. Startled, the two groaned as they regained their senses and once they realized how close the other was their cheeks took on a soft red hue to show their embarrassment.

"Ahem."

The clearing of someone's throat broke their daze as they both looked over to see none other than Fleur standing away from them. Fancy quickly stood up and helped Rarity up as well, Rarity then took back her dress before she tried to explain herself to her Princess. "Your Highness, I-"

Rarity was silenced by Fleur raising her hoof. "Come along, Rarity, we have work to do," Fleur said as she began to walk off.

Rarity took a couple of steps to follow her princess, but stopped for a moment and turned back to Fancy. "Thank you, your High- I mean Fancy Pants." Rarity thanked.

"What for?" Fancy asked, a bit perplexed as to why Rarity had thanked him.

Rarity opened her mouth to answer but was prevented by the calling of her princess. "Now, Rarity!" Fleur ordered. With that, Rarity took off.

Fancy wondered what Rarity was referring to when she had said 'thank you' to him, Fancy then concluded that it must've been an appreciation for him helping her up. Fancy's mind then wondered what was the cause of the explosion that shook the castle, since the castle was supported by powerful bracers that wouldn't break or falter in a million years.

As for Rarity, she couldn't take her eyes off of the dress she was carrying, having received praise for it from none other than a prince himself. For it was Rarity that had made the dress, and that was why she had thanked Fancy for giving it his praise.

Both Spitfire and Soarin were spending their date in the arena of Chaosville, the arena was shaped like a Colosseum; a large circular building with each row that was behind another row escalating up. There was no roof over the arena, so the sun shined down brightly onto the battlefield. It was here that both Soarin, Flash, and Johnny would come to exercise not only themselves but the creatures as well. Chaosville was home to many lifeforms both intelligent and not, and it was the role of the kingdom to preserve the wellbeing of all creatures within and outside of its borders. Of course, this meant that all creatures had to keep their natural instincts and genetics in tack, which meant that the stimulation of predator and prey had to be enacted. Soarin, Flash, and Johnny never protested since it was important to not alter the creatures in any way so they were more than happy to assist with their exercise. Now, a newcomer graced the battlefield of the arena, her name was Spitfire and she was a force to be reckoned with.

Currently, both Soarin and Spitfire were in combat with an Acklay; a large creature that looked like the child of a crab, a reptile, and an insect. It stood at a towering fifteen feet with a long neck, the back of its head was long and its mouth was full of sharp teeth. The outer parts of the Acklay's limbs were pale green, the color you would see on rusted copper, along with some of the inner parts of its limbs being a pale tan. Its main body was long with the top half of it being covered by chitin and the underbelly being exposed. It had six deadly claws like the limbs of a crab with sharp ends that stabbed at the sanded ground of the arena.

The Acklay gave a high pitched, rolling roar as it charged at Spitfire. Spitfire easily dodged the attack of the sharp claw by flying high into the air. Before the Acklay could have time to respond, Spitfire dove down onto the Acklay, and struck it in the head, causing the Acklay to let out a painful yelp. It stumbled back a bit in a daze before regaining its balance and shaking its head to shake off its daze.

Spitfire landed next to Soarin, "That wasn't too hard, was it?" Spitfire asked Soarin, concerned for the Acklay's wellbeing.

"Nah," Soarin answered, "Gregory is one of the toughest creatures we got, a hit like that will only knock him off balance," Soarin said, indicating that the Acklay's name was Gregory.

Spitfire knew that the creature was an endangered species so she wanted to be sure that she didn't go all out. The Acklay gave another roar before charging again, and once more, both Soarin and Spitfire flew into the air to dodge the attack. While the Acklay definitely appeared to be a deadly predator and was most certainly was one before the creation of Chaosville, now the Acklay's were...sort of harmless. They no longer had any need to kill anymore since they were well fed, however, the biological trait of hunting and attacking was still needed since it was the nature of a true Acklay. As a result, the Acklay's evolved to no longer kill but to instead catch and then release. So there was no actual danger to the lives of Soarin and Spitfire unless an accident occurred.

"Hey Spitfire," Soarin called out to his friend as both he and she flew circles around the Acklay.

"What's up?" Spitfire replied.

Both Spitfire and Soarin landed, "You wouldn't, by any chance, know when Rainbow's gonna get here, do you?" Soarin asked.

Spitfire gave Soarin a cheeky smirk and a raised eyebrow, she knew all too well of Soarin's...interest in the rainbow-maned pegasus known as Rainbow Dash. "You really haven't given up her, huh?" Spitfire assumed, bracing herself for the next attack from the Acklay.

"Yeah, I'm never giving up on my best friend." Soarin grinned back.

Spitfire rolled her eyes at Soarin's failure of an attempt to be inconspicuous. As Spitfire flew, she recalled her memories of how Lightning Dust had ordered Rainbow Dash to go on a mission to recover some troops that were left on the battlefield. Spitfire didn't believe that Rainbow would blindly follow an order form Lightning Dust, however, she later learned that the order had come from Princess Luna herself, and Rainbow was faithful to the crown so she took off post haste.

"Rainbow left on a mission to recover some pegasi troops, I don't know when she'll be back," Spitfire answered. "It could be days, weeks, or maybe even months-"

KA-BOOOOOOM!!!!

Everyone's gaze was directed to upwards and what they saw made their eyes shrink due to the intensity of the brightness. A flaming rainbow in the shape of a circle was rippling across the sky, and a few moments later a rainbow blur shot down and crashed into the Acklay, forcefully shoving it into the ground. The impact of the object caused the whole Colosseum to shake and rumble, the sand in the area rose like a massive wave as it was carried by the impact of the shockwave.

Both Spitfire and Soarin coughed put some of the pieces of dust they had breathed in, once the dust had settled both Soarin and Spitfire gasped in awe at what, or rather, who, they saw. Before the two pegasi, on top of the now crippled Acklay, was a pegasus mare with cyan fur, a rainbow mane, and violet eyes. That's right ladies, gentlemen, and those of unspecified gender, the bad@ss has arrived, the one, the only, Rainbow Dash.

"Sup, Soarin," Rainbow waved to a slackjawed Soarin, "How's it going, Spits?" Rainbow greeted a facepalming Spitfire.

"Rainbow...you...you..." Soarin was at a loss for words, unable to utter a comprehensible sentence.

"I know, I know." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I'm a tad bit late, and I know that's a first for the fastest pony."

"Rainbow," Spitfire sighed, "do you have any idea who your standing on?"

"Yeah," Rainbow answered with confidence, "the love child of a crab, reptile, and insect."

"No, you...ugh." Spitfire rubbed her temples to calm her soon-to-be headache.

"What?" Rainbow cocked her head in confusion.

"Rainbow...you just crippled an endangered creature," Soarin stated in a shocked manner.

Rainbow looked down then looked back to Soarin and Spitfire, she gave a nervous laugh while rubbing the back of her neck. "Hehe...whoops." Rainbow said before countering, "well...it's not like I did anything bad-"

"Rainbow Dash, of the Lunum Empire."

Rainbow's attention was drawn to the hundreds of hollow armored suits, that were the guards of Chaosville, that now had her completely surrounded. One of the hollow suits of armor slapped a pair of hoof-cuffs on Rainbow's forelegs.

"You are under arrest for injuring an endangered creature, for causing damage to private property, and for trespassing."

Author's Note

All may seem bad for our Rainbow-maned hero, but not too there is no need to fear for a new hero will appear! To be continued in the next chapter.

For those of you Star Wars fans that know what an Acklay is, have a thumbs up from yours truly.

As for those of you that don't know what an Acklay is, here's what it looks like

Chapter seven

Rainbow Dash was held within a prison cell in the castle dungeons, two hollow guards stood at her door to keep watch. Soarin entered the dungeon and came up to the cell to see Rainbow.

Rainbow rubbed her head with a guilty expression, “talk about an awkward reunion.”

“Yeah,” Soaring chuckled with a sheepish grin.

The two had a moment of awkward silence before Rainbow spoke to break the tension, “So… how’ve ya been?”

“Me? Oh, I’ve been good, being forced into a marriage to ensure the whole world doesn’t fall apart. Other than that, just been training harder everyday to beat you.” Soarin summarized. “How’re you?”

“I’m good to, just finished up with a boring mission. Sky says hi by the way, are you getting her letters?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah, we still write every now and then.” Soarin answered

Silence resumed.

“So… any chance you could break me outta here?” Rainbow asked sheepishly.

Soarin shook his head, “Sorry, nothing I can do. King Discord is actually planning on sending you back.”

That got Rainbow’s fullest attention, “WHAT?! No, why?!” Rainbow demanded.

“According to him, there are already two representatives from the Lunar Empire; Spitfire, and Lightning,” Soarin explained.

“Uggggh!” Rainbow groaned, covering her eyes as she fell on her back. “I knew I shouldn’t have taken that mission from Lightning!”

As Rainbow was complaining about the situation, a guard entered the dungeon and unlocked the cell door. “Rainbow Dash, come with us.” They ordered, as the two hollow guards picked Rainbow up and escorted her out of her cell. Rainbow looked to Soarin as if asking him what was going on but Soarin just shrugged as an answer. They walked down the hallways before entering the throne room, where King Discord sat on his throne.

“King Discord,” Soarin began to speak, “please don’t banish Rainbow, it was an accident-“

“Banishment will not be necessary.” A new voice stated.

All attention was directed to the pony standing at the wall, facing the window. She turned around to reveal herself to be taller than the average pony, with deep navy blue fur, a flowing blue mane, and tail with sparkles in it, and matching blue eyes. This pony was a mare with the horn of a unicorn and wings of a pegasus, she was an Alicorn, Ruler of the Lunum Empire, Princess Luna.

“Your majesty!” Soarin said surprised but still bowed to show his respect.

“Rise, Prince Soarin, there is no need to bow.” Princess Luna stated. “I have come to clear my daughter’s name. If you would be so kind, Discord.”

Discord snapped his claw and the shackles around Rainbow vanished. “Rainbow, please gather your sisters in your room as I need to have a talk with all of you all,” Luna ordered and Rainbow left to do so with Soarin leaving as well. Discord gave his guards a look and they saluted in response before exiting. Even though the hollow guards were under the full control of Discord and their memories could be removed with the simple snap of the finger, Luna wanted to make sure both she and Discord were completely alone. "You don't have to keep up appearances for me, you know," Luna stated to Discord, turning to face him. "We've met on more than one occasion, specifically before your relocation."

Discord sighed as he undid his magical concealment, returning to his Draconequus form. He stretched his whole body and twisted it like a person twists a dish rag to squeeze out of all the water. "Ahhhhh, it feels nice to move freely once again." Discord stated.

"Why do you keep using the concealment spell?" Luna asked. "You know that's only going to drain your power."

"Pffft," Discord waived, "I'm the spirit of chaos, I've got plenty of-"

Without warning or hesitation, Luna's horn glowed as it instantly charged up an attack spell which she shot at Discord. The spell wasn't that struck but it was solid enough to strike Discord in the gut and send him flying back. Discord groaned, clutching his gut, before rising. "What was that for?!" Discord demanded.

"That was for not informing me that my daughters came here," Luna stated, "and for lying to me when you said you have plenty of power."

Discord let out a sigh as he hoisted himself up. "Fine, so my power may be waning a tad bit, but it's nothing to worry about, everything is under control-"

"Is Sombra returning?"

The name 'Sombra' made Discord flinch, he looked to Luna and saw a mixture of murderous intent and sadness in her eyes. Discord's eyes landed on the floor as he thought of how to explain the situation to Luna. Luna, however, upon seeing Discord being unable to meet her gaze, was already given her answer thanks to Discord's actions. "So...he is returning after all."

Discord looked up to meet Luna's eye line, a look of serious in his eyes to match Luna's, "I don't know for sure just yet. For a while now I've been having this...feeling, similar to the shakes and shutters I get whenever there's chaos but these ones are different. They're more violent and intense, it's like every fiber of my being is having a reaction to something bad coming my way." Discord explained. "However, I checked the seal on Sombra and there was no sign that it was damaged or breaking apart," Luna opened her mouth to protest but Discord beat her to it, "and yes, I've checked the seals on Ammonius, Estora, and on Tirek , and all of them seemed fine."

"So if it isn't Sombra, and it isn't the sins, then what is it?" Luna asked.

"Again, I don't know a whole lot but whatever it is, it's somehow slowly draining my power." Discord explained. "Which should be impossible since there's no one that can absorb my magic."

"And that's all you know?" Luna inquired, raising a brow.

"Yes." Discord answered, waiting for Luna's judgment on his response.

Luna let out a sigh before continuing, "Fine, I believe you." Luna said and Discord sighed in relief. "However, what does any of that have to do with this ball of yours? Why end the war?"

"Originally I thought it was the war that was giving me all of those violent shakes so I ended it." Discord answered. "Now enough of your questions, don't you have three daughters to get back to?"

Luna glared at Discord for a while before taking her leave. She would be sure to keep a close eye on Discord and to be aware of all of his actions. Discord knew of Luna's abilities, the two had fought before a long long time ago. Luna was notorious for scoping out the truth but Discord was able to lie to her this time. Discord knew he would be unable, to tell the truth to her, especially with her hatred towards Sombra. No matter what, he must keep it all a secret.

There was a knock on the door, Discord was startled for a moment but quickly transformed back into his deer form before telling the person to enter. The doors opened and a new face entered, one that Discord was familiar with.

"Um...g-g-gr-greetings your Highness." Fluttershy trembled, the silver dish with two cups on it that she held in teeth slightly shaking.

"What are you doing here?" Discord asked, furrowing his brow in annoyance.

"W-w-well...you looked kinda stressed so I thought I should bring you some coffee." Fluttershy offered.

Discord raised a brow, wondering the reason as to why someone would give someone coffee to calm them down. "How did you know that food and drinks have the opposite effect on me?"

"Soar-...Prince Soarin told me." Fluttershy said, setting the dish on the table.

Discord took hold of the cup and brought it to his lips, he took a sip of hot liquid, smacking his lips after he was done taking his sip. "hmmm, this is very good." Discord complimented.

"Thank you..." Fluttershy hid behind her mane to hide her soft blush. Discord continued to take sips of his coffee, then Fluttershy asked, "King Discord, can I ask you something?"

"No, you may not." Discord answered bluntly, shutting the mare down without hesitation.

"Oh...okay," Fluttershy said with defeat.

Discord looked to the yellow-maned pegasus and felt a bit guilty for hurting her feelings, he sat down his cup, "what is it you wanted to ask me?"

"It's nothing, ignore what I said," Fluttershy said with the saddest puppy dog eyes someone could ever witness.

Those eyes shot through Discord like an arrow through a sheet of paper. "I'm sorry, you may ask me anything and I promise that I won't get offended."

Fluttershy looked to Discord and saw the sincerity in both his face and words, she raised her head and asked. "Could you turn into that other form? The one with the mixture of creatures?... If you don't mind that is."

Discord blinked in confusion, generally perplexed by Fluttershy's request. "You...want to see my true form?" Discord asked and Fluttershy nodded. "To make fun of it?"

"NO!" Fluttershy yelled, blushing in embarrassment at the tone of her voice. "I...I think your true form is amazing."

Those words echoed in Discord's mind, in all his years he never showed anyone his true form, not even his own sons and daughter knew what he looked like. For centuries Discord was at the mercy of creatures...less than nice opinions of him. Yet this mare wanted to see him, the real him, and it was not to make fun of him. Discord undid his spell and his true form was revealed, Fluttershy looked at him in awe, she was staring so much that Discord was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable under the pegasus' gaze.

"Amazing," Fluttershy said in astonishment. "How are you like this?"

"What do mean?" Discord inquired.

"Like, everything," Fluttershy answered. "Tell me everything about you that made you...well you. You're parents, your past, maybe any siblings you have, I really would like to know." Fluttershy smiled, but her smile dropped when she saw that her questions had made Discord a bit sad as he blankly stared at his cup of coffee. "I-...I'm sorry," Fluttershy apologized quickly remembering the king and servant relationship the two had, "please forgive me for asking you of such things, King Discord, I have no right to know about your past."

Discord placed his paw on Fluttershy's head, gently rubbing it to give her reassurance. "It's quite alright." Discord responded. "No one's ever shown any interest in me before, I'm quite flattered, so, as a reward, I will happily answer any question you ask me." Discord said, Fluttershy opened her mouth to answer but Discord quickly shut her mouth before specifying his words, "one question at a time, if you please."

Fluttershy nodded in understanding and Discord released his grip to allow Fluttershy to speak. "Could you tell me about your parents? What were they like?"

"Unfortunately I don't know that much about my parents," Discord answered, “I just appeared one day out of thin air."

"Oh...I'm sorry." Fluttershy apologized.

"It's quite alright," Discord waived, "While I don't know if they even exist or not, I wasn’t completely alone. I had a couple father figures that gave me a helping hand."

"I see, you must be glad to walk in their footsteps." Fluttershy assumed.

"What do you mean by that?" Discord asked.

"Well, you're a father, King Discord," Fluttershy said, "not just to your six children, but to the citizens of your kingdom and to all of the creatures on it," Fluttershy said, referring to the amount of effort Discord had put into making sure that all life would be preserved.

"Ah yes, I see." Discord smiled, realizing that he was indeed a father. His mind went back in time, remembering all the times he spent while raising his children. Reading history books to Flash when he was a colt, being there when Sunset was able to cast her first spell, racing with Soarin to make him faster, teaching Fancy proper table manners and eating etiquette, working with Johnny to help with chores, and helping Cheese Sandwich plan his first welcome party in Chaosville. "I wouldn't say that I'm fully responsible for how they are now, but I'm glad that I could be there to be a part of their lives."

"I'm sure they feel the same way." Fluttershy smiled. "Say...um, King Discord, pardon me if this might be rude of me to ask but why did you decide to father six children?"

"Hmmm..." Discord rubbed his chin, thinking of a clever lie, "I suppose I just wanted something to do." Discord shrugged.

The two continued to chat, talking with each other about themselves and their past. However, unbeknownst to Discord, Fluttershy had a hidden intention to her visit.

Night fell, and the crescent moon shone brightly in the sky, illuminating the vast sea of darkness that was the sky above. This bedazzlement of the sky was woven by the masterful magic of Princess Luna, who stood in a room which had been provided to her. While everyone slept, Luna used her powers to enter into the dreams of ponies and creatures alike to give them restful sleep. However, Luna could also use this power to peek into the mind and memories of whomever she dream-walks into, unfortunately, she could not do this with either Discord or his children due to a powerful enchantment. However, this enchantment had not been placed on Fluttershy. Luna felt bad giving Fluttershy mild suggestions to spend time with Discord and to chat with him, but in reality, she really did want to spend time with him she just lacked the confidence to do so.

Luna looked into Fluttershy's mind and saw the conversations she had between herself and Discord. Even though Discord hadn't revealed anything important, she knew that he was starting to form a relationship with Fluttershy, in time he would reveal his secrets to her and at that moment Luna would be able to know the truth.

Luna turned around to face her three daughters, who had their eyes glued to the floor.

"So," Luna began, slowly walking over to her three daughters with a gaze as hot as a ray of sunshine, "would any of you like to tell me why you thought you could keep this from me?"

The daughters were all silent.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice? That it wouldn't seem strange that all three of you went missing?" Luna asked and received no response. "To be honest, I was well aware of the ball and Discord's offer, in fact, I was going to accept it," Luna admitted.

All three of her daughters looked up at Luna in shock. "Wait...really?" Rainbow asked.

Luna nodded, "Of course, I was hoping that we would all go together, but it seems Lightning Dust had other plans." Luna stated, glaring at Lightning. "Nonetheless, you're all here now and unharmed. While you are here I expect you all to be on your best behavior, and to make sure that you do I will be staying here to keep an eye on all of you."

Lightning was the first to respond, "you can't do that." She protested, Luna raised a brow at her daughter and she corrected herself. "I meant...surely you're needed back in the Empire to oversee the repairs?"

"No, I've left the council in charge of that, they have everything under control," Luna stated.

"But-"

"No 'buts', this is my decision and it is final," Luna ordered.

Lightning Dust punched the nearby tree in frustration. All of her plans were being ruined by her sister and now her mother. She stormed out of the castle and into the forest that was nearby to meet with someone very important, and that someone was late and now Lightning was becoming more irritated by the minute. She had put on a saddle-bag which she filled with the necessary objects needed for her meeting.

"Good evening, your Highness."

Lightning spun around to see none other than *Malt Cetio*, the same unicorn stallion that led Twilight to the library. Beside him was a rather tall sack with something large inside of it.

"Where have you been *Malt Cetio*?" Lightning demanded. "I've been out here for hours."

*Malt Cetio* rolled his eyes, "please, someone as weak as you couldn't spend mere hours out here." *Malt Cetio* insulted. "Now enough of your complaining, we have work to do." *Malt Cetio* said, removing the rope that kept the top of the sack sealed the sack fell to the ground to reveal its contents. A bound and gagged Garble stood before them, his eyes wide with terror. "Have you already sent one of your spies to replace him while we do this?" *Malt Cetio* asked.

"Yes," Lightning answered, "now let's begin before my mother notices I'm gone."

*Malt Cetio* grinned, using his magic he opened a portal which he reached into and pulled out a sheathed katana. The portal vanished and *Malt Cetio* unsheathed the sword. Its hilt was black and wrapped in black bandages, with a drawing of a long serpent with its head opened wide at the end of the red colored blade. Without warning or hesitation, *Malt Cetio* drove the blade through Garble's heart. Once the blade was driven through, there was no blood nor were any organs pierced nor punctured. However, at the end of the blade was a glowing white orb that had been pierced by the blade. The eyes of the snake drawing glowed red as the white orb was sucked into the drawing's mouth before vanishing completely. Once the orb was gone, *Malt Cetio* removed the blade and Garble's body fell to its knees, his eyes completely white and his mouth hung open.

Lightning then reached into her saddle-bag and pulled out a necklace with a crystal on it. Lightning placed the crystal on the ground, she hovered her hoof over the crystal and from her hoof, a long and sharp hoof-nail grew. She used this nail to carve a symbol on the crystal, once the symbol was done Lightning picked the crystal back up and placed it in Garble's mouth. She tilted his head back and the necklace fell into his body, a soft orange glowed from Garble's eyes and his mouth closed.

Garble stood up and inspected his body, he then turned to *Malt Cetio* and asked, "Was this really the best you could do?"

"Watch yourself, Greed." *Malt Cetio* smirked. "You're lucky that we're giving you this body."

Garble opened his mouth to protest but quickly closed it as he had no room to argue, "FIne, do you at least have a plan?"

"We do," Lightning said, "but we're having to change as we go since there are some obstacles appearing."

"What kind of obstacles?" Garble asked.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," *Malt Cetio* answered, "do you remember the necessary requirements?"

"I believe so..." Garble scratched his chin. "We need a betrayal of friends, a betrayal of love, and a betrayal of family, right?"

"Yes," *Malt Cetio* answered, "however, all three must occur to three different creatures. I have planted some seeds for us to use, we just need to wait for the harvest." *Malt Cetio* smiled like a vile villain.

"So long as we follow the plan, we should be able to free Sombra and the other Sins." Lightning Dust stated.

While their plan shared all other interests, all of them had their own goal in mind.

"Soon...soon I will be able to have my legendary battle." *Malt Cetio* thought to himself.

"Soon...soon he will be mine and mine alone." Lightning Dust thought to herself.

"Soon...soon I will be free to take what is rightfully mine." The spirit that now possessed Garble thought to himself.

These three were villains whose evil plan was hidden under the darkness of the night sky. A plan that would be the first of many soon to be dominos that would create a chain reaction that leads to demise. Soon, evil will rise and all of Chaosville, no, the whole world will be threatened, and the fate of the world will soon rest on the shoulders on those who will be considered heroes in a fight against evil.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" Cheese yelled as he threw a pillow at Sunset Shimmer as she entered her room.

The pillow hit Sunset square in the face, it slowly slid down to reveal a very angry Sunset Shimmer.

"What do you all think you're doing in my room?!" Sunset demanded from her siblings, Flash, Soarin, Fancy, Johnny, and Cheese.

Cheese sandwich had made a fort out of the furniture and other objects in Sunset's room, blankets were used as the roof which they all were under that had pillows to sit and lay on. There was also snacks in the center which everyone was happily digging in to.

"Cheese wanted us all to meet up to talk about how our dates went," Soarin answered, munching on a cookie.

"Come sit with us, Sunset," Flash offered, "we were just talking about Johnny's date."

Sunset was about to protest but decided against it, with reluctance she took her seat next to Flash. "Very well, I'm too tired to argue." Sunset sated.

With that, all eyes went to Johnny. "I don't see why it's that big of a deal," Johnny said, "Gabby and I didn't exactly do much, we just toured around the city and I pointed out some key locations that she wanted to know about." Johnny shrugged. "That's about it."

"Really?" Fancy inquired. "Nothing else happened?"

Johnny glared at Fancy, "You're one to talk, you didn't technically go on a date since all you did was let Spike talk with Ember."

All eyes looked to Fancy, "Explain." Flashed demanded, narrowing his gaze.

Despite the pressure Fancy was receiving he made sure to keep his cool, "Ember and I had our chat, she talked about her father and the Dragon Kingdom. What was most appealing about her was her honesty." Fancy admitted. "She told me that she had no interest in marriage and that she was only here to have support for her kingdom. Which I explained to her that Chaosville would be more than willing to provide assistance even if all of us," Fancy said, 'us' was referring to his siblings, "ended up not marrying, all kingdoms would receive aid. Then Spike came in and both he and Ember talked about the dragon empire and the history behind it. I decided to give them some space and so I left."

Cheese bounced in excitement, "What a coincidence, I said the same thing to Yona during my date."

"Speaking of which," Johnny looked to Cheese, "how old is Yona?"

Cheese chuckled awkwardly, "let's just say that she's at an age that if I were to marry her it would be illegal."

The others had a shocked look on their faces when Cheese said that, even though he said that with the intention of it being a joke nobody was laughing.

"Tough crowd." Cheese muttered, but his smile never faltered. "Anyways, I promised Yona that once this whole situation was over that Chaosville would provide support to her kingdom even if she didn't marry one of us."

A lightbulb went off in Sunset's mind, "Cheese and Fancy have a point, we don't have to marry anyone just so long as we can provide their kingdoms with aid."

Sunset did have an excellent point, however, Fancy and Soarin disagreed. "Unfortunately that rule won't apply to Fleur since she's no doubt here to try and claim me again."

"The same can be said for Lightning Dust," Soarin added, "since she'll find some way to get back together with me."

"And the same can be said for Blueblood," Flash added which sent a shiver down Sunset's spine.

"I think we're getting a bit off topic right now," Cheese said, looking to Soarin, "Soarin, you're up."

"Well..." Soarin trailed off, "My date with Spitfire went okay, we wrestled with an Acklay to keep it exercised. Then Rainbow shot out of the sky and practically crippled the poor thing, and then she got arrested." Soarin said, his tone getting more and more depressed before becoming uplifting. "But, Princess Luna arrived and she cleared Rainbow Dash's sentence and now she's a participant."

"Wait," Flash paused, "Princess Luna is here in the castle? Right now?" Flash asked and Soarin nodded. "Well then...that can't end well."

"Flash you're up." Cheese interjected, preventing them all from getting off-topic again.

"My date with Princess Twilight Sparkle went great," Flash grinned before his confidence faltered, "or at least...I think it went great, she seemed very excited when it began and looked forward to the next one."

Sunset chocked on her cookie, after she drank some milk to wash it down she whipped her head to Flash, "What?!" She demanded, her question pertaining to the mention of a second date. "What exactly did you two do together?"

"Well, she and I were working on the Stoned Assistant, we actually made some progress today and we plan on doing some more experiments tomorrow," Flash explained.

Sunset just sighed, "Not that again." Sunset groaned, knowing all too well about the Stoned Assistant. "Flash, we've been over this, there is no key to the Stoned Assistant, and if there is then no one is capable of cracking it. Some of the most brilliant and powerful unicorns tried to unlock it and failed. Do I need to remind you of the times that you and I worked on that statue?"

Flash grimace at the recollection of times both he and Sunset tried to free the Stoned Assistant. "That is...very true," Flash admitted, "however, things are different this time since Twilight is an Alicorn and she's...well...better than you at magic." Flash muttered his words by speaking and loudly crunching a cookie.

"What was that?" Sunset glared at Flash.

"What is with us and getting off-topic?" Cheese asked, unintentionally coming to Flash's rescue. "Sunset, you're the only one who hasn't told us about your date yet. Tell us and then we can talk about other stuff."

"Fine," Sunset huffed, "my date with Vox wasn't all that special either, we just toured around the castle and I pointed out some things that he wanted to know about. Such as the history of the place and some of its statues. That's about it."

"There," Cheese threw his hooves in the air, "now we can talk about whatever since everyone's gone."

Sunset opened her mouth to have Flash explain what he had said earlier but Johnny cut her off, "Sunset," Johnny began, "by any chance did Vox want to know about some magical artifacts? Or maybe about past evil rulers?"

"Yes..." Sunset answered, "why do you ask?"

The siblings all shared the same look of concern. "Out of all the kingdoms, the Griffon Empire was the one the profited the most from the war and was the only one to come out unscathed after the war was over," Johnny explained. "My fear is that they may plan an attack on Chaosville since our offer to provide aid to everyone could be a threat to them."

"That would explain why they were interested in the layout of the kingdom, and their interest in our history," Fancy said.

"Although we shouldn't make any assumptions just yet," Flash began his counterclaim, "It'd be disastrous if we made any harsh actions and our assumptions were wrong."

"I agree with Flash," Cheese nodded, "but I say we should all keep an eye on the griffons, just to be sure."

All of the siblings nodded in agreement.

Chapter eight

It was a new day, the sun rose over the horizon and shone down onto the kingdom for all of its happy citizens. Chaosville had several forests and mountain ranges that were preserved and untouched, one of these forests, the oldest one to be precise, was one that sat on the edge of Chaosville right next to the beach. The trees that grew here were very important and symbolic to Chaosville as they were very sturdy trees whose roots were able to dig deep into the sand and draw water from the ocean and filter it by absorbing the water and expelling the salt into the wood, making them strong and sturdy. These trees were known as Salt Roots and they were symbolic because to Chaosville it meant that any life could survive even in the harshest of conditions if they had grit enough to overcome any obstacle.

It was here, on the beach, that Discord sat in his throne that sat on a wooden podium, and across from him, in the sand, were the banners of each kingdom that had arrived including the banner of his own kingdom. Discord had created a new activity for everyone which would determine who would go out on a second date with who as well as an additional prize. However, Discord had not told anyone of this new activity that he had come up with and decided that he was going to surprise everyone.

Once it was exactly noon, Discord clapped his hooves and in a flash of magic, everyone appeared next to their respected banner. Sunset, Flash, Soarin, Fancy, Cheese, and Johnny all appeared next to the Chaosville banner. Twilight, Blueblood, Fleur, Pinkie, Rarity, and Starlight appeared under the Canterlot banner. Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, Spitfire, and Fluttershy under the Lunum banner. Gilda, Gabby, Vox, and Gallus appeared under the Griffon banner. Ember, Garble, and Spike appeared under the Dragon banner. Yona appeared under the Yak banner. In another flash of magic, Princess Luna appeared next to Discord with a toothbrush in her mouth and a bewildered look on her face that turned into an expression of annoyance when she realized that it was Discord who had teleported her.

Everyone had confused looks on their faces and before anyone could speak or protest, Discord stood up from his throne and announced, "Welcome everyone to the next activity, which I like to call 'Professional Team Tag'." With a clap of his hooves a bunch of bows and arrows appeared, one for everyone, except Luna, with the arrows head being a piece of foam in the shape of a cylinder instead of a sharp arrowhead as well as some foam swords were given to the teams. "This game will determine two things, the first is that it will decide who will go on a date with one of my children and before I tell you the second please allow me to explain the rules of this activity," Discord offered before explaining the rules. "Before you are either a bow and arrows or a foam sword, these tools have been enchanted so that they correspond to each others team. If you were to have contact with someone with the sword or arrow then the creature that you hit will join your team and do exactly as you say. To ensure that this rule is followed, both the arrows and swords have been enchanted with an obedience enchantment that will cause an obedience mark to appear on whoever was hit." Discord stated. "Now then, for the second thing-"

"Hold on a second, Discord," Luna interjected, "do you truly think I'll just sit back and do nothing while anyone could force my daughters to do something against their will?!"

Luna was referring to the idea that even if one of her daughters were to be caught under the enchantment then they could be used as a slave. To which Discord waived away such thoughts by stating,

"I understand your worrying, which is why I have countless members of my guard hidden in the forest to ensure that no one does anything naughty," Discord explained, "and these aren't the hollow guards, these are the Thistle Operatives, my most loyal and highly trained guards who will intervene, should anything go wrong." Despite the reasurance in his voice, Luna was still not convinced. To which Discord rolled his eyes and clapped his hooves and in a bright flash of magic, several bat-ponies appeared adorned in royal dark blue armor. "There, now you have some of your own guard to keep a watch over the game, happy?"

When Luna was satisfied with the conditions of her daughters safety, Discord continued his explaination. "Now then, as for the second thing, I offer a reward to anyone who can shoot me, this reward will be one, and only one wish. This wish can be anything, anything at all, like a mountain of riches," Discord clapped his hooves and a mountain of solid gold erupted upwards from underneath him, "or a never before seen history book," Discord clapped and the mountain disappeared and a dusty and worn-out book appeared in his hooves which he showed off to everyone, and which both Flash and Twilight showed much interest in, "or perhaps you would like indomitable power," Discord clapped and storm clouds gathered above him which spewed lightning, "this wish could be anything," Discord said as the storm clouds dispersed, "and it does not apply just to the royals, but to my children and servants as well. Whoever can strike me with an arrow or sword will win this wish. However," Discord pointed out, looking to Luna with a narrow gaze, "there is to be no lethal, brainwashing, or boosting spells during this event," Discord said, turning back to the others, "any other kind of magic is allowed, and no one is allowed to fly above the tree line."

"Lastly," Discord started, "keep in mind that you are standing on the very beach that the first settlers of Choasville set hoof onto. Please do not break or damage any of the trees as it would be very disrespectful and also annoying to fix. With that," Discord clapped his hooves, "let the games begin!"

In a flash of white light, all of the teams and their participants vanished, leaving both Discord and Luna alone. "Are you serious about giving however wins any wish of their choosing?" Luna inquired, having known Discord for a long time she knew full well of the trickster he is.

"There's no need to be a worry-wart Lulu dear," Discord waived, "There's obviously going to be some guidlines to the wish, but I will be true to my word and give whoever wins a wish of their desire. However," Discord clapped his hooves and the statue of the Stoned Mare appeared next to him, "I never said I was gonna make it easy."

In the woods, a bright flash emerged and from it the prince's and princess of Chaosville appeared. In front of them were several tools such as foam swords, foam spears, plastic shields, and bows and arrows but the tip of the arrow was a cylindrical foam block. There was also plastic armor that would cover the legs and armor for covering the eyes, there was enough sets for all of them.

Flash couldn't help but smile at the assortment of childish weaponry. "Hey Soarin, remember when you and I used to play nerf war with each other?" Flash reminiced as he picked up a shield and began putting on some of the armor.

"How could I forget?" Soarin stated, as he too began strapping on some of the plastic armor. "If I remember correctly, I would always beat you."

Flash couldn't help but smile at how funny Soarin's joke was. "I'll admit you got me out more times than I'd like, but this time we're all on a team."

"About that," Fancy butted in, fully adorned in plastic armor and eyewear, "I feel that we should spilt up and each of us act as our own team."

The group pondered over the idea for a moment before Johnny spoke up in agreeance, "I'm with Fancy, all of us against everyone else would be unfair since we know these woods like the back of our hooves."

Everyone agreed, Sunset was reluctant at first but then realized the advantage of being alone.

"So then," Soarin grinned, "let the hunt begin." He stated as everyone went their seperate ways.

In another part of the woods there was another bright flash and the pegasi of the Lunar Empire appeared. Just like with all the places everyone appeared at there was an asortment of plastic and foam weapons along with plastic armor.

"Sick! Dibs on the sword!" Rainbow exclaimed, moving so fast that she could only be seen as a multicolored blur.

Lightning Dust approached the foam spear, picked it up and examined it closely. "Is this a joke?" She asked not being retorhical. "How on earth are we supposed to attack the enemy with these... children's play things?" She looked over to her sister Rainbow Dash to see her hopping on one leg as she tried to put on a piece of the armor that attached to her leg.

"Woah!" Rainbow yelped as she lost her balance and fell over, landing square on her belly and chin. "Ow." She hissed.

As Fluttershy went to help Rainbow put on her armor, an idea popped in Lightning's head. She walked over to Rainbow and jabbed her with the foam spear. Although it didn't hurt Rainbow, Lightning did jab it hard enough to annoy her. "Hey! What's the big idea?" Rainbow demanded.

"Rainbow, stand up." Lightning ordered.

Despite Rainbow Dash being a rebelious spirit she somehow found her body compelled to stand up, only for it to fall back down again due to her lack of balance. "Ow," Rainbow hissed once more in pain but also, this time, confusion, "what the...why did I do that?"

"It works." Lightning Dust stated, amazed that the spear did indeed give her control over Rainbow Dash.

Once Rainbow Dash had untangled herself and the plastic armor was fully on, she stood up and was ready to begin the game. But her excitement was cut short as Lightning gave another order, "Rainbow Dash, sit down." To which Rainbow found herself compelled to sit on her rear. "You are to sit here until the game is over." Lightning ordered.

When Rainbow finally figured out what was going on she immediately protested. "WHAT?! No fair!" She yelled. "You can't keep me in timeout!"

"Actually I can." Lightning stated, and her point was proven further as Rainbow Dash, despite her many attempts to sit up, could not remove herself from her time out. "This is for your own good Rainbow." Lightning began to explain. "Knowing you, if we let you participate you'll rush into the enemy headfirst and get captured right off the bat. It'd be better to just keep you here."

"Come on, Lightning!" Rainbow whined, looking to Fluttershy and Spitfire for support. "Come on Spits, back me up here."

Spitfire rubbed the back of her neck guiltily, "Sorry, Dash, but I'm gonna have to go with Lightning on this one."

Rainbow glared at Lightning, "Very well then, you leave me no other choice." Rainbow stated with a murderous and serious tone. "Fluttershy, attack!" Rainbow ordered Fluttershy to which Fluttershy only blinked and stuttered in confusion.

"Fluttershy, ignore Rainbow Dash." Lightning Dust ordered.

"No Fluttershy," Rainbow protested, "disobey your mistress and overthrow her to help out me, your good buddy Rainbow Dash."

"Fluttershy, I am your princess," Lightning stated, "you are honor-bound to server and obey me."

Unable to make a decision between her friend and Lightning Dust, Fluttershy let out a hushed yell before running off into the forest.

"Wha-Fluttershy, come back!" Spitfire called out before running after the pegasus mare.

Lightning rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance, glaring at Rainbow Dash she ordered, "Don't move until the game is over." Before heading off to go find Fluttershy.

In yet another part of the woods there was another flash of light, and Ember, Garble, and Spike appeared. As with all locations there was an assortment of plastic and foam tools as well as plastic armor. Surpisingly there was even a third, smaller, pair of armor and tools just for Spike.

Garble looked down at the smaller dragon with a glare, "Why are you here?" He questioned.

Spike took a big nervous gulp, sweat beading down his head. "I um...don't really know." Spike admitted, laughing nervously. "I was organizing some of the books in the library when all of the sudden I was teleported here." Garble's glare intensified. "I swear, that's the truth." Spike stated, putting his claws up to possibly defend himself. "Please don't eat me."

Garble inched closer but was halted by a hit on the head from the foam sword which Ember held. "Knock it off, Garble." Ember ordered as she was putting on pieces of her armor. "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, perhaps Spike could be of some use to us." Ember said, giving Spike a reasuring smile that no harm would come to him.

Spike's fear diminished upon seeing Ember's reasurance, and Garble ceased his glare at Spike with a huff of annoyance. "Fine, but I'm keeping my eye on you." Garble declared pointing an accusing talon at Spike. "He could be a spy from Discord sent to destroy us." Garble said, to which Ember simply rolled her eyes.

"Please, look at him," Ember pointed to Spike, more spefically to how small we was compared to both her and to Garble, "how could he possibly be a threat?"

That statement was a hard blow to dear ol' Spike's confiedence, however it was enough to convince Garble to halt his accusations. "You have a fair point, Discord would never trust the task of a spy to someone as pathetic as this shrimp." Garble let out a loud laugh as he walked away to go put on his armor.

Spike clenched his claw and balled it into a fist, his anger wasn't because of the insult Garble had given him but that he had the nerve to call King Discord by his name instead of his royal title. However, Spike calmed himself down and made sure that he kept his cool. His attention was drawn to the grunting Ember who was on her back and trying, yet failing, to put on one of the plastic guards that went on her knee.

"Here, let me help you." Spike offered, walking up to Ember. He waited until she stopped struggling to allow him to work with the guard. He reached beind it and undid the velcro strap, with the plastic guard now loose he moved it onto Ember's knee and reattached the velcro. "Is that a good fit?" He asked to confirm that the guard was placed on correctly.

Ember moved her knee to make sure the guard wasn't being a hindrance in any way. "Nice, thanks Spike." Ember thanked.

"It's really not a problem." Spike waived, then his attention was drawn to Garble as he too was struggling with the plastic armor. "Um...can I-"

"No!" Garble yelled, cutting Spike off. "I can do this."

Spike let out a sigh in annoyance, Ember, fully adorned in plastic armor with a foam sword on her belt and a plastic shield in her claw, stood up next to Spike. "Don't waste your time worrying about Garble," Ember patted Spike on the back.

"Is he always this grumpy?" Spike asked in a voice low enough to make sure that Garble couldn't hear him.

"Honestly," Ember started, also speaking in an equally hushed tone, "I know that Garble isn't the friendliest of dragons, but recently he's been more aggressive than usual."

"Oh?" Spike, now intrigued, raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Recently he's been more viloent and hostile. Not to mention that he's been eating more than usual and being more rude to the servents." Ember explained. "I've been doing my best to keep him down but I can't control him forever."

"I see." Spike said, looking back at Garble who threw his elbow gaurd at a tree, only for it to bounce off of the tree and hit Garble square in the nose. Spike thought back to yesterday, for you see, Spike's appearance on the dragon's team was by no accident.

Yesterday

Back inside the castle, during the night, Spike walked along a torch-lit hallway towards the royal chambers which belonged to King Discord. Despite the anxiety Spike felt, he mustered his courage and knocked on the door. The door opened slightly, only allowing a sliver of the door to be seen.

"Were you followed?" A voice from behind the door asked.

"No, sir." Spike answered.

The door opened slightly further, the figure behind it observed the hallway just to be sure that Spike was indeed not followed. The door opened just enough to allow Spike to squeeze through, "Inside, quickly!" The figure ordered and Spike quickly rushed in, the door closing shut behind him.

Spike entered into a dark room devoid of any source of light, he waved his arms in front of him to get his bearings but was suddenly embraced by feeling of fabric as something grabbed him. He gave a yelp of surprise before he was sitting in a, surprisingly comfortable, chair.

"Sorry about the darkness," the figure's voice came from in front of Spike and it was now recognizable as King Discord himself, "my room is strickly off limits to the staff and my children because...of how chaotic it is." Discord said.

"I'm honored that you let me enter." Spike said as the chair massaged his back.

"I'll be brief," Discord said, "I've noticed an unusual disturbance within my kingdom. I believe that the dragon known as Garble might be possessed by some kind of...something bad. During the event tommorow, i need you to keep an eye on Garble and report back anything that might appear...evil." Discord said.

"Your majesty, it would be my honor." Spike said, accepting the job.

"Absolutly not." Fleur refused, pointing her head high in the hair. "I refuse to take part in this...ridiculous game. Rarity, you shall participait for me and when you win you shall give the wish to me." Fleur ordered.

Rarity sighed, cringing at the unholy and unfashionable armor she would be forced to wear.

"Rarity, you will do no such thing." Twilight ordered, she and Starlight were wearing every piece of their plastic armor. "Fleur, at least participate a little. Even Blueblood is willing to participate in this." Twilight exclaimed, indicating to Blueblood who was also fully clothed in the plastic armor

"Don't drag me into this, Twilight." Blueblood said, not looking at Twilight because he was walking off with Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing as she walked.

"Fleur, please don't do this to me right now." Twilight groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Vith all due respect, Princess Fleur, it vould seem very rude to father if you vere to not participate in his activities." Flash said, holding the hilt of the foam sword in his teeth.

"Exactly." Twilight agreed, before her eyes shrinked into pinpricks and her ears folded down as realization shruck her like a truck.

Beside her was none other than Flash Sentry himself, clad in plastic armor and a foam sword in his mouth. He looked to Twilight and gave her the most sincere and innocent smile, which she was only able to see for a brief moment before Flash, with lightning speed, poked Twilight on the head with the foam sword. Twilight could only stand there dumbfounded as all of the plans she had thought up in the few minutes she had were dashed away in an instant.

"Princess, look out!" Starlight yelled.

"Yeah, thanks so much for the warning Starlight." Twilight said sarcastically, but it was too late as she realized that Starlight was warning her to duck as she used her magic to levitate a sword and shoot it at Flash.

Flash, seeing the attack coming a mile away, skillfully dodged the levitating foam blade and rolled towards Starlight. "It wasn't too smart of you to throw away your only tool for defense." Flash stated when he was close enough, he swept his foam blade at Starlight but the only contact it made was with air as Starlight vanished in a bright light.

Starlight reappeared next to her sword and without any hesitation, ran towards Twilight. Realizing that Starlight was trying to convert Twilight back under their team, he dropped his shield and kicked it towards Starlight. The shield slid under Starlight's hoof and she tripped on it, causing her to crash her chin and neck and sending her sword flying as she lost her concentration on her levitation spell.

"Princess Twilight, would you be so kind as create an anti-teleportation field around us?" Flash asked, and Twilight, unable to protest, did so as a lavender glow erupted from her horn and grew outwards into a bubble that surrounded everyone. "Much abliged." Flash thanked as he causually walked up to Starlight and tagged her, converting her to Flash's team.

Once that was done, Flash easily tagged both Rarity and Fleur, gaining two more members. Once all four of the unicorns had been tagged he ordered all four of them to line up, once they did he took a deep breath before speaking. "I am so sorry!" Flash declared, bowing to all four of the, now confused, unicorns. "I know that I must seem like a terrible pony right now, espicially for how I have behaved and what I have done, but please understand that I have a specific wish that I need to be granted." Flash pleaded.

"How dare you." A furious Fleur cried out. "You dare order me around like some...some...servant. Release me at once!"

Flash's eyes fell to the ground, shame gripping tightly on his heart. "I understand your uncomfortableness with the situation, therefore I will not force any of you to do anything you do not wish. If you want, I know of a place where you can stay that no one will be able to tag you, so you can sit out for the rest of the activity."

Fleur opened her mouth once again to speak but was silenced by a foam sword bonking her on the nose. "Fleur, I order you to be quiet." Twilight ordered, to which Fleur's mouth shut tight and the only sound that came out from it was a couple of muffled noises. "As for you, Prince Flash Sentry." Twilight directed her gaze to Flash as she levitated the foam blade to float by her side. "You have beaten us fair and square," Twilight began to say as she approached Flash, "therefore, you don't have to worry about ordering us around. Order how you see fit, honestly I will be more than helpful to assist you in any way I can." Twilight said with the same innocent and sincere smile that Flash wore when he had suddenly arrived.

By now, Twilight was only a few feet away from Flash, who was more than happy to hear Twilight was willing to coropurate. "Princess, it means the world to me that you are compassionate and understanding to this situation, I-" before Flash could finish he was cut off by the foam sword, that Twilight was holding with her magic, tapping him on the nose. A magical surge washed over his body and Flash knew exacly what that meant. It was his turn to be dumbfounded, his eyes shrank into pinpricks and his ears folded down as realization dawned on him.

Before Flash could even say a word, Twilight's sword sprung to life and flew towards Starlight and Rarity and once it tapped both of them they were both converted to Twilight's team. Flash stood there, slackjawed for a moment, before he figured out what had happened. He gave a half hearted chuckled upon the discovery. "When Starlight's sword went flying, you picked it up and tagged yourself with it, converting yourself back to your own team." Flash began to guess what Twilight had done. "And since I never directly ordered you, you had full freedom to grab the sword and use it on me while my guard was down. Am I right, Princess?"

"Yep," Twilight answered, "I figured there was only so much these tools can do, so I quickly found a way to exploit it and use it to my advantage." She said, returning the foam sword back to her side so that she could admire its craftsmanship. "The magic used on it is oddly fascinating, also..." Twilight blushed while rubbing the back of her neck in embarressment. "I'm terribly sorry for playing dirty like that, but I too have a wish that I need to be granted and I can't let anyone take it from me."

"Say no more." Flash bowed before Twilight. "Per the rules of the game, you have been able to convert me to your team. I shall act as you see fit and do as you command. Whatever the order may be, I will gladly follow it." Flash stated.

"Good, I'm glad to hear that." Twilight turned around as she didn't want Flash to see the blush on her cheeks growing. "Now then, it's time for a battle plan." Twilight stated, grinning in both excitement and anticipation.

Author's Note

Hello and greetings. I know it has been a while since I've updated this story and it may seem that this chapter was rushed, hence the reason as to why I'm cutting this segment of the story into 2 chapters, but I want you to know that I do plan to continue this story. I have some ideas in mind for the future and I hope that you will stick around to see them. As always, thank you for your time for reading my story.

Chapter nine

Rainbow was frustrated, more than frustrated, she was infuriated. Due to Lightning Dust using the enchanted sword to make her stay stuck to the ground, literally grounding her. Despite her constant struggling, she could not free herself from the ground. She tried flying, she tried digging, she even thought about chewing off her own rear if it would allow her to move even just an inch. Unfortunately, the magical bind placed on her prevented her from doing any of those things.

Rainbow looked up into the trees and noticed some of the guards that were keeping watch over the whole event. “Hey!” Rainbow shouted, gaining the attention of some of the guards up in the trees. “Don’t just stand there, help me out!”

The guards didn’t respond to her, instead they just kept still and continued to observe the match. “Don’t you dare ignore me!” Rainbow shouted. “As soon as I get my hooves on you guys, I’m gonna beat the tar out of all of ya!”

“Thought I recognized that shouting.” A familiar voice said.

Appearing from a side of the woods emerged Soarin, who was drawn to the clearing thanks to Rainbow’s shouting.

“What the heck are you doing sitting by yourself?” Soarin asked, “if this is a trap then it’s a very poorly constructed one." He stated.

"Soarin!" Rainbow exclaimed, her angry expression turning into joy. "Boy am I glad to see you! Hurry, help me get out of this thing."

"Um..." Soarin scratched his head. "You know that you're not trapped, right? Like, there's nothing keeping you here?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "No, featherbrain, Lightning used some kind of magic on me with her sword-thingy and now I can't move."

"Ohhhhhhh." Soarin said, now fully understanding Rainbow's predicament. "Well...I'm afraid that there's no way of getting you out of the command enchantment." Soaring began to explain. "See, the only way to remove the spell is if the game ends or if someone else tags you and makes them join your team. Speaking of which," Soarin paused, walking up to Rainbow and tapping her on the head with a foam sword, "welcome to my team."

Rainbow stood up and was very pleased to be able to move around freely again, doing a few somersaults in the air. "Aw yeah!" Rainbow hoof-pumped the air in exhilaration, before sending a murderous smile to the guards still standing in the trees. "Remember what I said about beating the tar out of all ya?" Rainbow asked, cracking her hooves which caused some of the guards to flinch back in terror of the cyan pegasus.

"Rainbow, no beating up the guards." Soarin ordered.

"Awwww, come on Soarin." Rainbow whined. "Just a little bruise?"

"No, we have bigger concerns than them for right now." Soarin said. "For starters, we need to gather more teammates because there's no way we'll be able to take on King Discord by ourselves.”

“Hey,” Rainbow landed in front of Soarin, “off-topic question, but this has been bugging me for a while now. Why do some of you guys call King Discord ‘King Discord’ and some of you call him ‘Father’?”

“Whatda ya mean?” Soarin asked, confused by Rainbow’s question.

“Like, you and your brothers and sister,” Rainbow began to explain herself, “some of you call King Discord 'King Discord’ and the rest of you call him ‘Father’. It’s been bothering me because you guys keep on saying something different.”

“Do we…?” Soarin muttered to himself, rubbing his chin in thought. “I guess I never really paid too much attention to it. Although, I think the only reason me, Johnny, and Cheese call King Discord by that name instead of “Father” might be because all three of us already have parents.”

Rainbow scrunched her face and pinched her nose in frustration. “But…you guys are the sons of King Discord, doesn’t that make him you father?”

“…wait a minute.” Soarin paused, realization dawning on him. “Did you think Discord was my biological father?!”

“Well…” Rainbow exclaimed, trying to defend her point. “You are the prince of Chaosville because you are the son of Discord right?”

“Adoptive son.” Soarin corrected. “May I remind you that I grew up with both you, Lightning, and Spitfire in Cloudsdale?”

“yeah,” Rainbow huffed, crossing her hooves, “it’s not exactly easy forgetting when your best friend leaves."

Silence fell between the two, Soarin’s ears fell flat and his gaze turned away from Rainbow. “Yeah…sorry about that.” That was all Soarin had to say since he was unable to bring himself to say anything else.

Soarin was born in Cloudsdale, which, during the time he was little, was an independent city state and was owned by no one. Soarin was the son of a single father, his mother passed away during childbirth. His father never blamed him for her death, but struggled to raise him on his own. However, Rainbow Dash was the daughter of the two rulers of Cloudsdale and both she and Soarin became friends due to Soarin’s father being a General. However, when the Great War began, Cloudsdale relinquished its independence and joined the Lunum Empire. Rainbow’s family joined Luna’s family and Rainbow became a daughter of Princess Luna. However, Soarin’s father caught a deadly disease and was unable to serve in the Lunum Empire, but Soarin’s father had a connection with King Discord and begged him to take in his son until he got better. King Discord accepted and both Soarin and his father left Cloudsdale and moved into Chaosville. Soarin became a knight within the castle and rose through the ranks to become one of the guard members. Unfortunately, Soarin’s father passed away and thus Discord adopted Soarin as his son.

However, Rainbow wasn’t all too happy with Soarin leaving Cloudsdale and although the two tried to keep in touch with their usual visits, those same visits were becoming less frequent and as a result their relationship became more and more strained.

“How are things back in Cloudsdale?” Soarin asked.

“Better,” Rainbow sighed, “it’s improved a lot thanks to the Lunum Empire. Still though, it took a major hit after the war. The griffons banged it up pretty bad.”

The Griffons were dead-set on conquering all known sky islands and independent states during the Great War. When the war ended they had claimed the most territory and suffered the least of the other countries thanks to their military might. However, the one state they could not conquer was Cloudsdale, for months they laid siege to Cloudsdale, but it never surrendered.

“Yeah…” Soarin said half-heartedly, “you know, I did try to convince King Discord to lend aid to Cloudsdale but-“

“Forget it.” Rainbow dismissed, standing up. “The war’s over, all that matters now is that I win that wish and use it to repair Cloudsdale.”

Soarin smiled at the sight of his friend’s confidence. “You got it, and if I win then I’ll be sure to wish for Cloudsdale’s repairs as well.”

“aw, that’s real sweet of you.” Rainbow teased Soarin. “Now come on, we don’t have a moment to lose.” Rainbow declared, before taking flight with Soarin following her. As she flew, her smile formed into a worried look as she thought to herself. ’You need to tell him, he deserves to know.'

Yona, wearing all of her plastic armor, stood in a clearing of the woods. She was carrying all of the weapons that were laid out at where she had been teleported. It was difficult to move with all of the weapons she was carrying as every now and then a weapon would drop and she would take a while to pick it back up. There was the sound of a twig snapping that made Yona ready herself.

“Hiya, Yona.” A wild Cheese Sandwich appeared and greeted the young Yak.

Yona, startled by the sudden appearance of the party pony, tripped on the excessive amount of weapons she had and fell on her back. Her weapons all flew off of her, in particular her bow landed straight up and a foam sword was caught on the string of the bow. The string stretched back before launching the sword, which soared towards Cheese and landed just inches away from him. He looked to the turtling Yona, who was struggling to get back on her hooves, to make sure she wasn’t looking.

Cheese touched the foam part of the sword, then said, “Oh no!” Cheese gasped in exasperation. “I have been tagged by Yona and now I have no choice but to join her team.”

“Yona got you?” Yona asked, still on her back.

“Yep you sure did,” Cheese nodded, “here, let me help you up.” Cheese walked over to Yona and helped her back onto her hooves.

“Thanks.” Yona thanked.

“So, I’m assuming it’s just you and me on a team right?” Cheese surmised, to which Yona nodded. “Dang, that’s not really fair. Knowing King Discord, he would at least make things just a little bit fair.”

“This is fair,” Yona protested, “Yona has the strength of ten ponies.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Cheese grinned before his ears perked up upon hearing a sudden noise. “Hold that thought for one moment Yona.” Cheese said, picking up the foam sword and pointing it at an edge in the clearing.

The bushes which Cheese was pointing at began to rustle before a fearful Fluttershy came darting out of them. Before she had time to react, she ran straight into the sword and was instantly tagged. “Stop running.” Cheese ordered and Fluttershy came to a grinding halt.

A shiver went down Cheese’s spine when he gave the order. “Ugh,” He grimaced, “that was very unsavory.” Cheese didn’t feel all too comfortable giving orders like he was some kind of dictator. “Anyways, welcome to the team miss…um, what’s your name?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer as she was too frightened by the whole situation. “Hey, it’s all right.” Cheese said reassuringly. “Nothing bad is gonna happen to you, I promise.”

Futtershy, believing what Cheese said, calmed down and answered his previous question, “M-my name is Fl-Fluttershy.” She stammered.

“Well, Fluttershy, it’s nice to meet ya and have you onboard our team.” Cheese greeted. “Unfortunately I doubt we’re gonna beat King Discord with what we’ve got.” Cheese began pacing as he began to ponder in thought. He started observing the area around him; the sand, the trees, and anything else around them. When Cheese looked up into the trees a brilliant idea came to mind. “Yona, would you be so kind as to pass me that bow and arrow?” Cheese asked. “I think I’ve thought of a way we can win this game, and I’m ten-billion percent certain it’ll work.”

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, specifically the part where the Griffons had all teleported, the Griffons had all teamed up and were acting as a whole unit. Unfortunately this lead to their downfall as Sunset Shimmer was able to use her magic and tag all four of the Griffons. Now she stood in front of the four Griffons who had all been ordered to sit in time out.

“This is so unfair!” Gallus complained.

“Quiet Gallus,” Vox ordered bluntly.

“Come on, we didn’t even have a good start in the game before we got taken out!” Gallus cried out. “I mean, there’s gotta be something in the rules against this, right?”

“Be quiet.” Sunset ordered, and Gallus’ mouth closed shut. “Before I leave you four here, you’re going to answer my questions.”

“We won’t be telling you anything.” Gilda glared at Sunset.

“Yeah, especially about the operation-oops!” The griffon known as Gabby blabbered before shutting herself up by clasping her talons over her beak.

“What’s this about an operation?” Sunset asked with newfound curiosity.

“One job, Gabby.” Gilda groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You had only one job.”

“I’m sorry, Gilda.” Gabby apologized with a ‘sorry' look in her eyes. “I didn’t mean to, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. You know me, once I start talking then I can’t help but keep talking about it. Like, remember that one time during the secret meeting when-“

“Jivoha.” Vox stated, and upon saying that Gabby’s eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed onto the ground.

Sunset, shocked and startled by what just happened, thought that the poor Griffon had been silenced, but her worries were put to ease when Gabby started snoring, indicating she had fallen asleep.

“What did you do to her?” Sunset demanded an answer from Vox.

Compelled by the magic, Vox reluctantly answered. “A code given to me to put Gabby in a state of unconsciousness in case she begins revealing too much about the operation.” Vox grimaced. “Damn this foul enchantment.”

Whatever suspicions Sunset had of the Griffons multiplied upon hearing that. Before she continued her questioning, she gave an order. “None of you can say any code or suggestion that could prevent any of you from speaking.” Sunset ordered, and once the command was in place she continued her questions. “Now then, tell me everything about this ‘operation’ of yours.” Sunset ordered.

Gilda, despite her resistance, spoke first, “We are a special group of Griffon Operatives known as Shadow Ops, our job is to find and suppress any potential dark magic that exists. We are here in Chaosville because recently our superiors detected a large about of dark magic surging here.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “I’m afraid you’ve wasted your time.” Sunset’s eyes glowed green with purple mist flowing from them. Magic surged from her horn and shot at the ground, from the mark arose a black crystal. From it branched other black crystals like branches on a tree before they stopped growing and then began to recede back into the crystal, and then the crystal itself receded back into the ground. “Dark magic isn’t too uncommon here.” Sunset stated, rubbing the ache on her temple. “Practically every unicorn and magic user has used dark magic at some point in their lives.”

“We are aware.” Vox spoke up. “However, the massive surge in dark magic originates from a singular being. One who we fear is the cause of the Great War and all of calamity that occurred because of his actions.”

“Not possible, the Great War only occurred because of political issues and conflicts that were building up since the countries met one another.” Sunset stated.

“Yes, you’d think that.” A new voice spoke. All eyes looked up to a tree branch to see the yellow furred unicorn Stallion known as *Malt Cetio* leaning against the trunk of a tree with his legs strung across the branch he stood on. “But, then again, you are under the mind altering spell.”

Sunset, her eyes as wide as dinner plates, stood in shock and in confusion. She opened her mouth to speak but she yelped as the unconscious body of one of the guards watching over them fell from the tree and crashed right in front of Sunset. She looked up to where the guard fell and her horror increased when she saw the numerous amount of unconscious guards hanging from the trees.

“Sorry about that.” *Malt Cetio* apologized as he jumped down from the tree and landed on the sand. “But I couldn’t have them interrupting what I’m about to do.” He said as his eyes and horn glowed red. “Sorry about this, sis.”

“I said I was sorry.” Spike apologized once more to the irritated Garble.

Spike, Ember, and Garble had made their way towards the beach, or at least that was where they wanted to go but they got lost due to Garble’s directional skills. Along their trail they had accidentally stumbled upon a quicksand pit which Garble had gotten himself stuck in. Thankfully both Ember and Spike were able to pull him out, but instead of being grateful, Garble was furious that Spike knew about the potential sand pits and had not informed him about them.

“Sorry’s not gonna cut it.” Garble growled, knocking the sand out of his armor. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to lead me into that sand pit.” Garble pointed an accusing claw at Spike.

“Come on, Garble,” Ember protested, “There’s no way Spike would do that. How could he have possibly lead you to that pit?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Garble exclaimed. “He’s a servant of Discord, that means he knows the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this whole island.”

As Ember and Garble argued, Spike watched carefully just in case Garble did anything that appeared…evil. The truth was Garble was correct, partially correct but still somewhat correct nonetheless. Spike did know the entire layout of the forest as well as where certain hazards were. However, he didn’t lead Garble to the sand pit but he also didn’t warn him about it either. His reason was to see if Garble would use some kind of magic to help him escape. Unfortunately before anything could happen, Ember showed up and she and Spike had to pull Garble out. So, all in all, Spike's plan failed, but he couldn't help but feel guilty for acting as a deciever, it just wasn't who he was.

Then again, Garble wasn't really showing any signs of being some type of magic user. Perhaps maybe, just maybe, King Discord was wrong about his supicions of Garble.

Spike shook those thoughts away from him, he couldn't turn his back on the one that saved him when he was just an egg. He had to see this task through no matter how twisty or rocky the path was.

When Spike brought his attention back to the group, he looked to see Garble glaring at him. Ember, still yelling at him, failed to stop him as he readied himself in a running position. In the blink of an eye, Garble leaped towards Spike, his claws open wide and his wings keeping him aloft. Spike, bracing for the swift release of death, put his arms in front of his head to shield himself. Garble grabbed Spike and tackled him and to Spike's surprise, Garble handled him like a football runner with a football; carrying spike with one arm while the other was extended. When Spike looked over Garble's shoulder he saw the reason for Garble's sudden action.

Standing where Spike once stood was a large wolf shaped creature made entirely of pale while branches with a green glow eminating from its eyes, mouth, and from the cracks in its body. Its tail, made out of an assortment of leaves, swung back and forth to show its hostility.

"Friend of yours?" Garble asked sarcastically, as he put Spike down.

"That's...impossible." Spike said, flabbergasted.

"Looks pretty real to me." Garble stated matter-of-factly.

"No, you don't understand," Spike began to explain, "that thing is a Timberwolf, and it's-"

"Getting ready to attack." Garble interjected as the now identified Timberwolf pounced on the two dragons.

Both Garble and Spike ran in opposite directions to avoid the Timberwolf's attack. It landed, jaw first, into the sand and as it pulled its jaw out it spitted out a stream of sand. It pawed at the ground as it glared at Spike, letting out a low growl, but before it could do anything it was caught off-guard when Ember jumped on its back. It wirthed around as it tried to buck Ember off but it was to no avail as Ember sunk her claws deep into the TImberwolf's back. She lifted her head high and took a deep breath before unleashing a fury of flames down onto the Timberwolf.

Fire scorched the Timberwolf's body, it yelped and cried out in pain as the flames danced along its wooden body. Ember, thinking she had vanquished the timberwolf, flew off of the Timberwolf and landed next to Spike, standing triumphantly as the Timberwolf burned. But to their dismay the Timberwolf, still aflame, stopped crying in pain and started growling. The bright orange flames changed green and the wood that had been scorched changed back to its original pale wood.

The Timberwolf, now covered in green flames, slowly made its way towards both Ember and Spike. "That's...not possible." Spike stated, completely confused by the sight before him.

Timberwolves were the manifestation of an animal spirit that was trapped inside of the body of a wooden creature. They were native to Chaosville but only on the other side of the country where there were plenty of natural forests. However, they stayed far away from civilization and from the beach thanks to King Discord's magic. For one to be here, and to be fireproof, was completely abnormal.

The Timberwolf leapt at the two dragons, Spike, his instincts kicking in, put himself in front of Ember to absorb the full brunt of the damage about to occur. But then the Timberwolf gave out a loud yelp as the green light and flames began fading from its body. The green magic flowed from the Timberwolf's body and was sucked into the open mouth of Garble as he chugged down all of the green flames and magic like a delicious beverage. Once the green magic and flames were fully consumed by Garble, who gave a loud burp to state his satisfication, the Timberwolf's body became a hollow wooden figure which collapsed into a pile of sticks and logs.

"You're welcome." Garble stated to the shocked Spike and Ember.

"Hey, Flash?" Twilight asked, gaining the attention of Flash Sentry.

"Yes, Princess?" Flash responded.

"Since we have to tag King Discord, do you have any advice on how we can do that?" Twilight asked.

Flash thought for a moment as everyone in the group made their way closer and closer to the beach. Thanks to the directions given by Flash, they knew exactly which way to go.

"If I had to come up with some way I'd say we would first have to find some way to incapacitate him, or overwhelm him." Flash began to say. "Knowing him, he won't use his full power to take us down so we'll have an advantage there, his magic is strong but it has its weak points too." Flash stopped as he thought of a plan, when an idea came to mind a grin spread across his face. "Okay, I think I might've found a way to do this."

At the beach, Discord sat in his throne leaning his head against his hoof while tapping the other one against the throne. He waited patiently for something, if anything at all, to happen. He glanced back over to Luna every now and again only to see her casually reading a book, paying Discord no mind at all.

Thankfully, Discord's boredom came to an end when a foam arrow came flying towards him. He darted his head to the left to avoid the flying projectile as it bounced off the throne. Then another arrow came flying towards him, this one from the forestline instead of from the sky like the first one, which he deflected by grabbing the first arrow and throwing it at the second one. The two arrows collided and bounced off of each other. "Nice try, Soarin, but you'll have to do better than that, and as for you, Flash, surely you can think of a better strategy than that."

Sure enough, both Soarin and Rainbow landed on the beach a good ways away from Discord and emerging from the forest was Flash and Rarity.

"It was worth a shot." Soarin shrugged.

"Yeah, we have to try something." Flash stated.

"But it wasn't even creative." Discord sighed, although he shook his head he couldn't help but smile. He clapped his hooves and two black foam swords appeared and a white plastic shield appeared, both floated next to him. "These swords are called Agedus, if they tag you they will freeze you and immobilize you." Discord indicated to the swords before indicating to the shield. "This is Zeadil, if the shield touches you then it will propell you back with incredible force. Begin!"

With that, the swords came to life as the launched at the four poines, one of the swords swung at Rainbow and Soarin, who flew upwards to avoid getting tagged by it, while the other sword swung at both Flash and Rarity, Flash, using his own sword, to parry the oncoming floating one. Soarin, still in midair, fenced with the flying sword, and with the sword preoccupied, Rainbow made a dash at Discord with her foam sword aimed directly at him. But unfortunatly, the shield intercepted Rainbow's attack, the second Rainbow made contact with it she bounced off of it and was thrown backwards at the same speed she flew at Discord with.

"Rainbow!" Soarin cried out, unintentionally letting his guard down. The sword, seeing an opening, stuck Soarin and he instantly turned into a stone statue of himself. The now stone petrified Soarin floated back down to the ground, curtisy of King Discord's magic, and the foam sword flew towards Rainbow. With Rainbow, still disoriented from the shockwave of the shield, she was unable to prevent the flying sword to strike her and turn her into a stone statue as well.

The two swords converged on Flash, both skillfully striking and slashing at him and despite the decent parrying he was doing the swords kept forcing him back inch by inch. Rarity, not wanting to feel helpless in the situation, took up her own sword thanks to her magic and joined in the fight.

"Miss, you don't have to fight," Flash panted, "I've got this."

"Your protection is much obliged, Prince Flash Sentry." Rarity thanked. "But a proper lady must be able to defend herself every now and again."

Flash grinned at the new partner by his side, readying his foam sword. "Together then." Flash said as both he and Rarity began fending off the two swords and making their way towards King Discord inch by inch.

Suddenly, from the left of Discord, a magical beam shot from the edge of the forest. The plastic shield quickly intercepted it, deflecting the beam. Discord, making his eyes grow so that he could see better, saw that the magical beam was eminating from none other than Fleur De Lis. Then, from the right of Discord a bright lavender light shined, Discord looked and saw a flying Twilight with her horn charged and ready to fire a spell. From her horn a bolt of magic shot, and headed straight at Discord.

Flash smiled as all of the pieces of his plan came together, and it didn't take long for King Discord to figure out what his plan was. 'Well played, kiddo, you knew I wouldn't use my full power so instead you distracted me and made me lower my defenses completely. If I move any of my swords then you'll have an opening and if I move my shield then that magic beam from Fleur will strike me. If I didn't know any better I'd say you've checkmated me, but little do you know that I still have a reverse card up my sleeve.'

As the magical bolt from Twilight closed in on King Discord, he clapped his hooves and the statue of the Stone Mare appeared. Flash and Twilight were both immediately shocked by the sudden appearance of the Stone Mare, and even more shocked when the magic collided with the statue. The magic bolt was absorbed into the statue and it glowed for a moment before a somewhat slightly larger lavender magical bolt shot from it and towards Twilight. Unable to dodge or deflect the bolt it collided with her and Twilight became frozen in a block of ice which slowly fell back to the ground, which was indeed thanks to King Discord's magic.

"Princess Twilight!" Flash cried out when Twilight became frozen, repeating the same mistake as Soarin he left himself open which the sword exploited and tagged him, turning him into another stone statue.

The two swords then converged on Rarity and, despite her best attempts, was unable to deflect both of them and was tagged and turned into a stone staue. Then the swords flew over to Fleur and tagged her with ease, and just like that all six poines had been tagged. Discord's ears perked up to the sound of clapping coming from the edge of the woods, his swords and sheild returning to his side.

"Wow, you play dirty." Cheese Sandwhich joked as both he, Yona, and Fluttershy emerged.

Discord's eyes would so often glance at the timid mare pegasus before returning to Cheese. "I couldn't make things too easy for you, otherwise it wouldn't be fun. Keep in mind, this is a wish you all are competing for."

"Fair enough," Cheese shrugged, pulling out his foam sword, "although I guess I'm not one to really critique since I don't play fair either." Cheese said, raising his sword high in the air. "Attack now!"

All of the sudden numerous guards, both Lunum and Chaosville, charged towards Discord.

"WHAT?!" Discord did a spittake from a glass of water he magically created.

His swords and sheild went to action as they tried to pick off the guards one by one but there were too many of them and they easily overpowered the floating weapons. Discord then decided to use his trump card, the Stone Mare, but before he could use it he was suddenly embraced by Fluttershy who wrapped her forelegs tightly around King Discord. Due to Fluttershy touching King Discord, his magic was cancelled and stopped working. Panicking, he tried to get Fluttershy off of him but it was to no avail as Yona closed the distance between her and King Discord, foam sword at the ready. When she was close enough she began swinging her sword mercilessly, hitting King Discord a lot.

"Um...Yona." Cheese interjected, gaining Yona's attention as she stopped swinging. "I think you got him."

Yona looked back to see a tall, cartoonish, pulsing welt on Discord's head as an indication of where Yona had struck him. King Discord pushed the welt back down and his head returned to normal. He sighed as he couldn't deny the outcome before him, he had been defeated and the game was over. "Well played kiddo, you win this round. So, what is your wish?"

"You're asking the wrong guy, King Discord," Cheese stated, pointing to Yona, "the one who tagged me and is the leader of our team is none other than Yona, so she's the one who gets to make the wish."

King Discord directed his attention back to Yona, "Very well, and what shall your wish be?" Discord asked, hoping that it wasn't something too difficult to acomplish.

"Your majesty," Yona bowed, "if you could...I would like my wish to be the solution of the starvation problem in the Yak Kingdom."

"Considerate it done." King Discord stated. 'Phew...thank goodness it was a wish that was easy. I already have many of my scientists working on a solution to the starvation crisis in the Yak Kingdom.' "Um...excuse me, miss Fluttershy, but would you be so kind as to let go of me?" King Discord asked the timid pegasus as she was still holding onto King Discord tightly.

"Oh, um...right." Fluttershy, her entire face turning red from embaressment, released King Discord and flew back from him.

With his magic returned, King Discord clapped his hooves and all of the guards vanished, teleported back to the location they were taken from, as well as the Stone Mare, the two swords, and the shield. All of the ponies that had been turned into stone statues returned to normal and Twilight unfroze from prison with a blanket wrapped around her to heat her back up. Everyone in the forest was teleported back to the beach, King Discord addressed everyone. "Ladies, gentlemen, and those of unspecified gender, we have a-" King Discord's announcement was cut off when his eyes widened in horror.

Before him, lying on the sand, was his daughter, Sunset Shimmer, her mane a mess and her body covered in cuts, bruises, and, more importantly, blood.

"Sunset!" Flash cried out as he rushed to her side.

There were numerous gasps, some of them weren't for the sudden appearance of the injured Sunset but instead of the four injured griffons. All four of them were covered in cuts, bruises, and also blood and were all unconsious. "G-Gilda...?" Rainbow, both horrified and confused by the sudden sight of someone very familier to her.

"Stand back." Discord ordered as he teleported next to Sunset, he used his magic to heal her wounds but his magic was having no effect on the injuries dealt onto Sunset. "We need to get them to the infirmary," Discord stated, clapping his hooves as everyone vanished from the beach.

Chapter ten

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter, lately I’ve been swamped with a ton of stuff and things. Family issues, my friend has decided to move on from MLP and will no longer be a part of it, school work and tests, and just social stuff in general. I have a lot planned for this story and I’m hoping that I will be able to finish it. As always, tell me what you think of the story and leave some ideas for what you might want to see in it.

Thank you for your time.

Chapter ten

There were many specialized rooms within the castle which ranged from kitchens, bedrooms, lounges, mail center, throne room, etc. Some where used daily and some had never been touched in years, one of these rooms was the infirmary. It wasn’t much, just a large room with about ten beds, five on each side of the wall, with a pillow and a blanket on them. A nurse, a white female earth pony by the name of Nurse Redheart, sat at the front desk with her head being held up by her hoof as she read her book with a bored expression. Her dull moment came to an end when a bright flash of light entered the room and everyone from the beach appeared. Nurse Redheart, shocked by the sudden appearance of everyone, fell out of her chair.

Discord clapped his hooves and everyone who was not apart of his family or the injured griffons were teleported in the blink of an eye. Discord clapped his hooves again and all four of the griffons were now tucked in bed and Sunset was too. He then went up to Nurse Redheart and said, “Nurse, I know this is sudden but I need your help.” With that, Discord and the Nurse teleported to the bedside of Sunset’s bed. Both the Nurse and Discord looked at Sunset for an unnecessary amount of time, as if the two were expecting one of them to do something. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Discord asked, exclaiming to the injured Sunset. “Heal her.”

It was then that Nurse Redheart explained the dilemma they were now in, “Your majesty, I’m rather…embarrassed to say this but…I have no idea how to treat her.”

Upon hearing that, Discord’s jaw literally dropped to the floor. After scooping it back up and slamming it back in place he said, “What do you mean you can’t heal her!? You’re a nurse aren’t you?!”

“Yes, I am, your majesty.” Nurse Redheart began to explain in a calm manner. “However, Chaosville hasn’t really had a major medical field since…well…ever since you rule it. Your magic can cure any disease or injury that anyone might experience, the only thing us nurses can do is slap a bandaid on a small injury and give them a lolipop.” She said, looking to Sunset. “And I don’t think a bandaid and a lollipop can fix this.”

Discord was about to protest but stopped himself when he realized that what she said was true. Thanks to his magic, Discord could cure any illness or fix any major injury no matter what it might be. However, for whatever reason, his magic could not heal the wounds of any of them, which meant they were in serious trouble. ’think, Discord, think, how can you solve this without magic or medical treatment?' Discord thought before an idea came to mind. “Brain blast!” Discord exclaimed. “I’ll just use alternative medicine, that should do the trick.”

Meanwhile, both Fancy Pants and Cheese were facepalming as Discord began creating scented candles and crystals and placing them around Sunset’s bed. “Okay, so it looks like it’s up to us to help Sunset.” Cheese said. “Luckily, I have a plan that involves only slight shenanigans.” Cheese said, gaining everyone’s attention. “We must make…” Cheese paused for dramatic effect. “A cake!” Cheese answered, causing everyone to frown and roll their eyes. “More specifically, a cake made of special herbs and ingredients that have the ability to heal wounds and fix injuries. Luckily, I know just the recipe to such a cake.”

“Next time, you should lead with that.” Fancy stated, before addressing everyone on a plan. “Alright, while Cheese is baking the cake, I will go reassure everyone that the situation is under control, the last thing we need is for everyone to start panicking. In the meantime, Johnny, Flash, and Soarin, I want the two of you to go back to the beach and search for anything that could’ve been the cause of their injuries.”

With the plan laid out, the five of them set off to accomplish their tasks, on a separate note, Spike was running towards the infirmary with haste. When he barged into the infirmary it caused Nurse Redheart to fall out of her chair once more in surprise.

“For Petes sake,” Nurse Redheart grimaced as she got back up, “does nobody here know how to knock?”

“Sorry.” Spike halfheartedly apologized as he ran into the room with the beds, closing the door shut behind him. Spike, after making sure the door was secure and no one could hear them, approached Discord. “Um…your majesty?” Spike spoke up.

“Not now, can’t you see that I’m in the middle of-“ Discord snapped but stopped himself when he realized that it was just Spike. “Oh, it’s you.” Discord let out a sigh of relief as he continued to place transparent crystals around Sunset.

“Are those-“

“Healing crystals,” Discord answered for Spike, “yes, yes they are. I know that there’s no scientific proof that they work but they’re the only thing I’ve got right now.” Discord said as he placed the last crystal down. “But enough about that, did you learn anything from…’you-know-who’?” Discord said with emphasis.

Discord opened his mouth to speak but then he closed it, like a fish. Spike wanted to tell Discord about Garble and the powers he had, but in doing so that would put Garble in danger, and it was Garble who saved Spike’s life when the Timberwolf attacked. In doing so, Spike was now honor-bound to Garble, but he still wanted to do something to help Discord. That’s when realization struck and he gave Discord his answer.

“Gar- I mean, ‘you-know-who’ didn’t do anything suspicious or anything noteworthy, but for whatever reason all three of us, me, Ember, and Garble, were attacked by a Timberwolf.” Spike said.

“A Timberwolf?” Discord repeated, raising a brow and stroking his chin in perplexity. “That can’t be right, the spirits of the timberwolves were put to rest long ago. The original settlers and I made sure of that, I don’t understand what could’ve upset one to appear.”

“Maybe since you held the event there it must’ve caused some of the spirits to become restless?” Spike suggested.

“No,” Discord shook his head lightly in disagreement, “before the event I casted a spell on the land to make the spirits dormant for the entire event.” Discord eyes went wide as a nasty thought came to mind, ’Could my magic be the cause of this? I might’ve stretched it out too thin and my spell must’ve fizzled, which means that…this is all my fault.'

“Spike, thank you for your report. You are dismissed.” Discord ordered, clapping his hooves and Spike vanished in a bright flash of white light. Discord looked over to Sunset with a somber expression. “No matter what I do, I’m never going to stop myself from hurting the ones I love.”

Fancy Pants stood in the throne room, alone. He used his magic to bring a piece of paper as well as a quill and ink to him. He then began to write on the letter,

Dear Esteemed Guests,
I write to you to assure all of you that there is nothing to fear, the situation is completely under control. Princess Sunset Shimmer, and the four griffons, are undergoing a full recovery thanks to the efforts being done by Prince Cheese Sandwich. Please be assured that this issue is being handled and we are doing everything to the best of our ability. Once the situation has been resolved we will be more than happy to compensate all of you for any inconvenience.

Signed...
Prince Fancy Pants.

Fancy Pants rolled the scroll up and it became engulfed in a blue flame, turning the paper into smoke which split apart and sailed towards the rooms where everyone was. Fancy let out an exhausted sigh as he sat on his haunches, he stared blankly at the floor as his mind raced while he tried to grasp the situation. As he looked at the floor his attitude worsened when he noticed a slight smudge on his spectacles. He lifted them off with his magic and reached for his pocketcheif, but he only grasped air for when he looked to where his pocketchief was usually, there was nothing there. Fancy then realized that he was still wearing the plastic armor and didn’t change back into his regular attire.

“May I?”

A familiar voice spoke up as a deep purple square piece of fabric floated in front of Fancy, he looked to the source of the voice and saw none other than Rarity smiling at Fancy. Fancy liked her smile, it was a smile which reflected her generous intentions.

“Thank you.” Fancy said, taking hold of the fabric with his magic and using it to clean his spectacles. “What are you doing here, miss Rarity?”

“Forgive my intrusion,” Rarity requested, “but her lady, Fleur De Lis, requested that I bring her some refreshments. However…I’m rather embarrassed to say that I do not know my way around the castle and got myself lost. I only just so happened to stumble upon you and noticed that you were in need. Uh, I mean, in need of a pocket chief.” Rarity quickly corrected herself.

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about, miss Rarity.” Fancy said. “Believe it or not the castle has a mind of its own, partly because it’s alive.”

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity said with a puzzled expression.

“You see,” Fancy began to explain, “long ago, there existed a massive creature known as a Titaiumasour, it was a creature that roamed the earth that carried a mountain on its back as a shell. Other creatures would build their nests and seek refuge in the creature’s shell, a Titaiumasour is home to over a thousand creatures. However, one day, father came across one of these creature’s right here in Chaosville, but it was old and dying. Discord made a deal with the Titaiumasour, he offered to transform its soul into the castle he would craft form his shell, the creature agreed and Discord bound the creature’s soul to the castle.”

“Amazing,” Rarity said, astonished, “so this whole castle is alive?”

“Yes, she is.” Fancy answered. “Every now and then she moves parts of herself around in order to confuse potential intruders.” Fancy stated as he headed to the door. “Follow me, I’ll guide you to the kitchen so that you can give Fleur her refreshments.”

With that, both Rarity and Fancy made their way to the kitchen.

The kitchen was a thing of wonder, it housed ten stoves, fifteen sinks, a counter with pots, pans, and utensils hanging from the ceiling, refrigerators next to each sink, and cabinets above each stove that housed several spices and herbs for cooking and baking. The staff was comprised of about twenty highly trained cooks, all of which were told to vacate the kitchen when Cheese Sandwich entered the room. Even though all of the chefs were highly trained cooks, Cheese was deemed to be the best cook and baker in all of Chaosville.

Cheese was preparing to bake his recipe by setting out all of the necessary ingredients, of course this was after he had washed his hooves and put on his chef apron and hat. With everything ready he looked over to the cookbook he had set out and began following the directions. However, he came to a sudden stop when a key ingredient appeared in order for the cake to be complete.

”Must be baked by two ponies"

Cheese face-hoofed at his incompetence, how could he have forgotten the key ingredient to the cake?! He remembered why his grandmother would always bake the cake with him instead of by herself. However, Cheese wondered how and where he was going to get help at this time due to the situation at hand.

“Ooh, is that a tier 2 health cake?” The sudden appearance of a pink mare startled Cheese.

Cheese looked over to see a pink earth pony mare with a pink poofy mane staring really closely at the ingredients Cheese was going to use. Cheese, quickly regaining his sense of sociability, spoke to the mare.

“Uh…yes, this is.” Cheese answered, an idea popping into his head. “Say, you wouldn’t by any chance know how to bake one of these, do you?”

“Sure do!” The pink mare grinned. “Although,” she added, her smile falling just a bit, “it can’t be made without two ponies, otherwise it’s just a plain ol’ cake.”

“Quick question, what’s you name?” Cheese asked the pink mare.

“My name is Pinkamia Pie, but friends just call me Pinkie, you can too.” Pinkie gleamed before realizing who she was talking to, she bowed and humbled herself before Cheese. “Uh…what I mean is that you can call me Pinkie too, your highness.”

A shiver went down Cheese’s spine, the kind of shiver you get when someone scratches a chalkboard, or when someone says the word ‘moist'. “Oh please don’t call me that,” Cheese begged, “I really don’t like the whole fancy titles, if anything I would much rather prefer it if you just called me Cheese.”

“As you wish then, Cheese.” Pinkie continued to smile.

“Good, now that that’s out of the way,” Cheese walked away from the counter and grabbed another apron and chef hat just for Pinkie and offered them to her, “how would you like to assist me in baking this here cake?”

“REALLY?!” Pinkie bounced with glee before returning to her composure. “I would be more than honored.” Pinkie said, and in the blink of an eye she grabbed the apron and hat and, after spinning like Wonder Woman does when she transforms, she was adorned in the apron and hat. “Let’s bake some treats.”

As the two started baking, Cheese asked, "So Pinkie, what brings you to the kitchen?"

"Oh, well I was brought here by my Pinkie Sense." Pinkie answered.

"Pinkie Sense?" Cheese repeated, this time as a question.

"Yep, it's what happens when my body gives off signs that something is about to happen. I got the signs that someone was baking a magical healing cake and I just knew that I had to be a part of that. So I asked Prince Blueblood if it would be okay and he was more than happy to give me the go ahead." Pinkie explained.

“Wait,” Cheese paused looking at Pinkie, “Blueblood, my sister’s ex, ordered you to come over here and help make a cake that would heal her?”

“Yep yep.” Pinkie said before realizing Cheese’s skepticism. “Ohhhhhh, you mean…Cheese you don’t have to worry about that, Prince Blueblood isn’t…like that anymore.”

Cheese raised a brow. “I dunno, Pinkie, I’ve heard some pretty nasty rumors about Blueblood, mostly from Sunset herself. Rumors about how he’s a no-good two-timing jerk.”

“Well…I mean-“ Pinkie, baffled, tried to retort.

“I’m just messing with ya!” Cheese chuckled as he went back to baking. “Honestly I’m glad he’s no longer the jerk he was back them.”

Pinkie blinked in confusion, “What’da mean?”

“Ever since Sunset broke up with Blueblood I heard he got his act together and started doing things that made him less jerky. Like his volunteer services, his charities, and his attitude all together. Truthfully, I don’t really see Blueblood as that bad of a pony.” Cheese stated.

“So…you forgive him?” Pinkie asked, trying to understand what Cheese’ point was.

“I guess so…” Cheese said, “honestly the one who helped me understand all of this is Flash. That guy could forgive the meanest, most evil thing in existence if he sees even the dullest of a glimmer of goodness in someone.” Cheese said before deciding to change the conversation. “But enough about that, I wanna hear more about you.”

“You wanna know about me?” Pinkie asked, caught off guard by the question.

"Of course, one of the ingredients is a casual conversation." Cheese said, indicating to the ingredient's list.

"Oh neat." Pinkie said, seeing that a casual conversation was indeed one of the neccasary ingredients. "Well...I guess the main thing I'll start with is that I'm a party pony, in which I like to throw parties for everyone for just about anything."

"Get outta here!" Cheese exclaimed. "Me too!"

"Your'e a party pony too?!" Pinkie also exclaimed. "Wow what a coincidence, what kind of parties do you throw?"

"All kinds," Cheese said before going down the list of parties he'd thrown, "birthdays, weddings, bachlor parties, thera-parties, houswarming parties, and all kinds celebrations."

"Amazing, what was the first party you ever threw?" Pinkie asked.

"I'll never forget it," Cheese reminisced, "I threw it for my father on his birthday in the hopes of making him smile, but...that didn't go so well."

"Wow, the first party you ever threw was for King Discord? That's amazing!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"No, no, no." Cheese shook. "See, King Discord isn't my dad, he's more of like a...Godfather to me. My real dad is Cheddar Dough."

"Wait, as in thee Cheddar Dough? One of the most wealthy ponies in the whole known world?" Pinkie asked in awe.

"Yep, the one and only." Cheese sighed, leaning his head on his hoof. "Trust me though, it isn't all that great to have him as a dad."

"What's so wrong with that?" Pinkie asked.

"Nothing, forget about it." Cheese waived. "What about you, what was your first party?"

"My first party was the one I threw for my entire family. I was so happy when I turned all of their frowns into smiles." Pinkie smiled.

"Lucky." Cheese muttered under his breath. "I'm so happy to hear that, no doubt you're probably the second best party planner to ever lived."

Pinkie froze. "Whadda you mean, 'second best party planner'?"

"Well, you know, I have no doubt that your parties are something to behold but my parties are legendary, I've been aclaimed as the best party pony in all of Chaosville." Cheese stated.

"Well now hold on their mister, you can't just call yourself the best party pony and expect me to not challenge you." Pinkie declared.

"Are you challenging me to a party off?" Cheese inquired.

"You bet your royal tush I am." Pinkie smirked. "Name both the time and place and I'll throw you the best party you ever had."

"Oh yeah, Imma throw you a party so epic that you'll be dancing for weeks." Cheese declared.

"Imma throw you a party so spectacualr that your entire castle will be covered in decorations that will take months to take down." Pinkie retorted.

"Imma throw you a party so amazing that you'll be unable to throw any party different to the one I threw you." Cheese said, moving closer to Pinkie.

"Imma throw you a party so fantastic that you won't be able to help but talk about it for the rest of your life." Pinkie said, also moving closer to Cheese to the point where their muzzles were inches from each other.

"*ahem*." The sound of someone clearing their throat caused both Cheese and Pinkie to look to the doorway where both Fancy and Rarity were standing. "Sorry to disturb...whatever this is, but would you be so kind as to give me some refreshments?" Fancy asked.

Meanwhile, Lightning Dust paced around her room in a very frustrated manner. On top of her bed sat a strange box with a crystal ball hovering over it that had white clouds swirling within it. It gave off a ringing sound similiar to the song a skype call makes if it ever existed. She paced for what she thought was hours, but was actually mere minutes, before the white clouds faded and an image of *Malt Cetio* appeared in the ball.

“Finally,” Lightning snarled at the image of *Malt Cetio*, “where have you been?” She demanded.

”Well, for your information, I’ve been busy covering our tracks." *Malt Cetio* answered, his voice echoed like a ghost.

“No, no no.” Lightning pointed an accusing hoof. “Not our mess, your mess. You were the one that attacked both the griffons and Sunset, whatever happened to being discrete?!”

”Perhaps you didn’t hear me, this is our mess, as in all of our mess. Starting with the fact that Garble revealed his powers to two dragons and you haven’t been spreading misinformation like you should’ve been." *Malt Cetio* stated.

Lightning’s eyes looked to floor to avoid the gaze of *Malt Cetio*. “I…It’s not as easy as it looks.”

”Oh spare me, the only reason you haven’t been changing is because you’re still trying to win the heart of that failure of a clone, Soarin." *Malt Cetio* rolled his eyes.

“He is not a failure.” Lightning growled, her eyes flashed a shade of green.

”If it walks like a duck, and it weighs the same as a duck, then chances are it’s a witch. *Malt Cetio* stated matter-of-factly. ”But enough of that, we have nothing to worry about should they find some way to heal both the griffons and Sunset, and I’ve made sure that no one will discover us thanks to the spirits I’ve angered."

Lightning Dust opened and closed her mouth like a fish, as much as she wanted to yell at *Malt Cetio*, she couldn’t deny the fact that he did save them.

”I believe the words you’re looking for are, thank you *Malt Cetio* for saving my flank." *Malt Cetio* smirked.

Lightning sighed, “Thank you *Malt Cetio* for saving my flank.” Lightning unwillingly repeated, not wanting to suffer the consequences should she refuse him.

”Good girl." *Malt Cetio* smirked.

“So…where do we go from here?” Lightning asked. “Surely the plan has changed now, what with Sunset being incapacitated.”

”Not exactly, both Soarin and Sunset will still be two of the three sacrifices. Thanks to this ball that Discord is deadset on having, the third one will be practically given to us on a silver platter." *Malt Cetio* explained.

“And you promise that when this is all over Soarin will be mine.” Lightning asked, wanting to reconfirm her deal with *Malt Cetio*.

”Dearie, when this is all over, Soarin won’t have a choice but to be yours." *Malt Cetio* stated. ”But he will only belong to you if you stick to the plan. It’s time to get your hooves dirty and do your part. Don’t make me remind you again."

“Yes, it won’t happen.” Lightning nodded.

”One more thing, Dearie," *Malt Cetio* glared at Lightning, his eyes glowing black and red, ”never accuse me of any faults whatsoever ever again or I will turn you into shoes." *Malt Cetio* threatened before his image faded away and it was replaced by white mist swirling around in the ball.

Lightning let out a sigh of relief once the image was gone, she took both the box and crystal and hid them under her bed. She then sat there, contemplating her options on what to do next. On one hoof, she could do as *Malt Cetio* ordered her and on the other she could continue trying to win Soarin’s heart. She knew all too well that Soarin had feelings for Rainbow, the thought of that fact made Lightning angry but she couldn’t deny it. If she was to be happy with Soarin, she would have to do as *Malt Cetio* said.

“Sorry Soarin, but I swear this is for your own good.” Lightning said to herself, trying to convince herself that her actions were moral.

“So…what are we lookin’ for?” Johnny asked his two brothers.

Flash, Soarin, and Johnny had made their way down to the beach where they were searching the area for anything that would answer their many questions.

“Anything, Johnny, anything that might be a clue as to what hurt Sunset.” Flash answered. “…oh, and the griffons.” He quickly added, before returning to his search.

“Okay…” Johnny said looking around at everything. “Trees, sand, branches, rocks, and branches. Welp, nothing here, might as well call it a day.”

Both Soarin and Flash glared at Johnny’s smart-aleck statement. “Johnny, why do you want us out of here?” Soarin inquired.

“Because this is pointless.” Johnny stated. “Look, whatever happened to Sunset sucks but there’s not much we can do about it. We can just leave it to King Discord.”

Both Flash and Soarin looked at each other with a confirmed look, they both nodded as if they both came to the same conclusion. “Bull.” They both said in unison, calling out Johnny for lying. “You’re hiding something, aren’t you?” Soarin pointed an accusing hoof.

“Whaaaaaaat?” Johnny exclaimed. “Pffft, no I’m not.” He waived.

Upon hearing that, Flash closed the distance between both him and Johnny by flying and poked his chest. “Look, if you know something then spill it. Our sister is in the infirmary right now she might never wake up, and if she doesn’t wake up and you knew what the cause of her injuries are then you better tell me right now or so help me I will…do something unfavorable.” Flash said, despite his frustration he couldn’t keep up his tough attitude.

Johnny looked to Soarin that he also had a look that said if he didn’t spill his secrets then there’d be hell to pay. Johnny released a defeated sigh and told the truth. “I’m going on a date.” He admitted.

Both Flash and Soarin were baffled and caught off-guard by Johnny’s statement. “Bull.” They both said in unison, calling Johnny out once again.

“No really, I am.” Johnny defended. “Look, I didn’t want to tell anyone what with the whole ball going on and everything. The truth is there’s this mare I kinda like and was gonna ask out but then the ball happened so I asked her out in secret and we were supposed to meet up here after the game ended and now there’s this whole mess.”

Both Flash and Soarin still didn’t believe their brother. Before Johnny could continue to defend his statement, an orange blur came running out of the bushes and towards them. It collided with Flash and the two rolled back before both Flash and the blur came to a stop. Flash let out a groan as he got back up, rubbing his head to stop the aching pain he was feeling, when he looked to see what hit him he saw an orange earth pony mare with a blonde mane and tail wearing a cowboy hat.

“Applejack?” Johnny asked, confused by the mare’s sudden appearance.

“Johnny?” Applejack asked back. “What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Johnny asked back. “We were supposed to meet at the beach.”

“I know, that’s where I was heading but-“ Applejack was about to explain herself before several growls cut her off.

Appearing from the edge that Applejack ran from were at least twenty timberwolves, all growling and slowly approaching them. All four of the ponies grouped up, covering each other as the Timberwolves began to slowly circle them.

“Friends of yours?” Johnny joked to Applejack.

“Yep, thought you might like an audience.” Applejack joked back.

“Wait, you actually brought all of these Timberwolves here?” Johnny asked, baffled.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “No I obviously didn’t bring them all here.” She stated. “I was doing a thing, where you make a joke and then I make a joke and then…you know what, forget it.”

“As lovely as this awkward moment for you two is, we’ve got bigger problems to face.” Soarin stated as the Timberwolves began to close in, and once they were in range, they all let out a vicious howl before going in for the kill.

Chapter eleven

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter twelve

King Discord had control over many things within his kingdom, from the richness of the soil, to the geography of the land upon which his cities sat on, and even to the very weather itself. However, about 20 years ago to be exact, King Discord decided he would release his control over the weather and the climate. In doing so, the creatures of Chaosville would band together and prepare for the changing of seasons. This would be done in various ways, for the transition to the season of spring, creatures would melt the snow and the ice and use it to water seeds and crops. For the transition to summer, crops would be tended and skies would be cleared so that the crops could grow and get plenty of sunlight. For the transition to autumn, crops would be harvested and stored for the coming winter. Finally, for the transition to winter, snow would cover the soil to prevent the cold air from drying out the rich soil.

It has been two days since the events of Wishing Game have taken place. In that time many of the royals have calmed down and King Discord has proceeded with his next plan of action for the ball. This next event would be aiding the citizens of Chaosville in the transition from autumn to winter. The princes would pair up with three partners and help out a town or village of their choosing. The event would take place over the course of three days, and the first one to do the most good in their town and/or village would be given a reward of their choice.

"Are you sure I cannot convince you to stay?" King Discord asked the young yak, Yona, as her luggage was being carried by hallow armored guards into the Yak carriage she had arrived in on the day the ball began.

Yona looked to King Discord and bowed before answering, "You're highness, Yona is very happy that she was able to spend time with everyone here in Chaosville. But now that the Yak Kingdom will be given supplies to help it recover, there is no longer a need for Yona to stay."

"I see," King Discord, in his pony form, nodded as he approached Yona. "Then before you leave, allow me to do one thing before you go."

"Of course!" Yona beamed. "I will do anything after the gracious gift you will have given to my kingdom."

King Discord placed his hoof on Yona's head, his eyes glowed with magic as he searched for something within her. After half a minute passed by, King Discord removed his hoof and gave Yona a warm smile. "I wish you a safe journey on your trip back, take care." King Discord bowed as he took his leave.

As he made his way towards the large gateway that led to his castle, the doorway bursted open as Cheese Sandwhich bolted towards Yona. "YOOOOOOOOOOOOONA!" He cried as he embraced her in a great bearhug.

"CHEEEEEEEEESE!" Yona yelled back, returning his hug with a bear hug of her own, practically crushing Cheese.

"You're not really leaving, are you?" Cheese asked with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster, his lip slightly quivering.

"Yona must return home," Yona explained, "now that the Yak Kingdom will be able to get repaired, Yona must help out her fellow yaks." She stated before giving Cheese a saddened look. "Yona is very sad she has to leave best friend Cheese Sandwich behind."

"Oh don't you worry," Cheese dismissed, reaching into the pocket of the saddle he was wearing he pulled out a book with a symbol on it, "here, this is a magical book." Cheese said, as Yona took it, as he began to explain how it worked. "Whatever you write in the book, I can see in this book," Cheese said, pulling out another book with a different symbol on its cover," and vice versa. Here, I'll show ya." Cheese demonstrated by taking a quill in his mouth and writing something on the first page of his book."

Yona's book flashed with magical light as if to indicate she had received a new message. She opened the book to the first page where she saw the message that Cheese Sandwich had written her.

"Newth book, whom may thoust be?"

Yona giggled at Cheese's message before embracing him in another hug. "Thank you, Cheese, I'll be sure to write to you everyday."

Seeing the warm and cheerful smile on Yona's face made Cheese smile too, so long as she was happy then his job was fulfilled. And that was good enough for him.

In his throne room, King Discord looked out of his window to one of the towns he ruled over. He looked at his reflection in the glass at the his true form. He thought to himself what he wondered every time he looked at his real self in the mirror.

'What would they do if they saw me like this?'

Naturally their first reaction would be confusion, followed by horror, followed by resentment. This is how it was for all that would see who he truly was.

'We are all monsters, Discord, some of us are made into monsters by the actions and sins we've committed and some are just born to be one. But you Discord, you are unfortunate because you were destined to become one.'

The words of an old friend echoed in King Discord's mind, well not so much as a friend as he was more of an old...ally.

'Harmony brings light, peace, nourishment, and beauty to this world. But chaos, chaos only brings suffering, war, disease, and death. Your magic, no, your very existence on this world is like a weed choking the life out of a garden. You are a monster, Discord, and your appearance is only proof of that fact.'

The words of an old enemy rose to the surface of his thoughts, causing King Discord to clench his claw and paw in rage.

'A monster is a being that is pure evil, a being that will take whatever they want, do whatever they want, and rule over whatever they want. A monster is someone that has no care for the wellbeing of others, that will use and manipulate anyone and anything just for the sheer joy of it. You and me, Discord, we are not monsters. We are so much worse than any mere monster.'

The words of someone very hateful to King Discord emerged and upon remembering them, something inside of King Discord snapped when he remembered the evil laugh that that old enemy gave.

"I!" King Discord rose his arm. "AM!" He cocked his fist. "NOT!" He flung his arm and punched the wall, the whole room shook, loose dust fell from the ceiling, a small crater appeared on the wall where King Discord had stricken the wall. "A MONSTER!" He declared, breathing heavily. He removed his lion's paw from the wall, hissing in pain at the sight of the blood and bruises that were starting to form.

"Um...are you okay?" A small voice asked.

King Discord froze when he heard the voice, at first, he thought that one of his children saw him and the mere thought of that made him a nervous wreck. He slowly and hesitantly turned around to see that the source of the voice was none other than Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus looked to King Discord with a worried look, King Discord let out a sigh of relief that his true self had not been revealed.

"Oh, it's just you." He grumbled.

Fluttershy saw King Discord's injured paw and flew up to it to inspect it. "Oh you poor thing." She said in a calm and reassuring tone. "Don't move, I'll be right back with a med-kit."

As if by magic, a first-aid kit dropped from the ceiling and landed right into Fluttershy's hooves. Although Fluttershy was confused as to how a first-aid kit appeared, King Discord knew that it was the work of the castle's magic. He looked over to where he had struck the wall to see the damage he had dealt had been instantly repaired. When he looked back to Fluttershy, she had just finished putting a healing ointment on and wrapping his paw in bandages, with a pink bracelet keeping the bandages together. King Discord was surprised at how she was able to apply the first-aid both efficiently and quickly.

"There you go." Fluttershy slightly smiled at her work. "I added the bracelet as a keepsake for you to remember me."

King Discord admired the work she had done, and at a remarkable speed, his pain had faded and if anything his paw felt better than ever! "Thank you," was all he could say to show his appreciation, "Now then, I assume you want some kind of compensation for this. Name your price."

"Oh no," Fluttershy waived, "I didn't do it for a reward, I did it because you seemed in pain."

King Discord didn't believe her, but when he used his magic to see her true intentions he was surprised to see that they were all based on kindness of her heart. She wasn't doing it for a reward or for appreciation, she did it because she believed that it would help Discord. She was truly kind, and her kindness made King Discord at a loss for words.

"Are you feeling any better?" Fluttershy asked, wondering if the bandages needed any adjustments.

"It's fine." King Discord answered, pulling his paw away from Fluttershy.

"That's good, so long as you're not in pain I'm happy." She beamed.

Once more King Discord was confused by the pegasus, she had no doubt seen his anger and him striking the wall with his magic. She had seen his true form and his true self and yet she treated him with nothing but kindness. Was there something wrong with her? Did she have a mental illness that made her incapable of feeling fear? Was she blind? These questions crossed Discord's mind but when he looked into Fluttershy's mind he saw that there was nothing wrong with her, mental-wise, and there was no spell or curse on her that made her this way. Her actions were the cause of her true self, nothing more, nothing less. Which begged the question; why?

"Why are you not afraid of me?" King Discord asked.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"Look at me," King Discord indicated to himself, "I'm the equivalent of an artwork done by Picasso if he was on crack. Not to mention that I have godly power and could easily snuff you out of existence with the snap of my paw." He said, holding up his paw. Only to switch to his eagle claw when he remembered that his paw was still bandaged.

"But would you?" Fluttershy asked.

King Discord was taken aback by her response, "Well...no, mainly because you haven't done anything for me to warrant your destruction."

"Then I don't have anything to worry about." Fluttershy stated. "I don't have to be afraid of you because there's nothing for me to be afraid of."

Despite her answer, King Discord was still in disbelief. "But what about my true form? Surely you must be sickened by it?"

"Oh no, I would never think that." Fluttershy said. "After all, your real form is actually quite beautiful."

Discord's cheeks turned a hint of red, he turned around to hide his embarrassment and cleared his throat. "Anyways, shouldn't you be helping Fancy Pants with the change?"

Fluttershy's eyes went wide in shock and realization. "Oh my gosh, that's right!" With that, Fluttershy flew out of the with haste.

King Discord didn't know when it had happened, but at some point he had grown...closer to Fluttershy. It wasn't until after she had left that he realized she spoke to him in the same way a friend would speak to another friend instead of how a servant would speak to a king. He couldn't lie to himself, he had taken a liking to Fluttershy and wanted to know more about her. He couldn't explain his reasons as to why but it was a feeling he had that he just could not sway. He looked to his bandages, more specifically, to the pink bracelet that she had given him as a keepsake, a smile grew across his face at the sight of it.

Choasville was home to many cities/towns/villages, however there were five main cities in Chaosville, and each city lived in its respective land/climate. The first city goes by the name of Rivenwell, the city that lived within large forests and greenery. Its population consisted mostly of deer and ponies, but it was also home to many other species and races. Rivenwell's forests were lush with beautiful and healthy vegetation along its sparkling and pristine rivers.

The second city goes by the name of Stormcrow, the city within the clouds. Stormcrow was a city built upon a floating island that consisted of buildings made of stone, steel, and some were even made of clouds. The city was responsible for a majority of the weather in Chaosville and its population consisted majorly of Pegasi and Griffons, as well as several other kinds of flying species/races.

The third city goes by the name of The City of Dale, a modern city with tall buildings, long asphalt roads occupied mostly by carriages, and markets. The city was the capital of Chaosville and sat nearest to the castle, and it was famous for having the most diverse population out of its sibling cities.

The fourth city goes by the name Erebor, the city under the lonely mountain. It was a city that comprised of buildings made of rich and rare metals and jewels and was the source of much of Chaosville's production. Its population consisted mostly of Diamond Dogs and Dragons along with the occasional earth pony or griffon. A large majority of the creatures that inhabited Erebor were workers and/or miners.

The fifth and final city goes by the name of Hobbiton, the city in the hills. Hobbiton consisted mostly of hills and farmland and was famous for having its houses built beneath and inside hills. The population of Hobbiton consisted mostly of earth ponies and Minotaurs who were farmers or workers.

Each had their own representatives which would assist the city during the changing of seasons. For Rivenwell it is Flash, for Stormcrow it is Soarin, for Dale it is Fancy Pants, for Erebor it is Cheese, and for Hobbiton it is Johnny. Sunset, however, was in charge of the planning and organizing the majority of the castle, however King Discord took over for her role after her incident.

The city of Rivenwell was famous for its lush and wonderful greenery, it was a beautiful land of buildings combined in harmony with the landscape of nature. Houses were built into the large and thick trees with paved roads connecting them to other houses. The city was alive with all kinds of creatures, a majority of them wearing clothing due to the colder temperature. It was in this town that the leaves of several trees had fallen and their branches now bare. It was in this town that Flash Sentry, Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer were working on preparing the town for the winter.

This consisted of several tasks, the first and most important being the removal of water from all pipes and spigots. Mainly the pipes and spigots that were exposed to the cold air, as the water inside of them would freeze and warp the pipe system. Needless to say, the job was best suited for those with magic who could pull the water out from the pipes via levitation magic. Twilight and Starlight were doing so with one of the main pipelines that was gushing water into a large water container that would be used for storage.

"Something on your mind, Princess?" Starlight asked Twilight, gaining her attention.

"Huh?" Twilight, somewhat absent-minded, looked to Starlight. "Oh, um, no everything is fine." She answered.

Despite the different classes both Starlight and Twilight existed in, with Twilight being a Princess and Starlight being a servant, both Twilight and Starlight had a friendship that was deeper than such classes. Starlight knew Twilight well enough to notice when she had her mind on something, and at the moment she easily noticed that every so often she would steal glances at Flash Sentry.

"Twi, you keep looking at Prince Flash Sentry." Starlight pointed out, Twilight opened her mouth to protest but quickly closed it upon realizing who she was talking to.

"Is it really that obvious?" She asked.

"Painfully." Starlight answered. "If you like him so much you can always ask him out." She teased, to which Twilight's cheeks turned a slight shade of red.

"I-, no!" She hissed, "It's not like that."

"Oh really?" Starlight smirked.

"Really." Twilight answered. "It's just...something happened that I haven't been able to get off of my mind."

"Do tell." Starlight said, as the last drops from the pipe emptied into the container.

"Well..." Twilight began, "it all started when he and I left the hospital. There was a crash and then all of the sudden the...what did you say it was again?" Twilight asked, the name of the creature she encountered escaped her mind.

"An Eevee." Suddenly Sunset appeared, using her magic to move the filled water container onto the large stack of other water containers. "It was a pokemon, a type of creature that isn't uncommon to find here in Chaosville."

"Right, thank you." Twilight thanked.

"No problem," Sunset smiled warmly to Twilight, her attitude changing significantly since her discharge from the hospital, "why do ask anyways?" She inquired.

"Well..." Twilight trailed off, before a realization appeared before her, "actually, Princess Sunset, you've known Flash the longest so perhaps you can best help me with this."

"With what?" Sunset asked, tilting her head.

"Has Flash seemed...strange lately?" Twilight asked.

" 'Strange', how?" Sunset asked. "I'm going to need you to be more descriptive, Princess."

"Right, sorry," Twilight apologized before continuing, "what I meant was, and this could just be my opinion, but it seemed like Flash has been rather...distant lately ever since that Eevee appeared. Which is why I was wondering if that Eevee was important to him?"

"Oh...yes." Sunset's gaze avoid Twilight's. "Let's just say that Eevee...brought up some old memories for him." Sunset answered. "I'd tell you more but I don't think it's really my place to say."

"That's quite alright." Twilight waived. "I was just curious is all, my bad." She apologized for no reason.

"Excuse me." Flash interjected, as he landed next to the three alicorns. "Sorry to intrude, but could I borrow you for one moment Twi- I mean, Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight looked to Starlight for an answer and her response was shooing her to go with Flash. To which Twilight faced Flash and said, "Of course, lead the way."

"Great, follow me." Flash gave a small smile as he took off and Twilight flew with him. As the two flew, Flash flew closer to Twilight so that way he could speak to her. "Um...Princess- gah! I mean Twilight." Flash facehoofed as he was having trouble remembering to address Twilight in an informal manner (An issue similar to the author).

Twilight couldn't help but giggle at Flash stumbling, "Don't worry, you'll get there eventually."

"Sorry," Flash sheepishly grinned, "anyways, what I wanted to say was...I'm sorry."

"For what?" Twilight asked, genuinely confused as to what Flash was apologizing for.

"Well...lately we haven't had enough time to work on the Stoned Assistant, what with everything that's happened recently I'm pretty sure that the last thing you'd want to be doing is grunt work like this." Flash said.

"Actually," Twilight began, "I rather enjoy this."

"Really?" Flash exclaimed.

"Yep," Twilight nodded, "I mean, yes I do want to work on the Stone Assistant with you," She admitted, "but I know that duty and responsibility come first, which is why I don't mind something like this."

Flash smiled at that. "Oh thank Chaos, and here I thought you were upset with me."

"Why would you think that?" Twilight asked.

"Oh look, we're here." Flash quickly said, dodging the question.

The two landed in front of a wagon that was full of bags of salt and magical minerals that were designed to prevent the roads from freezing.

"I hope you don't mind, but we need to shower the roads with these salts so that way they don't have any ice when winter comes." Flash explained.

As Twilight grabbed some bags with her magic, she noticed that a large and firm hand grabbed the bag she was levitating.

"Ah, sorry." Twilight quickly apologized, releasing the bag. Upon doing so, she saw who had grabbed the same bag as her and her eyes went wide with shock. Before her stood a very large and very menacing looking male minotaur with black fur, deep red eyes, and several visible lower jaw pointy teeth. His left horn was a stub while the right one had a twist in it. He wore pants and a shirt but there were some scars that were visible on his arms and especially the three lined scar that went across his face.

"No, no," the Minotaur apologized, "the fault is mine your Highness."

Twilight didn't respond, instead she just starred at the large and menacing Minotaur with eyes as wide as dinner plates. For she knew all too well who this Minotaur was.

"You're...you're..." Twilight tried to speak but couldn't.

"Ah, Bill!" Flash greeted the Minotaur with a smile. "How've you been?"

The Minotaur gave a warm, yet scary, smile back to Flash, "Flash Sentry, always a pleasure to meet my favorite customer."

"Oh, right," Flash indicated to Twilight, "Bill, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, this is-"

"Bill the Butcher." Twilight answered.

Bill's smile faltered slightly, "I see my reputation precedes me." He joked.

"Um...Twilight, I hope you don't mind, but Bill is rather sensitive to that title." Flash requested of Twilight.

"But he's-" Twilight began to protest.

"It's perfectly alright, Flash." Bill said, "it's only natural." Bill said as he took several bags of salt and walked off to sprinkle them on the streets.

"That's-" Twilight began, only for Flash to cut him off.

"The infamous, Bill the Butcher." Flash began, "a master torturer, soldier, and executioner that served during the Great War. Until he left his position and came here to Chaosville."

"Why is he here?" Twilight asked, keeping a watchful eye on Bill.

"He could no longer bear the weight of the crimes he committed and came here to Chaosville to start a new life." Flash explained. "After all, Chaosville is the land of opportunity and second chances."

"But...he's a murderer." Twilight stated bluntly.

Flash opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by Bill, who returned after eavesdropping on their conversation. "Let me explain." Bill said, taking a knee before Twilight Sparkle. "Your Highness, I was a proud soldier of my kingdom, and when the Great War began I was called and I answered. I did what was ordered of me and never disobeyed my orders until I realized that what I was doing was wrong. I regret my decisions, they will haunt me for the rest of my days, but I left so that I could do something good. When I came to Chaosville, I was met with distrust and hatred from everyone." Bill then looked to Flash with kind eyes. "But then, Flash Sentry came to me and greeted me with kindness and compassion. He did not care of my past sins, but instead welcomed me as a new friend." Bill then pointed to a large shop that sold all kinds of meals for all kinds of creatures. "It was thanks to his kindness and friendship that I was able to open my shop and continue with my real passion, which is cooking. I've had many from all corners of Chaosville come and try a taste of my cooking, and Princess, you are more than welcomed to come and grab a bite whenever you wish, on the house" Bill grinned, before standing up and getting back to work.

Twilight stood there in awe, her mind still processing what she had just heard. She looked to Flash in order to confirm what she had just heard. "You...befriended him?" She asked.

"Well..." Flash rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, a slight blush on his cheeks, "I mean...he's a good creature and it didn't seem fair to rob him of a second chance. After all, Chaosville was founded by slaves, workers, and traitors who wanted a better life. I like to think that everyone deserves a second chance, no matter what they've done."

That statement made Twilight smile, having a new-found appreciation for Flash she grabbed some bags of salt with her magic and asked Flash, "tell me more about Chaosville, I'd be more than happy to learn more."

Flash grinned ear to ear upon hearing that, finally having someone to appreciate his interest in history and stories as much as he did. Both Twilight and Flash spent the rest of the day chatting while working, unaware that they were being watched.

Within a dark and unknown room, the unicorn by the name of *Malt Cetio* watched both Twilight and Flash smiling and talking with each other. As he was watching, he was petting the Eevee that had been encountered, he knew the emotional attachment that Flash had to it as well as the memories it must've brought up. A sinister and devious grin grew across the face of *Malt Cetio* as his plan was slowly coming to fruition.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, lately a lot of things have happened that have been keeping my time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter though and once again,

Thank you for your time.

Chapter thirteen

The City of Stormcrow was the cloudy city within the kingdom of Chaosville, its architecture was similar in design to the buildings one would find in Cloudsdale. The city was home to most winged creatures, such as pegasi, griffons, and other diverse creatures that could inhabit the cloudy structures. Stormcrow was in charge of most of the weather and required the utmost care and attention. Soarin was in charge of the care for this city, and helping him were three other Pegasi; Spitfire, Lightning Dust, and Rainbow Dash.

Spitfire was working with Rainbow by pouring bags of chemicals and atoms into a metal container that would turn the clouds made in the city into snow clouds. As Spitfire was pouring out one of these bags, she couldn't help but notice that Rainbow was stealing glances at Soarin and Lightning Dust as they worked on a separate container.

"You haven't told him, have you?" Spitfire asked, straight to what she assumed to be the source of Rainbow's distraction.

Rainbow turned her head and directed her attention to Spitfire, "Huh?" She asked, absentmindedly.

"About your bisexuality," Spitfire stated bluntly, which instantly caught Rainbow's full attention.

"Spits!" She hissed, "Not so loud."

"Why?" Spitfire asked as she approached another bag. "What are you so afraid of? I mean," Spitfire paused as she tore open the top of the bag with her teeth, "it's Soarin, what's the worst he could say?” Spitfire then realized that it was Soarin she was talking about, ’actually, knowing him he’d probably misinterpret bisexuality to mean attraction to bicycles.'

Rainbow released a heavy sigh as she admitted to Spitfire the truth, "I'm not afraid about telling him about that, I'm afraid about telling him about Gilda."

That caused Spitfire to pause as realization dawned on her. "Oh...right." She said as she resumed pouring the contents of the bag into the funnel. "To be honest, even I don't know the full story between the two of you. I know that the two of you met when the Lunar Kingdom was at war with the Griffon Empire."

"Yeah, but that was before Cloudsdale joined the Lunar Empire." Rainbow corrected. "Gilda and I were different back then, but then everything got complicated when she joined the war and Cloudsdale joined the Lunar Empire, we still kept in touch as best we could but…” Rainbow hesitated, trying to find the right words, “we started to drift apart, so much so that one day she just stopped sending letters. I was so desperate to see her again that when I found out we were engaging her company on the field, I rushed out without a second thought. But when I saw her…” Rainbow looked down, her rainbow mane covering her eyes. “Well…let’s just say she wasn’t the same Gilda I knew."

Spitfire could easily tell how shaken up Rainbow was about it so she placed her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder to provide her with some form of comfort. "Look, I get that whatever happened between you and Gilda must've been rough, but you can’t blame yourself for who she is."

“But I can,” Rainbow said, meeting Spitfire’s eyes. “I was her…mare-friend.” Rainbow forced out, the label lacking the meaning it once meant to her. “I cared about her and I…I…”

Spitfire’s eyes widened in realization, “Rainbow, do you still have feelings for Gilda?” She asked.

Rainbow shook her head, “That’s just it, I don’t know if I’m still hung up on her because I still have feelings for her. Or if I’m doing it because of who she used to be.”

Spitfire then understood Rainbow’s dilemma, Rainbow had always been a fiercely loyal pony, it was the main reason she was brought into their sisterhood to begin with. Now, that fierce loyalty was betraying her, her heart told her that she wasn’t in love with Gilda anymore, but her core told her that she should stay with her and try to work things out. She had a similar experience once, but she knew there was no easy answer for it. And then there was Soarin, who was still in the dark about Rainbow’s love life. The two were so close, and Rainbow didn’t start dating Gilda until after Soarin left. She wanted to tell Soarin about her past in an attempt to better understand her feelings, but couldn’t because there was no telling how Soarin would react.

“Hey,” Spitfire touched Rainbow’s hoof, “there’s no time limit on understanding yourself. Take all the time you need to sort this out, just don’t forget that we’re all still here to help you every step of the way.”

Rainbow smiled at that, “Thanks Spits, that…actually helps.”

After their talk, Spitfire noticed that Rainbow was still stealing glances at Soarin and Lightning, who were now, to Spitfire’s shock, actually getting along. Spitfire realized that Rainbow’s look of concern wasn’t just about her fear of telling Soarin about her past, there was another underlying reason for her concern.

'Could it be that she’s…jealous?' She thought.

While Rainbow and Spitfire were having their conversation, Soarin and Lightning were having theirs. Well, a conversation was perhaps not the right word as Lightning was trying to start a conversation with Soarin but it was to no avail. Lightning Dust would start with a question and Soarin would answer with a "yes" or an "uh-huh". This went on for a while until Lightning Dust said something that made Soarin give a different response.

"Remember working in the rainbow factory all those years ago?" Lightning reminisced. "This place sure is a lot like it, huh."

"Well yeah," Soarin answered, "Cloudsdale was the one that supplied Chaosville with the weather technology."

"I see," Lightning Dust said as she scooped out a hoof-full of wet snow and packed it into a ball, "then do you remember...this!" She exclaimed, throwing the snowball it smacked Soarin in the face.

"Lightning!" Soarin growled, wiping off the snow, "now isn't the time to be playing."

"Oh...sorry." Lightning Dust's confidence dropped just like her gaze fell to the floor.

Realizing Lightning's saddened expression made Soarin calm down, "No, no, I'm the one who should be sorry." He stated. "I'm just really stressed is all."

"By what?" Lightning Dust asked, "if you're fine with sharing, that is."

"Let's just say that I ran into an unexpected visitor a while back and he said something to me that's made things complicated." Soarin avoided the whole truth because he himself didn't understand exactly what he saw. Then he suddenly remembered that Lightning Dust knew his father back when he lived in Cloudsdale. "Say Lightning, did you know anything about my dad? Before he took me to Chaosville?"

Lightning Dust tapped her chin in thought. "I can't say that I do, I know that my father and Castiel were good friends." Lightning said before adding, "why do you ask?"

"Let's just say that there are a lot of things that don't make sense to me about him," Soarin said. "Like why he brought me to Chaosville?

A devious idea crossed Lightning's mind, "Actually, it is rather strange that your father took you to Chaosville days before Cloudsdale announced their joining with the Lunar Empire."

"That's right," Soarin said, "why did he bring me to Chaosville before Cloudsdale joined the Lunar Empire?"

"Perhaps he knew about the decision before it was announced?" Lightning suggested.

"Maybe, but then why didn't he come back?" Soarin pondered out loud.

"Back to Cloudsdale?" Lightning asked.

"Yes," Soarin confirmed, "my dad was a part of the council in Cloudsdale, if he wanted to protect me, then why didn't he leave me in Cloudsdale with you guys? Why take me to King Discord when he never once mentioned that he knew King Discord to begin with?"

"Soarin, where is this all coming from?" Lightning asked.

Soarin let out a sigh and told Lightning everything, "A while ago, somehow, I saw my father. Not like, at his grave or anything, but I saw him, really saw him. And he told me that I couldn't trust King Discord."

"Woah..." Lightning Dust said in wonder, "Soarin... I don't know what to say."

"Don't worry about it," Soarin said, "I'm just glad I'm finally able to talk to someone about this," Soarin said with a small smile. 'How the heck does Johnny keep secrets like this and not tell anyone?' Soarin thought to himself.

"I think I might know a way to help," Lightning Dust offered, "Princess Luna seized all of the records of all of the members on the Cloudsdale Council. I bet that she has one on Castiel that holds all of his records and even some of his journals. I can get it for you if you want."

"Really?!" Soarin Beamed. "That would be amazing, thank you so much Lightning."

"Of course, Soarin, anything for you." She smiled.

Soarin let out a chuckle, "you know, deep down I was kinda afraid of meeting back up with all of you again, seeing as how awkward we left things. But now, I'm actually glad I got to see you again Lightning."

"Like-wise." Lightning smiled back, and her smile grew at the fact that her plan was slowly, but surely, starting to unfold.

The City of Dale was the most modern city in all of Chaosville, it was the city closest to the castle and the most recently modified city. Since the five other major cities were originally constructed in the early days since the beginning of the Kingdom of Chaosville they can be found to be further away from the castle compared to the City of Dale which was constructed quite a couple of decades ago. Because of its recent construction, the buildings were taller and were comprised of mostly just class and steel frames. The City of Dale was under the jurisdiction of Fancy Pants, because of how modern the city was it had a good handle on being prepared for the coming winter season. The main task that was given to Fancy Pants was the role similar to an accountant. Fancy was in charge of documenting the amount of food needed for each city and miscellaneous village, how much energy each household will need to stay warm and productive, reestablishing a tax on any items that were in surplus or in shortage, and various other tasks that would be a great challenge to anyone.

However, such tasks were merely child splay to Fancy Pants.

In the center of the City of Dale stands the towering skyscraper named Northwood Tower, which was the heart of the City of Dale and was the home to all records of each and every city and home to the employees that work there. The tower was owned by the notorious businesswoman known as Busy Business. Inside the main office, which was located at the very top of the Northwood Tower, Fancy Pants stood in the middle of the room with a storm of papers flying all over the room in an organized and controlled manner by Fancy’s magic. A paper would fly in front of him, he read through it and understood it within seconds, took a pen, wrote down a solution to the problem stated on it, and then sent it to one of the many mail-messengers that were standing by at the far side of the room.

Because of Fancy’s skill and expertise in the task, his companions were not needed to assist him in any way. His companions were Fleur de Lis, Rarity, and Fluttershy, who were all sitting in the most comfortable desk chairs Busy Business could offer.

“Um…Prince Fancy Pants, if I may be so bold, we could assist you if you wanted.” Rarity offered any aid she could to Fancy.

“Much appreciated, Miss Rarity,” Fancy Pants thanked, not even looking away from his work, “but it will not be necessary as I have the situation completely under control.”

Rarity leaned back in her chair in defeat, letting out a small sigh.

“Don’t bother, Servant,” Fleur said, “he won’t accept your help because he’s ‘so capable’.” Fleur waived her hooves to use air quotes.

Rarity looked to Fleur and a thought came to her mind that had been a topic of question for some time. “Mistress,” Rarity began, “you and Fancy used to be in a relationship did you not?”

Fleur glared at Rarity, “did I permit you to speak to me, Servant?” She snapped.

“Sorry Mistress.” Rarity reflexively apologized, bowing her head.

Fleur’s expression softened and she let out a sigh, “No, it’s alright serv-, er...Rarity.” Fleur apologized. “To answer your question, yes Fancy and I were in a relationship, you could say... we were engaged to be specific.”

Rarity looked to Fancy Pants with an expression of shock and surprise, “he is the stallion that left you?” She gasped, realizing that the unicorn in front of her was the topic of many hated discussions and foul language whenever Fleur would talk about her past. And whenever she had too much champagne.

“Yes, he’s that one.” Fleur grimaced.

“Mistress, are you sure you want to talk about him while he’s standing right there?” Rarity asked, concerned about how Fancy would react if he were to hear them.

To which Fleur simply waved away such concerns by saying, “not to worry, knowing him he’s so focused on his work he’s in his own little world.” Fleur said, “watch this.” she curled her hoof up to her mouth to amplify her voice. “Hey Fancy! Wearing a monocle doesn’t make you look any smarter!” Her insults did nothing to sway Fancy from his work. “See.” Fleur gestured before continuing, "anyways, he and I were in an arranged marriage fixed between our two fathers. However before the ceremony could be held, King Discord intervened and abolished our arrangement.” Fleur explained, looking down. “I was heartbroken and devastated.”

“Mistress…I…I had no idea.” Rarity said.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Fluttershy spoke up.

“Yes, well…it’s all in the past now-“ Fleur paused, looking at Fluttershy with bewilderment. “Who are you?” She demanded.

“Oh…I’m Fluttershy…your, um…Grace.” Fluttershy whimpered under the cruel gaze of Fleur.

“Miss Fluttershy,” Fancy Pants spoke to the timid Pegasus, taking his attention away from his current work, “may I have a word with you?”

“Uh, yes of course.” Fluttershy stammered, quickly rushing over to Fancy Pants side for safety from the death stares emanating from Fleur. “What can I help you with, your Grace?” She asked.

Fancy Pants said nothing at first, he created a magical wall between both of them and Rarity and Fleur to prevent them from hearing what he was about to say. He eyed Fluttershy up and down, studying her with a serious and somewhat calm look, he asked, “what is your relationship with my Father, King Discord?”

“Wha-what?” Fluttershy stumbled back in confusion.

“I am not daft, miss, I have seen you enter and leave the cambers of Father, King Discord, for quite some time now.” Fancy Pants stated, still looking over the notes and papers in front of him. “I want to know what it is you hope to gain from my Father.”

“I don’t hope to gain anything from Dis-I mean… King Discord.” Fluttershy said firmly.

This time Fancy Pants tore his gaze away from the flying papers and directed it towards Fluttershy, giving her his full attention. ’I’ve been with Father for roughly 7 years, yet she’s been with him for mere months and somehow…she’s changing him.' Fancy Pants thought. They were subtle changes but they were changes nonetheless, something that was practically impossible when it came to Discord. Fancy was still observing the timid pegasus, she was standing tall and confident (somewhat). "You’re not lying, are you?” He asked.

“No, your Grace,” Fluttershy stated.

Fancy knew she wasn’t, but she was still hiding something. Fancy had a gift of seeing if someone was lying or not, and from what he witnessed she was telling the complete truth when she said she wasn’t planning to gain anything from Discord. But the fact she was withholding information bothered Fancy, her intentions were pure but he had been fooled before. Fancy Pants then looked at Fluttershy and asked her,

“Then, what is it you are after?” He asked Fluttershy intently.

Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but then closed her mouth as she realized that she didn’t have an appropriate answer for Fancy.

“Actually, your grace,” She began, “I’m…not too sure myself."

Author's Note

Hello Fimfiction, it has been too long! So, I suppose I do owe you all an update, don’t I? Well, suffice to say I stopped writing this when good ol’ lockdown happened, during that time I went through a review of this story and decided that a break was in order, just from writing the story because there was so much here that I needed to have organized. Let me tell ya, having ADHD is the worst! So anyways, after reviewing everything that I had planned for this story, I realized that I had bit off way more than I could possibly chew and needed to rethink how I wanted the story to go. That’s when I realized that I needed to make some edits and rework the direction of the story while also juggling my crumbling social life.

THANKFULLY, I’ve got it sorted now. I’ve got about 70% of this story mapped out and I now know what direction I want to take it in. Once again, thank you so much for your time in reading my works, it really does mean a lot to me that people read this.