My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?: Volume 12

Chapters

S2 E1: The Return of Harmony, Part 1 (What If?)
S2 E2: The Return of Harmony, Part 2 (What If?)
S3 E3: Too Many Pinkie Pies (What If?)
S4 E25: Twilight's Kingdom, Part 1 (What If?)
S4 E26: Twilight's Kingdom, Part 2 (What If?)
S7 E17: Daring Done? (What If?)
S8 E13: Ail-icorn (The Mean Six) (What If?)
S9 E2: The Beginning of the End, Part 2 (What If?)
S1 E5: Griffon the Brush Off (What If?)
S9 E1: The Beginning of the End, Part 1 (What If?)

S2 E1: The Return of Harmony, Part 1 (What If?)

Author's Note

Considering that this remains among the most popular two parters in the show, rewriting it probably seems like a fool's endevor. But please allow me to explain to the best of my ability.

It's come to light that Lauren Faust originally wanted this to be the big finale for her adventure oriented vision of the show. A lot of details were worked out late into development, including Discord's character which was done largely because Lauren Faust was on a huge Star Trek: The Next Generation binge at the time. So, in hindsight I think it's easier to see the cracks for what was a salvaged grand finale that never was.

There are lots of problems with pacing and character breakdowns that occur with seemingly little or no effort, especially towards the latter half of them. The way Discord breaks free stretches the suspension of disbelief since we're to assume ponies never fought in front of his statue before despite the huge time gap. And Twilight interprets Discord's riddle literally even though there's no indication it was meant to be literal.

There are other problems as well and the issues with pacing plague the second part just as much, so when that comes around I'll explain some of the issues I'm trying to fix in that half. But for this half my goal was to try and flesh out scenes that needed reworking, particularly at the very beginning with Discord's escape and the immediate aftermath, as well as the hedge maze.

In case you're wondering, I've written Spike as being the adopted son of Twilight since my rewrite of Owl's Well That Ends Well, and you can find that rewrite here.

Hopefully, none of these changes are a deal breaker for you. If they are you can just skip over this and the next rewrite.

~~Griffon the Brush Off~~
The Return of Harmony Parts 1 and 2
Too Many Pinkie Pies
Twilight's Kingdom Parts 1 and 2
Daring Done?
Ail-icorn (The Mean Six)
The Beginning of the End Parts 1 and 2

S2 E1: The Return of Harmony, Part 1 (What If?)

Cheerilee hadn't suspected anything would happen when she arranged for a field trip to Canterlot, more specifically to one of the city's most famous landmarks. Her students had all been eager to get their permission slips turned in so they could see the famous sculpture garden on the grounds surrounding the royal palace. The intent was to use the various displays to promote historical awareness, though the opportunity to get away from the classroom for a day had been a plus.

Cheerilee was now leading her students into the garden itself, quickly conducting a mental head count to make sure everypony was present and accounted for. She was particularly worried about a trio of students called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, having called themselves that because they were really determined to get their cutie marks no matter what. And they had attracted a reputation in Ponyville for getting into trouble.

So it was of great relief to the teacher that all three fillies were following along without a fuss. "Come along, students," She called as she began the tour. "I want to start our field trip here, in the world-famous Canterlot sculpture garden. The statues you see here display the various values that Equestria was founded upon and continues to live by to this day," She gestured a hoof to three ponies standing in unison, all appearing to be huddled around something. "That one over there represents 'Friendship'," Then she gestured to a statue of three ponies similar to but also different from the previous three carrying a flag. "And this one represents 'Victory'."

Scootaloo couldn't help but comment aloud. "Wow. Just think, how cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?"

Apple Bloom replied by lightly ribbing her fellow filly. "I suppose it would be cool, if you were actually victoryful at somethin'."

Sweetie Belle blinked in confusion and concern. "Uh, I don't think that's an actual word."

Scootaloo snorted and rolled her eyes. "What are you, a dictionary or something?"

Cheerilee quickly intervened to break up a potential fight before it could start. "Now girls, there's no need for such arguments. You promised me you'd be on your best behavior today, as did everypony else."

"Sorry, Miss. Cheerilee." All three fillies apologized in unison.

The teacher smiled. "Apology accepted," Then she resumed her tour, stopping in front of a rather strange statue that depicted a creature that nopony had ever seen before. And it appeared to be in a pose as if it were singing. "Now this is a very special statue. It was the first one ever to be placed in this garden. It's called 'Discord' which means a lack of harmony among ponies. A cautionary tale of what we could be if we ever stopped trusting each other," Then she asked. "Now, can anypony tell me what's so special about this statue?"

"Well, it's got an eagle's paw." Apple Bloom noticed.

"Yeah, and a lion's paw too!" Scootaloo added while buzzing her wings in excitement and amazement!

"And I think there's a snake's tail too," Sweetie Belle commented, before her sap green eyes noticed something. "Say, is that crack supposed to be there?"

Cheerilee briefly noticed a small crack that resided at the base of the statue, but she thought nothing of it. "These statues are very, very old, Sweetie Belle. It's probably inevitable that after they've been exposed to wind, rain, sun and snow for so many years that some of them will start to decay. That's why you may only look but not touch the statues. You might break them."

Diamond Tiara then raised a hoof as she asked. "But what is that creature supposed to be, Miss. Cheerilee?" And she shuddered ever so briefly. "It's... creepy. I don't think I like it."

"That creature, Diamond Tiara," Cheerilee cheerfully explained. "Is a draconequus. And in addition to the parts mentioned above, you'll notice it also has the head of pony and the wings of both a bat and a manticore."

The rich filly did her best to appear interested. "That's... cool, I guess. But it's not actually real, is it?"

Cheerilee shook her head. "There are no records of a draconequus of any sort ever existing in Equestria at any point. If there were I doubt Princess Celestia would have a statue of one built." But in the back of her mind she was thinking to herself. "Then again, everypony thought Nightmare Moon was just an old mare's tail, myself included. And yet she turned out to be real. Is it possible that 'Discord' is real too?" She wisely decided against saying this out loud, she didn't want to cause any of her students to worry.

Had one been paying close attention to the statue, they might have briefly seen the crack widen as a faintly visible wave of energy seeped out. But if one had blinked for even just a second they might not have seen it and would've dismissed it as a figment of their imagination.

However, it seemed like out of the blue the Cutie Mark Crusaders were starting to argue and fight with each other! "There's no way that's actually chaos! I've seen chaos before!" Sweetie Belle insisted.

Scootaloo argued back. "If Miss. Cheerilee says it's chaos then it's chaos!"

"Ha, you're wrong!" Apple Bloom taunted. "That thing's just meant to represent confusion. How else can you explain how silly it looks?"

Scootaloo protested while shoving Apple Bloom. "I say it's chaos!"

Sweetie growled. "It's not chaos, you dodo!"

At that the pegasus filly pressed her snout up against the unicorn filly's face. "I told you, don't call me things I don't know the meaning of! I thought we were friends, Sweetie Belle."

"Girls," Cheerilee muttered in annoyance, hoping to make the Crusaders stop fighting. But to her surprise and concern they didn't. "Girls?" She called out, waving a hoof to try and get their attention. But it was as if something had taken hold of them. And now that Cheerilee got a closer look, her grayish green eyes could see what looked like faint traces of sap green colored magic in each of the Crusaders' eyes. "GIRLS!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and stomped the ground hard!

That did the trick, whatever had come over the Crusaders left them and all three stared at each other in disbelief. And none seemed to notice that the crack on the statue in front of them had increased ever so slightly.

Cheerilee was in disbelief. "What has gotten into you three fillies? And after you promised to behave too."

The three fillies whimpered and shrunk from their teacher's harsh gaze. "We're sorry, Cheerilee." They all insisted.

The young mare sighed. "Well, I suppose you three did demonstrate what 'Discord' is."

"We did?!" Apple Bloom stared in disbelief, as if not remembering what had just occurred.

"Don't you remember that fight you just had?" Cheerilee questioned her young charges, all of whom shook their heads in disbelief. "Really? Or are you just pretending?"

Sweetie Belle innocently insisted. "We swear, we don't know what came over us. But it was like suddenly we just had to fight. Honest."

Reluctantly, Cheerilee decided it best not to press further on the issue. None of her other students had appeared to be bothered by the display and none of them had acted strangely. Perhaps it had just been her imagination despite how real it had seemed? Well, she could worry about it later. "Well, I guess I'll take your word for it. But you three are still going to be written up for this," Then she quickly led all her students away. "Come along, children. There's still much to see on our field trip."

But as the group left the statue and made their way further into the garden, they were unaware that the crack was growing rapidly across the entire base of the statue! Light began to poke out from it as a voice could be heard faintly chuckling. "Free again." It whispered and already the mind attached to the voice was beginning to scheme, scheme about how it would succeed where it had failed before: Conquering Equestria for itself!

The first signs of trouble didn't appear in Canterlot, the field trip there proceeded as planned and with no further interruptions. But miles away in Ponyville, strange things were beginning to happen.

Rainbow Dash found herself struggling to deal with clouds that were actually made out of cotton candy. Trying to bust them like normal clouds just caused the brash speedster to get stuck, and it took all her might to free herself.

But things were nowhere near as bad in the skies as they were on the ground, especially at Sweet Apple Acres which was being bombarded with chocolate flavored rain and out of control giant popcorn. "Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack called out to her pegasus friend. "Mind tellin' me what the hay's goin' on with all this crazy weather?"

"Don't ask me, I haven't got a clue," Rainbow responded. "Things are pretty bad everywhere, though. Cloudsdale's been hit with a pretty bad cola storm, but I'm not leaving until I get things under control here in Ponyville. Ponyville's always gonna be my number one priority."

Rarity, meanwhile, had shown up to help out. She was wearing a rather lavishly decorated light purple rain poncho complete with a matching umbrella. "Sorry I'm late, Applejack. It took me ages to find good rain gear," She apologized. "I want to help, as long as I don't have to get wet."

Applejack couldn't help but remark. "Sugarcube, it's just rain. A little rain never hurt anypony."

Rarity wasn't convinced. "It's not every day it rains chocolate milk like crazy. I'm taking no chances."

"Well, I could sure use the extra hooves," Applejack commented. "Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are tryin' to help too, but..." She trailed off as her eyes took notice of what was happening with her friends.

Fluttershy was trying to keep her animal friends under control, which was proving difficult due to their now exaggerated legs that made them run around like crazy! "Oh, it's like they don't wanna listen to me at all," She complained and looked across to Pinkie Pie. "You're supposed to be helping me."

Pinkie Pie was munching away on some clouds of cotton candy that had fallen to the ground, as well as some of the giant popcorn kernels. "I'm trying to!" She insisted between bites, stopping only on occasion to wash it down with some of the chocolate rain. "I thought for sure it would've stopped by now. At this rate, I'm gonna be burning up a lot of crazy energy real soon."

Twilight arrived on the scene a moment later with Spike at her side. And Applejack in particular had never felt so relieved to see the book loving unicorn before.

"Twilight, thank the stars!" Applejack happily exclaimed! "Please tell me you've found a spell that'll put an end to all this madness."

Twilight cleared her throat while surveying the situation. It looked even worse than what she'd been led to assume. "Well, I've never seen anything like this before in my life. And I couldn't find anything in any books about it happening before. However, I'm pretty sure the spell I just perfected will work. Might wanna stand back though, it's going to take a lot of magic!"

Applejack obeyed and all eyes fell upon Twilight as she shut her eyes, concentrating very intensely. Her horn glowed brighter than it had ever glowed before, the light purple aura of her magic shining brightly even in the midst of day! Sparks shot out like embers from a fire as the magic built up inside and the glow grew brighter by the second! At last, Twilight shot off a beam and there was a brilliant, blinding flash of light!

But when Twilight opened her eyes she was dismayed to discover that nothing had changed. It was still raining chocolate milk, the cotton candy clouds were still there, the popcorn continued to grow out of control and the animals just kept running around. Twilight felt her heart sink ever so faintly. "I don't understand... how did that not work?"

"It was a long shot anyways," Spike pointed out before he quickly reassured Twilight. "Come on, Twilight. You're my mother for Celestia's sake. You always come up with a plan that works in the end, even if sometimes it doesn't work exactly like it's supposed to," And he suggested. "I know it's not your thing, but maybe try to come up with something more immediate. Something fast."

The studious unicorn tried her best to do so as she took in the situation again. "Think... think..." She muttered to herself.

However, while Twilight was thinking Applejack had decided to more or less take charge for herself. And the first thing she did was pull a rope out from under her trusty stetson.

Rainbow Dash quickly took notice of the rope and was quite confused. "What do you think you're doing, Applejack?"

"I reckon maybe I can at least pull down a few of them there clouds," Applejack explained as she quickly turned the rope into a lasso. "I'll be darned if I just sit around and do nothin' while my family's way of life is under attack! I don't know if I can save it, but I'm at least gonna try."

Rarity then got an idea. "Why don't I help you, darling? I'm not exactly skilled with ropes, but I should be able to use my magic to pull some of those clouds together like I was sewing them into a dress."

Rainbow eagerly responded while zooming around. "Yeah, now we're talking! That'll make rounding up the rest of the clouds around here way easier for me!"

And at that, Twilight started getting an idea herself. "Wait a minute, that's it! That's the perfect plan!" She excitedly declared. "And I know how we can get rid of those clouds for good once they're on the ground," She looked to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. "You girls know what to do, right?"

Fluttershy nodded. It didn't take a genius to conclude what Twilight was thinking of. And she was quick to whisper the details to Pinkie to ensure she should understood too. "Let's get to work!"

And it wasn't long before all the cotton candy clouds had been rounded up, tied up and dropped to the ground. And Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie worked quickly to herd the animals over towards the stash, letting them eat to their hearts' content (even though Pinkie couldn't resist getting in a quick bite).

Spike smiled as he playfully poked a claw against Twilight's side. "See, Twilight? I knew you'd pull through for everyone! You really are the best!"

Twilight blushed ever so faintly. "Maybe so, Spike," She quickly recovered. "But that still doesn't explain how or why all this happened all of a sudden. I wish I had some sort of clue or some idea of where to start looking for answers."

As if in response to that suggestion, Spike suddenly belched up a scroll with his flame breath. "I think it's for you, Twilight." He commented as he gave her the scroll.

Twilight unfolded the scroll and read it over. Once she'd done so her moderate violet eyes were filled with a sense of dread. "It's from Princess Celestia," She informed the others. "And it's urgent. We're needed in Canterlot A.S.A.P!"

Spike immediately puffed up his chest! "I'm coming too! I wanna help!"

Twilight would hear nothing of such a suggestion. "No, Spike. You need to stay here. Whatever Princess Celestia needs the girls and I for, it could be very dangerous."

"So? We've faced danger before and come out alright." The little dragon innocently replied.

"Maybe, but you can't deny there's been a lot of close calls," Twilight cautioned in a motherly tone. "If anything were to happen to you now I'd never be able to forgive myself. Far better for the both of us if you remain here, at least until we know what we're dealing with."

Reluctantly, Spike relented though not without letting a sigh. "Fine, I guess I'll stay if you really want me to, Twilight. But you be careful too, okay? I worry about you just as much as you worry about me. And this is starting to remind me an awful lot of that Nightmare Moon fiasco."

The studious unicorn nodded. "Well, I won't be rushing blindly into danger this time. And I promise, I'll come back as soon as I can," Then she turned to her friends. "Come on, girls! Let's hope the trains are still running like normal."

It was of great relief to the six ponies that nothing had impacted train travel yet. They were able to travel to Canterlot with no problems at all. And strangely enough, Canterlot didn't seem to be afflicted by any sort of strange or unexplained phenomenon. The city appeared to the way it always was.

Upon arriving in the city the girls were immediately ushered along by the royal guards and directed to the royal palace for their audience with Princess Celestia. That was when they knew something was up. The alicorn with a majestic white coat was pacing the floor of the throne room rather impatiently and anxiously. "Oh good, you've finally arrived!" She exclaimed with relief.

"We came as soon as we could, Princess Celestia," Twilight told her mentor as she trotted up to her. "Is this about the weather? And the animals? And why my magic didn't seem to have any effect on them?"

Princess Celestia nodded her head in firm confirmation. "Indeed, Twilight. I had hoped this day would never come, alas it has," And she began to explain. "It would appear that an old enemy, one I'd long assumed defeated for good, has escaped. His name... is Discord!"

A series of gasps filled the room before Rarity inquired. "Uh, who's 'Discord' exactly?"

Princess Celestia gestured a hoof to a nearby stained glass window display that depicted a strange and mismatched creature. Said creature was dangling an earth pony, a pegasus and a unicorn over what appeared to be a pit of flames. "Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony. Before Luna and I ascended to the throne, he ruled the entire land of Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness. Luna and I saw how he made life miserable for the unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. He seemed to regard them as little more than playmates or toys to be discarded at will."

"So what happened?" Rainbow questioned. "You kick his sorry butt or what?"

Celestia gestured to another stained glass window, this one depicting her and Luna as they appeared to be circling around the creature from before. But the creature now appeared to be encased in solid stone. "Luna and I discovered the Elements of Harmony, likely a parting gift from our parents who sacrificed themselves to give us a fighting chance. And together we wielded them, turning Discord to stone. All of this occurred thousands of years ago. And Luna and I assumed Discord would remain trapped in stone forever. However, such was not the case."

"How did he escape?" Applejack pondered with concern.

"I'm not sure," Princess Celestia commented as her face took on a look of great concern. "I suspect it has something to do with what happened during the last Summer Sun Celebration. A delayed reaction, most likely," And she then firmly declared. "I need you all to wield the Elements of Harmony again, and stop Discord!"

Fluttershy then forced back a gulp. "Why us? Why can't you and Luna just do it like you did before?"

At that the sun princess unhappily sighed. "Luna is still not back to full power yet. It's entirely possible she may never fully regain all that she had before she became Nightmare Moon. And even if she were fully restored, we've been cut off from the Elements of Harmony. They passed to the six of you."

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie commented as she eyed a stain glass window display of herself and the five other mares using the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon. "We're famous!"

Celestia chuckled a bit at the comment. "You could say that," She quickly composed herself. "But this is no joking matter, you understand. Discord will not be anything like Nightmare Moon. You must be prepared for anything," And looking at the six ponies that gathered she asked them. "Are you sure you're ready? Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to protect Equestria?"

All the mares nodded in unison, although Pinkie then raised a hoof. "You all do know that this chaos comes with unlimited chocolate rain, right?"

"Yes, Pinkie," Twilight replied to her party planning friend. "But it's not just chocolate rain and you know it."

The pink party pony unhappily sighed. "Yeah, I know. But still, it's a bummer. Why can't this Discord just stick to things like chocolate milk and cotton candy, that never hurt anypony?"

"Discord only ever cared about himself. To him it's all a game," Celestia frowned. "Before Luna and I defeated him he enjoyed toying with us. He'll definitely try to do the same to you, but don't let him fool you. Beneath that playful exterior lies a draconequus that will tear Equestria apart if given half the chance."

Twilight firmly declared to her mentor. "Well don't worry, we're more than ready for him! As long as we have the Elements of Harmony we'll be fine," Then she looked all around the throne room. "Where are they, anyway?"

Princess Celestia gestured to a door at the end of the hallway. "I had the elements stored inside a secure vault that only I could access. I didn't expect them to have to be used again so soon." She quickly inserted her horn into a small key hole in the center of the door and turned it. The door began to glow as several circles lit up one by one. Finally, the door opened and a display case the most beautiful shade of blue appeared, decorated with red and yellow gems.

Yet when the case was opened nothing was inside it! It fell to the floor with a thud as even Princess Celestia seemed surprised given her reaction!

The sun princess quickly started pacing anew, wondering what could've gone wrong. "It just doesn't make any sense." She muttered to herself.

Suddenly, an ominous laugh echoed throughout the throne room as an unfamiliar voice taunted. "'Make sense'? Oh come now, what fun is there in 'making sense'? Rather boring if you ask me."

Princess Celestia's attitude seemed to change from one of confusion to one of anger as she grit her teeth and adopted a harsh glare. "Discord!" She bitterly remarked. "I should've known. Show yourself!"

The voice just laughed again as it asked. "Did you miss me, Celestia?" Suddenly, the stained glass display of Discord began to move. And as it moved it spoke with the same voice that had been taunting the alicorn earlier. "Well, I've certainly missed you," The display began to move from one window to another as it went on to say. "Being trapped in stone for thousands of years can make a guy feel pretty lonely. But you wouldn't know that, would you, oh princess?" Without even waiting for a reply it bitterly declared. "Of course you wouldn't, because unlike you I don't turn ponies into stone! And for the record, I don't banish them to the moon just for disobeying me."

If Celestia was at all intimidated by the remark she didn't let it show outwardly. "You're the bad guy here, Discord. Now talk! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?!"

"Oh, those?" Discord replied as he feigned concern. "Oh, I just 'borrowed' them for a little while," As he spoke the stained glass display that depicted the Elements of Harmony vanished. "It's your own fault for not securing them properly. What did you think would happen when I broke free? Don't tell me you forgot all about me. What am I saying? Of course you did. I can't say I'm shocked, though. You always were a goody two horseshoes, old sunbutt."

The last line from Discord was enough to make Rainbow Dash lose her patience! "Hey, no one talks like that about the princess on my watch!" She immediately flew towards the window where Discord was, only to run smack into said window.

"Ah, you must be Rainbow Dash, the new bearer of loyalty." Discord commented through the window.

Rainbow snorted. "That's right, bozo! And you should know I'll always be loyal to the princess."

"Oh really?" The witty spirit remarked in an unconcerned tone. "We'll just see about that."

"Really, there's no point in talking to him," Rarity insisted. "It's just an illusion. He's not actually here right now. You're just talking to a stained glass window display and looking rather foolish."

"On the contrary, Rarity," Discord replied as he appeared to through another window. "I'm very much here. And I must say, for the new bearer of generosity you are rather beautiful."

Applejack then trotted up. "So you know who we are, huh? Big deal. You think that scares us?"

Discord made the display of himself grow rather tall in response. "It should. I know a lot more than just your names, honest Applejack."

Twilight was quick to point out the realization. "You seem to know what elements we belong to."

The spirit cackled with glee. "That's correct, Twilight! Leave it to the princess' prized protege to figure it out. Your element is magic, Fluttershy's is kindness and Pinkie Pie's is my personal favorite: Laughter."

As Discord was speaking, Pinkie Pie was laughing.

"Pinkie!" Twilight scolded her friend.

"But Twilight, look!" Pinkie giggled as she pointed a hoof. "He's dancing on your head!" And indeed Discord was. He was dancing atop the stained glass display of Twilight, laughing himself silly as he did so.

But Princess Celestia was fast growing impatient. "Enough of your games, Discord!" She stomped a hoof down. "I'm not gonna ask again. The Elements! Where are they?!"

The spirit ceased his dancing. "Oh, you just have to spoil everything, don't you?" After a long, drawn out sigh he relented. "Fine. I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way. So you'd better listen and listen good," He proceeded to explain while moving about rapidly. "In order to retrieve your missing elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then you may find the elements back where you began." And with that the voice faded away as the stained glass display ceased to move.

"Just what the hay was that all about, Twilight?" Applejack questioned the book loving unicorn once it was clear Discord wasn't around. "What do you think he meant?"

"It must be some kind of riddle," Twilight pondered while putting a hoof to her chin. "But why would he tell us where to look? Something must be up."

Rainbow Dash wasn't concerned. "Maybe he just doesn't think we're a threat worth taking seriously, Twilight. He probably thinks he's already won. But we'll prove him wrong when we find the Elements of Harmony and teach him a lesson he'll never forget!" And she was quick to encourage. "Now come on, figure out that riddle so we can get going! I'm itching for action!"

The book loving unicorn continued to ponder all the while trotting about, deep in thought. Then, after a bit of silent thinking she came to a conclusion. "I have an idea. Discord said we could find the elements 'where we began'. And we found the elements in the Everfree Forest."

"At the Castle of the Two Sisters!" Rarity realized with a gasp! "Of course, that must be it! But how are we gonna get all the way out to there?"

"We'll take a train back to Ponyville first, and then we'll head to the Everfree Forest and make our way through," Twilight explained to her friends. "At least this time it should be daylight."

"It's worth a shot!" Rainbow eagerly declared. "Let's go!"

Princess Celestia nodded her head in confirmation. "Good luck to you, my little ponies. May the power of harmony protect you, always." And with that she watched the six mares with whom the fate of Equestria was now entrusted trot away. It was out of her hooves now and all she could do was hope for the best.

However, when Twilight and the others reached the train station in Canterlot they were dismayed to learn that the next train to Ponyville wouldn't be arriving any time soon.

"I'm sorry, miss," The ticket sales pony apologized in what sounded like a sincere tone of voice. "Transportation to and from Ponyville has been inexplicably temporarily halted. If you wish to get back to Ponyville, you'd be better off making the journey by hoof."

Fluttershy quickly moved to put a hoof around Twilight upon sensing how disappointed the unicorn mare had become. "Cheer up, Twilight. We must be on the right path. If the Castle of the Two Sisters wasn't the right answer, Discord wouldn't be trying to stop us from reaching it."

"Maybe," Twilight unhappily remarked. "Or maybe I didn't think through the riddle properly. I thought for sure Discord was just playing games when he said 'twists and turns'. But maybe he meant it literally," It was then that a new idea came to her mind. "I wonder if... no, it couldn't be..."

Pinkie Pie bounced over. "Couldn't be what, Twilight?"

The book loving unicorn explained as she gestured a hoof. "There's one place where there are twists and turns everywhere and you can end up back where you started: The royal hedge maze. Maybe that is what Discord meant."

"Sounds like a good place to at least start our search," Applejack declared. "And if ain't, we can always hoof it back to Ponyville and go from there." And so the six mares headed out for the hedge maze.

"Are we gonna have to actually..." Fluttershy forced back a gulp as the mares approached the hedge maze's entrance. "Search the entire maze?"

Rainbow Dash looked to her wings and immediately boasted. "Nope, 'cause Discord forgot all about these babies! I'll just fly right up and get a bird's eye view of the whole thing! This'll just take three seconds!" And with a flap of her wings she was off. However, Rainbow hadn't gotten very far when suddenly her wings disappeared! And Fluttershy's wings disappeared too!

A second later, Twilight and Rarity looked across to each other and noticed that their horns had disappeared as well! "Your horn! My horn!" They screamed at each other and started to freak out.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie began to notice that they too felt different. "Suddenly I don't feel like Bucky McGilacuddy and Kicks Mikgee are listenin' to me." Applejack remarked as she looked down at her hooves.

"And it feels like someone turned off my 'Pinkie Sense'," Pinkie commented. "But that's impossible!"

Then, just as all the mares started to wonder what was going on, they saw a small hole of white light appear before them. And in a dazzling flash, Discord finally appeared to them in all his mismatched, unholy glory! He reared back and roared as lightning struck behind him, leaving all six ponies huddled together in fright.

"Oh, you should see the looks on your faces right now," Discord taunted as he dropped the intimidation and smiled as he held out his paws. "Priceless."

Twilight impatiently stomped a hoof down. "You took away our magical powers. Give them back!"

"Relax, you'll get them all back in due time," Discord explained as he moved between the ponies with ease. "I just took them to ensure there'd be no 'cheating'. For you see, I've decided to play a little game with you ponies. And here's the first rule: No flying and no magic."

Rainbow stared in disbelief. "'The first rule'?"

Discord nodded as he appeared behind the brash speedster. "The second rule is: Everypony has to play, or the game's over and I win. You're all welcome to search to your heart's content, but should any of you happen to find the Elements of Harmony you can't tell anypony. Break any of the rules and... well you already know about rule number two. Good luck to you all! I'll be watching!" And with that he disappeared as quickly and as mysteriously as he had appeared.

"We can't let him rattle us," Twilight insisted. "We still have each other. And together, we'll find the missing elements and put an end to Discord's games. Come on, girls!"

The six mares all stepped into the maze at the same time. But as soon as they'd taken their first steps they were quickly separated one by one, walls were thrown up on either side of them that prevented them from seeing each other. Fortunately, they could still hear each other. "Is everyone alright?" Twilight asked, and quickly received five different confirmations. "Don't worry, we'll be fine. Let's all meet up in the center as quickly as possible!" And with that, each mare set off along their own path.

Unknown to any of the ponies, Discord was watching and observing the whole thing from above. "You don't really think I'm gonna make it easy on you, do you, ponies?" He thought to himself while rubbing his paws together. "This is gonna be fun!"

It didn't take long for the draconequus to settle on his first "target". Although he could've gone for any pony he wanted he decided that he would first go after the Element of Honesty herself: Applejack.

Applejack was rushing through the maze as fast as she could, determined to let nothing stop her. However, when she stopped for a few seconds to catch her breath, she was surprised to see a bunch of apples rolling along by themselves. "What the hay?" She said aloud even though no one else could hear her. With her curiosity aroused, the farm mare followed the rolling apples until they led her to what appeared to be some sort of grotto. Apple trees stood near a small pool that had a very unsettling atmosphere to it.

"Welcome, Applejack," A mysterious (and rather creepy) voice greeted, soon revealing itself as a pile of lush, bright red apples in the form of a face. "We've been expecting you."

"We are the keepers of the Orchard of Truth." A pile of dark red apples explained.

"You may ask us one question," A pile of green apples went on as the three piles surrounded the farm mare. "Any one question your heart desires."

"But beware, you may not like what you find out." The bright red apples cautioned.

Applejack didn't know that these "apples" were actually just well disguised puppets Discord was using. If she had she might not have spoken up to them. "Well, I'm probably gonna regret askin' this, but I just gotta know," She forced back a gulp. "I didn't wanna say anythin' earlier, but I've got a real bad feelin' about this whole Discord business. How it's goin' to end?"

The dark red apples simply instructed. "For the answers that you seek-"

"-Go ahead, take a peek." The green apples encouraged as their eyes turned to the small pool nearby.

Applejack gazed down into the pool, her moderate sap green eyes soon watching as an image took shape right in front of her! It appeared to be Ponyville, but something about it was wrong. Buildings were upside down, the roads had been turned in black and white tiles and she and all her friends seemed to glaring and frowning at each other.

"So it's come to this," Twilight could be heard saying. "There's no point in any of us carrying on."

"I don't wanna see any of you in my life ever again!" Rarity coldly replied. And one by one each of the mares seemed to agree. Just like that, they all trotted away in six different directions with their backs turned to one another. The image faded away a few seconds later.

The farm mare stumbled back in disbelief. "No! Our friendships end?! That... that can't be true!"

"Oh, but you know it is," The bright red apples taunted. "For we have no reason to lie to you. And you know this isn't the first time you've had to confront an unfortunate truth. Remember when you learned about what happened to your parents on that bridge?"

Horrible memories came flashing back to Applejack as she gasped and flinched! "No!" She cried in dismay!

"When all the truth ever does-" The green apples began.

"-Is make your heart ache-" The bright red apples continued.

"-Sometimes a lie is easier to take." The dark red apples concluded as Applejack could hear the familiar voice of Discord whispering to her. Before she even realized what was happening, she found herself losing any will to ever be truthful again. Her entire body dulled considerably, to the point where there was almost no color to be seen.

Just then, the hedge maze opened ever so slightly as Twilight happened to come running past. But she stopped in her tracks upon seeing Applejack, not recognizing at first the change in appearance. "Applejack?! Oh, thank goodness. Glad I found you," She then trotted closer to the first friend she'd made. "But who was that you were talking to?"

"Who, me?" Applejack blinked as she seemed to stare off into the distance. "Why I was talkin' to... no one! Absolutely no one!"

Twilight was confused. "Really? Because I thought for sure I heard-"

Applejack cut her friend off. "-You must be imaginin' things, Twilight. Who would I be talkin' to out here in the middle of nowhere?" Strangely enough, as she talked her eyes seemed to dart about. She was quick to change the subject. "Er... come on! Let's get back to our search. Gotta find the others!" And off she trotted.

Twilight reluctantly followed, but in her mind she was very suspicious. "Applejack wouldn't just lie out of the blue like that. I know I heard her talking to someone," She thought to herself. "Discord must be behind this somehow. I've just gotta get to the rest of my friends before he does!"

However, Discord was already waiting for his next victim. "I was kind of hoping to save her for last, but oh well." He thought to himself while rubbing his paws together in delight.

Pinkie Pie, suspecting nothing, was happily bouncing through the maze without a care in the world. But she stopped upon hearing giggles and music. Following the noise to its source, she stumbled across a garden filled with colorful balloons as far as the eye could see! "Wow! A balloon garden in the middle of a hedge maze! This is my lucky day!" She cheerfully exclaimed, bouncing and skipping along.

But then suddenly, Pinkie tripped and tumbled face first into a puddle of mud. She didn't realize that one of the balloons had grabbed one of her back hooves and caused her to fall. What she did realize, however, was that the balloons now seemed to be laughing at her. "Hey, what's so funny?" She complained. "I could've gotten hurt."

At that moment, Discord appeared in a flash of light. "What's the matter, Pinkie Pie? You always enjoyed a good laugh."

The pink party pony protested. "Well this time it's different. This time they're laughing at me, and I didn't even do anything to deserve it."

The spirit just snorted as he put his head behind a blue colored balloon and spoke through it. "It's hardly different. Your friends laugh at you all the time, you just haven't realized it."

Pinkie Pie shook her head at the notion. "No, you're wrong! I thought that way before and boy did I make myself look silly," She was quick to protest. "My friends laugh with me, not at me. I think."

Having sensed the insecurity in Pinkie's voice, Discord seized the opportunity given to him. "Oh really? Are you sure about that?" And as if on cue several balloons that resembled the faces of Pinkie's friends appeared in front of him. All of them began taunting and laughing at Pinkie Pie with their voices sounding just like the ones of her friends.

"No! Make it stop! Don't laugh at me!" The pink party pony started to roar and growl as she tried to block out the laughs, but to no avail.

Discord turned back towards Pinkie as he locked eyes with her. "Oh, poor Pinkie Pie. And here I always thought laughter made you happy."

As a new sense of frustration and suspicion took hold of her, Pinkie stood up, shook off the mud and declared in a low tone of voice. "Happy? I don't think so! Not anymore!" And just like that, the balloons all popped one by one.

By now, Twilight and Applejack had managed to reach the balloon garden. But when Twilight got a good look at her party planning friend she realized that she was too late. "Pinkie Pie," She unhappily remarked as she hung her head. "I was so happy to see you. But not like this."

"Oh, what's wrong, Twilight?" Pinkie now coldly replied while brushing past Twilight with her tail. "Need a good laugh? Well too bad, I'm not in a laughing mood. And neither should you be," She snorted. "So unless you want to make jokes yourself, stop wasting everypony's time and go find the rest of our 'friends'."

Applejack then declared. "She seems fine to me, Twilight. Probably just goin' through a phase or somethin'." And she trotted off, though silently snickering behind Pinkie's back.

"First Applejack and now Pinkie Pie," The studious unicorn thought to herself. "I'm starting to think coming to this hedge maze was a mistake. I've got to find either the rest of my friends or the Elements of Harmony before it's too late."

Rarity was unaware of anything that had transpired in the hedge maze. Perhaps if she did she might have been more cautious and more urgently trotting through the maze, rather than opting for more of a leisurely stroll. "I was expecting an audience with Princess Celestia, not outdoor sports." She grumbled to herself.

Seconds later, the fashionista bumped into a wall. And when she'd recovered from the impact she was amazed at what she saw! Before her eyes were three diamonds that shone even brighter than her coat.

"Well, Rarity," The familiar voice of Discord spoke up. "It's your lucky day. Hidden behind these small diamonds lies the greatest fortune of all time. A diamond to rival all diamonds. And it can be yours and yours alone."

Rarity found herself inexplicably drawn to the display. "Yes... it is... beautiful..." She declared, but then suddenly she caught herself and shook her head. "No, I'm better than that! I'm not going to abandon my friends, even for a diamond as dazzling as this one."

Discord only taunted the fashionista as she began to trot away. "Come now, you've earned it. Why should you have to give it up for the sake of your friends? They'll only slow you down and insist that you share the diamond with them. Haven't you realized by now that they don't appreciate your talents? You work your tail off and they call you a drama queen for it. But with this diamond you won't need them ever again. You'll have everything you've always desired."

Rarity struggled greatly and heroically against Discord's attempted brainwashing. She could sense what he was trying to do. But unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't resist for long. "I... I... Mine!" She shrieked as her coat and mane and tail dulled considerably, and she started digging at the wall with her bare hooves to get at the diamond!

The "diamond" was really just a rock, but Rarity didn't see it that way. It was truly a diamond as magnificent as herself, and it was all hers for the taking. "Oh yes, my pretty!" She giddily exclaimed. "You are going to make me very wealthy. I'll be the envy of all of Canterlot. No, all of Equestria."

And it was at this moment that Twilight and the others caught up with the corrupted fashionista. And as soon as Twilight saw her fellow unicorn her heart sank anew. "I can't believe it, Rarity. You too?"

The corrupted fashionista only snorted. "I don't know what you think you're trying, Twilight. Don't try to confuse the issue. This here diamond is mine, all mine!"

"What diamond?" Twilight questioned. "All I see is a rock."

Rarity replied by growling. "It's not a rock, it's a diamond! The most beautiful diamond I've ever seen, and none of you are going to take it away from me!" Then she declared. "So long as you all understand that we'll be fine. Now come on, the sooner we find the rest of our friends the sooner I can take this diamond back home with me, where it belongs." And she lugged it away with a great deal of straining.

Meanwhile, Pinkie was confronting Applejack over what she assumed was a laugh directed at the formerly pink party pony. "What are you laughing about?!" She interrogated.

Applejack lied and replied. "Uh... chocolate milk?"

"Don't take me for a fool, I know you were laughing at me!" Pinkie snarled before trotting away. "I'm starting to wonder why we were ever friends in the first place."

"Whoever said we were friends, sugarcube?" Applejack taunted. "We only hung around because of Twilight. She was the leader, and we all followed her."

Twilight was too busy thinking about her other friends to pay any attention to what Applejack was saying. "Please, please let me find Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash before it's too late!" She thought to herself. "This has to be Discord's doing somehow, I just know it."

Fluttershy hadn't been making much progress through the maze. Although she didn't always mind being on her own, being abruptly separated from her friends was an unnerving process that made her feel very uncomfortable.

However, the pegasus mare suddenly noticed some rather strange looking butterflies hovering nearby. She came over to them, suspecting nothing.

To the shy mare's surprise the butterflies actually began to talk. And they spoke in a voice that was instantly recognizable as Discord's. "Fluttershy? It looks like you've been left behind by your so called 'friends' again."

Fluttershy immediately shook her head. "Oh no, they haven't left me behind. I'm sure they're looking for me as we speak."

The butterflies just replied by saying. "So you say. But maybe you think too highly of them. After all, they seem to think you're just weak and helpless, only ever getting in the way."

"Oh no, I'm not weak and helpless," Fluttershy protested with a smile. "But I know my friends enough to know that they're aware I maybe don't contribute as much in these situations as they do. I'm fine with not always rushing into danger. And I appreciate their understanding."

The butterflies somewhat angrily retorted. "Yes, well, surely it must burn you up how they're always pointing out your flaws and weaknesses, right?"

The pegasus mare shook her head again. "Not at all. My friends just want me to be the best I can be. I'll bet if you had friends you would understand."

At that, Discord lost patience! He made the butterflies disappear and appeared before Fluttershy himself! "Oh, for goodness sake! You're not supposed to fight back like this!" He complained and tapped a talon to her forehead, dulling her coat and mane and tail colors in the blink of an eye. "You've been kind for far too long, my dear. It's time to be cruel! Arrivederci, loser!" And then he disappeared, still boiling over with anger.

Just like with all the others, Fluttershy was soon afterward reunited with her friends. But she was far from happy to see them.

"Oh no!" Twilight exclaimed in dismay! "I can't believe it, Fluttershy! Discord's gotten to you too! Oh, what was I thinking coming here? This was a terrible idea!"

Fluttershy coldly and cruelly replied. "Aw, boo hoo hoo. What a baby. Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?" She trotted up to Twilight while asking. "Well why don't you just wave your magic little horn and make everything all better? You know, like you always do?"

The book loving unicorn froze, unable to think of a reply.

Fluttershy then declared. "Oh that's right, you can't. You don't have your horn anymore. None of us have anything thanks to you!" And she trotted away after smacking Twilight with her tail. "Let's just find Rainbow Dash so we can get out of here. Assuming Rainbow hasn't already ditched us."

"I'll bet she would," Applejack lied. "I never trusted her. She always made everythin' worse."

"And she always thought I was just a joke and a good prankster." Pinkie Pie added while sticking out her tongue.

Rarity was only interested in her diamond. "If Rainbow Dash tries to steal my diamond, I'll make her suffer!"

Twilight slowly trotted after her friends, watching with dismay as they seemed to constantly attack each other verbally (and sometimes physically). "You're our last hope, Rainbow Dash. Don't let Discord trick you!" She thought to herself, hoping that maybe somehow her pegasus friend would be able to hear her mental plea.

But Rainbow Dash had no way to know what was going on in the maze, let alone that she was now a target for Discord's corruptive ways. What the brash speedster did know, however, was that she needed to get through the maze as fast as possible. Wings or no wings, she would find a way.

Suddenly, Rainbow stopped in her tracks when she saw a cloud shooting out a rainbow colored lightning bolt, not unlike what was depicted on her cutie mark. She followed it until finally it stopped in a small opening in the maze.

There, lying on a hammock and with a pair of sunglasses on, was none other than Discord himself. "Oh, you found me," He replied with fake concern. "Oh dear, whatever I shall do?"

Rainbow growled! "Okay, Discord! Put 'em up!" She held up her front hooves. "You think you can intimidate me just because you took away my wings and separated me from my friends?! Well I don't scare easily! And I'm about to make you sorry!"

The spirit rose slowly from his hammock and removed his sunglasses. "You wouldn't last five seconds with me. Besides, I'm not here to fight you. I've got a message for you."

"Yeah? Well I've got a message for you too, buddy!" The pegasus mare with a rainbow mane insisted.

Discord simply yawned. "Just pay attention, if you can. What I'm about to tell you is very important," Then he came closer to Rainbow Dash and explained. "A weighty choice will soon be yours to make: The right decision or a big mistake. And if it's the wrong path you choose to pursue, the foundations of home will crumble without you!" Then he made the cloud from earlier appear in front of him.

Rainbow watched as the cloud suddenly began to spin, and before she knew it she could see Clousdale. Except the city was about to quite literally fall out of the sky! And there was nothing she or anypony could do to stop it from happening! "Noooooooooo!" She cried at the top of her lungs, not realizing that this was all part of Discord's "trick". In fact, she had no way to know that her coat and mane and tail colors were dulling fast.

Discord smirked, everything had gone exactly as he had intended. And with a snap of his talons he made a blue colored box with yellow ribbons appear. "Look, Rainbow Dash," He told her as he pointed a claw. "That box contains your wings. Now the choice is yours: You can either take your wings and leave the game, abandoning your friends. Or you can stay in the maze and keep searching, but you'll have no way to know if Cloudsdale is okay." He already knew what decision she would make.

Sometime later, Applejack could be heard saying. "Well, there goes Rainbow Dash. Told ya she wasn't good for anythin'."

"Another one of your lies, Applejack?" Twilight remarked with a frown. "I'm not amused."

Fluttershy, however, insisted. "It's not a lie, she's abandoning us! Take a look for yourself!"

Twilight reluctantly did so, and she saw a greyed Rainbow Dash flying out of the maze with her wings! "No!" She gasped in horror, realizing what that meant.

Just then the entire hedge maze began to rumble. And soon the walls that had previously been dividing the ponies disappeared. In fact, the whole maze disappeared as Discord appeared before the ponies in a cloud of dust. "Well well well, it seems that somepony broke the 'No flying, no magic' rule. And you know what that means," He snapped his talons, giving the other ponies back their wings, horns and magical abilities. "The game's over, my little ponies!" He taunted. "You didn't find your missing elements. And it looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos!" He pulled out a pink umbrella and unfolded it to the sound of a cat meowing as lightning struck all around him.

S2 E2: The Return of Harmony, Part 2 (What If?)

The fate of Equestria was looking pretty bleak right now, especially as far as Twilight was concerned. Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony had escaped from his stone statue prison and had set out to bring about eternal chaos.

Twilight didn't know that Discord's statue had been cracking for some time, to the point where a visible crack had formed during a field trip to Canterlot that Cheerilee had led. "Is that crack supposed to be there?" Sweetie Belle had asked only to be reassured that it was likely natural.

However, the crack had widened and Sweetie Belle and her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders had started to fight. "We swear, we don't know what came over us." Sweetie Belle had innocently insisted and that was the last anypony thought of it.

Yet the crack continued to grow and Discord broke free, soon unleashing chaos on Ponyville that Twilight and her friends had to put down. Then they got a message that told them to come to Canterlot right away. "Is this about the weather? And the animals? And why my magic didn't seem to have any effect on them?" Twilight had asked Princess Celestia upon arriving in Canterlot.

Princess Celestia had confirmed Twilight's concerns while also displaying a rather unusual state of anger and concern. And she had explained who Discord was. "An old enemy, one I'd long assumed defeated for good, has escaped. His name... is Discord! Before Luna and I ascended to the throne, he ruled the entire land of Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness. Luna and I discovered the Elements of Harmony. And together we wielded them, turning Discord to stone."

However, Discord wasn't about to let the Elements of Harmony be used on him again. "I just 'borrowed' them for a little while," He'd explained while taunting and toying with the alicorn who'd once imprisoned him. "I know a lot more than just your names," He revealed to the six mares, indicating that he already was aware of their elements and who wielded what. Upon being pressed for information he gave a riddle. "In order to retrieve your missing elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then you may find the elements back where you began."

Twilight initially assumed she had the answer to the riddle. "We found the elements in the Everfree Forest."

But an attempt to take a train back to Ponyville to reach the Everfree Forest went nowhere, so Twilight decided she had misinterpreted the riddle. "There's one place where there are twists and turns everywhere and you can end up back where you started." And she led her friends to the hedge maze within the castle gardens.

Upon reaching said maze, the mares were greeted by Discord who took away their wings, horns and magical abilities in order to play a little "game" with them. "No flying and no magic. Everypony has to play, or the game's over and I win." Then, as soon as the mares entered the maze, Discord separated them and set to work on corrupting them one by one.

"This was a terrible idea!" Twilight had lamented upon seeing her friends in their new states. But alas, she was powerless to prevent what came next.

Discord caught up with Rainbow Dash and offered her a choice (after corrupting her of course). "That box contains your wings. You can take your wings and leave the game." And that was just what Rainbow Dash did, causing the game to come to an end.

"Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos!" The spirit had declared before laughing at his apparent triumph in the empty crater where the hedge maze once stood.

Twilight had no idea how she could possibly hope to prevail against such a threat. But somehow she would have to, even if it was all by herself.

Discord continued to laugh, intent on rubbing in his "victory" as much as possible (or maybe he was just that amused).

Suddenly, however, Pinkie Pie called out from the blue. "And just what the heck are you laughing about?!"

Discord paused in his laughing fit, wiping a lone tear from his eyes. "Oh, it's nothing personal. It's just, you ponies are the most fun I've had in eons! Even Princess Celestia wasn't as entertaining."

"Yeah? Well quit it, this is no laughing matter!" Pinkie growled at Discord, pressing her nose up against his. "You'd better think before you dare laugh at the pink... ie Pie!"

Fluttershy, sensing an opportunity to get under her former friend's fur, smirked while declaring. "Is that so? Well ha ha. You always were a joke, Pinkie."

Pinkie didn't take kindly to Fluttershy's remark. She spun around rather quickly and snapped. "Quit it! Don't you dare laugh at me!"

"No," Fluttershy simply protested while laughing some more. "Ha ha."

"I said quit it!" Pinkie roared as she put her hooves to her ears in a vain attempt to block out the taunting.

Fluttershy refused to let up. "No. Ha ha ha ha ha. I'll laugh at you as much as I want, and you can't stop me."

Meanwhile, Applejack crept up behind Rarity with her eyes locked onto the "diamond" that was actually a rock. "Hey, Rarity," The farm mare called to her former friend. "About this here diamond of yours... well, Twilight said we should split it five ways and all. You know, since we found it together. Hope you don't mind me takin' my cut now."

Rarity responded by delivering a swift karate kick to Applejack, knocking her back! "Try it, punk!" She snapped. "This diamond is mine and mine alone! Nopony's gonna take it from me, especially not an uncultured mud pony like you!"

Twilight watched the scenes unfold, helpless to do much of anything except plead. "Girls, stop it! This isn't you!"

But Discord only laughed while lounging in a chair and eating popcorn. "Sorry, Twilight, but your 'friends' aren't interested in listening. Besides, I could use the entertainment."

At that the studious unicorn lost her patience. She growled at the witty spirit and complained. "Stop it, Discord. You're not playing fair."

Discord didn't bother to deny the allegation. "I'm not playing fair? I'm sorry, we have not met? The name is Discord: Spirit of chaos and disharmony. I mean 'Hello'!"

Twilight brushed off the attempted taunt despite how much it annoyed her. "That's not my point. My point is, how are we meant to find the Elements of Harmony if you prevent us from going back to Ponyville by train, and then take away the hedge maze before we've found the elements?"

At that the draconequus paused in his popcorn and briefly blinked in surprise. "Oh, wait, did you actually..." Then he started to laugh hysterically. "How funny! I thought you of all ponies would've figured it out by now. Maybe I gave you too much credit."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight demanded. "Can't you ever give a straight answer for once? On second thought, don't answer that."

Discord just grinned while he stood up and appeared before Twilight. "Why bother telling you when I can show you?" And with a snap of his talons he brought himself and Twilight back to when he had given his "riddle". His words from them echoed throughout the memory.

"In order to retrieve your missing elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then you may find the elements back where you began." Past Discord explained before disappearing.

The memory ended as Present Discord couldn't resist pointing out to Twilight. "I never actually said the Elements of Harmony were in the hedge maze, you just assumed. It's not like it really matters, I would've held a game no matter where you went. But the maze made it so much easier to do my work. Who would've guessed your friends could be so easily led astray?"

"No," The unicorn mare with a light purple coat briefly lamented to herself. "How could I..."

"Oh, don't beat yourself up so much, Twilight," Discord remarked with exaggerated sympathy. "You did the best you could under the circumstances, really. If anything, Princess Celestia should've prepared you better. But then again, if even she couldn't defeat me and she is an all powerful alicorn, what chance did a measly unicorn like you possibly have? You may think you're the best, and maybe you are. But you're still a unicorn, you're definitely no Princess Celestia. Even Princess Luna as she is now would be more of a challenge if I'm being honest."

Twilight growled and snorted. "You're just saying that to make me doubt myself, aren't you?"

Discord vaguely replied. "Maybe I am and maybe I'm not, that's up to you to decide," However, after thinking over things for about a second or two he seemed to come to a sudden decision. "You know what, Twilight? Against my better judgement, I'm gonna give you a sporting chance. Not because I have to, but because I want to. It wouldn't be much fun if it ended like this, wouldn't you agree?"

Twilight was taken aback by the statement. "Wait, you're going to help me?"

"Not really 'help' so much as 'let you try again'," The spirit explained. "And here's a hint: Maybe the magic of friendship can help you."

The studious unicorn blinked, waiting to see if there would be anything further or even possibly another riddle. There was not. "What's that supposed to mean?" She questioned the draconequus.

Discord simply wagged a talon in protest. "Ah ah ah, you'll get no more freebies out of me. You'll have to figure out the rest for yourself. But I'm sure we'll see each other again soon enough. Until then, I'll leave you with a little parting gift." He then snapped his talons and disappeared, cotton candy clouds of chocolate milk flavored rain appeared soon afterward and began their downpour.

"Chocolate milk? Man, I hate chocolate milk." Pinkie complained.

"Nopony touch my diamond, you understand?!" Rarity roared.

Fluttershy then smirked. "I'm touching your diamond, Rarity. Whatcha gonna do about it?"

Rarity growled as she tried to swat at the pegasus. "Hold still and find out."

Fluttershy only grinned in protest while flying around. "Sorry, not gonna happen."

And Applejack just remarked. "Don't see why we were ever friends."

Twilight groaned in annoyance as she continued to watch the displays of bullying her corrupted friends were carrying out against each other. "Ugh, I can't take much more of this. I just wanna go home," She complained under her breath. Then suddenly it hit her. "Wait 'home'! That's it!" And she gave a whistle. "Come on, everypony. Let's get back to Ponyville. You can all do whatever you want when we get there."

"Whatever, as long as I don't have to keep putting up with these losers." Pinkie Pie complained anew, and the other mares nodded very reluctantly.

The trains to and from Ponyville were still out of service, so Twilight was forced to lead her very reluctant and hesitant friends back to Ponyville by hoof.

"You sure know how to pick a shortcut, Twilight," Fluttershy sarcastically teased. "I can't wait to get back to Ponyville."

"There's nothin' to see in Ponyville," Applejack lied. "I don't see why we even have to go back. Things were just fine in Canterlot."

Twilight paid little attention to what her friends were saying. "If I can just find the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville, I know I'll be able to find a way to turn you all back to normal," She said to herself before adding. "I think." A hint of uncertainty crept in that last line.

Eventually, Twilight thought she saw the familiar outline of Ponyville coming into view over the horizon! She rushed ahead, hoping things wouldn't be too bad. But before she could even see what lay in store for her, she was unexpectedly trampled by the overly large feet of several bunny rabbits. It was several minutes before she could pull herself up and get her bearings again.

"Good boy, Angel!" Fluttershy appeared to cheer on the display. "Mama's so proud. Somebunny's gonna get extra lettuce tonight." Then, just after she had spoken the sun suddenly set and the darkness of night befell all.

Worse was to come when the dirt roads suddenly and unexpectedly turned into soap. "Wow," Applejack remarked in an obviously sarcastic tone of voice. "This'll be so much better." But when she took one step forward she slipped and fell, knocking into all of the other mares and bringing them to their hooves.

Just then the sun rose again almost as quickly as it had set. And who should come skating along on the slippery roads but Discord himself? "Ah, you finally made it!" He declared, seeming to focus almost exclusively on Twilight. "I knew you would," And then he immediately commented. "So this is the lovely little town where Celestia's star student got her start, is it? Nice digs. So much to see, so much to mess around with."

Twilight gulped. "I don't like the sound of that."

Discord only laughed as he appeared behind Twilight and scooped her up. "Oh come now, you're going to love what I've done with the place," He held her up, letting her take in Ponyville in its all chaotic and unholy glory. Buildings had been turned upside down, the ground had been replaced by black and white tiles almost like a checkerboard, chocolate rain poured down from cotton candy clouds and made puddles. Almost everywhere you looked Ponyville no longer resembled the quaint and peaceful little town it had once been. "And these are the only first of many, many changes." He cackled.

The studious unicorn fought back a gulp but said nothing.

Discord seemed to take that as a sign that he'd intimidated the only threat left to him into silence. "I know what you're thinking: Why go after Ponyville when Canterlot is the capital of Equestria? Well that was then and this is now. Ponyville will be the jewel in the crown for my new empire! An empire of chaos and disharmony! I'm making Ponyville the chaos capital of Equestria! No, the entire world! Just picture it."

Twilight looked out at the town just as the sun rapidly set once again. She decided to take advantage of the opportunity. "Sorry, I can't see anything," She lied to Discord. "It's too dark."

If Discord was bothered by Twilight's refusal to play along he didn't let it show. He just dropped her on the ground and waved a paw in an unconcerned fashion. "Oh, don't worry. Just wait around for a bit and you'll see it in the clear light of day. Or not, doesn't matter to me. See you soon!" And then he disappeared once again just as quickly as he had appeared.

"I hate Ponyville!" Pinkie Pie protested. "And somehow Discord's made it even uglier!"

"Whatever," Rarity huffed. "All I want is to be left alone with my diamond. I could care less what happens to Equestria."

Twilight, however, spoke up in protest. "Well too bad. You're all sticking with me whether you like it or not. I just know I can get you all back to normal."

It took a great deal of effort and will power for Twilight to convince her four corrupted friends to accompany her all the way back to the Golden Oak Library. A trek all the way out to the Everfree Forest wasn't worth attempting, and the studious unicorn was now convinced that the forest had never been the answer to the riddle in the first place. The library held the answers. "We... made it..." She panted, wiping the sweat from her brows. "Now will you all please just go inside? I'll make it all worth your while."

"I absolutely refuse!" Applejack insisted as her entire body became completely gray. But she still trotted into the library anyway.

"With pleasure. But first, there's something I need to do," Fluttershy declared as her body also turned completely gray. She flew over to a nearby flower bed and trampled it. "Much better."

Pinkie Pie was the next to "reluctantly" enter, though not without complaining. "I hate libraries!" And Twilight could only look on in horror as Pinkie too turned completely gray.

However, Rarity had already turned completely gray before she even entered the library. She didn't want to step even one hoof further forwards. "I'm not going, Twilight!" She protested and folded her hooves across her chest. "You're just planning to lure me inside, and then you'll send out your dragon to come and snatch up Tom."

"His name is Spike," Twilight snorted. "And he's not interested in your rock... I mean diamond."

"I don't believe you!" Rarity angrily remarked and narrowed her eyes. "Either Tom goes with me or I'm not going anywhere."

Reluctantly, Twilight obeyed while groaning. "The things I do for my friends." She was starting to lose her patience despite knowing that what her friends were doing wasn't necessarily of their own free will. "Discord sure wants to make this as hard as possible on me," She thought to herself. "If he's trying to get under my fur, he's doing a very good job of it."

And while Twilight was helping Rarity move "Tom" into the library, an unaware Spike was napping on the floor of the library. He'd grown tired waiting around for news about Twilight, especially since he'd been rather worried not to receive any kind of reply or see her come back to Ponyville. But there wasn't much he could do since he was a baby dragon.

All of a sudden, however, Spike was rudely woken from his nap by a splash of cold water. "Gah!" He shouted and nearly leapt into the air in surprise! He soon discovered that the cold water had come from a bucket courtesy of Fluttershy (who was making no efforts to hide her involvement). "What did you do that for, Fluttershy?!" He asked in confusion and frustration.

"I don't know, I just felt like it, really," Fluttershy insisted while holding the bucket. "You just looked so peaceful, I had to do something about it. So I did."

The little dragon was taken aback by such a statement. "W-what?! I didn't do anything to you!" Then he blinked in brief contemplation. "Did I?"

Fluttershy giggled. "Maybe you did and maybe you didn't, doesn't matter either way to me."

Spike was only left further confused by Fluttershy's remarks, especially since it was hard not to notice that her colors were completely gone. But his thoughts quickly turned to a sense of relief when he saw Twilight appear. "Twilight!" He happily exclaimed as he hugged her! "Oh, I'm so glad you're still okay!"

Twilight flashed a warm smile at Spike as she let him hug her. "Sorry to make you worry so much, Spike. But... well, you can see for yourself what I've had to put up with." She explained as she gestured a hoof to her friends.

Spike's confusion quickly returned. "Why's everypony gray except for you? And where's Rainbow Dash? What's going on?!"

"All you need to know is that this is Discord's doing," Twilight informed Spike. "And Discord is a creature who just loves to leave you guessing. He has the most twisted sense of humor I've ever seen in a creature, he makes Pinkie Pie look downright boring by comparison," She then began to trot over to the nearby shelves. "Now come on. You gotta help me find The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide before somepony here does something she'll regret later." The unicorn mare not so subtly glared at the others as she delivered that last line.

But before a search could begin, Fluttershy interrupted. "Hey, Twilight? What's soaking wet and totally clueless?"

Twilight groaned in annoyance. "Fluttershy, I'm in no mood for more games. And I've had just about enough of-" But her speech was cut off as she had a bucket of water poured over her head.

"Your face!" Fluttershy declared before slamming the bucket down on Twilight's head!

Fortunately, while Twilight was receiving a cold shower, Spike had managed to climb up a ladder and retrieve the book Twilight had asked for. "Found it!" He shouted as he held the book in his claws. But then the book was knocked out of his claws when Fluttershy threw an empty scroll at him.

Twilight stomped a hoof while glaring up at the pegasus mare. "Fluttershy, I'm only gonna say this once. You'd better give me that book if you know what's good for you."

Rather than obey, Fluttershy tossed the book to Applejack while shouting! "Keep away!" And then she taunted to Twilight. "Hope you move faster than you think, Faillight Sparkle!"

The book loving unicorn immediately trotted over to Applejack. "Give me the book, Applejack, and nopony gets hurt!" She demanded in a frustrated tone of voice.

"Book? What book? I don't see a book." Applejack lied before tossing the book that had been balanced on her nose towards Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie, in turn, tossed it to Rarity who was all too happy to hoard it for herself! "This book is mine!" She shouted and clutched it tightly!

"Give me back that book!" Twilight shouted and then tried to chase after Rarity, only for Fluttershy to swoop down and pull Rarity up just before Twilight crashed into the wooden horse head carving in the center of the library. Upon regaining her senses, she turned to find that there wasn't a trace of Rarity anywhere. Instead, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were just there, looking at her with suspicion. "Where's Rarity?!" She demanded of her corrupted friends.

"Beats me. I ain't seen her anywhere." Applejack lied once again.

And at that, Twilight lost her patience! "Liar!" She roared and lunged at her friends, kicking off a scuffle that stirred up a huge cloud of dust! The scuffle did have the unintentional side effect of drawing Rarity and Fluttershy in though, and eventually Twilight managed to emerge with The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide clutched firmly between her hooves.

All of the corrupted mares began crawling out of the cloud of dust and towards Twilight, determined to snatch the book away from her. Luckily for Twilight, Spike was ready and waiting to protect her, wielding a scroll like a makeshift sword.

"All of you stay back, I'm warning you!" Twilight shouted while continuing to hold the book for dear life. "This is my book and I'm gonna read it!"

"You heard her!" Spike threatened! "Mess with her and you mess with me! I have flame breath and I'm not afraid to use it!" He spewed out a small puff of flames to demonstrate he was serious.

That seemed to settle things. Twilight, now convinced that her corrupted friends wouldn't trouble her again (at least for the time being), used her magic to unfold the book and flip through the pages. To her surprise and great joy (not to mention relief) she discovered the Elements of Harmony resting right inside in all their glory! The five necklaces and the tiara all perfectly balanced and preserved.

The studious unicorn felt a bright smile form on her face. "Yes, this is it!" She declared to herself! "I'm not beaten yet, Discord!" But then she looked to her friends, all of whom were not the slightest bit interested or intrigued by what she had to say. "You don't even care anymore, do you?" She asked them.

"Why should we care? You're the only one who wanted that book," Pinkie Pie pointed out. "You're the one who's been forcing us to do everything. If it wasn't for you none of us would even be here in the first place."

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Fluttershy coldly declared while Applejack and Rarity nodded their heads in approval.

At that, Twilight felt her heart sink anew. "I can't believe this has happened," She lamented in a somber tone of voice. "Discord has turned you all into complete jerks. You're not even really my friends now, I don't recognize the ponies you've become."

Applejack lied while smirking. "You're the only one who's changed, sugarcube. If you just gave up tryin' to fight Discord we'd finally have peace."

Upon hearing such a suggestion (even from a now obvious liar), Twilight's sorrow disappeared and was replaced by a sense of anger and frustration. "Never! I'm not giving up no matter how much Discord wants me to!" She proceeded to throw four of the five necklaces towards each of her friends, making some quick changes in light of their new "personalities". She gave the element of honesty to Pinkie Pie, the element of kindness to Applejack, the element of laughter to Rarity and the element of generosity to Fluttershy. "Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! And big crown thingy!"

Spike blinked in confusion. "Wait, aren't you forgetting someone?"

Twilight shook her head. "Nope: We've got the liar, the hoarder, the grump and the brute. That just about settles it. The liar's being kind by not saying how she really feels. The hoarder makes us all laugh with her overly greedy ways. The grump is honest about what she doesn't like. And the brute is generous enough to spare no one in her bullying."

Then Spike pointed out. "But what about Rainbow Dash? What about loyalty?"

Twilight groaned. "There's no time to hunt down Rainbow Dash. So congratulations, Spike, you're the new Rainbow Dash!" And she promptly floated the element of loyalty over to him. "You've always been there for me when I need you most, so you'll have to do for loyalty."

The little dragon gulped as his green eyes went wide with shock! "Me?! The new Rainbow Dash?! What if the old Rainbow Dash finds out I'm been impersonating her?! Oh, that won't end well!"

"Too bad, you're the new Rainbow Dash!" Twilight protested to him. "You only have to do your part until Discord's defeated. Then we can all put this behind us forever! Now come on!" And she led her corrupted friends out of the library.

Rarity, however, wouldn't leave unless her "diamond" came with her. "Look out, everypony! Here comes Tom!" She shouted a warning just before tossing the huge boulder out the front door of the library!

As luck would have it, Discord was right outside as if he'd been waiting for Twilight and the others. "Oh no!" He exclaimed with noticeably exaggerated worry! "You found the Elements of Harmony! And here I was hoping you wouldn't!"

Twilight couldn't resist smirking, convinced she'd found a way around Discord's attempted sabotage. "You made a huge mistake letting me gain access to them, Discord," She taunted while sticking out her tongue. "Mock me all you want, but your little 'game' ends now."

The spirit just continued to put on his display of exaggerated worry and concern. "Oh indeed, how sloppy of me. I was a fool not to see this coming. You've shown me the error of my ways and now it's time for me to meet my fate," He put on a pair of sunglasses and made a huge archery target appear over his lower body. "I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies, and dragon. Fire when ready."

Twilight nodded. "Oh we will, and you'll be sorry! Your reign of terror will be very short lived!" Then, one by one each Element of Harmony began to glow brightly. The bearers began to float into the air.

Discord briefly removed his sunglasses and stared at the display with growing concern. Was it possible he'd miscalculated? Had Twilight managed to outfox him despite his best efforts?

The moment of hope faded all too soon though, as the glow faded and the six bearers tumbled to the ground in defeat. Nothing had happened.

A look of horror and disbelief flashed in Twilight's eyes as the realization slowly settled in. "No, it can't be!" She whimpered in fright.

Discord, for his part, was overjoyed at the display! "Ha ha! YES!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "You thought you had me, Twilight. A valiant effort on your part, but in the end it was all for naught," And he boasted. "Thanks to you, harmony in Equestria is now officially dead."

"I... I don't understand," Twilight glumly remarked as she looked around and scratched her head. "I rearranged the elements to work around your tricks. I matched them to my friends' 'new' personalities."

The witty spirit only smirked as he pointed a claw at Twilight. "Yes, and it was quite a clever move. However, it seems you overlooked one not so small detail. How did you expect the Elements of Harmony to work when the very spark that powers them no longer exists?"

The studious unicorn gulped and began to sweat. "It... it can't be! I didn't..."

Discord's grin just grew wider. "You didn't think so, but every time you lashed out at your friends you were playing right into my paws. I didn't think it would work quite as well as it did. I had no way to know you'd try to rearrange the elements or find a replacement for Rainbow Dash. But it seems I had nothing to worry about anyway. As long as you no longer felt a connection to your friends, it wouldn't have mattered what you did," And he threw back his head and laughed. "Now there's nothing left to stand in my way. Equestria is finally mine!"

A tear seemed to start to form in Twilight's eye despite her best efforts to keep herself from crying. A fact that didn't go unnoticed by the draconequus as he taunted his opponent, picking her up off the ground. "Oh, don't beat yourself up too much, Twilight. I'll be sure to tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna that you did your best." And then he set her back down on the ground, disappearing once again.

"Uh, I think I'm just gonna... go clean up the library." Spike nervously insisted as he ran back to the library as fast as his little legs could carry him.

Fluttershy couldn't resist tripping the little dragon and then not so subtly taunting him. "Oops! Sorry, Rainbow Dash!" With a sadistic snicker she then added. "You're a copy just as weak as the original."

Applejack, meanwhile, took off her own Element of Harmony necklace. "I knew it wasn't gonna work out. But nopony ever listens to me." She declared and threw it away.

"Humph, useless piece of garbage." Fluttershy declared while tossing aside her own Element of Harmony necklace.

"I hate the Elements of Harmony!" Pinkie Pie remarked as she followed suit.

Rarity was all too happy to retrieve the discarded necklaces as they were thrown onto the ground. "Mine! All mine!" She giddily declared even though the elements were soon picked up by Twilight with her magic.

Twilight could only watch as her former friends now went their separate ways, leaving her alone. "Fine, go ahead!" She sadly declared as the tears started to emerge. "See if I care. After all, with friends like you, who needs..." The last line left her lips very slowly. "Enemies." And just like that, her entire coat and mane and tail turned completely gray. The lone tear that fell from her eyes took the form of a broken heart.

It was over, Discord had won.

A depressed and broken hearted Twilight Sparkle strolled through Ponyville, unwilling to look at what it had become under Discord. The entire place was completely unrecognizable now, every building had been turned upside down or otherwise twisted in some way, shape or form. The cotton candy clouds rained down chocolate milk flavored rain without end as the sun and the moon rose and set with no real rhyme or reason. Pies floated upwards and buffalo wearing tutus danced about on the tiled ground and soap covered roads.

Twilight didn't even notice that her own personal cloud was hanging around her, pouring chocolate rain down like there was no tomorrow.

"Hey, why the long face?" Discord asked as he suddenly appeared out of the blue. "Oh that's right, I broke you. I guess maybe I had a little too much fun."

"What do you want now, Discord?" The depressed unicorn inquired without looking up. "Come to rub it in some more? You must think I'm a joke."

The spirit only replied by shaking his head, scooping up the cotton candy cloud and placing it on a stick. "Hey, just because your world is turned upside down doesn't mean you have to wear a frown all day and night. It's not good for you," He insisted. "Come on, lighten up a little. Just take a look at how I'm improving Ponyville's housing situation. Of course, I can't add more buildings without bringing down some old ones."

Twilight briefly looked up to see Discord had turned several houses into cardboard cutouts of themselves, and was now making a huge pepper shaker sprinkle its contents all over a pale, light grayish purple coated earth pony mare. Said mare's purple eyes were slammed shut as the pepper spilled onto her bushy purplish-pink mane and tail. Try as she might she couldn't hold back the sneeze that came. And when she sneezed the cardboard cutout houses crumpled and fell to the ground.

"Gesundheit!" The spirit snickered. "Isn't that just the funniest thing you've ever seen?"

Twilight only looked down at the ground again and hung her head in shame. "Maybe for you. But then, you seem to think everything's funny. Everything's just a joke to," She trotted off while saying. "I hope you're happy. You got everything you wanted, Discord."

The draconequus paused, watching as the pony he'd spent so much time taunting and mocking trotted away in defeat. He was not used to this. None of his victims had ever responded in such a fashion. "I can't help her anymore," He thought to himself. "I already gave her a freebie. I didn't think she'd take it nearly this hard." Then he disappeared, thinking about what to do next. His victory suddenly didn't feel very satisfying.

As for Twilight, the sun had already set yet again by the time she reached the familiar grounds of the Golden Oak Library. Trotting inside, she made her way up to her bedroom and somberly declared to Spike. "Come on, Spike. Pack your things. We're leaving. And don't ask me where we're going, because I don't have a clue anymore." She took off her tiara, briefly gazing at it before tossing into a nearby trash can. It would be of no use to her now.

It didn't take long for Twilight to finish packing a suitcase, but to he surprise Spike wasn't around and didn't seem to be responding. "Spike?" She called as she trotted downstairs. "I'm your mother, and what I say goes. So when I say we're moving, we're moving. Now pack up your things and let's go!"

But Spike wasn't moving. In fact, he couldn't move at all. He was incredibly sick to his stomach as a huge pile of scrolls lay beside him. "Oh, it's been like this for the past several minutes! Ever since I got back to the library!" He weakly complained. "Please, someone make it stop!"

Against her better judgement, Twilight picked up the first scroll, unfolded it and began to read it aloud. "'Dear Princess Celestia,'" She then gasped as she realized what it was she was reading! "My old friendship reports!" Something quickly began to take hold deep inside her, almost like a spark you might say. And she began reading over the reports one by one. Every single report she had ever sent to Princess Celestia since moving to Ponyville (and even some she had seen personally delivered such as at the Best Young Flyers Competition or in the aftermath of the Grand Galloping Gala) was there.

Reading over the words, Twilight suddenly became filled with a new sense of hope and determination. Her colors returned, her light purple coat sparkling as if it had just been cleaned. "Spike?" She said to the baby dragon once she had finished reading the last scroll. "Do you remember what I said when I first came to Ponyville almost a year ago? 'The fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.'?" Without waiting for a reply she declared. "Well I was wrong! The fate of Equestria does rest on me making friends. And now it's clear that I need to fight for my friends! For them and for all of Equestria!"

"H-how are you gonna do that?" Spike weakly whimpered, still unwell from having belched up all the scrolls in such a short amount of time.

A sudden spark flashed across Twilight's moderate violet eyes. "With a memory spell of course! I was reading up on them just the other day just for fun. But now all that reading is gonna pay off!" She rushed upstairs and retrieved the Tiara of Friendship from the trash can she'd tossed into. Then she ran back downstairs and retrieved the Elements of Harmony from their resting place inside the reference guide, tossing them each into the suitcase she'd packed and tossing out everything else. "Wish me luck, Spike!" And with that she trotted away with a new goal in mind.

Twilight's first stop was Sweet Apple Acres where even Granny Smith and Big Macintosh had not been spared from Discord's chaotic ways and personality warping. He had turned Big Mac into a dog, as the big, red stallion was digging massive holes and even licked Twilight's face. And Granny Smith was tap dancing up a storm even though she hadn't danced or even moved well at all in recent years.

And sure enough, there was Applejack who was just laying underneath a tree and munching on an apple. "So of course I tried to defeat Discord," She lied while tossing the half eaten apple aside. "But none of my friends would even lift a hoof to help me. I had no choice but to surrender."

Twilight trotted forward. "Sorry, Applejack, but you left out important information," Then she smiled. "It's okay though, I'm here to fight for you."

Applejack stood up and scoffed. "Oh, now you wanna fight?! Well where were you when I was fightin' Discord all by myself?!"

Twilight was in no mood to hear Applejack continue to lie. She immediately tackled her farm friend and brought her to the ground. "This isn't you, Applejack. You're not a liar. Not like this!" And she lit up her horn, pressing it up against Applejack's forehead.

Just like that, memories began flashing through Applejack's green eyes. She could remember all the good times she'd shared with her friends and the many lessons she had learned from hanging out with them. And as the memories returned so did her coat and mane and tail colors. Heck, she even managed to get the color back on her stetson. "Twilight!" She exclaimed upon realizing what had happened. "I... I remember now. There was this orchard, and these apples told me I could ask them anythin'. They showed me a vision of the future, of our friendship fallin' apart. I didn't want to believe it and then... it was like I just had to lie no matter what."

The studious unicorn just smiled and reassuringly put a hoof around the farm mare. "It's okay, Applejack. Discord tricked you like he tricked all of us. But he underestimated the strength of our bond."

Applejack leapt to her hooves immediately! "Darn tootin' he did! So how are we gonna put a stop to his madness?"

"First we'll need to round up the rest of our friends," Twilight explained. "Think you can help me do that?"

The farm mare nodded as she retrieved a lasso. "Of course I can, sugarcube. I'm ready when you are."

"Good," Twilight smiled. "We'll start with Fluttershy. She shouldn't be too much trouble."

And indeed Fluttershy wasn't. Cornered and alone in her cottage, she wasn't able to put up much of a fight against two ponies. "You're not gonna get away with this! You're not gonna change me back!" She protested and kicked about, even as she was swiftly tied up and held down.

"She's all yours, Twilight." Applejack instructed.

Twilight nodded and pressed her sparking horn up against Fluttershy's forehead. Just like with Applejack, memories from before came rushing back and flashed through the pegasus mare's eyes. And when they did her coat and mane and tail colors returned to normal. She slowly sat up and removed the rope that had held her captive. "Oh my," She blushed bright red in embarrassment and shame. "It was like I was having an out of body experience."

"Join the club, sugarcube." Applejack chuckled.

Fluttershy then snarled. "That Discord is nothing but a big, dumb, meanie!" The last part of that sentence sounded not unlike a roar! "Where is he?! I'm gonna make him pay for what he's done to our friends!"

"First we need to get the rest of our friends back on our side," Twilight declared to Fluttershy. "Sugarcube Corner isn't far from here. Let's get Pinkie Pie back to her old, cheerful self."

The three mares made their way over to the bakery and expected to have a real fight on their hooves. But to the surprise of them all they found that Pinkie had already been subdued by the Cakes.

"Even in her grumpy state, Pinkie still has a sweet tooth." Mrs. Cake declared with a wink, even giggling a little.

Mr. Cake was quick to add. "Why does she always have to hog all the fun? I kind of like being like this. I haven't felt this good in ages."

Twilight simply ignored the playful nature of the old bakers and trotted up to the subdued and distracted Pinkie Pie. "Trust me, Pinkie. You're gonna feel a lot better after this."

The formerly pink party pony grumbled. "Do your worst. I still hate you!"

But it wasn't long before Pinkie was recalling all the happy memories she'd had with her friends. And soon she was right back to her old Pinkie self as her coat and mane and tail returned to their normal, pink state of appearance. "Wow! I turned gray!" She giggled in amusement. "It'd be funny if Discord didn't turn me into the biggest party pooper ever. It's really too bad he's such a poor sport," And she added while looking out a window. "Never thought I'd grow tired of seeing chocolate rain. If only there was whipped cream to go with it."

"All the more reason why we need to get the rest of our friends' memories restored," Twilight explained. "We'll deal with Rarity first and then we'll track down Rainbow Dash."

Rarity was naturally quite resistant to her friends' advances. "No! None of you can have Tom!" She protested in vain as she tried to defend her "diamond". "You freeloaders have ten seconds to get out of my boutique before I get angry!"

"Don't worry, ten seconds is all we need." Pinkie Pie pointed out, before Twilight was able to sneak up behind the fashionista and do what she'd done for all her other friends.

Rarity too had all the memories of the time she'd willingly spent with her friends flash back in her mind. And as soon as her colors had returned she saw for herself what a nasty trick Discord had played on her. "I'll bet that rock's not even a geode," She snorted and pushed it out of Carousel Boutique, then she looked across to her friends. "Let us never speak of this again."

Tracking down Rainbow Dash was surprisingly easier than the five mares had expected it to be. They found their still gray colored friend resting on a patch of unaltered clouds right in the middle of nowhere.

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy happily exclaimed! "Oh, thank goodness! We've missed you so much!"

Rainbow Dash only replied with her back turned. "Yeah, yeah, that's cool. But I'm sticking here in Cloudsdale where everything is awesome. You losers can deal with Discord here in Ponyville. All I care about is if he threatens Cloudsdale."

Rarity scoffed in dismay. "How in Equestria can she possibly think that small patch of clouds is Cloudsdale?"

Applejack smirked. "Probably the same way Discord got you to think that boulder was a beautiful diamond?"

"I thought we agreed never to speak of that." The fashionista replied with a glare.

Twilight quickly moved to change the subject. "Rainbow's definitely not going to make things easy on us. So we're gonna have to change up our approach a little bit," She pulled her friends close and began to whisper. "Here's what we're gonna do."

Sometime later, an unsuspecting and unaware Rainbow Dash felt herself being aroused from her sleep by a hoof. She yawned, stretched and turned around to find Fluttershy staring at her.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy apologized as she held a rope in her hooves. "But I'm gonna have to tie you down and hold you against your will for a little bit," She quickly threw the rope around the brash speedster, preventing her from escaping as several other ropes were tied around the mare in various spots. "It's nothing personal. It's for your own good."

Yet even as she was brought to the ground with the ropes holding her in place, Rainbow stubbornly snorted and kicked all around like a wild animal that did not want to be caged! "You... you traitors! All of you!" She hissed at the top of her lungs! "You've doomed Cloudsdale and all of Equestria!"

Twilight wasn't bothered for even a second as she lit up her horn once again. "In a moment, Rainbow, you won't think so. The truth will set you free."

Soon, just as with all of her friends, Rainbow could see all the memories she'd shared with these mares flashing back to her. And slowly, as her will to resist drained away her coat and mane and tail colors returned to normal. Rainbow Dash was back and was now with the friends she realized she'd been tricked into abandoning! "Girls!" She happily exclaimed! "Oh, you girls are the best friends a mare could ask for!"

"We're just glad to have you back, Dashie!" Pinkie happily exclaimed! "It's so good to be colorful again, wouldn't you agree?"

The brash speedster nodded her head. "Yeah, it is. And oh boy is that Discord gonna pay!"

Twilight firmly nodded. "And he will pay. The time has come for us to put an end to his little 'games'."

Discord was perched atop a throne he had constructed all by himself out of literal thin air. He sat upon it and watched all the glorious chaos he'd brought to life run rampant. It was all so amusing to the draconequus as he produced a glass from out of nowhere and filled it up with chocolate milk from one of the cotton candy clouds. "Ah," He fondly sighed to himself. "Chaos is such a wonderful, wonderful thing."

"Not as wonderful as friendship and harmony!" A familiar voice called out. And suddenly, six very recognizable ponies stood before the spirit.

"Oh, this again?" Discord sighed in annoyance. "Excuse me, I need a drink." He proceeded to drink the glass and then throw away the chocolate milk as if it were solid. A scream could be heard in the distance.

Applejack quickly replied. "It's all over for you, Discord. You're done makin' a fool of us!"

The spirit was anything but concerned by the statement. He simply pulled Applejack close using one of the talons on his right paw. "Oh Applejack, please don't lie to me. You forget, I'm the only one who can make you a liar. In fact, I can make you all into anything I want! You can't tell me what to do!" And he proceeded to pull the mares close with the greatest of ease. "Ooh, I see you've got your colors back," He noticed. "Interesting. But it won't save you. I've broken your bonds."

Twilight just responded by using her horn to conjure up a protective bubble for herself and her friends. She quickly brought it down to the ground, and when it made contact with the ground it turned some of the tiles back into grass.

Discord saw what had just happened and he was anything but amused. He growled as he appeared before the six mares as they wore their Element of Harmony necklaces (and tiara in Twilight's case) with pride. "We're doing this now, are we? I'll have you know that I don't take kindly to those who think they're better than me!"

"We don't think, we know," Twilight insisted and then taunted. "Don't tell me the big, bad Discord is afraid of a couple of ponies."

At that, Discord growled in annoyance and snapped. "You know what, fine! Let's get this nonsense over with. Try to befriend me ponies, if you can. Just make it quick, I'm missing out on some excellent chaos here." He then teleported back to his throne and sat there, waiting.

The studious unicorn just smirked in reply. "You're going to regret that, Discord. Ready girls?"

"Just a sec!" Pinkie called out, scarfing down some of the chocolate milk flavored rain before licking her lips. "Okay, ready!" And she jumped into formation while growling like a dog.

One by one, each pony activated their Element of Harmony, starting with Applejack, then Fluttershy, then Pinkie Pie, then Rarity, then Rainbow Dash and finally Twilight. Each necklace glowed as it powered up, lifting its bearer into the air.

Discord yawned, not the least bit concerned about the lights show he was witnessing. "Okay, this has all been very entertaining. But it's time to end this," He spoke up as he snapped one of his talons, intending to take away the Elements of Harmony like he'd done so before. Yet when he tried to do so, he found that nothing had happened. Unconcerned, he tried again and again. But each time it had the same result! All the while, the lights were growing brighter. Now realizing what was happening, he tried to move. But to the horror of the spirit he found that he couldn't something was holding him in place. "Uh oh!" He commented and his brilliant crimson pupils grew wide with horror as he realized too late was happening!

Twilight's tiara glowed as she was lifted into the air, and all of her friends hovered next to her in unison! A powerful beam of rainbow colored light shot up from the six ponies, rose into the air and then descended upon Discord!

"Noooooooooo!" Discord yelled at the top of his lungs as he tried in vain to escape. His entire body rapidly turning to stone. "This can't be... I... won't.... lose... again!" And those were the last words he spoke before the stoning was completed. The spirit of chaos and disharmony had been sealed away once again.

The rainbow colored light didn't stop there, however. It spread all the way across Equestria, undoing every trace of Discord's chaos as if it had never happened in the first place. Only once that had happened did the light fade and the elements deactivated.

"We did it!" Twilight declared with a smile on her face! "We've saved Equestria again!"

Sometime later, the six mares were invited to Canterlot once again. And this time it was for an awards ceremony that took place in the throne room of the royal palace.

Princess Celestia presided over the ceremony. "It is with great pleasure that I present to you all our heroes! The ponies who have defeated Discord and restored harmony and balance to Equestria," She declared. "Three cheers for Twilight Sparkle and her friends: The new bearers of the Elements of Harmony!"

The throne room doors opened and the six mares trotted in, Spike standing next to Princess Celestia as the crowd burst into thunderous applause! Medals were on hoof waiting to be given to the ponies while a new stained glass window display commemorating their triumph was brought out and unveiled for all to see.

Twilight and her friends basked in the praise and applause of the crowd while standing at attention, waiting as they received their medals one by one. Twice now in the span of less than a year they had banded together when all hope had seemed lost, and defeated a great evil that had threatened Equestria.

However, Twilight couldn't help but wonder during the ceremony. "What other long forgotten threats could be lurking out there?" She thought to herself. But she wasn't worried enough to feel like asking. She was convinced that so long as she had her friends by her side, nothing would ever truly be able to pose a threat to Equestria any time soon.

S3 E3: Too Many Pinkie Pies (What If?)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

S4 E25: Twilight's Kingdom, Part 1 (What If?)

Author's Note

Much like "The Return of Harmony" I know that this episode has a lot of fans. I don't think there's anyone who is even remotely not a fan of this episode or doesn't praise it. While I don't personally think it's bad I feel like it is far from deserving of its reputation as the best two parter and the best season finale ever (on top of so many other things). It's good but it's not nearly that good.

While I will cover it more in Part 2, Discord's portrayal here does end up causing some problems. The biggest in Part 1 is that the episode goes back and forth between his mission and Twilight's search for the keys (which hastily tie together five episodes from across the season), meaning the episode isn't really sure whether it's supposed to be Discord's big act of redemption or Twilight Sparkle proving her worth as an alicorn princess at long last.

When they decide to eventually focus on Twilight it results in Discord teaming up with Tirek after being offered a chance at freedom, and we don't get to see Discord really think over his decision. And we also learn that Princess Celestia sent Discord alone after Tirek without a plan in place in case Discord were to fail.

There's also the fact that the episode begins in the Crystal Empire right after the previous episode took place in the Crystal Empire, yet the two are not related (it was probably not intentional but it was bad timing). And while we do learn how Twilight doesn't feel like her role amounts to anything, it doesn't actually contribute to the big themes of the finale until after "You'll Play Your Part". So I felt like it would work better to tie much of the initial set-up into the end of "Equestria Games".

I also wanted to address the fact that throughout Season 4 the search for the keys amounted to nothing aside from some occasional background nods. Even if the intent was never to make it an ongoing arc, the decision to have three episodes related to it back to back ultimately raised the potential that was subsequently dashed. And apparently, it was originally intended for the Pony of Shadows to be used (hence the tease during "Castle Mane-ia") but Tirek was made the villain due to the finale coinciding with the MLP franchise's 30th anniversary. And Tirek is a change I don't mind, so I'm not replacing him.

I couldn't resist throwing in a nod to Twilight Velvet being based on G1 Twilight (which Tirek is originally from), and Princess Luna as Spike's dragon sitter is something that yodajax10 and I have written many fanfics about together.

Also, the thing with Trixie is a nod to my rewrite of "Three's A Crowd" that had her replace Discord in that episode. If you're curious you can find that rewrite here. And I also made adjustments to "Rainbow Falls" when I rewrote that episode, which can be found here.

I again hope none of these changes are a deal breaker for any of you, but if they are you can skip past this and the next rewrite and go on to my rewrite of "Daring Done?" once it's uploaded.

~~Griffon the Brush Off~~
~~The Return of Harmony Parts 1 and 2~~
~~Too Many Pinkie Pies~~
Twilight's Kingdom Parts 1 and 2
Daring Done?
Ail-icorn (The Mean Six)
The Beginning of the End Parts 1 and 2

S4 E25: Twilight's Kingdom, Part 1 (What If?)

The Equestria Games in the Crystal Empire were winding down after several days of excitement. Ponyville had ultimately won in the medal count by a single medal as a result of Cloudsdale being unable to have either of its finalists place in the ice archery finals (which had to be unfortunately scrubbed due to an accident).

Spike had been given the honor of taking Princess Cadence's place in lighting the fireworks for the closing ceremonies, and Shining Armor (decked out in his captain's uniform and suit of armor) was presiding over the flag processions as each participating city, town or kingdom carried their respective flags off the field.

Everyone was happy. Or at least, most everyone was happy. Twilight Sparkle was doing her best to hide it, but it was clear to her friends that she wasn't as enthusiastic as she should be under the circumstances. And this was despite the fact that she'd opted to be in the stands with them instead of her pre-assigned seat with the other princesses.

"What's the matter, sugarcube?" Applejack asked with concern, the first to draw attention to her friend's unhappy state of appearance.

"Why the looooooooong face?!" Pinkie Pie questioned as she bounced in front of Twilight.

Twilight, for her part, tried to downplay her mood. "It's nothing, really. I'm quite happy that Ponyville won. But as a princess I can't be seen playing favorites."

The others weren't fooled for a second. "Darling, the games are over and Ponyville's already been declared the winner," Rarity pointed out. "Besides that you're still an official resident of Ponyville. Everyone would understand if you were celebrating with us. So it's not because of that. Something else is up."

"You have been awfully quiet since the closing ceremonies began." Fluttershy pointed out.

Rainbow Dash then encouraged in her usual blunt manner. "Come on, Twilight! Spill it! What's got you all down in the dumps? We're your friends for pony's sake!"

Reluctantly, the young alicorn unfolded her wings. She'd been doing her best to keep them concealed up to this point. And as she did so she couldn't help but fiddle around with the crown she wore atop her head. "I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want everypony here to get upset. They were all so excited," She let out a sigh. "But... well... it feels like even though it's been quite a while since I gained my wings, my new title doesn't seem to matter much. In fact, it barely seems to matter at all. I'm still the same old Twilight."

"Really? And what's wrong with that?" Rarity pointed out again. "We wouldn't want you to suddenly change just because of your title. We're glad that you haven't forgotten who you are and how you got to this point. Being humble royalty is nothing to be ashamed of." And the other mares nodded in confirmation.

Twilight nodded back. "I know that. I'm not saying I should be acting all high and mighty because I'm a princess. But I can't even hale a cab in Manehattan. About the only time my title amounted to anything was during the Rainbow Falls' Trader Exchange, and that was purely a ceremonial role that didn't have any actual authority," She then remarked. "I guess maybe it's just because I'm frustrated by that lock the Tree of Harmony left us. I've been doing what research I can in my spare time but it continues to baffle me."

"I'm sure we'll find the keys and open it up eventually." Fluttershy encouraged as she put a hoof around Twilight.

Pinkie Pie bounced up and down while declaring! "Yeah! I'll bet they're hiding in the place we least expect them to hide! Any day now they're gonna pop up, and we'll all feel silly for not thinking to check where we did sooner."

"In the mean time," Applejack suggested to her princess friend. "Why don't you bring this up with the other princesses? I'm pretty sure Celestia, Luna or even Cadence would listen if you told them. I'm sure they all had their doubts about their roles at some point. Heck, why not ask your brother how he felt when he first became royalty?"

"I would, but I don't wanna just intrude or seem demanding," Twilight protested. "I'm not even sure what it was that brought this on. I've been feeling kind of like this for a while now, but it's only now that it's even become a problem," She let out another unhappy sigh, watching as the last of the flags departed the stadium and the final firework faded away. "Well, I think I'm gonna hit the hay. We leave for Ponyville first thing tomorrow, girls." And with that she trotted away.

However, as Twilight trotted off she had no idea that events were about to unfold. Events that would not only help her finally unlock the mystery of the six sided chest, but also finally provide her with the answer to that burning question: What was the role she was meant to play in Equestria as its newest alicorn princess?

As she made her way back to the suite (it wasn't even a royal suite) that had been provided for her and her friends for the length of the Equestria Games, Twilight couldn't help but sing aloud to herself to try and sooth her own feelings of inadequacy:

It's not like I haven't been grateful for all the things that I've earned.

Or for all the journeys I've taken, or all the things that I've learned.

But I can't help but wonder where I'm going now, what is my role supposed to be?

I don't know how to travel to a future that I can't see.

I have my wings, I wear the crown. I'm a princess, that much is true.

But it's still unclear to me just what it is I'm meant to do.

I wanna have a purpose, do all that I can.

I want to make my own contributions, and be a part of a plan.

To the surprise of the young alicorn, she was not alone for long. Suddenly, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and even Princess Cadence were by her side. Princess Celestia was quick to drape a wing around her former student. "Twilight, your concerns are quite valid," She soothed the mare. "Each of us have felt this way at one point or another. You are not alone."

Luna nodded. "You may not believe your role amounts to much yet, but in time it will. You're young yet, you've got your whole life ahead of you."

And Cadence assured the mare. "You're more than worthy of your title and all the perks that come with. The same goes for the responsibilities, no matter how insignificant they may seem."

And it was with that that each of the princesses started to sing one by one. Celestia was the first to do so:

Your destiny looks to be uncertain, and sometimes that's hard to take.

But it will become much clearer with every choice that you make.

Luna sang next:

Patience is never easy. I understand wanting to do more.

I know how hard it must be, wanting to spread your wings and soar.

And then Cadence sang:

But you are here for a reason. You're gifted and quite strong.

That crown rests upon your head because you belong!

And then all three took to the air and sang in unison:

Know that your time is coming soon.

As the sun rises, so does the moon.

And as love finds a place in almost every heart,

You are a princess, and you'll play your part!

The song ended as Twilight managed to wipe away the tears that had formed in her eyes. "Thank you, all of you," She said to her fellow princesses. "I suppose it is silly of me to worry so much. My role may not have amounted to much so far but that can change, and I must believe it will!"

"If you ever feel the need to discuss it again, we will always be here for you," Princess Celestia offered. "And princess or not, you've done many great things already. Never forget that, Twilight."

Princess Luna then commented. "But it's late. You should get to bed before your friends start to worry. And you mustn't forget about Spike," She smiled. "I have a feeling he will be gushing about his big act of heroism a lot in his dreams tonight."

"Well, who better than his dragon sitter to make sure he's well rested?" Princess Cadence teased while lightly ribbing Princess Luna in the side. That got everyone to giggle.

Late that night, long after all the princesses (and everyone else for that matter) had gone to bed, a unicorn stallion in another part of Equestria was trotting through a dark alley. He was carrying a crate of oranges with his magic, keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble. "Ponies have started losing their magic for unexplained reasons," He thought to himself. "If I'm not careful I could be next."

Yet as the unicorn rounded a corner he thought he heard a noise. He flinched briefly, before being convinced it was just a figment of his imagination. Breathing a sigh of relief, he resumed his journey only to bump right into a cloaked figure that was breathing heavily. "O-oh... v-very sorry, sir," The stallion sincerely apologized as he carefully set his crate of oranges down. "You... came out of nowhere. Didn't see you, honest."

The cloaked figure didn't reply or give any kind of acknowledgement. It just continued to breath rather heavily.

"Hey, are you okay?" The stallion reluctantly asked the cloaked figure, hoping for a reply. "Are you lost or something? Say something, you're starting to creep me out."

The cloaked figure remained silent for another moment, before a faint and raspy voice echoed through the darkness. "'Is he friend or is he foe?' the pony wonders. Well I can assure you that I am no friend." The last word seemed to be hissed out, you could almost hear the venom contained within it.

"Who... who are you?" The stallion questioned as he backed slowly away.

The cloaked figure soon gave an answer. "I am Lord Tirek!" It was now possible to make out the faint outline of glowing yellow eyes, and reddish-brown paws. "And I will take what should've been rightfully mine long ago, starting with you!" He proceeded to open his mouth, draining the unexpecting unicorn stallion of all his magic. The stallion's eyes dulled and his cutie mark vanished as he dropped the crate, his magic depleted fully.

The magic surged right into Tirek who guzzled it down, his body growing ever so slightly as a result. He cackled, rubbing his paws together with delight. "I'm coming for you, princesses!" He mentally crowed in anticipation.

And that was the last thing Princess Celestia saw before she woke with a start in her bed, still in her royal crown and horseshoes! She quickly got her bearings, realizing where she was. The princess breathed a much needed sigh of relief. "I really need to stop eating cake before bed!" She mentally scolded herself.

Just then, the bedroom doors flung open and Princess Luna rushed in with concern! "Sister, are you alright?!"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, Luna, I'm fine. Thank goodness you're here. I just had the most terrible nightmare."

But Luna shook her head and ominously declared. "Why do you think I'm here, dear sister? You know as well as I do that this was not a dream but a vision."

Celestia rose from her bed. She'd been afraid to come to that realization but there was no other explanation. "Yes, but never for something so immediate and so ominous," She frowned. "So he's finally decided to show himself, has he? I had hoped he'd lay low for the rest of his days."

Luna just looked across to her sister. "Well, it seems he has other ideas in mind," And she declared. "We must notify Cadence and Twilight immediately and get them up to speed."

The elder alicorn nodded in confirmation. "Indeed, the sooner the better. For now that Tirek is on the loose we are all in very real danger."

The two other alicorns were informed the very next morning when Princess Celestia called an emergency meeting at the castle in Crystal Empire (so as to save time and to not arouse suspicion). She quickly explained the reason, as the four alicorns were seated around a table and a book was floated over. "Last night one of my worst fears was realized when I received confirmation that Lord Tirek is at large."

"'Lord Tirek'?" Twilight blinked in confusion. "Why does that name sound so familiar?" Then it dawned on her. "Wait, I think I remember hearing about a monster named Tirek and something about a rainbow of darkness in my mother's bedtime stories. But I always thought they were just made up."

Princess Luna shook her head. "The rainbow of darkness might have been fictional but Tirek is all too real, though I doubt your mother ever knew he existed."

Princess Celestia then explained. "Lord Tirek, or simply Tirek came to Equestria from a distant land with his brother Scorpan over a thousand years ago. Their intention was to steal the magic in Equestria for themselves and take over." As she spoke, the book opened up and its pages moved to depict two very strange creatures: One was a looming and hulking centaur, and the other was what could best be described as a gargoyle.

Princess Luna continued the story, showing the gargoyle amongst several ponies. "But Scorpan soon came to appreciate the ponies and how welcoming they were. He even met and befriended a young wizard who you might know as Starswirl the Bearded." The page turned to show a depiction of a younger version of Starswirl, his coat was white and his eyes were not as dulled as they were in modern depictions. But he still had a long beard flowing down his face.

"Even back then he believed that a beard conveyed wisdom, something very near and dear to Starswirl," Celestia explained. "Anyway, it was because of this encounter that Scorpan had a change of heart." The page turned to show Scorpan (assuming the gargoyle was him) in a cave, meeting with the centaur.

Luna continued. "Scorpan tried to persuade his brother to abandon his plans of conquest, but Tirek refused," The next page showed Scorpan meeting with two very familiar looking alicorns. "So instead he turned to us for help, informing us of what his brother had planned. Celestia and I had just taken the throne not too long ago, we had barely an army and were in no condition to fend off an assault if one occurred. And Scorpan knew this."

Celestia then somberly stated as the page turned once again, showing the centaur being pulled down into some kind of abyss as chains appeared on his paws. "Tirek was captured and sent to Tartarus for his crimes against Equestria, while Scorpan left to return to his home land. We assume he went on to ascend to the throne of his own kingdom, though we never heard from him again."

Luna then spoke up. "But now Tirek has escaped from Tartarus! Celestia and I suspect that this occurred when Cerberus left his post at the gates. A head count after Cerberus was returned confirmed one prisoner was missing."

"But that was almost a year ago!" Twilight blinked in disbelief and scratched her head in confusion. "If he really escaped that long ago, why wait until now to start causing trouble?"

Celestia was quick to explain. "You must understand, Twilight. Tirek's time in Tartarus left him very weak. It's likely that only now has he regained the ability to steal unicorn magic."

And Luna ominously concluded. "Yet with each passing minute he grows stronger still. He will not be satisfied with just unicorns. He will eventually seek out pegasi and earth ponies as well."

Princess Cadence then smiled as she looked to Twilight. "And I think I know just the princess who can stop him. The very same princess who has stared danger in the eye and defeated evil several times already."

It didn't take a genius for everyone in the room to realize that Cadence was referring to Twilight. Twilight proudly puffed out her chest and unfolded her wings, eager to accept what she assumed would be her assignment. "-Yes!" She eagerly declared! "Leave it to me! I'll hunt down Tirek and-"

But Princess Celestia rejected the idea immediately. "No, Twilight. You're not up to the task. Not this time."

"What?! Why not?" Twilight asked with concern.

Celestia explained to her former student. "Tirek is not to be underestimated. He's already drained several unicorns of their magic and will prove difficult to track down. By the time you locate him it may already be too late to reverse the damage. He may very will be waiting for you, and will lure you into a trap. I can't risk your safety, risk sending you on what will be a wild goose chase," Then she shook her head as the alicorn with a majestic white coat declared. "No, I'm afraid I must turn to another to capture Tirek: Discord!"

"You mean as in 'Discord' Discord?!" Applejack questioned when Twilight told her friends the shocking news upon her return to Ponyville.

"Yes!" Twilight confirmed with a reluctant nod. The news had been just as surprising to her upon first hearing it.

Fluttershy wasn't as surprised or confused as her friends though, she in fact knew the most likely reason behind Discord being chosen in the first place. "It makes sense if you know Discord like I do. He told me that he can sense magical imbalances, such as when magic is suddenly transferred from one to another. The next time Tirek drains an unsuspecting unicorn of their magic, Discord will be able to hone on him and track him down."

"Great, like he needs another boost to his already massive ego!" Rainbow groaned in annoyance.

Pinkie Pie just giggled as she looked at her pegasus friend and then murmured to nopony in particular. "I won't say it, it's too obvious."

Spike then questioned. "So what about you, Twilight? What are you supposed to do now?"

Twilight just looked down at the ground as she sadly declared. "Nothing," Then she looked up at her friends. "Unless, of course, one of you needs me to smile and wave. That's about the only thing I'm good at now that I'm royalty."

Rarity, quickly sensing her friend's increasing sorrow, opted to chime in with a suggestion. "Well, I know just what'll cheer you up, darling. Another trip to the Castle of the Two Sisters and the Tree of Harmony. With the Equestria Games over, this is as good a time as any to see what you've managed to figure out."

The young alicorn seemed to agree. "Sure, why not? I don't have anything else to do, princess related or otherwise. Besides, I still need to decide what I'm going to do with the old castle. It just wouldn't be right if I moved into it. It was Celestia and Luna's, not mine."

The six ponies (and baby dragon) soon made their way through the Everfree Forest and arrived at the Tree of Harmony. Just across the bridge above the Tree of Harmony's resting place was the still worn down Castle of the Two Sisters. And on the tree rested the Elements of Harmony, still keeping the tree alive and ensuring it in turn could hold the Everfree Forest in check.

Still, the loss of what had felt like an important safety net was felt by all. And Rainbow Dash complained aloud. "I still don't like that we can't use the Elements of Harmony anymore. I know why we had to give them up but it still stinks. Without the elements, we're sitting ducks if some big threat comes along."

"Well, hopefully a certain 'friend' of ours will make sure we have nothin' to worry about. And won't make us regret that we had to give up the elements in the first place." Applejack pointed out while arching an eyebrow upward.

Just then, from out of the blue a familiar goofy voice called. "Oh, you're talking about me, aren't you?" And down from the skies descended the very draconequus himself, Discord. He had on a blue scarf and a black bowler hat, holding an umbrella in one of his paws and a huge purse in another as he floated gently down. He quickly shed his attire upon landing.

"Hey, how'd you know what we were saying?" Pinkie Pie snorted. "Were you spying on us?"

Discord protested. "Nothing of the sort. I just happened to be nearby when my ears started burning," He demonstrated this by showing his ears briefly burning before a snap of his talons extinguished the flames. "I just came here to see if any of you would wish me luck, not that I'll need it," Dawning a green general's outfit and a bubble pipe he explained. "Soon I'll be off to hunt down Equestria's most wanted monster and public enemy number one: Lord Tirek." He pulled down a huge wanted poster of the very centaur.

Spike scoffed at the display. "Big deal, we all knew that."

But Discord replied. "You're right, Spike. It is a big deal. This is the very reason Princess Celestia freed me from my stone prison about half a year ago or so," And with a smirk he declared. "Seems like my unique abilities give me an important role to play in Equestria. Ooh, maybe they should make me an alicorn princess! Just picture it: Discord, the princess of chaos!" With a snap of his talons he dawned a fake crown and a fake pair of wings (with a matching horn). "Thank you, thank you! You're all too kind." He declared while pretending to blow kisses to an imaginary crowd.

Rainbow immediately knocked the crown off of Discord's head. "In your dreams, maybe!"

The spirit simply responded after making his fake wings (and horn) disappear. "Oh, I never dream of such things. Ask Princess Luna, I'm sure she could tell you."

Applejack, for her part, just frowned. "Did you come all this way just to rub your little 'victory' in our faces?"

Rather than answer outright, Discord instead teleported down to the small gorge where the Tree of Harmony was. He tapped a paw against the six sided chest that remained locked. "Well, it's just... I can't help but notice Twilight still hasn't opened up this chest after all this time," And he vaguely suggested. "I was just wondering: What if whatever's inside it is something that could help her prove her royal worth?"

"And you know where we could find the keys?" The farm mare asked with a skeptical tone of voice.

"Maybe I do and maybe I don't, but if I told you that would be cheating," The spirit cryptically replied as he waved a paw. "Not to worry, though. I've got a feeling those keys are around here somewhere," Then he called out to Fluttershy. "Are you coming with me, dear friend? Princess Celestia said I could take one friend with me for luck if I wanted to."

"In a moment, Discord." Fluttershy called as she fluttered over.

Discord smiled and whispered to the pegasus mare. "This won't take long at all. We're still on for Tuesday Tea after this, right? "

Fluttershy nodded her head in confirmation. "Everything's all set."

Satisfied with the answer, the draconequus disappeared through a door that he made appear in front of him. But not before saying to Fluttershy. "Good. I'll bring the cucumber sandwiches. See you in a minute, Fluttershy. And I'll see the rest of you real soon," However, he then suddenly reappeared as he held a very familiar looking book with a horseshoe symbol in the center in his paws. "Oopsie doopsie, I almost forgot about this little journal of yours."

Twilight was quick to retrieve the book with her magic. "Hey, wait a minute! You stole this private journal?"

"Not really stole since you weren't using it," Discord pointed out. "Besides, it's so good I couldn't resist. It's a real page turner," He quickly scanned through the entire journal. "Haven't you girls just learned so much in so short an amount of time? And Spike too, apparently."

The young alicorn tried her best to hide how annoyed she was by Discord's behavior. "And your point is?"

The spirit was quick to point out. "Don't worry, you can have it back. But I bookmarked a few more 'interesting' segments you might wanna take another look at," Then he whistled for Fluttershy. "Come on, Fluttershy. Time's a wasting, let's be off!"

Fluttershy fluttered over to her spirit friend and waved a hoof as she was placed onto a scooter while Discord put a helmet on her. Soon, both were out of sight.

Applejack couldn't help but comment afterwards. "Sometimes I wonder if Discord does this stuff just to annoy us. I know he's only kind of 'reformed' now, but it feels like he messes with us even more than he did when he wasn't 'reformed'."

"Maybe, but he is still our friend and it would be rude to talk bad about him behind his back," Twilight declared. "Besides, he's given me a much needed hint when it comes to the keys. So let's get to the Castle of the Two Sisters and start looking." And the five mares and dragon all set off for their destination.

In another part of Equestria, Tirek was quickly draining unicorns of their magic whenever they were unlucky enough to cross his path. He was regaining some of his power but it was a very slow process, and the centaur knew this. The longer the path back to full power was, the more likely his chances of being caught. But it was all he could afford to do at the moment.

Suddenly, the centaur happened to spot a lone pegasus mare in the middle of the alley. She had a beautiful butter yellow coat and gentle pink bangs. It might take a little more effort to drain her compared to a unicorn, but the power he could obtain from this unsuspecting victim was too good for Tirek to consider passing it up. He crept towards quietly but quickly, preparing to get his paws on her to prevent her from escaping!

But just as Tirek closed in a voice called out from the blue. "Lord Tirek, I presume?" And the next thing the red coated centaur knew, he was face to face with the last creature he'd wanted to see. Said creature quickly turning to the pegasus mare with a smile. "Excellent job, Fluttershy. I knew you'd make good live bait. And I must say, you played your part well."

Tirek stepped back in confusion. "Discord! You're... free?"

"As a bird, thank you for noticing." Discord declared while turning himself into a bird with a long and colorful beak.

Despite knowing what this likely meant, the centaur couldn't resist praising this old acquaintance. "Oh! Congratulations on your escape!"

The draconequus only frowned in reply. "Well I'm afraid the feeling isn't mutual, 'buddy'," And with a snap of his talons he had the centaur's paws all bound up with iron cuffs and chains. When Tirek attempted to hit him with a blast of magic, Discord split his face apart and effortlessly dodged it. "You know the drill: 'You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you.' Etcetera etcetera." And as he spoke he adopted a police uniform complete with a blue jacket, a dark blue hat with a silver badge on top, hoofcuffs and even a nightstick.

The centaur groaned as he struggled in vain against the chains. "Oh, I should've known! Of course you'd want Equestria all to yourself again."

While twirling the nightstick like a baton Discord giggled. "Oh no, it's not for my sake. It's nothing personal, I've got orders. Let's just say I agreed to owe someponies a teensie weensie favor in exchange for my new lease on life," Then he whispered while pointing a claw to the nearby pegasus mare. "Between the two of us, it's mostly for Fluttershy over there. She's the one who makes it all worthwhile."

"Fluttershy?" Tirek blinked anew in disbelief. "You're not actually saying you're friends with these ponies, are you?"

"Fluttershy" nodded in confirmation as she fluttered close by. "Sorry to disappoint you, Tirek."

And Discord then declared while emerging from a giant birthday cake. "Surprise!"

The bounded centaur quickly answered. "Oh, I am surprised, Discord. Surprised that a creature of your great intellect doesn't see that this 'friendship' is but a new form of imprisonment." He rattled his chains as he spoke that last part.

Fluttershy quickly spoke up in protest! "That shows what you know, Tirek! Discord's friendship isn't even close to what you're going to suffer for what you've done! Discord still has his free will!"

But Discord interrupted by placing Fluttershy into a bubble with a snap of his talons. "Thank you, Fluttershy. But I'm more than capable of sticking up for myself."

Tirek quickly sensed an opportunity and began to scheme as the gears in his head started to turn. He could turn this development to his advantage if he was clever about it. "See, Discord?" He pointed out with what seemed almost like a teasing smirk. "This proves my point. You had to abandon your better nature in order to befriend those ponies. They have you on a tight leash and yet you think you have control. These ponies now think they speak for you."

"I don't!" Fluttershy protested while inside of her bubble, trying to no avail to break free. "Discord, don't listen to a word he says!"

However, Discord simply snapped his talons again. "I won't, Fluttershy. You have nothing to worry about," And he explained. "You served your role well. I can take it from here. Princess Celestia only suggested I bring a friend, she never said it was a request. So why don't you just go back and catch up with the others? Maybe even prepare for our Tuesday Tea together."

All Fluttershy could do was watch helplessly as she was carried away by her bubble! "Please be careful, Discord!" She warned! "I've got a really bad feeling about this!" And it was the last thing she said before she was out of sight.

The spirit did his best to hide how guilty he felt for sending his best friend away. He wasn't about to show any signs of weakness against Tirek, not after he'd just taunted him for daring to have a pony friend in the first place. "Well, as you can clearly see by that little demonstration, I'm still in control of myself," He insisted. "I've never had to 'abandon my better nature' as you claim I have. All I have to do is do this one little favor for the ponies, and then I'm free to do whatever I want as long as I don't get in their way. And if it means I don't get turned to stone again, it's a win win as far as I'm concerned." He promptly shooed away a golden harp and a halo.

Tirek saw through the attempt at hiding the uncertainty in an instant. Things were going exactly the way he'd hoped they would. "Oh, I've seen this all before," He appeared to sadly sigh. "My brother believed the same things you believe now. But he was always the lesser one, always living in my shadow. You, however, are different. You are Discord. You are all powerful! You cannot fall into the same trap that claimed my brother."

Discord found himself unsure of what to say. "What... do you want of me, Tirek?"

Tirek grinned. "A request, really. An invitation you can't decline. I offer you the chance to be rewarded with something much greater than 'friendship': Freedom! Help me grow strong and you can have it all!"

The draconequus wasn't easily convinced of the argument. "Why should I? What's the point of freedom if you rule everything?"

At that Tirek smirked. "Well, once I've stripped these ponies of their magic, nothing would delight me more than to see their very world turned upside down. Who better to do so than the very master of chaos himself?" And he laid bare his proposal. "Join me, Discord, and reclaim your former greatness. That is, of course, unless 'pony errand boy' is the role you've always wanted to play."

As Tirek finished speaking, Discord looked over to a portrait of himself and Fluttershy floating nearby (alongside such things as that lamp of himself Discord had made upon 'accidentally' breaking Fluttershy's during his initial stay with her after being freed from stone).

"Come on, Discord," Tirek snorted and demanded. "I haven't got all day. Make up your mind before I decide to make it up for you."

After a great bit of hesitation on his end, the spirit cleared his throat and spoke up. "Well, I'm... tempted. Sorely tempted, in fact. But I just don't think it's worth it. I'm sure you could become very powerful with my help, but I made the mistake of underestimating the ponies before and I'd be a fool to do it again," And then he declared. "So I think I'll be sending you back to Tartarus now. It's for your own good, really. You don't know what these ponies are truly capable of."

The crafty centaur sighed and briefly seemed to hang his head. "So disappointing. I'd hoped you would be reasonable. Alas, you've forced my paw," He suddenly looked up as he continued. "Think about it, Discord. I already escaped Tartarus once before, how can you be sure I won't just do it again? The princesses weren't even aware I'd escaped until just now, and you saw how many unsuspecting ponies I could find in that amount of time."

Discord quickly realized what Tirek was implying, and he glared at his prisoner! "Don't you even think about hurting Fluttershy!" He roared with narrowed eyes! "You stay away from Ponyville, you fiend!" Only after the words had left his mouth did he realize his mistake. He put his paws to his mouth! "Oops!"

Tirek just laughed with glee and began rubbing his paws together. "Ponyville, hmm? I wasn't aware that was where your best friend lived, until now. Once I get out of Tartarus again, I know exactly where I'll go. And you won't be able to stop me until it's too late, even you can't sense my movements if I'm clever enough not to steal magic."

"If you lay so much as one finger on Fluttershy I'll..." Discord tried to threaten.

Tirek interrupted. "-Well, if you serve me and serve me faithfully, I promise you that I won't harm Fluttershy or any of your other friends. Or you can send me back to Tartarus and run the risk of putting them all in danger. The choice is yours, Discord. So I'd choose wisely if I were you." And with that his smirk grew so wide it could've jumped right off his face if it wanted to. "Now I've got him right where I want him!" He thought to himself. "Equestria will be mine!"

Fluttershy's bubble took her all the way back to Ponyville and straight through the Everfree Forest. She arrived inside the Castle of the Two Sisters not long after her friends had begun their search for the keys.

"Oh, Fluttershy, you're back already?" Twilight blinked in surprise. "Where's Discord?"

Fluttershy gulped. "He sent me back while he was busy talking to Tirek. I don't like the way their conversation was going."

Rainbow Dash groaned in annoyance. "Oh, that's so like him! Prolonging the whole thing just to ramp up the tensions and leave us hanging. Does he think this is some sort of game?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't think he was playing around. He seemed unusually serious and protective, and I think that's what Tirek wants."

However, Pinkie Pie bounced over. "Aw come on, Fluttershy. Haven't we learned by now to have faith in our friends, even Discord? You of all ponies have said we need to trust him more often."

The pegasus mare with a butter yellow coat forced back another gulp in reply. "I did say that," And she sighed and declared in a worried tone of voice. "Oh, I hope he knows what he's doing."

"I'm telling you, he'll keep us waiting all day and right when we fear the worst he's gonna come back and rub it in our faces how worried we were," Rainbow declared. "There are safer ways of ensuring your friends care about you, but this is Discord we're talking about," And she was quick to change the subject. "Let's just focus on finding those keys he said were around."

Rarity couldn't help but grin. "Imagine how surprised he'll be when we figure it out while he was off playing hero."

Applejack then called out. "Any luck yet, Twilight? Any clues at all?"

"Negative," Twilight called back. "Keep searching, girls. We're close to a breakthrough, I can feel it! Today's the day we're going to find out what's in that chest!" Then, suddenly, her wandering eyes happened to spot the journal she and her friends had been keeping ever since their search for the keys had begun. The very same journal that Discord had bookmarked several sections of, each section of interest having a bookmark that matched the color of the pony who had written it.

In silence, the young alicorn skimmed over the bookmarked entries. Then she read them again and something in her mind clicked. "Hey, girls!" She called out to all as the other mares stopped to look at her. "I've been looking through our friendship journal again, and I've noticed that there's something interesting about each of the sections Discord bookmarked."

Spike quickly asked. "What is it, Twilight?"

Twilight explained. "Well, from what I can gather there's a pattern to each one: In each marked entry the pony who wrote it faced a time where living up their element wasn't easy," She turned to Applejack. "Applejack, you remember the time when you had to tell Granny Smith and everypony else about Flim and Flam's fake tonic, right?"

The farm mare nodded, the memory still fresh and vivid in her mind. "Of course I did, no way I'd forget! It was one of the hardest moments I ever lived through. I still don't know what it was, but in that moment I just knew I had to be honest. Somethin' inside me knew I had to speak up and tell the truth."

Twilight next turned to Fluttershy. "And Fluttershy, you had a similar moment to Applejack's when you realized the kindest thing you could do for the breezies was send them away."

"Oh, it wasn't easy," Fluttershy acknowledged as she wiped a lone tear from her eyes. "I hated seeing the looks on their faces. But letting them stay with me would've meant they never would've gotten home with their important pollen. It was like I had no choice but to do the only kind thing and send them on their way."

Then Twilight focused on Rarity. "Rarity, even after Suri Polomare took advantage of your generosity in Manehattan, you refused to abandon it. And just like Applejack and Fluttershy, you knew what you had to do."

The fashionista immediately smiled. "Of course, darling. No matter the pressure I was under I could never turn my back on my friends or my generosity. I would never compromise my beliefs even if I thought it would help me get ahead."

And then it was Rainbow Dash's turn as Twilight explained. "Rainbow Dash, you weren't willing to ditch the Ponyville team for the Aerial Relay even when Lightning Dust tried to persuade you to join the Cloudsdale team instead."

The brash speedster only shook her head. "My only regret was that I ever let myself even consider the offer. Lightning Dust clearly just wanted me out of the way because she knew she couldn't beat me fair and square!"

Pinkie Pie then bounced up, not even waiting for Twilight to call on her. "Hey, what about my entry? You know, the one with Cheese Sandwich and the goof-off?"

Twilight nodded her head in reply. "I was just getting to that, Pinkie. Despite Cheese Sandwich upstaging you unintentionally, you decided that it was more important Rainbow Dash be happy during her birthaversary celebration rather than prove you were the ultimate party pony."

Spike then commented to Twilight. "But what do all of those events have to do with Discord's hint?"

The young alicorn explained to all. "When each pony successfully stood up for their own element, they inspired someone else and in turn received an important item: A special thread, a badge, a rubber chicken, a flower and a bit coin," Tapping a hoof to her chin she declared. "I think Discord must've realized that those items were connected to the keys somehow, and that was what he was trying to tell us earlier."

"Great!" Pinkie excitedly declared! "Let's all go round up those things and get the keys!" And five of the mares split off to do just that.

The aforementioned items were soon brought before the six sided chest near the Tree of Harmony. But a close inspection of them yielded no clues.

"I don't see anything on them about keys, or how we can find them," Twilight commented with a frown. "We're so close, though! There must be something we haven't grasped just yet, but what?"

A frustrated Pinkie Pie wasn't willing to wait around for answers. She grabbed the rubber chicken and shook it fiercely! "Come on, Boneless!" She demanded! "Give us that key! We really need it!"

Twilight shook her head. "I don't think that's going to work, Pinkie." But seconds after she'd finished saying that, she watched as her party planning friend threw the rubber chicken towards the chest out of frustration!

All watched as the rubber chicken suddenly turned into a key when it was close enough to the chest. Not just any key in fact, but a key styled after Pinkie's cutie mark since the handle had three balloons on it. The key inserted itself into one of the six locks.

Realizing what they had to do, the other four mares all brought their own objects close to the locks and watched as each was turned into a key: A key with three diamonds on the handle for Rarity, a lightning bolt shaped key with a cloud on the handle for Rainbow Dash, a key with three butterflies on the handle for Fluttershy and a key with an apple on the handle for Applejack. Soon, five of the keys had been inserted into five of the locks.

"One left," Twilight realized. "My key. But... I don't have it."

Rarity wasn't convinced. "Come now, Twilight. Surely you must have something that can count. Think about it. When was there a time where you struggled to live up to your element, but did so and in the process inspired another to live by your example?"

The young alicorn shook her head. "Never. If I had I would've written about it in the journal and Discord would've book marked it. There's no reason why he would leave out my section if he knew the other sections he book marked were on your keys."

However, Spike suggested. "Well, what about Trixie's hat? I'd say that was a pretty challenging time for you, Twilight. I know it was for me."

"I doubt that's it..." Twilight began before suddenly deciding. "But I guess it can't hurt to try..." She soon returned after teleporting away, the light blue hat with white stars being moved close to the one lock that didn't have a key in it. Nothing happened.

Fluttershy quickly moved to reassure Twilight. "Don't worry about it too much, Twilight. I'm sure your key will turn up soon."

The young alicorn nodded. "I guess so. Besides, if worse does come to worse we can always borrow the Elements of Harmony again if we have to."

Just then, Spike belched up a scroll and quickly skimmed over it. "It's for you, Twilight! It looks urgent!" He told the mare.

Twilight read over the scroll in silence and when she'd finished reading it a look of horror seemed to flash in her eyes! "I'm needed in Canterlot right away!" She told her friends. "I don't like the sound of this."

And upon flying in to Canterlot under her own power, Twilight was immediately brought to the throne room where all three of her fellow alicorn princesses were waiting for her. All three looked rather concerned as their eyes appeared to be filled with dread.

Princess Celestia was the first to speak. "It seems I may have made a grave miscalculation by underestimating the effect the magic of friendship would have on Discord, and how far he'd truly come in his reformation. Now my visions have become clouded. I can no longer see the future the way I used to be able to."

Princess Luna then displayed a reflective orb that show cased a horrifying image! Tirek was stealing magic from unicorns left and right, and Discord was helping him do it! "Discord has, for reasons unknown, betrayed the ponies of Equestria and now allied himself with Tirek. And it's no longer just unicorns who are in danger."

Twilight gasped in disbelief! "I don't believe! How could he do such a thing?! I thought our friendships meant something to him! I thought he'd changed!"

"Perhaps it was naive to believe he could be so easily changed in such a short amount of time," Princess Cadence commented, before the orb showed Tirek growing in size as he absorbed more magic. The centaur was now gaining a pair of black horns on the top of his head, and his reddish-brown fur was now taking on an unmistakable blood red hue. "Regardless, Tirek now has the ability to steal magic from pegasi as well as earth ponies," And images showed the centaur doing just that. "Without their magic, pegasus ponies will no longer be able to control the weather and earth ponies won't be able to grow crops."

Princess Luna was quick to add. "But he will not be satisfied even with that. He is no doubt on his way here to steal alicorn magic. If he gets his greedy paws on it, his power will know no limits and he will be unstoppable."

Princess Celestia then stood up and boldly declared! "There is but one option that remains, the only way we can thwart Tirek's plans and give Equestria a fighting chance. When Tirek comes here he cannot find what he's looking for. So to that end, we must rid this place of alicorn magic before Tirek has a chance to steal it!"

All Twilight could do was gasp and stare wide eyed at the suggestion! She had not been expecting any of this, and neither did she have any idea as to how she should react. Was this really the only hope Equestria had left?

S4 E26: Twilight's Kingdom, Part 2 (What If?)

It was amazing and yet unfortunate how quickly things had changed in the span of a day for Equestria, and for Twilight Sparkle. The young alicorn had spent the night before wondering about something very important, at least to her. And it was all she could think about as the Equestria Games drew to a close in the Crystal Empire. "It feels like my new title doesn't seem to matter much. In fact, it barely seems to matter at all." She'd willingly confessed to her friends.

Her friends were quick to try and cheer the young alicorn up, and they were not the only ones to take a role in doing so. The other princesses sought to encourage Twilight as well. "You may not believe your role amounts to much yet, but in time it will." Princess Luna had reassured Twilight that night.

"Princess or not, you've done many great things already." Princess Celestia had added, and then it was off to bed for Twilight in order to be well rested for the trip home to Ponyville in the morning.

But that night, a lone centaur with a black robe over most of his body made himself known as he drained an innocent unicorn stallion of his magic. "I am Lord Tirek! And I will take what should've been rightfully mine long ago."

This had the unintended consequence of alerting Princess Celestia to Tirek's presence, and she was quick to explain to Twilight and Cadence the next morning about who Tirek was. "Tirek came to Equestria from a distant land with his brother Scorpan. Their intention was to steal the magic in Equestria for themselves. Tirek was captured and sent to Tartarus for his crimes."

Princess Luna had added. "Now Tirek has escaped! With each passing minute he grows stronger still."

Yet Celestia decided against sending Twilight to capture the escaped centaur. "I'm afraid I must turn to another."

This "another" was none other than Discord, who couldn't resist gloating about his important assignment. "Seems like my unique abilities give me an important role to play in Equestria."

Yet after a bit of teasing, Discord ended up revealing something to the ponies that would later prove useful. "Haven't you girls just learned so much in so short an amount of time?" He commented while reading through the journal they'd been keeping for quite some time. Then he left with Fluttershy to hunt down Tirek.

As it turned out, Discord had managed to book mark sections of the journal that had something in common and had something to do with keys for the mysterious chest. "In each marked entry the pony who wrote it faced a time where living up their element wasn't easy," Twilight had deduced before pointing out that the ponies who'd written those segments received a gift. "I think Discord must've realized that those items were connected to the keys."

But in fact it was the items themselves that were the keys, and one by one each key was inserted into a lock until only Twilight's key was left. "I don't have it." And the only thing that came close, Trixie's old hat, didn't react at all to being brought before the lock.

Meanwhile, Discord had located Tirek, and opted to send Fluttershy away. But he quickly fell victim to the centaur's manipulations. "I already escaped Tartarus once before, how can you be sure I won't just do it again? I know exactly where I'll go. And you won't be able to stop me until it's too late. if you serve me and serve me faithfully, I promise you that I won't harm Fluttershy or any of your other friends."

And so it was that Discord aided the very creature he'd been sent to capture, helping the centaur to grow stronger.

It was this turn of events that prompted an emergency meeting in Canterlot as Princess Luna informed Twilight of the unfortunate and fast worsening situation. "Discord has, for reasons unknown, betrayed the ponies of Equestria and now allied himself with Tirek. He is no doubt on his way here to steal alicorn magic."

Princess Celestia had then boldly declared! "We must rid this place of alicorn magic before Tirek has a chance to steal it!"

Twilight was rendered speechless by the announcement! What should she do? What could she do?

Once the shock of the situation had faded and Twilight was able to think clearly, she cleared her throat and spoke up. "Get rid of alicorn magic? That's not actually possible, is it? I mean, I always believed magic couldn't simply disappear."

"Indeed it cannot," Princess Celestia explained. "And even if it could it would do us little good, we'd have no way to recover it. Instead, the alicorn magic will be broken up and split among multiple carriers."

Twilight wasn't so convinced. "Why not just concentrate all the magic into one pony? I'm sure you could wield all the alicorn magic and defeat Tirek and Discord all by yourself, Princess Celestia."

The sun princess shook her head. "Such an act might be possible, but in doing so it would inflict unnecessary collateral damage. It could very well destroy half of Equestria. It would be much worse than anything Tirek could do."

"Well, I'm prepared to do my part no matter what," Twilight insisted as she looked at her fellow alicorns. "So if you need me to give up magic or hide it away, I'll do it."

Princess Luna nodded. "That is why a system has already been worked out. You shall inherit Princess Celestia's magic, and Cadence shall temporarily inherit mine. Then the both of you are to go into hiding as far away from Canterlot as possible."

"And then what?" The young alicorn asked with concern. "Just stick our heads in the sand and hope Tirek doesn't find us?"

"The rest is up to you," Princess Celestia informed Twilight and Cadence. "Together or alone you will have to find a way to stop Tirek for good, even if it means having to imprison Discord in stone again."

"Perhaps the keys my friends and I discovered earlier today will come in handy?" Twilight thought aloud. "It's possible that the Tree of Harmony knew something like this would happen, and gave us the keys so we'd be ready."

However, Princess Cadence commented. "You don't have your key yet though, do you, Twilight?" And upon receiving a shake of the head she sighed. "Well, we can't afford to wait for it to show up. And even if it appeared now there's no way we can guess what's in the chest or how helpful it will be," Then she stood up. "I should be safe in the Crystal Empire. It could take Tirek a long time to reach it and I'm sure even he and Discord will be weakened by the Crystal Heart. The light seems to react against anything evil."

Princess Luna nodded once again. "That sounds like a plan. And that will also give Twilight free range to continue her own pursuits."

"But what about Discord?! He knows about all of us!" The young alicorn pointed out as her wings puffed outward. "He could rat us out to Tirek at any time. And even if he doesn't tell there's stained glass windows that'll be a dead giveaway."

"Not much can be done about the stained glass windows," Princess Celestia reluctantly commented in reply. "However, the fact that Tirek has not already showed up here in Canterlot means he has not extracted the information from Discord. But I suspect it won't be long before he finds out," And she cautioned. "You must be very careful about your newfound powers, Twilight. It will be more magic than you are used to handling. Be mindful of how you use it, especially around your friends."

Princess Luna then offered to her fellow alicorns. "Despite all the risks, do you both agree to this important assignment? Do you both promise to wield the magic my sister and I give to you accordingly?"

Princess Cadence immediately declared with firm determination. "I'll be fine! If Equestria needs defending I'll do my part as I've done before!" Then she looked across to her sister-in-law. "What about you, Twilight?"

Though hesitant for a moment, a sense of great urgency flashed in Twilight's eyes as she then nodded her head. "This is the role that I'm meant to play in Equestria, aiding in its defense. I will not fail to do my duty!"

The sun princess and the moon princess both nodded their heads in agreement. "Then we must act now before things go from bad to worse," Luna remarked. "And no matter what, the magic inside you both must NOT fall into Tirek's evil paws!"

Both older alicorns then stood before the ones they intended to transfer their powers to, quickly expelling it all into powerful, glowing balls. The balls descended before long, the glowing yellow one enveloping Twilight and the glowing blue one enveloping Cadence. Their manes and tails surged, flowing freely like waves as their eyes briefly glowed a brilliant, blinding white!

When the light faded and both younger alicorns had gotten their bearings, they saw that Celestia and Luna's manes and tails had stopped flowing and their cutie marks had faded away completely. Neither no longer seemed all powerful and majestic, both appeared to look far more advanced in age than outward appearances would suggest.

Twilight immediately hugged both royal sisters firmly, letting a few small tears spill out. "I promise you, I won't let you down! One way or another, I'll find some way to save Equestria. Whether it's with Cadence, my friends or even by myself."

"I have no doubt you will, Twilight," Celestia managed to smile despite her exhaustion. "Even so, my visions are now clouded completely. The future is impossible to predict. Please be careful, I don't want to lose you like I once feared I had lost Luna."

Luna then encouraged to both alicorn princesses. "You two should go now while you still have time. Every passing second is another second that Tirek spends potentially drawing closer."

Obeying their fellow alicorn's request, both Twilight and Cadence exited the throne room and soon were outside the royal palace. It would only be a matter of seconds before both would return to where they had come from to hide and think of a plan.

In fact, Twilight had actually gotten an idea all by herself in just the short amount of time she'd been blessed with Princess Celestia's powers. "Cadence," She spoke up while locking eyes with her sister-in-law. "There's no reason for us to both risk our lives for Equestria. You've already got an empire to defend and of course a loving husband to be concerned about. You've helped save Equestria twice already, you shouldn't have to do it again."

Princess Cadence blinked in confusion. "What are you suggesting, Twilight?"

Twilight gestured to her horn and then Cadence's horn. "Transfer all the alicorn magic inside of you to me, even the stuff you got from Princess Luna," And with a smile she explained her reasoning. "You were born a pegasus, you're not as skilled with magic as I am."

"But I've also been an alicorn more longer than you," Cadence protested. "Twilight, I know you want to feel important but this doesn't seem like the way to achieve it."

Twilight shook her head. "It's not for my own glory, Cadence! I really do think I can handle Tirek and Discord if I have all the alicorn magic inside of me. At times like this, anything that could tip the scales is worth considering," And she pointed out. "If worse comes to worse and I should fail, I can always just teleport to you and give you the magic. In that case, Tirek will be weakened and you'll have a better chance at stopping him."

The candy colored princess was still rather skeptical of the suggestion. "I really don't think it's a good idea."

"Please?" Twilight desperately pleaded. "It'll give us both more time, and if Tirek makes Celestia and Luna blab, we'll still have something that he won't know about."

Reluctantly sensing that Twilight wasn't willing to take no for an answer, Cadence agreed against her better judgement. "I hope you know what you're doing for both our sakes, Twilight. You will be Equestria's last line of defense, guard the alicorn magic with your very life if you must!" And then she made her horn spark to life, conjuring up a huge magical ball just like the ones Celestia and Luna had made earlier.

The ball was soon transferred to Twilight's horn tip, and just like before her eyes glowed brightly while her mane and tail flowed. The display soon ended, and now Cadence was looking exhausted. "Head back to the Crystal Empire as soon as possible, I'll take it from here." Twilight instructed to Cadence.

Cadence reluctantly nodded. "Make sure you have that magic mastered. Tirek will come looking for you as soon as he knows." She cautioned and then trotted away to find the royal chariot that had brought her to Canterlot (and hopefully her husband would be waiting for her at said chariot).

As for Twilight, she fled back to Ponyville on her own power and was quite surprised by how much extra energy she seemed to have. "This is gonna take some getting used to," She thought to herself. "But I'll manage. The fate of Equestria depends on it!"

Tirek wasn't aware of anything that was transpiring in Equestria, he was too busy draining various ponies of their magic in a town a ways away from Canterlot. He'd been doing this for quite a while now, only now having his black horns fully grow back.

However, Discord was focused on something else. He felt his entire body shake and twist about all by itself, and he knew what that meant. "Wait, that can't be right. Can it?" He muttered to himself.

Tirek happened to overhear. "What can't be right, Discord?"

The draconequus quickly protested. "N-nothing, nothing at all. Nothing that concerns you." But in his mind he was thinking. "Why would they do such a thing? Why give all the magic to the least experienced one?"

Tirek was satisfied by Discord's answer and chose not to pry. "You're probably right, Discord. Besides, whatever it is I will inevitably find it and snuff it out. Anypony foolish enough to resist me will pay the price," Then he brought his paws together like fists and made them crack. "It's time for the main event. Time for me to make my grand entrance to the ones responsible for my predicament all those years ago."

The witty spirit felt a lump form in his throat. "You don't mean..."

The centaur smirked as his yellow pupils flashed and blinked. "...Oh, I do. Taking down the capital city and the leaders will demoralize any who would resist," And he stormed off. "Come along, Discord. Those foolish ponies will be in for a shock when they get a load of us."

"Yes, Lord Tirek," Discord gave a salute as he did his best to mask his uncertainty. But in the back of his mind he thought to himself. "Oh Twilight, I don't think you realize how much Tirek wants his revenge. He'll stop at nothing to get it."

It was dark by the time Twilight could make it back to Ponyville, though this was because she had to keep making numerous stops along the way to keep her horn from sparking too much and drawing unwanted attention to herself. It'd be hard for her plan to work if ponies knew what was going on.

Once satisfied that she'd gotten her surges under control, Twilight snuck back into Ponyville and returned to the comfort of the Golden Oak Library to rest. She needed time to gather her thoughts and think about where that sixth key might be just in case it became necessary to open the chest.

Eventually, a sleepy Spike happened to open an eye and he yawned. "Twilight? Is everything alright? You were gone a long time. I was starting to think something bad happened to you."

Twilight nervously giggled. "Who, me? Come on, Spike. I'm tougher than I look. I've come a long way from being bested by some out of control plants in the Everfree Forest." She hoped Spike didn't see the faint sparks forming on the tip of her horn.

The baby dragon just stretched and then murmured while turning over in his basket. "Well, guess I had nothing to worry about," He yawned again. "Now I'm just gonna go back to bed. Princess Celestia hasn't risen the sun yet. Guess maybe she's sleeping in today too."

That set off an alarm bell inside the young alicorn's head! "That's strange," She commented to herself in a whisper. "The sun should've been up by now," Then it dawned on her! "The sun should be up by now! No wonder my horn was sparking!" She rushed to a nearby window to get a good look at the outside world. Her mind must've been on auto pilot while the moon had been raised earlier.

Breathing deeply in the way Cadence had taught her, Twilight let her horn spark to life and tried to focus on setting the moon and letting the sun rise as if everything were natural. However, the process was far more complicated than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had ever made it seem on their own. Twilight cursed herself under her breath for not anticipating how many years of experience the royal sisters must've had.

The sun and the moon didn't seem to want to stay in one place, and Twilight kept bringing up the moon accidentally when she was trying to raise the sun. This process repeated itself for what felt like ages, until at last Twilight was sure she'd gotten the sun up and that it would stay up of its own free will (for a couple of hours, anyway).

Such an unusual display drew a lot of unwanted attention, especially miles away in Canterlot as Shining Armor and several royal guards patrolled around the city. "What in the wide world of Equestria is going on?!" Shining thought to himself. "First Cadence tells me to stand guard here in the city to keep up appearances, and now this? Something's happened to the other princesses, I just know it," And he mentally cursed himself. "If only I were an alicorn too, I could help them. I hate feeling useless like this."

But there were more pressing concerns that had to be addressed, as some of the royal guards suddenly found themselves floating up towards the sky seemingly all by themselves.

"You're still here?!" A familiar, wacky voice gasped in dismay! "I'd have thought for sure you'd all have run away." And its owner soon revealed itself to be a very familiar draconequus, who was looking unusually worried about something.

All Shining Armor could think about, however, was what he'd been told about the spirit. "You!" He coldly hissed as he narrowed his eyebrows and pointed a spear at Discord. "You got some nerve showing your face around here, traitor! I've half a mind to throw you in a dungeon right now!"

Discord tried to protest. "Please, you don't understand. It's not like I wanted to do this! It's not like I wanted to be a traitor!"

"Well too bad, that's what you are now!" Shining hissed again. "You betrayed us all! Have you no shame?!"

But at that moment Tirek happened to come stomping up and he declared. "The only one that Discord ever betrayed was himself. Abandoning his true nature in order to make friends with pathetic and weak minded equines, who offered him nothing but 'friendship'. They thought they could keep him on a tight leash, mold him into the perfect weapon. Unfortunately, they never anticipated that a better deal would be presented and that their desire to 'reform' Discord would be their undoing."

Despite knowing there was nothing he could, Shining Armor turned his spear towards Tirek while saying to Discord. "This isn't over between us. You're going to pay for selling us out!" Then he let out a cry as the stallion charged boldly toward Tirek. Of course it accomplished nothing, he was easily picked up by the centaur and brought close.

Tirek scoffed at the display. "Is that the best you can do? I'm not impressed." And he soon drained Shining of his magic all together.

Shining took it as best he could, his hooves wobbling before his cutie mark faded away and his eyes dulled. Weakly, he collapsed the ground and looked back toward Discord. "How could you? Why? We trusted you."

Discord said nothing, he just looked at the display with guilt flashing across his eyes.

Tirek seemed to sense this as he pulled the spirit aside. "You seem a bit troubled, my friend."

"It's just an illusion, you're seeing things!" Discord insisted. He didn't want to give Tirek any reason to doubt his commitment.

The centaur saw through the lie in a heartbeat. "It's alright, I know this isn't easy for you. But you're on the right side, you're backing the winning team," Then he encouraged the draconequus. "Why don't you go and have a little fun? I won't stand in your way. I've got pressing business elsewhere." And he walked away with his back now turned to Discord.

"Maybe I can use this time to my advantage!" Discord realized! "If I can figure out where Twilight went with the magic, I can warn her and maybe convince her to let me take it all. Tirek will never see it coming!" And he set off to conduct his own search for the magic, knowing that Tirek's search was about to come to a screeching halt.

Meanwhile, in the throne room, a weakened and exhausted Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat there. They hadn't even bothered to move from their current locations since the magic transfer.

Suddenly, the throne room doors were broken down as an all powerful Tirek came storming in. Time had run out, Tirek had finally returned!

"Hello, princesses," Tirek smirked, certain of his victory. "Let's get this over with, shall we? You know what I'm here for, cough it up!"

But when the centaur tried to drain Princess Celestia of her magic he found that not a single drop would escape her. And the same thing happened when he targeted Princess Luna. "What have you done?!" He stomped a hoof down in fury and bellowed at the top of his lungs. "WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC?!"

With the sun having risen, Twilight was fast becoming aware of how powerful she was and just how destructive all that alicorn magic flowing through her was.

She hoped to get out of town and go somewhere safe to practice, but attempts to keep the magic under wraps were fast becoming impossible when Twilight accidentally blew the library door right off its hinges upon trying to open it. "Oops!" She declared and trotted outside as fast as she could, not even bothering to try and repair it.

"Twilight?" Spike blinked, catching a faint glimpse of purple out of the corner of his green eyes. Something was definitely up.

The young alicorn didn't have time to notice or even care about Spike spotting her (albeit briefly), because in her haste to leave she ended up taking to the skies! This was a mistake, her wings propelled her faster than she had ever flown before! And to make matters worse they left a telling streak of dark purple behind her.

Rainbow Dash was the first to take notice of this, rudely awakened from her power nap when Twilight zoomed past her! "What the hay?!" She remarked, seeing the dark purple streak.

The studious alicorn eventually managed to bring herself back down to the ground near the edge of Ponyville. But by now she had left a rather obvious streak of magic that was sure to draw unwanted attention. And it wasn't long before her friends (as well as Spike) were all crowding around her to demand an explanation for what they'd just seen.

"Twilight, what in the name of Celestia was that?!" Rarity was the first to speak up. "When did you suddenly know how to fly faster than Rainbow Dash?"

Pinkie Pie pointed out. "Is this about that freaky sun and moon stuff earlier? You haven't been acting like your old Twilight self since you came back from Canterlot. You're acting like you're an entirely different pony," Then she gasped! "Maybe you are! Maybe you're some kind of magic duplicate or something!"

Twilight protested immediately. "No, it's me," And she sighed, confessing. "I guess I should've known I couldn't keep anything secret from you girls. If you must know, Tirek has proven to be a threat even more dangerous than the princesses initially thought."

"And Discord?" Fluttershy asked with concern. "Is he okay?"

"Discord has..." Twilight began only for her lips to quiver. She couldn't bring herself to say what had actually happened and what the spirit had actually done. "No one will ever trust Discord again if they know he's betrayed us," She thought to herself. "They can't know, at least not yet." Forcing herself to lie she declared. "Well, Tirek moved faster than anticipated. Discord wasn't able to track him down before he became too powerful. Even if he were to find Tirek now it wouldn't make a difference." At least that part was sort of true.

Fluttershy wasn't convinced. "Something else must've happened to Discord. Tirek must've tricked him somehow."

"The point is," Twilight continued, not wanting to dwell on the Discord subject any longer. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna decided it best to transfer all their alicorn magic."

Applejack blinked. "And they just gave it all to you? What about Princess Cadence?"

"Actually, we were supposed to take half. I got all of Princess Celestia's and Cadence got all of Princess Luna's," Twilight confessed. "But I thought it would be better for both of us if I had all the alicorn magic," Then she frowned. "I didn't anticipate it would be nearly this difficult."

"So, what, you can't be near us because of magic?" Rainbow Dash pondered. "Seems a bit excessive. In fact, it seems like it's made it possible for you to fly like a pro!"

The young alicorn shook her head in protest, promptly shooting off several sparks from the tip of her horn. That conveyed more than words how dangerous she'd become in such a short amount of time. "I just need to go somewhere where I won't be a danger to anyone or anything else, at least until I can figure out how to keep my horn from having a mind of its own with all this power," She then began to trail off. "Because if I don't..." But she was unable to bring herself to say the rest.

"Anything we can do to help?" Rarity offered.

Twilight shook her head even as her whole body seized and shook as the magic flowed through her without end. "As long as Tirek is on the loose and I have all this magic, it's too dangerous for anyone else to get involved. All of you stay away, and make sure everypony in town knows to stay inside until further notice. We can't risk letting Tirek get any more power than he already has!" And with that, she unfolded her wings and zoomed away again.

Spike called out as he saw Twilight fly away. "Be careful, Mom! Please come back safe and sound!" But he received no reply, no indication that Twilight had heard him. The reality slowly settled in. This time, there really was no guarantee that Twilight would be safe. And all anyone else could do was hold down the fort and hope for her to return.

Back in Canterlot, Tirek seemed to have somewhat deduced what the royal sisters had done as he sat upon the throne and looked down at the defeated alicorns. "Getting rid of your own magic so that I cannot take it away from you. I see, how very clever. But is that really all your plan amounts to?" He taunted them, hoping for a reply. There wasn't one.

Tirek continued to press, hoping to hear some sort of remark. "Come on, speak up. I know this must be humiliating for you. This time it's you who are powerless and I who is all mighty." Still, neither alicorn said a word.

Tirek began conjuring up orbs displaying the three different pony tribes that had united all those years ago to form Equestria. "How does it feel, hmm? Knowing that soon every last unicorn, pegasus and earth pony will bow to my will, and that there is NOTHING you can do to stop it?! Doesn't that just burn you up, knowing that your subjects will suffer and grovel at my very hooves?!"

Princess Celestia could hold back her feelings no longer. She glared up at the centaur and boldly declared to him. "You will not prevail, Tirek. Evil never wins in the end."

And Princess Luna added. "It won't be by our hooves, but you will be defeated. Equestria will never belong to you."

The centaur just laughed. "Ha, weak words from a bunch of washed up princesses!" Then he lifted them up using his unique, centaur magic that glowed ominous shades of orange and black. "Give my regards to Cerberus and tell him I said 'hello.'" Then he opened up a portal to where his cell in Tartarus was (now empty) and hurled both alicorns through it before he slammed it shut.

"Uh, you meant our will just then," Discord pointed out while manipulating the stained glass window display of himself so that it was again making ponies dangle over a fire. "Didn't you?"

"Oh, yes, yes, of course," Tirek appeared to correct himself before he stood up from the throne and walked over to Discord. "In fact, here, I have something I want to give you. A little token of my appreciation. It was given to me long ago by someone close to me, and now I give it to you as a sign of our trust." In his left paw he held up a gold medallion roughly in the shape of an M. It had several small jewels in it.

When the medallion was placed around Discord's neck he felt something off about it. What it was he didn't know, so he just commented aloud. "Ooh, I do love a good accessory," Then he put a paw to his goat like beard. "Hmm, I suppose that must be Rarity's influence." And just like that, the guilt began washing over him anew for what he'd allowed to happen. How would he ever be able to look his friends in the eyes after all of this? Would they believe him if he told them he'd wanted to protect them?

The crafty centaur seemed to sense what his spirit ally was thinking, for he quickly pulled him close. "Don't beat yourself up too badly, Discord. Those ponies already believe you're a traitor. But you're actually staying true to yourself. This is what your heart has desired. The real you that's been clawing and scratching, begging to be let out. And now it has," Then he took notice of a stained glass display of himself brandishing a sword while Discord held up a slice of bread. It was styled so that it would look like the sword was cutting the bread. "Amusing." Tirek chortled despite his best efforts not to.

Discord nodded, sharing what he felt was a genuine laugh with the centaur. "Oh it is."

Tirek quickly recovered. "Yes, but we have no time for such silliness. For now that the main princesses are out of the way we must figure out where they've hidden their magic," He began rubbing his paws together. "I must have it, I will have it! No magic in Equestria shall escape my sight!" And then he asked Discord. "Any ideas, Discord? Where do you think those princesses would have stashed it?"

"Well..." Discord began, scratching his beard. "There are two other princesses, and it's likely each has some magic. Why not start with Princess Cadence? She's all by herself in the Crystal Empire, she won't be a threat. And then you can use her magic to go after Princess Twilight, if you want to."

Tirek appeared to be satisfied with the answer as he walked away, a fiendish and sadistic smirk creeping onto his face again. "I like the way you think, Discord. Come, let's pay this 'Princess Cadence' a little visit." And as he spoke several of the stained glasses began to melt, courtesy of his magic.

Discord gulped. He wasn't sure if he could keep Tirek distracted and unaware of Princess Twilight's whereabouts for much longer.

With Twilight's absence, her friends could only do what she had instructed them to. They went around Ponyville and passed word as fast as they could to all who would listen. Everyone obeyed, needing no real motivation to stay inside when there was the possibility of a dangerous and powerful criminal on the loose (especially one that had the ability to drain magic from whoever he wanted).

The five mares (along with Spike) met back up in the center of town once they had accomplished this task. Applejack wiped the sweat from her brows, observing the results of the hard work. "Well girls, I reckon we did it. Twilight would be proud."

"I just hope it all turns out to be unnecessary," Fluttershy commented as her thoughts turned to Discord. "I still believe that Discord's going to track down Tirek and send him back to Tartarus, and this will be just a fond memory very soon."

"Knowing him, I'll bet he's taking his sweet time." Rainbow remarked while shaking her head.

"Maybe, or maybe these things just take time." The familiar voice of Discord called from afar, soon revealing itself to be the chaos maker in all his chaotic glory. But he didn't seem particularly happy. Strangely enough, he'd avoided making a big entrance even though one would think he'd have wanted to.

Four of the mares were in disbelief and didn't know what to think, but Fluttershy was so overcome with joy and happiness that she ran right up to Discord and hugged him! "Discord! Oh thank goodness!" She happily exclaimed! "The others didn't believe in you, but I did! Oh, I can't wait for Pinkie Pie to throw you a hero party!"

But Discord didn't reply. He said nothing at all. In fact, he seemed to look down at the ground and kick up some dust. It was as if he could barely bring himself to look the ponies in the eyes.

Fluttershy soon took notice of the way Discord was acting and became rather concerned. "What's wrong?" She asked her friend upon noticing the pronounced frown he was wearing. "You caught Tirek, right? Right?!"

The spirit remained silent for a bit, before he spoke up. "You... you have to listen me. Please, all of you have to get out of here. You're in terrible danger."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Yeah, real funny, Discord. Twilight's got all the alicorn magic in Equestria because you dragged your heels hunting down Tirek! Why didn't you just capture him like you were supposed to instead of waiting until the last minute?!"

"Believe me, I know. And I'm sorry," Discord apologized, appearing to sound sincere. "I never meant for any of this to get out of control."

Rarity snorted. "It's a bit late for that, don't you think?! How hard was it to do one little favor for us after we worked so hard to befriend you even when we didn't want to? Do you really think so little of our friendship?!"

Discord pleaded again. "You can be mad at me all you want later, but right now you need to get out of here! Get somewhere safe, maybe even go find Twilight!" And he desperately added! "I can't hold off Tirek any longer! And if he finds me talking to you... you don't wanna know what's gonna happen. Forget about me, save yourselves before... before... I can't say it! Just go, now!"

But it was too late, at that very moment a huge cage came down from the sky and imprisoned all five mares alongside Spike! Discord realized at once where it had come from. "No!" He gasped in dismay! "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

Tirek came walking up on the scene a moment later, the stomping and clopping of his hooves echoing quite audibly as they shook the ground. "I knew you'd betray me eventually, Discord. You thought you could trick me by sending me on a wild goose chase all the way to the Crystal Empire," He declared with narrowed eyes. "Too bad you forgot that I can cover miles in an instant now. With all this magic coursing through my veins, teleportation is a snap."

Fluttershy could only sob and bury her face into Applejack's lap. "How could you do this, Discord?! I thought we were friends!"

"We were, I swear!" Discord protested as his felt his heart sink so low he was certain it would've fallen right out of him if it could've done so. Looking up at the centaur he declared. "You lied to me! You said my friends wouldn't get hurt!" But all he could do was watch in helplessness as their magic was absorbed by the greedy centaur.

Tirek simply scoffed and coldly retorted. "And you actually believed me? You're an even bigger fool than I thought, and that's saying a lot," With a laugh, he explained. "If there's one thing you should've known about me, Discord, it's that I'm not a centaur of my word. You've helped me to grow strong and provided me with the means by which I can take Princess Twilight's alicorn magic. You served your role well but now you're of no further use to me."

"Well that's your first mistake!" Discord bellowed as he snapped his talons, made himself bigger and dawned a bright red cape with a golden D emblazoned onto a necklace. "Soon it'll be your last! I'm gonna do what I should've done in the first place, I'll send you back to Tartarus even if I have to drag you there myself."

Tirek laughed off the suggestion. "Ha! You? You couldn't hurt me if you tried. You're a joke!"

At that, something inside Discord snapped! "A joke am I?! Well then, why don't you see how much of a joke I can be!" He immediately shot off several blasts of chaos magic, pelting Tirek all over and kicking up a huge cloud of smoke! It seemed to take everything he had.

The smoke faded all too soon, and Tirek was still standing as if nothing had happened to him at all. There wasn't even a scratch or a cut on the centaur's face. "Well, that settles it. I very well can't have you running off to warn the princess," He flashed a sadistic grin as he grabbed Discord and pulled him close. "Every little bit that could tip the scales in my favor will be appreciated."

Discord was unable to stop his chaos magic from being drained into Tirek, the funny noises it made doing nothing to mask how grim the situation was as Tirek grew taller and stronger by the second. Soon, a powerless Discord was thrown to the ground like a broken toy no longer wanted. Weakly, he held up the medallion Tirek had given him and held it close to his chest. "Wait..." He called out in a whimper to the centaur. "You... you said this was a sign of our trust. Given to you by someone close?"

Tirek snorted, coldly replying. "A gift from my useless brother right before he betrayed me to the ponies. It is as useless to me as you are now. Goodbye." And he trotted away without another word.

As soon as Tirek was out of ear shot Applejack looked to Discord and commented. "Surely you saw this comin', right? This was all part of your plan?"

"No, I had no idea about any of this," Discord whimpered. "It's out of my paws now. It's all up to Twilight. If she can't defeat Tirek, there's no future for any of us," And he then weakly whispered to himself. "I'm so sorry, I failed."

Far away from Ponyville, far away from the Everfree Forest and far away from any civilization at all, Twilight Sparkle was finally free to start practicing her newfound magic. She knew it was important to get it under control. Unless the sixth key miraculously turned up all by itself, there was only one way she was going to stand any chance against Tirek (and Discord too if he decided to assist).

Perched high atop a cliff overlooking a waterfall, Twilight started lighting up her horn. She focused on teleporting quickly from place to place, going all over Equestria in the blink of an eye. It was quite a liberating feeling, actually. Or at least it was, until she ended up teleporting herself right into a bunch of huge rocks. She groaned, cursing herself under her breath for this unfortunate turn of events.

Suddenly, a booming voice almost like thunder roared out from the distance! "PRINCESS TWILIGHT! SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!"

Reluctantly, Twilight forced herself to teleport out of the rocks and soon found herself looking up towards a very familiar looking centaur. There stood Tirek in all his evil, unholy glory. Needless to say he cut quite the imposing figure just by looking at him.

Tirek grinned. "So the rumors are true, there is indeed a fourth alicorn princess."

"And you I suppose are-" Twilight began even though she needn't have asked.

"-Lord Tirek, yes," The centaur replied with a nod. "But I'm not here for idle chit chat. You have something that belongs to me, and I want it. So give it to me and no one has to get hurt."

Twilight stuck out her tongue while lighting up her horn. "Well since you 'asked nicely' no!" And then she disappeared, soon teleporting to the balcony of the library. She was convinced that she'd given Tirek the slip as she looked through the lens of a telescope.

Yet it only took a little bit of looking around for Tirek to spot his target. His horns pulsed with magic as a giant fireball materialized! Then, without warning, he hurled it right towards the telescope!

The young alicorn soon realized what was happening, and reacting quickly she teleported inside the library! Quick as a flash she snatched up the friendship journal and Owlowiscious, and then teleported back out just before the fireball struck the tree dead on! Twilight only just thought to throw up a wing to shield herself and her belongings as she landed on the ground outside!

When Twilight looked up her moderate violet eyes were ill prepared for the horrible sight that greeted them! The Golden Oak Library was no more, completely destroyed! Where once there had stood a beautiful oak tree now stood only a charred and burnt out stump. It was just her luck that no one was inside, which worried her ever so slightly. "Where's Spike?" She thought to herself, but she had little time to worry about that when she saw Tirek approaching.

Owlowiscious quickly picked up the friendship journal and flew away, leaving Twilight alone. She realized now that she could run away no longer. The time had come for her to stand and fight! She unfolded her wings, ready for action! "You want my magic, Tirek?! You'll have to take it from me the hard way!" She thought to herself while gritting her teeth!

Tirek was most surprised when he was suddenly struck head on by an enormous ball of charged up, magical energy! He was soon buried under a mountain of rubble and had to push aside huge rocks in order to emerge. Upon locking eyes with Twilight and seeing the fire in them, a realization dawned on him. "Ah, now I see what your fellow princesses have done. Very clever of them."

Twilight only growled. "Enough talk, fight me!"

"Very well," The centaur declared. "I'll get the alicorn magic even if I have to destroy you completely to obtain it! It's your funeral, princess." And so it was that an incredible struggle commenced not far from Ponyville, though thankfully (for Twilight) far removed from any traces of civilization.

The fight raged on, constantly teetering back and forth as both sides tried to gain the advantage. Tirek attempted to hurl Twilight directly into a mountainside and crush her, but Twilight teleported onto the centaur's back and shot him down! Tirek wasn't so easily bested though, he used his magic to isolate and lift up the section of ground Twilight stood on and toss it. Twilight flew off just before the slab crashed to the ground and crumbled, blasting her way through several stones.

Eventually, both sides charged head on into each other with fully charged beams in an attempt to force the other to yield. But the beams and the power behind them were equally matched, they eventually burst open and exploded, generating enormous clouds of dust! Yet neither side seemed even the slightest bit wounded or exhausted. Both stared each other down as if daring the other to fall over first. But neither would.

"You're quite strong for someone so young and so small," Tirek commented to his opponent as he continued to stare her down. "But so I am! I'm the unstoppable force and you're the immovable object!"

"You've got it the other way around, Tirek!" Twilight hissed in defiance.

Tirek ignored the remark, just grinning. "Well, it would seem we're at an impasse. I cannot take your magic and you won't give it to me. However, you'll find that I'm prepared for any possible situation, unlike you," A sadistic and knowing smirk crept onto his face as he declared. "You know, I think there's some special individuals who are just dying to see you again! Kind of like a birthday party, but the complete opposite."

The young alicorn quickly realized what the centaur was implying. "You didn't!"

Tirek just laughed. "Why don't we make a little trade, princess? I'm sure you'll find I have something you hold dear," Snapping his fingers, he made several bubbles appear that held all of Twilight's friends as well as Spike and Discord. Then he laid bear his terms. "Their release in exchange for all of the alicorn magic in Equestria. So whaddya say? What will it be, princess? Better hurry, I don't have all day."

Just like when she had learned of Princess Celestia's plan to "get rid of" alicorn magic, Twilight could initially only stare in shock and disbelief. There was no easy answer and she wasn't sure what the right call to make in this situation was.

"Don't do it, Twilight!" The five mares protested all at once, hoping to persuade their friend.

"Please, we aren't worth it!" Fluttershy insisted.

Inside of his own bubble nearby, Discord could only glumly and forlornly put his paws to his face. "Maybe I'm not, but all of you certainly are. Especially you, Fluttershy. You more so than other pony taught me that friendship was in fact magic," Looking down at himself he added. "I had magic and friendship, once. But now I don't have either. Now I've doomed all of Equestria because of my mistake."

Tirek just stomped a hoof down and snapped! "That's enough out of you, Discord! I'm sure Princess Twilight doesn't need to hear your practiced speech of self-pity," Then he turned to the alicorn. "I grow tired of waiting, princess. Make up your mind soon or I might just decide to make it up for you!"

As Twilight looked up at the bubbles again, something suddenly seemed to dawn on her as streaks of rainbow light reflected off of each of them. With firm determination she declared to Tirek. "Let them go, Tirek and I'll give you all the alicorn magic you want."

The centaur grinned. "Excellent! I knew we could come to an agreement." And he opened his mouth, preparing to take away the magic.

But Twilight interrupted him. "Not so fast, Tirek. You have to give me back my friends first. Until you do you won't get a single drop out of me. I'll fight you to my last breath if I must."

"Oh, you wanna be stubborn now, huh?" Tirek groaned in annoyance. "Well, fine, have your friends for all the good it will do you!" And he floated them over to the alicorn before popping their bubbles one by one.

One bubble still remained and it housed Discord. Upon seeing it, Twilight firmly demanded. "All of them, Tirek."

Tirek looked across to Discord and seemed to roll his eyes in disbelief. "Really? Even after the way he's treated you you still consider him a friend? I suppose it's only fair to mention that I drained all of his magic too, he'll be of no use to you."

"Let him go or the deal's off!" Twilight protested while keeping that firm look in her eyes.

The centaur reluctantly obeyed. "He's yours now. But if he betrays you again, you've no one but yourself to blame."

Discord looked down towards Fluttershy as he lay weak on his side. "I'm sorry." Was all he could bring himself to say. Fluttershy said nothing to him in reply, the wounds of betrayal cut deeply.

Tirek then demanded of his opponent. "Alright, princess, now it's time to fulfill your end of the bargain! I want your magic and I'm not taking no for an answer!"

Reluctantly, Twilight held still as Tirek drained every drop of magic out of her. "I hope you choke on it, Tirek!" She thought to herself even while she winced from the pain.

With all the alicorn magic now surging through his body, Tirek grew to an enormous height! The shackles around his arms broke off and his white mane now flowed freely. "Oh yes!" He proclaimed as his voice echoed and shook the ground all around him. "At long last, Equestria is mine! And now, all shall burn!" From his horns emerged a powerful surge of energy not unlike his fireballs, and it began setting fire to everything it touched!

"Why, Twilight?" Applejack inquired of her alicorn friend. "Why'd you do it? Far better to have kept on fightin' rather than let Tirek win."

"Some things are more important than victory, Applejack," Twilight explained. "I'm not really sure what it was, but something inside me knew that I couldn't abandon you all. Magic alone isn't what got me to where I am now."

Discord then spoke up. "I can see that now. And I see too that I failed to realize just how important friendship could really be. It was something I took for granted for far too long, and thus I allowed myself to be used by someone who only cared about himself," He held up the medallion he'd been holding onto since being gifted it by Tirek. "I know this can't make up for all the horrible stuff I've allowed to happen by aiding Tirek, but I at least hope it's a start."

Twilight said nothing as Discord bestowed the medallion upon her, tying it around her neck. "He was lying when he said it was a symbol of his trust. But when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship, I am telling the truth." Once the medallion was firmly around Twilight's neck, it gave off a rainbow colored shimmer and this time all were around to see it!

Realization seemed to set in amongst the group as Applejack hopefully asked. "You think that's the last one?! The final key?!"

"There's only one way to know for sure," Twilight replied. "We need to get to the chest before there's nothing left to save! Hurry!"

All rushed as fast as they could to the six sided chest, and all watched as Twilight held the medallion up towards the only lock that didn't already have a key next to it. Sure enough, the medallion turned itself into a key with a six sided star on the handle. Just like that, the mystery of the chest was nomore and it was ready to be opened!

"Go ahead then!" Rainbow Dash eagerly encouraged to her alicorn friend and occasional flying partner. "Open the chest and use whatever's inside to kick Tirek's sorry butt! You've earned it!"

Twilight shook her head. "No, we all earned it. We all worked together to find the keys, so we should all open the chest together!"

"Well why didn't you just say that in the first place?!" Pinkie Pie eagerly asked! "Let's teach old tall, dark and ugly a lesson he'll never forget!"

So it was the six mares all turned their respective keys at the same time, each key clicking simultaneously as the chest opened up and bathed the whole surrounding area in blinding white light!

Six orbs surrounded the six mares as they were transformed right before Spike and Discord! Their manes and tails were extended considerably and took on rainbow like colors, as did their coats and even their cutie marks.

Spike happily cheered this transformation on while Discord could only stare in amazement and comment! "It's overkill, but it's just so irresistible!"

Once fully transformed, the six mares floated up from the gorge and soon presented themselves united to Tirek. The centaur gasped in horror and disbelief! "No, it's not possible!" He protested! "I took away your magic, you have nothing! NOTHING!"

"That's where you're wrong, Tirek," Twilight pointed out with a smile. "I may have given you my alicorn magic, but I posses within me a magic far greater than that. A magic you could never comprehend. The magic of friendship, channeled into the might and power of a rainbow! A magic you can never take away, because it can be never owned by an individual!"

Six rainbow colored beams shot out and enveloped Tirek, overwhelming the centaur completely! "No!" He cried as he felt himself shrinking, all the magic he'd worked so hard to steal leaking out of him like a runny faucet. "Not back to Tartarus! Not again!" But he was powerless to stop it! In a matter of minutes he was right back in his cell in Tartarus without a drop of his magic to his name. Just like that, the threat of Tirek was gone.

The "rainbow power" (as it would later be called) didn't stop with Tirek's defeat, however. It quickly spread out all over Equestria to undo all the damage Tirek had done during his brief reign of terror. It also freed the trapped Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from the depths of Tartarus, breaking the lock on their cell and restoring their magic that thus enabled them to escape.

At last, all that was lost that could be restored had been restored. The magic in Equestria was safe, Equestria itself was safe once again. And just as quickly as it came the new power vanished while the mysterious chest buried itself deep into the ground.

However, there was one thing that had not been restored and could not be restored by the rainbow: The Golden Oak Library. Its burnt out stump still presented itself to Twilight and Spike when they came near it. "Where are we going to sleep now?" Spike wondered. "The Castle of the Two Sisters?"

"No, Spike," Twilight shook her head. "That castle still isn't safe, no one should have to live there. Besides, it just wouldn't feel right taking over something that used to belong to Celestia and Luna."

The little dragon then gulped. "Does that mean we'll be moving back to Canterlot until a new library is built?"

Again, Twilight shook her head. "No, Spike. We'll just have to move in with one of our friends for the time being. We'll have to see which of them has the space to accommodate us."

But as mare and dragon prepared to set off and try to find out which of their friends they would inform first, the ground started to shake and shake quite vigorously!

Suddenly, from the ground and in the center of Ponyville there emerged a huge crystal castle shaped like a tree! Just like the library it had a balcony, and it had huge steps leading up to the front door.

By the time Twilight and Spike had reached it there was already a rather massive crowd that had gathered in front of the newly erected castle. "Sweet Celestia!" Rarity gasped as she looked upon the majestic building. "Are you all seeing what I'm seeing?!"

Princess Celestia happened to come upon the scene at that very moment. "This is most unexpected, but perhaps fitting. Every princess deserves a castle to call her own," And she turned to Twilight. "You do wish to claim this castle as your own, right? I would think it would make for a suitable living arrangement in light of what happened to your previous living space."

"I... I don't know what to say, this is all so sudden," Twilight declared as she trotted to the front door of the castle and went inside. The interior was designed with beautifully decorated hallways, lush red carpeting, almost identical looking doors and a central room with seven thrones laid out next to each other (one of which rested next to the one that had Twilight's cutie mark, and the other five bore the cutie marks of her friends). "What is all this?!"

Celestia just gave a warm smile. "Well, Twilight, you were wondering what your role in Equestria was meant to be. It would seem this castle has chosen to give you the answer. You are now officially Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship!"

Even Discord seemed to be impressed! "Wow! This was even better than I expected! I knew there was a great power within that chest, but I never knew it could house an entire castle too!"

At that, Applejack couldn't help but arch an eyebrow upward. "Wait a minute, Discord. It sounds almost as if you knew all of this would. Is that true? Did you put us all in danger because somehow you knew it would all be okay in the end?"

The spirit confessed. "Well, yes and no. You must understand, Princess Celestia chose me to track down Tirek not just because I could sense magical imbalances, but also because she knew of the search for the keys and believed that Tirek might possess the final one," He looked down in shame. "But my orders were still first and foremost to capture him, not to help him. I could've easily taken the medallion from him at any point and given it to Twilight, it would've served a similar purpose without needing to put you all in danger."

Princess Celestia, however, reassured the draconequus. "Do not be too hard on yourself, Discord. It would seem Luna and I were not aware of just how much of a silver tongued devil he was. He knew what buttons to push, what strings to pull."

"Still, I feel so ashamed of myself for letting things get so bad," Discord willingly admitted and looked at Twilight. "I know this castle is nice, but it can't make up for what you lost. And for that I'll always be sorry. I'm not asking you to forgive me, not yet anyway."

But Twilight shook her head. "There's no need for bad blood between us, Discord. You were a big help, even if it wasn't in the way you were supposed to be. And as my first act as the Princess of Friendship, I hereby grant you my forgiveness and my blessing for you to forgive yourself."

"Thanks, I think." Discord blinked, unsure of how to take the news.

Princess Celestia then told her fellow alicorn. "So it seems you will embrace your new title, Twilight. And from these thrones I can safely say that you will not be undertaking your new royal duties alone."

The young alicorn firmly nodded in reply. "As princess, I believe it is my duty and my role to spread the magic of friendship all across Equestria. Perhaps even beyond. And with my friends and my son Spike by my side, I know I will not fail in that duty!"

Everyone cheered at the news, and then Pinkie Pie excitedly declared! "Well, what's everyone just standing around here for?! It's time for one doozy of a housewarming party, or in this case a castlewarming party!"

The party was a grand affair for all involved, ponies and non-ponies alike flocked from all over town to get a look at the castle both inside and out. Twilight was on hoof to welcome them and could be heard happily singing:

Each one of us has something special.

It makes us different, it makes us rare.

The singing was so contagious it spread to Twilight's other friends, beginning with Fluttershy:

We have a light that shines within us.

One we were always meant to share.

Soon, all of Twilight's friends were joining her in singing as they posed in the throne room in the center of the castle:

And when we all come together,

Combine the light that shines within!

There is nothing that we can't do.

There is no battle that we can't win!

And it wasn't long before a powerful rainbow colored light was sweeping across all of Equestria, passing by the likes of Coco Pommel hard at work in her apartment, the Wonderbolts as they soared overhead near Ponyville, Cheese Sandwich and Boneless Two while they were strolling across the land, the breezies (including Sea Breeze) in their own little land and Silver Shill who was now trying to make an honest living for himself.

All the while, a joyous and triumphant chorus from the six mares was heard singing:

For when we come together,

There'll be a star to guide the way.

It's inside of us every day.

See it now! See it now!

Let the rainbow remind you,

That together we will always shine!

Let the rainbow remind you,

That forever this will be our time!

The rainbow beam of light eventually returned to the castle, though not without passing through Discord was rather surprised and delight to have his chaotic powers fully restored. He even pulled out a bouquet of flowers from seemingly nowhere and offered them to Princess Celestia.

Then, Twilight, her friends and even Spike all gathered together for a group photo to be taken. And as everyone came together Twilight happily sang:

Let the rainbow remind you,

That together we will always shine!

The photo was taken and the castle warming party continued well into the night. Although Twilight was still greatly saddened by the loss of her old home in the Golden Oak Library, she now had a castle all to herself and knew for sure what her role as princess was meant to be.

She and her friends would soon come to learn just how important the mission of spreading friendship would become, and would receive a tool to help them do it. But that's another story.

S7 E17: Daring Done? (What If?)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

S8 E13: Ail-icorn (The Mean Six) (What If?)

Author's Note

For those wondering why I'm basically completing swapping out an episode of the show, especially one as widely panned as "The Mean Six" from Season 8, allow me to explain. I already covered the plot of that episode back when I did my rewrite of "School Daze". You can find the part with the cloning plot here.

Naturally, I needed something to fill the episode slot here and had the suggestion from longtime contributor Comickook to turn the short "Ail-icorn", which was one of five "Encore" shorts that aired between Seasons 8 and 9, into a full fledged episode. And I decided to do that.

I did take out the age regression bit from the end of that short, simply because the short as a whole (and all its other shorts) felt a little too "fanficy" in that they were just covering plot points you would expect in typical fanfics. And I decided to turn Twilight being sick into a full fledged plot point.

Spike being about the same size as Smolder is because of how I wrote his transformation during my rewrite of "Molt Down" which can be found here. There is also a nod to my bonus chapter rewrite of "Once Upon a Zeppelin" which can be found here.

Lastly, for those wondering when Diamond Tiara became Twilight's new student, that was a change I implemented back at the end of my rewrite of "Celestial Advice" when I made it into a two parter, the second half of which can be found here. And Cozy Glow being Chrysalis is something I've written since my rewrite of "Marks for Effort" which can be found here.

I hope these changes make sense and aren't a deal breaker. Given what I've written, this "episode", if it existed, would need to be moved around a bit so that other episodes could occur before it (such as "The Hearth's Warming Club", "A Matter of Principals" and "Friendship University", which would mean this would actually be roughly filling in around the sixteenth episode slot).

~~Griffon the Brush Off~~
~~The Return of Harmony Parts 1 and 2~~
~~Too Many Pinkie Pies~~
~~Twilight's Kingdom Parts 1 and 2~~
~~Daring Done?~~
~~Ail-icorn (The Mean Six)~~
The Beginning of the End Parts 1 and 2

S8 E13: Ail-icorn (The Mean Six) (What If?)

It was well into the night, yet Twilight Sparkle was not asleep. In fact she was wide awake. She'd been this way ever since her decision to open a School of Friendship in Ponyville, one that bore her name no less. Running the school on top of all her other duties was a challenge, one that led to more than a few sleepless nights for the young alicorn.

Twilight was currently facing down a dilemma, namely in what she had to go through in order to get the Cutie Mark Crusaders officially onboard as friendship counselors and tutors. Their contributions to the school were undeniable after they had helped Cozy Glow. But giving them such important positions within the school meant a lot of paperwork had to be filed and a lot of important ponies needed to approve.

By the time Twilight finally got everything sorted out and climbed into bed, it was very late indeed. She didn't sleep for very long either, constantly waking up in the night when she became convinced she'd forgotten something or worried herself about something at the school.

Twilight's sleep deprived nature was becoming a matter of concern to Spike despite how well he knew Twilight was trying to hide it. And it only got worse when he began to notice some other worrying signs as well, such as a stuffy nose and a cough. "Twilight, this can't go on!" He protested at last one morning. "Just look at yourself! You're about ready to fall apart!"

A rather groggy Twilight just downed an entire mug of coffee and shook herself awake. Her mane and tail looked a bit disfigured and there were noticeable bags under her eyes. "I'm sorry, Spike," She apologized in between occasional coughing fits. "Really, I am. It's just, this school is proving to be more of a problem than I anticipated. A happy problem, mind you, but a problem nevertheless."

"So, why not just call in sick for a day or two and let somepony else take the reigns?" The not so little dragon suggested as he unfolded his new wings courtesy of the molt. "It's for your own good."

The young alicorn protested with a shake of her head. "Absolutely not! No way am I pushing that responsibility onto anyone else! That's not how I got to where I was, Spike," And she puffed out her own wings. "This school was my idea, so I should be able to put up with all the hard work it's given me. I knew there'd be challenges. If I had someone else take over for me I'd only be proving that I was in over my head, and I can't allow that. I won't give potential critics like Neighsay anymore ammunition if I can help it." Then she let out a sneeze, a rather audible one at that.

Spike quickly brought over a tissue for Twilight to blow her nose. "Twilight, you're really not looking so good. You've been getting worse and worse these past few days. Far worse than you usually get for this time of year."

Twilight sniffled a bit. "What do you mean, Spike? Spring allergies have never been much of a problem. And I don't have time to get sick."

"Twilight, please, you've been down this road before!" Spike protested as he quickly pleaded! "You need to put your own needs first for a change. It's not a bad thing to do that sometimes. If not for your sake then surely for my sake, the sake of your only son."

The young alicorn with a light purple coat then pressed a hoof up to her forehead. "Well... now that you mention it... I do seem to feel a bit warm..." And that was the last thing she said before all of a sudden her strength gave out, she fell to the floor with a thud!

"Twilight?! Twilight!" Spike gasped in horror as he rushed to her side and struggled to help her up! "Oh, I knew something like this would happen. Of all the times for spring allergies to strike, it had to be now when we're not prepared!" And he hurriedly guided the mare he'd come to see as his mother back to bed for some much needed rest.

As for Twilight, all her concerns and fears about the school were now running wild. She had barely any sort of system in place for this kind of occasion. And she had no way to know just how much this was going to cause a problem, not only for herself but for all the students and staff at her School of Friendship!

Although confined to her bed, Twilight was anything but willing to rest. It didn't matter that her forehead still felt warm or that she was sneezing and coughing a great deal. "I just need to take some medicine to get my allergies under control," She decided aloud. "Yeah, that's it."

Yet as soon as the alicorn rose from her bed and tried to stand, Spike immediately pushed her back onto the sheets. "Absolutely not, Twilight! You're not going anywhere in your condition. You're sick, don't you realize that?"

The young alicorn nearly shot up from her bed in surprise! "What?! Me?! Sick?! No no no, I can't be sick! I just can't be! I've got too much to do!" But then she let out a mighty sneeze as her horn ominously unleashed sparks from its tip!

"Twilight, please, don't make this any harder than it needs to be," Spike pleaded. "After all the times you wouldn't let me work for you or help you while I was sick, you should follow your own advice. You need to rest and let this illness run its course. You're not gonna be a help to anyone like this."

"I just don't understand, how could this have happened?" Twilight questioned as she lay upon her bed sheets, the reality of her situation slowly settling in. "I know I've had bad bouts with allergies before, but they've never been this bad."

The light purple scaled dragon just put a claw to his chin in deep thought. "Must be because you've been working yourself to the bone night after night. You've never given your body time to rest, and that wore you down and left you vulnerable. And it's gone from allergies to a straight up flu."

"That's just great," Twilight sarcastically complained as she let out a long, unhappy sigh. "Now how am I going to ensure my school doesn't fall apart without me? End of the quarter finals are only two weeks away, and Cozy Glow wasn't the only student struggling. Plus, I don't have anyone to cover my classes and I'm not about to cancel them."

"Starlight can easily fill in for you there, you've taught her well," Spike insisted. "And I'm sure she can pull double duty as guidance counselor."

The young alicorn sighed anew. "I guess so," But then another thought struck her. "But what about Diamond Tiara? Even though I'm running the school I still occasionally have friendship lessons with her on the side."

Spike only shook his head. "Well, her lessons will have to be put on hold. If she caught anything from you her parents would never let you hear the end of it," And he then promised. "And don't worry about those important documents and paperwork you were working on. I can handle them. The only thing I won't be able to do is sign them, but you should be able to put your signature on them once you're feeling better. It'll be just like when Starlight filled in when we went on that zeppelin cruise together."

Twilight blinked briefly before commenting. "You really have thought of everything, Spike. You're so organized it's scary."

Spike grinned. "Well, I learned from the best, Mom," And then he left the bedroom. "You just rest and get back to your old Twilightly self as soon as possible. You have plenty of good friends who'll be ready to help keep things running smoothly," Though under his breath once alone he added. "I hope." For he knew that keeping a school organized and properly running without its headmare would be no easy task. And this was very much uncharted territory, Twilight had never planned for something like this.

Spike soon delivered the unfortunate news to Starlight Glimmer, who in turn informed the rest of the group as well as all the students attending the School of Friendship. "And so, until further notice, Headmare Twilight's classes will be under new management," Starlight announced as she stood before the students on a podium in the main hallway. "I shall be taking over and running the classes in accordance with her wishes. But I will still be your guidance counselor, so if you don't see me in the classroom be sure to stop by my office and check there."

"Does this there won't be any tests?" Gallus hopefully asked as he raised a claw.

"I'm afraid not, Gallus. Tests and quizzes will still be given as planned," Starlight replied. "Study groups will still be provided for anyone who wants to make use of them."

Ocellus then questioned. "But when will Headmare Twilight be back? I mean, she has to come back eventually, right?"

Starlight quickly reassured the anxious changeling. "Twilight will come back once she's gotten over this flu and is certain she isn't contagious. Until then, she asks that you all be respectful and leave her to rest," Looking out towards the student body as a whole she was quick to add. "And she also told me to tell you that she wants you all to be on your best behavior. All your other professors will still have authority to dish out punishment as necessary, detention included. Now, are there anymore questions?" Not a single hoof, claw or other like minded appendage shot up. And with that the students were dismissed.

But Twilight's absence was felt immediately among her friends, all of whom began to worry. "Can we really keep this school running without Twilight?" Fluttershy questioned. "It was her idea and she oversaw most of it. In fact, she still oversees most of it."

Applejack stomped a hoof down. "We've already dealt with a lot in the time it took to get this school up and runnin'. We'll carry on as best we can and find a way, we always do."

"Maybe, but I can't help but feel like we're in way over our heads this time," Rainbow Dash gulped. "Why couldn't this have held off until the next break? Is every season going to be plagued with some kind of hiccup? Fall was consumed by Neighsay and Chrysalis, winter was a fiasco and now this!"

"We'll just have to survive, somehow," Rarity insisted. "And perhaps this could be the perfect opportunity to expand the staff ranks."

Pinkie Pie grinned. "And it also means we have free range to start running classes our way! I've got a ton of ideas that Twilight never got around to approving, but I'm sure she would've said yes," And she promised. "We'll make learning so much fun the students will hardly notice Twilight's absence."

At that, a familiar voice called out. "Golly. Headmare Twilight's sick?" And soon, a very familiar pegasus filly with a pinkish gray coat, eyes an moderate scarlet in color, a beautifully curly mane and tail that was a pale, light grayish arctic blue and light arctic bluish gray in color and a cutie mark depicting a rook appeared before the mares.

Reluctantly, Applejack confessed. "Yes, Cozy Glow, she is. Counselor Starlight just explained everythin'."

"Oh, sorry," Cozy Glow innocently blushed. "I was in the library, wondering why she wasn't there to supervise me. She said that because I'm such a model student I could work as a book stacker before class. She even says she may take me under her wing someday like she did for Counselor Starlight and Diamond Tiara."

"Well you needn't worry yourself about Twilight," Applejack firmly insisted to the filly. "You just focus on keepin' those grades up. And don't forget that the Cutie Mark Crusaders aren't just there to help you now. Even if they ain't official friendship tutors yet, their services are extremely important to lots of students."

The pegasus filly nodded. "Don't worry, I'll remember. But I won't need their help or anyone else's." She began to trot away while thinking to herself. "It's all of you who will need help. Twilight's absence is gonna play right into my hooves! Oh, if I'd have known it was this easy to fool these ponies I would've disguised myself here years ago." And the gears in her mind began to turn.

The first school day without Headmare Twilight around came and went mostly without fanfare. But for a particular group of students, the absence of their school's headmare was hard not to notice. Of course, other things occupied their attention as well, namely the fact that study sessions were occurring with increased frequency in light of the fast approaching end of the quarter exams.

"Oh, there's so much to study I can barely keep track of it all!" Silverstream declared as she and her friends gathered in the library after classes had let out for the day. "Outside of Professor Pinkie Pie's laughter classes and Headmare Twilight's friendship classes I'm not doing too hot. My grades are starting to slip."

"You're lucky," Smolder protested with a snort. "I don't know if my grades are going to ever go above average before the tests. I feel like I get the homework down pat, but every time I have to demonstrate something I just mess up."

Sandbar, for his part, simply commented. "I just hope Headmare Twilight's okay. I remember the last time I got the flu, it was so bad I had to stay in bed for a week. And it was right in the middle of summer vacation too."

Yona then remarked. "Yona think Headmare Twilight try too hard to keep school going. Headmare Twilight not seem focused, school look disorganized."

Sandbar replied. "Now now, I'm sure she's doing the best she can. She did say she was looking into hiring more teachers on a full time basis. We could have new professors in time for the next quarter, hopefully."

Ocellus protested. "But I like our current professors, they're nice! Why do they need to be replaced?! It just isn't fair!"

Gallus only sighed, tapping his claws against the desk. "Doesn't matter, really. New professors, old professors, either way we're all supposed to go back to our home lands and apply what we've learned. That's what Headmare Twilight's been saying from day one. She clearly expects a lot out of us."

"And why shouldn't she? She's our headmare," Silverstream pointed out. "She's done so much for so many creatures. And this school is her legacy, her dream."

Yona commented with concern. "Yona fear Headmare Twilight's dream turn into nightmare and Headmare Twilight not realize it."

Sandbar quickly intervened to break up the arguing. "Guys, come on. We're all just a little frustrated because of Headmare Twilight's absence. But we came here to study, so let's study! We can worry about that other stuff later."

Unknown to the six creatures though, their conversations were being overheard by Cozy Glow and the filly's eyes were glowing a sickly shade of green. No one but her knew that in actuality she was not Cozy Glow, that Cozy Glow in fact didn't even exist. Not even Ocellus had suspected that Cozy Glow was just a front for the disgraced and exiled former queen of the changelings: Chrysalis.

Chrysalis knew she had to be careful not to drop her disguise now. Her plan to infiltrate the school and discover a way to carry out her revenge against both Twilight and Starlight was working well, she wasn't about to let it all go to waste. However, she was quietly taking in every bit of information she could. "So this school is Twilight Sparkle's dream, huh? Well too bad for her it's about to be crushed!" She thought to herself, rubbing her hooves together. "And I know just the way to do it. I won't even have to lift a hoof."

The next morning, before classes were even close to beginning, Diamond Tiara came rushing frantically up to the School of Friendship to look for the Cutie Mark Crusaders! She had urgent news that she'd overheard and needed to share it with ponies she could trust! "Cutie Mark Crusaders! Cutie Mark Crusaders!" She called out in desperation!

The three founding members of the CMC were inside of the headmare's office when their honorary member approached them, looking as if she'd just seen a ghost in the process! "What's wrong, Diamond Tiara?" Apple Bloom was the first to speak up and ask. "Everythin' okay?"

The headgear wearing filly immediately shook her head. "No. But never mind me, we've got bigger problems on our hooves here!" She paused briefly to catch her breath, having worn herself out almost completely from all the running she'd done. "You'll never g-guess what I h-heard this morning."

"What? Your parents finally getting a divorce or something?" Scootaloo questioned. "Because if they are I'd say it's about time."

Diamond gulped. "It's not that. I overheard my mom mentioning it, and when I asked her she said it was absolutely true. Chancellor Neighsay's coming to visit the school next week! And by visit, I mean he's going to do an inspection!"

All three Crusaders gasped together in collective dismay! "WHAT?!"

Sweetie Belle then protested. "But that can't be! Twilight specifically made it so this school wasn't an EEA school. How can Neighsay inspect it if the school doesn't have to meet EEA standards?"

"Even if it doesn't have to get EEA approval or accreditation, it still has to follow some basic guidelines in order to operate," Diamond explained as best she could. "Father even said that Neighsay could have the school shut down if it's found to be run improperly, regardless of whether it's EEA approved or not. Somepony or someone must've tipped him off about what's going on here now that Twilight is sick."

"You mean, Neighsay's got help on the inside?" Apple Bloom pondered. "Who could that be? Who here would ever want this school to be shut down? Everyone who comes here seems to love this place."

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, and even our classmates have gotten jealous that we get to work here as friendship tutors on occasion."

Sweetie Belle then asked Diamond. "Does Twilight know about this?"

The magenta coated filly nodded her head. "What do you think the first thing I did upon finding out this horrible news was? I rushed right over to Twilight's castle to tell her all about it. I was hoping she'd know what to do. But..." She trailed off as the memory of her earlier visit to the castle was still fresh in her mind. And she could still remember how it had all played out:

It was just after the crack of dawn. Celestia's sun was still low in the sky, giving a lovely orange glow to the horizon and surrounding objects and locations.

Diamond Tiara was frantically rushing up to the front steps of the castle and was soon pounding her hooves on the door in rapid succession, hoping for a reply! "Princess Twilight! Princess Twilight!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Not normally one to make a scene, the rich filly really didn't care who saw her like this at this moment. She had important news that she was desperate to share with a pony she was convinced would know what to do!

But to the filly's surprise, the door was opened not by the princess but rather by her number one assistant and officially adopted son, Spike. It was still hard to believe that he used not to be so tall, that his molt that had gifted him those wings and that new body was still less than half a year old (although it would fast be approaching that passage of time). "Diamond Tiara?" He questioned the easily identifiable young earth pony. "Why have you come here? Twilight isn't seeing any guests, and your studies have been placed on temporary hold."

"But I need to talk to her!" Tiara pleaded in desperation! "It's urgent! Really urgent! I just heard the worst news I've ever heard and she needs to know about it too!"

"Well I'm sorry," Spike insisted while firmly shaking his head from side to side. "But for the near future, Twilight has been confined to bed while she battles a rather nasty flu. The only reason I'm allowed to be near her is because ponies can't infect dragons. If she got you or anypony else sick, she'd never be able to live with herself."

Diamond was frantic! She hadn't come all this way here just to be turned away. "But... but..." She struggled to find the words she wanted to say. She was always supposed to be good at getting others to do what she wanted. "But the princess has to know about this! Her school's in danger of being shut down by Chancellor Neighsay!"

If Spike was surprised by the statement he did his best not to let it show outwardly. He insisted simply shooed his charge away. "Well I'm afraid the best I can do is rely that information to Twilight," And he then suggested. "Try bringing this up with Starlight and the others at the School of Friendship, they should be able to sort this out." And with that he closed the door.

The memory faded rather quickly as Tiara continued to explain to the Crusaders. "So please, you have to help me! We've got to warn everyone! If Chancellor Neighsay sees the school like this... well... I'm sure he'll shut it down! And if that happens Twilight's legacy will be ruined."

"Then there's only one thing to do!" Apple Bloom boldly declared. "We'll have to tell Starlight, then she can tell the others and they can all pitch in to make sure Chancellor Neighsay doesn't get his way."

"Hey, we'll do our part too!" Scootaloo firmly insisted. "We're a part of this school now too. No way are we gonna let it be shuddered by that no good Neighsay! Not on our watch!"

Diamond breathed a small sigh of relief. "Oh thank you, Crusaders! You don't know how grateful I am that you're here. You three really are the best."

"Solving problems is what we do," Sweetie nodded in agreement. "Now come on, we need to tell Starlight as soon as we can!" And all four fillies rushed away to find the mare.

Unknown to all of them, however, the disguised Chrysalis had been watching the whole scene from afar. She was smirking with certain triumph. "Fools! You can try all you want but it won't matter. This school will never be able to recover in time," She thought to herself. "Not if I have anything to say about it. And in fact I do. It's time to put 'Cozy Glow' to good use."

Since Starlight wasn't in the headmare's office, the four fillies quickly concluded the best place to look for Starlight would be in the guidance counselor's office.

"Starlight?! Starlight!" They all shouted at once, hoping to catch the mare's attention from afar. The sooner they had a chance to inform her the better.

But when the four fillies reached the guidance counselor's office and burst through the doors, they were dismayed to find Starlight was busy talking to none other than Cozy Glow. "What are you doing here?!" Diamond gasped in disbelief as she eyed the filly. Something about Cozy Glow had always seemed off to her, although she couldn't quite put her hoof on the reason why.

Cozy replied with the most innocent looking face. "I had something very important I needed to talk to Counselor Starlight about, and I couldn't wait around all day to tell her," She explained. "I'm sorry, did you need to talk to her? None of you actually attend classes at this school like I do."

"Please, it's an emergency!" Tiara desperately pleaded as she dropped to her hooves. Normally, begging would be beneath her even as her old self, but in this situation she was willing to sacrifice a bit of dignity if the situation called for it. "It'll only take a few minutes tops!"

However, Starlight only responded. "Unfortunately, Diamond Tiara, Cozy Glow got here first. And my policy is: First come, first serve. Cozy Glow got here first, so I have to hear her out," She quickly reassured the rich filly though. "If you'd like, you can come see me after classes are done for the day. I should be free then."

"But... but... but it's urgent! You have to know about this!" Diamond insisted to the best of her ability!

"Please, Starlight, you gotta listen!" Apple Bloom pleaded. "It's about Chancellor Neighsay and about what he's gonna do to the school!"

Cozy Glow simply protested. "I don't know where those fillies get such a crazy idea, Counselor Starlight. What could that old windbag Neighsay possibly do to a non EEA school?"

Just then, the bell rang to signal the start of classes for another day. Upon hearing it, Starlight rose from her desk. "Well, I'm afraid I have to run Twilight's classes now so my office is officially closed until lunch," And she shooed all five fillies away, "Cozy Glow, if you still need to talk to me, please come see me at lunch," Turning to the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Diamond Tiara she added. "And you five need to run along now. Classes will be starting soon at the school house. The deal was you can spend as much time after school as you want here, but during school hours you must be in your own classes since you're not students here."

And so it was that Diamond and the CMC now found themselves in a dilemma as they saw Starlight abruptly teleport away, and Cozy Glow trotted off towards her first class of the day.

However, Sweetie Belle got an idea! "Diamond, you go right to the school house and tell Miss. Cheerilee we'll be a bit late," She then firmly declared as her eyes narrowed a bit. "If we can't tell Starlight and we can't tell the teachers, we'll just have to tell someone who can tell them."

The headgear wearing filly quickly realized what Sweetie's idea was. "You sure they'll listen? They've got a lot on their plate as it is."

"Don't know about all of them, but Sandbar and Silverstream at least will listen," Scootaloo declared. "Just leave it to us."

By a stroke of luck, Sandbar just happened to cross paths with the Crusaders out in the hallways enroute to his first class of the day. He took the news pretty well. "Whoa! You sure Diamond Tiara wasn't exaggerating just a little bit?" He asked them.

"No way was she making it up, she looked pretty serious," Sweetie commented with concern. "Please, you and your friends need to pass word along to all the teachers and staff here. They have to know what's going down so they can be ready," Then she sheepishly added. "But if they ask, you didn't hear it from us. We were never here."

Sandbar gave a salute. "Don't worry, Crusaders, once I tell my friends there's no way the professors won't know. Silverstream alone is too much of a chatterbox to let it stay a secret."

And indeed, once Sandbar told his friends what he'd learned word of Neighsay's sudden visit and "inspection" spread fast. By the end of the school day, all the professors were aware of it and Starlight was too.

"That Neighsay never lets a good crisis go to waste," Starlight Glimmer lamented as she grabbed her face with her hooves. "We're just barely keeping it together as it is without Twilight around, and I don't know if she'll be better in time to help see us through this."

"Then we're just gonna have to take care of business ourselves!" Rainbow Dash vowed! "If Neighsay thinks he can just march on here and shut this place down, he's got another thing coming!"

Rarity, however, shook her head. "Even if we can pass this inspection there's nothing stopping him from coming back for another, or another. The fact is, even with Twilight this school has been largely getting by with just the seven of us."

Fluttershy gulped. "But Twilight said she was going to hire more staff. She always said more help was coming."

"Most likely, with all that's been going on around here and with all the work the school has brought with it, hiring substitutes has slipped onto the backburner," Rarity concluded. "It's only now that Twilight is indisposed that the need for more teachers and even some substitutes has become apparent."

Pinkie Pie just bounced up and down in excitement. "No problem! I'm sure there's tons of ponies around here who would love to volunteer their time to help us out."

"But will the students accept them?" Applejack questioned. "And more importantly, how are we gonna find the right ponies to recruit? A school like this needs extra special care. And let's not forget we've got end of the quarter exams comin' up fast."

Starlight then turned to Spike, who had arrived just after classes had let out for the day. "Spike, you'll have to rely this information to Twilight. If she has even the faintest idea of who to hire or who to recruit for this school, we need those suggestions right now!"

"Well, I can try. Might take a while to find them in all that paperwork," Spike replied. "Twilight's getting a little better now that she's had time to rest, but I don't think she'll be getting back on her hooves anytime soon."

But before anyone could even think of doing anything, six very familiar creatures came rushing into the headmare's office! Gallus was the first of them to speak up. "Let us help too!"

Silverstream all but pleaded! "Come on, we can totally help! If you're gonna let Cozy Glow stack books in the library, there's no reason why we can't do the same."

"That's nice of y'all to offer," Applejack kindly told the gathered students. "But I'm afraid somethin' like this is beyond your capacity to handle. There ain't a whole lot you could really do even as a group besides be on your best behavior."

"But we want to help! We can help!" Smolder insisted. "This school has come to mean so much for so many of us! Let us at least have a chance to prove we're learning what we're supposed to be learning."

The mares were all still rather hesitant, Fluttershy even commented. "Well, I don't know..."

Ocellus spoke up. "Please?! It wouldn't even need to be extra credit or anything if that's what you're worried about. We could just do it before and after classes."

Yona stomped a hoof down. "Yona not want school to close down because of pesky Neighsay! Yona not want to say goodbye to new friends after just getting to know them."

And Sandbar then concluded. "Let us help, or if the school shuts down because of Neighsay, we'll all run away together!"

At that, recalling how the different leaders (and in Sandbar's case his parents) had reacted upon learning that their designated student representative had gone missing during Friends and Family Day, the mares began to feel a sense of dread. They didn't want a repeat and risk the possibility of a war.

Yet what could these students do that would make a difference? They wouldn't be able to help much with recruiting new teachers or preparing papers for tests, exams and other assignments. And since they were still children it wouldn't be a good sign if they were doing physical labor, even of their own free will and without compensation.

Suddenly, however, Starlight seemed to get an idea! A light bulb went off inside her head! "Well, if you really want to help, I think I know how you can," She told the six students. "However, I'll need to make sure Twilight's onboard with it first. After all, it's her school. It won't look good if decisions are being made behind her back," And she instructed to Spike. "Spike, take a letter, please."

The dragon fluttered his wings. "Haven't heard that in years, but I'm still ready to write," He pulled out a scroll. "Go ahead, Starlight. I'm ready when you are, big sis."

The mare with a grayish-purple coat did her best to hold back a chuckle. "Some things never change." She thought to herself.

The next several days passed ominously quickly, perhaps due to the sense of urgency that hung overhead with Neighsay's visit. All were certain that the chancellor would be looking for even the slightest of technicalities on which to shudder the school: Be it the staff, the students, the building, the classrooms, the subject material or even something else altogether if possible.

And all of this occurred while Twilight continued to be confined to bed, fighting off the flu and her usual spring allergy symptoms. There was not much she could contribute besides the letters she spent back and forth through Spike, hoping that her wishes would be carried out as best they could and that her friends were doing everything they could to keep things running smoothly.

At last, the dreaded day of the inspection arrived. Chancellor Neighsay arrived, still clad in that dark red robe with that golden amulet resting in the center of it. The lanky stallion strolled right up to the school's front steps, surprised to find that somepony was waiting for him.

"Greetings, Chancellor Neighsay," Starlight greeted with what she hoped was a sincere smile. "Sorry to spoil your 'surprise' but we knew you were coming. Still, I know better than to interfere with you even if this isn't EEA business."

The chancellor nodded his head, doing his best to hide his discontent. "So you were informed ahead of time and did some cleaning up. I suppose we can't always get everything we want," He then trotted inside. "But from what I can recall this school was hardly functional the last time I saw it," Looking all around the stallion added. "Where is Princess Twilight? It's her school, why isn't she running it like she should be?"

"She's being confined to bed for over a week now with a very nasty flu, on top of her annual spring allergies," Starlight explained. "Naturally, for the safety of the students and staff she chose to quarantine within her castle."

Neighsay stepped back a bit, blinking slowly while jotting some notes down. "Ah, how... unfortunate," The last line left his mouth rather slowly. "Well, I do wish her a speedy recovery. Regardless of our past disagreements I'm not so cold as to speak ill of her suffering," Then he declared. "But do not take that as a sign that I'll be lenient, for I will not be. I intend to inspect this school quite thoroughly from top to bottom. And I hope no one will attempt to interfere in that or try to mislead me like before."

"Not at all, Chancellor," Starlight reassuringly nodded. "You're welcome to look around to your heart's content and observe any classroom or any office."

The stallion bowed his head. "Then don't mind if I do. For your sake, you'd best hope things are up to code."

Neighsay inspected the school to his heart's content. But he was surprised by what he discovered! Not only were the students behaving themselves far better than anticipated (especially considering that there were creatures like dragons and yaks among them), but several classes were being covered by a wide range of instructors: Big Macintosh, Spitfire, Maud (along with her boyfriend Mud Briar), Dr. Whooves, even Cheerilee was assisting.

All around him, the chancellor's moderate turquoise eyes took in a sight he could barely comprehend: A School of Friendship that was that running and functioning better than it had ever operated before! It was a far cry from what it had been like when he'd visited it for the first time during that fateful Friends and Family Day, and what he'd been told about from his unknown informant (who had not disclosed their name).

"No, it can't be!" Neighsay declared when his inspection ended at last. "I've heard so many stories about how poorly managed this school was, about all the things that were going wrong. A prankster on the loose, a clash over who was supposed to be the acting headmare, staff having to juggle their obligations between the school and their personal lives. How is it possible this school has become so efficient so soon?"

At that, a very familiar voice (though one that sounded a bit stuffy all the same) responded. "Because, Neighsay, much like friendships grow and change, so too did this school."

Neighsay spun around in time to see none other than Princess Twilight herself trotting up on the scene! She seemed to be none the worse for wear despite what he had been told. "Princess Twilight!" He gasped and stepped back. "You should be resting. I heard you were sick."

"Well I'm mostly over that flu by now, it has run its course," Twilight explained while sniffling a bit. "I can't quite say the same for my allergies, but they can be treated with medication and bed rest. As for my school, what you're seeing is really quite simple. I didn't want to admit it at first, but you were more right than you thought when you called my school a disaster."

"A statement I still stand by to this very day!" Neighsay firmly insisted. "Had it not been for circumstances beyond my control I would've never allowed you to reopen the school in the first place. But what does any of that have to do with this?"

The young alicorn just continued to explain while smiling. "Believe it or not, it took my recent illness that forced me to step away from the school that did the trick. It allowed me to see just how much needed to improve. I could see and hear what was happening while I was away. I began to realize that if my school could fall apart so easily without me there to oversee it, it wouldn't last long. So it became necessary to make some overdue changes."

Starlight trotted up to Neighsay a second later. "While some of the staff we have here may not be able to serve full time, they'll still make good substitute teachers. And all our students can agree that they'll be fantastic additions to the school, help to make it feel like more of a home away from home."

Twilight then put a hoof to her chin. "Come to think of it, this school feels more like a friendship embassy. A cultural outreach program that gives us a chance to better develop our bonds with our allies, and in turn allow them to experience the magic of friendship like never before. It may well be what I'm remembered for the most. And I think even the EEA would be hard pressed to justify its closing now."

At that, a furious Neighsay growled ever so faintly. "So I've been outsmarted once again by you, Princess Twilight. You really are clever. I can see now why it is that no force of evil yet has been able to take you down, why it is that we in Equestria owe you a debt of thanks," He forced himself to smile. "So it seems your school will continue to operate, for the time being. Make no mistake though, you'll slip up sooner or later. And when you do I'll be there. No school has ever long survived by defying the EEA completely, your school will be no exception." And with that, he tapped into his amulet to conjure up a portal. He stepped through said portal a moment later and was gone.

Immediately, a chorus of cheers erupted! Pinkie Pie even declared! "We did it! The School of Friendship is here to stay!"

However, there was one "pony" who was not excited by this development. And with the celebration that soon unfolded, no one noticed as she quietly slipped away. Only once she was certain the coast was clear did this "pony" shed her disguise.

A furious Chrysalis hissed and snapped! "Curse you both, Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer! Why do you continue to fight so hard for this stupid school?! Why can't you ever let me win?!" Then, suddenly, out of the corner of her eyes she spotted something. A strange glow coming from a vent nearby. Peering down into it, the former queen got an immediate sense that something was down there. Something magical.

At that, a new idea began to form inside of Chrysalis' mind. "Perhaps I need to go to the source of all this 'friendship'," She thought to herself. "My old plan may have been thwarted, so it's time to come up with a new plan. One that'll make use of this magical source that even Twilight Sparkle doesn't know about yet." She made a mental note to come back later and try to investigate her new discovery further. If she was going to use it to her advantage, she'd need to understand how whatever it was behind the glow worked.

S9 E2: The Beginning of the End, Part 2 (What If?)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

S1 E5: Griffon the Brush Off (What If?)

It was the start of what seemed like another typical fine day in Ponyville. Just the sort of day for a pony like Pinkie Pie to pay her new friend Rainbow Dash a visit. True, they had met before and interacted briefly a couple of times, but their first major interaction together had been defeating Nightmare Moon just a few weeks prior.

Now, however, Pinkie had found something she shared in common with Rainbow Dash and had developed a bond of friendship that warranted a visit. She arrived at the unmistakable cloud house that her pegasus friend resided in: All the while wearing silly glasses with swirly eyes, a hat with a fake arrow on it, and a party blower in her mouth.

But instead of being greeted by Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie was surprised and even a little bit shocked to see an unfamiliar looking bird like creature staring down at her from above. The creature had light, brilliant amber eyes that could barely be made out with how much its pupils seemed to be gazing at Pinkie right now. It had gold talons and white feathers on her face, though around its eyes the feathers took on a gray hue.

The bird like creature wasn't content to just stare at Pinkie though, it soon flew down for a closer inspection of that which had caught its attention. Now it was possible to see brown colored wings and lighter brown colored feathers underneath, as well as a beak the same color as the talons. Pinkie had never seen such a creature before and didn't know what to say.

The creature didn't bother waiting to be acknowledged, it cleared its throat and spoke in a gruff sounding female voice. "Hey, whaddya want?! You got somethin' to say?"

Pinkie found it hard to form words. "I... I... who are..."

The creature let out a roar. "I don't have time for this. Say something, or stop wasting my time and go away. What?! You never seen a griffon before?!"

At that Pinkie Pie gasped! "You're a griffon?!"

The "griffon" nodded her head. "Yeah, so what? There an echo out here? All I wanna know is who you are and what you think you're doin' at Rainbow Dash's house. I was here first."

The pink party pony forced back a gulp. "You... know Rainbow Dash?"

The griffon nodded her head again. "I do, and that's why I came all the way out here to Ponyville. Just had to see how my old gal pal was doin' after all these years," And then she demanded as she pulled Pinkie. "Now come on, dweeb! Spit it out, already! You gotta have a name!"

Pinkie finally found the courage to speak up, swallowing a lump that had started to form in her throat upon being all but interrogated by the griffon before her. "Uh... I'm Pinkie Pie, one of Rainbow Dash's friends. In fact, probably her newest friend."

At that the griffon seemed to become defensive. "Huh, so old Rainbow Dash went and made some friends that can't fly. Figures. But you can just go home now, Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash is hanging out with me today."

"Really?" Pinkie asked in a somewhat unhappy tone of voice.

The griffon nodded. "Yeah. I said so, and what I say goes. You'll just have to come back some other time. But don't worry, I'll tell Dash you said hello."

But before the griffon had a chance to follow through on her "request" the familiar voice of Rainbow Dash called out. "Hey, Gilda, ease off on Pinkie Pie will ya? You're scaring her." And then the brash speedster swooped down, determined to intervene in what seemed like a potential conflict brewing.

However, Pinkie found a way to make a smile appear on her face. "Oh, don't be silly. I just thought I'd see if you wanted to hang out again today. You didn't tell me you were seeing another friend."

Rainbow flicked a hoof through her rainbow colored mane. "Wasn't expecting her to drop by. I see you and Gilda have already met though, saves me the trouble."

"You heard right," The griffon boasted. "Gilda's my name, Pinkie Pie. And Rainbow Dash and I, we go way back! Back further than any friend she's ever had before or since."

It was fast becoming clear to Pinkie as she eyed Gilda that the griffon was not so secretly becoming possessive of her friend Rainbow Dash. "Why does Gilda see me as a threat? I haven't done anything to her." She thought to herself. But what even she could not suspect is that Gilda's apparent desire to maintain her friendship with Rainbow Dash would cause a lot of problems, not just for Pinkie Pie but for many ponies.

Not one to let a bad first impression get in the way of trying to befriend someone, Pinkie forced herself to look past Gilda's intimidating ways and ask a question that had just come to mind. "When did Rainbow Dash meet you, Gilda? She's never talked about you before."

Gilda just chuckled and lifted a claw. "We met at Junior Speedsters Flight Camp. I got to be the lucky griffon who was chosen to attend. Was rather cool being the only non-pegasi flyer there."

Rainbow couldn't help but comment. "Yeah, Junior Speedsters were some of the best days of my life," Then she looked across to Gilda. "Hey, you remember the chant they taught us?"

The young griffon rolled her eyes at the suggestion. "How could I forget?" Her tone of voice quickly indicating her overall unhappiness with it. "They made us recite that stupid old thing every morning. Don't know about you but I'll never get that lame chant out of my mind."

The brash speedster was far more enthusiastic about it. "Come on, it wasn't so bad. How about it for old time's sake?"

Reluctantly, Gilda sighed. "Fine, only for you, Rainbow Dash," And then she looked to Pinkie Pie. "Don't you even think of telling anyone about this, got it?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Pinkie sincerely promised as she then watched the two fliers take to the air. And the chant went something like this (Rainbow's excited tone clashing noticeably with Gilda's bored tone):

Junior Speedsters are our lives!

Soaring skies and daring dives!

Junior Speedsters, it's our quest!

To someday be the very best!

Just like that the chant was over, and while Rainbow was giggling with excitement (and perhaps nostalgia) Gilda was anything but amused. "I'm never doing that again."

The pegasus mare shrugged off the remark. "You've said that before, Gilda. We both know you liked it."

"That was then and this is now," Gilda sighed and decided to quickly change the subject. "So, Dash, what's the deal with Pinkie Pie here? You know her?"

Rainbow nodded while casually remarking. "Yeah, but only a little. We just started paling around a few days ago." And she began to flashback to that day, the memory still fresh and vivid in her mind.

Just like the current day, that day had been an equally uneventful and nice day. The weather was just right and ponies were going about their lives as usual.

It was just the sort of day Rainbow Dash liked, the kind of day where she had nothing to do and could just kick back and take it easy. Or so she thought.

Pinkie Pie was bouncing around town like her normal cheerful self and happened to come across Twilight, who was in the process of picking up some books for her new home in the library. "Hey, Twilight. Have you seen Rainbow Dash around? I wanna ask her something."

Twilight looked up to the sky, spotting the pegasus in question on a cloud almost directly above. "Well, she's just up there. But I think she doesn't want to be disturbed while she's napping."

Pinkie only giggled at the suggestion. "Oh Twilight, you really don't know Rainbow Dash. She's always napping whenever she has nothing else to do. But I just have a quick favor I need her help with it," And she then called out to her sleeping friend. "You who, Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow woke with a start, briefly startled by her rude awakening! But then she looked down at the ground and happened to see Pinkie Pie. Now, the brash speedster knew Pinkie enough to know that she didn't like being ignored. But the pegasus mare just wasn't in a sort of mood to deal with whatever it was the pink coated party planner wanted. She zoomed away, hoping that Pinkie would get the message.

The pink party pony appeared to do so, shrugging her hooves before bouncing off. "Oh, are we playing hide go and seek?"

Rainbow watched the pink coated earth pony disappear over the horizon, before silently tip hoofing across the sky and back to her cloud. For good measure she even moved it a ways away so it wouldn't be so easily spotted. And she also made a motion to Twilight encouraging her not to say a word.

However, it wasn't long before the pegasus mare found herself being woken up by Pinkie Pie again. "Found you, Rainbow Dash!"

Startled awake again, Rainbow zoomed away as fast as her hooves and wings would let her! Only once she was certain she'd given Pinkie the slip did she allow herself to relax, settling down on a patch of grass next to a lake.

Alas, Pinkie surfaced from the lake just a moment or so later. She had blue colored flippers and a similarly colored snorkel mask and breathing tube. "Ah, come on, Rainbow Dash. I just wanna talk."

Rainbow Dash prepared to take off again, but decided it against upon sensing that Pinkie Pie would just chase after her once again. "Oh, what's the use?" She let out an unhappy sigh. "What is it you want? Can you make it quick, please? I really wanna get back to my power nap."

The pink party pony giggled with delight, putting her flippered hooves together. "Just need your help with a little something. I promise it'll be tons of fun or my name's not Pinkie Pie, which it is!"

The "little something" was a prank involving the use of a lone storm cloud. Pinkie was currently instructing her pegasus friend and pranking partner on where to position the cloud over town hall. "A little to the left," She instructed and Rainbow obeyed. "Now, a little to the right. Oops, too much. A little more to the left again. Now just a smidge to the right. Good!"

Rainbow sighed, forcing herself to grin.

Pinkie continued barking out orders related to the positioning of the cloud. "Move it up just a smidge. Now maybe down a tiny bit."

But Rainbow was fast losing what little patience she had and so she shouted! "Pinkie Pie!"

The pink party pony seemed to realize what the shout implied, so she sheepishly finished her instructions with. "Okay, that should be good enough. Now just wait for my signal." And she peered into the interior of town hall through a window.

Spike was currently inside, collecting blank scrolls. He was unaware that he was being watched and had no idea what was waiting for him once he exited the building. The little dragon was simply whistling a merry little tune to himself without a care in the world as he gathered the scrolls into a bundle.

"He's coming!" Pinkie eagerly shouted as she looked up to Rainbow Dash briefly, before peering back through the window. When she saw Spike put his claw on the front door and turn the knob, she knew he was about to exit. "Now!" She shouted as soon as she saw the door open.

Rainbow Dash obeyed, giving the storm cloud a little kick! A bolt of lightning escaped from the cloud and the loud boom of thunder soon followed!

Suspecting nothing, the flash and boom startled Spike and caused him to drop every single scroll he'd just gathered seconds earlier! They fell out of his claws and tumbled onto the ground in front of him.

Both ponies laughed themselves silly at the display, especially once they saw that they'd managed to give Spike a bad case of the hiccups.

In between hiccup fits, Spike was able to speak while he went about picking up the scrolls. "Good one, you guys. I never saw it coming." But when he picked up the scrolls his hiccups caused him to breath fire on them and make them disappear.

Pinkie paused in her laughter briefly as a concern reached her. "Are you okay, Spike?"

Spike nodded even while he couldn't stop the hiccups. "Of course, Pinkie Pie. Dragons are fire proof after all and my fire breath is enchanted. As long as I concentrate I can't set fire to anything I don't want to. Besides, the scrolls were blank," But then he thought. "I just hope Princess Celestia doesn't mind all the junk mail." And his thoughts briefly turned to the mental image of the sun princess being bombarded and overwhelmed with scrolls.

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was still laughing herself silly. "I really gotta hoof it to you, Pinkie Pie! You're pretty good at this prankster stuff. Almost as good as me, almost."

"Oh, of course," Pinkie replied with a wink. "Fluttershy's already told me about the kinds of crazy pranks you used to pull off as a filly."

The brash speedster smiled and seemed to struggle not to blush. "Yeah. But it's always more fun to pull it off with a friend," And that was when an idea came to her mind. "Hey, you know what? Why don't we team up and pull some pranks around town today? I wanna see what you're really capable of."

The pink party pony grinned. "Oh, I thought you'd never ask. Lucky for you, I know just where to go to get the best prank supplies ever!"

And so it was that the two prankster loving ponies spent the rest of the day going around town, carrying out various pranks (all in good fun, of course). They did such things as paint the apples on Sweet Apple Acres in a variety of different colors that washed off in water, give Twilight a bottle of invisible ink that made her think her quill wasn't working right and even present Rarity with flowers filled with sneezing powder.

Although Fluttershy was intended to be a target as well, Pinkie Pie managed to trick Rainbow Dash by putting ink around a telescope lens. The two friends had so much fun laughing about it that they forgot all about the squirting turtle they intended to use on Fluttershy, and just left it for the unsuspecting pegasus to poke and prod at.

"I was hoping to come by today and go on another spree with Rainbow Dash," Pinkie commented once the flashback had ended. "But I guess I came at a bad time."

Gilda nodded. "I'll say you did," And she even remarked. "Your pranks were fine, but they've got nothing on what Dash and I used to do," Then she turned to Rainbow Dash. "Remember, Dash, you promised me we'd get a flying session in this morning."

Rainbow seemed to agree. "I did say that, didn't I?" Upon receiving a confirming nod from Gilda she replied. "Well then, guess we'd better go now while it's still morning."

The young griffon nodded. "Now you're talking, Rainbow Dash! That's the Rainbow I know!" And she began flapping her wings! "Come on, slowpoke! Time's a wastin'."

Rainbow nodded and called out to Gilda. "In a minute, you go on ahead," She then turned to Pinkie Pie, noticing how she was starting to become just the tiniest bit upset. "Listen, Pinkie, Gilda came all the way to Ponyville to see me. I promise, I'll try to find time later on for us to get in some pranks. But for now, I wanna catch up with Gilda. You don't mind, do you? After all, she just got here."

Pinkie seemed to agree as she flashed a smile at her pegasus friend. "Oh, that's fine, I totally understand. You girls have fun."

Satisfied with the answer, Rainbow Dash took off. "Great! See you later then!"

The pink party pony watched her pegasus friend disappear into the skies, forcing back some tears as she called out (despite knowing Rainbow couldn't hear her). "I'll catch up with you," An unhappy sigh left her lips as she then finished. "Later." And her posture slouched ever so slightly as her party favor made a rather slow and sad sounding noise.

With Pinkie Pie no longer around, Rainbow Dash and Gilda quickly made up for lost time as they flew through the skies around Ponyville and just generally had a fun time together. In fact, as far as both were concerned it really was just like old times. The two of them flying about with no cares in the world and just each other for company.

At last, however, the two friends stopped to rest on a cloud. "Now that was sweet," Gilda proclaimed while looking across to her friend. "You haven't lost your touch, Dash."

Rainbow smirked. "Glad you noticed, Gilda. But you're not half bad yourself. You're every bit the awesome flyer I remember you being. So, what's new with you?"

Gilda shrugged a talon, completely unconcerned. "Oh, nothing you'd care about, Rainbow Dash. Just the same old boring griffon stuff, really. You wouldn't care."

"Guess not since you seem to be doing fine for yourself," Rainbow Dash commented, suspecting nothing from how quickly Gilda had dismissed the subject. "Anyway, we still have some time to kill. So now what? Any ideas?"

Before either flyer had a chance to say anything, however, they were surprised to be greeted by the familiar face of Pinkie Pie. "Hey there, you two."

Both Gilda and Rainbow were surprised and confused by what they were seeing. Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to not only catch up to them unnoticed, but was now bouncing up to their position via a trampoline.

Pinkie, for her part, was just explaining herself while bouncing and repeatedly poking her head up through the clouds for a moment at best each time. "It's later. And I caught up. Hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow remarked while giggling. "You are so random sometimes, you know that, Pinkie?"

But Gilda was nowhere near as pleased to see Pinkie as Rainbow was. If either had been watching or paying attention they might have seen the griffon cast a harsh and judging glare at the earth pony. Yet instead of saying anything about it she just cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself. "So Dash, think you got enough gas left to beat me to that cloud over there?" She gestured a claw to her aforementioned target.

Rainbow Dash's ears immediately perked up upon hearing Gilda's request. "A race? Oh, you are so on, Gilda!"

The griffon smiled. "Good," And she quickly barked out. "One, two, three, go." And both flyers took off as fast as they could, leaving Pinkie far behind!

The race ended almost as quickly as it had begun, both seeming to touch the cloud at the same time. But that didn't stop Rainbow Dash from claiming victory. "Ha, I win!"

Gilda immediately protested. "As if. I won."

"No way." Rainbow shook her head in disbelief.

Gilda only nodded and insisted. "Yes way."

The brash speedster only groaned. "Oh, come on, I was way ahead of you and you know it!"

Gilda replied while snickering. "I don't think so. Remember back in camp? I–"

Rainbow Dash immediately moved to silence Gilda's claim before she could finish her sentence. "-I told you we don't talk about that! There's absolutely no way you beat me, Gilda! No way, no how, didn't happen!"

The young griffon only rolled her eyes in response. "Whatever. I know I won and you know it too."

Before any further arguments could unfold, however, Pinkie Pie happened to show up with a bunch of colorful balloons tied around her body. "It was really close, you guys are amazing!" She excitedly proclaimed. "But actually, Gilda, Rainbow Dash is right. She did beat you, just by a teeny weeny itty bitty hair, or a teeny weeny itty bitty feather in your case."

Rainbow, taking advantage of the confirmation of her victory, couldn't resist a gloat. "Ha! I told you so, Gilda! Good thing Pinkie Pie's here to keep you honest, G."

Gilda seemed to briefly get flustered, but then she quickly gestured to a cloud ways away in height. "Oh yeah? Well how about a real challenge?" And she told Rainbow Dash. "Last one up to that cloud there is a rotten dragon egg. Go!"

Pinkie watched as Rainbow took off as fast as possible, but Gilda didn't do the same. The griffon instead flew over to Pinkie and glared at the pink party pony. "Stick to the ground where you belong." And using the sharp claws on her talons she popped every single one of Pinkie's balloons, causing the party pony to rapidly lose altitude!

Rainbow Dash didn't suspect anything when Pinkie Pie didn't show up and Gilda was slow to follow. "What took you so long, slowpoke?" She taunted at Gilda.

"Sorry, just had to take care of a little something first," Gilda innocently replied. "You know how it is."

Just then, however, Pinkie Pie happened to show up in a strange looking, peddle powered contraption. It was pink and white in color and spun blades around in a circular motion to achieve flight. "You girls almost got away from me back there," She greeted. "I never expected to have to use this, but it's better than a trampoline or balloons."

"You again?" Gilda remarked in what sounded like annoyance. But she quickly forced a smile onto her face before suddenly she seemed to get an idea. "Hey, Rainbow Dash," She told her fellow flyer. "You got any new moves in your arsenal, or are you one hundred percent old school?"

The brash speedster could hardly resist the incentive to show off. "Thought you'd never ask, Gilda. Just sit back and keep your eyes peeled, this one's gonna take a while!" And with a flap of her wings she was gone once again, leaving Gilda alone with Pinkie Pie.

Just like before, it didn't take long after Rainbow's absence for Gilda to show a different side of herself. "Hey, Pinkie Pie," She called out in a tone of voice that was now anything but pleasant. "I got a message for you."

"What sort of message?" Pinkie Pie innocently wondered.

Gilda gestured a claw. "Come a little closer and I'll tell you. I don't like to shout."

Suspecting nothing, Pinkie Pie propelled her flying machine forward until she was almost face to face with Gilda.

It was then that the griffon flew right up to Pinkie and wrapped a talon around the flying contraption, her eyes locking right onto Pinkie's! "What part of 'Get Lost' don't you understand, bozo?! Rainbow Dash doesn't need friends like you holding her back now that she's got me around! So know your place, Stinkie Pie, and BACK OFF! And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from Rainbow Dash from now on!"

With that, as if to make herself heard, Gilda swung at the flying machine and damaged it! It began to spin out of control! Gilda then sat down on a cloud, watching as the source of her annoyance spun down to the ground with the out of control flying machine. "That'll teach her." She thought to herself.

Rainbow landed back on the cloud a moment later, having seen nothing at all. "How was that, Gilda?!" She taunted.

Gilda pretended to have seen the entire stunt. "Oh, it was amazing, Dash! You're the best of the best alright. Bet you'll be head of the Wonderbolts someday."

Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. "Hay yeah, I will be!" Then her moderate violet eyes took notice of the absence of something, or rather someone. "Hey, where's Pinkie?"

Gilda feigned ignorance while she remarked. "Beats me. Seems like she just comes and goes whenever she pleases. But don't worry about her, I'm sure you'll see her around eventually," Under her breath she added. "Hopefully on the ground where she belongs." Fortunately for her, Rainbow Dash didn't hear that last part.

As for Pinkie Pie, she was thankfully unharmed when her flying machine crash landed in an empty field. But upon shaking off the dust and standing up she was quite dismayed to find her flying machine was in pieces. "Oh no! And I just finished building it too," She thought to herself. "Just what is that Gilda's problem?!" But that would have to wait for a while. Right now, the pink party pony needed to gather up the broken parts of her flying machine so that she could hopefully rebuild it someday.

Upon returning to Sugarcube Corner and putting the broken machine parts away, Pinkie Pie was still in a very bad mood.

Mrs. Cake was quick to take notice of the pronounced frown on Pinkie's face, and being quite concerned she decided it best to figure out just what had gone wrong.

Pinkie was soon venting about her bad experience with Gilda to Mrs. Cake, relieved to know that she had an audience. "And then she had the nerve to tell me to 'Get Lost' even though I've been trying to find her and Rainbow Dash," She grumbled while pacing back and forth. "She even told me to stay away and called me 'Stinkie Pie'."

Mrs. Cake was more than a little concerned by the remarks, but did her best not to let it show. "Oh, now I'm sure she didn't really mean it, Pinkie," She attempted to sooth the pink party pony's hurt feelings while placing a hoof to her back. "She probably came across as more forceful than she intended."

Pinkie Pie would hear nothing of such a suggestion. "I know what I heard, I know when I've been insulted! If she doesn't like me she can just say it to my face, she doesn't have to break my stuff! I've never met a griffon as mean as Gilda! In fact, I've never even met a griffon period. But I'm sure if I did it would be nowhere near as nasty as Gilda is."

The plump baker was silent for a moment while she pondered this declaration. "Pinkie, don't take this the wrong way, but have you considered that maybe you're... well... jealous of Gilda?"

The pink party pony spun around in disbelief. "What?! Me?! Jealous?! Why would I be jealous?!"

Mrs. Cake forced back a gulp. "Well, you said it yourself, you wanted to spend time with Rainbow Dash today. And you were kind of unhappy when she went to hang out with Gilda instead."

"Yeah, but I gave them time. Rainbow Dash said we could meet up later, and I waited until later to meet up with them," Pinkie firmly insisted. "Rainbow Dash clearly wanted me to be around. It was Gilda who didn't want me hanging around."

Mrs. Cake only suggested in response. "Perhaps because she wanted to spend time with Rainbow Dash without you also being there," And then she added. "Maybe you should apologize to Gilda, much as I'm sure she'll apologize for breaking your flying machine."

Pinkie only groaned anew. "She'd better apologize! I don't think Gilda even knows how long it took me to get that think working! And now I'm gonna have to start all over again!"

Mrs. Cake then cautioned. "Pinkie, you really shouldn't get so wound up like this. It's not healthy for you," And she was quick to offer. "Why don't you take some time off to cool down? And if you see Gilda, see if it's possible to start over."

The pink party pony reluctantly seemed to obey. "Fine, I guess I can do that. But I swear I'm not jealous. I'm fine with Rainbow Dash having other friends. I just don't like it when her other friends are mean to me." And with that she trotted out of the bakery to be alone with her thoughts for a while.

The beautiful weather did seem to brighten Pinkie's spirits a little bit as she soon began to think to herself. "You know, maybe Mrs. Cake is right. Maybe the only one who has a problem is me. Maybe Gilda isn't actually a big meanie grumpy mean-meanie-pants like I think she is. Maybe I'm just being a big jealous judgmental jealous-jealousy-pants."

Some time later, Pinkie Pike was feeling far less angry and upset about what had happened with Gilda. She was looking forward to seeing the griffon again and starting anew. A friendship with a griffon was sure to be interesting.

The opportunity came sooner than the earth pony mare might have thought. For as she was sitting alone at a table out in the town, sipping a milkshake through a straw, she happened to see both Rainbow Dash and Gilda land. Neither of them even noticed her.

Rainbow shared a laugh with Gilda while stretching her wings. "It's been fun, Gilda. Glad you're liking Ponyville."

Gilda only commented in reply. "It's a nice little town, if you're into that sort of thing anyway."

Rainbow Dash then let out a sigh. "Yeah? Well, guess you'll be seeing more of it. I've got some weather jobs I need to take care of around here. Shouldn't take me too long though," And she was quick to suggest. "Just hang out and I'll come find you as soon as I'm done, okay?"

Gilda eagerly nodded. "Works for me. I'm gonna go chow down, because I am one hungry griffon!"

The brash speedster nodded back in reply. "Sure, you do that. See ya later." And soon she had taken to the skies once again, leaving Gilda alone.

Pinkie watched as she saw Gilda making her way past several fruit stands, her tail sticking out and just so happening to get near some apples on one of the stands.

An unsuspecting Granny Smith, who had been sniffing at the apples, spotted Gilda's tail and freaked out! She didn't seem to realize what it was and her eyes went wide with horror and shock! "It's a rattler!" She cried at the top of her lungs! "Run for the hills!" She tried to run away as fast as her legs would carry her, but she couldn't get very far.

Pinkie had seen the whole thing unfold and was anything but pleased, especially since Gilda hadn't bothered to pop out and explain herself. "Granny Smith didn't know that wasn't a snake. That was uncalled for!" She thought to herself, before realizing what she was thinking and tried to correct herself. "Now, now, Pinkie. It was just an accident. Nopony got hurt. I'm sure Gilda didn't mean to cause any harm."

Meanwhile, either not knowing or not caring about having startled a pony (especially one like Granny Smith who scared fairly easily), Gilda continued to keep her tail swishing around and whistled innocently. But when no one was looking she managed to swipe an apple, quickly tucking it away beneath a wing where it was impossible to be seen by the naked eye.

Pinkie Pie ponded the table in disbelief! "So Gilda's a thief?! I knew there was something off about her! She likes to pick on innocent ponies for fun and she likes to steal apples!" However, she again corrected herself upon realizing she was making a rash assumption (despite the rather troubling displays she was seeing). "There you go again, Pinkie. Just wait, Gilda might pay for it eventually. Besides, it's only one apple. Gilda maybe doesn't know you're supposed to pay for your food before you eat it."

What happened next, though, would leave no doubts in Pinkie's mind about who Gilda really was. For at that very moment an unsuspecting Fluttershy came trotting through, escorting a flock of ducks. Because she walking backwards to keep an eye on the ducks, she didn't see Gilda until she bumped right into the griffon.

The impact wasn't very severe, but it was enough to make Gilda drop the apple on the ground. And rather than apologizing, the griffon immediately snapped! "Hey, I was walking here! I ain't small, you must've been able to avoid me!"

Fluttershy spun around, coming face to face with a rather angry looking Gilda. She immediately whimpered. "O-oh, oh d-dear. I... I'm so sorry. I just..."

"Quit your stuttering!" Gilda snapped as she narrowed her eyes at Fluttershy. "You cost me my free lunch! You wanna make something of it or what?!"

The pegasus mare whimpered, trying to hide behind her light pink mane. "N-no. I didn't mean to... could we just..."

Gilda didn't bother to wait for a full reply. She instead let out a fierce roar directly in Fluttershy's face, scaring the poor pegasus mare half to death and reducing her to tears! And the young griffon didn't even bother to say she was sorry. "A waste of my time." She scoffed and flew off.

Unbeknownst to Gilda though, Pinkie Pie had seen everything. And the pink party pony knew there was no longer a defense for Gilda's actions. "So you're a meanie pants and a thief and now a bully too, Gilda?" She snorted, steam escaping her nostrils. "Well no one and I mean no one treats Fluttershy like that and gets away with it! Not on my watch, and I don't even have a watch!" And with that, the gears in her mind started to turn. "This calls for extreme measures: Pinkie Pie Style!"

Sometime later, Pinkie had gotten everything ready for a "surprise" party for Gilda to be held at Sugarcube Corner. And she was now greeting the various invited guests as they showed up (though Gilda had yet to appear).

Fluttershy was standing near Pinkie and was a little bit concerned about what her party planning friend was apparently trying to do. "Uh, Pinkie," She reluctantly spoke up. "About this party of yours for Gilda? You... uh... really think this is a good idea? I mean..."

Pinkie Pie seemed to sense her friend's doubts, but was quick to reassure her. "Relax, Fluttershy. I know what I'm doing. Don't you worry your pretty little head about mean old Gilda," She gave her pegasus friend a pat on the head. "Your Auntie Pinkie Pie's got it all taken care of."

Fluttershy snorted as she watched Pinkie trot away. Although not intentional the remark had felt patronizing. "I'm a year older than you, you know." She complained with narrowed eyes, but alas Pinkie was too far away to be heard.

Just then, Gilda finally arrived and she suspected nothing.

Pinkie cheerfully trotted up to the griffon with a bright smile on her face. "Gilda! Glad you could make it!" She greeted her guest. "I know we got off on the wrong hoof or claw in your case, but I hope it's not too late for us to start over. I figured I could throw you one of my signature 'Pinkie Pie Parties' since you're new to town."

Gilda seemed to nod in reply. "A party for me? You shouldn't have. Guess maybe you're not a totally loser after all."

The pink party pony continued to grin. "Great! Come on in, the party's just getting started!" And she held out a hoof for Gilda to shake.

But when the griffon shook Pinkie's hoof she was shocked both figuratively and literally! It turned out that Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to conceal a joy buzzer underneath her hoof. There were a couple of muffled laughs before the moment passed.

Rainbow Dash even remarked while slapping a hoof across one of her legs. "Ha! Good one, Pinkie! The old joy buzzer greeting! That's a classic."

Gilda nervously chuckled while muttering under her breath. "Yeah, good one, Pinkie. You're hilarious."

Rainbow, suspecting nothing, just remarked. "Come on, G, it's just a prank. No need to get all bent out of shape. Don't tell me you've lost your sense of humor."

Gilda shook her head. "I haven't. I just wasn't expecting to be pranked at my own party, that's all."

Rainbow only replied to her friend. "Lighten up. Pinkie's just trying to make you laugh. That what she does best," And she was quick to offer. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of my friends."

The young griffon nodded in reply. "Sure, in a minute," Then she glared at Pinkie Pie. She had her suspicions that the joy buzzer "prank" had been intended for a far different purpose from what its host might claim. She promptly told the pink party pony. "Hey, Pinkie Pie. I know what you're up to."

Pinkie appeared to feign ignorance and innocence. "Well good, I hope so. This party isn't really much of a surprise party."

Gilda had to resist the urge to groan. "No no no. What I mean is, I've got my eye on you."

"And I've got my eye on you!" Pinkie innocently replied. "Gotta make sure the guest of honor has the most fun possible after all," Then she made an announcement to all the gathered guests. "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time and very dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's all honor her and welcome her to Ponyville."

The ponies gathered didn't need to be told twice. They all started cheering and clapping their hooves, determined to give Gilda a big welcome.

Gilda quickly forgot to be suspicious of Pinkie Pie, at least for the time being. A party was a party regardless of who was hosting it.

Pinkie was then quick to offer a treat to the honored guest. "Help yourself, Gilda. Snacks and refreshments are on the house. Or I guess they're on the bakery although this is kind of my house too."

"You mean you live here?" Gilda questioned.

The pink party pony nodded. "Yup. For yours truly there is no better place to be," Then she led Gilda over to a nearby table. "Go right ahead, take whatever you want. Just watch out for some hidden 'surprises'."

Gilda immediately eyed some familiar looking white colored objects on the table and snatched them up. "Vanilla lemon drops. Well, don't mind if I do," She scarfed the drops quick as a flash. But then a few seconds later she began to spew fire out of her mouth as Pinkie held up a marshmallow on a stick to toast! "HOT!" Gilda screamed at the top of her lungs, immediately rushing around to look for anything to cool down her burning tongue!

Rainbow shouted out to her friend! "Quick, Gilda, the punch!"

Gilda rushed over to the punch bowl as fast as she could and grabbed the first glass she could see! But when she tried to fill up the glass with punch she found that most of it was spilling it out through some holes at the bottom. So she had to resort to dunking her entire face into the punch bowl just to get a drink and finally cool off her burning tongue.

Several ponies laughed at the display as Pinkie Pie commented. "Well, whaddya know, pepper in the vanilla lemon drops and the punch served in a dribble glass! What are the odds?"

Gilda groaned in annoyance. "So funny I forgot to laugh." She muttered. It was fast becoming difficult for her to keep her temper under control. And it didn't help that she was so sure it was Pinkie Pie who was pulling off all these pranks as an act of revenge.

Unfortunately for Gilda, it seemed like everywhere she turned she was the victim of another prank that she was sure was meant for her. Whether it was canned fake snakes in the presents or trick candles on a cake. Yet whenever she tried to interrogate Pinkie, the party pony continued to perform her routine of ignorance and innocence. It seemed like nothing would make her admit to what Gilda thought for sure was obvious. And all the while Gilda's temper continued to simmer despite her best efforts to keep it in check.

At last, it was time for "Pin The Tail On The Pony" and Gilda was soon blindfolded while holding a purple colored tail in her mouth. "What do you think you're doing?!" She complained as she felt herself be spun around by Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie giggled while explaining. "Whaddya think, silly? You never played 'Pin The Tail On The Pony' before? We spin you around and then you try to walk to the pony and pin the tail. If you get it right you win a prize," Once she'd spun Gilda around a good number of times she stopped and instructed. "Okay, now just walk straight and pin that tail."

But Gilda had other ideas. "Yeah right, how dumb do you think I am? I'm not gonna fall for that old trick," And she began walking off in a different direction. "If you say I should walk straight then you're obviously just leading me into another one of your pranks."

"No, Gilda!" Pinkie protested as she saw the blindfolded griffon walking the wrong way. "Come back! The poster is this-"

But the warning was too late! Gilda stumbled right into the kitchen, knocking over several pots and pans and causing quite a ruckus in the process. She finally stumbled back out, removing the blindfold as she discovered that the purple tail had ended up on her beak.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back! Gilda could hold back her frustration and fury no longer! She reared back and let out a mighty roar! A roar so powerful and so fearsome it made everypony stop and look at her. "Oh, that's it! I have had it with this party and these pranks!" She complained while flapping her wings. "This is how you ponies get your kicks, isn't it?! Messing around with me at a party. I'm starting to wish I never came here if all I had in store for me was humiliation!"

"Gilda, calm down!" Rainbow pleaded to her friend. "You're making a scene!"

But Gilda was in such a state of mind that she refused to listen. "Shut up, Dash! You obviously had no idea what this party involved, but then how could you?" She soon locked eyes with the target of her scorn, Pinkie Pie. "This was all a set up. Admit it, Pinkie Pie! You did all of this on purpose! You were just trying to make me angry, weren't you? Well guess what, dweeb?! You succeeded!"

Pinkie again professed her innocence. "Why would you think I'd want to make you angry? I never meant for any of this to happen. I just wanted us to be friends."

Gilda snorted. "Well too bad, I don't recall asking for your friendship! And you know what else?! Rainbow Dash doesn't need friends like you! I told you before, Pinkie! I'm the only friend Dash needs!" She proceeded to fly over to the brash speedster. "Come on, Dash. Let's bail on these pathetic losers. We're too good for them."

However, Rainbow replied by glaring at Gilda. "No, Gilda. I'm not going anywhere," And she then confessed. "You wanna know something? All those pranks you fell victim to weren't Pinkie Pie's doing. She was only responsible for the joy buzzer. I set up the rest of the pranks, and they weren't all meant for you."

Gilda stumbled back in disbelief as if she'd just been backstabbed! "No! There's... there's no way! You... you gotta be kidding me!" And she accusingly pointed a hoof. "It's Pinkie Pie! I know it, it has to be! She was trying to make me look like a fool."

Pinkie Pie shook her head in reply. "You've got it all wrong, Gilda. I set this party up because I wanted to help you. I thought if you made some friends it would you help turn that big old frown of yours upside down." She briefly flipped her head upside down to demonstrate.

Rainbow then declared. "And you most certainly didn't need any help making yourself look bad. You did that all on your own," She trotted forward, frowning at the griffon. "I don't know what's gotten into you, Gilda. You weren't always like this. You used to be a lot less mean. This isn't how I thought my old friend would treat my new friends. But it seems like being cool is all you ever care about these days."

For a moment, Gilda was silent. She seemed uncertain of how to reply. But at last she found the words she wanted to use. "Well, Dash, if that's how you wanna play it then fine. It's me or them!"

"Hey now!" The brash speedster protested. "I don't wanna have to chose, Gilda. I want to be your friend, but not if you're gonna use my friendship as an excuse to be cruel to others. If you still wanna be friends then you need to fix that attitude problem of yours."

Gilda only shook her head and growled slightly. "Forget it, Dash! You can keep your pony friends for all I care. Don't ever talk to me again! I'm out of here for good!" And she unfolded her wings, flying away while letting out a screech of frustration.

All Rainbow could say in response was. "Not cool," But as soon as Gilda had left she apologized. "I'm really sorry about that, everypony. I swear, Gilda wasn't like this all time when we were in flight school. I don't know what could've caused her to change."

"Hey, you couldn't help it," Pinkie declared while trotting over to Rainbow. "Even I didn't think Gilda would be that way. It's really too bad. She could've had so many wonderful friends. I don't mind it when my friends have other friends, so long as they're willing to share those friends with me. After all, isn't that what friendship is all about?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "I guess it does, Pinkie," Then she looked across to Twilight. "What do you think, Twilight? Think that'll make a good friendship lesson for Princess Celestia?"

Twilight nodded back. "It most definitely should."

"Great!" Spike eagerly declared. "Should I get to writing it then?"

"Maybe a little later, Spike," Pinkie insisted. "Because we've still got a whole lot of party left to finish!"

Yet while the party was getting underway again (albeit without its guest of honor), Twilight began thinking in her mind about the letter she was going to send to Princess Celestia. In her mind it sounded something like this:

Dearest Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that it can be hard to accept whenever somepony you like wants to spend time with somepony else, especiallt when it's somepony who's not so nice.

Although it's impossible to control who your friends hang out with all the time, it is possible to control your own behavior. And that's what's most important.

So long as you continue to be a good friend the difference between a false friend and one who's true will surely come to light.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

And perhaps feeling a tad inspired by all that unfolded at the party and over the previous day, Twilight made a mental note to herself to send a "spare" bottle of invisible ink to Princess Celestia along with the letter. She was sure her mentor would understand.

Author's Note

Well, another rewrite series is here. And just like every volume since at least the second one, I'm using those authors notes to explain why I've picked the episodes and what I'm trying to do.

The biggest problem with the original episode here is that it switches directions multiple times before it gets to the real conflict. We spend a lot of time on Rainbow Dash trying to avoid Pinkie Pie, then on Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie pranking everypony, and then Gilda's introduction before we get to the point where Gilda starts to act like a bully. By then the episode is already half over.

A lot of reviewers have also complained about Gilda's constant use of outdated 90's slang. And while I don't personally have a problem with it (and one person suggests it's meant to show that Gilda is stuck in the past), it does highlight a bit of a problem when it comes to using slang in fiction. Because works of fiction take so long to produce, what may be relevant or new at the time of writing may become outdated by the time the work is finished. And that in turn can make the work seem dated.

So I opted to mostly remove Gilda's 90's slang and have her appearance be the first major thing to happen in the episode, reworking the stuff before into a flashback and trimming it down. I did also change up the market place scene a little since it seems like Gilda's eating of the apple she stole goes unacknowledged and Pinkie claims Gilda might give it back. It was likely that Gilda was either going to eat the apple later or never at all.

And rather than have Twilight be in a role where she seems to ignore Pinkie Pie's complaints, I decided instead to switch the role to Mrs. Cake and opt for at least an attempt at understanding.

I'm not gonna commit to hard deadlines for rewrites but I am gonna try to have at least two rewrites per week if possible.

~~Griffon the Brush Off~~
The Return of Harmony Parts 1 and 2
Too Many Pinkie Pies
Twilight's Kingdom Parts 1 and 2
Daring Done?
Ail-icorn (The Mean Six)
The Beginning of the End Parts 1 and 2

S9 E1: The Beginning of the End, Part 1 (What If?)

Author's Note

I'm making use of some of the details from the original draft of this two parter, namely the mention of harmony changing and the Student Six being trapped in what was described as "The Phantom Zone". But I also want to make it clear before anyone has any doubts, Discord will NOT be Grogar when the time comes! Grogar will be Grogar the whole way through.

Now, as for why I'm resurrecting the Storm King, it's because with Cozy Glow in this series of rewrites just being a disguise Chrysalis used (thus making her the threat for "School Raze") I would need another villain to take Cozy's place for the Legion of Doom. The voice change is to handwave that, if this were an actual episode, the Storm King wouldn't have his movie voice actor reprising due to budget restrictions.

There are other things that need to be addressed as well, some of which will come up in the second part. But one of the biggest issues up front that's going to be addressed is the abrupt retirement of Celestia and Luna, and their decision to more or less "force" Twilight into succeeding them even if she'd rather not (as well as explaining why both Cadence and Blueblood are passed over despite both of them being in line for the throne before Twilight).

S9 E1: The Beginning of the End, Part 1 (What If?)

It had all started with a letter from the princesses, a letter telling Twilight, Spike and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony to come to Canterlot as soon as possible. The letter hadn't specified anything else, which was rather alarming to Twilight and had thus led to a frantic rush to get to Canterlot right away!

"Oh, why did it have to be now?!" Twilight complained while rushing through the streets of Canterlot! "Couldn't it have waited a few days until my School of Friendship let out for the summer?"

"If the princesses said they needed us to come to Canterlot as soon as possible, it has to be for a good reason," Rarity commented. "Although I don't think they meant this soon when they said 'As soon as possible', darling."

Fluttershy then asked with concern. "Are you sure you aren't getting just the least bit worked up over nothing, Twilight? We already defeated Chrysalis and she's now in Tartarus with only Tirek for company."

Pinkie Pie then added. "Yeah, and Chancellor Neighsay's nice now. I don't think we have anything to worry about. And even if we did I'm sure we could handle it," Before she declared. "Although, running like this is super fun! Now you girls now what it's like to be me. Maybe next time I'll teach you how to bounce like me, and you'll wonder how you ever got by just trotting from place to place."

Twilight simply replied while stopping to catch her breath. "Okay, so maybe I am a little bit worried for no reason. It's just that, since Chrysalis almost triumphed I can't help but fear that there may be other threats out there. Threats lurking just under our noses."

Applejack, however, quickly reassured Twilight. "Chrysalis outsmarted us all again, just like she did before. But she won't be causin' us anymore trouble now. Whatever else may be out there, we'll take it as it comes."

"Besides," Rainbow Dash added. "For all you know, the princesses might just be willing to finally reward us for always saving the day. Don't know about the rest of you, but I could go for something more than just a new stained glass window display and maybe an award's ceremony."

Spike just declared. "Well, we won't find out until we get to the castle," And a smile crept onto his face. "It'll be so good to see the princesses again, especially my favorite dragon sitter."

Twilight couldn't help but giggle. "Princess Luna is your only dragon sitter, Spike. And don't forget that she needed my permission to become that, and that was before I even became a princess," She fondly sighed. "Oh, how long ago that all seems. To think that we've all come so far and it hasn't even been a decade since we all became friends." Then she and everyone else resumed their trek to the castle, though not as frantically as before.

At last, the group of seven reached the royal castle grounds and were quickly escorted to the throne room. Sure enough, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were waiting for them. But the royal sisters most definitely didn't seem to have a look of urgency on their faces. They seemed quite calm and collected. And the throne room was still in that lovely redesign it had first undertaken for the Festival of Friendship.

"Oh, good, you all made it," Princess Celestia declared. "I apologize for the vague nature of that message. Luna and I meant to write more, but it seems some ink was 'misplaced'."

Princess Luna replied with a grin. "Sister, you're not accusing me of such a thing are me? This is far more up your alley, and you said it yourself that you've been bored."

"Guilty as charged," Princess Celestia confessed before clearing her throat and regaining her composure. "Anyway, what matters most is that you've arrived. And that means Luna and I can finally share with you some important news."

Twilight forced back a gulp. "So you did have a reason for calling us here so suddenly."

The sun princesses nodded her head. "Yes, Twilight," Her voice started to take on a tone of regret. "A part of me always knew this day would likely come eventually. But I kept convincing myself it would not be for years and years still, that you would have more time to grow into the role before the offer was made. Alas, I am powerless to stop the changes that have been set into motion."

The young alicorn swallowed hard. "I don't like the sound of this. Are you saying that you and Luna are about to..."

"No, we're not dying or anything if that's what you believe," Princess Luna quickly corrected. "However, our time as rulers of this land are about to come to an end. For you see, harmony in Equestria is changing and changing fast. You've seen it for yourselves, the Tree of Harmony has already reached out to some of your students and in them has found the next generation to pass the torch to."

"Likewise, the freeing of the generation that came before yours in the form of the pillars has also ushered in change," Princess Celestia continued. "With the past, present and future of harmony all together, things have been set into motion that cannot be stopped. Soon, Luna and I will have lost our connection to that harmony. Therefore, we have no choice but to step down from the throne."

The night princess then declared while she and her sister looked to Twilight. "And it is you who will succeed us. You and your friends, that is."

A chorus of gasps filled the room! The very idea was hard to believe. It didn't seem possible that it was true. Yet as shocking and unexpected as this news was, an even bigger unexpected development would soon overshadow it.

"Ooh! Breaking news!" Discord declared as the spirit of chaos suddenly appeared in the throne room, wearing a reporter's black hat and matching costume. He had even a sketchpad and a short, stubby pencil. "The princesses are retiring! It's the scoop of the century, I tell ya!" And then he changed outfits, presenting a microphone to the royal sisters. "Don't hold back on the details. I want the inside scoop, tell me everything!"

Meanwhile, Twilight was still struggling to process the news for herself. "I... I can't believe it. This is all so sudden," And it wasn't long before a thought struck her. "Why me? I mean, I know I've proven myself to be a good leader but aren't Cadence and Blueblood in line for the throne ahead of me?"

Applejack was next to speak up. "Huh, you know, I never thought about it like that."

"Well, we already asked Cadence and she declined," Princess Luna explained. "She told us she's too busy ruling the Crystal Empire and raising Flurry Heart."

"And what of Prince Blueblood?" Rarity questioned as her face contorted into a grimace. "Much as I despise what a royal pain he was, he is of royal blood directly."

Princess Celestia somberly stated for the record. "The thought of asking my nephew did cross my mind after Cadence declined, but..." It seemed as though she was struggling to think of how best to describe what she wanted to say. "Blueblood's reputation does unfortunately preceed him. Putting him in charge would not be wise. If I'm being honest, the only reason he even has a royal title is because he was taken in by me after his parents abandoned him. I feel far more confident in you, Twilight. And in your friends as well."

Spike then pondered aloud. "I guess I get Princess Celestia retiring, she's ruled over for a thousand years. But what about Princess Luna? She only got back from the moon a couple of years ago, it doesn't seem fair that she should have to retire as well."

"It's true that I don't necessarily have to retire like my sister will. In fact, neither of us necessarily need to step down," Princess Luna explained. "But the change in harmony will greatly reduce our powers, even just controlling the sun and the moon will be a great undertaking on our parts. And without my sister by my side, ruling all of Equestria would feel... empty," She was quick to reassure Spike. "Don't worry though, I'll still happily be your dragon sitter for as long as you want me around."

Discord, meanwhile, just snorted and loudly proclaimed. "So what am I?! Chopped lettuce?! Don't I deserve a chance to rule Equestria again? Even if I'm reformed I haven't forgotten that Equestria was mine originally."

The sun princess pointed out. "Only after you took it away from our parents, Discord. Besides, there is still much you have to learn. You are still too careless too often."

"Oh poo, I hate when you use logic. You know I can't counter that so easily," The spirit grumbled. "Okay, fine. So Twilight Sparkle here gets to become the new supreme ruler, and her friends get to be co-rulers. But what about the old rulers? And by old rulers I of course mean you two." He pointed a paw to the royal sisters.

The night princess quickly answered. "Why, we'll retire to Silver Shoals of course. We'll still be on hoof if our help is needed, but my sister and I will finally get to live life the way we've always wanted to," She even giggled. "You'll finally get to take up that acting career you always dreamed about, Celestia."

Celestia waved a hoof. "I have a feeling I'll need a lot of lessons before I can become a good actor," And she then turned to her former student. "But what matters most, Twilight, is that you yourself believe you are ready. Luna and I wouldn't ask this of you if we were uncertain of your qualifications. But I know you've already done a lot as princess to carve out a role and a legacy for yourself," She floated over a very familiar looking journal. "This friendship journal alone is living proof of that and should be an excellent source of guidance. The throne is yours, Twilight, if you want it."

All eyes in the throne room quickly fell upon the young alicorn, now breathing into a paper bag as she was trying her best not to completely lose her composure. At last, after several rapid breaths of anxiety, she was able to force out. "I... I don't know. I... need time to think about this."

"Well, you can take as much time as you need, Twilight," Celestia reassured her fellow alicorn. "But if possible, could you make a decision within the next few days? Luna and I are thinking of announcing our retirement soon and just having a quick ceremony for the transfer of power."

Twilight gulped as her eyes began to widen. "Oh, I wish you hadn't just told me that."

Discord just grinned. "Not to worry, I'm sure Princess Twilight has the utmost confidence in herself."

But even upon returning to Ponyville and to her own castle, Twilight's mind was far from settled on the subject. And she made this clear to all her friends. "I am not confident about this at all!"

"You know, I was being sarcastic before," Discord pointed out to Twilight. "You don't have to play along so obviously. Knowing you, you'll bounce back eventually, probably after dealing with some big crisis. Seems like it's always in times of crisis where you prove yourself the most," And then he gestured to her friends. "Now comes the part where your friends will tell you you've got this, but you won't believe them," He let out a sigh. "I know how this will play out. See you at the ceremony." And he disappeared in a flash of light.

Twilight sighed. "I'm sorry about this girls, really I am. I know I should be better than this. But I just can't help worrying, it's who I am," And she tried her best to explain her behavior. "It's not every day you find out you're gonna be replacing the princesses who've ruled this land for thousands of years. Despite all my accomplishments, I feel woefully unprepared for this. It's all happening so fast, it's making my head spin!" After pausing to take a deep breath she declared. "But I'm sure I'll feel much better-"

"-Once you make a plan?" Rarity guessed in a way that sounded like she'd expected such a reaction. And just as she finished speaking she could see Spike approaching with a scroll and a quill.

Even Twilight was amazed by this. "Oh, wow. It's like you-"

With a grin Spike replied. "-Knew you were going to react this way? Yeah, we did. We've learned by now."

Pinkie Pie pointed out. "Classic Twilighting, you're doing it right now."

The young alicorn blinked as her eyes widened a bit. "'Twilighting'?!" She questioned as she briefly wondered if she'd heard that right. Then she looked around at her friends as well as her adopted son. "You... you made me a verb?"

Everyone nodded before Applejack explained. "Don't take it personally. It's not a bad thing if that's what you're thinkin'. It's just that we came to realize you have a certain... process." She delivered the last line with a nervous smile.

Rainbow Dash then described this process. "It all starts with stage one: You get big news and you're all like 'Noooooo!' But then you pace, and you chart, you worry. You get the idea."

Fluttershy was quick to reassure her alicorn friend. "It's okay, though. It's who you are. So you go ahead and Twilight, and we'll be here for you once you get it all out of your system."

"You're all acting surprisingly calm about this. Even Discord didn't seem to think this was worth taking seriously," Twilight remarked before realizing something. "Then again, he rarely takes things seriously in the first place. Still, what are we going to do the next time some big threat comes along and we don't have the princesses to help?"

In response, Rainbow couldn't help but remark. "Actually, if you think about it, the princesses almost never help. It might be easier to count the number of times they have."

"You know, that's actually true. We've always been on our own against the bad guys." Applejack realized.

And Pinkie Pie chimed in. "Yet we still always win in the end! There's never been a threat we couldn't defeat: Nightmare Moon, Discord when he was evil, Queen Chrysalis during her many attempts to take over, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Starlight Glimmer when she was evil, The Pony of Shadows and even the Storm King."

"Well, that one was more Tempest Shadow's doing than our own," Rarity commented. "Still, we've prevailed without the help of the princesses."

Rainbow then declared. "But now it all makes sense. This whole time, they were grooming you to take over for them, Twilight!"

"I think you might be giving them a little too much credit," Twilight blinked in reply. "But I guess we are ready," Under her breath she added. "I think."

Meanwhile, in the depths of Tartarus, Chrysalis was using one of her hooves to scratch at the bottom of her cell. She was marking the passage of time since she'd been trapped in the place with no hope to ever escape. And the only company she had was refusing to talk to her. Despite knowing what the likely outcome would be, the former queen still opted to try again. "Tirek!" She called, trying to get the centaur's attention. "Tirek! Hey, Tirek!"

The centaur spun around in his own cage, clutching at the bars while he coldly hissed. "What?! What is it?! What do you want from me now?! And it is Lord Tirek to you!"

"Oh come now, your 'majesty'," Chrysalis taunted and giggled. "You are no more of a lord than I am a queen. We're both stuck, trapped forever in this forsaken and wretched place. The least we could do is get to know each other better."

Tirek only snapped. "You may waste away in here for the rest of your days for all I care! I'm not talking to you," And he grumbled. "I sent you simple instructions to follow on how to get rid of that pesky princess, and you found a way to blow it. I've learned my lesson, if I ever get out of here it will be under my own power and my own terms. I'm done trusting others, they always let you down in the end."

"Welcome to my world. I've been double crossed by my own subjects and a pony who was supposed to be on my side!" The former queen hissed. "Even if I could get out of here, where would I go? I have nothing left to my name, not even that purple log."

Tirek only rolled his eyes and turned his head. "What part of 'I'm not talking to you' don't you understand?" But mere seconds after he'd spoken those words, he was inexplicably whisked away in a puff of dark magic.

Chrysalis saw the centaur vanish right before her eyes! And before she had a chance to react she too vanished!

While this was going on in Tartarus, in a remote and swampy part of Equestria, an unseen figure was drawing a large circle around a broken off horn tip. And said figure was also reassembling a stone statue of a satyr like creature whose face was permanently frozen in a look of horror. The figure began to chant, reciting ancient and forbidden spells as powerful dark magic seeped into the ground.

The horn tip disappeared when the circle lit up! Within seconds, the unicorn to whom it had once been a part of stood on its hooves and panted heavily. It was a stallion with a dark gray coat, brilliant scarlet eyes with darker colored pupils surrounded by a sickly green glow and a completely black mane and tail. His crooked, jagged blood red colored horn sparked with life anew. And he even had his red cape. "I'm... alive?" The stallion blinked, slowly finding his voice. "Yes... I live again. But how, and why?" He then set off to explore his new surroundings.

Meanwhile, the stone statue of the satyr creature glowed. Soon, the satyr imprisoned inside burst free! His light gray fur with dark bluish-gray on his face, paws and feet sparkling like new despite being clad in black armor with horn like symbols on the chest. And he fluttered his brilliant opal eyes. "I'm free?!" The satyr blinked in surprise at how different his voice sounded. "Is that my voice?! What happened to my voice?! Oh, it's all different! No one's ever gonna take me seriously now!"

And at that moment, Tirek and Chrysalis were brought to the swampy land and slowly began to get their bearings. "Was this part of your escape plan, Tirek?" Chrysalis questioned as she looked all around. "Transporting us to the middle of nowhere?"

Tirek immediately protested. "This wasn't my doing, Chrysalis. I assure you, if I'd busted out of Tartarus by myself you wouldn't be along for the ride. Someone brought us here."

"Oh, so you mean it wasn't you!" A familiar unicorn stallion remarked as he trotted up to the newcomers.

Chrysalis stepped back in disbelief! "No way! King Sombra?! You were blasted to bits by the Crystal Heart!"

"Well, thanks to a certain someone I've yet to meet, reports of my demise were premature," King Sombra answered while snarling. "But whoever it is, they'd better show themselves soon. No one summons King Sombra without permission. I required no help to regain my physical form, my hatred ensured that my shadow lived on when my body was no more."

"Hey, join the club. I was in pieces too until someone put me back together again," An unrecognizable satyr proclaimed as he strolled up to the others. "Though I have no idea why they couldn't restore my voice. I mean, with a voice like this no one is ever gonna take The Storm King seriously ever again."

It was then that a reality started to settle in amongst the four creatures in the swamp, especially since they found themselves gazing up at a rather large skull of some sort. "You're saying that neither of you brought Tirek or I here?" Chrysalis questioned Sombra and the Storm King.

A second later, from the darkness a low voice declared to all. "You're right, they did not. I did." And out from the darkness emerged an unfamiliar creature to all. It appeared to be a goat or a ram given the large, curled horns. His fur coat was a moderate cornflower blue in color, his tall, curly horns almost as dark blue as the night sky, and his eyes a pale apple green with moderate red surrounding the pupils. Just above his legs rested a bright red collar with a series of yellow orbs attached to it.

"And just who are you?" Tirek questioned the new creature.

It wasn't long before the ram like creature trotted past, going up towards the skull and placing his hooves around a ball of some kind. "You may call me... Grogar," He declared at last. "It is I who has freed you all from your various states of imprisonment."

At that, Tirek became star struck and gasped! "No! Not The Grogar!"

"All this time, I always thought you were just a silly pony legend." Chrysalis remarked.

Even King Sombra declared. "Yes, I've heard of you."

However, the Storm King scratched his head. "Uh, I am the only one not in the loop? Who is this guy and just what makes him so powerful? No one should be more powerful than me!"

"Well I can assure you all that I'm very much real," Grogar declared as he clutched the ball tightly. "And you have all been brought here to this swamp as part of my master plan! I intend to gather you all, because I sense that we share a common enemy: Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends."

There was a long silence as the gathered baddies processed this information. The Storm King was the first to speak up once he found the courage. "So, uh... 'Grofar' was it?" He continued to scratch his head. "You're not ringing any bells here, buddy. But I take it you're the reason why my voice is all messed up now?"

Grogar nodded. "Unfortunately, I did not possess the power to restore your body and your voice. I already used up much of the power I had at my disposal just to bring you, Sombra, Tirek and Chrysalis together here to serve me," And he explained. "Don't any of you get any ideas. My magic rests within my collar. Only I know how to access it."

Tirek scoffed. "You've been away for far too long. Even if you brought us here, do you really expect us to work for a washed up old goat like you? Give us one good reason why we should stay."

Grogar roared. "So my name no longer strikes terror into the hearts of anyone? Clearly, I have been away for longer than I thought," Then he regained his composure. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order for you, Tirek. Let me give you a taste of what you've longed for since your re-imprisonment." He tapped a hoof to his collar and the bright yellow orbs glowed.

A beam of sickly green magic shot out from the orbs and at Tirek! It wasn't long before he had regained his more muscular form with long black horns and a tuft of white for a mane sticking up. He began kissing his newfound muscles. "Okay, I guess I can at least hear you out," And he told Grogar. "Why not enlighten the Storm King about who you are? Or should I do it for you?" Without waiting for a reply the centaur declared. "You know what? I think I will."

"Well, I'm all ears." The Storm King commented as he prepared for what Tirek had to say.

Tirek cleared his throat. "Grogar is ancient and extremely powerful, Storm King. The land that would become Equestria was but a mere collection of farms and pastures until he declared himself emperor of all he saw. I remember hearing tales of his tyranny when I was young. It inspired me to become the centaur I am today."

King Sombra cackled and smirked with sadistic glee. "Oh yes, I remember when I learned of Equestria's first emperor: The Father of Monsters. That was you all along, Grogar. You certainly knew how to command respect through fear. That's what I sought to emulate when I became king."

The old ram conjured up an image from his collar as he described to all. "I gave life to the foulest of creatures and allowed them to run wild and free, taking what they wanted and destroying the rest," A fond smile crept onto his face. "Yes. My reign was truly a glorious, fear-soaked epoch of darkness in Equestria."

Chrysalis then laughed as she spoke up. "Until Gusty the Great rose up and overthrew you, banishing you from Equestria forever."

Grogar only snarled. "Gusty the Great was a fool. She thought taking away my bewitching bell would do me in. What she didn't know is that the theft of my bell only weakened me temporarily. I have since bided my time, regaining what strength I can day by day."

The Storm King then questioned. "But wait a minute, that had to be ages ago if Equestria didn't exist. Like over thousands of years ago. How is it possible you're still alive, Grofar?"

"Grogar, you fool!" Grogar hissed and corrected. "For the longest time it was as if I were asleep, having an out of body experience. Unable to move or function," And he explained. "Once enough time had passed, I was awakened by a change in harmony. And in the over a thousand years since I've been watching all of you. Watching you all fail in the end. I've seen each of your humiliating defeats at the hooves of six puny ponies. And do you know why it is that they've always bested you?"

Chrysalis hissed and roared! "Because they cheat! It's the only explanation!"

Tirek added. "No, it's because they're just insanely lucky."

"Well, my not quite final fate came at the hooves of my second in command, so..." The Storm King nervously trailed off.

King Sombra could only remark. "Because I waited too long and took it far too easy on them. I had them at my mercy, but one little dragon got in the way and ruined everything!"

"Wrong!" Grogar snapped. "And it's not because you had no strategy either, your plans were all brilliant. But all of you made the same fatal mistake. You see, those six ponies may not seem like much individually. But because they work together they're stronger than you. Where one is weak another is strong, and thus unified, they are a formidable force! But we shall use their own strategy to defeat them. Teamwork! Together, we can easily bring them down."

The Storm King then questioned. "So, what are you suggesting? We form some kind of 'Legion of Doom' or something?"

"A 'Legion of Doom' isn't quite what I had in mind, but for your feeble minds it will suffice," The old ram insisted before he declared to the four. "Make no mistake, though. I'm not suggesting anything. I'm demanding that you all work for me! United, we can conquer Equestria for ourselves and nothing will stand in our way!"

However, almost immediately after the "proposal" was made, Tirek spoke up in protest. "Well I must say, Grogar. Your plan does sound good on paper, I'll give you that much," He paused for a considerable length before adding. "But let's face it. It'll never actually work."

"Oh, and what makes you say that?" Grogar remarked as he arched an eyebrow upward in suspicion. "Are you threatening me? Perhaps you think you're better than I am?"

The centaur was quick to back down from the potential for a fight. "Oh no, I wouldn't dare dream of challenging you, Grogar. I've nothing but respect for you. However, I see things as they are. I learn from my mistakes. And one of the mistakes I've made in my attempts to count on others," And he explained. "Even though we all share a common enemy, as soon as that enemy is gone we'd all just want Equestria for ourselves."

"I don't know, I kind of like the idea of having some 'allies'," The Storm King remarked. "I mean, as long as you don't stab me in the back when I inevitably betray you. Oops! Did I say that out loud? Silly me, just pretend you didn't hear that."

Tirek pointed a paw at the satyr. "See?! That's exactly my point! We'll all just turn on each other after we defeat Twilight Sparkle and her friends. And all you'd have to do, Grogar, is wait for a winner to emerge from our scuffle. Then you could pick off the winner while he or she's weak and exhausted and take over for yourself. And to that I say: 'Count me out!'"

The old ram bristled as his collar glowed brightly. "You would rather I send you back to Tartarus forever?"

Tirek shook his head. "No, I'm simply saying I don't want any part of this 'Legion of Doom'. I'm quite confident I can defeat Twilight Sparkle and her friends by myself," And he flexed his muscles. "I won't make the mistake of underestimating them this time. And if that annoying Discord happens to get in the way, I'll destroy him too! After that, I could care less what happens to Equestria. I'll just return to my old kingdom to reclaim the throne there. So long as no one gets in my way or crosses my path, I'll be quite content."

Grogar's eyes lit up upon hearing what Tirek was proposing. He even seemed to smile. "You seem awfully confident in your abilities, Tirek. I hope the power I've given you hasn't gone to your head."

"It hasn't. I'm more than just muscle, I've got plenty of brain to match!" Tirek loudly boasted. "I'll destroy the source of their power and crush their spirits. Then I'll destroy them one by one!"

"Very well then, Tirek," Grogar nodded in approval. "Go! Try to stop those ponies if you can. Should you succeed you're more than welcome to keep what power I've given you and stake out a claim to whatever parts of Equestria you want."

"As long as you don't think of taking the Crystal Empire, that's mine!" King Sombra roared.

Undeterred by the interruption, Grogar just continued as he warned Tirek. "But, should you fail and you will fail, you will return here to serve me. Do I make myself clear?"

The centaur firmly nodded. "Crystal. I just hope you won't be disappointed when I do what none of these other lowlifes could even hope to accomplish on their own!" And he said to Grogar. "Come on, I'm ready! Send me wherever you want, I don't care."

With just a small bit of sickly green magic from one of his orbs, Grogar whisked Tirek away in a dazzling display of light. Then he turned back to the three remaining baddies. "Now we gather round to watch," He instructed while motioning them towards the ball he'd been guarding. "And you'd all better prepare to start working together, or else."

Back in Ponyville, Twilight was unaware of anything that was transpiring miles and miles away. She was quite busy with something else, a rather pressing detail about her School of Friendship. Namely, who would be running it upon her ascension to the throne.

By now Starlight Glimmer had learned about what was going on, and she was rather worried. She too knew how much Twilight had a tendency to "freak out" in these sort of situations. And being called to Twilight's office at the school was anything but a good sign. "Twilight, is everything okay?" She called upon knocking on the office doors. "You did call for me, didn't you?"

What sounded like a lot of stumbling and tripping erupted on the other side of the door before Twilight called out. "Oh, oh yeah. Come on in, Starlight. There's something we need to discuss, friend to friend and teacher to... well... former student."

Reluctantly, Starlight trotted inside. But nothing could've prepared her for the sight that greeted her eyes! Lists and scrolls lay scattered all over the headmare's office and desk, Twilight's mane had gotten a tad bit disfigured despite her best attempts to keep it groomed.

"Oh, where is it?! Where is it?! I know I wrote it down on one of these lists," Twilight said to herself. "Oh, did I write down 'Eliminate redundant lists' on my School of Friendship to-do list or my personal to-do list? Spike, did I?"

"I think it was personal, Twilight," Spike called. "I told you we should've kept them separate," Then he turned to Starlight. "Sorry you had to see all of this, Starlight. Twilight's getting to the whole 'My plan needs a plan' stage and things have gotten a bit... messy."

Fortunately, Starlight seemed to take it all in stride as she smiled. "Ah, classic Twilight. I guess some things never change."

Twilight didn't acknowledge the comment as she instead picked up a scroll with her magic and shouted! "A-ha, here it is!" Taking a moment to compose herself she cleared her throat. "Starlight, you have blossomed into one of the strongest, smartest and most caring ponies I know. As such I can't think of anypony better to leave in charge of both my castle and the School of Friendship."

The unicorn mare blinked as her eyes seemed to grow wider than Twilight's already widened eyes! "Wait, you want me to take over the School of Friendship? As in full time? And look after your castle too?"

"Well I very well can't run a school and run a country at the same time," The young alicorn pointed out. "The castle could become your home. I mean, it already is isn't it? And you could continue Diamond Tiara's studies whenever you find the time, though I think there may not be much left for her to learn."

"And you want me to do all of this now?!" Starlight gasped in disbelief!

Spike whispered. "More like in a couple of days. At least you'll have summer vacation to grow into your new role."

At that, Starlight stepped back and began to exclaim quite rapidly while hyperventilating! "I can't! I'm not ready! Remember what happened the last time you left me in charge?! And now you want me to do it permanently?! What if I don't do the right things?!"

Twilight quickly intervened in protest. "Starlight, don't you start panicking too. At least one of us should keep a level head about this. I know this is sudden, but I really mean it when I say you're the most qualified pony for the job," She flashed a smile. "Despite your previous qualms about leadership you've grown into the role quite well. The students trust you as much as they trust me, and that's saying something. You can do this!"

Starlight smirked. "Ha! Everything in that last sentence just proved you're getting all worked up over nothing too. What you just said to me is exactly what you need to hear yourself," And she pointed out. "You're not like me. You don't have baggage when it comes to leadership."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Twilight shook her head. "Running a country and running a school are two very different things, especially when I'm being asked to start running the former in just a few days," And she then began looking over her scrolls again. "So if everything's settled, I still have a lot of other things I need to get done before I become the new ruler of Equestria."

Spike just shrugged his claws as he told Starlight. "It was a valiant effort. Can't say you didn't try."

By now, Tirek had managed to get his bearings once again after being whisked away to who knew where by Grogar. The centaur found himself looking out in the distance, yet all he could see was snow. He growled in dismay and thought. "Oh, so that's your little game is it, Grogar? Send me off to the middle of nowhere again and leave me to fend for myself. Well too bad for you I'm not playing this game. All I have to do is let those ponies know I'm back. I'll need to lure them away from Ponyville for my plan to succeed."

So the mighty centaur trekked onward, only slightly tolerating the biting and biter cold from the winds as he left huge hoofprints in the snowy wasteland. At last, he could see the light of civilization in the distance. He didn't care where it was, all Tirek knew was that conquering the land he was approaching (or at least trying to) would be a surefire way to get the attention of Princess Twilight and her friends.

It proved difficult to break through the barrier protecting the outskirts of the land. When Tirek made contact with it it felt like every part of his body was set on fire! He howled and winced in pain, doubling back! Yet bravely he pushed forward even as the pain refused to subside! He was certain that if not for Grogar's magic flowing through him he likely would not have survived. At last, he broke free to the other side and saw that everything around him was made of crystal. The harsh blizzards from outside troubled him no longer.

Tirek grinned and began to laugh as he got an idea. "Ah, the Crystal Empire. Not what I had in mind but it'll do." And it wasn't too long before the centaur was making his presence known, terrifying countless crystal ponies who had never seen anything like him before.

Princess Cadence was soon alerted to the unfolding crisis when her husband, Shining Armor, burst into the throne room! He was only slightly relieved to see that their daughter, Flurry Heart, was at Cadence's side.

Cadence looked up, quickly taking note of her husband's enormously widened eyes and how out of breath he seemed! That wasn't a good sign! "What's wrong, Shining? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"It's worse than that," Shining answered while he struggled to catch his breath. "It's Tirek, Lord Tirek! He's attacking the Crystal Empire as we speak!"

Cadence rose to her hooves in dismay! "What?! That's impossible, he's supposed to be in Tartarus!"

"Well he must've broken free somehow," Shining answered again. "And what's even worse is that the Crystal Heart isn't stopping him or even slowing down. I don't think we can hold him off for long on our own."

The candy colored princess firmly nodded her head. "You're right, we'll need back up. And I know just the ponies to ask. I just hope they can get here in time." And she began writing out an emergency message to send to Ponyville, her horn writing becoming rather sloppy in places as her anxiety made it difficult to hold the writing quill steady! At last, however, it was finished and poofed away with a flash of magic. The rest was up to fate.

Meanwhile, Shining felt a tiny hoof reach out to touch him. He spun around upon realizing it was his daughter. "Flurry, what is it? Daddy's busy at the moment." He tried his best not to get upset with the little one, knowing how frightened she must be. But when he turned to look his eyes went wide anew and his heart was filled with dread! His wife soon followed as both parents happened to see a sight that would make any parent all but faint!

There was Flurry Heart, being held aloft by Tirek's magic while the centaur smirked and held her close. "Mama!" The young heir to the crystal throne screamed, her first word ever spoken! Normally, such an occasion would be rather joyous and worthy of celebration. But under the current circumstances it was anything but joyous.

"Ah, Princess Cadence," The crafty centaur cackled. "We didn't get a chance to meet the last time I was free. But this time, Princess Twilight isn't here to save you," He began looking around the throne room. "This is your 'kingdom' is it? I can see why anyone would want to have it, it really is a sight to behold."

Shining Armor then hissed at the centaur while he stomped his hooves. "You let Flurry Heart go this instant! She's done nothing to you, Tirek! If you lay one finger on my daughter, I'll make you regret it!"

"Oh, so this little one is your daughter?" Tirek taunted while continuing to hold onto her. "You and your husband have been very busy, Princess Cadence. But I wonder how much you truly value your daughter?"

Cadence glared at him. "If you hurt her in any way..."

"You're in no position to make threats against me, princess. And the same goes for your husband," Tirek smiled as his grip on Flurry Heart tightened. "Surrender to me and I promise the little one will not be harmed. If not, she's gonna spend some quality time getting to know her Uncle Tirek." The last line was delivered with noticeable malice and sadistic intent.

Reluctantly, the crystal couple realized that there was little they could do. For the sake of their daughter they would have to surrender.

Thankfully, Cadence's emergency message had reached its intended destination intact. And upon receiving it Twilight had immediately called all her friends over to her castle! "Oh, thank goodness you all came so quickly!" She sighed in relief. "You're never gonna believe who's come back."

Discord, meanwhile, was scanning over the emergency message himself. And the spirit couldn't help but notice. "Hey, that's weird. You know, maybe Princess Cadence shouldn't be writing out these things last minute. I swear, the horn writing is so sloppy it looks like it says 'Lord Tirek has returned.', but we all know that's impossible."

"I'm afraid it's the truth, much as I couldn't believe it when I heard it," Twilight explained. "Tirek must've busted out of Tartarus again somehow," And she groaned in annoyance. "Why can't he ever just stay in his cell and not cause trouble?"

As for Discord, he gulped a bit. "Oh, he's actually back? That's... not good," And he began frantically looking around. "Uh, he's not coming here is he? I mean, it's not like I couldn't take him on but... well... I don't know if he's gotten over how I helped you defeat him last time and uh... well, things might get a little ugly."

Twilight only replied. "He seems to be content with the Crystal Empire for now. But knowing him it won't keep him satisfied for long."

"So, what's our strategy?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight. "How are we gonna stop him this time?"

The young alicorn firmly declared. "Simple, we're going to do it ourselves with the Elements of Harmony. We'll send him right back to Tartarus, and if we have to we'll get Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to put guards around his cell twenty four seven so there's no chance of him ever slipping away unnoticed again."

"See? Now there's the Twilight we all know and love!" Applejack nodded with a smile. "We're ready whenever you are, Twilight. Say the word and we'll pounce on old Tirek before he even knows what hit him!"

Discord was quick to point out. "Um, hello? Did you forget that you didn't need the Elements of Harmony to take him down last time?" And after briefly restyling himself in exaggerated fashion with a variety of different colors he questioned. "What about that special power from the chest? What did you call it again, 'Rainbow Power'?"

Twilight stomped a hoof down and glared firmly at Discord. "First of all, we haven't been able to figure out how to activate 'Rainbow Power' or if it'll even work. And second, this is my family we're talking about here, Discord. I'm not taking any chances. So either help us or get out of the way!"

Forcing back a gulp the spirit opened up a rift as he waved to the ponies. "Well then, you don't need my help. You girls have totally got this. I'll get started on your victory party for you though, toodles!" And with that he was gone.

Starlight then spoke up to Twilight. "You don't even need to ask, Twilight. I'll keep an eye on the school for you. Discord's right, you girls have got this."

"Then we've wasted enough time already! Let's get the elements and be on our way!" Twilight declared as she and five of the others mares (alongside Spike) rushed out the door, bound for the Everfree Forest and the Tree of Harmony.

A short time later, with the elements in tow, the six mares and Spike were rushing to the castle in the center of the Crystal Empire as fast as they could!

Tirek was simply waiting around, resting upon the throne Cadence had been occupying not too long ago. "And to think, you gave up ruling all of Equestria for this," He couldn't help but mock and tease, laughing all the while. "It's a pity you princesses make such easy prey, otherwise I might actually enjoy this more. I'm thoroughly convinced I would've wiped the floor with you if we'd met during my last visit to Equestria."

"You're a coward, Tirek! That's what you are!" Shining accused as he stood before the mighty centaur. "You always have to hide behind others. What's wrong? Too afraid to get those paws of yours dirty?!"

The centaur briefly felt a sense of outrage build up inside of him, but rather than act on it he just calmly shook his head. "Nice try, but I won't be goaded so easily by the likes of you. You're only fit to grovel at my hooves, and that's only because I'm feeling 'generous'. So watch how you talk to me if you value your existence. I would sure hate for little Flurry Heart to grow up without a father," When he saw the little alicorn whimpering over on his shoulder, he was quick to reassure her. "Oh, don't cry, little one. As long as you behave yourself, I won't harm you. That's right, you like being around your Uncle Tirek."

Flurry just turned her head and stuck out her tongue. She did not like this stranger at all.

Just then, the doors to the throne room swung wide open and six mares wearing familiar looking necklaces (and in one's case a familiar looking tiara) charged right up to the centaur! "Cavalry's here!" The pink coated one shouted at the top of her lungs!

"Oh no, I'm so scared," Tirek declared with fake worry. He began channeling magic through his horns and soon stopped the six mares right in their tracks! "You're as predictable as you are foolish. I knew if I caused enough of a commotion you'd show up."

"But... how, how could you have escaped? There's just no way! Who helped you?!" Twilight demanded even as she struggled in vain against the dark red and orange glow of Tirek's magic (and her friends were having no better luck).

Tirek just wagged a finger. "Now now, that would be telling. And why would I wanna give away my secrets? Let's just say I had someone willing to give me a second chance, and I intend to make the most of it. I've waited a long time for this, and now I'm finally going to get my revenge!"

The six mares soon began to groan, whimper and in some cases even scream out in pain! "That's right, it's painful, isn't it?" Tirek explained as his eyes glowed a brilliant and bright yellow. "Like no pain you've ever known. And as long as you continue to resist me it will only get worse. Surrender, and I promise your demise will be swift. Then once you're all out of the way, Equestria will fall!"

Suddenly, however, Tirek felt a blast from behind him alongside a rush of hot air and the smell of something burning! He turned around fast and saw Spike and Flurry launching a sort of mini-assault on his backside. They'd even managed to set his tail ablaze.

Twilight started snickering. "Looks like you're the fool, Tirek. You left yourself wide open."

The centaur growled, trying to swipe at his attackers only for Flurry to flutter over to her parents as they quickly formed a protective barrier with their horns.

"Oh, it's cute you think that'll do anything," Shining taunted. "You just lost your only bargaining chip, pal. And you're gonna be sorry!"

And indeed Tirek was, for right as he turned back to Twilight and the others he saw their elements begin to glow brightly. He realized what was happening. "Uh-oh."

"It was nice knowing you, Tirek, but play time's over!" Rainbow Dash firmly declared. "So go back to Tartarus, and if you know what's good for ya you'll stay there!"

Try as he might, the centaur didn't have the magic or the might to repel the power of the Elements of Harmony. Their rainbow colored beam soon descending upon him in a majestic display! The ground shook and in the blink of an eye he was gone.

The elements then powered down and Twilight wiped the sweat from her brows.

Fluttershy couldn't help but comment against her better judgement. "That was surprisingly easy."

"Almost too easy if you ask me," The young alicorn pondered as she put a hoof to her chin. "We didn't get to find out how he escaped. And if I didn't know better I'd swear he wanted us to come here and defeat him. His plan as it was seems far too sloppy for someone like him."

Rainbow just waved a hoof and dismissed the concerns. "Ah, you're thinking about it too much, Twilight. What matters is that we proved we can totally kick butt and save the day all on our own. I'd say we handled things even better than the princesses could've. We'll definitely be ready to take over for them in a couple of days."

Shining then spoke up. "You can go ahead and relax, Twily. Let's at least wait and see what Princess Celestia thinks before we increase security around Tartarus. It's entirely possible that Tirek was just using an illusion of himself. He probably didn't expect you to use the Elements of Harmony."

"Maybe, but I still can't help but feel like something is wrong," Twilight commented. "Why would Tirek even come all the way out here in the first place? And how did he get so powerful all of a sudden? I'm not gonna fully relax until I know for sue he's back in Tartarus where he belongs."

"Yeah, but in the mean time it's time for a celebration!" Pinkie Pie proudly declared! "That fight was a cake walk. And speaking of cake walks, check this out!" She began to trot around on cake like slippers, making all of her friends laugh. And even Twilight couldn't resist letting out a chuckle. It felt good to be laughing after all she'd been through in such a short amount of time.

Unknown to all, Tirek had indeed been using an illusion. He'd been controlling it through his magic while he was patrolling around in parts unknown. "Celebrate while you still can, ponies. You played right into my paws," He thought to himself. "Now, if I can just find that tree..."

Miles and miles away in Ponyville, six students at the School of Friendship were hanging around as classes were about to end for the day. It was almost the start of summer vacation, which meant they would be free to do whatever they wanted. And already, the young ones' minds were buzzing with ideas.

Well, all except for Gallus who was anything but thrilled at what summer vacation would mean. "Can't believe I'm gonna have to leave you all behind and go back to Griffonstone. Ponyville's way more welcoming and friendly."

"Hey, isn't Griffonstone supposed to be rebuilding?" Sandbar questioned the griffon.

"It's a work in progress," Gallus explained. "In some places you'd hardly believe what we used to be, but in places like friendship it seems like we're not advancing much at all. Two griffons can only do so much to make up for grouches like Grandpa Gruff."

Silverstream just smiled. "You can always come visit us at our places. Ooh, and we can write plenty of letters back and forth to each other! I can show you all how to write them so that they can be delivered underwater, that way I don't have to always go up to Mount Aris to get them."

"Yona look forward to sending and receiving letters from all her friends!" Yona cheered! "And Yona looking forward to when new friends come to Yakyakistan. Sandbar say he want to visit soon but he not say why." As she spoke the young yak didn't notice the colt faintly blushing while she talked about him.

"I'm more worried about my brother. Haven't seen him in a long time," Smolder remarked while stretching out her wings. "There's so much I wanna tell him. I just hope I have time for it, Dragon Lord Ember is sure to use me as an example for other dragons to follow."

Ocellus just lightly fluttered her wings. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually glad I won't have to be studying and reading all the time. I've learned so much since I came here it feels like my brain can't absorb any more information. But at least that means I'll have a lot to show off back at the hive."

Just then, however, there came a gust of wind as the six creatures suddenly saw a sparkling, glowing form of their headmare appear before them. They quickly realized who it actually was. "The Tree of Harmony!" They all gasped at the same time!

The tree's projection nodded. "I am delighted to see you all again, my friends. I wish it could be under better circumstances," Then she ominously declared. "I need your help!"

"What do you mean? What's wrong now?" Smolder groaned in annoyance. "In case you haven't noticed, we've still got a few days of schooling left and they're kind of important."

However, the projection of Twilight shuddered as it explained. "You must understand, I am in danger. Harmony is in danger. Twilight Sparkle and the others are unaware. You are my only hope, my friends. You helped to save the day before, now you must do it again."

Immediately, Gallus puffed out his chest and fully unfolded his wings. "We're ready to help however we can, Tree of Harmony! No one's gonna mess with you while we're around, you can count on it!"

The projection nodded its head. "Very well then, there is not a moment to lose. Be ready for anything. And best of luck, my friends." And with that its eyes glowed and the six students were all whisked away.

Before long, the six got their bearings and found themselves right at the bottom of the gorge where the Tree of Harmony rested. Just above them, over a decaying rope bridge rested the Castle of the Two Sisters.

"Okay, we're here. Now everyone be on the lookout for anything suspicious," Ocellus instructed. "Someone or something must be after the Tree of Harmony, and it's up to us to stop them!"

"Uh, how we stop tree from being attacked?" Yona nervously questioned. "Yona not sure she and friends tough enough alone."

Ocellus explained. "With the Elements of Harmony of course! That's how our teachers always saved the day before, we even got to use the elements ourselves after the Tree of Harmony tested us, remember?"

However, Sandbar gulped as he gestured a hoof. "Uh, Ocellus, it looks like our professors took the Elements of Harmony already. Counselor Starlight did mention something about an emergency in the Crystal Empire."

And indeed the tree's branches were bare! The places where each element should've rested were taken up by an empty space instead.

"Okay, so what's Plan B?" Smolder inquired as she tried to hide her uncertainty and anxiety. "I mean, we have one, right?"

"Um... well..." Ocellus stammered as the changeling struggled for an answer.

Silverstream seemed to come up with a proposal! "Ooh, I know! We can use that really cool power our professors say they used against that Tirek guy, whoever he was. We just need to figure out how to activate it."

At that very moment, though, the ground began to shake quite ominously. "Uh, guys..." Sandbar spoke up as he turned around. "I think someone's coming, and they don't look very friendly!"

All looked up in time to see the shadow of a much taller (and for most of them unfamiliar looking) creature towering over them. And soon, a deep voice declared. "Were you looking for trouble, kiddies? Because you just found it, big time!"

It wasn't long after Twilight and her friends came back to Ponyville that they became aware that all was not well. A frantic Starlight came rushing right up to Twilight as soon as the princess had stepped off the train! "Twilight, I've got bad news! Sandbar and his friends are missing! I can't find them anywhere and no one knows where they are! It's like they just vanished into thin air!"

"WHAT?!" Twilight gasped at the top of her lungs and nearly shot into the air from surprise!

"Oh no, they've must been kidnapped again somehow!" Fluttershy concluded as a look of horror flashed in her eyes! "We've got to find them!"

"Well, first we'd better return the Elements of Harmony to the Tree of Harmony," Twilight insisted to her friends and told Starlight. "You go back to the school and check everywhere from top to bottom again just to be sure you didn't overlook anywhere. If they're still missing we'll assemble search parties and fan out to look for them."

Starlight gave a firm salute. "Can do, Twilight! Sorry to spring this on you so suddenly."

"It can't be helped, Starlight," The young alicorn reassured her former student. "But I'm sure we'll find them eventually. Now's not the time to panic." Then she and the others set off for the Everfree Forest and the Tree of Harmony.

Yet upon reaching the tree's resting place, a terrifying sight awaited the unsuspecting ponies and dragon! The Tree of Harmony had been destroyed completely, it was nothing but a charred stump! What looked like a scorch mark littered the ground right in front of the tree near the prints of what had to have been Sandbar and his friends! And worst of all, the familiar form of Lord Tirek loomed overhead as he appeared to be holding something in his left paw. "You really shouldn't have left the tree unprotected, princess," He taunted. "You can't beat me the same way twice. I learn from my mistakes, but I can't say the same for you."

"No." Was all Twilight could bring herself to say as she watched the jewels inside each necklace and tiara fall out and shatter onto the ground in front of her. Just like that, the Elements of Harmony and Equestria's last line of defense were gone.