Author's Note

Okay, one more chapter and we’re done with the second act. A little warning for those who have already seen chapter 4 of MYM. There’ll be some inconsistencies in this chapter in relation to what was shown in the show. It IS intentional. The new lore fits better than what I has expecting, so don’t worry about it. It’ll just be a little more convoluted than what I had planned at first.

Chapter 15- Crystal Hunters. Part 2.

‘I’m gonna kill him. I don’t care if he's some kind of abstract entity whatever-the-fuck he is that can’t die. I swear, I’m going to fucking murder him!!!’

I grasped the metal bars with all my strength, partially to stop myself from falling over due to my rage-induced shaking, mostly due to the sheer anger consuming me. I felt detached for a moment, but I couldn't have cared less at the time.

Meanwhile, Sunny had finally managed to bring forth her alicorn form, and was putting it to good use by trying to gain enough momentum, jumping up and smashing through the cage floor using her earth pony strength. As good an attempt to free us as any other.

She was omitting a crucial detail, though. “That’s reinforced steel-dimeritium alloy, Sunny! It won’t give in.”

*THUD!!* “I’M NOT GOING TO WAIT WITH MY HOOVES CROSSED FOR DISCORD TO GET RID OF MAGIC!!!” *THUD!!*

“Sunny, you’re gonna get us killed!” Hitch tried to reason in vain, his fear of heights speaking for him.

With puffy breaths, Sunny took a second to answer. “Ah… I don’t see you doing anything to get us out of here Hitch!... Ah… Ah… With enough momentum, I think I can crack the bottom of the cage and get us out of here!”

Hitch looked like he was about to pass out with her proposition, his eyes bulging from their sockets, his lungs taking in air in short, labored breaths as panic clung to him. He held for sheer life to the metal bars, eyeballing the metal floor for signs of any cracks that would plunge us into the abyss.

“I almost FELL to the bottom of these cliffs back on the bridge. I am NOT going to risk it happening again! I-I won’t! I can’t…”

“Hitch!” I heard Zipp slapping the terrified sheriff out of his stupor. “Pull it together! This seems like our one shot at escaping and getting to Discord!”

“Ugh, come on! If I could get just… a… bit… higher!”

Sunny flapped her ethereal wings to raise herself and deliver another kick, only for these to fizzle out in mid-flight and drop her unceremoniously back to the floor.

“OOOF!!”

“Oooh, I think I saw a small crack there.” Izzy lowered herself to peer closer to where she was pointing. A tendril of hope shone in Sunny’s eye before fading away. “Oh… no, it’s just some dust, hehe…”

Izzy rose back to help Sunny sit up, the earth pony now looking completely defeated. The unicorn tried some words of encouragement. “B-But a few more tries and I know you can make it.” She grabbed her head with her hooves, looking at her best friend with optimistic eyes. “We’ll get Pipp to film the whole thing. That way, when we get back home, you’ll be a Maretime Bay sensation!”

Izzy's attempts to cheer up her friend were sadly in vain, as Sunny just gently pushed her away and returned her defeated gaze to the cage’s floor. “I don’t see that happening. My magic’s completely gone again…”

“Ow, um…” Izzy wasn’t ready to give up yet. “W-What if… I try to use my levitation to pry the bars open? I’m sure with enough charge I can…”

I was sorry to take the wind from her sails. “Again… This is reinforced steel-simeritium alloy. Magic isn’t even going to scratch its surface. It’s the same material the bars from Canterlot’s dungeons are made of. None of us have the power to overcome it.”

Izzy fell at my clarification. She pressed her hooves against her scalp and scrunched her eyes, trying to come up with alternate solutions.

“If that’s true, then how could Discord teleport us in here?!” Sunny demanded.

“Discord’s magic doesn’t give a shit about the rules of magic, Sunny. It’s just how it works for him.”

“He… he can’t just… Argh!!! DAMM IT!!!” She stomped her rear hooves in frustration, a final resounding *clank* echoing against the cliff’s walls until becoming lost amidst the powerful winds dangling the cage every now and then.

Resigned sobs followed, Sunny eyes shining with the beginnings of tears, her ears completely pressed against her head and her tail tucked against her rear legs.

“All…” She sniffed hard, suffering from a moment of lucidity “... All I ever wanted was to bring magic back to Equestria. To see ponies living together in friendship, just like in my dad’s stories. I-I thought it would make things right. B-But all it’s done is m-make us fight and argue about everything. T-That’s why we’re trapped h-here…” She stammered, breaking down into uncontrollable sobbing.

I couldn’t stand to see her broken. Releasing my grasp from the metal bars and parking my own anger for the time being, I crawled up next to her and pulled her into a tight hug, the blazing rage that coursed through my body dissipating against my will in our warm embrace.

Sunny didn’t shy away from my grasp, burrowing her head against my chest and continued releasing tears of resignation. I tried to comfort her as much as I could, rubbing her multi-colored mane and droopy ears while whispering soothing words. It wasn’t really all that effective, but I couldn’t think of anything better to do for her at the moment.

Thankfully, Izzy beat me to it. Bestie to the rescue. “Sunny… having magic changed EVERYTHING in Equestria.” The strength of her words clashed with her uneasy gaze. “I-I mean, I haven’t seen the ponies so passionate and, and, just… so alive before. But for us? Everypony’s been so busy figuring it out for ourselves that we haven’t really considered what it means for ALL ponykind. It was just so sudden. We can't expect it to be easy!” She concluded with a stomp.

Izzy ran her gaze through the group, one by one, her pearls reflecting a shimmer of guilt behind their lavender color. “I… uh, t-that’s why it can sometimes feel like our magic is dividing us. A-And it’s not that it makes me angry or makes me want to fight with anypony like Discord thinks will surely happen. It’s just… it scares me…” She rubbed her fetlock in the same sentiment. “B-but I know it doesn’t have to be that way. Because, if we all come together, nopony will ever feel left behind.”

She rose from her haunches to approach us, me more precisely. “Alex, you’re living proof that I’m right; that an Equestria full of magic is possible for all of us.”

“Yes, Izzy, it is possible.” I recalled from my heart, drawing from memories of better, happier times.

She flashed me a grateful smile in return, lowering her stance to face a still-clinging Sunny, who had stopped crying and now was silently listening to Izzy’s words while clinging to me like a lifeline for her beliefs.

The unicorn once again gently took hold of Sunny’s head and unburied it from my chest to fix at her pained eyes full of angry tears. “Sunny, you’re the only one who can bring us together, just as you did the first time we all met.”

It took a moment to dig in, but in the end, Sunny sniffled, the tinies of smiles piercing through her defeat. “Discord was right; even with everything that’s happened, you always see the best in others.”

Sunny lunged towards Izzy and enveloped her in a tight hug, whispering words of gratitude in the unicorn’s ears, the unicorn responding with a reassuring cuddle of her own.

With smiles and strengthened resolve now batting the pain away like a pesky fly buzzing in their ears, the two mares released from the hug and gazed at each other with eyes full of gratitude and affection. A tender moment to melt even the iciest hearts. A pony specialty, I’d even say. After not having been on the best of terms these past few days given the high levels of stress we were all suffering from, it seemed a bandage had been placed over their relationship, and the two best friends were finally back to their old selves.

It warmed my heart to see my new closest friends bond again... and, it also brought out some feelings tugging at the ol’ ticker that were NOT suited to the current time.

‘Nono, Alex. Leave that for a later time. We have bigger fish to fry.’

Sunny, the fires of determination roaring inside her once more, stood up on her hooves with the beginnings of a plan on their way to hatch. “But, even if we manage to get out of here, I don’t know how we are going to convince him to change his mind.”

“There was only one pony who Discord would listen to, Sunny. She… died seven hundred years ago…” I offered, swallowing an overbearing lump down my throat. I had to remain in the game. I know what I was getting into when I traveled here.

“… Fluttershy.” Sunny replied, her ears drooping.

I was not happy taking the wind from her sails. “Exactly. She and Discord were very close, you see. Kinda because it was her who… ‘reformed’ him, let’s say. The only pony in the whole world with enough kindness and tolerance to put up with him and give him the chance he never was given. It worked… for the most part.”

“Yeah, I… I think I read something about that in my father’s notes… Gosh, it’s been so long... Wait, wait…” Sunny’s eyes scrunched in deep thought, her forehoof tapping on the old, metal floor. “Yes… YES! THAT’S IT!!” Her features lit up like a beaming sunrise. “I know exactly how to get that crystal back from Discord!! But first,” She swiftly turned towards Hitch, who shied back in surprise with a gulp. “We need to get out of this cage.”

“Ummm, what’s with that look, Sunny?” The sheriff demanded feebly.

“Your critter friends always follow you around, right?” Sunny pried.

From the way his features soured, he didn’t look very comfortable with the fact. “Sigh. Yeah, they tend to, regardless of how many times I ask them NOT to…”

“Then perhaps it’s time to ask for some help, hmm?” Sunny laid it down with a flick of her eyebrow.

“… Eh, it’s worth a shot.” Not one hundred percent behind her plan, Hitch rose from his seat and stepped closer to the metal bars, making a conscious effort to not look down, and began screaming for his critter friends to help us.

As his pleas for help bounced against the walls of the cliff, I addressed the leader of our small entourage, not fighting down the pride that swelled inside me for her. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Sunny.” I regarded the mare with a proud, yet slightly unsure look, “The fall ain’t looking pretty for us.”

Sunny stood firm on her strategy. “I know it’s risky, but if we all pitch in, I’m sure we can slow down the fall enough to leave unscratched. Just get your wings and horns ready.”

‘Heh, what wings or horn for me, smart girl?’ I was tempted to pitch in, but decided not to and prepared myself.

Sunny began to concentrate, all her muscles tensing in effort as her brow furrowed. A few golden sparks behind her back and over her forehead revealed her alicorn powers slowly coming back to life.

‘She’s getting better…’

A bunch of bunnies had come out of nowhere and heard Hitch’s call. Seeing their beloved butter-furred stallion in peril, they began to furiously nibble on the ropes, a series of snaps and the brief sense of falling appearing with each rope they managed to break.

“Hold tight, ponies, this is gonna be a wild ride!” Hitch called to the group.

The final snap was accompanied by the dreadful feeling of free fall. None of us seemed to be making any progress on finding a way to stop the fall.

Ah, the thrill of half-assed plans, alway keeps you on your toes. Our weakened magic, accompanied by the magic-absorbing metal that coated the cage, prevented us from building a strong enough levitation field, and the counter lift generated by the frantic flapping of the pegasi sisters’ wings wasn’t strong enough to slow our fall. With only a few seconds left until reaching the bottom, and our demise with it, a crazy idea popped into my head.

‘Yeah, this is going to hurt…’

If our magic wouldn’t prevent or slow our fall, the cliff walls would generate enough friction to at least save us from the worst.

“Ventus Maxima!” Sticking my arms outside the bars, avoiding most of the influence of the dimeritium, I pointed my gauntlets facing the furthest wall, the enormous wind current flowing from them generated enough thrust to smash the cage, with us still inside it, against the nearest wall. As roaring wings kept emanating from my hands, it continued applying pressure against its rough surface. Just as I expected, an ear-splitting screech told me that the friction generated by this drastically was slowing our fall; in exchange of a nasty tumble that sent everypony flying inside the cage.

It didn’t slow the fall completely when we met the bottom, but the pained groans of my friends told me they were alive, so I guessed it was a win I could take. I no doubt would have celebrated my quick thinking, if I wasn’t busy coughing and grabbing my chest, feeling like my heart was about to burst out of it with each pained heave.

I had been slowly but surely building my magical stamina during the almost daily training sessions. And I would continue to do so if I could help it. But, that’s what you get when you apply the booster ‘maxima’ to a spell. It really takes a lot out of you, training undergone or otherwise, simply too much for my fragile human body to handle so out of a sudden and for a prolonged time.

“A-Alex, are you alright?” I heard Izzy’s voice calling from my side. The other ponies, still moaning in slight pain, had managed to recover their bearings to at least register we had made it in one piece.

“Y-Yeah, just… give me a minute. That was a nasty fall.” I answered weekly once I had found my breath again.

Izzy didn’t seem fully convinced, but a few more hand gestures got her to relent from her prying. She moved to help Hitch break the now-weakened bars. The ponies weren’t aware yet of my little condition regarding the overuse of magic, and now it wasn’t the moment to make the fuss over it. ENough on our plates as it was.

‘Come on, Alex. Deep breaths, you’ve been through this before. Deeeeep breaths…’

Taking a minute to recover my breath and stop my body from feebly shaking, I gyrated on popping hips to check over the earth pony’s progress with the bars, or lack of progress to be exact.

“Come on, Hitch! You’re an earth pony! Start acting like one!” I yelled at the sheriff.

My degrading comment served to boost his anger. With renewed strength, he continued slamming his rear hooves against the metal bars which screeched with each hit. At the fourth buck, two of them went flying against the rocky walls in a cluttering mess.

Zipp took the lead. “Come on ponies, get your flanks moving up that wall and back on the trail, we can use that cave over there to search for the lava river inside!” The perky pegasus, being the first to exit the cage and taste the freedom of open spaces, pointed towards a small ledge which connected to a petite cave half-hidden only a few meters above us. The uneven, rocky terrain seemed steady enough to allow us an easy climb without much issue. By Zipp’s annoyed grunts, it seemed her wings were still inoperative, as were her sister’s.

“That was some quick thinking back there, Alex!” Hitch congratulated me before jumping out of the cage, brushing off any possible offense for my tasteless taunt.

I patted him on the head in appreciation. “Yeah, you get used to it after a few-too-many times.” A new fit of coughing caught me by surprise, forcing me to stop in my descent halfway and grab the remaining metal bars so as to not fall. The ponies who still hadn’t begun climbing were quick to notice, and rushed to my side.

“I’m fine, just keep moving!” I waved them off and tried to resume my way down.

‘I’m definitely going to feel that tomorrow. Faust dammit, I fucking HATE fieldwork.’

Once we all had reached the ledge, the ponies didn’t waste a second to plunge into the darkened interior, resolve shielding them from any apprehension that sought to take root on their hearts..

My entrance was not as glorious as theirs was. “Guys, slow down!” I pleaded while rushing behind them, wincing with the aftershocks of the pain which slowly became numb enough to give me back full control of my limbs. “These tunnels are volcanic in origin! They can be enriched with soft minerals like muscovite which can’t really withstand a lot of preassureaaAAAAAAH!”

Just as I feared, the hurried thumping of pony hooves unsettled the cave’s floor integrity and it collapsed under us, plunging us once again into the abyss. Fortunately, it ended up being a shallow fall, which made it no less painful.

“Owww, fuck! I think I broke my tailbone…”

“Mmmmmg… I thought you said you didn’t have a tail, Alex.” I heard Izzy muttering between painful moans… Again.

Fuck, what a day it was…

"It's a vestigial bone from when my ancestors were still... damn it, I'll explain later! We have to hurry!" Rubbing that painful spot above my ass, I rose to my feet and helped the still-recovering ponies. We were in a huge hurry, so the silent cursing and complaining would have to wait for later.

A soft glow peeked from the far side of the cave, bathing it in warm colors against the settling dust, which joined with the heat emanating from it, allowed me to discern the lava river where Discord would most likely attempt to destroy the crystal.

‘I’m coming for you, Discord. And this time, there are no princesses to save you from me.’

There he was, standing proud and mighty over the edge of a rocky protrusion that jutted over the lava pool, the Pegasus Crystal in his eagle-like claw shimmering under the orange-tainted light from the bubbling molten rock below it. He appeared to be giving some kind of speech, the small critters around his legs the only audience he had.

How those small critters could be standing the heat of molten rock was beyond me. I could virtually feel my fur beginning to smoke!

The gang all huddled around me near the entrance, keeping tight against the walls as to not being noticed yet. “Very well, Sunny, what’s the plan you told us about?” I heard Zipp whispering from my side.

“Pipp, open the Gallery app and give Izzy your phone.” I commanded in short.

“WHAT!? Y-You want me to risk my phone in the hooves of another pony?!... No offense, Izzy.” Pipp apologized with an embarrassed smile, clutching the device against her chest like a foal.

“None taken!” Izzy answered with a small spring.

“Pipp! I need you to trust me!” I pushed on with a commanding scowl.

“Ugh, fine! You better be careful, Izzy. I have my WHOLE LIFE in there.”

With that settled, I moved on to the next part. “Okay, the rest of you listen up. We have to take the crystal out of Discord’s reach and keep it away from him until Izzy manages to sneak behind him and show him Fluttershy’s message, the one Pipp recorded earlier. Just as you said Alex, there’s only one pony who will be able to convince him.”

I looked back at my friends, their expressions hard and ready. I was too focused on the plan to notice the absence of the biggest of us,

“Okey, ponies, on three. One, two, thr-”

“Diffindo!”

Alex’s scream caught us by surprise, shattering our concentration. Before we could recover, he had already begun sprinting towards the chamber through which the lava river coursed.

“... I’ll always protect the Equestria you believed in, FluttershOUCH!!” Discord’s grand speech was cut short. Alex’s spell had impacted against Discord’s claw, the Pegasus Crystal suddenly flung away from his grasp, flying towards the opposite wall.

“DISCORD!!!!” The venom and rage oozing from the scream my human friend spit out left us speechless. I knew they didn’t agree eye-to-eye, especially after Discord’s hurtful accusations about him, but it still shocked me to my core seeing him in such a state. Where was the friendly and cuddly human I’d grown to like during the past few weeks?

Not waiting for my signal, he began to push on, not towards the Pegasus Crystal, but towards Discord himself, the crackling of magic energy surrounding his gloved hands in preparation for a barrage of spells.

“Ponyfeathers, that wasn’t the plan!! What is he doing!?” Zipp demanded.

“No time now Zipp, we have to get that crystal before he does! Izzy, ready for my signal. GO PONIES! Let’s save the magic!!”

Following our human friend’s improvised lead, the rest of us charged head-first into the ample cavern. The heat from the nearby lava river was suffocating, stealing the air from my lungs. We had to be extra careful not to trip and fall into it during the fight. It would mean a swift and painful end for the pony unlucky enough to take a dip in.

‘We have to push him deeper into the ledge and away from the crystal! Come on stupid alicorn powers. If you have to make a sudden appearance, be it NOW!!’

As much as I concentrated and pushed, it seemed my alicorn form was done with me for the day. Alex’s spell casting and the pegasi sisters’ renewed flying towards the draconequus showed that magic was working once more, but we couldn’t count on it to continue being the case for long.

“You really don’t know when to let it go, do you?” Discord snarled and snapped his fingers, attempting to hit Alex with whatever spell his chaotic magic could muster.

Alex saw it coming and surrounded himself with his protection shell. The energy from Discord's spell bounced against it, completely shattering the semitransparent shield, but leaving my friend unscathed to resume his mad running.

“I’m really doing this for you, Alex; if you had seen how Equestria stood at the end, all that pointless suffering for th-”

“SHUT UP!! I’M TIRED OF YOU AND YOUR SHIT!! COME HERE AND FIGHT ME!!”

Alex kicked off any attempt coming from Discord and followed with some kind of lighting beam. I had never seen that spell before. The cracking of the lightning speeding towards Discord revealed the immense power behind that spell.

Discord only needed to snap his fingers to teleport back to a safe distance, the lighting striking harmlessly and bringing chunks of rock from down the ceiling into the lava river, bringing forth huge, dangerous splashes far too close for our liking.

Alex remained blind to it.

“Bah, you couldn’t face me before, Empyrean, what makes you think you can OUCH!!”

The distraction had been enough for Zipp to silently speed behind Discord and deliver a flying kick against the back of his head. Rubbing his aching withers, he turned a moment later to face her, but she had already flown away for another round.

“Sunny! The crystal!” She yelled at me, dragging me out of my stupor. Shaking myself awake, I galloped towards where I saw the crystal flying over. Just as I had peeked, it rested near the wall facing away from the ledge.

I rushed over it, the thundering of spells being casted reaching my ears. It was building up to be a real battle. A guilty sense of hopelessness latched in my chest, a strong desire to join my friends instead of just running away with the crystal. But it was our mission. I had to make sure it remained out of his claws until Izzy could deliver the message.

Once in reach, I grabbed it with my muzzle and searched around for the best escape route. The tall chamber continued deeper into the mountain, reducing its zenith and fragmenting into various caves. I could try and use them to throw him off, hide the crystal and return to help my friends.

“Confrigo!!” Another spell was launched by Alex, followed by another loud explosion. I had to hurry, they wouldn’t be able to stand against Discord in the long run.

‘Ugggh!! These stupid powers. Why do they refuse to listen to me?!! Why can’t I just…’

“I don’t think so.”

A sharp pain in my snout brought me to a screeching halt and into my back. I seemed to have smashed my face against a…. pink door, of all things.

“You should be more careful, Sunny. Didn’t you learn about doors that randomly appear inside caves at school. It sure is a safety hazard!” Discorded mocked me while reaching for the crystal that I had accidentally dropped in the crash. A millisecond before he could reach it, a pink blur rushed under his claws and snatched it.

“Grrrrr.” He released a growl and snapped his fingers once again, the pink door disappearing in a puff of smoke. “You should have just stayed behind and live-stream everything like you always do!”

Stretching his eagle-like arm impossibly long, Discord grabbed Pipp’s rear leg mid-flight and smashed her against a near stalactite. With a pained cry, Pipp was forced to relinquish her grasp on the crystal, which felt dangerously close to the lava pool. Before any of us could even start galloping towards it, Discord’s pet possum appeared from nowhere and grabbed it in his tiny paws, scampering off beyond my eyesight.

Throwing the now limp pegasus away, Discord teleported near Reginald. The small possum rushed towards the draconequus and handed him the crystal with a small bow.

¡No… no no no no NO!¡

“It was a valiant attempt, my little ponies. But, seriously, did you guys really think you stood a chance?” Discord gloated with a victorious smirk, brushing of his aged mane from his face to get a nice, predatory look of the crystal.

“I’m not letting you get away with the crystal!” Hitch reached the small slope Discord was currently on and began sliding down it to deliver one of his double kicks.

Discord sighed tiredly. “You earth-ponies always had the biggest disadvantage. I almost feel bad for you.”

With another snap, Hitch was suddenly teleported atop a small rock which barely protruded a few centimeters above the lava river. It was too far away from the nearest shore to make a jump, leaving him stranded with a furious scream announcing his frustration, followed by a mareish yelp when the tip of his tail caught fire.

“Fine, fine, I admit it, it was fun messing around with you guys, but I think it’s time I wrap this up and- ho oh! You almost got me there!”

Alex had finally caught up with us and had begun sending some kind of energy pulses against Discord once he got within range. He wasn’t even voicing the spells, he just continued firing over and over again, with Discord dodging them by twisting his body at impossible angles. He even divided his long body in two when one of them was aimed towards his… midsection? It was hard to say where his chest ended and his belly began, if he even had them to begin with…

“Alex, please. This is just sad. What makes you think this time will be different?”

“There are no princesses here to protect you this time. Of all the stupid, moronic, completely demented things you could have pulled, Discord, THIS, has gone too far!!”

His eyes were still full of mindless rage. His breath was labored, and small beads of sweat ran from his forehead down to his chin, carrying with them what looked like some kind of… red liquid?

‘Is that… blood?’

“Ha! You call mine moronic. Says the coward who thought it was better to run away and wait for the storm to pass instead of staying and facing the end like the man you pathetically call yourself.”

“I TRIED, DISCORD. FOR MONTHS, I TRIED EVERYTHING I COULD!!” The human wailed to the top of his lungs.

“And in the end, you had to come to me and ask for MY help to understand chaos magic and use it for the crystals. You didn’t think of it as such a radical idea at the time, hmm?”

‘W-What did he just say?’ The question arose from within the fog of the battle.

“I was quick to see the true purpose of them, what Twilight was attempting to do, what she was attempting to force on her ponies! Why can’t you understand that magic it’s not something you can’t just simply give and take away like a toy!! You will doom all of us!!”

“And why can’t you see how dangerous magic it is, how easily it’s used to promote division amongst the ponies!” Discord growed down on the human.

“I KNOW HOW DANGEROUS MAGIC CAN BE!! I KNOW IT BETTER THAN ANYCREATURE ON THIS FORSAKEN PLANET!!!”

Discord wanted nothing more to do with Alex and sent him flying with a magic pulse. He then rubbed his templates with a tired groan, his patience coming running dangerously dry. “And yet here you are, trying to let it run free so ponies might use it to bring harm aaaand where do you think you’re going?”

He had managed to catch Zipp’s nosedive behind him, his scaled appendage once again stretching to impossible lengths and plunging her out of the dive before she had any chance to escape.

“Argh! Let me go, you freak!” Zipp struggled against his steely grasp.

“As you command, your highness.” Discord twisted his slender body like rubber and catapulted the pegasus over the other side of the chamber, the sheer strength of his throw smashing Zipp against the wall. She released a final pained wail and collapsed near her fallen sister.

I couldn’t stand to see my best friends get beaten around like mere playthings. Trying as hard as I might, I was still unable to bring forth my alicorn form. Without it, I knew I had no chance against Discord. But my friends were suffering, I couldn’t leave them hanging like that!

“D-Discord!” I tried the only thing I could think of, getting his attention and allowing the others to get a moment to recover. “Please, please reconsider. What you are trying to accomplish is madness. Haven’t you seen how happy everypony is now that magic’s back? How much it’s helping them in their lives, how many new things are now possible for all of us… don’t you see?”

“Do you want me to strand you over there with your coltfriend…” My words came through one ear and out the other.

I stammered like a filly. “W-What?! H-He’s not my c-coltfr-”

“…because I’ve already had enough with our friend Alex over there for you to start with your load of nonsense!”

A flash of lavender appeared in the corner of my eye. Izzy was getting into position. Discord still had the Pegasus Crystal in his grasp. It was our last chance.

I sighed in apparent defeat. “If that’s the case, then I’m sorry, Discord. It seems I won’t be able to convince you.”

“Yes! Finally you see rea-”

“But she will. IZZY! NOW!!”

“Hey! Discord! You’ve got a voicemail!” Izzy jumped in front of Discord with Pipp’s phone held on her levitation.

The draconequus, caught by surprise by Izzy's sudden appearance, raised his arms in defense against the small object rushing to his face, only for it to stop mere centimeters away from it. The soft voice of Fluttershy began to play through the loudspeakers. It was the recording of her message, our last hope to get Discord to reconsider.

*Discord… Listen closely because this is something you need to hear…*

“No! I can’t see this again. I can’t see her! Please don’t make me watch!”

“You NEED to hear it.” Izzy rebutted while using her levitation to dodge Discord’s claws in his attempt to tear the phone away from his sight.

The message continued to play, the anger on Discord’s face draining away, morphing into sadness and pain. Numerous tears littered his eyes by the time it was reaching its end.

Once it was over, he let the phone fall to his lap, having grabbed it mid message to get a better image of the yellow pegasus onscreen. “T-That was a long time ago… Fluttershy hadn’t even experienced the worst of it when she recorded that message…”

“But she would say the same thing if she were here right now.” Izzy dared a few hesitant steps and stood in front of the defeated draconequus. “I-I’m not saying I’ve never felt left behind. But mistakes happen. We are all still learning.”

“You don’t understand… none of you understand…”

“No, Discord, we don’t understand. None of us were there to see what happened. But we can learn from it. We can get a fresh start. We can work together to prevent anything of what brought down Equestria from happening again.” Izzy took a few steps closer and hesitantly placed her hoof over his reptilian-like leg. “But what we can’t absolutely do is continue living in fear and mistrust until the end of times. I-I’m not so sure about the other tribes, but unicorns were NOT happy during our hiding. Being left without magic also took our spark away, our drive to move forward. Without it, we will all continue to wither away until there are no ponies left at all. There aren’t many of us left, in case you haven’t noticed.”

That was true. I didn’t really give it much thought before, but Equestria WAS a country full of ponies in its prime. But nowadays? Only those living in each of the three cities are all that’s left. At least as far as we knew of.

“My friends showed up for me today when it really mattered… and we got all the way here because we know that what makes us special alone makes us even more powerful when we are together.”

Izzy reached tentatively for the crystal which hung loosely from his claw, the draconequus making no effort to stop her.

Discord had nothing more to give. “Go on… just take it. If you really think you can make it work, I won’t stop you any further. But don’t come crying back to me when it inevitably blows up in your face.”

I finally allowed myself to release the breath I wasn’t aware I was holding. Finally, after two long and painful weeks, it was over.

“Thank you, Discord. It really means a lot to u-”

I wasn’t allowed to finish my sentence, since the draconequus who I was talking to had sailed away to crash against the wall from a hit my human friend had delivered on his stomach. None of us had seen him coming, but the magical glow of his gauntlets informed us that he wasn’t willing to call it quits.

After a second of complete astonishment, I quickly bolted in front of him and placed my forehooves on his chest to stop his advance towards the fallen draconequus. “Alex, stop!”

“Get out of my way, Sunny.” He replied with a low voice full of venomous rage. His gauntlets had started to emit a haunting glow, small dark tendrils of energy dancing through them. The feeling of whatever spell he was building shook me in a body-full shudder, chilling my blood in a way I had never felt before.

“Alex, it’s over! We have the crystal, and he can get another chance to make things right!”

“He’s gotten enough chances as it is…”

I tried with all my earth-pony might to stop him, but I never was particularly strong. Also, my back hooves couldn’t find a good enough grip on the loose, volcanic soil.

“Alex! I, SAID, STOP!!”

It was at that moment, after all the battles that had come and gone, that my alicorn powers finally manifested. With a flash of golden light, my wings and horn appeared in their usual positions. Feeling my newly-enhanced strength, I was finally able to stop Alex on his feet, his gazeturning from absolute rage to confusion, and then conflict, switching his gaze from Discord to me and back as he took a startled step back.

I could see the hate draining from his eyes, leaving behind such a sorrowful look that almost made me skip a heartbeat. He lowered his arms and depowered his gauntlets, the unwelcome feeling dissipating from whatever that kind of magic was. For the second time in over a minute, I released such a relieved breath that my lungs felt the strain from the air release. Now, it seemed it was finally, definitely over…

And he began to cough. Wet, painful coughs. Such a fit of it that he had to fall on his knees and support himself with his hands. Small blotches of blood painted the rocky floor with each reach. It completely caught me by surprise. So much so, that I couldn’t even react during the thirty seconds or so it lasted.

With a final moan, he took a few deep breaths and cleaned himself with the sleeve of his shirt, as if it was routinary. Once he was done, he stood up again on shaky legs, a deep scowl permeating his features.

“A-Alex?” I finally was able to find my voice, but the only answer I got was a hard glare from him. Flashing Discord another one, he turned on his feet and began walking back, forcefully grabbing the crystal from Izzy’s hooves when he passed near her.

“H-Hey! What was that about!?”

He ignored her just as he had done with me and, without a word, continued to make his way out of the chamber.

“Guys! Guys, is everything okay, did we get it!” I heard Zipp call to us, walking alongside her sister and helping her stand up. Both of them wore scratches and bumps, but no significant injuries, thank hoofness.

“Please, please, tell me we won. I can’t stand any more of it. Ooow, this is gonna take forever to get out of my mane and fur.” Pipp whined about her sorry state.

“I-I… yes, w-we got him, Zipp. It’s over…”

“Yes! Finally, we can go home! It feels like it’s been forever since… what's with those looks? You don’t seem excited by the fact we actually won.”

“N-No, it’s nothing like that, Zipp. It’s just…” I tripped over my own words.

“Hey, where’s Hitch and Alex? Are they okay?” Asked Pipp with concern after realizing we were a few members short.

“Hitch should be still stranded on that small rock in the middle of the lava pool. Zipp, he’s going to need a lift.” My friend answered with an affirmative nod and promptly took off in his direction. “As for Alex, I… I don’t know for sure, Pipp. He’s taken the crystal and is currently heading out, but…”

“What do you mean? He’s just getting a head start or something, right?”

I really didn’t know what to tell her. His behavior had changed so drastically, I was utterly left without words. “I-I don’t think so, Pipp. He… he seems just… he looks so mad. I don’t know what to tell you. I haven’t ever seen him like that. Not even when we first met… and all that coughing, he looked like he had broken something on the inside!!”

“Don’t worry about the coughing, he’ll pull through. It’s happened before.” Discord commented, rubbing his aching stomach. “As for the other thing, he has every right to feel that way…”

We all turned surprised towards the sighing form of Discord, who had recovered from the impact enough to rise on his claws and was slowly making his way towards us.

“What are you talking about?” Asked Izzy while she moved towards him and offered her back for him to lean on. He looked quite a bit shocked by the impact. I wouldn't have thought he had suffered any damage, being who he was, but still…

“Thank you, Izzy, that won’t be necessary.” He politely declined the help and breached the distance between our little group and him. At that same moment, Zipp carefully lowered an exhausted-looking Hitch, who was completely drenched in sweat after being so close to the lava for such a long period of time. I was genuinely surprised he hadn’t passed out from the heat. Earth pony strength really was a remarkable thing. “Looking good there, sheriff. Did you enjoy the sauna treatment? I heard it’s great for the body and washes away all impurities!”

“Urgh, s-shut up, Discord.” Hitch was definitely not in the mood, but at least he was safe and uninjured. Zipp made sure to stay by his side in case something happened, batting her wing as a fan to bring some form of relief over his overheated body.

His dry comment elicited an amused chuckle from the draconequus, who had the decency of conjuring a bottle of water for him, which he greedily gulped down.

“What did you mean by that, Discord?” I asked with a serious tone, trying to return to the previous discussion.

“Let’s just say that during my prime days, I committed many mistakes, some of them, and possibly the worst of them, caught him in the middle and put him in a…. bad position let’s just say. He has every right to hate my guts after what he had to go through.”

“Discord. What, did, you, do to him?!” Izzy inquired with an even more dark tone. She almost sounded… protective of our human friend.

“Didn’t he tell you about it?” A negative shake of our heads was our answer. Discord’s brow knitted in surprise. “Seriously? Well, that’s NOT my story to tell, I’m afraid. You should ask him, although don’t expect him to be too willing to talk about it, it was difficult for him for many reasons.”

I was definitely going to talk about that with Alex, but now wasn’t the best time. The heat had become a bit too much to bear a long time ago, so it was better for us to get a move on and exit the chamber. We had to catch up with Alex and search for a way out of the canyon. And then, it was back to Maretime Bay for a much-deserved rest.

“Come on, ponies, we’ll talk about it later. We should all head out and catch up with Alex. The sooner we start the sooner we’re back home.”

The ponies agreed with me, looking as willing to leave this place as I was. Together, we retraced our steps and exited the chamber from the way we had entered. From the tall ledge, I glimpsed the bipedal silhouette of my friend, who appeared to be looking for a suitable path to climb up the tall walls.

I called to him once we were all outside, my voice echoing against the canyon walls. It reached his small ears with ease, and once he saw us beginning to climb down to the bottom of the chasm, he began walking back towards our position.

“Everypony all right?” He asked when he caught up with us. I couldn’t help but feel a little apprehension at the sight of him. He wasn’t looking as mad as before, but I could easily discern the lingering fury in his brown eyes and his rigid posture.

“Everything’s peachy around here! Are you alright, Alex? That was some nasty coughing back there…” Answered Izzy with droopy ears, stepping closer to give him a friendly nuzzle. A small whine of disappointment left her muzzle when he didn’t reciprocate, choosing instead to drill a few holes at Discord.

“Good. Discord, make yourself useful and get us back to Maretime Bay. I don’t feel like walking all the way back.”

“But, Alex. You can’t expect these old bones of mine to carry on such a request after the GREAT battle we’ve just been through. I’m seriously just seconds away from passing out.” Discord wailed with a dramatic sight, deflating like a punctured balloon. He even sounded like one.

“Discord, llévanos a casa, o juro por Faust que te arrancaré las tripas y te ahorcaré con ellas!”

“Uhhh, what was that, again?” Asked Zipp, mirroring our confusion at his strange choice of words.

“Oh, that was just his mother language. He just asked me again to help you in the MOST respectful way. And you’re going to need something a bit longer, Alex. I AM quite tall.”

“Umm, if you say so…” By the way he had said it, and the icy glare Alex was giving him, I held grounds to believe that was FAR from the truth.

“Very well, my little ponies. Grab into your withers… and whatever is it that you have Alex.”

My friends all stepped closer to Discord. I saw Alex kneeling at my side and closing his eyes.

“Get ready, Sunny. The first time’s always the worst. Especially for long distances.”

“W-Wha-'' Before I could even wonder, a blinding light followed by the loud crack of magic enveloped us. For a second I felt the weirdest feeling, like I was being stretched from everywhere at once. But just as it had begun, it suddenly ended before we had the chance to think about it. Just like that, we were back in Maretime Bay. In the middle of the main hall of the brighthouse, more precisely.

“Ugh, I swear I still don’t get how Twilight could do that all day long.” I heard Alex muttering beside me. He was the first to recover, standing up again and shaking the dizziness away.

“G-guys, I-I think I’m going to…*urp*”

Hitch sped towards the bathroom to throw up, looking sickly green.

“Never again. Ne-ver, again!” Pipp complained while being helped to stand up by her sister.

“Oh come on, ponies, it was just a little teleportation spell,” Discord chimed with a chuckle, looking amused at our sorry state.

“That was awful! Did unicorns really use this to move around?”

“Only the best of them, Izzy. Here.” Alex hoofed me the Pegasus Crystal and began heading for the ramp.

“Where are you going?” I asked, dumbstruck by his bluntness.

“I’m going to take a thirty-minute-long shower, Sunny. I reek of sulfur and sweat. You head up and join up that crystal with the others. They should resynchronize automatically, that is if they haven’t been stolen while we were gone…”

Without another word, he disappeared up the second floor, the slam of the closing bathroom door resounding through the hall.

“Oooookay… I mean, I get he’s mad, but that seemed a bit too harsh, methinks.” Zipp winced, her wings ruffling at her sides.

I sighed in defeat. “I’ll talk to him later, Zipp. But first, we have to take this crystal with the others. Come on, ponies…. um, do you mind waiting here Discord?”

“I am deeply wounded by the lack of confidence in me, Sunny. I thought I had made clea-”

“Yes! Very well, we’ll return shortly, thank you very much.”

Leaving a mopey-looking Discord behind, we all trotted our way up towards our room, since the new elevator that raised us up to the crystal’s room could only be accessed from there. It was big enough to hold us all at the same time, and unlike the old one, this one didn’t work with ropes and pulleys. You just stepped on it and… it floated you up. None of us had any idea how that worked, but neither were we complaining about it. Also, the Prisbeam energy that surrounded us when we used it gave this weird feeling, like a tingle that ran through your whole body. It felt nice. Sadly, there wasn’t any Prisbeam energy coursing through the tower at the moment. But that would be solved very soon.

The elevator worked like a charm even without the rainbow energy coursing through it. Once at the top, we made sure the remaining crystals were just where we had left them.

“Seriously, Hitch?” Zipp blurted with a deadpan tone. “A lump of clothes was the best hiding spot you could think of?”

“Whaaat? I didn’t want to take them out of the room in case something worse happened. Who would think of looking inside it? It’s just a bundle of Alex’s clothes… which I now realize I should return to their original place since he’s taking a shower and he might need them, hehe…”

“In a moment Hitch, let’s get this done first and we can finally rest.”

Hitch hoofed me the two other Unity Crystals. They looked exactly like how we left them, with not a single scratch on them. Faust be thanked for small miracles.

I placed them over the portable table Alex used when he carried out his investigation on the crystals. Extracting the Pegasus Crystal from my side bag, I placed them in the correct order. At that very same moment, the all-too-familiar humming of magic built up and resounded throughout the room. With a flash of blinding light, the crystals joined together once again and floated towards the center of the room. When the humming reached its peak, a bust of rainbow energy, not so different from the one that appeared when they were rejoined for the first time, filled the room, bathing us in the familiar warmth of magic coursing through our veins. It didn’t stop there, the energy engulfed Maretime Bay and beyond it.

“Weeeee DID IT!!” Izzy shouted with glee, all of us bursting into celebratory cheering.

“Oh my gosh, I can LITERALLY feel the stress leaving me. It feels like I could just meeelt.” Pipp said while dramatically plopping onto her belly. It was true that, with the crisis averted, we all could finally begin breathing again. It had been a very, VERY close call, one I no doubt knew anypony was looking forward to repeating.

I felt like we should celebrate. We definitely deserved it after all we had been through. Looking over my friends, my sight settled on Izzy, a sudden idea popping into my head.

“Okay, ponies. I’m sure you’re all itching to finally get your magic running free, and I have just the perfect idea for it, Zipp!” My friend stood at attention. “We’re gonna need your sports gear, the gear we used to play flyball.”

I could see Izzy’s head drooping in disappointment at the mention of that particular sport. “Now now, Izzy. I’m going to make sure we ALL get to participate this time, sound good?”

Like flicking a switch, my best friend’s demeanor changed to one of excitement and anticipation. It warmed my heart to see her so happy, finally being able to join us, and not feel left behind. I wanted to talk to her about it.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get this thing going!” Not wanting to waste any more time, Zipp decided to just fly out of the room and go straight for the storage room. The rest of us took the elevator back down. Pipp flew to help her sister, while Hitch returned to the hall to check on Discord and let him know about the game. Before Izzy could leave the second floor, I stopped her with my foreleg and signaled her to follow me.

She did so with a confused dip of her head. I led her toward the left-hoof side end of the catwalk, near one of the side windows. Once she caught up, I planted my rump on the floor and faced her with a guilty expression.

“Everything okay, Sunny?”

“Izzy I… I owe you an apology.”

Her muzzle scrunched up in puzzlement, but I pressed on. “You were right. When magic came back, it was such a TREMENDOUS event. A-And my alicorn powers too! I was SO excited about them and the new possibilities they granted that… that I let it get in the way of our friendship. That wasn’t fair to you…”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at her, choosing to let my gaze fall at the floor under the wight of my shame. “I know it will take time but, I hope one day I can earn back your trust.”

I waited in silence for her answer, a few tension-filled seconds passing before I felt her forelegs surrounding me in a warm hug.

“You can’t, Sunny, because you never lost it.” My best friend whispered in my ear, followed by a few reassuring nuzzles.

“Oh, Izzy…” I answered with a cracking voice, a few tears escaping my eyes as I nuzzled her back. I don’t know how much time we spent like that, just enjoying each other's company and warmth, knowing there was no bad blood between us. Neither of us was willing to pull away. I just continued hugging her. Over the reek of sulfur, her familiar scent of wildflowers filled my nostrils and brought me a sense of peace.

“Hey!” We were suddenly surprised by Zipp’s voice who called to us from the bottom floor. “If you’re done chatting up there, we’ve got a game to play!”

“We’ll be down in a second, Zipp!” I called over the railing. I looked back towards Izzy, a playful smile brightening up her features. “Shall we?”

“Oh, yeah, let’s show those featherbrains how it’s done!”

Sharing a laugh, we began to head towards the ramp. Passing in front of the bathroom door, the sound of running water brought to mind our human friend.

“Wait a moment, Izzy…” Sunny asked, as her hooves made contact with the door, a loud *knock knock* sound resonating through the building. “Hey, Alex, we’re heading out to try a new game for all of us to play together. Do you want to join us?” I asked loud enough for him to hear over the roar of running water.

“In a few minutes!” Was his muffled response.

Feeling content with his answer, we resumed our way outside.

“I worry about him…” Izzy muttered in a concerned voice as she tailed behind me.

I sighed deeply, sharing her concern. “Yeah, me too, Izzy. I don’t know where the human we met a few weeks ago is. He’s been just… so mad all the time, like he’s become colder and more distant. I don’t know what happened between him and Discord, but it’s really taken a toll on him.”

“I’ve tried to cheer him up, but between the nerves and worry and everypony being on edge… I don’t know… I just hope that once this is all over, he returns to his true self. I know he doesn’t like being like this. He’s such a caring pony… he’s been very good to us. Even if he has every right to feel sad and depressed all the time, taking into account what little we know about what he had to go through, he still tries to see life with hope… even if he sometimes seems to flounder in his thoughts.” Izzy mulled something over for a moment. “He does that a lot.”

“Does what?” I pried in.

“When I spend time with him, he often gets lost in thought for a few moments, only for him to shake them away and mutter that he shouldn’t be thinking like that, that things are different now. I see him trying, trying so hard to remain optimistic, to stay focused and not lose himself.” My friend’s gaze dropped under the new light. “I try to be there for him, and I know you do too. I just… I just hope we’re doing enough for him. I can’t even imagine how much he must be suffering. To leave behind everything he knew, all his friends thinking he betrayed them, to come here and free us from the terrible mistake he thinks he’s responsible for…”

I shared Izzy’s concerns regarding Alex, a hundred and one questions still unanswered, harmful questions which I preferred to avoid for his sake. “I know, Izzy. Now that all this ruckus is over, I’m going to take the time to have a serious talk with him. Regardless of how much he tries to, he can’t keep bottling things up and wishing for everything to be alright. I don't think he's in danger of… harming himself like… like he mentioned that time, b-but still, I want to be one-hundred-percent sure! I don’t know about you… Well, I KNOW about you, since you and he spend a lot of time together, but for my part I feel like we’ve grown close… even if we only have known each other for a few weeks, I-I, I just…”

“I understand Sunny, I don’t want to lose him either. We’ll make sure of it, okay bestie?” She extended her hoof, and I returned the gesture. Togetheer, we reapted our small mantra.

“Hoof to heart.”

I was never a sports guy, and neither was I looking forward to getting all sweaty again immediately after taking a shower, but I didn’t want to leave my friends hanging. Also, I couldn't hide the truth about Rainbow’s forcefully imposed training sessions and the sense of clarity and accomplishment they brought after finishing for the day. I guessed I could really use some of that now.

The warm water was working wonders to remove all the aching and stress from my battered body. Discord was seriously pulling his punches with us, and even then hurt like a bad day on Tartarus. Any lingering rage washed away with it too, leaving behind only a profound sense of emptiness and guilt. Guilt that I would have to carry for the rest of my days. A heavy chain bearing down on my heart. A worthy price to pay in my eyes, at least at the beginning.

Even after all our… ‘disagreements’, I couldn’t fully ignore Discord’s reasoning fueling his motives. Magic WAS dangerous. It had been a fundamental piece of Equestria’s downfall. And yet, it also formed a crucial part of it. I still couldn't convince myself that it was the only thing to blame. Blame was just a pathetic excuse to shift the responsibility from the true culprits, the ponies whom I had once called my people, who having been given a true paradise of a country chose to be led down a path of fear and resentment for petty reasons, with very little to gain and everything to lose. Bewitched by her words, hundreds of years of silent resentment hadn’t been fully erased from the time of the three tribes. A change of government, with an inexperienced leader that, try as hard as she might, couldn’t win her ponies' trust as her mentors did…

It was breaking up into a disaster. We were all blind to it.

‘And that idiot thought that what Twilight needed was a boost of confidence. Let’s get her to fight some of the greatest villains that Equestria had faced, TOGETHER, and see how well that goes…’

My crusade against Discord was personal. At the zenith of the fight, I couldn't have cared less about the Unity Crystal. I wanted to see him suffer, to give back if only a piece of the suffering his action had inflicted on me and my loved ones.

The shower indeed worked wonders, but it couldn’t wash it all away. Not wanting to continue wadling in the slums of my depressing humor, I thought better to just go out and spend some time with my friends and get my mind off things. Some apologies were due given, too. I had been a bit of an ass to them lately.

Once I was done, I quickly dried and dressed in a fresh change of clothes. The playful screams from my friends out in the grassy slope in front of the brighthouse told me they had already begun with the game. It didn’t bother me much since I wasn’t planning on joining them. Just seeing them have fun would be enough to soothe my soul for a little while. The sight of a happy pony was always therapeutic for me. Literally. I had written a paper about it.

Once outside, the sight of my pony friends foaling it around the field brought a tiny smile to fight down the scowl that had almost made a permanent residence on my brow. They seemed to be having a blast, and this time, they were ALL participating. Izzy in particular looked completely ecstatic, using her magic to help her team score a goal.

I found myself reconsidering joining them, but the thought was abruptly interrupted by the sight of Discord, who was standing a bit far off the game field and was beckoning me to approach him.

I really, really, REALLY didn’t want to deal with him anymore, but the fact that he had taken the precaution to stand away from the ponies, and the uncharacteristic serious expression that he was wearing, was enough reason for me to entertain his summons.

As it happened, he wanted to take the chance to speak to me about some things regarding our common friends and what transpired after I left, which undoubtedly came in handy for me because I had too wanted to talk with him about it, once I was finished tearing all his limbs and reattaching them as I saw fit. There were many things I had missed that could be important for my mission. Any scrap of information was priceless.

To my dismay, what he had to offer me didn’t precisely paint a good picture.

“She had the ba…. I mean, the ovaries, to go and attack Canterlot Castle, just like that?!! W-What was she thinking?!”

“That she did! It caught your beloved princess and the rest by surprise, too! It would have seemed completely foolish to do so… if she hadn’t been sporting a pair of wings, besides her horn.” Discord retold with a knwing smirk which was far from amusing.

“…..WHAT?!! Arcana turned into an… an alicorn?!! L-Like Sunny does?!”

“Nopey dope, nope!! Hers were the real deal, just like Twilight’s.” He corrected me with a twist in the ari, leaving me beyond baffled. “And they came with all the power entitled to them, of course.”

“… A-And did she… she managed to…”

“Nope again! She was very, VERY close, but Twilight’s just too good. You should know about that.” His knowing smirk grew wider but, in light of my borderline panicking, he parked his cheekiness for the time being and put on his serious hat. Literally. “With barely any harmony left in Equestria, the elements, or whatever passed for elements at that point, ugh; wouldn’t have been able to blast her with your precious ‘oh, so power of friendship’, so it came down to a battle of strength! In which Twilight rose victorious and stripped her of her alicorn powers.”

That rubbed me as weird, on top of everything else coming from his muzzle. “Stripped Opaline of her powers? You can’t just take away somep… the Bewitching Bell!”

“Bingo!” He celebrated with matching flags.

“… And what happened to her? Was she turned to stone like the rest?”

“Twilight thought she could bring her to her senses and reform her before coming to that, you know what she was like... so, she locked her in the dungeons and waited a few days to come up with a plan to do so…”

By the drying tone of his voice, I could already guess how that ended, “But she escaped, right?”

Discord sighed and nodded. “That she did.”

“H-How?!” I demanded. “You said it yourself, she was powerless, and the dungeons are well-prepared to hold alicorn-level threats if the need arises!”

“We believe she had seeded all the cells with teleportation runes just before she attacked. So regardless of which cell she could end up imprisoned in…”

“... She could make her escape without the use of magic… and, because she had almost no magic, she was locked in a low-threat cell, which isn't reinforced with dimeritium. Faust dammit, Twilight!!” I stomped the ground hard, clenching my teeth in frustration. How could Twilight have overseen such a stupid thing?!

“Truly a shame. That little scandal didn’t do any good for the crown’s image, that I can tell you. The good news is that nopony saw her again after that!”

“… She disappeared?” I returned my gaze to his towering form, crossing my arms over my chest to keep them from shaking.

“That’s what it looked like! No leads, no rumors, just up and gone like a fart in a hurricane. Not even in the allied countries of the Heptarchy was she spotted. They looked for her for a time, but in the end, there were more urgent things to deal with.”

This nugget of information was enough to declare a huge shift in priorities. If Opaline had somehow gained alicornhood… But how? It’s not something you just trip over and gain for yourself!

“… A-And, how did she gain her abilities? Becoming an alicorn is not exactly a thing anypony can do.”

“I’m afraid that is something I can’t tell you. We both know the procedures for becoming one aren’t exactly uh… public knowledge. Whatever she did to gain her form, she didn’t stick around to tell us.”

“… She was very talented with magic, even if she ended up dropping her studies with Twilight. Almost as talented as Luster and… that other colt, I can’t remember his name.”

“She had to be talented in order to be able to fight Twilight to a stalemate, wouldn’t you agree?” Discord dropped.

‘Faust dammit, I never thought she would go so far!’

“Another alicorn, as if Cozy hadn’t been enough, the little bitch… Do you think… Opaline might still be around, somehow?” Virtually impossible, but I was beyond trusting pure reason by that point.

Discord rubbed his goatee in thought. “If I’m being honest, I don’t think so. I would have noticed an alicorn lurking around the Castle, even if she was powerless. During the years I remained here, I never saw a pony walk Equestria outside of the three cities. My little friends would also have warned me otherwise.”

‘Guide them through the incoming darkness…. My role yet to be fulfilled…. Fuck’s sake, Equestria has enough enemies as it is for me to try and guess who it is this time, and that’s assuming it isn’t’ a new one… We are so fucked if we have to face an alicorn. Time to speed up Sunny’s training…’

“H-How…” I gulped nervously, shifting to even darker topics. “How did it end? You know… how did Equestria reach this point?”

“Well, to be completely honest with you, I didn’t really stick around to see the end of things….”

“What?!!” I sneered.

“I-I mean, don’t get me wrong.” He sent his claws waving in front of him. “I spent all the time I could spare helping Fluttershy, so I wasn’t really focused on what was happening to the rest of the world. I know that not long after the battle at Canterlot Castle, Twilight activated the Unity Crystals. She spent a lot of time working on them, moreso after you were gone. I think I heard something about a change of plans, but she kept it all very hush hush, especially after Opaline’s attack. She became a bit too paranoid for everypony’s liking, if I’m being honest. The population divided itself further after the attack, many of them thinking Opaline was just somehow protecting them from losing their magic when she fought Twilight. As you can guess, the activation of the crystals WAS against Opaline’s interests.”

Of course it was. She would too become magicless, especially considering harmony between the ponies was the last on her goals list.

Things were beginning to click. “She had to fight Twilight to prevent the activation. She knew the country wouldn’t hold itself together for long, so she would end up losing her magic with the rest of the ponies.”

Discord hummed in agreement, hovering on his mismatched wings. “That’s my best guess. But, regardless of that, the activation of the crystals managed to at least stabilize things for a bit. Just as Twilight predicted, the fear of losing magic overpowered whatever issues the ponies had with each other. Peace was reestablished. A fragile, forced peace, but peace nonetheless, enough for the crystals to allow magic to keep flowing.”

“And what about the other countries? What became of the UH?”

“Well, most creatures that currently lived in Equestria emigrated in a rush back to their home countries. If the ponies held fear and hate for its own kind, you can imagine just how dire it was for the other creatures. Heavens, you should’ve seen Novo after she found out…”

Nothing but bad news kept on coming. “For Faust’s sake! So much for the globalization effort…”

Discord gave me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “It was a valiant effort, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Borders were closed, and territorial conflicts arose between nations as old wounds were reopened. Not having Celestia and Luna around to impose their will and keep things cool definitely emboldened the other nations in their pursuit of self-interest. They were quick to ignore the international treaties and began testing one another, and see who was the first one to break.”

“… Just… Why? Why would they do that?” I couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. We had made so much progress…

“I honestly don’t know, Alex. What I told you applied mostly to the griffons, the dragons and the minotaurs. You know how they were. A lot of skirmishes took place along their borders. As far as I know, the rest of the creatures just retreated to their home countries and ceased all contact with Equestria. Whether or not they’ve survived until today, I don’t have a clue.”

I rubbed my temples as a prominent headache began to form. “Fuck… Well, that’s another thing to investigate. As if I didn't have enough on my plate already…”

“Oh, yeah. It’s going to be a couple of rough months, my friend.” Discord replied with a hint of mirth I wanted nothing but to punch back with a few teeth.

“…”

“…”

“… And what about them?”

“Our friends?” Discord cocked an eyebrow.

I replied with a shaky nod. This was the question I dreaded the most. But I had to know. I just had to. I had remained oblivious for far too long. No more running.

“Weeeell, as you might imagine, they weren’t exactly happy…”

“What did Starlight tell them?” I wanted to know first.

“When she returned from wherever you had hidden, she was brought directly to Twilight for questioning. Some of the higher robes wanted to accuse her of conspiracy or some nonsense. Twilight was quick to shut them up. She told Starlight she knew that she had been working on something behind her back, but she trusted her enough to not assume things before they’d had the chance to talk… and talk they did. Starlight confessed you and her had been working behind Twilight’s back in what you believed was the correct solution, the only viable solution in your eyes. That you both believed the crystals were against everything ponykind stood for… and that, by your request, she had sent you some time into the future, to an era where she wouldn’t be able to interfere so that you could fix what we had broken.”

A bag of bricks tugged down on my stomach, making my skin pale. Yet, none of them were fresh news to me.

“… I wasn’t SENT into the future. I was put in stasis. We built the spell to keep me asleep for a thousand years… but, if she told them I had been sent directly into the future, they wouldn’t have a reason to look for me… Oh, Starlight…”

“They DID search for you, actually,” Discord interjected with a serious pitch. “They searched for you before Starlight confessed, and even afterwards they still combed the whole country looking for you… and yet, Starlight never told a single soul the location of your resting body. Obviously, that didn’t sit well with Twilight and the rest of our friends. The School of Friendship had closed its doors a few months prior, so there wasn’t much of a reason for her to remain with us. She left one day, supposedly to go back to her home village. None of us ever saw her again.”

‘Gone? Just, gone? And what about the diagrams, the chamber designs? Did she take them with her? Gosh, I hope she destroyed them…’

“…We had assumed it wasn’t going to be pretty for her, but I never guessed…”

“Starlight made something very clear to all our friends,” Discord interrupted me. “And that was that she had no regrets. She’d spent her whole time with us repenting for her sins, and this was her final act. For better or worse, she wouldn’t follow Twilight’s hoofsteps, she just couldn’t do this to the ponies.”

I had to take a seat at that point. The sheer amount of guilt and self-loathing I was currently experiencing was almost nauseating. As much as I was expecting the worst, hearing it was an entirely different thing.

“Celestia damn it… Okay, okay.” I took a deep breath and steadied my mind. “So, the crystals ensured a temporary peace for what, a few months? A few years?”

“I don’t remember, exactly… around two years, I think? It has been a long time, Alex. I have trouble remembering everything.” He apologized, scratching his messy mane.

“It’s fine Discord, this is way more than what I was expecting. What about the rest of our friends? The element bearers, the students?”

“Our pony friends just… continued on with their lives as best they could. They never lost sight of the true Equestria, the one you all had spent so many years fighting for. But without Elements to wield, they could only try and change hearts and minds in their own way, which barely counted for anything in the end. There was a whole country to convince, and the numbers were not in their favor. As for the former students, most of them returned to their home countries when things got too bad.”

“They didn’t manage to stay together?” I asked, thinking about six in particular.

“I’m not entirely sure, perhaps they agreed to meet someplace outside Equestria? I don’t know, it’s been a long time since I’ve spoken with any of them. Needless to say, they didn’t take in good humor your departure either…”

“...”

Discord felt as if he had something more to add. “In the weeks before the fall, magic began glitching, just as it has been doing these past few weeks.”

“Glitching?”

“Yes. Whatever fake peace that had been established quickly deteriorated, Twilight’s best efforts weren’t enough to keep the ponies united, and when the glitching became too much, she enacted what she called the ‘Exodus’.”

That sounded foreshadowing, if not a bit obvious. “Does it have something to do with the three settlements the ponies currently inhabit?”

Discord shook his head side to side, eyes closed and reflexive. “I’m afraid that, from this point forward, anything I can tell you are just guesses. By the time magic was about to disappear, I had to make a choice. Leave for my home dimension and keep my magic or be left stranded on a magicless Equestria for the rest of my days.”

“And you decided to stay?”

“… No.”

“No?!”

Once again, Discord reeled back from my flames. “I-I knew Fluttershy would be alright without me. The segregation of the tribes went so far that they barely mingled with each other, so there weren’t that many conflicts around that time as long as everypony kept to themselves. Just … nopony wanted to know anything about any of the other tribes, just like all those centuries ago. It hurt me SO much to see her suffering like that, I just couldn’t stand it in the end. So, I fled to my domain to preserve my powers and search for a solution outside of Equus. I peeked into other worlds, other versions of Equus. I sought alternate timelines which I’d hoped would reveal to me some other way. But in the end, it was for nothing.” Discord sighed heavily.

“What do you mean? Didn’t you find something?” I asked, knowing well about the other Equestria’s and old the peculiarities each of them hold.

“Nothing that would have helped us at that point, it was too late for us. So, after my research proved fruitless, I resigned myself to just return and face whatever it was that awaited us. If it meant spending whatever time I had left with Fluttershy, it was worth it, even if it was going to cost me my magic. I pushed through the shame and jumped back into Equestria. I found nopony when I arrived.”

“… E-Excuse me?!!”

Discord just shrugged whatever passed for shoulders on him. “Equestria was completely empty; there was no sign of the ponies or any settlements, aside from the ruins of the abandoned cities left behind. Wherever the last ponies that didn’t emigrate to other countries or city-states outside Equestria proper had made their home, I couldn’t find them. For weeks I searched, and I only found an empty country.”

“… T-That doesn’t make sense. THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!!” I’m not afraid to admit I was on the brink of losing it. From all of the things that could have happened, I was DEFINITELY NOT expecting that. Equestria had hundreds of THOUSANDS of ponies, if not a full million which, in humanity’s terms, it’s your everyday mayor city. But here, there was no way all those ponies could just up and banish it, it was beyond reason.

“I tell you what I saw, Alex. No signs of any pony civilization. At least until a few years ago. I had abandoned the search way, way before that, but a strange feeling aroused me from the lethargy I had ended up falling into, and I decided to check. And lo and behold, there they were! Each tribe in their own city, not interacting with one another, not caring for anything regarding the other tribes, teaching fear and mistrust to new generations to ensure that there weren't any thoughts about joining back together. Segregated, but at peace. At that point, I was willing to take that. They had somehow survived all those centuries, and now, even if they were not in the state either of us would have wished for, each of the tribes thrived in their own way. The why, the how? I haven’t the slightest idea. That’s for you to guess! Haha!” He finished with playful mirth.

“It’s too much… It's just too much. I-I, I don’t know…” I muttered feebly, clutching my knees against my chest.

“It most certainly is! But thankfully, that’s your problem to deal with. I am going to take a looong vacation from my looong vacation, having been stranded on this planet for so many centuries has really done a number on me.” He cracked his neck and back like an elder. He really looked older. I didn’t believe that was actually possible.

I was sure it was all a number.

And just like that, he turned and walked back to the field, where my friends looked like they were about to finish their game.

‘Aaaaand he’s just going to leave, just like that. He drops all this crap on me and then just decides to take a vacation… Faust damn it, I’m definitely getting a drink after this. I’m gonna need some time to assimilate this new information.’

Feeling too drained to continue running it over and over again, I decided to leave it for the day and join my friends on the field. Tomorrow, I would try to put some order to what I had been told. I had to further my investigation using Argyle’s diary entries and notes. I had the nagging feeling I was leaving something behind, something important.

‘There are still so many questions I need answered. And a bunch of crystals I need to deal with. One thing at a time, Alex, one thing at a time…’

I caught up with the group by the tail end of Discord's farewells. “…and don’t worry about me. I’m sure I’ll see you guys again. Equestria is still not ready to deal with me at the moment. But after some time, who knows…” He smiled maliciously, his eyes promising mischief and chaos in the coming days. What could we do about it? He was the Lord of Chaos; it comes with the job description. At least he had the decency to give us some warning to get things in order ahead of time.

“And with that my little ponies, I bid you adieu!” He turned to face me one last time. “I’ll see you around, Your Excellency.” He gave me a deep fake bow. “Make sure to keep them in check. I have a feeling our future depends on it.”

“….Que te folle un pez espada, Discord.” I answered with a smirk of my own.

“What did he say this time?” Asked a confused Sunny.

“Oh, he just wished me good luck with my future endeavors. He’s SUCH a nice human, isn’t he, Sunny?” Discord gave her a very pointed look, causing her to stutter and blush.

“O-Oh, um… Yes, of course he is.”

Discord couldn’t help but release an amused chuckle at her answer. He looked at all of us one last time, and with his usual ‘ta ta!’, he was gone in a flash.

‘And here I am, the last remaining piece of the puzzle, learned more than was expecting, and ended up with even more questions. I won’t get tired of saying it, I’m too old for this…’

“Hey, Alex! What were you two talking about? You were at it for quite some time!” Our resident peppy unicorn wanted to know.

“What can I say, Izzy? I learned much more about what happened during my absence back then, and as a result, I now feel a decade older…”

“YOU LEARNED MORE ABOUT THE PAST?! OH MY PONY, YOU MUST ABSOLUTELY TELL ME ABOUT IT!! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!!” Sunny launched herself at me in sheer enthusiasm. I had to secure my footing to avoid both of us falling back to the ground.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Sunny. First, I need to digest it, like, really really need to digest it. Then, I need to verify it with your father’s notes and whatever pieces of evidence I can find. There are many gaps to fill. I have to make sure I get the full picture, there could be important information we might need to face whatever threat Harmony warned me about.”

“B-But, c-can I help you?! Pleeeeeeease?!” She gave me the biggest puppy eyes she could muster.

I sighed, and nodded. “… Yes Sunny, I will ask for your help if I need it… and what are you pouting for?!”

Izzy had joined Sunny in a double puppy eyes attack, but once Sunny had achieved her goal, she ceased with the pouting. “Oh, I was just offering support. Double the cuteness, double the chances, right?”

“… I don’t even know what to say to that Izzy. I hope you guys had a great game and all that but, if you’ll excuse me, I plan to sleep for the next twenty-six hours uninterrupted. I’m going to need it if I want to make any sense of what I’ve been told…”

Without waiting for an answer, I turned on the balls of my feet and hurried back to the brighthouse, my tired eyes dropping and my thoughts slowing down with each step I got closer to the bed.

‘Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll get a solid start on things. I really hope it doesn’t end up being what I fear it is. Nothing I can do about it now. I’ll just have to wait and see...’