Our Inner Ponies 2: A Race Against Time

It seemed to grow colder every time I took in a breath. The night sky was darkening to a pale-ish green color. Hope we're not in for a tornado, I thought worriedly.

"Whoa, wait up!" I cried, shrugging the bag's strap over my shoulder and thundering down the three brick steps. "You guys! Wait!"

"We don't have time to wait!" Rainbow insisted. "We have to stop Discord!" I noticed she was catching on to her new body quickly while Rarity looked like she was starting to get used to her human form. How could she jog in those purple heels? I've never tried that before, and I never will.

"I'd better go help her," I heard Spike say as he wriggled out of my grasp.

I knew "her" meant Rarity, so I let him have his way. Feeling a little lighter, I started sprinting toward the four ahead of me. And thus the hated cliche was born: I tripped over my left foot and went flying toward one of those low built sewers that you see rain slither in if it's storming. The bag also flew out of my hand, but I used my not-so-quick reflexes to retrieve it. I looked inside. Two, four, five...FIVE?! I looked around in horror. Out of all the necklaces, did it have to be mine? Er, Pinkie's? Luckily, the necklace was inches in front of the sewer, and I grabbed it immediately before anything worse could occur. About six minutes later (which felt like hours since we were all zigzagging through the empty neighborhood), we came across the local church. It looked dangerously deserted.

"Uh, where's the church building?" I heard Zaria ask.

"Church?" Spike replied, confused.

"I have no idea," I answered, gazing at the empty space where the church should've been. "I'll bet Discord had something to do with it, though. I knew he was an atheist."

"Alright everypony," Rarity spoke up. "Now can we think of a plan?" Rainbow groaned.

"Fine," she grumbled. "We'll waste our time thinking of something to do when we could already do it." I rolled my eyes and flexed my fingers. Lord knows what I'd do if this impatient Pegasus wouldn't shut the heck up.

"I think I've got one," Zaria began, smiling. "Okay, so once we find Discord, maybe one of us can distract him or somethin'."

"Okay...then what?" said Spike. Zaria shrugged.

"I dunno, that's all I've got," she stated flatly. This caused a chorus of groans.

"We can just use these," I suggested, pointing at the bag. "I mean, if me and Zaria know how to use 'em."

"Maya, we can't just go waltzing up to Discord wearing the Elements," Rainbow said. "He'll just use his powers to stop us. If we're going to do just that, we need something sneaky. Like Zaria's plan. Maybe we can add to it."

Everyone began crowding around Zaria, coming up with possible plans to add to her main one. Even though I could've joined in, I still felt a teeny weeny bit left out. I mean, why couldn't we just pop the Elements out and turn Discord to stone again? But, whatever. I silently made my way away from the whispering group and toward the church sign that was a few feet away.

"Why aren't there any cars?" I whispered to myself, squinting at the bare street. "Why aren't the street lights on, either?" I turned my head to the east just in time to see a faint yellow light burning miles away. I could also hear faint screams of terror and an evil laugh. Well, found Discord, I thought flatly, feeling excited and scared. I turned to the group.

"Guys?" I called. They didn't answer. "Guys! I found Discord!" Still no reply. Oh well. If they couldn't hear me, that meant it was up to me to (partially) stop this God of chaos.

"Bye!" I screamed, making my way toward the light.

I went from walking to jogging to sprinting in a matter of seconds. I seriously had to thank Pinkie for helping me with the running. I could run pretty fast, but not like Sonic the Hedgehog. I think in about fifteen minutes I caught sight of the, well, chaos! And when I mean chaos, I mean there were screaming people who were running left and right, nearly burning buildings, ferocious winds accompanied by lightning and thunder, and a seriously tall Discord (by at least twenty feet). If that's not what you'd call chaos, call it whatever you want. Suck it up, come on! a voice coached me. I took in a deep breath and marched over to Discord's pointy claws.

"DISCORD!" I screeched in my angriest, loudest voice. "GET DOWN HERE!" I think Discord heard me, because he was slowly shrinking back to his former size.

"Ah, my guest has arrived," he said, wrapping his arm around my neck. "I was wondering when you'd come. What do you think? Too much people enslaved or not enough fire and bad weather?" I slapped his arm off.

"Shut up, you jacked up bastard!" I cried. "You better fix my home and turn back to stone before I—" I stopped short. Why was he giggling?

"T-this is no laughing matter!" I continued uncertainly. "I want you out of here!"

"Yeah, about that...I can't," Discord replied. "Actually, I won't. You think this is some game sweetheart? Well you're wrong. I control things now. I'm your permanent leader, and you?" He shoved me to the ground.

"You're just an unworthy citizen," he finished. I ground my teeth together, already feeling like I should snap his neck and dance on his tombstone. Thank goodness I was away from the church!

"Anyway, I have some chaos to take care of," Discord went on. He clapped his hands twice. "Minion!" Minion? I thought. Someone from behind suddenly forced me to stand up, their arms holding onto my wrists handcuffed style. I struggled to look behind me.

"K-Kayleigh?" I shrieked. "No! You're my friend, not Discord's minion!"

"Take her away," Discord commanded. "Bye, my dear." With a fake wave, he stalked off.

"Let's go peasant," Kayleigh snapped in a robotic voice, her pupils producing a red glow.

"In your dreams," I replied in a strangled voice, biting her finger until it turned red. Oh, but she didn't let me go. She just trapped me on the concrete.

"I mustn't disobey my master," she said, nearly choking me. "You're powerless. What can you do, human?"

I struggled to grab one of the elements and, when I had it firmly grasped in my hand, I clanged it against Kayleigh's head. As soon as she stumbled backwards, I scrambled up and took off running. When I thought I was safe behind a gratified building, I searched for Pinkie's necklace and clasped it around my neck.

"This is so awesome," I muttered to myself, running my finger along the shimmering gem. "No, focus! I've gotta find the others!"

I carefully made my way out from the building's protective shadow and retraced my steps. I was careful not to run into Kayleigh or Discord and acted like one of the enslaved people this dragon-creature hypnotized. I didn't want to leave Discord's current place, but I wanted to go back to the church and search for everyone. I spent a half hour searching for them, and I finally found them! Yes! I'll give you the summary: We hugged, we got worried, we tried to think of a plan...stuff like that. And then the nightmare came.

"So you've found the rest of your posse," Discord said, eying the five of us. "Love the peasant look, though I prefer ponies myself."

"Wow, this guy's a jerk," Zaria pointed out, crossing her arms.

"Oh, well I don't think I'd be calling my friends jerks," Discord said, raising an eyebrow.

"What friends?" Rainbow sneered.

"You barely have a life!" I added.

"Well, I do have one thing," Discord went on, snapping his figures. In an instant, two girls walked in lock-step toward us. My eyes widened. One looked like the one on the cover of this story who was sitting down with a white bunny rabbit, the other looked like the one who was holding the book. Except she had purple hair instead of black. I'm not even gonna hesitate with these fourth wall breaking powers. I'll just embrace 'em! But anyway, back do being shocked.

"Twilight?" I cried.

"Fluttershy?" Zaria chimed in.

"Precisely," Discord said, patting the two humans on the head. "My new and special minions. Now take them away."

Twilight and Fluttershy both nodded at the same time and held their palms out. A bitter cold wind rushed from them to the five of us. Goosebumps prickled over my arms, and when it was over, I found myself staring at a black wall in the middle of the room with Zaria, Spike, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.

"Well," I began, "looks like we've reached the climax of our story."