The League of Talented Magicians

This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.

Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.

Chapter 2: The Aspects of Magic

If Shining had agreed to Luna’s Tea, he was sure he would have spluttered it all over the table when he heard Discord speak.

“Y..your father?” Cadence asked, her voice cracking out of fear. Shining was glad that she spoke first, because he knew his voice would have done the same.

“Well…my father per-se.” Discord said with a wave of a stone hand.

“What do you mean, ‘per-se’? He IS you dad and not something much worse?” Shining asked.

Discord stared at Shining with a hard, cold, and god-like stare. “He is my father. And he is much worse than whatever your poor little pony mind is thinking of.”

Shining gulped. “So why did you call us Princesses? Isn’t this a job for the Elements of Harmony?”

“That my muscle-headed unicorn is exactly why I had your princesses call you here.” Discord answered for Celestia and Luna. Shining glared at him, but Celestia silenced him with a glance.

“Shining, we called you here for one very important reason. You may have realized this already, but Luna and I are not truly here. The two alicorns you see right now are our magical projections.”

Shining’s and Cadence’s eyes grew wide, but as soon as they felt the two alicorns with their magic, they realized it was true.

“This is because we were injured badly in the fight that ensued last night. The only reason Equestria isn’t destroyed right now is because we created a temporal-magic field, but we can explain that latter.” Luna said, speaking for the first time.

“Basically, we are regenerating right now in the special room beneath this one, and we need your help.” Celestia finished.

“How can I help?” Shining asked.

“I believe this is my turn to extrapolate.” Discord said, snapping his fingers to turn his chair into a tricycle. He pedaled over with the strange sound of marble on marble as he moved.

“Well silly pony,” he started. “I am not truly the god of all darkness and all that junk that you ponies think I am. In actuality, I am the Avatar of Chaos, Discord. That creature that escaped Tartarus and injured your princesses last night was the original source of my power and my creator; Chaos. He created me out of the insanity that tinged ponies minds after he was imprisoned in Tartarus at the beginning of Equestria. As his Avatar, I spread his ideals using his power and whatnot for countless years. But now, I do not need him, nor do I want him here in Equestria. I have adapted my own source of powers and have grown away from my origins.  So, If you would put away your old pretenses, then you could become a hero for all of Equestria and help me put my father back into his eternal prison.”

“But I still don’t get it. You were imprisoned in stone by the Elements of Harmony. Why can’t we do the same for Chaos?” Shining asked bemused.

“Well first off, the Elements of Harmony were made to help combat ME, not my father. They would be as useless as fighting Pinkie Pie with weapons made of sugar. We need something stronger, something ancient. And I know what we need and where to get it before my father heals himself from last night’s battle.” Discord explained as he summoned cotton candy to snack on. Shining thought it was strange to see a statue eat food, but his mind fell back on track as his wife spoke up.

“So why do you need Shining?”

Discord looked at her and saw the fear in her eyes. His stony demeanor melted a little. “I am sorry my dear, but I must borrow your husband until this whole ordeal is over. He will be needed to combat Chaos.”

Cadence pulled herself up straight in her chair. “Then I’m coming too.” She said with such defiance and strength that Shining kissed her passionately in front of three super powered beings.

“Ah-hem.” Celestia soughed to break up their kiss. “No, Cadence. You must stay here.”

Cadence’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Why?”

“As of currently, we are injured, and you are the only royalty in Equestria, besides our damnable fool of a nephew.”

“So….oh my.” Cadence said realizing what Celestia was saying.

“Yes, as of currently, you are the ruler of all of Equestria until we are sufficiently healed and this is all over.”Luna finished for her.

“Come Cadence. We must instruct you. Say your goodbyes to Shining. He and you will be needed in different places.” Celestia said sadly. “We’ll give your two a moment of privacy.” She said as she and Luna dissipated. Discord rolled his eyes and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Shining slowly turned to face Cadence directly. He knew she was crying, and he knew he would start to cry too. He gave her a sad smile when he saw her tears and felt his own streaking down his face. They embraced silently, crying for a time together, two lovers about to be torn apart.

“This reminds me of when I first joined the guard. Remember how I hugged you awkwardly at the train station?” Shining said to break the silence.

Cadence laughed sadly. “Our horns hit and we almost managed to set the train on fire.”

“It seems like that was just yesterday. I left then, and I returned to you.” He said, pulling out of the tight hug, so he could see his wife’s face. “And I’ll keep on returning to you. You just make sure the whole kingdom doesn’t get ruined while I’m gone.” He said as he kissed her.

They kept kissing for what seemed like hours, but were just mere flashes of a second in their mind, when Celestia and Luna reappeared in the room. They looked at the two sadly, and gently led Cadence away, out the door and down the hall she and Shining had walked down to get there. Cadence gave one glance back to Shining, but turned away as the door closed magically, praying to all her gods that he would come back to her.

Shining sat there in the chair, feeling empty and confused, when a magnificent display of fireworks erupted out of nothingness as Discord re-appeared in the room.

“You say your goodbyes?” he asked casually.

“Yeah.” Shining said.

“It always hurts to see a child of Venus in pain.” Discord said shaking his head.

“What?”

“Oh, that’s right. Venus was her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. Not only was she beautiful, but she had this way with ponies…….Really made them fell loved, you know?”

“Actually I do.” Shining said thinking about his wife. “Why are you being so nice? Aren’t you all about messing with my emotions at a time like this?”

“Hey, I’m not a jerk. I might like to have fun, but I reserve the bad treatment to my enemies and ponies who wronged me. All of you ponies really need to stop making assumptions.” Discord said with a pout.

“Sorry.” Shining said a little sadly.

“Alright, let’s get going. We need to get the others.”

“Others? What do you mean? In fact, I never found out why I’m truly here. And why aren’t you still in Canterlot Gardens, frozen?”

Discord sighed. “This is a waste of time…..” But he saw the look in Shining’s eyes, so he sighed again and pulled a chair to the table. He flipped it around and sat in it, where it immediately turned into a chair made out of withering snakes.

“They won’t bite” he said quickly. “Now, I am a walking statue thanks to my father’s magic. His magic boosted my own, so now I can move around and use my magic, but the marble is a side-effect of the Elements of Harmony. Second, you are here because you are one of the Aspects of Magic. It’s like the Elements of Harmony, but think 500 times stronger.” He said nonchalantly. “And seventh, we need to go get the other Aspects of Magic and their armors.”

“So you’re saying I’m more powerful than my sister, the most talented magician in the world?”

“Yeah. Basically.” Discord said with a shrug.

“Do you really understand what you just said? I can’t do half the stuff Twily can do! How can I be stronger than her!”

“Simple. She’s strong in a various range of magics. But she is not perfect in just one of them. You, however, are. This is why your Aspect of Magic is the Aspect of Protection. You are the shield carrier, the juggernaut, the sentinel of the Aspects. On the other hand, I am the Aspect of Alteration, the changling, the creature of fluidity, the sewer of Discord.” Discord said with a smile.

“So now we need to go get the other Aspects.” He said getting up off of his snake-chair, letting the snakes fall to the ground and then evaporate into green smoke which floated to the ceiling, where they condensed, forming a green cloud that rained gummy-snakes. Discord caught one and took a bite out of it. He caught another in his opposite hand and extended it to Shining.

“Take a nibble.” He said.

Shining shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

“I’m not asking.” Discord said as Shining noticed that the gummy-snake was glowing. “I know where another Aspect is, and we need to go now to get him. Luckily he’s here in Canterlot, but we must hurry. Time is of the essence. Or iridescence. I mix those up often. Come on!” he said thrusting the gummy-snake towards Shining. Shining picked it out of his marble hand with his magic and gingerly took a bite out of it. He felt his body hum with energy.

“Geronimo!” Discord shouted as the floor beneath them melted away into pure insanity.