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 4: Boasting isn’t the only thing this pony can do

Crimson had given Discord an extremely dirty look after he had said his little speech about Syringe being the Aspect of Restoration, but Syringe looked a little humbled by it. He silently backed away from Shining and whispered something in Crimson’s ear. Crimson begrudgingly nodded and Syringe left the lobby through a stairway that led further downward into the building’s basements.

“Syringe has gone to get a few necessities, but he informed me that he is going with you.” Crimson explained to Shining.

“Could you tell him to move with some haste? We’re not exactly on a time limit, but the faster we move, the easier it will be.” Discord said, while he etched doodles into the black granite of the lobby floor.

“I swear to both Princesses that if Syringe gets hurt because of you, I will personally make you wish you stayed in Canterlot Gardens.” Crimson said with 100 ccs of pure malice and hatred to the statuesque god of discord. Discord’s eye rose and a challenging smirk spread across his face. He opened his mouth to reply, but Shining beat him to it.

“Don’t worry Crimson; I’ll personally make sure he’s safe. I am the Aspect of Protection after all.”

Crimson actually cracked a small smile. “That makes two of us, doesn’t it?”

Shining returned the smile. “Yeah.”

Syringe walked back into the lobby from the basements, his saddle bags slightly bulging with the addition of whatever ‘essentials’ he had grabbed.

“Thank Eris you came.” said Discord a little disgustedly. “I actually thought your General and Shining were about to make out.” he said, making gagging motions with his stone fingers. Syringe rolled his eyes making Discord roll around on the floor, laughing at his own joke.

Crimson sighed and shook his head. “Get up you fool. Don’t you have to go somewhere?”

“Yep!” said Discord as he continued to roll on the ground.

“Then get going!” screamed Crimson. Shining almost felt sorry for the guy, but also empathized with him. He too was starting to get fed up with Discord’s actions.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Discord replied incredulously, rolling with control now. He log-rolled in short, controlled rolls and Shining and Syringe felt that ground was starting to hum with energy.

“Well? What are you two waiting for?” he asked the other Aspects. Shining shrugged his shoulders and lowered himself to the ground, leaving Syringe standing alone. He started to copy Discord, rolling in controlled bursts, from side to side. Eventually, Syringe got down to the floor and did the same.

“Ready?” Discord said as they all rolled to the left.

“1” he said as they rolled to the right.

“92.756438” he said when they went left.

“Purple” he said as they went right again.

“3!” he shouted as they rolled left, falling into the abyss of discord that the floor had opened up into.

“SON OF AHHHHHHAHHHH!!!!!!!” Shining Armor screamed as they all fell into Discord’s way of travel.

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“Are you alright?” Syringe asked Shining when they came back into existence. Shining had his eyes clamped shut and quivered slightly. His face had gone white and a sheen of sweat coated his body. He took a few deep breaths.

“Yeah. I think I’ll be fine.” he said in a small voice. “This happens every time I travel with Discord.”

“That’s what you get for being so stubborn.” Discord replied walking past the two. Again, they had come into existence in an alleyway, but there was an immediate difference between this and last time. First off, Shining’s head hurt much worse than it had before, and he thought that this meant they traveled much further. And second, it was much hotter than Canterlot. Shining started to sweat, but he pushed the heat out of his mind as he saw what Discord was doing.

There at the end of the alleyway, stood Discord. He was using his magic to conjure up a tuxedo made of obsidian. When Discord deemed it just right, he tried to put it on, and a horrible stone-on-stone screeching could be heard in the hot, night air. Shining winced, the sound not helping his headache.

“Cut that out you idiot.” Syringe said with disdain.

Discord looked at him with wide eyes. “But we’re going to a magic show on the famous Applewood Drive. I can’t show up looking like this.”

So that’s why it’s so hot, Shining thought. They were in Applewood, home to countless stars of ponykind. And what was even better was that they knew exactly where the Aspect of Magic was.

“Can’t you just turn YOURSELF into something different?” Syringe asked.

“I can, but I’ll still be covered in this blasted marble.”

“Well do it. Just turn yourself into a pony until we find the Aspect of Magic.”

“Urgh. I hate pony forms. But I digress…..” Discord said as the marble of his skin rippled and he shrunk, taking the form of a pony, albeit one that looked remarkably similar to Discord. He was now a unicorn however; his antler and twisted horn becoming one misshapen and unnatural horn, and his legs were still all different features of different creatures. His stone wings lay back across his body and his dragon tail had become a stone ponytail.

“Well let’s not keep the lady waiting.” Discord said as he exited the alleyway and was almost hit by a fast moving car while trying to cross the street.

“Watch it!” shouted the car’s driver. Discord just tried to snap his fingers, but realized he only had hooves now. He sighed and his horn made a faint “pop!” noise. He smiled as the driver of the car ran down the street, being chased by a giant robot his car had once been.

“Cut it out Discord.” said Shining as he put up a barrier between the car-bot and scared pony. The car-bot fell apart with another glow of Discord’s horn.

“So I can’t even instill a few good lessons?”

“Let’s just go find the Aspect of…..”

“She’s the Aspect of Illusion. You might even know her Shining!”

Shining was confused by what he meant, but Syringe cleared his confusion.

“I take it she’s in there.” He said pointing to a large theater, surrounded by lights, paparazzi, and stars. Shining took one look at the place and groaned. Not only did he hate large crowds since they were dangerous and impeding, but he also managed to read who was performing.

“You know her?” Syringe asked.

“Unfortunately.” Shining answered, making Discord smile widely.

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Inside the theater, wealthy ponies, stars, and aristocrats all applauded for the onstage magician. ‘And with good reason’ she thought to herself as she pulled off another magic trick, making the entire audience gasp. ‘Do they really fear such easy magic?’ she thought. ‘This is barely anything. Just make one thing float over their heads, disappear, and do some other subtle things to it, and they’re hooked. Suckers.’

‘I guess I better finish it.’ She thought. “And now Mares and Gentlecolts, for my last trick, I will summon a beast so terrible, so evil, that many ponies think of him as just a nightmare. But he IS real, and he will be conquered by me, the strongest magician in the entire world!” she announced to the audience, making them erupt into cheers. But then she closed her eyes and her horn started to glow from underneath her hat. The crowd fell silent, not know that this trick actually did require the silence. For this trick, she had to concentrate and focus her magic. She had to create a type of magical hologram that would act and look like the monster, but would be tangible enough to fool the crowd.

She chuckled to herself when she was ready. “And now” she called to the audience, “I give you Discord!”

She had perfected this trick after many performances, and she knew something was wrong. Instead of an apparition appearing, her magic shot out of her horn in a shower of fireworks and Discord appeared on stage with a flourish.

“Good evening!” he said to the crowd, making them laugh. The magician paled. This was not part of the trick, neigh, the show! Where had this creature of stone come from? In all of the other shows, she had made an illusion and fought it off for the finale. But what was this? A cruel joke by saboteurs? Or had she really summoned the God of Chaos?

“Yes, yes applaud Miss. Lulamoon.” Discord said to the crowd. “She managed to summon me! But it is sad that she can’t control me. NOW IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO PERISH! MUWHAHAHAHHAHAHHA!!!!” Discord laughed sinisterly before flying above the now panicking crowd.

The magician gingerly fired some magical blasts at the flying statue. The audience was beginning to become scared and confused. They didn’t know if they were in true danger, or if this was all part of the show. ‘I’m not going back out on the streets again!’ the magician told herself thinking about the last time she was homeless. Not such a fun time, if she remembered correctly. She charged more magic into her attacks and started summoning things like handkerchiefs, straightjackets, and other magical apparel to help drag down this unknown creature. The creature fought it all, but eventually sunk back to the stage.

“So it’s a fight you want?” said Discord as he gulped in a big breath. Then he let a jet of flame soar out of his mouth. The magician yelped and was about to jump offstage and flee, when the flames ducked around her without harming her. Somepony had put up an invisible shield, and she was being protected. She looked around and felt her confidence rising again.

“Stand back creature! You are no match for me!” she shouted when Discord stopped breathing fire. Discord coughed a little, and the magician fired a ball of pure blue energy at Discord. His face contorted into a smile, and then a frown as he was struck with the magic. He was thrown back, and then everypony heard a shattering of glass, and Discord disappeared.

“I…I did it. I beat Discord. I BEAT DISCORD!” she screamed to the crowd. The crowd erupted into cheers and the all stood and applauded.

“Yes, yes.” The magician nodded before throwing her hooves into the air. “I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!” she cried as she heard the multitude shouted her name in praise.