Foot to hoof

The ponies walked right up to the table as Celestia placed the scalpel to the right arm of thecreature.

Fluttershy was cringing and about to cry.

  "Stop!"

Fluttershy shouted as Celestia was about to press down.

  "W-Will it hurt him?"

Celestia smirked and looked at the yellow pegasus.

     "No, no, there is no need to worry, he has not woken since we found him nor has he shown any signs of reaction or response."

Fluttershy still was not satisfied with the answer and felt that she should at least do something so she placed his hand in her hoof, thinking she was reassuring it.

      "Now, let's continue."

Celestia said beginning to create a small cut.

Twilight had moved around beside Celestia to get a good look, followed by Pinkie on the opposite side. Rarity was trying not to look but she could not help herself, she was intrigued by what the princess was doing. Applejack meanwhile was standing on the other side of the table watching, she was clearly very interested but was not speaking much.

Celestia began to draw blood in the small incision she had just made.

     "Notice anything?"

Celestia said turning to Twilight.

     "Blood?"

Celestia nodded.

    "It’s anatomy is very similar to ours, here, touch it, the texture is also similar."

Twilight hesitantly held her hoof out and touched the small pool of blood, now running off his arm. She dipped it slightly in the blood for a moment and then took it out.

     "Well?"

Celestia said, using her magic to levitate a cloth over from a nearby table.

     "You're right, but, the chances of this are-"

     "Near impossible? Yes Twilight I know, the chances of even finding something else out there were near impossible, but here we are. The fact its anatomy is almost identical to our own is an amazing coincidence, although we still have a lot to learn."

By now Twilight had dried her hoof and levitated the cloth back to Celestia who then used it to clean the cut.

     "Now, the next thing I want to show you."

Celestia spoke moving towards the head.

    "We have discovered that magic is less effective near the head. We think this may be due to the creature's brainwaves, although our knowledge about our own brains is still lacking we are considering that to be the most likely cause. Now, anyway, look here..."

Celestia had put her hoof at the lips of the creature and began opening his mouth.

    "Well, take a look and tell me what you see..."

Each pony examined the inside of the mouth, looking at the teeth, gums and tongue.

Rarity was taken back as she looked inside and even let out a dramatic gasp.

     "Would you just look at the teeth on it?! That thing could probably devour us whole!"

      "Good observation... We have noticed that the teeth do look like they have evolved for shredding and tearing meat. Yet at the back we have teeth that look like they are ready to crush and rip vegetables and fruits. Right now we think it is an omnivore, but we are not taking any chances in the next part."

Celestia replied in a more serious tone.

All the while, Fluttershy was still holding the hand of the creature.

     "Uhh...Next part?"

Asked confused Applejack.

     "Yes. The reason why you are here."

Celestia's horn began to light up guards came into the room with Luna and stood at the mirror and door. Celestia was

using her magic on straps placed on the bottom of the table. The came up from underneath and went over the hands, next they went under the hands and back to the underside of the table and knotted itself. The creature was strapped to the table.

     "We need you to wake the creature."

Each pony gave a dumbfounded look.

     "How?"

Asked Twilight.

     "With these..."

Luna approached with two guards behind her, each were holding a small golden box, lined on the outside with red velvet and gems encrusted onto the edges of the lid. They walked a few feet in front of Celestia and bowed, before relinquishing their grip on the box and allowing Celestia's magic to take them. In mid-air, the box opened and inside were the necklaces and crown that were once worn when the Elements of Harmony were being used. They began to move towards each pony, with a dazzling aura of light surrounding them.

     "Using the elements we will wake it. Now, Precautions everypony."

Almost as if programmed the guards got into positions as four guards walked just behind Celestia, each holding a sharpened metal pole and each having their unicorn horns ready to fire.

     "You each need to be touching it and do not let go. It will start to take over. This will be a lot different than when you were fighting Nightmare Moon or Discord. So, good luck."

Fluttershy was gripping the hand tight as the necklace wrapped itself around her in unison with everypony else's

piece of jewellery.

      "Let's begin."

Celestia closed her eyes and lit up her horn.

Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Twilight and Rainbow Dash all placed their hooves on the bare, cold skin.

Small sparks of light began to dance around the room with excitement. Jumping and increasing speed each time it clashed with the walls of the room and eventually each landed on the body.

They disappeared into the skin and quickly shot back out, before getting sucked back in. This repeated for a few seconds as all the power in the room was directed onto Celestia's horn and the elements.

Each piece of jewellery on the ponies lit up and began to get pulled towards the body, if they were not so strong the

chain piece would have broken and flown straight at body. Symbols of light shot out from each pony and they all combined in mid-air as Luna lit her horn up.

She sent a beam of light straight up, splitting the combination in half. The light fell onto the body and was, just like

the sparks, absorbed by the skin.

The eyelids of the body began moving as if it were in R.E.M. The bright lights from the elements and the horns began to

subside as the room got dimmer.

Celestia's eyes were tight shut as sweat ran down her face. Every other pony stared at the body in anticipation as the

eyelids continued to move frantically. A small sigh suddenly came from the mouth of the creature.

Every pony held their breath, as their eyes widened with excitement.

The body suddenly began glowing, whilst Celestia opened her eyes again.

Suddenly every pony was thrown against the walls of the room as the power that was put into the body violently exerted itself, each bolt of power hit the ponies like a massive buck to the chest. Each smacked against the wall with tremendous force and a blood churning sound of bones popping filled the room along with pain-filled grunts.

The room was silent as every pony that was able looked at each other and the body.

Each's jaw dropped as they saw Fluttershy, who was still holding the hand was unaffected by the power that shot out.

In fact, her eyes were glowing and her cutie mark was lit up. Her elemental piece of jewellery was floating in mid-air

above the body, it was shaking and spinning.

Celestia stood back up in pain and approached the body; her back was covered in blood and sweat. She leaned forward and pressed her horn against the floating object. She remained still momentarily before again being shot back against the wall, this time even harder. Luna stood up and dashed to her sister's aid.

Everypony was watching in anticipation, waiting for something to happen.

Fluttershy began to speak; none of the words which anypony could understand. These words were nothing any of them had heard before. Except Luna.

Luna stood back up after seeing if her sister was alright and approached the floating object.

She had leaned forward and prepared herself to do what she saw her sister do. She nervously placed her horn against the object and expected to fly back; instead, involuntarily she began say the words that Fluttershy was saying.

The roof of the room unexpectedly ripped open, despite being at the lowest possible level with magic, the hole tore right

up to the castle grounds.

Luna's beautiful moon was visible; it flooded the room with light as the 2 ponies both lifted into the air.

Every pony looked up in shock at the moon which turned blue and purple. A massive beam of light fired down into the room blinding everypony.

The room remained lit up for a couple of minutes with all sound being blocked out by some force.

When the light cleared, it looked as if nothing had happened.

The roof was no longer torn apart.

The body was still strapped to the table.

And everything that was knocked out of place was back where it belonged, including the ponies. They all stood in their original place with no signs of injury.

Only one thing was different.

Luna and Fluttershy were not in the room. They were nowhere to be seen, there was no trace left by them.

    "W-What happened?"

Rarity asked in a soft voice.

Celestia said nothing for a few moments before turning to the white unicorn.

     "I-I am not sure..."

Twilight nervously stepped forward and approached the body on the table. It looked as if it had never been disturbed, as if where it lay, it lay for most of its life.

      "H-Hello?"

Twilight said leaning over the body.

There was no response.

      "Are you able to hear me? If you can, it would be much appreciated if you said something..."

Still, there was no response. Twilight let out a huge sigh.

      "Hey Princess, what about Fluttershy and Princess Luna?"

Rainbow Dash said, lifting into the air.

      "Of that, I am not quite sure; there is not much we can do about them right now. Elemental magic works in strange ways. We can only hope they are safe."

Whilst everyone was in a daze and confused about the situation, Pinkie Pie was wondering around the room and noticed something that no pony had.

Strange new objects had appeared on a table nearby. There was a small cracked, black and silver rectangle with what appeared to be a button. A snapped wire with two small buds like objects at the end of it. A bag that looked like it was not made for pony use as the straps did not seem to go around like a saddle bag. There was also a watch; it was smaller than most watches that most ponies wore.

       "What are these things?"

Pinkie asked turning to Celestia.

Celestia turned to look at Pinkie and saw the small black and silver object in her hoof, she quickly teleported, took it out

of her hoof and placed it on the table.

       "H-H-How did these get in here?! Who moved these?!"

Celestia was clearly worried.

        "These were supposed to be in t--"

Celestia was interrupted by a table that dropped in front of her. It had come out of thin air; there was no teleportation sound or even light. It was like it was created by nothing, although the table looked like it did not belong. It was a wooden table with designs carved into it, it looked too casual, too home like, to be in a science facility, but Celestia knew exactly where it came from.

She began to light up her horn and quickly disappeared from the room.

       "What are we supposed to do now?"

Rainbow Dash asked to no pony in particular.

       "We wait."

Replied a guard from across the room.

       "But we need to get Fluttershy and the Princess too! We can't just wait, we have to do something!"

       "Rainbow, he is right, just settle down, I am sure we will know what to do in a...."

Twilight had begun her reply to Rainbow Dash but quickly trailed off.

       "In a what?"

       "In...A...a...uh...”

       "Twilight, what is up with you?"

Twilight stared at the body on the table.

       "Twilight?! Hellooo?! Gone to crazy town?"

Rainbow began shaking her hooves in front of Twilight's face.

       "The Princess gave me books to study last night."

       "Oh, that's a surprise...”

       "One was about universal travel and effects of rebounded magic."

       "Rebounded magic? What is that? Sounds like fun, like how you throw a ball and it rebounds then you play the game where you see who can get the ball first!"

By now Pinkie had joined in.

       "No, Pinkie, Rebounded magic is no laughing matter. In fact it is quite dangerous."

Twilight walked to the body and stared at it.

       "Dangerous? How?"

Even Rarity was attentive.

Applejack however was only listening in on the loose details that she heard, wanting to go home and see how Big Mac was doing.

She wished all this never happened.

       "Well, rebounded magic is like when one magical force does not mix with another. Like how if two magnets have the same

poles pointed at each other they repel. Although, unlike magnets, magic can have some sort of crazy after-effect. teleportation, magic outbursts, power strikes, all happen due to rebounded magic."

        "And you think that is what happened here? To Fluttershy and Princess Luna?"

Rarity said now being filled with worry the whereabouts of her friend.

        "Possibly. If anything it was probably a teleportation rebound. If it were a power strike there would be no

electricity in the room right now."

        "Well, what about that other thing...Magic outbursts?"

        "We can't rule it out, something did happen, especially when the moon was visible."

        "That was Luna protecting you."

Everypony's head turned to see where the voice came from, but there was no sign of another pony,

        "Who said that?"

Rainbow asked aloud.

        "I did."

With that, the large mirror that was on the wall had changed, into a window. They could see into a small room filled with

folders and papers. Inside was a familiar sight. Everypony's jaw dropped as inside the room stood Discord.

         "Discord! What did you do?!"

Twilight screamed.

         "Oh, hush now."

He clicked his fingers and teleported into the room.

         "Celestia and I sorted out our differences out long ago. She still does not trust me entirely yet, but that stone

encasement in the Canterlot gardens is hollow."

         "We're not falling for your tricks Discord! What did you do?"

          "Really? I am surrounded by guards and you still think that I am lying about the Princess?"

The six mares looked over at the group of guards who nodded.

          "Fine. Let's say you're telling the truth. What happened to her?"

          "Nothing. She has an idea of where this hideous decor came from."

He approached the wooden table that had teleported into the room earlier.

          "I would have gone with a more blue-ish colour. Celestia never was one for interior design."

          "Well, what about Fluttershy and Luna?"

Discord looked around the room at the guards; he had a bored look on his face.

           "Filled with questions you ponies are. Can you never just accept something?"

           "Discord where the hell are they?!"

This time Rarity screamed in an out of character moment.

            "Oh, feisty. Hmm, well, if you really must know, I don't know. They are probably sealed in stone or something."

           "Discord, you better hope for your own sake that they are not."

Rainbow Dash had lifted herself into the air and had a look of anger spread across her face.

           "What? I did nothing wrong. You’re...Princess...Just has a lack of knowledge when it comes to extra-terrestrial magic."

           "Extra-terrestrial magic?"

Rarity asked.

           "You ponies are really not the brightest creatures. Oh well, I shall fill your small mind with the knowledge you

so desire. Extra-terrestrial magic is magic that does not come from the land of Equestria."

           "...He's right...”

Twilight admitted.

           "Well of course I am right. Why would there be any doubt?"

           "So when will we see them again?"

           "Never."

Everypony's face drained of blood.

           "WHAT?!"

Discord gave them a stern stare before breaking out in laughter.

           "Ha! You should have seen the looks on your faces! Ohoho...I just love messing with you ponies."

           "Discord cut that out! When will we see them?!"

           "...Oh. I dunno...Few hundred...thousand years? I don't really know, anything could have happened. They could be

encased in stone, in another universe or...or...Oh here is my favourite one. Dead."

           "Discord I swear if an-"

As Rainbow Dash was issuing her typical over the top threats a bright light appeared in the room.

Everyone shielded their eyes, except for Discord who instead snapped his fingers together and made a pair of sunglasses appear, which he put on and leaned against the wall.

As the light dissipated, Fluttershy, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were stand in the room.

Pinkie Pie shot over and hugged a clearly distressed Fluttershy.

           "OH MY GOSH SHY SHY! Thank Celestia you are safe we thought we had lost you forever and ever and ever and ever!"

           "Princess! What happened?!"

Twilight moved quickly to Celestia, whilst guards attended to Luna.

           "Just what I expected..."

Celestia replied.

           "What do you mean?"

           "You see Twilight...When we built castle grounds this low down we were prepared for anything. A lot of ponies out

there would like to see this castle and out control gone. Think of this as one massive underground bunker. We have a room under here which absorbs all magic destined for outside. Inside the room is a mystical element that was used to keep Discord in his encasement in the gardens. Only the strongest of magic can escape its power. They were teleported to that room, but in order for that to happen, Luna had to boost the mystical element's power. Hence the roof ripping open. She nearly killed herself for the safety of Fluttershy. It takes a lot of magic to do what she did."

            "...I-I...I still don't understand fully...What is this mystical ele-"

            "Twilight...please...We have more important things to deal with."

Celestia looked around and saw Discord standing in the room.

            "Discord! What are you doing! I told you not to show yourself to the ponies!"

Discord yawned and snapped his fingers, causing the glasses to disappear.

             "Oh but they were scared, terrified, petrified, worried for their lives...”

             "HEY WE WERE NOT!"

Rainbow Dash screamed.

             "..So I came to...comfort...them."

             "Discord, I told you, no matter what do not show yourself. Yet here you are. Discord, you know I can send you

back into that encasement you know."

              "Yes, yes, yes. But you are having problems with this creature of yours. You know it. I know it. We all know it!

I am the only one who can help. Your magic does not work. The elements of Harmony don't work. All that is left is the element of chaos. I told you before Celestia, I can do it easily, but you're just too stubborn."

              "Discord, I can't even trust you to keep yourself a secret, how can I trust you on something even more important?"

Celestia waited for inspirational reply in which he probably would have begged, or so she hoped.

              "You can't."

              "What?!"

              "Oh, come on Celestia! You can't trust me. Although, so far nothing works...maybe I will change my offer of helping too. I mean, you clearly don't want it..."

He said the last sentence with a massive grin on his face.

Celestia sighed.

              "..Well...”

               "Don't trust that creep, Princess!"

Rainbow spoke aggressively.

               "I must agree with Rainbow, your highness, I would not trust him."

Rarity said.

               "Yeah, don't trust him, he was a big dumb meany before....but...I did like the chocolate milk!"

Pinkie began giggling after she spoke.

                "Ah'm afraid even Pinkie is right your highness...Don't trust him."

Applejack concurred.

                "...Princess. I say...You should trust him...give him a chance, what more can we do?"

Twilight expressed her opinion.

                "Twilight. Darling, have you forgotten what he has done to us before?"

Rarity tried to peruse Twilight to change her mind.

                "I know Rarity, but, he may be able to help. I mean, it is worth a shot."

Discord laughed.

                 "A pony with some sense. That's a new one."

He teleported over to Twilight and bent down to her height. He stared at Celestia and tried to do a puppy dog look. He then spoke in a joking manner.

                 "Oh, pwease, Cwestia...”

Celestia put a hoof up to her chin and began thinking.

                 "Well...”

                 "Do it."

Celestia turned to her sister who had recovered from the shock to her body and was now standing up and looked ready to continue.

                  "Let him do it Celestia. Twilight is right. He is the last option we have. Besides, he won’t do much when surrounded by most of the castles best trained guards."

                  "Fine. Discord. You better not try anything funny."

Celestia gave Discord a deep look.

                   "Ah, good, you see things my way. Now. Everypony get back while I work my wondrous magic."

Celestia rolled her eyes and stood back against the wall along with the others.

Discord walked to the table and rubbed his hands together. He positioned himself well and examined the body.

He leaned over and inspected the other side of the face and then inspected the side by him.

                  "Uh-Huh...Mhm...Yes...Alright...Let's begin."

Discord took a deep breath and clapped his hands before exhaling and pressing his finger to the creature's forehead.

There was a small 'poof' sound and then Discord removed his finger.

                  "Done."

                  "Done?"

                  "Did I stutter? Yes, I am done."

Everypony looked at the body. Nothing had changed. It had not moved an inch. Celestia waited for a few moments.

                  "Well, today was a complete and utter failure. Come on everypony, let's clear up."

Everypony let out a disappointed sigh and looked at each other.

                  "Don't worry...we can think of....something...Tomorrow. For now, let's just clean the room. Bring me the

Elements."

Celestia said before lifting the box over and opening it.

Each pony went to get their element. As soon as they touched it though, it changed into a flower.

                  "What in the hay?"

Applejack picked up the daisy.

                   "Uh, yer highness...What's goin' on?"

                   "Discord! What are you doing?"

Celestia yelled.

                   "What do you mean? I did nothing."

                   "Stop being stupid and fix it!"

                   "But Celestia, my dear, I did nothing."

                   "I should never have let you talk me into letting you free!"

Celestia lit her horn up and prepared herself to fire a bolt.

                   "Now, now! Celestia, we can work this out! I did nothing, I assure you!"

                   "Lies!"

Celestia fire the bolt from her horn, it shot through the air, suddenly the flowers lifted off the surfaces they were on and

took the bolt for Discord. Instead of crumbling under the power like any other flower would have, they absorbed it and then fell onto the body on the table. They were then absorbed through the skin.

                   "You're gonna get it Disco-"

Celestia was interrupted as the mouth of the body opened and a blue mist came from it.

Everypony stared, amazed, as the eyes opened. At first slowly but then quickly. The creature's eyes darted from left to right taking in the sight of two large equines, many smaller ones and a Draconiquus.

                   "W-What the hell are you?"

Everypony remained silent, still shocked at the fact the creature was awake and could speak Equestrian.

                   "Answer me! What the hell are you?!"

No pony said anything, still shocked that whatever Discord had done had worked. The creature began to stress and pull on the straps restraining him to the table. He shouted and screamed, getting hysterical.

                     "Uh...Luna..."

Celestia whispered.

The creature started to get more violent trying to rip the straps off.

                     "Luna...Do something...”

Luna stood there, staring for a moment, before deciding to do anything. She lit her horn up and placed it against the creature's forehead, which was using all his might to try and break the restraints. The ponies watched as the light from Luna's horn transferred into the skin of the creature, before he began to calm down and his lids rolled lower over his eyes.

                      "What did you do Princess?"

Twilight asked softly.

                      "I...I put him to sleep. He was getting a bit violent. Maybe this is not the best place for him to wake up, with all the guards and strange...metallic... threatening room around him. We didn't prepare well enough."

                       "But we just woke him up!"

Rainbow cried from the back of the room.

                      "What...d-did you do Discord?"

Everypony was shocked to hear Fluttershy, who still looked very distressed.

                       "Oh, me? I did nothing. My magic didn't work the first time around."

                       "So...What did?"

Everypony including the Princess looked lost for words, all but a small purple unicorn.

                         "Perhaps. Perhaps this creature has the ultimate balance of chaos and harmony."

Twilight said.

                         "That's preposterous."

Discord retorted.

                        "Well...Maybe it has some sort of balance. Not exactly fifty/fifty but something like it. When the elements and your power combined in the creature, it worked."

                          "Well, whatever it was, he is awake now. You ponies have a bigger day than you can imagine tomorrow. You should head back to your rooms while we make out guest here a bit more welcomed."

Celestia said, fixing herself back up.

The ponies sighed, and gathered themselves to return to their rooms.

So, some important notes here. I had this chapter proof-read by a friend of mine, the only problems that may be there would be line skipping. It sometimes happens when I transfer from my writing program for some reason.

Another big thing, I may discontinue this story. I am not getting as much enjoyment from writing as I had before. If I get enough demand I may continue, but updates would take about 2 weeks or so instead of a few days.