Children of Chaos

Chapters

A New Normal
Intruder Alert
"Wake Up John"
Renegade Sorceress
Sorry I Haven't Written
Just Get It Over With Already
Paying the Piper
Tribunal Interrupted
Back Home Again, Maybe
A New Life in Ponyville
Epilogue
Alternate Ending : Battle Royale
Alternate Ending III : Life Behind Bars
Alternate Ending II : Death of Chaos

A New Normal

I was sleeping in today, which was nothing out of the ordinary as I had gotten used to doing that. Honestly, though, there really wasn't much else to do. My "beach-front" house near San Diego (or what was left of it after The Final War) sat atop a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A wall of windows gave an expansive view of the ocean and the sound of waves crashing against the shore had a very calming and soothing effect on me. My bed was situated in the main room to allow me this magnificent view. Sleep never has come very easily to me, but the waves helped soothe my discomfort. The sun's light streaming in through the windows woke me and caressed me with its warmth, as the weather was pretty much still nice in San Diego despite what had happened.

I groggily rose to my hooves and decided to take a trot along the shoreline, though this had become a part of my morning ritual. I trotted lazily, occasionally letting the waves wash gently over my hooves and fetlocks, looking out at the ocean and noticing a few surfers riding the waves. This was the first time in quite a long time since I had actually seen humans near my home. I was somewhat concerned by their appearance and grew worried when they spotted me and started shouting. I teleported back to my home, and double-checked my security set-up.

Looks like I'm going to have to beef up my security system -- where did they come from?

I ventured out onto my balcony overlooking the shore, a good hundred feet or so below the bluff. I could see the surfers off in the distance, putting their boards atop their Jeep. I watched them pull away and drive north towards Los Angeles. Those fools! Radiation levels in L.A. will kill them before they make it there.

The Final War had lasted only a single day as reaction and over-reaction trumped common sense -- the damage was extremely severe. Los Angeles was one of the hot spots Discord had not been able to sufficiently clean as part of his payment for allowing me to give birth to his son. My thoughts sometimes strayed to our son, and how well Discord was raising him. I still couldn't get over the idea that he would be named "Equanimity." The thought made me chuckle, and then a little angry. "Should have named him Jeffrey," I thought, perhaps a little too loudly.

I heard what sounded like a leather jacket being zipped or unzipped, and then a gravelly voice. Instinctively I knew that sound and his voice, though his arrival surprised me nonetheless.

"Well, well, well. Twilight Sparkle! What a surprise! How long has it been?" he asked, flashing a smile and trying to make himself look as friendly as possible. I thought he looked ridiculous like that, but held my tongue about that for fear of angering him.

"About three years or so, Discord. What brings you here? Is Equanimity with you? I would like to see our son," I said, perhaps a little too eagerly. I was hoping he'd have brought our son, having not seen him since he was born. It still rankled me that the dragonequus would take him away from me so soon after he had been born.

"Actually, I call him EJ for short," he replied, chuckling.

"So you took my suggestion and gave him both names, then decided it was easier to call him by his initials. Very nice!" I smiled. "How's he doing?"

"Why not ask him yourself?" Discord asked, brightening his smile. Those yellow eyes of his still creeped me out, though. At first glimpse, I was slightly taken aback by his appearance, though there was something about him that put a smile on my face.

"Hey, EJ, how's things going with you these days?" I asked optimistically.

"Are you my mommy?" he asked, his voice sounding thin and reedy and very high pitched, but I chalked that up to his very young age. In a way, he reminded me of myself when I was that young.

"Yes, EJ, I am," I said, smiling very broadly. This was the first time I had laid eyes on him, as Discord had been extremely over-protective of him. All I had been given in the past were just photos of him.

"Why do you look so different from me?" he asked innocently.

"What we look like on the outside doesn't matter as much as how we feel about ourselves on the inside," I offered. "We should not judge each other based on what we look like -- that's what makes people or ponies dislike each other."

"Twilight, I'm sorry he asked that," Discord said. "He's usually a bit better behaved than that."

"It's quite all right, Discord. If I had discovered my mother looked different from me or my father, I probably would have asked the same question, or some variant of it."

"There is another reason I have come to visit you, Twilight," he started, then turned his gaze away from me, almost afraid to continue with his train of thought.

"Yes, Discord? What is it?" I asked. I could only guess, though I had an inkling of what it might be. The thought caused me some distress but I did my best to maintain a smile.

"Well...there was something I wanted to ask you," he said.

"Go ahead, ask away," I offered, still smiling. EJ was checking out my main room, looking at various things, picking them up and examining them closely. He found the remote to the TV and turned it on. "EJ, please stop touching stuff. Has your father told you not to touch stuff that doesn't belong to you?"

"EJ! EJ! Come over here, NOW!" Discord shouted at him. EJ cowered at this outburst and came running over to him. "Twilight, I'm terribly sorry he acted this way. He will be punished when we get home. As for my other question ... ehm, well, uh ..."

"Don't punish him too harshly, please. He was just curious about things," I said softly. Discord looked down at the floor, and fidgeted his right foot a couple of times. There was something he wanted to ask, but didn't know how.

"Well, Twilight, EJ has been telling me he's lonely and wants somepony to play with," Discord said, still avoiding eye contact with me. He appeared to be staring at the floor as he said these words.

"Where is he being schooled?" I asked.

"At home, where else? I can't exactly send him to a public school, now can I?" he chuckled.

"Well, you've got a point there," I said, smiling softly.

"So ... " he began as he tried to decide on how to ask me without making it sound too objectionable.

"So ..." I echoed, trying to decipher his mood. I hope he doesn't want another foal from me...

"So?" EJ asked innocently.

"Ummm ..."

"Yes? Discord?"

"Well ..."

"What is it? You want me to have another child for you?"

"Uh, well, uh ... yes?" he asked dumbly.

"No. Now please take EJ with you and go home. I'm not ready to have another child by you."

"Um, okay. But please let me know when you might be willing to .. you know ..." he said as he and EJ disappeared with the same zipping sound they had entered with.

Well, that was really weird. What kind of fool does he take me for? I thought as I pondered his request. I wondered why he had waited so long to return and why he had chosen this particular time to do so.

Intruder Alert

I took a quick shower to clear my mind. There was so much that had happened since that fateful day I met Discord near Fitzgerald's Casino, but after having fulfilled my end of the bargain with him, not much had happened. Life had become rather boring for me since then, except for those nights when I'd wake up in a cold sweat after having dreamt about jumping off the I-40 bridge in Memphis. That seemed to be a recurring nightmare for me, and more than once I had forced myself awake after jumping off that bridge in my dreams. More than once I had dreamt about the war I had inadvertently started. There were many times I had wondered about why I had lost my cutie mark -- even though part of it had finally returned about two years ago. What had returned to me was the large six-pointed star, but instead of being a pink color, it was bright red.

I finished my shower and toweled off. I decided to fix pancakes for breakfast today. Telekinesis is very useful, and in short order I had prepared the pancakes, cooked them, ate them, and cleaned up the mess. With all the practice I had gotten in, this was quite easy. I was getting ready to relax in my chair in front of the TV when my security system alerted me to intruders on my property. I pulled up the camera view on my monitor.

"Who are those guys?" I said aloud. "I hate when this happens." Truth is, though, this had only happened once before, and that was about a year and a half ago. That time, it was just a single man who didn't get past my electric fence boundary. This time, there were three guys who reminded me of the surfers I had seen earlier. Were they trying to get to my home? I watched as they approached the electric fence -- not your standard farm-type electric fence, this monster stood 18 feet high, and was wired with 440 volts AC -- enough to knock a man out of his shoes if he touched it wrong -- not to mention it was topped with concertina wire. "They're not gonna get past THAT," I thought. They didn't make it to the fence, as I watched Discord teleport behind them, grab them, and teleport away with them.

"They won't be messing with her, I can guarantee THAT!" he chuckled, then disappeared again.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure I had seen what I just had. Discord protecting me? And my property? Really? I wondered just how serious he was about having me give him a second child. I couldn't let that bother me, I had already given him a son. He was going to have to work a LOT harder if he wanted a second one! Even if he had treated me nicely, I couldn't bear the thought of going through labor again, as painful as it had been.

I turned the TV on to see what was going on around the world. Local TV service was still spotty, so I had set up a satellite dish to receive signals from around the world. I was watching Australia News, and saw something very interesting, or more likely, something disturbing. They were flashing on the screen a grainy grey-scale photo of me blasting the wall with a magic sphere. Apparently, I had become a most wanted.

"We have reason to suspect that this being is still alive, but her whereabouts are unknown. She is known as Twilight Sparkle, and is widely believed to be the impetus for initiating The Final War. She is to be considered extremely dangerous, so extreme caution is advised. If you encounter her, do not attempt to apprehend her, as she may prove to be unpredictable."

"Great, just great," I said sarcastically. "When did they find out about that? I knew I should have concealed myself a bit better than that. I thought a distance of two miles from that wall was sufficient -- I suppose I guessed wrong." I still couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt after all this time -- I was indirectly responsible for killing of two-thirds of the world's population, even though it was in the service of Discord. "That still doesn't excuse the fact you instigated that war," I said to myself. I figured that was something Princess Celestia would have said to me, even though it had been nearly three years since I last wrote her. "Maybe I should write her again some time," I thought.

I thought about EJ, and wondered what he had learned from Discord. I found myself wondering why Discord had taken him away so soon after I had given birth to him -- and how he had developed so quickly. Even at just three years old, he stood taller than me, his grey muscular legs with purple hooves allowing him to walk upright, almost like a human. His grey body tapered to his neck, his little dragon-like arms being purple as well, with sharp claws. He had sharp teeth that looked like they belonged to a piranha fish -- quite frightening, that -- and a tuft of black hair on top of his relatively round head. His tail was little more than a rather short shock of black hair. He had a unicorn horn on his head as well, a mix of grey and purple -- so he was going to be able to use magic as well. I half-way wondered if he might get a cutie mark, but wasn't sure about that. "He's going to be a difficult one to decipher," I thought. "He does appear to be quite smart."

I turned the TV over to a Japanese game show, and watched people doing very silly things in order to win money. Some truly outrageous stuff was shown on Japanese TV, and I always got a kick out of watching people do these silly things. I found myself trying to immerse myself in the language, trying to learn it through absorption, but wasn't having much luck. The game show ended, and another news program came on, and again a picture of me was shown. I was starting to get worried now. "How many around the world are going to be told about me?" I asked no one.

I turned the TV over to French TV, and again a news program showed a picture of me, this time from a very far distance, as though it had been taken from the "separation barrier" itself. A large magenta ball of energy appeared to come right at the camera, and then the picture went black. Another camera showed me from a different angle, again firing a magic ball of energy. I was able to decipher from my limited knowledge of the French language that I was being sought for questioning, and possible indictment for crimes against peace. With this knowledge, I knew I was going to be a prisoner in my own home, or at least on my own property.

In order to get some of the better quality food-stuffs I had been eating for the past three years, I had developed friendships with various merchants, bartering gold coin for my necessities. It looked as though those travels were going to come to an end.

"Wake Up John"

Song link here.

I decided I was going to escape into my music, so I fired up my karaoke machine. I had put together a CD of my favorite songs to perform in karaoke style, songs which would not be found on any karaoke disc as these were not well-known songs -- well, some of them were, but there was one particular song I absolutely loved to sing, even going so far as to pretend to perform it on stage. At least I wouldn't have to worry about anypony thinking I was crazy while doing this.

The monitor showed the title and artist of the first song: "Wake Up, John" in the style of Little Eva. This is a very short song, only about two minutes long, but it's one of my all-time favorites. I stand on my hind legs, holding the microphone in my fore-hooves, making sure it's on. The title disappears, only to be replaced by eight small dashes to signify the intro. As the intro starts, I tap my left rear hoof in time with the tambourine hits, nodding my head in time with the tapping of my hoof. As the crash cymbal is hit, I take a breath to start singing the first line of the song, blinking my eyes once and smiling broadly.

"Oo-wake up John and tell meeeeeeee," I sing, the vocal being very breathy, and drawing out the word 'me.' As I draw out the word 'me,' I turn my head quickly to the left and then back to the front, and blink my eyes and nod quickly once before singing the second line of the song.

"That you really love meeeeeeee," I smile even more broadly with the drawing out of the word 'me' again, the word 'that' having been the least breathy word sung. Once again, I turn my head to the left very quickly, then back to the front, again nodding and blinking before going to the third line of this song.

"Johnnn, tell meeee everything's all riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight," I seem to almost chew on the word 'John,' and nod as I say the name. The word 'me' flows into the word 'everything's', then I take a big breath before drawing out the words 'all right,' blinking a couple of times and quickly turning my head left to right, then back to the front while drawing out the last part. I'm in the zone now, and loving my performance. Maybe I should use my camcorder and take a video of this performance...

"Oo-wake up John and tell meeeeeee," again a quick look left then back front and another blink. I love emphasizing the breathiness of the vocal, almost exaggerating it a bit too much as I draw out the last word again.

"Oo-why you didn't kiss meeeeeee," I blink on the word 'kiss' and nod again, giving another broad smile as I draw out the word 'me' once again.

"Before you cu-lose your eyes to-nnniiiiiiiiiiiight," I emphasize the two syllables used for the word 'close' and slightly draw out the 'n' of 'tonight', blinking a couple more times during the line, and giving another quick nod and blink as I draw out the last syllable of the line. The chorus is just one line long, but drawing it out makes it last almost twelve seconds.

"Oo-wake up Jooooooooooooooooooohn, wake up joooooooh-ah-ah-aaaahhnnn," I draw out the first 'John' and give a staccato to the second 'John.' Before going to the second verse, I quickly turn my head to the left, then back to the front, and give another quick nod and blink.

"Oo-wake up John and tell meeeeeeeee," I sing, repeating my head motions again, still tapping my left rear hoof in time to the beat. I seem to be enjoying drawing out the last word of each line a little too much. I can't help but smile a very wide smile as I sing the song.

"That you really nnneed meeeeeeeee," I chew on the 'n' in the word 'need' a little bit, and repeat the head motion again. I guess you might call it a habit, but it's what I would most likely do if performing before an audience. I can't begin to count the number of times I have sung this song, but I have firmly committed it to memory.

"Nnnnoooowww as the perfume fills the aaaaaaaaaaaaaaairr," I almost chuckle at this line, but manage to hold it in. Another blink and a nod as I prolong the last syllable again.

"I'm not the kind to worreeeeee," I sing, listening to the backing vocals echo the last word. I almost instinctively repeat the word 'worry' in response to the backing vocalists.

"So wake up John and tell meeeeeeee," I sing, mentally preparing myself for what happens next. Little Eva flubbed the last line of the second verse, and I still can't seem to find what it was exactly she sang, so I kind of half-way figured it out, more or less, but even so, I haven't got it down exactly.

"Just what this love of mine awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay," I sing with a little confusion on my face. I still smile, but this line still gets me as I haven't determined conclusively what the correct lyrics are. The chorus is repeated three times, fading out on the last repeat.

"Oo-wake up Joooohn, yeah yeah yeah," which is my favorite version of the chorus, causing me to give another big smile, another nod and blink.

"Wake up Jooooooh-ah-ah-ahhhn, wake up Joooooooooooohnnn" I sing as the song fades out. I would have liked the song to be longer, but even so, I still love singing it. I never seem to tire of this song, finding that I could probably listen to it twenty times in succession without getting bored by the song. The drumming is top-notch, and the backing vocalists are virtually on fire. I smile broadly as the song ends.

"Very good! Wonderful performance!" Discord says, beaming his approval and clapping his mis-matched hands in applause.

"Discord! When did you come in?" I asked with some concern.

"About half-way through your performance," he says, still smiling. "You are quite impressive!"

"Thanks for the compliment," I said, still smiling, but not as broadly as when I was performing the song. The next song in the queue comes up, but I let it play while Discord and I talk.

Author's Note

There was a video on youtube I was going to link to this chapter which features the song in question on a 45 RPM. That version is, in my opinion, the best version of that song. Difficult to find, but a real treat for the ears. I have found another video with the album recording of this song, though her singing is not as bright and exuberant sounding as on the 45 RPM. This version is representative of that better version, the video having been taken down some time back.

Renegade Sorceress

"I suppose you've seen the news," I addressed Discord, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Not lately," he said. "What's been going on?"

"It appears I have become a pariah," I said with some disappointment. My good mood had fled from me at this point.

"Well, you are responsible for killing nearly five billion people," he grinned.

"Stop rubbing my face in it!" I hissed through clenched teeth. He was starting to irritate me.

"Well, it is the truth," he stated flatly.

"Only because you forced me to," I said, trying to rationalize my actions.

"I never put a gun to your head and told you you had to," he chuckled.

The third song in the queue started playing. I turned my karaoke machine off at this point, having completely lost my desire to sing anymore. "You know, you made me an offer I couldn't refuse, then when things went south, you almost force me to have a child for you. You have a funny way of showing your gratitude, and an even funnier way of dealing with complex situations."

"Are you regretting that initial choice you made?" he asked, his face darkening as he narrowed his jaundiced eyes at me. "You know, you could have refused to assist me."

"And I would have faced certain death in parts unknown on this planet," I said glumly.

"Twilight, I would never want to hurt you -- but there are certain things I need, things which I know you can do for me," he said. "I had to convince you that assisting me would be in your best interests. I had no idea that things would escalate as quickly as they did."

"So why exactly do you want a second child?"

"Because EJ wants a playmate, and I want him to be happy," he explained.

"You realize that I am going to need an awful lot of persuasion, and considering what you did in exchange for your son, I have no idea of what you can do for me to convince me that I should provide you with a second child."

"You have no idea of what I can do to help you," he said, smiling once again. "If you are willing to give me a second child, I will help you in every way possible to live free from fear, free from hunger, and in complete enjoyment of your life -- in addition, should you wish to live for a very long time, I can help you with that as well. Trust me, there are few limits to what I can do, so small gifts are easy for me to provide."

"If I bear a second child for you, I would like for her to be a full unicorn, and I would like to name her Stephanie," I said. "I want my house to be substantially larger, with better fortification, and easy access to everything I would possibly want for my own personal edification. I would like to live for 1000 years and be given enough money to last me at least that long, if not longer, and --"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down there, Twilight! You're asking too much of me!" he said, showing a little anger.

"Heh. Well, I thought you said small gifts were easy," I chuckled. "But the hard part is dealing with everypony wanting to arrest and indict me for war crimes. That's the big one I want cleared up -- unless you want to give me a new identity. I still want to be able to use magic."

"That's not hard, Twilight. I can change you into another unicorn, if you like -- and for that other stuff, yeah, that's no problem either -- with one exception. EJ needs a playmate who's going to look like him -- otherwise, he won't be able to relate to his playmate. I will accept your request to have her be female, and I will even honor your requested name."

"So what other unicorn are you talking about changing me into?" I asked.

"Watch me then," he said, waving his lion paw at me. I felt a slight tingle through my body as some subtle changes occurred.

When I perform karaoke, I do so in front of a mirror, so I saw my reflection change immediately to that of a blue unicorn with a white mane and tail, and the cutie mark of a wand and a magic swirl appear on my flanks. "OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!" I shouted at him. I couldn't believe my eyes. Trixie's voice sounded a bit different from Twilight's.

"What? You don't like this?" he asked innocently, but flashed a mischievous grin.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is NOT amused!!" I shouted at him, grinning as I did so. "Discord, Trixie's magic is not as strong as Twilight's!"

"Well, if you think your magic is not up to snuff, here, have this," he said, tossing a small trinket to me.

I used my telekinesis to snatch it mid-air and held it before me in my magic aura. This item was a small triangular amulet with wings at the large end of the inverted triangle, a diamond shaped red gem in the center, and what appeared to be a unicorn head atop the center of the top part of the amulet. "Is this what I think it is? Where did you get it?"

"I'm not at liberty to tell you that," he chuckled. "Use it if you wish, but be careful."

"So you want Trixie to give you a child?" I asked.

"Why not? The end result will be the same," he chuckled. I didn't really believe him.

"Are you sure? What about the color of her coat?"

"Believe it or not, I can choose all these things while you're carrying the child. Just as easily as I changed your appearance, I can change lots of things. Your other requests are fairly simple, and as Trixie, you will not be sought for questioning by the authorities. So..."

"So..." I said, staring at the floor, feeling kind of stupid.

"Shall we get started?" he asked, almost too eagerly.

I heaved a very heavy sigh. "Discord, I know I probably shouldn't do this, but since you continue to do so much for me, I guess I might as well concede, even though it bothers my conscience to do so."

"Excellent! I knew you'd agree!" he laughed.

"You will do for me as you did last time around, I hope," I said with resignation.

"But of course! I'm a dragonequus of my word! You have nothing to fear."

"The day is still young," I said. "I would prefer if you showed up tonight, I need to prepare myself before I allow you to ... you know ..."

"Very well then, Trixie," he chuckled.

"Odd that you call me by the name of my appearance," I observed.

"It wouldn't do for me to call you Twilight when you're no longer in her body," he chuckled. "See ya later, Trixie!" he chuckled as he disappeared again.

I approached the mirror, checking out my new body. I looked at my eyes, but not for very long. I started making funny faces, giggling at some of them, occasionally sticking out my tongue, blowing Bronx Cheers, and generally making a fool of myself. I looked at the amulet again. It was glowing red as if to tell me it wanted me to wear it. I found myself almost wishing he hadn't given me this thing.

Sorry I Haven't Written

I finally stopped making faces in the mirror to digest the sudden change in my appearance. No longer Twilight, now Beatrix Lulamoon. "I wonder how well she can sing," I thought. I fired up the karaoke machine again, and started with "Wake Up John" once again. I swear I never get tired of singing that song! As I began singing, my ears were assaulted by my serious tone-deafness. Trixie could not sing to save her life. I cursed aloud and turned off the karaoke machine, suppressing the urge to slam my right fore-hoof upon it. "Remind me to ask Discord if he can fix that for me tonight," I said to myself.

I noticed an odd scent in the room, and discovered that it was my new body, suffering from a case of "not-so-fresh" feeling. I went back to the bathroom and took another shower, shampooing my coat, mane and tail using my telekinesis. This task should have been a bit easier than it turned out to be, as it turned out Trixie's magic was in need of serious practice. I tried to teleport across the main room, using what I had learned while in Twilight's body. Nothing happened as I readied the spell and attempted to cast it. "Maybe I need him to change me back into Twilight," I mused aloud. "Not being able to teleport sucks." I felt a gnawing in my stomach, so I went to the fridge and got some food out. Even Trixie's taste buds weren't the same, as what I had been used to eating regularly didn't taste good at all to me now.

"Everything has it's price, doesn't it, Discord?" I asked no one. I felt an urge to go find some pine cones, and had to go to the bathroom and regurgitate what I had eaten earlier. I turned to look at the amulet Discord had given me, and it was glowing even brighter.

"Put me on, you know you want to," it seemed to say to me. Its siren song was very tempting, almost too much to resist. "Everything will work out fine if you wear me," I heard a voice in my head say. It seemed to be levitating of its own accord, trying to find me. I had to run to another room in my house and close the door behind me. I knew the amulet had a corrupting influence, and was very apprehensive -- well, terrified, actually -- of wearing it. I understood that it would greatly enhance my magic abilities, but the cost would be very high. I wondered what to do at this point, so I decided to finally write another letter to Princess Celestia, hoping that maybe she might have some answers for me, or maybe better yet, she might allow me to return to Equestria -- I knew that would be a long shot, but I could always hope...

Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm sorry it's been so long since I last wrote to you -- and I was hoping to be sending you a letter under better circumstances.
I was visited by Discord today, and he has decided he wants another child. I told him I was uncertain about providing him with a second child, but he is very insistent. I hope you might be able to give me some advice, some reassurance, or maybe even allow for my return to Equestria. I also discovered that as a result of my actions in the service of Discord that I am being sought for arrest and indictment for war crimes. I understand that this particular set of circumstances places me in an untenable situation, and worse still was what Discord did to alleviate some of my worry -- he has transformed me from Twilight Sparkle into Beatrix Lulamoon. This wouldn't be so bad, except that after having been in Twilight's body for more than four years, adjusting to the new body is proving to be difficult. If nothing else, I would at least like to receive a response of some kind.

With warmest regards,

Beatrix Lulamoon, formerly Twilight Sparkle of Earth

"Okay, I've written the letter, how am I supposed to send it to her?" I asked myself. I tried opening a portal to Equestria, but was unable to do it. Perhaps I could put the amulet on to do that? I wondered. Maybe I can take it off after I've sent the letter? I rolled up the letter I had written and put a string around it, tying it up in a knot. I went back into the main room and found the amulet still on the TV stand where I had left it. I put it on, feeling the intense surge of energy crackling within my body, the warmth filling me, making me feel very powerful. I grinned as the energy flow made me feel more alive than I had ever felt in my entire life. "Whoa, this is cool!" I laughed. I looked at the rolled up letter I had written. Perhaps I didn't really need to send it off after all, I thought. I checked my reflection in the mirror again and saw my eyes glowing red, that evil grin of mine staring right back at me -- I could have sworn I started laughing again, the feeling was so intense!

I opened a portal to Equestria, and instead of sending the letter, I teleported there, straight to Ponyville, right in front of Twilight's house which doubled as the Golden Oaks Library. I needed to talk to her, or at least that's what I thought I needed to do. I tapped on the door with my right fore-hoof, perhaps a bit too impatiently. Spike answered the door.

"What do you want, you troublemaker?" he asked indignantly. He flashed his teeth at me, as if he wanted to bite me.

"Spike, I need to talk to Twilight -- it's kind of important," I said, trying to maintain a friendly tone.

"Trixie, she's not accepting visitors, especially YOU!" he growled, and slammed the door shut. I heard Twilight's voice from behind the door.

"Spike, who was that at the door?" she asked, sounding a little concerned.

"Just Trixie," he said dismissively. "Said she wanted to talk to you."

"What's SHE doing back here? After what she did last time?"

"Twilight, look, I'm really sorry about what happened last time -- please let me talk to you! I have something very important to tell you! I'm not Trixie, I'm just in her body! Do you remember a visit from yourself about 3 years ago? A version of you that had a red streak in her hair where yours is pink?" I directed my voice at her closed door. It opened very suddenly as Twilight came out hurriedly.

"You mean to tell me -- wait -- you're wearing that amulet!" Twilight was shocked. "You'd better not pull any stunts like you did last time! You try that again, and I swear --"

"Twilight. Please listen. I know it was wrong of me to do what I did. I know it was more so for me to shirk my responsibilities -- and I know that Discord will be searching for me when he finds I have escaped Earth --"

"NO! You go back home! I can't have him coming HERE!" she shouted at me. "I remember you! Princess Celestia remembers you! You told us you had sealed your planet's fate! Princess Celestia told me you had a foal for Discord in order to clean up the mess you left behind, and now you come back here trying to escape him -- what, he wants another foal?"

My face fell as she recounted what I had done, and my ears drooped. "You're right. I have no business being here, and running away from my problems is not productive -- it will make matters worse. I was also wanting to communicate with Princess Celestia -- I have a letter I have written here -- if you can have Spike send it for me, I would be grateful."

"Spike! I need you to send a letter to the Princess!" Twilight called.

"Sure thing, Twi -- wait, she's still here?"

"Spike, you remember the name Michael Walker?"

"No. I see Trixie here, though. What does she want?"

"Spike, I have written a letter to Princess Celestia. I would be grateful if you would be kind enough to send it for me," I said, trying to be as contrite as possible. He looked at me quizzically, then readied his flame to send the letter off.

"Wait, let me read it before you send it off," Twilight said. "I want to see what you've written before sending the letter off." She opened the letter with her telekinesis and read it aloud. When she finished, she addressed me. "You know, you have a funny way of dealing with your crises," she said. She rolled up the letter and sealed it again, and gave it back to Spike. "Go ahead and send it off, Princess Celestia will find it very amusing. Trixie, or Michael, as I should address you, she's not going to allow you to remain here -- and since you've returned, regardless of what you look like, she's not going to be happy about that, either."

"Twilight, I felt compelled to see you once again -- it has been too long -- but I didn't know what else to do -- it gets lonely living by myself, even when I was in your body -- I just want to have some company, or something."

Spike belched as Princess Celestia's response came swiftly. Twilight read it aloud again.

"Dear Beatrix Lulamoon ... (Twilight chuckles upon reading this) ... It is with great sadness that I cannot allow for your return to Equestria. Since this letter has arrived via Spike's dragon flame, this alerts me as to your presence in Ponyville. I am giving you fifteen minutes to leave, as I will be making a visit to ensure your absence. I am disappointed by your choices, and your irresponsible behavior and poor judgment prejudices my opinion of your intellect. Your desire for answers or advice, while commendable, comes at an inappropriate time and as such, will not be answered directly by me or my student. Since you have chosen to escape your responsibilities once again, I can only give you this advice -- leave Equestria immediately, or suffer very dire consequences. Do not attempt to contact me or my student or anypony else in Equestria, and do not attempt to return, or I shall make your next visit your final one. Signed, Princess Celestia of Equestria."

"So it was a mistake for me to come. Very well then, Twilight. I shall leave, and I will miss you. Good-bye." And with that, I teleported back to my home. I took off the amulet, and laid it back down on my TV stand. I then laid face-down on my bed and started crying.

"I'm glad she's not coming back, Twi," Spike said, grinning.

"Spike, she's not Trixie, she was that male human that came through here about three years ago while still in my body. He wanted answers, and I guess he got them, didn't he?"

A flash of light and a golden POP signaled Princess Celestia's arrival. "Twilight, is that human in Beatrix's body still here?" she asked, a look of concern on her face.

"I read your response to his letter, and he promptly left."

"Good. We don't need Discord poking his face around here again."

"I still can't believe he did that for him, though -- the thought of carrying a foal for Discord makes me sick to my stomach."

"Indeed."

Just Get It Over With Already

"Discord! Discord! Please come here now!" I shouted aloud. I wasn't sure if he could hear me or not, but I didn't want to spend any more time in Trixie's body. I heard the tell-tale sound of a zipper which announced his return.

"Well, well, well. You're summoning me already? And it's not even dark out yet!" he laughed. "So I take it you're ready now?"

"May I ask another favor of you? Would you be kind enough to change me back into Twilight?"

"But of course. You are willing to pay the piper for what you have done? Or is it that your conscience bothers you to the point that attempting to escape your obligations is a cost too dear for you to bear?"

"Look. I know there's no justification for what I've done, even if it was on your behalf. I am willing to provide you with a second child. I know what you're willing to do for me, and I appreciate it deeply. But I need to be back in Twilight's body, because I have gotten so used to being her -- if this means I have to face arrest and indictment, then so be it. At least allow me to enjoy myself and the things I enjoy doing -- as Trixie, there are too many things I cannot do, and the amulet you gave me has too much of a corrupting influence to it. As Twilight, there are many things I take pleasure in, not least of which is singing along to my favorite music and not sounding like a baying hound."

"Very well then -- I shall change you back." He waved his lion paw at me again and I was transformed back into Twilight's body, but something else of slight interest -- no more red in my mane or tail, and the full cutie mark restored. I smiled.

"A full restoration, thank you. But before I continue, please allow me the indulgence of singing to my favorite song," I said. "Consider it a command performance, just for you." I turned the karaoke machine on once again, and allowed "Wake Up John" to start. I sang it perfectly as I had earlier, smiling, blinking, nodding, and tapping my hoof to the music. Discord smiled in approval.

"Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!" I giggled. "Thank you."

"If I had known you were THAT good, I wouldn't have done what I had to you. I am sorry for that. I will make it up to you as a reward for having a second child for me -- anything you want, Twilight. Name it, and it is yours."

"I am happy you are willing to do these things for me. I feel a sense of shame for doing this, but I guess it will work out okay in the end. Let's go ahead and get this over with -- we've wasted enough time already as it is."

"That's my girl!" he said, laughing.

The sex act itself is not enjoyable when you know what the consequences are. When your partner is particularly unattractive and not very good at performing the act, it makes it that much harder. In any case, we were able to consummate the act and succeed in impregnation. This was going to be the longest two months in my life, and I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it. I think the thing that made it worse was the fact that Discord had decided to take up residence in my home to stay with me and ensure things went smoothly for me. My mood swings didn't help matters, either. This time around, things didn't go as smoothly as they had with the first pregnancy, and at times Discord and I would engage in shouting matches that would make him so angry he would threaten to kill me after giving birth, and with me swearing to call on the other Elements to turn him back into a statue. We grew to absolutely HATE each other, and when my water finally broke, he had disappeared on me, leaving me to fend for myself.

"Hey, Discord, a little help here, please?" I called for him.

"I have a vet coming, be patient," he replied.

"Yay."

This veterinarian was not as experienced as the first one, and he freaked out as he heard me talking to him. He didn't expect my labor to last as long as it did, either -- 18 hours of intense pain -- but I was able to push out the foal. As Discord had said, she turned out to be very similar to EJ -- not identical, but close enough to look similar.

"What do you want me to put on the birth form?" the vet asked me.

"Stephanie Sparkle," I replied. Discord came and took her out of my hooves as the vet finished the paperwork.

"Thanks, Twilight. Keep in touch!" he chuckled. The vet left, shaking his head in disbelief. I lay in my bed and started crying again, but not for very long. I was tired from the ordeal and slept for another 16 hours. Recovering from foal-birth didn't take as long the second time around and I was back on my hooves the second day after giving birth. I was still stunned by the fact that Discord took Stephanie out of my arms, but I guess that's how he acts.

"There will NOT be a third child, Discord, so don't bother asking," I said aloud, addressing my ceiling. The ceiling then seemed to grow higher, the walls of the house seemed to expand, the floor I was standing on rose, and I was scared by this sudden change to my home. The expansion of my home took nearly two minutes to complete, two minutes where I was scared out of my mind, thinking it was an earthquake. When it was finished, I went to what was now a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean and looked down -- immediately wishing I hadn't -- as I was now standing at least a thousand feet above the waves. My house had been transformed into a very large castle.

I decided to explore my new home and was amazed by just how large everything had become, not to mention all the new decorations which adorned the walls and floors of my new home. I opened one door which had a large lock inlaid on it, and was shocked to see a very large hoard of gold coins -- I couldn't even hazard a guess as to how much was there -- and shut the door back. I took a right turn, and followed the hallway to a large double-door entryway, both doors bearing my six-pointed star. I opened the door to a very large room, and rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was -- a throne with my cutie mark sewn into the seat back.

"Queen of my own castle, how cute," I said aloud. "Would be nice if I had somepony to talk to."

Paying the Piper

The castle gets lonely, obviously enough. I had spent several days checking everything out, all the rooms, all the decorations -- many of which detailed events that had occurred in my life, as well as the more infamous things I had done. These served as reminders to what ultimately made me decide to turn myself in for indictment at The Hague. I decided I would write Princess Celestia a final letter informing her of my decision, even though she had told me not to attempt contacting her any further. It was probably the saddest letter I had ever written, and amazingly enough she actually responded. She told me in her response that she was satisfied to hear of my decision to turn myself in, but was also disappointed to hear that I had given Discord a second foal. She reiterated her ominous warning about attempting to return to Equestria, to which I mentally noted was not likely, given the circumstances. She also wrote that she might actually come to visit me some time in the future, but such a visit would have to wait a substantial amount of time. I had told her about my castle, and that she was welcome to stay there if she liked. She included a quick thanks for the offer of hospitality, and if she chose to visit, she would make herself at home in my castle, even though it had been a gift from Discord. A few days after I had received her response, I teleported myself to The Hague to turn myself in. I had finally made my choice after some long hard thinking about what I had done. I was promptly arrested and taken into custody for processing. I went willingly.

I was brought before a magistrate to face indictment, and the list of charges was ridiculously long. The courtroom was pretty stark, and rather small considering the severity of the charges -- but since this was being televised around the world, the room didn't need to be any larger than it was. I had contacted an attorney to represent me -- he told me that the indictment process was not the actual trial itself, that would come later.

"Twilight Sparkle, do you understand the charges which have been filed against you?" asked the Magistrate. This guy reminded me of my old Physics teacher in High School, but nowhere near as nice.

"Yes, your honor," I said meekly. I had a look of terror on my face.

"How do you plead?"

"Not guilty, your honor." My tail stood straight out, my ears lay flat against my head, my eyes about as wide as they would go. The thought made me sick to my stomach, but that was the advice my attorney had given me, after I had apprised him of the circumstances leading up to my actions on behalf of Discord. I seriously wondered if anypony would believe the actual truth, what with Discord being a fictional character and all. I figured it might be worth a try, though.

A gasp came from the few people assembled in the courtroom, and the Magistrate shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Surely you can't be serious," he said in disbelief.

"Your honor, I have an explanation, however I find you might not believe what I have to tell you regarding the circumstances which led to The Final War. In my defense, I would like to state first and foremost that the situation in the Mid-East had become untenable -- and since the Israelis were not willing to bargain in good faith, I felt compelled to take action. Since the United States government was not willing to treat both sides equally in the Peace Talks, I felt something had to be done. Since Israel had violated numerous U.N. Resolutions regarding their expropriation of Palestinian land in violation of International Law, and the existence of an Apartheid Wall also being a violation of International Law, I felt it was my duty and fully within my power to unilaterally try to dismantle that wall. I had no intention of starting a global thermonuclear conflict, but had cooler heads prevailed in Washington, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Tehran, and Beijing, such a conflict could have been avoided."

"That's no excuse, Twilight Sparkle."

"I made an extreme sacrifice to save what was left of humanity," I said. "I could have allowed the radiation to kill all life on the planet, and this trial would not be taking place at all. Part of me wonders if I should have gone ahead and allowed the radiation to kill everything, myself included -- but that would have counter-productive to say the least."

"What sort of sacrifice did you make? You're responsible for killing nearly five billion people."

"There is a powerful entity who goes by the name of Discord. Perhaps you've heard of him, perhaps not. He was the one who cleaned up the mess I had made, under the condition I bear him a child. That was more than three years ago. It was while I was working for Discord that these actions came to pass -- and as for my employment under Discord, I was forced to work for him, or face certain death."

"So you were coerced into working for him, and that's what led to the escalation of conflict."

"Yes, your honor."

"So we must indict Discord for war crimes as well."

"He will not go willingly, and he will be very difficult to locate," I stated flatly.

The tell-tale zipper sound happened again. I wondered what was going to happen now.

"Twilight, what a surprise. Giving yourself up to the authorities, eh?" Discord chuckled.

"Your honor, may I present Discord, in the flesh." Everyone in the courtroom was shocked, mouths agape at his appearance. He smiled his trademark evil grin, and waved to the cameras.

"Hello, everyone! Yeah, I made her do it! What are you going to do about it? Arrest me? As if!" he laughed, then disappeared.

"Twilight Sparkle, how are we supposed to go about arresting him?"

"He would have to give himself up willingly, the same way I did. My conscience bothered me to the point where I felt compelled to turn myself in willingly. Other than that, I would have been forced to remain in my home for the rest of my life."

"Very well then. Your plea has been entered, and your trial will start in six weeks. You are to remain in custody until sentence is rendered."

"Yes, your honor." I was then escorted back to my prison cell.

Tribunal Interrupted

I sat in my cell and looked at the barren walls which appeared to have been freshly painted. "Why would they use a high gloss paint?" I thought to myself. The facility seemed as though it had been recently constructed, the smell of newness permeated the prison. Considering I had spent about a month in a much smaller cage, this was acceptable to me. I was given decent food on a regular basis, and had people I could talk to. I know I wasn't supposed to be enjoying my time while being held in custody, but actually having someone to talk to made me feel a lot better than when I was staying in my home. I was actually becoming something of a celebrity due to my actions, receiving attention I wasn't exactly sure I wanted. I would receive mail from all over the world, most of it hateful, some of it supportive, some sympathetic, and the overwhelming majority of the mail being death threats. I never sent any responses, as I didn't really feel like writing anything to anyone, not even the Princess herself. My recurring nightmare of jumping off the bridge hit me again several times before I was to be led into the courtroom for my trial. Discord visited me twice to show me Stephanie, and how she was developing. Her hues were darker than EJ, but her body was shaped very similarly. She cooed to me as I held her close, feeling a very strong bond between her and myself. Discord smiled at this display of affection.

"So, Twilight, are you prepared for your trial?" he asked.

"Discord, I'm scared. I don't know what to expect and I am deeply ashamed of myself for having destroyed Twilight's reputation and name."

"I can fix things if you want me to," he offered, flashing his evil grin once again.

"Every time you have "fixed" things for me, the problems have compounded upon themselves with interest liberally added."

"Twilight, you wound me! I'm hurt! You know I only have your best interests at heart," he said. His words rang hollow.

"I don't believe you. What's done is done. I have to go through with this, and I would suggest you do as well, as ridiculous as that sounds."

"They could sooner stop the planet from rotating on its axis than place me under arrest, let alone try and convict me!" he laughed, sounding a bit angry.

"I know you're untouchable -- I am, too, to some extent -- but my conscience bothers me. I have the blood of nearly five billion people on my hooves, and I just can't go on living a lie. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

"I have appreciated your company, Twilight, and I also appreciate what you've done for me. So I give you one final gift -- and even though it's not much, I feel it is something you truly deserve." He waved his lion paw at me again, and I felt another transformation occur. I looked at my new body, and found I had been transformed back into my old human body.

"DISCORD!!" I shouted. "Don't DO this to me!"

"You're not Twilight, even though I called you that," he said. "This is what you were before I changed you. This is what you're supposed to be. So, Michael, you will have to go back to being human, and you will have to deal with that. You have done well for me, and again, I thank you for all you've done, but I no longer have need of your services. Enjoy your freedom, and enjoy your prolonged life-span, you have earned it. You deserve it!"

"Discord, the thing I enjoyed most about being Twilight was the magic use. I feel empty now, not being able to wield magic like her."

"You still have that amulet I gave you, don't you?" he smiled mischievously. I returned his grin.

"You mean I can still use that thing, even though I'm human? Will it work for me?"

"Give it a try," he said, flashing his evil grin once again. I hate it when he does that. "So long, Michael! Take care!"

With that, he disappeared again, making me wonder if I was ever going to see him again. The transformation made me very tired, so I laid down on my too-small cot and tried to rest as best I could. When a guard saw me, he called his supervisor who rushed to my cell.

"What are YOU doing in there? Where's Twilight? And where are your clothes?!" he asked with great surprise.

"Discord showed up, and took her with him, and dropped me off here. He has a twisted sense of humor," I said flatly.

"What's your name?"

"Michael Walker," I stated.

"Where do you come from?"

"I used to call Champaign my home, but my last known address was near San Diego."

"Oh, the United States. You say Discord dropped you off here? Where did he go?"

"I have no idea -- one minute, I'm sitting in my recliner watching TV, next thing I know I'm being stripped of my clothes and put in this cell."

"Well, we'll need to get some more information from you. First, we're gonna get something for you to put on, we can't hold you in a cell without any clothes!"

I waited in the cell for about an hour while the magistrate and various other authorities were contacted, and a prison jumpsuit was fetched for me. No underwear, just a jumpsuit -- at least it was better than nothing. As far as searching for my identity, that proved to be much more difficult. It turns out that when I was running around Memphis without the use of magic, my wife had filed a missing persons report on me. After a considerably lengthy and intensive search failed to locate my human body, I had been declared legally dead.

"Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," I joked. The guards failed to find my sense of humor amusing.

"Amazing you show up nearly four years after a missing persons report was filed on you. Where have you been?"

"Stranded on a desert island, trying to make do with items scavenged from an airplane wreck," I joked again.

"Stop playing games with us, Michael. We want the truth, so tell us. Where have you been?"

"My wife -- she never liked me," I said, again with a Borat-style accent. The guard was losing his temper now.

"What was your wife's name?" he asked impatiently, and not without a good degree of anger coloring his voice.

"Brenda Walker. A boyfriend she took in by the name of Alonzo claimed to have killed her," I said, not joking this time.

The guard did some more searching and found a record of my wife's murder, and the man's name who killed her, Alonzo Wilson. I had always wondered what his last name was -- he had been convicted of her murder, and sentenced to life without parole, owing to the severity of the crime, and his attempt to cover it up.

"Okay, sorry about that, Michael. We'll do some follow-up paperwork, and we'll get you back home as soon as we can."

Back Home Again, Maybe

The out-processing went quite smoothly. I was given airfare to San Diego and a fresh set of clothes. I was given cab fare to my home, or what I thought was my home. I stepped out of the cab after paying the fare and tipping the cabbie and stared at the castle. "How the hell am I supposed to get in there?" I thought to myself. "One thing to be in there, another to be on the outside looking in." In my human form, it looked impenetrable. If I had been in Twilight's body, I could simply teleport into it.

"Hey, Discord, how the hell am I supposed to get into my house?" I shouted at the sky. I heard a faint chuckling. I turned to look at my castle, just taking it in. I couldn't believe how high it was and how the rocky base of the cliff melded into the castle. The spires seemed to stand higher than some of the tallest skyscrapers I had ever seen, the castle maintaining its imposing width as well as its dizzying height. It appeared to have been constructed with gigantic marble blocks which gave way to granite, then to quartz near the top. I still couldn't believe Discord had actually done this for me.

"I will do you this one final favor and take you into your house. As far as anything else goes, don't bother asking. Unless, of course, you want to provide me with another child!" he laughed. He teleported me into my house, the trip just as jarring as the earlier times I teleported with him. I clenched my eyes shut upon the sight of countless numbers of dead bodies and what looked like millions of bones belonging to myriad creatures, most numerous were skulls of various sizes and shapes. I was glad that this would be the final time I'd be teleporting in Discord's presence. After depositing me in the Great Hall, he disappeared.

I wandered along the corridor to my Throne Room, and noticed a subtle change -- instead of Twilight's cutie mark, Celestia's was on the door. I did not appreciate her decision to make herself a little too much at home. I opened the doors to see Princess Celestia sitting on my throne. I glowered at her.

"What are you doing on MY throne?" I asked indignantly.

"Who are you?" she asked, maintaining her calm demeanor, smiling demurely at me.

"Does the name Michael Walker ring a bell?" I asked sternly.

"Oh, that's right -- you were in Trixie's body last time you visited Ponyville. Time before that, you were in Twilight's body. You were the one who nearly destroyed your planet!" she chuckled. "And to top THAT off, you had not just one but TWO offspring by Discord!" she laughed heartily at the irony.

"Are you trying to make me angry? Because if you are, you're doing a pretty good job of it there."

"You gave me the offer to make myself at home. So I am," she grinned.

"I know I extended that offer to you, but I didn't think you'd take it this far," I said, showing my exasperation.

"Be that as it may, I have a favor to ask of you. Please summon Discord for me, since you seem to be so easily able to do so."

"He's gonna be real angry if I do that -- I fear for my safety -- and why do you want me to summon him? Isn't he more powerful than you?"

"All will be revealed in good time, Michael -- and as for your safety, you have nothing to fear. I shall protect you. I am playing a hunch, and if I think it's correct, you might be in for a bit of a shock."

"Very well then. *ahem* DISCORD!! I need your help! It's an EMERGENCY!!" I shouted almost as loud as I could. I heard his tell-tale zipper sound coming from about five feet behind me. Seems he likes to do that...

"MICHAEL!! I TOLD YOU! NO MORE FA -- oh, no. Celestia? What are YOU doing here? I think I'd better be go --"

"You're not going anywhere, Discord -- or should I say, Trollestia?" Celestia had enveloped what appeared to be Discord in a bright red aura. I noticed this immediately.

"Princess! Are you wearing the amulet Discord gave me?" I asked.

"Not Discord, Michael, Trollestia. She has been posing as Discord the entire time you've known him. Go take her horn, NOW."

"Wait, wait! Let me explain!" Trollestia started. I calmly walked over to her and broke her horn off at the base. "NOO-ooohhh!" she whined.

"So YOU'RE the one who bucked my life up? How did you get me pregnant?"

"With a basting brush and donated sperm from a Royal Guard Unicorn," she grinned.

"So my foals are true unicorns then?"

"Yes."

"Why did you do this to me? Princess Celestia, who is she? Is she your evil side?"

"She is not truly evil, per se, but this particular episode has been one of the worst she's ever pulled."

"I just wanted a couple of foals I could raise as my own," Trollestia whined.

"You put me through hell, you know that, don't you?" I glared at her. "Because of YOU, I ruined Twilight's good name and reputation! You took my foals out of my hooves shortly after I had given birth to them! You made me want to jump off a bridge! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"It was the only way to convince you to do it for me," she said, almost grinning.

"Where are my foals?"

"I'm not telling you where they are," she chuckled.

"Princess Celestia, can you persuade her to divulge their location?"

"Trollestia, I highly recommend you allow us to recover the foals in question, lest you wish grievous injury to be visited upon you."

"Princess, may I borrow a feather from you?" I asked.

"What are you going to do with it, Michael?"

"Tickle torture," I replied flatly. "I will make her tell me where they are."

Her eyes went wide with fear. "Look, look, no need to resort to that. I'll tell you where they are." She then told Celestia the location, and within the blink of an eye, they were teleported into the throne room.

"Why do they not look like normal unicorns?" I asked.

"They have been ensorcelled with a glamour spell," Celestia stated.

"What, you mean, like an illusion?" I asked.

Celestia responded by casting a spell to remove the glamour, and I got my first look at what EJ and Stephanie truly looked like -- EJ was a young colt, solid grey with black mane and tail, his hooves were a faint purple. Stephanie was a medium purple filly, still very young, her mane and tail were a silvery white. Their horns had not been affected by the glamour spell. I should have suspected from the initial appearance that they were true unicorns.

"What else has been affected by illusions cast by Trollestia?" I asked.

"This castle, for one. This is a very elaborate glamour, but still a glamour nonetheless."

"You ruined my plan, Michael! I HATE YOU!" she screamed at me.

"What plan was that? And what does my home REALLY look like?"

"You'll be very disappointed by your domicile's true appearance, but here goes," Celestia stated with a little sadness. The house suddenly became very small, the throne room reduced to my former main living area. What appeared to be a glass wall was nothing but an exposed area with no protection -- the view was magnificent, but then Celestia told me that THAT was a glamour as well! What revealed itself was an abandoned industrial park nowhere near the ocean. To top that off, it turns out the my home actually WAS a prison at one point!

"Now as for that plan she hatched -- she wanted you to take back this amulet (she lifted her golden collar to reveal the alicorn amulet) and transform yourself into a unicorn and battle me -- most likely, considering your abilities augmented by this amulet and your misdirected rage at me would have resulted in you defeating me and sending me back to Equestria. She then would have revealed herself and destroyed you, leaving this world unprotected.

"It took awhile for me to piece the puzzle together -- your letters to me proved to be very important pieces in this puzzle. The reason I could not allow you to stay in my realm when you showed up both times is that your world was in danger in your absence. With Trollestia being rendered powerless now, she will be transferred to my dungeon, where she will spend a very long time contemplating her actions."

"What about those gold coins?" I asked.

"They're imitation -- fakes, as you would call them."

"I thought you said the amulet has a corrupting influence," I offered.

"It does, but I am strong enough to resist that influence. You might also be strong enough to resist that corruption, but I can't allow for that risk."

"I still can't believe Trollestia has been posing as Discord all this time -- how long has she been doing that?"

"About five years, I believe. This was probably her most outrageous prank ever."

"It's a prank that cost nearly five billion human lives," I stated angrily. "I can't believe I fell for it."

"You were weak, Michael. You had been without the use of magic for nearly a year. You needed help and you were willing to take it from whomever offered it. Don't be too hard on yourself because you wanted to live," Celestia said softly.

"How am I supposed to raise my foals if I don't have any experience doing so?"

"Do you wish to remain on this planet? Would you be interested in living in Ponyville?" Celestia smiled.

"Princess, I have no ties binding me to this world. My wife was murdered nearly three and a half years ago, and my families think I'm no longer alive either. I would be honored to spend the rest of my days in Ponyville, and would appreciate as much help in raising EJ and Stephanie as possible. Would you be able to transform me into a unicorn so I can feel more a part of your society?"

"Of course, Michael. You will be welcomed in Ponyville, and as for a transformation, just give me your request and I shall see to it. We shall leave at once." Princess Celestia teleported us to Ponyville, then took Trollestia to the dungeon, then shortly returned to transform me into a unicorn. I chose to be a female, since I had become so accustomed to Twilight's body. My new form was a bit taller, but not much taller than Twilight. My coat color became a deep purple, and my mane and tail a pale blue, similarly styled to Trixie's mane and tail. I didn't have a cutie mark, but commented on my love for numbers, especially the number 17. Maybe talking about it caused it to happen, but not long after mentioning this to Princess Celestia, that number attached itself to my flanks as my new cutie mark.

A New Life in Ponyville

Princess Celestia had dropped me and my foals off not far from the Golden Oaks Library. I knocked on the front door hurriedly, as I was anxious to meet Twilight once again and tell her everything that had transpired. My guess is that she would be shocked to discover that Trollestia had been posing as Discord all this time.

"Twilight Sparkle! Twilight!" I shouted gleefully. "May I come in?" I asked. She looked at me quizzically.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

"Princess Celestia brought me and my foals here from Earth," I said.

"Wait -- you came from Earth? The only time I remember anypony from there was -- are you telling me you're Michael?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, Twilight!"

"Sure, come on in! So why are you a purple unicorn, and a female one at that? Hey, one of those foals ..."

"Twilight, may I present EJ and Stephanie Sparkle," I beamed.

"Mommy!" EJ shouted as he ran up to her and hugged her.

"EJ? I'm not your mommy, EJ, she is," Twilight said, pointing a hoof at me.

"You're not my mommy? Why not? When my daddy brought me to see you, you told me you were!" he said, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

"EJ, come here," I said. "You actually have two mommies!" I grinned. "Me and her!" I pointed a hoof back at Twilight. She looked flabbergasted. Addressing Twilight, I said, "I hate to tell him what happened to his daddy, though."

"Umm, Michael, what do his initials stand for?"

"Well, since Trollestia was posing as Discord even though I didn't know it at the time, "Discord" said the "E" was for "Equanimity" -- I added the "J" for Jeffrey -- and he also carries your family name of Sparkle, as I was in a copy of your body when I gave birth to him -- unfortunately, this means he thinks you're his mommy, even though I was the one who gave birth to him. I apologize for doing that, but I never thought I'd be given the opportunity to spend the rest of my life among everypony here. I look forward to making friends with everypony!" I said excitedly.

"You didn't -- you did? I thought you said Discord was the father," she said quizzically. Her expression showed how puzzled she was by their appearance.

"Yeah, I thought so too, until Princess Celestia revealed the truth -- Trollestia was posing as Discord the entire time. It turns out I was artificially inseminated using a basting brush with semen from a Royal Guard unicorn."

"It better not be my BBBFF! Did you ever find out who it was?" Twilight was shocked to hear of the impersonation.

"I suppose Celestia might know, because I sure don't."

"Why'd you give Stephanie the name of Sparkle?"

"I was in an exact copy of your body when I gave birth to her, so technically, she has your genetic coding -- she will grow up to be a powerful magic user. I am going to need some help in keeping after her, as I never got much experience in certain matters of foal-rearing. Worse still was the fact that Trollestia took my foals out of my hooves shortly after I gave birth to them."

"WHAT? She did? WHY?"

"I have no idea -- I guess she was so desperate for foals, she was willing to put all of humanity at risk just so she could have a couple of foals to raise as her own. At least she won't be bothering anypony for a long time, since she's now in Celestia's dungeon. Even so, I will still need help in raising my foals."

"You said your wife had children -- didn't you help raise them?"

"Yeah, but she took care of certain matters regarding their hygiene and cleanliness she did not want me involved in, as all of her children were through previous relationships, and she had none by me."

"Ah, so you're new to this sort of thing. Don't worry, we'll help out as much as we can. By the way, I see you have a new body -- I trust you have figured a name for your new appearance? Or do you still want to be called Michael?"

"Michael is my human name, and I gave up my humanity a long time ago. I have picked out a new name for myself, one which is pretty simple and should be easy to remember. My new name is Purple Dix-sept."

A smile came across Twilight's face when she heard me say my new unicorn name. "Ah, French for the cutie mark number you have. Very clever! But how did you manage to get a number for your cutie mark?"

"I have had a fascination bordering on obsession with numbers ever since I was a small child -- and the number I carry as my cutie mark is my absolute favorite number, one which I consider to be the luckiest of all lucky numbers. If you would rather not call me by the full name I have chosen, I suppose you could call me PD7 as a nick-name," I offered, still smiling.

"PD7. PD7. That bounces right off the tongue, PD7! I like it!" she chuckled.

"Now why do I have a bad feeling about that nickname?" I wondered to myself. "Everypony's gonna call me that from here on out -- I guess I'm gonna have to get used to being called that."

"Something troubling you, PD7?" Twilight asked, giving me another quizzical glance.

"Just thinking about telling you my new nickname," I said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I fear I might regret allowing everypony to call me PD7," I said.

"Well, you could choose a different name, as I'm the only pony you've told about your new name," she suggested. "How does 'Amethyst Shadow' sound to you?"

"That sounds cool, I like that!" I smiled. "Sounds a lot better than what I chose."

"Very well then! Amethyst Shadow it is! I shall tell everypony in Ponyville about it, and I will also have Spike send a letter to Princess Celestia announcing your arrival and welcoming!" she beamed.

"Mommy, you changed your name?" EJ asked me.

"EJ, Twilight seems to have better judgment than me when it comes to picking out good names. So I will now be called 'Amethyst Shadow' from here on out -- but you can still call me 'mommy'."

"I have two mommies!" he beamed. "So where's my daddy?"

"Your daddy has gone away on vacation for a very long time, EJ -- maybe some day, you might get to meet him. Don't worry, we'll help out as much as we can to make you happy," I said, smiling at him.

"Okay, mommy. Do I have new friends to play with?"

"Hey, Twilight, where are the Cutie Mark Crusaders? He's about their age, I think..."

"You've been gone for awhile, Ammy, he's too young to play with them. However, there are plenty of other foals his age -- the Cake Twins are about his age, so if we take him over to Sugarcube Corner, he'll have a couple of new friends to play with."

"You called me Ammy? How cute -- I didn't know you could come up with a nickname that quickly for me!" I chuckled.

"Don't be too surprised if I lapse into calling you PD7, Ammy!" she laughed. "By the way, how much magic do you have to work with?"

"It would appear that I have the full range of magic you have, Twilight -- but when I was in Trixie's body, it seemed as though something was blocking almost all of what I could do, short of telekinesis and illusion magic. Worse still, it seemed to me as though I was tone-deaf in her body. I wonder if that might have been Trollestia's work, or if Trixie really is tone-deaf."

"I saw you wearing that amulet when you were in Trixie's body -- didn't that thing have a corrupting influence on you?"

"Well, it made me feel very powerful, but somehow I seemed to be able to control it, rather than letting it control me."

"Trixie was not so lucky herself, but we tricked her into taking it off," Twilight mused. "Why do you mention tone-deafness?"

"I like to sing, and I have certain songs that I absolutely love singing along to!" I smiled.

"Really? Care to give me a demonstration?"

"I need my karaoke machine," I said. "I left it behind on Earth." My ears drooped.

"Karaoke machine? What's that?"

"It's a machine that allows me to sing the lead vocals to pre-recorded music -- with the lyrics appearing on the screen. It would be easier for me to show you what it looks like than for me to explain everything about it to you. I don't know if I can teleport it from Earth to here, but I will give that a try." I concentrated, thinking about where my machine was, and imagined wrapping it in my aura. My horn glowed a brilliant blue color as almost immediately the machine appeared about three feet to my right.

"Wow! I didn't know you could do THAT!" Twilight exclaimed. "Please let me examine this device!"

"If you have a power source, I can turn it on and start singing my favorite song," I offered.

"Okay, let me find an outlet for it. I want to hear this!" she smiled and found an outlet for me to plug in the machine. I turned it on and allowed it to start the first song. I picked up the microphone and pushed the switch to turn it on.

"Test, test -- okay, it's working properly," I said. The first song in the queue was "Wake Up John" which I sang perfectly. My new body had a deeper voice, more of a contralto than a mezzo-soprano. I was pleased by my vocal range and resonance. Twilight was quite impressed by the performance, even though the song was just two minutes long. She was furiously taking notes while I performed the song, and Spike and EJ watched in fascination.

"What other songs are on that machine?" Twilight asked. She looked as though she wanted to give it a try.

"I have my entire music library saved to the hard drive," I grinned. "More than 15,000 songs!"

Twilight's jaw dropped. Then a very big smile plastered itself on her face. "I WANNA DO THAT!!" she shouted gleefully.

"Ooh, a karaoke party, great idea!" I beamed. Pinkie Pie had been in the vicinity -- I wasn't exactly sure why, but for some reason or other, at the mention of a party, she just showed up out of the blue.

"Hey, did somepony mention a party? Hey, wait! You're NEW here! Wow! Oh, look how pretty you are! Hey, you have foals! Wow! Never seen -- aww, look at the little one! She is SOOOO CUTE!!"

"The little one in question is named Stephanie Sparkle," I offered.

"Twilight! You never told me you had foals!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"No, wait! I'm not the real mother! The deep purple unicorn here is the real mother! She gave Stephanie my family name because -- Amethyst Shadow -- was in MY body when she gave birth to her!"

"Oh, you're ... Amethyst Shadow? Wow! Cool name! So these foals are ones YOU gave birth to? What were you doing in Twilight's body?"

"Pinkie, quite a lot has happened over the past four years or so, and I would love to tell you everything, but I would need for everypony here to listen to my story so I only have to tell it once. Other than that, yeah, I AM the mare who gave birth to EJ and Stephanie. And Twilight's the one who came up with my name, you can thank her for giving me that new cool name."

Epilogue

We held a very large very long party at Sweet Apple Acres in the barn. The karaoke singing was raucous and lasted several hours. I regaled everypony with my story, and told many other stories regarding my past, and held question and answer sessions until my voice became hoarse. Everypony was happy to see my foals, and many offers of help were given. I was even given a place to stay until I could get everything situated in Ponyville. EJ found quite a few new playmates and was very happy to make so many new friends. Cheerilee told me she would try to get him started in schooling as soon as possible, for which I expressed my gratitude. Stephanie proved to be irresistibly cute, even Fluttershy wanted to hold her close -- Stephanie cooed to Fluttershy as it seemed as though there was almost a natural bond between the two of them. I think I ate more food that night than at almost any other time in my life -- I swear I must have gained ten pounds from all the wonderful food that had been brought out for everypony to eat!

"Better be careful, Ammy darling, don't want to lose that girlish figure of yours!" Rarity joked.

"I will try to get some exercise in so I can try to keep myself in shape -- but this food is wonderful! Never tasted anything so delicious!"

"I know, it's easy to let your eyes get bigger than your stomach," she chuckled.

"If it's not too much of a bother, I would like to know if I could stop by your boutique tomorrow morning to see about getting my mane and tail styled -- I hear you're quite the fashionista around here!"

"Ammy, darling, I would love to have you stop by! I look forward to the challenge your height will present -- it will give me an opportunity to stretch my talents, if you will."

"Thank you so much, Rarity! I look forward to seeing what you can come up with," I smiled softly.

"I believe you will love it!" she chuckled.

Presently the party wore down and everypony went home. I followed Twilight to her place, as she had very graciously allowed me and my foals to spend the night in her guest room. I expressed my deepest appreciation for her generosity and asked about future living arrangements. She said she would check with Mayor Mare about finding a place for us to stay, and that we were welcome to stay with her until things were ready. I promised to help out as much as possible with anything, wherever and whenever it was needed. She was really appreciative of this offer and thanked me once again.

In the morning I went to Carousel Boutique taking EJ and Stephanie along with me. I passed by Sugarcube Corner and Pinkie Pie greeted me warmly and I returned her greeting. She told me she had lots of fun at the party and wanted to know if she could get a karaoke machine as well. I told her I would see if I could get one for her. EJ asked her if he could play with the twins -- she said it was okay with her, and he went inside.

"Be good, EJ, I'll be coming back in a little bit to get you. I still need to check with Cheerilee about getting you started in school."

"Yes, mommy," he said cheerfully. He went inside as I continued along to Rarity's boutique.

Shortly I arrived at the boutique and knocked on the door. Rarity smiled warmly as she let me in, and cooed to little Stephanie. She commented about making an outfit for her as well as well as just how cute she was.

"Okay, Ammy, let's see what I can do for you, darling!" Rarity said with enthusiasm.

I stood in front of a large mirror as Rarity played with my mane, shaping it and styling it so it looked like hers.

"I always wanted to see what it would look like in your style," I commented. "Looks really nice."

"I thought you'd like it, darling!" she laughed. "Now I'll just need to take some measurements so I can get started on some designs. I must admit, I'm impressed by how tall you are. How did you manage to persuade Celestia to make you that tall?"

"I don't know -- I just told her I wanted to be a tall slender female unicorn, almost as tall as her sister -- I don't know if my assistance in helping her finally subdue Trollestia had something to do with it, but in any case, I'm really happy now, and I don't know if there's ever been a time in my life where I have been any happier than I am now. Everything I have gone through has taught me just how precious life truly is."

"Well, darling, I'm glad to hear that! Everypony should be happy -- that's the best we can hope for." Rarity took her tape measure and started taking my measurements, double checking and triple checking her numbers. I winced a little bit at some of the more intimate measurements she took, but she assured me that it was necessary to ensure a proper fit for what she was going to make for me.

"Measure twice, cut once," I chuckled.

"Precisely, darling! That's why I take as many measurements as I can! I apologize if I make you feel a little uncomfortable, but I can assure you, this outfit I make for you will be one of my finest accomplishments!"

"You spoil me, Rarity! Thank you so much!"

"You're very welcome, Ammy, darling, and that's the last of the measurements. Give me a couple of hours, I will be working on some designs for you. If you wish, you may stop by later to peruse them."

"Of course, thanks again. I'll be stopping by the school to see about getting EJ started with his studies. Be back later!"

I got EJ enrolled relatively easily -- he would have to catch up since the school year was about a quarter of the way over, but I figured his home schooling might have been enough to prepare him. Cheerilee assured me she would give him extra attention if he needed it. I stopped back by the boutique, and selected a pretty outfit, a dress done up in lavender and blue with pink accents, a ruffled collar and a sash to hold it around my mid-section. Quite a pretty ensemble to accentuate my beauty. Rarity also showed me a piece for Stephanie.

I made my way back by Sugarcube Corner and took EJ with me back to the library. In a couple of weeks, we would finally have our own place, not far from the library. It looked like I could relax for the first time in a very long time.

FIN

Alternate Ending : Battle Royale

"Discord" teleported me into my house, and promptly disappeared, telling me to expect no further favors, and warning me not to summon him again lest I make "him" truly angry. As I walked through the halls of my castle, I stopped by my TV room and noticed my amulet was missing.

"Hmm, I remember leaving it there the last time I was here. I wonder what happened to it," I thought to myself.

I noticed that many of the decorations adorning the halls had been changed to resemble more closely those in Canterlot Castle -- Princess Celestia had been here, and decided the place needed some sprucing up to suit her needs. I was starting to get a little upset by this. I approached my throne room to see Celestia's cutie mark emblazoned on the door. My slow burn was starting to turn up towards a boil. I opened the doors to see Princess Celestia herself seated on my throne. Now I was mad.

"What the buck are you doing on MY throne?" I asked angrily. I noticed my amulet around her neck atop her gold collar. "And what are you doing wearing MY amulet?"

Princess Celestia smiled warmly at me. "You told me to make myself at home. So I am! And as for this amulet, it is far too powerful for you, given your irresponsible behavior and poor judgment. I have taken the liberty of confiscating it so as to prevent further catastrophe from occurring."

"Discord GAVE me that amulet! It is NOT yours for the taking just because you THINK I might misuse it!" I shouted at her. I started approaching her at this point as she continued to sit comfortably on my throne.

"Regardless of that fact, Michael, you are not worthy of such a powerful talisman. You displeased me by coming to my realm without my permission. You deserve to be punished for such a transgression -- however, should you allow me to retain possession of this trinket, I shall forgive you your transgressions against me."

I was now standing right in front of her, staring her in the face. "How DARE you even THINK (I snatched the amulet off her neck at this point) of TAKING something which does NOT belong to you!" I shouted. I then placed the amulet around my neck, feeling the power surging through my body.

"Michael, I am deeply disappointed in you. I thought you were better than this," she said sadly. She readied her magic to cast a sphere of energy at me. I transformed myself back into Twilight to square off against her.

"Your choice of transformation causes me great anguish -- it goes against my nature to attack my favorite student -- however, I know that you are not her, and can never hope to be her regardless of your appearance. You shall face my unbridled wrath -- and I WILL kill you!" she scolded me and fired her blast of energy at me. I readied a magic absorption spell, and succeeded in absorbing this magic energy she had fired at me, adding to my reserves of power. My eyes flashed bright red as this occurred, surprising her somewhat.

"That amulet will not save you from the fate I have in store for you, Michael!" she shouted as she tried to envelop me in her magic aura in order to crush me with her telekinesis. I struggled against this telekinetic hold, my eyes and horn glowing a brighter red than before. I broke free from her hold relatively easily, surprising myself at my new power level. She let a cry of surprise escape her lips.

"Bad move there, Celestia," I said, turning her attempt back on her. Now I held her in a bright red aura, attempting to crush her in the same fashion she had tried using against me. I could sense her struggling mightily against my hold, but not succeeding. I decided to let her break free, watching her sweat profusely as she struggled against my hold. I tried as hard as I could to suppress a smile, but a small smile did flash across my features for just the briefest of moments.

"So you think you can beat me, eh? I have more tricks at my disposal than you can imagine!" she stated proudly. She used a rather bizarre combination of magic attacks, something I wasn't expecting. This caught me off guard, but I was able to counter to some degree. Apparently she had tried a combination of petrification, sleep, and disease spells rolled into a single attack.

"You're fighting dirty. Not fair!" I shouted. I used a combination of time delay magic against her, reversing the disease and petrification, and mirroring the sleep spells against her. For added effect, I summoned a hail storm to pelt her with small ice pellets. She groaned at my attempt.

"Your magic attacks are too simplistic," she stated. She used a different tactic against me, blinding me with excessively bright light flaring from her body. She then flew at me and kicked my body as I shielded my eyes from the brilliance. I went skittering across the floor of my throne room, coming to a stop before hitting a wall behind me.

I rose to my hooves, a truly dark expression of rage on my face. I went into hyper-flame mode, the amulet enhancing my power level even further. Celestia's jaw dropped at this display, one she had never seen before. I readied a blast of raw magic energy and fired this at her. She dodged it, but the area effect of the blast was great enough to send her crashing into the wall to my left. The impact broke one of her wings and scraped her up a good bit. I continued to maintain my hyper-flame mode and approached her, readying myself for any further magic attacks from her.

"Twilight, please stop," she said. Had she forgotten so soon?

"My name's not Twilight, Celestia," I said flatly. I raised my magic defenses just to be on the safe side.

"I apologize for my earlier actions," she said. "I'm going back to Equestria, and will leave you in peace."

"Don't bother coming back, Celestia, if you know what's good for you!" I shouted at her. She disappeared in a flash of light and a golden POP.

Just then I heard the sound of Discord's return.

"Well, well, well! Looks like you've beaten Celestia! Most impressive!" he said.

"She took my amulet from me, so I took it back, and taught her a lesson," I said.

"Well, Twilight, I'll be needing it back, so if you don't mind, please hand it over."

"May I please keep it? You gave it to me as a gift."

"You have no further need of it, as you're back in Twilight's body," he said calmly.

I relented, and gave him back the amulet. "Thanks a bunch, Twilight. I have no further need of your services."

"So what does that mean?" I asked innocently.

"I just need to clean up some loose ends," he stated flatly. He then turned to face me holding the amulet in his eagle claw, pointed it in my direction, and a beam of bright red light emanated from it.

"Wait, what?" I asked as I was disintegrated by the beam of light that came from the amulet. My body was turned into a pile of dust.

"Well, that takes care of that," Discord said and promptly disappeared, returning to his lair.

FIN

Author's Note

To those of you who voted this up, thank you. To those of you who disliked this story, I apologize for taking Discord out of character, using an inappropriate category for the story, or writing stuff that did not meet with your approval. As always, I welcome comments, and thanks again for reading this story, even if you didn't like it.
-MK

Alternate Ending III : Life Behind Bars

"Well, well, looks like you've beaten Celestia!" Discord chuckled. "Thanks for doing my dirty work for me! Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking that amulet back."

"Sorry, Discord, no can do. You gave this to me so it belongs to me now. You cannot have it back," I stated flatly.

His visage darkened considerably as he narrowed his jaundiced eyes to slits at me. "You would do well not to anger me, little Twilight. You have no idea how powerful I truly am -- and I can guarantee you will regret crossing me," he growled menacingly.

"So the 'God of Chaos' sees fit to threaten me?" I asked in a mocking tone of voice. "You can have this amulet back -- when you pry it off my cold dead body!"

"Don't tempt me like that, you stupid filly! If you do not understand just how powerful I am, I shall demonstrate for you!" the dragonequus snarled, waving his lion paw at me in an attempt to turn me into a statue. The amulet flashed red, as did my eyes at his attempt. It felt as though the amulet absorbed his magic attack against me, adding to my reserves. I could feel the additional power flowing through me. I raised an eyebrow at this and gave a slight smirk. The idea came to me to see about making him angrier.

"You're a miserable old fool who doesn't know when to quit," I chuckled. "You would do well to return to whatever hole it was you crawled out of and allow me to retain possession of this trinket," I stated flatly.

"I was just testing you, Twilight! Now the fun begins!" he laughed. He waved his paw at me again and was stunned to see the amulet and my eyes flash a much brighter red than before. "Wait, what?" he asked dumbfoundedly.

"You're adding to my power reserves, Discord! Thank you so much!" I chuckled as the additional magic energy pulsated through my body, transforming it. My coat of fur changed to a chalky white, my mane and tail appeared to change into living flame, billowing a bright yellow and orange with red at the very edges of them. My eyes changed to a solid red and mystic energy seemed to seep from my eyes in a bright red mist. I gave Discord my best evil grin, which caused him to frown in concern.

Just as quickly as the frown came to his face, he grinned for some strange reason. He waved his paw at me again, causing the amulet to absorb another attack. I felt my body transforming again, now getting larger and taller. I witnessed him cast more magic at me, making me larger still as my body tried to contain the massive influx of energy. I realized I needed to expend some of it, so I concentrated a substantial amount of magic into my horn and released it as a tight beam into the sky. I paid no attention to where I released the magic as I was more concerned about absorbing too much too quickly. I had to admit, all that power flowing through me made me feel invincible and I laughed almost maniacally at him. He continued to stand his ground, grinning at me. When he saw me release that beam of magic, he started chuckling.

"You probably don't know what you just did, do you?" he asked, a smug smirk on his face.

"Tell me, 'God of Chaos', what DID I just do?" I asked, contempt dripping from my words. I was staring down at him, my body felt like it was 25 feet tall.

"That beam of magic you just shot out -- I'll bet you're wondering where it went, aren't you?" His smile widened. "I'm not going to tell you, you'll have to find out for yourself. Trust me, you won't have to wait long! Ta ta!" he laughed and disappeared.

The object of my fury left, and allowed me to cool down, returning to my original form as Twilight. I was still wearing the amulet, but I didn't pay it any mind. The words of the dragonequus still rang in my ears, leaving me to wonder just what he had meant. A few moments later, a brilliant flash of light, brighter than any light I had ever seen, lit up the sky like a thousand magnesium flares being simultaneously ignited. I was blinded instantly by this, and unable to see, stumbled around aimlessly for a few moments, having been completely disoriented. I tried to focus magic to possibly be able to see what was going on, but to no avail.

The next thing I heard was an extremely loud rumbling noise, causing me to wonder if I had set off a chain reaction of nuclear bombs. The sound was deafening, further disorienting me. In a panic, I decided to teleport away from the planet as the next thing that happened made me feel like my skin was on fire. I teleported to Equestria, the amulet flashing a bright red as I did so, and ended up in front of Twilight's tree. My fur and hair had been completely singed off and I found it extremely painful and difficult to breathe. I was blind and deaf, so I didn't notice or hear Twilight exit the Library and gaze at me in total shock.

"Oh my Celestia, what happened to you?" she asked. I couldn't hear her, so my silence confused her.

"Help -- me," I rasped, not knowing whether anyone or anypony had heard me.

Twilight recognized the voice -- well, somewhat anyway -- and got Spike to send a letter to the Princess. She teleported to our location immediately and took stock of the sight of me. A look of deep concern traced her features and she used her magic to heal me, to some degree. I was able to see and hear again, but my breathing was still somewhat labored. My voice was quite raspy.

"Princess -- Celestia -- I -- need -- water," I husked. Water was immediately teleported to me, a bucket of which was dumped on me and a glass of it was poured down my throat, causing me to cough violently until I was able to catch my breath. "Thanks -- *cough* *cough* -- Thank you -- Princess -- Celestia." I coughed again.

"So, who might you be, my little pony?" she asked, concern still masking her features.

"Got the -- bad end -- of a fight -- with -- Discord," I stated, still gasping a little for breath.

"Princess, this pony wears the Alicorn Amulet!" Twilight gasped. "The only pony I know who had it was Trixie!"

"Are you Trixie?" asked the Alicorn.

"No," I replied. I coughed a few more times.

"If you're not Trixie, where did you get that amulet?" the Alicorn asked, her tone a bit more impatient.

"Discord gave it -- to me -- but he -- wanted it back -- and I -- refused -- to -- give it -- back," I rasped.

"So he attacked you, causing you these injuries. That doesn't seem like him -- he usually uses psychological or magic attacks, not physical ones," Celestia mused.

"He used -- magic against -- me -- but I -- absorbed too much," I offered.

"Hmm. He fed you too much magic, which your amulet absorbed and transferred into you. So excessive absorption caused these injuries to you?" asked the Alicorn, her curiosity leading her down a dangerous path.

"No," I replied flatly. "I released a -- large amount -- of magic -- but I don't know -- where it went -- then a -- little while -- later -- a big flash -- of light -- blinded me -- then a loud noise -- made me -- lose my hearing -- and then -- I felt my skin -- on fire -- so I -- came here -- for help," I explained, my breath starting to fail me at this point. "Help me -- I'm dying."

The Solar Princess took a moment to contemplate what I had related to her. Her concern seemed to deepen, but I saw her visage darken somewhat as her frown deepened.

"I seem to recall Twilight telling me that a certain pony traveled here not too terribly long ago. She wore an amulet similar to the one you have. You have told me you got into a fight with Discord and also claim to have been given that amulet by him. Twilight told me that her visitor, who looked like Trixie at the time, was at one time in a copy of my student's body. I recall a much earlier visit from a pony who looked an awful lot like Twilight, but had a red streak in her hair where my student's is pink. You must be from the human homeworld of Earth, but if what you tell me about what just happened before you left is true, I believe you may very well have destroyed not only your homeworld, but your Sun as well. I most certainly hope that is not the case, but I do not have any way of verifying whether or not you have a home to return to."

I gasped for breath, unable to speak. I tried to cough, but a little bit of blood spit from my lips. Twilight was aghast at the sight.

"Princess, please help this pony! I can't bear to watch a pony die before my eyes!" the librarian exclaimed.

Reluctantly, Celestia lit her horn and used a little more healing magic on me. I could feel my lungs stop burning and I seemed to be able to breath a bit more easily. "Please keep in mind, whomever you are, that I do this not for your benefit but for mine. I am still reserving judgment on you, as I need you to perform one act of magic for me. I need for you to use that amulet and your magic to create a portal window to your homeworld so that I may see for myself what damage has occurred."

"Yes, your Majesty," I stated and hung my head. I was still without my hair, but at this point, I figured it probably didn't matter. My amulet flashed red as did my eyes as I cast the portal window to Earth. What lay before our eyes brought a gasp from Twilight and Celestia and tears to mine. The Earth had been reduced to a burnt husk of a dead planet -- no water, no ice caps, nothing.

"Did you destroy your Sun?" the Alicorn asked harshly.

I changed the location of the portal window, trying to locate where the Earth's Sun should be. I was unable to locate it. "Your Majesty, I don't know where it is -- I do not see it anywhere," I stated flatly.

"Very well then, little pony. I don't know your name, but considering what you have done, that matter is unimportant. I request you remove that amulet immediately and allow me to retain possession of it."

I complied with her request, removing the amulet and hoofing it to her. "Your Majesty, I understand the severity of my crime, but I request leniency and mercy," I said meekly, prostrating myself before her. I knew I was in for the ultimate punishment.

"Ordinarily, I would be tempted to show mercy upon you, little pony -- but your crimes are far too severe for any leniency or mercy. I am afraid I must pass a judgment upon you that requires your execution," the Alicorn stated solemnly.

"Please, Princess -- please spare him or her! I cannot bear to think that you would sentence this pony to death despite whatever it is he or she has done! I thought we were above the "eye for an eye" method of administering justice!" Twilight begged. "I wish to learn more about this pony -- if nothing else, why not sentence him or her to spend the rest of his or her life behind bars -- at least this pony will still be alive and I can learn all there is that he or she knows!"

"Twilight, if you weren't my faithful student, I would reprimand you for such a request. However, I feel that you are essentially correct. Taking a pony's life diminishes us all and would serve no useful purpose. Tell me, my little pony, what is the name you wish to go by?"

"My human name is Michael Walker," I replied flatly. "I would like to give you my deepest gratitude for sparing my life."

"Michael, I will try to visit whenever I can. I feel that you have a wealth of information and I would like to spend as much time as possible getting to know everything you know," the librarian said softly.

"Twilight, I will try to comply to the best of my ability. I am deeply sorry for what I have done, but I had no idea Discord would choose to do what he did. It was never my intention to cause my Sun to go nova," I said sadly.

"That's enough pleasantries for now, Michael. You are to accompany me to my dungeon, where you will spend the rest of your life. Your horn will be surgically removed so you will lose your ability to use magic, though if enough time passes and I feel confident enough in you, I shall allow for the restoration of your magic. You are to relate to my faithful student everything you know about your homeworld and yourself. You will be treated fairly, but do not expect to become part of our society. May Faust have mercy on your soul," the Sun Goddess stated, a deep sadness tinging her words.

I felt my body being lifted by Celestia's golden aura, then was teleported to her dungeon, placed into a cell and shackled to the wall. This was going to be an uncomfortable incarceration, but I was willing to accept it. Twilight would visit every once in awhile and ask lots of questions. She wanted me to write things down for her, but without my magic, I couldn't do it. Being shackled to the wall also prevented me from using my hooves to write things down, so I was relegated to using my mouth to do that. It was extremely time consuming, but I was able to eventually teach Twilight the alphabet to my language.

Many years passed and Twilight eventually stopped visiting me, having satisfied her thirst for my knowledge. My body had begun to deteriorate, given the circumstances of my surroundings. My world had become the cell I was locked in, my mind having receded into the depths of madness. My speech had regressed to basic grunts, groans, cries, and screams of pain, anguish, hopelessness and despair. It was on one such day that Princess Celestia came to visit me.

"Michael, how long has it been?" she asked, smiling warmly at me.

"AAAAAHHH!! UNGH!! AAAAAHH!" I replied. I had lost my ability to talk coherently, my mind a jumbled mess of pain and sadness.

"Here, let me help you," she said softly. I felt my body being enveloped by her golden aura once again, but it didn't feel warm -- in fact, it felt cold as ice.

"AAAAH! AAAUUUGH! WAAH!" I protested, pain coursing through my body like never before. Tears started streaming from my eyes.

"Not much longer now, Michael. I do this for your own good. You go to a better place now, you have suffered long enough," she said softly as her magic took the last of my life force away.

"AAAUUUUGGH! Ungh ..." I wailed as I took my last breath. My body convulsed a few more times, the pain wracking my body causing my muscles to spasm and jerk irregularly. After a couple of moments of this action, my body fell limp, still shackled to the wall. The Alicorn used her magic to unshackle my body, then she teleported to her throne room with my lifeless body. She called upon two of her Royal Guard unicorns to take my body and dispose of it in the most expedient manner possible, which meant having it incinerated.

"Rest easy, Michael, one day you will thank me for what I have done," Celestia said silently to herself.

FIN

Alternate Ending II : Death of Chaos

"Well, well, well. Looks like you've defeated Celestia. Very impressive!" Discord smiled as he appeared just before I managed to force her to leave. "Now, Twilight, if you don't mind, I need that amulet back."

"Discord, you GAVE this item to me! You CAN'T have it back!" I stated sternly. I kept my guard up, not knowing what he might do. I continued to eye him warily.

"Be that as it may, Twilight, you no longer need it, since you have resumed your earlier form. My gift was conditional," he said, his features starting to darken menacingly.

"That would make you an Indian Giver -- and I will not honor your request."

"Twilight, you test my patience. I do not wish to hurt you, but if you do not return that amulet, I will be forced to act. Now GIVE IT BACK!" he shouted at me.

"You can have it back -- after you've pried it from my cold dead hooves!" I shouted at him. I readied myself for whatever magic he might use against me.

"I'm glad you said that, Twilight, that will make things a lot easier for me." He waved his lion paw at me, but nothing happened. His face registered surprise by this event. "What? How did that happen?"

"I've been measuring your magical strength while we've been talking. You are not as powerful as Celestia."

"You underestimate me, Twilight! That will seal your doom!" he chuckled. His horns glowed with magical energy as he tried to use a two-pronged attack. My eyes and horn glowed red as I absorbed his magic, replenishing my supply. "That's not possible!" he shouted. He then did something unexpected. He inverted gravity, turning everything upside-down. This disorientation hit me by surprise and he attacked me physically. I was stunned by this and felt my left side being scraped by the claws of his eagle talon.

"You know you done bucked up now, don't you!" I shouted at him, returning to my hyper-flame mode. My eyes and horn glowed a very bright red as I returned gravity right-side-up again. My flaming mane and tail burned with a brilliant intensity and my eyes were fully red with my rage. Discord was shocked to see this display of raw power, and teleported away. "You're not getting away THAT easily!" I shouted at the spot where he had been standing. I teleported after him, my rage burning even brighter.

"What the hell has come over her?" he asked himself as he teleported to his earlier lair under NORAD. He tried to catch his breath, but I teleported into his lair, just five feet behind him. I tapped his left shoulder and hit him in the face with my right fore-hoof. I then used my telekinesis to knock him to the floor. He teleported away again.

"You can run, but you can't hide, Discord!" I shouted again. This time he teleported to where his lair in New York City had been, but he found himself about a thousand feet above the ground where the penthouse had once been standing. I guess he forgot about the bomb blast. Gravity took over at this point. I teleported to roughly the same spot to see him falling. I chuckled as I levitated, allowing myself to slowly descend. He panicked and teleported again.

His next jump took him to downtown Memphis, but he hadn't allowed for the pull of gravity when he landed. His downward rate of acceleration carried forward with his teleport so when he landed, his body crumpled to the ground, breaking both his legs and nearly half his ribs. I teleported about ten feet away from him.

"You can't fight gravity when you teleport, dumbass!" I laughed. He groaned in pain.

"How could I have forgotten? You think you can still beat me?" he asked defiantly. He looked like he had already been beaten. I allowed myself to flare up even brighter.

"Tell me where my kids are!" I shouted at him.

"I would sooner die than tell you where they are, Twilight!" he yelled angrily.

"Suit yourself," I said coldly, readying a flare attack. His eyes went wide with fear as he saw my body glow even brighter, my mane and tail enlarging with my magic flaming flare. My entire body seemed to be glowing red, augmented by the amulet I was still wearing. I felt extremely powerful.

"No, no, don't kill me!" he pleaded.

"You're a liability, Discord. I can't allow you to live!" I shouted, my flare vaporizing him into a pile of dust. I thought I might feel a sense of satisfaction from having killed him, but I felt empty inside. I cooled down and reverted to my normal form as Twilight. The amulet continued to glow brightly and I felt its influence taking me over. It felt reassuring, comforting, making me feel whole again. I resolved never to remove it, regardless of the circumstances. I teleported back to my castle.

"Okay, let's see here. I need to redecorate this place after Celestia ruined it." Thinking about her for a moment renewed my anger over her actions and I resolved to pay her a visit as soon as I had finished making needed changes to my castle. Something about the place seemed a little off, though, so I cast a spell to break illusions. My castle disappeared only to be replaced by my old cozy little home, situated in an abandoned industrial park, the former glass wall showing nothing at all except an open exposure to this park, with nothing to protect me from anything that might happen to come by. This visual stunned me into silence, then rage took over again. "I'm glad I wasted you, Discord! You won't be tricking anypony ever again!"

I decided that I was going to need a property overlooking the Pacific Ocean at this point, so I teleported to a spot where I thought my place should be. I decided that I was going to have my castle, regardless of how much magic I spent in order to make it -- I figured the amulet would help me craft the place. First I had to create the massive mountain upon which to build my castle, then craft the castle itself. This time I was going to build the castle with black granite walls, making it every bit as large as it had appeared when I had been dropped off in front of where it had been. This was going to take some time and a lot of magic, but I figured I had enough time and magic to spare. I made the ground rise, levitating to maintain eye contact with the creation of this mountain of black rock. I continued to enlarge it until I figured I had enough height and width to build upon it. The castle came next, not as hard as raising a mountain, but more intricately detailed. This was the more time consuming aspect of building my castle, but more satisfying and testing my imagination as far as creativity goes. Black granite walls rose from the mountain, higher and higher until I decided to stop with the vertical development. I was going to make this thing HUGE! I chuckled at the thought of just how big this castle was going to be, not that I really needed it, just that I wanted a really large castle -- I felt I was entitled to such an ostentatious domicile. A dozen spires reached more than 1700 feet above sea level, each with windows and balconies to overlook the waves crashing on the shore. It looked like a stereotypical medieval castle, just on a monumental scale. Satisfied with the exterior appearance, I made my way inside to work my magic on the interior rooms, halls, and various other necessities.

At this point, I had expended a grotesquely large amount of magic energy and took a few hours to recover. I crafted a chair on the main courtyard, resting and watching the clouds drift by. As I rested, I thought I heard a soft POP not far from me.

"Mommy? Mommy?" came a voice from my left. I turned to look and saw EJ standing about five feet away with Stephanie in a satchel designed for carrying a small foal.

"EJ? Did you teleport here? How did you do that?"

"Yes, mommy, I did -- I waited for daddy, but he never came back! He said he was only going to be gone for a few minutes, but -- where is he? Do you know where he went?" I hung my head at his question. I should have known, but acted too hastily.

"EJ, your daddy has gone away -- he left and told me he was going away but he didn't say where. He told me not to follow him," I said, trying not to give myself away. The amulet gave a faint glow which faded away shortly after that. I felt its influence wane as if to signify that I had used up all its power.

"Mommy, I want my daddy! Please!"

"EJ, I need to talk to Princess Celestia -- I want you and Stephanie to come with me so I can explain the situation."

"Okay, Mommy, but daddy told me that she was evil!"

"She only acts that way against those who treat her badly -- which makes me worry, since I battled her and won."

"Do you think she'll be mad at you?"

"I don't know, EJ, there's only one way to find out."

"Tia, you look like you got hit by a train!" Luna said with a mix of worry and exasperation.

"Twilight has gone rogue and attacked me without mercy -- she wears an amulet of great power."

"You mean OUR Twilight? I shall punish her severely!" Luna shouted indignantly.

"No, Luna, the Twilight of Earth, the one who invited me to stay in her castle."

"Why did she attack you?"

"She complained about me taking the amulet from her."

I appeared at this moment in a flash of light and a magenta POP. "Princess Celestia, I wish to apologize for my earlier actions. I am here to present you with the amulet you said I should not have." I trotted over to Celestia and telekinetically gave her the amulet, which appeared to have lost all of its power.

"YOU! Of all the nerve! How DARE you attack my sister?" Luna shouted at me. Then she saw EJ and Stephanie. "Wait -- are those your foals? I cannot attack you with them present!"

"Princess Luna, please forgive my intrusion. My son EJ teleported to my new castle with my daughter. EJ is just three and a half years old, and can already teleport, something that has truly amazed me."

Both Princesses expressed surprise at this mention. "EJ, can you do a small teleport in this room to demonstrate your ability?" Celestia asked. He teleported from where he was standing to a point five feet in front of him. A flash of light and a light grey POP accompanied his teleport. Celestia smiled. "Looks like we might be admitting you to the School for Gifted Unicorns should you wish to stay -- but you don't look like a unicorn," she observed. "Wait -- something seems a little odd here -- let me see," she said and used her magic to dispel illusions. EJ was now looking like a true unicorn, solid charcoal grey with black mane and tail, his hooves a faint purple, his eyes a dark brown, his horn a mix of grey and purple.

"EJ? What does that stand for?" Princess Luna asked.

"Equanimity Jeffrey," I stated, trying to suppress a chuckle.

"Mommy! Please don't tell them that! They'll laugh at me!"

"That's why I call him EJ," I said. Both Princesses smiled and chuckled softly.

"So Discord is their father? You mentioned that in a previous letter,"

"He can't be -- his genetic make-up would not permit him to succeed in making Twilight pregnant. The biological material must have come from another unicorn and I am curious to know which one it is," Celestia mused.

"Discord tricked me -- I have no idea who it could have been -- and anyway, I wasted him while wearing that amulet."

Celestia actually smiled at me at this point. "So that's why it has no power left."

"Not exactly -- I built a castle atop a mountain to replace the one which was illusory," I stated flatly.

"I have a feeling you won't be returning to Earth to live in that castle," Celestia stated.

"Why not?" I asked, expressing a degree of apprehension.

"You will need to raise these foals of yours among others of their kind. I am offering you an opportunity to live here, either in Canterlot or Ponyville in order to raise them -- should you need help, you only need ask."

"Princess Celestia, I beg your forgiveness for attacking you earlier -- and I humbly accept your offer to stay -- but I will need to have a different body so as to prevent confusion with Twilight, as I would like to live in Ponyville for the sake of raising EJ and Stephanie."

"The fact you gave the amulet back is testament to your contrition -- you are already forgiven as I knew you were confused when you attacked me -- and I have suffered worse than what you dealt me. You were holding back and you allowed me to live which indicates you are not truly evil and that the amulet did not corrupt you completely. I am surprised to see you have emptied it though -- rendering it impotent. That is all for the best, I surmise. As for your request for a new body, I'm sure once I have recovered from my injuries I can change you into whatever you wish, with some exceptions, of course. I request you stay here in the castle with your foals until these changes can be made."

"Princess Celestia, you are too kind. Since EJ has already shown strong magic abilities at such an early age, I wonder what sort of schooling he might be receiving. Stephanie seems to be magically attuned as well," I said, my head bowed.

"You named your daughter Stephanie?" Luna asked.

"Stephanie Sparkle, Princess," I said.

"That's rather presumptuous," she responded.

"Well, I figured since I was in Twilight's body when I gave birth to her, she would carry the family name -- I can sense great potential in her, and I wouldn't be surprised that when she's in her twenties, she might replace Twilight as the Element of Magic -- that, or she'll be tremendously powerful."

"That depends on how dedicated she is to her studies," Celestia admonished. "Your prediction remains to be seen. Don't be too surprised if she squanders that potential, as I sense within you the same potential I see in Stephanie."

"Very well then, Princess. I apologize for speaking out of turn. If I may, where will we be sleeping? I am tired, a little hungry, and I would like to rest for awhile."

"I shall have a Royal Guard show you to your quarters and I shall summon you when I determine the time is appropriate. I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Thank you for your generosity, Princess Celestia. If there is anything I can do to assist in any matter, feel free to call upon me."

"I trust I will not be required to do so, but if circumstances warrant, you will be notified. You are dismissed."

A Royal Guard unicorn escorted me and my foals to a room down a set of stairs and along another hallway. We were let in and brought a tray of food. I had to ask for assistance in feeding Stephanie, but suitable arrangements were made to accommodate her needs. I laid down on the bed which had been prepared for me and drifted off to sleep.

FIN

Author's Note

I apologize for the multiple endings -- that's it for this story. There may be a sequel in the works for this story, but it will have to wait. Any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks again for your patience.