//-------------------------------------------------------// The Means to an End -by High Moon- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue Today had started like any other day for Twilight and her friends, but as always this day was bound to be like no other. The girls had just begun their weekly get together at the local cafe, but today a certain someone had decided to pay the young mares a visit. “Hey, Twi, you okay? You spaced out there for a few minutes.” Rainbow Dash asked, mildly worried. “Oh, me? Oh. No, I'm okay. I'm just thinking.” Twilight Sparkle replied. “Oh, really? What were ya thinkin' 'bout sugercube?” asked Applejack. “Yes Twilight, if it kept your attention for so long it must have been truly riveting.” Stated Rarity. “Yes Twilight.” Fluttershy started meekly, “I'm sure we all want to know what distracted you for so long... that is if you don't mind,” she quickly and quietly added. “Ya Twi what were you thinking about OOH tell me tell me NO wait don't tell me let me guess Uh... you... want… to throw a party for someone! *gasp* Is it Celestia's birthday today its Celestia's birthday today isn't it OOO what kind of cake should I make her what kind of cake would she like HEY Twilight what kind of cake shou...” Pinkie Pie stated before being cut off by Rainbow Dash shoving a hoof in her mouth. “ Ya Twi, whatever you were thinking about had to have been big. Otherwise it wouldn't have distracted you for so long.” Remarked Rainbow Dash. “ I was just thinking... about the past." Twilight began, "I mean think about it... two years ago when I first arrived here, Nightmare Moon came back from a one thousand year exile. Then just last year, Discord broke free. I'm worried that something might happen this year as well.” Twilight said worriedly. “Hopefully not!” Remarked Rarity. “I have had enough of those ruffians.” Suddenly a massive wind rushed by, sending Rarity's hat flying... right into the only mud puddle in all of Ponyville that day. “NOOOO!! MY CHAPAUE!!” Rarity wailed. “Oh don't worry, my dear. Where you're all are going, you won't need that!” The voice did not seem to be attatched to anyone present, but all of the mane six recognized the terrifyingly familiar voice instantly. “No... That can't be...” Twilight whispered, an expression of horror on her face. As soon as she finished speaking, the unmistakable form of Discord materialized right in front of them all. “Hello again girls. It really has been too long.” Discord said with a sly grin. “B-b-b-b-b-but th-that's impossible.” A completely flabbergasted and terrified Twilight stammered. “You were sealed away in stone a year ago.” “Well, yes and no. You see, you sealed my physical body in stone, leave my mind to roam free, and cause havoc. Anywhere but Equis unfortunately. But, during my travels I came across a very special planet, with very special beings. The planet was just teeming with chaos, allowing me to just sit back and get some well needed R&R, so that I could one day come back and rid Equis of order. Too bad for them I guess. Their planet is now a complete shit hole, (Swearing, huh? Up to you, I guess. Not my personal preference.) created by yours truly. Should I explain?... I'll be sending you all there so I don't see why not, you see about 3 or 4 days before that planets equivalent of Hearth's Warming Eve, I decided to cause some havoc of my own. It's been about three months since I did that... I wonder how everypony is doing down there?” Discord silently pondered. “OH WELL! I can't think of anything. But then again why spoil the surprise for you all.” During Discords rant Applejack and Rainbow Dash were trying to secretly hid Twilight from view so she could contact the Princesses. “Oh, and Twilight dear, you won’t be able to contact the princesses, because you see, I have already dealt with them.” Discord stated. Twilight shuddered, “what do you mean by 'dealt with them'?” *** “You know, dear sister. Being stuck in Discord’s fetish dungeon was bound to be creepy and disturbing.” Stated Princess Luna, “but since when did you do any of this in private? Let alone letting Discord take pictures?” She finished, motioning to the thousands of pictures of a younger princess Celestia in thousands of different sexual poses. “That was a long time ago, and I was far stupider back then, than now.” Answered Princess Celestia. “Than what about these?” Luna asked, pointing out some relatively new pictures of Celestia in bondage. “Dearest sister, do you remember where you sent me, when you first came back from the moon?”Celestia asked slowly. “No. We were not ourselves sister, we would not remember.” “YOU SENT ME HERE!!!!!" “…” “Well? Any more questions?” Celestia asked with an angry smile. Luna raised her hoof. “Yes Luna, we are unfortunately powerless here. Any other questions?” Luna sat there for a few minutes, contemplating whether or not to ask. Then, against her better judgment, slowly raised her hoof. “Yes Luna?” “Does he at least make it fun?” She asked tentatively. Resisting the urge to beat Luna, Celestia face-hoofed so hard an audible crack was heard all the way in Ponyville. *** “You do not need to know that at this moment.” Discord stated quickly.”Now, seeing as six talking ponies; two being pegasi, two being unicorns, and two being earth ponies; randomly showing up out of nowhere would scare everyone there to half death. Let’s give you all a makeover!!” Without waiting for the main six to respond, Discord snapped his fingers, causing a clear, yet sparkly, magical aura to engulf them. Slowly they all felt their forms elongate. Where their front hooves were grew hands. Where their back hooves where grew feet. Their tails, horns and wings disappeared. Their muzzles flattened. And in place of their fur was clothing that helped distinguish who they were. Twilight was wearing a lavender long sleeve shirt and dark blue jeans. Fluttershy was wearing a soft yellow turtleneck, and a long skirt the color of her hair. Pinkie Pie was wearing a knee-length pink dress with bright white knee-socks. Rainbow was wearing an old looking cyan t-shirt, and stone washed jeans. Applejack was wearing a unbuttoned plaid overshirt, with a white t-shirt, and a pair of well-worn jeans. And Rarity was wearing a knee-length designer white dress with nylon stockings. “WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME HAVE YOU DONE TO US!?!” Twilight exclaimed, regarding her newly transformed body with bewilderment. “Oh, nothing.” Discord lazily said. “I just want you all to get a welcome that doesn’t end with you all getting killed, because that would be no fun, not even giving you all a chance to beat me.” Discord chuckled devilishly. “And what makes you think we would get killed?” Twilight asked slowly, in a very concerned and hesitant. “Where I’m sending you all is a very dangerous place. Far more dangerous than the Everfree before I tampered with it, and even more dangerous than after.” Discord recalled, “ too bad for you all I guess… Oh and don’t worry I've already sent a good word for you all." And with that Discord snapped his fingers, once again surrounding them in the clear, sparkly magical aura. “TTFN,” Discord said while waving good bye, “TA TA FOR NOW.” And with that the Mane Six disappeared. “… Too bad… I sort of liked the pink one.” Discord said with a hint of remorse. “OH WELL, better start entertaining my guests.” And with that he teleported away to do Celestia knows what to Luna and Celestia. Author's Note Hello, this is my first story and while the prologue is a little fast paced, I would like to say that the rest of the story is a little more slowed down. Please don't be too hard on me (even though I will more than just ignore negative comments). And please, if you hit the dislike button leave a comment saying why you dislike the story. It doesn't matter to me what it is, but I would like to know what other readers and writers like. Please report any mistakes missed my Editor and myself. Thank you :pinkiehappy: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/pinkiehappy.png Sincerely Invisible Blade //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 He came to in a dark void. An invisible light source gave off enough light to see by, but not enough light to indicate where he was. He sat up, rubbing his temples to ease the pain in his head. “Where in the name of Raptor Jesus, am I?” He asked no one, with the small amount of humor he could muster. He sat there for a few minutes trying, in vain, to remember how he got there. Finally, he came to a conclusion. “So,” He said quietly to himself, “either I have been roofied, which I highly doubt considering how careful I am about my food and drink, or this is all a lucid dream.” He paused to think. “Well, if this is a lucid dream… then I should be able to…” He paused, rolled up his sleeve halfway up his fore-arm, closed his eyes, and concentrated on his hand. Slowly, yet surely, the image He had in his mind began to appear, and about a minute later it had fully materialized. He opened his eyes and he was wearing the Princes gauntlet (http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-08/art/pop-gauntlet.jpg) from Prince of Persia. He stared at the gauntlet for a few seconds, as if criticizing it. Then stated, “well, that explains what this is… but if this is a dream, why do I remember it?” He began to think back to the few times that he had had a lucid dream, and remembered every time he’s had a lucid dream it showed him something he needed to see. “Well, what am I going to see this time?” He thought to himself. He looked around for a few minutes, and then started to hear something. He closed his eyes and listened intently. It sounded like… crying? Yes, it was crying that he heard. Knowing that what he needed to see was what was crying, he followed the sound. After a few minutes of walking he came to what looked like an abandoned warehouse, not uncommon at the time. Though as he was walking he heard the crying change. No… not change, He heard it in a different way. He listened long and hard, and figured out it was not one person crying but three. Not only that, but he recognized all three of the voices crying. That is what scared him the most. Knowing who they were, but not truly being able to believe that they were there. “It isn’t possible.” He said to himself quietly, “there’s no way any of them could be here. They weren’t here before, how could they be here now?” He paced around the entrance of the building, pondering if he really wanted to see what was in the warehouse, all the while his eardrums being assaulted by the soft crying. In the end his decision was made for him, somehow he was thrown into the warehouse. What he found was not what he expected. What he had expected to see was Tara Strong, Tabitha St. Germain, and Andrea Libman. But what he saw was different in quite a few ways. The most major of which being that there were not three people there, there were six. Though, the reason He had only heard three of them crying instead of all six soon made itself apparent. The reason being that the three people He did not hear were dead. After gaining his bearings, he tried to take in what was around him. He could not believe his eyes. What he saw were humanized versions of the main characters of his favorite show, from the time when there was still television. Sitting together, chained to the wall by their ankles, were human versions of Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Fluttershy. They gave no indication that they could see him, as they did not react to his entrance. They were huddled together out of fear of what was around them. To their right was what he would never want, but would expect if the main six ever came to earth nowadays. Sitting there chained to the wall by her neck, was Pinkie Pie. The main difference between Pinkie’s condition and that of the others was an infected bite mark on her left arm, and a dead look in her eyes. To their left, chained to the wall in the spread eagle position, were Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Upon further analysis, he found that those two were not dead, but instead mentally scarred to the point of being completely unresponsive. Their mouths had been gagged and their clothes torn; it was clear what had happened to them. Behind him he heard a mad, malice-filled chuckle. “To quote a song from this world, what has happened to them and this world is ‘A terrible catastrophe, played by a symphony, what a terrifying work of art.’” Said the disembodied voice of a man. He did not know personally, but he could make an educated guess by the being's voice, and the scene before him. “If you’re going to sing that song don’t forget the best part. ‘I can’t sit idly no I can’t move at all. I curse the name, the one behind it all,’” he said in a sing song voice, turning around to face the unknown speaker. “Discord.” “You do not know how true that is.” Discord stated with a chuckle. “Well then, would you mind explaining?” He asked. “Nope.” “I thought so.” “But I will tell you this, saving all of them is as easy as one, two, three.” “Oh really? Please tell me more. (http://i.qkme.me/35s4mp.jpg)” “If you say so. You will have one chance on two separate occasions to save the three who died.” He paused for a second, pondering, then asked, “Don’t those first two points contradict each other though?” “Hmm?” “Having one chance is having one chance, having one chance on two separate occasions is having two chances, isn’t it?” He pointed out. “Actually, no it is not. Having one chance on two separate occasions to save the three who died, means that if you screw something up, some will die, but not all.” Discord explained with a devious chuckle. “Oh… heh.” He softly laughed with an exasperated sigh. He could feel the pressure of the challenge starting to build. “Knowing you though, there is some catch that I have to abide by… So what’s the deal?” “You hurt me, you know that?” Discord stated, feigning sadness. “That really does hurt! Right here man, right here!” Discord said jokingly, pointing to where his heart should be. “Just because it hurts doesn’t mean it’s not true.” He stated indifferently. “Wow, you do know me!!” Discord laughed happily. “Well I guess I should tell you it then. The catch is if any of them spot you before the time is right, they all die. Well… what do you think? Heh. How do ya like them apples…” Discord taunted. “They’re pretty fuckin’ sour, but not impossible to eat.” He interrupted Discord, wondering how he was going do it. Suddenly, he remembered one key detail that would make saving them a ton easier. “You wouldn't happen to know where this would be taking place, by any chance. Would you?” “Yes and no.” Discord explained, “I do know where it’s going to happen, but I’m not going to tell you… Nice try though.” “Meh, was worth a try.” He stated dismissively. “Though you do know I have no chance to save them if I am not near them when the incident happens.” He reasoned, trying to get Discord to at least give a hint to their location. “Yes, I know. You see, I planned for that too. All you have to do to find them is continue on your path as if this never happened.” Discord explained quickly. “How in the fuck do I do that?” He asked casually. “I mean this is a lot to take in.” “That ain’t my problem. It’s yours.” Discord answered with a chuckle before disappearing, leaving him to his own thoughts. “Well fuck.” He said quietly to himself, taking a step back to observe the way they all had died. Talking to himself, he said. “Well… it’s sort of obvious what happened to them all. *sigh* Pinkie’s all around friendliness must have gotten the better of her.” He said dejectedly, having to remind himself that it can be changed. “*sigh* Fuck… And then those two.” He said while turning to face Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “I guess scumbag bandits like a little fuss with their women… How in the fuck do I stop this, if I don’t even know where and when it’s going to happen? I mean what the fuck. The dick.” Suddenly the warehouse began to shake, as if in the middle of an earthquake. “What the hell!!” He exclaimed, looking at the walls and ceiling to ensure that the warehouse wasn't falling in on itself. Hearing a cracking from beneath him, he barely had enough time to say “Fuck,” before the floor fell out from beneath him.