The Unicorns' Might

Rainbow Dash had a splitting headache. She lay asleep on the hard floor of her cage as her head thumped. She groaned as she woke up and rubbed her eyes, which were quite sore. She got up and stretched her neck, which caused her to hit her head on the roof. That made her head hurt even more.

Rainbow Dash looked around at her small cage, and remembered what had happened. She looked at the three cages beside her own, which enclosed Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, all snoozing away.

"Girls!" she said, attempting to wake them up. "Girls, get up!"

The three ponies awoke from their sleep and looked around.

"Oh no, we're stuck!" Applejack said in a panic.

"Look, calm down." Rainbow Dash said, calmingly. "We'll get out of this."

"Oh you will, will you? Are you sure about that?"

The four ponies looked around. They couldn't see the one talking, but they could identify it as the voice from before.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"Oh, silly ponies." the voice laughed. "If you think you're going to ruin my plan again, then you've got another thing coming."

"Again? What do you mean? Who are you?" she yelled.

"Oh, poor Rainbow Dash. So naive."

"How do you know my name?!"

"Oh, we've met before."

Rainbow Dash knew they had met before, their voice sounded so familiar, and not just from before.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Fine, I'll show you. It's not like I've got a world to dominate."

They heard a clicking sound, and they found themselves teleported outside of the cages.

There was another click, and then a large being stood on a stone podium at the end of the room.

"It's me!" the creature laughed, who they quickly identified.

"No!" Applejack yelled. "It can't be you!"

"Discord!" Rainbow Dash said angrily.

"Yes, yes. It's me, I'm back!"

"But... why?" Fluttershy asked, sadly. "I made you better, you're not evil anymore."

"Says who?" Discord laughed.

"But you were reformed!"

"So what you're saying is, I have to be good, just because you said so?"

"Umm... Yes?"

"Uh, no." Discord said, shaking his head. "That's not how it works."

"How did you make the Elements of Harmony hypnotise the unicorns?!" Rainbow Dash asked, still raging with fury at Discord's betrayal.

"Simple, really." Discord said. "Living in the palace for a while gave me time to study up on the elements, and now I have the power to use my magic to manipulate them!"

"But why?" Fluttershy asked. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because, Fluttershy," he said, teleporting down to her and running a claw along her chin. "now that I have control of every unicorn in Equestria, there is nopony to stop me from taking over. I have infinite power!"

He laughed as he teleported back to his position on the podium.

Rainbow Dash flew up to Discord, but he snapped his fingers, causing her wings to snap shut. She crashed into the ground and slid on her face.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, such a fierce temper. Let's test your skills, shall we?"

"What did you do to my wings?" she asked angrily.

"Oh, ignore that. I can't have you cheating." Discord said.

"Cheating at what?"

"Twilight!" Discord yelled out. "Get in here!"

The four ponies looked over at the doorway as their purple friend entered the room, here eyes still glowing the odd green colour.

"Discord, what are you doing?" Rainbow Dash asked as Twilight walked towards her.

"I'm showing you the power of my magic, when it's not being used for chaos, but for pure evil!" he laughed. "But don't worry, it's generally the same thing."

"Twilight, what are you doing?" Rainbow Dash said worriedly as she approached her.

"Go ahead, Rainbow Dash, defend yourself." Discord said.

"I'd never hurt her, even if she is under your control!"

"Well you might want to think twice about that, because either way, one of you is going to get hurt."

Rainbow Dash tried to hit Twilight, but she couldn't do it.

"I can't!" she admitted. "I won't hurt my friend!"

"Really? Well then..." Discord said with a mischievous grin. "Twilight, show her what you've got."

Twilight picked Rainbow Dash up with her magic and looked into her eyes. She smiled slightly, and hurled her into one of the walls with great force. Her face broke as it collided with the stone wall. She fell to the ground, quivering with pain as blood gushed from her nose. She screamed as her broken nose pressed against the floor. Her friends were shocked at Discord's sudden act of violence.

"Discord, you're insane!" Applejack yelled. "Stop!"

"Really? Insane? I hadn't noticed."

"How about now? Come on, just a punch." Discord taunted, leaning down toward Rainbow Dash.

"I... can't." she whimpered as she laid on the floor, trying to hold back her screams of pain.

"No?" Discord asked. "Even if she's trying to kill you?"

Rainbow Dash didn't reply.

"Well then, you asked for it."

Twilight picked her up again and raised her up to the ceiling, before slamming her against the ground again. Applejack swore she heard the snapping of Rainbow Dash's leg.

"I'll give you one last chance, Rainbow Dash. Punch her in the face, and I'll stop torturing you."

Rainbow Dash lay on the floor, not responding. She breathed heavily as her saliva drooled out of her blood-stained mouth.

"Fine." Discord said, disappointedly. "Have it your way."

"Discord, don't do this!" Applejack pleaded.

"Why should I? This is the most fun I've had in ages!"

Discord grinned his evil smile.

"Prepare yourself, Rainbow Dash, for the most pain you will ever experience." He nodded at Twilight.

Twilight once again picked her up, but instead of smashing her against a wall, she just held her.

Her horn began to glow a dark red colour, also changing the colour of the aura which surrounded her quivering victim.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash began screaming horribly as Twilight cast her spell. Her horrifying shrieks of pain echoed around the room.

Her friends tried to look away as Rainbow Dash writhed in pain, trying to escape Twilight's torturous hold.

To her, it felt like she had been set on fire, and was being slowly and painfully torn apart.

"That's enough." Discord said, dismissing Twilight's horrible tortures.

Twilight dropped her to the floor as she gasped for breath, trying to hold on to the consciousness in her head that remained. Discord snapped his fingers again, causing them to return to their cells.

"See? Unicorns can be monsters if treated right." Discord said, chuckling. "Being evil is a lot easier than being chaotic."

"You okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, although she already knew the answer.

Rainbow Dash lifted up her bruised face and looked at her. "Yep, I'm fine." she said, trying to get her friends to stop worrying about her. In actual fact, she was having trouble not blacking out.

"How could you?!" yelled Fluttershy, attempting to stand up for her friend.

"Fluttershy?" he said, looking at her enraged face.

"What kind of monster are you?"

"Oh my, that's intimidating." he said sarcastically. "What do you mean? Look at her, she's glowing with health."

"How dare you try to force Rainbow Dash to hurt a friend!"

"Well, if you think you could do a better job..."

He teleported her outside of her cage, in front of Twilight.

"Ah! No!" she cried when she saw Twilight. "Take me back!"

"I can't." Discord said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's your fight."

Fluttershy ducked down and covered her head with her forelegs nervously. Twilight walked over to her a gave her a slight kick.

"Get up!" she demanded.

Fluttershy rolled over and looked at her as she quivered in fear.

"I said GET UP!" she yelled, giving her a large kick in the stomach.

That didn't move her either, it mostly made her more scared.

"Twilight... Stop, please." she cried as she stared into her green eyes. "This isn't you."

"I must do what Discord tells me to."

Twilight stepped closer to her and placed a hoof onto her neck, choking her. Fluttershy grabbed her leg, and attempted to push it off, but Twilight was too strong.

"Twi- Twilight," she coughed as she pressed her hoof against her neck. "Get off..."

"Fluttershy, you know she will only respond to me." Discord said, admiring the timid mare's pain.

Twilight placed another hoof onto one of her wings, twisting it the wrong way. She stopped when it was on the brink of snapping.

"Oh, Fluttershy." Discord said, flying down to her. "Weak, manipulatable Fluttershy. What are we going to do with you?"

"Discord, stop! You're not evil anymore!" she pleaded under Twilight's hoof. "You're reformed."

"You really don't get it, do you?" he said sternly. "I'm not changing and you can't make me. You never could."

"But... I showed you the importance of friendship! I thought that was what you-"

"I don't need friends," he snapped. "Not when I have all of Equestria to rule!"

He leaned down, right up to her face and grinned wickedly.

"Twilight," he said. "Snap it."

"No!!" screamed Rainbow Dash. "Discord, stop!"

Twilight pushed her hoof a little further, causing the bone in Fluttershy's wing to snap. After she heard the sharp cracking sound of the bone, Twilight pulled her hoof away from her wing, leaving it slightly attached to her body.

Fluttershy's screams were the most ear-piercing, shrill sound that Rainbow Dash had ever heard. It was torture just listening to it, more so than the pain of her broken leg.

"Deal with Fluttershy." Discord said to Twilight.

She nodded, understandingly, and pointed her horn at Fluttershy. It began to glow as a bright beam shot out of it and blasted into her, sending her flying at the wall behind her. The only problem was, there was no wall behind her, but instead, a window. Fluttershy crashed through the glass and attempted to fly, however her broken wing wasn't helping.

"Twilight, you idiot!" yelled Discord. "I meant put her back in her cell, not kill her!"

"Oh, oops." Twilight said, acting like it didn't matter that she had just murdered somepony. "Sorry."

"Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter that much. One less problem, right?"

Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie watched in horror as their friend flew through the glass. Through the hole, they could see that it was nighttime, and they were quite high up, which was bad news; Fluttershy could never survive a fall from that height.

Fluttershy fell. She couldn't stop herself. She helplessly tried flapping her wing, but it didn't do anything without the other one.

She stopped trying, and just accepted her fate. As she fell, her life flashed before her eyes, before she blacked out.