Chapter 3

"Whoa, Rarity! Slow down!" Spike shouted, gripping the white unicorn's dark purple mane as she galloped madly through Ponyville. He was being bounced around like a basketball. "I'm going to fall off!"

"I'm sorry, Spike but we must hurry," she told him rather dramatically as she trotted along. "Speed is of the essence, especially if we want to rescue our dear Twilight from the claws of that dreadful villain."

"But, Rarity," he began to argue. "How can it be Discord? You and the others defeated him months ago!"

"I don't have the faintest idea," she replied, truthfully. How would she know? How would anyone know? "All I am aware of is that he's back and he's kidnaped our dear Twilight!"

"But how do you even know it's him?"

"That fur you found," she responded. "I'd recognize that color and" - here she made an awful face as if the memory disgusted her.-" smell anywhere."

Spike hadn't really gotten a good look at Discord during the brief period he'd actually seen him so he would just have to take her word for it. He just wondered if the others would be as willing to think it was him and...If it was him what did he want with Twilight anyway?

The baby dragon figured they'd all find out eventually, if Rarity's hypothesis was right and Twilight hadn't just gone out on a quest for the princess or something.

He started to ask her about this but by then they'd run into Pinkie Pie. The pink pony, who was standing just outside her aunt and uncles sweet shop, smiled and waved a hoof when she saw them. "Hey, Rarity and Spike!" the hyperactive pony called.

The unicorn ran up to her and grabbed her tail in her teeth. "No time for pleasantries," she responded all business like, "we have a problem!"

"Hey!" the pink mare exclaimed, being drug down the street. "Watch it! That's the only tail I have!" then she noticed Spike riding the white unicorn. "Hey, Spike, what's up?" she asked as if she'd totally forgotten her friend was dragging her away.

"Discord." he said.

"Discord?" Pinkie Pie giggled. "Oh, Spike, you're so silly!" she patted his head with a hoof. "That's a funny joke. If Discord was up we'd all be down!" she gasped. "Unless you plan on becoming Discord! Oh Spike, why would you do such a thing?"

Spike facepalmed. Something told him it would take quite a bit of explaining before Pinkie Pie finally understood what he was talking about. He wasn't looking forward to doing it either because the pink mare tended to make people get confused after a while by asking random questions.

Rarity galloped all the way to Fluttershy's home. The kind pink and yellow Pegasus was out feeding some baby bunnies but she looked up when Rarity and the others called to her.

"Good afternoon," she said with her soft voice, smiling. "Are you here to help me feed the baby animals?"

Two of the bunnies looked up at the other creatures with big baby eyes as if they were asking the same question.

Before Rarity could reply Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Spike wants to become Discord!"

"What?" the yellow pegasus asked totally confused.

"It's true!" Pinkie Pie rambled on before anyone had a chance to correct her. "He told me himself!"

Fluttershy looked at Spike who waved his hands in front of himself. "Hold on!" he exclaimed. "I didn't say that at all! I'd never want to be like Discord!"

"Exactly!" Rarity exclaimed, stamping a hoof into the ground as if that settled the matter.

"Then why did he say that?" Pinkie Pie wanted to know.

"I didn't!" the baby dragon protested.

"You did!"

"Did not!"

"Umm..." Fluttershy cut in shyly. "Can you two not fight; you're scaring the bunnies..."

They both looked at her to see three little bunnies cowering behind the yellow pegasus.

"Oh, sorry." Spike and Pinkie Pie said, backing away from each other.

Rarity stepped forward. "Anyway, the problem is not about Spike." she gave Pinkie Pie a look that clearly told her not to say anything further. "Spike is not trying to become Discord. He meant he was talking about Discord."

Fluttershy looked at her. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Rarity looked at her intently. "Discord has kidnapped Twilight!"

Fluttershy and Pinkie both gasped, shocked. "What?" the yellow pegasus asked.

"Yes!" Rarity confirmed dramatically. "He came right into her room and took her!"

Suddenly Pinkie Pie giggled.

"What's so funny?" the unicorn demanded.

"How can Discord kidnap Twilight?" she asked, giggling. "He's a stone statue!"

"Obviously he's not," Rarity said hotly. "Because he has taken her."

"Umm how do you know?" Fluttershy asked carefully. She did not want to draw the same conclusion, partly because of what he'd done to her, and partly because she did not have any desire to confront the creature again. "I mean do you have any proof that he took Twilight?"

"I have this!" she claimed, using her horn's magic to show them the fur.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both leaned toward it to get a better look. After a moment Fluttershy let out a little shriek and backed up, looking scared. The bunnies hid behind her. Pinkie Pie on the other hand prodded the fur with a hoof. "How did you get that from him anyway?" she asked. "Did you chop it off with a knife?"

"We didn't get it from him," the white unicorn retorted. "It was on the floor in Twilight's bedroom."

The other ponies gasped.

"You mean Discord broke into Twilight's bedroom?" Fluttershy asked.

Rarity nodded. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."

"But why would he want Twilight?" Pinkie Pie wanted to know.

No one could answer that question.

After a moment, Fluttershy looked at Rarity. "We should tell Applejack and Rainbow Dash what happened," she said. "If it's not too much trouble."

Rarity stamped a hoof. "Of course we'll tell them!" she exclaimed. "They must know about this too!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, determined. She was starting to get really into it. "It will take all five of us to save Twilight from that creepy creep!"

"Exactly what I was thinking!" Rarity stated. "And the sooner the better!"

She looked at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, see if you can find Rainbow Dash." The pegasus nodded as the unicorn turned to Pinkie pie. "Pinkie Pie, you get Applejack."

"Okeey dokie, Loki!" the pink pony nodded.

"Umm what are you going to do?" Fluttershy asked carefully.

"Spike and I will do some more investigating," Rarity replied dramatically. "Surely someone saw something and it's up to us to find out what!" then she galloped away with the poor baby dragon clinging to her back.

The other two ponies watched her run off then looked at each other. "Well I think I'll go get Applejack now," Pinkie Pie said, trotting off.

Fluttershy nodded, taking flight. Finding Rainbow Dash might take a while so she knew she had to start looking right away. Plus, she was worried about Twilight and wanted to find her as soon as possible before something terrible happened to her.

"I just hope Twilight's all right," she said as she flew off into the sky.

Twilight Sparkle rubbed her muzzle against the floor, hoping dislodge the blindfold impairing her vision.

It had been hours since Discord had taunted her and she was feeling relieved enough to try to regain her vision. She didn't know why he'd blindfolded her but something told her that he was trying to keep her from seeing where she was.

But why?

Why would he hide that from her, especially since he took such precaution to make sure she couldn't escape anyway? Was it part of that game he'd mentioned? Or was it something else, something much more important?

Well Twilight was determined to find out. Even if she had no idea where this place was at least being able to see it would help her feel better. The cloth felt like it was loosening up and she rubbed harder, hoping to make it fall off finally.

After what seemed like forever the blindfold slipped away from her eyes and rested up on her forehead like a bandana and she was now able to get her first look at the place where Discord was holding her captive.

She seemed to be in some kind of dungeon cell, though it didn't look exactly like one, unless he'd let a bunch of fillies loose in it. The walls were covered in bright colored paint in odd shapes and sizes. Some of the lines looked like they were drawings of ponies but she couldn't be sure of that. And the floors colors contrasted horribly with the wall, being plaid and polka dotted. It was a mass chaos of colors, just what Discord was known for.

She stared at her surroundings, confused. Where in the world was she?

She looked at the wall and trotted over, running her hoof over the drawings. Suddenly the pony drawing she had touched seemed to come alive, turning its head and grinning madly at her, chuckling insanely.

Twilight gasped and backed up. The wall before her rippled slightly then went back to normal. She blinked totally confused. What had that been?

Discord was probably playing with her head, she figured, or his influence was just doing what it was created to do and that was actually a normal occurrence in this place. Either way she didn't want a repeat of it and she kept her distance from the walls.

She sat down, looking around herself. The room had a window but it was too high for her to climb out of and she could see what looked like storm clouds outside. These weren't pink or raining chocolate milk either.

"I wonder if he's keeping the chaos locked up inside this place so his location isn't given away," she mused.

That sounded logical. It was obvious he had no intention of being found any time soon, but she wondered how long that would last. Discord liked madness; it amused him. It would only be a matter of time before his true nature got the best of him and he started causing trouble.

How long would that be, though?

She had no intention of sticking around long enough to find out.

The purple unicorn looked down at the metal collar around her neck and the chain connecting it to a metal peg on the wall. There had to be a way to get this thing off her. She pawed at the chain with her hoof, looking thoughtful.

"Hmmm..."

"Something on your mind, Twilight Sparkle?" a voice spoke up.

She gasped and turned toward the door of her cell. Discord stood outside it looking in at her. He wasn't happy.

"Discord!" she exclaimed. How long had he been standing there?

"You just had to do it, didn't you?" he demanded, looking both hurt and annoyed at the same time. "You just had to go and break the rules."

Twilight jumped to her hooves, facing him directly. What did he mean by that? How had she broken his rules? She was about to ask him that but he suddenly snapped his fingers and disappeared, taking her with him.