Chapter 14

Celestia walked through the forest with caution. She knew that Luna (and Screwball) was in pursuit of Cord and she didn't want to be shown. At least not yet.

Celestia closed her eyes and focused for a sound. Any kind of sound would at least alert her of their presence somewhere. It was oddly quiet though. Not even any birds were chirping and the wind felt still.

"No matter. They should be at Ponyville soon." Celestia thought as she made her way towards Ponyville. The guards should've evacuated all the citizens by now and be ready for their attack. Celestia would just hope that nopony, including Cord, was hurt in the process.

Celestia saw something ahead. A dark silhouette of a pony was ahead, prompting Celestia to speed up. The closer she got the more clear the figure became. She then smiled as she eventually recognized the figure.

"Luna" Celestia thought. She halted and began walking slower in case Cord was nearby. Although, all thoughts of being stealthy when Celestia got a better view of Luna. Immediately Celestia trotted as fast as she could over to her sister.

"Luna!" Celestia exclaimed as she finally reached her. She was a light shade of gray and looked stunned. Stoned. Celestia frowned, of course Cord would choose to stone her of all things.

Celestia took a quick peak around the area. Cord was nowhere in sight. Come to think of it, where was Screwball?

"Hey Sunbutt! Up here!" A voice called out.

For a moment she thought it was Discord, after all who else would call her 'Sunbutt', but she recognized the voice and looked up. What she saw as an odd sight to say the least. First she saw Screwball, in a giant floating box. Inside the box was full of everything you'd see in a normal bedroom. Although everything seemed to be made out of chocolate. The chocolate bed had a hole in it though.

"Care to give me a hand?" Screwball called down. Celestia snapped out of her daze and flew up to the box.

"What happened?" Celestia asked. Screwball shrugged.

"Well I guess I just decided to take a break from saving my father from death" Screwball sarcastically said as she kicked the bed.

"Did Cord do this to you?" Celestia asked. Screwball looked annoyed.

"No, why would you think that?" She asked again in a more harsh tone. Celestia gave a stern expression and Screwball sighed.

"Sorry, but when I'm surrounded by pineapple-flavored chocolate it tends to tick me off" Screwball admitted as she again kicked the bed. She growled loudly.

"HE MUST'VE KNOW I HATE PINEAPPLE!" She added in fury.

"Screwball, why did he turn my sister into stone but he imprisoned you?" Celestia asked. Screwball shrugged.

"Probably just so he could fill the room with PINEAPPLE!" Screwball shouted. Celestia eyed the box in confusion.

In reality Screwball knew exactly why he did it. Screwball had chaos magic. Chaos magic is very hard to control and even harder to contain. Admittingly she didn't know much chaos magic but it was still enough to easily break her free considering how low on magic Discord is. The only reason Discord took as long as he did to break free was because the elements of harmony was so strong. Unicorn magic on the other hand is very easy to contain.

"Surely it takes more energy to maintain what I assume to be magic-proof box. He should've know better than to-"

"GAH! I CAN STILL TASTE IT!" Screwball interrupted. She didn't want Celestia questioning it. Celestia sighed.

"Regardless, we need to get you both out." Celestia said.

"Maybe try simply blasting it." Screwball suggested. Of course she knew it would work but she didn't want Celestia knowing that.

"Alright. Stand clear." Celestia ordered as she focused all her magic to her horn. Screwball simply walked behind the bed, well not before gagging a bit at it.

Celestia made sure her magic didn't spread beyond a certain point, kind of like a laser, in order to just penetrate a hole into it. Celestia then released all the magic, which took the form of a small beam, and sent it towards the box.

The box didn't explode nor shake but instead it absorbed the magic. As soon as the beam hit the box it just redirected it around the box until it diminished. Celestia frowned.

"I suspected Disco- 'Cord' wouldn't make it easy for us." Celestia sighed. Screwball gladly stepped away from her bed shield and again shrugged.

"Go on without me, he's weak so this won't last too long anyways." Screwball replied. Celestia nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Be safe my little pony." Celestia said as she began to descend back to her sister.

"Ugh. Spare me." Screwball replied as she laid down to get a view of Luna.

Celestia walked over to Luna. Although to unstatue somepony you needed the elements of harmony, two powerful alicorns could likely break out anyways. They needed to simultaneously focus all their magic to breaking the spell.

"Alright Luna, on the count of three we both focus our magic." Celestia said as she began to focus her magic on her horn. Luna of course couldn't respond.

"One… Two…"

WAIT

Celestia was so stunned she lost her focus and her magic dispelled. That sounded like-

Tia! Don't use the spell!

"Luna?" Celestia answered as she eyed the statue confusingly.

Thank the moon that you can hear me.

Celestia was confused. She wondered why she could hear her sister through the statue. Perhaps the spell Celestia uses to hear Discord when he is statued (for questioning purposes) somehow carried over to Luna. Or maybe it was somehow activated. Regardless it didn't matter.

Listen Tia. A spell has been placed on me. If you attempt to free me it'll just end with you being stoned yourself. I'm afraid Cord thought of everything.

"So you're saying I shouldn't free you?" Celestia asked.

We were wrong about Cord. He is somehow regaining his magic. It may be best we… Surrender.

"Surrender?"

Yes. We may be able to negotiate with him in order to save our subjects from-

"Sister you know we can't do that. Surrendering to him means he will just wreak chaos somewhere else. Even if it isn't ponies he harms, I can't bear the guilt of letting him hurt innocent lives."

…

"Do not fret my sister. I know that my fateful student will find a way to stop him."

What if she doesn't? All of Equestria is will be thrown out of balance!

"That may be a risk, but-"

We both know how strong he is at his full power. I fear Cord may be somehow undoing the spell we placed on him all those years ago.

"What?" Celestia exclaimed.

I thought much into it. I was certain he used up all the magic he had and he can't regenerate when he is split. The only explanation is that he is beginning to tap into his full power.

It was Celestia's turn to be shocked into silence.

Even if it doesn't regenerate, he will still have enough to be able to completely destroy Equestria. We can't let that happen. Not even the Elements of Harmony can defeat him at his full power. We both got lucky the first time. The only way out is to agree to his terms and-

At this point Celestia had turned away from Luna's statue.

Sister?

"It was because of my cowardly instincts that I didn't wish to confront you all those years ago. I continued telling myself that you would be alright without my help. As a result of my fears, you became Nightmare Moon."

…

"Just as I won't lose you to Nightmare Moon, I won't lose Discord to 'Cord' or 'Disk'. We will find a way Luna. Don't worry. Just leave it to us."

Before Luna could respond, Celestia had already spread her wings and ascended. She didn't look back as she flew away, leaving Luna behind. Although she had no doubt in her mind that they can stop Cord before it was too late. Besides, she needed to check on Disk. He should be done deciding soon.

… Curses Sunbutt. Making things less fun as usual…

Disk didn't know why he continued to rush through the forest after teleporting. He knew that he put a good distance between himself and the other 5 but he just KNEW Twilight could find him again. He couldn't rest or relax at all. He needed to keep running.

"Um… Discord?" A small voice asked from his side.

Disk almost fell over from the surprise. Right. He almost forgot he ponynapped Fluttershy. Wait was she awake this whole time? Did she even fall asleep? Why wasn't she struggling?

"Y-Yes Fluttershy?" Disk asked a bit worryingly.

"Um, you're kind of… hurting me." Fluttershy pointed out. It was at this moment that Disk noticed he was carrying her more like a rock rather than a pony. He had looped his arm around her stomach and was pressing her towards him.

"Oh sorry!" Disk yelped as he came to a halt and gently placed her down. Man he just couldn't get anything right.

"It's ok" Fluttershy reassured as she attempted to stand up. What resulted was her feet wobbling slightly before she decided to sit back down.

"You're weak" Disk stated.

"Yes, I guess Twilight's spell also affects- Wait Discord!" Fluttershy exclaimed when she saw him backing away from her like he was frightened.

"That was supposed to be for me… and you're suffering for it." Disk stated in a voice that almost didn't sound like Discord (nor Disk).

"Discord it's not-" Fluttershy began.

"It's not WHAT? Not my fault? Then whose fault is it then?" Disk asked.

"Nopony's fault!" Fluttershy tried. Disk chuckled, but it sounded forced.

"Up until this point, everything that has happened was because of me. Why would now be any different?" Disk harshly asked.

"Discord…"

"Please stop calling me that. It just proves my point." Disk sighed.

"Huh? What do you me-"

"Oh chaos what am I doing? I should be healing you." Disk thought out loud as he slowly approached Fluttershy again. Her eyes were full of worry.

"Disc- Uh… What do you want me to call you?" Fluttershy asked. Disk shrugged as he positioned both his hands on top of Fluttershy's back. She let out a small 'eek' at this but Disk ignored it.

"I guess what everyone else calls me: Evil, Crazy, no-good. Take your pick." Disk joked. Fluttershy looked up to him and let a smile form on her face.

"How about 'Friend?'" She asked.

"Oh sure. That would be the day." Disk bitterly said. Before Fluttershy could retort he interrupted. "Tell me if it hurts. I don't heal that often."

"Oh. Ok." Fluttershy went. In all honesty chaos magic isn't meant for healing, but it is incredibly unpredictable in untrained hands. Disk knew he needed to be calm and collective if this was to work.

He closed his eyes and focused. All he could see was darkness. Nothing but darkness. Nothing he wasn't used too at this point though. He let himself focus more on the sound of the wind brushing the grass around him. For the moment, nothing mattered. He didn't care how this would all turn out. If he was imprisoned again or if he ran out of magic and well… bit the dust.

The only thing that mattered to him right now was Fluttershy.

He let his magic surge to his palms. It was now or never. He began letting his magic leave his palms towards its target. He was waiting for Fluttershy to respond with 'ow!' or something, letting him know that he once again messed up, but it didn't come. He continued for a good minute before Fluttershy finally said something.

"Um, I feel better now." Fluttershy claimed. Disk let his palms drop and he batted an eye open. Sure enough, Fluttershy was slowly standing back up on all five hooves. Wait what?

"Ah chaos!" Disk exclaimed when he saw he accidently gave Fluttershy an extra hoof. She either didn't notice it on her back or she was very calm about it.

"What is it?" She asked. Disk forced himself to snap his fingers and unsummon the extra hoof. Fluttershy heard the flash behind her and she turned around. Luckily it was gone.

"N-Nothing" Disk claimed. Of course he messed up again. At least she felt better.

"Well, thank you" Fluttershy brightly said. Disk awkwardly smiled before he turned around.

"Well… I'll be going now" Disk slowly said as he began ascending.

"W-Wait! Where are you going!" Fluttershy called out.

"I… Don't know" Disk admitted. Wherever Celestia went was nowhere he knew of. Surely if she was still nearby then she would've heard the commotion.

"Please don't go!" Fluttershy called as she attempted to fly. For some reason she couldn't fly. She did hear in school that Pegasus use magic in their wings to fly. Maybe the spell wasn't taken off.

"Disco- I… I.." Fluttershy stumbled to find the right words. Seeing that she couldn't get Disk's attention as he looked around.

"I'M SORRY!"

That caught Disk off guard. He looked back down at Fluttershy with a confused look.

"What do you mean? You didn't-" Disk began but silenced himself when he saw something.

Fluttershy was crying.

Disk quickly descended again right in front of her. He looked like he was panicking.

"What's wrong!? What did I do!?" Disk quickly asked.

"Ha. Ha. Nothing. It's just… Funny." Fluttershy weakly said between sobs. She attempted to wipe of her tears but they were sliding down faster than she could wipe them.

"Please stop crying! I'm sorry!" Disk attempted as he instinctively kneeled down to her and almost grabbed her. Fluttershy, now at eye-to-eye level with him, focused more on him.

"W-Why are y-you sorry? This is all my fault." Fluttershy said as she began shaking a bit.

"Wha-" Disk went.

"I was the one who let Twilight put the spell on you. I was the one who overreacted and made you leave. I was the one who took the blast from the spell, making Twilight think you wanted to hurt me. I failed Princess Celestia. I failed you. I'm sorry…" Fluttershy said.

"Fluttershy… I…" Disk went.

"Fluttershy! Where are you!" A voice called out from the distance.

Disk, having no time to fly out of there, picked up Fluttershy (more carefully this time) and began running for his life once more. Fluttershy didn't react, she just quietly sobbed into his shoulder.

I was originally going to have Disk run off and then Fluttershy run into Cord thinking it was him, but then I decided to go with some Fluttershy Disk bonding instead. Just a minor detail I thought I'd mention ;)

Still very lazy. Sorry to those of you who actually have the patience to put up with me. Thanks to SpiritFighter208 (and his/her sister) for getting me to actually finish this.

As always, stay cool and have a good Spring Break. (If you haven't done so.)