Before anypony had a chance to stop her, Rainbow Dash bolted over to Discord and sock him the hardest punch she's ever given, and knocked him to the ground.
"Stop this IMMEDIATELY!" Cadence yelled, using her magic to pull the blue pegasus away from the fallen Draconequus.
Discord made a low groan as he rubbed the side of his head. "Geeze. I guess that's the thanks I get for saving the Princess's life." he said. Glaring at Rainbow Dash.
"Are you out of your MIND, Cadence?!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "That's Discord! Discord!"
"Yes. I am aware of that, Rainbow Dash." Cadence said.
"WE CAN'T TRUST HIM!"
"Whether we can trust him or not is something that will be determined in the future. Sombra's attack on Canterlot is a clear declaration of war." Cadence added ominously. "And it appears that the Changelings have formed an alliance with him as well. The attack on both Ponyville and Canterlot isn't a simple coincidence."
"But how are we going to defeat him now that Elements of Harmony are gone?" Pinkie Pie asked mournfully.
"I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that, Pinkie Pie." Cadence replied sadly. "And with the Crystal Heart having been destroyed, I'm afraid there is no way of officially stopping him. We can wound him all we want, but killing him is going to be a rather challenging task."
"But there must be a way!" Rarity said. "Even without having to use the Elements or the Crystal Heart."
"Actually..." Discord chimed in, "There is a way."
The mares looked over to the Draconequus with confused expressions. "How so?" Rainbow Dash asked. Her eyes fixed on his to make sure he isn't lying or trying to pull something off.
"What if I told you that there weren't six Elements of Harmony in the beginning, but twelve?"
"If this is another one of your tricks, Discord, then I'm going to kick your ass." Applejack snapped.
"I'm not." Discord replied in a serious tone. Something they thought they wouldn't hear from the Draconequus. "In the beginning there twelve Elements of Harmony. The Elements of Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic are the ones Luna and Celestia chose to wield while they hid the six other Elements by scattering them all over Equestria. Said elements are Trust, Sincerity, Patience, Love, Sanity, and Leadership."
"But why didn't they keep all twelve?" Pinkie Pie asked. Even though she didn't believe him entirely.
"It was too much power for the both of them to handle." Discord replied. "So they kept the ones they saw necessary and scattered the others to six different locations in Equestria. But said locations are a mystery."
Silence filled the throne room once Discord had finished. The six mares, plus Cadence, looked up at the Draconequus with blank expressions before they suddenly burst into hard fits of laughter. All but Fluttershy.
"Wow, Discord. That was actually a good story." Applejack said as she wiped a tear away.
"You almost had me going there." Rarity added.
"Twelve Elements of Harmony." Pinkie Pie laughed, "That's just unbelievable!"
Even Cadence couldn't help but laugh softly. Finding it rather hard to believe. "My aunts never said anything about twelve Elements of Harmony." she said, "They always told me that there were only six."
Discord's eyes narrowed and he stomped his lizard foot on the ground in frustration. "I'm not even joking this time! What I'm saying is the truth! I may have pulled off a lot of pranks and told many lies in my time, but this one is for real!" To his dismay, the ponies only laughed harder. Fluttershy, however, only continued to look up at him. What happened next would forever change his life.
The yellow pegasus walked up to him, gently grabbed his lion paw, and said, "I believe you, Discord."
The laughter from the other ponies came to an abrupt halt and the throne room was filled with silence once more. Fluttershy noticed the shocked and dismayed look on her friends faces, but she didn't care as much.
"Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said, "Are you serious right now?"
"Yes." Fluttershy replied bluntly. Speaking as though there was nothing wrong with it. Her friends were speechless. Even Discord himself was surprised. There were no tricks. No deceit. No signs of a mind control spell in use. Fluttershy was sincere and truthful.
"But...why?" Trixie asked.
"Because I looked in his eyes while he was talking, and I saw that he was telling the truth. If he wasn't aiming on helping us, then he wouldn't have told us about this. He could've just told Sombra or went out to find and keep them for himself. But he didn't."
"She...has a good point." Cadence admitted.
"But Discord's evil! He was probably born evil!" Rainbow Dash protested.
"Evil is never born, Rainbow Dash. Evil is created." Cadence said firmly. Rainbow Dash frowned, but didn't say anything after that. Cadence took a few steps forward to Discord and said, "We'll believe you on this one, Discord. But if this is another one of your tricks..."
"It's not, princess. You have my word." Discord said.
Cadence gave him a suspicious look. "If you say so, then." she said before looking back at the others. "Which reminds me. You're all probably wondering why I had you come to Canterlot today. Or night."
"I can fix that." Discord said before he snapped his fingers. In the blink of an eye, the moon went down and was replaced by the sun.
"Hey! It's daylight now!" Pinkie Pie squealed happily as she ran over to one of the windows and stared at the blue sky happily. The others quickly joined her and together they basked in the warm light.
"It must be noon by now." Applejack commented.
"If night lasted until noon, then that means Luna must really be alive!" Fluttershy said happily. Feeling her heart swell with hope.
"Wow. For once you actually put your magic into good use, Discord. Other than health my aunt." Cadence said.
"All in a day's work." Discord said proudly. "'Tia wasn't the only one who had the ability to raise both the sun and the moon."
"So I see." Cadence smiled a small smile. There was a moment of silence before Cadence looked up at the Draconequus. "Were you really serious about the six other Elements?" she asked.
Discord nodded. "The reason why I know this is that I was there when we first found them sometime after the Great Dragonic War."
Cadence suddenly looked a bit surprised. "You know of the war?" she asked.
Discord let a scoff and placed his eagle claw on his chest. "Well, of course I do! I was a mere infant when the war began."
"Is it true that the Draconequus didn't ally with either sides?"
"My species tried to avoid getting involved as much as possible. But we were caught in the middle, unfortunately." Discord then crossed his arms. "Why do you want to know this all of a sudden?"
Cadence opened her mouth to reply, only to snap it close when she heard the mares returning to them. "Now that we've gotten one problem out of the way, let us continue. War is looming on the horizon now. Because of the attack in Canterlot, we've lost a good portion of our stallions. Because of this, I'm going to have to draft some ponies into the Royal Guard. Mares or Stallions."
The mares froze when they heard. Pinkie Pie swallowed nervously as she shakely opened her mouth to speak. "A-are you saying that we should j-join the Royal Guard?" she asked nervously.
To her relief, and everypony elses, Cadence smiled and shook her head. "No. It's too soon to draft from Ponyville and Canterlot. Or anywhere for that matter. For now we need to take the time to heal, rebuild, and strategize for our retaliation attack."
"What should we do for the time being then?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Help out any pony you can back in Ponyville. It's going to be a long road to recovery for all of us. Now you are all dismissed."
The mares bowed their heads respectfully before making their way to the double doors. While watching them leave, Discord bent down to Cadence's ear and asked, "Why didn't you tell them what you told me?"
"They're not ready to know." Cadence replied simply. "If what Rarity and Trixie told Celestia is true, then we must find these dragons before Sombra does." she then paused and sighed. "But the funny thing is: we don't even know who these dragons are."
"Hmm." Discord stroked his beard thoughtfully. "The war happened two thousand years ago. I can vaguely even remember it. All I know is that almost my entire species has been wiped out because of it." The Draconequus stiffened at the thought. His hatred towards dragons returning after two thousand years of being locked away.
"Until then. Let's just hope and pray he doesn't attempt another attack." Cadence said softly. "And if you're telling the truth about those six other Elements, then they better find them soon. Before we all succumb to the darkness..."
X.X
Oh, dear. This can't be good :/
Lusaphira: Yeah xD
Ms. Moonshoes Potter: Yeeeeeeeeeeep!
xSOLO GAMERx: Don't worry. I don't plan on killing either because I like Luna and I respect Derpy.
BlargleArgle: No clue, actually.
Wild Heart1997: That might not be for a LOOOOOONG while now.
Northgalus2002: Pinkamena will not be appearing, I'm afraid :3 Pinkie might have her moments, but nothing crazy.
