Help in dark places

On this day, Twilight had gathered her friends together around the cutie map to tell them the important news. She and Star Swirl had been researching and reviewing theories together about Shade Soul, and now they have gained an upper hand. At least, a tactic that could work against him.

"That scary pony IS the darkness? No wonder he seemed familiar!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

"Sure explains a whole lot," nodded Applejack.

"Oh, those poor creatures being controlled…" said Fluttershy, remembering the corrupted beasts they had faced before.

"I must say, what is the deal with his hood?" inquired Rarity.

"We were literally up against a monster and you question his clothes?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"But why would a shadow pony wear a hood like that one? It's almost as if he's hiding something," replied Rarity.

"I would be surprised if he wasn't hiding something from us," said Twilight.

"And I can tell you, for a pony our size, he's more athletic than he looks," noted Starlight. "I wasn't able to hold him off for long before I got hit by his injection…"

"The point is," said Twilight. "There's a threat out there who's more dangerous than we could've ever imagined. We can't let Equestria fall into his hooves."

"So what is the plan, Twilight?" asked Starlight.

"Well, me and Star Swirl have figured out how to give ourselves more protection through armour. We don't know when Shade Soul will attack, but we clearly we need more barriers in case he returns. If you all could find, or make as many clothing as you can, we should have enough for everypony to wear when he pounces."

"Oh, you won't have to worry a thing about that, Twilight!" said Rarity, perking up at the mention of clothing.

"You can count on us!" agreed Rainbow Dash confidently. And the others agreed.

"Thank you, all of you. Now, I'd better go and alert the Princesses. The last thing we want is Equestria being turned into a chaotic zone, like when Discord took over," said Twilight.

As if on cue, Discord appeared right next to Twilight out of thin air.

"Did somepony mention my name?"

"Gah!" yelped Twilight. Turning around, she wasn't amused. "Oh, it's just you, Discord. What are you here for?"

"Sorry for my… grand entrance, but I can't help overhearing your conversation about extra preparations. For what exactly?"

Twilight told Discord about their encounter with Shade Soul and their plan to gain more protection in case he attacks again.

"So this 'Shade Soul' guy made all of Equestria dark and chaotic? Hmph. Copycat if I've ever heard of one," muttered Discord.

"He's way more powerful than you can imagine, Discord. It wouldn't be wise to underestimate him if you ever come across him," warned Twilight.

"Really? I'm pretty sure you ponies have taken care of him by yourselves if he's not seen anywhere now," replied Discord.

"We did, but only barely, and not without help. I'd love to give you more details, but we have tasks to focus on now, if you don't mind."

Twilight and her friends got up and left the throne room. Twilight's friends went out to gather clothing, while Twilight headed for Canterlot. Discord was left alone in the throne room. He turned around to look at his own shadow.

"A shadow pony being a threat to Equestria? How completely," began Discord.

He blinked, and then, instead of the shadow of his draconequus body, there was the shadow of a pony with glowing eyes.

"…ridiculous…" Discord's voice trailed away as he couldn't believe what was in front of him.

He rubbed his eyes, and when he looked forward again, the shadow was of his draconequus body again. Discord took both of his eyeballs out of his face with his hands and held them front of him facing his direction.

"Are you two playing tricks on me again?" he asked them.

Their pupils rolled up inside them. Discord put them back, and now began feeling unsure if Twilight was right about him after all.

Twilight was in Canterlot castle, talking to Celestia and Luna about her and Star Swirl's research and plans.

"I'm glad that you're aware how serious this matter appears to have become, Twilight," said Celestia. "Clearly more defence is necessary."

"Because we have a feeling our new foe is focused on taking over all of Equestria," said Luna. "We have sent out letters to rulers all over Equestria and their kingdoms, letting them know about the threat endangering us. They should all be working on defending their kingdoms now, just like we plan on doing the same here."

"That's wonderful!" exclaimed Twilight. "Now we would be ready for any potential attack!"

All of a sudden, Discord appeared in front of her again.

"Pardon me, your majesties. But have I heard that you are planning to give ourselves more protection from, whatever he is?" said Discord.

"Yes, but, why would you be concerned about that, may I ask?" replied Celestia.

"No reason. But I was wondering if I could be of assistance with that," said Discord as he suddenly had a detective outfit on and a notepad in his hands. "I've got a whole load of different ideas for how to make this place unreachable."

"Discord don't you dare," warned Twilight, but it was too late.

A second later, the whole castle was completely covered in sticky, bright orange gloop.

"No one can get inside this place with this trap covering it," exclaimed Discord proudly.

"But, then how could anyone get out, hmm?" asked Celestia.

"Oh… I never thought about that. Oh well," Discord crossed it off on his notepad. "Maybe there is a better way…"

The gloop disappeared from the castle, and in its place, there were huge spikes covering the column walls, some on the floorboards and maces hung from the ceiling.

"No, Discord! This won't work!" snapped Twilight impatiently.

"Oh, for heaven's sake! I guess I could tone it down a little."

Discord, with another snap from his fingers, made the spikes disappear. And then he summoned a swarm of armoured bats on the ceiling. They began flying down all over the place, shrieking their heads off.

"Enough, Discord!" yelled Twilight, who by now had gotten so annoyed with the draconequus. "I appreciate your offers, but you don't know how capable Shade Soul is! We can protect ourselves without your help, thank you very much!"

Discord looked disappointed.

"Alright then. I'll stay out of your way, if that's what you want."

Discord got rid of his traps and disappeared from the castle.

Discord came to the edge of Everfree forest and thought to himself.

"Why wouldn't they let me help? Surely I'm the most helpful creature in all of Equestria."

Then he realized.

"Of course! If I can't help out in Canterlot, I could do so in other parts of Equestria!"

Another Discord figure came up beside him.

"Oh, you're so clever, me."

"No, no, you're too kind, me." replied Discord.

In the Crystal Empire, Shining Armour, Princess Cadance and their daughter, Flurry Heart were in their throne room. They had received the letter from the Princess Sisters and were reading their announcements.

"This doesn't sound good in the slightest," said Cadance to her husband.

"It certainly isn't," replied Shining Armour. "Sounds like we'd better bring forward extra patrols and guards around here."

And all the time, Flurry Heart was reaching out with her small hooves to grab the letter they've been reading.

Suddenly, Discord appeared in front of them.

"Greetings," he greeted with a smirk.

"Discord! What brings you here?" asked Cadance.

"I'm here on official Equestrian business. As you can see, some random dark pony is out here somewhere, who simply wants to cover Equestria in a big shadow blanket, or something like that. I would like to help protect your kingdom. Extra barriers, deadly traps, magic force fields, whatever you need," he replied.

And before they knew it, the royal family saw themselves surrounded by guard hounds, spiky walls, pits of quicksand and many other traps Discord had summoned.

"We appreciate your ideas, but we can take care of our kingdom totally fine," stated Shining Armour sternly.

Discord's face fell. Right off his neck. He caught it and screwed it back on himself.

"Are you sure you don't need any assistance?" he asked them.

"We're quite sure, thanks," replied Cadance.

Discord sighed and got rid of everything he summoned.

"Very well, then," he said, before disappearing out of sight.

Discord didn't give up right there. He tried convincing leaders of other kingdoms that they might need help. Thorax with his kingdom of changelings. Dragon Lord Ember and her kingdom of dragons. Princess Skystar and her kingdom of hippogriffs. Grampa Griffon and his kingdom of griffons. But no matter how hard he tried, none of them would accept his offers to help out. At last, Discord gave up trying, when no creature accepted.

Discord went back to his house in Chaosville. He didn't feel very great that day.

"I don't understand it. Does nopony in Equestria trust me? What am I doing wrong?"

The lights on his house suddenly turned off, and a spotlight shown on him from the floor. Then another light shone on a desk on the ceiling and a chair behind it. It turned around, and revealed another figure of Discord, wearing a police uniform.

"The question isn't what ARE you doing wrong, but what HAVE you done wrong, suspect."

Discord then found himself gestured on another chair, and glided upwards, turning upside down and facing the questioner.

"What do you mean I have done wrong? I'm innocent! You gotta believe me, officer!" he retorted.

"Oh are you sure about that?" asked the figure. He reached out and twisted Discord's antler horn around. Grey blur shone over Discord's eyes, like a movie getting started. "Let's rewind to your bad deeds, shall we?"

Discord's vision became black-and-white, and he saw the events of when he turned Ponyville into a chaotic playground for himself, before getting turned to stone by the Mane Six. He saw himself betraying the Mane Six and handing over to Lord Tirek, only for him to get betrayed himself as well. He saw himself threatening to send Tree Hugger to another dimension. The events of him teaching Twilight about jealousy played in front of him. Discord endangering the students in the School of Friendship while Starlight was put in charge appeared as well.

Then Discord's vision returned to normal.

"Good point. I guess I'm not the golden pony or teacher's pet or anything, but I've changed! I have no desire to take over Equestria myself, so that should already be trustworthy, isn't it? Plus, I've done good deeds!"

"Yes, indeed you have." said his mirrored figure. "But given your actions since you were brought back from being a statue, you don't seem to be someone to take anything seriously.

Discord was about to argue, but he realized his conscience was right.

"If you want to prove your worth and assistance to them, you'd better show them how much you really take this current situation seriously," said his conscience.

"You're right, officer! And I know exactly what I'm going to do! I'm going to go right out there, find this shadow pony, and defeat him myself! Everypony will surely appreciate my heroic deed after that."

"That's the spirit!" encouraged his conscience.

Discord stopped and stared at him.

"Uhhh, duh. I'm the spirit of chaos for crying out loud!" he replied.

Discord's conscience grinned back and disappeared.

The spirit of chaos searched high and low, far and wide, top to bottom, left and right, this way and that.

"If I were a pony, where would I hide?" thought Discord, turning himself into an old colt.

That didn't help at all, so he changed himself back into his normal form and kept on searching.

At one point, Discord appeared near the entrance to Tartarus. He looked towards the devastating place.

"If he was in there, that means he should've been captured by now. Otherwise every creature wouldn't be trying to protect themselves from," stated Discord, but then he noticed a big black patch on the ground before him. "…him…"

"What do we have here?"

Discord examined it with a monocle on one eyeball and a magnifying glass on the other.

"Looks like something crash-landed here," he noted.

Then he looked ahead, and saw very faint, but still visible hoof prints leading towards the gates of Tartarus. Now Discord wasn't feeling so confident.

"…Maybe he really is in there. I'd better go check in case I'm right."

Discord appeared inside Tartarus. He looked around, seeing the creatures in their cages. And then up ahead, he saw the two cells holding Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow inside.

"Well, well, well," he smirked as he came up to them. "You two have certainly been having a hard time."

"Who in Equestria are you?" questioned Cozy Glow.

"A former ally who betrayed me and led me to my doom, that's what," snarled Lord Tirek viciously.

"I beg your pardon?! I've just been recapping the past, and I'm pretty sure you were the one who betrayed me!" snapped the draconequus.

"It was all for a good cause, Discord," said Tirek.

"Well, enjoy your stay here for all eternity. I've got plans anyway…" Discord stopped when he realized something was wrong.

"Why is this place more dark than usual?" he asked.

Then all of a sudden, a noise came from somewhere. It was coming from down below the pillar all three of them were on. It sounded like something was stabbing the wall over and over. Then it grew louder, and louder.

"Who dares to disturb me?!" boomed a deep voice so fiercely, that it made Discord's skin jump right out of his skeleton, and before covering it up again.

And when the sound was very close, a dark pony jumped from over the edge, and landed right in front of the cells, and looked up to face Discord.

"Well, well, well, if isn't the spirit of chaos himself," stated Shade Soul feeling unimpressed.

"And you must be Shade Soul, the 'dark scary pony' that will take over Equestria?" asked Discord.

"I've been called worse before… and I would like to know why you've willing come here to this hole," replied Shade Soul.

"Well, I'm just here to defeat you and save all of Equestria in the process. Nothing much," said Discord.

Shade Soul tilted his head to one side.

"Nothing much, indeed," he repeated. "And tell me, how exactly do you think you plan on doing that?"

"Well, there are so many ideas that I don't have the motivation to write them down by hand. How about you'd like a taste of jelly?" Discord replied, equipping himself with a huge blaster. "Hope you like orange flavour."

Gloop balls shot out of it, and headed straight for Shade Soul. But the shadow pony effortlessly jumped out of the way. Dodging every attack Discord threw at him, Shade Soul just sighed. Then with a huge blast from his horn, he destroyed Discord's weapon. Shade Soul jumped back down and landed in front of the cells, where he first was when Discord noticed him.

"Very well, then. Go ahead. Defeat me. If you can," said Shade Soul, lifting a hoof and gesturing Discord to come closer.

Discord didn't hesitate. He summoned different weapons, different traps, and different objects to aim at Shade Soul. But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get the dark pony, who was much too quick and agile for him to target. And all the time Tirek and Cozy Glow were witnessing the battle unfold in front of them. They stayed silent and didn't dare to interfere.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" questioned Discord. "I could keep this up all day!"

Shade Soul dodged a swarm of flying piranhas summoned by Discord, until he snapped.

"ENOUGH!" he bellowed, as he struck one of them with his cloves.

And soon, it was corrupted by him. The piranha then turned around and started flying towards Discord instead.

"You really think that's going to work on me?" he asked as he clicked his fingers to get rid of the swarm.

All of the piranhas disappeared, but the corrupted one didn't. It just kept on flying towards him, ready to strike.

"Hey! Why aren't you gone? Stop!" Discord cried as he narrowly dodged its huge bite.

Shade Soul summoned it back to his hand, before sending it down over the pillar's edge.

"Don't bother wasting your energy on something you can't get rid of," he growled darkly. "Instead, you could save your skin, and take the greater side with more power than you could imagine."

Discord hated to admit it, but Shade Soul was pretty intimidating and scary.

"I went down that path once and paid the price for it. I'm never going back again!" he bravely stated, facing against the dark pony.

Shade Soul shook his head sadly.

"Pity. Take the weaker side, if you wish. And how about I let you know what happens to those who go down the wrong path…"

Shade Soul galloped at full speed, leaped up towards Discord, his legs outstretched and was about to strike, but Discord barely managed to escape his attack and teleported further away. Shade Soul's cloves crunched into the stone path they were on, and he looked up at Discord.

"Get out of here, you insolent twerp! Unless you want to suffer the consequences for your brief disturbance…" he snarled, lifting his hooves out of the path and running towards him again.

Discord couldn't have felt more terrified than he was feeling at that moment. Shade Soul jumped up towards him, but once again, Discord got himself out of the way before the pony could corrupt him. Shade Soul got himself up and slowly turned towards the two prisoners.

"Let this be a lesson to not mess with a powerful force you can't defeat…" he glowered.

Then he began galloping straight for them. Tirek and Cozy Glow were petrified. They backed up against their cells as far as they could, and braced themselves for the impact. Shade Soul leapt up, and instead of crashing into their cells, he landed right on top of them, and jumped over the other side, and plunged into the darkness down below, returning to healing himself. Tirek and Cozy Glow looked at each other, their faces as white as flour.

"That pony's insane…" Cozy Glow whispered in fear.

"You're telling me…" agreed Tirek.

Now they both wished Shade Soul had never come to Tartarus. They never would've thought that their prison wasn't too bad earlier.

Discord took a moment to get himself together when he was far away from Tartarus. He wore a stethoscope and listened to his heart beating on a kettle drum with sticks rapidly.

"I… I failed… they were right all along… Shade Soul is powerful… and he'll be taking over Equestria soon…"

Discord remembered Shade Soul's words about wasting energy. He looked at himself in the reflection of a pond he was beside. He didn't feel helpful to anypony at all. So instead of teleporting right back to his home in Chaosville, he decided to go for an actually normal walk, all the way to Ponyville. He didn't feel energetic and cunning now. He felt miserable and drained.

Discord made his way to Ponyville, and approached Twilight's house. He got up on the front porch and knocked on the door. A few moments later, Twilight came to answer it, and when she opened it up, she was very surprised to see him.

"Discord! What are you doing here? And… why did use the front door? Don't you usually appear out of thin air whenever you want to?" Twilight asked, feeling very confused about his lack of energy.

"Oh, Twilight. I've had a bit of a rough day today…" Discord began.

"Is it because of us refusing to accept your offers to help out?" asked Twilight. "If it is, then I'm so sorry for being too harsh on you earlier."

"No, no, Twilight. No need to apologize. If anything, I'm sorry for not taking this situation seriously. I should've realized you are capable of handling anything by yourself and your friends," said Discord.

He then turned to leave. "And that fight I had with Shade Soul has exhausted me. Perhaps I'd better go out of your way and head back home now."

At the very mention of Shade Soul, Twilight took hold of Discord, turned him around, and stared at him with huge, wide eyes.

"You fought Shade Soul?! Today?!" she asked.

"Errr, yes I did. Why is it so-" Discord began, but he wasn't able to finish what he said, because Twilight dragged him back inside, led him to her room, tucked him in bed, and got out a notepad and quill.

"Make yourself at home, Discord, if that's what you need, and please tell me everything that happened!" Twilight urged him, feeling excitement welling up inside her. Spike came in to see what the commotion was about.

"What's going on, Twilight? And why is Discord in your bed?" he asked her, and was surprised to see the spirit of chaos in her room with her.

"Spike, get ready to write down notes that are more important than ever, because Discord has some vital information we have to know," said Twilight.

"You got it!" replied Spike.

"Oh, but before I tell my story, could I perhaps ask for a glass of-" asked Discord.

"No, no, no. Not that, please," interrupted Twilight, before Discord could break into a chaotic song.

"Darn," muttered Discord.

So Discord told Twilight everything that had happened. She asked him questions and he answered with sincere honesty. He was feeling pretty shaken up by what had happened, that he didn't dare give any lies.

"And so, I did this because I wanted to defeat him myself. To do it for you, and Equestria. To be… you know, helpful," said Discord.

"But Discord," said Twilight. "You've given us information on where Shade Soul is and what he is currently doing. This is something important that everypony has got to know, because it may be useful for us."

Then Twilight realized. "You really were helpful after all, Discord. Thanks."

Discord couldn't believe it. Without realizing, he had been helpful and did a good deed for his friends. He couldn't have felt more relieved.

"No problem, princess. Anything for my friends."

Twilight went out to inform his friends and the princess sisters. Spike stayed behind.

"Got to admit, you were very helpful to us, Discord. Even if you didn't realize it at first," he said. There was no answer. "Discord?"

Spike looked, and saw that the spirit of chaos, was fast asleep in the bed. He smiled, seeing how peaceful and calm he looked.

"Sleep tight, Discord," he whispered, as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

And Discord smiled, having a wonderful rest and dreaming of Twilight and her friends saving all of Equestria together.

Writer's note: Well, here's a further continuation from the previous story, and one focusing on the spirit of chaos himself. This one was pretty fun to write, especially with the humour and intensity here and there. The moral is meant to be, that sometimes, you can be helpful to other people without realizing it. There will still be closure stories, slice-of-life situations and the arc on the Young Six's elements, mind you. Stay tuned for more coming soon!