~Chapter Four~

~The Fight~

~Fluttershy~

Discord had pushed her… It wasn't an aggressive push, but it was more… protective? She turned around, to see him standing in front of her- yes! She was right! He was in a shielding stance right now. She had always thought that she would do whatever it took to protect him, but she had never thought that he would protect her.

Fluttershy's thoughts were cut short when a ray of Twilight's magic struck the ground, causing many ponies to tremble and fall over. Then she cast another spell, it felt like an invisible wall was closing down on the ponies. Lots were screaming, as they were all forced to the ground in front of her. Forced to bow. Discord was the only one to resist, who teleported above. Fluttershy peered up, in complete fear, and he quickly teleported her up with him, too.

Fluttershy turned to the draconequus to do some questioning, when he grabbed her, stuffing his paw in her mouth to keep her silent. He doesn't want me to talk. Mumbled Fluttershy in her mind.

Twilight hadn't noticed Discord and Fluttershy above her yet, as she stood before the bowing ponies.

"Six million years…. SIX MILLION YEARS! How dare you all act so confused, you irritating, foul peasants!" Twilight snarled, infuriatedly stomping forward darkly.

Fluttershy was shivering. She was shivering harder than normal. How? But then she realized Discord was shivering too. Wow… even Discord is afraid…

Twilight stepped forward, kicking one of the ponies, who shied back in horror.

"Twilight, darling, what has gotten into you?" Rarity was brave enough, and first to speak.

A smug grin enhanced Twilight's face as she trotted up to the white unicorn and stood before her.

"Yes, that is the question most of you would be wandering right now. What has gotten into Twilight? Well, let me explain, peasants. You're dear friend Twilight has read a book she shouldn't have. In fact, it was a book on Dark Magic. Hold your gasps peasants. What a traitor, yeah, yeah. Anyway, a dark spirit has gotten into her. Oh yes, in case you didn't know, I am the dark spirit!" Twilight grinned as some ponies began to shudder and begin to cry for help.

"Fluttershy," whispered Discord. She peered up to realize he was no longer stuffing his paw in her mouth.

"Yes?" she quietly asked.

"Go contact the princesses. I will try to hold this demon back for as long as possible," Discord replied. Fluttershy nodded loyally, before spreading her wings out and flapping away. She couldn't help but peer around, to see Discord confronting Twilight. Oh, I hope he'll be alright.

Fluttershy had been flying to Twilight's palace. It was not too far from the party, and despite her slow flying, she was quick to get to the castle. She stood before the door, and right before she was about to touch it, a low, deep voice behind her said:
"halt."

She squealed and peered around, pressing her back against the door, afraid of whatever was confronting her.

A royal guard stood before her, with a stern expression on his face.

"Why are you trespassing into Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle?" he asked harshly.

"Well…" Fluttershy began, shivering, before she narrowed her eyes and glared at the guard."TWILIGHT! OH MY CELESTIA! SHE TURNED INTO A STUPID DEMON AND IS THREATENING TO DESTROY EQUESTRIA AND SHE IS GOING TO KILL EVERYONE AND I AM JUST TRYING TO GET INTO HER FLIPPING PALACE TO GET HER FLIPPING DRAGON COMPANION SPIKE SO I CAN SEND A MESSAGE TO CELESTIA! DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION? SO AM I ALLOWED IN?" Fluttershy screamed, and realized she had yelled. She quickly lowered her head, "if you don't mind, that is."

The guard gulped and nodded. "Celestia told us to report any suspicious behaviour from Twilight anyway."

Fluttershy curiously tilted her head. "Did Celestia know she was going to turn into… this?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well… she was a bit suspicious," the guard replied, before turning around and striding away, behind a tree where some fellow guards were hiding. Fluttershy opened the palace door and strolled inside.

"Spike? Are you here?" she called, looking around nervously. Why are all the lights off?

"Fluttershy? Is that you?" The baby dragon came running up and gave Fluttershy a hug. "Oh thank Celestia it's you! I have been so scared, and worried about Twilight lately. What brings you here?"

Fluttershy cowered a bit. "Twilight has turned into some demon or something. Now I need your help to send a letter to Celestia so we can warn her about it."

Spike nodded obediently, before retrieving a scroll. Fluttershy explained what was going on, while Spike scribbled it down. Once she was done, he looked up.

"Hey, you're being a lot more confident than usual, lately," he confusedly raised an eyebrow.

Well… Discord needs my help. She didn't say that to Spike though, and replied with a simple shrug.

~Celestia~

"Luna! Come now! This is urgent!" Celestia ran down the hall, levitating her scroll alongside her, and ran to the balcony where Luna was.

"Wait… I'm still raising the moon…" Luna squinted. Celestia waited impatiently until Luna was completely finished, and her glorious moon stood, glistening in the sky.

"Now wha-" Luna had no time to finish her sentence, as the scroll was shoved in her eyes. Luna peeled it off her face and began reading the paragraph. Once she was done, she stared up at Celestia in horror.

"This isn't good…" Luna whispered.

Celestia nodded, and raised her voice. "Round all the guards up and bring them to Ponyville! We have a problem… A really big problem!"

~Discord~

He watched Fluttershy, as she flew off. Oh I hope she'll be alright. He glared at the monster which looked like Twilight. And now I will fight with everything I've got to make sure she'll be alright.

"Hey, so monster thing… we never got your name… or should we just keep calling you Twilight?" Discord jeered, catching the demon's attention.

"How dare you mock me! I am your master! Obey!" The monster sent a powerful blast at Discord, but the draconequus easily stepped to the side.

"You're name?" Discord asked. The monster shuddered, before glaring at Discord.

"What does it matter? I am now Twilight. She is now me!" the monster hit the ground, causing the earth to rip up, spontaneously knocking some ponies over.

"Ok Twilight. How about you stop picking on some poor defenceless ponies and battle me instead, eh'?" Discord grinned mischievously.

"Ok. I will enjoy this," the monster replied, a smug expression entering her face. With a spasm from her horn, all the ponies pinned to the ground, were stuffed in a massive cage, leaving a bare ground for Discord and Twilight to battle.

"Hmm… It could still be better," Discord mumbled, summoning a giant boxing rink, in which Twilight and Discord stood in. "Wait, who will be the referee?" Discord hissed. He flicked his fingers, summoning Rainbow Dash out of the cage, and forced her to sit on the seat at the side of the rink.

"What the…" Rainbow Dash began, as a whistle and a hat was spawned onto her. She glared at Discord, trying to get up, but her butt was stuck to the chair. "Really Discord? Really?" Rainbow sighed, but her attention got to the game.

Twilight and Discord faced each other. Circles of hate spun in their eyes.

"Match starts in…" Rainbow howled, "3… 2… 1… FIGHT!"

Twilight was first to strike; a blast of fire exploding from her horn, but Discord easily dodged it, summoning a bathtub above Twilight. She gasped and plunged out of the way, but got her wing caught under it. Discord summoned a fairy floss cloud above her and it started raining chocolate milk.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "really?" But she spoke too soon, as a blast of lightning struck from the cloud, electrocuting her. She scowled at him in hatred, and teleported out of it, flinging herself at Discord, physically harming him now, as she gave him a black eye with a burly punch. Discord snarled in pain, and bit her tail, clenching down, and flipping her off him. Discord then summoned a dozen snakes, which came slivering up Twilight's legs. She gasped in horror, as the serpents worked their way towards her. Twilight flew up and summoned a full raged attack, firing a huge gust of wind at Discord, making him trip over. She then spawned rocks falling from the sky onto him. Discord yowled in pain, as some of the heavy rocks knocked all the air out of him, but he summoned a tornado, picking up the rocks and Twilight. She wailed in surprise as the massive whirlwind whooshed her around. She broke free and summoned a sword, lashing it at Discord, narrowly missing his claw.

"So you wanna play rough, eh?" Discord asked, furiously, before summoning a sword of his own, and whizzed it towards her, delivering deadly blows. She swiftly dodged every slash, before picking up her game, and defending every blow with her own sword. They constantly clanged against one another. Discord jumped up as one of her blows was aimed at his feet. He flew up before came crashing down on her, his sword pointed, but she jumped out the way, the sword digging into the ground of the boxing rink. Discord raised an eyebrow, as she smugly took a threatening step forward, but Discord easily disappeared before she could swipe the sword at him. She turned around, but it was too late, as Discord shoved her into a bag, and zipped it shut. She flayed around in the bag for a while, as Discord summoned a big glass bowl full of water, and shoved the bag with her in it. She quickly thought, and teleported her way out, throwing a bomb at Discord. Discord noticed the bomb, and quickly turned it into a flower before it could explode. He grinned at Twilight and levitated her off the ground, before smacking her hard against the earth. She teleported out of his levitation, before summoning loads of knives, flinging them at him. He was quick to dodge them, but not all of them, as one of the knives, managed to catch his tail. He glared at her, picking the knife out of his bleeding tail, and threw it at her. She squeaked, trying to dodge it, by ducking down, but she was not quick enough, for it caught the nick of her ear. She was about to summon shards of glass to fall on Discord, when Rainbow Dash blew the whistle.

"Stop the fight! Stop fighting! STOP!" she snarled. Both Discord and Twilight turned to her, narrowing their eyes, to see what she had to say.

"This fight is going far too long. How about we make a new rule? No magic allowed. The battle will be a full out fight to the end," Rainbow Dash grinned.

"Fair enough," Twilight narrowed her eyes.

Discord was a bit unsure though. What was he without his magic? But he didn't want to show his fear, and replaced it with sheer determination. "All right then." I'm doing this for Fluttershy.

They faced each other on either side of the rink again.

"Ok…" Rainbow Dash hollered. "3… 2… 1… FIGHT!"

Twilight charged forward, at speed, Discord was quite impressed at. She lunged onto him, pinning him to the ground, and punching him with her hoof. Discord slipped out of her grasp, and tripped her over with his tail, before stepping back, in a defensive stance, ready for her next attack. She got up, quicker than he expected, and pounced on him again, only for him to step to the side, and kick her belly at the same time. She summersaulted in the air, before landing on his back, and bit onto his neck.

"Really?" he grumbled, shaking his head vigorously, flinging her off. She glared at him.

"You're no attacker Discord. You're just one stupid defender. Come on! Fight me!"

"Attacking's not in my nature, but very well," Discord scowled, before lunging forward, delivering nasty blows with his claw onto her front legs. She shied back, before lunging forward, clenching her teeth onto his antlers, and tried crawling up onto his head, but Discord smacked his head onto the ground, knocking the air out of Twilight. He then smacked her to the side aggressively. She rolled over, dodging the blow, and hopped up.

Discord was first to strike again, using his tail to wrap around one of Twilight's back legs, and held her up in the air haughtily. She thrashed around in his tail's grasp, but she was unable to break free, and the distance between her and the ground was wide, because Discord was now flying quite high. He then through her down to the ground, with his tail's strength, only for her to soften the fall, by robustly flapping her wings. She then flew above Discord, and pushed him back down to the earth, where she tripped him up and pinned him down. Twilight was about to deliver a death blow, when a high pitched voice screamed:

"Get off him NOW!" A pale yellow blur, flew into sight, bowling Twilight off Discord, and pinning her to the ground. "You monster! Get out of my friend Twilight NOW!"

"What would be the fun in that?" Twilight sneered, trying to struggle out of Fluttershy's grip, but the yellow Pegasi was too strong.

Rainbow Dash was aimlessly blowing the whistle, trying to get the battle to stop, for the sake of her friend, but no one would listen.

Discord got up, brushing some dust off him, before coming to Fluttershy's side, having Twilight pinned to the ground, glaring at the two of them.

"You revolting nemesis! How dare you! How dare you!" Fluttershy roared, giving Twilight a nasty kick in the teeth.

That's my girl! Discord thought proudly.

"What is going on here?" rang a voice throughout the whole area. Discord nervously looked up. He stepped to the side to reveal Fluttershy and Twilight.

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy looked up, and anxiously bowed her head, but kept Twilight held down.

Luna came to Celestia's side, and tilted her head, examining Twilight, and gave a miserable nod to Celestia.

"I am afraid Twilight has been invaded by a dark spirit. Both me and Celestia are unsure what to do in the time being, but wait, and hope, that the real Twilight is fighting back to this tyrant," Luna mumbled.

"Should we keep her locked up?" Celestia asked her younger sister, who nodded.

"Thank you Discord and Fluttershy for spearing us time. We deeply appreciate it," Celestia gave them a dip of the head.

"No! You are not keeping me locked up!" Twilight cried, struggling from Fluttershy's grip, which had softened. She pushed the Pegasi over, and turned to Celestia and Luna, who had both, took a step back in fright. Discord growled at Twilight, and Fluttershy was getting ready to pounce again.

"You will never get me. NEVER! Six million years I have waited and I am NOT going to let it be put into a dungeon!" With that, Twilight teleported away.

~Twilight~

Pitch blackness, was all she saw, as she turned around in circles and circles.

"Hello? Anyone here?" she called apprehensively. "Where am I?"

Suddenly, another form approached her. Twilight stepped back in fear, as the entire creature was, was a white mist.

"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. Thank you for donating your life to me!" the creature laughed evilly.

"What have you done?" Twilight asked in horror.

"That book you read. The one on Dark Magic. Does it sound familiar?" the creature smirked.

"Yes! But I returned it to Celestia and Luna! I didn't try any of the magic from it!" Twilight glared at the creature.

"Oh, Twilight. How naïve you are, poor, poor thing. All you need to do is read the book, for the dark spirits to take over you."

"B-but…" Twilight stuttered, and tears slid down her face. They were icy cold, and when they hit the ground, they vaporised. "Where am I?"

The creature came closer to her, so the misty form was almost touching her. "I've hidden you in your self-conscience. Where your thoughts come to life. But you now are nothing but a memory. I am now you. I am living you, outside, in the real world."

Twilight shuddered. "What are you doing right now?"

"Why explain it to you, when I can show it to you?" The creature beckoned her to follow, and she reluctantly followed the white mist, through the darkness, until they reached two holes, where light shone through.

"These are your eyes," the creature nodded. Twilight trotted up, and peered through the pupal. She saw a magic blast coming out and saw many ponies forced to bow to the ground. Then she heard her voice. It was booming, and it sounded cruel. It may sound like her voice, but it wasn't her speaking. The mist stood next to her, and peered out.

"Sad, isn't it?" The mist turned to her. "Don't worry; I'll save those you love, because I'm not completely heartless."

Twilight turned around and glared to the creature. "Please let me free! Please!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that Twilight. I have been waiting six million years for this day, and I cannot let it be ripped away from me."

Twilight got into an attacking stance. "Then I shall fight you."

The creature turned to her doubtfully. "Oh Twilight, I was really hoping we could be friends, because we'll be living with each other for quite a while, but if you wish so." The mist then turned to her. They walked away from the eyes, and to the middle of the room, circling each other hatefully.

Twilight tried to power her horn up, but she didn't have any magic. All her magic was in the pony outside the self-conscience. The pony which looked like her, and technically was her, but wasn't her on the inside.

"Poor Twilight. I forgot to mention- Regular Magic doesn't work here," the creature snorted.

"Very well, but I will still fight you with my hooves," Twilight replied determinedly. She immediately stormed forward, knocking at the spirit. It zipped over her, and knocked her off her feet from behind. She flipped over and landed on her back. The creature peered over at her.

"Are you sure you want to fight?"

Twilight glared up at the creature, and rolled over, getting back onto her hooves. "Positive." She then charged up, this time, more successful, knocking the mist over, and slashing the side of it with her hoof, with a nasty blow. She clenched her teeth into the mist, hauling it off the ground, over her head, and knocking it onto the floor with a thud. She then pounced onto it, clamping her hooves around what she thought was its neck. The creature struggled a bit, and then went limp. She softened a grip a tiny bit, only for it to kick her off, and charge. It bawled its head into her side, knocking the air out of her lunges. While she was still regaining her breathe, it then kicked her furiously onto the side. She coughed, before swiping at its face. It tried nicking her ear, but she jumped to the side, and head-butted it's legs, forcing it to trip over.

Although the mist just looked like one big blob, she was now pinpointing where each body part was. She lunged onto it, slapping its face before giving it a kick with her front legs. She clamped her teeth around its neck then, biting as had as possible, before it shook wildly, flinging her off it, with such a force, she went airborne, and landed on the ground with a heavy thump. The creature released a loud screech, and pounced on her, tearing its teeth into her back, and shaking her from side to side, like a dog with a chew toy. Twilight let out a low cry, before kicking it hard in the teeth, and gave it a knock on the head with her hoof. It let her go from its grasp, massaging its head from the kick she h

ad given. Giving a roar, it pounced onto her. She wasn't ready for this attack and fell onto her back with a screech. It had her steadily pinned down, no matter how hard she struggled.

"I am sorry Twilight. Do you want to stop fighting?" the creature questioned.

"I'd rather die," snapped Twilight, giving another scuffle but failed. The creature tilted its head, wondering what to do, before it made up its mind. The white mist, gave Twilight one, hefty bash on her head. Twilight's vision went blurry, and then everything went black.

~Rainbow Dash~

She gulped, after Twilight disappeared. Oh no… Now there's a dark spirit on the loose! She turned to Discord.

"Hey, can you please let me move around?" she asked. The draconequus looked up.

"Oh yeah," he mumbled, and set all the ponies free, from the cage which Twilight had created. Discord then got rid of the boxing rink.

"What about me?" Rainbow Dash asked irritated, still sitting on the chair on the outside of the now, non-existent rink.

"Nah- I prefer you sitting there," Discord grinned.

"Discord…" Fluttershy barked. Discord quickly set Rainbow Dash free from the spell, avoiding Fluttershy's glare. Rainbow Dash stumbled a bit, not used to standing up after sitting down for a while, but she eventually got used to it. All of the ponies who had been locked up in the cage went running home, screaming, except for Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

"That was awesome!" Pinkie squealed, hopping up and down, and then stopped, when she realized she was receiving glares from her ponies. "Uh… awesomely horrible! Yes!"

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked, timidly trotting up to Celestia and Luna.

Luna stared at the ground, her eyes blank, and she peered hopefully at her sister. "Any ideas Celestia?" The night Alicorn asked.

Celestia winced at the question, and cowered at the glances her fellow ponies were delivering. "I don't know," was all the sun princess replied.

Rainbow Dash stared up in horror. Oh no… not even Princess Celestia knows what to do.

"In a situation like this, only Twilight would know what to do," Rarity stared at the ground miserably.

Celestia looked up. "Exactly! But I believe the old Twilight isn't completely gone. If I didn't know any better, her soul is being hidden somewhere. Luna… do you think you would be able to travel into her dreams?"

Luna stared at her sister in horror. "But how will I be able to pinpoint the exact Twilight? What if I appear in the Dark Spirit's mind instead? What if… What if Twilight is now… dead?"

"Don't speak like that sister! I'm sure Twilight is ok. Can you at least try?" Celestia pleaded.

"I'll do what I can," Luna dipped her head obediently.

Celestia then turned to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. "The Element of Magic, may not be available right now, but we still have the other five Elements. Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty and Laughter. If you five would be able to wear your Elements of Harmony as much as possible now, and next time we confront Twilight, try to activate them, which may be what can defeat Twilight… I doubt it though… I mean… without Magic, I'm not sure the other elements would work."

Rainbow Dash nodded alongside her friends. She would do whatever it took to get her friend back. But then she paused… They would have to save Twilight by tomorrow… otherwise… there would be no Element of Loyalty. She would have to go to the Wonderbolts after that. Rainbow Dash stepped forward and explained her problem to Celestia.

"Then we'll have to be extra quick," the Sun Princess sighed in reply.

Finally Celestia turned to Discord. "Do whatever you can to find Twilight. You have more power than any of us, and if you could possibly try your hardest to find her, that would be a big help." The draconequus nodded as a reply.

"Meanwhile, I'll read through some books on this, to try and find out if there's anything I can do."

As all the ponies went their own, separate paths, Rainbow Dash couldn't help let out a silent prayer.

Please be alright Twilight.