? ? ? ? ?

Discord stood on solid nothing. It had taken him quite a lot of effort to find his way to this "place", if it could be called that. It was now time to confront the one being that could sway the father of space itself. The being that held the most terrible wrath in the universe, and the most warm kindness. It was time to face Queen Chrona. He took a deep breath and gently knocked on the oversized doors before finding himself sitting comfortably in a plush seat in the middle of a well furnished sitting room. He blinked several times as he looked around. The sitting room was decorated in muted colors, and had several tapestries hung on the walls. There was a gently crackling fire in the fire place, but it looked… off. It took him several seconds to recognize the telltale signs of it burning backwards, the smoke receding into the fire as though being sucked in by a vacuum. He looked around further to find several clocks, all going at different speeds and several going backwards. This brought a smile to his face, he liked it here.

An elderly alicorn with a greyish blue coat sat in a chair opposite him. She sat with the poise of one who had had an eternity to perfect the position and her eyes held the wisdom of all the centuries that have been and are to come, or so it seemed. She nodded politely, "I do hope you don't mind if I skipped the introductions, they are always so tedious, so I prefer to fast forward to a point where we already know each other."

Discord opened his mouth to say that he didn't already know her, but stopped as he realized that a vague memory of a conversation he had never had was there, including a memory of him walking in the door and sitting down, "Oh, you're good. Isn't that a bit chaotic for an orderly pony, though?"

Queen Chrona shook her head, "Not at all, everything is still in the proper order, I just chose to ignore a part of it. And seeing as time is what I deem it to be, it ignored it as well. I don't suppose you simply came to chat with me?"

"No no no, I'm here purely on business." He snapped his claw and was suddenly dressed in an expensive suit and tie, holding a briefcase. His legs, however, were clad in heart patterned boxers, "I was wondering if there was a way that I could convince you to allow your daughters to look the other way on one tiny little rule. I have a good case for it, I think, I even put aside most of the one liners… okay, some of the one liners, but in my defense, I don't-"

"No."

"What? But you haven't even heard my argument yet. Or even what law was broken. Or by who, which is the important part, I think. Or is it 'by whom'? I could never keep those two straight."

Chrona sighed, "Discord, you are being quite kind, I'm sure. I appreciate the effort you are putting forth for your friend, but just know that we cannot be lenient on this. The enchantment is there for a reason, and if we bend it, it will weaken, and that cannot happen. I understand that Twilight Sparkle is a good pony, but will she always be? No, I don't always agree with the laws that were put down by my husband, but that does not mean that I will permit my daughters to be opened up to more corruption than they need be."

Discord stared for a moment, then cleared his throat, "What do you mean by that last part?"

"The enchantment they are under is for the protection against all but the most powerful corruption agents. It is rigid in its rules, so that it can withstand the beatings that it has to protect my daughters from. After all, if you are going to build a shield, would you build it from steel or from paper?"

"I'd build it from marshmallows, actually. Then it would-"

Chrona waved a hoof, "I apologize, I momentarily forgot to whom I was speaking. In any case, I cannot help you in your endeavor, you should go on to your next plan, as I foresee it having much better luck."

Discord suddenly found himself standing outside the door, once again with nothing beneath him in the non-place. He scratched his head, "I guess she doesn't like goodbyes, either…"

Hall of the Order of the Rose, Four Days after the Ponyville Incident.

Six ponies stood around a table, each shrouded in a colored robe. One red, one yellow, one purple, one pink, one green, and one blue. There were two of each race, clearly, though their bodies and faces were completely enshrouded by the cloaks. The shadows seemed to cling to them, making it impossible to tell even the color of their hooves as they stood in the darkened room. The unicorn in the green cloak spoke first, a deep bass reverberating with concern, "We have to do something, if we sit around for too long, we risk the deaths of too many."

The Pegasus in red snorted, her scratchy voice disdainful, "We can't rush into this, Generosity, you know how powerful Blood Mages are. And this is an Alicorn Blood Mage. She is not to be taken lightly."

The yellow cloaked unicorn coughed, her voice dry with age, "I wouldn't be too sure, Loyalty, I believe that dear Twilight will likely understand if we were to explain things to her. She may even go willingly, if she understands that it is for the good of ponykind. She is a kind soul, and very understanding, so violence may not even be necessary."

The Earth pony shrouded in purple shook her head, "It's too risky to assume that she will be in her right mind, Honesty, she may have already succumbed to the corrupting effects of the magic, and may find herself thinking she is just in what she is doing. There's no telling if she would even recognize the logic of what you say, even if Celestia herself were to say it."

The remaining Earth pony in blue sighed heavily, his head sagging, "Is there no chance that she might not be effected, Magic? She is an Alicorn, after all, perhaps she could be immune to it?"

Magic shook her head, "I'm sorry, Laughter, we have no choice. We all took an oath when we took up these cloaks to protect Equestria from the evils of dark magic, wherever it may strike. If we look the other way now and she is overcome by the corruption, there will be death on a grand scale, and there is no guarantee that anyone will be able to stop her. Blood Magic can enhance even the weakest unicorn to the level of a great sage, just imagine what would happen if the most powerful Alicorn in Equestria were to lose control and go on a rampage with that kind of power enhancement. There wouldn't be a soul left to tell the tale."

"Fine, then can't we do something like… I don't know, separate her from her horn or something?" Both unicorns in the room flinched, instinctively touching their foreheads in sympathy of the idea, Laughter sighed, "I know it's not perfect, but at least we wouldn't have to kill her, right?"

Magic shook her head, "I'm sorry, not even that would work. Blood Magic isn't channeled solely through the horn, but rather directly through the blood. It's actually possible for an Earth pony to learn it, though there is only one documented case."

Laughter grunted in frustration, stomping his hoof on the ground, "This isn't fair to her! She's saved Equestria from things we were powerless against! She shouldn't be judged like this!"

The Pegasus in pink spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper, "So we should let her go mad? Suffer as she loses her mind and loses control? What we are doing is sparing her a fate worse than death, and that is the greatest mercy we can give her. I believe we are repaying her by sparing her a fate she does not deserve."

The room was quiet for a while before Laughter spoke up again, "I'm sorry, Kindness, I forgot that I wasn't the closest to her. It's… it's just not easy…"

Kindness nodded, "Sometimes mercy for those that deserve it is doing something that is difficult for those giving it."

Loyalty spoke up quietly, "We should start our plan so we can go ahead and get this over with…" The rest of them nodded in agreement as they began their plans.