Twilight and the rest of the mane six smiled and giggled happily, Twilight’s magic having been enough to return her friends to normal. Just then, three buffalo danced by on their tip-toes wearing tutus, “Maybe it‘s a little early for a group hug.” She said as the others watched the bison.
The six of the hurried to the center of Ponyville where they knew they could find Discord sitting in his throne. Buildings were floating, roads were replaced with soap, the clouds had been replaced with cotton candy and rain was chocolate milk. Discord sat in his throne, laughing triumphantly as pies rain down in front of him. Seeing a cloud of cotton candy sitting to his left he holds out his eagle claw hand, a glass appearing in a small flash before filling with the chocolate milk raining from the cloud. The Draconequus brings it back over to himself looking at it for a moment before grinning and closing his eyes, “Chaos, is a wonderful, wonderful thing.” As he raises the glass to his mouth he hears Twilight’s voice from in front of him,
“Not as wonderful as friendship!” Discord looks back to the six standing before him, looking confident as they sport the elements of harmony in the form of necklaces on all but Twilight who wears her golden tiara. Discord groans sitting back in his throne,
“Ugh, this again?” He raises the glass to his lips, the glass itself being drank leaving the chocolate milk in his eagle hand, he then throws the chocolate milk behind him and it explodes making a large cloud of grey smoke behind him for a few moments before it clears,
“That‘s right! You couldn‘t break up our friendship for long!” Discord grins hearing Applejack’s words and raises his bear arm, one of the fingers glowing and Applejack’s necklace glowing as well, beginning to pull towards Discord,
“Oh, Applejack, don‘t lie to me. I‘m the one who made you a liar.” Discord grins a sadistic grin as he raises his eagle hand, the claws glowing a bright yellow and the necklaces on the other four pull towards him, the ponies leaving the ground and floating before the spirit of chaos, “Will you ever learn?” Twilight sneer’s angrily hearing Discord’s words and her horn shines brightly, the unicorn raising her head as she disappears in a flash of light appearing between her five friends with her hooves out to the side, a pink shield forming around the six of them.
Discord growls, his eagle claw shining as she swipes at the shield, Twilight’s magic dispelling and the six of them falling to the ground with a thud. The Draconequus stands up looking down at them all as a sinister smile creeps onto his face, “I think we‘ve had enough fun for today would you all agree?” His claw glows brighter, a light snap being heard from the necklaces as they fly over to him, “It seems to me, Twilight Sparkle… that you have yet to learn your place in this world.” By this time the six had stood, staring wide-eyed up at Discord as the necklaces flashed, binding together and hanging from Discord’s neck,
“Discord we played your games now give the elements of harmony back!” Twilight growls as she steps forward, her horn becoming engulfed in powerful magical energy,
“Twilight Sparkle… do you think me stupid? I knew you would find the elements and being one of Celestia‘s best students I knew you would find a way to restore your friends. I was only playing with you but now… Play time is over.” Twilight’s eyes fade to white as her expression of determination only grows stronger,
“It‘s over Discord!!” Twilight suddenly gasps as Discord touches her horn, the light fading and there is a flash as she’s thrown backwards skidding a few feet before rolling and landing face down facing him. Discord folds his arms as he shakes his head, Twilight’s tiara floating over and laying on his head,
“Oh Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and of course miss Rainbow Dash… I really believed you would put up more of a challenge then this.” Twilight stands, walking over to rejoin her friends, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack showing high signs of fear against Discord. Rainbow Dash continues to hover as her wings flap, she looks back to her friends before yelling towards Discord,
“You may have taken the Elements but there‘s no way you can use them!” She then rockets forward letting out a yell as Twilight holds out her hoof,
“Rainbow Dash wait!!” Discord gives an unamused look as the elements of harmony around his neck and on top of his head begin glowing with a dark shimmer,
“Foolish little Pegasus, I posses magic far superior to both Celestia and Luna and now you‘ve all lost the Elements of Harmony to me once again.” Discord holds out his arms as the shining energy grows brighter and more powerful, “I don‘t turn ponies into stone. The Elements of Harmony do.” Twilight’s eyes widen and she throws her hooves out to the sides, a thin pink bubble of magic shielding her and her friends before it flickers and disappears, the unicorn hitting the ground once again and she looks up at Discord from the dirt seeing a shining wave of power engulf Rainbow Dash, Twilight closes her eyes tight, preparing herself as the wave washes over them all, Discord laughing maniacally as he unleashes the power of the elements on them, “What‘s this?” A few moments later Twilight blinks as she opens her eyes, slowly turning her head to face Discord but her view is obstructed. She pauses slowly standing and looking around before her eyes begin to well up with tears. Discord is sitting in his throne once again, a satisfied grin on his face. Near him, slightly embedded in the ground is a stone statue of Rainbow Dash, still looking back at her friends with a worried gaze frozen on her face. Around Twilight she sees more statues, but of her other friends all with frightened and horrified expressions on their cold and lifeless faces.
Twilight pauses as she looks in front of her, her ears dropping as the tears stream down her face. Standing in front of her, shielding her from the power of the elements was none other then a statue of Princess Celestia. Twilight only began to cry more as he saw her face. She was looking back at Twilight, a very gentle smile on her face that seemed to say, “You did your best.” Discord clapped his hand and claw as he began to laugh,
“You should see the look on your face Twilight Sparkle! You were so sure that I was just going to let you turn me to stone with the elements when you just couldn‘t bring yourself to realize there was no way you could win!” Discord leans his head on his bear paw as he smirks, “Would you like to know how the princesses managed to use them on me?” Twilight said nothing, looking down as she weeps for her friends and mentor, “It was a brilliantly executed sneak attack but, you see, when I was trapped in that stone for all of those long years I patiently waited. I waited for that curse to finally break so I could be free once more and a group of little ponies wasn‘t going to stop me.”
“Discord… please…” Discord brings his eagle claw to his ear as he grins hearing Twilight’s words,
“What was that you said?” The Draconequus says as he leans forward. Twilight yells, her head hung and her tears falling rapidly to the ground,
“Discord please! Give me my friends back! I‘m begging you!”
“Tsk, tsk, Twilight Sparkle. You are the one who challenged my rule. I intended you to be turned to stone as well but without your friends or the elements you‘re not even a threat to me anymore. Not that you ever were.” Twilight brings a hoof to her eyes, slowly wiping the tears before casting them to the ground,
“At least… turn me…” Twilight pauses, her gaze meeting with Celestia’s gently smiling face once again, her face turning from one of despair to one of determination, “Discord I‘m going to stop you! And I‘m going to save my friends!” Discord shakes his head as he stands, walking over to the unicorn and reaches down picking her up to be eye level with him,
“Ms. Sparkle, I‘m only going to say this one more time. If you challenge me, you will lose. If you accept this world of chaos and me as your ruler, then we both win. Either way, chaos rules, and Celestia drools.” He drops her, Twilight using her magic to slow her fall as she touches down,
“You restored my magic…?” Discord remains turned away from her,
“The fight is won, there was no reason to not give you back your magic.” He then flies off, leaving Twilight alone in a destroyed and chaotic Ponyville alone,
“What now…?” She turns her head to look off into the distance, the library still standing strong albeit a large hole in the upstairs wall from Rarity’s boulder. Her eyes widen as she begins galloping rapidly towards her home, “Spike!”
She quickly opens the door and hurries back upstairs where she had left him, panting from her output of energy, “Spike where are you!?”
“Over here Twilight!” Twilight turned her head, a hopeful look on her face as she hurried towards the voice. She stopped as she saw him though, her little dragon was mostly turned to stone and from the look of it the effect was still continuing. Twilight’s horn began glowing brightly and she laid it against the dragon, Spike closing his eyes at the flash of light but as it faded Spike remained in his almost frozen state, “Twilight… what‘s happening to me…?” Tears began sliding down Twilight’s beautiful face once again, looking down at her dragon companion,
“Spike… Discord took back the elements when we got to him… he turned everyone to stone… I only escaped because the princess sacrificed herself and shielded me at the last moment… I‘ve managed to slow the process Spike but… I don‘t know how much longer you have.” She saw the dragon begin to cry as he looked up at her from on his back,
“Twilight… tell me the truth… can you save us?” Twilight closes her eyes as she looks down, still weeping,
“Spike I… I wish I had a spell to reverse this… but Discord‘s magic is so much greater then my own. I‘m going to do everything I can to save everyone I promise…” Spike pauses for a moment after hearing Twilight’s words then suddenly her burps loudly, a puff of green smoke turning into a letter and falling to the ground. Spike smiles softly up at Twilight as another tear slides down his face. Twilight looks from the letter back to Spike and sniffs, leaning down and gives him a light kiss on his forehead, feeling it become cold under her lips before she moves away, “Goodnight… Spike…” Twilight takes the letter into her hoof before pausing. She stands for a few moments before collapsing onto her bed and sobbing loudly. All of her closest friends were gone now, even her ever-faithful dragon Spike and even the princess.
Twilight broke down, crying for around twenty minutes before she finally ceased, still silently weeping into her pillow before she forces herself to sit up, taking a few deep breathes as she leans against the back of her bed. Her horn glows softly as the letter raises up and unfolds, the unicorn’s eyes sliding from side to side slowly as she reads,

<i>My faithful student,
If you have received this letter it can only mean that Discord managed to triumph over the Elements of Harmony and for one reason or another I am no longer able to speak with you. I know that you and your friends did everything in your power to stop Discord. You did your very best and I could not be more proud of you.
I began writing this letter as I watched you selflessly chase down your friends one by one and restore them to their rightful ways. You are the greatest student I have ever had, Twilight and I know that you will find a way to stop Discord even without the Elements.
What you should do first is get out of Ponyville, you reading this tells me that you managed to escape Discord’s powers. I cannot gauge your losses but you must be heavily distressed. Do one of two things, either leave Ponyville and head into the Everfree forest or attempt to get to Canterlot and find out if my sister is safe.
I must finish this letter now as I see that you have begun your confrontation of Discord. I pray that you will never receive this letter from me and since you have, you must find Written Dreams.
Your mentor and friend,
Princess Celestia</i>


Twilight took a deep breath as she folds the letter back into a scroll and slides out of her bed. She walks over to her closet and takes out a saddlebag, sliding the letter into one she puts various necessities into the bags for her journey, “Why does that name sound so familiar to me… Written Dreams.” Twilight walks downstairs, packing a bag of bits into her bags before nodding to herself, “Not too heavy, good.” She walks around the library, going through book after book of spells and famous ponies and sighs when she’s unable to find anything about the pony mentioned in the princess’s letter. She tilts her head seeing a book missing from one of the shelves, “What book is supposed to be here…? Nopony has borrowed a book for quite a long time… perhaps I‘ll remember after my mind calms down…” She heads over to another shelf and slides a book named ’basic survival, a complete guide’ into her bag.
Twilight then walks over to her front door and opens it, pausing as she looks around at the chaotic landscape. She looks to the left, the Everfree Forest in the distance then to the right, Canterlot Castle high up on the cliff face,
“First priority has got to be getting to Princess Luna.” Twilight began walking, letting out a slow breath as she walked through Ponyville, “Nothing new… where is Discord…?” She says to herself seeing some long-legged rabbits run past. She looked up at the sky, the sun hanging up overhead, the moon not jumping up to replace it anymore, “Looks like Discord regulated the sun and moon…” Twilight continues walking for a number of minutes before pausing, seeing Discord’s throne empty atop his small hill, although every statue of her friends and even the princess were missing. Twilight heard herself growl as she continued through the area. She had hoped to see her friends again, even in the state they were in it would have at least gave her more hope,
“Discord… your cruelty knows no limit…” The little pony continues walking in silence, her gaze straight ahead at the castle in the distance as she reaches the end of town and continues walking down the soap road towards Canterlot, her hooves glowing lightly with her magic preventing her from slipping with each step.
The unicorn continued walking down the path, her mind drifting back to the letter that Princess Celestia had written to her, “The princess must have had some kind of failsafe in case Discord won… otherwise she never would have thrown herself in front of the Elements like she did…” She withdrew the letter from her bag and unfolded it again.

<i>I pray that you will never receive this letter from me and since you have, you must find Written Dreams.</i>

“Written Dreams…” Her eyes widened as she suddenly remembered an encounter with a pony of that name, “He came into the library once…”


Twilight hummed as a feather duster floated around in front of her, her horn lightly glowing with her magical aura as she went around the library dusting off the bookcases and each book individually, “Spring cleaning is such a nice time don‘t you agree Spike?” The little dragon only grumbled as he stood in front of a different bookcase dusting it off as well,
“Yeah, wonderful.” He said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. Twilight giggled as there was a knock at the door,
“Keep cleaning Spike, I‘ll get it.” The light purple pony trotted over to the door humming a familiar tune before opening the door with a happy smile, “Yes?” Standing in the doorway was a Pegasus with a dark blue coat and a silver mane and a semi-long silver tail. His cutie-mark depicts a pen writing a line and the line is made up of stars,
“Hello miss, this is the library right…? Sorry if I‘m mistaken.” Twilight shook her head as she opened the door fully, stepping to the side and motions him inside with her hoof,
“Yes this is the library. I apologize, I also live here so sometimes people mistake this as my house instead.” She hums lightly trotting over to a bookcase before looking back at him with a happy smile, “So you like to read?” The blue Pegasus walks over to the bookcases, nodding as he looks over to her,
“Well yes and no, I read when I need to know something but all in all I much prefer writing.” Twilight’s ears perked when she heard this and walked a few steps closer tilting her head a little with a curious expression,
“What kind of things do you write? If you don‘t mind me asking of course…” Twilight felt herself blush sheepishly, realizing she was asking him something personal. He smiled at the question, however, looking over to her, his hoof touching the ground instead of the books,
“Ah, all sorts of things. Magic, ponies, pegasi and unicorns, I write about just about anything you can think of. Some things can take a lot of research though.” Twilight had sat down as she listened to him speak, and her ears perked a bit as he finished,
“I consider myself a pretty well-read pony. I‘ve read every book in this library by now.” She heard the colt laugh and nod in response to her,
“Books really can be fascinating journies. Oh, I‘m sorry I forgot to ask your name.” Twilight stood back up offering her hoof to him,
“Ah of course, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She then saw the pony’s eyes light up as he grins,
“Ah I was hoping to run into you when I visited Ponyville. The Princess has told me a lot about her best student. It‘s an honor to meet you Ms. Sparkle.” Twilight took a step back and blushed seeing him give a light bow before her,
“Ehm… sorry I‘ve just never had anyone bow to me before. Really I‘m nobody special.” The Pegasus moves his head back up from the bow and shakes his head,
“Oh but you are, you and all of your friends wield the Elements of Harmony, one of my personally favorite subjects.” Twilight looks a bit off to the side, embarrassed about the praise she was being given,
“So… is there anything I can help you find?”
“Actually, I‘m looking for a specific book the princess said you would have. It‘s called ‘The Quill of Eternity’. My name‘s Written Dreams by the way.” Twilight nods with a gentle smile before looking up and around for a moment,
“Spike can you bring me--”
“The Quill of Eternity, I have it right here!” The baby dragon was by her side in an instant with the book in hand. Written Dreams smiled lightly as he took it from him and slid it onto the bag he had on his side,
“Thank you very much Twilight. I promise that I‘ll return this book to you the next time we meet.” Twilight nodded to him with a gentle smile,
“Let me know when you‘re in town next, I can ask Pinkie Pie to throw a party for you! She loves meeting new ponies.” Written Dreams chuckled as he walked over to the door with Twilight beside him,
“Till then, Twilight.” He lifted her hoof and gave it a kiss before departing from the library and walking down the road towards Canterlot.


Twilight looked up at Canterlot so far up the mountain and sighed to herself, “I wonder if he‘s still there… it‘s been so many months since he came by the library…”