#I like how the alicorn amalgam turned out

[cracklewink]

Part 2 of my mlp infection au, Harmony Syndrome!

[dzamie-oc]

Smaugust 19 - Demon

A MLP/Persona 4 crossover. Spike has fallen into a deep sleep, and Luna and Twilight venture into his mind to find out what's wrong. (2238 words)

cw: MLP, Persona 4, kidnapping mention

Twilight and Luna ran through the castle. Twilight had called on the alicorn of night when Spike had fallen into a deep sleep, and Zecora had been unable to help. With Luna's help, the two alicorns cast themselves into his subconscious. However, Twilight wasn't prepared for the twisted, creepy landscape within.

<These ponies don't know the greatness amidst them!>

Spike's voice, distorted, sharp, pained and painful, echoed all around them as they navigated the halls. Exaggerated, clingy caricatures of Rarity flung themselves at them, assaulting the mares with magically-created gemstones. They spoke in unison, "you will not harm our precious Spikey-Wikey! He who commands the respect of all!" Wherever the gemstones fell, crystal ponies rose from the ground, each wearing "Spike The Brave And Glorious" shirts. Twilight kept a shield around herself and Luna as the night mare navigated through the hallways.

<A creature that eats their kind for breakfast, they treat like a pet!>

"As weird as this is to say," Twilight shouted over the din of crashing crystals and shrieking mares with white coats and flowing, purple manes, "thank you for not telling me we have to kill Rarity."

<Unloved, disrespected... They don't deserve the noble deeds I do every day.>

"Your gratitude is appreciated but misguided," Luna called back, using her own telekinesis to guide Twilight quickly through a sharp corner, "would we not be immediately overrun, I would welcome the chance to train you in dream fighting." A gem struck the carpet before them. The pair leapt over it as it formed a crystal pony. Luna cast a spell as a Parthian shot; it struck the newly-made mare, causing her to continue to develop into a thick, crystal wall as they fled, sporting numerous eyes, limbs, and semitransparent cutie marks.

<A Brave and Glorious knight, or a ferocious dragon from all those scare-mongering storybooks... they both have the right idea!>

The purple alicorn looked back and shuddered, pure muscle memory forcing her to keep galloping on. "What kind of spell was that?!"

<Something as strong as a dragon deserves a princess!>

This time, it was followed by a soft, pleading "no... don't..." in Spike's normal voice.

"Dreams need not make sense, Twilight Sparkle," Luna replied as they came to a door. There was a rough-cut, heart-shaped hole in it, where a lock would be, and the alchemical symbol for fire printed above it. "As often as I disagree with the draconequus, adapting chaos magic from Discord can be helpful in a pinch." She squinted at the door. "A fire-attuned heart? Twilight, you are Spike's guardian. Do you know what would fit here? Something deeply related to his sense of identity."

<If I can keep her, clearly I'm the Prince Charming of legend. And if she is stolen from me...>

"this isn't right... i would never..."

Twilight racked her brain, running back through her memories of Spike, growing up with him, watching him figure himself out. Not the Crystal Heart, it was too big. Not a Power Ponies book. Not that bowtie from the incident with Owlowicious. The mare gasped. Rarity! "It's a fire ruby! He was going to give it to himself for his hatchday, but gave it to Rarity instead. When he went into Greed Growth, she refused to give it over to the rampaging... Spike, and that helped bring him back!"

<Then it is not just my duty, but my desire, my destiny! to bring her back. No matter how much she screams.>

"if she's screaming, that's not..."

A piercing shriek jolted Luna's attention to another caricature of Rarity. The alicorn's eyes gleamed as she challenged the dream monster, "you're no true Rarity! Spike would never give you that fire ruby!" The white mare grinned a manic grin full of sharp teeth a dragon would be envious of, then held up a fire ruby in her magic. Luna's horn glowed, and a powerful beam of magic drove the creature through a wall, making its own magical field flicker and break. "Twilight! The gem!"

<She will be the crown jewel of my hoard. She will respect me. They will all respect me. I will be the strongest, bravest, most glorious dragon of all!>

"it's... a lie..."

A purple hue shimmered to life around the fire ruby, stopping it just inches before it hit the ground and sprouted a crystal pony, or shattered. Twilight quickly maneuvered it into place in the lock, which clicked. The huge door opened into what looked like a corrupted version of the Canterlot throne room. The stained glass windows showed images of Spike saving the Crystal Heart, Spike dressed as his Ogres and Oubliettes character, Spike as Humbug beating up the Maneiac, Spike saving Applejack from timberwolves, and many more. The dual thrones of the two sisters had been cast aside near the doorway, and in their place was a massive pile of gold, ice cream, gems, comics, the Elements of Harmony, sets of dice, and even the Crystal Heart.

<A lie? Of course not; lying is such an ignoble behavior. I would never lie about wanting to sit above it all while mares, stallions, and all others alike worship me for the majestic dragon I am.>

"I don't want that!"

On the ornate, gold-and-purple carpet leading to the treasure pile, Twilight saw Spike. She flew towards him, only to stop short when she realized who was on TOP of the treasure pile: Spike, being fawned over by Thorax, Ember, and a much more accurate-looking Rarity... with wings.

<Lying to your own shadow? And you call yourself a knight? Disgusting. I am what lies beneath, the truth you so shamefully cover up. I am truly Spike the Brave and Glorious, and I deserve to be praised for my great deeds! You cower behind ponies, asking politely for, "oh, Twilight, may I not be dragged into your drama for one day? No? Well that's fine." I'm the REAL Spike!>

Twilight looked between the two of them; behind her, Luna barricaded the door against more Rarities and crystal ponies. "Spike? Who is... what's going on?"

The Spike on the floor turned and ran towards her. "Twilight! Don't listen to a word that guy is saying. None of it is true! I'm Spike. **He's not me!"**

Luna whipped her head around and galloped towards them, flapping her wings for speed. However, before she could get there, a blast of green flame shot from the strange Spike's mouth, striking the other Spike too fast for Twilight to even put up a shield.

<WHAT?! I AM you! Just because you constantly lie to yourself because you think it makes PONIES happy, doesn't make it true!> The room darkened; both alicorns could feel an immense power gathering from the dragon's fury. <In fact, I think you're due for a replacement. I will finally command the respect and adulation I deserve.> He glared at the intruding ponies, eyes glowing gold. <And you two will be the first brought to heel as my worshippers!>

There was a crash of thunder, and everything changed. The weather outside the hall grew dark and stormy. The scenes in the stained-glass windows altered, now with red backgrounds: changelings prostrated before Spike, crystal ponies prostrated before Spike, Applejack prostrated before Spike, the Power Ponies prostrated before Spike, the Princesses prostrated before Spike, and more of the same. Thorax and Ember hovered in front of where the hoard had been, huge, unnatural grins plastered on their faces with hearts in their eyes. And as for Spike...

A huge dragon loomed at the far end of the hallway. Every inch of what Twilight was sure were purple scales and a green crest was covered in layers of gold and gems. The creature held a long and broad sword in his mouth, his wings were enormous kite shields with Spike's face emblazoned on them as a crest, and dangling from his tail was the Rarity alicorn, trapped in a golden and diamond-encrusted cage but staring adoringly at the adorned dragon. Twilight felt a weight against her side, and turned to see that the Spike by her had fallen unconscious. She ignited her horn and blinked the two of them away from the amalgamation and the corruptions of the leaders of the dragons and of the changelings.

Luna stepped up, a look of pure determination on her muzzle. "Nightmare," she commanded, "and Tantabus." From her mane and her horn, Nightmare Moon materialized on her left, and the purple, starry dream construct flowed into existence on her right. The alicorn of dreams turned her head to address Twilight, and said, "keep him safe, Twilight Sparkle. I am counting on you. And more importantly, so is he." She crouched, spread her wings, and lit her horn; the two monsters of her own creation followed suit. Spike's shadow roared, and as one, he, Thorax, and Ember rushed forward to meet their opposition.

As magic and gems flew, Twilight concentrated on keeping a solid, purple shield up between the fight, and herself and Spike. This paid off a few times, when a diamond Luna chipped off of Spike's shadow skidded off its surface, or when a solid hit from the changeling-turned-bugbear sent Nightmare Moon careening back and using the shield to spring off of. When she felt she had the time, Twilight funneled some extra magic into Spike's body; it was a rudimentary healing spell, but Twilight hoped it would be enough.

At last, the final blow was struck: the Tantabus severed the shadow's tail with a blade of dreamstuff, cutting the fake Rarity off from the dragon, Luna struck a weak spot with a stunning spell, and Nightmare Moon used the opening to shove what is scientifically called "a boatload" of dark, destructive magic down the dragon's throat. In a flash of light, the scene had returned to where it was before. Spike stirred against Twilight's side as his shadow remained on top of the assorted hoard, the phony alicorn, changeling king, and dragon lord watching him in adulation. Twilight helped the purple dragon next to her to his feet, and they approached once more.

<I will not be denied. I am amazing, and heroic, and I WILL be treated as such!> Spike's distorted voice echoed through the room. <I have more than earned the right to be way more than a scientist's pet lizard!>

Spike sighed and walked up to the pile. "Look... you're... you're not right, but I wasn't fair saying that I don't think that way sometimes. Living with and near a group of mares who save Equestria on, what, a weekly basis? would make anyone feel unappreciated." One dragon climbed the pile, while the other slid down it, sending gold coins and small rubies clinking down the slope. "A month or so ago, I finally realized how much being blinded by my fame and ego hurt other ponies, so I tried to make up for it by pretending not to have any. Just pushing down the thoughts of a reward for everything I do to help.

"It was making me miserable, I suppose, but I did such a good job of hiding it, even I didn't realize what I was doing. I'm sorry, I didn't accept you of first because I was terrified of what I might become - what I HAD become in the past - if I acknowledged your existence. I was so scared of another 'acting on behalf of Princess Twilight' or Greed Growth fiasco that I stopped letting myself feel deserving of anything not offered unprompted." Spike stuck out his hand. "I am Spike the Brave and Glorious; no matter how much I pretend in Ponyville that I don't have a statue in my name, that's just not the case. I saved the Crystal Heart, I delivered all those friendship reports to Twilight when Discord corrupted her, hay, I even DM for Discord. Nopony deserves EVERYTHING, not me, not Twilight, not even the Two Sisters, but I have to stop pretending that, every so often, I kind of like to picture it."

The other Spike took his hand and began to glow. There was a flash of gold, and the other Spike disappeared, leaving only the young dragon who had fainted through the battle. The hoard vanished, too, leaving Ember, Rarity (still an alicorn), and Thorax sitting at a round table with paper and dice in front of them, as well as an unoccupied DM screen. He turned to the two non-Rarity alicorns and smiled. "Thanks, Twilight, Luna. I don't know what would've happened if you two hadn't showed up."

Twilight gave him a bittersweet smile, tears threatening to leak from her eyes. "You're welcome, Spike. I'm sorry I didn't notice you felt this way. We'll have to talk more when you've woken up." She turned to Luna. "And, uh, Luna? Is this a common dream thing, or a special case for him being comatose?"

Luna nodded in acknowledgement of Spike's thanks, then replied to Twilight, "it is... uncommon. Most are not so dangerous or powerful, but I've learned my way around them, as you can see. Now come, we should leave Spike to his dream. If I trust what I glimpsed of those character sheets and campaign notes, you will not want to stick around and watch, either." With a spell, she summoned a door out of Spike's subconscious, and dragged a chronically-curious Twilight away from the table and back into wakefulness.

[discord-trolls]

A new old friend (a soft reboot drabble)

Ponyville was as unfortunately ordinary as it could be. The sky was it’s usual blue, birds chirped the same monotonous tunes and the pony folk all ran their usual little rat races that day. Such an environment was not becoming for the lord of chaos.

Discord was in the marketplace to collect snacks. It seemed that Twilight Sparkle and the girls were going on a ‘friendship retreat’ meaning the castle would be empty and free for a rousing guy’s night of Ogres and Oubliettes. He asked Spike why he wanted him to buy the snacks rather than conjure them with his magic, the dragon said store bought tasted better. That didn’t sit well with Discord to say the least.

He perused through the different shops, a hint of grumpiness to his step as he collected everything on Spikes list. Even after Discord would have been done gathering the refreshments, it’d still be a long agonizingly dull day before guy’s night got started. He silently prayed for some form of excitement. A bugbear attack. An earthquake. He’d even settle for a thief chase.

He soon got his wish in the form of a powerful shiver that shot through his body.

Being the spirit of chaos came with a fair share of abilities. One of them being the power to sense magical imbalances. Such a distinct surge registered on his metaphysical radar then and there, snapping himself out of his daze. His amber eyes, wide with surprise and curiosity, turned to the source of the disturbance. It wasn’t far. Just a few miles from Ponyville, in the heart of the Everfree Forest.

Being too intrigued to resist, Discord snapped his eagles talon and willed himself to the source of the surge without hesitation. What he found was quite unexpected, and that’s saying a lot.

“Listen to your Queen!” Chrysalis bellowed. “We must retrieve the Elements of Harmony!”

The shouting returned Twilight’s attention to the changeling. This wasn’t the Princess Twilight Sparkle the rest of a Equestria knew however. This was a dark double. Brought to life not a moment ago by a single piece of hair and a dark spell conjured by Chrysalis. She, along with the copies of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were created with the sole purpose of harnessing the power of the Elements of Harmony in the name of the Changeling Queen.

From the looks of her ‘colleagues’, however, this Twilight could see the plan was off to a bad start. Their lazy, idiotic self serving behavior seemed to be too much for even the ‘her Majesty’ to control. ‘Twilight’ walked up to her, disdain and disrespect very prevolent in her approach.

“Why didn’t you just attack them!?” she demanded.

“Excuse me?” Chrysalis asked, venom dripping from her voice.

“You got close enough to pull hair from their manes! Why not take your revenge then?”

“They defeated my army. I know better than to strike alone. I need....”

“Friends?” ‘Twilight’ finished her sentence with a smarmy tone.

”... Servants!” Chrysalis growled back. “And the power of the elements.”

“Right.”

‘Twilight’ Examined their surroundings once more. “So where are these ‘Elements of Harmony’?”

“The location of the most powerful magic in Equestria isn’t something made known to just anypony. I learned they were hidden somewhere in this forest.”

“Yeah well, it is a big forest.” the clone shot back before walking away. She was not impressed with their master Chrysalis in the slightest. So much so, that as they finally started to get on with

their mission, an ulterior motive was already brewing in her mind.

Discord looked down at the scene with surprise and amusement. It would seem that Chrysalis was rather ambitious with the revenge she swore onto Starlight Glimmer after she had freed her changeling hive from the Queen's’ control. Her plan to use copies of Twilight and the girls to harness the element’s power was a bold, if horrifically flawed plan.

What caught his attention most of all was the Twilight. He could see in her eyes there was something especially special about her compared to the other five. Her composure, her snark, the gears he could see turning in her head. It was the version of Twilight he had always hoped to see.

Now, a responsible ally to Equestria would swooped in, done away with the copies and apprehended Chrysalis promptly and without hesitation. Of course, while Discord is many things, responsible is not often the first descriptor that comes to mind. He kept his distance and continued to observe the group as he considered what he should do next.

It had been hours since this mission had begun and they had barely made any progress. ‘Twilight’ all but stomped through the forest looking for her companions. “Keep it together. You can do this,” she told herself through gritted teeth. “You need those imbeciles if your plan is going to come together.”

“You’re plan, eh?” a voice called out.

‘Twilight’ stood at attention, looking around for the source of that unfamiliar voice, readying herself for if she needed to fight her way out of something. Soon, her eyes fell upon one of the strangest things she had ever seen laying on a tree branch. A grotesque, patchwork amalgam of different creatures with a distorted equines head at the top. It stared at her with asymmetrical amber eyes and a long, toothy grin.

“What? Who are you!?” she demanded.

“Ah, so you don’t have her memories,” the creature noted. “Excellent. I love fresh starts.”

It swooped down from the branch and landed before her. “Discord. Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. Hi, how are you?” he greeted, extending his lions paw out to her.

The alicorn grimaced, starting to turn around. “I don’t have time for this nonsense, monster. I have things to do!”

“Yes so I noticed. You and Chrysalis both seem dead set on finding those elements.”

She froze. ”... What do you know about the elements?”

“More than you do. That much is certain.”

“And I suppose that you intend to stop us?”

“I don’t have to,” Discord corrected, laying back in mid air. “Because I know you’re going to fail.”

‘Twilight’ just stood there puzzled for a moment. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well let me answer that question with a question. Your boss Chryssy told you that Princess Twilight and her friends had the ability to wield the elements but did you ever tell you why?”

She narrowed her eyes at the smug creature before finally answering. ”... no.”

“Figured as much. She doesn’t know either.” he chuckled. “It’s because those six ponies in fact embody the qualities required to wield such a power. Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, Kindness Loyalty etc. See, that’s the part most people seem to miss about how they work.”

Discord twirled a single claw of his eagle’s talon in the air, causing the area around it to twist and change until a small rift opened up. The rift showed Princess Twilight, back when she was a unicorn standing with her friends before the lord of chaos.

“You see, like your Queen, I was once enemies with those girls as well. I knew they weilded the only thing in Equestria that could defeat me so I needed to remove them from the equation. So with a few choice words, and a dash of magic, I was able to turn those ponies into the exact opposite of the elements they embodies. A liar, a grump, a hoarder, a brute and a drifter to name a few.”

He turned his gaze from the visual aid back to ‘Twilight’, an even wider grin on his face. “Sound familiar?”

She looked down, thinking back to the other five. Their behavior, coupled with the creatures explanation caused worry to begin flooding her system.

”... You’re bluffing.”

“Sure, let’s go with that.” he replied, trying hard not to laugh.

”So what? Are you trying to say the elements won't work for us because we aren’t goody goods?”

“Oh them not working for you is the best case scenario,” he explained. “It’s equally as possible that the Tree of Harmony will know you and the others are just tainted copies and possibly purge from existence.”

Her knees began to wobble slightly. Only now was she considering the very serious chances of failure and to say she didn’t like it one bit was the say that the sun is a bit toasty.

“Why? Why are you telling me this?” she asked.

Discord shrugged. “Well maybe it’s just my gentle loving heart, but I would hate to see the worst happen to somepony over a doomed revenge scheme.” He lowered himself down until he was eye to eye with the clone. “Besides, I like you. You’re filled with ambition, cunning and a refreshing lack of crippling neurosis. You have potential. And if there’s something I love doing it’s realizing potential.”

He extended his paw out again. “So, dark Twilight,” he said cheekily. “Do you want to carry on with her Majesty’s already failed plan, or would you rather come with me and truly make something of yourself?”

She frowned, knowing full well this was the illusion of free choice. Whether or not this creature was telling the truth, the fact remained that there were too many rogue variables to take that chance. Whether by this Tree of Harmony or Chrysalis herself, she risked oblivion, Begrudgingly, she lifted her hoof, accepting his paw.

“Fine.”

“Excellent!” Discord beamed. “Shall we go gather your compatriots? They seem fun.”

“No,” she responded flatly. “If what you say is true, then they’re useless to me.”

Discord whistled. “My you are as cold as they come aren’t you. I knew I liked you for a reason.”

‘Twilight’ scoffed and eyed Discord with an unamused glare. “Well, shall we?”

“Indeed,” he said with a smile, raising his lion’s paw up. “You’ll likely need a place to stay, I imagine. I hope you like lava beds.”

“Lava wha-?”

With a snap of his fingers, the two vanished from the forest.