Chapter 29: Square One

I eventually arrived back at the small town where I started, Ponyville. I needed a way to reach Canterlot castle again. I was also debating in my mind whether I should try and warn the citizens of the impending danger.

"I think you should" The god pony suggested.

"Why? Because it would be hilarious to see a 'kid' try and convince an entire town that they are going to be attacked by Discord and no-one is going to protect them?" I answered, aloud.

"Exactly" he replied with a chuckle.

"Send me home." I replied flatly, instantly ceasing the chuckle of the pony.

"What?" He asked.

"I can't do it, I give up. Screw the horses, screw this world, and screw you. I'm done, send me back." I told him. Any motive I had to save my 'friends' was gone as soon as I realised what I was going to have to do in order to save them.

"…No" He answered, his tone sinister. "You had your chance to go back and you declined."

"B-but, what's the point? I-I can't save them, Canterlot is overrun, Ponyville is next, and to these ponies I'm just a kid!" I flustered, panicked that I was stuck here until I completed an impossible task.

"Exactly!" He began laughing. I looked around myself, a crowd had amassed around me, the ponies looked confused, some worried. They were murmuring to one-another, "He looks hurt," "where are his parents?" One of them eventually came forward, a brown pony with a spiky, darker brown mane.

"Are you alright son? You aren't lost are you?" He asked.

"Wha- uh, yeah, I'm fine." I replied, not fully processing my reply.

"Hey, aren't you that kid that went with Twilight and her friends to Canterlot?" He asked.

"Yeah, um… I need to get back up there. Is there a taxi service or something?" I asked.

"Why? I don't think a kid should go up to Canterlot on his own."

"My uh, parents, are up there…" I lied, putting on the best whimpering child voice I could. I even used crocodile tears, feeling like an idiot.

"Oh well don't you worry son, I think there are some royal guards from Canterlot in town somewhere. They might be able to help you find your parents." He told me, desperate to stop me crying, which I did. "Let's go and find them." He sounded annoyingly patronising, but I accepted his help and followed by his side.

I wasn't used to seeing a bright sunny sky. The thick, pink clouds covering Canterlot made it seem like it was the dead of night there. Here, the sun shone vibrantly in the clear blue above, the only clouds I could see were the ones surrounding the mountain Canterlot was on and the pink ones above it.

"Hello sirs!" The pony I was with said to the two guards who were idly chatting outside their gold plated chariot.

"Oh, hello citizen, what seems to be the problem?" One guard asked, in golden armour just like the rest.

"This poor little colt has lost his family, he says they are up in Canterlot." He described my fake problem for me.

"I was wondering if you could give me a ride up there? So I can go and find them. Please?" I asked, putting on a sappy little boy's voice. I even attempted puppy eyes.

"Awww, is the little feller lost? Don't worry little guy, we'll help you find your parents." The other guard said. "We're royal guards, loyal to the princesses themselves." He picked me up and placed me on the back of the chariot. The patronisation was killing me.

"Hey Gold, what's taking Stonewall so long?" The other guard asked. "He said he would be a few seconds, we need to be back to the castle by today."

"You stay with these guards okay?" The brown pony who helped me said to me. I nodded without words in response. Eventually, after about five minutes, a third guard arrived at the chariot.

"Stone! How long do you want to take? We need to leave right now." One guard scolded the arriving guard.

"Sorry, but when you gotta go-"

"I don't want to hear it!" the guard next to me cut off the late guard.

"Anyway, who's the kid?" the late guard asked, missing to whole explanation.

"He somehow lost his parents up in Canterlot, we're giving him a ride back."

"Do you have a name, sport?" The third guard asked, I nodded.

"My name I-is, Little Guy" I acted shy and innocent.

"Awww, how fitting. My name is Justice," The white-coated stallion with the purple mane and tail replied, "These are Gold" He pointed to the other guard who was already with him, he was yellow coated with a white mane and tail, "and Stonewall" he pointed to the third guard who was late, his coat was grey and his mane and tail were both a lighter shade of grey.

"But you can just call us 'Sir" Gold said, again I nodded to show my understanding. "Alright Justice, your turn to fly." Gold said to Justice, I noticed all three of the guards were Pegasi, I guessed they had been taking turns to fly each other back. They must have been travelling for a long time.

"Okay, but I'm gonna help the kid when we get back." Justice replied, ruffling my mane with a hoof. "Have fun explaining to Celestia and Luna why we're so late."

"Wha- But- Oh man, we're dead." Stonewall said to Justice, Gold didn't look happy either. "We should really get going."

Justice hooked himself up to the front of the Chariot. I wasn't feeling too safe in a chariot being flown by a single pony.

"Uh, are you sure you can fly us all the way to Canterlot… sir?" I asked for reassurance.

"Don't worry kid, my job is to carry heavy loads like these two around." He replied.

"Hey, I've been watching my weight thank you very much!" Gold said, apparently offended. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the childish squabbling. Without any further delay, Justice began galloping at high speed and spread his wings, soaring into the sky. I instinctively clung on to the leg of the closest guard, the whole concept of flying that fast without any kind of safety harness was terrifying. I had flown plenty of times by now, whether it was travelling long distance or, more commonly, against my will due to a defective spell of some description. I may have been traumatised by it.

"Alright kid, Where did you last see your parents?" Gold asked me, placing a reassuring hoof on my shoulder. I let go of his leg and thought about my answer.

"W-we were just walking around near the c-castle." I put on a faux whimper as I spoke. "A-and I used a spell by accident, because I was so excited…"

"And that spell was a teleportation spell?" Stonewall finished my explanation for me, I just nodded slowly. "Alright, no worries Little Guy, Justice knows the city like the back of his hoof. He'll find your parents in no time." I nodded again and smiled unenthusiastically. "While me and Gold get scolded by the Princess for being gone so long…" He muttered audibly.

The sheer speed of Justice's flying meant we reached Canterlot in no more than 15 minutes. From here I could see how dead the city's streets were, but the guards didn't seem to notice. We pulled in to a docking station under a mile from the castle. Justice unhooked himself and flew round to us.

"Right kid, you're with me, you two, have fun with the Princess, and make the explanation good." Justice instructed us. The other guards saluted and flew in the direction of the castle while Justice began to walk into the streets. I had to tell them now, or they might be joining Discord. I didn't think of how to explain it, and it took a few seconds to build up the courage, but I had to stop them.

"WAIT!" I shouted, probably not the best idea behind enemy lines.

"Whoa, what's the matter kid?" Stonewall called, hovering in the air.

"Alright, I need to warn you, all of you. I haven't lost my parents, I don't have parents."

"Wait what? Hey, what's the deal kid?" Gold yelled, flying closer.

"Wait, wait, hear me out. I need to warn you guys." I pleaded, trying my best not to aggravate them.

"What's going on here, Little Guy?" Justice approached me, a look of concern on his face.

"Okay, alright…" I took a deep breath, "I'm not actually a pony, I'm a human who was turned into a pony by someone that I don't want to talk about right now. Basically this guy named Discord was freed from his prison and he has been brainwashing all of Canterlot's citizens which is why there is nobody around because they're all in Canterlot castle." I took another deep breath, "Discord is planning on using these ponies as his own army which he will use to take over Equestria to make it a land of Chaos, what makes it worse is that he has taken my previous human form while he creates enough chaos to return to his original form and human bodies are resistant to magic so spells and perhaps even the elements of harmony won't work on him." Yet another breath, "I need your help because he captured the ponies which use elements of harmony which are the only way we can stop him but by now he has probably brainwashed them so we need to break into the castle and somehow snap them out of it also we need to find the princesses so they can help re-seal discord as the elements of harmony may not work on a human body!" I gasped, lungs shriveled and empty. The guards just stood there, mouths agape and expressions of shock and bewilderment plastered onto their faces. They didn't believe it, did they?

"I'm sorry, I didn't get a word of that." Stonewall broke the disbelieving silence.

"He isn't a pony, Discord is free, Canterlot has been brainwashed and he escaped." Justice summed up, not releasing his angry glare from me. "What stupid prank are you trying to pull on us kid?"

"I believe him." Gold said, me and the other two guards were shocked, we all shouted "What?!" in unison. "Look around guys, it's late afternoon and there isn't a single pony in sight. You know how crowded this place is around this time of day." He explained, gesturing to the vast, empty streets ahead of us.

"Are you sure that's what time it is? It's pretty dark…" Stonewall responded, I tapped him on the leg to get his attention, when he looked down I pointed towards the sky. His gaze followed and he saw the thick sea of pink clouds which swallowed the clear blue sky above. "wow…" was all he could say.

"H-how did we not notice that before?" Justice questioned, losing confidence.

"You guys need to believe me, I really need help with this." I pleaded one more time. The guards looked at each other. Stonewall and Gold nodded, and after a brief few seconds of consideration, Justice sighed and nodded too.

"Alright kid, we're with you." Justice said with a smile showing he regained his confidence. We set off through the dark, silent, lifeless streets, towards the castle.

"I don't think we should go through the front door, isn't that too obvious?" I asked as we approached the main gates of the castle.

"I wasn't planning to. The throne room is that tower, so that window right up there is our entrance. We'll just fly in and take Discord out." He spread out his wings, preparing to fly.

"What? No no no, seriously, bad idea!" I quickly tried to deter him from his plan. "You have no idea what you're up against, it isn't just him and a few guards, he has an entire city's population up there!" I explained, standing in front of him. He sighed in frustration and retracted his wings.

"Alright, any ideas where we'll find the princesses?" He asked, I shook my head, but then remembered something. "Well, when we were first here, we managed to explore a few main hallways of the castle, all except the top floor, perhaps we should start there?" I suggested.

"Okay, Gold, scout on ahead and check if that room up there is clear." Justice ordered gold, he quickly saluted and darted off into the sky. Stonewall began flying and Justice picked me up before flying after him. As we neared the window Gold beckoned us closer, signifying the coast was clear. We sped into the dark room and got down low. The dimmed sunlight seeping through the huge window was the only light source we had. The room was an empty guard barracks, bunk beds lining the walls was the only feature of the room. At the other end of the room was a single closed door.

"Alright, move to the door." Justice ordered, "and keep it quiet."

"Armour ain't the best for sneaking in, Justice." Stonewall whispered.

"Just get a move on" the now far ahead Justice whispered back. We reached the door and Gold slowly slid it open. We were greeted with a long hallway lit by torches, everyone sighed in frustration. We carried on walking until we reached a 4 way junction of hallways, each one ended in total blackness due to the lack of light.

"Okay, should we split up?" Gold asked, edging down the left path.

"Are you crazy?!" I quietly shouted. "Just because it's quiet here, doesn't mean it will be quiet anywhere else. There's a whole city of freakin' zombies in this castle!" I ranted, panting with frustration and fear.

"Alright kid, calm down. 'course we'll stick together. Gold just gets a bit ahead of himself, he's our scout after all." Stonewall explained.

"Might as well head this way first then." Justice began down the hallway Gold had already decided on. The light slowly began to die. As it did, we all closed closer and closer together. All of us but Gold who for some reason was darting around above us, looking around frantically.

"What's his problem?" I asked, looking up at him. He was buzzing like an angered bee.

"He doesn't like being inside too long. He can't stand not being able to fly freely. He's also afraid of the dark." Justice explained, seeming irritated. "Gold, stop being an idiot. Come down here." Justice ordered his comrade. He slowly obeyed and landed beside us.

"I'm telling you I heard something around here, it's creeping me out!" He quietly panicked. We silenced our conversation as we walked. Suddenly, a strange green light zipped down towards us from the other end of the hallway and entered one of the doors ahead of us. We rushed towards the door, apart from gold who lay on the floor, hyperventilating. Stonewall rushed back and dragged him along.

"Gold, snap out of it!" Stonewall said to Gold, who was still in a state of panic. Stonewall shook him a bit and his breathing slowed.

"I-it's a ghost! I saw it!" He squealed.

"Whatever it was…" Justice said to us, "It went in the princess' room." He studied the wooden door and put a hoof on it.

"Wait wait wait!" Stonewall jumped up and stood in front of Justice. "We can't go in there, no-one can but Princess Celestia!"

"And that thing went in there!" Gold said, jumping up to his hooves and shaking.

"It's our only lead. How's the princess gonna find out?" I injected, agreeing with Justice's motion to enter the room.

"Alright, just make it quick. This feels wrong." Stonewall moved aside and Justice pushed the door open. The room was as dark as the hallway outside apart from the soft glow of the light from outside on some curtains on the other side of the room. Gold flew over and thrust the curtains open before forcing the window open and darting outside. He flew around outside for a few seconds and returned.

"Okay, I'm good… so… What's with all this paper?" We all approached the huge pile of rolled up parchments in the center of the room. Justice grabbed one and unrolled it.

"What does it say?" I asked, he carried on reading it without answering. His eyes widened. "Does anyone know this-" Before he could continue, another green light darted into the room. The light was a green flame. It shot above the pile or letters and swirled before it burst in a cloud of smoke, forming another letter. It was a very familiar sight.

"See, it isn't ghosts!" Stonewall said to Gold, who was cowering behind a dressing cabinet. He poked his head out and let out a sigh of relief before rejoining us.

"Anyway…" Justice said "Does anyone know this 'Spike'?" I lit up when I heard this name.

"Spike! That's Twilight's dragon friend, the one who sends these letters for her. The letters must be from him!" I was so happy.

"Yeah, it's from him. He's apparently locked in a closet in the left wing armory! Finally, a lead." Justice discarded the letter and set off out the room. "Come on, we gotta find this dragon." We followed him out of the room, I trusted they knew the way.

"We still haven't seen a single 'brainwashed' pony around here…" Gold commented as we wondered through a slightly brighter hallway.

"Maybe they're guarding the lower levels? I don't know." I replied, still constantly looking out in case he spoke too soon.

"Shhh… we're here." Justice hushed us. We were standing outside a huge set of iron-reinforced wooden double doors. "Odd, it isn't guarded."

"I doubt they saw Spike as worth it." I commented. "Who's going in first?"

"Stone, you're up." Justice ordered after the door was not pushing open. Stonewall walked down the hallway and prepared to charge.

"Wait!" I called. "This is going to be loud, isn't it?" I asked, glancing around.

"Stealth isn't really our thing." Stonewall said, and he charged. Head-first, he slammed into the door, bursting it open. The explosion of sound echoed throughout the desolate hallways. I braced and shut my eyes, expecting to hear the thunder of hooves approach us. But it didn't. The echo died and we were once again in silence. "See, no problem! Ow." He held a hoof on top of his head.

"Glad you're on our side…" I commented, causing him to smile. The armory was as bleak and dismal as the hallways. However, there was one thing wrong with the picture.

"Oh sweet Celestia, the weapons are gone!" Gold cried, darting around to each empty rack and container.

"They must be preparing for an attack." Justice remarked, studying the empty weapon racks.

"The attack on Ponyville! He's really going to do it!" I panicked with sudden realisation. I was caught off guard by a muffled cry for help. "Spike!?"

"Over here, in the closet!" I think he said. I followed the sound of his voice. There was a small wooden door to the side of the room which the voice was coming from. There was a steady stream of smoke flowing out of the keyhole.

"Hold on, I'll bust that door down and have you out of there-" Stonewall got ready to charge, the rest of us jumped in his way to stop him.

"What are you thinking? You'll kill him!" Justice disciplined his strong headed, weak minded partner. "Gold, you think you can pick this lock?"

"I'll try sir, this feels wrong too…" Gold reached into a satchel beneath his leg armor and pulled out a lock pick. "Right, be as quiet as possible…" He carefully inserted the thin bit of metal into the keyhole. From here, it just looked like he was wriggling around the pick, but whatever he did, it worked. The door clicked open and the little dragon darted out, followed by a thick cloud of smoke.

"Spike!" I was ecstatic to see a familiar face.

"Little Guy!?" Spike was more confused then excited. "How did you find me?"

"We found your mountain of letters in the princess' room." Justice intervened, I nodded.

"They all went to the princess' room?! I guess the princess was the only thing on my mind. Anyway, Discord's minions didn't realise they locked me in a cabinet full of paper, quills and ink." He boasted, puffing his chest out.

"What do you mean by the princess was the only thing on your mind?" I asked him, his eyes shot wide.

"Princess Celestia! I know where she is, and Princess Luna too!" He suddenly burst out. "When I hid away from that battle you had with the brainwashed ponies, I overheard Discord ordering them to bring the princesses to him." He explained. "He's holding them in the throne room!"

"Well, it seems a confrontation is unavoidable." Justice said, sighing with reduced confidence.

"That it is, sir." Someone said, we all looked at each other and we realised none of us said that. We turned our heads to the doorway. The small amount of light coming in from the hallway was cut off. Cut off by the shape of a human. I nearly blacked out with fear, how did he find us?!

"Discord!" Justice shouted. "You will stand down right now and release these ponies!" Discord just sniggered in response.

"Oh please, 'Yes, I'm sorry please don't hurt me!' Pfft." Discord mocked. Stonewall did not hesitate any longer and he charged into Discord. Discord clicked his fingers and the helmet on Stonewall's head transformed into lead and weighed his head down into the floor. His momentum caused him to slide across the floor, stopping at Discord's feet. Discord removed the helmet and began to pet Stonewall's mane, laughing sinisterly.

"No!" I yelled, "That's how he brainwashes them! Stop him!" Justice and Gold formed up in front of me. Simultaneously they lifted up into the air and blasted towards Discord. But they were too late, Stonewall jumped up and blocked the impact, absorbing it like a… well… stone wall. He grabbed the unconscious no-longer-partners and slung them over his back. He brought them to Discord and Discord took one under each arm.

"Oh, and could you bring me that little colt over there too? I want to have a little talk with him." With that command, stone wall galloped towards me. He grabbed my tail in his teeth and dragged me back to Discord with ease. He slung me into Discord who caught me under his arm next to an unconscious Justice. "Now then, let's talk." He said sinisterly with a devious smile. I thrashed and struggled but I could not free myself from his grip. "We're heading back to the throne room, to see your friends. And to discuss your success with convincing Ponyville to surrender or move."

That was it, I was finished.

Okay, one more chapter I think.