    "Good luck, everypony!" Discord proclaimed, his serpentine body twisting and curling as he floated in the air before the keepers of the Elements of Harmony. He followed this by a laugh, a distressing mix between a sinister cackle and a mirthful giggle. Then, with a blinding flash of light, he vanished.
 
    The mares looked around at each other, dazzled by the bright light and worried about what lay ahead for them. After a moment of silence, silence spoke up, circumstance once again pushing her into the position of leader of the group. "Never fear, girls; we have each other!"
 
    Sensing an opportunity to grab the spotlight, Rainbow Dash spoke up as well. "Yeah, like Twilight said, there's nothing we can't overcome if we all stick together."
 
    The mares all lined up side by side and stepped towards the entrance to the maze. "Alright, girls. Let's do this!" Twilight proclaimed as they all marched into the maze as one.
 
    "Together!" the six mares shouted in unison, both as a battle cry and as a continuation of Twilight's sentence. The average pony probably would've called it tempting fate, but of course it was not fate which was in control at the moment, but Discord. So as soon as the group had taken their first step into the maze, extra hedges erupted from the ground. The first two split Twilight off from the group, followed by Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and finally the last two separated Fluttershy from the rest of the group and blocked her from escaping.
 
    The Keepers of the Elements cried out in distress, but were cut off by Twilight's voice, its confident tone barely covering her own concern. "Stay calm, girls!" she commanded, taking charge yet again. "Everypony, head to the middle as fast as you can, and we'll regroup there!"
 
    "Moving out!" Rainbow announced, Twilight's drill sargent demeanor no doubt resonating with her desire to join the Wonderbolts, or at least clicking with training she'd received in flight school.
 
    Rarity was the next to respond, reassured that somepony was taking control of this chaotic disaster. "See you in the center."
 
    "Yeehaw!" Applejack's voice rang out through the maze; she was clearly eager to get started on this adventure.
 
    "See you guys there!" Pinkie Pie perkily proclaimed, her trademark enthusiasm already back into her voice.
 
    The five ponies darted off down their respective corridors. The frightened mutterings of the timid yellow mare could just barely be heard as they galloped away, followed by a high-pitched scream of panic.
 
    Rarity galloped down her corridor, determined to make it to the center of the maze. Occasionally, she thought she heard voices through the hedges, voices that sounded like her friends, though she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. She considered pushing through the hedge walls or climbing over them, but Discord would probably consider that "cheating", and she didn't want to complicate things any further. Besides, if Discord was controlling the hedges, she wanted to avoid going too close to one, lest it grab her and… Well, she wasn't sure what exactly, but she knew she didn't want to find out, so she kept to the center of the path.
 
    She tried to keep to the left wall as she made her way through the maze, so as to not get lost, but she didn't do that for long as any paths that led to dead ends did so almost immediately. From inside, it actually wasn't much of a maze at all, which gave Rarity the disconcerting feeling that she was being herded in a particular direction. There was a larger plan at play than simply delaying them from reaching the Elements.
 
    The maze seemed to fold over on itself, the ground appearing in some places to be vertical, or even upside-down, no doubt more of that ruffian's tomfoolery. Fortunately, gravity always pulled Rarity to the ground, regardless of how it was oriented, so she pressed on. She panted slightly as she followed the twists and turns of the maze, her pace having slowed to a casual trot. "I was expecting an audience with the princess," she complained, "not *outdoor sport*." She said the last two words with a clear tone of distain, closing her eyes and turning up her nose in disapproval.
 
    Of course, closing her eyes just before turning a corner turned out to be a bad idea, which Rarity discovered almost immediately when she ran face-first into a stone wall. She grunted as the force of the impact crumpled her snout and knocked her backwards onto her rump. "Aah!" she cried out, already worrying about the dust she'd dislodged with her impact and how she'd have to clean it out of her mane and her coat. Those thoughts quickly fell from her mind, however, once her eyes had uncrossed and she could clearly see exactly what it was that she'd collided with. "Oh my…"
 
    In front of her, embedded in a largely featureless wall of rock, were three diamonds, each one almost as big as her head. They sparkled with an inviting beauty, luring her to stand back up and approach them. However, when she examined them closely, it wasn't her own face that she saw reflected in its many facets, but rather Discord's.
 
    Discord let out his trademark sinisterly mischievous chuckle. "Welcome to your lucky day, Rarity. You've found the one thing in Equestria that could rival my face for sheer beauty."
 
    Rarity would've objected that the monster's face was hardly beautiful, but the blinding radiance of the gemstones forced her to close her eyes and broke her train of thought. She didn't even notice that he had said "the one thing" when there were clearly *three* diamonds.
 
    "What do you think?" Discord asked. "You like?"
 
    The answer was so obvious that Discord didn't need to ask the question, but Rarity answered it anyway. "Yes. I like very much…" she responded, dropping the proper grammar of her carefully constructed façade.
 
    But… she had a mission. And besides, if they were in the Canterlot Hedge Maze, they had to have been put there by somepony. This wasn't like finding gems in the ground; the gems weren't hers for the taking. Rarity shook her head to clear her mind. "No! No, I shan't succumb to such fabulousness."
 
    With great mental effort, Rarity turned around and started to walk away from it, each step feeling like she was pulling on a giant rubber band. "Must… get to the center… to meet… the others!" she grunted, strainin against her own avarice.
 
    Then again, the arrangement of the gems, as well as their color, bore a striking resemblance to her own cutie mark. And the path she'd been placed in had practically pushed her towards this exact spot, with a massive sun emblazoned on the ground. What if it had been placed there specifically for her to find? It wouldn't be stealing then, would it?
 
    It didn't occur to her that this would mean they had been placed by Discord, who clearly didn't have the best of intentions for her; the brief moment of doubt, followed by a quick glance back at those gorgeous crystals, was enough to allow the tension in the mental rubber band to yank her back towards the stone wall. "MINE!" she called out, a strange tingle spreading down her body as she reared up and began to frantically chip away at the wall.
 
    Fortunately, because she'd expected an audience with Princess Celestia, Rarity was wearing her finest diamond-studded horseshoes, which allowed her to actually make progress on the wall. Unfortunately it was still very slow going as she broke off small chips from the stone surrounding the diamonds. The diamonds shone so brightly that suhe barely even noticed the flash of light as Discord teleported behind her.
 
    Discord chuckled mischievously as he leaned back in a lawn chair and summoned a bag of popcorn. Seeing the speed of Rarity's progress, he grinned and summoned a larger bag. He'd have to play some games with time to get to the others in time, but that wasn't a problem at all.
 
    Rarity panted as she chipped away at the wall. It was a slow and gruelling process, and not every strike even made a visible difference, but she could tell that rock was falling away, and that told her that she was indeed making progress, however slowly. She tried to loosen the stones by removing the rock holding them in place, but that turned out to be harder than she'd expected, as the diamonds seemed to be set significantly deeper into the wall than she had thought at first glance. Still, she wasn't discouraged; in fact, this just meant that the diamonds were bigger than she had first thought, which only increased her resolve to free them from the surrounding rock.
 
    Discord grinned as he lay back in his seat, which hovered from side to side so that he always had the best view possible. Of course, he could tell that the "diamonds" were an illusion, and she was simply striking her hooves against an ordinary stone wall. He admired his handiwork; Rarity certainly was a determined pony. He wondered how determined she was, exactly.
 
    He decided to test her. It had the benefit of letting him know how far into greed she had fallen, but the truth was that this was simply the icing on the cake; his main motivation was simply that he enjoyed messing with ponies. "Rarity!" he called out, flawlessly mimicking Twilight Sparkle's voice. "Thank Celestia we found you! Come on; we need to find the elements!"
 
    "Just a minute!" Rarity called out, a lilt in her voice. "Let me finish this first."
 
    "We have to go, Rarity!" Discord responded in Rainbow Dash's voice. "We have to find the others and stop Discord!"
 
    Rarity groaned with irritation. "We can do that *after* I've gotten these diamonds free! There's no rush."
 
    Discord grinned. He was pleased that Rarity was unwavering in her greed, but he wondered just how far he could push her. He let out a blood-curdling scream in Fluttershy's voice, throwing his voice so it seemed to come froma nearby section of the maze. "Oh no!" he exclaimed in his normal voice. "Aren't you going to help her?"
 
    Rarity scowled, still steadily chipping away at the wall. "That's just Fluttershy. She probably stepped on a bug or something. Now leave me alone; I'm busy right now!"
 
    Discord was impressed, but he still wanted to see what it would take to break her concentration. He quickly twirlled around in circles, becoming just a blur to the eye, and when he stopped a second later he was wearing a clown costume and holding a bicycle horn, which he honked twice. "Hey, Rarity! Look at me! I'm Princess Celestia!" he announced mockingly. Then he frowned. "Actually, that's giving her a little too much credit; at least clowns can appreciate a good joke."
 
    Grumbling to herself, Rarity resolved to not give Discord the satisfaction of a response, as he was clearly fishing for one now. She gritted her teeth and and struck the wall more still with her hooves. The stone seemed to be getting thin in places, so she figured she was at least on the right track.
 
    "Oh, don't be such a wet blanket. Here, join in the fun."
 
    After Discord's signature flash of light, Rarity caught a glimpse of herself reflected in the gems. In place of her expertly coiffed mane, she had a rainbow afro, or rather an afro with stripes of many different colors put next to each other with no regard for the proper order. The look was finished off with face makeup and a big red nose.
 
    Rarity bit her lip, caring less and less what Discord did. Once she had gotten the diamonds free, she would be more than capable of paying somepony to fix her mane. Still, that's not to say it didn't bruise her ego slightly.
 
    Discord was impressed; he knew Rarity well enough to know that such a disruption to her appearance would normally have had her running to the nearest salonn as fast as her legs could carry her. He was still determined to find her breaking point, though.
 
    Discord roared, yet again throwing his voice nearby. "Oh no, did you hear that?" he asked, mock panic in his voice. "That sounded like… *the Tickle Monster*!" He retracted his claws and used his paw to tickle Rarity, starting with her withers and moving down to her chest followed by her belly.
 
 
    Rarity rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help the involuntary muscle spasms that come with being tickled. Still, she pressed on, surprised by how large the diamonds were, and how deeply into the wall they were buried; it didn't make sense to her, but that was probably to be expected with Discord in the equation. She held in her giggles as well as she could, though a few managed to slip out. However, she didn't waver from her task in the slightest, fighting through Discord's attempt at distracting her.
 
    Discord was simultaneously impressed, satisfied, and frustrated; it seemed as though he had made a rock so heavy even he couldn't lift it. "Okay, you're boring me…" he commented, standing up. "I have no further use for you, so I'm going to *gobble you up*."
 
    Rarity'se ears perked up, and her stomach dropped, but she told himself that he was still just trying to push her buttons. Her mind briefly flooded with very vivid images of what it would be like to be shoved into… did Discord even *have* a stomach? Or was it some kind of… pocket dimension? She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and decided to call his bluff, so she simply continued to pound away at the stone around the three gems, which got closer together the deeper into the rock she went.
 
    "Oh, you do look delicious!" Discord teased, just barely hiding his giddy laughter. "Rawr!" He pounced, and Rarity took a sharp breath of air as her life flashed before her eyes.
 
    However, instead of the muggy depths of his throat enveloping her back half, she simply felt him start to gently nibble on her neck, making "OMNOMNOM" noises. The sensation sent shivers down her spine, but the knot in her stomach went away when she realized it was just more of his games and she would be able to live to finish the task at hoof.
 
    Discord continued to nibble at her, careful to not hurt her with his sharp snaggletooth. It seemed Discord was the kind of sadist who doesn't like to injure his victims, just torment them. And torment he did, moving his nibbles up to her ear. "Mmm, is that lilac I taste?" he asked, switching from her right ear to her left by flipping his whole body over her back. "How considerate of you to season yourself for me!"
 
    Rarity took a deep breath, determined not to let the maniac get under her hide.  Now that she knew she was safe, relatively speaking, she could focus on the gems, which were now looking much larger than they'd seemed before, with just a few thin, increasingly tenuous strips of rock separating them.
 
    "Do you even know I'm here?" Discord asked, using her back as a slide and landing behind her. "What about your friends? Aren't you going to help them? He nibbled her tail, making his way up it and then flipping onto his back and nibbling on her left teat a couple times.
 
    Rarity jumped slightly when she felt his teeth brush against and squeeze her sensitive teat. She tried to squirm away while keeping the rhythm of her chiseling, but she wasn't quite flexible enough, so she had to stop for a moment to break free.
 
    This momentary lapse did not go unnoticed by Discord, who grinned and nibbled her other teat, gently wrapping his lips around it and began to suck. "Hmm, it's so dry. That's a shame." He paused for a moment before giggling. "Oh, silly me, let me fix that."
 
    Rarity tried to scoot away, but it was too late. She felt a paw brush across her teats. In response to his touch, they perked up and the mounds beneath them grew larger. Rarity tried to keep fighting, but the pressure was getting unbearable, and it took all her mental effort to keep chiseling and not beg Discord to milk her. She still had to maintain at least some semblance of poise.
 
    Discord grinned and wrapped his lips around her left teat and sighed with satisfaction as the sweet, creamy flavor filled his mouth. He held it in his mouth for a moment, savoring the flavor, before he swallowed it.
 
    A sharp chill ran through Rarity's teat, causing her to jump slightly, but she was still full, so she begrudgingly let him continue to suckle. Besides, she had more important things to worry about. Rarity turned her attention to the stone wall, a significant divot now visible around the gems, and resumed her assault on the rock, striking it more frantically to make up for lost time. After a minute or so, he switched to her other teat, and the numbing cold sensation was replaced with a stinging, tingling one. But still, Rarity pressed onwards, allowing Discord to relieve the pressure behind her teats as she worked diligently at uncovering more of the large gems she'd discovered.
 
    The chimeric spirit of disharmony switched back and forth between her teats, mixing their offerings in his mouth before swallowing them and exhaling with satisfaction. "Mmm, rootbeer float, my favorite!"
 
    Rarity shuddered, not happy that she'd just been turned into a drink dispenser, but she tried not to pay it any mind. After all, a little bit of humiliation, especially with nopony else around to see it, would be worth it if she could get those gems out. The rock between them was getting very thin, so she figured she must be getting close.
 
    As Rarity's teats ran dry, Discord frowned. "Well, that was certainly refreshing, but you're still steadfast. I must say, I didn't think you had it in you. You really don't care about anything else, do you?" He glanced at her belly, her teats shining and dripping from the residual ice cream and root beer. "Oh, goodness me, I'm such a slob. Let me clean you up."
 
    As she felt his tongue trace circles around her sensitive teats, Rarity locked her legs in place. There was only so much he could lick up, so she just decided to wait it out. His long, warm tongue went from tracing around each teat individually to looping around both of her breasts in a figure-eight pattern.
 
    There was a niggling feeling of discomfort at the back of Rarity's mind as the figure eight turned to a large circle around both teats, but she easily pushed it aside. However, that wasn't as easy when she felt breath on her nether-regions, followed by a wet forked tongue flicking against her marehood.
 
    Discord ran his tongue up and down her slit, teasing her clit with the occasional flick of his tongue and chuckling to himself when it winked in response. Every few seconds, he looked up to see if Rarity's attention was still on the rock. It was, so he poked his tongue deeper into her, licking around the walls of her tunnel briefly before pulling his tongue back into his mouth. He repeated these motions several times, getting deeper each time until his tongue was tracing the outline of her cervix. "Mmm, you certainly are tight, aren't you? You must be very popular with the stallions~!"
 
    Rarity would've objected at the presumption, but the last of the separating strips of rock crumbled away, and revealed that she wasn't looking at three diamonds at all, but rather one huge diamond that was poking through the rock in three places. She practically salivated at the sight, barely even noticing the weight on her haunches or the prodding at her marehood.
 
    Taking his time, Discord lined the tip of his cock up with Rarity's slit, watching to see if her attention wavered from the massive diamond in the wall in front of them. When he didn't see any change, he pushed inside, the unflared tip of his member spreading apart her well-lubricated netherlips. With a deep breath, he pushed inside of her, guiding her rump with his paw and talon. "Oh my, this certainly is fun."
 
    Rarity felt Discord push inside her, but she didn't pay it much mind until he had pushed about halfway in, at which point an uncomfortable scraping sensation appeared alongside the typical stretching. When the discomfort turned to pain, Rarity squirmed slightly, but didn't take her eyes off the gem. "Ow! H-Hey, what's going on back… back there?"
 
    Discord carefully pulled out of Rarity, her feminine juices glistening on his red-and-white–striped member in the early autumn sun. "Oh, terribly sorry about that. I forgot that ponies aren't built to handle spines." He snapped his claws and the spikes near the base of his shaft shrank, turning the painful scraping into a softer raking sensation. "There, that should be better. Just be a good pony, though; if you start fighting, it'll definitely start to hurt again."
 
    Gritting her teeth, Rarity struck her hooves around the sides ofthe "diamond" as each thrust that Discord made seemed to undo some of the damage that his spines had inflicted. If she had been in her right mind, she would've considered resisting him and then rejected the notion. After all, Discord and she were different species, so it was unlikely that she could catch anything from him, and it wasn't anywhere near her fertile period, so there was no risk of successfully… breeding with him.
 
    However, Rarity wasn't in her right mind, so the thought of resisting didn't even cross her mind. It wasn't that she *wanted* to mate with Discord, but she was too focused on the fortune she was about to come into to pay attention to anything else. She could feel the intruder in her marehood, getting deeper and deeper with each thrust, but she ignored it, concentrating on the the diamond in front of her. No matter how much rock she chipped away, she never seemed to find the end of it.
 
    Rarity's tunnel tightened around Discord's cock on its own, generating plenty of lubrication to allow him to slide inside without much difficulty. Discord grinned with satisfaction. Rarity might not have wanted him to rut her, but her body certainly wasn't protesting, her keen cunt clearly craving his colossal candy-cane cock. He picked up the pace and rocked his hips as he enjoyed the carnal pleasure of claiming a mare as his own, his entire serpentine body undulating with each thrust.
 
    It was hard for Rarity to keep her balance as Discord pounded into her, but she managed, bracing herself against the diamond with one forehoof as she chiseled with the other. As the minutes ticked by, she chipped away the smooth, lightly-cracked cosmetic surface layer of rock and uncovered the cobblestone that made up the structural core of the wall. This part was made from several large rocks, almost as big as she was, along with some smaller rocks and mortar to fill in the gaps. Fortunately, the mortar was significantly softer than t han the stone she had been chiseling, so her progress sped up significantly. Unfortunately, this meant moving around a lot more to get around every rock, which was difficult with Discord pounding into her like a jackhammer.
 
    Discord watched in awe as Rarity continued making progress, completely unfazed by his violation. He lifted one foot off the ground, and then the other, leaving himself floating behind Rarity as she walked. He thrust deeper still inside of her, each thrust causing his plump, pendulous, polka-dotted plum pouch to slap wetly against her perfect pony pussy, her clit winking in response.
 
    Bit by bit, Rarity broke boulders free from the bulky barrier. As soon as one was free, she'd bring it away from the wall and set it down, Discord swinging wildly behind her each time she turned. To save space, she stacked them on top of each other, gradually building a tower of rocks. She did her best to sort them from largest to smallest to keep the tower stable, but sometimes she had to set a stone aside if it wouldn't fit well in the stack.
 
    As a result of freeing more and more stones from around the side of the diamond, she had to squeeze into the hole she'd created to reach stones that were farther back. Of course, this meant rubbing against the filthy sides of the hole, but by this point she didn't even notice; she was already c,overed in a fine layer of rock dust she'd kicked up in her excavation. Once she was done, she'd be able to afford thousands of spa visits to get herself clean again.
 
    Discord held on tight to Rarity's rump as she walked back and forth, swinging him behind her. With each step she took, her muscles tightened and squeezed his cock like a vice. He gritted his teeth, trying to hold out for as long as he could. He'd gone eons with no release; he could make it a few more minutes.
 
    Once she'd cleared so many rocks from the left side of the diamond that she couldn't reach any farther back, Rarity moved to the right side and started breaking free rocks from there. Having had plenty of practice, she had an easier time clearing away the rocks on the right side, stacking them in a separate pile.
 
    With each thrust now causing his knot to slam against Rarity's tight opening, Discord was having trouble holding off his climax for much longer. His thrusts became more jerky and erratic, his face contorting with the effort it took to keep himself from falling over the edge. With a monumental feat of willpower, he slowed down his thrusts until he was holding perfectly still, balls-deep inside her, his cock twitching eagerly.
 
    Rarity was  somewhat by the sudden stop, having grown accustomed to the rhythms of Discord's thrusts and begun timing her work around them. With Discord no longer grunting and panting in her ears, the maze was eerily quiet; Rarity could only hear her own heavy breathing, the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears, and…
 
    *crack*
 
    Rarity's ears perked up at the sudden sound and she abruptly jumped back, backing out of the crevice she'd formed between the diamond and the surrounding stone. In doing so, she moved more quickly than Discord could react and forced his knot into her quivering cunt. Rarity gasped as her opening was stretched quite near to its limit. She winced and gritted her teeth, holding still for a moment to allow her netherlips time to stretch enough to accommodate the increased girth of his knot.
 
    His knot entering Rarity pushed Discord over the edge. The tip of his cock flared out, forming a double seal in his mate's vagina as his cock began to throb. As though a dam had broken, he started pumping Rarity full of his hot, thick cum. Even though his knot was holding him in place, he still bucked his hips wildly, shaking Rarity back and forth as pressure built inside her.
 
    Pressure built inside Rarity's marehood until it became unbearable, and then some. Just when Rarity thought she might burst, her body reached a climax of its own, her cervix opening and allowing her womb to be filled with his generous load. She heard another, louder crack from what was left of the wall, but barely noticed it as the muscles around her uterus began to ache, struggling to adjust to its sudden and rapid increase in volume.
 
    After over a minute of inseminating Rarity, Discord finally began to run dry, the flow of semen slowly petering out. He stayed inside her, held in place by his knot, for several minutes, enjoying the high of his first climax in millennia. After so long trapped as a stone statue, it felt wonderful to finally get to indulge in some carnal release. He lifted Rarity onto his lap, massaging her belly to help her womb relax enough to hold his entire deposit.
 
    Rarity's eyes were still trained on the diamond, mostly detached from the wall. She wanted to squirm free and finish the job, but she knew she wasn't going anywhere while Discord was still knotted inside her, so she resigned herself to sitting still while Discord held her in place. That was probably for the best, though, as the cracking sounds were growing louder and more frequent, and she didn't want to be crushed in a rockslide.
 
    As Discord's knot shrank enough for him to move slightly, he started to thrust again, using his flare like the piston in a syringe to force more of his load through Rarity's cervix and into her womb, pushing just enough in for the aching to start again and then massaging her belly to get her womb relaxed enough for him to fill it further. Discord grinned when he finished, proud that he'd managed to force the last drops of semen into her womb before her cervix closed shut, sealing off the load he'd been building up for eons. Rarity's womb had been stuffed so full that he could feel it, a firm lump just beneath the surface of her belly.
 
    Rarity let out a sigh of relief as she felt Discord's thrusts stop, deducing that he wasn't going to fill her any further. She was grateful; it'd be hard enough carrying the enormous diamond without also having to deal with the cramps associated with an overburdened uterus. Her eyes still trained on the diamond, she watched it for any signs of movement.
 
    Once his flare and knot had shrunk enough to allow him to pull out, Discord waited until he was sure that none of his deposit would leak out, and then he slowly pulled out of Rarity, her lubrication thoroughly coating his festive member and causing it to glisten in the light of the sun. "Well, that was fun." Discord lifted Rarity off his lap and set her down on her haunches. "I'd test you further, but it would appear you're almost done, and I still need to visit your pegasus friends."
 
    Rarity sat and watched as he floated towards her diamond, his cock already retreating into its sheath. He tapped it with the tip of a talon, and it responded with a loud rumbling sound. "*Au revoir!*" he proclaimed before disappearing with a snap of his claws. The rumbling noise grew louder until suddenly there was a loud *crack* and the diamond fell out of the wall, the impact kicking up large quantities of dust. Rarity coughed and blinked from the sudden cloud of dust, clearing her throat once the dust had settled some.
 
    Sitting on her haunches, Rarity smiled with satisfaction. "Well, Rarity. It took forever, but it was worth it!" she proclaimed before trotting over to the diamond and resting her forehooves against its smooth, shiny surface. "Who knew three little gemstones would turn out to be this handsome *hunk* of a diamond?" She let out a high-pitch sigh. "Now to get *you* home!" she said to the diamond itself, her tone dripping with affection. She'd have to give it a name; "the diamond" seemed too impersonal. Maybe "Dan", perhaps? No, "Tom"!
 
    Rarity grunted as she heaved Tom onto her back, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her teeth with the exertion. She slowly put one hoof in front of the other, controlling her breathing to fit her task.
 
    There was more rumbling followed by a loud thud as the wall collapsed under its own weight behind her, kicking up even more dust. "Rarity!" Twilight's voice called out in relief and excitement once the dust had cleared. "Are we glad to see— Why are you carrying a humongous boulder?"
 
    Rarity bucked Tom off her back and glared at Twilight. "What do you mean, 'boulder'?" she asked, offended, before lifting her front half onto Tom. "This big, beautiful, bedazzling rock is a *diamond*!" she declared, nuzzling the rock and punctuating the last word by lifting herself up with her forehooves with a crazed expression on her face. She took a breath. "And it's all mine…" she added, lovingly caressing Tom's surface.
 
    After heaving Tom onto her back, Rarity rushed over to Twilight and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Keep your envious little eyes *off it*!" she demanded, jabbing accusatorily at Twilight's chest. "*I* found it, and it's *mine*, fair and square!" She turned and began to walk through the path cleared by the collapse of the wall, each step she managed to take a small triumph.
 
    By the time the group had found Fluttershy, Rarity's legs were ready to give out, their muscles burning from overexertion and their joints buckling from the weight. She grunted and looked out at the rest of the group. "Little help here?"
 
    To Rarity's relief, Twilight made her way over to her and together the two lifted Tom onto both of their backs. Rarity looked over at Twilight and smiled. "Thanks, Twilight."
 
    Twilight closed her eyes and smiled, relieved that at least one of her friends still had her manners. "You're welco—"
 
    "But don't get any ideas about my gem!" Rarity interrupted. "I know where you live." She glared at Twilight and prodded at her chest again, this time in a threatening manner.
 
    The two carried the rock through the maze together as Twilight searched for Rainbow Dash. As they walked, Rarity rested her back by shifting some of the weight onto Twilight. Because Twilight didn't object as Rarity shifted the burden more and more onto her back, before long she was carrying Tom on her own and Rarity was walking unburdened up ahead.
 
    Eventually, Applejack spoke up and broke the silence, something about Rainbow Dash. It must've been pretty shocking, because it caused Twilight to respond in an incredulous tone and drop Tom onto the ground.
 
    Rarity didn't get a chance to chastize Twilight, though, because this was followed almost immediately by a gasp, a surprised exclamation, and the crumbling of the maze around them, sections of hedge disappearing into the ground one in a rumbling cascade as dark clouds filled the sky.
 
    When the dust cleared, Discord stepped into view. "Well, well, well, *some*pony broke the 'no wings, no magic' rule." He snapped his claws and returned their wings and horns. "You didn't find your precious Elements!" he added, pressing his face uncomfortably close to Twilight's.
 
    He pulled back and summoned a pink umbrella with his magic, which meowed when he opened it inside-out. "Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of *chaos*." Ever the performer, he let out an evil laugh, accentuated by thunder and lightning.
 
    Before long, though, the dramatic evil laughter devolved into a simple laughing fit, with Discord rolling around on the ground. This led to some stupid bickering between him and Pinkie Pie, and then Pinkie and Fluttershy. Rarity guarded her discovery vigilantly, her stance wide and ready to fight.
 
    Then, suddenly, Applejack appeared from behind Tom. "Uh, Rarity…" she said, putting her filthy hoof on the stone's spotless surface. Rarity turned around and glared at her. "This here diamond of yours?" Applejack continued. "Twilight said we should split it six ways since we, uh, found it together." She leaned on it with one hoof and stroked it with the other.
 
    "Hi-yah!" Rarity called out as she dove towards Applejack, striking her in the head with her left hind leg and twirling in midair to land on her rear hooves, facing Applejack. She balanced on her rear legs and lifted her forelegs in order to make herself seem taller and more intimidating, like a snake raising its head and opening its frill. "Try it, punk. He's mine, all mine!" She dove towards Applejack again, but this time the earth pony saw it coming and managed to get out of the way. Staying on her hind legs to keep her forelegs free for striking, Rarity advanced as Applejack backed away from her. She swung at Applejack, punctuating each one with a "*Yah!*", but none of them connected as Applejack continued to retreat.
 
    Twilight Sparkle tried in vain to get them to stop fighting, and then she ran off to talk to Discord. They talked for a little while before they both blinked away, reappearing just a moment later. Discord finished gloating or whatever, but Rarity didn't pay it much attention. If Twilight was too busy to "help" her carry Tom anymore, she'd have to do it herself.
 
    Discord vanished just before thunder rang out and the cotton candy clouds suddenly returned to drench everything in chocolate milk once again. Fortunately, Rarity was mostly shielded from the rain, the large rock acting as a makeshift umbrella, but she couldn't help some of the chocolate milk getting on her coat, mane, and tail. She'd have to take a long bath once she was safely home with Tom.
 
    Her thoughts on the matter were interrupted, however, when Applejack jumped on top of Tom. Rarity gritted her teeth and looked up at Applejack. "Don't touch my gem!" she snapped up at her new passenger.
 
    Fluttershy flew over and put a hoof on the other side of Tom. "I'm touching your gem, Rarity!" she announced defiantly. "Ha, ha."
 
    "Whatchu laughing at‽" Pinkie demanded from behind, prompting Rarity to turn her eyes back back and glare at her.
 
    Twilight seemingly had some kind of revelation, because she excitedly trotted ahead, urging the rest of them to follow. She said something about Discord's riddle, but she trotted far enough ahead of her friends that it became more difficult to hear her, and Rarity didn't care enough to try to hear anyway. It probably wasn't very smart of her, though, as she was almost immediately trampled by a stampede of long-legged unguligrade bunnies, shaking the ground and causing Rarity even more difficulty in carrying her her burden.
 
    That quickly became the least of Rarity's worries, though, as day immediately turned to night and the dirt path turned to soap beneath their hooves. Still, Rarity managed to stay upright by widening her stance, that is until Applejack slid into her and knocked her into the air, followed by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. All three of them landed on their backs, and Tom landed behind them. "I meant to do that…" Applejack fibbed after coming to a stop behind Twilight, who tried and failed to stand up.
 
    Fortunately, it quickly turned to day as abruptly as it had turned to night, helping Rarity have a better view of what she was doing as she heaved Tom onto her back. Unfortunately, that was immediately followed by the reappearance of Discord, skating effortlessly on the soap, who picked grabbed Twilight and lifted her into the air. Fortunately, he only seemed interested in giving her a better view of Ponyville. Unfortunately, then turned to night once again, and Discord dropped Twilight onto her back before jumping into the air and disappearing, the flash of light briefly blinding the ponies when contrasted with the sudden nighttime.
 
    As soon as she could see again, Rarity made her way to the side of the road to get off of the soapy path. It was hard to keep her footing and control her momentum, but it was a short distance, so before too long she was off the soap and onto firmer hoofing. For some reason, the others chose to stay on the path on their way into town.
 
    The path did end eventually, though, giving way to a blue checkerboard pattern that covered the ground, each square a few yards across. Once they were off of the soapy path, Rarity rejoined the group, and the two slowly made their way to the library on the west side of Ponyville, the sun rising yet again just as they arrived. Exhausted, Rarity dropped Tom onto the ground and took the opportunity to catch her breath.
 
    "Okay, we're here; everyone please, please please go inside, please?" Twilight begged. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie complied, Fluttershy pausing to trample some flowers first. Rarity tried to heave Tom back onto her back, but found herself too weak to do so, so she settled for trying to roll it along the ground, grunting with exertion from the effort. Her attempts to tip it pushing with her head accomplished nothing more than further ruining her already-frazzled mane, so she switched to pushing with her shoulder, which was even less effective.
 
    "Plea-ea-ease?" Twilight begged, standing directly in front of Rarity. "We gotta hurry!" she insisted, her shift to a more casual dialect reflecting the urgency in her voice.
 
    Sweat dripping down her face, Rarity narrowed her eyes in response. "Forget it, Twilight. I know what you're up to. The second I go in, you'll have your little minion Spike come and take Tom!" She rested her forehooves protectively on the stone's side.
 
    "Tom?" Twilight repeated incredulously, raising an eyebrow.
 
    "Well, it's not going to work!" Rarity decreed, closing her eyes and turning up her nose, completely ignoring Twilight's reaction. Holding tight to her find, she turned away from Twilight and back to Tom, gently removing small scuffs that she had carelessly left behind. As she gently stroked the large rock, she felt a tingle flow down her body like diving into a rippling pool. The familiar sensation brought vivid memories back to the surface of her mind, but they were quickly smothered by a renewed sense of attachment to the prize that the whole ordeal had earned her. Her smile widened, and she pressed the side of her face against the seam between two of Tom's smooth facets.
 
    "You're not going in without him, are you?" Twilight asked flatly, playing along with Rarity's personification of the inanimate stone.
 
    "Mm-mm!" Rarity grunted roughly as she shook her head, still leaning on Tom.
 
    Suddenly, Tom was lifted up, causing Rarity's eyes to go wide with shock as she teetered on her hind legs for a moment. Once she was back on all fours, she saw that Twilight had gotten underneath and lifted Tom onto her back. Rarity was shocked that Twilight had managed to do so so quickly, and a little impressed, and her face showed it, though she was sure to switch back to a more intimidating expression when Twilight looked back at her.
 
    "Ugh, fine!" Twilight snapped before she started slowly carrying Tom towards the library, grunting with exertion the whole way while Rarity followed behind her. Once they reached the tree, as Tom wouldn't fit through the door, Twilight opted instead to make a hole, simply thrusting Tom through the external wall.
 
    "Careful, Twilight!" Rarity implored. "You'll ruin his beautiful finish." She frowned and ran her hoof in circles over the near side of one of Tom's facets.
 
    "Oh, for the love of—" Twilight started to say before she was interrupted by Spike approaching her.
 
    Spike asked Twilight what was going on, pointing towards Twilight's friends. Rarity held onto Tom protectively, looking vigilantly towards Twilight just in case she tried any funny business. Twilight refused to answer, though, instead lifting him onto her back and asking for his help with something. Once they were inside, Spike climbed off of her back, just in time for Fluttershy to dump water on her head, and then slam the bucket over her head with a *clang*. Taking off the bucket, Twilight walked away towards a book on a bookstand while Spike continued to search for any explanation of what was happening. Rarity hung behind Tom and glared at Fluttershy, who stuck out her tongue at Rarity.
 
    Spike seemed to have a sudden epiphany, because he darted over to and climbed a ladder that was propped against one of the bookshelves. He grabbed a book from the shelf and held it out, announcing his discovery to the room. This was immediately followed by a scroll to the face, which caused him to drop the book and thereby allowed Fluttershy to snatch it out of the air. Twilight demanded that Fluttershy give it to her, but Fluttershy refused and instead announced a game of Keep Away, which was joined by Applejack and Pinkie Pie.
 
    This piqued Rarity's interest; if the book was this sought-after, it must be important, and maybe valuable. A diamond was nice, but adding to her collection was even better. Rarity decided that she could leave Tom alone for a moment to snatch the book; nopony could just run off with a rock so huge in such a short period of time. When the book fell to the floor, Rarity took the opportunity to gallop towards it and snatch it just before Twilight could pick it up, not slowing down as she passed her.
 
    "Hey! Do you even know what you just stole‽" Twilight objected, chasing after her.
 
    "No, but if you want it, *I* want it!" Rarity answered as she made a sharp U-turn and easily evaded Twilight.
 
    Twilight growled. "Give me that book!" she demanded before continuing to chase after Rarity.
 
    Rarity leapt up onto a table in the middle of the room and kicked over a large, decorative sculpture of a horse's head, forcing Twilight to leap over it in her pursuit. That didn't slow her down much, though, and she was quickly gaining on Rarity. Just as Twilight was almost in grabbing distance, though, Fluttershy reached down and lifted Rarirty into the air. The book continued forwards, though, causing Twilight to run face-first into Tom.
 
    "Where is she?" Twilight asked, dazed. She shook her head to straighten out both her eyes and her mind, and once she was no longer seeing stars, she spoke again. "Where's Rarity?" she repeated, an exhausted tone in her voice.
 
    The others refused to tell her, which triggered a large scuffle among them, during which Twilight somehow got her hooves on the book before getting forcibly ejected from the scuffle. She sat up and clutched onto it intensely as the others advanced on her. "Get back. All of you!" she demanded, Spike backing her up by wielding a scroll as a makeshift weapon. "This is my book. And I'm gonna *read it*!" She lay on her belly with her legs tucked under her and opened the book with her magic, Spike still holding the others at bay.
 
    Twilight gasped. "The Elements!" she announced. "The Elements, they were here all along!" Rarity wasn't paying her much attention anymore, though; once she'd lost hope of adding the book to her hoard, she'd consoled herself by returning to polish the one addition she had already been able to obtain. "You don't even care, do you?" Twilight added, more as a statement than a question.
 
    "No." The matter-of-fact answer from the others was immediate and simultaneous.
 
    Twilight sighed, her head lowering and her posture drooping, and started talking to herself, ending her sentence by loudly proclaiming that all of her friends had become jerks. She went around the room putting each Element on its rightful keeper. "Come on, everypony; let's go!" she ordered once all five present were wearing their Elements. When Spike observed that Rainbow Dash wasn't present, she put the Element of Loyalty on him and declared him "the new Rainbow Dash" before rearing up and galloping onwards, encouraging the others to follow suit. Spike nervously objected, but Twilight didn't care. "Too bad. You're Rainbow Dash. Now let's go defeat Discord so we don't ever have to talk to each other again!"
 
    This excited the other mares, who stampeded out of the library, trampling Spike in the process. Rarity lagged behind, though, pushing Tom across the floor, no doubt leaving quite a trail of scratches on the wooden floor behind her.
 
    "*Move!*" Twilight barked, causing Rarity to close her eyes and crouch down in fear. She saw a soft glow through her eyelids and felt a slight tingle in her own horn as Twilight lifted Tom with her powerful magic. "Look out! Here comes Tom!" she announced, hurling the rock out of the balcony window, breaking another large hole in the library. As Tom landed outside with a thud, nearly squashing Pinkie Pie, Rarity wondered why Twilight hadn't just carried it out through the hole she'd made on the way in; she'd have to repolish it later.
 
    By what was almost certainly not coincidence, Discord was waiting for them outside of the library. He sarcastically feigned intimidation, but Twilight was sincerely determined to defeat him.
 
    "Formation! *Now!*" Twilight commanded, and the four other mares halfheartedly walked into place, some making noises of noncommittal or discontent. "Rainbow Dash, get over here!" Twilight added, and Spike emerged from his hiding place behind Tom to reluctantly join the rest of them, swallowing with fear. "Alright. Let's get this over with!" Twilight directed, frustration practically dripping from her tone.
 
    Twilight focused her magic through her Element, causing the gem in it to start to glow and emit a light humming sound. Realizing they might need more help than usual, she used their magical connection to reach out to her friends and help them wield their Elements, which began to light up as well. The five mares slowly rose into the air, the differently colored glows from their necklaces fusing together to form a single blindingly white light. However, the magic link quickly faltered and failed, putting out the lights and causing the mares to fall unceremoniously to the ground, not even giving them enough warning to allow them to land on their hooves.
 
    While Twilight tried to figure out what had gone wrong, Applejack made a snarky comment of some sort, and Pinkie Pie professed her hate for the Elements, which Fluttershy responded to by tossing hers aside as "garbage". Seeing an opportunity, Rarity pounced on it as soon as it hit the ground. "*Mine!*" she declared before darting away and lying on her stomach, with her head propped up by her forehooves.
 
    Discord sarcastically applauded his adversaries, each clap making a different random sound. He then shifted to simple gloating, booping Twilight on the nose and skating off on the soapy road. The attempt at defeating Discord having failed, the mares started leaving Twilight one at a time, Rarity having more success pushing Tom by pushing it with her back. Twilight angrily responded with sour grapes, but her voice quickly dropped to an inaudible volume. Ignoring her, Rarity continued to push Tom to her Boutique.
 
    Once she arrived home, Rarity pushed Tom inside and began barricading the Boutique, setting it up so she could protect her find on all sides. Unfortunately for her, Twilight arrived by teleporting in directly. "What do you think you're doing? Get away from my gem!" Twilight charged up her horn and pounced on Rarity, pinning her down. "Get awa—" There was a bright flash, and a torrent of memories came rushing back to Rarity. The diamond dogs, Trixie, Gilda, the Best Young Flier competition, preparing for the Gala, the Gala itself, a slumber party with Applejack… they all came flooding in, and Rarity realized how foolish she'd been to lose sight of what really mattered in life: her friendships, not some diamond. She knew she had to help defeat Discord.
 
    When she looked over at the rock placed proudly in a place of honor in her Boutique, however, she saw nothing but a simple boulder. Everything she'd been through had been for nothing. No longer being surpressed by Discord's magic, more memories began to surface, these not as happy. A weight on her back, a pressure against her marehood… She was suddenly accutely aware of the dull ache of her overburdened womb.
 
    It wasn't pleasant to be reminded, so Rarity quickly decided to get rid of the boulder. She pushed on the boulder with her head and grunted with exertion as she rolled it out a side door of the Boutique. A slight slope in the ground carried it farther away from the building, leaving one thing left to do to put the whole ordeal behind her. She turned her head around and addressed her friends, or at least the three who were present. "Let us never speak of this again."
 
    Rarity helped Twilight bring Pinkie Pie back to her senses, without too much trouble, but there was a setback when it came to Rainbow Dash. "Huh, she's not here!" Fluttershy reported with a shrug from a window of Dash's cloudominium.
 
    "Without Rainbow Dash, we can't use the Elements!" Twilight commented, stating the obvious.
 
    "She could be anywhere by now!" Applejack added. "We're never gonna find her."
 
    "Yeah, we will! 'Cause she's right there!" Pinkie Pie announced, pointing up into the sky, where Rainbow Dash was lounging on a small cloud, as desaturated as the others had been.
 
    "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called out.
 
    "Hey, guys!" Dash replied, waving with a hoof but not turning around or even opening her eyes.
 
    "We've been looking *everywhere* for you!" Twilight informed, as she and her friends walked closer to Rainbow Dash.
 
    "That's nice…" Dash answered, seeming not to care.
 
    "Discord's still on the loose!" Twilight explained. "We need you to help us defeat him with your Element, Loyalty!"
 
    "Pfft. Loyalty shmoyalty!" Dash responded, waving a hoof dismissively. She rolled over and looked down at the other mares assembled below her and raised an eyebrow. "Have you guys *seen* Ponyville? It's a disaster!" she elaborated. "I'm staying here in Cloudsdale where everything is *awesome~*!" she announced, flipping back onto her back and lounging with her head resting on her forelegs.
 
    Rarity narrowed her eyes. "How in Equestria could she think that tiny patch of clouds is Cloudsdale?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
 
    Applejack stretched her neck towards Rarity, a smug expression on her face. "The same way he got you to think that cheap rock was a  bonâ fide diamond?" she suggested.
 
    Rarity winced, the memories flooding back once again. Not wanting to break down in front of her friends, she narrowed her eyes and adopted a stern expression. "I thought we agreed never to speak of that again." She squinted and turned her eyes back to Applejack. Technically, Applejack had never agreed, but she got the message.
 
    "Time for Plan B!" Twilight announced. Over the next half hour or so, she directed her uncorrupted friends as to the supplies they'd need, and they went out and fetched them, including a lasso and a hot air balloon.
 
    Once everything was in place, the four of them who couldn't fly all climbed aboard the balloon, Applejack on top of it and the other three in the basket. The basket slowly rose into the air, and once it was significantly higher than Rainbow Dash, Twilight quietly repeated the plan. "You grab Rainbow Dash and hold her down." Rarity frowned, the imagery just slightly too familiar. "Applejack'll lower me down from this rope so I can cast the memory spell on her." Applejack waved from atop the balloon.
 
    "Got it!" Fluttershy proclaimed with a salute. She dove down towards Rainbow Dash a much more than her usual speed, breaking just before she reached the sleeping pegasus. She gently poked at Dash's rear end and waited a moment until she woke up. "Um, I'm just wondering if it's okay if I hold you down against your will for a little bit?"
 
    Twilight groaned and facehoofed, and Rarity rolled her eyes.
 
    "Nice try!" Rainbow answered, getting up and hovering in front of Fluttershy. "Ponyville's *your* problem, not mine." For emphasis, she pointed to Fluttershy sharply enough to cause her to flinch. Grabbing the small cloud she'd been lounging on, Dash flapped her wings and began to fly away.
 
    To Fluttershy's surprise and confusion, Twilight lowered a loop of the rope. "Come on, Fluttershy. We've gotta catch her!" she explained.
 
    Getting the message, Fluttershy grabbed the the rope with her teeth and started towing the balloon towards Rainbow Dash. from the rope. With two ropes already attached to Rainbow Dash, Twilight cut them both in half with her magic and tied the two new ropes to Dash as well, distributing the ends to her other friends to help hold Dash down.
 
    "Lemme go! I don't need you guys! Lea'me alone!" Dash protested, bucking like a rodeo bull. When Twilight Sparkle approached her, horn alight, she blew steam from her nose. Twilight just calmly moved her horn forwards to touch her, Dash turning her head and wincing in response, and cast the memory spell.
 
    The effect was nearly instantaneous. There was a bright flash of magical light, and the desaturation, especially striking on the polychromatic pegasus, receded away from the point of contact until it was all gone.
 
    "Wha... What happened?" Dash asked, rubbing her head. Her mind clearing, she gasped. "How's Ponyville? Where are the Elements? Did we stop Discord?" she asked, her mouth running at a thousand miles an hour as she leapt back and forth between her friends, knocking Applejack over in her enthusiasm.
 
    Her friends cheered in excitement and relief, those who hadn't just been knocked to the ground pulling her into a group hug. However, a passing trio of ballerina buffalo reminided them of the prematurity of their jubilation. "Maybe it's a little early for a group hug..." Twilight observed.
 
    The six friends made a beeline back to the Ponyville library and retrieved their necklaces. With all of them there, and none of them under Discord's spell anymore, hopefully the Elements of Harmony would work this time. They should, but anything was possible with Discord.
 
    Discord sat on his throne on a hill overlooking Ponyville, his chaos capital of the world, and laughed evilly. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned a glass and held it under a small cloud beside his throne, the glass collecting chocolate milk much faster than it rained from the cloud. "Chaos is a wonderful, *wonderful* thing!" he mused as he lifted the glass to his lips, the contents not spilling despite its tukted angle.
 
    "Not as wonderful as friendship!" Twilight retorted as she stood with her friends, all six of them wearing their respective Elements of Harmony.
 
    "Ugh, *this again*?" Discord asked smugly, drinking the glass from around the chocolate milk and tossing the glass-shaped mass of chocolate milk behind him, where it exploded.
 
    "That's right! You couldn't break apart our friendship for long!" Applejack answered.
 
    "Oh, Applejack, don't lie to me." Discord lifted a claw, which began to glow yellow, and magically pulled Applejack towards him by her necklace. "*I'm* the one who made you a liar." His entire claw began to glow, and he lifted the other five mares by their Elements. "Will you ever learn?"
 
    Floating in the middle of her friends, Twilight cast an anti-magic bubble around them all, to Discord's surprise, and slowly lowered them down to the ground. Where the bubble touched the ground, it turned the ground from a checkerboard pattern back to regular grass and popped soon after, the four non-winged mares landing safely on the grass.
 
    "I'll tell you what we've learned, *Discord*." Twilight walked towards him. "We've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!" she declared as her friends walked forwards to stand beside her or hover above her.
 
    "Ugh, gag, fine, go ahead…" he said, getting up from his chair, bending over to get in their faces, and standing back up. "Try and use your little *Elements of Frienemies*; just make it quick." He  teleported back to his throne. "I'm missing some excellent chaos here." As though to accentuate his statement, a trio of winged pigs flew behind him.
 
    "Alright, ladies!" Twilight proclaimed, surrounded by four of her friends. "Let's show him what friendship can do!"
 
    "Wait-wait-wait!" Pinkie called out from under a cotton candy cloud. She turned her head up and opened her mouth to catch the chocolate milk rain, gargling slightly. Once she'd had one last taste, she licked her face and sighed with satisfaction. As her friends glared at her, she bounced back to the group and growled at Discord.
 
    A light pink glow formed around the six mares as they surged with magic. Discord yawned, unimpressed. When the Elements of Harmony began to pulse, sending out appropriately-shaped waves of energy, his eyes were still smugly closed. When the Elements began firing out images of their gems as bolts of arcane energy, he took notice. Afer ducking under one from Twilight Sparkle, he looked at the six mares and grunted in confusion. "What's this?" he asked as they were pulled into line by the force of their magic, still firing bolts of magic in his general direction. His eyes went wide. "No…"
 
    When the magic reached a climax, the Keepers of the Elements opened their eyes, which glowed like tiny suns, and the four grounded mares were pulled into the air. A bright light in the middle of them put out brilliant rays of light, and once they were all in position, there was a massive explosion of magic, manifested as an expanding sphere of bright light which dissipated an instant before the eruption of a halo of rainbow light, reminiscent of a sonic rainboom.
 
    From the center of the expanding ring, just above the six floating mares, burst a beam of rainbow light, which arced up into the sky and plunged down towards Discord. "No-o-o!" he cried out as the rainbow struck him. Trapped under the barrage of magical energy even stronger than his own, Discord writhed desperately in an attempt to escape the stone creeping its way up his body. It was a fruitless effort, however, as before long the stone had reached his head, his face frozen in a look of fear and disbelief.
 
    The job wasn't finished yet, though. Discord defeated, the arc of the rainbow split in two and dropped in opposite directions, a dome of magical energy stretched out between them and forming a semitransparent bubble over a few of the surrounding buildings which grew in size until it encompassed all of Ponyville, at which point it shone with a blindingly white light and sent out waves of magic, undoing all the damage Discord had done. Well… most of it, anyway.
 
    The victorious mares slowly drifted towards the ground, the pegasi stopping before they landed to hover above their friends. There was a creaking noise as the statue that had been Discord lost its balance and fell to the ground with a thud.
 
    Rarity shuddered; the extra magic still coursing through her body made her sensitive enough to be able to feel the weight inside her womb slosh back and forth in response to the vibrations from the statue's impact. It was a good thing that it hadn't turned to stone as well, of course, but she'd hoped that seeing Ponyville returned to normal meant what he'd done to her would be undone as well. Unfortunately, it was looking like she'd have to wait for it to… drain out on its own. She wasn't sure how long that would take, but it would be at least that long before she could completely move past…
 
    "So-o-o… how about that group hug now?" Pinkie asked with abig smile on her face, breaking Rarity's train of thought.
 
    Twilight Sparkle giggled. "Alright, Pinkie."
 
    The six mares joined in a hug, their hearts still pounding from the action just moments earlier. They stayed that way for several seconds as they calmed down.
 
    Applejack was the first to break the hug. "Phew, that was quite the adventure." This was met with various vocalizations of affirmation.
 
    After a brief pause, Twilight awkwardly cleared her throat. "Well, I should probably get the Elements back to Canterlot for safe keeping…" she commented, removing her necklace with her hooves. Her friends soon followed suit, tossing theirs at her hooves. Twilight collected them all in her magic. "I'll see you girls later. I don't know about you, but I could really use some rest after that." Her friends responded with murmers of agreement and said their goodbyes, going their separate ways.
 
    Rarity quickly trotted back to her Boutique, the sloshing in her womb sending shivers up her spine. Each step sent a vibration through the heafty volume of cum, which she couldn't help but feel every bit of. When she reached her home, she didn't even slow down as she changed the sign to "CLOSED" with her magic, closing and locking the door behind her.
 
    Once she was sure she was alone, she climbed onto the sofa, curled up in the fetal position, and began to cry. She had an image to maintain, so she couldn't let anypony see her like this, but she felt used. She was kicking herself for not fighting back against Discord, but on another level she knew it would've been futile. Even if it hadn't been for his nigh-omnipotent level of power, his anatomy was such that he couldn't've pulled out until after his climax anyway. Her only hope would've been to stop him from getting inside her in the first place.
 
    That was assuming she'd wanted to, as well. She vividly remembered how her body had bended to his whims. Her own marehood had betrayed her, lubricating itself and opening to allow him easy access to her most intimate of areas. And then, as the cherry on the cake, she'd climaxed herself. She hated to admit it to herself, but it had been one of the most intense climaxes she'd ever experienced, given to her by such a monster.
 
    Rarity shook her head. No, she had to move past it. Nothing was gained by dwelling on what had happened; it was in the past, and nothing could change it. And Discord had already been defeated, so telling anypony wouldn't accomplish anything other than make them look at her with a different light. She was very good at keeping up appearances, so she should be able to hide it fairly well. As long as nopony looked closely enough at her stomach to notice the slight bulge of her inflated womb, there'd be no sign that anything was wrong.
 
    Having made up her mind to keep her experience a secret, Rarity slowly got up from the sofa and walked to the kitchen, trying to ignore the shifting weight in her womb. The magic of the Elements was starting to wear off, so she couldn't feel the vibrations as clearly, but she could still feel the large-scale sloshing, and the slight cramping from her uterine muscles being stretched way too quickly.
 
    She decided to fix something simple to eat  before going to bed early, so she made herself a small salad with leftover food from the icebox, dressing it lightly and carrying it to the kitchen table to eat. It was incredibly satisfying to be able to sit down and just focus on eating, taking the opportunity to put her worries on the shelf momentarily and enjoy her meal, as minimilist as it may have been. Though it was a small meal, it took her a while to finish; she was exhausted, and was only eating something out of a sense of duty to keep herself fed rather than to appreciate its flavor. Once she finished her salad, she set her bowl in the kitchen sink to be washed later, when she had the energy.

Even though it was just the early afternoon, Rarity was ready to call it a night, so she brushed her teeth and washed her face before bed. As she was climbing into bed, though, a thought occurred to her. She quickly fetched a pair of towels from her bathroom and laid them out on her bed, laying on top of them so that she wouldn't stain her sheets as her womb emptied overnight. The nights were starting to get colder as autumn neared, so she folded one of the towels over herself before she pulled her blankets over her body. It took her a while to fall asleep, since it was still early and her mind was spinning. Eventually, though, she succumbed to her exhaustion and fell asleep.

The next morning, she woke up in a cold sweat. She'd had a terrible dream about the previous day's happenings, but the details slipped away from her moments after waking up, leaving her with a general feeling of unease. She shifted her position and shuddered when she felt something wet under her tail. When she sat up and looked, though, she was shocked to discover it was not Discord's deposit, but rather her own heavy morning dew. In fact, upon closer inspection, she saw that the towel underneath her was completely dry; she hadn't leaked at all during the night. The cramps were gone, her womb having fully adjusted to its new burden, but that had just meant there was less pressure against her cervix, resulting in Discord's load sitting more firmly inside her.

When Rarity realized this, a shiver ran up her spine and she pressed down on her stomach with both forehooves in and attempt to squeeze it out. Unfortunately, this only succeeded in pushing some of it deeper inside her as is shifted under her hooves like a waterbed. She winced as more of the semen was forced up into her uterine tubes and quickly stopped pressing. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized it wasn't going to come out on its own.

She considered trying to open her cervix with her magic, but decided against blindly probing around inside her body. She'd have to go to a doctor to have it removed, and she really wasn't happy about the idea of telling anypony else what had happened. She'd need to think of a cover story in order to keep her secret.

First things first, though, she had to fix herself some breakfast. Her very light lunch and complete lack of dinner had left her stomach grumbling, and she quickly climbed out of bed and headed down the stairs to her kitchen to satisfy her hunger.

She started with a small bowl of cereal, without any milk, just to give herself enough energy to cook. Then, she started preparing strawberry shortcake. It was something of a treat to herself, giving her day a positive start after all she'd been through. The process was rather relaxing, giving her mind something to focus on other than her current predicament; it was almost meditative, in fact. Time seemed to fly as she mixed ingredients, using the shortcake's baking time to prepare the strawberries and get out the whipped cream, and before long she was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying her breakfast.

It was very satisfying to have a belly full of something other than draconequine semen, and she ate more than she probably would've under normal circumstances. She didn't stuff herself, but it was rather disconcerting feeling her stomach churn and grow slightly, pressing up against her bloated womb. Once she'd polished off the last of her food, she sat still for several minutes to digest both her food and the events of the previous day.

It still didn't feel entirely real; it felt like any second she'd wake up in her bed, and her womb would be empty. But it felt too real to be a dream. Even if it was a dream, she might as well go along with it, so she stood up and pushed her chair in before heading towards Ponyville Hospital.

On the way there, though, she ran into her friends walking the other way. "Oh, hi there!" Pinkie Pie greeted her. "Funny to run into you now; we were just on our way to get you!"

"Really?" Rarity asked. "Why?"

"The princesses are holding a ceremony in Canterlot to celebrate us defeating Discord!" Rainbow Dash answered excitedly. "They had a big stained glass window made and everything!"

Twilight Sparkle nodded. "We were going to go to the train station after picking you up, but since you're already here, we can go there straight away." She started walking, and the others followed suit.

"H-Hold on, right now?" Rarity asked. "Because I was actually on my way somewhere…"

"Is it an emergency?" Twilight asked. "Because the ceremony is today, and I'm pretty sure they're expecting all of us."

Rarity scowled. "Okay, I'll meet you at the train station; I need to freshen up a bit."

Dash groaned, but Rarity was already halfway out of earshot, and before long had made her way back to the Boutique. After a moment to catch her breath, she propped herself against her bathroom sink and splashed water cold onto her face to get her thoughts back on track. She didn't have much time, but she could–

There was a knock at her door. "Are you coming, Rarity?" Rainbow Dash's voice called out, echoing over to her through the Boutique.

"Y-Yes, I'm coming!" Rarity answered, slight annoyance in her voice. She telekinetically grabbed a washcloth and quickly dried off her face, tossing it into the hamper on her way out of the Boutique.

"Ya feelin' alright?" Applejack asked her when she rejoined the group, and they all started briskly trotting towards the train station. "Ya seem a might jumpy."

"Hmm? Oh, no, I mean yes, I mean… I'm feeling alright. Just… a little frazzled from everything that happened. I'll be okay, though." Rarity forced a smile.

After a pause, Applejack nodded slowly. "Alright, but lemme know if'n ya wanna talk about somethin', alright?"

"O-Of course, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for the offer."

"Don't mention it." Applejack grinned. "After all, what're friends for?" She nudged Rarity in the side, which shook the weight of her womb. It was packed too tightly for the motion to accurately be described as "sloshing", instead moving as a single mass, but the extra weight did pull on her muscles and mess with her balance in a way that was disconcerting, almost nauseating. Rarity tried not to think about it; it wasn't going to do her any good at the moment.

"So… this is the second stained glass window Celestia is dedicating to us?" Rarity asked to break the prolonged awkward silence. She noticed that they were already on the train; she must've zoned out for a while. The souvenir inside her was very distracting on a conscious lewvel, and her subconscious mind was resistant to the idea of gatting used ot it.

"Well, Luna too," Twilight corrected, "but I think so. I'll admit I'm not a big fan of the spotlight myself, but it's something we'll have to get used to. I have a feeling this isn't the last time Equestria is going to need the Elements of Harmony."

"That's fine with me!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "I mean, it can be a bumpy ride, but this is all so much more exciting than filling out paperwork for the Weather Patrol. You and Rarity might not…" She trailed off when she looked in Rarity's direction, and let out a muffled *snrk*.

"What?" Rarity asked, her ears twitching.

Dash took a slow breath and stifled ano