445 - Comparing Notes
“So in other words, this was all Discord’s fault. Again.”
Rainbow Dash turned to glare at the draconequus in question – finally having extricated himself from the safe he’d hidden in after the fighting had stopped – angrily. In the ten minutes since the six-winged alicorn stallion named Mihr had fixed everything, she’d been trying to play catch-up about how what should have been a simple meeting about what to do about that Lex guy had somehow turned into a life-or-death struggle against some huge statue-monster, something that wasn’t helped by how they’d almost all died. The fact that it was all apparently because of a certain Lord of Chaos was enough to make her turn to her friends, Rarity having come back with the rest of the guests – save for Shining Armor, who had gone outside to dispatch the Royal Guard to assure the rest of Canterlot that everything was alright – once the castle had been repaired. “First Tirek and now this! I say, now that Pinkie’s back, we go get the Elements of Harmony and turn this guy into stone again!”
“Really, Rainbow Dash, that’s not very fair of you at all.” At the word “fair,” Discord snapped his fingers, and everypony suddenly found themselves sitting behind carnival booths feature ring tosses and whack-a-mole games, cheerful music coming from nowhere as the doors leading out of the room now sat beneath signs that read “The Haunted Hallway” and “Tunnel of Mushy Stuff.” Through the windows overlooking the courtyard, several rides could be seen, with two ponies who looked suspiciously like Flim and Flam encouraging a crowd of ponies that hadn’t been there a moment ago to come ride the ferris wheel. “You heard what our resident angel here said.” Another snap of his fingers, and Discord appeared right next to Mihr, the draconequus now clad in a white robe with a halo floating over his head. “I couldn’t possibly have known that opening up a portal between dimensions would have made that giant monster appear.”
“A permanent portal,” corrected Mihr gently, apparently unconcerned by Discord’s antics. But his expression was reproachful nonetheless. “And while you cannot be held at fault for provoking the lhaksharut’s ire, the conduct you displayed while your companions faced mortal peril left much to be desired.”
“Darn right!” huffed Spike. Pointing a talon at Mihr, he joined in on the angry looks being directed at Discord. “That guy said that he did something to his weapon to make it have chaos powers, and that’s what wounded that lahk-…lakh-…that big ugly creature! If you’d done that, we might have won that fight!”
Sighing, Discord reached up and tossed his halo away. “Look, I’ll admit this wasn’t my finest moment, but it’s not like I’m the only one who ran away!” He waved a paw toward Cozy, Willow, Zecora, Line Byline, and all the other guests who had been evacuated, causing them to frown at him in turn. But he didn’t seem to notice, finding a loose thread on his robes and yanking on it, the entire thing suddenly unraveling…into cotton candy, which he offered to Spike. “So how about you go take your little girlfriend on a nice date at the fair, and we all let bygones be bygones?”
“I’d rather you just said bye and were gone,” snorted Soft Mane, crossing her arms over her chest.
But Fluttershy had heard enough. “Well I think that everypony needs to stop picking on Discord,” she announced. Flapping her wings, she flew over and hovered in front of him protectively, giving an uncharacteristically firm look at everyone who had glowered at him before. “I know what it’s like to feel too afraid to fight when a big, scary monster shows up, and blaming him for that isn’t very nice. Besides, it’s because of him that we got Pinkie back.”
“That’s right!” Pinkie’s gleeful shout came as she pounced on the cotton candy, snatching it from Discord’s paw and swallowing the whole thing in one fluid motion. She didn’t hesitate as she landed, rushing toward a nearby booth and starting to whack some of the moles there with abandon. “And besides, everything turned out alright in the end, so I say less with the frowns and more with the clowns!” Without missing a beat she abandoned her game to bounce over to a different booth, fishing around in it before withdrawing several tubes of makeup. “Who’s up for some face-painting?! I can do happy clowns and grinning clowns and laughing clowns and chuckling clowns and giggling clowns and silly clowns and scary clowns but only on Nightmare Night and-”
“Um, I hate to burst your bubble, sugarcube,” interrupted Applejack. “But while I’m mighty glad that you’re back and all, I think you forgot Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.” She gave Twilight a worried look. “You’re sure you didn’t see them come back through the portal with the rest of us?”
Twilight nodded. “I’m sure. But that means that they’re probably alright.”
Applejack sighed, looking only slightly mollified by that. “I’m sure you’re right, and I’m glad for that, I really am. It’s just…I was really hopin’ we could finally bring ‘em back to their families.” She looked over at Mihr then, hesitating for just a moment before speaking. “You said that the reason that monster attacked was because Discord’s portal was permanent, right? So would it be okay if he just opened one up all temporary-like and closed it once those fillies were through?”
Mihr didn’t have a chance to speak before Discord started shaking his head, eyes wide. “Oh no! No way! I’m not going to be responsible for that lucky chariot or whatever it was called coming back!”
“You are right to be wary, chaos serpent,” added Mihr somberly. “Attempting to violate the spirit of an agreement while maintaining true to its letter is a pastime that the inevitables have much experience with. While you might escape their judgment were you to do such a thing, I would not recommend you chance it.”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “But what if we didn’t open a portal at all? What if I cast a spell to transport myself back to Everglow, found the fillies, and then cast it again to bring us all home? Would that be acceptable?”
Mihr nodded. “Indeed. The edicts that the lhaksharut enforce are meant to prevent the boundaries of the planes from becoming eroded, not prevent travel between them altogether.”
“Great!” Twilight smiled. “Then I can prepare my spell and head back there tomorrow! We’ll have Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon back in no time at all! Pinkie, where were…Pinkie?” Looking around as she realized she couldn’t find the party pony anywhere, her attention was drawn to the window as she heard a familiar giggling coming from outside. Sure enough, a glance out the window showed her playing bumper cars with several foals. Snickering a little, Twilight nevertheless turned to Discord, giving him a pointed look.
“Oh fine,” he huffed, snapping his fingers again.
In an instant, all of the carnival trappings were gone, and Pinkie was back in her chair at the conference table, giving a loud “aww!” as she realized what had happened.
Twilight gave her an apologetic look before getting down to business. “Pinkie, can you tell me the name of the village where you and the fillies were staying in Everglow? The one that I saw in the distance on the other side of that portal? I need to know so I can look up its location so that I can teleport there after I arrive.”
Blinking, Pinkie tilted her head. “Oh, um, it was Ar…something or other. Arsenal? Artesian? Arugula? Hmm…” Scratching her head, her brow furrowed as she concentrated. “It definitely started with an ‘A,’ and I’m pretty sure about the ‘r.’ Maybe it was Arctic? Or Arbitrary? Arf-arf?”
“Pinkie, this is important!” Twilight tried to fight off the sinking feeling coming over her then. “I can’t teleport somewhere unless I know what the destination looks like and I know exactly where it is! If I don’t know the name of the town, I can’t look it up on a map once I go to Everglow, which means I can’t find Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon!”
Giving an uncomfortable laugh, Pinkie shrugged. “Maybe you could just look up every village that starts with an ‘A’ and try teleporting to them all? How many could there be?”
Her answer came in the form of Twilight groaning and planting her face down on the conference table.
She picked herself up only after Princess Celestia pointedly cleared her throat. “While I’m also very concerned about bringing those wayward fillies home, Twilight, perhaps you and your friends can figure out an alternative solution once we’ve adjourned here, unless,” she directed her attention toward Pinkie then, “you think that they’re in imminent danger?”
“Oh, no way!” Pinkie shook her head back and forth. “That village was kinda like Ponyville in how nice it was! It even had a candy shop! I bet the girls are back there right now eating some of that delicious honey-frosted cake we had before…” Her mouth watering, Pinkie couldn’t help but stare off into the distance, licking her lips as she quite obviously turned her thoughts back to the cake in question for several seconds before collecting herself. “Besides, those girls are actually pretty tough! I mean, not, like, fight off a whole bunch of gem gnolls all by themselves tough, but they’ve definitely picked up a few tricks!”
“Then hopefully they’ll be able to take care of themselves for a little longer,” concluded Princess Celestia. “Spike, perhaps you could send them a letter letting them know that everyone here is alright and that we’ll continue looking for a way to bring them home?”
“Yes ma’am!” answered Spike, giving a salute.
Princess Celestia gave him a grateful nod before turning her attention back to the six-winged angel in their midst. “Mihr, before I go any further, on behalf of everyone here please allow me to express my gratitude for your timely assistance. I fear the worst would have come to pass if you hadn’t arrived when you did.”
Mihr's answer was given with a deep bow. “You honor me with your praise, though I fear I have done little to deserve it. You and yours would never have found yourselves in such dire straits had my attempts to preserve the peace of this world not been so shortsighted in scope.”
“Does that have to do with what you were saying to that lhaksharut before?” asked Twilight. “Something about some sort of provisional agreement that you made regarding Equestria?”
But Mihr didn’t have a chance to answer as Princess Celestia cut in. “Twilight’s question is one that weighs on us all, but before we discuss that there’s something else I’d like to ask you.” She paused then, glancing at Luna in a silent request for permission. It was only after her sister nodded that Celestia continued. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that my sister, Princess Luna, is…afflicted?”
Mihr’s expression turned grave as he nodded, his eyes settling on Luna. “Indeed. The taint of profane magic clings to you now, dampening your splendor like a cloak sodden with foul water.”
Luna winced at that, and Celestia put a wing around her in a silent show of support before she kept speaking. “This is the work of that wizard we told you about before, Lex Legis.” Briefly, she told him what had happened when they’d gone to Vanhoover to confront the pony in question, before outlining how all of their subsequent efforts to remove the curse he’d placed on Luna had met with failure. “We haven’t given up,” she said at last, “and we’re already putting together a new plan. But now that you’re here, I wanted to ask you directly…” She paused then, and everyone held their breath, knowing what her question would be before she asked it.
“Can you remove Luna’s curse?”
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Typical Discord...never change
Anyways, guess the magic used to restore Canterlot Castle doesn't affect curses. Guess that means that anyone that happens to know how to control time(is that a thing in the games?) can't reset someone to before they were cursed.
And of course, given the display of power Mihr put on, it was inevitable that they'd turn to him for help. Kind of funny how they tried that with Discord and it backfired so horribly and yet they're already seeking aid from another powerful being. At best, he agrees and at worst, he just says no so I guess they really have nothing to lose by asking. However, given what we know of the accord to observe and no interference, I'm leaning towards the latter.
On a side note, I'm curious if Discord could have fought against the lhaksharut in a fight. Discord was likely scared off from being actually hurt for the first time in his life so he's just as vulnerable to the lhaksharut's attacks as it is to his but if he had fought, how much of a chance would he have of winning.
I have but one inquiry
That is growing from a small mutter...
Why don't they just ask location
IN THEIR DRAGON FIRE LETTER?
Ahem, please excuse
Of me, that was rude.
I look forward to chapter, next
And wonder, how is Legis, Lex?
Miss sally had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell
Miss Sally went to heaven
The steamboat went to
Come back next chapter for more lyrics!
10082482
Please elaborate on how the fillies would be able to respond.
So far, still alive and not another catastrophe?
Is there a Planar Communication spell like a far higher caster level equivalent of Message, or the one where the sending includes a simple reply option like a single word or such?
10082411 Mihr's use of miracle was intended to reverse the damage that the lhaksharut had wrought, and that was what was granted (since the benevolent powers answering his prayer didn't nitpick the literal request versus the meaning behind it). But that doesn't include what happened to Luna, since she wasn't hurt by the creature and wasn't even present when Mihr cast that spell, and so he didn't even know to include her in its effects.
Likewise, while asking Discord for help did backfire, that was largely because of circumstances beyond his knowledge or control, as Fluttershy noted (it seems she's taking to heart her regret about having pushed Discord away). Even then, that wasn't because she asked him to remove Luna's curse, but rather his overcompensating for his inability to do so. Mihr seems like a much safer, and more powerful, choice in that regard. So Celestia really has no reason not to ask him. Now we just need to wait and see what his answer is.
As for whether or not Discord could have fought back against the lhaksharut, he could have. He has the [Chaos] subtype, and his magic is chaos-based, so he at least had the potential to get some not-inconsiderable damage in. But at the same time, he'd need to get past its defenses (i.e. its AC, saving throws, and spell resistance) which are considerable. Discord is powerful, but even with the context of the show he's not all-powerful (remember how Starlight Glimmer was able to banish him from the School of Friendship all on her own in A Matter of Principals, season eight, episode fourteen? He was able to bypass her restriction by using what was effectively an astral projection spell, but the fact that he had to bypass it at all, rather than just overpowering it, was telling).
10082620
10082482 Treforce has the right of it. Spike can send letters, but the recipients need to figure out how to send a reply on their own, and the fillies don't have any method of trans-planar communication that we're aware of.
10082492 A bit random, but I'm sure Pinkie would approve.
10082689 A very insightful question. There is indeed such a spell: sending.
Twilight, apparently, doesn't know this spell. But Lex does, and in fact we see him try to use it to contact Twilight during her time on Everglow (and hitting that pesky 5% failure chance if the target is on another plane) back in chapter 114 - Nothing To Be Said. Of course, he did use it to contact Twilight in chapter 44 - Reaching Out of this story's predecessor, The Apple Falls Far from the Tree. So you have to wonder if Twilight will recall that Lex could put her in contact with the missing fillies.
...but I'm sure that won't be a thing in future chapters.
10082925
Ah, I see
I was not thinking clearly.
10082620
My bad, you're right
I have now seen the light.