Everyone from the Crystal Empire royal family had met back up inside the castle. It had taken a lot of very careful and thoughtful words from Shining to get Cadance to calm down. She had been practically ready to blow another hole through the castle just to hopefully attract the draconequues to the source of the chaos.
But with the reassurance of Shining, his parents, and Luna, they had managed to calm her down from her panic. To say that Velvet hadn’t played a big part would be an understatement, as when they’d gotten back, Cadance had broken down instantly. During that exchange, Velvet served as her pillow.
So the group sat in the damaged remnants of their old living room, where their furniture had managed to stay relatively safe throughout everything. Dawn had broken on Hearth’s Warming through the cracks in the castle, and it stayed relatively silent as the group continued to brainstorm.
“Let me do the spell, Luna.” Cadance pleaded.
Luna sighed as her hoof met her face. “For the thirtieth time, niece, I am not letting you detonate something to lure him out.”
Cadance’s face soured. “Why? He’d show himself.” She said it with a growl. “He’s clearly not intelligent enough to sense a trap like that.”
Shining just rubbed her back with a hoof as she leaned in closer to him. “Hey, we don’t even know what involvement he may or may not have. For all we know, he was just in the area.”
At the collective raised eyebrows in the room, Shining threw his shoulders up and dropped them. “Just a suggestion; he’s always been a nuisance, but I doubt he… kidnapped Kieran or did anything to make things worse.”
Luna hummed impatiently, “Even the wrong word would’ve set off Kieran if delivered wrong. And Discord isn’t the most… empathetic creature.”
Cadance huffed dejectedly. “Or hid his magic from me? So that I couldn’t find my foal?” She flared her wings out angrily for a moment. “He did this to make things more chaotic—he knows it would anger me—why else would he leave behind a clue?”
Luna felt a wash of guilt flow through her. While it was exceptionally hard for her to reason in a way that Discord hadn’t made things worse overall for Kieran, the possibilities were narrower. Discord was hopefully not the one responsible for his magic disappearing, since if it was Flurry, at least she was on their side.
But she bit her tongue, lest Cadance might really spill over the edge. And that was not something she was keen on helping.
Cadance slightly jerked her head upward as she was falling asleep against Shining’s side. Shining sighed deeply as he hugged her. "Honey, I think you need to get some rest.”
“Not while my colt is missing.” She mumbled while rubbing her darkened eyes.
“Remember what I told you earlier, niece.” Luna remarked. “Time spent deliriously is time wasted.”
She groaned but couldn’t help but throw her hooves down dejectedly. “It’s not fair,” she mumbled sadly with a sniffle.
Velvet stood up and walked over to her. “Come on, dear, at least take a nap for us, please?” Cadance very reluctantly stood from her spot with a small nod, and Velvet escorted her to her room.
Once she was gone, the remaining three sat in silence. Night Light cleared his throat after a minute. "So, where’s my grandaughter?” He said with a worried smile, “After everything, I think she could use a bit of a pick-me-up.”
Shining laughed. “Seeing you will definitely give her one of those.”
Luna tapped her hoof against the chair a few times in debate, but eventually relented. Keeping secrets was mostly for Cadance’s wellbeing, but the other two present…
“Ahem,” she cleared her throat, catching their attention, “I’ve given her a sort of… mission.”
Shining’s eyebrow raised, but she quickly followed with an explanation. “I requested that she use her specialty magic again. I was hoping she’d find a sort of… resolution for how to help Kieran.”
“So she’s making dolls again?” Shining mumbled with furrowed brows as he stroked his beard.
Luna hummed. “I did request she try to recreate the spells she did to bring Kieran over.”
“What!?” Both stallions remarked suddenly at that.
She held up a hoof to silence them before they could panic. “I’m willing to take responsibility for any problems that may arise from that. However, I have great faith that doing so will only grow her abilities. She has ample motivation, even seeming excited at the prospect. Alicorns have a tendency to improve rapidly under… stressful situations.
The two stallions didn’t have much of a rebuttal for that as they stared at each other for a moment. Shining turned back with a nod. “Alright, but I think we should check on her; otherwise, we might have an army of reincarnated foals.”
Luna stood from the chair and stretched with a chuckle. “I should hope not.”
As the trio stood, they walked down the hallway to one of the intact guest rooms, where Flurry had relocated and set up shop. Once they arrived, Shining stepped forward and gave a swift knock. “Flurry, are you doing alright, honey?”
They heard a few things fall and crash to the floor, causing the three to jump a bit at the sudden sound. After a second, they heard a muffled groan: “I was…”
Shining pushed the door open swiftly, and the view they got shocked all three of them. Laying across the floor were dozens of hoof-sized crystalized pony figures, mostly designed after mannequins. Each had their own set of body proportions, from male to female, small to large. Half lay lifelessly on the floor, while the other half stood at attention, appearing to breathe, fidget, and even reprimand those who got out of line. It was a tiny army.
In the center of the room was Flurry—a very exhausted-looking Flurry—sitting at the edge of her bed. Beside her floated her notebook of drawings and other things she’d written during the years, on her other side was a stopwatch, and in between her hooves was an abacus.
It was the first time Shining had seen his daughter willingly use an abacus.
The crash they’d heard had been a half-formed doll, laying on the ground lifeless underneath her. And Flurry looked up at them all with apprehension and said, “Oh… hi, Daddy.” Her eyes brightened a bit when she noticed her grandpa next to him.
Flurry sighed deeply at their continued dumfounded looks. “The soldiers are made of a mixture of-”
But she was cut off as Shining stepped forward, stepping over all the soldiers, and brought her into a large hug as he nuzzled her head. Flurry almost instantly began to cry into his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said again.
“I know, honey.” Shining remarked, petting her mane. “It was an accident. We all make them.” He sighed.
“But it won’t bring him back.” She said dejectedly.
Night Light came up on her other side and said, “It looks like you're putting in the effort to make that happen more than anyone, little one. Don’t be so hard on yourself.” He said with a chuckle.
Flurry broke away from the hug with Shining and quickly embraced him. “Grandpa!” she chirped happily.
He quickly chuckled and brought her up into his arms. “Oh my, haven’t you gotten big?” he remarked.
“I’m still the same size as last year,” she muttered, nuzzling into his chest.
Shining laughed at that. “No, we marked it on your birthday. You were at least… half an inch taller.” Flurry just rolled her eyes with a giggle.
There were sudden sounds of fighting and grunts heard from below. The adults all looked down curiously to see the army of lifelike dolls attacking the two stallions with any arrangement of weapons imaginable. But they were made of dull crystals and were so small that they didn’t do anything.
Flurry just groaned, “Stand down.” She said, her horn lighting up. Every soldier dropped their weapons at once, returning to standing at attention in a formation.
The adults all gawked at Flurry, especially Luna. Flurry looked up sheepishly, "Sorry, I was testing their… free will capabilities. They thought you were attacking me.”
The two stallions just laughed as Night Light set her carefully back on the bed. Flurry looked past them at Luna, who was still staring around at the dolls with wonder. “I haven’t really figured out how to recreate the cloning myself thing.” She said it with a huff.
She looked at her notebook and flipped a few pages. “Every time I try to make a doll bigger than usual, it just turns into a lifeless piece of garbage.” She said in frustration.
Luna nodded evenly. “This is unfortunate… Have you figured anything else out?”
Flurry yawned and rubbed her eyes as she nodded. “Mhm… None of these dolls are actually alive. Not like Kieran is anyway.”
“That’s good.” Shining remarked with a smile.
Flurry hummed, “In fact, unless I explicitly give them permission to think and act on their own, they will just stand there staring at me like that.” She pointed to the row of pony soldiers.
“In fact,” she began, levitating a cut-in-half soldier over to her. “They are completely hollow in the middle. They don’t have the capacity to eat, drink, or do anything else pony-like.”
Luna hummed and tilted her head. “They’re hollow?”
A look of worry crossed Flurry’s face as she looked down with nearly quivering lips. “I’ve been trying to make sure of something, and it scares me.”
The adults watched intently as she levitated two pony soldiers up to her. She pointed at one. “If I open this one up,” she started, splitting the doll in two. There was a large burst of cyan energy that poured out of the cracks as the doll grew lifeless, and the energy was sucked back up into Flurry’s horn. “They always have some of my magic, like that.”
Luna leaned even closer as Flurry threw the pieces of the other one to the side, holding the other one up in front of her. She was only happy that it seemed to have no reaction to its comrade being done away with. Flurry sighed deeply before her horn lit up. “Stop using magic.”
Luna's eyes widened, and she watched as the doll appeared to have made no sudden changes. Simply continuing to stand at attention and staring up at her.
But slowly, it began to slump over, an arm giving out on it as it dropped its weapon. Then a leg gave out, then the other arm, and not before long, the entire soldier slumped in its spot completely lifelessly.
Luna immediately lit her horn up with magic sight, and they all watched as the residual magic left behind in the puppet's body simply seemed to… wither away. It had exhausted its resources trying to keep the doll alive for only a minute. Until the last wisps of magic floated away, and the doll stood as nothing but a pile of garbage yet again.
Luna’s face, understandably, became ghostly white. As Flurry shared a similar expression of despair, “It… it’s unavoidable. I don’t take their magic when doing that, but they can’t ever get more. And yes, I’ve tested; I can command them to use magic again, and they return to normal capacity. But… auntie…”
“That’s… oh no.” Luna muttered in disbelief.
Shining just looked between the two alicorns with a look of confusion and growing worry. “W-What? What’s going on?”
They both looked wearily at each other as Shining took another step forward. “Please tell me. It’s my son.” He asked pleadingly.
Luna sighed, grabbing both his shoulders. “You must not tell Cadance.” Shining took a moment to breathe deeply, then nodded. Luna looked at Night Light, and he similarly gave a nod and crossed his heart with a hoof.
Luna quickly explained the situation involving Kieran’s missing magic and what that all meant, even in regards to Discord. “Kieran’s going to wither away? Just like that doll?” He asked quickly with a close-to-panicked expression.
Flurry hung her head lower. “I think so…”
Luna nodded. “If these tests are an indication of how Kieran himself works, we shall see. But I think this certainly complicates our efforts, and if Discord is involved in all of this…” Luna rubbed her head soothingly in an attempt to quell the growing headache. “What a mess.”
Night Light shook his head and stepped forward. “I-I haven’t even met the little one yet!” He said with a huff of sadness, “We can’t let that happen, right? What do we do?”
None of the others had an immediate answer.
Flurry cleared her throat awkwardly. “I was… doing math about it. I tested it on various sizes of dolls. If I’m not completely wrong, he might have had about four days… from when he lost his magic.”
“Four days?” Luna blanched.
Shining stamped his hoof with a large sigh, “Than I’m not hiding any of this from anyone anymore.” He said with a huff, turning around to rummage through a nearby desk.
“What does that mean?” Luna asked with apprehension.
Shining quickly brought out a piece of paper and began to prepare a quill for writing. “It means I’m exposing Discord’s involvement and my missing colt. To the entire royal guard of both Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. Even those on vacation right now. Essentially… I’m telling them the story.”
They all stood in shock, with no real idea of how to take that news. Luna quickly stepped forward to his side and said, “And you think exposing the entire situation to every guard in Equestria will help? Are you absolutely sure, Shining?”
Shining didn’t answer her for a minute, choosing to continue writing. She waited impatiently until Shining finally finished, signing off his paper with the royal seal, before he looked up and nodded. “I’m positive; I may leave out the magic withering away part since it’s still a theory, but the rest is vital information. And I know Twilight will help spread the letter in Canterlot and Ponyville; I just need to get it to her.”
He paused for a moment. “And I think it’s a safe time to entertain the idea that Kieran is no longer in the Crystal Empire.”
Flurry mumbled nervously, “What if someone tries to hurt him or take him because of the letter, Daddy?”
Shining smirked, “Well, there’ll be a large number of guards who are perfectly aware of how to handle the situation out there. There’s got to be one guard out there, one that can save him.”
Night Light approached, laying a hoof on his shoulder. “You do what you gotta do for your colt, Shining. I believe it could do some good.” He said with a smile.
Luna thought about it for a long time before she finally sighed in resignation. “I will admit, drastic measures are to be taken. This is not a simple missing pony anymore. As I said, for all we know, he may be a wandering magical explosion. Go ahead.”
Shining nodded, rolling the page up and tying it together. He hoofed it to Luna, who obliged by duplicating and sending the letter out to every Crystal Empire guard. Before also sending out a copy to Twilight with a request to further duplicate the scroll to as many guards as possible.
After that was done, they all breathed a mix of anxiety and relief. Flurry yawned again, rubbing at her eyes. But before her horn could light up again, Shining swept her off the bed and into his arms. “Honey, I think you need to rest at this point. Even momma is.”
“Really?” Flurry said this through another yawn. “But what if I can… figure something new out?”
Luna hummed and raised a scrutinizing eyebrow. “And possibly mess up on your spells again due to a lack of sleep.” Luna just smirked, “Go get sleep, little one.”
"Okay, Auntie, Daddy,” Flurry muttered tiredly.
Night Light walked over, holding out his hooves as Shining handed her off. Night Light nuzzled her cheek. “Let’s go find where your momma went to sleep, hmm? I’m sure she’d like someone to cuddle with.” He commented, causing her to giggle as he carried her off.
As they left, Shining couldn’t help but feel anxiety creep up his spine while he stared at the dolls, who all dropped to the floor lifelessly in an instant. Visions of the same thing happening to Kieran passed through his mind, making him feel slightly sick.
Luna came to his side and said, “You’ve been up about as long as them too. I suggest you rest, Shining.”
Shining sighed. “But what if something happens while I’m sleeping?”
“That’s why I’m here.” Luna remarked with a smile.
“And what about you?” He wondered.
She shook her head. “I slept on the chariot here, and while trying to contact Kieran, I’ll be alright.”
She patted his back gently, “Don’t get cold hooves, Shining. You’ll be needed at full mental capacity when you wake, I assure you.”
Shining just sighed and gave a small nod as he turned and headed for the door. As he opened it, he turned, “Thank you, Luna. I don’t know where we’d be without you.”
She smiled appreciatively. “I want to save my nephew… I felt like I just got to know him well before all this.” She remarked sadly.
Shining just nodded solemnly. “I promise, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know him soon, Auntie Luna.” He teased as he yawned.
She just rolled her eyes, “Go, sleep.” She commanded. Shining wasted no extra time before departing the room.
Somehow, someway, they were going to locate Kieran. Even if it required an Equestrian-wide ponyhunt.
It was long past breakfast now; Flitter had delivered the meal hastily up to my temporary bedroom. And though she had tried to stay in a while longer and converse with me, I never ate or conversed back to her during the entire engagement. How was I supposed to? If I ate, she’d realize I’m magic-less. If I talked, I’d dig myself a bigger hole.
The remnants of my mostly eaten breakfast had been picked up not long after, and though she watched me curiously, she seemed at least happy I’d eaten and left.
But I still couldn’t entirely escape their family. Even though the foals outside the room seemed to intentionally avoid it, I couldn’t avoid her.
“Sweetie, do you want any cookies? Do you need a drink?”
It was about the fifth time that Sage had wandered up to ask me if I needed or wanted anything. But I just denied them all as politely as possible while trying to act like I was just feeling sick and nothing else.
I couldn’t tell if they were catching on to my act or not.
I turned over in bed and regarded Sage with a small smile and a fake cough. “I’m… okay. Thanks.” I rasped out.
Sage sighed sadly again, but instead of leaving, she opened the door farther and walked in, much to my horror. She approached carefully and sat on the bed, holding one of her hooves up to my forehead. “I don’t feel anything,” she said with a confused huff. “Can you open your mouth for me?”
I panicked internally, opening my mouth as she shined her horn and peaked inside. She quickly stopped and sighed deeply. “It doesn’t look like your throat is sore…” She tilted her head. “And I haven’t seen you use the bathroom at all, dear. Are you okay?”
I just quickly nodded my head, much to her sadness. “Are you sure you aren’t just hiding up here because you’re homesick?” She finally challenged me.
I wilted further down into the covers, faking another cough. “N-No…” I mumbled.
She laid her entire body on the bed, poking me under the covers with her muzzle. “Hey…” she started sweetly, pulling the covers off my head. “I’m not going to judge you for missing your parents, Pumpkin.” She reassured me as she held out a hoof and began stroking my cheek.
“I don’t want you to go home and tell them your Hearth’s Warming was miserable because you wouldn’t let yourself have fun.” She said with a snort.
I huffed angrily and continued to fake my voice: “It’s rude to call others liars.”
She just raised a brow. “Coming from you? Hilarious, dear. I’m a mother; my foals have tried to get out of school before; I'm wiser than that, Pumpkin.”
I just slumped my body farther against the bed, practically giving up. Sage had won, so what? Was she magically going to make all my problems go away in an instant? No.
She leaned in and nuzzled my face. “I don’t like seeing foals so sad.” She hummed sweetly. “How about you come downstairs and I’ll get you a bunch of treats, courtesy of Grandma, hmm?”
She watched as I gave no reaction, and she hummed to herself, trying to think, “Or you can… play with Rue and Ivy? They got a bunch of new toys; I give you permission to mess with them a bit.”
“Ivy hates me.” That was the only thing I said, without a hint of venom in my voice. “I don’t blame her.” I added.
Sage sighed, her face souring, though seemingly not at me. My words might’ve had the opposite reaction, as Sage wrapped a hoof around my midsection and pulled me closer to her from under the covers. “I’m sorry if she came off that way, Pumpkin…” She couldn’t help but release a small laugh. “I think she feels challenged by you. Like she thinks you’re cool, but she doesn’t want to admit it.”
I huffed, “That or she thinks I’m a dumb, stupid, worthless little pony.” I couldn’t help but retort.
“Hey…” Sage said with a rather stern tone as she lowered her head in front of mine and tried to look me in the eyes. “You are not. Who told you that?” She asked with furrowed brows.
I just averted my gaze again. “Me, myself, Ashy.”
Sage just sat there for a moment and huffed a sigh before she leaned in. “Well, I think Me, Myself, and Ashy are all very rude ponies. Because that is not the same filly I knew when she was asking me about constellations last night.”
I opened my mouth, but I found that I didn’t have anything to say. No immediate retorts, no insults—nothing I could think of that could make her change her mood.
So I… started crying…
…
I still managed to contain most of my emotions, but I couldn’t keep them all in. And so I ended up whimpering as I released tears.
Of course, Sage, being the saint that she is, pulled me closer to her chest and held her head over my mind in a hug. “Oh, Pumpkin…” she cooed, “it’ll be alright.”
But I didn’t really hear her words; I was too busy burying my head into her chest fluff and breaking down. Sage already knew something was going on; she was far too quick to catch on to things.
But I still knew that, in my best interest, I needed to give yet another excuse. “I-I’m sorry,” I choked out.
She shushed me. “No, no… You deserve to cry, honey. It’s okay.”
I shook my head. “I-I’m just… I miss home.” It was partially true. I missed the vague feeling of home that I’d thought I’d been developing while in the Crystal Empire. The home I could no longer go back to, for both my own safety and the safety of everyone else.
“I know, sweetie.” Sage continued to coo, petting the back of my head as she held me close. “And I’ll get you there.” She said with a large smile, grabbing my hoof with her own and holding it tightly.
Sage really was a sweet mare. Which made everything all too complicated when met with my constant mental reaffirmations that everyone would betray me and that everyone would hate me. Instead of kicking me out, Sage was doing the exact opposite. She was holding me close, reassuring me, and promising me that she’d get me home. Even when it was a promise she couldn’t fulfill.
It made me cry a bit more as I once again buried my head in her chest fluff. “I’m sorry for being rude.” I mumbled.
Sage just tightened her grip and nuzzled me. “Nonsense, have you seen Ivy?” She chuckled mirthfully. “Foals are silly and clumsy; don’t worry about it, Pumpkin.” I’d heard those words before, but I blocked them out of my mind, allowing a tiny smile to appear on my face.
She pulled away slightly, wiping my tears away from my face and stroking my hair back. Than she wiggled her way off the bed, “Now, do you want to come down and help finish off all the extremely unhealthy junk food? Or are you still feeling sick?” She questioned me with a knowing, raised eyebrow.
I felt anxiety rise in my chest again, but I shrugged lightly. “I guess so… But I have to use the restroom.”
Sage nodded with a smile. “I’ll be right at the staircase to help you down when you’re finished, okay?” I returned a nod.
I waited for her to exit the room before mumbling to myself as I wondered what I was getting myself into. I slowly removed myself from the covers before sliding down the side of the bed and stretching my body.
I hadn’t even gotten two steps from the bed when the bedside lamp floated from its position on the nightstand, hovered over to the door, and transformed into the familiar form of Discord. Before I could even process, he had slammed the door shut on us and locked it with about thirty different types of locks. And then a large metal blast door closed itself over top. After that, he rushed over to the window and looked in both directions, pulled a random metal shutter down over it, and then slammed the curtains shut.
Afterwards, he merely began to float back and forth in a pacing pattern in the now-sealed room, adorning a new position each time he changed directions. His eyes were focused on the ground as he stroked his beard slowly.
“Um… Can I help you?” I asked incredulously as I stared up at his passing form.
He looked up at me and held a finger up, opening his mouth, then grumbled to himself and returned to pacing. As he did so, he began to talk manically, sputtering nonsense that I couldn’t understand.
I grew impatient while tapping my hoof. “Are you ignoring me?”
“I’m brainstorming,” he replied briskly.
"Well, go brainstorm somewhere else. Why do I have to be here?” I whined with an angry huff.
He stopped and looked at me with furrowed brows and a glint in his eyes. “You have no idea what kind of storm is approaching.”
“Storm? Is it going to snow or something?” I asked with a tilted head.
He laughed, floated over, and patted my head before replying, “No.” He replied in deadpan.
“Then what is it?” I inquired with an eye roll.
He hummed, then turned into a storm cloud and swirled around me, causing a torrent of wind in the room. “This isn’t some simple thunderstorm or winter freeze, my dear traveler.” Discord remarked as the room grew a bit chilly.
He turned from a cloud back into a smaller version of himself as he materialized a large war map of Equestria. “No, no, no. This is… something else.” He spouted, the edges of the map being encroached by a dark fog.
“Okay, stop the vague metaphors!” I shouted, swiping at the table as it disappeared from reality. I poked his chest aggressively, “I’ve done nothing right for your perfect little plan, but it’s a one-time deal! If you’ve got some other request, I’m not doing it!” I growled.
It was only after I was done shouting that I realized the Discord I was poking was now just a stuffed animal that fell against the floor. I quickly felt one of his paws on my shoulder. “Relax, my friend; I’m not here to ask you to be my special agent of chaos.” He assured me while inspecting his claws.
“Oh, really.” I said it disbelievably.
He slithered around in front of me and held his paws out in a shrug. “Yes, actually. I did all of this at the behest of your own inner desires. My head is even on the line now for you.” He announced this, making a cutting motion with his claws as his head fell into his other paw.
I raised a brow, and he nodded. “Oh yes, you heard that right. Poor Cadance is absolutely devastated, and they caught on a little quicker than I expected of my involvement.” He uttered with a grumble, and I could tell he was partially annoyed. “Not just her, either. Luna, Twilight, and now probably even Celestia all probably have a bounty on my head.” He said with a sniffle.
"Oh, boo hoo for you.” I mocked, “Want me to play you a song on my tiny violin?”
Discord pursed his lips and squinted at me. “I don’t see one with you right now. But I would certainly like to hear one! You mean like one of these?” He asked as he reached into a pocket on his hip that certainly didn’t exist and brought out a tiny violin.
I swatted it out of his paw and growled, “Why don’t you leave me alone?”
“What? Whaaaat?” He replied with a large shrug as he floated away from me, “I’m not trying to enact sympathy for myself! I just thought you might want to know how your poor guardian felt!”
I stomped my hoof. “She’s not my guardian anymore. And everything going on is something you brought on yourself.” I folded my hooves over themselves and said, “But I guess it’s good to know that every alicorn in Equestria is out trying to regain control of their little puppet alicorn.”
Discord chuckled. “You really don’t understand, do you? How deeply does Cadance really care for you? It’s enough to make a draconequus sick!” He claimed, pretending to gag.
“You’re lying.” I snapped back, “Did she force you to help her or something?”
“Nobody forces me to tell the truth, little foal.” He replied nonchalantly as he rested his head on his paws while floating in front of me. “But you can hate the messenger; it’s fine. Even seems to be fashionable nowadays.” He asserted while materializing shades and a fur coat on himself. Some cameras even seemed to flash in the room, taking pictures of him as he struck various poses.
I squinted and held my hooves up to block the sudden flashes and growled, “You were saying?” I urged impatiently, “Something dumb about a storm?”
“A storm!” His eyes widened, his face whitening until he was completely black and white. “This isn’t a normal storm approaching!”
I sat down and motioned with my hoof, “Then explain.”
He brought out the map again: “I can feel it; a storm of pure chaotic energy is encroaching upon Equestria.” The dark edges of the map became filled with a menacing fog-like dark mist.
I couldn’t say that it wasn’t a little bit worrying. “Well, deal with it, chaos spirit,” I replied.
“I wish I could!” He remarked sincerely, “But this is like nothing I’ve ever felt before!”
“And why does it involve me? Shouldn’t you be trying to make amends with the alicorns and warning them?” I huffed.
He shook his head. “Because,” the fog on the map began to creep and crawl further into Equestria, until the only thing left was the exact spot of the cabin we were in. “You are at the epicenter, my friend.”
I just stared in confusion and a bit of worry. “Uh… why? Are you telling me the entirety of Equestria is being taken over other than this one cabin?”
He hummed and snapped his fingers. “Perhaps it’d make more sense if I showed you.”
Suddenly we were outside, miles up in the sky, but I couldn’t tell if this was really Equestria or just some sort of vision. Either way, I had to hold on to my breakfast as I immediately felt sick to my stomach.
“You get used to it.” He offered, patting me on the back, which only caused me to want to puke even more.
He waved his paws, and I managed to calm myself enough to actually look down. But I just saw myself standing down in an open field. “That’s you.”
I watched further as the dark fog appeared yet again, swirling around me at a set distance in every direction. Even as I began to run through the fields. Yet no matter how far I ran, the fog always followed me. “As far as I can see, you’re like the eye of this chaos storm yet to form.”
He stroked his beard and said, “It’s more like a… hurricane in your world. You know what that is, right?” He asked.
I just nodded slowly as I watched my double turn into a quivering ball on the ground in the field, screaming for something to stop pleadingly. It was a bit disturbing to watch. But thankfully, Discord snapped his fingers, and we were back in the room again, almost causing me to hurl once again.
Once I got a hold of myself, I just looked up at him, a bit of fear crossing my face. "Well, what am I supposed to do about it?” I was a bit panicky. “I can’t just… fight back a hurricane of chaos, or whatever it is.”
He held a finger up and wagged it. “If I were you…” He began, “I’d simply drop the disappearing act. I’m sure the alicorns all know how to help.” Discord materialized a suit and tie as he began to pack things into a suitcase around the room. Things I’m sure weren’t there before.
I followed after him quickly: “W-What? My only option is to give myself up? Do something! Help me!”
“No, no, no, my friend. This is far beyond me.” Discord muttered, folding a few socks and putting a family portrait of five of himself posing jovially into the suitcase. He shut it with a resounding click and hoisted it up. “I refuse to get washed away with that tide of darkness and chaos of that scale; I’m taking a vacation.” He straightened his tie.
He began walking towards the wall, where a door materialized, and when he opened it, the swirling chaos of some sort of void appeared beyond it. “What about me!?” I called for him.
He just turned and gave me an actual serious expression for once: “Go home. Flurry’s powers were just an accident, and they all very clearly still... Urrgh, love and cherish you... if the reactions I saw meant anything.” He rolled his eyes and seemed to gag as he said the words, as if it hurt him to say them. “Besides, you don’t have magic anymore, and the only one who can fix that is Flurry. Probably.”
I just stared after him with a dumbfounded expression, until eventually anger crossed my features. "Well, what do you know, anyway!?” I shouted, “You would lie to me just to cause even more chaos, wouldn’t you? Well, I’m not falling for it!” I stomped my hoof with a loud growl.
“Go crawl into the hole you came from! I’m done falling for your charades! Cadance just ordered you to lie to me for your own safety, I bet!” I breathed heavily for a few seconds.
Discord turned and snapped his fingers, causing all the locks and metal vault doors to disappear as the room returned to normal. “Good luck, Kieran.” That was all he said before passing through the doorway and closing it. The door quickly faded into nothing.
I grunted and growled, walking over to the bed and hitting the side of it in anger multiple times. Eventually the feeling of anger and annoyance washed away, and I realized I could really use one of those cookies Sage was talking about right now.
Forcing things he said to the back of my mind, I walked to the doorway wearily. I pushed it open cautiously, only to see Sage still on her way towards the staircase. So either Discord had frozen time or done some other sort of trickery. I shrugged it off and headed for the bathroom, as was my original plan.
Whatever anyway, right?
Why should I listen to the least trustworthy being in Equestria?
They didn’t all want me back that badly.
Right..?
…