Swiftly Through the Air

  The argument was basically just going in circles for a while; How was anyone of us supposed to know what happened? We weren't the ones who did this! I knew that all of this was happening, but I didn't really pay attention because I was too busy thinking about what Ida just said. How did Ida know that name? Did it link up with Evan calling Erin Ida's sister? I thought back to the dream I had first had on the night of my birthday and again last night. The sights all came back to me, right down the red smoke coming out of Discord's eyes. I slowly opened my mouth, but quickly shut it again: I didn't know what to say! Should I ask about the name specifically? Or maybe if any of them remembered a similar dream they might have had?

    “Umm, guys?” I started. They all looked up, except for Ida, who was still glaring daggers at Evan. “Did any of you have a... um... dream about a,” I searched my mind trying to remember the name, “Droconiquis?”

    Evan and Ida looked confused. Erin nodded, looking even more confused.

    “What is a droconiquis?” Evan asked, a bit worriedly, at the same time that Erin said;

    “Yes.” He turned around to Evan and explained, “A draconequus is a creature of chaos that showed up in season two of My Little Pony. They called him Discord. What he did in the last episode of the show was also the main reason why many fans… Well, we try to ignore that episode.”

    “Oka-” Evan started before Ida cut him off:

    “That’s interesting, but what does he look like?” Before Erin could open his mouth I started;

   “He has the head of a pony and a body of all sorts of animal parts,” I explained to the non-bronies.

    “How about we just watch some the episodes?” Erin suggested.

    “I'll watch,” I stated, “but these two still haven't answered my question.”

    “Yes,” Evan sighed, “I had a dream about something that matched that description.”

    “Okay, what happened in it?” I asked both my friends. “Evan you tell us about yours first.”

    “Well…” he started, “When I first fell asleep I seemed to wake up, but in a different place. I saw yellow, um hooves... I guess, and light brown hair covering my left eye. When I tried to move I couldn't, like I didn't have control over myself. Then the body that I was inside of moved, not of my will, of its own. It seemed like it had a purpose. After it got up it walked outside of its house, which looked backwards like a rather large Willow tree. The-”

    “Ignore the small things and get on to the main one!” Ida said impatiently after cutting Evan off.

    Glaring at Ida Evan continued, “After I left the house I walked into a field a little ways away and rubbed my hooves on the ground to charge it. I’m not sure how, but it caused an electrical current between the blades that didn't seem to affect me.” Evan blinked, realizing that he was telling the dream in first person, but he continued, “Then the big pink cotton candy cloud appeared, with that draconequus thing on top of it, laughing manically. I crouched and rubbed my hooves and tail on the charged up grass. I saw a whole bunch of tiny electrical sparks going through the hair in front of my eyes and I could feel it surging through my body. The creature tried to lift me up in the air with his magic, but I managed to shock him enough to make him drop me again.

“I tried to run, but Discord… I think I even called him Discord in my dream… he just laughed. It was a harsh laugh, filled with no happiness. He asked me, 'Charge, do you really think that you can outrun the spirit of chaos?' with that voice... it sent chills right through my still electrified bones. Suddenly I was on a cloud directly in front of him, a cloud that I couldn't move from. He laughed some more and started on another spell. I couldn't hear what he said, even though he appeared to be shouting… Made me feel like I was on fire. When I looked down all of my hooves seemed to be covered in raging white flames. That’s the last thing I remember before I woke up,” he finished.

    “Okay,” Erin stated, “Ida you go, then I'll talk about my dream... I guess... Dale you can go last.” I nodded at the arrangement, glad I got to go last, though Ida didn't look particularly happy about the arrangement.

    “Fine,” she mumbled angrily, then, a bit louder, she started, “I guess talking in first person would make things easier: I was in a room that looked like it belonged to the military; the walls were covered with maps, and the maps were covered with pins. I was talking to some other pony, 'We still don't know what to prepare for, Soarin. It's been a week and we still don't know what to get, and where to send our troops! How do we know who our enemy is, if they have changelings! We could be infiltrated already!'

I slammed my hoof on the table, but the pony just answered in a calm voice, 'You're right Lightning, we don't know, and that makes it all the more dangerous.' I sighed, knowing that what my friend said was true. 'What do we do then?' I asked him. Surprising me, he sighed as well, 'I don't know man, I don't know.' That was the first time I saw just how much stress he was under. I felt a bit of sympathy for him.

Trying to get him to think about something else, I offered to go for a little flight. We walked down a hall silently, until we came across a door. Right after he opened it I flapped my wings and raced past him, calling back, 'Race you to the flag.' I had no clue where this flag was, but the body I was in seemed to know. We flew neck to neck for a while, until Soarin seemed to slam into something I couldn't see.The other mind panicked: was than an invisible wall? I turned and flew straight down to get to him as fast as I could and I saw the same thing you did, Evan. Discord seemed to be casting a spell on my friend, and Soarin just stood there, letting it happen! When I got there, I saw one of our best strategists, a pink pony with a dark ginger mane, but something was off. That's when I noticed a long pink horn coming out of her head, the strange amulet that hung around her neck, that the other mind seemed to recognize as some Alicorn Amulet, and finally I saw her two giant blue eyes, had become yellow with red smoke streaming out. After that the same thing happened to me was what happened to you Evan. I tried to go down, to protect my friend, but the moment I landed I froze. I tried to move, but couldn’t. The only thing I saw was white.”

Erin nodded, then immediately started telling us his dream. “When I first fell asleep I woke up in a rather nice room in Princess Twilight's Canterlot Tower. My dark brown mane fell in front of my eyes. Something felt... off, but I couldn't put my hoof on it. And yes, that was a horse analogy. a Pony Pun, if you want. I jumped up when I heard a high-pitched scream, not even thinking, just running to that noise. My horn started to feel strong strands of magic, but I ignored them, I had to get to the pony who screamed. I ran through the hall, knowing that whatever had caused the pony to shout in fear like that, had to still be there. When I turned the corner I heard a bunch of bangs coming from Princess Twilight's room. Using my magic to push the door open, I arrived just in time to see the lavender princess disappear into a raging white fire.

I stood there frozen to the spot, then the spell caster turned to me; Discord . Swallowing my fear I crouched on the floor, and charged my horn, utilizing the large strands I felt a while ago. Discord just laughed, not even bothering to talk. He snapped and a couch appeared, as well as a box of popcorn. My horn glowed brighter. I waited until it felt like I was going to burst any second before I finally released the spell. A large blast of dark pink magic hit Discord, blasting him several feet away. When he got up, his red and yellow eyes gleamed with anger, and I felt like I should only run away and never look back. 'Fine then!' he shouted at me, firing back with his own magic. I cast the best protection spell I could manage in the short span of time. The shield only held up for a short moment, barely long enough to protect me from Discord’s attack. Before I had time to cast another spell Discord grabbed my front legs with his claw, then snapped and tapped my horn with his paw. The moment his paw was off I felt my internal magic shut down. Looking up I saw the evil black crystals that King Sombra used to control the Empire in the north, and it was slowly spreading across my head. Using the little strength I had, I kicked him. He dropped me, but I found myself glued to the floor. 'Ha,' he said, his teeth grinding. 'Now let me cast this spell.'

He began shouting something I couldn't hear, or couldn't understand. Then the crystals that had slowly spread across my body seemed to vibrate, it was then I noticed a strong white glow beneath the dark black crystals. Thinking I was saved I looked at Discord who, to my dismay, was smiling from ear to ear. That was when I felt the fire. I saw a blast of magenta light, a white unicorn. I knew who he was; Shining Armour, captain of the royal guard. I tried to shout out, to tell him that he was in danger, but I don’t know if he could hear me. That was all I saw before I woke up,” Erin finished. All of my friends looked at me expectantly.

    “I'll tell you about my dream, but first let me use the bathroom.” It felt like an obvious distraction, but Evan nodded and pointed at a door. Walking over I suddenly felt an irritation at the base of my back. Itching there I felt something poking out from it, something that caused me to run the rest of the way to the bathroom.  Quickly taking off my pants I turned around and gulped. Right at the base of my back started a long dark ginger tail. I slid my pants back on, but left my tail out and walked back out nervously, registering that it moved when I told it to.

    “Okay now that you’re back you can-” Ida said stopped when she noticed my tail swinging from side to side behind me. Erin had already reached into his own pants and pulled out a dark brown tail that was the same color as his hair. Looking closer I noticed that all of our hair had continued changing color throughout our conversation. While I was thinking Evan had pulled out a light brown tail, though his was all zig-zagged and crazy. That just left Ida, turning my head to look at her she looked at us and slowly brought out a multiple shade golden tail. My story forgotten we all rushed to see if anything else had happened while we were distracted.

    “Um,” Ida started, “You guys are walking on your toes.” Looking down at my feet I saw that she was right.

    “Yeah,” Evan said, “Well, so are you.” Ida tried to walk normally, which resulted in a yelp of pain. When I tried to brush my hair behind my ears I panicked when I found that they were not where they were supposed to be. My hands fumbling all over my head, I noticed a silky peaked... ear atop my head. Swallowing I told my friends what I suspected;

    “Guys, I think I have pony ears.” My friends’ hands immediately went up to their own heads. Nodding his head miserably Erin sighed.

    “I don't think this is going to stop guys, we need a plan... Ida and I will go see if we can find a place to stay that isn't close to any big cities. Can you two go out to gather supplies and get any other things we would need?”

    “Okay,” I stated simply. I knew that Erin was right. It was frightening, but I knew it. I also knew that for now we could do nothing except run away and find a better place to plan our next steps. “Come on Evan, let's go to a gardening shop first. Then head to a general store, a.k.a; Walmart.”