Legion's Plague

The trip back to Ponyville was dull and disheartening. The Valkyrie moved slowly and so did the Mighty Oak. Behind the two were the citizens of the ruined Crystal Nation, all of whom were dressed in black garments. They were in mourning, and some wailed aloud that they had no desire to live because the calm, gentle Cadence and the brave yet considerate Shining Armor were gone, leaving the crumbling north leaderless. But the promise that Cadence wanted to be kept in her twilight hours reminded the troop that, someday, a leader will rise again and rebuild the nation--until then, they had to stay alive and possibly aid the ones who had impaled Sombra on a wooden stick and burned his corpse. The tank turned every once in a while to make sure everypony was alright. If there was a mishap, the tank would stop in its tracks, the hatch would open, and its pilot would right the issue, though it was normally through comforting a pony or two so they'd be on their way. Some other, more fit and healthier ponies, carried lances, swords, and bows and quills filled with arrows to defend the troop from robbers and the zombie guards they'd recently caught wind of. They were on the outskirts of the crowd, raising their chances of success. Many ponies had saddlebags upon saddlebags loaded with valuables and personal belongings, like a family picture or a chess board.

They had, after some time, found a fortified house--more like a mansion-- and the tank had stopped. The hatch opened and everyone within the tank either climbed out or was carried out.

"Everypony inside." Lance called out to the crowd with a wingless, pom-less Moogle on one shoulder as he pointed towards the door. The crowd, save the armed ponies, walked inside the door in single file to prevent congestion. No zombie guards came to hurt anypony, which was a good thing. Then, everyone in the tank went in, and finally, the armed ponies.

The hatch of the Valkyrie closed, and a garage opened so it and the Mighty Oak could enter. Then the garage closed.

The ponies unloaded their luggage and some sat down on the floor catching their breaths. Some more did the same with their luggage, pulled out sleeping bags, crawled in and began their temporary trip to Dreamland. One even said he hoped he could contact Princess Luna and ask what the hell was going on with the world these days, and the ones who took out their sleeping bags apparently had the same idea. Others still pulled out food and began eating since their stomachs growled so loud in unison it was heard upstairs.

Natalie sat on the couch with a simple blanket covering her body. She watched Rarity fix her dress attentively, as if solely out of boredom or post-funeral depression at this point. Lance double, then triple-checked everything to ensure that all was going well, more or less. Kaleb found a spot among the crystal pony foals and sat in a spot where they had formed a circle around him. The foals poked at his bulky arms and broad back, but he simply didn't appear to give so much as a damn. The Moogle was exploring the house, jumping on the stairs and on chairs and, at one point, on the kitchen table. Anna was holding little Garnet in her arms and stroking his nose with a finger. Garnet kept trying to use his hooves to grab at the finger whilst giggling. Lazarus sat on the bottom of the stairs with an elbow on his knee and his cheek on one hand, staring at everything and seemingly unaware of what was around him. Twilight lay on her side, seemingly distant lately. She was moving her hoof in circles on the carpet floor, and she didn't take any notice of a wingless Moogle on the side of her head looking at what she was doing. Rarity finished repairing the torn dress to picture-perfect standards and trotted upstairs past Lazarus to put it away.

"What should we do?" Anna asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Let's just.......well, uh....." Lance replied, quite clearly unable to answer. His eyes were wide and his ears perked.

Anna sighed, the events that transpired at the Nation flashing in her mind. "....Nevermind." She said, noticing Garnet had fallen asleep in her arms. The archer got up and walked upstairs, making sure to be as quiet as possible (after all, a crying foal wasn't a happy foal).

The foals that circled Kaleb began asking him random questions off the top of their heads.

"Why are you so huge?"

"Why do you wear armor?"

"Why do you speak like a king?"

"Why do you wear sandals?"

Kaleb let off a hearty laugh each time, and he answered each question as best as he could--without bringing the Greek Gods into topic. He simply felt that these kids were too young and scarred to be taught about foreign religion, especially religion that didn't make any sense whatsoever to them.

I never knew he was good around kids. Makes me wonder if he'll be a dad someday. Lance thought, impressed by the sight. Then again, who wouldn't have a discussion with kids every now and then?

Sarah descended the stairs and she looked around, apparently to see what the commotion was about. Greenwood Glory did the same.

"Mom?" Greenwood asked, looking at Sarah and pointing a hoof at Kaleb. "What's going on here?"

"I'm not entirely sure. But it looks like it's going along smoothly. The more, the merrier." Sarah answered with a shrug. She and the unicorn went into the kitchen.

"Is he adopted?" Kaleb asked, looking at Lance.

"No, he isn't. His dad's a unicorn who had somehow swooned his mom. Don't look at me, I dunno how it's possible, but it is." Lance answered quickly.

Kaleb was bewildered, and he blinked a few times. It was then he noticed a wingless Moogle in his lap looking up at him.

"Kupo." Said the Moogle with a cheeky grin.

Kaleb rubbed the Moogle's cheek with an index finger.

Suddenly, the door opened and closed in a second as a new figure entered the room. This thing had a Gryphon's face, wings, and eagle-upper-body, but the hind legs were that of a horse and a dragon. A long, tufted draconian tail was curled delicately behind this being and a fang stuck out from the lower beak. Its eyes were green with yellow sclera and two mismatched horns were on the sides of its head.

"Who--or rather, what--is that?" Kaleb asked, clearly amazed by the new creature.

"I am half Gryphon and half Draconequus." Answered the creature, its voice sounding like a cheery twelve-year-old girl. "My name is Havoc."

"A.....Draconequus?" Kaleb asked again.

Havoc produced a picture of a snake-like being with a Gryphon's talon, lion's paw, horse leg, dragon leg, goat head with mismatched horns, a pegasus wing and a bat wing, and a long serpentine tail encased in stone and handed it to Kaleb. "That was my dad before he was reformed. He controlled literal Chaos and his name is Discord." She said. "And then some illness killed him and mom! I have been traveling the world since, searching for answers!"

"Do you control any Chaos?" Kaleb asked, raising a brow.

"I have to! Dad said that he needed an heir for the Chaos Throne and he taught me the arts. It doesn't mean I can't help!" Havoc retorted, gritting her beak angrily.