Starswirl University

Chapter 13

Explanations Would Be Appreciated

Normally Grey considered himself a morning person. A good night’s rest and he was ready for whatever craziness the world presented him. This morning however felt different. The sun’s rays shined through his window and made the man stir. He sat up and lightly shook his head. Even though he slept, his muscles felt very sore.

Would you like to run brain start up?

Confirmed. He looked around his room and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light. He felt a certain freedom down below and lifted the covers to reveal his suspicion.

“Where’d my pants go?”

“Ugh, keep it down would you? Some of us like sleep.”

“Sorry Eris.” After the words left his lips he froze on the spot. Like a rusty hinge, Grey slowly turned his head to see the sleeping woman next to him with only a blanket to cover her nude body.

Brain start up complete.

Analyzing...Analysis complete.

Status: You’re fucked. Grey sprang out of bed and landed on the floor with a thump. He scrambled for some sort of clothing to cover himself with and found his gym shorts that had been crumpled up in a heap. He slipped them on and stared at Eris.

What the fuck happened last night?

Calm down. Retrace your steps.

I went to the party, played a few games, made out with Eris on a dare. I came back here, opened up the bag and then...oh fuck. The memories of the night before came rushing back to him and he sat on the bed trying to focus. He then felt something rest against his shoulder. He turned to see Eris resting her chin against him with a smile on her face.

“Morning lover.” Grey sprang up and was panting heavily.

“Eris, do you remember what happened last night?”

“You mean when you rocked my world?”

Ha! I still got it!

Not helping!

“Oh calm down you have nothing to be ashamed about.” She said as she got to her knees and stretched her arms up causing the blanket she was using to fall off. Grey’s face went red and turned around. “Seriously, I sucked your dick and you still turn away from me when I’m naked?”

“I can’t deal with this right now. Not without my coffee.” He said as he grabbed some clothes and ran into the bathroom. He groaned as he turned the shower on and the events of last night played out in his head. He reached for the soap and found it missing.

“Here.” A slender hand poked through the curtain holding a bar of soap.

“Thanks.” As he washed his arms he froze and peeked out of the curtain to see the girl on the toilet. “What the hell Eris!?”

“What? I had to pee and you were taking forever.”

“I just got in here! Just leave!” The girl stood up and crossed her arms.

“Fine.” As she left she snapped her fingers and flushed the toilet causing a surge of hot water to hit the man. Grey rolled his eyes at the failed attempt to scald him and stepped out to get changed. As he walked out he noticed the box sitting on the table. Curiously he approached the box and opened the lid to see a large black object. It was rounded, and was as big as a basket ball. Coming from the bottom were white flames reaching towards the top.

“Hey Eris.”

“What?” She said from the other side of her door.

“Did you get me anything for my birthday?”

“Did the sex not count in your mind?” She grumbled.

“I’m asking because there’s some sort of egg thing here.” He heard the door open and Eris came out fully clothed. “This wasn’t here when I got in last night. Did you sneak out and get something?”

“Dude, I couldn’t move last night after our session.” Grey blushed.

“Yeah about that. We need to talk.” Eris lowered her head.

“Let me guess, it was a mistake and you never want to see me again?”

“No, I just want to know why me?” Eris looked at him in confusion. “You could have any other guy here. So why me?” Eris had a smile on her face.

“I was just returning a favor.”

“What favor?”

“You taking care of me.”

“How? We’ve only been roommates for two months.” Eris raised an eyebrow and looked at the man.

“Do you really not know who I am?”

“Huh?”

“Just because I have skin you can’t put it together?”

“Now you’re just not making sense.” Eris face palmed.

“I guess showing you would be better than trying to explain it.” She grabbed Grey by the back of his neck and pressed their foreheads together. Grey’s mind was buzzing as he only saw a blinding light. When his vision returned to normal he saw that he was outside with trees around them and a dirt road in front of them.

“Where are we?”

“You tell me.” She said gesturing towards the bench. In an instant it hit him. It was the park he always used to visit when he was a kid. He sat down on the bench and saw the statue he had pulled out of the swamp so many years ago.

“But how? Someone stole the statue.”

“Just watch.” She said as she pulled a remote from her pocket and hit the play button. The two saw a flash of yellow light and a familiar brown suit wearing spirit of chaos appeared before them. On instinct Grey jumped behind the bench and hid. “What are you doing?”

“Um hiding. I thought that was obvious. If your old man find out we...ya know he’ll send me into a black hole.” Eris hit the pause button on the remote and walked up to her father. She ran her hand through him like he was a hologram. “What the hell?”

“These are just memories idiot. We can see him, but he can’t see us. Now shut up and watch.” She played the memory and Discord stopped in front of the statue.

“So this is where you were hiding.” With a snap of his fingers the statue started to shake and crumble until a flash of yellow light filled the area. When Grey unshielded his eyes, his brain did a double back flip. Standing next to his teacher, where the statue once stood was a very confused and very naked Eris. “It’s been a long time Eris.” Discord said as he took off his coat and wrapped it around her.

“Wh-where am I?” She said as she slowly got to her feet.

“Come. We have much to discuss.” Eris paused the scene and looked at Grey with a bemused smile. Grey looked between the two and his eye twitched.

“You were the statue!?”

“Ding. We have a winner!” She said as they found themselves back in their dorm room.

“And you didn’t mention this before because?”

“After dad broke me out and I got my powers back, my memories were a bit jumbled. I only remembered it was you until you told that story last night.” She had a small hint of guilt on her face. “I just didn’t know how to tell you.” Grey rubbed his eyes and turned away from the woman as he processed the info.

This was all way too much to take in without his coffee. He felt a pair of familiar arms wrap around him and Eris’s head resting against the back of his neck. He felt a wetness and heard a sniffle.

Is she crying? He turned around and saw that the chaos girl was in fact crying.

“You were my only friend.” She sniffled. “You are my only friend and now I’ve fucked it up.” Grey knew what it was like to be alone, but over a thousand years? That’s gotta be rough. He wrapped his arms around Eris and gave here a small kiss on the forehead.

“Eris, I don’t regret last night. I was just shocked and I felt vulnerable.” He said as he broke the embrace and sat down. “The last girl I was with I really cared about, and things...didn’t work out.” He sighed. “I’m not saying I don’t like you in that way, but it’ll take a bit for me to accept those feelings again so can we please take things a bit slower?” Eris smiled and gave him a soft peck on the cheek.

“Anyway,” Turning his attention back to the black object. “if you didn’t get this thing then who did?” Eris tapped on the surface and scratched her head.

“Looks like some sort of egg. Oh! We can make the worlds biggest omelet!”

“Hell no! We don’t even know if it’s an egg or not.” Grey thought of something and stood up. “I’ll be right back.” He exited his room and went down the hall to Pinkie’s room that she shared with Dash and Shy. He knocked a few times before a very tired pink chicken answered the door.

“Oh hey Grey! Last night was so awesome!” She chimed.

“Yeah, is Fluttershy here?”

“I think she’s sleeping. Why?”

“Well, I’ve got some weird looking egg thing and-” With speed that could rival Rainbow Dash a pink haired girl zoomed out of a door and landed in front of the man.

“An egg what kind?” Grey’s face went bright red and he covered his eyes.

“Um Fluttershy, you might wanna look down.” The timid flyer then remembered that she slept in the nude. She gave a small ‘eep’ noise and rushed back inside. After a few minutes she returned wearing a yellow turtle neck sweater and pink pants.

“I’m so sorry about that.” She said with crimson cheeks.

“It’s okay. I didn’t see anything.”

I saw EVERYTHING!

“So what about an egg? What kind is it? Where did it come from? How-” Grey put a finger to her lips to silence the barrage of questions.

“I have no idea. That’s why I came to you. Everyone know you’re the go to gal when it comes to animals and we’d better get back before Eris decides to make it into her brunch.” The two walked back down the hallway and into the dorm to see Eris holding the egg in a giant frying pan. Once again, Fluttershy displayed her amazing speed by tackling the woman while Grey caught the egg in his arms.

“Get off me!” Eris said while Shy was staring her down.

“Don’t you dare touch that egg! It’s a poor defenseless creature!”

“Um girls.”

“It was going to be my lunch!”

“Girls.”

“How would you feel if you were just an egg and someone just came up and ate you?”

“GIRLS!” Grey yelled finally catching their attention. The two looked at the man who was holding the now glowing and cracking egg. Fluttershy approached it and felt a large heatwave knock her back. The egg exploded and something shot out and landed on the counter.

“What in tarnation?” A familiar southern accent yelled out. Several foot steps could be heard as Grey shook his head and saw five familiar girls standing in his dorm with their PJ’s. Some of them were a bit more revealing than he would have liked.

“Grey, you have to ask me about things like this first.” Eris said with a giggle. Grey ignored her and focused on whatever was moving in his hands. He saw a tuff of black and white feathers and heard a screeching sound. The sound was coming from a small bird that had hatched from the egg. It was no bigger than a duck, only it had a sharper beak, talons and longer wings.

“Well, that’s different.” He said as he stood up and put the bird on the counter. The small bird stretched it’s wings. The bird’s wings, back and beak were jet black while it’s wing tips, stomach and face were white. It had a large crest on it’s head the same color as it’s bright red eyes.

“What is that thing?” Dash asked.

“Looks like a big chicken.” Eris said. The bird immediately turned it’s head and shot white flames from it’s beak at the woman. Eris quickly ducked and made the flames vanish.

“Whoa!”

“I think it’s a phoenix, but I’ve never seen one like this before.” Fluttershy said as she looked at the hatchling. The bird craned it’s neck as it looked at Grey. The man hesitantly reached towards the bird to touch it’s head. The bird rubbed it’s beak against his hand.

“See it’s harmless.” As he said that, the bird cawed and sunk it’s sharp beak into his hand and blood started to run. Grey then felt a burning sensation in his hand and quickly ripped it from it’s beak. “Ow!”

“You were saying?” Twilight stopped her condescending as she saw the man’s injured hand glowing. Grey felt a small burning sensation and a small symbol showed on his skin.

“Okay, what the hell?” The bird flew over to his injured hand and tears formed in it’s eyes. As the tears fell on the skin, the wounds started to close. The group looked at the bird who only tilted it’s head to the side. “Um, thanks?” The bird cawed as it hopped off his arm and went back to the table.

“Where did you get that thing?” AJ asked.

“No idea, just found it sitting here this morning.” He said with a shrug. “Um Shy, you’re the expert here, any ideas?”

“I really don’t have a lot of experience with phoenixes.” Fluttershy said in her usual timid tone.

“Didn’t you kidnap Princess Celestia’s when she came to town that one time?” Fluttershy blushed at Rainbow’s words.

“Wait Celestia has one?”

“Yeah, her name’s Philomena.” Twilight stated.

“Well, looks like I need to talk to her. Since she has the most experience.” As he turned to leave, the bird quickly ran and jumped onto his shoulder. “No, stay-” He was cut off as the bird sunk it’s talons into his shoulder solidifying it’s spot. “Okay, you can come. Just no nails!”

The bird retracted it’s spike like nails. “I’ll be back later.” He said as he made his way out of his room. Grey’s muscles were still sore from last night’s session and groaned as he limped his way through the hallways. He was getting odd stares from people passing by as he made his way to the office. He knocked on the door and heard a familiar commanding voice.

“Enter.” It was Princess Luna he saw siting behind Celestia’s desk.

“Morning Princess, do you know where Princess Celestia is?”

“She is out on personal business.” Luna then noticed the bird on his shoulder. “May we ask why you have a bird?”

“That’s kinda why I’m here. I got this phoenix and-” Luna’s eyes shrank.

“Where did you get it?” She asked as she walked closer.

“Long story. Anyway, I heard that Celestia has one so I was wondering if she had any tips on training it.” As Luna extended her hand the bird snapped it’s beak at her. “Cinder behave.”

“Who?” He pointed to the bird.

“Figured he, at least I think it’s a he, should get a name.” The bird flared it’s wings in approval. “Cinder it is!” Luna walked over to a bookcase and started searching. She pulled out an old leather bound book with a bird on the cover. She opened up the table of contents and flipped to another page.

“Ah yes here we are. Male phoenixes are a bit larger than the females. As chicks they have a larger beak, head crest and wing span. They are very proud and won’t hesitate to attack if that pride is threatened.”

That explains why he scorched Eris.

“Phoenixes are very loyal to their owners, who are usually marked by the bird by biting them and injecting a bit of their magic into the person so they may find them wherever they are.”

“You tagged me?” He blankly stared at the bird who gave a wing shrug. “That book tell ya how to train em?”

“It should.” She levitated the book over to him. “Just be sure not to loose it. It’s a first edition.”

“Deal and thanks Princess.” He said as his stomach let out a loud growl. “Heh, sorry. I haven’t eaten yet. I’ll see you later.” He gave a wave as he exited the room. Luna bit her lip and walked over to her mirror and tapped the surface. The glassy surface rippled as though someone had just thrown a stone into a stagnant pond. Soon the image of Princess Celestia filled the shiny surface.

“Oh good morning Luna.” She smiled.

“Am I interrupting sister?”

“No, I’m just waiting until they get her out of lock up.” Luna rolled her eyes.

“Why do you continue to associate yourself with a criminal?”

“She’s an old friend. So what did you call me about?”

“Grey Newhope just came in with a phoenix on his shoulder.”

“What!? Where did he get one?”

“We do not know. We thought that we should bring it to your attention.”

“Thank you Luna. I must go. The guard is coming.”

“Very well, and be careful Tia.” The transmission cut out and Luna sat back down at her desk.

~~~

Canterlot Maximum Security Prison.
Time:11:35 am.
Prisoner 00975.
Time served: Two decades out of life sentence.
Crime: Treason.
Parole meeting four.

Celestia watched from high above the proceedings as three armed guards escorted a woman down the block. She looked like she was in her mid to late forties, but her body looked as fit as a twenty-five year old. The woman was donning a prison jumpsuit and had her hand and legs in chains. Her long black hair was messy and her bangs hung forward covering her eyes. The guards sat her down and were ready to put her down if necessary. Across from the woman sat three people in suits with stacks of papers in front of them.

Around the woman’s neck was a collar that would shock her if she attempted to charge any of her magic. All prisoners wore one as it served as a tracking device and guards could activate it by remote in case of a riot. The man in the middle stood and cleared his throat.

“Prisoner 00975. Birth name, Raven Rapier. Charged with treason against Equestria and the crown. You have served twenty years out of your life sentence and have gone with little to no complaints, aside from your first year here.” The woman stayed silent. The man on the left leaned forwards.

“Do you believe that you have been rehabilitated?”

“...”

“I’ll repeat the question, do you feel that you have been rehabilitated and ready to rejoin society?”

“...” The three looked at one another and nodded to the guard. The guard on the left walked forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Answer the-” With blinding speed, the woman broke her chains and flipped the man forwards onto his back and robbed him of his nightstick before pressing it to his throat.

“Don’t touch me.” Her tone was sharper than a newly forged blade. She heard several spell guns being cocked and pointed in her direction. She let the guard go and dropped the weapon. “Now take me back to my cell and stop wasting my fucking time.” The guards cuffed her and took her away. As she was escorted back, she glared up at the one way mirror and frowned. Raven knew she was there, she was always there.

The three suits sighed and stamped ‘Denied’ next to the parole square. Celestia put her face in her hands and sighed as an older man in a black suit walked up to the mirror.

“It’s strange. On any other day she’s usually as tame as a house cat, but on every one of her parole dates, she’s acts like a tiger on the hunt.”

“She doesn’t want to leave.” Celestia sighed. The warden walked over to the phone.

“The usual room?”

“Yes, please.” He nodded and made the call. Celestia waited until a guard came to escort her. She walked through the prison halls. No prisoners made a sound and only looked at her through the bars. She made her way to the meeting room where the woman was sitting under armed guard. Celestia entered the room and motioned for the guard to leave.

“It’s been a while hasn’t it Raven?” Celestia stated. The woman kept her head lowered. “You can’t be stay in here for the rest of your life.”

“Wanna bet?” Her tone was ice cold.

“There’s a whole world out there. You can have your life back.”

“What life? I lost everything I had. My career, my friends, my family. The world is better off without me.”

“There has to be something, anything I can do to convince you to leave. It kills me to see you in here. You weren’t just my guard you were and still are my friend.” Her tone was nurturing like a mother’s. The woman raised her head and her hair fell back showing her beautiful hazel eyes.

“Can you bring him back?” Celestia’s throat went dry and hung her head in shame. The woman stood up and knocked on the door. “I’m done here.” As the door opened the Princes stood up with tears in her eyes.

“Raven please!” The woman turned with a vacant expression on her face and her eyes were like two of the deepest rifts, cold and emotionless.

“Raven Rapier is dead. I think it’s time you realized that Princess.” The words struck Celestia’s heart like a thousand knives as the woman left the room with the guard. Celestia clenched her fists hard enough to break the skin and tears ran down her face and dropped on the table.

“Are you okay your highness?” A guard asked. The Princess gathered her strength and sighed.

“Yes, I’ll be taking my leave now.” She said as she wiped the tears away. She soon left the prison and her carriage took off towards the castle.

~~~

After finding a cage to temporarily house the baby bird and fireproofing the interior of the cage so there’s no chance of escape, Eris and Grey went down to the cafeteria to join the other six girls. AJ noticed the man’s limp and raised an eyebrow.

“You okay partner?”

“I’m fine, just pulled a muscle.”

“Doing what?” Grey blushed at the question while Eris grinned like a cheshire cat.

“I know that limp anywhere.” A familiar voice came from the pyro mage. Heat sat down next to him and grinned. “You got laid didn’t ya?” All eyes fell on the grey eyed mage who wanted nothing more than to go find a rock to crawl under.

“Um..I-”

“We fucked.” Eris said in a ‘no fucks given’ tone. Twilight’s jaw dropped and felt a small wave of anger wash over her. Heat fist bumped the man while the other five girls looked like they’ve been hit with a stun spell.

“Nice!” Heat laughed. Grey only face palmed the table. Face tabled? He groaned as he felt a red mark forming on is head.

“Awe, don’t be like that dear.” Eris said as she rested her head on his shoulder. A thought came to the man and he looked at the chaos girl.

“Oh yeah, Eris last night you said, ‘I’m yours’ mind explaining that?”

“I believe I can.”Grey froze and all the color from his face drained away. Dash was stifling her laughter while the other girls gulped. Like a rusty door hinge, Grey turned his head to see the brown suited messenger of destruction and chaos.

“Well, death, you had to catch up with me eventually.” Discord grinned and put a hand on his and Eris’s shoulder. “Shy if I don’t come back, then remember to feed Cinder.”

“Let’s talk.” With a flash of light the three vanished and found themselves in his office. Grey was internally screaming on the inside that he thought Discord could hear him. The man sat behind his desk and crossed his hands. “I only have one question.” He said as he stroked his beard. “Did you sleep with my daughter?” Grey gulped and gathered every scrap of courage he had.

“Y-yeah.” Grey could feel sweat forming on his brow. He felt it coming, he’d be turned to ash and dumped off a cliff or be scattered to the winds.

“Well, it’s about time.” The words hit Grey like a ton of bricks. A silence fell over the room. His eye twitched as his brain stopped working.

“Um what!? That’s all you can say?”

“I suppose I should explain.” Discord said in a flat tone.

“That would be appreciated.” Discord got up and looked out the window as he thought.

“You see Grey, as you can guess that Eris and I aren’t exactly human.” He said with a swish of his red tail. “We’re called Draconequus, an ancient race that pre dates the founding of Equestria. I could go into more detail, but it’d only bore both you and me half to death. Anyway, Eris and I are the only ones left.” Grey felt a little sorry for the two. “We need to keep going as a species, unfortunately, females mate for life and mark their mates by biting them.” Grey grabbed the bite mark on his neck.

“WHAT!?”

“Yup, congratulations. You’ve been selected to repopulate the Draconequus race.” Grey felt dizzy and sat down.

“S-so, Eris and I m-married?” Discord blinked and threw back his head in laughter.

“No, nothing like that. There’s no legal binding contract, but now you’re the only one who can impregnate Eris when the time comes.”

“How the fuck does that work?” Discord gave a shrug.

“I blame magic and ancient mating rituals. The whole thing is a bit melodramatic if you ask me.” Grey face palmed.

“Talk about giving an answer without giving an answer.” He sighed. “Okay, let me ask you this, why me? I mean I know I dragged you out of that lake and all, but I don’t think that makes me breeding material.” Discord sighed.

“A Draconequus neesa a stable partner in order to balance out their chaotic nature. You seemed like a good candidate.” Grey frowned.

“So my name just got picked out of a hat!?”

“Oh heavens no. I’m not that daft, I’ve been watching you for a long while now Grey.” He grinned lie a wolf about to eat a sheep.

“How?”

“I may have been locked in stone, but I could still see the world around me, not to mention temporarily brainwash people and walk around. I didn’t have any of my powers when I did that, but I made due.” He chuckled. “I’ve been watching you for a very long time.”

“How long?” Discord’s face grew serious.

“Since your awakening period.” Grey felt ice form in his spine and a familiar vomiting sensation stewed in his gut. “Perhaps I said too much?”

“No shit Starswirl.”

“Now that’s no way to talk to your future father-in-law.”

“JUST SHUT UP DAMN IT!” He slammed his foot on the ground and Discord felt the room shake. Grey was panting heavily and Discord could see the anger in his eyes.

“I should also mention that our race is attracted to high level mages. I know you purposely held back on that power test Celestia gave purple smart and motor mouth. Yet what I don’t understand is why? You could crush that show girl like a bug and could go toe to toe with Sparkle.” Grey was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood.

“I need to process all this shit.” He said as he turned to leave, but stopped as he reached the door. “Did you drop off a pet phoenix for me last night?” Discord raised an eyebrow at the words.

“No, I wouldn’t even know where to get one.” Grey sighed and slammed the door as he left. Eris looked at her father and frowned.

“You shouldn’t have pressed him like that dad.” Eris said as she crossed her arms.

“He’ll be fine. He just needs to cool off.”