The Truth of the Familiar Stranger
Discord opened his eyes the next morning to find that the couch was empty and the mare was gone, and so was Daring. His ears perked up to the sound of scratching and he turned to see where it was coming from. Instantly his eyes met with a bright yellow pare.
He let out a slight yelp and jumped back before seeing that the eyes belonged to a small white kitten. He cocked his head to the side and reached out his paw and the kitten squealed and pounced on it. Discord could barely hold back a chuckle when it began to gnaw on his finger with a growl.
“Now,” he breathed, watching as the kitten’s attention was drawn from his paw to its own tail. “Where in Equestria did you come from?”
“I came from her bag!” A squeaky voice replied and Discord looked around for who spoke, but found no one. Curiously, he looked back at the kitten.
“No way Discord,” he shook his head while muttering. “That’s just crazy.”
“But wouldn’t that make sense to you?” The kitten mewled. “That’s right, I can talk.”
“Ooookaaaayyy…” Discord stood, gaping at the little ball of fur. “That’s actually new to me. Oh whatever. So, who are you and where did you come from?”
“My name is Astro.” The kitten answered. "And I told you, I came from her bag.”
“Who’s bag? Do you mean that mare we found?” Astro nodded at this. “But the mare didn’t have a bag on her.”
“It’s a magic bag.” Astro squeaked. “If she loses it, it will magically appear at her location.”
“Oh, I see,” Discord stretched his wings and yawned. “But what were you doing in it?”
“Discord?” The draconequus turned to see Fluttershy open her eyes. “Who are you talking to?”
“Why, little old me of course.” The pegasus’s eyes shot wide open upon seeing Astro sitting there. “I’m Astro!”
“Aww, you’re such a cutie!” Fluttershy gasped and picked him up. “And you can talk? Oh, so adorable!”
“Of course I can talk!” Astro growled softly. “I’m over a hundred years old!”
“Really?” Fluttershy set him down carefully. “What do you mean? You’re a kitten.”
“I’ve been dead for over a hundred years.” Astro sighed, grooming his pelt. “I’ve been wandering around the world for a purpose and I found one with her.”
“Her?” Fluttershy asked. “Who’s her?”
“The mare…” Discord said, scratching his beard. “It’s odd, but I feel as if I know her.”
“You should.” Fluttershy jumped as Sombra snuck up on her. “She’s a part of our family.”
“Oh, yes that’s right!” Discord chuckled, before beginning to pace back and forth. “But who? Let’s see, she’d not my daughter, I know that. Sister maybe? No. Cousin? No not that either. How about-”
“Niece. She’s our niece.” Sombra growled impatiently. “You know, one of the many children that my brother and your sister had together?”
“Oh yes, now I remember.” Discord laughed. “But, which one is she?”
“Think you dolt!” Sombra snarled. “Only two of their daughters have silver hair!” The unicorn looked at the blank expression on Discord’s face. “Ugh. It’s Fangnirica you idiot!”
“Oh, you mean Fang.” Discord gawked.
“Yes!” Sombra rolled his eyes. "By the gods you should be smarter than this!”
“Well sorry that I was trapped for a thousand years!” Discord returned the menacing look that Sombra was giving him.
“So was I.” Sombra said, on the verge of yelling. “But I knew who she was.”
“Well I-”
“Stop!” Fluttershy yelled. “Just stop.”
“R-right, sorry Fluttershy.” Discord chuckled sheepishly. “Anyway, what happened to her? How’d she fall from the sky like that?”
“I don’t know.” Fluttershy sighed, petting Astro. “But… she said something about Harkon and Alduin, w-whatever or whoever they are.”
“Harkon is the leader of one of the oldest and strongest clan of vampires to ever exist.” Discord began. “And Alduin is the eldest and most powerful dragon and is the leader of the dragons that was sealed within an elder scroll for three thousand years.” He turned to Fluttershy, who looked confused. “What? I’m from Skyrim.”
“Sky-rim?” Fluttershy stuttered. “What’s Skyrim?”
“It’s an entirely different world from this one.” Sombra answered. “It’s also where draconequui come from. That’s the reason that Discord is the only one in Equestria.”
“O-oh, I see.” Fluttershy nodded. “Well, it sounds like a scary place.”
“Well, if you’re not from there then yes, I guess it would.” Discord agreed. “But if you were born there, you’d be fairly used to it.”
“Yes, but back on track,” Fluttershy sighed. “How would that mare… er… Fang, know about Harkon and Alduin?”
“She probably came from Skyrim.” Sombra replied. “Which leads back to the question, how and why did she fall from the sky like that? And isn’t she usually with Stardust and Eris? If so, what happened to them?”
“Who are Stardust and Eris?” Fluttershy asked.
“Eris is my daughter,” Discord answered. “And Stardust Shadow is Sombra’s. And yes, Fang is usually with them. So, yeah, what happened to them?”
At that moment they heard a soft squeaking sound and realized that none of them had noticed that the shower had been running. They heard the sound of footsteps and voices coming from the bathroom and getting closer.
“…thanks again for letting me use your shower Daring.” An unfamiliar voice said. “Oh, and Rarity, thanks for fixing my mane.”
“Oh of course darling!” The voice of Rarity piped up. “I just couldn’t let you go on looking like that! Your mane was nothing but frizzy tangles! Just talk to me if you need anything that has to do with fash-oh. Sombra, Discord, Fluttershy, good morning.”
“Oh good morning indeed!” Discord said a little too loudly and as a result, woke everyone up. “Tell me my dear dear niece, how are you feeling after last night?”
“Um… I’m fine.” Fang stated. “A few missing feathers thanks to Rarity, but fine. Why are you asking?”
The entire group remained silent while she only eyed them curiously. Eventually, Twilight broke said silence.
“You don’t remember what happened last night, do you?” She asked and watched as Fang began tapping her chin.
“No, not really. I only remember seeing Eris and Stardust before a bright light.” She sighed and moved her hoof to her head and shaking it. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
“Pretty much?” Applejack took a cautious step forward. “What do y’all mean by that? Is there more? Why don’t you just tell us the whole story?”
“Oh, uh, alright. Well, where do I begin?” Fang spoke as she picked Astro up and placed him on her back. “It started like this… My cousins, Talia, and I caught wind of the necromancer Calixto Corrium, who we thought to have killed, hiding in some ruins nearby Windhelm. At first we thought that as long as he stayed in the ruins, we wouldn’t have to worry. But then we started receiving reports from Riften, Solitude, Whiterun, Morthal, and eventually Windhelm that up to five young girls had been killed in each town. That’s when we finally went to investigate Calixto.” Fang looked back up at them and sighed again. “That’s also when we discovered that we should’ve taken care of him when we first found out about his presence. When we found him in the heart of the ruins, we found that he had killed yet five more girls, each from one of the towns. He also had a full dragon skeleton and a jar containing vampire ashes, which he had covered both in the blood of the five girls…”
“And?” Twilight spoke up. “What happened next?”
“Calixto had summoned a few daedra that kept us away from him. Of course we fought back, but we couldn’t get through in time.” Fang shut her eyes as she tried to remember what had happened next. Before she knew it she was speaking before her mind could catch up. “He used his magic on the skeleton and the ashes and then the bright light flashed from nowhere. When it dimmed, we found ourselves looking at…” Her eyes then widened when she realized what happened.
“At what?” Pinkie cried, bouncing forward and shaking Fang. “Tell us!”
“… Harkon… and Alduin…” She said in a hushed whisper before dawning a more serious look. “Tell me, how did I get here? This may very well consult the fate of your home!”
“Well, um… Fang…” Fluttershy whimpered. “You f-fell from the sky with a bright light wrapped around you.”
“I-I see.” She sighed before turning around. “Son of a bitch! Calixto really did that?”
“What’s the matter?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You said that this might involve the fate of Equestria.”
“There’s no ‘might’ about it.” Fang stated, turning back to the group. “Calixto tried to use a pure soul gem on me. He tried to lock me away as revenge for stopping him the first time, but my soul isn’t pure. It never was. So, the soul gem imploded, an unusual effect of my soul coming into contact with a pure soul gem. Another effect is that my soul ends up getting separated from my body, leaving nothing but an empty shell.”
“But wait,” Daring started. “If this is true, doesn’t that mean that you’re just a soul?” Fang nodded in response before setting Astro on the floor. “Then how can we see and touch you?”
“Another odd thing about my soul is that if it does get separated from my body, it can attain a physical state. One that is weaker than my actual living state. Basically what I’m saying is that I am indeed still a physical being, but I can be defeated a lot easier.” Fang began digging in her bag and eventually pulled out a small golden amulet with a blood red jewel and placed it on her neck. “Anyway, back to the more important matters. It’s very unlikely that the implosion brought just me here. There’s a chance that it also brought Calixto, since he was the one holding the soul gem when it imploded. And there’s no doubt that he’s going to try to do his necromancy here. This is all my fault. I-I have to find and put a stop to him once and for all.”
“But what of Eris and Stardust?” Discord asked worriedly. “If they were left alone to face both Harkon and Alduin, the chances of them surviving are very little.”
“Yes.” Sombra agreed. “What has become of them?”
“That’s just it, I don’t know.” Fang sighed softly and began to pet Astro. “I don’t think that they’re here, I definitely would’ve sensed their presence if they were.”
“I’m sure that they’re fine.” Daring assured. “I’ve definitely had bigger problems, but anyways, if you landed here then this Calixto guy can’t be far off.” She turned and started to head for the door. “And together, I’m sure that we can stop him.” And with that she went outside, only to yell out in surprise and anger. “What the hell are you two doing here?!”
Loud booms could be heard from outside the death of Daring Do. Inside, Daring Do herself sat with six other mares, a stallion, a baby dragon, and a draconequus. They were all outside talking when the storm had suddenly started and since they had nowhere to go, Daring allowed them to spend the night at her house.
“Thanks again for letting us stay Daring,” Rainbow Dash said as she dried her mane.
“It’s the least I can do for the one that helped me save the valley from Ahuizotl.” Daring replied, lighting a few candles because the power went out. “Besides, it’s very dangerous to be out during the monthly monsoon-like storm.”
“Wait, this kind of thing happens once a month?” Twilight asked, astounded.
“Yes,” Daring answered, looking out the window, “but it wasn’t supposed to be this early.”
“Y-you don’t think th-that Ahuizotl h-had something to do with it,” Fluttershy started before she sneezed. “Do you?”
“I doubt it.” Discord said, looking out the window. “Even I can’t control this kind of weather, so I don’t think he’ll be able to.” He then turned to Fluttershy and placed his paw on her forehead as she sneezed again. “You’re feeling a bit warm, are you developing a cold?”
“She probably is,” Sombra huffed. “You know how weak she can be.” That earned him a hard smack from Discord. “Ow!”
Meanwhile, outside the cabin, a hole opened up in the stormy sky and a small alicorn mare surrounded by light came falling through. Unconscious, the mare fell silently towards the ground, crashing into the Earth and sending mud everywhere. The light dispersed, leaving the mare alone in the rain.
Back inside, Fluttershy yelped and huddled up next to Discord, shaking and whimpering. Everyone else was definitely surprised at how loud and how close the thunder and lightning was when Pinkie’s tail started twitching.
“Oh, twitcha twitch!” She cried and hid under her towel. “Twitcha twitch!”
“What’s wrong with her?” Daring asked.
“When Pinkie’s tail starts twitchin’, that means that something’s about to happen!” Applejack answered.
“What is it Pinkie?” Spike asked just out of plain curiosity.
“Something’s gonna fall from the sky!” Pinkie shouted just before there was a bright flash accompanied by a loud boom. It was so close that even Discord jumped in surprise.
“Whoa…” Daring said, fixing her hat. “I’ve had lightning strike close, but never that close.”
Cautiously, Fluttershy peaked out the window, expecting to see a fallen tree in the field. There was definitely something out there, but it was way too small to be a tree. She squinted, but couldn’t make out what it was. It was only when lightning struck in the distance that Fluttershy could see the thing as a collapsed pony. She took a moment to process what she was seeing before she panicked.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” She began yelling as she jumped up and burst out Daring’s door and into the storm. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Are you alright?!” The mare not responding caused Fluttershy to panic even more. “Hello?! Oh please wake up!”
“Nggh…” The mare groaned, but didn’t wake up. “Al-Alduin… H-Harkon…”
“Wh-what?” But Fluttershy received no response after that. “N-no! Wake up!” She quickly tuned back to the house, her friends all looking out at her. The way they were just standing there and not helping her, but instead just staring at her, it made something in her snap in anger. “DON’T JUST STAND THERE LIKE GAWKING LIKE IDIOTS!!! I THINK SHE’S REALLY HURT!!!”
The whole lot of them was caught off guard by her sudden burst. All but Sombra, who was the only one that came out. He gently lifted the two mares with his magic and placed them on his back before heading back into Daring’s house.
Fluttershy slid off his back as he placed the unconscious mare on the couch and took off one of his braces to feel for her pulse. After a few moments, he nodded and Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief.
“Her breathing is steady, however…” Sombra began and Fluttershy grew worried again. “She has no injuries at all. She fell from the sky, but nothing’s broken or bruised. The only injuries she has are these scars on her face, but by how they look, I’d say that she’s had them for a while.”
“No injuries, but how’s that even possible?” Daring asked but Sombra simply shrugged.
“Those scars…” Spike gasped. “They look like something a dragon could create.”
“Hmm, it would seem you’re right.” Sombra replied. “These were definitely caused by a dragon.”
“Oh the poor dear!” Rarity cried, nearly fainting when she caught sight of the mare’s appearance. “Not only is she covered in mud, but she’s been scarred by a big bad dragon!”
‘Idiot,’ Sombra thought as he rolled his eyes. ‘She may not be a complete idiot, but she’s damn well close to it.'
**********
Back outside, if any one were to look to the right of where the mare fell and into the bushes, they would see a brown stallion with a blackish-grey mane and tail and a golden skull for a cutie mark standing there. Still, without his shirt and kerchief, one would be able to identify him as Dr. Caballeron, one of Daring Do’s enemies.
Caballeron smirked as he had witnessed the hole in the sky opening, the mare falling through, and the pegasus going to help her.
'How interesting,’ He thought. ‘I believe that Ahuizotl will find this quite a bit of information.’
The stallion turned to one of Ahuizotl’s workers. “Go, tell your master everything we saw. I believe that that mare has some connection to the book he found.” The red colt nodded before running off and Caballeron took one last look at Daring’s house before taking his leave as well.