There were three things that were apparent to my mind when I woke up. I couldn’t move, it was dark, and it was cold. It wasn’t the pleasant cold, like a refreshing crisp breeze on a midsummer day, or the welcome sensation of sipping on iced tea. No, this was a cold that sunk its teeth into your bones, which would make you feel as if you were inhaling shards of glass, and whose breath all at once brought both numbness and a burning agony that demanded attention.
Now I understand why the ninth circle of hell in the Divine Comedy was portrayed as frost and snow. If anything, it was grossly understated.
Thankfully, it didn’t last much longer. It started small at first. You know, a small crack here, a piece of dust falling there. But in time, although I couldn’t tell you how long, those small movements gave way to large chunks falling off. And where they fell, I could feel warmth. Not the sort of warmth that the sun would provide, but it was the kind of relief that comes when you no longer have to endure the cold.
It took a little longer than I would have liked, but one of my arms got free and before I could even think, I tore at my face. If I hadn’t been in a blind panic at the time, I may have deduced that something wasn’t quite right, as obvious as it sounded.
Still, one’s instinct has a way of only focusing on what was truly important and disregarding the rest for later, if at all.
Anyway, once I clawed the rest of the rock off of my face, I did what instinct demanded me to do and took in a deep breath as soon as I could. The expansion of my chest as I inhaled the sweet air of freedom would have been notable to anyone else if they were with me at the time. Still, it had the added effect of freeing the rest of me.
Large chunks of stone continued to fall off in the same manner that one would associate with dropping a jigsaw puzzle from great heights, and I was soon liberated.
If anyone were to bother with asking me, I would have told them that I didn’t have the strength in my legs to stand up at the time, and soon found myself acquainted with the dirt ground. Luckily, I managed to avoid hitting it face-first and was instead splayed on my back as I continued to take deep breaths.
I waited until the world stopped spinning before I tried to move, only to find that my limbs had locked up. Not to the point where I couldn’t move them, but even doing so by a small amount hurt-only for the pain to be replaced with relief when I took short breaks. It was like how you would feel after sitting in a car for too long without stretching your legs, only magnified by a hundred times.
Still, laying about waiting for someone to pass by wasn’t an option at the time. So I continued to flex my limbs, one at a time, slowly and only by a little at first. I wasn’t about ready to risk injury by moving too fast to soon.
Thankfully, it didn’t take as long as it could have and in about somewhere between ten to fifteen minutes I had enough freedom of movement to stand up, get stock of the situation and get my bearings.
I knew I was outside. After all, you don’t build a house and neglect to put down a floor. Looking around I found myself to more specifically be in some sort of hedge maze that you’d expect to be in some sort of European castle garden or courtyard.
Looking around, I idly noted that it was nighttime, and it was still young. Beyond that, the only thing of note outside a few wooden benches was a single statue pedestal with various sized debris and rubble piled on top and around it.
On closer inspection I soon determined that I was looking at the back of the mounting. That was hardly surprising considering how I had landed after breaking free. After all, who places a statue on a pedestal that’s facing away from the display plaque? The answer: no one does.
You know that old saying of how ‘curiosity killed the cat’? People tend to take that for granted, and you can see why. After all, when you’ve heard something a thousand times it doesn’t carry the same impact as when you heard it the first time.
Me, though? Well, I was plenty curious as to what the hell was going on, so I guess you could’ve called me the cat in that situation. Only difference is that my curiosity didn’t end with my death at that point in time.
I maneuvered myself around the side of the pedestal until I could read the description etched into the flat surface of the display plaque. It didn’t take long for the inscription to be read in all of its short but informative glory.
Discord
Spirit of chaos
Former ruler of Equestria
Defeated by Princess Celestia and Luna by way of the Elements of Harmony
And thus it shall be unto tyrants.
It didn’t take long for it to happen when I was finished reading. First there were flashes. Pure white flashes that were so intense I had to screw my eyes shut while my jaw locked up and my hands covered them seemingly of their own volition.
I found myself back on the ground, writhing. Not in pain but because I was incapable of doing anything else. And then it started. Memories flooded into my mind: memories that were not my own. They were…t-t-t-they w-w-w-were…oh my god. They were Evil. There is no other way to describe it.
The memories ran through my head in a surprisingly orderly fashion. And with those memories came knowledge. Knowledge that I knew would prove itself to be vital in the days to come. As the last of the flashes faded and the memories reduced to a trickle and finally back to nothing, I knew something wasn’t right.
Or, rather it was even more wrong than I had initially thought. Getting back up to my feet, even though my movements were a bit more lethargic than I would have liked, I took another second to gather my thoughts.
And as I stood there looking at the rubble-strewn pedestal and trying not to re-read the plaque, a feeling of dread came over me. That was where Discord was imprisoned. That was what I managed to break free of. Slowly, as if possessed, I brought my hands up while lowering my head, eyes wide in fear and hoping beyond hope that my conclusion was wrong and void.
But what greeted my vision was the exact opposite. Because my right hand was a bear’s paw, while my left was that of an eagle’s talons.
The only thing that went through my head at this realization was one ancient Greek word. Anagnorisis: That singular moment of immense and terrible revelation where you know who you either are or have become and what you stand for.
I stood there for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds long, if that. I was shell-shocked to the point where I couldn’t even scream. It was another blessing in disguise, admittedly. The last thing I needed was for the guards come running because they thought that someone was in trouble.
It took some effort, but I managed to snap myself out of my daze, even if my thoughts were jumbled with what I had learned. With a start, I looked around. Perhaps a bit wildly but I guess that anyone else would do the same. I knew I couldn’t stay here. It was far too dangerous.
I was about ready to teleport away when the oddest thing happened. My mind became crystal clear. I knew that if I teleported away, the resulting flash would announce the fact that I, or rather, what they knew as Discord had broken free.
That wouldn’t work, I would be the subject of a manhunt strait out of the gate, and my odds of getting away would be non-existent at best. After all, castles were basically just fancy forts and they probably had more than a few fail-safes in place if anyone who was imprisoned tried to escape.
No, I couldn’t be loud, I couldn’t be a showboat, and I certainly couldn’t give away my presence. Judging by the memories that I had been subjugated to, I knew that while Discord was always unpredictable, the one constant was that he never subtle. They would be expecting loud.
So with that in mind, I quickly formulated a plan that would give me the best chance to get out of here and somewhere safe to gather my thoughts. Looking back to the rubble, I concentrated and willed it back into its original shape and orientation, making sure that there were no missing pieces or cracks. Once that was completed, and thankfully without any bright flashes, I was left looking a mirror 3d image of what, or more accurately, who I now resembled.
Not dwelling on it for too long, and hoping that the now hollow statue would buy me some extra time, I pulled out one of the old tricks I had learned from my days of playing Halo. With a wave of my right bear paw and another absence of a flash of light, I cloaked myself in active camouflage; the only difference was that there wasn’t even a slight shimmering effect. It was completely flawless. Next, I muted all sounds and smells that would emanate from me, no matter how soft.
My mind idly wandered for a moment, thinking that if the developers of the Halo series had made active camo this strong that it would have completely broken the game. But I wasn’t going for fair here, couldn’t afford to take that risk. I was going for effective.
Without wasting any more time on such thoughts, I set off. I moved slowly, cautiously through the hedge maze. My eyes were peeled so that if I had to freeze at the first sign of anyone else, I could.
Thankfully, that part of the trip was uneventful. Unfortunately, that was the easy part. No one really goes into a hedge maze at night, so it really came as no surprise that it would be uninhabited.
Past the maze and stretched out in front of me was a courtyard. Statues lined the main path that went through it and it seemed to run up against a part of the outer wall. Huh, weird. That would be a major flaw in security. A major flaw that I would have no fear in exploiting.
Predictably, there were guards making their rounds, about five dozen from what I could see; all spread out to cover as much area as they could to make up for their lack of numbers. It didn’t make sense, though. Why were there so few?
Actually, it didn’t matter. Combined with their low numbers and my active camo, I knew that I had to strike while the iron was hot. But that didn’t mean that I could get careless or cocky.
Moving slowly, I started to make my way towards the wall, being mindful of where I stepped so that I wouldn’t stir up any dust or debris while I used all of the senses at my disposal to avoid the guards.
There were a tense few minutes where I had to freeze a couple times to wait for a group of guards to pass. And as they did I took note of their armor color. It was gold. That would mean that these ponies were part of the Day Guard, and their stoic expressions only further solidified that fact. This told me two important things: firstly, that they were probably going to be due for a change to the Night Guard very soon. And secondly, that despite their admittedly cute appearance, their stoicism only served to remind me that they were most likely professionally trained soldiers.
I didn’t want to get into an altercation with them before, and I was even less determined to do so now.
I waited until the next group passed by me and were far enough away to where I felt safe enough to move again. Saddling up next to the wall, but making sure not to touch it, I cast a small scanning spell on the surface to see if any physical contact would trigger an alarm. It took a few seconds and while the wall was indeed enchanted, what enchantments it did have were designed to provide structural integrity and strength. About the only other thing it had weaved into it aside from that would be to disperse what I assume were any destructive spells that it was subjected to. Thankfully, there was nothing to indicate that there were any alarm spells sewn into it.
Taking a deep breath and concentrating, I willed myself to levitate up and onto the walkway. And it was here that I made the rookie mistake of not checking how close I was to any sentries that were stationed on top of the wall.
Case in point was that when I had touched down, I had stepped on a stepped down next to a small pile of dust, causing it to be displaced into the air with a soft barely noticeable puff. That was enough to draw the attention of a lone guardsmare who was only about a dozen feet or so from my concealed form.
I froze, stiller than a statue and with my eyes locked onto her as she turned and started trotting towards where the dust had been inexplicably blown to the breeze, and to me. As she neared, I stayed as still as I could. If I made any movement, no matter how slow or sudden it would have been, they would have been onto me and my escape would be short lived.
The tocking of hooves stopped as her advancement ceased no more than one foot from me; eyes locked intensely where the stray partials of the dust pile had yet to settle. She stayed like that for a few moments, gears turning over inside her head before she began to shuffle forward slowly and with caution. My odds weren’t good already, and as she stopped no more than six inches from my left leg and began to extend her right forehoof, I was firmly convinced that they just went slim to none.
Before, I was remaining still out of a couscous effort to not be seen. Now I was remaining still because my muscles had locked up out of fear.
But then it happened. A godsend, a miracle, or maybe it was just pure dumb luck. As her hoof was less than an inch away from me a voice called out to her from the mouth of another guard.
“Hey! Swift! We’re done for the day! Come on, we don’t want to keep the Sergeant waiting. And besides, you’ve got a perfect rollcall record to defend.”
That voice got her to stop her advance and her eyes went unfocused. Just enough so that I could see that she was in conflict about wither to follow her gut, or to defend what I assumed was a reputation that she was proud off, but not enough for me lower my guard for even an instant.
There were a few moments where she wrestled with that decision. She probably would have spent longer if the same voice didn’t call out to her again.
“Swift! Are you coming or are you just going to stand there with your hoof in the air?”
That broke her out of her trance and forced her to make a decision. Her mouth worked a little, seemingly on its own, before she lowered her hoof back down to the ground and responded to the other guard.
“I’m on my way now!”
And with that, she made an about face, thankfully using her rear legs to pivot away from me, and galloped down the rampart to presumably get to rollcall on time.
It took about a full minute before I calmed down enough to get my muscles to unlock, granting me my freedom of movement again. And I took advantage of it by using my bear paw to wipe down the sweat that had built up on my brow.
There was currently a lull around me, quiet and heavy without the presence of the guards. But I knew it would only be temporary, and if the iron was hot before, it was glowing white now.
Wasting no time, I dashed over to the far side of the wall and leaned over to see what I would have to deal with.
Turns out that the section of the wall I was on wasn’t as major of a security flaw as I had previously thought. Looking down, I was greeted with the sight of a waterfall basin that was maybe nine-hundred to one-thousand feet tall, with roaring water slicing its way through razor-sharp rocks and carrying any debris that it managed to get ahold of. It was nothing I could overcome, though. My form did have wings, and I knew that they weren’t for show.
It was strange that I didn’t hear the roaring of the water, though. Maybe they put a sound suppressing spell around here somewhere? It would make sense. After all, guards were more likely to catch someone if they didn’t have to worry about listening over any roaring background noise.
That wasn’t important know though. Without wasting anymore time, I coiled up and launched myself into the air like a spring, allowing myself to soar unaided for a couple hundred feet. Once I judged the distance from the wall to be sufficient, I opened my wings and gained altitude as quickly as I could. Once I was about maybe three-thousand feet above the ground, I leveled out and took off in the direction of the Everfree Forest. Due to Discord’s memories, I knew that the forest would be an ideal safe haven, even if only temporarily.
I didn’t drop my camo as I flew. While any ground-dwelling individuals wouldn’t be able to see me at this altitude if I dropped it, I couldn’t discount the possibility of encountering any late-flying Pegasi, Thestrals, and Gryphons coming across me. The Pegasi and Gryphons weren’t to concerning, the Thestrals were another story. Where the first two would have to get close to me to see anything, the Thestrals wouldn’t have such a problem on account of their superior night-vision.
I continued to fly, only paying enough attention to the landscape below me to mark my progress. The valley that was fed by the waterfall behind me soon gave way to a small canyon, then tuned into a large meadow with a single river flowing through it, which in turn gave way to the edge of my destination: the Everfree Forest.
I didn’t land immediately, nor did I get rid of my active camo. Instead I continued on, I knew I would need shelter for the night, and Discord’s memories had included the ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. At least, that’s what it was renamed to after he was defeated.
It didn’t take long before I reached the castle, now little more than a ruin of what once was grand and beautiful. But it would serve its purpose well enough as shelter.
Landing in the overgrown courtyard, I quickly made my way inside the ruins and made a beeline for the throne room, passing other rooms that currently served no purpose at the time.
Once I reached it, I looked around for any signs of life and when I found none, I then allowed my active camouflage to disperse. I breathed deeply for a few minutes, trying to stave off adrenaline withdrawal so that I could look over the situation that I found myself in.
Once that was over with, I walked over to a chair-sized piece of rubble and sat down to collect my thoughts.
First things first: I had somehow woken up as Discord. I had all of his memories, his appearance, and I would assume all of his powers. I must have also inherited his muscle memory, which would explain why I hadn’t realized that something was wrong when I went to move around after getting free. Thankfully, I still had my own memories intact along with my moral/ethical centers and beliefs remaining untouched.
Finding that sitting down wasn’t doing me any favors, as my mind began to fog over, I got up and proceeded to pace the length of the throne room. Getting my blood pumping seemed to do the trick and my mind cleared once more.
In the middle of my pacing, I froze mid-step as something from before resurfaced and came crashing down onto me. Anagnorisis. In the proper context of this point in time, it meant one thing.
I knew I wasn’t Discord, despite my appearance, but no one else knew that. As a result, I had also inherited two things that were far more important than anything else: his legacy, and even worse, his sins.
If I was a weaker individual, I might have fainted at that thought. Instead, I set my hoof down, went back over to the piece of rubble, and sat back down hard.
Now what? It would only be a matter of time before Celestia and Luna figured out that one of, if not, the most powerful and dangerous captive in their disposal had broken out of his prison. And when that happened, I couldn’t run forever. I would be found eventually and then re-imprisoned.
Talking to them wouldn’t be an option, and I knew that any actions I took would convince them that I, or rather what they would see as Discord turning over a new leaf wouldn’t work. The overwhelming amount of pain and suffering he caused them back when he was alive and free would make sure of that.
No, there was only one thing I could do with the reality I was faced with. It was a simple thing. Not so much as a plan as much as a direction to go in, or a feeling of what I needed to do. And yet, despite knowing what I was going to do, I still held on to some small, impossible hope that it would be enough to convince them that I wasn’t a threat.
Not the most realistic of things to consider in this situation, but I was still only human. And every human I’ve ever known has always had their flaws, myself included.
Still, deep down, I knew that there was only one way this would end. And the ironic thing was that it would be the best for everyone. Myself included.
Looking up through one of the large gaps in the ceiling; I noted that it was now probably around midnight, or a little before. I would have to set out tomorrow after taking a closer look around the ruins to see if there was anything of note. In other words, I needed sleep. But before that could happen, I needed a makeover.
Standing back up, I summoned three body length mirrors around me with a wave of my eagle talon. This was the first time I got a good first look of myself, the statue notwithstanding. Those vermilion eyes I now possessed stared back at me in all of their misshapen mockery. Those would have to go. Closing my eyes and running my bear paw over them; I willed them to become more symmetrical, and normal.
Opening my eyes again, I was pleased to see that their shape had become far less mismatched, even if the vermilion gaze was still there. But that was to be expected. Whenever Discord would change his form, his eyes would always stay the same. All he did to make up for that was manipulate the vison of others to prevent him from being exposed.
Now for the eyebrows and goatee. They were gaudy, even by my own standards. Running a digit from my eagle talon over my left eyebrow, I willed it to become more presentable. When I looked at the result in the mirrors, instead of the previous bushy, white, and unkempt appearance, it was well trimmed and a lighter grey than the rest of the fur on my head. I repeated the process for my right eyebrow, with identical results. I got rid of the goatee altogether. Stroking it with my eagle claw, it turned to dust and was scattered to the winds.
I placed my bear paw over the vacant side of my mouth opposite of the one snaggletooth, and when I pulled it back another had been placed there. Now only two things were left to do.
I closed my eyes, and willed for my antelope horn to be replaced with a mirrored image of my stag antler. Opening them, I was pleased to see that it had worked flawlessly.
And now for the final piece. Swinging my tail around in front of me, I looked at the white tuft at the end and simply decided to groom it out using my bear paw and turn it from white to jet black with a flick from one of my talons.
My makeover now complete, I took a moment to step back and look at myself in the mirrors.
My appearance was more youthful, and not nearly as harsh and intimidating. Good. The last thing I wanted was to wake up each day and look like Discord himself.
I idly wondered about the wisdom of that. The last thing I wanted was to become Discord. So by denying his appearance, even if only by a little, was I also denying myself of what I had to do? Was I, in essence, trying to shirk responsibility for the legacy I had unwillingly inherited?
Thankfully, these thoughts didn’t last long. Just because I altered my current body by a small margin, didn’t mean that anyone wouldn’t be able to recognize who they would know as Discord.
At any rate, the night wasn’t getting any younger. Dispelling the mirrors, I conjured up a simple cot large enough to hold my frame, complete with a sleeping bag and bedding.
Crawling into the bag and making myself as comfortable as I could, I laid my head down on the pillow taking a moment to appreciate it’s softness before I cast a spell on myself to prevent dreaming. Dream mages did exist after all, and the last thing I wanted was to give one of them an access point where, or rather when, I was most vulnerable.
I closed my eyes to turn in for the night, bringing this first day to a close. Tomorrow was a new day for a new life that I had been unwillingly thrust into.
My name is Alexander Ducasse, and I have inherited the sins of another.
Author's Note
Drop a comment and a like if you want to see more of this.
The next day dawned bright and early, and before long I got myself up to enact the first step of my plan.
Dismissing the furniture, I grabbed the air around me and pulled a brown, hooded cloak from existence. It was long enough that it hovered about six inches off of the ground when I slung it around my shoulders, and was so well fitted that with my hood up and sides closed, you could barely see anything of me beneath.
Now with my extra protection from the elements in order, I set off from the throne room to see if I could find anything of further interest before I departed for good. There wasn’t anything of note in the kitchen, but that was to be expected. The same went for the armory as the few items that were left behind were little more than unrecognizable lumps of rust after being neglected for so long.
Going through the servant’s quarters actually yielded a few surprising finds in the form of two gold cloak pins and a silver hair broach with an emerald placed inside it. The cloak pins were in remarkable condition all things being considered, and the broach, although tarnished with the passage of time was still in good enough condition for me to take.
Finding nothing else, I stashed the items in my cloak and continued on. The treasury was empty, so I didn’t bother with it past giving a small, curious glance before moving on. The guard barracks were non-existent, and the courtyard may have yielded something if I was versed in botany or if Discords memories contained anything other than a blue flower he once made that he called Poison Joke.
I looped back to the throne room without much disappointment. If anything I got more than I believed I would have to begin with. But there was still one place I wanted to look over before I left for good: Celestia and Luna’s old rooms.
And the only reason I knew where those rooms were was because when Discord was trapped in stone, he still had the ability to listen in on conversations within a rather large range and through any barriers if he concentrated enough.
Turning to one of the exits behind the old dilapidated thrones, I made my way over to it, passing one of the entrances to the old library without a second glance. If there were any books or other manuscripts in there that had been left behind and hadn’t aged to dust, they would have most likely been worth a king’s ransom provided that they were still legible. I could have taken one or two, but selling them off would have raised red flags themselves, to say nothing of the fact that giving that amount of coin going to one recipient would have attracted far too much attention for someone who wanted to stay incognito for as long as possible.
The towers weren’t connected to each other, so when I was done in Celestia’s old room, I had to double back to Luna’s.
Where Celestia’s room was picked clean, Luna’s still had a few pieces of rotted, decayed furniture here and there. One of the items in the best shape were a dresser mirror that was too large to take with me and was too broken in several places to be of any worth. The dresser it had once stood on had long rotted away, not even leaving any mulch or dust behind. The other item was her old bed, the frame exposed and still standing, if only barely. The smallest touch and it would no doubt fall apart into its individual components. The blankets and mattress were little more than scraps of cloth, two more victims of time’s endless march.
Oddly enough, there was one other item that was in truly excellent condition considering that this place had been abandoned for at least a thousand years. Next to the bed frame, there was a small stuffed Alicorn doll with a red mane and a jet black coat. The only damage it seemed to have received was becoming threadbare and a little ragged where it had started to come apart at the seams, and the stuffing was still clean and white.
This warranted further investigation. Going over to the doll, I took a moment to look at it a bit more closely as if I could divine whatever secrets it held by just a glance. After that attempt failed to bear fruit, I decided to pick it up. Before that though, I scanned it to make sure it wasn’t a tripwire for something. After all, something in this good of a condition after all this time was more than slightly suspicious.
Thankfully, the only spell that was on it was a long-term anti-aging enchantment. Whatever or whoever this doll represented was obviously important enough for to Luna to place the enchantment on. Only thing is that without anyone to keep the enchantment maintained, it had been decaying over the years. That would explain how it looked and felt as I picked it up, studying it with a melancholy gaze.
Suddenly, and without warning, one of Discords memories sprang to the forefront of my mind. It was one where he was sitting on throne at the time, looking down on the current Diarchy of Equestria with the sort of sly sneer on his face that just made you want carve into his throat with a butchers knife and watch as his lifewater spilled out over his front.
There was a pause before the two parties started conversing with one another, but I couldn’t make out anything they were saying. Their voices were muted and almost static-like, but I could sense Discord’s general thoughts at the time. As they were continuing to monologue, I “felt” for lack of a better term Discord worming his way into Luna’s mind. It was subtle to the point where Luna couldn’t detect it, yet strong enough to set up a hair trigger for some unseen event.
Along with Discord’s invasion of Luna’s sanctuary of the mind, I could by extension feel what emotions she was experiencing at the time. There was burning love for her kinsman, determination to see justice befall the one she was facing, and a certain admiration for her sister Celestia for playing her part to get them this far.
Discord twisted this around. Not much, but enough to plant a seed that would grow in time when the trigger was activated. There were the beginnings of hatred for her kinsman, determination to make things as beautiful as she could, and the start of jealousy for her sister.
It was obvious that this was meant to be a failsafe in the event that he was defeated. Not a failsafe to ensure his return, but a way to get back at them should they succeed ending in his reign. In other words, a contingency plan designed to get the last laugh. And he did indeed laugh as he did this. It was Cold, grating, and sociopathic bordering on sadism. I couldn’t hear it, but I could sense it in that same omnipresent way one gets when they are underwater. It wasn’t so much of a crushing pressure, but enough of a feeling of wetness to let you know that breathing wasn’t an option at the time.
I stood corrected; apparently Discord could be subtle in at least some capacity. Still, the only reason he did that was because he was arrogant and overconfident enough to assume that the sisters were just blowing smoke. If he had known at the time of how wrong he was, then there was no way he would have gone for something that was, to him, so minor and effortless.
The trigger was set, primed and as he left Luna’s mind, he was struck down and imprisoned within stone. The memory dulled even more before it faded entirely. That was just fine. I already knew what the stone prison was the result of anyway.
My eyes were unfocused on the living world around me, a result of viewing that memory. Or any of Discord’s memories, now that I gave a passing thought to it.
Regardless, my gaze was still fixated on the little stuffed alicorn doll I had continued to hold onto throughout my episode. If I was holding it gently before, I was holding as if it was an egg with a paper-thin shell now. Slowly, gently, I ran what passes for a thumb on my bear paw over the side of the doll’s head. It was a reassuring touch, as if you were telling a child that everything was going to be okay in the end.
Because what I saw at that point in time wasn’t a doll, or any other type of toy you give to a young child. No, what I was holding in my talon at the time was more than that. It represented the dreams and hopes of two sisters. These were the same dreams and hopes that due to a single act of malice, and in the name of getting a laugh of all things, were torn asunder and crushed into dust in the single most sadistic way imaginable.
My vision grew blurry as my eyes misted over, and I felt my mouth twist into a snarl as I hugged the doll to my chest before the first of the hot tears began to soak into my fur. I felt my entire frame shaking as I drew in a ragged breath along with the tightness in my chest as I felt the burning coals of anger smolder in my heart.
I let my last breath out and drew in another as I whispered with pure demonic venom the only two words that summed up what I was feeling in full:
“You…Bastard.”
And that’s as far as I got before I broke down into quiet sobbing and tears. I was already on a hair trigger when it came to my emotions considering all that had occurred lately. Truth be told, I was actually thankful that I was crying like a complete wuss. It was better than doing something stupid like destroying the tower I was in or, even worse, tearing the doll I was still holding to shreds out of some misguided way of venting steam.
Yes, grown men cry sometimes. And I was no exception. Despite how I look now, I was still human.
The thing about weeping is that it tends to dilate your perception of time. By the time the last of my tears stopped, it felt as if a few hours had passed instead of only ten minutes. A false perception that I was quickly reminded of when I took note of the shadows cast due to the mid-morning to early-afternoon sunlight filtering in though the numerous cracks and holes that littered the stone walls and deteriorating roof.
Drying the remaining dampness out of my fur, I looked back down to the doll clutched to my chest in the same manner of a father comforting a newborn babe. Lifting it back up to eye level, I gently caressed it, and wherever I made contact all the damage time had done to it reversed. It was like watching a master seamstress patch up a superficial hole in a pair of jeans, as in that the thread that they used seemed to have a mind of its own.
In short order, it was back to being like nothing had ever had happened to it at all. In fact, and perhaps it was just my imagination, but it almost looked like it was a little happier than what it would have been back when it actually was new.
Sighing while running my bear paw through my hair to vent the last of my pent up emotion, I had a particularly brilliant thought strike me from out of nowhere.
Patting down my cloak, I located where I had stored my current gains and pulled out the silver hair brooch.
Looking it over for a moment, I willed the emerald out of its setting, and then got to work with the silver itself. By my estimates, there would be just enough for what I had planned. Levitating the silver and willing it to melt down, I created a small necklace with a pendant large enough to house the emerald, with a button was placed just above the recess and a small oblong hole on the bottom edge of the mounting.
Setting the emerald into the recess, I proceeded to enchant it and commit both the physical and magical construction to memory so that I could make more of them as needed.
But this first one was intended for a single recipient. Therefore, without ceremony but not lacking any true tenderness, I slid the necklace onto the little alicorn before I pocketed it as well.
Hopefully it will find its way back to Luna someday; perhaps it would serve her as a memory of a happier time.
“If nothing el-” My musing was immediately cut off by my hands clamping over my mouth and my eyes going wide along with it.
I probably didn’t notice it before due to my emotional breakdown, but that wasn’t my voice I had just spoken in. That was the voice of Discord, and there was no way in hell I was going to let that slide!
Thankfully, it was an easy fix. Placing my bear paw on my throat, I gave a flex of my will, and the voice I had before this whole fiasco started was retuned in short order.
With that settled, I just let my gaze travel over the remains of the room, soaking it all in before my journey truly started. I was about ready to turn and make my exit when I saw something form out of the corner of my eye.
I froze for a second out of instinct before I remembered that this place had long fallen into ruin. It couldn’t have been a pony, the tocking of hooves would have given them away, and unless they were unrealistically skilled fliers I would have heard the beating of wings and the disturbance of the air around me.
Relaxing my stance, I looked to where I had seen whatever it was, my curiosity now piqued. On closer inspection, it was just a length of shadow cast by the rays of the sun that streamed in through the window. Walking over to the corner where the shadows were housed, I peered deeper into it, hoping that whatever secret it held could be divined. It didn’t take long for me to realize that there was something else in those shadows, as was revealed to me by my piercing gaze.
It was darker than the rest of the shade that surrounded it. And it was thicker as well, made up of some sort of grainy mist-like substance that clung onto itself like a drowning man would with a bolder in an ultimately useless attempt to not be swept away by whatever current was trying to claim him.
And while I certainly believed that this did require further investigation, it did not merit throwing safety into the wind like a naive fool would.
Casting a small scanning spell and silently musing that I would most likely be heavily dependent on it from here on out, I found that whatever this thing was, it was nothing more than an echo. But if there is one thing I’ve learned about echoes is that if you take the time and make the effort to silence yourself and listen with due attention and respect to them, they can divulge all sorts of secrets and valuable information.
Deducing that the echo was safe to investigate further, I held out my talon and after a brief hesitation, placed it into the center of the mass. The physical sensation that came from doing this was not a pleasant one by any means. While it did not hurt in the slightest, it conjured the image of plunging your hand into the chest cavity of a cold, rotting corpse. But before I could pull my talon out as the result of instinctual revulsion, I felt something latch on. Not strongly or in any physical sense, but weak to the point where it almost felt like a few tendrils of an old cobweb.
With the last of its meager strength, the echo passed on an incomplete impression of what had happened to render it in this state before dissipating like the morning fog would on a swelteringly hot day and fading from existence altogether.
Then I was subjected to another vision. Only this time, instead of being visual in nature, it was completely within the confines of my own mind; playing back like a corrupted video feed. It didn’t take very long before the vision was over, leaving me with a slight headache and a small amount of dizziness.
It wasn’t enough to prevent me from pacing back and forth while I tried to make sense of the fragments that I had been shown.
Unlike last night, my pacing seemed to do little more than make my headache slightly worse, even if the dizziness had passed by now. So, switching tactics, I stopped and instead opted to just stand there with my eyes closed and my senses dulled enough to weed out any unnecessary background noise while still remaining sharp enough to pick up on anything that may prove to be a threat.
And while the likelihood of anything or anyone stumbling across me would virtually if not completely non-existent given my current location, I wouldn’t have been doing myself any favors by getting into the habit of completely lowering my guard whenever I thought I was safe.
At any rate, while I was standing there, my headache subsided and I began to piece together and hammer out the timeline and reasoning of what had occurred.
As an individual, I have always believed in separating the wheat from the chaff whenever I reasonably could. So it came to no surprise that the majority of what I had been shown was glanced over before being discarded as either to fragmented to make out, or serving no purpose due to the fact that it had no bearing on my current situation.
What was left was a gold mine. It was an incomplete goldmine perhaps, but one that held valuable information all the same.
Now that I had it all figured out, I flexed my will again without opening my eyes and watched the relevant events that I had pieced together as best as I could.
The first thing that I saw was the choppy, grainy grayscale images of six ponies. There were two of each species, although I couldn’t tell what their gender was or any identifiable marks beyond that. From my viewpoint, or rather the viewpoint of whomever the echo used to be at the time, one of the unicorns walked around the other five depositing stones at their hooves. All the while, they were monologuing, although I couldn’t make out anything that wasn’t static whenever they spoke.
There was a burst of static that blotted out my view for a moment before the scene shifted. Five of the ponies were now adorned with necklaces, while the sixth had a tiara of all things placed firmly atop their head. There was another quick burst of static and an equally quick scene where a gigantic rainbow came crashing down over me like a vengeful tsunami. Then there was another burst of static before a white flash filled my gaze before my vision faded to black and I saw no more.
I paused for a moment, taking a deep breath to take my will back to neutral before I reopened my eyes. It would appear that Celestia and Luna were no longer bound the Elements and they’ve chosen new Bearers as a result. And to make matters worse, I had no idea who they were, only what species they are. I could easily come across them, talk to them, eat a meal with them, hug them, and not even know that they were a Bearer all along.
So now I had to keep an eye and ear out for anyone who may have information pertaining to their identities, to say nothing of the actual bearers themselves.
I knew that Luna had been freed and cleansed, Discord had heard as much while he was still in the slammer, but what he didn’t hear was how that had occurred. It would make sense to keep a fact like that away from him. There is no need to let an imprisoned enemy in on your secrets after all.
Based on what I had already known and what I had gained now, it wasn’t much of a leap to assume how that happened.
At any rate, this complicated matters even if it did nothing to change the amount of danger and the overall situation I was currently in. Speaking of which, I had stayed in the ruins and the Everfree in general for longer than I had meant to. I needed to get moving. I had to move fast, I had to move as frequently and erratically as I could, as often as possible, and I needed to cover my tracks for as long as I was capable of doing so.
Not wasting any time, I moved beneath a stream of sunlight filtering through a hole in the roof. Taking a moment to look up at the blue sky, I idly thought for a moment on how before this had happened, it never in a million years would have occurred to me that something so warm and inviting could hold such a heavy presence as it did now.
Reactivating my active camo and having it encompass the cloak I was wearing as well as me, I crouched. Then I leaped, rocketing myself out of the tower before spreading my wings and flying off, leaving only a disturbed cloud dust to fill the room and mark my passing.
Author's Note
Feel free to call out any typos that you noticed, and I'll fix the ones that need it.
-edit-
Several typos have now been fixed.
