Jumping Blind

Chapter 8: Tuesdays

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(A week later)

“Miss Dash, are you sure about this?”

“Of course I am! Do you still want to do this?”

“It’s fine, but the crowd is a bit disconcerting though. Shouldn’t this be done a little more privately?”

“Of course not! I need an audience for anything athletic. Is someone a little shy?”

“No… Yes. I’m just not comfortable with an audience for this kind of activity.”

“You’re doing the word thing again.”

I sighed and took a deep breath in the chilly morning air. Scanning the surrounds, I twitched a little at the small crowd surrounding the library. My bag lay against the tree-building a ways away from me. I walked over and pulled out a pair of speakers and an iPod before slinging it over my neck and moving back to Pinkie. They sat in the road next to Pinkie’s motionless welcome wagon. A closer examination showed a shattered rear axle. How she managed that I’ll never know.

I stretched out my stiffened body, a series of satisfying snap and pops accompanying my movements. Pinkie and Rainbow had woken pretty much the entire town trying to get some help moving it before someone else needed the road. Somehow Rainbow had convinced Twilight to wake me up and move it. I turned to the iPod, “Start playlist: Training” I stated flatly to the device.

“Good morning to you too 7643, how was your rest cycle?” the iPod chirped cheerfully.

I rolled my eyes at it. “Hey Spark. I slept well, thank you. I didn’t expect you to be up and moving at this time though.”

“Always ready to serve 7643.”

“Spark, just call me Vigil. I’m not forerunner and you know it.”

“Technically…” He trailed off at my glare. “Never mind. I’m playing the music now.”

I grumbled to myself about never saving and fixing a malfunctioning AI ever again before slipping under the broken cart. I began lifting with all of my might, not even getting a creak out of the cart. I sighed again. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this.

“Pinkie, would you mind getting the crowd to back away to a safe distance?”

“Okie dokie lokie.” She moved off and got the crowd to back up.

The chords of a familiar song started.

“Aww yeah. That’s what I call motivational music.” I wiggled under the cart in a vaguely spastic dance before returning to the task at hoof. In a low voice I let out a string of numbers and designations ending in, “Override strength locks one through three.”

A series of metallic clicks ran through my body as I shuddered. I could feel the servos and hydraulics in my skeleton unlocking and the power running through the circuitry under my skin. With a low grunt I pushed upwards again, this time lifting the cart clear of the ground.

“Where… Do you… Want this…?” I wheezed out from under the obscenely heavy weight.

“Over here silly.” Pinkie began walking down the street while I struggled behind her with the cart on my back. We walked all the way from the library to the Sugarcube Corner, where I slowly set the cart down in the building’s backyard.

Rainbow hovered over the pair of us, smirking at my panting. “Thanks for the show big guy. How’s the wing?” She pointed a hoof at my left side.

I raised the appendage, wincing a bit at the snaps that came from the joints. “Better, thanks. I heal pretty quickly.”

“I hadn’t noticed.” She replied sarcastically before her expression shifted to a wistful one. “Sorry I can’t hang out; I have to get to work. See you guys later.” She looked over her shoulder as she flew off, smirking again at me.

“There works too. Thanks for your help Vigil!” Pinkie bounced happily beside me.

“No problem. Next time have a group move it instead of just me. That thing is heavier than some houses.”

“Eeyup” A crimson stallion remarked as he passed by the shop.

“See ya later Mac!” Pinkie called after him. I raised an eyebrow at her. “He likes to stop by on Tuesdays to talk to Mister Cake.”

“Not even going to touch that one. Ok, if that’s all I’m going back to the library. I promised Spike breakfast this morning before I left.” The crowd that had been following us dispersed with no small amount of grumbling.

A dejected sounding “Aww…” and a satisfied sigh made me look over my shoulder.

Two white unicorns stood watching me, one I recognized at Rarity but the other was an unfamiliar, sad looking filly. “Erm… Good morning?” I greeted awkwardly, unsure of why they were looked at me so interestedly. I really hate Tuesdays, all the weird things happen to me on them.

“Good morning Vigil.” Rarity eyed me for a few moments longer than comfortable. “Hmm… Interesting…”

“Um… What’s interesting?” I started inching backwards toward the street.

The filly rolled her eyes while saying “Oh not this again.” She ignored the larger pony and walked up to me to hold out a hoof, smiling brightly. “Hi! I’m Sweetie Belle.  Are you new here?”

I smiled at the child. “Hello little one, I’m Vigil. Yes I am new here. I got here a few days ago.” I glanced at Rarity, who was standing perfectly still and staring with half-lidded eyes at me. “Er… What’s wrong with her?”

Sweetie waved a hoof in front of the older mare’s face. Getting no reaction, she shrugged. “She gets like this sometimes. She’ll be fine in a minute.”

I nodded slowly and decided to ignore the fashionista. “Uh huh… Ok then. What brings you here so early?”

“My sister,” she pointed a hoof at Rarity, “wanted to talk to Twilight but then we saw you carry Pinkie’s welcome wagon. And she might not want to leave me alone in the boutique...”

My eyebrow rose, “What’d you do?”

“…” She mumbled while scraping a hoof on the ground.

I grinned at her and stood up from my sitting position. “I’m not going to get mad, trust me I’ve done worse.”

Her eyes followed me and she seemed to realize the height difference. “You’re tall…”

My head lowered to her eye level. “Yes I am.” I bumped my forehead against her side. “Little one.”

She giggled and brightened up again. “Why are your eyes like that and why do you keep calling me that?”

I chuckled, she must be ticklish. “They’ve always been like this. And you’re so little compared to me.” I picked her up in my magic and raised her up to my eye level. “See?”

She looked around from her new perspective. “Wow, you always see like this? And why do have goggles?”

She floated onto the top of my head. “Yep, all day every day. They were a parting gift from a friend a long, long time ago in place far away from here. Let’s go back to the library then.”

On the way to the library Sweetie and I chatted a little more while I tried to keep her balanced on my head. Apparently a certain filly had taken a pair of scissors to several rolls of cloth in an attempt to emulate he sister. Now Rarity refused to let her out of sight. Entering the library, we were presented with a furiously writing Twilight. She had followed my display then rushed back to take notes on her observations; she didn’t even make it to her desk. She was writing on the floor before she sniffed the air and turned to me. “Why do you smell like cinnamon? You should reek of sweat after that.”

I slowly moved the conversation to the kitchen. Twilight followed, setting her notes on the table. I walked over and sat next to her, looking at them. “Not really sure. In some dimensions its peppermint though. I think it has something to do with the angelic blood in me. My magic smells like peppermint though.” I thought about it for a moment. "Usually." Twilight looked over my shoulder to write another note.

Sweetie sniffed at my hair… mane. “She’s right! I thought I knew that smell.”

The filly’s voice made the librarian perk up. She searched for the source, her gaze resting on the top of my head. “Hello Sweetie Belle. Is your parents’ vacation over then?”

The filly nodded a little sadly, “Yeah, they left yesterday. I’m staying with Rarity.”

“That’s nice of her. Speaking of your sister, where is she?”

“Right here, darling.” The porcelain unicorn entered the kitchen and took a seat next to Twilight. “I see you’re getting to know our guest very well.” She whispered coyly to the lavender unicorn. Twilight flinched away from my shoulder, nearly tumbling out of her chair in the process. Rarity covered her muzzle with her hoof to stifle a laugh.

I snorted and left the two to their conversation. “Hey Sweetie Belle? Would you like some breakfast?”

“Um… Just call me Sweetie, everypony else does. No than-” Her response was cut off by an animalist growl from her stomach that sent her vibrating on my head.

“That’d be a yes then. I take it you didn’t have time to eat earlier?”

“Yes, Rarity really wanted to leave.”

I pulled out eggs, milk, green onions, and some bell peppers. Salt, pepper, and a skillet floated out of nearby cabinets to join the ingredients on the counter. Twilight keeps her kitchen surprisingly well stocked, or maybe Spike does… “Ladies? I’m making omelets, would you like anything?”

Only Rarity declined, so I pulled out a bowl and whisk. I set the filly that was occupying my head down onto the counter to watch what I was doing. “Do you cook little one?” She shook her head as a negative. “I’ve always liked to, it’s a calm and meditative process. I’ve always been a better baker though. Each ingredient performs a different action and you only get what you want if you use the right amount of the correct things at a specific time. I guess that’s why I’m good at alchemy too. But when you cook you get to eat it at the end.” She giggled at that and stared as a knife and cutting board floated up from a lower cabinet.

“How do you do magic?” The filly asked while I diced the peppers.

The question struck me as very odd. How do I use magic? Why wouldn’t I be able to? “What do you mean?” Eggs were broken and their contents dropped into the bowl before the empty shells were discarded.

She pointed at my head. “You don’t have a horn.” She stated it like that was a universal rule to have one.

“No I don’t. There are other ponies don’t too. Is there anything else odd about me?” I smiled warmly, turning to face her so she could get a good look.

She examined my form from her counter perch. “What’s on your chest?”

“Scales.”

She nodded and kept moving her gaze up only to have them stop on my eyes. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”

I chuckled, turning back to preparing the food. The eggs were whisked with the milk and their cartons were returned. The mixture was poured into the heated skillet. “There’s nothing wrong with them, like I said they’ve always been like that. It’s just more noticeable now.”

She gasped when I turned, making my chuckles shift into laughter. “You have wings?!”

“Yep, have those too.” I unfurled my right one thoughtfully. “I’m not used to them being visible though.” The salt, pepper, onions and peppers joined the mixture in the pan.

“What are you?” The innocent question made me sigh. Even after all these years that kind of question still cut deeply.

I shrugged nonchalantly, trying to cover up the original reaction to the question. “In this reality… I don’t know. Now watch this.” The omelet went flipping through the air, only to land softly back on the skillet. The topside held a few golden brown streaks and swirls while the underside cooked. Oh well, I guess were going with the rustic style omelet. I never was very good at the other styles.

Sweetie Belle gasped as it sailed into the air and cheered as it came back to the skillet. “Wow! How did you do that? Did you use magic?”

I started on the others, slipping into easy practiced movements. “I never use magic in the actual cooking, it changes the taste. Besides, where’s the fun in doing something if you just instantly make it with magic? I spent some time at a culinary school and subsequently at a restaurant. You should see what I can do with a cheesecake.”

“Did I hear CHEESECAKE?” A bubbly voice came from behind me causing me to jump in surprise. I turned to see the source of the disturbance, only to find my view blocked by a very pink face with baby blue eyes. All I heard next was “skinny pony” before I was sprawled on my back.

“Hello again, Miss Pinkie. I thought that we agreed that if I ate on a regular basis you would stop doing that.” She was lifted her off of me with my magic. I felt so much better having it back, even as weakened as it was. “Would you like some breakfast?” I gestured at the now finished omelets.

“Only if you stop calling me miss.” She pouted, crossing her forelegs as she floated above the other chattering mares.

“Ok Pinkie.” I set her down on a chair at the table. “It’ll just be a few moments.” I started clearing up the mess I made, levitating Sweetie over to her sister in the process. The filly was followed by six plates and sets of cutlery, each settling in front of a chair.

With a sharp pop of displaced air, an omelet appeared on each plate. “I’ll go get Spike up and moving again.”

I trotted out of the kitchen and briefly debated listening in on their conversation, but decided that I really don’t care that much about it and went over to the stairs. “Oi scales! Breakfast.” I called up to Spike.

A heavy thump was heard from above followed by a muted voice. “Thanks feathers!”

I smirked and took a place at the table. The rest had started eating and stopped noticing me a long time ago. The gnawing of forgetfulness was still bugging me

“Hey Twilight? I have this feeling that I’ve been forgetting something. Any ideas?” I tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

She thought it over a moment while chewing. “Ah, yes. You got a letter from the princesses a few minutes after you left. Spike wasn’t happy about that. They arranged for you to come to Canterlot in about…” She searched around for a clock, when Pinkie pulled out a giant pocket watch from behind her. It was bigger than her… “Thirty seconds.”

“Wha-?” I started only to feel the world shift ever so slightly around me. A golden glow enveloped me and with a sharp pop as air rushed to fill the space I had been I was gone. I swear I heard laughing as I left and I didn’t even get to eat my omelet!

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(Royal Palace)

With another burst of golden magic I was dropped onto a large soft surface. It was fluffy and warm leaving me with absolutely no desire to move. Forcing myself to raise my head, I took stock of my current surroundings.

I was in a darkly colored room, currently on the bed sprawled on a comforter with a starry print. The ceiling held an image of the night sky while every available surface was covered in star gazing and mapping equipment. My attention was pulled to the door at the side of the room when the almost unnoticed gurgling of the pipes in the wall stopped abruptly.

I was struggling to untangle myself from the fluffy comforter when a very wet, very surprised looking Luna stepped out of the bathroom. Steam crept behind her from the open door as we stared at each other.

“Oh hai there-” I was cut off by her shrieking.

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I looked up from my crater in the royal gardens to the hole in the side of the palace. Not only did I manage to get blasted through several walls but to add insult to injury, somehow I landed in a sea of rose bushes also. Thanks Murphy, if I ever see you again I’m going to punch you in the face. I don’t care if you’re the base of all of my powers.

Luna’s head appeared at the new window in the wall far above me, she waved sheepishly at me. My hoof rose and waved back weakly before sinking back into my thorny hole. I tried to free myself but couldn’t do much, any movement only pushed the thorns further into my skin. She ducked back inside, presumably to call the police or something like that.

I slowly crawled out of my thorn-filled hell. Just as I managed to free myself, six solid white ponies in golden armor positioned themselves in a circle around me. Huh, police must work fast here. Or maybe they do just for the Princesses. My expression of confusion was lost on them as they stood with unchanging expressions. Even in my damaged and pained state I couldn’t help but be a smartass, so I reached into my pocket dimension and pulled out a marker.

Five minutes of boredom with the unmovable ponies passed before I found something else to occupy myself. A short distance away stood a very strange statue that appeared to be made of stone. It had an equine-like head with a deer antler on the right, a goat horn on the left, a snaggletoothed fang, different-sized pupils that were filled with intelligence, a snake tongue, and a goat beard. Moving down, it had the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. On its back, it had a bat's right wing, a pegasus' left wing, a horse's mane and a snaky tail with a fluffy tuft at the end. What an odd creature. I felt some sympathy, wondering if somewhere there were other creatures like this. Sapient chimeras as strange as the two of us are hard to find in the multiverse. I finished my inspection just as another white pony showed up, this one a unicorn with a black mane. “Good morning!” I greeted cheerfully. He looked at the group surrounding me.

“What happened to these guards?” Each guard had a monocle and a mustache drawn on their face. I grinned but didn’t say a word. He facehooved. “Nevermind. This does wash off right?”

My grin grew even wider. “Sure it does.” I left out the part where it’s permanent marker and could take weeks to wash out.

He sighed tiredly. “Why did you break into Princess Luna’s room?”

“I didn’t. One minute I was sitting at Miss Sparkle’s table trying to eat breakfast the next I’m entrapped in a blanket. Then Luna walked out of the bathroom, screamed, and threw me through several walls.” I shrugged.

“That’s Princess Luna to you.” He glared, rising to his full height and stomping his hoof to emphasize his point. It was almost cute the way he was trying to intimidate me. Almost.

I raised an eyebrow in response. “Really?” I sighed and rose to my hooves, towering above the annoying stallion with absolutely no effort. “And we were getting on so well…”

The situation may have taken a turn for the worse, but another white stallion walked down the path to us, this one had an electric blue mane and tail. “The princesses will see you now.”

“Alrighty then.” I smiled at the other guards. “Have fun washing that out.”

“Sorry about how the lieutenant was acting, he’s been stuck in the office filling out paperwork all week.” The blue haired stallion explained.

I shrugged and followed him. We were accompanied by another pair of guards on our walk. The entire time I was staring at all of the detail put into this place, all of the decorations and art work. The princesses must be great patrons to the arts.

“So, I heard you mention a ‘Miss Sparkle’. Twilight by any chance?” He interrupted the echoes of our hooves on the marble floors.

I nodded at him. “Yeah. I’ve been staying with her the last few days until I can set up my own place. Shouldn’t be there much longer.”

 “How’s Twily doing?” He asked, staring at me.

“Twily?”

He slapped a hoof to his forehead, chuckling at my confusion. “Oh, right. She probably hasn’t mentioned me yet. She usually doesn’t talk about family unless directly asked.” We stopped and a hoof was held out to me. “Shining Armor at your service, I’m Twilight’s older brother.”

I shook the offered hoof. “Nice to meet you Shining, Twilight’s doing pretty well. The entire town’s crazy though. Quick question, what’s the gender ratio in Equestria?”

“Yeah, we hear about some of the oddness up here. About four mares to one stallion, why?”

“Just checking to see if it was the entire country or just Ponyville.” I shrugged in response. As we walked I caught him up on the last few days for me and he told me about life as the captain of the guard. After a while the group loosened up and we just started swapping stories.

“Wait, let me get this straight. You know somepony who can control time?! That’s impossible.” Shining cut into my story.

“Not as impossible as you think just really, really tricky. And it's not so much control as twist to his will.”

He eyed me suspiciously. “Can you do anything like that?”

I raised a hoof to my chin, rubbing idly. “Kind of, I guess. I can manipulate probabilities.”

“What do you mean? The guard on my left, Solid Shield, asked. The earth pony was surprisingly intelligent for just a foot soldier. Given a few years he could easily be a captain or commander if he tried.

A thought struck me, followed by a grin. “Anyone have a bit I could use?”

“Here you go, mate.” Silver Blade, the unicorn behind me handed me a silver coin. Considering that he didn’t have a saddle bag on and that armor didn’t have any pockets, I thought that it was an extraordinary feat of magic.

“Huh, didn’t expect solid silver. Heads or tails?” I flipped the coin into the air.

“Heads” called Silver at the same time that Solid called tails. Shining just watched with an amused expression.

“Edge.” I called without looking at it. The coin flipped through the air and landed perfectly on its edge on the carpet, freezing in place without even wobbling.

The two stallions turned to me. “How did you do that?! Did you use magic?” Shining started cracking up at the two’s unbelieving faces.

“A low level probability field if we are not mistaken.” A quiet, feminine voice came from behind us. We all turned to see Luna peering at the motionless coin. She leaned closer almost touching her nose to it, before her breath unset the balance and the coin fell over.

The guards recovered and bowed before the lunar goddess. Shining spoke for the three of them. “Our apologies, Princess. We didn’t see you standing there or we would have shown proper respect.”

She laughed a little at their prone forms while I just stood there shaking my head. “It is fine Captain, return to your duties. We will escort this one the rest of the way.”

Shining looked like he wanted to argue, but let out a long breath and replied. “Alright your majesty, if that is your wish.” He turned to me. “I hope to see you again Vigil.”

I offered him a hoof, which he shook. “Of course, we should have a poker night some time. I got kicked out of the last poker group I was in because they accused me of cheating. They never could prove anything.” He ignored my babbling and walked back with the other two in tow.

I turned to find Luna looking up at me. Her dark eyes seemed to be searching for something. “Hello again Omega. We are… I am sorry about earlier.”

I flinched at the name. “Please don’t call me that. It’s no problem Princess; no one was hurt besides possibly a few rose bushes. I think they hurt me more than I hurt them though.”

She shrugged off my flinch and giggled at my joke and gestured for us to start walking. “How did you make the coin land like that?”

“Like you said a probability field. I unconsciously generate a low level Murphionic field. So less likely probabilities have a tendency to become more likely around me. You wouldn’t believe how much Murphy enjoyed it when I found out I could do that.”

“I can imagine.” She grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes back. “Great, so you know him. The next time you see him, tell him he owes me a drink”.

She laughed the rest of the way to the throne room. She stopped when she noticed my expression of awe aimed at the enormous door. “Impressive isn’t it?” She asked.

I nodded slowly. Another thought struck me and I turned to her with an evil grin. “Do you want to make an entrance?”

Twenty minutes later, we were ready. The sigils and runes I had painstakingly written on the door with my marker detonated, breaking the hinges and making it fall inward. I jumped onto it yelling “And I’m all out of bubble gum!”

The effect was ruined when the only pony in the room was Celestia. She did not look happy to see me.

“Hi! Sorry about forgetting our meeting. I was a little busy help Twilight outrun a mob. Then I got trampled by an entire town.” I waved at her from across the long room. That’s what I was forgetting…

A small smile at the randomness showed, but was quickly ground down before her mighty scowl. Ok, it really wasn’t that bad. She just looked unhappy, not murderous or anything. Yet.

“Hello Wanderer. How was your arrival?”

“It was fine. I was thrown out of a window though.”

She gasped at that. “Are you alright?” I nodded. “Wait, I was not aware that Luna’s room had any readily available windows to be thrown out of.”

I winced. “It and the next few rooms over do now.”

“Is that why Luna is hiding behind you again?” The smile reappeared momentarily.

I turned my head and sure enough, Luna was trying to use my height as a shield. It would have worked better if you couldn’t see her around me thanks to my skinniness. “No idea.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Sister, I am not angry. It was my fault for trying to play a trick on you.”

Luna peaked out of my left side. “Do you promise?” Celestia nodded and Luna walked over to stand next to her sister.

I looked at them. “Wait, so I missed my lunch, was thrown through several walls, and dragged myself out of a thorn bush just because you wanted to prank your sister?” Celestia nodded sheepishly. I glared at her for a few moments before the grin I was suppressing broke through. “That sounds like any prank I try.”

They relaxed and gestured for me to join them, so I walked across the room, noting the stained glass windows and the images presented. One looked surprisingly like the six ponies I knew. When I was a few feet away, they both addressed me.

“There was more of a reason that you were brought here than just a joke.” Celestia began.

“My sister and I found out what you are!” Luna interrupted happily. She shrunk back and let out a nervous chuckle as Celestia glared her down. “Eh heh heh. Continue sister.

“As Luna interrupted to say,” A glare was shot at the younger alicorn, “We have spent many hours in the palace library’s archives trying to find what your current form is.” She levitated an old, beaten book out from behind the throne. “We believe we have found the answer.” The book was opened to a page with an image similar to the statue out in the garden.

The title read one word: Draconequus.

I peered at the book, studying the statue’s colored image. My head turned to the sun goddess. “Wazzat?”

“This is Discord; he’s the spirit of disharmony.” I nodded at Celestia’s explanation. Probably a neutral chaos god then, most gods of chaos tended to be neutral. That and their personality usually follow their particular ruling along with just a little insanity. Having met Loki, I had to agree with those generalizations.

“Ok, what does this have to do with me then?” I questioned.

“Oh my little draconequus, it has everything to do with you.” A new voice echoed through the room.

“Discord?” Celestia looked around the room rapidly. If I didn’t know any better I would have said that the orderly goddess of the sun sounded… panicked?

“Not now Celly, the little one and I need to have a talk before you cause an imbalance.” Discord’s form on one of the windows began moving with a life of its own. He sprang out of the window, taking on a transparent form as he circled me. “Oh my… Another chimera and the Child of Murphy at that? Now this is just perfect, a chaotic streak a mile wide. Reminds of that Pinkie filly.”

“A close friend of mine once said ‘What’s the point of being an adult if you can’t act childish sometimes?’ I tend to agree. The phrase you’re looking for is chaotic good by the way.” I smirked at him.

“Sarcastic and snappy too, I like this one. Listen to me carefully, we don’t have much time. The connection between us that’s holding me here is fragile at best. Celly and Lulu here don’t have very much information about our kind; most of it was destroyed in the old library during the uprising of Nightmare Moon. All of us have a connection to chaos and the ability to use it, some more than others. He tapped my forehead, resulting in a flash of intense cold filling my body from the contact point. Images and ghostly sounds began to fill my head.“It’s a kind of magic, if you don’t use it-”

“It will build up and release uncontrollably.” I finished, ignoring the memory bleed and peering curiously at the dancing figure. “I know, I’ve used it before. That explains why my magic is so weak.”

He sunk back into the stained glass. “Good, then you know the dangers. If nothing else heed this warning Agent of Change, your services will be needed in the coming times.” The figure began walking back to its previous position before spinning back to face me. “I almost forgot, you aren’t the only of your kind here anymore, Omega. So long!” With that he snapped his lion’s paw returning everything, including his figure, back to normal. His presence retreated back to the garden where it went dormant again.

“That was… interesting.” I commented, turning back to the awestruck princesses.

“We have never heard Discord speak so plainly before. He always spoke in riddles and jokes.” Luna slipped into the olden dialect in her surprise, which Celestia was quick to pick up.

“Luna, your speech.” She said in a tone that showed how often it was repeated. Turning to me, she asked “Do you know what he was talking about?”

I nodded slowly. “Yes and before you ask, he wasn’t lying or playing any tricks.”

She looked at me suspiciously. “How do you know this? He could have been playing with your memories.”

“He can’t and in case you haven’t noticed, neither can you. Gods and Goddesses of any type can’t directly interfere with me. No, I have no idea what that means besides not being able to mess with my inner workings or memories without permission. As for how I know, the same reason I know about the cake you have waiting for you in your room. I didn’t take you for a chocolate and raspberry kind of mare.” I sat down, sorting through the new memories.

“How-?”

“Dimensional bleed, at least that’s what I call it; it’s one of my abilities. It acts like an information spell, unconsciously downloading basic facts and information directly to my mind. It’s how I can speak, read, and write your language so easily. When you used that memory spell it opened up a connection between the two of us allowing me to get information from you as well. You’ll find a few of my memories floating around after a while. The same thing happened between me and Discord when he tapped my head to show my connection to the chaos thingy.”

“So you could do this to any pony?”

“No, only Gods and Goddesses and nothing too personal, mostly basic information and a few memor-” I froze as I stumbled across a certain memory. My voice came out flat and lifeless as I forced out the words around the images playing out before me. “Celestia, Luna, do you know why there aren’t any draconequine anymore?”

They looked at each other in confusion at my sudden shift in mood then looked at me worriedly. “No, we only have this one book about them.”

I threw the book against the wall as I jumped to my feet. They took a step back under my glare. “He ate them.” My voice echoed angrily through the halls. “HE FREAKING ATE THEM. EVERY LAST STALLION, MARE, AND FOAL, HE CONSUMED THEM ALIVE!” My body began to shake along with the windows, chandeliers, and anything not held down. The carpets changed from red to green and the checkered tiled swapped colors. The flowers in the hanging gardens bloomed, withered, died, and bloomed again as pressure built in the room. Flashes of light flared around me with distinct snaps as the outrage I normally bottled inside found an outlet through my new magics. A soft pair of forelegs wrapped around my chest from behind, interrupting my ranting. My vision blurred and everything settled as I turned to face a dark alicorn hugging me. After a few moments of clinging to my only friend in the room, strangled sobs began to escape from me as Luna held on tighter. “… every… single… one…” I gasped between them.

Celestia wrapped her wings around us, joining the huddle. They couldn’t see the flashes of Discord rampaging through an empty village or feel the ripples through the chaotic medium as thousands of lives were snuffed out in an instant. Bu I could, those memories fed into my own bringing up old wounds and scars. Being unable to help as something more powerful than me did what it wanted to. A deep pain settled in my chest, beating in time with my heart. That moment, as I stared into the inky void that once held a thriving dimension, when I realized it was my fault that it had been lost. My thoughts began to blur and mesh together, the memories were killing me.

Another presence entered my mind, somewhat familiar. “Is this thing on? Testing, testing, one two three?” I got the impression of him looking around at my current mental state. “Ah, I was hoping this wouldn’t happen. I’ll check back later then.”

Before I could question the fading presence something hard was pressed against the side of my head. A comforting voice filled my mind, pushing aside all thoughts and leaving behind blissful silence. “Sleep now Vigil, everything will be fine.”  The numbness spreading from my chest halted along with the pain in my chest. They both began fade as I felt warmth flow out of the thing touching my head. I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Freaking Tuesdays.