The Tale Of A Shaded Comet

Chapter 20: The Search Begins

It had been another restless night, filled with tossing, turning and the occasional nightmare. So far, John had managed about an hour of sleep, but that was plagued with bad dreams and...visions. Breathing lightly and softly, he watched as the moon began to fall behind the horizon, partially hidden behind the fluffy clouds that dotted the sky. The stars were fading behind a veil of light blue that marked the beginning of a new day.

It was not, however, completely untainted by Discord. There was the occasional pink cloud floating around the landscape, showering anything underneath with chocolate rain. Occasionally, he could see a freakishly tall rabbit dash into the undergrowth. It was horribly familiar, and quite frankly, creeped him out.

Outside, it was cold, but not cold enough to stop John from sitting on the roof of Shaded's house, watching the sunrise, patiently awaiting the daylight. In a few hours it would be time to leave Ponyville, and begin the recruiting. Even though there was only a slim chance, he still couldn't help but think about what would happen if nopony believed him.

What would happen? He would probably have to fight Discord alone. He couldn't simply make Twilight and the Elements of Harmony fight him. They were just too innocent to see that bloodshed. And what about last time? If Discord flipped their personalities again, they wouldn't be able to wield the Elements anyway, regardless of whether they retrieved them or not.

It was almost a lost cause. There were no variables. They would win, or they would lose. The fate of Equestria was hanging in the balance.

John snorted, his breath visible in the chilly air. "Just like a fan fiction back on Earth. Either that, or Discord's getting smart. Maybe both." As he finished his sentence, a short burst of that despicable twist of nature showered him with chocolate rain. Sighing, he blinked and shook his mane dry.

He cleared his throat, remembering a song from Earth. It fit the situation perfectly, and funnily enough, it was about Discord.

"I'm not a fan of puppeteers, but I've a nagging fear, someone else is pulling at the strings. Something terrible is going down, through the entire town, wreaking anarchy and all it brings."

John looked across to Sugarcube Corner, just visible in the distance.

"I can't sit idly, no, I can't move at all. I curse the name, the one behind it all..."

With a sad smile, he jumped off of the roof, sailing over Ponyville at a casual pace, not caring about how loud he was being.

"Discord, I'm howlin' at the moon, and sleepin' in the middle of a summer afternoon. Discord, whatever did we do to make you take our world away? Discord, are we your prey alone, or are we just a stepping stone for taking back the throne? Discord, we won't take it anymore, so take your tyranny away!"

He finished the chorus with an increase in volume, landing on the town hall's roof.

"I'm fine with changing status quo, but not in letting go, now the world is being torn apart; a terrible catastrophe played by your symphony, what a terrifying work of art!"

A few ponies were now awake, opening the shutters on their windows and watching in interest, drawn by John's singing.

"I can't sit idly, no, I can't move at all. I curse the name, the one behind it all..."

He landed on the ground, and began walking through Ponyville. A few ponies that he didn't recognise began to follow him, almost mirroring every move he made. Closing his eyes, he put every last piece of emotion he possibly could into the final chorus.

"Discord, I'm howlin' at the moon, and sleepin' in the middle of a summer afternoon. Discord, whatever did we do to make you take our world away? Discord, are we your prey alone, or are we just a stepping stone for taking back the throne? Discord, we won't take it anymore, so take your tyranny away!"

Stopping, he opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of a road, surrounded by whispering ponies. Facehoofing, he lowered his ears slightly.

"Sorry if I woke you up. I didn't realise I was that loud."

One stallion, a white pegasus with a grey and blue mane stepped forwards. His green eyes were locked onto John's, making him ever-so-slightly frightened. The entire crowd went silent as he spoke.

"So, it's true? Discord's back?"

John could only nod, without stopping staring at the stallion. He had an air of confidence, and it was infectious. It was also as if the stallion knew him.

"Well, he ain't staying. We don't want him here, and neither do you." He pointed a hoof at John, making him wince slightly. Then, the meanings of his words hit him.

"Who are you?" John asked, curious as to his behaviour.

"White Lightning, Royal Guard 1st Airborne Battalion Sergeant, reporting for duty." He said whilst frowning at him. John felt a bit lightheaded, and the world began to spin as he put a hoof to his head. It felt as if his skull was slowly being crushed between two gigantic hands, and his eyes rolled up into his skull as he convulsed, making the crowd gasp and push forward.

The voices around him faded into non-existence as he fell from consciousness, still in agony the entire time. Eventually, he felt himself hit the earth beneath him, and a single swift flash of bright light erupted behind his eyeballs.

Rainbow Dash's eyelids fluttered weakly, and she breathed in through her nose, the faintly recognisable scent of perfume wafting into her nostrils. Shuddering from whatever was giving off a cold atmosphere, she opened her eyes to be greeted with stone. Not just any stone, however. Intricately carved stone, in the shape of bricks with multiple patterens twisting around each rectangle.

This wasn't Shaded's house, and nor was she with John. Frowning in confusion, she pushed herself upright, teetering slightly from side to side. All strength had deserted her in her legs, and she fell over again, crashing with a dull thud against the brickwork. Moaning in confusion, she shook her head to try to regain some idea of what had happened.

The last thing she remembered was John, as he called himself, carrying her up the stairs to his bedroom after he had awoken from their peaceful slumber. She had only batted an eyelid, and buried herself in his forelegs, quickly falling back into a deep slumber.

She tried to get up again, straining to put a hoof in front of her and push upwards. It didn't matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get up, as if something was restricting her movement. She was just about able to rasie herself into a sitting position. Blinking rapidly, she shook her head again, her rainbow mane swaying frantically from side to side as she did so. She was in the Princesses' Throne Room.

She stopped abruptly, thinking she heard something. Turning her head as quickly as possible to the source of the sound instinctively, she saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. Huh. Okaaaay... A rush of air behind her alerted Rainbow Dash to another presence, and she snapped back around, her mane whipping the air. Nothing again.

"Who's there! Come out, I ain't afraid of you!" She yelled, now angry that something could be so elusive, so sneaky, and so downright annoying. A dark chuckle from above her startled her slightly, and her heart pounded fiercely against her chest, becoming louder with each beat, like someone was slowly increasing the volume. She knew that chuckle.

Rainbow Dash directed her gaze upwards, her eyes darting around the ceiling of the enormous chamber. The sunlight became much brighter, the stained glass windows depicting various momentous occasions tinting the light various hues of the spectrum, blinding her with the newfound intensity.

Gasping in pain, she shielded herself with her wings, covering her eyes with them. She was, being a weather pony, used to the bright sunlight, but this wasn't normal sunlight. It was...malicious, if anything. Like it wanted to blind her. Sighing in relief as the darkness healed her, she felt an odd temperature increase in the area around her.

Resisting the urge to pull back her wings, she continued to shield herself, drops of perspiration rolling down her forehead. She heard the chuckle again, and she shivered. Her heart threatened to jump out of her mouth. For what seemed to be the first time, she was genuinely afraid.

"Tut tut. You forgot about the no wings, no magic rule, Rainbow Dash. Guess I'll fix that."

"Discord! Don't you-"

Her wings disappeared, and she forced her eyelids shut against the formidable power of the sun. Her sentence cut short, she growled in anger. Without a warning, she felt herself being picked up by an unknown force, and began to struggle against it, squirming and twisting in the air, unfortunately to no avail.

She felt her eyelids being forced open by the force, and she boldly fought against it for as long as she could, tears rolling down her cheeks with the sweat that began to drip from her muzzle. Eventually, she gasped in fatigue, and her eyelids were ripped open. Trying to look away from the light, she screamed in pain as her eyeballs burned. Figuratively, of course, but still, it hurt.

Without a warming she was dropped to the floor, the light subsiding back into the normal level of brightness, and she found herself looking at two of her most hated enemies.

Discord, the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, who had completely reversed her personality, tricking her into abandoning her friends. He had almost succeeded. And Queen Chrysalis, the Changling queen who had, around a year and a half ago, tried to take over Canterlot. She had almost succeeded.

Both were staring at her with an odd expression on their faces. It looked like a mixture of smugness and disappointment. Frustrated, she snarled at the pair, who responded with a fit of giggles. Growling even more, she attempted to get up, but couldn't move.

"Let me go! What did you do to Shaded!?" She shouted, having the foresight and common sense to not use his actual name. A million and one different theories pelted through her head, pulping her brain into confusion.

"Never you worry my dear, your coltfriend is fine. Just fine. I imagine he's looking for you right now." Discord grinned at her cheekily, and she spat forwards at him. It came nowhere near him, and he simply raised an eyebrow at the motion.

"He's not my coltfriend! He's my..." What was he to her anyway? She really didn't know. John was practically Shaded, but their relationship was never exactly on a coltfriend/marefriend basis. More like really good friends. They hadn't had the chance to make the decision mutually, even if they had both considered each other to be their partners.

"I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, what was that?" He innocently asked, before erupting into another fit of guffaws. She sighed, dropping her head. She lacked the mental energy to deal with him right now. But there was one thought that refused to leave her mind.

"What are you planning?" She whispered, only just able to raise her head. Something was sapping her energy, and she was becoming drowsy. Discord turned to Chrysalis, who grinned evily and steeped forwards. As she did so, she shapeshifted into a very recognisable form.

"What did you do to the Princess!? Where is she!?"

The Changling queen, morped into Celestia's body, smiled and began laughing again, pointing upwards with her hoof. There, nested amongst the ceiling, previously unseen, was the same kind of pod that the Princess was put in almost a year and a half ago.

Baring her teeth, she struggleed against her magical bonds, straining as hard as she could.

"Now now, my dear, we wouldn't want you to get hurt now, would we?"

There was a knock at the door behind her, and everypony froze in place. Discord faded from view, turning invisible, and "Celestia" opened the doors, smiling sweetly. A unicorn guard with a white coat entered, swiftly followed by a brown earth pony guard. Both were wearing the standardised armour of the Royal Guards, and it gleamed in the sunlight.

"You wanted to see us, Princess?" The unicorn spoke, and his voice made her quiver. Wait a minute, John told me about what happened in Canterlot. He mentioned what his torturers looked like. They were a white unicorn and...a brown earth pony.

She gulped, and strained again. The door closed behind them, and they walked past the struggling cyan pegasus, whose eyes pleaded for mercy. Ignoring her attempts, they brushed past her, and bowed in front of the throne.

"Fang. Biter. You do not need to use those pitiful disguises in here. Remove them."

"Yes, my queen." Rainbow Dash yelped in terror, her heart beating so fast that she felt as if it were trying to break through her ribs. The unicorn and earth pony erupted into bursts of green light, showering the room in light. When it ended, in front of her stood two Changlings, similar to Chrysalis in height and colour.

"Teleport to the dungeon with her," she pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash, "and leave her. Do not talk to her, do not feed her. And most importantly, do not harm her. It will interfere with the plan."

Wordlessly, they walked over to Rainbow Dash, and lifted her up into the air with their own magic.

"I'll see you very soon, my dear... Arrivaderci!" Discord's disembodied voice echoed throughout the hall, and she spat on the floor once more. With a flash of green, they reappeared in a rank room that stank of urine, bile and many other things she didn't want to think about.

Still completely silent, they more or less threw her into an open cell, slamming the door closed behind her. She landed on cold stone, and she coughed violently for a few seconds, before regaining her composure, and looking around. On one of the walls and the floorspace directly beneath it, there was a stagnant pool of crusted blood and bile, rougly in the shape of a pony.

The only light came from a small window above the door, and even that was feeble, so the rest of the room was shrouded in darkness. Sighing in frustration, she pulled herself to her hooves, being able to walk fro the first time in what seemed to be hours. With a pang of regret, she realised that Discord still had her wings.

"Celestia damn it." She said to herself, looking at the pony shape on the wall and floor. It was moderately fresh compared to if it had been here for weeks. A couple of days old, at the most. A single, weak cough from another corner off the room caught her attention, and she spun round. She couldn't see who had coughed, but it was feminine, That she was sure of.

"Hello? Who's there?" She walked into the darkness slowly, feeling around with her hooves until she found the wall. She could faintly hear breathing, but it was jumpy, as if whoever was breathing had been crying. Her eyes failed to pick up any sign of the source, so she asked again.

"Hello?" She asked into the darkness again, her voice soft and quiet, as to not arouse any fear anypony may get, should somepony be in there. There was a short, equally quiet sniffle, and a muffled "Yeah?".

"Would you mind coming out here, where I can see you?" Rainbow Dash asked, hearing another jagged breath. Stepping backwards to allow the pony to move out, she stood by the door, waiting patiently.

Out of the blackness, a white foreleg appeared, thin and fragile. Another followed. Rainbow Dash blinked in confusion. The forelegs were out of proportion for a adult pony, so...

"Sweet Celestia..." She breathed, seeing the small white pegasus filly move out of the darkness. Her light yellow mane hung limply off of her head, and was caked in dirt. Her face was also caked in dirt, and her rose eyes were red, probably from crying. As quickly as she could, she lowered herself to her level as the filly ran towards her, embracing her tightly.

Her sobs made Rainbow Dash feel tearful as well, so she tried to console her. "Shhh... It's okay..." She hugged her back, wrapping her forehooves around her protectively. After a while, the sobs stopped, and she released the hug. The filly stepped backwards, and looked straight into Rainbow's eyes.

In a weak, soft and strained voice, she asked one simple question that made Rainbow Dash question her own sanity.

"Do you know where my dad is?"

John sharply drew in a breath, coming to. He hadn't seen anything this time, so it was probably just him falling asleep. He found himself in the Library, lying in Twilight's bed. Calming himself, his breathing slowly regained a steady pattern. He looked outside, seeing it was the evening. He had been out almost all day. he could hear voices downstairs, but he blanked them out, focusing on one thing.

"I'm going to Appleloosa tomorrow. Better get ready."