Family Reunions Part Two

Little D and Twilight were led down a dark hallway by a guard in golden armor. The same guard from the gate in fact.

“Sooooo......Skipper is it?” D asked casually, in an attempt to start a conversation.

“Yes,” the guard said shortly.

“Mind if I call you Skips?”

“Yes.”

“Oh ok.” D was quiet for a minute. “I’m still gonna.” The guard grunted in disapproval. “What? It’s a good name!”

“So is the one my father gave me,” Skipper shot back.

“Yeah, but Skips sounds cooler is all,” D replied. Skipper simply huffed in reply. “What’s with you man? You still mad cuz I thought you were someone else? I’ll have you know, my man Hopps was a very well respected member of the guard, Captain actually.”

“It’s not that.” Skipper sighed. “I’ve just been preoccupied with other thoughts is all, kinda anxious.”

“Hm? like what?” D asked.

“Well, you see I got this letter from my daughter a couple of days ago and in it she said that she was having fun with her friends, she misses me, the usual,” said Skips slowly. “Then she told me that she fell out of a tree and broke her arm! I almost died then and there thinking that my little girl was hurt! But I kept reading and found out that apparently a new friend of hers that she met that very morning healed her with magic after her flew up and snatched her out of the air. Can you believe it? A prince saved my daughter!”

“Oh? So you’re Scoots’ pa huh?” D asked with a big smile.

“Wait. You’re the one who saved my little girl?” Skips asked in awe. Suddenly he reached out and grabbed Little D’s hand and started shaking it furiously. “I’m forever in your debt you wonderful wonderful man you!” he cried out, making D inch away uneasily. “Oh wait, you’re a prince! Forgive me Your Majesty! I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything!” He fell to one knee and bowed his head.

“What the hell are you on about?” D asked loudly. “Look man, I’m seriously not a prince, or a king, or anything like that. I’m just the student of Death.”

“Student of what now?” Skipper asked alarmed.

“Student of Death, but I’m trying to keep that quiet,” D said honestly.

“But that was the second thing you told me.”

“And it was the first thing you told that professor who couldn’t stay quiet,” Twilight added.

“I said trying.” D said quietly. “Anyways, I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn't say anything about me being the near-immortal nephew of Death on a life-threatening journey to stop the total annihilation of every soul on the planet.”

“Why do you keep telling him things?” Twilight seethed.

“I’m very trusting of the royal guard.” D shrugged. “So how about it Skips? If it makes you feel any better, Celestia, Luna, and Discord all know about it, so you can talk to them if you have any questions, I guess.”

“After what you’ve done for me, I’d be more than happy to help you in any way I can,” Skipper said as he got up to his feet. “Whatever you need, you got it.”

“Sweet, so as you know, Twilight and I are going to the archives. Maybe you could help us with a bit of research?” D asked happily. “We don’t really know what we’re looking for just yet, and another set of eyes would help us out a ton.”

"I'd be more than happy to help you two out," Skipper said.

"Glad to hear it, Skips. Lead the way to the archives and we'll get started,” D said.

“Will do.” Skips saluted then turned around and led them the rest of the way to the archives.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“That’s a lot of books,” D commented as he looked around the old room full of book-lined shelves. The dull gray room was absolutely jam-packed full of old tomes and scrolls. The air felt stuffy and a haze of dust dimmed the lamps hanging every few feet along the walls.

“I know. Isn’t it wonderful?” Twilight said dreamily. She clasped her hands and danced around the room in wonder. She stared up at a bookshelf several feet taller than her. “I haven’t had a chance to properly examine this place before. Oh I’m so excited!”

“Yeah, uh, let’s see. Where should we start?” D thought aloud.

“Well,” Skipper started. “I guess we should start at the front of the archives and start working our way back and look for anything that seems interesting.”

“Not a bad idea Skips, but we have some vague idea as to where we should start,” D said quietly. “I need to look through material that has anything to do with armies, and I do mean anything. Guilds, mercenary groups, small militias, anything. We have to be thorough.I read the entire history section in Ponyvill’s Golden Oaks library then something clicked when I thought about warriors better than the hawk-men.” D said honestly.

“All right, that narrows it down almost every other military group ever assembled.” Skipper noted.

“Never said is was a strong lead.” D pointed out dryly. “Now let’s split up and start searching, eh?”

“Where are we going to start in all this mess?”

“Uh, I suggest you and Twilight start browsing through the aisles and start plucking out any book the contains the words; war, the battle of, militia, or anything that really catches your eye. I’ll stay up here and start reading through whatever you bring me. Sound fair?”

“I guess.” Skipper shrugged. “I really don’t have a better Idea so I suppose this one will work fine.”

“Hey man, dial it back with the excitement,” D said sarcastically.

Over the next hour, Twilight and Skipper slowly leafed through title after title in search for anything matching Little D’s criteria. D was looking at the titles with a faint smile. “Not a bad looking pile we got forming here.” he thought. “That’s, what, ten big books or so? There has to be something in here.” He picked up the first book in the pile and turned it over in his hands.

“All right Little D, these are the last books,” Twilight grunted as she carried an armful over to him. “What now?”

“I think it would be best if I read these myself,” he said. “You guys can go take a break, but stay close. When the time comes, I’ll need your full focus Twilight.”

“Why me?” she asked puzzled.

“Remember when I said Johnny went insane looking for his memories? That’s because he didn’t have the Elements Of Harmony with him,” D explained.

“What do the Elements have to do with anything?” Skips asked.

“The Elements, when focused, become a magical anchor that I can tether myself to. From what Johnny said, when something triggers a lost memory it’s like, how did he put it, like a huge movie screen is wrapped all the way around you and it’s filled with hundreds of memories all playing at once. Sounds, smells, emotions. Everything is being combined into one experience and the longer you watch, the more gets poured into your head,” he said gravely. “He said that without the power of the Elements, he couldn’t look away no matter how much he wanted to and that his senses became overwhelmed. The sound of all the memories, the toxic mix of emotions he felt and the pain went straight to his head.

“Finally, he said that everything just went black and when he woke up Famine and Pestilence were giving him a look over to make sure he was ok. Physically, he was fine but all the memories that flooded into his head fractured his psyche under the pressure and now he’s got voices in his head. He constantly questions whether things are real or not and even if the time we spent as brothers even happened.”

“Wow. I uh,” Twilight was speechless.

“Yeah, it’s not great.” D nodded sadly. “Johnny’s brain got messed up after just one experience and I need to go through six memories which is why I had to wait so long to find you girls. Cuz, you know, if I went through with this without you and your friends I’d probably end up as a vegetable.” D gave a wry smile. “And on that cheery note, I have some reading to do.” With that, Little D sat down on the floor and opened a book on his lap and began reading.

“So what do we do now?” Skipper turned to ask Twilight but found that she wasn’t there. He looked around for a moment and found her sitting in a corner with her own pile of books. “What are you doing?” he asked her.

“Reading,” she replied simply.

“I can see that, but why?”

“I figured that we’ll be here awhile, so I got comfy. You should find a book to read while we wait Skips.” Twilight suggested. Skipper only shrugged in response and walked over to one of the many bookshelves and began browsing through titles. He wandered to the back of the archives in search of a suitable book. Eventually he found a book that seemed to be older than any other book in the entire archives. It was a thick old tome, bound in tattered green leather and covered with silver swirling knots. He grabbed it off the shelf and flipped through a few pages, but upon realizing that it was written in a different language, he set the book back, grabbed the one next to it, and made his way back to the others and joined in on their silent reading triangle.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Many Hours Later

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D strained his eyes as he attempted to make out the final sentence of the last book in his pile. He let out a grunt and set the book next to him as he raised his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly. “I can’t believe I hit another dead end with this crap,” he groaned dejectedly.

“You really didn’t find anything?” Twilight asked in disbelief.

“Not a single thing,” D said with a tired nod. “Are you sure that was all the books?”

“Yeah, we went through every bookshelf twice,” Skips responded but hummed to himself briefly. “Although, now that I think about it, I did find a really old book all the way in the back that so I flipped through it, but it was in a different language so I didn’t bring it over.” D’s ears perked up slightly.

“Do you remember what the title was?” D asked tightly.

“Uh, I think it was something like: Die-ya as a Messin? Or something like that.” D went rigid at the news.

“Dia as an meaisín,” D said softly. “Go get that book and bring it here. Now.” Skips looked at D confusedly before he turned and hustle to the back of the archives. “Twilight, I need you to focus in and get in touch with your Element of Harmony.”

“Do you think you found something?” she asked excitedly.

“We’ll know as soon as Skips gets here with that book.” D nodded with a grin. “But I want you to focus in before I start reading, just in case it’s what I’m looking for.”

“Ok, but how do you expect me to do that?” Twilight asked.

“Uh, I don’t know.” D stood still for a second in thought. “Uh, try reaching inside and feeling around for it or something. Maybe it’ll just show up automatically?” he offered.

“Well I guess we’ll find out. Here comes Skipper.” Twilight pointed at the soldier as he came out of an isle of books with a thick tome bound in green leather.

“Here you go D. Hope it’s got what you’re looking for.” Skipps said. D snatched the book from the soldier and flipped it open hurriedly. He began reading quickly, mouthing the words to himself. He began pacing around the room and a huge grin plastered itself onto his face.

“D? Did you find something?” Twilight asked.

“Níos mó ná d'fhéadfaí tú a buille faoi thuairim b'fhéidir,” he replied manically. “More than you could possibly guess. It’s all right here, Twilight, this is the entire recorded history of my people, where I’m from, everything.” He smiled softly and seemed to calm down a bit. “I’m an Eponian.”

“You’re a what now?” Skipper asked quizzically.

“Eponian,” D repeated. “A proud race of warriors located on a huge island out in the middle of the ocean.” He let out a deep laugh. “Fuair mé ar deireadh é. I finally got it.” He flipped through the pages hurriedly, drinking in each and every foreign word.

Memories started forming in his mind. Words linked up with others, translated, and stored away. Locations became clear in his mind, old wooden buildings, an ale house, a small village. In his mind’s eye, a map formed of his old home, but two areas were blurred out. It seemed strange to him, but more memories flooded his mind, preventing him from focusing.

More and more images blurred past him, thousands of sights and smells. Sweet, sweet aromas wafted towards him but were quickly replaced with the metallic stench of blood, almost choking him. Memories of lying in the hot sun combined with bitter cold winters, simultaneously freezing and burning him.

The many images began swirling about him in his mind, spinning faster and faster and creeping in closer and closer. D struggled to stay focused, to make sense of all the images around him, but there were too many. They were going to fast. It hurt, a lot. He dropped the book and fell to his knees with a loud groan. As the pain in his head grew his moaning grew louder until he was bellowing in pain.

“Little D!” Twilight cried out and rushed to his side. “What’s happening to you? Are you alright?”

“No I’m not alright!” he roared. His hands shot to his head and he let out another anguished scream. “I need your Element!”

“Ok, uh, give me a second!” Twilight stammered. She closed her eyes and focused on the Element of Magic inside of her. She tried desperately to will the Element awake, to get it out of her and into the open for her friend to latch onto. “Please,” she begged the element. “Please come out and help him.” Suddenly she felt a lump forming in her stomach, then something tugged sharply, making her gasp loudly in pain and surprise.

“Sorry Twilight,” D said tightly. “But if I didn’t latch on, I would have probably lost myself.” Twilight slowly opened her eyes and and was amazed at what she saw. She was surrounded by thousands of moving images. Lush green fields and scorched earth darted past her as sounds of anguished screams and children laughing filled the air. She looked around for Skipper and found him outside of the dome, frozen mid-shout. A purple trail of magic connected her to Little D.

"What is all of this," she asked in awe.

"It looks like scattered events throughout my life," D commented. He pointed to one spinning image. It slowed to a stop in front of them. "This is my thirteenth birthday." The picture featured four shadowy figures sitting before a large, plain cake. "Father got me my first dagger that day. He told me it was made in the traditional style."

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked.

"I wish I remembered, " he said sadly. He released the image and it flew back into the vortex of memories.

"What are we looking for now?"

"I guess something that really stands out." D looked around at the images hopefully. Days flew by him, seasons changed every way he looked. The faces in the memories varied vastly. In one frame someone would be smiling with a mug in their hand and in another frame they could be shouting their anger to the skies. “Well, I’m at a loss here.” D said casually. “There’s just no way for me to tell whether or not something is normal.”

“Why not? These are your memories right?”

“Well yeah but, like I said, these are just scattered moments throughout my life. These might as well be videos or something, I only remember a small amount of these things, not even full events.” D turned around again to look at the memories flying around him. His gaze stopped at an image of a little girl with long crimson hair tied up in a ponytail. “Now wait a minute. This girl looks familiar.” D got closer to the image and gave it a look over. It was a girl about twelve years old, long crimson hair, slightly tanned skin and deep green eyes. Little D stepped even closer.

“Do you know her D?” Twilight asked.

“I think so yeah, I think she’s my-”

“Deartháir mór!” the girl shouted jovially, surprising Little D and knocking him onto his back.

“Deirfiúr beag?” Little D asked in astonishment.

“Who?” Twilight asked confusedly.

“She’s my little sister.” The girl in the image smiled and spread her arm out for a hug. Little D got to his feet and and looked at the girl. Slowly, he began walking towards her, when he was mere inches away he spread his own arms out, making the little girl squeal in delight. Suddenly the little girl’s arms pushed out through the memory and wrapped around Little D’s waist.

“Is breá liom tú deartháir mór!” she cried happily into his stomach.

“I...” D tensed up and looked at the girl in shock. He slowly relaxed and a soft smile crept onto his face as he returned the embrace. “Is breá liom tú ró.” The little girl smiled happily before she slowly began to shine a brilliant white then the images did the same. They began glowing brighter and brighter until the light became blinding, forcing Twilight to shut her eyes.

Then the light simply stopped. Twilight opened her eyes and saw Little D simply standing in the middle of the archives with a faint smile on his face.

“Are you guys alright?” Skipper asked urgently as he ran over to Twilight and Little D.

“We’re fine Skips.” D nodded. “How are you.”

“Uh, fine I...guess.” He shook his head. “What happened to you two? One minute Little D is screaming his head off and Twilight was making sure he was okay and in the next you were both standing in the middle of the room.”

“We’re fine Skips, thank you for your concern,” Twilight said with a smile. “D, are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, but uh, now that you mention it, I think I’m feeling a new power surfacing,” D said and began shuffling around.

“Oh really? What is it?”

“Well, it’s not so much as a power as it is an urge I haven’t had in a very long time.” He shuffled towards the door.

“Well what is it?”

“Twilight, I don’t know how long it’s been since my bladder has worked, but it just got kicked into high-gear and I had twelve gallons of water this morning. Do the math.” And with that, Little D sprinted out of the archives in his desperate search for the nearest bathroom.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Congratulations big brother!” Discord shouted happily as Little D, Twilight, and Skipper entered the banquet hall. “Oh we’re so happy for you.” Discord popped a noise maker into his mouth and blew loudly, making confetti and balloons rain down from the ceiling. “I decorated the banquet hall myself. What do you think?”

“I think this place is fantastic!” D exclaimed as he looked about the fully decorated room. “This is a way better use of your powers than evil.”

“I have to agree,” Celestia said as she took a bite out of a piece of cake. “Discord this cake is fantastic.”

“Oh it makes me so happy to hear you say that Celestia,” Discord said with a humbled bow.

“I never thought I’d ever see a private party in the banquet hall, let alone one with the Princesses and Discord attending,” Skipper said with an awed look.

“And you’re gonna be partying with them too, let’s go!” Little D grabbed Skipper by the wrists and tossed him into the center of the room. The lights dimmed and heavy drapes closed over the windows filling the room with inky darkness. Then a multitude of colorful lights filled the room and a disco ball lowered down into the center of the room scattering thousands of white lights into every corner of the room. “This is awesome!” D shouted over the booming music.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile at Sugarcube Corner
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Pinkie? Are you done with those cupcakes?” Mr. Called into the kitchen.

“You betcha Mr. Cake. I got em’ right h-” Pinkie Pie stopped mid-sentence and collapsed onto the floor, dropping the tray of treats she was carrying.

“Pinkie?! Oh Celestia are you alright?” Mr. Cake ran to the girl and put his arms around her. “Pinkie can you hear me?” her eyes were closed and she was mumbling to herself. “Pinkie? Wake up!”

“smbdy,” she moaned.

“What’s that dear?” Mr. Cake lifted her head closer to his ear. “Speak up now I could hardly hear you.”

“Smbdy,” she grumbled again.

“Somebody? Somebody did what?”

Pinkie began trembling and a deep, dark, anger filled voice burst from her lips.

“SOMEBODY BROKE A PINKIE PROMISE!”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Discord shuddered and grinned as he sensed a disturbance in the Force. “Brother dear, I cannot express how thrilled I am that we can sit down together like this without making attempts on each other's lives.”

“I’m glad too Discord. I’m actually surprised that you aren’t holding a grudge over the time I distracted you while Lulu and Celly trapped you in stone.”

“Me? Hold a grudge?” he reared his head back and laughed out loudly. “Oh dear brother why on Earth would I hold a grudge about you trapping me in stone for a thousand years or so? Condemning me to the most boring torture ever conceived and forcing me to hold the same position for years,” he finished through gritted teeth. “More punch?” He snapped his fingers and Little D’s mug was filled to the brim with sparkling fruit punch.

“Wait, you were trapped for how long?” D asked confusedly.

“Oops. Did I slip up?” Discord sounded nervous, then smiled again. “Little D, I think it’s high-time you knew just how long you’ve been a Walker. Luna, Celestia, it’s time,” Discord called over the music to the princesses who were currently dancing with Twilight and Skipper. The princesses stopped their dancing and made their way solemnly over to Discord and Little D.

“Little D, Discord, Luna, and I have been talking and we decided that, in the off-chance that you didn’t learn from your memories, we would tell you how long you’ve been this way.”

“Uh, ok,” D said slowly.

“Let’s try easing into this,” Luna thought. “D, how old are Celestia and I?”

“Is this a joke?” D asked. “You’re thirty-five and Celestia is fifty-five. Right?”

“No D,” Celestia said sadly. “You’re off by a few thousand years.”

“A few th-thousand?” D asked in disbelief. “Well, how many thousand?”

“About four,” Discord said with a smile. “You were made this way back when King Apollo and Queen Artemis ruled the lands.”

“I-I don’t,” D started. He slowly eased himself into a nearby chair. “It never felt that long.”

“We know, Little D, which is why we felt it was time to tell you.” Luna said softly and laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “We thought you’d be able to plan things out better if you knew.”

“Yeah, I...I guess that makes sense. Thank you for your consideration,” D said weakly. “This is just a lot to take in.”

“We know it is and we’re here for you Brother.” Discord said with a kind smile and it only widened when his watch beeped loudly. “Except for me.” he stood up and walked to the door, his suit was suddenly replaced by a sheriff's uniform. “I gotta do stuff...” he put a sheriff's hat on. “and...things. I also need this back.” Discord grabbed a patch of inky blackness and tugged on it and it began trailing up to him like a carpet. He walked out the door to the main hall and gave the shadowy rug a quick tug and every single party decoration, streamer, shadow, and balloon shot out of the room and flew directly into Discord’s pocket. “I need this for later.” he said simply and just like that he was gone.

“Who took the party?” Skipper asked irritably. “I was starting to have fun.”

“As sudden as Discord’s departure, is I believe it’s for the best. It’s getting late,” Celestia observed. “And you should both get back home.” She addressed Twilight and Little D. “Little D, I’m sorry for burdening you with this information, but I hope you see the logic in it.”

“No, I-I get. It’s just a lot to take in is all. So much lost time. What have I been doing all these years? But I’ll be fine in a day or so. Just watch.” D smiled faintly.

“I know you will be D.” Celestia returned her own weak smile.

“We’ll be gettin’ outta your hair now Celly so you can go to bed,” D said as he got up from his spot. “Skipper, thanks for your help today.” he said with a nod. “Twilight? You ready to go home?”

“I think so.” Twilight said. “But did you grab the book from the archives?”

“What book?” Luna asked cautiously.

“Just a harmless book that gave me my first memory,” Little D said with a smile. “Realax. To my knowledge no one has ever tried to use it to destroy the world or summon a demon or anything like that.”

“Well...alright. Just take care of it.” Celestia said.

“Will do. Come on Twilight let’s get you home. You look exhausted.”

“I feel exhausted.” She yawned. “Let’s go.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!” Pinkie Pie roared, driving the citizens of Ponyville into their homes out of raw fear of the enraged party-thrower.

“I swear, Pinkie, I had no idea Discord had this thing planned,” Little D said nervously as he dodged a plate Pinkie threw at him.

“You told me that I’d be the first to know if there was a party in Canterlot! You Pinkie Promised!” She reached behind her back, pulled out a mixing bowl, and then threw it at him.

“I didn’t even know there was going to be a party,” D said defensively as he danced through Ponyville in his attempt to dodge Pinkie Pie’s projectiles.

“There was a surprise party and you didn’t invite me?!” she screeched with refreshed anger. “Those are, like, the best kinds of parties!”

“Pinkie! I swear if I knew, I would have invited you. But I didn’t know and the party didn’t even last that long.” D vaulted over a strawberry stand just as another plate shattered where he had been standing.

“You still broke your promise Little D!” she hollered.

“I’m sorry ok? How can I make this up to you?” D asked as he waved a little piece of white cloth on a stick.

“WITH YOUR BLOOD!” she threw a plate like a discus and it cut the stick right in half.

“This is getting absurd,” he mumbled to himself. “Pinkie just calm down alright?” He stood up from behind his cover and looked around the center of Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen. “Where did she go?”

“Over here Dee Dee,” came Pinkie Pie’s sing song voice from behind Little D. He turned around and saw the pink menace grinning madly with her party cannon pointed directly at his face.

“Well...damn.” D muttered. Then everything went black.
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“There you are Little D. Where have you been? You disappeared the second we got off the train,” Twilight scolded as the White Walker shuffled through the door.

“I don wanna talk about it,” he said stiffly as he sat down on a couch, his posture rigid.

“Are you ok?”

“I don wanna talk about it.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don wanna talk about it.”

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“I don wanna talk about it.”

“Erm....do you wan-”

“I don wanna talk about it.”

“Ok. ok. Well, uh, it’s been a long day so I’m just going to finish up some chores upstairs then go to bed. Good night.”

“I don wanna talk about it.” Twilight went upstairs and turned off the lights, leaving Little D to sit alone in the dark.

“Craw?” Terra asked from her perch atop one of the many bookshelves in the library.

“I don wanna talk about it.”

Author's Note

Don't forget that uploading your next chapter right when the newest season airs is probably not the best idea.