At Fluttershy’s cottage, Fluttershy was putting some food in a picnic basket to get ready for a family get together, though the get together wasn’t just for her family. It was a multi-family get together for the families of all her friends’ families. Of course Discord was involved too…
“Why are you packing for the picnic now? The picnic isn’t for another two days.”
…even if his involvement was only to play the part of the Peanut gallery.
“It never hurts to be prepared ahead of time,” Fluttershy said cheerfully, “You should try planning ahead sometimes.”
“What’s the point of planning when you can have anything you want at the snap of a talon?” Discord said before snapping his talon and summoning a life sized Fluttershy plushie.
“And what kind of example would that set for Ecko?”
“Fine, I’ll try it your way.” With that said, Discord summoned a tray of cookies before dramatically falling down in mock pain, “Oh, the preparation! It hurts!”
Fluttershy tried to keep a straight face. But she couldn’t help but giggle at his antics, “You don’t have to do any planning right now. I just don’t want you making Ecko think planning ahead isn’t worth it.”
“But two days just for a picnic?!” Discord exclaimed, “I think you’ve been friends with Twilight for too long.”
“Perhaps,” Fluttershy said as she poured the contents of a teapot into a pitcher with ice, “But part of it probably has to do with being a mother. Being a parent is a lot of work. And so it helps to have some planning skills.”
“Which you got help with from Twilight,” Discord added.
Ecko then came down the stairs with a proud look on her face as she trotted up to her mother, “Mommy, I packed the picnic blanket like you wanted!”
“That’s great, honey!” Fluttershy praised.
Ecko then squeaked in shock when her mother’s voice was coming from the left of her. With her echolocation, she saw the figure of her mother standing in front of her…and a second form of her to the left of her by the table. Seeing as the voice came from the other Fluttershy, Ecko hesitantly reached forward. When she touched what was in front of her, she realized that that Fluttershy was just a plushie. Discord then began cracking up in laughter…figuratively and literally.
“What is he doing back here? And why now?” Celestia had asked herself as she had paced back and fourth in her room, “I thought he was gone for good! It’s been over a thousand years since I’ve seen him last! Of course I never expected him to forgive me after all these years. But what drew him here now? Was it Luna? No, he would’ve sensed her arrival years ago.”
“Aunt Tia, is something wrong?” Celestia was so focused on her own musings that she hadn’t noticed Dax come in, “Mom’s been worried about you recently. And I’m starting to worry too.”
Celestia looked down at Dax, a tear forming in her eye. Celestia always felt a twinge of guilt whenever she saw the young hybrid changeling. She reminded her of the secrets of her true past that she’s only recently started thinking about again.
“I’m sorry to worry you, Dax,” Celestia said with a sigh, “I have had something on my mind lately. But I promise it’s nothing to concern yourself about.” Though her words were true, they were also deceptive. Even if Dax or Luna wanted to help, there was nothing they could do.
“Okay!” Dax said cheerfully before heading out. But she stopped for one final question, “We’re going to Ponyville for the picnic in a couple days, right?”
“Of course we are!” Celestia replied with a cheerful laugh.
With one last smile, the hybrid changeling trotted out of the room. Celestia then gave a sigh once she left, relieved that, at least for the moment, she didn’t have to make excuses. But then something occurred to her, “He wasn’t drawn here because of Dax, was he?”
A dark figure was lurking in the Everfree on his way to the castle of the two sisters. But he got sidetracked as he saw a Zebra picking herbs. The figure took the form of a dark red miasma and hid in a bush to watch.
As he got a closer look, he saw that the herbs she was taking had no nutritional or medicinal value. But Zebra’s were known for their potion making skills. He recognized the plant as aetate grass, a mildly poisonous grass.
“Come out and show yourself to me! Otherwise leave and let me be!” The zebra called out, “I know you’re there in that bush! Will you come out now, or shall I give you a push?”
‘How’d she know I was here?’ The figure thought to himself before replying, “If you know I’m here anyway, is it really necessary for me to reveal myself?”
Because of his miasmic form, the voice seemed to be part of the wind itself.
“There’s no need to hide if you’ve been found! Come out from the darkness and stand your ground!”
“If you insist, I’ll come out and stand my ground. But it is the darkness to which I am bound,” the figure said, mimicking Zecora’s rhyming. The miasmic form left the cover of the bush and went into the shadows to take solid form. He then stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself. He was a large black alicorn with a dark red mane that seemed to flow like an ethereal fire. His eyes were a piercing red with slitted pupils like a cat.
Seeing this new figure startled Zecora, “Nightmare Moon?! No, that is not you. But her power is what yours is identical to. How can it be that you exist, when the elements’ power should resist?”
“Nightmare Moon…so, is that what mother has named the Tantibus?” The dark alicorn questioned, “It’s fascinating what you learn in history…”
“…But the truth is not what we see,” Zecora finished in rhyme, “My clan’s history has been passed down every century, and eventually made their way down to me. A tale gets taller each time it’s told. But the core of the story stays true and bold.”
“If not documented in writing, memory is not a reliable source of events that have happened millenia ago,” the alicorn said calmly, “But if it holds a glimmer of truth, then perhaps the past is not lost after all.
The alicorn was about to leave, returning to his main focus. But what Zecora said next stopped him in his tracks, “If what the stories say is true, then what happened to Luna can be blamed on you.”
What happened next happened to fast for the eye to see. But the next thing the zebra knew was that she was being held up against a tree with a magical aura around her neck ready to squeeze if she said the wrong thing. He then looked at her cutiemark, “I should’ve known you were a member of the Rana clan!” He growled.
“Are you really going to judge me, based solely on my family tree?” Zecora asked, struggling, “Didn’t you support trial by jury? Or do you desire to judge me in a hurry?”
“What reason would I have to trust what you have to say?! You’re a Rana!” the alicorn growled, his eyes glowing with rage as he tightened his magical grip around the zebra’s neck.
In a hilly field (where there was plenty of soft grass), a couple of colts where wrestling with each other, both having the desire to become a member of the EWE. The first was Sweet Apple, a purple unicorn with a short but fluffy red mane and blue/green eyes. Although Sweet Apple was younger than the other colt, he could easily take on a pony older than his opponent. Although, so could his opponent.
The other colt was a cream colored pegasus with a brown, short, slightly spiky mane, with brown eyes to match. He was Pound Cake. His ability to take on older opponents was for a different reason than because of Sweet Apple’s Strength. Pound simply didn’t let pain stop him…because he felt no pain to begin with. His congenital analgesia prevented him from feeling pain. This explained why he was constantly destructive as a foal. He had a desire to test his limits, not having the ability to be aware of said limits. He couldn’t feel pain, which often earned him many visits to the doctor.
Off to the side was Pumpkin Cake, who was reading the book she took from the library. She wanted to learn more about her brother’s condition and see if there was any way to cure it. Though she doubted that the doctors would lie about there not being a cure, she still had hope. If nothing else, at least she got to learn more about it.
As Pumpkin read, another pony approached. It was Ecko, who needed to get away from Discord for now. Though he was fun at times, there were other times where he simply made things awkward.
“Hi, Pumpkin,” Ecko said, causing Pumpkin to jump out of her skin, “Oh, sorry.”
After catching her breath, Pumpkin replied, “Don’t be sorry. It’s just that you’re so quiet on your hooves. I swear you could walk through a forest with several twigs and dry leaves on the path, and I bet you wouldn’t even make a sound then.” She then realized she went off on a tangent, “Sorry about that. Is it too late for me to say ‘hi’ back?”
“Well, you just did, I guess,” Ecko said with a chuckle, “It’s not that I try to be sneaky. It’s just that I am. Sometimes, if I didn’t know I were a pegasus, I’d probably believe I was a unicorn who was subconsciously creating a silencing spell on my hooves.”
“Well, pegasi are naturally lighter than other races,” Pumpkin said, “But there’s just something about you and how silent you are that seems almost unnatural.” See Ecko lower her head in shame made Pumpkin reevaluate what she said, “I didn’t mean that in a bad way! I just mean there just seems to be something special about you!”
“Whether I’m weird, special, or just different, I just sometimes wish I wasn’t,” Ecko said, “Sometime I wish I was normal and could just blend in with the crowd. Even when I don’t use my echolocation, I can still feel ponies’ eyes looking at me like I’m different. Sometimes I feel like they think I’m a creature from the Everfree Forest or something.”
“Considering that your mother has a stare that almost seems supernatural, she can talk to animals and understand them, and was able to…befriend Discord,” Pumpkin said, reevaluating her original intent to use the word ‘tame’ to describe Discord, “Perhaps there is some otherworldly aspect about you that was inherited.”
“Have you ever seen my mother get angry?” Ecko asked.
“No.”
“Well, if you have, you’d realize that that is otherworldly,” Ecko giggled.
“The idea of you mother getting angry is otherworldly in my opinion,” Pumpkin said jokingly, “I just hope she doesn’t find out about us talking about her getting mad.”
“Well maybe I would be able to sneak away unnoticed before she knew I was involved,” Ecko said.
“And leave your best friend all alone to deal with her?”
“I’m sure I can make new friends.” The banter between the two continued, leading from angry Fluttershy to making new friends to, for some reason, cupcakes.
Eventually, the conversation lead to the reason why Ecko was here, and how she needed to get away from home because of how embarrassed she was about thinking a plushie was her mother. Pumpkin giggled at the idea, but immediately apologized.
Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a sickening thud. The two fillies turned towards the wrestling match, where Pound had been thrown into a tree with the force of Applejack bucking an apple tree. Sweet Apple ran up to Pound, worried that he may have hurt him…before reconsidering that idea.
The fillies ran to Pound, also worried that he may unknowingly be injured. However, Pumpkin was more worried, since unlike Ecko, she could see the multiple bruises.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Pound said confidently, not feeling any pain, though he was starting to feel a throbbing in his side where he hit the tree.
“Fine?! That impact sounded like it could’ve broke you in two!” Ecko exclaimed with a sense of panic in her voice.
“And don’t tell me you’re fine when you have all of those bruises!” Pumpkin added, only adding to Ecko’s own panic, “We should take you to the doctor to make sure there’s no internal damage!”
As much as Pound wanted to protest, he couldn’t ignore the throbbing in his side, or the panicked look in Ecko’s eyes, “Well, I guess if I’m to train to become a wrestler, I should do it when I’m in my top condition,” Pound said, too prideful to drop the tough colt routine. But there was something in the tone of his voice, something only Ecko would’ve picked up on, that was like he was saying to her, ‘I’m sorry I scared you’.
This was a common occurrence between the two, where Pound would say one thing, but mean something else, and Ecko being the only one to pick up on the hidden meaning. This also creating a misconception with Ecko, since she would always smile or blush (or both) at what he said, leading others to believe Ecko had a thing for the tough colt act.