//------------------------------//
// Chapter 177 - Alls Well that Ends Well? 
// Story: Dadonequus Discord (Book 2) 
// by CrazedLaughter 
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“Silverstream, are you sure you’re ok? You didn’t get hurt at all when the cage went down into that water? Was that even normal water?” You asked as you began your trek out of the cave, Silverstream beside you. She looked fine, and of course, she was more than ecstatic that you came to her rescue.

“Anon, I am super ok! And like I said, the water was nice and cool. But not as cool as you! Wow, you were totally awesome!” She exclaimed as she jumped and hovered over you, twisting her head down to look at you directly, face to face. “Like, more than awesome! You were totally doing the opposite of what I was doing. When you came out from behind that rock, just… Wow! You weren’t scared one tiny bit! Like, at one point, I was starting to think maybe you were a little scared of the Storm King, but then I realized I was super dumb to think that! Because you totally TOTALLY weren’t scared! How, Anon, how were you not scared, like, at all?!”

You let out a light chuckle, enjoying the praise, and yet, knowing the guilt still bothered you deeply inside. “Well, you know, I already faced him before. And well, I mean, look at me, there was no way he was gonna beat me when I have power like this.” You say as you flick your horn. But then you sigh, and look towards Silverstream with concern. “Silverstream, I know you’re excited and all but.” Here we go. “It was my fault, y’know? I mean, my fault that you ended up captured, and that Cozy Glow got hurt.”

Silverstream tensed, her enthusiasm gone as she landed back onto the ground, looking at you with a sheepishly worried look. “W-well, erm, I-I know that. A-actually, Anon, I wanted to ask you about you keeping the Storm King prisoner. Did you really torture him? I know I don’t like him, and maybe he kinda deserved to be sealed away or something like that, but torturing doesn’t sound like something Headmare Twilight would have liked.”

You sigh. “Well, I mean, I didn’t really torture him. I just stuck him onto the butt of a mutant changeling and taunted him. I’ll be honest, I hated the guy, and I felt that was a more fitting punishment for everything he did, and everything he was planning to do. I still feel that way, that he deserved it. But I treated it too much like a game, and I let him get away. Even worse, I didn’t do enough to make sure he was gone after he escaped the chaos dimension, and it all led to this. And that’s where I screwed up.”

“A-Anon…” Silverstream stopped, not knowing what to say. It put her into deep thought. She understood how you felt, and on her end, she was actually glad it happened, if only because she got to see you work, and the fact you came to save her immediately after she was kidnapped. But then she thought of Cozy Glow, and got really worried, as she realized that the last time she saw her was when she got hit. “Erm, I don’t think it was that bad. At least, the whole prisoner thing. I-I think a lot of hippogriffs would have agreed with you on that, so er, it wasn’t that bad a decision. And Cozy Glow, she’s ok, right? The fact you came for me means she’s ok, right? Or else, you would have taken her to the hospital. Which I totally would have understood, by the way. I, uh…” She began to quiver, she suddenly just felt so awful over the whole thing. “Anon, you didn’t let this happen, right? Like, you didn't just not do anything about the Storm King getting away from you?”

“I think so, Smolder is taking care of her now. And no, I tried to make sure he was gone, but I just let it get out of hoof anyway, and like I said, that is totally my bad, and I don’t know how to make up for it. Silverstream, I really am sorry. I know you’re really into me as a hero, but you gotta be honest, do you really forgive me? Even after what happened?” You ask her, twitching from the weight of your guilt.

“Good, I’m glad she’s ok. But, Anon, of course I forgive you. You saw how the Storm King was acting, he was evil no matter what. He tricked you, just like he tricked Cozy. Not only that, but he was nuts! You heard him, he really thinks Cozy Glow has that staff he was talking about. But she never took it, she never even saw it.” Silverstream mentioned. “He made himself look like he was crazy and alone to get to Cozy Glow, just to get his revenge on you. In fact, I bet that cage was intended for Cozy Glow, so he could throw her in there and try to get his staff that way so he could fight you again. Cozy tried to play it off as some sort of trauma thing, she didn't know how much of a manipulator he could be, but he really is that, and he's totally crazy evil and she didn’t even know it. We both know everything he’s done before, so, y’know, it’s not your fault, even heroes aren’t perfect. I'm just glad the staff was really gone, because if Cozy did have it and he tried to get it, then things would be a lot worse.” She said, with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. It wasn't too much, but she at least meant what she said.

“Thanks, Silverstream, really, that makes me f-” Waiiiiit. That’s right, there was a cage and lever and everything in there, when the fuck did he set that up? And Silverstream saying Cozy mentioned the staff, about the 'torture'? She really did mention everything to Silverstream, so what exactly did she know? And what did she mean about traumatized? “Silverstream, what exactly did Cozy tell you about the staff? Does that mean you knew about her trying to reform the Storm King?”

“Huh? Well, no. She said she had a friend she wanted everyone to meet, but thought meeting me first would help him settle his nerves. Cozy basically told me to never mention anything about a staff, because it would have made him totally upset. She told me it was a friend she met in the forest, that he was traumatized, that even when they first met, that he was screaming about a staff, and that she must have stolen it with some help from somecreature else. Well, since we know it was the Storm King all along, then we also know he really was crazy, and still just as evil, then we also know he was probably just lying about everything anyway. Wait, you don’t think he was telling the truth about Cozy, do you? Didn’t you say your dad couldn’t find the staff thingy everycreature was talking about?” Silverstream asked.

Huh, could that have been it all along? Was he just traumatized? Still somewhat crazy from his former transformation? Even Jimmy was still somewhat crazy, despite changing back. And if the staff was around, surely Discord would have detected it. It explains everything, it even explains the cage. Obviously he was delusional, he probably really thought Cozy had the staff, and planned to capture her and torture her at one point to find out where it was. Though, given how he mentioned that Silverstream screamed, he must have panicked and just took her instead to use as ransom. But then, why did he want to leave Equestria? Was he so delusional that Cozy was evil, and working with someone else, that he felt he had no choice but to run at that point? Well, even if you could ask him, the guy couldn’t be trusted. In any case, that seems to explain everything thus far, and clears Cozy of any wrongdoing. Thank christ. “Yeah, he couldn’t. I guess the Storm King was just being desperate. Whatever, he’s gone. I don’t know where I sent him, but he won’t be hurting anycreature ever again.”

“I hope not.” Silverstream said as she followed you out of the cave. She embraced the sunlight, shook and stretched herself, and smiled. “And there’s still plenty of time to enjoy the party too! Isn’t that great? We get to tell everycreature about how you beat the Storm King… Again!”

You winced at that. “Yeah. Er, Silverstream, about that. We should probably try to keep this a…” You stopped. More lies, on top of lies, with the worst thing being you’re just involving more people into it. You could hear Jimmy screaming at you, screaming to just tell the fucking truth, to just go with the trope and everything would be better. But how would it be better if everyone knew you fucked up this hard? “Silverstream, actually, how do you think everycreature would react if they knew this happened?”

Silverstream stopped to think about that, rubbing the bottom of her beak with a claw. “Uuuummmmm, wouldn’t they already know?”

“No, Cozy wanted to keep this all a secret. That’s why I’m asking what you think would happen if they knew. You know Gallus and Sandbar and the others more than I do, so I wanna know what you think.” Cozy wanting to keep this all a secret. Why do those words irk you even? It is obvious she wants to keep you safe, and yet, something seemed off. This whole situation just seemed a little too off and easily hand waved away with the explanation you were given. But what was it? Or maybe your mind was trying to get away from your own guilt. Truth be told, with the staff being gone, and apparently never being found in the first place, you had no reason to believe the Storm Ravager was telling the truth about anything. But that reaction, he just seemed so surprised by that fact. Was he really just delusional?

“I don’t really know. Cozy got hurt so they might be mad about that. But if she’s ok, then they might be alright about it, and erm. Well, Anon, we’re all your friends, right? If it’s one thing we learned from all our classes together, is that forgiveness is important in any friendship. So if I can forgive you, and Cozy can forgive you, then they can too! How does that sound?” She tells you with an ever enthusiastic smile as she swings her arm from one side to the other.

Huh, that didn’t sound bad at all. And given that it is Equestria, that sounds like the usual thing. You knew Scoots would forgive you too, and Sandbar seemed rather upbeat about things. Applebloom would, most likely, but you didn't know about Sweetie Belle. “Silverstream, you’re right. I don’t even know why I was worried. Thanks for that, really!” Yeah, why were you even worried? Hah, you felt like a million bucks. As you both exit the cave, you look into the bright open sky and take a deep breath, taking in that deliciously clean air. 

“Great! See? If you were worried about us not forgiving you, then don’t worry about that! You’re the hero colt, and a great friend, and… Woah!” Silverstream noticed something on the outer cave wall. She dashed up to it, hovering around what she was looking at as she took it all in. “This hole! It looks just like your face! No wonder you were able to find me, Equestria itself was telling you where I was by taking on the form of the mighty hero colt! Anon!” Silverstream lands, then salutes to you with a serious face. “It is an honor to have been rescued by you, truly.” She then broke into a giggle. “Like, you’re totally cool.”

“Uhhhh… Yeah.” Welp, that's a tad demoralizing. Eh, whatever, she didn’t seem to notice WHY that hole was there, so, er, it is fine. You begin to rummage through your saddlebag for your cardboard wings. Once you found it, you slapped it on, and gave them a gentle flap. “Silverstream, we’re gonna be flying back to the old castle, ok? That alright with you?”

Silverstream nodded. “Of course! Are you going to show me some amazing flying maneuvers? Oh, I bet they are hard to do. I wonder if our military would be able to do them. Hmmmmmm.” 

“Er, no, I just kinda wanna fly back because there’s a plant along the way I’d just rather not deal with.” You explain to her as you slowly began to hover. You had to take it easy, and get back into the feeling of flying, or else you just may end up crashing again. “There we go, there we go, nice and easy.”

Silverstream hovered upwards once again, spiraling upwards before hanging high up in mid air. “Yeah, that plant can’t catch us if we’re way up here. It almost snatched up the Storm King too, so I can only imagine if I tried avoiding it. I probably wouldn’t be able to do it at all. It was really scary really, I thought he was going to throw me into it.” Silverstream, in the mire of realizing her own fears, then turns to you and asks. “Anon, really, what is your secret? Your real secret. I know so much more about you now, but it’s like I still don’t know anything at all. Was everything from your dimension just scary? Like, a never-ending nightmare? Is that what it means to be ‘human’?”

That made you wince, and not just from the fact she knew you were once human, but the fact you yourself had forgotten some of the finer details of being human at this point. Sure, there are things that will never leave you. But you have no idea what is going on with current events right now, you can’t remember much about what was going on during the months before entering Equestria, and really, why would you? Life never really had that much going on anyway. You could remember your past before that, your childhood, your traumas. It’s just as life began to run together with mediocrity, it just didn’t become worth remembering. What did she even think about it all? You began to fly forward, maintaining your balance at a gentle pace, as you pondered on it some. “Before I answer, Silverstream, what do you even think about all that? I mean, the Storm King could have been lying to Cozy about all that.”

“I know, but if he was, you would have denied it by now, right? Wait, I’m not bringing up any bad memories, am I?!” Silverstream gasped as she suddenly became apologetic. “I’m so sorry if I am. When I said never-ending nightmare, I didn’t… Oh no, did I offend you? I… I didn’t mean to.”

“No, no, it’s not that. It’s nothing. And, yeah, my old life kinda prepped me to deal with guys like the Storm King. But if you want me to be completely honest, my fight with him, the original fight I mean, it didn’t quite go in my favor. He managed to beat me, then he even beat Twilight and Tempest and tried to blow Canterlot into dust. I was scared then, yeah, but I also was just like, in this depression, like I thought I got everyone finished because I did the wrong move. So I tried sacrificing myself to knock out his attack. I managed it, but then I nearly got my head crushed. Tempest Shadow, the Storm King’s former general, she was the one who landed the final blow, not me. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here right now. I didn’t manage to do everything by myself, I did have help. I even faced the Storm King again before this, he even gave himself a new name, and it's kinda how he ended up how he was now. I beat him so bad, I literally thought he turned into dust, or got eaten, or something. And facing him there and then? Yeah, the secret was that he was already weak at that point, he didn’t pose a threat. Silverstream, I really don’t deserve that statue in Mount Aris, I didn’t beat him by myself.” Wew, Anon, suddenly you really were on a truth streak. You didn’t know how to feel about it, other than some feeling of melancholic liberation.

“But you totally do! You still helped bring the Storm King down! We didn’t know Tempest got the final blow, but that doesn’t matter, because that makes you both heroes! Anon, you still were super important in helping defeat that evil monster! So, you know what? That, to me, still makes you the hero colt I always knew you were. Since the moment I heard about you from my cousin, I knew you were a true hero. And after seeing you handle the Storm King in that cave, I know you totally deserve that statue too.” Silverstream said as she looked back at you with a big uplifting smile.

“Thanks, Silverstream. Wow, you really know how to make a guy feel better.” She really does.

“Aww, you’re welcome, Anon. I love making others feel better! And look, there’s Headmare Twilight and Spike! I bet they're gonna need a lot of cheering up too!” Silverstream said as she began to wave.

WUT?!

You looked forward, towards the old castle. You could see everyone had been gathered at the entrance, even Scrappy was there, standing next to Applebloom. You could even see Cozy, her head bandaged up, standing within the group. Well, at least it meant her wounds weren’t that bad, since Twilight didn’t immediately rush her to the hospital. But the moment you both came into view, you could see Twilight’s head turn directly towards you. 

Fuck…

When you both landed, Silverstream was already greeting everyone, ignorant of their glum faces. “Hey everycreature! Hey, Cozy Glow, yay! You look a lot better despite, erm, everycreature looking sad. Headmare Twilight, hi! W-wait, why do you look so angry?” Silverstream said as she grew increasingly nervous, huddling back a bit as she began to frown.

“I’m not angry with you Silverstream, in fact.” Twilight takes a moment to compose herself, then looks to Silverstream with a half hearted but sincere smile. “I want to know if you’re alright.”

“Oh, I’m ok. Erm, um…” Silverstream then realized who she was angry at. “But you’re angry at Anon, aren’t you?”

Twilight nods. “I’m very disappointed in him, yes. Angry, yeah, that too. Considering everything that’s happened here…” Twilight said as she looked over at Cozy, who ducked her head on reflex as she then looked back into your eyes, her brow furrowing. “He has a lot of explaining to do.”

“But! Everything is ok! If you’re mad about what happened with the Storm King, don’t be! I’m ok! And Cozy Glow is ok too, right?” Silverstream said, trying to appeal to Twilight’s mercy.

“She is, thankfully. And despite hers and your insistence that ‘everything is ok’, I can assure you everything is actually not ok. Endangering one’s life, using chaos magic in matters of friendship which caused another life to be endangered, keeping prisoners just so he can torture them, and that’s just some of what I know. He’s lucky Scrappy spotted you two coming, or else…” Twilight sighs. “I’d rather not have called my friends to search for you. He knows why.” 

Fluttershy, her knowing it got this out of hand, and worrying her that much, ugh. Oh yeah, she had every reason to be upset. Twilight was livid, you could tell, even Spike was looking at you, arms crossed, shaking his head. “Twilight, look-”

But she cuts you off right there. “Anon, not here. Follow me inside. Everycreature else, stay here” She commands as she looks towards Spike. “Come on, Spike.”

But Silverstream tries to say something more, but Twilight cuts her off. It seems she wasn’t having it. You looked towards your friends, specifically Cozy Glow, and you could see she was actually crying, and then ducking her head into Smolder’s chest. Dammit, so much for keeping this a secret from Twilight. Discord is gonna kill you once you tell him what happened. The only thing you could do, and you hoped it worked, you hope Jimmy was really on to something with this, because you had to tell Twilight the truth. So you took a deep breath, and without a word, followed her inside.

It's over, isn't it?