Extra-Special Chapter 2: Lost Recap
Extra-Special Chapter 2: Lost Recap
While his friends were having a nice morning walk in Canterlot, Chronicle was still asleep, still being a late riser like before. Especially since he slept late due to…yesterday's events.
In the dreamscape, he was attempting to meditate when a certain male alicorn appeared in front of him and addressed him by name.
"Father!" Chronicle gasped.
"Hello, son," Record Keeper replied. "I trust the…incident went well?"
"Yes. Although one of them has a Summon's Contract now. One of the 'visitors' assured me that time travel was involved so it wouldn't call her at a most inconvenient moment."
"I'll be the judge of that. Who's the one with the Contract?"
"Rainbow Dash."
"Okay. I'd like a summary of the incident."
"All right. I was at the training range when you notified me of the arrival of the Interloping SWORD-K wielders and their allies via their GUMI-Type vessel. You told me they were likely to touch down near the Everfree Forest. Twilight Sparkle happened to be close by, so I…notified her."
Record did not admonish him for doing this; Twilight, as well as the rest of her friends, knew of Surveillance. Thankfully, all they knew about it was that it was an prototype device Chronicle used to keep an eye on his charges. The reality was that Surveillance was a standard issue gadget for Story Crew Field Operatives, made for keeping an eye on their targets without actually being near them.
"She met them, and I instructed her not to reveal that she knows, which became important when the AN-8178s appeared. After the little skirmish, she took them to Ponyville. Coincidentally, Pinkie Pie spotted them and started preparing what she does best. Meanwhile, I decided to invite my friends and anypony along the way. Spike was told too, naturally. As we did that, Twilight stalled the newcomers (which I will henceforth call Sora's group, since that's their leader's name) with a tour of Ponyville."
"That sounds risky," commented Record. "What if 'Sora' was a bad guy? That would've been free intel."
"Yeah, you're right. I guess Twilight was still learning more social stuff. Anyway, during the surprise party, we did what was usual for such parties, and we both (parties) introduced ourselves."
Chronicle took out his Surveillance and showed it to Record. While he claimed that nothing short of a "world-hop" can cut off Surveillance's cameras with the main device itself (the monitor), the portal mirrors for some reason do not count. He did have to 'set' new cameras to the Cutie Mark Crusaders after his and his friends' world-hop to Solaris Equestria; all that has been recorded is thankfully 'saved' in the main Surveillance device.
From his son's Surveillance, Record saw that the visiting group consisted of five ponies (two earth, two unicorns, and one pegasus) and two dragons. Sora, the team's 'leader', was a black earth pony. There was only one female in the group, and her name was Kairi, and she was a pink unicorn. Both of them were SWORD-K wielders.
The other earth pony was a white one named Wizard, and possessed a weapon the Story Crew designated as a G-HIKARI). Wizard wielded this thanks to it floating and shooting by his will. The other unicorn was a red one named Lea and used twin chakrams. The sole pegasus of the group was a purple one named Jerry and was what the Story Crew designated as a "4CE-USR-666".
The two dragons didn't look like the kind that were native to Equestria, but from another "target world" called Neopia (which did not have any Field Operatives). They were of different kinds, yet they had generally similar bipedal forms. Also, out of all the visitors, only one of them did not have a certain aura that usually tells the Story Crew that they have transformed to 'fit' the world they visit. That one dragon was named Tychophon. The other, Rael, also wielded a G-HIKARI, and there was something especially particular about him, not that it mattered here.
Record watched the progress of the party, then the part where Twilight and her friends led them to the library where they spilled the fact that they knew that Sora and company were off-worlders. During that time, while they talked about the time the trio of SWORD-K wielders visited Equestria, Chronicle had been communicating with his father discreetly at the training range. Record at that time was standing by for Sora's group's GUMI-Type to cross the time portal he had been about to close before it went through.
"Okay," the alicorn said as he returned his son's Surveillance to him. "Continue at the part where you finished conversing with me there and rejoined your friends."
"All right," Chronicle replied, then continued. "After I talked with you on what I should do, not to mention the good news that we'll be able to reach Blue Diary again soon, I went in, and the subject eventually changed from talking about the SWORD-K wielder trio to Discord for some reason, then to the Elements of Harmony. And then, Mayor Mare came in with the news that blue monsters were attacking the town. We went out, and found—apart from said blue monsters—six mares who apparently bore the Elements of Discord, which I supposed was one of many of his contingency plans."
"Oh yes," Record said. "Celestia told me about them. After I…convinced her to spill."
"Dad, I know you and Mom are happy together, but I don't want to hear you speaking like you just did…something inap—"
"All right, all right. I asked her to tell me after I found out that Prince Solaris isn't the only one she's in contact with aside from me. During the 'incident', you told me she knows the great magus Yen Sid, and I confirmed it. Anyway, here're the profiles of the Elements of Discord." Out of hammerspace came six folders, which the alicorn 'passed' to the unicorn. Chronicle didn't open them yet and decided to continue with his summary.
"As we saw those six mares, they decided to split up. That's when I remembered the elemental crystals I once bought after the first time you talked with Princess Celestia. I got them as a precaution after Discord. Then, we decided to split up to stop the attacking AN-8178s. Along the way, we encountered and defeated plenty of those monsters. Thankfully, my friends weren't as hesitant in getting rid of them after a little talk with them concerning the principles of magical extensions of selves, which the AN-8178s and my magical clones have in common. Of course, Fluttershy still had a few issues, being pacifistic and all.
"And then, after a few hours of fighting, each of the Spirits of Harmony received strange signs that told them to gather somewhere, which was the long path from Ponyville to Canterlot, which by the way had been attacked as well (the city, not the path). We met with the six wielders of the Elements of Discord, and we got into two( or three)-on-ones. They all proved to be quite difficult—"
"Chronicle, read the documents I gave you, now," Record ordered. "It'd be best to do that before you talk any further."
"All right." He then opened the first folder and read its contents.
Midnight Shadow, who wielded the Element of Curse, which was the antithesis of the Element of Magic, was a dropout from Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns after she was caught (successfully) learning dark-elemental magic. That wouldn't have been bad in itself were it not for the fact that she intended to use this for evil intentions. She soon found herself wandering Equestria, doing odd jobs until Discord's release. He gave her the Elements and orders to find the other wielders if he should ever fall. The Elements of Discord had granted them various powers; they granted Midnight further knowledge on dark-elemental spells and combat magic.
Fungus Amongus, who wielded the Element of Deceit, counterpart of the Element of Honesty, once worked in a mushroom harvesting business, but her illegitimate business ethics and penchant for deception soon led to her losing the job. Even before she got hold of her "Element", she already had the ability to spawn mushrooms at will thanks to reading from an unknown "-nomicon" tome; the Element just allowed her to make her "mushroomspawn" move at her command. In further contrast to Applejack, Fungus had the stamina of an average unicorn; therefore, she got tired quite easily in physical terms.
Warmonger had wielded the Element of Malice, the antithesis of Kindness. She had been drafted to join the Canterlot Royal Guard after her cutie mark appeared, but her unchecked and uncontrollable lust for violence resulted in her expulsion and she would've been imprisoned too had she not managed to escape. She spent some time as a thief and in fact had confronted the Spirits of Harmony before; during their trip to peacefully evict Basil the mountain near Ponyville. She was already earth pony-strong, but her Element made her even stronger.
Jewel had the Element of Avarice, opposite to Generosity. Prior to acquiring her Element, she was just a spoiled Canterlot snob whose father was a corrupt corporate executive. Fortunately for Canterlot, it wasn't large enough to be a big enough influence. During Discord's rampage, he found her as a prospective 'candidate' and tempted her black heart with three special magic gems that allowed her to manipulate the earth to her bidding and shoot beams. She was more of a neat freak than Rarity, but she doesn't break down when dirty enough but instead goes on a rampage on the one responsible; surprisingly, she wasn't a physical pushover, although where and how she trained her body is unknown.
Bluebird was the wielder of the Element of Despair, the dark counterpart to Laughter. A lonely blank-flank, she had been shunned and teased her whole life. Unlike Apple Bloom, who had found friends in Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle and together formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she was unapproachable and nopony helped her. It didn't help that she was an orphan. The only reason she even stayed alive at all while remaining a lonely pony is because of a "friend" named Black Rainbow, who for some reason found her…interesting. Bluebird's Element gave her a defensive aura that 'reflected' any and all damage inflicted on her. It also granted her the ability to enlarge herself when sufficiently irritated. Even without the Element, her mane is "expressive" just like Pinkie Pie's.
Speaking of Black Rainbow, she bore the Element of Betrayal, the reverse of Loyalty. She was a former Cloudsdalean, and a former "Transporter". After breaking one of its rules ("3. Never open the package.") and taking its contents for herself, she became a world-traveling thief. During that time, she joined a multitude of thieves guilds (and guilds not exclusively for thieves)…and has been thrown out of each of them because of her penchant for betraying her allies to their capture/death/whatever to save her skin or take all the credit/reward for herself. The only one she never betrayed however was a pony named Bluebird, whom she deemed "interesting". Her talent for speed came from her making deliveries…and fleeing her pursuers. Out of all the Elements of Discord, hers did not bestow on her any extra powers/abilities.
Bluebird and Black Rainbow were the only ones who have…a history with each other before Discord's fall and Midnight gathered all the Wielders together. Their relationship was strange and one-sided. Bluebird would be given her "life essentials" by Black, but the blank flank would ignore her. Black was seemingly okay with this though.
Once Chronicle was finished reading, he returned the documents to Record, then continued, "Typically, the Spirits of Harmony faced off against their dark counterparts as we were teleported to various locations. Spike and Kairi joined Twilight, Tychophon and Rael were with Applejack, Wizard and I assisted Pinkie, Lea got involved with the two Rainbows, Jerry was with Rarity, and I had to count on Sora to protect Fluttershy.
"Each battle had been hard. Midnight and Twilight had been engaged in a violent magic duel, and even with Kairi and Spike to assist, the dark-user was almost wiping the floor with them. Both Rainbows were nearly evenly matched, but Dash also had the extra burden of keeping Black off of the 'helpless' Lea. Sora was getting trounced by Warmonger. Wizard and I were trying to find a way to get around Bluebird's 'shield'. Jerry had to keep Rarity safe from Jewel's 'crystal rampage'. And Fungus was toying with Applejack and her allies.
"Soon, the tides thankfully turned to our favor. Fluttershy's anger soon sparked and she began counterattacking in Sora's behalf at Warmonger. Jerry ended up crashing during his flight…and kicked up dust that irritated Jewel enough to break her concentration. Wizard, Pinkie, and I eventually discovered that in some cases, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony weaken their Discord counterparts, especially if it is its opposite; for example, having the party pony sticking close to Bluebird nullified her 'damage reflector', although we then faced a new problem in the form of her…supersizing. The only definite cases of those though were just this and Warmonger's.
During the fight, Lea found an opening after both Rainbows ended up rolling on the ground and used it to his advantage. Sora, Kairi, Wizard, and Rael seemed to get their second wind and turned the battle further in their favor. Eventually, we managed to win at little cost to ourselves, although it almost seemed we killed them, which was a serious blow to my friends.
"Thankfully, Princesses Celestia and Luna arrived, both to greet the visitors and (seeing them crying) comfort my friends. Once that was done, as well as extracting the Elements of Discord from its wielders (the items in question were five simple pendants and one black circlet), we were all teleported to Canterlot Castle's Throne Room. There, she told the visitors she got a message from Yen Sid. After relaying it, the visitors began their farewell. Just then, something from inside Twilight began to shine, and so did something in Kairi's personal items. It seemed to be a ritual of sorts that would grant her something in the future."
"What is this weapon likely to be?" Record asked.
"According to Rael, Twilight will get what the Story Crew designates as a SWORD-K, a G-HIKARI, or an F-YAMI. And Lea says her getting a SWORD-K is more likely however, not in his own words of course. Twilight then asked if there was any way they could help now, and that's when Rael took out the trinket that led to the Summon's Contract.
"I couldn't make them refuse, not with them eager to try and aid Sora's group in their quest however possible, not without refusing the Princess, who was agreeing with this deal. I've turned her down a few times before on a few things without much trouble, but this…I just felt bad being the only one who didn't want to 'contribute in saving the world'. So, I decided that if one of them was going to be the summon, it would be the one who's most capable of fighting, barring myself because of the Story Crew's rules imposed on a Field Operative like me. I underwent a quick mental analysis on my friends' skills and who would be most useful. In the end…"
"You told me in the beginning. It was Rainbow Dash."
"Yes. Only after that did they go on their way. Celestia offered us to sleep here for the night. But as we did that, I also sent a clone to inquire on the status of the Royal Guard's captain. I also saw that Twilight seemed a bit more worried than usual as we went to bed." Record was about to say something when he was cut off by his son. "Please, don't 'spoil' it for me, Dad. I'm not gonna assume he and Twilight are relatives. I mean, in Luna Equestria, Ditzy Doo and Amethyst Star are only related by proxy, the former having had an affair with a stallion and the latter being his legitimate daughter. Also there, Berry Punch and Cheerilee are siblings. Those are not the case here."
"All right." Record then dismissed the documents. "Just so you know, after their therapy, the wielders of the Elements of Discord will be returned to society. Their memories of what they did will remain, but the higher-ups in the Story Crew feel that this incident is very…disruptive."
"Disruptive?" 'Disruptive' in the Story Crew meant that a world's "story" might turn 'inadequate' because of an off-world source, just like the case with the Shisno siblings in the world "Four Nations" (not all Shisnos had this penchant though, and everybody was aware that the word meant something extremely insulting). 'Disruptive' events like this SWORD-K wielder visit.
"Yes. Disruptive. You know what that means, right?"
Chronicle grumbled at this. "Ugh. It means a mass-memory modification is in order?"
"That's right."
(Apart from 'recording tales', The Story Crew also specialized in memory modification; they were more refined in it that just simple memory wipes though. They preferred 'memory locking', where the subject does remember what has happened, but the 'locks' prevent it from being recalled. A legendary team in the Story Crew was able to refine the technique so that it wouldn't cause mental trauma for those who try to remember and instead are just coerced not to divulge what they know. If multiple subjects have a memory of a blocked event and they all know they all know the event, they will still remember it, but not mention it in the presence of those not in the know.)
The higher-ups of the Story Crew are extremely enigmatic in their decisions, apart from 'the Book Troop must be stopped, but we have to adhere to the rules'. Despite this supposedly feeding plenty of fuel for doubts, Record Keeper and his family did not question them; they knew what they were doing, and they did not necessarily enjoy it, which helped them from abusing it. It would be very difficult for an outsider to understand and it was difficult for its members to provide a satisfactory explanation. That was why they preferred that outsiders do not know of it (although their 'catalyst' is doing their best to explain).
Chronicle gave a deep sigh. "So the…AN-8178 incident is to be forgotten?"
"To a degree, but these Elements of Discord… they're too important a memory to repress without severe consequences. So I've come up with some sort of…compromise." And with that Record began to explain.
Memories concerning the AN-8178s will be replaced with memories of 'mysterious blue monsters'. Sora and company will be remembered not as off-world visitors, but as travelers from a faraway land yet still in Equestria. Their talk about knowing the previous three off-worlder visitors from months ago (as well as memories concerning those three) will also be remembered likewise.
Only the Spirits of Harmony, Spike, and the Princesses (as well as the former wielders of the Elements of Discord) will still know the truth, but their memories of it would be locked; they will subconsciously never bring up the real incident (in a way that might trigger the memories of those who no longer remember) in the presence of those who don't know.
"I guess that's for the best. Is there anything else I need to know?"
"Yes. Your sister and your younger brother have been visited by similar SWORD-K wielders and their allies. They also came in via GUMI-Type vessels, and the residents there have underwent similar circumstances like you. Except for Blue Diary, who did not face any Elements of Discord in the end. Rather, it was just a large AN-8178. We still can't contact him right now however."
"That's too bad."
"Fortunately, we should be able to reach him again in a few weeks."
This disappointed Chronicle. "That long?"
"Yes. One, if we're lucky, but then it will start re-syncing as a result of the time-flux in his Equestria."
"Darn."
"Well, anything more you like to ask or tell me?"
"Nothing. That will be all, Father."
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