Flurry, her parents, Zealot, Discord, and the rest of the Guardians stood in the throne room as the alicorn princess dug into her saddlebag. Fluttershy had tried to tell her husband to stay outside the room, but he was so anxious to find their grandson that he went in anyway.
When Flurry pulled out a crystal disk the size of her hoof, Discord scoffed, “That’s your copy of the Cutie Map?”
Mischief told him, “Just wait.”
After his fiancée set the disk on the floor, the seven Guardians touched it with the tips of their hooves. When they retracted their hooves, the disk began to glow and project a holographic map of Equestria and beyond. The map rose and expanded until it reached the level of the Guardians’ chests. Images of their shimmering cutie marks then flew from their flanks and into the air. When six of the cutie marks started spinning around the pink heart with blue wings and the slingshot, they descended onto a picture of a fluffy yet unfamiliar cloud positioned on the left edge of the map.
Nova remarked, “That’s strange. That wasn’t there before.”
Blaze agreed, “Yeah. Every time we got summoned by the Cutie Map, that cloud was never there.”
Mischief asked as he squinted his eyes, “But why would the Map…?” Suddenly, his eyes widened in realization. “Unless…it’s Paraddock!”
The ponies gasped, seeing that he was right.
Discord exclaimed, “Of course! That’s why it was cloudy over that field when I tried to find Oddball!”
Flurry chimed, “Because Oddball must be on Paraddock!”
Roller stated, “And if we find Oddball, chances are we’ll find the other kids, too.”
Discord scowled at the Map and asked, “Then why hasn’t the Map called me there? I’m Oddball’s grandpa!”
As if a response to his question, a cartoon of Discord’s head appeared and jumped over to Las Pegasus.
He exclaimed in angry disbelief, “Las Pegasus?! I mean, sure, I was planning to go to Las Pegasus, but come on! My grandson’s life may be on the line here!”
Skater said, “Okay, A: I don’t think the kids’ lives are in as much danger as you think, and B: it’s obvious the Map is sending you to Las Pegasus for a reason.”
Discord considered the mystery of Gladmane’s amulet and begrudgingly sighed, “Fine. I’ll go to Las Pegasus, but if you find Oddball and he’s okay, keep him out of trouble. He might be in enough trouble already.”
“We Pinkie-Promise,” Apple Butter said as she and her friends did the gesture.
Just then, there was a knock on the double doors.
Shining Armor ordered, “Enter.”
When the doors opened to reveal a Crystal guard, he said, “Your Highnesses, Princess Gale Force has woken up.”
Many ponies and creatures waited outside the bedroom door as Sky Blitz, Whirl Wind, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Flurry Heart, and her parents stood by Gale’s bedside.
After Gale sipped her cocoa, Cadance asked, “Can you tell us what happened last night?”
Gale elucidated as she recalled the events of the previous night, “I had a dream where I was in Rainbow Falls, and Mommy was racing the other Wonderbolts. Then when she toucheded the finish line, I hearded…singing. Yeah, singing. Someone was singing, but I didn’t know who it was, so I started searching for her. I was hearing the voice, but nopony was there. Then, something hit me in the face and I waked up and fell! Lucky, I flappeded my wings so I wouldn’t hit the ground and hurt myself.
“I lookeded all around and I was up in the air! I mean, way up! I was even higherer than the castle!”
Whirl Wind remarked, “Wow! Just how high up were you?” He received an abrasive tap from his wife for asking such a question.
Gale put her hooves on her hips and said indignantly, “I told you, higherer than the castle!”
Flurry asked, “Did you see Paraddock?”
The filly waved her hoof and pffted, “Yeah, I did! It was huge, and there was beams that was taking kids.”
Shining Armor rubbed his chin and asked, “So you didn’t see the scary figures who were at the dinner last night?”
Gale thought about it and then shook her head, “Nope. Just kids. Oh! But not the one who fell. I had to fly down to save him.”
Sky Blitz surmised, “So that’s how you got on that store awning.”
Her daughter asked, “What’s a store awning?”
Rainbow explained, “Grandpa will tell you after Uncle Shiny, Aunt Cady, Flurry, and I go.”
Flurry smiled to Gale as she left the room with her parents and aunt, “Hope you’ll feel better soon.”
After his wife closed the door behind them, Shining Armor told the others in the hall, “Okay, so we got a situation with Paraddock here.”
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah. I bet my left hoof that the Dark Riders and Dandy are behind it. They must’ve created a cloud so they could beam up the kids while we were all sleeping.”
Twilight shook her head, “No chance. If Dandy had created a cloud, it would’ve been no higher than the tallest tower of the palace.”
Sunset agreed, “No doubt about it. This has to be Paraddock.”
Timber put his hoof to his chin and pondered, “But why would it…?” He then realized, “Oh, wait! That attack by the Dark Riders! Whoever’s on Paraddock must’ve thought the kids were in danger!”
Discord smirked to Rainbow Dash, “Well, there goes your left hoof.”
When her left hoof flashed to Discord’s claw and her arm was left with a smooth blue stump, she cried, “Hey!” She instantly grabbed her hoof and fastened it back onto her arm.
Shining Armor said, “If the Empire is still in danger, a group should stay here to keep a lookout.”
Skyla suggested, “Maybe another group should go to Maris to talk to Dandy Grandeur while another should go to Las Pegasus with Gladmane. If negotiations with Dandy fall through, at least we’ll have a plan to thwart him.”
Starling nodded, “That’s right.”
After meeting with Gladmane again, the members of each group were chosen. Cadance and Shining Armor would stay in the Crystal Empire with Celestia, Sombra, and Luna; six of the biological Canterlot sisters would travel to Prance with five of their husbands; Twilight and Flash would return to Canterlot to resume their duties; and the group that would go to Las Pegasus would consist of Skyla, Discord, Starling, her husband, her cousins, and her cousins-in-law. Naturally, Whirl Wind and Sky Blitz wanted to bring their daughter with them just to keep her out of danger. As for the Guardians and Zealot, they knew where to go, but their dilemma? How to get there. They knew from the legends that Paraddock was protected by an invisible barrier, so they planned to spend the night preparing for their mission and finding something to enable them to get through the barrier.
Mischief sat on his bed and scoured through yet another book that had a Paraddock story or two in it. When he found nothing useful, he groaned and decided to magically flip the pages for the heck of it. Just then, a particular illustration caught his eye and he turned a few pages back to look at it. On the page was a picture of a draconequus standing next to the base of a beanstalk and looking up the tall plant.
He read the section aloud, “’In the land where alicorns and draconequui co-exist (although not peacefully), the draconequui would grow beanstalks of extraordinary height. Possibly grown as attempts to surpass the alicorns, these beanstalks would pierce through the clouds and are said to reach the highest level of the sky, where not even the alicorns can go.’”
This gave Mischief an idea and he dug into his mane until he pulled out his box of beans. He opened the lid and saw the three clear beans just sitting on the comfy cushion within the box. Suddenly, an unfamiliar memory began to play in his head. He closed his eyes and used his mind’s eye to focus on the memory. He saw a blurry outline of a purple creature with orange splotches on what seemed to be the head.
As the creature opened a box of beans and held them to Mischief, the blur said, “See these, Mischief? These are magic beans. You can use them to come back to Paraddock whenever you want to or need to.” The creature sheepishly added as it shrugged, “Whichever comes first.”
Just like that, the memory vanished. Mischief didn’t know what he saw until he realized that it was the same creature he remembered before his time with Cauldron Bubbles. He was right: the beans did come from the creature that brought him to Cauldron, and also brought him to Paraddock! That was how he was saved from the blizzard! Maybe if he used the beans to go back to Paraddock, he could find the creature that had saved him and shed some light on his past.
“Mischief?”
His beloved’s sweet voice broke his reverie and he turned to see her standing by the doorway.
He said with an excited smile, “I think I know how to get up to Paraddock. I was searching through this book and I found out that the beanstalks the draconequui used to grow would reach high altitudes that even the alicorns couldn’t get to.” He grabbed the open box and showed her the beans, “These beans came from their homeland, so we can grow them into a beanstalk to reach Paraddock.”
Flurry looked at the clear beans in amazement and then asked Mischief, “Where did you get them?”
He explained, “When I was a baby, I was beamed up to Paraddock after the blizzard hit. It’s very vague, but I remember a purple creature who gave me the beans before I was brought to Cauldron’s house.” He looked at the beans and continued, “If I can find…the one who rescued me, then maybe I’ll have some answers.”
“What kind of answers?”
“Like how did he – or she – find me? Or why was I dropped off at Cauldron’s house? Why didn’t they keep me?”
Flurry put her hoof on her fiance’s and said, “If you’re trying to find out who you are, I think I may have the answer.”
Mischief looked at her and asked in confusion, “You do?”
She nodded and responded with a smile, “Because I know you.” She then began to sing, “You showed me the truth…when I felt all alone inside…You reached out your hoof…and took me on a magic, wild ride…One look at your smile…and I could see the light…shining everywhere…Ponies like you don’t come out of thin air…”
Mischief sighed as he put his hooves on the floor, “Oh, Flurry…” He then leaned out the window as he sang, “You don’t understand…There is so much that you don’t see…Just think if you can…what growing up had to be like for me…You had your parents…to teach you who you are…Mine were never there…So how can you say…I don’t come out of thin air? There’s so much I want to know…”
Flurry walked up to be at his side as she sang, “You’ve got the chance to learn…”
“If it means we’d have to go…”
“They’ll be right here when we return…Our wedding can wait…”
“I love you…”
“I think it’s worth a small delay…”
“Maybe you’re right…”
“And won’t it be great…to shed some light before our wedding day?”
“I’ve waited so long…”
“It isn’t too late…”
“To learn the truth…”
They both sang as they held hooves, “And now at last we can finally say…”
Flurry sang, “The answer might be out there…”
Mischief sang, “There’s so much that could be shared…”
“And you’ll finally learn…You…”
They both finished, “Don’t come out of thin air…” They then locked lips in a meaningful kiss.
As Shining Armor and Cadance prepared for bed, he told his wife, “You know what, Cady? I’m kind of glad Flurry’s holding off the wedding for a while.”
Cadance asked curiously as she turned from her vanity, “Why do you say that?”
“Well, don’t you think that Flurry might be getting married too soon? She is 18, after all.”
Cadance furrowed one of her brows as she stated, “I think you might be coming down with a case of daddy anxiety.”
He shrugged, “Who knows? Maybe it’s that or maybe I’m right. Maybe while she’s on Paraddock, she’ll reconsider her life-changing decision and decide to just be friends with Mischief -” he then finished with a crazed expression on his face, “- and then she’ll be our little girl FOREVER!” He laughed maniacally before he shook his head to snap out of it.
Cadance said, “Okay, now I know you have a bad case of daddy anxiety.”
He sighed, “I’m sorry, Cady. I just don’t want Flurry to grow up too soon. I mean, look.” He gestured towards a small picture of baby Flurry Heart that was sitting on the dresser. “She was young and innocent and cute…” His eyes grew and shimmered as he gazed at the picture with a smile. He then sighed as he wiped his eyes of unshed tears, “Oh, I wish those days could’ve lasted forever.”
His wife chuckled, “Oh, Shiny. You can’t keep our daughters little fillies forever. At least we’ll still have Skyla when Flurry and Mischief get married.”
Shining Armor said as he wrapped his arm around Cadance, “Yeah. At least we’ll still have her.” He then muttered under his breath, “Thank goodness.”
The alicorn playfully remarked, “I heard that.”
The couple broke into giggles before they kissed.