//------------------------------// // Gone, but not forgotten. // Story: Kitzumi the fox pony. Book Two. // by KittyrinnAiko //------------------------------// It was just one crisis after another that day. First Kitzu going missing the night before, then Kitzu somehow managed what no pony had ever done, and now this. Twilight, Luna, and Starlight Glimmer rushed out to Fluttershy’s cabin amid the gathering gloom of night to find her place under attack by Timber wolves, and one enraged Flutterbat flying about a flaming timber monstrosity followed by swarms of bats, and animals going every which way just beyond a row a burning piles of wood. Luna, and Twilight immediately set to driving back the magical beasts with their magic not sure what to do about the fact that many of them were presently on fire. “Wait! Twilight, Princess Luna!” Starlight called. “Lure them closer to town!” “Are you insane!?” Twilight called. She had only been momentarily distracted when a timber wolf lunged for her. For the second time that day she saw her life pass before her eyes, and yet, just at the last moment, something hit the beast with a loud crack with enough force to send half it’s timbered skull scattering into splinters. Twilight lifted up into the air as the beast tumbled to the ground, and every time it tried to get up again, another projectile would strike it. Luna flew up to Twilight as Twilight looked about to see what was going on. “Kitzumi! Sweetie Belle! I told you to stay at the castle!” Twilight shouted. “No one told me nothing!” Sweetie Belle shouted back launching a stone. Her stone struck a timber wolf sending it sprawling, but hadn’t done the damage as the one a moment ago. “Yes! Feel the hate my padawan.” Kitzu shouted launching a stone. “Over power that lifting spell!” Kitzu’s stone struck home like it’d been fired out of a cannon. “Twilight, I think those burning piles are timber wolves!” Glimmer shouted. She blasted one of the wolves and retreated. “Retreat!” Kitzu shouted firing off another stone. The two fillies turned and ran back to where Little Scoot, and Apple Bloom were waiting. “Dang it Glimmer!” Sweetie Belle shouted chasing after Kitzu. Glimmer caught up with the fillies, erected a shielding spell while Twilight flew at a frantic pace to try to cut off several timber wolves now hot in pursuit of Glimmer. “Run fillies, faster!” Glimmer shouted only to be horrified at the site of Kitzu followed by Sweetie Belle stopping to fire off more stones. Twilight dived down, and set up a shield of her own, only to be amazed yet again that day as the charging beasts collapsed as though hitting a trip line. She stood there for a moment waiting, watching the fire burn. “What in tar-nation is wrong with you four!” Applejack shouted at the fillies. A sizable crowd had gathered but had been thwarted at getting any closer. Twilight looked back at the four. “Kitzumi Nightfoal, get back to the castle and stay put. Now! Louise, you too.” “Yes Mother,” Kitzu replied, turned, and trotted back in the direction of the castle momentarily followed by little Scootaloo. “Apple Bloom, get back to the house. Now!” Big Mac shouted. “Sweetie Bell, you too, go with Kitzu,” Twilight growled. “I’m in no mood for this.” “Hang on Apple Bloom,” Applejack called. “I’d rather you go with them too.” “AJ?” Big Mac asked. “Big Mac, I’m going to go with them.” AJ offered. “Make sure they get there. Being we can’t do a whole lot about this here fire being it’s Timber wolves… maybe you best go back, and check on Granny?” Big Mac looked at her for a moment, realization set in, he turned and ran back to the farm just as quickly as he could go. 🏵🏵🏵🏵🏵🏵 When Twilight returned to the castle later that evening she found Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, and Little Scoots gathered together in a pile of blankets and mattresses sound asleep. Apple Jack was waiting up, and Kitzu was reading a book. Twilight went over to Kitzu got in really close - “I don’t know whether to praise you or give you the paddling of your life?” “Discord is told he’s not invited to the wedding, takes his frustration out on Fluttershy by setting lose Timber wolves on her place. Lots of ponies get hurt when they go to help. He was being good though. I thought surely... He seemed like he really had reformed, and my warding charm was really only to see if I could do it. He was so angry.” Kitzu looks up from the book. “How’s Fluttershy? Is she alright?” "She's OK. Fires are still going. Remaining Timberwolves took off into the forest,” Twilight replied going to a chair and sitting down with a heavy thud. “Her place has burned to the ground. That’s not quite right either, a good deal of what’s left is floating in air, and we don’t know if any of her animals got out. Fluttershy seems to be OK, but she’s devastated. Luna is with her now.” “I’m sorry Mom,” Kitzu said quietly. “At least I kept Sweetie Bell from getting hurt.” “You kept Sweetie Bell from getting hurt?!” AJ protested. Twilight raised a hoof to indicate she wanted AJ to hold her tongue. “Alright, I need an explanation.” “She’s from a different timeline slash dimension,” Twilight replied looking up at the ceiling. “I’m going to assume something like this already happened where she’s from. And she’s my daughter in that world.” “She’s what?! I thought she was Princess Luna’s foal? What’s she doing here then?” “It’s complicated, and there’s no way to get her back do to the time difference. We can’t take her back with out ending up in her past, and there’s no way to get her back to the future she belongs in.” Twilight knew what she’d said wasn’t quite accurate so far as she knew, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to tell Applejack that Kitzu was her own daughter from the future. “Well if that ain’t the most messed up thing I’ve ever heard. And I suppose she knew Discord was going to blow his top?” “I thought maybe it wasn’t going to happen. I thought I’d prevented it from happening. The range of the amplified warding spell didn’t go far enough.” Kitzu protested. “Fluttershy’s place getting destroyed.” She then got up, put the book back on the shelf, and headed for the exit. “Must be a fixed point.” The last came out as a mutter. “Kitzu?” Twilight asked. “My room to take a nap.” “Not joining the others?” AJ asked. “I have a cold. Wouldn't want them to catch it.” Kitzu offered as she exited the room. “Fine. So what of Discord then? How can you just sit there so calm when Discord is on the rampage again?” “Discord isn’t going to be a problem.” Twilight offered closing her eyes. “Not for the foreseeable future. Just remnants of his magic.” “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” AJ asked dumbfounded. “We banished him to the human world. He’s got no powers there. And we destroyed the portal.” AJ began to protest, but gave up seeing Twilight was now asleep. “What did you do Twilight Sparkle? What did you do?” AJ sat there for a while longer, got up, and headed for home with only the light of the moon to guide her way. When she arrived she found nothing out of the ordinary. “What is going on?” Granny asked opening the door. “Where’s Big Mac?” “I told him to go back and help Fluttershy. I can handle myself thank you.” “Timber wolves went after Fluttershy. A fire got started. I’m going to get a lantern, and see if there’s anything I can do.” AJ arrived at what looked like a battle zone pulling a small cart behind her. There were fires everywhere, the biggest one lined up as though they’d hit some kind of invisible barrier. Fluttershy was still in werebat mode as she looked for her animals. “Why? Why did he do this? We are friends. Aren’t we?” Fluttershy was saying while gathering up an animal in her front legs as she sat down. “It’s not my fault he wasn’t invited. Why would he do this?” “Is that Angel?” AJ asked cautiously. “Yes,” Fluttershy said in a soft barely audible voice. “Hey little one. You can quit playing possum now.” Luna said in nearly as soft a voice. She nuzzled the little rabbit who then rolled over to hug Fluttershy. “He’s alright. He’s alright.” Fluttershy said hugging the rabbit. The three ponies remained silent for a bit listening to the sound of fires burning, and ponies looking for whatever they could salvage along with the few animals that could be found. “Did Twilight follow the Timber Wolves?” “She went back to check on the fillies.” Luna offered. “Afraid she’s at her limit.” AJ offered. “She all but fell into a chair and went to sleep shortly after getting back.” “She’s asleep? How can she sleep at a time like this?” Fluttershy protested. “She took on Discord.” Luna offered in reply. Her tone was steady, revealing no emotion. “She’s exhausted. I told her to go get some rest.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened on hearing Twilight had taken on Discord. “She what? And by herself? When did this happen?” Fluttershy asked with fear, trepidation, and a slightly accusing tone. “All I can tell you is after Discord left here, he went to the castle and had it out with Twilight,” Luna explained. “And she fought Discord all by herself?!” Fluttershy asked horrified. “Not exactly,” Luna replied. “Well, you were there, right?” AJ asked. “Not exactly,” Luna replied. “What? But Twilight said…?” AJ began, but couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. “I heard shouting, I went to investigate, and by the time I got there, it was already over.” “Twilight took Discord on all by herself?” Fluttershy asked. It didn’t make sense, when did Twilight get that kind of power? “Not exactly,” Luna replied, and this time a hint of a smile formed on her lips. AJ and Fluttershy looked at her wondering what or who could have helped Twilight fight Discord. “It was Kitzu. She used fox magic against him.” At hearing this AJ and Fluttershy said Kitzu’s name. “Apparently, she used a simple warding spell known to fox ponies. She cast it over the castle while she was staying there, but left the activation till later. She activated it when she discovered Discord having it out with Twilight, and effectively negated his magic. That’s why the Timber wolves collapsed the moment they tried to go past the bridge into town.” “Kitzu did all that?” AJ asked astonished. “Pity the range didn’t reach a little further,” Fluttershy said sounding dejected. “So, how did the fire start anyway?” AJ asked cautiously. “We’d gotten into a bit of a shouting match. Discord had turned everything topsy-turvy, and moments after he left we were set upon by timber wolves,” Fluttershy explained. “They were trying to claw their way in, so I took hold of a poker for the fire, and used it as a weapon to drive them off. It sort of worked… except… the branches the timber wolves are made out of ignited. The poker wasn’t even hot. It’s all Discord’s doing. At that point I kind of lost my head and transformed. Everything is kind of a blur after that.” Luna thought for a moment, and then admitted that Kitzu’s spell might not have helped much if the range had been greater… “..although.” She added after thinking a bit. “Had the Timber wolves dropped in place before the fire spread it might have spared you a lot of grief. Can’t really be sure though, as there was a bit of time between discord setting the timber wolves on you, and Kitzu activating that warding spell.” “So was there anything salvageable in the house?” AJ asked. “Afraid no one can go near the house,” Luna replied. “What do you mean...” AJ began, turned to look at the house. “Oh. Oh right, Twilight said...” To AJ’s horror much of what remained of the house was literally hanging in the air. “So where is Discord now?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t know if it’ll do any good, but I’d like to try to talk to him.” “We, Twilight and I,” Luna responded making sure they understood she wasn’t dropping back into the old royal we. “Marooned him in the human world. He’s got no power there, and the local guard force took him into custody. Maybe in time, he’ll learn how to be a decent caring individual, but if it’s within my power, I will see to it that he never returns again. Yes, his magic still exists, but it’s like a limb that’s been cut off. Thrashing about with no direction. I wonder if Kitzu can teach me her spell?” 🗞🗞🗞🗞🗞🗞🗞🗞 “Twilight!!! She’s hitting me!!!” Spike yelled running to Twilight while being chased by a thick roll of parchment. Kitzu was close behind, and she was in a rage. It’d been two days since the incident with Discord. Two days since he’d been banished. “Look at what he’s got in his grubby little claws!” Kitzu shouted. “He’s pulling down the wards I used to generate my spell! Did Discord tell you to do that!?” Kitzu stopped a few paces away as Spike ducked behind Twilight. “She’s been plastering these all over the castle!” Spike announced as he triumphantly displayed them to Twilight. “Discord…? Oh no. I didn’t know, I... But he said...” “I’m lucky the spell worked at all.” Kitzu spat. “Give those back, and they better not be damaged. It took me months to set that up, the whole time I was here, and you nearly ruined it! We could all be dead! Or worse! Now give them back!” “OK, what’s all the yelling about?!” Prince Reynard asked crossly, entering the room. He’d come down to personally check on Twilight and Kitzu. He was also going to escort both up to Canterlot. “Apparently Discord knew what Kitzu was up to, and tried to use Spike to sabotage her efforts.” Twilight offered the color having drained from her face. He went over to her, steadied her, and helped her sit down. “Spike, hoof them over,” Reynard ordered. Spike reluctantly surrendered the slips of paper he had. Reynard looked them over. “Spike, has no one ever told you not to mess with things you don’t understand? Quite clever these. Kitzu, who showed you this trick?” “Well… technically, you did,” Kitzu replied her anger subsiding. “Spike, how many more did you take down?” Reynard asked giving Kitzu a critical once over. He had to remind himself that out there somewhere was another version of himself she’d called father. “About two dozen, maybe more? I don’t know?!” Spike admitted and then watched in trepidation as Kitzu’s fur stood on end. “What’s worse than dying anyway?” “It’s Discord! Think of something! Think of the most horrible thing you can imagine, and multiply that over and over!” Kitzu stammered out. “Well, you did at least write down the location where each one went.” Reynard offered, tossed them into the air where they held suspended in air for a brief moment, and then raced out of the room, and split off in various directions. “Now Spike, go get the rest or so help me I’ll turn you into a hand bag.” Reynard’s voice was soft, and kind in tone, but the message was loud and clear. “Yes sir!” Spike replied with a gulp and took off down the hall. “Mom, Twilight Mom… you alright?” Kitzu asked. “She’ll be fine.” Reynard offered. “We’ve been setting up wards like those all over Equestria in an effort to thwart Discord’s little bouts of mischief. Never occurred to us to use crystals before. Now that you’ve cut the head off the snake many of those wards are being put to the test. Twilight, you’ve got a very clever daughter to have come up with the idea of using the crystal this castle is made out of to amplify the spell.” “You really think so,” Twilight asked. “I know so. I’m glad to have her as a daughter. Even if she’s not technically mine.” He gave Kitzu a wink. Spike returned a short time later, and one look at the size of the bundle he carried made her tail bristle out like a bottle brush. “Spike!” Kitzu said in a voice all but deprived of air. “How many did you put up?” Twilight asked. “Three hundred on the first floor, five hundred on the second, and seventy-eight on the third,” Kitzu replied. “Arranged to form a three-dimensional mandala. Mostly in places Spike can’t reach. Discovered him with a ladder of all things. If things hadn’t happened when they did...” “No doubt he’d have turned us all inside out.” Twilight offered. “Three hundred...” “Five hundred seventy-eight.” Reynard finished. “Lucky number three, five, seven, and eight. That’s quite a lot too. Right off-hand, I’d say Spike barely scratched the surface. Still though, spike, If I may?” Spike gave the slips of paper to him, he then carefully sorted, and stacked them on a table. When he’d finished sorting, he picked up a stack, and as before the slips of paper flew out the doorway. He did this with each stack, some of the slips even finding locations to hide right there in that very room until all had been redistributed. “Wish I could do that,” Kitzu said wistfully. “I had to place each, and every one personally.” “I’ve reinforced them with some of my own fox magic,” Reynard said. “Any chance you could teach me that?” Twilight asked. “Afraid not.” It’s the specific type of magic that matters most. I’m sure you could do the spell, but it’d be useless against discordant magic. Unicorn magic is, well, too refined to be able to counter it, and alicorn magic is too similar. It might be possible for you to use harmony magic though… wonder how you might achieve that?” “Teach me the basics,” Twilight said brightening up again. “This castle was created by harmony magic.” Kitzu reminded. “It was, wasn’t it.” He said as though he’d had an epiphany. “Of course, it’s not just the crystal amplifying the spell, it’s crystal charged with harmony magic. That’s why the big difference, and likely why Discord didn’t take you very seriously. You see, we’ve used that charm many times before, but never with such dramatic results. Twilight, dear, any chance you could recreate that spell on a small scale? The one that created this castle? If we could place charged harmony crystals throughout the kingdom and beyond, even if Discord were to somehow make it back here...” “We could effectively shut him down for good.” Twilight proclaimed springing up. “Celestia will be interested in this as well. I’ll need to pack some books, and my notes on Harmony magic. Come on Spike, we’ve more packing to do. And if you’ve any more of Kitzu’s wards, better pony them up.” “More books?” Reynard asked sure he’d be the one who’d end up carrying them. “More books.” Twilight repeated. “That’s our Twilight.” Reynard said watching Twilight as she busied herself looking for the books she wanted. Twilight had amassed a nice stack when Rainbow Dash came charging in. “Twilight, you gata see this! Ya, I know you’re getting ready to go, but you’ve got to come see this.” “Se what?” Twilight asked as she pulled a notebook from the desk. “It’s the Everfree. It’s like something just pushed it back. Did you do anything in here?” “Prince Reynard helped me fine-tune the spell I’d cast.” Kitzu offered up quickly. “Pity that spell wasn’t up, and running before Fluttershy’s house got demolished,” Dash said giving Kitzu a quizzical look. “Pity no one knew what you were doing.” "I didn't think I was going to need it. Pudding and Mr Smith knew. They helped me with a bunch of the setup.” Kitzu countered. “Considering I was setting a trap for Discord in case he started acting up, I kind of needed to keep it quiet. No telling what he might have done had he known.” “All right, I get it. Come on Twilight, you’ll want to see this from the air.” Dash then rushed to the door. “Well, are you coming or not?” “I’m coming,” Twilight said giving Kitzu a quick look as she followed. “Why’d you cover for me?” Spike asked astonished. “Pretty sure Dash will forgive me.” Kitzu offered. “No point in telling anyone outside the family you got played. What say we go have a look-see ourselves.” What they found when they got there was nothing short of astonishing. Not only had the forest been pushed back, but they could now see the remains of buildings that had been hidden by the forest. Spike looked at it, looked at the charred remains of Fluttershy’s house, turned, and quietly walked back with his head hung low. He like many others had gone out to gawk at the floating debris. Nothing was floating now. “Imagine you’ve seen all this before,” Reynard stated in a voice only meant for Kitzu. “Nope. All this was before my time.” Kitzu replied watching Spike go. “Fluttershy is staying with the Apple family right now and still hasn't found all her animals. I hate to say it but some may have been trapped inside. I can’t really say from my perspective, I just don’t know.” Kitzu paused for a few moments. “We might want to take Spike with us. I just don’t feel right about leaving him behind.” A moment later Twilight and Dash landed nearby. “Hey, where's Spike going?” Dash asked. “I’d have thought he’d be eating this stuff up?” “I’m going to go pack,” Kitzu said following after Spike. “But you don’t have anything to pack do you?” Twilight asked. “She’s going to help Spike pack.” Reynard offered. “But he… Oh, alright.” Twilight said spotting Spike. “Probably a bad idea to leave him by himself.” “What? Spike can take care of himself.” Dash said. “Dash, can you see to getting some pegasus guards real quick?” Twilight asked. “Kind of looks like Spike is taking that shortcoming of Kitzu’s spell thing worse than Kitzu is?” Dash commented in a soft tone. “Dash. Let it go. I want guards out here as quick as you can fetch them.” Twilight implored. “I don’t want any ponies wandering around in those buildings until they’ve been checked. Dash?” “Right… I’m on it.” Dash watched Spike and Kitzu a bit longer. “Fine tuning was it?” “Fine-tuning,” Reynard replied. “Good, because I’d hate to think Spike did something, and then didn’t own up to it when he’d the chance.” With that said, Dash lept up into the air, and sped away. “We have a train to catch,” Reynard said watching her go. “Will Scoots be alright? That was her name, wasn’t it? Or was it Louise?” “Scootaloo, but two Scootaloos who are nearly identical just gets confusing so we’re going to be using her proper given name.” Twilight offered. “Yes, she’s been staying with the Apple family, but she’ll be coming with us now. Let's go back to the castle. We’re taking Sweetie Bell with us as well, and by the time we gather up everything we need it’ll be time to board the train.” 🌲🌲🌲🌳 “You going to be OK?” Kitzu asked Spike shortly after catching up with him. “Why do you care?” “Because you are the closest thing I have to a big brother. That and I know what it’s like to screw up big time. I screwed up my whole world.” “You’re doing all right now.” “I am at that. Anyway, I’m inviting you to come with us.” “Afraid I might screw things up?” “No. Being in a castle by yourself after you just screwed up can be mighty lonely. Trust me, I know. You’ll get to see Luna’s apartments. You haven't been yet have you?” They continued along in silence for a while. “You know it might not have made any difference had you not taken down any of my scripts. Range wise that is. Dad added some of his magic.” “And I’m going to go the rest of my life wondering.” Spike acknowledged. “He tricked me. He tricked a lot of ponies. After hearing what happened to Fluttershy I know now he was never truly reformed. Not if all it took was not getting invited to a wedding...” There was a bitterness to his voice. “I suspect not inviting him was for his benefit as well.” “Benefit?” Spike spat out stopping. “He tricked you into pulling down my scripts. Relied on you even.” “Relied on me?” “Think about how surprised he was. I mean, why didn’t he disable my spell, and then let you take the blame?” “Are you suggesting he couldn't do it himself?” “Fox magic is directly apposed to his own.” Kitzu offered as the two started walking again. “It’s entirely possible he couldn't touch them. Fox magic is akin to the magic of harmony and order. His magic is the magic of chaos and entropy. Now think about who Discord likes to play with the most. Other races don’t seem to have problems with him. I’m just a filly, and I’d bet the adult fox ponies could likely give him a real run for his money. Granted I’d hate to see the wedding turned into a war zone.” “Ha. Knowing Discord he’d do something, and then all Tartarus would break lose.” The two continued on in silence until they returned to the castle. Kitzu followed Spike down to the lower level where Spike preferred to have his room. “Bet you’ve never seen the like?” “Modern nerd? Seen it. Knew your room was down here, but don’t come down uninvited.” “Oh, OK. You’re not really interested in that sort of thing are you?” “It’s not a matter of not being interested, I’m just not interested in decorating it. That and I lost everything I own. Every comic you own, and will own for the next seven years I've already read." “Oh. Ya, I didn’t think about that.” “Say, are those crystals the same as what the castle is made out of?” Kitzu asks spotting a pile of crystals. “Um, ya. Leftover from when Ember pigged out on the castle. Why?” Spike asked getting out a small suitcase. “Can I have some for charms? There are these trees that glow in the Moon viewing hall in Muma’s apartments. If we were to hang a bunch from the limbs, I think we’d be able to set up another safe zone. It wouldn't be as big as this one, but it’d be something.” Spike looked at her for a moment and then pulled out another suitcase.