//------------------------------//
// Subconscious 
// Story: A Compass to the Soul 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

Rumble was working in the hole when Discord popped up unexpectedly,  scaring him. After he calmed down, he glared, "Don't do that again."

"Alas it is my nature to pop up at random times." the draconequus smirked.

Rumble  groaned before saying, "Okay look, I've already got the hole halfway  done, and Soarin will be coming to check on us soon so now's the time to  make the hole deeper!"

Discord snapped his fingers and in a burst  of light they found themselves deeper than before. He inquired, "Is  that deep enough for you?"

Rumble looked up to see the only source of light on them was fair distance away. He said, "Yeah, it is."

Discord teleported them out and they were above ground again.

The colt exclaimed, "Now all we need is some rotten fruit to put into the hole and we should be good to go!"

"This  all seems low-key to me but we got to make it look convincing." he  snapped his fingers once more and rotting fruit appeared as it fell into  the hole.

Rumble had his own cart of rotting fruit at the ready  not realizing a fairly large stone was buried in the fruit and dumped  the contents down into the hole. When it was done Discord made an  illusion spell to make it seem there was grass in place of the hole and  he also made another hole next to it so it looks like the first hole  wasn't tampered with.

"Now we wait." Rumble said mischievously.

Discord  mentioned, "Since we got time to kill, I might as well figure out how  to get this confounded box to open." he summoned a box made entirely out  of different colored jewels.

Rumble asked, "Can't you just use your magic to open it?"

"This  box once belonged to a great sorcerer whose protection spells can  deflect even my own powers, that's why I got to do it the boring way by  solving the puzzle lock. But try as I might, it won't open! It's so  infuriating!"

"Then why bother trying if you know you're not going to get it to open?!"

"Well where's the fun in that?" he made a cheesy grin.

Rumble rolled his eyes.

Discord retorted, "Well if you think you can do better, be my guest!" he handed the box to him.

Rumble held the box in his hooves and examined it, he touched a couple of jewels but they wouldn't budge. This is stupid, I don't see the point in- He had managed to push the top jewel down. Wait… He pushed some more jewels and they fell into place and a secret compartment opened up!

Discord  gawked in shock and sputtered, "But-but how?! I spent over a millennium  trying to open that box and you did it in a matter of seconds! How did  you do it?!"

Rumble was stunned as well and uttered, "I… I don't know it just happen…"

They  looked inside the box to find a small clear crystal ball. The young  colt said, "All this over a ball?" he touched said object and suddenly  his eyes began to glow.

Rumble found himself in a room and witnessed a  young pegasus stallion donning on a black outfit with a matching cloak  and hat, but when he turned around, Rumble gasped to see the stallion  was an older version of himself! His older self then put on a black mask  and grabbed for a fencing sword before he galloped out of the room.

Rumble's eyes stopped glowing and stood in stun silence trying to comprehend what just happen.

Discord questioned, "Kid? Kid, you okay?"

The young pegasus slowly looked up to the draconequus and stammered, "I-I think I just saw my future self!"

Discord's own eyes widen and gapped, "What…?"

Rumble nodded dumbfoundedly.

Discord looked at the ball and put two and two together, "The Orb of Pythia…"

"What?"

"She  was a priestess to Apollo, the god of prophecy. She was also known as  the Oracle of Delpeneia. Tell me, what exactly did you see with your  older self?"

"He- I was wearing black and I put on a mask and grabbed for a sword before going somewhere and then I came back here."

Discord  frowned in thought and touched his chin mulling over the boy's vision.  He voiced, "Dressed in black… Normally only bandits and criminals would  dress in black and wear a mask to hide their identities…"

Rumble's eyes widen and said in concern, "So what are you saying? Are… are you telling me that I will become a bad guy?!"

Discord  held up his arms up in defense, "Now I didn't say that! I don't presume  to know everything you saw! It could be yes you do take a turn to the  dark side but there could be another meaning to all of this! Prophecies  have been known to be deceptive."

"But then what-" but before he could finish his sentence they heard hoofsteps coming.

Discord  motioned, "Quick, we must hide!" they jumped into some bushes as they  heard the hoofsteps getting closer and they took a peek only to find  that Thunderlane was nearby.

Rumble whispered under his breath, "What's Thunder doing here? He should be working on the raft!"

Thunderlane  searched around but he couldn't find his brother anywhere, "Now where  did that boy go? He's supposed to be making another water still! If he  doesn't get back soon, he's going to be in a lot of trouble."

Rumble  gulped as he waited for his brother to leave but then when Thunder got  close to the disguised hole, Rumble had reveal himself to shout out,  "Bro, don't!"

But it was too late, Thunderlane was caught off  guard and slipped headfirst into the hole as it showed itself and he  gave a frighten yell. He landed in the rotting fruit but ended up  hitting his head as well making him unconscious.

"Thunder!" Rumble  cried out and ran toward the hole and flew down to his brother, "Bro!  Wake up!" he tried to shake him awake but it wasn't working.

Discord  was still above the hole, watching the scene with worry, by then Soarin  flew in and inquired, "What's going here?" he then saw Rumble and  Thunderlane in the hole as the colt tried to waken the stallion.

The  draconequus tried to explain, "Well you see Soarin, Rumble was upset at  you putting him through hard labor that he wanted to get back at you  and well… I helped him out by making this hole bigger and put rotting  fruit in it so that way we would trick you into falling in and would  smell like rotten fruit for the day." he could see the pegasus was  scowling at him as he added, "We didn't know that Thunderlane would come  instead, honest."

"That's because I asked Thunder to check on his  brother while I had to run a quick errand for Zecora by getting more  herbs for her potions."

They looked back down to see Rumble was  fretting now as he tried harder to rouse his brother, "Thunder! Thunder!  Please! Wake up! You have to wake up!"

Discord quickly teleported  the two out of the hole with Thunderlane lying on the ground now with  Rumble holding onto him while still shaking.

Soarin and Discord were getting very worried on why Thunderlane wasn't waking up.

The pegasus told the draconequus, "Let's get him back to his hut."

Discord didn't waste a second as he transported them away.





Zecora examined Thunderlane's head and there revealed a large head wound as it bleed.

Rumble  was on the edge of tears with Soarin having a wing wrapped around him  for comfort. The only others inside the hut were Discord, Capper, Spike,  and Big Mac. While Flash was outside guarding the door to not let  anyone else come inside.

Zecora quickly applied the proper medication to the head wound and wrapped the bandage around his forehead.

Soarin asked, "Well?"

Zecora sighed, "His wound will heal, but I must sadly confess: his condition has left his mind and soul repressed."

Rumble desperately said, "What does that mean?!"

"His heart is still beating, but as of yet, he cannot be revived. In other words, he is not quite dead, yet not quite alive."

The adults gawked with Spike saying, "You can't mean… he's in a coma…?"

Zecora somberly nodded.

Big Mac covered his mouth while the others had sad looks but Rumble was confused.

"A… coma? What is that?" He questioned.

Soarin faced the colt sadly as he told him, "Rumble… your brother can't wake up… we don't know when he'll wake up…"

Rumble  gasped and slowly backed away in despair while saying, "This is all my  fault… If I hadn't… Then Thunder would still be awake!"

Soarin tried to reassure him, "No one is blaming you, Rumble… You couldn't have known this would have happen."

But Rumble shook his head while tears ran down his face as he shouted out, "NO!" and he ran out of the hut.

Spike voiced, "This is bad, without Thunderlane, Rumble doesn't have a guardian to watch over him…"

Capper crossed his arms, "The kid has been through so much already, he lost his parents, must he lose his brother too?"

Mac stated, "Nope."

Discord pointed, "On top of that, he got a glimpse of his future too."

The guys gawked at him, "What?!"

The chaotic being summoned the Orb of Pythia and gave them the quick lowdown of what happened when Rumble touched it.

They stood in shock with Spike voicing, "You don't really think he would turn into a criminal, do you?"

Soarin motioned, "At this rate, anything's possible…"

Capper hung his head, "I don't want the same fate happen to him as it did me…"

Discord  made a guilty look, "Me neither… And most of this is my fault anyway,  if I just refused to help the boy then all this could have been avoided!  As such I am going to make it my personal duty to oversee that Rumble  gets a bright future."

Soarin declared, "And I will take him in until Thunderlane wakes up." he left the hut then to find the colt.

Soon, he found Rumble's friends and asked them if they seen where Rumble went.

Pip replied, "He went toward the waterfall. We wanted to come with him but he told us he wanted to be alone."

Button added, "And that we shouldn't come near him or else we might get hurt."

Skeedaddle asked, "What did he mean by that?"

Soarin  replied, "Don't worry about that, I'll talk to him and he'll play with  you again soon enough. But it might take some time, okay?"

They nodded.

He went on to the waterfall where he saw the young pegasus sitting on the shore looking upset while wiping away tears.

Rumble heard the hoofsteps and shouted, "Go away!"

Soarin just kept walking toward him.

"I'm warning you! Stay away! I'm a danger to everyone around me!"

"That's not true, Rumble…"

The  colt looked back in anguish, "But it is! My own brother got hurt  because of me! I convinced my friends to go across the waterfall and I  almost got them killed! I saw my future and I turn into a bad guy!"

"Discord  told us about that, and I don't believe you will turn evil. I don't  know what you saw but your destiny is in your own hooves, only you can  decide what path you'll take. So do you want to be a criminal?"

"NO! No, I don't…" Rumble sniffled.

Soarin  slightly smiled as he approached the colt and wrapped his arms around  him and Rumble willingly embraced him, "You made mistakes, it's true,  but you can still learn from your mistakes, to do some good."

"I want to be good…"

Soarin had him face him, "And you will be… I'll help you in whether way I can."

Rumble  made a sad smile before going back to embrace the stallion. Soarin  obliged and held him close, letting the young pegasus release all his  pain.