//------------------------------// // Lost and Found // Story: A World Above // by KidatHeart5 //------------------------------// Discord was very thankful the effects of the smoke wore off now. With his powers back, he could initiate his plan to steal the amulet. He flattened his camouflaged self against the ceiling and waited until Gladmane arrived in the hallway. It took several tedious minutes, but it was worth it, for he soon caught sight of the portly king. As soon as Gladmane was within range, Discord blew invisible dust on him. The stallion suddenly became very tired and he yawned, “Oh, my…This eventful night has really taken a lot outta me. I’m gonna turn in sooner than I thought.” The bedroom door then closed and Discord waited some more until there was a sign the protection spell was in effect. When an orange wave of light washed over the door, that was his cue. He made himself visible again as he dropped to the floor on all four legs. He smirked, “Operation Get-the-Amulet is a go.” In a flash of white light, he shapeshifted himself into the very image of Gladmane, save for the red and yellow eyes. He walked towards the door and thought, Now, the moment of truth. He slowly reached towards the door as he waited for anything to happen. To his surprise and relief, the spell didn’t repel him nor set off an alarm when he touched the door. With cautious glee, he slowly opened the door and entered the dim foyer. Only the tame fire in the hearth lit the foyer with a warm glow, although it was quite ominous in Discord’s view. He heard the king snore loudly behind the closed bedroom door, which meant his powder had put him in a deep sleep. Discord smiled slyly as he thought, Yes! My powder worked perfectly! Gladmane won’t be able to hear me if he’s in deep sleep. And now, the object of my mission. He looked all around for the portrait that guard said Gladmane would store his amulet whenever he’d go to sleep. Unfortunately, there were several portraits of Gladmane decorating the vast chamber. Eesh! Being egotistical, aren’t we? He also probably planted them here to throw thieves off-track. How am I supposed to find the one with the amulet inside? As soon as he finished that thought, his roaming eyes fell on the portrait above the fireplace. He felt magic emanating from the painting, so he knew it was the one. Bingo. The Gladmane imposter floated up towards the high-hanging portrait and thought for a moment. Let’s see…Does Gladmane pull on the left side of the portrait or the right? Left or right…Oh, forget it! He held his hoof out towards the portrait and used his magic to open it. The portrait’s left side then swung towards the disguised Discord to reveal the ruby amulet inside a small compartment. His mouth curled into a sneaky grin as he thought, There’s my prize. He simply plucked the amulet from the compartment before he realized that Gladmane would wake up in the morning to discover it was missing. You know, I should plant a decoy so Gladmane doesn’t get suspicious. He used his magic to plant a decoy amulet in the compartment and swung the portrait back into place. He floated back onto the ground and looked out the door to see if the coast was clear. When there wasn’t a sign of anyone, he closed the door behind him and chucked mischievously before disappearing. He then reappeared in his guest room as his normal self with the amulet in his hands. He smirked, “’The spell will lift for no one but the king.’ Well, he never said it had to be the real king.” He chuckled some more about how clever his loophole was. He then sat on the bed and peered into the amulet, hoping to see the serpentine figure again. “All right, where are you? I know you’re in there. Give me a sign, a hint, anything that tells me you’re in there.” He waited for a minute or two and there was still nothing. He was growing agitated when he got an idea. “I’ve got it! How about you repeat everything I say until we establish a connection? Okay?” To his surprise, light began to ripple on the ruby’s face until an image of Discord appeared. It said, “Okay?” Discord smiled widely, “Wow! I didn’t know you could that!” An image of Gladmane then played on the gem’s face. “Clever, ain’t it?” “It is. Now you can answer my burning questions: who you are and what you’re doing in the amulet?” Two different images played on the ruby, “It’s – me!” Discord raised his brow almost suspiciously, “Me who?” The same images played along with two others, “It’s – me! Your – sister…” Discord was in shocked disbelief at that moment. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that? The images kind of distracted me.” In actuality, he was hoping to hear the same answer again in case it was his sister. Various images played, “I’m – your – sister…It’s – me – Discord. It – really – is…” He almost dropped the amulet from his hands at the revelation that his sister, the one he thought he had lost on their adventure, was in fact in his hands! A thousand or so years ago, he followed Capricia out of their homeland because she was looking for adventure and freedom. In truth, he was just a tagalong to Capri and he knew it, but she eventually saw him as a companion. They were careful to watch the pony villages from a safe distance because of how the denizens would treat creatures different from themselves. Capri found the ponies to be fascinating in the way they lived and acted. Discord, however, only saw them as snobbish as the alicorns back in the homeland. One day, he decided to play a prank on the ponies who lived in the next village the siblings came across. They were discovered and were chased out of town...and got separated. That stupid curse! Why did they have to fall prey to that stupid curse?! Before the siblings were even born, the alicorns and draconequui both cast a curse on each other. The terms of the curse were that if two or more of either species left the land in which they resided, they would never find each other if they got separated. This meant that neither race could just teleport to their companion’s side if they were out of sight. Hence, it was why almost no one left the homeland until the blizzard hit. But now that his sister was right in the amulet, Discord was sure the curse was no longer in effect after the blizzard. But how could he be sure it was Capri? How could he know if whoever was in the amulet wasn’t tricking him? Then, he got another idea. “If you truly are my sister, tell me what nickname I gave you in our youth.” He knew that if it was Capri, she would be annoyed with that request. She never did like his nickname for her, but he knew that if she wanted to prove it was her, she had to say it. An image played on the ruby, repeating itself to answer, “Cap-Cap…” Discord’s heart quickened with excitement and glee. He found her! He found her at last! He began to chatter and move in delight, “Oh, Cap-Cap, it is you! I thought I’d never see you again, but here you are! We finally found each other after all these years! Yahoo! Ha-ha-ha!” He landed on the bed again and asked, “Isn’t it wonderful, Cap-Cap? Brother and sister, lost and then found again!” An image on the ruby responded, “It is.” “There’s so much I want to tell you! Oh! But before I do, I have to ask: how did you get yourself in the amulet in the first place?” Images played on the ruby to answer him, “I would – tell you – but – I’m afraid – it’s too – late – for me…” Discord grew concerned, “Too late? What do you mean ‘it’s too late’?” “I’m – done – for – Discord – All these – years – inside – the amulet – have – made me – weak – I’m – fading – I’ll be – gone – soon…” His eyes shrunk in worry and panic filled his voice. “Oh, no-no-no-no-no, you can’t be fading! I just found you! There’s gotta be a way to free you! There has to! I’ll get you out before you know it!” “I’m sorry.” The image then played again more slowly as if the ruby was running out of power, “I-i-I’m…so-o-o-o-o-o-r-r-r-r-r-y-y-y-y-y…” When the image faded, Discord shook the amulet as he whimpered, “Capri? Capri?!” To his shock, the red ruby turned brown and a depowering hum could be heard. Before, his heart had been overflowing with joy, but now, it broke into millions of pieces. He found his sister, only to lose her again. He was devastated beyond belief. He shook the amulet as he said desperately, “No! Cap-Cap! Don’t go! Don’t go! Stay with me! Stay with me!” His eyes were now furiously filling with tears and his lumpy throat tried to choke his voice. “I just found you and you decide to leave me again? That’s low, Capri. That’s low!” The paw holding the amulet dropped onto his lap while his talon found itself on his tear-stained face as he wept for a short while. He looked at the amulet again with teary eyes as he sobbed, “Why did you leave in the first place, Capri? We were happy there! Sure, it got boring at times, but we were all together!” Tears splashed onto the brown ruby as he continued, “And now…our parents are gone…and now *sob* you’re gone *sob sob*. You know…*sniffle* when I lost you the first time…I – I knew you were out there somewhere…but now…YOU JUST DECIDED TO GO AND DIE ON ME?!! WHAT KIND OF SISTER ARE YOU?!!” He clutched the amulet to his chest as he sobbed deeply for a few minutes. He couldn’t believe he lost his sister again, and for the final time. No! He just refused to believe that! Once, he thought he’d never find his sister again after they were separated, but tonight had proved him wrong. And what about the Cutie Map? It had sent him to Las Pegasus for a reason, and that reason was finding his sister. No, not just finding his sister, but maybe freeing her, too! He snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. He was discouraged for a bit, but then an idea came to his head. With his heart slowly filling with hope, he looked at the amulet and said, “Capri…if you’re still there – and I really hope you are – I wish that you are free from this amulet!” His eyes widened when the brown ruby began to glow bright fuchsia and the sparkling amulet sprung out of his hands. When it landed on the floor, it spun around and produced fuchsia-colored smoke that rose until it almost reached the ceiling. The smoke then dissipated to reveal a glowing outline of a draconequus. Discord slowly rose from the bed and breathed as he approached her, “Capri?” As the glow faded, Capri’s body was restored along with her powers. There she was, fully grown from when he last saw her as a teen. The reindeer antler and gazelle horn on her head had grown longer, she now wore her hair differently from the ponytail she used to have, fur from her cream head now covered her chest in shaggy clumps, and she was definitely taller as well as longer. But despite these small changes, some things still remained the same, like her tiger and lizard arms, her roc and sheep legs, her fox tail, and especially the large dragon and Pegasus wings on her back. Discord had always teased Capri for her red Pegasus wing, which looked very similar to an alicorn wing. However, it was the one trait the siblings shared despite the different coloring. When she opened her eyes – which had blue pupils and pink sclera – she stood silent for a few moments as she took in her new surroundings. Before long, she smiled widely and looked at Discord, who was also smiling widely. “Discord!” He squealed happily, “Capriii!” He lunged at her and wrapped her in a tight mid-air hug. The siblings laughed in joyous elation at seeing each other again. Discord said in a voice overwhelmed with emotion, “Oh, Cap-Cap, I thought I lost you!” “I thought I was a goner, too, but you never gave up hope. Thank you, Discord! Thank you so much!” He smirked, “So, does this mean you’re indebted to me?” She pulled back from the hug and scowled at him, “No, because you got us separated in the first place. Speaking of which…” She conjured up a roll of newspaper and swatted her brother’s head. “Ow!” “What were you thinking, pulling a prank like that?! You should’ve known better!” Discord rubbed his head as he said, “You’ve been waiting over a millennium to do that, haven’t you?” “Oh, yeah.” The newspaper disappeared as she smiled, “But I’m just glad to have my baby brother back.” She hugged him as she ruffled his head. “When I was stuck in the amulet, I heard about the blizzard and I thought…it took you as well as our parents.” “Pshaw! You can’t get rid of me that easily!” He playfully growled as he began to tickle his sister. Capri laughed and protested before she tickled Discord back. The two siblings laughed as they engaged in a tickle war that took them to the floor. After the two chuckled and caught their breaths, Discord remembered something. His head shot up and he gasped happily, “You need to meet the family! I completely forgot about them!” Capri asked in amazement, “You have a family?” He lifted her up by the hands and said, “Of course!” He started counting with his fingers, “I have a wife, a daughter, a son-in-law (unfortunately), a grandson who’s not here at the moment, nine sisters-in-law and nine brothers-in-law, two cousins-in-law, fifteen nieces and nephews, seven great-nieces and nephews…” He caught his breath before he continued, “And a stuffy mother-in-law and a cranky grandpa - I mean father-in-law! My goodness, I never realized how many of us there were!” Capri sarcastically said, “Gee, and here I thought a guy with your personality wouldn’t be interested in having a family.” Discord raised an irritated brow at her, “Excuse me?” “So, when can I meet your family circus?” “How about right now?” He snapped his talon. In a flash, they left the guest room. To everyone’s surprise in the foyer, two draconequui appeared. Discord cheerfully said, “Good evening, everypony! I want you to meet my sister!” Everypony looked at them with wide eyes and were silent until Rainbow Dash said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! She’s your sister?!” Fluttershy breathed, “You never told us you had a sister!” Capri asked, “You never told them about me?” She crossed her arms and said, “Hmph! I’m quite offended by that.” Discord explained, “There’s a good reason why I never mentioned you.” He then sighed, “You see, losing you was a painful memory for me, so I didn’t bring it up because I didn’t want to.” Capri smiled at him and put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “Well, I’m here now, so let’s catch up on what we’ve missed.” Blackthorn stepped forward and said, “I’m afraid it’ll have to wait. There are more pressing matters we need to discuss.” “About Gladmane? I should know. I came from his amulet.” This surprised everyone again. Screwball said, “Okay! Spill the details, now!” Discord then exclaimed, “Oh, wait! There’s someone else who needs to hear this!” He snapped his fingers and a bewildered Foxhelm appeared. “You want to learn everything about Gladmane so you can report it to Princess Luna, correct?” Foxhelm slowly nodded, “Yes?” “Then take good notes, Foxy…” A notepad and a pencil appeared in the guard’s hooves. “…because we’ve got something extra juicy to share with you.”