//------------------------------// // 24. The Early Bird // Story: Like Fireworks in the Sky // by SpyroForLife //------------------------------// It was early the next morning when a horrifying screeching noise echoed throughout the town, accompanied by a fierce billowing of wind as if a tornado had swept through. Tempest leaped nearly straight up, and Discord jumped out of bed too, throwing up a magical shield around them. Tempest stood still, ears perked as the screaming continued, but then it faded into the distance and everything went silent. While she was panting and trying to catch her breath, Discord said exactly what she was thinking. “What in the actual fuck was that?” He waited, but when there was no more noise, he lowered the shield and went to look outside. Tempest covered her chest as her heart continued to thud. “I... have no idea. It was like a thunderstorm or a tornado or something... But that screaming? It was like a griffin stepped on a pin or something.” Discord shook his head as he looked back at her. “That thunderous noise? Did you notice it was rhythmic? It was like... wing beats.” “Wing beats? But what kind of beast is large enough to sound like that? Do you think it was a dragon? There are some pretty big dragons out in the badlands to the north...” “I don't know, but we should go see if anyone's hurt. Whatever it was flew straight through town.” Discord started to go, then paused and leaned down to take Tempest's hoof. “Are you okay? You seem startled.” She nodded. “I'm fine. It's just my fighting instincts. Let's go.” She headed out, Discord flying over her. As soon as they went outside, they saw what the commotion was. Several houses had been knocked down, in a trail of destruction leading right to the lake, where the fishing hut was also completely destroyed. Past that point, they didn't see any more damage; whatever it was had left after that. Spotting Dusty, Tempest trotted over to him. “What happened?” “Well, that's what I came out here to see,” he replied. “All I heard was that terrible screaming and a bunch of loud flapping noises.” “See, told you it sounded like wing beats,” Discord said. “Let's make sure everyone's okay.” Dusty began going around to the houses checking on everyone. Luckily, the storm creatures were robust and no one seemed seriously injured, though a few were nursing scrapes and cuts. Tempest went to investigate the lake, finding Hook, the fisherman, among the wreckage. “Did you see anything?” she asked him. “You bet your tail I did!” he replied, tossing aside what looked like a piece of wood from the fish barrels. “I was just checking on the fish when I heard something screeching like a wounded hawk, looked up and this huge bird was flying through town knocking buildings over! It came straight for me, tore the shack apart, and stole our fish!” “A huge bird?” Tempest looked at the ground, and saw that there were a few scattered feathers. She picked one up. It was brown and while it was light, it was nearly as long as her entire body. She swallowed. “Well then. Do you know what kind of bird it was, exactly?” “It was shaped just like a hawk, only bigger than any I've ever seen before. And its beak was full of sharp teeth.” Hook sighed as he surveyed the wreckage. “Well, at least the pier is still in one piece.” Tempest turned to Discord as he landed next to her, showing him the feather. “What do you make of this? Apparently a giant bird flew through and tore the place apart.” Discord accepted the feather and turned it a few ways. “This is a big feather, but judging from the shape it isn't even a primary feather. Looks like a secondary feather actually. Whatever this came from is huge.” He shrugged. “I'm really not sure. But we can worry about that later. Let's get this place fixed up.” He raised a hand, then paused. “Can I do everything with magic for once or do I still need to build by hand?” “No magic, there's no honor in that,” Hook said sternly. Discord sighed. “Fine.” The repairs took hours. Many of the damaged houses had to be completely rebuilt. All the fish barrels were gone or broken, so those had to be rebuilt, and the day was spent fishing to replace the stolen tilapia. It was hard work, and Tempest spent it mulling over what kind of bird could have done this. And why. She groaned as she lifted a stack of freshly cut wood planks and carried them to one of the houses. “Hey, guys. So sorry about this, we really should have a night guard, or... something.” They shrugged. “Ah, don't worry about it,” one of them said. “If that bird did this, imagine what it would have done to a guard.” She supposed she couldn't argue with that. Still, as they finished up their repairs, she went to talk to Discord. “I think we should do a stake out tonight.” “A stake out?” He grinned, and with a poof of magic, he was covered in a black body suit and wearing night vision goggles, dropping down and pulling her down next to him. “We going to spend the night in hiding, looking out for bad guys?” “Something like that.” She pushed the goggles up so she could see his eyes. “I was thinking we spend the night outside and see if that big bird comes back. If we can figure out exactly what it is, we can find a way to stop it. Maybe even fight it ourselves. With my magic, and your... well, self, it won't stand a chance.” “Hm.” Discord stroked his beard. “Good point. Sure, we could have a stake out. Want to take a nap before we do, though? You've been up all day, I don't want you falling asleep while we're out there.” “I'll be fine. I'll just sleep in tomorrow. Besides, you can just conjure me up some coffee if I get tired.” He chuckled. “That I could. Alright then, we'll stay up all night, keep an eye out, and kick that bird's tail feathers if it comes back. It'll be a blast.” “Heh, yeah.” They first went to tell Dusty what they were planning, and he agreed that having a lookout was a good idea. He offered to send some storm creatures to watch too, but they turned him down, since Discord was a one man army. Then they spent the rest of the day checking up on the storm creatures whose houses had been wrecked, making sure they didn't need anything else. But they all assured her they were good to go, so they decided to just grab snacks and set up their guard post. They would hang out at the north end of town, since that was where the bird had come from. With Discord's keen vision, he'll be able to see it coming from miles off if it returns. He conjured up a barricade with stairs going up either side and a platform on top, and climbed up onto it, a camouflage uniform appearing on his body along with combat boots and face paint. “Alright, we're in for a long night, soldier! I hope you're ready to defend your country!” He snapped his fingers, and a uniform appeared on Tempest too. She chuckled and raised her right foreleg to salute him. “Yes, sir!” She looked at the camo and made a face. “Tiger stripes?” “Tiger stripes are so in right now.” He looked her over, then smiled and leaned in to boop her nose with his own. “You look adorable in that.” She gently pushed his face away. “Come on, keep it professional while we're on duty.” He laughed and nonchalantly waved his hand, vanishing the uniforms. He made a pair of binoculars and looked through them. “Okay, I don't see anything yet. Then again, the bird did show up very early in the morning, so it might show up at a similar time tonight. Or, well, tomorrow morning I suppose.” “In that case, I'm sitting down.” Tempest sat and pulled over a bag of chips, popping it open. Discord sat next to her, stretching out his legs and looking at the sky. “Hm, the sunset is beautiful tonight,” he said. Tempest moved closer to him, resting a hoof on his thigh as she watched it. “It is. But I'm sure you've seen countless sunsets all over the world.” “I have. But they never seem to get old. Celestia really does a good job on these.” Discord took some chips. “Really, it's a collaboration between Celestia and Luna. Same as the sunrise. I remember being so impressed by them the first time they moved the Sun and Moon by themselves.” “That must have been quite a sight for everyone.” Tempest laid down, yawning. Discord frowned at her. “You really should have taken a nap.” She shook her head. “I'm fine. I've stayed up all night plenty of times.” “That can't be healthy.” “Oh please, it's only mildly affected my mental health.” She watched as the Sun sank below the horizon. “Do you think anyone else will ever take over controlling night and day? I mean, Celestia and Luna won't be around forever... right?” Discord was quiet for a bit as he thought about it. Then he said, “As natural born alicorns, they will have long lives. But if they could have magic like that, I suppose there's a chance more ponies could come along with similar magic. I mean, look at Flurry Heart. Cadance and Shining Armor's daughter. She's got powerful magic already and she's just a foal! So... if any more alicorns are born, they could possibly take over Celestia and Luna's jobs.” “Heh, well, if Celestia and Luna don't want foals then I doubt there'll be many more alicorns. Unless Cadance has more.” Discord nodded and finished the chips. He frowned, then reached over to check out the other snacks. “Though there's also Twilight. She might have foals one day,” Tempest mused. She opened a bag of trail mix. “Heh, she might. But I don't think she's even showed interest in anypony yet. If she does have foals, it won't be for some time.” Discord settled on one of the snacks and lifted it, then paused and stared at the label. “Pork rinds? Oh, I do so appreciate these omnivorous storm creatures.” He opened the package and took out a pork rind, crunching on it. “Mm.” “Ughh.” Tempest shuddered at the idea of eating strips of pig skin fried in lard. ...Then again, fried food. “Could I get one of those?” Discord gave her a look. “You disgust me.” He handed her one. She giggled as she leaned back against him. “I know, I'm horrible. But it's not my fault this stuff tastes so good.” She bit into the rind. “Mm, delicious. Oh are these barbecue?” “They sure are!” He lifted his head to look north for a few moments, but the coast was still clear. He looked back at Tempest. “I'm so glad I can indulge in meat treats around you. One time I forgot about how sensitive ponies are to the idea of eating meat, and just casually walked up to Fluttershy eating turkey jerky. She was... mildly upset to say the least.” “Oh boy, I can imagine. Well, was it good jerky, at least?” “Oh, delicious!” Discord licked his lips. “But out of respect for Fluttershy, I won't do that again. Wow, just look at the stars out here.” “There's so many of them.” Tempest patted Discord's leg, and he moved to lay down with her. She rested her head against his neck. “I've spent many nights far away from any cities. Where you can see thousands of stars. Maybe more, it's not like I ever counted. But I was always too stressed and busy to really pay much attention. I'm glad I can really stop and look now.” “I always thought looking at the stars was overrated. Like yes, they're up there, giant balls of burning gas- sorry, plasma- so far away we can barely fathom the distance. But...” Discord's hand ran up the back of her neck and into her mane, stroking it gently. “I can appreciate their beauty. And it's fun to look for shapes in them.” “I can use the stars to navigate,” Tempest said. “Like... that one, over there?” She pointed to a particularly bright dot. “That one is always in the north. At least after sunset. It moves though throughout the night so you can't always rely on it.” “Oh yes, that one's good. But how do you feel about that one?” Discord pointed to a star gleaming near the Moon. “The evening star,” Tempest replied. “It's there every night. You can see it in the morning too, which is kinda cool.” “Heh. Would I believe you if I told you that it's not a star, but a planet?” “A planet?” Tempest stared, then looked back at him. “Are you sure?” “Quite sure. Honestly you ponies have so much more about space to learn. But you notice that the evening star doesn't sparkle? It's absolutely a planet.” Discord gazed at it, then said, “Actually that's already recognized by the Equestrian Astronomy Society but ya know, not every pony keeps up with space news.” Tempest chuckled and shook her head. “You are just a treasure trove of questionable knowledge.” “Listen, get a reasonably strong telescope and you'll be able to see what I mean. Space research is actually kicking off, you should look into it because it's super fascinating! I bet Twilight would be into it.” “Heh, probably.” Tempest stretched out her front legs and sighed, looking north. “What if the bird doesn't even come back and we spent all night out here for nothing?” Discord lifted her chin, leaning his head down to press their noses together. “Then we spent all night hanging out together, which isn't nothing at all.” “Hm.” Tempest smiled. “That's really lame.” She tilted her head and gave him a kiss. “But we get to sleep all day tomorrow.” “Absolutely. Can't wait.” He gave her a small lick when he leaned back, which made her snort. “But while we're awake, wanna plan out more of our O&O campaign?” “Sure! I really think Dreadful Dusk could use a change of wardrobe, I'm thinking more black. And jewels...”