As I walked through the forest (yeah, apparently I was in a forest when I woke up) with Twilight, Spike riding on her back, my mind was brimming with questions. And by that, I mean that I was asking questions in an endless barrage, much to Twilight's dismay. Finally, about a minute into my tirade, she placed a hoof on my mouth and took a deep breath, sighing.
"Okay... just... ask one question at a time. I can't answer if you don't give me time to answer. Okay?"
I nodded, and the hoof was removed. "What's a Discord?" I really needed to know. I didn't know why, but I had the distinct feeling that someone had asked me about a Discord, and I had no idea what one of those was.
"Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony. He's the one who made everything go crazy like you were describing earlier. We were able to defeat him then, and now we've..." She paused, considering her next words. "...somewhat reformed him. Though honestly, I'm not convinced." Her expression soured.
"Ohhh... okay!" I nodded, and the three of us continued down the forest path. So Discord was the guy who created all that nutty stuff. And... also me? Does that make him my dad, or my mom? He might be both. But actually, that just reminds me of another question I had. "Why were you two acting all weird earlier when I talked about Discord doing his weird magicky chaos stuff?"
Twilight went completely mum for several seconds and glanced over at me worriedly. "Well... it's just..." She went quiet again, prompting Spike to roll his eyes and answer for her.
"That happened over eleven months ago." Twilight instantly shot him a dirty look. "What? She was going to find out eventually, might as well get it over with," the dragon huffed.
Twilight sighed, conceding his point. "I hoped I could break it to you in a more... tactful manner, but yes. It's nearly been a year."
"Woah..." I internalized that. A whole year! That shiny death wall must've hit me pretty hard. Then another thought occurred to me. "When's the anniversary? Of the Discord stuff?"
Twilight blinked, a bit surprised by my reply for some reason. "Uh... in a week, I think. Why?"
I broke out into probably the biggest smile I'd had thus far. Only a week away? I jumped up and down excitedly and ran around Twilight, squeeing. "It's almost my birthday! It's almost my birthday!" I'd never had a birthday party before! In fact, I don't think I'd ever had a party before, on account of only being awake for like... thirty minutes total, ever.
For some reason, thinking about the fact that I'd never had a party before sent a shiver down my spine. Why did that feel so ominous? Also, I could swear I heard a distant, yet still audible "WHAT?!" Twilight didn't seem to notice, though, so I decided it was probably my imagination.
Twilight just stopped walking and stared at me, not really sure how to respond to that. "Uh... well... that's... good?" She gave a half-smile.
"Eeyup!" I giggled, not really knowing why I found my reply funny, before continuing down the path and hopping right into to my next question. "So, how'd you get a dragon assistant? Is that normal here?" I honestly kinda wanted to know how a unicorn (or maybe pony? It was called Ponyville, after all) and a baby dragon had gotten to be close-knit like these two. I mean, you've gotta be close-knit to let someone ride on your back, right? I wouldn't let anyone ride on my back.
Huh, when did we get so close to the forest's exit? Weird. I didn't notice that.
Twilight trotted after me. "Oh! Well, I hatched his egg as part of my entrance exam into magic school."
I gasped. "Oh my gosh! You're his mommy!?" Being a dragon's mom sounds like something worth mega huge brag points. Like, 'don't mess with me, my kid's a fire-breathing dragon!'
"What? No! I mean, yeah, I helped the egg hatch, but mom and dad did the raising. I was only ten at the time!" Twilight seemed rather taken aback at the idea of being the dragon's mom.
"Yeah," Spike amended, "I'm not too keen on the idea of her being my mom either. Her mom's more like my actual mom."
"Ohhhh, so you're brother and sister! Got it." I nodded, satisfied with my observation.
Twilight stopped again, and I had to stop with her. "I... had never really considered that before." She looked back at Spike, who looked equally surprised.
"I mean... I guess we are kinda brother and sister, aren't we?" He scratched the back of his head with a claw awkwardly. "Man... I guess we just... never thought too hard about that?"
I giggled and bounced a few times. "Tu hermano es un dragón! ¡Que padre!"
The two just stared back at me, confused. Twilight was the first to respond. "Are... you from Mexicolt?"
I shook my head. "Nope! I was born..." I looked a bit ahead of us and to the left. "About two miles that way." Not really sure how I knew that, but whatever.
Twilight looked in the direction I was pointing. "Er... the Ponyville General Hospital?"
"Nope!" I continued prancing down the road, Twilight and Spike following. "Where are we going?"
"Well, if you've been gone for almost a whole year, we're gonna need to go down to Mayor Mare's office to see if we can't find your paperwork and see if we can get you back with your family." She looked sad. "The poor ponies must be worried sick!"
I tilted my head, thinking. "I don't think I have one of those family things."
Twilight somehow managed to look even more concerned. "Well... either way, we'll need to do something about your family. If you don't have one, we'll have to find one for you."
Woah, a whole family? I'd never had one of those before. I could only hope they'd be as cool as having a dragon for a brother. Ooh, maybe I'd get adopted by a dragon! "Do you think I'd get adopted by a dragon?"
Twilight broke out into laughter. "N-no, Screwball, I don't think so." Seeing me frown, she smiled and put a hoof on my back as we walked. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure whoever you end up with, they'll be just as cool as a dragon."
Spike huffed. "I dunno, that's a pretty tall order." A quick scowl from Twilight changed his tone. "Buuuuut, you know, I'm sure your new family can manage."
Twilight and I both giggled, and we continued on our path to the mayor's office. I felt like, whatever came next, it would be a good thing. Except... I still couldn't shake that ominous feeling about parties...