The Night Court was in session. Absolute silence hung over the throne hall as Princess Luna presided alone. Not many ponies had cause to visit her at these dark hours, and thus most of her time was spent in the realm of dreams. If the ponies could not come to her, she had to go to them. But not this time, for Luna was scheduled to have at least one visitor tonight.
At the other end of the long stretch of carpet, one of the large doors creaked open and a small figure snuck in, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could, hyper-aware of any sounds echoing through the slumbering castle. Luna watched, with no small amusement, as the pony trotted shyly towards her, his hooves making muffled thumping noises on the carpet.
Despite being given a special appointment in tonight's court, a Lunar Guard such as Crimson Star was not announced by the royal chamberlain. These ponies were specially chosen to serve at the beck and call of the princesses, and were subject to absolute trust. Even the lowliest private could freely travel almost anywhere in the Castle.
Crimson stopped at the first step of the throne, and bowed deeply. His unclipped helmet nearly fell off as a result, but the bat pony smoothly pushed it back onto his head and looked up at his princess with curiosity shining through his blood red eyes. "You requested my presence, your highness?" He didn't understand why Princess Luna hadn't simply called him to any empty room or even her quarters as she usually did with guards if she wanted a word with them. Instead, a scroll had been sent to him specifically demanding an official appearance at the royal court... even though Princess Luna would be the only one there. He'd chalked it up to her old-fashioned tastes.
Speaking of her, Princess Luna was impassive as ever on the throne, her sparkling night sky mane wafting around her patiently. The serenity emanating from her calmed Crimson's anxiety somewhat. "Crimson Star. You reported to your unit's lieutenant an encounter with the otherworldly creature in Ponyville."
Crimson's left ear twitched. That's what this was about?? Had the Princess somehow discovered his attempted theft of hospital supplies?! "Y-yes."
"Your report made its way to us. In light of the recent Changeling invasion, we would like you to accompany us back to Ponyville to see the creature again, and afterwards stay there to keep him under observation."
The bat pony's jaw dropped. An extracurricular assignment?? For him, of all guards? Now he understood why he'd been summoned to the throne room like this, but... "Princess... ?"
"Your report did indicate you made contact with him." Luna pointed out.
"Well, yes, but... I'm just a Corporal... I don't have the experience..."
The princess was not swayed. "You will by the time you return. Since the creature cannot communicate, it's important to surround him with familiar faces. Unless you don't believe yourself capable of looking after him."
Crimson lowered his head in response to the veiled sting. "I will do as you command, your highness."
Princess Luna stood up and with a single flap of her mighty alicorn wings, levitated down the steps to Crimson's level. Her indigo feathers wrapped around the unassumingly grey bat pony's back in a maternal winghug. "Walk with us, Corporal."
With the alicorn's weight leading him, Crimson and Luna slowly made their way through the massive hall, the bat pony's mind nervously anticipating what his ruler might have to say next. Eventually, they stopped in front of one of the stained glass, and when the alicorn still said nothing, Crimson dared to look up.
On the window was a depiction of the legendary Mare In The Moon, its cold blue light juxtaposed with the warm orange of Celestia's sun.
"Sadly there are still many ponies across the land who would believe that I plot to overthrow my sister, and plunge the land into perpetual darkness. Those I do not fear. Nightmare Moon gave them great cause to be frightened of us, and of the night."
Feeling compelled to defend her princess, Crimson piped up: "They'll come around. I love the night, and I don't mind the day either!"
The princess smiled down at him. "And that is precisely why you're the right thestral for the job. For there is a type of pony I do fear."
Crimson Star's eyes widened in concern and surprise. "Princess??"
"Yes, Crimson. I do fear. I fear the ponies who want me to do all those terrible things. Who want the darkness to blacken out my sister forever." Her voice became stressed and her blue eyes glazed. "Who want me as I was back then - consumed by the worst of what I am. Nightmare Moon."
Crimson instinctively curled up a little as the princess's pupils shrunk and slitted momentarily. The alicorn closed her eyes, sighed wearily, and looked at the bat pony again, noticing his furry ears flattened against his head. "I know your family is among them, so before you go, I need to know if you're capable of choosing us over them."
She watched as the bat pony's eyes darted into different directions and he bit his lip, thoughts rapidly whirling through his mind. Soon enough, though, Crimson refocused on Princess Luna again and gave her a faint smile. "I've got your back, princess." He said honestly, and saluted. "That's my job."
Feeling cheerful, Luna bent down to nuzzle her loyal thestral thankfully. "We thank you, Corporal. It means more than you know. Now listen, and obey. Record, and do not interfere with the creature's decisions. We need to know what he wants, where he's from and how he's able to interfere with the flow of any magic. Keep out of his way, but protect him if he should come under any danger. Most importantly..." the mare's horn lit up, and a special, glinting half-moon necklace with a black string attached to it floated over to Crimson and tied itself around his neck. "... do not stop until we ourselves have given you permission. Until that time comes, Corporal, you will take orders from nopony. Understand?"
Awe-struck, Crimson held up the beautiful white stone of the moon necklace. "U-understood, princess..."
"Good. You shall now accompany us to the royal carriages. We hear Anon is being released from the hospital today, and we should like to see him again." As the princess trotted down the hall, Crimson paused, something rubbing him wrong about the princess's words.
"... Anon?"
Princess Luna froze.
With a confused expression on his furry face, the bat pony walked to her side, waiting for an answer. Luna sighed, and smiled. "Well, it wouldn't hurt telling you... Anon is the true name of the creature, which we absorbed from his mind during our attempt to observe his dreams. Let us keep this lapse in our concentration between us, shall we?" She playfully held her hoof up to her lips. "Shh!" Both of them giggled involuntarily, and Crimson nodded.
"Very well then. To Ponyville!"
Wincing as he rested his weight on his badly bruised hindhooves, Crimson pushed the slightly stuck wooden doorway to Zecora's hollowed-out tree hut open and then shut it behind him. Had anyone asked the bat pony, he would've cited good manners, but really, he just wanted to be absolutely sure he wouldn't have to deal with any other weird Everfree beasties wandering through. He'd had more than enough for one morning.
Being carved into a tree, the hut reminded him slightly of miss Sparkle's library, though instead of bright, clean shelves full of pleasant adventure books, the place was grimy, dim and filled with bowls of herbs and multi-coloured bottles. Seeing the zebra's bed tucked away in a corner, Angel Bunny leapt off of Crimson's back and hopped onto the bed, letting loose a satisfied sigh. "Angel! That's not your bed!" The bat pony chastised half-heartedly and collapsed against a wall.
Very soon, the door creaked opened again, revealing the enigmatic zebra carrying an unconscious Skinny on his back and some kind of mucky bag with her teeth. Spitting the bag on the floor, Zecora dragged the alien to her bed, where he tumbled into a heap, a random yellow feather oddly sticking out his posterior.
"What happened to him?!" Crimson exclaimed in shock.
"Your hairless friend was without his wits, I lost my patience and called it quits." Zecora said, and snapped onto the golden feather with her teeth, pulling the dart out and leaving it carefully on her bedside table."But of more importance is what I found abandoned on your camping ground."
She picked up the dirty bag she'd brought with her, tossing it to the bat pony who promptly examined it.
Crimson's eyes bulged as he recognised the pink cutie mark design on the clasp. "That's miss Twilight Sparkle's saddle bag! I don't understand... Skinny has his own, he doesn't need this. Why would he have it?"
Zecora smirked mischievously. "It is no use asking me - I've only just entered this story." She opened a cabinet and pulled out a rusting metal box with a red cross labeled on it. From it, she took out a tin of salve and some bandages, and began working on the bat pony's increasingly blue legs. "My list of questions outweigh yours... why don't you tell me what you're here for?"
"Ohhh..." the bat pony said, in confusion. "Now that I think of it, I'm not even quite sure." He giggled softly. "Well, my name is Crimson Star and Princess Luna assigned me to look after Skinny over there. He's a creature from another dee-mansion! Isn't that exciting? Anyways, he ran off into the forest and I tracked him down. But the strange thing is, he took camping equipment with him. He came here of all places in Equestria for a reason. I just wish I knew what that reason was. And I know what you're thinking! 'Well, why don't we just ask the chap?' See, according to miss Sparkle, whatever world Skinny's from, it has no magic at all so he's having a hard time adapting to this one. We can't understand what he's saying."
The zebra rubbed her chin in thought, and then turned back to Crimson. "First thing's first - I am Zecora. I live here and study fauna and flora." She extended a hoof and Crimson bumped it with his own. "The Everfree Forest holds many a secret. But I may know where he's trying to get." She pulled a cloth map off shelf and laid it out on a table carved out of a tree stump. On the map, she tapped at an image that reminded Shaggy of a chess rook. "Not far at all from where I found you lies the Castle of Two Sisters, remembered by few."
Crimson Star gasped, looking at the map in awe. "The Castle... ?" He knew about it, all right. Though Princess Celestia and the daytime ponies had instinctively buried the past and even now spoke of Nightmare Moon as little as possible, the bat ponies had kept the legends alive amongst them. To some of the most devout, it was even a place of pilgrimage. Crimson himself had never had any desire to see the decrepit ruins, though. "That can't be right. He's not spoken to anyone, how would he even know it ex-" he halted, as dots began to connect in his mind.
The Castle was important to Princess Luna. Princess Luna met Skinny in the dreamscape, and was able to exchange some information. "Okaaay..." the bat pony rubbed the back of his head. "I might have a clue as to how he knows about it, but still... what would an alien that doesn't talk, doesn't read, doesn't do any magic want from there?" Crimson pouted, and crossed his front hooves. "I hate missing puzzle pieces..."
Zecora shrugged. "I fear you only have one course - you must take this matter to its source. Seek out the Castle and you'll find what's got your friend in such a bind."
You've never felt as comfortable as you do right now. The gentle caress of a breeze refreshes you as you lie on the softest cotton mattress. It's so good that you want to stay there forever, but your curiosity starts making itself known and the content feeling slips beyond your grasp.
You open your eyes to a bottomless bright blue above you. After the past few weeks of a grey fall sky, you can't help, but form a huge smile on your face. It's perfect. Too perfect.
Sitting up, you realise that you're on a fluffy white cloud, one that can somehow hold your weight. "This is a dream, isn't it?" You mutter.
A light giggle behind you catches your attention and you turn around. "You got it!"
The delightful voice belongs to a creature that had already mesmerised you in stone, but was a true marvel in the flesh. A dark red reptilian tail connected to a slim and very elongated brown-furred body with limbs of every distinction - a green foot and a beige hoof, a lion's paw and a bird's claw. Atop it all, a mischievous grey mare's round face grinned a toothy smile at you as she combed her long white mane with sharp talons.
"Holy shit!"
The chaos creature scowled. "Well, that's a rude way to say hello!" She barked in a high-pitched, familiar voice.
You shake your head in disbelief and try to find the proper words. "I don't... understand...? Are you... from my phone?" Just hearing another person speak English again is enough to make you choke up a little.
"Mmm-no." She shakes her head, the mane whipping against her long neck. "I was never really on your phone. I just didn't want you thinking you were going crazy."
"... oh." is all your fried mind can come up with.
With a swift and flexible motion, the creature uncurls her snake-like body and you notice a pair of mismatched blue wings on her back as well, that carry her over to you. You stand up, the cloud still carrying your weight no problem. She holds out her paw for you, claws retracted. "I've decided to call myself Eris. You know, like in Greek mythology?"
"Goddess of discord." You answer automatically, remembering that lesson. Though you were no expert, you did enjoy history class. You take ahold of the paw, feeling the leathery pad against your palm.
"That's the one!" She taps you on the nose with her talon, and you instinctively let go and step back. Eris's mouth opens a little in an expression of awe. "Your nose hurts."
You frown. "... you poked it."
"Yup!" She nods enthusiastically. "And now it hurts. Just like it would if it were real. Oh, if only it was real... I've never been able to touch anything for real." Eris's perpetually cheerful tone sours. "But you'll fix that soon. Right??"
"I still don't understand. Are you the reason why my mind keeps looping back to the statue I saw? That body?" You motion towards her absurd anatomy.
"Not intentionally." Eris says, her long ears flattening against her head. "There's not a lot of space for two people in one head. This is why I had to talk to you now, even though I knew I'd scare the bejeezus out of you! I would've done it a lot smoother, but time's running out. I'm growing up so fast."
You hold up a hand. "You're not making anysense. Just... just start from the beginning. What are you, and what do you want of me?"
"I'm Eris." She says slowly, as if lecturing a child. "I'm..." She rubs her chin. "I'm not quite sure what I am."
A wave of irritation and confusion washes over you. "Well, that's just great." You sit down onto the cloud. "I'm just stuck in Heaven with a motormouth Frankenstein's chick."
To your surprise, she grins again. "Not a bad analogy, actually! Cause you did kinda bring me to life."
You blink-blink. "... What?!"
"You. And Princess Luna. When she crossed into your mind the very first time, that's when I... you know..." she waved her paw vaguely. "... started to be. In a little corner of your consciousness. Magic and un-magic equals chaos. Chaos... equals me! I guess you could say I'm your daughter. Or a split personality. Or both."
Eris plops onto the cloud in front of you unceremoniously, though her snake-like form still allows her to pull herself up to your eye level. "At the time I was just a teeny tiny thing. A little bit of self-conscious magic tucked away under that..." she pats your head. "... rough exterior. But by the time those big ugly bug things attacked, the princess was able to cross over much easier because I was there in your head, widening the gap, letting her magic in. I didn't understand why I was able to think in your head, or see and hear through your eyes and ears. But I knew I wanted to live too."
"Daughter...?" Somehow, you're able to concentrate through the extreme whirlwind of emotions and hold your hand up to touch Eris's prickly, pudgy grey-furred cheek. She closed her eyes. "You're making me feel this, aren't you? Just like you made me think the phone call was real."
"Mmhmm. The stronger I got, the more of you I could control. But it hurts you. I have to get out before, I dunno, your head explodes?" She chuckled without humor. "I didn't realise it would be so dangerous though... I'm scared. I don't know what's happening to you outside any more than you do. I just had to tell you in case something happened to us... had to let you know I'm in here."
Right now, you feel like a bubbling cauldron of every emotion - you're angry and terrified, belated and in shock. You hide your face behind your palms and groan audibly. Then you hop up again and start walking around, your fingers and hands twitching as you struggle to absorb the information.
"I'm sorry..." Eris quietly mumbles. "I didn't... I... it's a lot, I..."
You snort. "Yeah, yeah, you could say that. You could say that the magical tick daughter in my brain that looks like a kid's made-up superhero is not what I was expecting to be rescuing from the happy-go-lucky ponyland swamp! Ohh!" You melodramatically hold your palm against your lips whilst Eris deliberately avoids your gaze. "Sorry! My mistake! Zebra swamp! Because zebras, they live in fucking swamps now, haven't ya heard?!?! Have you fed your swamp zebra?? I hear they like freakin 20 foot tall Krakens!!" You take a deep breath. "I am so sick of this shit! I like ponies! Cute little things! But a guy goes a widdle little bit crazy when you get nothin', but sugar all day long, 24/7! So I picked up that phone and I was like 'yeah, awesome, kick-ass humans around! Finally, some normal conversation.' Ohh, but then I get this! The absolute cherry on the cake!"
You would have said more, but the chaos creature's yellow eyes well up, and she bursts into tears, breaking your rant. "Uh... no, don't... don't do that..." you mutter helplessly, like you would to a kid you've accidentally tripped up. Despite knowing that your surroundings aren't real, you decide to put logic and trust issues to the back of your mind and wrap your arms around the shivering snake-like creature. "Y-y-you don't-don't like me... I wanted you to like me..." she mumbled.
"That's not what I meant..." How the fuck am I gonna calm this down? "It's just a lot to take in. Like, a really big lot. Give me a little bit of time."
Eris hiccups a little and rubs her face against your shirt to dry her eyes. "I can't... there isn't much time... you have to wake up soon."
You take a deep breath. "You said you had to get out of me. How do we do that? Can I ask the ponies somehow?"
"The magical power source, it's very close now. You have to get to it."
"What is it?? What am I looking for?!"
She gulps before answering. "I don't know... it's powerful. I could feel it all the way from when we were in Ponyville. It's much, much stronger than I am. And it can break the barrier, make you all magic. Then maybe I can leave, or me being here will stop hurting you." Moving away from you, Eris pokes her head under hand, silently asking for some attention. You absent-mindedly weave your fingers through her long mane, the tips of your nails poking against her strange crooked horns.
"Why do you look like this?" you wonder out loud.
The question seems to perk the chaos creature up a bit. "The old statue in the castle was the first thing I ever saw in your mind. I figured... if I had to look like something, it'd be that. It was so strange. And I'm so strange. See the correlation?" She playfully bumped her nose against the palm of your hand.
"You mean, do I see why you decided to turn yourself into a genderbent minotaurusaurus or whatever this is? No, I think I kinda missed that." You joke.
Eris blows a raspberry.
"But..." you add. "it is kinda groovy."
You jump and stuff your fingers in your ears as colourful fireworks explode all around you. "JESUS! Little warning next time?!"
"I'm sorry!" Eris titters, clearly not sorry at all, and her body coils around you like some kind of oversized cross between a stuffed and balloon animal. "I wanna hug!"
"O... kay." you breathe. Your perception starts to dampen, and you get tunnel vision. "Eris!"
The chaos creature hugs tighter. "It's not me! You're waking up! I promise I'm real! I promise!"
As the world fades away, the last thing you sense is a vague feeling of being kissed on the cheek, but you're not quite sure.
Unlike last time, you wake up in a dim room, in no small measure of discomfort. Your legs are downright aching from being crammed in a bed that's far too small for you and your throat is extremely dry. Fortunately, the latter problem solves itself as you notice a cup and jug on the windowsill right next to you. You sit up, only to feel something soft angrily slapping against your stomach. "What the-?"
You rub your eyes and focus. That tail... unmistakable. "Bunnystorm the Third... you survived."
An ear perked up. Surprised? You giggle to yourself and scratch Sweetheart's bunny behind the neck. "Alrighty, we will get some sleep..."
You grab the cup and fill it up several times, until your thirst is gone.
At that point, your body focuses on its other pains, namely the legs, which you push out of the bed and stretch, as well as a strange piercing pain on your right buttock.
That damn crazy zebra. You realise. He did straight-up knock me out. Must've been the drugs that gave me that crazy-ass dream...
You pause for a moment, wondering whether you'll hear your so-called daughter's exuberant voice, but there's nothing other than the whistling of the wind outside. You appear to be in what looks like a cross between Twilight's hollowed-out tree library and Hagrid's hut from Harry Potter. Strange masks and bottles hang from the ceiling and the shelves are full of dusty books and strange African paraphernalia. From the windows, you see drops of moisture falling from a miserable looking sky. Heavy rainstorm.
The only lights in the whole place emanate from candles concealed inside glass jars, that have already mostly burned out.
Suddenly, you hear a short, curt whinny and the zebra you encountered earlier trots to the bed, sniffing you. He also shakes something below you. Following his hoof, you notice something directly next to your bed - a napping bat pony. "Oh thank God!" you exclaim and rest your head back onto the bed. Safe then.
Disturbed from his sleep by the zebra, Shaggy got to his wobbly hooves and boops you on the nose. You poke him back, and scratch his freckled face with fondness, making him giggle. "Good to see you too." Still sleepy, he releases the greatest yawn you've ever seen, followed by a smacking of the lips. You're pretty sure you would have seen his lung through his open throat had there been more light. As Shaggy lies back down on his mattress, the zebra steps over him and gives you a close examination with a magnifying glass.
"Hey, what's the big deal? Never seen imperfect skin before?" You grumble at his square-jawed face. You wanted to be left alone to ponder over your bizarre dream, but the dude insisted on looking you over. "Can't you ask Lavender Lady for the notes?"
As he turned around, you spotted one of those peculiar symbols the ponies all have on their butts. But his was...
That's the sun from the Lion King. That is the fucking sun from the Lion King. I'm losing my goddamn mind. I'm in an asylum somewhere and none of this is happening.
You struggle to hold back a bout of maniacal laughter at the nonsense your life has become.
What if Eris is real, though? If she is, she could be making me see things right now.
As mister freakin' Rafiki returns with some kind of mixture, your eyes dart around, wondering what next hallucinogenic thing you're gonna see. Luke Skywalker has to be right around the corner, probably with a mini-Dalek on his shoulder.
Rafiki hoofs the steaming goblet to you. "Here goes leap of faith number 394."
You take a sip.
Black tea. Now this is real. "Thank you." You say gratefully. "Cool mohawk, dude." The zebra nods.
Being a product of freak weather, the rain stopped as quickly as it had started.
"We've got to move on." Crimson announced to Zecora, who was relaxing for once, and reading a Daring Doo book in a corner. "If the Castle is that close nearby, we can make it there before nightfall."
"With your hooves covered in bruises? I think not. I'd hate for all my work to be for naught." Zecora chastised without looking up.
The bat pony stubbornly stood up regardless. Zecora wasn't kidding - his hind hooves felt like painful noodles. Still, he could rest at the Castle, he decided. Don't want to get the princesses more worried than they already are. "I think we're still going. But it would probably be a good idea to let Ponyville know where we are."
Zecora put her book down, and looked at Crimson with worry in her grey-green eyes. "Listen to me, little bat pony. Now that we've guessed your destination, surely you could delay for a certain duration. Allow the Elements of Harmony to accompany your friend to see this journey through to its end."
He rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "That's probably the smart thing to do... but I am rather curious to see the Castle myself. I'd rather not delay. We're three toughies, we'll be fine."
Harrumphing, Zecora nudged a drawer open with her nose and pulled out a few tins of food and a wineskin of water, which she then pushed into Skinny's saddlebags. "Very well, I wish you luck... you've certainly got pluck." She also hoofed Crimson some fresh bandages. "This is not an idle jest: when you're tired, always rest. Otherwise you will not heal, and then the pain becomes unreal."
The three ate a lovely, warm, thick stew that Zecora cooked out of mushrooms and a little vegetable garden she kept, and soon enough were dressed up to head forward. Crimson still wobbled a little, but kept a brave face. As Skinny began following the road with Angel Bunny whistling a tune on his shoulder, Zecora muttered to him: "Be mindful at the Sisters' Castle. You may be in for quite a hassle."