//------------------------------//
// Chapter 183: Through Different Eyes 
// Story: Piercing the Heavens 
// by Calm Wind 
//------------------------------//

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 183: Through Different Eyes





Rainbow Dash raced down the halls of the Crystal Palace, keeping up behind Luna as the two galloped towards the inner chambers.

“He’s stable?” Dash asked, now free from being dragged along. “You said everything is okay, right?!” she pressed as the two turned a corner.

“We said nothing is wrong!” Luna answered. It only took Dash a moment to notice that answer seemed off.

“Is there a difference?!” 

“Nay!” Luna shouted, then paused. “Well… Perhaps!”

“Perhaps?!” Dash glared. “Perhaps WHAT?!”

“Nothing was wrong… when we left!” Luna clarified. Luna swallowed, as if she could feel the stabbing of Dash’s glare in the back of her head. “No time to explain! We must make haste to aid Discord while he still has things under control!”

“You lied then?!” Dash growled loudly as they turned the last corner and the door to Soarin’s holding chamber came within sight.

“We said what we had to!” Luna shot back with conviction. “We need YOU, and wished not to put others in any danger! Captain Spitfire would have surely followed if we had done otherwise!”

“Nice excuse…” Dash grumbled. “Whatever, let’s just go!”

As they drew near the large doors, Twilight and Cadence came around the corner from the other direction. Twilight waved her hoof.

“Princess Luna!” she yelled as she flagged them down.

But then out of nowhere, Dash felt something. It hit her hard like she had just been punched square in the chest. She exhaled loudly, lurched forward and stumbled while nearly losing her hooves from underneath her. Her hooves skidded along the floor and a faint yellow glow appeared around her as she frantically pressed a hoof to her chest and felt her heart racing.

She looked up with her eyes stuck open wide and short of breath. She could see Luna, but she was blocking Twilight and Cadence from view. She couldn’t hear anything, an intense ringing in her ears.

It was as if something had stirred within her, awakened, and… it hurt.

“Make haste!” Luna yelled to the two other Alicorns. “We must—!” she cut herself off as she looked to her left and noticed Rainbow Dash was no longer keeping up with her. She slid to a halt just a few paces from the door and whipped her head around to see Dash hunched over, a look of shock and pain stuck to her face. “Rainbow Da—?”

A loud crash rang out. The walls shook, the windows clattered, the chandeliers jingled, and several wall-mounted furnishings dropped and bounced on the floor below. The giant doors to the chamber flung open, knocking both guards aside roughly as Discord hurled through them. He slammed into the opposite wall with a loud, pained grunt and so much force that the surface buckled and caved in, partially lodging him in it. Luna had barely escaped unscathed, one of Discord’s arms nearly grazing her nose as he flew past, but the shock faded quickly.

“Discord?!” she yelled out. She, Twilight, and Cadence galloped towards him as he tipped forward, peeling off the wall and falling into a heap on the floor below.

“GRRGH!” Discord growled as he quickly pressed his hands to the floor, and propped himself up on one knee, panting with heavy breaths and his chaos aura flickering and distorting the space around him. His eyes opened and he saw the three Alicorns standing over him, concerned. “What are you doing?! Don’t worry about me!” he yelled as his eyes shifted to see Dash struggling nearby. He forced an arm out, pointing at Dash. “Get her in there! NOW!”

The alicorns all looked to Rainbow Dash at the same time. Twilight was the first to move, pushing past Luna to rush towards her friend. 

But right before she could reach her, Dash suddenly looked up. Her pained expression replaced with a hard glare. Yellow light was flickering in her eyes and seeping between her gritted teeth. Twilight yelped as Dash thrust herself forward, her hooves finding the floor as she galloped past Twilight. Her body felt like it was burning up from the inside, but she was not focused on the heat, pain, or pressure… because all of those things were making her panic. Panic for who was on the other side of the open doors. 

She raced through the doors, but the pillar that once lay right on the other side of the door was completely gone, only rubble left where it once stood. It gave Dash a clear path, but no sooner did she cross over the remains of the pillar did she come to an abrupt halt, her eyes going wide as they took in the sight at the center of the room. Luna, Cadence, and Twilight all ran in behind her, and collectively gasped.

Soarin was standing in the middle of the room, the protective bubble completely gone from around him. His hooves were awkwardly set, his body was hunched forward and jittering. His eyes were stuck open extremely wide with shrunken, shaking pupils as he stared directly ahead. He was grunting, gasping and groaning painfully with his lips parted and teeth jammed together, little droplets of saliva trickling down his chin. He violently lurched his neck back and forth in stiff motions, his wings flexing involuntarily. Bursts of blue and yellow light were flashing in his eyes, seeping between his teeth and dancing about the horn as a flickering erratic aura encircled his entire body. Dash’s heart began to beat faster and faster. The heat building up in her body was reaching near unbearable levels as the yellow glow around her grew brighter.

“How did this escalate so quickly?!” Luna exclaimed as they all looked on in horror. “When we left he was only—”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!” Soarin cried out, his voice echoing as he threw his head up into the air and a strong burst of pressure exploded out from around him. Dash winced as she felt a small gust of wind, but a loud BANG rang out behind her as the three Alicorn Princesses were struck by the invisible force and sent flying backwards into the walls. 

Dash looked over her shoulder in surprise, her eyes widening as she saw Twilight, Luna, and Cadence all pressed to the wall, grunting in pain as they were held in place. Luna tried to force herself forward, her magic flickering on her horn, but she couldn’t concentrate as every attempt to free herself just ended with her being forced right back.

“RRRRrrrrrrgh GGGRRRHH!!!!” Soarin growled painfully. Dash looked back at him just in time as Soarin’s horn flashed brightly, small streams of blue and yellow magic ejecting in all directions. They flung into the walls, pillars, floor, and ceiling, exploding upon impact and chipping or breaking small chunks of the crystal surfaces.

“Ah!” Dash yelped, shielding herself as one of the yellow beams flung towards her and hit her in the arms. The beam exploded, sending her skidding backwards on her hooves. “Ow!” she winced, surprised she felt any bite of pain with how much her body felt like it was on fire within. But then she looked up and had no time to do anything as one of the blue beams was within inches of striking her in the chest.

It hit… and exploded.

But Dash remained in place, blinking as she felt absolutely nothing, not even a pinch. The occurrence felt awfully familiar, but she didn’t bother thinking about it… because right here and right now, she needed to take action. Soarin was struggling, he probably had no idea where he was or if anyone was there. From the start, she had been the one who pulled him free of pain at the behest of the magic within him… and it was time for her to do just that once again.

She fixed her eyes on Soarin, her hooves moving on instinct as she broke into a gallop towards him. The unbearable burning inside of her did not slow her down, to her… it was only a motivator. Soarin was in pain and she was feeling it… it was his pain, not hers. With this firmly planted in her mind, she skillfully maneuvered, dodging back and forth to specifically avoid every yellow beam that hurled her way, ignoring the blue as they smacked against her and did nothing to stop her advance.

“I’m here Soarin!” she yelled out to him as she closed in. “I’m here!” she slammed all four hooves to the ground and leapt up, reaching out for his neck. “I’m HEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!!”

She came within inches of touching him… but then Soarin grunted and lurched, his body moving forward and out of Dash’s reach. She yelped, swinging an arm out and grabbing his shoulder before she could shoot right over him. She stopped herself, but her momentum swung her down and her stomach smacked right into his back at the base of his neck. Knowing he could lurch again at any moment, she whipped herself around and wrapped her arms around his large neck as far as she could, giving it a tight squeeze. 

“SOARIN!” she yelled, growling. She could not see it, but the yellow aura shining around her began to merge with his own aura. “DAMMIT! SOARIN, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!”

“ARGH! AGH!” Soarin cried out, lurching back and forth, but Dash held on for dear life, the glow around them both growing more intense as the light from Dash continued to merge with the light around Soarin. 

“COME ON! YOU CAN BEAT IT!” Dash yelled out. “YOU CAN WIN! YOU ALWAYS DO!”

At first… it appeared as if nothing was happening. But after another moment of carnage… Soarin’s movements began to slow down, becoming less stiff and erratic. The blue light within his mixed aura began to grow brighter, it began to press against the yellow light, pushing it back down closer to his body while also running over Dash, encircling them both. Soarin’s grunts became weaker and less labored, his body swaying gently as the expulsion of magic from his horn ceased. Dash inhaled sharply in surprise as she felt the heat within her body rapidly recede, as if a brisk, satisfying breeze had rushed through her and extinguished a raging wildfire in one fell swoop.

“Ah!” Dash yelped as Soarin tipped suddenly and stumbled. She was swung off his back, but she held on tight to his neck, her chest pressing to his as she touched her cheek to his fur. “Relax, Soarin! Relax…” she spoke to him. “Please… please…” she whispered as she held on.

“Ah… haaaa…” Soarin shuddered, his eyes stopped jittering and his eyelids stopped straining. Listening closely, Dash could hear his breathing stabilize and even out. She could feel his pulse calming down in his neck. The blue light surrounding them both expanded further, the yellow light struggling to fight against it. 

Soarin’s legs began to wobble and he slowly lowered himself down to the floor, laying on his stomach and shutting his eyes tight as the blue light pushed the yellow light into his body, completely out of sight.

“Ah… ah… oooooooh…” Soarin groaned as his body twitched lightly.

Dash loosened her grip, sliding off his neck and sitting her plot on the ground. She kept her arms up, supporting Soarin’s large head with her hooves as he slowly lowered it down. She shifted and leaned back, slowly guiding Soarin’s head until his chin rested in her lap.





“Oof…” Dash grunted slightly, the weight of his massive head pressing into her, but she sucked it up and dealt with it. “Shhhhhhh… it’s okay… shhhhhhhhhhhh…” she gently shushed as she gently stroked on hoof up and down his cheek and the other through his mane.

Soarin’s eyes opened weakly, he looked exhausted. They slowly shifted back and forth, landing on Dash’s body.

“Th… that… voice…” Soarin rasped with slow, heaving breaths. “Is… is that…?” His eye facing her struggled to look up. “Dash…? Rainbow… Dash…?”

Dash immediately leaned back so he could see her, his eye locking with hers and opening slightly wider. She smiled at him, her face wrought with concern.

“Yeah… it’s me.”

Soarin stared for several moments. Then his eyelids shuddered and subtle droplets began to form in his eyes.

“I… oh…” he sniffled. “Thank god… I’m…” his voice sputtered. “I’m so… tired…”

Dash flinched in surprise as Soarin dug the side of his face into her stomach while simultaneously forcing an arm forward and wrapping it tightly around her lower back. 

“Humph!” Dash gasped as Soarin pulled her in so tightly that she could barely breathe. His grip was so strong, it felt like she was being squeezed in a vice. After shimmying herself a little, she finally found a position that gave her room to breathe. But then she frantically looked over Soarin. His eyes were closed. At first she was afraid that he had gone back to sleep, but upon closer inspection, she could see his eyelids flickering. He opened and closed them every few seconds in very slow and weak movements.

Dash breathed a sigh of relief and held Soarin’s head gently as the two sat still with the softly pulsing blue glow encircling them. Not only did Soarin look relaxed, but she felt really good too, relieved from the burning heat and instead filled with a soft, comfortable feeling that swirled happily within her. 

She blinked, her body tingling for a moment as the good feeling seemed to grow. She stared at his face, then ran her eyes down his neck and towards his massive body… she bit her lip as her eyes ran over the muscles on his enormous frame.

No. Dash, no.

She slammed her eyes shut. Holding her breath and puffing her cheeks out as she could feel it all welling up. The familiar euphoria surge… it wasn’t new. 

Control… control… control… Don’t let the stimulation take hold… don’t be overwhelmed. Soarin needed soothing… her personal desires would have to wait, especially those that were being egged on by things beyond her control. She took several deep breaths, calming herself so she could remain focused.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared at his face as she continued to gently stroke it. It was crazy how much effort it took to do so now with how large he was. Soarin sighed contently, nestling his head further against her in response to her touch.

She looked over towards the others. Luna, Twilight, and Cadence were gathering themselves after falling from the wall. Discord was standing in front of them, arms outstretched and a purple shield bubble surrounding him and the three mares. Discord lifted an eyebrow as he made eye contact with Dash. There were no words exchanged between the two, but Dash assumed he was looking for an all clear of sorts. Dash nodded, releasing a hoof from Soarin for a moment to beckon them in.

Discord snorted and released the shield as the groaning alicorns shook themselves out and rose to their hooves. Once their senses had returned, they all carefully approached as Dash went back to stroking Soarin’s mane and face.

“Well…” Dash spoke up as they stopped a few paces away. “He’s definitely awake,” she said with some slight sarcasm. Luna was the first to step a little closer, though still kept at least three paces from them. She froze for a moment, her eyes locking on Soarin, but she quickly ripped them away, staring towards the wall to the right.

“And… how fare thee?” she asked, her eyes glancing at Dash, but quickly returning across the room before she could look at Soarin. “Are you stable within? There is no ple…pressure?”

“There was a little bit of a surge just now,” Dash explained without looking away from Soarin. “But… I was more worried about calming him down.”

Luna blinked, her eyes widening in surprise at how casually Dash referred to the lustful temptations as an afterthought. She slowly looked towards Soarin again, but the moment her eyes caught just a small bit of his body, she twitched and forced herself to look away again. She had been handling the magnetic draw well recently, but Soarin being conscious and his power flowing seemed to amplify it to a degree. Though she did not fear losing control of herself, especially with everypony else right there, she was taken aback by how easily Dash seemed to be handling it and didn’t want the others to notice.

Cadence broke from the group, pacing around and examining the damage done to the floor, walls, and pillars.

“Thank goodness he stopped,” she said aloud as she took account of all the broken chunks of crystal and the cracks and divots everywhere. “That could have been much worse…”

“Yeah, that was—” Twilight was cut off as Discord grunted loudly.

“I don’t want to hear another WORD from that jackass about me being too careful!” he grumbled as he crossed his arms and angrily tapped a finger against his left arm. He glared hard at Soarin and shook his head. “I can’t believe how easily his energy ripped right out of my hold! We’re dealing with a monster here!”

“Discord!” Twilight quickly stepped in front of him and held a hoof out. “Please! Let’s keep our wits about us here!”

Discord refocused his glare on her, but Twilight shrugged it off, putting a hoof to her lips and shushing him while motioning to Rainbow Dash as she continued to comfort Soarin. 

Discord snorted and turned his back, walking all the way to the first stable pillar he could find in the room. He leaned against it and grunted to himself as he watched Twilight, Cadence, and eventually Luna all begin to carefully inspect Soarin.

But soon his eyes found their way to Dash’s hooves and the way they were gently holding Soarin. He blinked and stared as Dash gently ran her hooves up and down, and how he reacted to her touch.

“Hrmph…” Discord flicked his snake tongue as he looked away and rolled his eyes.

Several minutes went by. Eventually, Soarin appeared to be fully relaxed, his body no longer twitching at all, and even the blue glow surrounding them both was very dim.

“Hngh…” Soarin stirred, his eyes flickering open as he nestled his face into Dash’s stomach. 

Dash took notice of how relaxed he looked, so she broke the silence.

“Hey, sleepyhead… how do you feel?” she asked, trying to be lighthearted as Twilight, Cadence, and Luna eagerly waited.

Soarin slowly opened his eyes all the way. He looked tired and restless, but Dash could not begin to describe how good it felt to look into his eyes again.

“I… don’t know…” Soarin answered.

That wasn’t an answer Dash was expecting. She glanced up to see the three alicorns were similarly surprised.

“Where… am I…?” Soarin continued. He tried to move but grunted loudly as he barely managed to budge and blue light flickered around him. “Why… am I so heavy?” he asked as his eyes continued to look around before they landed on Dash again. “Why… are you so small?” his voice grew a little in octave. 

Everypony flinched as he suddenly tried making a solid effort to move. 

“Wait, Soarin, WAIT!” Dash tried to stop him, but it was too late. The moment he tried to force his hoof down, he only got a few inches off Dash’s lap before several bright blue and yellow flashes shone from his horn and eyes.

“Aaaaaah!” Soarin grunted, his head falling back into Dash’s lap. She grunted as his heavy head fell back into her and she quickly hugged his nose as the lights died back down.

“Careful!” Discord suddenly spoke up as he came back over to them. “For the love of Celestia BE CAREFUL!” he demanded angrily.

Soarin’s eyes opened and closed upon hearing him.

“Is that… Discord?” he asked. “Wonderful…”

Dash couldn’t help but snort. Even in his current state, Soarin found a moment to be sarcastic about the local chaos lord. It didn’t get past the others either, Twilight looking away to chuckle as Discord gave them all a flat look. 

“Soarin…” Dash spoke up as she gently rubbed his face again. “What can you remember?” she asked, bringing all of their attention back to him as she tried to start getting some perspective out of him.

Soarin said nothing for a moment, but his eyes shifted here and there as if trying to piece an answer together.

“I was fighting Sombra…” he began weakly. “Celestia tried to do something… I tried to stop her… after that…” he paused and held it for a long moment. “After that…” he paused again. “I… ahhh…” his body began to quiver.

“Soarin?” Dash quickly lowered herself down to place her chin on the top of his head. 

“I…” he began to choke up. “Oh god…”

Something about recounting it was shaking him to the core. Dash quickly glanced at the others, but none of them seemed to have any idea what it could be, not even Discord. Dash quickly tried to change the subject.

“Shhhhh… it’s okay Soarin,” she squeezed his neck. “Listen to me. You’re in the Crystal Palace. The fighting ended. You’ve been out for almost two months and—”

“M…MONTHS?!” Soarin suddenly flinched, his eyes opening wide. “Only… two... months? But… it… it felt like…” he trailed off.

“What?” Dash tried to softly press. “Felt like what?”

“It was like… a nightmare that wouldn’t end…” Soarin went on as he pressed his head harder into Dash. “It felt like… years… decades… like…” he twitched and winced hard as his body shuddered madly. “What’s wrong with me? Why does everything feel different? I’m awake but… I don’t feel like I am.”

Dash bit her lip, not sure what to say. Then her eyes were suddenly drawn away as Discord snorted loudly.

“You know what…?” Discord grumbled as he walked over and put himself into Soarin’s line of sight. “We might as well get this part over with. If he wants to know why something feels off, then best show him now.”

He snapped his fingers and a large mirror appeared above his head. He grabbed it and planted it on the floor.

The others froze, even Dash. Among them, there was a desire to yell out, to tell Discord it wasn’t a good idea, but at the same time, none of them could find the words. It was true that the reality of the situation could not be denied, but was a sudden smack in the face really the best way?





Fan art by: Lazzari


It was too late, because Soarin was staring with wide eyes at his reflection. A loud expulsion of air ejected from his mouth with a squeak and a crack as if a gasp that was either too weak or too strong shot from his lungs. Dash quickly tightened her grip on him as he tipped his head up slowly, gazing dead ahead with his mouth agape and his eyes twitching. The look in his eyes suggested he wasn’t believing what he was seeing, that or what he saw defied belief, it was hard to tell by those watching. 

Luna, Cadence, and Twilight, whether they meant to be or not, were all visible in the reflection of the mirror, standing behind him and Dash. His eyes, after darting between his own and the horn on his head several times, started shifting to each alicorn in the mirror with him. 

Luna.

Cadence.

Twilight.

It was as if he couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing, but he had three examples right there in the very image before him that signified exactly what he couldn’t believe. But he wasn’t just an Alicorn… his bodily appearance was similar to…

“You’ve become a divine alicorn,” Discord broke the silence, stepping around the mirror and leaning against it while looking sternly down at Soarin. “And before you bother asking… no, we haven’t a clue how it happened.”

“Ah…” Soarin began to shudder. “AH…!” he gasped loudly as he stared at himself in shock. The faint aura surrounding him and Dash began to brighten and flicker again. Discord flinched and growled as he shook his head out. 

“Oh, me and my BIG mouth!” He quickly dispelled the mirror and threw his arms forward, erecting a bubble of chaos magic around Dash and Soarin as the three alicorns quickly jumped back.

But Dash quickly leaned herself down, pressing her chest to the side of Soarin’s head and giving him a big squeeze.

“Soarin! Soarin, no! Relax! Just relax!” she spoke to him.

It seemed to do the trick. Soarin stiffened, his breathing remaining calm despite the look of shock on his face as the aura receded and stopped flickering. When Discord saw him ease up, he grunted and removed the barrier. Luna, Cadence, and Twilight made their way around to his side.

“What was that about not being careful?” Twilight asked Discord with an annoyed pout.

“Oh, shut up…” Discord flicked a finger at her, a squeaky hammer appearing over her head and giving her a single bop with a loud SQUEE.

“Soarin, listen to me…” Dash began in a serious tone as she whispered into his ear. “Be calm… and relax. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere. There is a lot to explain, but… you’re safe, I’m safe, the Wonderbolts are safe, and you are not dreaming. Look at me…” She gently reached her hooves under his chin to support him and help him look into her eyes. His frozen stare hurt her, but she knew he could hear her voice. “You are still YOU… and we want to know everything you’re feeling. If you need a moment, then take one. Just relax and rest… now come back down here…” she slowly directed his head back into her lap and nestled him against her comfortably. She could feel him shaking upon coming into contact with her, but it quickly died down as he nuzzled into her again. “Guys?” Dash looked up at the other. “Help me tell him everything we know and everything he’s missed… we need to get him up to speed.”

They all glanced at each other, except for Discord who stared squarely at Luna. Luna inched back slightly upon meeting his eyes, but swallowed and nodded.

“Where do we even begin?” she said as she stepped forward.





Soarin lay comfortably in Dash’s lap. While his eyes held a bit of disbelief still, hearing the explanation in full seemed to bring him pause. The truth was the truth, no matter how absurd it may be, and getting the full rundown was giving him much to think about as Luna did her best to recount it all with input from the others. There was some satisfaction for him as well, hearing Luna not spare herself or certain others from their missteps. Though hearing the admissions added to the overall feeling of the situation… that what had happened was beyond them all.

“And now we’re here,” said Dash, tying up the last bit as they finished telling Soarin everything.

Soarin sat still for a moment, looking at nothing in particular as they all waited for him to say something. But no matter what he said, they all felt less worried about his mental state, for he seemed to partially accept that things had suddenly gotten incredibly strange. And considering what he had already been put through before this… that was a high bar to reach.

“Hm…” he finally hummed. “And to think calling me a princess used to be a joke…”

Dash chuckled at first, as did the rest. But they all quickly stopped. Despite the rather joking statement, Soarin did not look amused at all.

“And you said… the spirits of both Celestia and Sombra are inside me… along with everything else?” he asked, looking towards Luna and Discord.

“Yes, unfortunately,” Discord snorted. “Though as far as I know… Sombra is merely along for the ride. You became this because you somehow managed to withstand the full force of a power that nearly destroyed Celestia herself when she dared to unlock its potential ages ago.”

“Then MAYBE…” Dash cut in sharply while glaring at Discord. “Soarin can tell us more about how it all happened?”

“Just a few minutes ago he said he couldn’t—”

“I can,” Soarin abruptly cut off Discord. “I’m…” he sighed. “I feel a little better now, my head’s clearer. Just let me…” he shuddered. “Sit… up…”

“Whoa, whoa, wait!” Twilight frantically put her hooves out.

“HRGH!” Soarin grunted loudly as he tried to move again, loud crackling noises came from the horn and around his body as the blue aura flickered and tiny yellow sparks danced from his eyes. 

“Easy, Soarin. EASY!” Dash reached out and supported him as his effort gave out.

“Son of a bitch…” Soarin grumbled as he exhaled. “It feels like a laser rave party in my head every time I try to move…”:

“That’s because you’re an unstable mess,” Discord pointed out. “So please for the love of all that is holy, STOP trying to move. Your body was not made to handle this.”

Dash blinked in surprise as she saw Soarin furrow his brow and scowl as Discord spoke.

“I can do it,” he said defiantly.

“What did I just—?”

“I. CAN. DO IT." Soarin repeated, his voice suddenly echoing a little as his eyes flashed, one blue and one yellow.

Discord visibly flinched and inched backward a step. His eyes darted back and forth right after, hoping none of them saw his reaction. Luckily for him, they were all focused on Soarin.

“Dash… can you help me sit up?” Soarin asked, tilting his head so he could look her in the eye. Dash smiled and nodded. 

“Yeah, let’s get you up… but you’re kind of really heavy now so…” she looked at the alicorns. “Twi? Cadence? A little help?” 

It was not lost on any of them that she specifically didn’t ask the two omnipotent beings in the room, but neither Twilight nor Cadence hesitated when asked. The two carefully approached as Luna and Discord looked on. Dash directed them to where they should help support Soarin. Discord slipped one hand behind his back, balling it up into a fist as his chaos aura encircled it. He wasn’t going to take any chances and was ready to intervene if need be… or at least try.

“Hrgn…” Soarin grunted as he slowly leaned up with the three sets of helping hooves. Blue fizzles and pops jumped from his horn frequently throughout the process, but he focused on keeping calm, allowing his extra support to do most of the heavy lifting as they slowly tilted him up… and eventually got him sitting upright. “Haaa…” Soarin exhaled and took a few deep breaths, finally sitting up under his own power.

The three took a step back to let him balance himself. Dash’s eyes grew wider as she took him in. She slowly looked up, getting a good look at just how large he was with both of them sitting on the same level plane. He loomed larger over her… very large…

“Wow…” Dash whispered to herself as her cheeks became a little rosy.

“Are you fine?” Cadence asked Soarin. Dash flinched, but quickly realized Cadence wasn’t talking to her. “Want us to pull the table over to lean against?”

“I’ll manage, but thanks,” Soarin declined. He took a moment to look around, and for the first time see all of them from his new higher point of view. He looked down at each one of them, even Discord was lower than him. “This is so… odd,” he admitted before turning to Dash. He blinked as he saw the way she was staring at him. “Dash?”

“Hm?! W-what?!” Dash stuttered, stiffened, and blushed. “NOTHING! It’s nothing!” she answered a question no one asked, then quickly hid her face with a wing. “You’re just… really… er… big.”

“Oh, spare me…” Discord rolled his eyes and snorted. “Well, come on, you’re up. Now start talking, we’re waiting.”

Soarin didn’t take notice of Discord’s tone. Instead he gathered his thoughts.

“Let’s see…” he pondered out loud. “Okay so, I remember Celestia unleashing her full power… and then I tried to absorb it using the lessons I had learned about magic focusing. I couldn’t do it on my own, even with Dash’s support… so I forced Sombra to help me…”

“Forced?” Discord blinked. Soarin looked up at him, but Discord snickered and shook his head. “Nothing, carry on.”

“I guess that’s the best way I can put it. Sombra had given up trying to harness her power and his spirit was floating helplessly among the surge. I nearly absorbed what was left of him while I was trying, but when I realized it wasn’t going to happen, I… grabbed him and demanded his help. He told me not to give him orders, but he helped me anyway. And together…” Soarin trailed off.

“Hmph…” Discord grunted. “Your version is a bit different than his, but it looks like he wasn’t just blowing smoke. That’s what really happened then?” Discord looked away. “Two mortals… who are just too stubborn to die? Even against the endless depth of Celestia’s power? Could it be that…?”

“Discord…?” Luna spoke up, tipping her head.

“Nothing,” Discord shook his head and exhaled. “Nothing. I’m just thinking out loud.”

“So what happened then?” Dash asked while sitting down next to Soarin and gently rubbing his arm. “You started saying something before but—” 

She froze as Soarin’s eyes opened wide and he twitched lightly. She quickly shut her mouth tight and grabbed his arm with both of hers. Soarin shut his eyes and swallowed, shaking his head.

“Sorry… sorry…” he assured her upon feeling her squeeze. “It… I…” he took a deep breath. “I’m not sure exactly how to describe what happened next.”

Discord perked up, his ears turning forward intently. He quickly glanced at Luna, who seemed to be just as intrigued. Neither Twilight, nor Cadence could possibly understand the specifics of their interest.

“After Sombra helped and all three of us—" he gave Dash a quick glance, “—worked together against Celestia’s power… I’m assuming it was the moment we succeeded… The struggle ended and the pain and strain was gone like it never existed, but I found myself… somewhere. I don’t know where, like I was floating in an empty space. No matter where I looked, I saw nothing, no matter how much I tried to call out, my voice didn’t make a sound. But after a few moments, I began to… hear something. It sounded like voices, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then I began to see things, things that were blurry and without features. The voices kept getting louder and the images flew by faster and faster, but I was never able to discern what was being said nor what I was seeing. As it went on, I began to feel something, an emptiness in the pit of my stomach, my body began to twitch and tingle and emotions I could not describe started surging through me. And none of them were pleasant… sorrow, anger, fear, anxiety, anguish, hopelessness… desire, jealousy, envy, spite, resentment… and… none of it felt like my own. It was like the infinite voices pounding in my head were calling out to me, the flailing images shooting all around me, some coming right at me as if reaching out to me with the voices. It became overwhelming so quickly… but it didn’t stop. It went on and on and on and only got stronger as time passed. And it felt like it went on for an eternity… it felt like years… It drove me mad, all I wanted was for it to stop, but it wouldn’t and there was nothing I could do about it. And… the moment when I finally gave up hope… I woke up.”

Everypony sat still as he finished. The looks on everypony’s faces implied that none of them expected such an explanation. Dash, Twilight, and Cadence all stared in shock, surprised at how vividly horrifying it sounded. The gods, on the other hoof, were strategically out of view from the rest. Discord was twirling a finger in his scraggly beard and looked to be in deep thought. Discord stole a glance at Luna. She looked visibly stricken and very uncomfortable, confirming that she was thinking the same thing as him despite her different reaction. Discord knew what scared her and knew there was no way she was going to speak up about it. So he did instead.

“It sounds to me…” Discord stepped forward as everypony looked at him except for Soarin. “Like you experienced the price of the power that’s now yours,” he said while glancing at Luna. Luna said nothing and looked away quickly.

“What do you mean?” Soarin asked.

“Celestia was not born with the depth of power she wields. She earned it through great risk to herself, one that she felt necessary to truly become the goddess Equestria needed. Opening one’s mind to the bottomless depths of divine alicorn power is dangerous and can utterly twist, consume, or even destroy those who try, even immortals. She took the risk because those who once stood high before her did the same…” he trailed off for a moment, looking in Luna’s direction. “But it’s a risk that most were unwilling to take. And those who did… but failed, did not walk away unscathed… or at times even at all. That which can entirely snuff out what is eternal is not something to be taken lightly.”

Luna was still looking away, but she shuddered as Discord’s words slid through her ears. 

“Yet those who did and succeeded… did not do so without great agonizing pain as both the body and the mind must be… adjusted to be what the power needs to exist, and the wielder feels every bit of it. Perhaps that’s what Soarin experienced… something similar to what she did,” Discord continued. “Though honestly, that’s just speculation, we’ll have to ask her the next time she’s able to project herself outside of him… and I’m assuming that’s only an option when he’s asleep.”

“She’s right here, you can ask her now.”

Everybody jumped in surprise as Sombra’s voice came out of Soarin as his eyes and horn flickered with blue light. Nopony flinched as hard as Soarin, who jittered and winced. He immediately hunched forward and pressed a hoof to his head, blinking rapidly.

“What in the HELL was THAT?!” Soarin groaned as he opened and shut his eyes a few times and tipped his head.

“What was what?” Sombra’s voice came out of him again, the same blue flashes coming from his eyes and horn. Soarin grunted and put both hooves on his head as it happened again.

“Oh, wonderful...” Discord growled, rolling his eyes.

“Sombra?” Soarin shook his head out and glanced back and forth. “What? Where are you?”

“In here, where else?” Sombra said with a snort as Soarin’s eyes and horn lit up. 

“You can talk from inside me?” 

“Apparently I can.”

There was a long pause, everypony staring blankly at Soarin.

“Oh, that is NOT right…” Soarin complained while rubbing his hooves on his forehead below the horn. “I don’t like that one bit…”

“Do you want Celestia to speak or not?” Sombra huffed.

“Okay, stop, STOP! Rgh…” Soarin shouted while blinking. “That’s… so damn weird! Don’t tell me Celestia can do that too…”

“I can,” Celestia’s voice came from Soarin, his eyes and horn blinking yellow instead.

Soarin perked up and blinked several times.

“Okay, that’s even worse…”

“I’ll take it over the regal douche…” Discord glanced away and muttered to himself, seemingly the only one not still silenced by the revelation.

“Apologies…” Celestia spoke again, her voice notably softer than Sombra’s. “This must not be very comfortable.”

“That’s… putting it lightly…” Soarin groaned as he continued to rub his head.

“Are you… okay though, Soarin?” Dash asked, the flashing of blue and yellow lights concerned her, since they were typically paired with him struggling to control himself.

“I’m fine, Dash… it’s just… weird having voices come out of me that aren’t mine.” He explained. “It feels like an involuntary vibration in my head.”

“Do you want her to explain or not?” Sombra spoke up in full voice.

“Gaaaaaaaah…” Soarin winced and lurched again.

“Sombra… lower your voice please…” Celestia spoke softly again. Sombra snorted, but said nothing else. “How is this, Soarin?” Celestia asked, softening her voice a little more. 

“That’s… bearable, yeah…” Soarin clarified, scrunching his face up. Dash took notice of his expression. Obviously, he was uncomfortable, but he also looked… annoyed?

“What you experienced…” Celestia began, nearly trailing off at the start as if gathering herself. “Are the burdens one carries when walking down this dangerous path. The depth of divine alicorn magic is near bottomless, it is a power so great, wild, and unstable that our bodies and minds naturally prevent us from accessing more than a sliver of it. It was always said that it was nature’s way of still having some sway over us gods, keeping us from being destroyed by our own power. As Discord said, however… there are those of us among the divine who have taken the chance and suppressed these natural barriers… opening up our minds to the true depths of our power. The risk is great, and if unprepared, it can easily destroy or corrupt one beyond all recognition. All those whom have stood tallest amongst the divine have done so, and when Luna and I were the only Alicorns left, I too took the chance to fill the void left behind by those destroyed. No true god stood, and Luna was too young. I had no choice.”

Celestia paused for a moment, making a noise that sounded like a vocalized shiver before she continued. 

“What you described was precisely what I experienced. Voices, thoughts, emotions… things that did not belong to me. Though I myself cannot say for certain, I believe that one who wishes to become all seeing must accept what comes with such a gift. By putting yourself in the role, you open up your mind to the thoughts, wishes, emotions, and desires of others. You become their eyes and ears. You become their hope… what they believe in. Unfortunately, what pours forth the loudest from the beings of the world are the unpleasant. Pain, desire, longing… anger, hatred, hopelessness… any negative emotion or state of mind is like a voice constantly shouting in your head from a million directions all at once. It is a test… a brutal realization that this is what you are asking for. It feels like it lasts forever and if you break, you will be rejected and be destroyed or… worse. Since you found the will and the means to absorb my energy, all my power has been passed to you, and thus, with a new vessel, the process had to begin anew. You were tested, just as I was. I shudder to think how it all felt to you, being unprepared and of mortal flesh no less. I had the advantage of an immortal body and the opportunity to steel myself for the worst.” Celestia paused. “It pains me to say that you never truly stop hearing the voices, but… over time I have learned how to live with it. It is simply part of being a god. You can’t solve every problem in the world, but it’s a reminder that… you are important to those who look up to you. You understand them in ways they may never even know.”

Celestia finished explaining and stayed quiet for a moment, but when no one spoke up, she did again.

“Would you like to add anything?” she asked.

“What could I possibly add?” Sombra spoke up in full voice again, causing Soarin to twitch. “I’m trapped in this debacle you’ve created just as much as he is.”

“Okay, you stop talking for a moment,” Soarin slammed his eyes shut and growled.

“I will speak if I so desi—”

“NO! SHUT UP!” Soarin yelled, cutting him off as blue and yellow sparks jumped from his horn. “RGH…!” Soarin grunted and put a hoof to his head as Dash squeezed his other arm tightly and the others leaned back slightly. “CELESTIA…” Soarin forced out with his teeth jammed tight. “Are you listening to me?”

“Y… yes?” Celestia answered quietly. “I am.”

“Good,” Soarin narrowed his eyes. “Because I have a lot to say… where OTHERS can hear me. So you better listen.”

Dash blinked in surprise, Soarin’s tone turning very sour. This was not lost on the others either as they all listened.

“What gives you the right to decide the fate of another?” he asked very sharply. 

“I… what?” Celestia’s voice stuttered. Discord’s eyes twitched, but he held his tongue.

“You heard me,” Soarin pressed.

“I… would never do such a…” she trailed off, the manner in which she stopped while she was ahead implied she caught herself from saying something.

“Good thing you stopped,” Soarin growled. “At least you know you’re full of crap. And I’m not even talking about everything you pulled before this went down.”

“Okay now hold on, you…” Discord stomped forward and pointed a finger at Soarin. 

Soarin shot a hard glare in Discord’s direction, snarling as his horn crackled with blue and yellow flashes. Discord froze in place, forcing his displeased expression to remain in place as he felt the magical pressure pulsating from Soarin. He didn’t forget what happened when Soarin awoke, but he certainly didn’t want Soarin to get the idea that he was… cautious.

“Celestia…” Soarin continued. “You decided it would be just fine to kill me to get rid of Sombra.”

There was a long silence. Celestia said nothing.

“Did you even for a moment consider that when you brought all your power crashing down on us?”

“It… I…” Celestia struggled. “I was sacrificing… myself…”

“No, stop!” Soarin cut her off. “You’re making this about you?!”

“I was doing what I thought was right!” Celestia quickly added, raising her voice a little. Soarin twitched as her voice reverberated in his head, but he shook it out and snorted. 

“It was right to kill me? It was right to kill Dash? We were taking on Sombra, we were holding out against him, and suddenly you thought ‘oh gee, I’ll just kill them all?’ Really?”

Celestia said nothing.

“Hmmm…” Sombra hummed quietly to himself. Nopony could see him, but he was listening with great interest… and had a slight smirk on his face.

“I want you to think about that because you didn’t seem to care.” Soarin went on. “And frankly, on top of everything that’s led to me sitting here, with my body blown up out of proportion, seeing shit, and shouldering your burdens now too? I’m kind of at the end of my rope with you… and gods for that matter.” He glanced at both Discord and Luna. “It almost makes me sick to know that I’ve apparently become one now, if this is the company I have to share. Forced into a position held by a bunch of idiots who have lived too long and don’t seem to be any the wiser for it.” 

His words were harsh, several present flinched almost every word. All except for Discord, who looked to be shaking a little, though it was not out of shock like the others, rather he was doing his best to control himself and not let out the harsh words he really wished to throw back at him. Rainbow Dash simply stared at Soarin’s chest as she held tight to him. His words resonated through her head and spoke volumes to her as if they were things she herself had wanted to say for a while, but never found the appropriate moment.

“I will always be grateful that you saved my life after the Ponyville tornado incident…” Soarin momentarily softened his tone. “Personally pulling the strings of my fate to let me live on? I’d be a real asshole to not thank you for that… But that’s where it ends… because the way everything has gone since has been nothing but a big selfish personal ploy for your own means and ends. I never asked for any of this, I never wanted to be in the position I am now. Who knows how this may have all turned out differently… maybe I’d be here anyway, but regardless… you kept me in the dark, you kept ALL of us in the dark about what was really going on and what this was really all about. You’ve thrown my life for a hellish loop, you’ve made things complicated for Rainbow Dash, and you sent the Wonderbolts blindly into a battle that has led to deaths… DEATHS… ponies we won’t be getting back when this is all said and done.”

Soarin paused for a long time after saying that, and he wasn’t afraid to admit that it was to really rub it in.

“The blame for all of this mess rests on YOU and only YOU. I hope you understand that.”

“That’s ENOUGH!” Discord suddenly blurted out, causing the rest to flinch as he took a strong step forward and pointed. “Don’t act like her actions alone are responsible for everything happening here! Unless you already forgot about the other spirit residing in your head?”

“I beg your—”

“Really now?!” Soarin cut off Sombra, catching him off guard. “The one you messed up and turned into the mad king with your magic when he was old, weak, and vulnerable?!”

Discord flinched hard, tilting back slightly as Luna’s eyes went wide and snapped to him upon seeing his reaction. He looked towards Luna, Cadence, and Twilight, who all stared, perplexed.

“I didn’t, I don’t know what…” he growled, his eyes darting back and forth before he shook his head out and crossed his arms in front of his mouth. “NO! I did no such thing and if that’s what he told you, he’s lying!”

“Oh?” Soarin snorted. “Should I ask Cele—?”

“That’s not important!” Discord swiped both his arms out, leaning towards Soarin, but stopping before he could take another step as Soarin’s two auras began to rise and flicker again. “You ought to show a little more respect to the only one in that big head of yours who really understands what your body is being put through! No doubt she’s the only one who can figure out how to fix this!” he yelled hysterically. It sounded like he didn’t think about a single word he said before he said it and that precisely influenced the manner of reactions he got as a result. Soarin’s eyes had grown wide and his expression had turned extremely sharp as he glared hard at the flailing lord of chaos.

“Oh huzzah!” Sombra’s voice suddenly came from Soarin’s head as he flinched and shuddered. “Look everypony! Here comes Celes’ ever so dependable and dutiful white knight to save her from the mean and nasty TRUTH!”

Somehow, hearing the sound of Sombra’s voice seemed to make Discord quickly get over his slight fear of getting too close to Soarin. He stomped closer and pointed a finger at Soarin’s forehead from only three paces away.

“NOPONY ASKED YOU!” Discord snarled.

“She didn’t ask you to fight her battles either, did she?” Sombra’s voice shot right back as Soarin’s eyes remained faintly lit blue. “I’d say Soarin has every right to give her a piece of his mind! Was anything he said wrong? Well?”

“Enough piling on!” Discord snorted. “We’ve been over this plenty of times now! Celestia admitted her mistakes the moment you two wiggled your shadows out of Soarin’s ears! What more do you want from her? Or does forcing her to apologize over and over again get you off?!”

“Answer the question, scoundrel!” Sombra yelled back, causing Soarin to lurch his neck forward and slam his eyes shut.

“I’m not having an infantile yelling match with you when I can’t even see you!” Discord huffed and turned his back.

“As if you’d have the STONES to ever look ME in the eye and spout your drivel,” Sombra said condescendingly, causing Discord to flinch and immediately turn around. He glared into Soarin’s half open eyes.

“Listen you…!”

“NO.” Sombra’s voice came firmly. "YOU listen to ME.”

Discord paused, grinding his teeth together, but not getting any closer as Soarin blinked and sighed in frustration while holding a hoof to his head.

“From one stallion whose life was upended by a god to another, I understand his anger… I understand it all too well. To hear you so nonchalantly dismiss his words spoken from his heart… words that needed to be heard after he’s been so forcefully tampered with… it sickens me more than you could ever fathom. And considering how I feel about you already, that’s quite the achievement. So I will not stay silent while you remain so brazenly dismissive. I was dealt with and gone long before either of you could truly gaze upon what became of me at the behest of the gods… Now you two can take a good look at Soarin… and see what your actions have wrought.”

The speaking was uncomfortable to Soarin, but… Soarin was listening and looking at the ground. The words uttered by Sombra from within him speaking volumes to him and drowning out any thought towards his discomfort for a moment.

“Mayhap it’s time YOU learned to be a little more respectful,” Sombra went on as Discord scrunched up his face. “For t’would be a vast achievement of well-deserved irony… if a day would come that Soarin, in this form you gods have created for him, becomes far more powerful than even you…” 

Discord’s eyes narrowed into a hard glare, but he did not step forward as Sombra went on.

“Or… mayhap your hesitance to bring yourself near speaks that which is unspoken? Has that day… already come?” Sombra added snidely. 

Discord snarled loudly, balling up his fists as his magic flickered from them. Sombra guffawed, causing Soarin to gasp and nearly tip over forward.

“Oh! Look at that! What are you going to do, chaos me? Go ahead and try! Maybe Soarin will put you through a wall this time!” Sombra continued to goad Discord, practically yelling at this point. 

Soarin slammed his eyes shut tight as Dash released his arm and pressed herself to his side instead, putting her arms as far around Soarin’s body as she could to try and keep him stable. Soarin grunted, a few blue and yellow sparks dancing from his horn as he shook his head out vigorously. 

“Okay… OKAY!” Soarin yelled out. “That’s ENOUGH! God! It feels like my head is going to split in two when you shout like that! Ugh…” he exhaled as Sombra apparently listened and said no more. “This is not something I’m getting used to…”

“Hrumph!” Discord grunted loudly, turning his back and crossing his arms again as his magic buildup subsided.

Celestia had been notably silent, but that was perfectly fine by Soarin. If he had managed to shut them both up, hopefully they’d give him a moment to let his head stop spinning. But without a doubt… Soarin felt satisfied. Everything he said to Celestia, he meant. Sombra was right, he spoke from the heart… and it was about damn time he got to really give her a piece of his mind. But while he was enjoying the silence in his head… he felt compelled to do something.

“Sombra…” he said quietly.

“Hm?” Sombra hummed, hearing his name but also keeping his voice down.

“… thanks.”

“Hrmph…” Sombra only grunted, but Soarin was more than sure that after Sombra’s strong defense of him, that he appreciated it.

“Alright… alright…” Twilight suddenly came forward now that there was finally a break in the back and forth. She found her way between Soarin and Discord, but was noticeably closer to Discord as she held her arms out towards both of them. “I can see that this is a… fairly heated personal spat and I don't want to get caught in the middle of it, but… I think we would be wise to take a step back for a moment. Soarin is awake, mostly stable, and we have everypony tasked with making heads or tails of the current situation present. We should make use of this opportunity while we have it… it’s not like we’ve made any progress the way things have been so far.”

“Agreed…” Cadence came forward to join Twilight. Feeling compelled as the other one from outside looking in to coerce cooler heads. “Let’s not risk too many rising emotions. It appears Soarin’s auras were moving with his words and emotions and…” she paused and looked around at all the damage littered throughout the chamber. “I’d prefer it if we don’t test the structural integrity of the palace more than we already have.”

“Er… sorry about that…” Soarin looked away nervously.

“No need to apologize!” Twilight quickly turned and cheerfully approached Soarin with a big smile. The forced nature of her tone was not subtle at all, but she and Cadence were clearly trying to get them all to refocus. “It took me a long time to get control of my own Alicorn magic… and mine probably isn’t even a fraction of yours by comparison, not to mention it isn’t divine level. But even with my prior knowledge and training it was hard for me. So I can’t imagine how intense it is, but… I can understand the discomfort and difficulty to get it under control to a point. You’re in good company here in that regard,” she said while motioning a hoof towards Cadence. 

Dash lifted an eyebrow, sensing that Twilight was maybe stretching the idea of understanding a little bit, but a quick glance at Soarin told her he felt the same way. It appeared he appreciated her best attempts to be upfront and level with him about the situation.

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight spoke as her eyes shifted to Soarin’s horn. “Can you hear me?”

She stood still as everypony waited for a response, but none came. Twilight glanced back and forth before clearing her throat.

“Princess…? Are you there?”

“Oh, I… yes, sorry. I am.” Celestia finally spoke again, her voice quiet and not all that confident sounding. Soarin’s eye twitched as Celestia’s voice came from him again. He shuddered and clutched an arm around Dash, squeezing her rather hard. Dash flinched and grunted.

“Ow… st…strong…” she sputtered.

“I really wish this wasn’t a thing…” Soarin complained for the umpteenth time about the voices vibrating through his head. He quickly loosened his grip on Dash upon noticing he was more or less squeezing her to hell and back.

“Is there anything different about your surroundings inside Soarin’s mind now that he’s awake?” Twilight asked as soon as Celestia confirmed her presence.

“Don’t bother asking,” Sombra answered instantly. “All we can see right now is whatever Soarin is looking at.”

“I… wasn’t asking you…” Twilight furrowed her brow and pouted.

“Sombra is correct, my faithful student,” Celestia answered. “We are currently seeing through Soarin’s eyes. The moment he awoke, we were taken by surprise by a rather forceful and uncomfortable pull that ultimately stripped us of our free movement and sight within. Right now it feels as if we are being held down in one spot with bindings that can’t seem to figure out how tightly they wish to grasp us. So right now, yes… whatever Soarin is looking at, so are we.”

“This just keeps getting better…” Soarin complained with an annoyed grunt as Twilight stared and blinked several times, processing what Celestia described.

Without saying a word or looking away, Twilight’s magic lit up on her horn and her telekinesis grabbed a notepad and quill from the pile of books and papers strewn about by the table that somehow remained intact after Soarin’s magic spasms. The pad and quill shot over to her, the pad flipping to a blank page and the quill beginning to write before they were even in her line of sight.

“Interesting… hmm…” she started pacing back and forth as she stared down at the paper and scribbled notes. “So while Soarin is asleep they can move freely in his mind, but when he’s awake they become… a part of his mind? No, that seems like a bit much, maybe they simply attune to his active mind or… the flow of energy is so unchained that they’ve been forced into a position? But wait… Princess Celestia mentioned a forceful pull… given the way Soarin awoke and lost control, could it be that his mental state is a part of this? Could they be released to roam within again while he is awake if the energy was calmed? Either would help support my theory that a fair amount of Celestia’s energy is directly tied to the very makeup of his new body if Soarin’s state can actively force her to a position, but if Sombra is seeing too then it implies an equal amount of his energy is doing the same? But it can’t be because the energy of Sombra’s soul isn’t nearly as immense as Celestia’s, maybe we…”

Everypony stared at Twilight as she droned on and on and on, save for Discord who still had his back turned to them all.

“What manner of aimless gibberish is this?” Sombra suddenly chimed in. Soarin winced and rubbed his forehead, but Dash looked up at Soarin’s head, shrugging the moment Soarin glanced at her. 

“This is her every day. Haven’t you been paying attention? She’s been working with Luna and Discord a lot, hasn’t she?”

“I have not been paying that close attention,” Sombra admitted without hesitation. Dash flattened her brow.

“Glad to know you’ve been helpful,” she said in a very sarcastic tone.

“Hold your tongue, colorful driggle-draggle.” Sombra snapped.

“Oh no… NO.” Soarin slammed his eyes shut, causing the blue light shining from his eyes with Sombra’s voice to squeak out and dissipate for a moment. “Absolutely not. If you’re going to literally live in my head rent-free, you’re not allowed to use your expired insult booklet on my mare.”

“I am not allowed to speak in my own defense?” Sombra huffed.

“Soarin, it’s fine, I don’t give a—”

“That’s right your MAJESTY,” Soarin cut off Dash. “You can spout off words I’ve never heard of at Discord all you want, but you WON’T do it to Dash, got it? You’re not the king of MY head, so you’re gonna follow my rules. Now for CRAP’s sake, STOP TALKING! It’s still giving me headaches!” Soarin exhaled as he hunched down and shook his head out. He glanced at Dash, who was giving him a concerned look. “What, you just want me to let him talk to you like that?”

“Heh…” Dash smirked. “No, actually,” she said with a wink as she hugged Soarin’s arm.

“Hrmph…” Sombra quietly grunted.

“Now…” Twilight stopped and turned, facing away from Soarin as she scratched the bristles of the quill against the back of her ear. “As for the subject of Soarin’s stability… we need to figure out the exact factors that are at play here, keeping him under control…” She started flipping through the pages of her notes. “I swear I wrote this down somewhere…” she mumbled as her magic began shuffling through books on the other side of the room and pulling other papers out, putting her magic multitasking skills on display. “C’mon… where did I put it?” she huffed as she scanned all the random papers she had floating around her. “Hmmm… Hmmm…”

“Um…” Dash raised her hoof. “Twi…?”

“Oh, come on! How did I lose it?!” Twilight whined. Discord snorted, the first noise he had made in several moments as he looked towards Twilight.

“For pity’s sake…” he slid over to her without moving his legs and clamped one of his hands down on the top of her head.

“Eep.”

She yelped, everything held in her magic falling and scattering on the floor as Discord turned her entire body around to face Soarin and pointed a finger at Rainbow Dash.

“You really had to write that one down?” he asked with a grunt.

“…OH… right,” Twilight smiled awkwardly. “Rainbow Dash.”

“I sent for her immediately for a reason, you know…” Discord began as he removed his hand from Twilight and crossed his arms again. “I feared the moment he awoke he would… well…” Discord motioned a hand around the room towards all the damage. “Do this. Thankfully I was right. It looks like their soul connection is strong enough to pacify him even in this state.” He glanced at Twilight to see her scooping up all the notes with her magic and hooves. “Alright that’s enough with the notes already,” he grumbled and snapped his fingers, causing all the papers to whisk out of Twilight’s arms and begin folding themselves into assorted origami animals.

“Hey! Discord, I need those!” she yelled as the paper animals all flew, bounced, and escaped away from her.

“No, you don’t,” Discord snorted. “Nothing we tried to do before now matters because all we did was flail and fail to figure out anything. Now that he’s awake and he hasn’t ended the universe as we know it, only one question matters now…” he hardened his gaze towards Soarin. “Can he keep it under control?”

Everypony looked at Soarin.

Soarin weakly shrugged.

“Hell if I know… my head nearly exploded just trying to sit up.”

“And that's a problem,” Discord pointed out rather harshly. “You’re awake now… and you’re not putting on a lethal rave party, but how much of that is you and how much of that is attributed to the little rainbow clinging to you right now?”

Everyone’s eyes shifted to Dash, who was still clinging quite tightly to Soarin.

“Well, you know how to find out,” Sombra’s voice came from Soarin. Discord twitched heard and scrunched up his mouth.

“Thank you Mr. Tall, Dark, and Obvious…” he grumbled while rolling his eyes.

“Okay…” Twilight stepped forward quickly, hoping to quell any possible quarreling before it could start again. “We might as well give it a go. Dash?” Twilight turned to her and Soarin. “Can you try stepping away from Soarin for us?”

Dash blinked, tipping her head up to look at Soarin and meeting his eyes. She pouted and huffed. She wanted to help, but in truth she just didn’t want to let go of him. 

“Alright… I’ll give it a shot,” she agreed and began to slide her arms off of him.

“WAIT!” Luna suddenly blurted out. “Wait, wait…” she held her hooves out and looked at everypony else. “Perhaps we should step back first… over here…” she beckoned for the others to join her as she began backing up towards the wall as far from Soarin as she could.

“Oh, good idea,” Cadence agreed as she and Twilight moved to join, all of them standing with Luna by the wall as she erected a sturdy shield, leaving an opening to let the others in. Luna blinked and glanced towards Discord, who remained standing firmly in place as Twilight and Cadence made their way into the shield.

“Discord? Come here,” Luna encouraged.

“I’ll be fine right here, thank you,” Discord said without taking his eyes off Soarin.

“But…”

“I said I’ll be FINE,” Discord said with a loud snort, twirling a finger out in front of him as he glared at Dash. “While the non-nipotent of us here are still young, Rainbow Dash.”

Dash flattened her brow at his pushiness, but they needed to figure this out. She glanced at Soarin again, once again building up the urge to release herself from him… it was easier said than done.

“Soarin…” Sombra’s voice suddenly came from Soarin in a quiet whisper. “Prithee shoot that conniving snake in the face with a magic beam.”

Soarin blinked in surprise.

“Sombra, please…” Celestia’s voice whispered in response with a sigh. “Let’s take this seriously.”

Soarin shut his eyes and shuddered, blinking as even the whispers felt weird. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t enjoy doing what Sombra suggested. He was more worried about possibly putting a hole through the entire palace if he were to try. He took a deep breath and looked down, meeting Dash’s eyes.

“Ready?” Dash asked with very noticeable hesitation in her tone. Soarin swallowed and nodded.

“Go for it.”

Holding her breath, Dash let go of him, but remained right next to him.

Nothing happened. Both of them quietly sighed in relief.

Keeping her eyes glued to him, Dash took a few small steps back.

As she moved, Discord shut his eyes for a moment, opening them to reveal a faint distorted purple glow within them with a chaos stream faintly rising up from them. He locked his eyes on the two of them and squinted. Through his magic and his sharpened gaze, he was able to discern the faint traces of the auras that surrounded the two of them, normally invisible to the naked eye. There was an intertwined mixture of blue and yellow encircling them both and a clear tether between the two of them that attached their auras. With Dash moving slightly further back, the tether appeared to be stretching, but it was holding firm.

Discord perked up and clenched his fist, his magic flaring up as Soarin suddenly twitched hard. Dash froze in place, her eyes going wide with concern as Soarin grunted.

“I’m… okay,” Soarin assured her as he shuddered slightly. “Was just a little discomfort for a moment, keep going.”

Discord kept his mouth shut, putting his fist behind his back to hide it as the magic remained alight. He watched very carefully as Dash continued to shuffle back until she was about five yards away. He began to grind his teeth beneath his lips as the aura tether between them stretched thinner.

Soarin suddenly grunted, exhaling as he lurched forward and hunched down.

“Soarin!” Dash yelled, fighting the urge to rush back to him as Discord nearly drew blood from his hand, clenching his fist to the point where his bear claws dug into it.

“I’m alright!” Soarin called out, quickly holding a hoof out in case Dash planned on coming back to him. “I can do it! This is… augh…” he shook his head out hard. “It’s just… stinging a little, nothing I can’t handle.”

“For how long, I wonder…” Discord said under his breath as he kept his eyes glued to the aura tether straining. “Keep going,” Discord called to Dash. 

Dash only stole a quick glance at Discord, not taking notice of the light in his eyes as she held her breath and continued to move away. Soarin pressed his hooves into the ground, his eyes shut and his teeth gritting as Dash slowly reached ten yards from him. Discord’s fist shook behind his back as he watched the aura tether strain and shudder. It looked like it was about to give way, shaking vigorously as it was now just a thin line. The yellow hue was completely gone, only the blue was still connecting them. Everything was telling him to step in and stop it, but… the thought of putting up with Sombra ridiculing him for doing so kept him from intervening. He wasn’t a coward and he wasn’t afraid of Soarin… he would not suffer the consequences of giving Sombra any more of that impression.

“RGH!” Soarin grunted loudly, sweat beginning to drip from his brow as his aura became visible and started flickering. Small yellow and blue flashes shone in his eyes and sparks jumped from the horn.

Dash stopped again, her face wrought with fear of moving any further away.

“Keep going…” Discord growled.

“But…” Dash sputtered.

“KEEP! GOING!” Discord yelled. “But do it VERY slowly!” he ordered as he began shifting his fist to his side, readying himself for anything as he kept his eyes glued to the sliver of a connection remaining. “Keep concentrating!” He yelled to Soarin next. “Hang onto whatever feeling in your head is keeping it at bay!” he coached as he watched the connection stretch, but remain the same width. 

Soarin’s breaths were heaving, his body was locked up and shuddering, his grunts were becoming louder and more labored.

“Steady… steady…” Discord said to himself as he watched the blue light connecting the two hold on, no longer growing thinner as Dash moved further away. He was suddenly filled with a thrilling feeling, that he might push the limits and throw it into Sombra’s face that he can figure things out.

But then Soarin lurched, gasping loudly the moment Dash reached twenty yards away.

Discord’s eyes grew wide as the remaining tether between their auras snapped and whiplashed towards Soarin, the pulse of blue shooting into him and causing an immediate, extreme reaction.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Soarin cried out as he dropped to the ground, the two colors of auras erupting around him, the blue shooting up around his body and the yellow expanding to encircle it. Soarin threw his head back, shouting towards the ceiling as his body was engulfed in light, blue and yellow streams shooting from his eyes, mouth, and horn. He tried to shut his eyes, but the light only forced its way through his eyelids.

“SOARIN!!!!!” Dash called out.

“CONFOUND IT!” Discord immediately lifted his fist and tried to lob the magic stored within towards him to create a dome over him, but twin streams of blue and yellow light shot up over Soarin, intertwining and merging together to create a green ball of light. The ball fired a single focused stream in the direction of Discord. The beam struck Discord’s fist and knocked the chaos magic right out of it. “ARGH!” Discord yelped in pain, quickly grabbing his wrist as his hand twitched and sizzled. “WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR?!” Discord yelled to Dash. “GET BACK TO HIM! NOW!”

Dash blinked and quickly set her hooves. She broke into a gallop, but the moment she did, the green ball of light over Soarin exploded, shooting yellow and blue ribbons of magic in all directions, once again smacking into the pillars, walls, and floor of the chamber. One of the yellow streams struck the ground and exploded, kicking dust and debris up into Dash’s eyes.

She yelped and stumbled, her hooves slipping and falling onto her side. She cringed as she desperately tried to force herself up and wipe the dust from her eyes to regain her bearings. Soarin cried out again, a large burst of air pressure ejecting from his body. To Dash it felt like a passing gust of wind, but it smacked into Discord and threw him backwards. He slammed into a pillar behind him, the solid surface crumbling from the impact and collapsing into a heap with him buried beneath it.

“DISCORD!” Luna yelled from behind her rattling shield, the pressure forcing against it with more power than she had ever felt in her life as Twilight and Cadence took cover behind her.

“RGH!” Discord grunted, the debris exploding off of him as he rose up and glared at Soarin. His eyes darted between him and Dash, still dazed and struggling to regain her vision. Thinking as quickly as he could, Discord curled up into a ball, his chaos magic enveloping him and turning him into a large snake. He shot along the ground, slithering erratically to avoid the magic beams and impacts until he reached Dash. He changed back the instant he reached her, grabbed her by the back of the head, and leapt towards Soarin, holding Dash’s head like a basketball as she yelped, unable to see what was happening. He lunged forward, stretching his arm out with Dash’s head, avoiding the magic and smushing Dash’s face into Soarin’s chest.

Another large burst of air ejected from Soarin. Dash remained against him, but Discord was sent hurling backwards, flailing and yelling hysterically as he flung towards Luna’s shield… and hit it so hard that his face went through it. His neck got lodged after only so much of it made it through, the rest of his body curling up and over with his butt smacking into the shield directly over Luna’s head.

But his effort wasn’t in vain.

Soarin’s magic calmed down at an incredible pace, the auras receding. He stopped grunting in pain, and instead hunched down, breathing heavily while covered in sweat as steam rose from his horn.

“Ow… ow, ow, ooooooh…” Soarin groaned, holding one hoof to his head as the other immediately found Dash and wrapped around her. 

“Blah!” Dash spat out a hunk of Soarin’s fur as she pulled her face free, only to yelp and be forced back into him as he squeezed her to him with his arm. She managed to turn her head in time to avoid another mouthful of light blue, but did not resist or complain about how hard he held her. She quickly loosened her arms and hugged him as much as her arms could manage around his large body.

“Discord! Are you alright?!” Luna asked frantically as she, Cadence, and Twilight stared at his head sticking through her shield.

“Hgn…” Discord grunted, slowly opening his eyes and twitching. “Ggh… Just… terrific…” he said with a heavy sigh as he reached an arm up and pressed it against the shield from the outside, trying to dislodge his head.

“Here, let me…” Luna began releasing the magic supporting the shield.

“No, Lulu, WAIT--!” 

The three alicorns yelped as the shield vanished and Discord’s entire body fell on top of them, forcing them all to the floor with a collective grunt.

“Or not…” Discord sighed as he carefully slithered his body off to avoid being poked by any sharp horns. He picked himself up and rubbed his head, shaking his entire body out and cracking his neck as the rest rose up behind him. He looked out to see Dash giving him an angry pout. “What’s that look for?” Discord grumbled as he hobbled forward, trying his best to conceal a slight limp. “We have our answer now don’t we?” He rolled his eyes and looked away. “That damned… moron…” he grumbled under his breath. “I let him get to me and this is what happens…”

“Princess!” Twilight yelled as she galloped out towards Soarin, Cadence trotting behind while furrowing her brow at the new divots and broken pieces of the room strewn about. “Can you hear me? Is everything alright in there?!”

“Yes, Twilight, I’m fine,” Celestia’s voice came from Soarin, but it was very faint. “Though… allow Soarin to rest for a moment before I say more.”

“We told you to join us in the shield…” Luna huffed at Discord. He only gave her a single glance and snorted. 

“Oh stuff it, Lulu… I’m not a fragile dandelion,” he rolled his eyes and held a hand out to Soarin, doing his very best to keep his face from scrunching up in pain as his stiff joints ached. “I stayed out here to stop it in case that happened… and I ultimately did, regardless of how… ungraceful it was.”

“I for one found it quite funny,” Sombra’s full voice came out of Soarin. Soarin twitched and strained his neck upward. “I particularly liked the part where your face broke through Luna’s—”

“ARGH!” Soarin grunted, cutting him off. “Stop talking! My head hurts enough as is!” 

“Shut UP in there, jackass!” Dash growled while glaring up at Soarin’s head. “This is hard enough for him without you running your mouth!”

Sombra said no more, but the faint noise of grumbling could be heard from Soarin’s head. Discord smirked, though it didn’t last long as an aching pain ran down the back of his neck and shoulder.

“Rgh…” he let slip, quickly turning away from Luan as her eyes shifted to him. “Alright, let’s give him a moment…” Discord quickly changed the subject, going over to a pillar and leaning against it, though making it look as though he was simply thinking about what had happened instead of masking the pain he was in.

A few minutes went by and eventually Soarin’s breathing calmed down. His heartbeat had calmed, and so had Dash’s. Soarin gently rubbed a hoof up and down Dash’s back while looking up at the others. 

“I’m… good now,” he said weakly with a long sigh. “That hurt like hell and I still have a slight headache, but… I don’t feel like I’m going to explode anymore.”

“Think you can manage letting Celestia speak?” Twilight asked cautiously. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Soarin nodded as Dash tightened her grip on him. He looked down at her and returned her squeeze with a light one of his own, narrowing his eyes a little in anticipation of the vibrations in his head.

“Princess? Can you tell us what happened now?” Twilight asked, focusing on Soarin’s forehead.

“Yes… in truth, I was barely touched,” she began as she kept her voice down. “I could sense the movement of my energy, but I did not feel any strain on my spirit, nor any on Sombra as far as I can tell, or that he has told me at least,” she paused as a quiet grunt came from inside Soarin’s head. “So I feel no different than I did before it happened.”

“Oh thank goodness…” Twilight sighed in relief. “I guess that means you’re safe from any small mishaps but… it looks like Rainbow Dash’s presence is required at all times for him to remain stable.”

“All times…?” Dash blinked, leaning her head away from Soarin’s chest and blinking. “That…” she furrowed her brow as she thought about everything happening with the Wonderbolts, particularly starting Spitfire’s new training routine she was excited for in the next few days. “That might be… a problem,” she said with some misgivings in her voice. She wasn’t sure what to say because it was two things very important to her pulling her in opposite directions. “I can’t be here 24/7…” she said again, sounding even more distraught. Soarin caught her tone and glanced down at her, seeing how unsure she looked.

“You saw what happened,” Discord chimed in. “He’s awake, but if you aren’t being pressed against his body he’ll lose control. Your connection is strong, but the effective distance appears to be small,” he explained without revealing what he witnessed through his magic vision, twirling a finger in his beard as he thought.  

Dash looked down and exhaled long and loud as Soarin kept his eyes on her. He wasn’t sure what to say to her, it sounded like she was being forced to make a choice she didn’t want and—

“I’ll stay,” Dash cut off his thoughts. Soarin blinked in surprise as Dash looked towards Discord with determination in her eyes. “If I have to be by his side for his sake, then that’s where I’ll stay.”

Soarin’s ears flopped down, he didn’t doubt her words, but he could tell she felt forced to make the choice.

“Dash…” he tried to speak up, but Dash looked up at him firmly. 

“There’s a lot going on with the Wonderbolts right now, but I will NOT leave your side if that’s what it takes to figure this out. I won’t risk your life by not being here.”

Once again, Soarin could tell she was making a hard choice, she couldn’t hide it from him.

Twilight stared at the two of them as everypony went quiet. She looked down and began pondering something as she turned to Luna. 

“Luna? Is there any other option?” she asked.

“Twi,” Dash sharply huffed. “I’ve made up my mind.”

“I know, Dash,” Twilight turned to her, holding a calm and unwavering expression. “But I also know you wouldn’t set aside the Wonderbolts so easily. You want to help Soarin, but you aren’t happy about being stuck and I’m willing to bet there are things going on right now that you are eager to be ready and able to participate in.”

Dash stared with her mouth open.

“How did you—?”

“Dash, I’ve known you for years,” Twilight chuckled. “It’s written all over your face, you can’t hide it from me. If there is some way we can solve this dilemma, then I plan to find it. Let’s explore every option before we lock you in place.”

“I… um…” Dash stuttered.

“Dash,” Soarin spoke up. “I love you.”

Dash’s ears fluttered up and down like little wings for a moment before she looked up at him. He was smiling down at her.

“And I know you love me,” he continued as he gently rubbed a hoof on her shoulder. “Knowing you’re willing to stay by my side indefinitely if needed is just another reminder of that. But you’ll never have to do anything else to prove it to me. I know it.”

“Hrm…” Dash hummed as her cheeks flushed a little. Soarin shook his head.

“I don’t want to keep you from doing your part with the Wonderbolts, let’s hear them out, okay?”

Dash’s ears flopped down as she pouted and glared up at him, but any attempt at toughness failed to hide how rosy her face had become. 

“Okay… fine…” she said as she tipped forward and buried her face into his fur with a quiet ‘merf’.

“Any ideas, Luna?” Twilight asked again. Luna blinked and turned her head to Discord. Discord lifted an eyebrow as Luna’s eyes met his.

“Lulu, sooner or later you’re going to have to stop looking at me for all your answers,” he said rudely. Luna furrowed her brow and rolled her eyes.

“Fine, we won’t bother with your opinion then.” She sharply replied.

“What?” Discord blinked. “That’s not…” he stuttered for a moment and snorted, rolling his eyes. “Feh…” 

“Mayhap…” Luna tapped a hoof to her chin as she turned back to Twilight. “We… lull him to sleep?”

Both Soarin and Dash immediately gave disapproving looks towards Luna.

“That’s… not ideal,” Soarin expressed.

“Would that even work?” Cadence chimed in, joining the other alicorns. “He was far more than just unconscious before, right?”

“We used a powerful stasis spell,” Discord chimed in. “One that I’d prefer we don’t use again. We had no choice the first time, there was nothing else that could have possibly calmed down the power raging from him, but right now I’d rather avoid it on the likely event it puts him out for months again. We’d be back to square one. If we can get away with a simple sleep spell now that the power has fully planted into him…”

“Sister,” Luna spoke while staring at Soarin. “Tis your power, may we impart your wisdom on the matter? Would a state of magic induced sleep keep it at rest?”

“I can’t say for sure…” Celestia replied quietly.

“I guess we won’t know unless we try,” Discord grunted. “Seems to be the way things are going to be for us now in general…”

“Such unproductive thinking, the lot of you…” Sombra suddenly spoke up. Soarin winced a little, but Sombra’s voice was noticeably softer than before. Discord looked ready to lash out, but he just glared for the moment as Sombra continued. “How does this discussion always end up with Soarin being locked, held, controlled, or tied down? How is he to thrive when hidden away in a bubble? How is he to learn if simply put to sleep whenever faced with a challenge? Have any of you considered how HE can help with this? How long are you going to dictate how he comes to learn to control what he now wields?”

“Okay, listen you invisible cockwad…” Discord snapped, stomping towards Soarin and pointing to his face knowing that Sombra was looking right at him from within. “I know you’re so eager to constantly talk down to us, but thinking five miles ahead isn’t going to help. The goal right NOW… is to not accidentally set off an unmitigated disaster here.”

“Does HE not have a role in that?” Sombra shot back, but continued to keep his voice respectfully low. “How are we to get anywhere if he is not allowed to become accustomed to his new body? His new power? How are we to divert such an incident if he doesn’t take hard, firm steps to gain personal control? It is baffling to me that you all continue to brush him aside in this entire equation. You keep treating him like an object or an experiment gone wrong instead of the able stallion he has proven himself to be! If he had the strength of will to withstand and ultimately conquer the power of Celestia herself, then surely he has the will to control it! WHY are NONE of you acknowledging that?”

“Oh, so you want us to simply cut him loose and let him roam free? Fly around? Make faces at the guards and steal apples from the market?” Discord said sarcastically as he threw his arms out while furrowing his brow. “I don’t think you are taking this situation seriously! He is housing the most powerful reserve of magical energy in all of Equestria within his body! A power he has absolutely no understanding of or any semblance of stable control over! Something that’s too much for most GODS to handle! He’s quite literally a walking, talking time bomb right now that could be set off by one wrong twitch!”

“GODS, huh?” Sombra’s voice began to rise, Soarin winced a little. “So that’s it then? YOU think he’s dangerous? Time for you to drop the act, you pike-twirling wandought! You’re scared of him! You worry that if he’s given any chance to grasp the wonder of what now resides within that he, once a mortal, will grow beyond your control!”

Discord looked about ready to explode, his eyes were glowing and even his horns began to light up with chaos auras circling them.

“I’m afraid… there’s more to this,” Celestia suddenly spoke up, Discord’s aura buildup halting as her voice met his ears.

“Oh, wonderful…” Sombra snorted. “I truly wished for your word on this matter…”

“Sombra, you are not fully grasping all the implications of this phenomenon. You speak of his freedom allowing for his growth, and I can’t deny that… perhaps with time… that would be a smart course of action but…”

“I’m listening… you had better convince me,” Sombra grumbled.

“In this day and age… there is no monarchy. But I am still a symbol to these ponies, a being they look up to. While I try lightly govern and keep things in order, I do not guide them and I do not solve their problems for them. But regardless, I’m their goddess. I’ve always existed as far back as they can remember and far beyond several generations… and I have always watched over them. No matter what you may think of me, and no matter what mistakes I’ve made behind the curtain, this is my role in their lives. Luna and I are all they know… we are constant and they believe in the two of us.”

“Oh, thanks,” Discord mumbled.

“And… um… D-Discord too,” Celestia said in a forced and hesitating manner. “The point is… what would happen if a new god were to suddenly appear before them? This is no different than one of the problems I kept posing to you while you sought the power of a god for yourself. It would cause confusion… maybe even hysteria and panic. Strange things may happen all the time in Equestria, but there are constants many believe to be unchanging. The sudden rise of a new god with no sign of me would…”

“Would what?” Sombra cut her off abruptly. “That’s absurd. Simply ‘something new’ would scare them all away? Sounds more like a terrible excuse if I’ve ever heard one. So you’re saying the massive battle around the crystal empire barely a month ago was a regular afternoon? How many ponies saw ME when I entered the empire? That was somehow different? The horn and the wings didn’t say ‘god’ to them?”

“It takes more than having the appearance of an alicorn,” Celestia added. “You did not have any ethereal presence… and you did not have the proper horn.”

“We aren’t gods,” Twilight spoke up while motioning to herself and Cadence. “Just alicorns.”

There was a brief pause, then Sombra huffed.

“Preposterous, the lot of you…” he growled. “Do what you will… I’ve said my piece and I tire of arguing.”

“It’s not a matter I expect you to understand,” Celestia said. “Considering what you tried to do recently…” she added with an unexpectedly sharp tone.

“So…” Soarin spoke up quickly, hoping to stop the talking in his head. “I guess… right now my only option is sleep? Free movement sounds nice but I’m not sure I trust MYSELF at the moment.”

“Afraid so,” Discord nodded.

“You are NOT putting him back to sleep for a long time though,” Dash demanded.

“Stasis is not our first choice, no,” Discord shook his head. “But I don’t want you to complain to me if we end up having to…”

“I…” Dash paused and glanced at Soarin. “WE… have plenty of reasons to complain to you.”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, okay, fine, whatever you say…” Discord twirled a hand in the air and rolled his eyes back and forth. “You hate my guts, that’s not exactly a mystery anymore, but let’s not do this right now. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t act like Sombra.” He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward a little. “Be mad if you want… but we are trying to get to the bottom of this, something that is very much within both of our interests. So I hope we can at least set aside our differences for the time being and cooperate on that front because we don’t like this any more than you do.”

Dash pouted and scrunched up her face until her eyes twitched, but she eventually sighed and stuffed the side of her head back into Soarin’s fur. 

“Fine… I guess.” She turned her head and pressed her nose into his body. “I just don’t want you taken away from me… AGAIN.”

“If all we must do is lull him to sleep,” Luna spoke up. “And that is enough to settle the power, then waking him back up is just a matter of dispelling it. It would be a snap.”

“I swear if you’re lying to me about that…” Dash slowly turned her head, brushing her cheek against Soarin as she shot a hard glare at Luna. 

“We… Um…”

“Dash,” Twilight stepped forward and touched a hoof to Luna’s side. “Please.”

“Sorry, Twi… you haven’t been put through what we have…”

“I’ll do it if I must,” Soarin chimed in, giving Dash a squeeze as she mumbled to herself. “So long as you make good on that,” he said directly to Luna, stealing a glance at Discord as well. “I don’t want to wake up months out of the loop again, and…” he looked down at Dash, tipping his nose down to touch it to her head. “I want to see her… A LOT.”

“Oh don’t bother worrying about THAT…” Discord rolled his eyes. “We are not waking you up without her around. She’s the only thing keeping you from turning everything in a hundred mile radius into a fine mist.”

“Right, right,” Twilight nodded as she came forward to Dash. “Assuming this works… think you can come by here at least once a day? Even with Wonderbolt duties?”

“YES.” Dash answered the instant Twilight asked. “I’d have done it even if you told me not to.”

“Then it’s settled…” Luna nodded and turned to Discord. “Let us cast the spell.”

“Hmph…” Discord grunted, but did not protest as Luna began gathering magic in her horn and Discord did the same in his fists as he kept his arms crossed.

As they gathered their magic, Dash pushed herself up, standing on her hind legs and reaching up to place her little hooves on Soarin’s very large chest.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, alright? I promise.” She assured him even though the spell hadn’t even proven successful yet. She didn’t care, she only wanted to expect the best outcomes now, especially for him. 

“I look forward to it,” Soarin nodded with a weak smile. “We’ll get through this together.”

Dash’s lips began to quiver and her ears flopped down as Luna and Discord focused their magic forward and the misty mixture of blue and purple began to inch forward and mix with Soarin’s aura. 

“I love you,” Dash said, quickly pushing herself up as far as she could. Soarin saw what she was doing and leaned down. She touched a hoof to his large cheek and kissed him, briefly crossing their lips to interlock their mouths passionately. His mouth was a hell of a lot bigger than the last time she kissed him, but she didn’t give a damn. It felt like ages… Dash’s body shuddered as she felt something that had been missing from her life for far too long now. 

Behind them, Twilight turned away, reaching a hoof up to her eyes to wipe them as she sniffled. Cadence quickly turned to her and gently rubbed a hoof on her shoulder.

As the two parted… Soarin smiled at Dash, his eyes looking tired as the magic swirled around him. 

“I…” he paused and yawned. “Love you… too…” he managed to get out, sounding very drowsy. “Hmmmmmmm…” he hummed, sounding content as he slowly began to tip down. Dash flinched, realizing he… all of him, was starting to lean into her. She quickly reached both arms up and grunted as his weight pressed down on her. She tensed her body, carefully walking her hooves up his neck and gently letting his body flop to the floor before cradling his head and lowering it into her lap. 

Soarin was asleep. Dash could both hear and feel his steady breathing as the faint traces of the spell continued to swirl about his body. He looked very peaceful.

“Blah!” Sombra’s voice suddenly came from nearby. Everypony looked to see his image materialize a few paces away. “Finally…” he grumbled while shaking himself out. “Being stuck at the mercy of another’s movement and vision was NOT to my liking.”

Despite the irony of the statement, everypony just stared at him. He blinked and glanced about.

“What?”

“If you’re out here…” Twilight thought aloud. “Does that mean it worked?” They all stared at Sombra until Celestia materialized near him. She looked her image over, glancing at Sombra as well before tapping a hoof to her chin.

“Hmm…” she hummed. “The moment he fell asleep… the hold on us completely released and we could move freely in his mind again.”

“In that case…” Luna looked at Dash, but Discord was already waving a hand at Dash.

“Try stepping away from him now,” Discord ordered as he came forward and a chaos aura began to build up in his hand again. “And do it very slowly, please.” He added with a slightly annoyed huff.

Dash looked down at Soarin, looking back and forth across his body resting on the ground as she cradled his head in her lap.

“Can somepony get me a pillow first?” she asked, looking around. “A large one preferably.”

Discord lifted an eyebrow.

“Why?” he asked with a snort.

“For SOARIN, ya dingus,” Dash shot back at him while flattening her brow.

“He’ll be fine, let’s just get this over with,” Discord twirled a finger towards her.

Dash gave him the hardest death glare she could muster. Discord, not having it, shot it right back at her, even using his magic to distort his face to perfectly mimic the look she was giving him. But before anything could escalate, Cadence stepped between them and shook her head at Discord.

“Enough,” she said sternly to him before turning to the others. “Twilight, could you go grab one of the guards outside and go fetch the cushion from the lounging couch in my chambers?”

“Oh! The red one? Sure, I’ll be right back,” she turned and cantered towards the doors, moving at a quickened pace knowing that Cadence was trying to prevent any more dust ups. Discord shook his head and grumbled, crossing his arms and turning his side to Dash, specifically to put his back to Sombra, who obviously found the situation amusing. Cadence turned to Dash and made her way towards her.

“Ignore him,” she said flatly while making a head motion towards Discord. She moved right up beside Dash, showing no fear of getting close to Soarin as she sat down beside Dash and looked down at Soarin with her. “We’ll make sure he’s comfortable first,” she assured Dash while placing a hoof gently on her shoulder. Dash smiled weakly at her for a moment before returning her full attention to Soarin, gently stroking his face as she sighed and watched him sleep.

Cadence remained by Dash’s side as they waited for Twilight to return. After a few moments, Cadence looked up and was surprised to see Sombra staring at her. The moment they made eye contact, Sombra quickly looked away and awkwardly played it off by blinking and shaking his head out.

Soon after, they could all hear Twilight thanking the guard outside and she appeared moments later carrying a large, long cushion through the air with her magic. The moment Dash saw her approaching she shifted, taking care to keep Soarin’s head elevated as Twilight slid the cushion under his head. Dash slowly lowered Soarin’s chin to it… but unexpectedly, the moment Soarin’s head touched the cushion he snorted, stirred, and grabbed the cushion in his arms, pulling on it and shifting, nearly knocking them all aside until most of his body was resting on it. He released a nicker from his throat as he rolled onto his side and stuffed the side of his head into it, only stopping when his horn jammed into it and pierced through the surface with a quiet RIP.

Cadence gritted her teeth and winced as the cushion tore a little.

“Ooo… er… it’s fine I can… always get it replaced…” she said with an eye twitching, Twilight holding a hoof over her mouth and looking away, knowing that Cadence was rather fond of her lounging couch. 

But Dash couldn’t help but smirk and chuckle at Soarin’s sudden movements. 

“I can confirm he is definitely sleeping,” she said as she reached down and gently stroked a hoof through Soarin’s mane as he tipped his head slightly to her touch.

“Okay…” Discord spoke up as he turned back to her, his aura still on his hand. “Now try stepping away from him.”

Dash reluctantly huffed, looking back and forth and Twilight and Cadence as they stepped back. She stared at Soarin and nodded.

“Alright…” she said with her hoof still in Soarin’s mane.

Very slowly, she removed her hoof from Soarin and stood still. With a deep breath, she took slow steps backwards until she was a yard away from him.

There was no visible reaction. Celestia’s and Sombra’s images did not flicker nor react in any way. After taking account of everything Dash took another deep breath, and continued to step backwards.

Five yards away… Soarin continued to sleep peacefully, though Dash noticed that a particular feeling began to build up in her body… it felt like a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Discord shut his eyes and opened them, once again looking through a veil of chaos magic. He was surprised to see that both of their auras were calm. They both had a large blue aura encircling them both and a yellow glow encircling the space directly around their bodies. They were tethered again, but the tether looked soft, and was not behaving like a rope pulled taut. It simply touched their auras together, and grew thinner the further she got away without any signs of strain or shuddering. He was puzzled, unable to explain the nature of the auras behaving in a much different manner. But as Dash stepped back even further, he noticed that while the blue aura remained steady, the brightness and intensity of the yellow around them appeared to recede along with the tether thinning out… but not once did it show signs of becoming unstable.

Dash could not see what Discord was seeing, but the euphoric feeling of being near Soarin was pulling back side by side with the yellow auras shrinking and the tether slowly shrinking in width as she moved further away from him. But either way, this was nothing new to Dash… she was already aware of the temptation and euphoria that was being caused within her with Soarin’s new form, that didn’t make it any easier to pull away though.

Eventually, Dash moved all the way to the wall… and Soarin remained sleeping peacefully. A collective sigh of relief filled the room. Discord watched as the tether detached from them, but it did so slowly before an equal amount slowly floated towards them both as opposed to all of it snapping wildly in one direction.

“Hm…” Discord hummed simply, not sure what to take away from it.

“Looks like that did the trick,” Celestia said with relief as Discord let the magic in his eyes and hand dissipate. “It seems sleep will be our essential tool in keeping him under control when Rainbow Dash isn’t present.”

Discord groaned, crossing one arm over his body and reaching his other hand up to rub his eyebrows with his finger and thumb.

“I guess that’s it then…” Discord signed as Dash made her way back over to them. “There was no reaction at all… and assuming it has nothing to do with you still being at least within range, I guess that means you can come and go freely so long as the spell keeps him asleep.”

Dash was relieved to hear it, but… she looked at Soarin and pouted, reluctant to leave.

“My argument still stands,” Sombra suddenly spoke up as his eyes shifted between Celestia and Discord specifically. “Do not rely on this quick solution. He must learn to live with the power and how to control it. The sooner he does, the better. Do not continue to stand in his way.”

“You’re so incredibly dense, I swear…” Discord grumbled, sounding one hundred percent done with Sombra. “You speak as if it’s so simple. Well it isn’t going to be, no matter how many times you insist, so just stop while you’re ahead.”

“And yet AGAIN… you are discarding the fact that he ABSORBED Celestia’s power.”

“But you helped him,” Celestia spoke up. “And so did—”

“I supported him with my will power, nothing more,” Sombra snorted. “I was not the one withstanding the surge. He handled that all on his own. Do not hold him back,” Sombra stated strongly.

“I’m pretty sure you saw how easily it slipped out of his control!” Discord cut in again, snarling. “I know you don’t have the longest attention span, but not even you can deny the dangers here! Throwing him into the water that he might learn to swim is definitely not the right approach to take.”

“You truly mean to tell me, that after such an achievement, that he is incapable? That is insulting to all that he’s been put through. You are failing to convince me you’re not afraid of his potential!”

“Will you STOP with that already?!” Discord growled loudly. “Your petty attempts to mischaracterize my approach doesn’t change anything!”

“The words offend you still!” Sombra stepped towards him. “Mayhap I’ve plunged a dagger and reminding you twists it ever more? A wounded dog can bark as loud as it wants, it will not dissuade the dog with the stronger bite!”

“Okay, what are you scheming here?!”  Discord stomped forward and narrowed his eyes skeptically and lowered his neck to get down in his face. “You’re not very subtle, you know… you’re trying to corner me with this, but why? Hm?” Discord narrowed his eyes further. “How about YOU come clean?”

Sombra held firm, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t hold back unsubtle signs of a smirk. Discord furrowed his brow.

“You know what I think…? I think you’re trying to encourage Soarin to become what you couldn’t. You’re enjoying this. It thrills you that he’s become something that troubles us. It amuses you to see us have no idea what to do about it and you want Soarin to figure it out before we can... Do I have the right of it?”

“Hmmm…” Sombra couldn’t hold back a sneer. “Does it BOTHER you?”

Discord’s eyes snapped open wide and he grinded his teeth together.

“STOP IT!” Celestia suddenly put herself between them, glaring at them both. “Heavens above! The two of you are insufferable!”

“I dunno, Princess…” Dash suddenly spoke up as she glanced between Sombra and Discord. “I think I’m starting to enjoy watching Discord squirm.”

Discord shot her a flat look as Sombra turned away and chuckled to himself. 

“Rainbow Dash, please…” Celestia sighed. “Discussion, cooperation, and compromise are what’s needed right now.” She looked towards Sombra. “I cannot disagree with Sombra. Soarin’s interaction is very much going to be a part of this, but…” she looked at Discord. “I agree with Discord that we can’t simply cut him loose or let him go unchecked. He needs guidance…” She turned to Dash. “And support.”

Sombra and Discord turned their backs to one another and both snorted loudly.

“Are you two done with each other now?” Celestia asked in frustration.

The two both snorted again. Celestia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Men…” she said under her breath as she exhaled loudly and made her way over to Dash, her fellow alicorns coming together with them. “Let’s not let their rivalry keep us from being both practical and forward looking. You may return to your duties, Rainbow Dash, but… pray return here whenever you can or wish that we might wake Soarin and work on whatever we can with his participation.”

“If there is an emergency or something goes awry, we shall send for you posthaste,” Luna added.

“I like this idea,” Dash nodded. “And…” she trailed off while looking towards Soarin. She stared for several moments, her ears flopping down a little before turning to Twilight and Cadence specifically. “Please take good care of him and make sure he stays comfortable.”

They all looked over to Soarin just in time to see him hook his arms on the cushion and start rubbing his face and neck into it before rolling onto his back and nickering again. Dash snickered and put her hoof over her mouth. 

“Though… he looks pretty comfy already, huh?” she added.

“I’ll do everything I can, Dash. I promise,” Twilight assured her, coming forward to give her a hug. 

“Thanks Twi, I know you will,” Dash thanked her, hugging her back.

As soon as Twilight released her, Dash turned to Soarin. Without a word to Celestia or Luna, she made her way back over to Soarin. She inhaled quietly, her heart fluttering as the feeling of warmth built up in her again, but she kept her focus, knowing that she had to get going and check in with Spitfire. She had a couple of days until their training began though, so she’d be seeing plenty of him.

She stopped in front of him, and briefly lowered herself down to the cushion. As soon as she touched down, Soarin seemed to sense her and roll towards her, pushing against her. Dash giggled and placed a hoof in his mane, rubbing behind his ear.

“Sleep well you big… er, bigger goof,” she said softly as Soarin’s ear bobbed up and down at her touch. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she planted a kiss on his cheek. 

Soarin exhaled comfortably and though he tipped a little when Dash stood back up, he did not stir, nor look uncomfortable as her touch left. 

Feeling not quite satisfied, but definitely a lot better… Dash turned and made her way out, keeping her eyes down and away from everypony else in the room to conceal… how hard it was to pull herself away from him again.

---To Be Continued---