//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: The Darkness Shard // by OliverSparkle //------------------------------// Outside the Canterlot castle, Shining Armor and Cadence, along with Flurry Heart and Amore, were walking towards the castle with Flurry Heart holding onto Amore’s tail. Constantine and Vincent were also with them after telling the two humans about the nightmare situation that was going on. They also have their stuffs with them, that Constantine kindly magic the suitcases into tiny sizes so it’s easy to carry everything in his coat pocket, just in case they need to stay over nights. They have just arrived after two hours of riding on the train and the parents and Amore couldn’t help but feel more worried about Lightning since it’s just about to get dark. “Oh I do hope the little colt’s doing okay,” said Cadence in a worried tone, “It breaks my heart hearing and seeing him go through something that makes him so scared.” “It’s okay, dear,” said Shining as he gently placed a hoof on his wife, “I’m sure Twily and the others are doing the best they can to keep him safe and make sure he doesn’t have any trouble sleeping during the night. And besides, we’ll be there to support him as well.” “I know, honey,” Cadence replied, “But I just hope this isn’t Sombra’s doing and he’s using Lightning as a vessel…” her face then turned into an angry expression, “…or another one of Discord’s stupid exam to teach my son and sister-in-law and making an excuse to return to Equestria after his punishment.” Shining Armor quickly removed her hoof away from Cadence with a fear look on his face. She still remembers the Grogar incident that happened moons ago and she’s still not happy with Discord after his actions, his foolish idea of helping Twilight and Oliver out, and how he just let her son get sent to the realm of darkness after saving Celestia’s life. “And if he is behind all of this, he won’t like what I’ll do to him if he is behind the nightmare situation.” Cadence continued to walk to the castle in anger while the others stopped and stared at her in fear and worried. “I know the feeling,” the stallion said, “I’m mad at the Lord of Chaos too after his stupid stunt.” “Same here, mate,” added Constantine, “I nearly lost him if he haven’t had escaped and saved us before Cold Wind could hurt Lightning.” “And Discord should know by now that you should never make a mother angry,” said Amore in a disappointed tone, “You wouldn’t like them when they’re angry.” Shining continued to walk towards the castle with Flurry Heart, Amore, Constantine and Vincent following them. In the guest room, where Oliver was staying in, the new royal guard captain was reading one of the castle library books to see if there was anything that can help stop the nightmares and help Lightning sleep peacefully again, even while they were trying to stop the nightmares as well. “Come on,” he said to himself, “Come on, there’s got to be something that can help us.” Oliver used his magic to turn over the page and began reading the page he was on now in the book. As he was reading the new page, he notice that he wasn’t alone in the room anymore, and he knew who else was in the room with him. Oliver frowned angrily while looking at the page before saying, “I know you’re here, Discord. Come out.” A flashlight appeared and disappeared to reveal Discord as he was sitting on the bed while looking at the captain. “Guess my invisibility trick can’t really fool you,” said Discord. “None of your tricks can,” said Oliver in a annoyed tone, “My magic can sense you whenever you’re about or secretly appear in the room I’m in.” “Cool, cool.” Discord got off the bed and floated towards Oliver, “Hey, listen. We’re friends, right?” That made Oliver quickly slam the book shut before getting off his bed and stared angrily at Discord. “Oh we’re friends, are we? Because I thought you were trying to be my friend after inviting me to do some jokes and pranks with you, which my mother did not like the sound of one of them, only to find out that the Lord of Chaos thought that supporting others was no help at all and brought in a group of villains to make a threat happen, while pretending to be a villain, only to make me and Aunt Twilight see we are ready for the next step when we DIDN’T need a threat to see we are ready and put the entire Equestria in complete danger!” “Okay that’s very true, but…” “And not only that, but you also wanted to see Aunt Twilight fail and get scared and nervous so Celestia and Luna can change their mind and gave the throne to somepony else or you which you can forget, because we all know that is never gonna happen! The throne only goes to the ones that are worthy and know how to rule and protect Equestria properly, and not so they can do whatever they want!” Discord felt more afraid of Oliver’s expression right now, but not too afraid he gets when Celestia tells him off. “Oliver, I fall before you,” he said while falling to his knees, “Please tell Celestia that I really want to come back to Equestria. And see Fluttershy again, just like old times.” “You betrayed her!” Shouted Oliver angrily while pointing a hoof at Discord, “The one pony who befriended you.” “I saw my mistake! I should known they would backstab me like Lord Tirek did to me once!” “You still don’t regret doing that one stunt that could have doomed us all and not support me and Aunt Twilight like a friend would do,” Oliver said angrily, “And you haven’t even took back the hurtful things you said and did to Lightning Twister.” He starts to walk out of the room as he opened the door with his magic, “Fluttershy is allowed to make her own choices, especially when it comes to family.” Discord floated back up again and followed Oliver. “Oh come now, Oliver. You should know by now that I only putted you and Twilight to the ultimate test so you can be the ruler of Equestria and Captain of the Royal Guards at the Crystal Empire that your friends and family truly see.” “Yeah well it wasn’t up to you to decide that,” said Oliver crossly, “And even if it was, the test should have involved sick princesses and Captain so that me and Aunt Twilight will have to do their work the next three days, and NO THREAT!” “But how would you two know you’re ready for the next step without a threat happening?” Oliver stopped walking and turned to face angrily at Discord while saying, “We were doing just fine WITHOUT a threat happening! Thanks to the support from our family and friends, we were beginning to see that we are ready for becoming the new ruler and captain!” “But you can’t become a new ruler or captain without the final exam,” said Discord. “Like a future ruler and captain needs a threat to happen for their final exam!” Oliver replied angrily, “Celestia and Luna became the new rulers of Equestria before you attacked Ponyville and they didn’t even need a threat to prove that they’re ready.” “Oh yeah, sure they didn’t,” said Discord in a annoyed tone while crossing his arms, “But Luna could have taken an exam before she became jealous and turned into Nightmare Moon making Celestia have no other choice but to banish her own sister to the moon.” “Don’t you ever talk about the night Luna became Nightmare Moon!” Oliver said furious, “You don’t know what Celestia’s been through after that night, you don’t think about the effects that have affected Luna after Aunt Twilight and the girls saved her, and you don’t have the rights to speak about that night in that tone! Luna felt very guilty after she was no longer Nightmare Moon that she was struggling to sleep during the nights and she still regrets becoming the evil queen of the moon, and those two sisters really missed each other right after the fight between the princess of the sun and the mare in the moon!” Discord floated down to the floor and stood on his feet as Oliver continued, “And if you think I’ll be giving you the captain role when that time comes since Celestia and Luna is giving the ruler of Equestria role to Aunt Twilight, you can also forget that! Because that is NEVER gonna happen too! If I ever have a son, adopted or not, or somepony that wants to be just like me one day, that role will go straight to them!” Oliver turned back forward and started walking again. Discord followed him. “Your angry is starting to scare me now like how Celestia does it.” “Yeah?! Good!” Oliver continued to walk to find his friends and family while Discord walked behind him. The princesses, cat, dragon and ponies were in the dining room having a cup of tea, while Spike had hot chocolate, made by Celestia herself while trying to think of a way to help poor Lightning get through the nightmares. Spike, however, was feeling down as he stared at his hot chocolate while letting out a sad sigh before taking a sip of his drink. Twilight came to the table Spike was sitting at and sat next to her dragon. She knew something was wrong with him and wanted to see if there’s anything she can do to help since he’s part of the family and the wielders of Harmony. “You okay, Spike?” Asked Twilight politely. Spike looked at Twilight before answering, “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just…” Spike was unable to tell Twilight what was troubling as he looked away and rubbed his right arm. Twilight gave her little dragon a soft smile and gently wrapped a hoof around him for a hug. “Come on, Spike,” she said kindly to him, “You can tell me. I am your friend plus sister plus mother after all.” “I know. It’s just that…well…” Twilight suddenly figured out why Spike was feeling so down as she then gave him a sad but understanding smile. “You miss her a lot, don’t you?” Spike knew what Twilight meant by that. She already figured out what was wrong with him, and she was right. “Yeah,” he replied sadly, “I miss Xion very much. And we didn’t spend time together when Vanitas, Cozy Glow and The Storm King attacked since we were focusing on stopping them and protecting Lightning. But even though she said she’ll come back soon, I can’t help but feel like they’re struggling to find a way back here when there’s no emergency for them to come. And I really hope she hasn’t forgotten about me.” Twilight could tell Spike was more worried about Xion remembering him the same way he was missing her. But instead of being sad still, she replaced the sad smile with a soft smile and kissed her dragon on the forehead which made him look at her and saw her smiling at him. “Spike, I’m sure Xion hasn’t forgotten about you after all these moons.” “How can you be so sure about that?” “Because your friendship with her are connected,” she replied, “Which means no matter how far away you two are, you’ll be always be together and will never be forgotten. And as long you keep remembering her, she’ll never disappear from your heart, and she’ll be doing the same for her. Always remember in your heart, and everycreature you know won’t be forgotten.” Spike let those words sink into him before placing his claw on his chest to where his heart is. He felt it beating inside as he felt Xion’s love and friendship. Now he knew Xion hasn’t forgotten about him, and his friendship and love for her is still with him. This made Spike happy again, so happy, that he hugged Twilight as she hugged him back. “Thanks, Twilight. You’re the best sister and mom a dragon could ever have.” Twilight felt a tear rolling down her face as she continued to smile at her child, but she was gonna let it roll anyway. She then gently rubbing his head making him look at her with a soft smile on his face. “Anything to make my little dragon happy again.” Just then, the dining room doors open to reveal Oliver walking into the room with Discord following him as Oliver used his magic to close the doors behind them. “Oliver,” Celestia said softly as she walked towards the new captain, “Have you managed to find anything to help Lightning?” “Not yet, Celestia,” replied Oliver politely, “It’s very hard to find anything that can stop the nightmares or figure out who could be responsible for making the nightmares. So we’re just gonna do the best we can to help Lightning rest through the nights until we find a way to stop the nightmares.” “And I’m guessing Discord interrupted you?” Luna asked while glaring at the Lord of Chaos which made him look at the night princess in fear. “Yes,” Oliver replied in an annoyed tone before staring crossly at Discord, “Yes he did.” “And do you have a reason for disturbing Captain Oliver Sparkle, Discord? Hmm?” Celestia asked in a calm but angry tone. Discord continued to look at the princess nervously before speaking, “Well…all I did was asked Oliver, as a friend, to tell you that I really want to return to Equestria freely once more. And to also see Fluttershy again.” “After you betrayed me?!” Fluttershy shouted angrily, “Especially after upsetting my son and broke his heart?!” “Fluttershy, please!” Discord begged as he placed his paw and claw together and fell to his knees, “You must understand, I…” “You what?!” Fluttershy angrily shouted before Discord could even finished, “You thought Lightning was taking me away from you and decided to give him to the two ponies that I refuse to even let them come at least one hoof near him?! And upset him with the most cruel words I have ever heard in my life?!” “N-n-no, of course not!” Discord said in fear, “I just…I just wanted to help Twilight and Oliver.” “And you figured you should involve foalnapping my child after helping Cold Wind escape?!” “I thought he was taking you away from me and forgetting about me!” “Why would you think that?! He’s just a colt that lost his mother during birth and his horrible, HORRIBLE, father blamed him, hurt him and scared him with thunder storms! And all he ever wanted was a family he can call his own and a mother that truly loves him like his real mother does! He’d never take me away from my friends or make me forget them! They’re part of his family too!” “Yeah!” Said Rainbow Dash angrily, “Fluttershy may be a mother now, but that didn’t stop her from hanging with us or forgetting she has friends that supports her in taking care of our poor little buddy!” That was when Discord had enough and glared angrily at everyone in the room. “Well I can’t believe you lot still don’t care that my actions not only brought ultimate doom to Equestria, but also that helped Twilight and Oliver see they are ready for the princess and captain role!” He shouted. “We don’t care on what you were trying to do,” said Capper angrily while pointing at Discord, “We care that you brought three dangerous villains in Equestria and one seeker from another world together while pretending to be a villain that isn’t around anymore as well as foalnap a child for stupid reasons!” “He was taking Fluttershy away from me!” “He’s only a colt, Discord!” Spike shouted crossly, “All he wanted was to have friends, a family and a mother that loves him! And he wouldn’t be taking Fluttershy away, even for a good reason! Plus, you’re the one who made Fluttershy angry after foalnapping him and treated him like trash while also saying stuff to him that was not true! That was a stupid move!” “No, what’s really stupid is that Twilight still treats you as a member of her family!” Shouted Discord. Everyone in the room was completely silent, including Celestia and Luna, as they stared at Discord with their own shock expressions on their faces. Spike was in shock as well, but with tears starting to form in his eyes. Twilight continued to be in shock for a few more seconds before changing the look to an angry expression. “Would you like to repeat that but in a full English sentence?” Twilight asked angrily. “Well,” began Discord as he crossed his arms, “After everything he’s done over the past few moons, you still treat him as a member of your family, even though he’s not a pony. And you still treat him as family after thinking you were trying to tell him that Sludge wasn’t acting like an actual father and said things to you that broke your heart and burned all of your speech notes during his molt. You should have kicked him out after breaking your heart and continued doing Sludge’s bad advice on being an dragon.” Everyone had their mouths opened in shock after hearing those words come out of Discord’s mouth. Rarity and Luna had their hoof over their mouths in shock. Tears in Spike’s eyes started to flow down his face as he started to cry and run out of the dining hall and run through the hallway. “Spike! Wait!” Twilight called out worriedly, “Spike! Spike!” But it was no good. Spike was now far away in the hallway to even hear Twilight’s voice as he disappeared in the distance. Twilight looked down in sadness before glaring angrily at the Lord of Chaos. She angrily flew up to Discord, making him look at her in fear, as she shouted, “DO YOU EVEN THINK TWICE BEFORE SAYING YOUR CHOSEN WORDS?! FIRST YOU UPSET POOR LIGHTNING AND NOW YOU BROKE SPIKE’S HEART BY SAYING I SHOULD HAVE KICKED HIM OUT AFTER THE SLUDGE INCIDENT AND ALL THE OTHER THINGS HE DID AWHILE BACK WHEN I FORGAVE HIM! AND WHO CARES IF HE’S NOT A PONY?! HE’S STILL FAMILY! MY FAMILY! HE’S MY NUMBER ONE ASSISTANT, BROTHER AND SON! AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME FROM CALLING HIM FAMILY! FLUTTERSHY WAS RIGHT! YOU ARE STILL A JERK!” Twilight finally took a calm deep breath before flying back down to the floor and went towards Celestia and Luna. “I’m sorry about this, Celestia. But I need to…” Before Twilight could even continue, she felt Celestia’s hoof gently touching her shoulder as she saw her smiling softly at her. “It’s okay, Twilight,” she said softly, “I understand what you want and need to do right now.” Celestia removed her hoof from Twilight’s shoulder while continuing to smile at her. “Go to him. He needs you.” Twilight smiled at Celestia as she gave her a nod before running out of the hallway and chased after Spike to comfort him. Just then, the two dining room doors, on the other side, open making everycreature turn to see the Crystal Empire family, Amore, Constantine and Vincent walking into the room and towards them. Flurry Heart saw her big brother as she let go of Amore’s tail before running excitedly towards him while shouting, “Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive! Olive!” Oliver smiled and held his hooves out to his sister as the filly jumped into his hooves and hugged and the new captain hugged her while also picking her up and spun her around. “Ah ha ha! Flurry Heart, my sister! So good to see you again.” Oliver gently placed Flurry Heart back on the ground. “Sorry we were late coming here,” said Flurry Heart, “The train kept getting stuck on the turns.” “Oh, that’s okay,” said Oliver politely as Shining Armor and Cadence walked up to their children. “It’s so good to see you again, Oliver,” said Shining happily before frowning, “Even though it’s through a bad time again.” “I agree,” added Cadence, “Especially if it has something to do with Lightn…” Before Cadence could even continue, she saw Discord standing next to the table as he gave her a nervous smile and slowly and nervously waved at her. Cadence glared angrily at Discord before turning to her son and asked, “What is he doing here?” Oliver let out a sigh since he had a feeling something like this would happen. “Mom, the reason Discord’s here, because he said he was tired of staying in his world after being banned from entering Equestria moons ago. So he brought himself here and begged us to let him stay and visit Equestria.” “And you let him, Aunt Celestia?!” Cadence said angrily. “I know you’re still angry about his actions, Cadence,” said Celestia calmly, “But I can’t help with the nightmare problem while dealing with his whining at the same time. I had no other choice but to let him just this once.” “Plus I do wanna meet some old friends that I haven’t seen in a long time,” said Discord before playfully wiggling Flurry Heart’s cheek with his paw, “Especially this grown up little filly.” Flurry Heart smacked Discord’s paw off her cheek before blowing a raspberry at him with Oliver grinning at the lord of chaos. “And who said we were your “old friends” after what you did moons ago?” Shining asked crossly. “Oh come on!” Said Discord, “That was moons ago! Can’t we move on and be happy again?” He turned to Constantine, “John, you can’t still be mad at me. Right?” But all Discord got from Constantine was his glare as he walked up to him while pointing at him and saying, “I didn’t let Oliver get sent straight to the realm of darkness and doomed all lives including ours and the kids, you did!” “But at least he became the new captain of the royal guards after escaping the realm of darkness and saving the day with his aunt and friends!” “I didn’t made him captain after what happened that day!” Shining shouted, “I made him captain after the attack, because I knew he was fully ready to become captain right away! I was gonna make him captain the day after the gala!” “Without any threats for him and Twilight to stop before believing they are ready?!” “They were starting to believe they were ready WITHOUT any threats happening!” Luna said angrily, “You’re the one who thought having a threat would help them, not us! We knew supporting them would help, and it did since they were starting to feel calm about their new role!” “But how would they know that they are ready for the next steps with a threat?!” Discord asked, “Supporting them won’t help much. And all rulers and captains should face a threat before they continue their role, even after the day they start their new role.” Everyone in the room, including Flurry Heart, gave Discord a not amused look after everything he just said about how he thinks the next ruler and captain should know they’re ready. “Pinkie?” Asked Oliver in a way of saying what she, and everyone else, thinks how the new ruler and captain way should work. “Hmmm…” Pinkie began to pretend think while patting her chin, “Let’s see. Have a threat happen for the new upcoming ruler and captain to face, or support them to help them know they’re ready for the role? Ding ding ding! Support them wins hooves down!” Oliver smirked at Discord as he crossed his paw and claw while glaring away. “Are you sure letting him come here is a good idea, Aunt Celestia?” Asked Cadence still not happy. “I know you’re not happy with me letting him come back, Cadence,” said Celestia in a calm tone, “But I can assure you, we will make sure he doesn’t do anything to Lightning or that can bring harm to all of us.” Cadence glared at Discord, which made him flinch, before looking at her aunt as she let out a calm sigh. “Okay, fine. But if he is behind the nightmares and does anything to upset my daughter and that sweet little colt, I’m turning him back to stone myself!” That made Discord walk back a bit while shaking in fear after hearing the Princess of Love say she would turn him back to stone herself. “Hey, by the way, where’s Auntie Twily and Uncle Spike?” Flurry Heart asked as she couldn’t see them in the room after realising. “Aunt Twilight has gone to comfort Spike,” answered Oliver, “His feelings just got hurt by the lord of chaos here.” Shining Armor and Cadence gave Discord an angry glare, even Amore glared at him too, which made Discord flinch again. “You really don’t think twice on the words you use, do you?” Shining Armor said angrily. “Is he going to be okay?” Asked Flurry Heart worriedly. “I’m sure he will, my dear,” answered Celestia as she gently stroked the filly’s mane, “Your Auntie Twilight will sure make him better again.” But deep down, she was worried about the baby dragon. Discord did say such horrible things to Spike that it probably made him think that he was a bad dragon, especially the things that Spike didn’t mean to do.