//------------------------------// // The Snuggie Bunny // Story: Seeing the Light // by Animalman57 //------------------------------// Meanwhile, farther out in the woods, Twilight was fuming something fierce. She had Discord cornered, but she let her emotions get the better of her, and now she couldn't find him. Now, he took that crown who knows where. What did he want with it, anyway? As much as stealing a crown made sense to her, Discord was right about the fact about him not normally being a common thief. He had no use for money, and if he wanted power over a kingdom, he'd spar with Celestia and take over there. The crown wasn't magical as far as she knew, so gaining power seemed unlikely. So, was she wrong about him stealing it or did he have an alternative plan for it? She growled in frustration. Thinking about Discord often gave ponies a headache. He was an enigma wrapped in craziness and sugar. No way can anyone figure him out. Just then, she heard a stick snap behind her. Is it him? she thought, even though she knew how unlikely that was. Discord could be halfway across Equestria by now and even if he stayed in these woods, he'd likely be floating above, not walking on the ground. Still, it could be Caballeron. The guards were able to catch the Flim Flam brothers due to them not really being threats. Caballeron escaped, however, and now he was out for vengeance, most likely. She lit her horn in retaliation. She didn't want to hurt him, hence the spell she planned to use was only to stun him. She turned around, ready to blast him only to find an older brown unicorn mare with a dark crimson red mane and tail and dull green eyes and wearing a black cloak standing there, frighten by Twilight's lit horn. Twilight discontinued the spell and coughed into her hoof as she blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, ma'am." She said to the frail looking unicorn. The mare blinked before she spoke in a sweet tone, "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure you have a good reason to nearly blast a frail old mare like myself, your majesty." She finished her statement with a little curtsey towards the "Princess of Friendship". Twilight raised an eyebrow at the mare's sudden addition of venom and malice into the words 'your majesty', but didn't think too much of it. Maybe she just didn't like royalty all that much. Can't please everyone, she supposed. "Oh, I was tracking down these bandits. They stole something very valuable from the Pegasus Kingdom, and my sister-in-law volunteered me to help return it. In fact, you should probably head home. It's not safe out here." The mare's eyes widen at this news. "Posey..." she whispered in horror before running off, leaving Twilight baffled as she left. "Weird mare." Twilight muttered before she headed off in a different direction. Maybe she'll find those fiends if she headed towards the kingdom. Chrysalis ran straight home after hearing about those bandits. If those bandits stole, hurt or even killed her source of power, she'd never get strong enough to take over Equestria. Sure, no one had found her tower in the 20 years she raised the princess, but it's better to be safe than sorry. She ran through the waterfall and headed right towards the tower, frightening all the animals. She stopped when she noticed the open door. She never left it open when she left. Now truly worried, she ran inside and up the stairs into the tower. "Posey!" she yelled once inside. There was no sign of her in the main room, so she went straight towards her bedroom, hoping the princess was there. She kicked the door open and used her magic to open the blinds to see inside. She rushed towards the bed and took off the comforter. She wasn't there. Chrysalis was beyond scared now. She returned to the main room to double check, but after searching everywhere, Posey wasn't anywhere to be found. As she started plotting ways for finding those bandits and making them pay, she was blinded by a gleam underneath the staircase leading to the princess' room. She used her magic to open it up and saw a satchel. Curious, she opened it up and grabbed the shiny object inside. Upon seeing it, she gasped and threw it away. It landed a few yards from her, still shining as the sunlight hit it. She knew what it was, the princess' crown. She saw it when she visited the kingdom to buy food for the, at the time, 2 year old filly that the crown belonged to. I guess that's what was stolen. she thought. Another thought entered her mind just as quickly. Did they come out here to hide when they found her, figure out who she was and ditch the crown in favor of kidnapping her for their own purposes? Or did she willingly go with them to see those lanterns like she said she wanted to see? Either way, she had to stop them. She took the satchel with her and stuffed the crown in it. Getting rid of this crown was a must. She couldn't have a reminder of the princess' true heritage laying around. Now, all she needed was a weapon. She looked into a cabinet and found a dagger. Perfect, she smiled evilly. Now she could kill those who dared to take her only method of conquering Equestria. As this was happening, Posey and Discord were walking, or rather, Posey was walking and Discord was floating above her, down the trail in the woods with Angel riding on her back. "I swear, it was around here somewhere." He scratched his head before looking forward. "Oh, there it is, the 'Snuggie Bunny'. Very quaint place. Perfect for a reserved little pony like yourself. We can't scare you off now, can we? And I mean, honestly, who'd be so cruel as to scare a cute little mare like you?" Posey blushed at Discord calling her 'cute' as she looked towards the building. It seemed nice enough. There was a sign that said "The Snuggie Bunny" that had a picture of a cute little bunny on it and the building itself was small and it was way out here in the woods, so it was unlikely many ponies would be here. "Well, I do like bunnies." she said sheepishly. Discord smirked. "Trust me, you'll love it here." They made it towards the door and opened it. Discord loudly proclaimed in a false Prench accent, "Garcon, your finest table, please!", as Posey stared in terror. Discord rolled his eyes at her reaction and pushed her in to guide her around. "'Sup, everyone?! Just me and my new gal pal crashing the joint." He lowered down to her level and said," Why don't you find a table for us, my dear?" He patted her head then wondered off, much to her dismay. "Capper! My main feline. How you've been?" Posey saw him going towards a tall brown Abyssinian cat wearing a patchwork coat, with purple hair and green eyes before she slowly walked further into the establishment to find a seat. It was a bar full of some rather intimidating looking creatures. Most were ponies, but not the friendliest looking ones. At one table, a lilac unicorn mare with a purple and blue mane was speaking with a blue unicorn mare with a light blue and white mane. Another table had an orange unicorn mare with a red and yellow mane that was drinking from a mug and looking a bit miserable, if Posey was honest. But when she noticed Posey looking at her in pity, she glared in anger and flashed her horn at her while shouting, “What are you looking at!?” Posey squeaked in fear and ran off, colliding against another pony. She shook her head and looked up and found the most intimidating one yet. She was a dark purple mare clad in black armor. Her mane was a mohawk of two lighter shades of purple than her fur coat. Her right eye had a noticeable scar across it and her horn was noticeably broken. She looked at Posey with a sour expression and raised eyebrow. On her back was a weird grey pug faced hedgehog with a mouth full of sharp teeth and white hair on his head. He stopped eating his nachos as he noticed the pony. Posey hid behind her mane at the gaze this creature was giving her. "Hey, boss," he said, "can I rob her of her bits or steal the bunny on her back, or something?" The purple mare stared back with an intense glare that made him shut up pretty easily. Discord floated over towards her as she shook heavily. "Hey, you don't look so good, my dear." He said in a false voice of concern. "Maybe we should get you home." He wrapped his paw around her neck and guided her shaky legs towards the entrance of the bar. "Let's call it a day. Probably better off. This is a five star joint after all. And if you can't handle this place, well, maybe you should be back in your tower." Before they could leave, a red dragon with orange spikes slammed the door and glared at the two of them. "We've told you before you ain't welcome here, Discord." the dragon hissed. Posey squeaked before hiding behind Discord's tail. Discord was still taller than the dragon, so he wasn't so easily intimidated. "If I'm not welcome, Garble, than why'd you slam the door closed instead of letting us leave?" The dragon, apparently named Garble, cracked his knuckles. "Because we are gonna show you what happens when you break our rules, by breaking your bones." Many of the others soon rose from theirs seats and surrounded Discord, Posey, and Angel. Discord rolled his eyes. "Really? You all think you can take me on? Well, then, bring it on." Garble ran forward and breathed fire, but Discord turned into a grey elephant with his bushy eyebrows and multi-colored eyes intact before blasting Garble with water from his trunk, forcing Garble back into a wall and taking care of the fire. He turned back to normal and, without turning around, snapped his paw and turned the ice spell blasted at him by the lilac mare into sprinkles. He snapped his talon and the blue mare's fire spell froze, fell to the ground and shattered upon impact. He heard a battle caw behind him. He turned and saw a brown griffin with a white head charging straight for him. Suddenly, a brick wall appeared between them and the griffin hit the wall, knocking herself out. Discord smirked at his trick, but was caught off guard by a mighty blast that hit him straight into a table. Posey gasped as the pug faced hedgehog laughed on a table. "Nice shot, Tempest." The scarred mare known as Tempest blew the smoke that came from her broken horn, thankful that her uncontrollable magic was stable long enough for her to get a clean shot. Discord started shaking off the lucky hit before he was lifted into the air by the orange mare's magic field. A soaked Garble flew up and smiled evilly at him. "Not so tough now, are you?" Discord simply glared back. Garble turned his head towards the crowd and asked, "What should we do with him?" Several voices went off at once, all of them suggesting ways to take care of the draconequus. The only ones not engaging in this were Tempest, who did not want any part of this nonsense and looked annoyed at her accomplice shouting suggestions, Capper, who actually looked sadden because he actually liked him, and, of course, Posey. "Um...excuse me. Can you, um, put him down please?" Her voice barely carried over the crowd. "Um, put him down please." she said a little louder. Still nothing. She took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could. "Put him down!" All heads turned towards her in shock. The orange mare dropped Discord who was staring in disbelief. He didn't think she could even be that loud. "Okay, I'm sorry for yelling, but I don't know where I am, and I need him to take me to see the lanterns, because I've been dreaming about them my entire life. Yes, he made a mistake coming here, but he just wanted to help me and who hasn't made a mistake before? Haven't any of you ever made a mistake that you wanted to change?" She cried out. The group continued staring at her until Tempest walked forward towards the mare. Posey hid behind her mane as she held out her frying pan in defense, no longer feeling very brave. When Tempest stopped in front of her, Posey wondered why she hadn't been hurt yet. She looked up and saw Tempest wearing a smile, a stark contrast to her earlier frown. Everyone else in the room was equally shocked by this. They'd never seen her smile even once, so to see her smile was a special thing. "Yes. I want to help those who were harmed by my misdeeds when I worked with the Storm King and maybe be accepted back into society again." Posey stared at her, wondering exactly what do say to that. However, more of them started to speak up about their dreams. The orange mare, named Sunset, said, "I want to be forgiven for my transgressions with Princess Celestia. She was like a mother to me, but I let my anger and lust for power blind me and, when she didn't give me what I wanted, I ran away. But now, I just wanna see her again." The lilac mare, Starlight, spoke next, "I just want to see my best friend again. When we were separated as children, my heart shattered and I got bitter and angry. If it wasn't for Trixie here, I'd might have made a strange removing cutie mark cult." The blue mare, Trixie, said, "I've hurt ponies with an ancient artifact for revenge for exposing me as a phony magician. But, I soon realized I didn't wanna go down that path, so I removed the artifact and been trying to make amends ever since." Discord stared at the group as his eye twitched. His perfect plan was failing! Instead of scaring her, she somehow managed to get these past criminals to share their feelings. Who in Tartarus was this mare? His ear flicked as he heard hooves outside. At that moment, the pug faced hedgehog, named Grubber, looked out the window. "It's the royal guard!", he yelled. Discord grabbed Posey and hid behind the counter. The guards entered and were led by Twilight Sparkle. Of course Princess Bookworm has found us. What are the odds? Discord thought. Twilight stood tall before announcing, "We are tracking down two criminals that stole an important artifact from the King and Queen of the Pegasus Kingdom. Does anybody know where Caballeron or Discord are?" Posey looked up at the draconequus, but he shook his head with a look that said, 'don't ask'. Posey felt a paw on her shoulder before looking up at Capper, who gave a comforting smile. He gestured to a wall that, when he pulled a hidden lever with his fluffy, bandaged tail, opened up a secret passage. Posey and Discord looked into the passage, unsure of how safe it is. "Hurry, I'll keep the princess distracted. Go live your dream." He said quietly as to not alert the guards. Posey smiled. "Thank you." She said before dragging Discord into the passage by his paw, forcing the draconequus to form a blush on his cheeks. Capper started closing up the passageway, smirking slightly at Discord's blush as he stood up to face the royal guard. By this point, Twilight was getting frustrated. "Seriously, none of you know where they are?!" The gang of thugs all whistled innocently while trying to look discreet. Twilight growled in fury. As she was about to pack in the towel, her ear flicked at the sound of a secret passage closing. She turned her head towards the bar where Capper was standing, trying to look innocent. It was then she noticed the passage just as it finished closing. She glared at Capper before walking forward. "Where is the lever for the secret passageway? Tell me." Capper simply chuckled. "I have no idea what you mean, your highness. There's no secret passageway in this building." Smooth as that cat normally was, Twilight knew he was lying. She looked at a bunch of all the cider levers until she saw one that did looked different from the others. Testing her hypothesis, she pushed it with her hoof and the passage opened up. Twilight smiled in success. "They went down here, boys!" The guards rushed into the cavern with Twilight taking up the rear of the cavalry. Chrysalis had heard a ruckus coming from here when she was running down the forest looking for Posey and her kidnappers. When she got here, imagine her surprise when she saw the legendary Discord traveling with her Posey. She looked at her dagger, realizing it wasn't going to be enough to stop Discord. She'd need a new weapon. She saw them run off into the passage and wanted to cut them off at the pass and before Miss Sparkle catches them. At that moment, Grubber and Tempest walked out together. "Remind never to smile again, Grubber. It hurts my cheeks." Grubber nodded before noticing Chrysalis' disguised self. "Hey there, pretty lady." Grubber said while Tempest rolled her eyes at his flirting. "You mind dating a cool guy like me?" he said as he flexed his arm. There wasn't really any muscle to be impressed by, but Chrysalis saw an opportunity to find where the tunnel led to. She played along. "Oh, stop it, you big lug." She laughed before pointing her dagger into his nose. "Where does that tunnel lead to?" She said in her normal, threatening voice. "Knife." Grubber squeaked in fear. "Really? You’re gonna ask that imbecile where that tunnel goes?" Tempest interrupted. Chrysalis looked up at her and before Tempest could react, she disappeared in a dazzle of green fire and reappeared in front of her, pointing the dagger at her. "I don't suppose you know where it leads to, then?" she said with an evil smirk and glowing green eyes.