//------------------------------// // Act. 2 The Homecoming // Story: Easy Access, the Story of Quill // by Graphite Quill //------------------------------// -=-=- Canterlot -=-=- "We must find him Luna! I know he used to be a dear friend of ours but things have changed, he has changed! He is far too dangerous to be left to his own devises!" Celestia said with barely restrained fear as she looked at the now empty stone pedestal. Discord was gone, and she had no idea as to how long. 'Of all ponies its was the half-prince Blueblood that alerted me to the statues disappearance. He actually though I was replacing Discord with the disgustingly detailed statue of his...' Celestia shuddered in remembrance of the drawing Blueblood had commissioned for reference. 'There is something seriously wrong with that twit.' She thought to herself. Luna noticed her sisters distracted thoughts by the look on her face, it was the same one Graphite had when he was thinking to himself. Everything seemed to remind her of her missing friend these days. She was still fairly angry with him and lost a lot of trust for the human, but she couldn't deny the feelings she had for him. He'd have to work hard to regain her trust, 'If he ever returns.' She wasn't sure that he would want to return with his identity revealed. Luna sighed. "I understand your fears dear sister but as it is now he is impossible to track. There are no signs of chaos spreading amongst our little ponies and he has left us his promise of reformation. I understand that I was not present to see what he did after my banishment but you know as well as I do that Discord never breaks a promise." Luna hummed in thought. "Actually it is one of the only things that is unchanging about that tumultuous clown." Discord had left a small message etched into the surface of his pedestal that was constantly changing. The message would shift slowly spelling nonsensical words they didn't recognize but sometimes a legible sentence would form. It read, 'I will return at a later date once I'm finished with an important task. I promise to not take over Equestria before then.' -=-=- Somewhere -=-=- "DAD!" A startled griffon jerked awake pulling his knife from its sheath. A quick glance around the small room was all it took to assure him they were still safe. As he relaxed a bit he looked to the other occupant in the room, a young white griffon that was wide awake and smiling. "Another dream from your father?" He asked. "YES! He said he's coming to pick me up!" Cara said excitedly. "Did he say anything about the changelings that are following us?" Andraste asked. "Um, he said that you should follow plan S? Whatever that means." She said while still bouncing with excitement. The young hen had been strong in her fathers absence but she missed him a great deal and Andraste could see it in her eyes over the past months . Now though he could see the pure happiness she radiated, which no doubt alerted their stalkers that something happened. He sighed checking his gear and started heading for the door. Plan S was a mildly disturbing contingency plan that that crazy pony Graphite came up with when he last saw them before he let himself be captured again. Andraste was explicitly told that Cara was NOT allowed to witness what was about to happen. Pulling the enchanted necklace from his pack he tossed it to the youngling. "Put that on and stay in here, father's orders. STAY here, got it?" He waited until after she nodded and put on the necklace. Trusting Graphite's enchantment to keep her safely hidden, Andraste left the room with haste closing the door behind him. He sprinted down the hall of the inn and straight through the dining area towards the door leading outside. Planning to slam through them to make as much noise as possible, he was painfully surprised when they stayed firmly closed causing him to bounce off and hit the floor. He stood struggling to regain his breath with his now crumpled breastplate restricting his movement. The griffon heard a chittering laugh behind him as he drew his sword from its sheath on his back and spun. Three ponies stood atop the bar smirking at him with their glowing eyes. "Just where do you think you're going feathers? Aren't you forgetting someone?" The left changeling said. "Yeah where is the little brat?" Said the one on the right. "I can't feel her. You two stay here and make sure he doesn't follow." Andraste watched as the center changeling headed back the way he came from. Doing his best to keep his emotions in check he waited until it was out of sight before he quickly unsheathed his knife and threw it with his free claw. His target yelped and produced a shield only for the dagger to pass through with ease. The shield did manage to slightly change its coarse ultimately saving the changeling from a quick death as the dagger stuck in its front shoulder. Using the throw as a distraction, Andraste lunged at the uninjured changeling impaling it through the chest through its own shield. The look of shock died with the changeling as the griffon beheaded the injured changeling and retrieving his knife from its corpse. With a huff of annoyance Andraste muttered to himself. "That damned pony." Plan S is to simply kill the changelings that were following them by using some specially enchanted weapons. The griffon isn't against killing changelings but he did find it strange that a pony would suggest the idea. When asked about his lack of care towards another living creature, Graphite simply said 'they started it'. Sheathing his weapons he sprinted down the hallway intent on shredding the changeling to pieces before it found Cara. Seeing their room's door open he ran in to find the changeling laying undisguised next to Cara on the bed. "I almost didn't believe Graphite when he told me about his griffon daughter, but I should've know considering how weird that pony is." The changeling said with a fanged smile. "Oh yeah I guess I should probably introduce myself, I'm Thesa, and I'm no threat to you or the child." Andraste watched the changeling slowly rise and jump down from the bed where it sat calmly watching him. "I'll give you the benefit of explaining yourself before I behead you like your friend back there, but I'd suggest you speak quickly." -=-=- Andraste wasn't sure if he was making a mistake trusting the bug called Thesa but Graphite had mentioned her in one of his messages during his time in the hive. She had also explained what happened in the hive and how she had been forced out due to unknowingly taking part in a distraction for the queen. The Queen Chrysalis blamed her along with a great many other changelings for 'helping' all the ponies escape. The true traitors were executed but the one's like Thesa that weren't directly involved were banished from the hive. According to the changeling it was painful to lose contact with the hive mind but it had also shaken her from the spell she had unknowingly been influenced by. Since her awakening she had realized that the hatred and malice she'd felt when around other species was gone and she no longer felt trapped by her responsibilities to the queen. "Now I don't really know what I want to do. I'm happy to be truly free for once but that father of yours is partially at fault for me losing my family and friends. If he hadn't drawn me into his plans I would still have a home, so he needs to take responsibility for his actions. That is why I infiltrated the group of infiltrators following you two." Thesa explained to the young griffon as they continued on their way to the nearby train station. She had disguised herself as a plum colored thestral which drew more eyes than usual to the odd group. "I'm lucky I was able to recognize his magic in that necklace of yours, if we hadn't uh.." She paused with a visible blush and glanced down at the young griffon. "gotten to know each other as well as we did I likely wouldn't have found you two. I could sense his love for you fueling that protection enchantment." Annoyed by the extra attention they were receiving Andraste started looking for an empty train car. Luck was not on their side as there seemed to be at least a dozen ponies in each segment. "While I can understand your situation I still don't fully understand why you didn't just look for Graphite himself. If he escaped with so many other ponies then why not just follow their tracks, surely that would have been much faster than looking for us." He said while he counted the bits he had left. The fake thestral thought for a moment before shrugging. "I honestly don't know." She ignored the larger griffons scowl. "Don't get me wrong the thought crossed my mind but something told me that I'd have a better chance of him helping me stay hidden if I helped protect his daughter. Besides I see him as a friend and I'm going to need someone on my side if I'm going to survive without regular love rations. Not all of us are trained to steal love covertly." Silence ensued as they approached the ticket booth and Andraste payed the last of his bits for a room in one of the private cars. He was charged extra because the rooms were usually reserved for overnight trips while his destination was only a few hours away. Cara had told them that the train would be the fastest route to where they were meeting her father and neither questioned her judgment. Andraste had learned early on to trust the young griffoness, she was always honest about what she did and didn't know and had yet to steer him wrong. As much as he hated leaving his wife and newborn, when Graphite requested his aid in saving the little white griffoness Andraste couldn't refuse. When the unicorn offered to return the favor in the future he reluctantly agreed and left his family in his brothers care. Between all the inns, train rides, and miscellaneous other expenses, Graphite owed the griffon more than just a favor. The pony's contribution of bits didn't last long and when asked for more, the unicorn only said that he no longer had access to his money. Getting on the train the trio entered their private room and tried to get comfy but the tension kept them all on edge and Cara was tired of it. "Thesa, What cuss word does my dad always say whenever something doesn't go his way? He usually says it under his breath like he thinks nobody else can hear him." Slightly confused by the question she thought back to their games of Ogres and Oubliettes to when one of their characters would roll good numbers and find his traps. "Well he likes to say damn a lot, like all the time now that I think about it." Cara nodded and asked another question. "Now who is my dad in love with?" "Princess Luna." Thesa responded without hesitation. "Okay, then what is his favorite color?" Cara asked crossing her arms. Now worried Thesa spoke slowly. "Uh, I actually don't know that one." Cara smirked looking at Andraste. "Neither do I. My dad never talks about mundane stuff like that, not even to me. If you'd said something like red or white I'd have been a little suspicious. Now Andy calm down and stop tensing up every time she uses magic, I'm telling you that I trust her so no trying to kill her." She then looked towards the thestral. "I may be young but I think I understand a little bit about what you mentioned earlier, the whole 'getting to know each other better' thing. I'm warning you now if you even so much as think about trying to take my dad away from Luna, I'll personally make sure you regret ever meeting him. Understood?" While Andraste looked on with pride Thesa actually shivered with a little fear and nodded quickly. As if she hadn't just successfully intimidated a being three times her size, Cara continued speaking in a friendly and carefree voice. "Great! I think I'm gonna take a nap now, wake me up when we're almost there please!" The last thing Cara heard made her smile as she went to sleep. "What the buck was that?! She's scarier than Chrysalis!" -=-=-=- Graphite -=-=-=- I rode the train in silence as the mute mare stared out the window watching the scenery pass by. I'd left the ponies behind when we made it to town, there was already a shit load of ponies there and they had gotten in contact with the Equestrian Guard. The moment I saw that my group was safe I teleported the captured changelings in front of some guards and went straight to the train station. Since my magic has somewhat evened itself out again I was easily able to summon some money for tickets straight to Canterlot where I'd finally be reunited with Cara. Regardless of how we left things off I hope the princesses will put aside my deceit long enough to hear me out. From the beginning I've worried about not screwing with the timeline but I recognize my mistake now. Things had been a bit different from the start but I refused to see reality for what it is, until now. This isn't the same timeline or universe that I know and love and my knowledge might not be as harmful as I thought, hell it might even help prevent some world ending event! What if in this universe Sombra is destined to take his empire back, and somehow finds a way of corrupting the Crystal Heart into spreading corruption across the world. Extremely unlikely but there's no way for me to know what's going to happen and when. The gala is the last known event that happened and next should be Discord but he's already mentioned on several occasions that he's planning on being nice this time around. At the time I ignored what he said but maybe he has knowledge of other realities and meant that this time around he's taking a backseat? Who knows with that fucker, maybe he is gonna play nice but what then? Will he still try working with Tirek? I guess technically it doesn't matter as long as I warn the princesses about his eventual escape, I'm sure they could strengthen his cell or at least bind him up more. Whatever happens with Discord he should have already 'escaped' his stony prison. The next world changing event should be Princess Cadence's wedding but with the changelings having already blown their cover I doubt they will have an easy time enacting their plan. I should still tell the princesses though. Immediately after is the Crystal Empire and I can just tell them Where to find the Crystal Heart as soon as they get there so they can... Wait wasn't that one of the big tests for Twilight, to see if she could protect Equestria? Damn.. I feel like I should do my part but I don't want to interfere with the making of Equestria's next princess, so I'll have to talk to Celestia about that one. A weight on my side took me from my musings and I looked over to see that the mute mare was leaning on me while dozing off. I didn't bother pushing her away, I've been growing more fond of how physical ponies are. Normally I'd be more opposed of such contact but they're so warm and soft, it's comforting. Who am I kidding I'm the one becoming soft, I used to not give a shit about anyone or anything. Well at least that's how I've been the last 6 years anyways, I suppose becoming a magical talking mini-horse is just what the therapist order to fix my moodiness. I suppose if I wanted to be a decent person, or pony, again I'll probably have to let go of my regrets and past mistakes. Ha, funny joke right? If only it were that simple. I look out the window and see Canterlot Mountain looming in the distance. -=-=-=- I had changed back to my old colors, dark green and faded blue, just in case the word had spread about the 'alicorn' at the gala. I told Cara where to meet up last time we talked in the dreamscape and I know they were closer to Canterlot than I was so they should be waiting for me there. I'll need to pay Andraste for keeping her safe and fed for so long but that's really not an issue now. I know my old boss likely knows who I really am by now but hopefully she'll be willing to at least let me explain myself. I hate that I actually care what she thinks about me. I sighed at my shadow, the mute one that seemed to be set on following me wherever I go. "Why are you still following me? You realize you're completely free to go wherever you want right?" She shrugged and gestured some more nonsense at me. Annoyed I decided to act now and ask for permission later. "I apologize in advance and I promise I'll ask next time." Casting a spell on her I temporarily linked our minds similar to telepathy but much more personal. 'Ask what? *sigh* This is so frustrating.' "How do you think I feel? At least you don't need magic to hear me." I said in reply to her thoughts. Realization seemed to dawn on the mute mare as she actually looked a little pissed. 'One of these days we are going to talk about what exactly you are. Oh and boundaries, because you are extremely lucky that I'm so tired of not being understood.' "Well if you plan on following me everywhere you'll get your explanation soon. Now why exactly are you following me around?" 'I figured it would be obvious. The world left me behind and I don't have a family to return to, I was an only child and my parents died before I was captured. I just figured that if you were willing to help me escape then you might also be willing to help me get back on my hooves. Plus I really want to know how you exist, I mean male alicorns can't physically exist yet here you are.' "I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that but you're probably right. I'm actually just a unicorn, my extra limbs are just a side effect of my magical experimentation. I'll explain more later after I talk to my old boss."