//------------------------------// // Chapter 26 // Story: The Darkness Shard // by OliverSparkle //------------------------------// In the dining room in the tent, Twilight and Starlight were sitting up the table while Jacob and Capper make dinner. Twilight carefully placed the plate on the table with her mouth before using a hoof to make sure it was set right. She then saw Starlight doing the same without using magic as the alicorn smiled at what her friend was doing. “Well, looks like somepony has finally started setting a table without using magic,” said Twilight while continuing to smile. Starlight just smiled. “What can I say? Not everything can be solved or be done by using magic.” Twilight and Starlight laughed. “Besides,” said Starlight, “For once, I would like to just set a table carefully without using magic, so I can…Look out!” “Yikes!” Twilight and Starlight quickly ducked as all the plates, knives, forks and spoons magically flew onto the table in a row. Twilight and Starlight went back up while shockingly looking at the pony who did it. It was Shining Armor as he magically placed the last fork down before smiling at the two ponies who were still looking at him in shock. “Did he…?! How?! When?! What?!” Both Twilight and Starlight said in unison. “What?” Shining asked in confusion. “Shiny, we were setting the table with no magic,” said the purple alicorn, “And Starlight was doing a very good job doing it without using magic.” “Oh, sorry. I just saw you setting up the table, and I thought I should help out before dinner’s ready.” “By using magic?” Asked Starlight. “Yes, why?” “Well, if you haven’t had used magic to set the table,” began Starlight, “You can say that this plate is Twilight’s head, and this spoon is her heart, and knives…are sharp. You should be very careful with knives.” Knowing that this was going nowhere, Starlight let out a sigh before saying, “It sounds a lot easier when you described it to me.” Twilight just smiled at Starlight showing that she understood. But that smile didn’t last long as she, along with Starlight and Shining, saw Applejack coming into the room while dragging Discord by the beard. “All right, where’s Fluttershy? I need to speak with her!” “I’m here, Applejack,” answered Fluttershy while flying into the room, “Is something wr…?” Before she could even finish, she saw Discord behind the farm pony as he nervously smiled while waving at her. Fluttershy now had a cross look on her face. She knew Discord did something bad again. “What did he do this time?” Applejack glared at Discord while saying, “Go on, Discord. Tell Fluttershy EXACTLY what you did.” Discord gulped nervously before shaking in fear. He knew Fluttershy was not going to be happy when he tells her how he upset her baby boy and slapped him in the face. Fluttershy had a face of a mother that don’t like anyone trying their children badly. “I, uh…um…I, accidentally…dropped and broke your vase,” said Discord while shrugging his shoulders as he laughed nervously. Fluttershy, however, wasn’t buying it and Applejack knew he was lying just to get out of trouble. “My vase? I never own a vase. And if I did, I would never take it with me like I don’t trust my animal friends whenever I’m away. Plus I know you’re lying to me, Discord. Your tail is twitching.” Discord turned and saw that his tail was twitching. And that shows he was lying. Normally it would be eyebrows twitching when someone lies, but with Discord, it may not be his eyebrows that twitch when he lies. Knowing that he wasn’t tell her what he did, Fluttershy decided to ask Applejack. “Applejack, what did he do?” “Discord made Lightning Twister upset by saying a bunch of lies about how it was his fault you broke your friendship with him. Then after that, he slapped him very hard across the face.” Fluttershy was completely in shock after hearing that Lightning Twister got slapped by Discord. She had never heard anyone slap the colt before, except for when Cold Wind did. Her shock look slowly went into anger as her face turned into red. “He did WHAT?!” Twilight, Applejack, Starlight, Shining and Discord backed up in both shock and fear. They’ve never seen Fluttershy this angry before. Well, except for that time when Cold Wind foalnapped Lightning at the Gala. Now Discord was even more scared to what Fluttershy’s going to do or say to him. “Kitchen!” Starlight said before quickly zooming off to the kitchen. “Kitchen!” Twilight said before quickly zooming off to the kitchen. “Bathroom!” Shining said before quickly zooming off to the bathroom. Discord shook in great fear as Fluttershy angrily flew closer to him while glaring at him. She then angrily shouted, “HOW DARE YOU CONTINUE UPSETTING MY SON! AND HOW DARE YOU SLAP HIM ACROSS THE FACE! HIS FATHER HAS ALREADY DONE THAT TO HIM, I’M NOT LETTING ANYPONY ELSE DO THAT TO HIM, EVEN FOR STUPID REASONS!” “B-But Fluttershy, he said it was my fault you broke your friendship with me!” “And why did he say that to you?” “Because he thinks he’s better than me!” “Like I’m going to believe that!” Fluttershy can tell Discord was making that up. “Tell me the actual truth!” Discord sighed before answering, “Because I told him that he was still the Storm Pony and it was his fault I doomed you all.” Fluttershy was so not happy after hearing Discord say he told her son he was still the Storm Pony. She hated when someone calls Lightning that, even if they’re trying to get him to embrace the destiny they believe it is his true destiny. “You also told him he was still the Storm Pony?! What is the matter with you?! Why can’t you just leave him alone?! He’s going through a lot!” “Well he made you break our friendship and had me banished when I was just trying to help Twilight and Oliver!” Discord argued. “He didn’t made me break our friendship, YOU did! And you brought the banishment on yourself! If you wanted to help Twilight and Oliver, you could have just supported him like a true friend and give them a task that doesn’t involve threats since tasks are so important to you!” “But then how would they know they’re ready to take on the princess and royal guard role?” “With support from their friends and family, they’ll know they’re ready to take on the next steps!” Fluttershy said angrily, “They don’t need threats or stupid tests to see what can happen in their new roles or to know they are ready!” “But that’s not much of a exam if they don’t have a threat to stop before beginning their new role,” said Discord. “You think I’m stupid? You only sent a threat to Canterlot, not to test Twilight and Oliver, but to see Twilight panic and fail so you can get Celestia to give you the throne. Pinkie told us everything! She never lies!” “Well I still think they need a test to see they are ready for their new role,” said Discord crossly, “Besides, my plan to bring those baddies together was the perfect test for them.” “Even releasing a abusive parent and put an innocent colt in danger?” Fluttershy was talking about Lightning Twister since Discord did break Cold Wind out of Tartarus and foalnapped Lightning from the Gala, again. “He took you away from me!” “He didn’t take me from anypony! I took him in, because he changed my life! He lost his real mother during birth and his father blamed him for her death while also hitting him and scaring him with thunder storms! I wanted to become his new mother and he wanted me to be his new mother! He would never take me away from anypony, not even from my friends!” “Then why haven’t you had your tea time with me or hung out with me when you had him, even after the magic failing incident?!” “I was just busy!” Fluttershy answered, “I was busy teaching at the School of Friendship and spending time with Lightning since he didn’t have any parents that was always there for him and spend time with him! And besides, you could have just come round and ask for tea time or to hang out! I was always free to do them!” “Not with that scaredy pony around! He would just hide away from me from the moment I show up!” Discord said. Fluttershy slapped Discord in the face. “Don’t you dare call my son a scaredy pony again! He can’t help being scared when meeting new ponies and creatures! Cold Wind and the other children treated him like trash before he met me and saw I would never treat the way he was once treated! He’s a young colt, Discord! A colt who has had a hard life and only wanted a family that loves him, like we do!” Fluttershy let out an annoyed sigh. “I don’t know why I even bother arguing with you. You’re just gonna continue saying horrible stuff about him just so you can have me back. But guess what? You’re not going to get my friendship back, or have us agree that your plan for Twilight and Oliver was a good plan. You wanna know why? Because you like doing things that’s done in your own way and you don’t learn anything when you know what you did was wrong! And I’m not going to abandon my son! He’s going to be in my family, and that’s final! Now GET, OUT OF MY SIGHT!” “But…but, Fluttershy…” “GET! OUT! OF MY SIGHT! NOW!!!” With nothing more to say as he was now shaking more in fear, Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light. Fluttershy breathed slowly after that outburst as Applejack walked over to her friend. “You alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “Yeah,” answered Fluttershy calmly, “I’ll be fine.” “Are you sure? He did made you pretty angry from he said to you about the little fella.” “I did what any mother would do. He needs to learn that I chose to be Lightning’s new mother and he wanted me to be his new mother. Not everything is about him, what he thinks or what he wants.” Applejack was going to say something, but decided not as she was afraid it might make things worse and might make Fluttershy even more angry than she was during her talk with Discord. During dinner, everything was quiet as a mouse as everyone was eating pasta with salad and tomato soup as well as Jacob’s homemade beast bakery bread for dessert. Well not Discord since Dumbledore told him that he won’t be getting any dessert after his behaviour. While eating her soup, Fluttershy suddenly noticed that Lightning was being all quiet as he ate his beast bakery bread. He didn’t even say a word before he began eating his dinner. She was starting to feel worried that Discord’s words are getting to him or the nightmares are hurting him badly that he’s unable to talk about them, even to his friends and girlfriend. Even though she was trying to not to worry so much, but she wished Ember was here to help out since she knows how to handle Discord when she was with them during Sora’s first time in Equestria. Capper quickly noticed this and gently rubbed his wife’s shoulder in comfort. Later on, Silverstream took Lightning to have a bath which she climbs into the bath with him, lays down on her back and gently rests Lightning’s head on her fur chest as she gives him a nice warm wash. She carefully rubbed shampoo on his mane before washing it off with water. Once Lightning’s mane was washed, Silverstream gently held onto the colt as she carefully climbed out of the bathtub. Since the bathtub was from the wizarding world, the water disappeared. The pink hippogriff grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Lightning to dry him off. With Lightning wrapped in the towel, Silverstream held him in her talon arm and carried him back to the bedroom where the rest of their friends were waiting. Silverstream sat next to Smolder and gently sat Lightning between her two legs as he rested his head on her fur chest again with her gently wrapping a talon arm round him while the towel was still wrapped around him. “How was the bath, Braveheart?” Smolder asked. “It was okay,” answered Lightning quietly but loud enough for his girlfriend to hear. The young six knew Lightning was still feeling himself ever since Discord made him upset and slapped him across the face. There was something up with him. “Lightning, is what Discord said bothering you?” Ocellus asked, “You can tell us.” “Yeah, kid, we won’t judge you,” said Gallus kindly. “No, i-it’s not that.” “Little pony worried about nightmares?” Yona asked not trying to make him feel more sad or worried. Lightning slowly nodded in response while his head was still on Silverstream’s chest. “Oh cutie,” said Silverstream as she gently pulled the colt close to her for a warm comfort hug. “It’s okay, Braveheart,” said Smolder softly, “We’ll soon at the Tree of Life, and then those nightmares will leave you alone before the next bad guy tries to stop us.” “I know. But what if I start having bad dreams of events that happened before I met you guys?” “Like what, exactly?” Asked Sandbar. “Like, what if you guys failed to stop Cozy Glow and you, and Auntie Starlight, disappeared with the magic and Cozy succeed and becomes empress?” “Why would you have a nightmare about that?” Gallus asked. “Because,” began Lightning, “If that happened, I wouldn’t meet you or Momma, and might become Cozy Glow’s empire in someway since she would have Vanitas’s heart in her.” “That’s true,” said Yona. “Or what if I have a bad dream of becoming the Storm Pony and hurting all of you?” “You mean like The Storm King found you after running away and before attacking Canterlot?” Asked Smolder. “Or got you to be on his side during his return from stone?” Added Silverstream. Lightning slowly nodded his head instead of speaking. “Braveheart, none of that happened,” said Smolder softly while gently placing her claws on his shoulders, “We’re all still here, and the magic is still here. And you’ll never become The Storm Pony. Not then, not now, not never.” “And you’re not like The Storm King or what Cozy Glow say you are,” said Silverstream, “You’re one of us.” “And nothing is gonna change that,” added Ocellus. “Little pony be Yona’s friend forever,” Yona said. Suddenly, for the first night ever, a small smile slowly appeared on Lightning’s face. He now knew he have such great friends and will always be with him no matter what happens next. Just then, a claw with a glass of chocolate milk appeared next the colt. “Here,” said a female voice, “You need this.” Lightning and his friends looked up and saw it was Cosmos offering him the chocolate milk while smiling friendly to them. Lightning decided to was just to take the drink instead of declining it since he was once taught to trust those that may from the same creature species but don’t act like the other creatures. “T-Thanks,” said Lightning while taking the glass. “You’re welcome,” replied Cosmos before looking away so she can hide her sad look. “Hey, are you okay?” Ocellus asked noticing the sad look on Cosmos’s face. Cosmos sighed sadly before turning back to the young seven. “No, not really. I just…wasn’t really expecting him to actually accept the chocolate milk from me, especially of what I am.” “What’d you mean?” Sandbar asked in confusion. “Well, you see, unlike Discord…I don’t like using my chaos a lot.” “You don’t? But why?” Smolder asked. “Because, well,” began Cosmos, “I just…don’t want to hurt anyone, especially children. You all look so innocent, and have done nothing wrong to make us look like the bad guys. And Discord was the only one the fell for that lie a long time ago when he first created chaos in Equestria.” She then started explaining how she and Discord was made, how she refused to help Discord bring chaos in Equestria and how she was banished by the real Grogar. The children were in shock after hearing Cosmos’s story. “So you’re not really a bad guy,” said Lightning before finishing his chocolate milk as the empty glass magically turned into a beautiful butterfly. The butterfly flew away making the colt giggle a bit. “Yes,” replied Cosmos, “I just find it wrong to go use my magic against those that did nothing wrong to me, even before they get to know or meet me.” “Well, if you don’t mind me asking,” said Gallus, “If you’re nothing like Discord, how come you haven’t gone near Lightning during the journey?” “Because I didn’t want to scare him or make him think I’m going to treat him like he does when he doesn’t deserve to be treated like a nothing,” answered Cosmos, “After hearing what Cold Wind did to him and what happened to his real mother, I can’t help but feel sorry for him. He deserves a better life. I’m better off leaving him be than making things worse for him.” “Well, I don’t really think you would do that to me,” said Lightning. Cosmos looked at Lightning in surprise after hearing him say that. “You…you don’t?” “No,” said the colt politely, “I mean, you didn’t say stuff about me that upset me and you gave me chocolate milk. That shows that you’re a good guy. Plus, Momma told me about you a few minutes ago.” “She did?” Lightning nodded in response. “And after seeing you giving Lightning a drink and telling us everything about you, we don’t think you’re a bad guy either,” said Gallus with the other five nodding in agreement. “Huh. Guess I should have at least try meeting you all instead of just hiding away in case none of you trust me from the day I came.” “It’s okay,” said Ocellus, “We all make mistakes sometimes, even towards new friends.” “True,” said Smolder in agreement. Cosmos smiled after hearing the word friends. Even though she weren’t friends quite yet, but she felt like maybe it was time for her to actually make some as she had just shown she wasn’t anything like Discord. “Friends, I like that,” she said happily, “Plus I was already thinking about telling Fluttershy I would help protect you, Lightning. And I know we just got to know each other, I want to start being part of your friendship.” “Really? I’ve never had a Draconequus as a friend before,” said Lightning. Cosmos playfully, but in a friendly way, appeared next to Lightning and said, “Well today’s your lucky day, kiddo. Because the fun with me has just begun!” She flew up till she was floating in mid air, “So grab a seat and let our fun begin!” Cosmos snapped her fingers as music started to play. “Here I go!” Cosmos snapped her fingers and magically made lights go on and fireworks appear, but safely so it didn’t scare Lightning Twister. The young seven watched in amazed to how Cosmos uses her chaos magic. Twilight and Fluttershy were about to enter the bedroom to tell the children it’s bedtime until they saw them watching Cosmos while smiling. The two smiled and decided to let them watch as they stood by the entrance of the tent bedroom. Cosmos floated near Lightning and started singing, Well, Ali Baba, he had them 40 thieves Scheherazade had a thousand tales But, kiddo, you're in luck because up your hooves You got a brand of magic never fails You got some power in your corner now Heavy ammunition in your camp You got some punch, pizazz, yahoo, and how? All you gotta do is call my name And then I'll say "Lightning Twister What will your pleasure be? Let me take your order, I'll jot it down" You ain't never had a friend like me Life is your restaurant And I'm your maitre d' Come, whisper to me whatever it is you want You ain't never had a friend like me We pride ourselves on service You the boss, the master, the pony! Say what you wish, it's yours! True dish How about a little more apples? Have some of column A Try all of column B I'm in the mood to help you, kid You ain't never had a friend like me Oh! Uh! It's the big part, watch out It's the big part, oh Can your friends do this? Cosmos twisted her body round before twisted her body back to normal. Can your friends do that? Cosmos made a bowl of nachos appear next to Sandbar and Yona. Can your friends pull this? Cosmos pulled a gem from behind Smolder’s antlers which made her smile as she stared at the yummy gem. Out their little hat? Cosmos tossed the gem up and fell into Smolder’s mouth to which she ate. Can your friends go? Cosmos flew around the young seven like a friendly snake. I'm the Cosmos of the lamp I can sing, rap, dance, if you give me a chance, oh! Don't sit there buggy-eyed I'm here to answer all your midday prayers You got me bona fide, certified You got a friend for your charge d'affaires I got a powerful urge to help you out So what's your wish? I really wanna know You got a list that's three miles long, no doubt All you gotta do is call like so Lightning Twister One wish or two or three Well, I'm on the job, you big cutie pie You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend, you ain't Never had a friend, never had a friend You ain't never (never!) Had a (had a) Friend (friend) Like (like) Me You ain't never had a friend like me Once the song was done, Cosmos sat down while smiling proudly at the young seven as she waited for their applause. “Bravo!” Sandbar shouted while clapping his hooves with the others clapping their hooves and claws as well, “Bravo!” “Wooo! Your performance! Bravo!” Shouted Gallus while still clapping his claws. The others stopped clapping and shockingly looked at the griffon as they’ve never seen him act like this amaze before. Gallus slowly stopped clapping and looked at his friends. “What? It was a great performance. Can’t act like I didn’t it.” “Why thank you,” said Cosmos while bowing, “Thank you very much. Glad you all enjoyed that.” “We enjoyed it too,” said Twilight’s voice. The young seven and Cosmos turned and saw Twilight and Fluttershy walking into the bedroom. “Twilight! Fluttershy! How much of that did you see?” “The whole thing,” answered Fluttershy, “We were about to tell the children it was time for bed until we saw you putting on a show for them, and we just couldn’t come in and stop the whole performance.” “Yeah, and like Gallus said,” said Twilight, “It was a great performance.” Cosmos blushed while smiling. “Well, come on, children,” said Fluttershy softly, “It’s time for bed.” “Okay, Professor Fluttershy,” said the young six. Lightning walked towards Fluttershy and hugged her as she hugged him back. “Goodnight, Momma. Love you.” “Goodnight, sweetheart. Love you too.” Fluttershy kissed her son on the forehead before Twilight gave him a kiss on the forehead too. Lightning broke the hug and followed Smolder and Silverstream to their bed. Silverstream got in first as Lightning climbed in. Smolder climbed in last and gently wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. Silverstream gently wrapped her talon arms around the two as she started to softly sing her lullaby to the colt with him resting his head on her chest fur and snuggling into it. Twilight, Fluttershy and Cosmos quietly made their way out of the bedroom, it’s not time for the adults to go to bed just yet, as Fluttershy smiled at Cosmos. “Thanks for doing that for him, Cosmos,” said Fluttershy. “No problem, Fluttershy,” said Cosmos happily, “After all, you did tell me how much he’s done through, including the nightmares he’s having. So I figured putting on a friendly show would help cheer him up a bit.” “And it worked,” said Twilight while smiling, “And not only that, but you also made some more friends. You should be proud.” “You know what, Twilight? I am,” Cosmos said with a proud smile, “I’m proud that I’ve made some more friends. I feel like my life’s getting better already.” Twilight and Fluttershy smiled at Cosmos before smiling at each other. They were glad the young seven accepted Cosmos as a good guy and not another bad Draconequus like Discord was before he became good but still do things that gets him into trouble.