Redos and Reckonings: Lost and Found
Chapter 2
“Alright, miss if you would just swallow that good and quick you’ll be right as rain.”
I eyed the sludge I was being given in a sippy cup warily.
“The longer it sits the worse it's gonna taste.”
I groaned and put the cup to my lips and chugged as hard and fast as I could. Past the second gulp I had to fight the urge to vomit it all back out but I finished the concoction best I could. A few tongue tied and sputtered soft curses, I refused to hard curse on purpose around them, later it was done and the taste chased down with some water.
Then I felt odd. Very odd. Like my fur was crawling all over me trying to clean itself. Without warning I shuddered and found myself shaking for a few seconds as my tongue deflated, fur brightened with a healthy sheen, and my mane relaxed back into whatever shape it had been in before I got belched on. THen i waited for the inevitable.
“Can you see now mam?” Applebloom said to me.
“No.” I said flatly, “Unless you count blob-o-vision as sight.”
“Well she still has her sass.” The once filly said to her family, “That’s a good sign right?”
“Depends,” Applejack chimed in, taking a few steps forward, “Care to explain what you were doing on my property little missy?”
For a moment I thought about spinning a tale, then I remembered what element of harmony I was talking to, “Okay look. It's gonna sound insane but it's like I was falling, for a long time, for how long I don't know. Time didn’t mean anything. There was light all around me, heck even within me, and then just suddenly… I saw something. Princess Celestia and a dragon made of oily shadows and they… oh crap is that something that’s gonna happen!? WE gotta warn em or something quick Applejack you know i’m not lying you gotta tell her quick before that happens! Before-”
“Woah woah woah, settle down zebra girl. I think this is a little outta my league but it sounds like y'all had so many zap apples ya had yourself a vision of the past.”
“The past?”
“Yeah, probably before your time with how young ya look, or at least how young I THINK you look. Applebloom was still in middle school when it happened. The night the King and Queen of shadow appeared and went to war with Equestria. WE almost lost it all if it wasn’t for Prince Solaris showing up out of the blue with his…. Nopony but himself I mean…”
She did the face scrunch thing, even with blob-o-vision I could make out that much.
“Anyway. The dragon was Ember’s father and well… I don't want to recall what we had to do to stop him.”
Ellana’s eyes went wide, “You didn’t…. Hurt him did you?”
Applejack sighed, “Well thanks to a lot of effort no but… he’s been put to stone in the palace for well… probably forever. It's the only way to stop the corruption. Put’em to sleep, a dreamless sleep… forever.”
“Wow, well. That doesn’t sound ideal but at least… at least nopony died.”
“Heh, yeah, at least that…”
Ellana could see the dour look on Applejack’s face grow. So she changed the subject. “So um… anywhere a zebra could get a nice pair of glasses?”
She could feel the warm smile even if she was only barely able to see it. THen suddenly somepony burst into the room.
“There you are hun!”
It was a golden colored blob with even brighter hair. It galloped over to her side in nearly an instant.
“I was so worried since you disappeared last night. Did you go off your meds again?”
“Meds?”
“Oh dear the memory lapses are already kicking in? Don’t worry we’ll get you home and right as rain in no time. Here I brought some of your things from home.”
“Look dude I’m not from here, I don't HAVE anything of mine, fresh off the bus as it was.”
“Oh Ellana you’ve been off them for a few DAYS haven’t you? You promised to not do that anymore. Don’t you remember your cupcake in the eye promise?”
There was a pang of guilt and doubt in my chest at the insinuation. Maybe I was just some amnesiac Zebra from town. “Hey look, maybe you could help me out Mister?”
“Honey… oh honey… it's uh… uh… Goldie! Your coltfriend Goldie Quartz.”
That threw my suspicion radar off the charts again.
He leaned in and hugged me even though I tried to shuffle away slightly, then he whispered in my ear, “look I’m sorry for this but I gotta get you an alibi or else everything is gonna fall apart. Do you understand me? So play along. I swear I’m a good guy.”
I whispered back, “Pinkie promise?”
He squeezed me a little tighter, “A dozen cupcakes in my eye.”
I sighed, “I’m gonna take a leap of faith here dude, Goldie, whatever, please don’t turn out to be a villain in disguise.”
“Don’t worry the villains are way more obvious about tha-”
Another pony burst into the room with a voice filled with rage and fire, “Where is my DAUGHTER!”
Goldie froze with his hooves locked around me.
“Oh wow you got someone to play my dad to?”
“N-no i didn’t have anypony to-” He turned, and i noticed that when he laid eyes on the dark black and red blob his stiffness turned to pure unadulterated terror.
“Oh uh, hey dad!” I played along, “Did you remember my glasses?”
“Glasses?” He quickly cleared his throat, “Surely they are at home, now come along before-”
“Before what you abusive old sod.” A haughty almost British voice boomed from the hallway.
While they all turned to look at the doorway again I rifled through the saddlebags that Goldie shoved into my lap and found what felt to be glasses. How I was able to grab them so naturally I didn't know but it just felt natural to have odd magnetic hooves from time to time. I put them over my face and just said.
“Oh sweet Celestia finally!” The world finally coming into focus.
The mare, white with a bright pink mane at the door froze when I said those words. I wasn’t sure who it was but I had a feeling I knew where it was going.
“Hey mom!”
Her frozen stance eased, “Yes… honey. How about you come home with me and we’ll get you all sorted out.”
“No she’s coming home with me you old manipulative B-... bothersome mare!” The black and red unicorn with well slicked and oiled mane and tail said. He was wearing a suit of great refinement with an over-cape covering him from shoulder to flank and stood a good half a head taller than anypony else in the room… and did he have fangs?
“Oh so you can just strong hoof her into doing what you want again!?” The mare was wearing far less regal clothes, but was also a unicorn. Just a neckerchief and a skirt, yet wore some pink horn rimmed glasses as well.
Pieces were starting to fall together in my head. I was going to have to take a chance or two, but it felt like this was about to turn into some kind of god battle in the middle of Ponyville if I didn't intervene.
“Dad, mom. That’s enough.” I adjusted my square line silver glasses, “I’m not going home with either of you. Goldie here is perfectly capable of taking care of me especially after how the two of you have been treating me and each other all these years.”
“I am?” Goldie said as four very intimidating eyes glared at him, “Oh uh, uh, I am!”
“If you really want me to come home for a visit… and get what you want… what you really, REALLY, WANT! You’re gonna have to earn it. Ya feel me?”
“I would WISH for nothing more my dear.” The black and red one said.
“OH and what a SELFISH WISH that would be!” The one I suspected was Celestia said.
“Like you’re controlling, CONNIVING, LYING WISH WOULD KNOW WHAT A-” Nopony else noticed it but the windows and glass of water i had started to shake.
“ENOUGH!!!” My voice boomed with an otherworldly power that I didn't even register at the time. I turned toward the mortals in the room, “Sorry guys, family meeting, would you mind?”
“Not at all,” the trio said at once, the doctor included. As everypony save Goldie, black and red pony, and suspect Celestia left the room.
“Alright,” I said, stern and rather angry, “I’m lost, dazed, confused, and god D&$^IT I need an explanation or five. So i don't know what the F&#^ is going on but i want answers right now or i’m gonna snap my fingers even if they don’t exist and just END THIS WHOLE DEBACLE HERE AND NOW!” That time I actually felt reality quake a little, but I tried to not let it go to my head… completely.
“Celestia,” The pink and white mare said in a thick British tone. “Call me Tooth Seer, I’m a dentist.” She lifted her skirt and showed off a tooth under a magnifying lens cutie mark.
I glared at the other god in the room, and he glared back, so all i did was stand up and get off the bed and make steps towards him until i was right in his face and i demanded, “name… TRUE NAME or i’m going home with her RIGHT NOW!”
His lip quivered to pull back and reveal a sharp fang for a moment as he growled, “Sombra… KING Sombra.”
“Got a good cover name oh KING?”
He stopped for a minute, as if he never expected his plan to go awry, “U-umbral-”
Celestia chimed in, “Based on that half assed cutie mark you have I would say you’d make a good Lawdly Diamond.”
I checked his cutie mark, it was a diamond with a gavel hammering on it. So I chimed in, “That's Lord Lawdly Diamond.”
Somba looked at me oddly, as if he didn’t expect me to stick up for him like that.
“Alright, so obviously you two want something pretty bad if you pulled me out of the void to give you whatever the f&$^ it is you want. So please somepony tell me your wishes so i can judge em fairly.”
Celestia spoke first once more, “I want to rid the world of darkness and shadow, let it become a land of light and hope. Ruled over with benevolence for all eternity.”
I nodded, “Okay okay, not bad. What about you Sombra? Hey, HEY, no snapping back, this isn’t the time for it!”
He held back his forked tongue and spoke plainly, “Freedom.”
“From?” I chimed in.
“From everything. From restraint. From demands. From contracts and obligations. I want the shackles on everypony and everything GONE! Especially from lying manipulative harlets like HER!”
“Oh you’re one to talk about control!”
“Shall we put this matter to bed right now then?”
They’re eyes started to glow. They were about to go god mode, I could feel it. So I instinctively flicked my right wrist and heard a loud SNAP bang out of the air in front of me. The two gods wincing like someone just slapped them, HARD.
“God mode off.” I said plainly.
They looked at me, then each other, then they strained and grunted and flexed and nothing happened.
“Look, if you’re going to put lives in danger with this spat of yours I'm leaving. If you really wanna earn my trust you gotta do it THE RIGHT WAY. the HARD WAY. Which means…. Being good parents. Show me you have that good parental love in you and tell you what I'll grant that wish… but it’s going to take time. Maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe a month, maybe a DECADE. But if you REALLY, TRULY, want your war to end you gotta do it MY WAY or you can just have this spat till the end of time and nobody is going to be happy.”
The two of them looked at me, then each other again, and finally harrumphed and turned up their noses at each other.
“How do you expect me to impress you without my powers?”
“For once he speaks intelligently.”
I groaned, “You know what, fine. Two wishes for each of you, SMALL WISHES. The first is two advisors for each of you, and it can’t be your counterparts. No Solaris, no… whoever you have Sombra. Somepony has to run your empires while you're doing this. Second, you get a home here in ponyville. Whatever lifestyle you want. Just don’t make it too grand. I only got so much power with this botch job of a summoning somepony pulled off.” Did I really know how much power I had? No. But I had to sell it or else they might try something desperate.
Celestia spoke first, “My sister Luna, and current captain of the guard Bully Bravado. I wish to live a humble but sustainable life as a dentist here in ponyville.”
“Granted.” When I said the word I felt strange, like something was being pulled out of me. It made me woozy, and nauseous, but I was able to hold onto my brave face yet I had to sit down. “And you King Sombra?”
The use of his title made him smile, “Unlike some ponies I relish a lavish lifestyle. I wish to be a noble, a JUDGE. Richly deserving of an even richer home. I shall never want for anything, and as for my advisors… My head consort Shady Quartz and my spymaster Zippy Feathers.”
“G-granted.” I said as I held back a wretchful sputter. THis time even more of my essence flowing out of me as I felt reality shifting and changing. I was teetering and they caught it. So I had to play up another lie, “I swear if I ever find out who summoned me so poorly I am going to FLAY THEM ALIVE! To grant your wish it's going to take time, A LOT OF TIME for me to build up enough power to grant it. SO until I KNOW I can grant it, you will PROVE TO ME that you are worthy of it. Now go. I want a week to acclimatize to this silly world. If you really need me you go through Goldie here. You breach that trust and I'm gone and you can STAY MORTALS FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS.” The two of them seemed to sweat at that threat, good, “he’s the only one I trust in this whole affair because I didn't have to call him out on his s&#t for him to give me some hope that I wasn't going to be used for malevolent desires.”
The two of them opened their mouths but I cut them off.
“I SAID GO!” The power that erupted from my voice so much that it pushed them back several feet without knocking them on their ass.
Thankfully they looked at one another and then left, but I heard them arguing in the hallway the moment they crossed the doorway.
I sighed, deeply, and turned to Goldie, “I wanna know your true name and form, but get me a bucket I’m gonna, URF, g-gonna-” My cheeks bloated as a bucket was hovered over to me and I barfed straight into it, hard and heavy. At least twice, I forget how long that particular episode went on.
“Dusk.” I looked up at him as his form grew a purple sheen and a familiar looking short mane and tail. “Dusk Shine, from the sixty third mirror of Equestria. It's where Solaris and the rest of us all came from. Those of us who hide in plain sight in the shadow war.”
I laughed slightly, “Sounds epic. I wanna hear the whole thing sometime. I really hope you have a place for me to stay. I feel kinda spent… and really dang hungry.”
“Well yeah after puking up half your soul like that i can understand.”
“Is that what I did?”
“You mean… you didn’t know what you did just now.”
I smiled meekly, “Not a single damn clue what I did, that was all by ear.”
Dusk stared at me for a moment before he returned to his golden form and sighed, “I don’t know if I'm impressed or concerned.”
“Why not both?” I said with a flick of my wrist. No epic snap that time, “now come on, I always wanted to try a hayburger.”
END OF CHAPTER 2