//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Crystal Dreams // Story: Eldritch Designs // by MaeceusMan //------------------------------// "Pumpkin Cake? Pumpkin Cake?! Are you alright? Oh sweet Celestia, you turned it on all the way! It's me Pumpkin Cake, it's Apple Bloom, can you hear me? Pip, stay back! I don't know what that green light surrounding her is, but I doubt it's safe!" What is that noise? Why would anypony be talking instead of beholding these wonders? "Stay back? Are you crazy? We have to help her! And what is that thing?!" It is the Voiceless, and oh how they sing! "It's Pumpkin Cake's invention, her attempt to create magic based machinery, like the lost crystal wonders of the Ancient Deerish Peoples!" The Arassë were not the first to wield this power, though they were the last. And they lost that right when greed and war made them covet these gifts and use them to break the world. "Well what can we do, Apple Bloom? Can you turn it off? Do I need to send in the military to destroy this thing? Or a couple of shots from that new device you developed might do the trick!" You could not harm us if you tried. Be patient and we will be done with her soon. She is in no danger from us. "Near Pumpkin Cake and with this much energy being used? I wouldn't dare to risk it. And hold on would you?! I just need to find the, aha, found it! Pumpkin and I found that black gems draw power from other gems, so if I just hold this up to the input crystal, it should... Yes, see! The device is powering down! A clever move, but merely a delay. We will return. Wait for us, selde, and we will finish our lessons soon. Pumpkin Cake was sitting on the floor of the workshop, but the voices were gone. What? Where did they go? They were explaining it all, I was finally beginning to understand! My head is empty! So empty! This can't be! The loss was so great, it was all she could do to scream, until blackness overcame her at last. • I told you we would not be long, selde. We draw what power we now need from the aether; no void stone will silence us now. Behold. Pumpkin Cake had been lost in the darkness of unconsciousness since the voices had stopped speaking to her, but at their word, the endless nothing around her became a field of grass and flowers. The gently sloping green hills went off as far as she could see, as she stood on a hilltop amid lilacs and lilies. The sky overhead was a glorious blue as clouds moved on a gentle breeze that lightly tossed her copper mane. She bent over to sniff a particularly beautiful, unfamiliar violet-colored flower when she froze. Clouds did not move on their own in the sky. "Where am I?" she asked aloud, suddenly nervous despite the beauty of the land around her. It certainly isn't the Everfree forest. "Hello?" She tried again, louder. "HELLO?!" As strange as it had been at first, to have voices speak to her from inside her own head, they had certainly been a comfort. She took a deep breath to try again, louder still this time, when suddenly she heard them speak in her mind again. You must be patient. We have not done a great deal in the last few millennia, and we are still getting used to finding your mind in the sea of dreams. By the time we are done with what we must do today, we will be able to reach you with greater ease. Pumpkin Cake nodded, then realized that voices in her head might not catch a nod, so she said aloud, "Okay, I understand. Now please tell me, who, or what, are you, and where am I?" This time the voices in her head came much more quickly, an echoing collection of voices, all speaking as one. This is the land of Equestria, in the time before the Arassë- or Deerfolk if you prefer - forever changed the face of this world with their wars. As for who we are, we ask of you patience; our tale today will tell you what you need to know. She could scarcely believe it. That meant she was feeling grass beneath her hooves and smelling flowers in the air from thousands of years ago! In fact, it was believed that even Discord had not yet grabbed control of the world by the time the War of the Deer had ended, and he was believed to have ruled for eons! True, the lack of either unscrambled written words or a consistent day/night cycle during that time period hadn't helped things, but even so! On top of all that, the few deer who had spoken with ponykind regarding their war had suggested that it had lasted for over a thousand years as well! (Of course, the deer were a very long-lived race as it was, so that time span was not as impressive to them.) She stood there and worked through the math. Finally she came to a number, and gasped. The field she now stood in could be from ten to over twenty thousand years ago! Slightly breathless with the shock of that realization, she asked, "Why are you showing this to me?" Because you must see what was lost, came the reply, echoing through her mind. You are the first living being to communicate with us in so long. We have been abused, and hence, slow to trust you fírima. But in doing so, we forget our cáma, our duty to all life. So listen, and know. As they said the last, the landscape shifted under her hooves, and she found the world become a blur around her. Finally, she found herself approach a tree. At first, she thought she was slowing as she approached, but after a few moments she came to realize, it only looked like she was slowing because of the size of it. That tree was actually larger than a mountain! This is the World Tree, Capital City of Cervidas, and central hub headquarters of the six ancient masters. The blur of the world slowed to a stop, and Pumpkin Cake found herself standing besides six creatures sitting around a round table that seemed to grow from a root of the massive tree, as it towered so far above her as to disappear from sight into the clouds. They were the masters, the ambassadors and rulers of the six most powerful species in the world. They were also among the wisest and most powerful fírima of their time. Pumpkin Cake barely heard the voices, the six beings before her were just too amazing. She saw a young Dragon, his scales were a brilliant gold, and they gleamed in the soft light like a million radiant jewels. He was sitting on a pile of books, reading a scroll. To Pumpkin Cake, he looked to be no older than a baby, but his eyes held a depth and hardness that spoke of unimaginable age. She saw a Griffon, sleek and graceful, her feathers of a black so deep it seemed like they should contain stars; she was looking through an eyepiece at what appeared to be a highly miniaturized version of one of Apple Bloom's new inventions: a mass of cables emitting occasional sparks. She saw a Buffalo the size of Pumpkin Cake's bedroom. He had mahogany fur, and his curved horns were engraved in glowing, purple runes. He was speaking with a Zebra whose face seemed frozen in a mischievous smile. The Zebra's mane was braided in an intricate pattern, and it had small dolls and figures interweaving the various knots. They almost seemed to be dancing in place as the Zebra laughed. She saw an Elk, standing proud and majestic, draped in a robe that seemed to be made of live vines. He seemed to be amusing himself by casting a spell that was growing flowers from the vines. This was attracting a large cloud of butterflies, who playfully danced around him. And finally, she saw an Alicorn, her coat a creamy white, her mane and tail a flowing blend of red and orange so intense it almost seemed to catch fire as she moved. She had her wings folded neatly at her sides, and was writing in an ornate book sat in front of herself on the table. She seemed deep in concentration. "An Alicorn?" Pumpkin asked in surprise. "So does that mean that ponies were a council race?" In a way, selde. Came the hesitant reply. The Alcorin, the voices said with particular emphasis, have fallen far from their lofty heights. As you are now, your kind would not have become a council race. But there is great potential in your blood. Perhaps one day you will find that which you lost. Before she could ask what the difference between an Alicorn and an Alcorin was, the scene suddenly rippled and shifted. Now the six creatures were arguing, and the bark of the World Tree seemed darker and more weathered. It appeared that a great deal of time had passed. The creatures, more haggard. A glowing image was floating over the center of the table, flickering slightly, its edges slightly faded. It was of a creature that looked much like the Elk, but this one was stockier and with much larger horns. There seemed to be a certain fierceness to the creature's gaze that Pumpkin Cake didn't like. And she certainly didn't like the looks of worry in the faces of the council members as they stared at the apparition. There was no room for a seventh species in the council, but the Arassë, those you call the Deer, had risen to the level where each of the six species had been at when they were allowed entry. These Arassë were now requesting entry as the seventh council species. This led to a conflict among the six masters, as some among the council felt that the Arassë should be allowed full entry, while the rest felt that the reason for why there were only six species on the council was too important, and that other species of sufficient development would also demand entry if even one exception was made. And so, while the council debated solutions... The scene around Pumpkin Cake suddenly slid away, until moments later, even the massive tree vanished, a dot over the horizon, rapidly replaced by a dim forest glade, lit by silver lights hanging from low hanging tree branches. ...a group of ambitious Arassë scientists decided not to wait for the council to make their decision, and proceeded in secret to continue research into the crystals, and how to use them. Pumpkin Cake slid to a stop in a wide open clearing in the forest. The silver light cast a dim glow over a small cluster of Deer, standing around a sparkling array of jewels, some of which were being cut or shaped, while others were being charged with magic from the Deer's horns. Pumpkin recognized the kinds of experiments they were performing. They were much like her own early tinkering with crystals, although these Deer didn't seem to have attempted to connect them into complex devices yet, and they seemed nervous; every few moments one of them would glance towards the sky despite the presence of the thick canopy of trees, or one of them would jump at the sight of their own shadow. It didn't take long, however, for their experiments to become more bold, and unbeknownst to the Arassë, more dangerous. The scene proceeded to speed up, and the Deer became a blur of motion, with the crystals forming into first small, and then larger and larger contraptions. Pumpkin Cake thought she saw a couple explosions, but the scene was simply moving too quickly for her to be sure. Finally, the Deer slowed down, and suddenly she could hear them as well as see what they were doing. The small group of scientists was now much smaller, as there only seemed to be two of them still wearing lab coats. The rest of the clearing was filled with Deer dressed in what could only be described as military garb; they stood stiffly in rows, wearing tight fitting uniforms of matching greens and browns, and several had hoof weapons strapped to forelegs. The Deer at the head of the military procession was speaking to the older of the two scientists, and it was apparent there was an argument taking place, though Pumpkin Cake did not understand the flowing, accented language. The scientists had discovered some uses for these crystals, including flight, explosives, and even magic neutralizing fields. Their military was engaged in combat at the time with another subspecies of Arassë. They had heard about these advances and decided to take them for use in combat. Pumpkin Cake noticed that several military Deer were hauling most of the devices away, and the second of the two scientists was yelling at them, clearly quite angry that this was going on. It didn't seem to matter though, soon enough, only the large contraption in the center of the stage was left, and that was only because it was apparently too large to easily move. Suddenly, the forest floor slid away under Pumpkin Cake's hooves, and she found herself standing back on the hillside where she had first appeared. Only this time it was a warzone. Two massive armies of Deer were engaged in combat. Some were fighting with hoof blades, others with spells, and others with long metal tubes which seemed to punch deadly holes through whomever they were pointed at. The military did not take long to begin replicating the technology the scientists had created. Sure enough, Pumpkin Cake noticed that several of the Deer were now wearing complex suits covered in crystals, and were slowly floating over the battlefield, picking off targets on the ground with more of those metal tubes. Unfortunately for them, the other side had also been researching crystal technology in secret, and theirs had been a military set-up from the beginning. A single Deer in the middle of the battlefield suddenly began to glow with a blinding, blue light, and within moments, half the battlefield was glowing blue with lights. It quickly became almost impossible to see anything. Pumpkin Cake had to admit the brilliant simplicity of their strategy. With one side now blinded, they did indeed become quite vulnerable. The battle was soon over, as the blinded soldiers were either cut down or forced to retreat. She watched as one of the victorious soldiers removed a crystal harness from one of the fallen enemy fliers. His smile sent chills through Pumpkin Cake. The scene began to speed up again, and Pumpkin could see more and more devastating attacks were being unleashed by both sides in later battles. The voices continued. The conflict escalated rapidly after that first battle. Soon, blinding lights and hovering snipers were replaced by bombs, were replaced by spell enhanced bullets, were replaced by airships. On and on this went, until suddenly, Pumpkin Cake was whisked off the ground, and found herself flying higher and higher into the air, as the world fell away beneath her hooves. Before long, the blue sky had dimmed to an inky black, and the land below curved into a blue and green sphere that stretched on for farther than she could believe. The vertigo was intense, but quickly forgotten as Pumpkin Cake began to compare areas she could see to a map she remembered studying back in school as a filly. She could see Mount Canter, which looked strangely empty without any of the cities or castles dotting its surface. She could see the lands around modern Equestria, including Germaneigh, Prance, The Griffin Republic, Gildedale, and Yakyakistan. She could see as far as Boardor to the southwest and even to the Realm of the Eternal Dragon far to the southeast near Zebrica. Pumpkin Cake looked over her shoulder, half expecting to almost be sitting on the moon's surface, only to realize that the moon was actually farther away than she remembered it being from the ground. And strangely enough, it had only a crescent shaped sliver glowing, rather than the usual glowing round disk it had always been as far as she knew. The rest of the moon's surface was almost too dim to see. The voices continued, and Pumpkin couldn't tell if it was sadness or anger she heard in them as they spoke. Until this point, the council had left the deer to its self destructive war. The deer were beyond listening to reason, and as they were still only a near-ascended race, the council's non interference laws held them back from having any direct influence in that species affairs. And that, sadly, was the undoing of everything. For a moment, Pumpkin Cake wasn't sure what she was looking at. The sweeping curve of the planet seemed to begin vibrating, in a slow and melodic pulse, emanating from the forest she had risen from, and blasting clouds from the sky in waves. She wished she could see what was happening more clearly, and in apparent response to the wish, she felt knowledge about a spell enter her mind. Quickly casting it below herself, Pumpkin Cake found she could now bend light held by her magic, creating what was in effect a parabolic lense before her eyes. She zoomed in towards the ground, and saw with alarm that the pulses seemed to be explosions. The entire forest and the surrounding countryside was being carpeted by them. Each one released a pulse of energy, and wave of destruction. She was relieved after a minute to see it stop, but not to see its after effects. All that remained of the once giant forest was smoking ruin. Nothing seemed to remain of the area but ash and dead earth. The voices chimed in, and Pumpkin felt herself gain knowledge again, and cast a new spell that allowed her to hear what she was seeing as well. The barren, dead earth was awash in fire. The voices focused the spell to a specific area that Pumpkin Cake noticed was different. The fires there were quickly dying, and a faint glow of warm light filled the space. A shimmer in the air appeared, and from it, Pumpkin Cake recognized the forms of the six masters appear, teleporting in a way that Pumpkin was unfamiliar with. The Elk was the first to speak, his soft voice filled with a heartbreaking sadness as he spoke, the words translated for Pumpkin by the voices. "You see, Muneris? I told you this would happen! Now look at this! They are attacking my plants! My trees! My ANIMAL FRIENDS!" He turned in place to face the black Griffin, the snarl on the Elk's face apparent, even from Pumpkin's lofty vantage point. The Griffin sighted as she replied, her own voice a stiff, clipped tone that spoke of no nonsense being tolerated. She was filing her claws in a decidedly nonchalant manner as she answered, clearly this wasn't the first time they had had this discussion. "Fael Seron, please. You know as well as I that this land is sovereign to this lowly species. It is no business of ours what they do with it, or anything on it that might be used by them as a natural resource allocated for their own species uses. Article 19.4562B clearly states that...." "I don't give a flying lemur about your thrice blasted articles, Mune! This is about..." This time the elk was interrupted by the small golden dragon stepping between them, his tiny stature seemingly irrelevant, his deep and powerful voice seemed to vibrate bone as he said calmly, "Enough." The two recoiled as though slapped, and both bowed slightly, muttering, "Yes, Ataeru Nohi-san. Sorry sir." He sighed and walked away from them, looking at the destruction around them. Without turning back, he said, "Iye Chetu? Imu Amu?" Without a word, the Buffalo and the Zebra approached him, and the buffalo said, his voice high and breathy, "We can restore this land, Ataeru. But Muneris is right. We aren't supposed to interfere." "And what then?" The zebra replied, her heavy accent apparent, even in a language that Pumpkin Cake didn't speak. "Do eyi git tou play wit daer bones? Doz de grin of dey skel-tons join mai carnival?" The last of the six voices cut in then, in a language that sounded slightly equestrian, which Pumpkin supposed wasn't surprising given it was the fiery Alicorn who spoke, her voice sweet, but with a sternness that reminded Pumpkin of a teacher, or perhaps a librarian, giving a lecture. "Imu Amu... stop being Mifupa ya Kicheko and kindly join us in assessing the risk of this situation?" The zebra turned to the Alicorn and grinned, replying in a voice that has almost no accent at all, "Oh come now Alawen, my Alcorin friend. Surely you can see that the deer's time is at an end?" "I... don't think so, Imu." The alicorn replied, ruffling her wings in agitation. I still sense that same power that sent us here. I don't think this is overrrrr..." Pumpkin Cake blinked in surprise. That last word had simply trailed off, as the six creatures all turned as one to look up to the northwest, before shimmering and quickly vanishing from the spot. Puzzled, Pumpkin zoomed her lense back out, and saw with shock what had drawn their attention. From a ways off, a deep red beam of magic was arching into the sky. Even at her great distance, Pumpkin could feel her horn began to ache from the amount of residual magic emanating from the thing. She watched in stunned horror as it rose up and up in the sky, and struck the moon square on. The voices spoke up then, as Pumpkin watched, dumbstruck. In response to the destruction of their capital city that you just witnessed, the White Tailed Deer decided to retaliate. But they did not launch their own destructive volley against the Red Tail's capital city as the Masters had expected. Instead they hit the moon. The moon was a holy symbol to the Red Tails at the time, and they used it in their rituals that aided their Farsight. The White's apparently decided that destroying it would do far more damage to their enemies that a direct assault on any city would do. Whether this was a truth they sensed or not, we do not know. In either case, by doing the unthinkable, they had effectively won the war. The Farsight was much more of a tactical advantage than truth sense had ever been, and even though both powers were greatly diminished by the loss of the moon, in the end it was the White's who would win. Pumpkin could barely hear the voices speak over the ringing in her ears. Before her eyes, with her front row seat in space, Pumpkin Cake watched the moon burn. Chunks of it began to rain down on the land below, and before long, massive craters dotted the planet's surface resulting from the myriad of impacts. The voices continued, the masters couldn't stop that attack in time. All they could do was try to save their own people. Pumpkin did see shimmering fields covering several large swaths of land, and those areas seemed to be taking substantially less damage than the other areas around them. The land boiled and burned. The oceans shifted and tidal waves crashed. And through it all the chunks of the moon fell. Soon, even the ground under her hooves fell still as the last of the world below seemed to crawl to a stop. All her life it had seemed natural to see the world so still, but now that she had seemed what caused it, it seemed... like the planet was broken. It felt unnatural. By the time it was over, the voices said, the world was forever changed. The foolish deer had broken the delicate system we had put into place. That was the day the sun and what could be pulled together of the rest of the moon stopped travelling on their own through the sky. That was the day the weather stopped. That was the day that almost set him free. "Uh, him?", she asked. The voices said nothing, and Pumpkin let the question slide. Clearly they weren't ready to talk about something just yet. As the world below her was repeatedly bombarded, Pumpkin Cake couldn't help but to think again of the land as it was in her time. She imagined that destruction training down on Equestria. And she thought about the war. Slowly, she came to a realization. Equestria was fighting a war, and yet they had previously known over 1000 years of peace. They hadn't known how to face enemies that would kill others, which was what Apple Bloom and Pumpkin Cake had been trying to help with. It twisted her guts to realize that she was leading Equestria towards repeating these same kind of mistakes. "You are telling me all this to stop me doing the same thing, aren't you?" Pumpkin Cake asked, feeling a horrible sense of guilt wash over her. "Well, I don't blame you. Destroy my research. Wipe my memory, and Apple Bloom's. Bury it all and I'll tell everypony it turned out to be a dead end. This can't happen again." We did consider this option at first. The voices said, sounding thoughtful. In fact, we came to the conclusion that the easiest solution was to just do this... Pumpkin Cake looked around in confusion, floating above the burning land below, and the burning sky above. Then, she fell. She screamed as she plummeted, and the ground quickly rose to meet her. She closed her eyes tight with fear and thought, if it saves Equestria from this again, I accept your decision. She flinched as she hit the ground, but otherwise felt fine. She opened her eyes and got easily to her hooves. There was no sign she had just hit the ground. The grass wasn't even flattened. She growled under her breath, and yelled in frustration, shaking. "REALLY? You have to torture me first?!" No. We were simply driving home our point. This is how strongly we feel, that we considered doing this. What mattered was your reaction. You accepted you're supposed fate in order to protect your home. Now we know where you stand. You will not be that scientist, helpless before the military, but unwilling to stop them. You will do what it takes. "You better believe it." She said, feeling certainty take root, despite her trembling limbs. "Now, what next?" Now, we tell you what became of us. How things came to be how they are now. As the voices in her head spoke, the scene of the meadow around her flickered and changed. Now, day and night both lit and dimmed the sky, the moon, a tattered remnant of what it had been before. The ground was now cracked, barren, and razed to ash where the grass and flowers had been, and the air was now heavy with an acrid smoke that hurt to breath. And everywhere there were deer in formed ranks as far off as she could see, thousands of them all garbed in intricate, elegant suits of armor. Each one was crafted so finely that the soldiers seemed garbed only in a tangle of living silver leaves, in entwined, encircling patterns, interwoven with crystals. They also wore dark silver hoof guards in the shape of vines so lifelike it seemed as though they grew up the soldier's legs. At their head besides Pumpkin Cake appeared a proud, majestic deer: a patriarchal figure whose mass of antlers was adorned with gems and crystals in a pattern so intricate that Pumpkin Cake could have only called it a crown. As he spoke, the voices in her head began to translate, his deep, booming words echoing off into the distance. "Aiya meldor!" As the deer lord spoke to the vast army, in her head, Pumpkin Cake heard the voices say 'Hail friends!' In reply, the entire army of thousands spoke as one, saying: "Quetheru linyenwa, hlar Arassë!" The voices in her head were now layering their own speech over the spoken words, and suddenly, with what felt like a shift in her subconscious, the Deerish words suddenly made sense. 'The Lord Speaks, and we, the deer, listen!' We have given you the old tongues, which will greatly ease our work. Please continue to listen, and to understand. With a start, Pumpkin Cake realized that as the deer lord continued to speak, his words were still flowing and accented to her ears, but she found that she could understand every word with ease. She continued to listen. "My brothers and sisters of the horn," the deer lord said solemnly. "I stand before you all today, not as your Lord of the Shining Armies, but as your countryman. I know you all tire of combat and long for the peaceful days of old as much as I, but I fear that day is not yet upon us." His voice was filled with regret for those last words, though it quickly grew harder as he continued. "Instead, I say that today marks a turning point in our war with the Red Tails. They would seek to end our very way of life. To oppress us like they have oppressed their own citizens. Be not mistaken my brethren, the Cervidae Council have not accepted us because we and the Red Tails are too different. And since an accord cannot be reached with those red scum, it has now come to this. Only one breed of Deer shall live out this war. And I don't know about any of you, but I plan for that breed to be the White Tails! After all, we are the moon slayers. We are clearly the superior race. Who's with me?" "Hooo Haahhh!" Came the thunderous chant of 10,000 soldiers. "That's what I like to hear! Now tell me this. Who of you is prepared to pay the cost for our survival?" He let that question hang in the air for a moment, then continued, his voice grew louder with each question, as the soldiers answering his thundering cries as one. "Would you have the Red's become enlightened, while we live in dim woods, fearing the timberwolves in the night?" "No!" "Would you see the might of our people fall?" "NO!" "Would you have your children huddle in fear around a fire, wondering from where they will find their next meal?" "NO!" By the last, the deer lord was pacing, excitement clearly visible on his face despite the silverleaf helmet enfolding it, the blood clearly pumping in the veins of all the troops before him. Taking one final deep breath, he proudly proclaimed: "Then join me, my brothers and sisters, and I swear to you all, that we will not be consumed by fear. No! Not Today! Today, we will be victorious! For the White Tails! For the Republic! At the last every soldier was cheering, the roar deafening as the deer lord turned and led the charge, his massive army of deer close behind. Pumpkin Cake jumped. The mass of deer was now charging toward the far side of the hill, down where the deer lord had led, which meant they were now barreling toward her current location with alarming speed. Instincts kicking in, Pumpkin Cake tried to gallop, only to find herself standing in place, unable to do so. Struggling desperately against her unseen bonds, she looked in fear as the army barreled down on her location, nearly upon her. Suddenly, from the depths of her mind, the voices spoke, saying: Be still selde, you are still not here in the flesh. They cannot touch you. A wave of confidence flooded through her mind, and she relaxed, though instinct still made her flinch as the first mass of charging deer overcame her, seeming to run her down. Yet sure enough, they flew right through her like she wasn't even there, continuing their long charge to the bottom of the hill, towards another large army which charged toward them from the other direction a few thousand hooves distant. Let us move ahead once more. The world around Pumpkin Cake shifted once again, the deer vanishing along with her, as she reappeared on a hilltop of sparse grass about a hundred hooves over from where she had witnessed that speech. The grass had grown back in the time since then, albeit nowhere nearly as lush as it had been the first time she had seen it. Rather than with flowers, the grass was now interspersed with weeds. Ahead of her and below she could see where the deer armies must have converged after that last battle; it was a clearing, now filled with a small crowd of deer, standing in a tight semicircle around a raised, wooden platform. As she approached the stage, weaving between the deer she decided she was not going to just walk through, she recognized the deer who had given that dramatic speech to the troops. He was standing on the stage, his age now showing on his face. He had gray tufts of fur around his ears, with a white goatee and long white mustaches hanging down his face. The creases in his wrinkles spoke of years of worry. He also seemed to have lost a leg in combat, for his back right leg was replaced with a pair of glowing crystals, one carved in the shape of a hoof as it rested on the floor, the other embedded in the back haunch of his armor. Pumpkin Cake could only assume the crystals were somehow magically connected, since they moved as one while he paced the stage, despite the lack of anything in between them. It was disconcerting to watch, but fascinating. The stage also held a younger-looking buck, though Pumpkin Cake had to assume that still put him on the order of a few hundred years old, if her memory served about the long lives of the Deerfolk. Although he wasn't what caught her interest the most. The main portion of the stage was filled with a crystal machine so large that Pumpkin Cake could not have begun to imagine its function. Its every surface seemed to be made of or filled with gems and crystals of every shade and shape imaginable. In its center was a large, circular rainbow-colored ring of a dozen crystals twinkling where they sat, each one as large as a full grown stallion, carved into a domelike shape, all centered on an open area about sixty hooves across. Before she could ask, the voices in her head answered her unspoken question. The last weapon the Arassë ever created was made by the ones you see before you. These are the scientists that built the weapon that broke the moon. But they were not done. This was their last creation, and this moment the end of both the White Tailed's Deerish Republic, and the Red Tailed's Dominion of the Light. Before Pumpkin Cake could begin to make sense of all that, the large elder deer lord on the stage spoke, his powerful voice as booming as it had been in his youth. "Brothers and Sisters of the Horn." As last time, he spoke with great authority, yet with a slight wheeze, as if he had inhaled too much smoke in his many years. "We stand here today at the sight of one of the greatest and bloodiest battles in our proud and ancient past. A battle I myself led, and the battle where I lost my leg. I would have gladly paid with my other limbs, and even laid down my own life with all those who fell here on that day, if it could have brought an end to this ceaseless conflict." Pumpkin Cake had to admire the old Deer, he really gave a good speech. He somehow managed to sound on the verge of tears while still inspiring awe. He continued. "Some of you have said that the age of the Deer is at an end. I have heard you say that the Red Tail and the White Tail can never again be at peace, that too many have died and the world has been too much changed. For the most part, I agree with you. I weary of this fight. We have forever changed the land. Mountains stand where once there were valleys. Entire cities now rest on the bottom of the ocean. Some say that the weather will never change again, and the planet itself no longer rotates in the heavens, nor do the cool winds blow." A couple of deer in the crowd started crying, while the vast majority held their stoic silence, as if desperately listening for a wind which no longer blew. After his own moment of silence, the elder deer went on. "But that brings me to why we are all here today, to this place, the sight of one of the worst defeats the white tail have ever suffered... And what will hopefully now become the sight of our final, greatest triumph. And it brings us to this, the greatest invention of one of our best and brightest young scientists. Baeneth, if you please?" He gestured at the last to the younger deer and his device before trotting off the stage to stand to the side. Baeneth stepped forward, eyeing the crowd warily, as if he were silently wondering if any present dared to question the greatness of the massive device behind him. Finally, he spoke, his voice crisp and brusque with an edge of great self-confidence. "Esteemed and honored guests," he said, bowing slightly to each side of the crowd. "I come to you today with what I predict will be marked in history as the end to this war, and with luck the end to all wars to come." A murmur ran through the crowd at the comment, quickly silenced as Baeneth continued. "When Elder Lord Alcion came to me many years ago, he told me that since the moon was struck - the 'crystal gifts' as he called them - of our people were no longer working like they once had. That more and more power was needed to use even the simplest of crystal-based attacks." Another murmur swept through the crowd at that, clearly a confirmation in their eyes of what had been only rumor before. Again, silence fell as Baeneth continued. "And so he told me, if this gift will soon run its course, we must do all we can to end the war with one decisive action. As such, I have labored in secret for the Republic, with an army of assistants and a near unlimited source of funding for these last few years. The device you see behind you is the culmination of that work. Over three years of labor, hundreds of gems farmed or found, the centerpieces of which took over five years of constant magic exposure to grow to the size needed to be useful. On top of all that, I have spent years researching our entire library of crystal weaponry knowledge day in and day out in order to create this: my greatest masterpiece." He paused again at the last, as if to emphasize the importance of the device with his eyes alone, as they stared intently at the gathered crowd. With a satisfied nod, he turned from the crowd and gestured to a group of eleven assistants standing by the edge of the stage, who immediately rushed to form a large circle around the machine, facing inwards. Baeneth stepped forward, completing the circle as he continued to speak. "As my research progressed, I came to realize that more raw power was not the solution. Eventually, I looked to the origin of our research, to the fragments of ancient relics we had collected from the greedy Cervidaen Council..." He paused at the last, said almost as a sneer, while several members of the crowd booed or hissed at the name, then continued. "... and suddenly I realized. The devices those species built had a central power source. An ancient and powerful source of magical energy that seems to perpetually fuel their massive empire with all the energy they could ever need. An energy source, that, with any luck, will in a few minutes be ours. With a nod to the others standing on the stage, he took a deep breath, and said, "Begin." Each of the twelve Deerish scientists moved as one, stepping towards their nearest colorful gem. Pumpkin watched with fascination, trying to discover anything at all about what this thing would do or how it would work. She wouldn't mind getting her own hooves on an unlimited supply of magical power if she could. But she couldn't help but worry. After all, the voices had called this a weapon that ended both races. And Baeneth hadn't sounded particularly altruistic about the six masters. She was beginning to have a really bad feeling about all of this. The scientists were working with straps and clamps and wires. They were apparently linking their own horns directly to the crystal devices, though whether that was for greater ease of control, to prevent dangerous feedback, or to increase the amount of power they could use, she really couldn't have said. With the last of the twelve deer strapped in place, Baeneth signalled for the procedure to continue. As one, each of the deer's horns began to glow brightly. "Team 1, go!" Baeneth called. A deer and the one opposite her in the circle activated their contraptions, and a tight ribbon of red light stretched between them across the center of the stage. "Team 2, go!" He called again. Baeneth himself and the deer opposite his device triggered their machines, an orange band snapping in place between them. Teams 3, 4, and 5 were soon to follow, and the stage was nearly awash in a strong and colorful series of colorful lights, which seemed to be forming a ball of shimmering light where they all intersected. "This is it!" Baenith called, sounding quite excited. "Team six, go!" With the triggering of the final devices, and the snap of a purple ribbon of light, the glowing blob of colorful light rippled, shifted, and an intense and mystical hum filled the air. The colorful light seemed to be spreading, and was soon radiating from around each of the massive machines. The deer appeared to be manipulating this, as various teams would increase or decrease their own light levels, and as they did so, the rainbow colored light pulled inwards, going closer and closer to the mass of light in the center, until... "Final lock engaged. Initiating final pull." With that, the light in the center tightened into a perfect sphere, and its color became an absolutely pure, white light. This white light quickly grew too bright for Pumpkin Cake to look at directly, and she was forced to shield her eyes. Soon, even that wasn't enough, the light grew so strong that even turned away from it and with her eyes closed and covered the light was so intense it hurt. She could hear cries of pain from some of the deer in the crowd, amid concerned murmurs and that still louder hum. And over it all, she could hear Baeneth speaking. "Come on, come on! Just a few more seconds and the reaction should stabilize! Hold your posts! I will build you new eyes if I must, just do not stop channeling that spell!" After a few more agonizing seconds of pure white pain, the pain and the light suddenly stopped. Blinking her eyes hesitantly, Pumpkin Cake looked around. She sighed in relief despite herself. She had been half afraid the end of the light had been her actually going blind. She looked towards the stage and gasped. Her first surprise was seeing that the massive machine had vanished, leaving the stage almost empty. And yet, besides that, the crowd was still there, clearly checking their eyesight as they hesitantly looked around; the stage itself was still there, even the circle of scientists was still there, along with Baeneth, and the elder deer lord. But they were no longer the only things on the stage. In the center of the open space on the stage, where the rainbow of light had created that painful light, in the center of the circle where the twelve spell casters still stood; sat a small ring of six stone orbs, each with an indentation of a cut crystal protruding from one side. They were gently smoking, a ring of burn marks had scorched the wood around them in a starburst. Baeneth cantered towards the stones hesitantly, a look of mild confusion forming on his face before it cemented back to its standard half grin. He turned back to the crowd and announced loudly: "I have done it! Behold, for you see before you, that I have taken the Council's precious, absolute embodiments of order. The source of all their power and knowledge!" He paused for dramatic effect while the deer in the crowd began to stomp and cheer, before he said, "These stones contain within themselves the greatest power that this world has ever seen. I give you, the Elements of Harmony!" Pumpkin could scarcely believe her ears. But before she had more than a moment to process, the voices said, We never saw them again after that, those six friends of ours. They sounding sad. "I understand what you are now!" Pumpkin Cake exclaimed with excitement. "You're the six masters! You wielded the Elements, and the Deer stole them from you!" No, I'm afraid you don't understand, selde. We are not the six ancient masters. We are those stones sitting on that stage. We are the Elements of Harmony. • Pumpkin Cake was stunned. The Elements of Harmony? she thought, her mind reeling from the revelation as she fell to the ground in a stunned heap. She tried to speak, and finally found her voice again as she asked faintly, "How...?" We are the power source of all crystal magic, but only when we allow it. The deer did not have access, and so they were forced to use their own life force to power their weapons. Somehow their research found us, and we were torn from our avatars, the six ancient masters, against our will. This... damaged us. We were nothing more than those stones on the stage after that, and it was only when one of the six council races found us again that we began to heal. But that is a story for another time, first you must see the cost to the world of our moment of greatest vulnerability, when we could no longer protect you all from the real dangers to this world. Unsteadily, Pumpkin Cake got to her hooves. Shaking her head to try and clear some of the shock, she suddenly realized that Baeneth was speaking, apparently answering a question from somedeer in the crowd. She listened in. "... simply a matter of finding proper avatars to embody the power of the Elements, and then the power should be controllable. I believe it can be done quite easily if we bring likely candidates to the Elements and see if any react to them in a meaningful way. Next question please." A doe in the crowd stepped forward, a faint gleam of crystal protruding from her forehead and attached to her own horns. She held a notepad and quill with her magic and asked, "What will we be looking for in this regard? What are these avatars embodiments of?" Nodding as if he had expected this question, Baeneth answered, "I do not yet know with certainty, we will have to study this thing carefully for a while, but rest assured that we will send out a list of potential criteria for candidates soon. I will say that if my theories are correct, then you are looking for good, kind, noble, loyal, and strong deer that get along well with others. Beyond that, I really cannot say at this point. Next questio-" Baeneth stopped speaking mid-sentence as the ground started to shake. A cry of alarm from a scientist on the stage turned all eyes towards the center. Collective gasps came from the present deer at what they saw. Pumpkin stepped forward, trying to see what was going on. "What happened?!" Baeneth exclaimed, running straight through Pumpkin Cake as he approached the other scientists. "Sir!" A doe scientist of middling height answered quickly. "The energy readings from the EoH are still present, but something seems to be happening to the keystone element!" Pumpkin was quite annoyed that she wasn't floating in the air at the moment, since that had given her a rather spectacular view of all that was happening. Instead she crawled under a scientist, ignoring the legs that kept going through her as she did so. Finally, she could see. The Elements of Harmony were indeed different than they had been. Five of the elements were rotating in place, while the sixth, the 'keystone' element as they had called it, was floating in the air above the circle, pulsing rapidly, first white, then black. Before long, the pulsing became so rapid that the stone appeared again to be a uniform shade of gray. A complex pattern of movement began at that point, the movement forming a mildly bipedal shape. The bipedal shape appeared to be standing in the center of the circle of rotating elements, which were themselves picking up speed as they rotated around the shape. They began to glow in a rainbow of colors, strobing as they span. The deer around Pumpkin moved back, leaving only Baeneth and herself standing near the thing. The thing seemed to be struggling with something, walking forward against a great force, but never leaving the spot. As it did so, a sound began to build up. It started as a faint buzzing noise, faintly irritating, like a bug bite you want to scratch but don't. But before long the sound grew to a crescendo, a gnashing, screeching wail, like a tornado of nails caught in a room made of chalkboards. Finally, with a whumph, the sound died, and the five spinning elements dropped to the stage, once again inert. The sixth floated into the air, and vanished. And the bipedal shape had form. Behold, this is why we exist, to stop th... To Pumpkin Cake's surprise, the voices had seemed to suddenly stop speaking mid word, and she could no longer sense their comforting presence in her mind. Nervously, hoping it was just another trick to test her resolve, she looked back to the stage. The creature that stood there was unlike anything she had ever seen. It seemed to be a bipedal form, but beyond that, she wasn't sure how to describe it. It was made of horns; tall and short, thick and thin, branched and straight. A moment later, and now it was made of eyes, in every shape, size, and color. Then it was teeth, then fur, then wings. At one point, it seemed to be made of organs. And if that wasn't creepy enough, that was when it began to laugh. It was an echoing, self-satisfied laugh, as if to an inside joke that nobody else knew. It made the coat on the back of Pumpkin's neck stand up. And it was coming from the creature, as it continued to change form. Baeneth's face was a tight mask of tension, both at this horrifying creature that stood before him, and at the Elements of Harmony, one of which was missing, five of which looked utterly lifeless. Pulling his eyes away from the Elements, Baeneth asked, "Who... What are you? Did I create you? Are you a part of the Elements of Harmony? Or are you from the council, here to stop us?" For a moment everything was silent. Even Pumpkin Cake realized she had been holding her breath and let it out quickly, trying to get a hold of herself. The bipedal shape appeared to turn towards Baeneth as he spoke, and the laughing finally stopped. It seemed to be struggling again, before suddenly it grew a tail. Then a head took shape, with a mouth forming from an elongated snout, the rest still randomly changing parts. It began to speak, at first distorted while the mouth formed, until by the time it finished it spoke with perfect clarity. "Oh my, so many questions... I suppose you are the one to bring me here, so the least I can do is answer them. But what fun is there in a simple answer to a complex question? No, I think I will answer you in my own, special, way." The last few words were said slowly and thoughtfully, followed again by that coat-raising laugh. But that wasn't what raised her hackles this time. Pumpkin Cake was sure she had heard that voice before. It had been speaking Equestrian at the time, but she was sure she knew it from somewhere. But where? At last done with laughing, the being spoke in a rhythmic yet deep and menacing pattern. "Far be hoof and wing and horn, and far be crystal's light reborn, mighty are six who be but pawns, till the Sun does fail and the Moon is gone." The Sun and the Moon? Celestia and Luna? No, it can't be them, they won't even be born for thousands of years... will they? Where did they come from? They weren't really born fully formed from the aether like the old legends say, were they? Before she could consider this new line of questions, the creature began to gain some consistency of color. The long tail grew a deep red, a tuft of hair sprouting from the end. At the same time, the torso turned a deep, chestnut brown. After a moment's pause, the rest of the creature gained color and texture all at once, and with it, Pumpkin Cake finally realized where she had heard that voice before. She had been a filly, not even with a cutie mark yet, and her parents had been hired to provide the catering for a large banquet. She had been playing quietly with her brother in the corner while various ponies had come on the stage and spoken at length. It had appeared to be some sort of debate, and as Pumpkin remembered her parents later telling her, they had been discussing whether or not Equestria should go to war. She had for the most part ignored the debate as it went on, but that was when he had entered, and walked to the stage. She still remembered the gasps and the hushed whispers of the suddenly tense crowd, and then the absolute silence as Discord spoke at length about the chaos of war, its pros and cons, and what the cost to everypony in Equestria would be. War was declared the very next day, she recalled, feeling suddenly cold. And here he is, ten thousand-plus years ago, forming from a living nightmare while standing among the freshly stolen Elements of Harmony. Was this Discord's origin then? Was this what the Elements were protecting the world from? Discord stood in the center of the stage, looking around and stretching. He looked the same as Pumpkin Cake remembered him, but younger. His eyebrows and goatee were black, as was the tuft of hair sprouting from his tail. But what mostly showed his youth to Pumpkin Cake was his full mane of black hair. It was a black so dark, it was better described as the absence of light, rather than an actual color. It almost seemed to eat the light around it. Done stretching, Discord turned to the uncertain-looking Baeneth again and asked, "What, that wasn't enough for you? Well alright, here is the rest, I suppose." Again he began to recite, this time in a mocking tone, apparently reciting by rote. "My chaos reigns while we await, the queens' arrival to seal my fate, till the dark one is set free, within his grasp the golden key." Finishing again, Discord even took a slight bow, a performance complete, a script read. Or am I just imagining it being a script? Pumpkin Cake wondered silently. Whether they heard her or not, no answer came from her voices. To Pumpkin Cake's and Baeneth's apparent surprise, the old deer lord suddenly leapt onto the stage, standing between Discord and Baeneth, and he bellowed at Discord, "So! You come at his calling? You plan to use this power supply for his whims? To forge the key and free him at last? Well know this, I have stood against the Dark One all my life, and I, Elihwinya, Lord of the Shining Armies, will not allow it!" Finally coming to his senses, Baeneth shouted, "Master don't! We are all that remain, you must not expose yourself! Think of the Order! We..." Looking over his shoulder, his violet eyes flaring, Elihwinya cut in before Baeneth could finish, "Stand down apprentice! I will not allow the Dark One to win, and if I must die to protect the world from him, then that is my right! Do not interfere! Now gather the others, and flee." "But Master!" "Flee, you fool!" Turning to go, Baeneth took off at a gallop, yelling over his shoulder as he went, "Good luck, Master!" Pumpkin stood there in confusion, watching the young Baeneth yelling for the stragglers from the crowd to follow him as he ran. She hesitated but decided that Discord was what she was meant to see, and stayed. As she cantered to the side to get a better view, she could see Elihwinya and Discord staring after Baeneth and the others as they fled, a look of grim determination on the deer lord's face, a sly smile spreading on Discord's. As she passed Discord's line of sight, she watched him with concern. Something was about to happen, she was sure about that. But all he did was stand there and watch Baeneth through her... Turning to look behind her to see Baeneth take off, she felt that ball of ice form in her stomach again. Baeneth was no longer in sight. Oh Celestia! He just saw me! I know he did! Discord can see me! Feeling truly afraid for the first time since she accidently turned on her crystal machine full blast, she whirled around. But no, Discord wasn't watching her, his red and yellow eyes were on Elihwinya. Just my imagination, it must have been. He couldn't have seen me, I'm not really here!... But still, did he? Once again, she turned the question to the area of her mind where the voices were, but again they were silent. Or are they gone? came the suddenly concerning thought. Am I stuck here? As she pondered that in silence, the two turned back to face each other. Elihwinya spoke first. "So, I see you let them all go without issue. I don't know what code of honor you hold to, but I thank you nonetheless for letting them all leave safely. I can die happily knowing I made that small difference. Are you prepared to fight?" Discord raised one large eyebrow in question, then replied, "Oh come now, Elihwinya, or 'Star Swirl', as your name means, if I am not mistaken. By the way, what kind of a name is Swirl of Stars? Anyways, I let them all go because I plan to take over this entire world, and no matter how far any of them go, they cannot hope to escape me. They will spread word of my arrival. If anything, you just did me a favor, getting them all to leave so quickly!" Elihwinya, or Star Swirl. Why does that name sound familiar? Pumpkin Cake wondered, shifted nervously from side to side. She felt a strong urge to paw at the ground. Finally, Elihwinya asked, "But you do serve the Dark One, don't you? I heard that riddle you spoke, what else could it have meant?" Discord laughed again, rocking back and forth in the air with uncontrolled laughter. When he stopped, he said, still giggling, "I don't know anything about this so called, 'Dark One'. All I know is that I was to speak those words when I first appeared in this world, and to take care of whoever stepped forward because of them!" Without warning, a wave of golden lightning arched towards Discord, surging in massive bolts from Elihwinya's gem-encrusted horns. At first, it seemed to be working. Discord was rolling on the floor in apparent agony, pleading for the attack to stop. That's when Pumpkin Cake realized that Discord was actually still laughing, a mad, full guffaw. "Oh stop it!" he chuckled. "Please! Ah ha ha ha ha! That tickles!" Elihwinya, however, did not stop the onslaught. Instead, he redoubled his strength, and Pumpkin Cake was impressed. The amount of magic he was channeling between his horns and the crystals in them was of amounts beyond the capacity any species would be able to channel without them. She doubted that even Celestia could have used so much magic at once. Standing up quickly despite the lightning making him glow like a Hearth's Warming Eve light, Discord snapped his claw. Instantly, the spell stopped. Snapping again, the gems and crystals among Elihwinya's horns turned to dust. A third time, and the horns themselves vanished from atop the old deer's head. Crying out in horror, Pumpkin Cake watched as Discord lifted the massive deer off the ground with his magic. "Do it!" the deer lord cried in sorrow, "I am nothing without my magic. Now kill me!" Pumpkin Cake felt tears form in her eyes. But she knew there was nothing she could do, all this had happened thousands of years ago. Bringing the proud deer lord closer, Discord chuckled to himself, before saying, "Kill you? Who said anything about killing you? Oh no, I will not kill you. Instead, I think I will test out the power of chaos on you. What should I turn you into? A frog? No, too boring. A tree? No, too safe. Ah yes, I know!" This time Pumpkin Cake was sure that Discord's eyes flickered towards her before he turned back to the now hornless deer. "Yes, that should do nicely. A pony! I will turn you into a pony, Star Swirl. Not even an ascended Alcorin! And with the hubris of you foolish deer, I sincerely doubt you will ever reach your full power again! Enjoy." A poof of smoke and a cloud of stars engulfed the deer while he stared at Discord in defiance, and as it faded, a young, pale blue unicorn colt with a violet mane streaked with silver stood before Discord, pure fury blazing in his still-violet eyes. Pumpkin noticed with surprise that his crystal leg was gone, a regular leg in its place. In the place where the crystal had been embedded in his side, she noticed, was a cutie mark in the shape of three silver stars and a small silver vortex appearing on his flank. Did Discord choose his cutie mark too, she wondered, or does it mean something? "Yes!" Discord cackled, "That is perfect! Now you can live a long life with all four legs under my reign, as you see your former species fall, as at last, the time of chaos is at hand! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" "You will never get away with this, you monster!" Star Swirl said in the same powerful, deep voice from before, though now speaking Archaic Equestrian. "No matter where you go, I swear to you that I will live to see you fall!" Scoffing, Discord snapped a finger, and with a final poof, Star Swirl vanished. Turning from the spot, Discord looked straight at Pumpkin Cake, and grinned again. Shaking with fear, Pumpkin Cake asked, "You can see me, can't you? And hear me?" "Oh yes, my dear," Discord said, pointing to his larger eye with one clawed finger, "I can see you just fine. I took care of those pesky voices in your head as well, I didn't want them to interrupt your view of the festivities. And I take it you are not here in the flesh, as none of the others present were able to see you. Am I right so far?" Pumpkin Cake nodded, suddenly unable to speak. It wasn't a test. Something has gone wrong... "Yes, I suspected as much," Discord said, nodding in satisfaction. "And you are far more primitive, no offense, than your council brethren were before these rocks were ripped from their grasp, so how were those voices even speaking to you? These things are dead... unless..." Discord looked towards the dormant Elements of Harmony thoughtfully, before saying quietly, "This changes things. Maybe I can actually be free of..." He suddenly turned around, looking Pumpkin Cake over, leaning over until their faces were almost touching as he said, "The only explanation is that you are not from around here either... So what is it? Did you come from another realm to stop me? Are you with the Lay Wardens, like those two fools with their hopeless cause of stopping The Return?" He gestured to the dust cloud of the running deer as he asked the last question, then stood there impatiently, tapping a hoof on the wooden stage while Pumpkin Cake found her voice and answered. She said, "Lay Wardens? Elihwinya and Baeneth are part of an order that fights against you? What return? Who's returning? From where? I..." "Oh come now," Discord said, sounding impatient again. "It is frankly the only explanation that makes any sense. So stop playing dumb and listen. Those Lay Wardens are fools. They can't stop The Return, the fact that I am here just as the prophecies warned would happen certainly proves that. I am here now, so they might as well get used to the idea. They lost." Nervous, though not for quite the same reasons as before, Pumpkin Cake asked, "Why are you telling me all this, Discord? And what do you intend to do with the Elements of Harmony?" At the last, she gestured with an extended hoof to the stone orbs behind Discord, still where they had first appeared. "Discord?" came a sudden, excited reply. "Oh yes, I like it! Discord! That is how this world shall know me! Thank you my dear, this name pleases me greatly. And as for those 'Elements'," he said, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers, "they do not concern me. The deer's foolish actions today simply prevented those things from blocking my arrival, Harmony fighting Disharmony and all that. I will leave them for those foolish deer or whatever is left of the 'council' to find if they have the guts to come looking for them." Pumpkin Cake nodded slowly, dread filling her up. Did I just gave Discord his NAME?! she thought with shock. Okay, so this is all actually real, I have somehow been sent back in time, and this is the beginning of Discord's rise to power. As long as I don't let him know that the Elements of Harmony will the very thing to end his reign, I shouldn't destroy history. Taking a deep breath, Pumpkin Cake asked carefully and with a tone she hoped sounded respectful and meek, "I am glad you like it, oh great and powerful Discord; may the name serve you well. But may I humbly ask what you wish of me?" Discord grinned his disheveled grin again, before saying, "Oh nothing my dear, like I told that former deer Star Swirl, I want word of my coming to spread. I am releasing my hold over you, so the voices may draw you back to your Lay Warden masters. All I ask is that you tell them what I said. I am here, this world will soon be ripe for The Return, and there is nothing they can do to stop it. Are those terms acceptable?" Pumpkin Cake nodded and bowed, lower than she had ever bowed when Princess Twilight had come to Apple Bloom's workshop to look over a particular device her mentor had created; her horn practically touching the floor, where she waited. The tone Discord had used was not one that anypony in their right mind would disagree with. After what felt to her like an eternity, Discord snapped his fingers, and the voices returned. She felt them flooding her mind, overwhelming it, before they receded. The world shifted around her, fading to blackness before she found herself sitting up in a hospital bed, drenched in sweat. Her parents, her brother, and even Apple Bloom was standing around her, and they all looking relieved. I'm back! she thought with exuberance. It was all just a nightmare! Right? She directed her question to the part of her mind she remembered the voices occupying while she hugged her parents and brother and even her mentor, but all the while waiting, and internally listening. Are you still there? Can you hear me? They did not speak, but she couldn't help remembering Discord laughing as she had been taken from his presence, echoing even now in her mind.