Chapter 7
(Now edited by Neko Majn C)
Dipper stepped into his bedroom as happy as can be, whistling a joyous tune as he entered. His hair was dripping from the well-deserved shower that washed away all the dirt and sweat from a day of jumping on magical pineapples and doing errands for purple alicorns.
“Well, aren’t we in a better mode tonight?” Mabel said as she sat upright in her bed, smiling a great big, bracy smile.
“Yeah, a little. Let’s just say the rest of the day made up for how it started.”
“So what’s her name?”
Dipper’s cheeks instantly flashed red.
“Wha-wha-wha-what? There’s no her who said anything about a her because I sure didn’t. Did someone else say something? Who was it, did they see something-”
“Oh my gosh, it is a girl, isn’t it?!” Mabel said. Her eyes lit up and a gasp escaped her mouth. In an instant she was standing in front of Dipper with her hands clenched tightly on his shoulders. “I was just kidding, but you actually met someone!? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Dipper you have to tell me everything! Where did you two meet, what’s her favorite color, where does she live, does she like pigs, come on talk to me, Dipper.” Mabel said as she shook her brother.
“Alright, alright, Mabel, enough, I’ll tell you, just stop shaking me!”
Mabel obliged and removed her hands, but only to start bouncing up and down eagerly.
Dipper sighed. “So first off her name is Twilight-”
“Oooo, I like her name.”
“Let me finish. Anyways we kinda bumped into each other this morning. She’s new here and on a business trip with her… uncle.” Dipper said as he rubbed his arm and tried to avoid eye contact with Mable through the mixture of truth and lies he told her.
“How long is she in town, can I meet her? I need someone else to talk too while Grenda and Kandy are gone.”
“What, where did they go?”
“Well, Kandy went to some sort of science place with her mom, and Grenda’s at wrestling camp. Now answer the question, yes, kinda, absolutely!?”
“No, you can’t meet her, Mabel!” Dipper shouted.
Mabel jumped a little, she stared back at her brother, her mouth agape and her eyes wide with surprise. “What, why not? You don’t think I’d embarrass you do you, huh huh, do ya?”
“No, it’s not that.” Dipper said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just she’s really shy and she's kinda nervous around new people.”
“Aww,” Mabel frowned. “Please, Dipper, I promise I’ll tone my hyper cuteness down to like a five or something.” Mabel placed her hands back on Dipper’s shoulders as her feet slowly started sliding back. “Please, pretty please with fifty kajilion pounds of smile dip on top.”
“Weeelll, I suppose I could talk to her, but-”
“Horray! Thanks, Dipper.” Mabel leapt to her feet, hugged Dipper, and then quickly ran back into bed.
Dipper rolled his eyes and smiled at her. As he crawled back into bed he placed his walkie-talkie on the nightstand and pulled the covers over his body. Finally he flicked the bedside lamp off, instantly encompassing the room with darkness. “Goodnight, Mabel.” He said.
“Goodnight, Dipper.” Mabel yawned. “I can’t wait to meet Twilight.”
“Yeah.” Dipper mumbled. “I bet she feels the same way.”
Dipper sighed and closed his eyes. “Goodnight, Twilight,” He muttered before retiring into the warm embrace of sleep.
Later that same night, within his crystal garden, Sombra lay on the ground with his legs tucked underneath his body, deep within meditative thought; a black aura surrounded him and licked at the air like a roaring fire.
It was because of this deep thought he failed to notice a leaf like object floating down to him, landing daintily upon his muzzle. Sombra jerked his eyes open and glared at the light weighted offender which interrupted his meditation and promptly flung it to the ground.
At first glance the item looked like a regular leaf, as it shared the shape of the common dogwood greenery, but upon further inspection there were several key elements about said leaf that made it stand out. One instantly notable trait was its texture: furry, not smooth, but definitely furry with a grey exterior and a pink interior.
The second intriguing factor was the so called leaf being present with nothing but pine trees for miles around.
“What in the name of Tartarus are you?” Sombra asked as he leaned down for a closer view of the item. To his shock, the leafy object sat upright and hopped in the opposite direction of Sombra. The item stopped a little over a foot away from him and fell to its side once more.
Sombra eyed it suspiciously; he rose to his hooves as his horn flickered to life and prepared to turn the object into ash. He watched as a claw sprang from the tip of the leaf, reached back into itself and started to pull an entire body out of it.
Finally the so-called leaf was revealed to be nothing more than the left ear from Discord’s head. His body fully stretching out with a springing noise.
“Ta-da!” Discord said, shaking his claws back and forth. “Come on, give me your honest opinion, I thought that could be my opening bit for birthday parties.”
Sombra rolled his eyes and dimmed the aura emanating from his horn. “I thought I made it very clear that you are not welcome in this place the last time you were here.”
Discord smirked as he hovered above the ground and rested his head on his claws. “Oh, then why, pray tell, am I not a handsome scorch mark on the ground by now?”
“All in good time, but as of now I demand answers.”
“And I demanded a pool of chocolate pudding to be installed in the grand hall, and that sure as hay didn’t pan out. But I’ll see what I can do about getting you those answers.”
Sombra ground his teeth, and snorted, restraining the urge to blow him away to kingdom come.
“Why haven’t you revealed my position yet? You are supposedly here to eliminate me, are you not?”
“Me? Not at all, my partner, on the other hoof, is all too keen on seeing your black behind flung into oblivion. Like I told you before my only desire is to help you.”
“Then why on earth did you bring an Alicorn with you!?”
“Might I ask how you knew she was an Alicorn?” Discord asked as he quirked a brow.
“I think you’ll find that, during my time here, I have acquired eyes and ears all throughout this place.” Sombra said as he gave a smug smile of self-superiority.
“Hm, yes, well, your eyes and ears could stand to lose a few pounds. I could have sworn I was looking at a giant blueberry that sprouted arms and legs.”
Sombras smile quickly sunk and his eye twitched from his dwindling patience. “Answer the question! If you truly are interested in helping me then why bring the one being that has any chance of destroying me?!”
“Allow me to answer that question, with another question. Have you ever heard the tale of the scorpion and the frog?”
“What? No, now get out of-”
“Oh well I’ll spare you the details and give you the summary. Scorpion asks for a ride across the river from frog, frog says yes, scorpion stings frog while crossing said river, and they both die.”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Sombra barked.
“Because, my good stallion, this is what is happening right now. I am the frog and you are my scorpion in the middle of the river. Do you sting me, thus dooming us both, or do you take a different path and allow the frog to carry you to a better place?”
Sombra merely stood there, speechless with his mouth agape.
“With that in mind I will show myself out. I’ll just leave you with my card.” Discord said as he placed a small rectangle of paper at Sombras hooves and floated past him.
Sombra shook himself back into reality. “Wait!” Sombra said. Igniting his horn, he turned his head to where Discord had floated past only to find empty space. He quivered with unbridled rage as he fired bolts of lightning into the surrounding area.
After a minute of outrage, Sombra was left panting in a cloud of ash and debris. As the dust settled, he lifted his head to the sky and let loose a deep, rage filled scream that shook the tops of the trees and could be heard from miles around.
“How do I know I can trust you?” Sombra asked in a hushed tone through gasping breaths.
“You don’t, Sombra,” The voice said. As Sombra regained his strength, the voice took the form of a shadowy figure with piercing red eyes, manifesting itself in front of Sombra. “That in itself is what makes him such a cunning foe.
“Can’t you see it, Sombra, you’re playing right into his claws. That miserable creature has slipped doubt into you and now your thoughts are clouded by his twisted lies. But fear not, Sombra, for I alone am your guiding light in this dark and deceitful world.”
The figure enveloped Discord’s card in its shadowy grasp, encompassing it in a sheet of ice before letting it drop to the ground where upon it shattered into hundreds of pieces and scattered into the wind. “I know I can rely on you to do what needs to be done, next you see him.”
Sombra didn’t look up, but instead nodded and swallowed hard.
“Good. Now continue our meditation, for now that our foes know our whereabouts, it is imperative that we finish before they can stop us.” With that said, the apparition dissipated, leaving Sombra alone.
Little did they know, perched on a tree within listening distance was Discord. “Hm, well this complicates things.” He said while he stroked his long white beard.
Dipper slowly opened his eyes to the melody of chirping birds. He yawned and was closing his eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep when a familiar voice roused him awake.
“Psst, Dipper, are you there?” Twilight’s voice emanated from the walkie-talkie.
Dipper groaned as he blindly searched for the device from under his blanket. He grabbed it and pulled the walkie-talkie under the covers with him. “Twilight? Yeah, I’m here, what’s up?”
“Well.” Twilight started as she cleared her voice. “I hate to be a bother, but in order to utilize the most out of our days, I’ve given us all a sleeping limit of seven hours each, and according to my calculations and the suns position in the sky it has been approximately seven hours and two minutes since you and I fell asleep.”
“How do you know when I fell asleep?” Dipper took a moment to peek his head out from under the covers and catch a glance at the clock. Five o’clock it read.
“Oh, just some basic calculations actually. You were showing all the tell tail signs of exhaustion, baggy eyes, frequent yawning, frequent rubbing of said eyes. I also added fifteen minutes for the estimated amount of time it would take for you to get ready for bed. Of course there is your height to add in as well so- ”
“Alright, alright, you’ve made your point. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“Great, I’ll see you then. Oh, by the way, you haven’t seen Discord by any chance have you?”
“Um, no. Why?”
“Well, when I woke up, he wasn’t on his cloud, so I figured he might be causing you trouble again.”
“Nope, oh well, I’m sure he’s fine. He’s probably somewhere causing nightmares for some other poor guy.”
“For his sake he better not be, anyways, I’ll see you in a little bit.”
“Alright, oh what do you want for breakfast?”
“Oh, no, I’m alright, Dipper, you don’t need to-” She was interrupted once more by the sound of her grumbling stomach.
“Fruit?”
“Yes please.”
Dipper tip-toed his way down the stairs of the shack. He made his way once more to the fridge and grabbed a few cans of fruit and some sub-par apples that evaded his gaze on his last raid.
As he made his way out the door, he was stopped by the sound of a nearby thumping. He paused for just a second before he continued on, passing it off as the mere sound of the wind moving trees in the forest, unaware that three pairs of glowing green eyes were watching his every move.