“It’s been weeks, Morsidus. Don’t you think that if they were going to do something it would’ve already happened?” Spike asked while munching on an apple.
Morsidus lifted the bored drake off his wagon and set him on the ground. He responded while lifting several buckets of apples into it, “You don’t think that they could be planning something big? He nearly got the better of me during our last fight. He’s smart, and he’s set on killing Discord. Possibly me as well.” He hitched the wagon onto him and walked towards the barn. Spike hopped on his back. “This doesn’t worry you at all?” Morsidus continued. Spike just shrugged and bit into another apple.
Rolling his eyes Morsidus walked into the barn and unloaded his harvest in the stall next to Applejack’s. His initials had been carved into the door, designating it his. He smiled and unhitched the wagon from his back. Pulling Spike off the apple barrels he said, “Spike, why don’t you run back to Twilight and let her know that I won’t be coming back after work.” Spike nodded and ran off towards Ponyville.
Morsidus went to tell Granny Smith that he was finished for the day. He took a shortcut through the orchard to get to the Apple’s farmhouse. On the way, he continuously heard whispering in the trees. He rolled his eyes. “Try it and you three will end up tied to the tree you’re in,” he gave a small smirk.
The three crusaders groaned and jumped out of the tree. Except for Scootaloo, who fell out of it. They trudged back to their clubhouse, their fun ruined by Morsidus. Every day since he’d healed up, the trio would attempt to sneak up and catch him off guard. He’d learned their patterns and even learned a few lasso tricks from Applejack for when they were particularly rowdy.
Morsidus finished up at the farm, and headed back to town where Elayas was waiting for him. “Hey, Elayas! I just finished up. Are you ready to go?” he nodded and threw on his saddlebag. They were about to walk off towards Vinyl and Octavia’s when Morsidus got an idea. “Wait, I know a shortcut.” He smiled mischievously and quickly went through the calculations in his head. Seconds later, Morsidus and a disheveled-looking Elayas appeared in Vinyl Scratch’s living room much to the surprise of Octavia and Zecora.
Octavia had spilt her beer and chastised them, “Don’t you know how rude it is to teleport into somepony’s living room?” She then went into the kitchen to get Vinyl and a rag to clean up the mess. Elayas collapsed onto the couch, dazed from the sudden teleportation.
Zecora giggled and said, “Morsidus, Elayas, pull up a chair for we have good news to share, and not telling you would be quite unfair. Mayor Mare chose us to play in just a few days at the Gala, so grand, as Ponyville’s band.” She smiled broadly at them.
Morsidus laughed, “Us? Really?! That’s great!”
“It’s pretty metal, isn’t it? I knew that she was gonna choose us the entire time! If she hadn’t then Ponyville would have like no chance at winning,” Vinyl said while setting a few beers on the table. Octavia immediately picked them back up and set them on a plate.
Elayas sat up on the couch. “Winning? Winning what?” he asked.
Vinyl smirked, “The hearts of Canterlot,” She laughed. “Nah, dude, it’s just an expression I use a lot. I don’t know what I mean by it, but I think I use to say that we are gonna OWN at that party!”
Elayas looked puzzled for a second and then Octavia reminded everypony that they should start practicing for the Gala. Their practice session began pretty well, but over the course of the next few days they got better and better. Finally, even Octavia thought that they sounded great.
The train ride to Canterlot was rather uneventful. Twilight and the other Elements came as moral support, and even brought Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom to help set up. When they got there most bands had already set up and the outdoor concert area looked great, but definitely needed some typical Pinkie Pie flare.
The first place everypony went to was the main stage, which was much more elaborate and technical than the plain wooden ones he’d played on before. This stage was huge, taking up at least a fifth of Canterlot Courtyard. It was circular and programmed to rotate, giving each band their own space to set up their equipment and decorate. That was the first thing Pinkie wanted to do, but Zecora talked her into decorating the courtyard first, so they had time to set up their equipment without streamers in their faces.
Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were asked to help with setting up. They obliged, but Applebloom quickly got bored and ran off, chasing a butterfly into the Royal Garden. Sweetie Belle didn’t stay much longer than Applebloom, as she entangled herself into a mess with the wires and it took Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo to get her out. Scootaloo did her task with ease, as well as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle’s. Doing nearly all of the work, Scootaloo finished setting up and wiring their portion of the stage with only some difficulty.
Once she was finished, Morsidus went to double check and found a few mistakes. 'She did a pretty good job for a filly who’s never seen a guitar before,' Morsidus thought to himself, rewiring the stage.
Octavia was setting up instruments when she was interrupted by the stage manager. “Hey, we need y’all’s stage name so’s we know how ta introduce ya,” he said pulling a clipboard off his back.
Octavia gasped and paced the stage repeating, “Ohdearohdearohdearohdearohdear-,” Clearly wracking her mind for something to tell the bored stallion. Zecora and Elayas talked through it for a second while Vinyl fell to the ground laughing. “This is serious, Vinyl! We should have been more prepared! I should have been more prepared!”
Zecora and Elayas finished talking and Elayas mouthed something, and Morsidus caught it right away and knew what to do. He walked to the stage manager and said, “We’ll introduce ourselves, thanks.” Shrugging the manager nodded and walked back to his post.
They were the last to perform as they were the last band chosen to play. The stage whirred and spun until Morsidus and the band were facing the crowd. The ponies were talking amongst each other and shouting out praises and some slander. Morsidus yelled, getting their attention. “WE ARE THE ELEMENTS OF THE SHADOW BEAT! START US OFF, MISTER SILVER!”
They had decided in Ponyville to start off by playing a cover of “Rock and Roll All Night”. So Elayas started the drumming and several seconds in Morsidus began with his guitar, Zecora, Vinyl, and Octavia soon followed suit. They performed several other songs, Hammerstall, Black Veil Bridle, and Blind Stallion being the songs the audience praised the most, requesting an encore of each. When they finished Morsidus spoke, “This last song is called Sadness in Death,” He glanced over at Zecora before continuing. “And I wrote it several years ago, but this will be the first time I’ve ever played it in public.”
They finished their last song and went to find a place to spend the night. Twilight had insisted that they use the guest rooms at the castle, and the group happily obliged.
Morsidus lied in his bed, listening to Elayas’ snores as he ran through his thoughts for the day. He managed to elude sleep until sometime around one in the morning.
Morsidus walked alone through the Everfree Forest, realizing quickly that he was nowhere near Canterlot. ‘I must have teleported in my sleep somehow,’ he thought. Seeing a clearing, Morsidus walked towards it, but tripped over a tree root. He bit his lip to keep from screaming. Mumbling a few nasty words about the tree, Morsidus stumbled into the clearing and immediately spotted another creature. ‘Hopefully this goat… bull… THING is friendly,’ he thought.
“Excuse me? Can you tell me how to get to Ponyville?” Morsidus asked.
The creature turned to look at him and growled, uprooting a tree and holding it over its head. “Iron Will’s the name, and destroying you is my game!” It, or rather he threw the tree, narrowly missing Morsidus.
‘This thing is crazy!’ Morsidus dove back into the tree line, attempting to summon his wings. He realized quickly that the spell wasn’t working. Cursing under his breath, Morsidus crawled into a tree desperately hoping for his spells to work, but they had no effect here either.
“Hello, Morsidus Grim-Record,” Princess Luna said, sitting next to him.
“WHAT THE-?!” He jumped, nearly falling off the branch in the process. “Princess Luna?!” Princess Luna remained expressionless and flew down towards Iron Will. In his anger, he’d began uprooting trees in search of Morsidus.
“IRON WILL!” Luna called, and he looked over at her. As soon as he caught her eye, she had him under her hold. He stared into Luna’s eyes , unmoving, until she sent a beam of magic his way. It knocked him out, but when he came to his face was etched with confusion. He looked down at his body, and his confusion shifted into fear. Slowly, his body was fading away, his color went first, and then it seemed to crawl up his legs until it reached his face. He opened his mouth to shout something, but he was already gone.
Morsidus stared from the tree, too shocked to move. Luna spoke up before he had a chance to fully process the situation. “It appears as though somepony has stolen my spell book. It is the only way they could have learned Dream Magic.”
‘Dream Magic? I’m so learning this!’
Morsidus attempted to sit up, but his body refused to move against gravity. Sighing, he rolled out of his bed, crashing to the ground. He used the bed frame as a support, and pulled himself to his hooves. He looked to the bed next to him, luckily, Elayas was still sleeping.
Morsidus felt a chilling wind coming from the balcony, and saw the Princess of the Night herself. She sat just behind the railing, staring up at the stars. Morsidus sat beside her, noting the sadness etched into her features. “I know what you are going to ask, and the answer is no. Dream Magic is very dangerous, and only capable of use by alicorns. Iron Will has been apprehended, and his unicorn accomplice shall follow soon after.”
“But the spell couldn’t have been cast by a unicorn-,” Morsidus said, confused.
Princess Luna cut him off. “Whilst one uses the Alicorn Amulet, they gain the powers of an alicorn. Zecora reported the amulet missing one month ago. It is why she was at the Castle the day of your appearance.”
“Alicorn Amulet?” Morsidus was hit by a slight gust of night wind and shivered. “What’s that?” He looked back towards where Princess Luna sat moments ago, except now she was nowhere to be found. “Princess Luna?” He called, standing up and looking around. Shrugging, Morsidus walked back to the warmth of his bed and fell asleep almost immediately.
The next morning started off… strangely. Meaning, Shining Armor was lying in bed next to Morsidus, snoring loudly. Morsidus groaned, and levitated Shining into the room’s shower. He made sure to hit the cold water. Shining Armor, captain of the Royal Guard, awoke with a high-pitched, very lady-like scream. Morsidus couldn’t contain his laughter as Shining fumbled out of the bath/shower and turned the freezing water off. He made sure to not shake off any of the water when he pounced on Morsidus in a huge embrace.
Morsidus checked on Elayas, noting that he wasn’t in his bed. He shrugged it off, assuming that he was already awake. He followed Shining Armor out of the room and into the Main Dining Hall.
Walking in, Morsidus noticed Princess Celestia was sipping tea daintily and reading the Canterlot Times, while Princess Luna ate waffles and played on her Game-Colt. She was too into her game to wave hello like her sister.
“So, Shiny,” Princess Cadence purred, sitting between Princess Celestia and Luna. “Did your ‘errands’ go on longer than expected?”
Shining Armor blushed, “Uh… Hey! Your band made the front page!” When everypony turned their attention from Shining, he let out a sigh.
Celestia smiled proudly, “Yes it did, Morsidus. You and your band did very well.”
Morsidus grinned, and sat down at the table and asked the nearby chef for some coffee and whatever food was ready at the moment. He came back in moments with a pot just for him as well as a mug. He thanked the chef, but before he could take a drink his cup was swiped by a white unicorn with a massive hangover.
Vinyl mumbled, and face-planted the table. Octavia sat down beside her, giggling. “Shut it, Tavi…” She groaned, and told the chef that he needed to get her a bottle of brandy.
Morsidus glanced around the table, curious as to where Elayas was. Celestia noticed his slight worry, and sent a guard to find him. The guard reported smugly that he was still sleeping, and pointed Morsidus in the direction.
Morsidus shot the snickering guard a look before trotting off to find Elayas. What he found was… intriguing, to say the least. Elayas was found in Fluttershy’s room snuggled by the yellow pegasus.
“I understood that they were close, but not this close,” Princess Luna said, walking in after him.
Morsidus nodded. “He was really drunk last night, and I think I remember Fluttershy mentioning that she had an herbal remedy for hangovers.” Princess Luna looked at him questioningly. Morsidus explained, “He suffers from major stage fright, so whenever he has to perform, he drinks a bit to loosen up.”
The Princess nodded, and slipped out of the room. Morsidus followed shortly after, taking a different route from her, and going to his room. Once there, he slipped a bit bag out from his nightstand’s drawer. He poured the contents onto its flat surface, and counted his share of the bits earned from last night’s performance. Perfect, more than enough for what he wanted.
Morsidus grabbed his sunglasses and saddlebag, preparing to walk out of the door, when Zecora walked in. “Oh, you are going where? I will come, if you don’t care.”
He smiled at her, pushing her out the door and shutting it behind himself. “Actually, I was just coming to get you. I’ve never actually seen Canterlot, so I figured we could make a day out of it.”
Zecora squealed with glee, and dashed into her own room. She came out with her saddlebags on and bounced back to Morsidus. She giggled, grabbing his hoof and pulling him down the hallway and out of the castle.
“It is of Celestia’s recommend, that we go to a place called Joy’s Suspend.” Zecora walked towards a bright pink coffee house with an advertisement on the sign saying, “Princess Pre-approved”.
Afterwards, they went to a custom clothing store that Zecora had spotted. Morsidus was looking at a leather jacket, trying to decide whether or not to get it. He asked Zecora, and got an immediate yes. He bought one for each member of the band and had them embroidered with their logo.
They window shopped for a while before stopping for lunch. It was nearing two, and Morsidus had missed most of breakfast. Zecora sighed at the beautiful scenery. “It is a lovely day. Warm, without a hint of grey.”
Morsidus smiled, “I know one other thing that’s lovely.” Zecora blushed at the compliment, enticing a few more from the stallion.
They flirted between each other for several minutes until a loud explosion crashed their date. Morsidus looked towards the noise, only to catch a glimpse of rainbow streaking towards the Everfree. “PUT IT ON MY TAB!” Morsidus yelled, summoning his wings. He lifted Zecora into the air and flew towards the haze of black smoke.
As soon as they got there, worry flooded their hearts. A forest-green unicorn was fighting Twilight and her friends. But he wasn’t alone. Seven changelings stood armed around him, shifting into mirror images at times, so it was impossible to tell friend apart from enemy.
He carefully put Zecora down and went after the nearest changeling. He threw changeling after changeling crashing into each other, but one always came and took the last one’s place. They were healing extremely quickly, and Morsidus wasn’t fast enough to get them all down at once.
Twilight and the Elements were tiring quickly, and she shielded them behind a barrier. It was clear to Morsidus that she wouldn’t be able to keep it up much longer. Zecora stood just outside, attempting to keep the mini-swarm at bay until they could fight again.
Morsidus noticed it just as the barrier shattered. It was the unicorn. The swarm kept them from reaching him, meaning that he could do whatever spells he needed. Morsidus teleported beside the green unicorn, noting his red eyes. Morsidus swiftly bucked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
He got up, blasting Morsidus back and let the changelings engulf him. Without being able to see through the swarm, Morsidus couldn’t teleport to get back to him.
Then he heard the scream.
Morsidus wasted no time, and bucked the changelings away from him and rushed to Zecora. She was unconscious, and her body was bruised and bloody, with a long gash on her side. He looked to Twilight and her friends, but they were encased in a green magical barrier. The changelings were cornering him, and he was alone.
“The Zebra witch is dead! The Elements are captured! Where is your savior now, Discord?!” The unicorn cackled, and prepared another spell.
At that moment, Morsidus snapped. Rage pulsed through his body, and he was finally able to convert to his full form. Morsidus blasted the nearest changeling, sending him barreling away. The opening was quickly closed by another.
He growled and set up another attack, but stopped short. He was shocked to see that he was no longer surrounded by changelings, but by Zebra. Many different Zebra, with one recognizable one standing directly in front of him.
“Z-Zecora?” He shook his head. ‘N-no… This isn’t her! This is just a cruel changeling trick!’ he thought. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to shoot her, or any of them. ‘But what if it isn’t? What if she’s trying to blend in and-and I kill her?’
Morsidus took a deep breath in and pushed away two changelings on his left. He dashed through the opening, quickly being pursued. He couldn’t think of a plan through his muddled mind, so instead he charged into action.
He knocked down whatever changelings happened to be nearest him, with one exception. Through his rage, Morsidus couldn’t tell where Zecora had gone, and the changeling Zecora was nearing him. He couldn’t help but risk it…
And he hesitated.
With that hesitation, the changeling managed to get one good shot in, knocking Morsidus back.
He stumbled to his hooves and blasted the changeling. She hit a tree, and fell unconscious, thus showing her true form.
With all of the changelings incapacitated, Morsidus went for the escaping unicorn. He flew over to him, landing in front of him.
They fought, but Morsidus was taking more damage than he was dealing. Hearing a knocking sound, Morsidus glanced up. It was Twilight. She was yelling something to him, but he couldn’t make out what. He teleported closer to her while the unicorn caught his bearings. It sounded like she was saying, “Only he can take it off.”
‘Take what off?’ he thought. He turned the idea in his head for a second before a blast from the unicorn caught him off guard. He shook it off, and remembered what Princess Luna had told him.
An idea came to mind, and Morsidus hid from the unicorn. While he looked for him, Morsidus swooped down, catching him unguarded. Morsidus lifted him high in the air, and the unicorn kicked and screamed wildly.
“Take it off!” Morsidus growled, somehow being heard over the roaring wind.
The unicorn spat back, “N-never!”
Morsidus smirked, and let the unicorn fall. He caught him, and told him again, “Take. It. OFF!”
The unicorn was nothing more than a whimpering mess, and he quickly pulled the amulet off. Before Morsidus could take it from him, he threw it far into the Everfree Forest.
He landed, and locked the unicorn and his changeling drones within a large, wooden cage Twilight had conjured. His rage had worn off, and he was no longer in his full form. Slowly, he stumbled over to where Zecora was and laid down beside her, quickly falling asleep.