//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 - One More // Story: Fragments of Memories // by Starwin //------------------------------// Fragments of Memories By Starwin Chapter 11 – One More “Your… sister!?” exclaimed Twilight Dash. “You have a sister?” “Of course,” said Discord dismissively. “I’m sure I’ve mentioned her before. Haven’t I?” He looked almost pensive as he tried to recall having talked about his sister. “God’s are always born in pairs. That’s just how it works. And here I thought you were supposed to be the clever one?” “Wait, if you were a pony once, why don’t you really look like one?” asked Sky, jabbing a hoof at Discord’s twisted form. “Me? Oh, I was never a pony,” said Discord, making air quotes with his eyebrows. “I was born a god! But if you were referring to my body, well, I’ve made some modifications to it over the years. Some of these parts were donated to me and others… well, let’s just say their original owners won’t be missing them anymore.” “You’re a monster,” whispered Velvet with a disdainful shake of her head. “Did you know about Harmony,” demanded Twilight Dash angrily. They ignored the conversation Discord was currently having and turned to face Luna. The moon Princess’s eyes widened slightly at Twilight’s abrupt change in tone. “Did you know about all this?” “I knew of Harmony, yes,” said Luna flatly. “And were you ever planning on telling us about her?” asked Twilight Dash. “Or were you just going to wait until she showed up?” “Harmony isn’t important anymore,” said Luna, shaking her head. “What’s important is you! Discord still has yet to answer our most important question.” “Yes, let’s not talk about my sister,” interjected Discord with a frown. Discord’s head twisted around. It turned upside down and rotated in a way that should have been impossible. “Let’s talk about something else, anything else. How about Fluttershy? Or that Apple-loving-pony - you know, the one with the hat.” “Aurora Winds, Silver Stars and Stamped…” pressed Wild Heart, attempting to redirect the conversation. “Oh no, I don’t think that was her name. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with apples,” interjected Discord. “What happened to them?” demanded Wild Heart, ignoring Discord’s mock question. She moved even closer to the pond so that she was only hoofsteps away from its edge. Discord glanced down at her with a bemused expression upon his face. “Gone I’m afraid,” said Discord feigning remorse. Twilight Dash could almost feel the pained wince on their mothers’ faces. “The sacrifice to make a god takes a lot out of you. Well, everything out of you really. The moment Eternia was born, they ceased to exist.” “So no part of them survived inside of you?” pressed Wild Heart. Discord rolled his eyes. “Look, I’ll be honest, this conversation is starting to bore me,” said Discord. “It was fun and all to see your shock and surprise, but now the questions are getting a little more personal than I would like.” “Answer her,” growled Sky. He too advanced forward. His wings lifted him up so that he could glare Discord right in the eyes. For a long moment, Discord glared back, and then his eyes suddenly bulged and grew five times the size of his body. Sky tumbled backward in alarm. Discord let out a roaring laugh. “Okay, that was pretty amusing,” chuckled Discord. A single tear of laughter started down his cheek. One of his horns bent around like a tiny finger and wiped away the drop. “So what about us?” asked Twilight Dash. “If we slip apart… will we…” “Become like me?” asked Discord. “Oh, hardly. There can only be one of me. Besides, there are only two of you in there. I expect you would just go back to how you were… unless…” Discord’s head surged forward once again, knocking Wild Heart out of the way. His long, snake-like neck coiled several times around Twilight Dash. Their parents tried to approach but Discord easily pushed them away. “Discord!” bellowed Luna angrily. The element of magic began to whirl rapidly above her. Purple streaks of energy swirled in the air around the element as the ground vibrated with the low hum of power. Then Discord spoke. His words seemed to carry a silence with them. The other ponies were shouting, calling out to them, but Twilight Dash couldn’t hear anything except Discord. “Unless this is what you want,” whispered Discord in their ear. “Do you want to be a god, Twilight Dash? Is that your goal? You know what you have to do. Just one more pony. That’s all it takes.” “Guards!” commanded Luna. Her words were muffled in Twilight Dash’s ears, the small sound seem to almost pull them back out of the silence. Discord’s face moved even closer to theirs and the soundless world pressed in again. With only a hoof between them, Twilight Dash felt extremely uncomfortable. They tried to take a step back, but bumped against Discord’s entangling neck. “I can guide you, I can show you what true power is,” whispered Discord, his mismatched eyes mirroring Twilight Dash’s own. “You just have to let me in.” “Let you… what?” asked Twilight Dash. Their thoughts had dissolved into complete chaos. They were hardly aware of anything beyond Discord. They felt fear petrifying them in place. Adrenaline telling them to fly. Spells surging to their horn ready to cast. But Twilight Dash did not move - could not move. Discord smiled a terrible twisted smile. Someplace behind his head blue sparks cascaded into the air as the guards drove their spears into his neck. He hardly even noticed, or cared. A tiny misshapen arm sprouted from his head and poked Twilight Dash hard in the chest. They let out a yelp of pain and surprise as they plopped onto their haunches. For a brief moment it had felt like their whole body was on fire. No, not just their body, more than that. It had felt like their thoughts had been on fire. A chilling laugh echoed through the air as the spears finally did their job. Once more Discord’s head reeled back into his stone body. His mouth hung open while the awful sound still lingered in the air. His insane pupils pointed outwards, seeing everything and nothing. Then a blast of purple energy crashed into him and Discord was once again simply a statue. Twilight Dash felt their legs go weak. Their body felt like it had lost all its strength. Their head was spinning like they had been tumbling through the sky. A darkness closed in around their vision and they felt themself fall. There was lots of sound around them, voices shouting and their name being called. But there were only two voices they could hear. “Twilight!” cried Velvet, hovering over them. “Dashie! Oh my little Dashie!” cried Breeze. The voices slipped away. A sort of fuzzy darkness at the edge of their vision rushed across their eyes. Their head stopped spinning. Then everything stopped. Rarity sat alone on a small grassy hill, looking towards the distant castle. She wasn’t really seeing it anymore. The thoughts inside her head were slow, crawling through her mind like molasses. She didn’t want to think them, but it didn’t matter they were still there. How could they have failed so badly? Not even five minutes in Canterlot and they had lost nearly everything. Fluttershy and Applejack were gone. Twilight Dash was off on her own. Bitless, homeless and stuck in this city with no means of communication. How could it possibly get worse. The sky above her rumbled as clouds rolled overhead. Thursday. Rain day… of course. “Rarity,” asked a small voice from behind her. It was Spike. She felt her body become ridgid. Her muscles tightened as if ready to run. It took all her effort to just sit there. She bottled up the thoughts in her head, hiding them away like they might suddenly be seen. Rarity tried to put on a smile, to act like nothing was wrong. But there was so much wrong that even her fake smile didn’t want to come out. “Are you… are you alright?” asked Spike. The small dragon had come to check on her again. “Yes,” answered Rarity flatly, trying to give nothing away. She didn’t turn to look at him, but kept her gaze locked on the castle. “Uh, okay, good,” answered Spike. “Look Pinkie is out…” Rarity heard the words, she really did. But she simply wasn’t listening to them. All throughout the morning Spike had stopped by, staying for a few minutes at a time to fill her in on whatever he was off to do next. She had hardly heard him any of the previous times and even as he was speaking now, she didn’t hear him. “…somepony finally let me have a sheet of parchment,” continued Spike. “So we just need to find a quill and…” Rarity couldn’t help her eyes as she half looked back at Spike. No. She didn’t want to see him right now. She didn’t want to talk to him, knowing at any moment she might be forced to confess. Her eyes snapped back to the castle. “Isn’t that great?” finished Spike. “Yes,” repeated Rarity. There was a long moment of silence but she didn’t hear any retreating footsteps, or Spike telling her that he was leaving. “Are… are you sure you’re okay?” asked Spike. “You’ve been sitting here all morning. Wouldn’t you rather be in the tent? It’s supposed to rain soon, maybe you want to come inside?” “No,” answered Rarity simply. She just wanted Spike to leave her alone. To go off and do whatever pointless thing he was going to do. She didn’t want to talk to him. She didn’t want to tell him… No, she didn’t even want to think about it. “Uh, okay, I’ll… I’ll be back later,” said Spike. Rarity could hear his hurried steps in the grass as he ran off. She let out a sigh. He hadn’t asked her. The one, terrible thing she was dreading and he hadn’t asked her. But he had said he would be back. What was she going to say then if he asked the one question she didn’t want to answer, the truth she didn’t want to tell? Was she going to lie to him? Rarity didn’t know yet. She just knew she couldn’t tell Spike that like Applejack, she too had voted against Twilight. Spike returned to the campsite felling a little deflated. He thought they had made great progress so far but Rarity just didn’t seem to care. After all, they had found this campsite last night. Canterlot Central Park was free for any pony to stay in. It had clean running water and an orchard of various fruit trees. It wasn’t the High Hoofton, but it was nice all the same. And cheep. That was the important part right now as they were completely broke. At first Spike thought they were simply going to have to sleep on the dirt. As it turned out, one of the things Pinkie had packed in her enormous trunk was a tent, well, three tents actually. And six sleeping bags. Two of the tents were large enough to sleep three ponies each. The last tent was just big enough for Spike. When Spike had asked why she had brought them Pinkie just smiled and said, “You always need to be prepared to go camping, even when you don’t think you’re going to go camping!” They had still setup all three tents. Rarity had wanted her own and Pinkie had pointed out that she wouldn’t fit in Spike’s tent. When Spike tried to point out that he would fit inside her tent Pinkie just looked at him in confusion and pointed out that he already had his own tent. Spike had been too tired to argue with her. In addition to their small campsite, they now also had fifty percent of what they needed to write a letter to Princess Celestia and get this whole situation sorted out. Parchment, which a bird sketching pony a few tents down had been kind enough to provide to Spike. They also had ink, that Pinkie had acquired from a passing student. In truth, the young pony seemed more eager to get Pinkie to leave him alone than to give her his extra ink pot. Now all they needed was a quill and a ribbon to tie it. Pinkie was busy hanging streamers around their camp, trying to cheer it up a little. Or maybe she was trying to cheer herself up. She smiled at Spike as he approached. “So, what did Rarity say? Does she want to help us yet?” asked Pinkie. Spike shook his head. “I don’t know,” said Spike. “She, uh, really doesn’t seem like she’s in the mood to talk. I wonder what’s wrong with her?” Pinkie looked off in the direction where Rarity was sitting. From the campsite, she couldn’t see her, but Pinkie squinted her eyes like she could just make out the distant pony’s shape. “I have no idea,” said Pinkie casually after a moment. She turned and bounced away, returning to her streamers. Spike sat down at the wooden table next to the fire pit. They hadn’t use the table, as they hadn’t brought food, other than Pinkie’s bags and bags of party candy. And they hadn’t used the fire pit, as they didn’t have any wood, nor were any of them really in the mood for sitting around a fire. Absently, Spike rolled a pointed twig back and fort on the table as he watched Pinkie continue to hang her streams. Where in Equestria was he going to find a… quill… his eyes suddenly locked on the stick and he lifted it into the air like it was a great magical sword. “Of course!” exclaimed Spike. “I don’t need a feathered quill, I just need something with a point!” “You’re going to use a stick as a pen?” said Pinkie with a raised eyebrow. “Wi-erd.” With that she snapped a pointed pink party hat onto her head and blew on purple paper party horn. “Pinkie, what are you doing,” asked Spike in confusion. “Pity party,” said Pinkie, blowing the party horn again with much less enthusiasm. She trotted back into her tent and zipped up the flap. Spike shook his head. He pulled out the parchment and the small ink bottle and dipped the pointed end of the stick into the ink. He hoped this would work. As it turned out, sticks were not made to be the best writing implements. Ink dripped and blotted on the parchment as he wrote. Several times he pressed too hard and the tip poked a hole right through. All in all, it was a mess. But it was legible and it did get the message though. Taking down one of pinkies streamers he used it to tie the parchment. He didn’t have any sealing wax to bind it, so a knot would just have to suffice. He held up the paper and blew his magical flames onto it. Green fire engulfed the paper, changing it into a sort of magical green cloud. It raced up into the sky but turned sharply and sped away from the castle. “Wait!” shouted Spike as the magical message zoomed off. “You’re going the wrong way!” But the fire was already long gone. “Well, that’s just great!” Huffed Spike. What are we suppo- wha- *cough*” Spike grabbed his throat and covered his mouth, but a moment later he let out a huge burp of green flames. He reacted without thinking, snatching the parchment out of the air before it could fall. He had never gotten a response so quickly before. Carefully, Spike broke the seal on the immaculate parchment and unfurled the message within. He looked at the words with a slightly perplexed expression on his face. “The horn you are trying to reach is currently busy,” read Spike aloud. “Please try your message again at another time? You have to be bucking kidding me!” Everything felt a little… odd, disconnected somehow. They felt stretched out and spread thin. The sunlight above them was blurry and out of focus, but they could feel it. Their perspective was low to the ground, they could see each blade of grass as they crawled over it. There were also voices shouting someplace ahead of them, but they couldn’t make out the words. Ever so slowly, they crawled onwards. There was something ahead of them. Ponies. Their speed quickened, racing along the ground. More shouts. They lashed out, striking like a snake. But there was fire. Invisible and terrible blocking their path. “Hold the line!” shouted one of the ponies. Magic. This was magic. They didn’t feel like they had eyes, but they could still see. They could see everything at once. And there. Small, tiny and unnoticed by these blind ponies was a crack. They did not wait. They seized the opportunity, pouring through the hole left unguarded. The unicorn on the other side let out a yelp of surprise. But his words were frozen in his throat as they swept over him. More shouts, from behind them this time. No. There was no behind. A line of unicorns stretched out across the field. All were casting together. The closest pony turned, trying to redirect the wall of fire. But she was too slow. And they swept over her, and then the next one and the next one. Finally, a pony further up the line did what the others had not. She turned before they could reach her, trapping two of her fellows outside the wall. They were able to take the sacrifices, but they could go no further. That was fine. Six. It was fine. They could wait. They had waited five thousand years. They could wait. Twilight Dash shuddered awake, the last lingering bits of their terrible dream slowly fading from their mind. They had been a snake… or something… they had attacked other ponies. They shivered again. It was just a dream. A bad dream. They felt a damp cloth press against their forehead. The waking world sudden became real to them and their eyes snapped fully open. They didn’t recognize this room. It wasn’t either of their bedrooms in Ponyville. Not their parents’ houses… either of them. Not… “It’s alright, calm down Dashie, you’re safe,” said a reassuring voice. It was their mother sitting beside them. Or their other mother. They weren’t sure. “What…” rasped Twilight Dash. Their throat felt dry. “After Discord attacked you, you fainted,” said their other-other mother, Velvet. “We were so worried for you, but Doctor Heart said you would be okay. She said that you just needed to rest.” “Where, where are we?” asked Twilight Dash, glancing around at the unfamiliar walls and staring to feel uncomfortable. “This is your room,” said Night Light. “It’s where you stayed last night, don’t you recognize it?” Now that their dad had said something, they noticed just how cramped the space was. Their parents were all packed into the tiny little room. Their room. They recognized it. “How?’ began Twilight Dash. “Luna teleported us here right after turning that monster back to stone,” answered Breeze. “How are you feeling?” asked Sky. “Water?” asked Twilight Dash. “Of course,” offered Breeze, taking a cup from beside their bed and holding it up for them. It had a straw, which made it easier to drink. “We were so worried for you. What did he do to you?” “We don’t… know,” said Twilight Dash, feeling a little light headed. “I didn’t do anything.” “Well there wasn’t time,” said Night Light. “We are just lucky Luna reacted as quickly as she did.” “Luna?” asked Twilight Dash. “Where?” “Yes, I simply must thank her for this opportunity!” “Is she alright? Can we see her?” “She had to…” began Velvet. Night Light nudged her into silence and shook his head very slightly. “What?” asked Twilight Dash uncomfortably. “Oh, it’s nothing,” said Velvet quickly, attempting to hide her words. But there was something in her eyes. Something they thought might be… fear? “She said she would be back to check on you.” “Where did she go?” demanded Twilight Dash, rising slightly from the bed. Their body still felt weak. “You need to rest,” said Night Light, resting a gentle hoof on their shoulder. “We can talk later.” They reluctantly lay back down. “Try and get some sleep, we’ll be right outside.” Night Light gave the others a stern look. There seemed to be some kind of unspoken agreement between them. Their parents began to file out of the room, but Velvet snuck in a single hesitant kiss on their forehead before she left as well. The door closed with a soft click, but it wasn’t thick enough to completely muffle the voices on the other side. Twilight Dash could hear what sounded almost like an argument break out the moment the door had closed. They couldn’t catch most of the words, but their name was definitely being spoken. “What happened to us,” asked Twilight Dash to themselves as they rested their head against the pillow. “What did Discord do?” “You keep thinking that I did something, why is everything my fault?” “I didn’t say it was your fault Dash.” “Uh, Twilight, that wasn’t me.” “… Well it wasn’t me…” They were silent for a long moment with only the muted sound of their parents arguing outside their door and the thundering noise of the blood pumping in their ears. “… Discord?” “Surprise! Oh, we’re going to have so much fun!”