//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: New friends and old friends (Edited) // Story: Light in the darkest hour // by DerpyEngi and Redd //------------------------------// Celestia's (POV) 3rd person Discord, Ori and Philomena disappeared and all Celestia did was stare. "Um, princess? What should we do?" Twilight asked. Celestia directed her attention to Twilight and said, "Go back to the study, Twilight. We have some catching up to do. As for the rest of you, head home, if a train will not arrive until tomorrow then you're welcome to stay in the castle," Celestia said with authority in her voice. The six of them nodded none of them daring to speak up. Then suddenly Discord appeared out of thin air. "Do any of you happen to be animal caretakers or vets?" He asked. Fluttershy raised her hoof slowly. "Ah, perfect!" he said happily as he snapped his fingers. And with that Fluttershy and Discord were gone. Celestia's eye twitched rapidly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) 1st person I felt incredibly dizzy after Discord teleported us. "okay let me know before you do that Discord," I said a little irritated. Discord only looked at me with confusion. "Hhmm... Seems that Ii can't understand you anymore" he concluded. Then he looked at my right leg and took a look of concern, "That... looks like it hurts." he said. Philomena looked at my leg the same time I did, it was incredibly burnet and there was blood pouring out of it. "Oh my, Ori, are you okay? Philomena asked., Immediately I felt a burning pain in my leg, I grunted and fell on the ground. "I'll go get some help." Discord said and he teleported away. "Ori! no, no, no, no, you just came back!". Philomena said, panicking. "I'm fine Philly, Discord’s just getting help. I, it's not like I'm dying.," I said, grunting and sure enough Discord appeared, this time with the yellow pegasus. "And here is your patient miss... What was your name?" Discord asked the pegasus. "Fluttershy...," she said, a little frightened. Then, she looked at my leg and she quickly went from frightened to shocked and worried. "Oh my, are you okay?" She said as she ran up to me and took a closer look at my leg. , "Oooh I don't have my animal healthcare kit, I don't know what to do!" she said, getting increasingly worried Discord snapped his fingers., "Here you go, an animal healthcare kit," he said as an animal healthcare kit appeared next to her. "Thank you," Fluttershy said as she took the healthcare kit. "Now, just stay still Betrayal, this is only going to hurt a little." she said as she started bandaging my leg. I growled, "My name is Ori.." She looked at me surprised then smiled kindly. "Well okay then, Ori." she said as she began putting disinfectant on my leg. "Huh? You can understand me?" I asked baffled, This is the only pony that I had ever met has understood me. "Yes I can, I can understand all animals," she said still holding her warm smile. "That is certainly interesting, how do you do it?" Discord asked. "It looks like me and Ori can't understand each other after we got out of stone." "Oh, she can understand you, but you can't understand her.," she answered timidly. "Still, it doesn't explain why you can understand her perfectly.," Discord crossed his arms and glared at her. "Well I can't understand her perfectly, but enough so I can talk to her.," she answered. "I agree with Discord. It's interesting that you can talk to us, so how did you learn to understand us? Philomena asked. "When you spend a lot of time with animals, you pick up what noises mean what." She said as she stood up. "There you go! Al done." "Thank you for your kindness. Most people would be hesitant to help a creature that just stood up to one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria!" I thanked rather formally. "Not a problem at all, but you might have to be carried for some time. Your leg is going to be fine but it's better if you'd keep pressure off of it." She explained. "Mind tagging along then?" Discord asked while sipping out of a chocolate cup with milk in it. "Uh... I don't know, I really need to get back to my animals and keep them fed, a,--" she started but was cut off by Discord. "Where are these animals?" Discord asked "Oh, they're in a cottage near the Everfree in Ponyville." she answered. Discord snapped his fingers. "Done, it won't be a problem anymore." he said simply. "What?" she asked in confusion. "Your animals have been put in a time lock until you get home, so they don't have to eat or anything untill you get home.," he explained. "H-how did you-" she asked, baffled. "I control chaos magic. I can do almost everything so I just located where you lived and put your home and all the animals there in a time lock.," he explained again. "Oh o-ok.," she said not really understanding but accepting it. "We should get going we could go to my family. W, what do you say Ori?" I simply nodded and said, "Sure, I've been wondering what your family looks like for a while now.." "I'm sure you family is lovely, Ms. Phoenix," Fluttershy said "My name is Philomena.," Philomena greeted and turned to me. "How did you know about my family?" "You remember the times you went to visit me and spoke to my statue?" I asked, she nodded. "I heard everything," I explained. She smiled., "Good to know i wasn't talking to a brick wall," she said while I chuckled. Fluttershy only stared at us in confusion., "How?..." she said "How what?" I asked. "How are you two communicating? Only animals of the same species can communicate." she said. Me and Philomena shrugged "Probably the same reason why we can understand any of you. We just do," Philomena answered and I nodded in agreement. "Well... I guess, I suppose that it is odd that animals understand ponies but not each other," she admitted. "Well, we should get going.," Discord stated. "Where to?" Fluttershy asked. "Uh... I was hoping you would know.," Discord said as he nervously while he rubbed the back of his neck with a claw. "Don't worry I'll lead the way," Philomena said. "Just follow Philomena Mr... what’s your name?" Fluttershy asked. A slight frown appeared on Discord's face., "Discord, my name is Discord." he said while crossing his arms. "Well, Mr. Discord lets follow Philomena to meet her family," she said. "Family? Sure, I've got nothing better to do.," he said while floating lazily above us. "Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!" Philomena said. A as she took to the air, she paused for a moment and looked at Fluttershy and said. "Thank you." Fluttershy smiled a small gentle smile and said nothing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location Unknown, Ori 1st person Philomena, Fluttershy, Discord and I were still flying after five and a half hours, and finally we arrived at some sort of city. "There it is! That's my home.," Philomena called out to me and Fluttershy who was falling a little far behind. "Good... can... we stop now?" she said exhausted., "We have been flying for five hours now." "Sure. Just wait here and I will go fetch my caretaker. Wait for me at the gate!" Philomena said as she flew off. Discord being Discord and not having a care in the world, was lazily floating above us. "Discord? Mind giving us a hand?" I said but only got a confused look from Discord. "I'm never going to get used to that," Discord said as he kept on floating around with seemingly no effort. "she... said... can you... help us?" Fluttershy said out completely out of breath. Discord only shrugged and snapped his fingers. All of us teleported in front of the train station which was currently empty. "Well, I'm already bored of this., Ori do you mind if I leave?" Discord asked clear bored expression on his face. I only shrugged in response. "Great! now I'll be off to the Badlands, I've heard that they're in need of some remodeling. Toodles!." He waved goodbye, and with a snap of his fingers he was gone. "Why did you let him go?" Fluttershy asked still a little tired. "I figured why not, when he get's bored he starts whining until he's entertained." I explained. "And it's not like we need him for everything, do we?" "I guess not." Fluttershy said as she stood up and started walking towards the gate. "So, how long do you think this is going to take to heal?" I asked her while I waited for us to arrive at the gate. "I don't know honestly, I haven't seen another member of your species, but seeing you heal as fast as a pony you will be ready to walk after a day," she explained. “Huh, well I guess that's good” I said as we stopped by the gate. Fluttershy put me down on a small hill with her wing. “Wow, this city is gorgeous, maybe just as beautiful as Canterlot,” she said sitting down next to me. I looked at city infront of me it was indeed very beautiful. There were tall buildings that looked like there scaffoldings were exposed. This city looked a lot like a old German village from home. “I’m willing to bet it’s even more beautiful at night with the starlit sky and the moon right behind it, lighting up the sky with with moonlight.” I said, imagining the beauty of the sky Luna crafted every night. “Starlit? What is a Starlit?” Fluttershy asked confused. I looked at her, confused as well. “You know, the white dots in the sky at night?” “You mean the moon? I think there is only one though.,” Fluttershy asked. I only looked at her, shocked., She didn't know about the stars!? But Luna put so much effort into them every night! did she give up on making them? No, that’s not like her. What happened? "Never mind, guess my memories are a bit off since I got out of stone," I lied, but I was going to find out what in the world was going on. After a short time of waiting we heard a voice coming from the gate, "Alright, alright, sheesh what's got you in such a hurry?" Me and Fluttershy turned our heads to see a griffon with a slight some light purple tint in their feathers and around it's eyes, following Philomena. Philomena flew over to us and landed on Fluttershy's head. She pointed her wings at the griffon and said, "Ta da! My caretaker, Gilda!" "Caretaker huh? So does your family hire her to take care of you?" I asked Philomena. "Well... no, she’s the member of the family that takes care of the family pet. In this case me." Philomena explained. "Does she understand us like Fluttershy?" I asked. "No, she can't." Philomena stated. simply. "Huh, I'm surprisingly satisfied with that answer" I said sarcastically, Philomena chuckled, knowing that I was always very curious and a answer like that was not going to suffice. "So, who's this, Philomena?" Gilda asked her pet bird. "It's nice to meet you by the way," she greeted, offering Fluttershy a talon. "Uh... uhm, hi, my name is Fluttershy and it's nice to meet you too.," Fluttershy greeted, reluctantly took her talon and shook it. Gilda smiled and said, "So what brings you here Fluttershy? And why does my pet phoenix recognize you?." And with that I hoped up on one leg on to Fluttershy's head and put an arm on Philomena's shoulder. Gilda only looked confused., "Is that your pet?" "What? N-, no I just helped Ori, her leg was badly burnt after reflecting a magic bolt.," Fluttershy explained, letting go of Gilda's talons. Gilda looked at my leg, curious to if Fluttershy was right., "So a unicorn attacked her?" she asked skeptically. "No, not exactly, it was actually the princess." Fluttershy said in a hushed tone as she hid behind her mane. Gilda looked surprised., "Wow, man you must screwed up bad to make the princess that pissed. I shrugged, literally having no idea what I did wrong. I then jumped towards Gilda., I landed and Fluttershy and Philomena gasped in surprise. I looked at them confused, "What is it? Did something happen?" Philomena pointed at my leg, "Doesn't it hurt?" She asked, a little worried. Then I remembered my leg, I looked down, curious to what happened. It didn't hurt at all. I carefully took of the bandaging and saw that my leg was fine. My fur had grown back and the wound that covered most of my leg was gone. Gilda Philomena and Fluttershy looked at me surprised., "Isn't it supposed to be badly burnt?" Gilda asked, now suspicious if Fluttershy was telling the truth. "I-, I don't know, i- i, it was just a f-, few hours ago" Fluttershy stammered, now a little scared, Philomena nodded repeatedly, trying to convince her caretaker. Gilda looked skeptical but eventually gave in and smiled., "Well good thing that no one here is loyal to the princess, now c'mon, I'll show you around." She said, motioning us to follow. Philomena flew over to her caretaker while Fluttershy and I followed her to the gates. There were some griffon guards standing next to the gate, when Gilda approached them they bowed and let her through. "Wonder what that's all about," I said outloud, Philomena only smirked and followed Gilda. I started to follow and started running after them to catch up, then something grabbed my tail and pulled me back. I looked at the griffon guard., He had a scowl on his face. "Now where do you two think you're going?" He asked as the other guard pointed his spear at the now cowering Fluttershy. "Let them go, they're with me." Gilda ordered in a harsh tone, the guards obeyed and moved back to their positions. Me and Fluttershy walked up to Gilda, she smiled and walked off. "Her personality seems to change a lot around other pon, err... I mean people," Fluttershy acknowledged. I only shrugged and followed Gilda. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Time jump one and a half hours Me, Gilda, Fluttershy and Philomena had been walking around for some time. Gilda and Fluttershy spent most of their time talking to each other while Gilda showed us of the grand city’s sites, while me and Philomena were catching up. "So this is Griffoonstone huh?" I asked "Yep, I've been living here for 749 years, it's going to be 750 in 6 weeks" She replied rather smugly, it reminded me of how she acted when I first met her. I smiled, "Good to see you haven't changed much" "Hey! I've changed plenty! Like..." She stopped thinking of what had changed. My smile turned mischievous, "Well there is one thing." "What is it?" she asked completely clueless. "You've aged." I said with the perfect pokerface. she frowned "Hey! You've aged too!" "True, but for you it shows!" I said now laughing my ass of. "Well, at least I've matured a little..." she mumbled. "Hey! Catch!" Gilda shouted as she threw a fish toward Philomena. Philomena flew into the air a caught it with her beak, she landed then a look of realisation came across her face which immediately turned into a grin. She threw the fish over too me, I caught it with my paws and looked at it, then i realised why she had a grin. "Eat up fatty," she said, I only stared at the cod with hungry eyes. "Well? You want it or not?" she said still grinning, "I know you want it, Ori." "Come to momma!" I said and began tearing the cod apart, "Iit. Iifs. Sfo. DELIFOISF!"I said my mouth filled with delicious cod Philomena started laughing like a maniac, "Good to see you haven't changed either.." I frowned a bit at that, I tossed what was left of my cod into a nearby trashcan., "You know, I didn't get out of stone unscathed.." I said frowning a bit. Philomena looked confused. , "You look fine too me, what happened?" she said, a little bit of worry in her tone. "well... I don't know exactly what is wrong with me, but physically I'm fine.," I explained, "Discord told me a few years back while we were in stone that we had both developed some mental tics. He doesn't know what they are but they are there.," I said a little scared. "I don't want to hurt you! when it happens! Or anyone else for that matter!," I practically screamed, "Itit could happen at any moment and we don't know what I will do if it happens!" I was now panicking, "What if it happens now tomorrow, today! Or even now!" I said as I started hyperventilating. "Hey there, calm down! It's fine, maybe the mental tic is when a pig flies on its own or something like that, there is no need to worry okay?" Philomena said as she put her wing around me to comfort me. I started to calm down a little after that. Then Philomena hugged me. I stopped hyperventilating, got a grip of myself and regained my composure and hugged her back. A smirk crawled it's way on my face, "When did you get here and where is Philly?" I asked sarcastically, more a less to calm myself down. "Are you saying that I can't be nice?" she said raising an eyebrow. "Maybe..." I said smirking. "Ori?." "Yes?" "Never change.." "Don't plan on it," I said, me and Philomena still hugging. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestias (POV) 3rd person Celestia was not in a good state to say the least. It was 4:35 AM and she was still sitting there researching all she could in the restricted archives in the Canterlot library. "She must have done it, she must have done it, she must have done it..." she repeated quietly. It couldn't have been a lie, she must have done it, Ori HAD to have done it, her little ponies were the only things she could trust., "Wait, of course! He was just lying! Like he always does., Ponies don't lie, only Discord and Ori lie!" Celestia said her eye twitching rapidly her usually well groomed mane now a complete mess and her coat dirty from being around so many old dusty books. She smiled. "Problem solved. Now, I think I might need some rest." she said walking over to an unconscious Twilight. She had fallen asleep after many hours of research. "I won't let that monster take you away too Twilight., Ori. Will. Pay!" she said as she picked Twilight up with her magic and put her in her chambers. Celestia put twilight onto her bed and walked out to her own chamber., "Mark my words, I will find you Ori, one way or another." she said as she got into bed. "I promise Luna, I will avenge you."