"Disowned? Now hold up Auntie. You sure we're talkin' about the same mare? I know you and granny aren't on the best of terms but I know that mare better then the back of my hoof and I know she ain't one to cut off family. And I know she would have told me even if it was true." Applejack stared at her aunt like a pony would at somepony else with two heads. Valencia sighed and rubbed her temples.
"I know she raised you since Ari...your mother and father died, but your grandmother also has her own secrets and tends to keep stuff like this to herself." explained the older mare, running her hoof through her hair and shifting awkwardly on the couch.
"I don't believe that for a moment. Granny is the most honest pony I know!" stated Applejack, her anger bubbling and beginning to surface. Valencia snorted at Applejack's statement.
"Honesty? No, she cares more about appearances than honesty. She'd rather be viewed as a perfect family then admit to her shortcomings or just how unperfect the apple family really is. "
"How dare you talk about my granny like that! She is nothing like that!" Applejack growled and stomped her hoof on the ground. Valencia merely shook her head at her niece and sighed.
"You may have been raised by her and she is your grandmother Jacqueline but I know my mother better then you do and I know that she is more self-centered then you can ever believe. Your entire upbringing is a direct reflection of that."
"And what in Tarnation is that supposed to mean?" By now Applejack was in a full seething rage, immensely regretting coming to see her aunt in the first place and wishing she had just stayed away. How dare she talk about her granny like that? Even if she was her granny, in the Apple Family you didn't talk bad about your kin. If you had problems you took them aside and spoke to them one on one, not bad mouth them behind their backs! Valencia didn't reply at first she merely swept her eyes of Jacqueline and a look passed over he face. It left as quickly as it came but Applejack was nearly positive that the mare looked both sad and angry.
"Nothing little Jacqueline. I'm sorry, I'm...it's....Come, let's forget this. It's not important and it's best to leave this stuff to the past. Your granny is a good pony even if I don't agree with every thing she's done. " Applejack cursed under her breath. On one hoof she wanted to storm out of here but on the other one Valencia was still family. She debated internally for a moment before she begrudgingly sat down next to her aunt, letting the matter drop for the time being.
-
....It was....Centaurian? Yes! The language of the centaurs, a loyal proud race that had been driven to extinction over the centuries due to unknown causes. Well not completely wiped out; Tirek who had recently been imprisoned by the recently crowned Princesses Luna and Celestia, was the last centaur left or as far as reports went. No other centaur had been spotted in over two hundred years. ! What a foal he was to not recognize it sooner! He had stu....studied...recently imprisoned?
Discord shook his head. No, that wasn't right. He wasn't imprisoned by Celestia and Luna, he had been imprisoned by his fiance and her friends. Well he supposed Twilight Book-Horse did most of the work but still. He knew Celestia and Luna had originally imprisoned Tirek, he had heard about it but he wasn't around during that time. Wait, wasn't he? Discord suddenly found himself struggling to recall. Truth retold he really didn't think about his past as he preferred to spend time in the present and spread chaos rather then reminiscing like some pansy. But now that he was thinking, what was his first memory? How old was he when he said his first word? Had he ever been a foal? Had a childhood, parents?
Fear gripped the draconaquuas/unicorn. He couldn't place any of these things, yes he was the spirit of chaos but everyone had a beginning, even if he didn't have a family. It was so odd, he couldn't remember! He struggled but eventually he gave up. Perhaps he was overthinking this, it probably wasn't important...was it?
Discord turned his attention back to the carvings before him. It was odd that he recognized Centuarian despite not having seen the language before as far as he knew. What was even odder was this entire hallway seemed to have centaur statues but the room previous all had statues of unicorns. He glanced at the writing and realized he understood. Well not well but he was able to pick a few words out of the carving as he read over a section: Sealed....beware....fear and one word that stood out above all: run. This all made him think back to the note he found with the skeleton. Something about a "She" that was inside this place apparently, was it connected to the writing on the walls? Even more confused he decided to continue forward. Besides, nothing scared the Spirit of Discord. Discord continued down the hallway. The hallway was long and filled with more carvings and and writing and also a few stone busts of various random centaurs. Upon reaching the end of the hallway he discovered another door.
The door which was eighteen by eighteen feet tall [Give or take a foot or two.] was actually two connected doors made of some sort of metal of which Discord could determine; a black metal. On each door there was a circle of six prongs which were out of place but gave Discord the impression that something went there; some sort of key. The door was obviously locked; there were six locks that went up the seam that the two doors shared. If he were to guess, the key or rather keys since he assumed he needed would needed to be placed on their appropriate prongs and then turned or something. This would most likely lead to the door being unlocked.
Lazily, Discord attempted to open the door with his magic but to his disappointment the door did not unlock. In fact the unicorn spell he cast at the door actually rebounded off of it and hit a statue behind him, shattering into pieces. The door clearly had some sort of enhancement on it to prevent a magic user like a unicorn from opening it. Discord then tried melting the door but again nothing happened other then the fact that he nearly set himself on fire as it once again rebounded. Frustrated he attempted to tap into his magic and ditch the inferior unicorn magic but found he couldn't. He cursed Faust under his breath. It seemed he would need to find those keys. Wait, clearly whatever the stallion outside had mentioned was not in this hallway so that had to mean whatever it was he had ran from was beyond these doors. And that meant he had to have gone in there, meaning he probably had the keys.
Discord was right, he went back and found the keys under a loose rock near the stallion, his crude attempt to hide them to no avail. The keys were two large golden disks with holes that were clearly cut out for the prongs. Discord brought the keys back to the door and placed them on the doors. Once they were on, he used his magic to turn the keys. At first they didn't turn however he realized from the large ornate carving on the door that he had overlooked that they needed to be turned in a pattern. The left one three full turns clockwise, once counter clockwise then halfway clockwise. The right one followed the pattern in the opposite direction. Once Discord finished turning the right key, the locks began releasing themselves. The sound of ancient locks opening was loud and made Discord cover his ears with his hooves. When the final lock clicked and released, the door opened a smudge.
He stepped forward and using his magic, he opened the door and almost instantly was hit with old, stale air and dust. He was sent into a coughing fit, forcing him to kneel over as the coughs racked his body. Faust, what he would do for water. Subconsciously perhaps, he found himself reaching behind him to his side and to his surprise he discovered saddlebags which he hadn't noticed before. When did those bags get there? Had they always been there? How come he didn't feel them before or notice them when he was staring into the pond? Discord removed the bags and tossed it's contents onto the cavern floor, still coughing and trying his best to breath.
A heap of items was tossed to the ground, the amount of stuff far larger then the bags themselves. Probably expanded on the inside, not exactly a rare enchantment. The items that had once been inside his bag consisted of a camping set; a pan made of stone which was cracked and clearly old, a bedroll made of some fur as well as a folded up matching tent, a few books, a large supply of food mostly consisting of pickled or dried items such as fruit, a small, homemade first aid kit that consisted of bandages and whatnot, a fire making kit and the most important item; a old wooden canteen that was filled with water, or so Discord realized when he sloshed it around. Discord struggled with the cork in the canteen before he managed to pry it free with his magic, sending the canteen flying, spilling most of it's contents. He growled in frustration as he picked it off the floor from where it had landed and surveyed what was left.
There seemed to be still some water inside so he quickly downed what was left; a few mouthfuls. His coughs subsided a tad after being drowned by cold water but still persisted to an extent. He would need to refill it somewhere....or perhaps? Discord concentrated on the canteen and attempted to summon water to fill it. He struggled for a few minutes but eventually he was able to summon a small torrent of water which he eagerly put in the canteen by picking it up with his magic and then drank it's contents. He did this a few times before he could take it no more and was sure his stomach would burst from the amount of water inside. He took the canteen and everything else which was still on the floor and put it back into his bags save for one of the books that stood out. It was a worn leather book which seemed to be empty of any writing except for a few pages. Discord started to read them but decided it could wait, his curiosity was getting the best of him and he wanted to know what was beyond the door. He put it away and opened the partially opened door and stepped through. Once more he was greeted by a hallway, which was dark and foreboding. However this one merely featured normal cave walls and was not inscribed with pictures or writing and it descended.
He walked down this new hallway, using his unicorn horn to illuminate the way. It was a long hallway, long. He spent over an hour walking deeper and deeper to the point he starting to wonder just how deep this hall went and when it ended. As he walked he came to realized he could hear water. Frowning he picked up his pace, it seemed to be coming ahead. When he reached the end of the long hall instead of another door he was greeted by a large opening. As he stood on a large stone platform he could only stare in bewilderment as he looked upon an underground city.
The cave which was larger then he had ever seen was illuminated by various enormously large crystals that hung from the ceiling, glowing a strange green. Below the platform was a large city made of what appeared to be stone. Stone buildings of various sizes, small and big littered the streets paved with a similar crystal as the one that hung from the "Sky." Statues of centaurs littered the streets, at almost every street corner. A large run down stone castle sat in the middle of city and surrounding the city on three sides a large lake stood with a few waterfalls running, bringing water from a nearby lake. The entire city looked to be slightly bigger then the City of The Royal Pony Sisters which was home to sixty thousand individuals. The cascading waterfall, the glowing crystals, the ancient castle that stood tall, all would have been beautiful to marvel at if Discord was a prissy person. And if wasn't for the fact that high on the platform, he could see nothing but skeletons lining streets, weapons scattered and the remains of an ancient battle.
Discord lifted a hoof to descend the stone stairway that descended down towards the city in the bottom of the cavern and then....
"DISCORD!"
-
Fluttershy chose a small cafe with Prench influences. She chose it because it looked so quaint and homey as well she liked the name of it. Cafe Aurora. Outside the cafe, there was a large chalk board with a list of various daily specials as well as a few patio seats and tables for those who wanted to eat outside. The building which was shoved between a grocery shop and an apartment building was a small two story building with white stucco walls with ivy growing up and down the building. Stepping inside, the group was greeted by a small waiting area filled with plush looking rose colored couches, various potted plants like ferns and a large wooden host podium. The walls were covered in a light pink wallpaper which featured silver roses with wood paneling along the bottom. The floors was marble, done in a Single Herringbone pattern and from the ceiling hung beautifully crafted lamps that were made of colored glass.
Behind the podium, a middle-aged pegasus mare with a beautiful silver mane swept up into a bun and a soft orange coat, donned in a white jacket suit and matching sandals, smiled as the group entered the building. Her attitude was cheery and bubbly and the small name tag on her breast pocket read: Silver Carafe. As the group of six ponies crowded into the waiting area, the mare came from behind the podium and approached them.
"Ello! Welcomez to ze Cafe Aurora! Table for six?" asked the mare, in a thick Prench accent. Fluttershy smiled back at the mare and nodded.
"Yes please. Um...c-could we get a win-window table? I mean if it's okay with you other wise I'm good." Out of habit and due to her social anxiety, Fluttershy looked away and kicked the floor. She hoped she wasn't being too rude to ask for a window seat. Oh! What if someone else wanted to sit in a window seat and there was only one window seat or one left? Suddenly Fluttershy felt very guilty and selfish. She opened her mouth to retract her request but before she could Silver Carafe was already speaking and pulling menus from behind the podium.
"Oui, Madame. Follow me." Fluttershy and the rest of the group followed, allowing themselves to be lead to a booth near the back. The group sat with Fluttershy and Discord on one side and the guards in the middle and on the other side. The situation soon became awkward as the hostess handed out menus and left briefly to attend to another group that had came in, telling them that a waiter would be along. It was awkward because no one knew what to say.
"So..uh...um...h-how long are you in town?" said Nightblade. Nightblade was a young pony mare who couldn't be much older then Fluttershy. She had a deep grey coat as well as a dark red mane and tail, both of which she kept in straight styled ponytails. Her eyes were a light fuchsia color. She was incognito as well as her colleagues, all dressed in dark navy suits. If anyone were to ask just how the guards were to defend themselves they would tell them the truth, or so Dented Steel had earlier that morning when everyone went their own way. The suits were enchanted with an armor spell.
Usually when guards were provided as an entourage to an individual of high status, they were typically in their normal city guard uniform. However in this case because they didn't want to draw attention, the enchantment had been chosen instead. It was a hard spell to cast and lasted only twenty four hours before the spell on the item [In this case clothes] that was enchanted faded. That meant to avoid having the enchantment fail at an inappropriate time, the guards were instructed to be in their normal garb only when at the hotel. Otherwise, for good measure they recasted the spell in the morning to ensure it didn't run out during the day when they were out.
Twilight had been quite excited when the guards had first explained this to her but became disappointed when she realized it was temporary. Of course this lead her to go into a rant on how enchantment worked. The art of permanent enchantment was lost; since before the Heartwarming Spell. These weren't normal weapons either, even with the magic attached. They were rumored to be made of an unknown material and superior to many of the common day metals like platinum. Sure you could put enchantments that could last for months, maybe even years but eventually they all faded away. Unicorns and magic researchers had studied for years to try and determine how they could get them to stick permanently but nothing worked. One researcher, Open Grave, theorized that only a special type of metal could hold a permanent magical effect and that the weapon would need to be shaped a certain way before being enchanted. He had apparently spent nearly his entire life trying to figure it out before he died three decades ago at the age of sixty-nine.
To many other ponies, those who were not magical enthusiasts or what not it would seem like a pointless thing to research. What's the difference if you need to recast the spell? Why bother with enchantments? Can't unicorn magic do whatever it pleases? The answer was difficult to explain. Usually, the things you enchanted would start to degrade.
Actually not usually, always. Maybe not at first but with each time an item had magic reapplied, it was more likely to cause the item to break or heck, there had been reports that things even disintegrated. That could lead to a problem, especially if you were in a situation that was life or death. There was also the fact that enchanted swords could be good for pegasi and earth ponies or other races that couldn't outwardly access their magic. A unicorn could summon fire in a battle to kill enemies as could a dragon or but what about those who didn't have magic or magical abilities? Instead of going against some unicorn with just a normal sword, they could go against a unicorn with a sword that had a fire enchantment that would set the person on fire every time it made contact.
Or perhaps a pair of gauntlets that could give one the ability to see in the dark when put on. There was also the fact that modern day enchantments were quite weak and it was believed their ancient counterparts were far superior. The final thing was, unicorn magic wasn't as awesome as others thought. Yes, unicorns once controlled the celestial bodies before Celestia and Luna took over, yes they could change an apple to an orange but everything had it's limits. The orange in most cases would turn back as it took a very skilled individual like Twilight Sparkle or the late Starswirl The Bearded to make an apple stay as an orange. It just wasn't as easy as others made it seem. Fluttershy shook her head, realizing she had internally went into a tangent as she recalled how her friend tried to explain enchantments to her and their other friends. Honestly she got the gist of it but it still confused her a bit.
"Oh...um... are you okay? You've been staring into space for a while." Fluttershy let out a small 'eep' and blushed furiously, how rude of her!
"Oh-h...um...sorry, I-I was just...um...thinking. How long are we in town-n? Oh just a few days, we're looking at venues and caterers for my wedding as well as dresses." explained Fluttershy, opening up her menu and glancing at it's contents.
"Aren't you from Ponyville and isn't your friend a seamstress?" said Swift Sword, speaking up and grabbing a roll from the basket that had seemed to have suddenly appeared. How long was she staring into space. Fluttershy glanced at Discord who seemed to be uninterested in the conversation and in fact was not even paying attention. He was looking around the small dining room, perhaps looking for somepony he could release chaos on. Fluttershy chose to ignore it for the moment to continue her conversation.
"Oh well, I wanted it in Ponyville. We were actually going to go for a little wedding in the garden with a 'touch of chaos', as Discord put it even get a local bakery in my town, Sugarcube Corner, to cater but everypony keeps saying I should have a big giant, expensive wedding, that it's the only one I'll ever have. In truth I think they want me to have a huge wedding because they feel it would making marrying Discord more bearable." Fluttershy paused to glance at her fiance who met her gaze, turning away from the ponies at the nearby table he had been staring at. Fluttershy opened her mouth to say anything but he merely patted her on the head like you would a dog and smiled, trying to give the impression that it didn't bother him. But she knew it did. A lot.
"Truth is I don't want a large wedding and a large wedding wouldn't make up for marrying Discord because I'm marrying out of my own freewill and I'd rather be surrounded by trees, animals and flora rather then a wedding in an old chapel or an expensive wedding hall. So we came here because Ponyville has nothing like that." said Fluttershy continuing on. She paused again briefly to look at Discord and frowned. From the way he kept lifting his head up and the way his eyes kept closing, she could tell that he was falling asleep. Was this boring him...or....how long had he stayed up during the night before, wrapped around her? Protecting her? Fluttershy felt super guilty as she watched him slowly fall asleep.
"And your dress? Your friend....Charity? No, Rarity? Why don't you get her to make your dress?" said Dented Steel, drawing Fluttershy back into the conversation.
"I did. She made me a dress that doesn't fit what I want." explained Fluttershy sighing and glancing at her menu, finally deciding on a light Cesar Salad with a side of fries and a lemonade.
"Why not get her to make another one?"
"Well, I don't think she would and I would feel rude to expect her to make me another one. She is quite determined to have me wear the dress she made even though I've stated my displeasure with it."
"Why does she want you to wear it so badly?" Fluttershy paused at this question. On one hand while she suspected it was jealousy, she didn't have solid evidence and she also didn't want to bad mouth her friend.
"She's pretty determined in her fashion tastes." said Fluttershy, becoming uncomfortable with the conversation. She really didn't want to talk about her friend or any of them behind her back even though she admitted she had a bit. Thankfully none of the guards pressed the matter and a few minutes later the waiter arrived to take their order.
"I will have....the stuffed bell peppers with a salad on the side...Oh and a soda" said Silver Sword, tucking a strand of dark grey hair behind her ear as she used her lilac colored wings to hand over her menu to the server. The server, Belle Beauty smiled and wrote down the order in her notepad before turning to Dented Steel to take his order.
"Oh, uh just get me a hay slider and some fries, soda is fine so long as it isn't Dr. Peppermare"
"Same, what about you Soft Blows?" The stallion in question who was a pegasus with a very short, messy white mane and tail with a soft green coat merely grumbled and pointed out the things he wanted on the menu to Belle. The mare smiled, not caring that her customer was speaking physically instead of verbally and politely smiled, adding it to the notepad.
Following that, Fluttershy gave her order to the waitress; Belle Beauty inquired about Discord who was now snoozing. It really wasn't against the rules to have customers fall asleep if they were with other customers but she still thought it would be rude to not take his order. Fluttershy pondered her decision and decided to let him sleep and in his place ordered him a slice of Triple Chocolate Walnut Cake with a side of chocolate milk and another slice of cake. Belle merely raised an eyebrow but said nothing; it wasn't her business. After she left and the group waited for their food, Fluttershy decided to ask about her guards.
"So...um...if-f you don't mind me asking....how long have you been guards?" asked Fluttershy, trying to stop herself from hiding; She usually wasn't one to start conversations or ask personal questions due to her social anxiety but she felt like being brave. Still, she found herself avoiding contact and trying to make herself as small as possible, worried that she had said something wrong.
"You're quite shy and timid, ain't ye? Ha! You and Soft Blows would be the best of friends!" The ponies in question glanced at each other awkwardly. You would think that it would be easy for two social rejects to click together yet both felt awkward with the idea, barely knowing each other.
"Maybe." mumbled the stallion, the first thing he had said in the company of Fluttershy and his group all day. Fluttershy mumbled something of her own but it was indescribable.
"Uh....well, yeah how long have we been guards? Well Nightblade here is a recent graduate of the Manehattan Training Program; been on the job less then a year. Ol' Denty here has been with the guard for twelve years, would have been higher rank by now if it wasn't for the fact that he is just so loved by the Captain of our precinct." said Swift Sword, giving Dented Steel a jab which earned her a glare and a snort.
"Don't listen to her; I'm still hanging around with these greenhorns because somepony has to keep them in check. I've been offered promotions numerous times." Swift Sword just laughed and stuffed a bread roll into her mouth. In response, Dented Steel snatched the rest of the bread roll basket, causing the mare to whine.
"But...But, I want more bread...." she said as she tried to reach for the bread basket. Dented pushed her away as he held the basket in the other hoof. Swift Sword attempt to grab it but Dented Steel was quicker, managing to keep it away from her.
"As your superior, and for your lack of decency I have the right to stop you from pigging out on bread rolls. Seriously, you've eaten four of them already." For several moments Swift Sword tried to get the rolls before she both gave up and decided the stares and annoyed complaints from other guests was not worth it. Still, she gazed longingly at the rolls and plotted a way to steal them.
"Um wel.....Um....hi?" Fluttershy paused mid sentence, just about to ask the jobs more about their jobs when the trio of ponies from the table next to them rose from their table and approached theirs. Their faces were covered by the hoods of their sweaters, which was a little odd given that they were inside. When Fluttershy first saw them, she chalked it up to some fashion fad; she actually saw teenagers around Ponyville wear their hoods in doors. But as they approached, she realized that from their size they weren't teens, they were full grown ponies and the stallion in the middle was familiar. More then that, she recognized his face. Fluttershy wasn't sure what happened next but she could feel liquid running down her neck and as she lost consciousness, she felt the need to scream and scream one name.