I was sitting on a bench, looking down at the ground, thinking about what I had just been told.
I had to go to a far off land, meet Mer-people, enter into a competition that most likely only gets entrants from their own species, and win said competition to get The Song?
It all seemed just a little bit too much for one person.
"Hey, Celedon."
I looked up to see Tim kneeling in front of me. Smiling, as he said, "I know you can do it. After all, you woke me up when I was encased in stone. You even got Mad Enhancement to release my mind. I doubt any old mermaid could do that."
My face slowly changed from one of grim pondering to an expression of silent gratitude.
"Thanks Berserker. I needed that," I said before getting up from the bench. If the competition was going to be happening soon, then I had best get going.
"All you two done over there?" Discord asked with folded arms. He really did not look to be in the mood to be patient.
"I guess...Is this really happening? Not some prank of yours?" I asked him.
He sighed and said, "I wish that were true. If it was I could be having some delightful fun with this. However, this is not a simple prank."
I nodded decisively. "Alright. What do I have to do to get started?"
Discord seemed to lighten up a bit. "Okay, first, you need to learn how to fly, play your harp, and sing properly, without any meddling from Void-coat. The competition is very sacred to the Mer-people, and only natural talent and abilities are allowed. And since I am being so generous right now and you need to get going, I think I'll just let you skip the training montage," he said. He then snapped his fingers.
Ever had the feeling of getting your mind broken into, stuff put into it, and then resealed, all in the space of a quarter of a second that felt like an eternity?
I didn't think so.
I almost immediately collapsed to the ground from the sheer pain of having my mind invaded. Images flew by in my mind's eye, leaving me speechless.
After a few seconds of this excruciating pain, I was able to open my eyes again. I was still a little deaf, as my senses 'rebooted." I saw Tim roaring and swinging wildly at Discord, who was having fun with him by making Tim slip in hot sauce puddles that appeared from the ground. And by hot sauce, I meant liquid fire. Not magma or lava, liquid fire.
...I don't even care anymore.
"Ugh...Stop it you two," I said, not willing to deal with another second of insanity.
They both looked at me, Discord with a noticeable amount of hostility, before stepping away from each other. Tim was still under the effects of Mad Enhancement, but walked over to kneel at my side.
"Come back, Berserker." I commanded. Hopefully the message got across about Tim's sanity returning.
Tim looked at me and tilted his head. Then, his eyes glazed over for a few seconds before he shook his head vigorously. Apparently the command registered.
"Wha, what happened?" Tim asked as he brought a hand to his head.
"You tried to attack me while I rid myself of the horrible feeling of obeying rules by making you trip in hot sauce," Discord said with a grin. Though once he glanced at me his face turned sour. "And you just had to ruin that by forcing me to obey your ridiculous voice."
Apparently, this man(?) likes his freedom a lot.
"Well, now that you know how to do the stuff, I need to be going. Lots of chaos to spread, very little time to do it! Or maybe it's the other way around..." he said a second before he exploded.
I looked at Tim out of the corner of my eyes.
He raised his hands in defense, saying, "What are you looking at me for?"
I sighed before saying, "I was looking at you to confirm whether or not I really do exist as a golden angel thing in a land where the impossible happens hourly, or even by the minute."
"Oh..."
As we walked back inside the party hall, the girls could be seen cleaning up, along with help from the castle staff. I decided to help out by getting the party banner with the rather long title down from where it hung from the high ceiling. Might as well test and see if I could fly correctly.
I flapped my wings experimentally. Newton's Third Law decided to rear its ugly head, to incredible results.
The sheer amount of force behind my simple flap caused a massive gust of wind to blow through the dining hall. I did achieve flight for all of one second as I was launched into the air. I didn't want to try and keep myself in the air like that if I was going to cause tornado force winds just by hovering.
I didn't account for my weight upon landing, however. I thought I would land gracefully, and in a way I did. However, when you are made of solid gold and you fall from even a moderate height, things tend to break. Namely, floors.
Let's just say that the palace repairmen were going to have their work cut out for them trying to repair a crater that appeared in the dining hall.
Everyone was still coughing from the dust cloud when I emerged from the new hole in the floor.
"*cough* Is, *cough* is everyone alright?" I heard Applejack say.
A chorus of agreements rang through the hall. I wanted to try and clear the dust, but I'm pretty sure I would just make it worse.
"Celedon, *cough* why did you try to fly like that?" Celestia asked from somewhere in the dust cloud.
"Discord shoved the information into my mind, along with a couple other things. I wanted to try it out," I said. I had learned not to lie to the Princesses, though half-truths still worked.
I heard several sounds of exasperation.
A couple minutes later, the room had been cleared of the dust, thanks to some of the people who had been helping clean up the party.
"Alright, Celedon, describe the conversation that caused Discord to force information into your mind," Celestia asked, a gentle expression on her face.
"I'm sure he could do better than I could at explaining. He was talking about the Mer-people and their competition around this time of year. The way he phrased it, he was hinting at my possible entrance into the contest due to my, apparently, amazing musical talent. I agreed to go, and he put the stuff in my head," I said. All of that was true, but some important factors were left out, such as him having had contact with Void-coat. I still need to figure out his name...
Back to the present, the Princesses seemed a little suspicious.
"It would cause enough chaos for Discord that he might say something about it..." Luna hypothesized.
"True, but I don't like how it was so coincidental to now, of all times," Celestia countered.
"It is in his nature to be annoying, in any way possible."
Celestia grimaced slightly at that.
"So...do I need to do any type of immigration or something to go to the competition?" I asked.
The sisters gave me a confused stare. "Only the northern Griffin Kingdoms have a system like that in place," Celestia said.
Luna looked over to her sister, "Really? They still use it even when there is no reason to?"
"You remember how the Griffin Kingdoms like their privacy, of course they would still have it," Celestia explained.
"So I could just walk up to the competition and enter?"
Again the sisters looked at me. "Technically, yes. Though you would have to get them to agree to let you in. They also only hold the contest underwater and no magic is allowed, so only those with some natural way of breathing under water would enter," Celestia clarified.
"I think I've got that taken care of," said as I nodded. I didn't need to breathe, being a golden robot.
The Princesses were looking a little worried, maybe because I would be out of their supervision just after having arrived in their country.
"Did I hear something about the Mer-people?" I heard an inquisitive voice from behind me.
As the owner of the voice showed herself and stood to my right, Luna's left, Celestia said, "Yes, Celedon was asking about them because Discord apparently thinks it would be a good idea for her to go and enter into the competition at Mermaid Bay."
"The Ocean's Call? But isn't that supposed to decide the Royal Siren?" Twilight asked, looking confused.
"Correct. However, there have never been any rules stating that outsiders cannot enter and the Royal Siren is not decided by the competition alone. It merely boosts their public approval rate which might sway that King's decision," Celestia said.
I guess being the ruler of a country has its perks. Namely, knowing about other country's culture. Though I didn't understand why Luna looked like she was learning something new. If she was a ruler at the same time as her sister, wouldn't she know this information as well.
"Oh, can I please go with her?" Twilight suddenly requested. "I would love to go there and learn about the people! Living underwater like that, it must be amazing to see!" She got a dreamy expression on her face.
Celestia looked a little pained as she said, "I'm sorry Twilight, but you cannot leave here yet. You must be present in case Berserker loses his mind again."
Twilight slumped forward. I decided to step up and said, "Why not bring him with us, along with the rest of the Elements?"
Twilight's eyes brightened while Celestia's brow narrowed in thought. Luna was looking like she was thinking as well. Then, Luna whispered in Celestia's ear for a second before waiting on her sister's reaction. A few seconds of silence resulted in Celestia letting out a long breath through her nose before she said, "As long as you have several guards with you for the trip. I will not leave you and the other Elements unprotected, especially while in the presence someone like Berserker."
Twilight seemed to take in the first sentence and ignored the rest of the statement, jumping up and down and rushing to give Celestia a hug. Seeing her so happy put a smile on my face.
"Alright then!" Twilight said as she back away from Celestia. "I'll go see if I can't get the rest of the girls on-board for the trip!" She then rushed off to speak with the others.
"Your highnesses, would you mind if I named a couple guards to bring with us?" I asked.
The two rulers looked confused, but nodded their heads to indicate their acceptance of my request. "Would it be possible to bring Star Saber, Snow Lance, Rock Breaker, and Jade Hunter?"
For some reason, Celestia smiled at this. "No, it won't be a problem. I was actually going to send them with you anyway. They are four of my finest guards and I would feel much better if they went along with you and the Elements," she said.
Surprised but not shocked, I thanked her and excused myself. I walked over to Tim, who was helping tear down the DJ's turntable set-up.
"So, we're going on an adventure?"
"You heard it all?" I asked, surprised.
"Yep. Not that I mind, I don't want to be kept in this stuffy castle for a week on probation," he said, unplugging a speaker from the main control board.
I nodded in understanding. I remembered that Tim had never liked being cooped up for long periods of time back when he was a normal guy.
Hopefully nothing would hinder us from our goal. Discord had sounded angry when he told us about The Song, but I thought I heard an underlying hint of worry in his tone. I probably would not have given much thought to it if it had been anything other than the fact that Void-coat had told Discord to relay the information.
...
Nevermind, that is reason enough to worry about everything.