Chapter Twenty-Eight
Applejack
I woke up in a bed and stared at the ceilin’ as I tried to remember what happened. The last thing I remember was focusin’ my element with the others and usin’ it against Chaogent. Then Harry stabbed Chaogent. Chaogent shouted somethin’ about taking control or somethin’ like that. He mentioned somethin’ else, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was. Then there was a blindin’ light and I found myself here.
I sat up and looked around, realizin’ that I was in the bedroom at Molly’s place. I looked at myself and saw I was human again. I guess Discord’s power wore off; but how did I get here? And where was everypony else?
I got out of bed, realizin’ I was in the clothes that I was wearin’ when we entered that void thingy. My hat was nearby and I grabbed it, puttin’ it on my head. I still can’t believe that Discord used it to slice those things. At least he didn’t mess it up.
I went to the door and opened it to leave, but almost ran into Pinkie Pie instead. “You’re up!” she said in excitement. “Did you sleep well!”
“Pinkie,” I said. “What the hay happened?”
“Oh, Harry went all ice Hulk on Chaogent, and Discord turned into a sword, then we hit Chaogent with our power, Harry stabbed him, and then we woke up here,” she in her usual excited self.
“Well, I know that much, Pinkie,” I said. “I meant, how did we get back here?”
She thought for a moment before she gave me a smile and said, “Beats me.” She turned and started to skip down the hall to the stairs. “You coming? Everypony else is downstairs.”
I frowned a bit as I followed her out of the room and downstairs. Everyone was in the living room. The girls were all back in their human forms like myself. Discord was in his young human form too. Harry was sittin’ by Murphy, who was wrappin’ up his arm in bandages. Fluttershy was sittin’ on the ground with a little girl and a big gray fluffy dog. Discord was sittin’ next to Thomas, though neither seemed too happy to be sittin’ so close together.
Twilight was sittin’ by the man I briefly met at the church and a woman I hadn’t met before. The man was big with a beard and wear a flannel shirt. The woman smaller and though she was smilin’ had a stern look to her. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were sittin’ on the couch, which Pinkie promptly went over and sat down with.
“What’s goin’ on?” I asked, walkin’ over and sittin’ down in the only chair that was there. “Where’s Molly?”
“You just missed her,” the man said. “She had to leave on business. I don’t believe we properly met. I’m Michael Carpentor, her father. And this is my wife, Charity.”
“A pleasure meetin’ yer acquaintance,” I said with a nod of my hat. I looked over at the others. “So, what happened after we attacked Chaogent?”
“Chaogent was sent back to the Outside,” Discord said. “Everypony else collapsed as the realm fell apart. I took it upon myself to get you all back here.”
“How long were we out?” Twilight asked. Apparently, they were waitin’ for me to get up before Discord explained everythin’.
“A few hours,” he said. “Molly was up first. She called her parents to check up on them. In the meantime, Kincaid awoke and left in a hurry.”
“Kincaid was here?” I asked in surprise.
“You didn’t notice him in the realm?” Harry asked. “He entered at one point and stopped Chaogent from crushing me and Maggie.”
“I guess he wasn’t as bad as we thought,” Thomas said. I heard a loud snort from Murphy who apparently didn’t agree. He gave her a smirk.
“As I was saying before I was interrupted,” Discord said. “Pinkie and Rainbow awoke a few minutes later shortly followed by Harry, Thomas, and Rarity. Molly’s parents arrived with this Temple Dog.” He said that with hate, I noticed. “Harry was able to awake his daughter before Fluttershy came down. Twilight and Murphy awoke after that. Murphy discovered that Harry had injured his arm in that last attack and started treating him. Then Molly got a call and left just before Pinkie went up to check on you.”
“You’re a horrible story teller, Discord,” Rainbow said. He gave her a smile and shrugged.
“I noticed that I wasn’t mentioned at all,” Thomas said.
“Oh, did I forget you?” Discord replied. “So sorry, I didn’t even realize you were here.”
“What is wrong with you two?” Murphy asked.
“Nothing,” they both said at the same time. They looked at each other and glared.
“So, Chaogent was defeated,” I said. “He was sent back to this ‘Outside’ realm, right? And everythin’ was turned back to normal.”
“Yep, and all in time for Nightmare Night!” Pinkie said, excited.
“Or Halloween,” Thomas said.
“Or Daddy’s birthday,” the little girl said.
My friends and I looked over at Harry.” Wait,” Pinkie said. “You mean to say that not only is it Nightmare Night and Halloween, but it’s your birthday too?! Why didn’t you say so?!”
Harry stared at her. “Umm, we were a little busy,” he said.
“Well, we need to have a party!” Pinkie said.
“Unfortunately, that will have to wait,” Discord said. “I’m not summoned here, so I have limited power. And right now, I have enough to get us home.”
“Then we have a party and then you take us home,” Pinkie said.
“It’s almost nightfall,” Discord said. “Once the sunsets, all my power will be gone and I’ll be joining my brother in the Outside.”
“Then have Harry summon you,” she replied, looking over at Harry.
“Not gonna happen,” Harry said. “I summoned him in the realm because we needed his help.
“Even if he did, I used most of my energy while in the realm,” Discord said.
“Before we discuss parties or getting home,” Twilight said, interrupting, “what happened to Cowl?”
“Cowl did what Cowl does best,” Harry said. “Saw things weren’t going his way so he turned tail and ran.”
“Where?” Rainbow asked. “I didn’t see anypony leaving that place. And what were those things?”
“He left through a rift he made to the Nevernever,” Harry said. “That’s the third time he’s gotten away too. And those things were zombies. Cowl used his magic to resurrect the dead and was using a drum to control them.”
“So, he escaped and Chaogent started attacking?” Fluttershy asked.
“Actually, something broke the circle,” Harry said, looking over at Rainbow Dash. “A rainbow flew through the circle and it broke. Chaogent went after Cowl, and Cowl escaped.”
“But I wasn’t even near the ground,” she replied.
“Doesn’t matter,” Harry explained. “Just cross through where the circle is and you break it.”
“Oh,” she said. “My bad.”
“It worked out in the end,” Discord said, getting up. “Ladies, we have a time limit. I suggest we go.”
“This sucks,” Pinkie said. “I wanted to celebrate Halloween and Nightmare Night here and throw a party for Harry!”
“Some other time,” Harry said as he got up. “Thomas. One last ride?”
“Whatever,” he replied as he got up.
“Are we still Trick-or-Treating later?” the girl asked.
“We are,” Harry said. “Just have to see our friends out of town, then we’ll go back to Michael’s and get ready to go.”
“Alright,” she said. “I’ll go with you.”
I saw Harry look over at Murphy and then the Carpenters. “I don’t see why not,” Mr. Carpenter said. I saw Harry give him a look. “Between you, Murphy, Thomas, and this Outsider, I don’t think anything could hurt her.”
“You forgot Mouse,” Fluttershy said, pettin’ the dog. “Such a good and smart dog.”
“You got that right,” Harry said. “Come on, Maggie. Get your coat.” She smiled, got up and hugged him before runnin’ into the other room.
...
We were in the cars shortly after that and headed out. After a short ride, we were at an alley, gathered around a spot that Discord had told us he came through. We stood there as Discord walked forward.
“I can’t wait to get home and in my safe place,” Fluttershy said.
“You and me both,” Rarity said. “I’ve certainly had enough of this dreadful business. I could use a nice relaxing spa and a long nap.”
“I may join you, Sugarcube,” I said.
“Portal’s open,” Discord said. “I suggest we get a move on.”
Twilight turned to Harry first. “Thank you, Mr. Dresden,” she said.
“Harry is fine,” he said.
“Harry,” she said with a smile. She gave him a hug.
“Ok, that’ll do,” he said, pattin’ her back with one arm.
She smiled as she went to Murphy. “Thank you for your help,” she told the woman.
“Don’t mention it,” Murphy replied. “Just give me a call next time you’re in town.” She handed her a business card.
Twilight nodded, taking the card before kneeling in front of Maggie. “It was great meeting you,” she told the girl.
“It’s was great meeting you too, Twilight Sparkle,” she said, givin’ Twilight a hug.
“Thank you for all your help,” I heard Fluttershy say. I looked over to see her speakin’ to Thomas.
“Well, I was in the neighborhood,” he said. She hugged him and I noticed he tensed up a bit. I also noticed Discord showin’ his teeth in a soft growl. She let go of Thomas and went over to Mouse, kneeling down and started talkin’ to the dog softly.
I walked over to Thomas. “So, what happened between ya and Discord?” I asked him.
“We had a disagreement,” he replied before lookin’ at me. “You kicked some ass back there.”
“I fight for my friends,” I said. He gave me a smirk and hold up a fist to me. I looked at it for a moment before I bumped it with my own.
He shook his hand and looked down at the back of it. Some burn marks appeared. He let a chuckle when he saw that. “Hero hasn’t forgotten about you,” he said.
That made me frown. “What?” I asked. “How do ya know that?”
He held up his hand. “True love is deadly for a White Court Vampire,” he said. “You’re protected with it.”
True love? Did he mean what I thought he meant? “Oh,” I said, looking at him. I decided to steer away from Hero. It was better to not think about him now. “Is that how ya got that burn on yer lip?”
He smirked and looked at Fluttershy. “Seems somepony else has also found true love,” he said.
I looked at her and frowned. When did Fluttershy find true love? It couldn’t have been here. Maybe somepony she was close to? It couldn’t be one of us. The only one she was close to was…
“Wow,” I said. “Didn’t know her and Discord....”
“Not Discord,” Thomas said with a stern voice. “Discord is an Outsider. He doesn’t know what love is.”
So that’s why they were angry with each other. I gave Thomas a smirk. “Honey, I can tell ya now,” I said. “Discord may not understand it, but he can sure as well feel love. Shoot, he didn’t know the feelin’ of friendship until Fluttershy showed him.” I turned and faced Thomas straight on. “You think just because he doesn’t understand what true love is he can’t feel it?
I saw Thomas frown in thought for a moment before he looked over at Discord. “If you put it that way,” he said.
“Ponies,” Discord called out. “It’s now or never.”
The girls all nodded and said their final goodbyes. I did the same and followed them towards the portal. One by one, my friends stepped through. Discord, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and then finally me. At least I started to. I stopped and looked at the new friends we made one last time...and I spotted him.
At the end of the alley, a man in a long black leather trench coat, long blond hair, and deep blue eyes made his way towards the group. He had in his hand a guitar case with a big orange and black ribbon on it. On his wrist were about three bracelets each with two rings on one hand and another ring on the other. Around his neck, resting on his forest green shirt was a single necklace with a charm that had three triangles on it.
“Hero?” I whispered softly. I stepped away from the portal and started to walk forward towards the confused looks of the men and woman standin’ there. Then I broke out in a run, pushin’ passed them and throwin’ my arms around the man, kissin’ him. He kissed back.
I broke away from the kiss and punched him in the chest. “What took ya so long?!” I demanded.
He gave me a smile, rubbin’ his chest where I hit him. “Sorry,” he said. “Had to deal with some things.”
I gave him a smirk before I kissed him again.