//------------------------------// // Inner Thoughts // Story: At the Twilight of Harmony // by Rammy //------------------------------// 47 days since the fall of Traxti City 21 days since Legacy Chaser’s murder Evening, Near Fillydelphia At least this time, we were able to evacuate the city. Celestia sighed as she looked over to the north at the plumes of smoke and flame coming from Fillydelphia. After the destruction of Baltimare, the Dark One made his way north, and for the past hour had been smashing through the city of Fillydelphia unabated. Occasionally a roar could be heard carried on in the wind. Luckily, they had managed to fully finish evacuating the city several hours before. Though that was of little comfort for her. It would be months before the final death toll from Baltimare could be tallied, and even then, she was sure there were going to be some that would remain missing forever. Those whose fate would be a question of were they even in the city when it was attacked… or did they escape to only fall victim to something else, like the weather or wild creatures or, the heavens forbid, another pony. That foul Cult… For a moment Celestia found herself contemplating outright genocide. I just hope that the only place they found as a possible spot to breach Tartarus’ barrier was the one found in Everfree. She turned away from the sight about ten miles to the north. For the moment, there was nothing she or her ponies could do about it. Even with most of the rest of the military making their way to the east coast, it would not be enough. She had no idea how, even with Discord, all four alicorns, and the Bearers of Harmony, they would be able to attack the demon dragon, much less drive him south. Celestia slowly made her way back to the command tent. It had been quite some time since Equestria’s entire military had been completely mobilized. So long, in fact, that very few had the experience or knowledge to be able to coordinate the efforts. This left it to her and Luna to deal with most of it. Luckily, Celestia was very good at delegation, so it did ease it to a point. Still, it was chaotic. Case in point, it took her some time to return to her command tent because of the chaos of the command area of the encampment, as ponies rushed around with reports and orders. Celestia’s ears flicked as she thought she heard her name being called out. She ignored it as just an effect of all the noise. If it really was a pony calling for her, they could talk with her at her command tent. She breathed a sigh of happiness when she finally made it to her command tent. It was very simple, small, and open faced. Normally she would have a larger tent to allow some privacy, but, between the constant movement of the camp and the need for her to to be actively in command, this was best. She didn’t mind too much as long as she had some calming tea. A unicorn pony, a radio operator, from the the looks of her uniform, ran up to her just as she got to her thermos. “Princess… Celestia!” The unicorn, breathless, tried to speak . “Tea first.” Celestia held up a hoof to silence the pony. Obviously, whatever the pony needed to tell her was urgent, but she badly needed something to calm herself. Watching the ongoing destruction was probably not a good idea, and she needed to be calm to deal with whatever bad news she was about to get. Why can’t it ever be good news? “Okay what is it?” “Princess Twilight Sparkle has disappeared from Ponyville. No one knows where she may have gone, and she had been missing for several hours now.” In that single moment, every possible scenario flashed through Celestia’s mind from foalnapping to even murder. She took another swig of her tea, swallowed, then took a deep, cleansing breath. She was sure it was benign. If it was murder, like from the Cult, her body would have been found by now… same with foalnapping, but instead, a ransom note would have been given. Celestia rubbed her forehead, trying to stimulate her mind into figuring out where she may have gone. She was sure the reason for why should narrow it down a bit. Twilight, sometimes, when deep into researching or experiments, would, in the heat of the moment, disappear to test the hypothesis she was working on, especially if the testing was particularly ‘dangerous’ or needed more space than her lab. If she had gotten caught up in an experiment of some sort, then it most likely had to do with dragons and and more specifically the Dark One. This meant she was most likely with He of Everfree and in the vast Everfree Forest. This presented a slew of problems, beginning with the fact that she did not have the necessary anchor to contact him. Because she could not contact him, she could not quickly find out if she was correct, that she was with him, and there was no guarantee that they were at his cave. That left her with the slower option of search parties, but even that left her with issues. To begin with, she couldn't use any ponies other than the Bearers, as they would be killed by He of Everfree. And even if she used the Bearers, it could potentially take too long, never mind the dangers of the Everfree at night. That left her having to use Discord, and he brought with him a whole different set of problems. Celestia quickly weighed it all and then settled onto the “best” option. She leaned down to a pot of Poison Joke that was oddly sitting in the corner of the tent. “Discord, could you be a dear and go find her?” The plant shook violently for a moment, then one of the flowers that had been facing the corner turned to face her. The blue flower looked very suspiciously like Discord’s head. “How did you find me?” The flower Discord pouted in a high, squeaky voice before pointing a leaf accusingly at her. “And don’t think that just because you found me, that I will teach you a new recipe.” Celesia couldn’t help but giggle at the cuteness that was the flower Discord. His ‘threat’ might have been more effective from anything other than a dainty flower. “First of all, you decided to disguise yourself as a live plant, outside, and in winter no less. Secondly, Poison Joke is a bit obvious.” The Discord flower gave a strange smile. “Touché.” He then gave a snappy salute, which looked ridiculous, as his arms were leaves, and then teleported away in a flash. There was nothing more Celestia could do about Twilight at the moment. She sighed before she settled back into her cushion to continue to deal with all the logistics. She tried to drink some more tea from her thermos to calm herself down, but oddly, no tea poured into her mouth. Again she sighed as she eyed her now empty thermos. I’m going to need more tea... Midnight, Everfree Forest Twilight wiped some sweat off her brow. Pony knowledge was at least right about about dragons’ caves, dragons’ caves never were cold. Even in winter, they were always relatively warm, given the roaring furnace inside a fully grown dragon. What amazed her was that, although they remained towards the front of the cave, near the chilly night air, as He of Everfree did not want to do anything too close to his hoard, that over the hours they had been working, the temperature had risen dramatically. Her winter jacket and boots had long since been forgotten on a random stalagmite. “Found her!”  A voice called out, startling both the dragon and the pony. Twilight and He of Everfree turned to see a doggish looking Discord sitting happily while panting heavily and wagging his tail just outside the cave entrance. Twilight couldn’t decide whether to gape or facehoof or both, while He of Everfree was irritated at the draconequus. To think the Chimera Keeper would blatantly appear so close to his hoard, and that he didn’t notice his approach. A more critical glance and he could see that the draconequus dog was sitting just outside his hoard wards. Either he was really lucky, or he was pushing his luck. Another Discord, normal looking this time, suddenly flashed next to the dog-like Discord. “Good boy! Here’s a Discord snack.” Twilight facehoofed at the antics of the draconequus. She understood that Discord had to be chaotic in order for his magic to work at its peak, but did he have to be so irritating while he did it?  Also she knew that he knew to keep it toned down around dragons, particularly He of Everfree and Quartermaster. A low growl from behind her told her that the dragon was in agreement. “You have been a very naughty Princess, Princess Twilight.” The second Discord admonished. He snapped a claw and the first Discord disappeared. He started to lazily spin a pair of pink, fuzzy hoof cuffs with an extended claw. “You incessant, annoying, nuisance of a…” He of Everfree had began to rage and was even about to move forward to attack the draconequus, when a thought entered his mind. A delicious thought, and not only did it make him happy, it would be very helpful…. very helpful indeed. Twilight appeared to have a similar thought at the same moment as the dragon, as a grin began to form on the corners of her mouth. She looked up towards him to see that he had a similar smile forming. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Twilight was looking up at him with a knowing look. Their eyes locked for a moment, then their grins widened before they turned to face Discord fully. “Uh….What did I do?” Discord nervously asked, sweat starting to bead on his forehead even in the cold. He knew he had overdone it, but the smiles on Twilight’s and He of Everfree’s faces were really unnerving. It was the smile he used when he ‘tried’ to look innocent when he was about do something that may not be well liked. It was never good when someone imitated him. “Twilight? He of Everfree?” He gulped as the gazes of the two continued without them answering him at all. He just knew that he was not going to like whatever they were thinking. He started to become smaller in a vain attempt to hide from those eyes. This was payback for everything he had ever done, he was sure of it. “Please don’t hurt me…” Discord squeaked as he continued to shrink under the sustained smirking glare of the alicorn and dragon.