//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Daring // Story: Avatar: Legend of Diamond Tiara. Book 2: Discord // by Jeweled Pen //------------------------------// “I'm not buying it,” Rainbow grumbled as she circled the pegasus. “You're not... you don't...” “I don't what?” Daring asked, a frown on her face. “There's no way you can be Twilight's kid. For one, Twilight is... well, Twilight. Only thing I could imagine her having a kid with is a book. Two, you're not nearly egg-headed enough. I don't even think you have glasses.” She flapped her wings, putting a gust of wind over the mare. “Yeah. No glasses.” “Mom didn't have glasses...” “Yes, but she was still a massive nerd. Okay, fine. If you're Twilight's kid, who am I?” “Rainbow mane, arrogant, slashed up eyes, I'd have to say Rainbow Dash,” Daring said casually. “To be honest, you're the main reason I even ran out to help. Until I saw you, I thought you guys were just fancy pirates and was just following you to make sure you stayed away from the village.” Rainbow frowned. “A lucky guess. Though everypony knows who we are, there's no need to--” “You know what? Listen. If you don't wanna believe I'm mom's kid, that's fine. I don't care. But you have wounded ponies, I've agreed to help you, so how about you come with me before somepony up and dies?” The blue pegasus growled, but slowly nodded. “Fine. We can talk this out later. But if you try anything, you'll regret it. I may be blind but that doesn't mean I can't break you.” Daring nodded before looking over the gathered ponies. “Okay, we aren't that far away, so how about you gather up your wounded who can be moved and we can head to the village, okay? We don't have any healers, but we do have medicine. Those who can't move, stay here and I'll send some ponies here to help.” “I'll stay,” Silver said before glancing to the others. “I need to organize a... salvage operation,” she said with a shudder. “There is still plenty on the Promise that can be useful. Medical supplies especially and... and my beautiful ship, w-why did you have to--” She shook her head. “Anyway. Still plenty to do here.” “I'll stay too,” Acrylic said with a nod. “I can--” “No, no no, no,” Silver said firmly, shaking her head. “Y-you go with the Avatar. You're one of our better fighters and there's no telling what they might encounter.” “That's reason enough for me to be here,” the stallion said, stomping a hoof. “No! I'll be fine, just go!” “But--” “NO! I need some time away from you, OKAY? I need to process... THIS! All of this! GO!” Rainbow turned towards Prism. “You... ever get the feeling you're missing something?” “All the time,” he said with a sigh. “I'll stay and keep an eye out. If anything happens, I'm one of the fastest here--” His mother coughed, he glared. “One of the fastest here, so I'll come and get help.” Acrylic ground his hoof into the ground, before giving a sad sigh. “Fine...” He turned away and walked to the rest of the crew, helping to gather up the wounded. Diamond looked to Daring. “So uhhh... you've been following us all this time?” “For a while. Picked up on your trail after I came across three broken ships. Figured there was another turf war between all of them.” She gave a snicker. “Hardly the first time. Didn't expect to meet the new Avatar, though. So, tell me, how good are you? Mom was pretty amazing, so I bet you must be pretty good. Right?” Diamond sighed. “If I was half as good as I once thought I was, things would be a lot better. I've still got a long way to go until I can... fix anything,” she muttered before waving her hoof. “I try my hardest, though. I'm making a lot of progress, too.” “Ah, don't worry so much,” Rainbow said with a chuckle. “Twilight used to suck pretty bad, too. When I first met her she was always getting herself blown up, captured, beaten, or anything else. Buck, she used to light herself on fire to escape half the time. Scary thing was how often that worked...” Daring chuckled, nodding. “She told me about that. Also... well, Rainbow. She told me a lot about you. Is it true? She said you were the only pony able to do the... sonic rainboom?” Rainbow blinked, then her head lowered. “Yeah... I... used to be.” She shook her head. “That's not important, though. There are a lot of way, way cooler stories about me than that old tale. Besides, I want to know about Twilight! How'd she go and have kids? I never imagined she'd... well, that.” Daring sighed. “She wrote a few... books on the subject if you want the in depth analysis.” She shuddered. “Very, very in depth.” Rainbow blinked, before bursting into raucous laughter. “Oh, wow. Okay, I take it back. That is too much Twilight for ANYPONY to fake.” “We're ready!” Button called out. Diamond glanced back to see the majority of the wounded ponies were now standing, supported by others. However, there were plenty of them still laying on the ground, hurt and wounded as the healers did their best to help them. Thank heavens the infirmary wasn't near the center of the ship and had avoided being crushed. The alicorn moved back to help one of the wounded, letting them lean on her. “Okay, Daring, lead the way!” The pegasus nodded before lifting into the air and flying off, albeit slowly so they could keep up. ------ Silver watched as the last of them disappeared off in the distance. Only her, the wounded and a sizable portion of the remaining crew remained. And Prism, she supposed. She glanced towards her ship. Her beautiful, expensive, state of the art and positively destroyed ship. She felt tears welling up in her eyes again, but quickly wiped them aside. “No, no. Focus now, grieve later. First, salvage. Yes. Get whatever you can get and... yes,” she said before taking a deep breath. “Okay! Everypony, first thing is power! Keep to using telekinesis for now and cast aside anything that's broken too badly. The... hull is shattered, but many of the components are probably still usable. We might not have transport, but we will still have supplies. Enough supplies to get us home a dozen times over. We also have parts. We can--” There was the sound of scraping metal as another chunk of the ship fell off. “We can... salvage enough to get something working. We have emergency, smaller vessels as well. We can use those to get the more heavily wounded to safety and, eventually, get us back home. The...” She gave another shudder. “The hull is... damaged beyond repair. But... who knows? We may be able to... do something with it. Use it. We just have to find a way to do it.” She pointed towards it. “So, let's get to work. And remember, careful! We have time for now. First we need our mana crystals so we can make sure we have the power to keep all of our equipment moving. They were in cargo hold one, four and seven. After that, start gathering whatever equipment we have that still works, focusing on our escape vessels and anything that can help with the heavy lifting. Go!” she ordered, before trotting towards the remains of her beautiful ship. So magnificent. And now a junk heap. She used her metallic horn to telekinetically push aside some debris and slowly walk into the mess. ------ Diamond let out a soft gasp as the village came into view. Namely because it just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. One moment they were walking across barren, lifeless desert with the occasional blade of grass, then the next moment they stepped into a field full of the stuff, in the center of which lay a great village. While it was nowhere near the size of Harmony, it was still larger than the village she grew up in and she couldn't imagine what magic must have gone into keeping it hidden. The buildings themselves were shaped like domes. “GAHHHH! GRASSHOPPERS!” Rainbow yelled, going low into a combat stance and spreading out her wings. “Wait! Wait wait!” Daring called out, shaking her head. “They're fine! They're nice, don't worry!” Suddenly the air filled with little tiny green blades of glass. The seemed to be leaping to and fro, landing on the ponies before jumping off in random directions. “They don't mean any harm, really. They're very friendly around here.” The pegasus paused, before coughing. “E-err, right. Yeah. Just... errr... had a bad experience with their kind before and... yeah. Really? Grasshoppers? Why here?” “They help the plant life grow,” Daring said as she trotted towards the village. “Welcome to Sanctuary, the village of spirits.” Diamond paused and barely managed to avoid rushing forward. If she hadn't been helping to support a wounded pony, she would have. “You mean there are spirits here? Really?” The mare paused, then shook her head. “Sadly, no. There used to be, long, long ago, or so the legends say.” She pointed off, past the village, to a great forest. “That is the Forest of Spirits. It's the magic of that which keeps us hidden away and safe from the rest of the world.” She trotted forward and took a deep breath. “HEY! EVERYPONY! WE'VE GOT VISITORS! COME OUT!” she bellowed at the top of her lungs. “Daring! The buck are you doing?” another voice answered her. Diamond turned to the right in time to see a yellow unicorn with a red and yellow striped mane come running from the other side of the village. “You led people here? How could you?” Flames started to materialize on her horn. “Whoa, whoa! Sunset, calm down!” Daring said, waving her hooves. “It's not what you think! It's the Avatar!” That made the flames disappear and the unicorn skidded to a stop, her eyes widening. “Wait, mom? She's alive? She's--” “No. The... new Avatar.” That made the unicorn freeze, before cringing. Her eyes narrowed and she stood up straight. “Of course. Who is it?” Her eyes wandered over the ponies, flames searing from the tip of her horn. Daring pointed at Diamond, who waved. “So, you're the Avatar, then?” She took a deep breath. “Well, listen up! All of you! My name is Sunset Shimmer, daughter of Twilight Sparkle. I am the guardian of Sanctuary. Until you speak with the elders, you cannot, will not, step one hoof into the town.” “Sunset, they have wounded. Mom would want us to--” “Mom isn't here,” Sunset said coldly. “I am the guardian, this is MY responsibility.” She then looked towards them. “Avatar, I... understand your importance and you will be welcomed into the village. But the rest of you are to remain here. Assistance will be granted, as needed. But if any of you cause trouble, you will be expelled. Forcibly if need be.” “I'd like to see you try,” Rainbow snapped, standing up straight and spreading out her wings. “I don't care if you claim to be Twilight's kid, she was never too old to thrash, and you certainly aren't.” Sunset glared back. “This is my home, if you think I'm going to--” “Enough!” Diamond yelled, stomping her hoof down. “Sunset, that's fine. All we want are our ponies who are hurt to get the care they need. If you don't want us in your village, that's acceptable. However, we do have more ponies who still need care. They're back at our ship.” The unicorn nodded. “Of course.” She turned back. “Okay, everypony. You can come out. It is the Avatar. She's come, like mom said she might one day. They have wounded.” Slowly the doors began to open and revealed, to Diamond's amazement, only a few normal ponies. Bat ponies and zebras made up the majority. They came out slowly at first, a few stepping forward to help the wounded. Sunset stepped towards Diamond and held out a hoof. “So, Avatar, I always knew we would meet. Mom was sure of it. If you'll come with me?” She turned and started trotted towards the main buildings. “We need to negotiate.” “Negotiate?” the alicorn asked, before giving over her wounded to one of the zebras. “Of course. I assume you intend to stay here for a few years,” Sunset said as she led the alicorn into the city. “We don't have nearly enough space and food to house all of your ponies, so you'll also need a way to get them back home. I'm not sure how well we can help with that. Daring can probably assist, though. But while you're here, you'll need to follow our rules and customs, as well as--” “Wait, wait wait wait!” Diamond said with a shake of her head. “I can't be here for years, the world needs me! Well, it might. I'm only here for now because I'm trying to find out what happened to Twilight. What she found out, what she did, if she succeeded. I don't know if I can...” She stopped when she stepped into the boundaries of the village. It washed over her, an icy, cold chill that froze her down to the core. “W-what's that?” “What's what?” “I don't know... I just... it's...” She shuddered and looked around. The feeling slowly washed away. “I don't know what it was, but it was awful.” “I don't know,” Sunset said before leading her to the largest of the domed buildings. “You'll need to speak with the council, of course. They'll decide if you'll be allowed to stay and if you'll be granted access to my mother's writings.” “Oh, so-- wait. Mother's writing?” “Yes. You'll see,” the unicorn said before pushing the door open. Inside a large platform stood with five figures standing behind it. They were wearing great, black robes. “Sorry I'm late!” a sixth figure said as he bumped into the alicorn, his black robe hiding his features as he rushed up to join the others. There was the sound of collective face hooves from the other five. “So then, you are the Avatar, reborn,” one of the figures said, stepping forward. “Errr... yes?” Diamond said, stepping before the council. She couldn't believe it. Hundreds, thousands of miles from Harmony. And still she was stuck answering to councils. “My friends and I have come to your village seeking aid. Our ship has been damaged and many of them have been wounded.” “Of course, Avatar. We will give you aid, under one condition.” The alicorn gave a sigh. Here it came. She wondered how these ponies would try to use her. “Daring is... rash at times, but we are not so easily fooled. If you are the Avatar, prove it.” Diamond face hoofed. “Prove it? How? Want me to take on some great spirit? Fight off a herd of timber wolves? Hoping I'll destroy some great mountain with one hoof?” “... You are a bender, are you not? Use the elements.” Diamond blinked a few more times. “Err... wait, really? That's all?” “Of course. Only the Avatar is capable of such feats. Using multiple.” “Well... yeah, but that's easy. Do you have any water?” A small cup of it was brought before her and her horn glowed as the water lifted up into the air, turning into a ball of ice. She then spread out her wings, flapping them a few times and sending great gales through the room. She was a little disappointed as she failed to knock off any of the robes, though Sunset's mane and tail were now frizzy and on end. “Quite.. spectacular, Avatar,” one of the cloaked figures said before adjusting their cloak back into position. “Now, earth and fire bending?” Diamond sighed and face hoofed. “Yeah... about that. I, at the moment, can't do either of those.” There were a few shocked murmurs across the council members, before once again another stepped forward. “You've come seeking us before your training is complete? Very well, we will teach you the art of fire bending. Sunset Shimmer shall be your teacher.” “No,” Diamond said with a shake of her head. “My training is complete. Well, okay, maybe not complete but I know HOW to fire bend. I just can't.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I... had a fight recently. A bad fight. Against a very, very powerful pony with magic that, frankly, I can't believe existed. She managed to divide my bending, take away my fire, earth and water bending. I've managed to regain my water bending, but the others have still eluded me.” “Such a thing is possible?” “She was using an artifact of Discord.” There were plenty of fearful murmurs then as the ponies whispered amongst themselves. Diamond leaned closer to Sunset. “Ummm... so, why the cloaks?” “Air of mystery, thing,” the unicorn said. “Just go along with it. It makes them feel special and if you don't, you'll hurt their feelings.” After a few moments the ponies stepped forward. “This... artifact sounds quite interesting. Did you manage to recover it?” “I... kind of destroyed it.” “W-what? A relic of such power and you destroyed it!” “It was being used to strip the cutie marks of ponies. It was also stealing the magical properties of other species as well! Buffalo, diamond dogs, everypony. I didn't have any choice but to destroy it to stop her. Besides, it was something of Discords, there couldn't have been any good from it.” There was a long pause as this time the cloaked figures just kind of wiggled about. “We see. We have heard there is a bond between each Avatar and their previous incarnation. Have you spoken with Twilight?” “Only once and only for a short while,” Diamond said, lifting a hoof to her heart. “When... I needed her most, she was there. But the bond broke after only a few moments. That is one of the reasons I came here, to find her. I want to... no, I need to know what happened to her. How she died, what things she faced.” “That, Avatar, we can only partially answer. When last we saw her, she had traveled into the Forest of Spirits in pursuit of a pony known as Trixie. A pony who wielded an amulet of Harmony and Discord, the one known as the Alicorn Amulet.” Diamond blinked a few times. “I... what? The Alicorn Amulet is one of the Avatar's tools, it has nothing to do with Discord.” There was a light chuckle. “Truly, you have not spoken with Twilight. Well, Avatar. Sunset, you spent the most time with your mother, you know the myths better than anypony. It would be best for you to show her.” “Show me?” Diamond asked, looking to Sunset. The unicorn nodded. “Yes.” She held out a hoof. “My mom came here in pursuit of Trixie, at least that's what she said. But she stayed for one important reason. To learn the origins of Discord and Harmony.” Diamond blinked. “W-wait, what? But that's... Discord was just a spirit. A powerful spirit, but one none the less. He--” “Was the ruler of the Spirit World,” Sunset said with a shake of her head. “In fact, he was the main reason the Spirit World was locked away, with only one portal remaining. My mother spent years researching and finding out everything she could about him, traveling deeper into the Forest of Spirits than anypony has in centuries. Now I--” “Wait, wait wait,” the alicorn said. “This... is fascinating, it really is.” The unicorn glared at the interruption. “But it's not fair.” “Fair?” “All of my friends made this trip possible. They came with me, risked their lives for me. They deserve to hear this as well.” Diamond gave a little smile. “Can we wait until we've all gathered up to tell the story?” The unicorn gave a sigh, before smiling. “Yeah, I suppose that's fine. There's a lot we've got to tell you, too. And show you. Mom was... well, she was very... adamant about finding everything she could. And she made darn sure I knew everything I could as well.” She glanced to the council. “Is that okay?” “The Avatar is the chosen pony of Harmony, friend to all who reside in Sanctuary. You and your friends will find as much aid as is required. So yes, Sunset, please go and aid them. Gather whoever you need.” Sunset nodded and then turned to Diamond. “Come on. Let's go get the rest of them.”