//------------------------------// // 56: Madgod's Promise // Story: Sunset's Adventure in Skyrim // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// The doctors had kept her in the hospital, the Ponyville Hospital she discovered on her second day of awakening in the same bed, for three days after she had woken up. Sunset really didn't mind the fact that the doctors asked her to stay for a few more days, as it gave her time to recover her energy while they made sure that she hadn't sustained any serious wounds from her fight with Tirek. She didn't think that they would find anything wrong with her body, considering that she had been healed when the Dragon Priests gave her their energy and power, but she let them do their jobs. While she waited for the doctors to finish their tests she had a few visitors come to see her the entire time, mostly the fact that both Princesses Celestia and Twilight came to check up on her and hear about her adventure in Nirn. Even Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's student, seemed eager to hear about the world she had visited, so much so that Sunset worried that she might investigate the mirror at some point in the future. The Princesses listened to her for an hour or two every day, so they could understand everything that she had done through, but they all knew that it would take at least a week to tell the whole tale... or two if she kept getting interrupted by all the questions Twilight wanted to ask her. When she was finally discharged from the hospital, with a clean bill of health, she found that Twilight, Starlight, and Spike wanted to show her around the town, so she could become familiar with her surroundings. They took her to Sweet Apple Acres and introduced her to the rest of the Apple Family, to which Sunset admitted that she was sure that she would never be able to remember all of their names after the first visit, but knew that she would try to do so in the future. Once they were done there they traveled over to Carousel Boutique, where Sunset discovered that she and Rarity would be spending the rest of the morning designing the dress that would be the one she wore when she eventually had her coronation as the newest Princess of Equestria... which they both knew was coming. When lunchtime came around the four of them went to one of the restaurants around the town, to which Sunset discovered that many ponies she met were surprised to find another alicorn walking among them, though they did bow their heads as she passed. After all her time in Skyrim she was used to the attention, so she merely bowed her head back in return as they sat down, ordered something to eat, and eventually ate their meal. Once that was done they continued to where Rainbow Dash's house, the massive cloud house she lived in, happened to be floating that afternoon, but discovered that she was out at the moment. They backtracked to Sugercube Corner and discovered that Pinkie Pie had the day off, but when Twilight inquired where she could possibly be all she learned was that her boss had no idea where she was. With two of her friends missing at the moment Twilight decided to head to Fluttershy's cottage, where Sunset would be able to meet her animals and get to know the sky pegasus. "Oh my," Fluttershy said, surprised to have company over sooner than what Twilight had told her to expect them by, "please... come in Princesses..." "Fluttershy, I've told you that don't need to add my title all the time," Twilight said, not surprised to find that her friend had slipped into the habit once more, "I just came to show Sunset where you lived and have her get to know you... and your house guest that lives with you." "You have someone else living here?" Sunset asked, turning to the shy mare for a moment, not really surprised to hear this piece of information now, as she had been in the hospital for the last few days, 'Who is it, if I can be so bold?" "Its... Discord," Fluttershy weakly replied, so softly that Sunset was sure that she had missed what she said, so she decided to ask the question one more time, "Its Discord... Discord has been my guest for some time." "The Spirit of Disharmony?" Sunset said, her eyes widening when Twilight shook her head 'yes' to answer the question, before she regained her composure, "That's nice... I'll have to hear the story as to how you managed to befriend him some other time. So, where is he anyway? I would definitely like to meet him." It was the mere mention of the Spirit of Disharmony that made her remember her promise to Sheogorath, back when she quested for the Daedric Artifacts. Sheogorath had asked her, in his own roundabout way, to speak with Discord when she returned to Equus, to inform him that his 'roommates' wanted to speak with him... or something like that. She still wasn't sure how the two chaotic beings knew each other, but she figured that, since she was already near Discord anyway, she might as well keep her promise to the Madgod. Fluttershy was kind enough to point her in the direction of the shed in her backyard, where she informed Sunset that Discord went out there from time to time to be alone. She quickly excused herself and walked into the backyard, where she discovered a normal shed that she assumed was Fluttershy's shed and that the one closer to the trees had to be her destination. Once she got close to the door she raised her hoof and tapped on the metal, to which she waited for a few seconds before the door opened before her eyes. She found a creature, one that was a mix of a various of creatures, sitting on a stool and focusing on something on the bench in front of it, to which Sunset assumed that the door had been opened by its magic. "Ah, the lovely Sunset Shimmer, the latest alicorn to join the Sisters," the draconequus spoke up, turning to Sunset for a moment as she entered the shed, to which it closed the door and returned to whatever it was working on, "I am Discord, the Spirit of Disharmony, the Lord of Chaos... and the undisputed King of the Dance. Now, what can I do for you?" "I merely came to tell you that your former roommates missed you at the last anniversary of your graduation," Sunset told the draconequus, somewhat surprised that she was on speaking terms with the Spirit of Disharmony, but noticed that his ears perked up the moment she mentioned the anniversary. "I don't know what your talking about," Discord quickly replied, summoning a glass of brown liquid, which Sunset assumed had to be his favorite chocolate milk, before he drank some of it, "I've never graduated from a university, not do I have any other roommates besides dear Fluttershy... whose friendship I will never break ever again." "Now when did I say that you graduated from a university?" Sunset asked, to which Discord did a spit take as he discovered that he had, accidentally, spoken one word that had doomed his chances to making her think that Sheogorath had fooled her the entire time, "So Sheogorath was telling the truth after all; the two of you graduated from the University of Chaos and Madness... it still seems strange to consider that something like that even exists." Instead of replying to Sunset's statement Discord remained silent for a moment, as if he was trying to think of a way to salvage this conversation while getting rid of the idea of the fact he went to school to learn his trade, before sighing to himself. The following instant Discord snapped his claws and a portal opened up behind him, to which he pulled himself out of his chair and approached the swirling mass of magic. Before he stepped into the portal he turned to Sunset and picked her up, to which he ignored her shocked expression before walking into the mass of magic. ------------------------ When the two of them stepped out of the portal, or being carried through in Sunset's case, she discovered that there were in a place that looked like the area where she had 'fixed' Pelagius' mind. As Discord set her down she realized that she had, somehow, taken on the form she had worn while she was traveling through Skyrim, including the armor she had worn. She wondered if her armor had been stored in some space between worlds, as it hadn't come with her when she woke up in the hospital, or if it only came into existence when she wasn't in her natural form. Before she could even begin to ask Discord what he was thinking by snatching her, which she was slightly annoyed with, another portal opened up on the other side of the area the two of them were standing in. She watched as Sheogorath stepped out of the portal, to which he clapped his hands and closed his entrance, before staring at the two of them. "Well now, ain't this a surprise!" Sheogorath said, walking up to Discord and holding his fist out, to which the draconequus bumped his own fist into the Madgod's, "Discord, the Spirit of Disharmony, has finally paid me a visit... I don't know whether I should skip rope with some entrails, preferably yours if possible, or bury you under a mountain of cheese. Well, no matter. I'm just happy that you got the message... a shame really, as I had a variety of messages I could have tried! A song! A summons! A death threat written on the back of an Argonian concubine! The last one is always my favorite... but I decided to settle for sending a mortal to deliver the message, which actually sounds boring now that I think about it." "Ah Sheogorath, have I have missed you over the last thousand years," Discord replied, apparently not caring about the death threat part, which Sunset figured made sense seeing how the two of them went to the same university together, "Tell me, is there anyone else coming to this little get together... or shall we get the party started?" "I tried to contact the others, but they're either sealed off beyond my reach or flat out refusing to speak with me!" Sheogorath said, pulling the two of them closer to the table in the middle of the area, which Sunset knew hadn't been there a few seconds ago and merely decided not to question it, "That reminds me, where were you a year ago? You missed the nine hundred and ninety-ninth anniversary of our graduation... much to the annoyance of the rest of our class." "I was sealed in a statue for the last thousand years," Discord countered, shaking his head for a moment, "Honesty Sheogorath, I tried to leave my prison, but the power of Harmony is not easily defeated." "I hate to agree with you, but I can understand that statement," Sheogorath spoke, turning to the table for a moment, as if looking for something that wasn't there, "I felt the magic of Harmony when young Sunset here harnessed its powers... you aren't leaving that pink mare behind for a new apprentice are you? I rather liked that pony... she's got a certain spark of chaos inside of her that reminds me of the good old days when we would prank our instructors. Its a good thing that your giving her secret lessons on how to control her powers, though I'm honestly surprised that young Twilight hasn't caught on yet... ...Now where has all the food gone? I could have sworn that I had something prepared for this event... bah, its missing, just like my luggage was when I was told to leave Pelagius' mind." Another portal opened up at the end of the table and the sound of a cannon could be heard going off, just as a variety of food items, including plates and utensils, landed all the way down the table. Sunset looked at the portal for a moment before Pinkie, the one from Equus, walked out of it and pulled her cannon out with her, something that Sunset was sure that she would have seen at her own party... sometime in the future. As the portal closed Sunset also determined that she had found the answer for why no one had an idea of where Pinkie had wandered off to... as she had been busy preparing for this event. "Oh good show Pinkie," Sheogorath exclaimed, walking up to the Equestrian and patting her on the head for a moment, "Everything is infinitely more interesting whenever you show up... I could just give you a strawberry tart." "And he had to go and blow my secret lessons to the first Equestrian that wasn't Pinkie Pie," Discord moaned, moving one of his clawed limbs to his face, telling Sunset that he and the Prince of Madness got along at times, but then also didn't get along at other moments, "Look Sunset, don't tell Twilight about this until I'm ready... though I've got something shiny for you if you do so..." "DISCORD!" Sheogorath shouted, his voice booming despite the fact that he and Sunset weren't that far away from him, "Stop messing around and have fun... that's why you came here. Otherwise I might have reveal that embarrassing secret that resulted in your total defeat when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used the Elements to defeat you." "How could you possibly know about that?" Discord moaned, his ears folding back as he realized that the Madgod wasn't bluffing. "I wanted to see how you were faring with your powers and the world you were from," Sheogorath merely replied, shaking his hand as he beckoned to the table, "Now, either party with the rest of us or the entirety of Equus will know the secret that you've been keeping from them... and trust me, I don't need to use my powers to do it either." For the next few hours the four of them sat at the table and had a feast from the variety of foods that Pinkie had brought along, though how she did so Sunset didn't care to ask. She knew that there were somethings in the universe that you shouldn't question, so she merely accepted the impossible acts that Pinkie, Sheogorath, and Discord did while they sat at the table. For the most part Sheogorath and Discord shared a few stories from their time at the University of Chaos and Madness, where they would either pull pranks on their fellow students, the noobs as Discord originally called them, or on an unsuspecting instructor... to which they would later get detention for their actions. At one point Sheogorath turned to Sunset and asked her a question that she hadn't been expecting, to which the other two stopped talking to hear the reply. "So, what are you going to do with your souvenir from Nirn?" Sheogorath asked, devouring a whole section of a cheese wheel before turning to her, "After all, Akatosh made sure that it came through the rift with you... I'm just shocked that you haven't noticed it yet." "I have no idea what you are referring to," Sunset replied, which was true because the only thing she had been carrying when she fell from the sky was her sword, and she knew that it hadn't come through with her. "Oh really now? Then allow me to enlighten you," Sheogorath said, standing on his feet as his voice boomed for a moment, to which his staff appeared in his hands, "The Wabbajack! Huh? Didn't see that coming, did you? Okay, so maybe it isn't the Wabbajack that Akatosh sent you... but its like the Wabbajack, even if its powers are completely different. Come on now, it isn't hard to guess what the Chief gave you... unless, of course, this is your first time." Sunset would have had no idea what the Madgod was talking about if he hadn't mentioned that her 'souvenir' was like the staff he carried, as it informed her of what it could be. She got out of her chair for a moment and moved a bit away from the table, to which she snapped her fingers and conjured something she wasn't expecting; the same chest that she had used to store the Daedric Artifacts inside. She quickly opened the lid and found a note waiting at the edge of the storage space, so she pulled it out of the chest and started to read over it. "To the brave and courageous Sunset Shimmer," Sunset read, wondering what she would find in the short letter, "We have returned to you the chest that bore the artifacts of the Daedric Princes, along with something that will let you remember the friends you made and the changes that occurred during your fight. This item is no longer needed in Nirn, so maybe it can help you in the future... if you decide to explore more worlds. From the Divines of Nirn." Sunset placed the note back in the chest and focused on the other item that was waiting for her, to which she reached inside the chest and grabbed onto what it was, before pulling herself backwards and making the item follow her. Once she got back on her feet she stared at the Staff of Magnus, the magical artifact that had been the reason she had allied with the Dragon Cult to stop the destruction of Winterhold. She was sure that the staff would have done more good in Nirn then float inside her chest until she needed it again, but she did enjoy the feeling that holding the staff gave her. "Don't worry Sunset, I promise not to tell Twilight about your souvenir," Pinkie said, before performing a strange sequence of motions that Sunset had never seen before, "Cross My Heart, Hope to Fly, Stick a Cupcake in my Eye!" Sunset knew that the Pinkie from Earth had a similar chant she used when she promised to keep a secret, but she really didn't recall ever hearing that Pinkie ever using it in the past. She also didn't know why Pinkie even bothered to promise that she'd keep it a secret, but decided that she was being herself and guessed that Pinkie thought she'd want to keep the artifact's existence a secret. Sunset had the feeling that Twilight might run some experiments on the staff if she knew that it was in her hands... or hooves as she finished that thought. "And now, a present from me to you," Discord said, snapping his claws and summoning what appeared to be a golden bracelet, "a little accessory that will help you fit in better with the residents of whatever worlds you eventually journey to... that's considering the fact that you decide to do so in the future. If not, then you can wear this as an additional reminder of your travels through Nirn... or whatever you decide to remember by wearing it. Oh, and look at the time, you had better get back to the cottage before someone notices that you've been gone for more than a few minutes." Sunset wondered if Discord was hiding something from her or if he truly was giving her a golden bracelet with no strings attached, but she knew enough from her dealing with Sheogorath to know that there was something else he wasn't telling her. She decided not to press her chances at figuring anything out and moved both the staff and the bracelet into her chest, before she closed the lid tight and banished it back to wherever it originally came from. Once that deed was done Pinkie bounced over to her and beckoned for her to follow her back to Equus, to which Sunset turned to the two insane creatures for a brief moment, before sighing and following the party mare back home. It wasn't until Sunset and Pinkie had crossed through Discord's portal, taking them back to Equus, that the Spirit of Disharmony sighed and returned to his seat for a moment. "Is there a reason you didn't tell her about the side effects of that bracelet?" Sheogorath asked, leaning back in his chair as he sipped from his wine glass, his eyes staring right at Discord, "Not that its any of my business, but there are some things that I'd rather not be told and have the opportunity to guess at, while other times I like to have all my cards at once." "Are you referring to the slim chance that she might age backwards, lose her memories, or have both happen to her?" Discord said, summoning his endless glass of chocolate milk, "Honestly, there's a one percent chance that, whenever she goes to another world, of those side effects coming into play when she arrives in whatever world she lands in. Considering the way she looked at me before leaving I would have to wager that she's not even thinking about heading off to another world... which means that she would need an e reason to go off on another adventure." "And the power sealing spell?" Sheogorath asked, bringing up the other spell that Discord had carefully placed on the bracelet, "I assume you have a reason for that one..." "To make her future travels fair with Nirn," Discord replied, shaking his head as he stared at his former roommate, "She started her journey with little magic and gave it the ability to grow along the way. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to whatever hero she meets if she had all of her amazing powers and basically blew everything up before something could get near her." "What a seeming plain and boring plan you've created... I always knew you had it in you!" Sheogorath said, getting to his feet and turning to his portal, which had remained open the entire time he had been sitting in his chair, "Well, I suppose it's back to the Shivering Isles. The trouble Haskill can get into while I'm gone simply boggles the mind... and I haven't even been done for more than a few hours. Oh, and if you ever find yourself up in New Sheoth, do look me up. We can share stories about the good old days and share some of our favorite foods. Ta ta old friend." As Sheogorath disappeared into his portal, and closed it once he was through, the entire place shifted on itself, until it closed down and forced Discord to return to his shed moments later. He opened the door for a moment and watched as two ponies, one of them now not wearing the armor she had been wearing earlier, walked into Fluttershy's cottage, unaware that they had been followed out of the party area a few moments later. He sighed and closed the door once more, before pulling a map out from under his desk and unrolling it, revealing the pictures of the various ponies he had decided who had the potential for a journey away from Equus. One of the pictures, belonging to Starlight Glimmer, had a red circle around it, as he had determined that she was a prime candidate for this sort of thing, considering what she had done before Sunset's return. Now all he had to do was pull the switch that would start an adventure and grab some popcorn, because he was sure that whatever happened would be interesting to watch. ------------------------ Once Sunset had returned to Twilight, Starlight, Spike, and Fluttershy, with Pinkie in tow, they bid farewell to the cottage and returned to Ponyville, where Twilight informed Sunset that she would be staying in the castle until they determined a permanent location. As they walked Sunset came to the conclusion that she had only been in that strange realm for a few minutes, as none of her companions seemed worried that she had been missing for some time. Pinkie, of course, remained silent about the entire thing, merely returning to her usual happy persona as they drew closer to the crystal castle that Twilight said was hers. Sunset had to admit it, but she was impressed by both the actual size of the crystal castle and how much it actually looked like the Crystal Palace the last time she was there... though she really didn't remember much about that visit, as she had focused on one thing at that moment. As they approached the main door to the castle Sunset spotted some Solar Guards walking around, to which Twilight informed her that they were merely there until she created her own group of guards... something that she didn't agree with. As they walked through the castle Twilight showed her the mirror she had used to travel to Earth when the Sirens had been growing in power, though Sunset wasn't sure if she was happy or sad when she saw it again. The mirror reminded her of the pony she used to be, long before Twilight chased to her Earth to recover the Element of Magic and, in the process, showed her just how powerful Friendship truly was. After a few moments Spike separated from the group and went to the library to continue organizing the titles, while Twilight said that she wanted to show Sunset to her new bed. Before following after her friend Sunset turned back for a moment to see Starlight staring at the glass, though she was sure that she had seen some level of interest in Starlight's eyes, to which she worried that the mare might fall into the temptation that had swallowed Sunset up so long ago. As Sunset followed Twilight to her new chambers she knew that she'd have to keep an eye on Starlight, because there was no telling where that mare would end up if she decided to access the mirror.