Chapter 4: Dreams and chaos
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Canterlot Castle, dining hall
Celestia had been feeling stressed since Discords second defeat, something just felt wrong, when Discord was defeated by Luna and herself, a resounding peace had settled across the land and though she tried her best to hide it, Luna too felt un-easy since his second banishment, as though they were still traces of him left in the land. But everyday since his defeat, Celestia check on his statue and everyday it was still in the castle grounds, frozen in a look of pure shock.
"Another restless night, dear sister?" Said Luna as she sat across from Celestia, it was early morning and she had just commanded the sun to rise, she faced her sister,
"Yes, although I cannot fathom why I feel so tense, this year alone you have been returned to me, my most prized student has made a collection of good friends and Discord has been defeated yet again." she shook her head, her mane waving behind her "I just don't understand, this has been the best year I've had in over one thousand years."
Luna stared at her sister, concern clear on her face "Perhaps you just nee-" but she was cut off by a green puff of smoke flying in the window and dissapating in front of Celestia, dropping a small letter on the table, she grasped it with her magic and opened it, as she read her face seemed to harden, before going back to its usual passive unreadable expression, she stood up, turning to leave,
"Sister what is the matter?" Celestia froze then faced Luna again,
"An old enemy of the kingdom has returned" she floated the letter over to Luna "and this situation must be resolved immediatly."
Luna brielfy scanned the contents of the letter and was shocked at what she read, The Julkriid have returned? even though Luna was banished as the remains of the demonic creatures the dragons waged war with were vanquished, she still knew enough about them to know they were directly linked to Discord, she began to trot after her sister. "What are you planning, sister?" Celestia stopped, looking Luna dead in the eye,
"This creature must be destroyed, aswell as any of the remnants of Discord." Luna was shocked, she had never seen her sister so accepting that she had to destroy something.
"Think Celestia! What if this isn't the only of its kind out there?!" Celestia froze, she was so certain that this creature was the cause of her anxiety that she didn't stop to consider if there was more than one.
"Your right," She sighed "but what do we do? These creatures have proven themselves capable of fighting the dragons in full scale war, do you really believe that this creature will just stay neutral and for that matter, how would the dragons react if they discover their mortal enemies have started showing up in Equestria?"
Luna though intently, before saying "We are not entirely sure what the correct course of action is, but I would recommend one of subtly." Celestia nodded, know your enemy,
"So what do you suggest Luna?" a sly smile appeared on Luna's muzzle as she formulated a plan,
"Give me your most trusted Royal Guards..."
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Inside my head
Where am I now? I was standing in what looked like a castles grounds, a large maze in front of me, I turned away from the maze and noticed there were statues scattered in the garden before me, all performing different tasks, singing, dancing, everything was so peaceful and happy looking...except one statue, I didn't know what it was, it looked like it was a bunch of animals crudely fused togeather, but there was something profoundly unsettling about this statue...
A deep laugh began to emenate from it followed by "Ahh, your finally here!" I looked around, suspecting a trick of some kind "Don't be so worried my friend, I need your help." it was definetly comming from the statue, I moved forward to examine it, but as I drew to a stop before it, it began to crack, I backed up and got ready, I may not know what this thing is but it certainly looked dangerous, in a bright flash of light the last of the fragments of stone were shead from the creatures body, it began to stretch theatrically and I suddenly wished I had my gear, the creature began laughing again as it casually began to stroll towards me.
"You don't look very happy to see me!" The creature said in its strangely dramatic voice, I took up a defensive stance before saying "What the hell are you?"
The thing began laughing manically again "Oh, little o'll me? Well I'm Discord of course! God of chaos, deceit and disharmony, at your service!" it then dissapeared in a flash of light only to appear next to me, grasping my shoulders, I let out a grunt of pain, this thing had lion claws and eagles talons for hands! I tried to move but its calws/talons had sank into me and held me in place like a vice,
"What do you want?!" I shouted out, he chuckled "Oh not much, just eternal chaos, unfortunately that was cut short, but at least I got YOU to play with, your kind was always so much fun!" he threw me to the ground and then casually began to stroll around the other statues "You see I brought you here, simple really, but there was an tiny little side effect from the teleportation, different dimensions always caused such a problem for me" he laughed again "thats why I love them, anyway it appears that you lost your memories on that fateful little trip." I got back to my feet,
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said as I clenched the wounds on my shoulders.
"Well you see when I plucked you from your world a lil' bit of my power got absorbed by you, now since Twilight Sparkle and company petrified me again I need to borrow you for a while, well not you exactly, your my hmm, whats the word? Ahh yes nexus, your my little connection to the outside world." it turned around to face me, grinning as it did "But I don't need you, I need what you used to be, so here's my gift to you!" he said as he snapped his claws togeather, I collapsed to my knees clutching my head, screaming, I could remember, it was like a fucking dam just broke in my head, the memories were rushing past so fast I couldn't focus on any long enough for them to be coherent, it all just went by like a blur, I couldn't focus on any of them long enough to make sense of them, when I regained control enough to look up, Discord was standing in front of me a small smirk on his face, "Welcome back, Spike!"
I shakily got to my feet and faced him "Wha-What did" my head began to feel like it was being crushed in a vice "AGHH WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?!" I yelled, he laughed at me,
"I just gave you back what you lost, no need to thank me really." I lashed out at him, he slid back like a snake "Well that certainly wasn't what I was expecting." his dramatic voice going almost monotone as he stared at me, his eyes contracting as he stared at me, he tutted "Well this just won't do, where's my vicious little killer?" he said turning casually and begining to wander again, I kept my eyes trained on him, though I was still reeling from what had just happened, this was no time to drop my guard.
He turned to face me again "Well Spike, I can see you'll be no fun for a little while..." it laughed again "But I have a feeling that'll change soon, so until then ta-ta." and with that the creature dissapeared and the world dissolved around me.
I woke up.
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The Ponyville Library, the next day
Twilight had spent the day in the library, researching anything she could on these creatures and comforting a distraught Spike and though they wanted to stay her frineds were forced to depart, Fluttershy had animals to care for, Rarity has her business to run and Pinkie Pie was in charge of Sugar Cube corner for the week and after saying their drawn out good byes they regretfully departed, this left Twilight with much more time to check for details on these creatures though, but despite her vast collection of books, she could not find anything more than what she had already found in "Ancient Myths and Legends" book, this unsettled her deeply, not even her history books had reference to them, it was as though they were completely exterminated, every last trace destroyed...completely removed from history.
The sun was begining to set by the time she had finished the last of her history books, this is when she heard the tell-tale sound of a dragon receiving mail and sure enough a moment later Spike rushed into her room, holding a letter with the royal seal emblazoned on the outside. This letter was different though, not the normal red seal which Celestia used, this seal was a deep purple, almost black, she broke the seal and scanned the letters contents.
She broke the letters seal and read it inside her mind.
Dear Twilight Sparkle
This letter is to inform you that the situation with the Julkriid or human as you stated in your letter is being dealt with accordingly, it would be best if continued on as though nothing is amiss and try to avoid future contact with this creature,
Yours faithfully, Princess Luna
Twilight was shocked, she had expected to at least be included in their plans, but realised that this is a problem that threatened all of Equestria, she then put away the letter and told Spike the situation, it was then that her mind returned to Applejack, she was with this thing for almost two days!
She knew that she always had her apple stall opened on the market day tomorrow, so she decided the first thing she would do in the morning is check on her, for now though she would continue her research, surely one book in here must have some information on these things...