Cause, Effect, and Consequences

by Coltsguy

Yes, This is a Prologue

Celestia sat upon her throne watching as the late afternoon sun bathed the room in a lovely deep orange hue. She was quite satisfied with the turn of events that had taken place today. After all, today was the day that the Equestrian Royal Summit had been held and things couldn’t have gone better. Plus, there was the good news about Discord. Things had gone just as she had hoped. Discord was truly reformed.

“You know what?” she heard someone ask. “I’m a little surprised about a few things.”

She looked to her right to where the voice was coming from. As she had actually expected, Discord was standing there. However, he was for some unknown reason a foot tall and in black and white.

“There are a few things in which I am also surprised about,” she replied. “However, I do not believe that they are the same things that you are surprised about.”

“How about I start things off then? First of all, why did you leave the Elements with them and say that they were there ‘just in case’?” he asked in air quotes.

“I merely said that in order to keep up appearances,” she answered calmly. “They are unaware of what transpired while you were on Earth. In fact, they do not know that you were on Earth at all.”

“So you didn’t divulge the little secret about what happened after all?”

“It was his idea. Trust is not something that one gives too freely after all. It usually requires much work to obtain and can be quite fragile if trampled upon once before.”

Discord teleported from his spot to directly in front of Celestia and in his normal appearance.

“I suppose that is true,” he said while offhandedly checking the talons on his claw. “Is that why you waited so long to let me out?”

“It is indeed. That day weighed heavily on their minds for quite a while. Even though he had only been here for a few weeks, his presence opened a new door for them. It made them aware of their own importance and the impact that they had on others.”

“Then I take it that they are aware that this world is made in the image of a television show,” he asked with a bit of apprehension.

“You, the six of them, my sister, and I are the only ones who know about this. My sister took it hardest of all to be sure, but she came to accept it in time.”

“Yet, despite not knowing about what had become of him, they made no mention at all of it when they were around me. It is as if they don’t remember him at all,” he stated as he started to float in a relaxed manner while in the air despite his tone of voice.

“I was unsure of this development as well. For some reason, it seems as though unless my sister or I mention him, they seem to be incapable of remembering him of their own accord. The same holds true for anypony who gazed upon him at any time. In fact, it seems even worse in their instances.”

“It is curious indeed. It’s almost as if the world is trying to make everypony forget about him on purpose.”

“I came to the same conclusion as well. Therefore, I have not pressed the issue past a few attempts with memory spells. Though it does raise a few other questions like how they remember that their lives are a television show if he was the one that told them about it to begin with. Yet another question I have is that in the letter he wrote, it says that he does not have a way to return to Equestria. Is this true?”

“For the most part, yes it is true,” he said and closed his eyes. “The route between this world and his is actually much tougher to get to than any other. In fact, his world seems to be an island amongst the ocean of the multiverse.”

To emphasize his point, he snapped his fingers and stepped aside as an image appeared in the middle of the throne room. In it, there was a tiny speck of land with a single palm tree that was surrounded by water. In it, the tree and the water had a cartoony effect that made the tree sway and the water looked like waves bouncing from side to side.

“To stay with that analogy, in order for us to go to most other universes, it is more like swimming across a lake. It will be a bit tiring, but with some effort it is quite capable for us to do. For his world, there is basically no way you can swim across it without having an insane amount of endurance. It’s probably the reason why they can see things from other universes, in one form or another, but nothing goes to or from it.”

“That is another problem. How was it that you were able to send yourself back here and Seth was unable to do so?” Celestia asked inquisitively.

“The spell which was contained inside the coin was enhanced by the Elements of Harmony. However, the trip to his world was actually easier than going from there. To get him to Equestria, I used all but a speck of the magic power I had acquired and stored up while stranded on Earth and funneled it into the coin. I then sent him to Equestria with the spell I had learned on that auspicious day that sent me there in the first place. There was only a few sparks of magic left in the coin after that. That magic was divided between him and the coin.”

Discord snapped his fingers again. The image of the cartoony ocean disappeared. In its place, a dark and foreboding forest appeared.

“For that reason, I sent him specifically to the Everfree Forest. In order to recharge the newly bestowed magic they had both been given, the naturally chaotic state of the Everfree Forest would effortlessly restore the chaotic magic that they contained within them. I had told him that if he kept using the magic I gave him, then eventually it would run out unless it was recharged through acts of chaos. For the most part, that is true. Well, true for him anyway. It isn’t the same for me. Once my magic is restored, I can then store excess magic generated via chaos to amplify my own abilities.

“Still, the Everfree Forest is one of two places on this planet that he could naturally recharge the magic I gave him. About eight hours there, and his magic would be restored if near zero in a worst case scenario. Unlike me, though, his body has a limit to how much magic he can contain. That is why no matter how much he tried, he could never contain the necessary magic required to move between his world and ours. Even when I resorbed my magic from him, it took that energy coupled with the chaotic and harmonious magic within the coin and a quick trip to a chaotic area to gain some more energy to bring me back here. When I got back to Equestria, I was pretty much tapped out. Considering that his body is in worse shape than mine and not inherently magical to begin with, I highly doubt that he could make the trip intact. There was also the fact that only one of us could return anyway. Since that was his home, I decided to be the one to leave.”

Celestia thought about this for a few moments. While doing so, Discord snapped his fingers and the image disappeared and the throne room returned to normal.

“What you are saying is that you were unable to bring the both of you back because you lacked the power to do so?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what I just told you,” he said while pitching himself forward to look her in the eyes while hanging in the air. “Even with you, me, your sister and the Elements working together and locking onto the coin as an anchor point, we’d still be an alicorn and a half shy of the power we would need to not only get there, but also to get back.”

Celestia smirked at hearing that.

“So what you are saying is that we are one alicorn shy of returning him here?”

Discord planted himself back on the floor with his hands on his hips directly in front of Celestia.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said we are an alicorn and a half shy.”

Celestia’s smirk blossomed into a full-blown smile.

“Perhaps it is time to fill you in on a few secrets that you probably are not aware of.”

Comments

[Lucien Chance]

Good.

[PotatoManato]

3570604

...Quick, short, I like this comment.

[ramseymac]

Discord did an info dump.
And probably some other dump.
Both are slightly annoying and you want them out, but that's why we have indoor plumbing.