Chapter 14 - Madness
Fragments of Memories
By Starwin
Chapter 14 – Madness
Wild Heart’s gaze was locked on the dark pony standing in front of her. From horn to hoof the shadowy pony was featureless, covered in an impossible darkness that Wild Heart couldn’t fathom. It felt – that wasn’t the right word for it – like this pony in front of her was empty.
The only part of the pony that wasn’t dark was its bright green eyes. Something about those eyes, about the way they moved, the way they glanced over Wild Heart. This pony was wrong, unnatural.
An empty silence hung in the air. If somepony had dropped a pin, it would have sounded like thunder. The long moment lingered as though the world was holding its breath.
“Aurora Wind?” asked Luna at last, her voice soft. Somehow, Luna’s words dispelled the unpleasant sensation. Wild Heart hadn’t realized until that moment that she too had been holding her breath.
“No,” whispered the pony with a slow shake of her head. She was looking at the ground as she spoke. “That name is wrong. Just Aurora… Wind is gone…”
“Gone?” asked Wild Heart, finding her voice at last. It felt easier to speak. “Gone where?”
Aurora simply shrugged. She seemed disinterested in the conversation.
“Is Discord here?” pressed Luna, displaying no emotion. The murmurs in the darkness returned at the mention of the name. Wild Heart felt a distinct sense of fear surround her. She could feel it in the air like it was something physical.
“Not here,” said Aurora. The shadowy mare took a slight step back. Her eyes fixed on Luna as if she had just now realized the celestial princess was there. “But not gone.”
“What do you mean?” asked Wild Heart in confusion.
Again, Aurora simply shrugged, although she could not pull her bright green eyes away from Luna.
“How many of you are trapped in here?” asked Luna, glancing around. Wild Heart followed Luna’s gaze, trying to see whatever it was the princess saw. Yet, Wild Heart could only see shifting shadows, not distinct shapes.
“Don’t know,” answered Aurora.
“Have you always been here?” asked Wild Heart. “Are you aware of how you are? Do you know where you are?” Aurora looked confused by the question.
“You are asking the wrong pony,” said another voice from the dark. The words were clear and strong in a way that none of the voices had carried thus far. A second shape emerged from the darkness, moving towards where Luna and Wild Heart stood.
The shadows hugged its body, making the thing appear much like Aurora; at least, at first. However, after a few more steps it broke free of the dark mist and a red-ish colt, with an even darker red mane, trotted towards them.
Aurora seemed to shy away as he approached, although she did not return to the shadows. The colt gave her only the slightest glance and she froze in place.
Both Wild Heart and Luna watched as the newcomer came to a graceful stop beside Aurora, he smiled at them and then bowed.
“Ah, Goddess of the Night, it has been far too long,” said the red coated colt. Wild Heart felt confused. “Forgive us,” said the pony, seeing the expression on Wild Heart’s face. “We should introduce ourselves, you may call us Stamped, that used to be our name, long ago.”
Wild Heart felt her eyes widen in shock. Two! There were TWO ponies still in Discord’s mind!
“Not two,” corrected Stamped, turning to look at Wild Heart. But, how did he know? She hadn’t said… “Anything?” finished Stamped. “Dear little pony, you are in a world of the mind. Did it not occur to you that thoughts and words are precisely the same thing here?”
“Uh, no,” said Wild Heart. “I guess not. You’re the third pony that Aurora Wind fused with.”
“Yes, we were, long ago,” said Stamped. “But, as we were saying; there are not just two minds in here, but dozens in the darkness. Usually, things are bit more lively but, well… You both already know, or at least suspect, why this place is so drab. Although the princess still has her doubts I see.” Stamped smiled at Luna but she simply glared at him and said nothing.
“But, you’re alive!” cried Wild Heart in excitement, unable to let go of her discovery. Stamped rolled his eyes but Wild Heart hardly even noticed. “This is the best possible news! The best possible outcome! There’s hope! There’s a chance! We can still help Twi…”
Stamped shook his head and held up a hoof.
“No, child,” interrupted Stamped at little sadly. “No, we all died long ago. What you see before you are echos, left over fragments of what we all used to be. It is true, I am a part of Stamped, but we are Discord. We are the voices in his head. The thoughts in his mind. You mistake my shape for an individual, when I am simply an idea, an afterthought.”
“And Silver Stars?” asked Luna, breaking her silence at last. Stamped smiled at her, obviously pleased by her acknowledgment, even if it wasn’t directed at him.
“She, is not here,” said Stamped. “It is hard to say where she went, but if we had to guess…” He paused for a long moment, appearing to want either Wild Heart or Luna to finish his thought. Neither spoke. “Half of Aurora ended up here. We would say there is a good chance the other half of her, and our missing pegasus, became Harmony. One and a half ponies to each form.”
“So… you’ve been in here all this time,” said Wild Heart. “Trapped inside of Discord?” Again the voices echoed the name in the background
“Yes… and, no,” said Stamped with a shake of his head. “You are still under the misconception that Discord and ‘I’ are two different things. But that is not the case. We are Discord.” Stamped lifted a hoof and motioned to the shadows.
“This shape, this voice, these memories. They aren’t Stamped. Not really,” explained the pony. His eyes turned towards Aurora. “That isn’t Aurora. We are memories, illusions… ghosts.” Stamped trailed off into silence. “You believe I am real. When Discord is absent, perhaps I am. But when he wakes, I fade away, like a forgotten dream.”
“There must be something we can do,” said Wild Heart. “I’m a doctor I specialize in cases like this!”
Stamped laughed in a genuine tone of amusement.
“You will pardon us for saying,” said Stamped with a little cough. “But we very much doubt you have ever had a, case, like ours.”
“We still might be able to help you!” said Wild Heart desperately. Stamped shook his head sadly.
“No pony can help us,” said Stamped. His eyes turned to Luna. “There is no freedom from this.” His eyes turned to Luna and his expression became very serious. “There is only peace.”
“Aurora said that Discord was not here,” said Luna, ignoring the stare and his words. “But she also said that he was. What did she mean?”
“Aye, Discord is here, you’re talking to him,” answered Stamped. “He is all around us in the darkness.” The colt scooped a hoof through the swirling shadows that clung to his legs and lifted out some of the mist. It twisted and evaporated as he held it. “He is this body, no matter how much he might despise it. He may be absent for the moment, as if in sleep, but he is still here, if only in the faintest sense.”
“Thank you,” said Luna. “It is time we left.” Stamped nodded slightly.
“But…” protested Wild Heart. Luna put a hoof on her shoulder and kept her quiet.
Wild Heart tried to say more but when she opened her mouth no words came out. The shadows shifted and swirled and vanished. The whole world was yanked out from under her and for a moment, the pony felt like she was falling.
Then, as quickly as it had started her hooves were back on solid ground. Icy cold rain splashed on her back and she shivered. It felt like she had just woken from an exceptionally vivid dream, except, she could remember all of it. And it hadn’t been a dream.
Wild Heart turned towards Luna in outrage.
“Why did we leave?!” cried Wild Heart. The umbrella shield appeared above the two ponies. The rain beat softly against the glowing blue shield. “There was so much we could have learned from them!”
“We have everything we need to know,” said Luna, her eyes fixed on Discord’s statue. “The mind cannot exist without its body. To remove him, we simply need to destroy him.”
Dawn Chaser was captain of the watch. That meant anything that happened on his watch was his responsibility, or his fault. For the last few days the watch had been relatively quiet. Since the barring of the castle gates patrols had been increased and the number of visitors had been reduced to just six.
Normally such a small number would have been easy to take care of. But without any unicorns and with all earth ponies guards ordered out of the city, he was very short hoofed.
Fortunately there had been no major incidents. A few ponies complained more loudly at the gates but that had been all. Things had been, and he almost hated to think it, quiet.
He was currently on patrol around the castle. The rain made it difficult to see, but his eyes were sharp, and he’d had plenty of practice flying in stormy weather.
He flew around the far tower and made his way along the back side of the castle. His eyes scanned the ground as he flew, but he gave the occasional glance towards the rooftops. Other guards were watching the skies but that didn’t keep him from checking when he could spare it.
A sudden sound from somewhere below made him come to an abrupt halt. He thought he had heard a voice in the rain, like somepony else was flying just below him. He glanced around, but there appeared to be nopony in sight.
Then, something in the shadows caught his eye. It was a shape that seemed wrong, a shape that did not belong. Slowly he descended, trying to get a better view under the edge of the roof.
He was only a half dozen hooves away when the gem in his helmet suddenly began to warm. There had just been a magical intrusion. Somepony was attempting to breach the castle with a spell! He felt a strong sense towards the eastern wall as the gem guided his focus.
Then the gem warmed again. A second attempt. Just what was going on?
He looked back towards the roof, searching for the shape, but there wasn’t anything there. For a third time he felt his gem give him warning. Three attempts so close together? They must be under siege!
He could delay no longer. With a powerful flap of his wings, he raced skywards, soaring towards the eastern walls.
Even as he approached the source of the magical alarm he could already see they had hooves on the ground. Lieutenant Bolt had one white unicorn already in custody. Two other guards, Airpony Windy and Airpony Fields appeared to have surrounded a box of some sort. It was hard to tell in this weather.
Captain Dawn landed with a running gallop, stopping nearby as Windy and Fields pulled out something from inside the box. For a moment, the Captain didn’t recognize the small form, but as it got to its clawed feet he realized who it was.
“Spike?” asked Captain Dawn. He had seen this dragon on several occasions with Twilight Sparkle, the princess’s protégé. “What are you doing?” The two pegasus that had pulled Spike from the box moved up along side him. The small dragon started to open his mouth to explain but before he could, Windy snapped handcuffs around his wrists.
“Hey!” complained Spike.
Two more pegasus guards came over the wall carrying a pink pony between them. She seemed to very much enjoy the ride, up until she too was cuffed.
“Dawn!” cried Spike. “We have to see the princess! This is a huge mis…”
“Were you not just attempting to break into the castle,” asked Captain Dawn.
“Well, technically…” began Spike.
“Technically, yes,” interrupted Captain Dawn sternly.
“And literally,” added the pink pony.
“Not helping,” whispered the nearby unicorn.
“Our standing orders,” said Captain Dawn. “Is that no pony is permitted to enter the castle without a formal invite. I am afraid that includes all of you, friends or not. We have been ordered to hold any such trespassers until otherwise instructed.”
“But we are just trying to see our friend!” cried the unicorn.
“Yeah! Twilight!” pleaded Spike. “You remember her! She’s in trouble and she needs us! She’s confused, we need to be there for her.”
“I’m sorry,” said Captain Dawn. “But I have my orders. For the time being you will be kept in the holding cells until the princess can attend to your sentencing.”
“No, wait!” cried Spike as Airpony Windy forced him forward. “Please! Please just tell her that I’m here! Hey, stop pushing!”
Lieutenant Bolt stayed behind as the four other pegasus led the prisoners off, dragging the chained up trunk behind them.
“Not an easy choice sir,” said the mare. Dawn grunted but didn’t say anything. The rain fell on the two for a long while. They could still hear the dragon shouting in protest.
Discord was bored. Bored, bored, board, plank, wood, log! His new body wouldn’t listen to him at all! It wouldn’t move at his command, it wouldn’t cast spells, or fly or do anything!
Now, even worse, it was asleep! He couldn’t even open his eyes… or their eyes… or whatever it was now.
He could feel their dreams mixed up and tangled in a web of incoherence, but he ignored them. He had dreamed long enough, he was ready to be awake! To have fun! To do SOMETHING! ANYTHING!
His body still remained motionless and out of his control.
With all his might, he reached out through their mind. He could feel their wings, his wings. He could sense their legs, his legs. He could feel the power in their horn, HIS POWER!
He pulled and tugged and commanded. But the body lay just as still.
The master of chaos glanced back at the swirling dreams. Maybe he should have a little fun, mix things up, make some nightmares. Perhaps the chaos might wake them up and he could convince them to give him a turn at the wheel!
However, before he could decide, he felt a very odd sensation. There was something… in his head. Voices, quiet voices. Voices that weren’t his, that didn’t belong.
He had noticed them earlier, but his thoughts often did strange things and he had ignored them. But this was different, this was something new. He had mistaken the foreign thoughts as Twilight or Dash, but they weren’t. The new thoughts weren’t here, they were…
Discord smiled. At his body. Luna, of course. How delightful. She had paid his statue a visit. He wondered what she hoped to discover there. He had lived inside his own head for a very long time now and he’d never learned anything from it.
In any case, he couldn’t just let her have free reign of his thoughts. He was just about to force her out, when something strange and marvelous happened that made him forget all about the intruders in his distant mind. Their eyes opened.
Discord felt himself squint, or, at least try to. His eyes remained wide despite his best efforts to control it.
Wonderful! This was wonderful! They were awake! They were going to have so much fun!
What should we do first? asked Discord. Except… something was wrong. He had tried to speak. Just like he had before. Hello? Nothing. There were no words coming out.
Discord listened, he could hear sounds. Their breathing, the rain on the window. He tried again. Testing, testing, one, two, three? Hey is this thing on?
Still nothing, it was like he was talking to himself. Well, he was. He always had.
They lay there for a long while, doing nothing… And yet, Discord could sense something, a distant connection of sorts.
At last, he felt their legs move. Their weight shifted and they rolled gently out of bed landing lightly on the floor with a dexterity he wouldn’t have thought possible for this body.
How are you doing that? I thought you, we, us, whatever this is, couldn’t walk! Hey! Are you even listening to me? ANSWER ME!
Their body paused and for the first time. Discord had the distinct feeling that he had been heard without words. They glanced around the room looking for the source of the sound and Discord felt a flitter of uncertainty pass through them.
It was at that moment that he realized both Twilight and Dash were still asleep. He could see Twilight Dash’s dreams dancing above him. The body… was moving on its own!
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*who
I think.
Well, THAT'S CREEPY!
oh my god this is amazing plz write more
Dun dun Duuuuun
5155636 I think "how" might be the right word here, he might not know that he is "in" Discord so they asked him if he did know. (If this is the conversation with Aurora, replace my male pronouns.)
That, could be a problem. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
5155879 Then we find out there was a fly on Rainbow's dead body when they fused and it became a part of them too
interesting!
A 4th mind?
I hope by the time this is all over a certain royal guard contingency are going to have a lot of time to think of what a war time mindset in an era of peace causes, somewhere damp dark and gloomy with bars on the window.
That guard captain needs to drop the idiot ball. Blind adherence to orders is one thing, putting Twilight's baby dragon assistant in a jail cell along with his companions is definitely another. It's also really hard to believe that the guard (or at least the command staff) hasn't been briefed on who the Element Bearers are, especially since they were publicly honored in an awards ceremony in the very episodes that introduced Discord.
This entire subplot just beggars belief.
5166707
But that's the point of orders. Captains don't have the full picture, so they are given orders by those that (hopefully) do. Without the entire plan, one cockeyed decision by a rebellious Captain could screw over the entire plan. Thus, leaders lead, subordinates follow. And the world goes round. The Captain should be commended for following orders, even if they don't seem to make sense.
But when the leaders are failing is when it all hits the fan. Then everything is broken. ('Murica!) But the Captain still needs to follow orders, based upon the principal explained above.
5179817 There is always room for taking initiative if the situation you are presented with does not fit into the orders you have been given. The right officer (say, if Shining had been on duty) would know when to use the Book and when to not. If there is zero room for flexibility ever, you might as well have robots or magical constructs as opposed to soldiers with free will.
At the very least this guy should recognize that this is something he needs to escalate to his superiors sooner rather than later, and probably before he leaves several national heroes in a jail cell for hours or days.
5161021 Twiord Disash?
I can't believe I only just realised this story was released...
After having read Veil of Thoughts at some point last year I must've simply forgotten to follow up on you for the sequel.
And after having spent the past four (or so) nights catching up, I feel I should give a quick retrospective of what I've noticed so far.
Firstly, wherever you're going with this, I can't seem to work it out. Because initially, when Twilight Dash were getting used to living together they'd seemed to have gone backwards since we last saw them... which makes sense, because progress is never a linear path... But for them to start losing memories and seemingly have a third (or fourth because Twilight and Sparkle, Rainbow and Dash) personality within their mind, subconsciously controlling(?) them when Twilight and Dash aren't directly involved....
Secondly, why haven't we heard from AJ and FS for so long? What are they up to?
I thought that after AJ had her revelation that they'd do all they could to try and find the others... But they seem to have disappeared...
And then Discord appeared... out of no-where... I'm not sure if it's because you love writing him (Because having read one of your comments saying something writing three characters inside one voice being fun) or if there is a completely coherent plan to use his powers in one way or another... I don't know, it just seems like you're just adding in characters for the hell of it....
Although to be fair, this comment is rather unfair, since what Twilight Dash now is... Well, they basically embody chaos... So, that entire previous passage is completely unfounded... ignore that...
Which brings me to the issue of what is at stake.
obviously, you couldn't just write a story about the two of them trying (and failing) to become a cohesive unit through trial and error... That'd probably be boring... But I feel that turning this story into an "end of Equestria" type scenario just seems like a rather arbitrary reason to make a set time-limit for the two of them to work themselves out or proceed to be turned into solid crystal for the rest of eternity. I mean, the internal conflict between them threatening to tear themselves apart, sure, that makes sense... But unless this crystal mist can do something for TD then I see it more as mindless busywork...
My final point (I swear it will be since this comment is rather long to begin with) is to Rainbow's parents...
Seriously, maybe it's because they're Pegasi and therefore don't quite understand the issues with magic like Velvet and Night Light do, but Rainbow Sky really needs a kick in the gut. Because every line that comes out of him just makes me wish he was ball-gagged and tied to a post...
Anyway, all of those issues aside, they're very minor complaints given the scope of what's happening here. We're in uncharted territory in terms of what is happening and what will happen, so kudos to you, dear author, for giving us this very original journey. Of course, outside everything I said, I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it was good. In fact, it's better than good... I only wish I'd discovered this sequel sooner...
Or later, so that I could read it all at once and not be so confused in terms of what the next plot twist will be....
If there's anything you find missing from this comment (ie, a plot point you believe I've overlooked or a counter-argument to anything mentioned here) I'll be more than happy to speak more about it.
But, until next time...
Ciao
5182545 Mayby...
So, Discord is something like Arrancars/Vasto Lorde from Bleach?
5187359
It's Rainbow Sparkle. I'm pretty sure that's like Twilight and Dash's subconsciouses mixed together or something.
If you're giving Luna (and Wild Heart too) a huge idiot ball regarding Twilight's friends, I'm gonna be angry.
6478986
The Idiot Ball for Luna was forgetting to tell the guards to expect TD's friends. She assumed that her Invite for TD covered her friends as well. She was wrong. Of course, the exact letter of the Castle Lockdown may have been set up my Celestia before she left. As such, the Idiot Ball is in her hooves.
...and lets face it. Celestia has been hugging that Idiot Ball since the last story.