To Avert a War

by Malozi

Chapter Three

This really wasn't how Arldon had imagined how he would die. Even with the knowledge that his returning memories were bringing him wasn't enough and he was starting to tire from the battle with the creature. Please... someone hurry up and help me. Wait, what am I talking about? I'm in a world filled with ponies, quite possibly peaceful, what good can they do for me? Arldon thought bitterly. Another spasm of pain answered his rhetorical mental question as more memories tried to force their way back into his head. If only he could just remember everything at once...

The sight that Rainbow Dash and her friends found at Fluttershy's cottage was disturbing at best. Whatever was attacking the cottage was trying to force its way in but was somehow being stopped and the creature looked like some kind of plant monster wreathed in shadows. But that couldn't be right, Discord's plunderseeds should've stopped attacking Equestria by now.

"What in the name of Equestria is that?!" Rarity exclaimed.

"My cottage! My animals!" Fluttershy cried out.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, I'm on it!" Rainbow Dash said. And she rushed towards the monster, delivering a powerful kick to its shadowy mass. This only appeared to amuse the beast as it reared what substituted for a head and looked directly at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow then noticed the remains of previous ponies and it took all of her effort to avoid vomiting the contents of her stomach. Whatever the beast was, it was sentient because it allowed her to see the gory remains. Rainbow looked back at the beast as it 'smiled' and roared as it started its attack on the six friends.

Discord could sense something not entirely right with Equestria. Now Discord obviously enjoyed a little chaos every now and then, but only if he was the one who was the cause of it, and something powerful was definitely at work right now that was not the result of his work. Of course, Discord decided he wasn't going to sit around and do nothing so he decided the first two ponies he should talk to would be the Princesses Celestia and Luna.

"What do you mean, 'A mysterious force at work?'" Celestia said, not in the mood for any of Discord's games.

"Oh, come now, don't you trust me? Aren't we friends?"

"No on both accounts." Luna stated flatly.

"I'm being serious here." For once. Discord thought. "Something is not right. At first I thought it was some kind of mutation with my seeds, and I was right to some extent, but when it didn't disappear I knew something wasn't right. Right now your former student and her friends appear to be in trouble. Now, I don't know about you but we should probably get going on that. Don't you agree?" Discord said with a grin, idly filing his nails.

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Fine, but this better not be some game of yours."

"Oh don't worry it's not." Discord said with a smile.

The beast roared in frustration as Rainbow Dash moved too fast for one of its attacks to hit her while it was being attacked from multiple sides by Rainbow's friends. Pinkie Pie using her party cannon to provide well-timed and useful distractions, Applejack getting in a potent kick once an opening presented itself, Fluttershy dropping items, some which happened to be rather explosive, from above, while Rarity and Twilight worked together to project a shield and fired magic attacks at the creature.

Applejack delivered another kick into the shadowy mass and the beast roared in anger. Her kicks actually seemed to have the most effect compared to the magic being thrown at it, which it would either swallow up or let it pass through harmlessly.

The wraith was not pleased with this distraction from its main prey. However, in the heat of battle, it hadn't realized who it had been dealing with and was just now beginning to see it the six previous ponies from before. But something was... different. Whatever they had been carrying with them before wasn't there.... The wraith looked at the ponies hungrily before it felt something else... something far more powerful than it had previously seen.

Princess Celestia and Luna were not happy with the sight before them. They saw the remains of the three unfortunate ponies from earlier and sorrow filled their hearts, quickly followed by anger. The two princesses looked at each other and nodded, knowing what they had to do.

Twilight noticed her former teacher along with her sister and was about to tell her about everything that had transpired but decided that it wasn't necessary since both the princesses were here for obvious reasons.

"Princess Celestia! Luna!" Twilight exclaimed. "You're both here! But, how did you find out about this... thing? And what is-"

Celestia cut off Twilight. "Hold on Twilight, I'll answer your questions later but for now we have a dangerous shadow beast to deal with."

"Agreed." Luna said, her presence of authority making it feel more safe to be around her.

Celestia and Luna both unleashed their magic upon, what Twilight assumed was now being called a shadow beast. The beast roared in both pain and anger this time as it seemed to lose its hold on Fluttershy's cottage. Celestia and Luna fired another blast of combined magic but this time a third source of power added its strength to the attack. Discord had decided to join in on the battle.

The shadow beast roared in pain. It seemed to decide that it had finally had enough of the punishment it was taking and, for lack of better wording, with a burst of shadows, quite the opposite of a flash of light, it disappeared.

"Discord! What are you doing here?" Twilight asked, confused.

"Don't worry, my little pony. I came here to help." Discord said in his usual manner of speaking, which included a smile. Then he was gone in a flash of light.

Twilight looked at Celestia in confusion. "What was that about? Why is Discord here?" She asked.

"Discord is the reason-" Celestia started.

"So this is Discord's fault! I should have known." Twilight cut her off.

"No, Twilight. Discord is the reason we found out about this beast. Had he not alerted us we might not have arrived in time."

While the conversation was happening outside, inside the cottage was a different story entirely. Arldon had retreated deep inside the recesses of his mind and Virtue was just recovering from the amount of energy that had been drained from his body. Suddenly, some kind of creature appeared in the room that resembled a mix of different animals. Virtue was too weak to resist, whatever this demon wanted from him, it was going to get it without much of a fight.

"Hello there." It said. "My name is Discord."

Now Virtue was even more dazed and confused than he was before. Was this... Discord... trying to be... friendly to him? "How am I able to understand you?" He asked.

Discord smiled and Virtue immediately decided he didn't like that smile. Arldon, being Arldon, for some odd reason trusted it completely. "Oh don't worry, a friend of Fluttershy is a friend of mine. The reason I can understand you is because you don't belong in this world, and since I am a being of chaos, and you don't belong, I can understand you and you can understand me."

"Yeah, I deduced the fact that I don't belong in this world. Now, I don't know if you can help me, but I need to get back to my world."

"In a rush now are we? See, the thing is I don't know how to send you back, and even if I did, why should I?"

"That's a fair question, you have no reason to other than the fact that Fluttershy has taken care of me, and if she was aware of my plight she might ask you to help me."

"As I said before, I have no idea how to help you get back home. But..." Discord said, putting his arms on Virtue's shoulders. "I can help you with your little... speech and memory problem."

Virtue looked at him distrustfully. "What's the catch." It was a statement, not a question.

"Oh you'll see!" Discord laughed and before Virtue had a chance to react, Discord touched his forehead with his finger and Virtue could suddenly remember much of the things that had been going on in his life along with a number of spells and techniques. There was considerable pain from all the inrush of information that clearly didn't want to resurface but it was worth it.

"Ah!" Virtue cried out, although not too loudly as to not attract unwanted attention. "That... feels... better...." Virtue looked at his surroundings, and he felt more... alive. "Wait," He said. "I can't remember everything, is that the catch?"

"Actually no." Discord said, disappointment in his voice. "I tried unlocking the rest of your memories buried inside that head of yours but it's like some kind of magic lock is placed around them. If I dig any further it might hurt you, and we don't want Fluttershy to have to take care of a braindead... what are you anyway?" Discord asked, messing around with Virtue's limbs. "I've never seen a creature that resembles me body-wise. Sure you don't have my complexion but what are you called?"

"I'm a human."

"Human... doesn't roll off the tongue so well. Oh well. Anyways, the catch was that handy dandy speech spell you were attempting to use. See, it works perfectly fine for one minute per day. Otherwise, it'll only work to half its potential. Today, you can understand everypony else. While tomorrow, you won't be able to understand them but they can understand you." Discord moved away. "Now, I really must be going, got important things to do. Oh, and one more thing, that one minute you get per day? You can use it whenever you want, if you don't use it all in one day it rolls over to the next day. Ergo, you can use two minutes in one day. Now then, Fluttershy is coming and it'll look awkward with me here talking to you and the time just isn't right, so... bye!" With that said, Discord disappeared in a bright flash of light.

Virtue didn't have time to protest as the door to the cottage started to open and Virtue immediately put his new-found skills to use by hiding. It turns out he didn't have to do this because it was just Fluttershy. Virtue breathed a sigh of relief, which was short-lived as Fluttershy made a shooing motion to indicate that he needed to hide once again. Virtue was almost too late when he escaped into the bedroom when he heard the sound of voices, voices that he could understand.

"Fluttershy! Do you have any idea why that... thing was trying to get inside your cottage?" Demanded Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, I have no idea why except that it wanted to hurt these innocent creatures." Fluttershy said, cuddling with Angel as she did so.

"Whatever the case, darling, I think we should stay here, just in case it comes back." Rarity said.

I really wish you wouldn't. Thought Virtue. The rest of the conversation between the six friends proceeded to turn into a disagreement, with Fluttershy gently trying to refuse the offer for the rest to stay. Stating that she was perfectly safe.

Rainbow Dash must've tired of the conversation since she decided to fly into Fluttershy's bedroom unnoticed.

And that was when the crap hit the fan. Rainbow Dash screamed in terror at the creature, which was understandable since it appeared threatening at first and it was rushing towards her. The only thing that she could do was be surprised by the event and prepare for a fight and waited for the blows to come. However, nothing happened at all like she expected except only for the creature to avoid her completely and apparently attempt to escape from her.

Rainbow's other friends were alerted to the situation immediately once they heard Rainbow Dash's yell of surprise and they rushed to her aid. However, they were just as surprised as Rainbow Dash when the creature known as Virtue ran past them, completely ignoring Fluttershy as well, only stopping one time once he jumped out the window to give her a sorrowful glance.

The others were about to chase after 'it' until Twilight stood in their way. "Wait!" She exclaimed. "Don't go after him!"

"Him? How do you know that thing is a him?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash said. "What was that thing?!"

"Hey, just calm down." Twilight said in a stern voice. "You remember when I got back from that other world? I didn't exactly tell you everything about it, aside from the mention of hands."

"What are hands again?" Rainbow Dash never did get an answer to that question.

"He can explain them to you because I don't want to do it. What I want to find out is how he even got here." Twilight suddenly realized something. "Fluttershy, did you-" She started to say slowly but stopped once she realized Fluttershy was no longer in the cottage. "Fluttershy? Fluttershy?" Twilight called out continuously while looking for her, getting progressively louder and louder. "Fluttershy where are you?!" She exclaimed one last time, annoyed at the events that were unfolding today.

Fluttershy didn't stop running after Virtue, even if he did leave a trail of destruction to slow her down with the trees showing signs of scorch marks and being toppled to make it harder for her to pursue him. This did make it easier for her to track him down though.

Virtue wasn't much farther ahead of his former friend, he didn't know why he thought he could outrun her considering that she had wings and four legs to use to catch up to him, even if he did have a head start. But he did have greater control over his magic now and he was able to launch himself forward in a sudden burst of speed to escape. This was a great idea at first but in hindsight it was a terrible plan since Virtue was now stuck in a tree. The amount of force he had propelled himself with had made his head emerge on the other side of the tree with his legs sticking out on the other side. Hey, at least you were wearing your helmet this time. Arldon said in his head. Virtue couldn't disagree with this fact, at least he wouldn't lose his memories all over again.

Fluttershy was soon at his side, looking worried, though this was probably understating it somewhat. "Oh dear! Virtue are you okay?" She asked in a frantic tone.

Virtue would've shrugged but his arms were stuck at his sides so he settled for nodding his head.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there."

"Not before we have some answers." A voice said from above. Rainbow Dash touched down near the tree with the other ponies joining her and the purple pony, for some reason Virtue couldn't remember her name, teleporting herself to the site.

"I agree with Rainbow." She said, approaching him with the confidence of a noble. "My name is Twilight Sparkle and I'm going to ask you a few questions. First, how did you get here from Earth?"

Virtue looked at her and raised an eyebrow in confusion. What in the world was Earth?

"Well? Are you going to answer me?" Twilight asked impatiently.

"Um, Twilight." Fluttershy asked meekly.

Twilight turned around. She normally wasn't angry with her friends, this time was no exception but she was annoyed and disappointed in Fluttershy's actions. "Fluttershy, whatever it is, you better say it quickly, I can't believe you were hiding this guy in your cottage for Celestia-knows-how-long."

"Well, you see... he can't understand what you're saying."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Hold on a minute." Applejack cut in. "If he can't understand what we're saying, why hasn't he attacked us with those weapons he's carrying when Rainbow Dash found him, and when we chased him through the Everfree Forest?"

"That's because when I found him he was hurt and unconscious and I couldn't just abandon a poor defenseless creature."

Twilight cut back in, Pinkie Pie had taken to amusing herself by poking Virtue. "Fluttershy, he's called a human. When I went through that portal to that other world I ran into creatures called humans on a place called Earth. But while I was there I could understand them perfectly, I don't know why a human from Earth can't understand me now."

Virtue was growing tired of Pinkie Pie poking and just as she was about to poke him in the face again with her hoof he decided it was time to break his silence. "Hey stop poking me!" He shouted. All the ponies except Fluttershy looked at him in confusion because he wasn't speaking their language. But at least Pinkie Pie got the message since she stopped poking him.

"Goodness, what did he just say?" Rarity asked.

"I... don't know." Twilight responded.

"Foona quapsi nowl." Twilight was confused once again and she turned to Fluttershy again. "Fluttershy, do you have any idea what he just said?"

"No, he can barely understand what I say to him most of the time."

"Did he at least try to give you his name?"

"Fluttershy caln wi Virtue."

"I called him Virtue."

"Wait a minute, you gave him a name?"

"Yeah, he doesn't remember anything."

"This could be a problem, I had Spike send a message to Princess Luna and Celestia about this, they should be here any second now. If Virtue can't even speak our language, understand us, or even remember how he got here then... I don't know what to do."

"Ino cancas ipsalo yoldo."

Twilight looked at Virtue again, wondering why he was saying different things that seemed to match their conversation to a certain extent. She decided to test out a little theory. "Hey," She said to Virtue. "Virtue, can you understand us? Nod your head if you can."

Virtue did as he was told, glad that there was some form of communication that he could relay to them, even if it was 'yes' or 'no.'

"If you can understand us then why aren't you speaking our language? That doesn't make much sense."

"Maybe he was just reacting to what you said, Twilight." Rarity suggested. Virtue shook his head at Rarity.

"He seemed to understand what you said perfectly, sugarcube." Applejack said.

"This isn't good at all." Twilight said, deep in thought at the same time. "I hope the princesses can keep whatever questions they have for him limited to 'yes' and 'no'."

"I'm afraid that will not be possible Twilight Sparkle." A familiar voice said that belonged to Princess Luna. Virtue saw the two half-unicorn half-pegasus descend from the sky gracefully and regally. He assumed that these two must be the princesses. The white princess moved towards him with the power of nobility easily recognizable from her posture. She leaned in and inspected Virtue. After a while, with Virtue not attempting to meet her eyes once, she drew back, apparently having made a decision. "I've decided that we should bring him to the castle. The Everfree Forest is not the best place to have a discussion on how this human got here."

Virtue sighed, he already didn't like where this was going, literally.