Chapter 21: On a Journey
The next morning, the King and the young changeling prepared for their trip. They had a quick breakfast of oat pancakes and apple juice.
Later, the boys are at the door and ready to depart. But before they do, they must change their appearances so nobody would recognize them. Just then, a lavender pony appeared before them, which made them jump.
*"Twilight?" Spike guessed.*
*"No, you silly-head!" Twilight sassed. "Screwball!"*
"Dad, can I come?" Screwball asked, looking up at her father.
"Absolutely not!" Discord said instantly.
"But Dad, I want to help!" Screwball whined.
"No, it's too dangerous out there! I can go because my magic can defend me," Discord said sternly.
"I have powers too!" Screwball said, showing her hooves that glow a golden aura. She swung her hoof as if she were punching a monster. "I can beat whoever gets in my way!"
"You're not strong enough!" Discord raised his voice. "Do you know what Starlight and her army are capable of doing to you?"
"But I really want to help!" Screwball yelled. "I can protect Mothball!"
"No, you stay here and do your lessons!" Discord scolded, putting his hoof down. "You don't know the outside world like I do! You've never traveled outside of Draconia! How do you expect yourself to protect Mothball when you don't know your way around?"
"But-"
"No buts!" Discord interrupted, while pointing his bottom. "Stay here and that's final!"
Screwball crossed her arms and pouted. She really wanted to go, really she did! Unfortunately, her father had a point. She had never been outside of her country.
"We'll be back soon, Screwball," Mothball said, putting his arm around her. "It's just for one day."
"HEY, HEY, HEY!" Discord snapped, ripping Mothball's arm off of his daughter. His eyes were on fire. "DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER EVER!"
"Sorry, your majesty!" Mothball stammered. He had the shivers. "I won't do it again!"
"Good or else you'll pay!" Discord hissed, his eyes never leaving the boy.
Mothball was one lucky colt that the King did not call off the mission!
Screwball rolled her eyes at her father. He can be so overdramatic!
They heard some hoofsteps which came from the governess and the other princesses.
"Oh Screwball, there you are! Please don't run out of the nursery like that!" Fluttershy scolded the heir.
Screwball casted her eyes and shifted some dirt around with one hoof.
"Do you have everything you need, King Discord?" Fluttershy checked.
"Yes, Miss Fluttershy!" the King smiled, pulling out his long list. "I have everything here! Map...check! Food...check! Bits...check! Binoculars...check! Emergency kit...check! Sunglasses...check! Bathing suit...check! Rubber chicken...check! Glow-in-the-dark stick...check! Sketchbook...check! Camera...check! Flashlight...check! Jabberwocky mask...check!" Each item he named, appeared on top of his antlers. The last one flashed on his face, making the girls, except Screwball, squeal and jump up in the air.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" Discord laughed, lifting the mask up from his muzzle.
The girls landed on the floor, relieved.
"I would not bring the Jabberwocky mask along, your highness," Mothball warned. "That will draw the Countess' attention."
"But's it's my great disguise!" Discord whined, sounding like a kid.
"Not if you don't want Starlight Glimmer to harm you!" Mothball argued.
"Oh very well!" Discord sighed, annoyed that he could not have any fun. He transformed into a gray earth pony with black mane, and a cutie mark of a tornado. "Is this better?" he grumbled.
"Much better!" Mothball beamed. The teen changeling changed his appearance back into his colt disguise.
Screwball and her sisters jumped on Mothball and hugged him very dearly. They didn't realize that Mothball was losing air until he wheezed that he couldn't breathe. When they let go, he plopped onto the ground.
Fluttershy hugged Discord which made him blush like a schoolboy.
"Please be careful out there and come home safely," the governess spoke. Her voice held fear that Discord might be seriously hurt if he is not careful.
"Relax, Miss Fluttershy," the chimera said confidently. He pointed to his chest. "I'm the King of Chaos! I can take care of myself and Mothball!" With a little of his magic, Discord donned himself and Mothball in top black hats. "Well, arrivederci Miss Fluttershy! Girls, behave!" He bade goodbye with a kind tone toward the mare and used a strict tone with the fillies.
Once the king and teen teleported out of the castle, Fluttershy and the girls returned to thier lessons. Screwball was the last one to leave as she looked back. She sighed sadly, hoping that Mothball would be fine.
Outside, Discord and Mothball stood by the gates. The king pulled out his map.
"Why did we stop here?" Mothball questioned. "I thought we'd be in a different country now!"
"We can't just go anywhere, you nilly-dilly! Like I told you before, we don't know where your parents are, so we are going to see which possible locations to check. Visiting every single part of Equestria would be tiring!" Discord explained, stiffly. He studied the map for a while. Frustrated, he crumpled it up into a ball and threw it away. "Why do they always make maps so hard to read?"
"Since we're undercover, are we going to have fake names?" Mothball asked.
Discord thought of good names for them.
"Yes, I'll be Twister and you'll be Copper."
"Sounds good," said 'Copper.'
Discord snapped his fingers and a mirage appeared before him and Mothball. In the mirage was a couple. One was a female changeling with green mane in a long braid. The other one was a navy blue stallion with red mane. They seemed to be running in a quaint village.
"That's them!" Mothball said excitedly. "That's my parents!"
"They must be in Germaney," Discord observed. He snapped his fingers and the moving picture disappeared. "Let's go!"
"There you are Discord!" a screeching voice rang out, making Discord and Mothball jump. "I almost didn't recognize you in your stupid disguise!"
"Chrysalis, what are you doing here?" Discord asked, annoyed. This mare was really starting to bug him.
"Sunset told me that you'd be outside. I just want to spend some quality time with you."
"Ah, yes!" Discord smiled, remembering. "Sorry, my dear, but I am going on a trip for the whole day!"
"Doing what?" his future fiance raised an eyebrow. Her frown had increased greatly.
"Oh just boring king stuff," Discord responded, flinging his hoof, as if it was noting interesting. "You would not be interested!"
His suitor glanced at a small brown earth pony, who was shaking in his hooves.
"Who's this?" she pressed on, pointing her hoof at Mothball. "He doesn't look like your son to me (then again, none of your daughters look like you)!"
"Ah, this is Copper, my valet!" Discord quickly added, putting his arm around 'Copper.'
"Funny, you never mentioned your valet," Chrysalis replied in a suspicious tone.
"I'm new!" Mothball added.
"Yes, and now if you excuse us, we got a business trip to make," Discord added, patting Mothball on the back. "Ciao!" The boys quickly dissappeared in a POOF faster than you can say "bananas!"
Chrysalis narrowed her eyebrows with gnashing teeth. She growled so much that she began to fume! Chrysalis walked away and bumped into Flash Sentry.
"Out of my way, you fool!" she snapped, bonking Flash on the head.
Flash winced in pain and held his head. He glared at the retreating figure.
"Oo, I hate that witch!"
Twister and Copper arrived in Horseburg, one of the towns of Germaney. They surveyed the many tall timber-framed houses and trees. They had hoped to spot the parents right away, but they were nowhere to be seen. The towns square also seemd to be empty and quiet. The disguised gray stallion spotted a toy shop with a sign that read, "Changeling." He also noticed another shop with a sign, "Griffin." In fact, all shops each had a sign that read "Changeling", "Minotaur," or any non-pony creature. Twister wondered what do the signs mean.
"Do you know anything about these signs, 'Copper?'"
"Yes, 'Twister,'" he said gravely. "The soldiers put them up to-"
"Hey you two!" a mare called them. She had a dull pink coat and her blonde mane was in two braids. "Come on, the Countess is going to make a speech at the City Hall!"
As she left, the boys looked at each other.
"Should we go, Twister?"
"If we want to blend in, yes," Discord whispered back. They followed other ponies to the city hall. Maybe they would find Mothball's parents there.
Earlier, the nanny had made some changes to their school curriculum. One of the changes that she decided on was having lessons out in the courtyard. Now it's such a lovely environment to be in, the kids would not need to be in the library all the time.
"Are you ready for today's storytime?" Fluttershy smiled, holding a book in her lap.
"Yes, Miss Fluttershy!" the princesses chorused, brightly.
Fluttershy opened the book and began reading.
"Here is a true story about a goatherd who was so lonely-"
"Wait, Miss Fluttershy!" Sweetie Belle raised her hoof. "Can we use our powers to visualize the story?"
Her sisters brightened up at the idea.
Fluttershy was not sure but when Sweetie Belle gave her 'Bambi' eyes, she giggled and said all right.
Sweetie Belle was very excited that she cheered!
The girls thought they saw their baby sister's horn glowing green but it went out so quick that they were not sure.
Fluttershy returned to the story and read the first lines.
Screwball summoned her magic to create a picture of a goatherd, standing on top of a hill, above a village.
Sweetie Belle's horn glowed and changed the image to a prince in the castle and the town ponies.
Babs Seed whistled golden musical notes that caused the image to shift back to the lonely goatherd. Only this time he was not alone. The goatherd was accompanied by a mare.
Scootaloo stomped her hoof to change the mirage. In place of a goatherd, his fiance, and mother, were a boy goat, a girl goat, and the girl goat's mother.
The pictures faded away. Who knew that school could be so much fun?
In Germaney, all ponies stood outside of the City Hall. The City Hall was a huge building made of polished white marble. At the entrance were five Greek pillars. At the top of the staircase, was a row of pony soldiers all dressed in green. Trumpets sounded. A sea of soldiers parted making way for Countess Starlight Glimmer. She descended downstairs from the entrance, gracefully. With her head held high, the countess stepped toward a huge lectern. Two generals that stood next to her sported brown uniforms. One was a blue unicorn with silver mane, Herr Trixie. Another one was an orange pony with blonde mane, Herr Svengallop.
"Heil Glimmer!" The citizens saluted loud and clear.
"Heil!" Starlight shouted back.
"I want to thank you all again for coming here today. This means very much to me. We, ponies of Equestria have been miserable! For far too long, there has been separation between the royalty and the commoners! The royals won't help us! They won't help ponies who had lost everything after the war with the evil Penguin king! They won't give our ponies, especially mares, job opportunities! They won't give us food! They won't help us at all! Why? Because they are greedy and selfish! They are afraid that the 'riff-raff' will try to be more rich than them! And steal their positions in power, too! But we would never do such a thing!"
Ponies murmured to each other. They agreed with all the points that the Countess made.
'Blah, blah, blah!' Discord thought sourly. 'She is such a whiner! Doesn't she have anything better to do then moan about how the royals were not giving any ponies special treatment? Boy, does she need a hobby! Yes, the mares can't get jobs but in my country they can! Most of my servants are women! It bothers me how neither she or her followers acknowledge that! Nor do they remember that it was me and my wife that stopped that penguin king! '
"But fear not, my little ponies!" Starlight continued. "I have a solution to our problems!"
'Like what, democracy?'
"Equality! We will get rid of the monarchy system and replace it with a new one: democracy!"
'Called it!'
"Every pony will be treated as equal! It will not matter what social status they are! We will be able to have the same kind of jobs, wear the same cutie mark, and live together in harmony! Stick with me and you will never suffer again!"
All the gullible and naive ponies fell for her chicanery. They cheered and repeated "Sieg Heil!" over and over again.
'Oh bother! How could these idiots be passionate about everything she said? What are the chances of Starlight being terminated by an assassin? Oh that would put an end to all my problems!" Twister was snapped out of his dark thoughts by Copper.
"Herr Starlight said those exact same words to me before she raided up my parents," the colt whispered to the king.
"Hey, why don't we sneak out, find your parents, and get the heck out of here?" Twister whispered back.
"Right!"
During the hysteria of the crowd, Twister and Copper snuck out of the crowd. They scanned around the city hall. Still no sign of them. They secretly poofed from one location to the other in the village. But they still have not found the missing parents.
Several hours later, after looking around, they poofed back to the city hall. Starlight and her followers and supporters had been gone by now.
The boys were very tired. It felt as if that they had been on a wild goose chase.
"What time is it?" Mothball panted.
"Hey you two!" A voice yelled from the shadows.
Discord and Mothball jumped up in fright! They slowly turned around and their heart rates increased at the sight.
It was Herr Trixie! One of the generals they witnessed from Starlight's lecture! She was accompanied by a group of other soldiers.
"Heil Glimmer!" Trixie saluted.
Twister and Copper stayed silent.
"You refuse to answer 'Heil Glimmer' to me!?" Trixie roared, her face as pink as Pinkie's hair. She could not believe that these stallions refused to respond. "Also why don't you two have the equal sign as your cutie marks, like everypony else?"
"Well...,"
"Arrest them!"
"Yikes!"
The boys dashed before they could get hoof cuffed, leaving dust behind. The dust traveled up to Trixie's nostrils, making her cough.
"Hey don't just stand there, get them!" Trixie wheezed. She and her army chased them throughout the town. Around the corners of buildings they went. Past the shops, past the houses, and over a bridge! Twister led Copper around another corner into a dark alley. They ran into a dead end and were surrounded by Trixie and her group.
"Ha, the Great and Powerful Herr Trixie has got you now!" Trixie sneered. The blue unicorn and her army surrounded them.
"Twister, use your powers to take them down!" Mothball whispered.
"I can't!" Discord hissed, trying to stay cool. "I don't want to blow my cover!"
He looked up to his right and saw a street lamp hovering over him.
"All right, boys. We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Trixie sneered. "Put your hooves up!"
"Okay," Discord smirked, doing as he was told.
Mothball followed suit.
Before Trixie could do anything, Discord stomped his foot and the lamp went off! There was a commotion as Trixie's soldiers went crazy and pounced on the two stallions. There was lots of kicking and punching. Screams and profanities were also tossed around. Trixie turned the lamp back on with her unicorn magic. When she did, all the soldiers were wrestling with each other to the ground.
Trixie face hoofed herself.
"Hey, you idiots, they're not here!"
Immediately the soldiers stopped short and looked around. She was right! None of them had the right stallions!
"Hey, where did they go?" one soldier asked, dumbly. "They were here a minute ago!"
"I don't know!" another shrugged. "Beats me!"
"Oh perfect!" Trixie grumbled. "Just perfect! How is Herr Trixie going to explain to the Fuhrer that she failed to capture the rebels?"
The King and the teen appeared on the streets of Ponyville. It was dark and quiet but peaceful.
"Whew, that was close!" Discord sighed in relief.
"No, my lord, that was bad!" the teen spoke sorrowfully. "You said we'd find my family today! Well, look at the sky now! The day is over and we haven't find them!"
"I did?" Discord lifted up to his eyes toward the night and gulped. "Oh..." The chimera faced Mothball with a sheepish smile.
"Oopsie, doozie...um...I may have been a teensy weeny overconfident."
Mothball looked as if his birthday had been cancelled.
"Okay, so maybe trying to find them in one day was too much but I did check if they were in Germaney or not!" Discord defended himself. "I don't know why they were not there! It does not make any sense and I love nonsensical stuff!"
It took Mothball a long time to calm down so he would not cry like a foal.
"Perhaps they have escaped?" the boy suggested hopefully.
"Let's see where they are, right now!" Discord answered, summoning up a mirage. But he yawned which made his mirage fade away. When he yawned, golden 'Zs' swam out of his mouth.
"We should get some sleep," Mothball observed the King. "It's late."
"No, I am not...tired! We can do...this in...one day...," Discord yawned between words.
"Well powers or not, we still have a long way to go," Mothball sighed, shaking his head.
Luckily, a hotel was close by them. They went inside and got a room.
In their room, Discord magically sent a letter to Sunset that he won't be home for quite a long time.
Meanwhile, Sunset was about to hop into her bed when an orange aura flashed on her desktop. It disappeared and in place was a letter. The orange unicorn quickly opened it and read Discord's message. She sighed, hoping that she and Flash could run the castle smoothly without any trouble.
Time passed since Sunset had gotten the King's response. For two weeks, the wise mare, the captain, and the lieutenant had been trying their best to run the kingdom as smoothly as possible. It was easy for Sunset and Flash because they were familiar with the daily routines. Rainbow Dash was an expert at handling security and guarding the gates. Rarity would help out with the duties whenever she wasn't making any dresses or suits. Every pony was busy doing their daily duties. However, Screwball had other things on her mind.
Outside, Screwball trotted toward the balcony during twilight. Putting her hooves on the railing, she looked straight ahead with a sad look. Everything about her body showed sadness. There were blue rainclouds in her eyes, raining fruit punch. Her mane was dull like a diamond that had lost its shine. Her coat turned a deep navy blue. She gave out a sad sigh.
"Oh Mothball, I miss you! Are you and Father all right?" she whispered.
The princess glanced up at the evening star twinkling bright. Somehow the star seemed to be listening to her.
After singing the last note, the filly let out another sad sigh. She proceeded staring off into the distance, not knowing she was going to have company.
Fluttershy trotted on the balcony and stood next to the princess.
"Screwball, what's the matter?" a gentle voice spoke.
Screwball turned to see her nanny.
"Huh, oh it's nothing," Screwball mumbled dismally.
"You can tell me anything," Fluttershy responded gently. "You have a rain cloud over your head."
Screwball looked up and flushed. She forgot that sometimes her chaotic powers go loose when she gets emotional. She clapped her hooves twice and the rain cloud dissipated. A scowl formed on her lips. "You wouldn't understand!"
"Try me," Fluttershy gave a comforting smile. The common pegasus put her forearm around the filly, showing that she can be trusted.
Screwball took a deep breath and sighed.
"It's about Mothball," she revealed. "It's been days since he and Father left and I am worried. What if he gets hurt? What if he gets lost? I could not bear it if anything bad happened to him!"
"Screwy, he'll be fine as long he's with your father," Fluttershy calmed her down.
"I know, it's just that...that...,"
"That what, sweetie?"
Screwball checked around to see if they were being watched. She put her mouth to Fluttershy's ear.
"I'm in love with Mothball!"
Fluttershy's eyes widened. She had suspected that Screwball had feelings for Mothball but this was still news for her!
"But I knew I can't have him, Miss Fluttershy!" Screwball's voice broke. "Do you know why? Because of that stupid marriage law! It isn't fair! Why do I have to marry a prince only? I love Mothball And I do not even know if he loves me back!"
She flung herself around Fluttershy and buried her face on her shoulder. Fluttershy allowed the teen to sob her heart out on her shoulder.
Sadness began to swell inside Fluttershy's heart. She wished she knew what to say but she could not. Usually whenever one of the girls have a problem, the pegasus always knew how to fix it. But tonight was not one of those times. This was a problem that the nanny had no experience with. Fluttershy knew what Screwball was going through because she herself, was having the same dilemma with a certain King. She had suspected that her feelings for Discord might be romantic. But she did not know if they would come to pass or not. Heck, she did not even know if the king felt the same about her! The pegasus stopped her thoughts, focusing back on the lavender filly. The best thing the governess could do is hold Screwball and let her cry.
Stats
Page generated in 0.017 seconds
Total duration
1,040 users online
1,553,260 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
nice job can't wait to see more
A little writer's block happens now & again. Stay happy & you'll always get through it.
Nice, can't wait for the next chapter, no really I can't wait
7229388 Thanks, Boulder.
7251592 Madame DeRange is just some character I made up to make Flutterhsy's life difficult.
7253327 Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? She could either be her or Lauren Faust's OC alicorn.
7255064 It's supposed to be based on the Sound of Music. But I am taking liberties with it.
As someone who has read what happened at Auschwitz, this is a very not good moment my friend.