Alicorn Amulet's Prisoner

by Taken-By-Insanity

Chapter 3: More Introductions

It only took a few minutes before Fluttershy came back, setting a tray with some tea cups onto the living room table. After seating it down, she went back to the kitchen and took a teapot to the table. She poured both Discord and Eris a cup before setting up her own. “So, Eris. Where have you been all this time? According to Discord, you’ve been missing for a long time.” Surprisingly, Fluttershy wasn’t acting too, well, shy. She seemed mostly at ease with Eris compared to how meeting others usually went with her.

Eris gave a somewhat disheartened laugh. “Funny thing about that. I’m assuming you’re aware of a little experiment that took place a week ago? Specifically one with the Alicorn Amulet?” At Fluttershy’s nod, Eris continued. “The source of power for that little trinket was me.” Fluttershy gasped.

“Oh…Oh my.” Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hooves. Then, in a quieter whisper than usual, she asked, “How did you escape?”

“Hm. During that experiment, I was freed. Once a pony named Applejack put on the Amulet, I was channeled into the castle, due to how earth ponies channel their magic into their surroundings.” Eris shrugged. “I was stuck inside the castle walls after that.”

“Up until I swooped in and saved the day.” Discord said, puffing his chest out in pride.

“Yes, until you discovered what was going on and pulled me free.” Eris rolled her eyes.

“Um,” Fluttershy looked between the two. “I’m sorry if this seems rude at all, Eris, but, why aren’t you flying around like Discord?”

“Ah.” Eris looked to Discord for a moment, who was enjoying some of the tea, before looking back to Fluttershy with a small smile. “Due to being inside the Alicorn Amulet for so long, I’m suffering from excess magic use like a unicorn would. By sometime tomorrow I’ll probably be fine. Sooner if I feed off of some chaos.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear.” A knock came from the front door, giving Fluttershy a start before setting down her cup and standing. “I’ll be right back.”

Fluttershy approached the door and opened it, finding a frowning Twilight Sparkle on the other side. “Oh, Twilight! It’s good to see you.” Fluttershy said with a smile.

Twilight returned the smile. “Yes, it’s good to see you too, Fluttershy. Have you seen Discord? I asked him to stay in the map room while I did something, but he was gone when I got back.”

“Oh, uh. Yes, he’s inside having some tea with me and his sister.”

“You’ve met her already?” Twilight rose a brow.

“Mhm.” Fluttershy nodded. “Would you like to come in?”

“I would love to, but I need to bring Discord and Eris to see the other princesses. Celestia and Luna asked me to fetch them so they could meet.”

“Oh, alright. I’ll go get them.”

“Thanks Fluttershy. I’ll be out here.”

Fluttershy left the door open and walked back to the living room. “Did you get all of that?” The living room was a small one and not far from the door, so it was a reasonable assumption that Discord and Eris were able to hear the conversation between Fluttershy and Twilight.

Eris nodded. “Yep. Guess we better get going.” She stood from her seated position and gave her back a stretch. “Come on Discord, otherwise I’ll drag you by the tail.”

“Alright, alright.” Discord set his teacup onto the tray it originally sat on and his seat disappeared in a flash of white. Now back to floating through the air, he followed Eris as she walked to the door. “See you later Fluttershy!” He gave a cheerful wave to the pegasus, which was eagerly returned.

After closing the door behind themself, Eris turned to Twilight and gave a bow. “Lead the way, Princess.”

Twilight gave a roll of the eyes. “Discord?”

“Yes?~” Discord drawled.

“Could you teleport us to Canterlot?” Twilight questioned.

Discord broke into a nervous laugh. “Haha, haha…About that.”

“What is it?” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“The thing is, I may or may not have forgotten about a detail with teleporting with a magically exhausted creature…” Discord tapped a talon and claw.

“And that is…?” Eris motioned Discord to continue.

“If magic is used on them too much, sssome things could…happen?” He shrugged with a slightly strained smile.

“So what you’re saying is that if you teleport us, something could happen to Eris?” Twilight rose a brow.

“Well I don’t know.” Discord waved his arms in the air. “A draconequus doesn’t run out of magic! Eris’ situation is something I haven’t experienced before and neither has she! I’m merely going with how it works with unicorns when they get tired of throwing spells around.”

Eris sighed. “I suppose we should use the train then?”

“You know about trains?” Twilight questioned. “They’ve only been around for the past hundred years.”

“Time travel.” Eris shrugged. “I was bored and curious of what happened in the future. Heard about trains before my better judgement decided that I shouldn’t mess with time.”

Twilight blinked incredulously for a few moments before shaking her head. “Nope, not gonna question it.” She then turned away and began to walk. “Let’s go take the train.”

---

The train ride to Canterlot wasn’t too eventful. Twilight spent the time writing stuff on a paper while Discord kept an eye on Eris while she looked out the window.

It was when the trio got off the train that things gained a bit of interest.

The interest in question was in the form of being stared at by passerby as the trio walked into the streets of Canterlot. Various ponies were quick to turn away and mutter to each other. By Eris’ guess, they likely were speaking about her sudden appearance. The fact that Discord was using a train might have also been what they were talking about.

Other than that, nothing exactly happened until they made it to the castle entrance. One of the two guards looked at the three with a raised brow. “May I ask for the reason behind your visit?” He asked, likely following the protocol for anyone entering the castle.

“We’re here for a meeting with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Twilight answered.

The guards gave a nod and the other spoke. “Welcome to Canterlot Castle.” They opened the gates and allowed the three through before closing the gates behind them.

“Lemme guess,” Eris started. “We’re gonna get lost while heading for the throne room and then get escorted after accidentally entering a restricted area.”

“What?” Twilight asked. “How would that happen? I know this castle like the back of my hoof.”

Eris shrugged. “I read a lot of fiction before I got stuck in the Amulet and that kind of stuff seemed to happen a lot.”

Twilight shook her head. “Well, I can assure you that we won’t get lost. Like I said, I know this castle like the back of my hoof.”

---

“How the hay did we end up in the dungeons?” Twilight questioned, turning away from a door that led into said dungeons. “I could’ve sworn this door led to the hallway the throne room was at.”

As Twilight pondered at this conundrum, Eris looked to Discord with a raised brow. “Discord?”

“Yes.~” Discord replied with an innocent smile.

“Stop messing with the doors.”

Discord crossed his arms in a pout. “I forgot about how boring you were.”

“Hey, I can be fun, but I also know when to not mess around like this.” Eris pinched her snout with a sigh.

“Fine, fine.” Discord floated toward the door and closed it. After giving it a knock, he opened it and it instead led into a large hallway with stained glass windows. The trio entered the door and looked to their right, towards the large door at the end of the hall with two guards keeping watch.

“Yes! The others should be just past those doors.” Twilight smiled and trotted ahead of the draconequess twins, who followed just behind. Eris was occupied looking at the windows, seeing snippets of the past in the glass. She took in each one but didn’t ask any questions concerning them. She lingered on one sporting Discord with puppet strings on ponies, but continued to stay quiet.

Twilight gave a nod to the guards at the doors once she was close enough, cuing the guards to open the doors and let them through. Once the three entered the throne room, the doors closed behind them with a loud thud.

“Oh, hello Twilight.” Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were standing at the bottom of the steps leading to the throne the two shared.

Upon seeing the two, Eris gave a bow, her face inches off the ground as she did. “Greetings Princesses.” Eris could see a familiar and friendly sight upon looking at the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon, but the sight in question was one she couldn’t quite put a finger on.

The duo returned the bow with their own. “Hello, Eris.” Celestia greeted.

“It is a pleasure,” Princess Luna added. The three stood and Luna continued. “It seems Twilight was not jesting when she said Discord had a twin, though she certainly acts more respectful.”

“I’m guessing Discord hasn’t been giving the respect he should.” Eris shook her head with a small smile. “Sounds like him.”

“Rude.” Discord folded his arms in a pout.

“Oh hush, you know it’s true.” Eris rolled her eyes. “You rarely gave any respect to anyone. That casual attitude is going to get you in trouble one of these days.”

Celestia cleared her throat, interrupting the two. “Let’s continue before this dissolves into a sibling argument.” She turned toward Eris with a kind, almost motherly smile. “Eris, what can you tell us about you? It’s certainly surprising that there’s a second Spirit of Chaos. We assumed that Discord was the only one of your kind.”

“Well, as far as I know it’s simply the two of us and he isn’t a Spirit of Chaos.” Eris shook her head. “The both of us are the Spirit of Chaos. It’s more so like one thing split into two. At least, that’s how I like to think of it.”

“An interesting way to think about it.” Celestia nodded in agreement. “Is there anything else you can tell us about you?”

Eris tilted her head from side to side in thought. “Well, you could say that the chaos I deal with is different from what Discord deals with, naturally, that is.”

“Would you care to elaborate?” Luna asked with a raised brow.

“Let’s see…” Eris brought up her lion paw and counted with it as she gave her list. “War, death, madness, pain, disease, etc.” She shrugged. “Stuff like that is what chaos I’m naturally drawn to. Discord, on the other hand, is drawn to what you’ve probably already seen when he was spreading chaos. Disagreements, innocent imagination, much more light-hearted stuff like that.”

“Hm.” Luna tapped her hoof against the floor in thought. “That does explain why no one was exactly harmed during Discord’s reign a thousand years ago.”

“Indeed.” Celestia agreed. “I suppose we are more lucky than we thought that Discord was the one that went evil and not Eris.”

“Yeah, you guys would be beyond traumatized from that kind of reign.” Eris chuckled. “But anywho, besides that, the rest of what I could tell you about me is basic stuff like favorite food or drinks. Of course, these opinions may be outdated. It has been a thousand years since I last ate real food.”

“Of course. I’m assuming you will be staying with Discord in I’m guessing your shared dimension?” Celestia asked.

“Unfortunately, no.” Eris shook her head. “Since I came out of the Alicorn Amulet, I’m in a state similar to when a unicorn is exhausted of magic. As a result, I cannot go to the Chaos Realm until sometime tomorrow.”

“I see. If you would like, you can stay in one of the guest rooms until then. Discord is welcome to stay as well, since I’m guessing he’d rather not leave your side for a while.”

“Agreed.” Luna said. “Based on my own return from imprisonment for a thousand years, one’s sibling can be quite…clingy.”

“I was not clingy.” Celestia rolled her eyes. “I just wanted to catch up after you were away for so long.”

Luna shook her head. “No matter. What say you, Eris?”

“I gladly accept, Princesses.” Eris gave another bow.

“There is no need for formalities here.” Luna shook her head. “We prefer casualty outside of the public eye, especially with our equals.” Luna turned to a side door and started to walk to it, Celestia following from behind. Luna lit her horn and opened the door with her magic. “Come now, we are about to indulge in some dinner before my sister goes to rest for the night. You can come along as well Twilight, don’t think we forgot about you.”

Eris and Discord followed. Twilight had stopped writing notes into a parchment and quickly rolled it up, trotting for a moment to catch up. “Sorry, I wanted to take some notes and got caught up listening. Eris, would you be willing to answer some questions for me?”

Eris shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’ll try to answer them all once we get to the dining room.”

“Oh, come on. It’s funny seeing Purple struggle to figure me out.” Discord pouted as he flew ahead of Eris and Twilight.

“I thought I told you to stop calling me Purple.” Twilight said in an exasperated tone.

“You did. I just decided not to listen.” Twilight rolled her eyes at Discord’s response. The walk to the dining room was finished soon after, the group entering and taking a seat along the table. Minus Discord, who opted to float in the air.

After Twilight took her seat, she unrolled her scroll and resumed jotting words into it. ”I guess she’s putting her questions together before she starts asking them.”

A butler approached Celestia and Luna before asking for what they would like. They both opted for a simple salad. Twilight also asked for a salad. Discord and Eris asked for nothing. After the butler left, the room simply stayed in silence as Twilight wrote her questions and they all waited for their food.

Comments

[CasualReader]

Logical explanations? In a draconequus story?

Jokes aside, I like how the difference between their chaos types fits well with their personalities and history.
Discord isn't violent because Eris has the bloody part of chaos, and she is able to be serious because Discord has the silly part.

[LEGION55]

Nice To See A Return To This.