Dadonequus Discord (Book 2)

by CrazedLaughter

Chapter 274 - Tempest's Perspective

…

…

You know who you are.

It had been a long, and rather perilous, journey. You had thought with the pace you were making that you’d reach Ponyville earlier than expected. But you should never expect anything when the unexpected can attack at any time, like that of a tatzlwurm. It was no challenge, of course, but it did eat up a lot of time. It was a bit of extra training you weren’t expecting.

It was dark out, and the snow was dense. No trouble for you, or even Grubber, but poor Capper was having a few issues trudging through the snow, despite how warmly he’s dressed for it. He was ahead of you, looking back at times. You could see both the annoyance of the snow in his eyes, as well as his guilt. He had taken it upon himself to watch a few ‘Christmas’ movies before going to bed, and now had it in his head he could be a Santa Claus to the foals by bringing them gifts. Gifts you decided you’d haul yourself, as well as Grubber’s entire arsenal of weapons. It was good training, and you didn’t want to leave them back at the docks. Who knows what would happen.

It was sweet of him, really. Hearthwarming usually dealt with getting the one closest to you a gift. But after his viewings, he felt he could be someone that could give gifts to many, like this Santa Claus. He spent extra time shopping in Klugetown to fill a bag with whatever seemed like something a foal would play with, not allowing expenses to get in the way.

“Tempest, you sure you don’t need any help? You’ve been lugging that stuff since we left. And, y’know… You ain’t tired at all after that fight back in the badlands?” Capper asked you, holding his coat tight over himself.

“Just save your energy and focus on staying warm, we should be arriving in Ponyville shortly.” You told him.

“Heh, yeah. But you ain’t cold at all? I could at least give you one of my scarves, I’m wearing five of them.” Capper offered you.

You gave him a gentle smirk. “We ponies are pretty used to the cold, at least a normal winter’s cold. It’s a tradition to even get it wrapped up every year. That means working hard, in the snow, until it’s all gone.”

Capper went silent for a moment, then went on trudging. “...Now that’s what I call taking ‘cool’ to a whole new level.”

You held back your chuckle, and continued forward, pulling the cart along. You looked up a bit, then to your sides. You had to admit, it was very late at this point, you could barely see anything ahead, even with the moonlight. “Grubber, report.”

“You got it, Tempest!” Grubber, who had been resting on his crate of weapons, hopped into action as he put on a pair of night-vision specs to see ahead. “Hey, I think I see some buildings ahead.”

“Well, thank the stars, finally. Almost thought we were never gonna make it. Though, you think anyone is gonna be awake to, ya know, maybe let us waltz into a bed?” Capper asked.

“If Twilight’s castle isn’t an option, I’m sure they have some sort of motel or bed and breakfast we can stay the night in. This is the time of year where you can expect help at any time.” You explained.

“I hope so. Feel bad we’re basically begging for a place. But cats alive, it’s cold.” Capper said with a shiver.

You would guess he was simply too used to living south of the badlands to ever get used to this kind of cold.

“Yo, Tempest. Are we sure this is the right place?” Grubber asked.

Hm? “What do you mean, Grubber?”

“Well, when you said Ponyville was gonna be a peaceful place. I was expecting it looking, ya know, nice and peaceful and really wimpy. But it isn’t looking like that at all.” Grubber said.

Was it not? Or perhaps, you got lost? But that didn’t make any sense. “Grubber, the specs.”

Grubber rolled down the box and huge bag of toys, landing on your back and gently putting the specs over your eyes. “Here ya go, Tempest.” He then pointed forward, towards the town. “See? Check out that castle in the distance, it almost looks like the Storm King’s joint, but even eviller.”

He… was right. The town looked twisted and dark, there were no signs of any of the usual shops or homes. And that castle, those banners, that didn’t belong to Twilight at all. You almost thought you made a wrong turn, until you looked towards the right, at the mountains. Canterlot, it was right there.

It didn’t take long for you to surmise something was wrong.

“Yo, Grubber’s right. That place is lookin’ worse than Klugetown. That’s supposed to be Ponyville?” Capper asked, gazing into the darkness that was the town itself with his nocturnal eyes.

So then, Anon was right to be worried. This old scholar…

You recognize the banners from stories your mother would tell you, of old evils sealed by the sisters or that of Starswirl the Bearded.

The old scholar was a being you never met, but you knew, if allowed, could become more dangerous than the Storm King.

His name was Tirek.

This must have been his trap. He’s using either Anon, Discord, or both, to change the town to his liking. That, or the old scholar Anon spoke about isn’t Tirek, but perhaps an accomplice with the power needed to warp the town.

Anon, he should have stuck to his instincts. You could only hope he’s alright, that everyone escaped before this happened.

“The town has been taken over.” You say to Grubber and Capper.

“What?! How did that happen?! Wasn’t it okay when Anon was visiting?” Capper asked.

“Ugh, I’m not even surprised. It was so easy to roll over their capital city, of course the town would get their butts kicked in like, less than a day. So, what’s the plan, Tempest? We going in and taking names?” Grubber said as he immediately took a crowbar and opened his weapon crate from the top, taking out a double-barreled bazooka. “Because I was itching for a reason to bust out this baby!”

But you could see something was amiss ahead. The glow of the specs was showing something else, something that made looking into the town a little misty feeling. A barrier? You light up your broken horn, making it sparkle, as you fire a weak bolt ahead of you. It is immediately blocked by a barrier spanning the entire town. “Seems we can’t, there is a barrier in the way.”

Capper walked over to the crate, holding his paws out. “Hey, Grubber, pass me something good. If Miss Rarity and the others are in trouble, then whoever is in there is gonna learn that this kitty has got claws.”

Grubber smirked as he reached into the crate and tossed Capper a flamethrower. “Here, catch!”

Capper caught it, then gave it a look over, confused. “What’s this?”

“Dragonbreath Blower. Point, click, and watch everything burn! It’ll do you some good, since you were complaining about the cold.” Grubber told him.

“Nice.” Capper said, smirking as he gave the weapon another look over.

“As for that barrier. Stand back, everybody. I got this one!” Grubber pulled out a strange device, bigger than himself, and jumped off the crate onto the snowy ground below. He began to set it up as it seemed to form some sort of cannon.

You simply observed. You had a feeling the barrier was too strong to break, but then there’s a possibility it is strong against magic. If Grubber’s more conventional weaponry could punch a hole in it, then it was worth a chance.

“Let’s see. Step one, aim the cannon. Step two, make sure the super nitro is injected into the cylinder ca-re-ful-ly. There we go. Step four… LET LOOSE! HERE WE GO, BABY! BYE BYE BARRIER!” Grubber pulled a lever, firing the cannon. It let loose with a mighty roar as a flaming blue ball of fire rocketed ahead.

As you watched, you suddenly felt odd, as if there was a voice speaking to you.

As soon as the blue nitroball hit the barrier, there was a mighty explosion. “Haha! I knew that’d work. What’d you think, Tem-Hey!” As the smoke cleared, the barrier shimmered, then remained in place as if nothing had happened. “Oh, come on! That was the best thing I had. It could level a castle in a single shot! Tempest, can you…” But then he noticed you were suddenly holding your head. “Tempest, you okay? Was the blast too loud?”

“Loud doesn’t even begin to describe it, meo-wch.” Capper groaned, rubbing a paw in his ear.

This voice. It almost felt like it was twisting something inside you. As if, the more you had become worried about the situation, worried about the ponies, worried about Anon, the more it made it about itself. It was trying to make you… Obey. “Grubber, Operation Zeta! Now!”

“Operation Zeta? Oh geez! Hold on!” Grubber reached into his pockets for his shock gloves and put them on. “Here we go!” Grubber immediately slammed his fists into your chest, shocking you hard and sending you into the ground.

“What in the… Grubber, man, are you crazy?! What was that for?!” Capper was heavily confused. “I get you didn’t break the barrier, but that’s too much!”

“Shut up, this is serious!” Grubber shouted at him as he rushed to your side. “How ya feelin’, Tempest? Need another? What kind of mind control is it? Do I need to knock ya out?”

The voices had lessened as you felt the pain of the shock course through you. You quickly began to assess why, why it was affecting you just then, why it seemed to get stronger. You then slowly stood back up, looking at Grubber with a serious expression. “Grubber, grab my leg, medium shock.”

“Y-you got it.” Grubber, despite the hesitancy in his voice, did as he was told and began shocking you as he held your leg.

Ngh, it was hard to stand. The pain wasn’t anything you weren’t used to, but to just allow yourself to take it, it was excruciating. But it was working. “Grubber…” With just the mention of his name, he let go. You were shaking from the shock, angry that you could let yourself even begin to succumb to something like that. Angry, angry that something like this could even happen. Yet when you began to worry again…

You fell back once more. Grubber reached out to you, but you told him to hold off. You were beginning to understand. You could hear the voice call to you. As a friend. A friend to someone named… Cozy Glow. So that’s it. That must be the one Tirek is working with. You could almost see her. It almost looked like an innocent filly.

That’s how it worked. It was something you had never even heard of before. Twisting one’s worry and friendship to focus on this one pony. A regular pony would never be able to resist something like this.

You cleared your mind. You filled it with nothing but horrid thoughts of who you used to be. Even if the monks of the north had taught you to find your center. Finding your center here would still cause you to succumb to this magic. You’d have to keep any and all positive emotions about Anon and the others out. “It’s alright, Grubber. I figured out how it works.”

“Geez, you nearly scared me, Tempest. Operation Zeta, we never even put that one to practice. Glad it worked though.” Grubber smashed his fists together, getting angry. “Alright, that’s it. If they think they can take control of you, they got another thing coming. I’m gonna blow whoever that guy in that castle is to smithereens!”

“Can… Can someone please tell me what just happened? First he was zapping you, then you’re all okay? This kitty is all kinds of confused.” Capper just couldn’t comprehend it.

“The town is emitting an influence of a unique mind control magic. Seems to be specific to ponies, probably to catch any passerbys and draw them through the barrier. Ponyville has been taken over, and for now, we must abandon it. If I remember correctly, a powerful friend of Anon’s lives in the forest. We should drop our gear here and go look for her.” You said as you looked over towards the Everfree Forest.

“Wait, wait, wait! Hold on, Rarity and the others are in there! We’re just going to leave them?!” Capper shouted as he looked over at the town, holding his Dragonbreath Blower tightly. “Nah, that ain’t sitting right with ole’ Capper.”

“Tempest is right, and I’m not just saying that because she said it. That barrier took my Nitrocannon head on without a scratch. If Tempest thinks there’s someone in that forest that can help us out, then we’re going in there. Besides, you’d be pointing that thing at Rarity if we just somehow got in there. Whatever tried to take control of Tempest, it probably got control of all the ponies in there and is using them to make an army no one would want to fight. Hate to say it, but we can’t just go in weapons blazing.” Grubber explained as he began to pick out a few weapons from the crate to carry into the forest. "Trust me though, once we figure it out, we're gonna do some real damage to the bad guys."

“Ngh, but that ain’t right.” Capper said as he stiffened up, looking at the town as his ears folded. "Just leaving them like that."

“We have to, Capper. We don’t even know what we’re dealing with. We need intel, and we need help.” You tried to explain to him. “There’s nothing for us here.”

“There’s gotta be something! C’mon, things always turned out right in the end when it came to ponies, right? I’m telling you, there’s something here we missed! And I bet if we just step back and take another look, it’s-GYAH!” Suddenly, Capper falls back as an ominous blue portal opened in front of him. He ducked down as a grey-white pony unicorn with a beard and tussled mane tripped over him. This pony, he was garbed in a torn purple cloak, the neck of the cloak lined with gold, and some sort of sash with a medal on it. Capper looked back up as he saw the portal close, and the pony fall face first in the snow. He suddenly smirked as he pointed both his claws towards the fallen pony. “Eyyy, see what I mean?”

…Well then, this was unexpected.

Comments

[Theresa]

I hope neighsay isn't going to find a way to make this harder. Considering he was reluctant to believe anyone not a pony could be good.

[CrazedLaughter]

11535700
It's Neighsay, as the poster below explained.

[EntropyEntropy]

11535714
Starswirl is an interesting idea though, gotta admit.

[PinkOne]

Everyone is here!
That's gonna be one hell of a finale

[Warp Contrast]

11535714
Yep, I overthought it. Sorry.

[CrazedLaughter]

11535923
No apologies needed

[Megabrick]

Loved this chapter. At first it seems like an odd detail to saddle Capper with this sort of 'Santa' thing, but in hindsight it's like the generosity Rarity initially showed him - so that's neat.

Operation Zeta was a great little scene playing to Tempest's tougher disposition and her militant-preparedness, very enjoyable.

These chapters have really been getting at the things I find fascinating. I love lots of moving pieces coming into place, and I'm looking forward to potentially a gathering of all the relevant characters. I can tell you've put a LOT of thought into this, CL.

[CrazedLaughter]

11537029
I do my absolute best.

I wanted to give the characters a chance to be themselves without Anon's presence. And yes, you got it right, it was due to Rarity that Capper liked the idea of being a Santa Claus.

For the story itself. I told myself even if this finale ends up being a bust, the journey, all the slice of life, all the writing i've done for all these years. To me, it really is the journey, not the destination. Not every arc was good, not every chapter is a zinger. But I hope I had made it feel like the MLP everyone expected, and that Anon's journey through it felt like what a typical channer, or even reader at this point, may have had a fun ride with.

From the beginnings where Anon's cuteness got him by, to Chrysalis being forced to be his 'nanny', to Twilight week and the Flim Flam arc, to the time he boxed with Big Mac to get his cutie mark, to his journey through the mlp movie events, to indulging Starlight and Chrysalis in human things, to a silly pretend wedding, to Chrysalis's redemption. I hope this, and everything else, was worthy enough to be enjoyable.

Also? Alas poor Jimmy, he nearly got to be the longest lasting in-universe OC

[Hein des Nisseroi]

you can expect help at anytime.

any time

there was no signs of any of the usual shops or homes.

"there were no signs of/there was no sign of (...)"

BYE BYE BARRIER!”

Missing comma before ‘BARRIER’.

Capper groaned, rubbing a paw in his ear.

on (?)

“Dragonbreath blower. Point, click, and (...)
(...) holding his Dragonbreath Blower tightly.

The name is a common noun at first, but then a proper noun.

Suddenly Capper falls back as

Missing comma before ‘Suddenly’. (?)

[Resu]

But cats alive, it’s cold.

Didn't know Capper was a poet. Like, seriously, I have no idea what this sentence was even supposed to be. It's funny though.

---

I can't wait to see Tempest interact with Chrysalis. She is such a badass. She deserves that title after training all her life. Both of them have so much in common.

I wonder if you're gonna involve the princesses or continue the gag of them being always absent and useless during a crisis. This time with an excuse of evacuating Canterlot.

[CrazedLaughter]

11563581
In the regard of 'useless royalty', i do have a funny gag for one of them. i won't spoil what it is, but just take note a certain plot thread was never resolved during the winter chapters.

it'll be a treat, but nothing big.

[Walrusesarecute]

“Just save your energy and focus on staying warm, we should be arriving in Ponyville shortly.” You told him.

Oh, MORE HOPE ON THE HORIZON. This is gonna be soul-crushing though.

[Walrusesarecute]

“Well, thank the stars, finally. Almost thought we were never gonna make it. Though, you think anyone is gonna be awake to, ya know, maybe let us waltz into a bed?” Capper asked.

WHY ARE YOU BURYING SALT INTO THESE WOUNDS? WHY MUST YOU HURT ME SO?

[Walrusesarecute]

Grubber smirked as he reached into the crate and tossed Capper a flamethrower. “Here, catch!”

I love this