Prince of Errors

by David Silver

21 - And the Verdict Is...

The Council of Five had gathered once more. Pinkie had not been invited, that would have made it six, and that would have been silly for a council of five. Twilight nodded properly. "Alright, I have some interesting information and I'm hoping you all do as well?"

Rarity shook her head. "Nothing new from me or Fluttershy, I imagine; but quite good investigation before we parted the last time, Dear. You really got us off on the right hoof."

Fluttershy smiled timidly. "I was... just helping. Besides, Apple Bloom looked so nervous, I had to help her."

Twilight raised a hoof. "Which leads perfectly into my own findings. Approaching Granny Smith with the questions we had, she confirmed that Apple Bloom was in two places at the same time. Her theory is that one of them was a changeling, a nice one."

Applejack hiked a brow at that. "Granny didn't mention none of that t'me... Wait, what were you helpin' Apple Bloom with?" She scowled at her friends. "Yer hidin' somethin'."

Twilight shook her head firmly. "Let's focus on the task at hoof. Applejack, did you discover anything?"

"Oh, uh..." She raised a hoof behind her head, rubbing lightly. "Not so much... Everything's mostly alright with the Pies, minus one of them being heartbroken and the rest being... interesting in their different ways."

Rainbow barked out a laugh at that. "Heartbroken? That's a story you'll have to share, some other time." She pulled out a notebook and slapped it down. "Bam! I brought the goodies." All eyes turned to the loud slap of paper on the table and she grinned. She was in the limelight, right where she liked to be. "I got Pinkie to talk and I met whats his face myself, like over a dozen times."

Rarity gave a polite little clopping her her hooves. "How lovely, and what have you determined, darling?"

"One, forgetting things sucks, two, you can trick it." She tapped at the book. "Like calling him what's his face helps. If you don't even pretend he has a name, you get less fuzzy. He's just some pony. He doesn't look very special. If you want to read the specifics, well, that's what the notes are for, but to remember, he's that stallion that hangs with Pinkie."

The notebook wreathed in magic, floating towards Twilight. "How... fascinating? So, you can second Granny in Pinkie's friend's existence, great." She willed the book open. "That doesn't explain how I ended up with a box full of Pinkie parts when I asked for things from him."

Rainbow shrugged emphatically. "Read the notes. I'm pretty proud I remember Pinkie has a bland stallion friend. I had to forget that over a dozen times before it stuck. Something about a curse? There was definitely a curse in there somewhere. Oh yeah, and Fluttershy."

"Yes?" She twitched an ear at Rainbow.

"Huh? No. I remember mentioning Fluttershy... Uh... Probably in the notes." She shrugged softly. "Give them back when you're done. Reading back over them is the only way I can keep up."

Twilight's eyes were moving left and right, scanning the notes. "Rainbow... are you certain about what you've written?"

"No and yes. I don't remember writing half of it, but I know I wrote it." She sat forward, wings flaring. "I put in tests for myself just to be totally sure, and to keep track of how many times I forgot things. So, yeah, freaky..." She shrugged softly. "On the bright side, Pinkie's not any more nuts than she usually is, so there is that."

"Darling, that is delightfully clever of you." Rarity was smiling at Rainbow quite proudly. "I wouldn't have expected it, you've truly impressed me."

Twilight turned an ear, but her eyes were on the paper. "If it is the presence of this... unknown factor that causes the amnesiac response, maybe just reading your notes will avoid it."

"Yeah, right." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "You think I didn't read it after I left them? Be prepared to read that over and over. Me? I'm settling with what I got stuck in there. Pinkie has a new friend, kinda plain stallion, all I need to know."

Fluttershy frowned a little. "Doesn't he... have a name?"

"Check the notes."

Twilight tapped at the table as she read. "Why isn't Pinkie affected by this?"

Applejack snorted softly. "Because she's Pinkie? Her brain ain't quite wired the same as us, bless her heart."

Rarity shrugged at that. "You do have a point... Still, if we're certain the mare isn't playing a trick on us, or taking leave of her senses, shouldn't we invite her to speak on this matter?"

Fluttershy pointed at the floating notebook. "For now, I think, we should let Twilight read and decide what needs to be done. Still, we should treat Pinkie nicely. This must have been a terrible burden, and it must have been even worse if she thought we were not believing her."

"We were not believing her," agreed Rarity with a cocked brow. "Still, you are correct. I'll be certain to apologize; even if I still have no idea how to assist exactly. She already tried bringing him over, if you recall. I forgot he existed. Poor things, both of them..."

"Fascinating..." All eyes turned to Twilight. "This failsafe." She pointed a hoof at the book. "When he assumes the form of another pony and is caught, it results in a painful backlash... But only sometimes? It seems if the subject is already aware of them, this is avoided, even if only tangentially. I think we should try something with that."

Applejack peered at Twilight. "Sounds interestin', but how?"

Rarity suddenly smiled. "Oh, that's easy. If he were to imitate one of us, and we knew he was doing it, then..."

"Precisely," agreed Twilight. "And... Hmm." She tilted her head at the notes. "And that is where Rainbow's notes end on that topic, so it may or may not lead to what I hope, but worth a try?"

Rainbow pointed directly at Fluttershy.

"Eep! What?" Flutter shied away from the accusing hoof.

"I think he should do you. Just a hunch."

"O-oh, I mean... how?" She looked around the room nervously. "Does he just... do that?"

"Notes," sang Rainbow Dash, eyes settling on the floating notebook.

"Right, right." Twilight flipped through the book one way then the other, looking it up. "Uh, yes, here we are. He takes on the role of a pony that needs to be somewhere but can't be for any miscellaneous reason."

"Oh, oh my. That's... very thoughtful, actually." Fluttershy smiled gently. "He's an agent of harmony, just like us." All eyes began to focus on her. "What? I mean... he is... He stops unharmonious things from happening... It's very nice."

Rainbow pointed a wing at the book. "Hey, Twilight, you better write this down. We'll be forgetting most of it real soon, probably as soon as we finish talking about it. You love taking notes, right?"

Twilight softly snorted, but a quill did rise into view and the notebook flipped under the influence of the magic to a clean page for new notes to start being made. "We're going to have to trust one another. Until we get to the bottom of this, our memories will be full of holes and inconsistencies, and we just have to be certain that our friends are telling the truth."

Rainbow nodded towards the book. "I know my book is full of things I forget, so if you write it there, I'm sold." Her brows suddenly fell. "If you use that to play a prank on me, I will never forgive any of you."

"Dear me, that would be quite uncouth," agreed Rarity. "This is certainly not the time for pranks or jests. To think, I met a pony and had a delightful conversation just to... forget it... It's unsettling."

Rainbow scowled softly. "You don't know the half of it. It's so fast! I remember that, after the, like gazillionth time I checked my notes. Like you know something... Bam, gone. It was really driving Pinkie nuts."

Fluttershy pointed to herself. "I'd be happy to help, but how? There are so few things I need to be there for that I'm not actually there for..."

Rarity tittered softly. "He'd have an easier time with me. I have far too many appointments, though I do try my best to keep up with them." Her smile faded a little. "I'm not sure I'd want him trying his first hoof at sewing for one of my clients..."

Rainbow clopped her forehooves. "Let's try being sneaky! We'll say you can't make a thing when you really could, he shows up, you walk out, and bam, done!" She threw her hooves wide. "Ta da!"

Twilight hiked a brow at that, quill still writing a storm of words. "That may be a good idea, if only to see just how omniscient this 'curse' is. If it falls for it, then it clearly has limits, which would be good. If not, that makes things... more difficult, but at least we'd know."

Fluttershy nodded towards the book. "We'd at least have notes about it... Even if we don't remember..." She slipped from her chair to her hooves. "I have my weekly visit with Discord. He could try filling in for me for that? I'll actually be there anyway, so Discord won't be hurt."

Twilight made a firm dot with her quill. "Excellent. Rainbow, I assume he already knows you, so I'll leave it up to you to mention how Fluttershy just can't make it to the tea party. With hope, he'll try to assume the missing role, and we'll see how it goes. Girls, I need you all to come back every day until this is done, to refresh yourselves on what we know." She wagged the notebook in her magic. "Let's solve a mystery!"

Rainbow thrust a hoof up towards the book. "Yeah!"

Applejack joined in, clopping her hoof up against Rainbow's. "Let's do it."

Rarity placed her hoof aside her friends. "Nopony should have to suffer in such a strange way."

Fluttershy reached to join in the team effort. "Should I warn Discord what we're doing?"

Twilight hesitated. "That's a good question... I think you should. If he sees two of you and isn't expecting it, it could cause a backlash and ruin the entire effort." She drew the notebook away as the quill added the new thoughts. Her hoof replaced it, completing the grand brohoof of the friends assembled.

Rarity slid to her hooves, joining Fluttershy. "Well, it sounds as if we're in agreement. I'll see you all tomorrow, one supposes; perhaps with Pinkie."

The group began to scatter then, those who were not Twilight leaving the castle.

"Um." Fluttershy turned an ear to Rarity. "I was supposed to tell Discord something, right?"

Rarity frowned thoughtfully. "That... sounds right. Oh dear..." She shook her head slowly.

"You get used to it," sighed Rainbow. "One second." She vanished in a trail of rainbows.

Applejack looked after Rainbow. "I feel like we talked a lot about nothin' at all..."

Rainbow came zooming back, dropping books as she went, one notebook in front of each of the mares. "Twilight made copies of my book. Take notes, lots of notes. ALL the notes, alright?"

Applejack reached down and took up the book in her mouth. "Well, alright. Ah'll give it a gander when I'm home."

Rarity floated her book beside herself. "Fabulous. I'd hate to think we wasted an afternoon." She trotted away, confident in the order of her world. "Not that time spent with any of you could ever be a complete waste, of course."

Fluttershy took up her book with a wing. "Oh, alright, hm... I wonder what he'll think of this..." She moved off towards her home at a light trot.

They all had their battleplans, written for posterity.

Rainbow flipped open hers and made a quick note, "Don't forget me, dummy."

Author's Note:

You have all been asking about Discord, looks like you may get your wish.

Odds of success?

Comments

[badninja]

I think Discord is going to like ve this once he has been told. It is a centerlised aria of chaos.

[Vash_ts]

Prince is a force of pure order, fixing problems while negating his own existance. My bet is that Discord won't be able to even see him in his neutral form. And ignore completely the fact that there's more than a single Fluttershy.

[Kurolothgarian]

"Odds of success"? Are we trying to predict Discord's Chaotic mind?

[Zapper Frost]

"I think he should do you. Just a hunch."

Get your mind out of the gutter

[Not so New Brony]

Elements of Harmony are on the case...sort of but I wonder if their efforts will actually bear any fruit. Still, Discord is going to be here soon(I hope) but whether or not he'll play along with the deception, especially when it involves Fluttershy.

9415528
Maybe he'll think the elements are tricking him and believe the Prince is Fluttershy. Or he'll decide to throw a wrench into the works and pull some gags on everyone since the real Fluttershy isn't there. Or he'll actually see the extra appendage and throw 'Flutters' a coronation party.

Who knows...well, except Pinkie maybe.

[Liqwidice]

Was Dash the prince the whole time and he just left a note for her at the end?

[FanOfMostEverything]

The Council of Five had gathered once more. Pinkie had not been invited, that would have made it six, and that would have been silly for a council of five.

But she's clearly there in spirit.

Well, that council meeting went about as well as possible. I do still wonder how audio or video recordings will interact with the curse. And introducing Discord into the mess... I put the odds of success at chocolate-covered halibut over postnasal drip. At best.

Also, they forgot a typo:

clopping her hoof up against Rainbows.

Rainbow's, possessive.

[Raw Gem]

Discord will be himself. And he will give some hints but won't solve the problem. Where would be all fun from takig the easy way. Right?
Besides, what can overpower Discord except for black bug chair and ancient crystals tree? Would that "curse" even pick his attention for more than 5 seconds?

[tsaukpaetra]

Now y'all have done it...