Continuity Disrupted

by Doug Graves

124 The Visionary, Part One

“No, Rarity,” Doug says with a roll of his eyes, “I don’t know where you packed the super heavy duty mane shampoo, or your coat conditioner. It’s probably in your tent, one of the dozen bags you brought along for the two days we’ll be here.” He sighs as the white unicorn darts forward, diving into the furthest left of the four tents now set up in a rough semicircle. Doug looks over at Rainbow and Twilight, the three back from their expedition into the woods to find Spike. “What got under her coat?”

“Under, on top of, all over, it’s really not important.” Twilight shakes her freshly washed head, grimacing at the ground as Rainbow gags. “What is important is that we found Spike. He’s doing well. Going off with his new dragon friends, something about spotting an infestation of rhoas, whatever those are.”

“Delicious?” supplies Doug, getting furrowed eyebrows in response. He coughs. “Also dangerous. Very dangerous.”

Twilight looks over at the six fillies and one colt neatly arranged in front of her. Her gaze rests on the filly in question. “We also found Sweetie Belle.” The white filly hunkers down, her smile becoming strained. “I don’t think I should have to impress on you all how dangerous it is to wander around the wilderness by yourself. But, it seems like some of you managed to miss that particular lesson. So, we’ll be going over it, again, until it sinks in.” The fillies moan as Twilight pulls out an easel and large piece of paper, making little diagrams of fillies wandering into scary looking woods, then of big, menacing creatures from the Monstrous Manual.

Doug slinks away from the group, poking his head into the second tent and spotting a pink tail peeking out from under one of the bedrolls. “Hey, Fluttershy,” he says as he quietly walks over; his hand snakes inside the covers, drawing a startled, ‘eep!’ from the mare. “Thanks for coming along. It means a lot to me.”

“Y-you’re welcome,” Fluttershy ekes out, briefly poking her head up to smile at Doug.

“I like having you all here. It seems right, when we do these things together. Even if we split up and do our own thing.” Doug sits down next to her, pulling the lump of covers closer to himself. “Trixie and Pinkie Pie already went to the main event, ostensibly to find Sweetie Belle. Applejack said she don’t care for the crowds, but she’ll probably make it for the start of the concert. Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow said they need some time to ‘spa it up’, as it were. Then they’ll take the fillies out to some of the games.”

Fluttershy glances up as Doug stops talking. Silence lingers for a few seconds. “So, um… you want to stay here in the tent with me?” She offers a hopeful smile.

Doug smiles back, a short shake of his head. “I was thinking of wandering around the vendors. Seeing what there is to see before the opening show.” He scratches Fluttershy behind the ears. “You want to come with?”

Fluttershy grins initially, her smile slowly fading at the suggestion. “Oh, um. Not really. No. I’m sorry. I mean, if you want to, then-”

“It’s okay,” Doug says, shaking the mare’s head as he rubs her mane. “No harm in not doing what you don’t want to do. I’ll be sure to bring you back some tarragon. Any preference on flavors?”

“No; um, whatever you think is best.”

“You got it.” Doug gets up, Fluttershy burrowing back under the covers. Rainbow is standing just outside Rarity's tent, a sour look on her face as a blue aura lathers a thick soap on her coat. Doug can’t help but smirk as a few spots of fluff puff up, Rainbow looking especially cuddly. Their eyes lock, Rainbow glaring as Doug waves goodbye.

Cold wind bites at any exposed skin as Doug leaves the clearing, a long walk to the festival set up on the outskirts of Vanhoover. He pulls his jacket against his neck, though he can’t help but keep his head up, staring at the diverse mix of creatures milling among the stalls. Dragons, goats, even a solitary minotaur whose upper body rivals Bulk Biceps, can’t help but draw his attention. A pride of griffons swoop overhead, heading for the gigantic stage set up in the mountains a little farther to the south.

The smells of every flavor of food under the sun assault Doug as he gets closer. Most, if not all, of the vendors are ponies, apparently with no compunction against selling a dragon packages of equinely harvested meat products. Farthest downwind are two griffons wearing white chef hats and actively roasting somecreature, though no ponies dare tread anywhere near that stall.

Doug gives it a wide berth; while the lightly charred hunks smell delicious, he knows the mares can’t stand to do anything more than wave at him if he’s eaten too much meat, even his varieties that aren’t very pungent. It doesn’t stop his mouth from watering, though, and he soon finds his backpack a good number of bits lighter but full of pre-packaged salads of the namesake tarragon, as well as bags of seeds advertised as being perfect for planting in the more mild Equestrian soil.

“Well, well,” comes a voice Doug vaguely remembers. “If it isn’t Doug Apple! I’m so pleased to find you here!”

Doug turns. Standing in front of him is a purple unicorn, just a shade lighter than Twilight. “Hey!” he says with a smile but immediately pauses, his mouth pursed in a tight line. Her mouth opens, stopping at his raised hand. “Hold on, I got this.” She swishes her purple mane, the aquamarine highlight split by her horn. Doug taps a finger against his chin. Her cutie mark is a thick gray equals sign, but otherwise she is a dead ringer for a mare he’s seen twice before. “Starlight Glimmer?”

“Wow, you remembered!” Starlight Glimmer grins. “Most other ponies here know me by Glim Glam, my manager alias. How long has it been?”

“What, five years? Too long.” Doug pulls out one of the bags of tarragon, ripping it open and pulling out a handful. He offers, “Want some?”

“Sure, thanks.” Starlight Glimmer reaches a hoof over, plucking a few leaves out and popping them in her mouth, counting how many she eats. Doug raises an eyebrow. “Been busy with the band, running a town, you know the drill.”

“I imagine so. I sent you a letter, oh, three years ago? But I never got a response, even with the second letter I sent. Figured you finally got that ‘experiment’ of yours off the ground!” Doug’s eyes keep flicking between Starlight’s cutie mark and her horn.

“Oh, sorry about that. I really have been quite busy!” Starlight looks at the crowd of creatures around them, a bit of her smile fading. “I don’t suppose you want to get lunch again?" Her grin returns. "My treat!”

“Sure. Let me guess, someplace quiet and out of the way?” Doug smirks at Starlight’s nod. “Lead the way!”

“You don't mind walking a little?” Starlight’s smile grows larger as Doug shrugs. “Let’s go to my trailer.”

Doug and Starlight continue to the south, making their way through the rest of the festival. They pass through a checkpoint, Starlight flashing a card with her hoof, finally coming to two temporary buildings set up side by side. Both are quite drab, almost intentionally, with none of the decoration or spectacle all of the others have. Starlight glances around before she slips inside, beckoning Doug to follow.

“So,” Starlight says as Doug steps inside, closing the door behind him and locking it. She goes to one of the crates in the back, pulling out a bag. “What happened three years ago?”

“You didn’t read about it? It was published in a bunch of the papers, I think.” Doug takes a muffin from Starlight, sitting down on the floor. He takes a bite, choking down the tasteless hardtack. No worse than dry ramen, he supposes; he never liked those flavor packets, anyway.

Starlight shakes her head as she takes the bag of tarragon, making five piles, each with the same number of leaves she ate before. “Don’t get a lot of news out where we are, unfortunately. Just band information.”

Doug shudders, a heavy sigh at the recollection. “So, this creature of chaos magic attacked Ponyville, called a catapillt. We think it was left over from when Discord reigned over a thousand years ago. Why did it wait to attack then? Who knows. But Ponyville, and other places around the Everfree Forest, they’ve been under these kind of assaults for years. Fortunately haven’t had one since. I mean, timber wolves are a constant threat, and they're the same kind of magic but on a smaller scale.”

Starlight Glimmer clears her throat.

Doug slowly nods. “Anyway. So, it launched these projectiles that emanated chaotic energy as a sort of deadly radiation. They mostly landed on the south part of town, which had been evacuated. But, not every missile did. Some went farther, into the main town. Three of my fillies - Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo - were inside one of the impact sites.”

Starlight lays a comforting hoof on Doug’s knee, her mouth slightly open. She whispers, her voice trembling, “Did they…”

Doug slowly shakes his head, his hand laying on top of Starlight's hoof and squeezing. “No, they lived. The chaotic energy hurt them, from being so close to it, but they recovered. I think they ended up being the ponies who got closest to any of the missiles. No, the remarkable thing was that they kept the chaos bottled up inside of them.”

“No, that’s not right." Starlight shakes her head. "I mean, I haven’t studied chaos magic much. Well, barely anypony has, really, aside from ways to counteract the effects of exposure. But your innate thaumic field should slowly purge it from your system. Faster with the right medicine. And nopony else should be able to stand being anywhere near them while they were detoxing.”

Doug nods. “And that’s what happened with everypony else who got close, like Fluttershy, or a lot of the flyers. With me, the magic passes straight through. I’m completely unaffected.” Doug shrugs. “We tried the medicine with the fillies, but it didn’t do anything. The magic is still there; if you run a chaos detector over them, it can tell. But it doesn’t emanate from them. Like I said, they keep it bottled up, harmless. At least, that’s what we thought.”

Starlight bites her lip as she considers. “Okay, so, you wrote me a letter about this years ago. Did you do anything else with it? Ask anypony else?”

Doug shakes his head. “Not really. Princess Celestia was there, she helped defend against the catapillt. Well, she played offense, incinerated at least two and the nest making them. I don’t know if she personally inspected the fillies.”

“Okay, so just the doctors then, and maybe Princess Celestia.” Doug nods. “Why bring this up now?”

Doug sighs heavily. “I think the chaos inside of them is interfering with them getting a cutie mark. I don’t have any proof, of course, just suspicions.”

“Have they considered going without a cutie mark?” Starlight’s grin widens. “They really aren’t all they are cracked up to be!”

Doug chuckles. “You’ll have to convince them of that yourself, I’m afraid. We’ve tried to make that point, too, that getting a cutie mark, or not, doesn’t define you. But they’ve got it locked in the forefront of their minds that that is what they have to do.”

“A shame.” Starlight considers for a few long seconds. “I’ve never worked with chaos magic before. It doesn’t obey normal rules.”

Doug’s face falls. “So, you don’t think you can help them?”

“I didn’t say that,” Starlight says quickly. “Only that I can’t promise anything.” Her eyes flick back and forth, a devious grin spreading on her muzzle. She mutters to herself, “If I could get my hooves on that magic…”

“So you think you can help?” Doug eagerly asks. At Starlight’s delayed nod he slumps back, relieved. “That would be amazing. I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

“Well, I know a way.” Starlight glances down to Doug’s jacket and pants. “You see, I’ve- well, we’ve been having a problem of our own, that I think you can help with.”

Comments

[badninja]

Well look who is back. Doug is doing a lot of damage here, accidentally.

[DarkPhoenixx]

“So you think you can help?” Doug eagerly asks. At Starlight’s delayed nod he slumps back, relieved. “That would be amazing. I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

No Doug! Don't fall for it. Why do you insist on finding every villain (it seems) and totally not realizing that they ARE a villain!

[Silentwoodfire]

10239070
Mostly cause she hasnt been acting villainous to him?

Closest thing she did was nearly pull out what makes him him that one time

[f0st3r21]

Interesting. I hadn’t noticed that there was no mention of the chaos magic dispersing, and that is a good explanation for the delay of their marks. But there have been a few moments when their cutie marks almost came out…