Further Tales From Day Court

by Blade Star

Chapter 31 - Bellwether

Normally, I’d be home by now. I’d have had dinner, and Margaret and I would have gone up to bed, ready for an early start the next morning. Tonight though, I’d been taken out of my usually comfortable routines to take part in a very special occasion. It was the longest day of the year today. Well, technically tomorrow, but then again, in terms of time, it was tomorrow, the sun just hadn’t come up yet. Whatever. Anyway, it was the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration; the annual festival that celebrates Celestia’s victory over Nightmare Moon and Luna’s return to grace. Typically, the ceremony involved ponies getting up at an ungodly hour and gathering to watch the sunrise. Each year, Celestia would perform the actual act of raising the sun in a different city. And once, several years ago, she had chosen little old Ponyville, and sent her then student to help complete preparations.

This year, the ceremony was to take place in Canterlot. There was good reason for that; this would, to a lot of ponies eternal sadness, to be the very last Summer Sun Celebration. With the retirement of the princesses, given how the festival was built around the two of them, they had decreed that it would no longer be kept as a national holiday, wanting to move Equestria beyond the two of them, and look to their future ruler, Twilight.

Still, if it was to be the last one, then everypony was looking to put on a show. All of Equestria more or less had gotten in on the act. Some of the most talented unicorn illusionists would be performing a spectacular fireworks show, using magic in the place of fireworks, earth ponies had come together to feed the vast crowd of ponies that would be attending, stretching the city to near breaking point, and Cloudsdale had drafted in half the roster of weather patrol teams to ensure the skies were kept perfectly clear for the sunrise, in addition to having the Wonderbolts perform a flyby. All in all, it was shaping up to be quite the show.

The only problem was the fact that it also entailed getting up at half past two in the morning to catch a special train up to Canterlot. I was currently running on a whole lot of coffee and doing my best to stay awake as the train steadily made its way up the mountain. Luckily, Margaret was with me, and far more awake, and eager to prod and poke me if I ever showed sign of nodding off.

Our kids had come along too. Well, like I said before, pretty much all of Ponyville was going. They’d had to draft in a series of special trains to get everypony into Canterlot station in time. Bones was a few rows behind us, chatting with Applejack about the logistics of feeding the five thousand without divine intervention, while Lizzie, who was coming with Dewdrop, was just ahead of us, looking forward to seeing the unicorns’ light show.

I had something of a role to play in the ceremony today. It was nothing major, but I was pitching in to ensure things ran smoothly. Twilight and the others were organising things. Well, actually, it was just her friends. Twilight would be busy preparing to give her address. The celebration would mark the first phase of the official handover of power. And while Tia trusted them all implicitly, I still found myself on guard.

Remember, while Grogar might not be a threat, there were three x-rays out there, looking to cause some real damage. The Summer Sun Celebration has always been a pretty tempting target. Still, at least unlike the Friendship Festival, my own security recommendations had been heeded, and Cadence and Shining were staying up in the Crystal Empire. I’d heard nothing from the Tree, from Discord, or anypony else since I ‘met’ Grogar and was briefly reunited with Chrysalis. Whatever plan Discord had, he was keeping his cards close to his chest and telling me nowt.

I hoped I was wrong, and that the ceremony would go off without a hitch. It turned out I was half right. This wouldn’t be the big one, as it were. This was more like a bellwether event; a harbinger of things to come.

“It’s so nice to get to go up to Canterlot for the celebration,” Margaret said, startling me out of my thoughts. “I really must ask Lizzie later and see if she wants to go up on a shopping trip with me next month.”

Shaking myself out of my reprieve, I nodded in agreement.

“Yes, dear,” I replied tiredly, doing my best to stifle a yawn.

“It wouldn’t hurt for you to come along, you know,” she added. “It’s high time you went to see Elusive about getting some new suits.”

Elusive was my tailor; the finest I’ve ever met on Earth or Equestria. He kinda reminds me of Rarity, albeit catering more towards stallions than mares.

“Yes, dear,” I parroted again. That got me a light smack on the back of my head.

“Just get that coffee in you,” she instructed. “The last thing you want is for the princesses to see you yawning away like you’re trying to catch flies.”

I smiled and turned to my wife. I might be tired, but I was still awake enough to tease her.

“Yes, dear.”

“Oh grow up.”

At that moment, the train’s whistle blew, rousing a few ponies from their sleep. We were coming in to Canterlot station now. The city was brightly lit and it looked like the pre-celebration party was in full swing.

The four of us would be helping out Applejack, Braeburn and the other earth ponies with the cooking. Margaret’s a natural, Bones has picked up plenty of culinary skills from his time with the Apples and even I can follow basic instructions if you give me a cookbook. Applejack was just glad to have the extra help. Like I said before, this was shaping up to be the biggest Summer Sun Celebration ever.

As the train pulled in, the four of us hopped down onto the platform and followed Applejack to the square, which the earth ponies had turned into Equestria’s biggest food court.

---

The place was absolutely packed when we got there. Braeburn and his friends had come up from Appleloosa, while other members of the Apple family had come from far and wide to lend a hoof. There were plenty of other earth ponies too, including old Grand Pear; Applejack’s great uncle, who I swear to God, sounds exactly, like one James Tiberius Kirk, of the Federation Starfleet. Several other ponies from Ponyville had also joined in on the act.

Stalls had been set up all over the place, and supplies were steadily being ferried in by train, airship and pegasi power. Since ponies haven’t really subscribed to the idea of processed foods as much as humans have, most of the cuisine on offer was being cooked on site prior to the celebration itself.

Bones and I would be helping out with both the cooking and hauling some of the raw ingredients and cooked produce around. The nearby market square had been made over to accommodate all the food stalls that would be serving the hungry public. Applejack lead us over to one of the ad hoc kitchens where Braeburn was already hard at work.

“Y’all two are gonna be workin’ here,” she said. “Helpin’ Braeburn and the other earth ponies get the apple pies ready to go before sun up.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bones said with a grin and wink to his marefriend.

“We’ll get started right away, Applejack,” I added, grabbing a nearby apron that was a little undersized for a human.

“Ah really appreciate y’all doin’ this, partner,” she said to me sincerely. “Celestia knows we need as many ponies, and humans, as we can for this party. Even Pinkie Pie’s gonna be workin’ flat out.”

“Where is Pinkie anyway, AJ?” Bones asked. Applejack gestured across the square to where several kitchens were busily working on more sweet confections.

“She’s helpin’ out with the cake side of things,” she explained. “Ah’ll be back in a little while, once Ah’ve signed off on the last of these ingredients from Fillydelphia.”

With that, she left us with Braeburn. Applejack’s cousin is a nice enough guy, and I’ve met him once or twice when he’s come to visit Ponyville, and on my occasional visits to Appleloosa when I’m called on to mediate disputes between the ponies and buffalo. Like Applejack, he’s a skilled cook as well as a farmer, and he was quick to put us to work.

Before too long the three of us were busily working away, almost like we were on an assembly line in a factory. Still, that didn’t mean we were skimping on quality. And once we’d got a decent batch ready made and gently cooling, Bones and I soon found ourselves sent off to another part of the square to help out on another station. We were cooking everything from pies with Braeburn, cakes with Pinkie, hauling ingredients and cooked food over to the market square with Applejack, and even doing basic janitorial work to keep the place clear. It was a lot of work, but everypony was pitching in and giving it their all.

I actually got so lost in the work, that my earlier concerns about something going awry actually went out of my mind entirely. Cooking on such a vast scale does tend to divert your attention, and it wasn’t until things started to go wrong, that I was reminded of my suspicions.

It was a couple of hours before dawn; about half three or four in the morning. We were getting close to being all set to go and were looking forward to just enjoying the celebration. Bones and I had just gone on a quick break to clear our heads and cool off. Despite it all being outdoors, cooking was still a job that involved baking heat, and both us were visibly sweating somewhat.

We’d left Braeburn on his own for about five or ten minutes at most. Like us, he’d been working his tail off to get everything ready on time. Bones had been watching the moon slowly setting in the sky as a means of gauging how long we had until the show began. We still had plenty of time, but something like this wasn’t something you wanted to go down to the wire. The kitchens had worked like mad ponies, churning out all kinds of snacks, both savoury and sweet, and I was more than a little proud to say I played a part in it. There’s something to be said, if you ask me, about making something tangible; a work product you can take pride in. My job advising Celestia is important, sure, but it’s not always easy to see the effects of my work, considering that most of the decisions which have any impact are made, and attributed to, Celestia herself. I’m just an adviser. So it was nice to be able to point to a bunch of the delicious looking pies and say ‘I made that’. I just wish I could have talked Braeburn around into letting me make a couple steak and kidney pies for myself and any visiting griffons.

Anyway, back to my point. Bones and I were just coming back from break, we’d gone to check on Margaret and Lizzie, who had been helping Pinkie Pie out in the same way. Margaret’s a natural cook and brilliant when it comes to cakes. And Lizzie has a knack for...well...interesting vegan foods. Having had a quick drink to quench our thirst, we were now ready for the last push to finish up all the orders.

Getting back to where we’d left Braeburn, we were surprised to find him not there. When we’d left a short time ago, he’d said he was just going to check on some of the other stalls and send some more cooked items over to the market square. It shouldn’t have taken him any more than five minutes.

“How’s it coming, Braeburn?” I called out as we both got back. I got no reply.

“Braeburn?” Bones called out. He got no reply either. In fact the whole place seemed oddly quiet. My guard went up.

“Braeburn, you about?” I called again.

That was when we heard it; a low groaning of a pony obviously in a world of pain. Worried, we both ran around the corner to find the source of the noise. And it was here that we found the poor stallion, doing his best to care for one of his kin. The pony in question had collapsed and now seemed barely conscious. He could barely lift his head, which Braeburn was holding, never mind get up. I quickly got down on my knees and took a look at him, as did Bones.

“Braeburn!” he exclaimed. “What happened?” Braeburn just shrugged in response, too startled to speak. We managed to roll the pony onto his side at least. But it was clear that he was in a bad way.

“What the hay’s wrong with him?” Braeburn asked, turning to Bones, who, scowling, showed how he earned his nickname from me.

“Dammit, Braeburn,” he said crossly. “Ah’m a unicorn, not a doctor! And that’s what we need right now!” Too worried to laugh, I looked to see if anypony was about.

“Medic!” I called out. That grabbed the attention of a couple of nearby guards on their patrol route, and a short time later, we had one the Royal Guard medical officers on the scene giving the downed pony, as well as Braeburn, the once over.

Of course, this attracted quite a crowd of onlookers, half crowding around to check on their friend and offer help, and the other half just being nosy buggers. Bones, me and a couple other guards soon found ourself doing our best to keep the crown back from the two medics that were tending to Braeburn’s friend. Eventually, one of them gave us a possible diagnosis.

“Well, I can’t be certain until we run some tests, but from here it looks like a possible case of food poisoning.”

That of course, didn’t help matters and ponies started to panic. It didn’t take long for the word to spread to the market where the food was being sold that somepony had fallen ill. So the guard had even more of a problem to deal with. Still, they managed to get a stretcher out and get the ill pony taken away. While I just saw this as an unfortunate bump in the road, Bones had a different theory. And as we started clearing down in the kitchen we’d been using, he put it to me.

“Did ya see his eyes?” he asked me, keeping his voice quiet.

“What about them, Bones?” I asked.

“It looked like he had cataracts or somethin’,” he said. “Did ya see how glazed they looked; out of focus and dulled?” I considered for a moment.

“Well, he was delirious,” I replied. “It’s a common enough symptom with a bad case of food poisoning.” Bones now turned round to face me, worry and alarm clear on his face.

“Food poisonin’ would lay a pony in in less than five minutes,” he countered. “Besides, we’ve both eaten this stuff too, remember? If this was a case of Baked Bads, that feller wouldn’t have just passed out like that. He’d have felt unwell before, started sweatin’, then gotten woozy. Instead he just fell down almost out cold. And did ya see how weak he was; poor guy could hardly lift his head.”

“What’s your point?” I asked.

“Ah’m sayin’,” he shot back. “That there’s only one thing that can knock an earth pony down, cause glazed eyes and severe weakness, and that’s having their magic drained.”

Shit.

“What?!” I snapped.

“Ah saw the same thing happen when Tirek got loose,” Bones explained. “When a pony loses their magic, their eyes glaze over and go dull, and without magic, they get as weak as a kitten.”

My mind was going a mile a minute now. Could this be Discord’s little exercise kicking off?

“The guy still had his cutie mark though. I remember when Tirek stole magic from ponies, it took away their cutie mark because they had no magic.” Bones had an answer for that too.

“Partial draining doesn’t do the same thing. Ah tried it myself when Ah was lookin’ for ways to counter the spell,” he explained. “Say ya take most of a pony’s magic. If ya leave a little bit behind, it won’t take their cutie mark. But Ah don’t think that pony would be winnin’ any strength tests right about now.”

I thought about what I should do. Bones could be right. This could be Tirek making a play. Discord had given him enough magic to be dangerous; clearly enough to be able to drain earth ponies and pegasi, as well as unicorns. Tirek is like a fire; tackle him in time and he’s not dangerous. I needed to get the jump on this, but quietly. I tried to excuse myself to go and see Celestia. But before I could, the game changed.

“Tirek’s in Tartarus, Bones,” I said. “As is that fruitcake Cozy Glow. It can’t be magic draining. Trust what the docs said for now. Tell you what I’ll...” I didn’t get to finish that sentence as a scream cut through the night air.

The two of us rushed out to see what the commotion was about. And to my horror, three more earth ponies had been struck down. All of them had identical symptoms and had collapsed out of sight of passers by. I don’t even want to take a guess at the odds of the three ponies all contracting the same condition with the symptoms manifesting at the exact same moment. It certainly seemed to give Bones’ theory some merit.

“Still think it’s food poisonin’?” he asked coldly.

There was no doubt about it. All the pieces fitted neatly into place. Somewhere out there in the night, Tirek was stalking ponies and stealing their magic. But why only partly? Why not drain them entirely as he had before? And why not attack everypony? He was clearly strong enough to take earth pony and pegasi magic, and presumably it wouldn’t be too long before he’d have enough to engage the princesses. That meant we needed to act fast.

Calling over the guards, I instructed them to stick to the story of food poisoning for the time being and look after the ponies as best they could. Bones and I then went to find Tia and sound an alarm.

---

At least, that was what we were planning to do. It was a fairly quick walk. We were right outside the castle as it was. It would only be a short walk inside the gates, and then we could both race up to the throne room and alert them to what was going on. Test or no test, I would much rather Twilight clamp down on this threat before it got too serious.

But we had hardly taken two steps when the weather changed. Now, obviously, the weather for the very last Summer Sun Celebration was due to be clear skies to give everypony a good view of the sunrise. And as the whole event was outdoors, the last thing anypony wanted was for the weather to take a turn for the worse. So it came as quite a surprise when the wind kicked up and a steady rain began to fall.

“Ah thought the weather pegasi were s’posed to be keepin’ the skies clear!” Bones called to me as the wind really began to pick up.

“They are!” I replied. “Clear skies for the next forty eight hours at minimum. I saw the schedule myself.”

The wind picked up even more. I soon found myself leaning into the wind as I struggled to stop myself from being blown over. And that was ignoring the what could now only be described as a torrential downpour, which was soaking everything and already starting to overflow the drains in the street. And then, as it that wasn’t enough, a bolt of lightening struck a nearby lamppost, shorting it out.

“Well that sure as hay don’t look like clear skies to me!” Bones called over the din, holding his stetson in place with one hoof and hunkering down against the wind.

“You think this is Tirek?” I asked. Bones shook his head.

“No! Even with pegasi magic, he never tried controlling weather,” he replied. “This feels more like a rogue storm, like during the Storm King’s invasion.”

As we tried to find shelter, some help did arrive. We saw Dash, along with several other members of the Wonderbolts; Equestria’s premier air squadron, fly overhead and engage the storm clouds. While it would take them time, they seemed able to kick them apart and get them under control.

It would later come to light that the whole thing was an unfortunate misunderstanding by Feather Flatterfly, the local weather patrol commander. I’ve known him for a while. While we aren’t exactly friends, we’ve crossed paths in court. He’s a nice enough guy, although how he worked his way up to CO I’ll never know. He’s not incapable by any means, in fact I can think of nopony who knows more about weather control then him. But he’s not the most confident leader, and he finds changes to his minutely planned weather schedules more than a challenge.

Apparently, he was approached by a certain sociopathic filly, who offered to ‘help’ him deal with the changes to the weather schedule. How he didn’t recognise the first child in Equestria to ever receive a life sentence in Tartarus, and whose face had been plastered over newspapers for weeks, I have no idea. But he didn’t and allowed her to proceed. From there, Cozy did all she could to screw with the weather, hence the disruptive storms.

Still, I wasn’t about to be held up by storms and a heavy rain squall. With help from Bones, who was able to use his magic to put a protective bubble around the both of us, I continued to make my way towards the castle, as did my three, as yet unseen, adversaries. Luckily for us, the storms were pretty localised, and as we approached the castle, where the stage for the fireworks display had been set up, the rain eased off.

Unfortunately though, we walked into a whole other problem. Coming the other way, with their bags packed, were the unicorn display team, who were slated to use their impressive illusion magic to create fireworks, as well as an image of the mare in the moon on the moon itself. They did not look best pleased. I’d actually seen them perform before at a reception in the castle I’d gone to with Margaret a year or so ago. And I’d had the pleasure of meeting the leader of their troop.

“Hello, Fire Flare,” I called out to her, while Bones wrung out his soaked and drooping stetson. “How goes the light show?” Fire Flare however, stuck up her snout in disgust.

“Ha!” she laugh coldly. “As if we unicorns are going to waste our potential giving some humdrum little light show to a gaggle of dullard earth ponies.”

That got Bones’ attention, you know, with his girlfriend being an earth pony and all.

“And just what is that s’posed to mean?” he asked crossly, blocking their way.

“We unicorns are gifted with powerful magic,” Fire Flare went on. “And the last thing we should be doing is wasting it on lesser races.” I was shocked, and Bones looked ready to fight.

“You are out of order there, Fire Flare!” I said, doing my best to hold back my own anger. I knew unicorns in Canterlot could be a bit stuck up, but this was ridiculous! But the mare was not to be deterred.

“If you’ll kindly get out of our way, human,” she said, shouldering her way past me. “We have better things to do with our time that be at this silly celebration.”

I was too stunned to say anything. Racism was bad enough, but insulting one of Celestia’s advisors and an officer of the court? Bones too seemed to be at a loss. I think if Fire Flare had been a stallion, the situation would have played out quite differently. She should consider herself fortunate that Bones would never put his hooves on a mare.

“That just happened, didn’t it?” he said after a moment. I nodded dumbly.

The three tribes had been unified for over a thousand years, since the very first Hearth’s Warming Eve. Where the hell had this sudden unicorn superiority come from? Something was definitely going on. You had Tirek going after the earth ponies, Cozy messing with the weather, now who do I know who’s good at manipulating others? Chrysalis was in play.

But what was the point of all this? Okay, I get stealing magic. But why cause chaos just before the celebration? Were they trying to catch us all off guard? Or was their grand plan of revenge just to make Twilight’s life somewhat unpleasant? I could certainly live with the latter. Still, regardless of what else might be going on, my objective was clear. Warn the princesses of what was going on and expose this infiltration. We were at Canterlot Castle now. It was time to blow the lid on this thing.

---

I knew that Twilight was in Celestia’s chambers, with her former mentor and Luna, practising lowering the moon and raising the sun with the special device Celestia had given her during her brief vacation. Her friends meanwhile, were all gathered in the throne room planning the celebration, and presumably now doing their best to undo the damage Discord’s merry band of villains had caused. Of course, as far as Braeburn, or anypony else was concerned, a few ponies had gotten sick, there now weren’t enough cooks to make all the food, never mind enough ingredients, the weather teams had messed up with the storms, and the unicorn display team had walked off in a huff. None of them knew that three of the most dangerous villains had infiltrated the city. I just hoped the security in the castle would hold.

Before too long, we came across a guard checkpoint. I’d been planning on giving the order here to start cycling through security codes every fifteen minutes to protect against infiltration or replacement. Our foes couldn’t gain entry from the skies thanks to the fans, but I wouldn’t put it past at least Chrysalis to be able to slip by a guard post.

To my dismay though, the checkpoint was empty. There ought to have been at least two guards on duty here at any one time. But now it seemed deserted.

“Well this ain’t good,” Bones commented dryly. “Still, it’s pretty weird that Tirek would try for stealth tactics. Guy always struck me as a more straightforward type.”

I’d been playing my cards close to my chest this whole time. As far as Bones knew, this was just Tirek. And no matter what that tree might say, it was foolish to leave him out of the loop. The two of us quickly searched the guard post, and it wasn’t long before Bones found what I was hoping we wouldn’t.

“Ah ha!” he said. “Here we are. Out of sight, out of mind, as some folks say.”

Walking over to join him, I found an unconscious guard hidden up a corner. Chrysalis had probably nabbed the other one when he stepped away for a moment, replaced him, and then used her new disguise to catch this poor chap off guard. Well, at least she hadn’t cocooned him, and his magic seemed intact.

“Ya know,” Bones said. “This don’t feel like Tirek at all. This kind of cloak and dagger work reads more like changeling.”

“Chrysalis,” I said, nodding in agreement. “They’re working together.” Bones barked a laugh.

“Sure,” he replied. “Because Tirek really plays well with others.”

“He does if it serves his agenda,” I replied. “And Chrysalis or Cozy would be able to help him sneak into the city. He plays the muscle, they’re the brains.” Of course, this was a bit too much for Bones.

“What?” he asked perplexedly.

And with that, I explained it all. Grogar, and who Grogar was. The three deadly enemies were now working as a team and had, in all likelihood, successfully infiltrated the castle for reasons unknown. Bones took it all reasonably well. If anything, he seemed more interested that Grogar was a real being in this universe as opposed to that G1 thing. Still, his attitude to Discord…

“Okay,” he said. “You go find the princesses. Ah’m gonna go find Discord and see how long he can survive without a head.”

“Bones!” I shot back.

“At least tell the princesses!” he pleaded. “Those three are dangerous enough on their own. Together, and without the Elements, they might be just dangerous enough.”

“The Tree says no,” I replied.

“The same Tree that didn’t foresee itself nearly getting choked by vines, that stood idly by when Chrysalis, or the Storm King, or the Pony of Shadows attacked? The same Tree that missed Sombra blowing it away? Y’all can do what ya like. But Ah say we step on this thing here and now.”

“Better the devil you know, Bones,” I said, now moving to block his retreat. “We might have to go through hell, but at least we know we’ll come out the other side. You stray from the timeline, who knows what will happen? For goodness sake, you’re the one who put me onto this whole non-interference malarkey in the first place!”

That luckily seemed to sway him, and he relented. Though not before one last complaint.

“Just for the record,” he said. “Every single successful Starfleet captain has broken the Prime Directive at least once.”

“Look. At least we can sound the alarm on this. The Tree hasn’t shown up and told us to stand down, so I say let’s get these buggers and put ‘em back in jail.”

At that moment, we were joined by a third voice.

“Ooh,” Discord said in excitement, having materialised behind the two of us. “Can I help?”

Rather then being startled, both Bones and I turned around and gave him an unamused look.

“What?” the draconequus asked curiously.

“Discord,” I said. “Your little psychology test and Twilight confidence building exercise is running around out there causing havoc. Any idea why?” He shrugged, which just made me more annoyed.

Discord is many things, but he’s not an idiot. He’d be keeping tabs on those three while they were loose. After all, you don’t send three beings that were fairly likely to stab you in the back at the first opportunity, and then not know exactly what they were up to. But he chose to feign ignorance.

“How should I know?” he replied. “I haven’t told them to do anything ever since I sent them off to try and find that bell thingy. Now I have to find some other ancient artifact for them to use to make them actually dangerous and pose some degree of threat.”

“So you set those three loose on Equestria, and ya don’t even know what they’re planning?” Bones asked in amazement.

“Well, if I knew it would spoil the surprise,” he replied. “And even if I did, if I tell you, you’ll just go and run off to tell Tia and ruin the whole thing.”

See, this is the problem with Discord. He’s reformed yes, and he genuinely did mean well and wanted to help boost Twilight’s confidence. But he’s never been able to fully shake off his Machiavellian ways. Hence why, instead of talking to her, teaching her a thing or two, or even simply offering words of encouragement, he had instead put everypony I cared about at risk, resurrected a supposedly dead tyrant, and broken two more out of jail, placed hundreds of ponies in danger, and had left us open to even more serious attacks. And worst of all, he can’t admit when he’s gone too far, unless Fluttershy tells him, and even that’s hit and miss.

“Discord, this isn’t safe,” I said, doing my best to get through that thick skull of his. “Any of those villains on their own are dangerous enough.” Discord now cut me off.

“But not a match for me,” he replied.

Snapping his talons, he produced a flying pig, which flew a little way down the hall, before it was set upon by one of the security geese, and vanished in a burst of confetti.

“Even if they do get out of hoof,” he went on “I can have them back in Tartarus in moments. And that’s assuming they don’t turn on each other first. They really do hate each other remember.” I turned to Bones, whose attitude had changed a little at Discord’s reassurance.

“He does have a point there, Dad,” he agreed. “Ah still think what he’s doin’ is dangerous, but he’s got a kill switch ready, and we’ve both seen how well Tirek handles alliances, never mind Chrysalis.”

“So what, you think we should just let this play out?” I asked.

“Ah say we keep tabs on ‘em, but yeah,” Bones said with a nod. “This is Equestria, Dad; they were screwed from minute one. Worst case scenario, they end up in Tartarus. Who knows, this whole mutual cooperation thing Discord has them doin’ might even prompt reformation. This could all end with the last three outstanding bad guys either on side or dealt with permanently.” I folded my arms.

“I still want to know what they were doing,” I persisted. “I can take letting Discord’s plan play out, but I want to know every move. I certainly don’t want my wife or children subjected to mind control or worse.”

“Well then,” Discord said. “In that case I suggest you direct your attention to the archives, in particular the restricted section. Ta!”

And with that, he snapped his talons and vanished.

---

Given Discord’s love of cryptic hints, I decided to take him at his word and pay a visit to the castle’s archives. While I still planned on warning Tia and the others, it wouldn’t do us too much good if we didn’t know what was going on. In all honesty, I suspected that Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy were long gone.

I figured that what we’d just seen was a clever bit of misdirection; cause all sorts of havoc in the celebration, and then use that confusion to enter the castle and achieve their actual objective. What that objective was though, was still unclear. In any case, there was little point in reporting anything until I had better evidence. And of course, much to my dismay, I couldn’t let Celestia in on Discord’s plan. But the Tree had said nothing about reporting on other things. And a break in seemed more than important.

Still, Twilight’s friends seemed to have everything under control now. The earth ponies had regained their strength. Tirek couldn’t keep the stolen magic without arousing suspicion on the part of his erstwhile master. Rarity managed to talk some sense into the unicorns, and Rainbow Dash, with help from the Wonderbolts, got the weather back under control. The ceremony itself would go off without a hitch.

Before that though, Bones and I made our way to the archives. There was evidence of foul play, with the locked gate now open, by force by the looks of things, and several texts scattered about the place. I quickly found the catalogue, and we started going through the texts to see what was missing. It would have taken us an age if the name of one particular tome hadn’t caught my eye.

“Hey, Bones,” I called out, catching my son’s attention. “See if you can find ‘ On the Bewitching Bell’ anywhere. Given what we know, there’s a good chance that’s what they may have been after.”

I too set to looking through the shelves and on the floor where books had been scattered. A minute or so later, Bones reported.

“No sign of it, Dad,” he said. “Ya think they took it?”

“Makes sense they would,” I replied. “Discord said they couldn’t retrieve the bell when he sent them to Mount Everhoof. Maybe they’ll use this as a way to overcome whatever it is that’s protecting it. In any case, we better report this to the guard and Celestia. But keep quiet about this whole Grogar business until I say otherwise.”

Bones grumbled irritably at that. Like me, and possibly more so given his relationship with the Element of Honesty, he doesn’t much care for lies, even those of omission.

Still, we did indeed report the break in after we watched the very last Summer Sun Celebration. Although much to our collective delight, Twilight announced that while it was the last one, she would be creating a new holiday to replace it; the Festival of the Two Sisters. Both princesses were deeply touched by the gesture and remained confident in the little alicorn’s ability to take the proverbial reins.

I reflected on the fact that, like it or not, she was going to get a good test of her abilities before long. But along with that, I couldn’t help but dwell on the incident with Fire Flare. Ponies might have been a touch xenophobic at times, but conflict between the three tribes was a thing of the past as far as I knew. It alarmed me how vulnerable they seemed to be to manipulation. When things had gone wrong, they’d been awful quick to start blaming each other. And to my alarm, I’d see those same long forgotten prejudices coming to the fore in Canterlot as the day of the coronation drew near.

Author's Note:

Proofread by Sweetolebob18.

Hello again everypony. Here's hoping you all had a happy Hearth's Warming. Feel free to comment below and let me know what you think.

Comments

[Gargon94]

It will be interesting to see your take on the Ending of the End part one and two when we get there.

[Booster Spice]

When the bell turned up,Discord couldve usedSubstitute?

[Hawkx1]

I forget have you done “Best Gift Ever” in any of your stories cause that could’ve been a better special to write about than this given the time of year

[FurryBrony]

It's funny, but neither Discord, nor Bones, nor Roger ever had the thought that those three lied about not finding the bell.