10-Shock and Awe
10-Shock and Awe
As the Moon was brought up into the sky shrouding the land once more into the dead of night, a lone figure stood on one of the many balconies that Canterlot castle held. Princess Luna, the Guardian of Dreams and the Sovereign of the night, stood there gazing across the land, her land, as it was shrouded with her beautiful night. The darkness was not all-consuming as street lamps remained active providing protection against the darkness. Luna smiled seeing the activity that had not ceased as day turned to night. Most notably were the parties that still raged deep into the night, angering neighbors but filling Luna’s heart with happiness. Luna, however, was not simply there to stargaze; she had a mission. Not a task given to her by her sister, no, this task was personal. The Nightmare that had plagued her sister once before had returned. But this nightmare was different. Celestia had told her that this was no Nightmare, no Daybreaker but a lost soul who was brought here against her will and that even under the scrutiny of multiple lie detection spells and fields no lie was detected. Luna wouldn’t... nay, couldn’t reevaluate her position on the Nightmare. Celestia had never dealt with a nightmare the same way Luna had and as such was vulnerable to their deceptions. And right now those deceptions have worked. The nightmare was free to roam the castle albeit under the watchful gaze of two guards and multiple undetectable monitoring spells and scrys. But having such a dangerous entity be allowed to exist at all was a problem. It could even be planning its takeover of Equestria at that very moment. But Luna needed proof. She needed to show her sister that this Nightmare had her fooled. And so this task came into flourishion.
Luna would enter the dream realm like she did every night and search for the presence of the Nightmare within it. Once said presence was found, she would enter whatever dream it was having and induce a dreamless sleep instead. By locking her consciousness in such a state, it was denied the opportunity of it preventing Luna from accessing its mind. The spell she would have to use is considered dangerous, in the same way as all dream/mental spells are regarded. But when one had literally written the spellbook on said magic such danger was easily disregarded. Then, once the Nightmare was pacified and defenseless Luna would be able to work unimpeded and find the evidence she needed to prove that this Nightmare needed to be dealt with like she had almost succeeded in doing in Ponyville. No matter how much it would lower public opinion about her, all was rendered irrelevant when it came to the safety and security of her sister and Equestria.
And so Luna executed her plan, mentally entering the dream realm. To any outside observer, it would look like she was just admiring the view. As the familiar void of the dream realm engulfed Luna’s vision, small multi-colored spheres became visible. The familiar representation of the dreams of her subjects. From pink to red each color represented a different type of dream. Luna’s heart pitied the red ones that she could see. Oh, how she wished she could go and help them with their terrors of the night but her mission took priority and she began looking for the Nightmare’s dream sphere. After several minutes of searching, she had found it. The ball’s color was a dark shade of red indicating that whatever dream it was having was not a pleasant one.
‘So the Nightmare is having a Nightmare…how ironic.' Thought Luna in amusement as she approached the dream sphere and began to work her magic (Quite literally in this case). And induced the state of dreamlessness causing the sphere to turn a light grey as Luna entered the Nightmare’s subconsciousness, the Nightmare none the wiser about what was happening inside their own head. Luna was then subsequently greeted by a dark blue void with hundreds upon hundreds of light blue shapes floating around her. Each one of these shapes represented a memory of the Nightmare and all Luna had to do was search for anything indicating that this Nightmare has them all fooled. And so Luna started on the oldest memory she could find and began watching it. In Luna’s mind, several predictions were made of what this memory could entail. From Luna’s first encounter against Daybreaker to the dark void of the dream realm where the Nightmarish entities roamed.
“My little pony~ My little pony~ ahaaahaaa~”
“Hey come on Jolyne! What's taking so long?! You're gonna miss the show!”
She was not expecting to see some type of living room where a creature Luna had never seen before was sitting. It looked like a normal female earth pony but with several key differences. It didn’t have any hooves or fur on the visible skin not obscured by the clothes it was wearing. It had a patch of long brownish hair on the top of its head. In front of the creature, a rather large screen of some kind was showing various images containing...ponies? Confused, Luna focused her attention on the box that was showing some type of recording about “Was that Twilight Sparkle?” Thought Luna aloud her eyes glued to the device. It certainly looked like Twilight albeit as a quadruped.
“Oh, hold your horses. I’m coming!”
Luna looked towards the figure now entering the room. And as Luna could feel said figure was the one whose mind she was currently invading. And it was no nightmarish entity... it was another of those creatures. It was... carrying a tub popcorn?
“So what episode is this?”
“Ah, this would be….Luna’s redemption part dos”
Luna’s attention was instantly drawn to the creatures having just uttered her name.
“You forgot the name didn’t you?”
“Oh shut up and give me some of that popcorn. I still can’t believe you dragged me into this fandom Jolyne.”
“Oh you know you’re enjoying yourself whether you admit it to me or not. Plus you knew what you were signing up for when you took the roommate ad. So your argument is invalid.”
The other creature just huffed as they both began to watch the recording. Luna watched closely as well as taking in every detail and similarity to the same events that had transpired to her. Right down to the very first words Celestia had spoken to her once Nightmare Moon was vanquished. And as the Memory finished and began to fade away Luna was left speechless. Shaking her head back into focus she went into the next memory determined to find what she had been looking for. Her thoughts, however, were beginning to grow ever further out of her control after every subsequent look into another memory. Some were happy, some were sad and everything in-between. Others were about that show as it was called. There were memories about going to a university, making friends, and watching more of that show about what was an alternate Equestria where ponies were a quadrupedal race unlike the Equestria Luna currently inhabited. Said Equestria seemed to not be entirely like the current one as it depicted events that had not happened in this Universe. Luna tirelessly kept looking for the evidence she needed but her want...her need for this evidence was dwindling with every other moment of subsequent memories she watched. But soon she had reached the apex of what she could take as Luna witnessed the memory of how Jolyne reached Equestria and was brought to the castle of the two sisters. After watching what was basically a shortened version of Jolyne’s life story; from the happy to the tragic parts. The wall that had slowly been breaking all throughout her searching came crumbling down. And thus when the memory faded only one thing was said as Luna left Jolyne’s mind.
“I have made a terrible mistake.”
The next day went by without a hitch. Well other than the fear of the impending attack of the plunder vines tomorrow. Nothing noteworthy happened. All I really did was avoid Luna which was surprisingly easy as she didn’t show for breakfast. Not that I was complaining or anything, not having another ‘episode’ was nice as the first time was bad enough but it was still weird. But then again, she could stay the hell away from me so whatever took her attention away from breakfast would hopefully last all of tomorrow again. The less I had to see her the better. I had also skipped out on dinner for the same reason as the previous day no matter how uncomfortable I felt because of my choice. But other than that I really only spent the day reading up on anything related to plants. I mean yeah, Plunder Vines are kinda magical but hey, better safe than sorry. Even if what I was learning meant nothing it still helps stifle my fears and at least made me feel prepared for the incoming disaster. And what a disaster it would be. You know, I was actually approached by the Canterlot press the other day as they wanted to write a story about the incident for its 5 year anniversary.
Yeah… If you’ve read it you know it's kind of a sore subject for me. So uh please be patient with me. Ok now...nowww... cmon Jolyne you only have to tell it once… *huff* Okay!
So yes, I woke up like any other morning only this time my face was not lodged in a book, so that was a plus. Surprisingly my sleep was completely dreamless. It felt like I just blinked and poof it's morning. But something must have happened during the night as the bed was a complete mess. I must have been tossing and turning up a storm as I was (and I’m not kidding when I say this) literally hanging off the side of the bed. Which is seriously a feat worthy of applause as my legs were still paralyzed for the time being. So yeah I’ll go pick up my trophy tomorrow ok?
Ha! Just kidding, I got it yesterday! Hahahahah!
Ok..ok I’ve had my fun back to the story. So yeah, other than my award-winning feat of sleep acrobatics, the morning was fairly nice as I began to wake up. Sitting up in bed and giving a good stretch to my arms and wings I thought: ‘Ah, today is gonna be a good da- oh goddammit’ And just like that the day was ruined as the memory of what was going to happen today came rushing up to the forefront of my mind. I just had to say those stupid words. It didn’t matter that I thought about it instead of saying it out loud, it's still the principle that I had the audacity to think of that sentence.
The Plunder Vines hadn’t even shown up yet and the day is already doomed even more than it was before. Now fully awakened, it was time for the most important meal of the day but...that’s debatable when it came to the inevitable morning run-in with Miss ‘crippled a child’. And with the day already ruining beyond repair, I thought I could maybe try and skip out on said morning run-in to hopefully try and salvage the day at least a small amount before it spiraled completely out of my control.
A knock on my door brought my attention away from me cursing at myself for invoking murphy.
“Oh, ah...come in!” I called out towards the door which opened shortly thereafter and in came Sky Rose. She was, of course, smiling with one of, if not the most infectious smile to ever be smiled. I simply could not not smile in response to seeing hers as she began speaking.
“C'mon ya sleepyhead, it's time for breakfast.” I could not help but slightly wince at the enthusiasm her voice held as my response would most likely destroy the enthusiasm she was known for.
“Um, can I maybe skip this or have it here. I really don’t want to run into Luna today.” It was sad how you could visibly see the enthusiastic energy leave Sky’s body. Her horn then glowed briefly before all her enthusiasm came rushing back.
“Nope, can't do that. Princess Celestia insisted that you attend kiddo. Buuuut it turns out Princess Luna already had her breakfast early and won't be there to scare ya.” Well, hearing that certainly improved my mood. Maybe the day won't be a complete trainwreck. I facepalm internally for having just inadvertently invoked murphy once more. Again, I was and maybe still am a complete idiot when it comes to invoking murphy at the worst possible times and by a complete accident.
Anyway, I’m rambling again. So, I was then floated onto my wheelchair as Sky began to push me out and through the now somewhat familiar corridors of the Castle, with Brightburn taking the lead, not having even said a single word to me yet. Only his now trademark nod towards Sky as we started our journey towards the dining room. The trips through the castle were now much shorter due to the fact that I had gone down them several times by this point thus there was no need for admiring the views. So after a short... well… walk for them, we had arrived in front of the familiar door to the dining room where what could probably be my last breakfast was waiting. I of course wasn't exactly thinking about that but it did bring a certain quote to the forefront of my mind. It goes like this:
The healthy human mind doesn't wake up in the morning thinking this is its last day on Earth. But I think that's a luxury. Not a curse. To know you're close to the end is a kind of freedom. Good time to take...inventory. -Cpt. John Price
Yes It may seem confusing and it isn't the whole quote but this situation did remind me of it. I definitely didn't like the fact that the plundervine incident might be the end of me but knowing that it was coming did in fact allow me to take ‘inventory’ and prepare for its arrival. So after reminding myself about what Price said and did, my confidence around overcoming this impending crisis rose astronomically as Brightburn opened the door allowing us to enter properly.
Breakfast was once again a quiet affair but something seemed different about Celestia. She didn't seem as cheerful as she usually was in the mornings. Something was clearly on her mind but it wasn't my place to question it. If it could unnerve Celestia, the thousand-plus-year-old goddess, then I really didn't want to partake in that. But other than that, nothing happened during breakfast. Afterwards, however, all Celestia did was basically explain what the schedule was for today. If you can count ‘Twilight and Spike will arrive in a few hours’ as the schedule for me. Soon after breakfast was eaten and cleared away Celestia got started on her royal duties while I decided to head back to my room and try to make myself look somewhat presentable for Twi and Spike.
But of course, since the day was beginning to look up just as we were about to turn a corner guess who we had to run into.
No, unfortunately, it wasn't Cadence. Oh, how I wish it was Cadence but nooo, stupid murphy had to have us run into the Miss ‘crippled a child’ on the one day I did not want to run into her. And we all know how well I handled a small glimpse at Luna from across a room so running into her at an intersection of corridors and being less than a meter away from her. Yeah, not a good idea with someone who has PTSD and she is the cause of said PTSD. I mean, I’m definitely a lot better now but there are still some lingering effects whenever I’m with Luna for any extended period of time. But this is the present, that's the past where I don't have such a luxury, so when my gaze settled on Luna, my body went into overdrive.
Heart racing, rapid breaths, my body froze like a deer in headlights as I was suddenly thrown into the worst possible situation. I did the only thing I could do right there and that was close my eyes tightly and hope she will get the hint and make herself scarce once she sees the distress I’m in. Or if that didn't work get the guards to notice and have them respectfully tell her to buzz off so that I didn’t faint from stress. I don’t exactly know what happened later on because I began to tune everything out but when I came back to reality and opened my eyes I was met with the concerned face of Sky kneeling down in front of me.
“Doing okay kiddo? She’s gone now...there’s no need to worry.” Her voice was soft and filled with empathy and compassion. It definitely helped in bringing me back to reality.
“Lassie, I’ve served long enough to know PTSD when I see it.” Said Brightburn…’ wait, what?’ Is what you might be thinking, yeah, Brightburn said that. The guard who seemed to permanently have a stick up his rear said that. That was the first time I had ever seen Bright take his stoic professional guard mask off. Who knew he was Scottish (Yes I know Scotland doesn’t exist here, shut up). Hearing those words coming from The Brightburn was so surprising it completely crashed my train of thought as I blinked at Brightburn in complete disbelief at what I just heard. Sky was having a similar reaction also staring at Brightburn in complete disbelief most likely also hearing Brightburn speak like that for the first time. He just shrugged
„Just saying Lass. It ain‘t gonna go away on its own“
I took a shuddering breath, beginning to calm down by now.
„L-let's just head back to my r-room now. Before a-anything else h-happens“
Brightburn simply responded with his trademark nod and lightly slapping Sky upside the head bringing her out of her stupor then signaling her to push me. The journey continued on in relative silence but the curiosity of what happened to Luna while I was having my 'Episode' was beginning to eat me up inside. Why was Luna walking through a corridor when she should be, by all accounts, asleep in her room. Plus, this corridor leads towards my room which is in the complete opposite wing from Luna‘s part of the castle. And as far as I could tell she didn’t put up a fight when it came to leaving me alone. Something was up and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know but I was (and still am) as curious as a cat. I simply needed to know and could not be left in the dark about this.
“Um… Quick question.” I say grabbing their attention. Well Sky looked towards me whilst Brightburn glanced at me as per usual. “What happened with Luna earlier?”
Sky seemed to cringe very slightly at my question. “Are you sure you wanna know. You may not like the answer.” That seemed confusing to me at the time. What could Luna have done/ said that they thought I wouldn’t like to hear. It simply stoked the flame of my curiosity even more. Now I simply must know. I nodded and boy do I wish I didn't now.
“Well, the Princess wanted to apologize to you.” Said Sky pensively. At first I took her answer pretty well...until the words she just spoke began to sink in causing the small flame of anger I held against Luna, for putting me in that chair, turned into a raging Inferno.
“Excuse me, she wanted to WHAT!?” I yell in rage causing Sky to, quite literally, jump back as I continued my tirade.
”Miss ‘I crippled a child’ wants my forgiveness?! Is she serious?!” The princess had the audacity to try and seek my forgiveness for almost killing me and leaving me unable to walk on my own and she expected a sorry would fix all of that. Yeah no, a sorry wouldn’t cut it for me not this soon after her attack on me. Oh, I understood her reasoning for the attack in the first place doesn't mean it’s the right thing to do to a child no less. Well, technically an adult in a child's body but it's still the principle that she attacked a child which really matters. Man, I feel old now...anyway, I was pissed and that's putting it lightly. But luckily the flame didn't burn that long, my rant however did. Now, I am still not proud of myself back then, it was so incredibly childish but... it had to happen eventually.
Things were said that I wouldn't repeat in current polite company. I’m pretty sure Sky and Brightburn got an impromptu introductory course to human profanities. Luckily for them, I began to run out of steam and my rant devolved into silent profanities against Luna under my breath. When I eventually calmed down and was slightly painting from exhaustion and my head hurt slightly as all the rage I held towards Luna was almost completely used up in that violent explosion as my mood was permanently soured for the rest of the day. I’m still not sure whether that rant would have happened if I were fully grown but I doubt it would have gone on for as long as it did If I had more control over my emotions. I looked back up towards Sky and Brightburn who were both looking at me in shock and to my horror, an expression of fear was visible on Sky’s features.
Seeing that fear on Sky’s face, the first pony who did not harbor any fear or suspicion against me at our first meeting, caused an overwhelming feeling of guilt to descend upon me as small tears began to form in the corner of my eyes.
“I-I-I’m s-sorry I-I didn’t m-mea-” Was all I managed to get out before I was enveloped into a familiar embrace preventing me from getting the remaining words out.
“Shh...No, no, everything’s alright...” Said Sky softly as she held me against her, hugging me tightly as one would do to a child that was about to cry. If I were in any state to argue I would have thought of it as demeaning but right then...I needed that reassurance that I hadn’t ruined our friendship because of my childish behavior. Actually now that I think about it, I don't think they knew what/who I was before all of this so in their eyes I was a small child who they were told to watch. And now thanks to that hug, the guilt I was feeling has almost completely evaporated.
After that emotional rollercoaster in the hallway, the trip back to my room is quite blurry as all I could think about is how I acted back there. Once we had reached my room, even though I had luckily shed very few tears during Sky’s hug, I still looked like crap. First a PTSD attack, then a rant and finally to top it all off a pang of overwhelming guilt immediately followed by the feeling of nothingness. I was just completely emotionally drained at that point. And Twi and Spike hadn’t even arrived yet! God damn you murphy...God damn you.
The few hours till Twi and Spike's arrival were spent mostly staring at a book in a daze, still unable to truly concentrate on anything after everything that had happened. I was however able to pick out a new pair of clothes as this dress was getting old and quite dirty. Unfortunately, however, Trollestia had also been busy with my clothing as almost everything there was a shade of orange or white even the occasional beige. I picked out an orange T-shirt that had Celestia’s sun Cutie Mark on the sides of the sleeves and the one pair of beige shorts that were available. And no, they weren't short shorts, they went to just above my knees, even Trollestia wouldn't be that cruel. So with my long orange hair, an eyesore of a ring on my horn, orange t-shirt and beige shorts I think I looked pretty good. Not beautiful good or cool good just average good. But between you and me; I looked pretty fly with my orange draconic eyes tieing the whole thing together in my opinion. Maybe Trollestia liked to joke around but she certainly had good taste in fashion.
Twi and Spike were set to arrive soon and if I remembered correctly Luna and Celestia would be there to greet her. Again, if I remembered correctly...Luna still might not appear but that wasn't a chance I was willing to take.
Not again.
So where would a good place be to say hello and be as far away from Luna as humanly possible? Why the gardens of course!
...
Jesus, I just sounded like the main character in a cartoon for toddlers. Anyway, my future career in children's shows aside, the garden was the best place to relax and spend time with Spike and maybe Twilight if she doesn't have any duties to attend to for the Summer Sun Celebration the next day. Thus, after a small and silent trip through the castle: Sky, Brightburn, and I had arrived at the gardens and parked ourselves at one of the many benches overlooking the flowers. Yes, you may call me sappy but it was a beautiful view, so your argument is invalid. After the chaos of this morning, it was a welcome change of pace.
I don't know exactly how long I was sitting there enjoying the view with a serene smile on my face before I heard someone in the distance walking towards us. Turning my head I happened to see Spike approaching us. I motioned for him to take a seat on the bench next to me. As I watched him come ever closer, his face seemed to be caught between a mixture of anger and sadness as his gaze appeared to be switching between the wheelchair I’m sitting in and the eyesore of a ring on my horn. But once he was close and saw me in my entirety his face took on a relieved smile at seeing that I was sort of okay.
“Hiya Spike! How are ya.” I greet happily as Spike takes a seat on the bench next to me. Spike's smile seemed to brighten a little. “I’m doing a lot better now that I know you're okay. I mean Celestia did say you were doing fine but....” He sighed, his gaze focused on the wheelchair I’m sitting in. “I still can’t believe that Lu-”
“Please…” I cut Spike off pulling his eyes up to meet mine. “don’t mention her right now. My day has been ruined enough by her.” Spike frowned at hearing that Luna had ruined what was supposed to be a happy visit but then seemed to laugh slightly.
“What's so funny?” I asked, confused at Spike’s chuckling. He smiled slightly as he continued.
“You should have seen how Twilight reacted when the Princesses came to greet us. Heh, needless to say, Luna and Twilight aren't on the best of terms right now. And so am I to be honest. If I could I would give her one Tartarus of a talking too.”
I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly and laughed a little bit nervous.
“Yeah…So would I... ain’t that right Sky?” I look over towards her. She chuckles slightly.
“Yep!”
We all shared a small laugh (except Brightburn) at that before Spike and I just sat next to each other enjoying the view. No more words were said as we were there together, watching the various animals the garden housed. No words were needed in fact as we just enjoyed each other's company for the time being. After about half an hour later we went on a short walk through said gardens. Well walk for them, Spike however was a perfect gentleman and volunteered to be the one pushing me through the gardens. And as we went through the various flower based arches littered about the pathways Spike and I spoke about many random things. We went from animals to comic books to hating on Luna then back to animals when a particularly curious squirrel suddenly jumped into my lap before scurrying off several seconds later. We all shared a laugh at that before continuing on our little stroll.
We were walking around that garden for hours until we were told that lunch was going to be served soon and we made our way back towards the castle.
When we arrived at the dining room it was surprisingly empty. There was no smiling Celestia at the head of the table like every meal, no OCD Twilight glued to some sort of checklist or clipboard completely shutting the world out. Nope! It was completely empty save for some staff getting the table set up for the greatly reduced number of attendees for this meal. I was of course confused by the absence of a certain solar goddess.
“Uh excuse me?” I asked one of the staff members who was setting the table getting their attention. “Are Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight going to arrive soon? This is the first time I haven't seen Celestia already here before us...”
She seemed to be hesitant to answer as her eyes switched between my many scary facial features for several seconds before finally answering quickly.
“Um...Princess Celestia has an unprecedented amount of work backlogged that couldn't be left undone any longer. And princess Twilight wanted to get a headstart on tomorrow's preparations!” Throughout that entire conversation, she was slowly backing up towards one of the exits having yelled that last sentence before exiting the room in a hurried fashion. I sighed at that reaction. I mean... I knew I was scary but I was hoping for the cute kind of scary at least. Even Sky thinks I look like a thesteral and they work as Luna’s night guards! So it's not like they haven't seen fangs and slit eyes before. Or at least they hadn’t seen them enough to be used to them. And I know you're gonna get mad at me but I don't care when I say that you ponies are quite racist. Did that anger you?
Yes?
Good, you should be angry that a huge majority of you don’t like anything that isn’t a pony as well. Not you yourself. I mean you’re having a conversation with a pony that has fangs and slit eyes. And I applaud you for that, but man, we really need to fix that. Anyway, racist species aside. The fact that Celestia and Twilight wouldn’t be attending lunch meaning it would only be us two was quite the conundrum. I could already physically hear Sky’s teasing that this was, in fact, a date and I was not going to look forward to that later. But that was future Jolyne’s problem, right now, however, there was some food that needed to be eaten. And so what if it was just me and Spike. It didn’t really change much from our walk through the gardens just minus the guards standing behind us.
There wasn’t much choice in where we could sit as the only two places that were set were right next to each other and one of them was missing a chair. Once we were both seated, the food was brought out and it was surprisingly simple. I got daisy sandwiches whilst Spike got served some type of gemstone based sandwich. I guess the kitchen realized it was basically two kids eating lunch so they decided to not give 110% like when Princesses are dining and went with something simple. Not that I’m complaining as anything that came out of that kitchen brought my taste buds to cloud nine and by the expression on Spike’s face, I’d say his taste buds also went there when we both took a bite of our meals. Other than our general small moans of exploding taste-buds not much was said as we both greedily ate our food away. And once the food was eaten up the same must happen as with all good things. My time with Spike for the day came to an end as after lunch as we made our way towards my room so I could show him how much of a troll Celestia was (get your mind out of the gutter bucko), he was suddenly called away when he burped out a notice telling him to come and help Twilight with the Summer Sun preparations.
And thus Spike had left me to head back to my room alone and at the mercy of Sky’s teasing as I could physically hear a grin forming on her face as she began pushing me.
“Soooo...How was your da-?”
“One more word out of you and I will scream,” I say with a glare that could level Canterlot, blushing in embarrassment. Sky laughed heartily in response to my glare as I was brought back into my room.
Alone.
With nothing to do.
‘Man, I need a hobby or magic lessons or…literally anything otherwise reading books is going to get boring...fast’ I thought as I started reading another book about another random point in Equestrian history. As far as I knew there was nothing else planned or supposed to happen that involved me for the rest of the day. Then we all know what happened to the Princesses that night. I shivered slightly knowing about what was to come in less than 10 hours. I think anyway, from what I know, the exact time the Plunder vines came during the night is still a mystery and that made it even more terrifying to my young childlike brain.
Then it hit me.
The vines were Di- a certain chaos god's doing. And maybe... just maybe I could get him to exclude me from a midnight kidnapping by black vines. I am pretty sure I had at least caught the attention of him as the amount of chaos I’ve generated over the past week is quite substantial. But yet again Di- He didn’t even admit that the Plunder vines were his doing sooo... it was a shot in the dark whether he would help me. But it was a shot I had to take to maybe save myself from the black vines.
“Discord? Can you hear me?” I ask into the empty room.
“Oh oh oh o ho o ho my dear... Of course, I can hear you.” Came the voice of John de Lance from...directly next to my ear?!
“Yah!” I yelped in surprise and jerked to the side, away from the voice as my ears reflexively folded against my head and I began to hear laughter from behind me.
“Oh hahaha, you s-should have seen your face, BWAHAHA! Priceless!” Said the Draconequus in between fits of laughter as he floated into my vision wiping a tear from his eye. I glared at him in turn before realizing doing that to a god of chaos I’m trying to get help me was a terrible idea and decided playing along would be a better option so I smiled and laughed along slightly. That seemed to get his attention.
“Oh, and what do we have here?” He says as he pulls a comically large magnifying glass out and begins looking at me through it. “A grade A chaotic influence?” He pulls out a clipboard of some sort and reads it over. “Wow! Got ourselves in a sticky situation haven’t we?” I give a questioning look at that but when I try to open my mouth to respond it’s glued shut. Discord just grins. “Oh, what a joy it has been to watch you. The chaos you’ve created is absolutely marvelous. Just take a look at this graph!” He says as a graph appears before my eyes.
“As you can see here.” Discord says now wearing glasses as we suddenly find ourselves in a conference room. “Due to your influence, we have been able to more than double our chaotic energy production.” The previously empty conference room is now filled with Discords wearing suits applauding the lead Discord giving the presentation before our surroundings were changed back into my room. “So... what can I do for you, my fellow accomplice in chaos? Oh, and before I forget.” He snaps his fingers and a glass of chocolate milk appears in our hands. I put it down on my desk as I turn towards the floating Draconequus and try to open my mouth to respond. Key-word ‘try’ as my mouth was still glued shut. With an annoyed expression aimed at Discord, I pointed at my mouth. He chuckled and snapped his fingers as my mouth was finally allowed to open.
“Thank you. Now, what I wanted to ask you is whether you could help me not get attacked by the plunder vines tonight.” I ask hopefully. I really did not want to get abducted like Celestia. And since I am literally the alter ego of Celestia the vines would come and get me too. At least that was my logic.
“My dear I have no idea what you’re talking about." Discord responded, a halo appearing above his head as he put on an innocent face. I'm not kidding, he pulled out another face with the word innocent written all over it and put it on...somehow. I huff in annoyance.
“Cmon Discord! Don't pull that on me I know you know about the vines. So please as a favor from one chaos accomplice to another, don’t let the vines take me!” I plead with my best impression of puppy-dog eyes plastered all over my face. Discord simply laughed once again, waving off my puppy-dog eyes. Once again literally waving it off. “I’m sorry my dear but I can't do that. Because I can't help you if I don’t know what you're talking about. So if that's all you wanted to talk with me about, toodles!” And just like that he was gone with a poof leaving me alone once again as a small amount of despair began to set in. Discord wouldn't help me. He wouldn’t even admit that the plunder vines were going to happen at all. And so my last-ditch attempt to prevent demise by black vines failed. But I was not going to go down easily. So what if Discord wouldn’t help! I didn’t need him! It was time to get creative. So with determination now burning brightly in my heart and the despair I felt turned to ash I wheeled myself over to the bookshelf and grabbed every book that related to plants off the shelf and put them down on my desk and began my research sipping on the chocolate milk left there earlier. It tasted faintly of Nutmeg.
And so I sat there reading up on anything that could help and as the minutes ticked over to hours and before I knew it the Sun had begun to set. And so to quote the greatest and wisest turtle to ever exist.
My time has come.
-Master Oogway
Now I know some of you may be thinking. ‘Jolyne, why didn't you tell the princesses about the impending disaster?’ and to answer that question; Would you believe a child that told you were going to be kidnapped in the night by big black magical vines? I mean sure they might believe me but I am still Daybreaker and thus look like a color swapped Nightmare Moon because technically... I am, but that's beside the point. I don't want to / can’t look evil in their eyes or I’m done for. By now the princesses are probably having dinner and I am of course avoiding it like the plague. I can only imagine what kind of conversation must be going on in there. From awkward silence to passive-aggressive jabs at Luna from Spike and Twilight for what she did to me. The maids and princesses knew by now that I wouldn’t attend dinner because in their eyes I’m simply not hungry. Even though that's pretty far from the truth.
The Sun was now completely set and the moon was high in the sky. If I remember correctly, by now Twilight must be having that dream/vision about not living up to Celestia’s expectations and ruining the celebration so the time for the vines to appear was close at hand. I couldn't sleep as during my research nothing had come up about the vines. In short, I was screwed beyond belief and terrified for my safety. But once again I may be terrified but I would not go down quietly!
During lunch with Spike, I had managed to slip one of my knives under my thigh as a backup plan to defend myself. Sure there were guards outside but I didn't trust that the vines wouldn't just take me too quickly for them to fight it off. I had locked myself in the bathroom with my knife and waited scared out of my mind but determined to make those vines life a living hell.
That's when I heard it. The sound of something slivering on the other side of the door. Shortly afterwards, black vines with small silvery thorns started to appear all across the edges of the door as it began to creak. I readied myself for the oncoming vines as I tried to steady my now rapidly growing out of control breathing when I called for help.
“Guards HEL-AH!”
Was all I managed to get out before the door broke and black vines shot straight towards me at high speed. They were fast. Too fast for me to react as they wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me out of my wheelchair. But I was having none of it and stabbed the vine causing it to release me, dropping me to the floor. I grunted as I hit the ground before the Vines went at me once again in greater numbers. The vines were smarter than I thought as they wrapped around my arms. The thorns scraping against my skin with luckily not enough energy to draw blood. My arm was forced to the side by the vines causing me to lose my grip on the knife as it went falling to the floor. Now unarmed I had to get creative and what better weapon than the things that cause so much fear in ponies. I turned my head and bit down on the vines that were beginning to pull me towards the door. The vines flinched but did not release their grip on me and all I got from that were small cuts over my lips. I bit down with all my might against the vine. My fangs cut deep into the plant as it finally released me allowing gravity to take its course causing me to fall to the ground. This time however, something terrible happened.
By now the vines had pulled me quite close to the door and the sink was located directly to my right. The same way my head was turned. Luckily my chin missed the edge of the porcelain sink. My horn however didn’t. I learned this hard way, as the ring at the base of my horn crashed into the sink.
*Crack*
Then came the pain. Pain like I had never known before coursed through my entire body. It felt like literally every nerve in my body was on fire. And then it disappeared just as quickly it began. It was gone as the edges of my vision began to darken and blur. The feeling of the vines dragging me away was faint as I slipped into unconsciousness.
“Jolyne...”
“Jolyne”
“Jolyne!”
I awoke at the sound of my name being called out in a groggy daze. My head was pounding and everything felt sore as I felt someone's hand on my forehead. Opening my eyes my vision was filled with Celestia’s concerned face lit up by a glow emanating from her horn. She appeared to be looking me over but her attention was focused on my horn from the looks of it. More specifically, the cracked ring I could see at the edge of my vision. She appeared to be trying to do… something with it as it was surrounded by Celestia’s golden aura.
“Are you alright?” asked Celestia her voice filled with concern and worry. Or at least I think so as my hearing wasn’t all there yet and was everything ringing slightly from whatever happened back in my bathroom.
“No…” I answered with a strained voice, my body was still sore and my head was pounding like there was no tomorrow. “Where...are...we?” I barely manage to say as I crane my neck to get a better look at my surroundings. My vision was still quite blurry but it slowly began to clear up allowing me to see what the ‘walls’ were made of.
“I believe we are wherever these ‘vines’ originated from.” Answered Celestia, her attention still focused on my horn. Noticing this I began to worry.
“Is...something...wro-ARGH” I yelled as more pain wracked my small body. My head was pounding even harder than before and I saw the few strands of hair in my vision begin to glow and look like stands of flame instead. Celestia took on a panicked look as her horn glowed brighter. The pain began to subside as I saw my hair turn back to hair instead of flame. I was left panting, sore, and in an all-around terrible condition.
“Wh-what's...happening t-to…me.” I barely manage to get out, barely conscious from an ever-growing feeling of exhaustion. My eyelids felt like lead and a nap sounded really good right about now.
“No! No, stay awake! You must not fall asleep! You have to stay awake or you will not wake up again.” Said Celestia forcefully, her hands on my cheeks as she looked right into my eyes. Her eyes showed her fear no matter how much of a straight face she held. I did as she asked with the sudden boost of energy that came from hearing her words as I fought with all my might not to fall asleep.
“Wha-what’s...w-wrong....with...me” I once again barely manage to get out, fear and strain filling my voice. Celestia refused to answer and stayed silent, her attention still completely focused on my horn.
“Teh-tell...me!” I said as forcefully as I could in my current condition before another bout of pain wracked my body as my hair began to glow once again. It lasted a lot shorter that time but it still didn't make it any less agonizing. Celestia’s horn glowed brightly once again before dimming slightly as she sighed.
“The magic inhibiting ring around your horn was cracked and your magic is beginning to seep out. That's what that pain has been. I have just woven a spell onto the ring to keep your magic from escaping. But the surges you just had will wear it down until I can get you somewhere safe to disperse your magic. Do you understand why I didn't want to tell you now?” She said with sadness in her voice as she knelt beside me one of her hands holding mine.
Time then ticked on agonizingly slow as I lay there using all my energy to stay awake whilst periodically getting attacked by more bouts of pain, each slightly stronger than the last. All the while Celestia was trying to break us out of our vine based prison but to no avail. The vines seemed to absorb any attack Celestia sent against them. Time was beginning to run short as the surges came more frequently and ever more powerful as our time in captivity grew longer. My hope of rescue began to dwindle. The spell wouldn’t hold for much longer.
- (Optional music !Use at your own risk! I, however, think it fits)
The surges were unbearable and the glow around the ring on my horn began to dim and crack as parts of the ring began to fall apart. But luckily for us, Twilight should be now on her way into the caverns underneath the castle of the two sisters; To the place, we were being held and the location of the tree of harmony that was currently being encased by the black vines. They were only a few steps away from us as another surge wracked through my horn bringing the ring and spell down to its last knees as well as mine.
My energy was exhausted, my head felt like it was about to explode and my entire body was in a constant state of pain. Tears began to flow freely from my eyes as I feared what was to come. Celestia was by my side, her horn glowing once again, much brighter than I had seen before as I saw sweat form on her forehead through my teary eyes. Then just as I thought it was the end, the walls began to recede allowing light from the tree of harmony to shine through. I could faintly hear sounds of celebration at having defeated the vines.
But now was no time for celebrations as my hair once again began glowing bright and returning to its normal form. This time, however, there was no stopping it. Celestia, seeing what was about to happen to me, quickly ignited her horn and teleported us to the most remote part of Equestria, as far away from all civilization as she could manage.
- (Optional music !Use at your own risk! I, however, think it fits)
My magic began to run wild as the last remnants of Celestia’s effort to contain the surge failed, leaving nothing to stop my magic from releasing. Celestia quickly put up a shield to protect herself before moving a safe distance away from me. My hair and tail burned like a raging Inferno as my magic came crashing back at me and raged uncontrollably. The ground beneath me began to burn as arcs of magic hit everything around me, turning sand into small craters of molten glass.
Then... I could feel it. Like a train coming full speed towards me as I was helpless to move out of the way. I could feel the imminent arrival of all the magic still trapped within me, with a similar ferocity to a caged dragon, wanting to get released from its prison. And like a deer in headlights, I could do nothing but withstand the oncoming storm as my vision went white.
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Actual A.N
Hello everyone and thank you for reading this chapter and being so patient to wait for what is my longest chapter to date
I also really really really! Want to thank you all for 512 Likes!!! It really means a lot to me with how much you guys like reading this amatures story
*sniff* It brings a tear to my eye
Tears of Joy!
Ouch, poor Jolyne with that surge.
So...
Just came out and I'm already waiting for next chapter. This is one of those stories that once you start, it's hard to put down until it's finished. Can't wait for next chapter. :)
Oh cool an update.
also, nice Easter egg
So... What your saying is she went super saiyan
10335597
What a amazing chapter. I really enjoyed it, i really like the part were Luna regrets what she has done. I can't wait for next chapter, wish you the best of luck and a nice day.
10335619
=3
I'm really liking this story but i think you may need to work on your pacing and continuity. I like long chapters but this felt like it was rushed. The part about a journalist and the incident 5 years ago also threw me for a massive loop as, before this chapter, there was not really any mention of this taking place in the past. It just made that section of the story muddled and confusing. HOWEVER I still look forward to seeing where this story goes and wish you luck in future chapters!
10335625
Huh, I thought I made it clear in the last chapter that stuff relating to Jolyne is told like she's retelling a story to a 3rd party with the whole Discord interruption last time. But hey I am learning how to be a better writer as I go along and get further into the story.
So thanks for pointing that out :D
Bright side is the mass ammont of magic maby fixed her spine. Down side is such a larger surge will proberbly have problems for her
Ya a sorry isn't going to fix the problems that luna has with Jolyne
10335637
Who said it would
This supernova was sponsored by Luna & Celestia.
They both caused it. CELESTIA prediction was on that to happen. Just not 'yet'...
if 10 is up when will chapter 11 be up
10335668
And holder of several other titles, I'm sure.
I hate cliffhangers
10335673
too many to list friend
If I did this chapter would be 100k plus words
It's like a shorter version of
Lovely.
”Hope things go well...”
JOLYNE! Stop before you say something everypony will regret!
Too late.
There had to be a better way for Celestia to handle the matter of Jolyne's magic. What was her reason for the suppression ring again? Concern for what she could do? That's the equivalent of running from a problem and hoping it'll go away. Would Celestia have ever taken measures to deal with the magic building up behind the ring if this hadn't happened? Or would Jolyne have been expected to live her life wearing it until something else damaged it, possibly out of Celestia's reach?
This just keeps getting better and better
, but not for the princesses
Oddly, that reminds me of a quote from Duckman.
10335671
?lol
I was enjoying a nice morning when I accidentally walked off a cliff.
Edit: still a nice morning though
10335713
"That's the equivalent of running from a problem and hoping it'll go away."
I don't think you two met. That's Celestia. The absolute queen of dancing around the subject.
Luna feeling left alone => Done nothing => NMM big entrance => Sealed on the moon and left to deal with later.
Discord => Encased in stone and displayed in a public garden where every pony can just waltz in and free him by causing a little chaos.
Sombra => Tyrant usurping Crystal Empire. Executed and Empire saved from his rule? No... Sealed in ice with the whole empire and left for the future.
Tirek => Stored safety in Tartarus from where you can just walk out if big doggo is away.
10335848
There is indeed a pattern of... Let it rest until it boiles over... Maybe that her true reason to retire years later? Because she dont want to deal with her responsibilitys she ignores anyway anymore...
I remember no dream in S4E1.
Oooh, Jolyne is gonna be mad at Celestia once she figures out that the ring was preventing her from healing her legs! Amazing chapter!
10336009
Neither does Jolyne
She just knows that Celestia had a talk with Twilight and remembered it wrong
TBH I completely thought that the Celestia getting abducted happened during a dream/vision thing but I just saw the clip of what happened was not a dream but once again it's from Jolyne's perspective she ain't got perfect memory about every event in the shows history. And neither do I apparently XD
You made me want to replay MW2 with all the references to it and made me really sad with the music
10336035
*Evil Laugh* For Now comes the 'Aftermath'
Good
MAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
luna ... seriously did you just think of apologizing?
like the lady of the night and dream manipulation, you could have done at least one feat to keep her from having nightmares, so it would be the first step for thousands in their search for redemption but no ...
again luna seriously? , did you see how her life works and everything, through her memories and think that appear in front of her, and apologize for almost killing her and consequently cripple her and a good idea why?
of course you were sorry, but if you put at least 10% of the enthusiasm you were having to end it in a plan to get her forgiveness, you would have better chances than that.
come on girl, nobody blames you for being furious and wanting to tear the throat of someone who tried to kill you or crippled you, and how your feelings are practically messed up by your lack of control nobody blames you seriously.
and besides more and better letting that anger and frustration out, than leaving it locked, to start consuming it little by little, and in the end transform it into the monster that luna originally painted you.
yes, as i said we all don't blame you, and we support your motives and concerns, but don't let that consume you, okay? dayday
lucky you this is not a story +18, dayday
10336070
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zq3Dy5wgNI&t=30
Love it, super exciting!
i.pinimg.com/474x/f4/1a/b8/f41ab89259036b4e13541bde6f503d40.jpg
BOOM
10336034
Yeah I can see that I watch blind reactions of MLP so I’ve seen that episode lots of times while I probably can’t recite verbatim ( my mind does act like a sieve at times) I can easily give the gist of an episode given the title
10336138
Exactly how i picture it to look like...
-----
Celestia know it would happen before the build up.
Hope she has the guts to confess later. I wonder if Luna talked with Celestia yet? Twilight will be 'trilled' to learn about Celestia building a crippeld foal up to a magic bomb... I wonder if this changes the climate of the area. Or produced a Tsunami or two... A earthquake is the very least they can expect... And a crater... Potencialy a lake will be created from it?
It would be ironic if this 'magic surge' created a beam and damaged the moon or something
Seriously i think 'super-Nova-Filly' will be quite... Livid with Discord not excluding her...
Girl just went super nova, goodbye whatever region she was released into.
It's moments in writing like this, that a character's 'ego' could very well "die". I wouldn't even even be surprised if next chapter was an epilogue-esque opening to a new story arc.
The signs were there, and the foreshadowing in spades, and it all could've been prevented if they just took that damn ring off. The devastation must've been massive, if she's already glassing her immediate surroundings before going boom, it would've been a real dick move if Celestia parked her near Chrysalis' tower.
I wonder if the blast was big enough to be heard or seen by anyone? Wonder what the region will look like, will it or the event get a name, did everything melt or vaporize? Ooh, I'm getting the image of towering 'waves' of cooled glass for miles around her explosion, the Glass Sea? meh :/
10336295
The Glass Deserts of Equestria was created by a princess. a young filly with enormous power. Though no fault of her own her power raged out of control. Such power turned the sands to glass, making spires of crystal and mountains of with jagged peaks and endless wonder.
10336308
10336356
I really look forward to new chapters of this fun story.
The Monk
“To say that Twilight Sparkle went bugfuck would be like saying the Incredible Hulk had some mild anger management issues.” -DustTraveller
10336308
The Glass Desert, the region is considered a magical hazardous zone
A blinding hellscape of razor sharp shards of magic enriched glass and soaring glass arches brimming with the echoes of the magical cataclysm that birthed the region. The myriad of magical frequencies from the arches crash and resonate, creating vortexes of anomalies and the occasional flares of lethal pockets of dense solar magic.
Entrance is considered forbidden and circulation of materials from the region is considered grounds for a life sentence in the royal prison.