Epilogue 1: Arcane Tales
“How are you feeling, Arcane?” Fluttershy asked, the stallion’s ears perking up as they ate some snacks in the mid-afternoon.
“I’m…I’m doing better,” he admitted. “I know I haven’t been around much.”
“A few days smacking metal can do wonders for the soul,” Discord chuckled. The unicorn’s ears flattened at that, and the Draconequus waved a paw. “Nothing wrong with that! You needed space, and so we’re happy to keep our distance. Well, other than giving you the good news about Astral and Sassi.”
“And I appreciate it, really,” Arcane said cautiously as if trying to push through the illogical guilt of isolating himself. “It has been really good to just think without all of the bad stuff surrounding me.”
“To that end, Flutters here has been wondering if you’d be open to trying some more orderly therapy.”
Arcane surprised himself as a smile slid onto his face as Discord gagged. A simple smile was such a natural reaction that felt so alien.
“What kind?” he asked. “You all opened your home to me so I can get better. I’m-I want to be better. I feel a bit more stable. Not a lot. But as you said, smacking some metal did help.”
“It’s a form of sensory therapy,” Fluttershy explained. “We’re still learning how it works, but essentially, you focus on something I move in front of you while remembering something painful. After you do that a few times, the memory becomes softer and less hurtful. Some patients say they can barely recall what happened after a few sessions.”
The stallion didn’t say anything for a few moments but finally nodded.
“I think if you’re using a flashlight, we’ll need more batteries,” he finally said, Fluttershy smiling. It was a bad joke, but a joke nonetheless. That was progress.
“I have a lot of stuff to work through, Miss Fluttershy,” he added softly, ears flat against his skull. “I might-I don’t want to scare you.”
“I appreciate it, Arcane. But I’ve seen all kinds of trauma before. Maybe not as long-term as yours, but you won’t scare me,” Fluttershy said kindly. “And no lights are needed, not unless you want to.”
Arcane looked around, settling down on the cushion.
“Well, if we want to give it a shot whenever I don’t see why not. If I break down or something, I can just go hibernate in a room or my dimension until we try again.”
His willingness to try clearly perked Fluttershy up and Arcane couldn’t help but feel a flicker of hope. Maybe it could hurt less.
But it meant unlocking years of memories.
“Discord, if I have a surge of magic, can you…?” Arcane’s words trailed off as the chaotic god saluted.
“You won’t cause any damage here, my little pony. So don’t worry.”
His words made Arcane sigh in relief. It was odd how much of a burden was abruptly lifted from the unicorn’s shoulders.
I have to start somewhere. But Discord can keep me from hurting anyone, and Fluttershy knows how to make it less painful. If anywhere can give me a chance, it’s here.
Fluttershy briefly went through the process and it sounded fairly simple.
“So, think about the nasty stuff in terms of what I saw, what I felt both physically and emotionally, and a negative association about it with myself,” Arcane repeated back, “but also have a set positive thing?”
“Yup! And we just go through that process for each memory until you feel like the impact is lessening.”
Arcane shrugged, settling back on the cushion.
“That’s easy enough.”
“Since this is more of an early intervention than treating it years later, we can adjust things as needs be. So first, can you focus on something positive? Identify what it is?”
That was an easy one.
The first genuine hug I had in years.
“Got it.”
“Okay. Now, pick a single bad instance and focus on that while following my hoof with your eyes,” Fluttershy said, slowly moving her limb.
One of the thousands of tests. This was an early one.
He flinched instinctively but forced himself to push through it. The inhibitors made his body feel like it was being stung by a thousand bees. The increase in voltage to the restrictors around his horn and limbs to see what was going on.
This memory was fuzzier, older. Back when he thought someone could hear him scream.
“Can you describe what’s going on, Arcane? You don’t have to be too specific,” Fluttershy asked.
With a shaky breath, the pony nodded. He kept it simple. The tests, the pain, the helplessness.
“It was before I realized how useless it was,” Arcane whispered. “Screaming “someone help me” didn’t do me any good. Not down there. I lost count of the times I begged for help. For anyone to hear me. But nobody ever did. I eventually stopped asking.”
He saw empathy fill Fluttershy’s gaze. No judgment, only sorrow. This mare had a hidden nerve of steel to help others deal with severe trauma; Arcane’s experiences weren’t any different in that regard.
“Wait. That’s…I remember something else.”
Two forest-green eyes filled his mind. They were familiar.
I know those eyes.
“I think someone did hear me, just once. It gave me hope, if for but a moment. It never happened again,” Arcane said, an odd warmth blooming in his chest. “Two green eyes. They heard me.”
Tears abruptly began to pour from Arcane’s eyes, the hint of a smile managing to stay on his face.
“It was for less than a minute. But for a brief moment, I wasn’t alone,” the stallion whispered. “I don’t know what they saw or felt. But they saw me. And somehow, they understood. Being shunned for what you are. I still don’t know who it was. I probably never will.”
His shoulders then slumped, the warmth fading.
“But that was a decade ago. Hope doesn’t survive that long. It certainly didn’t with me.”
Fluttershy didn’t say anything for a time, at least until Arcane looked up at her and nodded; a gesture to continue.
“You’ve described what it felt like. Now, what’s a negative belief about all of it?”
His brow furrowed, still tracking Fluttershy’s hoof as it altered patterns.
“Not sure if it’s negative. But…those years made me realize I’m not a good creature.”
“Why?”
He let out a sad chuckle.
“Because if that was the case, I wouldn’t have been forgotten by everyone. Tortured for years. Why else would that have happened?” Arcane asked, his ears drooping. “At least, that’s what I’ve told myself to have it make sense. But now, I’m not sure. I’m not a villain to be reformed. So if I was a horrible creature, a pony that deserved all of that, I wouldn’t be in your home. You wouldn’t be helping me.”
Instead of directly contradicting the stallion, Fluttershy simply nodded.
“You’re right. You wouldn’t be.”
Somehow her words made Arcane’s chest warm far more than if she had tried to convince him by refuting him.
“The tests were painful,” Arcane whispered. “Back then, they had a clipboard with what would happen that day. I tried to look at it sometimes as if it’d help me prepare. It never did.”
As he spoke, still following Fluttershy’s hoof, the process seemed to oddly deaden the memory. It wasn’t major, but ever so slightly, Arcane found his breathing slowing. It all still hurt, but the memory simply was. The realization was freeing in a way the stallion couldn’t put into words.
Another run-through of the memory only increased the odd sensation. He still hurt, but parts of the specific memory had started to become fuzzy. Other parts had become clearer.
For example, on the next process, Arcane clearly remembered looking around. He saw the clipboard with the tests to be performed that day. It contained the testing location, results, and the date.
A cold sweat abruptly broke out across the pony’s frame.
The date.
“F-fluttershy?” he croaked, forgoing the formalities. “I t-think something’s wrong.”
“We can take a pause, that’s totally fine.”
“N-no. Something else. Do you have my file? I know I have one in Equestria,” Arcane asked, the sweat soaking the cushion as the Fluttershy nodded to Discord, the chaotic God conjuring up the folder.
“What’s wrong, Arcane?”
He took the offered folder with a shaky, magical grip. The stallion struggled to suppress the panic and bile rising to his throat.
“Whatever you were doing, it was working. But I remembered something. It didn’t register because I had no concept of time when I was there,” he explained. “The date was wrong. It was earlier.”
“Earlier?”
Arcane stared at the page of his file, a simple photo with a small biography.
My age.
“Is…is this correct?” he asked, tears abruptly welling up in his eyes. Fluttershy cautiously scooted closer, Discord clearly not understanding what was going on.
But Fluttershy did. Somehow, she picked up that something was horribly wrong.
“Is what correct?” she asked, looking at the file.
“This information. My age.”
Her brow furrowed, and the mare looked at Discord nodded.
“It is. Arcane, what is it?”
Tears began to pour from his eyes.
“It s-says I’m in my mid-thirties,” he whispered. “But I just turned twenty-nine. W-what happened to more than four years of my life? Why don’t I-”
Arcane’s spine stiffened, eyes abruptly shutting. He knew the answer.
“Arcane? Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“I remembered the date of one of the tests. It was earlier than it should have been,” he said, voice quivering. The unicorn finally looked up, barely holding together his composure.
“The date on that test. I wasn’t tortured for five years,” Arcane whispered, his entire body trembling. “I was in that room for nearly a decade. It just blurred together. One d-day after another…”
The pause in the room was deafening. Discord’s eyes widened in shock, and the mare next to Arcane drew a surprised breath.
She offered a hoof to hold, but Arcane shook his head.
“Discord. My dimension. Please!” he begged, magic beginning to crackle from his horn. In an instant, red and purple magic began to flood from the unicorn’s eyes.
With a flip of his claws, the three of them were yanked into Arcane’s Chaos dimension, the unicorn stumbling on his hooves to get some distance.
Discord reached a gentle set of claws to hold his wife’s shoulder.
“Give him some space,” he whispered. “Do you want us to leave, Arcane?”
The pony shook his head but stayed silent. His sides and limbs quaked, but Arcane still managed to stand.
A decade of being tortured in that place.
Half of my life torn away in that silo. Five years of lies, ten years of pain.
Discord snagged Fluttershy in a magical grip, levitating them off of the stone as it began to be eaten away by red and black bolts of lightning. Arcane’s form shivered, multicolored eyes snapping open as fangs jutted from the unicorn’s mouth.
What do I do now?
Just as he had started to feel better, this realization had ripped all of it away.
Fifteen years in the Silo. Half of my life in that evil place.
Who am I underneath all of that
Is there anything left?
It was too much for Arcane to handle. The more he thought about it, the more the pony felt crushed by the weight of it all.
How many times did I cry for help?
Did nobody try to save me all that time?
Not once?
The weight was almost a physical one. The pony’s limbs shook, Arcane crumbling to the floor in a distraught pile.
“Please, anyone!”
Tears squeezed from his eyes, a flickering television-like portal opening. Shown from an unknown view, the unicorn in view twitched as electricity shot through its body.
His body.
“Is anyone there?!”
Another portal, another view of Arcane shaking on the floor as magical fields twisted around his body, suppression devices hooked up to the walls with forelimb-thick cords.
“WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!?”
The cries for mercy, for peace, for a savior began to overlap. Dozens of portals, then hundreds, all drawn from Arcane’s memory.
Fluttershy’s jaw was clenched, a few tears trickling down her face. The mare turned to press into Discord’s chest. The God of Chaos’s maw was slightly parted, an angry, almost unhinged snarl on his face.
“ANYONE?!”
The chaos magic continued to spark around Arcane’s body, cobblestones being created and shredded in an instant. Any screams from his mouth were lost in a thunderous cacophony of noise. Jagged cracks zig-zagged across the dimension, every tear echoing like ice under stress.
Fifteen years and nobody came to save me.
What’s even left to save?
I barely even know. All I had was the chaos. That’s all I had then.
That’s the only reason I survived. But it didn’t save me. Not from everything.
He had spoken to the Chaos magic before, but it had never answered. Not in words at least. It was how his fox friends had originally found him. Arcane didn’t know if it even worked, but it had been the only entity that wasn’t actively trying to hurt him down there. He knew at least something was listening, and that had been a comfort.
A listening ear when everything else had been pain.
What do I do now?
Chaos…give me something. Anything. I don’t care what. I can’t think about it all.
Five more years of torture, of memories I didn’t realize I had.
I can’t take more pain.
There has to be more to life. I’ve seen a glimpse of it.
Chaos, please. Show me that there’s more.
Tears ran down his cheeks, the liquid turning to steam as the stallion’s limbs shook. Multicolored whips of power shredded the space around the pony, then soared up into parts unknown.
What’s left other than anger?
What’s left of me?
Is there even anything left?
All I can feel is-
“Help! Is anyone there?! PLEASE!?
Everything froze. The cracks pulsed softly with a red light.
That wasn’t my voice.
Arcane’s head snapped up, his eyes fixated on a single portal swirling in front of him; a writhing mass of water. A collection of five familiar foxes were curled around his forelimbs also looking at the new view curiously.
Everything froze and Arcane looked closer into the new view. It was almost like watching a movie, a bird’s-eye view of the scenery below. Looking at the churning water, Arcane somehow knew what this portal showed.
Equestria.
An out-of-control storm. Multiple weather magic failures. Cyclone with a massive storm surge. Rural village far north of Fillydelphia.
Show me more.
Additional portals opened, each showing houses almost completely underwater as Arcane’s eyes flickered from each scene to the next. The tears in the chaotic dimensional began to calm, fading into the background.
Last Light deployed. Rescue ships got the survivors.
Wait.
Two soaked figures clung to each other on a single rooftop, the distant lights of the rescue boats still searching- but they were too far away to see them. Another portal opened; three more creatures were on a neighboring roof. And another…
The water is still rising.
Arcane found that easy, focusing on this new situation. His own pain was still too raw, too terrifying to touch. If he dwelt on it for more than a second, the stallion would lose himself in it.
But he could focus on this.
“Please! Somebody!” another voice cried; a pony visible on a patch of dry roof barely larger than a dinner tray.
The agonizing cry over the wind made the magic around Arcane’s body still. The cobblestones knit neatly together, forming the previously-stable platform as the unicorn stared. Off to the side, Discord tapped his wife on the shoulder, the Draconequus smiling.
The stones continue to spread out as far as the eye could see, Arcane managing to take a few deep breaths.
Nobody came to save me. But…
“ANYONE?”
Another screen snapped into existence, a stallion screaming as the wind rushed by, their limbs flailing.
Off-course glider. Torn apart by the storm.
Arcane’s hooves began to move on their own. One step. Then two. Then three.
I don’t know what’s left of me.
“I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” a terrified voice screamed.
But I can be there when there’s nobody else.
I can give someone else hope.
He wasn’t sure when he started galloping, but the cobblestones shattered underneath his hoof falls, the stone melting as the stallion jumped. The first hop covered a dozen strides, the second, fifty. His hooves barely touched the ground on the third, the stone liquifying as a shockwave rippled out across the surface.
The fourth jump blew the cobblestones into powder, a sonic boom echoing through the chaotic dimension. As Arcane launched himself into the portal a thousand thoughts flew through his mind in an instant.
I can save someone.
Rocketing through the portal, Arcane wrapped the screaming stallion up in his hooves, barely a dozen paces from the flooded ground. The air was split with a deafening *CRACK*, the water beneath surging out from behind Arcane.
With barely a thought, the terrified pony was sent to a nearby aid center. Which one, Arcane wasn’t sure. The unicorn was just rather pleased the spell had worked flawlessly.
No more teleportation. Too risky.
That’s when he hit the water from his continued flight. The impact smacked the unicorn in the face, and he nearly panicked. Arcane’s limbs thrashed-
Up.
Popping up like a cork, Arcane hovered above the water, reveling for a split second in the power of the storm. He felt the weight of something clamp around his barrel, forelimbs, and flanks; the stallion wasn’t sure why. It was a comforting sensation, however. Grounding.
His mind worked in simple sentences. A few words here or there. Arcane couldn’t muster up the strength to think in much more complex terms than that.
Teleport. Save the nearest.
Appearing in the wind-lashed air, Arcane’s eyes widened as he looked down. A young earth pony colt stared up at him, barely into his teenage years. The water lapped at his hooves, the light-yellow colt shivering.
Sunlight. Warmth.
With a simple thought, the clouds were torn apart, the temperature ticking up a few degrees as sunbeams punched through the fading rain. Natural laws meant nothing to him, their constraints shoved aside with an angry huff.
Water is still rising.
With a toss of his head, Arcane snagged the colt in a magical grip, depositing him on a floating mattress that followed behind the unicorn.
“T-thank you.”
Arcane nearly tripped, even though he was walking through the air. A warm glow abruptly bloomed in his chest. No memories, no anger. Just a simple happiness at the words.
Even though I’m broken, I saved one.
I can’t give myself hope. But I can give it to others.
He jumped, another few hops until he managed a controlled glide on invisible wings.
Now one more.
Two more creatures were snagged from the rooftops, their jaws agape as Arcane flew by.
One more.
Another group of three, the Unicorn angling his flight upwards. As the clouds began to creep back in, Arcane let out a snarl. As if running in terror, the dark formations abruptly dissipated, a circular eye of the cyclone being formed.
One more.
A terrified Kirin hanging onto a light pole.
Just.
A family was trapped in their attic. Arcane tore the roof apart with a single bolt of magic. They stared at him in shock, clambering onto the offered mattress before the stallion continued on.
Save.
A mare clinging to a tree, neatly levitated up and added to the growing fleet of conjured mattresses floating behind the unicorn.
One.
A group of four creatures; two gryphons, a pony, and a small dragon.
More!
Arcane heard the soft muttering of the creatures behind them, but he didn’t care.
Are there others? I wish I had some sort of radar.
With a rather loud *PING*, a pulse of magic radiated out from the unicorn, a single red dot shining in the distance.
The final creature was a hippogriff, a wing broken as they hung onto the upper branches of a tree. Carefully setting her onto a mattress, Arcane examined the wing, frowning.
Multiple fractures. Painful. Don’t want to risk healing magic. Supportive brace and painkillers.
The wing was abruptly wrapped in a medical brace, marshmallow-like padding securing it to her side. Arcane looked down, the water now having risen to the tops of the trees, far beyond any house.
He spied a large rescue boat in the distance hovering just offshore. With a spark of his horn, the unicorn returned the clouds to their original locations, protecting the creatures in his grip with a large metal umbrella.
Zipping along, Arcane paused as two armored creatures looked up at him, a lighthouse emblazoned on their breastplates.
I know that symbol.
There were a dozen large tarps erected on the deck of the ship, each sheltering a group of creatures as they were tended to before being sent below.
On seeing the creatures floating behind Arcane, one of the gryphons spoke into their half-helmet.
With as much care as he could muster, Arcane carefully placed each individual down, a few curious creatures poking their heads out from under the tarps now.
More than a dozen.
An odd warmth flickered in Arcane’s chest. There wasn’t any pain. The memories-
“Thank you.”
The hippogriff with the broken wing smiled up at him, tears mixing with the rain as she spoke.
He didn’t trust himself to speak, only nodding. The unicorn then caught sight of himself in a glass window, and his breath hitched in Arcane’s chest.
The weight on his body wasn’t without reason. A simple helmet encased his head, reminiscent of ancient knights. The breastplate Arcane had been designing had weaved itself across his body, thin, sleek armor coating the unicorn’s limbs and barrel.
Emblazoned on the front, a golden star of Chaos and a red heart shone brightly amidst the glistening silver metal. Multicolored streaks spread across the surface, pulsing gently with his heartbeat.
Shafts of sunlight broke through the clouds, and the stallion glanced back. His eyes widened in surprise as the clouds shone with a rainbow of colors.
At that moment, Arcane let himself think, and his chest constricted.
I don’t want to remember.
All that’s inside of me is rage.
Fear.
Pain.
Hopelessness.
What do I do now? How can I-
The chaos magic answered again, a portal snapping open to the left of the pony.
“Mayday! Mayday!”
His limbs moved again, golden hoofprints being left midair as the stallion charged into the new portal. A league away, a ship foundered on the edge of the storm, ten creatures struggling to keep it afloat.
Landing on the prow, Arcane examined the vessel, a simple fishing trawler.
Large hole from wave impacts. Engines not working.
Fix.
The ship bounced upwards; the hole being patched by a network of hard-candied plates welded over the metal. The engines sputtered; a ball of tar being ejected from the exhaust before coming to life again.
With a spin of his hoof, Arcane sent the trawler zipping along the edge of the storm on a straight path for a port in the distance outside the worst of it.
As he breathed, floating in the storm, the unicorn’s shoulders slumped.
Now what? Every time I stop, all I can think of-
Save one more.
The thought punched through Arcane’s mind, another portal opening.
I can save just one more.
His hooves moved again, the stallion throwing himself in.
An avalanche approached a group of skiers; a dozen youngsters and three earth pony adults. They screamed, hugging each other close as the abrupt wall of snow blotted out the sun.
The stallion sent powder spraying everywhere as he landed, a massive maroon shield blossoming in front of him and around the group.
As the avalanche roared against Arcane’s magic, the unicorn reveled in the challenge as he bared his fangs in a snarl. The icy wall threatened to kill all in its path- but not this time.
With his power, it was nothing!
The shield pulsed, the energy blasting a hole through the incoming wall of snow and ice.
I can’t think. I can’t dwell on it. There’s too much pain.
But I can save just one more.
One more.
Just save one more.
Discord and Fluttershy watched a dozen screens floating in front of them as they sat in their Chaosville yard. Video cameras, and news reports; all showed the same thing. A strange stallion dashed across the view. Sometimes in the air splitting the clouds, other times galloping over the ground.
A flood. An avalanche. A train derailment. A hospital that abruptly lost power…
“It’s hard to think about the hurt when you help someone,” Fluttershy whispered, leaning on her husband’s shoulder. “But he can’t keep this up. I worry for him. And doesn’t this break a few rules? You had mentioned that briefly about why you don’t mess with some things.”
Discord chuckled, very much enjoying the vague awareness of a few Fates squirming over the recent developments.
“He’ll wear himself out, and I think that’s not a bad thing right now,” Discord said. “As for the rules, the reason I don’t meddle is, first off, it’s boring,” he said with a grin. “It’s not my world to interfere with. But it is Arcane’s. And yes, technically this breaks quite a few rules. But I don’t think Arcane will ever care about that.”
The God of Chaos paused, his brow narrowing ever so slightly.
“But that would break even bigger rules. And yet I can’t see Arcane ever caring about that. He’s more attached to your world than I am. If I had to guess, he’ll never stop trying to be better, to make your world better, even if it breaks rules I abide by…usually.”
Fluttershy let out a hum, glancing up at the Draconequus with a hesitant smile.
“Maybe in his case, that’s a good thing?”
Another good-spirited laugh left Discord’s muzzle, the chaotic being nodding eagerly.
“Oh, Flutters. I think it’s a glorious thing. It’s so very chaotic!”
Arcane’s sides heaved as he tottered through the portal, collapsing onto the cobblestones inside his dimension.
A few small cozy hunters’ cabins now dotted the landscape. He hauled himself to the nearest one, letting out a hiss as pain shot up the stallion’s forelimb.
The cabin was a quaint thing; a bed, kitchen area, television, and desk were all crammed under the roof. Flopping onto the plush mattress, Arcane conjured up a first aid kit and retrieved the gauze.
The gash on his limb ran from halfway down his forelimb up to the shoulder, spiraling slightly around the appendage. Multicolored fluid dripped from the wound, seeping into the bandage the stallion tightened around it.
His thoughts were beautifully quiet. He had lost count of how many crises had been diverted. Some big, some small.
But now there were smiling, thankful faces to replace the decade of painful memories that threatened to surge to the fore. A small smile was on the stallion’s face; a gesture that felt so alien, but very much welcoming. He had a feeling Discord would be back to check on him soon enough. But even as he stumbled to the desk with a wince, he wanted to help one more.
I can’t save everyone. I know that.
But I can divert the big stuff.
It was a surreal moment for him. Arcane could, at some level, recognize that averting all tragedies was both unrealistic and a dangerous mindset. So, there had to be a set of rules for him.
But I want to help in small ways too.
“One more. Give me one more. Something calmer,” he asked, voice hoarse and scratchy. “Who needs that type of help?”
A computer screen popped up, images beginning to cycle through as viewed from, what Arcane could guess, were security feeds. Or perhaps Chaos magic simply pulled out snapshots, he wasn’t sure, as the date stamps were over a couple of months.
A mare laughing with three children; a hippogriff, gryphon, and earth pony. A gryphon male came home and joined the giggling tickle-pile.
It showed what must have been security footage from the past. The two creatures filling out dozens of forms. Meeting with multiple creatures, court dates…
And then playing with three creatures. The hippogriff must have been only a year old. Then, in another scene, the young gryphon was only six months old. And then finally, an earth pony being a year and a half.
As the scenes progressed through additional court cases and paperwork, a genuine smile began to spread across Arcane’s face.
They adopted all of them. Endured the bigotry against a different-species couple, yet they persisted.
They’re happy.
Arcane remembered the first time he saw Mally. She had such a different energy when she had held him. For the first time in the youngster’s life, he had felt safe.
And this couple, they helped three children. Three lives saved from an uncertain future.
The screen changed; the Gryphon being laid off from his job. The following failed interviews flashed by in the dozens.
Savings depleted. The cost of living skyrocketing. All loans maxed out.
The image shifted. It didn’t show the inside of the home, but the faint outlines of the individuals as they moved around. The gryphon tucked the children into bed, then walked quietly to the kitchen to cry after another day of failed job hunting.
The mare heard him, wrapping the larger creature up in a hug as she sniffled.
“We’ll make it somehow. We always have.”
Her words made Arcane’s jaw clench. He could change everything if he wanted.
It’d just take a thought.
In an instant, the cabin fragmented into splinters, bolts of energy licking across the stallion with an intoxicating power. Energy flowed around the pony’s body like a river, every thought immediately linked with an action.
I could fix it all. Why set limits on what I can do?
It was only the beginning of a thought, but the pony abruptly realized how dangerous his situation was. It wasn’t a mere fantasy; Arcane could fix all of it. This family, Equestria, the entire world.
His thoughts from before had been wrong.
I have that power. ALL of it!
There wasn’t anything outside of his reach. All of the problems of the world could be solved in an instant. Governments ripped down and new nations created with a thought. Every financial and government system would yield to his control.
All the pain and suffering could be erased. He could do anything.
The stallion had certainly dreamed about such a chance when tortured in that nightmarish Silo. Even through the desperate desire, he knew it was a dangerous line of thinking.
But he wanted it, so much. And yet…
I couldn’t fix it all, not forever. Not unless I forced everyone to do the right thing. And that isn’t the right thing in and of itself. That’s not life. I could do anything. But I shouldn’t. That’s my burden. To help and not give in to the temptation.
To be better.
Is that what my voice says underneath it all? Is that who I am?
He took a shaky breath, a few tears welling up in his eyes. Was that who he was underneath the pain, fear, and anger?
Am I a good pony underneath it all?
Arcane didn’t know.
But it’s who I want to be.
Arcane couldn’t fix it all. He shouldn’t fix it all. The bolts of energy subsided, the cabin and computer reforming.
But I can’t stand by and do nothing.
I won’t!
A few of the tears now fell from his eyes, burning as they did so.
Fifteen years of my life is what happened when creatures did nothing. I’ll never stand by when creatures suffer. I don’t care what rules have to be broken.
Life isn’t made of happy endings. But I can try to change that. As many as I can.
I won’t let hope fade from those the world forgot. Not as long as I draw breath.
As he limped out of the cabin, he saw Discord watching him curiously. The chaotic God simply waved, Arcane nodding back. The pony took a deep breath, reaching out with his magic to his realm. To help, he had to lay a foundation.
I can’t do this alone. Not forever. Eventually, there’ll be others.
Others who have been forgotten.
Others who won’t stay silent.
Others who refuse to stand by.
Buildings began to spring up, arrayed out like spokes on a wagon wheel. In the center, a massive spire soared up towards the celestial sky, white marble, and glass reflecting the stars above. He trotted down the paved streets as they weaved together in front of the stallion. Hundreds, thousands of structures sprang up out of the corner of his eye. An entire city began to create itself from the cobblestones. Streets, lights, roads, and plumbing all formed like clay on a potter’s wheel as Arcane galloped down the main path.
He didn’t even know what everything was. All that he had was an idea. The spark of something that wasn’t anger or fear. A will, a general desire, and hope gave rise to an entire block of a city. Parks and trails weaved out into the distance and beyond his sight.
I was left alone. If anyone did care, they weren’t able to do anything.
This place…it can be somewhere for the forgotten. The forsaken.
Time blurred together, a new building near the central hub now commanding Arcane’s focus. He barely registered what was being created. It was only the emotion he knew, the Chaos magic weaving it into physical form.
A nudge here or there.
I’ll operate by the world’s rules, but only barely.
Enough nudges and I can change things for the better.
I will change things for the better!
The building wrapped itself in silver thread, the star of chaos sprouting from the roof with golden wings wrapped around the symbol.
With another spark of magic, a steady stream of silver and gold flowed into the bank. A digital counter popped into existence above the new, basement-level vault. The numbers flew up faster than the eye could follow.
Money is the reason I was left in that pit for half my life. Bribes to politicians. Payrolls for mercenaries. Money is a weapon. But unlike them, I don’t have limits. My arsenal is bottomless. Let them try and match me!
Arcane didn’t know how he did it, but with a thought, he tied the bank into Equestria’s monetary system. Then the gryphons, and then all other nations. Wire transfers, bank account numbers; it all abruptly linked up without a fuss.
For a split second, Arcane mulled over buying a few less-than-appropriate items and mailing them to the Princess of Equestria. It’d certainly convey how he felt about things. The anger surged again, the stallion gritting his teeth with a snarl.
Forget such a juvenile gesture; he could crash the financial system of Equestria if he wanted. He could hold the entire country hostage for what they did to-
As fast as the rage entered, it abruptly began to cool.
No.
Those ideas aren’t what would make me happy. I want to be a better pony. One who wouldn’t do those things.
One who won’t.
I have to be the one who won’t.
If I start down that path, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop myself.
I have the power to do anything, good or bad. I have to set limits.
He then returned to the cabin, staring at the screen. A single picture hovered on it; what must have been a family photo put on social media.
Arcane didn’t even know if Mally still had a picture of him. Aside from her, family wasn’t something the stallion ever had. Outside of childhood, there weren’t any friends, family, nothing. He didn’t know who even remembered him.
Is there even enough left of me for someone to love?
That thought crushed the stallion, and the pony steadied himself against the wall to catch his breath. His chest ached; the simple sentence having driven all breath from his body. It was hard to breathe, the realization that such a thought might be correct. If all that was left of Arcane was trauma and pain, was that enough for someone to love?
I’m broken.
Arcane’s lips trembled at that, the unicorn’s eyes narrowing in determination despite the tears that gathered in them.
“I can’t fix myself yet,” he whispered, “but I can fix this.”
He had to be careful. The last thing the unicorn wanted was to have Discord take the blame for any of his misdeeds. Not that he was terribly worried. This loving family had many problems, but almost all of them had a singular solution.
Magic pulsed from his horn, and Arcane nodded in approval at the picture. It was such a simple thing to send a box to the family in the photo.
One more. I saved one more.
As he trotted back out of the cabin, Discord’s eyes widened at seeing the colorful bandage.
“Are you alright?” he asked calmly, the pony shaking his head.
“I’m really not,” Arcane said with a surprisingly carefree laugh, a few tears trickling from his eyes. “But I’m doing a bit better than yesterday. And that’s a good thing.”
Discord snapped his fingers, teleporting them back to his realm.
“A good thing indeed. Now, let’s get Fluttershy to look at that wound. I know what caused it, after all. When you’re ready, I’ll teach you how to prevent it. A mortal body, even one like yours, can only withstand so much raw chaos at a time. And you have been busy indeed.”
Arcane sat down nodding slowly. He felt a smile on his face. It was an odd sensation.
“I’d like that.”
In downtown Baltimare, a gryphon and mare stared at the contents of the sizeable box which had abruptly appeared on their kitchen table, an oddly-shaped star emblazoned on one of the corners. Their tear-filled eyes were affixed to the note attached, and the two creatures could only hug each other after reading it.
“To Mr. and Mrs. Thistle,
The enclosed contents will pay off all of your debts and give you six months of rent, utilities, groceries, a gift-filled Hearthswarming, and any other bills that may arise in that time. I’ve also enclosed job offerings in the surrounding area that will meet your needs and qualifications.
A family that loves each other through thick and thin doesn’t have a price.
Take care of each other.
-From a friend”
“The chaos magic did this?” Fluttershy asked, re-wrapping Arcane’s limb for the third time that day. The stallion had vastly overestimated his ability to speak and had nearly passed out after initially arriving at their home, the day after going on his helping and creating spree in Equestria and his own dimension.
“It happened before,” he explained as Discord frowned. “When I had burnouts, the wounds opened all over my body. As best as the Company could tell, it’s the magic not having a conduit strong enough,” his ears flattened. “They…experimented on that a few times.”
“An accurate but crude description,” Discord added, his left eye twitching slightly at Arcane’s last words. “I can teach you to prevent it for the most part.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“The news has been busy with you, by the way,” Fluttershy said with a soft giggle. “You’ve given them something to talk about for days.”
“I imagine,” Arcane mused, brow furrowed in thought. “It helped. Just being able to focus on something that wasn’t me.”
“Well, if it helps, keep doing it. Just maybe not as intensive as last time?” Fluttershy suggested, eyes flickering to his wounded forelimb. “Please?”
Arcane was about to object, but a gentle smile meandered onto his face, the stallion nodding.
“Okay. I’m taking a break from it too. There are probably some cosmic rules I broke. I need to learn those so I can ignore them.”
Discord couldn’t contain a snort, the Draconequus chortling as he tried to suppress his giggles.
“Totally called it!” he crowed with a grin, Fluttershy rolling her eyes good-naturedly.
“Called…?”
“There are rules. Basically, don’t interfere with mortals. I had a feeling you really wouldn’t care about such things.”
“You’d be right,” Arcane admitted. “I assume I’ll meet whoever makes those rules?”
“Probably not. But some of the other deities get their bridles in a knot if their threads of life aren’t weaved nice and orderly,” the Draconequus huffed.
“Well, I want to visit the Last Light’s Island. Don’t they have like, two creatures living there who are Fates?”
“Indeed. I think they’ll try to outline the rules for you then.”
“I promise to try and be polite,” Arcane sighed, rolling his eyes and prompting a giggle from Fluttershy.
“They’re just doing their best.”
“Miss Fluttershy, their ‘best’ was to leave me to rot in that Silo for fifteen years.”
The mare let out a soft squeak, hiding behind her bangs as Arcane dropped his head in shame.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to snap at you, I just-”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said, reaching up and placing a gentle hoof on his shoulder. “You’re not wrong though. The fact you said you’d try and be polite is a gesture in and of itself. It’s more than I expected.”
Arcane nodded with a slight smile, slowly standing and testing his weight on the bandaged limb.
“Do you mind if we tour your new city when you’re out?” Discord asked, clearly trying to hide his excitement. “I’ve never been one for creating such things, and you were a busy bee!”
“Huh? Sure. Tour away. I’m not sure about everything I created. So, if there’s anything insulting, I apologize,” the unicorn replied.
“Duly noted. Come on, Flutters! I think you’ll find this rather fun.”
“Be careful, Arcane,” Fluttershy said, the other stallion pausing. Her sincere, caring words made him physically have to stop and take a few deep breaths.
“I will. I’ll be back soon,” Arcane whispered, then trotting out the door.
It was a simple matter to conjure up a portal, Arcane taking a few more long, slow breaths.
I just want answers.
He jumped through, a smile immediately sliding onto the unicorn’s face as he soared through the clouds. The island was visible below. He’d aim towards-
The unicorn’s body abruptly froze, plopping onto a cloud.
“Huh,” he muttered, an ethereal earth pony appearing in front of him. “I assume you’re one of the Fates? Or Thread Weavers? Or whoever does that stuff?”
The mare actually giggled, nodding briefly.
“Yep! That’s one of my jobs. I just need to make sure…oh dear.” Her voice drifted off, another mare abruptly appearing at her side.
“What are your intentions, Chaos-Wielder?” the new mare asked. Her stature was taller, and even though see-through, clear armor adorned her frame.
“My intentions? I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Arcane said, sitting on the cloud. “I just want to talk. I want answers. Nothing more. I just want to talk to Toxic Shield, and then leave.”
The mares stared at him for a few moments, the taller one finally letting out a satisfied huff.
“Very well. Please keep to that. We’ll be watching.”
She vanished, the smaller pony wincing.
“Sorry. My sister can be blunt. But she has a point. We can’t let you harm creatures here. Not after what you…” her voice abruptly cut off, and that made Arcane’s eyes narrow.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone. Why did you think that was my first reaction?” Arcane asked, realization then settling in his mind. The unicorn couldn’t help but snarl now. “Wait. ‘After?’ You knew. You knew where I was, and you let it happen,” rage whited out every other emotion. “They tortured me! And you let it happen! You knew and you just watched!”
The mare’s ears pinned back, not meeting Arcane’s gaze.
“We couldn’t interfere.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Arcane growled back. “There’s a difference. I’ve heard about you all and the rules you abide by. How has that worked out for you with the Company? Tens of thousands dead and tortured?” the stallion snapped. That’s when he saw it; a sliver of hesitation.
They know their rules are flawed.
“More power than even the Princesses, and you don’t act to help those who need it. You are cowards,” he hissed, the mare’s eyes widening in surprise. “Play within your rules then, but they aren’t mine, and never will be. Now can I go? I just want to talk before I get any angrier. And you already have me on the edge.”
The mare nodded, releasing Arcane and letting him glide down to the island. He just wanted a few answers. Any dwelling on the ‘Fates’ and their lack of action would only tick off the stallion more.
He’d deal with them later. If they tried to stop him…
“Answers first,” he muttered, the anger cooling off as he took a few deep breaths.
I just want an answer. The Director might not have even known. Even if those entities did. No point in being angry at him. Not yet.
With a pop of magic, Arcane appeared in Director Shield’s office. Judging from how the unicorn was sitting calmly behind a desk, Arcane had been expected.
The amount of countermeasure and protective spells were impressive to say the least. They even surpassed the Company- but they were all reactive. Nothing reached out to Arcane, only waited to see if he tried to lash out.
“Arcane Flare,” Toxic Shield said, getting up and walking out from behind the desk, sitting down in front of the pony. “I was told you wanted to talk. Is that accurate?”
Arcane swallowed the lump in his throat. The last time he had spoken with the Director was when he was a colt. The other unicorn was surprisingly calm, but Arcane could pick out a fair bit of tension that Toxic was keeping under control.
“Y-yes,” he managed to say, the other unicorn still looking at him cautiously. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.. I just want answers. I want to know what happened.”
“I’ll gladly give them. But you’ll have to forgive the precautions. We didn’t know what the Company did to you,” Toxic said. “There’s plenty of spells and countermeasures you’re probably detecting. I can’t be too careful, even with your recent actions of helping creatures.” He paused, then raised a hoof. “I’d be happy to explain what did happen when you were taken, but may I say something before we continue?”
“Sure?”
The unicorn bowed his head, jaw clenched.
“I’m so, so sorry,” Toxic whispered. “I’m sorry that we failed you; that I failed you.”
Arcane sat down with a soft *thump*, blinking in shock.
“Wait. You didn’t forget about me?”
Toxic shook his head immediately, sitting back down and looking at Arcane.
“Of course not. Our inaction wasn’t because we forgot.”
“Then why?”
The other unicorn let out a tired breath, shaking his head slowly.
“We didn’t know. That’s the crux of it,” Toxic explained. “In short, the Company was far more ingrained in governments and nations than we could have imagined. By the time we realized the Company had illegally pushed their application ahead and taken you, we didn’t know where you were. There were false trails created, and the teams I sent ran into dead ends. Mally…I don’t know if she’s forgiven me. She says she has, but I don’t know if I deserve it. I could have pushed things, I should have, but it would have severely damaged our relationships with other nations. It may have even started a war.”
“Is she doing okay? Mally?”
Toxic nodded, a weak smile forming on his face.
“Yes. I could bring her here if you’d like. She certainly hasn’t forgotten you.”
Arcane immediately shook his head, surprising Toxic.
“No. I’m-I’m not okay right now,” he admitted. “I just wanted to know if you all had given up on me. If you had forgotten me. If she had forgotten me.”
“None of us did,” Toxic said immediately. “If I had known where you were and what that Company was doing, I would have tried to rescue you myself. I promise you that.” His ears then flattened. “But such promises aren’t worth much. You suffered because we failed. I failed. I don’t expect your forgiveness for that.”
Arcane didn’t say anything for a few moments, his brow furrowed in thought.
“I forgive you,” he whispered, the words making Toxic’s eyes widen in shock. The blue unicorn’s mouth dropped open slightly before he was finally able to say anything.
“What? Just like that?”
With a shrug, Arcane tossed his head. “I don’t know if I need to forgive you for anything,” the stallion said. “You all had to trust Equestria’s system. I get that. I wouldn’t have wanted others to suffer for my account, and that includes if an entire country’s relationship was damaged. The Company was an evil nobody had ever seen before. I didn’t even know you sent teams after me. Just the fact you looked for me means a l-lot.” The stallion’s voice cracked at the end.
“I sent as many as I could. But the Company knew we’d look for you. They spent a great deal of time and effort to make sure all we found were dead ends,” Toxic said tiredly. “I’ll always regret I didn’t push things further.”
“Let’s just call it even.”
“Even? How can we be ‘even’?”
Arcane smiled. A small, barely visible flicker, but it was there.
“You still gave me and my mom a place to stay and tried to help. That’s more than most. And you gave a young colt an ideal to strive for. You did your best to try and find me. That means more than I can explain. Equestria didn’t bother doing anything. Nobody did,” his voice then cracked. “But you did. You tried, and you never forgot about me.”
A few tears welled up in Toxic’s eyes, Arcane holding out a hoof.
“I can’t promise I’m just ‘fine’ with everything. But I want to be. Even with Equestria, in time. Well, in a long time. I just hurt. But I don’t want to hurt, and being angry just makes it all worse. I need time to work through that.”
Toxic reached out, gently shaking the offered hoof.
“I understand. There’s a place for you here if you ever want it.”
The chaos-pony nodded, horn lighting up with a teleportation spell. He then paused.
“Can you tell Mally I’m okay?” Arcane asked. “Just, let her know I still love her. I’ll see her, I promise. Could you tell her that I’m staying with Fluttershy and Discord? They’re helping me. I just don’t want to meet her when I’m like this. I know she’d be okay with it, but it’s too much for me.”
“I’ll let her know,” Toxic promised.
Arcane paused again, his brow furrowing in thought.
“When I was in that place, there were once two green eyes that saw me when I was in a magical stupor,” he whispered. “They saw me in that place and somehow understood. I don’t know how, or why. But someone did reach out to me. Was that you?”
Toxic shook his head, brow furrowed.
“No. That wasn’t me, or anyone on the island. I’m sorry.”
A hesitant smile flickered across Arcane’s lips.
“It’s okay, Director. It’d have been too easy to discover otherwise.” His demeanor then darkened, and the stallion struggled to keep himself from shaking with anger.
“And Director, while you may not have known about me, your “fates” did. They must not have told you.”
The betrayal and horror on Toxic’s face lifted Arcane’s heart, the unicorn staring in shock as Arcane vanished.
Toxic Shield drew a shaking breath, disgust crawling across his body.
“Gells, you can come in. We’re about to have visitors,” he whispered. For all they knew, Arcane could have been a sleeper agent from the Company. Having a civil, kind conversation had been a hope of Toxic’s. But with how painful Arcane’s life had been, Toxic hadn’t tried to bank on it.
Yet he had been completely courteous, all while dealing with a betrayal that made Toxic’s entire body shiver with rage.
Gelliana opened the door across the meeting room, snapping on a large safety before pushing a massive, bipod-supported rifle to the side as she walked into the room. The weapon would have easily punched through an airship, let alone the metal door she had been aiming through with the magical scope.
If Arcane had been a sleeper agent, the gryphoness wasn’t leaving it to chance.
“I heard what he said. Is it true?” the gryphoness whispered.
“We’re about to find out,” the unicorn said, nausea twisting his stomach. “Fide! Clari! Get in here. Now. I know you can hear me. If you don’t show up, then I’ll take Arcane’s words for truth without any more explanation.”
The two guardian Fates appeared in the office, Clari not meeting Toxic’s gaze. Fide at least had the composure to look at him.
“I don’t trust you two to be perfect. But this is…” Toxic took a few deep breaths to calm himself- it didn’t help. “Did you know about Arcane? Where he was?”
Clari began to cry, closing her eyes and not looking at Toxic. Fide set her jaw and nodded once.
“In a general sense, yes.”
“Your actions concerning “balance” have hurt me and those I love before. So, you should answer my next question very carefully,” Toxic said, his voice starting to quiver. “Why did you hide it? Why did you lie to me when I sought your help? You have to answer to both me and Mally for that!”
“Because we didn’t have a choice.”
Toxic glared at Fide, the mare’s usually stoic expression cracking into that of regret and helplessness.
“I’m not lying,” she said, “we didn’t have a choice!”
“There’s always a choice!”
“N-not this time,” Clari whispered, shaking her head. “He’d have been killed along with us. Tens of thousands of innocent creatures would have also died.”
“What?! How?”
“The consequences of helping would have led to a single eventuality. All we knew was where Arcane had been taken to, and what was likely going to happen to him. If we had told you, you would have acted,” Fide explained. “From a small response to a large one. You wouldn’t have let him stay a prisoner.”
“Of course.”
“And then the world would have gone to war against the Company. They’d have released their experiments and tried to seize countries by force to ensure their survival.”
Clari’s words made Toxic’s heart drop.
“If we told you where he was…he almost certainly would have been terminated the moment you set foot in the facility. He was still a teenager,” she explained, still unable to look at the shocked unicorn. “And we would have suffered the rebound effects from telling you. The consequence of having such war and death be due to us would have manifested on a raw, magical level. It would have destroyed us.”
“Of two evil options, we picked the one where he would be alive, tens of thousands more would not perish in war, and we would survive. If it was just our lives at stake, we would have tried to help,” Fide said firmly. “Of that, I promise. We had no idea about Sassi or what specifically would befall Arcane. Only the general situation he would be in.” Her eyes then narrowed in warning. “We aren’t the only Fates, Toxic. There are times we want to help, but can’t. I…shouldn’t say any more.”
The powerful being had mentioned other Fates before, and from what Toxic had gleaned, Clari and Fide were some of the more helpful and social bunch. If they wanted to help but were being restricted, that at was a foreboding thing indeed.
Perhaps having Arcane on the side of change is going to stir the pot even more than I imagined.
“I hate thinking the way you do,” Toxic growled, shaking his head. “But tell Arcane that. I don’t mean immediately, but no later than this week. Tell him exactly what you just told me. He’ll understand. Maybe. Whether he’ll forgive you or not is another matter.”
The two mares nodded, Toxic waving at them tiredly.
“Thank you for explaining. That is all.”
They vanished, and the unicorn slumped to the floor as Gelliana slid next to him.
“I know I’m still part of Nacreous’s Order, and with it, Clari and Fide’s dedication to balance. But I can’t think like them. I understand why they kept it from me, and I hate it.”
“You always want to help, to a fault,” Gelliana said softly, nuzzling her unicorn’s cheek. “It’s why I love you. Just-you can’t be everywhere at once.”
“But I can try,” Toxic whispered. “I’ll tell Mally about this, of course. She might understand too. No secrets, not about this. I just…” he pressed back against his wife’s touch, a wing wrapping around the unicorn’s shoulder in a hug. “I can’t believe Arcane doesn’t hold anything against me. In his position, I don’t think I’d be as kind. I don’t know what to think.”
“Then don’t think for a bit,” the gryphoness said back, holding his hoof. “You did your best. Arcane was just mature enough to realize that.”
Toxic nodded, enjoying the hug a bit longer.
I hope you can eventually forgive those involved in this, Arcane. Clari and Fide had their reasons, but Twilight was in a similar position to me. She deserves forgiveness just as much, if not more than I do.
In Arcane’s dimensions, Fluttershy’s eyes were wide as saucers as they flew around the hundreds, thousands of buildings.
“He made all of this?” she asked, the two hovering in front of the massive, central spire that reached towards the stars circling above.
“In a shockingly short time too,” Discord mused, flying the two of them over to a section of the massive city that seemed particularly green. “I thought you should see this. It’s what makes me not as apprehensive about Arcane’s future.”
“Oh?”
“This was all created from Arcane’s mind. His will, his desires. The minutia was smoothed over by the Chaos magic.”
“So, it just took his idea and ran with it?”
“Precisely! A very different method than I use. He has a much more companion-like relationship with the magic,” Discord said, setting them down next to a lovely tree, He gestured to the map posted on a marble half-pillar next to it. “Take a look.”
Fluttershy did so, reading the inscriptions. As she did so, a few tears welled up in her eyes.
‘Welcome to the Element of Kindness District of the city.
You’ll find the following services available nearby; please see the map for the following specifics.
1. Animal Parks
2. Animal Adoption
3. Substance Recovery
4. Mental Health Support
a. Individual Counseling
b. Couples Counseling
5. Specialty Medical Centers.
There were a few more, but Fluttershy looked up at Discord, the chaotic God smiling rather proudly. He waved his claws, and the two of them were at the entrance of the city.
Marble walls overgrown with beautiful, green vines surrounded the exterior of the city as far as the eye could see. The entrance walkway ended in the middle of nowhere, but Fluttershy spied a few stairs leading to portal platforms. Beautiful wood and golden arches spanned the paved road, magical walkways aiding the visitors towards the city center.
Hanging above the large entrance and walkway, a massive sign shone with an ethereal light.
“Welcome to Entropy.
For those forgotten and forsaken by the world, but never by us.
We strive so that hope will never become a memory.
Headquarters of the Chaos Corps”
Our chaotic boy is making some progress! 
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Shouldn't that be Astral and Sassi?
11683849
Dangnabit. Thanks!
... I wasn't expecting such a massive, amazing chapter... and holy heck, was it more than welcome!
11683905
Originally I was going to have it in the main story, but it never really fit. But it's a good miniature tale of its own! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Interesting... There's a lot to unpack in this chapter, but I'll just say that this could go either amazingly well, or horribly bad. That entire world essentially relies on Arcane, so if anything were to happen to him...
Fantastic chapter, and a great story.
11684196
Glad you've enjoyed it!
Indeed
This chapter made me tear up more than once.
Very well done, and I'm glad I picked this story up.
11684951
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
I'd call that a success in my book then!
Tears.
Also, I have tried to read the first of.this series ("A Cure for a Toxin"?) twice and never gotten past the first chapter due to how power-fantasy schlock it feels with this ancient and powerful main character visiting unexpectedly... I might not be saying this right, but MAYBE a rewrite with your probably-improved writing skills* to let people who want to start from the beginning have an easier/better experience.
*A strong hypothesis, but there could be other explanations for.the disparity in how they make me feel.
11687743
Glad you enjoyed it!
And I really appreciate the feedback. I don't think I'll be doing rewrites, simply because it'd be a significant undertaking. But going forward I certainly take what I've learned and try my best to apply it.
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/387127875964502019/627153374839701514/technically.png
Arcane is a mortal, so as I gather that those rules mainly apply to immortals, he doesn't have to follow them.
11689869
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. He also wouldn't care either way.