Agents of Discord

by KittyrinnAiko

Chapter 45: Dinner Part 2

“I had asked for quiet,” Mrs Longbottom protested over the singing.

“I must confess the song honors ourselves,” Luna offered. “Nor do I begrudge the children their song. Truly I say to you that their singing and laughter are a great blessing. And if you had wanted quite, a simple silencing spell could have been cast upon the door. Instead, you ordered the butler to go and tell them to be quiet.”

“The fault is partly our own,” offered the butler who had returned; the song now done. “If your Highness will forgive us.” He bowed to Princess Luna. “It seems the alcohol was mixed into the punch.”

“You’ve given alcohol to my grandson?” Mrs Longbottom accused more than asked.

“Afraid so. And he’s being quite belligerent towards yourself, Mam. We have a bit of good news though.”

“Which is?” Mrs Longbottom demanded.

“Princess Nova Mustang’s age reversal has reversed itself and she’s back to being an adult.”

“And next you’ll be telling me she really is over a thousand years old,” Mrs Longbottom stated grumpily.

“When one is held in a state of limbo, where time has no meaning, they do not age,” Princess Luna explained. “I was held in such a state, unjustly, for a period of a thousand years. As was my daughter, and a few other members of my household. Such was the spell that when the plot was found out, it was impossible to undo, and had to be allowed to run its course.”

“Akkadia has alternatives to Azkaban,” Mrs Silverwood added. “Being held in limbo is one of those punishments. The individual will lose everything in an instant from their perspective. After their release, they are given the option of rehabilitation. Other punishment options include Tartarus and being indefinitely frozen in stone. Typically until the spell fails. Which can last many hundreds, even thousands of years.”

Luna shuddered. “I lost everything. I lost my entire world. Friends, home… My home is in ruins, an archaeological site now, and the community it was in is now long gone and covered by woods. I’ve only a couple of familiar faces from the past, and all because of the manipulations of one person who cared more about setting themselves up as a person of importance to be looked up to. With no care for the lives, they destroyed in their climb to the top.”

“That’s horrible,” Flora said softly.

“Let’s not dwell on it, shall we? There is dessert,” Mrs Silverwood offered hopefully.

“And let the children sing,” Luna pleaded. “I was rather enjoying it.”

“Can we have Miss Mustang step in here for a moment?” Mrs Longbottom’s tone indicated that she was skeptical.

“Mam,” the Butler replied, and then stepped out of the room into the smaller dining room. From the other room could be heard the sound of spoons clacking in an executioner's drumroll which followed Nova Mustang into the main dining room. The spoon clacking stopped a moment later.

Mrs Longbottom’s expression turned from annoyance to surprise at the site of the young woman who now looked more like Nova Silverwood’s younger sister. And she knew full well that Nova Silverwood was far older than her appearance suggested.

“I see.” It had taken Mrs Longbottom quite a bit for her mind to compute what she was seeing. “Are you really…”

“Over a thousand years old?” Miss Mustang offered. “To be honest, I suppose one could say I slept through most of it. My specific circumstances... I’d been separated from my mother, and being the headstrong little filly that I was I dashed in where I shouldn't have. I got caught in the spell that sent my mother into limbo. I think I must have passed out because I don’t remember much. The next thing I knew I was hundreds of feet in the air. Possibly due to thaumatic drift over the years. I was caught by a couple of excellent fliers out on patrol.” She waited a moment for her listeners to take in what she’d said. “Naturally, no one knew who I was, and owing to my circumstances I wasn’t in a hurry to tell them. My legal name is now Brightstar Mustang. I simply hadn’t told them that my name was actually Stella Nova Moon, or that I was a princess. And I doubt they would have believed me at the time either.”

“But why did you not tell anyone?” Mrs Longbottom asked. She could understand why no one would have believed the tale, but still curious as to why she’d held back in the first place.

“I feared the individuals who brought about my mother’s downfall might go after me if they knew I was free. That and I had no idea that any time had passed at the time. I believed myself to have drifted into a foreign land at first.”

“It would seem that we must never be quick to judge based on appearance alone,” Mr Longbottom said. A thought struck his mind. “Curious… was that Dumbledore’s wand the cat snatched?”

“My familiar was the one who took it, and yes, I believe it was,” Mrs Silverwood informed him.

“Familiar?” Mrs Brown asked. “Wand?”

“Our three kitties are familiars. They are not ordinary cats. I was wondering why she took it to Aerie instead of giving it to me, but then as it’s been foretold that she’d be the one to defeat Tom Riddle my little one must have figured the wand should go to her.”

“Riddle was Dumbledore's protege, was he not?” Mr Longbottom said almost as though thinking out loud. Of course the truth of who You Know Who was had hit the papers despite Dumbledore's efforts to suppress it.

“You’re not thinking that he had something to do with the Dark Lord’s rise?” Mrs Longbottom asked with a hint of horror in her tone.

“Dumbledore and Grindelwald were fast friends in their youth, and Dumbledore gained immensely from Grindelwald’s downfall. He also gained from the Dark Lord’s downfall. It’s all been in the papers you know. I imagine Harry Potter was next only things weren’t as Professor Dumbledore had thought.”

“You can’t be serious?” Mr Brown asked. “Dumbledore?”

“You saw how he reacted to Princess Luna. He has designs on little Aerie, events on the first day of Winter break are damning enough, and when Princess Luna walked in, for a brief moment he saw Lilly Potter and saw his plans, whatever they may be, were about to be further derailed. He’s rather fond of saying it’s for the greater good, but I’m beginning to wonder what that greater good might be?”

“I fear that Dumbledore’s greater good has always been for Dumbledore’s greater good,” Mrs Silverwood stated. “Case in point, not only is Dumbledore the Head Master of Hogwarts, holder of the Order of Merlin First Class and the prestigious title of Grand Sorcerer, he also holds the position of Supreme Mugwump Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Oh, sure he’ll say he turned down the position of Minister of Magic, but as it stands now I say he’s got his hands in too many pots.”

“How exactly does he find the time to be an educator and be the head of such important government offices?” Flora asked. “Does the Confederation of Wizards or the Wiz-en game it-”

“Wizengamot…”

“Wizengamot… not meet very often?” She nodded to Mrs Silverwood for the correction.

“The Wizengamot is the wizard version of Parliament and Supreme Court rolled into one. And the Chief of the Wizengamot is the Presiding officer over the Wizengamot.” Mrs Silverwood paused a moment. “And yes, it is a lot for one man. How he finds time to attend to his governmental duties and manage the largest and most prestigious school of magic in England is a bit of a mystery.”

“Parliament and the Supreme Court rolled into one?” Basil asked astounded by what he’d just been told. “Sounds like way too much power rolled into one. And the fact that he’s also maneuvered himself into the position of Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards, which if you ask me is a conflict of interests, he’s one step away from crowning himself king of Wizard kind.”

“If you are done with me, I’d like to go finish my dessert, if you please?” Nova Mustang prompted.

“Oh, oh yes, of course,” Mrs Longbottom replied with a wave as her mind attempted to parse that evening’s revelations. Nova Mustang turned and went back to her desserts.

That evening after returning home it was decided to walk Sweetie and Apple Bloom home. Both fillies were showing signs of mild inebriation. Which was considerable given that equines can actually metabolize a fair amount of alcohol. Granted the issue may well have had something to do with the dimensional gate. Why Aerie wasn't showing any signs may well have been due to her Alicorn metabolism. Aurora escorted Sweetie home, and Aerie and Brightstar escorted Apple Bloom as it had grown late by the time they’d returned to the house.

Aurora was the first to learn that the fillies had not been entirely truthful as the two approached the Carousel Boutique. What greeted them at the boutique was a large gathering of ponies who looked as though they were getting ready to go on a night hike.

“Sweetie! Oh, bless you, you’ve found her!” Rarity called as she rushed to embrace her little filly.

“Found her?” Aurora asked in astonishment. “Sweetie Belle, you said you’d asked permission. An explanation is in order, I think?”

“Sweetie, where have you been?” Rarity asked.

“At a rather posh dinner,” Aurora informed her. “She had led us to believe that she had permission.”

“And why precisely does she smell of a distillery?”

“There was a mix-up with the caterer. The little ones were provided with an alcoholic beverage. It was subtle at first, but by the time we realized what was going on the damage was done.”

“I see. I might like to have a few words with them.”

“Do not fret on that matter. The individuals responsible have been roundly disciplined. How it happened none could say.”

As for Aerie, Brightstar, and Apple Bloom they saw their first danger on the road to the farm, for there in the sparse woodland ahead of them, much to Apple Bloom’s horror a Timber Wolf waited for them on the path. Evidence of other beats not far off caused the little filly's blood to run cold at the sounds of their howling. But not Aerie, for Aerie had a good idea of how she might deal with these creatures of rotting wood, and the fact that they were well dispersed just made it that much easier.

“Stay by Apple Bloom's side,” Aerie said and vanished in a teleport. She reappeared a moment later high over the wolf in the path now in the armor of a warrior of old. She dove down striking the beast on the neck with both hooves driving it into the ground. The old rotted branches scattered followed by Aerie springing at a green glowing orb and stomping on it. Bright blue fire erupted from her hooves and a moment later the orb was gone.

“Who’s next?!” Aerie shouted as she glared at the shadows in the woods. Her fire was blazing brightly.

“What did you just do?!” Brightstar asked in astonishment.

“Break it, and use purifying energy to destroy the core.”

“You, you killed a Timber Wolf?!” Apple Bloom was equally astonished and had likely sobered up quite a bit in those few moments.

“Oh, I know…” Aerie said excitedly. “Moonie! Squadron!”

The echoed call of “Flight!” by the leaders of a ghost squadron filling the sky hadn’t surprised Aerie all that much. The ghostly squadron fanned out followed by the remaining Timber Wolves in the area bolting at the presence of the ghostly guardians.

“Mom?! Moonie?!” Brightstar protested as the visage of Nightmare Moon joined them. “Why did you let us walk into a pack of Timber Wolves?!”

“What? And spoil Aerie’s fun?” asked the Night Mare. Aerie was indeed having fun. She’d taken off again in search of any wolf that wasn’t running away fast enough.

“Fun?! Fun?! She does this for fun!?” Aerie swooped in and landed. “This is what you do for fun!?”

“Ya. Foxfire neutralizes the chaos magic that animates those things,” She explained as her ghostly squadron drove off the wolves and continued to fan out. “Come on Apple Bloom, let’s get you home.”

To their surprise, Apple Bloom bolted for home. The two mares hesitated only a moment and followed in hot pursuit. Moonie decided to just vanish along with her conjured squadron.

“Apple Bloom, it’s OK, I drove them off!” Aerie shouted as they approached the gates of the farm.

“Apple Bloom! Where ‘ave you been!?” Shouted Applejack as she rushed out to embrace her sister. “Every pony ‘as been worried sick. You know full well not ta be out after dark in the winter!”

“Apple Bloom, you told me you had permission to be out,” Aerie prompted.

“I told Granny I was going with friends. I didn’t know I’d be out so late.”

“No pony said nothin' ta me,” Granny scolded as she hobbled out to meet them.

“Granny?” Bloom protested. “But I did.”

“Ya, did not. Now get inside. There be Timberwolves a prowling.”

“Miss Aerie already chased 'em off,” Bloom protested.

“I said git inside. Now!”

“I am so sorry we didn’t get her back sooner,” Aerie offered even as Granny marched Bloom back to the house. Applejack was giving the two fox ponies the stink eye.

“Cider mix-up,” Brightstar offered, figuring that’s why AJ was giving them a dirty look.

“Corrected just as soon as the mix-up was spotted,” Aerie supplied.

“I see. Just one more thing… how’d you get past the Timber Wolves? I know they were out there, I could hear 'em howling.”

“She broke them.”

Applejack just looked at the two with confusion on her face.

“And when a fox pony breaks one of those creatures it stays broke.”

“Seriously?!”

“Break it and stomp out the magic fire before it can reform the wolf. Only works for fox ponies so far as I know.”

“We should probably let the local guard know about the wolves,” Brightstar suggested.

“Thanks for bringing her back,” AJ offered. “But how’d you know there might be trouble brewing?”

“Didn’t. We just thought it’d be a good idea to walk her home,” Aerie offered. “Your farm is mighty close to the Everfree after all.”

“I’m surprised those things came in so close,” Brightstar mused. “They don’t normally do that.”

“They are prone to wander in during the winter. Most ponies in the area know not to be out after dusk if they live anywhere near the forest. Thank you again for bringing her back. And for what it’s worth, she probably did tell Granny. Not like I haven’t told her ta tell me. Granny forgets and she knows it.”

“I’ll be sure and check with you before taking Apple Bloom anywhere in the future,” Aerie offered, and then sprang into the air. A moment later she was diving down on a Timber Wolf that was hot on Big Mac’s tail.

“She does that for fun. Apparently.”

“Mac!?” Applejack shouted even as Big Mac was shouting get inside. She was about ready to spring into action herself when Aerie smashed down onto the neck of the big creature. A moment later she was stamping out anything that glowed while applying a little of her own fire.

“I ... tree house,” Mac said out of breath. He’d just looked behind him to utter astonishment.

“I guess some things a pony just has to see to believe,” AJ commented.

“Now I just feel downright silly,” Big mac muttered. “She’s so little too.”

“Don’t feel too bad there, Big Mac,” Brightstar consoled even as Aerie trotted back over to where they were. And yes, she and Aerie were the same size. “Lets face it if you could fly you’d have no trouble stomping one of them things.”

“Do you do that too?” AJ asked.

“Grappling hooks and lines have always been my preferred method. I’ll confess that I didn’t know they could be destroyed completely. Snatch up the glowy bit with a hook or net and haul it away as far as I can before dropping it.”

“Come on Lieutenant,” Aerie beckoned as she approached.

“Just out of curiosity, are you two sisters?” Applejack asked. “Siblings, that is.”

“I suppose one could say that,” Brightstar offered.

“So what do you think about Miss Aerie there marrying Miss Sunshine?”

“It’s a herding agreement, not a marriage,” Aerie protested. “We did it for Scootaloo’s sake.”

“And you were going to tell me when?”

“It just sort of slipped my mind. Let’s also keep in mind that Aurora had no way to contact you and no way of knowing if she’d ever see you again.”

“Pardon?” AJ asked. “You want to try explaining that?”

“It’s kind of above your pay grade,” Aerie offered rather sheepishly.

“She’s an element barer, I think it’s alright for her to know.”

“Know what?”

“We aren’t sisters, we are different versions of the same pony,” Aerie explained.

“Cross-dimensional shenanigans brought to you in part by Discord.”

“Just exactly where was that party now?”

“In another world via a portal,” Aerie offered back while sounding rather sheepish.

“Are you saying you took ma little sister through a portal to another world?”

“Her and Sweetie Belle.”

“And Scootaloo?”

“My front door is the portal. Scootaloo has been living in another world.”

“What?”

“The front door is the portal. We figure Discord had a hoof, claw, and or talon in setting it up, but to tell the truth she’s been living on the other side of a portal for a couple of months now.”

“Whoa,” Big Mac drawled out.

“Did you know she’d been staying in the tree house?” Brightstar asked Big Mac.

“Ahhh, well…”

“Yes or no, Big Mac,” AJ demanded.

“E-yup.”

“Mac?!”

“She was there only a short time. Apple Bloom being out so late…”

“She’s inside now.”

“Well, I thought maybe Scootaloo had come back and they were out in the treehouse.”

“You don’t need to worry, she’s got a home to live in, and family who can look after her,” Aerie said. “Things went on as long as they did because she didn’t want Rainbow Dash to think she was weak.”

“Sounds like I need to have a talk with Rainbow about toning it down a notch or three,” AJ stated.

“And you and Sunshine signed a Herding agreement for…?” Brightstar pressed.

“Princess Celestia wanted assurances we weren’t going to up and dump Scootaloo the first chance we got. She wanted to know that we were willing to make a commitment. That said, I’d have looked after her without the herding agreement. In my world, Scootaloo is both a cousin and a good friend.”

“So you are basically saying Princess Celestia pressured you into it.”

“Sort of. Granted that it was sort of my idea to begin with.”

“Oh it was, was it?”

“I just figured that if we shared the same residence it might simplify an issue that came up at school. There was also the need to demonstrate our willingness to commit to Scootaloo. And it’s not like she and I are complete strangers. The thing is she’d already committed herself to look after Scootaloo and I’d pointed out that she didn’t live in the same house as Scootaloo was living in. That being my house. And then I’d gone and asked her to share my home with me.”

“And somehow it morphed into signing a herding agreement.”

“Well, once we’d decided that we were both open to doing it we decided to go for it. Now, shouldn't we let the local guard know there are Timber Wolves on the outskirts of town?”

“Might just as well. See ya Applejack.”

“Ya, we’ll be around,” Aerie offered, and a moment later she and Brightstar had launched into the air and were headed into town.

“Just what kind of Armor was that?” Big Mac asked.

“Kind of looked like the sort of stuff Nightmare Moon used.”

“Ya don’t say.”

“Mac might be best not ta say anything about alternate dimensions.”

“Sounded like a bunch of hooey ta me. Why’d you even go along with it?”

“Cause they were telling the truth. I could tell. Like they said, Discord.”

Big Mac gave her a funny look and then let out a low whistle.

Author's Note:

Not an April first prank. I just decided to go ahead and post it as is.

Comments

[harts fire]

yep it is easier to just go with things when Discord is involved.
and amazing chapter i love how this is all fitting together in too a awesome story.

[badninja]

As just about every parent here is saying ““Discord, you have some explaining to do!”

[Da Fennec]

11545094 As if Discord is going to EXPLAIN anything.. I have no problem if you want to try and force him to do so

Nice chapter toenjoy

[Dontar]

re-read up to the end again, cant wait for more chapters