Eris's Riddle

by hahatimeforponies

Honest Mistake

Rainbow Dash was the first to leave the library, almost bursting the door down with enthusiasm. Behind her, Applejack shook her head and followed. Dash chuckled, and looked back, crossing her arms and waiting for the others to catch up. Without warning, her vision blacked out, and her sense of balance went wild. She went to wave an arm in front of her face, only to feel nothing. For a brief moment, she panicked.

Crunch.

She felt something hard impact her face, like she'd just fallen on it from height. She groaned, sat up, and looked around. The library was gone the sun was gone, and the cobblestone road was gone. The only thing she could see was Twilight, standing a few lengths away from her, and the light at the tip of her horn was the only light around to see with. From what she could tell, the floor was a barren white, and outside of the range of Twilight's light was just an infinite black.

"Twilight?" Dash blinked. "What is this?"

"The simplest way I can describe it is, I'm in your head."

"What?" With just a couple of flaps, she pulled into the air and hovered in front of Twilight, scowling. "What are you doing in my head then? Where did the town go?" Twilight sighed.

"I suppose if you want a more accurate summary, one of those old books had a couple of chapters on Neuromancy. Nerve magic. You're seeing and feeling all this, but it's not really there. Well, it's really me talking to you, but I'm just controlling an image of myself that you can see, I'm still inside the library."

"Then..."

"And before you ask, I'm running this inside a time bubble. You're not missing anything." Dash calmed a little, still pouting, but less visibly angry.

"So... why are you in my head?"

"I need to talk to you about that gryphlet. In private."

"And you couldn't have just pulled me to one side somewhere in the forest to talk about this?"

"Well colour me paranoid, but with all this succession and Discord nonsense going on, I can't afford to let anypony know we have a gryphon in Ponyville. Now, we have to be quick, because this is pretty draining for me. Where is she?"

"Last I checked, Kalza went out to breakfast with Scootaloo..."

"Ugh, Rainbow, you are impossible!" The unicorn smacked herself on the forehead.

"What? Scoot should keep her busy, and hopefully out of the way..."

"Do you know your own adopted daughter at all? The kind of mischief the Cutie Mark Crusaders get up to?"

"I..." Dash dropped to the ground, ears drooping. Twilight sighed.

"In a situation like this, there's no telling where they are by now. It'll probably be all over the town by the time we get back, but it's... out of our hands for now. So much for privacy..."

"Sorry..."

"If we're lucky they'll just be running around Sweet Apple Acres all day. And she won't try to eat Applebloom." Twilight glared at the pegasus for a moment, before extinguishing her light. "Now act natural, we're going back to Ponyville. I'm going to try and keep this under wraps as long as I can, as hard as you're making that for me..."

With another flash of light, the library, the sun and the cobblestone floor returned. Nopony had moved at all from where they were a few minutes ago. The transition broke her wing rhythm for a moment, making her drop a couple of feet in the air.

"Y'alright, sugarcube? Get up too fast?" Applejack taunted. Hmm... act natural...

"Sun," Dash eventually answered, pointing in a random direction. She hastily corrected to the right one. Yeah. Natural.

---

"Ah remember this cliff!" Applejack broke ahead of the group, and stood on the crest of a hill, overlooking a canyon. They were making good time in the forest - travelling in daytime made it much easier to navigate. One might even describe their journey so far as pleasant - the summer sun left an ambient warmth in the air, but the shade of the trees kept the direct sunlight off them, and harboured a gentle breeze.

"So Twilight, have you got any crazy magic tricks that involve jumping to your death this time?" Rainbow Dash sailed around in the air behind the unicorn.

"Please don't do that again..." Fluttershy added.

"Don't worry, I... haven't had time to prepare any new spells," Twilight sighed. "Anyway, with the daylight it shouldn't be too hard to cross the canyon..."

"Why bother?" Applejack called from the bottom of the hill. "We all know the way from the bottom, and besides, it ain't that far down!"

"Are you sure about that? Seemed pretty far the last two times I fell there." Twilight crossed her arms.

"Well sure!" The farmer casually vaulted over the edge, prompting Rainbow Dash to go wide-eyed and race to the bottom of the hill. She was barely halfway down when she heard the thud of hooves on earth, and another call echoing from the canyon; "See? Easy as apple pie!" Dash turned back to the others and shrugged.

"I suppose she had the Element of honesty for a reason..." Twilight conceded, and started down the hill. It was still too steep to walk it normally, and about halfway down she was practically sliding. Rarity was doing her best to stabilise herself with magic, and Pinkie Pie was treating the slope like a children's slide. Rainbow Dash was marshalling Fluttershy around the air in case something went wrong. Twilight was just about able to bring herself to a stop at the rim of the canyon. She let out a sigh of relief, only to panic when she received a firm thump in the back, nearly knocking her off the edge.

"Hello, darling!" The unicorn behind her tittered nervously.

"Gangway! Wheee!" Both of them looked over their shoulders, colour draining from their faces, to see Pinkie barrelling towards them on her back. With just another thump, she knocked the three of them flying.

Rainbow Dash was off like a shot. Fluttershy lagged a little behind, eyes wide in terror. A pair of flashes in their peripheral vision told them Twilight would be fine. Dash went straight for Pinkie, though her wild flailing - she wasn't sure if it was panic, or if the party pony just thought it was part of a carnival ride - made her very difficult to catch. A stray fist stunned her, and Pinkie landed at full speed in the bushes. Fluttershy went to catch Rarity, but she just fell faster than she could fly. Twilight sat a few lengths away in the middle of the canyon, rubbing her back, next to a bewildered Applejack.

"Is everypony okay?"

"Owie, owie, owie!" Pinkie crawled from a bush, covered in scrapes and clutching her side.

"I woulda caught you if you weren't swinging your arms around like that..." Dash grumbled, helping her up.

"Augh, my ensemble is ruined!" Rarity staggered to her hooves, lamenting the long rip in her white summer jacket. She seemed more concerned with the bloodstains left by the gash in her side than the bleeding itself.

"Sorry..." Fluttershy whimpered as she touched down.

"That's a 'no' then..." Twilight frowned, and reached into her carryall for Magic of the Body. Once Rainbow Dash was satisfied that Pinkie was in one piece, she turned to the other earth pony, fuming.

"What the hell, Applejack?"

"Wh- it didn't look that high from up there!"

"Are you blind? That's nearly fifty feet!"

"Well ah'm sorry if ah ain't got no fancy pegasus distance vision, but it was perfectly safe when ah saw it!"

"Now that's just a straight-up lie!"

"Guys! Quit it!" Twilight pushed herself between them. Applejack looked visibly hurt by the accusation, but Dash just stared unapologetically. "This isn't helping!" And it's probably what Discord wants... I'll bet he had something to do with this. Hmm... better be careful. "Look, it was... it was probably an honest mistake." The pair's sour expressions remained, but Dash backed off.

"Honest mistakes can still get ponies killed."

"What am I gonna do with you..." Twilight sighed, and walked over to Pinkie, opening her book. Her horn started to glow, and she leafed through the manual. "Let's see... a fractured rib, some superficial scratches... you'll be fine. Just walk it off." She snapped the book shut, and turned to examine Rarity's cut. Pinkie groaned, and resumed pulling twigs out of her mane. "Now..."

"Ooh! Careful Twilight, that's ah! Sensitive..."

"Hmm... it's not too deep. Should be a simple fix..." Twilight's horn started to glow again, and slowly, the wound started to shrink, as if the two sides were being welded together. When she was done, there was only a small bruise left.

"You... couldn't do anything about this, could you?" Rarity held out the blood-stained, ripped ends of her coat.

"Probably not without giving you severe anaemia. Sorry."

"Fine..." She sighed, and took the jacket off, tying it around her waist to hide the worst of the stain. "Just aswell it's the height of summer."

---

"Y'know, I gotta wonder, Mrs. Derpy..." Spike mused, sprawled out on one of Zecora's rugs. "Where did you get your cutie mark from? Bubbles don't have anything to do with the mail!" He pointed to the patch of silver bubbles, sewn into the side of the mail bag hung next to the door, right next to the Equestrian Postal Service logo.

"Indeed you raise a point most curious... the connection is a little spurious." The zebra added, scooping a cup of tea from her cauldron.

"Oh, is it story time now? Alright..." The mailmare was lying upside down on a homemade bean bag. "Well! It all started way back in Cloudsdale, where I was born! Back then my eyes weren't funny, because I hadn't had my accident, but I still wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Even I'll admit that!" She chuckled. Spike frowned. "Back then I used to get bullied a lot by these three colts, Storm Chaser and... I forget what the other two were called. But they're not important. Anyway, I didn't realise how bad they were treating me at the time, and even though they kept taking my lunch money and calling me names, I always forgave them.

"Then one day, I found Storm Chaser on his own, and he was crying. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't say anything! I kept trying and kept trying, but he just pushed me away. So eventually I got an idea! I went and got a bottle of liquid soap, came back to him and tapped him on the shoulder, and he looked up just in time to watch me taking a big gulp of the soap - yes, it tasted disgusting - and then I just hiccupped. I didn't even plan on that part, I wasn't even sure what I was doing. But I hiccupped, and bubbles came out. And he stopped crying, and started laughing! And it wasn't mean laughing, like when he called me some dumb name. He was honestly feeling better!

"Then we talked, and it turns out the other two had left him for somepony 'cooler' or something. Y'know, bratty kids being bratty kids. So poor ol' Storm Chaser was left on his own with no friends... so when I came along it cheered him up a lot. And that's when my cutie mark appeared! It's a bit cryptic, but I know what it means. My special talent is making ponies happy! Whether it's being the best mother I can be, or delivering the mail with a friendly smile... or just hiccupping bubbles to make somepony feel better!"

"A heartwarming tale, young mailmare..." Zecora smiled, and pointed to Spike. The dragon had dozed off some time in the story. "Though not everyone gives it its dues fair!"

"That's okay," Derpy chuckled. "I've been told Spike was never one for sentimental stories."

"If it's not much trouble, I have to add, what became of this young lad?"

"Who, Storm Chaser? Well... after that, we became friends, and years later, we got married! He's Dinky's father. And then..." Derpy's smile started to fade, and her enthusiastic forward lean drooped into a slouch. "... well, I'd... rather not talk about that..." Zecora frowned, and decided not to push it.

Comments

[SatoshiKyu]

Derpy and Storm Chaser met in Cloudsdale? That and his name would imply that Storm Chaser is a Pegasus, yes? As is Derpy herself, so... How is it that Dinky came to be a Unicorn?

[hahatimeforponies]

148722 The same way Pound Cake is a pegasus and Pumpkin Cake is a unicorn, despite being born to earth pony parents. SCIENCE! Really though, there's probably a complex series of genetic and environmental determinants to do with which phenotype develops, so it's entirely possible that anything can happen.

[catrianheir]

149309 WHOO, GENETICS!! Somebody actually paid attention in biology, heh glad I'm not the only one.

[CDR]

153479
Someone ponified Midna? GENIOUS!

Anyway, as to the story. Bloody Bucking Brilliant!

[Dracmatais]

I loved the wrath of Harmony and am fully expecting to enjoy this sequel. No pressure though honest!

So far you've got what looks like the making of yet another epic adventure in the works. Sure events seem to be moving a mite quickly but I'm actually ok with that. You have managed create in just these few chapters enough plot hooks and problems to sink the titanic with which I'm hoping will mean that this will be another long one like the prequel was. I can't even begin to describe just how excited I am to read this. I first read the Prequel over on FanFiction.net.

[ManWithThePan]

Before I move on, I'm betting Blueblood's gonna find Kalza when he shows up.