10. Where the Past Comes Back to Life
Rarity hadn't been expecting him, so they didn't immediately have a spot for Discord when he and Spike arrived at the central base for the unicorns to check in for their turns at 'spell duty'. A fairly gruff unicorn guard hadn't been all that helpful. He seemed to regard Discord with suspicion, but not in the way Discord typically raised it. It was more that this upstart Canterlot pony didn't think the temporary pony up to snuff.
“Haven't seen you before. You really think you can handle this?” he asked with an uncertain appraising eye.
This was when Rarity had found them and inserted – more like expertly sashayed – into the conversation.
“Nonsense darling,” she waved a hoof at the guard, posing slightly between him and Discord. “We need all the help we can get, and I have been hoping that this dear friend of a friend would stop by sometime.”
She flipped her hair and smiled at the unicorn guard, although Discord thought he caught the pointed nature of her words. It's about time he's shown up, so let's hurry and put him to work before he has a chance to change his mind and flee.
The guard's eyebrows raised slightly at her attention, and he looked back down to his list.
“I guess you're right. The more unicorns the better. He can take over for Charlie on the south side at shift change.”
Rarity smiled a bit brighter in thanks to him, and then giving a nod to Discord, added. “And I do hope you won't mind, but I would like to move my position for today to the spot closest to his. It will be his first time, and although I don't doubt his abilities, he might require some... supervision, as it were.”
The stallion looked from Discord to Rarity, his smile fading and a not very convincing shrug of uncaring followed.
“Thank you, I'll go ahead and walk him south,” Rarity waved him farewell as she steered Discord away.
“You really should have told me that you'd changed your mind, it's getting late and the day is waning. There weren't any open slots and we had to relieve others.”
“You make it sound like every pony's just lining up to do this,” he said while avoiding her steering by remaining a few steps ahead of her.
“Well actually, you would be surprised to know that they are. Even though the guards took over, most of the adult unicorns are still trying to do their part,”Rarity answered. “And honestly I was beginning to think you wouldn't be one of them. I'm pleased of course, this means there might be hope for you yet.”
“See? It's not just me around here who thinks well of you, or Pinkie,” Spike whispered to him as Discord trotted ahead still trying to avoid the jab of Rarity's 'gentle' guiding.
“Yeah, she has so much faith in me. So much that she's pushing me along like my warden,” he whispered back.
“Well, the day is going to end soon, and I don't think you wanna do this at night.” Spike gave him a playful punch in the side that Discord tried to scoot away from. “Come on, it won't be that hard, remember you don't have that many days to try and learn.”
That was apparently loud enough for the mare to hear. “Spike is right, Discord. You only have a few days here with us, and Twilight could be home at any time with a plan. I want to be certain that you have done everything in your power to listen to her and do what was expected.”
“Lovely, so you are being my warden,” he rolled his eyes and jumped a bit as her horn prodded him in the flank.
“I'd say more of a guidance counselor,” Rarity said lightly. She wasn't being cruel, and she at least didn't sound like his mere presence was a burden to her. There was a bit of briskness, but the white mare seemed to be trying to be generous with her politeness.
After relieving the beleaguered unicorn that had been there before him, Rarity instructed Discord on the method for casting the spell, and left for her position a few meters away from them. She was out of earshot, but still able to keep an eye on Discord from where she stood. She seemed to trust him enough to let him have this leash, but not enough to take him out of her sight.
It might have been because of Spike's presence that she had given him some room. The young dragon helped him go through the steps again before he really began to focus his magic. At first it was easy, he gloated inwardly to himself about how they had built up this spell for nothing. But then as his time went on he began to feel some resistance from the base of the cloud. Discord could feel the pushing force against the beams he was shooting, making it difficult to maintain the same level of force and concentration.
Spike sat with him, watching Discord begin to struggle some. He started jabbering about something but it wasn't exactly easy to listen to conversation and keep this accursed spell going.
Not that he would want to admit that to any pony present.
When Spike had lapsed into silence, Discord found a bit of a second wind, finding a kind of rhythm to the spell's continued flow. It was enough that he was somehow able to concentrate and allow his focus enough leeway to actually say something back to the dragon.
“Now then, what were you yammering?”
“You weren't listening?” Spike asked, sounding a little offended.
“I have been otherwise occupied if you haven't noticed,” he said through the rhythm of measured breaths, though still able to get across his snark.
“Of course I haven't,” was the dragon's ribbing answer. Really, he wasn't sure if he was beginning to like the drake more or just like the idea of getting back at him for all these come backs once he had his body and full powers again.
“Yes yes, you can remember things I say. You have the mimic skills of a parrot. Now, what were you saying?”
“Not much, just that this is probably a good way to get you working in a group,” he said, no doubt meaning his having to match up with the other unicorns and converge their magic and whatever.
“I'm not all that good in groups. Hard when you're leaps and bounds above every pony else magically speaking.”
“Well, what about balancing chaos and order? You have to do that.” Apparently if Twilight had discussed this with him, Spike didn't remember that.
“That's not really the same thing, or... maybe. I had to match up with Harmony, but that wasn't a challenge. It was when the two idiots came along that it became an annoyance to keep their pace. Even now they still aren't quite at my level.”
“So you have to slow down to match them, since they can't catch up to you. Like when I read along with Twilight. She's always way faster than me, so she slows down even though I know she'd rather be four pages ahead.”
Discord didn't understand what that had to do with what he was doing, but his focus was slipping back to his task. At the mention of Twilight, he had remembered what the dragon had tried to insinuate earlier. To avoid any resurgence in that conversation, Discord allowed himself to put the dumb spell back to the forefront, and tune him out again.
Just as he thought, he could hear Spike trying to start up that talk again.
“Speaking of Twilight, have you thought about what's gonna happen when she does come back? I mean... besides the obvious stuff.”
Regrettably he knew what Spike was getting at now, and again he felt the need to change the subject. It wasn't something he wanted to focus on, about as much as this altogether draining spell on which he was having to concentrate. What did the dragon expect to hear, what did he want to hear?
“I mean, if everything else goes right and you're back to normal.”
“I know what you meant,” he grumbled, finding it draining again to answer, especially when the awkwardness he'd felt was growing to encompass the other half of his focus. Perhaps it was awkward because whatever the dragon thought – whatever he himself thought – it probably didn't matter. None of it was feasible.
“I don't expect anything, except maybe I'll finally have some more space,” Discord took a moment to adjust himself as he'd slightly lost his footing. Maybe yes, if they actually accepted what he could cobble together as a lesson here. Maybe they'd take off the shock collar spell, which would be a relief for him.
Concerning Twilight though, he was truthful to Spike. He didn't expect anything. He shouldn't expect anything, since she'd probably no longer be required to monitor him.
He was saved from having to give any further elaboration by the pony he least expected, Rainbow Dash. The pegasus swooped into his line of sight before landing next to Spike, and soon Fluttershy fluttered down for a landing as well. What could he have done now.
“Hey Spike,” Rainbow greeted the dragon, and then added. “So, ya think he's able to listen up?”
“Yes he is,” Discord answered for himself. “What do you want?”
“We wanted to let you know that we’re sending a letter to Twilight by her pet owl. Owlowiscious should make it to the Crystal Empire by sometime tomorrow,” Fluttershy said with some hesitance. She sounded a bit more concerned about Discord's ability to focus on them and the spell. Rainbow did not have this problem now that she knew he could answer.
“Yeah, we might get a reply back within the next couple of days. We told her how we're doing and how you're doing,” she made an emphasis on 'you're'.
“Great, a report card,” he would have rolled his eyes if they were not squeezed shut already.
“Not exactly,” Fluttershy replied a bit more confident now. “We thought she'd want to hear a bit about things since we really just wanted to tell her about your idea.”
“We told her our idea,” Rainbow corrected. “His thoughts about using the pegasi differently, and yours about tornado power. I still don't think it's a solid plan, but Iunno, we’re thinking about trying it. Plus maybe Twilight might be able to use it or something while she's buried in books up there.”
“Aww, you guys are sending her something without me? I'd want to say something too,” Spike said with a small complaint.
“Hey, we thought you might wanna put your two bits in,” Rainbow answered, “So we brought it along too for you to take a look at.”
Discord had a brief side glimpse of the little group before turning is attention back upward. Fluttershy had removed the small scroll of paper from its place tucked under her wing and placed it in Spike’s already waiting hand, leaning in close to the dragon’s ear. “I don’t think she’ll ask, but it might be good for you to copy it for us too. Her mouth-writing really isn’t the best.”
He assumed the pegasus gave Fluttershy a wary eye, like she knew what her friend was whispering, but was still much too cool to admit to such a fault.
“That’s probably for the best, you can take the time writing it out to fix all the misspellings of the big words,” he managed to add but not able to enjoy Rainbow Dash’s reaction.
“Come on, Discord,“ Spike chided. “Just focus on the spell.” He’d perked up considerably at Fluttershy’s request, when he spoke again it was clearly to her. “Yeah, I can definitely do that for you.”
It had been mentioned before to him that they might be sending something like this to her if Twilight’s stay proved to be longer than expected, but Discord had considered it more of a threat and an empty one at that. Something to threaten him with to ensure he behaved.
Of course, knowing what he knew about her, Discord was sure that a letter like that - even at such an early stage of her trip - would be a very difficult thing to ignore, especially if they were mentioning this new plan and their want to try it out. Even if the bulk of it mentioned how poorly he must be doing (or how he assumed Rainbow Dash was spinning it), that letter could be the best way to tempt Twilight into returning faster.
Not that he would mention it to the young dragon, even if it did make him feel slightly better knowing that Spike was the one re-writing this update. He didn’t trust him enough to not say something or give Discord some sort of look that might lend some extra meaning to any verbal acknowledgment of his that this letter was a good idea. So Discord kept his mouth shut, though he wondered with a moment of dread if Spike planned to add any of his incriminating theories into his version of the report.
He probably wouldn’t have asked even if he had been able to, for Spike’s voice rang clear in the next moment from beside him.
“Ok, what are we waiting for?”
Discord heard four hooves, two wings, and two feet trot away, and when he opened his eyes the three of them were gone. Rarity was still at her post, but he was left alone. Again.
He wondered how long it would take them this time.
The letter arrived for Twilight with Owlowiscious the morning after her talk with Cadance, and after finding that strange and very old book. She had kept it with her even when heading back to Contemporary Magical Theory, wanting to keep it around just in case it disappeared on her.
She hadn't gone back to looking through it yet though, she had quadrupled her efforts upon her return to the library proper (in the few hours between when she could get away from dinner and when the library closed). Then she had proceeded to fall flat onto her pillow in her temporary room in the crystal palace, exhausted from all the squinting to read tiny words on dusty paper.
When she had awoken, she heard a soft hooting sound and found him on her headboard, holding a letter in his beak.
She was pleased to see him, even if Twilight had not been expecting him. After she had yawned, stretched, and woken up a tad more, she took the letter from him and carried it downstairs to read at breakfast.
It must have been a progress report from Spike on how Ponyville and Cloudsdale were doing. Discord as well, but Twilight considered that the fact the letter was so short could only be a good thing.
To her surprise, it was from Rainbow Dash by way of Spike (she knew his claw-writing anywhere).
Twilight didn't imagine Rainbow would have much to say about Discord, but at least the brief list of things he seemed to have done were included. She felt a tad disappointed on that front, especially since Rainbow's few sentences on what they had done so far with him still read so terse. It was good to know that at least they were trying, and evidently he was too. Small relief that that was, it might do well to ask him how much he thought he was getting out if it. Then again Twilight figured that would be an even shorter letter.
There was still so much she wanted to ask him, and that was just piling on top of the questions the unicorn already had from her discovery in the archives. They were nearly compelling enough in themselves to make her want to go back home already.
It was what Rainbow informed her of in the bulk of her message that cemented her feelings to return.
The letter told Twilight of an idea that the pegasi were going to try and attempt to get the cloud city back where it was supposed to be. When she'd announced it to Shining Armor and Cadance, they agreed that she should most likely venture back to oversee it. Shiny was reluctant to leave, but the letter expressly asked for him to come along as well, plus it would probably be bad form for the captain of the guard to leave his fellows alone for too long.
This was why Twilight found herself journeying back to her home only a mere three days after departing.
No pony waited for them at the station when they arrived, and that was completely understandable. It was hard for Twilight to accurately calculate how much the cloud city had dropped, but compared to when she had seen it last, her memory was telling her it was a great deal lower now. She'd need to check her ceilometer.
Shining Armor wasted no time returning to the other guard members, and Twilight made for the library. She hoped for some more explanation about this plan of theirs, and Spike might have the answers to her questions. Plus, she had missed her favorite number one assistant.
Was it strange to say that she'd missed being home even when it was in the midst of such a crisis, and therefore did not feel particularly 'homey' at this moment? Twilight was at least more at ease than she had been worrying about her home from the Crystal Empire.
Stepping back into her familiar surroundings, Spike had greeted her first with a shout of welcome and a warm hug.
“Hi Spike,” she said with welcome return of the hug.
“Did you just get back? Have you been to see Rainbow and Fluttershy yet? Did you find anything useful?” he asked in quick succession, which made Twilight smile, glad to hear that his spirits were at least up.
“Yes, not yet, and … maybe,” she answered almost as rapidly. She had halted on the answer to the last one. She did have some ideas, and she wanted to know if they could be beneficial to this new plan her friends had thought of. She had found something else, something helpful, just not entirely helpful to the situation which was more dire for them presently.
“I didn't expect you to rush back here, Twilight. I mean, I figured you would want to keep searching just in case,” Spike said.
He was right, she could have just sent Owlowiscious back with a note asking to keep her posted while she looked for other options. She could have... but in all honesty she had felt relief first and any inadequacy at not having found something as fast second.
It was a gamble to put their hopes on this one new idea they had thought up, Twilight knew. Maybe she could combine it with the knowledge she'd been able to acquire from the library and expand their chances of pulling off whatever her pegasi friends had in mind.
A reigning factor though was merely that she just missed home, where so many things and ponies she loved were. Even if home was going through a lot at the moment, and where those ponies she loved were all doing their part. Twilight simply could not sit back and wait all the way from the empire while they made their attempt.
“I know,” she consented. “But... I didn't feel right not being here.”
“Just can't stay away can you?” came a voice from the top of the stairs that caused the unicorn's head to snap directly towards the direction it had come from. “Or at least, can't stay away from a problem in need of fixing.”
It was somewhat jarring to hear Discord's sly tones from within her library home, even if she reminded herself that he had been staying there while she was gone.
Even as a unicorn, it was hard to mistake that expression of his, and curiously enough Twilight found she had actually missed it, and his voice, and strangely him.
Although, it may have just been the fact that Twilight knew their time together might be limited now that was causing her reaction to seeing him again. Or how much she had learned about him during her absence that was giving her this mixture of guilt and slight relief at this reunion. She did have many questions, but they would have to wait. What she most wanted to hear about was their idea, and how Discord had been doing in Ponyville.
Spike folded his arms but gave only a half-hearted reprimand as Discord made it to the bottom of the stairs. “You know you're not supposed to be upstairs.”
“But she is home now, which renders the rule moot,” he replied with a quick side glance to Spike. Twilight tried not to notice this acknowledgment of Spike had been the first time since she looked up at him that his eyes had not been on her. It was that same studying gaze he would get sometimes whenever Twilight said or did something that caught his interest. She really should have been used to it by now.
“I didn't want to feel like I was abandoning any pony,” she gave as her own answer to his earlier statement. She hoped it was pointed enough for Discord to understand the significance of her phrasing.
The effort of not-noticing Discord's gaze faltering her focus, she turned to Spike, whom she did notice was in better spirits in the former-draconequus's presence than when she had left. She took that as a good sign.
“And some ponies did a really great job at being as vague as they could in their letter, so I don't know enough about whatever you all are planning on attempting. Would you mind filling me in?” She didn't want to have to wait and hear it from Rainbow and Fluttershy.
With an apology for his sparseness, Spike explained the basics of the pegasi's idea for using their combined wingpower similarly to collecting rain water, combined with a protective bubble provided by Shining Armor to keep the unicorns protected from the wind as they maintained Cloudsdale's stability.
“That actually sounds like something I saw in one of the books at the library,” it had brightened her smile considerably when the memory clicked into place. She quickly pulled out the aforementioned book from her bag to find the passage she remembered.
“Yes, right here in Breaking Wind, it sounds quite similar to this method,” when she lowered the book with an expectant smile, she was met with the two males barely controlling their snickers.
Confused for a moment – but then remembering the title of this particular book – she rolled her eyes and shook her head in mild disappointment.
“Really, you two? Grow up,” she sighed. “Now back on topic, the book's method does have the same idea as far as the pegasi side of it goes, but it doesn't have anything about a shield spell or one for stability. I hadn't been certain if this was what we needed, but with these additions... we might have a chance. I'm sure Shiny can make a solid protective barrier on his own, that will free the other unicorns up for maintaining steadiness from the ground.”
It felt almost like the sky was lightening with Twilight's own brightening spirits. It was a real shot, something she could help contribute to, and amazingly they had come up with something that dovetailed already with the options she had been contemplating.
“You really think it'll work?” Spike asked expectantly, as if Twilight's ruling would gauge their success.
“It is certainly worth a shot, and a step up from what we've been trying,” she said giving him a nod and placing the book back down opened to the page. “How did you come to it?”
“Actually, Discord sort of supplied it... kinda,” Spike answered. “He kinda got Rainbow Dash to take us up to look at the clouds---”
“Wait, Discord came up with this?” Twilight interrupted, raising her eyebrow and moving her eyes from Spike over to the pseudo-unicorn in question.
“Oh don't sound so shocked, I do have ideas you know,” Discord said offhandedly. “And he's over selling it a bit in any case, they merely took a comment of mine and ran with it.”
“But, you were actually trying to help them?” Twilight asked, not trying to hide her surprise at both his apparent willingness to aid and the fact that this idea might have come from him in any capacity.
“Yes yes, you can pick your jaw up off the floor, Ms. Sparky. Wasn't that one of the reasons I was made to be foal-sat by your friends?”
Twilight closed her mouth awkwardly, she hadn't noticed it had dropped. She quickly managed to change her expression to a more flattering smile. “Well, yes but--- I guess I'm just a little impressed.”
“As well you should, you have no idea what I've had to go through,” his playful tone didn't betray it, but Twilight figured he really did count this as an ordeal.
“Or what we've had to put up with,” Spike added in that same friendly way. Twilight blinked as her smile grew a bit more. She was glad to see such a better ease between the two of them. She felt like she might have missed something, and made a mental reminder to ask about it later.
“I'll uh, go ahead and find Rainbow and Fluttershy. I'll bet they're with the guard members, probably filling Shining Armor in on the plan,” Twilight saw Spike give a peculiar look as he scooted away from them, almost making a show of his exit. Odd as that was, at least that was one thing sorted.
“This is certainly not what I was expecting to find when I arrived,” Twilight admitted, meaning the flurry of activity and the new found spring it seemed to give every pony's step. “Not disappointed though.”
“Just completely amazed that the whole town didn't fall apart while you were gone,” Discord said.
“That's not funny,” she said, but smiled in spite of herself. She found she appreciatied his voice even when he made such inappropriate jokes.
“It would be if things weren't actually falling apart.”
Twilight rolled her well-practiced eyes as she finally removed her saddle bag completely and set in on the floor. She had been so excited about this prospect for Ponyville that she'd forgotten she was unpacking.
“But apart from that wind breaker book, was this whole excursion to the bigger and better library worth it?” he asked.
Funnily enough, Twilight had been just about to remove the book she had found including him from the bag. She let the bag land softly back on the floor, her magic aura slipping the book from her mental grasp. Twilight wasn't entirely sure she should reveal it or voice all of the questions she had about it just yet. There were a great deal of them, and with something so solid as an actual bound tome there was no way for Discord to avoid answering them, or at least little way.
The problem with Cloudsdale wasn't sorted just yet though, Twilight reminded herself of that. One disaster at a time.
But this might be the only time she might have alone with him for a little while, since she was fully committed to heading back into his dilemma and helping him once everything with Ponyville was alright again. One or two questions might be good to quench her curiosity temporarily.
“Well, sort of,” she answered, still not able to actually bring herself to show him the Statera Equus yet. That might get her even farther off track. “I did find a few intriguing possibilities on some other subjects.” The questions converged on the tip of her tongue, crowding around and bumping into each other in their scramble for a way out of her mouth. Twilight had to be careful though, it wasn't as if he would really answer them, but she was still feeling slightly like asking about what she had read counted as an invasion of whatever privacy he wanted to keep.
She watched him carefully for his reaction as she sorted through all the questions, choosing one that didn't seem so directly pertaining to him.
“I did read something that I was wondering about,” she tried to sound merely curious, and not anxious. “Who exactly are Mort and Sef?”
Discord had been fiddling with the tufty end of his tail, but he stopped when the names were mentioned. He looked over to her with a side glance, as if they held only a small significance. “Doing some research on ancient spirits, were we?”
“Not intentionally, I sort of just... stumbled upon them.”
“But why would you need to even look them up, when you have such direct links to spirits yourself?” Discord asked with an obvious reference to himself, and possibly even the princesses.
“Well if those direct links ever saw fit to actually share some of their histories, then yes I think they would be great sources of information. But they sadly do not,” Twilight answered just as obviously. “And like I said, it was unintentional. Now, do you know them, or are they still around?”
“Perhaps your sources would be more open to answering if you asked the right questions,” he walked around her to stand by her right side, no doubt he had missed being able to dance around her questions and frustrate her aimlessly while she was gone.
“Just what constitutes a 'right question'?” she asked, head turning away though she knew he was still there.
“One that I know you don't already have the answer to,” his cryptic sentence was exactly what she had been expecting.
“But I don't always have the answers, Discord. I mean, I have most of the recorded history of the spirits memorized, but don't you think it might be nice to hear – I don't know – a more first hoof account? What's wrong with hearing your side too?”
“Absolutely nothing, but I would rather not dwell on the past. Distracts from the now, and in any case there isn't much from my dealings with those two I'd want to reminisce about.”
“So you did or do know them, and they are a part of the balance of the world as well?” she asked, trying not to look pleased that – in a back door type of way – at least she was getting an answer.
“Unfortunately, yes. They're the most stuck up beings I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. Well, Morty's a stiff, I've never even really seen Sef. Let's just say they aren't all that social, especially with mortal ponies.”
So that certainly gave more credence to the Statera Equus. Discord was confirming something in the book that none of the others Twilight had ever read had agreed with. That had to mean that she would be able to prove the rest of it, and maybe with it, she could... well Twilight wasn't sure. Duplicate it and spread its information around she supposed. Ridding Equestria of the ignorance it had about the nature of balance with only one book wasn't that much of a solution, but it was at least something.
It would have to do, but first Twilight knew that unpacking and reuniting with her friends were the important and immediate bullet points at this time.
Discord continued now talking a bit, changing the subject to mostly complain about several things that had been happening during his time as a pony.
“And when Rainbow Dash joins us, you could tell her to lay off on calling me 'Dissy',” she could hear the blanch in Discord's voice without having to look back at him.
“What, you mean you have some pony who insists on calling you something you don't like despite you repeatedly asking them to stop?” she feigned surprise, her own brand of sarcasm overtly evident. “Oh my, you poor thing.”
He found his way back into her line of vision, even though she had made a mostly-conscious effort to keep him from it. Sliding the bag away from her reach with a hoof as she was making to remove something from it, his eyes found her again, smile confident.
“I'll stop when you can convince me you don't like it,” he said with a softer edge, purposefully placing his face between Twilight and her bag. Then for emphasis he added, “Ms. Sparky.”
Her breath caught, and she tried not to betray her thoughts at his closeness. She blinked and slid her gaze down to where her bag was underneath his hoof. Did he really have to do this right now? It frustrated her that he could distract her like this, and that she didn't try and deter this type of behavior.
It was difficult to admit that she wasn't always able to pull herself back on track in situations such as these. She wouldn't give him what he wanted though, there was no way Twilight would tell him how she did sort of enjoy that nickname. It was beginning to grow on her in any case.
Twilight wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that however. This was obviously just him trying to get her to forget about what they should be doing, and reasons why she had been so angry with him when she'd left. When the unicorn glanced back up at him, she paused before speaking, smiling sweetly in a very unsuspecting way.
“Can I have my bag back now, please?” she said in a hushed and quite pointed way, matching her tone to his. When she didn't give him a real answer, Twilight raised her eyebrows patiently and held out her hoof, waiting.
The smirk faltered and Discord stepped back, sliding the bag back to her with a shrug. This wasn't exactly the time to be messing around like he so enjoyed doing, they weren't out of the woods yet, and Twilight knew he still had a few days to go before the princesses returned to see if he'd progressed.
She sighed in an attempt to ease the tension that had sprung up within the room, and the unicorn went back to her task of unpacking, fighting a smile as she did. For the moment all she could think was... It was good to be back.
When their two pegasi friends Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy finally did arrive at the library, Twilight, Discord, and Spike all followed them to the exact center of town, Fluttershy filling them in yet more on what precisely the other pegasi would be doing.
The royal guard had cleared the streets in preparation, not a single civilian not participating in this exercise was in sight. They were soon joined by Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity coming in from what was probably another spell duty for her.
“All of the unicorns currently in position shall maintain their spell to keep it level,” Rarity explained to her gathered friends. “This should be helpful if and when the cyclone begins to pick up the clouds.”
“Then the pegasi will start our tornado maneuver around the town,” Rainbow chimed in, already bringing her goggles down over her eyes. Twilight noticed that – as they had done the last time she had seen them try something like this – all of the assembled winged ponies were outfitted with a pair of goggles, and they all stood in a large and offset circle, waiting patiently for Rainbow or in the case of the guard Lieutenant Flyer Fry to give orders.
The orange stallion in question was nowhere to be seen, and now that she thought about it, Twilight didn't see her brother either.
“Where's Shiny?” she asked to her assembled group of friends.
“I think he's finalizing things up with his lieutenant,” AJ answered. “He better hurry back soon, we'll need him for this too.”
Rainbow nodded to her. “Yeah, we figured that we'd need some powerful kind of spell to keep every pony and everything down here in Ponyville from flying away, and that's where your brother comes in. I haven't seen a bigger shield spell in well, ever.”
That was true, Twilight thought. Shining Armor had one of the widest ranges and most protective shield spells she had ever seen, leaps and bounds even more powerful than hers.
She found Discord again in their little group, he sat next to Spike looking bored and slightly put out.
Coming a bit closer to him she addressed him. “Let's get this attempt out of the way first, and then we can try and focus more so on your predicament, alright?”
It was he this time who wasn't meeting her gaze, and she wasn't certain if he was really just bored or if he might have been slightly resentful that he actually wasn't getting as much credit for this idea than he said he didn't need earlier. Apparently he did want a little more ego stroking for supplying the inspiration.
“If you're pouting about not being able to call the shots here, I'm sorry but it's better to leave that to the ones who know more about what they're doing.”
“It's not that,” he said as the others set about finalizing their preparations. “I'm just wondering what's going to happen when this doesn't work.”
“Well, there's a vote of confidence,” she said sarcastically. “It will work, this is a good idea, a good plan. You just have to have faith.”
This was when she spotted her brother cutting his way through the crowd of royal guard members and volunteer pegasi tornado brigade.
“Sorry about that,” he apologized as he came within earshot of the group. “I had some of my scouts inform me about something strange they saw south east of here. I told Flyer Fry to go check it out, so Rainbow if you wouldn't mind taking the lead for every pony while he's gone,” he added the last part with a look to the blue pony.
Rainbow Dash gave a salute, flicking her wings proudly. “Yes sir, can do.”
“Alright then, does every pony know what they're doing?” he asked the group, who all nodded. “Ok, Ms. Dash, your ponies.”
Dash nodded again with determination, and then signaled for all of the assembled pegasus ponies to follow her path up above the town. Almost as one, the other pegasi pulled down their goggles and zoomed up in kind, following her to the exact spot between Ponyville and Cloudsdale. They then spread out as wide as they could, all near to the towns' boundaries.
Shining Armor began to concentrate on his own spell, a very large pink bubble forming over their heads between the ponies on the ground and their flight capable counterparts. The shield colored the scene above them with a slightly pink tint, and Twilight watched the color spread and form to encompass the whole of Ponyville.
She took one last glance back around to each of her friends, the cautious optimism reflected in every one of their faces, and a sense of hope shared among them.
She watched the winged ponies begin to move together as one, flying in a smooth circle around and around the town. Twilight saw Rainbow Dash call something out, and the ponies' speed increased, the wind now beginning to pick up around them. She noticed that as they gained speed, the air outside of Shiny's bubble began whooshing past as well. The group above them rose slightly higher as they continued to gain speed, going just a little bit above the cloud city, possibly in the hopes that the city would follow. Still they continued to speed up, until Twilight thought she could see the base of a funnel beginning to spiral downward from the bottom of their assemblage.
So ensconced in what was taking place above her, Twilight didn't notice at first when a pegasus completely separate from the tornado team slammed into the side of Shiny's shield. It was only after he began a loud, slamming knock that she and her friends began to take notice.
It was Shining Armor's lieutenant, and Shiny appeared to have noticed this even in his concentration, for the place where the orange pegasus was hanging onto the shield melted a bit, became thinner so he could pass through. It was some skillful magic, Twilight had to take a second to appreciate it.
Landing a bit hard onto the ground, Flyer Fry straightened up and began walking towards Shining Armor, smoothing his ruffled feathers and giving Shiny a salute.
“Captain, I'm sorry I was late, and I know this is a very crucial exercise, but... we need you to come and help us identify something.”
“I thought I had sent you to investigate what it was the scouts saw,” Shiny said to him, a slight reprimand in his voice, but only due to his need for concentration.
“Yes sir, but... I have no idea what it is either. It appears to be... moving towards us.”
With a look of contemplation, and then frustration, Shining Armor evidently came to a conclusion.
“Alright, fine. If it's something important, go and signal the pegasi to halt. I'll go take a look and then be back to try this again. That should also give them some time to rest.”
Flyer Fry gave him another salute paired with an apologetic grimace, and then flew to the top of Shiny's bubble, flapping his wings and waving his forelegs in an attempt to get Rainbow Dash's attention.
When she had finally seen him and the other ponies had slowed their wing speeds to a suitable level, Shining Armor lowered his shield with a sigh.
“I guess duty calls again,” he said. “Why don't you just stay here, I won't be gone long.”
Twilight followed Shining Armor as he headed towards where Flyer Fry had come from, the orange pegasus catching up with them.
“Shiny, I think I'd like to come too, I want to see what the big deal is.”
“I guess I don't blame you,” he answered. “Just be careful. If things get hairy though, you come back to town.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Thanks for the concern brother of mine, but do you know who you're talking to? I think whatever's big enough to halt our attempts, it's nothing I can't handle.”
“Especially if we come too,” Spike added confidently, indicating the rest of their friends, who were now all following them with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy catching up.
“Uh, all of you?” he asked, to which they nodded. He shook his head but smiled with resignation. “Alright.” He then spotted Discord bringing up the rear of their little group, he was the only one not looking curious or determined or really particularly interested in investigating something strange enough to cause a halt to their plan. He looked mostly like he wanted to actively avoid whatever they were on their way to find.
It wasn't his expression that Twilight realized Shiny was focusing on, it was Discord himself.
“Hey Twily, who's that?” he asked the question she knew he would, and guilt flared up again as she dodged it.
“Who, him? Nobody--- a friend.,” she said quickly and not entirely without suspicious-ness. “What are we waiting for? Are we looking at ponies or are we checking out something in the south east? Come on Shiny.” she then steered him away from looking back at her friends to lead the way along with his lieutenant.
It was a good trek for the group as they followed Shining Armor's lieutenant who flew above them, over the bridge and then down into the beginnings of an expanse of wood, just north of the Everfree proper.
When the orange pegasus flew down to wait for them, Twilight noticed that most of the group was keeping up. Flutershy had chosen to head back, but Rainbow Dash was flying alongside Flyer Fry. Both Pegasi halted in midair , Rainbow looking a bit bored waiting for them as was usual, and her fellow looking a bit more concernedly down to his captain.
“So, what exactly was it that you saw, Fry?” Shiny asked while they waited for Discord to bring up the rear (not that Twilight had informed her brother that was who he was yet). “I figured that it would be a bit closer the way you were acting.”
“Well sir, it's sort of... slowly moving. It's hard to explain,” the pegasus answered waveringly, still looking as if he were afraid of a formal reprimand. “We aren't sure if it poses any danger as yet, but... I suppose it's more where it came from that we're concerned with.”
“Where do you think it came from?” Twilight asked. Rainbow shot up above the treeline to look over the landscape. She scanned what was ahead of them and then flew back downward to answer her friend.
“It looks like it came from a good couple of kilometers from here, but not in the forest,” she commented, looking a bit unpleasantly surprised at what she had seen. “It was really weird... what was that, a trail?” she asked the second part to Flyer Fry who still hovered where she had returned to.
The male pony shrugged as he landed next to Rainbow. “We don't know either, but that's what it looks like. It should be about halfway through these woods by now, but it's not so much what's at the front of the trail as what's at the end.”
“Could you be any clearer Lieutenant Fry?” Shining Armor ordered, sounding like he was growing tired of his subordinate's vagueness.
“Well sir, that's the thing. It doesn't seem to have a source,” Fry answered as meekly as possible, actually flinching like he thought Shiny might strike him. Twilight knew that was an obvious over reaction. “It just sort of... starts out of nowhere. Like it suddenly popped into existence in Rock Ridge.”
Rock Ridge... Twilight recognized that name. She looked around her, Discord had finally caught up, and he appeared to be the only other member of their group to which the name rung any bells. It couldn't have been what she was thinking, at least she hoped it wasn't what she was thinking.
“Rainbow, can you take me up so I can see?” she asked her friend. Rainbow answered by grabbing her underneath her forelegs and lifting her from the ground. Once clear of the trees, Twilight could see the trail that the other pegasus had mentioned. It was a lot bigger than she'd imagined, a long, winding trail that sort of shone a bit in the light. It looked wet, sort of slimy the closer it got to where they were. It left the ground looking not just shiny, but discolored in a sickly off way. This did not help Twilight's sense of dread.
Once her friend had lowered her back to the ground, Twilight began to trot ahead, hopping over a fallen tree and pausing to look back at her brother and his lieutenant.
“Are we getting close to it?” she called back, ignoring the questioning looks she was receiving from the rest of them.
The orange pegasus nodded. “Just past the little creek up there, there's a small clearing and that's where we saw it last.”
Twilight fought the urge to investigate this on her own. If whatever had made that trail had come from where she was afraid it had... she didn't want to be responsible for anything that might happen to her friends because of it.
“I-I think Shiny, Flyer Fry, and I should go on ahead. Every pony else should stay back, ok? This could potentially be something dangerous.”
“But Twi, that's why we're here. We'd like to help ya too,” AJ reminded her.
“I know, but we don't know what we're dealing with, so I'd appreciate it if you headed back now, or at the very least waited here.”
“Why, you have some idea of what it is?” Rainbow asked. “Cause I kinda wanna see it for myself now.”
“No,” Twilight said sternly, her harsh look now causing Rainbow to actually land on the ground. “Please, this is serious,” she then lept back over the log to address them quietly, trying to avoid the guard members hearing. “It could be pertaining to something from You Know Where.”
Now the ponies' eyes flashed with recognition, and Twilight was sorry to see that she had spread her own growing sense of dread. At least now they understood why she was being so adamant all of a sudden.
“Perhaps if we begin our walk back into town, we can have all of the pegasi prepared for another go at the plan,” Rarity offered with a bit of nervousness. It was clear that her apprehension about anything possibly coming out of Tartarus was over powering her desire to help or any curiosity she might have.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Pinkie agreed, even she looking wary. Rainbow Dash and Applejack still seemed to want to stay with her, and so the other two began to make their way back as the two more stubborn and loyal mares sat down where they had been standing.
“Spike, you stay here with AJ and Rainbow,” Twilight said even as the dragon opened his mouth to protest. “Nope, there is nothing for it. I know you won't want to go back with the others, but you are not following us up there.”
Lastly there was Discord, who looked like he would rather be leaving with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, but that wasn't happening either.
“Dis...sy,” she fumbled over the name, stopping herself before she could call him by his real one. Her ears lowered, grimacing as she wondered if the other two stallions were listening, for they had already made it to where she had left but there was still a chance they could hear her giving orders.
She looked back at them for a moment, they both waited but gave no indication that they had noticed her near-blunder or that they had even heard her.
Twilight saw Discord's scowl at her use of his nickname, and she tried to look apologetic as she spoke to him. “I think you should come with us. You and I both know from where this trail might have come. You might be of use in identifying or capturing it... if we need to.”
“If it came from there, there's no doubt. The best thing to do is to head back, which is what I'd like to be doing right now,” he said matter of fact-ly.
The unicorn shook her head, but the temporary pony just sat resolutely down, clearly not willing to get any closer than he absolutely had to.
She sighed exasperatedly. “Fine, then stay here with the others. But if I need you, you have to come.”
She then turned to follow the two guard members. It wasn't all that far to where Flyer Fry had mentioned, and the thing was not very hard to miss.
Twilight didn't know what to call this thing – if it even was a thing – she had no idea if 'thing' was even the correct term. It looked more like 'stuff', or 'discharge', or even 'inanimate magical runoff'. It didn't exactly have a shape, it was nearly a liquid as it appeared to be pooling and over-flowing onto the land it covered. It was a viscus-looking substance, a milky grape jelly color. It certainly didn't look all that pleasant, but it also didn't really look like something that would be kept in Tartarus. Perhaps it was something... left behind by something else. Maybe a bigger threat (she actually hoped that hypothesis was wrong, the size of this stuff would make for a much, much larger creature to have made it).
She noted that her brother and Flyer Fry were reluctant to get too close to it, and she could see why.
It was moving.
Slowly, very very slowly it was inching itself across the forest floor. It covered whatever was in front of it with an enveloping ooze. Twilight couldn't see any end of it from here, but whatever it left behind was no doubt warped like the ground and other things left behind in that trail.
It was like a slimy purple moving lake, or a very gelatinous glacier. The two unicorns and a pegasus could only stare for a moment at it, with fear, apprehension, and awe.
Twilight was taken out of this state of paralyzing mystery by a sound from behind her that made her ear twitch in its direction. She turned with a blank expression to see Spike stumbling from the bushes.
“Spike, I told you not to follow me,” she reprimanded, to which the dragon had the good sense to at least look sorry.
“Come on Twilight, I wanted to see. You made it sound like it was something really bad, and I wanted to help.” Spike kicked his little foot, trying to play innocent, but Twilight didn't think he understood the potential magnitude of this new found situation.
“I didn't come alone, anyway. Dis---sy came too,” She felt a bit better knowing that Spike was having trouble using that name as well, but she didn't see Discord with him. She was starting to think he'd made that up so he could come along when indeed the gray pseudo unicorn came crashing through the same bushes.
Kicking some burs off of his back leg, Discord took a few steps past Spike to close the space between them and Twilight. She rolled her eyes at their explicit disregard for what she had asked of them, but she resigned herself. Now that he was here, maybe Discord could be of help.
“So you wanted to come after all?” she asked him as he checked himself over for more sticky brown burs.
“Your assistant goaded me into it,” he replied, though Spike's smirk in his direction told Twilight that wasn't entirely true. “So what was it you ponies were getting in such a fuss abo---” he stopped mid-sentence as his eyes found the purple substance. There was a flash of recognition in those yellow/red eyes before the mask of mild interest could completely obscure it.
“What,” Twilight inquired quickly, then when he didn't answer she prodded. “You know what this is, don't you? D- ugh, if you know what this is, you have to tell us.”
Her loud statement had alerted the other two stallions and they came to meet Twilight, Spike, and Discord.
“Twily, does he know what this is?” Shining Armor asked, looking from her to Discord. “Sir, if you know something, you are bound by the laws of Equestria as a citizen to aid your royal guard for the safety of our country and her interests by divulging anything you might know.”
Twilight could practically see the retort forming in Discord's mind as he glared back at her brother, but another glance back at the stuff and then back to her seemed to give him the inclination to swallow it. This must have been something very bad if it required him to actually give a serious answer.
“I know that this is something you should run away from. Very fast.”
This caused every pony else to look at each other, while Discord continued to stare straight back at the stuff behind them. Twilight wanted to ask him more – and it looked like Shining Armor was about to start an official questioning session, but neither of them got the chance. Because the moment Discord spoke, the stuff started moving again. This was not the sluggish pace that had gotten it slowly to this point, the stuff did something Twilight could only identify with the word, 'lurched'.
It sprang out at them, making a disgusting glorping sound, it bubbled and flowed, moving as swiftly as a river full of jelly might. The ponies and dragon all leaped backward, Shiny nudging Twilight to run, she grabbed Spike with her teeth and paid no mind to his cries as she swung him onto her back and they bolted in the very specific direction of 'away'. The purple stuff now following them, pursuing them almost as fast as a stampede.
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the blob has apeard prepare the fier extiguisher
By the Sun and Moon, it's the Smooze.
So....did you or did you not intentionally added the Smooze to the story? Or perhaps it's just coincidence on the similarities you had in mind.
Edit: Darn it GespenstKAF beat me to it while I was trying to remember the name of the villain
Oh no! They are totally boned!
Nothing can stop the Smooze!
3874714 maybe dissy at full power?
The Smooze!
xD
3876853 He just hasn't been the same since they took his kidney...
BAO BAO BAO BAO BAO BAO
Good thing I decided to go through all of my favorites. This and 3 other stories had updated several weeks ago but with no notification...
Wish they were not so busy reinventing the wheel over and over again on FiM and could fix kinda important things like this.
Not the first time and probably not the last.
FUCK YEA!!! SMOOZE!!! I mean... oooh nooo.... smooze.... (smooze is best villan)
All hail Lord Smooze!
media.steampowered.com/steamcommunity/public/images/avatars/b2/b260dd7e33f5649d46cc20fa426672988b256461_full.jpg
Oh God...
Smooze?! I didn't even think of that till I got to the comments.
My catchphrase.
Oh sweet Luna! This line!
That one line dissy says...sounds like it was from Doctor who!!!
And he even looks a little like the pony(don't how to spell but you get the idea) Doctor 10.!!
Dealing with ooze is the same like dealing with jellyfish or snails or zombies
toss salt at them and they rest in peace
literly 
Oh, the original Smooze, cool! I was thinking it was the Creeper, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeper_World.