Discord reveals his old house from before his stone imprisonment to Fluttershy; however, what they find inside is his father bent on punishing him for a millennium of neglect.
Discord reveals his old house from before his stone imprisonment to Fluttershy; however, what they find inside is Discord's angry father bent on punishing him for a millennium of neglect. After a terrible battle, Discord is left in the form of a parasprite and Fluttershy must find Discord's guests from the multiverse to help defeat Discord's father, but it will not be easy because there are giant gargoyles, locked doors, and dangerous puzzles that Fluttershy must overcome first.
The story is heavily influenced by Legend of Zelda.
Fluttershy stood tiredly in field north of Ponyville. The morning dew stuck fresh to her yellow pony hooves. The sun had yet to grace her. When the sun did rise, Fluttershy fully expected to enjoy it fully before the scheduled rain.
Discord the draconequus, reformed lord of Chaos, stood strangely quiet next to her. Normally, the hybrid creature would have already created a great deal of disturbance through his spontaneous and often loud shenanigans. Fluttershy did not complain, for she preferred her mornings quiet.
Fluttershy's mind slowly started processing her situation. A few days ago, Discord had invited Fluttershy and her friends to meet him today for what the draconequus described as 'the greatest undertaking in friendship that Equestria has ever seen!' All of her friends had declined the invitation.
Each had a good excuse as well. Princess Celestia had given Twilight and Pinkie the job of investigating dozens of foalnappings in Fillydelphia. Rainbow Dash and Spike the dragon had to watch over the library for Twilight. Also Rainbow Dash would be working the Rarity had an invitation to a fancy party the next day in Canterlot and planned to spend today preparing for it. Applejack had to sell food in the market make ends meet for the family.
This still gave Fluttershy a pang of guilt as they were her friends and had left Discord alone on his big day. Fluttershy wished deeply that they would come to see Discord as the friend he had become.
Pulling Fluttershy from her sad thoughts, the light of Celestia's sun sprinkled through the trees of Everfree Forest. A new day had begun and the beauty reminded her that she lived in the best place in the world, Equestria, the land where friendship is magic.
“Fluttershy, are you ready?” Discord said in almost a whisper. Anypony could sense the awe and fear Discord had for what was about to happen.
Fluttershy continued to look at the sunlight, feeling towards Celestia for strength. Fluttershy had rarely had the courage to face the unknown, the fact that Discord, the Lord of Chaos, demonstrated fear only added to her trepidation.
“I need an answer Fluttershy. What is about to occur will forever change Equestria. They will bring something to Equestria that we lack, and if we have the strength of friendship, we will bring to them what they lack most, friendship. Most importantly, many of them humble even me in the chaos they can muster,” Discord said.
While “They” revealed a great deal about the surprise Discord had in mind, this only brought more questions.
“Fluttershy, I have always been able to see into Literal Multiverse. In it, all one can imagine exists. I have seen my kindred spirits destroyed their own chaos millions of times over. Until now, I have existed without a care to my inevitable fate. These other chaotic beings need friendship, and Celestia and you have shown that even a crazy old immortal like me can discover its magic.”
Discord had never spoken with such sincerity. Fluttershy sensed that Discord's reformation had probably changed more about the draconequus than she could hope to imagine.
Plus, the weight of what the hybrid god said overwhelmed the recently awaken pegasus.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Fluttershy jumped up in surprised, using her wings to hold herself aloft. Discord, on the other, hoof, seemed to become more steady in his posture as the earth before the pair erupted.
Fluttershy could green leaves of a tree emerge from the soil. Some unseen force sucked the dirt underneath, preventing it from piling on either side of the strange greenery growing before her. Next a reflective surface rose from the depths. Fluttershy soon realized it was a window.
Then just as suddenly, the steady progression out of the ground broke and the whole structure emerged. What emerged was a giant mansion, gardens and all. The most noticeable feature on the building was the rusty metal door.
Some strange strength came over Fluttershy in that moment and compelled her forward towards the house. The pegasus believed in the way Earth ponies do that Celestia gives ponies strength to ponies when they need strength most, and that this mysterious power she felt had somehow reached her through the high branches of the Everfree behind the house were the sun had risen not to long ago.
The uncanny abode had eclipsed that sun, and Fluttershy now existed in its shadow. Fluttershy could hear Discord move slowly behind her, only taking steps when she did. The red metal door warned her to stop, but Fluttershy irrationally went further.
Standing before the tall iron door in awe, Fluttershy could see a keyhole. There was no handle, just a keyhole.
Fluttershy felt something pass her on her right flank. It was Discord's lion paw. In it, there was a key with the ideograph for decision on the side of its iron handle facing her.
“I know it is not fair for me to ask you this, but from a Lord of Chaos to a friend, I want you to decide. Will you open this door, bringing many lonely beings from beyond the stars into our world, or will you leave it shut, dooming them for Equestria's safety.” Discord asked with the weight only an ageless mortal could muster.
Not even reforming Discord demonstrated the extent of Fluttershy's resolve to help even the most fearsome of beings, so the shy pegasus took the key in her right forehoof and balanced on her rearhooves as she rise up to the keyhole clearly meant for beings larger than herself.
Fluttershy put the key with the Decision ideograph side up into the hole and adjusted herself awkwardly so that her forehooves could turn it. She found significant resistance at first, but with her mind redoubled on her ideals, the key turned easily.
After turning the key, Fluttershy could see the other side of the silver key. Into this side of the handle was molded “The Place where Chaos rests”. Just as soon as the image of the ideograph burned itself into the pegasus's memory, the key vanished like it had been consumed by the mere act of opening a locked door.
Fluttershy did not have much time to ponder this as the draconequus had placed his paw on the metal door and opened the door. Fluttershy could see that the door had no block in its frame to prevent it from swinging in or out. She was not sure she liked this. On one hoof, the door would be always open to nature and anypony. On the other hoof, it was greatly impractical to leave a door open all time, especially during bad weather, and bad weather would soon be coming.
“My dear Fluttershy, why don't we go in? It has been a thousand years since I have been in my old home, and I would love to show you around,” Discord bowed near the entrance.
“Um, Discord...”
“Yes, Fluttershy?”
“Um...what did I just do?”
“You opened the door to my old house. I have a lot of potential friends staying here, we just have to let them out so they can go to Ponyville and learn the Magic of Friendship.”
“To Ponyville?! Aren't they dangerous, scary draconequi?”
“Hahahahaha!” Fluttershy could see that Discord had lost his faux-hospitable posture to bowl over laughing. After regaining as much composure as a lord of chaos could, Discord wiped a tear out of his eye and then stared intensely into Fluttershy's eyes. “Are you really asking if other chaotic beings look the same? These beings come from every possible literal dimension. Some probably were not ponies until they came to this dimension and were forced into that shape.”
Fluttershy flinched at Discord's condescending tone, but the same strength from before overtook her and made her continue forward, forward into the house. It was as if some convenient force caused Fluttershy to act out of character just so an adventure could begin.
The first thing Fluttershy noticed when entering was unlike the outside, the inside looked like the inside of Canterlot castle. This meant huge hallways with vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, banners, gardens, balconies, and statues. The sheer cognitive dissonance between the humble cottage exterior and the gigantic castle interior made the pegasus queasy.
“Discord, why does the your home look like Canterlot castle inside?” Fluttershy asks, riding on the inexplicable courage she now possessed.
“It is a recent change, do you like it? It is an homage to the best teacher of friendship in all of Equestria.” Discord replies.
“Um, it is nice, very nice. Who is this best teacher, if you don't mind me asking? If you do, then forget I asked.” Fluttershy softly asked. It was not stupidity but rather humility that prevented her from figuring it out herself.
“Well, Celestia, of course, though you are a close second,” responded the draconequus matter-of-factually.
Fluttershy walked with her friend down the main hallway which, if her memory served her right, led to the thrown room. To her left was a hallway that led to the guest quarters. On her right was the battlements and barracks for the Royal Guard. At least, this was true for Canterlot. Fluttershy could not guess if this held for Discord's home.
Behind by the rusted door, she could see two gargantuan statue-like creatures. They looked like alicorns but mean. The two gray creatures had bat wings, fangs, sharp horns, and halberds.
“Discord, what are those?” Fluttershy asked quietly with a tremble in her voice.
The draconequus only glanced back. “Those guys; they're gargoyles. They are the beings that guards various doors around this place.”
What Fluttershy noticed most of all during the walk was how the stained glass windows were different from the ones in Canterlot. While those in Equestria capital had key moments in Equestrian history, mostly focusing on the Elements of Harmony, which Fluttershy and her friends now wield, these windows depicted what Fluttershy guessed to be from Discord's life. The first window showed an old, black unicorn wearing a star-spangled wizard hat and a dragon performing a spell which produced a small creature with wings that looked like a brown parasprite. In the background was a castle surrounded by a few trees The next window had the parasprite eating food in front of the unicorn with other parasprites. The next panel had a parasprite feeding on magic of sorts and growing into Discord. In the background of this panel trees of varying sizes thickly surrounded the castle. In the final panel, a little shack stood in a field with the forest in the background. Discord and the unicorn stood on either side of the shack.
Fluttershy then turned ahead to see that they were not any closer to the end of the hall. The pegasus looked to her friend to see him scratching his chin with his claw. Discord was looking at Fluttershy's hooves. The pegasus turned her attention downwards to find that while she walked, Discord stood still, yet they remained side-by-side.
“It seems my father must be awaken. I hope he is happy to see me.” Discord simply said.
“Your father?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, I guess we will have to cheat a bit. Fluttershy, do you see that lever in the niche in the middle of the hallway.” Discord pointed ahead and Fluttershy could barely see but there was indeed a little, well-concealed niche in hallway about halfway down. She could not see the switch.
“How will we...” Fluttershy began to say when, in a flash, she was right in front of the niche with the switch. The switch was just a stick stuck in some cobblestone.
Again, Fluttershy felt what she believed to be the Princess giving her courage. She walked up to the switch with Discord humming behind her with a smart look on his face. Fluttershy flips the switch and feels a sudden lerch as if she has stopped moving.
“Good job. Remember if you ever find yourself caught in this castle's traps, find the lever and switch it off in the room. The lever turns the traps on and the traps also prevent you from moving to the next room. Sometimes they even trap you in the room.” Discord explained with a lop-sided smirk. The idea of dealing with a plethora of traps in the Lord of Chaos's house scared Fluttershy. “Now be brave my little yellow friend. We have to see why my old stallion has turned on the traps.”
They walked up to the large ornate thrown doors. Like the other door, this one had two gargoyles guarding it. Unlike the rusted entrance behind the pair, these doors looked well-taken care of. Fluttershy noticed again that the door had no handles and just a key hole and was much larger than the average mare.
“Another key, madam,” Discord said from behind Fluttershy. From her left flank, a claw appear carrying a silver key. Fluttershy took it in her left hoof. Rather than immediately placing it in the keyhole, she examined the Equestrian ideographs. On one side, Fluttershy saw ideographs for alicorn and for seat. This meant naturally “Throne”. On the other side, it had “Big” and “Bad”. That did not help Fluttershy's nerves very much. The pegasus stands up on her rearlegs and turns the key. Again, the key disappears once the tumbler shifts to the unlocked position. Discord pushed the door open with his left claw.
Before the pair, a room in complete darkness lay. Very little of the light from the hallway came in to illuminate, which allowed them to see a stone altar directly ahead of them. A familiar wooden switch adorned the altar.
“Fluttershy, chaos waits for nopony,” Discord jovially said in his very condescending voice. With that, Fluttershy walked into the darkness. As the pair passed the alter, those altar lit up with blue fire, revealing more altars along the wall. This helped illuminate the carpet leading to presumably the thrown. The pegasus saw that the stone structures with bowls on top had no fuel. The problem with the extra light was that it made all the shadows darker in comparison.
After the seven altars along the wall lit themselves, Discord and Fluttershy could see two crimson eyes glowing at them. Suddenly, three, until now, unseen altars near those eyes exploded simultaneously with red fire before lowering to a more moderate flame. With this, all the darkness was pushed to the side of the room, and the owner of those crimson eyes were revealed.
Upon an obsidian thrown sat an old, black unicorn with a star-spangled wizard hat just like in the stained glass windows. He looked ferocious with his angry crimson eyes staring down at them.
“How dare you return here, draconequus?” the unicorn said.
“Dad...” Discord starts.
“Don't you dare call me that, you magical construct. You are no more my child than a table is a carpenter's,” interrupts angry pony on the thrown.
“Why? What happened to you to make you so angry?” Discord pleaded.
“How about one thousand years stuck in this prison, unable to leave because you locked it up after planning to take over Equestria,” mocked the unicorn.
“You had it bad; I was turned to stone!” Discord yelled, finally raising his voice to his father.
“Are you comparing the pain of a thing to a pony? You must be punished to demonstrate your arrogance!” The unicorn raises off his thrown.
Suddenly, the room filled with water. Fluttershy was swept to the corner of the room by the current. While spinning, the pegasus saw that one of the altars had turned red but all the rest burned despite being under water.
Just as suddenly, the water is gone. “Are we going to continue to play games, father?”
“Know your place!” Starswirl bellowed.
Darkness consumed the light in the room. Fluttershy could not even see the altars anymore. Small zap sounds told her that a battle was waging though she could not see it. In a few moments, Fluttershy heard a click and the darkness faded. Discord was antlers and horn with Starswirl, and Fluttershy could see another altar had died.
These exchanges continued, and each time Discord would deal with the threat and flip a switch on the altar with the red canceling some sort of magic. Next, Starswirl summoned a raging indestructible bull, which Discord hog-tied. Then, the caster created apparitions of the pair's fears. The most notable being snakes which all equines instinctively fear.
After that, Starswirl started shooting multi-direction barrage of magic bolts. Discord beat that easily and canceled the magic. Starswirl, not to be outdone, then threw out a cube-like object that created a cyclone of magical energy around it , effectively trapping Discord inside. Luckily, Fluttershy had been hiding behind the altar for this magic and flipped the switch. Neither noticed her interference.
The final altar turned to red flame and Starswirl channeled his magic. This spell turned him into a giant. Luckily, Discord also could change his shape and size at will, so this changed nothing. Discord merely wrestled his father and while using his free claw to search the room for the switch. Finally finding the wooden switch, Discord managed to flip it without breaking it. This made Starswirl return to his normal size.
“Ha, you are out of altars to draw magic from, father!” Discord mocked.
“Not so, construct! Look behind me,” Starswirl rebutted. Behind him, there were two small and one large altar. The smaller ones turned blue and suddenly magical shackles appeared on Discord. No matter how much he struggled, the shackles prevented him from moving or casting his chaos magic. The final altar became blue and Starswirl started channeling a gargantuan crimson ball of magical energy.
At this point, Fluttershy has hidden behind one of the altars. Even Discord has forgotten that she has come with her.
The spell unleashes from the unicorn's horn. A balled reddish magical energy slowly travels across the room towards Discord, and the draconequus can do nothing. Fluttershy feeling helpless, closes her eyes. The courage she has felt continuously up to this point has seemingly disappeared.
After what seemed like an eternity, an Discord screams in anquish. Fluttershy try to shut out as much of her senses as possible but the burning of fur passed through her defenses.
“For all the power you had, Discord, you were never a challenge for Starswirl the Bearded.” The unicorn's speaking in third pony was very reminicent to another argogant unicorn Fluttershy knew. “Well, I am hungry, and when I return to my thrown, you should have the good sense to disappear or else I will do that for you,” Starswirl claimed with enough venom to back it up.
Fluttershy could hear the clopping of hooves, the opening of a door in the back of the room, and then just silence.
After a few moments, Fluttershy opened her eyes. The fires in the room had grown dim, but Fluttershy could still see. The pegasus moved out from behind the altar.
“Discord!” Fluttershy called upon not finding whatever remained of her friend. “Discord!” Fluttershy called again. It was too much for the shy mare to accept. Death is just not something ponies were meant to experience. They were supposed to be happy and solve friendship problems with conveniently powerful magic. “Discord!” the mare in denial shouted once last time.
“Fluttershy!” came a high-pitched voice.
“Huh, what?” said Fluttershy, who was by now completely blinded by her tears.
“Fluttershy, over here,” called the high-pitched voice.
Fluttershy blinked her eyes. Before her fluttered a small brown, cute creature called a parasprite.
“I am sorry, little one, but have you seen Discord?” Fluttershy asked. “He has disappeared after that big baddie hit him with his magic.”
“You mean dad, yeah, he does that sometimes. We just have to find some reinforcements. Let's head to Ponyville.” the parasprite said.
“Dad?!” exclaimed Fluttershy quietly.
“Didn't you look at the windows in the hall? This is my original form. I am the origin of the parasprites, the second most chaotic creature in all of Equestria,” the little brown ball claimed.
“Discord!” Fluttershy jumps up a tiny bit in excitement. “I thought, I thought... I knew you were okay.”
“I hardly call being a parasprite again being okay, but to each their own I always say,” Discord responded with some sarcastic condescension in his itty-bitty voice.
Fluttershy looked at the parasprite and then around the room. She noticed on the thrown lay a plain key.
“What's this?” Fluttershy asks.
“A key. I thought you knew this from the two other times you used keys this day.” Discord responded.
Fluttershy huffs a bit at her friends rudeness. “I mean, what room is it for.”
Discord hovers up next to it and examines it with one eye. “It is just a normal key. It will open any door except the guest doors or my father's room.”
“Oh...” Fluttershy responds, kind of disappointed in the fact that this key is not as interesting as the other ones she had. As a non-unicorn, reading was not something she did very often, but she kind of liked reading the ideographs on the key. It was like a puzzle, and Fluttershy secretly liked puzzle-solving.
“Come on Fluttershy, we need friends if we are going to stand up to my father,” Discord urged.
“Coming,” Fluttershy whispered as she trotted back into the hall.
Fluttershy and Discord, the little parasprite, passed through the stained-glass room, running to escape and get help handling Starswirl the Bearded. They reached the end of the hall only to be blocked by two gargoyles.
“No ponies are allowed to pass,” they say in monotone unison.
“But, ma'ams we just want to leave,” Fluttershy asks, but stone constructs are impervious to her charm.
“Well, I guess we will have to find different friends. I doubt your friends would even lift a finger for me anyways, and Twilight would just side with my her idol, great old stupid Starswirl the Bearded.” Discord laments, clearly pissed at his father.
“What do you mean different friends?” Fluttershy asks.
“I told you. Behind locked doors lies several chaotic beings. All of them I gathered recently so they can learn the magic of friendship like I did. Not only are they powerful, but they are going to be eager to get out of this place and onto getting what I promised them.”
“What did you promise them?” Fluttershy again feels overwhelmed by the sheer amount of new things being dumped on her head.
“You know, the normal stuff. A school, the answer to what minds are, the highest seat in Equestrian government,” the itty-bitty parasprite replies nonchalantly.
“Those don't sound normal to me.”
“Well, that is because you are not a chaotic being.” Discord starts looking around, ignoring Fluttershy. “Why don't we try down the guest room hall? Maybe this normal key will end up being useful.”
They go down the right hall. They pass nine gargoyles guarding six normal-sized doors. There is also an unguarded big blue door with the sign “second floor.” The pair look at the smaller doors.
The first door has the ideograph for “Pond” or “Pool”. This door had two gargoyle's in front of it, one large, one small. There was also two holes by either gargoyle. The first led into the wall and said “Shortcut to Arena” in common Equestrian. The second hole led into the ground and a little ladder leading down.
The second had two ideographs, one for “Crystal” and and the other for “Mine”. The “Crystal Mine” had a slightly-smaller-than-average gargoyle who had a permanent frown. Again, another gargoyle that Fluttershy had no intention in speaking to any time soon.
The third had the ideograph for “Garden”. It had two gargoyles in a heated argument. The shy pegasus had no intention of going through that door until they stopped.
The fourth had for “Stove”, “Hearth”, “Smith”, or something on it. Fluttershy was not quite sure. It had a lapis gargoyle that shivered periodically.
The fifth and sixth, which were side-by-side, had “Classroom” and “Library” on them respectively. The fifth had two sleeping gargoyle's in front of it. The sixth had an obsidian gargoyle guarding it.
Fluttershy not interested in dealing with anymore gargoyles walked up to the big blue door. Fluttershy attempted to open this door with the key but it was definitely too small.
“Hey, do you want to go to the second floor?” called a gravelly voice. The group turn around to see that a very large gargoyle in front of “Garden” standing with a much smaller gargoyle had beckoned them.
The large gargoyle intimidated Fluttershy too much for her to respond so Discord did in her stead. “Perhaps yes, perhaps no. We might just go into one of these rooms instead.”
“Hahaha, you get into these rooms. These guys are very picky on who they let into these rooms,” the little one said. Fluttershy could tell from the way the little one talked and acted that he was much younger than the rest of them.
“Explain,” Discord commanded.
The little one energetically responded. “You see, after waiting for so long, we all become our own gargoyles. Blacky over there wants very particular artifacts.” The adventurers turned to look at the obsidian gargoyle. “Hitty and Speedy, over there arguing, want somepony to decide their argument. Lazy and Droopy sleeping want somepony to answer their riddle and supposedly got some keys to guard because they are so good at their job. That's a life Behind all of our doors are trapped rooms because with a special key that will unlock a chaotic being's room because that is how Discord designed this place. If you want those guys out of their rooms, you will have to go through us. By the way, I am Tiny and this guy is my brother Biggy.”
Discord turns to the large gargoyle. “And you were saying about the upper rooms?”
“You seem eager to go up there. I sorry to say that Starswirl has the key for that room,” the large one replied.
“You didn't say what you two want,” the little parasprite asks.
“We want to fight. Me and my brother, Tiny, want to prove ourselves valiant warriors. To beat us, all you have to do is hit us three times. If somepony beats me you can have four keys. If somepony can beat Tiny, you can go into the Pond room.”
Discord buzzes back to Fluttershy who has remained completely silent through the whole conversation.
“Fluttershy, I guess we will just have to see if we can find any friends in these rooms. Based on how I structured this place before my father woke up, there should be one pony in each room. I am not sure about what traps we will encountered. Perhaps you can steal the sleeping gargoyle's keys, but we cannot use them on any room unless we get access to one of these doors. I also know there is at least one pony in the barracks we can get if we can get her key.”
“Why can't I just use this key on all the plain doors?” Fluttershy asked innocently. Discord responds by just staring at her if he was not sure if she was joking or serious.
“That aside, you will have to pick what you want to do. Either you try your luck with the gargoyles here or you go to the barracks,” Discord presented.
The shy adventurer had some difficulty making the decision. She knew she lacked the courage to talk to any of the frightening stone alicorn creatures, but the barracks sounded like it would be fully of just as aggressive ponies.
“I think we should look into the barracks,” Fluttershy finally decided.
“What do we have to lose, aside from everything I mean. Nothing we can do here if you are not going to even try to solve a riddle or end an argument,” the parasprite mocked. Fluttershy huffed quietly again at Discord's rudeness.
“Come back if you find some good fighters, you hear?” called Tiny.
“We will, we will,” Discord calls back as the pair walk out of the guest quarters to the main hall. After leaving, the two trot by the gargoyle sisters blocking the rusted entrance to the whole castle-slash-cottage. The alicorn sisters just ignored them completely.
Entering the barracks, the first thing Discord and Fluttershy noticed was a large, bearded gargoyle with an arrow sticking out of his rear hoof. The towering figure sat in the middle of the hallway which split into two directions. To the left was archway with retractable bars blocking it. To the right was a simple door that probably took Fluttershy's plain key. In front of him, the gargoyle had a chess game on a table, which he stared at intently.
Something about the gargoyle did not scare Fluttershy, so she walked up to him.
“Um hello mister,” Fluttershy greeted, but the gargoyle continued to stare at his game of chess. Fluttershy repeated her greeting, slightly increasing her volume each time.
“Blast it, Fluttershy! If you want somepony's attention sometimes, you have to be assertive,” Discord shouted.
“What, huh?” the large Gargoyle uttered. Discord's shouting at Fluttershy had seemingly woken the gargoyle out of his trance. “Oh, Discord, why haven't you made your move yet, and why are you so small?”
Discord looked at the gargoyle and buzzed around him a few times curiously. “Oh, I think I remember you. Aren't you Oldie? Still kicking after all these years?”
“You know I ain't kicking anymore after that arrow to my leg in the crystal empire, how could you forget my name while playing this game against me?” Oldie replied.
“Um, I don't even remember playing a game with you, Oldie,” Discord replied.
“All you said is that you would be back in a bit for a little thing you had to do in Canterlot.” Oldie said.
“It has been a thousand years, Oldie.”
“I think I would notice if a thousand years passed me by playing this darn game.”
“I beg to differ. I clearly remember you playing one of poker for five hundred years just because you didn't notice your partner had died.”
“Well, whatever, let's finish this game.”
“It has been one thousand years! I don't even remember what the game is.”
“It's chess blast you. The game is simple.”
At this point, Fluttershy spoke up, feeling some courage again because nopony frightened her in the room. “I know how to play chess.”
Discord and Oldie turned to look at the pegasus. “Well, then you can finish where Discord left off. To make it interesting, tell you what, I will reset the board to where it is now every time I put you in checkmate, and if you win, I will give you this key that bearded mage game me.”
Fluttershy moved up to the chess board to see that Discord's pieces were in a difficult position. Oldie had his knight forking her queen and her bishop One of her other rooks was in place to advance on the enemy king but could also go back to strike the knight. The first time Fluttershy brought back her forward rook and took out the knight, but soon after the enemy bishops put her king in check and in three turns Fluttershy lost.
The pegasus repeated this a few times. Nothing she did to save her queen worked. The enemy bishops would always immediately cross the board and put her king in check. Fluttershy resigned herself to the loss of her queen, and decided to put the enemy in check this time. She put her forward rook between the enemy king and his rook, creating her own fork. After Oldie moved his king out of check, Fluttershy took his bishop, which would have put her in check if she didn't take it. This meant, however, that the enemy knight would take her queen.
The game continued. While her bishop protected her king from the enemy knight, her forward rook used check to take out as many pieces as it could. The sheer capture count on that one rook was amazing. Eventually, Fluttershy pushed a pawn all the way the enemy rear and got her queen back. This queen took out the enemy knight and finally put Oldie in checkmate.
“Great job, kid. Here is your key as promised,” the big gargoyle alicorn replied with a sincere smile. Fluttershy decided to inspect the key. It was a very red bronze. Like the previous keys, this one had ideographs on both sides. On one side, it had “Gray” and “Mare”. On the other, the key had several ideographs. The first was an ideograph resembling the one for Captain, Equestria's highest ranking position in the Royal Guard. The key difference between Captain and this ideograph is that it had four extra lines in it denoting a higher rank. The second was “Alicorn” which often meant princess or ruler. The third was “mismatched and clumsy”, strangely enough. The final ideograph denoted very specifically “Hoof.” In Fluttershy's mind, the key read “High-ranking Captain Alicorn Mismatched Hoof, the Gray Mare.”
Fluttershy felt invigorated after gleaming some insight into what the key unlocked. She could very well use a princess's or a captain's help now.
With that, Fluttershy walked up to the door on the right. She was glad no gargoyle was guarding this one. “Of course, they are not guarding the barracks. Who would sneak into the barracks?” Discord said, providing his insight into the situation.
Again she got up on her rearhooves and put in her new key, only to find that it didn't fit.
“Fluttershy, use the plain key on the plain doors,” Discord said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Fluttershy switched to the other key and found that it indeed fit. Upon turning it, the key and the door disappeared this time.
The room ahead seemed fairly strange. There was a gravel path zig-zagging through hardwood flooring. The ceiling sat too low for Fluttershy to fly in the room, so the mare just walked in, which caused bars to raise up behind her and block her exit. This elicited an 'eep' from the shy pegasus. Bars also rose up to block the doors to the right and the archway to the left of the adventurers. The door on the right looked like a tent flap with a lock on it. The archway to the left seemed to lead into a hallway. Straight ahead, at the end of the gravel path, there was a switch.
“Look, there is the switch. If you can get that, it will probably take down the bars and let us out,” Fluttershy's companion explained. Fluttershy walked on the gravel, which felt completely flat underneath her hooves, making the timid pegasus slip and fall on her face. This, of course, made Discord laugh in his little sprite voice, but Fluttershy had grown a lot in the last month teaching Discord and did not let him get to her.
Fluttershy decided to try her luck with the waxed hardwood flooring. She tentatively put a hoof on it only to find her hoof being pricked by an invisible splintered surface. Fluttershy was lucky. If she had been any other pony, they would have put enough force down on their hoof and hurt themselves.
“A trick floor, huh. If you look closely, the depth of the floor is an illusion. The gravel is all flat and the hardwood has splinters coming up like jagged glass. I guess the name on the key was accurate when it came to confusion on depth perception and hoof-clumsiness,” Discord explained astutely.
“Confusion on depth perception?” Fluttershy asked trying her best to stand up properly.
“Yeah, take out the key,” Discord commanded. Fluttershy obliged though with some difficulty. Her natural grace helped tremendously on the almost frictionless floor. “See this ideograph.” Discord attempted to point at what Fluttershy had read as “Mismatched” with his wing only to find that he lost the lift he was creating with it and fell frighteningly near the hardwood. “Woo that was close. Back to what I was saying, that ideograph denotes lack of depth perception, but usually connotes something regarding an eye condition.”
Discord's scholarly tone absolutely flabbergasted Fluttershy who then almost slipped. “Discord, I didn't know you knew so much about reading ideographs.”
“My father is Starswirl the Bearded,” Discord said as if it explained everything. Fluttershy thought she remembered the name, but she could not recall in what context.
Fluttershy continued down the gravel path, being extra careful not to go too fast around the corners. This was not very hard because this pegasus never put a lot of force behind her hooves. Finally, she reached the niche at the end of the path where the wooden switch was. After flipping it, the ceiling rose and the bars lifted the tent door and the archway that led to an unexplored room. The archway back to Oldie remained barred.
“Good job, Fluttershy!” Discord chirped. Fluttershy had builted up a lot of nerves and leaped backwards into the hardwood floor. Noticing what she landed on, she leaped in the air and started flying out of instinct. “Haha, don't worry Fluttershy, trapped floor is off now.”
Despite not being injured, Fluttershy was too cautious and superstitious to tempt injury on the floor. Fluttershy moved to the door and put the key in. After turning the piece of bronze metal, the tent flap opened revealing the first friend Fluttershy needed to beat Discord's father.
General Hooves, I am ready,” says the white unicorn at my right.
“Give me a moment, Lieutenant,” I reply solemnly.
I am thinking about the deal I struck with Discord to bring me and anypony who would follow to an Equestria that does not yet know war is not some trick, which it likely is given Discord is the lord of chaos. I also hope this 'friendship training' and supervising 'transdimensional beings' that draconequus has me doing in his Home for Cosmic Misfits wont take much time because I want my army out in the field as soon as possible to defend Equestria from any existential threats.
In front of me is a platform, freshly built with wood from the Everfree Forest. I admit I am quite nervous about the crazy idea I am about to pitch to my army and the civilians who were refused refuge in Canterlot.
My new golden helmet fits awkwardly over gray horn on my head. I try to adjust it, but whatever I do just messes my yellow mane more. The horn is also a new addition to my head. It grew magically when I had tapped into the power of my fellow soldiers, leading them to victory against our final foe.
I check my eye patch over my right eye next. Its purpose was to hide my lazy eye. Without the eye patch, I would look silly; with it, I looked like a mare who knew how to fight.
Around my neck and down my back rests a red cloak with the Equestria Sun and Moon surrounded by my Cutie Mark on it. There was also Rarity's Cutie Mark in the bottom right corner to tell anypony that she personally made this cloak. A Cutie Mark represents what makes everypony unique. My Cutie Mark was seven bubbles. Again, this only cause me more difficulty in gaining the respect of other equines, for who would think that a pony whose purpose was bubbly would be able to come up with new and gruesome ways to defeat the griffons.
The purpose of the cloak was two-fold. First, it marked any soldier, including myself, as a part of the Northern Equestrian Army. Second, it kept us warm in the cold weather of Griffonia. It was winter in Equestria, despite the lack of snow, so we continue to wear the cloaks.
Underneath the cloak aside from my gray wings, I had an golden armor, which is standard for all commissioned officers. I am not a real commissioned officer being a civilian-turned-general, but my army was not known for caring to much for those technical details. We all had to take up legs when the griffons blitzkreiged our villages and salted the earth.
After checking that all was in place, I walk up to the platform. Nervousness grips me a little again so, I make a quick glance around me. To my left, there is the empty spot where Timber Roots would have stood had he agreed to my proposal. Timber Roots was the leader of the civilian ponies and as I expect did not take kindly to the crazy idea I was about to propose. To my right, there is a white unicorn with a talent for morale boosting and epic song-making Lieutenant Sweetie Belle, also known as Liberty Belle for her incredible rapport among the freed lions.
I waited for Lt. Belle to start her magic which would amplify my voice and make it more charismatic. I is going to need it if I had any shot at convincing as many ponies and lions to join me to another dimension all together.
“Citizens, freed lions, soldiers. Today, we must look into ourselves and decide who we are. Are we the ponies, or lions, who run away at danger, who cower at the face of change. Are we capable of sacrificing it all so that those who matter to us can live?
“Don't look at me for the answer. Only you can decide to follow me in the only option I found. It is probably the most ludicrous thing anypony has ever heard. None of you would ever expect it from me.
“I want you, be you equine or feline, join me in saving Equestria in another dimension. Not only will we have a second chance avoid the catastrophe that destroyed us, but we will be able to live our beautiful country again.”
The crowd shouts in confusion. I wait for it to die down.
“You do not need to believe me, only give me a chance to prove that it is possible to go to this dimension. All you have to do is enter your tent in the next twelve hours and your tent will be part of a magical building of sorts.”
Again my audience of tens of thousands responds in confusion. This is a lot to lay on a pony, and it took even me awhile to accept the possibility despite the fact that it came when I had no other choice. If this works, I will not have to see my soldiers turn against the Central Army in Canterlot under their general, the depressed and angry Twilight Sparkle.
“I remind you that Twilight blames us for the death of the princess. She sees us as those who invited Screwball, daughter of Discord into our land when we finished the war by invading Griffonia. She sees me, your general, who is now an alicorn, as the one who stole Celestia's power after her untimely death in the fight with that Tartarus spawn.
“I find this terribly ironic given that it is Twilight herself who sits upon Celestia's thrown calling me the usurper. It has been more than a thousand years since the last unicorn has sat upon the Canterlot thrown, and many of you may know how that led to birth of Discord, lord of chaos, and the tyranny that followed.
“What's more she won't admit though is it is we who defeated the Griffons. It is we who came back and saved her when the neither Princess Celestia nor the Elements of Harmony could stop Screwball. It was your strength, given to me, that allowed me to become an alicorn.
“Because she blames us, she has forbidden the soldiers and freed lions among our ranks entry into Canterlot where we deserve ceremony for our valiant efforts. You civilians here recognize this and have joined us and because of that are too forbidden entry into Canterlot.
“Because of this we have three choices. First is let Twilight win and die starving on this barren wasteland that used to be a paradise for ponies. Second is fight Twilight to the last pony and die still because her army has all the advantages and she will have made sure that everything is perfectly defended by the books. I know many of you expect me to bring out something she wont expect, and I already had many such plans until the offer to abandon this Tartarus hole was given to me. Which leads me to your third choice, you can let Twilight win but not starve by having the abundance that their transdimensional being has offered me.”
At this point my audience was just listening. I had grabbed them by their emotions and planted the need to fully understand my offer. Most have only heard stories of other worlds like our own from old unicorn tales. The civilians would probably think I am completely lost it, but again I only needed them to test my theory and their lives would be saved.
“I have been promised by this being of great power a second chance to save Equestria and I am allowed to bring anything with me. I have chosen any pony or lion willing to join me and their personal belongings. Each will receive room and board in a magical building until they leave, in which they must live in a pre-war Equestria until our time to take that which is deep inside of us and show Equestria we are the heroes that it needs. You have twelve hours to make your choice. Dismissed.”
With that, I is finished. My soldiers gave me a salute, and I back.
I walk off the platform where Ponyville City Hall once stood. Lt. Belle followed me until she realized where I is going.
I walked down the road, my red cloak flopping slightly in the wind. I saw Sugarcube Corner, its once vibrant colors now gray. I saw the brown leaves and charred exterior of Golden Oaks Library, a literal tree house. None of this compared with the devastation I is about to come upon. Buildings could be rebuilt, but the land took much longer to heal. The griffons had not been satisfied with destroying our homes. No, they wanted to take the pride of each of the three pony breeds, and the Earth Ponies prided themselves in the fertility of Equestrian soil. Now, their earth is salted.
Before me lies the graveyard that had once been Sweet Apple Acres, an Apple Orchard with considerable amount of livestock as well. Each tree in the orchard once carrying some of the most prized apples in all the nation now a field of death.
I did not come here for the loss of buildings or the trees. I came here for a pony's grave.
Ahead of me, I could finally see the four graves of the Apple family. One pony, Apple Bloom, the youngest daughter the Apple family of Ponyville and the highest ranking young adult in the Youth Brigade, a captain. She is a sixteen-year-old yellow-coated, red-maned earth pony. She had gained her rank through immense talent in building fortifications and managing supplies. Since the Youth Brigade mostly functioned in helping transporting supplies and building fortifications, her War Talent just fit perfectly. As a captain, she commands a company of one hundred colts and fillies and perhaps some cubs.
I finally reached the top of the Hill. From here, I could see dead trees and mud for a couple miles.
“Yah know. We put these graces on top of the hill so that our family could see how good our farm is doing.” Apple Bloom explains to me without turning from the freshest grave. Earth ponies tended to believe in spirits and other things, especially those who lived by the Everfree Forest. Sweet Apple Acres is bordered by the Everfree Forest.
I looked at the graves for the second time this day. The first too are of Apple Bloom's parents. They had died not too long after her mother had given birth to Apple Bloom. Next is Granny Smith who we had all expected to die of old age long ago, but had died defending the farm during the griffon blitzkreig.
Finally, there is Big Macs grave. The stone marking it is of fine marble. I had the material provided, and Apple Bloom had made the inscription, which simply read “Big Mac, died steadfast an Equestrian”. Nothing could be closer to the truth. Big Mac had a special place in my council not only because I loved him. The big red earth pony constantly reminded me what it meant to be a pony. More than once had he stopped me from completely becoming a monster with a strength of conviction that was only matched by his physical strength.
Big Mac had died from an infection shortly after we took the capital of Griffonia. I had granted him a hero's burial when we had made a march back to Equestria to protect it from a chaotic monster, Screwball.
“My brother wouldn't want me to be cryin' like this,” confesses Apple Bloom. I stay with my young soldier. It does not miss me that I am comforting her by just standing silently by her side just like her brother did for us both many times before. If anything, Big Mac was known for being a stallion of few words.
We stand there brooding over what ifs and dreams of a pre-war Equestria. This is our good-bye.
“We should go,” Apple Bloom states but does not move. If she had the tears left, she would probably still be crying.
The young yellow mare just stands there telling me and herself that we need to go. For both of us, it is not another dimension part that scares us as much as what will happen to the ponies here. The war changed us so much.
I wait for Apple Bloom to move and take her right flank so that I do not have to turn my head so much to see her.
“How did the Youth Brigade take the news?” I ask, trying to get her mind on her work. I try to be casual with my fellow Ponyvillians and those in the Youth Brigade. It helps me have a illusion of normalcy.
“Some of them are afraid, but most of them are really excited. They just want to....” Apple Bloom does not finish before crying again. It has been hard for Apple Bloom, losing her brother and having her sister turn to stone in the same week.
“I am sorry General. For crying, that is. It just... do you think we will be able to see our families again.” Apple Bloom continues.
“I don't know, Captain,” I honestly reply. I hadn't thought about ponies' families on the other side, being a single mother with no family of which to speak. Also, Discord had not tell me much about what it would be like in his dimension. All I know is that Ponyville, Fluttershy, and peace exist there. “If anypony's family is there, they have permission to meet them so long as they are supervised by another soldier. I will flesh out the details later.”
“Thank you General Hooves, ma'am,” Apple Bloom replies with a large toothy smile despite the wetness on her checks.
We continue our trot back to camp. The tents our step up in the fields north of Ponyville. Apple Bloom leaves for the youth section while I go to the tent for the highest officers.
I finally get to my tent. I have a small table set up in front since I cannot actually get inside without risking being pulled into the other dimension.
I sit down and notice that somepony had been following me. It is an orange pegasus wearing a Specialist uniform under her red cloak. Even without looking at the Rarity's Cutie Mark on the side I already know she is from Ponyville. The scar on her right cheek marks the mare as having gone through griffon torture.
The pegasus salutes me and salute back and then take my seat. I indicate with my left hoof for her to take a seat I have set up for guests. “General Hooves, I am Specialist Scootaloo under Major Carrot Top. I came here because I want to decline the promotion you gave me.”
I make sure to personally learn about the heroics of ponies in each battle so that I can give out promotions. I look at the pegasus in front of me.
“And why would you decline a promotion. Do you not want to lead troops?” I ask.
Scootaloo just looks me straight in the eye. “No, General, ma'am, I do not want to lead anypony.”
“Scootaloo, I remember you from Ponyville. You were friends with Lieutenant Sweetie Belle and Captain Apple Bloom. All three of you were quite infamous in your attempts to earn your Cutie Marks. Now all of you have your War Talents and are heroes in your own right. I remember why I gave you your promotion. You had successfully escape capture in Wingapeg with two emaciated lions. I remembered that your record stated that you had been up for promotion several times, yet you refused each one based on one of Rainbow Dash's policies. Do you know what I also told Major Top?”
“Yes, General, ma'am. You told Major Top that if I were to refuse this promotion, I was to come to you and discuss it.” the specialist replies without flinching.
“I know it has been a long time since Wingapeg. I assume you like many others had to stay in Mount Nested until I gave the order to retreat from Griffonia.”
“Yes, General, ma'am.”
“Did you take the role of Second Lieutenant until I was able to make a decision about your rejection of the promotion?” I ask almost whimsically. This breaks Scootaloo strong front. These ponies,even horrifically scarred Scootaloo, are all children really. A pony was never meant to grow up and deal with real responsibilities. They were suppose to have parties, forget about the resident unicorn's town destroying mistakes, and learn about friendship.
“Uh, no, ma'am, I mean General, ma'am.” Scootaloo frantically responds.
“I hope you know what I will have to do now.” I say somewhat ominously. The statement is rhetorical, and I am pretty sure Scootaloo does know what happens when a pony disobeys me because she and all the other Ponyvillians were there when I started leading ponies.
“You send them to the front lines without armor, General, ma'am.” It was a death sentence in most battles but the ponies who survived it were rewarded. Needless to say, those who survived never disobeyed again and many actually support my punishment.
“So you are going to stay with me and join me on the front lines in a minute Lieutenant Scootaloo. Your friends and my daughter will be joining you.” I say with a small grin.
Scootaloo stares at me, confused and then smiles too.
I am too nice to these foals, but I cannot help but love them like the family I never had. Sweetie Belle with her inspirational songs, Apple Bloom with her thoughtfulness to what ponies need and want, and Scootaloo with her ability to infiltrate and escape any place with lethal agility. That is why her Cutie Mark, or war talent as I called it, was a black feather with a metal point.
The tent flap opened. Behind it stood a middle-aged mare a few hooves taller than Fluttershy. The mare had a gray coat, which made sense given the honorific title on the key. She had a brown eye-patch over her right eye. Her left eye was golden and intense. A bronze helmet covered most of the Gray Mare's blond mane. The helmet also allowed for a horn come out. On the mare's back lay a red cloak. A bronze-tipped lance rested in the pony's left hoof, probably because of the blindness on the right. Fluttershy could also tell this pony had charisma just in her presence.
The mare's left eye blinked and her ferocious expression turned to confusion. “Fluttershy, is that you?”
Fluttershy fell to the hardwood floor. “Huh, who?” she replied.
“Fluttershy? How could she be here?” came another mare's voice behind the Gray Mare.
“I reckon because this is just another dimension,” spoke yet another mare behind powerful pony. This voice had some farm pony in it.
“Ugh, I just don't get this light multiverse crap,” responded the first voice.
“It's Literal Multiverse, yah dumbass,” said the second.
“Shut up! Your both dumbasses!” shout a third voice from some unseen mare. This one sounded like a little filly.
Every time the ponies swore, Fluttershy winced and the Gray Mare furrowed her brow further.
“Silence!” the Gray Mare commanded. The bickering behind the commanding officer suddenly stopped. The mare walked forward revealing four ponies behind her. Three of them were young mares, about sixteen years of age. One was a filly about twelve-years-old. A orange pegasus with a horrific scare on both cheeks in a black cloak, a white unicorn with a drum and a red cloak, and a yellow earth pony in a full set of bronze armor, heavy saddlebags, and a stetson composed the group of young mares. The filly was a lavender unicorn without a cutie mare and a small red cape.
Fluttershy could now see the red cloak on the Gray Mare. On the back of the cloak were the Sun and Crescent, the symbol for Equestria after Fluttershy and her friends purified Princess Luna with the Elements of Harmony. Seven bubbles geometrically organized surrounded the symbol. In the corner, somepony had stitched three blue gems, Rarity's Cutie Mark.
“Do you know who I am, Fluttershy?” the older mare asked. Fluttershy shook her head in. The mare sighed. She put her right hoof to her eye-patch and lifted it up. While doing that, the mare revealed that not only had she a horn but also wings through an old pegasus reflex when raising their hooves up. Underneath it, she reveal another golden eye. This eye was lazy. Fluttershy gasped. The mare lowered and adjusted it her eye-patch. “Oh, how I hate doing that. Now, do you know who I am?”
“Derpy Hooves,” whispered the yellow pegasus.
“That's General...” said the little unicorn filly, but a glare from Derpy silenced her immediately. General was an old term that Fluttershy had only heard about when learning about ancient pegasi. Now the whole name on the key made perfect sense to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy then turned to look at the lavender unicorn, Derpy's daughter. “Dinky.” The stern child nodded with a little sign that she forgave Fluttershy for not using Derpy's title.
The orange pegasus with the scares on both sides of her cheeks trotted up eagerly to Fluttershy. “Do you remember me?”
The yellow mare flinched in the sudden loss of personal space.
“You're scarin' her Scootaloo,” said the young earth pony mare in armor. Scootaloo frowned, turned her head, and covered her facing cheek with a hoof self-consciously. The mentioning of Scootaloo shocked Fluttershy who now looked at the three mares in new light, the same awed expression when she realized it was an alicorn Derpy Hooves before her.
“Scootaloo.” The pegasus turned back to Fluttershy and smiled, glad to be remembered. The smile, however, only disturbed all those who saw it because of how it emphasized her scars.
“Apple Bloom.” The earth pony nodded and also smiled. Unlike Scootaloo, Apple Bloom seemed to have more of a spring in her giat.
“Sweetie Belle.” The white unicorn mare who had remained completely quiet until now shifted a bit at the mentioning of her name as if waking from a dream. She looked at Fluttershy but did not smile or nod.
“Introductions out of the way, explain the situation. We have just arrived from our world and would like to know how soon my army and I can deploy to protect Equestria from the Griffons,” Derpy commanded.
Fluttershy explained the situation the best she could. She told Derpy and the girls how Discord had invited her and the Elements of Harmony to a surprise which happened to be Discord's old home. Then Discord's dad turned him into a parasprite and the gargoyles wont let them out. Now they need to collect as many friends as possible so they can beat Starswirl and his many tricks.
“Dinky take out your notepad. I want you to detail the skills of anypony we convince to join us so that we can know if we can pass any of these challenges. We also have to know if we can handle Starswirl's tricks,” Derpy explained her strategy.
“What are your skills by the way?” Discord asked vaguely curious.
“Dinky, answer the little chaos lord, I am going to see what is in the next room.”
“Yes, ma'am.” The filly saluted with uncommon absoluteness.
Fluttershy stayed while the other mares followed their general into the hallway that had opened up earlier.
“General Alicorn Derpy Hooves, the Gray Mare of the Northern Equestrian Army, can strategize, lead, and wield a lance. Also when her army is behind her, she can summon the power of camaraderie and reinforce the attack of her lance, making it capable of piercing any foe.” It was obvious by the devotion in Dinky's voice that she worshiped her mother. The references to an 'Equestrian Army' confused Fluttershy greatly because her Equestria was completely pacificistic.
“Specialist Scootaloo is a trained infiltrator and has unparalleled speed on the ground. She is our only non-unicorn soldier adept in wielding swords due to the fact that she can use her small wings to make up for the fact that she is running on her hindlegs only. Scootaloo cannot fly, however, due to a medical condition. She is also my sparring partner when practicing my sword technique.”
“Major Apple Bloom is the highest ranking officer of her age in the Northern Army. She has the legendary strength of the Apple family and is said to be one of the strongest earth ponies in all of Equestria-- well, at least our Equestria. The Major's talent is maintaining food supplies, designing and overseeing the construction of geography-specific fortifications.” Dinky started scribbling down what she had just said in bullet form.
“Private Sweetie Belle is a drummermare renown in our army for creating songs that inspired our soldiers. One of her songs was instrumental in our armies inclusion of freed lions in our army.” Fluttershy looked completely perplexed by the term 'freed lions.” Despite Dinky's usual dismissiveness, Dinky actually paid enough attention to see that the pony listening had gotten lost on her term.
“What do you mean freed lions?”
“Lions who were previous enslaved by Gryffonia, the country that attacked Equestria, until we freed them from the armies we defeated. We want to get to the battlefield here so that we can prevent what happened in our war does not repeat here.” Dinky felt that should be sufficient explanation despite the fact this only confused Fluttershy more. For one, Gryffonia did not exist in Fluttershy's world. More importantly, the all-loving pegasus could not imagine anypony enslaving another, and the filly talking about it so candidly did not help.
“Sweetie Belle's talent is of course--” a scream of anguish from the other room interrupted Dinky.
Fluttershy and Dinky accelerated into the unexplored room. The former went because her instinct to help others often outweighed her fear. The latter went because she knew the cry of anguish they heard had been her mother's.
The room they entered was more of a wide hallway that turned left tree times and ended up at a barred archway leading back to Oldie. The room felt much narrower as large bunk beds line the walls on each side. There were four other doors in the room, each of them requiring some kind of special key.
In the back of Fluttershy's mind, she realized that the barracks forms a square of sorts. The bottom of the square was Oldie's hallway. The room with Derpy's door in it formed the bottom right corner of the square. The bunk bed room formed the top right corner, the top, and left side. Two of the doors were in the top corners on the right and left wall respectively facing the center of complex. Two doors were in the center of the top, one facing each other form either side of the hallway.
The two concerned ponies found the general had walked onto a concealed pressure plate which had set off a projectile trap in the wall. Ahead of them, several more pressure plates littered the path up to the switch which was in a niche in the wall near the exit to Oldie's room. Fluttershy figured that this part of the room had no bunk beds probably because of the traps.
The general had small arrows embedded in her right wing and a large laceration on her right forehoof. Apple Bloom had already removed a medikit from her saddlebags while Scootaloo worked on cutting the barbs out of the arrows. Fluttershy worked with the Apple Bloom on applying disinfectant and gauze to the lacerated hoof, and Dinky supported her mother by Scootaloo's side.
After finishing the first aide, something peculiar occurred. The applied bandages, the rest of the medikit, and Derpy's wounds just vanished. The mares gasped, but Discord was unfazed.
“What happened?” Dinky asked aloud.
“You applied bandages, restoring Derpy's hit points, duh. Now, girls we got a trap to disable, so we can get more keys,” the parasprite chirped condescendingly. The mares decided not to question it as the Fluttershy flew off to disable the trap. Derpy could have flown but decided not to risk using her wings in case the injury had not really healed. It paid to be careful when you were in a magical dungeon where anything could be anything.
With the traps disabled and the archway debarred, the adventurers left the barracks. Oldie had gone asleep after the game. He had laid his wounded leg with the arrow in it out of the way of his other limbs. The remarkable aspect of the arrow was that it's was some crystal material. Only Dinky found it worth noticing, so wrote about Oldie in the log.
The adventurers also followed single-file behind Fluttershy. The pegasus thought this sould have been awkward given that equines dislike having somepony in their blind spot, but for some reason all the adventurers, Fluttershy included, acted as if following behind the pony who began the adventure in this manner was just normal. This just added to the list in the back of Fluttershy's mind of how very counter-intuitive Discord's old home was.
They soon reached the guest quarters. Fluttershy quickly gave them a summary of what she knew so far. “We will need as many keys as we can get,” Fluttershy explained.
“Scootaloo, see if you can take the keys off those sleeping gargoyles by the classroom without them waking. I will be trying my luck against Biggy,” Derpy said.
“Why don't you just talk it out? I am sure they would understand we need these keys,” Fluttershy suggested. Derpy looked at Fluttershy incredulously, and Discord laughed.
Fluttershy watched as Derpy walked up to Biggy who pulled out his sword in enthusiasm. She must have accepted his challenge to land three hits for a large collection of plain keys. Biggy jumped into the shortcut hole, squeezing somewhat in order to fit. Tiny beckoned the rest to join him down in the room that the ladder led to.
Fluttershy, Dinky, Apple Bloom, and Discord descended the ladder to find themselves in a well lit room with a glass window looking out into an arena. The arena was composed of crystals much like those below the real Canterlot castle. A few blue fire altars dotted sporadically around the ceiling of the arena chamber and their presence invoked fear in the yellow pegasus.
In the arena, Derpy and Biggy positioned themselves. Derpy had her face turned to the right so that she could center her left eye on him. She raised her lance parallel with her line of sight, flapping her wings calmly. The gargoyle on the other hoof summoned a claymore which was just the right size for him. Unlike most ponies with horns, he wielded his sword with his hooves. While Derpy seemed calm and collected, Biggy was completely restless. Despite this, Fluttershy noticed that both simultaneously attacked without any hesitation, and this unnerved the peaceful little pony. Dinky cheered, completely unperturbed by the violence before her.
Derpy seemed to have the upperhoof in the beginning with her power lance strikes, earning two hits. Despite the obvious power behind Derpy's charges, the gargoyle was made of the sternest of materials so receive little-to-no damage.
The match changed after the second hit when Biggy became berserk. This made his reflexes and attack speed beyond compare. Biggy's sword became a flurry of strikes too numerous for a slow lance to block. The Biggy's increased speed also meant that Derpy couldn't even dodge out of the way. These two factors resulted in Derpy receiving several injuries including a blunt strike against her helmet, knocking her unconscious. This was definitely not the General's day.
The large gargoyle did not roar in victory as Fluttershy expected but rather fell down and panted, clearly having overexerted himself using that technique. It was strange seeing a magical construct show weakness, but nothing was normal in this messed up world Discord had created.
After regaining his energy, he picked up the limp body of Derpy and carried her to some place below the onlookers line of sight.
Dinky had become again fearful for her mother's health. “Tiny, where is he taking the General. I need to get to her and make sure she is okay!”
“Don't worry, girl, you will see,” the little gargoyle replied. As if on cue, a trap door in the viewing room opened revealing Biggy and Derpy. Biggy dropped clumsily the General's body down before her soldiers.
“Apple Bloom, she has cuts. We need to apply more bandages on her,” the little unicorn commanded.
“I don't have any more medikits. The one I had disappeared after I used it.”
“Fluttershy, do you have anything?” The pegasus shook her head. She had not thought of bringing anything this morning when she made the fateful decision to see Discord 'change Equestria forever.'
“What did I miss?” came Scootaloo's voice as she descended the stairs accompanied by a gay sound of keys rustling. All she had to do was look once at her general, and everything made sense. “How is this possible? Apple Bloom we need to take care of her immediately.”
“Perhaps I can be of help. I have a few hearts and she will be good as new,” Tiny suggested.
“Then give them to us,” Dinky and Scootaloo commanded simultaneously.
“Only if two of you can beat me in fight. All you have to do is hit me three times and I will give you the special key to the pony in the Pool room. You make even enter if you like.”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom volunteered while Dinky, Fluttershy, and Sweetie Belle stayed back and watched out the window. Apple Bloom equipped herself with two spears and a shield. The first spear could be thrown while the second would act for close range combat. Spears were significantly lighter and smaller than lances and helped in conjunction with shields repel flying enemies liked these winged gargoyles. Apple Bloom would be acting as the tank and perhaps could get a few hits off through her solid defense. Her defense required her to stand on her rear hooves, thus greatly reducing her agility. It was a great posture for being in the army but not for dueling.
Scootaloo only had a short sword and two daggers she kept hidden under her black cloak. She would focus on keeping under Tiny's radar and attacking when least expected from the back. Tiny had a claymore as well, but it was clearly too large for the little gargoyle. He would focus on using his ability to fly against his two grounded opponents.
The match began. Tiny immediately jumped into the air. Apple Bloom seemed to be shouting taunts at the gargoyle, gaining his ire, while Scootaloo moved to the edges of the arena.
“Don't let them get to you!” shouted Biggy from the stands in a voice that shook the viewing room. Tiny responded by calming his flying patterns and keeping track of his opponents. His flying also caused momentary eclipses of the altar light, which Apple Bloom found particularly disorienting.
For Tiny's first strike, he charged Scootaloo, thinking her the easy target. To his chargrin, Scootaloo had been ready for this and used her amazing land speed to get across to the other side of the room in two seconds. This charge led Tiny to come to a full stop in front of the wall Scootaloo had been at. This gave Apple Bloom time to throw her spear and earn an easy hit.
“Don't attack the orange one, she is too fast. Now the yellow one doesn't have her extra spear, spin around her until you get behind her,” Biggy aided his brother. Tiny heeded the advice and began to circle Apple Bloom. Scootaloo, being ignored, ready one of her daggers for a throw.
Apple Bloom found that despite the large weight in the gargoyle's hooves (i.e. the claymore), he could circle her faster than she could shift her position on her rear hooves. Finally, he had gotten directly behind her and went in for the strike. Scootaloo had the earth pony's back and threw her dagger.
“Dodge brother!” Tiny rose immediately to the threat he had not seen. Instead of hitting the gargoyle, they nicked Apple Bloom's ear causing blood to run down the right side of her face. The earth pony could be seen yelling expletives to her partner.
“Private Belle, we have to help. Ready a Carry Sound Spell,” Dinky commanded the as to now ignored Sweetie Belle. Fluttershy notice the emerald aura that surrounded the pony's horn. “Major, Specialist, I will be acting commanding officer during this mission. Be prepared.”
Scootaloo was the only pony who acted as if she noticed since Apple Bloom was too preoccupied with defending herself from Tiny who was not flying above her head to get behind her instead of circling. Tiny did this several times before attacking.
“Dodge,” Dinky said in a a calm voice and Apple Bloom did just that, rolling to the side over her shield to avoid the claymore. It was a close call but Apple Bloom was safe. “Scootaloo, you will have to attack next time, or Apple Bloom will get hit.”
Dinky's mind raced as she figured out the best way to continue. “Private, silence big brother so that he cannot tell him to dodge.” The white unicorn's horn intensified its illumination as more magic channeled through it. She seemed so in her element that this did not seem to phase her. Biggy only smirked at this strategy.
The next time Tiny came down to strike Apple Bloom, Scootaloo was ready.
“Dodge!” The earth pony did so. “Strike!” The grounded pegasus did her job as well. Scootaloo hit her mark, earning them a second hit, but Apple Bloom did not dodge far enough from the claymore, earning a hard hit to her armor and knocking her out.
Tiny then change his tactics to dealing with the faster Scootaloo. With his attention directly on the little pegasus, she couldn't just mask her presense. Tiny continuely charged her but kept away from the walls to prevent having to make emergency stops.
“Scootaloo, you need to keep him moving, stay in the center.” Scootaloo, who had been using the wall for obvious cover, gave an incredulous look at the windowed room, but obliged as a loyal soldier must.
The gargoyle attack several times and Dinky gave Scootaloo information when made clear signs of making a charge or a flanking maneuver. After time, it became clear that Tiny had overextended himself like his brother and the fighting had worn him down significantly. Seeing the slowed gargoyle, Scootaloo took this opportunity to engage him the next time he came down to the ground. When Tiny noticed the change to aggression, he was too tired to fly up in time to avoid the fast pegasus. Instead, he opted to prepare an attack to keep her off him. What he did not expect though was that Scootaloo predicted the attack and halted right before the sword landed, jumped on top of the giant thing and tapped the gargoyle on the horn before being blasted by a magic shot in response.
“Scootaloo are you okay?!” Dinky asked. Of course, we could not hear them.
Sweetie Belle dropped her spells and Biggy could talk again. “Good game, you guys forgot that these little things.” The large gargoyle pointed to his horn.
Ignoring the gloater, the adventures went down the trapped door into the arena. They met an exhausted gargoyle in the hallway leading to the arena. He was frowning. “I am sorry for hitting your friend like that.”
“What do you mean?” asked Dinky as Fluttershy flew passed towards the injured mares.
“She had already beat me and I attacked, which is unfair.”
“Nothing is fair in a fight,” the lavender filly responded.
“Well, here is your prize. There are plenty of them, so don't be stingy.” Tiny handed a box of heart-shaped red objects from the hallway. They did not look like the organ but the symbol for a heart.
“How do we use these?” Dinky asked reaching towards them with her forehooves.
“Just touched them when you are injured and you will regain your health.” Dinky pulled her hooves back. “They do not disappear on touch if you are not injured, so don't worry.”
With that Dinky took three hearts and went up into the viewing room. “Private take the rest to the Major and Specialist.”
Moments later, all the girls were healthy but tired. Dinky bragged to her mother about how she effectively took command just like a proper general. Tiny and Biggy went up the guest hallway.
“Hey where's our key?” Scootaloo asked.
“Right here. Feel free to enter this room. I know that key doesn't open this door, but I hope you find some more friends. Biggy wants to fight again.” Fluttershy took up the key. Again she read its ideographs. The first side had something along the lines of “The City Changer” and the other side had one ideograph that was clearly not a name but a position of some sorts relating to governance.
Scootaloo used one of the keys she had swiped from the sleeping gargoyles. The “Pool/Pond” door disappeared and a sudden chill fell upon the group of adventurers.
Before the adventurers, a frozen pond in a snow covered room. Marble an odd number of columns held up a high ceiling. A frozen waterfall decorated the pond from behind. On both sides, there was a golden bowl elevated off the ground. On the left, there was a gargoyle with a vacant expression near a large bucket. On the right, there was six small buckets. In front of the lake, there was a sign. The adventurers walk up to the sign.
“'Small changes or Big change'?” Fluttershy read the sign out loud.
“What do you think that means?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Given how these rooms are set up. It is probably some puzzle involving what is in the room,” Dinky hypothesized.
The adventurers explored the room. Sweetie Belle stayed near the sign. Derpy investigated the gargoyle, who looked threatening but seemed to be a statue. Dinky and Scootaloo explored the waterfall, which seemed the coolest thing in the room. Apple Bloom, Fluttershy, and Discord checked the golden bowls and the mechanism holding them up.
“This is a giant scale,” Apple Bloom claimed.
“Should we put something in it?” Fluttershy inquired.
“How can we know until we try?” the parasprite said, dispensing his own kind of chaotic wisdom.
“These buckets wouldn't be here if there wasn't a reason, I reckon,” the earth pony argued. “Fluttershy, I am going to get some water from the lake and put it in the bucket. I will need you to carry it up to the bowl.” Apple Bloom carried a bucket in her muzzle and brought it to the water, where she kicked a hole in it to gather some water. Fluttershy was right behind her. The Major raised the bucket up high in her hooves where the pegasus took it and brought it up the bowl.
The bowl seemed to drop a bit and a clicking some could be heard.
“The gargoyle is alive. What happened?” the General said calmly. The adventurers looked to see the gargoyle wake up and in a very mechanical gait pick up a huge bucket. He seemed to be bringing it to the water just as Apple Bloom had.
“We need to fill our side before the gargoyle does!” Dinky exclaimed. Everypony agreed, despite not actually knowing what was going on. It was as if no matter how absurd the puzzle was, they just didn't question it and immediately went to solving it.
At first, Fluttershy and Derpy were the only ones using the buckets, but this was proving inefficient. The gargoyle had already filled his bucket and was beginning his slow accent to his bowl. They changed their strategy to include a conveyor belt of sorts. Dinky, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom took the bottom, while Derpy took two buckets and Fluttershy one up to the bowl. Whenever they took buckets, the three empty buckets would be filled and prepared for them below the bowl. Dinky being smaller than the mares spilled often. Apple Bloom had to insist that she just fill buckets, much to the filly's indignation.
Even with their more efficient system, it seemed the gargoyle would win.
“We are not going to win!” Fluttershy panted, giving up.
“Are you just going to go home? If you are an Element of Harmony, act like one,” Dinky responded. The criticism stung Fluttershy deeply.
“We cannot win unless we try, and we need you to try your best or we will probably have to start all over again, more exhausted than we are now,” Derpy added with smidgen more care than her daughter. Fluttershy noticed now that Derpy was not actually fairing any better than her. The key difference was the sheer willingness to push herself despite the protests of her body. The pegasus remember that Derpy had been severely injured not once but twice in the last hour and had gone through a grueling battle with a gargoyle. Fluttershy also remembered how Derpy claimed to desire to protect Equestria, and was in awe at the lengths she would go in order to do that.
Inspired, Fluttershy looked into herself for a similar conviction to steel her will against the pain and fear she felt. In herself, she saw her many friends. She thought of Twilight and Pinkie who were on a dangerous mission in Fillydelphia investigating foalnappings which changelings were thought to be involved. She thought of Rarity who was working constantly so she would have time and money to socialize with the nobles in Canterlot this weekend. She thought of Rainbow Dash who had to spend a whole day doing what she hated, watching over a library. Fluttershy realized that to some degree all her friends were doing something difficult
As they filled water in the bowl, their bowl descended and the gargoyle's rose, making his slow trek upwards take even longer. At first, it seemed that the gargoyle would win, but as their bowl dropped their pace increased. Eventually the bowl did reach near the bottom and the ponies all started filling it with water on their own, even Dinky who would lift her bucket with some magical strain. When their scale reached the bottom, the gargoyle fell to the ground as if out of power.
His crash caused his bucket to spill its contents which began to boil and spread across the room onto the pond, unfreezing it. The room became warm, and the snow and waterfall began to melt.
“Where is the door?” Fluttershy asked.
“Behind the waterfall,” Dinky and Scootaloo said simultaneously.
“We found it just as the puzzle got triggered,” Scootaloo explained further.
Fluttershy went towards the waterfall and to find that there was indeed a door behind it. It did not make her happy that she had to get soaked in order to the door, but she braved the ice cold water anyways. On the other side, Fluttershy saw that the door was made of an aqua metal and highly decorated with semi-precious gems.
For the fourth time that day, the pegasus put a magical key into a door. Upon twisting it, the door sank into the floor like a ship submerging under water. A wall of water appeared beyond where the door had once been. A male seapony in a toga swam near the entrance. He had no limbs to speak of, so from Fluttershy's perspective, there was no way him to join them.
For what must have been the hundredth time that day, confusion overwhelmed Fluttershy. There seemed to be no pattern in the ponies that emerged from the “Literal Multiverse.” She had hoped that all of them would be like Derpy, ponies she knows, however vaguely, but different. A seapony, a mythical breed of pony, was the last thing she expected.
The seapony seemed to be inspecting the outside space, but could not communicate due to being in a different medium than other ponies. After drawing some sort of conclusion, he swam away from the door and came back with a rod and a crown. Fluttershy could see him gesture towards her, and being a caretaker of intelligent animals, she guessed that he wanted her to stand out of the way, which she obliged. The seapony then put the rod through the entrance. He swirled the rod a few times, testing the properties of the magic keeping the water in his room.
Satisfied he put on the crown. This caused a sudden transformation in the seapony. His finns turned into forelegs and his gills sealed themselves. Now lacking the ability to breathe under water, he used his forelegs and tail to propel himself out into the room, where he promptly flopped twice while wheezing before regainning his composure.
“Bah!” the seapony took a deep breath. “I always hate that 'out of water' feeling.'” He laugh dryly at his own joke. The immediate impression his accent caused was that of a posh jokester. “Not all people can enjoy a good joke. Cheap distractions aside, can anyone of you equines explain the transformation of my form into a crude hybrid of a Merr and yours?”
The term anyone temporarily lost on the ponies, for whom the proper way of speaking of any creature in the neutral sense was as ponies (i.e. anypony, somepony). “It is the law of Literal Convenience that when a life form is transported from one dimension to another, their very being must change into a parallel self,” the ageless lord of chaos explained.
“Is that why Twilight became a hyumin?” Fluttershy asked. Discord bobbed up and down in a parasprite's equivalent of a nod.
“Well, it is pretty inconvenient to me. This crown only gives me two legs and you walk on four ones. I have to basically drag my rump when I don't have my Kidney to help me.” The seapony acted as if what he said was not at all confusing, then smiled. He picked up his rod in a hoof, waddled out of the waterfall onto the land by the pond.
He holds up the rod horizontally in a grandiose manner and hops. “This is my Kidney!” Out of the rod manifested a chariot like structure. Unlike a normal chariot, it was very small and had no place to put somepony to pull it. “Yes, I have a segway. It is a practical necessity for any *&^^ who works with the land dwellers as often as I did. I call it Kidney because I only need one. I know it must sound strange for a senator being thrifty, but I am no normal senator.” He decided to drive his small self-propelled chariot around the group.
The soldiers quickly found the seapony to be uninteresting. He obviously lacked the physical prowess they had and so far that was what they had needed to accomplish their various challenges. Fluttershy thought he was loud but a little funny. Discord thought the seapony's antics had nothing on his own.
“What is your name and skills?” Dinky asked taking out her notebook which had received a little water damage after spilling water on it during the bucket puzzle.
The seapony raised an eyebrow. “My name, do you mean the name of my species or my title?”
“I don't care which. I just need something to put down.”
This put a smile on the seapony's face. “It is nice to see another person who doesn't care about silly things like titles or caste. Anyways, I am the Senator of *&^*.” Two words confused the ponies. First was person, which they had never heard before. The second was simply unintelligible to pony ears.
“Part of the Literal Convenience is a translation spell that works as long as there exists something in Equestrian language. Names of places often cannot be translated.” Discord explained.
“Do you have a name, other than your title?” Fluttershy asked timidly.
“I do not know what you mean.”
Scootaloo bored at how long this was taking, decided to interrupt. “Look here pal, it is very simple. I am Scootaloo, this here is Fluttershy. The unicorn over there with the notebook is Dinky. My two partners by me are Major Apple Bloom and Private Sweetie Belle, and this is General Hooves. Don't mess with her or you will regret it.” One glance at the Gray Mare of the Northern Equestrian, and he knew what Scootaloo meant. “What is your name?”
“I really do not know what you mean. Other than general, I have no idea what those titles mean. Perhaps if you tell me your caste system, I can tell you in which I would fit.” While the seapony sounded innocent, the humor in his eyes betrayed his disingenuousness.
“Buck this, I will just call you Bob,” Scootaloo swore. Addressing the group, Scootaloo continued. “I say we go back to the hall and figure what those other gargoyles want. Hopefully, they're better at fighting than those last guys.”
“On that note,” Dinky interjected. “Do you have any skills in combat, Seapony Bob?”
Bob analyzed the little pony from vantage on top of Kidney. With a serious face that did not reach his ever joyful eyes, the seapony replied, “That is a good name, hopefully the intent behind it is also. To answer your question, I had some skills with tridents, but as you can see, I no longer use my hands. I must say though, I am confused to how you are holding that notebook with such skill as to make it possible to write with legibly.”
Dinky crossed her eyes inspecting her hooves to see what possibly be wrong with them. Derpy rolled her eye and decided that they had enough of this nonpony. Her duty was to Equestria, not giving basic citizenship education to an off-worlder. “Specialist Scootaloo's plan seems the best course of action. Fluttershy, if you want to keep talking to Bob, I wont stop you. Remember, when we are done playing Discord's little friendship game, I want to you help me make contact with Princess Celestia.”
When Derpy and the soldiers that fought under her left out of the room first for the second time, Fluttershy started thinking. “What does she mean by playing?”
Discord coughed. “So yeah, you probably don't recognize me, Bob, but I am Discord.”
Seapony Bob inspected the little parasprite. “Did you transformed too?”
“No, I am immune that rule, sadly. Oh, and before you ask, you and Derpy will have a chance to meet the Princess, who can grant you citizenship. I know why you want it, though. All it entitles you to is smiling all day.”
“I intend to restart my career here. Something happened on my side where my supporters found me too slow in getting what they wanted and decided that they would do away with the whole thing, me included. Once I have my citizenship, I will use my unique brand of politics to get into the position that gives me the power to accomplish my goals of equality and education for all peoples.”
This intrigued Fluttershy as bit. “I am sorry, but um, we don't have elections.”
Bob cocked an eyebrow. “What do you have then?”
“We don't have anything like that. Just our princesses and the noble ponies.”
“Nobility? And I thought this place was a paradise,” Bob said to Discord.
“For ponies,” Discord corrected. Adopting a scholarly tone, the little lord of chaos explained, “Elections are chaotic, and because of Celestia's battle on all things chaotic, there are none in Equestria. Most of the powerful positions are held by unicorns, while the lower ones are held by those possessing political talents regardless of breeds.”
“I guess my work towards a political system that represents everyone has not come to an end,” Seapony Bob commented with a sigh. To the others, he looked excited for what was to come despite what he said, and something about his sureness in this task reminded Fluttershy of General Derpy.
“We should go check on what they are doing outside,” Fluttershy suggested in a soft voice. Discord and Dinky heard her but Bob was self-absorbed. When they started walking out, he had to put his segway in high gear to catch up.
