Harry Dresden has dealt with a lot in his life. But when six mysterious girls pop up claiming to be ponies from another realm, Harry finds himself on a strange roller coaster filled with ponies, Outsiders, and strange Halloween pranks.
Harry Dresden is a wizard of the White Council and the Winter Knight of the Fairy Courts. With the help of his friends, he has protected the city of Chicago from plagues, ghosts, demons, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night. But when six mysterious girls pop up around the city claiming to be from another world inhabited by ponies, Harry finds himself on a strange roller coaster filled with ponies, Outsiders, and strange Halloween pranks.
Rated Teen for mild graphic scenes, strong language, sexual suggestions, and other adult themes.
The night was clear and perfect. Not a nightmare in the minds of my sleeping subjects. This pleased me. I loved it when a night like this was free of nightmares and evil. As long as this continued the next few nights, I felt that this year's Nightmare Night would be perfect. Despite my short mishap on my first celebration of Nightmare Night, I have grown to love the celebration. The ponies all across Equestria have grown to love my appearance in their home towns; and it was fast approaching again.
The past Nightmare Nights I would go to one of the few villages nearby, appearing to them as Nightmare Moon. Last year, I made an appearance in the Crystal Empire to welcome them into the celebrations. In the past, they never celebrated the night of my...darker self since they were sealed away. Even after they returned, they never really knew about the event. However, my friends from Ponyville, Princess Twilight and her friends, had started to introduce them to celebrations they've never had. They...didn't take Nightmare Night too well at first, but after a long night and some help from Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance, they found it was very enjoyable.
I had missed celebrating with the ponies in Ponyville, however. I celebrated my first Nightmare Night with them and it was they who helped me learn that being scary can be fun. So I planned to return to Ponyville as a surprise to them all. I just hope I don't cause any real nightmares that night.
I stood out on the balcony, looking out at the night covered land. My dear sister would be awake soon, allowing me to get some of my own sleep. I just hope my excitement for Nightmare Night wouldn't keep me up.
Alas, it would be the last thing I would have to worry about. I felt the energy from the garden and feared the worst. A year ago, Ponyville had received two unexpected guests. One was of an agent of chaos who tried to destroy our world. The other helped in sealing it into a form of a statue, much like how my sister and I had sealed up Discord, another agent of chaos. The energy I felt made me fear the worst. It was a shame it was so close to my night.
I didn't even have to awake my sister. My sister, Princess Celestia, had awoken when she too felt the release of energy and rushed out to the garden. I met her there, gliding down from the balcony. I looked from her to where the statue of the creature had once stood. The statue was gone and there was no trace of the creature that was sealed in stone.
"My dear sister," I said. "I fear we may have a huge problem."
"Agreed," my sister said, staring in awe at the missing statue.
"I suggest we call for Princess Twilight and her friends."
"Discord as well," she added. "I feel we might need his help in this matter." I nodded in agreement and turned to go summon them. However, we hadn't left the garden before we were joined by another.
"My chaos sense was tingling," came a voice from my left. I looked around and saw another statue that I hadn't seen in many moons. The creature had his clawed arm held up in the air, it's mouth wide up as it was laughing and gloating at the time of capture. However, I knew this was no statute as the creature had been freed long ago.
"Discord," my sister said, looking at the statue also. "I trust you felt that power that took your brother?"
The statue turned its head to us as color filled it. Discord had long since been freed from his imprisonment and had been reformed, but he still felt a need to make an entrance. "I have indeed," he said, flowing over to us as if he was swimming through the air. "And as much as I would say I would love to see my dear brother again, I fear that no good would come of his return."
"Would you know where he has gone?" I asked him. "We must make heist to stop him."
"I agree, my dear princess," he said. "But I'm afraid he has escaped this realm."
"He's not in Equestria?" I asked.
"What about your realm?" my sister suggested.
"Mine?” he asked in slight surprise. “I'm afraid not. He wouldn’t dare step into my realm. But I have a pretty good idea of where he might have gone off to."
"Then we must ask for your assistant in recapturing him," my sister said. "We will send for Princess Twilight and her friends to join you."
"Well, excuse me, princess, but I must request you leave them out of this," the Draconequus said. "If my suspicion is correct, the world that Chaogent went to will be overwhelming for them. It is not a place for them or any other pony for that matter."
I looked at my sister who had looked at me in turn. "Is it really that bad?" I asked.
"Regardless if you feel it dangerous for them or not," my sister said, "I feel that you would need their help."
I saw true concern in Discord's face. "As much as I feel the same that I could use their help, they would be in more danger from other things of the world than my brother." I've never known Discord to be so worried about the ponies. This world that Discord believed was so horrible really scared him to the point that he would rather risk his life doing this alone than take Princess Twilight and her friends. Then again, there was always the possibility that his brother went somewhere else.
"Let us locate him first," I suggested. "It's possible he is in another realm, one different than the one you believe he went to."
He thought about it for a moment. "Perhaps we should have them decide," my sister suggested. "I propose we bring the situation to them first and let them decide if they want to go or not."
I would go on with this back and forth, but I must say it took a while for us to make an agreement. We decided to let Discord go and locate his brother first and return with news. We even made a backup plan if things went awry.
It was only after Discord had been gone for more than a day we sent for Princess Twilight and her friends. Once they arrived, I let my sister explain the situation. I saw the worry in their faces. I also could tell that they would go wherever they were needed to stop this creature. There was something else in their worried expressions too. So, I pushed to see what was troubling them.
"Well," Princess Twilight began. "You see, the last time we faced Chaogent, we needed help from our friend to stop him. The pony we had told you about, remember?"
"That is true," I said. "I remember you telling us about this-” I stopped to think of the name. “Hero was it?" They nodded. "I can't say for sure, but we might not have his help this time. Unless Discord has contacted him after leaving here, you will have to rely on your power to stop Chaogent."
"Speaking of which," Twilight continued. "Where is Discord? You mention you sent him out yesterday and he hasn't reported back yet. How are we going to know where Chaogent went? And how are we going to get there?"
"Oh, I hope Discord is alright," Fluttershy added with a worried voice.
"I'm sure he is fine," my sister said. "But we have taken measures in case Discord hasn't returned. It was his suggestion to keep you out of this for your safety, but it may seem that you'll have to go after him. Discord may want to protect you from this other realm, but I'm afraid we may have no choice. We'll be able to send you to it, the one he told us about. Maybe you'll be able to meet up with Discord. Be warned, though, once we send you, you won't be able to come back until you find Discord. Only his power can bring you back."
"Stay together," I added. "Discord seemed very concern about sending you there. If this place is that bad, you'll need to stick together to be safe."
They nodded in understanding. Princess Twilight looked at her friends, consulting them. Once she was done, she looked at us with determined eyes and nodded. "We're ready," she said.
My sister and I nodded to them. We pooled our magic, focusing and using the spell Discord had told us about before he left. It was difficult, but between the two of us, we were able to surround them in a ball of light and send them on their way. The ball of light rose into the air and with them inside it. It flashed, the ball disappeared, and they were gone.
"Let us hope they make it," my sister said. "I fear if they don't return by Nightmare Night, than all hope will be lost."
"I fear you are right," I said. Now I had to worry if Nightmare Night would turn into a day of tragedy for us. And I had grown so fawned of that night over these past few hundred moons.
At first I thought I had awoken from a bad dream. I was laying on wood that made me think of my library home in Ponyville. It was made out of a hollowed out tree and I had found myself asleep on the wooden floor reading a good book many times before. However, I quickly remembered that the tree had been destroyed a long time ago; and this wood was different from the wood in the tree I had once lived in. Though as I opened my eyes, I felt that the place could have been a home made out of tree as well. In fact, I soon realized that it was a tree house, a wooden one room shelter that was built on and around a tree. As I took in the sight of the tree house, I remember what had lead up to finding myself here.
My day had started out like any other. I awoke in my crystal palace, which was really the best way to describe it, and had to wake up my still sleeping baby dragon, Spike. He could be so lazy sometimes.
"Spike, wake up," I said, shaking him with my hoof. He grumbled and rolled over but I would soon prevail.
"Morning, Twilight," he said with a big yawn once I finally woke him. "That was some party Pinkie Pie threw last night. She does realize that Nightmare Night is another few nights away, right?"
"Well, you know Pinkie Pie," I said with a smile. "Any excuse for a party. 'Three Nights 'til Nightmare Night Party.' I'm sure she'll throw a 'Two Nights 'til Nightmare Night Party' tonight as well."
"You got that right," he said as he started to do chores. "So, what's the plan for today?"
"Well, I still need to work on my costume for Nightmare Night, but I haven't decided who to go as. Maybe I'll go as Daring Do this year." "I think Dash said something about doing that this year herself."
"Oh, well, I guess she is the 'biggest fan,'" I said with a giggle, but that knocked my idea out of the clouds. "Maybe Nightmare Night? I know Luna usually does that, but she's been going to other villages in Equestria to participate there as Nightmare Night. Maybe I could do it here for her.”
"Too cliché. Besides, what if Princess Luna did come here this year. You wouldn't want to undermine her, do you?"
"I guess you're right. I'll have to think of something else. Maybe Zecora can give me some ideas." I thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind.
I really didn't have time to do so though. I had a lot to do. I was meeting up with Applejack to help her with some choirs. Then with Fluttershy to help clean her animals. Then I had to catch up with reading a few books I've been meaning to get through. Then I had some time with the Cutie Mark Crusaders to help them with their studies.
I might be able to visit Zecora after that, but I had to make sure I was back in time to help Pinkie Pie. I could go after helping Pinkie, but I still had to help the mayor with setting up activities for Nightmare Night. Maybe I should have planned some time to think about who I should go as for the celebration. I'll just have to add it to my list of things to do for tomorrow.
I got started with my list of things to do for today. Applejack was happy to have my help. The apples we picked would be used for Bobbing for Apples for Nightmare night, as well as making treats for the young fillies. I was on my way to Fluttershy's place when Spike came running up to me.
"Twilight," he said, panting as he came up to me.
"What's wrong, Spike?" I asked.
He burped and a green flame came from his mouth. The flame collected and formed into a roll of parchment. "Letter from Princess Celestia," he said. I used my magic to take the scroll and open it.
"Princess Twilight," I read out loud. "We are in need of you and your friends services. Something terrible has happened and we require your strength. Make haste to Canterlot at once. Sincerely, Princess Celestia."
I looked at Spike, thinking about what to do. "Spike, gather the others. We have work to do." He didn't need being told twice. He nodded to me and headed straight to gather our friends. I went to Fluttershy, since I was already close by. She seemed a little worried by the time I got there, though she wouldn't tell me what she was worried about. Instead, she was more concerned with what had got me so frantic. I told her that Princess Celestia needed us and to meet me at my place. I asked her to go find Rainbow Dash and bring her there. When I left her, I went and found Applejack and brought her to my place. Everypony else was there by the time we got there.
"Twilight, whatever seems to be the problem?" Rarity asked at once.
"I don't know," I replied. "Princess Celestia sent me a letter and needed all of us to go to Canterlot right away."
"What happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"She didn't say," I answered. "But she needs us to go there at once."
"What about me?" Spike asked.
"I think you best stay here until we know what's going on," I said. He looked a little disappointed. "Don't worry, Spike. If we need you, I'll send for you. But right now, we need you to stay here and watch over Ponyville." He accepted that, nodding at me. With that taken care of, we headed off to Canterlot.
Once we reached Canterlot, we rushed to find Princess Celestia. We found her in the throne room. To my surprise, Princess Luna was there also. It must be really serious if they both were here waiting for us. "Princess Celestia. Princess Luna," I said as we rushed forward to them. "We came as quickly as we could."
"I'm afraid we have serious problems," Princess Celestia said. "Chaogent has escaped his imprisonment." I gasped with the others, and we collectively felt the fear of what this could mean. "He escaped the night before, and it seems he has escaped to another realm. We sent Discord to go find him, but it seems your help may be needed as well. We'll have to send the six of you after him to stop Chaogent."
I looked around at the others as I remembered how powerful he was and that we needed help from another pony to stop him. As I looked at the other girls, I realize that we were all thinking the same thing.
"Something else is troubling you," Princess Luna said.
"Well, you see, the last time we faced Chaogent, we needed help from our friend to stop him," I told them. "The pony we had told you about, remember?"
"That is true," Luna said. "I remember you telling us about this, Hero was it?" I nodded to confirmed this. "I can't say for sure, but we might not have his help this time. Unless Discord has contacted him after leaving here, you will have to rely on your power to stop Chaogent."
"Speaking of which," I continued. "Where is Discord? You mention you sent him out yesterday and he hasn't reported back yet. How are we going to know where Chaogent went? And how are we going to get there?"
"Oh, I hope Discord is alright," Fluttershy added with a worried voice.
"I'm sure he is fine," Celestia said. "But we have taken measures in case Discord hasn't returned. It was his suggestion to keep you out of this for your safety, but it may seem that you'll have to go after him. Discord may want to protect you from this other realm, but I'm afraid we may have no choice. We'll be able to send you to it, the one he told us about. Maybe you'll be able to meet up with Discord. Be warned, though, once we send you, you won't be able to come back until you find Discord. Only his power can bring you back."
"Stay together," Luna said. It seemed that she was very concerned about what was about to happen. "Discord seemed very concern about sending you there. If this place is that bad, you'll need to stick together to be safe."
I nodded and looked at my friends. "Ok, girls," I said. "This seems like it will be a very difficult challenge for us. But we must do this." I looked at each of them as they nodded. A.J. seemed like she was putting on a mask, and I kind of knew why. Fluttershy, like she always was, was nervous, but she nodded all the same. Once we were in agreement, I turned back to my mentor and her sister. "We're ready."
They never explained how the magic spell worked. I just remembered that we were engulfed in a ball of light. I had to say that it felt really weird. I started to feel my body aching all over. Then I felt the magic start faltering. It had to be hard to send six ponies to another realm. With that, I awoke in this tree house.
I looked around the place, my body aching all over. I've felt this before and looked down at myself. I was no longer a pony. I was a human now. If it was this realm, maybe we could find Hero and get his help. I had to wonder how everyone else felt. I looked around, but noticed that I was the only one in the tree house.
"Girls?" I asked, looking around. I crawled across the wooden floor of the tree house and looked out the hole of a window. I saw that the tree house was behind a home that was surrounded by a white picket fence. The grass was well groomed and there was a large swing set that was set up by the tree.
Halloween. A night for little kids to dress up in scary costumes so they can get candy. I never really celebrated Halloween before, not since my father passed away when I was still little. Even then, we were on the road a lot. After he died, I never had a reason to celebrate it, not even for my birthday. My mother died when I was born, and I didn't know I had a brother until about ten years ago.
Halloween was also a big time for things to come out. Things that go bump in the night. That's where I come in. My name is Harry Dresden and I'm a wizard. I'm the only active wizard in Chicago. However, a few years ago, my life got crazy...to the point that I died. I'm not joking about that either. I was dead for six months, was a ghost, the whole nine yards, and I came back. The whole reason I died was because I put a hit out on the new Winter Knight...me.
The Knights were servants to the Fairy Queens, and it was a position that I did not want to take up, even though the Winter Queen, Mab, really wanted me to take up the mantle. The only reason I took it was to go save my daughter. It was really my only option. I didn't want to turn into a monster like the last Winter Knight, however, so I wanted a hitman to take me out after I had gotten my daughter out of danger and gave her to someone who will take her to a safe place.
Make a long story short, I saved my daughter, gave her to someone who would find her a home, and I died. Mab wasn't going to let me go that easily though. So she protected my body until my ghost returned, and I was restored. Since then, I have come to terms with my decision and have been working for Mab. So far I've kept the beast of the Winter Knight mantle at bay. I've even started to spend time with my daughter, though I was still always scared that something would come after her because of me.
But I love her. She is my flesh and blood, and I would die to protect this child. I will go to Wal-Mart and spend hours trying to find her a pretty pink princess costume because Halloween’s in three days and damn it that's what you do for your daughter. So after I got the costume for her, I decided to stop at an old favorite.
McAnally's Pub was the go to place for those in the know. It was also Official Neutral Territory under the Unseelie Accord. This meant that all were safe here and no one could cause trouble. Doing so would basically paint a giant target on themselves for both enemies and allies to use. Ya, you fuck with the Unseelie Accord, you're on your own.
The place was one of those basement pubs, like from Cheers. It was colored in earthy colors, browns and greens. There were thirteen columns that all had images of old style fairy tales carved into them. There were thirteen tables scattered around the place and thirteen stools at the bar. The place was set up to disrupt magical energies. It could be why Mac can keep the ceiling fans working, or the stove behind the bar working.
There weren't many people in the pub, a few regulars here and there. I wasn't here to socialize. I was here for a drink. I went to the bar and sat down, looking at the man, if you can call him that, standing behind the bar. He was a tall bald man with black pants, white shirt, and a white apron that always seemed to stay spotless. He was a man of few words, though I couldn't say anymore if he was human. I still wasn't sure what he was, but after he got involved in my first case as the Winter Knight, I learned that he could be an Outsider.
An Outsider was a being from beyond the Nevernever. They were very powerful and magic does very little to most of them. They were insane and were nearly impossible to kill. Put it this way, I've barely survived my first run in with an Outsider when I was sixteen, nearly 25 years ago when I was still developing my magic. And a few years ago, I still barely survived against another Outsider...twice and I was the Winter Knight then. Some of the members of the White Council of Wizards have been living for centuries, and even they've told stories of barely surviving. And it was possible that Mac was one of those things.
Still, he wasn't a bad guy. He keeps to himself, and he still makes the best ale you could ever find. Handmade and served warm. Mac always felt that chilling a fine ale would ruin the taste. It was fine, though he would kill me if he ever found out that I chilled mine at my place...when I still had a place of my own. But when in Rome, warm ale is better than no ale.
As I sat and drank my ale, I talked to Mac about my daughter, and taking her trick-or-treating in a few nights. He listened. He's good for that.It wasn't until an hour in when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I looked at the door as a middle-aged man in a brown suit came in. His cane clicked on the steps as he stepped down them, looking around. I never seen the man before, and I was good with remembering faces. I looked at Mac and saw the expression on his face.
Mac didn't look too happy to see the man. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the man. Something about this guy put Mac on edge. There was only one person I knew who would do this to Mac. Someone who was dangerous and meant trouble. I looked back at the man, thinking of a spell in case we had to fight.
"Mac," the man said as he walked over. "It's been too long. You still make that ale that I so find delectable?"
"You are not welcome here," Mac said.
"Oh, come now, is that any way to treat an old friend?" the man asked.
"What do you want?" Mac asked, his eyes narrowing.
"I told you,” Brown Suit replied. “One of your fine ales, and any information about the whereabouts of someone."
"There's nothing here for you,” Mac told him.
I decided this was a good time as any to stick my nose where it didn't belong. "Yo," I said. "If I were you, buddy, I would get lost."
"Oh, I'm sorry," the man said. "I didn't realize you were included in this conversation."
"I wasn't, until I decided to see my way into it,” I told him. “If Mac doesn't want you here, than you best leave."
The man looked at me and wasn't afraid to look into my eyes. It was a risk for me to look back into his. If he was human, we would link in a Soul Gaze at once. I took the bet that he wasn't human...and I won. No Soul Gaze, no soul, not human. He smirked at me.
"Clever," he said. "You figured out I wasn't human rather quickly. Either that or you're really dumb." He bowed at me. "I will depart from here then. I can see when I'm not welcome. But..." He held up some money and put it on the bar. "I still would like that drink."
Mac stared at the man for a moment before he took the bill, pulled a brown bottle from under the bar, and passed it to the man. The man took it, spun it once, and it simply vanished. Like, it was gone. I couldn't even feel the subtle magic that he used to do it. This creature, whatever he was, was powerful and skilled.
"For the road," he said, looking at me. "I'll be seeing you around, Harry Dresden." He turned and headed back up the steps, disappearing into the autumn evening. How did he know my name? Was he a fae? If that was the case, he would sooner called me the Winter Knight than my actual name. What's worst was that even saying part of my Name sent shivers down my spine. The only being I've ever met who could do that with only knowing part of my Name was a dragon. I looked at Mac.
"What was that about?" I asked him.
He stared at the door for a while before he started to wipe down the bar. "Avoid him," he said.
"Why? What is he?" I asked him.
"Avoid him," he said again with a more warning tone. He didn't have to say it, but he was telling me to drop it. I reluctantly did so even though the mantle wanted to jump over that bar and make Mac tell me. I didn't like being in the dark, but something told me this was just the beginning of something big.
After I finished my drink, I paid my tab, and headed out. I would say I went home to my daughter, but I'm still kind of lacking the whole home department. For the moment, she lives with a friend of mine and his kids. Granted, most of his kids have grown up and moved out, but there's still a few young enough to play with her. Besides, she's much more safer staying with a former Knight of the Cross than me and my hectic life. That's probably why I haven't gotten a new place yet. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
Where do I stay, you might ask? Well, it depends on the day of the week. I've been staying with an old friend named Karren Murphy. We kind of have a thing after many years of tension between us, but it's complicated. I've stayed with my daughter at Michael and Charity’s place. I've even stayed with my old padawan turned boss at her place. She's one of Michael and Charity's kids, their oldest in fact. As a bonus, it was still close enough to my daughter that I can see her when I want, but I only ever stay there when she's gone. It avoids problems. Other times, I stay with my half brother. Though after the last time I was sleeping on his couch and he brought a girl over, I decided not to stay too often.
Tonight, I was staying at Murphy's place. She wasn't back when I got there, but Mister, my cat that I gave to Murphy after my apartment burnt down, came running up to me and ram his shoulder into my leg before running inside. I set the Wal-mart bag down and headed into the kitchen. There was a message on the machine we had set up for me. Technology didn't work too well around me, so we have to go old school. Magic and technology is like oil and water. They don't mix. Technology tended to break down when magic was around. The newer the tech was, the easier and worst it was to break. So the old machine was a must.
I went to the machine and hit the button as I walked over to the fridge. I opened the fridge door, grabbed one a coke.
Beeeeep.
"Harry, it's Murph," came a woman's voice. "I'll be out for a while. Rawlins called and asked me to come give some insight on something. Unofficial stuff, of course. I'll explain everything when I get back. I've never seen anything like this. Feed Mister. And don't touch my computer."
Beeeeep.
"Harry, Murphy, it's me," came a man's voice. It was my older half brother. "Listen. I had a turtleneck attack out in my area. Well, it seemed more like the turtleneck crashed some old man's cab into the back of my car. The guy didn't seem to know what was happening. Said his name was Sam Singer. I think he might be a minor user, I thought I sense something when I gave him my name. Might be worth looking into. I don't think this was a random crash. I think the man was attacked. Call me if you find anything."
An old man named Sam Singer was attacked by one of the Fomor? I guess Murphy will have to check with the Paranet on the laptop when she gets back.
Beeeeep.
"Harry, it's Michael," came another man's voice. "Wanted to call and see if you could come by the church tomorrow. Father Forthill thinks you might want to come by. He's fearful that some more coins have been taken."
Shit. I'm going to have to talk with the Church about them holding onto those damn things like candy. A year ago, I had to deal with two that were supposed to be locked up in a holy vault somewhere. I had a coin several years ago, but I never gave into it. Instead, I ended giving the coin to the church. Then I found myself face to face with the current holder of that coin, and she had accepted the power from it. Somehow, the Denarians were getting the coins back.
"Meet me at the church tomorrow morning," Michael said. "And I'll treat you to lunch. I'll see you tomorrow."
I frowned as the machine stopped, finishing the last message. It seemed this was going to be an eventful Halloween week. It was even more apparent when Murphy got back.
"I know I'm not a cop anymore, but damn it if this shit doesn't piss me off," she said, coming in.
"You wanted to open up your own Private Investigation," I said, looking up at her as she came in. Murphy was a short, though everyone was shorter than me, but she was shorter than them. She had bushy blond hair and a button nose. She also didn’t look like she could handle a fist fight. Trust me, she can. She can take down weight lifters with her jutle and handle the big guns in a gunfight. She has the medals for both to proof it. "What happened?"
"Probably a college prank. But it seemed that someone decided to replace the books at the college with books that had incorrect facts or blank pages."
"Ya, that sounds like a Halloween prank,” I said. “Pretty funny one too.”
"Yes, except it wasn't just the library books. It was everyone's textbooks that either they had on them or in their lockers. And they all seemed to change at the same time. There's some reports of students seeing the words move."
"Ok, that sounds more like my line of work," I said. "It still sounds like a prank. Even in wizard standards, that's pretty harmless."
"What do you think?" she asked me.
"I think some low level wizard decided to play a prank on everyone,” I said. Even wizards liked to play harmless pranks once in awhile. “Probably someone learning about their magic and wanted to test it out. Speaking of, can you check something on the Paranet forums?" I replayed the messages for her on the machine and she went to the other room to get her laptop. When she returned, I stayed by the backdoor while she sat on the table.
"The Netters don't seem to know a Sam Singer,” she said after a while. “But I'll check again in the morning before you leave to see Michael. I posted a message on the forums. By the way, did you get Maggie her costume?"
"I did,” I confirmed. “Are you going to go trick-or-treating with us?"
"We'll see,” she said. “Have you looked into getting a place yet?"
I looked away. "I've checked out a few places," I lied. I'm a terrible liar. I don't even know why I try to lie around Murphy; she knew me too well.
"Bull shit," she said. "Damn it, Dresden, you have the money to get a house now. Or you would if you ever sell the diamonds you got from that last case you worked on. You want to be in your daughter's life now. You need a place to take her home to. She can't live this life. She's had this hard life, moving from home to home, and know that you've connected to her, she wants to be with you. Not Michael and Charity. You're her father. She needs you. You need her. And you need a place to take her home to."
"I know, Karren,” I said. “And I want to be able to take her home, but I'm still scared that something might come after her to get to me. I've made so many enemies in my past. She's safer with Michael."
"Not after what happened last time,” she pointed out. “Nicodemus knows about her. You can sure as hell bet that he's spread the word by now. Especially after you foiled his plans and gave Butters the Sword."
"Actually, I was trying to give that to Charity, but it still worked,” I corrected her. “The point is, she's still safer there than with me. Even if I get a good place, I'll have little threshold to work off of to make a good ward."
"Harry, I know you,” she said sincerely. “You'll be able to protect her."
She was right, of course. I needed to do this, but if something was going down now, I couldn't focus on getting a place at the moment. She understood that at least. There was also the fact that we still had our own feelings to work out. We've talked and relieved some built up tensions, but we never officially became a thing. If we did became something and I moved in here, I sure as hell would bring Maggie here. This place was a fortress in the magical eyes. Murphy's place had been in her family for generations, and that made a great threshold to build off of. But this was all stuff I didn't need to worry about until after Halloween. That became more apparent the next day.
Let's just cut to the chase. I'll skip all of the boring stuff. Weather duties, that's a given. So is a major crisis, but that's more interesting than moving clouds. So I was in the middle of doing my duties when Fluttershy came to me about the news. We were summoned to Canterlot by Princess Celestia. Once we got there, we learned that Chaogent had escaped, and Discord had disappeared. So we were sent to another realm to find them.
I awoke alone in an alley of a city. What city it was, I didn't know. Give me a break, this is some realm I never been too...as far as I knew. I had to take some time to get use the form I was in, but it didn't take long. I was pretty quick at picking up a challenge, and not a moment too soon.
"Well, what do we have here?" came a male voice. I looked down the alley and saw three guys walking towards me. "Didn't anyone tell you not to hide out in dark alleys alone, little girl?"
I gave them a smirk and rolled my shoulders, stretching them a bit. "Nice hair," said the guy to the left. "Didn't know rainbow colored hair were a thing."
My eyes narrowed at that. I liked my mane and loved how it was a natural rainbow color, but this guy's remark seemed sarcastic. He was making fun of me. That was just begging for a fight. "What should we do with her, boss?" the guy on the right asked.
"Let's make her into a new play thing," the guy in the center said.
They started to walk towards me. "Oh," I said. "We're going to play? I love a good challenge." The guy on the left grabbed my wrist. I whipped my hand around, gripping his wrist and twisting it. He let out a sharp yelp of pain as I held his wrist there before giving him a good punch in the chest, knocking him back.
"You little bitch," their leader said. "Get her!"
It was a little different fighting in this form than in my normal form, but I guess because I know how to fight I was able to pick it up easily enough. They weren't even a challenge. I mean, where did these losers learn to fight. I was able to see their attacks easily and dodge them and counter.
"Wow, you guys are pretty lame," I said after sending them all to the ground. "I mean, this isn't even my normal form and you got your tails handed to you."
Their boss growled at me as he got up. "I don't know what you're getting on about, but you're dead." He put his fingers to his lips and whistled. I glanced around and saw more guys walking down into the alley from both sides. So taking on three punks was fine, but taking on a dozen...this was looking bad.
"Not cool," I said. I looked around at each of them as the three guys joined their group. I tried to figure out what I was going to do when I felt a cool breeze from behind me. I shivered as I looked around. A young woman seemed to step out of nowhere into the alley. She was tall and had icy blue hair that started as a dark blue at the roots and faded to a light blue at the tips. I also could see an image of a snake on her neck that disappeared under her clothes. She looked calm and cool and looked from me to the men on either side of the alley.
"Really, boys?" she said. "You can't beat one girl so you get more thugs? Honestly, you guys make me sick." She lifted what looked like a wand and pointed it at one of the guys. She mumbled a word I didn't understand and an arctic breeze blew out from it. Frost started to form on the guy.
"That's awesome," I said and I saw the woman smirk.
"You little," I heard of the guys say. I turned to see one of them charge. I stepped forward, grabbing his arm as he punched and rolled him over my shoulder, throwing him into a bunch of his buddies. They went down.
"Not bad," the woman said.
"Ya, I know,” I replied. “I'm awesome."
They charged at us and I went back-to-back with this strange magical woman. I could feel cold air coming from her as she used her magic to take out half of these thugs. I took out the others with my awesome fighting skills. Together, they didn't stand a chance.
Once they were scurrying away was when I relaxed and looked at the woman. "That was totally awesome!" I said in excitement. "Wow, you have some serious magic. I bet Twilight would love to meet you! I'm Rainbow Dash. What's your name?"
The woman gave me a funny look as if to figure me out, but she giggled and held out a hand. "I'm Molly. I'm The Winter Lady of the Fairy Court." I got what she was doing quickly and too her hand in mine. Her skin was ice cold to the touch, but I could feel the power in her. "Rainbow Dash? That's an interesting name. Love the hair."
Unlike the guys, I could hear the honest truth within her voice. "Thanks. Yours looks awesome too."
"So, where you from?” she asked. “You live here in Chicago?"
Chicago? Was that anything like Chicacolt? "Umm, not exactly," I said. "I was sorta sent here with my friends to find someone. But we got separated. There's Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy." She looked at me funny.
"Maybe I should make a call," she said. "I have a friend here in the city who could help."
"That would be great,” I said.
She walked away a bit and pulled out something from her pocket and held it up to her ear and spoke into it. "Hey, Hobbit, it's Molly," she said. Despite her walking away a bit, I could still hear her clearly. "Is Harry there?" She paused for a moment. I guess that thing let’s her talk with someone far away. "No, not our brother." She paused for moment. "Hey, mom. Is Harry there?” She waited for a response. “Thank you, mom."
I watched her as she waited. "What is that thing?" I asked her.
I saw her tilt her head a bit. "It's a cell phone," she told me. "You're seriously not from here, are you?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm not."
"Hold that thought," she said, turning away. "Hey, Harry....Ya, I just got into town. Listen, I kind of have a situation...Well, there's someone here who-” She stopped as if she was cut off. "Ya." She looked back at me, listening to whoever this Harry was. "Ya, her name is Rainbow Dash...Ya, I'm near the rift...Ok, see you soon." She pushed something on the cell phone and put it back into her pocket.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"It seems Harry might have found one of your friends,” she told me.
I felt excited and relieved that my friends were alright. Well, at least one of them were, but it was a start. I was most worried about Fluttershy. Being alone in a strange world like this would probably freak her out.
“Who is it?" I asked her.
"Twilight Sparkle,” she told me.
I was hoping it was Fluttershy. I knew Twilight would be able to take care of herself. Really, they all could, but Fluttershy was fragile and would probably curl up into a ball. At least I know where one of my friends were. Together, we could find Fluttershy and the others.
"Is something wrong?" the woman asked. "Are you not happy to see your friend?"
"It's not that,” I said. “I'm glad Twilight is alright. But she's not the one I'm most worried about. Twilight can take care of herself, but Fluttershy is probably terrified."
"Don't worry. If anyone could find them, it's Harry." She walked over to a trash can and sat down on it.
"So, what's a Winter Lady?" I asked her.
"You really know nothing about this world?" she asked.
"No,” I confirmed.
"Well, there's a fairy realm that sits close with our world,” she explained. “There are two fairy courts who run it, the Summer Court and the Winter Court. Each court has a Lady, a Queen, and a Mother, each stronger than the last. Each court has a Knight who serves the queens of each court, queens being all of us cause we're all queens even if only two are called as such. I am the Winter Lady. Harry, the man I was talking to on the phone, is my Knight."
This made my head dizzy. "What are you talking about? I'm just confused now."
She giggled a bit. "I guess it could be confusing. Think of me as a princess. There is a queen. And the mother is like a goddess. And then there's a knight who works for us."
"So, what do you do?" I asked.
"We deal with crap in the Nevernever, that's the fairy realm,” she said. “Except Harry. He deals with things in this realm. That's his job."
"So, are you all fairies?" I asked.
"Not really, she told me. “I'm human, but I've been close to fairies long enough to be eligible to become a lady. Harry is human. He'll stay human. I'll probably become a fairy over time. That's just how it is."
"So, do you control the weather here?" I asked. I mean, they were called the Winter and Summer Courts, right?
"Kind of,” she said. “The fairies can affect the weather, but it changes on its own. During the winter months, the Winter Court gets stronger, especially the Mother, the Queen, Harry, and myself. The Summer Court gets weaker at that time. But when summer rolls around, the Summer Court gets stronger while we get weaker."
Now I was more interested in how the weather acts on its own. "This place is really weird," I said. "Where I'm from, we actually have to change the weather ourselves. In fact, I work as one of the operators."
"How does that work?" she asked.
"Well, we were getting ready for an event,” I explained. “So, I was moving clouds and keeping a cool wind blowing through so it wasn't too hot and keep the sky clear. And we have winter to get ready for. So, we do races through the forest to knock the leaves off the trees. Then we cool the air down and bring in clouds filled with snow to start covering the land. After a few cycles, we have Winter Wrap-Up. We clear out all the snow, break up the ice in the lakes, and start planting seeds and waking up the animals who hibernate during winter."
I think she was trying to imagine a world where weather was manufactured because she looked deep in thought. I guess I had to imagine how weather was natural and no one had to go around to bring winter or rain somewhere. Then again, the Everfree Forest had it’s own weather, so maybe it’s not that farfetched.
My thoughts were interrupted by somepony calling out to me. I looked around and saw a dark skin young woman running towards me.
A heavy weight fell over me. Where were my friends? Did something happen to them? What if something terrible happened to them? No, I shouldn't think like that. Maybe they just didn't get through and are still in Canterlot? Maybe they appeared somewhere else in this realm? If that's the case, I just hope they were all alright. I needed to find them; but first, I needed to find out where I was.
I stood up, wobbling a bit. I will never get fully use to walking on two legs. At least I've done it. The others would have a harder time since they've only ever walked on two legs when Discord brought us to visit Hero. They still haven't had multiple visits to a world where they took this form, however. I just had to hope they were alright for now.
After I got my balance, I started to make my way down the ladder out of the tree house. Once I reached the ground, I started to walk towards the house, looking around. In the horizon, I could see tall buildings like Manehatten or Chicacolt, though I knew it wasn't.
I moved around the house but I spotted a machine pulling up to the house, so Iquickly ducked aside, hiding behind some trash cans. The machine looked like something I saw in another realm. I think it was called a 'car.' It pulled up to the house and stopped, turning off. A door opened and a young woman got out as another older woman got out on the other side. By the looks of them, I could tell that they were mother and daughter.
Two more doors opened and a younger woman and an even younger boy stepped out. The two looked like they were in school uniforms. The boy was talking about something that sounded like a game as he reached back into the car, retrieving a bag. After he had done so, another girl got out. She looked to be a little younger than the boy, but her features seemed different than the others. Then a beast of a dog got out behind her.
I fell back when I saw the big fluffy dog. At first, I thought it was a Diamond Dog from his size, but he didn't seem threatening or anything. Still, the sight of it surprised me and I fell back, knocking over a trash can as I did, the contents falling onto me. It got their attention. The little girl hugged the dog at once. The oldest woman started to walk over as the other started to get her brother and sisters inside. However, the dog and the youngest girl stayed, the girl a little surprised that the dog wasn't moving.
The woman came right to me and looked down at me. I gave her a sheepish smile. "Umm, hi," I said. "Well, this is a little awkward."
"What are you doing sneaking around my place and spying on me and my family?" the woman demanded. I could see the oldest daughter running back out, trying to get the big dog and the little girl inside, but the dog wouldn't move, and the girl held onto him.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to spy or anything. I was trying to find my way out of here and look for my friends. My name's Twilight Sparkle."
The older daughter called out to the older woman. "Mother. I can't get Mouse to come inside." Mouse? The large dog is called Mouse? I had to fight not to giggle at that. The woman glanced over her shoulder at the two girls and the dog and studied the dog before looking at me again.
"Get up," she said to me. "Let's get you inside and cleaned up."
I think that surprised her daughter more than me; but I got up anyway, feeling my cheeks heat up from embarrassment. I looked over at the dog, noticing that the dog was wagging his tail, his jaw open in a doggie grin. He patted over to me, the little girl by his side and sniffed my hand. I gave him a grin as I looked at the mother and her oldest daughter. They seemed to be surprised at Mouse's actions, but they relaxed. I guess if the dog approves of me, I wasn't a bad pony...or human in this world.
I followed them inside the home, the mother in front and her daughter behind me. The smaller girl and her dog followed behind her. I felt something as I walked through the doorway of the home and rocked a bit, putting a hand on the doorway as I tried to steady myself. I never felt something like that before. It was like there was a resistant that broke way as I stepped through. I looked around as I walked inside, seeing that this place had a lot of history.
"Amanda," the mother said. "Take Maggie and your brother and sister to the kitchen and start making dinner. Michael and Mr. Dresden should be here shortly. Have Hope help you and Harry check the answering machine." She looked at me. "Mrs. Sparkle, was it?" I nodded. "Follow me." I did so.
I noticed the older daughter, Amanda, leading the little girl and Mouse to rejoin the other two kids before disappearing into the kitchen. I noticed that Mouse stayed with the little girl the whole time. I guess he was her guard dog.
I followed the woman up some stairs and to a bathroom. The woman told me to take a shower, as she hung up a towel for me, and she would return with some fresh clothes before she left, closing the door behind her. The human bathrooms were different than ours in Ponyville, but it worked much the same way. I never operated a human shower, but I quickly figured it out. I got out of the clothes I had appeared in, which now smelled like trash, and looked at myself in the mirror.
It was still weird to look at myself in a mirror, expecting to see my pony reflection, but is greeted with a dark skinned, dark haired young woman instead. Actually, my hair was more of a darker purple. My figure looked so strange and alien to me, my mind kept yelling at me that this wasn't right. I pushed all that back and got in the shower.
It felt really nice and refreshing. Don't get me wrong, I had a nice refreshing bath the previous day, but after having trash dumped on you, this felt great. However, the worry over my friends quickly came over me and I rushed to clean up. I used one of the shampoos that was sitting there, though I didn't know what was the difference between shampoo and 'Body Wash.' I guess since humans didn't have fur, they had to treat their skin with something different. As a pony, we could use the same stuff to wash our manes and tails as well as the rest of our bodies. Then again, I knew Rarity would use all sorts of different stuff for her mane, tail, and coat.
After I was clean, I turned off the water and grabbed the towel the woman had left me. Once I was dry, I wrapped the towel around me as someone knocked on the door. I jumped a bit but giggled to myself. I opened the door to see the woman with some clothes. She looked at me skeptically as she thrust the clothes into my arm.
"Get dressed before someone sees you like that," she said. "Don't you have any modesty?" She shut the door on me as I stood there, surprised. I almost forgot about one of the rules Discord had told us last time. Clothes weren't just for fashion here. It was to cover up your body. To run around without clothes was indecent and inappropriate, and would be shamed upon for doing so.
Once I was dressed, I stepped out of the bathroom and went down the stairs. It looked like the woman was about to come check on me since she stopped at the foot of the stairs.
"Alright, now that you're not covered in trash, I want you to explain to me what you're doing here," she demanded from me.
I chewed on my lip, thinking. How would she react if I told her I was a pony from another world sent here to find not just one, but two creatures of chaos. She might think I'm crazy. Then again, Hero came from this world, right? It might not sound too crazy for her.
I rather play it safe.
"Umm, well, I don't know how I ended up here,” I said, which was sort of true. “But I got separated from my friends and-" I was cut off by the front door opening up and a man walking in. He was tall and muscular and his face had a lot of hair, black with a lot of gray in it. He was wearing a flannel style shirt and walked with a cane. He looked at the woman and smile, giving her a hug. The woman gave a smile and hugged back, but continued to look at me. He followed her gaze to me and gave a soft smile.
"Good evening," he said. "You a friend of Amanda or something? I'm her father, Michael Carpenter." The woman put a hand on his arm before he could go up the stairs to meet me. I noticed another man, a little taller than Mr. Carpenter, walk in.
This second man had a more square jaw, and looked like his facial hair was just growing out. His shirt was black with a white silhouette of a spider on it, and he wore a thick leather coat that hung down to his ankles. He was also carrying a wooden staff in his hand.
"What's going on?" he asked as he looked between the two of them. He looked up at me and frowned. I looked at him in his eyes but noticed how he avoided eye contact. That somehow reminded me of something, but I wasn’t sure what.
"She said her name was Twilight Sparkle," the woman said. "I caught her sneaking around outside the house when we got home." She looked at the second man. "Mouse seems to like her, Mr. Dresden." He shot a glance at her then at me in surprised. "Do you know her?"
"No idea. Mouse," he called. The dog came around the corning, I'm guessing from the kitchen, with the girl following behind him. I saw how he soften his expression at the sight of the girl. "Stay there, Maggie. I need to borrow Mouse for a moment."
"Okay, daddy," she said with a smile at him. Mouse walked away from her and came over to the man. So the little girl wasn't a Carpenter, but was this other man's daughter.
"Mouse?" he questioned the dog. Could the dog speak? "Do you know this woman?" The dog gave a soft sneeze as he shook his head. "Is she safe?" The dog gave a doggie grin. So the dog could understand us and they could understand him by his behavior. The man look at me again. I couldn't help but feel anxious.
"Look, I must go. I really need to find my friends," I said.
The man stepped passed the Carpenters and went up the stairs to me. Even with him standing a few steps below me, he was still taller than me. He held out a hand to me, though he didn't look me in the eyes. Something about that kept nagging at me. I looked at his hand, not sure what he was trying to do. I held up a hand, mimicking him. He then grasped my hand, not hard, but not loosely either. I could feel something from him and I knew what it was.
"Magic," I gasped. "Oh, thank Celestia, there's magic here."
That got me strange looks. Did I assume too much? "Celestia?" he questioned. I heard a ringing sound from another room. The woman walked off, leaving her husband and this man here at the stairs with me. "Who are you? Or should I ask, 'what' are you?"
Did he know already? Who was this man? Should I tell him? "I...ummm...I'm..."
"Mr. Dresden," came the woman's voice. "It's Molly. She says she needs to talk with you at once."
I saw a puzzled look on his face before he let go of my hand and walked back down the steps. I saw him mumble something to the other man before he went around the corner. The other man, Mr. Carpenter, gave me a soft smile.
"Well, come sit down," Mr. Carpenter said. "Have something to eat. We'll talk and help find your friends."
I heard my stomach grumble at the mention of food and blushed a bit, giving off a nervous laugh. "Hehe, ya, sure," I said and walked down the steps. The dog walked beside me and I petted his head. The little girl came over to him and hugged him.
"Mouse likes you," she said. "I guess you passed the test."
"Test?" I questioned.
"Yep,” she said. “Mouse is very protective. If you were dangerous, he would have let us all know. But he doesn't seem to think you're dangerous."
"Oh, right," I said, giggling nervously again. With my experience in tests, I thought maybe this was one big test.
"I'm Maggie," she said. "That's my daddy, Harry." She pointed at the man in the coat who was now talking into something he held, looking at me. "What's your name?" she asked me.
I gave her a smile. "I'm Twilight Sparkle."
She giggled. "That's a funny name."
I giggled a bit, though I wasn't sure why. I watched as Mr. Dresden set the device down. "Mrs. Sparkle," he started as he reached into a pocket of his coat. I saw he pull out a stone and frown down at it. I thought it glowed for a moment. "Do you know a Rainbow Dash?"
The next morning, I called up Michael and asked him to pick me up while Murphy checked the Paranet for any updates. No luck on that. No one seems to know who Sam Singer was and no one came forward as being this guy either. Well, there were Sam Singers, but none were in Chicago. I might have to talk with Thomas later.
I dressed in some blue jeans I had at Murphy's and a black Spider-man t-shirt. I had pulled on my black leather duster and grabbed my wooden wizard staff when Michael pulled up. After Michael picked me up, we went to Saint Mary of the Angels together. Michael told me how someone warned Father Forthill that a possible Outsider might try and take one of the coins. Forthill was going to look into it and meeting up this afternoon.
"From what I can find out," Forthill told us after we got there, "there doesn't seem to be anymore missing coins than the ones that went missing two years ago."
"Hell's bells," I said softly. I saw the look that Father Forthill gave me. "Sorry. And we still don't know how many went missing?"
"Sadly, no," he confirmed. "I did receive Namshiel's coin last year." I looked at him, suspiciously. "Don't worry. It's locked up here."
"Won't that put a target on this church, Father?" Michael asked.
"It's better than them walking out of the vaults," Forthill said.
Wow, Father Forthill was pissed at the Church also about this whole thing. If he doesn't trust the Church with the coins, this was a serious deal. Apparently, someone else knew about it too.
"So, who was this guy asking about the coins?" I asked.
"Not sure who he was," he said. "He never gave me a name. He said his brother might be after one of them."
Pieces started to click together. "Was this an older man in a brown suit, white hair and beard, carried a cane?" I asked.
"Yes, actually," he confirmed.
"He came into the pub last night asking Mac for information," I said. "And I think he was attacked by a Fomor last night too. His name's Sam Singer."
"Never heard of him," Forthill said. "But whoever he is, he's suppose to be here soon."
He never showed. While we waited, I called my brother to get a description of the man involved. It was the same man. Whoever this guy was, he was involved in this somehow. I called Murphy to see if she got anything else from the Paranet, but nothing. I told her to expand the search with the description of the guy.
Since he never showed, and I was getting hungry, Michael and I hit up a Burger King before we headed back to his place. It was there that my day was going to get more interesting.
We walked into Michael's house to find his wife Charity standing at the foot of the stairs looking up at a young dark skin woman around maybe her early 20’s. The black shirt she wore had a Splattercon logo on it and the blue jeans had a few holes in them. I recognized the clothes as their eldest daughter's clothes. Apparently, she just took a shower and changed clothes since her dark hair was all wet. I couldn't tell if her hair was black or a dark purple since it was wet, but there was a pink stripe that ran through her hair.
"Good evening," Michael said. "You a friend of Amanda or something? I'm her father, Michael Carpenter." He started to go up the stairs to shake her hand.
I tighten my grip on my wooden staff as I looked over her. I could feel her inspecting each of us, and I could almost feel an odd power from her. I looked at Charity. "What's going on?" I asked.
"She said her name was Twilight Sparkle," Charity said, not taking her eyes off the woman. "I caught her sneaking around outside the house when we got home." She looked at me. "Mouse seems to like her, Mr. Dresden. Do you know her?"
I looked from Charity to the girl. I've never seen this girl in my life, and, as far as I knew, neither did Mouse. Mouse was my dog before my apartment burnt down. After I brought Maggie here, I had Mouse stay with her to protect her. I jokingly say that Mouse is a tiny dinosaur. He was in fact a Temple Dog, or a Foo Dog. Whatever you want to call him, he was special. He could sense danger and when he needs to he could put up a good fight. He could even keep up with a fast moving car or wake up the entirety of an apartment building with a single bark, and make everyone fully awake and alert. If he growled at someone, they were dangerous. If not, they weren't.
"No idea," I said. "Mouse." I called out to him. My large gray dog came out from the kitchen followed by a young girl, not quite in her teens yet. My daughter. "Stay there, Maggie. I need to borrow Mouse for a moment."
"Okay, daddy," she said with a smile. I wanted to give her a smile, but I kept the serious look on my face. I watched as Mouse walked over to me.
"Mouse? Do you know this woman?" I asked. Mouse gave a soft sneeze as he shook his head. A no. "Is she safe?" The dog gave a doggie grin. A yes. I looked back at the girl, studying her again.
"Look, I must go. I really need to find my friends," she said.
I walked up the steps. Even though I stopped a few steps before her, I was still taller than her. I had a theory, and I wanted to test it. I held out my hand to her. I saw she was looking at my eyes, but I avoided hers. I didn't want to get into a Soul Gaze with her...if I could Soul Gaze her.
What was odd was her behavior. She seemed to not know what a handshake was. She looked down at my hand for a moment before she held out hers. I took her hand and shook it softly. I felt the tingle of power. It wasn't a minor magical power some folks had. It was like I was shaking hands with someone from the White Council of Wizards. She had power.
"Magic," she said suddenly, sounding relief. "Oh, thank Celestia, there's magic here."
That...that threw me off balance. She didn't knew there was magic here? And what’s a Celestia? I stared at her as I heard the phone ring from the other room.
“Who are you?” I asked. “Or should I ask, 'what' are you?" She started to stutter, but she didn't get to answer. Charity called me from the kitchen. I growled as I turned and went back down the stairs. I stopped by Michael and lowered my voice. "She has power, but I don't think she's a danger to us. She might even know what's going on here."
With that, I went to the kitchen to take the phone. I put a hand on Maggie's head, giving her a soft smile as I walked passed her. I took the phone from Charity, telling me it was Molly. "Ya."
"Hey, Harry," came Molly’s voice from over the line, though it was crackling a bit.
"You just get here?" I asked.
"Ya, I just got into town,” she said. “Listen, I kind of have a situation."
"What's that?" I asked, though I had a feeling I knew what she was going to say.
"Well, there's someone here who-” l
"Just kind of showed up?" I asked, cutting her off.
"Ya,” she said. I thought I got a hint of surprise from her.
"Ya, I have that situation here too,” I said. “A Twilight Sparkle. She's looking for her friends. You found one of them?"
"Ya, her name is Rainbow Dash,” she told me.
"Rift?” I asked.
"Ya, I'm near the rift,” she confirmed.
"Wait there, I'll be there soon,” I told her.
"Ok, see you soon,” she said and hung up.
I hung up. As I did, I felt a hot pulse coming from one of my duster's pockets. I started dig into my pocket as the girl entered the room.
“Mrs. Sparkle," I said, pulling out a rock from my pocket. There was power coming from it, making it glow softly. Something was going on at my island, Demonreach. "Do you know a Rainbow Dash?"
She got excited, confirming that she was one of her friends, and told me there were five others. Great. So, there were five more of these girls that had appeared around the city. I tried to think of possible locations that these girls could have appeared in, but as far as I knew, it was random. So I started to formulate a plan. First, pick up Molly and this Rainbow Dash.
By the way, what is up with these names? Who names a child 'Twilight Sparkle' and 'Rainbow Dash'? Then again, there was a very real possibility that they were not from this realm. I knew they weren't fairies, or at least Twilight wasn’t. In fact, the power I felt from Twilight seemed human. There did seem to be something different about her, but I couldn't begin to understand what it was.
Second, was to check out the island. If something was going on there, then I need to check it as soon as I can. By all means, one of her friends might have appeared there. And I didn't have enough things to worry about with this Sam guy running around. Then there was whatever happened at the college. I'm still chopping that up to a prank, but I'm starting to think it was too much of a coincidence to brush off. Then there was the Fomor attack, a possible coin abduction, and, to top it off, Halloween.
I left the house with Twilight, leaving Michael to call my brother for me. I felt bad having to leave my daughter so soon, but she understood that I had a busy life. I opened the car door for the girl, at least I could still be polite. I choose to borrow their minivan. If I'm going to be picking up stranded women all over town, I'll need a larger vehicle than Michael's pickup. Sure, they could all fit in the back, but it's late October in Chicago. I'm not that crawl.
"Seat belt," I told her as I started the car. I buckled my own and looked at her. She looked confused. "Seat belt?" Ya, something was really off about this girl. It took her a while to figure out how to put a damn seat belt on. She was very bizarre.
It wasn't until we got going when I asked her, "You know what's going on, don't you? First some guy pokes around at the pub and church, then you appear, and now something is going on at my island."
She looked at me with interest. "Did this guy look like a mix of different animals? Called himself Discord?" she asked.
"What? No,” I said. “Just some old guy named Sam Singer. You saying that this Discord is a some Frankenstein creature made up of several animal body parts?"
"Frankenstein?" she questioned as if she never heard of the name. If she's never heard of that, especially when Halloween was around the corner, she was definitely not from this world.
"Nevermind,” I said. “So, your friend Discord is made up of several different animals. What is he?"
"He is a Draconequus,” she told me.
I frown, trying to figure out what a Draconequus was. I've never heard of such a thing. Something I'll have to look into later. "Why are you here?" I asked.
"Discord's brother escaped to this land, we believe,” she explained. “His name is Chaogent. He tried to attack us before, but we defeated him with the help of a friend of ours. We turned him into stone but he somehow escaped. Discord came here to try and find him, but he never returned. So, my friends and I were sent to find them."
That made no sense. "Ok, start from the beginning."
She took a deep sigh. "Alright. So, I'm from this land called Equestria. Little more than a hundred moons ago, some, well, guy named Hero appeared.” Wait, Hero? “We were trying to help him get back here when Chaogent attacked us. Hero helped us turn him into stone. But yesterday, Chaogent escaped and it seems he might have came here. Discord came here to look for him, but he never came back. So, my friends and I were sent here to find Discord and stop Chaogent."
"Alright," I said, thinking. I knew Hero. He was someone who I met many years ago. The last time I saw him, he seemed a lot different. He was nicer. It was odd. Did this realm change him. I guess if he helped them out, they must not be too bad. "If you're friends with Hero, I'll help you out."
"Wait, you know Hero?" she asked in excitement.
"I've helped him out a few times and he's done the same for me," I answered.
"Where is he now?” she asked. “He could be helpful."
"Back in his land,” I said. “And I can't contact him directly, so he won't be any help in this."
"Where is his land?” she asked. “Maybe there's a way to go get him?"
I shook my head. "No, I don't know how to get to his land. Besides, he made it sound like he's on the other side of the world. We'll have to do this on our own."
"Oh...Applejack won't like that,” she said, more to herself than to me.
"One of your friends?" I asked her.
"Ya, she and Hero kind of became close while he was in our land,” she told me. “I think she was hoping to see him again while we were here."
I cut the conversation short as I reached the alleyway that the rift between our world and the fairy realm was. I pulled over to the curb and killed the engine. I got out of the car and walked around it to the alley, stopping to look at her as she figured out how to unbuckle the seatbelt and open the door. I guess they didn't have cars in her world.
We walked up to see Molly sitting and talking with a young woman with rainbow colored hair. So her hair is rainbow and her name is Rainbow Dash. If she runs fast, I'm quitting my job. ‘Cause this is some bullshit cliché, and I know clichés. I have been chained up and had to listen to an evil badguy's monologue.
We reached the two of them, the girls hugged and reconnected, but I cut them off before they got too far into talking. The heat of the stone returned. I pulled it out and frowned at the thing. It had to be serious if I was getting more alerts from Demonreach. So I got all of the girls into the car, and made my way to meet my brother at the docks.
The day started out so peacefully. I had a lovely sleep. My cute little birdie friends came in through my window and softly woke me with their lovely chirping. I stretched and smiled at them. "Good morning," I said, cheerfully. "It's such a lovely morning today, isn't it?" They chirped happily in agreement. I pushed myself out of bed and went over to where Angel was sleeping. That little bunny always loved to sleep in. "Wake up, Angel. It's a lovely day out."
Angel opened an eye at me, frowned and rolled over in his bed. "Now don't be that way," I told him. "You know today that Twilight is coming over. Then you and I are going to the spa so you can get a nice massage." That got his attention. He hopped up, excited. "There you go. Now, go get ready for breakfast."
I started to prepare food for all of my animal friends. The squirrels crawled in through the windows as my lovable butterflies followed. A ferret slipped in from under the crack in the door as a few more birds flew in the windows. More and more animals came inside my home as I finished getting their food ready. I set it all out for them and made a salad for Angel.
“There you go," I said. "Now remember, Discord is suppose to come over soon, so we want to keep the place clean for our guest."
Oh, Discord. What an interesting friend of mine. He really made an impression the first time I let him into my home. The animals were all afraid when he would come around, but since he has gotten better, they began to like him. Even Angel, who really disliked him for the longest time.
I found myself sitting and waiting for him for a really long time. As it got later, and me hungrier, I started to get worried. He may be a little hard to deal with at times, but he was never late for our plans. Did he forget about me? No, he wasn't like that. After all that we went through, he wouldn't forget a little breakfast like this, would he?
I'm sure he was just busy or something. Before I knew it, it was almost time for Twilight to get here. I decided to just push my worry away for now, eat something small to tie me over, and get everyone ready for Twilight.
She came running up to me in a hurry. "Oh, hi, Twilight," I said, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.
She looked at me as if she was trying to figure out what to say first. "Are you alright, Fluttershy?" she asked. "You seem worried."
"Oh me? No, I'm just fine," I lied.
"Well, I got news,” she said. “Princess Celestia has summoned us. It sounds important too. Could you go find Rainbow Dash and meet us at my place?"
"Oh, I hope everything is alright," I said.
"I'm not sure yet,” she said. “She didn't say in her letter, but it sounds urgent."
"Well, I'm on my way then," I said.
"Thanks," she said and rushed off. I looked around at my animal friends.
"Sorry, friends," I told them. "It seems there might be an emergency. I guess I have to go." They gave me convert, knowing that I didn't like confrontations. I rather just sit in my house and not get involved, but I was one of Twilight's friend. I needed to do my part to help. So I headed out to find Rainbow Dash.
I knew she was busy with weather duties, getting everything ready for Nightmare Night. I headed to the area she was in charge of for the day, overlooking Ponyville.
"'Sup, Fluttershy," she said when I flew up to her. "Did you come to lend a hoof?"
"Oh no," I said. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash, but Twilight just told me that Princess Celestia needs us for something."
"Princess Celestia?" she asked in surprised. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know,” I said. “ But Twilight wants us to meet at her place."
"Right. Let's go." And she flew off towards Twilight's place.
"Oh, but what about your chores?" I asked. "I could stay and do them for you."
She flew back to me and pushed me from behind. "That's nice, Fluttershy, but if Princess Celestia needs all of us, that means you too." I sighed and gave in.
After we all met up at Twilight's place, we made our way together to Canterlot. One thing kept bothering me, though. What happened to Discord? My dear friend, Discord. Was this about him? Did he have another relapse? Gosh, I hope not. He was such a great friend, I hate for him to go back to his old ways again. Especially after everything that happened with his brother.
I wasn't expecting this though. His brother escaping? Discord disappearing when he went to find him? Oh dear. What should I do? I couldn't sit back and let my friends go at it alone. I couldn't let Discord go if he was in trouble. I had to help. So I agreed to help them.
That was the last thing I remember before Princess Luna and Princess Celestia covered us up in this magical light. I closed my eyes in fear as I felt the energy wash over me. I wanted to scream, but instead, I fainted.
When I awoke, I was in a dark place. I looked around, seeing that I was in an alley, much like the ones in Chicacolt, but this was dirtier. I looked around nervously for my friends, but they weren't there.
"Oh no," I said to myself. I feared the worst. That I was sent to the wrong place and I was all alone. I put my hooves over my eyes and was startled on what I found. My hooves were gone. I jumped and squeaked in fear as I looked at myself. I recognized this form from when we visited Hero. So, not only was I alone, I was in this form that I wasn't too familiar with.
I jumped again when I heard a horn from the streets outside of the alley. I started breathing deeply, panicking. What was I going to do? I was too afraid to move. Oh, Celestia. Some pony please save me.
"Are you alright?" I heard a voice ask. I jumped at the voice and looked around. I saw a...human...I think he was called a man, according to what Discord had told us. He was standing over me and grinning. I was so scared that I didn't even notice him walk up to me. "What is a helpless young girl like you doing in an alley all alone," the strange man said. I then felt him grab hold of my arm and pull me up.
I squeaked in fear, trying to pull away. "Please, don't," I pleaded. I felt his hand grab me in a place he shouldn't and I squeaked again, tears forming in my eyes. I felt him rubbing me and I cried more. "Please, no. I need to find my friends."
"I'll be your friend," he said as I felt his hand slip under the dress I wore, touching me. He lifted the dress high enough to see the pink under garments I had on. He was rubbing my all over before he slipped his hand down the under garment between my legs. I squeezed my legs as hard as I could, scared.
“Please, no!” I pleaded.
"Hey!" came another voice. "Let her go." I looked up and saw another man. He was in white clothes and had long black hair...and I felt butterflies in my stomach.
The man holding me growled as he stared at the handsome man. "Mind your own business. This whore is mine."
I felt the man let go as he was suddenly jerked away from me. I didn't even see the man in white move. He was at the end of the alley and the next thing I knew, he was right there, pulling the man off of me. I heard the man cry out in surprise as he was pulled away. The man in white, pushed him hard into the side of the building.
“Get lost, ass-hole," the man in white said. "I don't want to get blood on my new clothes." He pushed the man away and the man ran off.
I slipped to the ground and curled up into a ball, crying. Why was this happening to me? That was so horrible and terrifying. Why did this have to happen to me? I looked at the man in white as he knelt down in front of me.
"Are you alright, miss?" he asked me in a gentle voice. "I won't hurt you."
I don't know what made me do it, but I wrapped my arms around him, holding onto him and crying. I felt his arms go around me and held me. He felt gentle and I felt like I was safe with him. I don't know how else to explain it. This felt...right. Yet, somehow, something was bothering me at the back of my mind.
We remained that way for a while until something buzzing from him made me jump in surprise. He pulled away and pulled out some device from a pocket. He put it up to his ear and spoke into it. "Yes?" He was silent for a moment as if he was listening. "The docks?" Another pause. "I'll be there shortly." He then put the device away.
"Please don't leave me," I said before I could stop myself.
He gave me a reassuring smile. "I won't," he said as he helped me up. "I'm Thomas Raith. Who might you be?"
"F-Fluttershy," I stammered out.
"Well, Fluttershy, where do you live?” he asked. “I'll drive you home."
"I...I don't live here...I'm lost..." I saw worry in his eyes and I felt like hugging him again. I started to feel other things too, a heat that was rising within me, starting somewhere from between my legs. I blushed a bit as I looked around.
"Come on, we'll find you a place to stay," he said and he started to guide me out of the alley. I felt a little different all of sudden. As if that heat just subsided. It was a strange feeling. Something about this human made me feel things I never have before.
I looked around as I walked with him. I held onto him, trying to get use to my new form. He seemed really worried by the way I was moving. We got to a white metal carriage that looked like it had some damage on the back and he opened the door for me to get in. I did so, being careful. Once I was inside, he closed the door again and went to the other side. I looked down at myself.
I had a dress on. It was a one piece dress that matched the color of my fur with my cutie marks on it. However, I had no fur. I had white skin though, not too pale but not dark either. I couldn't feel my wings anymore, nor my tail. My mane was still there, though it seemed to grow differently. It still fell over one side of my face though. I fidgeted a lot, trying to figure out all of my new parts. I had done this once before when Discord took my friends and I to visit Hero in his realm. It was so long ago that I forgot.
"Do you remember where you're from?" the man named Thomas asked me. I snapped back to my senses and realized the carriage was moving, without a stallion or any pony at all. Was it moving by magic?
"Oh...umm...Equestria," I said softly.
"Never heard of that," he said in a curious tone. "What were you doing in that alleyway?"
"I just awoke there," I said. "I came here with some friends to find somepony."
I got a strange confused look from the man. "Somepony?"
I felt my cheeks heat up as I blushed brightly. I had forgotten that 'somepony' wasn't a common term here. Discord had told me once that other realms used the term 'somebody' instead. "Umm, I mean, somebody," I said quickly and softly.
I noticed him give me a glance. "What are you?" he asked. "You're certainly not a human."
I looked at him in surprise. How did he know? "Umm...I...I don't..." I saw him look at me again and started to feel that heat again. "No, I'm not," I confessed. "I'm not from this realm." I took a few deep breaths. "I'm a pony from Ponyville and some bad creature named Chaogent escaped and we believe he came here and we sent our friend to find him but he went missing and so me and my friends came here to find them both but I we were separated and I don't know where I am or where my friends are." I squeaked a bit as I closed my eyes and looked away.
I felt the carriage come to a stop. I opened an eye and looked at the man to see him looking at me. It felt like he was judging me, debating rather if I was telling the truth or some crazy pony...or rather human. However, he shrugged, looked forward, and moved his leg as the carriage started to move again.
"I've heard weirder stuff," he said. "Well, Mrs. Fluttershy, I'll help you find your friends. But I have to make a stop first by the docks. It seems a friend of mine needs help investigating something. He might be able to help you as well."
I looked at him, joy filling me. I wanted to hug him, even kiss him. Oh, dear Celestia, I even felt like I wanted to do something more with him. I didn't know why I felt this way. It seemed really out of place for me, like something was making me feel this way. I fought the thoughts and feelings back, feeling my cheeks burn and a wetness forming between my legs. I shifted a bit as I spoke.
"Oh, thank you," I said. "Thank you so much."
"Don't thank me yet," he said. "If there's some dangerous creature running around, we might be a long way from settling this. Plus, my friend will probably get involved in this. Meaning something might be set on fire soon. Or turned to ice. Or both."
I didn't know what he meant by that. Was he saying he had magic? If that was true, then this world had magic too. We might have a chance to stop Chaogent and find Discord after all. I guess finding Twilight and the others were my first priority. As much as I would like to find Discord first, I couldn’t do it alone. There was no way I was going to go look for Chaogent by myself. I wish I had just stayed home instead.
I was so deep in thought, I didn't realize that we had stopped again. The man nudged me softly and I snapped back to myself. "Huh?"
"We're at the docks," he said as he opened the door and got out of the carriage.
I looked around at my door and opened it. I stepped out, swaying a bit, but I kept myself steady with the door. Then I squeaked in surprise as I felt someone hug me. Actually, two people were hugging me. "Fluttershy!" came two familiar voices, Twilight and Rainbow Dash.
I have to say, my day started like any other. I woke up, had breakfast with Sweetie Belle before she left to meet up with her friends, and got started on some orders I needed to fill. Pinkie Pie came by to get some materials. She's always throwing a party, so I've gotten into the habit of keeping some set aside for her when she wants to make some drapes and the occasional banner. Of course when she does, she invites me to the party also. This one being for the upcoming Nightmare Night. Two Nights 'til Nightmare Night Party.
If you ask me, I'll tell you I don't understand why she has to have a party for every little thing. Despite that, I still love her parties and would always go. Alas, this wasn't going to be a night for a party. As I worked on my orders, thinking about tonight’s party, my dear Spike came to visit.
This usually was great, I loved to see my dear Spikey-Wikey. This time, he brought news. Princess Celestia has summoned us. I know my duties as a friend to Princess Twilight was important, but I was so far behind on my orders. I also still needed to work on my Nightmare Night costume. Not to mention Pinkie's party tonight. I couldn't see why we must have a crisis now. Oh well, it can't be helped.
I went with Spike, using my magic to place him on my back. He always loved riding on my back for some reason. I didn't mind, I loved my little friend. He was always so helpful and cute.
It wasn't after we got to Canterlot with all of my friends that I found out what the fuss was all about. It seemed that Discord's brother, Chaogent, has escaped to another realm and Discord has disappeared in his search to find him. So we have to go find Discord and stop Chaogent. Seeing that it was our magic that stopped him in the first place, it was a safe bet that only our magic could do it again. Though we did have a little help last time. I'm sure we can do it without our mysterious friend's help this time around.
I awoke in a bed, a large, luxuries bed if I would say so myself. The room was big and filled with expensive arrangements, paintings, and vases. It wasn't until after I tried to push myself up out of the bed that I realized that I wasn't a pony anymore. In fact, I was...oh, what were they called again? A human? Yes, I think that's what they were called.
It took me sometime to figure out my new 'body' but I did. I was dressed in a simple white top with a simple light blue skirt with my cutie mark on it. Despite it being a simple design, I still liked it. I would much rather have something more fabulous than this if I was going to be in a world where clothes were a must, but this was a start. I looked around and started to get ideas from the sheets, the curtains, and the tablecloth on the nightstands. When I tried to use my magic, however, nothing happened. I put my 'hand' to my head and found that my horn was gone. That was disappointing. I depended on my magic a lot in my world. I guess I'll have to make do without it.
I didn't get to do anything though. A man walked into the room as I got up and looked at me. "Ah, you're awake," the man said in a gentle voice. He was dressed in a suit and his face looked serious and calculative. "Did you need water? Food?"
I felt my stomach growl at the mention of food, but I wanted to know what was going on first. "Where am I? And who are you?"
"I am Johnny Marcone and you are in my estate,” he told me. “You're lucky to be alive. You appeared in front of my car and was almost ran over."
I didn't know what he meant by a car, but I had the image of a carriage running over me. I could feel myself get cold with the thought. I guess I should thank him for not hitting me. "So, you brought me here?" I asked.
"I did," he said. "Could you answer a few questions for me?" I nodded. It was the least I could do for him saving me. "Who are you? And where are you from?"
I wondered if it was alright to tell him the truth. If I were Applejack, I would have said the truth, no matter how strange it would sound to these humans. Now that I thought of it, what happened to my friends. "I'm..I'm from another world,” I said. “I came here with my friends to find something that escaped here, and a friend who came here before us. Did anyone else appeared with me?"
"You were alone," he said.
"Oh dear, I hope they're alright," I said to myself. I looked at the man again. "Well, thank you for saving me, Mr. Marcone, but I must get going to find my friends."
"First, get some food," he said. "And I still have some questions to ask you. You can't expect to come into my city without some explanation."
"I told you, I'm looking for a creature that escaped here,” I said, a little worried now.
"But you never explained who or what you are," he said. "My employee, Miss Gard, was the one who looked you over for injuries. She informed me that you have magical powers, but it's nothing from our world, and you're certainly not human."
I tried to wrap my head around all of this. I guess there was no sense in hiding the fact that I wasn't human now. What caught my attention more was the fact that I still had magic, but how could I use it without my horn? I rubbed at my head again. I certainly didn't have a horn. I'll have to figure out how to work my magic later.
"Oh, I'm Rarity,” I said. “I guess I shouldn't hide the fact now that it's clear I'm not a human. I'm a unicorn pony from Equestia."
I saw the look on his face. It seemed to me that he was trying to figure out if I was being serious. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by this. After all, I was surprised to learn that an alicorn that appeared in our world was a human. It was really the first time I met one before and wasn't sure if he was serious. Though it didn't help that a lot of other things were happening at the time, including him almost killing Pinkie Pie and Chaogent attacking us.
"Look,” I said, “I know it may sound crazy, but I am telling the truth. As for my magic...well, I guess it works differently here. I don't know how to use it."
"Well, it certainly isn't the craziest thing I've heard, Miss Rarity,” he told me. “But in my line of work I know nothing is too crazy. Come, let's eat and discuss what we can do with you."
My stomach growled again and I decided it would be best to get something to eat before I started my search for my friends. I nodded to him and he started to leave. "Oh, but I must change out of this simple thing," I said, looking down at myself again. "If I'm to go anywhere, I must dress in proper attire."
The man looked at me and gave a soft smile. "There's some clothes in that closet. Feel free to try on what you like."
"Yes, I guess that will do. I usually like to make my own clothes, but I guess time is of the essence." I walked over to the closet and opened it. I looked at all of the outfits and dresses. Some did not interest me but others really got my attention. I started looking through them until I found a really elegant dress that I must try on. I looked around to see that there was a changing screen nearby. I slipped behind that with the dress and changed into it. It took me a minute to figure out everything, I seemed to have some undergarments on also, but once I did, I stepped out and admired myself in a full body mirror.
My skin was a little pale, but it wasn't bad. It actually worked out well for me. My long blue hair was a little messy, but it still held the style I liked for my mane, and it worked perfectly with the dress. It was a blue dress, not the same shade as my hair, but it was nice and elegant. It glittered, as if there were shiny gemstones in the material, but I knew they were not. I spun around and almost tripped over my human feet, but I caught myself before I did. I liked it.
"Excellent choice," Mr. Marcone said. I gave him a smile as I flicked my hair with my hand.
"Thank you, darling," I said. "I could get use to this human form." I found a pair of shoes that matched the dress and pulled them on. I walked over to Mr. Marcone. He took my hand and placed it in his arm to hold onto him. I took it as a form of escort in this world and accepted it. "Such a gentlecolt."
The place was huge. If I didn't know better, I would say this man was a prince or something. He had lots of what looked like expensive decor and there were so many rooms that I had to say the place was a mansion. I've only ever known princes and princesses to have homes like this. There were lots of decor. Though I wasn't from this world, I could see a masterpiece when I see one. Even this unique statue of an older man who looked like he was holding up a hand to shield his eyes from a light looked spot on and realistic. Another of a man sitting with his head resting on his fist as if he was thinking and even looked like it was made of some type of metal. There were so many, I may have to stay here longer to see them all and learn about the art here.
As we made our way through the house, I met two other humans, both of which worked for Mr. Marcone. Miss Gard was very tall and had golden hair. She looked athletic and made me think she would be what Rainbow Dash would look like in this world. She didn't have that elegant talk that Mr. Marcone and I had. She sounded more rough and tough. When we gripped hands, I was surprised to be able to feel magic from her as she did from me. Perhaps I could ask her how to use the magic of this world.
The man that we met was called Mr. Hendricks. He was tall also and muscular. He also had bright red hair, but it was very short and looked flat as a table's surface. He also seemed to have a very thick neck. He didn't seem to talk much though. Despite just meeting them both, I had already formed ideas for new outfits for them. No matter where I was or my situation, I could always find time to make new ideas.
We made our way out of the home, which did turn out to be a mansion, and got in this device that was like a carriage but was certainly not. Mr. Hendricks got in the front while I got in the back with Mr. Marcone and Miss Gard. After we did, the thing came to life and started to move. My surprise must have shown on my face because Mr. Marcone explained to me that it was a limo and that it was use to transport us from one place to another. Oh, I was so excited to try out this new thing.
As we rode in this limo, Mr. Marcone started to ask me about my friends. "Oh, you will certainly like them," I said. "Well, some aren't as elegant as the rest of us, but they are all good friends. Let's see. Twilight is an alicorn. She can use magic like I can, but I'm sure that the magic in this world works differently, so she might be powerless like I am at the moment.
"Which reminds me, Miss Gard," I continued. "I would really appreciate it if you show me how to use my magic here. It could be useful to be able to use it."
I saw her consider me for a moment. "I will pay for your service, Miss Gard," Mr. Marcone said. With that, Miss Gard nodded at me. I couldn't really ask her to do this for free, though it would have been nice. Oh well, I guess she still has to make a living somehow.
"Thank you, Miss Gard,” I said. “And thank you Mr. Marcone. I really appreciate it."
"Not at all," Mr. Marcone said. "Please continue."
"Oh yes,” I said, getting back on topic. “Let's see, Rainbow Dash is the athletic type. Not really my style, but she is fast and loves a challenge. I imagine she would still have her rainbow color hair. Oh, then there's Fluttershy. The poor dear is probably scared stiff. I hope we can find her if not anypony else. I can't imagine what she could be going through.
"Then there's Pinkie Pie. She's hyperactive. I'm sure she is having a good old time. I wouldn't be surprised if we found her first. Then there's Applejack. She's pretty strong. But I'm sure she's found a friend of ours that lives in this realm."
"Who is it that you know here?" Mr. Marcone asked.
"His name is Hero,” I said. “He appeared in our world and we helped him get back after he helped us stop this creature that attacked us, the same creature we're trying to find now."
"You mentioned another one of your friends you're looking for," Mr. Marcone said.
"Oh yes,” I said, completely forgetting about Discord for a moment. “He's a little hard to describe. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't change his form her. In our world, he appears as a creature with different parts of different animals. Though the last time we were here to visit Hero, he appeared as a man in this black jumpsuit with a red shirt that had a badge over his left chest. I don't know if that means anything, but I've never seen it before. And it doesn't appear to be anything somepony wears around here,” I said, gesturing to the humans walking around outside.
I saw the two of them look at each other. I guess they were confused about that as well. "Well, in any case, my first priority is to find the friends I came here with." As I said this, the "limo" came to a stop.
"I'll have Miss Gard make a few calls," Mr. Marcone said. He looked at Miss Gard. "You know what to do, correct?"
"Yes, sir," Miss Gard said.
"Miss Rarity," Mr. Marcone said as the door open. "Shall we?" He got out of the limo and offered me a hand. I took it and got out.
"You are so sweet, Mr. Marcone," I said as he took my arm like before. Mr. Hendricks closed the door and got back in the front of the limo before it started to move again. "You treat me like a princess."
"I just wish to show you some hospitality during your stay here," he said as he guided me up to a fancy building.
"Welcome, Gentleman Marcone," said a nicely dressed man in all white. He then lead the two of us into a very nice restaurant. I looked around the place as we were taken to a table. Mr. Marcone, or I guess Gentleman Marcone, pulled my seat out for me.
"Thank you, my dear," I said as I sat down. He took a seat across from me as Mr. Hendricks came in and stood behind Mr. Marcone.
We started to talk. I asked him mostly about this world. It was very interesting to learn about it. The food was also very interesting. I did have to say that I loved the salads here. Miss Gard came up to us as we were eating and whispered to Mr. Marcone. I could barely make out what she said.
"There was no answer,” she said. “But I left a message to call.”
"Thank you, Miss Gard," he said. "Miss Rarity. I have someone in search of your friends. We will be informed when they have been found."
"Oh, that's wonderful news, Mr. Marcone,” I said, though from what I could make out it didn’t sound like they were able to reach this person. Oh well, maybe I just miss heard.
"Please, call me John,” he said.
I giggled a bit. "Only if you just call me Rarity."
He gave a hearty laugh and smiled at me. "I believe that is a fair trade, Rarity."
The rest of the evening went very well. After we ate, we went back to his mansion. Once we returned, Miss Gard helped me with my magic. It was odd to try and focus my magic without a horn, and when I mentioned this to her, she had the idea of giving me a wand. That certainly seemed to do the trick.
My horn and the wand worked a lot of the same way, a tool to focus my magic. I had to wonder if Twilight was learning the same as me. After a few hours, I was able to use my magic. I still had to work on it, I could only levitate two or three objects at a time. I just had to get use to how to use the wand as a focus point rather than my horn.
Miss Gard did inform me that if I practice enough, I could probably use my magic without a wand. Until then, I should continue to use it. So I practiced with it. And I practice by working on making new outfits. I couldn't really use my magic while I was sewing or cutting. I found it easier to use my magic for one or two things before I worked on something. I did discover that it took more out of me and that I was slowly getting a headache.
After working for a long time, I started to get tired. I yawned as I decided to call it a night. I just hoped that I would find out more about my friends in the morning. I changed into a nightgown, found a sleeping mask, and got ready for bed. I did my normal routine, getting my hair set and makeup cleaned off. Once I was all ready, I got into the bed.
We came to a stop by an alleyway after a short car ride and he got out. "Hey, wait for me," I said. I forgot about the seatbelt for a moment and struggled to take it off. Then I had to figure out the door, which took only a moment to do so. Once I was out of the car, I followed him down an alley.
I saw two human women sitting and talking. One had blue hair and the other had a dull rainbow color hair. I knew it was Rainbow Dash at once and started to call out to her. We hugged, I introduced her to Harry, and she introduced me to Molly.
"Are those my clothes?" Molly asked at once. It didn't really hit me until she said something. I was wearing somepony else's clothes, apparently they were hers.
"Well," I started.
"Save it," Harry said, looking at the stone from before. He put it back in his pocket. "We need to go to the island, Molly. Something's going on over there. So, let's talk in the car, ladies." He turned and started to walk back to the car.
Molly waved us to follow so we did. I started to tell Rainbow on what had happened since I awoke as we walked to the car. She told me about her little fiasco also.
“Hmm, it seems that something went wrong with the spell and it separated all of us," I said. "It must have been too much for Celastia and Luna to hold it together."
I thought about that for a while as we got in the car before I decided to ask about the island. "This island," I said, looking at Harry. "What is it?"
"It's an island out in the middle of a lake," he said. "I kind of own it. Or at least I'm in charge of it, but it seems something appeared there that's causing trouble."
"How do you know that?" Rainbow asked.
He pulled a stone out of his pocket and showed it to us. "This is a rock from the island. I put an enchantment on it so if something happens there, the spirit of the island can inform me."
"Spirit of the Island?" I question.
"Sounds a little like Maud," Rainbow whispered to me. I giggled at that.
Shortly afterwards, we came to a stop, but the car sounded odd. The overhead light flicked on before it died with a soft pop. "Mom's not going to like that," Molly said.
"She knew what the risk was when she let me borrow the minivan," Harry said, looking up at the dead light. They got out and we followed. We gathered around on the left side of the car and waited.
"Ummm, what are we waiting for?" Dash asked.
"Waiting for a friend," Harry said as he pulled the stone out again. "Thomas, you have five minutes to get your ass here."
No sooner did he said it, another car came up and parked a few hooves away. This car was white and was shaped differently, and it also looked like it had taken some damage in the back end. The moment I saw Fluttershy step out of the thing, Dash and I ran to her and hugged her. There was no doubt it was her either. The long pink hair and yellow dress with her cutie mark on it were dead giveaways. We weren't expecting to see her get out of the car, but we were sure glad she was safe. Out of all of us, she was the most fragile.
She held onto us like she never wanted to let us go and even started to cry. Then she started to explain what happened to her. It wasn't until she mentioned the person that saved her that I noticed him. And oh Celestia, did I notice him. He was so...wow. I felt a heat fill me and I wanted to jump on top of him.
It seemed Dash was feeling the same cause she was stuttering just as much as I was. Then Harry got our attention again. "Ok, ladies," he said. "I have some damn questions that need answers to." He growled as he pulled the stone out again and looked at it. "Hell's bells," he mumbled as he put the stone away. "So, everyone on the boat. We'll talk on the way." It sounded like he was getting more and more frustrated and annoyed.
Once on the boat, Harry started the motor and steered it out into the water. I sat down with my friends, feeling really cold. It was getting dark out and colder out. Molly seemed to notice and gave us some heavy winter coats. I pulled mine on as the others did the same.
"I'm Molly," she said to Fluttershy. "That man in the leather is Harry. And I guess you already met Thomas. What's your name?" Fluttershy looked down nervously. That was normal for her when meeting someone new.
"This is Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said. "You have to forgive her. She's shy when meeting new,” she paused for a moment, “people."
"It's nice to meet you all," I said. I looked at Thomas and started to get the warm feeling when he smiled at me. The heat started between my legs and I shift a bit in my seat. "I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Rainbow Dash,” I told him.
"Twilight Sparkle," he repeated. "Rainbow Dash." He seemed to consider that for a moment before he smiled again. "It's nice to meet you both."
"So, what are you?" Harry asked. "You're not humans."
After Harry asked us that, I saw Dash look at me. I felt like we should tell him the truth. At least, A.J. wouldn't hesitate to tell the truth. "They're ponies," Thomas said suddenly.
I looked at him surprised. How did he know? Then we looked at Fluttershy who blushed and covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know if we were suppose to tell or not."
"That's alright, Flutters," Dash said, putting an arm around her.
"You're ponies?" Molly asked.
"Yes," I said. "We're ponies in our world. But when we were sent here, we turned into humans."
"It's a little getting us to," Dash said. "But I love a good challenge."
"Well, you girls picked it up pretty well," Molly said.
“We’ve been here once before,” Dash said. “We were visiting our friend Hero.”
“And I’ve been in another realm with humans a few times before,” I added.
“Plus, it almost feels natural,” Dash said.
That was a surprise to me. I remembered having a hard time getting use to walking the first time I was human. Dash was able to pick it up easily and fight off attackers too. That was impressive.
By this time, we were pulling up to a dock by an island. The place looked like it was a jungle and spooky. It reminded me of the Everfree Forest, but something was telling me to leave.
"Well, this is all really odd," Harry said as he tied a rope from the boat to a wooden pole on the dock. "Alright, ponies. Stay here while I go find out what's going on." He got out of the boat and walked down the dock to the sandy beach. Once he stepped onto the beach, however, he stop. "What the fuck?"
"What is it?" Thomas asked, getting out of the boat.
"Someone's here," Harry answered. "Apparently, they just appeared here and is,” he paused for a long time as if he was trying to figure out a hard word to say. “She’s throwing a party?"
Yay! It's my turn to tell the story! Hi, readers! I hope you are all excited! I certainly am! Oh, there's so much I have to tell you! Where should I start? Oh! I should talk about the party! I mean, I do throw the most amazing parties! And with Nightmare Night coming up soon. Oh, but I guess the party isn't that important to the story. I guess I can start with the day we left Ponyville to a new world.
So, I woke up, all excited about the party from the previous night. I was so excited, I wanted to have another party! So I started gathering supplies to set up for my party. I grabbed some bags and got them strapped on my back to go get stuff. I gave Gummy a kiss on his nose and told him to watch the place. He is such a good alligator.
My first stop was at Rarity's place to get some fabrics. I wanted to use them as tablecloths and drapes. She always had the best fabrics for that and she also always had some picked out for me. Sure enough she did.
My next stop was to get confetti and balloons. I even picked up some party poppers and paint. After that, I headed back to the shop to get cupcakes and pies, and even more cake. I managed to get them all into my bags. Next was to go set up the party.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to start setting anything up. Spike came up to me as I reached the city hall. "Hey, Spike! How's it going?" I asked.
"Pinkie, we got a problem," he said. "You got to meet the others at Twilight's place. Princess Celestia has summoned all of you."
"Oh, it must be some important mission,” I said, getting excited with ideas. “ Or maybe she wants us to throw a Nightmare Night party with Luna! And I'm already set for a party!"
"There's no time, Pinkie," Spike said.
"Right!" I said. "See you tonight for my Two Nights 'til Nightmare Night Party tonight!" I started to hop away, heading to Twilight's place, singing to myself. I loved to sing, almost as much as I loved to party!
So, I got to Twilight's place first. Rarity came next with Spike on her back. The others shortly came, Twilight with Applejack, and Rainbow Dash with Fluttershy. Aww, and I came by myself. Oh well.
So, we went to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and they told us what happened. I'll spear you that part of the story, cause I mean come on, everypony else has already told you that part. Why should I repeat it? Boring.
After Celestia and Luna used their magic, I felt like I fell asleep in the white light. When I awoke, I found myself in a worn out hut. It looked like someone had been staying there with a camping cot and some can foods and containers, though it did look like it had been a while since they were there. There were even some clothes and a fireplace with an iron pot. With all that said, I didn't know where I was. So I got up to look around.
I could tell I was different somehow when I first woke up, but when I got up and stood on my two feet, I knew I was different for sure. I was in the human form I had taken when my friends and I visited our friend Hero in his world. In fact, I was in the same clothes as last time too. The only difference was that I had my bag with me that I was still carrying from Ponyville. I looked inside to see all my stuff there too. This was great! If we didn't get back right away, at least I could still throw a party. Too bad that Spike and the other ponies from Ponyville would miss it.
There wasn't time to think about that though. I had to find out where I was and what happened to Twi, Dashy, A.J., Rarity, and Fluttershy. Wait. We don't have nicknames for Rarity or Fluttershy? Ok, so Dash called her Flutters in an earlier chapter. I guess that works for her. We really need to fix that. Maybe some fanfiction writer has already given them nicknames. I should look that up later.
Oh, right, the story. Anyway, I decided to explore. I stepped out of the hut to see I was at the top of a hill, the ruins of a lighthouse was by the hut. Surrounding the hill was thick trees of a forest. It sort of reminded me of the Everfree forest. I started to feel an uneasy feeling. It felt like somepony was watching me. I kept looking around as I walked down the hill into the forest.
So, basically, I found out that I was on an island. It looked like there was a village here a long, long time ago, but the only things that remained were the ruins of the hut and lighthouse and some stone steps leading up to it. I did find a dock that looked like it was built there not too long ago. So, someone was coming here. I couldn't see land or anything beyond the water. I was stuck here. Hopefully, whoever built the dock and fixed up the hut will come back. Otherwise, I was going to be stuck here forever, and that’s a long time.
It wasn't all bad, I had a secret admirer somewhere. Though I wasn't sure what it was, something was watching me. Or rather, there was something there who knew I was there without having to follow me around. Maybe it was the island itself. Maybe there was a spirit that was the island, and it knew I was there, and that it didn't want me here. Maybe it can't get me off the island itself, so it tries to induce an uneasy feeling to get me to leave.
Well, I got news for this island. I kinda can't leave. I don't have a way to leave nor do I know where to go. I guess the island had other ways of getting me off it. Maybe it would call somepony to come get me. Until then, I'm going to throw a party!
Even though the island may not want me there, it's my new friend! So I'm going to throw a party for my new friend slash two days 'til Nightmare Night party! I ran back up to the hut and started to set up for the party.
I worked for a long time, not noticing the uneasy feeling anymore. By the time I had finished, I heard footsteps coming up from where the steps were. So I hid. Might as well throw a surprise for whoever it was. I watched from my hiding place, trying to hold in my excitement. The man I saw first was tall, was mumbling to himself, and wore a black leather coat much like my friend Hero did. However, it had a leather mantle over his shoulders. The coat was so long it could almost dust the dirt off the ground. Heh, a duster.
The man following him wasn't as tall, but he was younger and he was handsome. Oh, dear Celestia, he was something else. Just looking at him made me want to do some more adult pony like stuff with him. Hey, I'm an adult pony, I can think that stuff if I want. Despite the fact you'll never see that in the show. I mean, really? A kid's show and you make such fanfictions about me and my friends? You dirty ponies. Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered, and it's fun to read them sometimes, but have some restraints.
I'm getting off topic again. I do that a lot, if you haven’t notice.
Four young women followed behind the two men. One had blue hair that blended from a darker blue at the roots to a lighter blue at the tips. There was a black woman with dark hair with a pink highlight in it wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. Next to her was a woman with multicolored hair wearing a blue t-shirt and blue jeans. The last girl was wearing a sundress with butterflies and had long pink hair. The girls all had on coats, trying to stay warm in the autumn air.
They all looked up at the decorations I had up. "This certainly looks like Pinkie Pie's work," said the black girl I was sure was Twilight.
The man in the duster walked over to me, as if he knew I was there. He reached down behind the bush and grabbed my collar, pulling me out. "Found her," he said.
"How did you know I was there?" I asked him.
"I have a connection to the island," he said. "I knew exactly where you were the moment I stepped onto the island."
I pouted. "You're no fun. I wanted to surprise everypony."
The three girls that I was sure were my friends came over and hugged me. I hugged them back, smiling. "Pinkie, you're alright," Twi said.
"Of course I am," I said. "And you're just in time for the party!"
"What's Nightmare Night?" the handsome man asked, looking at the banner I made.
"Oh, that's a celebration we have at home," Dash said.
"Ya!" I piped up. "You see there were two princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They were sisters. But Luna got jealous and became Nightmare Moon, so Celestia banished her to the moon. Then somepony came up with the idea to celebrate Nightmare Night so everypony could dress up and get candy and leave it for Nightmare Moon. But then Nightmare Moon came back and we turned her back to Princess Luna. So, now we celebrate Nightmare Night as a celebration of her return. She loves to join in and scare the little fillies."
The two men and the other woman stared at me. "Ya, we just call it Halloween here," the woman said.
"We need to get going," the man in the duster said.
"But I worked so hard on this party," I said.
"Sorry, Pinkie," Twi said. "But we still have to find Applejack and Rarity. Not to mention Discord."
"Ya," Dash said. "Besides, it's getting dark out. I don't know about you, but this day has been stressful."
I saw Fluttershy and Twilight nod at that. I didn't know what happened to them. I guess I got it easy with appearing on the island. Fluttershy seemed to really be scared of the place. I was disappointed that we weren't going to get to party, but there was always tomorrow night.
Shortly after we got on the boat, we were on our way back to the mainland. I was interested in hearing what happened to them, but I wanted to find out about our new friends. "So, who's the tall handsome guy?" I asked them.
"I wouldn't call Harry handsome," the guy I was actually talking about said.
"Hey!" the duster guy said as he drove the boat. "I can hear you."
We giggled a bit. "I'm Molly," the woman said. "That big guy is Harry Dresden. And this is Thomas Raith." I looked at Thomas and smiled, shifting in my seat. I noticed the others girls did the same. I guess we all noticed how handsome he was, and Molly noticed us. "Thomas," Molly said. "Turn down the libido."
"I'm sorry, it's just natural," he said.
I suddenly felt a lot less likely to jump on him and do adult things with him. I looked at the girls, who were all blushing and looking around, nervously, as if they just realized what they were feeling.
"You have to forgive Thomas," Molly said. "He's a White Court Vampire."
"A vampire?!" Fluttershy said, jumping a bit and looking at the man.
"He's going to suck our blood!" I shouted. Then I had a thought. "Wait, what's a White Court Vampire?"
"It's a breed of vampire," he said. "I don't feed on blood. That was the Red Court before Harry killed them all. I feed off someone's life force through contact or their emotions. Mostly through lust."
"Oh, so that's why I feel all warm and wet when I'm around you," I said.
"Pinkie, that's a little personal, don't you think?" Twi asked me.
"Oh, come on, you all were feeling it too," I pointed out. I made my friends blush.
"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" I heard Harry ask to nopony in particular. He pulled us into dock and killed the engine of the boat. "Come on, we need to figure out what to do with you girls."
"Why don't they stay at my place?" Molly said. "I have room for them."
"Oh, we shouldn't impose," Fluttershy said.
"It's no problem,” Molly reassured her.
"It'll have to do," Harry said. "I have no place. Murphy would kill me if I brought you all there, not to mention she has no room, and I'm certainly not letting you girls stay with Thomas. Plus, Molly can keep an eye on you."
"Awesome," Dashy said. "We'll rest up and look for Rarity and A.J. in the morning. They can take care of themselves until then."
"That's true," Twilight said. "Even though I rather find them as soon as possible, we certainly can't search for them when we're tired."
It was settled and we got into a machine that looked like a mini car from a train with Molly. Maybe that’s what it was called, a car. Harry hung back and talked to Thomas for a moment before he got in also while Thomas left in a white car that was close by. We started to feel how tired we were as we headed to Molly’s place. Well, I fell asleep right away, which was a surprise to me, and I didn’t wake up until we were there.
After we reached Molly’s place, they woke me up and Molly lead us inside. Harry didn’t come in. Instead, he left with the car. Molly got us some pajamas to wear and gave us a room to sure, which we were all fine with. I got a second wind as the four of us talked about what happened today, but that didn’t last long and we all fell asleep shortly afterwards.
So, my day started like any other. Got up and did chores. Yep, that's my day and hoy ain't it fun. Bucking trees and harvestin' apples all day, that's the life fer me, and this was the time to do it. Nightmare Night was comin' up, faster than a stampeding buffalo on stampede day, and I had to get our harvest ready for it. It was gonna be a lot of work. Luckily, I had Twilight comin' over to help.
It was fun workin' with my friend, and Twi was more than happy to help out. With her help, we got a lot of apples harvest. Twi left as I went and started to get the apples ready to make treats. Granny Smith and I had only just started when Twi stuck her head in the window. I'll be honest, she surprised me and made me jump, droppin' some cut up apples onto the floor.
"What in tarnations, Twi?" I demanded from her.
"Sorry, A.J., but I just got word from Princess Celestia," she said. "We need to get to Canterlot right away."
"What's goin' on?" I asked.
"Don't know,” she said. “But something big happened to make her need to summon us. I guess she'll explain when we get there."
"Well, let's get goin' then," I said. I turned to see Granny looking at us. "Sorry, Granny. Duty calls, I reckin'."
She gave me a smile and gave me a hug. "You two be safe now, ya hear?" she said.
"We will, Granny," I told her. Then I followed Twi back to her place to meet up with the others.
After we all got to her place, we headed to Canterlot. I had to wonder what had happen that would make Celestia summon all of us. It had to have been some kind of crisis. I noticed everypony's expressions as we went.Fluttershy was worried about somethin', but I had the impression it wasn't with whatever was goin' at hoof. Dash seemed excited, Rarity was concern, Pinkie Pie was...well, Pinkie Pie, and Twi was worried.
It wasn't until after we got there and found out what had happened that I felt my stomach drop. The mention of Chaogent brought memories back. The days that surrounded Chaogent's attack was one serious emotional rollercoaster ride. A pony named Hero from another realm had found himself in Ponyville and in need of a place to stay. I offered him room on my farm. He betrayed my hospitality by attackin' one of my friends. Then when Chaogent attacked, he lost control and turned into a monster. I still don't know what he had become, but it was bad. However, he took control and helped us defeat Chaogent in the end.
Hero had brought somethin' to our world. He brought a magic that even Twilight couldn't explain. That magic allowed me and him to look into each other's souls. The thought of it brought back the images and feelin's I felt when I looked into his eyes, as if I was lookin' into them for the first time. Then the feelin's I had when we last saw each other. He kissed me...and I kissed him back.
I had to fight back tears. I couldn't get like this right now. Besides, there was a chance I wouldn't get to see him again. With my friends talkin' about him, however, it was hard not to. Luckily, we didn't dwell on it too long and we were off in a magical ball of light.
I awoke in a bed. I could tell that much from how comfortable it was. I sat up and took in my surroundin', but it was my body I noticed first. I was human. In fact, I looked just like I did when I last saw Hero. When I looked around, I saw the place I was in. It was Hero's place, the one I saw when we came and visit him. However, the man who was sittin' in a chair watchin' me was not Hero.
"You finally woke up, I see," he said. He had a draw to his voice, though it wasn't country like mine. I couldn't put my hoof on it. He was tall with dark golden hair and blue-gray eyes. His eyes seemed like he could see everythin' I do. He was dressed in black clothes and had something in his hand...and it was pointed at me.
I stared at the metal object, not sure what it was. "Umm, who are you?" I asked.
"Why don't you tell me who you are first," he said.
I stared at him. I wasn't sure what to do. Should I tell him? Or should I find out what's goin' on? And what happened to Hero? "Where's Hero?" I asked.
I heard a clicking sound as he pulled somethin' back with one of his digits on the metal thing. "I don't want to kill you," he said. "But I will shoot you if you don't answer me. Who are you?"
I stared at the device in his hand. I got the impression that it was dangerous. It didn't help that I can sense he wasn't lyin'. "I'm Applejack," I said.
He seemed to stare at me, tryin' to figure out if I was lyin' or not. "How did you get here?"
"That's a little hard to explain,” I admitted.
"Then start explaining,” he said.
I bit my lip before I looked down. "I'm from another realm," I said. "I was sent here to find a creature that escaped to this world. Me and my friends were sent here, in fact. But I guess the spell separated us. The last thing I remember is being engulfed in this magical ball of light."
"Are you a fairy?" he asked.
"No,” I answered.
"Are you human?" he asked.
I looked down. "No."
"What are you?" he asked, staring at me with caution in his eyes.
"I'm...I'm a pony,” I said.
There was another clicking noise as he lowered the device. "Who's this Hero?" he asked.
I looked down, trying to keep tears from forming in my eyes. "He's someone from this world that I know. This was his place when I last came here."
"This is a suite," he said. "It's owned by nobody and is rented out."
I looked at him. So, this wasn't his place? Discord never said this was a hotel when we were last here. I just recken it was Hero's because Discord brought us here. I recken I shouldn't assume. "I'm so stupid," I said softly and I couldn't hold it back anymore. I started cryin'. I wrapped my arms around my legs, restin' my face in my knees, cryin'.
The man, whoever he was, just let me cry. In fact, he just sat there quietly, waitin’ patiently for me to stop. After I got it all out, I looked up at the man again. I never realized that I had missed Hero that much, that the hope of maybe seein’ him again was so overwhelmin’. The fact that I wasn't goin’ to just crushed everythin’.
"You feel better?" the man asked.
"Yes," I said. "Sorry. Was I the only pony who appeared here?"
"Yes,” he said. “ And you were out for about an hour now."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"You can call me Kincaid," he said.
"Kincaid," I repeated. I took a deep sigh and tried to get out of the bed. It took me a moment to get use to my new human body. Once I did, I looked at him. "Could you help me find my friends?"
"It'll cost you," he said.
I frowned as I put a hand to my head, realizin’ my hat wasn't there. So I looked on the bed and saw it there layin’ by the pillow. I grabbed it and looked into it before puttin’ it on my head. I started patting myself. I knew I kept some bits in my hat, but they weren't there. Instead, I found them in a pocket. I didn't have much but I offered what I had to him.
"This is all I have," I said, handing him the bits.
He stared at me, takin' the bits and inspectin' them. "I guess you wouldn't have money from our world," he said, givin' them back to me. "You best not make me regret this." He got up and walked over to a table, settin’ the device in a box before closin’ the box and lockin’ it.
"So, what was that?" I asked.
"A gun," he said.
"What's a gun?" I asked him, tryin’ to think if I had heard of the thing before or not.
"Pull the trigger, shot a bullet into your target, kill them,” he said.
My eyes widen as I looked away. So that thing was dangerous. He could have killed me if he wanted to.
“What do they look like?" he asked, suddenly.
“What?” I asked in surprise.
“Your friends,” he clarified. “What do they look like?”
"Well, that's hard ta say," I told him. "We’ve only ever been here once and that was a while ago." I tried to remember what everypony looked like when we were last here. "Let's see. Twilight had dark skin with purplish hair that had a pink stripe through it. Rainbow Dash is easy. She has rainbow color hair, though I don't think it's as bright here as it is in our land."
I went quiet as I thought for a moment more. "Rarity will probably be dressed up all fancy like. She has a deep blue hair color. Fluttershy has long pink hair, usually covers one side of her face, and she'll be really shy." Thinkin' about it made me realize how scared she must be. I hope one of my friends finds her quickly. It didn't seem I would be able to get out of here quickly enough.
Then I thought about Pinkie Pie. She would probably be the easiest to find. "Pinkie Pie has bright pink curly hair. She is really hyperactive. If anypony would be easiest to find, it would be her."
"Then we'll focus on her," he said. "Do you have anything else other than their hair and personality?"
"Sorry, but I don't remember what they all looked like when we were here.” I admitted. “But the color of their manes and tails carried over to their hair in this world. Trust me, if anypony would be spotted first it would be Pinkie Pie. I would not be surprised if she's not throwin' a huge party right now for this place."
He seemed to consider that for a moment. "Haven't heard about any party yet. But if you just woke up, then it's reasonable to believe that they all just woke up. It's also possible that they appeared near some place that connects them to this world."
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"You mentioned this suite being your boyfriends' suite when you came here,” he said. I never said anything that suggested Hero was my boyfriend. Still, I kept my mouth shut, blushin’ a bit. “So, it's makes sense that you came here."
"Then why did nopony else showed up here?" I asked. "Hero is our only connection to this world. And this suite is the only place we ever saw of this world. Our friend, Discord, brought us here and took us back."
"Discord?" he questioned.
"He's a friend who disappeared,” I said. "We’re suppost to find him also. He’s a dragonequus and has powers that allow him to change anything he wants and create chaos. It's his brother that we're after. Discord came here to find his brother a day ago and never returned. So, we came here to find them both."
"Anyone else you're looking for?" he asked.
"No, that was it,” I said.
"So, what do your friends do?” he asked. “What do they enjoy? And what are they like?"
"Umm, well, Twilight likes magic and books,” I said. “She always plans stuff too. Rarity loves her fashion and findin' rare gems, but she doesn't like to get her hooves dirty, that's for sure. Rainbow Dash is fast and likes competitions. Fluttershy likes animals. And Pinkie, as I said, likes to throw parties. She also likes making cupcakes."
I saw him thinkin' for a while. I didn't know how else I could help him. There was a lot I could tell him about my friends, but what good would it be? "It's possible that your friend Pinkie could be someplace that bakes cakes or a party supply place."
"Well, she does live in a cupcake shop,” I said.
"Then we'll try a shop,” he said. “Rarity would probably be at a fashion shop. Dash might be at a stadium. Twilight could be in two places. Hopefully, she's at a library. Otherwise, we might have some problems later."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Because if she is with the Winter Knight,” he said. “She will be in danger."
"What's the Winter Knight?" I asked.
"Someone I was suppose to kill and failed to do so a few years ago,” he said.
My eyes widen as I stared at him. He couldn't be serious. "Kill?"
"That's what I said. I'm a hired mercenary,” he explained. “I kill anyone for the right price. I'll also be a bodyguard or driver or anything else if you can pay the bill."
"Why?" I couldn't understand why somepony would kill somepony else for money. Was this why Discord was against us gettin' involved?
"I'm good at it and it pays good,” he said.
"I can't...I can't see anypony doin' somethin' like that." I remember barely escapin' death before. I even remember the moment when Pinkie Pie was stabbed and almost killed. This was killin' for money. It was a job. This man killed for a livin'.
"I don't know what it's like in your world,” he said, “but here, it's kill or be killed. If you can't handle that, you should have stayed in your world."
"I kinda wish I had now," I said. I was startin' to feel sick. What's worst was that I was stuck here. I couldn't get home without findin' Discord or Hero, and I wouldn't leave without my friends anyway. Did this mean I was goin' to have to stay close to this guy until I find them? I could just leave and try to find them on my own. However, if he was anythin' I could expect in this world, I could be askin' for trouble either way.
"I have no reason to hurt you," he said. "You haven't lied to me. You're not here to do me harm. And I bet you're scared as shit. So, I help you find your friends, you go home, and I get back to the job I came here to do."
"What are you sayin'?” I asked. “You won't kill while I'm here?"
"I'll set my job aside to help you,” he said. “It's not a big job that has a deadline, so I'll help you out first. If it comes to it, I will kill anyone who tries to do me harm. Rather it's you, my target, or one of your friends. If they decide they want to kill me, they won't live to leave this world. Nothing personal, but I'm not dying to help out someone else."
"They wouldn't do that," I said, feelin' hate buildin' up inside me. I couldn't believe that this guy would assume somethin' like this. Though I guess if you were use to life or death situations, you would want to protect your tail also. It didn't mean I had to like him. "I will take care of my friends if they try somethin', but I can promise ya yer life is in no danger from us."
"I hope not," he said. "You seem very trustworthy. I hate for you to try and pull a fast one over my eyes." He sat at a table that had a guitar case sittin’ on it. He opened it to reveal several pieces of what I assumed was a large gun. He started to take the pieces out and started to clean them. "So, tell me more about your friends. Every little bit could help. Even what they look like in your world."
I bit my lip for a moment. I wasn't sure if I still wanted to tell him anythin' but what hope did I have in findin’ my friends. So, I told him everythin'. Anythin' I could think of, I told him. By the time I was done, it had gotten dark out and I was gettin’ hungry. Kincaid had finished cleanin’ his gun and put the pieces back in the case.
"I'll have to do some leg work," he said as he locked the case. He got up, grabbing the gun he had pointed at me earlier and slipped it under the coat her wore. "I have food in the fridge. Get something to eat. I'll be back in about an hour or two." He walked to the door and left without another word.
"What have I gotten myself into?" I asked myself. "Hero, why couldn't ya be here? At least I wouldn't feel like I'm a prisoner." It didn't really dawn on me until I said it. This whole situation felt like I was a prisoner in a land I didn't know. The last time I felt like this was when my cutie mark was forcefully removed and I was locked in a small room listenin' to a recorded message. At least I was with my friends then. Now I was alone.
I growled to myself as I went to the fridge. There was a lot of meat in there. I didn't know a lot about humans, but I did know there were animals that ate meat. I guess humans were one of them. Did Hero eat meat too? I did find some greens though and I nibbled on that. I could have used some apples though.
After I ate what I could find, I walked around the suite. As I did, I remembered the conversations I had with Hero while I was here.
"So, how were ya able to do all that with the metal back there?" I had asked him once.
"It's alchemy," he told me. He pulled out a piece of chalk from his coat pocket and started to draw a circle on the table. "Basically, it's what later became chemistry. The idea was to take an object, break it down to its basic form of atoms, and reassembled it back to make something new. It's not easy, and you can't change it too much. Whatever you put in, something of equal value has to come out. The whole of alchemy was surrounded in making lead into gold. It didn't work, but some stuff survived."
Once he finished the circle, I say that it was very detailed in design. He took a vase that was sitting there and smashed it in the middle of the circle. Then he placed a hand on the edge of the circle, the circle and the shattered bits of the vase started to glow, and when the light died down, the vase was restored.
"Why did you draw a circle to do that?" I asked him. "You didn't draw one when you were reforming the metal."
"That's because I have a plate in my chest with the circle engraved on it already." He put his hands together. "Not that I need either anymore. But it's a lot easier than having to reach for the metal." He placed his hands on the table, beside the circle. The table glowed and started to change shape. When the light died down, the wooden table was in the shape of a pony...my pony form, complete with a hat.
The others were impressed also with the magic, which he said it was a type of magic. "Even the transmutation circle has a magical basis," he said. "Someone without any magical powers can make a magic circle." He drew a simple circle around himself. A small metal knife formed around his finger on his right hand and he cut a finger on his left hand. He dropped a few drops of blood on the circle. "A little blood and you have a magical circle."
"What does that do?" I asked.
"Well, in a basic form, it can keep out magical energies,” he explained. “Twilight could try using her magic, but it wouldn't be able to touch me. I can also use it to build up my magic. Focus on what I want my magic to do. And when I'm ready," he rubbed his foot on the circle and a rush of energy ran passed us all. It felt like a whirlwind came through for a moment. "Break the circle with a mortal object thrown from a mortal being and it releases the energy. Or just pass through it. Do it right and the magic will do what you want it to do. Do it wrong, it can just disperse like it did now, or it can backfire on yourself."
I remembered how interested Twilight was after that, but Hero didn't see a point in teachin' her how to use magic here since we wouldn't be stayin' here. After he showed us that, me and him talked alone. It was hard to think about it, even when we were talkin’ about it.
"Where did you learn all this?" I had asked him.
"I taught myself," he told me. "My father died before I was born, and my mother kind of kept to herself. She passed away a few years later and I lived with my aunt. I guess that's why I became such a bad guy."
I looked down, thinkin' about my own life. "I lost my parents too," I told him. "After Apple Bloom was born, they passed away. Granny and Big Mac won't tell me what really happened. And freckly, I don't think I really need to know. Since they passed, I felt like I had to take over the farm, that it was my responsibility."
He chuckled a bit at that. "That's kind of funny. You lose your parents and you try to take up the responsibility. I lose mine and I try to get away from it."
"I guess it's based on your surroundin’s. I had a big brother and a little sister as well as a farm to look after. You had your aunt, but you were also supposed to be your land's ruler. Pretty big responsibility to take on as a young colt. Bigger than runnin’ a farm.”
He chuckled. "Oh, if you ever stayed here longer than a few hours, I have to teach you proper human terminology."
"Are ya makin' fun of me?" I asked with a scawl, though I started to smirk a bit.
"I am," he admitted, laughin' more.
I gave him a good punch in his arm, but I laughed also. I guess a male human wasn't called a colt, but I couldn't change what I was use to. He did have a point. If I ever had the chance to stay longer, I would seem strange to everypony if I used the terms I grew up with that weren't used here.
I didn't realize I had started cryin', thinkin' about the past conversation with Hero. I missed him, more than I realized. I sat down on the bed, whippin' my eyes. I needed to be strong and find my friends. There was work to be done. I went to the door that the man Kincaid went through earlier and opened it...and I almost ran into Kincaid.
"Going somewhere?" he asked.
"I'm goin' to find my friends," I said. "I can't sit around waitin' for them to be found. If I want them found, I need to search for them."
He looked at me and I stared back at him, not afraid of him. I didn't look him in the eyes though. If I learned anythin' from Hero's visit, it was I should be careful of meetin' somepony else's eyes. He smirked as he looked at me.
"Rest first," he said. "You won't find them tonight. We'll look first thing in the morning." I felt frustrated as I rolled my eyes and turned away. I didn't want to wait. I wanted to go. "Go to bed," I heard him say.
"You need to get more greens," I said and went to the bed. I did't care, I was takin' it, but I doubt I would get any shuteye.
"So, who's the tall handsome guy?" Pink asked as I steered us out into the open waters again. I rolled my eyes. Damn half-brother vampire.
"I wouldn't call Harry handsome," Thomas said.
"Hey!" I called out to him. "I can hear you."
I heard the girls giggle. "I'm Molly," Molly told Pink. "That big guy is Harry Dresden. And this is Thomas Raith." There wasn't a response. I was sure they were just too busy staring at him. Heh, Thomas has a bunch of ponies wanting to bang them. That's wrong on so many levels. "Thomas," Molly said. "Turn down the libido."
"I'm sorry, it's just natural," he replied. I had to smirk to myself.
"You have to forgive Thomas," Molly said. "He's a White Count Vampire."
"A vampire?!" Fluttershy shouted.
"He's going to suck our blood!" I heard Pink shout. Wow, they freaked out easily. "Wait, what's a White Court Vampire?"
"It's a breed of vampire," he said. "I don't feed on blood. That was the Red Court before Harry killed them all. I feed off someone's life force through contact or their emotions. Mostly through lust."
"Oh, so that's why I feel all warm and wet when I'm around you," Pink said. I put a hand to my face. She just flat out said it. Most girls are really modest about that. This girl didn't give a fuck. I tried my hardest not to laugh.
"Pinkie, that's a little personal, don't you think?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, come on, you all were feeling it too," Pink shout back.
"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" I asked myself out loud. I just hope this will be over tomorrow. By now we had reached the mainland again. I pulled the ship up to the dock and killed the engine before tying it off. "Come on, we need to figure out what to do with you girls."
"Why don't they stay at my place?" Molly said. "I have room for them."
"Oh, we shouldn't impose," Fluttershy said.
"It's no problem,” Molly replied.
"It'll have to do," I said. "I have no place. Murphy would kill me if I brought you all there, not to mention she has no room, and I'm certainly not letting you girls stay with Thomas. Plus, Molly can keep an eye on you."
"Awesome," R.D. said. "We'll rest up and look for Rarity and A.J. in the morning. They can take care of themselves until then."
"That's true," Twilight said. "Even though I rather find them as soon as possible, we certainly can't search for them when we're tired."
With the other girls agreeing, Molly herd them into the minivan. I hung back with Thomas. "You have four ponies wanting to sex you up," I said to him.
He smirked, watching them. "Maybe it's my sign to introduce them to our world," he said.
"I swear, Thomas, you'll fuck anything with two legs and boobs."
"I'm hungry, Harry,” he said. “I haven't eaten in a few days."
That got me worried. Thomas's hunger couldn't be satisfied with a burger or steak. If he was hungry, that meant that he had less control of his vampire side. "Aren't you back in the family?" I asked him. "Don't they provide food for you?"
"Not really,” he said. “I still have to go find my own once in awhile. I'm an independent vampire after all. Where are you going tonight? You're not planning to stick close to them."
"Try and get some answers,” I said. “You heard about what happened at the college?"
"No. Why?" he asked. I gave him the low down on what happened. "Halloween prank, what's your point?"
"All at the same time, some while students were reading them." He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Exactly. And then there's this Sam Singer. He came to the pub last night before going to the church. He warned Father Forthill that someone might be after the coins."
"You think they're all connected?" he asked.
"In this line of work, there is no coincidence,” I said, which was mostly true. “I know that now. I just don't know how it's connected yet. And then there's two more ponies to find and this Discord. Plus, the whole reason they're here."
"Chaogent,” he said.
"Yep,” I said. “Some creature hiding out in the city. And we don't even know if he's here. They came here assuming."
"I'll ask Lara if she's heard anything,” he told me. “I'll call when I hear something. Where are you staying tonight? Murphy's?"
"Maybe,” I said. “But I'm going to drop Molly and these girls off at her place and then go have a talk with a spirit."
"That new one you gave birth to?" he asked.
"Her name is Sue and don't say it like that,” I said with a growl. “She was just a spirit in my head that needed to come out."
"One produced when that Denarian gave up her space in your head to protect you,” he said. “You told me the story, sounds like a birth to me."
"Fuck you,” I said. “I'm going to see Bob."
He looked at me like I was crazy. "Yes, cause that pervert is better than me."
"He's not going to try and have sex with all of them." He frowned at that before he shrugged and looked at the car. "Go home, have a snack or something."
"You remember when you were against me doing that?" he asked.
"Ya, I remember,” I said. “It was before I became a monster too."
"At least you don't have to feed off of others. You just have to play by the rules of the fairies and not give in to your animal instincts." I growled softly but he did have a point.
"Go home," I said and he nodded. I looked at him as he lifted his fist and bumped it with mine. He got into his hummer and drove off as I got into the minivan. The moment I turned it on, the radio came on and static started to play. Molly hit the power button but it just got louder. I flicked it with a finger and it went quiet. "I don't think the car will survive after all this," I said as I stated to pull out.
"I'll give mom some cash to get it repaired once we're done," Molly said.
“I’ll pay her back,” I said. “I still have some diamonds.”
“You need to buy a house,” she said. I just gave her a smirk.
After a short drive, I pulled into the driveway of Molly's place. She had bought it shortly after becoming the Winter Lady. It was close to her family's so she could keep an eye on them. I told Molly to keep watch on them and to call her mother to let her know I was going to be using the car for a while. After she unloaded the girls and guided them inside, I headed to an old friend's place.
Waldo Butters was the best medical examiner in Cook County. He worked with dead people all day and loved his polka. After I died, he hooked up with a young werewolf and the two started to live together. He had also taken my old assistant to take care of. Then, a little over a year ago, Butters got a new job. A Knight of the Cross, complete with the nerdist sword. An honest to goodness lightsaber. Ok, it's not power by the Force or anything like that. It was powered by faith and the laws of the holy swords.
I tried not to go over to his place too much. He's busy a lot now that he has to go do knightly duties. Plus, the whole thing with his girlfriend, I didn't feel it was right to barge in when I pleased. However, I needed to talk with my old assistant.
I reached their apartment after a quick stop at Burger King...can't go on an empty stomach. I knocked on the door, hoping I wouldn't be interrupting anything, but the little guy opened the door after only a few moments.
"Oh, hello, Harry," he said, giving me a smile. He was dressed in his medical robes. "You have some timing, I just got home. What can I do for you?"
"Butters, I didn't realize you were still working at the morgue,” I said.
"Part time,” he said, “but I wasn't coming from there."
"Oh, Knight duty." I frowned a bit. “You wear your scrubs?”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Well, glad you’re holding up well,” I said.
"Ya, Angi is excited I'm back for a little while too,” he said with excitement. “Oh, I never told you the news." He grinned at me, bouncing a bit. "I popped the question."
My eyes widen. "Did she...?" He grinned. "Wow, Butters. Congratulations. About time too." I saw a redheaded girl walk up behind the little guy. His now fiancé, Angi.
"I see you told him the news," she said. "Hey, Harry. What's up?"
"Oh, right. I need to borrow Bob." Their smiles faded as they looked at me.
"Is it serious?" Angi asked.
"Not too serious,” I said. “But I need to get some info from him."
"I'll go get him," she said. She gave Butters a kiss on the top of his head and walked off.
"What's going on?" Butters asked me.
"We got some new friends in town,” I said. “Kind of a long story. Oh, sorry for interrupting your celebration." I saw him blush and look away. "By the way, have you heard of a Sam Singer?"
He shook his head. "No. Should I have?"
"I'm hoping someone would,” I said. “Came by the pub last night before going to the church asking about the coins. Then he gets attacked by a Fomor and has disappeared."
"The coins?” he questioned. “Harry, if this is Denarian business, I should come help."
"Father Forthill said the coins are fine,” I reassured him. “ At least what the ones the church does still have."
"Harry," he said with a more serious voice.
"I'll keep you informed if something is up,” I said. “For now, I need Bob to answer some things."
Angi returned with a skull in hand. It was a wooden skull with markings and runes covering it. In the eye sockets glowed a pair of orange flames. "Harry!" the skull said as he spotted me. "Long time no see. Is it time for another lesson with Sue?"
"No, Bob,” I said. “I need to ask you something."
"Butters," Angi said. "Invite Harry in so he can talk with Bob."
"Oh, right," Butters said. "Come in, Harry."
I sighed as I stepped inside. I didn't want to stay and interrupt them. I'm sure they wanted some alone time. "I'll be quick."
Butters closed the door behind me as Angi set the skull down on the coffee table. I went and sat down facing the skull. Butters and Angi stood back and watched. "So, what's up, Harry?" Bob asked. "What can I do for you?"
Bob the skull was a spirit of intellect. Up to a few months ago, he resided in a bleach white skull. A real one, but I gave him a new vessel as part of a deal we had made a few years ago after I first returned to Chicago as the Winter Knight. He had been around for years and belonged to my old mentor Justin DuMorne and before that, a necromancer named Kemmler.
"What's a draconequus?" I asked him, jumping straight to the point.
The flames of the skull flicker as he started to whip around randomly. "Oh, on, Harry! You don't want to mess with a draconequus! They are bad news!"
"Bob, calm down," I said.
"No, you don't understand, they are extremely dangerous,” he said. “They are Outsiders."
My eyes widen. "An Outsider?" I questioned. Hell's bells, this just keeps getting worst. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Why does it have to be an Outsider? I thought ponies were going to be the least of my worries."
"Excuse me," Butters said. "Ponies?"
I sighed. I started to explain everything starting with Twilight and her appearance at the Carpenter's house. Butters and Angi looked at each other when I finished and Bob was just staring.
"What you mean to tell me," Bob said, "is that you've been running around picking up these young girls and you didn't even invite me?"
"Bob," I said.
"Are they hot?" he asked.
"Bob," Butters said.
"I mean, yes, they're ponies, but here, they're human girls,” he kept on, not listening to us.
"Bob!" Angi said.
"What? I'm just curious." Even though Bob had no gender, as long as I've known him, he always had this fascination with the female body. It was annoying.
"Bob," I said. "Focus. What's a draconequus?"
The skull pouted. "Alright, alright. A draconequus is a creature of chaos. They usually appear as a mixture of animal parts and can change anything around them just by thinking about it."
"What do you mean?" Butters asked.
"He can change reality," Bob said. "An object could turn into something else. He could make it that rain flowed upwards. He can make it snow while it's a hundred degrees outside. Whatever he can think of, it can happen. That's what makes them dangerous."
"And we have two of them somewhere in the city," I said.
"If that's true, why isn't the city turn to jello or something?" Angi asked.
"Don't know," Bob said. "Maybe they're not here after all. Or their powers have been limited. I've never actually heard of one coming to this realm before. None have ever gotten past the Outer Gates."
I growled. "Well, as long as pigs still don't fly, we're good," I said. "What about these ponies? They don't know why they appear human here nor why they were separated."
"Well, the laws of this world might have made them humans when they crossed over. I bet you would turn into a pony if you went to their world." The skull started to laugh. "Imagine that, Harry as a pony!"
"Bob, I can smash that skull real easily," I said.
"Right, well, as for them separating, that could be the spell they used just faltered,” he said. “They did something wrong. Sorry, Harry, I don't have anything for that."
I sighed as I sat back. There wasn't much I could go by, but at least I knew I was dealing with Outsiders. I might as well label these girl's as Outsiders also. Even if they weren't, the White Counsel wouldn't see it that way. Thankfully, they don't know what's going on here yet and, hopefully, it'll remain that way. If they find out there were two Outsiders and some girls from another world looking for them, they would send every wizard on the counsel to come deal with them all. This still didn't solve the problem on how to find them or the other ponies.
I ended up leaving shortly after that, not getting much more than I did. Though Bob kept begging to go with me to see these girls, I turned him down. I ended up going back to Murphy's. My cat greeted me when I came in and I saw Murphy sitting on the couch, listening to the weather report on the radio.
"Anything on the Paranet?" I asked.
"Nope," she said. "No Sam Singer or anything. Rawlins called me again. The art museum reported that their pieces were stolen and replaced with mock art."
"Mock art?" I asked.
"It looks like the original work but changed to depict something different,” she explained. “They thought it was vandalized at first, but they say the changes were worked into the art. And there's something else. Whoever did it, they replaced the sculptures with jell-o replicas."
"Hell's bells," I swore.
"You know what this is?" she asked.
"Possibly." I started to explain everything that happened today, starting with the visit with Father Forthill, the meeting of the ponies, and what I learned from Bob. By the end of my explanations, she looked concerned.
"Those poor girls," she said. "But Harry, I think you're missing something."
"What's that?" I asked.
"What if Sam is this Discord character?" she suggested.
I frowned a bit. "What makes you think that?"
"Harry, you can be an idiot sometimes,” she said. “Those girls' friend Discord leaves and comes here yesterday. This Sam Singer shows up in Chicago yesterday and disappears during the night. Discord never returns to their land. It's possible that they are the same person. Since he has this chaotic power to change things, couldn't he change his appearance too?"
She had a point, though it was still an assumption. He could very well be Chaogent also. If we could find this Sam guy, he might clear some things up one way or another. One thing was clear, one of them was here causing trouble. I just don't understand why it was just minor things. If they were so powerful, why not cause more trouble at a faster rate? Unless their powers were limited here. I think I was going to have to do some digging tomorrow.
"There's one more thing, Harry," she said. "It seems.” She paused for a moment. “Kincaid is in town."
I frowned. This wasn't good. If Kincaid was here, he must be here for a job. It was even possible that the job was me. He owed me a job a while back and I cashed that in on an assassination of the new Winter Knight...me. Hey, it was a good idea at the time. So that’s how I was killed. However, I was brought back, and Kincaid might see that as a failure on his part and could be coming back to finish the job. The worst part was that Murphy was stuck in the middle of this. She and Kincaid had a thing for a while.
Not to mention that this was on top of finding not one but two creatures that could destroy the city if they wanted to, two more ponies, and I still had to take Maggie Trick-or-Treating. I’m getting too old for this shit.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her.
She took a deep breath. “The guy I had a thing with years ago is coming to kill my current boyfriend, how do you think I feel?” she asked.
Current boyfriend? Is that what we’re at now? Hell’s bells, I thought we just had benefits. Did I miss that conversation? “Boyfriend?”
I saw a light blush show on her cheeks. Murphy was a tough woman and to see her like this was kind of cute. She would kill me if I told her that though.
“Well,” she said. “I guess. Ever since you came back from the island and we...you know. We’ve been together for a while, Harry,” she said as she took my hand. I gave her a soft smile as I interlocked my fingers with hers. Whatever tomorrow had to offer, I’ll just have to deal with it then.
I found myself with my friends, face to face with Chaogent. Discord was a statue behind him and Harry, Molly, and Thomas were laying on the ground at his feet. The draconequus had a gorilla’s body with a lion’s head and had a unicorn’s horn and eyes of a fly. It also had a rattlesnake’s tail, a human left leg, an elephant’s right, and a cat’s arm and zebra’s forearm as it’s arms. On it’s back was a shark’s fin. Despite him being Discord’s brother, they didn’t look the same at all.
One thing was for sure, we had to take him down. I looked at my friends and were surprised that they had returned to their pony forms. In fact, they were in their “rainbow” form, as we call it. They charged up a magical attack and sent it at Chaogent. I started to focus my power through my horn and...felt nothing. I looked around and then down at myself. I was human.
I raised my hands and looked at them before I placed them over my head, feeling for my horn. It wasn’t there. My eyes widen as I saw my friend’s powers falter. “Twilight, we need your help!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“My magic,” I said. “It’s gone!”
One by one, their magic failed and they collapsed. Their bright colored fur faded. “Why didn’t you use your magic?” Rainbow asked, weakly.
“We needed you, Twilight,” Pinkie added, just as weakly.
“How could you let us down?” Rarity said.
“No, it’s not like that!” I shouted. I heard Chaogent laughing as he started to approach us. He raised his elephant foot and started to lower it over Fluttershy’s head. I tried to move but felt my legs were locked. I looked down to see them sinking into the ground.
“Twilight,” Fluttershy squeaked out. “Help me.” Then I saw him drop his foot and killing my friend.
I woke up with a squeak and looked around the dark room. I could dimly see Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie laying in the bed, asleep. I rubbed at my forehead, sighing softly in relief. It was just a nightmare. I almost questioned why didn’t Princess Luna prevent the nightmare, but I guess she couldn’t when we were in different realms. I just hoped we weren’t going to be stuck here for too much longer.
I felt how my throat was dry and my stomached growled in hunger. I carefully got up, trying not to wake the others. We had all fallen asleep on the bed. It was a huge bed, so there was plenty of room. Though if A.J. and Rarity were here, it might have been a little cramped.
No pony stered, though Pinkie did sound like her pony self when she slept with her naying. Dash just snored and Fluttershy was peaceful and seemed unbothered by the other two.
Once out of the bed, I walked out and down the stairs to the kitchen, stopping at the bathroom on the way. As I reached the bottom of the steps, I saw a glowing light from the doorway of the kitchen. I had to wonder what it was too. I walked over and saw the silhouette of a woman sitting at the counter, looking at a glowing screen. I walked over, realizing it was Molly looking at a small computer. As I approached, the screen started to get fuzzy and distorted.
“Harry?” Molly asked as she put a hand on the top of the screen and lowered it. “I didn’t hear you come in.” She turned and looked surprised to see me. “Oh. It’s you Twilight.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Did I disturb you?”
“No, just checking something out,” she said. “Can’t sleep?”
“Had a nightmare,” I admitted. “And I figured I’d get a late night sneak and maybe some water.”
“Sure, help yourself,” she said. She watched me as I walked over to the fridge and opened it. I found a head of lettuce and grabbed it. “There’s bottled water in the door,” she added. I saw it and grabbed a bottle as she flicked on a light. I closed the door and went over to the counter. Molly grabbed a plate and set it down for me.
“Thanks.” I smiled at her as I ripped off a leaf and nibbled on it.
“I’m going to have to get more greens for you girls,” Molly said. “So, what was the nightmare about?” I told her and watched her as she studied me. “What do you think it means?”
I wasn’t expecting her to ask me that. I was actually hoping she would tell me. “Well.Normally when we have to face something, we used our powers together to defeat an enemy. But I didn’t have my power. I was stuck in this form and couldn’t use it. I was useless.”
“It wasn’t because you had no power, Twilight,” she said. “It was because you didn’t know how to use it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She gestured at the black plastic notebook on the counter. I looked at it. “You obviously have magic. You just have to learn how to use it. You mentioned trying to focus your magic into your horn while in the dream, right? Maybe you need something to help focus your magic here.”
She picked up a wand with a little crystal tied on the end. She pointed the wand at the head of lettuce and it started to rise up off the plate. I looked at it then at her before she lowered the head and offered the wand to me. I reached out and took it nervously. I pointed the wand at the head of lettuce and thought about my levitation spells. It was a little different, but I focused on the spell and pushed it through the wand like I would with my horn. The head started to twitch a bit before it started to raise again. I smiled and looked at Molly. The moment I did, the lettuce fell to the table, which surprised me.
“That’s a start,” she said. “Just have to practice.” She picked up a napkin and offered it to me. I didn’t notice until I took the napkin that I was sweating. I started to rub my forehead. “You seem to have picked up this whole human thing faster than the others.”
“Well, I’ve kind of done this before,” I said. “There’s a parallel world that mirrors ours. Everypony I know in my world have a human version in that world. I’m the only one who's been there though. The others have been here once with me when we visited Hero.”
“You know Hero?” she asked, a little surprised. “Harry never mentioned that.”
“He kind of found his way into our world,” I told her. “We were hoping to find him here when we got here and help us.”
“Ya, he went back to his land,” she said. “I ran into him as he was making his way back. Looked a lot different.”
I smiled at her as I took another leaf and nibbled it. “Well, I just hope we’re able to find Applejack and Rarity tomorrow. And Discord. And I hope you and Harry will help us.”
“Of course we will,” she reassured me. “I think that’s why I was summoned here anyway.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Yesterday, someone said my Name from here,” she said, though I didn’t know what she meant at the time. “I was in the fairy realm busy with other stuff so I couldn’t come here. Though it didn’t feel like whoever it was was trying to summon me, just get my attention or something. I assumed it was Harry.”
“But we showed up today,” I said. “Unless Harry was calling you for something else yesterday.”
She shrugged. “Anyway, you best get some sleep. And save the rest of that lettuce for the others tomorrow. I don’t keep a lot of food here since I’m not here too long.” I nodded and offered her wand back. “You hang onto it. I have a feeling you’ll need it more than I do. Besides, you need to practice. If you’re here long enough, I’ll help you make your own.”
I gave her a smile and nodded. “Thanks.” With that, I put the rest of the lettuce in the fridge and took my water up to the bedroom. I just hoped I wouldn’t have another nightmare. Then again, I rather have the nightmares then my friends to have them.
Ah, my home of chaos. As much as I do enjoy my new life with friends in Ponyville, I can never let go of at least a little bit of chaos. It's in my nature. I can never get rid of that. But it's lonely, so I've found myself going to other realms. Realms other than Equestria. I've gone to realms that books only talk about. I've been to both the human and a realm called the Nevernever. Those were realms with laws against Outsiders, which is what I am. Good thing I can disguise my form. So, I go there when I can.
I wasn't making plans to go there, but I found myself needing to. My brother escaped his prison and went to the realm of humans. I guess he could go to another realm too, but I was sure he went there. There was a power from there that he only got a taste of. He wants that power, I just know it. So I went to the human realm in search of my brother.
I appeared in an alley, of a city called Chicago. Not Chicacolt, the pony equivalent, Chicago. There were many similarities. In fact, there was a lot of that between this world and Equestria that I've noticed. Some of the technology in Equestria was similar, but this realm thrived on it, more so than the magic that was here. This world did limit my abilities. I couldn't change the place right out like I could in Equestria. That wasn't my goal here. Besides, this place wasn't fun to cause chaos in, not the way I want to cause it.
But this place, Chicago, was special. It was like the central hub of magic. Let me put it this way. The Tree of Harmony was the central power of magical harmony in Equestria. It protected the land, for the most part, and gave Fluttershy and her friends their power. Its roots ran deep into the land, spreading its protective power everywhere. Here, there was something like that, but there was no tree. Instead, the magic ran through the earth, the air, the raw energy of the humans that live here. Not everyone here could use the magic, but it was still there. If Chaogent was going to go anywhere, it would be here.
I stepped out of the alley and looked around in my new form. Much like other creatures that come here, I disguised myself as a human. I took the form of a middle age man, not because I was a being that has lived for thousands of years, but because it worked better as a disguise. I had to get rid of my horns and wings, as well as the different animal parts. I also sported a suit, brown pinstripes with a yellow button down shirt and red tie. I also had a cane. It was a cane I had when I went to a Gala before in Canterlot. I long slender brown cane with a gold end and a gold orb on the top. The orb had a black arrow design where eight arrows pointed out from the center, each pointing away from the center. As I walked, the cane clicked on the ground.
My first stop was to get information. This was one of the riskier parts of my visit, and I still had to go to church. This place was the go-to for the magical community of this world. It was also the go-to for the beings from the parallel world that runs alongside this realm. Some people call it the Fairy Realm, others call it the Nevernever. I call it a place I shouldn't go to if I don't want every being in existence coming to kill me. I might be a powerful creature of chaos, but when you have billions of fairies and everything else coming at you...you wouldn't want to test your luck.
McAnally is what everyone here knew him as, though Mac was more common a nickname for him. I knew him by another name, Watcher. He was good at what he did. He also could make a mean beer. Hey, when in Rome.
I entered the pub and looked around at the place. I took no interest in anyone else that was there, nor the way it looked. I was just making sure nothing was there that would want to try and kill me. Just normal semimagical folks. However, one did get my interest, the man sitting at the bar talking with Watcher. I didn't know him as a person, but I knew him by reputation. I had to keep an eye on him.
I looked to the owner, Watcher. "Mac," I said as I walked over. Even though I knew what he really was, that didn't mean I was going to go around advertising it. "It's been too long. You still make that ale that I so find delectable?"
"You are not welcome here," Watcher said. He meant it literally, but he was someone I had established a connection with before.
"Oh, come now, is that any way to treat an old friend?" I asked. I just hoped that he would still respond.
"What do you want?" he asked.
That was a good sign. At least he offered to listen. "I told you. One of your fine ales, and any information about the whereabouts of someone."
"There's nothing here for you,” he told me.
Not good. It seemed that nothing has reached his ears. This was probably my best bet to find out something about my brother if he was here. Then again, he hasn't been gone for long. I decided I'd try and find out if something else was in the works.
"Yo," I heard the man who was sitting at the bar say. "If I were you, buddy, I would get lost."
I knew the guy could be trouble, but he could at least let me finish. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't realize you were included in this conversation."
"I wasn't, until I decided to see my way into it,” the man said, taking a pull from his beer. “If Mac doesn't want you here, than you best leave."
Well, this guy just killed the mood. I could push back and try and get the info I needed from Watcher, but I knew him enough to get it a different way. Besides, I couldn't afford getting into a magical fist fight with this guy. Still, I wanted to test his bravery. I stared into his eyes.
Eyes were the gateway to a person's soul. A soul is hard to explain. People say it's what makes them who they are. You could say that a pony's Cutie Mark is their version of a soul. But for a being like me, I don't really have a soul in the same sense as humans or ponies. In fact, I couldn't really tell you what a soul is. What I did know was that if a wizard looked into someone else's eyes, the two would get a peek into each other's souls. Apparently, they could do that with ponies, though ponies couldn't do it with each other.
With that said, if a wizard looked into my eyes, he would see nothing. He wouldn't know that until he looked into them. He did look into my eyes. Oh, I felt so flattered now. I had to smirk at him, admiring his courage. Or maybe he knew. After all, this guy wasn't the Winter Knight for nothing.
"Clever," I told him. "You figured out I wasn't human rather quickly. Either that or you're really dumb." I gave him a bow. "I will depart from here then. I can see when I'm not welcome. But..." I reached into my pocket. Paper money appeared as I pulled it out and handed it to Watcher. "I still would like that drink."
It was my last attempt to get something from Mac. Even if it was a nice warm beer, my trip wouldn't be a total loss. I was glad that he took the money and gave me a bottle. I felt the subtle power on the label, enough for me to notice but not a servant to one of the Fairy Courts. I twirled the bottle, making it vanish. I'll have to look at it later.
"For the road," I said, looking at the man. "I'll be seeing you around, Harry Dresden." As I said his name, I put a little power into it. I didn't know his full Name, but even if I did, I didn't need to control him. I just needed to make a mark on him. With that, I turned and left, trying to not seem in too much of a hurry to leave. But I didn't want to stay too long. The Winter Knight might decide he wanted to ask me a few questions.
Once out of the pub, I quickly put some distance between the Winter Knight and myself. I waved down a cab at one point and told him to start driving. As I sat in the back seat, I made the bottle reappear. I pulled the at the label, which came off easily, and made the bottle disappear again. I looked at the label, turning it over to look at the back.
"Saint Mary of the Angels," I read aloud. "I was going there anyway." This was perfect. I was just going to go there on a hunch, but if the Watcher was pointing me that way, that meant I'd find something there. So, it was time to go to church.
The sky was orange from the sunset as I made my way to the front of the church. I had until sunrise to return to Equestria to give a report to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. If I didn't, they would send the others here. They cannot handle this world. Even with the plans and set ups I'd put into place in case they had to come, I rather they stay where they were. If they came here, they may not make it back. So, I had to work fast.
With that in mind, I quicken my stride to the church and knocked on the door. It was only a few minutes before a man with black hair and beard with sprinkles of gray in it opened the door. He stood there with the help of a cane. Like the Winter Knight, I knew this man by reputation. He was a knight until he retired from an injury. Luckily, he didn't know me.
"Is something troubling?" he asked me.
"Oh, good Father," I said. "It isn't too late to hear a man's confession?"
"I'm no Father, sir. I am a brother of the church. Most of the Fathers' have gone home, but I might be able to see if one could see you. Please, come in, Brother." He stepped aside to let me in.
"Thank you, good sir," I said, walking in. I felt the curtains of power over the place shift around me. The first challenge has been won. I have to say, thresholds were a powerful thing. Now, I'm not a vampire or something that would normally be effected by a threshold, but a threshold around a church was different. It was a holy threshold. Whether you believed in a higher power or not, the belief that has humans coming to this place filled it with great holy power. It's that holy belief that could cripple me to the point that I would be crawling on the floor in my true form and be an easy target. However, someone from the church, like a former Knight of the Cross, invited me in. Like a vampire being invited into a home, I could walk in without losing any power. I still wasn't going to throw around my chaotic power, but I wasn't about to risk losing a trail over something like this.
"Take a seat in the chapel,” the man told me. “I'll go find Father Forthill.”
"Thank you, sir," I said and watched him walk down a hall. I went into the chapel and sat down on a bench. I looked around at the arches and the stain glass windows. It was impressive in its own order-filled way, built in a Cathedral style. It was a Roman Catholic church after all. It wasn't my style, however. The pub fit better with its random placement of columns, chairs, and fans. This was neat and organized. But I can't have my fun. I had work to do.
The man returned and sat next to me. "Father Forthill will be here shortly," he said.
"Thank you, sir."
"May I ask what's troubling you?"
"Family issues," I said. "My brother has not been the kindest of brothers. Though I haven't always been kind myself, but I've been trying to reform."
"Well, God is a forgiving one. Whatever you may have done in your past, He will forgive you if you try. The same for your brother."
"Do you have family?" I asked.
"Yes. A wife and seven kids,” he replied.
"That's nice. I wish I could have a wife and kids,” I told him, absentmindedly.
"It is a blessing everyday to wake up and see them,” he told me. “Even though four have grown up and moved out now with another about to move out soon."
"They grow up so fast,” I said.
"Yes," he said with a soft smile. "I remember my oldest, Molly, when she was born. Now she is almost thirty years old."
"I guess you're glad in a way," I said. "Is she married? Have kids?"
He sighed with a soft chuckle. "No. She doesn't even have herself a boyfriend. Too busy with her work."
"That's a shame,” I said. “A young woman shouldn't be so tied down with work. I was much the same. Now I'm too old."
"If you think you're old, my son, you should look at me," said a man's voice. I looked up to see an older man in a priest robes. His eyes looked like they were filled with recent hurt, like he went through something dramatic not too long ago.
"Father Forthill, I presume," I said, standing.
"I am, my son. Has Michael been good company for you?" he asked.
"He has."
"I'll hear your confessions now," he said as he walked to the booth. It wasn't too often you saw a Father before they stepped into a confessional booth. But I had a feeling he did it on purpose. I stepped into my side of the booth and closed the door.
"I assume you know I'm not here for a confession," I said softly, kneeling in front of the screen.
"I had a feeling, my son,” Forthill said.
"You still call me 'son' knowing I'm not human?" I asked, surprised.
"If you were here for bad intentions, you wouldn't have made it passed the parking lot,” he pointed out. “And even a creature from the Nevernever can be saved."
"I guess I should confess something then, Father. I'm not from the Nevernever either." I could feel him tense up. "Believe me when I say I'm not here to cause chaos. I'm here to prevent it."
It was his turn to be surprised. "I've never heard of an Outsider with good intentions.”
"I've been reformed," I said. "And could you please keep my true identity a secret? At least not until it needs to be known. But my brother might be here for something,” I said, getting back on topic.
"What would your brother be looking for?" he asked me.
"A coin." I heard him suck in a breath when I said that.
"I hope you mean he's just looking for spare change,” he replied.
"I'm afraid not, Father,” I said.
"So, why come here?" he asked.
"Chicago seems to have a giant magnet for these types of things,” I pointed out.
"I'm afraid I would have to agree with that," he said with a sigh. "I thank you for your warning, my son. I'll have to talk with the Church to see if any more coins have disappeared."
"I'll return later," I said. "I need to find my brother and stop him. Otherwise, your world and my own will be in great danger."
"Back door first thing in the morning, I'll have something for you."
"Afternoon," I said. "I must return to my world in the morning briefly. Otherwise, you might have some more visitors."
"Afternoon then, and may God be with you."
I wasn't sure why he felt he trusted me enough to send God to my side, but I accepted it. I thanked him again and left the church. I sighed as I looked up at the now darkened sky. As much as I would love to get an answer now, it would probably take some time before he could find out if a coin was taken. He may even send for the current Knights. I only knew of one active Knight at the moment, but there might be another by now.
Then there was the former Knight, Michael Carpenter. I got some information from him that might be useful. It might not seem it, but I could pick up some subtle clues from his words. "Molly Carpenter," I said softly, pushing a very small amount of will into it. I had a feeling her 'job' might be important. Just a hunch.
I got in the cab that I had paid to wait for me outside of the church. It was time for my next stop, the docks. It was going to be a quick stop. It was. I got out of the cab, paid the man to wait, and walked out onto one of the pairs. I looked out at the lake, to the horizon. There was a power out there, one that could be useful in case I couldn't make it back to Equestria. So, I sent a little bit of will out over the water. I waited until I knew my will had reached that power; then I got back in the cab.
The cab driver was staring at me, probably wondering why some crazy old man just stood on one of the pairs and stared out at the water. He didn't say anything when I came, but he kept giving me a strange look in the rearview mirror. The black, turtle neck wearing driver kept glancing at me as I headed to my next stop.
"Something bothering you?" I asked him after a while.
"What was that stop about?" he asked in a deep voice. "It seemed you were focusing on something."
"It's nothing," I lied. "Old memories."
"Is that all?" he asked as he reached for something under the seat. "Or were you sending a message to your friends with your powers?"
He came back up and threw what looked like the needle of a sea-urchin at me. Luckily, I was ready for it. Some creatures shouldn't say anything before attacking. I whipped my cane aside and hit the needle. The needle became a spaghetti noodle and bounced off my chest. I hit the seat with my cane and it became a pile of fluffy whip cream, making the driver fall through it and onto the floor. He swerved as he fell through, losing control of the cab.
I quickly started tapping the cab around me with my cane, making belts and straps and padding appear around me. The cab crashed into a parked white hummer. The padding around me protected me. The whip cream went everywhere as the driver went through the windshield and into the car that we hit. So...the hummer was white.
I frowned as I started to tap everything again with my cane to turn them back to normal. There was still some whip cream and missing chunks to the seat, but I didn't think anyone would go too far into trying to figure that out. So I opened the door of the cab and got out to see a man coming over. He was a young handsome man with dark hair and bluish gray eyes.
"Crazy cab driver," I said. "I'm lucky to have had my seatbelt on."
"Yes," he said. "But now I have to call my insurance."
I had to say, I never felt so guilty before in my life. I've done some bad things in my lifetime. I've seen the errors of my ways before and felt bad that it happened. I had intentionally done them. This was an accident. It was exciting and chaotic, but I didn't mean for it to happen in the way it did. This guy, whoever he was, had nothing to do with this, and I just painted his car red.
"I apologize, sir."
"Oh, it's alright. I'll just get it cleaned and fixed up."
I don't know what came over me. I felt the need to repay the guy. I reached into my pocket, made more money appear, and I withdrew it. It was a lot of hundreds folded over. "Here, I feel I should pay you at least. It was my cab after all."
"I couldn't do that," he said, giving me a forced smile. It was clear he didn't blame me, but he was still upset about the whole thing.
"I insist," I said. I pushed the money into his hand, and felt the power flowing through him. It wasn't like the Winter Knight, the former Knight of the Cross, or the Watcher. It was different, and I felt I knew what it was too.
"I have to repay you sometime," he said as he pulled out a business card. "I'm Thomas Raith. You need anything, give me a call."
I looked at the card as I recognized the name Raith. I wasn't sure how, but I've heard of Raith before. But he was nice enough and he could be useful. "Thomas Raith," I said. "I am Sam Singer. I will be sure to give you a call."
I saw him nod as he looked back at his car. "You best go. I'll deal with this. And stay clear of black turtlenecks."
I didn't get what he meant, but I was sure it had something to do with the dress choice of the driver. Was there a group of people running around attacking anyone with even the slightest magical abilities? I best be sure not to let my friends come here.
To further complicate matters, now I didn't have a cab. So, I walked. I would much rather just appear where I needed to go, but using my powers wasn't very wise. Not only was I limited, but if I used too much, I would collapse and would be an easy target to capture. If I were caught, I would be sent to the Outer Gates where I would be cast out and be trapped outside. I wouldn't be able to return to Equestria, or even my realm that I created. I would have to sneak passed the Outer Gates into the Nevernever before I could return. So, I couldn't afford using up my power.
After a long walk, I found myself outside a mansion. It was my last stop, I hoped. The man I was about to go see was a crime lord. Most of his work was mortal, but he had ears in the magical part of the world. It's just getting to chat with him that would be a problem.
I pushed the buzzer at the front gate and waited for an answer. "Who is it?" came a man's voice.
"An old friend looking to chat with Mr. Marcone," I said.
"He's unavailable at this time."
"This is an urgent matter. Johnny Marcone, I wish an audience with you under the protection of the Unseelie Accords. I will abide by them as such. I only wish to find information." There was a catch to what I said. The Unseelie Accords was an old tradition that fell over many beings of the supernatural world. The Pub was neutral territory under those accords. However, I was an Outsider. The Accords did not protein to me. Meaning I did not have to follow them. On the other hand, I could not be protected by it. Being welcomed in as a guest would normally mean that the host could not bring harm to me as long as I didn't start something first. Since I was not protected by the accords, I was playing a dangerous game of risk. They didn't need to know that.
After a long wait, wondering if I had made the right choice, the gates started to open. I took a deep breath, even though I didn't really need to breath, and walked forward. About half ways down the lawn, I heard a gunshot and something of high speed hit the concrete in front of me. I stopped and looked at the mansion.
"You can stay right there," said a woman as she walked towards me from the house. "What are you?"
I frowned a bit. "Me? I'm a simple man."
She tossed a small wooden square at me. Once it hit my chest, I felt power release from it. It felt like something ran into me and I fell back. "You are no man," she said. "You are not from the Nevernever. You are not a part of the accord."
I growled as I stood up and faced her. "I am not here for a fight, Valkyrie," I said, realizing who she was. I was in a bad position now. I could easily take her out, but it would cause more trouble than it's worth.
"What are you?" she repeated.
I didn't have much choice in this. "I am Discord. I'm a draconequus. I'm just here to find some information."
I saw her pull out another small wooden square. I started to speak again, but a light shined from a rune on the front of the square, making me put up a hand to block the light. It had been some time since I was last turned to stone, and here I was, turned into one again. In hindsight, I probably could have approached that a lot better.
I awoke to the phone ringing and Murphy getting out of bed to go answer it. I groaned in complaint for not feeling her body next to me anymore, but pushed myself out of bed anyway. I smiled a bit as I remembered what happened last night. After a long day that I had yesterday, it was nice to have a woman like Murphy to get in bed with. She maybe small, but she liked it rough, and I've gotten use to the size difference by now.
She was on and off the phone in minutes and quickly got dressed. "Rawlins," she said. "Wants me to go take a look at a body."
"On top of what happened at the college and museum?" I asked, making my way to the bathroom.
"Yep, add mysterious death to the list,” she said.
"Happy Halloween,” I said as I started the shower.
"Got that right,” she agreed. “How many more tricks are we going to have this year?"
"Still have today and tomorrow. Plenty of time for the necromancers to come out. And the ghosts. And the Nightmares." She walked by and kissed me as she went to the door. "Call Molly if you need me."
"Will do,” she said. “Good luck looking for ponies."
Ponies. If I remember right, there were still two to find. Then a creature of chaos and his brother. I think the best thing to do now is to follow this Sam is Discord theory. It was all I had to work with.
After my shower, I dried off and dressed in blue jeans, a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon T-shirt, and my steel toed boots. Before I left, I packed a few things into a backpack, pulled on my duster, and grabbed my staff. I made one stop at Walmart and one at a drive-thru before I went to Molly's place.
I found Molly and Twilight in the living room. Molly was watching Twilight as she practice some magic. "Sup, boss," Molly said as I entered.
"Not your boss anymore," I said. In fact, it was the other way around.
"This isn't fairy business, you're the boss,” she said.
I shrugged as I watched Twilight levitate several objects at once. "Where are the others?" I asked.
"Pinkie decided to throw a party to make up for the one we missed last night," Twilight said. "They decided to have a mini party in the kitchen. What's all that?"
That couldn't be good. I bet this girl could make a little party into a full size one if she wanted. I set the Walmart bags down on the couch.
“Some clothes and coats for you girls," I said. "And food."
"Great," Twilight said. "I'm starving."
I carried the bags with food into the kitchen and saw that the place was not as decorated as I thought. Considering that this girl was able to make and put up decorations on the island, I thought there would be a lot more than a few streamers. Despite that, Pink was having a good time dancing with the other two.
"Hey, girls," Twilight called as she and Molly entered behind me. "Harry's here with food."
"Awesome!" R.D. called.
"Food!" Pink called out as she rushed to the bags.
I pulled out the food, lots of salads for them and a few burgers for me. Molly and the others dug into the salads while I ate my burgers. It was odd. Twilight was using her hands while the other three started by bending over to take the food by their mouths. But when they saw how Twilight and Molly were eating, they started to mimic them.
Once we ate, I passed out clothes, which Dash and Pinkie immediately started to undress out of their pajamas right there. Molly and Twilight had to stop them and push them into another room to change. Fluttershy was so modest, she left the room with some clothes right away.
Dash came out in what I expected her to wear. She pulled on blue jeans and a simple blue T-shirt and sneakers. They were both a little big on her, but she put a belt on, tied a knot in the shirt, and rolled up the pant legs. She also had a blue winter jacket under her arm.
Pinkie also wore what I expected, a long pink skirt and a matching blouse and sweater. The skirt hung several inches past her knees, but it was short enough to see she had pink stockings on underneath. She went with the pink tennis shoes I got her and it all looked to fit rather nicely. She held on a very puffy pink winter coat to complete the look.
Fluttershy didn't seem to know what was best to wear and had on a mix of blue jeans, a yellow sundress that I guessed was Molly's, and a green hoodie on. She had grabbed the white sneakers I had bought and was the only one who grabbed a pair of earmuffs with her white winter coat.
Twilight had put on a purple tee with blue jeans and black sneakers. She had a black heavy coat under her arm and one of Molly's wands in her hand. Like Dash, her clothes were a little too big, but not as big as hers. Over all, they were happy with their outfits.
Molly dressed in all black. Black jeans, black long sleeve shirt, and black combat boots. Knowing Molly, I was sure her boots were steel toed like mine. She also had a black leather coat on and a small bag over her shoulder.
"Sorry about that," Twilight said. "Clothes isn't really a thing in our world except for fashion."
I nodded. It must be because they had fur when they are ponies. Now, they were humans with proportions. They were good proportions too. They could be real head turners, but the fact that they were ponies kind of killed it for me.
We loaded up in the minivan, which now had all the dashboard lights on, and headed out. "Where to, boss?" Molly asked.
"McAnally's," I replied. "Murphy had a theory about this Discord guy and since it's the only lead I have, might as well look into it."
"You found Discord?" Fluttershy said, hopeful.
"It's just a theory," I said. "But if it pays off, I can start tracking him. Molly, can you call Thomas? Have him meet us at the church?" She nodded and pulled out her phone.
She only looked at me once as she spoke into, frowning as I heard static from the device. I smirked a bit before I calmed myself, focusing on "don't destroy cell phones" thoughts.
"If I may ask, Mr. Dresden, what is your theory?" Twilight asked.
I didn't see any reason not to tell her. "There was an older gentleman running around the city the night before you girls appeared. He came to the pub I go to, trying to get answers from Mac."
"He knew Mac?” Molly asked.
"Seemed like it, but Mac wouldn't tell him anything,” I told her. “And Mac just told me to avoid him."
"What makes you think it's Discord?" Fluttershy asked.
"This Sam Singer went to the church and warned Father Forthill that someone might be after the coins,” I continued. “He was suppose to return to the church the next day but never did. Then you girls show up looking for Discord, who you said was suppose to return yesterday also."
"That's kind of a stretch," Dash pointed out.
"Still, it's all we've got," Twilight added.
"Regardless, with everything that's been going on, this Sam guy is involved somehow. Rather he's Discord or Chaogent, or just someone else trying to cause trouble," I said.
"What about Applejack and Rarity?" Dash asked. "Are we just going to forget about them?"
"If you have any ideas on where they might be, I'd like to know,” I said, looking into the rearview mirror at her. “But if we can find Discord, I'm sure he can find your friends."
“I guess that makes sense,” she replied.
“But what if it’s not Discord?” Fluttershy asked.
“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” I said. “But hopefully Mac will be able to shed some light onto this before we dig too deep. And if he’s not Discord, I still plan to track down this guy and find out what his part is in all of this. By the way, do any of you know his Name?”
I glanced in the mirror to see them looking at each other, confused. “Ummm,” Twilight said. “Discord?”
“Ya, that’s what you call him,” I said. “But what’s his Name?”
“Oh! I know,” Pinkie said, excitedly. The girls all looked at her. “Well, I don’t know his Name, but I know what he’s asking for.”
I growled softly. “What is he asking for?” Dash asked her.
She cleared her throat before speaking very clearly. “My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie,” she said. The girls were still confused, but I smirked. She just gave up something very powerful to me, and she knew it. She wanted me to demonstrate.
I took a deep breath, filled my voice with my Will and spoke her Name. “Pinkamena Diane Pie,” I said, being clear to match the way she said her Name.
She squeaked as she wrapped her arms around herself, shivered violently. “Wow!” she said. “That was very weird!”
“What just happened?” Twilight asked.
“I spoke her Name,” I said as dings started to come from the car. “Names are powerful. Speaking someone or something’s Name can give you control over them. You can summon them or even control them to do what you want. I just gave her a chill.” I looked back at them. “If I knew his Name I could try summoning him or even track him.” The each shook their heads. Oh well, it was worth a try.
“So, what is your Name?” Pinkie asked.
“I don't give out my Name,” I said. “Just know that Harry Dresden is part of it.”
I saw her pout. “That’s not fair,” she said.
“I never asked for your Name. You just gave it out willingly.” I stumped her on that, but she wasn’t too happy about it.
We finally reached the pub as the door ajar chime started to go twice as fast. The girls were getting annoyed with it, just as much as me.
“Harry,” Molly said as we walked down the steps to the pub. “Why did you want Thomas to meet us at the church and not here?”
“The church is the next stop,” I said.
“But why there?” she asked.
I didn’t really have an answer. I guess it made sense to me to have him meet us there. Oh well, it was already done.
I opened the door and stepped inside. Molly and the girls followed behind me as I looked around. Mac was the only one there, cleaning and getting ready for the day. He looked at me and was surprised at the sight of four girls following Molly and I.
He gave us a nod and stepped behind the bar. Molly lead the girls over to a table while I went to the bar. “Alright, Mac,” I said. “I have one simple question for you. And I’m not leaving until I get an answer.” I saw him narrow his eyes. “Who was that man?”
I saw him look from me to the girls sitting at the table. “Who are they?” he asked.
“Ponies from another realm,” I said. “Who was that man?”
He tilted his head in confusion. “Ponies?”
“Don’t worry about them, Mac.” I took a deep breath, speaking each word clearly. “Who. Was. That. Man?”
He growled and looked at me. I took another deep breath, the mantle wanting to pull Mac from over the counter. “He’s an Outsider, isn’t he?” He stared at me. “Is he part of you old group?” I saw him bare his teeth. “The way he spoke to you, you two were old buddies. Is that true?”
“What do you want, Dresden?” he asked
“I want his Name,” I said.
“You know the Law of Magic,” he said.
The law he was referring to was the one forbidding the summoning of an Outsider. Actually, it forbid reaching passed the Outer Gate period. Normally, I wouldn’t risk breaking a law, but if I had to call one Outsider to stop another, I’ll do it.
I heard one of the girls walk over and I looked over to see Fluttershy standing next to me. “Please, sir,” she said softly. “We’re looking for our friend. If this man you spoke with is him, we would like to know.”
I looked at Mac as his stern look started to waver. “Mac,” I said, softening my own voice. “Was he Discord?”
He looked at me, surprised. He looked back at Fluttershy before he sighed softly and nodded. I thought she was about to cry as a smile formed. It made me wonder. Was Discord more than a friend to her?
The other girls walked over as I looked back at Mac. “Alright, Mac, this is the situation,” I said and I started to explain what was going on. He listened, that’s what he was good at.
He rubbed at his neck as I finished. “Is this really the same Discord?” he asked. The girls giggled a bit.
“Do you know where he went?” He nodded. “Where?”
“Church,” he said.
“And we’re going there anyway,” I said with a sigh. “Anywhere else?”
“He was looking for information,” Mac said.
That didn’t answer my question, but I thought about it for a moment. He came here for information. He went to the church to warn them, right? No. He wanted to know if a coin was taken. He was looking for information there also. That’s why he was suppose to return the next day. So, where else could he look for information?
I looked at the girls, not thinking of anything. “Everyone load up,” I said. “To the church.”
“Harry,” Mac said as the girls started to leave with Molly. I looked back at him. “Caution.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Harry,” he said. I frowned, looking at him. “Cowl’s in town.”
“Fuck,” I swore. It wasn’t Halloween without a damn necromancer coming to town. “What the hell is he doing here?” He looked at the door. “Why would he be after them?” He shook his head no. “Molly?” He shook his head again. “Discord.” He shrugged. “Powerful Outsider is in town, of course he would want to take control over it.” He nodded. “Keep your head low, Mac.” He nodded as I headed out.
...
As I drove us to the church, I started to think about this new line of evidence. Sam Singer was Discord. Discord Sam went to the pub, then the church, and sometime after that was attacked by a Fomor and ran into Thomas’s car. Where did he go after that? At least the dinging from the car stopped.
I parked the car in the side parking lot near where the church would receive packages. I’ve been here so many times at all sorts of hours that I just came to the back door whenever I came here. The girls followed behind me as I walked up to the door and knocked. To my surprise, Michael answered the door.
“Harry,” he said. “Welcome.” He then saw his daughter and smile. “Molly. I’m glad your home for a while.”
“Hey, daddy,” she said giving the man a hug. “Sorry for not coming by last night.”
“It’s alright, sweetheart.” He smiled and looked at the girls. “I see the group has grown since yesterday, Mrs. Sparkle.”
“Please, call me Twilight, Mr. Carpenter,” Twilight replied.
“There’s no need for that,” he said. “Call me Michael, Twilight. So, who are your friends?”
“Well, this is Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy,” Twilight said, happily.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” he said. “Come in.”
He let us all in and started to lead us down the hall. “So, Michael,” I said. “What brings you here this morning? Don’t you have a house to build downtown?”
He frowned a bit as he hesitated. He seemed like he was trying to figure out how to explain it. “Well...it seems like all the wood,” he began. “It’s weird. The wood was all replaced with candy overnight.” I glanced back at the girls who all stopped, wide eyed. “Something wrong?” he asked, looking from me to the girls.
“It’s a long story,” I said. “Which is kind of why I’m here. I wanted to speak with Father Forthill.”
“Of course,” he said as he lead us into a too well familiar room. The room was a multipurpose room, sometimes used for storage, other times an office, but most commonly a refugee room. Father Forthill would occasionally take in folks who need to hide out from supernatural beings, usually sent by yours truly. For now, it looked like it was being set up for Sunday class. Forthill was there setting up the room.
“Oh, Harry,” he said as he looked up. “I was kind of expecting you, my son.”
“You were?” I asked.
“After what Michael had told me about his job site, I had a feeling you might come here to ask some questions,” he said.
I rubbed at the bridge of my nose. “Do you know who the guy that warned you about the coin was?” I asked.
“Not entirely,” he said. “I just knew he was an Outsider.”
Really? This damn old man knew the whole time? “And you didn’t think to tell me that yesterday?”
“He requested it to remain a secret,” he said. “But I feel it might be time to break that promise.”
“It might have saved me a lot of trouble,” I said, annoyed. “His name is Discord. And we are trying to locate him.”
“Well, he was suppose to come by yesterday,” he said.
“Right, I know that,” I said. “Did he say where else he was going? Where he was staying?”
“Sorry, no,” he said. “He didn’t mention anything.”
“This is pointless,” Dash said in irritation. “We’re not getting anywhere.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said. “We have to try.”
“Come on, Fluttershy,” she said. “It’s hopeless, we’re not going to find Discord. He’s gone.”
“Don’t say that,” Fluttershy said, raising her voice some. “We will find him.” I guess Fluttershy can get mad when she needed to.
“Stop it, you two,” Twilight said, getting between them. “We’re not helping fighting with each other.” She looked at me. “Harry, you know this city better than anyone, right? If Discord was looking for information, where would he go to get it? News stand? Mayor?”
I growled a bit as I looked at the girls. Then a lightbulb went off. Discord needed information about what was going on around here. Mac was a good start, but there was someone who would know more. Someone who ran this place...and that wasn’t the mayor. “Hell’s bells,” I said and caught a look from Michael and Father Forthill. “Sorry.”
“What did you think of?” Molly asked.
“There’s only one man I can think of who runs this city,” I said. Gentleman Johnny Marcone. The boss of the majority of the organized crime in Chicago, because you can’t call them the mob anymore. I looked at Molly. “Call Thomas, tell him to get here now,” I said and I stepped passed the girls to leave.
“Harry, wait,” Michael said, stepping passed the girls to follow. “What are you going to do? You’re not exactly on speaking terms with Marcone. If you show up, he’ll probably kill you on the spot.”
“He won’t do that,” I said. “Besides, I wouldn’t give him the chance.”
“You’re storming into his estate?” he asked.
“Got that right.” I stepped out of the church and felt the thud hit my chest and I fell back. “Son of a bitch!” I shouted, rolling over and ducking my head down. “Get inside!” I shouted to Michael. He went back in, stopping the girls as they tried to run out. I heard a yell from across the street. It was a female voice and it wasn’t from surprise but from an attack.
I shook out my new shield bracelet I had on my left hand and pushed my will into it. I came up, holding out my arm as the shield formed. I gripped my staff with my right hand and looked at the rooftops of the buildings across the street. A tall woman dressed in a cowgirl outfit complete with a brown hat and long blond hair was kicking at a tall man in black from the roof. The man I recognized.
The man was preoccupied with blocking the woman with his rifle to notice that I was up. I pushed power into my staff and thrust it out pointing at him and whipped it up. “Forzare!” A force of power flew out of the staff, grabbing Kincaid and pulling him up and off the roof, sending him to the ground. It caught him by surprise, but he rolled in the air and landed in a crouch. He lifted the gun at me.
“Arctis!” I shouted, thrusting my staff forward again. The ruins glowed blue as the spell flew out and froze his gun. He quickly dropped it before it froze to his hands. The woman jumped down behind him and kicked at him again. He ducked down and whipped around, sweeping her feet. I lifted my staff and pushed power into it again, but I was surprised. Rainbow Dash rushed him, tackling him with great speed. In fact, she moved as fast as Thomas when he went full vampire. That’s living up to her name.
I rushed forward as she fought Kincaid. She was good too. She could rival Murphy, and that’s saying a lot. She was yelling at him as she attacked, forcing him back. He jumped back and pulled out a handgun, but I was ready for it. “Forzare!” I called and swung the staff up, the gun went flying into the air. The cowgirl took this moment to jump back into the fight and roundhouse kicked him.
I have to give Kincaid credit, he had great reflexes. He jumped back the moment the gun went flying, avoiding the girl’s kick. Problem was, he was out numbered. And it just kept getting worse for him. He jumped back into Thomas. Thomas grabbed him and slammed him into the ground as Kincaid cursed.
“Shit!” he called out. Thomas pulled out a dagger and pulled him up, pushing the dagger to his neck. “Wait,” Kincaid said at the same time I said it.
Thomas looked at me as he held Kincaid there. “I wasn’t going to kill him,” he said. As he spoke, I heard the other girls running over. “Not unless he tries something funny.” Which was a reasonable reaction.
“What the hell, Kincaid?” I demanded from him. “You could have just called.”
“I didn’t want to make it too easy for you,” he said. “Besides, I wanted to make sure you stay dead this time.”
“Why are you trying to kill me?” I asked, though I kind of had a feeling I knew the answer.
“Because you hired me to,” he said.
“Wait, you hired him to kill you?” Dash asked me in surprise.
“It’s a long story,” I said. “Kincaid, I’m calling it off.”
“I can’t do that now, Dresden,” he said. “It’s a matter of pride. You survived. I can’t let this go unresolved.”
“Hell’s bells, Kincaid. Let it go,” I told him. “You killed me once. It wasn’t my doing that brought me back. Besides, I’m too busy to die at the moment.”
“I’ve noticed,” he said, looking at the girls. “A dragonequus is in town.”
“So you come to kill me instead of trying to help stop this Outsider?” I asked him.
“Trust me, Dresden, you would be dead by now if I was really trying,” he said. “I did it once before, after all. I knew you had spells in that duster of yours. Plus, it was clear you had on a vest.”
I glanced down at the hole in the shirt of where he hit me. It was right in the center of the triangle of the logo. Under the shirt was a bullet proof vest, rated for armor piercing rounds. Though thinking about it, he could have easily shot me in the head. No coming back from that.
I looked at Thomas. “Let him go.”
“Harry?” Thomas questioned.
“It’s alright.” I noticed the girls get a little unsteady as Thomas let him go. Even Pinkie seemed a little scared. Kincaid got up and looked at the girls before looking at me.
“Dresden,” he said. “We’ll talk after Halloween. Until then, you best get rid of this thing.”
“Ya, sure,” I said. I watched him retrieve his guns and tucked them away, leaving. I let out my breath and looked at the girls. They all relaxed and started to hug the cowgirl.
“Applejack, what happened?” Twilight asked. “Why were you with that man?”
“It’s a long story,” the girl said with a very strong country accent. “I’m just glad ya’ll are alright. Where’s Rarity?”
“We haven’t found her yet,” Fluttershy said.
“Umm, ladies,” I interrupted. “We better get going. Someone was sure to have seen and heard the commotion. Plus, we need find Discord.”
“What? Ya’ll are lookin’ for Discord first?” Applejack asked.
“We have an idea of where he is,” I said, leading them to the van. “If we can find him, he could be helpful to find your friend.”
“Wait, who are ya?” she asked, looking from me to Thomas.
“Harry Dresden,” I said. “That guy following us is Thomas. And that feeling you’re getting near him is natural.”
I looked at her and saw her blush a bit. “Umm, where’s Hero?” she asked the girls.
I saw Twilight frown a bit. “Well, he’s not here,” she said. “And it’s unlikely that we’ll even see him.” I saw disappointment in the young woman’s eyes, but she nodded, accepting the fact.
“What’s the plan, Harry?” Thomas asked. “And where’s Molly?”
“Probably in a veil,” I said. No sooner did I said it, she came out of the church with her father, putting her phone away. “Or she had a call.”
“You alright boss?” she asked. I nodded. “What happened? Who’s this?”
“I’m Applejack,” the woman said. “I’m a friend.”
“Awesome,” Molly said. “I’m Molly. Nice to meet you. So, that leaves one more girl, right?” The others nodded. “Great. I know where she’s at.”
“You do?” I asked in surprise.
“Ya,” she said. “I just got off the phone with Murphy. Apparently, Mrs. Gard called yesterday and left a message. But Murphy didn’t got it until a little while ago. She said that a Rarity is at Marcone’s Estate.”
“Perfect, we can kill two birds with one stone,” I said.
“Oh those poor birds,” I heard Fluttershy say. “Why would you want to kill them?”
I put a hand to my forehead. “It’s a figure of speech,” I said. “It means we can accomplish two things at once. We can get your friend Rarity back and find out more on Discord.”
“Well, it’s still an awful thing to say,” she replied. I heard the other girls giggle.
“Harry,” Michael said. “I don’t think you and these girls will all fit in the minivan.”
He was right. This party was getting huge. Head count. We have myself, Molly, Twilight, Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, and Thomas. Eight fully grown adults, five ponies, two wizards with some debate if they’re even still wizards or not, and a vampire with a sex drive. It’s the twelve days of Halloween, I tell you. And we still have one more pony and a dragonequus to find. It feels like when I went to Chichen Itza to save my daughter. Except that was Fellowship of the Ring size. This group was getting close though.
I looked at Michael. I wasn’t counting him since he has retired from the fight years ago when he got injured. I couldn’t ask him for a larger ride, but Thomas had a hummer. It wouldn’t hold all of us, but that’s a second vehicle. The problem was, did I trust him enough to have a couple of vulnerable girls with him?
“Here’s the plan,” I said. “Thomas, you take Molly, Fluttershy and Pinkie. I’ll take Twilight, Dash, and Applejack.”
“Great, where are we going?” he asked.
“Marcone’s estate,” I said.
“Awesome, let’s go,” he replied.
“Harry,” Michael said. He looked like he wanted to say something, but shook his head. “May God go with you,” he said instead.
I didn’t push. I just nodded and got everyone loaded up. As I drove, I still wondered if it was wise to leave Thomas with two of the girls. I trust Molly to keep him in line. After all, she knew him for a while and knew how to fight against that power.
The next morning, I woke up to Pinkie shaking me awake. “Wake up, Dashie!” she said. “I have a great idea!”
“Oh, come on, Pinkie,” I complained. “Just five more minutes.”
“Oh, come on, Dashie.” She kept shaking me so I just started to push myself up. I had forgotten that we were in another world and were humans, so I was surprised to see Pinkie in her form and that I had hands. I groaned again as I pushed myself out of the bed, looking around.
“Where is everypony else?” I asked Pinkie.
“Oh, Twilight is talking with Molly trying to learn how to use her magic, and Fluttershy went to the bathroom,” she said. “Come on, I’m going to throw a little party since we didn’t get to enjoy my party last night.”
“Sounds awesome, Pinkie, but don’t you think we have more important things to do?” I asked her.
“Well, we can’t really go do anything until Harry gets back,” she pointed out.
I groaned. “Why do we have to rely on him?” I asked. “I mean, he seems cool and all, but I hate having to rely on somepony else when we’re suppose to be looking for Discord and Chaogent. And we still have to find A.J. and Rarity.”
“Oh, come on, Dash,” she said. “We don’t know this place and we don’t know where to go to find them.”
When did Pinkie Pie become the voice of reason? I sighed. She was right, but it still made me feel like it was pointless for us to be here if we can’t do anything. I mean, I can’t even fly anymore. That was so uncool. It couldn’t be helped. So I just got up and followed her out of the room.
“So, I wanted to make a real party,” Pinkie started to say as we left the room together, “but I didn’t have my party canon and I used most of the decorations on the island. And it seemed that Molly doesn’t keep a lot of food here. She said that she’s not here long enough to keep a lot of food here. It’ll just go bad.”
“How long have you been up, Pinkie?” I asked as we joined Fluttershy, heading down the stairs. “Morning, Fluttershy.”
“Oh. Good Morning, Rainbow Dash,” she replied.
“I’ve only been up for a few minutes,” Pinkie replied. She lead us into a living room where Twilight was sitting there with a wand. She was trying to levitate something while Molly sat behind her.
“Morning, Twilight. Morning, Molly,” I said.
“Morning,” they both said at the same time.
“Are you two going to join us?” Pinkie asked.
“Maybe in a bit,” Twilight said. “If I want to help out while I’m here, I need to learn to be able to use the magic here.”
“Alright,” Pinkie said, happily. “We’ll save you some pretend cupcakes.” With that, she lead us into the kitchen.
I thought about what Twilight said. She was practicing using her magic so she could help. I was sure wherever A.J. was, she was working on how she could be helpful. I’m sure Rarity was learning how to use magic also, though knowing her, she’ll probably would be making us all outfits to wear. Pinkie was being Pinkie. Even if she didn’t fight or use magic, she could keep our spirits up. And though I can’t really say Fluttershy was much help, I was sure she didn’t mind sitting around doing nothing.
I’ll admit. I’m lazy when I want to be, but all I’ve done since I got here was kick some punks’ butts when I first got here. Since then, I just followed everypony around. I needed some action.
Pinkie had started playing some music off of what looked like Molly’s phone. I guess Molly helped her out with it. Pinkie started to dance, despite not knowing the music that was playing, and got Fluttershy and I to start dancing with her. It was nice, but it didn’t stop me from thinking about wanting to help out more.
I heard someone come in and voices from the other room before Harry walked into the kitchen with Molly and Twilight. It was about time too. I was ready to go kick some more butt.
"Hey, girls," Twilight called. "Harry's here with food."
It didn’t really hit me how hungry I was until she mentioned it. I didn’t eat last night, so I was pretty hungry. "Awesome!" I said, giving in to my hunger instead of my need to help.
"Food!" Pinkie called out and she rushed forward to get her share of food. There was only so much pretend food you can eat before real hunger sets in, I guess.
After we ate, Harry passed out some clothes we could wear. After last night and dealing with the cold autumn air, I was glad to get something. Pinkie and I started to undress, but Twilight and Molly stopped us and pushed us into another room.
"Hey, what gives?" I asked them as we entered the other room.
“Rainbow, being naked isn’t really a thing here,” Twilight said.
“It’s kind of a modesty,” Molly said. “It’s of frowned upon by some people. Besides, men here kind of only have one thing on their minds. And if you run around naked and showing off the good stuff...well, it’ll attract attention you don’t need.”
“Oh,” I said and I felt my cheeks burn a bit. I guess it made sense here. But for human guys to think that way was kind of disgusting. It was...perverted. Then again, maybe it was all humans. Did Molly think that way too?
Now that I was thinking about it, I started to blush more. Maybe it was the thought of seeing someone else in that light...or maybe being seen like that. I started thinking what it would be like to see Thomas like that. Though now that I know what he was, I pushed those thoughts away.
We searched through the clothes, Molly helped us pick out stuff and even ran to get somethings of her own that we could use. I ended up getting some blue clothes that looked close to my fur. They were too large though and I had to add a belt, roll up the legs, and tie the shirt to make it fit.
Once we were all dressed, we headed out. I didn't like this "minivan." I would much rather fly. This was so dumb. I felt so restricted. Why did we get turned into humans? I guess it’s similar to a car on a train, but that at least had room for a pony to get up and walk around.
As we rode in the thing, Harry shared with us his plans. He had decided to pursue Discord. I didn’t like the idea of setting the search for A.J. and Rarity aside until we found Discord, but we had nothing else to work off of. As much as it pained me, I might as well go along with it for now.
During the ride, we learned about names. I never thought much about names, but it seemed here names were important. Magic here was a lot weirder, and I’m sure Twilight loved this. The way I understood it was that if somepony knew somepony else's name, they could control them. Did that mean Harry had control over me too? That was a scary thought.
We finally arrived at wherever we were going. It was about time too. The minivan had started dinging during the conversation about names and it was really getting annoying. We all got out and I looked at the building as we walked to it. Harry lead us down some steps into a pub.
The place was a decent size, but I noticed that it was oddly set up. The pillars that supported the ceiling had carvings on them and they were interesting to look at. With the pillars and tables, it seemed everything couldn’t fit in an organized fashion and was just placed randomly around the pub. We followed Molly over to a table and sat down while Harry went to talk with the man.
“This is annoying,” I whispered to them.
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight protested.
“Oh, come on, Twilight,” I said. “Are you honestly enjoying sitting around and doing nothing?”
“Well, no, but there’s nothing much we can do right now,” she said.
“I understand that, Twi,” I shot back. “But it’s annoying that we’re not doing anything. We’re letting Harry do all the work.”
“Dash,” Molly said. “Trust me, I know the feeling of sitting in the back seat. I was his apprentice for several years. I wasn’t very helpful when he did his investigative work, but I did find ways to help him when he needed it. I’m sure by the end of all of this, you’ll be more help than you thought.”
I crossed my arms as I sat back, letting that sink in. It was true that I couldn’t do much now, but who’s to say that I’ll be useful later? I don’t have wings so I can’t fly. I certainly can’t make a sonic rainboom while I’m here. I could fight but there’s nothing to fight against.
We could hear Harry trying to get an answer from the owner, but no luck. Fluttershy, to my surprise, got up and walked over. It was with her help that we learned that this Sam Singer was really Discord.
As we left the pub, I felt like we accomplished nothing. Sure, we learned who Discord was portraying himself as, but how did that help us? This just got more annoying as it went on, and now we were going to some church to ask someone there about Discord...or Sam. Whoever we were going to ask at the church better know something. I was ready to get some action.
When we first reached the church, we met Molly’s father, Michael, there. As he lead us inside, he told us why he was here and not working like he was suppose to be. From what it sounded like, a dragonequus had tampered with his worksite. Could this be the work of Discord? Or Chaogent? There was no telling until we found one of them, but it was something I felt we should look into.
We finally met the guy we had came here to speak with. “Oh, Harry,” he said as we entered the room. “I was kind of expecting you, my son.”
“You were?” Harry asked.
“After what Michael had told me about his job site,” he said, “I had a feeling you might come here to ask some questions.”
I stood with the others, watching Harry talk with the guy. “Do you know who the guy that warned you about the coin was?” he asked.
“Not entirely. I just knew he was an Outsider,” he said.
I frowned as I looked around at the others. They just stood there, silently waiting. “And you didn’t think to tell me that yesterday?” Harry asked.
“He requested it to remain a secret,” the man said. “But I feel it might be time to break that promise.”
“It might have saved me a lot of trouble,” Harry said in an annoyed voice. “His name is Discord. And we are trying to locate him.”
“Well, he was suppose to come by yesterday,” he said.
“Right, I know that,” Harry told him. “But did he say where else he was going? Where he was staying?”
“Sorry, no,” the old man said. “He didn’t mention anything.”
“This is pointless,” I said, frustration getting the best of me. “We’re not getting anywhere.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said. “We have to try.”
“Come on, Fluttershy,” I told her. “It’s hopeless, we’re not going to find Discord. He’s gone.”
“Don’t say that,” Fluttershy said, raising her voice some. “We will find him.”
“Stop it, you two,” Twilight said, getting between us. “We’re not helping fighting with each other.” I folded my arms and turned away. “Harry, you know this city better than anyone, right? If Discord was looking for information, where he go to get it? News stand? Maybe a mayor?”
I growled, not listening to the conversation. I was tired of this. We came all the way here just to hit a deadend. We were on a wild goose chase, except the goose is out in Manehatten and we’re running in circles in Chicacolt. I was about to walk away when Harry pushed past us, followed by Michael.
I looked at the other girls and quickly followed after them, leaving Molly there to call Thomas again. As we reached the door we had entered, I heard Harry yell. “Son of a bitch!” he called from outside. We rushed forward. “Get inside!” he called and Michael came back in and closed the door.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Trouble,” Michael said. “Get back to the classroom.”
Forget that. I was tired of getting tied down. I decided to fight. I turned and ran down the hall, hearing my friends call out to me. I ignored them. I realized that despite not having wings and being unable to fly, I was still fast. This made me grin.
“I am so awesome,” I told myself, and ran through the front doors. I glanced around and started to run down the street, making my way around the building to get to whatever was happening.
As I came around the corner, I saw a man throw a block of ice on the ground and a woman jumped down behind him, kicking at him. I knew at once it was Applejack. The man tripped her.
I felt my anger grow and I ran down the street. I think if I had more room, I could have reached sonic rainboom, but as it was, I didn’t. So I tackled the guy. I came up from a roll and started to punch at him, yelling. He dodged me, but I was moving fast enough that he couldn’t counter.
Instead, he jumped back and pulled out some device. Whatever it was, he never got to use it. I heard Harry yell from behind me and I felt a rush of air go by me and the device went flying. As it did, A.J. stepped up and kicked at him. I saw what she was trying to do. He didn’t. He jumped back right into Thomas, who grabbed the man and slammed him to the ground.
Thomas held him, pushing a knife to his throat. The guy was practically begging us to stop. I guess he realized that this was too much awesome for him. It turned out that this guy was hired by Harry himself to kill him sometime ago. However, the way they were talking, it seemed the guy wasn’t trying to kill Harry at all. Was he testing Harry or something?
Regardless, Harry let him go. Surprisingly, I felt a lot better. It wasn’t much, but I helped fight somepony and we were rejoined by Applejack. Overall, we finally made some progress. What’s more, when we returned to the church, we learned where Rarity was. And if Harry was correct, not only would we find Rarity, but get more information on where Discord could be.
I woke up to find Kincaid sittin' at the table and cleanin' his gun. "So, you're finally awake," he said, not even looking up. "Get some food, take a shower, and get dressed. We have work to do."
"Straight to work, huh?" I said, gettin' out of bed. "Just like on the farm." I went into the kitchen area and looked into the fridge. Most of the meat was replaced with fruits and vegetables. Thank Celestia, somethin' I can eat. I piled up on everythin' and took it to the table.
Kincaid looked at me as I started to ate. "You're going to eat all of that?" he asked me.
"Of course I am," I said. "I got to get my strength up. Need as much energy I can get."
I could feel his eyes on me as I ate. It was really creepy, but I tried to ignore it. I was almost done when he spoke again. "I've never seen a girl eat that much."
"This is nothin'," I said with my mouth full of apple chunks. "Ya should see me when we have our annual apple pie eatin' competition. I'm still rainin' champion." He chuckled a bit as he watched me finish eatin'. "Ya know, ya can tell me what yer plan is while I'm eatin'," I pointed out to him.
He smirked at me. "I'm taking you to someone who is looking for your friends," he said.
"Someone ya know?" I asked. Really, I wanted to know if this person was a murderer like him.
"We've done business together," he said. "He's a good man. He'll be fighting to protect you and this city."
I could tell he was tellin' the truth, but I had a feelin' he wasn't tellin' the whole truth. “Ya hired him?”
“No,” he said, “but I know he’ll be searching for them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s found them already.”
“What makes ya think that?” He pulled out a business card and passed it to me. It looked like he had it for a while, but it was still clearly legible.
HARRY DRESDEN-WIZARD
Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or
Other Entertainment.
I looked at it, flipping it over to see an address and number, but they were both crossed off. “Ok, so, he’s a wizard,” I said. “But what does he have to do with my friends?”
“He gets involved,” he said. “He also has lots of connections in this city. Someone is bound to contact him if they found one of these ponies. Or one of those dragonequus. Either way, there’s no way he’ll not be involved.”
I looked at the crossed out address on the back of the card again. "Why is the back of the card crossed out?"
"He doesn't have an office or that number anymore," Kincaid said.
"So, how ya rackin’ ya gonna find him?" I asked as I pulled on the boots that I had worn the day before.
"I have connections too,” he said. “And I’m skillful in tracking people also.”
“Then why aren’t ya lookin’ for my friends?” I asked.
“You’re not paying me,” he pointed out. “You’re lucky I’m doing this much for you. Besides, you’ll be in better hands with him. You made it clear last night you don’t approve of my work.”
“Ya sayin’ he’s better?” I asked. “Didn’t ya tell me that it’s kill or be killed here?”
“And I stand by my words,” he said. “But he won’t go killing to get money or for the fun of it. He’ll kill to protect the one’s he love and he’ll die protecting him.”
That actually sounded really noble. He would die to protect his friends? It sounded like Hero. “Harry Dresden,” I said softly. “He would still kill though.”
“If it meant saving someone, yes,” he said.
I frowned, crossing my arms. “Well, it’s still disgustin’. Killin’. Why not just talk it out?”
“Mrs. Apple,” he said. “Do you have family?”
“Well, yes,” I said. “I have an older brother and a younger sister. Than there’s Granny.”
“And what would you do if someone threaten them?” he asked, liftin’ his gun and pointin’ at me.
Knowin’ what that thing was now, I didn’t like it bein’ pointed at me. However, somethin’ sparked in my head. That gun was pointed at Granny Smith...Big Mac….Applebloom. I growled, slammin’ my fist into the table and standin’ up. I saw him smirk as he lowered the gun.
“Just as I thought,” he said. “And he would do the same for his friends and his daughter.”
I watched as he tucked the gun away under his coat and lifted a larger gun. He set it on the table as well and put the guitar case next to it. He opened it and set the gun inside before closing it again and lifting it.
“You ready?” he asked me.
“What do you need that for?” I asked, eyein’ the gun.
“In case I need it. There’s still that case we might have to defend ourselves.” I glared at him. “Mrs. Apple, you have my word that I will not kill anyone today.”
“Ya best not,” I said as I grabbed my hat and put it on. “Let’s git-r-done.”
He nodded and walked to the door. I watched him for a moment before I followed. The place was larger than I thought. It brought back memories when I stayed with my aunt and uncle in Manehattan. When I stepped out into the city, I felt like a little filly, far away from home. Truth was, I was far away, farther than I ever been from home.
Kincaid lead me to what he called a car. It looked like a boxcar to a train, or a closed carriage. However, it didn't have anyway to be pulled. After gettin' in, I watched him slip a key into the side of a wheel base and turned the key. The machine came to life. It surprised me, and I looked around at it.
"How does this thing work?" I asked him.
"Combustion engine," he said. "Has a motor in the front that uses fuel and little explosions to make it run."
It was interestin' to learn about it, not that it would do me any good when I returned to my world. Then again, if I wanted to visit Hero, it might help. Shoot, I'm thinkin' like I was goin' to stay here long. It would be great to see him again, but I'm here on a mission.
I looked out the window at the city as we went to where ever we were goin'. The place looked nasty. I knew cities could get a little messed up and dirty, but this was the worst. I wouldn't want to stay here any longer than I needed to. No wonder Hero was such a tough guy. On top of being the first prince in centuries, he had to live in a world with killers and mean looking folks. These people did not look friendly, and they looked like they rather stick to themselves.
It seemed so odd being in a place like this. It felt like a dream but I was wide awake. On top of that, I felt useless. I had been here for a day and haven't done a thing. I like to work. I like to get my hooves dirty. Just sittin' around doin' nothin' was irritatin'. I just hope now I'll be able to do somethin' to help my friends.
We came to a stop after a while and looked over at him as he turned off the machine. I started to get out but he stopped me. "Wait here," he said as he grabbed the case from the back.
"Why?" I asked.
"Got to make sure he's here,” he said.
"And ya need that thing?" I asked.
"It can be helpful," he said and he closed the door of the machine and started to walk away. I didn't wait. I got out and started follow him. "Suit yourself," he said, not even looking back at me.
"I'm tired of sittin' around doin' nothin',” I said. “I'm here to help find my friends and that's what I'm gonna do."
He nodded in understandin' and led the way. Though, he didn't really lead me down the sidewalk. He lead me down alleys and behind the buildin's, as if he didn't want to be seen. I wanted to say somethin' but I felt that he knew what he was doin'. So I kept my mouth shut.
He stopped behind a building by the fire escape ladder. He set the case down and jumped up to the ladder with ease, grabbin' hold of it. He jerked at it and it slid down, makin' it easier to reach. He jumped down and grabbed the case and hopped back up, climbing up the ladder. I jumped up, grabbin' hold and pullin' myself up the ladder.
We went all the way up to the roof. The buildin' wasn't too big to begin with, and the roof was sloped, but we had a view of a large church across the street. I looked around as I got a feel for standin' up there. "Does this guy often hangs out on rooftops?" I asked him.
"No," he said. "But this has a good view to spot him."
"You mean he's in that buildin'?" I asked.
"Potentially." He set the case down and opened it, pulling out the gun.
"What are you doin'?" I asked, frowning at him.
"Using the scope to get a better view," he said as he positioned himself just behind the peak so he could see over it. He held the gun up and looked through what looked like a small telescope mounted on top. I didn’t like it. It felt like he was aimin’. I looked from him to the church and back.
“Is that thing really necessary?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he said.
I looked back at the church, wonderin’ what I should do. Then I saw a man step out of the church wearin’ a long black leather coat. “Hero?” I questioned myself. Then I heard an odd sound come from the gun. It sounded like a muffled thump noise. I looked and saw the man fall back and roll over. It hit me. Kincaid shot him.
“No!” I shout as instinct took over.
I spun and kicked at Kincaid. He was fast though. He turned to me and used the gun to block my kick, but I was strong enough to make him stumble back. I kept kickin’ at him, but he continued to block me. Suddenly, I heard a yell from across the street and a rush of air whipped past me. Kincaid looked like somethin’ hit him and sent him off of the roof. I blinked in surprise and went over to the edge.
I saw the man walking towards Kincaid as he landed on the ground and lifted the gun again. I could tell now that it wasn’t Hero. As I realized this, I realized somethin’ else. This guy was Harry Dresden...and he was the Winter Knight. Kincaid had mentioned that Twilight would more than likely appear near someone with magic, but he also said that she would appear near the Winter Knight if she were to appear near anyone with magic. So why would she appear near the Winter Knight and not a wizard like Harry? Unless he was both.
“Arctis!” Harry shouted, thrustin’ his staff forward at Kincaid. I could see the runes on his staff glow blue and what looked like a mini blizzard blew out of the end. It hit the gun and I saw it freeze. Kincaid quickly dropped it before it froze to his hands though. I jumped down at this point and kicked at him again. He ducked down and whipped around, sweepin’ my feet. I wasn’t expecting it, so he caught me off guard. In return, I caught him off guard too. A woman with rainbow colored hair rushed him from behind, tacklin’ him. From her speed and her hair, I knew it was Rainbow Dash. I felt a grin spread across my face.
I started to push myself up as I watched her fight him. Rainbow Dash was a black belt back home, and it seemed to translate well into this world. She was kickin’ tail. Kincaid tried to get the upper hand by jumpin’ back and pulling out the handgun he had under his coat.
“Forzare!” I heard Harry shout and the gun flew up into the air. I noticed a man running up quickly from behind, so I took my chance and jumped back in the fight, kickin’ at Kincaid. I was strong, but I didn’t know fightin’ like Dash did. I did know how to kick though. I spun and kicked at him, I swingin’ my foot around at him.
Kincaid jumped back, but I was expectin’ it. He jumped right into the man who was runnin’ up and the man grabbed him and slammed him into the ground.
“Shit!” he called out. The man pulled out a knife, puttin’ it to Kincaid’s neck as he pulled him up. “Wait,” Kincaid and Harry said at the same time.
I saw the man look at Harry. I couldn’t help but stare at him. He was very attractive and it made me want to know him more. However, Hero popped back into my mind and those thoughts quickly faded.
“I wasn’t going to kill him,” the man said. I heard footsteps behind us and I looked to see others running up. Despite their human looks, I knew them as Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy. “Not unless he tries something funny,” I heard the man say as I hugged my friends.
“What the hell, Kincaid? You could have just called,” Harry said. I looked around at them as Dash joined us.
“Are you alright,” Dash asked me.
“I’m fine, Sugarcube,” I said. “I can’t believe I trusted that man.” I looked back at the three men, glarin’ at Kincaid.
“I didn’t want to make it too easy for you,” Kincaid was sayin’. “Besides, I wanted to make sure you stay dead this time.”
“Why are you trying to kill me?” Harry asked.
“Because you hired me to,” he said.
“Wait, you hired him to kill you?” Dash asked Harry in surprise. Was Kincaid tellin’ the truth? It sounded like it, but how could I trust him?
“It’s a long story,” Harry replied. “Kincaid, I’m calling it off.”
“I can’t do that now, Dresden,” he said. “It’s a matter of pride. You survived. I can’t let this go unresolved.”
“Hell’s bells, Kincaid,” Harry said. “Let it go. You killed me once. It wasn’t my doing that brought me back. Besides, I’m too busy to die at the moment.”
“I’ve noticed,” he said, looking at my friends and I. “A dragonequus is in town.”
“So you come to kill me instead of trying to help stop this Outsider?” Harry asked.
“Trust me, Dresden,” he said. “You would be dead by now if I was really trying. I knew you had spells in that duster of yours. Plus, it was clear you had on a vest.”
I saw Harry looked down at himself, but since we were standin’ behind him, I couldn’t tell what he was lookin’ for. “Let him go,” he said after a while.
“Harry?” the man holding Kincaid questioned.
“It’s alright.” The man let Kincaid go and I readied myself to attack if he tried somethin’. I felt the girls next to me get ready also, though I felt that some were more scared than others. Even Pinkie seemed scared of the man. That wasn’t very Pinkie like of her.
“Dresden,” Kincaid said. “We’ll talk after Halloween. Until then, you best get rid of this thing.”
“Ya, sure,” Harry said. I watched Kincaid as he picked up his guns. He tucked them under his coat and walked away, leaving me with my friends and these two men. I relaxed and we started to hug again. Now that the action was over, we could smile again.
“Applejack, what happened?” Twi asked. “Why were you with that man?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “I’m just glad ya’ll are alright. Where’s Rarity?”
“We haven’t found her yet,” Fluttershy said.
“Umm, ladies,” Harry said. I looked over at him. “We better get going. Someone was sure to have seen and heard the commotion. Plus, we need to find Discord.”
“What? Ya’ll are lookin’ for Discord first?” I asked.
“We have an idea of where he is,” Harry said as he started to walk back towards the church. I started to follow with my friends. “If we can find him, he could be helpful to find your friend.”
“Wait, who are ya?” I asked, lookin’ at the man who had helped us.
“Harry Dresden,” Harry said. I frowned, knowin’ who he was already. I wanted to know who this other guy was. Then again, I didn’t tell him I knew who he was. “That guy following us is Thomas. And that feeling you’re getting near him is natural.”
I blushed a bit, getting a warm feeling as I looked at Thomas. I thought of Hero again and looked at the girls. “Umm, where’s Hero?” I asked them.
Twilight frown as she said, “Well, he’s not here. And it’s unlikely that we’ll even see him.” I frowned also but nodded. I was still hopin’ that he would be here somewhere. After meeting Kincaid, I had accepted the fact that I might not get to see Hero.
“What’s the plan, Harry?” Thomas asked. “And where’s Molly?”
“Probably in a veil,” Harry replied. As we reached the church, a woman stepped out and walked towards us, puttin’ somethin’ away. Walkin’ next to her was a man walkin’ with the aid of a cane. “Or she had a call.”
“You alright boss?” the woman asked. “What happened? Who’s this?”
“I’m Applejack,” I said. “I’m a friend.”
“Awesome,” she said. “I’m Molly. Nice to meet you. So, that leaves one more girl, right?” We nodded. “Great. I know where she’s at.”
“You do?” Harry asked as my eyes widen. I had a feelin’ that my friends had a similar reaction.
“Ya,” she said. “I just got off the phone with Murphy. Apparently, Mrs. Gard called yesterday and left a message. But Murphy didn’t got it until a little while ago. She said that a Rarity is at Marcone’s Estate.”
“Perfect, we can kill two birds with one stone,” he said.
“Oh those poor birds,” Fluttershy said. “Why would you want to kill them?”
I tried to hold back a chuckle. “It’s a figure of speech,” he said. “It means we can accomplish two things at once. We can get your friend Rarity back and find out more on Discord.”
“Well, it’s still an awful thing to say,” she replied. I started to giggle as did the other girls.
“Harry,” the man who walked out with Molly said. “I don’t think you and these girls will all fit in the minivan.”
“Who’s that?” I asked Twilight.
“That’s Michael Carpenter,” Twi said. “He is Molly’s father.”
“Here’s the plan,” Harry said after a moment. “Thomas, you take Molly, Fluttershy and Pinkie. I’ll take Twilight, Dash, and Applejack.”
“Great, where are we going?” Thomas asked.
“Marcone’s estate,” Harry said.
“Awesome, let’s go,” Thomas replied with a grin.
“Harry,” Michael said. I could tell that he wanted to say something, but he decided against it. “May God go with you,” he said instead.
Twilight and Dash filled their friend in on what was going on. Applejack, or A.J. as her friends called her, in turned told them what happened since yesterday. I just tried not to laugh. To think that Hero and a pony had a thing. That was funny as hell, especially thinking back to when I first met Hero. Sure, I can be an ass-hole, a lot of people were ass-holes. Hero was THE ass-hole. I wanted to kill him the first time I met him, and The Gatekeeper for leading him to Chicago. This was the girl that changed him to the point that he was a different man. If she was just a normal human, that wouldn’t be so bad. But she was a pony. That made it funny as hell.
“Are you alright?” Twilight asked me.
“I’m fine,” I said, clearing my throat and keeping myself from laughing.
“Ya ain’t a good liar, aren’t ya,” A.J. pointed out.
I shrugged as I kept driving. I wasn’t about to dig a hole for myself. The girls just giggled and I rolled my eyes. I had to wonder how Thomas and Molly were doing.
I pulled the minivan up to the front gate and hit the button to lower the window. There was a buzzing noise and the window barely moved. “What’s goin’ on?” A.J. asked.
Twilight explained to her about magic and technology while I kept jamming my finger on the button. I rolled my eyes as it stopped buzzing and did nothing. “Piece of shit,” I mumbled as I rolled forward a little more and opened the door. I reached out and pushed the button on the speaker by the driveway. I could just feel the smile from Thomas in his car behind us.
There was static from the speaker that drowned out the voice. Think calming thoughts, Harry. “It’s Dresden,” I said. “Where’s Marcone?”
“I’m..pssssh...What was...pssssh…”
“It’s Harry Dresden,” I said. “I’m here to speak with John Marcone.”
“Oh the hell with it.” I put the car in park and got out of the car. “Wait here,” I told the girls, taking my staff. I walked over to the gate and whipped the staff from left to right. “Forzare!” The gate flew open from the force of magic that I used. I turned and tossed my staff in the back and got back in.
“Way to handle the situation, Harry,” Thomas called from his hummer.
“Shut up,” I called back, slamming the door after getting in. I drove the car down the driveway and parked right in front of the mansion. Thomas followed, parking behind me.
I got out as well of the other girls. “Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance,” Twilight said as the others joined us. I lead them toward the door, but it opened with Gard and Hendricks walking out. Hendricks had a shotgun while Gard held a pistol. They also seemed to have been wearing new stylish clothes. They both looked at me and frowned.
“Your speaker is broken,” I said.
“Thank you, Mr. Dresden,” Gard said, lowering her gun. “You could have just called.”
“Yes, cause a cell phone would work much better around me,” I said.
“Maybe not around you, but Miss Carpenter could,” she said, looking at Molly.
“That would have been too easy,” I said. “Now, where is Marcone and this girl?”
Gard gave me a glare and I smiled at her. She turned. “Follow me,” she said.
“Stay close,” I said to the girls and started to follow. The girls followed, Fluttershy stayed close to Thomas in the back, while Twilight and Pinkie stayed close to Molly who were right behind Dash and A.J. Hendricks followed behind Thomas and Fluttershy.
We were lead into a large ballroom. I saw Marcone dressed in a fancy tux and dancing with a young woman in an elegant blue dress. They were dancing to a classical piece.
“Rarity?” Dash questioned. We all stood there, watching the two dance. As the song ended, they ended their dance and the girls clapped. I didn’t, I think Thomas and Molly were with me.
“Oh that was certainly lovely,” the woman said. She looked around at us. “Oh, I wasn’t expecting us to have…” She froze as she looked at us and her eyes started to widen. “Girls!” she called out. She rushed over and started to hug them. They hugged back. “Oh, John, you were right. They would come."
I looked at Marcone, giving him a glare as he walked over. “John,” I said. He gave me a smile.
“I was right to assume Mr. Dresden was looking for them,” he said. “Rarity, this is Harry Dresden. And it seems he brought Molly Carpenter and Thomas Raith with him too."
“John,” I said again and I rolled my eyes. “Where’s Discord?”
If the question caught him off guard, he didn’t show it. Rarity was caught off guard, however. “Discord? You mean to say Discord was here the whole time?” she asked, looking at Marcone.
“That Outsider was not welcomed in my home,” he said.
“But he is our friend,” she said.
“Marcone,” I said. “You’ve must have noticed the strange things happening around the city. There’s a dragonequus on the loose just like Discord. And I think we’ll need his help to stop this thing.”
“What’s in it for me?” he asked.
“You don’t get killed by this thing,” I said. “Seriously, John, this isn’t a game. It’s a damn Outsider who is gaining strength. Not to mention, there’s a necromancer in town too.”
“Necromancer?” Gard questioned. “How do you know that?”
“Mac told me that Cowl is here too.” I saw her suck in a breath.
“Dresden, I assure you that I would much rather keep this Discord on ice for now,” Marcone said. “He is, afterall, an Outsider also.”
“He’s our friend, John," Rarity said. “He came here to help you.”
“That’s a little hard to believe,” he said.
I growled as I looked from him to Miss Gard. She was studying each of the girls. “Am I going to have to summon him?” I asked. It was true I didn’t know his Name, but they didn’t have to know that. Just as long they believed that I could do it.
“That won’t be necessary,” she said.
“Miss Gard?” Marcone said.
“Mr. Marcone,” she replied. “I think we can trust them.”
“And why is that?” he asked.
She looked at each of them before her eyes settled on A.J. “You,” she said.
“Me?” A.J. questioned.
“I can see it in your eyes,” Gard said. “You are an honest person.”
“Pony,” she corrected her.
“Yes, pony,” Gard said. “If we release this Outsider-”
“Discord,” A.J. said.
I could tell Gard was getting impatient with her. “If we release Discord to you, will you be able to stop whatever is happening in this city?”
“You have my word,” A.J. said.
I watched Gard as she stared at A.J. for a long while. Then she nodded at the country girl.
“Are you sure about this, Miss Gard?” Marcone asked. She give him a serious look and nodded. He took a deep breath and looked at me again. “Very well. We’ll release the Outsider to you. Mr. Hendricks, would you mind retrieving him?” The big man nodded and left. “Don’t make me regret this, Dresden."
“Something’s bothering me,” I said, looking at Marcone. “How did you come across Rarity and how did you know to call me?”
“She mentioned Hero,” he said.
"Of course she did," I said. "Hero is the knot that ties this all together. But you never answered my first question."
"She appeared in front of my car,” he explained. “Miss Gard checked her out and found she had magic so we brought her back here. After she woke up, she explained what was going on and I had Miss Gard call Murphy."
Something seemed odd about how these girls appeared here. It was something I was thinking ever since we found Pinkie on the island. They could have appeared anywhere in Chicago, but they appeared near someone who would help them. Twilight appeared near the Carpenter's, Dash near Molly, Rarity near Marcone, Fluttershy near Thomas, Applejack near Kincaid, and Pinkie on the island. Even with that line of thought, it was still odd that Applejack would appear near a mercenary and Pinkie on the island.
Hendricks returned with one of Marcone's employees, pushing a cart that had a statue of an older man shielding his eyes from a bright light. "I remember seeing this piece," Rarity said. "You mean to say this is Discord?"
"Miss Gard, if you would be so kind," Marcone said. Gard pulled out a small box that I have seen her with before. She opened it and searched through the little Scrabble tiles. She pulled one out and went up to the statue. When she placed the tile on it, the rune started to glow. Then the statue started to glow, color returning to it.
The man started to sag and fall forward. The girls caught him and helped him down. "Oh, my head," the man said. "That was much worst than the last time I was turned to stone."
"Discord? Is that really you?" Fluttershy asked.
The man looked at her, smiling weakly. "Oh, my dear Fluttershy," he said. "I was hoping to keep you all out of this."
I saw her smile and fight back tears. She hugged him tightly and held onto him. After a moment, they finally let go and he got up. "Hello, Harry Dresden," he said, looking at me.
"Hello, Sam Singer," I said.
He gave me a grin. "Thank you for taking care of my friends," he said. He looked weak and he started to fall. Fluttershy caught him. "Thank you, Fluttershy."
"Mr. Dresden," Marcone said. "I suggest you get him some place to rest his strength."
I nodded as I looked at the girls. "Come on, group. Time to go."
"Oh, wait," Rarity said. "I made new clothes for everypony."
"We don't have time for this, Rarity," Dash said.
"It'll just be a moment," she replied as she pulled out a wand. She waved it a bit and a rack of clothes came rolling into the room.
"We'll take them with us," I said. "No time for that now."
"Oh, I guess that'll be fine," she said, turning to Marcone. "Thank you, John. Hope to see you again soon."
He smiled as he gave her a bow. "It was a pleasure, Rarity," he said. He then took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Until next time."
She smiled at him before turning to me. "Shall we, Mr. Dresden?"
I nodded and started to lead them out. Thomas and Fluttershy helped Discord, who looked a little green. I didn't think that Outsiders could get sick, but somehow he was.
We got him loaded into the minivan with Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack as well as all of the clothes. Dash, Pinkie, and Twilight rode with Molly and Thomas in his Hummer. Fluttershy stayed with Discord in the backseat while Rarity sat with Applejack just behind me.
“How is he doing?” I asked Fluttershy after a while.
“I’m fine,” Discord said, though I could see sweat coming from his forehead. “I need to rest and get my energy back.”
“It’s alright, Discord,” Fluttershy said, dabbing his forehead with her sleeve.
“Do you have enough strength to answer a few questions?” I asked.
“As long as it’s not quantum mechanics or anything like that,” he said.
“Why did you link the girls to us?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” he replied.
“Twilight appeared near Michael’s place,” I said. “Rainbow Dash was near where Molly exited from the Nevernever, Rarity near Marcone, Applejack with Kincaid, Pinkie Pie on Demonreach, and Fluttershy near Thomas. A little too coincidental.”
“Twilight was suppose to appear near you,” he said. “But I never planted the seed for Applejack. She must have went to Hero’s suite since she had a connection to him.”
“Yep. I woke up in the suite and thought Hero was there,” Applejack said. “But instead, I found Kincaid. Ya mean to tell me that ya meant for all of us to appear near where we did except me?”
“Marcone prevented me from finding a place for you, Applejack,” Discord said.
“But why did you link Pinkie to the island?” I asked.
“I knew she could handle it and that you’ll find her quickly,” he said.
“Speaking of,” A.J. said. “What is wrong with Pinkie? She doesn’t seem like her usual self.”
“Probably feeling the effects of this world,” Discord said. “Rarity, you can use your magic now. You noticed how you feel tired more quickly?”
“Why yes, as a matter of fact I do,” she replied.
“It’s the laws of this world,” Discord said. “Pinkie is burning up her energy a lot faster because of her hyper nature. She’s not use to it here.”
“She seemed fine last night,” Fluttershy said.
“Who was the first one to fall asleep last night?” Discord asked.
“Pinkie fell asleep in the car first,” I said.
“She burned her energy,” he said. “You’ll find she’s not her normal self either.”
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said. “Will that happen to us?”
“Twilight and Rarity will feel the effects of their magic, just like how Dresden does,” Discord said. “They’ll get headaches and can even blackout if they use too much. You and Rainbow Dash won’t be able to fly. I feel the effects myself, thus my current state.”
“You’re an Outsider,” I pointed out. “How are you feeling fatigued?”
“Outsiders run out of energy too,” he said. “I’ve even gotten sick in their world.”
“Get some rest, Discord,” Fluttershy said softly.
I sighed as I continued to drive. He answered what I wanted and cleared up somethings. I didn’t understand how he was losing power and his brother was joining it, however. Discord couldn’t have been changing everything in the city if he was trapped. That left Chaogent. If Discord was right and that they lose energy over time, then someone was feeding Chaogent. Someone summoned him.
“Hell’s bells,” I swear softly.
“What’s wrong, dear?” Rarity asked.
“I’ll tell you all later when I check something out,” I said. I wanted to check out my line of thought first and see if it made sense. “I'm going to drop you all off first."
She accepted that as an answer. After a while, we were at Molly's place, Fluttershy and Applejack helped Discord inside while the other girls unloaded the dresses. I watched Pinkie as she got out of the hummer. She seemed a little sluggish, like someone who hasn't had a good night's sleep. Thinking back, she hasn't said much since this morning. Even then, she didn't seem as hyperactive as she was last night. Was Discord right? Was she just feeling a side effect from becoming human?
"She seems sick," Thomas said as he stepped up beside me.
"Discord said she's feeling the strain of a human body," I said. "She's burning too much energy."
"Do you think that?" he asked. “Seems more like an illness to me.”
"I don't know,” I said. “Never been a pony turned to a human. And I've never heard of this happening before."
"Makes sense, I guess,” he said.
I shrugged. “Thomas, would you mind staying and watching over them tonight? With an Outsider here, I'm sure we would become a beacon."
"Seven virgin girls and you're trusting me to stay here and watch them?" he asked.
"You touch any of them, Discord would probably turn you into a frog and step on you." I frowned. "Seven?"
"Molly,” he said.
"How do you know she's still a virgin?" I asked.
"I'm a vampire who feeds on lust,” he said. “I can tell."
Damn. When Molly first started to develop magic and I became her teacher, she told me that she was a virgin. Hell, she wanted me to be her first, but I put an end to that quickly. Sure, I’ve told her to fight those urges until she got a hold of her powers, but I didn’t think she was still fighting them. Emotions had a powerful effect on magic, but she’s long since passed that part of her training. I was sure that she had lost her v-card by now. If anything, she had to have lost it after she became the Winter Lady. That’s one hell of a will power to fight the urge the mantle wanted her to do.
Virgin or not, I knew Molly wouldn’t do anything with Thomas. Not unless he really tried to use his powers over her, but she would probably kick his ass if he did. However, the six other girls were not use to Thomas. Plus, if they were virgins too, they were at a big risk. Did I want to take the risk, or risk not having him there and Chaogent attack?
Molly would keep him in check. I’m sure no matter how weak Discord was right now, he would die to protect those girls. I can’t judge how much of a connection Applejack had with Hero. I’m sure they had feelings for each other, but I doubt they were together long enough to feel true love. True love was deadly to the White Court. Someone who was in love, truly in love, and was truly loved in return, that is true love. The White Court couldn’t touch them. Otherwise, they would burn. Even objects like flowers and rings that were given in true love were dangerous. The catch was, true love was rare in this day in age. Even married couples are not always truly in love. I couldn’t be sure if any of the ponies were truly in love with somebody, or somepony.
On the other hand, if Thomas didn’t stay here, that left Molly alone with them. If Discord was in better shape, it wouldn’t matter. However, in his current state, that left Molly alone to protect everyone if something did come after them. Even though Michael was just next door, he wasn’t going to be able to help out if a dragonequus attack. Then again, if a dragonequus did attack, I doubt both Molly and Thomas could stop it.
I think the real question was, “Did I trust my half brother?” He’s older, though standing side-by-side, you would say I looked older. Kind of a perk to being a vampire. He’ll stay that way until he dies. I can live for hundreds of years, but that doesn’t stop me from aging. That bastard. Still, he was my brother, and I trust him with my life. I know he wouldn’t do something to those girls.
“Stay here with them,” I said. “I trust you won’t do anything with them.”
“That makes one of us,” he said.
“Thomas, I know you can handle this,” I said, reassuring him.
He nodded. “What are you about to go do?”
“Get Murphy,” I said. “Go look at these affected places. Come back here and develop a plan.”
“Just like you to come up with a half ass plan,” he said.
“Shut up,” I said as we bro fist. I got back in the minivan and headed out. My first stop, Murphy’s.
...
I was surprised to find that she was already asleep. It was getting late out. It had been a long day after all. I tried to wake her.
She groaned and looked up at me. “What’s up?” she said sleepily.
“Long day?” I asked.
“Mhm,” she rolled over. She started to say something else but she drifted to sleep again. I’ve only ever seen her this tired once and that was when she was under a lot of stress. I sighed, kissed her forehead and tucked her in. Come to think of it, I was feeling tired too.
I found myself laying down next to her, still fully clothed. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me. She settled in close as I fell asleep.
I slept like a princess. It felt good to relax and the dream I had was so splendid. I couldn't remember all the details, but I did remember that I was dancing in a ballroom with a gentlecolt with lots of others all around. Only they weren't ponies. They were all humans. I was human and we were all dressed in elegant attire.
As I laid there staring at the back of the sleeping mask, I tried to remember as much as I could. I wanted to remember who it was I was dancing with. Maybe he was my prince. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.
I finally pushed myself up and out of bed, pulling the mask off. I cleaned up in the bathroom before I got dressed in a gown I made the previous night. It was lovely, all red and glittery. It was perfect. Now to show it off.
After getting dressed, I went out to explore the mansion and perhaps find John. I found him in the dining room, talking with Miss Gard. I couldn't help but stand just outside and listen in.
"No word from him?" he was asking.
"No, sir,” she replied. “But in his current living situation, I doubt we'll hear from him. However, there was a report that he visited the island last night."
"If he went there, it must be serious,” John said.
"There's more. He had a group with him, including the Winter Lady and that White Court Vampire,” she told him. Were they serious? Vampires? I hope it wasn't anything like when Fluttershy became a vampire fruit bat. That was scary.
"Who else was with him?" he asked.
"Three young ladies,” she told him. “And he seemed to returned with a fourth."
"I see,” he said. “It seems he's been hard at work." It sounded like someone was searching for my friends. Then again, that could be me jumping to conclusions.
"Good morning, Miss Rarity," said a voice from behind me. I jumped at the voice and looked around to see Mr. Hendricks standing there.
"Oh dear," I said. "Mr. Hendricks, you startled me."
"My apologies," he said. "Come, they're waiting for you." I nodded and followed him into the room.
"Good morning, Rarity," John said, looking up at me. "You look lovely this morning."
"Thank you, John," I said, giving him a smile.
"I'm sure you heard us from the hallway?" he asked.
I felt my cheeks flush in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to listen in on your conversation."
"That's quite alright," he said, giving me a smile. "It pertains to you and your friends. A local wizard is looking for them."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked him.
"A good thing," he said. "I personally may clash heads with him, but he's a good man who will help."
"He's the one you called last night,” I said.
"You are correct,” he said. “I think there's no reason for us to go searching. Mr. Dresden will come to us, I'm sure."
"Splendid, that will give me plenty of time to make us all new outfits. And practice my magic, of course." He gave me a curious look. "I made you a suit also. And Miss Gard. And Mr. Hendricks."
"You did this last night?" he asked.
"Well, I didn't have measurements, so I'll have to tailor them to fit,” I admitted. “But other than that, they are ready. Then I started on my friends, but I'll have to fix them up once we meet up." He looked impressed. "I own a boutique where I live and a branch in Canterlot. I work on half a dozen or more outfits at once all the time."
"Ever considered staying and opening a shop here?" he asked. "You could make it big here."
"I don't know about staying for good, but I wouldn't mind expanding out here,” I said. “I would have to work out traveling between realms though. Doesn't seem like I can come and go as I please."
"I'm sure we can figure something out,” he said.
"I'll have to keep it in mind." I sat down and started to make a plate of fruits, buttered toast, and a glass of milk.
The rest of breakfast went by quickly. I talked to John about the dream I had and shared my wish to stay longer. Once we had ate, we went to the room I had acquired as my own. It was a mess with fabrics thrown everywhere, but what I had done was hanging up by the closet. I went over to them and grabbed them.
“Sorry for the mess, dears,” I said. “I get a little messy when I work.” I walked over to them and offered them their clothes. “Go try them on and I can fix up what needs to be adjusted.”
I watched as Miss Gard and Mr. Hendricks looked a little puzzled. John, however, smiled as he looked at the suit. “You are talented, Rarity,” he said. He headed out as the others went to change also.
After they were in the clothes, I did some measurements and touch ups. John and Mr. Hendricks looked quite dashing in their suits. Miss Gard was a little trickier. I wanted to give her a skirt, but I felt that it would take away from her character. She was a tough woman who looked like she could kick tail. A skirt would make it difficult to do that. I don’t think she would be against it, but I thought it would be better to have mobility and function.
Overall, the three of them looked great, and they were thankful. At least, John was very appreciative. Miss Gard thanked me and said she like it, but Mr. Hendricks didn’t really give much emotion. I guess that was just him.
Most of the day I worked on outfits for my friends, making dresses and suits. I even started to make something for this wizard who was looking for my friends. The problem was that I never seen him, so I didn’t know how large to make his suit. So I asked John.
John told me I was wasting my time making Mr. Dresden a suit. He said that he would probably forgo the suit so he could wear his duster. It reminded me of Hero and how he rather wear his coat than the suit I made it. Despite that, I still made Mr. Dresden a suit, with John’s insight.
John came and went a lot throughout the day. He seemed to be a very busy man. That was fine. I was able to work on the clothes. I just wished I had brought my glasses that I used when I worked.
In the late afternoon, I was pretty much finished other than some touch ups here and there, but I needed the girls to do that. Since I had done what I wanted, I changed into a blue dress I made. Actually, it was more of a modification of the dress I wore yesterday.
I was starting to wonder when I would see my friends. So when John came to check up on me, I decided to ask him.
"How soon will this wizard be here?" I asked.
"In due time, Rarity," he said, admiring the clothes. "I've never seen a finer job."
"Oh stop, it's not that good, dear," I said.
"I'm serious,” he said. “This is better than most shops here. You have a real talent for this."
"Well, it is what makes me me," I said with a soft giggle.
"Well, I've had a lot of compliments on this suit,” he said. “Everyone wants to know who my tailor is. You can make big bucks here, if you ever wanted to open up a shop."
"I will certainly consider it,” I said with pride. If my work was so popular here, I may want to open a shop here. “I've enjoyed this place so far."
He gave me a smile as I looked at the racks of clothes I made. "How about we move them to another room and out of the way?" John suggested.
"Yes, I think that'll be great." He called for some workers to come move the racks and we followed.
We entered a ballroom and I looked around in amazement while the workers pushed the racks into a side room. "Mr. Marcone, I never would have guessed you had your own ballroom."
"I have been known to have a few gatherings from time to time," he said. I saw Mr. Hendricks walk up behind him and whisper in his ear. John smiled softly. "Bring them here." He walked away. "Miss Rarity. Shall we have a dance?"
"I would love to," I said with excitement. He gave me a smile as he started an old style record player in the corner. The music sounded classical, though it wasn't anything I've heard before.
"Miss Rarity," John said, offering me his hand.
"Mr. Marcone," I said with a smile. I took his hand and he pulled me in close, dancing with me. I blushed a bit as I realized why he wanted to dance with me. "This was because of my dream."
"I thought you would like to enjoy a dance before you go,” he said.
"Oh, darling, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon,” I said.
"Well, when Mr. Dresden gets here with your friends, they'll want you to rejoin them,” he pointed out. “After all, you did come here with a purpose."
I frowned a bit. "I suppose you are right," I said. "And I suppose once we're done here, we'll have to return to ponyville. Oh, I do have to make a trip back here to visit."
"Of course, Miss Rarity,” he said.
I gave him a smile as he continued to dance. It was when the music ended and we finished the dance that I realized we had an audience. I looked at the group that were clapping and realized that it was my friends. I ran to them and hugged them.
“Oh, John, you were right. They would come,” I said, excited.
“John,” a man said. I looked up at the other three who were there. The man who spoke was a tall man, tallest one there. He wore a black shirt that had a triangle in the center and a white line that I presumed to represent light focus in from the left of the triangle and a rainbow that spread out from the right of it. In the center of the triangle was a hole and I could just make out something black underneath. Over his attire was a long black leather duster. From what John had told me before, I had to guess that this was Mr. Dresden.
The other man was very handsome. The sight of him made me want to take him. Oh my, he was a fine man. Even the simple clothes he wore were...hot. I know it’s not how a lady should talk, but there was no other way to describe him.
“I was right to assume Mr. Dresden was looking for them,” John said. “Rarity, this is Harry Dresden. And it seems he brought Molly Carpenter and Thomas Raith with him too."
The mention of the woman made me look at her. I was so focused on the man that I presume was Thomas that I didn’t notice her. The moment I saw her, I started to get ideas for an outfit that would go wonderful with her hair. It was inspirational. In fact, looking at my friends in their current forms gave me plenty of inspirations to last a lifetime, even for when we return to ponyville.
“John,” I heard Mr. Dresden say again. “Where’s Discord?”
My eyes snapped to Mr. Dresden at once, widening in surprise. Did he mean to say that John knew something about Discord’s whereabouts? “Discord? You mean to say Discord was here the whole time?” I asked, looking over at John.
“That Outsider was not welcomed in my home,” he said.
“But he is our friend,” I protested. How could John keep something like this from me?
“Marcone,” Mr. Dresden said. “You’ve must have noticed the strange things happening around the city. There’s a dragonequus on the loose just like Discord. And I think we’ll need his help to stop this thing.”
“What’s in it for me?” he asked.
“You don’t get killed by this thing,” Mr. Dresden said. “Seriously, John, this isn’t a game. It’s a damn Outsider who is gaining strength. Not to mention, there’s a necromancer in town too.” Necromancer? I racked my brain trying to think what a necromancer was. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that before.
“Necromancer?” Miss Gard questioned. “How do you know that?”
“Mac told me that Cowl is here too.” I heard Miss Gard take a deep breath when Mr. Dresden told her that. Whatever a necromancer was, it was serious business. I watched her as her eyes looked at each of my friends.
“Dresden, I assure you that I would much rather keep this Discord on ice for now,” John said. “He is, afterall, an Outsider also.”
“He’s our friend, John," I pleaded with him. “He came here to help you.”
“That’s a little hard to believe,” he said. I stared at him in disbelieve. Was he really going to keep my friend captive?
“Am I going to have to summon him?” I heard Mr. Dresden ask. What did he mean by that?
“That won’t be necessary,” Miss Gard said.
“Miss Gard?” John said.
“Mr. Marcone,” she replied. “I think we can trust them.”
“And why is that?” he asked.
She looked at each of us, even at me, before her eyes settled on Applejack. “You,” she said.
“Me?” Applejack questioned.
“I can see it in your eyes,” Miss Gard said. “You are an honest person.”
“Pony,” she corrected her.
“Yes, pony,” Gard said. “If we release this Outsider-”
“Discord,” Applejack said.
“If we release Discord to you, will you be able to stop whatever is happening in this city?” Miss Gard asked, though I was sure she sounded a little irritated at Applejack for correcting her.
“You have my word,” Applejack said. Miss gard seemed to study her for a moment before she nodded at us.
“Are you sure about this, Miss Gard?” John asked. I saw her nod to him and he looked at Mr. Dresden. “Very well. We’ll release the Outsider to you. Mr. Hendricks, would you mind retrieving him?”
I watched Mr. Hendricks leave as I felt relief. I was glad that John saw reason to let Discord go. “Something’s bothering me,” Mr. Dresden said. “How did you come across Rarity and how did you know to call me?”
“She mentioned Hero,” he said.
"Of course she did,” Mr. Dresden replied. “Hero is the knot that ties this all together. But you never answered my first question."
"She appeared in front of my car,” John told him. “Miss Gard checked her out and found she had magic so we brought her back here. After she woke up, she explained what was going on and I had Miss. Gard call Murphy."
Mr. Hendricks returned with one of John’s worker. They were pushing a cart with the statue of the man shielding his eyes. It was the piece I saw yesterday. "I remember seeing this piece," I said. "You mean to say this is Discord?"
"Miss Gard, if you would be so kind," John said. I watched Miss Gard pull out a small box and opened it. She searched through it before she pulled out a little wooden tile and walked over to the statue with it. The moment she placed it on the statue, a symbol started to glow. The statue started to glow also and slowly color started to fill it.
The man started to sag and fall forward. I rushed forward with my friends and caught him. "Oh, my head," he said. "That was much worst than the last time I was turned to stone."
"Discord? Is that really you?" Fluttershy asked.
He looked at her, smiling weakly. "Oh, my dear Fluttershy," he said. "I was hoping to keep you all out of this."
I watched Fluttershy smile before she hugged him tightly. "Hello, Harry Dresden," he said as they broke apart.
"Hello, Sam Singer," Mr. Dresden said. Sam Singer?
"Thank you for taking care of my friends," Discord said, smiling at Mr. Dresden. He started to fall and Fluttershy had to hold him up. "Thank you, Fluttershy."
"Mr. Dresden," John said. "I suggest you get him some place to rest and regain his strength."
I watched Mr. Dresden nod and look at us. "Come on, group. Time to go."
"Oh, wait," I said, remembering the clothes. "I made new clothes for everypony."
"We don't have time for this, Rarity," Rainbow said.
"It'll just be a moment," I replied as I pulled out the wand Miss Gard gave me. I focused my power through it and the rack of clothes came out from the side room.
"We'll take them with us," Mr. Dresden said. "No time for that now."
"Oh, I guess that'll be fine," I said and turned to John. "Thank you, John. Hope to see you again soon."
He smiled as he bowed to me. "It was a pleasure, Rarity," he said. I held out my hand and he took it, kissing it softly. I blushed a bit. "Until next time."
I gave him a smile and turned to face the others. "Shall we, Mr. Dresden?"
I felt my body heat up. My vision was blurry and I collapsed into the arms of someone. Actually, there were several. My body ached all over. Still, it was better than slamming into the ground.
"Oh, my head," I said. "That was much worst than the last time I was turned to stone."
"Discord? Is that really you?" said a voice I recognized as Fluttershy. I blinked as my vision cleared and I looked into Fluttershy's eyes.
My heart warmed and I smiled at her. "Oh, my dear Fluttershy," I said. "I was hoping to keep you all out of this."
I may be a powerful being, but it breaks me to see Fluttershy sad. Even though she wanted to cry, she fought back the tears and hugged me. I hugged her back, never wanting to let go.
When we finally broke apart, I looked up at the wizard. "Hello, Harry Dresden," I said.
"Hello, Sam Singer," he replied. I had to grin. He was smart to have figured it out. Though I shouldn't have expected any less from him.
"Thank you for taking care of my friends," I said, trying to get up. Fluttershy caught me as I started to fall. The effects of the spell must have weakened me. "Thank you, Fluttershy."
"Mr. Dresden," Marcone said. "I suggest you get him some place to rest his strength."
I looked up at Marcone. Was he really helping now? If he had actually listened to me the first time, I may had already caught Chaogent by now. "Come on, group," Dresden said. "Time to go."
"Oh, wait," Rarity said. "I made new clothes for everypony."
"We don't have time for this, Rarity," Dash said.
"It'll just be a moment," she replied as she pulled out a wand. She waved it a bit and a rack of clothes came rolling into the room. So, Rarity has learned to use the magic here. Has Twilight done the same?
"We'll take them with us," Dresden said. "No time for that now."
"Oh, I guess that'll be fine," she said, turning to Marcone. "Thank you, John. Hope to see you again soon."
He smiled as he gave her a bow. "It was a pleasure, Rarity," he said. He then took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Until next time."
She smiled at him before turning to Dresden. "Shall we, Mr. Dresden?"
I watched as Dresden started to lead us out. Fluttershy helped me as well as the man I had met before, Thomas Raith. They got me into the vehicle and I watched as the group split. Fluttershy stayed with me. Rarity and Applejack joined us as Dresden drove. The others, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and the young lady I assumed was Molly Carpenter rode with Thomas.
“How is he doing?” I heard Dresden ask.
“I’m fine,” I said as I rested my head on Fluttershy's lap. “I need to rest and get my energy back.”
“It’s alright, Discord,” Fluttershy said, dabbing at my forehead with her sleeve. I must be sweating. I didn't know I could do that in this form. Who knew?
“Do you have enough strength to answer a few questions?” Dresden asked. I figured he would.
“As long as it’s not quantum mechanics or anything like that,” I replied.
“Why did you link the girls to us?” he asked.
Did he really figure out my spell? “What do you mean?” I asked, testing the waters.
“Twilight appeared near Michael’s place,” he said. “Rainbow Dash near where Molly exited from the Nevernever, Rarity near Marcone, Applejack with Kincaid, Pinkie Pie on Demonreach, and Fluttershy near Thomas. A little too coincidental.”
“Twilight was suppose to appear near you,” I said. I was right to get him involved. He was able to figure that out easily. "But I never planted the seed for Applejack. She must have went to Hero’s suite since she had a connection to him.” And for that matter, I didn't know why Twilight went to Michael Carpenter instead of Dresden. What was more interesting was how I linked them all to someone who knew Harry as well. That was lucky.
“Yep. I woke up in the suite and thought Hero was there,” Applejack said. “But instead, I found Kincaid. Ya mean to tell me that ya meant for all of us to appear near where we did except me?”
“Marcone prevented me from finding a place for you, Applejack," I admitted. And that was true, but I did wonder why it took her to the suite instead of just piggybacking with one of the others or even attempting to take her to Hero. On the other hand, we were lucky she didn't go to Hero, otherwise, there's no telling where she would be now.
“But why did you link Pinkie to the island?” Harry asked.
“I knew she could handle it and that you’ll find her quickly.” I smirked to myself at that. Dresden wasn't the only one to be able to piece things together. I mean, who lives on an island like that for over a year unless they had a link to it?
“Speaking of,” Applejack said. “What is wrong with Pinkie? She doesn’t seem like her usual self.”
“Probably feeling the effects of this world,” I said. “Rarity, you can use your magic now. You noticed how you feel tired more quickly?”
“Why yes, as a matter of fact I do,” she replied.
“It’s the laws of this world,” I said. “Pinkie is burning up her energy a lot faster because of her hyper nature. She’s not use to it here.”
“She seemed fine last night,” Fluttershy said.
“Who was the first one to fall asleep last night?” I asked.
“Pinkie fell asleep in the car first,” Dresden said.
“She burned her energy,” I said. “You’ll find she’s not her normal self either.”
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said. “Will that happen to us?”
“Twilight and Rarity will feel the effects of their magic, just like how Dresden does, I explained. “They’ll get headaches and can even blackout if they use too much. But unlike him, they'll burn through it faster. You and Rainbow Dash won’t be able to fly. I feel the effects myself, thus my current state. Applejack would probably be the least affected."
“You’re an Outsider,” Dresden said. “How are you feeling fatigued?”
“Outsiders run out of energy too. I’ve even gotten sick in their world,” I said.
“Get some rest, Discord,” Fluttershy said softly.
It was true that I was limited in my power, but I wasn't telling the full truth. The fact was I came here on my own. Crossing over limited me. However, if someone like Dresden summoned me, I can come over in full force...or at least close to it. The drawback to that was that it could land Dresden dead by the laws laid out by the wizarding counsel. Then again, there were some who break the laws for power.
I frowned as that thought went through my head. Chaogent just disappeared from Equestria. He couldn't have broken out himself. That meant someone from here pulled him here.
“Hell’s bells,” I heard Dresden say suddenly.
“What’s wrong, dear?” Rarity asked.
“I’ll tell you later when I check something out,” he said. “I'm going to drop all of you off first."
We finally reached a house and with the help of Fluttershy and Applejack, I was taken inside. I noticed Pinkie Pie seemed to be holding her stomach as we entered. I guess the world was affecting her more than I thought it would. They took me up to a bedroom where I could rest. After a quick chat with Fluttershy, I laid back and closed my eyes.
...
Some time later, I woke back up. I would say I had dreamed, but I don’t really have dreams here. This place hates Outsiders. I felt a little better and decided to check out the place. As much as I would like to go find Chaogent, it would be better to just wait for everypony to rest up. We’re going to have to all work together to stop Chaogent. Plus, none of us could afford me getting turned to stone again...or worse.
I heard voices downstairs as I moved silently down the hall. I thought maybe it was Fluttershy. By the time I reached the bottom of the steps, the voices had gone quiet. Then I learned why. I saw Fluttershy embracing Thomas Raith as they kissed deeply.
Something inside me stirred. It wasn’t anything I felt before, but it did make me question why. Why would Fluttershy be kissing him? What did she see in him? I felt anger building up in me. I wanted to grab Thomas and rip him apart. Instead, I turned and went back up the stairs.
I don’t know why I was feeling this way, or what it really was. It was a feeling that I felt deep within me. Like something had torn my heart out. The closest I could describe was when Fluttershy and I had first became friends and I had made her upset with me. I thought I had been manipulating her but instead I felt the pain of losing my only friend. Was this something like that? Was I losing her as a friend?
I didn’t realise I had made it back to the bed I was using. I just laid there, staring up at the ceiling. I picked up my cane from where I had set it when we got here and looked at it. I stared at it for a moment before I tapped it on my forehead.
“Ow,” I said softly, tossing the stupid cane aside. I sighed as I sat back, closing my eyes. I felt a little bit of the magic I had stored in the cane wash over me. I guess my appearance was going to change a little. Maybe I’ll look a little better than some old guy. Regardless, I still needed rest. Whatever I was feeling, it had to wait until tomorrow.
…
I was the first to awake the next morning. The room was still pretty dark thanks to the heavy black curtains. That didn’t bother me. I just wanted to finish what we started. I got up and picked up the cane I had tossed hours before. Despite being full of energy again, I felt somehow empty. I felt that something was missing. Was this because of the feeling I had the previous night?
There was no time to think about that now. I walked out of the room and back down the stairs, seeing Thomas lay there on the couch. I noticed something different about him. He had a burn mark on his lips. I had to wonder what that was about.
I guess he must have sensed me, because he woke up and looked around at me. “Oh, Mr. Singer,” he said.
“It’s Discord,” I said, though I might have added a little heat to my words.
“What’s with the new look?” he asked. “Much younger now.”
“Decided to change it up a bit,” I said. “What’s with your burned lips?”
“Had a mishap last night,” he told me. “Touched something I shouldn’t have.”
Damn right you shouldn’t have. “Oh? And what was that?”
“A little bat with a burning love for someone,” he told me. “At least she had fangs like a vampire bat.”
This guy was really testing me. I felt the anger raise up in me. Did he and Fluttershy do what I thought he did? “I guess you won’t have to worry about that for much longer,” I said, though it sounded more like a threat. “How could you get burned by kissing someone?”
“I’m a White Court Vampire,” he said, getting up. “True love is harmful to us. Though I don’t expect an Outsider would know what true love is.”
True love? It seemed foreign to me. I’ve heard of White Court Vampires and I’ve heard of love. Did this mean Fluttershy was in love? And was it with this vampire? “You best not touch Fluttershy again if you know what’s good for you,” I growled.
“You don’t scare me, Discord,” he said, standing his ground. “I don’t know why my brother trust you enough to save your ass, but I know better. You have no heart for anyone. Just for your own. So, why do you give a fuck about Fluttershy or any of these other ponies?”
I walked up to him, raising my cane. I was ready to turn this asshole into a frog, or maybe smoke and just letting him float away as gasy matter. Or maybe it was time to turn someone else into a statue. Whatever I was about to do, it didn’t matter. One of the girls screamed from upstairs. I whipped around and looked up at the stairs. I glanced at him for a moment.
“We’ll finish this later,” I said, and we both ran up the stairs.
Today was very interesting. After Harry got us, we went in search for Discord. I was excited to be able to look for him. I was even able to help convince a man to help us. I was so proud of myself. Though Rainbow Dash and I did get in a disagreement. I think she was getting anxious. But we were able to reunite with Applejack, Rarity, and Discord.
On our way back to Molly’s place, I stayed with Discord, keeping him company in the back of the minivan. After all that he went through, he was worn out. I’ll be glad when this was all over and we could all get some rest. This place was putting a strain on everypony. Even Pinkie Pie was tired. By the time we got back to Molly’s home, I was starting to feel tired.
With the help of Applejack, we got Discord into the home and to one of the spare bedrooms. “Oh, thank you, my dear Fluttershy,” he said as we laid him out onto the bed. “And you too, Applejack.”
I gave him a smile and sat down beside the bed, holding his hand. “Oh, Discord,” I said, hardly noticing Applejack leaving the room. “I’m so glad you are alright.”
“I’m glad you’re doing alright, Fluttershy,” he said. “This place is not a friendly place."
I remembered the encounter I had with the men in the alley and I folded my arms over my chest in a protective manner. "Ya, I learned that pretty quick. I was lucky Thomas showed up."
He chuckled a bit. "Yes. Say, Fluttershy.you know you don't have to stay with me all night. Go be with your friends. I'll be fine now."
"Did you need me to bring you anything?” I asked him.
“No. I just need to sleep,” he said.
“Well, alright,” I said. “But if you need me, I’ll be right in the next room.”
He gave me a smile. “Thank you, Fluttershy. You are so kind to me.” I gave him a smile, tucked him in, and left the room.
I went into the other room where the girls were all sitting. “How’s he doing?” Twilight asked me as I enter.
“He seems alright,” I said. “Just resting now.” I looked around, noticing that Pinkie wasn’t there. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?”
“She’s asleep in Molly’s room,” Rainbow said. “She was really worn out.”
“And she said she wasn’t feeling well on the way here,” Twilight added.
“I hope she’s alright,” I said.
"Well, I think we should get some rest," Twilight said. "Tomorrow is Nightmare Night. And if the princesses' fears are right, if we don't stop Chaogent tomorrow, our world and this one may be doomed."
We nodded in agreement and got ready for bed. The bed had been a little crowded with just four of us last night. Even with just one more, we couldn’t all fit on the bed. So, Twilight and Rainbow took the floor. Molly helped us set up some sleeping bags for them. I guess Molly was staying with Pinkie to take care of her.
I fell asleep quickly after laying down. The dream I had was lovely. I was home, feeding my animal friends on a wonderful Spring day. Spring was always my favorite time of the year. The smell of grass and flowers filled the air, the birds were singing, the scene was perfect.
I smiled as Angel hopped over, happy and ready to eat. I smiled as I pushed a salad over to him and watched as he started to eat. But after a moment or two, he looked up and out at the Everfree Forest.
"Is something wrong, Angel?" I asked in concern. He suddenly raced off towards the forest. "Wait, Angel." I started to chase him into the forest, despite being afraid of the place. Actually, I don't think I felt any fear.
I found Angel in the middle of a dirt crossroad. "Angel, you shouldn't run off like that," I said, approaching him. He turned to face me, but something was different. His eyes were wide and red and he opened his mouth wide showing fangs. My eyes widen in fear as I say him. "Angel?" I squeaked out.
Bat wings spread from his back and he leaped at me. Letting out a scream of terror, I turned and ran from him. I ran as fast as I could, but it was no use. I felt the vampire bunny jump on my back and it's teeth pierced my neck.
I woke up with a squeak of fear, putting my hand to my neck. No bite marks, but it seemed so real a moment ago. I looked around. My friends were still asleep peacefully. I was thankful too. I hated to have woken everypony up.
I slipped out of the bed, being sure not to wake up the others. As I started to sneak out of the room, I saw that everypony looked so different in the dark. It was kind of scary. I even thought Twilight was getting her shade of violet back.
I made it out of the room without waking them and made my way downstairs to get a drink. To my surprise, I saw light from the living room. I started to get scared as I made my way down the last few steps and entered the room.
Thomas was sitting on the couch. The light was coming from a lamp that was next to him. He was cleaning a curved sword. “Thomas?” I asked softly. “What are you doing here?”
“Harry asked me to stay,” he said, looking up at me. I noticed his eyes scanning me and I blushed, looking away and holding my arms over my chest. Even though I had on pajamas, I felt naked when he looked at me. “Can’t sleep?”
“I...” I hesitated. “I had a nightmare.”
“What was it about?” he asked, setting the knife down on the table.. I told him, sitting down on the couch next to him. “Sounds scary,” he said when I finished.
“Oh, it was terrifying,” I said. “I’m just glad it was only a nightmare. Oh, I can’t wait to go home so I don’t have to worry about nightmares anymore.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Princess Luna watches over everypony at night and makes sure they don’t have any nightmares,” I said.
He chuckled a bit. “I wish we could have someone like that,” he said. “Well, relax. You’re safe with me.”
I smiled as I lead closer to him. “Thank you, Thomas. You’re so nice. Are all vampires as nice as you?”
“Not all of them,” he said as he wrapped an arm around me. I felt so comfortable with him. Was it because he was vampire?
“Thomas? Have you…” I cut myself off and looked down.
“What is it, Fluttershy?” he asked.
I felt his hand on my chin and he lifted my head so he could look at me. I blushed as I stared weakly into his eyes, leaning closer. I was surprised at first when he kissed me, but I melted into the kiss, wrapping my arms around him. Was this really happening? Was I falling...in love?
I then found myself thinking of Discord. He was a friend...a good friend. We spent lots of time together, and I cared about him deeply. And I knew he cared about me too.
I don’t know what happened, but something in me changed. What was I doing? Why was I kissing Thomas? My eyes shot open and I pushed him away. “I’m sorry,” I squeaked, scooting away from him.
He stared at me, putting a hand over his mouth. “It’s not your fault,” he said. “Maybe you should go try and sleep.”
I nodded as I got up. I didn’t know what to say, so I just turned and went up the stairs. What in all of Equestria just happened? It felt like I wasn’t myself when I kissed him. Like I was different. It was a little scary.
As I walked back to the bedroom, I looked down the hall at the door to Discord’s room. What made me snap out of it? Was there something about Discord that protected me? I sighed as I went back to the bedroom I was sharing with my friends. They seemed to still be asleep, so I quietly got back into bed.
I slept a little better this time, though I couldn’t remember what my dream was. I was kind of snapped out of my dream when we all heard a yell the next morning.
I was standing in a pitch black room with a single ring of light with no light source. I stood in the center of this ring and I knew what this was. I was about to have a conversation with my inner self. As if on cue, my double stepped into the light.
My inner self was my subconscious. He was that primal urge to do what it takes to survive, feed, drink, and have sex. He's an asshole and does not call the shots. But he's helpful. The last time I saw him, he was still in the clean black clothes with clean, neatly trimmed black hair and was clean shaved. The only thing that was different with him then was the blue snowflake pin on his shirt, signifying the winter mantel I now had.
This time, his clothes looked a little more ragged and his hair a little longer and could use a comb. It seemed he was becoming more and more primal the longer I held this fairy job.
"Hello, Harry," he said.
"Sup," I replied. "You look like you lost a fight."
"Just embracing more of the power of the Winter Knight,” my id said. “You really need to start using it more."
"What is this about?" I asked.
"First off, really?” he asked. “You have six young ladies and you don't even touch them."
"They're ponies,” I said.
"Stop denying it,” he told me. “They're humans. They’re maybe ponies where they're from, but here they're humans. And I'm sure they would love to see how it's done here."
"I am not having this discussion with you,” I said.
"Second, why haven't you done it with Molly?" he asked.
"We've talked about this,” I said with a growl. “That is not going to happen."
"She's your boss now,” he pointed out. “If she demanded it of you, are you going to deny it?"
"She wouldn't demand me to sleep with her,” I said. “That's not like her."
"She's less like herself everyday,” he said. “She can use technology again. She's becoming more like one of the fae everyday. It's not long now before she starts acting like the Winter Lady."
He had a point. Hell, the first day I saw her after she became the Winter Lady, she was already using a cell phone with no problem. Even in the car today, she glared at me when her cell phone started to mess up. She was changing, and I feared that she would become more like Maeve, the previous Winter Lady. I never would want her to turn into what Maeve had become.
"Well, part of you do," my inner me said.
"Shut up," I told him.
"The real issue is this dragonequus," he said. "He's gaining power. He escaped their world from a statue. Discord needed help to break his stone prison."
"Meaning he needed help,” I said, finishing my id’s point. “But why Cowl? I know he's a necromancer and is against the Laws of Magic, but he should know the dangers of trying to control an Outsider."
"He's powerful enough, he could do it,” he said. “Plus, there’s the Nemesis. And you know Chaogent is affecting the city."
"Yes,” I said. “He was testing his power with those textbooks and Michael's building project."
"Sometimes I wish I was someone else's subconscious,” he mumbled. “What did you do today?"
"Got up,” I said, counting them off on my fingers. “Went to Walmart. Picked up some food. Picked up the girls. Then we went to the pub, the church, then Marcone's. Then we came back."
"How long would you say you spent out and about today?" he asked.
"A few hours?" I said.
"How many?" he asked.
OK, what was my inner self getting at? Let's say I spent an hour at each location. That's...three hours. Hell, let's say it took an hour before we left Molly's and an hour in-between. That's five hours? That's a short day.
"Hell's bells, we lost hours," I said.
"What do we have for him, Johnny?” my id said.
"Could Chaogent make days shorter?" I asked.
"It's possible. Maybe both he and Cowl combined their powers to do it,” he theorized.
"But why do it?" I asked.
"Chaotic creature who can effect its surrounds and you're asking why,” he said.
"So, what's next?" I thought.
"Find him. Kill him." Yes, if only it was that simple.
"Can't kill an Outsider,” I pointed out.
"You can banish him back to the Outside and kill Cowl,” he said.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there,” I said. “But how do we find them?"
"Ask Murphy,” he said.
"Murphy?" I questioned.
"She's been trying to piece together the strange things happening around the city. She might have an idea where they are,” he said.
"Good point. You can be smart sometimes,” I told him.
"A real smartass,” he said. I gave myself a grin as the light cut off. I had a feeling it was going to be a long day tomorrow.
Why do I have to be the pony to get the worst of this world? I'm going to have to talk to this author.
The day started out fine. I was full of energy and was ready for the day. But before we even got to the pub, I started to feeling tired. I don't even remember half the conversations.
Let's see. On our way to the pub, we discussed Names. I didn't get what Harry meant at first, but it just kinda clicked. So I decided to show the others by giving him my Name. When he said it, a chill went through me. It was scary but was pretty cool also. Heh, chill. Pretty cool. Get it?
I wouldn't say that was the reason I was feeling tired, but it was possible. I thought it was because I haven't had my daily dose of cupcakes today. I'll have to fix that later.
It got worse throughout the day though. By the time we reached the church, I was very mellow. It wasn't until the excitement happened outside that I got any energy. As we were heading out, Harry called back at us. Michael Carpenter, Molly’s father, in turn pushed us back inside.
“What’s going on?” Dash asked.
“Trouble,” Michael said. “Get back to the classroom.”
I saw Rainbow Dash start running. “Wait, Rainbow Dash!” I called out to her, but she was gone. “Where is she going?”
“I don’t know,” Michael said.
The girls started to run after her and I followed. We made our way to the front of the church, finding it wide open. “She went out there,” I called and took the lead. I ran out the front door and turned. I had the thought that she was going to get involved in whatever was happening. She seemed upset all morning and wanted to do something. Of course, by the time we got around to where the action was, the action was over. We were, however, surprised to find that Applejack was there.
We reached Applejack and hugged her before we looked at the scene. Thomas was holding a man with a sword to his neck. Dash and Harry stood over him and Harry demanded some answers. We stayed by Applejack, watching as Dash rejoined us.
After we got there, I started to burn out again. Then I...what did we do after that? Hold on, I have to go read the chapters.
Let’s see, we learned Rarity was at Marcone’s place.
Harry broke the intercom and the gate.
We reunite with her and then Discord.
Oh ya, the ride back to Molly’s place.
So, we were on our way back to Molly’s place. Thomas and Molly were talking from the front seat while Twilight and Dash talked beside me. I just leaned my head on the window, listening to them talk.
“Now that everypony is together, we can finally search for Chaogent,” Dash was saying.
“We’re going to have to move fast though,” Twilight said. “Remember what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna said? Something might happen Nightmare Night.”
“They were saying if we don’t get Discord back,” Dash said. “But we do have him back. Now we can take a little more time and find Chaogent.”
“Earlier today, you were rushing to find everypony and get going,” Twilight pointed out. “Now you want to take it easy?”
“Ya, well, we’re all here,” Dash replied. “That means we can find Chaogent and use our powers to stop him. We don’t need to rush to find him now.”
“Still, I can’t help but worry that if we don’t stop him by tomorrow night, both Equestria and this world are doomed,” Twilight said.
“You worry too much, Twi,” Dash told her.
I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and clenched my hands over it. “Ow,” I said.
“Are you alright, Pinkie?” I heard Twilight asked.
I started to get dizzy too, and I could feel sweat dripping down my face. “Oh, I feel sick,” I said.
“Oh no,” Twilight said.
“Wait, Pinkie’s sick?” Dash asked. “Did you eat a bad cupcake or something?”
“I haven’t eaten any cupcakes,” I said. “I don’t know why, but I’ve been...feeling tired all day...and now…”
I had caught the attention of Molly and Thomas by now. “Everything alright?” Molly asked.
“Do I need to pull over?” asked Thomas.
“She might just need to rest,” Twilight said. “How much farther?”
“Not far,” Molly said. I sat back as Molly crawled back with us. She felt my forehead and cheeks with the back of her hand. “She’s sweating a lot and seems to be a little hotter than usual. I’ll give her some medicine when we get back and have her sleep in my room with me.”
“Will she be alright?” Dash asked.
“She should be,” Molly replied.
Dash got in the front to give us room while Molly mothered me. After we got to her place, she helped me me inside. We went straight to her room when she helped me undress and get into her bed before she walked into a connected bathroom. She returned later with a bottle of medicine and glass of water. I took the medicine, even though it was nasty, and drank some water. For the remainder of the night, she stayed with me, watching over me as I tried to get some sleep.
…
I have to tell you readers, I've never had a fever dream before. But it wasn't fun. It started out with me back on the rock farm with my family. Everypony was standing around the rocks but they weren't doing anything.
"Umm, guys?" I asked walking over to them.
"We're statues," Maud said.
"Statues?" I asked. She didn't respond. In fact, she looked like all color had left her. Trust me, I can tell. "Maud?" I nudged her softly with my hoof.
I barely touched her and she fell over. I watched as her statue body hit the ground and shattered into a million pieces. As the statue Maud shattered, rocks from as small as pebbles to as large as boulders fell from the sky. I backed away, putting a hoof over my head to protect myself. Then I fell into a hole.
I was in the middle of a party, one that I had thrown before. It was when I felt my friends didn’t like me and I threw a party with random objects. But what happened to the rock farm and my family?
“That’s simple, Pinkie,” the bucket of turnips said. “They’re dead.”
“What?” I questioned as I looked at the turnips that I had called Mr. Turnip. I didn’t say that out loud.
“We’re in your head, Pinkie,” the pile of rocks said. “We know what you’re thinking.”
“You’re friends don’t care about you,” the flour bag said. “They don’t care.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “They were trying to throw a surprise party for me.”
The random objects that I had once used as imaginary friends started to float in the air and circle around me. “Come on and smile,” the lint said in a slow creepy voice.
“Come on and smile,” Rocky followed with a just as creepy voice.
“Come on and smile,” Madame le Flour said.
“Come on and smile,” Mr Turnip also said.
I looked from each of them as they chanted the words. “What’s going on? Why is this happening?”
I turned and the place disappeared. Standing over me was a giant Harry, looking down at me. “You have a hole in your chest,” he said, distantly.
I looked down and saw a clean hole that went through my human chest. I don’t know when I switched from a pony to human in my dream, but it happened. I looked up at him as he brought his wizard staff down towards me. It was huge and I turned and ran in terror, but I tripped and fell onto the ground. The staff hit me and it exploded into a sea of purple liquid.
A pain shot through me as I was washed away. I heard laughter echoing around me. I looked around as I was caught in a whirlpool. All of my friends were just as huge, standing over me and laughing.
“Please, help me,” I called out to them.
Pain shot through me again as I opened my eyes and yelled out in pain. I could vaguely hear Molly say something and a door opening. I rolled over and fell out of the bed, landing on all four.
“Pinkie, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked.
My vision went white for a moment as the sounds around me was drowned out.
The next thing I knew, I was staring up at everypony in Molly's bedroom. I felt different, and I was a lot shorter than them now. "What happened?" I asked.
"Umm, she's a pony," Thomas said.
"Well, of course I'm a pony. Wait, I'm a pony!" I looked around at myself. I was a pony. My pink fur, however, wasn't as bright as it was in Ponyville...and my cutie mark was missing.
"Why does she looked so different?" Rainbow asked.
"She's a normal pony," Thomas said.
"What do you mean a normal pony?" I asked.
"Why does she keep neighing?" Molly asked. "Is she trying to talk?"
"I don't know," Twilight said.
"Guys listen to me," I said. "I'm talking to you right now."
"Can't you understand her?" Thomas asked. "You're all ponies, right?”
“Well, ya, but we don’t talk like that,” Twilight said.
“Wait, Twilight. What happened to your skin?” I asked.
“What happened to your skin, Twilight?” Discord said. Did he get younger since last night?
“That’s what I said!” I stomped a hoof on the floor.
They glanced at me then at Twilight. Twilight, in turn, looked at herself. “I’m purple,” she said. “But how?”
“Ow, my head,” said Rarity as she entered the room. Everyone looked at her and our eyes widen to see a large bump on her head. She looked at everypony’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Umm, don’t look in a mirror,” Rainbow said.
“Why? What’s wrong with my face?” she replied in a panic.
“You’ve kind of have a large bump on your head,” Thomas said.
“WHAT?!” She felt her head and her eyes widen. She ran into the bathroom and a loud scream came from inside.
“You normally have a horn, what’s the big deal?” Rainbow asked.
“THIS LOOKS NOTHING LIKE A HORN!” I could hear her start crying from the bathroom. “It looks awful.” I trotted over to the bathroom and nudged her with my muzzle. She looked over at me, her eyes filled with tears. “Well, at least you look mostly normal again, Pinkie.”
“If only everypony else could understand me,” I said.
“What?” she asked.
“Exactly!” I said.
I heard a groan from the bedroom and backed out to see Rainbow darting out of the room. "Now what?" Rarity asked, looking around the doorway to see what's going on.
Applejack clenched her stomach as she fell to her knees. I could see her muscles start to shriek in size. "This isn't good," Discord said.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Chaogent's power," he said. "It's going out of control and changing everyone and everything."
Twilight and Molly helped Applejack up. She looked terrible. She was all skin and bone and looked very weak and feeble. "Umm, guys?" came a male voice from outside. "Don't freak out."
"Who is that?" Molly asked. A man walked in with short rainbow colored hair and wearing the pj's that Rainbow had been wearing.
"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.
"What is going on?" she...he asked.
"Chaogent's power has gone haywired," Twilight said.
"That's it," dude Rainbow said. "I'm ready to kick this guy's tail."
"Where's Fluttershy?" Discord asked suddenly. We looked around and realized she wasn't there. Everypony rushed out of the room and into the bedroom the girls stayed in. I followed behind them, though it was difficult to move. You would think being a pony again would allow me to be my normal self, but it seemed that this world's ponies were more limited than ours.
I was surprised to see Fluttershy when we entered the room. She was hanging upside down, large bat wings wrapped around her, her red eyes just visible from over the wings. She looked terrified. She stuck her head out and when she spoke, we could see fangs. "This is a terrible Nightmare Night joke," she said.
I then felt something that I recognised. A chill went through me. A scary yet cool feeling. Harry had said my Name, and I just knew he was at the door. I grabbed Discord's sleeve with my mouth and tugged on it. He looked at me and I made my way down the hall.
"Pinkie Pie?" he asked as he followed. I guess the others followed cause I could hear them walking behind him.
Going down the stairs was a little difficult, but at the bottom, I looked at the door. "Harry's at the door," I said, though no pony would understand me.
"What's going on?" Molly asked.
"Something's wrong," Discord said and he opened the door.
I woke up to the sound of ringing. As I groaned in frustration, I realized that I was still in the same position that I had fallen asleep in, fully dressed and holding Murphy. I rolled over and grabbed the phone on the nightstand.
“Hello,” I said, though it sounded more like, “Whatyawant?”
“Harry? Thank God it’s you.” It took me a second to realize who it was.
“Amanda?” I asked.
“Yes,” the third youngest Carpenter said in a panicked tone. “We have a problem. How soon can you get here?”
“Give me five minutes,” I said and hung up the phone. I got up and pulled my boots on. Then I thought about Murphy. She might know something, and if Chaogent is gaining power, I can’t waste time. I need her now. So I started to shake her. “Come on, Murphy, wake up.” It took me a few tries, but she finally woke up.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Amanda just called,” I told her. “Something’s up at the Carpenters. You’re coming with me to tell me what you’ve found on your end.”
She nodded and pushed herself up. She still seemed tired, so I made coffee while she got dressed. I handed her a travel mug with coffee the way she likes it, making sure not to give her my mug which was sugar with some coffee in it.
“What did you find last night?” I asked her after I started driving us to Michael’s.
“Well,” she replied. “I went to the morgue to look at the body, but it was gone when I got there.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “How does a morgue lose a stiff?”
“That’s what I asked,” she told me. “The stiff was laid out ready for me to get there to look at it. Then, it was gone. Think it has something to do with what’s going on?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Cowl’s in town.”
“That necromancer you told me about?” she asked. I nodded. “Fuck.”
“That’s what I said,” I told her. “And I think he’s the one that summoned this Chaogent to our world and started this whole ordeal.”
“So, what’s his plan in all this?” she asked me.
“Same thing as always,” I said. “Get more power and become a god.”
“These bad guys need to come up with new ideas.” She frowned as she looked at me. “And they always pick Halloween to play out their evil plans.”
“It’s their birthday present to me,” I said.
“Yes, cause the world circles around you, Dresden,” she said with a smirk.
“Somedays, it feels like it,” I said. “So, what happened after that?”
“Tried to find a lead,” she told me, looking out the windshield. “No luck. Though, if Cowl is involved, he might have taken the body with him. So, after doing some digging around on the Paranet, it turns out that this is the ninth time it’s happened this week.”
“It’s a ritual,” I said.
“Makes sense. Then Rowlins called and told me there was some strange activity at the park. I drove out there and…” She stopped, frowning as I pulled into Michael’s driveway. “I remember waking up this morning.”
“Hell’s bells,” I swore. “Well, we know where to go. But first, let’s deal with whatever is going on here and then go introduce you to the ponies.”
She rolled her eyes as she got out of the car. I smirked and got out myself. Together, we walked up to the front door. Before we reached it, however, Amanda opened the door, holding a young boy in her arms. The boy wasn’t one of the Carpenter's kids, yet he looked familiar.
“About time,” she said. “Harry, we have big trouble.”
“What’s going on, Amanda?” I asked. “Where’s Michael and Charity?”
“Mom’s inside in shock right now,” she said. “And dad.” She took a long pause. “Well…” She looked at the boy in her arms.
“Harry,” the boy said. “Don’t worry about me right now.”
My mouth dropped. “Michael?” I asked. “How the… What the…”
“Harry,” he said again. “I am the least of your problems.”
Mouse came walking out of the house, his head hung low as if he had done something wrong. I stared at him. “Michael,” I said, slowly. “Where’s Maggie?”
“That’s the problem,” he said. “We don’t know.”
I could hear the wood of my staff as I tighten my grip on it. “What happened?” I demanded.
“She went to bed last night with Mouse,” he said. “We woke up to Mouse barking. And when we got to her room, we saw a black hooded figure stepping into the Nevernever.”
“Cowl,” I groaned through clenched teeth. “I’m going to kill that bastard.” I turned and walked back to the minivan.
“Harry, wait,” I heard Michael call. I didn’t listen. I tossed the staff into the back, got in the van and cranked the car to life. Then the door opened and Murphy pulled me out of the van.
“Harry, you need to stop and calm down,” she said, pinning me to the van.
“He took my daughter, Murphy. How can I calm down?” I demanded.
“You have to, Harry. Cause if you don’t, you’ll get yourself killed and you won’t be able to save her,” she said.
I felt my power bubble up inside me as I was ready to lash out at her. I was ready to throw her off with every ounce of power I had, including that of the Winter Mantle, and go save my daughter. But she was right. If I went guns blazing now, I was just going to get myself killed.
I growled, pushing her off and turned away from her. “He took my daughter, Murphy,” I said, my voice shaking.
“I know, Harry,” she said. I felt her arms around me and she held onto me. “We’re going to get her back. I promise you that.”
I took several deep breaths and counted to ten. Then I counted to ten again. I noticed that my breath was a lot colder now, and the window of the van started to ice over from it. I needed to calm down. I need to get to Cowl. I needed to get to Maggie. My only hope was that there was something in the park that held the secret to where Cowl and Chaogent were. And I might need Discord to deal with Chaogent.
“Let’s go visit some ponies,” I said, after a long moment.
We got in the van and drove the short distance to Molly’s. I looked up at the place and noticed that the windows were all black, as if there wasn’t anything beyond them. I frowned as I got out, grabbing my staff from the back seat. Murphy followed me up to the steps and knocked on the door. There wasn’t no answer. I tried the knob and found that it was unlocked. However, when I opened it, there was nothing beyond it. It was as if beyond the door, nothing excited.
“What the hell?” Murphy asked.
“Ummm,” I said. I reached out with my senses and found that the place was still there. The problem was that there was something between the outside and the inside. Empty space. I kept feeling around and knew that everyone was still inside. So how do we reach them?
“Call Molly,” I told Murphy. She did and I heard the busy tone from the phone.
“Nothing,” she said, after a second try.
I thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to contact them. Then it hit me. I stepped back a bit and drew in my Will. “Pinkamena Diane Pie,” I said with a clear voice.
“Stand back,” I told everypony after I opened the door to show a black void beyond it. “This is a barrier.”
“A barrier?” Twilight asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Try and step through and you’ll find yourself in the Outside.”
“Perfect,” Molly said. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Break it down,” I said and I lifted the cane. I took a deep breath and struck the barrier. Normally, it would just pass through and go to the Outside; but instead, it had power in it and started to break down the barrier. Only it didn’t break right away. I had to strike it several times before it started to fall apart. The drawback was that I was using up the power I had regained during the night.
I growled at the thing as I kept striking it. I could see the fractures forming in the barrier. I took several deep breaths as I continued to hit it.
“Discord,” I heard Fluttershy say as she approached me. “Are you aright?”
I looked over at her. “Ya. It’s just taking more than what I thought it would.” She put a hand on my arm and I gave her a soft, reassuring smile. Even though she now looked like a vampire bat, she was still my Fluttershy.
My Fluttershy.
Mine.
I looked back at the barrier as I pushed my power through the cane. I let out a loud cry and struck the barrier with the cane again. Cracks spread out from the impact point across the barrier, the walls, and the windows. I looked around at the cracks, thinking that I may have overdid it. Then, it shattered to a million pieces, the fragments flying everywhere and flickering from excisitant. The walls and windows remained, undamaged. The barrier was gone. Standing on the porch outside was Dresden and a short woman with bushy blond hair and a button nose. She didn’t look tough at all, but if I knew better, she could probably kick some ass.
“The hell was that?” Dresden asked at once.
“A barrier,” I said.
“No shit, Sherlock,” he said. I saw his eyes look at each of the girls and me. “Didn’t know we were suppose to dress up already. You do realize Halloween’s later tonight, right?”
I frowned as I noticed the sky beyond him. I walked out onto the porch and pushed passed him. “How about right now?” I asked him.
The sky had turned green and a blood red full moon hung in the sky. “Hell’s bells,” I heard Dresden breath beside me. “It wasn’t like that a moment ago.”
“Chaogent is getting stronger,” I said. “He’s affected everypony else. And now he’s changing your world.”
“Every pony in the cars,” Dresden said. “We’re going to the park.”
“I don’t think having a picnic at a time like this is very wise, dear,” Rarity said. I looked back at her to see that she had tied a bonnet over her head to cover the still growing bump on her head.
“Nope,” Dresden said. “It’s time to go face Chaogent.” He frowned as he spotted Applejack. “You might want to stay. One good hit and you might break into a thousand pieces.”
“Ya think I’d go through all the trouble to come out here and find my friends just to be left behind?” she asked, holding onto man Rainbow. “No sirry. I’m goin’ too.”
“Harry,” Thomas said, and he gestured at Pinkie. “How are we getting Pinkie there?”
“She’s small enough to fit in the back of the hummer,” he pointed out.
I saw Thomas look at the pony with a serious look. “No pooping in the backseat,” he said. Pinkie let out a huff, but I knew what she wanted to say. I gave her a wicked grin, imagining her leaving tough guy Thomas a present in his back seat.
Thomas took Molly, Pinkie, Applejack, and Dash while I rode with Dresden, his woman friend, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight. The whole ride, I rubbed at my eyes, trying to get my strength back. Breaking that barrier took more out of me than I would have liked. The way the city was looking, I was going to need every ounce of strength that I could get.
After a long time, we came to a stop near a parking lot. Dresden parked the car and Thomas parked next to him. We piled out of the cars and gather by the back of them.
“What’s the plan, Harry?” Thomas asked.
“There must be an enchantment around the park,” he replied. “I find it and start breaking it down. Molly, I’ll need your help with that. When we get in there, I’m expecting both Cowl and Chaogent to be there. Discord, you take care of Chaogent. Thomas, back him up. Molly, Murphy, and I will take care of Cowl.”
“What about us?” man Rainbow Dash asked.
“Hang back and look pretty,” Dresden said. “If we need you, we’ll call. But in your current state, you lot can’t do much.” I saw Twilight about to protest but Harry interjected. “Even if you were here a while to properly learn to use your magic, this is major league stuff. I could barely hold up against this guy the last time I fought him.”
“Then why not take the extra help?” Rainbow asked.
“What can you do?” Dresden asked.
“I can fight,” he...well, she replied. Even though she was currently a guy, she was a still girl I guess.
“How?” he asked.
“I’m a black belt,” she replied.
“That won’t help when magic is being thrown around,” Dresden replied. “You might as well shoot spit balls. It would be about the same results. You don’t know how to fight a necromancer.”
“Look, sugarcube,” Applejack interrupted. “Like it or not, we came here to fight also. And we ain’t come all this way to just watch the rodeo. Ya either let us help or we’ll deal with this on our own.”
I could see Dresden getting frustrated with the girls. I assumed that he was more use to taking the lead and not being told what to do. It’s funny that he’s the Winter Knight.
“They’re my backup,” I said. “They’ve dealt with Chaogent before and, as much as I hate to admit it, myself in the past. We’ll take care of my brother.”
“Whatever,” he said. “I just don’t want anyone to get killed. Stick together. You girls listen to Discord. Discord, you listen to me.”
“Sorry, Dresden,” I said. “I don’t listen to anyone. You just deal with your necromancer. We’ll deal with Chaogent.”
“As long as you’re in my city, you’re listening to me,” he said. “You have a limited supply of power.”
I growled, showing my teeth. As much as I hated to admit it, he was correct. I wasn’t summoned to this world like my brother. Because of that, I was limited with my power. If I ran out of power, I was useless. I wanted to fight back, with every fiber of my being, but I had to bite my tongue.
“Fine,” I said, putting every bit of hate into the word.
Dresden nodded and looked back at Murphy. “Got your gun?” he asked. She rolled her eyes and pulled her coat aside to reveal a shoulder holster. “Good.” He looked at Thomas.
“I have my gear,” he said.
“Good. Let’s go rock and roll,” he said.
He lead the way. Molly, Thomas, and Murphy followed behind him. I was behind them with Fluttershy beside me. I was actually surprised that she was there. Was it because of her current state? No, that couldn’t be it. Even looking at her, I could see you shaking, even if it’s just a little. Behind us was Pinkie with Applejack on her back and the rest bringing up the rear. I was on Harry’s side. Applejack was in no shape to fight. Really, none of them were. However, I had a feeling. If it’s right, they could be helpful. If not...they were as good as dead.
This was it. The final confrontation with Chaogent. At least, I hoped it was. I followed the others as we made our way to the park. I wasn’t use to being in the back, but there wasn’t much else I could do. If I had time to learn the magic here, I could probably be able to help. There was always the elements that my friends and I had within us, but I wasn’t even sure if that would work here. And now that we were in this weakened state, there might not be much we could do at all. I just hoped that Harry had a plan that would be of help.
As we walked, I realized that I didn’t see a park nearby. “Umm, where’s this park?” I asked.
“A block away,” Ms. Murphy said. “But there seemed to be a spell around it that makes anyone getting too close turn around. So, we’re walking there so Harry can break the enchantment and we can enter the park easily.”
“Speaking of,” Harry said, stopping. “I can sense the enchantment now.”
“That’s one hell of a diameter,” Thomas pointed out.
“Quiet,” Harry said. I watched him as he held up a hand and closed his eyes. I decided to mimic him, closing my eyes and focusing. I could feel him. I could feel Molly. I could even feel Rarity and Discord. Discord’s power scared me, but it felt restricted. It felt like his power was tied down and I could only feel a small amount.
I looked at Discord and realized he was watching me. “Twilight,” he said. “You should buy me dinner first.”
I blushed as I lost focus. “Sorry,” I said.
He gave me a smirk. “Try to focus,” he told me. “Use only a small ribbon of power to feel around you. It’s less noticeable. Try to pinpoint my power.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, focusing my power. I imagined exactly what he told me, a ribbon. I moved the ribbon slowly towards Discord and found him quickly. I didn’t know what he meant by pinpointing his power, but I tried to located it. Then I felt it and my eyes shot open.
“You’re cane!” I said at once.
He gave me a smirk. “I came here on my own free will, so I’m limited in my power. To get around that, I stored some power in my cane. Now, focus on Molly and Harry. You’ll find a pleasant surprise.”
I let out a nervous laugh as I started to repeat the process. What did Discord mean by that? Was there something about them that he wanted me to notice? I felt there power. Oh Celestia! Their magic was incredible. They had to be as strong as Discord. But...how? How is that possible?
I looked at Harry as he worked on the magical barrier. It was hard to believe that he and Molly were as powerful as Discord. Then again, Discord was limited right now. If that was true, than Discord was a lot stronger than I thought.
“Got it,” Harry said, snapping me out of my thoughts. “We should be able to reach the park without any problems, but keep your guards up.” No sooner than he said that, we heard a loud shriek. “Or they might know we’re here and now we have to move.”
He started to run forward, followed by Molly, Thomas, Murphy, and Discord. Fluttershy, Dash, and Rarity followed behind them with Applejack, Pinkie and myself following them. Poor Applejack. I've never seen her so helpless. Despite her condition, she was still determined to fight. She surely was a stubborn mule.
I could feel the power as we approached the park, steadily growing. However, when we went around the corner of a building and saw the park, the magic power felt like a heavy pressure on my chest. That power felt...wrong. It was a power used for unnatural things, things that should not exist. It was this power that I realize why Harry and Discord did not want us involved. We were so out matched.
No, I can't think like that. I’m the Princess of Friendship and these are all my friends. Fluttershy. Applejack. Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash. Rarity. Discord. Harry. Molly. Thomas. Even Murphy who I just met today was willing to fight with us. These are my friends and I have to think positive. We can do this. Eleven of us and two of them. I like those odds.
The park was dark, almost as if it was night already. In the center was...I don’t know how else to explain it. It was an empty void. It was eerie, but kind of obvious where they were. Harry stopped and looked back at us.
“Alright, everyone,” he said. “It looks like this is it. Stay close. I don’t know what to expect in there, so follow my lead. If I call for a retreat, don’t question it, just turn around and run like hell. If I tell you lot to leave, do it. Don’t be a hero.”
I nodded and looked at the others. They did the same, except Discord. I had a feeling he wouldn’t. All the same, he would run if he knew he couldn’t win. I was sure he would even turn and grab us on his way out, or at least Fluttershy.
Harry turn and started to walk towards the void. The rest of us, even Harry’s close friends, hesitated. Discord stepped forward first, and the rest of us followed. I stared at the void and felt myself get nervous. What was worst was that the closer we got, the more I felt that we needed to leave or we may never see home again.
Once we reached the void, we stopped and stood just outside the void. “Is it safe?” Thomas asked.
“Not sure,” Harry said. “Discord?”
“Let me check,” he said, stepping forward. I watched him as he lifted a hand and held it just a hair off the blackness. “Yep, it’s a void.”
“Thank you for the insight,” Harry said sarcastically.
Discord gave a grin. “It’s Chaogent’s work. We step through and we’ll be in another dimension. This would normally be a problem for you humans. You could step through but you’ll be trapped there without a being who can travel between realms.”
“Like you,” Harry said.
“Like me,” he confirmed.
“No one likes a gloater,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Says the pony who flies around gloating all the time,” Discord pointed out.
“That’s different,” she replied. “I’m awesome!”
Everypony looked at her. “You sound like a guy,” Discord said back.
“Shut up!” she shot back, crossing her arms.
“Ladies,” Harry said. “Could we focus? Potential world destruction in front of us?”
“Dresden,” Discord said. “You need to learn to have a little fun in the face of danger.”
“I have fun,” he said, annoyed. “But this is not the time to have fun.”
I noticed something when he said this. He wasn’t just annoyed. He was anxious. Something happened that is making Harry want to finish this quickly. I didn’t think it was because of us. Thinking back, he seemed to be in a hurry since he got to Molly’s.
“Harry?” I asked. “What happened?”
He glared at me, and I flinched. “Harry,” Murphy said with a stern voice.
I saw him take a deep breath and looked at the void. “They took my daughter,” he said. My eyes widen as Maggie’s happy face came to me.
“Maggie?” Thomas asked, surprised. “Why the hell did you not say so earlier?”
I looked back at the void and frowned. Now all of Harry’s friends were anxious, and it was understandable. A little girl was in trouble and it was this thing that came from our world that had taken her. I pushed passed everypony and stepped through the void.
This place looked nightmarish. Despite the void looking small outside, inside it was huge. It was like a whole world within this tiny area. The ground was red and dry with no vegetation at all. The trees were all long limbed and completely barien. The sky was black with a blood red moon hanging in the sky. In the distance there were wildfires. Chaogent stood several yards away with a hooded figure standing before it. Behind the two was a cage with a little girl sleeping inside it. That must be Maggie, and the hooded figure was Cowl.
Chaogent didn’t look any different than when he was in our world. His body was like a gorilla with a rattlesnake’s tail and a shark’s fin on it’s back. He also had a human leg as his left leg and elephant’s for his right. His left arm was a zebra’s hoof and his right was a cat’s arm and paw. His head was a lion’s head with a unicorn horn on his forehead and fly eyes. Compared to Discord, he looked terrifying.
I drew the wand that Molly had given me and pointed it at Chaogent, pushing power through it. However, someone grabbed my wrist and I looked up to see Harry. Everypony else stepped out of what looked like a black wall of water, rippling as they stepped through into this world. Discord took a deep breath as he stepped through and gave a smile.
“This is much better,” he said and started to shimmer and change. He turned to his normal self. “Welcome to my brother’s realm.”
“He has his own realm?” Harry asked, looking at him.
“Ya, we can make our own realms,” he said. “I should show you mine sometime. You’ll like what I did with the place.” He looked at me and the girls. “Since we’re here…” He snapped his figures and I was blinded for a moment. When my vision came back, I lost balance and fell forward onto all fours.
“Awesome! Rainbow Dash is back!” I heard Dash shout. I looked up and saw the flying blue pegasus doing flips in the air.
I glanced at the others and found that they were all their pony selves. I looked down at myself and found that I was back to normal too. I could feel my power flowing more naturally. I was excited to be a pony again and I felt like I could fight again.
“Yeehay! I feel like a young fillie again!” A.J. called out, bucking her hind legs in excitement.
“You said it,” Pinkie called back. “This feels so much better!”
“I’m in a cartoon,” I heard Harry said. I looked at him and noticed something I didn’t before. His colors were more darker and bland where ours were bright and colorful. To him, we probably looked a lot different than what he’s use to seeing a day to day basis. Maybe I didn’t notice it before because we were the same while we were limited to his world.
Our problem now was that we just gave ourselves away. Both Chaogent and Cowl had turned and were now watching us. Despite that, something seemed off. If I had to guess, Cowl said something because Chaogent turned to him and slammed his paw against an invisible wall. Cowl looked back at him, raising his arms into the air.
“Damn,” Harry said.
“What’s wrong?” Thomas asked.
“Cowl,” Harry replied. “He’s trying to absorb Chaogent.”
That wasn’t good. If this necromancer was able to absorb my brother, than this wizard would have near unlimited power. We needed to end this now. “It’s now or never,” I said.
“Agreed,” Harry said. I saw the runes on his staff start to glow as he ran forward.
Before he could get far though, hands popped out of the ground. I heard Fluttershy scream in surprise as a thumping noise filled the air and I went between her and the zombie that was crawling out of the ground. I could feel her shaking behind me and I growled.
“Don’t you ever scare Fluttershy again,” I growled. I started to draw in my power but I fell to a knee, feeling weak. “What?”
“Discord!” Fluttershy called. “What’s wrong?”
“My power,” I said, my vision getting blurry. I looked around and could barely tell that the others were fighting off zombies.
Thomas had started to glow, his eyes completely silvery white. He had drawn a curved blade sword and was slicing zombies. Murphy and Applejack were working together, fighting off zombies. Rainbow Dash was flying around making heads spin...literally. Rarity and Twilight, now able to use their power again, were taking care of business. They were lifting the zombies up with their magic and slamming them into each other. Pinkie Pie was using her own style to fight, pulling out a party canon from I don’t know where and using it to blow away zombies. Honestly, I can make things appear as I please, I have no clue how this pony can do it. I hate to say it but I think she has powers that are beyond me. She even seems to talk to or look at somepony that’s not even there from time to time.
It was Harry and Molly that impressed me the most. They were throwing out magic like there was no tomorrow. I saw Harry shoot flames from his staff, engulfing a zombie. But instead of the zombie burning to ash, it froze. I mean, it froze in a solid block of ice. Freezing flames. I’ve got to remember that one.
I pushed myself up as our zombie ran at us. “Not today,” I said as I raised a hand, a tennis ball forming in my hand. I threw it at the zombie and it exploded into a million pieces. Then I saw dark energy coming at us from Cowl. I turned and covered Fluttershy, getting hit in the back with the energy. I let out a cry of pain as my power drained.
“Discord!” Fluttershy cried.
“I’m fine, get out of here, Fluttershy,” I said, pushing myself up. At least I tried to. I was drained and I didn’t know why. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” I choked out.
“You’ve done nothing wrong,” she said.
“I dragged you into all this,” he said. “And now…” She put a hoof to my cheek and made me look into her eyes.
“Don’t talk like that, Discord,” she said.
There’s that feeling again. That feeling in the pit of my stomach. It...was weird. I gave her a soft smile as my vision blurred. I started to fall over, but Fluttershy caught me. Why was I feeling weak? The only time I felt weak was when….was when I went to the human world. I was limited then, and I was limited here. Chaogent made this place to prevent me from using all of my power. I looked up at Fluttershy and kissed her.
“Thank you,” I said as I pushed myself up and turned, gathering as much strength as I could muscle. “Harry! Summon me!”
“What?” I heard him shout.
“Say my Name!” I shouted, falling to the ground again.
“You make it sound so dirty!” he called back. Then I felt the power. “Discord! Discord! Discord! I summon thee!”
Power filled me and the pain from the spell vanished. I lifted Fluttershy as I stood, holding her in my arms. She stared at me with a blush on her cheeks, surprised.
"Care to lend me a hoof, Fluttershy?" I asked her.
"How can I help?" she asked me. I gave her a smile as I set her down. I saw another blast of magic coming at us and I held up a hand, grabbing the energy and rolling it around my talons.
"Feigo!" I heard Harry called out and saw a blast of fire sore out at Cowl. Good, a distraction.
I rolled the energy and reformed it. The magic whipped around Fluttershy and started to change her. Her eyes turned red as her wings spread open, growing larger. She started to stand on her hind legs and turned to something in between a pony and human. However, she wasn’t just a human and pony hybrid. She was a vampire, human, and pony hybrid. She looked at me as she gave me a smile, showing fangs.
“Shall we take out this necromancer?” she asked me with a more sinister voice.
I nodded, though I was a little worried that I may have overdone it. Before I could tone it down a bit, however, she sour off at the zombies. I didn’t just change her appearance, I changed her strength too. The zombie she hit went flying, the sounds of its bones crushing under the impact. I guess I didn’t do too bad changing her. I just hoped she’ll forgive me for changing her so much.
A zombie jumped at me from my blind side. I disappeared and reappeared behind it with a broom stick handle. I swung it and cut cleanly through its neck like I was wielding a sword. The head went flying and the body dropped.
I appeared near Applejack as she kicked a zombie up into the air. I plucked her hat from her head and tossed it at the zombie. It flew like a frisbee and sliced clean through it’s head just under it’s ears. The hat flew back to my hand and I set it back on Applejack’s head. Then I disappeared.
I reappeared near Harry and Molly. “I like that freezing fire spell you used,” I told Harry as I grabbed a zombie.
“Something I came up with after I became the Winter Knight,” he said with a smile.
“I like it,” I said, holding the zombie like a bat and swinging at another, sending the head flying like a baseball. “It’s just my style.” I held up the zombie and more zombies flew up to it like a magnet. A blue flame erupted from my zombie torch. “Harry, go stop Cowl,” I said. “If he absorbs Chaogent, we’re good as dead.”
“Cowl has surrounded himself with zombies,” he said.
“I’ll take care of that,” I told him. I threw the flaming zombie torch at the wall of zombies before grabbing Harry’s arm. “Time to go.”
“What the-?” he started but I threw him like a spear through the flames.
After we entered the place, I looked around and took note of my surroundings. I noticed where Chaogent and Cowl were and the cage behind them. My daughter was in that cage. I heard a cheer from beside me and looked over to see all of the girls turned into bright colored ponies. They almost looked like cartoons how bright their coats were. I also noticed an image on the flank of each of them. Pinkie Pie had an image of party balloons, Twilight with stars, Rarity with gems, Applejack with apples, Fluttershy with butterflies, and Rainbow Dash with a rainbow colored lightning bolt.
All hell broke loose when we ran through the barrier and charged at Cowl. I heard the thumping noise before the scream and filled my staff with power. The first zombie that came up got a staff to the face. The staff was carved from a hardwood that I found on the island. Even without the use of magic, it was one hell of a weapon. I cracked the zombie’s skull.
The drawback was that these zombies were controlled by Cowl. They were controlled by magic, and the thumping noise that filled the air was used to keep them under control. They couldn’t be stopped by a few broken bones. The last time I had to deal with zombies were on Halloween night several years ago. History sure loves to repeat itself.
I tried to push forward, trying to get towards Cowl, but more and more zombies crawled out of the ground and blocked the way. Seriously, Cowl watched way too many zombie movies. Molly joined me as we tried to fight through. I heard an explosion and I felt chucks of meat hit my back. Then I heard shouting from across the field. I froze the zombie that was attacking and looked over. Discord was on the ground with the yellow furred pony with long pink mare.
I saw him push himself up and call out to me. “Harry! Summon me!”
“What?” I demanded, turning and burning another zombie to ash. What the hell did he mean?
“Say my Name!” he called back.
Why did he have to phrase it like that? “You make it sound so dirty!” I called back.
His Name? I didn’t know his Name. Unless Discord was it. That was one hell of a stretch. Then again, I was able to summon Mab in the middle of a sealed barrier on my island with no ritual or anything. It was worth a shot. Discord, you better know what you’re doing. I’m breaking a Law of Magic to do this.
I drew in my Will and called out his Name. “Discord! Discord! Discord! I summon thee!”
I didn’t get to see what happened. I had to deal with more zombies. I burned another zombie and looked around to see Discord throwing A.J.’s hat at a zombie. It sliced through the zombie like a flying buzz saw. I also noticed that Fluttershy had been transformed again into a vampire hybrid. Was this Discord’s true power?
Discord appeared near us as I took out another zombie. “I like that freezing fire spell you used,” he said as he grabbed a zombie.
I smirked at him. “Something I came up with after I became the Winter Knight,” I said.
“I like it,” he said as he...played baseball with the zombies. “It’s just my style.” I turned, pulling out my gun and firing a round into the head of a zombie. Boom. Headshot. “Harry, go stop Cowl,” he continued. “If he absorbs Chaogent, we’re good as dead.”
He had a point, but there was a problem. “Cowl has surrounded himself with zombies,” I told him.
“I’ll take care of that,” he said. I was dealing with another zombie when he grabbed hold of my wrist. “Time to go.”
“What the hell?” I said, or at least I started to say. Before I could finish, he threw me at the wall of fire he made. “Fuck you, Discord!” I called out as I went through the flames. It was surprisingly cold. As I went through, I saw the zombies burning in these icy flames. Discord had taken my spell and revised it.
I came out the other side and tucked into a rolled. I landed in a not so graceful roll and had to push myself up. Cowl was chanting again, drumming a hand on a little drum hanging off his right hip. I whipped my staff around and called out, “Forzare!” A force of power lashed out, grabbed the drum, and pulled it towards me.
The minute the drum was away from Cowl, the zombies went wild. They ran everywhere, attacking everything they could reach. Some charged at Chaogent but ran into the magic circle, preventing them from getting through. Others ran at Cowl, which made him have to stop his ritual and deal with them. Since he can’t work on the ritual, he couldn’t absorb Chaogent.
In the meantime, I had to deal with my own zombies. The best way to do that was to break the spell on them. Problem was, I had no real way to do that. At this point, they would just drop when they run out of magic that’s already in them. This meant that we’ll have to deal with them until then. On the plus side, Cowl had to deal with them also.
A heard a boom and a blue blur flew by with a trailing rainbow behind it. It flew right through where Chaogent was and I felt a tension of power snap free. The magic circle around Chaogent was broken. That was unexpected.
“Finally!” he said with a hiss. “Cowl, you traitor. You will pay.”
I saw Cowl turn his hood toward the creature before he decided to Scooby-Doo it out of there. He opened a rift and stepped through it, closing it behind him. Cowl got away. This angered Chaogent and he turned toward me.
“Oh, hell no,” I said as he charged at me. I planted my feet and raised my staff.
The staff was made from a hardwood, yes. It was great as a blunt object on most enemies. When you add a few spells to it, it becomes one hell of a battering ram. Seventy-seven runes were carved in the base of the staff. They were the same runes I had on some rings I use to wear. The spells were made to store up kinetic energy. Swinging the staff around, walking, any movement what so ever, the runes store the energy. Seventy-seven of these. Once I release the spell, all of them go off at once. Battering ram in the form of a wooden staff.
I swung the staff, calling out, “Arietius!” The end of the staff connected with Chaogent’s jew and all seventy-seven runes released a punch that sent him flying. He flew through a bunch of zombies and skid across the ground in the middle of the fray.
“What in Equestria was that?” I heard Twilight call out.
“Discord!” I called out. “Got a delivery for you!”
“Free express shipping, yes!” I heard him called out. “Where’s Cowl?”
“Ran with his tail between his legs,” I called out, turning to the cage. I went to it. “Maggie? Are you alright?” She was still asleep, probably a sleeping spell. I started to look at the cage, trying to figure out how to open it. There was a lock, but I was sure Cowl took the keys with him.
There was a shriek from behind me and I turned to see Chaogent was on top of me. He was a lot bigger than when I sent him flying. Like, he had tripled in size and he was already pretty big to begin with, and he was about to step on me. I couldn’t use the staff again; I had used all of the kinetic energy that it had stored up. It was a great spell, but it was a one-time use only. I would have to store up more kinetic energy to use it again.
I, instead, lifted my Smith and Wesson 500 and emptied it into the bottom of his foot. He cried out in a hellish shriek and I heard another gunshot. I saw it’s head explode as he stumbled back. I looked around to see Kincaid there with his rifle.
“Dresden,” he said. “I suggest you get your daughter out of here before it gets up.”
I nodded as I turned back to the cage. I lifted the whole thing and started to run with the cage. “Time to get out of here!” I called out.
“What?” called Dash as she fly up next to me. “What about Chaogent?”
“Kincaid just blew his head off,” I said.
“That’s not going to stop him,” Discord said as he appeared on my left shoulder. “You think your guns would stop an Outsider?”
“It should be enough to send him packing,” I said back.
“Not while we’re here,” he replied. “We’re in his domain.” The ground shifted and started to raise up. I jumped back and almost fell with the cage. The ground rose up and formed into Chaogent.
“Got it,” I said. “His domain, his rules.”
The others rejoined us and I glanced around to see the zombies dropping. The magic in them must have worn off. At least we didn’t have to worry about them. Just this big chaotic creature in front of us.
“So, what’s the plan?” Thomas asked as he stepped up beside me.
“We have to send him back to the Outside,” I said.
“Or turn him into stone,” Twilight said.
“Cause that worked well last time,” I said. “No, our best bet is to kill him or send him to the Outside.”
“A lot of magic would do it,” Discord said. “But it won’t mean a thing if we don’t get out of this realm.”
“Force him to another realm then,” I said.
I felt the power surround us and a sudden force sent me flying back. The cage with my daughter in it went tumbling away. My little girl tumbled around inside as it rolled across the ground. I hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of me. I gasped as I rolled over and looked at my little girl. I saw the others go flying and I heard a yell from Discord. I didn’t care. All I cared about was if my daughter was alright.
I rolled over and crawled towards the cage. My daughter laid there, her eyes open and staring at me. “Daddy?’ she mumbled softly. I reached out to her and was kicked across the ground by a giant hoof.
I heard my daughter scream as I grabbed my stomach in pain. I looked around, seeing the creature lifting up the cage. Anger filled me as I pushed myself up. It was time to let out the Winter Knight.
Suddenly, all of the pain went away. Frost formed around my hands and everything made more sense. Why was I afraid to use my full power? Was I afraid to hurt my flesh and blood? I was a good shot. My daughter was in no harm. I looked at my hand as a ice claw formed around it.
“Yes, that’s more like it,” I said. I looked at the damn beast that had a hold of my daughter. It was time to end it’s life.
I rushed forward, slashing its paw and cutting it clean off. The cage went flying and I held out a hand towards it. Ice formed across the ground and reached up, grabbing the cage and keeping her out of harm’s reach.
“Time to die,” I said as I slashed at the beast again. He melted like water. I responded with a growl and threw a hand out at him, freezing him in ice.
Discord appeared next to me. “Need a hand?” he asked as he formed himself into a sword. I took hold of him and ice formed around him. “Hey, watch it. That’s cold.”
“Can it, Discord,” I said.
Chaogent reappeared behind me and I turned, slashing him. The minute I cut into him, his wound burst into flames. Great, fire. Haven’t seen that a million times.
“Harry!” called Twilight. I looked and saw the ponies running forward. Fluttershy was turned back to her pony self at some point. I heard them gasp at the sight of me.
“I much prefer the human forms,” I said.
“Don’t think about it,” Discord said.
“You’re no fun, Discord,” I said.
“Girls,” he called. “Time to show your true power!”
There was a glow and I looked at them to see that they had changed. Their manes and tails were longer and added some more colors. Their marks on their flanks had also replicated themselves around their hooves. Their magic was astonishing and rivaled my own. And they fired that power at Chaogent in a blinding rainbow.
The beast shrieked in pain and I smirked. This creature was done. I raised the Discord blade and stabbed at the beast. He shrieked even louder as I started to push my Will into the sword. I felt Discord do the same.
“Curse you, Discord!” Chaogent called out. “I’ll kill you all! I will have the ultimate power!”
“You’re not hurting anypony anymore,” Discord said.
“Even if I fall here, my power will go on to the others!” he claimed. I saw cracks form all over him as light shined out of them. “We’ll infect all of your minds! We’ll take over your cities! The Blackhand Blades will rule you all!”
There was a blinding light. Then darkness fell over me.
I woke up in a bed and stared at the ceilin’ as I tried to remember what happened. The last thing I remember was focusin’ my element with the others and usin’ it against Chaogent. Then Harry stabbed Chaogent. Chaogent shouted somethin’ about taking control or somethin’ like that. He mentioned somethin’ else, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was. Then there was a blindin’ light and I found myself here.
I sat up and looked around, realizin’ that I was in the bedroom at Molly’s place. I looked at myself and saw I was human again. I guess Discord’s power wore off; but how did I get here? And where was everypony else?
I got out of bed, realizin’ I was in the clothes that I was wearin’ when we entered that void thingy. My hat was nearby and I grabbed it, puttin’ it on my head. I still can’t believe that Discord used it to slice those things. At least he didn’t mess it up.
I went to the door and opened it to leave, but almost ran into Pinkie Pie instead. “You’re up!” she said in excitement. “Did you sleep well!”
“Pinkie,” I said. “What the hay happened?”
“Oh, Harry went all ice Hulk on Chaogent, and Discord turned into a sword, then we hit Chaogent with our power, Harry stabbed him, and then we woke up here,” she in her usual excited self.
“Well, I know that much, Pinkie,” I said. “I meant, how did we get back here?”
She thought for a moment before she gave me a smile and said, “Beats me.” She turned and started to skip down the hall to the stairs. “You coming? Everypony else is downstairs.”
I frowned a bit as I followed her out of the room and downstairs. Everyone was in the living room. The girls were all back in their human forms like myself. Discord was in his young human form too. Harry was sittin’ by Murphy, who was wrappin’ up his arm in bandages. Fluttershy was sittin’ on the ground with a little girl and a big gray fluffy dog. Discord was sittin’ next to Thomas, though neither seemed too happy to be sittin’ so close together.
Twilight was sittin’ by the man I briefly met at the church and a woman I hadn’t met before. The man was big with a beard and wear a flannel shirt. The woman smaller and though she was smilin’ had a stern look to her. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were sittin’ on the couch, which Pinkie promptly went over and sat down with.
“What’s goin’ on?” I asked, walkin’ over and sittin’ down in the only chair that was there. “Where’s Molly?”
“You just missed her,” the man said. “She had to leave on business. I don’t believe we properly met. I’m Michael Carpentor, her father. And this is my wife, Charity.”
“A pleasure meetin’ yer acquaintance,” I said with a nod of my hat. I looked over at the others. “So, what happened after we attacked Chaogent?”
“Chaogent was sent back to the Outside,” Discord said. “Everypony else collapsed as the realm fell apart. I took it upon myself to get you all back here.”
“How long were we out?” Twilight asked. Apparently, they were waitin’ for me to get up before Discord explained everythin’.
“A few hours,” he said. “Molly was up first. She called her parents to check up on them. In the meantime, Kincaid awoke and left in a hurry.”
“Kincaid was here?” I asked in surprise.
“You didn’t notice him in the realm?” Harry asked. “He entered at one point and stopped Chaogent from crushing me and Maggie.”
“I guess he wasn’t as bad as we thought,” Thomas said. I heard a loud snort from Murphy who apparently didn’t agree. He gave her a smirk.
“As I was saying before I was interrupted,” Discord said. “Pinkie and Rainbow awoke a few minutes later shortly followed by Harry, Thomas, and Rarity. Molly’s parents arrived with this Temple Dog.” He said that with hate, I noticed. “Harry was able to awake his daughter before Fluttershy came down. Twilight and Murphy awoke after that. Murphy discovered that Harry had injured his arm in that last attack and started treating him. Then Molly got a call and left just before Pinkie went up to check on you.”
“You’re a horrible story teller, Discord,” Rainbow said. He gave her a smile and shrugged.
“I noticed that I wasn’t mentioned at all,” Thomas said.
“Oh, did I forget you?” Discord replied. “So sorry, I didn’t even realize you were here.”
“What is wrong with you two?” Murphy asked.
“Nothing,” they both said at the same time. They looked at each other and glared.
“So, Chaogent was defeated,” I said. “He was sent back to this ‘Outside’ realm, right? And everythin’ was turned back to normal.”
“Yep, and all in time for Nightmare Night!” Pinkie said, excited.
“Or Halloween,” Thomas said.
“Or Daddy’s birthday,” the little girl said.
My friends and I looked over at Harry.” Wait,” Pinkie said. “You mean to say that not only is it Nightmare Night and Halloween, but it’s your birthday too?! Why didn’t you say so?!”
Harry stared at her. “Umm, we were a little busy,” he said.
“Well, we need to have a party!” Pinkie said.
“Unfortunately, that will have to wait,” Discord said. “I’m not summoned here, so I have limited power. And right now, I have enough to get us home.”
“Then we have a party and then you take us home,” Pinkie said.
“It’s almost nightfall,” Discord said. “Once the sunsets, all my power will be gone and I’ll be joining my brother in the Outside.”
“Then have Harry summon you,” she replied, looking over at Harry.
“Not gonna happen,” Harry said. “I summoned him in the realm because we needed his help.
“Even if he did, I used most of my energy while in the realm,” Discord said.
“Before we discuss parties or getting home,” Twilight said, interrupting, “what happened to Cowl?”
“Cowl did what Cowl does best,” Harry said. “Saw things weren’t going his way so he turned tail and ran.”
“Where?” Rainbow asked. “I didn’t see anypony leaving that place. And what were those things?”
“He left through a rift he made to the Nevernever,” Harry said. “That’s the third time he’s gotten away too. And those things were zombies. Cowl used his magic to resurrect the dead and was using a drum to control them.”
“So, he escaped and Chaogent started attacking?” Fluttershy asked.
“Actually, something broke the circle,” Harry said, looking over at Rainbow Dash. “A rainbow flew through the circle and it broke. Chaogent went after Cowl, and Cowl escaped.”
“But I wasn’t even near the ground,” she replied.
“Doesn’t matter,” Harry explained. “Just cross through where the circle is and you break it.”
“Oh,” she said. “My bad.”
“It worked out in the end,” Discord said, getting up. “Ladies, we have a time limit. I suggest we go.”
“This sucks,” Pinkie said. “I wanted to celebrate Halloween and Nightmare Night here and throw a party for Harry!”
“Some other time,” Harry said as he got up. “Thomas. One last ride?”
“Whatever,” he replied as he got up.
“Are we still Trick-or-Treating later?” the girl asked.
“We are,” Harry said. “Just have to see our friends out of town, then we’ll go back to Michael’s and get ready to go.”
“Alright,” she said. “I’ll go with you.”
I saw Harry look over at Murphy and then the Carpenters. “I don’t see why not,” Mr. Carpenter said. I saw Harry give him a look. “Between you, Murphy, Thomas, and this Outsider, I don’t think anything could hurt her.”
“You forgot Mouse,” Fluttershy said, pettin’ the dog. “Such a good and smart dog.”
“You got that right,” Harry said. “Come on, Maggie. Get your coat.” She smiled, got up and hugged him before runnin’ into the other room.
...
We were in the cars shortly after that and headed out. After a short ride, we were at an alley, gathered around a spot that Discord had told us he came through. We stood there as Discord walked forward.
“I can’t wait to get home and in my safe place,” Fluttershy said.
“You and me both,” Rarity said. “I’ve certainly had enough of this dreadful business. I could use a nice relaxing spa and a long nap.”
“I may join you, Sugarcube,” I said.
“Portal’s open,” Discord said. “I suggest we get a move on.”
Twilight turned to Harry first. “Thank you, Mr. Dresden,” she said.
“Harry is fine,” he said.
“Harry,” she said with a smile. She gave him a hug.
“Ok, that’ll do,” he said, pattin’ her back with one arm.
She smiled as she went to Murphy. “Thank you for your help,” she told the woman.
“Don’t mention it,” Murphy replied. “Just give me a call next time you’re in town.” She handed her a business card.
Twilight nodded, taking the card before kneeling in front of Maggie. “It was great meeting you,” she told the girl.
“It’s was great meeting you too, Twilight Sparkle,” she said, givin’ Twilight a hug.
“Thank you for all your help,” I heard Fluttershy say. I looked over to see her speakin’ to Thomas.
“Well, I was in the neighborhood,” he said. She hugged him and I noticed he tensed up a bit. I also noticed Discord showin’ his teeth in a soft growl. She let go of Thomas and went over to Mouse, kneeling down and started talkin’ to the dog softly.
I walked over to Thomas. “So, what happened between ya and Discord?” I asked him.
“We had a disagreement,” he replied before lookin’ at me. “You kicked some ass back there.”
“I fight for my friends,” I said. He gave me a smirk and hold up a fist to me. I looked at it for a moment before I bumped it with my own.
He shook his hand and looked down at the back of it. Some burn marks appeared. He let a chuckle when he saw that. “Hero hasn’t forgotten about you,” he said.
That made me frown. “What?” I asked. “How do ya know that?”
He held up his hand. “True love is deadly for a White Court Vampire,” he said. “You’re protected with it.”
True love? Did he mean what I thought he meant? “Oh,” I said, looking at him. I decided to steer away from Hero. It was better to not think about him now. “Is that how ya got that burn on yer lip?”
He smirked and looked at Fluttershy. “Seems somepony else has also found true love,” he said.
I looked at her and frowned. When did Fluttershy find true love? It couldn’t have been here. Maybe somepony she was close to? It couldn’t be one of us. The only one she was close to was…
“Wow,” I said. “Didn’t know her and Discord....”
“Not Discord,” Thomas said with a stern voice. “Discord is an Outsider. He doesn’t know what love is.”
So that’s why they were angry with each other. I gave Thomas a smirk. “Honey, I can tell ya now,” I said. “Discord may not understand it, but he can sure as well feel love. Shoot, he didn’t know the feelin’ of friendship until Fluttershy showed him.” I turned and faced Thomas straight on. “You think just because he doesn’t understand what true love is he can’t feel it?
I saw Thomas frown in thought for a moment before he looked over at Discord. “If you put it that way,” he said.
“Ponies,” Discord called out. “It’s now or never.”
The girls all nodded and said their final goodbyes. I did the same and followed them towards the portal. One by one, my friends stepped through. Discord, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and then finally me. At least I started to. I stopped and looked at the new friends we made one last time...and I spotted him.
At the end of the alley, a man in a long black leather trench coat, long blond hair, and deep blue eyes made his way towards the group. He had in his hand a guitar case with a big orange and black ribbon on it. On his wrist were about three bracelets each with two rings on one hand and another ring on the other. Around his neck, resting on his forest green shirt was a single necklace with a charm that had three triangles on it.
“Hero?” I whispered softly. I stepped away from the portal and started to walk forward towards the confused looks of the men and woman standin’ there. Then I broke out in a run, pushin’ passed them and throwin’ my arms around the man, kissin’ him. He kissed back.
I broke away from the kiss and punched him in the chest. “What took ya so long?!” I demanded.
He gave me a smile, rubbin’ his chest where I hit him. “Sorry,” he said. “Had to deal with some things.”
After stepping through the portal, I looked around to watch the others step through. They each came through as their pony selves. Twilight. Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie. Rarity….
I stared at the portal, waiting for Applejack to come through. Then I realized it was getting smaller. Then smaller...and smaller.
“Umm, Discord,” I said. “Could you hold it open larger? Applejack hasn’t come through yet.”
He looked at me and then at the portal, sweat running down his face. He stuck his head through for amount, came back, and snapped the portal shut.
“Hey!” Twilight said. “What gives?”
Discord started to fall forward and I moved to catch him. I felt him lay out onto my back. He was heavy, but not too heavy.
“Discord?” I asked. “Are you alright?”
“I need rest,” he said before he looked over at the others. “She’ll be fine. She’ll just have to wait a few days.”
“I’ll get you home,” I told him.
“Goodness me,” came Princess Celestia’s voice and I looked up to see her and Princess Luna approaching us. I didn’t take much notice until now, but we had appeared in the garden where Chaogent and Discord use to be displayed when they were statues.
“What happened?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Applejack is still in the human world,” Dash said at once.
“And Discord is drained,” I added.
“Is she safe?” the princess asked us.
“She should be,” Twilight said. “We had friends there so they can watch over her while Discord recovers.”
“At least everypony is safe,” she replied. “What about Chaogent?”
“No problem,” Dash said. “That Outsider won’t be messing with anypony anymore.”
“We sent him back to the Outside!” Pinkie said, excitedly.
“Outsider?” Princess Luna questioned. “Outside? Outside where?”
“It’s a long story,” Twilight said. “I’ll tell you all about it.” She looked at me. “Take Discord to your place and have him rest. Once he’s well enough, he can recover Applejack.” She turned to the others. “Everypony else. Go rest. I’m sure we can take one Nightmare Night off.”
“And miss out on all the candy?!” Pinkie said. “No way!”
“Well, you go have fun, Pinkie,” Rarity said. “I’m going to go take a nice long bath.”
“I’m just going to go take care of Discord,” I said. I was never fond of Nightmare Night anyway.
…
After I got home, I laid Discord out on my bed, thinking that it would be better than the couch. He was breathing hard and sweating a lot.
“Oh, poor Discord,” I said. “Get some rest.”
“My dear Fluttershy,” he said. “Will you stay with me?”
“Of course I will,” I told him. I sat next to the bed, putting a damp rag on his forehead. From all the action that happened, there was one thing I couldn’t stop thinking about. It made me blush a bit as I thought about it. “Umm, Discord? Could I ask you something?”
“Anything for you, Fluttershy,” he said.
“Why did you kiss me?”
…
Herorian Time
“Sounded like an exciting adventure,” I said once Harry finished telling me the events of the past few days. We were sitting in Michael’s living room. I was sitting with A.J. on the couch, holding her close to me. Harry was sitting across from use with the new guitar I got him for his birthday. He was tuning it while we were talking.
“Well, I’m sorry I missed all the action,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it, sugarcube,” A.J. said. “Just show up next time.”
I chuckled a bit. “Sure,” I said. “Just give me a call.” She gave me a smile. “What do you think the vanilla humans will say about the sky?” I asked Harry.
“Vanilla humans?” questioned A.J.
“Humans who don’t have any magical powers,” I said.
“Some scientist will say it’s some rare atmospheric phenomenon,” Harry said. “They’ll chop everything else up as pranks.”
“Of course they will,” I said.
“Uncle Hero, how do I look!” came a little girl’s voice. I looked over to see Harry’s daughter, Maggie, standing in the doorway of the living room in a light blue dress.
I gave her a smile. “You look great, little munchkin,” I said.
“Go get a coat, Maggie,” Harry said. “Then we’ll get going.”
“Ok, daddy,” she said and ran up the stairs.
“Elsa,” I said, a smirk forming on my face. “You got her a Queen Elsa costume.”
“What’s wrong with that?” he asked.
“Do you know who Else is based off of?” I asked. He shrugged. “She’s based off the fairy tale called The Snow Queen. And do you know who the Snow Queen is based off of?”
“Don’t tell me,” he said.
“That’s right,” I said. “Your boss. The Winter Queen of Fairy. The Queen of Air and Darkness. Queen Mab.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, is nothing based on a fairy?” he asked. I started to laugh. A.J. started to laugh also, though I don’t think she quite knew what was going on.
I saw Murphy walk into the room, laughing. “What are you laughing at?” Harry asked.
“I heard,” she said. “Harry is dressing Maggie up as Queen Mab.”
“Shut up,” Harry said. We laughed at him.
“So, Hero,” Murphy said, sitting down by Harry as she controlled herself. “You going to go Trick-or-Treating with us?”
“I’ll have to get a costume,” I said. I looked over at A.J. “I guess since you’re stuck here for a while, we should get you one too.”
She gave me a smirk. “Ya got that right,” she said.
“How are you going to get home?” Murphy asked.
“I’m sure Discord will come get me when he’s rested up a bit,” she said. “But I don’t mind waitin’.” She looked at me when she said that and I gave her a smile.
With that, we went and enjoyed Halloween together. I ended up finding a costume to wear. The clothes Rarity had apparently made while she was here had been left behind. Among them were some costumes for everyone. I hated to modify the clothes she made for Harry, but I used them to make me a costume. I even modified a costume for A.J. to match with mine. We went as Wyatt Earp and Josephine Marcus. Harry went as Han Solo and, with a lot of convincing, Murphy as Princess Leia.
Michael and Charity decided to stay home since the four of us were going. We took their kids out with Maggie. All and all, we had fun and had a good night.
After we were done, I took A.J. to a hotel where I rented a room for us. There, we got to enjoy some time together alone.
……...
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…….
……
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??????
We had been on the move some time now. It was hard on one’s back to walk so far. Not to mention, carrying the gear we had. However, we reached it. We reached the top of the hill and looked down at the village below.
“That’s it?” my colleague on my left asked. “It doesn’t look like a place to hold that kind of power.”
I looked over at him. His hood covered his face, but I know which one he was. “It might not look much, Jian,” I said. “But it has the power that we need.”
“I can’t believe the boss sent us all the way to this realm to fetch some fairy tail power,” my colleague to my right said. “And I still can’t get use to this body.”
I looked over at him. I used a little bit of my power to knock him to the ground. “Do not question our boss,” I told him.
“So, what’s next?” Jian asked me.
I pushed more power into my horn and made my hood fall back on its own. Unlike my two colleagues, I had grown accustomed to my new body, complete with black fur and everything. “It’s time the Blackhand Blades made a visit to Ponyville,” I said, my eyes locked on the crystal palace that was in the shape of a tree. It would be there that we would begin our search.
I couldn't hold my excitement. "Yes! She's one of my friends! And there's five others!"
He looked over at Mr. Carpenter. "I'm going to need the car," he said.
"Did you want me to go with you, Harry?" he asked.
"I'll be fine. If you could, call Thomas. Tell him to meet me at the docks."
I saw Mr. Carpenter frowned. "The island?"
"Seems like something is going on at the island as well." He looked at me. "You're coming with me, Mrs. Sparkle. I have some questions to ask you."
I felt nervous as I followed the man out. There was another 'car' outside and I guessed it was the one the two men arrived in. However, Mr. Dresden walked over to the first car. I went to the side Mrs. Carpenter had gotten out on and opened the door. It took me a moment to realize he had opened it for me. So I got in and he closed the door behind me. He got in on the other side, pushed a key into a slot and turned it, the machine roared to life, which made me jump.
"Seat belt," he said as he pulled a strap from over his shoulder, pulled it across his chest and clicked a buckle into something at his hip. He looked at me and cleared his throat. "Seat belt?"
"Oh, ya. Seat belt," I said, looking around, realizing he wanted me to do the same. I grabbed the strap and mimicked his movements, locking the buckle into the device at my left hip. "There," I said feeling like accomplished a difficult task. He gave me a funny look before he turned and looked out the back window of the car. The machine started to move backwards, which in turn made me jump.
Once we were moving, he glanced at me. "You know what's going on, don't you?" he asked. "First some guy pokes around at the pub and church, then you appear, and now something is going on my island."
I had to wonder if the guy was Discord looking for information on Chaogent. Maybe Chaogent was on this island that he was talking about. "Did this guy look like a mix of different animals? Called himself Discord?" I asked.
"What? No. Just some old guy named Sam Singer," he looked at me with a confused look. "You saying that this Discord is a some Frankenstein creature made up of several animal body parts?"
"Frankenstain?" I question, never have heard that word before.
"Nevermind. So, your friend Discord is made up of several different animals." I nodded to him. "What is he?"
"He is a Draconequus."
He seemed to frown a bit, thinking. After a moment, he shook his head. "Why are you here?"
"Discord's brother escaped to this land, we believe. His name is Chaogent. He tried to attack us before, but we defeated him with the help of a friend of ours. We turned him into stone but he somehow escaped. Discord came here to try and find him, but he never returned. So, me and my friends were sent to find them."
He looked a little confused. "Ok, start from the beginning."
I bit my lip before I started to tell him about Chaogent and what has happened, starting from the arrival of Hero. After I was finished, he seemed a little more relaxed. "Alright," he said. "Well, I'll help you find your friends. If you're friends with Hero, I'll help you out."
"Wait, you know Hero?"
"I've helped him out a few times and he's done the same for me," he said. We talked a little about him as we traveled to where ever we were going.
<Twilight - On Demonreach>
Before Harry could say anything, my friends and I climbed off the boat and ran to the beach. Molly and Thomas followed after us, but the moment we stepped onto the sandy beach, I felt fear fill me. What was this? It felt like the island wanted to get rid of us. But that’s crazy, who ever heard of a place that tried to make others leave.
"A party?" Thomas asked as he stepped up beside Fluttershy.
Harry just threw his hands up in defeat before walking forward. I watched him for a moment before I swallowed hard and followed. Despite being a few hooves away, I could hear him mumbling to himself. I couldn’t make out what he was talking about, but I just tried to not upset him even more. I think he was having a rough day.
I was surprised how easily he walked up the ruins of these steps. He must have spent a lot of time here. I was having trouble with going up the steps. I looked back at the others and they had a hard time also, even Molly and Thomas, though they didn’t have as much trouble as Fluttershy and Dash. Thomas helped Fluttershy as she went up the steps, blushing as she went. Molly walked with Dash, catching her once in awhile when she stumbled. But I wasn’t paying attention and tripped on the steps. The others caught up to me and helped me up. I laughed nervously.
We finally reached a clearing at the top of the hill with the ruins of a lighthouse. It was decorated with party supplies complete with a banner. "This certainly looks like Pinkie Pie's work," I said.
I was wondering where she could be when Harry walked over to a bush and pulled her out of it. "Found her," he said.
"How did you know I was there?" she asked.
"I have a connection to the island," he said. "I knew exactly where you were the moment I stepped onto the island." He mentioned something like this before. Did he really mean you could tell where she was just by stepping onto the island?
I saw her pout, crossing her arms. "You're no fun. I wanted to surprise everypony."
I had to smile as I ran over to her with my friends. We took Pinkie and hugged her tightly.
"What's Nightmare Night?" Thomas asked, looking at the banner.
"Oh, that's a celebration we have at home," Dash said.
"Ya! You see there were two princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Pinkie said, excited and speaking really fast. "They were sisters. But Luna got jealous and became Nightmare Moon, so Celestia banished her to the moon. Then somepony came up with the idea to celebrate Nightmare Night so everypony could dress up and get candy and leave it for Nightmare Moon. But then Nightmare Moon came back and we turned her back to Princess Luna. So, now we celebrate Nightmare Night as a celebration of her return. She loves to join in and scare the little fillies."
"Ya, we just call it Halloween here," Molly told us.
"We need to get going," Harry said.
"But I worked so hard on this party," Pinkie said.
Despite wanting to stay and have a party, I had to side with Harry on this. It has been a long day and we still don’t know where Applejack or Rarity were. Dash was the only one for sure I knew we were going to meet up with after Harry talked with Molly. None of us were expecting Fluttershy to be with Thomas nor Pinkie to be on this island. "Sorry, Pinkie," I said. "But we still have to find Applejack and Rarity. Not to mention Discord."
"Ya," Dash said. "Besides, it's getting dark out. I don't know about you, but this day has been stressful."
Despite the disappointed look on Pinkie's face, she agreed to leave with us. We made our way down to the dock and climbed back onto the boat.
"So, who's the tall handsome guy?" Pinkie asked after we started to make our way out into the water.
"I wouldn't call Harry handsome," Thomas said.
"Hey!" Harry called out from the wheel. "I can hear you."
I giggled as did the other girls. "I'm Molly," Molly told Pinkie. "That big guy is Harry Dresden. And this is Thomas Raith." I looked at him and started to get those fuzzy feelings again. The others must have felt the same cause I could feel them shifting next to me. "Thomas," Molly said. "Turn down the libido."
"I'm sorry, it's just natural," he replied and I instantly blushed as the feeling faded.
"You have to forgive Thomas," Molly said. "He's a White Count Vampire."
"A vampire?!" Fluttershy shouted as I tensed up.
"He's going to suck our blood!" Pinkie shouted. "Wait, what's a White Court Vampire?" she asked as if she didn't just freaked out.
"It's a breed of vampire," he said. "I don't feed on blood. That was the Red Court before Harry killed them all. I feed off someone's life force through contact or their emotions. Mostly through lust."
"Oh, so that's why I feel all warm and wet when I'm around you," Pinkie said.
"Pinkie, that's a little personal, don't you think?" I asked.
"Oh, come on, you all were feeling it too," Pinkie shouted and I blushed even more.
"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" Harry asked out loud, but I don't think he was speaking to anypony in particular. "Come on, we need to figure out what to do with you girls."
"Why don't they stay at my place?" Molly said. "I have room for them."
"Oh, we shouldn't impose," Fluttershy said.
"It's no problem."
"It'll have to do," Harry said. "I have no place, Murphy would kill me, not to mention she has no room, and I'm certainly not letting you girls stay with Thomas. Plus, Molly can keep an eye on you and I'll be close by just in case."
"Awesome," Dash said. "We'll rest up and look for Rarity and A.J. in the morning. They can take care of themselves until then."
"That's true," I said. "Even though I rather find them as soon as possible, we certainly can't search for them when we're tired."
It was settled and we got into the car with Molly. Harry hung back and talked to Thomas for a moment before he got in also while Thomas left in the car he came here in. We started feeling how tired we were as we headed to Molly’s place. Pinkie was the first to fall asleep, which made me wonder how long she would have lasted during a party. Dash was dosing and Fluttershy stared out the window of the car at the buildings that were going by.
After we reached Molly’s place, which was close to her parents’, she lead us inside. Harry didn’t come in. Instead, he left with the car. Molly got us some pajamas to wear and gave us a room to sure, which we were all fine with. Pinkie got a second wind as the four of us talked about what happened today. But that didn’t last long and we all fell asleep shortly afterwards.
<Fluttershy - Demonreach>
I looked at who had hugged me and a large weight lifted off of my heart. Joy filled me as I hugged Twilight and Rainbow Dash in excitement. "Twilight! Rainbow Dash!" I started to cry as I held onto them. "I was so scared. I was all alone. And someone tried to do horrible things to me." I broke the hug and smiled at the man who brought me here. "But this man saved me."
They both looked at the man and I saw them both blush. "Umm, thank you for saving Fluttershy," Twilight said, nervously.
"Y-yay, and bringing her back to us," Dash said.
He gave us a smile as I looked from him to my friends again. They both looked different in some ways. But I could feel something from them that told me they were indeed my friends. Twilight had dark skin and dark hair, but there seemed to be a streak of a pink in her hair. She also had on clothes that looked odd. Dash had a more toned body with muscles and had a tan skin. But her hair was still rainbow colors, but it seemed more dull and darker.
I heard someone clear their throat and I looked at who it was. I didn't noticed the taller, slightly older man and the shorter young woman who were also there. The man had some facial hair and wore a long black leather coat. It reminded me of Hero's coat, but it had what looked like some leather was draped over his shoulders. He was also carrying a wooden staff.
The young woman had icy blue hair that seemed to fade from a dark blue at the roots and a light blue at the ends. She also had an image of a snake by her neck that disappeared under her clothes. Was it a cutie mark?
The tall man looked at us. "Ok, ladies," he said. "I have some damn questions that need answers to." He growled as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a stone. It looked like it was glowing. "Hell's bells," he mumbled as he put the stone away. "So, everyone on the boat. We'll talk on the way."
I saw the other woman look at him with a worried look on her face. Thomas looked at him in a slightly annoyed look. I looked at my friends, who looked a little worried. But they followed as they started to walk down a dock towards some boats. I nervously followed.
Once on the boat, the man in the coat started the boat and steer it out into the water. I sat down with my friends, feeling really cold. It was getting dark out and colder out. My friends seemed to get that way too. The woman came over to us with some heavy coats and handed them to us. I pulled mine on as the others did the same.
"I'm Molly," she said to me. "That man in the leather is Harry. And I guess you already met Thomas." I nodded. "What's your name?" I looked down nervously.
"This is Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said. "You have to forgive her. She's shy when meeting new...people."
"It's nice to meet you all," Twilight said. She looked at Thomas as he gave her a soft smile. I noticed her shift in her seat much like how I was doing myself. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. And this is Rainbow Dash."
"Twilight Sparkle," he repeated. "Rainbow Dash." He seemed to consider that for a moment before he smiled again. "It's nice to meet you both."
"So, what are you?" the man named Harry asked. "You're not humans."
I looked down, not sure if I should say anything. I did tell Thomas, but what else was I suppose to say? "They're ponies," Thomas said suddenly.
I was surprised that he said something. Then I felt my friends eyes on me. This made my cheeks heat up and I covered my face. "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't know if we were suppose to tell or not."
"That's alright, Flutters," Dash said as I felt her put an arm around me. I felt a little better to her convert.
"You're ponies?" Molly asked.
"Yes," Twilight said. "We're ponies in our world. But when we were sent here, we turned into humans."
"It's a little getting us to," Dash said. "But I love a good challenge."
"I rather stay as a pony," I mumbled, but I don't think they heard me.
"Well, you girls picked it up pretty well," Molly said.
By this time, we were pulling up to a dock by an island. The place looked like it was a jungle, and I got scared as I looked up at it. "Well, this is all really odd," Harry said as he tied a rope from the boat to a wooden pole on the dock. "Alright, ponies. Stay here while I go find out what's going on." He got out of the boat and walked down the dock to the sandy beach. Once he stepped onto the beach, I saw him stop. "What the fuck?"
"What is it?" Thomas asked, getting out of the boat.
"Someone's here," Harry answered. "Apparently, they just appeared here and is...throwing a party?"
"Pinkie Pie!" My friends and I said at once.
Before Harry could say anything, my friends and I climbed off the boat and ran to the beach. Molly and Thomas followed after us, but the moment we stepped onto the sandy beach, I felt fear fill me. This place just scared me. I don't know why, but something felt wrong here and that I should not be here. I looked at Twilight and Dash, and they both look just as nervous as I.
"A party?" Thomas asked as he stepped up beside me.
"She'll find some reason to throw one," Twilight said.
Harry just threw his hands up in defeat. He started to walk forward. Twilight was the first of us to step forward, though she was nervous. Dash started to follow. "I'll just stay here," I said.
"It's alright," Thomas told me. "I know this island is pretty scary. It's the spirit that inhabits it. But you'll be safe with us."
Just the sound of his voice made me relax. I had to remind myself that it wasn't lady like to do what I wanted to with him. I never thought that I would feel this way. I walked with him as Molly followed behind us.
We walked up through the forest that was on the island, going up some steps. I looked around, wondering if there were animals. But the cool air told me that winter was coming, so they might be in hibernation now, that is if there were any animals on the island in the first place.
When we reached the time, we saw the ruins of a hut and lighthouse were decorated with banners, streamers, and balloons. The man somehow knew where Pinkie was hiding and walked right up to her, pulling her out of her hiding spot. She had curly pink hair just like her pony mane and tail, but she also wore a fluffy pink dress. We hugged and talked before Harry started to lead us off the island.
On the way back, we talked some more and learned about Thomas being a vampire. It scared me, though oddly exciting. I don't know why, but he still made me feel fuzzy. I guess he had powers that made us want more from him.
We finally made it to Molly's place where we got some sleep. And as I fell asleep, I wondered where Rarity and Applejack were.
<Dash - Holy Shit Everything!>
Her hair was what told me it was Twilight. Even though it was dark, there was still a purple hues to it with a strip of pink in it. Her clothes looked weird though, nothing like what she wore the last time we were here. The black shirt had red letters on it that read "Splattercon" on it. We hugged, smiling and not really paying attention to the man who was following.
Once we broke apart, She introduced me to the man named Harry Dresden. I looked at Molly. "Molly, this is Twilight."
"Are those my clothes?" Molly asked at once. I saw Twilight blush a bit.
"Well," she started.
"Save it," Harry said. I looked at him. He was a tall man and was holding a wooden staff. He also had a long black leather coat much like Hero's. He was also putting a stone into his pocket. "We need to go to the island, Molly. Something's going on over there. So, let's talk in the car, ladies." He turned and started to walk back the way he and Twilight came from.
Molly waved us to follow so we did. Twilight filled me in one what happened to her as we got into this carriage thing that was called a car. Once she was done, I told her what happened to me. We concluded that the spell must not have gone right and separated us.
"This island," Twilight said, looking at Harry. "What is it?"
"It's an island out in the middle of a lake," he said. "I kind of own it. Or at least I'm in charge of it. But it seems something appeared there that's causing trouble."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
He pulled a stone out of his pocket and showed it to me. "This is a rock from the island. I put an enchantment on it so if something happens there, the spirit of the island can inform me."
"Spirit of the Island?" Twilight question.
"Sounds a little like Maud," I whispered to Twilight. She giggled a bit.
Shortly afterwards, we came to a stop. I noticed the machine was starting to make funny sounds before it turned off. A light inside went on as he opened the door, which flickered and with a loud pop died. "Mom's not going to like that," Molly said.
"She knew what the risk was when she let me borrow the minivan," Harry said, looking up at the dead light. They got out and we followed. We gathered around on the left side of the machine and waited.
"Ummm, what are we waiting for?" I asked.
"Waiting for a friend," Harry said as he pulled the stone out again. "Thomas, you have five minutes to get here."
No sooner did he said it that another machine came up and parked a few hooves away. This machine was white and was shaped differently, and it also looked like it had taken some damage in the back end. The moment I saw Fluttershy step out of the thing, Twilight and I ran to her and hugged her. There was no doubt it was her either. We weren't expecting to see her get out of this thing, but we were sure glad she was safe. Out of all of us, she was the most fragile.
She held onto us like she never wanted to let us go and even started to cry. Then she started to explain what happened to her. It wasn't until she mentioned the person that saved her that I noticed him. I felt something within me, an urge to jump at him and kiss him all over. I wanted to rip those clothes of his off and do things with him I shouldn't talk about.
I stuttered as we thanked him for saving and bringing Fluttershy to us. Then Harry got our attention again. "Ok, ladies," he said. "I have some damn questions that need answers to." He growled as he pulled the stone out again and looked at it. "Hell's bells," he mumbled as he put the stone away. "So, everyone on the boat. We'll talk on the way." It sounded like he was getting more and more frustrated and annoyed.
Once on the boat, Harry started the boat and steer it out into the water. I sat down with my friends, feeling really cold. It was getting dark out and colder out. My friends seemed to get that way too. Molly came over to us with some heavy coats and handed them to us. I pulled mine on as the others did the same.
"I'm Molly," she said to Fluttershy. "That man in the leather is Harry. And I guess you already met Thomas. What's your name?" Fluttershy looked down nervously. That was normal for her when meeting someone new.
"This is Fluttershy," I said. "You have to forgive her. She's shy when meeting new...people."
"It's nice to meet you all," Twilight said. I looked at Thomas and started to shift in my set as I felt turned on looking at his smile. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. And this is Rainbow Dash."
"Twilight Sparkle," he repeated. "Rainbow Dash." He seemed to consider that for a moment before he smiled again. "It's nice to meet you both."
"So, what are you?" Harry asked. "You're not humans."
After Harry asked us that, I looked at Twilight. I wasn't sure if we should tell him. Not that I wasn't proud of being a pony, but in a world where there wasn't ponies, it would seem weird. Then again, there was magic and fairies here. But it was Thomas who broke the silence. "They're ponies," he said.
Twilight and I looked at him surprised. Then we looked at Fluttershy who blushed and covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know if we were suppose to tell or not."
"That's alright, Flutters," I said, putting an arm around her.
"You're ponies?" Molly asked.
"Yes," Twilight said. "We're ponies in our world. But when we were sent here, we turned into humans."
"It's a little getting us to," I said. "But I love a good challenge."
"Well, you girls picked it up pretty well," Molly said.
By this time, we were pulling up to a dock by an island. The place looked like it was a jungle and spooky, and I didn't feel comfortable being here. "Well, this is all really odd," Harry said as he tied a rope from the boat to a wooden pole on the dock. "Alright, ponies. Stay here while I go find out what's going on." He got out of the boat and walked down the dock to the sandy beach. Once he stepped onto the beach, I saw him stop. "What the fuck?"
"What is it?" Thomas asked, getting out of the boat.
"Someone's here," Harry answered. "Apparently, they just appeared here and is...throwing a party?"
"Pinkie Pie!" My friends and I said at once.
Before Harry could say anything, my friends and I climbed off the boat and ran to the beach. Molly and Thomas followed after us, but the moment we stepped onto the sandy beach, I felt fear fill me. I didn’t know why, but the place scared me. I don’t really get scared much anymore, but this place creeped me out.
"A party?" Thomas asked as he stepped up beside Fluttershy.
"Definitely Pinkie," I said. "She's always throwing parties."
"But why throw a party?" Harry asked.
"She'll find some reason to throw one," Twilight said.
Harry just threw his hands up in defeat before walking forward. Twilight was the first of us to step forward, though she looked nervous. I followed shortly afterwards with Molly.
The ruins of the steps were very difficult to walk up. I sure miss my wings. But I was thankful that Molly was there. When I stumbled, she caught me. After a while, we reached Twilight, who just feel over. She laughed nervously, blushing a bit as we helped her up.
We finally reached a clearing at the top of the hill with the ruins of a lighthouse. It was decorated with party supplies complete with a banner. "This certainly looks like Pinkie Pie's work," Twilight said.
I looked around at the place and felt a smile spread across my face. Pinkie was so cool being able to do this on such a scary island. "Found her," Harry said. I looked to see him over by a bush and holding Pinkie.
"How did you know I was there?" she asked.
"I have a connection to the island," he said. "I knew exactly where you were the moment I stepped onto the island." He mentioned something like this before. Did he really mean you could tell where she was just by stepping onto the island?
I saw her pout, crossing her arms and I chuckled a bit. "You're no fun. I wanted to surprise everypony." I ran over to her with my friends and we started to hug her in excitement.
"What's Nightmare Night?" Thomas asked, looking at the banner.
"Oh, that's a celebration we have at home," I said.
"Ya! You see there were two princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Pinkie said, excited and speaking really fast. "They were sisters. But Luna got jealous and became Nightmare Moon, so Celestia banished her to the moon. Then somepony came up with the idea to celebrate Nightmare Night so everypony could dress up and get candy and leave it for Nightmare Moon. But then Nightmare Moon came back and we turned her back to Princess Luna. So, now we celebrate Nightmare Night as a celebration of her return. She loves to join in and scare the little fillies." Well, that’s Pinkie Pie for you.
"Ya, we just call it Halloween here," Molly told us.
"We need to get going," Harry said.
"But I worked so hard on this party," Pinkie said.
Despite wanting to stay and have a party, I really want to stay in a scary place like this. Though I wasn’t going to tell everypony that. "Sorry, Pinkie," Twilight said. "But we still have to find Applejack and Rarity. Not to mention Discord."
"Ya," I said, taking the opportunity. "Besides, it's getting dark out. I don't know about you, but this day has been stressful."
Despite the disappointed look on Pinkie's face, she agreed to leave with us and we made our way down to the dock. After climbing back onto the boat, Harry started the boat and guided us away from the island.
"So, who's the tall handsome guy?" Pinkie asked after we started to make our way out into the water.
"I wouldn't call Harry handsome," Thomas said.
"Hey!" Harry called out from the wheel. "I can hear you."
I giggled as did the other girls. "I'm Molly," Molly told Pinkie. "That big guy is Harry Dresden. And this is Thomas Raith." I looked at him and started to feel excited and shifted in my seat. The others must have felt the same cause I could feel them shifting next to me. "Thomas," Molly said. "Turn down the libido."
"I'm sorry, it's just natural," he replied and I instantly blushed as the feeling faded.
"You have to forgive Thomas," Molly said. "He's a White Count Vampire."
"A vampire?!" Fluttershy shouted as I tensed up.
"He's going to suck our blood!" Pinkie shouted. "Wait, what's a White Court Vampire?" she asked as if she didn't just freaked out.
"It's a breed of vampire," he said. "I don't feed on blood. That was the Red Court before Harry killed them all. I feed off someone's life force through contact or their emotions. Mostly through lust."
"Oh, so that's why I feel all warm and wet when I'm around you," Pinkie said.
"Pinkie, that's a little personal, don't you think?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, come on, you all were feeling it too," Pinkie shouted. I blushed a bit and looked away.
"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" Harry asked out loud, but I don't think he was speaking to anypony in particular. "Come on, we need to figure out what to do with you girls."
"Why don't they stay at my place?" Molly said. "I have room for them."
"Oh, we shouldn't impose," Fluttershy said.
"It's no problem."
"It'll have to do," Harry said. "I have no place, Murphy would kill me, not to mention she has no room, and I'm certainly not letting you girls stay with Thomas. Plus, Molly can keep an eye on you and I'll be close by just in case."
"Awesome," I said. "We'll rest up and look for Rarity and A.J. in the morning. They can take care of themselves until then."
"That's true," Twilight said. "Even though I rather find them as soon as possible, we certainly can't search for them when we're tired."
It was settled and we got into the car with Molly. Harry hung back and talked to Thomas for a moment before he got in also while Thomas left in the car he came here in. We started feeling how tired we were as we headed to Molly’s place. Pinkie was the first to fall asleep, and I was close behind her.
I woke up as we arrived at Molly’s place and she lead us inside. Harry didn’t come in. Instead, he left with the car. Molly got us some pajamas to wear and gave us a room to sure, which we were all fine with. Pinkie got a second wind as the four of us talked about what happened today. But that didn’t last long and we all fell asleep shortly afterwards.
<Harry - Demonreach...surprisingly...>
"This island," Twilight said, after a while of talking with her friend. "What is it?"
"It's an island out in the middle of a lake," I said. "I kind of own it. Or at least I'm in charge of it. But it seems something appeared there that's causing trouble."
"How do you know that?" Rainbow Dash asked. I need a better name for this girl. I can't keep calling her 'Rainbow Dash.' I could call her 'Rainbow' or 'Dash' but they both still sound ridiculous to me. 'R.D.' maybe? 'R2D2'? I'll have to think of one later.
I pulled the stone out of my pocket and showed them. "This is a rock from the island. I put an enchantment on it so if something happens there, the spirit of the island can inform me."
"Spirit of the Island?" Twilight question.
R.D. whispered something to Twilight which made her laugh.
We reached the docks shortly after that, but the car started to act up as I pulled it into a parking spot. The prolonged exposure to me must be finally getting to it. At least the thing wasn't yelling at me that the door was ajar. Instead, the dome light came on, flickered, and died. "Mom's not going to like that," Molly said.
"She knew what the risk was when she let me borrow the minivan," I said, looking up at the dead light. I got out of the car, taking my staff from the back again, and waited for my brother to get here.
"Ummm, what are we waiting for?" Dash asked.
"Waiting for a friend," I said as I felt the stone heat up again. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out again. Demonreach knew I was on my way, thanks to the enchantment I put on the stone, but it was still trying to get my attention. What had it troubled? "Thomas, you have five minutes to get here."
Speak of the sex crazed vampire, his white hammer pulled into two spots a few spots over. I noticed the damage on the back of it, probably from the cab hitting it from last night. I saw a young girl with long pink hair step out of the passenger side. Did he just bring himself a snack?
But it was Twilight and R.D. who shouted out to her and ran up and hugged her. Thomas walked over to me as they held onto each other. "That's Harry Dresden for you, already on the case of the bizarre," he said.
"Well, that's another one to the group," I said.
Thomas smiled as the girls noticed him. I saw their eyes lock on him and they started shifting and blushing.
"Ok, ladies," I said, breaking up the sexual tension building in the air. Last thing I needed was the Winter Knight mantle wanting in on this action. "I have some damn questions that need answers to." The stone heated up again and I had to pull the stone out again. "Hell's bells," I growled at the stone. "So, everyone on the boat. We'll talk on the way." I couldn't wait any longer. At this point, I was sure it was something more serious than one of their friends showing up there. Something must be attacking it or trying to escape the "cells" down below it.
Once on the boat, I started the boat and steer it out into the water. I told Molly to grab some spare jackets for the girls. It was getting dark out, and since Winter was on its way, it was going to get really cold out. I'll have to make sure they have proper clothes tomorrow.
"I'm Molly," I heard her say after she grabbed some coats for them. I was assuming she was introducing herself to the new girl since my back was to them. But I still listened. "That man in the leather is Harry. And I guess you already met Thomas. What's your name?"
"This is Fluttershy," R.D. said. "You have to forgive her. She's shy when meeting new...people." There's that cliché thing again. Seriously, who named these kids?
"It's nice to meet you all," Twilight said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. And this is Rainbow Dash."
"Twilight Sparkle," I heard Thomas repeated. "Rainbow Dash." He seemed to consider that for a moment before he smiled again. "It's nice to meet you both."
"So, what are you?" I asked. I felt it was time to get some answers. There's a possibility that they were human, but I doubt all three of them would be able to hold a lie if they weren't. "You're not humans."
There was a long silence, only broken by the motor on the boat and the swishing of the water. Finally, there was an answer, and it wasn't from one of the girls. "They're ponies," Thomas said.
What the fuck? Ponies? These girls are ponies? How the hell does that work? Where the hell are they from? How did they get here? Wait. Does this mean Hero turned into a pony when he went to their land? Hell's bells, this was all giving me a damn headache. And what the hell was going on at the damn island?
"I'm sorry," I heard Fluttershy say. "I didn't know if we were suppose to tell or not."
"That's alright, Flutters," R.D. said.
"You're ponies?" Molly asked.
"Yes," Twilight said. "We're ponies in our world. But when we were sent here, we turned into humans."
"It's a little getting us to," Dash said. "But I love a good challenge."
"Well, you girls picked it up pretty well," Molly said.
I saw the island approach and I pulled it around to the dock Thomas and I built years ago. I had done this so many times, I knew where the rocks were and how to guide the boat around them. Finally, I pulled the boat to the 'Whatsup Dock.'
"Well, this is all really odd," I said as I tied the boat off. "Alright, ponies. Stay here while I go find out what's going on." I hopped out of the boat and onto the dock, gripping my staff. I started to push some of my will into it as I walked. The moment I stepped onto the beach, I was reconnected to Demonreach.
I had a connection with the island called Intellectus. The island's Genius Loci was the spirit that resides here. Though it's not much of a spirit, more like the soul of the island itself. But I made a connection with it and with the Intellectus, I was granted knowledge of everything on the island. I knew how many trees where on the island, how many species of trees there were, and where each one of them were, all by just standing there on the island. I knew where every animal, bird, and insect where at any given time. I knew what was getting Demonreach so upset. "What the fuck?" I said loudly.
"What is it?" I heard Thomas asked as he stepped off the boat and onto the dock.
"Someone's here," I said. There was a person there, near the ruins at the top of the hill. There wasn't any other boats or anything, but it was clear that they just appeared there. But there was something else. There were balloons and streamers up there too, and even a banner. It was really out of place and whoever it was didn't seemed bothered by the uneasy feeling the island gives off. "Apparently, they just appeared here and is...throwing a party?"
"Pinkie Pie!" I heard the girls shout, scrambling off the boat and across the dock. So, it was one of their friends here. But why was Demonreach trying to get me here so fast? It acted like it was something serious. Was it because this Pinkie Pie was throwing a party? Damn, Demonreach is a party pooper.
The girls stopped as they stepped onto the beach. I could tell Demonreach did not want more visitors. And they could feel that they weren't welcome here. I might have a connection with the island, but when the island's pissed, it'll let them know. I glanced at them and saw the fear in their eyes. They were afraid of this place. Thomas and Molly stepped onto the island. They looked uncomfortable, but I think they were more use to it.
"She'll find some reason to throw one," Twilight said.
I just threw my hands up in defeat. Forget it, I don't care. This...pony...throws parties...just to throw parties... I started walking and mumbled to myself. "What the hell am I getting into? What happened to the days where I have to stop a half-ass wizard trying to kill me? Or some vampire trying to drink my blood? Or crazy fairies trying to destroy the balance of nature? The White Counsel looking for a reason to execute me? Fallen Angels trying to release the mother of plagues? No I got ponies in the form of humans. They're just looking for their friends. Well, one of them isn't that concerned, she's throwing a party cause she can. I thought I'm supposed to be this powerful Winter Knight, doing the deeds for Mab and Molly. No, I'm running around looking for ponies."
I had to wonder why I do the things I do. And I also had to question myself why I would rather be in a life or death situation than running around the city looking for...they're ponies! Why is this so weird? I felt anger building up inside and I shifted the blame.
"Damn it, Hero, I'm going to kick your ass when I see you," I mumbled as I reached the ruins. I stopped and looked up at the banner. "Two Nights 'til Nightmare Night Party," it read. What the hell is Nightmare Night? Did she mean Halloween? Is that what these ponies call it in their world?
I heard the others come up behind me and stop, looking at the decorations. It was...colorful. It was the most color I've ever seen Demonreach. No wonder the island wanted me to come here so fast. This much color would drive anyone crazy.
"This certainly looks like Pinkie Pie's work," Twilight said as she looked around at the place.
The best part about my connection with the island was I knew just where she was hiding. I was sure she was planning to jump out and surprise us all, but I wasn't going to have it. I just want to get back and get some damn sleep. I walked over to the bush, reached over and grabbed the back of her collar and pulled her up. "Found her," I said. The girl had on a frilly pink dress and curly pink hair. She was also a little dirty, probably from running around the island for the past few hours.
"How did you know I was there?" she asked me.
"I have a connection to the island," I said. "I knew exactly where you were the moment I stepped onto the island."
I saw her pout, crossing her arms. "You're no fun. I wanted to surprise everypony."
Her friends ran over and hugged her, forcing me to let her go and step back to where Thomas and Molly stood.
"Can I set something on fire now?" I asked.
"No," Molly said, though she gave me a smirk.
"What's Nightmare Night?" Thomas asked, looking at the banner.
"Oh, that's a celebration we have at home," R.D. said.
"Ya! You see there were two princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Pink said, excited and speaking really fast. "They were sisters. But Luna got jealous and became Nightmare Moon, so Celestia banished her to the moon. Then somepony came up with the idea to celebrate Nightmare Night so everypony could dress up and get candy and leave it for Nightmare Moon. But then Nightmare Moon came back and we turned her back to Princess Luna. So, now we celebrate Nightmare Night as a celebration of her return. She loves to join in and scare the little fillies."
I stared at her. Even though she spoke really fast, I understood what she was saying. It seemed that there was some dark magic there as well. Which made sense. If there was 'light' magic, there was 'dark' magic. It's balance.
"Ya, we just call it Halloween here," Molly told them.
"We need to get going," I said. There was a lot to do, and these girls probably were tired as hell. And cold.
"But I worked so hard on this party," Pink said.
"Sorry, Pinkie," Twilight said. "But we still have to find Applejack and Rarity. Not to mention Discord."
"Ya," R.D. said. "Besides, it's getting dark out. I don't know about you, but this day has been stressful."
Despite the disappointed look on Pink's face, she agreed to leave with us. I'll give her this much, even though she enjoyed parties, her friends were more important to her. I lead them back down to the dock and loaded up. I bet Demonreach would be glad to get rid of Pink, though it was mad I was leaving the decorations.
<Harry Dresden - Fight with Kincaid Alt.>
“Got that right.” I stepped out of the church and felt the thud hit my chest and I felt back. “Son of a bitch!” I shouted, rolling over and ducking my head down. “Get inside!” I shouted to Michael. He went back in, stopping the girls as they tried to run out. I heard a yell from across the street. It was a female voice and it wasn’t from surprise but from an attack.
I shook out my new shield bracelet I had on my left hand and pushed my will into it. I came up, holding out my arm as the shield formed. I gripped my staff with my right hand and looked at the rooftops of the buildings across the street. A tall woman dressed in a cowgirl outfit complete with a brown hat and long blond hair was kicking at a tall man in black from the roof. The man I recognized.
The man was preoccupied with blocking the woman with his rifle to notice that I was up. I pushed Will into my staff and thrust it out pointing at him and whipped it up. “Forzare!” A force of power flew out of the staff, grabbing Kincaid and pulling him up and off the roof, sending him to the ground. It caught him by surprise, but he rolled in the air and landed in a crouch. He lifted the gun at me.
“Arctis!” I shouted, thrusting my staff forward again. The ruins glowed blue as the spell flew out and froze his gun. He quickly dropped it before it froze to his hands. The woman jumped down behind him and kicked at him again. He ducked down and whipped around, sweeping her feet. I charged at him. I spun the staff, caught him in the gut, and knocked him to the ground. I pulled out my Smith and Wesson 500 and pointed it at his face.
He smirked as he laid there. “Not bad, Dresden,” he drawled. “You enchant your clothes now too?”
“Body armor,” I said. “Early birthday gift from your ex. So was this gun too.”
“How is Karren doing?” he asked, smirking a bit.
“Doing great. Better than you right now.”
“You know why I’m here, Dresden.”
“Ya, well, I’m calling it off.”
“I can’t do that, Dresden. This has become personal.”
“So I lived the first time. Big deal, Kincaid. Get over it. Besides, I have more important things to do than die now.”
“What, helping these ponies?” I arched an eyebrow at him. “Oh ya, I know who they are. Mrs. Apples here told me. She’s an honest lady. So, now what, Dresden?”
“You’re going to get out of town,” I said. “And forget about this hit.”
“I can’t do that.”
I growled. “Then let’s make a deal. I won’t kill you know. But you have to give me until after Halloween to finish this job. Otherwise, you’ll have much worst to deal with than me.”
“I don’t see much of a choice here, Dresden.”
“Than it’s a deal?”
He smirked. “You’re already becoming one of those fairies, Dresden. Deal.” I stared at him for a long while before I lowered the gun and stepped back. He pushed himself up, watching me. “Are we done here?”
“I guess so,” I said.
“Can I have my gun back?” I stepped aside as he walked over to the still frozen rifle and picked it up. “I’ll charge you for the damage.”
“Go fuck yourself, Kincaid.”
He smirked at me and looked at the woman. “Applejack,” he said with a nod. “Harry here with takeover looking for your friends.” He started to walk off, slipping the gun under his coat.
I let out my breath and looked at the woman. “Please tell me you’re not going to start random parties,” I said.
She looked at me, surprised. “Ya know Pinkie!” she said with a strong Southern accent.
“You’re number five. Come on, inside.” I turned and started to walk back to the church, tucking the gun away into my coat pocket. I opened the door find Michael there with a shotgun. He saw me and lowered it.
“You’re alright?” he asked, looking at me.
I rubbed at my chest, feeling the hole in the shirt and finding the bullet in the vest underneath. “Ya, but I’m going to feel that in the morning.”
<Rainbow Dash - Talking in the car to McAnally’s>
"Where to, boss?" Molly asked as we got going.
"McAnally's," he replied. "Murphy had a theory about this Discord guy and since it's the only lead I have, might as well look into it."
"You found Discord?" Fluttershy said. She sounded really hopeful, and with good reason. Out of all of us, she was the closest to Discord. But we were all hopeful that we could find him.
"It's just a theory," he said. "But if it pays off, I can start tracking him. Molly, can you call Thomas? Have him meet us at the church?" She nodded and pulled out her phone.
I frowned a bit. It was a theory? We're going all this way on a hunch.
"If I may ask, Mr. Dresden, what is your theory?" Twilight asked.
"There was an older gentleman running around the city the night before you girls appeared. He came to the pub I go to, trying to get answers from Mac."
"He knew Mac," Molly asked.
"Seemed like it, but Mac wouldn't tell him anything. And Mac just told me to avoid him."
"What makes you think it's Discord?" Fluttershy asked. I was wondering the same thing
"This Sam Singer went to the church and warned Father Forthill that someone might be after the coins. He was suppose to return to the church the next day but never did. Then you girls show up looking for Discord, who you side was suppose to return yesterday also."
"That's kind of a stretch," I pointed out.
"Still, it's all we've got," Twilight said. Still, we were going on a big leap, and we had no wings if we missed.
"Regardless, with everything that's been going on, this Sam guy is involved somehow. Rather he's Discord or Chaogent, or just someone else trying to cause trouble," Harry said. With all of this talking about Discord, there was one issue we weren't talking about.
"What about Applejack and Rarity?" I asked. "Are we just going to forget about them?"
"If you have any ideas on where they might be, I'd like to know. But if we can find Discord, I'm sure he can find your friends."
“I guess that makes sense,” I replied, reluctantly. I didn't like the fact that we were putting them on the back burner.
“But what if it’s not Discord?” Fluttershy asked.
“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said. “But hopefully, Mac will be able to shed some light onto this before we dig too deep. And if he’s not Discord, I still plan to track down this guy and find out what his part is in all of this. By the way, do any of you know his Name?”
That was an odd question. His name was Discord. What else would he be called. "Ummm,” Twilight said. “Discord?”
“Ya, that’s what you call him. But what’s his Name?”
“Oh! I know,” Pinkie said, excitedly. We looked at her, surprised. What the hay was she talking about? “Well, I don’t know his Name, but I know what he’s asking for.”
“What is he asking for?” I asked her.
She cleared her throat before speaking very clearly. “My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie,” she said. What was she doing? Did he mean that he wanted his full name? I knew Pinkie's full name, but we only ever called her Pinkie Pie.
I took a deep breath, filled my voice with my Will and spoke her Name. “Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Harry said in a booming voice, saying her name clearly. In fact it was almost exactly like how she said it.
Pinkie let out a squeak and wrapped her arms around herself. “Wow!” she said. “That was very weird!”
“What just happened?” Twilight asked.
“I spoke her Name,” he said as dings started to come from the car. “Names are powerful. Speaking someone or something’s Name can give you control over them. You can summon them or even control them to do what you want. I just gave her a chill. If I knew his Name I could try summoning him or even track him.”
I looked over at Fluttershy. She shook her head as well as the others. I did the same. “So, what is your Name?” Pinkie asked.
“I don't give out my Name. Just know that Harry Dresden is part of it.”
“That’s not fair,” she said with a pout.
“I never asked for your Name. You just gave it out willingly.” I watched her frown.
<Discord - Car ride to Molly’s>
As Dresden drove us to wherever we were going, I rested in the back with Fluttershy. She allowed me to rest my head in her lap as I spoke with Dresden, answer the questions he asked. He surprised me how well he figured out that I put a spell on him and the others so my friends would find them if they were sent here. I was right to trust him.
Sure, I took a risk with Marcone and not knowing anything about Molly Carpenter nor Thomas Raith, but it seemed to work out. I was honestly surprised that Applejack appeared in the suite Hero had when we visited him. I thought she would appear with one of the other ponies or even where I appeared when I got here. But I guess her connection with Hero was strong enough to take her back to where he use to be. Just lucky it didn’t try to take her all the way to him. I don’t even know where he’s at, meaning she could have been lost to us.
Then the topic of Pinkie came up. The hyperactive Pinkie Pie was feeling the effects of this world. Honestly, I thought she would have started feeling it when she was on the island. Either way, it made sense. But she should be fine tomorrow, at least for longer than she did today.
Wait. Tomorrow. If I was correct, tomorrow was Nightmare Night. It might not mean much in our world, but here it had a big impact on the whole ordeal. Halloween was a night filled with power. It was no coincidence that Chaogent escaped here around this time. And judging by Harry’s actions, he just figured that out too. The clock was ticking and we still needed to find Chaogent. This wasn’t looking good for us.
