> Tactics of Chaos. > by Selene Moonlilly > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > prologue: Self-sacrifice (Rewrite) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Now Crow! This is our chance! I'm going to finish it!" I heard from the person next to me. I looked at him as he readied his sword to strike the world ender to cause him to sleep for another two thousand years. I then looked at our foe and saw my own face staring back at me. All of my memories and mistakes from both time lines flashed before my eyes. I then recalled what Naga the dragon of light said before we she sent us up onto Grima’s back, ‘The only thing that can destroy Grima for good is his own power.’ ‘I will not let this so called god destroy this world again, even if I have to sacrifice myself to do so. I gladly give me life so the people who took me in when I had nothing but my name are safe from this monstrosity for ever.’ With this thought in mind I started to charge my dark energy into a Flux spell. "Crow?! Wait, what are...", my friend stuttered. "...What...What are you doing?",asked my future self with a trace of uncertainty in his voice. "For once, I'm glad that we are the same person. Now I can give my life to save my loved ones." For a minute he looked at me with doubt in his eyes then says, "You would not dare!" "I would and I will. The evils you would visit upon this world are unspeakable... In some way I share the blame. It's only right we go together!" I stated as I attacked him with my spell. As I watched him fade away I felt myself slipping away from reality. "Crow! No!" I heard my friend cry. “Thank you for everything, let the others know that my last thoughts were of them... may we meet again in a better life." Just before I faded from conscious I could have sworn I heard Naga’s voice say, “This one failed like all the rest. Collect the soul and get everything ready for the next cycle. This time we will make it a female manakete. Maybe that will free my brother from his curse.” Darkness, nothing but darkness and emptiness all around me. I couldn't even move and the the only thing I felt was an agonizing cold. 'Is this it? Is this what the afterlife is? Just nothing for eternity?' I thought. "Well that was a fine piece of chaos if I do say so myself. I mean, how many other people can say that they were the destruction and salvation of their own world multiple times. Bravo. Such chaos deserves to be free from the restricting bonds of order that is an universal time loop. Yes I do think I will take you off Naga's hands." A voice that came out of the darkness said accompanied by clapping. I tried to sense where the voice was coming from but to no avail. "Who's there!" I yelled into the void. "Who me? Well I'm the the god of chaos. The one, the only Discord!!” The voice bragged to the sound of trumpets and oddly enough a chime at the end. “Now I bet you're wondering what a god of chaos like me wants with you? Well, I've gotten bored with the ponies in my home reality. I mean none of them would know a good joke if it bit them on the flank. So I’m going to set you loose on your fellow ponies and see what chaos you create." "ponies... don't you mean people?" I asked confused. "Besides, what makes you think I would help you; I've spent all of my life fighting against tyrants!" "That's the fun thing about it, you won't have a choice. See I can alter your mind and flip your personality to its opposite. Now this is going to hurt, but try to bear through it." Suddenly I felt a lot of pain, after what felt like an eternity I last fell into unconscious. " So he started out in the body of the six legged Sleipnir, well nuts. I was hoping he would end up a siren, oh well. Now let's see, what shall I do with him?" I heard the voice that identified itself as Discord ask as I started to come to. I slowly opened my eyes to see an unusual creature made up of different animals sitting on a throne. "Ah I see that you've woken up. Now, proper introductions can be made. I am Discord and you my little example of murphy's law are Crow, the avatar of Grima the dragon of destruction yadda yadda yadda. Now before you say anything I've got to ask why the long face?" He asked while holding up a mirror while trying to hold in a laugh. As I look in the mirror, suddenly I notice a bizarre, young, silver pony with a black curved horn sticking out of it's forehead and a flowing red and purple mane. "What the..." I squeaked out in a higher pitch voice. I tried to back up but I only managed to trip and fall backwards. I looked around to see what tripped me and I noticed that I now had six legs instead of two that I was use to or the four that a normal pony would have. By this point, Discord was rolling on the ground laughing. "You should see the look on your face, it's priceless!" As he was laughing, I got up on all six of my legs and took stock of my surroundings. I saw pink clouds that were leaking some kind of brown liquid to the ground, just like rain. There were weird rabbits with long legs wandering around, while trees were hanging upside down. Suddenly I heard fingers snap, I turned towards Discord just to notice that he's walking towards me. "I've got it! I'll just take away your memories of your past life and make you a chaos lord like me. Watching you make the transformation to a true being of chaos might just be interesting enough to stave of my boredom. Now get over here!" 'Oh dung' I thought as I tried to get away, only to trip in my haste. "Gotcha, now this won't hurt me a bit." Quipped Discord, as he put one of his talons on my forehead. I began to feel agonizing pain as I felt my memories fade away and something else taking their place. "Discord, let go of that colt this instance!" While the pain slowly faded, I looked in the direction of the new voice and gasped. There were two large ponies standing in the distance, one had white fur and a long flowing mane with multiple shifting colors in it that seemed to move in the wind, while the other one had dark blue fur and what looked like the night sky including the stars in her mane, both had horns jutting from their heads and wings on their back. "Oh, if it isn't the two baby alicorns.” Discord responded to their demand. But as he uttered those words both alicorns were instantly dressed in baby bibs and had pacifiers in their mouths. “How long has it been, twenty or thirty years? What are you two doing here?" Discord asked the two. “ No wait let me guess, You are here to avenge your mother whom I sent to another dimension. What makes you think you can succeed where old Ink butt couldn't? Are you under the impression that she will come back if you defeat me? That's the best joke I’ve heard all month and I heard the one about the shark, the anchor and the bowl of pudding so that's really saying something. Now why don't you go and do whatever it is that alicorns do when not bothering little old me.” "No we are here to put an end to your tyranny!" The white one declared. "Oh very well. I will humor you but first you will have to get past my son. Can you bring yourselves to hurt a little foal?" Discord stated as he disappeared and then reappeared on his throne with a bag of seeds in his claws and started eating seeds. He then snapped his finger again. At that moment I was suddenly filled with a need to protect him and a burning hatred for the two alicorns in front of me. I took another look at the alicorns and activated my Tactician’s eye ability to get an idea of just what I had to deal with. The moment I used my ability my head was flooded with a lot of information. ‘Ok so only two enemies and one ally in a ten mile radius. Enemies are alicorns named Celestia and Luna. Celestia, the white one is fire specialist and is proficient in spear warfare. Luna, the blue one is a master at conjuring and mind magic. She also seems to be good with a sword. Neither of them are wearing any kind of armor which means that they will be faster at moving being unencumbered by weight. They both have three necklaces that radiate magic power of unknown origin. The necklaces may give some type of damage resistance or power boost to those who were them, which would prove quite troublesome. That’s it for information of my foes. I appear to now have full knowledge on how to move in this body and I also seem to generate lighting type magic naturally and don't require any spell books or chanting to cast it. I also seem to be getting mana directly feed to me from Discord. I can’t sense anything else about him which means that he has some kind of ability that prevents me from getting information from him. Back to the matter on hand as I am a smaller target I will be harder to hit but at the same time this body of mine doesn’t have any protection so one hit and I’m done for. So that means I have to go with a aggressive fighting style and keep them on the defensive to live through this.’ I thought to myself in the fifteen seconds after I got the information from tactician's eye. “We are not going to fight a young pony! How dare you suggest tha…” Luna started to say before being blasted back a couple of yards by the bolt of lightning that I sent at her while she was distracted. She fell on her side with traces of electricity running over her body causing her mussels to spasm uncontrollably. “Luna!!!” Celestia cried out in worry. “Never underestimate an opponent based on looks alone.” I snarled at the alicorns as I charged lighting directly into my body increasing my speed and reaction time. “ Also If you are going to step on a battlefield you should be ready to do whatever is necessary to win.” I yelled as I charged at Celestia at lightning speed. But just as I was about to hit her with my lightning charged hoof she moved to the left dodging my strike. ‘Ok she reacted before she even saw me, which means she either has had years on the battlefield or she somehow can predict my movements.’ I thought to myself as I continued to attack her but she still dodged my every strike. ‘She must have a weakness. What is it. It's like she can see the future the moment I make a decision to attack it seems that her style of combat is defensive. She has also been dodging my attacks rather than blocking and why hasn't she pulled out a weapon it’s like she doesn't want to hurt me.’ I mused as I continued to attack, I then noticed that Luna was getting back up. ‘Wait, what if I put her in a situation where she has to at least block my attack? Then I can at least gage her damage resistance and spot any weaknesses.’ I then charged up my horn and rushed at the still somewhat dazed Luna. Just as I was about to hit the blue alicorn a spear shaft surrounded by a golden aura blocked my hoof. Celestia who was now in front of me holding me back with her conjured weapon. She opened her mouth to say something, probably to reprimand me for my lack of honor or something. But she never got the chance as I released the energy in my horn in the form of a giant lightning bolt right on all three of us. In the second before the bolt hit us I saw her eyes go wide. I smirked and said “Checkmate.” When the flash of light from the lighting faded I saw that I was in a twenty foot wide, five foot deep crater. I could not see anything of my foes but I doubted that they were destroyed by that blast. As I looked around for the alicorns I noticed a steep raise in temperature. The amount of light around me was also increasing, and as my shadow was directly under me that meant that the source of light was above me. I looked up and felt my ears flatten against my head as a giant fireball was bearing down on me. “Oh, well crap!” I said in surprise. ‘ Ok so the fireball is to close for me to dodge even with my enhanced speed. But I can't just let it hit me, I'd be dead before I could say charcoal. The only thing I can think of is to overpower the spell with a direct and powerful blast of my lightning .’ I quickly deduced and started to charge all the mana that I had to my horn and fired a red colored lightning bolt directly in the center of the fireball. The bolt pierced through the fire and caused the fireball to lose its shape and for the fire to follow the path of my lighting. ‘I can't believe I forgot that they had wings. Of course they can fly and cast spells from the air.’ I berated myself as I took a deep breath at how close that on was. It was at this time that my legs decided to give out on me and I fell over onto my side. ‘No, my body can't give out on me now! I have to protect Discord. Get up now!’ I thought harshly to myself as I struggled to get up. After about five tries to get back on my hooves I finally managed to stay up. Then I scanned the area but didn't see anyone but Discord, who was still on his throne eating. ‘Where are they?’ I asked myself. As I continued to scan the area for them I smelled a calming rose scent and started to feel sleepy. My eyes started to close as I struggled to stay awake to no avail. Just as I lost consensus I heard Luna say, “ Rest my little pony, and when you awake this nightmare will be over.” As I started to awake I heard two voices talking. “ well we have to do something sister. The spell was not supposed to last this long.” one voice said. “ Well what do you suggest we do? If we try to wake him magically it might react poorly to the chaos magic still in his body.” A second voice answered. At this time I tried opening my eyes and saw a two ponies talking back and forth. “Well I don’t know but we can’t just leave him here.” the blue pony said. ‘Wait why does this seem familiar? Have I been in this position before? It feels like I've been through this multiple times.’ I thought as the two noticed that I was awake. “Ah I see that you are awake. How are you feeling?” The blue horse asked me while holding her hoof out for me to take. When I lift my front left leg to take her hoof in mine I noticed a strange purple six eyed symbol on my hoof. “I feel decent enough. Thank you for asking Luna.” I answered back. ‘Wait why do I know her name? I don't think I've ever seen her before.’ After hearing my say her name the blue horse shared a look with the white one. "Excuse me young pony, but do you know where your family is?" The white one, whom my brain assigned the name Celestia to asked me. As I think about it, I realized that I didn't have any memory's before seeing them. "No, I don't remember anything before you two showed up." I said with a noticeable amount of apathy. ‘Why don’t I care about losing my memories? You'd think that I would at least panic about not knowing anything about myself but I can’t seem to care. Maybe it has happened to me before?’ Celestia and Luna both looked at me with worry cleary on the faces. "My name is Celestia and this is my sister Luna. Do you remember your name?" Celestia asked. I thought about it really hard but the only word that came to mind was checkmate. I looked at her and said, "Checkmate." > Chapter 1: Chaos Cursed > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been about four months since Celestia and Luna saved me from Discord. I had yet to remember anything about my past or find my family. I was starting to think that I didn't have any family. I have been living in the castle that the ponies built for Celestia and Luna, after they named them princesses of Equestria for defeating Discord. The town that had sprung up around the castle is named Everfree in hopes that they will never suffer another tyrant. Every day I go to school there because it is expected of a colt my apparent age. It is really boring though, because I seemed to already know the information that the teacher went over. I also found it hard to make friends with the other colts and fillies. They seemed so immature and I would rather read up on history or magic spells. Of course this had the two royal sisters worried since this wasn't the typical behavior of colt. "It's been four months, if we were going to find his family we would have done it by now." I heard Celestia's voice coming from outside my room from afar. It was hard to hear them talking, so I decided to use a hearing enhancement spell to hear them in a clear manner. "I know, but it doesn't seem right with me to force him to live with another family. I mean, what if his family does show up? We would have to break up a newly made family, which could devastate him even more." Luna's voice answered. "While I admit that is a possibility, I think that Checkmate needs a more stable environment to recover from whatever Discord did to him. Besides, the unicorn couple that want to adopt him have lost their foal and can't conceive another one. So this is what both sides need. I know you're getting attached to him but with our new duties as rulers we don't have the time to give him the attention and care that he needs." Celestia stated. "I still think that he deserves a choice in the matter." Luna grumbled. The sound of someone knocking on the door filled the room. "Can we come in." Celestia asked at the door. I sighed and put up the book that I was reading, The anatomy of the races of Equestria. I walked over to the door and opened it up with magic. "Hello Celestia and Luna, what brings you two to my room now?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. "Well, Checkmate, there's a couple of ponies here to see you, they are thinking about adopting you. I think you should at least meet them. This might help you with your amnesia." Celestia said in a beseeching voice. "But you don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable." Luna added while giving a challenging look at her sister. "While it is true that this might help you, there's no guarantee that it will work. I don't want to push you into something that you don't want to do." 'Oh, seems that she doesn't agree with everything that her sister says. This could be a juicy opportunity to cause some chaos later.' Hm, where did that come from I thought as the two royals looked at me waiting for my answer. "If you think it will help, I will at least meet them." I answered. "Then let us go, they are awaiting their chance to meet you. The mare is the teacher of young foals in the Crystal Empire, I think her name is Berry Shine. The stallion is the lead researcher in magic for the empire. His name is Sombra." Celestia said as we left my room and headex to the audience room. "Now you don't have to go with them if you don't want to. If you feel uncomfortable, we won't be disappointed or angry." Luna added. Right away, I could tell that she wasn't thrilled about this. I had bonded with Luna more, as she would keep my company as I stayed up to read late at night. I really felt torn; on one hoof I wanted to get better. On the other, I didn't want to leave the only friend I've been able to make. As I pondered this I started to feel a discomfort in my horn, as if I was building up mana to cast a spell. "They are through here, are sure you want to see them?" Luna asked as we got to the door. Both her and Celestia looked at me with patient looks on their faces, both of them not rushing me. "Let's go in it won't hurt to meet them, besides they came all this way." I answered. Celestia opened the door and we walked in. As I entered I noticed the pair of unicorns that were waiting in the middle of the room. The stallion had a black coat and grey mane. The mare had a blue coat and purple mane. The two of them looked at our direction as we stopped in front of them. "Your Majesties," the stallion said bowing his head to Celestia and Luna. "Is this him?" "Yes, this is the one we talked about. "Celestia answered. She then looked at me and said, " Go ahead and introduce yourself." "Hello, my name is Checkmate nice to meet you." I managed to stutter out as I felt the pressure in my horn increase. The couple looked at each other, thinking the stutter is from me being nervous. The blue mare looked at me with kindness in her eyes and said," There is nothing to be nervous about we won't force you into anything. My name is Berry Shine and this is my husband Sombra. We are very happy to meet you." 'Ugh this is getting sickening sappy. I think it's time to liven things up' I heard a familiar voice in my head say. Then my horn started to glow and I felt the pressure that had been building up release all at once. The floor turned to chocolate, the unicorn couple shrinked in size and Luna fell asleep.  As I looked around in confusion I heard laughter going on in my head. I started to feel disconnected with my body, as if I was no longer in control." Wow, talk about a change of view! Everything is so much bigger when I'm in the mind of a 6 year old body." The familiar voice spoke through my mouth. "What's happening? this is chaos magic! Checkmate are you alright?" Celestia asked in a worried tone. "Checkmate is not available right now, please leave a message at the gong. " I heard the voice coming from my mouth say as my horn glowed with magic. Suddenly a gong appearex and I felt myself hit it. "Discord! How are you doing this and what did you do to Checkmate? "Celestia asked in confusion. "Now, now my dear, one question at a time. Lets see, I'm projecting my thoughts and taking control of this body through the build up of chaos energy in his horn." Discord said as I was walking on the ceiling. “Now if I recall it the first day of winter should be today right?” He asked as I found myself wearing a sweater that said Chaos Rules. "What does that have to do with anything?" Celestia asked in confusion, while looking up at me. I felt my body stop and a list appeared before me. "Let's see. Self indulgent monologue for no reason, check. Vage warning about winter, check now what's next." Discord mumbled. "Ah yes, I propose a challenge. I will try to use this colt to cause enough chaos to free myself while you try to stop me. Doesn't that sound like fun!" He gleefully stated. "No, I will stop you here and now! I will not let you ruin his life for your own amusement." Celestia said firmly. "That's the beautiful thing. Since I'm not really here and am already turned to stone you can't do anything to me. So lets set some ground rules, shall we. One: No using that rainbow beam thing you do. I mean, not only is it considered cheating, but it will probably destroy this body. I mean, I did infuse it with chaos energy, and I'm guessing that beam some how forces order from chaos. Now, if that is the case, and you do use it on him all you'll do is ether put him in a coma, turn him to stone, or kill him. Two: You have thirty years to stop me. That's how long it will take me to build up enough chaos energy to escape.  And three: He will not know or remember anything to do with this game. I have already set a spell that erases his memories in this area. If you fail to uphold any of the rules, than his mind is mine. With that my time is up." Discord stated as I felt everything fade away. The last thought I had before passing out is 'not againnnnn!' > Chapter 2: Nightmares or memories? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Crow, Griffin rider behind you!" I heard somebody shout at me as I engaged a myrmidon in battle. Thinking quickly, I pushed back the myrmidon and ducked. I felt the wind pass over my head and looked up to see that my opponent was decapitated by the ax of said Griffin rider. "Tuz do ven vaaz dii paal wah Dinok!" I chanted while pointing at the Griffin's wings. As I finished chanting, a pair of green wind blades appeared and flew straight at the Griffin. The blades hit its wings and severed them as the Griffin flew over the cliff. The Griffin and its rider fell to their deaths far below. "Well, that's the last of them. Now we can get the kidnapped children back home to their families." I said to myself. As I turned around to thank the person who warned me about the rider, I stopped in my tracks. I was in a forest that was on fire. As I looked around at the forest, I heard a moaning sound coming from behind me. I turned to look at the source of the said sound and saw three bandits with bronze axes, though something seemed off about their movements. Before I could figure out what was off, two of them charged at me. I barely had enough time to get my sword up to block one ax. While holding the ax at bay, I held my free hand out in front of the other bandit's face and chant, "Qo dwiirok zeim dii hokoron."  As soon as the incantation left my mouth, a big blast of lightning shot out of my hand and blasted his head off. Pushing the other bandit away from me, 'Quick what spell to use?'  I thought to myself. 'Wait that's perfect' "Yolos zu'u bolog hi ag pah wo kriist nau daar sik." I chanted out while moving my hand in a circle. I finished the spell just in time as the bandit charged me again not detecting the red glowing runes that laid on the ground before me. As he stepped on the runes, their magic activated and summoned a pillar of flames that incinerated him. "Okay that's two of them, now where is the last one?" I muttered to myself as I looked around for the last bandit. "Let's see if I was planning on attacking myself, where would I strike from?" As I pondered that, I turned my back to the flames and I heard an odd sound from behind me. "Iiz alok nol su ahrk spaan zu'u!" I instinctively chanted not a moment too soon, as I felt an impact on the ice that formed around me as I cast the spell. “Well, that was close. Hmm, it seems that I almost made a fatal mistake by over estimating my opponent's ability to strategize." I mulled out loud to myself. "It's like they can't think of anything but attacking things right in front of them, almost like an enraged beast." “Hold on fair maiden, I will dispatch of this foul monster for you!” A voice said from outside my ice shield as it melted. I heard the sound a bow being drawn and released followed by the sound of an arrow sinking into flesh. As the last bit of ice disappeared I was greeted with the sight of a light blue haired man looking at me with a charming smile. “Are you hurt milady?” He asked as he held out his hand. “ No, I seemed to have avoided taking any wounds,” I answered him as I reached out to shake his hand. But to my surprise and embarrassment, he lifted my hand up to his lips and kissed it. “Ah, it gladdens my heart that no pain had befallen such a peerless beauty such as yourself. Perchance I might request the name of the angel that has stolen my heart?” He asked which caused me to blush even more. But before I could answer I heard another voice come out of the woods behind me. “Maya. Maya where are you? If you can hear me speak up.” As I turned around to answer the voice my surroundings changed once more. I looked around and realized that I was on a ship. Not only that but all across the horizon there were burning ships. “Dear Naga! It’s as if the sea itself is on fire!” a voice next to me exclaimed. “ A navy numbering one million people defeated without a single loss on our side. Remind me not to go against you on the battlefield.” As I looked out at the destruction I could hear the cries of pain coming from the inferno as people burned to death. I looked at the other people on the boat that I am on and all I saw was fear. I sighed and made my way to the back of the ship and sat down my back resting against the railing of the ship. I heard footsteps making their way to my position. “They are right to fear me,” I said to the person as they came to a stop next to me. “They trust you to get them out of this war alive.” “No, they trust and believe in you not me. As their leader, you have shown time and again that you will risk your life for anyone of them and they love you for it. I, however, come off as cold and calculating only there to ensure that we win at any cost and that scares them.” I vented out at the person and then sighed again. “To them, I am an avatar of war without feeling or emotions and the worst part is I have to keep up that appearance to make them trust that I will get them through this war,” I said then looked at the person standing next to me. “One million people died in one of the worst ways possible. People with families and lives like us dead because of my strategies. For the sake of two hundred thousand people I basically massacred one million. These souls are on my consense threatening to break me yet I would do it all again to ensure that my friends stay alive. To save the few, I killed the many.” I sat there for a few minutes waiting for a response but none was forthcoming. "So this is what your original body looked like. Discord wasn't wrong about you looking better as a pony. Hmm, in fact, let's fix that right now." said a malevolent voice, as everything around me turned dark. "Who's there?" I asked the emptiness while trying to adjust my eyes to the darkness. I heard a chuckle coming from behind me. I turned around and saw two glowing, red eyes staring back at me. With a yelp, I fell to my flank and I then realized that I had six legs again. "Well, that depends on who you ask. The Ponies call me, The Night Terror, the Griffins call me Dream Eater, and the minotaurs refer to me as Nightmare. But as to what I am that would be the embodiment of fear, and I must say, you are an excellent provider of fear." The voice said as the eyes got closer. ' Wait some of those names sound familiar. Now, where did I hear about them from', I thought as I pondered this mystery. "Wait could you be the Nocnitsa? Hmm.. but if you are then that begs the question as to how you escaped from the dream stone that Starswirl supposedly trapped you in? Then again, as this is a dream, then you could just be a figment of my imagination? Hmm.. I wonder what a being, made of shadows, actually looks like. I mean, is that all you are? Shadows and glowing eyes? Or can you change your appearance at will to match a pony's fears?" I asked, kind of going on a tangent as question after question came to mind. "Also, that brings me to another question, do you need to eat ponies fear to live or does it just give you more pow..." " SHUT UP!!!" The shadow entity yelled at me, rudely interrupting me mid sentence. "Let me get a word in before you ask another question. Yes, I am the Nocnitsa and the Dream stone only stops me from entering the consensus of ponies. I swear you are just like Clover the Clever with all the questions." The being said in exasperation. "Um, if the dream stone stops you from entering ponies dreams, then how are you here?" I asked thoroughly confused. I looked around and all I saw was darkness so complete that there was no way I was in the real world. I was brought back from my musings by laughter coming from the Nocnitsa. "Have you not figured it out yet? You are not a pony." It said while laughing. I looked at myself and then back at it with a disbelieving look on my face. "What, don't believe me?  Well, that is your choice. Anyway, I am here to do a favor for Discord and leave before that self-appointed guardian of dreams finds me, so hold still while I force you to remember all of your last life." I felt a pressure in my head as images started to flash quickly before my eyes. "Wake up. Checkmate please, wake up! " I heard a voice that sounded a lot like Miss Berry Shine's. As I looked around, the dream started falling apart. > Chapter 3: As the Snow Falls. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "He's not waking up! It has been three days, yet he still won't regain consciousness. Are you sure there is nothing you can do Doctor Blood Flow?" I heard Berry Shine's voice say as I started to come to. "Yes, I'm afraid that all we can do is wait. If it wasn't for Discord destroying all of the medical journals and research in the old city of Arcadia on a whim, we would be able to help more ponies. But as it is, we have to rediscover medical science and magic all over again." A deep voice said that I figured belonged to the doctor. 'Wait, what name did he say destroyed the medical knowledge?  Why can I not remember?! ' I asked myself while I try to open my eyes, but a sudden onslaught of memories make me close them again. ' Damn that is not the way that Henry said that the memory hex works. It is supposed to recover the memories of the subject through their dreams anywhere from two to six weeks depending on the amount lost, wait, I remember who I was!' I thought excitedly before I remembered that I was currently in the body of a young six legged pony. 'Well this is worse then when Tharga miscast that love curse and made Frederick fall in love with me for a week. I'm just glad that Gaius isn't here to see this, I'd never hear the end of it. He would probably come up with a new nickname for me, never did find out why he called me bubbles.' I thought to myself as I felt my consciousness fade away again. ' Come on I just woke up!!!!!' I found myself laying down on a mound of snow in a cave of ice. I could hear the wind coming from the entrance and see snow falling outside. As I was looking around, I noticed that there was a number of stalactites and stalagmites on the ceiling and floor of the cave in patterns that do not happen in nature. Surprisingly, I did not feel cold in the slightest despite my surroundings. While I was pondering that my eyes fell on the only other pony in the cave. She had fur as white as snow with a light blue mane and tail. When I saw her I instantly know that she was my mother. Upon noticing that I was looking at her she smiled at me. “Good morning Snowfall.” She said to me as she went over to locked chest where she kept the food. The chest being enchanted to keep things inside from freezing or at least that's what dad told me. She unlocked it and lifted the lid. As she put her head into the chest I made my way other to the raised bit of ice that formed our table. I sat at my customary spot and waited for the mare to come over with breakfast. Soon enough she walked over from the chest and put some white colored berries in front of me and then went to the other side of the table with berries of her own. ‘Snowberries my favorite!’ I thought as I proceeded to practically inhale the berries. ‘If only daddy were here to enjoy these with me this would be the best morning! Wait when is daddy coming back?’ I asked myself as I looked up at my mom to see her eating at a much slower pace than I had. "Mommy, when is Daddy coming home?" I asked the mare in front of me in a worried, high pitched tone. It had been about three weeks since dad had left to talk to the unicorns, and he still hadn't came back. My mom stopped eating and looked at me with concern. "He should be back any day now my little snowflake. I am sure that he is just spending a couple of days looking for a gift for your birthday like he promised you." My mom told me, while looking at the entrance of our cave home. I heard hoofsteps coming from outside of the cave. 'Maybe that's dad!' I thought excitedly, and rushed outside to greet him. "Snowfall get back here!" Mom yelled at me as I exited our home. I looked around outside but was only greeted with the sight of a dark blue furred stallion with a sky blue mane and tail. "Oh, it's just you uncle Frostbite." I said dejectedly, disappointed that it had not been my dad. "Is that how you greet your favorite uncle, squirt?" Frostbite asked me with a raised eyebrow. "You are my only uncle, and I'm sorry. I was just hoping that dad was back." I apologized to him. I looked down at the snow, ashamed of my lack of greeting. I suddenly felt a hoof on my head ruffling my mane. I looked up and saw the smiling face of my uncle. "That's okay squirt, I understand. But do you think you can go in and get your mom for me?" Frostbite asked me. "Ok." I answered him and turned back to my home and ran in to tell my mom. "Mom, uncle Frostbite is here and wants to talk to you." I said to my mom who looked extremely mad. I looked at her and tried to figure out what I did to make her so angry. 'Oh, I went outside without permission.' I realized after a moment. "Sorry mom, I was just thinking it might be dad and just ran out there." I apologized to her in hopes that she wouldn't punish me for disobeying the rules. "While I am glad you realized your mistake, I still need to punish you, so no friends over for the next week." My mom told me with an authoritative voice, as she looked at me sternly. "But mom, my birthday is in two days! What about my party?" I asked with worry in my voice. "You've already invited all my friends and their parents. Isn't it too late to cancel?" "You should have thought of that before you ran outside of the cave. Now, stay here while I find out what your uncle wants." Mom said as she left the cave. 'This is not fair! I only went outside for a couple of minutes, and it's not like I would get hurt. Nothing else except the yaks live up here and they mind their own business.' I pouted to myself. All of a sudden I heard another voice. "I am trying to get into his dream sister, but somepony has put wards around his psyche. This is not chaos magic but actual dream magic and of a kind that makes me look like a rank beginner. Yes, I know we don't have time and that the room and his body is rapidly losing heat, but this will take a bit more time to get through." I heard the voice say from a long way off. I kind of recognized the voice, but I could not think of where I had heard it before. I looked around and only saw a black void. "What am I doing here, last I remember I was with mom back in the cave." I started to wander around the empty void when I suddenly heard a sound from behind me. As I turned to try to find where the noise is coming from, I find myself back in the cave. "What do you mean that my daughter is now engaged with the leader of the unicorns' son? I tell you Frost that for your sake that this had better be one of Glacier's jokes!" I heard my mom shout as the wind and snow picked up outside. "I wish it was one of my brother's jokes, but the unicorns won't help protect us from the winter wolves without this." I heard uncle Frostbite tell mom. "You know as well as I do that they just want to control the elements of wind and water so they no longer have to rely on the pegasus, that's the only reason they would demand my daughter. If we send her to Arcadia we won't see her again! I won't lose my baby!" Mom yelled back. "We are between a couple of icebergs in the ocean here and we have no room to deny their demands. Not if we want to live through the next season." I heard my uncle's voice shout over the increased volume of the wind. "Now calm down Snowflurry, you're causing a snowstorm out here and we don't need to worry Snowfall any more than necessary." "So this is why we couldn't find your parents. Discord dragged you from the past and transformed you into a unicorn colt. But I see now that you are one of the fabled snow ponies that disappeared shortly before the unification of the three tribes." I heard the voice say once again. As I turned around and I saw Luna there, I came back to my senses. "I see you are finally free from the grip of the memory, Checkmate, or should I say Snowfall. It is time to wake up, you have worried everypony." Luna said as her horn lit up and a light filled the void. "So, you're saying that this is her true form and Discord transformed her into a six legged colt?" I heard Celestia say as I came back to the waking world. 'Okay, this is getting annoying, why can't I remember that name? I have trained to remember everything I see and hear. Wait, did she say her?.' I think to myself as I opened my eyes. I looked down at my front hooves and saw snow white fur. "Can I get a mirror please?" I asked the room full of ponies around me in a much higher pitch voice then the one I have had for the last four months. Everypony looked in my direction in relief. I waited for a good fifteen minutes in silence for an answer. With no answer was forthcoming I decided to try again, "Can I please get a mirror?" " I am not sure that's a good idea. You just woke up from a four day coma. The stress for seeing yourself could send you back into one." A brown unicorn stallion with a short green mane answered my question. This all but confirmed that something definitely has happened to me. I gave the stallion my sternest gaze and angrily asked, "Can I please get a mirror so I can see what happened to me?" The stallion looked about ready to deny me but then Luna placed a hoof on his withers and shook her head. She then levitated a small hoof mirror in front of me. The face that greeted me was completely different the one that I had been seeing these last four months. Snow white fur covered a face that was more angular and softer at the same time. Eyes of ice blue stared back at me from the mirror, and a light blue mane with soft purple highlights draped over my right eye. I looked back and forth between the ponies in the room and the mirror a couple of times all the while I swear that I could hear laughter in the back of my mind. "Well fuck my life!" I exclaimed to the startled gasps from all the adults gathered around the room.