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The Steadfast Sky

by TheGreyPotter

Chapter 26: XXVI : Five Til One

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The Steadfast Sky : Five Til One
The Grey Potter
http://cosmicponyfanfiction.tumblr.com/

~Celestia~
Eleven in the Morning

A question ground at me all night, pressing into my temples, too tense. How could I leave Discord behind like that? I should have been able to save him, he was right there. How could I have just left? Let us both leave, with nothing accomplished?

What was worse, I felt like I could’ve done something, if I had just tried. Days ago, whenever it was, Discord had wondered if my sun gave me fire magic. And now, I was wondering it myself. I had to try... it didn’t feel like it would work, but I had to, had to try.

Lying on the inside of my cloak to avoid contact with the floor, I stomped a piece of paper into the ground, stabbed it with my horn, and tried to burn it. And not the narrow beam of light kind of burn, that would never get hot enough to melt metal. I felt my anger, my frustration spill across my skull, base of my horn tightening, heating with my effort. Never done this before... but...

Fire!

There was a sort of popping noise, and nothing.

Okay... Do over!

I grunted with the effort, stitches tightening over my brow. Fire! Fire, dangit! Alright. Alright... brute force isn’t working. I’m not going to discover anything this way. Deep breaths, Tia. Nice, deep, inhale… exhale…

I eased my horn down, tapping the piece of paper, once, twice, and closed my eyes. Inhale… Exhale. I eased magic back into my horn, feeling my skull tighten around the warming aura. Now. Fire. Flooowwwww onto the paper. Flooowwwwww… I frowned, tapped it again. Buuuuuurn… buuuuuuurrrrrrn, darn youuu.

I peeked out of one eye. The spell, whatever it was, had blown some dirt off the page, but otherwise, nothing had changed.

I huffed a sigh. I pretty much expected that exact result... but it was still a disappointment. My sun wasn’t about burning or heat. It was about… well, ideals and goals. I don’t even know what kind of magic I could get from it. Maybe I was just stuck with light magic for the rest of my life. Goodness, what a sour fate, being absolutely useless as a unicorn. Well, better this than whatever magic a begging cutie mark would have given me. Is there such a thing as...

Oh! Who could this be?

A tiny little colt, younger than Luna, peeked around the corner of the counter where I was sitting. It was that same little colt that had so kindly brought me back to this hideout in the first place.

“Good morning, Princess!” he squeaked, smiling.

“Was it um...” I scrambled for a name. C’mon, Tia, it wasn’t that long ago! “Seeds?”

“It’s Sprout, miss!” He nodded away, mane bobbing over his eyes.

“Well... Good morning, Sprout!”

“Have you had breakfast yet, Princess?” Breakfast? Wasn’t it nearly noon already?

“Yes, I had a few things left in my saddlebags... ”

“Ooh!” Another head popped over the counter. Again, distantly familiar, “Did you like my apple, Princess?”

“Well, um...” Was that stolen apple still in my bag? Goodness, I can’t remember. “Yes! Yes, it was very, very tasty. And what’s your name?”

“Swift Snatcher, miss!”

“O-oh...” What parent would give a child a name like...?!

“I’m Golden Orange!” another piped up, skidding into place beside Sprout, yet still barely peering around the corner of the counter. “Anything I can do for you, Princess?!”

“Well, ah...”

I remember getting this kind of attention yesterday before Pith walked me around town. I’m honestly not sure how I should receive it. I didn’t like the idea of just allowing it. I’m not a Princess, and I will not carry false pretenses of the sort. I’ve done nothing to deserve that level of respect.

“Now, now, Ravens. Leave the Princess alone...” And there was Pith, coming out of his special back room, hat already placed firmly around his horn. “Go wake the rest of the Ravens, will you? Princess Tia here has got a special announcement for you!”

I stared at Pith as the Ravens scattered. He wasn’t being serious, was he...?

~Discord~
Twelve Noon

I sat, shielded, blocked off from the world. There was no way I could maintain a shadow spell for half a day, so I went for the poor-pony’s alternative. An illusion of a barrel, woven around me, blocking out most light, and cutting me off from all vision. A pony could walk right into me, and I wouldn’t know it. Sure, now I could make the barrel solid so no one walked through it but...

I curled around my legs, cold brick to my back. This. Sucks. My body already complaining about a lack of breakfast, maybe even lunch at this point. My backside was numb from the cold, from doing nothing for who-knows-how long, wing joints aching from being splayed into the brick behind me. What the heck was Luna thinking, just leaving me like this?

No, why the heck was Luna acting like that?! I had never seen her cry before... maybe a few tears of pain if she scraped her knee, or that one time when the griffin scratched her. But nothing like that! Not... an emotional, teary explosion! And did she lie to me? She said she was fine, that she’d feel better if I told her, then she just blew up in my face! Clearly admitting to what happened hurt her more! Geez, if I had told her the whole truth, how the heck would she have acted then?

I curl a little tighter, blowing my mane out of my eyes. Throwing around such painful memories, such hurtful accusations like that... Geez, what did that place do to her?

Where’s my Luna?

Trapped in this illusion of a barrel, hours and hours until nightfall, all I could do is fiddling with my magic and think, over and over. Quite the rescue that was, Discord, look at where that got you. What a bombastic failure. I was completely unable to help Luna when she was hurting... And then she had to go and hurt me.

Geez... done thinking now. Just stop brain, refocus your attention. I lifted my fingers int front of my face and rubbed them together, summoning some magic to mess with. I unstuck my fingers, trying to make my magic soft, malleable, following in stretchy, taffy-like lines. I hope I can find her again, so we can just talk all this over. I may have been insensitive, but at least I was trying, you know? I have my apologises to give, but she better apologize too, for how she was acting.

Arrrg, no, I said to stop thinking about this! I slapped away the spell and tried again, making a liquid boil from my hand.
Whats the big deal, anyway? Father, no father, who cares? I never knew who my father, my ‘biological’ father was, but heck if that mattered in my life. Then again, ponies grow up in those kind of family units, so... Does this turn her situation into something like being outside the norm, and pitied for it? Disliked? I don’t know! Maybe I’ll ask. Its something that really, really needs to be worked out. Between all of us...

I growled, but quickly repressed the sound, small illusion evaporating the second I removed my focus from it. I literally cannot stop thinking this over can I? What’s done is done, and there’s nothing I can do about it now, okay?

I messed with my taffy illusion again. It was strange, having to focus on these new properties. What substances, objects look like in motion, I had gotten use to that. It was almost a second nature in my illusions. But trying to think about how an illusion would feel, how it would behave and flow... You’d think it would be a pretty good distraction, focusing on that. But no. I just get sidetracked by my own thoughts and the illusion loses its physicality.

I wished I could be running around right now.

Yeah, that’s a helpful thought, brain.

There was some shouting outside my barrel, down the street somewhere. I barely paid attention to it, ponies, guards and such, had been shouting about stuff all day. This was nothing new. Instead, I focused my attention on splattering a stream of water across my paw. I tried to get the splashes to look just right, trying to make it stop feeling like a stream of grainy sand...

“I am not taking your excuses, Pockets!”

The illusion between my hands instantly vanished. No, it couldn’t be. I fidgeted in place, then poked the tiniest hole in the barrel, peering out, back at the school.

“Please, Lady Applebark, we’ll find the girl soon!”

It was!

I watched as Applebark descended the steps of the school, whipping into a turn. Her cloak billowed behind her, echoing her frustrated huff of a stride. Some other pony in glasses stumbled after her, flustered. His step was stumbling and halting as he tripped all over himself, trying to keep pace with the mare.

“It’s not just the girl, Pockets!” the large unicorn snapped, “You knew her capabilities. Didn’t you think to keep a closer eye on her?!”

“We’re spread thin as it is, Lady Applebark,” from this distance, I saw the second unicorn flash a hesitant smile, “If anything, this shows we should have more...”

“More what?! Money? Unicorns?! How dare you beg after such a massive failure!” She turned to flick her horn at him, stomping and snorting. “Begone! Out of my sight!”

“But, my Lady...”

No! I scrambled to my feet, horns cracking holes in the fragile structure as they vanished from the narrow view of the alleyway. I have to follow! She must still have my necklace... My only lead! But how the heck can I...?!

Aw, jeez!

I rolled my shoulder and dug my hands under the shadows, crawling under them. It felt like I was forcing my way under an especially tight blanket as I scraped forward on my stomach, minimal magic just barely leaving me enough room to move. Please, please let it be enough to remain hidden while I move...

~Celestia~
Quarter Past Eleven

There was a burst of crowing as more of the colts shoved their way out of the bedroom into the main area. Some were still half asleep, and stumbling into others and tripping over their own feet. But many more just as hyper and excited as I usually saw them. From one corner of the room, bread and fruits were being chucked out of barrels into the growing mass of children, the scraps scrambled for, but not quite fought over.

“Listen up, Sickle Ravens!” Pith walked around the front of the counter, head held high, already shouting. “Princess Celestia herself has something important she wants to tell all of you!”

“Um...” I stood up on the counter, trying to not fall off one side or another, staring over the crowd... They had begun to stare back, gnawing on their breakfast. “Well, uh...”

“Well, Princess Celestia?!” Pith loudly demanded, face stiff and serious. I bet a thousand bits he was grinning his head off on the inside. “Don’t you want some changes around here?”

“Um... well... y-yes.” I took a deep breath. Steady yourself Celestia. Take charge. You’re in control. “This operation we’re on... its vitally important! Very, very vitally important! So important, that your leader has handed over control to me!” I nodded, teeth tightly clenched. In control. “Because, you see, it’s no longer a game, so--”

“Yes it is!”

The crowd snickered, commenter lost among the countless faces. The colts lightly stomping their hooves in applause. I felt my face flush away.

“No, please!” Aug, was that a whine? “This is very, very serious! We’re talking about my sister here...”

“The other Princess?”

“Well, um...” I really, really didn’t want to perpetuate that lie. “N-no...” I stammered.

“Wait, your sister isn’t a Princess?”

“How does that work?!”

“Yeah!” “How?” “Caw caw!” “Tell us!”

“Please! Everybody, quiet down!” I shouted over the swell of voices. For a moment, it almost seemed to work. “It... it doesn’t matter what Luna is, right?! We’re going to free her either way!”

“Yeah, save the Princess!” “Yeah!” “Caw!”

And then the room broke out into a massive cawing battle, hoof applause beating loudly into the ground. I rubbed a hoof into my eyes. Okay... clearly, I cant fight against this at this point. Pith declared us both Princesses, so we’re both Princesses. Let’s just go with it. For now.

“So... So! SO!” The applause slowly died down, but the cawing never stopped, three or four colts in the back trying to not-so-quietly be the very last to crow. “Let’s all gather together, and focus.”

“HEY WAIT!”

A Zebra on the top of the steps, apparently guarding the door and maybe a year younger than me, waved a hoof in the air.

“Um...” I stared up at him, “Yes, you...?”

“How can you lead us if you’re not a member of the Sickle Ravens?!” he demanded, leaning over the railing. There was a general murmur of agreement, along with another swell of that darn crowing. Will they ever just stop?

“But girls cant be part of the Sickle Ravens!” “Celestia’s not a girl, she’s a princess!” “She’s special!” “Caw!” “Let’s let her join.” “The proper way!” “CAW CAW!” “Yeah, the proper way! she’s gotta pass the tests!” “The tests, yeah!”

“Please!” I shouted again, feeling my voice crack from the strain, “We don’t need to waste time on this! My sister is what’s important, rescuing...!”

There was no getting through that tidal wave of hoofbeats, of screamed birdcalls...

~Discord~
Half Past Noon

I squirmed forward, trying to focus on too many things at once. The spell, the stalls, Applebark... I thought crawling behind the stands on the street would be easier than making my way through the legs of the crowds. Fewer ponies to trip over, more shade to hide in.... But in reality, it was more stuff to get around, with less visibility. Shopkeepers turned their heads as barrels tilted all on their own, as their wares tumbled to the ground without provocation. I winced as my claws scraped on some wood siding, making the pony manning the stall turn his head, staring two inches to my left. This was a dumb idea, this was a dumb idea, dumb idea, dumb.

I fought the urge to just jump onto the next stall. I wished, I dreamed I could just dash along ton top of these stupid blanket awnings and still have enough shadows to hide under. I wish I could just walk in the crowd. A normal pony, neither cared about nor noticed. That would be nice, no, wonderful.

And while we’re piling up fruitless dreams and needless worries, I still hadn’t eaten since yesterday. Yes, this is clearly what I should be focusing all my attention on. Right now. Screw you, body. You’re more trouble than you’re worth.

I double checked my shadow lining, then quickly grabbed a carrot from a slouching burlap sack. Please don’t pop the whole spell please don’t pop the whole spell... Okay. Looks like that worked. I shoved the pathetically small scrap into my mouth, gnawing as I wormed my way through four more barrels, pinching the corners of the fraying shade.

Now, where’s that Applebark...? I peered out from under the spell, trying to pick her wide berth from the crowds. Ah, there she is! I shot forward, stopped, fixed a rip that had appeared. Munched on the carrot, ducked under some cloth, avoided a flicking tail, and walked around another barrel. Back into the street, back behind a stall, double checking on Applebark... Crap, where was she? Oh, there she was. Relieved sigh...

CARROT!

I hacked up orange flakes, a chunk, stuck down the wrong tube, the size of a fist, I swear, it was! My whole body heaved as I hacked, wings flaring. Chunk finally dislodged and I spat it to the ground. It was no bigger than a thumbnail. Friggin stupid... I slapped it away. Into the hooves of a shopkeeper. Who was staring down at me.

What a frail hold I have over shadows....

“Uh... h-hi...?”

And then the screaming started.

~Celestia~
Half Past Eleven

Quiet, firm control. Quiet, firm control. That is how we are going to fix this situation. Show that you’re the one in charge. Be firm. Control, even in your breathing. Breath in, breath out.

I flicked back my mane, head held high.

“I refuse.”

“Aw, c’mon Princess...” the little purple colt whined, holding out his sullied hoof. “It’s war paint! You gotta wear war paint!”

“That is not war paint,” I explained. Concise. Clear. “It is mud from the streets. No, a rain gutter. I saw where you got that, and I am not allowing anything like that near my face.”

The child pouted, mud dripping down his hoof.

“Do you want to lead us or not?!”

“This has absolutely nothing to do with leadership.”

“Of course it does, Princess Celestia!” Pith boomed, appearing from who knows where, head rivaling mine in arrogant angling. “Accepting the gifts the people have to give you is very important in leadership! Speaking of” He turned and yanked his head sideways, almost forcing a shifty-eyed colt in front of him. “One of your boys has a report to give you!”

I practically marched up to the shifty colt, clicking my hooves loudly on the cobblestones. Goodness, am I showboating? I quickly shook the idea from my head.

“Yes...?!” I asked, maybe a bit too loud, “What is your name?”

“I’m Stone Skipper,” he mumbled, “I watch the guards, and...” THERE IS A WET HOOF IN MY FACE AUG AUG EW AUG! I skitter sideways, shaking my head, spitting out.... ITS IN MY MOUTH! “Yeah, uh...”

“YES?!” I squeal, all composure lost, “Continue!”

“Yeah, guards are getting real agitated today,” he said, eyebrows lazily raised, “Some creatures escapes from the zoo or something, and they’re going crazy trying to find ‘em. Nopony’s been bit or nothing yet, but...”

“Yes, thank you!” I squeaked, avoiding the wild swings of the filthy, filthy filthy! “Iwillkeepthatinmind!”

“Welcome Princess...”

Satisfied, the purple colt who’s name I never got backed away from me, nodding as his horrible, horrible handiwork.
“Okay!” he shouted, “Now you gotta run into the town square and filch something, broad daylight!”

“What?! I refuse! I could be arrested!”

“No you wont, you’re supposed to run!” he nodded, grinning, eager, “It’s a very important test!”

“That has nothing to do with leadership! Please, listen to me. Or...” I turn to find the reporting colt, but he had already wandered away. Calm, Celestia. Calm, even explanation. “I need more things like what Stone Skipper told me. Information, plans. We have to plan for this attack, we can’t just stand around and...”

But of course, I was shoved, pulled away, surrounded by half a dozen little cawing colts, caught up in their ‘fun’ ‘tests’. Oh, will I ever manage to rescue my sister?

~Discord~
Fifteen Til One

I hate running. I hate hate hate hate hate hate RUNNING. I hate feeling powerless, I hate feeling weak and useless! I wish I had some sort of, I dunno, a laser blast to just overpower everything because I hate this feeling!

I slam myself between two barrels, knocking one over, flapping, struggling upward. Clutch at the cloth awning,tear it, shove myself up, bouncing across the heated cloth. For all the life of me, why is it this hot?! Ponies shout around me, ‘what is that?!’ ‘Guards!’ ‘Get it!’

I’m not gonna find Applebark either! For frig’s sake! No, just get away, Discord! Just get away and try again! Just get away and try again! My wings stretch and snap fitfully, weak weak stupid wings, go up you darn things!

And then the cold, the all-to-familiar numbness strikes my back, scraping at my feathers. Wing’s been smoozed! I try to flap, but the world spins upside down, falling too fast, out of control. I draw breath to scream, cobblestones under me...

My stomach smacks into an awning, winding me, bruising, I can feel it. But control, enough control to land on my feet when I tumble off. I smack down below, on the rocks and concrete on all fours, gasping for breath, body tense, jittering, twitching.

“Stop right there!”

I spring away, almost on instinct, body tense, fast, devoted, dodging, weaving in and out of hundreds of scampering pony feet. Left, right, left right, left left, moving, go, just go.

“Move out of the way! Please move!”

There’s shouting, guards, baritone and bass. What? I glance back, spin around. An idea, a snap judgement. I’ve always had to trick the eye, trick the mind. There’s a wall there, honest. But one touch,and trick’s over, they keep coming.

But now, I don’t have to trick.

I fall back, flick my hands up.

And there’s a wall.

I drop back onto my hands, surging forward, not even seeing if it worked, if it was spread too thin, or a million other things that could’ve gone wrong. There’s a crash, like a shell breaking, maybe louder. Was it still effective? My gosh, was it a breaking through smash, or a ‘we just hit a wall’ smash? Am I that...

I glanced back, stumbled, and slammed into a brown paw.

“Gotcha, you little skarn!”

A hand yanked at the scruff of my neck, talons digging into my fur. I beat my wings furiously as I was dragged upward, looking right into the orange eye of a griffin.

My hand snapped forward and filled it with raw magic.

The griffin swore, throwing his arm around, but not letting go. Digging claws deeper, into my skin, blood! I cry out, afraid to struggle, wings twitching and tense with restraint. if it tore my... What am I thinking, the griffins have me! There was laughter, a clacking of beaks.

“What, can’t handle a baby, can you Olaf?”

“Shaddap! The prick scratched my eye!”

“Oh dont complain, your momma can fix it, can’t she?!”

“Halt!”

~Celestia~
Fifteen Til One

“Okay, so we’re heading back to the base... Does that mean we’re done? Can we finally start planning this?” I said, feeling broken... No! Exhausted! These little...! It’s like raising dozens of hyperactive little toddler Lunas, except none of them will listen to me. Luna at least listens to me, and she’s younger than half these kids!

“No way!” one colt exclaims. Like a knife to the heart.

“Yeah, we just forgot the silly hat!”

“You gotta wear the silly hat, Princess!” “It’s very important!” “Uh-huh!”

I felt like screaming. I held myself back by a hair.

“Why?!”

“Cuz it proves um...” the purple colt looked to his friends. Oh, he didn’t even know. He didn’t... even...

“No shame,” another colt pipes up. The purple one nodded, happy.

“Right, is shows you’re not afraid to wear the silly hat!”

“Wouldn’t this mud on my face show I wasn’t afraid?!” I squealed, trying to stop myself, digging my hooves into the cobblestones. Don’t get up in his face, don’t he’s just a poor, uneducated, little freaking brat! “Wouldn’t you tying my mane in pigtails show that I didn’t feel shame?!”

The colts around me looked honestly surprised.

“We didn’t try to tie your mane...” one piped up.

“But it would have done the same thing, wouldn’t it!?! Ooh, look, Celestia’s hair is in pigtails, isn’t that just fan-ick-AUGH!” I bit my tongue, stomping around in place, “Why do you need a silly hat for this kind of test?!”

The colts looked between each other, “Because um...” “It’s really silly...” “I like the hat.”

“Well I do NOT!” I shouted! “We do not need a silly hat to prove ANYTHING!”

The crowd around me froze, staring. Quiet for once in their tiny little lives? Oh, Goodness, Celestia! Tia! Get a hold of yourself! They’re just... I shouldn’t shout, it’s not...!

The little purple colt shrugged.

“Well, okay then.”

“Yeah, the silly hat was kinda a silly idea.” “Uh-huh.” “It’s a silly hat, but...” “Yeah...”

Of course this is all that they respond to. Shouting means authority. Oh horsefeathers I wish I had been proven wrong, that acting calmly and rationally had just gotten through to them! Having to resort to screaming to get them to do what I want... Such poor, undisciplined youths... Do you think this is funny, Pith? Conditioning them like this?

I took a nice, deep, shaky breath.

If this is the only thing I can do...

“NOW!” I shouted, already feeling my throat strain. “I, PRINCESS Celestia, am still very, very worried about my sister!” I glared into the eyes of every single boy that surrounded me. Now, finally, they were quiet. “What are we going to do to save her?!”

There was a wave of muttering, “I dunno” repeated over and over.

“Well I... I tell you what we’re going to do!” And then I got a little bit more cheerful. No, crazed. That’s a much better word. “We’re going to go right up to that school!”

“And we’re going to attack it, right?!”

No! They were starting to rev themselves up again. They never listen when that happens! Somehow, I managed to shout over the rising sound of crowing.

“No! No, if we attack it, Princess Luna might be hurt!”

“Oooh.” “Yeah, that’s true.” “Caw!” “Uh-huh!” “Cawcaw!”

“So!” I clicked a hoof into the cobblestones. “We’ve got to...!”

“Celestia!”

I looked around, confused. That didn’t sound like the voice of a young colt... It sounded far to familiar to be one of the Ravens. Like... like it was...

I turned, and saw her.

“Luna!”

I ran, hooves on air, meeting my sister, clinging her tightly to me. She buried her face in my chest, wet from tears, already sobbing and sniffling. I comforted her, shushed her, weight lifted from my shoulders. When did that get there? Yet I was so glad for it to be gone. Luna, my sister! How in Equestria did she get here? This didn’t feel real, planning for long to come get her, and she just appears? Oh, I’d ask her in a moment, I... I hugged her again, her face warm against my neck.

“Oh Luna...” I softly said, “I’m so glad you’re safe...”

“You hear that, the Princess is safe!”

“That means we can attack the school!”

I snapped my neck around, trying to find the energy to shout again, against the massive swell of crowing.

“No it...” I said. “Wait...”

~Discord~
Five Til One

The grip loosened. I allowed myself to breathe, to open my eyes. I recoiled as a pony pushed past me, hugging the wall, inches from my snout. Another did the same. Our eyes meet and she looked away, shoving past. I was drawn back a little, tail drifting against the cold shingles of the griffin’s armor. Three pony guards pushed through the crowds full of worried faces.

“Thank you for assisting in the capture of the escaped creature,” the central guard states, voice loud and clear over the sound of the crowd.

“Well, you’re welcome!” the griffin cackled back.

“Now, please allow us to take him into our custody.”

“Hey, hey...” another griffin said, out of my sight, armor clinking, “Don’t you remember? Draconequus escapees, our jurisdiction.”

The guard glanced over to those following him.

“We have not yet identified the species the creature belongs to...”

“You’re blind!” the griffin laughed, whipping me around, pain pain, pain again! My eyes squeezed shut. “It’s a Draconequus!”
“Hey!” A cart pulled by a single pale pony clattered up behind the guards, taking up the majority of the road. “Move outta the way, I gotta get through!” Other ponies squirmed past the cart, by the guards, by the griffins. The streets began backing up, ponies glaring everywhere.

“In a moment, citizen.” The guard nodded, helmet bobbing as he turned back, then forward again. “Until we can confirm the species, we ask you hand the creature over.”

“Pfft, no friggin way, you dirt rutters.” One of the guards snorted, and I was yanked backwards, still held at arms length. I struggled, flapped my wings, and the nails dug deeper. Ow owowowow ow ow! Stop struggling, body! I squinted out of teary eyes, trying to hold myself still against my will. Ponies were trying to move past the griffins, past me, trying to get away, trying to hurry along...

“May I remind you,” the guard said, “We are the standing authority in Stringhalt...”

“Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, heard it a million times. Now if you don’t mind, we’re going to go collect that bounty now.”

I heard a stomping of hooves as the griffin turned sideways, showing me down the long, narrow street, outer wall far, far in the distance.

“You will remain here and respect--!”

“C’mon, you’re taking up too much space!” Someone cried out, “Move outta the way!”

“SHADDAP! You buncha mud-soaking skarns! Know your place!” The griffin rolled his shoulders, yanking my head back and forth, and glanced back to the guard. “Respect nothing! You dirt rutters can go back to your Big screw-off and just--”

I crashed into the ground, slammed out of the griffin’s claws. One of the guards had charged, digging his helmet into the bird’s neck, pinning him to the ground with a grinding hoof. The two other guards charged forward, to stop their friend. I fail up to my feet, staring up at the shocked beak of the second captor...

And then a pony, just a face from the crowd, spun around and bucked the second griffin straight in the chest.

~Celestia~
Five til One

When Luna turned up, I thought, I must be dreaming.

I don’t think the feeling’s faded at all.

I watched the Ravens run down the street, into a main passage, sticks in their mouths, bucket helmets on their heads. They just ran through the crowds, beating, bucking, stomping ponies out of the way. A guard ran up, but then they engulfed the scene in smoke, cawing and chanting,

“Fight! Fight! Fight five hours! Fight five days!”

And the people echoed it, repeated it, carried it down the street. Like it was just another rainstorm, a vital piece of news. Some ponies looked at each other, confused, but others... Some pony, just a normal adult, maybe a bit nervous in step and shifting in eyes, bucked a guard.

Am I dreaming? I felt a bit faint, a bit empty in the head. Did I pass out somewhere?

“Look, you made this mess, now fix it!” Pith screamed, somewhere to my side. “Your Ravens have started a panic!”

“My Ravens?” I frowned, staring through the cloud of smoke. “Since when are they my Ravens?” I laugh, hollow, strained, “They didn’t start acting like this until I started acting like you.”

“That pathetic display?! You call that acting like me? Like a leader?!”

“Last I checked, you’re the leader of these boys, Pith...”

Pith tried to force himself into my vision, face contorted, twisted in fury. “I handed control over to you!”

“Well, then you’re a very, very poor decision maker.”

“Big sis...” I felt a nudge on my neck. Luna looked up at me, face still so sad, strange... “I left Discord behind by accident. We gotta go find him.”

“And we will.” I nodded, and turned down another street, world sort’ve tilting to the left a little. No, right... “Let’s go Luna.”

“You can’t just leave!” he screamed. “You witch! I should’ve never helped you in the first place!”

“Since when was this about helping me? I thought it was about using me. Well, there you go.” I nod to the clearing smoke, feeling like I’m about to fall over. The Sickle Ravens had passed, run off. “They’re properly excited now, aren’t they?”

Pith swore as I trotted off, head still spinning, yet so, so blank. I don’t want to think about this situation. I don’t want to think about who’s at fault. I just want to leave. I just. Want. To go. The mantra followed us as we walked. “Fight, five hours!” “Fight, One to Six!” “Riot, five hours!” I closed my eyes, tight, then opened them. Nothing changed.

I don’t understand this place.

~Discord~
One in the Afternoon

I think, maybe, I should be running again?

No, no, its not like I haven't seen this before. The act itself isn’t strange.

It’s just

Ponies surged forward, trampling, stomping on the griffins. Multiple ponies rushed forward to stop, to pull their friends off. Then someone bucked a guard... I watched the back of a griffin’s head bob loosely in a helmet half fallen off its head, jerking back and forth as his body was kicked and beaten. No resistance. Like a doll...

Ponies are capable of this?

I looked away, between the rows and rows of colorful legs, rising and stamping on the concrete, worming around one another. Shouting rising and rising and rising... how could it possibly get any louder than this?

A guard fell beside me, bucking and whinnying as the crowd surged around him as well. A well placed kick dented his breastplate, another knocked his helmet askew...

I think I should run.

I flipped over to my feet, tail close, wings close, body low, finding plenty of shadows to hide under as I wove my way under the legs of the masses. If I can find my way behind a merchant stand again... But where is that? What direction?The streets aren’t that wide, but with everybody crowding together...

The crowd thinned, but that just meant there were more running. Streaming, stampeding in one direction, pitch of their voices rising. They drain into a single side street, almost becoming single file, or two by two. But with all the frightened faces around me, who knows how long this will last, this order...

“Discord.”

Me? I looked around, the single clear word rising from the noise. It’s almost funny to think someone actually meant it as my name. With all of this happening, it was probably used as a well-fitting adjective...

That’s a little...

“Child!”

A pair of purple feet fall into my vision, stomping under a red cloak with a fancy gold trim. Wait. I look up, and it’s Applebark, staring down at me, stern jaw twisted even tighter than normal.

“There you are... No, no, dont go back out there!” Her feet twirled around, tail poking out from the bottom of her cloak, a mix of white and violet. “Come. Follow!”

A call rises from the crowd, echoing down the streets, but instead of passing by, remaining.

“Fight, five hours!” “Rebel, one to six!” “Fight, one to six!”

“Stop standing around, child! We need to go. Now!”

Next Chapter: XXVII : One To Six Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 58 Minutes
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