“This is… pretty hard to swallow,” Twilight rubbed her temples wearily.

“That’s what she said,” Eris coughed quietly into her paw. Twilight’s nearly bulging eyes seemed to be thoroughly fixated on the spot of wall between the odd pair on the sofa, like she were looking straight through the wood. Spike, who had grumpily dragged in an extra chair from the kitchen when Twilight ‘cruelly’ refused to magically summon him a lazy-colt recliner, paced in endless silent circles around it with one claw latched firmly to his chin. The day had long since passed as evening fell, the friendly chirrup of crickets outside the window muffled against the windows.

“To be fair, I did warn you,” William said slowly. The hope that the invisible weight that had been lingering on his chest might vanish was found to be fruitless, and the discomfort remained. He attributed this to the downright disturbing stare that Twilight was giving them and did his best to ignore it.

“I know, I know,” Twilight pinched her eyes shut, continuing to massage her temples to work out the headache. She desperately wished that she had sent Spike to his room, though he seemed to be taking the rather large and unsettling amount of information rather well.

Out of all of them, the only one that seemed to be even remotely relaxed was Eris, reclined comfortably on the sofa with her tail curling around the foot and wrapping its way up in vine-like fashion to her side. Unfortunately, this also happened to be close to William, and even then she still subtly tried tickling him to distract him.

“I understand if you’d like to take some time,” William continued in the same slow, calm tone, his foremost hooves placed firmly together. “We still have quite a bit of ground to cover.”

“You mean there’s more,” Twilight breathed in disbelief, leaning back in her chair across from them. “After telling me about extradimensional beings, which you both claim to be even though one of you is clearly a colt, time travel, assault of unimaginable kinds on some of my best friends-”

“Just one in particular, really…” William muttered.

“-and an alternate timeline where Rainbow Dash is your adopted mother, you absorbed some kind of ‘chaos rock’-”

“I prefer to think of it as a ‘Chaos Emerald,’” Eris chimed in and also went ignored.

“-not to mention the untold amounts of sheer lunacy of Discord being your adoptive father and Princess Luna and myself teaching you fundamental magic theory,” Twilight finished in one big puff. William was surprised that she could even breath at all after her outburst. “And then, then you want to tell me that there’s more and expect that I’ll actually believe you?”

“You don’t necessarily have to believe me, Miss Sparkle,” William cleared his throat quietly. “I sincerely trust in your judgment. I am merely relaying facts and information.”

“But why?” Twilight frowned, looking between them both in agitation and confusion. “Why me?”

“Don’t look at me,” Eris shrugged. “I wanted to take the first train out of this dump.”

“Because I believe that you alone may have the capacity to right these wrongs,” William’s almond eyes met her baffled violet ones, and she could detect a fair hint of pleading in his voice. “Something needs to be done, someone has to do something, I need to fix this.”

“To fix what?” the librarian retorted angrily, her headache only growing worse. “Are you honestly telling me, even if I did believe such an outrageous story, that I would want to change the entire world just so that you wouldn’t have to leave your comfort zone?!”

“W-well…” he shifted uneasily, suddenly feeling very bare before her cold gaze. “When, um… when you put it like that…”

“What, it sounds selfish?” Twilight watched as the colt’s jaw clenched tightly. “Well, gee, it couldn’t possibly be because you want me to deliberately ruin the lives of a large number of my friends for the sake of some colt I don’t even know, could it?”

Even the relaxed Eris finally seemed to notice the tightrope tension wrapping around their necks.

“… That’s not what I meant,” William said at long last, feebly trying to wring hands together that he didn’t have. “I just… I just want things to be normal again.”

Twilight let out a long, arduous breath, resuming the unhelpful temple massage.

“I think everypony wants that, really,” she sighed. “And I understand, I really think I do, but I can’t just change all of Equestria on a whim, and even if I could I wouldn’t. Do you understand?” Twilight watched William closely.

“… Yes ma’am.” He answered softly after the longest while, no longer able to properly meet her gaze.

“Good,” Twilight nodded, though her thoughts were clearly elsewhere. “Then that’s taken care of. I can’t say much for the rest of your crazy story, or how much more of it I can take before I go batty. Spike?”

The little drake that had been pacing nonstop around his chair finally ceased for a moment to look up at her.

“Would you kindly make some coffee?” Twilight asked tiredly. “I get the feeling it’s going to be a long night.”

“I guess,” Spike shrugged with a strange look before trundling off. The unicorn watched him drag himself away with worry, ever so slowly biting her lower lip before swiftly shaking her head.

“... I really should have sent him to bed,” Twilight said apologetically, more to herself than anything. “He’s too young to be hearing these kinds of things, I don’t want him getting… well.”

“Protective instincts,” Eris stretched lazily, unwinding her tail from the sofa leg and pulling her arms. She snapped her talons out of habit, the clicking noise grating on everyone’s ears. “Good thing for a mother to have.”

“Haa, I’m-I’m not his mother,” Twilight cleared her throat with a bit of embarrassment.

“What are we going to do?”

The librarian turned back to the miserable colt, blinking.

“What are we supposed to do?” William repeated. “How am I supposed to get my family back together now? What am I supposed to do?”

“Well…” Twilight said after a horribly uncomfortable stretch of silence. “I… suppose that you two do have to stay somewhere…”

“So Mother might take me back?” he perked up immediately.

“Rainbow Dash?” the librarian blinked again. “I don’t know.”

“Then everything will be alright after all,” William heaved a sigh of immense relief, a very rare smile perched on his lips. “Then Mother and Miss Pie and Eris and I can all get along again, and everything will be perfect once Father gets back.”

Twilight stared at him for a full beat, her mind still processing everything he’d said.

“Fa- hold on, you don’t mean Discord, right?” she frowned, stiffening up. “You mean… the other one? Klak-klis-Klask-ovsky, right?”

“Hm?” William tilted his head, smile remaining. “No, he’s very much deceased. I do mean Discord.”

“You mean he’s OUT?!” Twilight screeched in horror. “When you said he left you here, I thought…! Oh, Celestia, he’s out!”

“Who’s out?” Spike stuck his head back in through the doorway. “Coffee’s up, Twi, by the w-”

“Why didn’t you say so before?” Twilight leapt to attention, horn sparking with a purple glow. “Dear Celestia, he’s out, he’s out!”

“SIT THE FUCK DOWN!”

Everyone froze at Eris’s unexpected booming shout. She too was on her feet, mismatched hands clenched into furiously tight balls.

“Sit!” Eris repeated loudly, defensively towering over the unicorn. “We are not doing this, you hear me?!”

“A-alright, alright!” Twilight backed away a step, the light atop her horn flickering out. “Just don’t-don’t do anything rash…!”

The librarian and draconequus stared at each other for what felt like eternity, the air so thick it could have been cut with a knife.

Spike coughed loudly.

“I’m just… going back in… here now…” the miniature dragon edged away into the kitchen, eyes never leaving them.

“… Sorry,” Eris released the ball of anger in her chest at long last, blowing a lock of white hair out of her eyes. “Sorry. Really,” she held up her hands to Twilight. “Just… I know how these kinds of situations go, and we’re not doing this again. You let somebody with a gun panic and somebody gets shot, y’know…?”

Again?

“I’m… not really sure what you’re alluding to,” Twilight admitted uneasily.

“Neither of us have any power here,” Eris added quickly, flicking her thumb back and forth between herself and the stunned colt. “None, nada. We’re completely unarmed. No magic, no tricks, no need to panic. Okay?”

“I don’t think you quite understand the gravity of the situation,” Twilight frowned. “Discord is out-”

“And this should be approached in a calm and rational manner,” William said slowly. “I’m certain that Father doesn’t mean any harm to anyone.”

“Are you crazy?” Twilight snapped. “Do you have any idea of the destruction, the chaos, the terror he caused last time?”

“Not-not really…” William admitted.

“He needs to be put away,” she seethed. “He’s a criminal, you understand? A monster.”

Neither William nor Eris seemed to have any response to this, though Twilight noticed that the colt seemed to have lost all expression all at once.

“… I don’t think he’s a monster,” William said quietly.

“I beg to differ,” Twilight answered curtly, ignoring the slightly irritating click of Eris’s talons. “I need to alert the Princess immediately and get my friends immediately, this is a national emergency.”

“An excellent course of action.”

Every set of bums in the room positively ricocheted off their respective seats at the sight of none other than a surprisingly cheerful Princess Celestia with her head sticking in through the front door.

“Is that coffee I smell?” she asked optimistically, the alabaster mare’s smile growing. “A bit late, but I’d love a cup if you don’t mind.”

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight was the first to reach for the ground in a quick bow. “Thank goodness you’re here! I mean, and just in time, it’s almost…!”

“Hold on a bit, would you?” Celestia said swiftly behind herself, still not opening the door all the way before turning back. “Yes, my faithful student, we do have quite a bit to discuss, and it’s rather urgent. I see you’ve already introduced yourself to the Chaos Spawn,” the smile was still plastered onto her face as she turned to Eris and William for a moment.

Eris gave a mocking half-salute. William, on the other hand, looked as if he were going to be ill.

“Is that Princess Celestia?” Spike’s voice echoed from the kitchen.

“Would you mind terribly if we had a little chat?” Celestia kindly asked the overjoyed librarian. “There are some things for your ears only.”

“Of-of course, of course!” Twilight beckoned her into the kitchen, eagerness in her eyes. “Absolutely Princess, right away!”

“Excellent,” she trotted in at last. “It shouldn’t take long, I’ve been meaning to catch up with you for so long…” she trailed off, but William didn’t notice anything else she said. His senses seemed to have failed when he saw what Celestia had been hiding behind herself.

In the dark of the night William could still clearly see the royal carriage gleaming proudly in the moonlight, the stationed guardsponies and reigned pegasi all standing at attention. He could hear words, certainly, but none of them seemed to make any sense. If anything it was as if his mind was shutting down bit by bit, quivering in terror at the sheer fury radiating off of Princess Luna. The very ground seemed to tremble with every silent step as she approached without a whisper, the darkness seemingly enveloping them from the walls themselves as silence fell in the library.

Princess Luna leaned in ever so gently to the pair, wings tightly at her side and a cold rage so intense wafting from her that the air seemed to chill when she approached to speak a single line that brought the chill in the air straight into his chest. Just a few simple words that only they could hear, but still managed to shake him to his core.

“I remember everything.”

“… Oh-”

William was quite blunt in his terrified response, which most certainly wasn’t ‘oh dearie me.’

“You have ten seconds to tell me why you did this,” Princess Luna magically snapped the door shut, a grimly wavering shadow lurking just over their heads. “And then I’m going to execute you both.”

“Don’t-don’t you mean, ‘or’?” Eris gulped.

“No.”

“What do you mean?” William backed into the sofa as hard as he could, as if he could sink through it away from Luna’s intense gaze.

“Eight seconds.”

“I-I don’t know!” he flinched as he felt himself being yanked into the air by an invisible noose, Eris wordlessly flailing midair out of the corner of his eye.

“Five seconds.”

“W-why are you doing this?” he managed to choke in terror, kicking wildly at a floor that wasn’t there anymore. The invisible noose around his neck grew tighter, and tighter, each breath harder and harder to take. His heart was pounding in his ears, the suddenly very real possibility of death not quite what he’d been expecting. There was no mercy in her eyes, no compassion. Only cold, boiling anger, controlled and funneled to a razor point.

“… Time’s up.”

“Lu~na,” Celestia called from the other room. “Would you like two lumps or three in your coffee?”

“Not now, Tia,” Luna answered through gritted teeth.

“Lu, this is of national importance here…”

“Not now, sister!” she turned back to the dangling pair, unconcerned of the strange shades they were beginning to turn. “No answer, Chaos Spawn?”

“Night… mare… Moon…!” Eris managed to choke out at last, scrabbling furiously at the magical grip around her neck. The chokehold they were held in instantly vanished, sending them both crashing loudly to the floor where they gasped for breath. William felt himself roughly jerked up by the shoulders, Eris quickly following suit in her magical grasp as Luna’s icy rage was redirected.

“Say that again.”

“I-I-I,” William struggled, eyes stinging. “You d-don’t, I-she-”

“Brainwashed,” Eris injected quickly, the unseen hand around her neck making itself felt once again. “But I wasn’t involved, you should let me go!”

“Eris!”

“What?”

“Get to it!” Luna shook them both hard with her telekinetic grasp. “What do you mean, brainwashed?”

“Under Nightmare Moon’s control!” William blurted quickly.

“Liar!” she spat furiously, yanking them both into the air again. “The spirit is gone, you deceive me!”

“It’s true!” he insisted desperately, insistent on regaining sweet touch with the ground again. “She was in my head, I was-was controlled, honest!”

”It’s getting co~old…!

“Nightmare Moon is no more,” Luna spat. “The beast was cast out!”

“It must have been the Journal you gave me,” William kept talking, desperate to stay alive. He didn’t even know for sure, he was simply frantic to keep the enraged princess preoccupied.

“What do you know of the Book of Dreams?” her eyes narrowed sharply. “What have you done with it?”

“I-I don’t know,” he answered honestly, which might not have been a wise decision after all.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Luna barked. “What have you done, Klaskovsky? Explain! Now!”

“I beat Nightmare Moon!” William answered instantly.

“Lies! Again!” the princess spat furiously.

Eris, still dangling midair, hysterically tried to pull herself up by the very magical noose that held her aloft, to disappointing results.

“It’s true, it is!” William nodded the best he could.

“There is no ‘beating’ Nightmare Moon, even if you were telling the truth!” Luna scowled at him. “Even the weakest aspect can only be exorcised, the spirit is immortal.”

“Obviously not, I ate it!”

That, of all things, seemed to get Luna’s attention.

Her mouth hung slightly agape at him in disbelief, and she turned that same dubious stare to Eris before turning back to him.

“… I’m… just going back in here now…” Spike coughed awkwardly into his claws, backing away from the sight into the kitchen. William tried calling out to him for help, but nothing seemed to be passing through his throat. Eris smacked the sides of her own throat as loudly as she could, making a face a bit like a fish from the lack of air.

Once more they found themselves plummeting to the ground. William hardly noticed the impact this time around, his mind still foggy from the relief of free breathing again. They were allowed a moment of weak gasping before relentlessly being yanked upward again, but this time Luna physically held him up by his shoulders and forced his gaze to her.

“Look into my eyes, Chaos Spawn,” she said slowly, her vibrant blue orbs suddenly seeming a million miles deep. “Did you truly, honestly do something that mad, as reckless as attempting to devour an aspect of Nightmare Moon?”

William found it difficult to speak, and he wanted to look anywhere else except for the Princess.

“No explanation. Just a yes or a no.”

“… Yes.”

“There are biscuits as well!” Princess Celestia stuck her tiara free head in through the doorway, levitating a cup of coffee beside herself. “You’d better hurry if you want any, Lulu, they’re magnificent.”

William felt something strange occurring to himself, something bizarre and unsettling; it was almost as if a bucket of live eels were wriggling around in his stomach, fighting and biting their way out and through his veins. It was over the moment Luna released him from her spell, however, and she looked him over a moment longer before turning to her elder sister.

“That sounds lovely, Tia,” Luna said quietly as if nothing had happened. “But I’m afraid we’re on a bit of a tight schedule…”

William strained to focus, but it felt as if his entire body was made out of lead. His limbs seemed attached to the floor, though whether it was from sheer exhaustion or whatever strange magic the Princess had performed he wasn’t sure. Either way the odd feeling in his belly seemed to subtly rise up and into his chest, slipping away when he tried to pay attention to it.

“Oh, darn,” Celestia nodded. “My student, I’m afraid I must depart – but do keep in mind what I told you?”

“Absolutely!” the vague voice of Twilight Sparkle seemed to be underwater, and he could nearly make out Eris shouting something beside him. Or perhaps she wasn’t shouting anything – William couldn’t quite seem to hear anything aside from the quiet and irregular drumming of his heart and the faint, pleasantly warm and welcoming dream enveloping him.

”I think that one looks like a Wonderbolt. Did I ever tell you I’ve always wanted to join the Wonderbolts?”

“A million times.”

”What do you think that one looks like?”

“Hm… a giraffe, I think,” William pointed up at the early morning sky, the sun barely beginning to kiss the horizon. The grass tickled the back of his neck, and Rainbow Dash’s soft giggle delighted his ear.

“What are you talking about?” she grinned. “That’s definitely not a giraffe, see that blotchy part there?” Dash pointed at the thin cloud. “That’s gotta be the butt, right? So maybe it could be a giraffe with no neck.”

“Maybe if you look at it from the side…” he answered determinedly, tilting his head.

“Nope, still not right,” Dash giggled again. “I was thinking a ship, it looks nothing like a giraffe. Hey, what do you think would be worse, having the neck of a giraffe, or that one’s puffy butt?”

William thought for a moment, tracing a circle around the cloud with his finger and thinking.

“I think it would be worse to have the neck,” he pondered aloud. “Because then you’d have to worry about doorways all the time.”

“Ha! I guess you’re right,” she lay more firmly on her back, holding up one hoof and tracing the same cloud as him until her hoof was holding his hand. “I think it’d be worse to have the butt, ‘cause of how hard it’d make it to fly. Can you imagine the drag, though?”

William let out a rare little chuckle, the thought utterly ludicrous to him.

“I’d rather not,” he smiled. “What about that one?”

“That’s definitely a mushroom,” Rainbow Dash said instantaneously. “I am so positive. It’s one o’ those shitty-take mushrooms, you can tell because of the stem thingy down there.”

“Do-do you mean shitake mushroom?” William had to fight the uncharacteristic giggle back down.

“… So THAT’S why the guys at the Neighponese restaurant kept laughing at me,” Dash laughed aloud. “Hey, y’know what, squirt? Me and you need to go back to that place some time, it’ll be great.”

“What about Miss Pie?”

“Who said she has to know…?” Dash nuzzled his cheek.

“Has to know what?”

William and Rainbow Dash sat bolt upright, nearly blinded by the rising sun. Pinkie Pie leaned curiously over them, beaming widely as the sun warmed the little hilltop.

“Oh, nothing,” Dash waved it away with a wide smile. “Will was just talking about you, actually!”

“Just what were you guys talkin’ about?” Pinkie plopped down chipperly between them.

“Oh, you know…” William coughed awkwardly into his hand. “Giraffe butts.”

“… Giraffe butts,” Pinkie stared at him.

“And shitty mushrooms,” Dash interjected.

“Shitake mushrooms…” William started, only for the pegasus to lean over Pinkie laughing and ruffle his hair.

“Don’t correct your Mother, Squirt!” she made Pinkie titter loudly when she stepped on her belly, their laughter mingling with his own. “I’m a mom, moms know everything!”

“Where’d you hear something crazy like that?” Pinkie poked the pegasus in her own belly, making her giggle and fall over.

“Uh… my mom.”

“Time to go get dressed for school, Will!” Dash’s voice sounded watery and off in his ears. The blinding sunlight only seemed to grow brighter the longer he avoided the glare of the sun, like it was burning through his eyelids. “Will, are you listening? Can you even hear me? William? William? William? Wi-”

“-lliam? Will?”

“Whuzzat?” he blearily cracked open his eyes, the blistering headache instantly magnified. A pungent stench was stuck in his nose, and he couldn’t put his finger on what it was even if he had fingers.

“Oh, thank god,” Eris breathed at long last, her grip on him loosening. “I kind of thought you were gonna be asleep for a while, I really wasn’t in the mood to take care of a vegetable.”

A rapid scan revealed that at some point he had been moved back to the sofa, though not much else aside from the absence of the princesses seemed to have changed. That, and the steadily growing headache that urged him to close his eyes again.

“… What happened?” he asked as he tried to pinch the spot between his eyes where it hurt the most. It was difficult to think properly for several moments, the foul mutterings of Eris sounding suspiciously like ‘slaughter that whore with a spoon’ still ringing in his ears. “How long was I out for?”

“A few minutes,” Eris finally released him, the relief clear in her voice. “The rich bitches ditched as soon as you hit the floor.”

“Okay…” William said wearily, the sound of Twilight carrying on a rather excited conversation with what seemed to be Spike in the kitchen reaching them. “But what happened?”

“Uh…” she blinked. “Nothing, really. I mean, I threw a lamp at her and she threatened to murder my family, but you really didn’t miss much. Miss Brown Nose in there said there were some ‘friends’ on the way.”

“Mother’s coming?” he sat up swiftly and promptly wished that he hadn’t. “When, how soon?”

“Whoa, cool your jets, dude,” Eris rolled her eyes.

“Did the smelling salts do the trick?” Twilight was quick to reappear with another floating cup of coffee.

“Yep,” Eris nodded, resuming her ‘relaxed’ pose without pause. “They did the trick alright, he’s good.”

William turned a bewildered look to the draconequus, but she subtly shook her head with a frown.

“I suppose you’ll both be staying in the guest room tonight, we’re going to round up everypony in the morning for a get together since it’s not quite the emergency I was afraid it was. Isn’t it amazing how Princess Celestia always seems to be in the right place at the right time?” she carried on, quietly noting the concerned frown Eris wore. “Probably just overexcited,” the librarian chuckled, passing them each a small mug. “Colts, you know.”

“… No, I don’t, actually,” she admitted. Although William defiantly wanted to insist that she answer him, he bit his tongue and carefully attempted to hold the mug between his hooves. “I’m kind of new to the whole ‘talking horses’ thing myself, I have no idea about this place.”

“Really?” Twilight settled into the chair across from them. William wanted to scream at her, wanted to shout and rage and demand to know why she hadn’t done anything when the princess was literally strangling the answers out of them.

“It’s mainly a female dominated society,” William answered her, his voice weak in Eris’s ears. “Think of the male and female roles you’re adjusted to reversed, and that’s Equestria in a nutshell.”

“I’ve got all sorts of books on equine subjects if you’d like me to show them to you!” Twilight informed the draconequus cheerfully. “History, philosophy, politics, anatomy, you name it-!”

“No, I’m good,” Eris frowned, clicking her talons out of habit. “I’m not much of a ‘reading’ person myself.”

“… Well, to each her own,” she gave a halfhearted shrug. “You can lead a pony to a library but you can’t make her read.”

“I can’t read your language at all, actually,” Eris blinked.

“YOU CAN’T READ?!” Twilight gasped aloud as if it were the worst imaginable thing she could have possibly said.

“Not that that this isn’t lovely and all,” William interrupted in the same weak voice. “But if you don’t mind, Miss Sparkle, I’d really like to rest now. Do you mind?”

“Hm?” she gave a disappointed tilt of her head, let down that she didn’t get the chance to share any of her books. “Oh, it’s quite alright… William, you said? Guest room is-”

“Up the stairs, second on the left,” he murmured wearily, surprising her as he rose. “I know.”

He had hardly started wobblingly hauling himself up the stairs than Eris too lurched up from the couch, giving an utterly unconvincing stage yawn.

“Yep, I’m pretty tuckered out too, what with the, uh… excitement and all…” Eris rolled her shoulders, ignoring the dissatisfied eyes of Twilight Sparkle, who would have to hold onto her lesson for another day. “I’mma hit the hay too. Whoo, boy, tired am I, weary as can be!” she called down the stairs as she noisily followed the pink colt.

“… This is ridiculous,” Luna said after a painful stretch in which neither of them said anything. The slight vibration of the royal carriage grew on the turbulence, but neither of them noticed.

“You have to,” Celestia answered smarmily. “Those are the rules.”

“It’s not about the bits,” Luna scowled, dropping the small bag into her sister’s outstretched hoof. “It’s the principle.”

“Yes, and you lost,” she said with a grin. “I told you it wasn’t something to get all worked up about, that’s what you get for not listening to your older sister in the first place.”

“Oh, by five minutes,” the princess of the night rolled her eyes. She sat fuming against the window, her brows furrowed. “You can stop bringing it up now, I’ve told you.”

“And I told you not to play rough with them. Didn’t I?” Celestia pried smugly.

“They’re lucky I didn’t pop their stupid little heads off like dandelions!” Luna bellowed in fury. “After what they did to us, the monstrous brats!”

“And was I right, or was I right?” Celestia picked at her, grinning. “It was mind control, wasn’t it? Hmm? I was right? I told you I was right, you’re not answering Lulu. I was right, huh? Huh? You gonna tell me?” she giggled, poking her younger sibling in the shoulder. “Huh? C’mon. Tell me. You lost, you’ve gotta tell me.”

“Yes,” Luna harrumphed, crossing her forelegs together in quiet anger. “You were right. Are you happy now?”

Celestia made a strange face, having difficulty hiding her smirk and shakily moaning and arching her back against the seat.

“Now I am,” Celestia laughed. “Titans, it feels good to tell you I told you so.”

“You’re despicable,” Luna deadpanned, staring ahead at the velvet wall of the carriage.

“I’m not the one who marehandled a couple of defenseless youngsters.” Celestia’s ‘I told you so’ tone seemed permanently stuck, only serving to agitate Luna further. “Did you at least manage to get it back?”

“The idiot swallowed it.”

“… The whole book?”

“No, not the book!” Luna pushed her, rolling her eyes again. “The sliver of myself I used to activate the Book of Dreams must have still contained some aspect of Nightmare Moon, and instead of absorbing information about Discord like it was supposed to, it somehow manipulated the Chaos Spawn into feeding it and eventually took what are you doing?”

Celestia was waving her forehooves together in what appeared to be the Macarena, grinning widely.

“Doing the ‘I was right’ dance,” she answered without pausing. “You know. Because I was right.”

“You’re an idiot,” Luna deadpanned again.

“You’re too uptight,” Celestia nudged her playfully, finally earning a tiny wriggle of her upper lip from Luna, though it was gone quickly.

“Excuse me if I’m still a little irritated from having a hundred royal guards and my sister inside me!” she scowled so hard that her jaw hurt. “Do you know how many subconscious nightmares I’ve had to repress because of that incident? Ugh, I still feel so… so filthy.”

“That happens,” her sister replied optimistically, ceasing her ‘dance’. “Probably from having a hundred stallions inside you all at once.”

Luna started to answer before she caught the wry grin on Celestia’s face and sighed heavily, turning back to her position of staring ahead.

“You’re revolting,” Luna shook her head in defeat.

“And you need to get laid,” Celestia giggled.

“This is serious, Tia. I couldn’t get it out of him, Discord must have placed some strange aura or enchantment on his Spawn to prevent it. I wonder why, though… we’re bringing that up the next time we summon him, and this time in an explosion-proof room.”

“You’re awfully interested in getting inside that colt. It’s kind of creepy.”

“Agh! Will you ever just grow up?”

“Not in a thousand years!” she tackled her, laughing manically.

One of the pegasi pulling the royal chariot shook his head, frowning.

“… Awfully bad turbulence tonight,” he said sleepily, earning a confused look from the stallion beside him.

“Turbulence?” he gawked, wondering precisely what the royal monarchs were doing that was causing the whole carriage to rattle and shake so ferociously, or why it seemed to be emitting high pitched giggles and angry shouting.

“Turbulence.”

“… Oh. Right. Turbulence.”

Eris lost sight of him before she had a chance to catch up, and her eyes wandered the darkened hall. A number of perfectly aligned pictures adorned the wall, many of either Spike, Twilight, her friends and family, or a large combination. One picture even had what looked like an entire small village all smiling in front of a barn, though it looked very out of place on the wall.

Second on the left…

The guest room door stood slightly ajar, and Eris let herself in freely before nudging it shut with her tail. The figure of a lone colt slumped resignedly on the edge of a small but comfortable looking bed could be seen through the shadows. For a moment Eris was confused at his silent laughter as she approached, uncertain of what he found so funny. It wasn’t until she dropped unceremoniously next to him that it became uncomfortably obvious that his shoulders weren’t shaking from amusement.

He didn’t say anything as she gently tucked her tail around his shoulder, pulling him warmly closer. He didn’t make a single noise, not a peep came out of him as he cried, but he still shook like he’d been sitting in ice, and no amount of warmth she tried to offer would melt it.

He shook for a long time.

William tried to think of something to say. Eris said nothing either, only sitting beside him in silence and holding him close long after the wretched trembling had stopped. All the questions that had been flooding his mind seemed so far away and unimportant. If anything it felt like the weight from earlier had returned with friends, like he’d been anchored down and his thoughts themselves were fogged from the heaviness.

“… Eris,” he spoke at last. “There’s so much – I, I c-cant-”

“Will.” She pulled him a bit tighter, as if willpower alone could heat the bucket of ice in his belly. “You don’t have to say anything. I understand. Just shut up and hug me. M‘kay?”

“… Okay. Eris?”

“Mm?” she tilted her head, a little surprised that for once he was actually hugging her back.

For a long moment, he considered telling her. It was right on the tip of his tongue, practically screaming to break out; the weight in his chest demanded that he release some of the pressure, anything at all for relief – but deep down he knew that there would be no such thing from any of the words crossing his mind, and this only seemed to make the weight grow a little bit more each time it occurred to him. But perhaps there really was no way to say it. Maybe he shouldn’t, despite how badly the weight ached. It almost felt like his chest might collapse if he didn’t.

“… I’m glad that you’re here, Eris.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the whole entire world.”

Author's Notes:

Muse - Undisclosed Desires