“After Cloud threw Sephiroth into the Lifestream, Tifa’s mentor was able to rescue her from the reactor. However, he was unable to recover Cloud and Zack before they were taken into custody by the Turks, Shinra’s intelligence agency. The Turks handed the two unconscious survivors over to Hojo, an unscrupulous scientist who subjected them to dangerous experiments.”

“Discord? Why are you narrating my dreams? And for that matter, how do you know that’s what happened? It’s not like I remember it, I was unconscious the whole time.”

“I know, I just said that. Now shush, I’m just peeking in through the fourth wall to see what happened. Anyways, I’m not Discord. Discord has a very sexy body, I only have a sexy voice. You can call me John. Or Mr. de Lancie if you’re being formal.”

“Mmm, it is a pretty sexy voice,~” Diamond Dust sing-songed.

“Quiet Diamond,” I snapped.

“You be quiet. I want to hear the rest of this story,” she chided.

“Fine,” I conceded.

“As I was saying, Hojo injected cells from the alien, Jenova, into both Cloud and Zack before bombarding them both with massive doses of Mako energy. Zack had already been subjected to Mako as part of his induction into SOLDIER, and faired better, eventually managing to break free and rescue Cloud. Cloud, by contrast was barely conscious throughout their escape. Practically a burden of dead weight on his dear friend.”

“Hey!” I objected.

“It’s true!” he asserted.

“You don’t have to be mean about it though,” I complained.

“You want to talk to me about being mean? Salt injection darts,” he countered.

“That was Kindness’ doing, and only because you messed with her mind,” I pointed out.

“You mean Discord, the handsome devil, did. I’m John, remember.”

“Whatever… please continue.”

“Despite the incredible burden, Zack managed to escape all the way to the cliffs overlooking Midgar before Shinra overtook them. However, he was mortally wounded in the ensuing confrontation, and merely had time for one final exchange of words with his friend.”

“Zack,” my past self greeted weakly as my friend made it back to me.

“On my behalf…” he began, his injury keeping him from continuing for a bit.

“Your behalf?” I prompted.

“That's right. You will...” he tried again. Had I not been so out of it from the recent Mako poisoning, I would have realized sooner how badly he was hurt.

“You will...” I merely repeated. I was in quite the daze at the time. I realized, now, that that was when I started to blur our memories in my mind. I’m not sure how I got his memories to begin with… something to do with Hojo’s experiments? That must have been it.

“Continue living. You are proof that I existed. My dreams and pride, I give it all to you,” I don’t know if he realized he was practically brainwashing me at the time. It’s not his fault, I know.

“I am proof that you existed,” I dutifully repeated. That was the point when he gave me his sword. The sword that had been passed down to him by his mentor. The Buster Sword. The blade that had become my emblem, even if it was a world away.

He managed to make his way to the cliff edge to sit, looking over Midgar. “Hold on to your dreams! If you want to become a hero you have to hold onto your dreams.” Funny how crowded my dreams are these days. In both sense of the word.

“Thank you. I won't forget. Good night. Zack.”

“That girl said that she was scared of the natural sky. But of course it
must feel great right? Those wings of yours, lend them to me as well. What's
this? It feels great. When you meet Aeris I'm depending on you to look after
her. Hey I've become a hero right?” I didn’t really understand most of his last words. Wings? What was that all about? But I did know this; I managed to look after Aeris for a few days before that cursed merchant sent me to the land of bright, colorful ponies. I got her out of one jam; it would have to be enough.

John continued. “Despite your promise, even as you walked into town carrying the sword that was to be your memento, you did forget. You forgot even who you were, stealing his memories for your own. You forgot that you were the weak pathetic coward who could never amount to anything.”

“You’re wrong,” I said.

“Am I? You never did make it into SOLDIER,” he alleged.

“I’m the one who was strong enough to beat Sephiroth with his own sword, even when it was impaled in my chest. You, sorry ‘Discord’, didn’t fair much better when he tried the same.”

“Touche,” he said.

“That was pretty badass,” Diamond admitted.

“Whose side are you on?” John asked, sounding hurt.

“Your voice is pretty sexy.~ But I’m Cloud’s summon. Of course, you are too, now. So that makes you on our side,” she reasoned.

“Don’t I get a say about this?” he asked.

“Seems like a ‘say’ is all you have,” I quipped.

I woke in Ponyville General. The other Element Bearers were nearby, but weren’t being treated. Their armor had saved them from the worst of the vines’ attacks, while many ponies were in much worse shape.

“Cloud!” Rainbow said before giving me a fierce hug. She backed off sheepishly when I groaned in pain. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s good to see you too, Loy- Rainbow Dash.”

“Are you feeling okay?” the pegasus asked.

“Yeah,” I said, sitting up in the bed and putting my legs over the edge.

“Woah there, partner. I know you’re some kind of super-soldier, or whatever, but even you need some rest after being run through,” Applejack chastised.

“Are the princesses back?” I asked her.

“No, but-”

“Then we don’t have time to rest any longer. The sun won’t move until we rescue Celestia, and eternal day isn’t going to work out much better than eternal night would have.”

“Actually,” Rarity interjected, “Twilight Sparkle is currently researching the spells the ancient unicorns used to move the sun in the time before Celestia was born. Not that I’m suggesting we leave the princesses captured, mind you.”

“It’s been a rather rough time already, do you think we could just rest and recover a while longer?” Fluttershy requested quietly.

“How long has it been?”

“Well, the sun never went down so it’s technically the same day, right?”

“How long?” I reiterated.

“Two and a half days, more or less,” Rainbow admitted. “What? We use clocks on the weather team.”

“It’s time we rescue the princesses. They won’t be able to hold out much longer without water. Discord is out of the way. We just have to cut our way through the plants. Let’s get Spike and go.”

“Oh my, I hadn’t thought about that,” Fluttershy said, determination starting to show in her face and voice. “Let’s go get our princesses back!”

If I were a politer person I might have had a hard time getting out of the hospital. As it was, I more or less ignored the nurse that tried to stop me for my own good, with Fluttershy giving a hasty apology on my behalf as we went.

This was harder to ignore.

“No, not a chance, absolutely not!” Rarity insisted.

“He’s not going without us, not this time,” Sweetie Belle insisted back.

“Hey, we’re Elements too, you can’t like, leave us out of our first big mission since joining! Especially not after daddy bought us all these great uniforms,” Diamond Tiara said. I noticed she had a tiara of her own on, rather than a necklace like the other Elements of Greatness sported. Cute. A not so subtle bid for leadership, no doubt justified by her name and cutie mark.

“And just who do you think made those uniforms?” Rarity questioned.

“You did, Miss Rarity with Miss Sparkle conducting the enchantments, which is why we can be confident they are top notch and quite adequate protection,” Silver Spoon quipped.

“Ugh, we’re going into the heart of the Everfree Forest. Which is even more dangerous than usual thanks to those crazy vines. We don’t have time for babysitting!”

“Who are you calling babies?!” Scootaloo demanded. “We may be fillies, but we can help too.”

“They’re coming,” I decided.

“What? Why?!” Rarity said.

“Because if we try to leave them behind, they’ll sneak after us and then we won’t know to watch for threats that endanger them. If they’re in our midst we can be on guard from the beginning. And they can give extra sets of eyes to call out if they do spot anything dangerous. And with their uniforms on they have enough protection to buy us time to react,” I explained. “That said, I need you six to take this seriously. Deadly seriously. The Everfree has a lot of dangers to begin with, and the black vines are still a threat. Discord should be down for the count, but there may be other surprises.”

Everypony and Spike nodded in agreement. “I’m coming too, then,” Twilight insisted, moving in among the Elements of Greatness. “I can use my magic to shield us or teleport us out of danger if we need to.”

“As will I!” Prince Blueblood insisted.

“You’re one of their priority targets,” I noted.

“Then use that. Surely you can figure out how to use bait effectively?” he pointed out. “Those vines have stolen my aunts. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“Alright. But that’s it. A dozen ponies, a dragon and me,” I said.

“What about the guards?” Blueblood suggested.

“They need to guard the town, don’t they? Besides, a larger group will draw more unwanted attention in the Everfree,” I countered. “Let’s move with what we’ve got. We’re already at risk of stepping on each other’s toes, er, hooves too much as it is.”

We moved into the forest in two groups. The Elements of Harmony took the lead, with Applejack and Rainbow Dash on point, Fluttershy and Prince Blueblood by my side, and Rarity and Pinkie Pie guarding opposite flanks. Behind us, The fillies made a rough circle around Twilight Sparkle, with Spike riding her back.

“I strongly suspect the princesses are being held at the Castle of the Two Sisters,” Twilight confirmed as we got closer. “The direction the letters have been travelling has been quite consistent.”

“Do you know if the magic of his fire breath will work if the recipient is dead?” I asked.

The fillies gasped at the thought and their bravery faltered, though they kept pace nonetheless.

“Cloud! You shouldn’t say such things near foals,” Rarity chided.
“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted, concerned.

“It doesn’t change our current course,” I said. “We are getting the princesses back, in whatever state they are. Heads up!”

Black vines shot out from the woods from all directions, focused on Prince Blueblood. As he had hinted, we used their preoccupation with him to land easier blows on the vines, cutting them off and sealing the ends with fire, ice, or salt. The pain in my wound made the movements painful for me, but I only expressed it as a grunt. Blueblood was important to me, I wouldn’t let them take him that easily.

For that matter, so was everyone else here. I pushed through the pain, hacking through every vine I could, while the ponies did their part. Twilight’s magic provided a bubble of protection around her and the youngsters, buying time while they readied weapons of their own. I hadn’t expected that, but they all came packing squirt guns whose liquid contents proved fatal to the vines on contact.

“Where’d you get those?” I asked them.

“Daddy bought them for us,” Diamond Tiara pointed out. “They were extra expensive with everypony wanting some on account of the vines attacking Ponyville. But he arranged for an express shipment while you were in the hospital.”

“And nopony thought to tell me before now?” I asked.

“We didn’t know, honest,” Applejack said.

“And you didn’t ask us until now,” Applebloom added. “You were too busy debating if we should come to ask how we had prepared.”

“Alright. Well… don’t waste your ammunition. Do you have any refills?”

“Just what we could fit in our saddlebags,” Sweetie Belle admitted. “And it’s a bit hard to refill these on the move.”

“I can help,” Twilight offered.

We pressed on, facing more frequent attacks as we neared the castle. Finally, we arrived across the chasm from it. The sun, stuck in its noon high, easily illuminated the area, especially with the break in foliage. The entire castle was covered in a tangled web of black vines, writhing restlessly.

But they all seemed to be sourced from a cave on the cliffside below the castle, rather than the castle itself. When Spike sent off the next letter, it flew down into the cave, confirming our destination. A second letter, sent to Luna, confirmed she was down there as well.

“We need a plan.”

“For the record, I am not personally fond of any plan that has me dripping such malodorous chemicals from my person,” Blueblood complained.

“Noted,” Rainbow Dash grunted, as she and Fluttershy carried the soaked prince across the chasm to the cave. As vines lashed out at them, they dropped their load, only for him to become wrapped first in a bubble of magical force, then a layer of vines around the bubble. The pegasi backwinged out of range, even as the bubble was dragged into the cave.

“So far so good,” Twilight told me from our vantage point at the cliff side. “But my magic can only hold out so long. It feels like the vines are actually draining the power out of it somehow. We’ve got to act fast.”

“Right. Everyone who’s going in, be ready.”

“I’ll keep the fillies and Spike safe,” Twilight promised.

“You better, since we’re out of ammo,” Diamond Tiara demanded.

“Pinkie’s almost in position. I’m getting started,” Applejack stated, before starting with her lasso.

Countless spheres of fluff appeared in the castle, devouring every thorn, leaf, and vine of the plunderseeds, and make what remained writhe in pain, and perhaps anger. That was AJ’s cue to throw her lasso across to a rocky outcropping on the far side. Rarity and I grabbed onto her and joined her in the swing across to the cave on the opposite side. As we hoped, the vines were too distracted to repel us, or the pegasi that swooped in before we could hit the ground running.

They finally noticed us and swarmed in from all sides, but we merely vanished into the ether, still running through the strange shadow world we found ourselves in, placing ourselves to reappear farther in. Fortunately, we didn’t have far to run. The three royals were visible just beyond the ball of plant matter that swirled in front of us.

“Ladies and Gentlecolt, announcing the winner take all fight of the century,” John de Lancie helpfully announced. “Cloud Strife and the Elements of Harmony versus the Plunderseed Core! Round one… Fight!” At the final word we faded back into reality, weapons in hand and hoof, ready to challenge the very source of the plants. It was a massive knot of vines and roots, some buried in the ground around it, others seemingly growing out of some strange crystal growth in the middle of the cave.

“Cloud! Just in time,” Blueblood said as the shield around him popped, dropping him to the ground. He shook himself of violently, and the herbicides he was doused with sprayed in every direction, killing the vines that were trying to grasp him, as well as those wrapped tightly around the princesses. Sadly, the alicorns were still unconscious, and would be of no help in this fight. But the prince went to them and put the canteens we had given him to good use, hydrating them as much as he could in the moment.

More vines moved to try to recapture the royals, which left the core relatively vulnerable. It wasn’t focused on us. Fluttershy used the opening to find a spot next to a rock to cloak herself, taking her time looking for a particularly vulnerable looking spot to fire the one dart we had loaded with the fillies’ herbicide. Rainbow Dash darted in immediately, slamming into vines with her hooves and then darting off into the air to evade. Rarity got to work swiftly with her needles, the materia that had once powered a sewing machine helping her rapidly perforate the vines.

My own swordsmanship was doing a number on the vines, but it wasn’t enough. As the plant finally recognized the threat we posed, several vines harried Rarity, forcing her on the defensive. Another managed to outflank Rainbow, snagging her leg and grounding her. Things were starting to get desperate, and the familiar surge of power began to build with the need to protect my friends. But this called for more than just swordplay.

Whatever Discord had done to my mind in his reversal, I’d started to finally separate my own memories from those I had somehow inherited from Zack Fair. We had known each other back in Shinra, and there was an attack he had told me I inspired him to invent. Now it was my turn to use it myself. Pooling the power within me, I concentrated a portion of it into my legs, while the rest flowed into my sword.

With Mako empowered strength I leaped, nearly reaching the roof before I pointed the flat of my blade at the core. The blade opened into a portal, briefly, ripping stones from space and hurtling them down at the core, flames licking them as they struck at the plant, smashing vines and burning the wounds shut so they couldn’t easily heal. The plant flailed, recoiling away from the crystalline structure it had been wrapped around, vines spreading wide and revealing the bulb at the center that all of the vines were growing out of.

And then a shot rang out and that bulb dropped to the ground, the vines around it limp, a lone dart sticking out of its surface.

Luna was the first to regain consciousness. Gasping out, she looked around worried. Celestia was on the bed next to her, still out. I had the bed on her other side, finally obliged to rest until my wound had time to heal. The others were gone, for now.

“Lady Strife. You are injured as well? Did the vines capture you also?”

“Briefly, Princess, but it was a creature calling itself Discord that did this, before we were able to turn him to stone with the Elements,” I told her. “He called those vines the plunderseeds, and took credit for them. I think he was directing them somehow, as they were a notably less intelligent foe after he was defeated.”

“Discord! I should have known. He was turned to stone once before, when my sister and I wielded the Elements long ago. The plunderseeds must have found a way to release him.”

“Maybe Princess Celestia knows more about it. The doctor says she should recover fully, though you were both dehydrated severely. I’m afraid we were almost too late,” I said. “Also… I apologize, but the Castle of the Two Sisters is no more.”

“It was already a ruin for some time. What do you mean by ‘no more’”

“Eaten by parasprites, down to the last stone.”

“We see… .we had heard of your powerful summons, but to hear of such thorough devastation…”

“We have to be especially careful about that one. I have a new one that is far more subtle,” I said.

“And what is that?”

“The voice of Discord.”

“Just the voice?”

“He calls himself John de Lancie for reasons I can’t fathom, but Pinkie Pie insists make perfect sense.”

“And… what does he do? When you summon him, I mean.”

“He talks. He’s a voice, what do you expect?”

She took a moment to consider that. What had she expected? “That is a pretty subtle power. I think I like it.”
A groan brought our attention to the other bed, as Princess Celestia began to stir. “This doesn’t look like the royal infirmary…”

“We’re in Ponyville General Hospital,” I told her. “Welcome back, Princess. Rest for now, but if you’re up for it in a few hours we could really use a sunset.”

“How long have I been out?” she said, worried.

“It’s been noon for four full days now,” I informed her. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to rescue you faster. I had to recover somewhat from Discord stabbing me through the gut with my own sword.”

“Are you alright?!”

“I’ll be fine. It’s not even the first time I’ve been run through there. Never seems to work out for the person on the other end of the sword, though,” I said, smiling ruefully.

“I recall that from your dreams,” Luna said. “You have a remarkable inner strength.”

“I have… more to show you when you next visit my dreams,” I told her. “I’ve finally remembered who I really am, and who I’m not. It just took Discord messing with my head to do it.”

“We should check you over, make sure there’s nothing lingering from him,” Celestia said, worriedly. “And what about those vines. If he sent them…”

“They’re gone now. All dead, finally,” I assured. “We found the core of them in a cave under your old castle.”

“The tree of harmony!” the princesses exclaimed in unison.

“I didn’t see any tree down there. Just some crystal spire thing the vines were wrapped around.”

“We need to go,” Celestia insisted, struggling to try to get out of bed.

“Is it worth risking your health to go right now,” I asked.

“Yes,” they said in unison, as Luna struggled to get up as well. I was on my feet by the time they were.

“Then let’s go.”

“The Tree of Harmony,” Celestia said as she stood before the crystal spire. I hadn’t noticed before, but it had a sun and a moon etched into it that matched the princess’s cutie marks.

“Is dead,” Luna concluded, pointing to where it was snapped off, or perhaps eaten off, at the top. “I know you did the best you could, Cloud.”

“No!” Celestia said with a fury I had never seen from her. “Maybe, maybe it was the best you could have done, but it wasn’t the best she could have done! You weren’t supposed to be the Element Bearer. You weren’t even supposed to be here!”

“Sister…”

“What are you talking about?”

“That bucking sword wasn’t the third symbol on the tree! You stole it! Stole her destiny right out from under her snout! And now look what’s happened, all because of you!”

Being berated by a furious horse was, honestly, something I never expected to happen in my life. A year ago I would have found the image hilarious, but in this moment it was quite intimidating. And I honestly didn’t know enough about what she was talking about to try to defend myself. That didn’t stop me from being defensive, though. “I’ve done the best I could from the day I arrived. I saved your sister!”

“She did, sister,” Luna offered.

“And I sealed Discord in stone.”

“Again. And he’ll break out of it, again. The tree is gone, there’s nothing to keep him from absorbing enough chaos from his surroundings to break out again. And soon, since the tree can do nothing to maintain the strength of the spell,” Celestia spat out.

“Then send him somewhere that doesn’t have any chaos to absorb. You banished your sister to the moon, it can’t be that hard to do to a statue.”

“That’s… actually a good idea. But that only solves one problem. The Tree of Harmony guarded this forest, managed it, and kept it from producing even more and more dangerous monsters. Now it’s gone. Who is going to protect my little ponies from everything that is to come? You?”

“Of course! I’ll put my life on the line, every time it’s needed.”

“It won’t be enough. You’re not the right mare for the job.”

“And who is? Who did you think was going to come save the day?”

“Twilight Sparkle.”

“The librarian?!”

“My student. She was going to use the power of friendship-”

“She barely knows what a friend is! She’s brilliant in her own right, and I’m glad to count her among my friends, but she’s the least friendly pony I’ve ever met.”

Celestia quieted down a bit before sheepishly offering “I was going to make her take lessons…”

“Who on Gaia, Equis or any other world needs friendship lessons?!”