I yawned widely as I stumbled along next to Twilight, the sun barely over the horizon as we made our way towards the train station, “Did we have to get up so early?” I moaned as my feet shuffled along the dirt road, “I mean really, don’t you think Princess Celestia would be fine with it if we came to visit at a more reasonable hour?”

Twilight shook her head, not even looking at me as she replied, “When you get a summons from Princess Celestia, it doesn’t matter if she would mind or not. We are going to get there bright and early and get this whole situation sorted out as soon as possible.”

I groaned as I shuffled along beside her, “Fine, just don’t mind me if I pass out on the train. How long is it going to take to get to this Canterlot anyway?”

“About three hours.” Was the clipped reply.

I just about gave up right then and there. Despite my military background, I was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. The only way to get me up before nine was to shove a rifle in my hands and tell me to go shoot something, preferably something that yelled a lot and had a pension for strapping explosives to its chest.

We arrived at the train station to find the place completely deserted. Not even a ticket minder was present in the booth as a lonely gust of wind blew up a cloud of dust. I felt a shiver go up my spine at what I was seeing. Zombie horror flick much? I sat down on one of the benches near the rails and waited for our supposed train, my fingers fiddling with the plating on my mechanical leg through the fabric of my pants. I had chosen to wear my cargo shorts today, allowing me to carry my phone, fully charged, in one of the numerous pockets covering its surface. I had my blazer on over my unit T-shirt, although I had a feeling it would need to be washed before too long. It was starting to accumulate that ‘lived in’ smell, and I didn’t want to offend my hosts with my bad BO if I could help it.

The only thing that made me slightly self-conscious about my state of dress was the fact that my shorts left my artificial leg open to the air for anyone to see. While I had worn long pants since my departure from the hospital, it was getting a little too hot to wear them all the time. By my estimations, it was early summer here in Equestria, even though back home it had only just turned into spring. I just hoped no one started asking too many questions about my leg. That was a memory I would rather soon forget.

All of a sudden my instincts screamed at me, and I threw a spinning heel at my assailant as they came up behind me.

“Hey! It’s me you featherhead!” A familiar raspy voice called out.

I stopped my foot mid-spin, preventing my attack from hitting Rainbow in the side of the head by mere inches. Her eyes widened for a moment as I held my leg in its inclined position, before I slowly lowered it back to the ground.

“It’s a bad idea to sneak up on me.” I managed to say as my cheeks heated up, “I usually react to surprises with a preemptory attack. I’m sorry.”

She rubbed her hoof along her mane once or twice, “Yeah, I was trying to give you a jump scare anyway. Guess that’ll teach me to watch who I prank.”

“Hooie, that was a mighty fine kick ya got there Sarah,” Applejack’s voice called out from the other side of the platform. “Ah wouldn’t mind seein’ you try yer hoof at applebucking over on the farm.”

I turned and saw that it wasn’t just the cowpony that had joined us. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were there with her.

“What are you girls doing here?” Twilight asked as they joined up with RD and me.

“Well I heard from somepony that you were going to Canterlot to talk about some super crazy magic that Sarah had discovered and then I was like, ‘Oh! We can’t let them go all alone all the way to Canterlot and not come along to give them support!’ What kinds of friends would we be if we let you run off to meet the Princesses without doing our best to help you?” She paused only for a moment to take in a breath before continuing her monologue, “So then I went around and gathered up all our friends so we could go on the trip together. Rarity’s busy on her business trip so of course she can’t come but that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t join you and do our very, very best to make sure it goes well.”

I opened my mouth to question how she knew all that, but a quick glance at Twilight showed her shaking her head at me. I closed my mouth and leaned down next to her ear, whispering behind my hand as the others talked, “How did she know all that?”

Twilight lowered her own voice into a whisper as she replied, “When it comes to Pinkie I’ve learned to just accept her the way she is. She’ll never make any sense, unless the situation really calls for it, but she’ll always do her best to help her friends in any way she deems necessary. The last time I tried to figure her out all I got for it was a monumental headache.”

I nodded my understanding, “Gotcha.”

I was thinking about how I might try and get a quick nap in on the train when my thoughts were derailed by a soft clinking noise. I looked down and saw Pinkie tapping her hoof against the plating of my prosthetic with wide eyes.

“Ooh, shiny.” She said as she pulled her hoof back and leaned in to peer between the servos, “I never knew you had a metal leg Sarah.” She looked up to meet my gaze, “What’d you do to get it?”

“Wait, Sarah’s got a what now?” Applejack asked, walking over to us with a confused expression. Her eyes widened as she caught a glance at my not-so-normal limb, “Well I’ll be a donkey’s aunt, you do have a metal leg.”

Fluttershy shied away from it slightly with a cringe, “Does that mean you,” she swallowed thickly before continuing, “lost your real one and had it replaced with that?”

At her soft words, the charm and curiosity seemed to get sucked out of the room, leaving all five of them looking at me with different degrees of pity. Even Rainbow was looking sheepish as her glance kept bouncing from my leg to anywhere else and back again.

I felt a heat rising in my cheeks, and I fought the urge to try and hide my limb from them, “Yes, I lost my leg in an accident. There was nothing the doctors could do so they made me this cool replacement so I could walk without needing some kind of aid.” I held my arm over my chest as I averted my gaze, “Can we not talk about it? It’s not exactly a day I like to think about.”

“I getcha sugarcube.” AJ said softly, removing her hat and holding it against her chest, “Some things are better left in the past, so long as we don’t let it hurt us in the present.”

Pinkie made a sad face as a puppy whimper escaped her mouth, “Oh this is no good at all. We’re on a mission to see the Princesses and nopony is happy about the exciting new things we’re going to learn.” She got up on her hind hooves and hugged me around my ribs, burying her face between my breasts, “Please feel better Sarah. I don’t like it when my friends are not feeling super-duper yeperific.”

I smiled at her words, hugging her shoulders as I rested my cheek on her mane, “Thank you Pinkie. I’ll try not to bring the mood down if I can help it.”

Some of the poof seemed to come back to the peppy mare, and she looked up from her position between my breasts with big puppy eyes, “You really mean it?”

God damnit! Why do these ponies have to be so gosh-darned adorable?! “Pinkie Promise.” I didn’t know what kind of social norms surrounded the oath that left my mouth, but for that moment it just seemed to fit right.

At that Pinkie’s smile returned in full force, and she bounced around like some kind of super bouncy ball before coming back down next to Applejack, “Goodie, now I don’t need to bring out my big guns.”

We all collectively chose not to question the pink wonder as she beamed like a child, and I felt a slight bit better about having them join us. All at once, I realized that I now had some energy in my system instead of dragging my heels from lack of sleep.

Clever girl. I mused to myself as the train pulled up to the station, although my thoughts were completely thrown out the proverbial window as I actually saw what the train looked like.

The whole engine looked like someone had taken a little girl’s coloring book, chewed it up and puked it all over the powerhouse of the train. I mean, pink and white hearts painted on every visible surface, with heart-shaped windows to boot?! It was just another reminder that the customs and tastes of my hosts were far from what any human would consider normal. At least the cars were mostly normal, save for the slight gingerbread theme they had going on the roofs.

We boarded the train and sat down on the long benches that ran the length of the car, Twilight choosing to sit across from me while the others took up seats around the barren car. The engine let out a high whistle before the train lurched out of the station, the soft clickity-clack of the wheels on the tracks adding a soft white noise to the space. I sat next to a window and rested my chin on one hand as I watched the scenery go by, choosing to ignore my companions as our journey to Canterlot began. I didn’t really have the energy for conversation, and I had some bad memories that were trying to bring themselves to the fore in my mind’s eye.

I was just about to sigh in relief as I was able to repress the dark memories, when I felt a soft wing settle over my shoulders. I looked to my left and saw Fluttershy sitting next to me, her lips curled into a small smile as she leaned her body against mine.

“You don’t have to say anything.” She said softly as she closed her eyes and rested her cheek against my shoulder, “Just relax and try to think happy thoughts. Everything will be alright if we just believe it will be.”

I smiled, moving my arm to pull her against me gently as I rubbed the base of her neck with my fingers. She hummed softly and snuggled a bit closer to me as her wing curled around my back in a sideways hug.

I glanced over at the others, who were watching with soft smiles on their faces, and felt a warmth in my chest not unlike my new power. The only difference was that I knew what this heat was. It was something I hadn’t felt since I had been discharged from the Corps. No, longer than that. This was a feeling that hadn’t been in my life since I moved out of my family’s house. As crazy as it was, I had found something I hadn’t even realized I had been missing until I nearly died and somehow got transported to another world. I returned my gaze to Fluttershy as she slept soundly against my shoulder, and gently ran my fingers through her mane.

This feeling in my heart, was contentment.

I must have dozed off at some point along the way, because the next thing I was aware of was the screech of the train’s brakes and the sudden pressure of the deceleration. I grunted as Fluttershy fell off my shoulder and landed in my lap, the impact waking the shy pegasus as the train came to a full stop.

Fluttershy looked around in bewilderment for a moment, before turning and looking up at me. Her eyes widened slightly as her cheeks colored, and she practically leaped off my lap as her wings flared to full span.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she sputtered out as she tried to get her wings under control, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

I couldn’t find it in my heart to get mad at her, she was just too sweet and apologetic for any angry thoughts to take root in my mind, “It’s fine Fluttershy. I fell asleep too so I guess we’re both at fault.”

She looked at me with her one visible eye, her expression apprehensive, “You’re not mad that I fell asleep on you?”

I shrugged, “Like I said, I technically fell asleep on you as well so I’m just as much to blame.” I stood up and offered my hand to her, “Shall we go? I believe this is our stop.”

She blushed even more before gingerly setting her hoof in my palm, allowing me to help her up and off the bench as the others stepped by to exit the car. Rainbow gave me and Fluttershy a confused look, but otherwise didn’t comment as we all filed out and onto the platform.
I turned my attention to our surroundings, and was surprised to see that we were in a rather large city. Cobblestone roads wound their way through large stone buildings, some three or four stories tall and all done up in brilliant white marble. The roofing used on most of the structures was a brilliant metallic gold, although it had to be brass or some other stronger metal to be usable as a building material. I took a single step beyond the platform, followed by Twilight and the others, as we began our journey through the bustling streets of Canterlot.

“Wow.” I muttered to myself as we passed by another high-end shop with lavish dresses on display, “Is this the home of, like, all the high society ponies that live in your kingdom?”

“Well not all of them,” Twilight answered as she fell in at my left side, “but Canterlot is the capitol of Equestria, so it’s only natural that a large majority of the nobility live here.”

My eyes caught another couple dressed in fancy clothing turning their noses up at me and my companions, “Yeah, really feeling the nobility from the locals. Is there any way we can get through this mess faster?”

“Not unless you can fly like me.” Rainbow said as she flew past me on her back, her forehooves folded behind her head as she glided along, “They don’t even allow taxi services here because too many nobles complained about the noise of the wheels on the road.”

I rolled my eyes, “Great, just another day in snob land. I’m sure I’m going to love it here.” The sarcasm in my tone was so heavy it could sink a battleship.

Applejack stepped up on my others side, giving a nearby stallion the stink eye before turning to me, “Yeah, most of these varmints wouldn’t give you the time of day unless your horseshoes were made of silver.” She spit onto the cobblestone in distaste, “Makes me want to buck some sense into their cotton-headed noggins.”

I chuckled at the mental image, “Yeah, I would almost pay to see that. Although the medical bills afterwards would be a bother.”

The girls giggled at my joke before we lapsed into a comfortable silence. The rest of our trip was mostly uneventful, although the whispers from the nobility we passed were nearly enough to make me lose my temper a couple times. I had to remind myself several times that beating foreign nobility about the head and neck with a street lamp was a diplomatic no-no, although the mental image of doing such a thing helped immensely with lifting my mood.

After about half an hour of walking, we came up to what had to be the Canterlot Castle’s gates, although they were wide open with only two guards to keep them secure. Instead of my dynamic duo, these guards were dressed in white and gold armor, with helmets reminisce of Roman centurions on their heads. They nodded to Twilight and the gang as we entered, although I caught them giving me long second looks as we made our way into the castle courtyard. We passed through what had to be the biggest front doors in history, and followed several hallways that I quickly lost track of as we progressed.

“How do you know this place so well?” I asked as we made yet another random turn down a hallway that looked the same as the one we had just left, “I’m getting dizzy from all these identical hallways and I have no idea where we are.”

Twilight smiled as she looked over her shoulder at me, “I practically grew up in these halls when I was Princess Celestia’s personal student. Plus, the girls and I have saved Equestria several times, so we get to visit the castle quite often.”

I lifted an eyebrow in suspicion, “You’ve saved Equestria several times? Now this I have got to hear.”

“Well there was the time we purified Princess Luna when she was still Nightmare Moon.” Twilight said, ticking off the different events with a tap of her hoof as we continued down the hall, “Then we defeated Discord, the embodiment of chaos,”

“Twice.” Rainbow added as she hovered on my right.

“Twice,” Twilight conceded, “although reforming him doesn’t really count as defeating him, I guess. Then there was the invasion of the changelings, although it was mostly my brother and Princess Cadence that stopped them from taking over. Then there was Tirek when he tried to steal all the pony magic in Equestria.”

She paused, glancing over her shoulder at the others, completely oblivious to my gob-smacked expression, “Am I forgetting anything girls?”

“Nope, Ah think that ‘bout covers it Twi’.” Applejack said as she glanced my way, although her face scrunched up with poorly contained laughter as our eyes met, “You should see your face right now, sugarcube. Ya’ll look like your metal leg got turned into cheese.”

I shook my head to get my thoughts in line, taking a deep breath to calm myself as I turned to face forward again, “So you’re national heroes. Way to drop that on me at the last minute.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said as she shifted her wings slightly in anxiety, “we didn’t know it would be that important to you.”

I shrugged, choosing to ignore the fact that my hosts had saved the nation several times for a moment, “Yeah, it’s not that big a deal, I just wasn’t expecting my new friends to be such influential members of society.”

“Oh, we don’t actually hold that much power,” Twilight said as we came up to a large set of doors emblazoned with gold designs in the shape of a sun, “I may be a princess, but my friends and I don’t really have any say in making laws or things like that. Even the nobility have to petition Princess Celestia or Princess Luna to have the laws changed.”

“So, your diarchy is more like a benevolent dictatorship,” I translated, “and you and your friends are more like military assets than nobility.” I rolled my eyes as the doors began to open, “Sounds legit.”

“Well, I guess you could put it that way,” Twilight mused as the doors opened fully, “but given Princess Celestia has ruled Equestria with her sister for over a thousand years, who better to lead our nation?”

My eye twitched at the number she had just uttered. A thousand years?! What are these Princesses, demigods or something?

My thoughts were brought to a halt as we stepped into what had to be the throne room, although the twin thrones at the other end of the long red carpet were currently empty. The doors closed behind us as we entered the room proper, and I got the distinct feeling we had just been locked in. One of the doors at the other end of the room opened, and my jaw dropped at what walked in through the opening.
I had been expecting Celestia to look more like Twilight, with a horn and a set of wings. Well I was partially correct, although the pony that walked into the throne room was far from ordinary. While the ponies I had come to know came up to about my stomach in height, Celestia was so tall my eyes were level with her chin, to say nothing of the two-foot horn that protruded from her head like a pike. Her mane and tail were absolutely massive, and they reminded me of the aroura with their shifting hues and the way they flowed in an absent breeze. Her coat was the purest white I had ever seen, while the golden regalia that adorned her body glinted in the sunlight. Her magenta eyes were kind yet ancient, and I could believe that this mare had lived for a thousand plus years. Her gaze seemed to stare into my very soul as she walked into the room, nearly making me miss the second individual as she entered behind Celestia.

This mare was a fair bit shorter than Celestia, her gaze level with my shoulders while her horn reached to just above my head. She was the exact opposite of Celestia, in that her body was a dark blue in color, while her mane and tail resembling the night sky as they too rippled in a non-present wind. Her teal eyes were a fair deal younger than her sister’s, and the bags under them did little to help her case as a large coffee mug floated along in a dark blue aura. The poor girl looked like she was half asleep, and she hung her head low as she trudged into the throne room behind Celestia. Given what little I knew, this must have been Princess Luna, Celestia’s younger sister.

I did the first thing that came to mind as the two royals came to a stop before us. I snapped to attention and threw out my most polished salute I could manage.

“Captain Sarah Lovegood of the United States 75th Ranger Corps reporting as requested, sir!” I kept my gaze level with Celestia’s as the two royals looked on in what looked like surprise.

“Well that was certainly a memorable introduction,” Celestia said smoothly as she stepped up to me, “You may rest at ease Sarah Lovegood. There is no need for such decorum here.”

I relaxed, dropping my arm as I rubbed my hands together nervously, “Well, I wasn’t really sure how you would react to me, so I thought a proper Ranger sign-in would be the best way to go.” I looked up and felt small for the first time since arriving on this crazy world, “You’re a lot bigger than I was expecting.”

Celestia chuckled as she glanced at the others behind me, “Knowing how my size compares to my subjects, I can understand why that would be the case.” Her gaze returned to me, and I straightened out of habit as she looked me up and down, “You are certainly a unique being. I would dare say you are a rare beauty in a world known for its amazing grandeur.”

I blushed under her praise, “Would you mind explaining to me why it is everyone’s commenting on me being beautiful? I’m not even from this world and yet I’ve had more than a dozen comments on my looks since I got here.”

She smiled softly, “While you may not be native to our land, that does not change the fact that you have a natural beauty that is rare in my subjects. Plus, your foreign nature only adds to your natural allure.”

I tried to find some way to brush off her words, but I couldn’t bring myself to argue with her. It was like trying to argue with my grandmother, you just couldn’t do it.

“Yet you seem to be flustered by this attention,” Luna added as she walked up, draining the last of her coffee, “is it not customary on your world to compliment one on their beauty?”

I shook my head, “Well, you see, back home I’m not all that special. I’m just your average woman who happens to have good hygiene and dresses in decent clothing. I was never seen as a real catch by most of the guys, and even then, most of them saw me as a fellow member of the Corps first and a woman second.”

At that Luna’s eyes lit up with interest, “That is the second time you have mentioned this Corps. Are you by chance a member of your home’s military?”

I nodded, to the apparent surprise of my companions, “I was a part of the United States Ranger Corps, and a captain to boot.” My face fell as my hand ran along the metal of my leg, “Well, at least I was.”

The sisters’ gazes followed my own, only to widen as they caught sight of my metallic leg. Luna leaning in closer, inspecting my limb with the utmost scrutiny as Celestia turned her gaze back to mine. The pity in those magenta orbs made me want to hit her, but I restrained myself in favor of a simple nod.

Luna looked up at me without moving her head from its lowered position, “What could cause such an injury to require replacing your entire leg with this automaton?”

I really wanted to hide the truth, if not for my sake then for the sake of my new friends. I didn’t want to burden them with the pains of my past. Yet as Luna and Celestia turned their combined weight behind their gazes, I crumbed under the pressure.

“Alright, I’ll tell you.” I sighed, rubbing my arm with my other hand, “It isn’t going to be easy to hear though.”

The ponies gathered around me in a semicircle, leaving me in the middle with Luna and Celestia. I took a deep breath, and was about to begin when I heard something coming from beyond the stained-glass windows that made up the left wall. All eyes turned to the shadow that was growing over the tinted design, and my eyes widened at what I knew was about to happen.

“Everybody duck!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, diving behind the thrones as the screaming object shattered the window.

Glass rained down onto the floor as a golden bubble formed around the ponies, and I saw something skid along the floor several times before impacting the far wall. I hid my head under my arms, bracing for the explosion, but was surprised by the lack of searing heat and deafening noise that should have followed. I peeked out from behind the thrones just in time to catch the object, no, creature right itself and dust itself off.

“Am I late?” The crazy mix and matched abomination asked in a gravelly voice, “I could have sworn I had my clock set for the instant my little protégé got into Canterlot,” I watch as a misshapen clock appeared in its mismatched claws, was given a rather nasty stink eye, and was then summarily tossed over one shoulder, “but sadly it seems my timekeeping skills are not all they’re cracked up to be.”

“Discord!” Twilight yelled as the bubble around them faded from existence, “You know better than to cause random destruction!”

“Oh psshh,” the newly named Discord said as he waved Twilight’s words away like flies, “I know that. I was just going for a grand entrance. I was going to put the window back anyway.” He snapped his lion paw, and I watched as the shards of glass floated back into position, although the image ended up upside down. “Whoops, force of habit.” Discord muttered as he snapped his fingers again, this time revealing the pane in its proper orientation.

The embodiment of chaos looked around the room, spying me as I openly stared from behind the thrones, “Ah there you are my dear. I was wondering where you had gotten off to.” He disappeared from view and I yelped in surprise as he somehow managed to pop out of my shirt collar to stare me in the face, “So nice to see you again.”

“Discord, state your business here at once.” I was nearly floored by the controlled anger that seemed to radiate off Celestia in waves, “Miss Sarah is none of your concern.”

“Oh but that’s where your wrong dear Celestia.” He mused as he ducked back into my shirt and then reappeared between me and the ponies, “If it wasn’t for me little Sarah here would be lying dead at the bottom of a cliff with nothing to look forward to but getting eaten by crows and other vermin.”

At that instant my mind flashed back to the last memories I had from Earth, “YOU! You were the one who I met when I fell off the cliff!”

Discord turned his mismatched eyes onto me, grinning like a madman, “Ah, and here I thought you had forgotten me when I brought you across the vast interdimensional void.” He tapped me on the top of the head with his eagle claw and I felt something appear where he had touched me. I pulled the hat off and saw it was a ballcap that had the words ‘Smarty-Pants’ written above the bill. “You are certainly more fun than anything I’ve run into in this realm in a long time.”

The ponies seemed to be confused beyond measure, including both princesses, “What does he mean, Sarah?” Celestia asked as her gaze traveled between me and Discord, “Is he speaking the truth?”

I glanced up at the god being that had apparently saved my life, “I guess he is. I thought it was all a hallucination caused by my blood loss. I never imagined that I was really saved by some being beyond the universe.”

Discord shifted until he was dressed in a fine suit, performing a sarcastic bow in my direction, “Oh you flatter me, do please go on.”

I rolled my eyes, “Now I see what Twilight meant when she called you the lord of chaos. Did you come up with that title yourself or did you pull it off of the back of a cereal box?”

Discord’s eyes snapped open with an audible popping noise, and I heard several of the others gasp at what I had said. Discord slowly turned to face me, and then did something even I wasn’t expecting.

He fell over and clutched his stomach as he bust a gut laughing.

I shared a confused look with the ponies as he got himself under control, pushing himself to his mismatched feet before turning to me, “Oh I knew there was something I liked about you. Call me crazy but nopony has ever had the gall to crack a joke at my expense before.” He slapped me on the back hard enough to nearly send me onto my face, “Oh we’re going to get along just fine you and I.”

“If thou were the one who brought young Lovegood to Equestria,” Luna asked as she slowly advanced on Discord with a narrowed gaze, “to what end were thou trying to exact upon her arrival? What is her purpose in this world?”

Discord rolled his eyes, literally off his face and around the perimeter of the room before picking them up and sticking them back where they belonged, “Oh so serious Lulu, and here I thought we were buddies now, what with my reformation and all that.”

I snickered at the nickname as Luna’s cheeks colored, “Thou whilst answer our question, rouge, or we shall be forced to take drastic measures to garner the truth!”

Celestia walked up and rested a wing over her fuming sister’s back, “Peace sister. You won’t get anywhere threatening him.” She turned her gaze onto the chaotic being before her, her eyes a level calm as she met his mismatched orbs, “Would you please tell us why you brought Sarah to our world?”

Luna sputtered as she gaped at her sister, “Sister! Do not belittle yourself to this creature! It will only fuel his ego!”

“And yet fueling his ego is the exact way to get a straight answer out of him,” Celestia countered as she sent a sidelong smirk at her sister, “you should know this after we’ve dealt with him for so long.”

“Yes, well I’m feeling generous today,” Discord mused as he levitated into the air and summoned a lounge chair to sit in, a pipe and bath robe appearing as he reclined until the back of the chair was facing the floor, “so I’ll let you in on a little secret.” He turned his upside-down body to face me, “Sarah Lovegood, as per our agreement, I am charging you with assisting the ponies in however you can with the coming battles. A darkness is coming, one that even our dear Luna does not know, and you are one of the only ones who can stop it. It has been nearly a thousand years since the days of the Shadow Wars, but the powers that be are choosing this as their time to make an encore performance.”

Celestia’s eyes widened as Luna’s face twisted in confusion, although it was Twilight who spoke first, “What darkness? What’s coming that Sarah has to fight?”

Discord wagged a finger at the lavender alicorn, “Ah, ah, ah, that would be spoilers. My omnipotence may be limited to the near future for anything other than general possibilities, but I know enough to understand that Equestria as it is will not be able to handle the coming threat by itself.” His gaze returned to me, and I felt a shiver run up my spine as he looked me over from his precarious perch, “So while all of you were going about your boring little lives, I traveled the vast void between universes to find someone who could fight this new enemy.” He indicated me with his lion paw as the chair disappeared and he landed on his feet again, “The one I went searching for it none other than the little human you see before you.”

All at once it all came back to me, the offer to save my life, the debt I had to pay when he would return to me, the whole thing. And I felt cheated by it in all honesty, “That’s it? All of that big talk about some debt I owed you for saving my life, and you use the request to tell me to save the lives of those I would protect anyway?!” I groaned as I facepalmed, “Only a lord of chaos would do something so stupid.”

“Not stupid,” he corrected me, “chaotic. I find there is a world of difference between the two. After all, stupidity isn’t random, it’s just lack of common sense. My brand of chaos is a cut above the rest, after all, it is the reason I exist in this world.”

“But how could you have known about the Shadow Wars?” Celestia asked, much to the confusion of the rest of those present, “You were encased in stone during that time.”

Discord chuckled as he pat Celestia on the head with his eagle claws, “Oh silly Celestia. Did you really think I was just an overgrown garden ornament for the thousand years you imprisoned me? Oh no, you simply contained my body within the borders of Equestria. My mind was free to go wherever it wished, so long as I didn’t cause any mischief within your borders. I even made a new body for myself and everything while I was exploring the rest of this wonderful world, although that old thing never did quite fit right.”

This seemed to take even Celestia aback, her eyes widening in shock as Discord pulled a limp copy of his body from out of a backpack that materialized out of nowhere, “I mean look at his thing,” he waved the limp husk around like it was an old dishtowel, “the scales are all wrong and my fur is not that scruffy.”

“But you look exactly the same.” Rainbow said with her usual lack of tact.

“Of course not!” Discord replied as he held up the copy to his face, “it’s not supposed to, oh,” he paused as he took a closer look at the husk, “it does look exactly like me.” He huffed as he held a paw to his forehead in dramatic fashion, “Oh woe is me to have such an ugly persona. Here, if you like it so much you can have it.” Rainbow yelped as he tossed the husk onto the floor next to the girls, “Turn it into a carpet for all I care. The blasted thing never was as good as old reliable anyway. We shall see each other again soon, Sarah Lovegood, but remember your promise. Do whatever you can to stop the coming evils, or else this world will be destroyed along with all those you care for.”

He snapped his claws and disappeared in a puff of pink smoke, his dark laughter echoing around the room as he departed.

“What was he talking about, sister?” Luna asked as the tension slowly drained from the room, “What are the Shadow Wars, and why have I not heard of them until just now?”

“We can worry about that later, Luna.” Celestia replied as I walked up to her and the rest of the girls, “I want to verify that what Discord said was true before we do anything rash. After all, it wouldn’t be beyond him to do all this as some titanic prank. He’s done far worse in the past just for kicks.”

While Luna seemed to accept her sister’s words, I still saw the light of suspicion in her eyes as Celestia turned to me, “In any case, we were going to try and understand this new power you’ve discovered, before we were so rudely interrupted.”

I nodded, casting a glance towards Twilight and the others, “Yeah, I never was able to do anything like it when I was home on Earth. Twilight thinks it might have something to do with the magic of this world reacting with my body.”

Celestia nodded, taking a seat in front of me as Luna fell in by her side, “Then please demonstrate this ability, and we shall see if we can discover the truth behind your new power.”

I nodded, closing my eyes and trying to feel out the heat that had formed in my chest the last time. I found it surprisingly fast, although now that I knew what to look for it wasn’t as hard as I imagined. Yet the energy seemed to be calmer now, more controlled than when I had used it last. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t feeling embarrassed or angry. I held up my hands and closed them into fists, trying to make the energy flow down my arms and into my fingers instead of simply throwing random punches. I’d rather not repeat the silly antics I had used when I first showed Twilight.

It took some doing and a little mental gymnastics, but after a minute or two I felt the heat move from my chest and into my hands. I didn’t even need to open my eyes to know it was happening again. The loud gasps that escaped from most of the others were proof enough that it had worked.

I opened my eyes and was slightly surprised to see the flames were a bright blue in color instead of the red or pink from before. I opened my hands and collected the energy into two spheres before pressing them together. The energy fused as the two orbs collided, and formed into one bigger ball as I held it aloft with one hand. I looked up to try and assess the reactions of the others, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Rainbow had seen me do this before, so she wasn’t all that impressed, although Twilight was paying avid attention to the flames as they hovered above my fingers. Apparently, she had also noticed the color change from our previous attempt, if the muttered notations she was making were anything to go by. Fluttershy was floating off the ground for the first time in my memory, moving so that she was looking directly into the flames as they slowly swirled and fizzed. She slowly reached out with a hoof and touched it, her eyes widening slightly as a small smile curled the corners of her mouth.

“It’s like a little heartbeat.” She said softly as AJ walked up next to me, her head tilted to the side in interest, “It’s warm and tender but not weak or timid.” She slowly landed and looked up at me, “What is it?”

“I don’t recon I’ve seen anything like that before,” Applejack said as she reached up to tap the flames herself, “It’s like somepony made a fire but forgot to add most of the heat.”

“Indeed,” Luna said as she walked up and inspected the energy, “I can sense very weak magic coming from this sphere, but it is unlike anything I have ever encountered.” She glanced back at Celestia, “Have you seen anything like this before, sister?”

Celestia nodded, although upon closer inspection I noticed that her movements had become slightly rigid, I would dare say even hesitant, “I have seen this magic before. It is a very old magic, and very powerful.” All eyes turned to her as she stepped up to me, her eyes locked with mine as she spoke, “I now understand why Discord brought you here, and if what he said is truly coming to pass, then we do not have much time. You are the first user of Auramancy in the last eight hundred and fifty years, and it bodes ill for the fate of Equestria if Discord brought you here to fight some forgotten evil.”

“Ooh, what’s Auramancy?” Pinkie asked as she popped out from under the discarded husk Discord left on the floor, one limb hanging off her head like a morbid hat, “I’ve never heard of that kind of magic before.”

“Nor have I.” Twilight said as she narrowed her eyes in confusion, “It’s not part of any of the eight schools we practice today, and I would know, I’ve studied all of them extensively.”

“You are not alone in your ignorance young Sparkle,” Luna said softly as she cast a suspicious glace at her sister, “for even I am not familiar with this, Auramancy. Please, enlighten us, dear sister, on what secrets you have been hiding from us.”

“It is a long and dark tale,” Celestia said slowly, “one too long for our meeting here today. What I will tell you, is that Auramancy is not known within the eight schools of magic, because it was never part of any of them to begin with.”

I closed my hands over the ball of energy, allowing it to flow back into my body as we payed rapt attention to Celestia’s words. “What do you mean Princess?” Twilight asked, “All magic falls under one of the eight schools. Every spell a unicorn or alicorn can cast either belongs to Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy or Transmutation. It’s always been that way, even back before the time of Starswirl the Bearded!”

Celestia slowly shook her head, “You are wrong my once faithful student. Auramancy doesn’t belong to any of the eight schools, because it is the lost ninth school of magic, one that has been forgotten to the sands of time because of its, unique, properties.”

Her words left everyone speechless, even Princess Luna, who was doing her best to catch flies in her hanging jaw. I wasn’t as effected as the others, given I had none of the backstory behind these schools of magic they were talking about. However, it was enough to make me rethink my new ability as the magical ponies before me tried and failed spectacularly to contain their shock.

“So, this means I’ve got some lost magic flowing through my body?” I asked, snapping the others out of their stupor, “What does that mean exactly?”

Celestia turned to me with a somber expression, “It means that if Discord was telling the truth, then you might be our only hope to stop the coming evil. Auramancy is a very unique form of magic, given that it does not rely on the same rules and limits of the other eight schools.”

The others sat in a semicircle as Celestia continued, hanging on her ever word. “You see, Auramancy derives its name from the way in which the practitioner uses their power. Instead of relying on the magic in their bodies or of their surroundings to cast their spells, an auramancer instead channels the energy of their soul.”

Twilight and Luna leapt to their hooves, bristling with a combination of anger and fear, “Sister! Thou knows that all forms of soul magic are forbidden by the most stringent laws! It is referred to as a dark art for the very same reasons mind magic is forbidden!”

“What kind of school would teach this to its students?!” Twilight agreed, “Soul magic is one of the most dangerous and powerful forms of spell-work in the world!”

“Be still, please” Celestia said slowly, raising one hoof in a placating gesture, “it is not as you think. Please, let me explain and hold your worries until after I am done speaking. Soul magic is indeed one of the darkest forms of magic we know of, but this is not the same thing.”

Luna and Twilight reluctantly sat back down, although I noticed the tension in their bodies as they cast nervous glances my direction.

Celestia cleared her throat before continuing, “As I was saying, an auramancer channels the energy of their soul in order to cast their spells. However, this is far from the dark and dangerous magic used in necromancy, as it is a magic of life rather than death. You see, Auramancy was a school created with the express purpose of combatting necromancers, long ago when Equestria was not as peaceful as it is today. Auramancy is the direct antithesis to necromancy, because the energy used by auramancers is tied to the energy of life. It cannot harm something that is living any more than a foal trying to fight a manticore. That is why it was used to fight the undead, as it was the only thing that could sever the connection between the corpse and the necromancer controlling it.

“So yer saying those flames Sarah makes are actually part of her soul?” Applejack asked, looking slightly squeamish, “I’m not sure Ah’m comfortable with that.”

Celestia shook her head, “Not exactly Applejack. The flames you see when Sarah uses her Auramancy abilities are not part of her soul, but rather the energy produced by her soul. Think of it as the heat you feel coming off of a flame. It would be far too hot to touch fire directly, yet we use it to heat our homes and cook our food. Why? Because the energy given off by the fire is useful to us. The same goes for Auramancy. It is not her soul that is being utilized, but the energy it produces as she goes about her daily life.”

“So would that explain why it changes color depending on my mood?” I asked, “Because it’s gone from red to pink and now to light blue each time I’ve used it.”

“Were you feeling a different mood during each casting?” Celestia asked. I nodded, “Then there is your answer. Auramancy is tied to our souls, and therefore is tied to our mind. As your mood changes, the amount of power and the color of your energy will change to match it. Stronger emotions will yield stronger energy, although different colors are more useful for different kinds of casting.”

“What do you mean, Princess?” Fluttershy asked with a raised hoof, “Can Sarah cast different kinds of spells?”

Celestia’s face turned thoughtful as she placed a hoof against her chin, “While they are not spells in the normal sense, different types of Auramancy energy can yield different effects. Auramancers are unique in another way, given the energy they wield can be used to mimic several of the other schools, with enough training and practice.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as her jaw hung open, “A school that can mimic other schools?! This is amazing!” She rounded on me and fell to her knees as she clasped her hooves in front of her chest, “Please teach me how to use Auramancy, Sarah. There’s a whole new area of magic that needs to be studied!”

“I’m afraid she’s not going to be able to teach you for some time yet.” Celestia intervened, “Sarah is still a novice at using Auramancy abilities, so she will be unable to do much more than conjure her energy until she goes through proper training.”

I turned to face her with a slightly hopeful expression, “And would you be the one to teach me?”

My face fell as she shook her head, “Even if I was able to use Auramancy magic, it has not been formally practiced in over eight centuries. I’m afraid I would be less than useless in teaching you. I was never even able to summon my aura, as you have just displayed.” Her eyes leveled with mine, and I felt the heat in my core rise as she continued, “Be proud of the fact that you carry such an honored craft within you. Many noble heroes once wielded the same power you do, so do their memory justice by learning all you can.”

She paused for a moment, her horn glowing brightly before a large tome appeared next to her head, “This is an Auramancy spell book passed down through the generations. It was given to me by the last grandmaster before he passed away, and I have kept it in my private collection to this very day.” The monstrous book floated over to me, and I grunted at its weight as it settled in my grasp, “Care for it well, and learn what you can from its contents over the coming months. All of the Auramancy craft is contained within those pages, and there exists no other copy. You are holding the sum knowledge of three generations of auramancer grandmasters, and the complete collection of all Auramancy literature. Be sure to safeguard it, and do your foremares honor by continuing their hallowed art.”

I looked down at the weathered book in my arms, my gaze roaming over the golden lock that held it closed and the intricate gold leaf engraving on the cover. I spun it around and saw that the design was mirrored on the back, as well as along the spine.

I looked up and nodded to Celestia, tucking it under one arm as I snapped into a salute, “I will guard it with my life and treat it as if it were made of solid gold.”

Celestia nodded, “When you wish to open the book, channel your aura into your hand and place it against the lock. It was built to only open if an auramancer was in possession of it.” She smiling softly as she turned to the others, “Now that we have that out of the way, I am afraid I must depart. Court matters must be attended to and I do not want to fall behind in my paperwork.”

“I shall accompany you, sister,” Luna said as she levered herself to her hooves, “my sleep schedule is already destroyed as it is, staying up to assist you will not make things any worse.”

As the royal sisters turned to go, I caught Luna’s whispered words as they walked away, “And you will tell me about these Shadow Wars that I seem to have missed. You have some explaining to do dear sister of mine.”

I didn’t hear Celestia’s reply, although the slight slump in her shoulders meant she had probably sighed. I turned to face the girls, and was immediately set upon by the pink wonder.

“Oh this is so exciting!” Pinkie yelled as she bounced around the room, “now I can throw you a ‘Congratulations-On-Discovering-A-Lost-Magic-School’ party, with lots of streamers and balloons and a huge triple-layer cake!”

I rolled my eyes as I tried to ignore the living sugar rush going bananas behind me, “So I guess we head back to Ponyville now?”

The girls shared glances before Twilight nodded, “I guess there’s nothing left for us to do here. Come on girls, let’s see if we can catch the two o’clock train before it leaves.”

“Heh,” Rainbow scoffed, “it wasn’t like we need to worry about anything right now. Discord was probably pulling our legs or something. I mean come on, I’ve never even heard of these Shadow Wars that he talked about. He must have made the whole thing up to scare us.”

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy murmured as we made our way out of the castle, “Princess Celestia seemed to be awfully worried for something that was made up.”

“Yeah,” Applejack added, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Princess react like that. She looked like somepony had just stuck a lemon in her mouth with a pound of salt for good measure.”

I chose not to add my thoughts to the conversation between the ponies as we walked the city streets, instead reflecting on what I had learned in my own mind.

Was Discord really telling the truth? I asked myself as we came up to the train station, Am I some pawn in a cosmic game of chess that he’s playing against this forgotten evil? What is my purpose here in this crazy technicolored world of little ponies?

I was pulled out of my thoughts as I settled onto one of the seats, feeling a warm body resting against mine as I returned to the real world. Fluttershy was looking up at me as she rested her shoulder against mine, her wing pulling me into a sideways hug as she nuzzled against my cheek.

I felt my cheeks heating up as her lips grazed against my skin, “What was that for?” I asked as she pulled back, not sure if I wanted to run or push her away from me.

She smiled knowingly as she leaned into me, “You always get this hard look on your face when you’re thinking about something. I like it when you smile so I thought I would try and cheer you up.”

I thought about her words for a moment, looking deep into her big teal eyes before feeling a smile grace my lips, “Thanks Fluttershy, I appreciate your worrying about me. I’m used to being the one who has to worry about others when things get tough.”

She nodded, resting her cheek on my shoulder as her tail curled around my hips, “I can tell. I just want you to know that you can talk to us about your problems. We won’t judge you or think less of you for sharing your burdens.”

I nodded, leaning my head against the window as the train began to move, If only you knew how big a burden I have to bear. You wouldn’t be so keen to help me if you found out what kind of monster I really am.

I closed my eyes and tried to catch a nap on the way back to town, and I let the gentle rocking of the train lull my mind into calm as Fluttershy softly snored against my side. I smiled as her wing tugged me closer to her side, and I wrapped an arm around her body before allowing sleep to overtake me.

Maybe this crazy world wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

Author's Notes:

At this point I'm not even going to question how I'm writing this many chapters so quickly. I'm just going to accept it and move on.

So! How is everypony liking the story? Are you excited, upset, nervous, some crazy mixed-up combination of the three? Well if so, then that means I'm doing my job right!

Anyways, happy reading, and I look forward to seeing you all next chapter,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon.