The hall of elements in Canterlot was filled with the sounds of music and cheers as many ponies from across Equestria had gathered at the castle. It had only been a month and a half since the attack on Canterlot by the ones who called themselves the Sworn Six of Paladia and there were still signs that the castle had a long way to go before it could be able to be fully restored. But today… was a rather different occasion. Sure, they were able to still host the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot despite many of the nobles raising concerns about security for the event as well as safety, but this event was not a fancy annual party by any means.

This was a celebration of bravery, perseverance and most of all… harmony. For earlier in the day, when a group of students got into an argument amongst each other and accidentally let out the spirit of chaos that called himself Discord, the six mares who were the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony were able to put a stop to the draconequus’ schemes before he could throw the entire country of Equestria into a literal state of chaos.

Yet, out of all six of the Elements of Harmony, one of them was not entirely in a celebratory mood this afternoon. That pony was none other than the unicorn that was the bearer of the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. Even though her friends were all happy and celebrating the fact that they were able to save the day, she did not have the same kind of mindset that they did. The whole encounter with Discord had really made her head spin… especially their ‘victory’. And she was trying to make sense of it all.

It was as she was processing all of this in her head that she felt a small tap on the shoulder, which caused the unicorn to swiftly turn around as she found herself looking at a rather familiar face. “Hey Twilight. It’s been a while.”

“Oh hello Sunset,” Twilight greeted the fellow unicorn, who was wearing a pair of slacks and a shirt that matched her mane as she smiled. “It’s good to see you. How have you been?”

“Well, after everything that occured in Canterlot a few weeks ago, things… have been better to say the least,” Sunset response was followed by her taking a drink from a glass of water that she was holding before speaking again. “Though, there is somepony that I would like for you to meet. You remember Stardust Glimmer?”

Twilight’s only response to that was a simple nod. She had met the mare a couple of times while she lived in Canterlot, but prominently remembered her as Rain and Shining’s magic teacher. A kind mare who was also known for being serious when it came to magical studies. It was part of the reason why she had the title of Archmage in the first place.

Yet, as she was taking a sip of the glass of orange juice that she had just gotten from the refreshments area, Sunset said something that… really threw her off. “Well… around two weeks ago, somepony new came to Canterlot to meet her. Turns out… that pony was her daughter, Starlight-”

When she heard that, Twilight almost choked on the juice that she was trying to drink before looking back at Sunset. “Wait a minute… she… has a daughter?”

“Yeah actually,” Sunset replied, pointing across the hall as Twilight saw a lilac mare with a purple and azure mane and tail standing right next to Archmage Stardust herself as the unicorn began to speak. “I was there when they finally had the chance to reunite with one another and… well, they’re glad to be back together again.”

“Why were they separated in the first place though?” Twilight then said, before looking as if she misspoke before adding onto it. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Well… from what I heard, in Starlight’s fillyhood, Stardust and her husband Firelight went through a rather savage divorce. They both couldn’t agree on what kind of future that they wanted for their daughter and it ended up with her father going off to a place called Sire’s Hollow. Stardust originally tried to raise Starlight as one of her own, but given the workload that comes with the title of archmage, she couldn’t exactly take care of her daughter and her work. It got so bad that Foal’s Protective Services got involved and took Starlight away, which left Stardust devastated.”

“Dear Celestia…” Twilight cursed, placing a hand over her mouth upon hearing that.

“It didn’t get better for her though… because after only a few years in her father's care, she ran away from home. She despised her mother because, in her mind, she thought that Stardust abandoned her,” Sunset replied back. “In fact… part of that was what… kind of lead up to her coming here.”

“Could you… explain what you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Well, before she arrived here in Canterlot, she lived out in a small town called Cèanna and was also the town’s mayor… but it was also during that time that she was going through some issues to the point that Starlight almost started her own cult around the idea that nopony would have bad things happen to them if they were all treated equally. But before she could even put that plan in motion, somepony else stopped her. Somepony that I think you and I know both rather well.”

Now that caught Twilight’s attention as she raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

Sunset smirked at that before telling the fellow unicorn the answer. “Rain. He, Shining Armor and a companion of theirs were trying to find the ones who were responsible for the attack on Canterlot when they were forced to take a detour to Cèanna because of hostile weather conditions that closed the port in Baltimare. Long story short, Rain found out what she was doing, both of them fought each other in battle and somehow, Rain was victorious. However, when he heard Starlights story and realized that she could wield the same magic that both he and I can, he gave her his Royal Seal so she could go to Canterlot.”

Now that was something that Twilight did not anticipate at all. Especially since she had not heard from that of Rain or her brother in quite some time. “Wow… I did not expect that. Speaking of Rain, have you heard from him or Shining recently?”

“Well, they’re really hard to try and reach out too since they kind of aren’t in Equestria right now… I think,” The unicorn replied back. “They think that the same armored figures that attacked Canterlot are going after other targets outside Equestria. So Celestia allowed for the two of them to go after them. That was around a month ago… and we really haven’t heard anything since then.”

Though, it was as Sunset said this that the two of them heard a new voice speak to them now. “Oh? Did somepony call my name?” Turning around, Twilight almost tripped and fell backwards when she realized that Princess Celestia herself was standing right behind her.

“P-princess! I-i did not see you there-”

“Worry not, my dear student… I was just wanting to see how you were doing,” The princess replied back to her faithful student. “Your friends seem to be enjoying themselves.”

“Y-yeah… they are…” The princess happened to notice the voice of her student trail off as she looked around. Noticing that the expression on Twilight’s face was not that of joy or cheer… but that of concern and worry.

“Is… something bothering you, Twilight?” The princess then asked, out of concern for her student as she looked back at Sunset. The fire like unicorn just shrugged her shoulders, not sure of why Twilight was acting this was as the lavender unicorn looked back at her teacher.

“Can we talk? Like, in private…” She asked, looking around at the crowd that was around her before adding on to what she said. “There’s been something on my mind that I haven’t really been able to get out of my head and… well, this isn’t exactly the best setting to talk about it.”

For a moment, she thought that the princess would deny her request given the amount of ponies that were here and the possibility that many of them would want to talk with her just like at the gala. Instead though, she said a response that… almost caught Twilight by surprise. “I believe something like that can be arranged.”

Moments after saying that, Twilight found herself following the Princess out into the Royal Garden. The statue of Discord was right back where it originally belonged, but it was also next to three pillars. Two to the sides and one behind the statue of the draconequus and each one had an emerald orb that had what looked like a burning flame in the center of it. Several guards were stationed around the garden as a precaution for if the draconequus would try to get out again, but it was as they noticed the princess and her most trusted student that Celestia lightly twisted her wrist. “Leave us please…”

At first, the guards that were on duty were all puzzled by the princess’ words. But after a bit, they obeyed her commands and began to patrol the castle. Leaving the Princess and Twilight by themselves as Celestia soon spoke up. “So, my young student… what seems to be troubling you?”

“Well… It’s with regards to what happened earlier today,” The unicorn simplified as she looked back at her teacher. “Our encounter with… well, Discord.”

“Twilight…” Celestia spoke softly, a reassuring tone in her voice as she looked back at the unicorn that was her student. “There’s no need for you to worry now. Since you and your friends used the elements of harmony to put him back in stone, there’s no way that he can just break out on his own. Not to mention that I placed new guard shifts to watch his statue just in case if something is off.”

“Well… that is good,” The unicorn replied back. “However, that was not what I was concerned about. Because when we encountered him… well… it almost felt as if it was too easy. It’s something that had been bothering me since we put him back in stone and brought him here. Because he didn’t quite exactly go down without a fight like how Rainbow said he did.”

That… had the princess pause for a moment, looking back towards the statue of the draconequus that had its arms extended out to the sides like it was wanting a hug before turning back to her student. “Oh really?”

“Really… In fact, it was almost as if he decided to give himself up.”

Now that part made Princess Celestia shake her head almost immediately. “My dear student… this is Discord we are talking about. Over a thousand years ago, he used his powers to corrupt ponies into having them be the complete opposite of what they normally are, used his powers to bend reality itself and strove to try and make Equestria his own.”

“And all of that was honestly what I was expecting,” Twilight replied back to her teacher. “But what happened… was actually rather different.”

Two Hours Earlier…

It was true that Discord breaking out of his stone prison came without warning. But, how we were partially prepared for it was because of a different matter entirely. After the… incident with Prince Blueblood and Rarity at the Gala, the girls came to me asking if there was some kind of spell that I knew in order to prevent the incident from happening again. So, after some research, I created what I would call a ‘mental safeguard’ spell to protect somepony in the event of something happening to them that they have no control over, like brainwashing or mind control.

This is important because when I was able to cast the spell on my friends, it was the day before Discord broke out. Meaning that the real test came once he tried to take over Ponyville. He forced us to play his games of going through a particularly huge hedge maze and to make sure that we didn’t cheat, he took away the wings of both Fluttershy and Rainbow along with the horns of Rarity and I.

Just because it was a game though did not mean that we didn’t keep an eye out for one another, and when we split up into the maze, we made sure that he didn’t try to trick us into thinking that there was an easy way out, only for us to hit dead ends. In fact, I think there was a moment where he tried to… influence me, but decided to not do so. Maybe it was the spell that I put in place or something, but I’m honestly not sure.

The moment of truth though came when we finally made our way out of the maze and found him sitting on his own throne just in the fields outside of Ponyville. And at that point, it appeared that we had him cornered. But none of us… really anticipate the conversation that came next.

The first pony to speak was me, and given the situation… I was kind of thinking that he had some sort of trick up his non-existent sleeves that he hadn’t used on us yet. “Surrender now, Discord! We won’t let you cause any more chaos here!!”

At first… I thought he would give some sort of villainous monologue like the bad guys in Spike’s comic books… however, what Discord said in response was much different. He just looked over all of us, gave us back our wings and horns with a snap of his talon and said… “…… Okay then.”

“Hold on… You’re telling me that Discord… The very same Discord who had caused serious havoc not just a thousand years ago, but also now… gave up?” The princess honestly was both surprised and also really was unsure about what Twilight was actually trying to say to her. “That definitely does not sound like him.”

“I’m telling you, that’s what happened… and we even were shocked by that as well…”

“I-i’m sorry, but did you just… give up?”

In that moment, my friends and I were all very surprised by what he was saying. Especially since we were all under the assumption that a creature that beared the title of ‘Master of Chaos’ had a few more tricks up his sleeves. But instead, he actually gave us a response. “Well, what else was I supposed to do? The main character of the story isn’t here… and I was more interested in him than you six.”

After that, we all had mixed reactions. Rarity wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be relieved or somehow offended by that, Applejack was honestly surprised because she actually said that he was telling the truth, Pinkie Pie herself was… distracted because she wanted to ask if he could make it rain chocolate milk, Rainbow Dash was quick to think that we were victorious and Fluttershy was… well, just as unsure about it as I was. For a moment, I thought he was talking about Spike, but I made sure to have him stay at the treehouse just in case things went wrong and we needed a contingency plan.

“Wait… so after getting your first few moments of freedom in over a thousand years… you want to go back into stone?” I asked to clarify… while also trying to see if there was any other bits of information that I could pry from him. “Why?”

“To be honest, being in that marble prison was rather boring… yet, after seeing somepony with rather… interesting potential ten years ago, I thought I would finally get the chance to meet them in person. However, here I am now with you six and my crushed hopes. To me, you’re like the side band at a concert that warms things up before the main artists come out on stage.” To that notion, he actually had what looked to be some kind of drinking glass that was labeled as ‘hopes’ before he shattered it and had it explode with his magic.

But more to the point… around now, I was wanting to know who exactly was this kind of person he was referring too. And I think some of the girls wanted to know as well. “And who exactly is this person?”

“Can they make the clouds look like cotton candy?!”

“Did they help ya get ya out of that stone statue in the first place?!”

“Are they just as sick and crazy as you’re supposed to be?”

At first, he was baffled a little bit. But then he answered the questions of Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash in order. “No, only I can do that… but I’m not feeling like it. No, I got out because of three fillies arguing in front of my statue and no way are they like that. This one’s calm, caring and has a serious attitude in the face of danger, not the mindset of Blackbeard in Fate/Grand Order. Come on!”

To be honest… I didn't even understand or know what he was referring too. But he clarified what he meant two seconds later by saying that this ‘blackbeard’ was a perverted pirate who could not stop thinking about mares. Something that, as of this moment, I really cannot get out of my head.

Anyways, after using my magic to summon the book that I hid the elements of harmony in, we all just… did what he requested. But not before he said one last thing as the magic of the Elements of Harmony was about to reach him. “DISCORD WANTS A HUG-!!!!”

“And that’s what happened…” The unicorn finished. “At first, I didn’t really think it was anything major… but the more that I thought about it, the more that I think that we just did exactly what he wanted for us to do. Especially if who he’s talking about, whoever they are, just happens to come to Canterlot again.”

“I… can see why you are concerned, my dear student,” The princess acknowledged Twilight as she herself was trying to make sense of the draconequus’ behavior that the unicorn told her about. She herself was also rather puzzled because of how Discord’s behavior seemed rather cryptic. “But I assure you, since you hit him with the elements of harmony, there really isn’t anything he can do now in his current state.”

“That I understand,” Twilight replied back as she nodded her head. “But… I can’t shake the feeling that maybe this was what he wanted all along. That he had a feeling that the person he wanted to see would come back here and then he would make his move.”

If she were honest with herself, Celestia did not think of it like that until her student just so happened to mention it right then and there. But she also did not want to think of the possibilities of such a thing to be true. Though… there was one thing that she wanted to figure out right now though. And that was who could possibly be the individual Discord was referring too.

Aside from the numerous things that she did not know about them, there were a couple things that she did know. For starters, they were a male, once lived in Canterlot and had also arrived in the city around ten years ago. For a start… there wasn’t anypony that came to mind when thinking through all of this, and she thought that Discord’s little brain teaser had gotten to her.

However, something clicked a few seconds later. What if this person… wasn’t even a pony at all? Because there was only one person she could think of that fitted that criteria and upon realizing it, her eyes widened. “No… It can’t be,” She thought to herself, before turning to look back towards the statue. “Discord, what kind of foul scheme are planning-?”

“Um Princess?”

Celestia soon snapped out of her focused state as she turned back around to look at her student. “Oh… my apologies, I was just processing something. How about you go back to the party? Your friends must be wondering where you are by now.” With that, Twilight soon realized that she had been gone from the celebration for too long and proceeded to rush back inside the grand hall. Giving the chance to let out a sigh for a moment… right before somepony else came into the garden.

“Excuse me, your highness… I’m sorry to bother you, but I have something urgent to report from Commander Ana Wind and Sergeant Barren Desert.” A light orange colored pegasus in golden armor stood before her.

“At ease…” The princess first stated, before tilting her head as she looked back at him. “Aren’t you one of the new privates who had volunteered to join the guard recently? My apologies, but I don’t think I recall your name.”

“Sentry. Private Flash Sentry,” The pegasus said as he continued to speak. “As for the report, a vessel of griffon origin landed in the Canterlot Aerial Harbor around ten minutes ago. The passengers on board appear to be two Canterlot Knights, one white magus and a griffon engineer who claims she built the ship with her own claws. They’re in the Trade District as we speak.”

Immediately, a shiver went down through Celestia’s spine as she looked back at the pegasus. Choosing her next words carefully as her sentence had a bold tone to it. “Take me to them. Now.”

“Yes, your highness.”

Food, water and medicine. Those were the three things that Shining, Luna and Fidget were out to acquire in the marketplace for the journey ahead. Their equipment and gear were already in peak condition, so there was no need to visit a forge or a tailor to patch up what they had. However, just as Shining and Luna had finished what they were needing to get, something… unexpected cropped up.

It was around the part where they passed the part of the marketplace that was commonly referred to as ‘Innovation Lane’. Normally, there were special segments of Canterlot’s trade district that were dedicated to different forms of trade. For example, Spellcaster’s Alley was dedicated to the mystic arts of magic, Weaver’s walk was a place for all ponies who specialize in crafting clothes whether it was out of cloth, silk or leather, and Smithy’s square was a place for all blacksmiths. However, Innovation Lane was more of a place where ponies can be able to create and demonstrate new things that they can come up with. Whether they were magical contraptions or-.

“My goodness! I’ve never seen anything like this before!!”

Mechanical inventions. “I had a bad feeling this would happen…” Shining groaned to himself as he watched Fidget geek out and stop at every single booth. Wanting to know how certain contraptions worked, what were the design specs and even go as far as to show some of the weapons that she had. Like her collapsible hammer and the crossbow on her wrist.

“If you knew this would happen, then why did you end up passing by it?” Luna then asked, giggling as she looked back at the unicorn.

“I thought she would demonstrate some form of self control or maybe even go as far as to ask if she could come over here and look at everything,” The azure knight replied back to her, letting out a deep sigh as he turned to Luna before returning his attention to watching Fidget. “I honestly did not anticipate for the same kind of thing to happen twice now…”

“Twice?” Luna raised an eyebrow. “I don’t remember anything like this happening in the griffon kingdom.”

“No, I mean…” The unicorn paused, before he began to tell her what he was trying to imply. “I didn’t mean it happened with Fidget specifically. When Twilight was younger, she got herself into trouble by running into the Author’s Lane and doing what Fidget was doing with everypony that was trying to sell their books. Ever since then, Princess Celestia has used that moment as a learning lesson for her to practice self control.”

“Has that worked out?”

“Not… entirely…” Shining told her. “But given that she’s read almost every book in the Canterlot Library and most of her books in her new home in Ponyville are from their too, she probably won’t be like that unless there was something brand new that caught her attention.”

Of course, there was one thing that the unicorn didn’t quite prepare himself for. And that was when he heard an all too familiar voice speak up from behind him. “Shining? Is that you?”

When both him and Luna turned around to see who just spoke up, the azure knight found himself looking back at the pony that he was actually talking about. “Well, that was something I wasn’t anticipating today… Hello, Twilight.”

“What are you doing here?” The unicorn that was his sister then asked as Shining could see some of her friends catching up with her. A few of them even going as far as to say hello to the two of them before“The last time I wrote to Princess Celestia, she said that you and Rain were on an important assignment.”

“Technically, we are…” Shining replied back, “But we came back here so we could be able to restock on supplies. We were out in Griffonstone, but the prices they had for the same goods out there were much more expensive.”

“Oh really? How expensive are we talking about?” One of her friends, the farm pony named Applejack, asked as she began to drink from a water flask she was carrying.

“Well… the price for that flask and the drink itself with be near one hundred bits.”

That single answer caused Applejack to spit out the water that she was trying to drink. The liquid ending up hitting the cyan pegasus that was called Rainbow Dash as Applejack just stared in shock, while her friend just gave off an unamused expression as she glared at the earth pony. “B-but this only cost me five bits back in Ponyville. That’s outrageous!!”

“And I think you now see why it was easier for us to come here then,” Shining replied back, as Luna nodded her head. Something that was noticed by Twilight as she then asked another question.

“Wait… what do you mean by us?”

“Well, Rain’s here, but he went back to his room so he could retrieve a map of the entire continent of Equestria. I think we had one originally, but it got soaked when our last ship got crushed,” Shining Armor said with a sigh, recalling the events of when the Leviathan destroyed the first ship that they were on. “And I was here with Fina here and one other companion, but…”

“That’s just AMAZING!! How much have you made from it! Come on, show me the money-!! ” That single outburst from Fidget lead to Shining casting a spell to forcibly pull Fidget away from the stand before her talons could accidentally tear anything apart. “Wha-!? Hey!! No fair, that was fun!!”

“Fidget… for future reference, please tell us if you want to check out something before you make any detours the next time we’re in town.” Shining advised the griffon, who just let out a small huff before rolling her eyes.

Of course, it really didn’t help when Fidget noticed Twilight looking back at Shining and… made the worse possible assumption. “Fine… I’ll do it if it’s to impress your… um… I’m sorry, but are you Shining’s marefriend?”

“Absolutely not!” Both Twilight and Shining snapped at the same time, which almost startled Fidget to the point that a few feathers fell out of her wings. And it was only after that when the lavender unicorn looked back at the griffon and began to try and clarify things. “Shining Armor’s my older brother. I’m his sister, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Oh… Well, geez, I’m so sorry for assuming wrongly.” Fidget scratched the back of her head, completely embarrassed by the recent turn of events.

“Don’t feel down on yourself now, darling…” Another one of Twilight’s friends, the alabaster unicorn named Rarity, replied back. “Everypony tends to make mistakes at times. Some more than others…”

With the last comment, Rarity glanced over at Rainbow Dash… who honestly just raised an eyebrow as she looked back at her friends. “Hey, what are all of you looking at me for? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“In any case…” Twilight now interjected. “I think we should all get going back to Ponyville. We need some rest after the long day we’ve had today. Good luck on your journey, Shining.” With that, each of Twilight’s friends began to head back over to the docks so they could take the airship back over to Ponyville. One of her friends even went as far as to be bouncing in place everywhere she went and threw out confetti from her pockets like it was a celebration everywhere she went.

But just as Shining thought that he could be able to catch a break, he then heard somepony else speak up in place of his sister. And the one who was speaking was someone he didn’t think he would be seeing today. “Why hello there, Shining Armor. Back so soon?” That had Shining’s eyes widen immensely as he turned back around to see none other that Princess Celestia standing right next to two earth ponies. They were in full on Royal Guard armor, one male and one female, and they had different colored trimmings compared to the others. In fact, the mare had her mane heading off the side of her face as she looked back towards them.

Only to do something that… confused his griffon companion. The mare had her right hand do what looked like a small salute that went upward instead of forward, before motioning her hands to form various gestures and hand signs. Which… only caused the griffon to nervously wave her hand in response, before asking Shining a question. “Shining, who are these ponies?”

“Fidget, this is Princess Celestia, Commander Ana Wind, and Sergeant Barren Desert,” He said, naming each of them in order before adding one other thing at the end. “Sergeant Barren serves as Commander Ana’s interpreter.”

Of course… this was a lot for Fidget to take in at the moment and she had a lot of questions. But… the first question on her mind was not exactly the best one. “What do you mean by interpreter? You mean like a translator? And does it have to do with those weird hand signs?” The griffon asked, only to have the Sergeant glare at her for a few seconds before the Commander raised a hand. “What? D-did I say something wrong?”

“Yeah… you did,” Shining clarified. “Those ‘hand signs’ are how she communicates. It’s equestrian sign language. She’s deaf and lost her voice in an accident while on duty at Tartarus.”

“Oh… S-sorry. I-i didn’t mean to say anything to offend you-.” The griffon stopped once she saw the mare move her arms again, weaving a few signs with both of her hands as she looked back at her and smiled. Leaving her interpreter, Barren Desert, to tell the engineer what she was saying as Ana signed.

“I accept your apology, we all make mistakes. Just don’t be quick to judge somepony because of their actions.”

Now the princess saw it as her turn to speak up as the alicorn looked back towards Shining, Fidget and her sister Luna… before realizing that there was somepony missing. “Shining… Where is Rain? I was lead to believe that he was with the rest of you.”

Luna was the first one to speak up after that as she looked back at her sister. “Rain said that he needed to get a couple of things that he had kept in his room back at the castle before we were to go anywhere. So we’re just waiting on him now.”

Yet, the response from her sister… did not exactly ease her concerns from earlier. In fact, it made her even more worried, before she turned to look at both Commander Ana and Sergeant Barren. “I apologize Commander, but could you go look for him? After everything that’s happened today, I want to make sure that we don’t have anymore problems.”

Both ponies nodded their heads as they took off towards the castle. But not before getting a couple of raised eyebrows and concerned expressions from Shining and the others. “Everything that’s happened today?”

Celestia just let out a deep sigh at that point before looking back at the azure knight. “You see, it all started this morning…”

Meanwhile…

“You seriously lived in a place as big as this!? This whole castle itself is just one large freaking maze!” The esper that was Carbuncle began to ramble on the moment that Rain had finally stepped inside his room and began to go through some of his belongings. “What’s next? The guest house has a ticking clock hidden in its walls?”

“Carbuncle, I think you’re just being a bit over dramatic.” The crimson knight responded as he searched the drawers that had his clothes. He wasn’t looking for any replacement uniforms or any articles of clothing, but more like something that he had remembered stuffing in those drawers while he and Shining were still cadets in training.

“I think I’m being the right amount of dramatic.” The esper boldly declared, causing Rain to let out a sigh. Closing one drawer before going to the next one as he continued searching for what he was looking for. Because of what had happened before on their trip over to Trottingham and over to the Griffon Kingdom, the map that Shining originally had was soaked, torn up and beyond repair. Fortunately, Rain remembered that he had an extra one in his room from when the Royal Guard did navigational training for new cadets that passed the recruitment process.

Though, the one thing that he had to ignore throughout his search… was Carbuncle’s rhetoric. He understood that the esper wasn’t exactly comfortable with this environment given that it wasn’t quite ‘natural’ like that of Hollow Shades, but it still wasn’t right to call it practically anything that the esper was using to describe the castle.

Eventually, he came upon the last drawer and once he moved a few more things, Rain was able to find what he was looking for. “There we go… could’ve sworn that I placed it somewhere other than my sock drawer.”

“Great. Woohoo. You found it… Now can we please get out of here!?” Carbuncle groaned impatiently.

“Alright, alright. Geez, and I thought you would actually try to be discreet about it.” Rain sighed, placing the map in his pocket as he left the room, closing the door behind him as he began to walk towards the royal garden. Normally, he would walk through the main hall and past another section of the castle to go to the front of Canterlot Castle… but given Carbuncle’s distaste in… well, buildings… he thought it would be easier for both of them by taking a shortcut through the garden.

But at one particular point at the center of the garden, that was when the esper on Rain’s shoulder saw a statue that made it freeze. “Uh… Rain…?”

When Rain turned around, he found himself looking at a familiar statue. One that he saw in the garden when he and Cadance used to play hide and seek in his early days of coming here. But now… the statue was in an oddly different position. “Hunh… I recognize this statue… I saw it before when I was a kid.”

“Yeah, what is he doing here? And more to the point, how is he here?” The esper’s words now confused the knight as he looked back at the Esper, before glancing at the statue and the three pillars that were around it. Each one with an orb that looked exactly like the Evocation bead he would use to call on Carbuncle’s power. “Rain, do you even know who this guy is?”

“Um… should I?” He asked back. “Because it looks like a statue that just doesn’t seem to stay still.”

“Aww… I spend my whole day waiting to see you and the first thing I do is hear you say that? I’m hurt.”

That voice caught the knight off guard as he began to look around him for a moment. At first, he wondered where the voice was coming from… only to realize that something else was happening. Everything around him, from the ponies that were cleaning up the grand hall to the leaves that were falling off one of the trees… froze instantly. And the only ones who could possibly move were both Carbuncle and Rain in that moment.

And Carbuncle was not too happy. “And great… Now we have to deal with this crazy lunatic? I would take Luna snuggling the crap out of me over ANY encounter with him!!”

“Carbuncle, do you know who this guy is?”

“Of course I do!! Even though I’m the youngest one there is, every esper knows who this guy is,” The emerald fox like esper responded. “He’s Discord. The esper of chaos, disharmony and the only esper ever to break the rules that ALL espers follow.”

“And now you remind me of what got me in my current state… Talk about pouring salt into the wound,” The voice that Rain presumed to be this ‘Discord’ guy that Carbuncle was talking about said. “Sheesh, I get involved in one thing and now I’m getting chewed out more than a contestant on Hell’s Kitchen.”

“You know exactly why you ended up in that state,” Carbuncle snapped at the draconequus' statue. “Espers aren’t supposed to physically get themselves involved with the real world unless you formed a pact with someone. But that did not stop you from trying to make this world your own little Chaos Capital, you crazed psychopath!”

“Would you believe me if I told you that I did it because I was bored?” Discord’s answer just caused Carbuncle to glare at the statue like his eyes were on fire as the voice of the chaos esper groaned. “Fine, fine… Be a mood killer, why don’t you.”

All the knight did in those last few moments was wait for a pause in the conversation, so he could be able to speak. “More to the point though… what do you mean when you said that you spent your whole day waiting on me?”

“Well you see… Earlier, with the help of three rambunctious fillies, I was able to break free of this damnable harmonic prison and finally finish that acapella that Cae Cae and Lulu cut me off on last time,” He first heard the draconequus say, before he rambled on about how he had a ‘fateful encounter’ with Twilight and her friends and the ordeals of that. “And then I voluntarily placed myself here… so why was it that you weren’t able to see me for my chaotic debut?”

“Well, excuse me… I was trying to stop some armored villains from trying to destroy a series of crystals that keep the world in balance and almost getting killed. How am I supposed to know that you had an appointment with me out of the blue?”

There was a brief pause for a moment… before the esper of chaos could only think of one response. “Fair point, I must admit… For someone who I once saw as a young child that had a lot of potential, you haven’t exactly changed a bit… And by the way, who gave you permission to use me for hide and seek-!?”

“Discord, either get to the point or I swear to Bahamut, I will-”

“Okay, okay FINE! Geez, I can’t do comic relief for two seconds without somepony shouting at me,” The draconequus grumbled. “Well, I was going to offer Rainy boy here a chance at a pact, but there’s just one… teeny little problem…”

Now hearing that had the knight look back at him, narrowing his eyes. “And what kind of problem would that be… Because other than your current predicament, and based on everything that I’ve heard, it sounds more like you’re the problem.”

“Ehh… a bit of column A, a bit of column B. But in all fairness, the problem is that I can feel that you have a lot of power… but much of what you have is locked away. Unlike with Mr. Frizzy Face here, the only way that you can be able to gain an esper’s power is overcoming their trial in combat… and if you tried to fight me the way you are now, I would wipe you out quicker than Thanos did to two thirds of the MCU. And I don’t need an infinity gauntlet.”

“I… don’t know what any of that means…” The knight told him, trying to make sense of what the statue was saying to him.

“He means that he’ll kill your whole team without the chance to fight back.” Carbuncle ‘translated’ for Rain.

“So you’re basically saying that this whole conversations just a real big waste of time then?” Rain folded his arms. He was originally tempted to draw his weapon and try to give the statue a taste of what he could do, but instead refrained himself from acting irrationally. Now though, he was going to just turn around and straight up leave. “I’m sorry for having to cut it short, but I have to go meet up with my friends-”

“Woah, slow down there…” The voice was followed by a STOP sign emerging directly in front of Rain’s face. “Just because I can’t move doesn’t mean I can’t still use my power as an esper. Why else do you think nothing is moving around you?”

“Okay, but what is the exact purpose of this ‘meeting’ then?” Rain asked. “Because I highly doubt you want to just say hello and then send me off on my way.”

“Very perceptive… Well, to simply put it… Consider this like a business transaction. I have something that I wish to share with you.”

“And what exactly would that be?”

“The whereabouts of the armored foes you were fighting. I believed you called them the Veritas?” That immediately caught Rain’s attention. He and his friends had no idea where the Veritas would be heading to next or what kind of crystal they would be going after, so that… could help them out a lot.

However, before he could respond, that was when Carbuncle joined in. “And what could you possibly want in exchange?”

“Well… Just two simple things. First, this…” A sudden weight was felt around Rain’s neck as he looked to realize that he had some kind on necklace on. One that had what looked like some kind of tooth on it. “Snaggletooth Pendant. It will glow the moment that you are considered as ‘strong’ enough to me.”

“And the second thing?” He then asked, before looking back at the statue.

“Well… An apology from Carbuncle.”

“WHAT?!! ARE YOU NUTS!?!! WHAT DO I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE FOR, YOU CHAOTIC CREEP!?!”

“Your attitude, behavior, raising your voice to me, making false assumptions about my intentions and calling me a crazed psychopath.” As he said that, a series of papers that looked like what Royal Guards would use to write up a pony’s criminal record in order to put them in jail. “Now… that apology?”

Carbuncle just glared at Discord for a few moments, before looking back at the statue of the esper with gritted teeth. “…… I’m sor-”

“So that’s where we’re going…” Carbuncle said as Luna held onto him. All four of them had joined back up on Fidget’s airship after Commander Ana and Sergeant Barren had brought Rain back to her vessel and now, they were analyzing the map that Rain had brought them.

“Interesting… So the next crystal that they’re going for is the Water Crystal?” Shining replied back, analyzing the map for a bit before adding on something to that. “The most likely place for something like that would be Abyssinia. Most of the country heavily relies on the ocean and the waters from that ocean for daily life.”

“And hey! Since we know about it now, we can get the jump on those Veritas guys before they know what hit ‘em!” Fidget declared. “Where do you get this kind of information, Carbuncle!? You have to tell me your lead.”

“Uh… w-well... I just kind of know these things, you know?” He said sheepishly, all while noticing Rain roll his eyes as he made his was to the front of the ship. The knight knew that it was too soon to try and reveal what exactly their source was… especially when they got more important things in mind.

“Veritas… no matter where you are, we’re coming for you.”

Author's Notes:

So... we got a lot to unpack here. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. With everything that's going on here and this being a different... kind of chapter than normal, I decided to add a few pop culture easter eggs. And not just based on what a character says, but some characters themselves. If you can figure out all of them, then you get a cookie.

With everything going on in the world, the events that would normally go on in 'The Return of Harmony' play out much differently here... however, it's still too early to know exactly what Discord's true intentions are. In this, he serves as the Esper of Chaos, Disharmony and Trickery. He could either help Rain and his allies or lead them straight to their worst enemy, depending on how he feels. Keep him amused and... well, you might be able to live another day.

For Future reference, chapters with the letter E next to the number stand for 'Esper' and don't mean Epilogue or anything like that. It's too soon for it anyways.

Next up: Chapter Three- Abyssinia
-Frost