With a slight rush, and a flash of light, I popped back into existence. I stretched happily, then wondered why I couldn’t feel my tails. I looked down at my paw, and noticed that it wasn’t a paw any longer. It was mostly hairless, a pink you can’t replicate with crayons, and had five fingers instead of four. The arm it was attached to was much skinnier than normal, and covered in a thin coat of hair instead of fur.

“I’m human?!” I asked in shock. I mentally sighed in relief when my voice sounded normal, which is to say that it sounded like two voices slightly out of sync instead of one voice. However, that was about the only thing still the same.

I had been human most of my life, but for the past two years, it had been a different story. From my perspective, I went to bed human one night, and woke up the next morning as a powerless Draconequus. I was normally about eight feet tall, and one half of my body was made of predatory animals, and the other out of prey animals, with two tails (cheetah and kangaroo) rather than just one. Even my face was split in half color-wise, blue and yellow, with my bat ears being the opposite color to the side of my face they were on top of.

After a series of misadventures (including driving Twilight Sparkle to the brink of insanity via my personality), and adapting to my new life, Twilight had one of her ideas that was either a stroke of genius, or madness, it was hard to tell. Most of her ideas were like that. She thought that I should try to combine the usual Harmony Magic that was natural to Equestria, with the Chaos magic that Discord used. Surprisingly, it worked, and I was able to use magic at long last.

Not only that, but I finally became a fully-fledged Draconequus, my new name was Secundus, the Spirit of Duality. I went from simply combining two types of magic to my own “brand” of magic, wherein I simply edited a duality, until I didn’t have to consciously think of it anymore. It was honestly pretty cool. Being a Draconequus came with responsibilities, I was supposed to fix any issues with duality throughout a collection of universes that the Draconequui managed for the gods, our employers.

Before becoming a Spirit, I had met Thorax, King of the Changeling Hive. After a very awkward thirty-second first meeting, Twilight and her sister-in-law Cadence managed to trick Thorax and I into a blind date.

To cut a long story short (and leave out an exciting climax) Thorax and I fell in love, and were now happily married. I’d been taking him on a short vacation to another universe, but something had gone wrong somewhere.

Whenever I visited another planet, I automatically changed forms to blend in, to the point I didn’t have to think about it, and couldn’t even control it. I had wanted to go home, but if we were home, I’d look like my normal noodle self, not a human.

Do I still have magic? I wondered. Experimentally, I snapped my fingers. A mirror appeared in my hand. Whew! I thought. I looked in the mirror. I looked almost exactly the same as I had when I was human (not much) but there were some minor differences. My eyes were like my normal Draconequus eyes, with pitch-black sclera, and glowing blue irises. My hair was also longer than its usual short cut, half of it was black, half was white. I was dressed in a very tacky Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. Ohmigod! Where’s Thorax?!! I thought in a panic. I heard a throat being cleared behind me.

I turned, and saw a human behind me, with an unamused expression. He was shorter than me, with tan skin, purple eyes, and spiky green hair that was dyed orange at the tips. He was also dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, with several leis around his neck. However, he was slightly more practical, and was wearing jeans, and heavy shoes.

“Thorax?” I asked. With all the shape-changing we did, sometimes I had to ask.

He nodded. “I thought you were taking us home?!” he snapped, gesturing at the body he was currently stuck with.

“I did! I specifically said ‘Equestria!’ You think I don’t know how to teleport anymore?!” I sniffed. “Hold on a minute. This is Equestria, it’s just not our Equestria. It smells the same, but more red-orange than ours does.” Thorax rolled his eyes, but knew better than to question my synesthesia. “We must be in a parallel to our universe. I could get into so much trouble for interfering in a universe outside my jurisdiction.” I then thought about it. “Come on then, might as well explore it.”

There was suddenly a rustling in the bushes as what looked like an Uruk from Lord Of The Rings, yet he had a much more… natural, look. He was in a ragged cloak made from leather and covered in vines, as well as various animal bones made into charms, the Ivy threading through them, holding them too him and covered in flowing, glowing white runes. He was armed with a strange combination of staff and spear, the Staff having various knotholes filled with amber containing gemstones, and the top of the staff adorned with four spear heads, forming a large tip on the staffs top, a green flame that seemed to blaze with life energy from between the gaps of the four spear heads. He also had what looked like Red tendrils and threads coursing through his clothing, with a red metal plate over his vitals, and a Pyramid of Red crystal in the empty space of the staff that seemed to feed the staff greater levels of power. “What in the… A Draqon? And… a changeling king… Let me guess, another world? I don’t think I’d ever find a Draqon and a Changeling being mates, not in my world, at least.” He grunted as he looked to his left slightly, as if listening to something before he began to walk towards what looked like a large fort in the badlands. “Come on, Simon wants to meet you.”

“Who’s Simon?” whispered Thorax.

I shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? I can only fit so many universes in my head. He could be the King of Equestria for all I know.” I looked at the Uruk with interest. “So, somebody crossed Equestria with Lord of the Rings. That’s interesting. Alrighty then. I guess it couldn’t hurt to meet Simon.” The Uruk started leading the way. As we walked, I asked, “You knew Thorax was a Changeling, and a King, but you called me a Draqon. Are there Draconequui in this universe? We do tend to get around, even if it is by accident.”

He shrugged “Apparently, other universes have Draconequui. We Have Draqon. Our dimension seems to have been in dispute with how Spirits and gods worked things, so we began worshipping other gods. Some good, some not so good. And before you ask, I worship Quathak, Queen of the Wildlands. If it works like the Everfree, she did it here.” He then smiled as we neared the fort “Man, to think I’ve gotten to meet someone related to Discord, at least by species… Oh, I should tell you, in this world, Celestia is a Tyrant, and mistreats all non magi...er… our dimensions ponies...” He grumbled “Man that’s weird… our food here is a sapient species there…” He then cleared his throat awkwardly “Discord is the one who saved us, before he went nuts. Apparently some dark god jammed a bunch of insanity in his skull for tipping the scales towards us to much.”

“Oh,” I said. “In my universe, Discord started off slightly evil, and was then reformed to good. I don’t know if he was actually evil to start with, I think he was just lonely. It helped his reformation that he fell in love. He’s still insane, but … in a different way.

“Between that and your Celestia being a tyrant, part of me wonders if yours is a mirror universe of mine. I have no idea.”

There was then a loud laugh as we reached the gate, an Uruk that had strange prosthetics made of the same red materials and had a large hatchet made seemingly from a mix of the red materials, and a large dragon's tooth was keeping watch. He blinked at us and grinned “Orvok! You bally bastard! Ye got a Draqon tae visit?! That’s bally marvelous, let me get tha gate! Simons gonna be thrilled!”

“Why am I suddenly nervous?” I muttered. “People aren’t usually that happy to see me.” We walked in, and were ushered into Simon’s presence. “Oh, he’s a demonic ringwraith,” I said in awe. I walked over, and stuck out a hand. Most people wouldn’t have been able to visibly discern it, but I could tell I wasn’t dealing with a solid form, what with the highly demonic nanite formed wings that pulsed with power and light with claws, literal claws, covered in razor sharp nanite plate, with the most notable part of his body being the razor sharp, multi tipped demonic rams horns, as well as his sharp, vampire like teeth and metal plated boots and greaves. I pulled a piece of him off, examining the nanites with interest.

“Sec! What have I told you about personal boundaries!” shouted Thorax.

“Oh, sorry sir.” I let the handful of nanites I’d pulled out drift back into him. “I’ve just never seen anything like that on any planet I’ve been to.”

Thorax sighed. “You’ll have to forgive my mate. When he finds something interesting, his manners tend to go out the window until he’s done analyzing it. He’s … not good with people.”

I turned to Thorax with a broad grin. “Do you know what this means?! He’s alive, and he’s dead at the same time! He’s also technology, and magic! I’ve never seen that perfect a blend before! He’s a perfect duality!”

Thorax sighed again. “I love you, but could you please stop geeking out long enough for us to figure out what we’re doing here? Why we’re dealing with something that looks like one of your sketches. Only cooler.”

I nodded, and said to Simon, “Your … cells have interesting thoughts. It’s mostly just variations of ‘Consume,’ and ‘Replicate,’ but that isn’t very different from most cells. I don’t think I’d taste good to them though, I’m a lot bigger than I look.” I peered at him with interest. “Were you human up until very recently? Humanity tends to leave traces in a person’s soul. I’m very sorry about how I’m acting, I’m just excited. Pleasure to meet you. I’m Secundus, the Spirit of Duality, and my conscience over there is my husband Thorax. I take it that you’re the Simon who will be excited to see us?”

He frowned and nodded “Yeah, I am, It’s good to see that I’m not the only one who respects a good Duality! Not to mention a Draqon. Though it is odd to see you aren’t… well, wearing clothes to represent your concept… Umm, you might want to use a different name, Thorax, our Thorax… well, he’s dead.” He then let out a little bit of his nanites, which took a bit of each of our hair before it carried it off towards what looked like large turrets. “Sorry bout that, just telling the security you are ok.” He then sighed as he walked “Oh, and don’t worry about the SIVA, it obeys me mostly, and once I make it into something for a friend, I mostly keep it dormant, unless asked otherwise… Play natural, we do not want them to know another Thorax is here, it will get VERY awkward, as we just had the funeral last week.” He then nods to the Uruk at the gate “Looking Good Grimgor! Let me know if the new limbs get you any trouble!”

“Dead?” I asked in shock. Thorax, my Thorax looked even more upset than I did. “OK, that’s not you, but … still. I can’t quite grasp the fact that any version of you is dead. If you need to use another name here…” I thought for a minute. “How about ‘Oberon?’”

Thorax raised an eyebrow. “The King of the Faeries? Seriously Sec?! That’s the best you could come up with?”

I sighed. “Well, yes. You are King of the Changelings, and you do a lot more of the reigning than I do. It’s just for a short while.”

A Large Olog in armor made of SIVA smiled at us before approaching “Az-Barko happy to see another Draqon. Maybe help us free Discord from Celestia’s hold?”

Simon facepalmed “I was trying to build up to that gradually…” he sighed “We are trying to free our discord from his stone prison, as well as remove the corruption in his soul. It would do wonders for morale around here to have an ancient hero living with us… Celestias been organizing more bandits against us, and something's been stealing our dead from their graves. We thought it was scavengers getting a little too bold at first, but then we found one of our Diamond Dog citizens attacking his family... He had been dead for a week.” He grumbled “If it weren’t for Celestias hate of undead rivaling her hate of Non- Magi… I’d say it was her.” He then looked to me with a fierce look in his eyes “I will do anything, anything, for you to give my people hope for tomorrow. You may have a husband, but do you have kids? Well, let me tell you, this town, and its people? They are my Family. I see the children as my own, the people are my siblings.”

The Uruk cyborg, apparently named Grimgor chuckled uncomfortably “Yeah, speaking of which, yer sister aint too chuffed wit ye... Oi’d leave er be fer now.”

I considered the implications of his request, and chuckled nervously. “Uh, … well … I’m really not supposed to interfere in other worlds unless I’m doing my job. The gods I work for a very nice individuals usually, but if you break the rules, they can get a bit … trigger happy. I’m most likely in trouble already for just being here.” I then thought about it. “I can visit other universes, but a parallel of my own universe? That should be impossible, even for me. The only thing that can do that would be … a … god.” My voices trailed off.

“Maybe I’m not here by accident, even I’m not that unlucky. I guess a god brought me here for some reason. I really wish they would consult me about these things instead of just dragging me to places and changing my species without even telling me. So! Bad news first: I can’t just snap my fingers, and cure Discord. It’s more complicated than that. I’d need something that can work with the type of magic that imprisoned him, preferably its exact magical opposite, since I work with opposites best. If I had that, I could free him, but … I don’t know what I can do for his mental state, Oberon is the family psychologist.”

“Good news: If I don’t directly interfere in the development of your world too much, I should be able to help you. Yes, the Draconequui in my world do the whole ‘Prime Directive’ thing from Star Trek, but it’s for good reason.” I smiled, and nudged Thorax. “We get to go on a Quest!” I said, capitalizing the letter. “I’ve never been on a quest before!”

Oberon sighed. “They’re not as fun as you think they are, trust me on that.” He then looked at his clothes. “Why, in the name of sanity, are we dressed like this?!”

I shrugged. “We were just on vacation. These are vacation clothes.” I snapped my fingers, and Oberon was dressed in a green cloak, with a chainmail shirt, long brown pants, and heavy boots. I turned to Simon. “I’m just assuming we need armor, weapons, that kind of thing?” I then turned back to Thorax. “What’s your fancy?”

Oberon folded his arms, and sighed. “I’m used to it after traveling with you, but I still don’t like being bipedal, I feel like I’m going to fall over. I don’t think I could exactly fight like this.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, you aren’t exactly a berserker class. Hmmm. Well, you’re usually fast, and light.” I handed him two daggers. “I think you could work with this, maybe.” Oberon sighed, and took the daggers.

I looked down at myself. I snapped my fingers. Nothing happened. “Dammit, I fight so much better when I’m in my own shape!” I sighed. “I’ll … figure something out. I’m not sure how I’d fight in this setting.” I was able to change my beach-bum outfit to a grey cloak with a chainmail shirt, long pants, and sneakers. Catching Simon’s expression, I sighed, and said, “I hate shoes, these are usually all I can handle. I’ve got an amazing healing rate, I’ll be fine.”

Simon shrugged “Actually, I was about to offer you some spare SIVA steel armor, stuff is similar to Mythril, tougher than steel, but super light. Plus, when you wear it, I’d be able to broadcast my thoughts to you, link you up to the rest of the armies… well… I’d say hive mind, but that’s not accurate, more like an internet where everyone can see through your eyes, and hear with your ears, but no one influences your thoughts.” He then looked to Orvok “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

Orvok paled “I sure hope not…”

He smiled “It’s time for me to inhabit mr. Snuffles!” He then hummed thoughtfully before he turned to us again “What better way to get you to the fortress they hid Discord away in, than on one of the most feared animals of my dimension? Especially when I’m behind the wheel. The species was originally a fiery graug, before it was mutated with SIVA. I think I’ll call this a Stygian Graug, maybe?” he then led us to what looked like a massive horrifying monster of some sort. It had red cords and pyramids growing out of it, and looked like it had Deathclaw like horns made out of the material comprised of the same nanites forming Simon… was this SIVA?

He then disappeared as he became a red cloud of what I assumed to be nanomachines, which flowed into the monster before it began spasming erratically. Before long, it steadied itself and looked to us, waving slightly before pointing to our left with one of it’s huge clawed fingers. It was pointing at the Armory…

Orvok nodded as if he heard someone and looked to us “Simon would really like it if you at least had some piece of SIVA gear, it’ll help keep us all in touch for this.”

Grimgor then chuckled “Cannae wait till those blasted bandits come back, gonnae give em a roight hiding wit the upgrades I made fer tha lancer turrets, they now have a little… boom, to em!” He chuckled “This Godsblood-er… SIVA… It is bloody useful! Oi can see why Celestia legalized farming us fer the little we had...don’t mean oi like, or will evah fergive it, but oi can cer’ainly see why she wants it so bloody bad.”

“I can just imagine,” I said. Oberon was looking a little pale. It took me a minute to pick up what was wrong. I sighed, and detached my arm, waving it with the other in his direction. “So, that doesn’t freak you out,” I said as I reattached the arm, “but the nanite-possessed monster does?”

Oberon nodded. I sighed. “You do know that I’m not in technical terms, strictly speaking alive either, right?” Oberon’s head tilted to the side. “Living things don’t usually walk through space with no ill effects,” I pointed out.

“Oh,” Oberon said. “But that’s just using magic!”

I chuckled. “No, there’s more to it than that. It’s partly biological.” I glanced at Orvok. “I honestly can’t think of a weapon that fits my fighting style, unless you can give me claws and fangs or something. That armor does sound like a really good idea, though, thank you. I’m … not exactly comfortable with someone else in my head, more for their sake than mine. It’s a little … weird in here sometimes,” I said, tapping my temple. “If you don’t actually read my mind you should be fine.”

“Does anyone here know how Celestia sealed Discord away? I doubt she used the Elements of Harmony, and the more I know about it, the easier it is to reverse. I don’t know what I’m going to do about a dark god scrambling his brain, I can’t exactly go up against a god, but…” I shrugged. “If this Discord is anything like mine, I think he can handle himself. I just don’t want to be there when he wakes up. Oh, I’m the one waking him up. Well, that ought to go over well,” I muttered. “An insane Lord of Chaos who wakes up cranky when he’s nice.”

Everyone froze then, not like they were shocked though, like, everything was frozen, even the birds overhead. I looked around until I heard a voice behind me “Oi, ye have nay checked this way yet.” I then turned, only to see an oddly dressed Irishman. Upon closer inspection, he was a younger irish gentleman in a red business suit and black shoes, with a fedora neatly placed on his head. He was smiling mischievously, his sleeves rolled up, and a chaos star tattooed on the back and front of each hand. An odd cane was in his hand, him leaning on it with all his weight, literally, he was in mid air, him using the cane like a tall chair. The cane had strange markings running down it, etched into the bark, and shining dully, as if it was waxed a while back. “Hiya there, lad. Name’s Hank, er… well, that’s wot yer friend Simon would remember me as, me real name is Cru-rukna. Oi’m an Orcish god of chaos, an’ most importantly, Oi’m this dimensions father of lil Dizzy-er...Discord.”

He sighed “Oi should tell ye, spirits here aint loike yer dimensions. Fer one, there all humanoid, tae some degree, and fer two, their a god’s kid.” he sighed “Used tae be we gods had many spirits, allae whom we loved dearly. Then tha’... bloody bastard son of a boggarts behind Solaris had Celly, we all though’ she’d be a real sweet’eart… we though’ wrong.” He growled as his hair began to smoulder with chaotic fire. “She wiped out our children… sapped their power intae the elements of harmony till nuttin was left of em… Me boy was all that was left of tha spirits… the last of our children… and she decided he would ruin her precious harmony. So she turned him tae stone, and made ‘im out as a tyrant… Oi brough ye here, Sec. Oi ‘ave an offer fer ye. Oi’ll let ye have Simon here’s token, ye’ll be able tae ask im fer help anytoime.” He then looked to me “An ye’ll ave a god in yer corner, one eager tae elp ye out anytime.” he then looked to me hopefully “In exchange ye let me son get vengence on tha’ bitch. She killed our kids, and had the god of the Sun corrupt me boy intae a madman… Oi need ye ta help me boy get roight in the head, and help Simon punish her. We go’ a deal?”

I grinned. “He and I may not have met yet, but after all that my universe’s version did for me, any version of Discord is family. Deal. I think I might actually enjoy this. Oh, and,” I grinned wider. “You might want to ease up on pretending to be Irish. You’re trying too hard. Pleasure doing business with you,” I said, tipping a hat I summoned up.

He smiled in relief “Thanks, It’s hard to have just one voice at a time, hell, it’s hard staying in one perceivable form, It’s like trying to hold an ocean in a water balloon. I don’t know how my son does it so well!” He then looked to me and smiled “Oh, and tell your discord this, that whatever version of me exists in his equestria, whomever he looked up to, or who helped him, he is definitely proud of him. I… I have my ways of knowing.”

I nodded. “You have my word, and I never give that lightly. So! Let’s go kick a Princess out of her castle!”

He shook his head “NO! She will refuse to lower the sun if she loses her seat of power, I know that brat too well! We need to just free Discord, and because of the wards in place we have to get to him on foot, er...Graug. When my son is free, he can take over her job, even remove her from her post as a solar avatar. We need Discord before they can move on Celestia.”

I nodded. “Makes sense, I just don’t really know how things work here. That, and there’s something about Celestia, even in my universe that just screams ‘superiority complex.’ Even if she is mostly benevolent. Since you’re a god, and his father, I don’t suppose you could point us in his general direction? I’m assuming you’ve kept an eye on him.”

He nodded “Poor kids in deep, deep shit. He’s being wheeled to a stone quarry in the fort due west of here, thank you superiority complex, since she thinks we are no real threat, she’ll probably have little by means of guards. Sorry for being indefinite, I’m pure chaos, so this is really… unpleasant for me. But I’ll do anything to see my boy safe.” He then mumbled to himself “Just gotta think of the splits in reality… alternate ones, other possibilities, keep the pain down.”

I nodded. “I have a son. If anything happened to him, well, let’s just say I’d tear down reality to fix it. If I remember right, that fortress, is it by...” I tried to remember where I was, “Oh, there should be a large mountain, and a Timberwolf pack’s territory borders it? It’s a bit of a wasteland, so I hate to see what your Celestia did with the place,” my voices trailed off.

He grumbled “Mostly it’s a forced work camp for our worshippers, the Ologs and Uruks… Oh, And tell Simon that I’ll take any fallout from the gods he may get for making it hurt… as much as possible please.”

“Yeesh. I hate people who hate others just because they’re different. So, I know where we’re going, any advice on how to get him out of the statue? I’ll be sure to tell Simon your message.”

He seemed to go out of focus for a second, the sound of TV static filling my ears before he came back into focus “Ghhh! Awww, that hurts… Ha! As if, Solaris, you brought this on yourself!” he then looked to me, his eyes and nose bleeding profusely “Think of the opposite of a stars warmth, the cold blackness of space, and the opposite of stagnation, change… Think of Outer space and change, hell, the big fucking bang, I don’t know, I got to go, Solaris is getting pissed, He’s going to try to pull something if I help more, by the first concept I detest him!.”

I nodded. “Go. Thank you for all your help.” he faded out. I sighed. I remember from all those books I read when I was a kid, that when gods start fighting, it’s everyone else who loses…

I looked at the Graug, as everyone else unfroze. “Simon, I finally have some good news, I know where we’re going, and what to do. We’re heading west, about twenty miles, but it has to be on foot.” I looked down. “I’ve got to get better walking shoes,” I muttered. “Anyway! Once we’re there, I know what kind of magic will get Discord out of the statue, at about which time, if we’re lucky, all hell should hopefully break loose. The hard part is going to be getting in there long enough to do anything without ending up full of holes, or burnt to a crisp or something. Could you all buy me some time?” Except that never ends well…I thought darkly. I then sighed, and changed my sneakers to a pair of hiking boots.

Graug Simon nods, before grunting, looking at Orvok, who smiled “He says yes, but you should get that armor on, as he can’t really talk to you in this body without you wearing some, think of it like a telepathic network, er… he said a brain telephone? What the hell is a Telephone?” Graug-simon grunted “Oh, human tech, ok.”

Grimgor then came back to us after walking to the armory while i was talking “Ok, so we’ve got mallets, big arse ones at that, some armor, and… daggers for the Changeling who is oddly colorful and tan.”

I smirked. “You should see the way he looks back home.” I handed Oberon his daggers, and a SIVA shirt, which he pulled on.

Oberon clutched his head. “Oog. That’s strange,” he muttered. He then looked at Graug-Simon. “That’s really what I look like from the back?” There was an unheard reply. “Alrighty then,” he said, blushing. He looked at me. “You might want to … actually, you’ll find this ‘Awesome,’” he said, using finger quotes.

I glared at him. “You’ve never had fingers before, and you’ve already figured out finger quotes. I hate you.”

Oberon grinned. “I’m a fast learner.”

[Changed his love interest to Chryssi, gonna have to change this, sadly]

I sighed, and pulled on the shirt. The room spun for a second as I connected with everyone else. Then hearing “-ish Chrysalis here liked me. She’s beautiful. You got the crap end of the stick, having a bad Chryssi- OH MY GOD HE PUT ON THE SHIRT FORGET WHAT I WAS SAYING!”

I clenched my teeth. I knew that the Chrysalis from this universe was different from the Chrysalis in my universe, but … still. I hadn’t been looking forward to meeting any version of her after what she’d done to Thorax and the Changelings back in my universe. OK, parallel universe, parallel universe, I thought to keep my emotions in check. You’re the one who tries to give others a second chance, the least you can do is not judge her before you meet her.

Oberon grinned. ““I know how you feel about Chrysalis back home, believe me, I feel the same way. You didn’t see some of the images Simon showed me before you so politely cut into our conversation. I actually think that the two of them from this universe might work together, so could you please not freak out on her when you meet her?”

I nodded. “For you, yes. I can.”

Simon then sighed “If you want, I could send you the images I sent Oberon. Maybe give you a feel for just how great this Chrysalis is. Mind you, she is a cursed daughter of a love god, a curse similar to the one from Beauty and the Beast, with how it morphed her. But now she needs love to survive, she mostly gets by with her childrens love, but to break the curse, she needs someone to not only love her, but to help her love herself again....”

I shrugged. “Makes sense. I’d like to review the images if I could. You should see what I look like when there’s no one watching. Not even Th - Oberon’s seen it, it’s pretty freaky, so I’m not qualified to judge on appearance.” I then grinned. “I wasn’t expecting this universe to run on ‘True Love’s Kiss’ Laws, but if I can help, I will.”

Simon smiled and began sending the images, of Chrysalis weeping for her Thorax, of her helping to reinforce the walls, of her working to feed the people of the city, even working in the fields to help, and laughing alongside the orcs. Of her helping heal their wounded, even of her fighting to defend the city alongside the soldiers. The last image was of her sleeping as she held an Uruk child, having been rocking the poor child to sleep as her parents patrolled the walls. “This is the Chrysalis I know, the one I love, and hope to free from Solaris’s curse.”

In a quiet voice, I said, “She’s actually pretty awesome. I can see why you admire her so much. First thing I’m doing when I get home is asking my Council if this universe is a mirror of mine.” My hair then stood on end in fright. If this universe had Draqons, and a version of Discord, then that might mean … Aloud, I said, “Oh, gods, do not let there be an evil version of me running around in here somewhere.” I turned to Oberon. My irises turned yellow for a second as I said, “You do not want to know what I would be like if I went down that path.”

Simon chuckled “Unlikely, she has drained the essence of every being of power that walks this earth. The only two left that aren’t gods, are Tirek and Discord, and no one knows where the hell Tirek is. I believe that there are Elements of Harmony that naturally appeared in your world? Ours has the synthetic touch of Celestia and Solaris. They are a single artifact, known as the solar judgement.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. On the one hand, I was outraged at what Celestia had done, and wanted justice, but on the other … I’d fought myself before, not in quite that way, but I had, and I usually lost. I nodded. “I think the Ancient Ponies forged them somehow, but they are intimately connected to the balance of the natural world. Makes my job easier.” I snickered. “Why do villains always have to come up with cool names for their weapons of mass destruction? I don’t know. Any idea where that would be? I don’t think I could get Solaris’s taint out of it, but I might be able to break his connection to it for a short while, and I could easily get Celestia’s hooks out of it. Seeing as this universe is a bit like Lord of the Rings, I’m assuming that the Solar Judgement will be in some impossible to get to, heavily guarded location that spells certain doom. Fun, fun, fun.”

Simon laughed “I wish, it is Celestia's weapon of choice. That spear is a nightmare that haunts all our dreams. Thing starts to eat your soul the second it pierces you. Thing is an abomination. Supposed to be Solaris’ answer to Tirek… bastard.”

I winced. I wasn’t overly fond of my universe’s version of Tirek, but … no one deserved that. I sighed. “Makes sense that she would always keep it on her person, that means some unexpected hero can’t toss it into a handy volcano. I don’t think I’d have a lot of soul it could eat, but … yeesh.”

Simon nodded “You’re lucky, that thing is one of the few legitimate threats to me in this world. No soul, no phoenix protocol, no reincarnation in the rebirth pod.”

I smirked. “Oh, it could eat me, don’t worry. I meant that it would work through me in seconds flat. I don’t have much of a soul left.” Oberon rolled his eyes. “I might survive that, but I’m a Spirit. My soul is my essence too. It wouldn’t be pretty.”

Simon then chuckled as he pulled out a picture he found, handing it to me “A pic of Chryssi before her curse. Now that’s pretty.” In the picture was an alicorn with a pure golden blonde coat and rose colored mane, she had beautiful violet eyes and smiled at the photographer.

There was suddenly an outcry along the mental links of “Who got a hold of my baby pics?! I thought I told Pharynx to burn them when I moved here! I just put on my armor and turn on the link for the day, and I find this?! Come on, Guys! Not okay!”

There was then a surge in the net as I think Chrysalis was muted and deafened by Simon. “Please tell her none of this, I am not sure she likes me… like that… I’m scared she might avoid me if I tell her.”

As the muting and deafening was removed, a woman who looked like a decidedly more insect like version of the mare in the picture with full SIVA armor, and what looked like a heavy axe made of the stuff. She looked to graug Simon and huffed “So what’s up, boss? We taking the fight to-” he saw Thorax and paused “You know, he looks a lot like Thorax, but… much more colorful…. Nah, couldn’t be… he… he couldn’t be...”

I chose my words, carefully. “This is my husband, Oberon. Oberon, Chrysalis. Chrysalis, Oberon. I’m Secundus, but that’s not important.”

Chrysalis smiled “It is good to see my people are accepted somewhere… I am happy to see you escaped the hive’s destruction, Oberon.” She bowed to him respectfully before she grinned mischievously “And I can smell that you have become mates, my congratulations. May you have many years full of joy.”

I blushed at the fact we smelled like each-other, I’d forgotten that. I looked at Oberon with concern. I didn’t need a SIVA link to guess what he was thinking. I privately told him, We’ll set it right somehow, I promise. Aloud, I said, “Thank you. They’ve been very joyful so far.”

Chrysalis smiled in joy “Have you met Simon? He welcomed me, my children, and my brothers with open arms, and we established a trade of Red-leaf, which makes for a great love substitute, and in exchange we spy on Magi. Helps them to know where enemy raids are coming from, and when they are coming. Simon then suggested we move our hive here, said he could keep us safe easier so we are doing so with their help. I trust him, so he’s fine by my hive, apparently… I often worry that they are not open enough with me... My only real complaint though is that he is obviously crushing pretty hard on someone here, and he will never tell me. Guy thinks I’ll get weirded out, as if. He should nut up and tell me, so I can help him get with her, owe him that much at least.”

My inability to lie was infamous in my universe. It was so bad that I couldn’t even make my face lie. Oberon very gently punched me to change my expression. “Um, right.” I muttered. “I think I’ll … just let the two of you deal with that. I’m shocked at what happened to the hive here, I’m from a different universe, and the hive there is my adoptive family. I can’t imagine losing that.”

Chrysalis smiled sadly “Let me guess, I am a villain in that world? I could sense your discomfort around me… I suppose it would be a bad idea for me to visit the hive there… I would hate to cause trouble...I just wish I could see Thorax again… My poor baby brother…”

I shrugged. “It might work, you’d be amazed how judgement-free it is. Yes … you were a villain. On the planet I come from, there’s a saying that ‘The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.’ I’ve always believed that ‘I was just trying to help’ is the largest paving stone on that road, and you were genuinely trying to help your subjects, you just didn’t go about it the right way.” I looked at Oberon carefully. “I’ve always believed that the ones we love are always very close by, even if it’s not in ways we expect.” Damn it, I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut.I thought angrily.

Chrysalis smiled and hugged me “Thank you, Secundas, you are a kind soul, you deserve every bit of happiness you get.” She then smiled even more, the sadness gradually leaving her face

I then walked over to the large mallets that Grimgor had set up. I picked one up, and swung it in a clumsy circle. I then very carefully set it on the floor, and facepalmed. “Why, why, am I always klutzy?!” I muttered. I thought to Simon, Would it be alright if I customized this before I accidentally take someone’s head off?

Sure, Simon thought back, his interest showing through the thought.

I concentrated, and fed my magic into the mallet. It slowly shrank into a small, double-headed hammer. I added one or two final spells to make sure it would work. I then conjured up a straw dummy, and sent the hammer flying forward. It tore straight through the dummy, before flying back into my hand.

I chuckled at a mental image of a blonde superhero in a red cape surrounded by lightning that came from Simon. Well, I started reading the myths when I was a kid, but I did love the older comics, yes. No, this hammer doesn’t summon lightning, it just throws accurately, and returns. Besides, I’m way more like Loki than like Thor, I thought with a mental grin. I then broadcast to the group, We’d better get going soon, we’re burning daylight, and it’s a long walk.

“Can you be any noisier?” A familiar dry voice says, holding up the head of the dummy that was launched clear away.

Graug simon rubbed the back of its horned head awkwardly H-hey there, Roxy… You still mad at me for vanishing on you?

“Yes.” She answers bluntly but didn’t seem all too angry.

He nodded before gesturing to me and Thorax. “Well, Some people from another dimension have come to help us, I think we have a shot at saving Discord now!”

Her cold eyes glanced at us. “And who are they?” There was a edge to her tone, but showed little else in terms of hostility.

He gestured to us A Draqon of duality and what looks like an extremely colorful Changeling royal.

She nodded slowly “So, you think this will work?”

Simon nodded eagerly, which looked odd on his graug body Definitely!

Roxy smirked “Well, here’s hoping. Not like we’ll get any retries on this.”

My head tilted back and forth the way it did whenever I was trying to work something out or was confused. Reading people of any species had never been my forte. It was blatantly obvious, even to me that Roxy didn’t like me, but she seemed willing to put up with me, and not put a sword through my annoying face. I would have to watch my step and my mouth around her. “Sorry for being loud, I tend to motor-mouth when I’m nervous or excited. I - um - yeah. I’m here to help free your version of Discord, which I’m pretty sure I can do, and I think at that point Thorax and I will wind up going home, whether we want to or not. It’s not a good idea to stay in universes you don’t belong in, believe me, I’ve tried.”

I privately “messaged” Simon, I’m not a god, but if you’d like, I could show you the Equestria I’m from when we’re done with this. It’d be nice to show off a non-apocalyptic, non-tyrannical world. I don’t know how long I could take you there for, I’m pretty powerful in my multiverse, but I’m not omnipotent. I could still take you though. You interested?

Simon chuckled If it’s anything like what your making it sound, gladly.

I then said to Roxy, “I have to be in physical contact with Discord’s statue while I break him out. Celestia’s forces will be trying to kill me the whole time, obviously. I can’t actually die, but being hit by meteors, lasers, stray spells, or bullets or whatever hurts like hell, is pretty distracting, and it’s not a good idea to mess with a Draconequus, sorry Draqon in the middle of a complicated spell like that. I could wind up hurting Discord, and he wouldn’t forgive me for that. We’d better get going as soon as we can.”

After I said that, two large troll like creatures came up to Graug Simon and smiled, the non-fuzzy male pulled out a flaming mace and hoisted it “Olog follow! We protect family, or die trying!”

Simon the Graug frowned Azzy, Maru, I don’t want you getting reckless, I’ll need you to guard our Draqon friend, Secundas. Just try to keep him out of the line of fire.

The male grinned even wider “Az-Barko happy to serve! No one touches new friend! Will char enemy to cinders!”

The Female smiled as well “And I, Al-Maru, shall keep hostile magics at bay, I will crush the magi under my heel if they try to stop us.”

Simon nodded and opened the gate to outside Comraich, walking with Orvok, Roxy, Az-barko, Grimgor, and Al-Maru taking up position around us. I wish that the Magi had seen the madness that they were unleashing upon themselves… But honestly, after learning of what they did to get the SIVA from my peoples blood… I have no mercy left to give.

As we stepped outside, I sniffed the air once or twice. I pointed to my right. “Right, I think it’s…”
Oberon grabbed my arm, and gently pushed it so that I was pointing to my left. “That way,” he finished for me.

“Thank you,” I mumbled, my ears burning with embarrassment.

Chrysalis snickered. “No sense of direction, right?” I nodded. Chrysalis then stared at Oberon for a few seconds. “You remind me of someone close to me,” she said finally.

Oberon shrugged. “I’m a Changeling. I just have one of those faces, I guess.”

I tried to work out a mental map in my head. I facepalmed. “Oh, great. We get to cut through what should be the Everfree. Which back home is terrifying enough. I can’t wait to see what it’s like here. Everyone still here? Right. Let’s get going.” I started humming under my breath. Oberon lightly smacked the back of my head. “What?! Was it that annoying?”

Oberon sighed. “You need to watch where you’re going. You nearly stepped into a bear-trap.”

I glanced down. “Uhlp. Thank you. Maybe you should navigate?”

Oberon chuckled. “Gladly. It’s this way everyling, we just have to follow the river for about two miles.” He glanced down. “Riverbed,” he corrected. “This is going to take some getting used to.”

Simon nodded Yeah, Celestia diverted all the rivers from Comraich, luckily we have a couple wells and water farms… But it’s still hard.

[At the quarry work camp. Simons POV]

I frowned as he looked to the camp “I sense a lot of Magi, but I can’t see them, they might be using stealth magic. Damn magi are crafty.”

Sec tilted his head to the side, and listened for a few seconds. “I hear about twenty hearts beating inside there, but I can’t narrow it down exactly. They’re on the opposite side of the camp at least.”

“I hate when you do that,” Oberon muttered. He looked at me, and said, “That’s the beating hearts, didn’t you say that Celestia might be using undead?”

I nodded “I can sense those easy, they are all over the place, but they can be stopped pretty easy, break their bindings, and we have some temporary allies, at least until the necromantic part of the magic wears off. They are being forced to do what their master wants, against their will. They’re held captive by a necromantic focus, big magical thing covered in bones and rotting flesh, along with some crystal hanging off it.” I chuckled, now out of the graug, who was currently growling at the gate. “Celestia must be desperate, the only thing she hates nearly as much as us is the undead. Prefers those she killed to stay dead, y’know?”

Sec smirked. “I have an associate I work with who has one or two choice words to say about necromancy. It makes him go berserk, since it’s messing with his concept. Normally, he’s a very nice, kind individual, but he thinks the undead are ‘cheating.’ Saving your presence, Simon. I think he’d like you.”

I then sent Sec a message Love to meet him when this is over, if you are sure he won’t make me die...again.

Azzy then grunted “Az-Barko will keep the undead in check, make sure we don’t add to their number.”

Al-Maru nodded “And I will keep us as hearty as possible, minimise our wounds, maximise our adrenaline, that sort of thing.”

Orvok then grunted as he and Grimgor began to set something up, piquing my interest after a bit “What are you two doing?”

Orvok grinned “Me and Grimgor have a totem of our own, it’ll let Grimgor and me be a bit tougher. Need it if Chryssis intel is right.”

Chrysalis nodded “I told them while we were walking here, but one of my spies discovered that Celestia may be here personally. Stay on guard.”

“Oh, good. Taking on the insane daughter of an equally insane god was item number one on my list of chores this morning,” Sec grumbled.

Oberon laughed. “Look at it this way,” he said in a sly tone, “This’ll be payback for all of those unending reports she makes us do.”

Sec laughed. “OK, that’s our Celestia, and this is a different Celestia, but…” I hefted my hammer and grinned “Somehow, that works!”

Roxy nodded “I’ll watch your back, brother. Don’t die.”

I grinned at her, then to Orvok and Grimgor, who had finished their odd totem, a dragon’s tooth hollowed out and filled with clockwork, and several bones fastened to it by metallic ivy. Grimgor flipped a switch on it, and it began to float as I sensed their power skyrocket. “Let’s DO THIS!”

Snuffles roared and charged the front gate, quickly bashing it to splinters before a massive undead graug came out to deal with him “Oh goody!” I shouted “Target practice! Sick em snuffles!” Snuffles nodded and ran for the rotting wretched graug as Orvok and grimgor entered the fray, Grimgor slowly moving, but laying siege on the Magi as if they were made of tissue paper.

Orvok, well, he was keeping any reinforcements from helping, using giant roots and branch shrapnel to wound anyone who came close that was a magi.

Chrysalis was whipping about the battlefield, poetry in motion as she disarmed and disabled the Magi, breaking their horns if they were Horned ones, dislocating the wings of the fliers, and breaking the joints of the burly ones.

I was scanning for the necromantic totem, using my SIVA enhanced wraith vision to scan the fortress like quarry until I found the totem. It was hooked up to Discords statue, siphoning his power for it’s evil magic. That couldn’t feel good… I looked to Sec and smiled “You focus on the statue, I’ll handle the litch and the totem!”

[Sec’s POV]

I was casually swinging my hammer as I walked towards Discord’s frozen form. I was very grateful that the hammer even aimed for me, because I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. I wasn’t even focused on what the hammer was doing as it was thrown and returned, I was too busy looking at Discord with a growing sense of horror.
I lived in a very friendly version of Equestria. I’d wholeheartedly recommend it to tourists. However, since I was a fan of the show, and wound up being a Draconequus, I was terrified when I first arrived that Celestia would turn me to stone on sight. She hadn’t, but once in a while I still had nightmares about being turned to stone.

I hadn’t seen Discord’s statue in person, only as part of a shot in a show. Nothing could have prepared me for this, and it did not help that this version of Discord was human-shaped. He was slightly hunched over, one arm raised to protect himself futilely. His mouth was frozen in a horrifying scream. To make matters even worse, I actually could hear him screaming, it just wasn’t with my ears. It was very quiet, and in the back of my mind, but it was horrible. I think only another Draconequus or Draqon would have been able to hear it.

I looked at Simon. “Right, first thing I need is for him to stop being a damn battery. Can you get that thing off of him?”

Simon nodded “Good as done.” Simon grabbed the totem and all of the aura in a grip made of SIVA and blue and green wraithfire as he began to draw deep from the well of his power. “Brother cast in stone, may your worth be shown, the evil that binds thee shall begone, so sayeth the lord of dawn!” He then literally absorbed and burned the totem, it’s power returning to the statue, as the power used to enslave the zombies backlashes to the Lich, who had been fighting with Roxy, and then promptly let loose with a blood curdling scream as it burned to ash.

“Thanks. Nice job on the spell-poetry.” I walked up to Discord, and climbed onto the pedestal holding him up. I remembered that he couldn’t see anything, but he could hear everything around him. I cleared my throat. “Hi! You don’t know me, but in another universe, you and I are very close friends. I was brought here by your father to help get you out of here.”

I then heard a voice, Discord’s voice, ever so slightly… “Father... he cares...never left… always… always worked...to help...even when it hurt… oh by the first gods his shouts of pain… they ripped into me...Solaris used his pain, his own voice, to form my shackles with his magic… Chaos, and a seething inferno… Brother, the magic is of anarchy! It tears at my core, please, undo the magic shackling my mind first! I cannot bear to harm anyone again!”

By that point, my heart was breaking. I nodded. “As you wish.” I brought a hand up, and gently placed my fingers on Discord’s temple. “My mind to your mind…” I joked. I cleared my throat. “Sorry, not relevant, just thought you might get it.” I closed my eyes, blocked out everything around me, and set up a link between my mind and Discord’s.

It was dark,and cold, so very, very cold, as if the warmth of the sun was a distant memory here, the darkness scratched and bit at me like some feral animal, I could feel my being under assault, as if the magic designed to madden and subjugate Discord was trying futilely to take me under its sway as well, this magic was not harmonious, like in my world, it was a magic of evil, of hate. Whoever did this, they wanted nothing more than to make Discord suffer. He was in the middle of the room, chained to the floor, his entire body practically encased in frozen chains, his body riddled with bruises, scratches, and gouges He looked to me and wept “Hurry… Release me before it comes again! I cannot bear to see what it made me do again! I HATE hurting people! It is against my nature, I help, never harm! I… I hurt so many of the Uruks and Olog people.. The kin, they were called, when the kingdom was strong… I brought it to its knees before I managed to turn against the Magi… They… made me kill so many innocent people… so many lives cut short, so many lives that could have been, never to see the light of day…” He wept even more, the tears streaming down his face “I swear to you, I WILL depose Celestia if I break free! I will take her precious sun from her, her seat as the Sun’s avatar will be forfeit, and We, the truly good will have a turn to shine!”

I nodded. “I understand better than you might think.” As I walked over to Discord, one of his chains broke off from the group, and latched onto my wrist, the cold burning unbearably. I glared at it. My irises turned yellow. “Oh, just try it!” I snarled dangerously. Part of my mind leapt forward and attacked, and the chain broke off of me. “You know what your problem is?” I asked the chains. “You’ve been dealing with the same kind of prisoner too long. I’m chaos, and order, day and night, good and evil, all of it! Try dealing with everything at once you bastards!”

I grabbed Discord’s chains, which tried to latch onto me, and imprison me as well. I fought them off, and started picturing all of the dualities I could. In a very short time, I’d gotten to be very, VERY good at dealing with my concept. I could break an entire universe into dualites in my mind, analyze them, and get the result I wanted, because everything could be considered by its opposite.

Since the prison here was void, dark, cold, and hateful, I fed magic based on their opposites into the room. The chains hissed in pain, so I kept going. I then pictured all that chaos could do: bring heat, life, madness, love, grief, joy, anything. I pictured an entire universe made out of all the random things I could think of, and then I forced it to work. The chains started breaking apart, and I said, “And … for my final trick!” I then turned my mind inside out, so that the universe I was picturing wasn’t in my mind anymore. There was an enormous explosion, and the gods said, “Let there be light!”

I then felt something shove my body as I saw the last of the chains snap, Discords mind breaking free at long last! As I came to, I saw a spear made out of white steel and gold that seemed… wrong, on a fundamental level, like thousands of spirits were trapped within, forced to empower and embolden their wielder.

I looked to who shoved me out of the way, it was Roxy, she shoved me aside, taking the Spear right through the heart as I heard Laughter, laughter similar to Celestias, but far more sinister. Simon turned to me and saw Roxy, his eyes widening as he was at her side in an instant “Roxy!” He ripped out the spear and tried to heal her with his SIVA, only, she was already gone, the spear had taken her soul… Simon realised this shortly after Celestia looked to him in amusement.

“So, this is the mighty lord of Dawn? Ha! To think I was worried! You are nothing! And I crush you beneath my heel like the pest you are! Prepa-” She could not finish that sentence, because Simon was airborne and ramming into her at speeds that would make Rainbow jealous.

Simon grabbed her wings and began to pull as he dislocated them, forcing her to fall to the ground as the spear magically flew back into her hand and she used its magic to float safely down. Only for Orvok to slam her down into the dirt with a giant root “I saw what you did to her, and I will make you suffer for it after Discord is free! No forest shall yield its succor to you! You are Forever banned from the sustenence of the land and skies! ”

The second she landed Simon was on her, sword and dagger in hand as he parried her spear every time she tried to hit him, furiously slashing at her as he whittled away at her defenses, every slash leaving SIVA on her that ate away at her at a slow, agonizing pace, until it reached her nervous system, paralyzing her…

“You have gone too far! You could of attacked me, and it would of just been you defending your title! But you hurt my friends!” He swept her legs out from under her “You hurt my Family!” He then stabbed her in between the wings as he hammered her into the ground, leaving the dagger there as she tried to remove it and the SIVA ate her wings down toskin, then muscle, then bone, then simply nothing. “YOU HAVE TAKEN SOMETHING FROM ME THAT I WILL NEVER GET BACK!”

He then used her horn as a grip as he rammed her head into the nearest rock until her nose broke, he then snapped off her horn at the base and covered it in SIVA before Stabbing it into her neck, the SIVA filling her body now, eating her from the inside until she was devoid of any trait of a pony...er../ Magi tribe “And now, i have taken your power from you! No longer are you an Archon, you are nothing! You have no magic, no strength, and no wings! I have taken everything from you, and I banish thee from death! No matter what, you shall be without the only thing you treasure, power! You have nothing, are nothing! AND DEATH WILL BE NO RELIEF TO THEE! THY SINS ARE SO GREAT THAT NO GOD NOR FIEND SHALL TAKE THEE!”

He then walked to the spear and grabbed it, growling as he Channelled his SIVA into it, weakening the magic of the spear until he snapped it with his hands, sending the spirits trapped within to the hereafter. Orvok, who had landed by Simon after, took a shaky sigh as he took her corpse in his hand “Please… please work…’ He grew a wooden heart and placed it where Roxy’s heart belonged, sealing the wounds around it with magic as he began praying “Quathak, please, i have not requested your aid before, and I have been generous with my offerings, please, just let her stay with me… I can’t… I can’t lose her! PLEASE, my queen! I cannot bear to lose her, I love her! I cannot take it, the very thought rips me to my core!”

Everything stopped, except for me and Orvok, as a woman made from millions of different plants and trees interwoven with each other making the form of a humanoid dragoness with a headdress made from vines, with bones hanging from them. She took one of the millions of souls and smiled at Orvok “Like I could say no to you, my child. You have been nothing but faithful in my teachings, have been dutiful in your offerings, and, most of all, you truly love her.” She smiled and placed the soul mote into Roxies chest before turning to me “Now, let’s talk, just us, hmm?”

Orvok nodded “Of course my queen, I understand.” He then froze as well.

Quathak smiled “My brother Zmatok sends his thanks for helping his son, He should be free shortly, now that Celestias power is gone.” She smiled at Orvok warmly, if not with some sadness “You know, I was not just being kind, when I called him my child. I may have spent a stint disguised as an Uruk medicine woman, that may have fallen for a charming young Uruk hunter. I… was happy, with them. I miss those times, and would often revisit them as a passing bird, or a breeze in the trees…” She teared up before sighing unsteadily. “Never mind about that though, and please, keep that to yourself… I am not ready to tell Orvok of his unique heritage yet.”

She smiled as she shimmered a little “Oh, alright, Zmatok, I’ll tell him. Now that Celestia has been crippled, Solaris’s link to this realm is as well, Celestia was the only one who actively worshipped him, after all.” She smiled to me “Zmatok is busy setting up a cleanse of the Magi, freeing them from Solaris and Celestia’s corrupt teachings. But he also sent me to ask, may Comraich temporarily visit your realm? This will by no means be permanent, but just until things stabilize here.”

I blinked in surprise. “Um … how many people are we talking about here? My Realm only has forty-two guest rooms, which is ironic for how anti-social I am, but it also only has ten bathrooms. Including the master. So, the math didn’t really work out.”

Quathak smiled “There is an empty region of the badlands, where that realms Everfree Forest borders it, plentiful hunting and little other inhabitants. The city of Comraich has its own living quarters for all who live there.. It will simply be that the city will be in your realm for a brief period of time.”

I turned back to Discord’s statue. “Wakey, wakey! There’s a whole world out here that needs you help.”

Discord stood up, stone and cement flaking off of him. “You have a very strange way of looking at the world,” he commented with a smile. “I like it, reminds me of my family. We were...all quite odd.” He sighed “Well, seems I have some work to do, being the new head demigod is going to take some getting used to… hopefully with that spear destroyed, some of my family will re form...”

Quathak nodded with a warm, motherly smile. “Greetings nephew, I hope you recover with little trouble.”

He grinned hollowly, as if it hurt him to smile. “I… I hope so too.”

I shrugged. “I see everything in black and white and grey. It goes with the territory.” Discord looked and sounded better now, since he wasn’t in unendurable agony any more. I know it would still be a long road to his recovery, mental scars like that didn’t heal overnight. “Would … would you like to come with us? I know the version of you in my universe would love to meet another version of himself. It might help.”

Discord smiled and nodded as Quathak left, unpausing time. “It would be best for me to disappear until the records set straight any way, less chance of reprisals from Celestias former lackies.” He looked to Celestia, who was now a pitiful looking creature with a thin frame, and no powers whatsoever, like a human from my world, but without the creativity… or any time in the sun, or much food… Damn she looked awful. “I pity her, the wrath of a druid is something very dangerous… and she just tried to kill an Uruk druids desired mate.”
I shuddered. “If someone tried to kill my husband, I … Crap!” My eyes grew wide. “Where’s Thorax?!” I yelled, forgetting to use his pseudonym. “THORAX!!!” I ran over to him, and found him curled up on the ground, breathing heavily. “Hey, you’re OK, you’re OK, I’ve got you…” I didn’t know if I was trying to reassure him or me. I bent down, and fed him some healing magic and love. In a few minutes, he sat up, looking recovered.

“Let’s … take tomorrow off…” Thorax joked in a weak voice.

The armored troll looked to Thorax “Is Changeling king ok? Saw fall down, kept enemies away, so they not kill.” He was covered in cuts, burns, and had several bruises that looked quite painful, Simon looked to him and frowned, only for him to wave off his concern “Az-Barko wears these wounds proudly, used to protect new brother in arms!”

Chrysalis looked to Thorax sadly, having likely heard my slip-up “I knew you were him… I just wish you were MY him…”

Thorax rested his head against my chest. “I know. I’m sorry I can’t be. Don’t worry, I’m well taken care of,” he said, giving me an affectionate pat. “And … I think someone you know might be willing to take care of you as well,” he grinned. “You’ll have to work out who for yourself.”

She walked over to us and wryly smiled “It is Simon, yes? I have a feeling that he likes me… I just… I am unsure I am the right kind of woman for him… I am still… this. I give love, but never change back… The spell that changes my form is far stronger on me.” She sighed, eying Simon, who was making sure Roxy was recovering well, while Orvok jabbed what looked like an acorn into her chest, the acorn phasing into her with green fire.

Az-Barko smiled warmly “Simon does not care about looks, sister. He only cares about you. Not pushing, just letting know.”

There was then a note that appeared in my hand, me not remembering having grabbed it.

Do you, a resident of “Equestria” Universe Number “538” Timeline “1”, grant asylum to “Comraich” native to “Equestria” Universe Number “539” Timeline “2”?

Yes/No ←Circle one

I chuckled. “Well, my Celestia isn’t going to be exactly thrilled about this, but … I know how to bribe her!” I grinned. I traced my finger around the answer “Yes,” feeding some of my magic into it. The letter disappeared back to wherever it had come from. I looked at everyone, and said, “So, I guess you’ll be living with us for a while. There’s enough room in the Badlands for a large city, and thankfully the Changelings are all pretty friendly. Oh!” I remembered something. “My universe has some sort of camouflage law built into it, so … odds are you’ll all be different species while you’re there. You get used to it pretty quickly, it’s just odd at first. I wouldn’t mind placing bets on what species you’ll be, but … another time, maybe.”

Just as I said that, we were suddenly all in The city we met Simon in, except for Celestia, and were swept up in a bright light, seems we were going now!

Author's Notes:

Check dis guy out for the awesome story of Secundus!