Chapter 48: Eye of the Storm
- hailStorm [HS] began pestering discoJubilation [DJ] -
HS: hey beats
DJ: yo, hail to the storm, dawg! 8D
DJ: ready to get it on like donkey kong?
HS: yeah sure
DJ: not very expressive, are you? 8C
DJ: cmon man, we're about to play this rad game to save the universe! what could possibly be bringing you down?
HS: pinkie is dead
DJ: oh.
DJ: well dang I'm sorry bro
DJ: can DJ ask what happened?
HS: she was murdered by discord probably
DJ: probably? man who else could have done it
DJ: charge?
HS: maybe we dont know yet
HS: seras looking into it
HS: id say more but im kinda busy flying
HS: gotta hurry and get you into the game
DJ: DJ hears you loud and clear, wingman!
DJ: astra is already in, so DJ's ready to begin!
It was certainly tricky paying attention to the sky in front of him while holding his computer and typing out messages occasionally, all while flapping his wings as hard and fast as he could. The oddly-timed increased pegasus traffic served to only raise the difficulty even further, but Hailstorm had a mission, and he was not about to waste any more time doing it. He had already departed Ponyville and was zooming between the clouds and the other ponies, his sights set on the distant cloud city of Cloudsdale.
He was in the middle of typing up a reply when he heard a noise from behind him. It almost sounded like a shout.
Taking a quick glance behind him, he saw the frame of a dark gold, well-built pegasus pony rapidly approaching. "Hey!" The shout was clearer now, a gruff and disgruntled masculine voice. Hail recognized the pegasus immediately, his presence invoking a tight knot in his stomach. And yet, he continued flying. He knew that he could not outrun this stallion, but he wasn't about to stop even for him.
"Hailstorm, get back here!" the pegasus shouted again, catching up. "You've got some serious explaining to do, pal!"
"Sorry, Mr. Star, but I can't stop now!" Hail called back.
"That's Mr. Star, SIR, to you!" Swift Star pulled up alongside him. "Where are you off to in such a hurry, huh? You've missed work for 2 weeks now! And last I heard, you left town with Light! So where is he now? What have you done with my son?!"
Hail's widening gaze continued to point straight ahead. Swift had no idea who his son really was... and Hail had no chance of conveying the truth in such a short time.
"Well?!" his boss demanded, growing less patient by the second.
Hail sighed and slowed to a halt. Swift had a right to know, and there was no sense in not trying to explain. He made his way to the ground to catch his breath, Swift following angrily.
"I'm sorry, sir," Hail began, "but your son is..." Swift's glare cut through him like a knife. "...not who he used to be. Or rather, he was never who you thought he was."
"What are you saying?" Swift's tone shifted to that of accusation.
"He's..." Hail searched for an explanation that was both believable and true. "Light Star isn't your biological son, is he?" he opened. "In fact, he's not even officially adopted. You found him in the middle of the street when he was a baby foal, didn't you?"
Swift looked somewhat astonished. "How do you know that?" he snapped suspiciously. "Not even Light knows that..."
"We figured it out," Hail replied. "Along with his true identity. You've at least heard of Blahsadfeguie by now, right?"
"Yeah, the human who came out of nowhere, along with all those other weirdos..." Swift didn't quite seem to be making the connection, but Hail didn't blame him. "What about him?"
"Well, he and Light Star are one and the same."
There was a moment of silence as Swift reeled from the sentence, as if the strangeness and suddenness of it inflicted a physical blow on him. "Ok, now I KNOW you're lying," Swift refuted. "Light's been living with me and my wife practically his whole life, and Blah only showed up a few weeks ago. They even met briefly on the day of Blah's party. And do I need to even mention the fact that Blah is a human?"
"That's because Blah was sent back in time against his will to become Light," Hail continued, unfaltering. "He lost his memories, and only recently regained them. He was never originally a pony - why do you think it took him so long to get his cutie mark? And when he did, it happened to be related to Hajike, Blah's primary source of power." The gold pegasus remained silent. "You've wanted to figure out where Light came from ever since you found him, am I right? This is the answer you were looking for. He was Blahsadfeguie all along."
Swift stared at the ground. Hail had expected further denial, but that pose suggested that he was seriously considering Hail's explanation, much to his surprise.
However, any hope Hail had of convincing him terminated when Swift shook his head. "No. There's no way I'm believing a ridiculous story like that," he decided, though it seemed to Hail like Swift might have been talking to himself more so than him. "Time travel isn't possible. If it were, you could've gone back in time and showed up for work!" He had switched to full accusation mode again, forcefully changing the subject. "Do you understand what a meteor shower does to a perfectly prepared cloud cover? We've had to take volunteers to make up for the damage to our ecosystem due to the unstable conditions!"
Hailstorm had no choice but to switch to full-on defense. "I'm sorry, sir, I hadn't thought about that..." He hadn't been aware that an entire ecosystem could take damage from abnormal weather in the first place, let alone that quickly, but talking back to Swift at this state was out of the question.
"Well I bet you're thinking about it now!" retorted Swift. "So you better get your snow-covered behind up there and haul some cloud, or you won't even have a job to come back to from your little adventure!"
Hail gulped. He was afraid that it would come to this. He had to choose between either losing his job, or failing to do his duty as a hero. His instinct immediately shifted in favor of abandoning Swift, but he wasn't sure that even saving the universe would convince Swift to give him his job back if he did. Not only that, but he would be letting down his fellow ponies. Two separate groups needed his help. 'Dang... if only I could be in two places at once...' Hail thought as his boss stared him down impatiently. He glanced idly down at the computer screen in the hopes that Beats might have some wisdom to share...
DJ: uh, yo?
DJ: DJ wasn't gonna bother you while you were flying but
DJ: he just spotted a shooting star directly above him
DJ: it's getting closer bro
DJ: no rush but
DJ: you might want to hustle up a bit D8
"What are you looking at?" Swift growled. "Are you going to get moving or what?"
Hail didn't respond. He thought about his computer. 'If this is the thing I'll use to play the game anyway... do I even need to be in my house just yet?'
It was a crazy idea, but his multitasking earlier seemed to fare well enough. He had already proved that it was possible for him to concentrate on flying and use the computer at the same time...
"You've got me," sighed Hail. "I'll help."
Swift blinked in hesitation, having anticipated a bit more of an argument. "Good. I'm glad you came to your senses. We need all the help we can get, so meet me up there for instructions, on the double!" He took off and headed for a cluster of isolated clouds.
Before following, Hail double clicked the SBURB server icon on his desktop. Astra had been nice enough to install the program beforehand, which might have bought him just enough time to make this work.
With the console window up, Hail took after Swift while typing a reply.
DJ: looks like just a few minutes left...
HS: im here i have the window up
DJ: oh, right on time man!
DJ: just type in my IP, which is right... here!
A small string of numbers appeared on the screen. "Great, something to copy down..." muttered Hail as he stopped next to Swift. "Ok, I'm listening," he said, looking between the two windows and starting to copy from one to the other.
"All right," Swift's voice reached his ears, and Hail tried to pay attention. "We're running out of good clouds around the target zone. As usual, you'll be responsible for cloud elevation. To collect more water vapor and expand them, in case you forgot after all your time off-duty..."
"I remember, don't worry," Hail affirmed as he put in the last of the numbers and pressed Enter, starting the connection process.
"Seriously, what is that?" Swift asked. "You look like you're paying more attention to that thing than to me."
"It's... a communication device," Hail said, looking up. "I'm telling all of my friends that I can't make it to... the thing I was heading for before you stopped me." He looked down at it again. "I have a lot of friends."
"Whatever," dismissed the boss. "As long as you're getting your work done, I don't care what else you do. Just hurry up, will you? Those clouds won't elevate themselves!" He immediately picked a cloud and began to lift it. "You're still not off the hook about Light though. We'll talk about him later..."
Invigorated by the SBURB jingle playing in the background, Hail began to follow suit. The bitter high-altitude winds soon crept around him, and he was reacquainted with the feelings of urgency and productivity that made him a proficient weather pony.
Using his hind legs to flatten the cloud and increase its surface area, he balanced the computer on his left forehoof and dragged the Cruxtruder onto the second floor of Beats's house with his right, placing it among the various stacks of records and old music-playing devices. The cloud gradually increased in size as he scrolled to the first floor where there would likely be more room for the other equipment, only to find that it was still overflowing with Blah and Pinkie's kitchen monstrosity.
DJ: sorry about the lack of space bro, that mess is just too much for one guy!
DJ: but that's ok because we can make room using the revise button!
DJ: and don't worry about spending grist, we're kinda in a hurry
Hail fiddled with the touch controls, selecting the option that Beats indicated. The number that appeared indicated Beats's reserve of Build Grist was at 2500, which was nothing to sneeze at. He started by drawing a cube to attach to the roof of his house... however, he was startled by a resounding crash of thunder behind him, causing his hoof to slip. He had nearly forgotten about the cloud, and there was a massive, lopsided rectangular shape protruding from Beats's house as a result. The weight was almost too much for the original building's walls.
DJ: dude, what are you even doing? 8/
HS: sorry im sorta multitasking here
DJ: can you put whatever it is down for two seconds?
HS: not exactly
A piece of the roof crumbled, crashing down onto the Cruxtruder and knocking the lid off. A pinkish Kernelsprite emerged. Hailstorm failed to notice, as he preoccupied himself with managing his cloud, which had grown to immense proportions. It had become almost too big for him to move.
With his server inactive, Beats scanned his house for an object to give the Kernelsprite in the meantime. His eyes landed on the sunglasses that used to belong to Mefirst, which he had brought inside seeing that the mailman would have no further use for them. With the house shaken up, they had fallen to the ground and cracked slightly. With a shrug, he tossed them at the sprite.
Hail's fur tingled as he struggled with the static-producing cloud, shoving his entire body against it. Through his weight and strength alone, he had managed to lower it enough to make it stop growing at least, but there was still the matter of getting it where it needed to be. "I could... use some help here...!" he called to the open air, praying that a fellow pegasus might hear and give him a hoof. The cloud rumbled, threatening to cast a bolt of lightning. There was no telling where - or who - it would strike.
DJ: this room is gonna blow if you don't kill that cube bro! D8
With the staircase blocked and the roof about to cave, Beats could only take shelter under a table and hope that Hail was paying attention. A quick glance at his computer told the pegasus that the DJ had very little time left, and so he hastily moved the camera view back to the gigantic geometry. Swiping his hoof across the screen, he managed to recycle most of it, stabilizing the second floor a bit. The cloud rumbled again, dividing his attention.
Beats took the opportunity to advance on his Cruxtruder and turn the wheel. As he retrieved the pink Cruxite dowel, he glanced at the timer on the device. Only 50 seconds remained until the meteor would hit. The beet's jaw dropped.
DJ: 50 seconds, guy!
Hail continued to press against the cloud as he dropped the Totem Lathe and Alchemiter onto the slab of building material that remained on the roof. He placed the pre-punched card as carefully as he could next to Beats, for fear of slipping again and losing it. Having deployed everything necessary, Hail returned to pushing the cloud despite his rapidly draining stamina.
Beats snatched up the card, but stopped as he realized that he had no way of getting on top of the roof. The seconds ticked by. His options running out, Beats had no choice but to climb out of the window carrying both of his required objects, balancing on the windowsill.
The cloud was only barely budging. Hail put all of his remaining strength into it, but it didn't seem to change anything. The next second slowed to a crawl as he processed the sound of revving up thunder. 'This is it,' he heard himself think. 'This is the moment I die.'
A black streak passed by his head, followed by a flash of lightning. A pegasus pony had flown in from nowhere, practically drop-kicking the cloud and redirecting the lightning. The dark pony proceeded to push the cloud further along the path that Hail intended for it to go, making the task look easy as pie.
"Th-thanks!" cried the breathless and bewildered Hailstorm, unable to get a good look at his savior as they blended into the retreating storm cloud.
He checked his computer screen again, only to see Beats cautiously climbing the side of the house. Hail drew a set of stairs alongside him in aid, for which Beats was extremely grateful.
At that point, it was a simple matter for the veggie to replicate the steps he had seen from Astra to complete the entry process. With 10 seconds to spare, Beats witnessed a pink Cruxite record eject from a massive jukebox atop the Alchemiter. He picked it up, a little hesitant to break it, but the wild gestations of the shaded sprite behind him coaxed him otherwise. With both hands, he brought the record down onto his knee, shattering it.
Hail's computer screen blanked. He continued staring, unsure if the process had even worked from what he'd seen, but eventually, Beats reappeared on the screen, his club surrounded by an endless, lush field.
Hail sighed with relief, packing the computer back into his saddlebag so that he could properly thank the pegasus that saved him. He flew off towards the cloud, which was still on its way to the cluster that the other pegasi were building.
A swarm of other workers approached to slide the cloud into place, relieving the black pegasus. The newcomer flew against the brighter backdrop of the sky to catch their breath, becoming more visible. It was a male, that much was certain, but one detail stood out to Hailstorm - this pegasus also had a horn, making him an alicorn instead!
Rubbing his eyes in disbelief, Hail flew closer to the alicorn. The sight of his cutie mark came as even more of a shock. He recognized it as the very same galaxy symbol that Blah had acquired during his time as Light Star!
"Hey!" Hail called to the oddly familiar alicorn, startling him. He hadn't noticed the winter pony's approach until just now. "Blah, is that you?!"
"Uh..." The alicorn backed away as Hail neared him suspiciously. "You've seen too much, I gotta go now bye!"
"Wait!" Hail cried, but the alicorn had already zoomed off at a speed that not even Rainbow Dash could hope to match.
Frustrated, Hail flailed his limbs in midair. "Ugh! Why can't anyone ever be straightforward anymore?"
"Nice work getting that cloud over here, Hailstorm!" praised Swift Star, seeing Hail near the target biome. "That certainly makes up for a lot of lost time. Now, I think we have a certain son of mine to discuss..."
"I... I think we do," Hail surrendered.
Broshi drew his sword and held it threateningly towards Discord. Tom Nook casually exited the TARDIS, leaving the timid Spike behind. "Who are you and what do you want with us?" demanded the Yoshi.
"Ah, how cute," Discord downplayed, "the noble Heir wishes to slay the beast of unknown origin. Believe me when I say that even if I didn't come in peace, attempting to fight me would be the worst mistake of your life." He poked Broshi's large nose playfully, causing him to growl.
He was a hair away from lunging at Discord, but Nook held a hand in front of him. "Let's not be hasty, hm?" he suggested. "Discord and I have already agreed to a meeting here and now. He is a friend."
"Funny-looking friend," muttered Broshi as he disdainfully sheathed his weapon.
"So... where is here and now, anyway?" Spike tiptoed out of the time machine. He and Broshi looked around at their new surroundings. Spike recognized it immediately as the very same sculpture garden from which they had released Discord in the first place, but that didn't answer the question of the current time.
"That's not important right now," Nook dismissed. "We didn't come here to dilly-dally." He turned to Discord. "I've brought Broshi and Spike, as you asked. I believe you have a request for us, hm?"
"As a matter of fact, I do!" Discord answered. Broshi continued to eye him suspiciously. "You should be in possession of something very important to this universe's session. A Sonic Screwdriver, to be exact."
"...Sonic what?" The raccoon cocked his head. "I'm afraid I don't know what that is..."
"Well, I'm sure ONE of you knows what a Sonic Screwdriver is," he spoke a little slower, kneeling in front of Spike expectantly.
The dragon took a few steps back apprehensively, until it finally clicked what Discord was asking for. "Oh! That's..." Spike remembered the small object he had found in Blah's bag. "Wait... so this is how it happened? Or, will happen?" Spike tried to piece together the timeline in his head. "You meet us now, we give you the screwdriver that we found in the future, and you go back in time and give it to Blah?"
"Who then, in turn, frees me so that I can accomplish the task in the first place," finished Discord, grinning at the confused look on Spike's face. "It's called a stable time loop. Welcome to temporal relativity!"
"'Frees you'?" Broshi interrupted, glaring at Discord. "From what, some kind of prison? If you've done anything to deserve imprisonment, what makes you so trustworthy, anyway?"
"Uuuuugh," groaned Discord, "Do I have to explain this to EVERYONE? I've already influenced the past in a way that would be impossible were I still 'imprisoned' as you put it. In other words, they had no choice but to free me. Otherwise the loop would have broken and you'd all be in a doomed timeline right now."
"Ok then, I'll buy that for now," Broshi accepted, "but can I ask what makes you so important and, apparently, infamous? Cause I seem to be the only one here who doesn't know who you are, and it's driving me crazy."
"Oh, nobody special, just the GOD OF CHAOS," he cackled. "I'd demonstrate my ability but let's just say that would be a... poor tactical decision on my part."
"And what do you mean by that?" Broshi demanded. God of chaos or not, this Yoshi was certainly not afraid to stand up to him.
"It doesn't concern you," he brushed off. "Now, I'm sure you have a lot of other questions, but our time is running out. I need that Sonic Screwdriver, so be a good boy and hand it over, will you?"
Spike hesitantly pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver and stared at it for a moment in his hands, re-thinking whether or not he should give it to him. Even now, it took him a while to bring himself to trust Discord, but ultimately he could think of no alternative. He held it up to Discord, who eagerly snatched it from him.
"Excellent, excellent!" he mused, tucking it away in a pocket he didn't have until a second prior. "Pleasure doing business with you!"
"And with that taken care of," Tom Nook checked off a task on his mental to-do list, "we have just one more stop before we make our return. Come along, hm?"
Spike followed Nook into the TARDIS without a second thought. "Goodbye!" Discord said happily. Spike tentatively stopped and turned around. "...Bye," he said back before disappearing into the phone box. He figured he could at least try to be polite.
Broshi, on the other hand, silently backed into the vessel pointing two fingers at the deity as if to say "I'm watching you." Discord chuckled softly to himself in response and waved blissfully.
The door closed, and the TARDIS faded into the time vortex. Mere seconds later, a group of ponies and a Kadabra stormed into the garden.
"Discord!" shouted Twilight Sparkle. "You've got some serious explaining to do!"