Chapter 22: Errand boy

Steel's house, Ponyville
Local time: 1300
One month, twenty-eight days since arrival

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my fucking house?" I've been gone almost two weeks there is no way they would have sold my house, especially since Vinyl, Derpy and the rest of my friends knew I was in the hospital. The stallion looked confused, "I'm captain broadsword of the Celestial Guard… didn't the princesses tell you?" I shook my head, "The princesses said I could stay here while I recovered. You know what happened a week ago right?"

"Yeah, I heard about that… I'm sorry about the loss of your men." He lowered his head, "So am I…" Clearly the loss of his team is weighing heavily on him, I don't blame him for being depressed. I'm not sure how long it will take for him to recover it took me over a month after I came here to get over my own problems. The only thing I can do is offer my support. "So where are the other survivors?"

"Captain Silent Fight is in Ponyville's hospital while the rest have been sent back to Cnaterlot." I went over and set next to him on the couch, "How are they doing?" He sighed, "Silent will be fine and back on patrol in a few days. Shinning and I decided it was best to limit him to patrols for now while he still recovers. The others… it's hard to say. The last update I got said that two of them were stable and recovering but one was still touch and go, that was four days ago. Since then, I don't know." I nodded sadly, "So clearly you've been up and about." He nodded, "Yeah, my wounds were healed after two days. I've been patrolling the town while Silent's in the hospital." We talked for a while a got to know each other. "So why didn't you get into a defensive stance when you saw me sitting on your couch? Isn't that drilled into recruits where you're from?" I chuckled, "Normally, but it would have been foolish for anypony to attack me here in this heavily populated area. Even if you managed to get the upper hoof the noise from the fight would draw attention to the house, either way it would have been a lose, lose situation for you. Honestly I was afraid you wanted something from me."

"No, I'm here for that." Both of us turned towards the sound of the third unknown voice only to see… "Discord!" It was him, chaos incarnate. He was just floating behind us, with that smug look on his face eating. "What, were you expecting somepony else." I don't like Discord, while he has the same voice as Q from Star Trek at least with Q you can expect him to have ulterior motives. With Discord it's impossible to tell, he's just too unpredictable and that's what I hate. "There are some things I want to know. It would be best if you answer as quickly as possible and if I don't like your answers I'll be talking to Luna about shortening your leash. I know she still doesn't trust you. First, how long have you been here? Second, why are you here? Third, give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick your ass for entering my home uninvited."

"I've been here long enough, I didn't want to ruin your little soldier bonding moment. As for why I'm here well, I want you to get me something. Something I put away before I was defeated the first time and you are going to help me." I snorted, "And why would I do that?" He smirked, "Because if you don't I'll tell Luna about how you threw the hospital food out the window. And don't even think about pulling the 'Who's she going to believe, me or you' card because all she has to do is look closely at your body to see that you haven't been eating." Damn he had me there, "So here's what you have to do. You're going to take a small two day trip into the Everfree Forest and pick up my things. I'd do it except I know the princesses are watching me, Luna probably put a tracking spell on me, and I don't want to do anything suspicious. And before you think I'm doing something that will lead to me taking over Equestria let me assure you that's not what I'm doing, I'm not doing anything that will eventually harm anypony." He sounds sincere but I still don't trust him, "How do I know you aren't going to bring me out there just to kill me and say I went missing?"

"Fine, take the good captain with you." I looked over at Broadsword, while he can walk around he's in no condition to fight. "There's no way he would survive in there!" Broadsword stayed silent but I could tell he wanted to argue with me about that, even though he knows I'm right. Discord looked unamused. He snapped his fingers, "What the fuck!" The various bruises, scabs, and bandages on Broadsword's body disappeared, "You can heal somepony just like that?"

"Yes, and before you get pissed that I didn't do that to you let me tell you that's not my fault. Luna didn't want me within ten feet of you while you recovered. Besides I asked her and she said no, something about messing with your head and turning you against them…" I did understand Luna's reasoning, she didn't trust him as much as Celestia and I don't trust him at all. What pissed me off was that he had the power to do that while Celestia, Luna and myself didn't. "Fine, but the minute I feel something's wrong we're abandoning this mission."

"Great, good luck you two. Here's a map, at the center of the map is the ruins, I trust you can find your way there?" That bastard, sending me back there. The immense loathing I had must have shown, "Don't be like that Steel, Celestia still has some guards in the ruins so nopony will attack you. Just don't tell the guards what you're really doing because I'll know if you do and then Luna will know." With that he snapped his fingers and disappeared. "I hate him. Well I have to go but the choice is up to you, you coming or what?"

"I'll go with you, not like anything's actually happening around here. Besides it gives me a chance to see how well you fight." I raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think well be fighting something in there?" He released a humorless chuckle, "We're going into the Everfree, I'd be worried if we didn't." I nodded and we quickly gathered some supplies. Discord said it would only be two days, I'm counting today as day one, so I didn't bring a tent. I figured it would be best if we stayed in the ruins for the night, it's somewhat covered and it's easily defendable in case we're attacked during the night, not to mention the guards. Broadsword went to inform the mayor that he'd be out of town for the next two days while I wrote a note letting everypony know that I was gone. I also mentioned that I was going with Broadsword, hopefully that will keep them from panicking and yelling at me when we get back. Twenty minutes later I was on the boarder of the Everfree Forest near Fluttershy's house waiting. Looking down the road I saw Broadsword trotting down the road clad head to hoof in his armor, "Ready?" He nodded and we began our trek to the ruins.

Our trip was mostly uneventful, we got to Zecora's place without any problems which is halfway to the ruins. The rest of the way was the same until we made it to the rope bridge. Broadsword made it across fine but three steps away from the other side the bridge snapped, luckily I had wings. It stung like a bitch because they weren't fully healed but they got me across the rest of the way. We circled the ruins until we were on the southeast side, the direction we had to go tomorrow. Just as Discord said one of the guards noticed us and asked what we were doing. I told him we were going to check out something, I left it him to infer that it had to do with what happened at the ruins. It took some convincing but he was not going to tell the princesses we were here, he believes they already know. We spent the night in what was once either a tool shed or a guard checkpoint.

Everfree Forest, three miles southeast of the ruins
Local time: 0900
One month, twenty-nine days since arrival

"I told you we took a wrong turn, a wrong road." I was getting irritated, "Road, what road? Do you see any roads?" We got up at sunrise, or what counts as sunrise in this dark forest. It didn't take long to reach to hills the cave was located in, finding the cave was turning out to be a bit of a bitch. There had to be around five or six dozen hills with about three to six caves per hill. I thought it was kind of strange that they formed circles around a small valley, almost like rings. But I had to focus questions later. Most of the caves were no deeper than fifteen feet with barely enough room for me to stand in them. I even double checked every cave with an echo location spell, for any hidden rooms or passages, I had learned it while trapped in the hospital. So far we've had no luck and our frustration was showing. Its times like this I wish things we like cartoons where the villain has a huge sign pointing out their lair. At this point I wouldn't mind a rundown sign that was falling apart, anything really. "This is ridiculous, how hard is it to find a fucking cave?" We searched for another three hours before we decided to stop and have lunch. Lunch in this case being water and a couple of apples, it's not that filling but we'll survive. Besides we'll be back in Ponyville by tomorrow or later if we're lucky. We were eating in the shade of the only tree in the valley. "I can't believe this, when Discord asked us to do this I thought it would be a simple straightforward find and retrieve mission." Broadsword nodded in agreement, "I don't like this… it's taking too long. Something from the forest is going to find us eventually we need to hurry."

"Wait Broadsword, let's just relax for a minute and think about this. Discord clearly didn't send us here to get rid of us. He wouldn't have wanted us to go to the ruins and chance running into the guards, if we disappeared that would be where they started the search. Nopony would just randomly stumble upon this place either. No, this only leaves us with three possibilities." Sometime during my analysis I had gotten up and started pacing. "Option one, we read the map wrong. This is the most unlikely considering map reading is covered in basic. Option two, the princesses found this place years ago. We can ask them about it if we don't find the place. If they did they either destroyed the place and everything in it or they hid everything inside somewhere before destroying the place. Option three, somepony who either wanted to follow in Discords hoofsteps or perhaps worshiped him came and moved everything. We weren't around a thousand years ago so we don't know if there were any ponies who actually willingly followed him but it's a possibility."

I shook my head, other than checking every hill we had no other options. With a sigh I sat down at the base of the tree.

The first thing I noticed was the pain that racked my whole body. After opening my eyes I noticed everything was dark, was it night? "Good you're up." Looking up I saw Broadsword looking at me from a hole in the ceiling. "You've been out for a few minutes. The ground between two of the tree's roots gave way and you fell in. On the bright side you found the cave." He was right this was defiantly a cave. Thinking back on it, this makes sense. Discord could rip huge chunks of land from the ground and flip them upside down, we couldn't find it because we were, technically, under it. "Good let's get this over with."

"You're going to have to levitate me down." A few minutes of extreme concentration later Broadsword was standing next to me in the only lit area of the cave. "Do you happen to know any lighting spells?" He nodded and the tip of his horn produced to balls of light. One stayed on the tip, the other floated in front of him and then moved around the room. "Can you teach me?" On quick lesion later and we searched the room. The only things we could find were two passages father into the cave and some claw marks which went down both paths. Since splitting up would be a bad idea we decided to go down the path that sloped down farther into the ground. The place looked completely abandoned, there was nothing except for the claw marks… somepony cleaned this place out. The claw marks were becoming more frequent as were progressed, eventually we would run into whatever was making them…

"By Celestia…" Entering another chamber we found what made the claw marks… or at least what's left of them. Pieces of wood were scattered across the room, some still in the shape of a limb like a paw or a leg… there was even half a head. Timberwolves, they must how found another way into this cave system years maybe even centuries ago… what killed them? "I don't like this, there aren't many things that could destroy a pack of Timberwolves, especially in their den." I nodded in agreement, "We shouldn't linger here, whatever did this may have claimed this area and I don't want to be here if it comes back." I could only think of two things that could have done this, a pack of manticores or an ursa… and we couldn't take on either with just the two of us. We moved deeper into the cave which I'm now considering a bunker. "I don't believe this, if this is the place he wanted to go why is there nothing here?"

"This is Discord you're talking about Broadsword, almost nothing he does makes sense. But if I had to guess this is probably an emergency bunker. Discord can make or change anything at will, there is no reason to leave anything of unimportance around when he can just make it again later." As we continued I noticed something strange about the claw marks on the ground they were different than the ones near the entrance… perhaps it was from some wounded Timberwolves that retreated…

"Oh shit…" Lying in the center of the room was what was left of the alpha, the leader of the timberwolf pack. The alpha is always the largest and strongest in the pack to see it torn apart along with at least ten others was… concerning. They made a final stand in the deepest part of the bunker and lost. "Finally," behind the alpha's remains was a chest. It had to be what we were looking for since it was the only thing in the bunker. I levitated it behind me and we started heading back. It was strange the box appeared to be pure stone but it weighed as much as a pillow but then again it belongs to Discord so… "I'm just glad to be leaving I don't want to run into whatever attacked this place." We made it half way back before we ran into them. Now I realized why the Timberwolves had to make a last stand, they were outnumbered and out matched. They were pitch black with glowing red eyes, clearly another creation of his. They looked like timberwolves but they were faster, smarter, and worst of all… quiet. They could be standing behind me and unless I turned around I would never know. While the gryphons were used in the assassination attempt before its clear these shadow timberwolves were made to be assassins. They could be used to terrible efficiency, attacking convoys carrying supplies and disappearing without a trace, they would leave nothing behind to give us a clue as to the attackers, and losing morale is one of the worst thing in a war. But I digress, Broadsword put a shield up around us and we ran through them. All we could do was run, there were too many to fight. We couldn't go out the way we came in, it would take too long, our only option was to find the way the timberwolves use to get in. Broadsword had to stop the shield eventually… I just hope we could find the exit first. We ran for another few minutes, Broadswords shield flickering whenever one of them hit it, it wouldn't last much longer. "Look up ahead, sun light!" Broadswords exclamation brought me out of my thoughts, if we were going to die here then I planned on taking as many of them with me as possible. We burst from the bunker like cheetahs only to find it wasn't sunlight we were looking at.

"Moonlight!? We were in there that long!" I couldn't believe it, "I guess we were, there was no way to tell time down there. We have to hurry, I can't keep the shield up much longer and when it goes down I won't last long in a fight." He was right, once Luna and the others learned about where I was from and what I was, one of the first things we did the next day was cover magical exhaustion. Magical exhaustion happens when a unicorn, or an alicorn, over uses their magic, when they reach their limit either they will pass out or they will be too weak to move… if their lucky. Sometimes a pony will go past their limit, this is extremely dangerous and can end with brain damage, loss of their magical abilities, memory loss, and even death. "On my signal drop the shield and cover your eyes." Broadsword nodded, "Now!" I turned and launched the magical equivalent of a flare at the timberwolves. Due to all their time spent in the bunker their eyes had to be sensitive to light… if not I wouldn't be alive long enough to worry about it. "Come on, they've been blinded but that won't last long we need to get to the ruins. The guards there will be able to help us hold them off." We covered half the distance to the ruins before we heard them catch up, if it wasn't for the sound of leaves being stepped on or branches breaking we wouldn't have known. Once we could see the top of the ruin through the canopy I launched a flare, "GUARDS, TO ARMS. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. GET TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS." For my first time using the Royal Canterlot Voice I'd have to say I did pretty well. By the time we had cleared the tree line the guards were in defensive positions and fired magical blasts at the timberwolves that were about to jump on us. Once we were behind the guards I had one of them take Broadsword to a safe place while I helped however I could. While I didn't know any offensive spells I could levitate things. I felt like Isaac Clark form Dead Space, picking up sharp stones and launching them into the enemy ranks. Some of the guards were wounded but I refused to let anypony die today. Eventually we were forced to fall back into the only defendable room in the ruins, which is also where we were keeping the wounded. A few of the guards got together and formed a shield around the room giving the rest of us a chance to rest. "I take it none of you can instantly send a message to the princesses?" The guard in charge shook his head, "So were on our own."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's in the chest?" Looking behind me I noticed the chest from the bunker still levitating behind me. "Huh, I thought I dropped that. I'm not sure what's in there I was only supposed to go get it." I saw the shield flicker. We stood up knowing this may very well be our last stand. But just like the timberwolves we wouldn't go down without a fight. The shield failed and we prepared ourselves. However just before they collided with us a golden shield covered us. Looking around I saw night guards drop onto the shadow wolves causing panic in their lines but they would not retreat. They finally began to slowly fall back when Celestia and Luna descended from the sky, each of them firing beams of energy at the wolves. The guards behind me cheered and charged. Most of the shadow wolves were killed the few that survived fled into the forest, hopefully they'll die in there. Sitting down next to Broadsword I saw the princesses walking towards us, neither of them looked happy. "Hey guys…" Luna snorted, "Give me one reason why I should put you under house arrest."

"Well we weren't planning on running into anything, let alone those things. It was supposed to be simple get in, get the package, and get out. If everything had gone according to plan we would have been back in town by now." Broadsword nodded in agreement. Luna looked like she wanted to slap me so Celestia took up the conversation. "Steel, you just got out of the hospital, again. Who sent you out here, clearly you were doing somepony a favor." Celestia seemed to be handling the situation better than Luna or was at least keeping herself calm. "Uh…" Lucky for me a bright burst of light announced the arrival of Discord. "Hello everypony…what happened?" I really wish I could just kill him, "I'm done I got your damn chest." I practically threw the thing at him. "I'm out. Oh… and you owe me a favor."

"And why is that?" I got right in his face, "Because when I agreed to this it didn't involve almost being killed. And don't try to weasel your way out of this. Our agreement stated that I would get you the chest, the possibility of dying was not mentioned. If you have a problem with that you can suck it." He put a claw on his chin, "Actually Steel, one part of our agreement stated that you would do this without telling anypony, I consider what you just did telling somepony which breaks the contract. I take it your favor is to keep my mouth shut?" Celestia looked confused, "You sent him out here?" When Discord nodded it looked like Luna was going to beat the shit out of him. "Steel, you should know you can't trust Discord, why did you agree to this?" So much for keeping this secret, "Blackmail…" I knew Luna wouldn't let this go but hopefully being her coltfriend will buy me some time. "You dare blackmail my coltfriend!? I knew you hadn't changed."

"Actually princess I would have done it myself but I know you would find it suspicious so I got somepony else to do it." Damn him and his silver tongue, "I see your point… but next time ask for permission. Now what is in the chest?" I really wanted to know too. "Fine I guess I'm not allowed to have secrets."

"No!" me and Luna yelled at the same time. He opened the chest and pulled out the only thing in there… what it was, was shocking. "An old friend of mine gave this to me just before you defeated me the first time and to call him when I got free. Granted I didn't believe him at the time but I guess being an omnipotent being from another dimension allows you to see into the future." Wait omnipotent being, "Please tell me you don't know…" Another flash of light cut me off, "Q my old friend I see the last few thousand years have been kind to you." Just great he is the last person I ever wanted to meet. "Actually there was a civil war in the continuum, which was not fun at all. But Picard and Janeway kept me entertained, so overall I had to say it wasn't that bad. I see you're out of your stone prison." At this point I walked over to one of the columns and started hitting my head against it. "Why so glum my friend, how about you and I go somewhere and get to know each other?"

"Hell no, I am not getting pulled into one of your crazy games." He looked intrigued, "So you know of me, interesting." I can't take this, "Celestia, Luna, I'm going home. If you want my advice either banish Q or keep a close eye on him." I couldn't deal with Q and Discord, I had been through too much shit today. I went home and fell asleep.

What crazy adventures will Discord and Q get into? Will Q remain in this story? Why am I writing like this is Dragon Ball Z? Find out next time…

Authors Note: There it is another chapter on time like I said. I'm also glad to announce that this story has almost reached twenty-five thousand views (25,000) which is way more than I thought it'd get. Not to sound cheese but you guys have kept me going, I find I do better work when someone else is depending on me to do my part. I also started this story with no real direction. The only things I had were soldier dies, soldier gets sent to Equestria, soldier becomes an alicorn… that was it. Everything else up until chapter 11 was made with no overall idea, the assassination attempt was when I started to think about the overall story. Eventually I came up with the basic outline of everything that's happened since then and what will happen, the only things I have written down in detail is the end. I already know how I want the story to end, I know how I want to get to the ending but I don't know how long it will take. Anyway I'm thinking about starting another story soon, be warned it will not pony related. This is Lord Curly hoping you all have a happy Nightmare Night.