//------------------------------// // The Noose Tightens: Allies // Story: Imbalanced: New Age // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// [Blazing's Entry] Why does everything I do end up being wrong? There is never a clear answer, never enough facts to warrant one decisive action. It always ends up being a fifty-fifty which I mess up. I guess Chokey said it the best - I manage to do the right thing in the end, after exhausting every other option. Never give up, pull through, and in the end... ...that's the thing. There is no reward in the end, nothing that would make all the trouble worth it. There is just survival, more work to do. The only reward for a well-dug hole is a bigger shovel. And that's it. Why do I keep doing this? Why do I keep going on? I'm absolutely sure that if I ever get back to Pine Hills and Guiding I'll just end up setting the place on fire somehow. I guess I'm just too big of a coward to give up, curl up into a small ball, and accept my inevitable fate. Oh well, it's not like this is anything new. It's the little things that make life marginally less horrible, like Legius' soldiers trying to take my journal away. Unlike Nicolai's griffons, these guys tried five times before giving up. Useless power is useless, but funny. [End Entry] I watch the sky shatter and reform within a second. Supernovas explode and new ones form instantly to be used as ammunition for further destuction. Blurs swirl around me as time itself is shattered and moved through like mere space. Every atom of every entity is up for inspection, clearly moving within the masses of molecules forming each blade of grass. The untold chaos as everything becomes one and then separates again into individual things finally ends, leaving me on a sunny autumn meadow smelling of sweet warmth of dry berries and grass. "Blurublghrlg!" Magnus immediately throws up. "Excuse me," Scream gurgles with a hoof over her muzzle, and joins the alicorn of Magic. So much for a pleasantly scented meadow. I must admit I'm not feeling well myself, but I've been through worse in the past. Dealing with smells and sights of the dead in various amounts, stages of decay and destruction, or massive monsters of mind-shattering shapes the gods made in the first ages gave me a rather resistant stomach. The only unaffected alicorn is the newest member of our group - a light brown coated, dark brown maned alicorn we have spent years recovering from his broken state who is called Kronos. It took us considerable amount of magic, effort, psychology, and all resources we had to help him control his aspect, but in the end we succeeded, and Kronos turned out to truly be worth all the expenses. Granted, he is still physically frail and cannot do more timeshifts in a row with all of us, but the knowledge we've gained in the past decade was something unobtainable otherwise. Kronos stumbles and sits down, breathing heavily with beads of sweat rolling down his neck. "Can we... can we try this again in about... a week or so?" he gasps for breath. I nod. "It will take time to make some sense of what we saw. However, there are some things that are clear now. The divine plague was not meant to uncover or destroy anything in particular. I was completely wrong on that." "Huh? What about the Elements?" Scream wipes her mouth and eats some fresh grass to wash down the taste of vomit. "Two very related things, but not in the cause and effect we thought. The plague was not supposed to destroy or unearth the Elements. It was caused by their creation." "Sorry," she rubs her temples, "I feel like I should know that after this bad acid trip, I just... head just isn't working properly yet." "I'm sorry," Kronos gives her an apologetic smile, "I am made for these things, but I'm not good at taking you with me. I wish I could tell you what I saw, but I was so focused on keeping you stable and with me so that you didn't get lost in some time loop that I honestly don't know." "This is something only I and my sister know. Not even Magnus is old enough to have been a part of it. What we saw was a direct fight between the three gods, something that has not happened since my creation. The gods have merely competed ever since, using our planet as a battleground. They cannot fight anymore, or so I thought, otherwise they would risk their individuality and will. You see, they are only natural forces - Creation, Existence, Destruction. However, through their focus on our small rock they gained minds and wills. If they unleashed their full power it would destroy our planet and their will with it since their desires are focused around it. They would be just blind forces again and they don't want that. Like every intelligent being, they have become greedy, needy, and afraid of death. That is why a direct fight is so surprising to me." "Why is our planet so important?" asks Magnus, "Is it somehow special? I have scryed on some nearby ones which sustained life and they were similar." "I think it was just random chance. Our planet was the first one where an alicorn was created, a being so close to the gods themselves but with the aspects of a normal living creature. My sister was the first, and she was enough to hold the gods' attention. The primal forces work throughout the universe, but the focused development happened around us, the first alicorns. The gods cannot simply destroy the planet and play on a different one, which is a great boon to us." "But they can draw power from our planet. Their effect on it boosts the power of their individual forms, makes them stronger competitors," Magnus furrows his brows, quickly making sense of fragments of information we've gathered over our numerous trips with Kronos. "Exactly, which is what the plague was. Nightmare needed more power to fight against Harmony, thus asserting its power over a majority of the globe." It is extremely difficult to put together a clear picture of what happened between formless beings spanning the whole universe, but we can do it together in time. "But why? Why fight now?" Scream gives us a puzzled stare. "We felt Harmony lose a great amount of power over past years. At first I thought it was just a mark of strife and wars between species and subsequent stagnation of progress, but no. Harmony created the fragments, these Elements and gave them to lesser species, not even us alicorns." "So THAT'S what made the king of the Abyssian civilization immortal! I get finally get it." "Exactly. The lesser races could deny the power of the other gods by using these Elements. Immortality, denying the end. Widespread destruction of enemies, denying rebirth and new life." "Wait wait wait wait," Scream shakes her head, "Wouldn't killing just make Nightmare stronger again?" "Normally yes, but these Elements seem to have the power to destroy divinity." "Holy-" "WHAT?" "That's impossible." "Perhaps 'destroy' was not the correct choice of words. Purge or purify is better. Killing using the Elements does not count as a deed empowering Nightmare, it is purging, thus empowering Harmony. Same with infusing divinity instead of raw creation. All deeds done using the Elements made Harmony stronger, no matter the visible effects." "But the Abyssian civilization sunk into the ocean centuries before the plague," Magnus returns to his original train of thought, "That would mean-" "That Harmony was boosting its power far before Nightmare or Discord even thought about it, which brings us to the reason for the fight. I believe Nightmare and Discord joined forces to defeat Harmony... no 'defeat' would make no sense... lock its individuality and will somewhere. That way the trio of primal forces would still be in effect, but only two of them would be able to affect their playground as beings with will and desires." "Why wouldn't they destroy the Elements then as well, or lock them away or whatever happened?" I grin. Very worried, but grin. "After this trip, I think I know why. Up until today, we have watched the fights and past developments, trying to make sense of what was going on. However, this time... remember the last things we saw? The weird snake-like patchwork creature for some reason fascinated with summoning flying pigs." "Yeah, I haven't seen anything like that before," Magnus nods. "That IS Discord! I have no idea how much power it takes to completely negate the influence of a god, especially one who was so far ahead of the other two, but I believe Nightmare and Discord lost a massive deal of if not direct strength then at least control over their aspects. I think it is not in their power to destroy the Elements directly. I don't know what happened to Nightmare, but it must be weak as well." "Wait," Scream rubs her muzzle, "If these Elements can purge divine power, can we use them to destroy the new forms of Discord and Nightmare?" "I don't think so," I shake my head. "How come?" "Because I think that is exactly what Harmony would want. The use of Elements granted it power before. What did the god want the increased influence for? The competitive balance of power was as it should have been. If we weaken the other two enough, Harmony will return from its 'exile' and nothing will stop it. The Elements must not be used at all, or at least only when absolutely necessary." "I remember something," Magnus speaks up, "There were eleven fragments, not twelve as you guessed before, and five... five of them disappeared. But I remember seeing them all end up Equus. Oh... oooooooh..." "You're making the 'I am smarter than everypony else in existence' face again, Maggie," Scream jabs the sitting alicorn in the ribs. "I used to do some experiments regarding flows of energy in places where there should be none. Eventually I discounted those as wrong readings of faulty equipment, but what if -you all know about alternate realities, right?- there was one so closely tied to ours that the effects happening in one would have impact on the other as well?" "You mean like two universes with their gods and everything? We know that exists, but-" "No, you gold whorse, a reality so close it is tied to OUR gods, OUR planet, OUR existence. What if all Equuses in alternate universes are actually two paired realities instead of one?" "So what you're trying to say is there might be a second Equus under the rule of our Discord, Nightmare, and Harmony? Is it possible they sealed Harmony there?" "The first part, yes. The second one, heck no! I think the two shot Harmony out of a huge cannon into some empty void, no pun intended, where its will can affect nothing." "Hmmm... what do we do with all this information now?" I mumble and shake my head, "Magnus, can you find a way to get to the second world?" "Am I the smartest being in all of forever?" he gives me a smug grin. "Alright, plan B then?" Scream kicks his ego down a notch instantly. Magnus shoots her a murderous glare. "Well, we need to examine the possible other world, but we also need more details about the new arrangement of the gods, which means more trips through memory lane." "Give me..." Kronos looks at me, eyes hazy with exhaustion, "Just give me a week and we can... go again..." "I actually wanted to use your power only when we have something to pursue with more clarity. The good old method should be enough for a while." "Oh come on!" Scream protests, "I'm tired of chugging zebra semen. It's fine from the tap, great even, but bottled?" "What she said," Magnus gags, "No more flashback potions, please. I've drunk enough for a city-wide fertility festival." "Do you two have a better idea on how to repeatedly look into the past?" "No..." "No." "Then let's go milk us some zebras." *** "Mhmm!" I complain into the rag gagging me as the griffon carrying me missteps and the nudge wakes me up. I can't have been out for long, half an hour at most since we are somewhere in the residential part of Steinheim. I'm surrounded by a crowd of soldiers moving down the street as one with Legius only a two heads away. The griffons are bobbing up and down as they march quickly towards the town borders, makng me think that whatever Legius started at the train station will start happening soon. What he said pointed to the fact that what's going to happen is the repeat of Drachenberg, but they had a whole lab there. How could a single old griffon with fairly weak Corruptor cause such a thing? Speaking of the vizier himself, he can be in his seventies, brown all over when not covered by the wine-purple robe, although I'm not great at guessing griffon age, and he's keeping pace with the soldiers around him. Well, it's more likely that they are not galloping forward only due to his presence, but his stamina is definitely astonishing for his age. He must have been a soldier before he got into politics, normal griffons would never match this pace for long. It appears that military service goes a long way towards achieving high social status in the Empire. A griffon leans to Legius and whispers something. The vizier nods and chuckles to himself. That can't be good. The procession slows down considerably into a comfortable walk. "Scatter," he orders, then he looks at me, "It seems your 'disappearance' has not gone unnoticed." The soldiers disappear into the alleys, one by one, not to raise suspicion, take to the night sky until there are only about ten of them escorting Legius and me. The row of street lamps encircling the whole city as its border is visible at the end of the street. Last two houses before we're out of Steinheim. Last house. Aaaand... "Stop right where you are!" I hear Nicolai's voice. I don't see anything as I'm blinded by strong flashlights at the same time. My tracing spell isn't working either due to a suppression ring around my horn. These griffons knew how to disable a unicorn properly. Thankfully, the horn only stops magic, which means my telekinesis is just fine, and it didn't stop my journal replication ability for reasons which can only be a joke of fate. Not suppressing both magic and telekinesis is a good thing, believe it or not, because unicorns can suffer painful and sometimes deadly fits when released after losing both. Well, Nicolai's presence wold be reassuring if I wasn't absolutely certain my captors are ready for it. "MMMPH!" I raise my voice, thrashing on the griffon's back and trying to shake my head. Not the most expressive things I must admit, but they'll have to do. "My my, if it isn't young Nicolai," Legius greets the half-circle of Black Ops soldiers accompanied by Desert Shade and her group, everyone aiming some sort of weapon at him, "What brings you here into such backwater town?" "Legius, I really couldn't believe someone like you would be stupid enough to leave such an obvious trail both in Drachenberg and now by taking my prisoner." "Mhmmer?" "I have no idea what you are talking about, Nicolai. I know nothing about your business in Drachenberg and I am taking this alicorn to your brother for inquiries and possible furthering of our scientific knowledge." If there was a list of expressions synonymous with vivisection, 'furthering of scientific knowledge' would be among top three. Come to think of it, I'm kinda getting tired of being the damsel in distress. "Right," Nicolai nods to the others, "disarm them and release the alicorn!" The Black Ops griffons take everyone's weapons. When they get to Legius' walking stick, the old griffon says: "You wouldn't part a dusty griffon like me from his walking implement, would you?" "MMHMHMHMHMMHMMMMMMMM!" I resume my thrashing. Before the agent can look at Nicolai next to him for confirmation, the Black Ops boss pushes him away, grabs Legius's Corruptor stick, and a mass of tentacles buries into his chest. In the next second, they rip him into a shower of bloody mist- -Nicolai fluidly avoids the killing blow and slashes at Legius who blocks the attack with his stick. At the same moment, Nicolai's already holding a gun in the talons of his free foreleg and shoots the stick out of Legius' grasp. Just like Crowley, Nicolai must be very good at controlling himself to be able to use the magical knife to rewind time while exploding. "Grand vizier Legius, for the destruction of the city of Drachenberg, illegal experimentation on Imperial citizens, exposing our land to the threat of Corrupted, and a murder attempt aimed at me I will see you drawn and quartered." "I wonder, heh heh heh," the vizier chuckles. An agent frees my mouth, and before I'm even down from the Legion soldier's back I call out to Nicolai: "Be careful, the whole army is-" Quiet like shadows, Legion soldiers previously disappeared into darkness crystallize from the black sky and surround the area. There must be over two hundred of them, a chunk of Steinheim garrison taking orders from Legius along with the vizier's own guards. "-behind him." With hundreds of rifles and pistols aimed at Des, Nicolai, and everyone else, no one even tries to resist. Legius pats Nicolai's shoulder. "You are smart, boy, but I've been outsmarting the worst of nobles for decades," the old griffon points to the countryside, "Move out, it should be ready within few hours, enough time to leave the blast zone." "Why not kill me now? You've already proved that is your goal," tied up Nicolai hisses at his captor. "Let a weary griffon have his moment of victory, boy. While everyone else will be satisfied with the explanation that you have become one of the Corrupted in soon-to-be-blighted Steinheim, I prefer killing you and making sure you are gone. After all, you are a very resourceful griffon. Still, I want you to see what the research your alicorn pawn temporarily halted has brought us already. A biological weapon capable of wiping entire cities within a minute and furthermore spreading the blight all over unless stopped by us. The mere threat will make the world tremble. Everyone and everything will bow to the Empire." With the whole army this time, we are being dragged north, away from the town. Well, I am being carried, the others are still walking. Plus, they didn't gag me again. Joy, rainbows, and sunshine. Always look on the bright siiiide of life... ta dum ta dum ta dum... "My brother is not stupid. He will invstigate this and find the truth," says Nicolai. "And I will gladly assist him," Legius adds innocently, "After months of the most delicate and thorough investigation he will only assert what I am going to tell him as soon as I return to the Holy City - that a certain heavily tainted visitor from Equestria could not control himself in our city and raped a poor lady who then turned into a Corrupted and started a chain reaction. Said visitor was tracked by you during the initial investigation here into Steinheim where your normally impeccable security measures were not enough to hold an alicorn, which you previously had no idea the visitor was. I immediately mobilized the whole garrison plus my own soldiers to come to help, but it was too late. The poor griffons in Steinheim suffered the same fate as those from Drachenberg, you and your agents as well," Legius laments theatrically, "The best we could do was to capture the alicorn who tried to escape and infect more cities. I will apologize for my mistakes, lack of efficiency that allowed the Emperor's poor brother to become a monster, and plead for remaining in my office, which is a mercy I will very easily get. With corruption now being inside the Empire, my research will become legal, and I will reveal more crafted blight bombs that will make sure that all countries will tremble before us in fear of not ending up like Equestria." "Blight bombs?" I ask, "You can spread corruption without Corrupted?" "Not yet, the prototype in Drachenberg was activated by the research subjects, and the one we planted in Steinheim needed this," he taps his Corruptor stick, "but once I have full support of the Emperor concerning Corrupted research, we will perfect them." "You know, I'll never understand you," I shake my head, "All you crazy, power-hungry megalomaniacs. You all want the same - power, to know you are the top of the food chain. And trust me, you are neither the first nor the most ambitious one I've met. You all crave power you will never be able to use anyway. You want other kingdoms, countries, empires to bow to you, but what does it mean? Do you want gold? You can already get anything that is possible to buy. You want mares? Congratulations, old griffon. How many can you sleep with before your heart explodes? Two, three? You don't understand the use of power, you just want it like a foal seeing their parent play with a sword. They want it because it is shiny, and cool, and makes them live out a power fantasy in their head, but in the end a sword is meant to be used to achieve something. And you powermongers don't have a goal, you just want a shiny sword and to have everyone around you know you have it." "You understand nothing, alicorn!" "Really? I killed king Sombra from the mirror world, I had his soul trapped inside me for a long time before I finally managed to do so, and his reason for actually MANAGING to unite a whole world under him was to gain immortality. He was hungry for knowledge, which is a goal I can get behind, but time was against him. To do his research he needed precious materials from all over the globe he couldn't get himself, that was what the slaves were for. Nicolai's distant uncle Crowley was the same!" "What do you mean?" Nicolai asks, clearly confused about the change of direction, "All the history books say he just wanted to be the Emperor." "Yeah, but why?" I smile at him, "Crowley was the most difficult villain to face, because deep down I knew he was right, that he wanted to do the right thing. You see, Crowley wanted to become immortal as well, but not out of fear of his own death like Sombra. He wanted your Empire to have an unaging, wise ruler like Equestria's princess Celestia at the time. Someone who could end the power struggles and bring stability to the land without knowing his descendants would rip the Empire apart into small countries stealing from or raiding each other. And, Nicolai, do you know why he wanted to be the leader himself?" "Because he was crazy?" Nicolai answers but without too much conviction. "No, it was because he asked his brothers Vargaz and Emhyr before and they refused the offer. He knew he wouldn't be the best leader, but if the best ones wouldn't do it it was on him. He was originally willing to give up everything Nightmare offered him in favor of one of his family." Legius' soldiers actually have to push Nicolai because he stops still for a moment. "But he was a traitor..." "He was, but for the best reasons imaginable. If he wasn't possessed by Nightmare, or if I just didn't know what Nightmare does even to those with the most noble intentions I would have been on his side rather than trying to stop him," I give Legius a scalding stare, "Unlike this crazy old mummy. All hunger stems from fear, grandpa, either for yourself or others. What are YOU so terrified of? If it's death like usual I'll be very unimpressed." "It must be easy to talk as an alicorn, right?" Legius just spits out. "Heh, I thought so. You will learn how empty and unsatisfied having power will leave you. THEN you will get really mad." "Gag him again, soldier, NOW!" Chuckling into the rag once again in my mouth, I enjoy my brief moment of victory. Steinheim's border wall of lamps is now just a flickering yellow necklace in the distance. Legius stops his soldiers who break camp and chain everyone. Twenty armed soldiers take place around the central plaza where we are shackled to steel stakes stuck in the ground. "In the morning, Nicolai, you will see power the world will learn to fea- respect," Legius quickly corrects himself, "and then, heh, you won't see anything anymore."