“Discord!”
The draconequus winced at the sound of the voice and shoved the can of spray paint behind his back. He took a step to the left, hiding the grand, gold-framed oil painting of Princess Celestia from view. “Celestia! What a pleasant surprise!”
The alicorn princess was marching down the hall toward him, face set in stony anger. A scroll of paper floated in the air beside her. “Do you know what this is?” Discord began to reply, but Celestia talked over him. “It’s a letter. From Scootaloo.”
The feigned innocence Discord had been presenting faltered, and he said, voice deadpan, “Huh. I was wondering when she’d get around to sending one.”
“Explain. Now.”
Discord grinned, grabbed the paint can with his tail to free up his talons, and snapped. A moment later, Celestia was seated back in the study she’d just come from, Discord lounging in the air across from her.
“So, how much did she tell you?” Discord asked.
Celestia looked over the letter again and answered. Scootaloo had talked about looking for an ancient artifact, though she’d left out the specifics. She didn’t want to risk somepony else finding the letter, and she figured Discord would have already told the princess about it, or would once Celestia pushed him.
And Celestia was ready to push. Scootaloo’s letter had included details of an attack from some magical constructs. One of her little ponies was in danger, and Celestia was prepared to get answers from Discord no matter what kind of distractions or smoke screens he gave her.
“Well, I suppose I should start from the beginning,” Discord said, to Celestia’s immense surprise. And he did, explaining what was inside Libiris, what Scootaloo was searching for, and why he needed her rather than doing it himself.
“You signed a contract?” Celestia asked when he was finished.
“Why is that the part that surprises everypony the most?”
“Because, you’re Discord,” Celestia said.
“And signing the contract was clearly unexpected of me, so nopony should be that surprised.”
Celestia hesitated, considering for a moment if Discord’s logic worked, and then decided it would be best not to think about it. Down that path lay madness. “If this heart is so important, you should have come to me sooner. I can get to Greenhaven Grotto by noon today if I hurry.”
“Hmm? Oh, I wouldn’t bother doing that.” Discord snapped his talons and a scroll of paper unfurled in the air in front of Celestia. “Section seven, subsection three.”
Celestia’s eyes scanned the page, finding the appropriate paragraph. She read along silently until she reached the end. “...and to act against any immortal that has not signed this contract in the case of that immortal attempting enter the building known as Libiris.”
“You can’t help her,” Discord said. “This is something she’ll have to do with her friends, without either of us.”
Celestia continued reading, her expression growing more concerned with each passing minute. “Why? Why would you set this game up like this? If you wanted the heart, why not find it yourself.”
“You know, Scootaloo asked me the same question,” Discord said. “If I went up against the other spirits, they’d work together. I wouldn’t stand a chance. It’s only practical.”
Celestia frowned. It was a perfectly logical explanation. It made sense. “What’s the real reason?”
Discord grinned. “I’ve taken over Equestria three times now. None of those were very long, but it was enough to see what would happen. I know what I would do with the Heart of Creation. And even you must think a story is boring when you know how it ends.”
“You don’t want it at all, do you?” Celestia asked. “You want Scootaloo to find it and use it herself. You want to see what will happen.”
“I’ve wondered,” Discord said, “what might have happened if Scootaloo and I had managed to see eye to eye. If she’d taken me up on my offer and become a queen of Equestria. I already know what happens if I rule the world. This is going to be much more interesting.”
*****
The sound of metal clattering against stone shook Scootaloo from her work. They’d been unpacking dishes of all things, most of the plates in the old crates indistinguishable from the fancy dishes in Rarity’s cupboard that nopony was ever allowed to use.
She looked to Thistleroot and Mimic, eyebrow raised. The noise had come from nearby, but not the same unit they were unpacking.
It was probably just one of the Caagan, Coco or another they hadn’t met yet, taking part in the search. But, they were generally more careful than that. Scootaloo had never seen Coco even come close to dropping something.
The sound came again, this time with an accompaniment of broken glass and a very faint voice, “Whoops.”
Scootaloo left the large shed-like room they’d been unpacking, moving into the much larger cavernous space of greater depository three. Another of the sheds stood open across from them, though it had been closed when they started. The sound of glass shifting over stone came from the open door.
“One of the champions?” Thistleroot suggested under his breath?
“Only one way to find out,” Mimic said.
Scootaloo nodded, and together they crept forward. Scootaloo leaned against the wall outside the open door and peeked inside.
An earth pony stallion stood a dozen feet away, beside an overturned crate. He gingerly shifted through a small smattering of broken pottery with one hoof. “What a waste.”
The stallion had a brown coat, several shades lighter than Rare Breed’s, and a short gray mane swept back out of his face. He had dark golden eyes like old, tarnished bits, and a few dark spots high on his cheeks. He wore a vest, well tailored and expensive looking dark grey pinstripes, and his cutie mark was an unfurled paper and a quill.
Scootaloo shifted away from the door and whispered to her friends, “Earth pony. Older guy. Going through the crates.”
“What should we do?” Thistleroot asked.
“There’s three of us and one of him,” Mimic said. “Maybe we can scare him off without having to hurt him too bad.”
“Or we could let the Librarian know,” Scootaloo said. “He doesn’t want any of the spirits getting the heart any more than we do.”
“What are we whispering about?”
Scootaloo froze, then glanced to her side. Somehow, the earth pony had managed to sneak up on her and was standing between her and Thistleroot, joining them in their huddle.
“Gah!” Thistleroot said, flinching back.
The earth pony chuckled. He spoke again, his voice low, slow, soothing. The word dulcet came to mind, a word Spike had used in one of his descriptions in their O&O games. “Well, hey now. I wasn’t expecting to run into some young ponies down here.”
“Who are you?” Scootaloo demanded, just managing to keep her surprise off her face.
“Me? Oh, nopony important. Just a simple stallion of the world, passing through.” The earth pony had gone back to picking through the overturned crate, and Scootaloo had to step to the side to see him again through the door.
“What are you doing here? This isn’t the kind of place you just pass through.”
The earth pony chuckled. “Don’t worry about me. I’m just looking around. Hmm. This would never sell. What do ya got over there?”
Scootaloo turned to the room they’d been working on to see the pony start picking through the box she’d been unpacking. “Hey!”
“Early centaur-made porcelain. This could fetch a nice price. Plenty of antiquaries up in Canterlot.”
“Hey, you didn’t answer my question,” Scootaloo said, stomping forward. She paused a step later, blinking and looking over her shoulder. “Wait, how did you...?” She looked back at the pony, who was now standing in front of her, a look of polite curiosity on his face.
“You teleported,” Scootaloo said.
“Oh, don’t be absurd,” the pony said. “Earth ponies can’t teleport.” He continued looking through the old plates.
“Right,” Scootaloo said, shaking her head. Of course they couldn’t. She didn’t know what she was thinking... “No! You were right here, just a second ago.”
“Was I?” The pony asked from her left. She turned to glare at him, and he returned the look with a wry smile. There had been no flash of magic, like when Twilight teleported. There’d been no sense of sudden movement. The earth pony’s movement from place to place seemed as natural as if he’d walked.
“You’re not a pony,” Mimic said.
“Sure I am,” he said. “I’m as much a pony as your queen is a changeling. As much as dear old Cinder was a dragon.”
“You’re one of the eternal spirits,” Scootaloo said.
The earth pony lifted a hoof toward Scootaloo in a gesture that seemed to say, “There you go.”
Scootaloo tried to breathe, to keep herself calm, though she could feel her heart start to beat faster. If this pony was the one who sent those dirt monsters after them, there wasn’t much she’d be able to do, and she wasn’t sure Discord would be able to come to their rescue. She shifted a step back, and prepared to greb the whistle he’d given her, now dangling from the same thin chain that held the friendship necklace she shared with the princess. “I thought you couldn’t come in here. The whole reason I’m here is because you all agreed not to look for the Heart of Creation on your own.”
“Right you are,” the pony said. “I can’t look for the heart of creation on my own, but the guy who writes the contract should always be sure to include a few loopholes for himself.”
“What loophole?” Thistleroot asked.
The pony chuckled. “You want me to just tell you something like that? I like your optimism, kid.” He turned and began walking away. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around.”
“Wait. What’s the loophole?” Thistleroot asked again. The pony just chuckled.
“How about a deal?” Scootaloo asked.
The pony paused, and then turned, the corner of his mouth lifting into a faint grin. “Come again?”
“You’re the one who wrote the contract, right? And you were in here looking for stuff to sell. I’m betting that’s your schtick. So, how about a deal. Tell us what the loophole is, and I’ll answer one question of yours.”
The grin blossomed into a full blown smile with a low chuckle. “Well, now you’ve piqued my curiosity.” He walked back over to them. “Maybe I should introduce myself. The name’s Trader, Eternal Spirit of the Deal.”
“Deals? That’s your thing?” Mimic asked. “Kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren’t you?”
“Hey, now,” Trader said. “No need to be rude. Sure, it doesn’t sound as great as feral instinct or knowledge. It’s not showy or flashy, but it’s definitely important. Fundamental, I dare say.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Of course a spirit would say that about whatever he embodied. “Uh-huh.”
“I’m serious,” Trader said, his tone never deviating from the low, soft drawl. “Why, just about everything in your civilization is built upon the foundation of the deal. Goods for goods. Goods for money and money for goods. Money for time. Friendship for friendship. Whether it’s husband and wife trading half their lives to each other, or strangers offering questions for answers, every interaction you’ve ever had with every living creature you’ve ever known has had some aspect of give and take.”
When he put it like that, it sounded a lot more important than she’d thought. Scootaloo had already been thinking of him more as a used carriage salesman than anything like Discord or Nocturne.
Which, Scootaloo realized with a chill, was a fairly dangerous habit to get into. The smiling, laid-back pony in front of her might have seemed friendly, reminding her vaguely of some of the Apple Family, but she couldn’t forget that he might be every bit as dangerous as the other eternal spirits.
“An honest answer for an honest answer?” Trader asked. Scootaloo swallowed, and then nodded. “Alright. It’s a deal.” As he said the last three words, Scootaloo felt something intangible click into place somewhere near her chest.
She considered her next few words very carefully. “What are the details of the loophole in your contract that let you come down here?”
“The rules of the game keep any of us from coming down here to look for the heart,” Trader said. “The contract also prevents any of us from coming down here after we’ve declared a champion. If one of us doesn’t choose a champion, however, they could enter Libiris if they genuinely weren’t searching for the heart. Should a signatory who entered Libiris without a champion come across the heart, they are required to leave it be.”
Scootaloo blinked in surprise. “Wait. You don’t want it? At all?”
“Of course not,” Trader said.
Scootaloo frowned at him, thinking. Could he be lying? She didn’t think so. Something about their deal made her feel on an instinctual level that he had to be honest, at least when answering her first question, and at the same time she knew she physically wouldn’t be able to lie when he asked his own question.
Could it have been a lie of omission? Could he have technically said the truth, while still misleading them?
“You’re thinking it through,” Trader said. “Good. A healthy amount of skepticism can help you out in life. Maybe there’s a loophole to the loophole I didn’t mention?”
“Is there?” Scootaloo asked.
“I’m not looking to rule or conquer,” Trader said. “It’s just not my style.”
“Sure,” Scootaloo said, voice heavy with sarcasm.
Trader shrugged. “Look at what happened to everyone who went after the heart. Turned to stone. Locked in a pocket dimension. Trapped in a hole in space. And while that was happening, I was living like a king among ponies.
“I’d prefer to stay where I am,” he continued. “I provide a valuable service for reasonable fees without doing any ladder climbing. A middle-mare, if you will.”
“Fine,” Scootaloo said, though she still wasn’t entirely sure she believed him. “Ask your question, then.”
Trader chuckled. “Cute. Well, it’s been nice talking, but I should get going.”
“Wait, aren’t you going to ask a question?” Scootaloo asked the empty air where he’d been standing.
Thistleroot blinked in surprise and looked around. “I guess he’s saving it.”
*****
Coco followed the curving hall slowly, eyes alert.
The hall was in the lowest section of Libiris, so far down that it didn’t even have light gems. Instead, Coco navigated by twin points of green light glowing at the tips of her ears.
The hall came to an end, and Coco found herself facing a pair of large stone doors. A control crystal was set into the wall to her right, and she activated it with a twitch of an ear and a flicker of magic.
The doors began to grind open toward her, knocking a thousand years of dust loose as they went. The hall beyond the doors was dark, and, to Coco’s surprise, dank. She could smell a faint mildew. The stone floor changed at the doors’ threshold, from carved blue-white to dark, stony earth. The walls beyond the doorway were no longer even, but jagged.
Coco blinked in surprise, and after a moment of deliberation, made her way into the natural cave at the bottom of Libiris.