//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: True Circle // Story: The Inventor and the Red Lady // by MadNimrod //------------------------------// Hello! Sorry it took so long to get this out! I recently got the MMD Program and have been putting around in that. Got some vids on Youtube if you're interested. Anyway, welcome back to the Inventor and the Red Lady! This chapter will mostly be a flashback. There will be some dialogue between Discord and Malice, along with an explanation of why he helped out. Sorry if you think it is of lower quality than past chapters. I do not own MLP. I only own the OC's we see here (although one OC mentioned here actually belongs to Triforce-Otaku of DA). Enjoy! There was fire. And smoke. Off in the distance he could see the Shetland capital of Vermillion, or at least what was left of it. The once great walls were crumbling and broken. The towers that still stood were alight with fire, burning like giant torches. The palace itself was a flaming husk. Even out here, he could see the devastation that Vermillion had gone through. Even out here, he could hear the screams of the dying. The hills surrounding Vermillion were covered with the dead. Ponies, gryphons, dragons, Minotaur, all races were seen among the dead. Covered in armor and still gripping their weapons, these people had all died in a single, giant battle. A battle none won. Here and there, he saw someone who was still alive. To his left he could hear the rasping gasps of a great silver dragon, with its' chest riddled with spears and swords. To his right was a Pegasus, missing a wing and trying to stand up. Past the Pegasus was a unicorn who was just crying from the pain as she lay on the ground. He couldn't bear to look at her wounds. It was then when he saw her. The Red Lady was walking through this field of carnage, her expression one of sorrow mixed with shock. She surveyed the area, but took no notice of him. She treaded through the field, stepping between the bodies until she saw a certain body on the ground. She knelt down next to the body and tears poured from her eyes. Who was this body that made the Princess of War cry? As he got closer, he saw the pony she knelt by and gasped. Wasn't that-? Malice said a few words before giving the most terrifying, most sorrowful, scream he ever heard. Watson awoke with a jerk. The train must've hit a warp in the rail. As much as the small inventor unicorn liked trains, he did not always enjoy traveling by train. Getting to his hooves, he walked out of his room and hobbled his way to the dining car. As he opened the door, he saw Redstamp and Ditzy eating together. Thom was nowhere to be seen. "Morning, sunshine," the cross-eyed Paladin greeted the groggy unicorn. "Sleep well?" "Not especially," Watson replied. "Where's Thom?" "Getting some air," Redstamp replied. "He apparently didn't sleep well, either. Think he threw up." "Maybe there's a bug going around," Ditzy suggested with a concerned voice. "Hope not," Watson voiced. It had been six days since that terrible day at the Evisica Palace. Six days since he and his friends here nearly died. Six days since the Lord of Chaos saved their lives… Six days earlier… "Discord?" Redstamp asked in disbelief. "As in the Discord?" "Yes," the Draconequus nodded. "The one and only." At this point, he sat down on a spontaneously-generated chair made from saltwater toffees. "Might want to get your ears cleaned, little Pegasus." Turning to Ditzy, he asked, "And how is the descendant of Princess Aurora doing?" "Pardon?" the cross-eyed Paladin asked. "Poor girl." Discord rose from his throne (which inexplicably exploded into confetti) and hovered over the confused Ditzy Doo as he continued, "Don't even know your own family history, do you? Oh well. I guess love poisons aren't exactly a popular topic." "Why are you here?" Watson asked firmly. "Isn't it obvious?" Discord asked as he drank the glass from around some chocolate milk. "Something nasty was happening here, so I came to investigate." "But," one of the Shetland knights asked, "if you're the Lord of Chaos, why help us?" "Wasn't helping you," Discord scoffed, "Those monsters reeked like a landfill, so they had to go. Besides, I could very well ask you why you're here, at the center of it all." Before anypony else could ask anything, there was a flash of red light and Malice came running up with a look of worry. "Is everypony alright?" Malice asked with sincere concern. "I saw what was…" She saw what was left of the battle, eyed the cotton candy mound suspiciously before noticing the non-pony. "DISCORD!" The Draconequus gave a shrill cry and curled up behind Watson, as though he was trying to hide (and failing). "What are you doing here, WORM!?" "Don't let her get me!" Discord cried as he set his hands on Watson's back. His snide tone actually had a hint of fear. "Get off," the small unicorn shook the Draconequus' hands off as he stepped to the side. "Why are you afraid, anyway?" "Ever wonder how I lost this tooth?" "I'm waiting for an answer!" the scarlet alicorn yelled as her horn roared with magic. "I came to investigate the magic in this place!" Discord roared back. "In case you haven't noticed, there's some powerful magic going on around here!" "He's right," Thom announced. "We've seen it." A few tense moments passed as Malice stood still, her horn still shining. Soon, the magic faded and the roar died down. She then turned to Thom. "Explain." The next half-hour was spent by Thom explaining everything they had discovered. The magic array underneath the castle, the grisly origins of the monsters, and what they had discussed before the big fight. What everypony found amazing was that Discord sat on his wedding-cake-shaped throne for the whole report without making a single interruption. Part-way through, the two Shetland Earth Ponies helped a wounded Saria wobble to Malice, who teleported her back to Vermillion. As Thom finished his narrative, the Princess of War turned to Discord and asked, "And you?" "Like I said," Discord repeated, "I came to investigate the source of the magic infecting the ground between here and Equestria." "What?" "Can't you feel it?" Discord shuddered. "The ground underneath this place is dying. I don't just mean blight. I mean actual dying. If this magic goes unobstructed, there will be a several-hundred-mile-wide circle where the ground will be just…dead. No plants will grow, animals would slowly die, not even magic would function in it." "You mean to say," Malice asked, "that somepony is making a Ghost Circle?" "Not quite," Discord denied. Turning to the other ponies, he explained, "By Ghost Circles, the Princess means areas where everything that exists within, be it life or magic, is sucked away to another place or object. And while the dying ground is losing life and magic, it is not being sucked away to anywhere I can sense. It is simply…gone. Removed from existence. And that's not all. "While I was flying here, I got high enough to notice something." Discord started scratching a design into the nearby stone wall. "I could only sense a bit because of its magnitude, but the dying parts came in a pattern. Clearly, somepony arranged this." He stepped away from the wall, letting everypony see what he saw. It was an incomplete picture, but there was enough for everypony to immediately know what it was. "That is the array Watson and I scryed a few days back!" Malice announced. "And there's a big version underneath the castle," Thom repeated. "Wait…" He pulled out a map of Equestria and the surrounding nations and asked Discord, "How big was the bit you saw?" "About like this," Discord plucked one of his wing feathers and started drawing as much of the array he saw in the air over the map. "The long part here almost reached Canterlot, which is what alerted me to this in the first place. Then it curved around like this…and there we go." Thom turned to Malice and asked, "Think you can fill in what's missing?" As Malice did so, Watson realized what Thom was doing. And that thought scared him. When the array was finished, Thom pulled out a small notepad and started flipping through it, referencing to the map every few seconds. "I knew it," the armor-clad Earth Pony said. "The first murder we know about happened around here," Thom pointed at a part of the map which was covered by a starred-circle, "then here," another spot, "then here, the list goes on. Whoever's doing this is using these murders to make this bigger circle. Each death happened at a major point on this array." Malice pointed at several spots on the array. "There have been no murders at these places. Perhaps we can intercept them before the act can be done." "We won't be needing everyone for that," Discord stated. "We?" Ditzy asked. "You can assign some ponies to watch those areas," Discord continued, "and send some to try and figure out how to erase the circle." "I've made many attempts to erase these circles," the scarlet Princess stated, "but none have succeeded." "You haven't been doing them properly," Discord replied with no hint of his usual snide tone. He was completely serious here. "This sort of array is something that requires a specific manipulations of magic to alter. Who first came up with this circle?" "The Evisica." "That name sounds familiar." "They appeared 280 years ago, but were chased off a few decades after that. How could you have heard of them?" Malice asked. "The last time I broke out," the Lord of Chaos explained, "I tried to visit some of my old haunts. One was being lived in by a very antisocial Pegasus. Snaplock? No, Brokenkeys! Yeah, he had a lot of scrolls and books. And one, a 'pride and joy' as he put it, was an Evisica history book." "And how did he get that?" Malice asked. "I made certain all the Evisica books were placed in my archives." "Well, you missed one," Discord chuckled. "You can send some ponies to his place in Manehatten, while others can try to intercept these next murders. I, meanwhile, will be doing some of my own snooping." "Question," Watson asked, "why are you helping? Being the intelligent thing you are, you must know that this world is speeding up the end of the world. Last I checked, ending worlds tend to be pretty chaotic. Why would you want to stop this?" Discord regarded the small unicorn coolly. "Yes," Discord admitted, "the Last Days will be chaotic, but only if done properly. What's happening here will not be chaos. It is sheer lunacy." "Manehatten," Thom asked, "you sure it's Manehatten?" "Positive," Discord asked, "although now that you ask that, I just remembered that Brokenkeys was talking about moving to another place in that city. Don't know where his new place is, though." "Manehatten is huge," Redstamp groaned. "How are we gonna find one Pegasus in a city of more than a hundred thousand?" I can do it," Thom sighed. "I've got…connections in that city. Connections who can find anypony." "That's great!" Ditzy cheered. "But, why do you sound depressed?" "You'll learn when we get there," the Earth Pony gloomily replied. "Just don't hate me for it." Thom had been despondent for most of the trip. Not even the gaming car could lift Thom's mood. He mostly stayed in his room up until the past few days. Watson had tried to make conversation, and Thom had tried to be cheerful, but he couldn't hide the depression in his voice. Watson watched as Thom went back to his room with his head hung low. The last sentence he spoke in the palace ruins stayed on Watsons's mind. What was in Manehatten that would make anypony hate this cheerful pony? What was there that would make this cheerful pony depressed. It was still a few days until they reached Manehatten, and Watson was losing patience. As the unicorn made his way back to his room, he bumped into Redstamp, who smile was way to big to suit the mood. "What's with the smile?" Watson asked. "I think I'm in love," Redstamp whispered. "Really?" Watson asked. "With whom?" "Ditzy Doo." "WHAT!?" Watson did not expect to hear that. He knew they had been hanging out together since this assignment started, but for such an admission… "You drank Sowaka, didn't you?" Watson asked. "You know that stuff's only for gryphons." "I drank nothing," Redstamp chuckled. "I think this is the real deal. Ditzy's just, well, awesome. She beat me in a hoof-wrestling game, she's pretty, and those eyes are just beautiful! Hey, you've lived in Ponyville for the past few years. Is she single?" "She's a widow," Watson explained, "with two daughters. Play nice." "Don't worry," Redstamp beamed, "I will. Say, you never answered that last question I asked you back in Ponyville." "Which question?" "Got any girlfriends?" "RED!" Watson exclaimed. "I take it that's a no." Walking past Watson to his room, Redstamp's parting remark was, "Don't worry, you'll find one eventually!" The white Pegasus gave a laugh as he closed the door. Watson just sighed. It was nice to know Redstamp was doing fine. As he entered his room and turned off the lights, he got to thinking about what red said. Maybe after this assignment was over, he might try asking some mares out. As he thought this, Malice came to mind. Why was he so stuck on her? It didn't make any sense. There was fire again. Not quite as much smoke, though. Looking around, he saw he was somewhere else. As he turned a corner, he saw where he was. This ruined city was not Vermillion. It was Canterlot. The castle was crumbling. Celestia's tower was gone, like something ripped it off. The walls were blown apart, and a dead dragon hung from one. There weren't as many bodies as the Vermillion dream, but there were still a lot. As he walked towards the castle, he heard the sound of breaking glass to his right. He turned just fast enough to see a small foal run down an alleyway with a bit of food in their mouth. He gave a sigh. How long would that foal have to live in such misery? Continuing to the castle, he saw a familiar alicorn. Once again, Malice was surveying the destruction. The castle courtyard was filled with bodies, some piled on top of others. When she saw a hoof sticking out from beneath a dead Minotaur, the scarlet alicorn gasped. She tore the Minotaur from his resting place and, once again, cried when she saw the pony that now lay at her feet. She fell to the ground, just like last time, and screamed. The scream shook Thom awake. That was the third dream in as many days, and Thom did not like that one bit. Walking to the sink and splashing his face with water, Thom cursed at the facial markings that lit up the washroom. It was clear his powers were at fault here. Why did he have to be like this? Malice awoke to the sound of her bedchamber doors flying open. She saw four guards rush to her bed with torches and light spells active. "What is the matter, your Highness?" the lead guard asked. She didn't answer immediately. The guards waited patiently as she caught her breath and let her sweat diminish. "Nothing," she finally answered. "Just a bad dream, like the other nights. You may return to your posts." With a bow, the guards left. Malice remained sitting in her bed, going over what she saw in this dream. It was Canterlot this time, but the fires and death were the same. She was told there would be dreams like this, but not until the final few weeks before the end of the world. They were running out of time. As she contemplated this, one thing came to mind. That pony she saw in her dreams. The pony she looked for in hopes they would be alive. The one whose death always filled her with indescribable sorrow and pain. Why was it Watson? Ooooooh, it was Malice having these dreams, and THOM was eavesdropping. Thom has connections in Manehatten? He has weird powers, despite being an Earth Pony? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WHO'S PILOTING THIS STORY? Oh, that's me. Well, I'll try to get chp 8 out soon, where we meet Thom's...extended family, learn about his past and learn more about the Evisica! See you next time!