“The Confederacy?” The other two leaders present shared a similar look of confusion to Gormensson as they strove to understand Volksson’s idea.
“Yes,” said Volksson breathlessly. It was the time to strike while the iron was hot. They needed to understand the necessity of this agreement and all the benefits it would confer upon them in the long run.
“The Confederacy would be the political organ that would tie us together in these troubled times and give us the ability to face any enemy that may come against us unified and invincible.” Arnulf was the first to break the silence that followed this pronouncement.
“That sounds all well and good Volksson, but what exactly will this Confederacy of yours entail. Somehow I doubt it will be a simple solution to our current problems.” Volksson nodded to him.
“You are right my friend. It will not be easy, but it will be worth it. The Confederacy would involve us forming a new nation, a new people out of the disparate tribes we are now and have always been in the past. We would form a council between the four of us and we would control not each of our tribes, but decide the future of our people as a whole. We would also elect one of us to be raised to a position above the council who would be able to overrule the council as well as provide a tie breaker in the case of a stalemate” Silence followed as they tried to process just what Volksson was proposing. And another few moments of shocked silence followed when they finally understood his plans. Then the meeting hall exploded into a frenzy of noise and motion.
“Are you insane?!”
“It would be giving up our freedom!”
“I would have to be even further associated with the filth of the other tribes!” Volksson simply weathered the storm of noise that his fellow chiefs were unleashing, knowing that if he interrupted them it would only make it that much harder to address their concerns. After a few moments the other chiefs finally ceased their shouting and slumped back into their seats, all of them glaring balefully at Volksson.
“I understand, more than any of you, how it sounds,” he began. “I have been turning this idea over in my mind for weeks now trying to see if there was any concern about it I could not address and I believe that I can address all of your concerns. Just ask me one at a time if you please.” Barca was the first to voice his concern.
“Volksson, this . . . this is a large step. Never before has our race united in such a way. The people would never accept having their tribal identity being ripped away in such a way.”
“Don’t worry my friend,” replied Volksson. “This would not cost their identities. The Council of 4 that we would form would enable us to lead the four tribes as if they were one, but we would never ask them to think of themselves as anything other than their own tribes.”
“But even if you do that,” interjected Arnulf. “Something like this would cost the freedom of the tribe in that it would be forced to help the others even at their own cost. It would be giving up their freedom and sovereignty.”
“Unfortunately Arnulf, you are partially correct. There are things that will need to change. No tribe will have the ability to refuse helping another as they will be beholden to the Council. However, in dealing with their own issues and purely internal matters, they will have complete autonomy.”
“But you still expect us to give up some of our sovereignty?”
“What else would you have us do Arnulf?!” The other three leaders flinched back from Volksson’s sudden outburst. Throughout the whole of the meeting he had kept a level head and had not given into rage or the petty bickering that had characterized almost half of the negotiations thus far. To see him give voice to an outburst like this was telling of how invested he was in this idea.
“We are in a strange land. Much of our race is dead, or too close to it to be of any use. The resources we have are barely enough to keep us alive, never mind rebuilding and sustaining humanity. Worse still, we know not when the daemons shall come for us again or even what new horrors may lay in waiting in this new land. What is a little sovereignty when compared with the salvation of the whole of our race?” The others looked at him for a while longer. Even Gormensson’s acerbic tongue was stilled in the face of Volksson’s speech. Volksson swept his gaze to each leader in turn as he spoke.
“It is now or never. We either unite in the face of adversity and triumph, or we remain divided and fall through the cracks of time into obscurity and death. The three of you hold the power to decide the fate of humanity and where it stands now and will one day stand. So I will put it to a vote. All in favor of forming the Human Confederacy raise your hands.”
Volksson raised his hand and waited to see how the others would react to his plea. On the outside he seemed perfectly calm, but on the inside he was terrified. Should they refuse he honestly feared the destruction of the human race, though whether it would occur quickly or over the course of decades he did not know. The other leaders considered his offer carefully, each weighing the potential benefits against the immediate costs to them personally and to their tribes.
What could only have been a few moments dragged on for what seemed like an eternity or Volksson, the tension in the room thick as the ozone after a lightning strike. Finally, all three of the tribal leaders gave each other one last look before turning their gaze to Volksson and raising their hands simultaneously.
----
“Who are you?!” The only response that Celestia got was that infuriating laughter that seemed to come at them from all directions.
“Oh Tia,” the voice chuckled. “What fun would it be if I just told you what my name was straight out? No, you’re going to have to work for that little revelation.”
“Curse you foul creature, release us from this prison!” roared Luna, her voice escalating to truly awesome levels of sound.
“And the peanut gallery chimes in, what a delight!” Luna began to grind her teeth as she tried to reign in the anger she felt at this humiliating treatment.
“Aww, don’t look so down little Woona,” he said, his voice taking a mocking, babyish tone. “Here why don’t you cool off with a nice drink? On me, of course.” A small flash of light was all the warning she got before a sudden, localized downpour formed over her.
“What is this?” she asked, trying to get out of the way of the downpour and failing spectacularly as she slipped on the suddenly soggy ground. The voice failed to answer for a moment and the two sisters heard a strange slurping sound.
“Sorry just sampling this delicious beverage. Admittedly one of my own design, but chocolate milk is chocolate milk. How can you not love it?”
“ENOUGH!” Roared Celestia, her temper finally getting the better of her as she desperately tried to find out where the being causing all of this madness actually was.
“Release us from this place now, before I make you do so.” The voice sighed in exasperation before answering.
“You really are no fun Celestia you know that? You’re taking all of this far too seriously. But fine, if you really want out of here so badly than here are you are.” There was the sound of snapping fingers and a flash of light, but when it passed Celestia and Luna were no longer in the forest at nighttime. A strong sense of relief came over her as she took a deep breath of air and felt the sun shining on her face as the air rushed quickly past her face. . . wait.
Looking down suddenly Celestia was stunned to realize that she was . . . falling. She and Luna were tumbling down through the air at breakneck speeds and far below she could see the sharp rocks that lined one of the northern coastlines. She frantically unfurled her wings and beat them as hard as she could to arrest her fall, coming to a halt as she hovered in the air.
But before she could think any more about her surroundings she saw Luna continue falling past her, her wings still tightly clamped to her sides.
“Luna!” she screamed, the foreign emotion of fear coming over her for one of the few times in her long life.
“Celestia!” she screamed back and Celestia could hear the panic in her voice. “My wings won’t open; something’s keeping them stuck to my sides!” Diving down as quickly as she could, Celestia struggled to reach her flailing sister before it was too late. Feeling the first tingling of g-forces beginning to pull at her face, Celestia finally reached Luna and was able to sweep her into her hooves. Both sisters quickly used their magic to slow themselves down as they finally came to a halt mid-air.
“Hahahahahahah! Oh . . . oh that was priceless!” The two sisters spun around to finally see the creature that had been tormenting them. It was one of the strangest things either of them had ever seen. The thing’s body was long and sinuous, easily towering over the two sisters when it stood fully upright. All along this sinuous body were a host of body parts from a variety of animals and creatures seemingly thrown on without any rhyme or reason behind it. There were the antlers of a stag and a goat, the head of a pony, a feathered wing and leathery, draconic wing on its back, and the paw of a lion and talons of a griffon. Further down his lower body was no less strange with a reptilian and hooved leg.
“What are you?” Celestia asked, projecting her disgust at this abomination in her voice to hide the slight tremor of fear that underscored her speech. The thing simply laughed at her before answering.
“Didn’t I say you’d have to work for that revelation Tia? I’m sure I did. Ah well, I suppose that you saving your sister from that sticky situation is enough to warrant a little exposition.” He took a deep breath before launching into a booming speech, the sound matching the Royal Canterlot Voice in its sheer volume.
“I AM THE CREEPING CHAOS, THE EVER SPREADING ROT WHICH BRINGS DOWN EMPIRES. I AM THE MAD KING OF ALL, THE HARBINGER OF CHANGE AND . . . the mayor of a little village up the coast, you should really visit sometime.”
Celestia started as she realized that the strange creature was now leaning over her showing her a strange brochure for a coastal village.
“It’s quite nice in the summer, though the throngs of tourists put some people off.” Celestia lashed out at him, trying to drive him away, but felt nothing as her hoof struck only air.
“Oh, felt the breeze from that one. Though next time I recommend aiming if you actually want to hit something.” Celestia could feel her anger and frustration building. This creature was mocking her and her sister and she wasn’t able to do anything to him! By Tarturus what was he?!
“What are you?!” Celestia screamed, her frustration getting the better of her. The creature just gazed at her with a look of affected innocence on his face.
“Did you not hear my epic monologue? I think I answered that question already. Though if you really want to hear it again, I would be happy to oblige. I always knew I would be great on the stage.” And Celestia broke. The rage, frustration, and sheer unadulterated hatred and irritation for the thing in front of her finally got the better of her. Massive bolts of superheated energy burst from her horn, all converging on the chaotic figure before her.
The bolts struck the creature, each bolt a miniature, white-hot sun unto itself, and exploded outward. A rush of superheated air rushed by her and Luna as steam rose up from the roiling waters below. Celestia felt a wing drape over her shoulder.
“Are you alright sister?” Celestia drew in a deep, shuddering breath before answering.
“I . . . I believe so Luna. I didn’t mean to use that much power on him, it was overkill. But he was just so . . . so . . .”
“Irritating?” Luna offered. Celestia chuckled a bit.
“Yes. Irritating is the definitely the right word. But at the very least he will no longer bother us. Though I am still concerned as to how a being as seemingly powerful and twisted as he was able to rise up and operate in Equestria without us knowing.”
“Oh I know exactly what you mean.” The two sisters froze at the sound of the familiar voice joining in their conversation.
“Personally I hate it when there’s something I don’t know.” Celestia and Luna turned towards where the tremendous energies had collided and their jaws dropped open. The creature sat there on some sort of chair with a pair of massive, oversized plastic sunglasses on its face, as it held up a metal sheet towards itself.
“But I must say thank you for the sudden and unexpected tan. It was extremely refreshing.” Celestia and Luna couldn’t move for a full minute as they tried to comprehend what they were seeing. This . . .thing had just survived a full blast of energy from Celestia. That was a blast that had brought dragons to their knees and yet this creature seemed completely unaffected by it! Eventually however they both looked at each other and nodded. They both knew what had to be done. As one they flew towards the creature, their horns lighting up as they prepared their magic.
With a brief flash their armor, resplendent and shimmering from the after-effects of being summoned, covered their forms. Glowing, ethereal blades formed of condensed moon and sun light burst into life clutched tightly in their telekinetic grips.
“Oh we’re fighting now? Fine by me.” The creature sat up from his chair and used his tanning board to block the princesses’ first strikes. The battle became a whirlwind of activity as both princesses strived to hit the creature in front of them without success. No matter the attack it just seemed to sidestep it with contemptuous ease. And this went on and on as the three immortals struggled for dominance. Eventually Luna and Celestia pulled back from the melee, their need to rest, even for a brief moment, finally overtaking them.
“What is he?” Luna panted, her breathing heavy and labored.
“I have no idea Luna,” replied Celestia. “But we have to end him now before he becomes an even greater threat.”
“While that’s all very dramatic, I have to admit the two of you are growing more and more boring. Any chance we can just call it a day? I have a lot of chaos related things to do.” The two sisters started as the creature’s head suddenly appeared between them sans body. As they flinched backwards the head zoomed back towards its body upon which it was restored to its rightful place.
“I don’t care how much power you have monster,” Celestia hissed. “We will end you right here and now. There has been no enemy we have not been able to defeat and you will not be the first.” The creature clapped its mismatched claws together as it began to laugh its unearthly laughter at them.
“Oh, yes the humans! That was a brilliant, little unjust war by the way. Couldn’t have done it better myself. Wait . . . yes I could, but still good job though.” He then gave out a sigh of frustration.
“Still, I wasn’t kidding about you becoming more and more boring Tia. I honestly don’t want to keep fighting you.” He swept one of his arms towards the expanses of land behind him.
“There’s an entire kingdom to play with and you two are just getting in the way of it. So what should I do with you?” He began to pace across the air, his face scrunched up in thought.
“I could send you far away, but then you’d probably come back and bother me. I could kill you, but I’d rather not. I could turn you into something, but what . . .?” Celestia and Luna acted perfectly in unison as they lunged at him at top speed, swords outstretched and aiming for his head. The creature’s head snapped towards them, a look of honest surprise and indignation adorning his features. The instant before their swords made contact, its fingers snapped and the two princesses suddenly saw nothing but white, burning light before they disappeared.
----
The castle was in chaos. The princesses had both left to deal with the strange reports from the woods, but they had been gone for days now and the strange phenomena were spreading. Weather patterns were getting further and further out of control, sightings of strange, new animals were being reported every day, and the guards were stretched thin enough as it is. What could have possibly happened to delay the princesses for this long? A group of royal councilors had met in the empty throne room to discuss what to do next.
“We should wait for the princesses to return before making any major decisions.”
“What?! Are we that dependent on them? This council was made for this reason exactly. We need to mobilize the rest of the military to deal with whatever is causing these phenomena. We can worry about the princesses later.”
“That sounds dangerously close to treason!”
“How dare you, you insufferable coward!” The council soon devolved into a cacophony of voices, all trying to drown out the voices of the others with their own. As their argument began to peak, there was a massive explosion of multicolored lights and sound behind them. As they turned to see what new irritant had decided to make itself known, they saw a creature straight from their nightmares.
“What . . . what are you?” One of the councilors asked, his voice quavering with fear. With a quick snap of his fingers, the twin thrones of the princesses snapped together and the creature reclined on them.
“I have so many names! But you can call me Discord, King of Equestria.”