//------------------------------// // Chaotic Diplomacy // Story: The Powers That Be // by Anthri //------------------------------// The sun was at its peak in the sky as all the ponies on the boat waited for their leader to return. Thirty minutes go by and they spot Notch coming into the harbor with a hefty size zebra colt with dreads. They both trotted up the ramp leading onto the boat and into the gathering of his crew. "Hello again every-pony, this is our zebra guide, Chad. He will lead us deep into the jungle and into the general facinity of the temple." The crew nodded in understanding but Fhil took a closer look at the zebra. Chad looked a bit rough on the edges. The few zebra's Fhil had seen in his life were all dressed well and had long been intergrated into Canterlot society. Chad is the first homegrown zebra he had met so it was safe to assume that they all lived hard lives. Looking into his eyes, Fhillip saw the coldness and the struggle to live within them. After Notch gave the introduction, Chad decided to start off with a warning. "Careful. Dragons and zebra's." Chad looked off the side of the boat and into the distant tree's of the jungle that surrounded nearly the whole town. "Oh yes, right.” Notch perked up. “The jungle is home to a tribe of a canabalistic zebra herd. That is why we are so few as to not attract any unwanted attention or else they would be all over us like a mare in heat.” Some of the crew laughed at this and Notch continued. “We are to get into the temple and get out as fast as we are able without harming the overall quality of our mission." Fhillip saw that this made the miners uneasy but he knew they were willing to go foward with it. They had better be willing, he thought. ------------------------------------------------------ The explorers and their guide left town and went along a pathway that led deep into the northern jungles with Chad in front. The rest of the ponies looked on into the tree's with wonder at it's untamed beauty. Unfamiliar flora littered the area and every-pony took care with what they wanted to touch. The ponies had been hiking for hours and conversations were had among them. Often the topic would be, 'what would you do with your share?' or 'wonder what we will find in the temple?' "It was a politician I think." Notch said to Fhil as they hiked along the trail in front of the crew out of listening range. "Some unicorn wanted me to find this place and as you know, he paid up front.” Fhillip thought for a moment on who he could be talking about but Canterlot is full of unicorn politicians. Fhil was interested in more details because there was no reason why some-pony like that would be interested in finding proof of a lost civilization. Notch continued his tale of the mysterious unicorn. “If I had decided to run with this money, he probably knew I couldn't run anywhere civilized without him finding me.” Notch laughed at his own thought of commiting a crime. “He'd be right. Everyone knows me and Equestrian territory is only so vast.” Fhil was surprised by all the thought the earth pony put into this. Notch continued his confession, ”Well, maybe I'm just nervous. What we are doing is very dangerous..." Notch had a worried look about him but he quickly found his composure. Fhil remembered something and quickly changed the topic. “Chad mentioned dragons. I really didn't want to ask about them because everypony was on edge about the cannibals but I am curious.” Notch nodded, “Recently there was a dragon attack on Alexandra. She burned the jungle and killed many zebra in their homes. What's worse is that there is another dragon entirely that watches over this jungle. Obviously we have a lot of danger to worry about.” All this threat of danger reminded Fhil of the dream that woke him up. It was nothing because he didn't look to much into things like that. It was only a dream. “Did you know about this?” one of the miners spoke up who had got close enough to listen in. “Hey, no need to worry, were doing this thing right.” Notch assured the worried earth pony miner. As the day went on, the ponies kept going for miles occasionally passing statues of dog like creatures with warped faces and a few abandoned huts made of zebra skins. Everypony was on edge but eventually they arrived at a small clearing at the base of a mountain and Chad advised the crew to make camp there. Notch spoke to the group, " Righto, we will make camp here at our generous guides request. Unpack your tents and afterwards we will go in groups to scout the immediate area." Chad nodded at this. "Temple on mountain. Behind bush." "You mean the entrance is hidden?" Fhil asked without thinking about it. Chad nodded again and every-pony got to work on setting up their tents and organizing the campsite. After another half hour, the group was split into smaller teams and went to scout the area. Fhillip walked to the base of the mountain and noticed a small trail leading up. Not looking for permission, he went up the mountain trail alone. As Fhil got higher, he stopped when a familiar voice called to him in a whisper from the mountain top. It was almost like the wind itself carried its voice down to the unicorn. He couldn't make out what was being said but Fhil did notice that Notch had come up the trail behind him. "I'm going to check a little bit ahead of our position. I'll be right back." Fhil told Notch. "Alright but don't die." Notch laughed at his own bluntness. He turned around and with the two ponies he picked, began to look around themselves. Fhillip went up the trail as the rest of the group split into the jungle on their own paths. He noticed Chad standing back at camp and the zebra was looking straight at him as he started up the mountain path. Eventually the rocky trail came to another trail that went off the beaten path and circled around the cliff face and into a cave. It was blocked from view by a tree but Fhil could make out stone structure scaffolds and finally the temple entrance as he curiously approached it. He could hear the call deep from within the temple cave but because it looked really old and unstable, he shook the feeling and ran back to camp. Notch was already there along with the two ponies that went with him. "I found the temple. It's behind that tree way up there under the cliff face of the summit." Fhillip pointed a hoof to the tree. "Good to know, but it's getting dark. We will start in on it when morning comes." Notch then went around telling each pony the plan. The night had come and some stayed to enjoy each others company over a campfire but Fhillip was to tired from all the walking and went to bed. --------------------------------------- Another dream occured much like the last one, a robed figure and a skeletal mask. “Do not be afraid. You will not die today.”, it called from the abyss. All Fhil could do was stare at it, frozen by fear at this unusual creature. The dream began to blur the more he tried to make out more detail of this things form. Soon the dream was over and Fhillip woke up hearing loud movement outside his tent. Notch poked his head into Fhil's tent. "Half our crew is missing! I think they started without us!" Fhillip was awake now. He got his pickaxe and left camp in a hurry with the remaining crew to attempt to find the others. "Strange thing is, they left their things behind. If it was the zebra's, we wouldn't have woken up this morning." Notch confessed. “So I believe they are around here somewhere.” Chad was at the temple's entrance already. He was peering inside, only looking at us as we got closer to him. The group arrived at the cave entrance and Notch saw that there was a massive amount of stairs that led down into the darkness. "We'll need torches for this." Using a simple flame spell, Fhil lit everyponies torches and the nine of them began the descent down into the temple. Seven earth ponies including Notch, a zebra guide, and Fhillip the unicorn was all that was left. Going down the stairs, Notch asked one of the earth ponies about last night. “You didn't see or hear anything?” “No, I went to bed early and some stayed by the fire.” This was the truth and Notch suspected that the ponies who talked by the camp fire were conspiring to take all the treasure for themselves since they knew the way back to town. Had he not had his own satchel close to him at all times, he was sure it would have been gone too. They finally reached even ground deep inside the mountain. Fhil noticed that the walls of the lengthy hallway had holes half the size of a pony, that dotted them. He noticed that the others had made notice of this too. Notch, Fhillip and Chad led the crew deeper into the hole lined hall. While they trotted deeper into the temple, they stopped when they began hearing skittering noises echoing all throughout the darkness. Looking around tensely, they tried waving the torches around for the source of the noise. Suddenly without warning, a mob of creatures that resembled diamond dogs, jumped out from the holes and started biting the earth ponies. Notch and Fhil looked on in horror as the team were eaten alive. The ponies fought back with their pickaxes, swinging blindly as they dropped their torches in the confusion. The dogs were persistant, even though being hit, they clinged to their prey. Fhil saw one of these creatures hanging onto a ponies neck for dear life as blood sprayed everywhere. There were to many to count but none had noticed Chad or Fhillip. Notch had fended off a few but decided on a different plan of action. "RUN!" Notch screamed. The three took off down the hallway and as they heard the screams of their comrades they looked back to see more dogs chasing them. The dogs were closing in, Chad stopped and shouted at the two yelling, "GO! I'll stop them!" "I guess they don't always rhyme." Fhil panted at Notch. "We are going to die and you are making jokes! He hasn't been rhyming because he doesn't speak much English you asshole!" Notch yelled at his running mate. Soon the hallway became a very steep slope, not unlike a slide but it seemed to disappear into more darkness. Fhillip and Notch heard the horde of dogs coming down the hallway. " Poor Chad. I guess if we don't slide down this, were going to die." Fhil told Notch. "You first!" Notch hurriedly replied looking down the slope. More dogs came from the holes that dotted the hallway, coming out beside them catching both ponies by surprise. They jumped on Notch and one bit into his throat causing him to fall backwards into Fhillip. The two fell onto the slide and were hastily sped down into the center of the temple. Fhillip made a rough landing on his hind quarters and knew Notch just landed behind him because the colts satchel slapped him in the back of the head. Looking behind him, Fhil saw the bloodied corpse of his employer and very brief friend. Fhillip saw the dogs scurry up the slope back into the darkness. Surprised that he could see anything, Fhil turned around and saw that there was a green light coming from the somewhere in the chamber. The unicorn took a brief moment to look around. It was a large room, stone pillars with vines growing on them filled the room. At the other end, there was a large round stone door with a symbol of eight arrows protruding from the center. The light he saw, came from a creature standing in front of that door. He was the figure from the dream, a robed creature with a skull mask. The mask shape looked familiar to Fhil but what it belonged to was currently alive. He could finally make out the details of this creature at last and he dared reality to stop him. A antelope horn, a goat horn, two different sized eye holes and a single pointed tooth. The creature stood on two legs and had two arms. Where it's hooves should be there were hands, lke a minotaurs but without fur. On it's left hand was a golden gauntlet that resembled a birds talon. The creature beckoned to Fhil with it. This thing stood like a Minotaur but it wasn't and Fhil assumed that it was something far more dangerous. He noticed the robe had blue feathers coming off the left shoulder and fur, like a lions mane went around its neck. The unicorn got back on his feet and approached it cautiously. "Hello?" Fhil said to it. The creature looked beyond the unicorns messy brown hair and into his green eyes for a moment and then it walked past him. It went to the corpse and grabbed the satchel full of money. "What a wise investment." it said with a semi high male voice. Fhillip stood and watched him walk back to his original place in front of the giant stone door. He looked at the unicorn again and the creature shook its head. It then took a deep relaxing breath through its mask. "Glad you made it this far without dying. I bet you were pretty scared." The friendly tone in his voice was comforting but Fhil decided to take care of what he said to it. “Yeah, it was quite the trip here but who are you?" "You can refer to me simply as Chaos." it said looking at Fhillip. "Chaos?" "Yes. I am also your boss.” He said scratching the hair coming out from behind the top of his skull mask. Fhil looked around the room trying to find other ponies who may be playing a prank on him. “Is this a joke...?” Chaos shook his head slowly much to Fhil's discomfort. “I hired the man who hired the man who hired you. Crazy, I know but now that you are here, it means that you have done what I needed of you." Chaos said, still starring Fhillip down with those soulless holes for eyes. "You're going to do many things for me in the coming days and it's going to be so much fun for you. You may even get your old life back." Fhil was taken in by how much Chaos knew about him. He began to feel a little bolder desiring answers. "I'm not sure what you mean but I just want to go home. It's been a long day and all my co workers are dead and I'm not sure what the hell you are or how you know me." Fhillip said frustratingly. "Your cutie mark, it's an olive branch. It means you have the talent to negotiate, that's why Celestia chose you to be her top representative. Therefore I want you for this new job! You will get to go back home, eventually, so don't worry your precious pony head." Chaos nodded. "So this plan to get me here relied on me accepting the job? I could have said no." Fhillip told the creature with a smug look on his face. Chaos laughed a little, "True Mr. Buster, but I sent him with all this money!" He held up the satchel and showed Fhillip the gold and jewels within, "And at a very desperate time in your life, am I right? I made it so easy for you to say yes." He trailed off with a malicious tone. "Wait, so was Notch really a friend or just acting this whole time?" the pony frowned. "Ah, he didn't know anything about me or my plans, I had someone hire him in my stead. His interest in you was truly his own. It's a shame he won't ever get to return home to his family. Poor Alphonse." Chaos said coldly looking over to the corpse. Fhil looked back at the broken pocket watch that had flown on the floor. The griffon child was seen through the cracked glass. "I don't understand how you can be so blunt about that. He was just a pawn in your plan? So twelve earth ponies died just to bring me here?" "No, Thirteen." Chaos chuckled. Fhillip realized he was getting to angry at the situation. He didn't want to die here so he chilled his mood. "Ugh, whatever. And those dogs won't come kill us?" "Na, they are my pets and I had them save you for me." Chaos mused scratching something under his mask again. "Can I refuse this job?" Fhillip asked cringing. "So soon? Well the dogs are still around you know.. I could call them and see if they want to play.” Chaos threatened playfully. “At least hear me out before you say no." "I don't like your methods of getting me on board but I'll hear it, not like I have a choice..." Chaos clapped his hands at this. "Exactly! Now you're getting the idea. Okay, the job, I will have to start from the beginning..."