//------------------------------// // CH 4: Politics and Religion. // Story: Border Chronicles: Book 1 Friendship in Chaos // by Sirion123 //------------------------------// For the purposes of Discord being even more strange to those who live in Farway, horses and ponies don't exist in Farway (everything was pulled by cows and oxen) If/When ponies and horses do show up...it's a sign of corruption and convergence Location: R-13: Farway Caelum, Cygnus, Belfiore Academy 2037 P.C.E. (Post Creator Era) Trevor had been sitting outside the CO’s office for the last hour. Despite trying to be as diligent in his duties as possible, eventually boredom set in and with it, Trevor’s thoughts. For the better part of the time spent outside waiting to be addressed about the new guest, only two things had entered and refused to leave Trevor’s mind. One, the strange creature Discord. Just what was this thing, where did it come from. Trevor highly doubt it was born from either the Artist or Author’s work, too haphazard and weird. Nothing on Farway even came close to what Discord was. Then there was the manner of speech, terms the creature used were unfamiliar to Trevor. Ponies, A term never heard in Farway, nor was Equus a country, town, or place, in Trevor’s massive study of geography. A mystery yes, but what held most of his attention was the CO. The second thing on Trevor’s mind was Admiral (ADM) Skeleton the current CO. It would really be more accurate, however, to call him the XO (Executive Officer). Skeleton was only covering the actual CO, Command Admiral Adriac for the temporary move to Caelum’s Master Command Center (CMCC), a station that could take up to five years. While odd, but still acceptable that little to no service history can be found about ADM Skeleton prior to his appointment to Belfiore, (it wasn’t all that uncommon for some of the special warfare sailors to have blacked out records) it was the fact that ADM Skeleton had used active magic to bring Trevor, Discord, and himself to his office. I’m quite knowledgeable of the high rated active magic users in Caelum. The admiral’s name wasn’t on it. Not to mention he has NO service record prior to Belfiore. Even if he was Spec-ops until being stationed at the academy, his ability to use active magic, especially if he can cast teleport spells would have to be known to the populous for safety reasons. The public safety committee would have a field day with this if they knew he was hiding active magic from students in case of backlash. It’s hard to believe he could hide his active magic with scans every 5 years. Just who is Admiral Skeleton? and why did it seem he already knew who and what Discord was? Trevor gained no answers, as time kept to it’s slow march, threatening to swallow and drown trevor in boredom. Having nothing better to do, Trevor just stared at the off white wall, directly across from him, the p-way nothing but a pressing silence. Slowly the sound of a door opening returned Trevor back to the world of farway, and a cold, dead, and raspy voice called out. “Ensign Fields, enter” A chill ran down Trevor’s spine. “Please take a seat, This will not take much time, nothing more then a brief moment. I have to debrief you on,” Skeleton sighed, “the thing you caught in your room.” “Aye, aye.” Responded Trevor, making his way nervously toward the desk. “Firstly, I have a few questions to ask. It’s to give you a perspective on just what the creature Discord is, and can do. So, How familiar are you about the Named?” “Um…They a…They’re the caretakers of Farway. They help maintain balance in the world after the Creators were removed, and sent back to the Void to rule. At…at least according to the church. I could only remember about twelve of the Named but I think there are around forty or so Named recorded” “Good answer, a bit lacking on details but it does get the point across. And are you familiar with the Rock and the Broker?” “Yes.” “Could you tell me about them?” Trevor looked on confused, but answered anyway. “The Rock was a companion of another named…The Wolf I believe. His stead fast guardianship of the Wolf was stuff of legend. The church wants us to remember and emulate his protection of someone he cared for as we protect those we care about.” “And the Broker?” Trevor shifted uncomfortably. “The Broker, is a mystery. Although not the first to be Named, he is the oldest Named. He was responsible for getting our creators, The Artist and The Author, together for their period of collaboration before they began to war with each other. He stepped in and forced the Creators into a truce that lead to the Tournament Era, and was instrumental in the Champion’s request to stop the bloodied tournaments and set us free from the dark plans our Creators had for us. “The church views the Broker as a dark deity that lures the innocent into corruption and sets them against their fellow man. His, deals…his deals have been used as stories to scare children into behaving, Adults from too much evil. He is used as an example of we become if we let too much evil enter our hearts. And yet, I don’t particularly subscribe to that dogma. “The Broker has been on the side of ‘good’ in every major conflict our world has faced. If he really was an evil thing bent on corrupting the hearts of men, then our texts would not place him as a mentor of sorts to the Champion. I think that the Broker just targets men that already have that darkness that afflicts lesser morals, to help reinforce our own.” Trevor stated. “That is a unique take on an already established way of thinking by the church. I am quite surprised that you are as vocal about this as you are. The church is not as tolerant of outside thinking as they propose.” “I have something that helps with that…” Trevor trailed off, averted his eyes, hanging his head as if to hide something, before picking it up again, “Sir, I’m not certain what this has to do with the creature Discord.” “What do the Rock and Broker have in common?” “Is Discord one of the Named?” A flash of fear made itself shown as Trevor thought about how he assaulted, what was, essentially, a god. “Luckily for us, no, he is not Named. No…He has something else in common with the Rock and Broker, specifically.” After a brief moment of thought Trevor worked it out. “He’s an other worlder!” shouted Trevor. “I am quite pleased I do not have to spell out everything.” sniped Skeleton, “Discord is indeed an other worlder. One I have happened across before I took up my station here. Out of all the other worlders in Farway’s history, Discord has the potential to be the most dangerous of them all.” Skeleton pulled out his lighter and lit a cigarette, “To be blunt, if this information never were to burden your ears, I would have been perfectly content to leave you in the dark. Circumstances, it seems, do not allow for such a choice. So I am afraid I must force you into my confidence about the matter. Discord’s presence here in the academy must be kept a secret, the last thing anyone needs is a damn panic that some unknown Creator demon is loose on the world as some revenge plot.” Inhale, Exhale, Trevor started to cough at the foul smoke that started to fill the room. “Admittedly, even with him disguised the whole issue with Discord is nothing more then a powder keg moments from exploding in my face.” Another hit from the cigarette and a sigh, “This is where I must ask a tremendous favor from you, and you will be unable to refuse. “Currently on Farway there are only a handful of forces capable of stopping Discord should he get out of hand. Most are, I regret to say, the oldest Named, and only one human mage. Luckily for us, that mage is currently in this room.” Trevor let loose the breath he didn’t quite know he held, The CO has this under control. Now I can just put this behind me and just focus on my sch— “I was not aware you were an active magic user Fields.” Skeleton’s office seemed to shrink to suffocating levels as Trevor processed the statement. Disbelieve colored Trevor’s features as Skeleton’s revelation took him by storm. “S-Sir…Y-You must be mistaken. I’ve never tested positive for active magic, I’m a rate zero, I’m immune to active magic for the Named sake!” Stammered Trevor. “I assure you, not only are you capable, you rate somewhere in the nines.” once again Skeleton took another breath of smoke, studying the young ensign’s face before continuing, “Words, are useless things. Actions are much more valuable.” And with that said, Skeleton pulled out a small unassuming slate blue cube and set it on the desk between them. Trevor recognized it immediately, it was a testing construct, used to measure the potential rate for active and passive magic. Rate zeros, like Trevor knew he was, had no connection to the type of magic tested, which placed them in a unique position of immunity. Zeros couldn’t be effected by magic, so more often then not they were employed to be spies, and paid quite well for their efforts. The maximum rate that could be achieved was a ten, which all but put them on par with the magical power the Named had. Trevor, from birth, always rated a 0-aP-9, so being told different was beyond possibility. Regardless of what Trevor knew, the testing construct would clear up any doubt. A small, almost invisible, button was located on the top face of the cube. With a quick depress of the button the construct actuated. A quiet hiss was heard as the edges of the cube began to separate showing a near perfect glass sphere with an arcane formula etched within. A small blue light glowed from inside the center of the sphere, growing brighter until it’s brilliance increased making staring at the core of the construct start to hurt the eyes. Slowly the top face floated higher and higher until it reached eye level with Trevor. The side faces folded down until they were flat with the surface of the desk. The glass core floated ever so gently, suspended above the bottom face, before a blue beam of light, with laser like consistency, shined straight upwards toward the top face. From where the light hit the top of the test construct, a blue shimmering wave passed over Trevor from head to toe, thrice over. When the first wave passed over Trevor, he felt a slight tingle, the second wave only increased what Trevor felt, and by the third pass Trevor felt his whole body tingle as if it were numb. Though it wasn’t Trevor’s first time under the scrutiny of a rate test construct, it was the first time that there was a tingling sensation. This lead credence to Skeleton’s claim. Then, faster then you could blink, the construct finished it’s purpose and snapped to a close, making it feel as if the whole test was nothing more then a dream. “Quite the interesting reading wouldn’t you say?” Sneered Skeleton as he rotated the construct to show Trevor the readout. 9-AP-9, Trevor couldn’t believe what he was seeing, it was damn near impossible for someone to just spontaneously increase their magic, let alone to such a degree. His jaw dropped and realization hit him. He went from being immune to Active magic to being one of the highest casters in the land. What…what could have caused this? “I believe your Terran blood held active magic,” Trevor frowned at the fact, Skeleton noticed, “I read your file ensign Fields. Your mother was from Terra, was she not,” Trevor just nodded, “It is a tragedy that she died in child birth, but it seems she left you a gift. A gift so unique that you are, to my knowledge, the only being in Farway to be able to cast Harmonic Magic. This magic protects you from almost all forms of active magic unless an extremely improbable series of events were to occur, to fully realize your innate active magic. Namely, the impossibility of coming across a being like Discord, specifically” “I’m…I’m finding this hard to believe sir.” replied Trevor. “Truth is often stranger then fiction,” Skeleton took the final hit of his cigarette before putting out what little remained of it in the crystal ashtray near his right hand, “Again, It is do to your…unique magic that I have an assignment for you.” Skeleton sighed again, for the first time in a while he was regretting what he was going to do, “I need you to be a watch dog against Discord. Before you make your protests.” Skeleton interrupted Trevor’s attempted outburst, “Allow me to explain why. The world Discord is from, he holds more power then most of the Named, or even the Creators during their period of dispute. If the Named were more interested in the mortal coil, then this would not be a burden you would have to bare. Yet, this world is not tailored for that level of convenience. Despite his promise not to cause harm against us, I trust this creature far less then I do if the Creators were to return offering a pardon to, we, who cast them out. “Your magic seems to be almost perfectly tuned to be a deterrent to Discord running uncheck. No sword, hammer, line gun or book could harm the dragonequus unless it had your magic coursing through it. I assure you this is only a temporary arrangement, I am in the process of contacting his world’s ‘named’, if you will, to help keep him in line. while they shall be here post haste after my correspondence is sent, it shall be upwards toward a year before I will be able to make and use a spell to send them back. “I have made the appropriate provisions to help make your task easier. For now I must send you on your way. Return to your room for now. You are dismissed Fields.” “Aye, aye.” Trevor responded after a moment of silence. With a quiet resignation, He removed himself from the chair, turned to head toward the door, and started back to his room, very confused on how the chain of events played out that very day. Skeleton just watched, quietly, as the young ensign left, and once again sighed. Skeleton hated the fact he had to lie to Fields. While everything Skeleton had pointed out about Fields’ newly minted active magic was, at least on the technical level, plausible, in reality, it was nothing more then a smartly worded fabrication. Skeleton was no stranger to lying, often to get what he wanted or needed from his marks, he hated to manipulate those who were puppets to fate. Eating further into his almost nonexistent guilty conscience of the necessities he had to do. Yet, though it was an unpleasant task he needed to do, Skeleton would do it again in a heart beat, He had too much at stake not to. With that in mind only one thought was made. I have to write a letter. Meanwhile Location: ER-0 Equus Origin Canterlot, Castle of the Royal Sisters 1003 CE (or year 3 R.E. (Reunion Era)) Peace. Finally there was peace. Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight all let out a sigh of relief at the slightly smoking ground were the once disruptive dragonequus had been. “Does anypony know where we sent Discord?” Luna inquired, a tingling sensation of dread running down her spine, “Or…Does anypony care?” “Whelp, He’s somepony else’s problem.” The princess of love said flippantly. Still angry over her interrupted time with her husband, “I’m going back to my Shiny. I need a good cuddle…aaaannd I think he does too, to get over what happened this morning.” And with that Cadence trotted off to resume, hopefully, what they had started earlier, in the royal guest rooms. Once Cadence was out of sight, Twilight, at last, finally calmed down from the events of the morning. It wasn’t to be a happy calm though…it was to be a calm of despair and resignation. Starswirl’s journal, she realized, once her breathing returned to it’s normal rate, was lost to history, all because she had used it as a shield against Cadence’s spell meant for Discord. Tears began to form, the fur that coated her face turning a dark violet, as the salted water drops streaked down, falling to soft piddles and pats on the ground. “My precious book….the o-o-only *sniff* copy…” “Dearest Twilight. What is bothering you my friend?” A soft nurturing voice, that could only come from Celestia, asked. “The *sniff* only copy of Starswirl’s journal *sniff* it’s gone.” replied Twilight, now crying in earnest. “Worry not Twilight,” Celestia let out a small chuckle, “it is not lost to time.” slowly the sun princess unfurled her wing and draped it over the youngest princess in a motherly fashion. Slightly confused, the lavender pony turned her head and looked, at her mentor turned colleague and friend, just in time to see the loving smile the sun princess often held, and what Twilight had always sought. A faint golden aura made it’s way to the visible plane around the white pony’s spiraled horn, as Celestia began to cast the recovery spell. The ashes of the once book took on the very same gold color, before a small flash blinded any who looked upon it, returning to it’s pre-burnt form. Twilight looked on, opened mouthed, in awe at her prized possession existing again. “All books that once belonged in the Royal Library have a special enchantment on them that wards off complete destruction. I have also place the spell on every book I have gifted you as well. You do live with a dragon that happens to spout flames on occasion.” Celestia explained, earning a brief chuckle from the now happy mare. With a sudden bit of selfishness and intense need to prove it was really back Twilight yanked the book from Celestia’s magical grasp and glanced it over confirming it was back in all it’s book like glory. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou” Twilight squealed, hopping in a circle around Celestia. Luna just watched the exchange with a smile, happy that something so precious to her friend, and sister was not lost to history from an accident. Her smile was, however, muted as the sense of dread had not left her. Somehow, all Luna could think about was that, in someway, Discord was still going to have the last laugh. Evening had fallen on the capital city of Equestria, turning the busy, noisy, and stress of the day, to a quiet and serene night for families to huddle together, or couples to help grow their love. It was something Luna had once disliked, as it seemed to her that in all their work and play during the day, robbed them of their chance to do the same during the night. When the Elements of Harmony had removed the hatred and envy, and brought with it the both warm, and bitter cold truth of her blessed night, Luna felt ashamed. The night was for reflection and hope, without her and her night ponies could never be as happy as they could be during the daylight hours. Now, though, with how busy the the ponies were during the day, Luna was thankful for the peace her night brought. Night was meant to be shared with those you cared about, and on this very night, she did. Twilight had set off earlier in the night the royal duties, that had originally called her to the capital, completed. Celestia had seen Twilight off, something that had always left a little wound on the sun princesses heart. Twilight was the closest thing that Celestia could have as a daughter, something the diarch pined for. The walk back from the canterlot train station was always longer after Twilight left. Cuddling up with her sister, relaxing from the daylight duties, Celestia couldn’t help but appreciate an irony. A thousand years ago her sister wanted her subjects love and affection. Now in this “modern” age both princesses wanted peace from their subject’s constant dependance, and the nobles, often petty, disputes. Still, both princesses loved their subjects, but just wanted a moment to spend with each other. A millennia of banishment is a hard thing to recover from. “Tia…I have a feeling something bad happened today.” Luna spoke softly. “You mean besides Discord’s frustratingly childish actions?” Celestia snickered, breaking from her regal mask. The necessity of being partial to everything, not needed in the presence of her sister. “We needed worry too much about Discord. Though, he has done great harm to not only us his once family, but to all of Equus, in the past. I highly doubt he would relapse and return to what he once was. I do believe that the element of kindness has tempered his rage.” “I am aware of that Tia, but I still feel as if something has gone wrong, and he is at the center of it.” As if the cosmos was answering some unknown beckoning, a letter popped into existence in front of the two sisters. The letter hovered in the air for the briefest of time before it fell to the floor, dead flat, no bounce, like it was laid with burden and despair. The letter was sealed in a familiar way to Celestia. A single ribbon, true black, the kind of black that steals away light, that sends fear into the deepest parts of your being. The wax that sealed the ribbon had a sigil of a skeleton key, highly stylized, in a brilliant, yet off-putting, emerald green. Celestia eyed the letter cautiously, and with apprehension. Why would Skeleton send me a letter? I haven’t any prospective princesses, nor is there any threat on the horizon that we royals or the elements can’t handle. So why would he send me anything? Slowly, the letter was surrounded by a golden glow, as Celestia levitated the letter toward her as if it was a bomb set to explode. Hesitantly, she broke the seal and unfurled the letter. Immediately her eyes widen to dinner plates, and as she read further, her pupils shrank until they were pin pricks. the eldest alicorn froze, her magic ceased to encompass the letter, and it flittered to the ground. Luna watch, at first in curiosity, then with worry. “What’s wrong Tia?” “You were right Luna…Something has gone wrong.” Tears formed briefly before streaking down her face, “In our moment of anger this morning, w-w-we violated one of the Matriarch’s founding laws. Discord is now in a human realm.” Luna began to visibly shake with fear, “What is worse, is that Skeleton not only knows this, but is demanding that I send the elements to the same realm to help repair the corruption that is beginning to spread. Luna, I’m so scared…” “Absolutely not!” Luna declared. Her fear, still present, but tempered in anger, “Tis no more than an accident. Surely the Matriarch would forgive us, and think Skeleton’s demands too outlandish. To take the elements from Equus and leave us defenseless from those who seek us harm, it’s absurd.” “I don—We do not have much of a choice. Luna there is something I must tell you. It is my greatest sin, and my darkest secret.” “YOU DID WHAT!?” Screeched Luna, loudly, in the Royal Canterlot Voice. The question Luna asked could be heard as far as Appleloosa.