//------------------------------// // War Council // Story: Harmonics // by ezra09 //------------------------------// Flash! “Gah! Oh, hi again. You two scared—” Flash! “What in tarnation?” “Eeep!” Flash! “Huh, wuh, who’s—” Flash! Scootaloo’s stomach twisted as she found herself teleported again and again until finally the blinding flashes of light stopped. She waited until she was sure it wouldn’t happen again, and then shook her head and opened her eyes. She was lying in a heap with her friends at the center of the group of tents serving as the Royal Guard barracks. A few feet away, Shining Armor stood dazed. He looked around, blinking, and his gaze fell on the Draconequus standing at the center of the confused ponies. “Discord!” Shining Armor’s horn flared dangerously as he shifted, squaring off against the ancient spirit of chaos. “Oh, right,” Thistleroot said groggily. “We didn’t tell him what we were trying.” “Now, now, there’s no need for that,” Discord said, closing the space between himself and Shining Armor with two long strides. Discord licked the finger and thumb of his paw and pinched Shining Armor’s horn. The light from his horn went out with the gentle hiss of an extinguished candle. “It’s okay,” Scootaloo said. “He’s going to help us.” Shining Armor turned from Discord to give her a dubious look. “You’re kidding.” “It’s true,” Discord said. “Cross my heart, hope to fly.” He made a crossing motion over his heart and hopped into the air. Scootaloo took a quick look around. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Spike and Thistleroot had all been gathered, along with Shining Armor, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunburst. Sunburst was currently ducking behind Starlight, trying to avoid notice. More ponies were poking their heads out of the Royal Guard tents. Most saw Discord and immediately withdrew, though a few ventured outside. Among them, Scootaloo recognized Wind Rider, the younger pegasus that had been their first volunteer earlier that day. “Well, now that we have that cleared up, I declare this war council in session!” Discord disappeared in a flash and reappeared a few feet away, leaving a circular area between Scootaloo and her friends, himself, and the few Royal Guard and Royal Militia members brave or curious enough to stay. When Discord reappeared, he was wearing a jacket of olive green cloth. Dangling from a breast pocket were several bright medals, and a beret was precariously balanced on his horns. Beside him was a topographical map of Canterlot mountain mounted on a board. Tacked onto the map were photos of Nocturne, Rosalia and Discord, as well as a poster that read: MISSION OBJECTIVES 1: Go over mission objectives. 2: ???? 3: Save Equestria. “So all in all, it’s very simple,” Discord said, pulling a pointing stick and poking a more or less random part of the map. “Stuff will happen and the good guys somehow win.” He paused, tapping the pointer against one of his horns with a thoughtful expression. “Huh, I guess that sums it all up. Dismissed.” “Uh, don’t you think you should expand on that second point a bit?” Spike asked. “Well, maybe,” Discord said. “But if we plan everything now, there’s less opportunity for you ponies to pull out a win from nowhere as you do so infuriatingly often.” Shining Armor stepped forward. “Okay, just hold on a second.” Discord looked at him. “Yes?” “This is just all a lot to take in. Discord’s free all of a sudden,” he looked at Scootaloo as he said that. “Yeah, sorry. We should have told you before we freed him,” Scootaloo said, glancing away. “Heh, surprise?” Thistleroot said from beside her. “But,” Shining Armor said, turning back to Discord, “I guess if you’re actually on our side for right now, then that’s okay.” “Oh, thank heavens you think so,” Discord said. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d decided to use the Elements of Harmony to— oh, wait.” Shining Armor’s expression flattened into one of annoyance. “But with or without your help, we’re not moving without a plan. There’s too much at stake to rely on pulling a win out of nowhere.” “Oh, alright,” Discord said, rolling his eyes. “I guess the Captain of the Royal Guard thinks he knows something about strategy and planning.” He raised his hands to make air quotes for the last three words. “I mean...” Thistleroot said, trailing off. “Alright, el capitán, what’s the plan?” Discord said, snapping his talons. The beret disappeared from his horns and reappeared on Shining Armor’s head. Shining Armor knocked it off with a swipe of his hoof without batting an eye. “Obviously having Discord on our team puts us in a much better position than before, assuming he can be trusted.” As he spoke he gave Discord a hard look. Discord smiled, and a halo appeared above his head. “But what we’ve been lacking more than anything up to this point is information. Nocturne’s abilities, weaknesses, things like that. What can you tell us?” The map of Canterlot Mountain changed in a flash to a cartoonish image of Nocturne with colored boxes showing the underlying anatomy of her body, all of which were equally cartoonish. “The first thing any of you should understand about Nocturne is that she’s not an ordinary changeling queen. She’s more similar to me than she is to Rosalia. She is what we call an eternal spirit.” “Yeah, we already knew that,” Apple Bloom said. “Eternal spirit of instinct, wasn’t it?” “Well, well, you ponies have done your homework.” Discord snapped and a square of white paper with a gold star sticker appeared in front of Apple Bloom. “Gee, thanks,” she said. “What exactly does that mean,” Sunburst asked, poking out from behind Starlight. “I’ve heard of you being referred to as a spirit of chaos before, but I’ve never heard of Nocturne or any others.” “Well,” Discord said, before pausing. He snapped again, and his green uniform was replaced by a tweed jacket, tie, and thick round rimmed glasses. “First, an important distinction to make is that I’m not just a spirit of chaos, I am the spirit of chaos. There are some creatures in the world that embody particular abstract concepts, such as chaos, order, love, magic, you get the idea. Most of us have been around much longer than any pony, and either keep to ourselves, or end up imprisoned, which brings me to the most important thing you need to know about her. “Nocturne is immortal. And I don’t just mean she can take a hit and get back up. As far as I know, the only way for one of the eternal spirits to die is for them to act counter to their nature. For her, that would mean something along the lines of submitting to service of somepony she saw as a lesser creature.” “That’s not very helpful,” Spike said. “Not helpful, but important to know,” Shining Armor said. “So, we can’t hope to beat her through brute force, even if we outnumber her. How do we beat her then?” “When I fought her, I had a weapon, and a prison waiting for her. Unfortunately, making them from scratch is out.” “Why’s that? You did it once, didn’t you?” Starlight asked. “Well, not exactly,” Discord said. “Building big, complex, and particularly stable pieces of magic isn’t my specialty. I supplied the magic, but the design of the prison was taken care of by another eternal spirit.” “Could he help build a new prison?” Sweetie Belle asked. “He could, if he hadn’t disappeared,” Discord said. “And without Archie, I wouldn’t know where to begin.” “Archie?” Spike asked under his breath, just loud enough for Scootaloo to hear. “Doesn’t have the same ring to it as Discord or Nocturne, does it?” “Yeah, I don’t blame him for disappearing,” Thistleroot said. “Luckily, we don’t need a new prison. I can see from here that the old one is still around,” Discord pointed up toward the stone ring above Canterlot. “We don’t have the key, though,” Scootaloo said. “They took it after they freed Nocturne. Knowing our luck, Nocturne probably sleeps with it under her pillow.” “Oh, I doubt that,” Discord said. “Not unless she likes excruciating pain. Which I guess I can’t rule out. To each their own.” “What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked. “Oh, nothing, just that some ponies are—” “Why would the key cause her excruciating pain?” Shining Armor asked, talking over Discord. “Oh, yes, of course. The key to the prison was designed to serve as a weapon capable of weakening and eventually trapping Nocturne. Rosalia too, for good measure.” “Is that why Rosalia needed me to carry it for her?” Scootaloo asked. Discord nodded. “Just touching it drains magic from them, and somepony who knows how to use it could defeat them. Of course, as the only way to defeat her that any of us know about, it’s going to be in the most well guarded room of her palace.” “I doubt it.” Scootaloo turned toward the new voice. It had come from the group of Royal Guards. Wind Rider flushed as every eye turned toward him. “Uh, I just mean, if I were basically invincible except for an item that there’s only one of, I wouldn’t keep in within a hundred miles of myself, let alone inside the same building, right? I’d make sure it was well guarded, but far far away. There’s not that many ponies that can teleport huge distances, so even if someone stole it I’d have plenty of warning before they showed up to use it one me.” “Hmm, a fair point,” Discord said. He snapped and a shiny gold emblem appeared taped to Wind Rider’s chest. “Congratulations, you’ve just earned yourself a promotion.” “That’s not how it works,” Shining Armor said, deadpan. “Uh, I’m not actually a Royal Guard,” Wind Rider said. “So then, where would she hide it?” Spike asked. “Someplace far from Night’s End, but where she can still keep it guarded,” Apple Bloom said. “Isn’t that obvious?” Wind Rider asked. It was, Scootaloo thought with a growing sense of unease. She answered at the same time as him. “The changeling hives.” “That’s a good theory,” another one of the Royal Militia members said, “but we can’t be sure.” “Sure we can,” Discord said. “I’ll just ask.” “Ask? What do ya mean?” Apple Bloom asked, but before she’d finished Discord had vanished in a flash. “Oh no,” Scootaloo said. “You don’t think he meant...” Who was she kidding? Of course he did. ***** The windigo howled in its ancient language. Though there was no exact Equestrian translation, Rosalia was able to understand the meaning. They had no need for a queen. They had survived for over a thousand years without their creator, and they would continue to survive for thousands more. They didn’t need Nocturne. Nocturne, for her part, sat regally upon her throne, watching the windigo and its two brothers impassively. When it was done, she answered, not through words, but through a howling gale that whipped about her ethereal mane. It was even less of a statement than the windigo had made, not a language of any kind, but a challenge. Nocturne dared the windigos to use more than words, to prove their strength. The three windigos cowered from the sudden bite of the wind that they had no control over. Rosalia smiled in satisfaction as her lady put them in their place. Even after half the windigo herds, or squalls as the northern ponies called them, had joined, the Windigos living in Black Bear Basin had been particularly prideful, refusing to bow before their creator thrice now. “As we thought,” Nocturne said. “You speak of survival, but your numbers dwindle. The other creatures speak of you as ghost stories. You have... shown...” Nocturne trailed off. Rosalia followed her gaze and froze. “Oh, don’t mind me,” Discord said from where he stood to the side of the throne room. “Finish up with your current meeting, I insist.” Nocturne stared at him for several long seconds before shifting her gaze back toward the windigos. “Begone.” They wasted no time in scattering to the winds and leaving through the nearest window. “Oh, it has been too long,” Discord said, walking forward to take their place before the throne. “How have you been?” A spear of black glass appeared beside Nocturne and hurled itself at him. Without breaking stride, he hopped over the spear. Or, at least his top half did, separating from his bottom with a pop. The spear passed harmlessly between the two halves and shattered against the far wall as Discord’s torso landed and he became whole again. “What do you want, Discord?” Nocturne asked, unfazed. Naturally, Rosalia thought, the attack had been a token gesture. “Oh, I was just looking for something. Little stone tablet, about yea big, covered in spells. I set it down on a table about twelve hundred years ago, and what do you know, when I turn back around, it’s gone. You haven’t seen it, have you?” “You’ve got to be joking,” Rosalia said. “I have been know to do that from time to time, yes.” Rosalia could feel the anger rising in her chest and tried to force it down. It wouldn’t do to let her lady see her lose control. “We heard you’d been imprisoned in stone,” Nocturne said. “How have you come to be free?” “I actually have you to thank for that,” Discord said. “The ponies thought that of the two of us, I was the lesser risk. A bit insulting, really, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers. They used a bit of harmony and voila!” A bit of harmony? Then Mimic had failed. “You’re wasting your time,” Rosalia said. “You’ll never get your hands on the stone tablet.” “Is that so? Oh, what a shame, whatever shall I do?” Discord cried out, throwing his head back, one arm draped across his forehead. “Well, I suppose I’ll be going then.” He vanished in a flash. “Well, we must admit, this was unforeseen,” Nocturne said. “Freeing Discord to fight us. These ponies truly are tenacious.” “Please don’t sound impressed,” Rosalia said. “They’re fools, nothing more.” ***** “The stone tablet is in the changeling hives,” Discord said as he appeared with a flash. “Or, if it isn’t it will be soon.” “They told you where it was?” Scootaloo asked in disbelief. “Not quite,” Discord said, “but Rosalia did promise that I’ll never get my hands on it. Even if it wasn’t already there, she’ll move it to the hives now that she knows I’m free.” “What makes ya say that?” Apple Bloom asked. “Simple, really. I can’t go to the changeling hives,” Discord said. “There was a, oh, let’s just say incident, about eleven hundred years ago. Chrysalis never really forgave me. She found a way to shut down magic near the hives. Even mine.” “So, to keep you from finding it, she’ll move it someplace she knows your magic doesn’t work,” Shining Armor said. “Exactly. Of course, that does pose a problem.” “You can’t just go and grab it,” Shining Armor said. “Wait, when you say the hives shut down magic, does that mean pony magic too?” “Naturally,” Discord said. “At least overt magic, like unicorn spells. I think pegasus and earth pony magic should be fine.” Scootaloo nodded, “I was able to fly near the hives. I also bucked some lightning out of a cloud, but I’m not sure how close we were then.” “Well, it’s better than nothing,” Shining Armor said. “We’ll give them a day to move it, just in case, and in the meantime we need to figure out how to fight or sneak our way through the changelings without magic. Everypony meet back here tomorrow at noon. Until then,” he looked at Discord. “Oh, right.” Discord snapped and he was back in the uniform. “Dismissed!