//------------------------------// // Twilight: Nor'Easter VII // Story: Game of Worlds // by DualThrone //------------------------------// “Yanno, Twilight, Ah reckon you an’ Dawn reacted just a pinch too much to a chess game,” Applejack said a few minutes after ‘Father’ had left. Twilight took in a breath through her mouth and blew it out through her nose, and gave her friend a nod. “I know. But it wasn’t the chess game, it was what he said.” “All the malarky about what ya expected an’ what not?” “It was all meant to be symbolism,” Dawn said. “I mean, not all the piece exchanges, just the ones he said something about.” Applejack nodded slowly to this. “So… mocking you for thinkin’ that he an’ his daughter make big, bold, blatant moves like trying to assassinate folk?” “Well not…” Twilight paused and thought about it. “Actually, that would make sense too. I don’t think any of the symbolism was about assassination but it’s possible. If neither of them were exaggerating or lying--big assumption, I know, but let’s go with it for the moment--then… removing obstacles would be part of any extremely long-term plan. I think.” “Not necessarily, Twilight,” Rarity said. “If they anticipated bringing the plan to fruition centuries from now, time is not their concern. Their plan seems to be built around simply outlasting any obstacles.” “But they had to accelerate it,” Thalia said. “There’s an outside force interfering, making a bid for whatever goal the two of them are working towards, and they’ve been forced to move faster than they wanted to. They wanted to slowly build the plague of the atermors up instead of going all in at once, and meant the end result to be more lethal….” “Yeah. ‘Not conceived of in malice’.” Dawn snorted. “Ponypies.” Thalia nodded. “Yes. And they planned to cultivate whatever gift this ‘Discord’ left, but are now forced to use brute strength to get control of the Tree of Harmony.” “Why do they care about a fucking tree?” Ember snorted. “I mean, yeah, it sounds like it’s somethin’ associated with the Elements of Harmony or something but it ain’t the Elements, right?” “The Tree is one step among many.” Penumbra was abruptly standing beside Twilight, appearing as suddenly and soundlessly as she’d left. “It’s the keystone to your Elements--remove it and they would become little more than pretty jewelry--but there are other uses to which it may be put. For our purposes, more valuable uses.” “There’s something more…” “Of course there is,” Penumbra said. “Otherwise I’d have had the Cards kill you.” She glanced over at the maze of intricate scarring on Dawn. “Instead of manipulating the sadistic one into making artwork of the pink one.” “...you were planning to have him do that to me?” Pinkamena looked steadily at Penumbra. Penumbra met her gaze. “Yes. Debilitating Laughter was the only way to accomplish one of our goals. That our derivation of Tettidora’s research would be effective was not something we could count on.” She paused a beat. “I am sorry, Lady Pie.” Pinkie huffed. “Yeah, sorry. That’s all?” “I can hardly do anything more for you than apologize, Pinkamena,” she said. “After all, you are unharmed.” “Dawn isn’t,” Pinkie said, her voice uncharacteristically quiet. “That was not intentional,” she said. “I hadn’t visited Ponyville for a couple years. I believed you to be the same sort of high-energy pony that would most annoy the sadist that you were back then. That Dawn might be more irritating, and you highly composed, was not anticipated.” “What do you get from your pet psychotic carving me up?” Twilight had to turn her head at the question, having never heard Pinkie speak with a bitter tone before. “For the time I need you to be, you are in my power,” Penumbra said calmly, seeming not to hear the bitterness. “You cannot leave, and your Element is suppressed. But if the sadist had done unto you what he did unto Dawn, you would have grisly reminders, but be otherwise unharmed. You would be fully able to act in your capacity as the Element of Laughter, and find a mate, raise children, and all the other components of a good, harmonious life. That would also advance my agenda. Thus, it was the solution to the problem with the fewest possible downsides, that I was certain would work. That a better solution would present itself after the reliable solution was in place was not something I could have known.” “You’re not even ashamed of unleashing a sadist with a knife on a completely innocent pony, are you?” “Shame is appropriate when you fall short of expectations,” Penumbra said, her expression and tone still perfectly even. “I have not. In fact, I had advanced above even my own expectations, because the sadist’s error advantaged me in an unanticipated way.” “Ya’ll know how effective Green Leaf’s potions are.” “Yes.” Penumbra bowed a little in the direction in Applejack. “This is enormously important, because I can know where to focus my attention later. Now, I offered you food and drink and comforts, and you accepted my offer. It required some cleverness, what with the present difficulties with farm crops in Equestria, but you ponies are an admirably far-seeing lot.” The comment seemed like an odd non-sequitur but Applejack clearly knew what Penumbra was implying, and she looked aghast. “Ya raided ponies’ food stores?” “I made sure to leave behind thrice the scarcity price of replacement,” she said with a shrug. “It wouldn’t do for ponies to do without in the wake of the atermors’ depredations.” “You say that like it wasn’t part of your plan.” Rarity said. “Our memories aren’t that short, darling, we remember what your Father said.” “What is currently happening was not part of our plan,” Penumbra said. “I will explain further shortly but for now, I believe your last meal would have been aboard the airship you flew in on. A moment, if you please.” The little zebricorn’s horn glowed softly for a moment and then with a pop, a pair of wooden crates phased into existence with a rough canvas on top and on top of that, plates piled with fresh pears, apples, carrots, and leafy greens. Another pop brought another makeshift table with a spread of fresh fruits and vegetables; the next came with several chilled pitchers of water and juices. The last two crate tables brought loaves of recently-baked fresh bread and a variety of jams on one table, and several magic-driven hotplates with a bowl of batter on the last. After another moment, Penumbra summoned a long table with hay-stuffed pillows to sit on, with one place set with a platter covered in an array of gems and rocks which, if Ember’s reaction was an indication, constituted good food for a dragon. “If you need me to replenish any of the victuals, or if you have requests, I will be your hostess,” Penumbra said. “For those of you without horn magic, I could operate the hot…” “Ya went ta mah home.” Twilight turned away from the fresh food to see Applejack looking into the bowl of batter, using a hoof to tilt it slightly so she could look into it. “Well, yes, but…” “With my granny, and my brother, an’ mah little sister.” Applejack didn’t raise her voice at all, and her tone didn’t change, but there was something simmering in it that Twilight had never heard from Applejack, no matter how upset her friend became: rage. “Your brother…” “YA WENT TO MY HOME!” The hoof Applejack had been using to tilt the batter bowl came down on the stone floor with a deafening crack and small fissures spiderwebbed from the impact. “Ya opened my gate! Ya knocked at mah door! YOU WALKED ONTO MY FAMILY’S FARM, WITH MY FAMILY THERE!” Another crack and fissures accompanied Applejack’s next step as she advanced on the genuinely stunned-looking Penumbra. “Yer filthy kind kin do all kinds o’ things ta mah town, an my friends, an’ Ah’ll give ya what for.” She leaned down, her irises literally glowing the green of healthy leaves and growing things, and spoke, her words vibrating the air much in the way that ‘Father’ had, each word spoken between clenched teeth with the finality of a gavel. “But. You. Just. Crossed. The. Line.” Several things seemed to happen at once. Twilight threw power into her horn, trying to impose a barrier between Applejack and Penumbra, seeing it wouldn’t work, and then just slamming the barrier into existence between the two mares and everyone else. In the same moment, Penumbra’s horn exploded into eye-searing brightness, seeming to have the same idea that Twilight did, but also too late. Finally, Applejack’s hoof came down and Penumbra was blasted backwards like she’d been hit by a haymaker from a colossus, just barely missing clipping the dias as she flew out of immediate view. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no…” Twilight heard her own voice saying, but the ‘hallucination’ throwing away all pretense of being a simple construct was something she shoved into a mental box for the time being; of immediate concern was Applejack charging after Penumbra with motes of golden light trailing her and her cutie mark blazing like a magical flare. She gathered her hooves beneath her and leaped, easily clearing the edge of the dias, and vanished from view as well.  Twilight barely had a moment to consider what to do next when there was another thunderclap and the small form of Penumbra came rocketing into view, her horn blazing like the noon sun, watching the ground with a disturbing degree of calm and detachment. She slowed down and alighted with about as much force as someone stepping off the last stair, and then the golden missile that Applejack had become came into view again. Her mane had become strands of gold floating in midair, although her trademark hat was inexplicably still planted firmly on her head. The motes of light that had been streaming off of her before had now become coherent, resembling flowing robes, and the glow of Applejack’s irises had overtaken her entire eyes, the light flowing backwards like sputtering flames. As Twilight watched, barely conscious of her jaw dropping, some of the golden strands floated free and twisted into an approximation of a merchant’s balance that remained suspended in midair, moving along with Applejack when she hopped down from the dias, the floor shattering under her. “No one who ain’t a friend, or acquaintance, or harmless gets near mah family,” Applejack said as she advanced on Penumbra again, each step blasting chips out of the stone floor. “Exactly.” Penumbra stood her ground, looking especially tiny against the luminous Applejack. “I am not your friend, or even your acquaintance. I am not harmless. But…” “But NOTHING.” Applejack stopped several lengths short of Penumbra. “Ah ain’t interested in listenin’ to any more of your ‘no malice’ nonsense. You sent some unnatural sorts to make mah friends and acquaintances sick. You said this is all yer plan, modified some. Was that just a lie?” Penumbra looked at her directly. “We did not conceive…” “...of the plan in malice. Yup, ya said that already.” “And I intend to say it again. We did…” “Ah don’t care. Now tell me: was what you said ‘bout this being all your plan a lie?” Penumbra looked at her steadily before shaking her head. “You do not want this fight, Applejack,” she said firmly. “Your family does not need a headstone, they need a sister, and a granddaughter.” Applejack’s glowing eyes narrowed. “Ah wonder why you won’t just say that it wasn’t a lie.” “Because you’ve decided what that will mean.” Penumbra widened her stance, planting herself firmly. “And now you have another decision: listen, or learn.” “Ah’m done listening to…” “Listen to her.” Twilight was shouldered aside as Pinkie stepped forward moving to stand between Penumbra and Applejack. Pinkie interposing herself between Applejack and her opponent seemed to give the farmpony pause, her expression becoming confused. “Pinkie, what in tarnation are you doing?” “Saving my friend.” “What, from a little…” “...ancient mare who’s been doing this since before Equestria.” Pinkamena looked over her shoulder at Penumbra. “How long?” “A few hundred years before the birth of Celestia.” Applejack visibly stepped back at the reply, her expression morphing into one of wordless astonishment, and the reaction made them all take a step back from Penumbra (except Pinkie, who seemed to somehow expect this response). Twilight suspected that the amazement came from Applejack knowing from Honesty that Penumbra was telling the truth about her longevity, and for Twilight at least, the natural logical conclusion was frightening. A quirk of unicorn aging was that as the body gradually decayed from age, the unicorn’s magical potential increased.  While there were many prodigies who’d begun their careers early in life, there was a reason that Clover the Clever was in her late middle age when her most famous work was done, and why Starswirl the Bearded was said to get away from his ground-breaking magical experimentation by playing with his great-grandchildren. Increased power by longevity had been one of Twilight’s favorite theories to explain how Luna and Celestia could move celestial bodies at will, and why it was said that unicorns were able to pool their power to do the job before Celestia and Luna took it over. What this amounted to was that a unicorn older than Luna or Celestia would be approximately on an alicorn’s level just by passive living, and Twilight had a feeling that Penumbra hadn’t just been sitting idly by for millennia. Pinkamena gave Applejack one of her characteristic broad, happy smiles. “Maybe you could hear what she has to say before you try to hurt her? As a favor for your friend?” “One sentence,” Applejack said, stomping the ground once as emphasis. “I neither harmed your family, nor went to your home with malicious intentions.” Penumbra smiled. “I just wanted apple pancake batter.” Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “Ah said, just one sentence. That second wasn’t even true.” She paused. “Not completely true.” “The first sentence was the one that mattered. And that is correct, I had other motives. But those motives did not involve harm to your family.” “Yeah.” Applejack frowned heavily at her. “Why not just head it off at the pass?” “You wouldn’t have attacked me without being provoked,” Penumbra said. “Much less by partly bringing your Elemental power to bear. Demonstrating the futility of brute force makes a capture situation easier to manage and safer for all involved.” “So ya used me.” “And you were a marvelous and useful tool in my hooves. Yet it seems just to give you some recompense by way of apologizing for the necessity.” Penumbra tapped her chin with a hoof. “Do you know any card games?” Applejack looked blankly at her. “What?” “Card games,” Penumbra said. “Poker, blackjack, bridge, scum, single…?” “Ah heard what you said. Don’t know what it has ta do with anything.” “I would give you an opportunity to get something from me, and Father, that we’d give no one else: the whole truth, nothing concealed, nothing left out,” Penumbra said. “An apology, for exploiting you. But even feeling an obligation to do right by you is not a powerful enough motivation to simply give you something that precious.” “I know ‘em all. Prefer ‘single’.” Penumbra looked surprised. “Not poker?” “Kid, if ya can walk up to my door and radiate harmless so hard that Granny pats ya on the head and sends you on your way with pancake batter, Ah don’t think you have a tell.” “I have many, but that is very sound reasoning.” Penumbra turned to look over them all. “There will be no further violence, so please, enjoy your food and drink. If any of you want Granny Smith Apple’s mouth-watering pancakes, I can help operate a hotplate.” One period of filling their plates later (everyone had taken at least one pancake), the two combatants took their position across yet another makeshift table Penumbra had summoned and laid out their cards. Dawn joined after pointing out that Penumbra owed her payback for the scarring, and the zebricorn abruptly offered a spot to Ember as recompense for taking advantage of her. Pinkie also asked to join, provoking a grin from Penumbra but nothing more. Everyone took their hands and started the game. Dawn took an early lead, but then ran into doldrums for several turns as Applejack and Ember traded leads with Penumbra steadily depleting her cards. “How were you shrugging off those hits?” Dawn said as Penumbra put a couple of cards on the pile. “Have you ever tried popping a balloon by punching it?” “So you were full of hot air?” Penumbra smirked. “I magically nullified all relevant friction, and thus provided even less resistance than air. Then after impact, I projected a thin envelope of magic behind me to slow myself down to harmless velocity.” “So not immune so much as ya cheated,” Ember said. “I applied scientific principles of inertial, friction, and momentum to the situation,” Penumbra said evenly. “You are quite skilled with the sword you carry, Princess Ember, which means that you invested heavily in that ability. I invested heavily in learning, and enjoy that advantage.” “Ya cheated by bein’ here in the first place,” Ember growled. “I’m still mad I fell for the innocent filly trick.” “Without sustained physical proximity, it’s impossible to distinguish me from a genuine young mare.” Penumbra put down five of her cards and passed the turn. “Expecting yourself to be omniscient is grossly unfair to you, Princess.” “So what was your plan if I wasn’t so stupid?” Penumbra considered this as Applejack forced Dawn to draw two cards, compensated by her putting down three. “Discover how it feels to die.” This drew all of their eyes to her. “...what?” Ember managed to say. “Die,” Penumbra said, putting down another card. “Princess Thalia reasoned correctly that being trapped in the snowdrift represented an actual risk to my life. I believed that pretending to be in distress would make even the most compassionate dragon suspicious. The obvious solution was to be in genuine danger.” Applejack put down her last three cards and looked pointedly at Penumbra. “An’ what was so important to ya that it was worth dying for?” Penumbra blinked slowly at her, used her telekinesis to check the card stack, and then smiled broadly. “A better world, Lady Applejack. My better world was worth the risk.” “Ain’t worth much to win if you can’t reap what ya sowed.” “You cannot possibly get paradise without paying a steep price,” Penumbra said. “Gaining this nation as our base was the only way, and it had to be done quickly. So we rolled the dice, and it came up lines, and now we await word from our agent in the Everfree.” “And who’s that?” “Her name is Zambet,” Penumbra said, “and although she is a zambet, she is even less similar to her base kind than the Dread Empress is to an ordinary nightmare.” “So all the things Nightmare said about zambets are…?” “True,” Penumbra said. “Absolutely true. But Zambet is not a zambet. She is the Zambet. All zambets flow from her; she is the first, and all the others severely flawed imitations.” “How does she…” “How’s she different?” Applejack cut in, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Penumbra. “How is Winona different from a timber wolf, outside of the obvious?” Penumbra shrugged. “She has mastered her impulses, but no one understands why the Named are so much greater than their peers, not even the Named themselves. Suffice it to say, if you met a zambet and then Zambet, you would see nothing of the mad beast in her.” “So she’s some sorta higher zambet?” “That is accurate enough.” “Then why send her off to the Everfree? Ain’t y’all completely focused on Queen Chrysalis?” “Did one of the Brothers tell you that?” “Ember here.” “Really.” Penumbra looked askance at Ember. “Princess Ember, did you honestly believe that my focusing my concerns on the intentions and movements of Chrysalis' sister was because I’m frightened of Chrysalis?” “Ya were awfully…” “It isn’t fear, but a healthy amount of caution,” Penumbra said. “Being older than Celestia and Luna, I know both of them extremely well and can anticipate the general path of their thoughts and intentions. Trying to do the same with Chrysalis or any of the changeling queens has been a frustrating challenge. Their people practically worship them and remaining very aware of whoever lingers in their company is so ingrained into their race that it’s an unconscious impulse. In virtually all instances, they just enjoy watching their queens interact with them like they were peers rather than subjects, but a little zebracorn visiting often enough to understand any given queen would draw dangerous levels of attention.” “And Chrysalis has an army.” “Chrysalis has the army,” Penumbra said. “The largest military force anywhere. The soldiers that created a permanent Pax Equestria stretching over the entire known world. I don’t have the power to prevent them from marching in and deciding the results of the Game; Chrysalis only need a good reason, and I haven’t harmed a strand of her sister’s mane for that exact reason.” “Chryssy still could,” Thalia said. “Yes, and the airship your visitors flew in on has already passed beyond my grasp. But they didn’t have a royal on board, so they have no means to magically breach space and time to alert Chrysalis to whatever they were told or guessed.” Penumbra smiled a little. “There is still time to achieve our goals.” The conversation continued to move along with Applejack asking all kinds of thoughtful questions, and Twilight was impressed despite herself. It’s not that much of a surprise, she scolded herself. “Her whole family projects simplicity in normal conversation, and then you come across them near a job and realize that they’re smarter than they allow others to believe.  “Yes.” Twilight turned her head to look at the copy of herself, speaking in her voice, with her inflections, only visible to her. “I did not really realize it at first; those were the days when I was not sure why Celestia had sent her best student to a backwater to supervise the celebration. It is true that the purpose of the thing was revealed to me by events--Nightmare’s masquerade of the evil moon goddess returned to destroy the world, and attuning myself to the Element of Magic--and yet I cannot help but wonder: did she sense it even then, in some tiny corner of her mind?” Twilight looked at herself, and herself looked back at her, before smiling a little. “My panic at Applejack trying to fight Penumbra removed all doubt that I am not what you believed me to be, or what I pretended to be. Let us withdraw so that Penumbra does not draw any dangerous conclusions.”