//------------------------------// // 2 Meeting by Moonlight // Story: Our Hopes and Dreams // by Kuyashii //------------------------------// Several months before... The peace and quiet of the night gave way to the beat of leathery wings. Calm air thick with the smell of damp grass carried the sound throughout the valley, rolling softly like distant peals of thunder. Though he could fly more quickly by using magic, Dissonance enjoyed the sense of power he felt in stretching his wings to conquer the skies. It felt more natural to the young Draconequus. Not to mention that a spell could be countered. Dissonance rose with the slope of the mountain until he reached the plateau overlooking the wooded valley below. Perched on a jut of land, the ruins of Canterlot whispered tales of the once majestic castle. Though it was a warm, humid evening, there were no songs to be heard from the nightingales, nor were there fireflies flittering through the grass that grew up to the crumbled battlements and toppled towers. Everything fell still before the approach of a Draconequus. Dissonance swooped down to a parapet that led to Canterlot's Great Hall, landing just before the door inlaid with the royal seal. Moonlight covered him like a gossamer robe, his shimmering scales a reflection of the starry sky above. Like all Draconequus, Dissonance appeared to be a creature stitched together from the parts of a dozen others. A patchwork of limbs, horns, fur, and scales. But to witness him in his glory proved that the Draconequus did not lack for grace. Dissonance embodied the forces of Chaos under control, equal parts majestic and deadly. In a word, perfection. And yet his claw shook as he reached for the door's gilded handle. He threw the door open. A marble statue greeted him, a fierce looking pony wearing the armor of the Royal Guard. Dissonance snorted, then stepped inside, his clawed steps muffled by the lavish carpet that ran away from the door into darkness. Despite the damage to the rest of Canterlot, certain areas seemed to have escaped the destruction. The Princesses' throne room and adjoining halls at the heart of the castle were especially well preserved, save for the shattered stained-glass windows along the exterior walls that once depicted key moments of Celestia and Luna's reign. Colorful glass fragments glittered in the moonlight that spilled in through the doorway. Dissonance had failed to fully eradicate the ponies' resistance force in the Everfree. They had fled into a barren land of dust and heat in the east. It was vast, harsh for mortal beings, and difficult to search in any systematic way. Not the sort of report Dissonance hoped to bring to Father. He turned over different explanations in his mind, just as he had done hundreds of times since abandoning the hunt to bring his report. Was any excuse likely to be sufficient? Perhaps it would be better not to exacerbate the situation with impotent words. Dissonance had been given a job to do, and he was still going to see it through; time spent picking apart past failures was time wasted. Not to mention that nothing could turn Father's fury once it had been kindled, as Dissonance knew well. His heart pounded as he moved through the halls toward what had once been the Great Library of Canterlot. Rows upon rows of shelves, one after another like waves rolling in to shore, all filled with meticulously categorized books from ancient times until the modern era. Now they simply served to feed the hearth when Father came to think or hear reports. Dissonance made one final, silent plea to anyone listening that he might have miscounted the days, or that Father had been drawn away by more urgent matters, but instead he found signs of occupation. Foreboding shadows cast by a bright, flickering flame danced into the hallway, and the broad double doors of the library stood ajar. His time of judgement had come. Dissonance puffed out his chest and stepped into the room. Father stood beside the stone hearth, the orange glow catching his fur and scales. Bathed in the firelight, he seemed every bit the otherworldly, mythical beast that he was. As am I, thought Dissonance. The Draconequus were powerful and proud beings. An ancient lineage, with long lives that could stretch for centuries. But Dissonance felt none of these things when he stood before Father. He felt like an imposter—as though his scales, claws, and innate mastery of Chaotic magic were nothing more than a thin facade. The sensation was strange to Dissonance; perched precariously between anxiety and anger. He did not like to be reminded that he was at anyone's mercy. Trembling slightly, Dissonance moved further into the room. He froze when Father held up a claw. In his other claw he held a book open to the mid-point, though it did not seem to have his full attention. "Is the Everfree rid of their presence?" Father asked, glancing sidelong at Dissonance. His expression was notoriously difficult to read, though his tone of voice seemed to indicate that he already knew the answer. "We have control of the forest, though the ponies have fled to the east." "All of them." It was not so much a question as a statement of fact. "Some fell in battle—as did many of the servants you granted me—but some did escape." Dissonance felt that there was no sense in trying to bend the truth favorably. Careful wordplay would not save him. Father would see straight through it as he always did. "I dispatched most of my remaining forces to pursue the ponies—" "What of the human?" Dissonance felt a sudden chill in the room despite the fire. How did Father know about the human? "I slew him." "You slew him," Father repeated, sounding unconvinced. "Then perhaps Malevolence saw another human not two nights ago, returned through a portal to his own world." The human had lived? Dissonance had run him through and left him bleeding in the forest. Surely there was some mistake. And Father had sent his sister Malevolence to spy on him. He had not earned Father's trust after all. The room began to spin. Father loomed over him, his eyes smoldering now with a fire of their own as he awaited a response. "I... I dealt him a mortal wound. Perhaps they revived him somehow. With magic—" Father raised a claw to silence him. That had been the wrong response. Dissonance felt trapped, locked in Father's unyielding gaze. This was the moment he had feared most. The moment that Father heard enough. Dissonance dropped to the ground, head bent and claws wide in desperate supplication. Words flowed from his mouth as he struggled to assemble them into apologies. Father approached him slowly, laying a hand on his shoulder. Dissonance fought the urge to whimper. Then Father snapped his clawed fingers. Dissonance felt something wrench apart deep within himself. Some vital portion of his being, part of his very soul, was gripped by unseen hands and torn away. Dissonance cried out, though he had only a dim awareness of the sound through the blinding surge of pain. Through blurry eyes he saw a twisting ribbon of shimmering essence, like curls of thin smoke or satin, drifting in the space between the two Draconequus. It moved up and away until Father finally breathed it in, eyes closed and expression placid. The sense of loss that struck Dissonance was overpowering, though it paled before the agonizing, all-consuming pain that pulsed through him with every beat of his heart. He fell forward face-first to the cold stone floor. The terrible moment ended as soon as it had begun. Father did not give Dissonance even a moment to recover before yanking him upright with a single claw. "I could take your life, could I not? You who dares to lie to me, who cannot complete the tasks set before him? Witness my temperance. I took but one decade of your life, little more than an eyeblink to our kind. This is the mercy I show my children. Do not disappoint me again." "I apologize, Father... for my failure," Dissonance said, with some difficulty. "It will not happen again. I promise you. I will not fail a second time." "Good." Father retrieved the book he had been reading when Dissonance first entered, leafing through it until he found the passage he sought. "The human has returned to his world," Father said. "Perhaps with some message or knowledge from the four-legged ones. And certainly with knowledge of us. He may bolster their defenses in advance of our coming, or worse, return with some advantage for them. He must be brought back under our control." Dissonance nodded. But surely Father knew it was impossible for him to use the portals. No Draconequus could. The barrier between worlds—and the portals to cross it—were formed with Ordered magic. The fundamentally opposed forces would tear beings of pure Chaos apart. "Perhaps it is fortunate that you allowed him to return. It has forced me to search for old allies and the means to contact them. Not only will he be returned to us, but we will have eyes and ears on the far side of the portal as well." "What do you mean?" "Long ago, an old mage did battle with powerful beings called Sirens. They were defeated and banished to the human world, where they remain to this day. I have sent servants through to secure their allegiance. They will find and return the human to us." "They can cross the barrier? And how will they find the human?" Father offered a humorless grin. "They can once they have been reunited with the Aspects that the mage tore from them and locked away in Tartarus. They are not beings of pure Chaos, like us. Though their Order has been isolated to their Aspects; a wise maneuver by Starswirl to keep them trapped in exile." He closed his book and set it back on the shelf. "The Sirens will find the human by seeking out his magical signature. Once someone has been to this place, it leaves a permanent effect on them." "And what would you have me do with him once he's returned?" Dissonance said. "Take him to Tartarus. Break him. See what he knows. He will be your sole responsibility once they return him. Until then, I will be assuming control of your forces in the Everfree." Dissonance might as well have been slapped across the face. To be stripped of his command... but maybe he did deserve it. Either way, it wasn’t up for debate. "And I will be sending some of your dogs through to fetch more humans for us," Father said. "It is time that I set the next portion of my plan into motion. Once we have enough, the Gates will open wide to permit us passage, and another world awaits us. For now, go speak with the Seer regarding communicating with the Sirens." Dissonance crossed his arm over his heart in salute. "As you will, Father." Father turned back to the shelves of books, and Dissonance instinctively sensed that the meeting was over. He turned and exited Canterlot the way he had arrived. A trip to the other world was certainly an impossibility for the Draconequus as beings of pure Chaotic magic, but the Seer would be well versed in conveying messages to and from that peculiar place. Like Draconequus, humans were well attuned to Chaos as well; their capacity for Order seemed to dwindle as their world aged. Despite this, Dissonance found what he knew of them to be base and backward. They had great power, though they often misused it—warring within their own minds as much as they did with other humans, though Dissonance also thought it foolhardy to overlook their strengths for their shortcomings. They still retained an innate ability to harness the magic of both Order and Chaos. Most unusual, as the humans had long since forgotten how to actively practice it themselves. It was as if their bodies simply remembered. It was no small wonder that the human was able to harness the magic of this world to forestall his death. And yet Dissonance was still surprised to hear that the human survived. In truth, Dissonance was excited. This time the human would be unprepared. Surely he would not expect agents of the Draconequus to strike at him on familiar ground, and the Sirens had the ability to mask their true power behind unassuming forms. Father had even left the specifics of the human's defeat unspoken, giving Dissonance the freedom to decide. He had always known that he was Father's favorite child. And that favor could be exploited when he threw down Father to don the mantle of leadership himself. Soon his destiny would be his own. Every living creature would come to fear his name. Father would seem a grim footnote portending Dissonance's reign in the legends to come. Is this who you think you are? the voice said within him. That horrid voice. Is this what you have become? You used to dream of better things. Dissonance clutched his head, gnashing his teeth in a rage. "Shut up, shut up!" He leapt to the edge of the balcony, powerful wings spread wide, then flew off into the night by the light of the the near-full moon and considered his next moves. The voice remained blessedly silent.