//------------------------------// // For want of a War, Alpha // Story: A minor variation // by notMurphy //------------------------------// Chapter Six, For Want of a War Alpha 'I'm going to be late! Arggh, why does this always happen!' there is a special kind of aggravation felt when one is not yet late, but knows, deep in their heart of hearts, that they will not make it in time. She stopped just short of slamming into the shop door - 'don't make another suffer for your own mistakes,' and carefully eased it open, looking left, right, and forward before barreling inside. News Stand tried to be a pony of simple desires, life was simpler that way. The mare who shot in to his shop spotted the latest issue of EQM straightaway - kinda' hard to miss, being featured and all. She practially threw the two bits it cost at him before biting down on the cover and looking like she was going to take wing right in his shop. Waving his hoof, he jumped over the counter, pulled the door open, and tucked the two bits back into her bag as she passed, and beamed at her. "You almost forgot your change, Captain." Fluttershy finished putting away the magazine before turning to look at the shopkeep 'Mr... Stand? Oh, yes, "News Stand", that's right', "But I gave you correct change." The stallion waved both hooves in a shooing motion, "Sorry, can't accept your bits for that." and grinning like a fool. 'Oh of all the... I don't have time for this.' "Sir, you are generous, but I can't let you do that, please, just take the bits." She tried adding a winning smile, but could feel that it was a little strained. He continued smiling as he shook his head, "Nothing doing, Ma'am. Consider it on the house." For a moment she considered just accepting the offer and departing, she was already two minutes late now. 'Oh no you don't, it starts off like this, little favors and grateful smiles. That isn't where it ends though... I don't do this for a reward, not now, not ever.' the solution presented itself as she wordlessly nodded and shot him a salute, while flicking the two bits onto his counter with her wing. Airborne before the coins hit the surface, she made her escape. The noise made Stand look back at the miraculous bits, which make him smile and shake his head. 'Huh, she really is something. I wonder if she even took enough time to look at the cover...' *** ***** * ***** *** It was exciting, getting to see their nation's capitol, clad in shining white, purple, and gold. The students of Shady Oaks Elementary enjoyed their tour of Canterlot, three of the students simply had one more thing to feel pride about. "Cutie Mark Disaster Prevention Agents are go." They whispered to each other, their volume lowered but their enthusiasm unquenched. The other students gave them occasional glances as they, unsuccessfully, tried to conceal their glee. Finally the moment arrived, the Canterlot Royal Sculpture Garden and Maze. Sweetie Bell considered the weird conglomeration of limbs and body parts the statue represented. He looked about to burst into song, which somehow made her like the weird creature a little bit. Not enough to stop her from performing the test her sister had assigned to her group of friends. Miss Cherilee was talking now... "What do you suppose this sculpture represents?" 'Oh, that's our cue!' Applebloom leapt up and shouted "Confusion!" at the top of her lungs. "Evil..." Sweetie intoned, casting a mock glare at her friend. "Chaos" Scootaloo roared, climbing on her friend's backs. The three of them stood, looking closely at the statue in anticipation. Nothing happened... maybe they needed to stage some roughhousing. "In a way all three of you are... girls? Girls!" Cherilee felt the sinking suspicion that her educational speech was about to be hijacked, again. "And just what are you three supposed to be doing?" Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, but was careful to stand well outside of hoof-reach of the three fillies - she was not having a repeat of her cuteceneara. Ping Sweetie turned to look at the lavender filly, smiling openly "Well, since you asked, we're on a super-secret mission to see if this statue is in fact the real Demon of Discordance, just trapped by the power of Harmony and waiting for the right moment to break free and rain havok down on Eqeustria." Silver Spoon facehoofed for Diamond, who was busy closing her jaw. "Seriously? What utter nonsense. Do you really think Princess Celestia would hide a monster within walking distance of the Royal Palace?" Pip, pop "Well where would you hide a reality warping monster that can't die?" Scootaloo asked, looking forward to being on the winning side of an argument for once. "Gee, I uh, wouldn't it be better to banish it to a far away place, then build a dungeon in that far away place and bury it under the dungeon in that far away place?" Snails offered. Applebloom finished parsing the sentence first, "The problem with doin' it like that is ya' wouldn't know if it got free." "Well who says the monster is immortal? How do you imagine you even know anything about Discord? You three aren't experts." Diamond sought to regain control of the argument. Tinkle "No, but my big sister is - she knows all about all kinds of horrible monsters that want to eat us all up or make life miserable." Sweetie was beginning to become annoyed, didn't they realize the fate of Equestria could hang in the balance? Pop... "Miss Cherilee...?" Snips called to his teacher, who was trying desperately to regain control of her class while being drowned out by shouting, everyfoal wanted to offer an opinion. Applebloom and Silver Spoon stood muzzle to muzzle debating the merits of deep space and oceanic trenches in tones that had once started wars. "Teacher?" the colt tried again. Crack Gritting her teeth, Miss Cherilee turned to the one student paying any attention to her, "Yes, Snai- Snips?" that was odd, she never forgot the names of her students. "I just wanted to say, Snails and I have been over here the whooole time, and we never-ever touched that funny statue, so there's no way it's our fault chips of it are falling off." Having gotten the important facts relayed, he promptly headed over to the group of yelling schoolfoals to offer his opinion on the merits of Duct Tape. The mare turned to look at the statue of Discord, 'Oh Celestia... he's right, I can see it cracking as I wa - CHILDREN, SAFETY, NOW!!!', she reached into the deepest reserve of teachers everywhere and found the voice that would have stopped Nightmare Moon in her tracks, "CLASS! We are leaving now - no, no questions, line up... good everypony is here, now start heading for the exit, no dawdling, and I want you to move quickly." The CMC brought up the rear, keeping everypony ahead of them moving. They cast a few fearful glances back but there wasn't time to do much investigating. "It ain't fair!" Applebloom wailed, "We were gonna' stop th'monster, not free'm." "It's going to take forever to get back to Ponyville! How'll we let Rarity know what's happened in time?" Sweetie Bell moaned. Scootaloo looked around, and saw the anser, plain as the Royal Palace in front of her, "Listen up girls, I've got a plan..." The three friends' expressions lifted considerably, a plan meant action! *** **** *** **** *** "...Nightmare Moon is accounted for obviously - oh, and I've checked with the Princesses and there doesn't seem to be any chance that there's any lingering evil spirit in the shards of her armor or remaining attached to the Palace Grounds where we cured Princess Luna so no resurgence is likely. Hmm... There's Tirak, lord of Castle Midnight... looks like he was terrified of rainbows, I'm putting him down as low risk." Rarity scratched an item off the list. "Oh, my Grandmother had a story about a horrific slime that would blanket the land and cover ponies, sapping their will to live. It was called the... Schmooze if I recall?" Dianne wracked her brain for details, the stories had made little enough sense when she was a child, the comforting sounds of her Grandmare more important than the content of her words. "Round Hoofington they've got this legend about a bunch'a magic insects that don't quite exist in this world or the next, and they feed on the living energy of ponies by passing through a body. Supposedly they could possess folk too and they had some sort of hive minds or somesuch." Jackie recalled, tapping her head, careful not to disturb her new hat. Rarity looked down the list, "Ah, hmm... that sounds like, here! Fae Sprites, supposedly hunted to extinction some eight hundred years ago. Well wouldn't it be nice if monsters stayed that way? No, they get marked for further study." Twilight consulted her own list, "I was able to find references to a King Somnus, but that's tied to legends of the Crystal Ponies." 'Which are likely as much fantasy as Sea Ponies, sorry Seafoam.', "Oh and 'He Who is Not to be Named', Lord of Ill Luck and Misfortune." Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, "Are you talking about Mu-fhm!" she gagged on the yellow cloth suddenly clogging her mouth. "I'll thank you NOT to summon any spawn of Chaos tonight, Dash dear. They come when called, you know." That was exactly when the front door burst open in noise and confusion, a wild wind blowing out the candles and whipping the collected scrolls and notes into a funnel of confusion... before Fluttershy was able to close the door again. "Sorry, sorry, I'm here now... what did I mi..." She took in the devastation, the look of abject terror on her friends' faces, and thought she saw Jackie pull something pink behind her back. "Ok, what did I miss?" Rarity remembered to breathe finally. "Well, while we were waiting for you to finish your errands I decided to give our 'most wanted' list another looking over. You managed to barge in here at just the right time to give me a heart attack darling." She laughed to cover her embarrassment and convey more lightness of mood than she felt. Fluttershy slapped a hoof onto her forehead, "Great, I make my friends wait and then I terrify them. This day just keeps getting better and better. So what did you originally call us all here for? And why did you need me to pick up a copy of Equestria Monthly?" The pink pony pondered her yellow friend, "I take it you have not yet read the publication?" 'It would be far easier keeping a straight face right now if I hadn't rediscovered my sense of humor... deal with it.' Rainbow Dash, notoriously bad at keeping her expression serious, settled on worrying some woven object she was holding. Twilight was studiously not looking at her pink-maned friend. Jackie, of course, had no problem looking directly at her with an air of innocence that was suspicious in itself. The weather pony briefly considered outwaiting her companions, but decided to play along. Reaching into her saddelbag she pulled out the magazine, considering the smooth feel of the paper used, the shininess of the cover and the cover image itself… "W-what the buck is this!?" "... unauthorized study of forbidden magics, and likely fomentation of feelings of rebellion among the populace. Pinkamina Diane Pie, distribution of controlled and banned 'herbal substances' to medical patients and the infirm, practice of heretical mysticism, obseved characteristics of mental instability and possible psychosis, and the honor of being on the Guardians of the Veil's watch list for likely causes of and interdimensional mishap. Twilight Sparkle - " She couldn't help it, "What, overdue library fines from childhood?" "-totalling no less than sixtyfive bits." The Pegasus glowered at his Princess, "We ain't kiddin' around here Your Tallness. These six ponies you've entrusted with one of our nation's most powerful artifacts are unreliable, uncouth, and down right scary in the wrong circumstances. Take your harmless Miss Sparkle here, were you aware she's helped Asst. Prof Bell develop a new means of teleportation that can bypass nearly all known wards? With.An.Apple, fer' cryin' out loud! h'T's ridiculous. And we have indications she may be generating some kind of Genuis Loci of plantlife without even realizing what she's doing." Celestia sighed, "Director, one of the most important foundations of Equestria is 'trust'. And I," she flared her wings as she rose from the throne, "Trust those six mares with the welfare of this nation, the welfare of each and every citizen - something I hold very dear. Nothing that you have mentioned is anything I did not already - a moment, since when have they had a teleporting apple?" The Director of the Department of Information flipped through his notes - something both parties knew he didn't need to do in order to recall that detail. "Since last Flocktober, at the latest. We had several confirmed incidents involving miss Ora- err App.. the cowpony." He scratche the side of his eyepatch, avoiding eye contact. It was not considered a necessary skill for ruling a country, but the Princess could count without moving her lips. "You have known for more than five months and this is the first that I hear about it?" "Awright, awright, that was an oversight." The stallion tossed his entire list behind him, "You know that ain't why I'm here, your Majesty." Clestia's eyes narrowed, "The Cloudboom Maneuver." "The lab boys tell me it should really be called a 'Sonic Boom'. 'Parently the clouds aren't really a necessary part of the equation from what they can tell." "You will recieve the same answer I gave General Iron Heart and Professor Mutual Assurance. 'No'. None of you will have access to that information until such time as I fully understand it's implications - as a tool for society, and I will NEVER hear talk of turning it into a weapon." She felt tired, too tired to deal with this any more today. The pegasus shrugged, "As you command, Princess. But I serve the good of the ponies o'this great nation, and I think that gives me th'right ta tell ya' I think you're wrong -" Further discussion was interrupted by a cacophony of crashing doors, clanking armor, and the shouts of three fillies who raced into the room trailing at least twelve of the Royal Guardsponies. The Solar Princess spared one glance for the Director, who had of course made his escape. Back to the guards and children then. "At ease Gentlemen! I will hear what these three have to say, that they feel permits them to interrupt royal business." 'Don't laugh... ' The room became much quieter. Sweetie Bell felt herself beyond the capacity for rational though, I... really like her mane?' Scootaloo was still catching her breath, which left Applebloom to uphold her family's honor - they had history with the Princess, after all. "Um, yer High Majesty we came here... ta' apologize, an deliver a warnin'." The Alicorn wanted to discount their fears as childish fantasy, but somewhere in her heart she knew this was more, this was something real. Nevertheless she had to ask, "What has happened?" Three heads hung low as they replied, "Confusion... Evil... Chaos... Discord, Discord walks the world once again."