//------------------------------// // Welcome to Equestria // Story: Innocence Once Lost // by Scorched Earth //------------------------------// Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash “So what do you say?” Discord said with a smile. “Let me get this right. You want us, Tribe Broken Stone, members of The Diamond Dog Protectorate, to help you to break down the only thing keeping humans alive in this world, in exchange of turning an entire mountain into a diamond for us?” The leader of diamond dogs said. “Yup. Sounds like a good deal, doesn't it?” “... KILL HIM!” The leader shouted in anger. “Wait what?” Discord just as diamond dogs opened fire. The room was filled with loud road as the guards tried to take down whoever had pissed of their tribe leader. They weren't match for him, but it was still a surprise. He had expected diamond dogs to be eager to jump in on the chance. However, that had turned out to be wrong. Thankfully he had been smart enough to soundproof the area before entering. Bodies wouldn't be found before tomorrow morning, so he would have time to act. After a hasty escape trough abandoned tunnels, he sat down to think. Okay, it appeared that this world didn't work the same way as his did. These... humans, they were the top dogs, so to speak. They were an unknown factor for him. He needed to learn more before he could formulate a plan. He also needed to be more careful. He had taken care of everyone who had seen him, but he couldn't go around killing everyone. It would raise too much suspicion. He flew to one of the pony settlements. He also noted that in this universe, ponies invested A LOT more in military. He saw several military camps dotting the landscape. More you went towards humans, more numerous they became. Another thing he noted was the number of smaller castles. Their design was different too. Their walls weren't high and were sloped. They wouldn't hold against determined attack like he knew, but he suspected that they weren't designed for such attack. For some reason, ponies in world felt... dangerous, for a lack of better word. As if they were just waiting for a reason to beat the living daylight out of you. He didn't know if he should be pleased or not for this development. On the other hand, it created so much potential for chaos. On the other hand... He had already been on the receiving end of this world's militaries. First ponies, who had somehow managed to punch him several times, before he grew tired of playing with them and turned them into statues made out of chocolate. Those armors really were something different. He missed the old look. The old golden armor had style in it. A full-body armor with claws was something he had not expected when he had visited that fort. Then there were those humans... What did they use for their weapons? Normally any weapon would just bounce off his hide, but human made weapon broke right through. At least they had not recognized him, simply shouted “DEMON!” and started shooting him. Still, the amount of projectiles in the air had been staggering. In the hindsight, trying to fly over Everfree Forest had been a bad idea. It had lead him directly over a human military outpost. And now diamond dogs. They wore similar armors and weapons as humans. Maybe that was the link? But how? Had they stolen the armors? Didn't make sense when he compared it to what he knew of diamond dogs. Furthermore, they had referred themselves as “The Diamond Dog Protectorate”... There was no such entity in his world. How much had the appearance of these... humans... changed the world? It had same basic elements, but it looked like someone had put it through a bad military fiction. Quick tour allowed him to locate a small bookshop. A quick break in later he was holding a book which apparently detailed the history. After reading it, he understood why his plan failed. Diamond dogs, or tribes that had joined DDP to be more precise, were allied to humans. The field he was planning to break down was only thing allowing humans to live on the surface. Trying to break it down would be an act of war. Then there were several other interesting things. Like how humans had nearly wiped out Equestria. That explained the amount of chaos energies in the land. Such level of death, destruction and general chaos of war was not going to disperse easily, unless actively countered by Magic of Harmony, the same one that came from The Sun and was deflected by the moon. The Anti-Magic field preserved the chaos magic, allowing it to linger. However, he could not alone crack the spell. For one thing, it would take time and concentration. If he would simply fly there and start breaking down the spell, ponies and humans would crash down on him like a hammer of Faust. Tribes that made up The Diamond Dog Protectorate wouldn't join him, that was clear. In fact, they would join in the assault against him. However, there were tribes that had refused to join The DDP. Then there were always other creatures too. It was clear to him. Even if it went against his nature... he needed to organize forces of chaos. They rarely worked together. He needed each and everyone to defeat the forces that would be thrown at him. Oh, but the power! True, unending power! Sure, he was already called a God of Chaos... but in truth, he was closer to a powerful demigod. With the chaos energy he could soak up from those ancient battlefields... He become a true god! If he needed to work together with some rabble for a short while, it would be worth it. “How was your night? Had anymore nightmares?” Alternative!Twilight said as her visitor walked down from the bathroom. “Yeah... It was the only one.” “So what did you dream off?” “I'm... not sure... I was in Ponyville and these creatures were attacking it. I saw Zecora, she got hurt pretty badly but I left her in care of Fluttershy, then three...” “ACES suits smashed through the wall and started to kill everyone. Dash managed to take them down by using sonic rainboom on them.” “So it was a memory then... did Zecora, is she okay?” “...No. The damage was too great.” Silence fell between two ponies. Eventually the other Twilight continued. “Look... I... I wanted to say sorry... for yesterday... I know I wasn't the nicest pony around. I just... You can go back to them, whenever you want. I... I've seen so many of my friends and family members to die. Applejack has it even worse. Their southern branch was nearly completely destroyed. Eastern branch... yeah...” “I read the book to the end. Humans... I can't understand how they could do such a horrible things, even if their own survival depended on it. Why couldn't they just come down and talk.” “I can understand them. They can't stand magic. Not unless it's Luna's magic. Even then, even the weakest spells cause them to feel ill. Even simple teleportation spell causes them to throw out. Anything else, even natural magic... it causes them to suffer a painful death. They didn't see any alternative. They knew that direct attack wouldn't help. They would need to completely defeat us. They also knew that it would take time. They needed the food. The only alternative was to get in and raid the stockpiles and then try to process it in a form they could consume. So they tried to kill the magic.” “Then why invade? If they got targets, why not just attack directly?” “They did. Both times they failed. First the asteroid, then the raid. In both cases, the goal was to kill the Princesses.” She shook her head. “We should be glad they wanted to invade, not to destroy. I have seen what they can do. As long as humans are content... we are safe.” “You really fear them, don't you? Fear that they might try again?” “Of course I do! I would be a FOOL not to! They have the power to completely destroy the planet, should they want so! Only reason we are here is that they WANT this planet to exist. Because they NEED it to exist. We would be NOTHING but a footnote in their history!” “Calm down, I... I... I didn't mean to insult!” Twilight panicked. She had really screwed up. Eventually the other Twilight calmed down. “I know... it's just... you can't understand what it's like. I saw how they fought the war. You probably saw it too in that dream of yours. That battle... that was our victory. Costly victory, but much needed one. During The War, the battles we won could be counted by your hooves. What little we won, were hard fought. Then there was The Lunar Crisis...” “Want to tell me about it?” “... I guess I should. Guess I want to. To talk to someone. We screwed up.” “What do you mean?” “We didn't see them coming. We were too blinded, blinded by our fear of humans. We didn't see the threat inside. Group of radicals managed to smuggle themselves into human capital and steal a weapon of mass destruction. I was there, as an assistant to Princess Luna, who was conducting a state visit. We joined the humans in attempt to stop them. We failed... I saw it by my own eyes. An entire city's worth of people... vaporized, not even a trace left of them... We screwed up so badly... And the Princess... she almost died... if it hadn't been for human medical skills... even then...” During her talk, she grown quieter and quieter, until her voice was mere whisper. “But she is alive, right? That's what matters.” “... Yeah, I guess. She should return in a day or two. She is visiting humans right now, taking care of few diplomatic knots. Nothing major, thankfully, but still. We rather keep our relations with humans free of problems, rather than sweep them under rug.” “So... what now?” “Not much. We wait until Discord reveals himself or we find him. No doubt they put Trixie in charge of finding him. I swear, that mare... once she stops being an idiot and starts to actually work on something, she does really good job.” “Can't believe Trixie is decorated war hero... as far as I know, she is still a cheap showmare...” “Heh, we didn't believe it at first either. Great and Powerful Trixie, The Hero of Equestria! Then again... it's name given to her, not something she claims anymore. I suggest you don' try to piss her off. It's not her you need to fear, it's the troops loyal to her. If she would one day declare she would rebel, the troops would follow her. I don't know how she does it, but somehow she has created a strong bond between herself and troops. Might be her origins and command style.” “Oh?” “You see, most of the officers are originally nobles. They also tend to just sit back and watch their troops fight. Trixie, well, you know what she is. Then there is the fact that she is in front of her troops, not behind.” “Sounds totally different mare I know.” “Yup. That's why we didn't believe it first. However, we managed to talk to her once. She admired being scared to death, but... More than fearing death, she fears letting down those who trust her. Apparently she has only few people who she would call friends. So when she is suddenly looked upon by hundreds, she feels she needs to at least do something to earn such trust. If they are ready to follow her to hell and back, she can't just ditch them. At least, that's what she told us.” “So, if we can't do anything yet, then what shall we do today?” “Investigate how to get you back to your world and meet with local players. No doubt that Princess has already sent a word to the DDP.” “The DDP?” “The Diamond Dog Protectorate, the largest collection of diamond dog tribes. You remember those three dogs, what's their names... Rover, Fido and... Spats? No, Spots. Their people got in contact with humans and somehow those two managed to pull a deal. Apparently diamond dogs have similar, internal anti-magic field which makes them ideal partners to humans. So with help of humans, they formed The Diamond Dog Protectorate, a collection of total twenty-two tribes that answer to single central government. It was a quite surprise to us.” Then her expression darkened as the memories surfaced once again. “Quite... a surprise...” The other Twilight, now knowing what had happened, decided she needed to take this conversation far away from the subject. She might have known this Twilight for a day only, but she had already realized that she was depression prone had some serious issues she refused to deal with. She didn't dare to suggest that her double should go and meet a therapist. Last nights rejection of such offer had been quite clear indication of her opinion of the matter. “Why don't you show me around, actually?” “Hmm... Why not? I heard that an independent trader is visiting the town today, they always bring something interesting. We could see what they got for today.” “Right, we could ask... where's Spike, by the way? I haven't seen today?” “Left already, he helps Rarity with the shop.” “Right, so... he and Rarity... they actually?” “Well... it's complicated. Spike has grown up and no longer has a silly crush on her. However... about three years ago, he suddenly asked her on a date. Since then they have gone on such 'dates' regularly. I am not exactly sure is it true love, or Spike just really caring about her. She had been far more... warm with him too. ” Then she froze up “Oh Celestia damn it... now I remember it...” “Remember what?” “Let's just say that the time I had chosen to visit Rarity once was... very bad time. Brrrrrr...” She shook her head. “I never want to see it again. By Tartarus, I didn't know Rarity was into such things!” At this point, other Twilight finally caught up what the other one had seen and turned red. “No. Nononononono. I DON'T want that mental image, thank you. Shut up. Right now. We will never speak of this again.” “Deal!” Both sighed and did their best to repress the images trying to break into their mind. “So, let's visit the market. We might see others there too. We can't do much until Discord reveals himself anyway. Last time we beat him he got careless. Had he caught up with our plan earlier instead of just standing there we would have had much bigger fight in our hands.” She laid out some breakfast on the table before resuming. “By the way, if we are heading out, we need to disguise you. No doubt there would a lot of questions of why there are two Twilights out there.” “I think I got something... Let's see...” Magic engulfed Original!Twilight, lifting her slightly off air. Few seconds later, she had turned into brown unicorn, with a cutie mark resembling an open book. “... Can I ask you why you turned into a stallion?” She really hoped this wasn't some sort of subconscious thing. “What?” Twilight took a quick peek between her legs. “EEEP!” A little bit of magic later and she was back to mare. “Okay, clearly my magic doesn't work well in this world...” “You don't say...” The two headed out to see what the traders would have to sell. Ponyville was different for the other Twilight. She noticed that there were guards at several locations, something that was rare sight in her world. Then there was the structural design. Most building were built from rock now. Some even had steel supports. At least they were still colored in bright colors. The market place was busy, with ponies moving everywhere and doing business. The air was filled with shouts and marketing pitches. She saw several items she had never seen before as well as some strange foods. In distance they saw two Pinkie Pies, another one wearing a “clever” disguise of having simple cut out mask over head head. With her smiling face on it. The salespony was pointedly not trying to even think about it and simply hoping two would disappear. “So what you? Ooh, please tell me you got those funny human drinks again! They taste so good! I wonder why I hadn't thought of them earlier!” “Well... uhh... yeah. I got some sodas and such. Oh, and I got this new one, called 'Energy Drink'. It's said to be very energizing.” “Oooh! I wanna try! I wanna try!” Pinkie Pie wearing the mask said. “Uuh.. sure.. I guess it's OK. Here you go.” “Thanks mister!” As soon as she was about to take a sip, she got tackled down by cyan pegasus. “NO! BAD PINKIE! NO DRINKING ENERGY DRINKS!” Rainbow Dash shouted at her. “What? Why not? Why did you have to tackle me?” “Because if you are anything like your double here.... let's just say there is a reason why we don't allow you to drink it.” Twilight supplies as two arrived at the scene. “I still have nightmares about it. So much pink...” Rainbow Dash supplied. “Uhh, can you explain?” Disguised Twilight asked. However, a drink called “an energy drink” and Pinkie Pie gave her a pretty good guess. “Look, you know how Pinkie is when she is hyped up coffee?” Twilight said. “Yeeees....?” “Now imagine that she just drank entire supply towns worth of coffee and all the sweets in the town.” Rainbow Dash answered. “... Pinkie, never, ever, drink an energy drink. Understand?” “Oookay, if you say so.” Pinkie Pie said as the pegasus stood off from her. She rose up and quickly adjusted her mask before bouncing after her double. Or at least everyone thought so. They weren't quite sure which one was the native Pinkie and which one was the visiting Pinkie Pie. “So. Where's your double?” Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. “How do you know it's your Rainbow Dash?” “She knows what happens if we let Pinkie Pie drink that drink.” “Oh right.” “My double? She went to see Applejacks.” Rainbow Dash said. “I decided to come and pick up some extra food. I also saw Rarity and Spike visiting the gem seller. They were arguing about whenever or not Spike had been checking the flank of the other Rarity.” Twilight facehooved at this. “How could she even tell?” “How can she keep that shop running?” “Ditto.” “I know you were checking her flank out.” “I wasn't! I swear! Why would I check her out when *gulp*” Spike slapped his hands over his mouth before he dug himself deeper. “So you've been checking me out?” “No! I mean maybe, I mean...” Then he noticed the grin on Rarity's face. “Do you always need to tease me?” “Oh, but your voice turns so cute! How could I resist? Anyway, we need to check those gems while my double makes final adjustments on that dress. You got the list of their requirements?” “Yup, and I got the new tools too. They are more accurate, so I can give you better details.” One of well kept secrets was, that instead of acting based on the look of the dress, Rarity's work had turned into mathematics, precise calculations on how light reflected and such. She also ran ideas through Sweetie Belle and Spike, often relying on their opinions. Sweetie Belle had finally started to design her own dresses which, while not the most spectacular, were still well liked among the new middle class. They lacked the style that nobles wanted, but they had enough style and low enough price tag to be popular among business ponies. Turns out she is a very good with designs, having a dress blueprint and needle as her cutie mark. “Anyway, I need to head out. Scoots is going to bring the others for a visit today and I need to cook up food for five ponies. See ya later. Keep me informed if something happens, OK?” “Sure.” The cyan pegasus left two unicorns alone. “She really has changed since adopting Scootaloo. For a one thing, her cooking has gotten much better.” “Can't imagine Rainbow Dash as a parent.” “Imagine our faces when we found out.” The two of them toured the market place for a while, with native Twilight showing new products available, mainly mechanical in nature. Radios, headsets, PDA's. In short, human electronics, that allowed earth ponies to do things that only unicorns had been able so far, had become popular. Especially communication systems. At one corner, they encountered a pony holding a passionate speech. “Oh crud...” Twilight said. “What is it?” Twilight in disguise asked. It didn't seem like it was a show, like Trixie's show or the show that Flim and Flam had put up. “These guys. The Anti-Human groups love to hold their little speeches whenever they can. We can't really stop them, since they have the right for an opinion, but they tend to be annoying.” “How can we feel safe when humans encroach upon our lands?” A black pegasus spoke in front of a crowd that had gathered to listen. “How long will it take, before we lose our right to our own homes? Humans, they are nothing but warmongers, enjoying death and destruction! They are followers of Discord! They will not be satisfied unless they have the entirety of Equestria. As such, we should join together and appeal to the Princesses to drive out these monsters! Even our dear Princess Luna, who suffered greatly thanks to the human weapons, would surely support...” “Support what?” A voice answered at the back of the crowd. Everyone turned around to see Princess Luna walking towards the speaker. Crowd parted to give her way and tried not to stare the wounds that now dotted her once pristine body. “Support another war? Support more death? You dare to claim that I would send our sons and daughters to die? Let me ask you, were you at the front lines during the war?” “I was a captain of Royal Guard. I was stationed at Cloudsdale most of the war.” “So you were in somewhere safe. Did you ever see how humans fight? Did you ever understand how costly our victories were? Did you see your loves ones, see your friends charge in a futile attempt to slow down human advance? You stand here, speaking of war when you have not really seen one. You dare to stand here and call upon these ponies to send their sons and daughters into pits of Tartarus, to fuel your own ambitions!” Luna shouted in anger. After The Lunar Crisis, numerous Anti-Human groups had tried to use her as a rallying point. However, she herself was more than ever opposed to any sort of hostilities against humans. “But... but your Highness, you have seen the strength of their weapons yourself! How great damage they could cause! They even turn upon themselves when they lack an enemy to fight. How can we trust this peace to hold?” The speaker was clearly panicking. His rhetoric lost most of it's power when Princess Luna, upon whose name he had based his speech, verbally bitch slapped him. “You mean The Lunar Crisis? You mean the events that caused me lose my wings? Do I need to remind you, that it was ponies who sought to acquire the weapon that was used? A weapon, that mankind had deemed too dangerous to ever to be used and locked away? I stood there, right besides the humans, who sought to prevent said weapon from being used, to prevent a new war! I saw them die, just to make sure that the weapon would never be used. Do not dare to call upon my name to support this war. I will oppose it to my last breath.” With that, Luna turned away. “You do have the right to have your opinion, but do not call upon my name. The humans do not want a war. How can we, ponies, ever claim moral superiority if we are the ones who are ready to go in war?” She said and walked away. She noticed Twilight and walked to her. “Oh, Twilight Sparkle, I'm glad I was able to find you. I need to talk to you. Something urgent has appeared and I need to warn you. Let us return to the library to discuss the matter.” She took a quick glance at the disguised Twilight. “Your 'friend' may join us, if she wishes.” “Sure, just follow me.” Other Twilight was barely listening, simply staring at this worlds version of Luna. She was missing one of her wings, with other one being half gone. A scar ran across her face, with one eye clearly blinded. She couldn't believe that something could cause such wounds on an alicorn. Then there was her leg... She couldn't place it but something felt wrong about it. Eventually she broke free of her stupor and followed two. After they arrived at the library, Luna turned to her. “You can now drop the disguise, Twilight. I already know who you are and why you are here. Also, that spell needs work since it doesn't hide your magical signature.” She said with a smirk. “Okay...” She dropped the spell, reverting her to her real form. It was a slight surprise that Princess could see through the disguise. However, on the other hoof, she was an alicorn. She was much better with magic than she was. “Right now... we have a problem.” The Princess said with serious expression. “Discord has already made a move, even if we do not understand what he seeks achieve with this one. About half a hour ago, DDP informed that one of their leaders, Diggie, had been found dead. Nobody is sure who did it, but our money is on Discord. DDP has not made any official statement yet, but they have informed us that they don't think it was ponies or anyone else. For starters, whoever did this attack took out Diggie's personal guard.” “So we got him how?” “No. He escaped rather quickly and we do not know what he was planning. However, my sister thinks he was trying recruit them.” “Recruit?” “Yes. The humans near Everfree Forest reported that they saw 'a demon' appear from the forest before it fled. He also took out one of our outposts. He must have found something in human lands and needs muscles to shield him for something.” “That doesn't sound good...” The other Twilight said. Discord with allies was not a nice thought. “Indeed. That's why Tia is going to try and pull a temporal alliance between us, Griffin Kingdoms, Zebra Union, the Refuge and the DDP. This 'Alliance of five powers' should be enough to defeat anything Discord could throw at us.” “The Refuge?” “The Human Refuge, it's the name of their 'nation'. Apparently they plan to reform themselves into 'Terran Union', but that is still into future. Right now, they are called The Human Refuge, name they recognize as 'appropriate'.” Native Twilight answered, going trough some of her scrolls. “I think I got it somewhere here... my copy of 'The Declaration Of The State Of Emergency' they have. Basically what gives their government it's legitimacy. I do have one on my PDA, but it's currently being charged up.” “I came here to warn you of this sudden development. Since then, we have had no new information. No sudden rains of chocolate or anything. He seems to have gone 'underground', like humans say.” “You've been using human sayings a lot more often lately, Princess. You're sure you're not half-human?” Twilight asked with humor in her voice. “As humans say, 'Har-de-har-har'. No, I'm quite sure. However, you know that I have spent much more time with them. Tia always has trouble when she visits them, so it's better I take care of them.” Luna said with a smile. “Now I need to go. They will need me at Canterlot.” A flash and she was gone. Native Twilight sat down thinking, trying to figure out what Discord was planning. Other one tried to process all the information that had been thrown around. They might not mean it, but they gave her constant glimpses of how the world was. So far she had deduced one thing that put her mind at ease: ponies and humans were both dedicated to peace. That was good. Second one was that politics were a lot more common in this world. In her world, most nations were quite isolationist, with little to no dealings with each other. “Life is quite complicated, huh?” “Indeed. Every move needs to be done against a certain framework, to determine what other might think. Still... Discord killing the one of the leaders of DDP. That can't be good.” “I wonder what he's up to...” “Probably causing chaos in some far away place, gathering energy.” “Yeah... right... Oh, what was that thing earlier? That pony crying for actions against humans and Princess verbally beating him down?” “Some fools think that Princess Luna holds resentment towards humans, only because she lost her wings, an eye and a leg to their weapon. They never remember who used the weapon. I was there, I saw the desperation that humans had to prevent the apocalypse. It is already a small miracle that the Princess survived. I saw her quickly before I was forced to return. It was horrible...” “Wait... you said missing a leg? But....” “One of her legs is artificial, made by humans as a replacement. Humans have limited cloning facilities. They couldn't give a cloned leg, because standard human cloned flesh suffers from same weakness to magic as humans do, even if it is cloned from a pony. Lately, they have had limited success, but not much.” Twilight said. Other one simply put her hooves over her mouth. “By Goddesses...” “Still... she is probably only pony who has humanity's full respect. I can't prove anything and I don't have any evidence, but I think those two, Princess Luna and the humans, share something nobody else does. I mean, her magic is the only magic that doesn't cause humans to melt into puddle of goo.” Twilight shook her head in disgust. “It's... a horrible fate. I feel sorry for them, to be so... I don't know. We take magic for granted, something to use. To them, it's the worst thing in the world. And it's everywhere.” “I can't believe their nature... furthermore their origins. Shifted from alternative reality, where magic is rare? Only to be exiled into the moon and only to return few years ago?” “Sometimes reality is more fascinating than fiction.” “Indeed.” Dragons weren't the most chaotic race out there, but they were an enigma. They were also least concerned of other species, more interested in their own gain. Few dragons made pacts with others and they rarely formed larger groups, called “clans”. Still, despite all this, they were essentially one pony armies if you managed to convert them. And there was the problem. He could try to hypnotize one, but the problem was trying to maintain the hypnosis. Like his experience with the Elements had taught him, trusting blindly in spells was sure way to be beaten. Hypnosis could be broken or it would wear off. Last thing he needed was a pissed off dragon wanting his head. However... if he could convince them to join him voluntarily, he would have a powerful ally. Furthermore, with dragons backing him he would have easier time convincing others to join him. What's a more convincing argument than 'I have a clan of dragons supporting me'? If his memory served correct and this world had the same counterpart as in his, he should be seeing a nest of one clan he could convince to join him. in the mountains, he could see smoke rising from the caves, a sure sign that dragons inhabited these mountains. He flew inside one of them and was instantly greeted by a stare of five dragons. The biggest one, colored red, turned towards him. “Well well well, what do we got here? A snack!” The dragon didn't get any further before being blasted by an energy bolt. Other dragons turned to strange red/yellow armored draconequus. Well, clearly the clan he had been looking had left the place, but he could work with this. Youngsters were much more easier to convince than the old ones. “I am Discord, the Lord of Chaos. Now youngsters, I got a proposition for you.” “Who are you calling youngsters? We are over one hundred years old!” A green dragon said. “And I am over thousands of years old. Now shut up and sit down. Daddy Discord has a business proposition for you all.” Discord said, sitting down on a sofa that wasn't there five minutes ago. “You see, no doubt you have noticed distinct lack of free wealth recently. That's why you are here, because you are pooling your gold.” “What do you want?” The big red one asked, standing up. He stared at the draconequus, who was now wearing a black suit and sunglasses. “I want you to join me. We are going to raid the humans land and cause that pesky little field of theirs to collapse. From that point on, I can absorb all the chaos magic that has been sealed in the ground.” “And what do we get from this? What's in it for you?” “I get power. You get all the riches you can lay your hands on.” Discord said with an evil grin. Dragons gave a thought to this. On the one claw, humans were a threat. On the other claw, they had the greatest treasures thanks to their dealings with the diamond dogs. If what this draconequus said was true, they could get all the riches they ever wanted, possibly even a large amount of slaves to control. “You see, I know why you decided to have a little... group session here.” Dicord said sitting on a therapist chair. “You once roamed these lands. You had nothing to be afraid of. Now, these humans, now they have the power to kill you. You're afraid of them. Afraid to go out and get treasures. Humans? They are just a begin. Soon everyone will have the weapons.” He suddenly held a briefcase. He opened it and it showed a moving picture where each dragon had huge amounts of treasures, with ponies and others brining more for protection. “What I offer you, is an alternative to that future. A future, where you rule.” “Fine. I agree on this.” The other dragons nodded their agreement. “So what's the next step? How do you propose we break this field?” The dragon asked. “It's simple.” Discord said, wearing a washed out clown paint mask. “We, uh, kill the humans.” The First Citizen Korhal was not having a good day. At first, General Saral had declared DEFCON 4. After General Hunington had briefed him on reason why such one sided declaration, she had then gone and raised it to DEFCON 3! All he now needed was for general Caravel to raise it to DEFCON 2 and his day would be complete. Not only were his generals going nuts, he also had reports from surface that weren't the most promising. Apparently some sort of spirit of chaos had escape. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but this creature was capable of single handedly beat both alicorn Princesses. There was no way of knowing how his army could deal with such creature. The door opened and the three generals walked in. “Generals.” He said standing up and saluting them. “The First Citizen.” They answered with their own salute. Korhal decided to be mean and held his salute slightly longer than necessary. He knew that Saral’s arm was still sore from his unfortunate trip to a bar. He dropped his salute eventually, with three generals following the suit. “Sit down. We have a defense plan to take care of.” All four sat down. Korhal gave each one a PDA with data on them. “As you can see, this... 'Discord' could prove to be the greatest threat to mankind since our exile here. I am heading down on the planet, to Canterlot in two days. I am to meet other leaders there and we are to discuss a possible military alliance. Your thoughts?” “I say we stay out of such things. Humanity takes care of its own. Screw everyone else.” He had expected that one from General Caravel. Caravel was a supporter of isolationist policies, believing that the less humanity relied on others, the less problems it would have. However, he also made great deal pointing out this also meant that humans should not create problems for others. “Then again, an alliance with other powers in the region could help to stabilize and normalize our relations with them. The less we need to fear them, the less we need to focus on wasting resources on defense.” General Saral provided. “I agree with General Saral. The more non-human bodies we can throw at the enemies, the less we need to put our own boys in the line of fire.” Hunington said. “That was not what I mean, General.” “But it is true, isn't it?” “Okay, pipe it down, both of you. Personally I am for this alliance, but I need to know how much commitment we can put into it? Go all in or just offer our men? Provide weapons and armors, or just sit back and help organize? This is what I need to know. How much we can offer and how much we should offer?” Korhal said. If others agreed to alliance, he would join it, but he wasn't going to blindly rush into one, promising more than they could offer. The three Generals discussed between themselves for a moment, before turning to The First Citizen. “I think we should offer simply logistic help and troops, but not equipment. Furthermore, we should stress that we look our own first. The more troops we need back home means less troops we can offer to anywhere else.” General Caravel said. Others nodded their agreement. “So it's decided then?” One more round of nods. “Good. Get a transport and tell ambassador Fahrenheit that I need lodgings for my visit. Tell her also to make sure that everything is ready for prolonged talks. If their politics are anything like dealing with Districts, this might take few days.”