//------------------------------// // Power and Responsibility // Story: Brand Neo World // by Zennistrad //------------------------------// It had taken several cups of coffee and approximately two metric boatloads of stress, but Captain Brynn was eventually able to bring herself to something resembling alertness. And while she was well aware that her duties required being ready to respond at a moment’s notice, she couldn’t help but curse fate for choosing now of all times to demand her attention. At her command, and with the aid of a magical alarm system, she was able to assemble the Faerieland Guard. The Guard were an unusual organization, staffed entirely by Neopets who took full-time residence in Faerieland, with no actual faeries to speak of in their ranks. Fyora forbade other faeries from engaging in violent conflict unless absolutely necessary, so Faerieland’s first line of defense fell to them. It was a heavy responsibility. And since Faerieland held the highest status of all the realms in Neopia, it was a responsibility far greater than Brynn’s previous duties in Brightvale. So far, thankfully, it had not demanded too much. But if Xandra had broken free of her prison, that was about to change. She and all the Guards gathered before the Faerieland Gardens, where Queen Fyora had moved Xandra’s statue. Why Fyora would keep someone so dangerous so close to Faerieland, Brynn couldn’t tell — perhaps the Queen had simply let sentimentality override her common sense. They stood before the rotunda where the statue had been present, lined up in a single-file row. In front of the line stood Corporal Papillon, who shook nervously as he held a standard-issue spear by his side. Brynn marched back and forth in front of her assembled guardspets, the rings of her chainmail armor softly jingling against the early morning silence. And by early, she meant early. The sun hadn’t even begun to rise yet, and it would likely another hour before it did. As she looked her subordinates over, it didn’t take long for Brynn to notice that someone was missing. She stopped in front of Papillon, and looked him in the eye. The young Aisha shook nervously in his boots. He was far too young and inexperienced to be involved in a situation this potentially dire. Brynn had only promoted him to corporal because she owed his father a favor. “Papillon.” “Y-yes Captain?” “Where is Hanso?” “Ah. W-well, you see, Captain,” said Papillon, “I believe Her Majesty sent him on a mission to Shenkuu. I-I don’t know the details, but he won’t be back until some time tomorrow.” Brynn could suddenly feel her heartbeat throbbing in her head. She pressed a pair of fingers to her temples, trying vainly to massage her headache through her helmet. “Of course. Of freaking course when this happens, he’d be on the other side of Neopia. Any other bad news, while we’re at it?” “N-no Captain. Nothing else to report.” Brynn breathed in, letting the air clear the tense fog that had begun to build in her lungs. “Alright. Alright, fine. We can still make this work.” She looked around, meeting each of her subordinates in the eye. “You lot stay here and keep watch. I’m going to go in and search for clues.” A dozen replies of ‘yes Captain’ later, and Brynn entered the rotunda. Sure enough, Xandra’s statue had completely vanished. There were one of two possible things that this meant. Either someone had been brazen enough to steal the body of the most dangerous criminal in Faerieland’s history… or she had escaped. And the latter seemed far, far, more likely, given the circumstances. Her first instinct was to search for any footprints. Xandra would have been cautious enough to both figuratively and literally cover her tracks, but it couldn’t hurt to try. Unfortunately, the ground was far too solid for there to be any footprints left in the dirt. However, it didn’t take long for Brynn to find something else interesting. It was a single hair; a bright crimson strand, sharply contrasting against the shades of green and white one would find on Xandra’s body. Brynn’s mind could only draw one conclusion from this. Wherever she was now, Xandra had an accomplice. A fierce resolve burned behind Brynn’s eyes. She exited the rotunda, holding the strand of hair close. As she approached her subordinates, Papillon looked her in the eye. “Did you find anything, Captain?” “I have,” she said. “Send word to Queen Fyora of our situation, and inform the court mages. I want them to begin preparing a tracking spell immediately.” ---- Sunset had been woken up by Xandra the next morning… and by ‘the next morning,’ she meant early the next morning. The sun was only just beginning to peer over the horizon, painting the edge of the sky in strikingly familiar purple hues. With their lack of rations, the two were forced to forage for their morning meal — Sunset was thankfully able to graze in her pony form, as gross as it was to think about, while Xandra was able to gather a few nuts and berries from the shrubs on the edge of the forest. Probably should have gone with the nuts and berries, actually. Yuck. Too late to dwell on that now, as they needed to move quickly… or so Xandra had insisted. They pushed passed the edge of the forest, and made their way into the Haunted Woods. With a name like that, Sunset wasn’t sure what else she was expecting from the place. The Woods had immediately demonstrated themselves to be dark and inhospitable, enough that the rising sun could only barely illuminate their surroundings. A thick fog hung in the air as Xandra led the two through the underbrush, whose branches almost seemed to be actively reaching out and attempting to grab them. Thankfully, this appeared to be only a trick of Sunset’s fearful imagination… …or at least, that’s what she tried to tell herself. Maybe it was best that she tried to keep her mind off of that, for now. “So,” said Sunset, as she pushed past a low-hanging branch, “you, uh, said you were a scholar of magic, right?” “Yeah,” said Xandra. “Why?” “Just curious. What sort of magic did you focus on? Most mages in Equestria have one or two specialty fields.” “Illusion and transmutation,” said Xandra. “And you?” “Enchantment and evocation,” Sunset answered. “I’ve always been partial to fire, specifically. More recently I’ve also dabbled in light-element magic.” “Huh. Interesting combination,” said Xandra. “You don’t usually see mind-affecting magic paired with brute force destruction spells.” “Fire spells and emotion spells are shockingly similar to cast, actually,” said Sunset. “They both use a similar mental focus state, and the psychic calculations mainly differ in whether they use literal or metaphorical eidos values.” Xandra rubbed her chin as she pushed past another tree branch. “Right, that makes some amount of sense. But I’m surprised that your world has such similar magical theories as Neopia. Everything you just said could have been said by a magical scholar of this world.” “It is strange, yeah,” said Sunset. “Though it makes it a lot easier to adjust, I’ll say. Try to talk about magic like that in the human world, and most people think you’re some crackpot scam artist.” Xandra continued to give Sunset her full attention. By this point, she was only barely paying mind to the road that the two of them were walking. “And you said fire magic, right? I assume that’s an elemental energy in your world’s theories. What are the elements in your understanding?” “Well, that depends on who you ask, and what you mean by element,” said Sunset. Presumably, Xandra wasn’t talking about the Elements of Harmony, which were something else entirely. “But the most broadly accepted theory was developed by the great Blue Mage Warlic in 323 B.E. There are eight elements in traditional spellcraft: fire, water, wind, ice, earth, energy, light, and darkness. There’s also void and harm, but those are sorta special cases.” “Fascinating,” said Xandra. “In Neopian spellcraft, there are only six elements. Ice magic is usually classified under water, and lightning is usually considered either light or fire magic. I’d be interested in seeing how the differences in our theories would work out in practice.” As the two continued through the trees, they discussed the differences between their worlds, and Sunset found herself momentarily forgetting her troubles as she learned more about the world she now found herself in. Shockingly, they’d encountered no difficulty navigating — for a place called the ‘Haunted Woods,’ there were surprisingly few signs of ghosts or the like. …Though Xandra still insisted that they be cautious, as there were evidently still some manner of evil spirits native to the forest. “You know, this place kind of reminds me of the Everfree Forest back home,” said Sunset. “How so?” said Xandra. “Dark and spooky. Also probably evil, thanks to a thousand-year-old curse.” Sunset paused momentarily, as a new thought crossed her mind. “Actually, that sort of brings me to a related note. Does nature take care of itself here in Neopia?” Xandra shot Sunset a quizzical glance, as the two of them stepped over a large root that Sunset could have sworn was moving moments ago. “What do you mean?” “I mean stuff like, uh… the clouds moving, the seasons changing, the weather happening. Without anyone making it happen,” Sunset elaborated. “Is that how that works here?” Xandra suddenly froze, so shocked by what Sunset had said that she momentarily stopped in her tracks. “Hold on! Are you saying your world doesn’t have weather!?” “No, it does. But only if someone makes it happen,” said Sunset. “I mentioned before that pegasi in my world can control the weather, right?” “…Go on.” “Well, they do that because they kind of have to. Pegasi create the clouds, wind, and rain for basically all of Equestria,” Sunset explained. “Earth ponies and unicorns also have their own aspects of nature to take care of. Changing the seasons, looking after the wildlife, and so on. Other creatures do similar things in their own lands, too. The Everfree Forest’s what we call a ‘Wild Area,’ which is where things like weather just… happen.” “But that’s crazy!” Xandra interjected. “If there are no natural phenomena, then how could your world have possibly survived long enough to bear life!?” “One of the great equestrological mysteries of our time,” said Sunset. “The working hypothesis is that our world used to have nature, but then some great cataclysm happened that threw it out of whack. That would explain why there are places where nature takes care of itself, but for the most part they’re pretty rare.” Xandra stopped for a moment to ponder Sunset’s words. Any astonishment she had shown earlier quickly faded away, replaced by a quiet curiosity. “…Huh. Okay, that actually makes sense,” said Xandra. She continued walking forward again, and Sunset unconsciously found herself following after her. The two once again were back on the trail, moving steadily forward as they shared their thoughts. “You know, it’s honestly interesting that you mentioned a great cataclysm,” Xandra said, continuing her previous thought, “because something very similar actually happened on Neopia.” “Really?” “In a sense. Until roughly two thousand years ago, this planet was mostly a barren wasteland. The Kayannin civilization is much older than that, but they completely vanished long before then. So whatever caused them to disappear likely ended up destroying most of the surface, too.” “Oh,” said Sunset. “I… would not have guessed that. And only two thousand years ago? That’s a very short time, geologically speaking. Hard to believe the world could recover from total desolation so quickly.” “Neopia’s atmosphere has a lot of intensely chaotic magic,” said Xandra. She pushed past a thick branch that seemed to be reaching towards the trail, waiting for a chance to grab the nearest traveler. “So a lot about it can transform almost overnight.” Sunset hesitated for a moment, as she let the implications roll around in her mind a bit. “So the whole world can just… change? Without warning?” she said. “Not gonna lie, that’s actually terrifying.” “I suppose. But it’s the only reason any of exist,” said Xandra. “The first Neopets were spawned from the same random magic that healed Neopia.” Sunset arched an eyebrow. “What? You mean like spontaneous generation?” “Yes.” “...Your world is weird.” “As opposed to your world, where someone has to make the weather happen,” Xandra remarked. A short puff of air escaped from Sunset’s nostrils. “Yeah, yeah, it’s weird to you, I know. I’ve heard it all before.” “Actually. On that note,” said Xandra. “You said that earth ponies and unicorns also take care of nature in other ways, right? Can you elaborate?” “I could literally write an entire book on Equestrian nature stewardship,” said Sunset. “Seriously, there’s way too much for me to cover in just one conversation. But the basic jist is that almost anything you can imagine happening in a natural ecosystem, someone has to make it happen in my world. Pegasi specifically are responsible for weather, and earth ponies tend to gravitate toward plant and wildlife care… though there are notable exceptions. And one pink-and-yellow exception in particular.” “And unicorns?” “That’s… a bit more difficult to answer,” said Sunset, hesitantly. “Most unicorns tend towards artisan work or scholarship that’s unconnected to nature. It used to be that the most powerful unicorn wizards raised the sun and moon, but you had to be among the greatest mages in existence to even be considered for that. But then the Royal Sisters took the throne, and started raising the sun and moon themselves and um… we’ve just sorta been doing our own thing for the past eleven hundred years.” Once again, Xandra froze in place. This time, she was so evidently astonished that all of the fur on her body seemed to stand on end. “W-wait! Wait a second! W-what in Alephan’s name do you mean not in the past eleven hundred years? Are you saying your ‘Princess’ has lived for centuries!?” Sunset could feel a deep discomfort building within her chest. Already, she could sense that she had made a mistake. “Uh… well, yeah. Both Princess Celestia and her sister Luna are alicorns, which is a sort of… basically a super-pony, with both pegasus wings and a unicorn horn. Also tall. They’re tall.” “And you say they raise the sun and moon!?” Sunset breathed in through nostrils, and exhaled through her mouth. “…Okay, look. I get your reaction. I really do. But it’s honestly not as impressive as it sounds. My home planet is geocentric, so the sun is only about as large as—” “But that’s still insane!! If your sun and moon are even a fraction of the mass of Kreludor, it would take a truly unfathomable amount of magical power to even begin to move them! And if these ‘Princesses’ have ruled for literal centuries, then they sound more like go—” “Don’t.” It was a single word, spoken quietly, yet curtly and forcefully, to the point where Xandra was instantly snapped out of her flabbergasted ranting. “…Don’t what?” “The ‘g’ word,” said Sunset. “Don’t even go there. Really bad idea.” Xandra’s eyes narrowed, and she met Sunset with a piercing glare, one that showed a ferocity that boiled beneath the surface. “And why not? Your ‘Princess’ is clearly something above and beyond any other being in your world.” “Not really,” said Sunset. “Apart from being probably immortal, alicorns actually aren’t capable of anything that other ponies can’t do. Like I said, it used to be that the sun and moon were raised by a council of unicorn archwizards.” “Probably immortal?” “Well, there’s only been fou— five in Equestria’s history,” said Sunset. “And none of them have died yet. Not exactly a big sample size to work with.” “But they’re pretty clearly way more powerful than mortal ponies,” said Xandra. “Right now, you just admitted it. Your ‘alicorns’ can do things that would otherwise take an entire team of the most powerful mages in history. That certainly sounds godlike to me.” “Look, think of it what you will,” said Sunset. “But historically? Calling Princess Celestia a goddess, especially to her face, is the fastest way to get on her bad side. Why do you think she doesn’t even call herself a queen? She’s gone out of her way to dispel any notion of her supposed divinity. I’m not kidding, it’s literally illegal to start a religion worshiping her. One of the very first laws she passed, in fact.” “I don’t understand, though,” said Xandra. “How could she be immortal and have that much power, and not think of herself as a higher being?” “I… didn’t really understand that either, when I was younger,” said Sunset. It was difficult to admit, and the shame of having so greatly envied that immortality and power crept into the edge of her voice. “But think of it like this. Imagine living for over a millenium, while everyone else around you only lives to about a hundred, if they’re lucky. Imagine that none of the friendships you build ever last. Imagine that everyone you ever try to care about ages and dies right in front of you, while you remain young forever. “Now take that, and imagine that on top of that, people stop seeing you a person and start seeing you as a force of nature. They don’t think about what you want, or what you believe, or what you love or hate or care about. They only think about the abstract idea that you represent to them. That’s what godhood is. Does that really sound like something you’d want to be?” Xandra went quiet. Her features softened suddenly, as a sullen understanding made its way across her face. “…Oh,” she said. “I… honestly hadn’t considered that. When you put it that way, being Princess Celestia sounds… lonely.” “I don’t think she’d ever admit she feels that way,” said Sunset. “But it’s not hard to see, once you’ve gotten to know her. It’s always seemed to me that she wishes she could relate more to ordinary ponies. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t even want to be Princess anymore. But aside from her sister, there’s just no one else who can even do the job nowadays.” Although, with the way she’s been delegating duties to Twilight recently… Xandra’s lips remained pressed into a thin frown. Her eyes grew distant, the fire within them flickering away into mere embers. “It’s… still difficult to believe someone with power like that wouldn’t end up abusing it.” “Well… depending on who you ask, some would say she has,” Sunset responded. “But from personal experience? There’s literally nothing that Princess Celestia fears more than becoming a tyrant. She’s done so much to limit her own authority, and in all her life I don’t think she’s ever actually used the full extent of her magic.” “…So you’re saying she could be doing more to help people.” Sunset winced. There was a painful familiarity in Xandra’s voice, a bitterness she had not heard since… …since a time she didn’t particularly like to think about. “I mean… maybe? But I don’t know if that’s really a good idea.” Sunset brushed a strand of red hair to her side, running a hoof through her mane. “See, one thing I can tell you about having exceptional magical power is that it’s kind of… I can’t really call it anything other than addicting. When you’re powerful, and you know you’re powerful, and you start to feel like you can do anything… there’s really no limit to the sort of horrible things you can justify to yourself.” Xandra’s mouth slowly began to hang open. She stared at Sunset, looking as though she had been physically struck. “So that’s probably why Princess Celestia doesn’t use her magic to help people more,” Sunset continued. “Because when your power is that far beyond everyone else, and you start seeing magic as the brute force solution, it’s… it’s all too easy to develop a skewed perspective. ‘The way things should be’ starts to look more and more like ‘what I want,’ and then… before you know it, you’re falling into an abyss you never even noticed until it was too late. And the thing is, Princess Celestia has seen this happen. It… happened to Princess Luna, until a friend of mine managed to rescue her from the darkness.” And it happened to me too, was the silent, unstated conclusion. Sunset let out another deep breath. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off of her chest… only for it to immediately return, as soon as she saw the look on Xandra’s face. “Huh? Xandra, are you… crying?” “No,” Xandra lied, poorly. “Just… just something in my eye.” For what felt like forever, the two exchanged no more words, and avoided meeting each other’s eyes. Sunset tried to think of something to say, anything to break the tension and melancholy that lingered like a smog, but nothing came to mind. The two could only remain there, in a shared, contemplative silence. It was Xandra who eventually broke the silence, causing the fog to lift. As if the Haunted Woods themselves had responded to the metaphor, the literal fog began to lift as well, and Sunset could see the surroundings with more clarity than ever. “…What was she like?” “Hm?” said Sunset. “Princess Celestia,” Xandra elaborated. “You must have known her pretty well, as her personal student. What was she like?” Sunset’s eyes trailed away. Memories flashed through her mind, of a simpler time, a time before she betrayed the only family she’d ever known. She wouldn’t give up her current friends for anything, but… there was no denying that it took a lot of pain, and a lot of mistakes, to get where she was now. “She was… nice,” said Sunset. “Even though I was just a filly, she never talked down to me. Always treated me with respect, and kindness. Even if she did have a serious prankster streak sometimes.” Xandra blinked. “She… pranked you?” “Oh yeah, you don’t know the half of it,” Sunset smirked. “She seemed to have this idea that learning was more effective if you didn’t see it coming. So while there was still a lot of books involved, she’d throw me a curveball every so often. Sometimes she’d set me up to an impossible task, only for my failure to contain some hidden, more important lesson. Sometimes she’d just put me in some weird situation, already knowing exactly how I’d react to it, and exactly what the outcome would be. Never anything dangerous, but… well, it certainly kept me on my toes.” “You don’t have toes,” said Xandra. “And that sounds really manipulative.” “What? No! Nothing like that! I mean, sure, it did get frustrating to deal with sometimes. And I did sorta get fed up with her eventually, but—” Sunset abruptly cut herself off. She definitely didn’t mean to admit that out loud. Xandra gave her a thin smile, a curious, knowing gleam in her eye as she did. “Oh, is that so?” “Let’s… let’s talk about something else,” Sunset replied. Her eyes darted around, searching for anything that might possibly take her mind off of the subject. Thankfully, with both the literal and metaphorical fog cleared away, finding a point of interest didn’t take her long. “Hey, what’s that up ahead?” Sunset pointed a hoof forward, and in the distance, past the underbrush she could see the outline of a large house. It was in quite the state of disrepair, with the windows boarded up, the paint on the outer walls peeling away, and the entire structure covered in creeping vines. It certainly looked like it had been abandoned for a while, but Sunset couldn’t rule out that possibility that houses in the Haunted Woods just naturally looked like that. “Huh,” said Xandra. “We’re here already. I guess I got so caught up in the conversation that I lost track.” “This is your old house, then?” said Sunset. “Looks pretty fancy… in a ‘haunted house carnival attraction’ kind of way.” “No, that’d be in the Haunted Fairground.” “Wait, the what now?” “I can tell you about it later. Come on, let’s not waste any more time.” Before Sunset could offer any counterpoint, Xandra rapidly pushed her way through the underbrush, leaving Sunset to follow closely behind. ---- Brynn diligently kept her eyes on the golden compass as she led her group of Guards, following the path marked by the needle. Thanks to the court mages’ swift efforts, the compass now possessed a particular enchantment: rather than pointing north, its needle would always point to the owner of the red hair Brynn had found. Granted, Brynn was also fully aware she was taking a gamble. She was betting that the red hair belonged to Xandra’s accomplice, but she had no idea if they were still together, or had gone their separate ways. But it’s the only lead I have, and by Brand’s blade, I am GOING to follow it. And so she kept her eyes on the compass, and kept walking. Kept walking, and walking, and walking, until… …until Papillon’s voice called out to her. “Captain! Look! Up ahead!” Brynn was snapped out of her inner focus, and immediately turned her head to look up. She was so preoccupied in following the compass, so singularly focused on her one goal, that she failed to take notice of her surroundings. And sure enough, up ahead was a thick boundary of trees, demarcating the tranquil meadows from one of Neopia’s darkest, most dangerous lands. Brynn held a finger to her chin as she stared into the forest’s edge. “So, you’ve decided to go back to your home in the Haunted Woods, have you…?” “Wait, you really think so?” said Papillon. “Why there? Isn’t that the first place we’d look?” “Obviously. Otherwise we wouldn’t be looking there first, would we?” Said Brynn. “Still, you’re right… this seems just a bit too easy.” She gave a look back at her Guards. All of them seemed tense, about as anxious as she would have expected. Even those in the Faerieland Guard who had seen real danger had never once encountered a villain as dangerous and infamous as Xandra. Still, as bad as Brynn felt for bringing them into such a mess, it had to be done. Justice would be served, under her watch. There was no doubt in her mind about that. “Weapons at the ready, men. The forest is dense, and there are plenty of opportunities for an ambush. Be prepared.”