//------------------------------// // Montezuma and the goddess // Story: By means of Friendship and Magic // by Dramaideale //------------------------------// “And this, Otto, is exactly how I summoned you.” Lyra exclaimed happily, her eyes shining gleefully at the stoic German. After a second, she continued “It took nine failures and months of preparations! Let me tell you, it wasn't the easiest thing to do.” The Chancellor pondered what he had learned from the Pony. Despite her being the very reason he was out of his world, he had to admit she was an interesting person, even if it was apparent that she was obsessed with completely strange, unusual ideas. Why summon a human to this seemingly perfect world? Why did it have to be him, of all the millions that inhabit the Earth? Those seemed to be the questions he wouldn't ever find an answer to. Her determination was a trait he greatly admired, even if it was turned in the wrong direction. Lyra's personality indicated that she would either grow to be his best ally and friend, or the fiercest foe. Since she was a being capable of using powerful magics, he knew having her as an enemy would be foolish, to say the least. Bismarck watched her movements and listened to her carefully as she was being busy telling him everything about herself, the Ponyville and Equestria, all to decide what kind of approach should he use to not insult her in any way. He frankly didn't know what to expect from the Pony, as she was of completely different species and from another world. Lyra didn't behave that different compared to a human and seemed to react in similar ways, but he was confident there were some differences, not only the obvious ones in appearance, but also plenty in behaviour. She uncorked the bottle of some liquid that somehow appeared in her hooves. Bismarck couldn't comprehend how she could perform that with a single digit and why she wouldn't just use her magic to do it in the first place, but he didn't dare question what he just saw. He'd had enough headaches for today. More unclear explanations were not what he desired at the moment. “Heh, Otto, do you want to drink something? Maybe something... stronger? Know what I mean?” Lyra asked shyly. After a second, deep thought was evident on her face. “Erm, do humans even drink stuff? To sustain themselves? Do you even eat? I have a lot of both food and drink in my bags if you do. If you don't, that's also fine!” The Iron Chancellor rolled his eyes. Being bombarded by such trivial questions certainly wasn't what he desired at the moment, but he needed to be courteous. Showing his annoyance would certainly help with nothing. “Yes, I'd appreciate some wine. Or beer. The stronger, the better. This...” he stopped his response to find a correct word which was neither vulgar nor offensive. “Rather unusual situation certainly calls for extreme measures....” he sighed. “...Of alcohol.” Lyra held the now open bottle in front of the Chancellor. It took some consideration before he decided he was thirsty enough to accept the offer. He sniffed the drink and had to admit it smelled great, similar to a well-prepared beer. He took a careful sip and deemed it worthy of being drank by a human being. In fact, he loved the bitter taste of this alcohol. It took mere seconds for him to consume the whole bottle. “Wunderbar!” he said, lost in thoughts. The Pony looked at him with surprise. “The taste of this beverage is wonderful.” The mint-coloured unicorn grinned at him and gave him more of the liquid. “Why yes! It's made of the highest quality fruit only, I don't buy anything but the best. ” Lyra's horn shone and Bismarck noticed another bottle flying in her direction. She uncorked it, this time with magic, and drank it quickly. After few longer gulps, Lyra's face became serious and the unicorn looked in the Chancellor's eyes. “To be honest, I'm surprised you're not...” it became apparent that she was thinking of what to say next. After a short while of slightly drunken consideration, she continued “You know, mad at me. For taking you from your world kinda without your permission.” Bismarck smiled sadly while taking yet another bottle of the beverage into his hand. “I doubt I have many years left, and I lost most of my influence in the court. It hardly matters anymore where I am, so few are my days.” The German's face became sour. “I barely remember what I was doing before you summoned me... Who knows, this may be the afterlife!” 'Not to mention it would be senseless to blame one so innocent, especially when the gesture could only bring me an enemy.' he thought, but didn't speak his mind out. Lyra blinked in shock and shook her head, as if trying to defend herself from the influence of the alcohol. Unfortunately, this kind of protection was ineffective. “Otto!” she shouted, “If your days are as few as you said... I'll ensure you enjoy every single moment you spend in Equestria!” the unicorn said looking very serious, despite hiccuping madly. Was he not influenced by the alcohol, the Chancellor wouldn't take these words for much, but in this state Bismarck appreciated the Pony's words and believed they were honest, genuine. The Chancellor felt an unusual warmth spreading its influence inside him, the friendship welcoming him in all its grace - he immediately knew that he could trust Lyra in all the possible ways. “One bottle more, Bissy? I can call you that, right?” the unicorn asked, to which Bismarck simply nodded. It wasn't long before one flask changed into two, then into three. The Chancellor wanted some rest from the nonsense of the situation, and alcohol was perfect for that. For the remainder of the night, he told her some details about himself. He recounted being in the Prussian diplomatic corps, he explained how he built the glory of Germany and the way in which he united it, changing a weak confederation of states into a powerful country, feared and respected in all of Europe, and how he fell from the grace of the Kaiser, losing his influence. He only omitted the details he deemed unnecessary for the Pony to know, especially the more... troubling ones. Bismarck remarked that Lyra was a good and viable listener, even despite the state they both were in. She seemed enthralled by his story and the Iron Chancellor felt glad that her reception was positive. He noticed that her fascination with him and the humanity as a whole constantly grew and he gladly answered her questions, even the most ridiculous ones. In their drunken mirth, they laughed and rejoiced at the simplest situations. Lyra took the Pickelhaube from Bismarck's head and put it on her head – or rather tried to. Because of her horn it proved to be impossible, and she groaned in annoyance. After a few minutes of further drunken adventures, they both fell soundly asleep, not even remotely aware of being observed by an omnipotent being – a chaos god, to be exact. “Hah!” the draconequus laughed before emerging from the shadows. He found the whole situation hilarious, and he knew “helping” the unicorn during the ritual was a good choice. Discord sneakily closed in to the pair, not wanting to wake them up. The lord of chaos wasn't exactly sure why – after all, he could easily make them fall asleep again with his magic in case any of his attempts failed. Or, even better, he could've just teleported near them. Or he could've silenced his movements. Or... Well, the possibilities were nearly endless, but it was not in his nature to make sense. He bothered not about well thought out plans or doings, he just wanted to have fun. Unfortunately, some inexperienced younglings didn't appreciate an old man enjoying himself, but it wasn't about to stop Discord. He touched Bismarck's head with his talon and looked into the German's mind, effectively connecting himself to the world human came from. He saw many things humanity accomplished – inside his head he saw tales and memories of glory combined with those of cruel deeds. While Discord was impressed by some of their accomplishments, he couldn't help but notice some troubling similiarities to Equestria. He shook his head, too lazy to think about the possible implications. Thinking about such stuff would be a good pastime for the Celestia, he wasn't about to waste his time by burdening himself with such a pointless chore. 'Interesting creatures, I have to admit!' he looked at the overweight, old German, who started shaking in his dream. 'That race is mostly despicable, but I don't care! If I got some of them here, they will surely wreak sime excellent chaos, especially with my little help!' He inspected the human history again, and noticed plenty of figures whose appearance would improve the chaos in this soon-to-be-his-again world. One of them seemed particularly good for the current occasion, and he grinned when thinking of what the soon-to-be-summoned human could accomplish. 'Motecuhzoma... Moctezuma, Montezuma... Or whatever else they called him.' Discord smiled widely. 'This one will be a lot of fun around here! Now, where to summon the human...' The draconequus stopped pondering for the moment, as something took his attention. He looked at the Pickelhaube, which probably fell off Lyra's head sometime earlier. Discord admired its shape and great design. Almost without consideration, he cast a powerful magic spell at it, enchanting it with chaotic powers. It floated in the air for a short time, before falling to the ground with a barely audible sound. The golden eagle mutated and grew horns, similar to the ones Discord had himself. Formerly proud wings of the bird deformed and while one grew in size, the other got significantly smaller. Finally, he gave the helmet its own, new and chaotic conscience, along with some basic magic and enchantments, all to assure it would be a great chaos-wreaking toy. 'That will surprise that fatman, of that I'm absolutely sure.' he snickered, petting his gray goatee with his talon. After a while, he teleported somewhere else. --- “Damned Ponyvillians!” a blue female unicorn with a silver mane yelled at her own reflection in the lake. Lacking an ear willing to listen to her complaints, she was forced to talk to herself. It was not a big surprise that her mirror was mostly a listener. “The wretched villains, not appreciating Trixie's greatness! Stealing my glory, my spotlight! You do understand Trixie?” to her surprise, the reflection didn't respond. “You do understand, yes? Yes? Do you agree with me?” she asked hopefully. Thinking her conversation partner needed more time to think of an answer, the unicorn decided to benevolently grant her a moment for consideration. After a long pause, she looked at her reflection, expecting an answer. When none came, she hit the lake's mirror with her hoof. To her satisfaction, the image contorted on the water, only coming back to it's full glory a moment later. She smiled in glee, but her reflection did the same. Trixie froze in place, smile slowly disappearing from her face. It still remained on that other unicorn's face. The one in the water, looking just like her. It took her almost a minute to recover enough to force a meek answer, desperately trying to sound brave. “Well, Trixie! Trixie will not accept no response as an answer! You should know, Trixie, that Trixie won't accept you mocking her with that vile grin of yours, of Trixie's!” No matter what the magician tried, the grin wouldn't disappear from her reflection. It only got wider, showing off the razor sharp teeth. The eyes of the other her soon became but black holes in the lake, before it disappeared, vanished without a trace. The fear finally took over her and she turned from the lake, trying to run. She immediately stopped as she saw more of the clones, six of them, all grinning at her, all with black holes instead of eyes. They were identical to her... And to her reflection. When they started coming to her, Trixie began to back off in the direction of the lake. She levitated some rocks and threw them at her clones, but none of that seemed to slow them down. They seemed to bleed and the unicorn, having ascertained they can be hurt, tried to stone the illusive beings again. Black blood flew from their wounds in wide streams, but none of the clones backed down. They only started to walk faster, adamant in reaching her. To hurt her. “Trixie! You were naughty, Trixie. Trixie is very dissapointed with Trixie's behaviour. Trixie thinks Trixie is an uptight, pathetic creature.” one of her clones said, her eye sockets turning red with every word spoken. Both of the standing out elements soon disappeared into darkness and the illusive figure fell and convulsed, before changing into black smoke and flying away. “Trixie! Trixie won't accept this disloyalty to your ideals, to Equestria! Trixie won't forgive failures or weaknesses either, and Trixie is full of them,” the second one said, shaking with hate. It grew a pair of bat-like wings and jumped at the magician, but soon evaporated, leaving only traces of black liquid. Trixie was scared and her determination melted away. She started crying, helpless like a newborn foal – helpless against her own reflections. How could she ever hope for any kind of victory against beings which probably didn't exist anywhere else but in her very mind? “Trixie!” another one of her reflections laughed, showing off her shark-like, blood-covered teeth. “Trixie doesn't approve Trixie not laughing, not smiling! Trixie will cut Trixie a nice smile with a knife, that will help!” As if trying to prove a point, it ran closer and a blade appeared in its hoof. Before it reached the real unicorn, both the knife and the illusion melted, covering the magician in ink-like liquid. “Trixie! Trixie doesn't like you. Trixie doesn't want Trixie to hate Trixie for this, though. Trixie is not Trixie, after all.” the fourth one exclaimed. Instead of coming closer, it spat in Trixie's direction before looking her in the panicked eyes, and after a short moment it disappeared as well. “Trixie! Trixie's lack of manners is a trait Trixie hates. Trixie's boastful character deserves naught but scorn!” the fifth one said, before turning her snout away from her in an uptight manner, as if the magician wasn't worthy of her attention and efforts. The clone trotted away, only doing a few steps before disappearing forever. It was the sixth reflection that scared Trixie the most though. It smiled and said nothing, it merely observed her, the glare cutting into her flesh worse than a sharp dagger, its inquisitive nature stripping the showmare of all her dignity and remaining strength. The scorn of its stare broke her inside, and the magician merely waited for it's movement. The last reflection's horn shone, taking the rest of the unicorn's resistance away. It charged at the scared Pony, a trail of darkness following her every movement. Just as the dark figure prepared to give the magician a finishing, powerful blow, it also vanished. Trixie looked around and noticed no more of the... clones. Or illusions. Whatever they were, the things always gave her a scare. The worst part was she didn't even know if they were real or only in her mind! Was she insane? Was someone creating these things, haunting her for days in this endless, damned forest? There weren't many Ponies cruel enough to torture one for so long with such intensity! What kind of vile madman would have both the determination and sheer power to haunt her that much? While Trixie realized that her being mentally ill was the most plausible option, she refused to accept it. Instead, she placed the blame on somepony else. Maybe it was some unknown jealous illusionist, or possibly it was the doing of that purple, good-for-nothing upstaging unicorn? Regardless of who was responsible for this horrible curse, the magician wanted it to stop. If she wasn't insane already, these damned clones would turn her into a drooling madmare soon enough. Exhausted from the “battle” and thinking, Trixie sat in the lake. While she didn't feel like moving at the moment, it was mostly the fatigue that forced her to take a rest. A thud sounded out nearby, scaring the showmare. The unicorn felt too tired and too scared to check its source, so she merely sat and waited. Trixie awaited what was possibly to come, if it was more of those things, those cruel illusions. The deranged unicorn was soon approached by a creature of darkish skin, wearing jaguar-like furs and golden decorations. She looked at it with interest, and it did the same. On the top of the creature's small head was placed a sinister crown, adorned with countless feathers of many colours. In its hand was placed a primitive, small sword. After seeing freshly dried blood on it, Trixie knew the barbarian used the weapon frequently, probably for some nefarious deeds and murders. The 'animal' had an aura that spoke of authority and... something else, which Trixie couldn't exactly place her hoof on. The bipedal being studied the unicorn and walked in circles around her, as if trying to evaluate her. As a target to attack, or something else? The showmare didn't know, but she was sure she would find out soon enough. It soon became apparent to Trixie – the creature was probably preparing to attack her. It raised the blade in it's hand, aggression visible in his eyes. “You, strange, blue and silver creature from this unknown place!” the human said out loud. Trixie looked in his eyes, surprised the thing could even talk. It seemed the creature was civilized to some extent, at least. “I, Montezuma, will sacrifice you for the gods! The bloodshed will surely grant me glory and prosperity both!” The human charged at her, determined to kill and maim her, sacrifing her flesh for his bloodthirsty deities. “Shimikacan!” he yelled. “Die, inferior creature! Gods demand sacrifice!” Trixie, however, was adamant in surviving the encounter. She had defended against the illusions for so long, this brute couldn't possibly stand a chance against her. What was a mere barbarian compared to the great and powerful Trixie, after all? “No, foal,” Trixie mouthed through her clenched teeth, enraged. Montezuma stopped briefly, surprised that the thing could speak, but he decided to ignore it for the time being. “Shimikacan!” he yelled again, as if trying to reassure himself. His blade raised, he charged at Trixie with full speed. “Witness my power!” Trixie shouted as she summoned illusions of creatures – an Ursa Major (or Minor, she cared not), a Manticore and more. The Aztec Emperor was both astounded and terrified by the demonstration, for he believed them to be true. Invisible, magical powers of the unicorn were throwing the warlord around the place like a puppet, and after mere seconds, he surrendered. He knew it would be completely foolish to defy a god and insult it further with any resistance. He knelt before the godly unicorn, well aware of his insolence and thoughtlessness. Montezuma only hoped the idiocy he committed wouldn't cost him his life, for he still had great plans for the Aztecs. “Forgive me, oh great goddess! I did something unforgivable, and for that I have no excuse, nothing but my ignorance!” he groveled, and his pleas satisfied Trixie greatly. She loved others admitting her greatness and begging her, appreciating her in a way she deserved. The unicorn felt as she always did after a well-done show, when the audience roared with appreciation and love. She decided to play off the naivety of the barbarian. Only after few seconds of silence, which was supposed to plant the seeds of uncertainty and further fear inside the Aztec, she decided to continue the “show”. “The great and powerful Trixie's godly greatness,” she started, referring to herself in third form again, “Can't be insulted or lessened by a pathetic being such as you. Trixie won't punish you... This time.” She glowed in a blue, mysterious shine, both terrifying the Aztec and impressing him greatly. Her showmare abilities proved to be of great use here, as the human looked at her with admiration and respect. “Fail Trixie again, show any disloyalty, and agony will be the only description of the remainder of your worthless days!” Montezuma looked up at her from the ground, both respect and relief visible on his dirt-covered face. “Oh, godly Trixie! I shall worship you with all my strength! I shall sacrifice whomever and whatever you want in your great, glorious name!” Seeing he was allowed to, the Aztec stood up clumsily, full of religious fervour and dedication to the merciful, godly creature. “Oh mighty goddess, none shall stand against your might!” Trixie smiled. She liked the creature despite the fact that it was obviously a primitive brute, she liked it for the appreciation. Montezuma may not have been too civilized, but at least he could see the greatness in her, unlike the Ponyvillians! In her eyes, he was fairly superior to them. “My dear Montezuma,” she spoke, “Your dedication and fervor pleases the great and powerful Trixie.”