//------------------------------// // Assembling and Confrontation // Story: Rearranging Perspectives // by The Dimension Traveler //------------------------------// Rearranging Perspectives Chapter 4: Assembling and Confrontations ______________________________________________________ One week had passed since Celestia had declared a state of war. In that time, many things were happening. Recruitment drives had started everywhere, from Canterlot to Los Pegasus. The old army barracks had been undergoing cleaning and reconstruction. The Royal Guard had been sent out to help fortify towns like Ponyville, whose strategic value as a gateway into the Everfree Forest made it one of the few small towns that were not being evacuated into larger ones. The metalworkers forged weapons and armor for the new recruits. It may have been a thousand years since the last real conflict, but neither of the Royal Sisters had forgotten how to prepare for and wage a war. While all this was going on, six mares and one human male were making preparations of their own deep within the Canterlot Libraries, the Experiment Room to be more precise. It had been built per the instruction of Starswirl the Bearded when he decided he couldn’t be bothered trekking all the way to the magical testing facilities his student, Clover the Clever, had constructed on the other side of Canterlot. At present, the spacious room was experiencing more activity than it ever had before. Sam and Twilight were busy studying Solaris in hopes of duplicating its ability to slay Sun Eaters. Pinkie Pie was reading up on different kinds of explosives; she had volunteered/been appointed as the one in charge of munitions. Rarity was throwing spells and other things at different cloths to test their durability vs. their comfortableness; she was in charge of creating armor as well as being responsible for teaching basic magical combat. Spike had appointed himself Rarity’s assistant and he was out getting things for Rarity. Fluttershy was practicing various medical procedures on a dummy while glancing at a book she had propped open; she was the obvious choice for chief medic. Finally, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were working together on basic combat, strength, and endurance training regimes; they were also in charge of advanced combat for Earth Ponies and Pegasi respectively. At the moment, they were sparring with each other. “If only we had a Sun Eater here, then we could study the interaction between Solaris and the Sun Eater,” Twilight groused as she finished another diagnostic spell. “It does seem the minions have a bad habit of fading away when defeated,” Sam agreed “Unfortunately, we can wait around for one to show up. By then, it’d probably be too late,” Twilight grumbled “What if we don’t need a Sun Eater? What if that power activates in combat regardless? We haven’t tried analyzing it while I’ve been fighting with Solaris,” Sam observed “We’ve tried everything else. Guys, we’re heading out to try something!” Twilight shouted and everyone signified that they had heard. The two walked out to the courtyard and Twilight created magical constructs for Sam to attack. They were at it for about ten minutes when Twilight noticed something different. She began to scan that difference more thoroughly and what she found astonished her. Solaris was generating an energy that was both similar to, but completely different from Celestia’s own magic. Twilight committed the energy signature to memory. “Sam, you can stop! I’ve found it!” Twilight exclaimed and caused the constructs to vanish. “That’s excellent!” Sam exclaimed between a light panting. He sheathed Solaris and the two went to find Celestia. They eventually found her overseeing the work on the barracks. “Princess Celestia, we found out why Solaris works on the Sun Eaters!” Twilight called out to her mentor. Princess Celestia turned to her faithful student and Sam. “That is excellent news. How is it done?” Princess Celestia asked “It’s easier just to show you the energy signature. With a little work, we can probably place a spell on all the weapons to produce a similar energy,” Twilight explained and then showed her mentor the energy signature. “This is a most interesting energy. However, I know of just the spell to place on the weapons. I shall see to it personally. Excellent work you two, carry on. Remember, training starts for the troops in two weeks,” With that reminder, Celestia returned to overseeing the work on the barracks while Twilight and Sam returned to the Experiment Room. That night, Sam was enjoying a rather bizarre dream about zombie pickles when it was suddenly invaded by a patchwork creature that ate all the pickle zombies. “What a deliciously chaotic dream,” It remarked “Discord, I presume?” Sam asked “Embodiment of Chaos, I am!” The now named Discord chirped “Well if you were trying to be random by eating my dream, you failed miserably,” Sam quipped “Well what if I was trying to be unpredictable by being predictable?” Discord shot back “Cotton Candy clouds raining chocolate milk? I had a dream like that once,” Sam commented “Just what are you insinuating?” Discord nearly growled “I am insinuating that for the ‘Embodiment of Chaos’ you aren’t very chaotic or imaginative,” Sam snarked “How dare you?! I will take great pleasure in seeing the Sun Eaters destroy you!” With that, Discord melted away in a huff. Sam woke up and after taking a moment to regain his situational awareness before flinging off the covers. He quickly got dressed and as he made his way to find Luna, he reviewed his encounter with Discord in his head. He found Luna eating ‘lunch’ by herself. “Sam, what brings you here at this late hour?” Luna asked “Discord has been captured and at the very least brainwashed, if not being straight out mind controlled,” Sam reported and Luna did a spit-take. “WHAT?!” Luna shouted, accidentally switching in to the Royal Canterlot Voice in her surprise. Sam took a moment to regain his hearing before responding. “Discord invaded my dream about ten minutes ago. During the confrontation, his behavior was at odds with how he had been described. I told him he wasn’t very chaotic or imaginative and instead of pulling something out of derriere to prove otherwise, he got very angry with me and told me he would enjoy watching me be destroyed by the Sun Eaters,” Sam recounted “You are right, that doesn’t sound like Discord at all. This is most worrisome. If the enemy has gotten to Discord, there’s no telling what could happen,” Luna said “But at the same time, it makes things infinitely easier.” Luna and Sam turned to see Celestia standing in the doorway. “How so, dear Sister?” Luna asked “Discord is the Embodiment of Chaos. Therefore, it must be a huge strain on the enemy’s resources to keep him under control. Further, if we can snap him out of it I am sure he’d be more than willing to extract revenge on his captors. Also, I highly doubt he has access to his full powers in his current state so he’s not nearly as much a threat to us as he is to them,” Celestia answered “Twilight and I will start researching methods of breaking mind control and breaking brain washing first thing in the morning,” Sam promised “See that you do. However, you still need to work on other things. The more resources Discord drains from our enemies, the better our overall position will be when he finally snaps out of it,” Celestia said and Sam left to try and get a little more sleep. The next morning, Twilight discovered a sweaty Sam practicing with Solaris and The Shield of Infinity in the first light of the new day. “What are you doing up so early?” Twilight asked her student “Got visited by Discord last night and couldn’t get back to sleep. Decided I might as well do something productive,” Sam explained “Discord?! We’ve gotta tell-” “I’ve already told Luna and Celestia,” Sam said, cutting off Twilight’s panic attack “That’s good,” She said “I’m glad my actions meet your approval,” Sam snarked, “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get a shower before the others wake up.” “Please do, but before you go, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Twilight commented “And that would be?” Sam asked “I want to know how you got so good with a sword,” Twilight responded “Simple; I’m not. Beyond a year with the fencing team in middle school and sticks, I’ve never picked up a sword before. It’d be more accurate to say Solaris is wielding me as opposed to the other way around. I suppose it isn’t too much different to what wielding a Keyblade would be like…” Sam mused “Keyblade?” Twilight asked, but Sam was off in his own little world “Come to think if it, which came first, the Sun Eater or the Heartless? Did their Master model Sun Eaters after Heartless or are Heartless a representation of Sun Eaters? Further, Solaris looks kinda like The Master Sword…EGADS! What if the memories in the repressed magic of the human race surface in imagination?! It could be possible that every piece of fantasy and perhaps even science fiction has some allusion of the Sun Eaters and their Master! If that’s the case, then maybe they’re connected to how humanity lost their magic in the first place! We could be on the precipice of discovering their motives! I need to write this down!” Sam exclaimed “Shower first!” Twilight shouted at the overexcited human “Fine!” Sam replied over his shoulder as he rushed off. The prospect of answering an ancient question making him impatient for such inconsequential things as showers, but he did stink. He also did some of his best thinking in the shower, so he did comply with Twilight’s order. Meanwhile, Twilight was left alone with only the rising sun for company. She wasn’t quite sure what her student was rambling on about, but she trusted him to conduct his own research and when the time came, to report his findings to her in a way she could understand. Twilight stood there for a minute or two, gazing at the sunrise, when she decided to grab some breakfast. On the way there, she thought back to her last confrontation with Discord. To say Twilight Sparkle wasn’t looking forward to locking horns with him again would be an understatement. In the darkest corners of her heart, she was afraid of Discord, or to be more accurate, the time of her life he represented to her. To Twilight, Discord represented that time before Ponyville when she had no one except Spike and Shining Armor; the time she shunned social events in favor of locking herself away with her books. Discord also made her think of how easily she had abandoned her friends when they had been discorded; how easily she had fallen back into her old anti-social ways. If any of Twilight’s friends had been able to hear what she was thinking, they would have told her they didn’t blame her for anything. However, Twilight knew she was the only one who hadn’t been affected by Discord’s power. She had gone over of her own free will. Would she become a traitor twice over?