//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: The Newest Normal // Story: The Survival Of The Species // by Borderline Valley //------------------------------// Sophia Everblaze It’s been two days since daddy woke up. I had been worried sick for him! He had never been hurt this bad before… I heard some guards say his magic did this to him. If that’s true, I don’t think I want to learn it anymore. Nobody goes to the hospital as much as daddy does. At least I got to spend time with him; after the big ‘Discord’ guy showed up, everyone’s been too busy talking to bother us. I’m sitting on a bench, snacking on some nuts with him right now, not saying much of anything, just sitting. I can see lots of clouds from here. It’s a pretty nice day today. It’s nice to have some time with him before the next big thing. Daddy said that this ‘Discord’ guy will be coming back soon, and when he does, things will change again. I’m not so sure I want that. I mean, the last time things changed, everyone was about to die, and then we came here. But now things are nice, I don’t want to go back to where we’re about to die. I look up at daddy. He’s got lines of silver in his hair, and wrinkles around his eyes. I heard Miss Fletcher say that he’s too young to have wrinkles like that. I’m not sure what age has to do with it though. Sam is ancient and he doesn't have that many. “Daddy?” I begin, not sure how to put my thoughts into words. “Yes?” He smiles down at me, seemingly in a good mood. “Why won’t you re-marry?” His eyes go blank for a few moments. “Uhhh… What brings this up, Sophia?” He looks thoughtfully at me, but I can see he’s a little anxious. “I heard some ladies talking about it.” Miss Mender and Miss Minter had been talking about the eligible men in the village a few days ago. Daddy looked a little worried. “Well, it’s complicated. Some of the explanation will have to wait until you are older, but I can give you two reasons now.” Daddy relaxed again, leaning against the back of the bench he had formed with his magic for us. “First of all, we all knew the end was coming, so I structured my life in such a way that didn't have room for re-marrying. Changing back to a lifestyle that has room for more than just us would take effort. Secondly, I promised your mother I wouldn't until you were grown, and you have a ways to go, darling.” He ruffled my hair a little. I supposed that makes sense. I don’t remember my mom, she died when I was really little, but daddy always tells me how much she loved me. Still, there was more to it. He said so. “But there’s a third reason?” He nods, slowly. “Yes, there is. And because of it, even if I did re-marry, I would never have another child.” Daddy shifts forward, looking at me with mischievousness in his eyes. “So, Sophia, would you like to learn something new?” Would I!? Rodin Everblaze Her eyes light up like a candle, and she is burning with excitement once again. It’s good to see her like this, ever since I… killed Timber; Sophia had been rather… subdued. “Alright, now then, what I want you to do is cast a very familiar spell, but with one difference. The center is Sight, enhance it with Magic, but don’t add any limiters.” She hesitates, I can understand, since I had drilled it into her at a young age that using limiters saves lives, but she does as I ask. Her eyes glow orange, and she gasps. “It’s so colorful!” Even with her eyes glowing as they are, I can see her pupils darting around, trying to take everything in at once. With a chuckle I follow suit, and behold the same things she is. It is rather colorful, in a way. The shapes of things do not change, under this magical sight, but the color of everything is replaced. No longer is the grass green, but a hazy purple, reflecting some ancient spellwork that blankets the whole encampment. It ceases at the forest, where a yellow glow emanates from everything, the nature magic that fuels all life. I can detect hints of the yellow nature magic inside the camp, but it is muted, and follows only in the wake of the purple. As I look down, I see my own body, illuminated in the vibrant red that I have become so acquainted with. Next to me, Sophia glows her own orange. The bench itself has a red tint, a testament to my spell that warped it from the dirt underneath our feet. In time it would fade, and only the most attentive would be capable of detecting it’s reddish shade to magical sight. By the same token, I could see light shades of many colors all around us. The purple and yellow magic were only the most prominent, and the most widely cast. I could detect other auras all over the place, on various bricks and pieces of clothing or armor that must have been wrought from materials inside the buildings we commandeered. Usually these traces didn't indicate active spells, it was just residue from spells being cast upon the objects in some ancient past. If the signs weren't literally everywhere, I might have missed them. All it really told me though, is that mages used to live here. Having heard from Discord that the ‘pony’ races all had some kind of innate magic, it was not hard to figure out what had happened. Hell, Discord even said this used to belong to Celestia and Luna or something. Thinking of Discord- “Hey daddy, look at these!” I turn to look, and smile. Tracing her finger along the ground, Sophia is following a silvery strand of magic. I smile, the opportunity of giving a lesson easily presented. “Those are leylines.” “What do they do?” She’s rather focused on following this one until she reaches the end of it. “They are tiny veins of magic in the world. They flow everywhere, and permeate everything.” “aww, this one disappeared.” Her tracing stopped , and I stepped over to her. “Not really, see, the line just went below the surface of the ground.” I reach out and dig at the earth with my hand, revealing that the tiny string of silver continued below the surface. She looks at me, stunned at the revelation. “Can we use them?” I shake my head. “No, our magic doesn't use leylines of any kind.” She looks thoughtful. “Are there more?” I wave my hand in front of me. “There are trillions more, all around us. This one is big enough that you can see it, but most are too small to see without magical assistance.” The spell that gives us magical sight, actually enhances our eyes a little too. If I cross my eyes, I can see the tiny silver fibers hovering in front of my nose. “No! I mean, are there more than one kind!” I love that girl. “Yes. There are actually dozens of kinds back home, each one can only be used by wielders of a specific magic. Not all appear silver. For example…” I fish around, looking for the little bits of light that weren’t silver, but anything I find turns out to be nothing more than magical residue. It takes me a solid hour of searching before I admit defeat. “Huh.” “What is it?” Sophia had been patiently helping me search, despite not really knowing what she was looking for. This was almost troubling, considering that she would normally be clamoring for something new to do by now. I shrug. The discovery was interesting, but mostly in an academic sense. “I think this world might only have one type of leyline. Imagine that.” Samuel Weathers Things are looking up again. With the wolves dealt with permanently, I can send civilians along on forays into the forest again. There are still hazards, but there have been no further incidents. Vern suspects that our presence has driven some of the larger predators away, and I hope he’s right, the last thing I want to deal with right now is hunting down some rabid bear. With the extra manpower civilians bring, we’re able to both harvest enough food, and alleviate some of the boredom. I discovered that the people have been taking the bones of the animals and started making toys with them. It’s a good idea; I just wish I had time to join in the games. “We need to talk.” That voice, it is one I have been missing lately. “Hello, Patricia,” I respond neutrally, I am on duty, after all. “How are things looking, dear captain? Any looming threats on the horizon?” I sigh without restraint, I can guess why she’s here. “You want me to lift it.” It isn't a question. “I don’t know if you've heard, but there’s a god who’s going to look after us now. Somehow I think it’s about time.” “We’re not out of the woods yet. Literally. The god wants us to stay in these woods until he returns. A lot of what he said implies that after he does, we’ll be going somewhere else.” She gives me a look. “And you think that somewhere else is dangerous?” “I have no reason to make any assumptions about it.” He’s a chaos god, it might very well be dangerous. “But he did say we’d be seeing a lot of these ponies soon.” “You mean the same ponies that don’t like killing? How are you going to explain our living in a state of emergency, to ponies that don’t accept death?” I hadn't thought of that. Would they care? Something tells me that if the ponies do have a military, it won’t be as experienced as ours. At the very least, we have a history of using violence to solve our problems. Yet, wasn't that what Discord was warning us against? Still, her argument has flaws. “You raise questions I cannot answer, Patricia. What do you suggest I do, let everyone run amok in the forest? I have two guards in the hospital who currently are statues. We still don’t have a cure, and we still don’t know what did that to them. I cannot guarantee the safety of civilians outside the camp, and if I lift it, the first thing half of them will do is rush out the front gates.” For the first time she frowns, considering my own words. At length she speaks. “Fine. We will wait until the god has moved us, but not much longer, husband. We women grow weary of our confines.” She walks away, leaving me to finish my dinner in the barracks. Alexander Birchwood I awake in the middle of the night, by the sound of someone clearing his throat rather loudly. I groan, getting out of bed and reaching for the striker to light a fire to see by. “Yes, do you need something?” I ask, in the direction of the door to my room. If I’m being awoken, it likely means I’m needed. “Oh not much, I just have a few questions for you.” The sound of someone snapping their fingers is heard, and my fireplace lights without my aid. The light in the room is enough to see by, yet my doorway remains empty. I turn, and see that my visitor is lying where I used to be on my bed. About to question him, the words die in my throat as I realize who it is. “D-Discord! Welcome back!” I drop to one knee in reverence. “You know this bed isn't very comfortable. Have you tried clouds? Oh wait, this is the Everfree, it would fly away.” He sits up, eyeing me with a sort of detached interest. “So, Governor, what would you want from your magic, if you had some?” The question caught me off guard. I had forgotten that he had mentioned that. “I think Rodin would better answer that question than I, to be honest.” Discord waved a claw dismissively. “Then I’ll ask Everblaze next. What do you want from magic?” I spend a moment to think about it, for I never really had before. What doors would magic open for us, that we couldn't open normally? The power to win more battles? Being harder to kill? Didn't all the ponies have magic of some kind? One was weather manipulation, I do believe. That’s… useful. So what would be useful? Is simple usefulness enough? Might as well try it, I've been silent for a while. “I would like the magic to be useful to us.” As Discord rolls his eyes, I hurriedly re-evaluate my answer. Unfortunately, my mouth continues to move. “T-That is, to say, that the goal is to live among ponies peacefully, right? I-I’d just like the magic to help with that.” The god’s eyes change from dry amusement to one of thoughtfulness. “That makes a measure of sense. Almost a pity. Now, how do you feel about cats?” “Cats?” I echo. “Cats.” He affirms. Herbert Senthson There isn't much to do but train. I’d been out of commission for a short time, recovering naturally from inhaling a bit too much smoke, and various nicks and scratches I had gotten in the ‘Burning of Timber’ as we've taken to calling it. Apparently that was the monstrosity’s name or something. Anyway, it wasn't enough to warrant a sacrifice on my behalf, according to Miss Winters, so I had been patched up with bandages and drank a vile-tasting potion or two. After the god had showed up, things had slowed down. I actually slept through the event, a fact of which I am somewhat glad. *thunk* My arrow sinks into the target, making a satisfying sound as I hit what I aimed at. It’s nice to see that despite everything, I still have a good arm and a good eye. *thunk* There’s this general feeling of apprehensiveness pervading the village. People aren’t all that confidant in this god’s good intentions. I for one, am reserving judgment for when the god actually does something. So far, he’s just left us alone as far as I can tell. *thunk* That was my last arrow. I walk the length of the wall and approach my target. My every step is accompanied with a loud clanking noise as my armor makes itself known. We always train with it on; a fact which makes my life a little harder, even if it does make me a better warrior. I retrieve my arrows, sliding them back into the quiver as I leave the make-shift training yard. Its past noon, and I can feel the beginning rumbles of hunger that tell me it’s time for lunch. As I walk past the gatehouse, a large creature that resembles a chimera phases through the wall, while studying something on a clip-board intently. For a few moments, I’m frozen. What is that thing? As I stare at the creature, it notices me, and raises an eyebrow. Before I can act, it speaks. “Well, I suppose you have an opinion as well?” Stunned that this creature can actually speak, I respond without thinking, “An opinion on what exactly?” It’s other eyebrow raises as well, giving it an intrigued expression. “Well, I’m taking a survey. What would you use magic for if you could do anything with it?” The whole situation seems rather bizarre, but I figure that talking to it is better than attacking it or fleeing. So long as I keep talking, perhaps this won’t escalate. “I would use it to enhance my senses, making me a better hunter and better able to protect my village.” As I think further, I figure that I could enchant the arrows to have specific effects too, but I don’t want to ramble. “So what brings you to our village?” The creature grins. “Oh, I’ll let you figure that one out. You sure you wouldn't want to strike your enemies with lightning?” I return the grin, “Well, I wouldn't say no to that, but I figure that if I can do anything I want with it, I might as well use it for things I already do. That way I don’t have to give up my life and become another Rodin.” The creature gives me an honest smile, one that lacks any kind of hidden joke. “That’s the most helpful response I’ve gotten so far today,” he holds out a claw, and it takes me a moment to realize that he wants to shake hands. As I do so, I realize that I've skipped a rather important introductory ritual. “I’m Herbert, by the way. What may I call you?” His handshake is strong and steady, but not crushing or testing of my strength, which says good things about the creature. “My name is Discord. Well, it’s been fun meeting you. Perhaps we’ll talk later, Herbert.” My brain ceases all higher functions at the mention of his name. I am dimly aware of the fact that I am no longer shaking his hand, but it takes several seconds for me to return my hand to my side. By the time my shock is over, and I have the presence of mind to be properly horrified by my actions, Discord is gone. I am the luckiest man on this continent. I've survived experiences that should have killed me three times in the space of a week: Twice during the Burning of Timer, and now, failing to recognize our god for what he is. Still, why would he just take it in stride like that? He’s supposed to be a chaos god, but he’s been nothing but forgiving of our continued disrespect. Wouldn't a god of chaos just care sometimes and not others? Or is my inexplicable bought of good luck just bleeding over into everything else? I shake my head at my own foolishness. Surely, if Discord had wished me to act with more reverence he would have revealed himself first off, rather than approach me as he did. Then again, there’s no assurance that he makes decisions based on logic I would understand. But does he know that we don’t know what he wants from us? I make my way to the mess hall, resolving to simply let it lie. After all, it’s not my job to solve these problems. For that simple fact, I am glad.