The next day Luna had talked Celestia into requesting an audience with Discord, the dictator of Discordia, within several days. When he finally did arrive, neither Florians had shown their faces to anyone except Luna and Celestia: Jolterix removed his mask to Luna as Tennerac removed his to Celestia. They carried on their usual business as it had been while they awaited Discord’s arrival. Within three days of sending the invitation, Discord had arrived with his secretary or herald; it was unclear her roll.
The Florians along with the Crystal Royalty and Luna and Celestia were attempting a treaty in the throne room. The Crystal Royalties desperately wanted Auflorsung’s protection: Cadance tried everything to appease them for whatever good it might do in the future, while Shining was much more professional about it, but still did the same thing; he clearly hated it. The Equestrian Princesses, particularly Celestia, were being much more difficult; whether it was to show their stubbornness or whatever reason was unknown.
The Florians themselves naturally preferred Cadance’s terms over anything else as she was so willing to comply with their wishes. Their seating arrangement was more informal than anyone would have anticipated: Celestia was on her throne with Luna next to it, the Florians in large chairs on the floor, and Cadance and Shining in chairs opposite the Florians. The door was to the Florians’ left and the Crystal Royals’ right when it swung open.
In the doorway stood an elderly man and a younger woman. The man was dressed in extremely odd attire: a brown suit with a yellow right sleeve, and the bottom half of the left sleeve was also yellow while the top was brown. His dress pants were green on the right, but tan on the left with a dark brown shoe. His coattails were red and he had a white streak and a blue streak in his back-swept hair: obviously Discord. Another noticeable detail was he had one long tooth poking from his lip. The younger woman, however, wore a hat with a small propeller on it and a purple dress. Her hair was purple and white and seemed to be shaped like a cloud. Her eyes were purple and white swirls in them; like a spiral wheel.
“Well, well,” the old man said, “It appears Equestria has some visitors.”
“That we do,” the woman agreed, “I’ll handle them.” She drew two flintlock pistols from her side: wooden with little metal and archaic looking. Everyone in the room except Discord and the Florians flinched at the sight of the weapons: even Celestia despite her usual stern look and unbreakable glare. It was obvious just how afraid they were of Discordia’s advances in weaponry. The woman fired both pistols at the Florians, releasing a loud pop from the exploding gunpowder and a lot of smoke. The ammo balls simply bounced off the Florians’ combat skins doing them no harm at all to which they quickly stood up and began clapping and cheering, earning them slack-jawed gazes from everyone especially Discord.
“Bravo!” shouted one Florian as he clapped.
“That was great!” the other greed.
“Gunpowder!”
“Well it didn’t really hurt.”
“Eh…it could’ve been a bit better,” one stopped clapping.
“It didn’t even break the sound barrier!” the other said as he stopped his clapping as well.
“It’s kind of embarrassing, really.”
“We’re so far beyond simple guns like that!”
“It’s insulting!”
“It’s condescending!”
“Boo!”
“Boo!” The Florians sat back down and threw the musket balls onto the floor and waited patiently for whatever was next while the other occupants stared at them with slack-jawed looks of confusion.
Finally Discord broke his confused trance and asked “Why aren’t they dead?” The woman next to him simply shrugged and they stared at the Florians.
“Well it’s simple,” Jolterix said, “We’re Florians.”
“Impossible,” Discord said quietly, “I call your bluff!”
“Well…you got us,” Jolterix said from behind his helmet, “I’m Alban and he’s Deutsches.”
“What?” Discord asked in confusion. No one had ever heard of Alba or Deutsche before.
“I’m Alban-Florian, he’s Deutsches-Florian,” Jolterix repeated himself.
“Believe it,” Tennerac said, “We’re from Auflorsung.” Nothing more needed to be said: Discord understood what exactly that meant and he almost took a step back before regaining his composure.
“Well,” he said, “Surely you must be so tired from your long journey; why don’t you two have a rest while the Equestrians and I have a little diplomatic discussion?”
“No, thank you,” Tennerac said, “We’re very comfortable right here.”
“Well,” Discord began again, “Surely there’s something that you two must do, I mean I think Screwball here would like some company from people more her age?” He was unaware of the Florians’ indefinite lifespan and assumed they were in their twenties like Screwball, based on their voices.
“Well, it’s certainly nice of you to consider,” Jolterix replied, “But we must refuse.” He looked directly at the woman next to Discord, “Sorry, Screwball.”
“Very well,” Discord gave in, “You may stay.” He was unwilling to challenge a Florian, let alone two; even with his magic.
“Like we need your permission anyway,” one of the Florians said.
Discord simply looked at them but said nothing.
“Well, now that the introductions are out of the way, may we begin?” Celestia asked; the fear from the flintlock pistols gone from her voice.
“We may,” Discord agreed.
“Good,” Celestia replied. They returned to their treaty terms and added Discordia and the possible outcomes that Auflorsung could impose upon it if it continued to improve its militaries. Discord himself could barely hide his frustration: never before had he been in a position to take orders or that of no power.