Captain Weathers
Setting out was a simple affair after Discord had finished up with Rodin. There had been some magic involved, but I wasn’t privy to that conversation. Perhaps I would ask Rodin about it later.
We actually spent several hours last night just making all the rope we needed. With the absence of beasts of burden to pull for us, we are going to have to pull the caravan by hand and tether.
The forest is thick. Enough so that our patrols have to take it slow; getting these huge, bulky carts through it would have been a nightmare, yet Discord came through for us. He’s at the front of the caravan, turning trees into little more than sawdust.
I can’t actually see what he’s doing to them, seeing as how I’m much farther towards the center of the caravan, but the continual crunch of wood beneath my boots, and the periodic muffled explosion is enough evidence for me.
Word of mouth tells me he’s laughing like a maniac and cracking jokes as he does it too. I’d almost feel sorry for the trees, but they grow back. No matter how much we harvest from the forest, it’s all regrown in a day or three. It’s kind of eerie, but Rodin keeps telling me it’s natural. Somehow.
Thanks to the path being rather enthusiastically cleared for us, it’s not as slow going as I feared. We are hindered only by our endurance and speed. I made sure there was a rotation going on the carts, and sent Bill to make sure the end of the caravan kept pace.
It would seem that, thanks to the noise, the presence of so many, and the god, the wildlife has decided to leave us more or less alone. Even so, each cart has at least two armed guards ready for anything. Its left us spread rather thin, I admit, but it’s better than leaving civilians exposed should something happen. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the very shadows of the forest seeming to threaten our flanks… I hate fear spells.
All that’s left is the several hours of marching through this cursed place…
“Captain?”
Its Mender’s old patients, I see. I remember them from yesterday when… I promised to debrief them on the march.
Right.
It’s interesting, seeing new faces though. Living in a small town, I see the same set of people every day. Granted, I couldn’t tell you half of the civilian names, but I never really tried to learn them anyway. These two don’t carry themselves like civilians though.
I can vaguely remember the night they showed up, already wounded, and placed in Mender’s care. With them was nothing but the clothes on their back, and those had had to be burned they were so filthy.
Of course, I knew this through paperwork, mostly. Now that I get a good look at them, I’m impressed. The man is shorter than most, but is very well built, and walks with confidence. I notice his eyes are blue, something uncommon, but insignificant, and he has some well-trimmed, dark brown hair that hints of a preference for efficiency. The woman, is similar in some respects. She looks exceedingly fit for a woman, someone obviously trained for battle, which wasn’t common a hundred years ago, but what really catches my attention is her blond hair. It’s not exactly rare, but it does indicate that she or her ancestors come from one of the eastern kingdoms.
Their clothes are of decent quality, unlike the rest of us, which really only tells me that they’re still wearing the clothes they arrived in, which apparently haven’t fallen apart from heavy use yet. We’ve been making and repairing clothes, but we don’t exactly have a lot to work with in the forest, and we only bring in so much game for animal hides. Clothing over 300 people has been a challenge that I am glad was someone else’s problem. My problem was outfitting dozens of guards in heavy metal armor…
Hmm… come to think of it, these two have all the right muscles in all the right places… They’ve been trained to fight in the heavy stuff! I mean the really heavy armors that cost a fortune.
They don’t seem to have any of the mannerisms common to the nobility… Adventurers then. The only other way I can think of to afford that kind of armor is adventuring.
By this point I’ve been studying them silently for a long time as we walk, and they’ve been returning the favor.
“What are your names?” I ask.
“I am Katharine Winters, and this is Leo Fisherman.” The woman speaks for them both it seems.
Leo looks up at her, surprise and a little confusion in his eyes, but a glance from her silences him.
“I am Samuel Weathers, Captain of the Guard. Now that we have the time, I am free to answer your questions.” I reply evenly. These two seem friendly enough, but they obviously are dangerous.
“First, the Healer said we were free to go, is he right?” the women says cautiously.
I’m glad Rodin isn’t here. He’d probably say ‘no’ as a joke and cause an incident.
“Yes. For your information, the god has made a deal with humanity, he represents us as we represent him now. He doesn’t require much of us, but part of the deal is not to make deals with other gods without consulting him. You may go wherever you wish, just be careful who you deal with.”
The woman shook her head. “I more wanted to know if we were prisoners. I believe I will stay here for a time. Are there any openings in the guard for two experienced fighters?”
A small smile is all of my amusement that I allow to show.
“We always have room in the guard, though you must go through the same training as everyone else. Report to Sergeant Vern Leonard for training as soon as we settle in wherever we’re going.” The man looks displeased with the prospect of going through training again, but raises no objections. I don’t think I’d enjoy getting kicked back to basic either to be honest, but for these two it’s more about becoming familiar with the command structure we use. They need to learn to take orders; I know some adventurers struggle with that.
“You are dismissed, recruits.”
Rodin Everblaze
Finally the march is over. After heading northeast all day, we finally break through the tree line.
The place we’ve emerged from the forest at is interesting. At least, interesting in the fact that nothing is here.
Part of me expected some sort of large land mark we’d have been shooting for, but all I see is an expanse of gently rolling plains, with a few copses of trees scattered around. The grass reaches up to our shins as it waves gently in the breeze. It’s a very peaceful scene.
As I look back at the forest, I am struck by how abruptly the forest ends. It’s all trees and undergrowth and then… nothing.
Curious, I cast my magic sight spell as the carts go rumbling past me, one after another.
That’s new.
The yellow nature magic of the forest that I know so well is present, right up until where the forest stops. Then an invisibly thin, smoky brown haze is present, obscuring nothing, but permeating the plains as far as I can see. The grass doesn’t even shine with the normal faintly yellow shading, as it might were the brown just obscuring the nature magic. No… This new magic is what grew the grass in the first place…
Disturbing. What could replace nature magic?
At least I can guess why the forest stops there. The two magics don’t seem compatible, so they remain separate somehow... But why is the border between them so straight? If they were competing for space it should be more variable.
Dismissing the spell, I return my focus to the caravan. I can sate my curiosity later. I have no official duties to perform here, aside from simply being prepared to help repel any attacks, but I still look for some way to help.
It would seem that this is our destination for some reason. Discord isn’t leading us anywhere, just waiting while the carts continue to roll out of the Forest of Watchful Shade. Or the Everfree. Whatever we’re calling it now.
Instead he’s manifested a huge map and is pouring over it. Curious, I approach him, hoping to catch a hint as to where we’re going. The map looks foreign, yet the words are familiar to me.
If he’s made it in words I can understand, he doesn’t care if I read it, right?
It’s a large map, covering unfamiliar geography. If I had been harboring any suspicions that this world was actually our own somehow, this dispelled them. Those mountains are entirely unfamiliar, as are the positions of all those lakes and rivers. At least I think that’s what they are… Do they have rivers connecting their cities? Will we need to build boats if we want to travel?
My eyes catch sight of a medium sized patch of greenery labeled ‘Everfree F.’ right next to a small town labeled ‘Ponyville’ ‘Intercontinental Chaos Capital’ ‘Fluttershy’s Place’.
Right…
“Got it!” Discord exclaims, seemingly talking to nobody in particular. He manifests a long paintbrush, dripping with what looks like red paint. A ways east of ‘Fluttershy’s Place’, next to the greenery, he draws a large circle. Glancing at the legend of the map, I let out a soft whistle. That’s quite the plot of land. It even crosses into the Everfree for a bit.
Somewhere in the distance, I can hear rumbling. Idly, I turn my head in the direction of the sound. In the distance, some sort of massive object is sliding across the horizon. It’s a familiar object too.
No way…
My eyes darting between Discord’s hand and the horizon, the two paintbrushes are identical, except for the scale, right down to what must be the thousands of gallons of red paint, dripping off of it…
Ok. Now I’m impressed. That is one way to mark out a territory. One readily obvious, unmistakable, way.
“Well that’s that.” Discord says, turning to us and arresting my attention. The last of the carts roll out of the forest as he addresses us. “Here you are! You’ve got plenty of room to build houses and farms and whatnot. Though I wouldn’t try crossing the border until the paint dries, if I were you. No telling what you might find out there…” He actually turns his head into the distance and scowls at the rolling hills. It’s amusing enough that I have to cover a smile.
His theatrics are growing on me, I think. Why be serious when you can make light of something? So long as you accomplish your goals either way, it can’t hurt, can it?
Still. I think I’ll be taking his words seriously, even if his demeanor does put me at ease.
Nobody seems to have anything to say, though some look like they wish to. Discord doesn’t seem to want to stick around waiting for them to work up the nerve though. “Well, if that’s it, I’ll leave you to it for now. Planning for the future can wait until later. If something happens, light something on fire, I’ll keep an eye out for the smoke.”
Before I can decide whether or not he’s joking, Discord is snapping his fingers and vanishing. The prospect of burning something again makes me wince a little. I still remember how my feet felt after Timber… That won’t stop me though. Burning things is in an Everblaze’s blood.
Come to think of it, I’m lucky Sophia hasn’t caused as many incidents as I did at her age… Perhaps it has something to do with the whole ‘End of the World’ thing?
Looking around, I can spot her in the crowd, standing with the few other kids her age in the village. That reassures me some. She should spend time with others her age while she can.
Before long, the people have shaken off the lethargy that seems to cloud their minds whenever Discord is around. Smiling ruefully, I shake my head at the folly of my people. I can certainly understand the fear of angering him, but I can take refuge in the knowledge that he has made a deal with us. Even trickster gods tend to honor their deals.
With the resumption of productive activity comes the need of the leadership to guide our efforts. In short order, Samuel and Alexander have us working on building our new home.
Rainbow Dash
“Rainbow Dash! Wake up!” A voice pierced my dreams and hauled me back to the waking world.
“Huh, Whazzat?” I mutter, sitting up on my low-flying cloud and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Below me, Twilight is fixing me with a worried look. “What’s up Twi?”
“Discord did something big east of Ponyville.”
I frown as my sleep-addled brain plays catch-up. There isn’t much important straight east of Ponyville; it’s all a bunch of forests and meadows until it gives way to the mountains near the coast, or the more arid desert climate to the south. Certainly no cities in that direction. So why would Discord’s screwing around with some landscape again be an issue? He’s allowed, the princesses had said, so long as he puts it back when he’s done.
Oh wait, I remember after a moment, Discord’s in charge of the humans now, or something. Twilight had written quite the hoof-full of letters in discussion with the other princesses in the days after the two of them had gotten back from the fires in the Everfree. Twilight had wanted to do something about the humans, but apparently Discord was handling it, and we weren’t to venture into the Everfree for a while.
Discord’s pretty powerful, so I figured he could handle himself. Of course, if he’s now doing big stuff in the middle of nowhere… could the humans be involved?
“What do you think he’s doing?” I ask.
“I don’t know. What you told me about,” she shudders, “the human’s sacrifices has me… concerned. Anyway, he outlined a huge region with red paint and I can sense a lot of chaos inside it.”
That was somewhat concerning. I’m no egghead, but wasn’t chaos generally a bad thing? And if Twilight’s worried about it, I should be too.
“So what should we do?”
“It’s a little early to jump to conclusions, why don’t we round up the girls and go investigate?”
I nod in agreement, stretching my wings in anticipation. “I’ll grab Applejack and Fluttershy.”
“Have them meet at the library.”
Twilight Sparkle
“Why’s it such a big deal, Twilight?” Applejack spoke up, “It’s not like anyone lives out here er nothin’. Except for the animals.” She amended, after Fluttershy shot her a look.
I can’t help but frown in concern at the situation. “Well, it wouldn’t be such a big deal, except for the fact that he’s affected a fairly large region, and it hasn’t gone away yet.” One of the terms of Discord’s release had been that, while he could use his chaos magic, he had to undo any large changes, and had to be extra careful where ponies’ lives and livelihoods were concerned. The fact that it hadn’t gone away in the last two days actually did warrant some kind of investigation.
“And she wants to see these humans for herself,” Rarity points out.
“If they’ve left the forest, I’m within my rights to visit!” I return, “Being a princess, I have a duty to make sure that Equestria isn’t at danger from these humans, if they’re there.” I still have trouble reconciling the old mythological creatures from old mares tales with these wielders of fire… And the whole sacrificing thing… I haven’t studied dark magic enough, having a healthy fear of the stuff, to know what kind of power Discord might be getting from these humans’ practices. It’s concerning, to say the least.
At the same time, the many letters I’ve been exchanging with the princesses repeat though my mind. They had been particularly insistent that we trust Discord with this matter, no matter how many doubts I have putting a spirit of chaos in charge of a mission of harmony. “Besides, we’re going to have to meet them eventually. No use putting it off.”
“Shouldn’t we be let’n them come to us though?” Applejack persists.
“Oh, this isn’t an official visit or anything. We’re just are making sure that whatever Discord’s doing in there isn’t worth panicking over.” I state with confidence.
“I’m touched, really.” A familiar voice drawls.
A few feet forward, at the top of the rise, stands the spirit in question with that perpetually amused expression of his.
Even after so much time, and with the enhanced senses of an alicorn, I’m still surprised at how he can sneak up on me while radiating all that chaos magic like some sort of beacon.
“Please, Twilight Sparkle, come take a look at ‘what I’ve done’.” He says, gesturing to the space beside him.
As one, the six of us crest the hill and look out over yet more of the endless road we’ve been following. A little ways up the next hill, a line of red cuts across the road, continuing into the grass on either side and extending into the distance in both directions. It’s a pretty large section of red too; about a dozen feet, maybe fifteen feet, wide.
What really catches my eye is how the surface is reflective, as if the paint is still wet. That doesn’t make sense. How can the paint be wet, it’s not running down the side of the hill…
“Well that doesn’t look so bad. I don’t know what you were so worried about, Twi!” a certain pegasus exclaims.
“It’s not what you can see that’s concerning, Rainbow, I can practically smell the chaos magic reeking from that paint all the way back in Ponyville.” The sensation of such strong chaos magic sort of feels like a minor headache, but not painful at all. It is like a constant, irritating, pressure in my… me, and it’s distracting me from more important things.
“Hm.” Rarity is frowning as she looks at the red paint quizzically.
“Alright, I’ll grant you it’s one of my… stronger workings, but it should be gone completely in a couple decades, not to worry.” says Discord.
“Decades?” I ask him, dryly.
In response, he looks at me pointedly. I put two and two together.
He knows?! I end up sputtering; trying to both form an objection, and come up with a plausible excuse at the same time.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, you’ll get used to it in time, Twilight Sparkle. Just, don’t try to cross the border until the paint dries. That’s what it’s there for.” He nods sagely, as if agreeing with himself.
Slowly getting control of myself, I realize that he’s distracted me from what I was here for in the first place. “So are the humans in there or not, Discord?” I manage to say, though I can feel my cheeks reddening at how foalish my lapse in control must have looked.
Discord rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. “Yes. But they don’t need visitors right now. Go home.”
Rainbow Dash looks like she’s about to argue, but Fluttershy speaks up first. “I think we should listen to him.” This is the first she’s really spoken up on the whole trip. She has our attention. “Discord’s in the best position to know when they’re ready to meet us. You’d trust my judgment on how to approach a hurt bear… So if he says to wait until later, we should.”
My first instinct is to just teleport across the border and go see for myself, consequences to Tartarus, but then again, going with my first instinct has never gotten me anywhere when it comes to Discord. Add that to how Fluttershy knows Discord better than any of us…
Rainbow looks like she’s sullenly accepted her lead, and the others seem to agree with her too. I mentally shelve my curiosity about the humans for later. “Alright, Fluttershy, we’ll play things his way for now.”
One by one, we turn and start the three-hour march back to Ponyville.
Glancing over my shoulder, I can see Fluttershy being the last to start back with us, having stayed behind, supposedly to share a few words with him in private. She seems satisfied with whatever he said. I guess I was just being a little paranoid.