Alternate Geoverse #6: A Season Of Terror

by GeodesicDragon

Fallout

Dr. Robo descended from his craft, hovering high in the air. The cloaking system would make it look like a cloud, preventing any scouts from Canterlot from finding him. The bots down below had been scouting a ruin for some time, and Robo had come to check up on them. Floating at the bottom of the gravity lift was Grav-bot, currently in charge of the exploration of the old ruin. "Grav-bot, report," Robo demanded. "Is this ruin suitable for a base?"

"Unknown at this time, Doctor," Grav-bot replied, the metallic voice echoing from the squid-like machines speaker. "An event has occurred. Your interest is projected, as the event is related to your current objective."

Dr. Robo raised an eyebrow as he folded his arms. "Explain."

"The walls of the ruins depict runes," Grav-bot explained. "Theory: the artefact appears to have the ability to corrupt anything. Reference: the runes on the ruin walls. Current objective: the conquest of Equestria. Projected conclusion: corruption may be instrumental with any plans you may create."

"I see," Dr. Robo stated, nodding understandingly. He was indeed intrigued, but he needed to know more about this artefact. "What is it called? And where is it?"

Grav-bot processed the query for a moment. "The artefact is known as the Satchel of Shadows. Reference: the runes on the walls. The artefact is located deeper within the ruins themselves. Reference: the runes on the walls. Exploration teams have been dispatched to retrieve the artefact, but a contradiction has been found. Contradiction: the artefact is in the centre room of the ruin. Reference: the runes on the walls. The artefact is not in the centre room of the ruin. Reference: reports from exploration teams."

Dr. Robo had an unreadable expression on his face. "Show me," he demanded. Grav-bot flew off at walking speed, with Dr. Robo following close behind him. The bot led him through a labyrinth of stone, going deep underground by several floors. Different bots were busy retrofitting the ruins for habitation and factory construction, as well as disabling traps and opening doors set up in the ruin itself.

Grav-bot entered a large chamber in the centre of the complex, with Dr. Robo following close behind. Inside was a pedestal, with various markings around it, similar to the runes outside. Dr. Robo inspected the rest of the room, and saw four pillars at each corner. Behind one of the pillars, however, his eyes caught something. Casually strolling over to it, he saw the skeletal remains of what appeared to be a pegasus. He turned back to Grav-bot. "Help me extract these remains," he ordered.

The pegasus seemed to have been dead for centuries, but his saddlebags had held up remarkably well. Whoever he was, if it was indeed a male, seemed to have been an adventurer. Dr. Robo didn't have any respect for the stallion, however. Without being phased by the fact that he was looting a corpse the mad scientist reached into the saddlebags, searching around to see what he could find. Most of it was random tidbits and a couple of valuable looking gems, but when he got his hands on a book he pulled it out and dusted the cover off.

The book had some sort of parchment over it, suggesting that the stallion wanted it to keep for a long time. And boy, did it work. Dr. Robo was able to open the book with hardly any difficulty, and spent some time reading what he found to be a diary of the fallen adventurer. Skipping ahead to the latest entry, he tried to see if it had any clue as to the whereabouts of the missing artefact. After he finished he closed the book, muttering a curse under his breath.

"The artefact is not here," he concluded, turning to face Grav-bot. "This pegasus was poisoned by one of the ruin's traps. In his last entry, he stated that he was trying to get the artefact before a rival unicorn could get their hooves on it. He made it as far as this room but collapsed with his prize in sight, and the poison wearing on his body. The unicorn followed in a few minutes later, and offered the pegasus help, but the pegasus responded by spitting on the unicorn's hoof. From that point on the unicorn, likely insulted, completely ignored him. The last page states that the unicorn took the Satchel of Shadow, shortly before leaving the pegasus to die." He shook his head. "We can worry about the Satchel later."

"No we can't!" echoed the voice in his head.

Dr. Robo looked up, and thought to himself. We have no leads on the Satchel, and it likely doesn't have any power anyway. It's been sealed away for Celestia knows how long.

"The Satchel is key to our conquest! Its power is equal to that of the Elements of Harmony, for the Rainbow of Darkness is contained within!" reasoned the voice. "Without the Satchel of Shadow, we can never hope to stand against Celestia and her Elements of Harmony! Equestria is united behind her, and her power is leagues above yours!"

Dr. Robo was silent for a moment, before turning to speak to Grav-bot. "We will need the Satchel, so we won't completely ignore it. Get CABAL to analyse any data on the Satchel of Shadow, and see if he can't pinpoint its location. Have the rest of our forces continue construction on the base." An idea popped into his head, and a malicious grin formed on his lips. "Actually, I'm going to take a detachment of bots with me. If what I've researched is true, then I'll need to dress warmly." After his ominous statement, Dr. Robo strode out of the ruin, back toward his ship.

The journey to Canterlot was, unsurprisingly, a very quiet one. At first the conductor refused to let us on, citing the fact Ponyville had just been set on fire, but he was quick to relent when Twilight and I pulled rank on him and ordered him to prepare a train for us.

It's a good thing we had to wait for the train to be prepared, as Twilight and I had to rush back to the library for Azure and Evening. We arrived back, red-faced and with two sleepy and confused foals in tow, to sniggers from the guys and stifled giggles from the girls.

Settling into the carriage, each of us seemed preoccupied with our own thoughts. Rarity and Fluttershy were still tending to Pinkie, who had also brought Chocolate along. Spike and Haywick watched their marefriends with unsure looks on their faces, Dash and Spark opted for looking out the window at the scenery, and John had his arms around Applejack so tight, he looked like an accessory.

Other than the occasional giggle from the foals, the journey was completely silent. Every now and again we would catch the eye of one of the others in the carriage and offer them a weak smile, but we knew that all the talking would be done in Canterlot.

As the train pulled into the Canterlot station, we could see that the place was a hive of activity. Several Royal Guards, fully armed and armoured, were lining the platform, so we guessed that word had finally reached the city of the events which had transpired in Ponyville. All of the guards were looking around nervously, particularly towards the sky.

Wordlessly, we got off the train and stood on the platform. The guards snapped to attention as one of them, a unicorn stallion wearing the armour and sash which signified his rank as Captain, approached us and saluted. He had a crimson coat, a crimson mane and a crimson tail — both of which were very fluffy-looking, even under the helmet he wore. His cutie mark was the symbol used in chess to denote the king.

"Your Majesties," he said. "My name is Crimson Star. I am the new Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, and I have been expecting you all. Time is of the essence, so if you would be so kind as to follow me, I will escort you to where Princesses Celestia and Luna are waiting."

"Lead the way, Captain," I replied.

As we started walking I couldn't help but notice that the girls, except for Pinkie and Fluttershy, were giving Crimson Star evil looks. He didn't seem to notice, but if he did then he was doing a good job of hiding it.

"Hey, Twilight?" I whispered. "What's wrong? Why are you all giving him the stink-eye?"

"Crimson Star is notorious for having hit on pretty much every mare who lives in Ponyville," she sighed. "He's tried it with me, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack. He didn't talk to Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie seemed oblivious to what he was doing."

"When was this?" I hissed. "Was it recently?"

"No," Twilight said calmingly. "This was months before I met you, and I turned him down quicker than you can blink. I guess you could say that I was just waiting for the right man to arrive and sweep me off my hooves."

I grinned and kissed her on the cheek as Crimson Star opened the ornate doors leading into the throne room. We could see both Luna and Celestia, holding quills in front of them as they worked through a small mountain of parchment. The sound of the door creaking caught their attention and they looked up, fixing small smiles on their faces as they saw us.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed happily, breaking into a gallop so that she could greet her mentor.

"Twilight, my faithful student," Celestia cooed in relief, giggling to herself as she bent down to embrace Twilight. "Old habits are hard to break, aren't they, princess?" She asked with a smile, trying to mask the shadows under her eyes with a gentle expression.

The worry in Twilight's eyes, however, let Celestia know that she wasn't fooled. "Is everything all right, Celestia? You look tired."

"I've been spending most of the day dealing with the fallout from..." Celestia sighed. "The fallout from Ace's attack on Ponyville. Everypony is up in arms, and the Ratification Council is demanding that something is done. Not just about Ace, but humans in general. It's proving to be rather tiresome."

"The Ratification Council?" I asked in response to Princess Celestia's complaint. "What's that?"

Twilight huffed, looking up at me with disappointment. "Honestly, Geo," she scolded. "Didn't you pay attention to your description of duties when you were coronated?"

I put a hand behind my head, embarrassed. "Um, no," I admitted. "I was too busy thinking about... other stuff."

Twilight rolled her eyes before bringing a hoof to her face, having figured out exactly what I was thinking of. "Oh, for the love of..." She performed the stress relief exercise Cadence had taught her and then continued talking. "Our duties as members of the royal family are to protect the ponies of Equestria, and make decisions based on the problems we perceive with the nation. Our decisions come in the form of decrees, and every decree we make has to be approved by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. But even if we have a decree approved, there's no guarantee it'll be carried out, because it then has to go through the Ratification Council. The council consists of seven ponies who vote on whether or not the decree should be ratified. A position on the council is elected, rather than given by sovereignty."

"Why do you have all these hoops?" John asked. "Why not let the Royal Family rule? Its members seem to be pretty down-to-Earth."

"You've obviously never met Prince Blueblood," I muttered.

"The checks and balances are there," Twilight continued, "to prevent certain ponies from making outrageous or overzealous decrees that would send Equestria back into the Age of Winter."

"Speaking of which, the council has been making some rather ridiculous proposals," Celestia sighed, rubbing her temple with a hoof. "One of the perks to being elected into the council is that you can propose decrees to the Royal Family. They still have to go through approval and ratification before being issued as an edict, but it gives the council a certain measure of power. In this way, Equestria can be considered both a democracy and a monarchy at the same time."

"But this nasty business with Ace's apparent fall to darkness has left a bad taste in everypony's mouth." Luna added. "None are reacting as badly as the council. This morning alone, my sister and I have received over thirty proposals for new edicts against humans. The least infuriating one demands that any and all humans in Equestria be accompanied by three guards at any given time with orders to kill them if they are deemed 'unsafe to the public'. The proposals get progressively darker from there."

"Well," John said flatly. "That's a fair load of shit right there."

"You can say that again," I replied. "I seriously hope that none of these crazy ideas become law."

"Worry not, dear friends," Luna soothed. "My sister and I shall do everything within our power to ensure these laws do not come to pass. We... only wish that we could assist you more directly."

"Perhaps you can," I stated, stepping forward. "We're not entirely sure what to do about Ace."

"Geo, no," Twilight interjected. "Celestia and Luna have enough on their plate as it is. Why should we ask them for more than they're already giving?"

I shrugged. "What? It's not like I'm asking them to drop what they're doing and do our job for us. I was just wondering if they knew of any other ways to get Ace under control, in case the Elements didn't work. I mean, that's why we came here, isn't it?"

Twilight was about to respond, when Celestia spoke. "Unfortunately, no. We've never dealt with humans invading our world. You could say you're the first," she said, giving a tired smile at her own joke before sighing. "Forgive this princess. I only meant to lighten the mood, but in my fatigue I had forgotten how hard this must be for all of you."

There was a collective moan of disappointment from everyone. I couldn't believe that there was no way to stop Ace without the Elements, but everything seemed so dark at this point. As we were about to thank Celestia for her time, she perked up slightly. "However, Princess Luna and I were at one time great heroes that travelled the land you now know. We fought the darkest of evils. Perhaps we can dispense some wisdom of dealing with foes that seem to operate on similar principles to Ace's."

"Yes, 'tis true." Luna added, looking up from a bill that she had clearly denied, if the smouldering parchment was anything to go by. "For an enemy on the move, the best tactic is to follow him and observe his movements. That would give you the best insight on how to defeat him."

"But we don't even know where he is!" Rainbow exclaimed indignantly. "How the hay are we supposed to find him?"

Celestia hummed as an idea came to her. "You know, we're not the only ancient beings who have the ability to help in some capacity. In fact, aside from myself and Luna, there's another such being here in this castle."

I tried to think. Were there any other immortal beings in the castle I didn't know of that could help? Well there's one, but...

"Wait a second, Celestia," Twilight said, interrupting my train of thought. "You can't possibly mean—"

Her words were interrupted by the sound of chuckling that reminded me of John De Lancie. Suddenly, the familiar face and unmistakable body of Discord appeared out of thin air, laughing his gut out. "Oh, that's a hoot, Celestia!" he laughed. "And here I was, thinking that you didn't have a funny bone in your body!"

I heard Rarity whispering behind me. "Fluttershy, he's your friend now, isn't he?" she asked, to which Fluttershy nodded. "Then could you be a dear and ask for his help? He'll respond better to you." At this, Fluttershy nodded again and flew up to the draconequus.

"Um... hi, Discord," she said with a smile. "I take it you were listening in on our itty-bitty conversation?"

"Of course I was," Discord said with a smile, as he snapped his fingers and changed into a pile of ears with a face. "You could say I was... all ears!" He guffawed.

There are some things that Discord does which are either really cool or funny, and then there are some things that he does which are either annoying or disgusting. This fell into the latter category. Thankfully, in a flash of light, he transformed back.

Fluttershy gave him a nervous smile. "Well, maybe you'd like to... um... help us find Ace? Please?" She looked at Discord expectantly.

Discord brought his lion paw hand up to his chin in thought, as he looked up at the roof. "No," he said, facing back to Fluttershy with a grin. It didn't take him long to reach the conclusion, I noticed. Celestia looked at Discord sternly, as the ponies gasped. Discord noted the reaction, and blinked. "What?"

Fluttershy turned angry. "Discord! You promised to help us when you said you were reformed! I can't—"

"A tut-tut-tut-tut!" Discord interrupted. "You know I made no such promise." He said, causing the room to disappear, and the backdrop changing to Ponyville. Everyone turned into translucent versions of themselves. Including me, which I thought was kinda cool. I looked over, and saw the scene set for right after Discord was reformed. "Don't you remember my exact words?"

We all watched as past events unfolded: Discord approached Celestia, who was watching him with a small grin on her face. He bowed before her and said, "Princess, I am ready to use my powers for good." There was a slight pause before he added under his breath, "Most of the time." The Discord that was with us snapped his fingers, and we were all back in Canterlot, in the castle.

"I only said that I'd use my powers for good. I never promised to help you," Discord said as he summoned up a hammock, laying on it with a coconut in his hand which had a straw sticking out of it. "I gave myself an out, in case I wanted to sit back, relax, and watch the show." He said with a grin, flicking down a pair of sunglasses over his face. "And what better show than this? Poor Ace has gone absolutely nuts, and is intent in sowing confusion and destruction in Equestria! Because of this, ponies everywhere are becoming distrustful of humans! Chaos is spreading, and I don't have to lift a claw to move it along! Why would I ever want this to stop?"

Twilight stepped forward, trying to plead with him. "Discord, please. Fluttershy is your friend, right? Well Ace is her friend too, and it pains her to see him like this."

Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, that's true. I really don't want Ace to do this to Equestria, I'm afraid. Not of him, but for him. Please, Discord, help us."

Discord raised his shades and, for a moment, I thought he was going to give in. But instead he crossed his arms, looking rather annoyed. "Fluttershy, you know I hate seeing you upset. But if I did help you solve all this, it'd be as a HUGE favour. And you know my policy on favours. Put quite simply, there's not a thing you can do to repay me if I helped," he finished by sticking his nose up in the air with a small smirk.

Everyone was annoyed with how stubborn Discord was being, including me. And so, in a rare fit of outrage, I shouted at him. "Oh, for fuck's sake, Discord! It's in your best interests to help us!"

All attention turned to me as Discord chuckled. "Oh? I should want to help you? Well then, go on," He snapped his fingers and suddenly, I was standing on a podium with a spotlight centred on me. "Let's hear your side of the debate then. How are you so certain that it's in my best interests to help you, Prince Geo?" He disappeared, and soon reappeared at a podium on the opposite end of the throne room.

I took a moment to think about it as I honestly didn't have a clue how it would help him to help us. I just said it in the spur of the moment. "I... uh..." I struggled to find words for a moment, before I just decided to wing it, thinking about past events. "Think about it, Discord. If Ace is serious about taking over Equestria with the Steel Empire, then he's gonna want to get everyone associated with Princess Celestia captured and locked away, or worse. Ace has a good chance of beating you because, if you'll remember, he did manage to trap you in that shield."

Discord yawned as he polished his talons on his coat. "And? He can't get me using the same trick twice."

I pounded the podium in frustration. "But he's more unpredictable than you are!" I asserted.

That caught Discord's attention, and he glared at me. "Me, less unpredictable than some mere mortal?" he scoffed. "Poppycock! I'm the spirit of Chaos! I do chaotic things! Look!" He snapped his fingers, and text appeared above him, as if he were a character in World of Warcraft. The text read 'DisUnpredictabilityCord' "Unpredictability is my middle name!" He insisted.

I folded my arms. "And yet you predictably go out of your way to perpetuate chaos," I said with a smirk. "He'll use that against you and trap you." This caused Discord to stop and think, so I pressed my advantage. "And don't think for a second he won't come after you, because the last I checked he still considered you an enemy."

Discord was silent for a long moment, as he just stared at me. Eventually he spoke. "… well, I never thought of it like that," he said. He snapped his fingers, and the podiums disappeared. "All right I'll help, but only insofar as I give you information and hints."

"That works," I said as I turned to Twilight and winked. She gave me a huge grin in return.

"And even then, I will do it in the way I know best," Discord said, causing the rest of us to turn to look at him curiously.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked him, accusingly.

Discord only smiled, and began floating around us while reciting a rather strange riddle.

A pregnant silence befell the throne room, as we all tried to make sense of the riddle. Suddenly, John broke the silence. "... what the fuck kinda hint was that?!" he shouted indignantly.

"That's all the information I can give you, right now," Discord told us. "Will you figure out my little riddle? Ooh, the suspense is killing me!" He laughed, as his coconut drink and sunglasses reappeared. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to enjoy a few rays of sunlight while Celestia still controls it. Toodle-loo!" With one last snap of his fingers he disappeared in a flash of light.

I sighed. "It's not much." I said. "But at least it's something. Come on, everypony, let's figure this out. Because the sooner we do, the sooner we can help Ace."

Everyone nodded and we set about undertaking the task of solving the riddle Discord had left us with. I don't know much about riddles, given the fact I'm not really into word games, but I did know one thing.

It was going to be a long night.

Deep in the wreckage of Manglanosa's base in Ghastly Gorge, something stirred. A capsule came online, with the computer screen next to it flashing. Warning: Reserve power failure. Containment breach imminent. The screen flickered, and the entire pod went offline. Suddenly a large, fist shaped dent appeared in the door of the pod. Two more came rapidly after that, before the door flew off its hinges. Amongst the mist that poured out, a deep, menacing voice bellowed out a single word.

"Sorou..."