//------------------------------// // A much-belated presentation // Story: Land of Friendship and Magic // by Archmage Ansrit //------------------------------// (Typhon, side room of Ponyville's town hall) Today was overcast, with the pale grey cover that hinted at the possibility of rain having rolled in from the forest during the night. It was pleasantly chilly, and the clouds covered just enough of the light to make my shadow impossible to see on the ground. My kind of weather. Relaxed, with a quiet, subdued magic of its own. It did not interfere with the normal schedule too much, and so, the weather ponies took the day off. Ponies needed more light - the source did not matter, but they usually preferred sunlight - than humans. At least, their... 'drive' did, so days like that were not as common as I'd like. (Not that it mattered, since I could just pull clouds of whatever shape to wherever I was whenever I wanted, and wouldn't be noticed so long as I did it outside of a cloud city's weather distribution area.) A lazy day was just fine, since Twilight had called for a meeting in front of the Town Hall; she had an announcement to make about a letter she received from Princess Celestia. About me. 'Don't I feel special.' After having gotten caught under-prepared twice, I had changed the standard-issue Got-tier hoodie with an enchanted lookalike made of sturdier materials, but, since I didn't have magic of my own, wearing enchanted clothes constantly got a little uncomfortable... Alright, so it itched like Hell's ants crawling under my skin if I went too long without giving them a rest, but enchanted clothes were simply a much more reliable defense than other things, like my 'gel viscosity' stat; it was impossible to predict whenever or not my body would react 'realistically', although getting sneak-attacked from the back seems like a sure-fire way to get killed. Celestia killed me, by accident, with a stone that by all rights should have bounced off my skin (although at the price of a portion of my health nicked in the process). That annoyed me. Even pre-Ascension I could knock down walls with my bare hands and only get a little sore after hours of doing it, and most of my gauntlets allow me to use my full strength and enhance damage output; normal people with normal weapons bother me at best, even with the heavy stuff... sure, things were different with weapons created trough special methods, but I at least knew what was happening and a pretty good idea of whenever or not it would hurt me. Not so much when super-powered or plain over-powered people were involved... seriously, a rock. To be fair, a normal human would have offered all of the resistance of overripe produce, so there was that. Still, wearing armor all the time made me paranoid... more paranoid, at least. The version of Equestria I called home could barely be called 'grim-light', even if there were more monster attacks than I had seen in others (Tirek's influence during the Shaping Era? Most likely); I had no need to do much, and ponies wouldn't do much, either. Not like some I have seen; I swear, it's like whoever made their world forgot it's supposed to run on the Elements of Harmony. Or that the princesses were supposed to be attuned to them a couple of times at the least... 'course, on the ones where the Ee-oh-Aitch aren't exactly benevolent it's a different story. I decided to wear a white dress shirt, silken with a touch of the Victorian era; I kept my vest (vibrant blue, of course) open in the front to show it off, and, like most everything of mine, it bore the Breath symbol. Pants that matched the vest, and gloves. Gloves were important. I hated having cold hands, since forever, and that didn't change in Tellus. Sure, The Four could help, and my own training allowed me to warm or cool the air around me at will, but... letting go and just feeling the air as it was - regardless of how it was - always felt relaxing. I had long since gained resistance to temperature, as well, but it was annoying when it got outside of normal human range. A bolo tie, with a silver and turquoise slide, completed my 'relaxed rich' look. Oh, and combing my hair so that it resembled a standard business haircut. Mostly. A little. I mean, one would have to be really close to notice... Well, The Four constantly tried to get me to wear something more 'Easterner'. Had this been a 'darker' place, I most likely would have - I mean, the amount of things one could hide in a kimono, hakama and haori? Unbelievable - even if cleaning them is a pain. And all of that extra space in the sleeves and those pleats was perfect to hide something more magically-discreet than enchantments (and less itchy to boot); they would require direct activation, and likely have either a shorter time limit per use or higher energy requirements, but they would also be on the strong side. Plus, protection from the Four or not, clothes would be a great choice for armor in a place where everyone can wield magic to some degree - I didn't have to worry about much else, thanks to sensing and other... measures. I was still waiting for Twilight to start, but the exact time for her announcement was still minutes away, so I took my mind off of it by talking to one of the representatives from Flitter's hive. He had the whole White Mage getup. Tough travel boots, tunic, belts with pockets and holsters for vials, pants, and the hooded robe - sans ears, however. It could be considered their badge of office; they get better, more personalized ones as they go up in their training, until they graduate, get their medical degree, and have a whole outfit. The level of the enchantments and the wholeness of the ensemble told me he was one of the more qualified ones. Healing magic got hard in the higher levels. I should know, I was there when Starswirl penned the first formulaic medical spell, and the first methodical procedural one, too; up until that, no pony without a specific alignment or compatibility with healing magic could cast anything meant for more than blood-clotting, pain relieving, and minor wounds - surgeries were nightmares, although a good doctor could still work wonders without specialized magic. Not that the formulae are easy, or that the procedures can't get tedious; even with benefits from instinct and alignment a caster needed a lot of power, skill, and concentration. Currently, he was a white-coated, purple-haired earth pony stallion with green eyes - most of Flitter's changelings used white somewhere in their disguised bodies, most commonly their coats. Must have left his focus someplace else; although not that much of an impediment for a changeling, their magical strength averaged lower than that of ponies and most needed the help. Love energy could help overcome that limitation, but they were stingy with its use - and for good reason. "How are things going over with the princesses?" I asked, thumbing the turquoise of the tie - a small, OCD-ish habit of trying to keep shiny things mark-free (and thus, shiny). "Everything is going smoothly - if I didn't know better, I'd say too smoothly." He replied, and detecting a small shiver running through his spine told me he had at least heard stories of some of the other places out there. "Even their most pressing demands are completely reasonable, stuff we overlooked or have no reason not to grant - particularly with what we are getting in exchange." He shifted from hoof to hoof slightly. "It must be nerve-wracking to be waiting for a horseshoe that will never drop." I said. "No kidding." He replied, nodding. "Still, are you sure a town this small needs a hospital that large?" I had seen the episodes, so yes; I'd say that, if I didn't push for it, the timeline itself would make sure that a hospital would happen there. The timeline didn't follow the show too closely, since Tirek was a god-like being that helped shape this world instead of a lowly demon would-be conqueror with delusions of godhood, but I knew many of the points of divergence - those that I had not caused myself, anyways. I shrugged. "Pretty sure; it's going to happen anyways, to tell the truth - weird time stuff. It will help ponies from other nearby towns; Canterlot is all the way up in the mountain, Las Pegasus and Haygas are almost as far as Manehattan is; Ponyville is a nice, central, easy-access place for ponies all the way to Hollow Shades; anything further is close enough to the other hospitals to make it just as easily." He bobbed his head as he acknowledged my point. "What do you think? Not too fancy, is it?" I gestured to myself, wiping the turquoise once more. "I don't want to be too formal..." "Huh? How so?" He tilted his head at my tone. "Why would that be a bad thing?" "Well, my communication and word-based powers are utterly broken, so I have to be careful with what I do and say while serious; there are no limits to the places a speech or a song can reach, even if I have never set foot in their universe." I sighed. "I once came across a memory, floating through the Astral realm, of a discussion that used arguments I've said word for word; it was a little spiel against arranged marriages, which fall apart due to those same powers. If I were to treat the princesses like some of the sycophants do, or allow myself to be addressed the way some of my titles imply, I would cause a catastrophe. I am only that formal facetiously, and only dress that formally for disguise or due to an obligatory dress code." "You're going to have to explain that one." He said, eyebrow raising in confusion. "Officially, this new level of power is known as 'God Tier', so there is that right at the beginning. On top of that, the powers are even greater and more diverse than before, and they were already pretty dang varied; they are unlocked through psychological, philosophical, or spiritual means, defined through semantics, and I can learn to use them depending on how important it is for me to use them." I began, while making a small blue twister on my open palm. "My Aspect, Breath, can be 'wind', or it can be 'voice', 'hearing', 'freedom', 'direction', and many more things; wind itself is also associated with knowledge, spirituality, travelling, and deep thought. On the other hand, my motivations, plans, and growth as a person are what give me the ability to act on it." "Advanced thaumaturgy mixed with narrative elements. I understand." He nodded. "Princes destroy their Aspect, or destroy through the power of their Aspect; Bards invite destruction through their Aspect, or allow the Aspect to be destroyed." The right whispers spreading could sink even the greatest of empires. "Muses inspire, Thieves steal for immediate benefit, Rogues steal for the benefit of their allies... all in all, I already had incredibly powerful abilities; the tricky part was thinking them up so that they wouldn't activate accidentally, and even then there was some overlap that caused trouble." "I take it that an attack with intent to harm would activate Prince and Bard powers, right?" He asked, to which I nodded; so many wrecked houses... "So, back to your demeanor... the more you believe, the stronger the inspiration... and the way you treat pon-people can count due to your Aspect." "Right again. Some versions of the sisters are actual goddesses, but we are not in presence of one of them. Suppose I go further than the bowing that is merely 'polite' and meant it, like I don't believe in equality, like Celestia is superior to every non-god... it would be a disaster, the same if I started lording status around; I could easily create three different religious movements in this world alone - if I'm lucky, they'll be ones in opposition to me and not her, but I doubt I can be that lucky - few things are as irritating as a bunch of people claiming that they are doing things for your glory even though they are against your morality." I paused, tapping my chin for a moment. "I think Celestia once had one such group arrested; they broke some laws in quite an idiotic way, given that Celestia herself wrote some of them. Afterwards, it was simply a matter of making sure they knew she didn't see herself as a goddess." I chuckled. "Funny, 'cuz she'd make a better goddess than many others, flaws or no." Then again, quite a few Celestias were like that, too, some of them actual goddesses! This one might have let the nobles walk over her to keep their tantrums contained, and sneak a proverbial cookie from the metaphorical jar to prevent them from escalating... but if they did escalate, she would not be afraid of taking their positions from under them, and letting everypony know. A ruler is not the one who is serviced, but the one who does the service; Celestia knew that nobles were supposed to be like that, but it seems that she just let them slack off a little too much in the last couple of centuries - though she has good ponies helping her, regardless. A god is suffused into the structure, instead of sitting at the top. Celestia doesn't care much (or at least pretended to, if I'm reading the situation correctly) about what one thinks of her, but Heaven help you if hurt a pony - she will know, she will find you, and she will make you regret it. She picks good ponies that do good work, their eyes and ears reach far indeed. A quick shake of the head from the shivers brought upon by the swift and decisive end of the war with the Minotaurs, and I was back to polishing the stone of my tie. Then, with the 'pop' and flash of a teleport, Kenner and Questant joined us. The disguised changeling scrunched his nose. "I don't think you should be up and about." He said. Disheveled mane, shaky legs, both of them signing off saying they each had found a place were to spend the night, and the scents. One didn't need to be me to know what they had been up to last night. "If everypony thought like that, half the town would have stayed home after Nightmare Night." Questant replied. "Our newest companion is feeling much better now, in any case." Kenner said, making me glad that my offer had been so well received; burning my hand was a small price to pay, and even that had healed without a trace by now. I ignored his smirk. "Besides, cleaning up is easy with this much magic at our disposal." "Special ink or no, I thought you only had a tenth of the original's reserves at best." My disguised friend said, and I nodded curiously. "Sure, they were great, but I thought you were supposed to be more frugal with your magic regardless." "Oh, there was that boost; we are full now." Questant said, perking up. I was really curious now, since it had been quite a while since they were first made (well, for most clone spells, even a single day was a long time); I mean, I knew they would have larger reserves than before, but they were made using the bare minimum requirements, so they would have to fill back up to full from mere dregs - but this much time? "Yeah, and the tenth part of a thousand is still a hundred." Kenner added, and my eyes widened. "So... confirmed?" I asked, voice shaking slightly. I already knew the answer, though, but hearing it would do me good. "Yep, we're at the old hundred-percent, which means we're combat-worthy!" Questant cheered. The normal method for the ink clone was decent in combat but insufficient for our plans, while the enhanced one was ill-suited for a fighting role - took too much time and preparation by comparison for a marginal increase in abilities - unless the end-result's reserves were large enough to comfortably face the enemy... which they were now, apparently. Huh, I guess that taking the time to make the better clones was worth it twice over. "Needless to say, the same goes for everything else." Yeah, well, the old ten percent was enough for a few soldiers, or bandits, but this was a serious level-up! Before, they would be better suited for support, or as magical batteries for some uses of familiars and similar spells that didn't rely too much on the caster's raw magic power - oh, sure, despite the extra preparations they were still frailer than a flesh and blood pony, but that was the reason I had the up-close-and-personal approach to fighting. The opponent was usually too occupied trying to keep their heads attached to their shoulders to even think of bothering my friends, after all. Risky tactics and clones were a fine combination, but they were the kind that usually produced collateral damage, which I didn't need any further help to make. Sibling's Cooperation was not the only piece of equipment based on the sisters, or the only legend-class equipment I had, after all. Punching dragonskin was easier when you used gauntlets with a golden horseshoe and a silver one covering your knuckles. Not elemental gold and silver, though - stuff bends like tinfoil on impact. "Still, I don't think-" A knock on the door told us it was showtime. ***** (Twilight Sparkle, Town Hall) Twilight, mane in a bun while wearing her Ribbon, eyed the human standing behind and to the side of the podium - though he was so tall he couldn't even use it as a lectern - and the pair of ponies standing beside him. The mare, Questant, was wearing simple green robes and a cloth Alice band. She also had earrings and a golden band on a hoof. The stallion, Kenner, wore a simple collar and a blue cravat, with a blue vest not dissimilar from Typhon's. Her focus, however, was on the cats both ponies carried on their backs. Small and short-haired, one was white like fresh snow, snuggling between Kenner's wings, while the other was blacker than coal and was lazily curled between Questant's shoulders. Occasionally, she would be able to see stylized, almost-feathery swirls on each one, and various markings as well as a thickening and thinning of an inky black outline around them reminiscent of the strokes of a brush; flickering, almost not entirely there, and partially concealed by the magic that rolled off the pair of ponies, but she could still tell that the cats were magical themselves. Familiars, according to some of the descriptions. The markings on the white cat were red, while the black cat's were yellow; they were likely not immediately visible for most, since they drew no reaction from most ponies save her friends and few others. She cleared her throat and prepared Celestia's letter. "Welcome, everypony!" She began with a cheerful smile. "I have called you here today to introduce you..." 'Even though most of us already know him.' The thought ran through her head, as well as that of her friends. "... to Typhon. Princess Celestia has entrusted me watch over him while he gets accustomed to living in the modern era." He, for his part, was mentally slamming his head against an imaginary desk. Celestia had a weird sense of humor to go along her political mind. "I still can't believe he's supposed to be that dragon's father, adopted or not." A distinctive and fairly irritating voice said, not too loudly, but Typhon still heard Diamond Tiara loud and clear. "I mean, dragons are rich; he's so poor he uses a string as a tie." Typhon wanted to grin at the opportunity, but outwardly showed a slight frown. "For your information, little girl, this is an authentic tie from the native buffalo tribes, and is worth more than half of my villa on my private island off the shore of Las Pegasus." He spoke with a soft twinge of annoyance, as if his pride had been slighted. Internally, he was laughing. Diamond Tiara made a little 'oh' face, and her reaction allowed everypony to see it had been her who he had responded to. Normally, she sought attention, but being put on the spot like that actually made her shrink back a little. "Really?" Twilight whispered to him. "Yes. I mean, I merely come from a technologically-advanced world, with the advantage in knowledge that implies, centuries of head-start, careful planning, peculiar resources, strange foreign magic, and the backing of several figures of importance." He shrugged, his flat delivery making Twilight's eye twitch. "Nothing much, but certainly one of those might explain why I have some money available." "Setting up that kind of things, then letting them be perpetuated through 'grandfather clauses' and figureheads is not that difficult in a place where each country has a few native immortals." Kenner said, and Twilight could have sworn that the cat nesting on his wings was grinning as it purred. She simply shook her head. "Anyways - Princess Celestia is counting on us to get him settled in, so, if anypony has a job-" "Whoa! Whoa whoa... a job?!" He interrupted, leaning over to read the letter. "Seriously? Huh, I think she didn't expect me to be independently wealthy." Something clicked inside Twilight's head. He had just admitted to having money, and even lands, plus she suspected he was involved ins some of the stranger investments during the history of Equestria (why else would a mostly-pegasus family invest in mines if not through the suggestions of someone else?). She had gotten a little caught up with the princess's letter to remember that, indeed, if Prosperity could produce large chests heavy with treasure, it was not outside the realm of possibility that he would have some bits himself. "What kind of things did you introduce to Equestria?" She asked. "Well... I assume everypony here has at least seen a canned drink, no?" He asked, and murmurs and nods rippled through the crowd. "It's very likely that the can was made of aluminium, which comes largely from bauxite, which requires special preparations to get the metal; without my intervention, it's possible that aluminium would be more valuable than gold. Happened back on my homeworld - kings and emperors saved aluminium cutlery for their most important guests, while everyone else 'had to do' with 'mere' gold and silverware. Who knows? It wasn't that hard in this world - alchemy, you see." "Oh." "Since I'm expected to be a contributing member of society, however, I should start by making a donation to the town." A bit bag appeared on his hands, then was allowed to rest upon the podium with the sound of the heavy coins jingling. Then, Twilight could have sworn she was hearing a cash register printing a long receipt, as the sound of hooves on wood got closer and- "Oof!" She was shoved to the side by an excited Mayor, having to hold on to the podium to avoid slipping right off. The mayor was squeeing like a little filly, the bit signs of her eyes never leaving the actual bits inside the bag - high-value, authentic gold ones, not the decorative brass of the single bit piece. The mayor twirled and clapped her hooves. "I would love to extent the most warm of welcomes to our humble town." She cheered as she hugged his waist, prompting him to scratch behind her ears. "Well, I can do very little against The Face." He said, rubbing his eyes. "Huh?" Twilight scratched her head, having recovered her place upon the podium. "Pinkie, if you could do the honors..." He sighed, cuing Pinkie to jump up into the stage from the crowd - even though Twilight distinctly remembered Pinkie being off to the side. Pinkie cleared her throat, coughing into her hoof, then made The Face. Her eyes got wide and watery, her ears fell back and drooped as low as they could go, and her lower lip was trembling and pointing outwards. Many ponies, particularly those with foals of their own, winced. "That's The Face, and it's power." Typhon also mumbled something like 'seriously, sad pony is worst pony'. "Anyways, I'll be around. Yes, I am over a thousand, and yes, I am my own brand of kooky." Typhon said, making some of the ponies chuckle. "Wait, will there be more humans popping up? How do you call them, anyways?" Rainbow asked, making the others focus on Typhon. "As for your second question, you just take an object that symbolizes you..." He took out a coin, identical to the one he gave Auric. "And recite an arietta or introduction - preferably dramatic." "Like back at the castle?" "I am Typhon, Heir of Breath; the presence, the absence, and everything in between. All who value and respect freedom are my friends, and all who would protect it may call me 'ally'. I shall fill the sails of those who call upon me." "That works, and I don't have to say it again!" He said, much to the confusion of the ponies - save for the mayor, who was too busy gawking at the money with her muzzle almost inside the bag. "Then, you find a way to toss it into the Void." He flipped the coin high into the air, took out his scissors, and pointed at it, letting loose a bolt of energy in all colors of the rainbow, in all hues and shades, speckled with black and white. *Plink* "It will then multiply and find its way to those that need it, who can then channel a bit of their own powers to act as a beacon or - in powerful bursts - actually open a gate. The owner-slash-maker will have to provide his or her own way through the Void if that's not the case. I have no problem; I am an experienced Void-walker, and can go anywhere I please, although my means of travel are not safe for any non-infant, or those without a particularly-open mind, or are highly-self-suggestible with a lack of focus, or lack an accepting nature, or those that over-think too easily... let's just say that that list is long." "Why infants, though?" "Because they are easy to distract." Typhon shrugged. "And for the first question - I don't know. I have some ideas, plus, I am going to toss the heavier part of my arsenal once it's time for the final showdown, and I managed to get some assistance to... well, long story short, they cannot come in for now, giving me some time to prepare." The gathering got uncomfortable at that point. Verre had been worrisome, as she had been a little too eager to use lethal force, specially on someone that wasn't as protected from such things as her. And the dossier said the last two would hold even less back, and their magics were even more dangerous.