Epiloque - Interview With a Human
“I understand the importance of this procedure, Kamos, but I doubt its urgency. I have yet to learn how to properly control the two spirits co-habitating my body.” Luna groaned out, as she struggled to find a comfortable way to sit in her strange simian body.
“Your withdrawal from public office and subsequent quarantine are things I understand and have given my full support on, but I will not allow you to hinder my investigation into what happened to Fenrir after your spell was manipulated by Discord. I have to know how the three recorded spirits affected the intended purpose of your spell and how that played into the deaths of 5 members of the guard and dozens injuries both within and without my squad.” Kamos droned in an official tone, as he leaned on the table between them slightly and perused the reports his squad commanders had issued, detailing all they knew of the Fenrir incident.
“First of all, you discouraged the pursuit and confinement of Fenrir after the completion of your spell. You also failed to bring Discord’s involvement into our knowledge, even after his subsequent imprisonment dispelled any blocks he might have placed on your memory.”
“Well, it’s not like she knew the spell hadn’t worked. Fenrir was keeping away from large population centres and hunting only non-sentient prey, so I’d wager she wanted to see if the spell had worked, despite Discord.” Luna shot out, her whole stature changing from uncomfortable and nervous into confident and relaxed in the span of seconds.
“From Luna’s preliminary report and my own observations, I assume I am talking to the spirit named “Smuggler” am I correct?” Kamos made a note of the fact that the obvious signs of possession had disappeared when Soldier was extracted. Luna’s eyes were not glowing, like they had before and only the change in accent and body language gave away the possession. That would require increased scrutiny in the future.
“The artist formerly known as Smuggler, maybe.” Kamos arched an eyebrow at the spirit’s elated attitude and Smuggler obviously read that as confusion. Luna’s body leaned her elbows on the table between them and started to animatedly gesture with her hands as Smuggler spoke. “They’re more like placeholders until we figure out what to actually call ourselves. You see, Priest is called that because his religion fucking shines off of him, Soldier’s got the name because he wore an uniform and had a gun and I was coined Smuggler because I’m a dodgy looking motherfucker. I think we were able to fight against both Fenrir and Luna’s spell because we were able to give each other this slim semblance of individuality. Actually, that might have been all that Discord did; give us that chance to interact with each other and subsequently fight what Luna’s spell was doing to us. By the way, Luna’s fighting to get back on top, so you have time for one more question before I take a breather.”
“Why go to Ponyville? There are many settlements between the gate and Ponyville, yet Fenrir was very careful to avoid detection, before surfacing at Sweet Apple Acres.”
“It was the only place, other than Canterlot, that we knew. We couldn’t go to Canterlot as Fenrir would most likely end up biting somepony’s head off in five minutes, but I was pretty sure that the Element bearers would be enough for us to wrestle control from Fenrir. Believe it or not, I was trying to achieve my goal without killing anything capable of speech.” Luna’s body knocked on the sturdy table between them with the knuckles of both of her hands in a peculiar rhythm and her posture immediately slouched and her eyes became more alive.
“Do you have anything to add to Smuggler’s testimony, Luna?” Kamos asked, with only a miniscule amount of worry lacing his voice. Luna leaned back in the chair far too small for her elongated frame and gave a tired smile at the passive zebra, before taking a few deep breaths and answering.
“Ponyville didn’t exist in Fenrir’s time, nor were the elements something he had encountered before being locked away. Fenrir’s compulsion to go to Ponyville and torment the Element Bearers came exclusively from the humans. Fenrir didn’t care about the bearers, but the humans needed them to push past Fenrir’s control. They directed Fenrir there so that they could get to the element bearers, I do not know of their intentions beyond that.” Luna wearily answered, clutching her head with both of her hands.
“Is this battle for control the reason for Fenrir’s erratic behavior?”
“Yes, some if not all of it. I think they tried to completely circumvent Fenrir at first, but ultimately they were reduced to only steering him into making rash decisions that played into minimizing the damage he could cause. Attacking a fully grown dragon, assaulting the guards I sent to protect the Elements while covered in its blood, letting Fenrir attack me and then letting me go. These are all instances where there was a far more practical approach to the problem, but the humans steered Fenrir toward a solution that put the least ponies in harms way and put Fenrir in the most danger.”
“I assume this is Smuggler’s side of the story.” Kamos interjected. Luna looked up to the zebra’s steady gaze and curved her lips in a humorless smile.
“I know he isn’t telling the whole truth and whatever he does tell us paints him as the good guy. He seems to be incapable of being honest, from all I’ve seen of him, but his story does correspond with the facts we know. I think that’s all we can expect of someone with the alias of The Liar.”
“So it is your belief that Smuggler was the one that orchestrated the attack on the elements and organised the local Diamond Dogs into a rogue militia?” Kamos asked after a moment of silence. He was not disappointed, as Luna’s body language changed almost instantly and her smile widened into something that was almost genuine.
“Just so you know, I know you’re playing me, but I can’t ignore a bait like that.” Luna fidgeted in her chair and after a moment settled on leaning her elbows on the table again. “It is true that the idea and strategy behind Fenrir’s last stand came from me, but that is all that I contributed into the effort. The dogs’ near fanatical trust and adoration toward Fenrir was something that came from Soldier’s failure of keeping Fenrir out of the equation.”
“Please elaborate.” Kamos almost immediately responded, not in the mood to let the human set the pace of the conversation. He knew enough about this particular spirit to know that he would try to answer a baiting question with another leading statement or similar trick, just to aggravate him.
“Well, we were not actually that aware of what was happening outside. I knew a lot through deduction and shit, but it’s not like we had a window looking out or anything. I supplied Fenrir with knowledge and witty banter when needed and was very rarely actually in control of his body. Soldier was the only one who actually had intimate dealings with the beast and all they did was try and to kill each other most of the time. It’s not something that’s easy to put in meatbag terms, but it’s fair to say that anything clever or smart Fenrir did or said was most likely my doing, the rest was Soldier steering him in the right direction to the best of his ability.” Smuggler accompanied his statement with a lot of deliberate movements of Luna’s hands, but it did not help to get his message across to any discernable degree, as Kamos had never had such appendages and has had little dealings with either minotaurs, diamond dogs, or juvenile dragons.
“What do you mean by that? Didn’t you have control over Fenrir’s actions?”
“Oh fuck… Tell me you are kidding.” Luna’s smile widened into a genuine grin and her body leaned closer to the zebra. “Are you saying you don’t know the original purpose of the spell? You think it was just to heal Fenrir? This is priceless.”
“Enlighten us.” Kamos offered in a careful deadpan, still not willing to fall for the spirit’s provocative tricks. It was strange how hard it was not to let the spirit get under his skin with such juvenile tricks, but the zebra had decided not to play his game. It was the thought that the spirit might have had an agenda behind provoking him that gave Kamos the stubbornness needed to ignore him.
“I could just throw Luna under the proverbial bus and let her explain it, but I think I’ll save both of us some time and just tell you what I know.” Smuggler propped Luna’s elbows on the table and then rested her head on the palms of her hands. “The spell was not only meant to heal Fenrir, as that’s what Priest did, so there shouldn’t be any need for either Soldier or I, right? I believe Luna wanted to not only heal Fenrir, but she also wanted to change him. The original purpose of the spell was to also convert Fenrir’s mind and soul into an amalgamation of Priest, Soldier and I. Discord pulled us out of that particular meat grinder and subsequently saved the lives of my compatriots and I, but also sent Fenrir down a path that led him to become the insane violent thing you fought.”
“My experts guessed as much, but it’s good to have confirmation on Discord’s involvement. From what I’ve seen and what you’ve told me I will assume that you were meant to be the part of the spell that mended Fenrir’s mind and Priest healed his body according to your statement. What was the intended purpose of the spirit called Soldier, if those two things are true?”
“I could answer that, but that just might sully the image you have of your dear princess of the night. As much as I might dislike her, I still have to share a brain with the mare, so it is up to her to decide how much you know.” Luna’s body tensed up again and Kamos saw Luna’s tired fear take over Smuggler’s manipulative elation.
“He phrased that to imply I know more than I actually do, I hope that much is obvious.” Luna croaked out tiredly, bringing a hand in front of her mouth to cough. Kamos nodded to one of the night guards in the room and Luna had a class of water in front of her a moment later. Rather than use her magic to pick up the glass, Luna gripped it with her spindly fingers and took a sip. She paused with the half-empty glass in her hand, probably realizing that she had defaulted to using her new appendages, rather than the magic she had lived centuries with.
“I believe Priest’s magic is circumventing the problems I should be having acclimating to this strange body. I still feel like a pony, but I hardly have to think about walking on two legs, or using these hands to manipulate both magic and objects.” To prove this point Luna waved the fingers of her free hand and the remaining water in the glass flowed out to form a perfect sphere above the table between them. Her horn was not glowing, but there was a faint glimmer around the digits of the hand she had waved towards the water.
“What was Soldier’s part in the spell, Luna?”
“Soldier did as all soldiers are ought to do, he fought Fenrir’s control over them.” Luna set the empty glass down and spread out both of her hands towards the sphere of water. The water split into three equally large parts. “Your mages have most likely deduced that the spell was split into three parts, hence the three human personas. I can only make a less than educated guess, as Soldier’s last act robbed any intricate detail needed to cast these magicks, but I can grasp the overall mechanics of the completed spells well enough.”
“First, there is the mind, Smuggler’s domain.” Luna said, twisting a hand toward the leftmost sphere. The water immediately broke out of its rigid state and started to move about erratically, forming into nearly coherent shapes, before breaking apart and flowing seamlessly into another senseless shape. “Reactive, quick to adapt and hard to grasp fully, as any brilliant mind should be, but without the other two to balance it, it is unstable and erratic.”
“Then, the Body, Priest’s responsibility.” Luna clenched a fist and the middle orb of water expanded into a sphere of ice and dropped onto the table with a heavy thud. “Unassailable, a steadfast constant to bind the other aspects together and reign their volatile natures in. The unchanging nature bolsters the body’s healing to a ludicrous degree, but without guidance from the other aspects, it is likely to do more harm than good.”
“Then there’s Soldier’s duty, the Soul” Luna unclenched her fist and with a blast of heat the third orb exploded into a wildly contorting mass of steam. The swirls of steam were in constant violent motion and barely contained by Luna’s trained telekinesia. “Volatile, overwhelming and in constant state of flux. The need to attack, to do and make a difference is what defines this aspect and as a result it is almost impossible to contain, or deny it.”
“So, you do not know what effect Soldier could have on Princess Celestia?”
“I have lost such insights on this type of magick, as I stated before. Given the apparent roles both Smuggler and Priest fulfill I would assume Soldier’s magick would give him some control over one’s actions. If he is indeed alive in any way, then any contact he would have with my sister would be quite noticeable.”
“It did seem like Soldier was the one holding you back when you extracted them out of Fenrir. How can Smuggler take control of your body, if subduing your will was Soldier’s aspect of the spell?”
“I create a false memory where this conversation is going on normally and Priest’s presence gives me rudimentary control over Luna’s muscles.” Smuggler proudly explained as Luna leaned forward again and the orbs of water dropped on the table, drenching the papers he’d brought for reference. They were there more or less for show, but it still aggravated him to have any official documents stained in such a way.
“Do you have anything to add to Luna’s testimony?”
“I’ll state the obvious and say that she only deduced the original aspects of the spell, Discord’s involvement didn’t factor into her deductions and I feel kind of disappointed that she didn’t mention that. I’d say we are somewhere between sentient spell formulas and actual spirits, at the moment. I’m not sure what Soldier is, after all he’s gone through.” Kamos noted that Luna’s body was not emoting with her words to any degree and Smuggler’s statement was delivered in a plain monotone. The spirit must have been running on metaphysical fumes after fighting the moon diarch for control as long as he had.
“You believe Soldier survived the spell used to heal Princess Celestia?” Luna’s lips jerked up in a mockery of a smile and Kamos could see the spirit’s mirth shining from Luna’s eyes.
“Giving up is not in his nature, besides, Celestia might not survive the wedding without him.” The Spirit’s amusement disappeared from Luna’s eyes and was replaced by the night diarch’s tired annoyance.
“Do you have any idea what he was talking about?” Kamos asked Luna, filing away the spirit’s mention of a wedding where Celestia would actually attend. That narrowed down the list of potential newlyweds considerably, but he would have to investigate all possible avenues, despite the possibility of the hint being a red herring.
“He has hinted toward knowing about past and future events before, but he particularly enjoys dropping hints about this hypothetical wedding and how I will not be invited.” Luna tiredly leaned back and covered her face with her hands.
“Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Equestrian politics would at least invite you, if Princess Celestia is attending, as he claims. The spirit is simply using juvenile psychological tactics to unnerve you.” Kamos answered the annoyed aristocrat.
“I guess that’s all we can hope for. He refuses to give me specifics about this wedding, but I know far too much of duck penises of his world…” Kamos observed Luna shuddering visibly in her strange simian body and he had to fight back the urge to glance at how it made other parts of her anatomy jiggle.
“And now he’s having one of his laughing fits!” Luna exclaimed almost immediately, pushing herself up from the table, her horn lighting up with arcane energy. “I will be up in my tower, trying to sleep.” Luna stated, before disappearing in a bright flash of magic.
“Keep the guard on Luna and document all abnormal activity. She is to submit a journal of all that she has done that day at the end of every day, until further notice. Our compatriots in the day guard should keep a closer eye on Celestia, as well. Tell them any strange behavior is worth a report.” Kamos ordered the off-duty night guard in the room. The mare saluted sharply and rushed out of the room without saying a word. Kamos paused to frown at the soaked mess of papers in front of him. “That human is such a -”
“Sir, The university faculty has petitioned access to study Fenrir’s remains.” A pony wearing the unicorn cloak of his unit said as they strode in and levitated the papers off the table, starting to magically restore them without being prompted to do so.
“Any research into Fenrir would fall under research of the dark arts. What possible excuse could they have to circumvent that?”
“Apparently, they wish to see if ingesting a dragon’s heart permanently changed the great wolf’s arcane energy signature. Clearly an excuse to gain access to remnants of Nightmare Moon’s magic, but a legitimate avenue of study regardless.” The unicorn explained as the papers levitated next to them.
“They’re not getting access, tell them we have already disintegrated the remains.” Kamos calmly trotted out of the room, the unicorn following behind. There was a moment of silence where the unicorn followed Kamos down the hall of the Canterlot dungeons, before Kamos continued. “You can look into that dragonheart thing, if you want.”
“Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!” The unicorn immediately answered in a chipper tone.
“I am not a knight.”
“You are a knight to me, sir.” The unicorn answered as they invaded Kamos’ personal space.
“Don’t.” Kamos Nudged the unicorn away and continued walking. Kamos rounded a corner and the unicorn hurried to catch up to the anti-social zebra.
“So, where are - Gah!” The unicorn telekinetically pulled out a small blowdart with a tuft of charcoal hair at the end of it from under the hood of the their cloak. The pile of documents floated to the ground as the unicorn stumbled. “Thank you, sir. I’ve been a bad pony, sir. May I have another, sir?”
“Be sure to file those documents when you wake up, Shimmer.” Kamos ordered, as he holstered his new blowgun in his cloak. He turned back the way they had come and left the unicorn to sleep off the sedative.
“Annoying, each and everyone of them…” Kamos muttered as he heard the unicorn start to snore softly.