//------------------------------// // introducing Manaquire // Story: Human Nature // by Dragonfire2lm //------------------------------// Princess Celestia paced back and forth within her private chambers, her brow creased in worry. Discord had escaped, again! But now it was worse…so much worse. He had summoned a creature that could spell doom for not just Equestria, but the whole world! The princess of the sun continued her pacing, thinking, and trying to come up with something, anything to prevent the worst case scenario. Discord would be wary of Twilight and the other Elements of harmony, his chaos spreading powers only appeared in random bursts across Equestria, as it had been doing for the last few days, every time Twilight and her friends went to confront him, he was already gone. She knew he was toying with them, wearing them down while he planned his next move. Then there was the human, could Discord trick her into working alongside him, or worse, get her to spill the secrets of human technology? “Oh this is interesting princess; go on pace away, try to predict my mistress’s actions all the while leaving the fate of your kingdom to a bunch of children. Just like a God to sit back and watch as the mortal realm is shattered by evil once again” a voice mocked. “Who dares to break into Canterlot castle, do you know who I am?” Celestia declared, halting hr movements and looking around the room. “Don’t fret little mare I mean you no harm...no physical harm anyway” the voice replied with a chuckle. “Who are you?” she asked sternly. “How rude of me, I am Manaquire, being of near infinite knowledge; I am either your enemy or your saviour. Depending on your future actions of course” the voice replied. “What do you mean?” “I have the gift of foresight, among other psychic abilities, I can see what will happen and what must not happen” he replied seriously. “Enough riddles! If you can see what is to come…then tell me, what will Discord and the human he summoned into this world do?” “They will cause chaos, whether it is intentional or not, chaos will be created” “How can I prevent this?” “This is where I come in, your actions, along with those of the spirit of chaos will determine whether your world lives in peace…or lies in ruins” “What do you mean?” “You do realise I will never give you a straight answer?” Manaquire deadpanned. “But if you insist I can tell you this- Harmony and chaos, life and death, between each pair lies a very fine line. Overstep these boundaries, intentionally or not Your kingdom will end before its time” “Are you threatening me?” Celestia asked. “No this is a warning. Be very careful when dealing with Discord in the future princess, or you may not like what you have created, until next time Princess Celestia” Manaquire explained. The princess was left to her thoughts as the presence of Manaquire left the castle. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lounging on a storm cloud out over Cloudsdale was a large…dragon-like thing. It was completely black in colour, had the body of a t-rex, tail and spines of a crocodile/alligator, a snake like neck, large bat wings and it had a long almost alligator like jaw, two horns pointing straight out the back of its head (they were slightly rectangular and very blunt). The creature’s eyes were snake-like, the whites of the eyes were completely red, the iris was non-existent and the black pupil was a diamond shaped slit. This was Manaquire. “Hm now what? I have a few minutes to kill before I’m supposed to mess with Discord, since my ‘better half’ is showing him fan works maybe I should do the same” he pondered, bringing printed copies of some written fan works into existence. “Let’s see how they cope with the horrors of gridmark...now which one...Sweet apple massacre perhaps…no no too much of a troll fic...” he mused going over the copy of said fanfiction. “Oh I know rainbow factory…hm too tricky to recreate...plus I can’t time travel” he sighed and threw the copy of ‘Rainbow factory’ along with afore mentioned troll fic away, both copies landing near an unsuspecting Derpy. He looked over his cloud to see where they had landed, shrugged and turned his attention the last bundle of pages hovering in the air. “Ah yes the most notorious and gruesome of the gridmark works, Cupcakes. Noted for being a horror fic and surprisingly keeping the antagonist in character while performing unspeakable acts of torture on her fellow pony, Yes this will do nicely, now the question is should I leave the fic for the ‘mane 6’ to find or hypnotise little miss pinkie into becoming the character the story depicts her as..Ah both options will scar those ponies for life I can’t decide which one…” A watch poofed into existence and Manaquire used it to check the time. “Ah almost time for my next appointment, time to get going” he got up, cast one look at the ponies that had gathered around Derpy, who was now reading ‘rainbow factory’ out loud, smirked and flew off towards Ponyville. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “He he…BWAHAHA! This is hilarious! Discord! Discord you have got to see this one AHAHAHAHA!” Sunset was laughing her head off at the picture currently displayed on the laptop’s screen. “What is it?” Discord looked over her shoulder at the screen, read the comic and soon joined Sunset in a fit of laughter. “Ahahahaha! Priceless! Whoever invented that is a genius! Oh we have to use it!” he declared through his fit of giggles. “I can so imagine you singing this come on you have got to do it!” Sunset agreed. “Haha! I know right? You distract Twilight, I will go get ready, besides I’ll have to adjust some of the lyrics to fit my style after all, see you in a bit” the Spirit of chaos stated and vanished. Discord reappeared in a hollowed out area underneath the library, it was an area he had just created with checked flooring, half-made buildings (some of which were floating) and the sky strewn with his signature cotton candy clouds. “Perfect, now I just need to memorise my lines and- what the-?” Discord looked confused as the sound of thunder rumbled behind him. He turned to see Manaquire sitting on a throne shaped storm cloud. “Greetings Discord, I am Manaquire” “How did you get in here?” the spirit of chaos snarled. “Is that any way to greet a guest, show some manners will you” the black dragon retorted, pouring himself a glass of black current juice from nowhere. “I-ah WHAT! Manners? You barge in here and you more concerned with manner?” Discord shouted, nopony was supposed to able to get into one of his creations without his say-so. “Well duh” Manaquire replied rudely. “I may be able to come and go as I please, but I do expect some form of civil behaviour, even from you Spirit” “What do you want?” Discord stated. “I was here to give a warning of the future, and an expiation of why I’m here, but since it looks like you’re busy, I’ll make it quick. You like riddles right?” “Um yes? Why?” “Then listen well, Spirit, I refuse to repeat myself- Chaos and Harmony, Life and Death, between each pair is a very fine line Destroy this balance, and like it or not You will meet your end far before your time.” “Is that some sort of threat thing?” Discord asked childishly. “Hah do you really think you can actually kill me?” “No I don’t do threats like that, and in my line of work, killing something is being far too merciful. Good day Discord” Manaquire replied seriously and left in a explosion of black mist. “Show off” Discord deadpanned. Sunset glided down from her perch above the library and knocked on the front. “Applejack is that you I knew you were coming over but-WAAH!” Twilight was startled by Sunset’s appearance. “Uh hi?” Sunset replied nervously, walking inside. “You! You’re the human we hit with the elements! oh my gosh I am so sorry i-!” Twilight rambled but was silenced. “Wait a minute you’re not scared of me? You don’t care that I’m with your enemy?’ “Um a bit scared, but I’ve learnt not to judge a book by its cover” the unicorn replied confidently. “So I’m Twilight Sparkle, what’s your name?” “Sunset Sapphire, you’ll probably hate me for this but I am willingly working with Discord” “Willingly? Do you know what he can do?” Twilight exclaimed. “Yeah but I’m working with him for my own reasons” Sunset replied. “Oh really?” “Well at first it was just so I can go home...but after a few minutes, I decided I’d prove both you and Discord wrong about who I am as a human” “And how do you plan to do that?” “By being a neutral presence in Equestria, I know I sound like a Mary sue-“ “A what-“ “A cliché, but if I’m doomed to be hated by at least one side I’ll try prevent that as best as I can” Sunset explained. “Hated? but I don’t hate you” “You don’t but I can guarantee you others will, and I know once Discord is done with me he’ll put me out in the trash, Celestia will want peace for her kingdom so I’m possibly a threat, and knowing some ponies, like Applejack and Rainbow Dash they won’t be friendly right from the get go” “I think I understand now, but from the way it sounds, it almost like you expect ponies to dislike you” Twilight stated. “Humans are a mixed bag when comes to being nice or mean, I have had the misfortune of befriending people who end up ditching me for my behaviour, personality, appearance and even because of my reputation among others” Sunset explained. “But nopony would ever do something like that here” Twilight exclaimed. “You can’t be sure about that, when people, or ponies in this case, are faced with the unknown, they do or say things they wouldn’t to others like them. Since I am not clearly a pony and originally from a species with a bad reputation, I do expect some kind of discrimination” “…” Twilight looked solemn for a second, before her gaze hardened into one of determination. “Sunset, I will make my duty to help you on your quest, no matter what!" the unicorn declared. “I hope you stick to that Twilight, because Discord has plans of his own” “Well what are-AHH!!” in the middle of that sentence a trap door opened up underneath the purple mare and she fell through.