The Temnokt Empire

by ladyanaconda

Chercheniya

Deciding they had enough of just staying back at home without nothing to do but to watch the snow accumulating on the window panes, Discord and Shining Armor thought it wouldn't do bad to take the foals out for a small stroll. Discord fashioned two strollers out of cotton candy (much to the Temnokt's amusement and surprise) for the triplets and Blade Kiss, and technically 'mummified' them with lots of thermal blankets and clothing. Catseye offered to give them a tour around the 'interesting' parts of the city, but Lake Wave told him something about not taking them there, whatever he meant. After going down a few streets while being the subject to strange glances from the rest of the citizens for being accompanied by such a strange creature like Discord (Dracone-something, he couldn't really recall), Catseye decided to break the awkward silence. "So... How do you like Krussia so far?"

"Do you want me to be honest or kind?" Discord inquired between chattering teeth.

"Eeerrr... Honest."

"These guys don't understand Equestrian, right?"

"Most of them don't."

"Good. THIS IS HORRIBLE!" out of sudden Discord yelled at the top of his lungs, startling both Shining Armor and Catseye, as well as the babies and the nearby Temnokt. "Why can't you build a weather factory?! I'm freezing to the bone here! And why is everytemnokt here staring at us like we were freaks or something!" he pointed at a drady who was staring at him like he were insane. "See?! That's what I'm talking about!"

"Do you want them to call the royal guard?!" Shining Armor hissed, glancing nervously at the passing guards, who thankfully ignored Discord's ranting.

"Well, Mr. Discord, you are a quite... interesting creature." Catseye sighed. "Don't be surprised if the other High Bloods bomb you with questions in the Ball of the Hunt..."

"Where are we going, by the way?"

"Oh, don't tell father about this, but I think you two should know one of the most popular places for drakes-or in your case, stallions-to hang out." Catseye grinned, stopping in front of a building. "Welcome to Icethorn Mount, one of the most popular bars here in Kruscow!"

The building itself was surprisingly elegant on the outside, just like the rest of the buildings, but Discord and Shining could hear a rather... rough type of music coming from the inside, and startled when out of sudden the doors opened and a burly drake was thrown out by a pair of other two drakes, who yelled something in their language before slamming the doors shut. The babies giggled as they watched the drake get back on his feet, muttering something as he shook the snow off him and stomped away.

"Oh, no! If I take the children in there, Twilight will kill me!" Discord snapped.

"She doesn't have to know..." Catseye glanced back at the two. "Besides, they don't let underages in there."

"And you want us to go inside with babies?" Shining Armor pointed out, a bit irritated.

"I'll handle it, just keep your foals close to you and no blood will be spilled." he laughed at their expressions when he said the word blood. "Just kidding! Come on, let's go!"

He levitated the triples and Blade Kiss out of their strolled and placed them on their fathers' 'hooves', motioning them to follow him. As soon as he opened the door, Discord and Shining Armor felt the strong smell of alcoholic beverages and heard the loud rambling of some drunken drakes. The tavern was lit by lamps hanging form the walls, and the black wooden tables were spread out in perfect accommodation, most of them occupied by young and old males alike, but all of them had the Age Marks that identified them as adults. Shining Armor gulped. "I think I will wait in the door..."

"Well..." Catseye shivered when he saw the looks the other drakes were giving them. "Considering you are an unicorn with a baby Alicorn, yes, maybe you should wait by the door and try not to get into trouble."

Discord and Shining Armor exchanged worried glances, and the Draconequus held the triplets closer to his chest, momentarily ignoring their protesting. He followed Catseye towards the bar, where an old Temnokt was wiping an empty beer jar with a rag. Apparently Catseye was a regular there, for the bartender greeted him with a small grunt and levitated a clean jar towards one of the barrels on one side and poured a good quantity of the liquor into it, then slid it towards him. Catseye caught the pint and took a gulp.

"What kind of drink is that?" Discord inquired, snapping his fingers and making gas masks appear on his children's faces. They squealed in discomfort and tried to get it off their faces.

"It's called Vodka, Dissy." Catseye said. "You can't visit Krussia without tasting it!"

"Sorry, but I cannot drink right now, as you can see."

"Don't worry, dad's got quite a lot of vodka brands back home. I can give you one when he is not looking, he's really picky about it,"

"Really?" Discord looked around uncomfortably. "By the way, why did you bring us here? It's not like we can go all loco and get drunk until we see everything in pink! Twilight will kill me!"

"Relax! I just figured that you two would need some time to relax, I mean, with all of the stress you are going through with the Ball of the Hunt, and all that."

"I don't think I want to know what is the Krussian standard for 'relax'."

Suddenly, all of the drakes left their seats and rushed towards the catwalk to one side of the bar as the lights went on, and a elegant wearing a bowtie and a charismatic expression stepped unto the stage. "Good evening, drakes and gentledrakes! Would you like some 'shivers'?"

Discord startled when all the Temnokt gave cheering roars of agreement. The triplets had managed to remove the gas masks from their faces.

The drake on stage chuckled. "Now on stage! The most beautiful, the most sexy..." he winked. "And the best singer drady of al of Kruscow! FYSZAL!" With another chuckle, he stepped off and the curtains moved aside, revealing a drady with reddish fuchsia underbelly and streaks of hair cascading on one side of her head, wearing a revealing red gown and a few pieces of jewelry on her pair of white horns. Her wings were half-spread and she had an intense look on her face as she started to sing.

Discord's jaw literally dropped to the ground when his eyes set on the provoking drady, while Catseye wolf-whistled at her along with some of the other drakes. She opened her eyes and gave the drakes a seductive look.

She walked down the small steps, waving her hips and rear rhythmically.

She spread out her wings, startling and arousing the drakes around her when she started to dance once more. Discord placed the triplets on the bar, completely hypnotized as he clumsily danced while walking towards the catwalk. Catseye glanced at the triplets, and then at Discord. "Huh, Discord?"

The drady spread out her wings once again, walking down the catwalk in a seductive manner.

All the drakes were by then drawn closer to the catwalk, Discord among them. "Discord!" Catseye called out to him. "She's not that good!What were you saying about being married and with kids-?" He froze when he recalled the triplets were now on the loose, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the triplets were not on the bar anymore, the bartender motioned him to the rest of the room, and Catseye caught glimpses of the three foals running around the tavern, giggling, leaving trails of pink clouds behind them, or transforming random items into another material. "Oh, no! Foals, get back here!" he immediately went after them.

Discord was oblivious to the fact that his foals were running around causing mischief, his pupils were big red ovals as he stared at the drady, completely hypnotized as she lifted his chin with a claw, looking as if she were flirting with him before going back to stage, extending out her wings provokingly, receiving more wolf whistles for the lustful, half-drunken drakes.

"Hello? Foal? Whatever-you're-called, where are you?!" Catseye had tried and failed to catch any of the triplets thrice, they simply teleported out of his grasp or slipped away by an inch, and he had already been drenched in the so-famous 'chocolate rain' they seemed to summon out of those pink clouds. "You'll have me banned from here!" He saw a red tail on the corner of his eye, and turned around to find the foal that looked a bit like Discord's wife about to peek into an empty beer jar. "No, no!" He rushed towards her just as Fyzsal was walking back towards the center of the stage, her song coming to an end.

The crowd erupted in roars and cheers as the curtain fell, hiding the singer from view, and Discord was clapping his eagle talon and lion paw wildly. "WO-HOO! Another one!" But he-as well as the rest of the drakes present- was broken out of his daze with the sound of a loud yell of pain coming from one of the tables...

Glacial Fire couldn't believe it. All he wanted was to relax a bit, have a good pint of beer and maybe some vodka to forget about his problems, when out of sudden he felt a sharp pain on his tail, and let out a great yell that caught the attention of every dragon inside that place, startling Rock Dust into spilling his own pint unto the table. Startled, Glacial Fire lifted his tail and glanced back at it, finding a strange creature digging his teeth into it. Wait, what?!

"WHAT IN TARNATION?!" he shook is tail in panic, but the creature just clung to it like a tick to a wolf.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Almost instantly, an adult version of this creature suddenly appeared next to him in a flash of white light, and he looked like he wanted to disappear. "It's just Night Charge likes to nibble on things! Hehe! Night Charge, leave the gentledrake's tail alone!"

Discord tried to pull his son off Glacial Fire's tail, but Night Charge just hardened his bite, making the Temnokt cry out in pain. "Night Charge Sparkle, If you don't release the gentledrake's tail right now you're not having any chocolate milk tonight!!" the rest of the Temnokt, the bartender included, had gathered around to see how it ended up, some of them even snickering in delight.

"Get that thing off my tail!" Glacial Fire cried out.

"I'll get a crowbar!" Rock Dust was instantly dashing towards the bar counter to look for the bartender's tool box.

All the while, Shining Armor waited outside under a large black owning just outside, entertaining Blade Kiss with his favorite rattle while trying to keep him inside the thick thermal clothing he had packed. He thought he could hear a commotion going on inside, and he had the feeling Discord and one of the triplets had something to do with it. Blade Kiss suckled on the rattle, a gift from his mommy when he was but a few days old, and the only thing that distracted him from his mother's temporal absence. "Well, Blade, looks like your cousins are having fun in there." Shining Armor sighed, patting his son's back gently with his hoof.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Shining Armor was startled when he heard a familiar voice, nearly dropping Blade Kiss but managing to keep him in his hold, though he couldn't say the same for the foal's rattle. Blade Kiss whimpered and reached out for the rattle, until an aquamarine magical aura levitated the rattle back unto Blade Kiss's hooves. The golden unicorn from before walked closer, with a smile Shining Armor didn't find sincere at all.

"Why, Shining Armor, what a surprise to find you here, outside a..." Sunset Glare looked up the big signboard of the establishment. "Tavern."

"Err, just accompanying Discord and Catseye while Twiley and the others are busy preparing for the Ball of the Hunt."

"Oh, so you were actually invited?" Sunset Glare was still smiling, looking impressed. "Well, you are lucky. Outsiders are usually not invited to such significant events, especially in such short notice. Hay, not even my father, who has been here for almost went years has managed to earn Bittercold's trust enough to be invited to that ball."

"It really wasn't King Bittercold's idea, Lord Clawblack was behind it, actually." Shining Armor admitted.

"Ah, yes. Clawblack is pretty good at convincing others to his convenience. I wonder why he'd want you present at the ball, I doubt it's to settle the High Blood's nerves."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you haven't heard." Sunset smirked. "The High Blood houses of Kruscow want you out of their country as soon as possible, they are afraid you will attempt to murder their King like King Sombra did centuries ago-"

"Wait, what?!" Shining Armor snapped, holding Blade Kiss closer.

"Anyway, you're a lucky stallion." Sunset Glare stated to circle around his rival. "I mean, winning Cadence's heart, I can't imagine how happy you two must be right now, with your new foal."

"Oh, that's right. He is just a few months old, but he is quite handful. Not as much as my nephews and niece, though..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they kind of got Discord's fondness of chaos quite a bit... And my sister likes organization and order. You can imagine the combination is not usual..."

"And yet, you say she and... the Spirit of Chaos got married anyway?"

"I didn't like the idea at first either, but when two ponies love each other, they can put their differences aside, or make it all work together."

"Indeed it is." Sunset Glare admitted, sitting down casually next to Shining Armor. "Love is a powerful emotion, it brings all folk together in different ways, but sometimes it can be out doom as much as our happiness. Not every pony is fortunate enough to have their feelings returned by the pony they love with all their heart and soul, and can do nothing as they make their lives with somepony else."

Shining Armor definitely had a weird feeling about this stallion, specially when his expression turned forlorn, like he had a long lost love he wanted to reunite with. Before he could say anything else, a yell from within the tavern startled him.

"SHINY, I NEED A LITTLE HELP HERE!!"

Shining Armor momentarily forgot about Sunset Glare as he rushed into the tavern, and found Discord trying to pull Night Charge off the tail of a blue-haired drake. Even some other Temnokt had joined in, some trying to help pull physically (Catseye among them, and a burly drake who was using a crowbar) and others used their magic, which surrounded Night Charge, but he clung to the drake's tail like a shark; the poor drake yelled with every pull, and there were a few tears of pain in the corner of his eyes.

Discord saw his brother-in-law in the doorway with a shocked expression. "Well, don't you stand there! Lend us a hoof, would you?!"

"What happened?!" Shining Armor inquired.

"What do you think?! Night Charge is being stubborn, that is pretty obvious!" Finally, Night Charge's teeth gave away out of sudden, sending Discord and the other drakes who had been pulling backwards, while Glacial Fire quickly grabbed his tail and stared in horror at the bite marks. Discord was about to reprimand his son when Night Charge started to wail his lungs out, and he decided to save it for later, for the moment he held the foal close, shushing him and patting his back. Catseye levitated Lavender Dusk and Astral Aurora closer to their father, gulping when the bartender glared at him, and pointed at the door.

"Okay, Jaws, we got the message. It won't happen again, and I won't be able to come here for a week- Whoa, okay, okay, a month!"

Glacial Fire glared at Discord angrily. "That hatchling has no manners!"

Fyszal walked into her dressing room, slamming it shut behind her, grumbling as she headed over to her boudoir and started wiping the makeup from her face. Another day of having to perform for these drunk, good-for-nothing overgrown lizards while her sister lived in the lap of luxury and had all the temnoktfolk at her feet with just a glance. She'd rather be at the Imperial Castle and be treated like the Queen she knew she should have been, and instead, she was trapped in this damn hole, forced to perform every single day for ten obsids an hour, a misery! She was not even a renown singer or model, she was simply a low-rank performer in a tavern.

There was a knock in the door. "Go away, I'm not in the mood for visits right now!" Fyszal hissed warningly, but her words were dismissed as her door opened and a drake with black hair and white underbelly walked it with a expensive-looking flower arrangement. "I said no visits!" She found the drake familiar. She had seen him before...

"No offense, miss, I just follow orders. My master has asked me to bring you these flowers." Hookbait shrugged with a small smile, placing the arrangement of 'cloth of gold' flowers on her desk.

"And who is your master, if I may know?"

"Lord Clawblack Drakkon the Third of the House of Clawstrike."

Clawblack? The advisor of King Bittercold? Why would he send her an arrangement of flowers, unless...

"I know what you're thinking, ma'am. I'm afraid this comes from Lord Clawblack himself, King Bittercold has no knowledge of this." Hook bait knew he had been right when Fyszal's expression changed into bitter disappointment. "However, Lord Clawblack also asked me to inform you he has a... proposal for you?"

"Proposal? What kind of proposal?"

"One that may improve your..." Hookbait looked around the rather grim dressing room, unimpressed. "...living conditions. Is this how you imagined yourself ten years ago? The Firstborn of the Forestsilk Clan dancing and exposing her body to drunken drakes like a whore?"

In a fit of anger, Fyszal flew towards Hookbait and would have slapped him if he had not grabbed her talon in the last moment, smirking. He had touched a nerve. Fyszal did her best to contain the tears of anger in the corner of her eyes; she hated to be reminded that she had fallen out of her family' grace long ago, and instead they adored her 'little sister' like she were perfect. Bah! She was twice as graceful and beautiful than she ever was! Hookbait remained unmoved, however.

"Anyway, my dear. My Master wishes to make a small proposal to you."

Fyszal narrowed her eyes. "Why do I have the feeling he is going to do something under Bittercold's noses?"

"I'm afraid you will have to personally ask him, if you'd accompany me to the House of Clawstrike."

"His house? Why in his house indent in the palace?"

"The matters he wishes to discuss with you are rather... secretive, and he wouldn't like anytemnokt to listen."

The drady had the feeling that whatever Clawblack was planning, it was against the law. She wasn't certain if she'd want to fall any lower, but he said he could improve her living conditions if she agreed to help him. As long as she could get out of this rat lair, she didn't care to commit High Treason, especially if she could find some way to get revenge on her sister for robbing her of what should have been hers from the very beginning. Hookbait was tapping his claws on the wooden floor, losing his patience. "So, ma'am? Are you coming or not?"

Making up her mind, Fyzsal levitated her cloak from the coathanger and placed it on her back. "Very well. I shall listen to what your... Master has to offer."

Smirking again, Hookbait stepped aside and motioned to the door. "Shall we?"

"ARGH! Bucking clouds!"

Rainbow Dash didn't understand. She had won the cloud-breaking championship for five years in a row, she had broken the record in the Wonderbolts' Academy, she had mastered the sonic rainboom, but she couldn't even get close to these humongous storm clouds?! Every time she tried to fly towards them, a cold wind would send her spiraling down to a considerable distance, as if they had a life of their own. With a yell of frustration, Rainbow Dash flew at her top speed towards the clouds, but again a strong, freezing wind blew from within the clouds and she was sent flying back, but she could not open her wings this time, for her feathers had caught ice and frozen, rendering them unusable for the time being despite her use of a thick coat and scarf.

Rainbow Dash yelled as she fell, flapping her frozen wings in a failed attempt to soften her fall, and since she was falling backwards she did not see a figure flying just beneath her, and crashed into the drake, sending them both spiraling to the forest. Rainbow Dash and the mysterious figure crash-landed, though Rainbow Dash's damage was lesser since she fell on top of the drake.

"Ouch... Stupid clouds...!" she whined in pain, before being pushed off the drake by the drake himself.

"Why don't you look where you are going?!" a familiar voice snapped in anger.

"ME?! you were the one who didn't look were-!"

When Rainbow Dash turned to glare at the drake she had bumped into, her eyes widened when she recognized the Crown Prince glaring at her. "Mathic Midnight?!"

"It's Prince Mythic Midnight to you, you blind stallion!"

"Hey! I'm a mare!"

Mythic Midnight went back to his feet and took a glance a Rainbow Dash, scoffing. "Please, you don't look, you don't even act like a female."

"Just because I don't follow your cultural views on dradies doesn't make me less mare than any other female, as you say!"

"You should get some etiquette lessons, if you can't properly talk to a Royal I can't imagine how it will go when you are before all the High Blood houses in the Ball of the Hunt."

"Look who talks! You insulted my friend Spike when we went to dinner, and your daddy didn't seem too happy about it!" Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and smirked triumphantly when Midnight flinched. "Looks like the one who needs to take etiquette should take a look at the mirror before judging others about being rude."

Midnight growled at the mare's confident tone. She was mocking at him, even if indirectly. "As if. Why don't you go back to the kitchen and make some cookies for your hatchlings?" It was his turn to smirk when Rainbow Dash growled.

"Ah, so you're of the sexist type, aren't you?" she regained her cool and smirked, much to his confusion. "I'll let you that me and my friends- we're all mares, by the way- have saved Equestria countless of times. Nightmare Moon, the Spirit of Chaos, a Changeling Queen and her hordes, King Sombra and the list goes on..." she stopped when she saw Midnight becoming pale as soon as he heard King Sombra's name leave her lips.

"You..." he stepped back. "You faced 'he who must not be named'?! A mere mare?!"

Rainbow Dash realized he was actually impressed, so she decided t take advantage of it. "Urrr... Yeah, that's right! And I must say, it was a piece of cake! That King Sombrero was not challenge at all, but I must say, most of the credit actually goes to Spike, the little dragon you insulted yesterday night."

"That tiny lizard?! H-How the hell could he have defeated him of all ponies?!"

"It's something simple, the Magic of Friendship always overcomes all obstacles!"

"The what?"

"Magic of Friendship!"

"What kind of spell is that? I've never heard of it before."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "It's not a spell, it's not magic itself. It's the strength of your bond with your friends who are always there for you, and when we are together and are true to ourselves we can use the Magic of Friendship to protect those we cherish. Really, don't they teach you anything in that castle of yours?"

Midnight tried not to look confused, he clearly had no idea what she was talking about. Finally, he scoffed. "Please! I doubt you could defeat him by just hanging out with a bunch of 'friends', if the First King could not even stand against him-!"

"Wait, the First King?!"

Midnight froze when he realized he had said too much. His father had forbidden to speak of The Sombratic Attack, especially to outsiders. "Err... Forget it! You expect me to believe a bunch of mares and a baby dragon defeated him?! Don't make me laugh!"

"The Elements of Harmony are no joke, you spoiled-little-rich-drake!"

Elements of Harmony... Midnight had heard about those, supposedly they had been used various times in Equestria to defeat powerful foes that threatened it, according to Crenshaw, which kind of explained why neither his father or any of his predecessors had ever thought of starting a war with Equestria. That, and the fact that the Princess of the Night had always been in their good graces, though he could never fully understand was held in such high regard among their people when they didn't like unicorns in general. Midnight frowned. "You do realize that you just committed lèse-majestè, better known as insulting or offending Royalty, in another country. You know you can be executed for that if I told my father, don't you?"

Rainbow Dash's confidence instantly evaporated. Damn it, Twilight had said not to bring too much attention to themselves, and she had just insulted the Crown Prince of all people. Could this possibly be any worse?

"But... I may let it slip this once." Midnight looked up and pretended to be thinking. "If you can beat me in a race."

A race? Pft! Piece of cake! "Okay, bring it on!" Rainbow Dash flew up, regaining her lost confidence in a flash, smirking. "Nopony's ever beaten me in a race!"

"I'm not a pony, I'm a Temnokt." Midnight flew up to her level, smirking. "You don't know how my people race. We'll do one lap around the city's perimeter, and you have to keep up against the wind and the snow, think you can handle it, little pony?"

Rainbow Dash rubbed her hooves together. "You're going to eat snow when I'm done with you!"