Chapter 16: Of Diplomacy and Other Words
Herbert Senthson
The sun has yet to rise, and so I have yet to sleep. My bow rests on my back, but in my hands is my spear, as I cast my eye across the ravine.
Everything is peaceful. This is a good thing. When things get to exciting, people die. My job is to make sure it’s the other people, not us.
Even if I didn’t have the night shift, I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. In spite of the long day of hard work, scavenging, packing and loading, I’m restless. I’m disciplined enough not to let it show, but I keep turning over what’s been happening.
Discord’s going to take us somewhere else to live. I somehow have magic now, even if I haven’t the slightest clue how to use it. Rodin certainly hasn’t told us anything, and I hear he’s been working furiously at it all day long.
In all honesty, I’m frightened. This is a lot of change we’ve been going through recently, and now our very bodies aren’t what they used to be. I’m a magical human now. We all are. What might have changed?
I almost don’t want to know. Ignorance is bliss… and yet, what we don’t know can and will hurt us.
My gaze sweeps across the ravine and the forest beyond once more. I’ve been living within a stone’s throw of that forest for a while now, and even have spent my fair share of time patrolling in it. So why does it still scare me? Something about the shadows between the trees are downright threatening! It’s practically impossible to relax around it. I only really feel safe when I’m in inside a building. With no windows.
I suppress a shudder, willing myself to ignore the fear. There really isn’t any point in dwelling on it, and I don’t have much of a choice but to be out here; orders are orders.
Even so. That forest is unnatural.
I should not be afraid of you, I think at the shadowy trees. They ignore me.
I can still feel that little worm of doubt and suspicion worming its way into my mind though. It’s almost like something is trying to make me afraid of the forest. I snort in derision. I’ve tasted death and spoken with gods. I refuse to fear you!
Having worked myself into an angry glaring contest with the forest, I ignore my hands itching beneath my gloves as I remain resolute in my defiance.
What’s this? My eyes widen in surprise. That worming fear just stopped.
The shadows beneath the trees seem for once to be nothing more than bits of shade. I feel not even a hint of apprehension. Did it really just give up? Flee? A vicious grin graces my face. Whatever it was had better run! You don’t mess with us.
“Well, well, well. Look at you!” I turn and see a shape entering my torchlight. Oh look, it’s Discord. “How have you been holding up, Herbert?” The chimera gives me a smile, but his eyes betray mischievousness.
I shrug, not a simple matter in armor, it turns out. “I’ve been doing well. I hear you’ve been rather busy though. I must admit, having the guard back up to strength is a real boon.”
He waves a claw dismissively. “That? I suppose. It was return them to life or make them ghosts or something. I thought they’d like living again better.” He sound’s smug, as if he’s proud of correctly deducing which they would prefer.
Something feels odd about this whole situation. As if there’s something I’m forgetting. Something important.
“So anyway, do you think I can borrow you for a few minutes? I’d hijack the Governor again, but I did that last time.”
“I don’t see why not.” As I speak the words, I frown slightly. I’m abandoning my post, just like that? I feel a sense of obligation to stay, as it’s my job… but I’m missing something…
Bah. The village will be fine for a few minutes. What’s the worst that could happen?
Any further thought is interrupted, as Discord snaps his fingers and we vanish in a flash of light.
When the light clears, I find myself standing in a throne room. That’s the best I can figure, given the large ornate chair with a dark blue pony sitting in a chair.
Recognition fires in my brain as bits and pieces of what I’m looking at match up with my lessons and sessions spent memorizing the descriptions of important figures in this new world. The presence of both wings and a horn, the coloration, the crown on her head. This is Luna, one of the ‘princesses’ and another physically present god.
That’s it! Grinning, I snap my fingers in celebration, as I realize what I was missing earlier. Discord’s a god! He could end my life in an instant, and so could this pony. So why don’t I care? I felt satisfaction that I had figured out what I was forgetting, but nothing else.
“Greetings Discord,” Luna begins, her voice is soft, yet commanding, and she looks at me with an expression I cannot place. “What brings you here with… him?”
Discord approaches the throne without a care in the world. “Why, I’m here to fulfill an obligation! You did require me to run their magic by you, after all.”
“So, what, I’m a test subject?” I ask, crossing my arms, somewhat offended.
Discord looks wounded. “Of course not! I would never- well, perhaps I would, but it isn’t the case here! You’re just the first to make any progress with it, and were awake when I needed someone.”
I’m somewhat amused that he’s bothering to defend himself. He’s a god, he can do what he wants. The amusement is apparently visible on my face, as Luna snickers.
“Right. Okay, fine. But I don’t know what you’re talking about; I haven’t felt so much as a flicker of magic yet. Figuring it out is Rodin’s job, not mine.”
Luna chooses this moment to step off her throne and approach me. Despite having the sudden attention of a god, I feel little more than curiosity as to what she wants. She doesn’t leave me in the dark for long. “May I? I wish to behold what Discord has wrought.”
I idly speculate that letting her work magic on me could be hazardous to my health, but hey, if she wanted to hurt me I couldn’t stop her anyway. “Do whatever.”
Her horn lowers a bit and glows as she rests it lightly on my forehead. For several long seconds, nothing seems to be happening. Then she opens her eyes and pulls away. Her expression is one of extreme exasperation.
“Really, Discord? How is this a good idea?” She demands of the chimera god, I remind myself.
“What’s wrong with it? Seems straight forward to me.” He claims, the picture of innocence.
“I am not even... look.” Luna begins, deadpan, “We know you aren’t going to take over again, but this is not a good way of showing it. If it wasn’t focused in his hands right now, he’d be leaking chaos all over the place!”
“Hey! Give me some credit; you saw for yourself what that’s for, and the guidelines I’ve set. It wouldn’t hurt a fly.” He argues, his air of innocence discarded like a mask.
“I feel like I’m being left out here.” I speak aloud, though the two beings ignore me.
“Any unicorn worth their bits will sense it! How do you think that’s going to go over?” Luna continues.
“They’ll laugh and smile, and invite each other out for a day of ‘harmless fun!’” Discord proclaims with joy and a fireworks display, and then deflates a little and gives Luna a half-lidded stare that projects his irritation with the fact that his next words have to be serious. “Though not at first, perhaps. I might have soiled their outlook on it, but hey, Ponyville’s getting used to me! Sensing a little chaos magic should be much easier to get used to.”
“Seriously, what did you mean by ‘Focused in my hands’?” I ask nobody in particular, looking down at my gloves. My hands do itch a little, but other than that, I feel nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps it’s underneath the gloves?
Frowning, I’m paying half-attention to their argument as I work. Now that I’m thinking about it, the itching is getting a little irritating.
Luna sighs, raising a hoof to massage her temples. “I’ll admit that what you’ve done is… quite frankly, genius, but…” She grasps for words.
“But you were hoping I’d do things your way.” Discord supplies; his voice lacks the accusation in present in his words, though Luna looks slightly cowed anyway. “Do not forget what I am, Luna. ‘Reformed’ does not mean ‘tamed’.”
I swear something passed unsaid between them, but whatever moment that was there is gone faster than I can truly process.
“Is there something ‘going on’ between you two?” I ask them. I can’t help but wonder where my sense of self-preservation has gone, but all the same, I feel safe. They won’t hurt me.
My glove finally works its way off my hand, and I begin working on the other. Luna glances down at my bare hand and snorts, looking away and hiding her expression.
Discord just grins at me and answers my question. “Obviously, yes. But whatever you think it is, you’re wrong.”
I let out a short laugh, and look down to see what’s taking so damn long to get my other glove off. If that’s how he wants to play it…
When did I get a tattoo?
As both my hands are free of their itchy constraints, I can’t help but notice that the back of my hands have changed. On each hand lies the image of a lion roaring, baring its teeth, though it’s entirely done in red ink.
“Okay, what the fuck, Discord. I have tattoos on my hands. Did you do this?”
At this point Luna’s attempt to hide her expression is proven useless as she erupts into laughter, practically falling over as she fights to control herself.
“I told you it would be brilliant!” Discord announces, before turning back to me. “Technically, no. You did that to yourself.”
I look back down. “This is the magic you gave us? Putting tattoos on ourselves by accident? Can I remove it?” I ask aloud, trying to focus my thoughts to figure out how I was going to get these things off.
To my utter surprise they faded away not a second later.
“Huh.”
I return my gaze to the two beings in front of me- to the two gods that I had just cursed out and implied were ‘together’ in more ways than- holy shit I am so dead!
My heart starts racing and my eyes scan the room, locating each exit, but dismissing them as possibilities. Realizing that I might as well be cornered and weaponless, despite the bow that still rests on my back, I finally meet Discord’s gaze and freeze, silently pleading for my life.
Discord sighs resignedly, and in a heartbeat he’s next to me, laying a claw on my shoulder and sitting us both down onto a bench made of what looks like sickeningly yellow plumes of smoke.
“Alright, enough of that. You’ve been such a good sport; I’ll explain what just happened. Long-story short, your magic sort-of-not-really grants you certain wishes temporarily. At the forest, you wished really hard to not be afraid, and your magic literally let you not experience fear. You stopped fearing the forest, you stopped fearing me, and you certainly stopped fearing any retribution stemming from your actions.” I just stare at him, dumbfounded. Did he plan for this?
“No. I didn’t plan for it. It was a happy coincidence. There’s a lot more to it, but you have to figure most of it out for yourselves. I will tell you that it takes much less effort for you to discard the things you wish for than it does to wish for them in the first place. That’s just a safety measure. Don’t want to get stuck. Though that would be hilarious…” He muses, out loud.
Off to the side, Luna is recovering from her fit of mirth. I can’t help but feel resentment for being laughed at, combined with relief that she’s amused instead of furious.
It takes me a moment to realize that Discord just read my mind.
“Yes, well, I don’t normally do it, but you don’t talk much.” He admits openly.
“I-I’ll work on that t-then.” I stammer, terrified of the raw power present in the two beings beside me.
“You know, this is why we don’t like to call ourselves gods.” Discord sighs.
Luna sobers up in an instant. “He knows?”
Discord nods. “They all do. I’m lucky they haven’t asked what sort of sacrifices I like yet. Haven’t exactly given them much of an opportunity, but still.”
Luna flattens her ears. “It was well worth the effort, purging that word from living memory. It took over two thousand years and all the subtle maneuvering we could muster, but we did it. Please tell me your humans are not about to reintroduce it?” She actually sounded sad there. And that question actually had elements of hope and fear in it…
What.
They don’t want to be served as gods?
This world is really different. I mean, hells, aren’t gods supposed to not have physical bodies normally? But what do I know, I’m no priest.
“I’ve been discouraging it, but I’ll be more up-front about it soon enough. Trust me, their fear is useful, but even I would prefer it they abandoned that particular habit.” Discord sighs. “All things in due time.” He glances out a window and gestures to Luna. “You’d better go wake your sister, princess. We need to be getting back anyway.”
Luna nods in agreement. “Very true. I imagine she and I will have much to discuss. I give you my approval though.”
Discord simply grins, waves, and snaps his fingers in farewell.
When my eyesight clears again, I find that I am standing at my post once again, my shift not even over yet.
Could it be that my absence will go undetected?
It would seem so…
“Anyway.” Discord says to me, and I jump a little at being directly addressed by the god. I know he doesn’t like that I am afraid, but there isn’t much I can do about it!
“I would ask you not to tell Rodin about what you know, but he’s just about out of time anyway, so I don’t think it matters anymore.” I nod, agreeing even though I have no clue what he’s talking about.
As I watch, the sun starts to peek over the horizon, unfortunately this draws my gaze to the forest, and that familiar fear makes itself known again. I shudder, now knowing that the fear was never truly gone, I had just shielded myself from it somehow.
With magic.
“Herbert…” I glance at Discord in surprise. I’d have thought he’d have made an exit by now. Instead he looks vaguely anxious about something. This in turn spikes my own blood pressure, as a being of power with any kind of negative emotions carries a subtle sort of threat.
“Yes?” I ask, careful to keep my voice neutral.
“I’m…” he furrows his brow together. “Sorry if that offended you. I thought you’d get a kick out of the whole thing, to be honest.”
He doesn’t like fear… Be honest! No cowardice! “In hindsight, some parts were funny. But there’s a large difference between the way our home worked and the way this world does, and it takes getting used to. Old habits are going to die hard.”
I seem to have restored a measure of his good mood as he cracks a grin. “Well, at least you’re making progress, Herbert. I’ll see you around.”
With that, he fades away until there’s no trace of him.
Shaking my head, I collect my things and head towards the barracks, ready to commit to paper what will probably be the longest watchman’s log I will ever write.
Captain Weathers
The sun shines above the horizon. Again. Just yesterday, we had been given 24 hours to pack, and I’m proud to say that we did it.
It wasn’t easy, and I know a lot of good people who barely slept… but come morning we’re ready to go.
Discord arrives with fanfare this time, surprising me at least. I had been expecting something more subtle than a chariot pulled by some sort of artificial, see-through bears. They almost looked edible.
As he arrived, he floated out from the chariot lazily, as it went careening off to the side and into the ravine. I found it kind of funny, actually.
Suppressing a laugh, I watch as he approaches Rodin with an expectant look on his face. “Well?” he asks him.
Rodin returns with a grin of his own, and displays the back of his hands.
Since when did Rodin have matching tattoos on the back of his hands?
On his hands, there were little images I found it hard to make out from this distance. Coming closer, I could see that it was reminiscent of a disembodied brain against a background of sparks. Discord seemed to be watching him intently. Rodin, for his part, had his eyes closed in concentration.
Before my eyes, the tattoos vanished from sight… only to be slowly replaced by… a knife?
When the picture solidified, Rodin snapped open his eyes and held out a hand to me expectantly. Wordlessly, I drew a knife and handed it to him.
Immediately he started twirling it up and around his fingers, as if he was born with it there in his palm.
My eyes widen in alarm.
Is this the power of our new magic? Instant skill?
Rodin stopped his silent little display abruptly, wincing. He hid it quickly, but I noticed that he had cut himself. So, not infallible skill… but still skill. With a flick of his wrist, the knife extended towards me hilt first as he offered it back to me.
I take it and sheath it. Whatever this was, it’s over now.
Discord looks simultaneously impressed and disappointed. “How?” he asks.
Rodin’s grin falters as he takes note of the god’s disappointment. “Mender discovered the marks last night, and came to me with them. With enough experimentation, we identified a few common themes in how they work, and have a working theory on how to think to get what you want out of it.”
“And the name?” Discord asks.
“Focus Magic.”
Discord just stares at him, his expression pained.
Slowly, the god reaches a paw forward, turns it claw-side up, and face palms. Hard. “I knew I should have done that part myself,” he mutters.
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The... the punchline was GREAT...
Absolutely brilliant.
Excellent! You must have more days like that!
So basically the humans now have heavily diluted discord powers then?
Minus the creation abilities of course.
I vote 'magical tattoos of badassery' but that might not go over well with Rodin-man.
It's like... a quasi/reverse/??? Cutie Mark magic... thing.
Neat.
Because a literal Wish-Granting Tattoo Magic isn't a very good name, or is it?
I wonder what Discord will teach her, seeing as as he failed the task of finding an original name for the magic.
ha wonder what discord would of called it i thought focus magic was simple but cool. aww no lesson for Sophie yet? i bet she would of loved to learn something from him~! i hope another chapter is on the way soon sorry i just enjoy this a lot.
I honestly like this story a great deal. Please continue.
i wonder how discord plans to get the humans to stop all the god worshiping so the don't end up reintroducing that word to the ponies
They can basically buff themself in certain skills.
Like in any rpg, Rodin just gave himself a +10 in weapon proficiency: Daggers, or something.
And the guard buffed his willpower to resist the fear checks the forest threw at him.
Whuh? So discord did not actually design this? He just made it?
3725912
Assuming you're referring to:
Then, no, Discord definitely designed the magic he gave them down to the finest detail. In this quote he's just saying that he did not engineer the specific set of circumstances that led to the two of them having this conversation, namely, Herbert's accidental use of his new magic.
I totally called that. Sort of.
Instead of Cutie Marks: Chaos marks?