The Archives of Equusweyr

by Coranth

10. Archive #10 - The Disgusted Noble

The Equestrian Noble who'd come to visit the Prince had left disgusted.

"A foal?" He cried. "A foal?! And a useless one, at that! How can that foolish so-called Foal Lord rule an entire city when he does nothing but sleep all day?"

Throwing up his hooves, the Noble made to enter Equusweyr Courtyard and then to leave--only to run smack into one of the Templar Guard. "Out of my way!" the Unicorn cried, but the super unicorn soldier didn't budge. Instead, with a shake of his head, the Templar withdrew from his armor a thin disc - the size of an ordinary Equestrian Bit Coin - and then, before the Equestrian Noble could stop him, with lightning-fast reflexes the Templar Guard attached the disc to the base of the noble's skull, where his spine began...

... and then, the Noble panicked - urinating on the ground in fear as he felt the guard's regret/concern - because the terrifying Weyrmind he'd heard about had him now, and all his thoughts were laid bare... "No," he breathed, "you won't have me; I am me; you won't assimilate me..." Alas, it was too late. Then...

"YOU ARE STILL YOU, AS THE TEMPLAR WITH YOU IS STILL ARMAND," came the Collective Voice of the Everfree Peoples. "THE WEYRMIND SEEKS ONLY TO COMMUNICATE, NOT ASSIMILATE. YOU ARE ONE WITH US NOW, BUT YOU WILL SHARE WITH US ONLY THAT WHICH YOU ALLOW; WE WILL NOT SEEK MORE UNLESS IT IS YOUR DESIRE TO SHARE IT WITH US--AND EVEN THEN, WHAT IS PRIVATE TO YOU IS PRIVATE TO US ALL. YOU WISH TO KNOW HOW WE WORK AS A PEOPLE; LET US SHOW YOU..."

... and then, the Noble gasped as suddenly he was Armand, with all his training; then he was a Merchant; then he was a Hoofmaiden, then he was a Changeling, then a Treepony, then, then, then...

"Come back, now," he felt the Voice of the Prince rumble like a muted thunderclap through his very essence, "the first time joined with us can be a little overwhelming. That's it... there you go, now..."

... the Noble inhaled a breath, and sank to his knees, overwhelmed, tears filling his eyes. For an instant that seemed an entire lifetime... he had been the entirety of a City, had been one with the pulse and lifeblood of it in a way nopony had been ever before. The poor noble looked at himself, broken inside. Who needed hooves, when a "hoof" was right there in Armand? Who needed eyes, when Observers were everywhere, and could literally see everything? Who needed armor when your very essence ran through every psi-steel wall, every conduit, even within the Weyrmind itself? Even physical death might be overcome; he'd lived an entire life with the Transequines inside the mind of the Weyr. Education? Download information into your head, or borrow the skills of somepony else whom was all too happy to lend them to you! Major Government decisions which decided how the City was run? A massive Collective Consensus Vote, with the Prince being the Final Voice, then thought turned to action immediately!

"YOUR NEEDS ARE THE NEEDS OF ALL; THE ONLY FRONTIER THAT HAS EVER EXISTED IS THE SELF." Those were the last words the Noble heard; the Collective Voice of the Weyrpeoples faded from his thoughts as the Weyrmind deactivated the Neural Transceiver; then holding the noble so very gently - with great sadness - Armand took the Transceiver from his neck--and as he did so, the Noble whimpered then curled up and bawled like a lost foal. Armand swiftly doffed his armor and moved to curl protectively around the Noble as he wept, wept, wept; the Templar Guard knew what it was like to be severed from the Mind. As the two lay there together, the concern became palpable; nearby ponies, griffons, changelings all converged upon the guard comforting the noble and stopped what they were doing to curl about the pair. As they did this, the crying noble thought he heard their voices in his head one last time...

"You are not alone. You are never alone..."

All was still.

Comments

[Zen-Aku]

Yes new chapter, but why is it short?