Compulsions of Self and Expectations of Other
A deep grumble left Zachery’s lips as he stared up at the off-white ceiling of his bedroom. He cursed the slowly burning wick of the candle that he blew out hours earlier. Nothing worse than being dead tired and being wholly unable to sleep. Laying on his back, he pressed the back of his hands against his eyes, trying to force sleep in. The old grandfather clock in the corner of his room was ticking louder than ever now, with every swing of its golden pendulum it would ring out, disturbing the silence of the room.
The clock ticked through ten perfect circles and he gave up. He pushed the overly plush covers off and stood up on cold floor boards. He stretched, cracking his back as he staggered over to the vanity that they had supplied his room with. Leaning over the polished wood of the countertop he watched the slow blinks of the person staring at him from the other side of the mirror.
He looked like shit.
The bags under his eyes reflected each sleepless night he had and the general stress of the day. Black hair allowed flashes of dull blue, brown-speckled eyes and he huffed. Holding up a forefinger and a thumb, he pulled at one not quite clammy cheek, and tried to bring feeling back to his face. Although each movement sent dull aches through his body, he couldn’t help but feel satisfied at the motor dexterity he finally got back in his hands.
Healing has been, slow. It was only yesterday that he was able to fully change back to his body, back to something more human. His arms and legs still ached, and he didn’t dare try to bring out either of his wings. Grimacing, he straightened and tried not to think too much about the inflamed area just under the skin on his back. Insect wings grow back and his feathers were just sore, it’ll hopefully pass soon.
With an explosive sigh, he combed his hair back and away from his face. It had finally grown back to its natural length and with that came the problem of having it everywhere. He needed a ribbon, or something to tie it back with, maybe Rarity had something that he could borrow-
His eyes fell back to the mirror and in the reflection he saw the scar that cut crudely across his forearm.
Wood shuddered as his fist came down hard against the vanity’s surface. Zachery breathed out roughly, a shiver of bristling heat shook him and he brought his fist down on the vanity again. As thoughts he repressed for his own sanity came surging back into him.
The world was going to hell around him, and he was stuck in this damnable castle.
I shouldn’t be here.
Humanity was in danger, and all he could do for the past few days was shuffle around trying to get feeling back in his arms and legs. He should have left the second he was able to turn back!
And lead the Demon King’s followers right to unprepared forces? The rational part of his mind scoffed. Yeah, not happening.
Though no matter how much he tried to rationalized his current inaction, he still felt that there was something that he could do. Which was stupid, especially since the castle was crawling with guards. An unknown number of which who could be working for the Demon.
The Sun Princess got out because somepony tampered with Luna’s seals. At least that was what he could piece together.
Just what he needed, a possible legion of loyal subjects to the Demon. A legion that Luna knew about if her reaction to Twilight’s full recount and his carefully selected telling was anything to go by. Twilight mentioned that there was a possibility of a loyalist group, Luna’s face had shut down, and the next thing he knew he was sent back to his suite so that Luna could talk to Twilight in private.
Twilight came back pale, trembling, and with the orders to have him move to a single room in a different part of the castle. A nice little room, furnished, with the best luxuries that Equestria has to offer. Flowing tapestries, plush carpets, room service, and a bed large enough for him to sleep in comfortably.
A perfect place for Luna’s guards to watch him.
He knew it the minute he walked into the room. He felt their presence on the hairs of the back of his neck, and heard it in the almost silent shuffling just on the other side of the clean, carefully hollowed out walls.
It would be less unnerving if they were watching him because they suspected him, because these actions implied that they expected somepony to target him. Somepony that was kin with the same ponies who could sneak past Luna’s defences, release her demon possessed sister, and leave Luna believing that everything was fine.
In comparison to such dangers the militia was insignificant. Yet, Twilight and Luna insisted on focusing on the militia because the ponies in the militia didn’t really know what they were doing, and it would be wrong to leave them without answers.
A snarl crossed his face. The militia better know what they’re doing. Throwing their own country into disarray because they didn’t get the answers they wanted was ridiculous. There were some things that the people should not know. Anyone who had two brain cells to rub together knew that there was some information that was too risky to spread around. By the Three. The civilian counsels knew this. They knew that it was their job to keep the people calm and if needed distracted to keep their districts from drowning in a mass of panicked humanity. Any civilian counsel worth their pull and status would never let the outfits under them act so foolishly-
Zachery placed a hand over his face and tried not to grumble too loudly as realization hit him.
Right, ponies. Not humans. Different rules which apparently tolerated their civilian leaders sending their people into a panic.
Not my problem. He held and repeated that phrase like a mantra. He did not have the time to waste on the ponies here. First and foremost, he needed information on the Demon, it’s followers, and what it wanted. He wasn’t so foolish to think that Demon manifested in his daughter just to kill him. It had to have been looking for something before he had stumbled onto it, and he needed to know what that was.
And there was the problem. Luna clearly wasn’t going to tell him anything, Twilight knew little, and the others knew less. To get the information he wanted he needed to find it himself, which was kind of hard to do since he still had problems moving his limbs. It wasn’t nearly as bad as that first agonizing night he laid half transformed in bed, but he wasn’t going to do anything physically demanding in the near future.
The shudders running up and down his arm told him as much. “Punching solid wood while recovering from magic exhaustion. Absolute genius.” He muttered as his arm continued to pulse. “Why not let off a few explosions and shred what’s left of your pathways? It’s not like you need magic to fight. You can totally take on the Demon King’s followers with your fists.”
He clenched his hand, stretching tendons and muscles. Chiding his own actions felt strangely good. There was something calming about pointing out his mistakes and demanding that he did something to correct them.
There was no point in torturing himself with things he couldn’t change. He should try to sleep, even though he knew he had long ago pushed past simple tiredness. Maybe if he stared at the ceiling long enough his body would get a clue and finally give him a break.
Plink.
He froze at the sharp tap, the unmistakable sound of a claw tapping glass.
Plink. Plink.
He turned around and the breath in his throat caught at the sight of Discord tapping from the other side of the vanity’s mirror.
The spirit smiled at him, a wide tooth filled grin and lifted a claw again.
Plink. Plink. Plink-ity. Plink. Plink.
Prior calmness drained from he as he stared at the smiling spirit.
Discord. The chaos spirit that lived to sow panic. Discord. A spirit that was thousands of years old, and was immensely powerful.
Discord, the creature that sent him out to fight the Demon King blind.
Acting out was dumb, and he knew it was, but the world had already greyed, and he sent his fist through the vanity’s empty mirror. His eyes were already off the broken glass and had locked on the snake-goat-pony-whoever the fuck cares creature that materialized behind him.
Discord dusted imaginary dirt off himself and tutted, “Now, Zachery, is that anyway to greet your newest friend?”
And just like that, the last threads of reason washed away like Standing Refugee’s southern coast after a flood. Zachery’s eyes simmered between blue and green. The utterly silent, bruised, and very much still injured human grabbed the nearest thing to him and threw it at Discord’s head.
Discord easily stepped out of the path of the haphazardly thrown object. Discord watched as the object clattered harmlessly against the wall, he frowned, “Did you really just throw a hairbrush at me...” Discords words trailed off since at that moment Zachery enclosed his hand around the spirit’s throat.
Zachery glared wide-eyed and wild into Discord’s eyes as his nails slowly dug into Discord’s neck. Discord blinked at the pain, and carefully watched him, a considering frown on his face.
“You know, I can easily get out of this.” Discord said simply, his frown deepening as Zachery’s fingers dug deeper into his neck. “Can you even understand me?”
“I can.” He replied, a smile beginning to spread across his lips as the thought of tearing the chaos spirit apart started to sound oh so sweet and perfect. Oh there was something wrong with that but he couldn’t be damned to care. “I just don’t want to listen, you see, killing you is just so tempting.”
Discord’s eyes narrowed, “I’m the spirit of chaos itself. I cannot be killed.”
“I can scatter you.” Zachery said his tone light and airy his smile showing too much teeth, “All I have to do is destroy your physical body.” There was something terribly wrong with what he was saying. Not that he cared at that particular moment. Squeezing down on Discord’s neck just felt so satisfying. “Let’s see how long it will take for you to manifest again, shall we?” His smile grew wider and he felt the smallest bits of blood coat his fingers.
Discord did not flinch at the pain Zachery knew he was inflicting. Instead Discord spoke to him with infuriating patience, “I say, we didn’t get off on the best of hooves, but don’t you think you’re going a little overboard, Zachery Von Roderick?”
He flinched. To have his named used so freely, in Equestria, of all places-
“Don’t call me that! Using full names goes against-” His free hand clawed the air as he tried to convey thousands of years of superstition into a simple sentence and thusly giving up, “It’s wrong!” he snapped making his frustration clearly known, “And I think I’m acting well within reason seeing that you threw me into the courts of hell without even a Three Damned warning!”
“Twilight isn’t the best of company on a good day I agree, but don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little?” Discord said his smile straining and visibly threatening to fall. So of course Zachery dug his nails in deeper, annoyed that Discord didn’t physically act, “I’m sure we can talk this over some tea-”
“You set me up against fucking Conquering Wind.” Zachery hissed, magic leaving him and he girt against the painfully muted waves, “You and you’re damned tea can dive into a hope forsaken dying pit!”
Discord’s body swayed under his hand causing Zachery to nearly lose the grip that he had on the chaos spirit’s neck. Zachery tightened his grip and he pulled his lips back in a snarl as he glared into Discord’s shocked eyes.
The chaos spirit gaped as he uttered in dismay, “You fought Conquering Wind?”
Zachery found that he really did not like the disbelief in Discord’s voice, “What the hell did you think happened to the castle? A renovation?” He spat and his mind was plagued with the idea of everyone in the castle working together to give it a facelift.
Maybe Discord thought Twilight had ordered all the ponies to break windows and tear down walls ‘for the good of Equestria’. Who knows? Maybe all the King’s ponies just wanted to repaint the hallways. Perhaps the Demon King was just a little too ambitious in stripping the halls. A misunderstanding that they could correct with a simple discussion over tea!
Ha.
Ha.
Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. HA!
A weak copper taste coiled in his mouth as he bit his tongue until it bled. It’s only been a week, and yet he could feel the Hysteria pressing itself against his skull.
Spirit cursed Breeding. Thousands of years, thousands of different bloodlines mixed into the original cursed one. And yet. Too much frustration, too much desperation, and he starts laughing like a Hyena. His parents were separated by nine degrees. He and his sister was supposed to be fine, but no; yearly check up’s and a little red stamp on their genetic papers for both of them.
At least Emma’s problems were only physical and did not affect her mind like that fool of a doctor said it did. With that cheery thought tension coiled in his shoulders, and for that he thanked whatever listened to people like him.
Anger was good. Anger meant that he could think. Discord was staring at him. Then again he had gone silent staring into space, and clenching his jaw. Anyone would stare. Especially if their neck was held by someone who was acting as strangely as he had.
He released his tongue and choked out a question. The spirit knew enough. He did not have to know all of Humanity's weaknesses. The spirit didn’t need to know how badly some of them could slip, or how horribly fragile their bloodlines are.
“Where were you?” He asked. Forcing a wedge between his own thoughts and Discord’s inquiry. It was a perfectly logical and reasonable question he thought as he pushed down the last bits of insistent laugher trying to claw its way up. Rarity had come back with Fluttershy, and it was the first time he had seen Discord after the spirit had all but promised that he was going to keep a close eye on him.
“I forgot the milk and went to get it. When I came back Fluttershy was gone.” Discord said eyeing him in a way that made him want to look away. Whatever Discord had found in his eyes he didn’t speak on it. Instead the spirit ignored his outburst and continued as if the bout of silence had not happened, “I thought you and Twilight did that.”
He blinked. No, no freakin way. “I almost was trampled, Et kaduma kõigile - sed prudentum manus mortis, because you needed milk?” Anger rolled through him and he stomped on the resentful giggles that pushed against his diaphragm, “Whatever this ‘milk’ is it I hope it was damn well worth it.”
For his part Discord managed to look apologetic, “I’ve never thought that he would be back so soon, I thought I had at least a few more months…” Discord looked down at him and piped a single eyebrow up, “You don’t know what milk is?”
“I doesn’t translate well, and at the moment I could not give less of a shit.” Zachery said quickly keeping Discord on target. “Conquering Wind is back and since you seem to have made a plan, what would you have done against that?”
Discord looked at him and said dryly, “Nothing.”
He pushed harder against Discord’s throat, “Nothing!” His vision threatened to grey out again, and there was a reason why he should be quieter if only he could remember what that was. “You’re not even trying to hide it.” The smallest chuff, almost a laugh escaped him, and he ignored the warning bells going off in his mind. He was about to feel so much better, “Give me one good reason I should not try to tear out your throat!”
“I can think of many reasons why you shouldn’t attempt to do that.” Discord replied coolly. “Reasons that mix with why I can't fight Conquering Wind.”
“Well name it!”
“For one it would hurt because I have a physical body.”
He narrowed his eyes as confusion pushed away a violent grey haze, “I noticed, and?” Zachery clipped.
“Conquering Wind doesn’t have a body, and therefore needs to control one to manifest, as you so put it, in this world. Guessing from the burns outside he took over Celestia, didn’t he?” Discord explained, and while considering the hand around his throat said, “You don’t know much about spirits, do you.”
His hand twitched as finally he heard the warnings that scream at him, “I know enough.” He said tensely.
“Oh, is that so?” An eyebrow raised ever so slightly, “Then you know that it is possible for a spirit to become possessed?” Discord asked.
He stiffened, and tried to roll that phrase into something that made sense, “That’s impossible.” He sputtered, “One spirit based being can not possess another, not in the way the Sun Princess was. Even I know that!”
“True.” Discord said with a short click of his tongue, “One may take power from the other, however no matter how much raw energy said being took, it wouldn't be able to use the stolen powers of the being it absorbed. Unanchored spirits don't have a consciousness solid enough to take advantage of, their minds aren’t stable. If you were to divulge in their minds for their power you would only get mere scraps of their potential.” Discord looked down to him and Zachery held still in his intensely dry gaze, “I have a physical mortal body. My conscious mind is stable,” Discord paused, “Well, mostly. My point is my body can be possessed.”
Shaking, his hand limply held Discords neck, “That- that’s not an excuse. So the Demon King could take your body away, but why would he? He said that he created the Sun Princess so that she could be his future puppet.” He stated filing away what Discord said with what he saw. The longer the fight with Conquering Wind had went on, the more stable he had become. Which brought back the need for a sharp weapon because punching/kicking the Demon into submission was very much not going to work. The Demon had made a very strong host which made him ask Discord, “Why would he want to take you?”
Discord raised an eyebrow and gesture for him to step back, he did for the sake of both of their personal space.
Satisfied at the distance now between them, Discord started, “Mortals have these, mental blocks that spirits don’t. To take over a mortal body you have to wear their mind down. You have to take one emotion and feed it and twist it to break in. Loneliness, helplessness, pride, shame, guilt, any of those and a thousand others would do.” Discord paused and made sure that he looked him in his eyes, “Spirits are easier because we feel such emotions more readily, we have no natural or mental blocks. It probably took weeks maybe months for him to wear Celestia down. For me it would take seconds.”
“You, can’t be serious.” There was no way that was true, but the open cool way Discord regarded him sent spindles of cold up his back.
“Deadly.” Discord answered starkly, abhorrence colouring his voice as he spoke, “Conquering Wind was an old vindictive pony who couldn’t just let himself die. I’m here because chaos is a natural force. As long as thinking creatures cause mischief or work against the natural order of things I exist. He’s here because he used his hate to fight against the pull of death so that he could spread his poisonous intent. Do you really think that he wouldn’t use Celestia to grab me to make sure what he hates suffers?” Discords lips pressed into a tight line as he regarded Zachery, “So no, I don’t think I would fight Conquering Wind.”
Zachery stepped away from Discord, his eyes were wide and he knew he wasn’t looking at anything as his mind chased itself in circles, but he couldn’t be damned to care.
Discord stretched his back, a loud crack coming off as he did so. “You shouldn’t look so dispairing, Zachery. You did win against him once after all.”
He laughed sharp and dry, “I barely survived him. It wasn’t some epic full frontal attack like the historic stories detail. I ran.”
“And lived.” Discord said, “It counts. You’re here and somehow have all your limbs, considering some of Conquering Wind’s less than kind rants on his deathbed. I’d say that’s a plus.” Discord clapped a jovial smile on his face, “But that’s in the past, we have to think on the now. That being said, where is Luna and Celestia? I can’t seem to find them.”
He shook his head, “Luna’s watching the Sun Princess I don’t know where. The Sun Princess is unstable, it’s not safe to have her around others.” Discord frowned at him, and Zachery pushed on before he could ask another a question, “Where's the nearest human post?”
“Thinking about leaving?” The chaos spirit asked this in such a way, it had Zachery bristling even though he had thought of taking that same route.
“They need to know.” He replied curtly, they being the people that decided to bring a sub into Equestrian waters.
Discord huffed and waved his answer away, “They’ll find out soon enough.”
A snarl crossed his lips, and he flexed his hands. “If you know something-”
“I know what you know.” Discord’s smile was pure smugness, “Then again, youth have the darndest time sitting down and thinking. I have a suspicion that you may be able to help me with.” Discords smile dropped and with what fragile pieces of tense ease died, “Did Conquering Wing have help? Are there ponies following him.”
He remembered the Demon King’s words and sureness behind them as he spoke of his loyal subjects, “Yes,” Zachery said brushing down the prickly unease coursing through his arms, “he did.”
Discord breathed out softly and smiled, and released old unknown words that Zachery knew could only be swears. Discord trailed off to his hands, cracking his mismatched digits as he flexed, “Ok.” Discord said calmly, “Promise not to freak out?” The chaos spirit held his gaze, and Zachery nodded, agreeing with the spirit's odd request, “It is more than likely that Conquering Wind’s followers have the blueprints to Twilight’s restraints.”
His magic pulsed hard, pain, the only thing keeping him from reflectively doing something more dangerous like summoning wings and further ruining bruised muscle. Though pain could only still his movements so much and he stammered.
Twilight’s restraints. Something that the other humans knew were dangerous, but not why.
Twilight’s restraints. Which in moments had almost killed him and left him in a coma for weeks.
Twilight’s restraints. What the spirit before him had said could be massed produced by strong unicorns.
The blueprints for those restraints were now in the hooves of Conquering Wind’s loyal subjects. Subjects that the Demon King would never accept unless they were powerful. A thousand outcomes crashed into each other in his head, all of them as horrible as the last, and he choked out, “What!”
“You see, this exactly what I asked not to do.” Discord said snidely, “But yes they most likely have them. Twilight doesn’t hide her accomplishments, she’s the type to share them to the world. Well maybe not these.” Discord said snapping his claws to get his attention. “Zachery, listen to me. It will take time for them to make copies even if they took the original set. It was a good thing that she took the blueprints with her when she went to find you. It gives us time.” Discord looked at him, and he was still staring into space, “Who was watching your bags when you went to fight Conquering Wind? Did you check the bags afterwards?”
Dry staticy noise crawled in his ears as he did not know the answer to that. Who was watching their stuff? Were their bags moved around? He didn’t know. They didn’t check. Applejack came in and told them what she did, then the screaming started again, and he did not check. Conquering Wind said that he had help and not once did he try to find out if said help had stuck in behind their backs.
“You’re pacing.”
He stopped, and would you look at that, he was pacing. “Just, give me a moment.” And no there wasn’t a tremor in his voice. Panic got people killed. He couldn’t panic, no matter if he wanted to smash through his suite’s window and mad dash it to the coast.
What he wanted to do, and what he should do were two very different things. So screaming bubbling panic had to stay down, because he was in no shape to do that. What he needed to do at the first possible moment, was check Twilight’s bags. There was a chance that everything was fine and that nothing went wrong.
There was also a chance that his Mom would slam open the door screaming April Fools and he would find that all of this was an very elaborate prank. Ha~. He was seriously going to be sick. Right on the floor, right now, right in front of the chaos spirit waiting for him to say something.
Weakly he ordered his purposely flimsy dinner to stay down. He had to focus on what he could do right here, right now. He needed information. He needed help. Zachery looked up to Discord, who in turn peered down at him as he waited for his response, “Why are you helping me?”
And the Three help him, he was actually considering Discord for an ally. A chaos spirit that he threatened, he could hear generations of Veil scholars shifting in their graves...
He mentally shook himself this was not the time for him to be picky! Discord was the only one other than him who knew what was going on. And considering how damnable this information was, and considering how easy it was for the King’s followers to sneak past a prison made by Luna. There was some fates he'd rather not tempt, well, more than he had already. Even if he managed not to damn himself, Twilight was too stressed to be of any use, and taking Luna away from her watch was not happening. Not saying that he wouldn’t tell them about the traitors around them he just needed evidence.
“I’m not.” Discord said with a shrug, “I’m taking steps to protect my current way of life among other things. I need you alive to do that."
Zachery frowned not liking the conclusion that Discord drew, “Why not go to the elements?” He said carefully. He was one human with very limited mobility, while the elements could, for the most part, move unharassed about Equestria.
“Have you seen how they’re acting?” Discord scoffed, “I didn’t need Fluttershy’s explanation to know that they aren’t exactly on the same page with each other. The last thing I need is an unfaithful ally with all the secrets that are going around.” Discord gave him a look, “Now you know my reasons, and dangers you and your people floating off Black Pebble Coast are in. So, Zachery, I must ask, what are you planning to do?”
And that was the big question, what was he planning on doing? He, fighting an enemy that he doesn’t know, his enemy is after something that he doesn’t know, and there will be no backup for him. He wet his lips. The only thing he could do now was start from the top work his way down and hope he doesn’t miss anything, “The ponies don’t trust Luna.”
“No, they don’t.” Discord said humouring his erratic brainstorm, “They think she’s hiding something, which she is, of course.”
He tapped his foot in a jittery, halting movement, as he worked through the worst case scenario, “What would happen if they found out?”
Discords lips pursed, “Then everypony’s suspicions will be true and they’ll rebel, well, more than they already are.”
Assume the worst, Zachery mulled, Assume that the King and his followers didn’t just want to take over Equestria. Assume that the King wanted his kingdom back.
“If that happened, the king’s followers could rally up the ponies under a new banner in order to save the sun princess.” Zachery said tightly, and hello again cold aching pit in his stomach, it had been much too long, “Luna isn’t the type to retaliate violently against her subjects, is she?” At Discord’s head shake he swore. “If those ponies attacked the castle and made it to the barrier, assuming that there are spies in Luna’s guard, Luna would have to defend herself against her subjects and hold the barrier at the same time.”
A sort of keening snarl left his lips as he thought of Luna, holding two barriers, one to protect herself and one to hold the Sun Princess down, “The barrier around the Sun Princess would fall. Either Luna runs out of magic, or she pushes away the ponies attacking her which would give the King’s followers more clause against her.” His hands flexed as he imagined an endless stream of ponies throwing themselves against Luna, while the Demon King fought for control over the Sun Princesses mind. Adding the fact that, by then, Luna would already be weakened...
“Conquering Wind will take control of the Sun Princess again, and all the ponies will celebrate as the ‘evil’ sister falls and the ‘true’ sister takes back the throne. And would you look at that! They would have proof that both Twilight and Luna had contact with humans, and with Conquering Wind dressed as their true ruler, telling them how dangerous all humans are.” Zachery placed his head in his hands, “Those puss drinking ~soaked more than Peligain Scientist~, Fuck! Might as well put a damn beacon over Standing Refugee-”
“What proof?” Discord said bringing a quick stop to what would have been an impressive rant, “I’m sure that you would be long gone if things ever went that south.”
Oh he would be. He would be out of there faster than a Leech-Bat out of hell, and would have contacted the sub with the most insane dive bomb that has yet to be seen. All he would have to do is breathe Conquering Wind’s name and everyone on board would be falling over themselves distancing themselves from Equestria. He would be home before he knew it, be called a war hero, and be gifted with enough funds that his great-great grandchild wouldn’t have to worry about their grandchildren's future. But-
“Twilight took notes.” He hissed his irritated foot tapping increasing, “She took pictures.” He said remembering a blockly object that he had to be told was a camera poking out of a large saddlebag, and nearly spat, “If she wouldn’t hide the blueprints to the shackles why would she hide the research she crossed to oceans to get?” He willed his arms to stay down he would not grab at the bandages on his arms. Bury it. It happened in the past. Focus on now.
Thankfully Discord was too immersed with his own thoughts to pay attention to his twitches, “They have us in a checkmate, so what could they possibly be waiting for?”
He blinked, the sound of puzzle pieces finally snapping together chasing away any other intrusive thoughts, “The meeting.” He breathed out a harsh exhale of air, “Applejack arranged for a meeting between the militia leaders and the princesses. Except Luna and the Sun Princess won’t be there. It will be Twilight and Cadance against militia and who knows how many followers of the demon.”
It was going to end badly, worse, if Twilight panics, which she will. Then the whole meeting would be filled with angry accusations, and fools yelling over each other, and Twilight will be in the middle of it trying to pass blatant lies as truth. Too bad the only way to tell a decent lie was to sprinkle it with the truth, but there wouldn't be any truth left to bend.
Which brought in more from an already terrible situation. He had asked who Cadance was and Twilight's answer made him want to slam his head against a wall. Why the hell did Twilight think she could lie to someone she knew from childhood? Better yet, why did she think that Cadance wouldn’t instantly see her lies for what they were?
Even worse, apparently Cadance was the princess of love and all that goodness. There was no way she would tolerate Twilight telling outright lies, and if she did not have the sense to not reprimand Twilight in front of dignitaries…
He buried his face in his hands. Right, so everything around him was being dragged to the King’s Court in chains. How does he stop it?
Small things first, like choosing what thread to use to mend a nasty tear in a fabric. How was he going to stop Twilight from panicking? How was he going to stop the first outburst?
Wait. Pick up a thread that’s a little thicker than stich-work holding cloth together. Should he stop her from panicking? Sometimes subtle and fine wasn’t the way to go, sometimes one had to force cloth together, bind it down, and cut off frayed edges before they could render good material useless.
What if he could get her to panic at the right thing, and get a pure reaction out of the most vocal haters of humanity? He was gambling, but the rewards if he was right..
“Oh, that is an interesting smile.” Discord chuckled, “What have you thought of?”
He clasped his hands behind his head and rocked back, and the truly ill-fortuned grin on his face did not shrink a bit, “Nothing much.”
The Demon King hates it when his plans fail. He wondered how well his followers will react to a little tear to their plans.
Discord clapped paw and claw together, “Well it looks like you have this all figured out, I supposed you don’t need any further help from me?” The spirit smiled sweetly.
Ask for direct help and be left indebted to him? No.
He shook his head, “You said it yourself, the further you are from Conquering Wind’s followers the better.” He smiled, giving off the smallest flash of white teeth, “I don’t need help making a mess.”
“Wonderful!” Discord said clapping his paw and claw together, sidestepping him, and leisurely walked toward the vanity and it’s cracked mirror. “You disrupt them and I’ll stay out of the way. From there, we’ll see.” Discord said tapping the cracked mirror and making it whole again. “Tomorrow is a big day, do try to get some sleep.” The spirit passed through the mirror leaving ripples shimmering across the surface.
He waited for the ripples to settle, and still he watched the mirror to make sure that the chaos spirit did not poke his head through the mirror again.
He clenched and unclenched his hand feeling the coppery stickiness that coated underneath his nails. Another dumb mistake that was going to come back to bite him later, and he was planning on making more.
Disrupt a meeting between Twilight, the many militia factions in Equestria, a princess he had never met, and what is sure to be a number of Conquering Wind’s followers. Followers that would be trying their hardest to get the other ponies in the room to turn violently against him.
Fucking, swell.
Well, his magically drained self did want a way to fight against the Demon King’s Army. Could he even call it an army? He had no idea how many ponies followed the King. It could be hundreds. It could be half of Equestria’s population.
On that note, how many ponies were there? He clicked his tongue. There was a lot of difference between probably over a ten thousand and maybe under a million.
He fought the urge to run his hands through his hair. Worse comes to worst, at least he had somewhat of an idea of how large the pony population was. The people bobbing up and down in the submarine outside of Equestria had less. They didn’t even know that the Demon King was back, and wouldn’t know until they were cornered by his followers. The ponies could publish a thousand papers praising the King’s return and they wouldn’t know because they couldn’t read…
He froze. Newspapers had pictures.
His heart tried it’s best to break out of his rib cage as his mind demanded him to think of self-preservation. He very deliberately shut that part of his mind away. Hiding away would only delay the inevitable anyways.
So why not have his début on his own terms?
A nervous excitement settled on him as he made his way to his suite’s single bathroom. He needed to wash his hands clean from Discord’s blood before he went to sleep. Oh, he knew that Discord was going to get him for that later. You can’t really harm a spirit no matter how minor and not expect them to retaliate tenfold. In the possibly near future he was very much screwed. Still, he was excited enough for that nagging panic to be forgotten on the back burner.
He wasn’t mentally incapacitated. He wasn’t forced to make a spilt second decision. He had a chance to stop, or very much slow down a nightmare, and he was going to take it.
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No, you idiot, don't bury it! She fucked up bad and her mess is STILL making things worse! There is some SERIOUS need of suffering on the part of the Ponies in order for there to be ANY sort of justice or peace. They fucked up and damn near killed him and didn't give two shits about it! AJ needs to be drawn and quartered, Twilight needs to be turned inside out (the slower the better) and Dash needs to have her wings seared off (followed by all her other limbs).
7159378 I wouldn't go that far but yes. There needs to be repercussions. But it would be wise to wait until his life is no longer in jeopardy.
Its been a while huh. Well im glad you got this updated cause im liking it a lot
7159378 They'll get their first taste of it soon( Twilight and AJ at least ), if our boy is planning what I think he's planning.
They won't get thrown to the wolves just yet. But, I imagine they will be chewed upon quite a bit.
7159378
All that quote makes me think is this
We are alive.
Those who have wronged our kind will never be forgotten.
Nor will they be forgiven.
For until the blood and tears that we have spilled in their chains and bonds is equal to our own we will remain and we will fight for our right to live.
¤Illumini pax hominid¤
7163879
I agree with this.
Hmm...
Well and here I thought I would never have to use this...
(Proceeds to open desk)
(Hits red button under desk)
( supply drop inbound)
1: 1X syncron: magic amplifying arm band
2: 10x vengeance: magic destroying grenade
3: 1x Halo: last resort revival system: warning only works 3 times
4: 1x GX-1901: experimental anti-magic energy shield( about the size of captain Americas shield) projects from an un-breakable gauntlet
5: 1x Z3-R0: an armor worn energy crystal that drains the magic out of magic based attacks and the surrounding area therefore reducing the damage said attack causes while supplying the user with the drained magic ( must be built into armor to function and can not be destroyed)
These are just suggestions I had in mind, say they are ancient artifacts used by the three to fight the king. And Luna gives them to him... Or something along that line
Also they are made of silverish metal that have blue lines running along them
And if you need anything else to kick those equines into the next millennia just ask.
I HATE anti-humans more than hell itself!!!
Damn holy fuck, some real bad shit is about to happen.
...........FUCK!!!!!!!
Awesome story dude! :)
To hell with the wind tyrant!!!
Something has been nagging me ever since Discord got all "you humans are too diverse," and "Ponies of a single type (unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies) are all the same." True, having a standard certainly helps increase the rate of manufacturing, but there is a major weakness to be exploited here. The author has described the humans as working together fairly well, and to imagine if all of humanity were working together in regards to technology. The author even mentioned nukes in a comment/blog post, so we know that they are well developed. If Zachary is able to deliver the fact that pretty much all ponies can be boiled down to three types with a standard form/biological makeup (or if the spies find out on their own), the humans have an easy win: biochemical warfare. the people in standing refuge have such a hate and fear of the ponies that any sort of ban on the development is not plausible. Developing a disease or chemical that targets something specific is almost horrifyingly easy to do, given the right lab and the right scientists. The humans in the story may have more difficulty determining individual talents, but by the time you are of age to join the military, you would most likely understand your own body; finding a corresponding weapon/style by that point would not be too difficult. This is the reason why things like genetic diversity are desired in a species. The overly similar nature of the ponies is their greatest weakness: one the humans would definitely exploit.
Hey when are the next Chapters coming out?
7260860 Why do you say that?
And it isn't.
7260860
How?