Chaos, Plain and Simple.
“Emperor, Emperor wake up.”
Reflection was dragged out of her peaceful sleep when the body next to her moved. Grumbling in annoyance, she lifted her head and blinked open her eyes with a yawn. Nigel had already sat up, the Emperor rubbing his eyes while three guards watched on.
“Okay, I’m awake,” he told them, wincing thanks to the sunlight streaming in through the window. “I could have sworn that I hadn’t slept that long.”
“You haven’t, Lord,” a yellow guardstallion answered grimly. “We’re part of the night shift tonight, and I can assure you that it’s only been a few hours since nightfall.” He looked towards her, the stallion nodding. “I’m sorry for waking you as well, ma’am.”
“It’s fine,” she dismissed, stretching her hooves. “What’s this about it being sunny at night?”
“Emperor, it’s probably best for you to see for yourself,” the guard suggested in response. “We don’t have a clue about what’s going on, and given that Celestia can apparently control the sun…”
“It might be an attack, or cover for one,” Nigel finished, throwing off the bed sheets to leap out. The guards averted their eyes out of respect, Reflection rolling her eyes at them. If Chalmers had cared, then he wouldn’t have done it. Speaking of Chalmers, the human quickly put on a plain white set of underwear and grabbed his bathrobe, this one lime green instead of pink.
Oh, how he had complained to her about it.
Still incredibly tired, she made to get out of the bed before a hand stopped her.
“Reflection, you don’t have to get up.”
She smiled up at him; however she continued to leave the bed. “No, I might as well. This sounds pretty important.” Her hooves hit the crystal floor with light thuds, and she cricked her neck and gave her wings a few flaps to test them. “We better go as soon as possible.”
“Agreed,” he agreed, before peering at the guard leader’s shoulder icons. “Lead the way, Sergeant.”
“Yes sir.”
The guards led them out of their room, Reflection letting out another yawn while she trotted along with the group. A hand scratched her ear and she let out a sleepy hum in thanks, and she shook her head to clear her mind of sleep. Now fully awake, she could see that guards were mobilising throughout the castle. They had learned from the past, and Reflection was confident that the Equestrians would pull one over on them again.
They descended the staircase, no one saying a word. This worried her just a tiny bit, mainly because it was unusual for Nigel to remain quiet. Was the situation bothering more than he let on? Sneakily, she decided to ask him something in the hopes that it would reveal his mood.
“So do you think it’s Celestia?” she tried, the group reaching the bottom of the steps to be met with another ten guards.
“I doubt it,” he replied, nodding towards the new guards who quickly joined the group. “For one, I don’t believe this ‘she controls the sun’ thing, as far as I know gravity would have something to say about it. Secondly, she doesn’t seem the sort to risk the life of her precious ponies, so unless it’s some kind of magical display of force before a negotiation I don’t think it’s her.”
Reflection nodded at his points. They made sense to her, although she wouldn’t put it past Celestia to just attack out of pure revenge. And while he didn’t think that she controlled the sun, she wasn’t so sure. After all, even the Queen had told them that it was that way.
‘Then again,’ Reflection thought with a scowl. ‘Chrysalis wasn’t very bright herself, looking back on it.’
“What’s wrong?” Nigel asked her, evidently having noticed her frown. “Besides the whole misbehaving sun, that is?”
“It’s nothing,” she dismissed, picking up her pace to pull ahead. “I was just remembering some things from before.” She hoped that he would accept the explanation, now was not the time for a long talk about exactly what she thought of Chrysalis. He didn’t say anything else, so she assumed that it had worked.
Looking back to the front, she saw that they had reached the main castle doors, four guards opening the two barriers for the group. Stepping out into the courtyard, they all stopped in surprise.
The moon was back up in the sky, shining brightly. Numerous guards glanced to each other, wondering just what was going on.
“It just… came up again,” a private explained, trotting over from the side. “Emperor… what is this?”
“I haven’t got a single clue,” Nigel replied, Reflection sharing his cluelessness.
“Something like this only happened once before,” she recalled, thinking back to that one day years ago. “The day was turned to night, and then back again sometime after.”
“Could this be the same thing, but in reverse?”
Reflection shrugged at Nigel’s question, the guards and Emperor looking towards her.
“I don’t know, it wasn’t long after I had matured and I hadn’t even seen the outside so all I know was what I heard from others."
“Oh,” Nigel replied, looking back up at the sky. “Has there been any sign of an attack?”
“No sir,” the guard sergeant answered. “Nothing is amiss aside from the moon and-“
The stallion was interrupted when the moon started to sink, soon disappearing behind the horizon. In its place rose the sun, the entire process only taking half a minute. There was no way it was natural, although Reflection was starting to have doubts about her first impression. Even if this was caused by Celestia, what did she stand to gain from this?
“This is chaos,” another guard muttered, murmurs of agreement sounding out from all of them.
“Change of plans,” Nigel stated. His eyes narrowed. “All of you ensure that the citizens remain calm. However, don’t neglect the watch either.”
“What should we tell them?” the guard Sergeant asked, tilting his head to the side.
“Tell them that my closest advisors and I are working on finding out what is going wrong, and we’ll keep them updated on anything we find out. Get them all to stay in their homes, and organise some patrols in the streets to show that everything is alright.” Chalmers glanced around, the frown still on his face. “Where is Strategy? I would have thought that he would have reported to me right away.”
“He’s setting up a defense on the outskirts, sir,” the Sergeant answered. “He sent me to inform you of the situation, and in the confusion I neglected to mention his absence.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nigel dismissed before turning back towards the doors. “You have your orders, and I suspect that I’ll manage to find out what’s going on with one little call…”
Without another word, he stormed back into the castle. Reflection shook her head, the guards all scattering to carry out the assigned tasks. Wondering what was wrong, she quickly trotted after him, catching up just as he reached the staircase.
“Nigel, do you know something?”
“It’s a guess,” he answered, his voice hard. “But I’m fairly certain that somehow, someway, Orthodox took the meaning of ‘distraction’ a little too far. Hopefully he’ll still have his helmet on, so I can find out just what is going on.” He stomped up the steps, Reflection looking down while she remained at his side. “Hey,” he began to ask, slowing down and his tone softening. “Are you sure that you don’t want to go back to sleep? I can handle things.”
She smiled at him, thankful for the concern. “No, I’ll come along with you, it’s okay. With all that’s going on, I don’t think I’d be able to get back to sleep anyway.”
He didn’t answer, but a quick head rub convinced her that he was okay with the decision. They reached the top of the steps, Nigel heading straight for a corridor down the end. They both passed pairs of guards, each guarding one door of six doors. The soldiers saluted when they passed, Reflection straightening. She enjoyed the respect that everyone had been showing her, even though enjoying it made her feel a little guilty.
She didn’t have further time to dwell on it however, Nigel stopping at another door and opening it. He didn’t even bother to knock, and she followed him in warily while looking around. A black figure was resting on the bed, the room dark with the window blind shut. It was then that Reflection recalled whose room this was.
“James,” Nigel addressed, shaking the sleeping figure on the shoulder.
Now that she was closer, Reflection could see that James was still in his armour, although his helmet was resting on the bedside table.
He quickly awoke, his hand going towards the gun on his belt before he saw it was just them and relaxed.
“What do you two want?” he inquired. “It’s… well, I don’t know this planet’s exact time, but it’s late.” He glanced between them, confusion evident on his face.
“We’ve got a problem, look out of your window,” Nigel responded. Reflection stepped back to allow James access, the human leaving the bed before opening the blind. Sunlight poured in, James scratching his head while staring out.
“The sun’s out,” he stated blankly. “And if my guesses about the time are right, then it’s supposed to be one am.”
“First prize for the black gentleman!” Nigel announced, Reflection staring up at him with worry while James snorted with amusement. Nigel appeared to be a little strung out, so she moved to embrace a leg with one foreleg. A second later and she felt a hand start to rub her head, James looking at the two of them.
“Okay, so what do we do? I mean, it’s the sun after all.”
“It’s Orthodox,” Nigel answered. “I’m certain this is him.”
James shook his head and chuckled, before it became full laughter.
“Orthodox? He couldn’t organise a birthday party let alone change the orbit of the planet!” James continued to laugh, evidently not affected by a lack of sleep.
“Remember the planet in that binary system that we had to leave?”
Nigel’s response cut off all laughter from James, the psionic standing up straight.
“Bollocks.” He rushed for his helmet, picking it up and pressing a button on the side. “Orthodox, what have you done?”
A cackle of static sounded before a reply came. ”What do you mean? Why do you automatically assume that I did it?”
“Orthodox,” Nigel growled.
“Look you guys, it’s not my fault-“
“Well, just who are you talking to there, my counterpart in chaos?”
The voice that cut Orthodox off wasn’t answered, Reflection looking up towards Nigel. His hand was still on her head, although the other one was balled into a fist. She could sense the anger from him, but she didn’t know what to say to defuse it. She was completely and utterly lost, and judging from James’ look so was he.
“Orthodox,” Nigel slowly questioned. “Who is that with you?”
“Brrzt, oh sorry Chalmers, I think the- bzzt- wind is interfering with the communicator –bzzt-. Call you back later!”
The helmet went silent, Nigel dragging a hand down his face. Reflection thought quickly, hoping to take his mind off things.
“Did you want to get some tea?” she tried, the Emperor nodding while taking a deep breath.
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” he told her, slightly more relaxed. “Then I’ll have to deal with… this.”
“You know,” James started. “This could work in our favor. At least we somewhat know the cause, and Orthodox does seem to be in control of it, where’s the Equestrians don’t know anything. It will certainly buy us more time to prepare and put a few of our plans into action.”
“Plans?” Reflection inquired, tilting her head at him. James glanced to Nigel, silently asking permission to tell her.
“We’ll talk about them over tea,” Chalmers answered. He tightened the strap on his bathrobe and headed for the door, James and Reflection following.
“So, who were you talking to?”
Orthodox removed his finger from the helmet button on the side and put his pillowcase disguise back on, a gust of wind sending a slight shake through the magic carpet they were riding on. He refaced Discord, the creature reclining on one side with a matching pillowcase firmly on his own head.
“Just a guy wanting to know why the sun was out during the night,” he quickly explained. He may have not been the brightest, but he knew that giving out information about the Crystal Empire probably wouldn’t end too well. Discord seemed to accept it, and they went back to circling the panicking city below them.
“What shall we do now? Recreate a ruckus, construct a conundrum, deliver a dilemma?”
Orthodox scratched his chin, debating the debacle in his mind. Glancing towards his sacks of gold and jewels, he realised that they were missing something incredibly crucial.
'Would they even have it?’ he wondered. ‘Then again, that city that Nigel has certainly did…’
“Discord, do these ponies have alcohol?”
“I would assume so,” Discord answered, creating some form of cocktail in a coconut shell and taking a sip. “I certainly do.”
Orthodox could have just asked Discord to create a drink for him, but he thought of an even better idea It would benefit him, as well as appeal to the spirit. He wasn’t a complete idiot, Discord could prove to be a legitimate threat and so keeping him occupied in Equestria would kill two birds with one stone.
“Let’s rob a liquor store.”
Discord’s eyebrows appeared on his pillowcase, one raising up. “Rob a liquor store? Really? That’s your plan?”
“Think of the payout,” Orthodox defended. “We get booze, and we get to rob a liquor store. That means more gold, complete and utter chaos… and we get to rob a liquor store.”
Discord thought it over, humming to himself. Orthodox waited patiently, hoping that the idea appealed to the creature that seemed to have taken a shine to him.
“One problem,” Discord observed. “As Spirit of Chaos, I have knowledge of all sorts of schemes and tricks. However, I have not yet robbed a liquor store.”
“Just follow my lead. Trust me, I’ve done this before.”
Discord stared at him for a few moments, before bursting out into laughter. “Oh, this is well worth the wait. If only you’d been around a few months ago, then the fun would have been endless!” Orthodox noticed that Discord was glancing towards his gauss guns, and with slight hesitation he handed one over towards him. The Spirit turned it over in his paws, one claw resting on the trigger. Discord had watched with interest while Orthodox shot at random pigeons as they passed, so he had a slight idea of what to do.
“Be careful with it,” Orthodox warned. “It takes a lot of practice to get it rig-“
He was cut off when Discord turned the gun sideways, his free paw making a ‘w’ sign. A large golden 'D' popped into existance, hanging around Discord's neck from a golden chain. “Let’s go ‘pop a cap’ and rob this store.”
Orthodox grinned under his pillowcase.
They were ready.
Wet Whistle shook his head when the sun went down and the moon rose again, before going back to wiping down the counter. When he had woken up an hour ago, he had briefly checked to make sure that he hadn’t accidently sampled too much of his own product, but he was indeed sober. He then had recalled that this had happened a few months back, when some sort of ‘Discord’ had broken free from a park bench or something.
Doing the right thing, and anticipating good business thanks to the confusion, he immediately had left his home to open up his shop.
Some ponies may have questioned why the white unicorn was so upbeat during the chaos, but to Whistle there were a few upsides.
Living in Canterlot was normally a chore for ‘normal’ ponies, the ones that weren’t blessed to be born into nobility. It seemed that most public events were aimed towards the upper-class, meaning that if a shop owner or window cleaner wanted to have a good time then they needed to either attend some of the few pubs or drink at home with friends.
And that’s where Whistle came in.
Being the only liquor store that didn’t import in wines and brandy from the Zebra lands or the vineyards of the Minotaurs, Whistle found a large market with his fellow ‘commoners’. He knew his customers, and there was nothing more relaxing than a simple beer or a nice shot of whisky. Soon, the crowds would be flocking in to refill their stocks, and he was happy to provide medicine to help them forget that the sun and moon were currently fighting for control.
He busied himself with making sure the whisky bottles behind him were nice and clean, only stopping when he could see his honey-coloured eyes and mane in the reflection. The sound of the shop door jingling caused him to turn around with a smile, Whistle preparing to greet some desperate customers.
What he was not expecting was to be met with a strange metal lizard and a large monster that seemed to be made up of many different parts of animals. Both were standing in front of him, white pillowcases with a large metal ‘C’ in the middle on their heads. The pair were both pointing strange metal objects at him, the larger one wearing a large golden ‘D’ on a necklace around his neck.
“Listen up, this is a stick up!” the smaller creature informed with a gesture of what Whistle assumed was a weapon. “Hooves on the counter where I can see them!” Whistle complied, not wanting to test the creatures’ patience. “Good, now remain still and no one will get hurt-“
“Yarrrrgh!”
With a yell, the large creature aimed his weapon up towards the roof and waved it around, an almighty roar coming from the strange device. Whistle ducked behind his counter while his shop ceiling was devastated, wood chips raining down while bottles rattled on the shelves. The sound kept up for a full ten seconds, before he heard a clicking once his hearing had returned to normal.
“It’s not working anymore, did I break it?”
“Discord, you blew all of the ammo shooting the roof, it’s unprofessional!”
“Oh, I’m sorry your Highness, but here I was trying to do something for you-“
“For me? You’re the one who just ruined a perfectly good hold-up-“
Both of the arguing beings were interrupted by a loud crack, and Whistle covered his head with his forelegs when the building shuddered. Another loud crash rang out, the sound of smashing bottles accompanying it. He waited until the dust settled before peeking out around the side of the counter, the smaller robber trying to dig through the rubble.
“See? I told you!”
A loud pop and a flash of light later, and the dust-covered Discord appeared above the pile. The creature reached a paw into its pillowcase mask and removed a roofing tile, before looking up through the hole towards the clear night sky.
“That could have gone better,” he mused to himself, the small creature smacking his head with his own weapon.
“Yes, yes it could have. Can we now proceed with the plan?”
“Oh yes,” Discord replied, turning towards Whistle. He tried to duck back under his counter but found himself levitating up into the air. Flailing his hooves in a desperate attempt to get free, he froze when a large banana prodded his forehead. “Now, now,” Discord lectured while his disembodied claw held the banana firmly in place. “Your cooperation would be very a-peeling.”
A sigh came from the smaller creature, before it opened up a large sack.
“Just put him back and start helping me to get all of the top shelf stuff.” With those words the lizard started to fill his sack with bottles, going for the expensive wines and sherries on the left. Whistle found himself dropped on the floor, before all of the whiskies behind him flew off the shelves and into a sack held by Discord.
He looked up when he heard the flapping of wings, a most wondrous sight flying down through the hole in the roof.
A royal guard pegasus in the golden armour of the day guard with her spear at the ready.
“Freeze!” the pegasus yelled, pointing her spear towards Discord. “Creature of chaos, your rampage is at an end! Surrender or face the con-“
The guard was cut off with a smash, a large gin bottle flying through the air and hitting her square in the muzzle. The bottle shattered, spraying her face with gin and dropping her to the ground with a thud. Her weapon clattered down with her and came to rest next to her motionless body, the guard silent while she lay in the rubble.
“I panicked.”
Whistle looked towards the smaller creature, who was staring at the fallen guard.
“You got her good,” Discord complimented. “I’m impressed.” The mismatched serpent glanced over towards one of the whiskey bottles, a grin forming on his face.
“I-is she dead?” Whistle stammered out, the smaller creature walking over to the guard before peering down at her.
“Nah, she’s just out for the count,” the lizard answered, before pointing his weapon once again. “Also, shut up.”
“I’ve got it!”
“Discord, no!”
Whistle felt a chill go down his neck, and he turned his head towards the creature named Discord...
Just in time to receive a whiskey bottle to the face, knocking him out and sending him to join the fallen guard in her slumber.
“Ten points!” Discord chuckled with glee, having some of the best fun in ages. Who knew that such hoodlum behavior could be so satisfying? His companion, however, did not share his enthusiasm.
“What was that for?” Orthodox questioned, a bottle of sherry still in hand.
“We can’t have witnesses,” Discord explained, before returning to his task of gathering up the bottles. Orthodox seemed like he was going to reply, but then he shut his mouth.
“Fine, whatever,” Orthodox grumbled. A few more bottles went into the sacks. “Good shot though.”
“I aim to please,” Discord replied, before they both looked up to the roof. They could hear more wings approaching them. “I do believe that we may require more bottles.”
“Forget it, part of every good robbery is to know when to get out and run from the cops.” Orthodox increased his looting speed, bottles carelessly thrown into his sack. “Grab everything you can and we’ll book it.”
“Everything?” Discord enquired, his eyes raised.
“That’s what I said, wasn’t it?”
Discord looked back over the store and shrugged.
“Okay then.”
Velvet adjusted her plain brown coat and glanced towards the sky, the night once again turning to day. She shivered and continued on through the snow, her bags heavy with extra clothing and money. Being part of the Royal Court, even though she was only a lesser noble, Velvet knew that it was Discord again. The fact that it was her daughter and her friends that defeated him last time only drove her on further, the urgency of the situation increased. If the Emperor wanted to completely stop any chance of saving Equestria…
‘No, don’t think about it,’ she reminded herself. ‘Twilight’s safe, you’ve got three-thousand bits and some jewelry, you’ll get her back.’ Her thoughts about Twilight only brought up the other problem of what would happen to her friends. With Discord on the loose, they might be the only ones able to stop him. The issue was that the Emperor might not even know what Discord was, and if he refused to release them then it would be disastrous.
She pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind, continuing her journey. Snow began to fall once more, lightly at the moment but that could change at any time. Velvet paused to take a drink of water from a canteen she had purchased, before she continued on. Twice more, the day changed to night and back before she crested a snowy hill and looked upon a shining dome in the distance.
She had to admit that the Crystal Empire looked very beautiful, snowflakes shimmering when they touched the outside of the dome. Remembering her mission, she ceased her sight-seeing and made a beeline towards the city in front of her. She trudged through the snow for a further five minutes before a glint of metal caught her eye. She peered through the moonlight, and it was right at that time that night turned to day once more.
The rising sun illuminated five figures in front of her, all pointing swords and long spear-axes at her. She recognised them as the Crystal Empire soldiers, having been present at the Gala earlier in the year. There were three ponies in dull crystal armour, the stallions and mare glaring at her. Alongside them was the far more worrying sight of two changelings, the insectoid equines armoured in tough metal that covered most of their forms. Two swords held in a green glow pointed straight at her, one lifting her cloak’s hood off.
“Equestrian,” one of the changelings growled, its voice female.
“A spy?” one of the crystal ponies asked, hefting his weapon and glancing around. Velvet decided to act quickly, before they got the wrong idea and attacked her.
“Please,” she asked, hoping that they would act with reason. “I’ve traveled to your city because of my daughter. I only wish to see her and ask your Emperor for her freedom, I mean you no harm.”
“Harm?” the other changeling, male, chuckled without humor. “You’re princess had already done us far more harm, what would we have to fear from you?” His sword inched towards her throat, Velvet gulping while she kept her eyes locked on the gem-studded weapon.
“Private Molt, stop it,” the female changeling ordered. Hesitantly, the male lowered his sword but still kept it at the ready. The female turned towards her, and Velvet assumed that she was the leader of the guards. “Equestrian, do you honestly think that we’d take you to see the Emperor? What we should do is take you straight to the dungeon, or strip you and send you back into the storm. Our city has already been sullied enough with the presence of your kind.”
Velvet glanced behind her, the light snowfall increasing in intensity. Going back, even with the protection of clothes, would be incredibly risky. Without them she was dead for sure, so she had to try one last time. “I’m begging you, I’m just after one audience,” she bowed slightly, hoping that the soldiers would accept her terms. “I’m desperate, she’s my only daughter.”
It seemed to work, the leader turning back towards the crystal ponies and whispering to them. The other changeling kept a watch, his eyes filled with hatred. Velvet winced, she knew that the Crystal Empire didn’t like Equestria, but they seemed to outright despise her.
“We’ll have to ask the Captain,” the female changeling informed, breaking the conversation with her fellow guards. With a tilt of her head, two of the crystal ponies lowered their weapons to walk towards her. “Search the Equestrian.”
Velvet remained still while the mare and stallion went through her bags and hooves patted down her cloak. She grimaced when the stallion looked into the brown bag that contained the intended ransom, but luckily he closed the flap and left it alone. Soon both guards were done, finding no weapons or harmful objects on her.
“Walk up front,” the leader ordered with a gesture from her sword. “Sheen and Molt, you with her.”
“Yes Sergeant,” the mare and changeling male replied, Velvet beginning to move forward again with her escorts keeping a close eye on her. The remaining guards followed behind her, and she could feel their weapons pointing at her.
They made good time, soon reaching the edge of the barrier. Yet more ponies and changelings moved out to meet them, over twenty of the guards ready with their weapons. Velvet guessed that they were all on alert because of the sun and moon, meaning that the Crystal Empire likely didn’t know what was going on. That was bad, that meant that they didn’t know what kinds of devastation that Discord could cause.
“Sergeant,” a crystal stallion with more ornate armour called out while he approached the group. “Who have you found?”
“An Equestrian, Captain Strategy sir,” the changeling sergeant replied with a salute. The copper-coated stallion examined Velvet with his blue eyes, his face locked in a frown. “She claims that she’s here to ask the Emperor to release her daughter from prison, and she’s carrying no weapons or anything dangerous.”
“Release her daughter?” the Captain asked before turning on Velvet. “What’s your name, Equestrian?”
“Twilight Velvet,” she answered, the Captain’s eyes lighting up.
“I can assume that you’re the mother of Twilight Sparkle?”
“I am,” Velvet replied, pleading with him. “Please, is my daughter okay?”
“She’s safe,” the Captain told her, his tone slightly softer than his subordinates. It seemed like he didn’t share their hate towards her, although he still didn’t seem happy to see her. “So you traveled all of the way from Equestria to ask the Emperor…?”
“I wanted to ask him to release her, and her friends if possible.” She gestured with her head back towards her right saddlebag. “I’ve brought a ransom, and I’ll do anything to get her free. Please sir, you would want your mother to do the same.”
“Sombra killed my mother,” he growled in response, Velvet realising that she had hit a nerve. However, he sighed after a few moments and shook his head. “Okay, I think you can at least get an audience. I warn you, Emperor Chalmers is currently not to fond of you Equestrians for obvious reasons, so I suggest you act with the utmost respect.”
“I will,” Velvet reassured.
“You also might have traveled her in vain,” he told her, before waving a hoof at his guards. More soldiers moved beside her, all of them watching her carefully. “We’re at war, after all. Guards, take her to the Emperor, but not before telling Advisor Sparkling Scroll that she’s here to ask for her daughter’s freedom. If not warned, the Emperor may… react with rashness.”
“Yes sir,” the guards acknowledged, Velvet feeling one of them tap her on the flank.
“Move it,” one ordered from behind her, Velvet moving once again.
‘I’m coming, don’t worry Twilight,’ she thought when they passed through the dome, hoping that the Emperor would listen to her and accept her deal. There was no going back now.
“Emperor?”
“In here.”
Nigel looked towards the corridor leading to the throne room, Sparkling Scroll emerging from it. He smiled and put his tea cup down when he saw her, Reflection doing the same.
“I was told that you were up,” she continued, beaming at him. “This sky business is fairly concerning, isn’t it?”
“There’s not much we can do about it,” he told her, before gesturing towards the half-full teapot. “Want a cup?”
“No thank you,” Sparkling answered, her smile dropping. “I’m sorry to do this, but we need you in the throne room.”
“Why?” Reflection inquired, judging from her face and tone she wasn’t too pleased with having their alone time interrupted.
“The guards patrolling the perimeter captured an Equestrian mare.” Sparkling glanced up towards the ceiling. “Apparently, she’s the mother of one of the prisoners and she wants to ask you for her release.”
“Release?” Reflection scoffed. “We should throw her in prison as well. The last thing we need now is more Equestrians running free.”
“Now Reflection,” Nigel chided, wagging a finger at her. “She has traveled a long way; we can at least give her a short audience in return. Besides, it’s not like we’re going to get anything else done with the sun and moon acting up.” Reflection grumbled and took a sip of her tea, Nigel rolling his eyes and patting her on the head. “Come on, it’s not like she’s going to bring down the entire city.”
“Fine,” Reflection replied with a huff. Her horn lit up and she levitated her cup, before she left the table and stood on her hooves. Nigel made to follow her, but when he looked down at his own cup he saw that it was nearly empty. Not being bothered to refill it, he instead just picked up the entire teapot.
“Um, Nigel?” Sparkling began with a raised hoof. “Are you sure that you want to go out in a bathrobe while carrying a teapot?” He stared at her, before slowly taking a sip from the teapot. “I guess so,” she sighed, before turning back towards the corridor. “She’s waiting for you.”
Nigel and Reflection followed her, Reflection pulling ahead. Nigel watched while the two talked to each other, both mares seeming to enjoy the company of the other. He knew that they had been close before his banishment, and it appeared that the friendship had endured through it. He had also heard about Sparkling trying her best to cheer Reflection up while she was incarcerated, so he made a note to get her a thank you gift some time.
It was a short walk, and they soon reached the throne room. Guards were everywhere, guarding doors and patrolling hallways. Most were alert and energetic; however a few had droopy eyes and ears. He didn’t bother to pull them up about it, after all he was fairly tired himself at the moment. Walking over to his throne, he sat down and patted the cushion before his bare feet. Tea cup still in magic, Reflection smiled and laid down, resting against his legs. Sparkling sat down on her own cushion to the side after fetching an inked quill and some parchment, placing it at her hooves while she prepared to take notes.
“Morning everyone,” Nigel greeted to his guards, receiving smiles, nods and a few salutes in return. Their responses only increased his mood; he was glad that his guards were at the same time professional and friendly. He relished the feeling of holding their complete respect, and in return he looked upon them with pride.
Now was not the time for self-congratulating though, he had business to attend to. Glancing towards the door guards, he waved a hand. “Show her in.” They needed no further explanation, the large doors swinging open to reveal the entrance hall. A group of ten guards brought in the mare, two of them carrying a bundles of brown of their backs.
Nigel examined the visitor, from her purple and white mane to her cream coat and light blue eyes. He wasn’t too good with pony ages, but she seemed to be middle-aged. Despite her trip she still looked presentable, and he guessed that she was some kind of noble or at least fairly high up on the social ladder.
Meanwhile, she was staring back at him. Never taking his eyes off her, he took a long pull of his teapot and smacked his lips together afterwards. Reflection shifted in her spot, angling herself to face the mare so she could scowl. Inside he chuckled silently; Reflection was so adorable when she was cranky. He sought to rectify that, quickly pulling his feet from under her and resting them on her rump. It startled her and off-balanced his visitor, so he went for the attack.
“Well, Equestrian, I hear you have something to ask of me.”
Reflection once again moved underneath his feet, but she didn’t shake him off. The foreign mare was still for a second before she hurriedly bowed, the guards stepping back to give her some room. All of them still watched her like hawks however, ready to spit her on their halberds if she tried anything.
“I do, Your Highness. My name is Twilight Velvet; I’m a clerk in the Royal Court of Equestria and I’ve come here to ask you for the release of my daughter and her friends.”
Chalmers raised an eyebrow at the, frankly, incredibly bold demands. He expected just the daughter, but the entire group? All of them weapons of his foes? To be honest, he was willing to part with one of them as it still meant that they wouldn’t be able to use their elements together. The entire group though?
“I can’t do that,” he answered, shaking his head. “I give them up, and I risk having the Elements used against my Empire.”
“Please sir,” the mare pleaded, glancing towards the guards carrying the bundles. They looked to him for orders, and he gave them a nod in return. They placed the items down on the floor, and Velvet moved towards them. She grabbed a bag in her magic and brought it over towards him.
“That’s close enough,” a guard beside his throne ordered, the stallion lowering his halberd. Velvet did as commanded, her eyes not leaving the weapon. Nigel placed a hand on it and raised it back up, the guard stepping back into position.
“Here,” she said, opening the bag and placing it on the floor. It was filled with golden coins, a few gems and a small amount of jewelry. To be honest, while it may have been a large amount for her, he had more than a thousand times that in the main treasury, not even counting the secret vault. “Please let them go, they’re only young mares.”
He sighed, Sparkling Scroll looking up at him while she paused her scribbling.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but once again that’s not something that I can do. What use would gold be if my Empire is once again conquered and my subjects imprisoned in their own city like before?” Velvet’s head drooped, defeat evident in her posture. “I’ll let you have your daughter back though, Twilight Sparkle I assume?”
She remained silent for a few moments, Chalmers willing to give her some time to think it over. To pass the time he began to rub his feet, Reflection half-grunting half-purring while they massaged her behind. It probably wasn’t the most appropriate thing to do at the time, but he was tired, his sleep had been interrupted, the sun and moon were dicking around, he was only wearing a bathrobe and he was drinking tea straight from the teapot.
He was well past the point of not caring about professionalism.
He continued to wait for a reply, looking down towards Reflection. Her head was resting on her forelegs and her scowl had been replaced with a dopy grin. Changeling chitin was actually surprisingly soft, and she had told him that it only really hardened when danger provoked a biological response to strengthen it. It was still harder than skin, but at the same time it was also smooth and pleasant to touch.
“No, that’s not good enough.”
‘What?’ He stopped rubbing, tearing his eyes away from Reflection’s rump and tilting his head at Velvet. She was staring at him with a determined gaze, a few of the guards looking just about ready to thump her for her words.
“Just Twilight won’t do,” she told him, evidently having seen his confusion. “I don’t think you know just what danger has been unleashed.”
“On the contrary, I believe I know far more about it than you,” he replied with a smirk.
“Then you know that Discord is capable of ruining the entire world!” He fought to maintain his smirk, all of his guards, Sparkling and Reflection glancing up at him with worry.
‘Damn, she does know more,’ he mentally cursed, before letting out a light chuckle.
“Ah yes, Discord, that guy. Nasty piece of work really, but we all know how he was defeated the last time, don’t we?”
‘Come on, take the bait…’
“But without Twilight and her friends we can’t use the Elements to stop him again!”
“And who’s to say that they won’t be turned on us when Discord is defeated?” he pressed, trying to buy some time. Given the new information, it was fairly apparent that Orthodox had somehow released a being capable of changing the orbit of the planet.
A being that could only be defeated by the six mares and their super-weapon.
Six mares that he was holding captive as hostages.
‘Fuck.’
He kept the curse silent, thinking of something to say. Velvet was still staring at him, unable to answer his last question. Nigel moved to take another calming sip of tea, but he found nothing but dregs. Looking around at his guards and the visitor, he could see that things were incredibly tense. He needed time to think of a plan, but he also needed to make a decision right now. Looking back down at his teapot, an idea popped into his head.
“Say, Twilight Velvet, would you like to briefly adjourn for a cup of tea?”
Orthodox looked down at the city below them, a mass of guards flying around trying to find them.
“That was close,” he muttered, a chuckle coming from behind him. He turned and faced Discord, who was still rolling around on the carpet in complete post-robbery elation.
“Oh please, I could have just have turned them all into a merry-go-round,” he let out another burst of laughter, holding his mismatched paws to his stomach. “That was the most fun I’ve had in centauries! Why didn’t I think of petty theft before?”
“It wasn’t petty theft,” Orthodox defended. “It was a proper armed robbery! Don’t debase what we did, have some pride in your work!”
“Don’t get tetchy,” Discord advised, wiping a tear from his eye. “You’ve still got your loot after all.”
Orthodox gazed at the huge sack, more than ten times his size, sitting on the flying carpet next to his two smaller bags. When he had told Discord to take everything, he had taken everything.
“We might as well partake in the spoils,” he suggested, standing up and walking over to the bulging cloth. He pulled down on the edge of the sack, expecting to be met with a nice bottle of whisky or some expensive port.
Instead, he received a pony guard pegasus in full armour, the pony still out like a light. She tumbled out and came to rest at his feet, still snoring with a small shard of glass stuck in her muzzle. He stared at her for a few moments, before bending down to pluck the shard from her face. A small trail of blood dribbled out before stopping, Orthodox turning around to look at his partner in crime.
“Discord,” he began with a low tone. “Why did you abduct a pony guard?”
“You said to take everything, my dear boy,” Discord defended. “Everything includes ponies you know. Don’t worry about the shop owner though, I already sent him to a… special someone.”
The Ponyville Library lit up with a flash, a sleeping unicorn with a note attached landing right in the upstairs bed.
‘To Twilight Sparkle,
Live a little.’
Private Streak shook her head, a dull throbbing ringing in her skull. Slowly she began to wake up, her side resting on a very soft surface.
“Great, now can you transport the guard to someone as well?”
She winced at the strange male voice, unable to remember what had happened. She assumed that she was the guard that he was talking about, and she tried to get up. Her muzzle let out a throb of pain, and she stopped trying to stand and instead moved her right wing to touch the sore spot. It came away wet, and she blinked open her eyes to stare at it. A few drops of blood stained the white feathers, and while she was looking at it another male voice replied to the first.
“Why? We need a figurehead for our carpet. Maybe we could dangle her from some ribbons below us and fly over criminals to scare the pants off them?”
All thoughts as to what ‘pants’ could possibly be were forgotten when she recalled just what had happened. She had cornered Discord in the liquor store, and then she had felt something hit her face. Judging from the cut, she assumed that she’d been bottled, hence her unplanned sleep. That of course meant that she had been captured, and the two voices likely belonged to her jailers.
With her mind still dazed, she stumbled to her hooves while the pair continued to argue about what to do with her. Everything was woozy, but she managed to see that she was standing on some kind of carpet with three brown sacks in front of her. She also saw clouds, and with a flap of her wings she prepared to fly to freedom.
Streak managed to flap twice before a weight tackled her to the carpet, the soft material remaining firm. She kicked her hooves and trashed, but the being on top of her didn’t let her go. She felt a long, slithering object wrap around her forelegs to pull her tight, and all of a sudden she found herself free from the attacker on top of her.
It was not to last, however. The object holding her legs pulled, and she was hosted up into the air by her forelegs. It was now that she got a good look at what was holding her, and her eyes widened in dread.
The thing holding her up was a long tail armoured in segmented black metal plates, a tail attached to the creature that she had tackled to the ground the previous day after he had attacked a town. He didn’t seem to recognise her, which was a blessing. It was already bad enough that she was his prisoner, she didn’t want him to know that the previous roles were reversed.
Standing behind the metal lizard was Discord, her primary quarry. He was grinning at her, a wide grin on his face and a pair of hoofcuffs in his paw.
“Allow me,” Discord spoke, snapping his claw. Streak muffled a curse when two sets of the cuffs bound her forelegs and hind legs, a coil of rope wrapping around her waist to hold her wings against her armour. She found herself dangled over the edge of the carpet, her eyes widening when she saw that the ground was a long, long way down.
“We seem to have a problem,” the creature holding her up observed. “I can’t have a guard up here with me, and you’ve already seen too much.” She felt his tail’s grip slacken, and she shook her head desperately.
“No, no please!” she tried, uncontrolled falling one of her biggest fears. “It doesn’t have to end like this!”
“She has a point, Orthodox.” Streak flinched when Discord leaned in towards her, his head separating from his body to stare right into her eyes. “Why should we waste such a possible source of entertainment? These guards are so easy to mess with, have you ever turned their armour into melted cheese before? Priceless!”
“I haven’t,” the captor she now knew was named Orthodox replied.
“Well, even then you shouldn’t act too hasty.” Streak wasn’t too sure, but she felt like Discord was trying to convince his fellow criminal to not kill her a little too much. He was the Spirit of Chaos; shouldn’t he be happy to be rid of one guard? Then again, now that she thought about it, there was never any mention of Discord actually harming a pony.
“Why not?” Orthodox argued, gesturing to her. “She’s a guard and an enemy to me. One less guard makes things better for me and a lot of other people.”
“My friend, my friend,” Discord tried again, patting Orthodox on the pillowcase head. “Killing is just so… barbaric, and a waste as well.”
Orthodox didn’t seem convinced to Streak, and his tail started to slip. Discord must have noticed, the Spirit hurriedly floating over to the large sack and retrieving a bottle of wine. “Besides, she makes this party less of a ‘sausage-fest’, I believe the term is.”
“How do you…” Orthodox started, before shaking his head. “You know what? I don’t even want to think about how you know that term. So let me get this straight,” Streak breathed a sigh of relief when she was dropped back on the carpet, the tail letting her go and not dropping her over the edge. “You want to drink the stuff we stole, right after robbing it, while the guards are still searching for us, and with a captured guard tied up on our carpet.”
“That is correct, my astute companion,” Discord answered, using his claw as a bottle opener and taking a sniff of the wine. “Also, I have yet to sample this ‘alcohol’ for myself, although I have seen the delightful effects it causes to others.” Discord finished his sentence with a large swig, draining the bottle in one go and letting out a massive belch. “Ah, I can already feel a slight tingle.”
“Great,” Orthodox sighed. “This can’t end badly at all.”
“Oh cheer up, you Square,” Discord ordered. “Grab a drink and join me in jolly celebration.”
Two more wine bottles levitated from the sack, one landing in Orthodox’s metal claw while the other went towards her.
“Um, I’m on duty?” Streak tried, before the cork vanished from the bottle and the neck was shoved in her mouth. She had no time to protest before the white wine flowed into her mouth and down her gullet, the bottle withdrawing to give her room to breathe. Streak spluttered and coughed, rolling onto her belly to spit off the side of the carpet.
“Come on!” Discord announced, already onto his third bottle. “A toast to Chaos, robbery, friendship and general amusement!”
Streak’s mouth was once again invaded with the bottle, more wine flowing into her and poisoning her bloodstream. The rate of it was already causing her to become very light-headed, and her world began to swirl again. Orthodox had finished half a bottle, and was currently staring at Discord. The Spirit had just began to chain-shot entire bottles, evidently finding the activity to be incredibly entertaining.
The bottle was once again withdrawn, giving her more room to breathe. She didn’t cough as badly this time, and she wondered just what she had done to deserve such torture at the claws of two of the nation’s most foul enemies.
With her vision starting to blur, she was vaguely aware of Discord announcing another toast in the name of hugs between friends, and the last thing she remembered was some muffled complaints from Orthodox.
“So the entire Treasury...?”
“Cleaned out, Princess. There are a few gems and coins left, but Equestria is essentially, well, broke.”
Celestia grimaced and waved away the guard, leaving her alone in the throne room. Capturing the Lizard known as Orthodox had proved to be a massive mistake, and she was now down a complete Treasury.
Adding to that, Discord had somehow been freed again, and the Element Bearers were trapped in the Crystal Empire. She was stuck, either she could do nothing and let Discord run rampant, or she could invade the Crystal Empire to rescue the Elements. Both presented issues, but she was hesitant to invade. Discord was a pain and powerful, but so far he hadn’t killed anypony.
The Crystal Empire on the other hoof was prepared for war, and they possessed better weapons as well as a burning hate for Equestria. An attack would see many ponies on both sides dead, and that wasn’t even taking into account the Emperor’s threats to execute Twilight and her friends if she tried anything. With the Element Bearers dead, there would be no chance of stopping Discord.
Likewise, any diplomatic attempts were likely to fail, given the attitude towards her. The Emperor was probably sitting on his throne laughing at it all, while her country fell apart around her. As far as she could see, the only options she had were surrender to either the Crystal Empire or Discord, both of which left a bad taste in her mouth.
“I just have to wait it out,” she mumbled to herself, glancing out of the window. The sun and moon had been increasing the time that they spent in the sky, sometimes for more than ten minutes a time. It seemed like Discord was for some unknown reason causing far less mayhem than normal, the only other oddity was the recent downpour of hard cider in Manehattan.
Tapping her hooves, she glanced around her empty court and made a decision. Leaving her throne, she began to make her way towards the Royal Archives; perhaps there would be a spell to fix all of this hidden inside a dusty tome.
“It’s still going on.”
“Crazy, well at least this time he’s not raining chocolate milk everywhere or turning the roads to soap.”
Luna moped on her bed while her two guards gazed out of the window. It may have be seen as immature, but the last two months had been sour for her. Everything had started to look up, ponies smiled at her, the nobles had started to treat her just like Celestia, but then the trouble with the Crystal Empire had started.
At first she had been fearful of the Emperor, having seen what lurked inside of his mind underneath that smiling façade. Then, she had realised that he went to great lengths to suppress his baser desires. Slowly she had begun to see him a bit like herself, trying to keep the madness inside from bubbling up. She also admired the fact that he was willing to take in the changelings, the creatures not liked at all throughout the world.
And then she had chosen to banish him.
This was what tore at Luna the most, inflicting the same fate that had been placed upon her all those years ago. At first she had blamed Celestia for it, as after all it was her older sister who had wanted Chalmers gone. Over time though, she had realised that it was as much her fault as Celestia’s. She hadn’t needed to help her, she could have stepped back and let the spell fail. Sure, the Emperor, the crystal ponies and the changelings would have slaughtered the remaining Elk, but was it really their place to interfere?
Silently, Luna still wondered if Celestia was trying to control too much, the reactions of the surrounding nations seemed to echo that.
Now, Emperor Chalmers had returned and seemingly had brought the wrath of Tartarus with him. Luna didn’t doubt that he was behind the release of Discord, the timing of the events was just too close together. Thinking about the alien named Orthodox that they had captured; Luna glanced to her female guard, Corporal Darkbane. The unfortunate young nocturne pony still wore a bruise on her forehead from where the creature had struck her, but she had avoided hospitalization unlike the rest of her team.
Now, they weren’t just dealing with an Emperor looking out for his Empire, they were dealing with an unhappy Emperor that had been expelled from Tartarus and had somehow brought along friends. This scared her, she had seen the images in his dreams and Shining Armour’s description of them matched the figures that were inflicting such horrible crimes. Was it only a matter of time before the large objects in the skies arrived to rain down death upon them all?
With a gasp, Luna removed her head from her pillow, drawing the attention of her guards.
“Princess?” Sergeant Lumen inquired, the stallion frowning at her. “Is everything alright?”
“I am fine,” Luna assured her, shaking her head. In truth, she wasn’t, her self-confinement to her room and the night court doing a number on her mood. She trotted over to join them, looking out of the window. The sun and moon had started to rapidly switch places again, however this time it was speeding up. As soon as the sun popped up, it would return and the moon would take its place.
Watching the strange ballet, Luna ground her teeth. She hated not being able to control the moon, and she was getting tired of Discord. At least last time he was gone within a few hours, it had been a day so far and she didn’t know how much longer she could take it. Everything had been building up and up, and she was fast reaching her breaking point.
Down below in the city, she could hear the panicked populace trying to get into the castle. They were calling out for Celestia to defeat Discord, but she knew that without the Elements it was pointless. There was nothing she or Celestia could do, not while the Element Bearers were trapped inside of the Crystal Empire.
“That’s it,” she mumbled to herself, her eyes lighting up with realisation. Her guards looked towards her, their wings fidgeting. “It just might work.”
“Princess?”
“I have a plan to free the Elements from the Crystal Empire!” she announced happily to the Sergeant and Corporal.
“You do?” Darkbane inquired, her mouth opening in a smile.
“Indeed,” Luna replied, before unlatching the window with her magic and climbing outside.
“Uh… Princess, what are you doing?” Lumen asked, Luna turning back to her loyal protectors.
“I am going to travel to the Empire,” she announced, prompting alarm from her guards.
“But Your Highness,” Darkbane protested. “We only have eighty-six Night Guard, we’ll be devastated.”
“I do not intend to fight,” she replied to her worried guards. “It is fairly clear that such action wouldn’t go well for neither us nor them. However, I may be able to solve this without the need for bloodshed.”
“They’ll kill you on sight,” Lumen warned. “At least let the Guard come with you-“
“There is no time,” she interrupted, spreading her wings. “I will not need the protection; I believe that the Emperor will not be as hostile to me as he is to my sister.”
“At least let us come with you!” Darkbane pleaded, her wing touching the hilt of her silver short sword. Luna considered the offer, and it was likely that the two guards would alert the rest about her absence. As much as she hated to admit it, Celestia would not approve of her plan so the less she knew about it the better.
“I will allow that,” she gave in. “However, I must warn you that you may not be able to return for a while… or at all. I would prefer to not risk your lives.”
The two remained silent, before Lumen hopped out of the window to join her on the roof.
“We’re your guards, Princess,” he explained, Darkbane following out after him. “We will follow you into Tartarus if it’s needed.”
“That is pleasing to hear,” Luna smiled, the loyalty of her guards improving her mood.
‘We’re likely going to do something even more insane than that.’
“I don’t see why we should listen to you, you Equestrians have done nothing but cause us problems.”
Nigel sighed and took another drink of his tea, listening while Reflection and Velvet continued to argue their cases. The Equestrian had been refusing to back down, Nigel trying to subtly draw out more information about this ‘Discord’. Apparently, he was freed from a stone prison a few months ago, after a millennia of banishment at the hooves of the Princesses.
Nigel could understand why he might be a little miffed with them.
This Discord was some kind of reality-warper, a powerful one. Chalmers had encountered beings of that kind before, both allied and enemy, and the damage that they could inflict was huge. Adding in the fact that this Discord was apparently some kind of immortal spirit only made the situation direr.
“You don’t have a choice,” Velvet argued back to Reflection, her tea cup long empty. “What do you think Discord will do when he’s finished with Equestria?”
“We haven’t done anything to him,” Reflection pointed out with a snarl. “Unlike your Princesses, they seem to have a thing for banishing people.”
“Discord is the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, reason has no meaning to him!”
Chalmers took another sip, finishing his cup. He shared a glance with Sparkling Scroll, the advisor rolling her eyes while she wrote down notes. Wondering if he should step in, Nigel looked back at Reflection.
The changeling was showing her fangs to Velvet, her ears back and her eyelids narrowed. Thanks to her position next to him at the table, he could also see that her wings were starting to buzz. Remembering the last time that he had seen those signs from her, something that lead to the attack of a princess, he subtly moved a hand and placed it on her back. She didn’t visibly react, but her wings stopped moving at least.
“It’s either a possible attack from him or a certain attack from you once we release our hostages!” Reflection countered. “If we’re dooming ourselves, then at least we can take a chance with a being that we at least could reason with!”
“The Princesses only acted with what they thought was the right thing to do at the time,” Velvet began to explain, before Nigel sent a glare her way. She stopped talking soon after. He didn’t mind the mare, and although he’d never tell Reflection he actually respected Twilight Velvet. A noblemare used to the court, traveling across a snowy wasteland to confront a hostile Empire by herself? That took guts, and she made some good points.
However, he couldn’t admit that, they’d lose their only advantage. The plan he was seeking to enact would take time and planning, and if Celestia picked up on it than any hope of revenge would be taken from him.
“Their actions nearly destroyed this city, and killed some of us!”
“Reflection,” he spoke up, the changeling turning her glare onto him. “This isn’t helping, I highly doubt that Mrs. Velvet here had anything to do with that.”
Reflection continued to glare at him, before it softened and she lowered her head. “I know, I just…” She looked back up at him. “What are we going to do? We can’t let the ponies go, but this Discord worries me.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he reassured, stroking her back to calm her. “We’ve gotten through worse after a-“
A knock on the door interrupted him, the two armed guards next to it glancing at him for orders.
“Open it,” Nigel commanded, one of the guards using a hoof to unlock it and swing it open. Captain Strategy trotted in, slowly melting snow still covering the top of his armour. Nigel smiled at him, giving his Captain and friend a nod in greeting. “Strategy, good… morning to you I believe.”
“The same to you, sir,” Strategy answered, Nigel guessing that he was remaining formal due to the presence of the Equestrian. “I’m sorry for interrupting your meeting, but I must ask you to come to the throne room immediately.”
“What’s the matter?” Nigel inquired, picking up the teapot to refill his cup. “We can discuss anything here. If one of the subjects wants an audience about the situation then you can just let them in any-“
“It’s not that,” Strategy interrupted, with obvious hesitance. “I’m sorry for cutting you off, Emperor, but we’ve captured one of the Equestrian Princesses.”
Nigel paused for a second, before placing the teapot back down. He glanced to both Reflection and Sparkling, getting blank stares in return. He faced Velvet, the unicorn visibly shocked.
“Do you know anything about this?”
“N-no I don’t, Emperor sir,” Velvet answered. Convinced that she was telling the truth, he turned back to Strategy who was tapping his armoured hoof nervously.
“Which Princess?”
“The blue one,” Strategy answered. “She gave her name as Princess Luna.”
Chalmers resisted smiling at the fact that his guard Captain didn’t even know Luna’s name. To be honest, he himself had only met her once, but he also knew that she was a part of his banishment.
And now she was captured, this was going to be interesting.
“Well then,” he said while standing up, brushing down his bathrobe to look presentable. “It’d be incredibly rude to keep a princess waiting.”
Luna fought to keep the apprehension from showing, the magic inhibitor on her horn reminding her just how helpless she currently was. The multiple spear-axes pointed at her didn’t help, her two guards likewise fidgeting in their chains. She glanced over towards them, the nocturnes stripped of their armour and weapons leaving them naked in the entrance hall. Luna hoped that she hadn’t sealed their fate, the crystal ponies and changelings eying them all with glares and suspicious stares.
She looked back to the front when the two large doors opened up from within, the legion of guards surrounding her looking up while a single changeling guard stepped out.
“The Emperor and his advisors will see you now, Equestrian.” He spat the word ‘Equestrian’ with venom, and the murmurs shared among the guards showed that his sentiments about her were widely shared. The changeling eyed the nocturnes, his glare remaining strong. “Your guards will accompany you.”
“Move,” a female voice behind her commanded, Luna catching the glint of a spear-axe in the edge of her vision. With no other options she moved forward, her own steel chains clinking with her steps. With the guards surrounding herself and her guards, she moved up the steps and through the doors.
The throne room that she and her protectors entered was a thing of beauty. Made out of the same crystal as the rest of the palace, the walls glittered with the light from illumination gems. It was larger than the throne room back in Canterlot, and armed guards lined the walls with their weapons at the ready.
Sitting on the throne with a changeling at his feet was Emperor Chalmers. The human was, strangely, wearing a bright lime bathrobe, and nothing else. He held a teacup in hand, absent-mindedly chatting with a ruby-maned mare sitting by the side of his throne. The stallion that had introduced himself as Captain Strategy was on the opposite, a steely gaze constantly watching her.
“Kneel,” the guard behind her ordered once they had reached the throne, Luna grimacing. The wooden shaft of a spear-axe prodded her on the back on the knee, and reluctantly she kneeled before the throne. Her two guards copied her actions, the Emperor finally focusing on her with an amused look in his eyes. Eyes that also held an element of coldness at the same time, sending a chill down her spine. She was starting to regret her rash action.
“Well, well, well,” Emperor Chalmers began, taking a sip of tea from his cup. “Imagine my surprise when my guard Captain informs me that his troops had managed to capture an Equestrian Princess, and two bat-ponies.” He looked towards Darkbane and Lumen, an eyebrow raising. “At least, you two look half-bat, half-pony. Let me guess, more Equestrians?”
“No,” Luna spoke up from her position on the floor. Her guards shot her worried glances, but she continued on. “They are from another country, and serve as my personal guard. You have no quarrel with them and-“
“I decide who I have a quarrel with!” he shouted, alarming all around him. He took a few moments before his face relaxed, and his smile returned. “I apologize; I blame the lack of sleep for my mood.” He chuckled, swirling in the tea around in his cup. “I’m sure you’ve noticed the strange weather we’ve been having.”
Luna didn’t answer him, not wishing to provoke him further. He took another drink before leaning back in his chair and continuing.
“Moving on, your guards have trespassed with you, in the name of Equestria as well. Let’s forget about them though, let’s talk about you.” He leaned forward, setting his cup down on his armrest before clasping his hands together. “Now, Princess Luna, if you remember you helped to banish me, and as such you are fully aware that you are not welcome in my Empire. So, with that in mind, just why did my guards capture you right outside of our dome?”
“I came to offer you a deal,” she began to reply, still kneeling on the red carpet before the throne.
“Have you now?” the Emperor chuckled. “And what, pray tell, do you have that could possibly entice me?”
“I wish for you to release the Element Bearers so that they may defeat Discord.”
The room was silence for a few seconds after her words, before the Emperor started laughing. It started off slow, but it soon increased to a booming sound of mirth.
“Oh, oh that is priceless!” he managed out between breaths. “Not one, but two Equestrians come to me in the same morning to ask the same thing!”
‘Two?’ Luna wondered, shocked that another had made it before her. It was impossible, she had heard nothing about an organised trip and no one else besides her had a motive.
“Guards,” the Emperor ordered. “Bring in our other guest.” He smirked at her. “I’m sure Velvet would love to see her Princess.”
‘Velvet?’ Luna had heard the name before, but with the hundreds of ponies she dealt with it was hard to track. She waited, armoured hoofsteps approaching from a side corridor. A unicorn mare walked out with a further four guards, Luna’s eyes widening in recognition.
The mare was a records clerk in the castle, a member of the lower nobility. It was then that Luna realised why the mare could possibly be here in the Crystal Empire.
‘Twilight Sparkle’s mother,’ she thought, Velvet sending her a concerned look. She didn’t seem injured or mistreated, and Luna wondered just how long she had been in the Empire for.
“Mrs. Velvet her has also requested the freedom of my hostages, for the same purpose as you,” Chalmers informed. “She, however, at least brought some gold in an attempt to barter. It’s nothing compared to the wealth I already possess, but the gesture was worth far more. I actually offered to release her daughter, but Velvet wouldn’t let that fly.” He chuckled, Luna noticing that the changeling at the foot of his throne was scowling at Velvet. She recalled that her name was Reflection, both having met at the Gala.
“What do you have to offer?” Chalmers continued, still leaning forward. Luna took a breath and prepared herself, glancing towards her guards. Lumen and Darkbane hadn’t been told exactly what she was going to do, and she expected resistance from them.
“In return for the release of the Elements of Harmony, and the safe passage of Twilight Velvet and my guards, I will… replace them as your hostage.”
“What!?”
Surprisingly, it was Darkbane who raised her voice, the nocturne mare staring at her in shock. The guards surrounding her lowered their weapons towards her, preparing for her to try something. Luna hoped that she didn’t, Darkbane was one of the newest additions to her guard and she feared for her safety if she resisted.
A smash drew attention to the throne, the Emperor having rested both arms back on his throne. Pieces of shattered tea cup lay in a brown puddle, a few drops having landed on the guard Captain’s armoured shoes. Chalmers was staring straight ahead, trying to ignore the remains of his carelessness.
“Yes, what?” he continued, diverting attention away from the cup. “Are you seriously proposing that I release your nation’s greatest weapon, in return for hosting you in my fine palace?”
Luna had to act fast to convince him, and even though it brought a foul taste to her mouth, she bowed her head.
“I swear that I will comply with all directions, and my sister would never dare to invade your Empire with me as a prisoner. Discord is a threat to all, even you must see that.”
“Oh, I do see that,” he replied, before shrugging. “However, so far he has not done any harm to me or my subjects, apart from the disruption of the orbital bodies, but I am confident that I could solve that issue if I wished it.” Luna didn’t like where he was going, a wicked glimmer in his eyes. “Besides, it’s not like you’re able to get away. Now I can have the Element Bearers and a Princess as hostages. Guards, take her away to a secure room.”
Luna was yanked to her hooves by many hooves, and the chain around her neck was tugged on roughly. The guards began to steer her towards a staircase to the left of the room, despite her own guards’ protests.
‘I’ve got to get through to him,’ she decided, turning her head back to the Emperor for one last hit-or-miss attempt.
“Please, Discord will ruin us all!” she tried, receiving no acknowledgement. “Emperor Chalmers, listen! I know you have a heart, we are the same!”
“Halt.” The order was clear, calm… and cold, Luna looking into his eyes when he leveled a piercing gaze at her. Her guards stopped at his command, her chain yanked so that she was turned around to face him. “You think you know me?”
“I do,” she replied while remaining calm. “I know my sister and subjects believe you to be evil, and you are in ways, but I also know that you are not all bad.” Luna glanced down at Reflection, the changeling’s sneer softening when they shared a look. Looking back up at the Emperor, she continued. “I nearly brought death and misery to the entire world, out of my own immaturity, and I was also banished by my sister when I gave her no choice.
I can see that everything you have done is for your subjects and their wellbeing. Your methods are more suited to the time of our past, however, and not of the modern day where ponies have forgotten what things were like when not everyone lived in harmony.” Luna looked around to all of the crystal guards and changelings, their glares less hate-filled than before. “I’m sure that many here have experienced what those days are like, both under Sombra and more recently.”
The changelings in the room all muttered to themselves, Luna’s hopes soaring when the Emperor looked around at them. She was breaking through to him; she just needed one last push so she aimed for one of his weaknesses. “Discord is a threat to not just my subjects, but to yours as well. I implore you to accept my offer, as it is the right choice for all of us.”
She waited for him to think it over, the room descending into silence. Emperor Chalmers whispered to the changeling at his feet, and she got to her hooves to lean in towards him. The Captain and the pony taking notes did the same, all of them sharing muffled whispering.
Luna caught some of it, most of it being centered on the likely hood of Celestia attacking to get her back. To be honest, when she had said that her sister wouldn’t, she didn’t actually know for sure. It was a gamble, but one she was willing to take. Finally, after a few minutes with some heated words between the Emperor and Reflection sprinkled in, they broke apart and the Emperor faced her.
“We accept your deal,” he confirmed, much to her relief. “In exchange for the release of all Equestrian captives and the safe passage of them and your two guards, you will take their place and remain in the palace as a prisoner.”
The chain attached to her collar slackened, the guards backing off slightly to give her some room. “Thank you,” Luna acknowledged, thankful that her plan had worked. “You won’t regret it.”
“I somehow think that I will,” the Emperor mumbled, before turning to his Captain. “Captain Strategy, please arrange to have our side of the conditions fulfilled as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Emperor,” the armoured Stallion answered before turning towards the staircase.
“Wait!” Lumen called out, halting the activity and drawing the attention of the Emperor. “I wish to stay here with my Princess.”
“I do as well,” Darkbane added, Luna staring at her guards.
“No, you have been given your freedom so I wish for you to take it.” In return to her order, Lumen shook his head defiantly.
“No, forgive me Your Majesty, but we cannot leave you alone in this city.” He looked back towards the Emperor, the human smiling while he stroked the head of the changeling. “Our duty is to protect Princess Luna, so we respectfully request permission to accompany her through her incarceration.”
“You’ll only get one room,” the Emperor warned, Luna guessing in an attempt to dissuade them. The determined look that her guards were giving Chalmers showed that they would not back down so easily.
“That’s fine with me,” Lumen answered, Darkbane nodding her agreement. All eyes went to Luna, and she struggled with her thoughts before sighing in defeat.
“I also accept,” she answered, the Emperor pausing before shrugging.
“Fine, it makes no difference to me, it’s still half the number of mouths to feed. Besides,” he grinned ominously. “I’ve got a certain friend who would just love to ask you all some questions.”
“You have three days’ worth of food and water, your map will point you in the right direction and if you leave now you’ll make it back before tomorrow night.”
Twilight looked up to the sky, the sun that was currently occupying it wobbling side to side. She glanced back around at all of her friends, all wearing warm winter coats provided by her mother, and then back to the Captain and his twenty guards.
“Go,” he ordered pointing a hoof towards the horizon. “Don’t return, you have been classed as a dangerous weapon. Until stated otherwise, you’ll be kill on sight.”
Twilight gulped at the information, the stern Captain likely able to carry out the threat. Judging from the looks from the other guards, they would also have no issue with carrying out their Emperor’s orders.
“Come on Twilight,” Velvet told her. “Let’s go, Discord is still loose in Equestria.”
Twilight glanced back towards the castle, feeling guilty that Princess Luna and her two guards were taking over the imprisonment for them. Silently, she vowed to free Luna as soon as they could. There was nothing she could do now, however, not with pointed blades and changeling horns aimed at them. With nothing left but to escape, she refaced her mother and followed her out of the dome into the snow. Her friends trailed behind her, all of them not looking forward to the cold journey.
“Jerks,” Twilight heard Rainbow mutter when she left the dome.
She had to admit, this was one of those rare times when she agreed fully with Dash.
Nigel entered the underground treasure vault, Reflection and Sparkling Scroll at his sides. Straight after sending Luna and her guards to a guarded room, he decided to inform Elijah of the arrivals. No doubt the scientist would be keen to interrogate the Princess and her strange guards, and he was likely to be able to extract some useful information about the possible threat that Equestria presented.
With a hand pulling down the fake torch, the secret door to the gem storage shimmered and disappeared. The three walked in, Sparkling Scroll looking around in awe while she examined the underground area for the first time. Chalmers smiled when he noticed that all of the unicorns assigned to gem research and manufacture were hard at work, benches covered with glowing gems of all sizes and colours.
He returned waves of greeting, none of them bothering with formal greetings. He was pleased with their efficiency and dedication, well worth the sacrifice of some ego-feeding. He quickly spotted Elijah standing next to Golden Ring, the unicorn standing on his hind legs with his forehooves planted on the bench at the back.
Waving Sparkling and Reflection forward, he approached the pair engrossed in a glowing orange gem in the shape of a ruby. Golden’s horn was glowing, a steady stream of magic pouring into the gem lying in front of them. Nigel decided to not interrupt them; instead he waited until the magic had cut out.
“What’s going on?” he inquired, Elijah and Golden turning around to face him.
“Ah, Nigel!” Elijah announced with glee, pulling him into a hug. Nigel was shocked and confused, paralyzed while Elijah continued to grasp him. Reflection and Sparkling could barely hold back their laughter at his discomfort, and finally Elijah let him go to beam at him. “I must thank you for allowing me to work with Golden here! Already this has made up for the teleportation and entire rescue mission! These gems contain so much potential, the possible applications are astounding and-“
“Calm it down,” Nigel chuckled, holding out his hands in a symbol to stop. “I’m not going to be able to understand most of what you two are doing, so don’t even try.”
“That is fine, Emperor,” Golden added, moving the newly made gem in the air with his magic. “I have great news! This gem contains a very complex and powerful enchantment that infuses the surrounding crops with ambient magic.”
“Is… is that safe?” Sparkling spoke up, voicing Nigel’s concerns while she did so. Golden turned to her, while Elijah held out a hand.
“Ah, a new pony! I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I am Elijah Von Barker.” Sparkling glanced at his hand before reaching out a hoof, the scientist taking it and giving it a shake.
“Sparkling Scroll, I’m Emperor Chalmers’ personal assistant and court recorder.”
Elijah let her hoof go, smiling at her warmly. “Ah, I see. I must say, your mane is rather stunning. Nigel is rather lucky to be surrounded by so many beautiful females.”
Both Sparkling and Reflection blushed at the complement, Elijah quickly turning back to the bench and recording down notes. Golden Ring had been watching with amusement through the entire conversation, the unicorn likely already having adapted to Elijah’s eccentric mannerisms.
“To answer your question, Advisor, no, the magic will cause no ill effects. All creatures of this world, and others apparently, contain ambient magic.” Golden glanced towards Elijah when he said this, Nigel assuming that the scientist had already demonstrated some of his chosen field’s studies. “As of such, most of the magic from the gem works to increase the speed of crop growth and the leftover residue is harmless upon consumption.”
“Excellent,” Chalmers praised, causing Golden to beam with pride.
“Researcher-“
“Lead Researcher,” Elijah corrected while still focusing on his data-pad.
“Lead Researcher Elijah helped immensely with formulating the spell matrix. Although I declined his offer to include some of the more… darker methods of manufacturing.”
“Understandable,” Nigel nodded. “How effective is the gem? The sooner we can get off this rationing system, the better.”
“It still will take a few weeks, even with the gems,” Golden admitted.
“It’s still better than months,” Nigel observed. “Good work Golden, now do you have the items I requested?”
Golden placed the gem back down on the bench and nodded, turning to rummage in a draw. When he re-faced Chalmers he was hefting a small sack in his magic field, the brown cloth glowing a faint red.
“The gems as you requested,” Golden announced, passing it over. Nigel took it from the magic and peered inside of it, nine small rubies humming with power. “Each has enough love to provide a changeling with food for a month. Obviously, the more magic they use the more they’ll need to eat, so we’re still working on increasing production and capacity.”
“A month is still pretty good,” Reflection spoke up, her nose sniffing the air. “As these for…?”
“They are,” Nigel answered, glancing at the preoccupied Elijah. “But remember the other thing we talked about?” Reflection also looked at Elijah and nodded, Nigel taking the gems and stuffing them into his bathrobe’s front pocket. “Good work once again Golden, keep it up. I actually came down here to talk to Elijah.”
“Hmm?” Elijah hummed, his eyes not leaving his pad.
“Well you know the whole sun-moon switching places constantly thing?”
This caught Elijah’s attention, the scientist looking up. “What?”
Nigel paused, surely he knew? “Elijah, have you even been outside or near a window within the last thirty-six hours?”
“That would be a no,” came the answer, the scientist waving a hand around the room. “This place is such a bastion of knowledge, filled with like-minded individuals who understand the value of the scientific process!” Elijah’s hand descended to rub Golden’s head, the unicorn’s face stuck in a half-frown, half-grin.
“Well, what if I offered you something else to get you out of here for a few hours?”
“Like what?”
“It’s a funny story, really. Due to the previously mentioned moon and sun incident, we decided to let our six hostages go-“
“But Rainbow Horse!” Elijah shouted, clenching his fists. “She never answered the question, I have to know!”
Nigel didn’t know what question Elijah was talking about, but he decided that the less he knew about it the better things would be. “I know that you were making friends with them, but I have something new. Does an Equestrian Princess and two bat-ponies sound interesting?”
“An Equestrian Princess... and bat-ponies?” Elijah mumbled, his eyes gleaming. “My, the questions I could ask…”
“Yes,” Nigel agreed. “Questions. Now, they’ve just been shown to their ‘guest accommodations’, so if you could give them an hour to settle in before bothering them-“
“Of course you tell me of their existence, and then you make me wait for it,” Elijah crossed his arms with a huff. “How typical.”
“They’re on the first second floor,” he informed Elijah with a roll of his eyes. “Now, I’ve got to go and pay James a visit, so remember to wait.” He turned to leave, giving Golden one last wave. “See you later.”
“The same to you sir,” Golden replied merrily, before re-joining Elijah. Reflection and Sparkling said their goodbyes and the trio left the room, the door shimmering shut behind them.
James looked to the left of the room at a knock, his hand leaving the blackboard and it’s notes on observation and recording intelligence information. His ten changeling students also stopped taking notes to see what the interruption was, the native soldiers shifting on their cushion seats.
The door opened and in stepped Nigel, clad in a bright green bathrobe. James didn’t say anything; he doubted he’d get a coherent answer if he inquired about his choice of attire. Outside he could see Reflection and Nigel’s advisor chatting, the two mares obviously waiting for whatever business Nigel had to conclude.
“Evening all,” Chalmers greeted, the changeling standing up to salute. He waved them back down, James watching it all with interest. “Don’t bother with the formal stuff, I’m the one interrupting after all. Are you all learning fine?”
A chorus of ‘yes, sir,’ and ‘yes, Emperor,’ came in reply, Nigel nodding towards his troops. “Good show, keep up the important work.” Chalmers turned to face him, James raising an eyebrow. “So James, they’ve been going well?”
“Very,” he admitted, causing the changelings to beam with pride. James was quite pleased with their performance, the soldiers proving to be very obedient while at the same time not fearing to ask questions. They certainly had promise for the role intended for them, and he had actually been pleasantly surprised with the ability of all of the changelings and crystal ponies at training.
“Marvelous,” replied before tilting his head towards the rear of the classroom. “Do you mind if we…?”
“Sure,” he answered, before looking back at his students. “Class, take five minutes.”
Immediately, all ten put their pencils on the desks in front of them and got up, moving towards the door. They nodded at Chalmers while they passed him, in return receiving a prideful smile. James waited until all had left, a few stopping to talk to the two advisors outside the barracks, before he shut the door and walked with Nigel towards the rear of the room.
“Here’s the gems, nine of them,” Chalmers told him while removing a bag from his bathrobe. James took it with his armoured hand and looked in, confirming that there were indeed nine red gems inside. “Have you picked three?”
“I have,” he replied to Nigel’s query. “Private Meta, Corporal Buzz and Private Shimmer.” He had specifically chosen the two males and female for their independence and other qualities, traits that he deemed suitable for the planned mission. “It’s a little bit of a short notice though.”
“I’ll explain everything to them tomorrow evening, please tell them to meet me in the throne room after that day’s lessons and dinner.”
“I will,” James confirmed. Even though the changelings didn’t need to eat solid food, they apparently enjoyed spending time with their non-changeling comrades during mealtimes in the barrack’s mess area. He understood the advantage of having both races interacting well both on and off the battlefield, and he was glad that Nigel recognised this as well. Chalmers often wasn’t the most observant. “Is everything else prepared?”
Nigel nodded. “Maps, clothing, water, and money, everything needed for their trips.”
“Great,” James replied, before they both turned towards the door. They could hear the soldiers coming back, facing each other once more. “Well, I better get back to it.”
“I’ll let you go,” Nigel agreed while heading to the door. “Remember, after dinner tomorrow.”
James nodded, watching while Chalmers opened the door and let his students back in.
He had a lot of teaching to do, especially for the three chosen troops.
“Urrgg…”
Orthodox blinked his eyes open, the sunlight hurting them and only compounding his headache.
“All this biological engineering,” he muttered to himself. “You’d think that they could make me immune to hangovers or something.”
He slowly returned to full consciousness, the feeling returning to his limbs.
‘How much did I have to drink?’ he wondered, feeling cool grass against the back of his head.
His question was answered when something moved to his left, a white hoof with a golden shoe moving further over his chest and pulling him deeper into the hug.
Too much, far too much.
He slowly looked over, his stomach dropping when he saw the captive guardmare lying beside him.
The pegasus was completely unbound, her mouth open a little while she snored. Her breath stank of alcohol, and Orthodox traced a saliva trail across his chest armour from her mouth up to his.
‘Shit,’ he mentally cursed, horridly searching around for his helmet which he found was still attached to his waist. Shifting slightly in the mare’s hold, he managed to release it and put it on, praying while his eyes strayed to his armour’s status display.
“Not removed in the last four days,” he breathed out softly, a thankful smile spreading across his face. “Thank you, Lord, for saving me from banging a mini horse while intoxicated.” With his helmet on he was free to speak his mind, a long time habit. He smacked his lips together, his advanced taste buds picking up alcohol, the saliva of the slumbering guard and strangely, cotton candy.
Almost fully recovered, he activated the system that injected stimulants into his body, clearing his headache and giving him a much-needed energy boost. To be honest, starting his day with combat stims pumping into his bloodstream probably wasn’t the healthiest. Still, such was the hold of addiction, and it certainly beat a cup of coffee.
His wake up completed, he glanced back over to his sleeping partner. They appeared to be in some kind of hedge maze, walls of green surrounding them while they lay in the large open area. Thankfully, it seemed like no one had seen them yet.
Good, that mean he didn’t have to bother about killing fleeing witnesses, that stuff was afternoon work, not morning.
“Dodged a bullet there,” he muttered while trying to escape the mare’s hold without waking her. He still had to escape with his loot, and having the mare remain sleeping would be a big boon. He was lucky to have escaped with only apparently making out with her, he was not going to sink to Nigel’s level.
He had no luck however with escaping, the pony pulling him in tighter when she detected movement. Sighing, he moved his tail towards her neck, the small, sharp blade popping out from its housing.
Just as he was about to quickly and quietly end her life, he hesitated. He’d gone on benders before, and even though he still couldn’t remember the last day and a half he doubted he and the guard were on unfriendly terms. After all, she wasn’t tied up and she was hugging him, and even though she was an enemy soldier he just couldn’t see her as a threat.
The blade slid back into its slot, and through the blurry memories of the drunken spree he recalled a disturbing fact. Wincing, he moved the now smooth metal tip of his tail to the guard’s back, slipping it underneath the cloth-padded armour. He slid it up her back until her reached her wings, and he began to rub the space between them.
The pegasus gasped in her sleep, her wings slowly expanding while the rubbing continued. Her grip relaxed while she squirmed and muttered. Orthodox kept on rubbing until he was able to get away, his tail withdrawing. He stood up and dusted himself down, before turning away from the guard and looking around the area. He did not want to remember what had happened.
The first thing he noticed was the pile of bottles next to an empty brown sack, a deep snoring coming from underneath them.
“Bastard drank the entire store,” Orthodox muttered in disbelief. He stumbled over towards Discord and began to remove bottles, taking a few minutes before his comrade of chaos was visible.
Discord was curled up on the grass, except that instead of a guardmare, he was cuddling a lamppost, a pink parasol, a rubber duck and a giant teddy bear.
Orthodox shook his head and walked away, not wanting to deal with it or the questions it created.
Spotting the two sacks of treasure by a hedge, he moved over to them and opened up one. It was still full, luckily, so even though Discord had drunken everything all was not lost. The second one was the same, his stolen gold and jewels safe.
‘All in all, a rather decent outcome.’
“There he is, bring up the Elements!”
Orthodox dived into the hedge, dragging the sacks in with him. His armour allowed him to remain unscathed, and he peeked out through the hole in the leaves he had created.
Armoured ponies, both pegasi and unicorns, were surrounding Discord and dragging their unconscious fellow away from the scene. They hadn’t appeared to have spotted him, which meant that they were targeting someone else.
Orthodox watched on while six multi-coloured mares entered from one of the maze ends, all of them wearing necklaces with the purple one was wearing a tiara. His concern regarding just how they had managed to escape the Crystal Empire was overridden by his desire to obtain their really shiny stuff, however he managed to hold himself in check.
“Is he… drunk and sleeping?” one of the new ponies inquired, a country accent that grated on Orthodox’s nerves filling the air.
“It makes it all the better to zap him, so be thankful,” one of the guards answered, the stallion sneering down at Discord and stepping back. “By Celestia, he stinks!”
“I… I think that he’s lying in his own, well, vomit,” the shy yellow one observed, the guards and civilian mares collectively wincing.
“Let’s just get this over with,” the flying rainbow horse snorted. “Then we can go and save Princess Luna.”
Orthodox didn’t know who this ‘Luna’ was, but while he watched the six mares begin to glow and levitate, he knew one thing.
Discord, his friend and crime-spree partner, was about to get blasted by six witch-ponies. No doubt he’d be imprisoned again, something about ‘those darn, meddling mares,’ surfacing in Orthodox’s memory. The six floating ponies were rising higher and causing some sort of electricity to arc everywhere. The sky darkened, but the guards didn’t seem more than a little nervous. Given this information, the mares with the glowing eyes and the helpless Discord, Orthodox could only do one thing.
‘Whelp,’ he thought while dragging his sacks out of the other side of the hedge and into freedom.
‘Thanks for the for the distraction, Discord ol’ pal.’
He ignored the booming crack behind him, and the bright glow. Whistling to himself, he made his way across the empty street and into an alleyway.
His work here was done.
“You all have your assignments, and you have enough food for three months each. You should complete your mission in a few days however, so if you need some extra power don’t be hesitant to use one.”
“Yes, Emperor!”
Reflection looked out towards the three changeling soldiers saluting in front of Nigel’s throne. All three wore simple grey cloaks and brown saddlebags, each containing supplies, maps and most importantly a single message each.
Nigel’s plan was daring, and she had almost not believed him when he had told her. Now here they were, about to send off three soldiers into danger with a grand goal in mind.
“I have faith in all three of you,” he continued, dressed in his normal suit. “If you succeed it’s a promotion for all of you, and leadership positions in the team that Agent James is assembling.” The three changelings grinned, their wings buzzing with anticipation. “Your missions are vital to the continued safety of this Empire, and all of your fellow citizens are counting on you. Return with victory, and you’ll be treated like heroes. Now good luck, and stay safe.”
“Yes sir,” they all replied.
“Good. Now go, speed is of the essence.”
“Good luck,” she added, receiving nods before the soldiers turned to leave through the main doors. Four guards escorted them, Reflection noticing that the crystal ponies were whispering their own wishes of luck. The doors shut behind them and no doubt the soldiers would soon be flying towards the, now behaving, setting sun. “Do you think they’ll make it?”
“I do,” Nigel answered confidently while giving her a pat on the head. “They’re some of the best we have, and James has done his best to prepare them.”
“I hope so.”
“Don’t worry,” he chuckled in response, before leaving his throne. “They’ll complete their mission and with any luck the messages will have the intended effect.” He started to walk towards the corridor leading to the dining room. “Now, why don’t we grab some dinner?”
“That sounds nice,” she grinned while standing up and following him. “I could use some relaxation. The last few days have been hectic.”
“I’ve got a feeling that they’re not going to change.”
With Nigel’s final words, they left the empty throne room behind.
Little did they know that things were going to get more hectic than either could imagine.
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4971601
Relax, it's submitted.
By the insanity Im hype of what can happen next, also why do I have a feeling releasing the name six will bite him in the ass in the next chapter?
well great chapter, Keep going
orthodox you sly dog, i bet hes got a wings fetish!
More. More dammit. GIVE US MORE
Wait. He let them to deal with Discord? He's capable of being...REASONABLE?
I take everything bad I ever said about him back. This automatically makes him twice as good as ANY of the "human overlord figures" I've seen on this site.
I was disappointed when Orthodox didn't step in when Discord was captured... *(le sigh)*
Still...
I can't wait to hear Elijah's questions for Luna.
And Celestia deserves whatever is coming to her, I know that for a fact.
So,
Equestria is Bankrupt--- That is a really good war strategy (Yes by greed and insanity).
Oh Luna can't use magic so who will she raise the moon?
I take it that Luna will be executed if Celestia tries something.
Also, I can imagine Rainbow Dash flying ahead of the group and receiving a free hole in the head for her efforts when they try to rescue Luna.
Why did he let the Mane Six go? I would've kept Luna and the Elements. Besides Orthodox and Discord are pals. Discord would've join Nigel against Celestia.
4972136 Well, Celestia did it for a thousand years so it shouldn't a HUGE deal-breaker.
And Equestria being bankrupted, the war is pretty much over.
With every chapter I like the human characters less and less.
Except Elijah, he's awesome.
4972331
Add to that the ponies of Equestria having to pay even more taxes for some reason unknown to them. I imagine them to question why exactly they need to pay more and potentially be in an uproar about it, especially if they find out. I know for sure that people here on Earth would certainly be in an uproar if something like that happened.
i.imgur.com/pc3pkmw.gif
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
Great chapter! I was so happy when I saw it was this story of my favorties that got updated and I wasn't dissapointed with the content either so good job in making my day sir.
I am curious to see what princess Celestia's reactions are going to be and what Elijah will put Luna and her guards through. Keep it up I would say.
4972436 Hell on Earth it would lead to uprisings/rebellions which would probably be followed by martial law. To say nothing of what the ponies will think if they find out the ponies died because of Celestia throwing the chain-of-command/structure of the crystal ponies into disarray. I seem to recall ponies dieing because of the disorganization she caused. All because she thinks she knows best. Man I look forward to her big dick of justice comes back around to smack her in the face.
Darn, no more Discord shenanigans for a while, if at all anymore. Pity, you really know how to make him a funny tosser.
So now the mane six are loose, while Luna is in? This doesn't bode well at all for our guys unless Nigel pulls off a gambit that'd make Batman green with envy. Equestria is having it too easy to take the Empire seriously as of right now; the money tourniquet will only play its part a bit later. At least Celestia isn't in the mindset to invade them yet, but as soon as she finds out about Luna's imprisonment, that could turn around completely. Or not, since she respects Chalmer's forces and know they'd be able to slaughter her gold-plated potato peelers 3 to 1 if not more.
On a matter of execution, it's awesome that the UIP crew isn't having an easy time with the turn of events
A well-earned victory is all the nicer for the sweat spilled for its achievement. I don't know what I'd do if this became another Resuscitatio Artium Magicarum.
To seal this off with the golden key, I have the perfect way to torment Luna for a good, long while:
Simply have Nigel tell her of his dear late friend, Private Chatter.
Once again you have me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what will happen next. Keep up the good work.
4972845 30 to 1 is more like it! Not including the Emperor, his elite crew and friends!
4973023 An engineer always considers the worst possibility as the real one, and plans accordingly. A tactician does the same.
I can't think of anything critical to say. I loved how every bit of this played out. No complaints. Keep up the good work! :D
Great chapter! Loving this story.
Chalmers is best HiE by the way.
Honestly, did we expect anything more?
Wow, the whole Discord deal passed quickly, oh well.
And so the saga continues...gallery.lost-media.com/albums/ep-caps/season1/1x03-tabularasa/tabularasa466.jpg
Damn, was really hoping DIscord would join the Crystal Empire as their "friend."
You know, like in the show?
Oh well.
4972065 You need to remember, Nigel isn't an 'evil overlord'. He's not that nice, and can bounce between noble, bloodthirsty and back again, but he takes care of his people and generally doesn't start a fight.
He's not that heroic, but evil is stretching it.
That was fun. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
I have the feeling that Luna and Nigel will become friends. Hell, I can almost see a political marriage, ala Dune, between them to end the war.
As for Orthodox... well we need to post these when he is around!
listcrux.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/everywhere.jpg
And as to when Luna gets to meet Elijah, I mean Lead Researcher Elijah...
ameliashevenell.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/10-21-12e.png
Love how this is playing out. In suspense to find out what is going to happen next!
dear president drop bear I say you and your squad of super soldiers have a strong hold in the us and I say I love your stories both the blood and he comedy
4974317
With all the crap in his body, at this point can it be considered HiE? Instead, we can call it CiE! Chalmers in Equestria is best fanfic genre.
Either you meant wood chips or his ceiling is made of boats. I suppose either is possible with Discord.
Down a complete treasury?
some of you guys are assholes.
that is an opinion. you are certainly welcome to disagree with it, but to downvote it solely because it fails to line up with your view is rude.
at least leave a comment explaining why you feel it is worthy of a downvote.
Inb4 i`m downvoted twice as much
I found this pic and it seemed like exactly the thing Chalmers would do.
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58992412/84278553.jpg
4975107
Yeah, anything else would have been OOC for Orthodox, really.
4975913
I must admit, the response is a pretty big overreaction.
4975599
Whoops, thanks for that.
4975599 Yeah, must be a HELL of a bag to drag all that around...
I was kind of hoping Orthodox would shoot Discord in the head while he was passed out. He has no reasons to suspect that wouldn't have killed him and neither do we. If he doesn't see it coming, he may very well be able to be killed by more "mundane" means if he can't do a Toon-technique to save himself (split face, make bullet hole spurt water, face turns smokey, you know, Looney Tunes stuff). Keep up the good work, I am looking forward to Celestia finding out what Luna did!!!
alass poor discord stoned again :D
keep up the good work
Looks like Elijah's about to get scientific on night pony butt, while Orthodox goes medieval. Or futuristic? I hope Celestia turns ballistic. In more ways than one. Like seeing her get shot into the sun. Nigel is #1. Rhymes are fun. You got a problem with it honey bun? I fuggin love you Dropbear271.
*halo announcer*
Betrayal!
Poor Discord, first drunk then stoned.
Another well done chapter dropbear couldn't expect anything less.
Awesome chapter as always!
Velvet: Lord Nigel! Lord Nigel, enough! Let it end!
[pause]
Velvet: Please. She is my daughter, my first one. Let her go and I swear we will forget this. I swear it, by the old gods and new, we will take no vengeance.
Nigel: You Equestrian's already swore me one oath right here in my castle. You swore by all the gods you would keep out of my business!
Velvet: Take me for a hostage, but let Twilight go!
[Velvet pleads to Twilight]
Velvet: Twi, get up, get up and walk out. Please, PLEASE!
[Twilight looks at her weakened friends]
Nigel: And why would I let her do that?
Velvet: On my honour as a Star; on my honour as a Twilight, let him go or I will CUT your throat!
[Twilight slowly stands up]
Nigel: [smiles nastily] I'll grow another.
[Velvet turns to Twilight, seemingly accepting defeat]
Twilight: Mother...
[Reflection walks up to Twilight]
Reflection: The Humans send their regards.
THE FEAST IF OVER!
Wait, we didn’t know that already?
4981042
I had to come up with some kind of moral, didn't I?
Although, there could be some kind of 'alcohol is bad' message in the whole 'Discord passes out in his own vomit' thing...
Rainbow Horse seems to be pissed. Orthodox is being Orthodox. Nigel made a decision that has a chance of backfiring badly. Yep, same ol', same ol'.
4981050
I was about to say: "But it helped Orthodox escape" .. but I somehow doubt thats a good thing. Still love him though!
I feel the last line was cliche and unnecessary