Really, You're Just Better Off Waiting For It All To Blow Over.
Outside the cage, amidst a maelstrom of pink-and-red clouds, lightning warbled and thunder bloviated. Pieces of Equestrian countryside made vast, distant silhouettes all around, floating and rotating in what could only be described as an exceptionally stately and glacially slow waltz. Canterlot continued its helpless drift, its legs still kicking away for all that its torrent of curses had fallen to a steady grumble.
High above, another long silhouette undulated its way forward. Its front rose, in the manner of a hunting hawk, and two gleaming lights fixated upon Canterlot. At a point above the city, shrouded by stormclouds, it stopped, as cold and poised as a steel spring.
With one furious burst of motion, great metal tentacles flared out along its sides, and a battery of catapult fire roared across the sky. A grinding, cthonic ullulation pealed from its depths as its pennants flew, and the Fear Nowt descended upon Canterlot.
“Um,” said Simoom, whose wide-eyed gaze kept swinging between the display and Celestia. “Is … is anybody else seeing a metal sky kraken attack Canterlot? That’s not just -”
“Nobody cares, you non-entity.” The Capricious Crown’s attention remained fixed on the alicorn at the cage’s centre, who maintained her silence. “Celestia, I’d like to tell you all about these wonderful inventions we have in this day and age. We call them safes. Can you guess their purpose? There’s something of a clue in the name. They keep things safe. Did you know that? Things like, say, a enemy sealed away in statue form. Who might well escape from said statue form.”
“You may reasonably assume that I know of such precautions,” murmured Celestia, her attention elsewhere as she sent another letter off.
“Let’s say I had that sort of statue, and I wanted a good, secure safe to make sure it didn’t get out, better than what I might get from any normal market. Why, I might commission a good, thrice-folded mithril-and-adamantium alloy body for it from the Diamond Dogs. Have some of my ibexes and takins imbue it with strengthening and anti-magic wards and runes. If I ever wanted to open it again - goodness knows why, but bear with me - I’d put on a nice, reinforced door and place an order with one of these master locksmiths that crop up like weeds in Asinia. I could even go so far as to store it in a nice, reinforced facility, like a labyrinth which had had the personal and lethal attention of a Zebrican pyramid-builder. And then I’d kill every being involved at the task’s completion so that word didn’t spread. Those would all be lovely and entirely sensible precautions to take, wouldn’t you agree? It would be fantastically unlikely for anything adverse to happen to the statue then, wouldn’t it?”
“One might be charitable and guess that I am - and was - already quite aware of the potential for most of these to be used.”
“A garden.”
“Yes, Crown. A garden.”
“You kept this being contained in your garden.”
Celestia drew out another letter, and it vanished in a snap of fire. “There are some cages which are easier to defy than others,” she said grimly. “There are some beings against whom merely physical wards cannot suffice. Their confinement must be tailored to fit. Discord is a creature of elemental chaos, one of many of the world’s mysteries born in Antlertis’ Fall. He draws upon chaos for his power, and he resonates with it where it emerges in his environment. A note of disharmony can draw him out of dormancy, and has done so today.”
There came a pause. “Well, good for him,” said Fairy Floss. “I don’t see where that necessitates using a garden to house him, though.”
“A locked and trapped safe in any form would not suffice. Stone erodes. Iron rusts. Enchantments fade. Entropy and change invariably set in; the fundamental discord of order unravelling. Chaos would build over time. But a garden...” Celestia sent off another letter, and studied the motes of fire scattering through the cage wall.
“A garden where nature is kept in order, where green and growing things are constantly cultivated and kept in order? A garden where ponies gather in peace and friendship and foster harmony? A garden in my Equestria?”
Silence pervaded, and the smile she sported as the next letter was sent away was soft and brief. “It kept him contained for over a thousand years. Not a bad record, I think.”
“Until today,” said Rex. “What changed? Was his statue assailed? Was there some manner of insurgency in Equestria? Was thy nation’s stability undermined in any grand way?”
“There was a school trip,” said Celestia.
Silence pervaded, as best it could amidst all the thunder and high winds and sounds of a ship-kraken biting chunks out of a roaring city.
“A school trip,” said the Crown.
“There was some sort of scuffle between the children in front of his statue,” said Celestia irritably. “I didn’t think something so small-scale would be enough to free him. Better precautions will be taken in future, rest assured.”
“Excellent! Fantastic! We’ll all chip in! By all means, if you want to build a garden in the safe to be sure, we’ll indulge you. And we’ll be sure to put all manner of ‘No children allowed entry’ signs around it. No weak spot left uncovered.” The Crown dropped its chipper tone in favour of cold contempt. “But we digress. Your amazing catalogue of failures to one side, you clearly somehow imprisoned him once. How?”
“She has her Elements,” said the Fire Queen. “The same that apparently restored Princess Luna’s moral compass so very recently. Handy items, without a doubt. I am curious as to why they are not in use now.”
“Thank you, Fire Queen. I did indeed have my Elements. But ...” Another letter sparked away, and Celestia watched it go with tired eyes. “But the bearers were isolated by Discord. Twisted against their own wills and virtues. I am currently trying to get them back to their old selves.”
“How? Polite correspondence? ‘Dear brain-scrambled servile, please, if you would be so gracious, consider kicking that nasty old all-powerful chaos elemental out of your brain and give him a good wallop with the Elements. Sincerely, Princess Celestia.’ Blackness Beyond take us now.” The Crown’s jewels glowed like embers. “Do you have any other measures? How did you learn of Discord’s weakness against these Elements in the first place?”
“Through long and laborious effort.” Sparks glittered up into the red-tinged stormclouds. “We scoured through the accumulated lore left behind by Starswirl and Meadowbrook and many others. We hunted for any and every advantage, any new trick. Our very alicornhood is owed to our striving then. Even that was not sufficient. Eventually, we sailed ...” Celestia broke off with a weary sigh. “Well. The fine details aren’t necessary. Suffice to say that we were led to the location of the Elements somewhat closer to home than we’d expected. We secured them, used them, and ended Discord’s reign.”
“So they had a source. Could more be produced? If so, how would we use them?”
“Even if you finagled a way to break free of this prison, you wouldn’t find a fresh crop of Elements anywhere, rest assured. And even if there were … you’ll pardon my cynicism if I suspect none of us here to be capable of their use. The only hope I can see lies in restoring the current Element Bearers to their proper selves.”
“These same bearers who Discord’s already defeated once?” Fairy Floss interrupted. “We can’t afford to hinge our hopes on that, dear. We require something new.”
The alicorn said nothing, instead dispatching two more letters in quick succession, flashes of golden fire briefly painting the cage interior bright. “Then I advise coming up with something uncommonly good. If any of you have any plans, any sources of power or knowledge that you’ve been keeping undisclosed for a rainy day … consider the day to be in full deluge.”
A second note of silence, a second chance to breathe. Outwith, the Fear Nowt roared as one of Canterlot’s immense towers bent and slammed up across its hull.
Sailears, who’d been riveted by the exterior display all the while, said, “Why’s that flying thing got an Asinial flag at the top?” The Ceratos Emperor glanced over, mild interest showing on his face.
“Because Discord doesn’t seem to discriminate at all when it comes to mayhem, much as I’d like him to,” muttered Burro. He wracked his own brains for anything that could be played against Discord, any secret weapon Asinia possessed. The army and the Merchant Fleet were as helpless as anything else. Even the secret schematics for new ship designs and hitherto-undisclosed alchemical weapons that might skirt what was considered dark magic weren’t likely to cut it.
Not that they could have been deployed in any case, so long as he remained in this cage. He did have a few emergency signals on his person, however. One of the alchemical twists of paper held in a pouch at his middle would send out the order for the whole Merchant Fleet to assume a war footing when torn. Tearing another would simply demand the immediate attention of his personal guard. Another, his personal favourite, would summon a staff member bearing coffee, and he had every intention of reducing it to confetti if and when this all blew over.
Any port in a storm. Burro took off the pouch and rummaged through it as others began to speak around him. He looked into it, and red and yellow twists of paper looked up at him with sheepish eyes. Between them, a smaller orange twist wriggled and cooed.
Burro sighed and closed the pouch, looking up in time to catch the tail-end of the Cormaer’s suggestion.
“...nigh-on five-hunnert crates of black powder, stacked high,” she said. “Lure him in and set a fuse. If an explosion large enough tae flatten a forest wouldnae do it, I’d certainly no want tae be on the receiving end of whit would.”
“Where exactly is this black powder?” said Greenhorn. “Forgive me if I’d sooner not resign civilisation’s fate to the claws of corvids.”
“Nae fear of finding oot that, kye. But ye’d only have tae resign tae me. I can lure wi’ the best of them.”
“It’s a refreshingly direct approach, dear, I’m giving it that, and I’m sure your personal involvement would reassure us all,” said Fairy Floss. “But it also smacks of being too direct for Discord to succumb to. Would containing an explosion be any challenge to him-?”
“No,” interjected Celestia, who had worked her way through most of the letters.
“...Well then.”
“If we can get back to Zebrica, we can raise an army against him,” said Milia thoughtfully. “Many of the deathly regiments have endured the fighting thus far, and they’ll be secure in their barracks-pyramids. If they were sent out -”
“Spirits spare us from zebra necromancy,” muttered the part-okapi Gazellen.
“It’s not necromancy!” spat Milia, wheeling on the okapi.
“It’s sufficiently advanced alchemy!” said Punda the second after. “On a large scale and with all appropriate embalming and other esoteric sciences involved. You dribbling hick.”
“Hick? Hick? You stuck-up little ...”
“You’d send out your deathly regiments against Discord. I’m sure they’d make a triumphant display of things, truly,” said the Fire Queen, contempt lacing every syllable. “Before they all just collapse into their individual bones. Or collect into one mighty and very confused bone golem. Or just reappear in the homes of their descendants, helping themselves to coffee and moaning about the state of modern affairs. I’m sure Discord’s imagination is a far more fertile place on such affairs than mine.”
“I … well, what would you suggest?” said Milia. “Do you have any lore that could help us, Your Majesty? Anything helpful to add? Or do you presently find yourself short?”
The Fire Queen blinked, the motion slow and reptilian. A soft, subtle smile laid the tips of her needle-like teeth bare. “Amazing,” she said. “All of Dactylia wants to die burning. Who would have suspected?”
“I don’t think I want to die burning,” said Sailears helpfully.
“Indeed, little one. Indeed you don’t, thus far. You can be spared.”
Sailears smiled proudly.
Greenhorn spoke then, his tone hesitant. “I … have something, Celestia. Something that may of use to us all. It has always been one of Bovaland’s secrets, to expended only in the event of our very destruction threatening … but I suppose this qualifies.”
All eyes turned to the Bullwalda as he paused for breath, one of his hooves tapping an irregular beat on the floor. Burro was all too happy to indulge his own naked intrigue. He clocked Celestia lifting her head briefly, Fairy Floss’s eyes acquiring a certain glint, and the Crown’s jewels shimmering blue. The Cormaer shifted on her claws, her dark expression unfathomable.
“There’s a certain resemblance to Zebrica’s own deathly regiments, I suppose, but it’s of a decidedly more arcane nature. Perhaps more suited to combating Discord.” He paused to compose himself. “The Royal Barrow stands in Cromlech Taur, under which each passing king and queen is laid to rest along with their oldest huscarls. That much is public and known to all. But under the barrow, past twisting little passages and hidden doors, there is a cavern which each Bullwalda and huscarl endeavours to visit just before their passing. There is a ritual, and the processes elude my understanding, but … the soul, or the ghost, or the magical force, or whatever-you’d-name-it of each Bullwalda is taken. Collected. Mustered into the ranks of those gone before, to sleep until awoken by one of the blood royal, to defend Bovaland in one last battle when all our other strength is gone and our enemies are at the gates.”
Burro tried to dredge dates from memory. “How long has Bovaland been saving its kings and queens and huscarls for a rainy day, exactly?”
“Since we freed ourselves from the shackles of the old Capric Empire. Perhaps longer, if the legends regarding -”
Burro did some mental arithmetic involving the long span of centuries, the squadrons of personal huscarls reportedly acquired, and the chronic tendency of Bullwaldas to die violently and young, and produced an answer in the form of an impressed whistle.
“Spirits save us from Bovish necromancy as well. What’s wrong with the rest of the world?” muttered the okapi Gazellen.
Greenhorn rounded on him, but was cut short by the Cormaer. “How would ye awaken them?” she said thoughtfully. “Would ye have tae be in the cavern?”
“The legends say that I, or at least someone of my dynasty, would have to stand in the cavern and personally plead the air for aid. I can believe it; I have visited the cavern itself and the enchantments thick in the air, old though they may be, seem primed to respond to -”
“So, just as a wee hypothetical, if some nasty invading force wanted tae avoid that, they’d have tae make sure ye and yer kin were isolated from Cromlech Taur? Aye?”
Greenhorn stood stock-still before his expression slid into an enraged snarl. Something more than mere fury simmered in his eyes as he stamped forward. “You -”
Light violently flashed in the air between them, harsh and golden, throwing both Greenhorn and the Cormaer back. The light persisted, forming a glowing barrier. Past it, Celestia had risen, up and away from the few remaining letters. Her stance was poised, her expression was cold.
“Members of this company, I can’t help but observe a certain lack of fellowship in the discussions thus far,” said Celestia icily. “We have a common purpose this day. Keep it in mind.”
The Cormaer gave her a chilly, wary glance, and then looked away. Greenhorn glared daggers at the Cormaer, spat, and turned on his hoof.
“The same problem applies, of course,” said the Fire Queen. “Your ancestors’ ghosts are now undoubtedly enjoying life as household furniture, begonias, unmentionables, or whatever else flitted through Discord’s mind when he visited your city. Put them from your considerations.”
“Celestia is quite right, though it appalls me to say it. Let us focus on fixing her mess before we start planning for the future.” The Crown’s gems glittered a thoughtful green. “Fascinating and wonderfully brute-force as the solutions proposed so far may be, there’s another common fault between them all. Cormaer, we don’t currently have a stack of black powder to play with.”
“Mair’s the pity.”
“Punda, Milia, whichever you are, is there any barracks-pyramid here for you to command?”
Punda and Milia glared.
“Bullwalda,” the Crown said sweetly, “Are you currently standing in the cavern under Cromlech Taur?”
“Your point is made.” Greenhorn’s voice was curt, clipped. He had turned away, and stood looking outwards the churning sky. His expression was downcast and dark. “Prattle in some other being’s ear.”
“Why, I’ll prattle at everyone. And my point is indeed made. Let’s not waste our time with elaborate plans around elaborater tools when we’re still stuck a mile up over Equestria. Let’s focus on simply getting out of this cage. Celestia, you indicated that teleportation was closed to us, barring passage through magical fire.”
“Yes,” replied Celestia. She had settled back down to the floor and the remaining letters. “That warding is beyond my power to circumvent or force aside. None of you will have any better luck, even acting in concert.”
“Oh? Interesting conjecture. But we’ll put that aside and get back to it. Could you send one of us through the fire?”
“The dragon at the other end of this fire is young, his flames as yet only capable of letters and little else. I’m imposing enough of a burden on him as it is with this volume. Anything larger would hurt or kill him. As well as … terminate the passage. I’m assured that’s not a pleasant thing to happen.”
“Never mind, then. Could we simply breach the cage wall?”
“I have tried with my own magic, as well as with the Sun Blade. If I am not powerful enough to do it, then nobody else here will have any better luck.”
“Perhaps, Procer, if we were to utilise our magic in concert -” started the Ceratos Emperor.
“Even then,” said Celestia. “Even then. I am all too aware of my own capabilities.”
No challenge in the words, Burro noted, no boast or self-aggrandizement in her tone. A simple statement of facts. Celestia looked briefly back to the world outside as she sent off another letter. Three were left.
The Crown radiated a cruel, canny satisfaction.
“Tsk. How little you think of us. All we have to do is apply enough force in the right place with the tools available to us. And even if we fail … at least we’ve learned. Menial?”
The ibex servant froze, her magical aura flickering. “Your Unfettered Highness?”
“Don me.”
The blood ran from her face, and after a torturous pause, her voice emerged as a trembling whisper. “My - my life for Capra.” Her aura glimmered, and she lifted the Crown towards her own head.
“No.”
Tendrils of golden-tongued flame lunged into the ibex’s aura and tore the Crown from her grasp, all but pulling her off her hooves. Spinning through the air, the Crown was pulled to a stop before Celestia’s face. The alicorn had risen; her stance was controlled and poised. Her voice, when she opened her mouth, was soft. Her eyes were purest fire.
“You would dare do so in front of me?” she said, in a mild and pleasant tone with cold, deep undercurrents that made Burro want to hide under something safe. Ideally, a mountain. “You would dare?”
“Do be sensible about this, Celestia. Difficult, I appreciate, but try,” said the Crown. It helplessly rotated in place before Celestia, its tone casual and unchanged. “It’s not as if she’s doing anything useful with all that latent magic of hers. The least I can do is make sure it’s put to good purpose. If it’s enough to free us, then we’re freed. If not, then what’s really been lost?”
“If you imagine I would stand meekly by while you ground a being into dust before my eyes, then you know nothing.”
“My word, is this morality I’m observing? What an odd sort. Letting the whole world burn for the sake of one little caprid. Letting your Equestria burn for the sake of one little caprid. There’s a time and a place to indulge your benevolent streak -”
Celestia slung the Crown to one corner of the cage, where it clattered upside-down. A golden shield flashed to life before it, blazing magic flickering off it, blocking it off from the rest.
The Crown only laughed. “You’re far too used to being powerful, Celestia. If the stakes weren’t so high, I’d be fascinated just watching this play out.”
“Sit there and be silent. Your servant has no ability to retrieve you, so expect to get nowhere by issuing commands in your usual manner. Be silent unless you have something to contribute.” Burro swore he saw flames dancing out along the feathers of Celestia’s outspread wings. She shuddered and turned back to the others, all of whom had instinctively shrunk back. The fires in her eyes had diminished, down to pure points in the blackness of her pupils.
“Apologies for that display,” she said, sounding scarcely apologetic. “Let us return to the discussion. If anyone has any means of breaking free from this cage on their persons, I suggest employing them.”
A heavy silence hung, and was only quietly broken by the ibex. Her voice was all but a whisper, audible only to Celestia and Burro, hanging nearby. “Tundra, Your Majesty.”
“I beg your pardon, dear?” Celestia turned to the ibex, her expression softening slightly.
“You asked after my name. Tundra, Your Majesty.”
A smile crept onto Celestia’s face, and her wings fell back to her side. Her stance relaxed. “A good name to bear. I’ve known other noble caprids with it from times gone by.” She sighed and scooped up her letters, one of which she immediately sent off in flames. Two left. “Let me attend to what’s left of this, everyone. Discuss anything you might be able to venture amongst yourselves. If any viable plan emerges that requires my contribution, let me know.”
She turned to one side, the two letters rising before her. She studied them. The others remained silent. Outside, Canterlot succeeded in kicking off the Fear Nowt's lattice mast. Roars from both buffeted the cage.
“Dwellers Below take it,” snapped Rex. “If magic will not avail us, then mayhaps some technique from proper delving shall. Jackal Alpha and … whichever of thee is the Fennec Alpha, come palaver with me. Let some proper canine sense shed a light on all this.”
Burro watched them split apart into their own group and fall into a low, yipping discussion. Elsewhere, the Gazellens drew back into their own muttering cliques. Fairy Floss ambled over to join one of them, while Greenhorn remained where he was, staring at the sky. The Cormaer, after a moment’s hesitation, hopped over to where the Crown lay behind Celestia’s barrier. Green jewels glittered at her approach. Tundra stood unsure in the middle of it all, until Sailears wandered up to her, chatting blithely.
Celestia sat to herself at one side, and sent away one of her letters. She hesitated as she kept the last one close, and held it close to her chest for a moment as her eyes closed.
Burro took a step closer to her, but was stopped by a claw falling across his wither. “Pretty situation to be in,” came Gellert’s voice.
Burro sighed. “Makes you wish for the old days. It all seemed simpler then. Or we were just blissfuly ignorant. One of the two. Maybe both.”
“I’ll put ten rucats on ‘ignorant’.” Gellert ruefully chuckled. “Simpler times. I’m sure we had good reasons to get into the game at the time. Do you think it’s too late to just up sticks and wander back off to the Ceratos Sea? Always a career there for a pair of privateers, I’m told.”
“Tempting. My spur-fighting’s a little rusty, though. And Damasque would probably hunt me down and flense me to the marrow if I left the building for too long.”
A blast came from their right, and Burro glanced in its direction. Several pickaxes and pouches had been produced by Rex and the others, and they were all studying a point on the cage floor shrouded by smoke and drifting sparks. Punda and Milia wandered over, and more alchemical terminology than Burro’s brain was comfortable with drifted out of the subsequent discussion.
“Don’t suppose you’ve got anything that might spring us?” said Gellert. “I’d just like to be sure we’ve exhausted all our options before the dogs accidentally blow us to kingdom come.”
“Nothing useful on my person, no. All I’ve got left is inelegant pleading and harsh invective, and I used up most of the latter getting the Gazellens into line earlier. Yourself?”
“Nothing whatsoever.” Gellert looked at the clouds speculatively and motioned in their direction. “If some of these drift into the cage, I could try and work with them. Fashion them into a stormcloud and hammer the floor with lightning. We’d want a pegasus for an optimal job there, of course, but beggars can’t be choosers.”
Burro shrugged. “Ask Celestia. She’ll be able to manipulate weather. Doubt she’ll especially be in practise, but sheer power might compensate.”
“Delegate, eh? I like the sound of that. I’m sure she’d be up for helping.”
They looked to the lone Celestia, who held the last letter in the air before her. She closed her eyes, breathed out, and released it. Fire streamed up into the storm, her magenta eyes tracking it all the while.
“Come on,” Celestia murmured. A long moment passed before she spoke again, her voice quiet and impossibly weary. “Come on. Please, Twilight. I never taught you how to lose.” She looked imploringly out towards the storm, but it had no answer to give. Eventually, her neck slumped and her eyes closed, and the alicorn looked every one of her years.
“...Perhaps later,” said Burro. “We’ll have to wait for a cloud to drift in, after all. No point rushing.”
There was motion to his side, and he turned to see the great, lumbering form of the Ceratos Emperor, whose gaze calmly regarded one of the cage walls. Teal light flared around his horn to stab out at the cage. The lines swallowed the magic, flared pink, and then settled unmarred.
The Emperor tilted his head, and then shrugged as he turned to bestow a faint smile upon Burro and Gellert. “The barrier is indeed formidable. Perhaps one of the imperial sorcerers would have better luck. They are painstakingly trained and examined for this sort of circumstance, after all.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have one in your pocket, would you?” said Burro. He’d frozen upon the Emperor’s approach. He’d not relished the prospect of this particular encounter. But they did say the Emperor was kept pampered and cloistered. Perhaps he was blissfully unaware of the Merchant Fleet’s efforts.
The Emperor chuckled. “Alas, we doubt any would fit. Perhaps if the tapirs were capable of the arcane arts, some such arrangement could be made. We shall have a word with the census takers to remain watchful for such talent.” His smile widened. “You are an Asinian, correct? Would you fain settle a dispute for us?”
“Regarding?”
“What we understand to be your nation’s flag.” The Emperor gestured to where the Fear Nowt had somehow placed Canterlot in a headlock. The flag of Asinia, two horizontal stripes, red on top and blue beneath, centred by a yellow circle. “There is debate in the court about the exact symbolism. Such civil discussion is welcomed, of course, but our curiosity compels us to know the truth of the matter.”
“Oh? Well, I’m afraid to disappoint, but I’m afraid even in Asinia, there’s some debate. The blue represents the sea and the red the sky, that’s generally agreed upon, and most think the circle’s the sun. Donkeys then tie themselves up in knots about whether it’s a dawn sky, representing Asinia always coming into its full glory, or whether it’s a dusk sky, representing us always looking towards the horizon. And some in a properly self-deprecating mood think the sun’s actually a gold coin, representing our fixation on what we love most in all the world.” Burro grinned wryly. “Everyone in your court’s probably correct in some way.”
“Ah? We would usually be disappointed without a clear answer - but then, truth is very, very malleable in our profession, isn’t it?” The Emperor’s eyes seemed to acquire a certain sharpness despite his persisting smile, and Burro felt his footing in this conversation wobble.
“I’m glad to see cynicism isn’t a vice limited to myself,” he said airily.
“Quite. But there are some truths beyond denying.” The Emperor continued to smile. “For example, it is a truth that our proper rule is that of all under heaven. It is another truth that, for all practical intents and purposes, that rule is somewhat arrested by the seas surrounding Ceratos. It is true that to manage merely that domain requires us to stay constantly in the capital’s palace, delivering instructions and receiving reports each and every day. No province of the empire is beyond our vigil.”
“I sympathise. Asinia’s own bureaucracy, awful as it may be, probably doesn’t even compare -”
“It is another truth,” continued the Emperor, “that we have received a great many reports from the governors of coastal provinces, pleading for aid and forgiveness often on the very same line. They claim that they have been intruded upon, intimidated, even subject to the predations of donkey vessels, obliging them to open their ports to foreign treaties and unequal trade in spite of our instructions to the contrary.”
“I … corsairs are a sad fact of life upon the open seas. I can’t claim responsibility for such vessels and their crews, though my own fleet certainly acts to curb their efforts -”
“It is true that these vessels fly a device identified to us as the flag of the Asinial Republic. Red and blue fields, divided horizontally.” The Emperor leaned closer, and past the faint glimmer of magic playing around his horn, his expression was nothing like a smile. “A golden coin at their center.”
“That … that could ...”
“We would be fascinated by your account behind these truths.”
“Excuse me,” said Gellert amiably, stepping in between Burro and the Emperor, “Are things about to get unreasonable?”
The Emperor, who towered above the griffon, turned to regard him, his expression impassive. “Step lightly around matters beyond your concern, little chieftain.”
“Taken as a yes. Excellent. I’m good at ‘unreasonable’.” Gellert cracked the knuckles on his claws. “If you felt like being efficient and cutting out the middle-griffon, you could always just start screaming and bleeding right now. Or you could even walk away. Don’t say afterwards you lacked options.”
“Don’t listen to the little half-thing,” barked one of the Gazellens, who’d been pointed out to Burro as the Grand Duke of the hippopotami. His head certainly suited the bill, though his warthog body raised doubts. “I’ve had donkey ships menacing my sealine as well. If you want to extract satisfaction, rhino, I’ve got your back.”
“Half-thing?” Gellert wheeled on the Grand Duke. “Jolly good. I was wondering what to do with my other claw while beating the Emperor stuffingless. Thank you for being an answer.”
“Damn it, Gellert, this isn’t how you defuse things,” hissed Burro in the griffon’s ear. “I’ll buy you a drink later, but stand down.”
“Are you having a fight? Is the loser going to be sacrificed to the war god? Can I watch?” Sailears bobbed up at the back of the crowd that was gradually assembling.
“Creator’s quill, enough!” Celestia’s voice was a thunderclap; the alicorn rose sharply and all but bowled the assembly back with the force of her shout. “I ask for but a single session’s harmony! You all should have enough cause to seek it without my asking for it.”
“Forgive us, dear Celestia, for getting frustrated at not being able to correct your mistakes,” rasped the Crown where it lay, loomed over by the standing Cormaer. “Perhaps you’d concede that certain limitations aren’t making it any easier for us. For what it’s worth, some are getting along marvellously.”
“Aye,” croaked the Cormaer. “It’s an ill wind that blaws, and it’s yin o’ yer making. Are we tae have the tools tae undae it?”
“You,” said Celestia, and the word came flecked with anger before Celestia bit it back, “You should at least be able to set aside your differences and past hostilities, at least for now, no matter my faults. What does this bickering accomplish?”
“Lets off steam,” muttered Greenhorn, still silent at one side. He turned to glare at the Cormaer, the expression as cold and dark as a week-dead fire. “Establishes where we stand. Makes everything plain.”
“Plainer than yersel’, certainly, wee kye.” The Cormaer clacked her beak. “I’ve nae illusions. Dae the same and pray for yer nation.”
Celestia breathed deeply and inclined her head towards the ground.
“How are we to not bicker?” snapped Rex, lumbering away from his own group. “The mountains, the underholds, all boils below my paws, and all I may do is debate the most rudimentary of chemistry with a pair of striped inadequacies!”
“Forgive us if the latest advances in esoteric alchemy go right over your hairy head, you idiot cur,” snapped Punda. “How can you do anything with that pouch in your possession? Explosives? Don’t make me laugh.”
“Be silent,” said Celestia, her voice low.
“You get us all trapped here, you stop us using our most reasonable and pragmatic of contingencies, and you complain when our mood sours? I confess amazement, but not any sort reflecting well upon you,” sneered the Crown.
“For my part,” ventured Simoom, “I really do think it couldn’t hurt anyone here to just take a step back and -”
“Shut your vacuous noise-maker, you irrelevance. Spare us your insipid, useless pretence at morality, Celestia. If you want an end to this, undo this shield and give me back to my menial! Or do the noble thing and wear me yourself. Imagine Discord meeting that.”
“Be silent,” said Celestia.
“If we do anything productive here today,” said the Emperor, “we shall wipe this pirate off the face of our earth, and all who stand with him. We shall have peace in our empire.”
“You and what army? Or what other griffon?” replied Gellert.
“He wouldn’t have to go far to find support,” growled one of the Gazellens.
“No, but he’d be stretched to find anything worthwhile.”
“One wonders why the theatre was ever deemed necessary,” the Fire Queen said to herself.
“Be silent,” said Celestia. “Be silent! Be silent, you bleating, fractious, empty-headed children! BE SILENT!”
A tempest of magic lashed out on all sides, the flames of it outstripping light itself for speed. Burro barely gasped before it seized right around him, hurling him up to dangle helplessly in the air of the cage. Half-glimpsed, shrouded by whirling motes of light, the others flailed about him. Tundra and Sailears huddled on the ground, the ibex shielding the little elephant from the full brunt of the pelting force that filled the cage and battered against its walls.
At the centre of it all, Celestia, still as winter’s heart. White-hot flames wreathed around her form and mingled with the tips of her drifting mane, the dawn colours blazing. She opened incandescent eyes and spoke, and the thunder beyond was her echo. “I asked for nothing but a moment of peace. A moment’s harmony. A moment where you so much as acknowledged a problem greater than yourselves. What did I get?”
The magic rocked, and Burro slammed into the cage wall at his back. He coughed, tried to speak, and was utterly drowned out.
“Nothing but chaos, nothing better than outside! Why did Discord bother? Notes of harmony passing like sparks in darkness, gone with any passing gust! Nothing but what I’ve seen, that I am infinitely tired of, down century after century after century!”
The storm filled Burro’s senses, eclipsed all else, reduced his own thoughts to a dull roar, and past the darkness, he heard only Celestia, pure and terrible. “I once - once, during a very dark time - imagined I could simply put the world to rights. Conquer chaos. Peace at the end of a lance, and harmony ever after wherever the sun set and rose! I should have thought on it more then. I should have acted.”
Burro tried to so much as lift a hoof against the force that held him, and found himself as helpless as a foal. “I should have taken all your reins long ago!”
A note rang through Burro then, ran through the world. A single, still, and beautiful note that trilled right down to his core. The thunder stilled.
And then there was light, a prismatic wave that rolled right across Burro’s vision and left open sky in its wake. White fluffs of cloud in a bright blue expanse, with scarcely a violation of the laws of nature to be seen.
The other rulers and delegates drifted around him in a ring, confused and blinking and quietly terrified. The Gazellens were their old selves again, congruous all over. At their centre, Celestia hovered, the flames about her dispersing in the sunlight. She blinked and looked around, down to where the green, rolling landscape of Equestria had been restored. Canterlot perched on a quiet mountainside, reflecting the sun on every surface. For a moment, the universe simply drifted by.
A weary smile and a dry laugh escaped Celestia then as she shook her head. “Ah. Timing.”
Burro closed his eyes with the empty sky at his back, permitting himself to laugh. At last, at long last, a moment to breathe easily, to forget about everything, to get back to the conventional problems ....
Then physics remembered it had a job to do.
And although the reversal made for a decidedly more boring world, at least the next minutes full of falling and shrieking and dramatic flying rescues and the Fire Queen’s delayed growth didn’t lack for excitement.
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Alicorns burn very reluctantly, but when they do, they burn exceedingly hot.
Awesome chapter! Celestia is one scary pony when she is well and truly pissed. Celestia saving that Ibex from the crown was cool, by the way. Though I'm hoping the poor thing doesn't get the crown's wrath directed at it when everything is said and done. I'm almost disappointed in Burros though. I had pegged the donkeys to be a reasonable sort, but it seems they employ piracy! Anyway, looking forward to more!
It wasn't the CMC. The wards were already weakening because Celestia and Luna no longer controlled the Elements of Harmony and could not reinforce them. It was Discord escaping that caused the fight, not the other way around.
5993165
Don't they just.
5993229
Celestia has her own plans for the ibex's safety, rest assured. A pity about the donkeys indeed. At the end of day, they've got a lot of ships, a lot of profit margins to make as large as possible, and a lot of neighbours with far inferior navies. Celestia curbs the worst of it where she can. Nothing on the scale of our own historical piracy and imperial strong-arming has arisen ... yet.
5993245
As fair a take as any. My own interpretation was that the wards keeping Discord contained had been weakening for a very long time, and the altercation between the CMC gave him that last little nudge towards awakening. If I recall correctly, we don't see his statue cracking until after they stop bickering.
There are few things in pony fanfiction as satisfying to read as a well-written Celestia getting angry. Great stuff, can't wait for more!
5993296
Glad she satisfies! She's great fun to write in that state as well.
I find myself wondering why the crown hasn't found itself obliterated over the centuries. It's set itself as pretty much the most vile and cruel leader among them. Here and in the prequel.
Most of them don't seem all too intelligent, personally. I mean, they act as realistic as any politician, but even human leaders tend to get along in the face of overwhelming adversity. Yes, please continue to bicker and mock someone who is essentially a sun demigod to their face. Notice how the dragon leader is respectful of her? The person who can probably follow through on the nation burning threat?
I feel bad for Celestia. She's had centuries, possibly millennia of this.
This fic was previously housed in my 'Tracking' folder. This chapter has put it firmly into 'Favorites'. In other words rather well done. I commiserate with Celestia's position on the inability of the other world leaders to work together, but she never did sit them down and share the explanations she had been promising. In your opinion were Discord's wards weakening because the Element did not have bearers for so long, because of the Plunder Seeds slowly threatening the Tree of Harmony or simply because of the passage of time?
Honestly, it's a good thing the Harmony Beam interrupted her before she could go full 'bright and terrible Queen of Dawn', but I am surprised she hasn't just melted the Crown to slag already, given its personality and presumed immortality.
Anyway, I love the world-building and would be very glad to see you expand/explore it further in other stories.
Wow, I hope someone brought a fire-extingisher
"And that, Luna, is how we were able to get this swank new garden without it coming out of the national budget!"
Best line in the chapter, easy.
Good to see even a being of Celestia's vast patience has her limits.
Looking forward to seeing the wrap-up and final aftermath of the whole mess.
You accidentally an apostrophe.
Two were left on two different occasions. Hmmmmmmmmm
Continuing dialogue like that doesn't capitalize the second bit.
You did it again.
Oh boy, is that The White Horse I see? Oh boy, it is!
5993393
I can actually see the mortal leaders acting like that fairly easily. So far as I can tell, Celestia prefers to use the rule of love or failing that, respect. I doubt any of the mortal leaders have ever seen her enforce her will through fear, so while they understand her power academically they don't fear her on a gut level.
The Fire Queen obviously knows what's up, but I am surprised the Crown seems willing to play so fast and loose with her. It might be so convinced of its own superiority or otherwise arrogant that it can't take any personal threat seriously. Or it might be the Joker to Celestia's Batman, knowing that her own rules/ideals won't let her destroy it regardless of how much it deserves the treatment.
Okay I love the Crown getting Celestia's goat like that.
Wait. Is that racist? For the record it's not meant to be racist.
Oh, that's clever! A prison designed to discord Celestia, and probably powered by all that chaos inside it. All Discord needed to do was plop them all in there, and they'd trap themselves until Celestia went bonkers.
Or maybe i'm reading too much into it. Still!
5993871
The enchantments one is correct as is, just slightly garden path-y. Adding an apostrophe would change it from
to
What a fantastic moment.
In place of a princess, you would have a queen! Not weak, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me, and despair!
The fury of the Sun is a sight few ever behold, and one that none ever wish to see after facing it once.
I imagine a lot of rulers will be angry at her, and even more will be shitting terrified. Hopefully, some will realize how very, very patient Celestia has been. Very nice timing on Twilight's part--although I imagine Celestia has a lot of work if she wants to rebuild her reputation (but who knows? Maybe realizing that the controller of the blazing ball of nuclear hellfire has a limit to her patience will make other nations stay in line).
If the Crown wasn't accidentally incinerated or forgotten in the bog in which he conveniently fell, I hope Tundra gets amnesty in Equestria. Because I think just having seen the Crown be ponyhandled like that will be bad for her life expectancy, to say nothing of telling Celestia her name after the Crown shut her up.
5993957 I thought he was trying to drive her into becoming Solar Flare/Daymare Sun/Nightmare Celestia though the classic "I will force order upon the world", rather than just discording her. Discording just breaks a pony. Turning Celestia into a monster breaks everypony.
Glorious. Absolutely glorious!
In my own mind, this is why Celestia passes all the stuff off to Twilight. On the one hoof, she's basically levelling her up a bit, and on the other. I figure Celestia's always a bit scared of what might happen if she cuts loose and there are innocents in the general vicinity (i.e. a several mile radius...) But her patience is not infinite...
The explanation of "why keep him in the garden?" is the best one I have ever heard.
5993957
If it wasn't the original plan, Carabas perhaps should retroactively make it so! It'd fit right in with Discord's modus operandii.
Now this was the chapter I was waiting for. Everybody was assembled, and the bickering began. It even drove Celestia spare. And the Crown pushed his limits to their very extremes. Today was a good day.
I also appreciate how Celestia's little comment about conquest at the end there sows the seeds of the other nations' paranoia about what Equestria could possibly do with all the power it's gathering. I remember you did talk about that in the comments. Boy, the stories dealing with Celestia's defeat by Chrysalis and the reformation of Discord are going to be interesting now. Moreso than they would've been before, I mean.
Celestia's life is infinite. Her patience, try as she might, is not. Do not taunt Happy Sun Horse.
The fallout of that little outburst is going to be very interesting. Well, the immediate fallout consists of the world's leaders being reintroduced to gravity, but that should be dealt with quickly enough. The ramifications of all that has passed in this meeting of the Adjacent Nations (about as far from United as is possible) will take some time to unravel.
And just think how they'll all react when she decides it's time to put Discord on parole...
Now, did Celestia just try to pull a Gandalf ("Do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks!") and intimidate them into behaving themselves, or did DIscord succeed in breaking her and sending her towards a Solar Flare path, just for that one moment near the end?
5994747
Even at her most violent and unrestrained, she still took pains to spare the innocent. Take that as you will.
5994734 5994747
'Twil be interesting, to be sure. I foresee a few possible outcomes, none of them exclusive to the others:
• The leaders—all but two of them, anyway—of the Adjacent Nations (good term, that!) realize how nice it is to have a benevolent, Harmony-loving Sun Goddess that takes no more than a seemingly casual interest in their affairs.
• Those same leaders truly understand for the first time why Nightmare Moon was such a threat a thousand years ago, that Celestia could only fight her to a standstill before resorting to the OFC (Orbital Friendship Cannon), and remember that Nightmare Moon—or, rather, Princess Luna—is now back living in Equestria.
• They reassess what Princess Mi Amore Cadenza might be capable of if she's ticked off. And where did she come from, anyway?
• Equestria also possesses the OFC, and the leaders have just had a demonstration of just how powerful it really is.
• The AN start digging through their histories and legends to see what other enemies allowed to lapse into myth might be poised to return. After all, Equestria built a rail line out to the foothills of the Crystal Mountains where there's… nothing, except a continuously staffed observation post/terminal.
• Celestia's student and commander of the OFC, Twilight Sparkle, was able to overcome Discord's effect on her using nothing more than the letters Celestia sent back. If the leaders of the AN hadn't taken particular interest in her before (I'm thinking the Fire Queen already had—Spike's hatching, y'know), they will now.
• The AN leaders' collective unease at their impotence leads them to begin covertly researching ways to take down an enraged alicorn (or two, or three, or a similarly powerful threat) that don't involve the OFC. Or look into the feasibility of seizing control of it.
• Celestia "forgets" to remove her shield from around the Crown.
5993904
I'm working under the theory that the crown is an outright psychopath: very smart, very cunning, but lacking any form of empathy and possibly also mildly insane (which causes its risk assessment/threat assessment to be flawed). Whether these are due to a flawed creation process for the artifact or due to time-induced insanity or due to plain old bad luck is an interesting question. Carabas might drop hints about this in other stories.
As for how it gets away with its actions at home, I'm assuming that it's built up a cult of personality and worship around itself. This is a fairly common thing to do in our world, and the crown has had lots and lots of time to accomplish it. As long as it has tight control over its borders, it would be easy enough to isolate its own population and mold their world-view as it sees fit.
Interestingly, most of the other leaders shown in the fic have done the same thing; they just tend to be nicer about it. Who in the fic isn't telling their populace that their nation is the most advanced in the world at the Things That Really Matter and that their goals represent the Way Things Should Be?
This series has been a fascinating example of world-building!
5993522
Carabas wrote another story called "Second Sun" that might go roughly in that direction at points. The premise is that she's split into ego and id. Hilarity ensues.
Minor fridge logic regarding dramatic flying rescues mentioned in this chapter:
Didn't Celestia already have everyone held by telekinesis during her little rant?
5993165
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand hoof or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
This is what one day's preoccupation after a new chapter does to a comment thread. Confound this replying tendency of mine, it drives me to drink.
5993393
As psychicscubadiver postulated above (5993904), part of why the Crown's been coasting by is Celestia's own moral code. Unless you're actively attacking her, one of her ponies, or at war with Equestria, then she's not going to strike a blow. The Crown's vile and cruel, but the cost of ousting it - in collateral terms - would certainly be higher than Celestia's willing to initiate.
That same lack of deference and fear from the other comes from that same tradition of genuine benevolence on Celestia's part. Most of them (emphasis on most) know her as nothing but the peaceful ruler of a peaceful, prosperous country who's too nice to use all that power they may intellectually know she has. Others, like the Fire Queen, remember days when Equestria and Celestia warred a lot more often, and are under no illusions as to her potential whatsoever.
5993522
Re. Discord's wards, I'd personally call it a matter of the wards simply weakening as time went by and entropy and chaos around Discord, however that may be measured, building up. No Element Bearers meant the wards couldn't be reinforced for a thousand years. Add three fillies causing a kerfuffle to give things that final push, aaand you're up to your disembodied eyeballs in chocolate rain.
5993661
I'm sure most of them hope that as well. Burning mane is a terrible scent to endure.
5993822
Glad you're looking forward to it! The last chapter's underway already.
5993871
Derp, all fixed. You'd think the Emperor would be clever enough to keep his own sentence fragments lower-case. That is indeed a touch of White Horse!
5993947
5993957
Oh, dear god, that's accidentally brilliant. I only wish I'd actually thought of it in that detail. Retroactively poaching that, if you'll permit me.
5993969
I think you're right on this matter. Apostrophes are a skitter to work with, no question.
5994078
Thank you!
5994286
Do Not Taunt Happy Sun Alicorn. Walk Away Slowly.
We'll see some of the diplomatic repercussions for Celestia next chapter ... including what comes of Tundra.
5994549
Glad you like the chapter, and the explanation! I did wonder whether it was a bit flimsy during writing, but I'm glad it's worked well for someone at least.
5994712
If anything could have set the other nations on edge or bring them into terrified line ... that outburst would certainly do it. To say nothing of most other event in canon.
5994734
Adjacent Nations. I approve! Give them time; they'll get round to a more friendly adjective. Maybe. If they survive the outcome of all this.
5994747
For what my own authorial intent's worth, I'd pegged it as a genuine breaking moment. The temptation for a superpowered being with morals to simply brute-force their problems into submission must be something fierce - and Celestia had just been pushed to the point of going for it.
5994914
Unhinged. Terrible. Berserk. Incandescent.
Still Celestia, though. Some things are just ingrained.
5995908
A good list, some worthy of future thought! The next and last chapter should shed some light on which of these come to pass.
5995944
Glad you like the world-building. And I've got a whole history for the Crown planned, various internal motivators for it that aren't seen on the page - I've been considering creating a short story collection here dedicated to bantam tales and character studies from this 'verse.
Some of your speculation rings true as well - particularly the part about psychopathic traits arising from a flawed creation and the wear and tear of time.
5995969
Glad to see it recommended!
5996001
I might go back to the chapter to make it clearer, but her angry grip on all of them would have dissipated once the Elements did their work. From broiling fury, to sheer giddy relief, to oh-bollocks-they're-all-falling-to-their-deaths.
5996052
Nothing like a bit of ponified Blake to make a comments section complete.
5996807
You are too kind. I did have a sudden thought, though. Where do Minotaurs live? Are they part of Bovaland, one of those small nations, or are they among the implied countries on the other side of the world?
5993165
Much like witches! That must mean that Celestia weighs the same as a duck!
5996807
Nooooooo..... eh. I'm sure it'll be fine. I have good lawyers.
5996838
Most of them live in Bovaland, with sundry smaller populations in Equestria, Asinia, and suchlike places. Opposable thumbs make them valued as artisans and craftsbeings in most places they end up.
On only a slight tangent, while most buffalo in Ungula live in de-jure Equestrian territories, the buffalo are traditionally claimed by the Bovish Bullwalda to fall under Bovalandish jurisdiction as well. The buffalo take exception to this. Luckily, the geographical distances involved and the lack of anything major to be gained either way means it's not the sort of claim anyone ever tries to meaningfully enforce.
5996807
Oh heck yes, poach away! I just love the idea of all those self important folk actually being irrelevant to Discord's designs, beyond fueling the prison and driving Celestia over the edge. Delicious irony!
Really looking forward to what you do with all this world building. These stories are a pleasure to read.
In a way I'm on the side of the non-equestrian rulers.
It's easy to go on about love and harmony when your an immortal, hugely powerful, sun goddess worshiped by her people, it's a bit harder for the rest of us who actually have to live in the real world. Its very clear that no-one else can challenge Celestia and she can really get more or less what she wants from them (although she fairly benevolent about it) what would she be like if her position wasn't so inviolate? Maybe not quite so 'perfect'.
5997142
Thank you, on several counts!
5997163
A very valid point. Celestia does have substantial powers that the other rulers lack, and it's these powers that let her be as benevolent as she wishes in domestic affairs and foreign policy. She doesn't need to play at realpolitik to achieve her goals, and so she simply doesn't. Morality's a luxury she's all too happy to foster and indulge in - and she genuinely hopes to changes the world peacefully and for the better. A Celestia whose alicorn powers were curbed or non-existent would likely face a lot more difficulty and a great many more unhappy decisions.
5997207
Which is, to a certain extent, the situation she's just found herself in. For a change there is a bigger kid on the block and she's found herself just as powerless as all the other rulers. It's just that even in this situation she's more powerful than the others personally.
From that perspective I see the crown's 'offers' rather interesting, given more time would she have bent on that issue?
5996807
In that case, we're back at the Sonic Rainboom Question: Can Celestia telekinetically grab falling people at a distance, and if not, why not?
Other options with similar power requirements also exist (like conjuring an enormous bouncy-castle under them, or a more boring but still effective stretchy shield big enough to encompass the group). One of the big challenges to writing Celestia is finding reasons for her not to save the day with a wave of her horn.
I look forward to future chapters!
5997307
Such as further demonstrating to most of the leaders just how impotent they are when faced with the sorts of threats Equestria always seems to be the one to deal with. Do any of the Adjacent Nations host an ultramax prison on the order of Tartarus in Equestria?
5951334
Exhibit A—Twilight Sparkle on a bad day.
Good story. Juggling fireworks is how I would describe your writing, which seems very fitting considering Discord is the underlying cause of all this. Your writing stands out among fanfics as some with real life.
Hate most of those rulers. Even Burro is kinda monstrous when you think about it. Even if he is kinda pleasant, the actions of his people sound more and more like either piracy or some of the more unpleasant actions of the empires of our world. And the corvid sounds like the worst parts of the city states in southern Europe a few hundred years ago. Honestly, I'm almost sad Celestia didn't actually end up going through on her threat to take control. The kind of dictatorship she could set up, well, I'm all for it.
Also, was this Discord's true goal? A version of what the Joker tried to do in TDK? Because I'm seeing a few similarities in his insistence that he doesn't have anything he wants, yet still specifically sets all this up.
Looking forward to the next chapter. I kinda hope for an ending that at least indicates that the world situation will begin improving, because things are actually really bad going by these chapters.
Happy writing.
5997307
I'd say she's capable of catching them - but the number of them, the amount of disparate flailing on display, the speed of their descent, and the complication of the growing Fire Queen would make it somewhat dicey. Other solutions might run into the matter conjured taking on the quality of concrete when impacted with enough force. It's probably just as well she's got Gellert and the axex chieftain and a couple of other fliers lending a claw.
5997640
Most of them have at least their own ways of containing magic-users, and have the resources to invest heavily in these prisons if something sturdier needs to be contained. Tartarus is a special case, only controlled by Equestria, and is the only known prison able to hold horrors like Tirek and unspecified others.
5999146
Asincitta does have a few intentional Ankh-Morpork nods. Glad you caught them. As for the Black Company, while I've not read the books, I've heard plenty of good things, and the name is indeed a homage. (Zebrica's deathly regiments are another, somewhat more obscure shout-out, and a coconut to whoever might correctly guess it.)
Most of them are certainly pretty damn morally compromised, whether they're vicious warlords in their own right or conducting imperial excesses from afar. The next and last chapter should shed light on what they all get up to as a result of this - and whether it leads to anything better.
5999349 They sound like the Tomb Kings, just without the entire country being dead. Alternatively, it sounds like a Pyramids nod. But I'm guessing I'm wrong.
Also, I heartily recommend the Black Company. It is a strange style at first, oddly simplistic and a little confusing because it is written like a real soldier's diary, but it is a very compelling read. Very interesting take on a fantasy world.
5999357
They're certainly in a Tomb King mould, with mummified troops commanded by living officers. The intended (and as I said, obscure) reference is in the title.
I'll be sure to seek a copy or two out. It's a series that sounds right up my alley.
5999349
An additional complication occurs: Did the gold from the Fire Queen's hoard get sent back there when the Harmony Wave hit, or is it now scattered over the Equestrian countryside?
This is probably the biggest factor influencing whether the FQ heads straight home (to re-secure her hoard) or sticks around (to collect every single last shiny that dropped, and extract vengeance on anyone who tried to pocket some).
5999874
One of these options has more comedic potential than the other. Guess which I'm declaring canon?
Yep.
Hahaha!
I'm a little surprised that the Crown survived this chapter, especially after that stunt with Tundra. It'd probably be much less annoying reduced to its component jewels and metal.
Possibly my favorite bit of the chapter. Come on Twilight!
Uh oh, this is developing into chaos. Discord would be proud.
A properly righteously angry Celestia is a glorious spectacle to watch. Er, from a safe distance. Like maybe a few light minutes.
Now, I'm not going to quote the Crown's entire passage about safes, but suffice to say, I died. You killed me. I died laughing and I'm writing this from beyond the grave.
Though the part about a garden surrounding Discord with order controlling chaos could have been ripped from UALS, and I was actually a little annoyed with you for writing it first, but my annoyance quickly dissipated after I read this:
This had me a little conflicted. On the one hand, I don't like hints that this universe and the Motion of the Stars' Universe are connected. I don't like them at all. But on the other . . . I must confess that I'm very curious as to see what happens when the Crown is actually worn. Nothing good, I'd venture. Makes me think of the Dragon Cauldron, when the Tyrant King is taken over by the boneless one and becomes the Boneless King. Some disturbing imagery, there.
International diplomacy lesson 1: Do not provoke the Pretty Pony Princess who controls the 200 trillion tons of furious molten plasma hanging above your head with her mind.
o_o
O_O
Dang. That's some angry Celestia there. (I'm sensing a little bit of hopelessness as well, which as we all know just makes the anger worse.)
6322806
Oh! if you haven't read it yet, there's a blog post about Capra and the Capricious Crown of.
The bickering and disharmony among the politicians was clearly part of Discord's intentions.
When he is reformed he will probably be taking interviews to ask the politicians how much they enjoyed eachother's company.
6687992 This would make a fantastic reality show.