As Discord reached the ponies and dragon - closely followed by the rest of the Princes - he saw that only some of the artifacts remained, while Twilight and the others had their Elements back. "...huh," he mused as he floated before them all. "This is unexpected. Well, this is your victory, and I won't fight it." Donning sunglasses, he made a target appear over his stomach. "You may fire when ready."
"Actually..." Twilight spoke up carefully. "We've...kinda, sorta, decided that maybe we shouldn't." She chuckled nervously.
Discord blinked in surprise. "Wait, you just won. You aren't surrendering, are you?"
"No," Luna corrected. "We are...negotiating."
"Oh, I see," Discord mused as he conjured a table for them all to sit around, complete with platters of cheese and crackers with glasses that endlessly filled with chocolate milk from the cotton candy clouds that floated over them, twisty straws leading from the glasses to the ponies' and dragon's mouth. He chuckled at how the three fillies and the dragon immediately started slurping up the tasty treat.
"Hey!" Pinkie snapped angrily. She pointed at her own glass. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Confused, Discord glanced over at Sanguine, hoping for a clue. Chuckling, Sanguine pulled out a bowl and spooned a dollop of whipped cream onto the top of Pinkie's glass.
"Thanks, Saggy!" Pinkie beamed, leaning over to give Sanguine a kiss on the cheek before she started slurping up her cheese and crackers through her swirly straw before chomping down on her chocolate milk.
"How much did she absorb from you?" Discord demanded of Sanguine curiously.
"...real time or distilled time?" Sanguine asked curiously.
"Pinkie's casual disregard for standard physics aside," Celestia interrupted, "we do have negotiations to focus on."
"Unless you've got some cupcakes to throw?" Pinkie asked Sanguine eagerly.
Sanguine started to respond, then noticed a glower from Discord. "Perhaps after the significantly important situation we're in the middle of is resolved," he promised.
"Okie-dokie-loki!" Pinkie beamed up at him, her tail wagging eagerly.
"So, you were saying about negotiations?" Discord asked Celestia firmly.
Celestia nodded. "Simply put, when taking what you've done in Equestria since your time in Aurbis as the start of a blank slate...well, simply put, on the scale you seem to be used to, it isn't anything worthy of an imprisonment sentence."
"Especially not when you can clean it up with a snap of your talons," Spike added.
"So we are hoping to establish a set of terms you will be willing to agree to so that you can roam free in Equestria without excessively disrupting it to the point we would have to act as we did in our first encounter," Luna explained.
Discord rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Let me see if I've got this straight...you don't find my games by their nature to be incompatible with the world you've built, so you want to agree on a set of ground rules for all future games...and if those can be agreed on, I can play as many games as I want within Equestria without fear of Element retribution?"
"That about sums it up," Applejack confirmed.
"Well, I see no problem with that," Discord agreed warmly, settling down in his chair. "A game's no fun without clear rules. So what'd you have in mind?"
"For starters, how about the rules you laid down for these games?" Sweetie Belle suggested. "No permanent physical or emotional harm to players, and always a chance to win?"
"That seems like a good basis," Discord agreed, jotting the rules down on a sheet of paper.
"And don't involve nobody who can't take it," Applejack spoke up. "Mah Granny ain't as young as she used ta be, and ah doubt she'd handle being thrown into the sorta thing ya can make happen on a whim, especially not if'n ya dropped it on her as a surprise."
"With a caveat that he may provide temporary restoration of past physical or mental capacities to handle the game if the party agrees?" Clavicus Vile offered. "To take your example, your Granny is to old too handle the games...but if she agrees to temporarily regaining her youth for the game, then can she be involved?"
"Well, shoot, ah don't see no problems with that, long as that fits those first two rules," Applejack allowed.
"Perhaps a blanket 'terms of games agreed upon before games are initiated, even if initiated at a later date' ruling?" Jyggorath suggested. "That ought to cover all such situations." The ponies glanced around at each other, then nodded. "And I think we should also lay down that no one who isn't of their majority can be allowed to wager anything on the outcomes of these games."
"Oh absolutely," Discord agreed. "Last thing I'd want to do is get a kid hurt from my antics." He wrote down what was being discussed. "Anything else?"
"Clean up afterwards," Rarity insisted. "It's only polite not to leave a mess behind after playing a game."
Nodding, Discord added that, then looked up to hear any other submissions.
Everyone gathered around the table glanced back and forth. Pinkie shot her hoof into the air. "Oh! Oh! Free passage for us back and forth between Equestria and the Realms of Oblivion! I wanna be able to see Saggy whenever I want!"
"I have no objections to that," Discord chuckled dryly as Sanguine actually blushed at the look Pinkie shot his way. "Just tell me where to install the Realm gates, and I'll zap them into place." As he finished writing down the rules, he showed them to Celestia and Luna. "Are these terms acceptable?"
Celestia and Luna glanced over the rules. "Indubitably," Luna confirmed.
"If we'd had this back when we first met, we'd never had to lock you in stone the first time around," Celestia observed dryly.
Discord clapped his mismatched hands together. "Then these games are officially concluded with total victory for all involved," he declared proudly. "Now we come to some issues that arose during the games." Snapping his talons, he conjured a sheaf of papers and a pair of reading glasses. "First off, Twilight Sparkle."
"Huh?" Twilight asked in surprise, jerking her head out of Mora's card catalogue.
"You issued a challenge to Hermaeus Mora for your trial," Discord observed. "What was the exact wording of the challenge?"
"Umm...I challenged him for the Realm and this card catalogue," Twilight responded nervously. "Why?"
"So...not for his throne?" Discord clarified.
"What would I want with a throne?" Twilight demanded crossly. "I barely have enough time in my day to read, study, and spend time with my friends as is without having to be a Princess, too! I've seen how little free time Princess Celestia gets." She failed to notice Celestia and Luna exchanging uncomfortable glances.
Discord turned a grin towards Hermaeus Mora. "Well, good news for you. You're still the Daedric Prince of Knowledge. However, as far as your Realm is concerned, she's in charge of it now."
"So...I have all the administrative headaches of being a Daedric Prince, while she gets all the privileges?" Hermaeus Mora clarified.
"That is the meaning of her terms of the challenges," Discord teased playfully.
"Curse you Twilight Sparkle!" Hermaeus Mora roared angrily, making the three fillies giggle.
"And now we come to Rainbow Dash," Discord continued. "I'm afraid your situation is much more black and white. You killed Mehrunus Dagon in his own Realm, with his own weapon, during a challenge fight between the two. The mantle of Daedric Prince of Destruction is now yours."
Rainbow said nothing, simply staring at Discord for a while before going to back to clutching Scootaloo as tightly as the filly would allow...which was only limited by her capacity to breathe.
Discord coughed uncomfortably, tugging at a shirt collar he conjured specifically to tug at. "Now, there is the matter of you being both an Equestrian citizen and an Element Bearer, and the fact that these might come in conflict with being a Daedric Prince. I'm afraid Daedric matters must take priority over being a citizen of Equestria, but Element matters will take priority over Daedric matters...at least unless and until you designate a proxy from Aurbis to stand in for you when you can't make it."
"Right, whatever," Rainbow grunted, plainly not wanting to think about any of this for a while.
"Ohalsoyou'reanagelessimmortalnow," Discord said quickly, covering most of it with a cough.
"Whazzat?" Rainbow demanded, lifting her head.
"Oh, nothing important," Discord deflected. "Not for a few decades, anyway."
"Well, if that's all the important business," Celestia began as she got to her hooves. "I believe it's time for us to go home. There's a lot of paperwork waiting, if nothing else..."
Besides, her casual disregard of physics and what's possible or not is very common.
In a nutshell.
Agreed, it's all fun and games until someone gets horribly traumatized.
Excellent point.
Same here.
Smart move.
I'm sure you do.
Reading this in Zurg's voice makes it so much better.
Hm.
Well, at least Twilight will have at least one of her close friends to keep her company through the eternities.
I'm sure Dash will make an excellent conductor for the Sympony of Destruction.
your Granny is to old to handle the games
1. Too.
Pinkie really is the cream of the crop as far as Daedric Prince's consorts go.
If I had to ask Rainbow the age old question, I wouldn't.
I still wonder how Rainbow is going to come to grip with her situation with Scoots later on.
Glad to know I nailed the Twilight situation on the head regarding her little spat with Hermaeus Mora. Well, more or less. I wonder if her actually becoming a Daedric Prince would kickstart her evolution into an Alicorn though... It's pretty obvious only the rare pony can actually do that, and not because of mentality. If that was the case, her friends would have been on the list for becoming Alicorns as well.
... I'm calling it now! Twilight somehow finds a way to prevent herself from becoming an Alicorn!
I get the feeling Rainbow Dash and her position as the Daedric Prince of Destruction wasn't resolved so much as swept under the rug. I also get the feeling that there will be consequences to this.
well, I fucking called it about 2-3 chapters ago, dashie is a daedric prince.
Well, if there is one thing that remains constant....
It is that paperwork almost always kills the mood and it is more often than not, as boring and tedious as it can get
7998030 that last one is going to be interesting
7998033
7998052
First part, I almost want it to be a "But thou must!" event, where it turns out that Twilight was always going to go Alicorn, regardless of Celestia's meddling.
hmm... wonder if the other element bearers will gain immortality?
Isn't "ageless" the definition of "immortal"?
I just looked it says never dying or decaying. So...
7998221
There are many different types of 'immortals' in fiction.
There's the standard 'undying' type, where nothing can kill them (even old age) but they still age and eventually slow down (Merlin is this type).
There's ageless, who can still be killed but do not age or decay.
There's accelerated healing (like Wolvering or Deadpool) which works in odd ways.
There's regeneration (like a phoenix or a Time Lord).
There's undead (who cease to age or decay, but can be killed and aren't technically alive).
There's godhood (which has its own host of confusion).
...so yeah, specifying 'ageless immortal' is important.
7998223
Fair enough.
7998223 Another variation of ageless is Immorbid iirc, immunity to sickness and in most cases aging, basically meaning they can't die of natural causes like disease or weakening organs.
That last part with Rainbow Dash, though
7998223
7998269 What about reincarnation immortality, where you retain all the memories of your past life each time you're reborn? Like Zasalamel from Soul Calibur?
Actually, that'd probably fall under regeneration. Strike what I said.
That's not funny.
Other than that good chapter.
I hope we get to see action against Alduin
7998052
Who says they're not, but simply haven't discovered the catalyst to their own Apotheosis yet?
Welp. Rainbow now has immortality!
... I wonder if it's possible to change the title of a dadric prince without resulting to the shegorath method...
7998167 Pinkie's fine. She's got Sanguine. Hopefully.
Rainbow Dash is obvious.
The CMC are probably going to become the Three Nords or the Three Fates.
Spike's the Dovahkiin. 'Nuff said.
Clestia and Luna are solved.
Twilight's getting hers, wait a moment please.
Rarity is... Simply too fashionable to die.
Applejack and her family are probably going to become Dryads.
Fluttershy... Yeah. No. Just no. Death won't take her.
Actually, let's just make everyone alicorns.
And yes.
The turtle is going to be an alicorn. No. I don't care if it's a turtle.
7998637 That's not for another two centuries. Granted, we don't know how long ponies live and there are other variables as well, but it's not likely to happen, at least not in this story.
7998729 well, at least it's not Immorality...
7998775 I bet Tank will somehow leach Daedric power outta Dash to be her faithful companion... or was it her fawful companion?
7998929 Don't forget to account for the Dreadfully dreaded Rule of T
wait, dash is daidric prince(ess) of destruction now? I can only picture the Dovakins face when he goes about doing th daidric artifact quests only to find out that a RAINBOW PONY is the embodyment of destruction.
Dash is the first mortal in this universe to become a Daedric Prince. In canon, the Hero of Kvatch and the Crusader becomes Sheo. Isn't Dagon also the Daedric god of ambition?
7999042 The title is always Prince. Even though there are Female Daedra that are Princes, the title is Prince.
I like how Discord is so reasonable in this story, but while still being Discord.
I remember another fic I read once, (the title escapes me, but it was one of those several-seasons-older-Twilight-goes-back-in-time-and-replaces-her-younger-self-to-do-everything-right-this-time type story) where in place of the hedge maze scene, Twilight offers friendship and tries to negotiate with Discord outright. I think she offered him rule over the entirety of the Everfree forest to do with as he pleased, so long as he limited his influence to that region. He was so insulted and furious over her trying to impose restrictions and sanctions on his chaos, that he actually stopped messing around and got deadly serious and sent her world spiraling down a much darker timeline.
7998929 well we still have Tirek and a few more baddies, Twilight and rainbow along with the other princesses are inmortal, or very long lived in twi and cadance's case, rainbow is a daedra now.......why do i feel that the poor dragon is going to get a Rainbow Blast of Friendship and Destruction point blank to the face??
7998223 Tats, when's the next chapter coming?
7999766
This story updates Sundays and Wednesdays.
7999944 sweet.
7998997 His name is literally Tank.
He's going to be her flying fortress. Also Gamera.
And an agreement was made. Everyone wins indeed.
I wonder how much will this affect Dash. As we know, it won't take long until she returns her element... but she'll still be a vital part of the world's defense so yeah. We'll see.
I think rainbow is has a good number of mental scars...someone should get her to counseling...
7998929 two centuries on Nirn, yes, possibly not two centuries in Equestria. as i have already supposed, there is ample room for the Thalmor to still become a political power in the Summerset Isles and begin the Great War that sacks the Imperial City and results in the Stormcloak Rebellion in Skyrim. after all, the Altmer of the Thalmor were the Mer still the most butt-hurt by what Talos managed to pull off in the Second Era. in short, a Human beat the Altmer when they were clearly superior. that was the entire cause of the Great War and the sole reason the whorship of Talos was frowned upon by the members of the Thalmor.
7999944 Would it be too much to ask if you could put up a loose or tentative update schedule in the descriptions of each of your incomplete stories?
8004472
There's nothing loose or tentative about it.
On Sundays and Wednesdays, I update 'Order and Chaos' and 'Dressed to Steal'.
On Mondays and Thursdays, I update 'Three More Things' and 'My Little Killing Machine'.
On Tuesdays and Fridays, I update 'Melody of the Future' and 'Sparkle in His Eye'.
Anything else gets updated 'when I feel like it'.
Come on Discord! Just spit it out for Rainbow Dash!
8005098 I don't even want to know what is in his mouth!
8005322 Your concerns are overblown. All that's in Discord's mouth is little Discord A. In Discord's A mouth is Discord B. In his mouth we have Discord C, and so on until Discord Z.
It's...what's in Z's mouth you need to worry about.
(I wonder if you'll recognize the reference...)
lol i laughed a bit at this cuz its true
Pretty good arrangement for all involved.
She'll probably notice eventually.
8000196
GameraTank is really neat,
GameraTank is made of meat.
GameraTank,
GameraTank!
so, let me get this straight: in this continuity, Twilight Sparkle is the Guardian of Endless Knowledge and Rainbow Dash is basically a walking weapon; (looks at a couple of OTHER stories) ...seems legit
7998221
Is ageless really immortal when you can still die from a stab wound or any other lethal method that doesn’t deal with time?
8005823
The most powerful cat of all, one to fix every mistake that was made during the antics. The cat in the hat and the pink spot, as i recall the story the reference comes from, as being named.
There actually is so much story potential in Rainbow suddenly becoming a Daedric Prince, How she would interact with her new realm and the mortals who used to worship the former lord. And how it can interfere with the life that she used to know.
Not to mention of this trauma that she has to deal with after seeing a false death of her sister and giving a real death to Dagon (likely her first). And the Ironic fact that the God of rebellion was overthrown by an element of loyalty, could the nature of the realm and her own personal nature conflict? or would she be able to make them work together to rebrand her realm into something more akin to a Graceful Liberty than rebelling for the sake of it?
SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES!