The Hag, the heroes, and a few other things

by Amaranthine Thought

Breaking Harmony 3

I arrived at the crystal tree late next day, several different plans for defeating it in mind. I might be able to break it, or even poison it, and that would make my job far easier if I could.

The great cat (the beast that had dragged me home and shared its meal) failed to even scratch the thing, breaking its claws for its trouble.

The poison evaporated.

Evaporated! One touch of glittering trunk and it was gone like a light snow next to a raging bonfire! I got very upset at that. What did this thing think it was, subverting the natural way like that?! It could have just resisted or been immune, but no, it had to stand above everything as though it and it alone decided what was proper!

With the help of the great cat I reached the next branch, the one with the necklace with a red gem in the shape of a lightning bolt. I seized it with some ferocity and began my attack, taking out my anger on it.

The pain was worse than last time, I am certain. With each strike it felt as though I was cut with burning swords, piercing metal digging into my flesh. I was too angry to fully notice, though I am sure that my screaming could be heard for miles.

The spirit beyond watched and did not help. I cursed it with every burning breath until the tree finally gave. The great cat caught my form, quickly dropping me. I was on fire.

I rolled and doused myself as the Everfree frantically tried to restore me to health. I thought I saw bone beneath blackened flesh for a moment before I glared at the new spirit as it emerged.

“I was helping you! What were you doing?!” I yelled.

It nearly flew off before the previous spirit stopped it. I could hear a heated argument from them. The first spirit was upset and wanted the second to return to me and give me my due. The second wanted nothing to do with anything, even being willing to ignore my actions.

“Get over here,” I said, my tone poisonous and deadly as I scowled, “Before I invoke the rights.”

It was over me in a flash. The rites would invoke the spirit’s own laws, The Order, and that bound them tighter than anything. Should it not have helped me I could easily have called for its erasure, its complete removal from reality, such that even I would never remember that it had existed.

I held that right. I had freed it, it had not helped, and it had tried to flee its debts.

The first I had let free without payment, though it still helped me. This one would serve me until I died. I got that deal too, though it took the combined efforts of its brethren and my dire threats against its very existence to convince it to agree.

With that done I struggled to my feet and trekked back to my home. Upon entering the small abode I stopped, stunned at the sight.

Every last one of my regents and things floated without cause or reason within a space that only loosely resembled my home. It was much larger, and the space was shaped with no regard to reason. The floor jutted this way and that like a tiny mountain range and the walls and ceiling were no better.

In the midst of it all, laying back in a cushioned chair that hovered in the middle of the room and reading some large sheets of paper was Discord. He wore a pair of glasses and smoked a pipe, colorful jerkin on his feathered torso and slippers on his feet. The papers rustled as he folded one, reading the stack like a book, all sides of the papers covered in writing. He looked up as I opened the door and smiled.

“Hag!” he called out happily as he waved to me, papers vanishing as he tossed them aside, “So good to see you again. I’ve made myself at home, much better now really.”

“I cannot walk on slopes like that Discord.” I muttered, looking about, “Nor do I appreciate my things being jumbled together.”

“Oh that.” He said dismissively, waving a paw in my direction, “They aren’t jumbled together, they are all separate, see?” He waved a hand through one of the floating masses, the stuff shifting to allow his paw to pass through unhindered. “They aren’t even touching each other!”

I got the direct impression that he was pushing his boundaries. Here, he could cause havoc and destruction and find no consequences. Or so he thought.

I took a chance. “The spirit Discord, I command you by name.” I said, my tone brooking no argument from the irritating… thing that hovered in what used to be my home.

“Put my house back to the state it was when I left today, sit in a chair, and use that power of yours to make me some tea.” I said. Avars are very difficult to command, and I was still uncertain if he truly was a spirit. If my attempt failed I was very unsure what he would do, or how I would manage him.

He laughed at me for a moment, “What do you think… wait what?”

I watched wide-eyed, shocked that it had worked. He was dragged about by a strong force recreating my home with an effort that was not of his choice. I could not prevent my grin from growing and, as his protests over being unable to command himself grew, began giggling.

With a final flourish he plopped into a seat and snapped his fingers, a pot of tea appearing on the table as well as several cups. At his look of absolute indignation and confusion I could stand it no longer. I fell over laughing, certain that I would never stop.

“What did you just do?” He growled at me, eyes flashing dangerously.

I tried to catch my breath and tried to respond even as he threatened me. “You… you actually gave me your name! Your real name! Didn’t matter to you, just give out your name to anyone!”

He grew even more confused at this, the threat of violence fading (I’m sure he wouldn’t have hurt me). In short, the names of spirits are very powerful things, and any hag could manipulate the bearer of the name with ease. Spirits clutched to their names with unmatched ferocity and secrecy, even the smallest and most stupid amongst them realizing that their name held power over them. So they used other names, like Uwe, or Gazee, or Err.

Somehow Discord did not know this. He might not have been a perfect spirit, part avar and part spirit, but he was spirit enough for the same commands to take effect.

He was quite upset when I managed to explain all this to him, certain that I would abuse the power, but I am not a heartless woman. Out of my own will I promised him that I would never abuse my ability. Unless he try that nonsense again, or hurt the Everfree, I would never prevent him from acting as he wished. So long as his effects were limited to harmless pranks, or he cured them after a short time, he was free to make my cottage sprout wings and fly away!

I think I might have stunned him with that more so than anything else. The idea that someone with the ability to bind him not only didn’t, but actively encouraged the use of his power made him dumb for several minutes. He almost worried me with his incessant question, “Really? Even if…” followed by some example of chaos he could think of, every one more crazy than the last.

I always said yes, or nodded, smiling, him growing more and more overjoyed, particularly when I failed to respond when the teapot whistled, grew frog legs, and jumped free out of the window, a checkered flag waving as it went. As he laughed and laughed without end as my belongings danced around him, I knew right then that the rest of my life would be rather enjoyable.

People would only remind me of my failure. I didn’t want anything that might remind me of all the dead faces that haunted my dreams. I would live in the Everfree and eventually pass on without ever seeing a reminder of my old life. But I wouldn’t be alone.

I had my forest, and now I had Discord, and both of them would be there by my deathbed as I passed. I might even find peace before I was gone.

Then he confused me. He stopped for a moment and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. “Does this mean that we are… friends?” he asked with grave seriousness.

Friends. A word that I had never heard spoken by another. I knew the concept; the heroes in my tales always had their companions and sometimes they were friends. A trifle, I always thought, a worthless thing that only indicated that two people might tolerate each other, or even enjoy one another’s presence.

He used the word as though he had meant husband and wife. Parent and child. Teacher and student, master and disciple, hag and forest, god and worshipper. A relationship that held the greatest strength and respect. Suggesting that friends might be as close as family, or that the concept was sacred and he got me worried over his exact meaning.

“I… suppose?” I said, uncertain exactly what he had meant, but willing to indulge him. He seemed too naive to trick me by bending words.

His eyes glittered with happiness and he scooped me up and held me close. He was warm and softer than my own bed, but I was a hag; some dignity was necessary. Besides, he was hurting my back.

“Put me down you big oaf!” I yelled as he gently squeezed me. He was trying not to harm me, but my body found slight pain in standing; his hug put pressure on bits of me that were normally unpressured. “I am an old woman and refuse to be treated like some infant!”

He dropped me with care and I winced as I tried to figure out how to rub my back with hooves. He seemed to sense my pain and used his mismatched hands to push into my back, reliving the pain somewhat and offering a surprising amount of pleasure as he rubbed. Maybe it came with the new body.

“I do apologize,” He said, “but you are not an old nag Hag. Perhaps a visit to the spa would clear up your pains?”

What is a spa? I wondered as I relaxed under his hands. I didn’t know, but I did know that any effort to reduce my pains would end in failure. The reaper watched me closely, sharpening his scythe. Hags could guess at the natural end of a creature’s life, and with my newfound passion, I would be lucky to see the next winter.

“It would not help me Discord. I am old, and my body fails me. A few months and I will be in the next realm.”

“Months!” he exclaimed, his eyes widening, his hands gripping me, “You are so strong though! Vital! You have years left, you must!”

He felt desperate. To him, months were a short time, far too short for him to truly enjoy my unique presence. “Months Discord.” I said, “Maybe I would go for a few years, but I have a duty to fulfill that takes my greatest efforts and drains what little time I have.”

I held up a hoof to stop his comment, “And no, you cannot help me. I would not endanger you, nor could you offer me aid beyond keeping me happy as I fade.”

He took his hands off of my back, and after a long time of not speaking sighed. “I could do something else.” He said. “You have potential, great potential. A little bit of effort and you might become an alicorn, and if not, I might prevent your aging until you reach that achievement.”
His eyes looked into my own, pleading, “I could do it in a moment, and then I won’t have to lose you after so short a time.”

“No Discord.” I told him. “Spirit, fey, man, or god, nothing has the right to subvert nature. You will never be allowed extend my life past its natural end. But you may tell me. What is an alicorn, and how would that change anything?”

“An alicorn, my dear Hag, is an immortal pony. They start as normal ponies, but then ascend for some great act or another.” He illustrated using tiny illusions, ponies glowing with light and gaining wings and a horn.

Seeing my hesitation he added, “It’s even perfectly natural. I myself saw the ascension of three alicorns, not one of which used an outside power to gain their immortality.”

I wondered why he was mentioning ponies. I was currently a horse, and small enough to be a pony, but I was unique, right? There weren’t other things like myself out there, right? Maybe it was just his way of being strange even in his words I told myself. I was sure that I was alone in this form. There weren’t intelligent ponies running about, human minds in an animal’s body. I was sure of it.

“Really…” I said, pondering on it. A natural born mortal gaining immortality through some great effort. Seemed like a flimsy way to motivate people; a simple way to get mortal beings to push themselves to their very limit. After all, immortality lay just beyond some feat of great strength!

I would have dismissed it, but Discord had no reason to lie to me. “What kind of ‘great effort’?” I asked him.

“I’m… not actually sure.” He admitted, rubbing his head. “The first two raised the sun and moon and the third… I don’t know what caused her to ascend.”

“But certainly you can if she could!” he said, eyes widening, “You even told me you had a duty, could you tell me what that is? I promise that I won’t help you at all unless you ask me to.”

“Very well.” I said, deciding to humor him. If he was wrong nothing changes, if he was right… a thought for another time. “Follow me, but do not touch. What I am dealing with might harm you, badly.”

So I led him through the woods to the crystal tree. He stopped dead at the entrance of the cave, mouth dropping open, limbs splayed out, tail held rigid behind him. I couldn’t read his eyes, and failed to hear when he suddenly began muttering, relaxing his stance and running over his mouth with his paw as he grew thoughtful.

“You have been doing this?” he asked, utter disbelief in his voice.

I looked at my handiwork and smiled slightly. Two branches were grey and dull now, bits of them breaking off. The other three shone brighter than ever, lighting the cave with a glaring white light, but two parts were dead and weren’t coming back.

“Yep. This horrible thing thinks it can control everything, can you believe it?” I failed to see Discord’s shifting expression; he had an idea and was loving it.

“Cursed thing even crippled the Everfree! I already freed some of its prisoners, you even met one of them, the cold horse. It takes everything I have, but I will not have it sit atop the natural order as though it can decide what’s right and what’s wrong!”

“Spirit, fey, man, or god, nothing has the right to subvert nature! I am going to break every last bit of it until it gives in, and then maybe I won’t kill it. Unless it decides to give up!” The last was mostly directed to the tree.

I turned and saw Discord. His smile was huge and his hands rubbed together as his tail whipped about. “Discord?” I called, walking up to him. He didn’t respond, so I caught his tail in my mouth.

He looked down at me and I spat out the tuft of white fur on the end of his tail. “Discord? What’s the matter?” I asked him.

He smiled at me like a wolf spotting a limping sheep. “Absolutely nothing. You really do have potential.”

With that he vanished without a trace, leaving me behind. I watched the spot he had been for a moment before shrugging and heading back. I was too tired to break the tree’s hold and would be hungry soon. So I went off to find my lunch, resolving to try to catch a fish; I wanted to use my teeth!

Comments

[Gravity012]

Oooooh boy. Something tells me Celestia isn’t going to be happppy.