(Past Chapter 20): The Cold Heart of Hate: Part 1
My first diplomatic meeting went roughly as well as you might expect...
I stand at the edge of the Kingdom Heart's Antechamber, where, silhouetted against the black and rainbow-colored fire, a swarm of what can only be called ghosts are sweeping around it, like moths around a candle.
"What reason have you to come here, apparitions?" I say with an amplified voice, walking forward as portals open on my clothing, sliding out my portalweave armor plates that lock around me. My soldiers take up the rear.
While there's probably jack shit that they can do against these things, I won't deny any possible advantage in what could turn very messy, very rapidly.
One of the specters, a tiny, child-like one, suddenly flies through me, my armor-lock activating briefly to give the illusion that I didn't flinch back in shock.
I have a suspicion burning in my mind, so I'll be using a different Vance than I normally do to stave off cold. Something tells me using hatefire to warm myself here would be the last poor decision I ever make.
"Nul-Ice Three," I state firmly, my armor erupting with a blazing snake made of Prestidigitated flames, programmed to maintain my body temperature by effectively trying to cook me inside my armor.
My forward stalking towards the Kingdom Heart and not dying of sudden iciclefication as I'm sure some of them were expecting causes the creatures to grow agitated as the ice that did spawn on the outside of my armor fails to get inside.
The largest and what seems to be the oldest among them comes from the side. A withered giant of a pony ghost wreathed in white, with freezing mist wafting from its transparent body.
The most important thing I notice is something my magical senses are telling me, these spirits lack fire. I guess it's obvious in hindsight, but either because of or in spite of them consuming hate to survive, they have very little of their own. Almost nothing, in fact. Like burnt-out husks.
Disgusting.
"It is none of your concern. There is nothing you can do," the Elder specter says in a resonant tone before snorting puffs of frozen mist at me threateningly.
I take a deep breath, while the flaming snake coiled around my neck hisses violently.
"I can make you leave," I say, which causes a large number of the beings in earshot to begin laughing.
The Elder, however, doesn't find it very funny.
"Are you a god?" they question rhetorically.
Nice try ghost. I learned my lesson from the masters themselves.
I also learned something equally important from the Evil Overlord list.
Holding out an open hand, I whisper under my breath. "X-Zone"
With that and a dramatic clenching of my fist, the Elder Windigo disappears, twin rings of nothingness appearing around them and closing in until they disappear entirely.
"Yes. I am," I answer loudly, turning to face the remainder of the stunned Windigo and tilting my head just-so to give me that whimsical look that will sell my bluff perfectly.
A violent, whipping wind surrounds Cold Snap as she scans the room around her, searching for an exit. No matter how firmly she looks, or how quickly she flies, however, it's the same story.
Copies of herself in all directions, like some funhouse mirror, as the copies stretching in all directions fly at the same rates and in the same directions that she does.
Cold Snap is beginning to suspect that she isn't going anywhere at all. But that doesn't make any sense at all, Windigo can pass through any barrier, any wall! They don't exist enough to be trapped by anything that would trap the living.
She can't even taste the hate that was flooding the air like a miasma. Some aspect of her prison even blocking out that.
Cold Snap doesn't understand what is happening, all she knows is that her fellow Windigo are in grave danger against that thing.
Guardspony Heavy Hitter watches as Lord Weiss Noir chuckles in stereo at the swarm of Windigo.
"Well? Come on. Aren't you all going to charge at me all at once, so that I can wipe you out in one fell swoop? I've barely warmed up. No pun intended."
The monsters fail to rise to Weiss's bluff, nervously moving in a slow, chaotic mess. Some of them seem as though they're going to flank, while others are backing away, as if ready to bolt.
"No? No plans on doing that? Good. Now sit your asses down, before I personally ensure that your existence is doubted by future generations."
With that, Lord Weiss is suddenly shrouded in some kind of menacing runes, ones that really makes Heavy Hitter want to run away and sit the flake down before he gets hurt.
A few guards go so far as to actually do so, making Weiss groan as he looks back to chastise them. "Not you dolts."
As Weiss turns back to face the Windegos, a particularly brave one rushes Weiss, intent on trying to freeze him solid as their body sprays icy mist.
As they crash into his armor and phase through it, however, Weiss is left completely unharmed. His magic snake begins eating the ice off of the surface of his armor plates, while the Windigo in question shivers as if they just had a ghost fly through them.
"Oh good, a volunteer," Weiss claims, as he holds a hand in the air that makes the mass of Windigo reel back with fear.
"Rock-Wind Wolf Ghost!" Weiss shouts, as a mass of glittering octagonal portals fly from his outstretched palm, the free-floating portals assembling into a beast whose body chews up the ground beneath it, moving portals passing rocks and pumping air around until the summoned beast's form is suffused with rubble and whipping winds.
In a bestial flash, the spectral magical beast tears into the Windigo, portals making up it's teeth pulling the ghost apart like a wood-chipper as it's spectral form passes through them and out the other sides, as if the Windigo was a cartoon character pushed through a wire fence and split up on the other side.
Portals split off from the wolf's body, trapping the pieces inside tiny pockets of warped space to prevent the spirit from reforming.
The slavering magic beast returns to Weiss's side as he pets it affectionately.
"So, have I made believers of you all? Anyone else want to stress test my little puppy here? Really, feel free.
"Nobody else, then. Good. Now, which one of you is the... Second-eldest, I suppose. It's time to negotiate,"
A nervous, but still gigantic Windigo steps forward as Weiss grows a table and chairs from the floor, taking his seat in one of them.
So, it seems Windegos are indeed made of magic. For once, I'm feeling particularly grateful that I decided not to dismiss portalweave technology. These specters probably have no idea why they can't hurt me. Or how exactly it is that I'm able to "hurt" them.
In the chaos surrounding my little altercation, I had taken the wise decision to move the warp-cage that I trapped the elder in out of the room. In case any of the Windigo noticed the distorted patch of air containing their leader and did the math.
The little giant punk in front of me plops down, confused when his rump fails to phase through the chair, due to the micro-portals embedded in it.
So far, this is going perfectly. Unassailability is a good topic to begin negotiations on in any tense political situation. Doubly so when it's mostly an elaborate bluff based on technology the other side can't comprehend.
"So then, do you have a name?" I ask, leaning onto the table with my chin resting on my hands.
The specter in front of me looks distinctly uncomfortable with this entire situation.
"My name is Freezer"
Oh my god.
I cough lightly. "Well, Frieza, I am Lord Weiss Noir, the Sage of Darkness. You are trespassing, your people have attempted to threaten and attack me and mine, and the most grievous sin of all, you've wasted my afternoon."
I lean a bit further forward. "What are you going to offer me so that I allow you to leave?"
The Windigo apparently named Freezer absolutely does not live up to their namesake. Which is just fine by me, since I don't have any spare planets laying around in case this one gets blown up.
"You will return to us our Queen, Cold Snap, and the young Chilled, and... We will leave your people in peace," they say with a cool expression, blank glowing eyes giving little to the imagination.
Oh my god, those names.
I roll my eyes. "And what makes you think there's anything to return? What makes you think any of you are going to leave this place? I'm curious, Frieza."
Their eyes widen, as their frown deepens. "You want us gone, don't you? Return them and you'll be rid of us, and if you don't, then..."
I sigh.
With a shake of my head, I respond.
"Do you think I haven't considered your kind in my plans? I've built a nation with hatred as it's foundation. We probably look like a sizable snack to you, considering that.
"In these circumstances, your kind are parasites at best, and predators at worst. If we go the route of catch-and-release, you'll just come right back, at the worst possible moment.
"The fact that you even made it this far means one thing, and one thing alone."
"It means that you will never prey on the Shadow Realm, here and now, or there and later.
"Even if I have to banish every apparition in this room."
My words send the Windigo into a frenzy, trying desperately to escape the Kingdom Heart's antechamber, dragging along the smaller ones, as if sensing the danger.
"You will not evade me!" I shout, activating the Kingdom Heart's defenses.
A spread of hexagonal portals form an airtight bootstrap pocket dimension trapping the Windegos in the room with me, isolating them away from the Kingdom Heart's flame while also separating my guards from the action. At the same time, hardened metal rods begin to fly from the walls outside, jamming the hexagonal portals open, and decreasing their magical cost while increasing their durability and tightness.
As far as anyone inside my Arena Trap is aware, we've all been taken to another dimension with no exit. A trick solidified by the fact that the Windegos cannot perceive their bodies being sliced by the corners of the portals as they pass through them, creating the illusion that it is one unbroken plane of warped space and not a chain-link fence of interlocking portals.
While the others are panicking and trying to escape with magical blasts of ice and flying as fast as they can, Freezer sits in his chair, completely calm on the outside but a turmoil of weak and easily manipulable emotions on the inside. A much better target for my ministrations than their actual leader.
"What do you want," Freezer says, controlling their tone quite admirably, considering how flighty the rest of his kind are.
There it is. Submission.
"I want it all."
I lean back.
"But I'll settle for medical records being made on your people's biology and their magical properties."
I shrug. "After that, you can return to your business in the Shadow Realm, so long as you follow our laws and regulations."
As he nods slowly and with great confusion, I clap my hands happily, dismissing the portals and releasing the prisoners taken so far.
Dr. Real is extraordinarily nervous as he moves the holographic scanners over the... Frankly unreasonably sized silhouette of equine ectoplasm on his table.
The creature, Queen Cold, apparently, just gives him a stare he doesn't recognize as being bemused by his caution.
"I'm not going to bite, you do know this, right?" The Queen says, legs crossed beneath them as the warded table supports their magical mass.
Lord Weiss Noir, however, uncrosses his own arms. His unarmored face smirks, completely unafraid of the ruler. "We don't know that, actually. You could turn on him right now, and the only thing stopping you would be my contingency spells.
"And that would be just improper, at best," he finishes, as Dr. Real finishes his own scanning and analytical spellcraft.
"I've got the data, sir. We can begin producing countermeasures as soon as is convenient," Dr. Real says, making Weiss's expression brighten as his flames flicker with excitement.
"Good. With that and the scanners checking how much energy you drain from the Kingdom Heart at all times, my worries are eased."
Queen Cold raises a glassy eyebrow. "Countermeasures? Am I to believe this is all because you desire stronger weapons to use against my children?
"Are the ones you had not sufficient?"
Weiss chuckles lightly. "Wouldn't you like to know?
"The less risk there is, the more comfortable I feel. If we can invariably destroy you with ease, then what need is there to fight?" Weiss says plainly, his arms leaning down to pick up some discarded tools that the doctor had been using.
"What a queer way to describe peace," The Queen comments, sliding through the table and onto her feet.
Weiss waves to the doorway. "Enjoy your stay in the Shadow Realm, oh esteemed guest."
When the Queen walks through the door to deliver the news to the other Windigo, Dr. Real unleashes his shuddering in full terrified force. "Sir, why exactly are we letting them just wander around freely like this?"
Weiss puts a calming hand on his Royal Scientist's shoulder. "Cost-benefit analysis. I can force them out, I can let them stay under heavy surveillance, or I can destroy them all. The lattermost option doesn't sit right with me until they take action, and the former two require only that we understand the risks."
"Whether they stay or leave, become our friends or our enemies...
"The smartest thing we can do is learn their weaknesses and play nice until we have to deal with them with more finality."
Cabal Counter's eyes are wide at the news he just got over the Arcana Nox.
Real-live Windegos? Staying here?
Cabal has a thought. It's silly, ridiculous, unsafe, and expressly forbidden by the Arcana Nox report.
He wants to meet one. In fact... He wants to see the true Elder Windigo.
He grabs his holopad. He doesn't have a lot of time if he wants to do what he's planning. He contacts Landscape Carver, a friend of his father's. He'll need her high-resolution 3D camera for this.
"Mrs. Carver? This is Cabal Counter, Fair Cut's son. Could I please borrow your camera, it's very important that I get a response as soon as possible, thank you!"
With that, the dream is sent off, leaving Cabal with nothing to do but wait.
He's practically bouncing on his bed when he finally gets a response.
"Yes!" Cabal shouts, already galloping out of the room to go get the camera.
If he gets a picture of the Windigo Queen, it'll be the most perfect, amazing, wonderful thing to ever happen to him! He'll be able to use it for his Elder Windego's cosmetics!
Running all the way to Mrs. Carver's office, Cabal's flames are practically scraping the ceiling with how high they are with excitement.
Grabbing the camera from Carver and yelling out a hasty "ThankyouMrsCarver!", Cabal continues his mad gallop all the way to where the news report told everypony to avoid, due to it being the temporary encampment of the Windegos.
In a few moments, he's made it through the fast travel portal, into the Kingdom Heart exochamber, and slowed his pace enough to quietly stalk around in search of ghosts.
His eyes widen, he just saw a flash of white, coming from the room down the hall, a trick of the light, or his quarry?
He quietly and calmly takes step after step closer to the door, nervousness in his stomach and camera around his neck.
Rolling my eyes at the "child proximity alert" I installed for exactly these circumstances, I activate one of the child-relocating drones embedded in the walls, which grabs the kid and begins transporting him to his parents via emergency-portal, complete with a recording of what he had done in the last thirty minutes.
Queen Cold looks suspicious of the holographic screen, so I answer her unspoken question.
"Enchanted crystals. They display images seen by other such gems."
Her eyes narrow.
"I'm surprised that you're in the position you are," she says out of nowhere, while I focus on clearing up some of the remaining business on my holopad before I start the second round of negotiations.
I casually switch to a videogame, so as to prolong the idle conversation. She is unlikely to know the difference between them anyway. Angry Birds serves as an outlet for my eyes and hands while I formulate a response.
"Well, not everyone is chosen for greatness, Queen Cold. Some of us have to practice," I say, firing a little red bird into a house of green pigs.
She shakes her head, as one of the little baby Windigo floats across the ceiling, untethered by gravity.
"I'm talking about your character, not your experience. I can tell that you should know better than to toy with the magic of Hatred. It will consume you."
I visibly roll my eyes, as my little angry projectile on the screen crashes through a little piggy skyscraper. The Windigo foal ends up behind me, enthralled by the colorful screen.
"Is this coming from experience? Because to be honest, I'd much prefer you be talking out your ass than lecturing me about the magic of hatred because of your own failures,"
Her eyes narrow further, as she taps her hoof on the table impatiently, low, icy thuds impacting the surface. "You really have no clue where Windigo originate from, do you?"
The little foal claps their hooves as their white glowing eyes widen at the sight of me winning another level.
"I read my fairytales, Cold. Ponies grow restless when consumed with hate and vengeance that they can't satisfy, and go on to become maddened spirits."
She growls at me making light of the situation when she's just trying to give me some friendly advice. Unfortunately for her, this is an interrogation, and I'm making her angry so she'll tip her hand.
"Lord Weiss Noir, of the Shadow Realm, let me stress this in no uncertain terms. You do not understand the word 'Restless'. To be Without Rest is to suffer.
"Windigo born from Windigo do not know that suffering, and for some of us, that is our only respite."
I shrug, snapping a finger to toss a black flame ember into the air. The frosty foal rushes over to snatch it out of the air, absorbing the hatred with a hug.
"There are depths to hatred that you have yet to plumb, Queen Cold. I've got friends to spare me madness," I say, dispersing the holographic screen, as Queen Cold motions for the child to leave.
"Very well. If you would play games while I advise you honestly, then I will refrain from doing so in the future," she finishes, as I press a button that displays the contract I've prepared for Windigo/Shadow Realm dealings in the future.
"Good. I don't require hobbyists to give me advice when I have professionals," I retort plainly, virtually motioning to the first block of text detailing the terms of our arrangement.
Eclipse Flash really isn't sure about all these guards hanging out around Hidden Palace.
Well, apparently, they've always been there, but she is a bit concerned that they all have their armor deployed, even though they're still doing what they were doing before, milling around and doing their day-to-day business.
"What do you think about all this, Eclipse? Think there's about to be another fight or something?" Priss says, remembering the past violent events that she's been a part of with some dread.
Her cherry-red fire snaps and flickers nervously.
Eclipse takes a deep breath and a slurp of her slurpee. "I don't know, but maybe we should go hang out in one of the other Zones for today. Just until things can settle down a bit?"
Priss nods. "Yeah. That would be a good idea. Let's go get Oil Slick, take him with us."
"Hey, Mr. Guard, why's everypony's hair all cool like that? Huh? You got real cool armor," they hear someone saying, while the guards nearby shuffle nervously.
Priss swallows, making Eclipse turn to see what the commotion is.
She swallows too, seeing the Windigo colt pestering the guards who look between each other with increasing nervousness.
"Jeeze, any more tension here and those ponies might just-" Priss makes a popping noise.
Eclipse chuckles. "I mean, I kind of agree. Maybe we should..?"
Priss's eyebrows scrunch. "What, you want to talk to Frosty over there? You got brain-freeze or something?"
Huffing through her nose, Eclipse retorts. "If the guards aren't doing anything, then he's probably got every right to be running around. It'll be fine, probably."
With that, the filly trots over, waving to get the floating ghost kid's attention. "Hey, Cooler! Come down here, we gotta talk,"
The specter swoops down right in front of Eclipse, making her back up slightly. "Oh wow, hi there! You've got really cool hair! My name's Cool Spot, not 'Cooler'!"
'Friendly little bugger, isn't he?' Eclipse thinks to herself, before speaking out loud.
"Look, you shouldn't be pestering the guards, why don't you come to hang out with me and my friend? We've got snacks."
"Well this whole place has got snacks, but ok!" he responds, floating behind her.
Priss gives her a look that doesn't even mean anything in particular, but it still leaves Eclipse feeling annoyed as she sips at her slurpee, before blanching with disgust.
"Ugh, my drink melted. Fracking heat," Eclipse groans before Cool Spot perks up.
"Oh, I can help!" he says, swiping his hoof through Eclipse's drink before she can object, some sort of unknown frozen ectoplasm being left behind.
Eclipse shudders as Priss gives her a smug look. "Well, Eclipse? You wanted to make friends, right? He went and cooled down your drink for you."
Eclipse Flash's eyes promise silent vengeance towards Priss as she looks at Cool Spot's excited and watchful eye, dreading what she's about to do in the name of improved pony/ghostly-entity diplomatic relations.
Slurpees do not taste better with Windigo slime in them, even if they are as cold as ice.
Not understanding exactly how the observation crystals work, Queen Cold simply freezes the ones in her room until they are caked with thick layers of ice, before calling in her sole lieutenant.
"How are the others responding, Freezer Burn?" she asks, worried as to how her subjects are handling these strange circumstances.
Threatened, then attacked, then threatened, and finally welcomed with open arms. Today has invoked emotional whiplash that Queen Cold hasn't experienced in thousands of years.
"Well enough. Despite the bumpy welcome, this place is as full of food as the Changelings promised.
"Although I doubt our ability to overcome this place if we are not immune to their magic."
Queen Cold shakes her head. "Conquering this place was never going to be our intention. Simply because the Changelings told us of this place in no way means we are beholden to their demands. If we can feed ourselves without end here, then we would be fools to try and ravage this place for quite literally no good reason."
"What about this place's master? I don't trust anyone willing to put foals in harm's way."
Queen Cold huffs. "They were never in harm's way. Somehow, Weiss is able to simply move us around, without our say-so, and bend the fabric of space around such that we had been running in circles."
"He was playing you for a fool, and temporarily removing me was the only reason it had worked. It's likely that he realized my experience would hold through his machinations if I had the chance to observe the situation properly."
She sighs, rubbing her head lightly. "My point is, Weiss Noir is not to be underestimated. He has the special talent needed to sense a pony's emotional weaknesses, and he likely does not even realize it. I could sense his hatred with enough clarity to realize and combat this talent of his and he knew instinctively that he would not be able to manipulate me.
"So he discarded me in favor of someone less able to fend him off in a battle of wits."
She grabs Freezer Burn by the shoulders, looking her son in the eyes. "Do not let him isolate you in the future. If you are caught out by him, have one of your friends nearby.
"He can only sense weaknesses, not strengths. Isolating yourself is a sure way to fall victim to him, even if he doesn't yet realize his abilities consciously."
"How do you know this, your majesty?" Freezer asks, having almost never seen his Queen this serious in the past.
She slowly releases his shoulders, eyes looking off into the distance, towards something only she can see. "His spirit is saturated with hatred. Even as suppressed as it is right now, his scent is a complex book to anyone on the same wavelength as him. I may need to begin teaching some of the others to hone their senses as well if this pony is going to be the one we deal with to obtain our food."
I chuckle when she freezes the crystal torches in the room, suspecting them to be cameras. The funny part is, she was right. Well, not right enough to realize that my Political Guest Rooms have walls made of solid enchanted recording crystal, but right enough to guess that there were some in the room.
"Special talent, huh?" I say to myself, looking at my Cutie Mark.
"Are you the little brat giving me these weird feelings?" I question rhetorically, staring at the black fire tattoo on my rump as if it will suddenly answer me.
Shaking my head, I decide to entertain myself and look in the exact direction of the guest room, keeping an eye on my screen to see her reaction.
Sure enough, she jerks like Bill Murray himself just burst through the door with a proton pack.
"You're not the only one who can see what others can't, Queen Cold." I mouthe very deliberately and slowly, to make sure she sees it.
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a firm hoof with a smile
or a good host with an epic security system
9756074
Soft words and a big stick.
Surrounded in menacing runes you say? I think someone watches jojo too much. )))
9756313
yeah but I wanted to say it differently
Ah, the ponies of Hatred Gather!! The hot hatred of Lord Weiss Noir's Longma, and the cold hatred of the wendigos! I love it!
Okay i gotta admit for hate sucking frost ghosts they are pretty adorable. It would be nice to have them as citizens.
For the life of me I can't remember what the last line is from.
9756407
Sorry, I must've heard you wrong. What do you mean by too much?
In other news, it's so unfortunate to hear that Queen Cold died of Longma.
Sorry, should've made this all one comment.
Alternatively:
9758721
Fuck, that's good.
I like how you summoned a monster from the blue dragon game