A Method to his Madness

by Luna-tic Scientist

8 -- The enemy of all life

In the total darkness under the hood it was the biting cold that brought Equilibrium out of her shocked state; the aerodyne's passenger compartment had no door and the airflow through the cabin was ferocious. Her fur, still damp from being dragged through the river, seemed to provide next to no insulation and she was shivering violently.

The hood was obviously designed for a more avian head and didn't fit a pony skull very well. It was a wide cone of some thick, flexible material that covered her eyes and ears; the narrow end was open and allowed the end of her muzzle to poke through. Her nose became her only way of interacting with the world, telling her that at least one gryphon was in the cabin with her.

"S-soldier--" she started, only to be cut off by a slap that bounced her head against the metal wall of the cabin.

"Be silent, prisoner," a familiar voice growled.

She knew that voice; it was the one from the feedstock converter plant, the one who'd allowed his soldiers to... Her mind shied away from that line of thought, the empty hole where her magic should have been making tears well up once again. Shrinking away from the gryphon in anticipation of another blow, she started to talk as fast as she could through chattering teeth.

"F-flight L-leader, I can't take the cold like you can," she started, flinching in anticipation. There was no sound of movement, no sudden stinging slap. "I can't feel my legs; if this flight takes much longer you'll be delivering a corpse."

There was the sound of movement and a sudden rustling of something being dragged out of a container. Libi gasped in shock as sharp claws gripped her hindquarters, lifting her back end off the metal floor and stuffing something flexible under her. The procedure was repeated at her midsection and front, encasing Libi in what felt like heavy plastic sheeting. The stuff had no real value as insulation, but at least kept the wind off her body. Soon her shivering was starting to have some effect and Libi felt herself begin to warm up, the feeling returning to now painfully cramped legs.

With the darkness and the noise the flight seemed to take an eternity, but it was probably only half an hour or so later when she felt a set of claws on the back of her head, fiddling with the clips that held the hood on. The fabric cone was pulled off roughly and she gasped at the sudden blast of cold across her face. For the first time she could see the inside of the vehicle -- a plain metal box open at both sides in the middle of the aerodyne, the floor and walls lined with recessed tie-down points and storage compartments in the ceiling. It wasn't particularly large, maybe four gryphons could fit in the thing if they wanted to and didn't mind getting close.

At the moment it only held herself and one gryphon. She was loosely bundled up in sheets of camouflage fabric, a shapeless mass strapped to the rear wall of the compartment. In front of her, hood dangling from one foreclaw, the gryphon crouched with ease on the shifting, windswept deck. He wore no restraints, obviously not caring if he fell out. Must be nice to be in your element, Libi thought, studying the big yellow eyes for anything other than callous indifference. "Thank you, Flight Leader Reaper Of The Weak," she said quietly.

There was something in those eyes for an instant, a flicker of sympathy that was so at odds with her treatment that she thought she'd imagined it. Then his gaze hardened and the gryphon pointed with one talon out of the open compartment.

"Take a good look, pony. I want you to see this," he said.

Her gaze followed his claw, looking out over a darkened city. As if on cue the aerodyne banked slightly and her view dipped to show the buildings below. It took Libi a few moments to place it -- she'd only seen it before in daylight -- but when she realised what it was her heart sank. Down below was the close-packed highrise of Razorclaw's capital, little smudges of smoke rising from a few spots, but seeming mostly intact. Obvious among the artificial cliffs was the little oasis of the Equestrian Embassy; the green gardens she'd so enjoyed for her first few days in Razorclaw were gone now, trampled to mud and used as a landing space for what looked like emergency vehicles. The building itself was no more than a shell, jagged teeth of stone and charred timber surrounding the collapsed centre.

What little heat she'd managed to accumulate under the meagre protection of the plastic sheets seemed to drain away into the cold metal beneath her. "Did everypony get out?" she whispered. She'd got to know the consul and his partner quite well during her time here; they held regular gatherings for the pony visitors to gryphon lands, little meetings that had helped keep her sane while so far away from home and the ones she loved. All that running and there was never anywhere to go, she thought, feeling sick. Could I have saved myself all this if I'd just surrendered?

The gryphon just smiled unkindly at her. "Who knows?" he said, gripping the back of Libi's head and jamming the hood back over her muzzle.

She spent the rest of the flight in darkness, mind hunting for some way out of this impossible situation.

===

The landing, when it came, was the start of more torture. Unstrapped from the flight deck where she'd been tied down in an uncomfortable position, her captors had expected her to walk immediately. That wasn't going to happen and she fell several times, legs uncoordinated and unresponsive through the painful tingling numbness.

She was somewhere high, she could feel it. The air was just as cold as it had been in the aerodyne and there was a sensation of emptiness that seemed wrong for a city. There was the sound of a heavy door opening, the shriek of poorly maintained hinges and scrape of metal on metal. Prodded into motion again, she stumbled when the ground under her hooves fell away, only stopped from falling down the shallow stairs by a hard tug on the harness around her withers. A sudden boom made Libi start and her hooves slipped once more; the big door being slammed shut behind her accompanied the scraping and clicking of metal bolts sliding into their keepers.

With the door shut the wind had died and she started to feel a little warmer. Libi's nostrils twitched and her ears folded flat inside the hood. Now the draft from outside was gone the air from the inside of the structure started to flow back over the little party, bringing with it the smell of blood, many gryphons and... was that ponies? She inhaled again, trying to ignore the stomach-churning scent of death. It is, she thought, there are other ponies here! Her spirits lifted a little then came crashing down. ...and they're all prisoners like me.

The stumbling walk continued; along corridors, and through metal gates, the smell of gryphon getting stronger all the time. Up ahead she could hear the noise of gryphons talking, then she was pulled to a stop once more while yet another gate was opened. When Libi was pushed through the sound of many conversations suddenly halted; she could almost hear the collective shock of the people around her. Then the silence was broken.

"Hey, lookie here! They've brought us fresh meat!"

The voice was loud, the words blurring into the scream of a hunting raptor, and full of laughter that sounded... hungry, and was immediately joined by more shouts, cat-calls and a painfully loud banging of metal on metal. Half-deafened by the noise she could barely make out the individual words, not that it was necessary as they all seemed to be variations on the same theme. Panicked, surrounded by the smell of carnivores she couldn't see, Equilibrium tried to bolt. She made one abortive leap before a sudden jerk on her collar sent her stumbling to her knees, falling heavily to one side and landing against a set of cold metal bars.

Libi whinnied in panic and thrashed her hooves in an effort to get up, but eager talons clutched at her fur, holding her down and trying to pull her through the narrow openings between the bars. There was a sudden angry shout and the meaty noise of something hard striking flesh. The jeers and laughter continued but the grasping claws were snatched away, their owner screaming curses at whoever had struck him.

This has to be one of Razorclaw's prisons. She had no direct knowledge of such places apart from a frankly unbelievable documentary she'd seen on one of the foreign affairs channels; it had been so unpleasant that at the time she'd thought it to be horror fiction masquerading as fact. It was now painfully obvious that, if anything, they'd understated the truth.

There was nothing like this in Equestria; a few discreet facilities for those with mental issues that rendered them resistant to the normal highly social pony lifestyle, but the emphasis was always on cure and rehabilitation. The only other things that might be called prisons were short term 'Guard lockups' for those who'd had a bit too much alcohol-enhanced socialising. The facility she was being marched through appeared to have no redeeming features at all, just designed to hold as many gryphons as cheaply as possible. She couldn't see the conditions, but if her nose and ears were to be believed it didn't bode well.

"Stupid pony. Fall over again and I'll leave you there," growled Reaper.

A set of talons hooked under the harness fitted over her withers, jerking Libi to her hooves. A slap on the rump got her moving forwards, but this time there was a gryphon on each side of her, so close that their wing feathers tickled her swollen flanks. A short trot later and they stopped at another gate; once through, the shouts and crude comments died away to leave Equilibrium sweating and shaken, nostrils flaring and gasping at the shock of being in the presence of so much hostility.

If they put me in there I won't last five minutes, she thought desperately, breaking into a trot to keep up with her captors.

Three gates and a flight of stairs later and the smell of ponies started to become more than just a trace buried within the pervasive gryphon stink. Another short trot and she was pulled to a halt; talons unclipped the harness straps, then the chain around the back of her head was removed and the hood pulled off. Half blinded by the bright lights in the corridor, she was left standing in front of a plain steel door, a small peephole with an armoured cover in its centre. The door was whipped open and she was shoved into the darkness beyond.

With a thud of metal on metal the door slammed shut behind her, leaving Libi in a darkness almost as profound as that within the hood. Somewhere in front of her something moved and there was the slithering of wings being folded. Equilibrium backed away nervously until her rump hit the metal door.

"Hello, I'm Stirling Cycle. What's your name...?" a familiar voice asked, trailing off in confusion. “Libi, is that you?”

A vast relief rolled through Equilibrium, releasing all the tension she'd built up over the last few days. Suddenly feeling weak she sat down in front of the door with a thump, head drooping and tears rolling down her muzzle.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stirling asked, sounding alarmed.

There was the sound of hesitant hoofsteps and within moments Libi was surrounded by a circle of concerned faces. Stirling sat down next to her, spreading one of his wings over her back.

"Luna's moon, filly! You're as cold as a windigo's heart -- where have you been?" he asked, snuggling closer to try and warm her up.

"Trying to get back to the Embassy on hoof. Is Rheo here as well?” she said, blinking away the tears and staring at his misshapen wing where it lay across her flank. “Your feathers...”

Stirling grimaced. “He is, probably still asleep -- we’ve been keeping a rotating watch, for what little good it will do.” He stared at her forehead, puzzled. “They clipped all the pegasi’s flight feathers, could have been worse.” For the first time the pegasus realised what had changed about his friend and colleague. "Doctor Glass, a little help here?"

Another pegasus pushed through the crowd of concerned ponies, lowering his head to study Libi intently. His eyes widened when he saw her belly, then jumped to her head, an expression of fury flickering across his face before being smoothed away under a mask of professional detachment. He reached forward with one hoof, revealing the rough stump hidden under her mane. There was a gasp from the closest ponies, followed by muttering as they passed on what they had seen.

"Hello, Doctor Glass," Libi said, sniffing mightily and wiping her eyes on her forelegs.

"Hello, Equilibrium," the doctor replied, "I'm sorry about your horn. When did it happen?"

"Just a few hours ago, they, they--" ...held me down and cut it off with a hacksaw, she completed in her head, unable to get the words out. "Doctor, my foal -- will he be okay?" she asked, the desperate hope clear in her voice.

The doctor stared at her for a few moments, then dropped to his belly beside her. "Your foal will be fine," he said carefully, watching her face. "He's too old to be permanently affected by the change in your magical background -- he might be a little late developing, but will be no worse off than a unicorn born by an earth pony. I should examine you, though; you've obviously been through a lot recently."

Libi sighed and slumped, one of her worries evaporating. "Thank you, Doctor. I'm just glad you weren't caught when the Embassy was destroyed. Did many get out?"

The pegasus doctor smiled at her. "All of them -- the gryphons aren't happy about that, let me tell you. I was cut off in the suburbs when all this happened, but before the Talons caught up with me I saw the whole thing. A bunch of chariots -- they looked like those ones you get on the big cruise airships -- came in and pulled everypony out." He shuffled a little closer. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way." He turned his head to address the crowd. "Could you give me a little room please? Oh, not you," he said to Stirling, as he made to get up, "but if you could retract your wing a little?"

Doctor Glass lay his head on her chest, listening intently, then moved to a number of spots along her flank and did the same thing. "Both of you are fine, Libi, but you are still very cold. Fortunately that's the one thing I can fix."

For the second time that week, Equilibrium found herself wedged between other ponies she barely knew. Resting her head on the flank of yet another pegasus and surrounded on all sides by warm bodies she fell gratefully into an exhausted sleep.

===

Libi was fast asleep when the door slammed open and light blazed across the huddle of ponies. She lifted her head, looking around in confusion before suddenly realising where she was. Eyes wide, she reared up, trying to stand, but was well and truly trapped by the tangled mess of wings and legs that the group of sleeping ponies had become. Around her others did the same, a process that added to the confusion until a gryphon snarled something and hard talons reached in and pulled them apart.

The ponies bore the rough treatment with no more complaint than a few quiet whinnies, dazed and blinking in the dazzling light after so long in near darkness. Equilibrium cowered somewhere in the middle of the group; she'd recognised that voice and knew it was her they wanted. Around her the ponies closed ranks, slowly moving around to push her further and further away from the door.

"Oh, how sweet," Reaper said in a sarcastic tone, clapping his foreclaws together slowly. "Unicorn Equilibrium, I have someone who wants to meet you."

"After what you did to her she's in no condition to do anything other than rest," Stirling snapped. "When Equestria learns of how you are treating us--"

"What makes you think your government knows you're are alive?"

"We know the ponies in the Embassy escaped, you can't fool us that easily!"

"Yes, they did escape, you are quite correct," Reaper said in a tone of barely suppressed humour, "they made it all the way to that airship of yours. How well do you think it fared against our air defence network?"

"You didn't--" Stirling said faintly.

"We did; a terrible accident during time of internal strife, the guilty party has already been punished, et cetera. We are, of course, allowing your pony military to assist our recovery operations, but the Canterlot Dreaming came down over the south end of the Dragonsback range. It's highly likely they won't find half the bodies. They'll have their doubts of course, but it will never be enough to prod them into action." All the humour went out of the gryphon's voice. "Now you know how serious I am. Step aside."

"No," said another pony, echoed by another half dozen voices.

Reaper said nothing, just rolled his eyes and waved the guards forward. The fight was one-sided; none of the ponies were military, and even earth pony strength was of little help in such confined space against a trained group used to fighting as a team. Less than thirty seconds later Libi had been dragged struggling from the herd, many of whom now sported minor scratches and bloody faces.

"You see? Useless," said Reaper.

"Not so. The point is to fight, not to win. You won't break us."

"We'll see about that," Reaper said with a grim smile, stepping backwards through the door and slamming it closed.

Out in the corridor Reaper dismissed most of the guards, just leaving one grizzled-looking gryphon. He prodded Libi into motion and they started down the corridor, heading away from the area of the prison she'd entered through. At least they didn't use the hood this time, Libi thought; without that restraint the journey was much easier and she reached their destination without incident. This part of the complex seemed older than the rest, the smooth concrete walls had given way to more uneven stone, the barred cells on either side of the corridor smaller and spaced further apart. All of them were empty, a fact that gave the mare some relief.

As they walked the lighting became sparser, eventually fading out entirely, their way illuminated only by a lamp hanging around the guard's neck. The very last cell was opened and she was pushed inside, the door closing with a shriek of rusty hinges then locked with a key that looked like it had come out of museum. Libi looked out through the bars at Reaper, trying to understand why she'd been brought here. "I thought you were taking me to meet someone?" she said meekly.

"He'll be along, sooner or later. Have a nice chat." With that the pair of them left, leaving her in darkness.

The cell was completely bare and slightly damp. Equilibrium stared out into the darkness then, feeling very alone, folded her legs under her belly and settled down on the cold stones. It wasn't quite cold enough to start her shivering, but she saw no chance of returning to sleep. "I hope they don't leave me here too long," she muttered, a nasty thought surfacing. They must know as much about us as we do about them, she thought, they must know how prolonged isolation affects us. She strained her ears, listening for any sign at all that she wasn't alone.

Time passed and Equilibrium discovered that knowing that her treatment was a deliberate ploy to unsettle her didn't form much of a defence against it. The silence was absolute; even back in the other cell she'd been able to hear the faint murmur of the gryphon inmates beneath the quiet sounds of a dozen ponies breathing. It wasn't quite pitch black, though; a faint glow came down from the corridor, reflected off multiple walls from the last set of functional lamps fifty meters and two corners away.

Over time her eyes adjusted to the tiny illumination, just enough that she could make out the borders of her stone cube and the even darker opening of the cell on the other side of the corridor. Despite her thoughts to the contrary she was starting to doze off, never quite enough to be called real sleep but just enough to make it seem that time was stretching to infinity.

There was a little scratching noise from behind her.

Libi's head came up and her ears pivoted backwards, then she shot to her hooves and inspected the floor carefully. It was too dark to see anything as small as a rat or mouse, but her sensitive ears swept the ground and detected nothing. Turning around several times she sat back down, this time in one of the corners and with the rough stone wall against her rump. Remaining alert for another few minutes she slowly relaxed, letting her head droop once more.

Something brought Libi back to full wakefulness, a sensation that just behind her was something terrible. The fur along her back stood on end, a prickling that rolled across her in a wave. She froze, head half raised and ears searching, but heard nothing. A cold sensation of fear radiated from whatever it was, so strong that it made her unable to turn her head even as she strained her eyes to look backwards. Again there was that little noise. Again it was right behind her.

Sweating, teeth clenched and ears plastered to the sides of her skull, Libi slowly turned her head. There, where there had been solid stone, was a wall of dark fur. She jerked away, eyes following the snake-like curve of the body around the wall of the cell, past some indistinct limbs and ending in a heavy, horned head.

"Hello, Equilibrium. I've been so looking forward to meeting you."

Libi let out a shriek and surged backwards from the thing that suddenly filled more than half the cell, cracking her head on the wall behind her. Struggling to get to her hooves, she shrank back from the sinuous body, trying to disappear through the cracks in the stone.

"Oh, I am sorry," the figure said in a rich voice that might have been sympathetic if it wasn't for the malice that dripped from the words. "Here, let me give you a little more space."

The whole body started to move, coiling and twisting and somehow taking up less space without actually getting any smaller. It's like it’s further away without actually being so, Libi thought, mind trying to wrap itself around the impossible sight.

The figure sniffed and cocked its head to one side, as if puzzled. "Really, I'm quite disappointed. You know you're the first pony I've spoken to in over five hundred years? I had hoped for a bit more of a welcome. Perhaps it's the dark; they always did say that the worst thing is not being able to see what you fear. Shall we see if they are right?"

The figure raised one clawed limb and snapped it, kindling a tiny yellow flame that hovered and danced in the air like a live thing. Somehow the little light didn't so much illuminate the small space, as accentuate and deepen the shadows. Equilibrium stared at the figure, now outlined sufficiently that she could see its shape clearly. Snake-like, yes, but with four legs and a pair of wings, each from some different species. She could see bits of eagle, lion, goat, bat and many more.

The head was draconic, although covered in coarse brown fur, with uneven protruding fangs and a little chin tuft that made it look a little goat-like. The eyes were the worst; a sick yellow with red pupils, filled with a terrible, hypnotic intensity that was hard to escape. Libi stared into those eyes, a little voice screaming in her head to look away, but to no avail. Then the eyes blinked and she turned her head with a sudden gasp that turned into a sob.

"Discord," she whispered, struggling to get the word out past trembling lips.

The figure clapped its mismatched forelimbs together and laughed. "So I am remembered; this is just perfect! Yes, I'm Discord, large as life and twice as beautiful."

"How... how is it you're here? I've seen you, in the Canterlot statue garden."

"Yes, well, you can't always believe what you see." The figure seemed to recede still further, floating a little way off the ground and turning swift figure-of-eight loops in the air. "So, I understand you've been in Razorclaw for a few weeks now. I've really only just arrived but I've been doing a bit of redecorating. What do you think of what I've done with the place?"

"You're trying to start a war," Libi said dully, "this is all your fault, isn't it?"

"Me?" Discord said, placing his one taloned forelimb to his chest in mock horror. "Not at all, I'm just here for a bit of entertainment. I have to admit that these gryphons are a bit too easy compared to you ponies; they are so eager to get started. I'm even having to hold a few of them back."

Libi gazed helplessly at the monster. "But why, why do this at all? There's plenty of space on this world for all of us."

Discord slowly shook his head in sadness. "Libi, Libi, Libi. I'm almost disappointed, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It took those Princesses long enough to understand me even slightly, I shouldn't expect a young thing like you to comprehend the torment of my existence." He balanced on one cloven hindlimb, rotating slowly with forelimbs held over his head and body curled into an 's' shaped curve. "But that's enough about me. What we're here for is you."

"M-me?" Libi said, hooves scraping against the stone floor as she tried to retreat.

"Oh, don't be such a little filly. If I wanted to hurt you I'd hardly bother doing it myself -- not when I've got so many willing servants." He gestured with one limb, drawing a circle in the air that filled with a swirl of coloured lights. “Anyway, as a little favour -- to show I mean you no harm -- I thought I'd let you catch a glimpse of home." Discord put both forelimbs over the top of the disk of lights, leaning on it like it was a solid thing, then poked his head over the edge and looked at it upside down. The lights condensed into a familiar orange and yellow pony, deep in conversation with a young and attractive chestnut mare.

Libi gasped and leaned forward as if to be close to her mate even in this insubstantial form. My love, at least you are safe, she thought, vision blurring as her eyes starting to water.

"I've been watching your Doctor Neighmann for a while now. He has been a busy colt." Discord raised his head and stared at Libi, eyes large and hypnotic.

On the screen her mate turned his head and nuzzled the side of the chestnut mare's neck. "No," she whispered, "I don't believe it." The mare stepped closer to Neighmann, rubbing along his flank and leaning into the caress.

"That’s Neon Sparks, you remember her; she's his assistant. They work very closely together, often late at night. Would you like to see?"

The pictures flickered and flashed, little snippets of video stitched together with fast-moving blurs.

Two ponies walking flank-to-flank into a brightly lit restaurant...

...and swaying, necks entwined to a slow dance...

...in a darkened room, the rhythmic movements of orange on chestnut and...

"No!" Libi screamed, desperately trying to turn away from the display, but captured by Discord's terrible eyes.

The draconic head's ears drooped in a parody of sympathy, but Discord did nothing to stop whatever magic he’d used to bring the images. "I guess it's all too obvious why he wanted you to go on this little trip, isn't it?"

Comments

[Luna-tic Scientist]

Whoops, forgot to hit 'publish' yesterday.

[Kabasue]

9657438
Forgiven, but just this one time.

Also
Discord is a %$@^

[Pseudosapien]

Is Libi actually swallowing this? Not saying it’s not true, but she has no particular reason to trust the honesty of this historical monster pulling the griphons strings. And what are the non mind controlled griphons doing to recover control of their institutions? Surely the majority does not see a sudden and pointless war with Equestria itself, let alone the Alicorn Sisters and the E of H, as a reliable pathway to prosperity?

[ascendant]

9659467

Is Libi actually swallowing this? Not saying it’s not true, but she has no particular reason to trust the honesty of this historical monster pulling the griphons strings.

"I've been watching your Doctor Neighmann for a while now. He has been a busy colt." Discord raised his head and stared at Libi, eyes large and hypnotic.

you tell me, eh

[Cedric Bale]

Libi's child was conceived near Discord's statue, wasn't it? I hope for her sake she's not carrying the Pony-version anti-christ.

[Levite]

Libi's about to get discorded.

[lazyreader19]

9675005
Well thanks for planting that fear in me!

[Luna-tic Scientist]

10093109
I will neither confirm nor deny any rumours.

It was, however a most excellent bit of speculation!