Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 263: Plan Organization IV

“And you know this how?” I asked, as I needed to get more information out of him at this point.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Discord stood upright, “I’ve heard many tales of Grogar’s antics throughout the ages. He isn’t merely some ram. He is an entity. Quite the crazy one at that--even for me. And I’m the being of Chaos, so what does that tell you?”

I had to think about it for a second. No, really. What did that tell me? Was Grogar even beatable? Could he truly be purged from existence or was his influence too great to destroy?

“I see...and you’re saying that by running, we’re essentially inviting him to more or less take everything over?”

“Something like that,” he replied with a regretful roll of his eyes, “Along the lines of weakness contributing to his power or some such. I’m not sure--Tia’s details are somewhat fuzzy nowadays.”

I stomped my hoof. “Dammit. So we’re damned either way, aren’t we?”

Surprisingly, Discord spoke to me with a sense of confusion. “Hm? Are you conflicted, good sir?”

I rubbed a hoof behind my head. “Somewhat. I don’t know if betraying the word of the Princess is the best course of action. The risks involved are pretty vast.”

“Correct me if I’m mistaken, but isn’t your entire goal to help everypony--and everyone else that isn’t a pony--follow their own paths.” He gestured his bear paw to the crowd, “Even if it is independent of the ones who rule this world?”

“Well…” I took a glance at Cozy, “Of course it is, but...are you saying that I should straight up defy her, risking and breaking various laws in the process?”

Discord held up his hands, as if backing away from the situation. “Hey now. I am merely stating the obvious. Keep in mind, the intent of your actions will almost never match up with the interpretations of a casual observer. I learned that the hard way, myself.”

I never thought I would take advice from the Being of Chaos of all things. But he had a point. No matter what I did, or how I did things, someone somewhere would always misconstrue the purpose behind what I’m after. Blech. Brought to mind the early days of this case where I had almost been considered a terrorist for the sheer thought of wanting to free Cozy Glow.

Those were not good memories.

“Anyway,” Discord went on, “The choice is yours to make, dear Pale. You have a lot of eyes and ears waiting to hear your response. So the rest is up to you. Me? I’m merely following whatever Fluttershy wants.”

With that established, he teleported away.

Cozy stared at me with a pair of worried eyes. “...Pops? You okay? You’re not scared, are you?”

“In my line of work, if you aren’t scared, then there’s a problem,” I replied. “Don’t worry, kid. I’ve--no, we’ve got this.”

Her concerned expression softened, and turned into a smile. Cozy stood beside me for the rest of the little presentation I gave. “Then let’s make history…”

I turned to face the crowd. “Slightest of change in plans. Rarity--I want you to escort everyone who can’t or is unable to fight up North to where Twilight mentioned in her letter.”

“...Are you sure?” the unicorn asked. “Do you think we could manage it?”

“Of course. Redheart is going to help you,” I came up with the plan on the spot, hoping that everyone would adapt to it, “Take everypony that can’t fight to the hospital, and go from there. Savvy?”

Rarity scoffed. “Pfft. Not a problem at all. Consider it done--I needed to get down to the hospital to check up on Sweetie Belle anyway.” And with a cyan flash of her horn, she teleported--hopefully right to the hospital without much issue.

Next, I would address Fluttershy. “Alright, next. You said that you’d be willing to search the area near the Sisters’ Castle, correct?”

“That’s right,” she replied with a confident smile on her face, “Discord and I will snuff out any forms of dark magic before they can get to us. That way, we’ll be going in prepared.”

Okay then. That put me a bit more at ease since we knew that the area would be secure by the time we got ready to mobilize. Until then, we needed to make sure that we were all in a tight formation and ready to strike at a moment’s notice. By this point, it was around 4PM and we were likely tired from the disorganized state of the battlefield from the surprise attack we dealt with.

“Alright. Everyone else, focus on taking down any stragglers, and get some rest. We’ll assault the Castle bright and early tomorrow morning. Is this agreeable to you all?”

The crowd mumbled amongst themselves before coming to a mostly unanimous agreement. They all shouted their response together with various cheers and assorted sounds of understanding.

…

Did I just become a military commander?

Comments

[Neo4K]

Did I just become a military commander?

Well, Pale, you are raising an army against Grogar, an entity, if Discord is to be believed, more powerful than almost anyone around the world. So, my answer is, yeah, you are a military commander. Of course, If you don't want it, you can always give the role to Tempest Shadow. She has experience in that field. On the other hand, if you do, then Tempest could aid you in that endeavor due to her experience. Whichever works. Flurry might qualify, too, if she's anything like her dad.

[Jmaster49]

10819936
That's exactly right. Twilight is just trying to coverall of her bases.

And thanks! I was hoping that Discord would come across as more mature here. He's been around for god knows how long and has had to deal with being constantly defeated. As of now, he's starting to slowly understand why he, as an immortal, can't abuse his power like he used to. He still likes to have fun, but won't cause mayhem for the sake of it.

[Jmaster49]

10820222
Those are very good points. Pale is just a bit nervous since he's never done anything on this scale before.

[Fallen Stars]

10820222
Or we could employ some more necromancy and bring back Sombra. I mean, he did stand up against two alicorns and forced them to actually fight him, so there's that. Can't make more of a mess.