Chapters Normal is just an illusion. What is normal to the spider is chaos to the fly.
“Pppppbbbptttt.” Was the sound Discord made as he rolled around the ball of tea in his hands, wondering on whether to leave the flavor alone as Fluttershy had given him these tea packets, specifically because she'd thought he'd like them. But on the other claw he mused, rolling the orb of tea into said claw, he often times hated plain things. There was a reason he took on the name Discord.
He sighed before pushing off the wall where he'd been sitting, ignoring gravity but avoiding the ceiling because that was cliché, he floated to the little tea cabinet he had hidden in the wall of water, which was normally ice for him to skate on. Or a deep sea trench, he did so love seeing those freaky fish that didn't have eyes. He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and returned to wondering of whether or not to change the flavor of the tea, said tea now balancing on the tip of his tail.
He reached into the water and pulled out a portrait of himself, lying on the floor in front of a roaring fireplace in a smexy pose, rose held in his lips. He ignored that and moved the painting aside to reveal the hidden compartment behind it, with his tea set inside. He quietly yanked it open and pulled out one tea cup, completely plain in color, cloud white to be exact and plopped the ball of tea into said cup.
Humming a merry tune to himself he tossed his portrait and the secret compartment behind it, back into the water wall before leaning on it. Swishing the now cold tea around in the cup he shrugged before giving a snap of his fingers to reheat the tea and taking a sip. Sweet yet bitter; with a slight hint of the earthy smell it was giving off somehow being evident in the tea. With another sip he decided it wasn't half bad and decided to leave the flavor alone as he watched his room explode, roll around and the like.
Yesterday it had been a jungle for him to adventure through just to find his toothbrush, which he realized he could have poofed into his hands at any time as he had finally reached it. Today it was, mainly, a small ecosystem featuring north and south. The middle of the room was a slight desert and with him speeding up the time flow in his room he watched the rain come and go every few minutes, the equivalent of weeks for any critters that might have evolved down there. Just north and south of the desert were green and grassy plains, splotches of random colors thrown in there by him of course, with storms raging every few seconds, resuming its cloudless sky for a few seconds and returning to its cycle. At random spots in the plains were forests full of creatures making sounds, audible only by him enhancing it all and at the very two ends of the room were ice plains, just like the planet he called home now. Then for the finishing touch, the sun held aloft in the middle of the room by balancing out gravity, was a highpowered lava lamp.
He sighed as he watched the little mock version of his planet grow and storm every few seconds, taking a few sips of the tea every now and then. Content to just watch it all go naturally, with him shooting a few blobs of paint or what have you into the ecosystem when he felt like it. It was a Saturday and as per his agreement with adorable sun-butt and moon-rager, he was taking it easy today. They were all worried by his chaos magic leaking off into the surrounding area and accidentally corrupting it, which made him scoff in annoyance. He knew how to use his abilities and he knew damn well that if he wanted to he could remove the harmonic taint from the land itself and return it to a neutral state, nevermind his own magic he had grown up with.
He grumbled slightly as he sipped the tea again, to find his tea cup was empty. Sighing he threw it into the wall behind him, knowing it'd find its way back into the secret compartment. While they had the wrong reason for telling him to take it easy on Saturdays, of all days he remarked with a roll of his eyes, it was a good one, made him step back and take a few breathes and look at what he had done thus far.
Steal the Princess' manes and turn it into cotton candy, good memory. Genderbend them and have them wake up with the usual morning problem, hilarious as Luna thought she was possessed and tried to bash the offending 'spirit'. Even when he turned them back she still walked with a limp for the next few days. Get Pinkie and Dash to come along and do pranks throughout time, even without being as old as him and having as much experience, those two mares still surprised him with at least two new pranks he hadn't thought of. Another good time. Go back in time and watch Twilight as she kept drinking that vile white potion thing, the name of which escaped him right now, still made a good 'drama' as any.
Pushing off the ocean wall behind him he floated over his little world he made. One of his most intricate designs yet, hand made every element, law of physics, time, gravity and etc. and it turned out perfect, good enough for life, but not enough for sapience by his standards, didn't go to hell even when he meddled with it. His best one yet, totally worth nearly missing tea time with Fluttershy about an hour ago. It was nice to have a moment to reflect when he wasn't planning his next fun time. Would have been better if it was just a few hours instead of a whole day though.
Bored now and wanting to do something else with his room he gathered his magic in his claws and spread them outwards with much fanfare, trumpets, confetti, fireworks and all, as he bathed it in his magic. Closing his claws the world he made in his room started to shrink, keeping pace with his claws as they shut. Then he started curving his claws in a ball shape, the small world following suit and gathering in his claws, somehow keeping its design completely the same. As the rest of the world gathered in his claws he slammed them together, the world now hidden from view, until he peeled his claws apart and revealed the snow globe sized ecosystem sitting in his right paw.
Kicking off of the air he floated slowly to his cabinet in the corner, the one permanent feature of the room and put down the ecosystem on it, and with a snap of his fingers was encased in glass just like his ten other ecosystems he had built. Nopony, and nobody had ever seen these little beauties of his for what they were, seeming to assume he had a child-like love for them. If somebody finally figured out what they were, then they deserved a little something something for being so observant, not even the royal highnesses had noticed them when they walked in.
He moved to turn around before pausing and reaching back towards it, moving it ever so slightly to the right. Gazing at the small ecosystem he nodded to himself and turned around to the empty room, his claws raised upwards for something, that even he didn't know what he was going to do.
Then he froze as he felt something frighteningly familiar, and somewhere it shouldn't be. Magic was being warped, it was only a tiny amount sure, but it shouldn't be doing that. He himself warped magic slightly, his magical 'pressure' as it were, was so massive that it bent the magic around him same went for Celestia, Luna, Twilight and so on just to a lesser degree. It could be compared to a laser pointed to his right, the laser was the magic and he was himself. The magic would keep curving towards him until it eventually passed by, never actually touching him unless it was almost directly pointed at him. Twilight would never have the 'laser' touch her unless it actually was pointed at her, the warp still there but very slight.
The warping of magic he felt was drawing it inwards to the center of where it was, but yet it in itself was light, much lighter than the average unicorn and should have no right to warp magic at all. But it was. Normally he would have brushed that off and just told one of the two Princesses if they didn't already know, and let the harmonic warriors do what they did best. Even now he normally would do that, closely trailing behind to offer help just in case.
What kept him from doing any of those was the fact that it wasn't even remotely close to his planet, which meant that the Princesses wouldn't notice. Never-mind the fact that they couldn't even get there. His eye twitched as he focused on the warping of magic and gave it a better view in his mind, before actually going out to see what it was. When he pin-pointed where it was he snapped his fingers and he was gone, room left completely clean of his meddling.
He stood in the empty hallway, towering high above him and extending out far behind him, so far it seemed to curve as it dissapeared into the distance, its steel silver making the walls glaringly bright to the eyes. If any of his soldiers, peons, acquaintances or even his fellow mercenaries were around all they would have seen was a madman, with green spray-painted cornrows staring at a wall wearing a suit and tie, mouth set in a slight frown. Then they would have quietly ran away as his shadows started to lash out from under him, corrupted black oozing out from it like a sickness.
He sighed as he watched the figure only he could see as of now float out in space motionless, seeming to watch him too, the power radiating off of it. Something that dwarfed him and his power like a star to... well him. Though he couldn't taste malice coming from it, more like cautious curiosity if anything. Play his cards right and he'd get an ally, play half them right and he'd be able to watch its world from afar and learn that way. Worse comes to worse, he could let loose some of the freaks he'd found on this ship. They did love otherwordly beings.
He shook his head and turned to continue walking down the hallway, the inky shadow following close behind, the steel silver color which had been shining just earlier, completely empty of life and a dull grey. The creature teleported into his ship and every sensor on the ship went off as it finally detected the Void presence that had been watching them for ten minutes. The intercoms blared to life as his loyal army of cutthroats sprung to life and began rushing throughout the ship, the sound of feet sounding like a horrible drum of war. He hoped that wasn't foreshadowing, he had so wanted a vacation from war for at least a week before getting back into it.
A Psychopath is better than no path.
Discord hovered silently in space watching the near invisible monstrosity in front of him, the sides of the ship seeming to absorb all the light that shone in its direction, making it nigh-impossible to tell how big it was. But he could tell it was pretty big just judging by the near invisible specks of magic walking around inside, a huge distance apart were those wandering around.
Every known organism had some level of magic in it, even inanimate objects often had magic thanks to the amount of ponies or what have you wandering about. The beings on the ship except for the one warping their magic, all had less than a ordinary rock’s level of magic, seeming just enough for them to live. They were all clustered together in seven clumps, a few specks walking around elsewhere on the ship.
The being warping the magic was to the left of the ship, its magic lashing out wildly around it as it seemed to acknowledge his presence while everypony else on the ship didn’t notice. The surprising thing was the longer he watched the ship and judged how to teleport inside, without accidentally ending up inside a wall, the more the magic warped around that creature of war. Now instead of an average unicorn he was more or less equal to one of the archmages that were just under the alicorns.
It was feeding off the little bit and pieces that its fellows were emanating, like a parasite would. The question was how many were on that ship, because an archmage was certainly more powerful than something less magical than a rock. Normally he would have just flown towards it instead of just floating in boredom for five minutes, but he remembered a few things.
Namely that those in that war of long ago either worshipped magic users or were inherently afraid of them so much they’d do literally anything to get rid of them. And as such they had made weapons specifically to kill those with more magic than them. He wouldn’t risk getting shot at yet, he could easily handle moving inside the ship, it wasn’t like there’d be large corridors or anything. With close quarters he could just phase through walls, turn into mist, invisible, warp the ship or any other assortment of things and he’d be fine in there. Out in open space they wouldn’t have to do anything except fill the emptiness with whatever they wanted to try and kill him.
His tongue probed the bubble of air he had in his mouth as he thought that last bit over. There was always a chance that they were just refugees, despite that overwhelming sense of malice on the ship. Refugees would be hateful wouldn't they? That line of thinking kept him from just snapping his fingers to make a black hole in the heart of the ship.
He silently sighed and panicked slightly as his bubble of air slipped out of his mouth, encased in his magic and quickly popped back into his mouth. Rolling his head around and eliciting a few silent cracks he went over the area he was thinking of teleporting into, an area that had so many magic signatures it was almost bright, despite them all being individually weak and dull.
There were a few that floated above the crowd every few seconds, while they all widely moved around with little rhyme or rhythm. Shrugging he set his sights on that space above them all and snapped his fingers, teleporting straight into the ship.
Where he was immediately assaulted by strobing lights, the thumping bass of music, the smell of alcohol, smell of sweat from dancing and that disgusting stench of drugs always present at raves. He had half a second to see all this before the lights flicked back to regular white life, tinged with a red throb and what sounded conspicuously like an alarm sounded throughout the ship.
Which made the near tangible ocean of beings under him pause in their dancing to look around in confusion, before they all started to shout at him, or about him to their fellows. Understandably a few guns and other assorted instruments of violence were brought to be leveled at him and the air started to fill with lasers, a rainbow of them to be exact. From the bloodiest of reds to the skyiest of blues, yes skyiest was a word. For Discord anyways.
He merely snapped his fingers and teleported a few thousand feet away, throwing many of them into confusion about where he went, while he himself looked around to see where he was. The massive room he was in stretched far above him and far out to either side of him, in front of where he was looking was the empty blackness of space and behind him was what looked like a hazy wall, meaning it was barely within view of him.
He snapped his fingers again as they found him again, and he appeared standing on top of one of the ships, painted a horrible cliche red and black, white skulls adorning it at random intervals. Peering at it and lowering his claw to it, a minor pulse of his magic emitting from the claw and throughout the ship docked inside the one he was in. The pulse more or less acted like a superior form of echolocation, giving him an inside view of the ship and its size.
What he got back was worrying. A full kilometer long, and whatever and/or wherever this thing was docked in completely dwarfed it, and just by looking to the sides he could see ships bigger than the one he was standing on. Not to mention that ocean of aliens. Speaking of which he heard an odd buzzing sound.
He snapped his fingers again as some bug like, four-winged thing slammed into the deck where he had been. He viewed it from above and rolled his eyes, briefly getting blinded by the red klaxons overhead, still vibrating the ship. Well he could easily tell from both the magic being drawn towards that alien casually walking in the opposite direction, and by the obvious disarray from those running about below, nobody down there were one of the leaders. And as such he’d have to go looking for the one in charge.
The easiest choice would be the one bending magic just by existing, but the closer he got to said being the more magic he was feeding off of and even now as far as the distance was between the two of them he was getting almost as powerful as one of the alicorn sisters. Not good, so first he’d see if that alien is just a soldier instead of the one in charge hopefully.
Looking in the opposite direction he flapped his wings and shot off in a blur, a sonic boom sounding behind him as he did so, knocking away a few flying aliens that had tried to grab him.
He paused, as the massive being of pure Void suddenly started to move in the opposite direction, not taking his bait like he had intended. Cursing under his breath he reached into his suit’s pocket and withdrew a old timey phone, something that he insisted on using since it was impractical and outdated, meaning any would be spies wouldn’t be paying attention to the old radio waves. Hell most of the freaks he’d talk to on the ship didn’t even know what a phone was.
He dialed a series of numbers on it and lifted it up to his ear, immediately having One respond to him. “Query, I take it you are calling about our guest on the ship?”
He nodded despite One not being there. “Yeah of course I am, tell me you found a supply of Void Field Generators on this ship right?”
“Statement, yes a large supply located all over the ship. Query, do you want me to turn them all on? Statement, it would be more then enough to encompass the entire ship.”
He laughed before pinning the phone between his cheek and shoulder, rolling up the sleeves on his suit. “No no, not yet. I want to see what our guest is capable of, do turn on a few of our Void Fields and force him towards me. Oh also make sure my crew stays out of the way, I’m going to check out this new shit I’m getting.” He idly said, his hands held up in front of his face as if he could see something nobody else could. “Don’t forget to give me a little tune for this jig either One, or it’ll be your data in my firepit.”
“Acknowledged.” One shut down his end of the line and he sighed, dropping the old relic to the floor and smashing it underfoot, not wanting it to be bumping against him as he jumped around and distracting him. The shadow behind him seemed to revel in the minor act of anger and jumped upwards slightly, inky lines moving upwards. Without so much as glancing he let himself fall backwards, and disappeared into the shadow, it hungrily swallowing him whole before disappearing to as if it never existed.
Discord snapped his fingers again as another blast of plasma came from the side, intending to sever his wings with a well placed shot, which thanks to the now empty spot where he had been, it smashed into an exposed panel of wiring, sending sparks flying everywhere as the wires melted and fused together. The lights in the hallway flickered dangerously as all the wires started to send energy into one another and turned on random functions, ranging from the blast doors to blockades meant for cover.
Discord didn’t see any of that as he had already teleported into the adjacent hallway, where inevitably a few seconds later another group of aliens would come flying in one what looked like skateboards, bikes, arrows and more, the hallways somehow being more then enough for them to fly together in a swarm. Sighing he flapped his wings as he noticed the whistling of air starting to die down, the whistle picking up again as he broke the sound barrier, a resounding boom echoing off the walls behind him.
Far ahead down the curving hallway he saw a huge piece of the wall sliding up, a giant metal box with blades on it and one massive stick pointing out the top of it glide out, said stick pointing at him. It didn’t take him even half a second to realize what it was pointing at him, before snapping his fingers again, not teleporting himself this time but instead the box with a massive gun all the way behind him. It paused and made to turn its stick towards him before returning to facing the way he had teleported it and glided down the hallway, another piece of the wall sliding up and out of the way for it.
He held himself in the air, his magic coating the entire hallway, wondering why it decided to ignore him before noticing something about his magic. It was the only major source on the ship still. The one absorbing all the magic like a black hole was gone, along with all the magic he had absorbed thus far. There was no way in hell that it should have been able to disappear with that massive amount of magic it had leeched off of him.
All that was left were the massive gathering of tiny pinpricks of magic, signifying the aliens, scrambling as fast they could to get away from him. Then they disappeared entirely in the blink of an eye, as if covered up by a massive shadow.
He frowned, looking down both ways of the corridor. Something wasn’t right at all about the magic disappearing, there was no such thing as energy just plain disappearing under any set of circumstances. As he felt for magic around the ship he noticed the pinpricks that showed the other aliens, far away from him, were encompassed too by nothingness, blacking out in an instant.
For the first time in a long time he felt the slightest bit nervous, magic didn’t just stop existing and he’d recognize a portal or teleportation spell being used. Magic flowed up and down his arms, expecting something to happen soon.
When a bipedal being suddenly came out of the floor like a vampire would a coffin, head lowered and hands in black pants, its three neon green rows of hair on its head clashing with the otherwise black suit set-up he had on, the only other non black thing being the brownish tie hanging haphazardly off its neck. It was the thing that had been bending magic towards it like a black hole, the thing he had intentionally avoided on this ship.
It glanced up at him with a hairless face, a small scar above it’s right eye horizontal with it, and gave him a small honest smile. Small beady eyes peered at him from the dark pupils, a small nose separating the two, and an assortment of miniscule scars peppering its face almost like freckles. Seemingly no ill intent behind the smile, hands coming out of the pockets with no mysterious devices held as it continued to walk towards him, arms stretched downwards and out to the side as if to point out the fact it wasn’t holding anything. The thing that unnerved him most right now, besides how much it was guzzling on his magic like a ravenous beast, was the fact it had completely disappeared with all that magic and then re-appeared like that just down the hall with no warning.
His neck curved back slightly and he frowned at the alien, his one fang wiggling slightly as he spoke. “Now what are you?” The alien’s eyebrows raised as he asked it but continued walking closer to him as if it hadn’t heard him. Discord took this as it saying it didn’t care, and snapped his fingers a massive pole flashing into existence, held in lightly in his talons. Then he jabbed the creature, shoving it back a few hoofs, then made the pole elongate itself and shoved it back even farther, up until the point where it had originated from.
It smirked at him and stopped, content to stand where he had pushed it, raising both its arms up until they were horizontal, hands completely flat. The magic the alien had been storing away suddenly stopped swirling inside him a cacophony of every type and color of magic, instead becoming deathly still. Only he and the Alicorns knew that magic came in different colors, corresponding with different types of magic, as they were able to see it unlike the average pony, griffon or what have you. And as he watched all the different types of magic slowly began to darken and turn into the same type, being corrupted by the alien as it stood there a smirk void of emotion. Just a smirk.
The reds for rage, yellows for fear, pink for love and etc. all slowly turned a deathly black. No, not black. That meant it was a color, the way this was being corrupted was so much that it seemed to become non-existent, fading away into nothingness like all the other magic had done on this ship, before suddenly jutting out from both its arms in a solid flood of corrupted magic.
Its arms were now encased in shadows, licking and jumping at the air every few seconds, shadows extending far past its hands, slowly thinning out until they were as thin as blades. It lowered both arms to the floor, the blades just sliding through the floor like it was something softer than butter. Throughout this Discord had just watched amazed, something in his countless millennia of existence that was completely new to him.
Under any other circumstance he’d be skipping around the alien, poking and prodding it with toothpicks, canes, and anything he wanted. But as of right now it was absorbing as much of his magic as it could, it was on what he easily recognized as a warship, and it looked like it had come from its own war.
The alien lowered itself slightly, arching its back and held its sword-arms outwards, one pointed at him and the other held out to the side. Its hand glided up out of the shadow of the sword and made a ‘come hither’ gesture at him, trying to goad him into attacking. Discord shook his head no and the alien frowned, the flow of stolen magic dying off slightly, now lowering itself to not even a tenth of its previous level.
It sighed and turned around, the shadows around its arms crackling off piece by piece and disintegrated in the light of the hallway. Then it started walking away from him.
He didn’t need to have watched any type of movies or read any books to know what came next. A sword, that was just a giant Candy Cane, found its way into his griffon claw, not wanting to actually fight it. But it was better he learned exactly what it was capable of on its ship, less collateral.
Well less collateral he cared about anyways.
The alien took another step and whirled around, shadow suddenly around its right arm as it swung downwards with that arm. A piece of shadow extending up and through the ceiling followed suit, the ceiling far above their heads parting like Celestia’s lips do for cake, intending to cut him in half.
He simply twirled to the side and let the whip fly through the floor, looking back up to the alien. To see it getting ready to punch him, the spot where it had been just a moment ago exploding in a festival of shrapnel and wires. He became a blur himself as he rapidly stepped out of the way and swung the curved end of his Candy Cane sword into its neck and brought it slamming down into the ground.
Just for the alien to go through the ground like air, all the magic disappearing again as it fake owner had. Then it blared to life right behind him, causing him to whirl around with his Candy Cane sword again, raised above his head, to block the sword it had turned its leg into. Realizing he had noticed it, it smirked and continued through with its kick.
But instead of his arms shaking even the slightest from the magically powered kick it instead turned into a hook, allowing it to effortlessly turn its attention from the spot he was keeping protected and instead swipe at his exposed midsection. Discord simply let go of the Candy Cane sword and reversed gravity for himself, letting the alien swipe at empty air and continue its arc.
When it finished its arc it stood on his Candy Cane sword, glowering at him. It flashed its canines at him and clapped its hands together. He raised one of his eyebrows at that when two massive amounts of magic appeared in the walls to either side of him. Only his reflexes making his wings snap him forward saved him, as two pillars of shadows suddenly jumped out at him, intent on smashing him.
He snapped his fingers once again and teleported behind where the alien was, just to find it gone again. Along with all its magic. Again. How the hell was it doing this? His head swiveled around on a pin to try and see where it had gone, since he couldn’t sense it yet again with his magic.
That didn’t matter as he watched the hallway dim, the light being sucked away into the walls by the shadows oozing out of non-existent cracks, the heat that came with said light going too. A fine crystalline mist sprayed from his mouth as he stood on the cold steel floor, not knowing what would happen next. He idly noticed the complete absence of sound, the song playing earlier now completely silent, as if it was afraid of enraging the monster making this abomination of magic. He sniffed at the air, hoping for some telltale hint of where the monster was at but smelled nothing but his own sweat, cold and pathetic on his hair and body.
He threw up a simple wall of legos (magically enhanced legos), and a dent matching the overall shape of the head appeared in the wall. His earlier sense of dread now seeming like it was for nothing, if it couldn’t get through something as paltry as this. Then something hissed seemingly right next to his ear, making him jump slightly as he realized another one of those serpent heads appeared out of the shadow filled hallway. He re-appeared in the air fifty hooves away from them, mentally berating himself for not noticing one so close.
As he floated off the shadowy floor he realized something. Dozens more of those serpents were appearing, more and more of his own magic being poured into them as they snapped at him. But no sign of the alien itself anywhere among all the serpentine heads now gazing at him, the only way of him noticing being the magic that was fueling them. They were practically invisible otherwise since they were quite literally part of the background.
He made note of how much magic they were gathering into their army of heads and the fact that more were appearing by the second, right now he couldn’t tell where the alien was and he couldn’t exactly kill it. He wasn’t sure if it still was one of the war-mongering ones, he did jump onto its ship and was an alien to them himself, but at this rate he would kill the alien. Or it would stop holding back, he could tell it wasn’t going all out in their tiny excuse for a brawl.
He shook his head and teleported fully out of the ship and re-appeared in his room. He took a brief few seconds to wonder about whether to tell Fluttershy and company about this. Then he realized it would be best if he did tell Tia about something for once. This wasn’t a game, it could very well be life or death for those on Equis.
Santi twirled slightly in his pocket ‘dimension’, he wasn’t sure what the hell it was, as he waited for the Void-Walker to reappear, just because it teleported away didn’t mean it wasn’t coming back the moment he stepped out of his ‘dimension’.... he really needed to come up with a term for it sometime. His puppets snapped and hissed at the air, as if they had a life of their own.
Which they didn’t. The moment he stopped manipulating them they all collapsed into pools of tangible shadow, blending in with the hallway. Then the hallway slowly resumed its earlier color and shape, minus being a bit more lifeless than before, but he opted to stay inside using it as a moment to think to himself.
“Hey boss.” Sang a light voice from behind him. He sighed, hoping for some peace and quiet for once.
“What do you want Rune?” He asked not bothering to turn around, knowing full well she’d skip to be in front of him. And that she did, a small girl with black hair to her shoulders, dressed in a full-on sundress get up, complete with hat, skipped to be just in front of him. Despite the fact there was no ground for her to skip on.
“Just wanted to stop by and see whatcha thinking ‘bout…” She trailed off, booping him on the nose with her knuckle.
“Seeing as how you’re in my head, I would think you knew exactly what I’m thinking about.” She shrugged and proceeded to start skipping around him.
“What can I say? We can all agree we like talking to each other more than reading minds, the five of us agreed that’s a bit creepy. So come on… tell me!” She said punctuating it with a violent poke on the back of his head.
He growled at her before sighing again. “Fine, I’m just thinking about whether or not to take the rest of the ship with us, they need a vacation. Half their families, friends and hopes died for this ship and they need a break. And some time to figure out how to use the ship. So we have no idea what the planet that thing came from is like, and I can just barely feel the planet’s Void energy from here.
“Could be filled with beings just like it and they could just snap their fingers and teleport daggers into us. Or it could be the only thing on the planet. I dunno, just trying to think of whether or not it’s a good idea to go all in.”
Rune giggled as she passed by the front of him for the tenth time, stopping and reaching to grab him by the shoulders. “D’awww is somebody getting sentimental? Relax we handled dear brother, the Inter Alliance, and an Abstract being with these guys at our backs. This isn’t any different. Other than new species and all that again.”
Santi merely pushed her off of him and hummed a tune to himself. “I can’t believe I’m listening to you of all people, where’s the others?”
“Chilling in your mind? I dunno it’s a big empty hole in there.” She said blowing a raspberry before disappearing like she didn’t exist. No flash, no fade, no ripple. Just gone.
He pursed his lips as he slowly rotated in the nothingness. “She’s got a point though…”
Author's Note
Remember, comments appreciated!
In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Thompson waited for the ship to release him, his weight shifting from one set of feet to the other, plasma rifle secured on his back, tail flicking back and forth behind him, forked tongue smelling the excitement in the air as his new three new brother in arms waited too. The hangar bay was painted black, simple red lights illuminating the area as they waited for it to turn green in acknowledgment of a new mission for the King. Four Hovercycles waited just a few meters away, ready to take off at a moments notice, big wheel like Void-Emitters at either end of the Cycle to give them one of the fastest open canopy vehicles made. Traveling at over 1,000 kilometers an hour with just enough window to keep the wind out of their faces, they were practically unnoticeable by anything other than radar.
Adorned with mortar-rivaling firepower on the underbelly they could handle an entire company with a dozen well-trained pilots. To finish it all, behind the window was the small control panel that would enable them to make the engines turn in on themselves and perform a kamikaze if they wanted to. Since he first caught sight of one at the final battle for his home planet he’d always wanted to ride on one.
But that didn’t compare to those he was working alongside today. The group of Xalamanders that infiltrated the most secure prison ever made and they simply snuck in and blew up half of it before anyone knew a prison break was happening, sacrificing only fifteen to save a few hundred. They only selected the best and the brightest to work with them, only Xalamanders being eligible for recruitment made it even harder. When he asked to work with them though he met all their criteria and was accepted in, albeit part of the reason was because of heavy losses but he still managed to get into the most infamous stealth group in history simply called Angels. This would be his first official stealth mission with them, all of his best missions being to assassinate commandos in the middle of a battlefield.
Renowned for natural stealth, ability to walk against gravity on most planets and their fast movement, accompanied by their reptilian body they had been handpicked by the King himself to investigate the planet the alien had come from and pick it out as a hostile place to simply avoid or one where they could finish a war once and for all. His tongue flicked out again, savoring the smell of excitement in the air. An end to the war forever with them as the permanent victors, promised by the man who had yet to fail a promise he had made. So long as they finished their mission then it’d be it, nothing more.
Smiling to himself he looked at them. The King had once compared them to Salamanders from his home, but something much more vicious. That sent chills down his spine, the King calling them vicious when his literal title was Demon King. The light turned green to tell them to run into their Hovercycles. The four of them rushed to their respective vehicles and jumped in, the engines already running and waiting.
His claws curled around the throttle, his head pressed against the small pane of glass in front of him, twitching in anticipation. His twitching only grew as the hangar doors started to open, the roaring of the thin air making itself heard and angry. One of them shot out the moment the hangar doors were wide enough and then they started shutting again, to allow them to move. When the Angels had accepted they took their best stealth ship, not one known for carrying to many lifeforms on board and had less than the amount they’d want for a reconnaissance mission of the size they had. An entire planet swarming with Void energy, higher than anything ever recorded, even the moon itself had Void energy.
At least a dozen civilizations on the planet and maybe one on the moon, with weird rodent like things, each civilization hosting a different species. So to complete their mission they would send one person to the highest Void-levels on the planet and some to the moon, to decide if they were a danger or not. The hangar turned green again, followed shortly by the doors opening and another brother in arms shooting out the hangar.
He’d been assigned three hot-spots, a forest, village, and a city perched on the side of a mountain. The only reason he had three locations to scout by himself was that they weren’t even five minutes apart for him. Another brother shot out of the hangar. He was amazed though, he’d yet to see a primitive civilization build a city on the side of a mountain, unless it was one of those planets that forced them to with geography.
He couldn’t wait to see it for himself, just a few more minutes in reality but it felt like hours. Each second the war was going on, each second was a second he could be using to finish his mission, each second a wasted one just waiting. New sights, new sounds, new species, new enemies and all to top it off, his tongue flicking at the air again, new smells.
The storm of thoughts and things to come stopped in his mind as the bay doors opened for him, the green light beckoning him on towards his mission. Gunning the engine he shot out, air threatening to rip him out of his seat and throw him down onto the planet far below, but he held on and steered his cycle down, giving him his first real view of the targets.
To the right lay the castle and city on the side of the mountain, the sun glaring off the precious metals included in the city’s construction, spirals of the castle adding even more wonder by reflecting more sunlight down to the city below. Under him lay the tiny village barely more than dots marking the cottages they lived in. To the left lay a massive forest, the highest Void signature out of all three, but yet almost no signs of civilization.
Feeling that out of the three the forest itself was more important he pointed his cycle towards it and flew forward, the ship that had just deposited him having already left the moment he cleared the bay. The air resumed it’s roaring protest as he closed in on the forest as if it was trying to dissuade him from going closer to the forest.
He ignored the feeling and flew down to just above the treetops, skirting them as he looked around for a place to pilot his cycle into the canopy without leaving too much of a trace. He eventually noticed what looked like a building poking out of the cover of trees and moved towards it, smirking as he saw the chasm around it easily allowing him to go beneath the tree’s barrier. He paused at the remains of a wooden bridge to pull a device off his back and affixing it to the side of his head, strap wrapping around his head easily. He pressed the button to turn on the recording device to help with his report on what he found.
Turning back to the castle he coasted on his cycle towards it, easily fitting through the entrance. “Thompson, first report. Location forest, south of the mountain castle. Area inside an old ruined castle.” He paused so he could get a look around and get recorder to view more of his surroundings.
“Seems to be the remains of yet another civilization, lost to time. Parts of the roof are caved in but judging by the remaining parts of other pieces of the castle it didn’t occur because of age. Plants and remains of other organics are noticeably absent, which suggests that somebody knows of this location.” Coasting on through what looked like the entrance he poked his head through various rooms and made off comments but kept going. His tongue flicked at the air a few times and he made an observation, “This place seems to have no smell, not dead, not alive. Just absent. Should ask the King later if that means much about the Void.”
After passing by dozens of rooms he eventually came upon what could only be the throne room, two impressive chairs perched on top of two sets of stair, tapestries hanging behind them. The ground was littered with craters and debris, parts of the ceiling completely missing and an ominous feeling even he could feel. “I’m getting the creeping feeling that I’m not supposed to be here, along with how this room is more disfigured than the whole rest of the castle seems to suggest some sort of battle occurred here. There is no other area in my vicinity that I can safely get to so I am ending my report on the forest.”
He reached up and turned off the recorder and piloted his cycle through one of the holes in the ceiling and left the castle behind him in short time, nearing the edge of the forest. Pulling back on the throttle he hovered at the edge, eyes wandering around to find a secure yet easy spot to hide his cycle from the local populace. While looking he noticed a small cottage, along with a shed. He could easily use that as a landmark. Flying back a few dozen yards he settled the Cycle down and shut off the engine.
Smelling the air with another flick of his tongue he could tell that he wasn’t welcome by the animals in the forest and he chuckled as he was hopping off his cycle. He wouldn’t be here for long if he could help it he thought to himself, his clawed feet touching on the moist forest floor and his head looking back to the town.
Reaching back for his rifle he grabbed it and checked the sides of it, the long cylinder-like gun with Tesla-coils at the front and a magazine to fit into the shoulder stock it was far from the best gun. But that was the point, don’t be seen and take care of your problems while hidden in the shadows. Nevertheless he primed the switch so it would be ready if he needed it to be and threw it back into its stock on his back. Scurrying across the ground he felt himself blend in with the green forest, head laid low against the ground so as to conceal his profile.
He stopped at the edge of the forest though and merely poked his head out through a bush, tongue flicking. Not for smelling the air this time though, out of excitement. New species, new experiences, new targets, new screams and new blood. It’d be oh so fun and glorious in the name of the King. With that in mind he launched himself out of the bush and towards the village that lay ahead.
Author's Note
I'm not dead!
The first casualty when war comes is truth - Hiram Johnson
Clad in only jeans and a sleeveless shirt he sat on a chair, twirling a dagger he’d borrowed in anticipation of the greenest member of his infiltration force approaching one of his objectives, thinking that it’d be a simple job to observe, record and exit. In essence even for someone with his inexperience with silent infiltration and an unknown planet it’d be a easy job, hard to screw up. But alas, he would if everything went according to plan.
He’d forced the commander to put the rookie on the mission, despite him not being trained as per their strict guidelines, had given him defective equipment that would short out at any time and leave him stranded behind enemy lines. The Cycle would break down upon the agent’s first power down of said Cycle and leave him stranded, just outside the forest sadly. It would have been quicker in the city or by it.
His comms would fail to pick up or receive signals from the ship currently in orbit, but the camera that had been secretly attached to said comms, giving him a view that was more or less consistent with the agent’s. From aboard the Eclipse he could short-circuit the Angelion Fifteen rifle that had been given to the agent or re-activate it if needed be. So he sat upon a rotating metal chair, with a weird hump in the backrest, watching a devoted soldier unwittingly and unknowingly sacrificing himself for more knowledge of a world.
This wasn’t something he’d normally approve of if one of his generals advised it, much less something he’d intentionally do to such a dutiful soldier. He would normally just go down himself and take a gander around, avoiding patrols, Void Fields and more or less stay hidden from the sensors. But here, a good hours travel away with some of the fastest engines ever made on his ships, he could still feel eyes shifting to focus on him. It was like the Abstracts all over again with that feeling, knowing that there was something with infinite more knowledge about how to manipulate the Void if that draconic creature was anything to go by. So he was avoiding setting foot on that planet, or the weirdly inhabited moon right by it, until he had a legitimate reason to go down for.
After he figured out if they were an inherently hostile species or not. If they killed the agent when he had basically no weapons, his species were far from good hand to hand combatants, and utterly defenseless then he could label them as hostile and drop a bio-weapon and kill off their strongest inhabitants. Then use the rest as lab rats so as to better understand variations of the Void. If they didn’t kill the agent and instead imprisoned him then he’d come down with a contingent of his most intimidating soldiers and demand his agent back. After he’d get the agent back he’d get One to compose a translation system and see how they could benefit one another. If they instead dissected him, then they’d be a curious species and he could most likely buy their allegiance by giving them the simplest of technologies and add them to his empire.
Though of course that was with only one species of the seemingly endless ones inhabiting the planet. Dragons, bird-lion things, zebras, miniature horses, half-man bulls, goats, cows, sheep and more were all inhabiting the same planet, at the same time. It was just unheard of for so many species to be inhabiting the same planet at the same time without space-faring tinkering, but that could be on account of the Void. It was also interesting that he recognized several species from his home planet, sure they were different, but the similarities were striking. Also a bit unsettling for some reason.
As he thought about the strangeness of how so many species could co-exist and thought about as many variables as his muddled mind could handle, the screen had flashed by several cottages and gardens, as of yet to see any natives. The screen came to a deadstop as the agent stopped, seemingly seeing something or hearing something he didn’t. As he watched the screen moved down low to the ground, close enough he could see individual pebbles on the dirt road and the cracks in it. Moving to the side as if hovering it came upon the side of another cottage, hay reaching out and smacking the camera lense, and slowly approached the corner then stopped once more.
Ever so slowly it peered around the corner as the agent found whatever it was that peaked his interest and gave Santi his first real in-depth look upon the inhabitants in their day to day lives. Those lives being that were crowding around stalls and selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables, little versions of them running between legs and chasing one another, sun seemingly caressing them in their activities. He frowned as the agent snapped back around the corner, thinking that some native had seen when he could easily tell that she was looking at something else.
How he wish he could be there instead without being noticed, he’d be able to get a feel for the air around them, the smell of excitement, happiness or fear, hear the inflections of their tones in their voices. So much more information could have been gathered if he went down and alas he was stuck to watching a small screen as an inexperienced agent ran around the building, head and body presumably low to the ground to avoid being seen. He was granted view of another street and a row of cottages for an instant before being shown what looked like an alleyway, complete with dumpsters.
Why a small town like this needed alleyways he wasn’t sure but his agent was taking full advantage of that fact as he darted between houses so as to avoid being seen and was actually pretty damn good at it. The agent spent ten minutes running through the town, even peeking inside several houses and giving him an actually pretty modern view of said homes, despite everything else thus far screaming medieval. Even ran past what looked like the cinemas.
Despite his good work at sneaking around and doing what he was told too, it was taking too long so I decided to up the ante. With my free hand I reached into my pocket, cold and comforting shadow enveloping only a small portion of his body, feeling around in the vast emptiness of everything. With nary more than a thought he gathered some of the Void that hung in the air around him, attracting a manageable amount of it and reached out for the agent. Then he let the energy he had gathered up explode outwards from the agent, sending a pulse of his brand of the Void outwards from him.
He knew that would attract the same draconic creature from before to that location. How he knew was simple. Even from here he could feel the different ‘textures’ of the Void that the planet gave off, numbering upwards in the hundreds of millions easily. Surely creatures that evolved on a planet with so much Void energy would learn how to differentiate types of Void.
The agent immediately responded as the Void detector they had given them started to let out a warning, set to the agent’s coms. The camera only caught a flash of the device as the agent brought out the radar like gadget then slid it back into wherever it stored it. His viewpoint immediately turned around and made a mad dash out of there, legs and arms flashing back and forth in an effort to carry the agent out of there.
The agent succeeded in running past several houses, before a familiar hand leapt out of the shadows and grabbed the agent’s throat and held him up into the air. Santi leaned forward as the same draconic creature’s face came into view, one that was curled into a snarl. It’s other hand, a bird claw to be precise, whipped out of view of the camera and shortly returned with the agent’s gun and it looked down at it. Probably recognized the model from being shot at it hundreds of times through his ship.
The agent presumably struggled, judging by the flailing camera, but alas the draconic thing kept him in place. The camera broke into static. Santi growled at that, they might very well be a hostile planet then.
Just as suddenly though the camera’s viewpoint changed to that of a sunny one, white marble walls, stain-glassed windows and a red-rug stretching out beyond the agent’s sight. Then the draconic creature dropped the agent and floated past him, whereas the agent just stared at the floor. The camera remained rooted there for several seconds, bobbing ever so slightly back and forth as the agent did something, maybe rub his neck.
He impatiently waited as the agent sat there before eventually looking back up in the direction the draconic creature went. To give him a weird sight, one that he sure as hell didn’t expect. The draconic creature was busy arguing with some being on the throne, flailing its arms about in some manner while the being sat still, calmly looking upon the agent as if it was something normal for an alien to show up. Said being sat upon a golden throne, sunlight coming in through the windows to shine off of the throne and blind whoever was looking. But yet the throne wasn’t as blinding as the white light shining off the horse upon the throne, ethereal rainbow hair extending from her hair and past the edge of its throne.
More gold adorned the horse’s head and hoofs, as if to draw attention away from its impressive size and the horn that looked sharp enough to gore a man. All in all a impressive specimen of its race, albeit the horns and wing combo was one that didn’t seem to be common to the other photos suggestions. Maybe royalty status then.
The horse looked at the agent for a moment then turned to the draconic creature and started to talk with it for several minutes, all the while the agent sitting there and not doing anything except staring. Poor boy was probably scared out of his mind. Santi watched their lips move as best he could, along with their body movements to try and figure out what they were saying. In the end though all he could figure was the draconic one was mad and the horse seemed to have a bland outlook on life.
The horse’s horn glowed a yellowish color for just a moment and as if it were a signal the draconic one turned around and snapped his clawed fingers. The screen cut to static once more, so Santi kicked back and waited.
And waited.
…..The signal wasn’t going to come back was it?
He sighed and stood up, left hand exiting his pocket and dagger flipping to point backwards away from his stride. That most likely meant his agent was dead, slight chance of some other dimension or what not. Which in turn would mean that the Angels’ leader would raise hell about losing a potential member, demand recompense, which would drag him to the surface and most likely head to head with the draconic creature.
If he refused to go down he’d lose respect, for he had as of yet to miss the first encounter with any enemy, ally or unknown and as such some of his troops may even fear the natives. Simply because of the fact he wouldn’t be there. Not a position to be in for anybody, but he knew that on a subconscious level he wanted that.
Or maybe the lovely voices in his head did, what with their love of wanton destruction and war.
Regardless he had to go down now. Flicking his wrists up the shadows once more encompassed him, a brief sense of security and then dropped away from him as he stepped out into his most trusted general’s room. Chay’ak yelped and fell back onto his cot, as he seemingly formed out of the floor, then snarled at him. “Damnable human, quit doing that before I gut you.”
Santi shrugged as the wolf-like alien stood up, grey fur shining in the dim light somehow, said alien’s claws flexing as if to carry through with the threat. “We both know I’d be the one to do the gutting.” Chay’ak glared down at him as he stood up to his full height and towered over him, while he just stared blankly back. Under normal circumstances and with anybody else this would have intimidated him, what with the meter and a half wide distance in the room, and two meter length, most of which was taken up by that cot. Leaving him practically chest to chest with the alien who was staring down at him.
Chay’ak was the first to break off the staring contest with a smile and relaxed slightly before flopping back onto his cot. “I heard you forced the Angels’ commander to send a initiate down to scout the Void planet, mind if I ask what’s that about?”
“Needed to assess how hostile the natives would be if an operative were to be caught spying on them. Agent got captured, now we just need to go down and get him back, if he’s still alive that is.”
Chay’ak laughed at that. “You could have just gone down there yourself and blown up a city or two if you wanted that reaction Santi!” The wolf wiped at his eye with a claw to rid himself of a imaginary tear. “So you want me to lend you my men for this Op?”
Shaking his head Santi rested his hand on Chay’aks’ shoulder with a grin, reaching up to grab it just barely. “No I was wondering if you’d join me like in the good ole’ days. Going to need the best of the best down there, that means you and the others.”
Chay’ak’s face went blank for a second, or as blank as a muzzle could get before looking back at him. “You’re asking the king of a nation, last of his bloodline and one of your generals to jump into what could be the most dangerous country we’ve ever seen with gods and demons flying around?” Santi nodded. “Just let me pray to the Huntress and we’ll get going then.”
“Why do you still pray to a god Chay’ak? And one for a hunt at that, I know you have gods for conquest and war.” Santi asked, leaning back on the door with a skeptical look.
Chay’ak snarled at him again, actually meaning it this time. “She is the one who helped me prosper and live through my exile, so she is the one I shall pray my respects too. Now begone, I’m sure you still have to round the others together.” His goddess was always a sore spot with him, a spot he loved to poke. Santi just gave a mocking bow and had the shadows leap out of the ground once more to cover him, leaving nothing but a growling wolf-man as evidence of his being there.
Author's Note
Next chapter will finally focus on the ponies themselves for a differing viewpoint.
