Chaotic Neighbors

Chapters

2 Chapter 2: F♠♫k My Life
3 Chapter III: The Draconequus Hunter
4 Chapter The Fourth What To Do
5 The Fifth Chapter With The Number 5
6 Chapter Six: Seaside Drama
7 Chapter 七: Compensation
9 Chapter the Neunte Domestic Abuse of the Royal Persuasion
10 Chapter The !O The Pissed Off Agent
11 Chapter the I| a more forcefull form of negotiation
12 Chapter the 12 Speaking Her Mind
Chapter the 13 Join the Darkside, its Actually Quite Plesant.
14 Chapter the... Magamee what chapter is this again? الفصل الرابع عشر Thank you, Chapter the 14
15 Chapter 15 Cushion Talk.
1 Chapter One: A Visit from Family
8 Chapter Hate: Assaulting Strange Creatures

2 Chapter 2: F♠♫k My Life

Proofread by Hunter Steel

Chapter 2: F♠♫k My Life

“Ugh mi fucking head.” {Ugh my fucking head}let me tell you, waking up in a bathtub of ice to find your chest cut open and your organs harvested is not a nice experience. “The bloodclaht!”{The fuck} Yeaaaa, hmm how does it feel you ask? Actually, it surprisingly doesn’t hurt, well not at first the combination of sedatives and a recent shot of adrenalin from seeing your inner wiring tends to mellow you out. “Wa the fuck a gwan”{What the fuck is happening}. Did you know they don’t just take your kidneys, yep, they also take your liver, pancreas, bladder and well anything else they can harvest. Why am I not dead you ask, and how the fuck am I awake?

Well for that I assume because of all these tubes and wires, but who knows, as for me being alive, fuck if I know, maybe they want to keep everything fresh? “Lawd god, lawd god, lawd god no.”{Oh god,Oh god,Oh god no} Ha, and they said this shit never actually happens. “Aright think, think weh mi dey”{Alright think, Think Where am I}. In other news turns out there’s a cure for diabetes, yea, it’s MY FUCKING PANCREAS!!!

“Oi, what a gwan mon.”{Hey, what's up man} I was never a religious person you know, funny how that turned out I would usually do my best to avoid church. “Lovely evening don’t mon”{Lovely evening wouldn't you agree}. Oh and then there’s this guy, He’s my ‘doctor’. “Yu don’t look too good yu know mon, the engine still working, but your filters are gone, a few other things too.”{You don't look too good, Your engine is still working, but your filters are gone, a few other things too}.

“Uhg, who you? Wol on, nu you mi see dis morning, wa di rass yah du.”{Ugh, who are you? hold on you're the guy from this morning! What the hell are you doing!}.

Now you may be saying (wait what, this must be the wrong chapter, how did this story go from the magical world of prismatic equines to some guy being gutted for spare parts) and to that I say shut the fuck up and listen. Anyhow, this all started a few days back.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Well it’s another standard morning in another standard community in another standard house “Yow Fras, di fuck di house stink a weed su breda, mi nu tell yu fi stop smoke ina di house.” {Hey Fras, why the fuck does the entire house smell like weed, didn't I tell you to stop smoking in the house!}. Well my standard morning anyway.

“Mi open di winda, su mi wah know how yu smell weed an mi nah smell nutn.”{I opened the windows, so I don't know how you're smelling weed When i'm not}. That’s my older brother, and we have this little chat at least once a week.

Well let’s just skip our back and forth, I doubt you want to hear me arguing with my brother about his smoking habit. Anyway like I said perfectly standard morning.

Wake up.
Complain about the weed smell even though I don’t actually mind. Check.
Feed pet fish, Check.
Shower. Check.
Check bag for the essentials for college survival. Check.
Get dressed. Check.
Hide knife in secret compartment of bag. Check.

What, you expect me to face all the shit happening in the world today without some form of self-defence? HA well fuck you. Anyway.
Lunch money. Di fuck!? Just four hundred, guess I’m walking home. And to school. Sigh*

Ugh I'm making checklists now? I've been reading too many fanfics, Twilight would be proud.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

“Why di hell di early morning su god damn hot”{Why the hell is the morning so hot.}

“What yu talking about mon? It’s a bright and beautiful morning to be in Jamaica mon!” {What are you talking about man? It's a bright and beautiful morning in jamaica man.}

“A weh yu come from bossy!?” {Where the hell did you come from Dude!?}

“How yu mean mon, mi just come down from Montego Bay mon.” {What do you mean man, I just came back from Montego Bay man.}

Ok this tourist is trying too hard, maybe he’s lost or something?

“Yu know what I’m talking about mon, proud to be Jamaican yu know mon, I’m just about to go get me some jelly coconut water yu know mon. {You know what i'm talking about man, proud to be Jamaican man, i’m just about to get some jelly coconut water you know man.}

Ok this bitch is just making fun of me now. And now he’s getting too close. “Yow boss man yu know where I can get some weed to buy mon.” {Hey dude, do you know where i can get some weed?} I stopped and finally looked at the guy. I don’t know how to describe him other than your standard tourist, I mean he’s wearing a fucking Hawaiian shirt and shorts. The hell? People actually where that shit, I’m no fashion critic but, no, just, no… well maybe I would wear it if I was in the right mood. as for telling him where to get weed, hell to the fuck no, he’ll probably just get himself shot. Anyway after finally convincing the guy I don’t sell weed he leaves me alone. To be honest I should have been more suspicious of him than I already was. The guy fucking followed me half way to school asking about weed.

After arriving at school a half hour late the school has a surprise search for drugs and weapons. And guess whose knife they find, well go on, fucking guess, yea, fuck my life. Well I’ve been arrested and that is not a police vehicle. Wrong colour plates which by the way has too many numbers, no light, yea this is bullshit. However it seems I’m not the only one to notice this. So I do what any sensible citizen would do and brought this to the attention of everybody within earshot before going silent hoping someone else will... do something?, this subsequently sparks a protest from several bystanders and everyone that's being arrested, intern, earning me a gun but to the chest for my troubles. Though it seems that’s enough to get a reaction out of the rest of the bystanders, and oh look, more police. Alas it doesn’t make a difference in the end. I (and by ‘I’ I mean me and at least twelve other people) still get arrested, and wellll, that’s where things get fuzzy. I can remember being driven around for too much time for us to have been going to any of the police stations in the community, so about thirty minutes which turn to an hour, after which I lose count. Then nothing.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

And that brings me to now. Half dead in a tub of ice being gutted by a homicidal maniac, this is just fucked up. How the hell am I not in agony. I wonder what the hell he could have given me? Huh, so that’s what a rib spreader looks like. How the hell am I talking, shouldn’t my lungs be collapsed or something. This reminds me of cupcakes, fancy that.

“He then secures a mirror above my head to give me a better view of his handiwork after which he used the rib spreader to secure my sternum in a near perfect position to pear in at my beating heart. Huh who knew watching your heart beating could be so mesmerising, at that Tourist frowns at my comment before he returns to removing my-”

“Doctor! Who is narrating your actions, we don’t need to know of your necrophilic tendencies.”

“Came a shrill cry from the hallway.”

“Wha- Dear god.”

“Whispered a bald Englishwoman that looks far too much like Seras Victoria after opening the door to evict the narrator, fuck, yu even have the uniform, someone is a Hellsing fan, yu just need a wig now.”

“Do not call me bald you swine. Do you know what I have had to endure before the doctor saved my life-“

“HA. Lady, tell it to someone yu boss nah gut, fuck you, fuck yu hair, and fuck you tourist.” My little rant was interrupted by a coughing fit, you know, the one where you sound like a barking dog.

“Doctor why is he awake?”

“Mi gave him a experimental drug mi been working on mon, though it look like it affect his personality, but nu worry bout that mon, you’re agitating the patient. Shut the door-” {I gave him an experimental drug i've been working on man, though it seems to have affected his personality, but don't worry about that man, you're agitating the patient. Shut the door-"}

Cough* cough* hack*, hack*. Ok now I’m feeling the pain. AND IT IS FUCKING GLORIOUS, except the complete opposite of that, but the good news, I can move, flutter yay. Oooooo, a scalpel. Tourist is still talking to Seras. I dug the scalpel deep into my neck, which is to say I got like a half inch in… What? The drug just started to wear off, I’m still weak. How the hell am I even still moving, my fucking torso is ripped open. AND WHY DID I JUST STAB MYSELF???. Got the artery though… I think, fuck that’s a lot of blood, yea I got the artery. Ha, the look on her face. Damn, did this ice get colder? Tourist looks pissed, is he blaming her? I can’t hear anymore. Nooooo don’t fire her, she’s a real fuck mothering vampire. Oh well, such is life. Note to self: symptoms of death include loss of hearing; blurred vision; sudden loss of body heat and PAIN. Hmm strange there’s something squeezing my neck. My vision is clearing, how convenient~ and it's gone again, I think I saw tourist, or was that Miss Victoria. Here comes the vision train, yep that’s Seras, or maybe Tourist, the dog and or bitch is trying to strangle me. Well not today villain, Captain Scalpel, awayyyyyy, he will cut out the cancerous hive of villainy that has infected the heart of my- ooooo that’s waaaarrrrmmm, taste like iron, though it's not particularly good, or bad, oh wait, I can’t taste anymore, strange. Victoria, add that to the list of side effects.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Star log, or would this be a void log?
Void log #1
Date: Irrelevant
Time: Subjective. I think it feels Subjective anyway.

These are the records of the starship void ship??? I’ll think of something later.

Day one, when I thought of death I certainly did not think of… this? That? Sigh* I’m in a cross between SpongeBob’s vomit, an acid trip, and the unholy union of fluffle puff’s rainbow and a strobe light. The only colour I haven’t seen is blue, which I for some reason feel is strange in a normal way. Also I can’t move, is that supposed to happen? All the fanfics I’ve read say maybe.

End log

Void log #2
Date: the place has a 90’s feel to it.
Time: I still think that’s Subjective.

Day...???, I can’t tell time, so I’m going to stop writing the day number. In other news I can move…ish. I won’t say it’s as simple as think what you want to do and it happens. Also why am I so calm? Moving is more complicated, I need to move like energy, that is turn myself into a specific form of energy and get from one place to the other the way the energy would. I can’t really explain it any better, that’s the simplest way I can explain it, and it’s only a fraction of a fraction of the way to completely explaining it. So far I can only move forward. Also I think it’s been more than a day, a whole fucking lot more.

End log

Void log #12
Date: Futuristic is today’s theme.
Time: Beaten into objectivity, don’t ask me how.

I finally named this vessel, i.e. me. Decided to go with Anarchy, why you ask, why not I say. So yea these are the records of the void ship Anarchy Also I think I passed some… thing? One? I couldn’t see anything I just felt like I was close to another consciousness. But it left as soon as I found it. The good thing though I could somehow ‘see’ how it ‘moved’ and tried to copy its movements. AND IT WORKED. I can move now, but I’m still working on the method I was trying to use, the one I copied takes too much effort for my liking.

End log

Void log #1562
Date: now it feels happy. Oookkkk.
Time: Parallel parked after getting a ticket. Don’t ask me how, that’s just how it feels, I’ve stopped trying to figure out this shit.

I mastered or at least I think I mastered moving using both methods a while back. So I went looking for other consciousness. I found one. It tried to eat me. Copied that too. Luckily I was able to escape before I got eaten. I don’t think it even saw when I moved, and to think I was planning to give up on improving my movement a while back, good thing I got bored. So that’s how this shit is, kool, kool, well if you need me I’ll be weaponizing everything I’ve figured out so far.

End log

Void log #5684255
Date: coming to an end.
Time: Running out.

I finally got rid of all the other consciousness. What I originally thought was a few became a number in the millions. Now I can feel my domain, it goes right up to the edges, bastards didn’t stand a chance. I found out a while ago that I'm the only one that used anything other than brute force. It also turns out that every other consciousness that was here eat the ones they killed. That explained why they kept getting stronger. Wish I knew that earlier, I had to scavenge the ones that hadn’t completely faded away. On a side note, why the bloody hell am I ok with this? So I’m the last one left. Or so I thought. Turns out wherever it is I am, is sentient Sigh* great. Just fucking great.

End Log

Void log #5684954
Date: The end is nigh.
Time: Jumping out your windows, snatchin up your people, so Hide your kids, hide your wife, times running out on everybody.
I just realised, how the hell am I remembering all the logs I’ve made? In detail. Usually I would never be able to recall all this. Meh, don’t look a gift Shoggoth in the mouth. You tend to lose your head, and your shoulders. I also can’t move anymore. FUCK, all that effort to become immobile again, FUCKING GREAT.
End log

Void log #5684961
Date: ∞
Time: ∞

I'm feeling lethargic, which is worrying me since I haven’t slept since getting here.

Final Log

Void log #5684962
Date: ∞
Time: ∞

Feeling Depressed

Final Log #2

Void log #5684963
Date: ∞
Time: ∞

Still here.

Final Log #3

Void log #6668666
Date: ∞
Time: ∞

I’ve been here for a while now, but it also feels like it’s only been a few minutes. So damn tired.

Final Log #4

♫♥♠♦♣♫

I fell asleep a while back. Now I feel warm, That's new, also why is it so dark? Am I dead? Wait, right, I was gutted alive by a tourist named Tourist, right I need to repay that guy’s hospitality sometime. Hmm strange…I feel warm and... and like I'm floating in slime. Well there goes the neighbourhood. I think I preferred the void. Moving around doesn't seem to help, Mostly because I can’t move. Wait... I can feel something moving... and now there's a light. That was fast. I thought I would be here for another (insert long-ass amount of time here).

{Come now, keep pushing, the child is almost out}. A masculine voice encouraged.

I could hear a female voice panting in the background. As I took my first breath I realised something. I'm naked.

As I cracked my eyes open and surveyed my surroundings, I found myself in a stone room with no windows. That was all I could gather before I started to slip back into the realm of sleep, that and the slitted eyes of a shaggy pink wolf. Dafaq?

♫♥♠♦♣♫

I’m so confused right now it isn’t funny.
I was staring at an amalgamation of animal parts that I’m pretty sure is trying to get me to say ‘dada’ or something to that effect. Too bad I can’t understand what he’s saying, the language sounds like a cross between English, Arabic, and Russian, with a dash of Japanese, and a pinch of French. It sounds awesome to be honest, I can’t wait to learn it. Of course that means I need to get past my current hurdle. I can’t fully control my tongue. It seems I was re-born. Able to run, turn myself invisible, and climb anything I set my mind to at that. However it seems the only things I can’t do are fly, use what I’ve learned is magic for anything more than sparks, and talk. This tongue is new, alien, an illegal immigrant, and extremely snakelike, like I even think it’s forked, let’s see, it is forked. He’s laughing now? What is he laughing at? Oh right, me. Well let’s see if I can repeat what he says with a minimal amount of butchery. That’s right daddy dearest, laugh now while you still can, I’ll pay you back tenfold for this indignity.

Now you may be saying, how the hell is he so calm? Truth be told, I wasn’t. It has been three weeks since I woke up to find myself being fathered by a draconequus. Needless to say I freaked the fuck out. I didn’t eat, move, or make a sound for... hell I don’t know how long. Eventually I decided I might as well try to live my new life instead of fretting over the one I lost. So, to recap, I discovered first-hand how reincarnation works, freaked out at the appearance of my 'Father', and slept. Rinse, repeat. No, I didn’t forget to mention eating, mostly because I didn’t eat, nor was I hungry. I'm liking my new biology already. Though if anything MLP implies about my new species is true, I’ll be paying a certain medical professional a visit eventually.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Five years later

I asked Delirium if I could go outside today, you know, just like one of those naïve little children that have never seen the sky, like you see in movies. Anyway daddy dearest told me I’d have to wait until my mother returned. Her name is Genesis if you care. But that brings me to my next point. I’ve been here what, five years now, and the guy hasn’t called me by my name, he didn’t even give me a name. So naturally that was my next question, the follow up question to which was why he wanted me to name myself.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Life went on; Delirium started teaching me the basics of magic. To say I was enraptured is to say Antarctica is chilly in the winter nights, too bad I'm shit at any magic that requires anything above a moderate amount of energy, turns out I don’t have much of the stuff. Won’t stop me from learning everything I can though, just one problem. Delirium doesn’t know any theory; he only knows two spells, how disappointing. Levitation was easy, the other one was…well the best way to describe it is to say it’s a utility spell. According to Delirium it’s the spell all draconequus use to do pretty much everything, from teleporting, to tearing the sky asunder and pulling down the stars (His words not mine). A spell only our species could use. A spell that both fuels and is fuelled by pure chaos. A spell that made my inner minimalist start tearing out his new found feathers. I could see almost all the energy he used to cast the spell being wasted, which is strange since when I brought this to his attention he told me he didn’t see anything. Gasp* do I have the Sharingan! Oh please let it be so. However my dreams of world domination via planet wide mind control were shot down when I asked him to describe my eyes and he produced a full body mirror for me. I froze up at the sight of my reflection.

My eyes have the dagger like pupils of a predator and piercing blood red iris surrounded by yellow sclera. On my head are two stubby cream coloured waterbuck horns divided by a mane that is black from the base to the top of my neck, at which point it turns lavender and tops off in a Maya blue. Like my father my head and neck most resembles that of a shaggy wolf the difference being my fur is a light brown that stretches down to my shoulders to be replaced by a white silken coat that changes again at my prehensile tail to a soft grey with bands of various colours and end in a luxurious black tassel that fades to an ethereal blue at the tip. My right wing is a dark blue green at the base that fades to black at the tip, while my left wing is a bright blue at the base that fades to purple-pink at the tip. At the base of each of my wing the colour bleeds into my white fur to give the appearance of being hurriedly attached while covered in wet paint. Below my wings are spines of various colours that end a little past the base of my tail. My right hind leg is that of a dark grey goat while the left is from an arctic wolf, and the blue and black tiger leg I have for a forearm is contrasted by the brown sloth arm on the left.

I found my new appearance acceptable. Well except the sloth arm. It only has three digits, luckily it’s not inherently slower than the rest of my body, and not having a thumb doesn’t seem to inhibit my ability to do... thumb, related stuff? I half expected it to be sluggish when I first decided to get better acquainted with my new body. I also discovered that I'm insanely flexible. I can turn my head a full 270° assuming I don’t turn my body. I'm no owl but I'm happy with what I got. After checking out my sexy self, I returned to the lesson. This brings me to practice practice practice. Control is easy for me, my power could use an upgrade though.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Three Months later

Guess who showed up today.
…

Well don’t just read along actually guess

…

What the hell? No! Why would Son Goku be here? I swear sometimes I worry for your sanity. Genesis came back and she brought company in the form of ice cream. Keep dreaming bitch, bringing ice-cream doesn’t make up for missing out on the first five years of your child’s li- Wait is that rum raisin? Well I guess I can let it slide, I didn't actually care anyway. You must be desperate if your giving you estranged son alcohol. At least Delirium was here, despite the fact our only interactions were superficial. Guy didn’t make any effort to bond with his son. Wait now that I think about it how did I know he was my father? He never said it, and despite never seeing her before I knew Genesis is my mother, hmmmmm. Oh well, one point natural instinct.

Let me give you her description, come to think of it I never described my father did I? Well, she is… simple. One uniform coat colour, yellow, and I mean piss yellow, piss yellow webbed wings, piss yellow ram horns, piss yellow eyes and piss yellow feline paws and the piss yellow slender body of Draconequus the only thing that isn’t piss yellow is her tail, of which there is none just a stump, and a freshly burnt stump at that. Thank god I didn’t inherit her looks. Though that does bring up the question of why she seems so desperate. What? Didn't I mention that? Yea she busted in painting with a look of desperation on her face. Anyhoo. Delirium has a pink wolf head, Red eyes, his right horn is a water buck horn, and the left is a moose horn. He has the same slender body that seems to come standard with all Draconequus. His neck and body are blue, while his fox tail is green with a black tip. Both his rear hooves are white and equine in nature while his ‘hands’ are both chicken fingers… Let me explain, he has chicken feet for hands but his digits are grotesquely human like in shape, it looks fucking freaky.

So yea, I'm just sitting here, eating my ice cream when a bunch of other Draconequus rush in, pin them both down, ramble off something about Genesis being a disgrace to the family and so on. You know the usual spiel. Damn this ice cream is good, it’s been what? Five years three months and however long I was in that void, so what? Aww screw it! I’ve got ice cream, who cares.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

So yea we got raided by the spooks. Now we are in front of who I would assume is the head of the family. I would give you a description of the madness that goes on around me but, I'm lazy. So you’ll just have to settle for what the boss man looks like. The only part of him that isn’t a shade of brown is his Scaly red tail. Everything else is a shade of brown, light brown underside and dark brown back, dark brown feline ‘legs’, dark brown feathered wings, a honestly cool looking Mohawk of a main that runs along his neck with several shades of brown stripes that get lighter the closer it gets to the top of his head, and he’s wearing... a pink bow? Not the strangest thing I’ve seen. Both his horns are like a cross between a deer and moose, generally moose shaped but pointed, but I live in the tropics, so I’m not sure if moose antlers are supposed to be pointed, so I added the deer part. The darkest patch of his fur looks like a fuzzy scarf that wraps around his neck, under his main, and meets at a point in his chest. His arms are you guessed it, brown, light brown to be specific, and they look like that of an Anteater? Aardvark? Whatever I’m not a zoologist.

Anyway I’ll summarise this for you. It turns out mi madre is something of the family failure, and my father… well he’s dead, don’t know how I know, I just do. Natural instincts for the win. I’m not as upset as I should be, I mean yea the guy raised me, but I literally know nothing about him. We were locked in what amounts to a dungeon for five years and the most he spoke to me in one sitting was when he was teaching me magic. One day he got fed-up of me crying and not being able to say what the fuck was wrong, so he thought it was a good idea to directly inject his knowledge of language into my head. Didn’t work out too well though, since I still wasn’t able to use my tongue to talk yet. I did learn a cool new language though, and I manage to ‘see’ and get an idea of how he transferred his knowledge. So yea I'm not too upset… does that make me psychotic?

Anyway, anyone who grew up with a TV should know how this conversation goes down.

You have disgraced our family for the final time.

Just give me one more chance!

I have given you too many chances already.

But I have something that is guaranteed to make you proud.

Oh and what is that.

My son.

What a twist! it was such a twist in fact that I fucking choked on my ice cream. Which isn’t too good, you know, since it got everyone’s attention. After clearing my pipes, I look back up at the guy on the throne, yes throne, and remember that description I skipped out on? Well there isn’t much to say. We are in the middle of a big as fuck library. And the guy is sitting on a toilet to match the theme of the place. Yes my friends, I am in a toilet theme library choking on ice-cream, charming no? I mean for fuck sake the shelf look like those aluminium shower shelves you buy at Bashco for $600 to store your shampoo. The walls are white tile and there are roman style coulombs everywhere, which somehow manage to amplify the bathroom vibe. THE HELL???

And now they're all staring at me. Waiting to see what I do. Judging me with all those eyes. I fake sneezed. I swear it’s like I broke a trance. They turned back to the big guy. He rose a brow at me. I reciprocated. Then he asked a question I had a hunch was coming.

Who is his sire?

His response to the answer did not fill me with confidence. Now you may be saying, ‘but surely it couldn’t be that bad.' and 'what’s the worst he could do.’ And with those hypothetical words hypothetically uttered from your organic audio output device, you sealed my faith. What’s the worst he could do you say. Well he look back to Genesis.

What did you expect? For her to explode? Ha, funny. BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!!! You couldn’t even tell blood from bone from hair. Everything became a blend of pink mush. It was everywhere, bloody hell it was everywhere.

Upon dropping my ice-cream, the crazy bastard, he turned his line of sight death ray to me. Well I stood there like a man! I did not piss myself! I never curled into a ball of fuzz floating in my own piss! I stood there and told him to go ahead and be the weakling coward that killed a child! Anyone who tells you that I sobbed like a bitch is either a lying piece of shit, or most likely had bits of my mother in their ears.

As for you-

That’s about all I heard, you know, since I didn't pass out curled into a ball.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

I was shocked awake by the feeling of water engulfing my body. After flailing about for a while I calmed down enough to start floating on my back. I was never a strong swimmer, a problem that has now been exacerbated by the fact I have no clue how to swim in this body. After floating for a while I noticed it was way past mid-day. Opting not to sleep in a lake I started trying to make my way to the shore. This I attempted to accomplished by mimicking what I recall of the motion serpentine creatures employ when swimming. Needless to say I failed spectacularly. Guess I'm not tall enough for that yet, pity. Reverting to dog paddling I made my way to the edge of the lake before emerging exhausted and collapsing. Looking back I realise just how huge the lake is. I must have been swimming for hours. For that matter, where am I?

♫♥♠♦♣♫

After passing out, again, I woke up to the unexpected sensation of myself being pleasantly warm and caked in mud. Cracking my eyes open I find I'm still lying by the lake. The moon is high in the sky so I’ve been here for a few hours. Taking in my surroundings my eyes stopped on something that definitely wasn’t there when I arrived. It looked like the illegitimate lovechild of a horse and dolphin. Its body was that of a horse, and the head looked like that of a dolphin’s, not counting the four horns on its head and five tails that look nothing like horse tails, and did I mention that it’s huge? Because it’s fucking huge, though not as huge as it should be. I just keep running into new chimera today now don’t I?

Now, any Naruto fan worth their salt will be able to tell you this guy’s name, address, social security number, mother’s maiden name, and even the shit he gets down to on a Tuesday night. Sorry to say that at the moment my mind was fucking blank. Oh I recognised him, and by extension where I was. Pity I also realised the implications and thus my systems could not properly run, Fan-gasim.exe. Yes boys and girls I’m in the ninja world, dimension? Whatever, and I'm chilling in the mud with Kokuō. Needless to say I blacked out. Again!

♫♥♠♦♣♫

6 years 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 12 hours 35 minutes and 15 seconds later.

“Kokuō look I made a table.” I shouted as I entered to our little hideout.

“Um? Very impressive?”

“You don’t sound impressed?”

“I honestly am not, you tend to master any jutsu you attempt despite not having enough chakra to preform them.

“Yes, but this isn’t a jutsu it’s art.”

“I thought it was a table?”

“Nope it’s an explosion”

…

“I was quoting Deidara.”

…

“The Akatsuki member, the one I told you likes to blow things up and call it art.” I deadpanned.

“So it’s a bomb.”

“Sigh* Yes it’s a table shaped bomb.”

…

“Have you completed the jutsu you have been working on as of late?”

“Yes, though you don’t seem particularly sad to see me go.”

“Anarchy, believe me when I say that you have become a close friend to me.” I smiled. “But I find you extremely strange and annoying.” And there goes my smile.

“Yes well…”

“Is your jutsu formula ready?”

“Sigh* yes.” I handed him the scroll with the formula I completed.

“Your writing is rather unsightly.”

“Yes, yes, whatever.”

…

“Are you upset?”

I looked at him. “This is quite possibly the last time we will see each other-”

“And you give me an exploding table as a farewell gift”

“That piece of art is going to save your hide just you wait.”

“I am sure. Regardless, I do have something of a parting gift for you.”

“You have my attention.” He didn’t even pause in his study of the scroll I gave him. He just flicked one of his tails in my direction and sent a sword at my head. My six years of ninja-ish training allowed me to easily catch the sword between my eyes.

…

...

♫♥♠♦♣♫

After releasing my clone jutsu to clean up the blood, and accusing Kokuō of MURDER, we said our farewells and he started to perform the jutsu opening a tear in the fabric of reality, which should theoretically lead to another dimension. I'm dumbing it down for you really. If you just blindly tear a hole in reality and jump in, well I don’t know what would happen, and I don’t want to know. So I needed coordinates that I don’t have. So I designed the jutsu to get that for me. By searching for certain necessities for life, again I'm dumbing this down. Hell I don’t know half of what I’m doing. The spell finds that out for me and compensates for those variables, after which it makes the knowledge available to me. Which reminds me, I need a cheap and easy way to spy I mean gather information without putting myself at risk.

“Well looks like this is goodbye.”

“So it seems my friend.”

…

“You know I have no clue how to use a sword right?”

“You found time to learn carpentry, I am confident you can find the time to learn the way of the sword?”

“I never thought I would own one. Thank you... so this is goodbye then.”

“I doubt it. That sword is made of my chakra, and will give us a connection to each other. Whether or not the connection will remain once you are wherever you end up is yet to be established, though I have no doubt that if it does not you will find some method to re-establish the connection. There are also several jutsu woven into it, you should be able to modify them to your preference, as well as add more."

I looked down at the only thing I would have of my first friend in this new life. Sensing that I was stalling, Kokuō used his hoof to flick me into the portal. Traveling between dimensions is comparable to being shot out the barrel of a rifle while high on acid, which is to say trippy as hell.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

The portal ended just as suddenly as it started, or maybe it’s been a few years? I don’t rightly know. Time feels irrelevant in the in-between. "Ok that jutsu needs refining." After throwing up my previous meal I surveyed my surroundings.

"No, no, oh god no" My sudden onset of despair was brought on upon my noticing an iconic landmark in the distance. At that moment, I knew I was in deep shit. I also knew I would most likely be hunted down and have my soul consumed.

Falling to my knees and turning my head to the sky, my fears were only compounded by the visage of the moon as it confirmed without a doubt my new location and what would most likely be my faith should I be found.

Author's Note

Many thanks to my proofread Hunter Steel for the editing help as well as enthusiasm and feedback on my ideas.

I'm always open feedback and ideas, wood for the fire and all that fun stuff, though I can’t actually guarantee that I will use any of it in the story. I also welcome constructive criticism.

Draconequus drawn by Lopoddity

3 Chapter III: The Draconequus Hunter

Proofread by Hunter Steel

Chapter III:Draconequus Hunter

“Halt Foul demon, Thou has nowhere to flee!” This proclamation was preceded by a rain of magical blast peppering the forest from above the Everfree tree line. “Thou shall face retribution.” While most failed to meet their target many still struck true, simply bouncing off a crystalline exoskeleton. “Thou has accosted thine person twice and unjustly imprisoned mine friends.” A volley of magical missiles impacted the area before their target. The armored being made a sharp left turn before being hit with a concussive blast of energy cracking her armour. “Cease this foolishness at once and face thine wrath.” The cracks from the concussive blast immediately started to repair themselves. Upon confirmation that her attacks were working, the lunar princess redoubled her efforts. “YOU WILL RELEASE THEM.” proclaimed Luna as her eyes shone white with barely restrained fury, horn crackling dangerously with arcane energy. At the brief sight of her armored quarry fleeing through the underbrush, she took aim and released a meters wide beam of energy into the trees. The resulting explosion tore a gaping chasm through the landscape ripping a deep gash through tree and rock alike, and sending debris flying in all directions, forever marring the Everfree forest with the fury of the night princess for the second time in a millenia.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

POV:

Hidden in a tower of The Castle of The Two Sisters a female draconequus watches as Luna chase after her clone, tearing the forest apart in the process. After watching the waste of magic Luna uses as a ‘final attack’ she releases the spell she cast to restrain her attackers in crystal after her nut shot on Discord. ‘Fucking Pervert,’ she thinks to herself, as she moves to the other side of the decrepit tower just in time to watch the rest of the ponies scamper over to the prone Draconequus clutching his crotch. She watches as after checking on discord, Celestia flies off to meet up with her sister. After observing the sisters brief reunion she turns back to the cluster of ponies to see discord staring at her. 'Fucking creepy, god damn it, not even a day and the locals are after me. Anarchy you better be here.' She curses silently.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

The Storm Front Islands

POV: Anarchy

Achoo,* sniff*

"Are you sick?" Questioned a deceptively emaciated looking creature clutching a PS3 controller in her misty magic. quadrupedal with cloven hooves she has chocolate brown fur marred by patches of green algae and random lighter brown spots on her back, and on her head are two similarly algae ladened deer like horns that partly surround an orb half covered in algae that constantly emits a dim golden glow as it floats above her half lidded golden eyes. Her long mane with random braids scattered throughout begins in a deep green that pails as it stretches to her fetlocks. The area beneath her eyes resembles running mascara despite a lack of dampness and irregardless of her mood. Her tail sticks out behind her with hair seemingly draped over it and small patch of mushrooms that have taken up residence on her flank. Her overall appearance would make for a pitiful sight to anyone who doesn’t know her.

"No Salina I’m fine, it’s just someone looking for me… On a completely unrelated note, don't you think it’s time the islands expand their tourism sector?”

Sigh* “Anarchy you have that look again. I don’t suppose you would be willing to just once decide to come clean with me from the outset.”

“Which look?”

“You’re ‘teach the Sheep shadow magic look’™. Granted I trust your discussions regardless of whether or not you decide to tell me,” Salina paused for a moment, “Nun the less, It would be nice to have a heads up when you engage in your Shenanigans of a certain scale. What are you up too?”

“Nothing, I’ve got no clue what you’re talking about.” The word Victory appeared on Salina’s portion of the screen signifying her twelfth straight win.

Sigh* Salina turned to look at her host, “I’ll let everyone know you’re up to something again. And I suggest you get more practice, beating you in COD is too easy.”

Anarchy looked around the game room they occupied considering how much privacy the conversation he was about to start should be given. The room is rather large, and filled with couches, coffee tables, TVs, and consoles of all types as well as several pool tables. The floor is covered with a fluffy royal blue carpet and there are several fully stocked snack bars interspersed throughout the room. The room was sparsely populated with several people. There is a group of five young Thestrals playing some sort of racing game, there are also several Sheep, Ponies, and Zebras scattered throughout the room mining their own business as well as… a Siren? ‘When did Acapella get here,’ thought Anarchy. Returning to his current conversation he turned back to Salina who was looking at him patiently. “Well considering the implications of what I intend to do I suppose it’s only right I let you know what’s happening.” Salina Gave anarchy a patient look. “Well as it turns out someone with a similar energy signature to someone I know has found their way to this dimension carrying something I gave to a good friend.” Salina remained silent. “And they seemed to have appeared in” Anarchy paused to focus on his senses, “Equestria, And judging by the magical fluxuations I’m sensing in their general area they seem to have run afoul of the ‘moon princess.’”

Salina remained silent expecting anarchy to continue when he failed to do so she spoke. “I understand the situation, but you failed to mention what it is you intend to do about it.”

“Kunai and I are going to find her-”

“And bring her back here” Salina Finished.

“That’s about it, yes.”

“While your plan is simple I have no doubt that once news of a second draconequus spreads, so will tension from fear of another 'Discord'. The appearance of a third may start conspiracies of an invasion or something equally ludicrous. I suggest you consider sending members of the Enclave to retrieve her.”

“I generally don’t care what conspiracies the equestrians want to cook up, have you read any of the newspapers from that country? The rumour mill has to be government funded for them to believe the shit they print? I’m honestly surprised none of the companies have gone bankrupt from the amount of lawsuits they should be getting. I doubt one more will cause anything they won’t forget in a week.”

“Be that as it may, your first question implies that you expect your appearance in Equestria to bring attention to The Storm Front Islands TM. If that is the case do you think it is the best idea to have the country debut in such a manner?”

Anarchy considered her words, he certainly was not going to leave this person to the equestrians, but going there himself would cause problems, granted it wouldn’t be anything he couldn’t handle and in all honesty Storm Front wouldn’t be negatively affected in any substantial way, however it would also spark an interest in the islands and a negative first image wouldn’t do any good, but by that logic neither would sending a group of the country’s most highly trained military group into foreign territory to retrieve someone that is most likely a fugitive. ‘The political ramifications of running afoul of one of the most powerful and most prosperous countries in the world aren’t pretty, if we were expecting it and prepared then it wouldn’t be a problem, and while anyone who would want to complain will first need to navigate several hundred kilometres of pirate infested waters (Perfectly possible) And then navigate their way through a Magically feed and maintained hurricane that spans several hundred kilometres and never gets any weaker than category three, and that’s not to mention the creatures that inhabit the region or the fact that thanks to my intervention to say The Storm Front Islands are more advanced both magically and technologically that rest of the world would be like saying Tartarus Is a bad neighborhood, but. Sigh* let's compromise.’

“I'm not sure about sending the Enclave, not alone at least.” Anarchy finally replied,

Salina considered what he said. “Hmm I suppose sending only the enclave would give the wrong impression. Let’s send a few enclave agents as well as a diplomatic party.”

“I at least want Kunai to go too, things will go much smoother with her there. But this will take more time than I’m willing to wait.”

Salina Stood from her seat, “I will get things started on the political end, you can organise the transportation and select the ones you will be sending, PM me when you’re done and I will turn things over to you from wherever I leave off.”

“You know that we can do all that from here right?” Anarchy asked.

“Yes we could, but us showing up in person and overseeing the matter even though we will only be standing and waiting for them to do there jobs will impress upon the people you are dealing with the urgency of the matter at hand. An email is seen as an official but often not necessarily time sensitive method of communication, and while I am aware that you are a master of building Skyscrapers from your couch it is always good to be seen.”

“… I suppose, I see your point,” Anarchy stood and turned to leave with Salina at his side, “sorting out the political aspects of this endeavour is sure to take the most time anyway, Sigh* let's go to Night Phoenix City then, I’ll begin the process of selecting possible candidates for our diplomatic party on the way, Just let me Call Kunai.” Anarchy mentally called out to his agent through the link they shared explaining the situation and asking her to accompany the diplomatic party to Equestria. Whit his mental conversation complete in a fraction of a second Anarchy and Salina traversed their way toward the Elevator to the warp gate on the ground floor, Passing residence and the occasional staff all the way. Along the way, Anarchy noticed his seneschal and long-time friend Lesa. “Salina, go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” Before she could respond Anarchy seemed to meld into the surroundings. With a grin on his invisible face anarchy silently walked up behind Lesa and-

“Good evening Lord Anarchy,” Was detected before anything else.

Anarchy chuckled, “Good evening Lesa. So how did you notice me this time?”

Lesa turned to Anarchy, “Your Magical signature suddenly disappeared so I waited a few seconds and hoped for the best.” Lesa is a sheep coated in white fur with the exception of her face and the lower half of her legs which are black. She is often seen wearing a yellow bow around her neck. Her green eyes are highlighted by her pink eyeshadow and her horns curve around her ears.

Anarchy chuckled “You know that won’t work twice, but it’s good to see you’re doing better, how do you feel by the way?”

“Oh I feel perfectly fine, it was just a bruise after all.”

Anarchy looked at her for moment before shaking his head, “When I grow up I hope I’m as strong as you to call two sprained ankles, a broken leg, two dislocated shoulders, three broken ribs, and a punctured lung ‘just a bruise’, and I still think you should have taken more time off work. Come to think of it i still haven’t heard how it happened.” Anarchy knew exactly what happened.

Lesa sheepishly (no pun intended) rubbed the neck of her neck "Oh it’s a bit embarrassing actually; I may have slipped on the stairs in the early morning.” No she didn’t.

“Well I'm just glad you’re ok, I assume any issues were dealt with?”

“But of course, I don’t think any more problems will arise from that little incident.”

“Good to here, Speaking of problems, I will be in the capital for a few days, a week or two at most so the place is all yours, When I return I’ll be bringing a guest, it seems a friend is… around.”

“Oh, well sure thing, I will make the necessary accommodations.”

“Thanks Lesa, you know how to contact me if anything pops up.” With a wave Anarchy left to meet Salina and Kunai.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Ten Days later

North Luna Ocean, Equestria

POV:~~Unoriginal black and red Alicorn OC~~ ~~Random... Pony? No~~ Griffon. That’s right a Griffin, Wanna fight about it!?

{Insert Griffin sounding name here} was making her third flight out to her cloud marker. She didn't make the cut for the Olympics equestrian games last season but this season. this season was going to be hers. 'I'm not going to lose out to that... that... that freak of a looser that calls himself an excuse for a griffin.' She began to pump her wings harder in her rage, soaring over the sea to her marker she started to forgo pacing for speed.

'Don't worry you overgrown shit stane-' Her train of thought was cut off when she felt an immense force gathering around her causing her to falter and go into a tumble catching herself soon after. "What the buck!?" She vocalised in time to notice the clouds swirling around her. The ambient magic of the clouds completely changed in seconds, going from the equestrian standard of 'sit here' and 'don't move' to wild and powerful yet immensely patient and controlled. Sensing the danger, i.e the not so subtle cloud reformation centered around her, she made what she thought to be a suicidal effort to dive for the clouds. Well that's what she intended to do anyway. instead she hovered there mouth agape staring into the golden light that started to stream from the opening in the sky created by now black clouds.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

On the shores of Vanhoover

Ponies watched as the heavens seemed to open with the purpose of judgment, to either admit a lone Griffin beyond the Pearly Gates of Heaven, or to deliver onto her the appropriate punishment for a life of sin and cast her into the depths of Tartarus. The sudden change in magic and weather out at sea caught the attention of every Unicorn and Pegasus near the shore which intern drew more and more attention to the lone Griffin chosen for divine judgment. Eventually the entire district was watching with bated breath, waiting for the verdict that would decide the faith of one foolish Griffin unlucky enough to be caught in the machinations of the divine. A few minutes into her judgment the entire city was aware of the miracle happening off their very own shores as reporters of all makes and models flock to the beach. The Hearts of every being in the city skipped a beat as the verdict was made visible. An angel came down from the heavens, clad in silvery armor the divine being descended in a circle to deliver the verdict of the Eternal Heard, the tips of its armor clad wings each leaving behind a white trail of some sort.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

POV: Back with our unnamed Griffin

She had been staring into the sky for a few minutes now, the magic she felt made her want to flee and come closer, to hide from its might and revel in its power, Tears streamed down her eyes as she awaited her faith in this torrent of magic that made her feel truly free, it was as though she had just discovered the true freedom of flight, as though she had lived her entire life thinking a gilded cage was all that existed. That ignorance was stripped away and a glimpse of what lie beyond the bars of her prison was made clear to her. For the first time in her life she knew. She knew what it truly meant to be a griffin. Freedom, true freedom, she could feel it; she could feel it streaming from the heavens. However her revelry was cut short when an equine being clad head to hoof in silvery armour circled down to meet her. As the being hovered before her she took in the details of its armour, it seemed to be comprised of metal bent and stretched like form fitting fabric on its wearer, further examination revealed a Golden vizier of the same hexagonal pattern covering the being's eyes, Even its ears and individual feathers were armoured. Catching movement she Looked towards the beings flank and noticed ‘A scorpion tail!?’ completing her examination in seconds she noticed the being was talking to her in the voice of a young stallion in his early to mid-twenties.

“Mam are you hurt? Can you understand me.”

“Yyyy” she paused for a moment to collect herself, clearing her suddenly very dry throat in the process. “Yea I'm ok, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You’re crying.”

She lifted her talons to her face, and surely enough she had obviously been streaming tears, wiping them away she spoke again. “It’s ok just… I just realised something is all.” She couldn’t get a read on his emotions through the vizier but he nodded regardless.

“Ok then, in that case, I don’t mean to be rude but would you mind moving from under the vortex? The light to be more specific.”

“Um, Sure ok.” She sniffed and wiped her eyes again before flying off to the side. It was at that point she realised the extent of her fatigue as she staggered in the air, she was surprised to find herself being supported by a steady and unyielding hoof. When she turned she found her armoured acquaintance helping her to the side. Had this been any other situation with any other creature, the legendary pride of griffons would have demanded she wrench herself away from this being and chew him out, but in this instance, she was humbled by the power she could feel from the contact alone, while there was no magic she could feel, she could feel the strength and power expertly controlled by this creature, her instincts were torn between telling her to flee and to be at ease, but her mind was too frazzled to make heads or tails of it all she just allowed him to help her to the side.

“Are you sure that you are ok?”

“Actually I might need some help getting back to the beach.” ‘and my apartment and my be-‘ She cut of those thoughts, it wasn’t the time for that.

Before she could properly berate herself, they passed the threshold and she could feel the magic around her reach a peak. Looking behind her she could see bars of light shoot down to the ocean below to form a pure white ship. “We’re heading to the docs, so you can land on the yacht if you feel comfortable and we will be on our waY in a few minutes.” ‘that’s a yacht!? It's the size of a trade ship.’ she thought.

"Um y-yeah that sounds good” she stammered out. They immediately floated down to the yacht. Upon touching down on the uppermost deck of the yacht she was confronted by four other beings two of which were in the same armour as her acquaintance. Turning to him she just noticed that he was about a half head taller than her and seemingly just looking at the rest of them. Turning back to the rest she appraised their differences. One was an earth pony mare almost as tall as the pony standing beside her. The pony's coat was a pure white, and her straight mane and tail were both a shiny black with a bright red ribbon tied into a bow at the base of each. A red bowtie adorned her neck, and her cutie mark depicts a red heart with filigree extending from both sides. All in all… she was beautiful despite her basic colour scheme, but the most captivating thing about her were her intense eyes, they were a bright red with slitted pupils. Beside her was a sheep with limp white fur across her body, the exception being her legs and her face which are black, she has two yellow horns that curve around her ears and gentle blue green eyes.

Turning to the other two armour clad beings, one was obviously a unicorn by the armour encased horn on her head, she knew it was a female from the body shape and the angles her face and muzzle took, the last one stood devoid of wings and horn indicating an earth pony, female by the looks of it. Her looking around seemed to snap them out of whatever trance they were in and she was greeted by the sheep who introduced herself as Leccy Penumbra. ‘I’ll just call her Leccy, I’m not even going to try and pronounce her last name.’ she thought. The white earth pony introduced herself as Michelle Crescent, ‘She seems nice I guess.’ Suddenly all three of the armoured ponies stand at attention before saluting in the direction of the entrance leading into the yacht, expecting the captain she turned in the direction they were saluting. Her train of thought encountered a bit of a hiccup when a strange little creature no taller than her chest came strolling out of the ship like it owned the place before nodding at the armoured ponies who walked off to different parts of the ship. It was bipedal with a white body. It had thin arms and legs that widen toward the end and there was a wispy extension trailing off the back of its feet, giving the impression of a nightgown or oversized dress. Most of its face was covered by blue hair that resembles a bowl cut, hiding a pair of orange-red eyes. There are two flat, orange horns on top of its head, a larger one toward the front and a smaller one toward the back. It was wearing an orange-red choker with yellow a Celtic design, a shiny red gem in the center, and all sorts of weird markings that seemed to be constantly changing and moving. Then it smiled and waved at her. She just stared. Leccy introduced it-her as Lady Kunai and invited her inside to get a drink.

Trying not to stare at the creature that was apparently in charge of the yacht or at least its guards she took them up on their offer. When she entered the ship's helm she took notice of the captain. He was your typical zebra stallion, black and white stripes with some particularly wavy looking stripes on his flanks. She could feel the vessel lurch into movement. When she entered the ship she expected to be met with luxury what she saw was what her vocabulary could only describe as opulence. There were no piles of treasure, expensive looking paintings or anything she would associate with riches when she reached the lounge, the place was actually quite minimalistic, but that seemed to only highlight the opulence of the sitting room. There were two large glass windows on each side of the room and several built-in tables and padded benches on both sides of the room. After being invited to sit and being given a glass of water she sat there in awkward silence switching her gaze between the Earth Pony, Sheep and… 'whatever that is' “Um I just realised I didn’t tell you my name” Thinking back on the matter she realised that after they had been introduced she just stood there and stared at them. ‘They must think there’s something wrong with me.’ She thought in embarrassment while doing a relatively good job of hiding it. “My name is Fabia it’s nice to meet you all.” She received several responses including a frankly adorable yet potentially annoying “Ralts” from the little creature that seemed to call the shots. ‘Oooooookkkkkkkkk.’ And with that the silence descended again.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

On the beaches of Vanhoover

“THE ANGELS HAVE DESCENDED TO CLEANSE THE WORLD OF SINNERS AND ALL EVIL!!!” Shouted a random mare on a soapbox, “REPENT!!! REPENT!!! SO THAT YOUR SOUL MAY BE SPARED FROM THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS!!!”

The docks, beach, skies, and shores of Vanhover were congested with its residents as those who hadn’t fled for the safety of their homes gathered to see for themselves what kind of creatures had allegedly descended from the sky. Police tried to maintain order while the meager dozen or so royal guards stationed in the city more for formality than anything else hurriedly made their way to the edge of the docks spears at the ready and swords at their sides to address the cause of the city wide disturbance with the chief of police and mayor hot on their heels. They could easily see the white vessel that was easily the size of a schooner and twice as tall.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

POV?

Aboard the luxury yacht
As the captain brought the white vessel closer to the docks he noticed several Pegasi clad in golden armour take to the sky in the direction of the vessel, in response he reached for the intercom and checked the time before speaking in a deep smooth voice. “Good morning passengers, we seem to have a few royal guards flying our way, let’s make a good impression shall we.”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Kunai was observing the Griffon sitting across from her. ‘She looks like the athletic type,’ Her coat and talons are a light blue grey while the tip of her tail and her plumage sported a darker shade of the same color. Her golden eyes are constantly moving about the room bot they keep making their way back to the same place. Kunai didn’t need to be empathic to tell how anxious she happened to be. But what her senses did tell her spoke volumes, ‘So much wonder and amazement tempered with wariness, tension, and a touch of fear and topped off with a sprinkle of… lust? Fabia jumped and franticly looked around when she heard the captain’s voice over the intercom. ‘Well this should be fun.’ Kunai established a mental link with the Enclave soldiers aboard the vessel. “I want one of you on each deck, if the ones approaching land on your assigned deck tell them that this is a diplomatic envoy to Equestria and we will be with them momentarily. The rest of you are on standby to accompany us to the capital, Torrid will be in charge of that group. The group remaining with the vessel are deferring to whoever has the highest ranking however remember that this is the captain's ship. As for interaction with the locals you are to be friendly to any that approach but do not allow anyone aboard without the captain’s permission. If anything major comes up or you just want to chat you can contact me though.” After receiving affirmative responses to her orders Kunai turned her attention to Leccy “Well, we should probably go greet our other guests.”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Sargent Sharp Eyes woke up this morning expecting it to be another standard morning in another standard precinct in another standard city of Equestria. He had just been transferred from the Manehattan precinct because the cunt he was forced to call a police chief had it out for him because he arrested her daughter for indecent conduct and disturbing the peace. That combined with the fact that he was born a Pegasus, that racist bitch had it out for him ever since he became a Sergeant. Now he’s been demoted and forced to move away from his home and work his way up from the bottom of the ranks again. just when he thought his life couldn’t get any worse reports of a strange ship falling from the sky to land offshore start coming in, on his first week, now him and a few other Pegasi were flying out to the vessel with the Pegasi of what passes for a royal guard regiment in this city.

On approach to the vessel Sharp eyes noticed several figures in full body armour emerge from the vessel and take up position on each deck. “Alright ponies we only get one chance to do this right, there are seven of them that we can see, I want at least two of us in the air for each of them on that ship i'm going to land and try to find out what they want. If they attack we take them down quickly and efficiently understood.”

“Yes sir.” Chorus the other royal guards.

'This isn't good,' thought Sharp Eyes, 'The Royal Guards are taking too aggressive of an approach.'

Salina

Anarchy

Leccy Penumbra

Lesa

Michelle Crescent

Fabia

Kunai
Use your imagination

Author's Note

I woke up in the middle of the night, ran my tongue over my teeth to find them minty fresh and smooth and was instantly inspired to write this chapter. Don’t… don’t ask. Yes i know it’s weird.

Many thanks to my proofreader Hunter Steel for the editing help as well as enthusiasm and feedback on my ideas.

I'm always open to feedback and ideas, wood for the fire and all that fun stuff, though I can’t actually guarantee that I will use any of it in the story but you will most likely inspire me to nonetheless. I also welcome constructive criticism.

This chapter was brought to you by this song

Salina Drawn by FredsonV

Anarchy Drawn by kraytt-05

Lesa Drawn by Raisenka

Michelle Crescent Drawn by itsIzzyBel

Leccy Penumbra Uploaded by Alushee

Fabia by Left2Fail

4 Chapter The Fourth What To Do

Proofread by Hunter Steel

Chapter The Fourth What To Do

“Princess Celestia we just received reports of the situation in Vanhoover,” Reported Raven as she trotted alongside her sovereign.

“Very good Miss Raven, you can enlighten me on the way there.”

“Of course Princess.” Raven thought over how to present some of the more interesting parts of the reports she received from the royal guards, stationed in Vanhoover before sighing.

“Is something the matter Raven?”

Raven stiffened “n-no your Majesty.” Celestia gave her a patient smile, “w-well yes, but it can wait until we arrive at the chariot.” Celestia gave her a nod. Letting out a mental sigh Raven's mind drifted back to the situation at hoof. ‘First, a mysterious creature shows up in the Everfree Forest and attacks the Princess, the bearers of the elements, and even Discord before escaping, now there are diplomats falling from the sky? What next? are we-' Raven's musings was interrupted by the sound of armored shoes hitting stone. They had arrived at the chariot and were surrounded on both sides by guards.”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

A few minutes later

“Now Raven,” Started Celestia, “what is the situation in Vanhoover?”

“Of course Princess, it seems that the ship carrying several diplomats as well as their guards appeared several miles off the shores of Vanhoover by ‘falling from the sky in bars of heavenly golden light.’ There are also reports that a Griffin by the name of Fabia was out there when it happened and she was directly under the vortex of dark clouds that preceded the appearance of the ship-”

“Was she injured?”

“No Princess, one of their guards flew out of the vortex and asked her to move before the ship appeared. She was fatigued from her workout session and a bit shaken up but other than that she is fine.” Celestia smiled and nodded. “After the spectacle, a crowd formed on the beaches and docks, the police arrived soon after to maintain order. There are also several civilian reports of everything from angels to ‘The end times.’ The entire Vanhover guard regiment arrived soon after and several flight capable members of both groups approached the vessel soon after. Tensions were high at first but luckily everything was cleared up smoothly.”

Raven closed the folder she was skimming “I see, is that all?”

“No Princess, they claim to be from a group of islands called Storm Front, they are staying at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel after changing their plans to make their way to Canterlot immediately upon arriving. The reports describe them as rather unique in appearance. Their party consist of an Earth Pony, a Sheep, and a Pegasus who seems to be the head of their party, there is also mention of a strange pet, and reports of their vessel radiating a strange magic upon arrival that has since disappeared, while the ponies don’t seem to have any magic signature at all. That is everything of note Princess.”

“Interesting, thank you Raven, this is bound to be an interesting encounter.”

“…”

“Princess, might I ask a question about the situation at hoof.”

Celestia turned to her assistant and gave an indulging smile. “You may.”

“Well it’s just that, I don’t see why you would take time from your schedule to meet them in Vanhoover when they would have come to Canterlot by themselves.”

“Raven, you have been my assistant for several years now and might have noted how few diplomats visit Equestria, and in the rear case how often is it that they come here solely for the purpose of extending a hoof of friendship? I would like to believe they are here to find a way for our countries to ally in friendship and harmony, but I can’t take the chance if that isn’t the case. In either situation, showing up unexpected will throw them off guard, something I feel is needed in our favour, not to mention the reports of their magic has me slightly concerned.”

“Of course Princess”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

It was dusk when Celestia’s sky chariot arrived at the royal guard outpost in the city. After lowering the sun and boarding another chariot, she departed once again for the Pacific Rim hotel escorted by a group of six royal guards, two of each race. At arrival, on the street the hotel was located on, she took note of a unicorn clad head to hoof in silvery armor swamped by reporters and waiting at the entrance to the hotel. The pony seemed to not acknowledge the throng of reporters trying to get an interview in favour of talking to a young colt enthusiastically asking questions, one Earth Pony mare even seemed to be trying and failing to push the pony for some reason.

When the chariot stopped in front of the hotel and the princess stepped out, those close enough to take notice immediately dropped into a bow starting a chain reaction that suffused the crowd. “Rise my subjects.” Celestia took note that the armored pony did not bow, she wasn’t particularly perturbed quite the opposite, it gave her an idea of the pony’s she would be dealing with. Vaguely noting that the pony was female, she strolled forward to the armor clad being and received a short half bow.

Returning the bow Celestia addressed the guard. “Am I to believe that you are one of the guards of the diplomatic party sent from The Storm Front Islands?

“Yes I am Princess.”

“Very well then, would you mind escorting me to your charges?”

“Of course Princess,” The guard turned and begun to lead the Princess into the lobby, Celestia’s eyes flashing to the scorpion like stinger at the end of the guards tail. “Though only Miss Belladonna is here at the moment.”

Celestia rose a brow at this as she and her escorts followed the guard.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

After a short elevator ride Celestia came upon the penthouse and was ushered inside and seated across from a Pegasus mare named Deathly Belladonna. Accepting her offer of refreshment Celestia begun to analyze everything about the pegasus ‘Pink Lemonade?' thought Celestia 'not what I was expecting, tea is customary for most cultures.’ the pegasus across from her has a coat of pure white while her mane and tail are a blend of orange, gold, and black. Her minor covert feathers are white while her major coverts are golden and her primary and secondary flight feathers are black. Her cutie mark is of golden flowers blossoming on a black vine. Her shining golden eyes locked on to Celestia with a small smile the minute she entered. ‘Foreign diplomats rarely if ever show as much confidence as the pony before her unless they felt they had some sort of ace in the hole.’ After their initial greetings they fell into silence. Seemingly tired of waiting Deathly Belladonna Started. “I suppose I should start by apologizing for the ruckus caused by our arrival, I most certainly did not expect to receive such an… enthusiastic welcoming upon our landing.”

“Yes, I read the reports, falling from the heavens in bars of golden light. However there is no harm done, it even seems soap box sales have gone up this week." Belladonna gave a small nod and took a sip of her drink before she spoke.

“Princess, both of our time is important and budgeted, so I will skip to the meat of the matter as it is.” Celestia’s smile receded slightly at the phrase. “The reason we came to your fine country is quite simple. We are searching for the Draconequus that appeared roughly ten days ago, it's believed that this Draconequus has something of importance.”

“I see, and what would that be?”

“We are as of yet unaware, though that is why the other members of my party have gone to meet with this Draconequus.”

“You know where it is?”

Belladonna’s smile fell a bit at the Princess’s choice of words. “No I do not, Lady Kunai does however, and we believe that she will be able to draw her out. Thus she has gone in search of the Draconequus.”

“And you did not think to get the consent of me or one of the other Princesses before deciding to track a wanted fugitive in our country?” Celestia flared her aura slightly to simulate anger, her expression never changing, while only unicorns would be able to tell exactly what happened, any creature would be able to pick up on the supposed danger. This subtle trick has served to sway negotiations in her favour for centuries. In all likelihood she would be able to convince Deathly Belladonna to help capture the fugitive, from there… we would see.

Belladonna didn’t react beyond a slight flick of her ear before she took a sip of her drink. Belladonna quirked an eyebrow, “Princess I myself wrote several letters addressed to you as recently as seven days ago.”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Kunai, Michelle, and Leccy sat at the steps of a recently burnt out factory of some sort at the north edges of the city. They soaked up the rays of the sunrise and watched the forest beyond the empty plain that marked the edge of the city as the security guards for the multitude of factories along the road made their way to relieve their colleague tasked with night watch. They waited patiently at the edge of Vanhoover for the magical signature of a certain fugitive under pursuit to find their location. Kunai sat between Leccy and Michelle with her chin resting on her hands and her elbows on her knees. She was wearing a pair of headphones with the image of a hydra attacking a pirate ship stencilled onto the housing. Leccy was distracted by the phone floating in front of her and Michelle was smiling and occasionally, waving pleasantly at every person who passed by them. They each had a fully armored guard assigned to them, each sitting on the steps behind and above them. Behind Leccy and Michelle were the Pegasus and Earth Pony from the yacht respectively. Behind Kunai was the imposing sight of a Griffon that stood half a head above his fellow guards. If you thought the ponies were an intimidating sight in their all concealing armor then you would, at best, actively avoid this Griffon, and at worst you would soil yourself and run screaming. The formfitting armor conformed to his talons, claws and beak with the effect of actively reminding you that you’re only sitting a few feet from something perfectly capable of shredding you to tiny bits with minimal effort. Of course that’s the look most griffons go for, that and they tend to enjoy the scorpion tail a bit too much.
Soon enough a small group of security guards and early morning workers had gathered across the street from them. Eventually three stallions, one Unicorn and two Pegasi crossed the street and approached them, Kunai was watching them, Leccy was pretending to ignore them, and Michelle smiled at them. “Good morning.” Started the unicorns who was echoed by his companions. He had a light blue coat and chocolate coloured mane and tail, they were all still dressed in the classic security guard uniform.
“Good morning, how are you today?”
“Ralts.”
“Good morning.”
Came the reply from Michelle, Kunai, and Leccy Respectively.
One of the Pegasi stepped forward. He was white with a green mane and tail.
“Awww~ it’s so adorable, what is it?”
As he reached out his hoof to pet Kunai, the guards, who upon till now were all unnaturally motionless, snapped their heads to him, the motion reminiscent of the unseen horrors that stalk the living from within the darkest shadows, as a result startling all the locals who were watching the exchange. Their visors daring him to make a move. He looked up at the Griffon who’s obscured eyes made no promises, visibly shrunk, and pulled back his hoof with a nervous smile. The Pegasus then drew to the back of the group tail tucked between his legs. Michelle looked at the guards disapprovingly.

“Really you three? You didn’t need to scare him.”

She chided, to which she received no response other that all of them reorienting their heads to stare off into the middle distance.
“I'm not scared.” Piped up he guard, “I'm just… um.” He trailed off into mumbles.

Michelle gave him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry about that, they tend to be a bit overprotective, especially when in unfamiliar surroundings.”
“We were actually curious about that. I heard that you fell from the sky yesterday.” Asked the unicorn.
Michelle nodded. “In a white ship?”
“It’s a yacht actually, but yes.”
“So where did you come from? I’m no expert, but to my knowledge there are no ships like that anywhere in Equestria. Or owned by any of her allies.”
“Oh, we’re from The Storm Front Islands.”
“Storm Front? I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it,”
“I'm not too surprised, most of the countries in the northern hemisphere seem to be isolationist to some extent, though it’s not as prevalent here as it is in some countries.”
“I’m not sure where the northern hemisphere is, but us Equestrians have always been rather friendly with our neighbours.” Said the other Pegasus, he was lazily designed to be full white.
Leccy rose a brow, “Really?” she said disbelievingly. The ponies switched their gazes between her and seemed to be unsure if they should respond to her.
“Yes, really.” Replied the blue unicorn. His eye locking onto the phone floating in front of her. “What is that?”
“It’s a phone.”
“Not sure what that is but ok.”
“How are you doing that? How is it floating? I never heard of sheep doing magic.” asked the Pegasus who seemed to regain some of his bravado.
“Sheep can’t do magic, it's most likely enchanted, but I can’t sense any magic from it though, strange.”
Leccy quirked a brow and had her response cut off by Michelle. “What do you mean,” she asked with foe ignorance, “of course she is the one levitating it, as for why you can’t sense the magic, ours is a bit different than yours in a few ways, so it takes quite a bit of practice to pick up on it.”
The white Pegasus shook his head. “As security guards we are all trained to sense magic since any unicorn with an invisibility spell could slip past us otherwise, but hiding magic is almost impossible.”
“And we all felt the magic that brought you here despite how far we're from the docks, so I doubt that’s it.”
“Well it’s most likely the frequency then, from what I’ve seen so far nothing in this city has a magical frequency above five hundred or so Hz.”
“Um, i'm not completely sure what you mean by Hz, but the fact remains we can't sense anything from her.”

Michele smiled as the guards ears perked up before falling flat to their skulls as there senses picked up a magical signature that would be best described as a wild lightning storm raging at sea. “Can you sense it now?” She inquired.

“What is that?” Questioned the unicorn.

“That's my magical signature, I just lowered the frequency to something you could sense.” Replied Leccy as the feeling slowly faded away to leave the three guards overflowing with questions.

Kunai suddenly stood up and was shadowed by her guard as she started to make her way toward the other side of the street before telepathically telling her guards and companions “We should be able to see them soon.” The three ponies gave the griffon following the little creature a wide berth as he accompanied her across the road. The group across the road that had grown slightly seemed to tense as the armored griffon stood and made to approached them following his charge. The other four were quick to follow in their wake.

“It looks like there here, it would probably be best if you left, I don't know how dangerous things will get.” Michelle advised the three stallions.

“What? wait, what’s happening?” Michele just smiled at them as she passed by.

The group across the street seemed about to panic despite standing their ground as Kunai and her entourage quickly made their way past them and begun moving across the grassy plane. From the forest across the plane burst a female Draconequus, fur and mane filthy and matted. She was on all fours and sprinting directly toward the two groups. When she was about half way across the plane she had slowed to a crawl as the forms of Luna and Discord burst from the forest in hot pursuit. At this point Kunai was halfway to her. Deciding to save time Discord snapped his fingers teleporting himself and Luna a few feet from the downed Draconequus. Upon turning to see her pursuers she quickly rolled to her feet dodging Luna’s initial magical blast. Only to be nailed in the side by a blast of magic from Discord which was followed up by a quick concussive blast from Luna that sent her skidding to a stop several feet away. Bleeding and disoriented she attempted to raise a crystalline barrier between her and her encroaching assailants. However her barrier was easily shattered with a swipe of discords talons. Luna reared up with the intent to bring down her hooves on her head but found her hooves blocked by a transparent blue barrier made of many small hexagons. Luna then found herself grabbed around the barrel and teleported backwards. Thinking she was under assault she quickly charged her horn only to find her magic extinguished by two talons. Twisting her head around she found she was clutched under Discord's arm, the Draconequus in question apprehensively fixated on something to their front. Looking forward while trying to squirm free from Discord’s grasp, she beheld six figures approaching their downed fugitive, three of whom adorned armor she has no familiarity with, while the three who were unarmored were the strangest combination of beings she had encountered in quite a while, a Sheep, an Earth Pony, and what looks like one of Discord’s creations. Upon reaching the Draconequus the strange creature seemed to say something before glitching and disappearing with the fugitive, while the remaining five, their stride unbroken, continued forward.

Luna was aware of a snap after which she found herself staring into an empty prison cell with her armor replaced with a Vanhoover police department uniform. While looking around she heard a door open to her right, turning to the sound she found Discord dressed in a police Captain's uniform. “Well rookie, looks like you finally caught a break. Five suspects charged with impeding the course of justice might not be the biggest catch we’ve got but it’s enough to get you a promotion from donut mare to errand mare in general, congra-“

“DISCORD WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, THOU HAS ALLOWED THE CRIMINALS TO ESCAPE WITH THE BEAST!!!”

“Geez Luna keep your saddle on you’re going to hurt someone with your shouting one of these days, they're all locked in the cell see.” Discord turned to the cell in question, “… why did you let them out?!" Luna opened her mouth to shout at Discord again only to find it filled with wood flavoured taffy that prevented her shouting. “No you wouldn’t have let them out that’s just silly,” meanwhile Luna was trying and failing to pry the taffy from her mouth with hooves and magic, only succeeding to get her hooves stuck to the taffy and the taffy stuck to the ground when she put her hoof down again. Mumbling to himself Discord started to pace trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. Three minutes later Luna’s front half was properly plastered to the floor and adjacent wall while Discord was examining his teleport spell. “They never came with us, did I not include them in the spell? no no no I wouldn’t make such a novice mistake.”

“MMMMMMMMMMM”

Discord turned to Luna, “Would you stop playing around and help me figure this out.” with a snap of his fingers Luna was free of her confectionary confinement. Turning to Discord with rage in her eyes she was about to use the RCV™ but reconsidered when Discord rose his fingers with an accompanying eyebrow.

Taking a breath Luna grit her teeth and spoke in a not so shouty voice. “Perhaps we should return to where we last saw them, there could yet be clues as to their whereabouts to be gleaned from the location”. In another snap they were back in the opened field, and in the distance they could see the ponies in question walking calmly back to Vanhoover. A flash of light later Luna was standing before them.

Michelle gave a pleasant smile. “Can we help you officer?” Momentarily taken aback Luna looked down to see she was still wearing Discords outfit, while no less than ten feet behind her the small crowd of security guards were watching with interest. Snarling Luna threw the cap to the side and ripped the uniform shirt to tatters before undoing the belt buckles. Michele quickly covered Leccy’s eyes, to which the sheep leant her head to the side to see the spectacle. “My goodness!” hissed Michelle loud enough for the small crowd to hear, “Have you no shame!? Stripping in the streets!!” in that instance Luna froze at the sound of cameras going off as paparazzi seemed to come crawling out of the woodwork to immortalize there princess apparently striping for a small crowd before scuttling off to disappear back into the depths from whence they came. Luna stood in front of them holding a ripped uniform shirt in her magic face beet red as Discord teleported behind the five foreigners to hear ponies commenting on Luna’s 'well toned' and 'athletic' figure. He rose a brow as he noticed the armored Ponies and one Griffon all had what seemed like a splash of dark purple paint with random lines of orange and several other colours mix in but standing out splattered across their once gleaming silver armor. The blemish was slowly receding though, and with it the traces of his magic he could sense in it. Furrowing his brows Discords snapped his talons to turn the griffons armor to wax paper, in contradiction the griffons armor only gained another splash of the strange mix of colours, this one noticeably smaller and receding twice as fast taking the original with it. The griffin turned his head to look at Discord as he repeatedly snap his fingers trying to change the Griffons armor in some way.

Meanwhile Luna was staring at the crowd of Ponies, “THIS ISN’T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!!!” She totally didn’t shout in the RCV™.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

“Disregarding the matter of several missing letters that were supposedly sent to Canterlot Castle for now, from what you have said you were sent here in advance to make reparations to Equestria, her citizens, and the crown for any and all issues that may arise as a result of your attempts to locate and apprehend the creature roaming our countryside.” Celestia had been here all night trying to get a read on this Pegasus, her first impression was that she was a simple mare with pride in herself but after several hours of admittedly pointless discussion she initiated and maintained, her impression of the Pegasus had changed from that of a business mare, to nobel, to warrior, soldier, random cabbage seller, and several others besides that, and while straightforward for the most part the mare was exceedingly polite and patient.
“Within reason.” Replied Belladonna, “though I don’t expect there to be issues bigger than the hubbub we raised upon our arrival.” Belladonna paused mid-sip of her coffee, the earlier beverage having ran out several hours prior. “Hmm it seems they have found her being pursued by Princess Luna and Discord, she seems to be in rather rough shape." Celestia watched in interest as a small holographic display appeared in front of the Pegasus’s left eye displaying text being typed with no corresponding outward movement from the Pegasus before the screen disappeared. "And it seems your sister was caught in a rather… strange position, by several photographers who ‘crawled out of the woodwork’ as it was so eloquently put in the report."

Celestia’s thus far indulging facial expression became neutral. “What has happened to my sister.” She stated more than asked.

“Nothing too serious, it seems that as a result of some shenanigans she was perceived to be have been stripping in public when confronting my fellow diplomats.” Celestia opened her mouth to respond “the report wasn’t very detail oriented,” {yes it was} “However they are on their way here, and you can inquire as to what happened.”

“Might I request that you instruct them to make their way to the Vanhoover Royal guard outpost instead?” Again more of a statement than a request.

“I can, though that raises the question as to why.”

Celestia rose from her seat and begun to make her way to the door. “So that they might turn over the creature to the custody of the crown.”

“That may be an issue seeing as she is no longer with them.” Celestia paused with her back turned and gave a mental sigh. ‘Why must she be difficult’ thought Celestia.

Turning around Celestia responded, “You just said that the creature was found and in your custody.”

“I did say she was found, however I never said she was in our custody despite how true that may be.”

“Very well then, you said that it had something considered important to your country correct? Release it into our custody and if whatever the creature has is deemed safe it will be safely returned to you."

Belladonna took another sip of her coffee before responding. “I'm afraid that is not acceptable your Highness, our orders were to bring her back to Storm Front. This is a part of the reason I was sent to hopefully make reparations, we cannot allow her to stay here under any circumstances, at the same time we do not wish to make enemies with Equestria, we are perfectly aware that what we did could be perceived as an insult to your great country or even as an act of war. Both of which are outcomes that we hope to avoid.”

“In that case you can make reparations by releasing the creature into our custody.” With that Celestia took her leave.

Author's Note

As always Many thanks to my Proofread Hunter Steel for the help that makes this story readable, unlike the scrawlings of a madman he must decipher and translate to modern English in order to bring you this story, as well as his enthusiasm and feedback that help make this story.
So what did you think? I’m curious to know, As always I'm open to feedback and ideas, wood for the fire and all that fun stuff, so comment comment comment. Your comments help satisfy the caged beast that is my muse.
I would also like to apologise for the extra long wait for this chapter. I recently started playing Minecraft, so between the distraction and the fact that I found the time I usually set aside to create new chapters being corrupted by Minecraft logic, it took a while as you can see. I had to take a few days to purge my programing of all Minecraft based corruption without disturbing the regular corruption. It took a little while and someone asking when the next chapter would be out before I finished this one, even though it’s actually my other story they asked about :twilightblush: .

BTW since this image is stuck in my head for some inconceivable reason I thought I would share it.

Deathly Belladonna drawn by Lopoddity

5 The Fifth Chapter With The Number 5

The Fifth Chapter With The Number 5

Proofread by Hunter Steel

Ponyville: Castle of Friendship (Cutiemap/Map/Throne/Table Room)

Spike entered the room to find the main six in their respective thrones along with Starlight who occupied a cushion, and Discord who was occupying his personal throne shoved up against Fluttershy’s. he had been extra clingy with her ever since he got back from Vanhoover, according to Fluttershy something has him worried, though he’s been doing his best to hide it.. “Alright,” Started Twilight “now that everypony is here we can get to business. Yesterday in Vanhoover a ship appeared out of nowhere...”.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

“So let me get this straight,” seethed Rainbow Dash “a bunch a weird ponies with even weirder magic showed up completely out of the blue and ponynapped the monster Discord and Princess Luna were chasing, am I right so far?".

"Um, that’s not exact but it’s a decent summary I suppose," Twilight replied.

"Alright, and after all that, they made fun of Princess Luna and won’t give back the creature they stole”.

“Well those are only some of the more important parts, they also said they were here as diplomats to try and make up for any problems they caused, so I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt in that regard at the least.” Twilight informed.

“Are you kidding me Twilight, we should just bust into their ship and take back the creature before sending them packing, as a matter a fact I’ll fly up to Vanhoover right now and show ‘em that they don't mess with Equestria.” By this point, Rainbow was hovering through the air and shadow boxing imaginary foes.

At the sound of a snap, the image of a Griffon clad in the armour of Stormfront was floating in the center of the room. “It won’t be nearly that simple,” interjected Discord “this is the armour they wear, and from what I was able to deduct, it’s almost completely impervious to magic”. The image of a griffon bowed and took a fighting stance before lunging for Rainbow. She easily flew out of the way but was caught off guard by the image turning on a dime to catch her and cradle her in it’s arms while rocking her and trying to regurgitate food in her face. Disbursing the illusion with a left hook to the face, she glared at Discord who only grinned at the snickers and looks of disgust from their friends.

Ignoring Discord's shenanigans, Twilight continued, “None of the reports from any of the ponies who encountered them said anything about magic proof armour, I think something like that would have been mentioned.”

"So you don’t believe me then.”

"I never said that, I just said it wasn’t in any of the reports".

Adjusting her hat the resident cowpony replied, "Ah Reckon Ah don’t need magic to give them a good bucking".

Sigh* "There’s no need to be so confrontational darling, yes they may have caused some problems but they at least seem willing to try and make up for it, why I’m certain we just need to find the root of the problem. Twilight, maybe we could invite them here to try and find out more about why they're doing this, It might not have been noted or maybe that particular document just isn’t in this folder but, I have been going over the minutes of the several meetings between both Princess Celestia, several Canterlotion diplomats and negotiators, and the Stormfront representatives, and they haven’t been able to find out why they are doing this, primarily because nopony seemed interested in asking. Most of those involved in the negotiations barring the princess and a few individuals just seem to be trying to gain as much as possible from the situation".

"Princess Celestia Asked that question when she first met with one of them named Deathly Belladonna, according to her the draconequus has something important to their country. Hmm, you know what Rarity I think you're right, I’ll write a letter to them inviting them here, maybe we can make some progress with them, if something important to Equestria ended up on their home, I’m pretty sure I would be desperate to get it back." Twilight replied.

"So she stole something from them, humph, well that certainly sounds like something one of them would do, I can only imagine the state their country is in". Discord's reply was accompanied by hovering images of barren wastelands and ponies struggling to seek out a living.

“I really don’t see how having dragon eyes makes her evil, I have dragon eyes and I’m not evil” Spike interjected.

“Nightmare Moon also had slitted pupils and she was evil, besides, you’re a dragon, you’re supposed to have dragon eyes”.

“Are you sure Discord, she didn't seem malicious when we met her in the Everfree”.

“Fluttershy, She punched Discord in the nuts and trapped all of us in a crystal cage, I don’t think we need any more proof it's evil, who knows what it would have done to us if Princess Luna didn’t fly off before she got trapped with us”.

“Rainbow that could have been because she was startled, I mean Discord did teleport behind her and pick her up by her tail”. At Fluttershy’s declaration a look of disbelief and betrayal came across Discord's features. “Um, well, that’s not to say she’s completely free of blame, but I think the whole situation could have been handled a lot better on both our ends.”

“This isn't getting us anywhere,” declared Starlight “while I have to agree with Fluttershy, debating on what could have been is only going to waste time that could be spent solving the issue.”

“I'm writing a letter to Princess Celestia informing her of what we intend to do right now.” replied Twilight.

“So what do we do in the meantime?” Questioned Starlight.

“Well I’ll be in Vanhoover, I need to check up on something.” With a snap crackle and the residual smell of super powered cheese, Discord vanished.

“Ok, so what about the rest of us?”

“I know!” with that declaration Pinkie summoned a box of dominoes from her mane. “I bought this from a white thestral with a brown mark under her eye”.

“Don’t you mean batpony?” corrected Rainbow.

At that Pinkie's expression turned pensive, “Well yea, but don’t let her hear you call her that though, she wasn’t too happy when I did.”

“Um... ok so how do we play?”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

When Princess Celestia sent her response to Twilight’s letter, it was mid-evening, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity had left, and no one had managed to beat Starlight after the first round.

Spike's belch was quickly followed by the sound of a broken wax seal and purple eyes on paper.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I am both happy, proud and somewhat surprised I received your previous letter. I have received several letters from several nobles beseeching me to allow them to handle this issue, some of which I made the mistake of involving. However you are honestly the last pony I expected to receive one such letter from, let alone one so confidently and assertively written, even if the latter aspect wavered several times throughout your correspondence. Regardless you will eventually need to take on more political responsibility, however, this is not how I had intended to give you more exposure to the topic. I realise that you are likely confident in your abilities as a result of your success in befriending the yacks and gaining Equestria a new ally. But understand twilight that taking on this matter is a sink or swim situation not only for your political standing, but quite possibly Equestria as well, as I believe our relations with StormFront will colour how Equestria is perceived to the world as a whole. You have been in a sense neutral as the yacks, while difficult, were seen by almost all of the Canterlot nobility as, and I’m paraphrasing, savages we have nothing to gain or lose from associating with. This was one of the nicer comments I assure you. But understand Twilight, and I cannot stress this enough, this matter has turned out to be far more serious that I had initially thought, Equestria has been somewhat isolated over the last several thousand years, the result of negligence and overconfidence on my part. This has led to much of the rest of the world changing in ways I never thought possible If the Stormfront representatives are anything to go by, all the while we remain ignorant. As a result of this, I and my sister entered negotiations with the StormFront representatives with an unhealthy amount of confidence. Twilight, I have no doubt that the current stalemate will not be able to reach any form of peaceful agreement, as such my student I will allow you to do as you see fit in regards to this issue. Hopefully you will make a better impression and more progress than I and my sister’s team did. There are a few bits of information I must pass on in regards to our visitors to hopefully make the process easier for you. Firstly they are rather direct, which is not to say they are tactless, so you will make the most progress by keeping any frivolities when discussing business to a minimum, only enough to be polite is necessary. Secondly their guards are… unique, and their armour even more so, we have as of yet been unable to determine how many there are as the number and race present at any given time seems to change without notice, in addition they navigate the Canterlot Castle as though they lived here all their life. Twilight I do not need to highlight why this shouldn’t be possible. I am convinced that StormFront has spies in the capital. Third, be careful how you interact with the sheep of the group, Leccy Penumbra. while she is a sheep in body she is not such in mind. She is not particularly easily offended, however treating her as you would a farm animal will gain the ire of her associates and guards, I have seen first-hoof her intelligence and magic, yes magic. My final bit of advice is in regards to the Earth Pony of the group, Michelle Crescent. she has red slitted eyes as a result of her heritage and has received some amount of discrimination as a result, while I will not tell you not to comment on her eyes as she is quite proud of her heritage it is best if we avoid another situation like the one your zebra friend encountered before you arrived in Ponyville. Speaking of which, I am relatively sure there are zebras in their guard as well. Twilight this matter is far more serious than initially thought, and I am ashamed to say that as a result of our ‘negotiations’ the representatives are quite upset and intent on leaving as soon as the Draconequus is in stable enough condition. Do your best my student as I fear I have spoiled a golden opportunity. However fret not, for you need only live up to your title and make a few friends.

Remaining optimistic,

Princess Celestia.

Author's Note

What does it say about me that I don’t update until Exams are around the corner.

Anywho, I hate short chapters, NAY, I loathe short chapters, and because of that I endeavour to make my chapters a minimum of 4000 words, you know do onto others and all that stuff. However, I suppose I now see the functional reasons for short chapters, and decided to reduce my word limit for chapters significantly, to like, 1000 words. This will hopefully allow me to get more chapters out more often… hopefully……maybe……… no promises.

Regardless Thanks to my Proofreader Hunter Steel for his help to make this story more palatable.

This chapter was brought to you by Naruto Shippuden Abridged.

6 Chapter Six: Seaside Drama

Chapter Six: Seaside Drama

A nondescript forest rushes by as a battered and broken Draconequus flees her pursuers through the trees stretching up and up, no signs of a canopy visible. ‘I have to find him.’ Hooves and Paws collide rhythmically with the thought of a forest floor in an attempt to aid escape, wings flapping occasionally to provide extra speed and agility where needed. ‘I need to escape, where are you?’. Nothing moves but something shifted and as if realizing the pointlessness of their endeavor, her limbs left her behind as they scurried off to the perceived safety of freshly sprouted underbrush leaving her to squirm helplessly on the ground as two silhouettes approach. One tall and asymmetrical, the other shorter with wings and a horn that seemed to snap everything into sharp focus, the inky shadows flowing down her body and bubbling at her hooves to reveal the dark blue alicorn beneath. Immediately the surroundings seem to blur and shiver unnaturally, seconds later the tall silhouette peels away to reveal acorns that descend up into the sky. “So” Begun the blue alicorn, “Here we are again, however, this time there will be no aid for you. Now beast tell me what have you taken from Stormfront and what was your intent upon entering Equestria”.

‘What do you want from me!!!’ Responded the dreamer in a blind panic as she tried to move away with her limbless body. ‘Just go away!!! Leave me a-’

“SILENCE!”.

Freezing in terror she turned back to find the being towering above her and the trees without breaking the unreachable canopy.

“YOU WILL ANSWER MY QUESTIONS OR FACE THE WRATH OF-”

“Must you be so loud? You sound like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum”. Came a voice soothing, melodic, and flowing like liquid silk made by the divine.

“W-what?”. Luna faltered in her monologue, returning her to ‘normal’. “Who goes there, how have you entered my domain?”.

“Your domain? Strange, what right do you have to claim the mind of an adolescent as yours?”.

“Do not waste my time creature, I refer to the dreamscape”.

“You use your perceived dominion over dreams to haunt those who sleep? Shameful”. With those words a creature appeared between Luna and the downed Draconequus. Startled, Luna took an unconscious step back. Before her stood a bipedal humanoid creature whose body resembled a flowing dress that stopped a few inches above her knees. Most of its body was white but its hair and arms were a light blue. Its hair curled over its face and down the sides of its head, and behind its piercing orange-red eyes were short white spikes resembling a masquerade mask. It was wearing an orange-red choker with a yellow Celtic design and a shiny red gem in the center with a myriad of a constantly changing and moving symbol. It had long arms with three fingers on each hand and slender white legs. An orange-red, fin-like protrusion extends from its chest and a shorter, more rounded one extended from its back. A band of light blue on its chest extended to the center of the front protrusion and connects to its sleeve-like arms. Needless to say, it was a strange looking creature that inexplicably reminded her of the one that teleported away with the Draconequusin the fields bordering Vanhoover.

Catching herself Luna addressed the intruder. “What is your purpose here creature?”.

“I could ask the same of you. I would certainly hope you have sufficient reason to be causing heart palpitations in a severely injured person with your induced night terrors”.

“That thing,” Luna jabbed a hoof at the prone Draconequus, “is no person, it is a beast that must be put down for the good of all”.

The creature clasped its hands before itself and seemed to consider her words before making an inquiry, tone innocently inquisitive. “And why is that”?

“You defend that thing and yet you know not what it is. It is a breed of Draconequus known to be especially malicious and destructive, traveling between worlds, their only intent to see them burnt to the ground. That thing must be-”

“Ah, I see now, blatant racism on the part of the one you call… Discord, I believe, I am assuming he is the one who told you of this threat”. She shook her head “I would not have foreseen such a thing happening, though I suppose I should not be surprised. It was always a possibility, only certain people choose to completely isolate themselves from their kind. Regardless I must request you cease and desist immediately, her heartbeat is only just returning to normal and I would rather not see her condition become any more complicated, injured Draconequus are extremely hard and dangerous to care for”.

Luna stomped her hoof in agitation “Did you not hear a word of what I said? That beast-”

“I heard your explanation quite clearly, and I understand your position, that said I highly suggest you do some further investigation into the nature of our host, especially since you have been manipulated into attacking an adolescent under false pretenses. I will ask only once more that you leave her be.”

“You have no power here creature, and you will not stop me from safeguarding my subjects”. As she spoke Luna rose into the air, her front hooves rose into the sky as her eyes burnt with inner power and her mane swirled in a non-existent maelstrom. Calling upon her power she began to reshape the dreamscape and eject the interloper...
She remained like that for several seconds, then five more, eyes still blazing white as waves of magic cascading from her horn she glanced around to note nothing had changed, “What is-” She was interrupted by a polite cough.

“Are you quite done”?

Blinking her eyes to normal she drifted to the ground as she spoke in bafflement and agitation.

“What, but how, this is my domain”, now glaring at the creature in trepidation she demanded,

“How art thou negating mine efforts!?!?”

“Princess Luna, I would much rather this not escalate to violence but if you persist along this path I will be forced to inflict enough trauma on you to force you from this dreamscape”.

Princess Luna balked at the thinly veiled threat before stealing her confidence. “My mind is a centuries-old and warded against intrusions of all kinds, do you truly believe that you will be able to so easily invade my thoughts”?

The being before her stood, still gazing into her eyes, Luna gave a triumphant smirk as the creature closed its eyes and sighed. “Very well then”. With no time to reply Luna was treated to the alien sensation of something clasping around her consciousness before her existence exploded into searing agony highlighted by the sensation of razors slicing through parchment. She was dimly aware of somepony releasing tortured screams to rival that of a banshee. As the pain begun to ebb away she realized she was the one screaming her throat raw. In an act of defiance, she cut off her screams with a pained whimper. She was dimly aware of the fact she shouldn’t be able to get a hoarse throat in a dream as she clutched her cranium. ‘What happened’? she thought.’ how was she here, she had only just found her way around whatever wards the Stormfront ship had in place, ‘what happened’ she thought, ‘wait I can remember cornering the beast, then… that creature’. Instantly Luna’s head snapped up, keeping the creature in her sights and one hoof to her thrumming incorporeal skull she stood and menaced the creature.

“What hast thou done to me”!? She queried fear and rage warring for supremacy.

“I carried through on my warning, you should still be able to remember our conversation. I did not shear way much of your mind, only enough to affect your very recent memory, though I must warn you that if you refuse to leave I will be forced to continue removing more, eventually it will begin to affect your body and motor function, too much and you will be rendered a vegetable assuming you do not succumb to the pain first, this is my final warning before I start removing successively larger and more painful pieces. Leave, and do not return”. Her statement was punctuated with the clasping sensation and blossoming agony that signified the severing of bits of her mind and with it the memory of the series of events leading up to her conversation with the strange being. Unable to maintain her connection Luna vanished from the dream realm.

At that, the creature turned its head to address the Draconequus. “I apologize for intruding upon your dreams, however, I could not allow that miscreant to continue tormenting you, otherwise, you might not have survived the night. Your condition is rather serious”.

‘Who are you and what do you want’? Queried the dreamer.

“My name is Kunai, and I believe you were searching for the person who convinced me to come and help you”.

‘Kunai so you're one of his agents right? The Kirlia’.

“Actually I’m a Gardevoir now, but I can switch between my evolutions at will, And just to be clear who are you looking for exactly”?

At this point, the surrounding forest began to silently crystallize and developed millions of buds that bloomed into a myriad of colors. Now there's something you need to understand. Some kinds of Draconequus (Yes there are different types) can naturally (through the interpretation of ambient energies) get a general sense of the personality of those they interact with among other things. Basically, your aura interacts with the surrounding energies and this interaction can be analyzed to tell different things about you in differing levels of detail and accuracy depending on skill, and the first five minutes of interactions, especially if you aren't related or acquainted with anyone they know, will determine their first impression of you on several levels. Of course, there are ways to hide the effect of your aura or skew the results, but if you do and the other person finds out, you can safely consider yourself placed on a watch list by that individual if not outright blacklisted, this, of course, will determine their interaction with you, it all depends. This ability just so happens to extend to agents and heralds assuming they have any. So considering this, I suppose what came next can be forgiven.

Suddenly becoming self-conscious she stood up on her suddenly present legs before attempted to make herself look presentable while trying to bow before catching herself and attempting to curtsies instead before cancelling partway, stumbling toward Kunai in the process and turning it into a walk towards her with a hand extended to offer a handshake followed by her changing her mind on the third step and attempting to bumble out a coherent greeting with an accompanying smile and wave.

Seemingly unphased kunai waited for her to gather herself.

‘I’m looking for Anarchy. Rhapsody said I should stop by if ended up in this area… I’m-’

‘“His daughter, yes I can tell”

‘What? How could you tell’?

“Maybe later,” kunai replied. “Seeing as I’m here, you should know that your physical injuries aren’t healing due to the specific branch of combat spells Discord used on you, that specific branch of spells was designed to kill Draconequus, luckily it seems he wasn't very proficient with the spell so it is possible to reverse the effect. However seeing as the process would involve mixing our magic, as such I have no intent to do something so intrusive without your conscious consent. Alternatively, we could wait for you to stabilize before moving you to Stormfront where there are sufficient facilities to help you without the mixing of our magic”.

Looking scandalized she replied. ‘I… I don't know, can’t you heal me without mixing magic’?

“I would still need to use my magic on you to heal your physical wounds, and Discord’s spell would still be killing you slowly, however, it would stabilize you to the point you would regain consciousness and be able to move around freely allowing us to get you to StormFront much more easily, and with ample time to treat you for that spell in a much less intrusive manner. That is assuming you keep your use of magic to an absolute minimum”.

‘Ok then let's do that’.

Giving a pleasant smile Kunai replied, “Very well I will start healing your physical injuries right now, it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds. And if you wouldn’t mind I would like to talk to you a bit more. You never did tell me your name by the way”.

‘

‘Ok sure, and my name is Pandora’.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

“NGHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Luna's eyes snapped open with ragged screams tearing from her throat, eyes searching fruitlessly for something to relive her torture. Dimly she was aware of something trying to restrain her and somepony calling her name before her vision was encased in gold and everything went black.

When next she awoke she found herself tucked into her bed and the thrumming of her head was replaced with an all over feeling of discomfort and misery. The curtains were open and her sister’s sun high in the sky was poised to stream its unholy light in through the windows to mount an all-out attack against her retinas. ‘This is why I keep the curtain drawn’. she thought as the brightness only amplified her overall feeling of misery, taunting her with its loathsome brightness. Wrenching her eyes closed she attempted to put a hoof to her head but was met with resistance, increasingly vigorous attempts to untangle her limb was unsuccessful but did serve to awaken the second occupant of the room who clung even tighter to her hoof. Tearing her eyes open and braving the onslaught of the sun, her eyes spat pure loathing at the white appendages that so cruelly prevented her from mounting a defense against the dagger-like rays of their local nuclear reactor. Noticing for the first time her haggard sister staring at her in relief her the building irritation about to reach critical mass lessoned somewhat.

Noting her sister’s expression Celestia deduced the cause and lit her horn to close the curtains, disrupting the sun's machinations and casting the room in blessed shadow, and effectively reducing Luna's irritation by a further thirty-five percent. A few moments passed before the verbal stalemate was broken. “Sister… I won’t ask if you are well you're obviously not, and I know you are agitated, but you must tell me what happened.”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Meanwhile in Vanhoover

“Captain he’s back again” came a feminine voice over the radio.

“Sigh* what does he want this time?”.

“By the description, he’s looking for lady Kunai, though he won’t say why.”

“And what did lady Kunai say when you told her he was looking for her”

“I didn’t captain, from what I understand she is performing very delicate magical healing and requires complete concentration, I also understand that she is avoiding him for safety concerns".

“Fine, hold on, I’ll be up in a sec”.

Making his way up through the ship the captain received respectful nods along his way. Emerging on the deck he shook his striped main and made his way starboard where he found several journalists standing a ways back from a Draconequus that had become commonplace around the ship. At first he had tried forcing his way on board, however, he promptly ceased after a particularly close encounter with a fifty caliber anti-magic round from one of the griffons that were assigned to guard duty that day. He hasn’t tried since. While the captain had originally been somewhat concerned about carrying griffon soldiers to what was supposed to be a diplomatic voyage knowing the general short temper of the species, he was now glad he didn’t protest too much. He doubted any of the other races on board would have had the gall to fly after and shoot at a mature Draconequus for pestering them, it certainly made his life easier, though he was sure he would be hearing about it. No doubt any of the other races would have eventually gotten just as… insistent, had he gotten on board and deep enough into the ship. But the collateral would undoubtedly be caused to drink. 'Griffons and their guns, their almost as bad as minotaurs,' the things were too loud for his taste. Especially seeing as the noise caused Lady Kunai to investigate and get spotted by that Draconequus. Now he comes here trying to get her attention.

Taking note of Discord’s discount bouquet of roses, roots and soil included he could only imagine what he was on about this time. Noticing Discord’s slight hesitation the captain turned his head to see one of the on guard griffons giving Discord a pointed stare through her visor. Turning back with an expertly concealed smirk the captain addressed the resident nuisance. “I understand you are looking for someone you believe is onboard this ship? I-“

“Yes I am, she went onboard just over a week ago and hasn’t disembarked since”.

Deciding to see where this would go the captain asked “Who are you talking about exactly? If your-”

“Why good captain I speak of the love of my life.” The reporters and a small group that had slowly gathered closer to better see what at this point had become a scheduled program, as gasp rippled through the small crowd.

“Sure because no one saw that coming.” grumbled the captain deciding to play along. Feigning shock the captain responded. “The love of your life”!? Exclaimed the captain “And is that, a ring?” He said in a conspiratorial tone perfectly loud enough for the whole crowd to hear.

Playing along Discord materialized a Small green box and replied. “But of course, how else would I propose”.

To that the captain replied. “Well, who am I to stand between the true love of two consenting adults, Though I thought for certain the two of you broke it off after she ended chasing and shooting at you last week, I say what did you do to get her so upset at you?”.

“Dear captain you must be mistaken,” Discord replied false confusion, “That feathered fiend was but an overzealous guard that seeks to separate me from my true love“.

Cutting off Discord the captain continues in a guarded tone. “Is that so, that’s not what the rumors going around the vessel, say”. Immediately the captain's tone turned biting. At this point, the entire docks were tuning in and were waiting with bated breath. “From what I heard you’ve been seen with both the lady and her, as you say, overzealous guard, in fact, I heard that your little tussle the other day escalated from a disagreement of a more private nature”. At this the captain somehow managed to acquire an authentic blush that sent the entirety of the peanut gallery Into a tizzy of imagination fuelled fantasies of what happened on this mysterious ship from a faraway land. After giving them a few seconds to stew the captain’s expression grew frigid. “They say diamonds are forever, and that the act of giving a ring is to signify one's, everlasting love. But I don’t believe that anyone who would go behind the back of their supposed true love could even begin to know the meaning of those words. I suggest you leave and never return, not until you realize what anguish you have put both those young ladies through, and have a true understanding of the commitment that love entails.”

“How could you be so heartless she trusted you”! Discord turned around to find that what had started out as a small crowd was now a decent portion of the ponies who worked and lived in the surrounding city. The sky was clogged with Pegasi, the docks and boats were covered in the land-bound races and a considerable amount of the water was taken up by ponies occupying a variety of both commercial and improvised flotation devices. The reprimand had come from a blue Earth Pony mare standing at the railing of a houseboat who was garbed in a robe with her face hidden beneath a mud mask that was disturbed by tear streaks and further ruined when she blew her nose into the main of a Pegasus stallion that strayed too close.

Caught off guard his only response was to try and stutter out an excuse as the mares’ remark sparked a wave of angry muttering thought the crowd.

Remarks of “Heartbreaker” and “unfaithful” washed across the increasingly agitated crowd. Turning back to the yacht Discord found the crew had vanished with the exception of a few armor-clad guards patrolling.

Of course, it was inevitable that some strapping young stallion in the crowd eventually decided to take action on behalf of the mares Discord supposedly wronged with an exclamation of, “Stallions like you give the rest of us a bad name! I say we teach him a lesson about breaking a young mare's heart!”

Kunai's Gardevoir form is inspired by this images drawn by RakkuGuy The only real difference being that Kunai is a shiny Gardevoir, her choker is (as described) far more complex in design, and her legs are about 30% thinner.

Author's Note

I think I went a bit overboard, in the end, turning it into a soap opera but I had fun writing it so you'll just have to deal.

Like, share and comment on all my mistakes.

Thanks again to HunterSteel for Proofreading.

7 Chapter 七: Compensation

Chapter 7: Compensation

Proofread by Hunter Steel

Twilight paced in the entrance to her castle as all seven of her friends watched. Well, except starlight, she was reading a book on intercultural relations. “Ok Twilight this is going to be just like the yacks, they come in, get angry and smash a few things but it will all work out in the end and in a week we'll have new friends who live a couple thousand miles across the ocean right? Right!?! Right!!! So why am I so nervous!?”

“Gee, I don't know Twilight, though if I had to guess I would say it’s probably because these aren't the yacks so you don't actually know anything about them, and thanks to the pressure you're putting yourself through to try and get this just perfect you're stressed and more likely to make mistakes.” Starlight commented in as sarcastic a tone she could manage while still reading before dropping into a more enthusiastic tone for her follow up. “I mean if sheep use magic where they come from can you imagine what else they're capable of? Even if it's just levitation the level of magical development they must have gone through to get to that point must be staggering! Not to mention the historical significance such a thing must have had, to say nothing of their culture.” Oblivious to twilight’s rising anxiety starlight continued. “And diplomats that give the Canterlot nobles and even Princess Celestia and Luna problems?! They must have an amazing amount of political influence among the countries they're affiliated with and an educational system that rivals or even surpasses Celestia's school for gifted unicorns!”

At the last point Twilight paused her induced panic attack to make one thing very clear. “Woah Woah Woah! Don't get ahead of yourself Starlight, Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is hooves down THE best educational institution in Equestria, and is renowned and unrivaled in all the countries we know. Even griffons know it as the egghead capital of Equestria. We don't have any rivals.” She finished in a smug tone.

“That's just it, we don't know anything about StormFront, besides, if I could steal cutie marks, take over a town and fight you to a stalemate on my own with a bit of R&D, some free thinking, and a magic rock, just imagine what an entire civilization could do wi-”

“Hate to cut y'all off Starlight but how exactly does this help us prepare for when they show up? Princess Celestia said they left Canterlot ten minutes ago. Their flyin’ so we got a bit of time but it still ain't much.”

“Applejacks right, it will take them approximately six hours to get here on wing.”

“Not if they have some kind of storm powered technology to make them move really fast. I get the feeling weather magic is going to be a big thing with them.” Cut in Spike.

“Or some awesome new flying techniques that cut their flying time in half!”

“Spike, Rainbow, stop. They don't have any flying techniques or technology to make them faster. Pfff, you're starting to sound like the papers that are calling them angels.”

“Ummm...Twilight?”

“Yes Fluttershy?”

“I think Spike and Rainbow might be right.”

“Fluttershy, not you too!” Turning around, Twilight found Fluttershy Pinkie and Rarity looking through the window toward Canterlot. Moving to the window Twilight saw a V-shaped streak of gold, black and silver barrelling at high speeds toward the town. “Everypony get to the town square and try to keep the town calm. I'm going to try to stop whatever that thing is.”

“Twilight wai-”

Sparing no time Twilight teleported to the edge of town and directly in the path of the flying object before erecting a shield to block the projectile. In the meantime, she used the time she had to reinforce her magical barrier and examine the projectile as best she could. Being that she only had approximately 3 seconds all she could glean was that there was lightning circling it, whatever it was. Then her eyes shut, bracing for the impact. She could feel a powerful gust of wind slam ineffectively into her shield followed by the unmistakable sound of a sonic boom and the constant crackling of stored lightning. Fearing that the object missed her shield her eyes snapped open as her head twisted around so quickly it made an audible crack. Clutching her now aching neck she examined the town to find a group of curious (and in Some instances awestruck) villagers looking up at her. Momentarily forgetting the pain assailing her neck she twisted around again eliciting another crack, a yelp, and a stifled squeal when she found a pegasus with an ethereally flowing mane of black and gold-ringed by dancing lightning hurdling towards her. As the pegasus slowed down significantly in her approach, golden eyes locked with lavender orbs and Twilight found herself short of words as she took particular notice of the six silver armored beings of various winged races flanking the pegasus in a sharp V formation. At this, she instantly deduced that the Pegasus was one of the delegates that were supposed to arrive in a few hours.

‘Here! Now!! Hovering in front of me with her wings extended but not flapping?!?!?!

Twilight's mouth dropped open, and she didn't regain her senses until her wing flaps slowed down causing her to lose altitude. Catching herself she noticed the delegates descending with her. Upon touching down twilight attempted to make up for her earlier stumble by putting on a smile and giving the delegates the biggest Ponyville welcome she could manage under the circumstances.

“Hello, you must be miss Deathly Belladonna! I am Princess Twilight Sparkle and I would like to officially welcome you to Ponyville. Sorry about the shield, I was told you wouldn't be arriving for a few hours, and when I saw you and your guards racing toward the town I was worried something bad was happening.” Twilight said as she dispelled her shield and walked up to the foreign delicate to shake her hoof, all the while trying to figure out how her mane worked, running through hypothetical spells, and potion she believes could cause that effect, ‘it must be for intimidation’ she thought. As even with her kind smile she was still very intimidating. ‘How bad did the negotiations go for her to think something like this was necessary’. Or at least that is what would have happened if the lightning coursing through her mane didn't decide to arch toward the ground like it was being poured into a mold. It began to take on the shape of a sheep and when finished, there stood another of the delegates, the one Twilight thought would be the most interesting; Leccy Penumbra, a magical sheep. Who just formed from a ponies hair lightning leaving her mane a bit frizzy but perfectly normal.

“Greetings Princess Twilight Sparkle, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Deathly Belladonna, this is Leccy Penumbra and this is Michelle Crescent.” At her declaration Belladonna gestured first to her ovine companion then to her own shadow, which became pitch black as it began to ripple, from it climbed an earth pony with a coat as white as virgin snow, her mane was eclipsed only by the shadows she climbed from with the casualness of one climbing a particularly mundane set of stairs. “I believe Princess Celestia made you aware that we would be arriving today”.

Twice in one meeting Twilight found herself mimicking a beached fish, as her gaze switched between Michelle, Belladonna, Leccy and the guards who split into groups of two, each group taking up position a few feet behind each of the delegates.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

After a bumpy introduction Twilight decided to invite her newly arrived guests to tour of Ponyville.(Because we all know your favorite book horse is silently having a panic attack, unexpected guest coupled with her ~~obsession~~ senior princess asking her to make nice with them because she messed up? Ha! I'm surprised she isn't passed out from hyperventilating yet.) After walking around the town, all the while relaying to her guest the history of almost everything they passed, Twilight ended in the town square five hours later to find the entirety of the town impatiently waiting to be addressed while Applejack tried to keep them calm and in place. Walking up to Applejack, Twilight asked. “Applejack why is everyone gathered here?”

“Um, Twi y’all are the one who told us to get everypony here.”

Twilight blinked. While giving her tour she had completely forgotten about that. Turning back to the delegates by the side of the stage she took note of something. The guards now consisted of two unicorns a Pegasus a griffin one earth pony and what she was pretty sure was a zebra. She wasn't sure what but something about the last one just said zebra. Thinking quickly she made her way back to her tour group. “Um, hello again, he he. So I thought we would introduce all of you to the town, you know, so every pony knows who you are, that sounds like fun right?”

The three delegates shared looks and a round of noncommittal shrugs were shared before Michelle spoke “I-”

“Right! Why wouldn't you I bet you have a speech and everything he he.”

After they gathered on stage Twilight introduced the delegates to several breeds of muttering ranging from annoyed at being called here for seemingly nothing to indifferent, to bored and the occasional why is a sheep onstage.

Concluding her introduction Twilight invited Michelle to say a few words to the town.

“No thank you, Belladonna, would you like to say, a few...” Looking to her right Michelle found a sheep playing Minecraft. Swiveling her head to the right she found Belladonna talking to an offensively pink earth pony. Stepping up to the podium she greeted the crowd.

“Greetings Ponyville, As your princess has told you my name is Michelle.”

Her exclamation was hardly acknowledged.

“I can see that many of you are a bit disgruntled about being asked to come here, so I'll just say now that nothing I have to say is of particular concern to any of you beyond your government representatives.” At her exclamation she had the attention of almost all of the crowd.

“You are all free to return to what you were doing before coming here, like I said, there's nothing of particular importance to be discussed with you.”

“Gah, Really! I was called here for nothing, well this was a waste of time, I ran out of the house for this, oh no my casserole, i thought the town was under attack, My cabbages.” Were among the responses of the crowd.

Michelle donned a sheepish smile, ears folding back and docking her head slightly.

“Sorry for the inconvenience, but we really don't have anything of particular importance to say to you, sorry. Well,” at this she popped back to her full stature. “unless Princess Twilight has something of note she wished to tell you.” At this, she turned her attention, and subsequently that of the now attentive and disgruntled crowd, toward Twilight.

“Oh, I, um, well… hea...”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

After dismissing the discontented crowd the party of ponies made their way to the local ~~eyesore~~ castle with Rainbow Dash trying to interrogate the guards about their flight training while boasting about the exploits of the wonderbolts, while Pinkie's antics kept Belladonna distracted with a never-ending slew of words as Applejack tried to keep her from drowning in the sea of sentences she seemingly just kept nodding to. Behind them Michelle and Leccy walked side by side, Michelle taking in the town while occasionally tuning into the conversation ahead, all the while Leccy remained distracted by her phone the only sign of her situational awareness being the occasional picture she would snap of whatever caught her interest. Fluttershy had earlier left with the crowd profusely apologizing to everypony who seemed even minutely miffed. All the while Rarity lagged behind trying in vain to calm down a panicked Twilight nervously mumbling to herself.

Once approaching the entrance Twilight steeled her nerves, went through Cadance’s breathing technique and pulled up beside Michelle, Rarity doing the same to Leccy, her eyes eventually being drawn to the phone floating in front of her. “I prepared a few rooms for all of you, should you wish to make use of them.”

Smiling at the purple alicorn Michelle thanked her on behalf of her group.

…

Perking up Twilight sought to get a few simple questions answered. “So Michelle, what do you do for fun in the Storm Front islands and what's it like.”

Turning her head to the shorter lavender alicorn she responded in a conversational tone “Well, just about everything you could Imagine, you'll have to be a bit more specific”.

“Oh, ok then, Well, how big are your larger libraries and how many are there”?

At the question, Rarity saw both Twilight’s questions appear on Leccy’s device followed by a brief and succinct answer she just barely managed to read despite how quickly the sheep entered both questions and received answers before returning to the image of a hoof punching trees.

“Well if its statistics you want I think Rarity would be better able to answer your question”.

Surprised, Rarity asked. “Why would you think I know the answer”?

Michelle shrugged. “Well there are exactly six hundred and twenty-three city libraries, and the larger two hundred of them have anywhere from four hundred million to thirteen hundred billion books. The largest library is at the Floette Academy of Aviation Research on Sudoku Island.

“Actually” Corrected Rarity, “According to Leccy’s device there are only six hundred and twelve city libraries, and the largest library is actually at The Element Aqua Donjon”. Her reply earned her a knowing smile, a seemingly still distracted sheep, and three looks of surprise mixed with bewilderment, with the exception of a Twilight who was frozen a few paces back. Her face that of overload-induced non-comprehension, this intern preempted her collapsing from a combination of anxiety, stress, shock, and a narrowly avoided panic attack.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Applejack pov

Are you sure y'all are ok carrying her, she might not be the heaviest mare but going up all these stairs…”

The neutral smile Michelle had been wearing since her first interaction with Canterlot nobility slid off her face as she stopped and turned to face Applejack. This was the seventh time Applejack had asked her some variant of that question in the last three minutes. “Miss Applejack, are you trying to imply that I am weak? because if that is the case it would save us both a lot of time if you would just speak your mind and stop dancing around the issue.”

“What! no, it's just y’all didn't strike me as the type to do any heavy lifting.” At her exclamation Applejack found her mouth inhabited by a marshmallow hoof.

“I do apologize for my dear friend Applejack, she has a tendency to leave her manners and sense of tact in the orchards at times, especially considering the fact she herself would find it insulting for someone to question her strength.” at this Rarity gave Applejack an expectant glare.

Evicting Rarity’s hoof with one of her own, Applejack spoke. "That's not what I meant, it's just yall were movin’ so slow, and you just made a six-hour trip in ten minutes, I thought y’all were just tired is all, I didn't mean to offend, honest.”

At this Michelle let out a breath. “I apologize, it is just that after spending the past few days being passively insulted by nobles trying to get us to concede large swathes of land over this incident my patience has been worn thin. Add that to the incident with the royal guards that caused Leccy to start ignoring everyone, and we are all at wit's end, honestly we hope to get this over with in a few hours and leave.”

“Well, Twilight’s out for the count, and I don't think she'll be getting up anytime soon.” Interjected Applejack “So ya’ll might end up needing to hold off on that.”

At that Michelle's ear twitched and she turned to an armored Griffon guard causing the rest of the entourage to do the same before looking back to her.

“I see, well it seems that Princess Twilight Sparkle will actually be awake in a few minutes.”

Looking between Michelle and the griffon Rainbow spoke up. “What makes you so sure? And where did she come from? She wasn't here a minute ago.”

“Well let's get to-”

“THE LIBRARY!!!” Twilight eyes tore open. Then she realized where she was and pushed herself off of the ponies back to stumble on her hooves.

“Easy there, Twi it was just a dream.” Comforted Applejack.

Twilight's eyes were locked with Michelle's. “I'm so sorry I didn't mean, that is I was...”

Michelle waved a hoof, “That is of no concern Princess, currently we just wish to get this over with so we can get a bit of rest before returning to the yacht,” at that, she turned to her colleagues who were preoccupied with Leccy’s phone.” Apparently our guest is awake and anxious she will be attacked again.”

“That thing is still here?” Exclaimed Rarity “I thought you all took it back to your home.”

Michelle sighed and spared another glance for Deathly and Leccy. “Can we take this to the conference room, I would like to get situated before we begin negotiations.” Sparing glances for the other delegates, the equestrians present acquiesced and led their party to the map room.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

After getting situated with beverages and extra seating to allow both groups to face each other with the guards against the walls behind their charges, Spike and Fluttershy came in with tea and cake. After a few minutes of snacking and light discussion, Belladonna started things off with another introduction and a few platitudes before jumping right to the matter at hand. “The Storm Front Government fully acknowledges that we did not have the right to Land in your territory, or to carry out any paramilitary activities in your country, and we are willing to acquiesce to any reasonable demands you make for compensation, however I should make it perfectly clear that under no circumstances are we releasing into equestrian custody the Draconequus we rescued from Princess Luna of Equestria and the entity known as Discord. Furthermore, we will not be ceding any of our lands to the Equestrian government as compensation for this incident. That said we will happily comply with reasonable compensation of currency equipment or resources, among other things.” At this leccy opened a small portal ringed with zeros and ones floating off it before disappearing, this instantly caught the attention of all the Equestrians. Belladonna allowed them to become distracted. Reaching in she deposited her phone and pulled a clear piece of glass the size of a sheet of parchment and half as thick, placing it on the map table, an extremely fine wire that was almost invisible extended from the tip of her left horn and connected with the glass on the table causing it to take on the appearance of an official-looking document on which words came into existence.

“Now!” Exclaimed Belladonna, sharply and intentionally breaking their attention,” what does the Equestrian government request as compensation?”

Clearing her throat and trying to rebalance herself all the while stealing glances to the typing sheep Twilight responded. “Y-yes, well as representative of the-”

“Ooo Ooo Ooooo! what about an orbital party cannon!?!”

“Pinkie Please,” interrupted Twilight, “sorry about that.”

“Not at all Princess, Michelle is something like that even feasible I know we didn't plan for any request like that.”

“Actually, Lady Kunai finalized moving all expenses to her joint account and asked that we try to speed things along as much as we could.”

Belladonna rose a brow, “So what are we working with then, should the cost stay local or...?” at that a small opaque hologram appeared in front of Michelle’s eyes for a few seconds before she passed it to Belladonna with a hoof, after looking at the screen her other brow rose. “Is that-”

“Yes”

“And it’s solid?”

“Solid enough to have that color.”

“Where do they get things like this?”

“I'm not sure I want to know.”

“Miss Belladonna,” interjected Twilight “I know that was an unrealistic request, you don't honestly have to accommodate something like that.”

“Actually Princess, that request just became perfectly reasonable.” She turned to the sheep of the group. “Leccy, be sure to add orbital party cannon as the first concession.”

“Is there anything else?”

Twilight just stared wide-eyed before regaining her composure. Giving the delegates a disbelieving glance, Twilight responded tentatively. “How about three hundred thousand tons of gold?

Looking back at the hologram Belladonna passed it back to Michelle who dissolved it before responding “Well that's certainly within budget.”

That response received shocked glance all around. “What? Hey! Just how big a budget do y’all have?” exclaimed the apple pony.

“I’m afraid that information is classified miss Applejack, however, suffice to say we can afford any reasonable material request you put forth.”

“Is that so?” Replied a skeptical Applejack, “Well how ‘bout fifteen million tons a pure refined iron?”

“Done”

“Hold up how do we even know you guys can deliver on any of this? For all we know you're just trying to get out of this by telling us anything we want to hear.”

“That is a perfectly reasonable concern, which is why we have this,” she gestured to the piece of glass leccy was connected to. “This is a special kind of magical contract meant to be used by beings of a certain constitution, the magic it employs ensures that if one party breaches the contract they are forced to forfeit whatever is held as collateral. How this is achieved depends on who signs the contract and their alignment at the time the contract is broken, regardless, it's never pleasant. Given the fact that the collateral demanded is usually something ridiculous, precious, or both, these contacts are rarely broken. For example, I would expect you to demand we set all our lands as collateral, However these contracts must have both parties provide something, as a result, we will require something in return for completing our half of the contract. In this case our request is that The Storm Front islands and all its affiliates associates and citizens including but not limited to the Draconequus in our custody over which this conflict arose be fully pardoned and forgiven by the Equestrian government and Royalty both legally and officially for any and all perceived transgressions against the country of Equestria and all its affiliates associates and citizens including but not limited to all members of Equestrian Royalty and the entity known as Discord, between one day before the arrival of The Draconequus known as Pandora in this world and the signing of this contract. However, we understand if you wish to discuss the contract further with your fellow princesses.”

“That actually won't be necessary, Princess Celestia gave me full authority on this matter, and I would like to think I'm well read enough to know that this contract is perfectly fine.”

Leccy looked up at Twilight. “Are you absolutely sure about that Princess Twilight?”

Twilight locked eyes with the sheep in question a confident smile on her face. “Absolutely”

“Hmm, so you haven't seen the loophole we could exploit to take control of all of Equestria's farmland and applicable farmland. Additionally, that will be our demanded collateral in addition to all natural and artificial waterways within Equestria.”

Twilight maintained her confident smile, wait, noooo, she was just frozen, and now her eyes twitching. “What!?” Exclaimed Starlight opening the floodgates for everyone else to let out cries of outrage and the occasional threat of a bucking for tricking them into signing a contract with such unfair terms, to cries of being a meany pants, uncouth, and a polite request to make the contract fairer.

Shaking her head to compose herself Twilight rose her voice aided by a touch of magic to be heard above her friends. “Quiet!” the sharp drop in noise pollution that followed her declaration was accented by the sound of Applejack’s hoof scraping across the crystalline floor as Fluttershy fled for the safety that could only be provided by hiding under a solidly built table. All ears flattened on the Equestrian side of the table while Twilight cleared her throat. “Excuse me but I thought you came here to apologize and make reparations, not to scam us for everything we have!”

Belladonna’s smile grew infinitesimally, however that nearly unnoticeable action was enough to draw the attention of every Equestrian present. “You don't have much practical experience with intercultural or interspecies negotiations do you princess. First, allow me to put your worries to rest. While most of what was mentioned to be in the contract is factual, what I recited to you is only a few keywords different from what is being written, and in those keywords is the difference between losing all of your country and only gaining what you requested” at that declaration Twilight mind began to comb through what was recited to her, at this point her friends begun to raise their protest but Twilight blocked them out. Analyzing every part of the contract in her mind and how they affect the meaning they give to the previous section Twilight could find no fault of any kind with the contract, while it was filled with what Rainbow dash would call flowery language it seemed like an honest request for forgiveness with an offer of reparations. Like a mare bring her coltfriend a gift and apologizing for something she did. Her face scrunched at that thought. ‘Except StormFront and Equestria weren't in a relationship, how would that even work? Two countries getting into a relationship, how big would the wedding be and what about fouls? Though I guess if StormFront wanted foals, I wonder if Equestria would get any new Sisters, or maybe a brother?

Twilight was shaken from her musings by a purple claw. “Twilight I know you're upset about whatever you figured out but you need to calm down.”

Looking around she found that the room had gone quiet and everyone watching her, Belladonna was wearing her ever-present smile, Michelle and Leccy seemed a tad confused. Looking to her side she found looks of worry on her friends' faces. “Twi are y'all alright, you're lookin mighty red there, do you need a drink or sumthin’?” Mind flashing back to her previous thoughts her face became a brighter shade of red.

"Um, yes I actually could use a cool drink Thank you”. As Spike went off to fetch her a drink, Twilight addressed the delegates. “I didn't find anything like that miss Belladonna, what you recited seemed perfectly fair, we pardon and forgive you and you give us reparations in return.”

“That's just it princess, forgiveness.” That was not at all what Twilight was expecting, and it was plain to see on her face. “Equestria consists of over fifty cities Princess, can you guarantee that every member of the government will forgive our transgressions? Because the contract goes into effect as soon as it is signed, and we will be leaving at midnight tonight to get the young lady Princess Luna and Discord severely injured and magically poisoned Proper medical Attention. Granted her physical wounds are healed, but the magical poison is slowly killing her. From what I've seen of your infrastructure it's likely to take longer than we have to send decrees to all your cities, and assuming that obstacle was overcome, how likely is it that every government worker at every level will be informed in time and truly forgive us?”

Twilight was dumbfounded. “...you don't actually expect to be forgiven do you?” At this her expression slowly changed “...I'll be honest, it makes me sad to see you don't think you deserve our forgiveness”.

Belladonna idly waved her hoof. “I wouldn't worry about that too much princess, Vanhoover has already mostly accepted us and most of those who haven't are either indifferent or are upset about losing a day of business, something that will eventually pass. But from our experiences with the Canterlot nobility, I doubt even a direct decree from all the Princesses would get them to do anything more than pretend to have forgiveness, it's given me a modicum of respect for them, many of them are very… strong-willed, let's say, even if their mindset clashes horribly with our culture and beliefs.

“While it's good to see you're not going to be shunned across Equestria for something you intend to make up for. I simply can't let it rest darling, I am rather curious to as to what of the illustrious Nobel mindset you so strongly disagree with, perhaps I and Twilight could settle the issue, or failing that we would at least gain a better understanding of our differences.”

“Ooo this is bound to be entertaining.” chuckled Michelle while the still typing Leccy flicked an ear to better catch what was to follow.

The Equestrians spared Michelle a glance before focusing back on Belladonna as she tilted her head ever so slightly. “I suppose the quickest way to start explaining would be to ask what a Princess and a Nobel has in common, additionally I ask that all of you decide on one answer.”

“What kind of a stupid question is that?” argued Rainbow as she hovered above the table.

“Rainbow there's no need to be so vulgar.” admonished Rarity.

“But Rarity they’re just wasting our time, they must be up to something I just know it, they're just weird good for nothing-”

As Applejack opened her mouth to deliver the next admonishment Rainbow was snatched in a pink magical aura and deposited unmoving next to Starlight “Sorry about her, she's just a bit…” at a lack of words Starlight begun to search the room for a decent excuse.

“Nevermind that she is right though, we completely strayed from the purpose we're here for, so let's get back to it, is there anything else you want in reparations? So far we have an orbital party cannon, several hundred tons of gold, and several million tons of refined iron, is there anything else?” with everyone staring at the sheep who responded Rainbow Dash started to raise a motionless fuss.

“Oh sorry, forgot to release the spell.” Starlights response was followed by a sheepish smile before she regained her motor functions.

Glaring at Starlight before turning her glare to the ponies and sheep across the table, jabbed a hoof at them and spoke. “I want the armor your guards are wearing.” That seemed to take the delegates by surprise and cause them some level of contention. Most visibly Michelle.

“That armor is the traditional ceremonial-”

“Don't care!” Exclaimed the Rainbow pegasus. “all I know is it looks cool enough to maybe put next to my trophy case, maybe, I'll probably just keep one in a hallway somewhere.”

Michelle broke into a frown before releasing a short sardonic chuckle, “Very few have proven competent enough to wear that armor, and significantly fewer still have ever proven competent enough or earned the right to take a suit of it as a trophy. But all things considered… that can be accommodated, and seeing as we are here to make-up for problems we caused, I will not bother pursuing the direct insult you just hurled at our nation and instead I will recommend that you seriously reconsider your request for the armor, I can guarantee it will cause you more trouble than it's worth”.

“Well, now that just sounds like y'all don't wanna give up that armor.”

“That's true enough, but that's more for your own safety than anything else, and before you ask, no we can't tell you why, what we can tell you however, is that there are beings out there who would do abhorrent things to gain possession of that armor.”

“That sounds rather convenient wouldn't you say, darling it's just a suit of armor, but if you're so set on keeping it I'm sure there's something else Rainbow Dash would be willing to take instead.” Rarity’s final comment was accompanied by a pointed glare at Rainbow Dash.

“Not anymore no, I've warned you of the dangers and Leccy has already put it on paper, that's all I need, though I would like to know if the armor will suffice as our first down payment?”

With the question directed at Rarity she turned to Twilight to find her gazing off with rising panic, turning to Rainbow, the pegasus had an expression that clearly portrayed her intent to demand more. Acting before dash could she replied. “Yes, the Armor will suffice as a down payment.”

Nodding Leccy picked up the conversation. “Will that be all? Or is there anything else anyone would like to add?” At this, murmurs broke out on the Equestrian side of the table as Twilight friends debated whether or not there was anything else.

Meanwhile Twilight was having a debate of her own. ‘This isn't good, Princess Celestia asked me to make friends but I won't be able to do that in a situation like this, even though they're here to give reparations, the atmosphere is completely businesslike, and there won't be anytime after this meeting to make friends with them because they’ll be leaving immediately after to get that Draconequus to a hospital. Wait! If I convince them to take her to a hospital here in Equestria we would have more than enough time to become friends, this could, but, no, even if they did agree to it which I doubt they will, the Draconequus definitely wouldn't want to be anywhere near Discord, Princess Celestia or Princess Luna after what happened. Maybe if I demanded their friendship as a part of our compensation. What am I saying!? That's not how I learned to make friends, they would probably see it as some kind of indentured servitude. That would only make them hate us.’

Twilight thoughts were shattered by a resounding “No” chorus by the group of delegates. Focusing back in on the conversation at hoof Twilight found the delegation looking agitated and Rainbow Dash hovering above the cutie map practically in their collective faces. “You said it yourself you're here to make up for all the problems and damages you caused to our land, it's only fair you give us some of your’s to make up for it.” Rainbow’s declaration was followed by crossed hooves and a closed-eyed expression that said in no uncertain terms ‘i'm proud and completely in the right end of discussion.’ it reminded Twilight of the expression Rainbow had after deciding that kicking a dragon in the snout was the best way to convince it to move. It was an expression she felt would irritate even the most serene of souls.

“And at the beginning of our talks,” responded Leccy “it was stated quite clearly and in no unclear terms that under no circumstances were we cede any land to you”.

“Pft, well maybe you should have thought about that before you started to wrecked the place.”

Rainbows final comment got Twilight to think. ‘Well they did cause extensive damages,’ her eyes flickered to a thick folder of damage reports she brought with her in case the aforementioned damages were ever in doubt, but when she thought about it, was their relay any serious damages, the report consisted mainly of drawn out jargon, one fifty page report of a broken window came to mind, and that damage had nothing to do with the delegates at all, it was caused by a few colt playing buckball, thinking about it objectively the only damages were caused by ponies crowding soapbox stores and tearing them apart in the process, and overload damages to the pears caused by Discord's antics with the crew of their ship. At that moment Twilight realized something.

“That's enough! Rainbow Dash please take your seat, otherwise, I will ask you to leave.”

“But Twilight-”

“Now Rainbow.”

“Hmp fine.”

“It just occurred to me that you could have easily left the moment you got who you came for and we would have been none the wiser. You chose to stay and try to make amends for doing something that you believe was absolutely necessary, and even with what negligible damages your arrival caused both economical and physical the compensation you've offered is immensely more than what's needed to make up for it. So it’s clear to me that the compensation you're offering isn't just to make up for damages, its because you're hoping to put this incident past us and start over isn't it?”

Leccy was the one who spoke up. “Yes, it is, though considering the reception we received in the capital its… Never mind yes it is.” At that Twilight broke out into a smile. “With that established, are their any more demands?” Twilight smile dimmed at that, what she said was absolutely right, demands, granted they were supposedly the ones in the wrong, but still.

“No, you've already more than compensated us. However, I do have a request completely apart from your compensation.”

Leccy rose her only visible brow at that. “And what would that be Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight's smile returned full force. “Well, I would like to establish an Equestrian embassy in The Storm Front Islands.”

Twilight’s request was followed by almost twenty minutes of hushed conversation between the three delegates that occasionally seemed to involve the silver-clad guards behind them though Twilight could hear no sounds through their armor. In that time, Twilight and her friends found their attention held hostage by the myriad of in-equine sounds that crawled their way from the throats of the delegates, some were obviously of various terrestrial languages, but they ranged from the languages of the Breezes at which points Fluttershy could at one point translate half a sentence about sovereign land to what one could only theories an alien Seapony would sound like. There was even the occasional chirp, and at several times she could recognize Zebrican and a strange dialect of Saddle Arabian. At the end of their conversation. It was Belladonna who spoke.

“Just to reiterate, you say this is not to be included as a part of our compensation to you.”

Slightly unsettled Twilight gave her response. “Er, um, yes, I mean no, it's not a part of the compensation.”

“Very well then, however, its construction will be at your expense, considering what you will receive in compensation that shouldn't be a problem. Additionally and this is not in any way a deal braking requirement, but we would highly suggest that you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, be the Princess in charge of your embassy and its operations. Since we have come here you are one of the few beings other than Mr. Fancypants and your friends, with the exception of a few who haven't insulted or belittled us. Considering the contrast between you and what we experienced in the upper echelons of Canterlot, it would be the best choice, additionally considering that you're rather young, the other Alicorns and ageless beings you're certain to encounter both in StormFront and on any excursions to other countries are significantly more likely to take a shine to you and look out for you, if Princess Celestia or Luna were to take up that duty they and by extension you, would be seen more as an unknown threat. However with you in charge and with a competent staff to advise you, it would allow them to get a glimpse at the core values of your country and better know what to expect from the other princesses, that and I suppose that you working to bring Equestria closer to its distantly neighbouring countries would fit your role as princess of friendship. I won't lie and tell you that it will always be easy, you might end up needing to make decisions that will cause you to lose sleep. But regardless of whether or not you choose to represent Equestria on this level of the international stage, is up to you and is a decision you should not make lightly, I suggest you think it over very carefully with your fellow princesses. The international scene we are used to is very, very different from what you have here, to put this in perspective if we were a standard delegation we would have left and never returned after my very first meeting with Princess Celestia. Additionally, I would have abdicated for Equestria to be put under watch for imperialist tendencies, in addition to Supremacist tendencies both magical and racial. However I will ensure that you received the warmest reception possible, and I will leave you with a rather large amount of reading material that will cover the culture of several countries, though I suggest that you start with what is the unofficial international standard for conduct, I mean no insult but cultures vary widely, and while a lot of Equestria’s culture and etiquette is quite similar to our own some customs would be frowned upon or downright insulting in other cultures. However putting that aside for the moment, I believe you had another request.”

“Yes she did, but first I must know, why would you have had such a strong reaction just from your first interaction with Princess Celestia of all ponies, she is the pinnacle of grace and poise. I understand that our cultures are similar but the differences would seem to be insurmountable if Princess Celestia dealt you such a grave insult on your very first meeting.”

“I agree with Rarity, I just can't imagine the princess doing something to require such a response.” Starlight’s support of Rarity’s claims rose more chatter of agreement from the rest of the group.

“It was a combination of things really.” Leccy started. “Firstly she flared her magic, this is generally the process of letting the energies you control flow from your body and directing it toward someone else, if your aura is sufficiently stronger than the person you're directing it toward or if the person doesn't know how to cope or resist the intrusion it can result in anything from minor intimidation to crippling despair and suffocation. The kind of energies you are able to manipulate determines if there are any other effects, it is generally a technique used in combat or a natural response of one's fight instinct to try and intimidate opponents, most sentient predator species use it to help when hunting since it can cripple their prey. In the context of a fight, it is a perfectly acceptable thing to do, however, outside of such a situation, it's seen as a sign of domination and superiority. Thousands of years ago, starting back when the Caribou empire was a thing the Caribou would use it to subjugate other species. I won't get into the atrocities they commited, but quite literally every sentient species encountered agreed that the destruction of that civilization was for the best. Flaring your magic toward someone is akin to saying 'they aren't dirt compared to you' and your superior in every way, and that's the kindest way I can put it. Flaring your magic at someone in any form of international gathering no matter how small, is an insult not only to the one you flare at but everyone and by extension every country that has any form of representative there, official or not. As for the one you flare at, well, such a thing has almost caused several wars in the past, with the representative of who flared being disowned by their government and countries and turned over to the offended party along with exorbitant amounts paid in compensation to avoid further escalation. Additionally, Princess Celestia attempted to give Miss Belladonna orders, while nowhere as insulting as the prior offense, giving orders to a delegate, soldier, or any non-support staff not put under your command by their parent country is something only done between a country and one of its dependent or independent colonies. Doing so is both insulting and often considered a sign of imperialism.”

“What?! That's not fair, Princess Celestia didn't know anything about any of that, you can't blame her for something she didn't know about!?”

“Rainbow she just said they weren't going to, or they implied it anyway.” Starlight turned back to Twilight. “Well that seems to be it, can we wrap this up Twilight, this seat is starting to get uncomfortable.”

“Um right,” turning back to the delegates Twilight asked. “Is there anything else we need to do to finalize this?”

“No, you just need to read through the agreement and sign off on it if there isn't anything you want to change. When you're ready to sign I’ll walk you through the process, signing these contracts isn't anything like signing a normal contract with ink.” Explained Leccy. “Once you've signed we’ll take it to Lady Kunai and she'll sign too.”

As Twilight read through the document Applejack took the chance to ask a few questions. “Ida thought y’all three woulda been the ones signing it and who's this lady Kunai y'all are talkin’ about?”

“She is an agent of the person who sent us here.”

“Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious to meet this mystery stallion, er what did you say his name was?”

“I didn't, he is someone that values his privacy highly, and I doubt he is anything like you expect. however i suppose i can give you his name at the least, it is Lord Anarchy, and assuming Lady Kunai takes a liking to you, it's likely you will end up meeting him eventually.”

The Storm Front Island my friends. This Link lets you see the larger cities and landmarks on the islands. https://www.thinglink.com/scene/856792835481927681
Of the four larger islands the one on the far left is called Sudoku Island. I'm accepting name recommendations for the other three, I will use the names I like the most. just.

Author's Note

Of the four larger islands the one on the far left is called Sudoku Island. I'm accepting name recommendations for the other three, I will use the names I like the most so leave the name you choose and why you chose it in the comments.

Before anyone says anything. Yes I know that there were hints and unanswered questions in there you would expect twilight to jump at like a rabid wolf. But taking into consideration the setting and situation I would like to think that she would have more restraint than a rabid animal. That said I'd be glad to hear your feedback, it is quite literally the lifeblood of my writing, I can't adapt and improve without it. Many people don't seem to realize how much motivation their comments give to a writer.

Thanks to my Proofreader Hunter Steel for all the help.

9 Chapter the Neunte Domestic Abuse of the Royal Persuasion

Twilight saw Lady Kunai’s Face contort into an expression of surprise less than a second before a red blast of energy slammed into her midsection.

The Shiny Gardevoir flew across the docks through the crowd, and sea vessels alike before rag-dolling over the ground and being viciously forced through the stone of a multi-story dock house wall by a second blast of red energy.

The subsequent explosion blew out the windows and collapsed the structure atop her and blanketed the docks in thick dust.
The shrill screams rising from the crowd were drowned out by a Marshal cry of “CENTURIONS!!!” originating from Michelle. Her almost ever-present smile had vaporized and replaced with a neutral gaze. At her call the silver-clad Centurions exploded into action. The dust was cleared in seconds of the collapse by disproportionately powerful gusts of wind from dozens of Centurions that appeared from nowhere. Faster than Twilight could register the delegates were at the collapsed building helping the Centurions dig out rubble with hoofs, talons, and all sort of magic to save the ponies who were crowding the upper levels of the collapsed building. All this had happened before Twilight’s panicked group could so much as scream “Discord!!!” The Draconequus in question Vanished in a cloud of rice noodles to simultaneously dodged the flying tackle from a Griffin Centurion and dispatching the centurion in one move, tho not for long as the tangled Griffin flowed through her tackle into a role and flip to stand despite the noodles actively trying to fold her into the fetal position.

Twilight's attention was drawn to Discord appearing above the crumpled building as several ponies started to join in the effort to dig away the rubble. Reacting before things could get worse Twilight teleported in front of Discord and erected a shield between him and the crumbled building. “Discord what are you doing!!!” One snap later and Twilight was trapped in her own shield turned bubble, another snap found all the equestrians, both those trapped in the rubble and those helping, sent to the hospital and other side of the street respectively, the only exception being the Centurions and delegates who seemed to get splashed with a plethora of colours. Discord then generated an orb of magic and hurled it toward the rubble. A second round of screams rose up from the equestrian bystanders. Immediately the collapsed building was engulfed in a spear of hellish red light that drowned out the mid-evening sunlight.

Twilight thought she knew the power of Chaos Magic. The suffocating display of concentrated Chaos Magic in front of her was sufficient shock to remind her that she still had a lot to learn.

The energy exuded by the spear made the sample of chaos Twilight was subject to the day of discords escape seem like ‘he was just… playing, Around’ she realized. She realized this in the midst of staring at the spherical spell that atomized everything within its radius. The spear of chaotic magic was still raging when mouth agape, Twilight slumped to the bottom of the shield. She’d just watched Discord kill a foreign Princess, her guards, and Delegates right in front of her.

“Believe me twilight, this is for the best, that this was-” Twilight wasn't listening. How could she? Listlessly she watched the magic rage on. ‘He killed them’ ran rampant through her mind. Twilight, of course, knew what Discord was capable, or she thought she did. She thought she'd experienced it first hoof when he escaped, but she never thought he was capable of this. ‘What… what's happening. This can't be happening.’

“-light? Twilight!? Are you even listening to a word I'm saying, hello is anyone home?.” playful expression in hand, (quite literally) Discord reached forward to tap Twilight on her head. The movement snapped her out of her mental break, she recoiled from his touch and scrambled back and off the now flat shield she was sitting on before being caught from behind. Twilight panicked and twisted her head around to see Rainbow, relaxing she was gently lowered to the ground before almost being knocked off her feet by a gust of air that preceded the passage of a particular petite Pegasus. Twilight watched Fluttershy with tears streaming down her face fly up to Discord and proceed to blubber indecipherable.

“What the buck is going on Twilight.”

“I don't know Rainbow, but something's gotten into Discord we need-” Twilight had turned around and was frozen by what she saw.

The Centurions were clawing their way out of the spear of pure chaotic disintegration. Chunks and clumps of what was definitely super-thin form-fitting armour ripped, melted, warped, and fused to their flesh most with visors shattered or broken out. What parts of the armour were missing had flickering and fading shields struggling to protect the body suit clad being inside. Falling to the ground and moving away from the sphere they shed their damaged suits and scrambled off toward the yacht across the docks, those capable of flight or teleportation ferrying others once a set distance away. Twilight watched many of them create portals allowing others through. This, of course, did not escape Discords notice, Twilight looked up in time to see the Draconequus in question staring in a mixture of shock and fear at the ball of destruction he created as the Centurions clawed their way out. Twilight could feel the destructive energies radiating off the ball of... of, of pure chaos. All her magical senses screamed indecipherable nonsense at her because it was destabilized beyond what she could possibly comprehend. Her exorbitant vocabulary failed her as she struggled to conceptualize what she was seeing, the strain grinding away at the walls of her sanity. AND THEY WERE CRAWLING OUT!!! The spear exuded so much raw power that she had no doubt even the rats in the Griffonstone sewers could feel it AND THEY WERE CRAWLING OUT OF IT LIKE SAND!!!

The surface of the spear distorted as several amber chains of crystal twice as thick around as a hoof shot out and lance through the cobblestone. Twilight watched an amber briolette bigger and taller than a small house started to pull itself out of the unstable magic. Inside the crystal was Belladonna and Leccy alongside Michelle who was being supported by Lady Kunai. With the exception of Lady Kunai, they all had form-fitting shields flickering and failed across spots of their body. Michelle had it worst of all, Two of her legs were missing, one below the elbow and the other at the shoulder leaving wounds reminiscent of pulled pork if the pig was still alive during the process. Spots of her coat were missing along with the underlying skin flesh and parts of bones in some cases. She was blankly staring off into the middle distance,

Twilight couldn't comprehend how she was still conscious. Belladonna's body was completely encased in a thick layer of the crystal leaving her with nothing worse than helmet mane. Leccy was heavily leaning against the crystal. All the shorter black fur and its underlying skin looked like someone went over it with a cheese grater leaving her face and legs flowing with blood, her shredded eyelids exposed her destroyed eyes leaking vitreous fluid. Within in the crystalline structure, they stood, Kanai's free hand resting on Belladonna’s back and encased up to the elbow in the amber crystal. Twilight saw Kanai's mouth move before Leccy stumble over to lean against her and Michelle. They all vanished and reappeared decimeters in front of Twilight. Twilight shrieked and recoiled at the pungent scent of blood and gore. Belladonna now crystal-free ran off toward the anchor holding the briolette in place. Kunai immediately lowered Michelle to the ground and pressed her hand to the earth ponies side. Twilight watched the dangling flesh from her stumps begin to writhe about before, right in front of Twilight’s eyes bone grew to replace what was lost, Twilight watched veins, muscles and ligaments sprout like grotesque plants before skin crawled over the wound followed by fur barely pushing up from her bare flesh. This was happening all across her body, bones reconnected, muscle grew, damaged organs could be seen regenerating through gaps in the flesh that were hurriedly covered as skin rushed to over her all within seconds. More than enough time for the grotesque sight to permanently burn itself into her memory.

Twilight herd a splattering sound to her side. turning she saw rainbow dry heaving over a puddle of sick. Her attention was drawn to what lay behind her friend. Belladonna transitioning from a low glide into a wing first dive that severed the hoof thick chain in a single blow before she took off toward another chain.

A deep wosh of distorted wind hailed the reappearance of the re-armoured Centurions, some of who made swift work of the remaining anchors sending the crystal formation back into the chaotic maelstrom. Seconds later the magical spear began to collapse in on itself. When done the crystal was solid, fading swirls of colours contained within. When it crashed point first to the ground Discord was surrounded by Centaurians who kept their distance. Between those in the streets, purchased on buildings, and hovering in the air Twilight was sure this was the entirety of their guard detail. Their new armour was considerably different. Gleaming silver was replaced with a foggy grey. Where there were golden visors was now smooth featureless metal, and the stinger on the end of their tails now seemed longer, more dangerous and gleamed a furious crimson. Twilight watched movement among them slow, their wing beats faded into stillness. They seemed to be standing motionless in mid-air with wings flared. But now nothing was happening everything seemed to slow as the world calmed as the resonance of an unnaturally deep tone filled the air. The only exception to this was Discord who seemed to become more agitated as time passed. Even the ponies watching from on yonder seemed to become more sedentary as the world relaxed. Lazily looking around Twilight dimly noted rainbow dash zoom in and drag Fluttershy away.

“What are you doing! STOP IT!!!” Eyes lidded Twilight calmly turned to see Discords twitchily pointing at the centurions at random. She didn't understand. Why couldn't he just relax and enjoy the calm? The stillness. the Ò͞R̛͟D̡̕E̴̶̢̛R̵͟҉. Twilight blinked. That's what was wrong. Discord was spazzing out because there wasn't any chaos to cause. Twilight sighed and shook her head sluggishly. The motion seemed unnecessary. So she stopped. Discord would just have to get used to it. Twilight yawned. Again the motion seemed unnecessary. So he stopped. Twilight was feeling sleepy. Twilight blinked. T̵̷̡͟͞w̕͏̷̸̕i͠͠҉͢l̶̵͘í̕͠͞g̢̛͜͝͡h͠͏̡͠t̵̷̡ looked around for somewhere comfortable. Unnecessary. Stop. Calm. T̴̕w̛͡͞I̧̕l̷̨͘͠i̴͢͟͝g͜͡h͏̸̸͟͞t̴̸͜͏ noticed Miss Belladonna trotting over to her. T̵̷҉̀͘ẃ̵͘̕͠I͘͜҉l̶͝į̶͘g͘͜͞H̴̀͝҉t̕ her feathers looked to be in perfect O̢̢̨R̴͜D̡҉͝E͏͜R͏͝. a place for every feather and every feather in its place. Her mane could use a bit of reordering tho. none of the hares were parallel they curled and bounced disgustingly. Tho Ţ́W̶͘͡I̛͏L̡̛I̶͞͏G̴͜͏̛͟H̵̕͜T҉̛̛͝ supposed it could be pardoned. After being trapped in the F̡͠͡͝I̴Ĺ͝T̴̨H͢҉̕Y͜͞ ̶̀̀͢͞spear of Destructive T͢͡W͏̕͝͝I̢͟͞͡͡l͢i҉́̕͡g̢̡H̕̕͝t̶͢ chaos. T̷͘W͘͢͝I̷̴̴̡l͘i͜͟g͟͜͏̧H̨̢͜T̴̵̡͘̕ wondered if Belladonna would let T͏́͢W͟͜Į̴l̷̵͠i͝G̛͘͟͢͝H̶̕T̛͡ -

“STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP IT.”

Discord T̶͠W̸̧͘͏I̵̵̡̨͟l̢̢͠I͏̨͟҉G̵̨͞͡H̴̴͠T͠͞͏҉͘ was screaming again. Maybe T̶͠W̸̧͘͏I̵̵̡̨͟l̢̢͠I͏̨͟҉G̵̨͞͡H̴̴͠T͠͞͏҉͘ could ask him to be Q͡͠U̵̷͢Į̧̕҉́T͏E̛͘͞͠ ̶̧́͢͞ . Quieter. More Ţ́W̶͘͡I̛͏L̡̛I̶͞͏G̴͜͏̛͟H̵̕͜T҉̛̛͝. O̸̵͟͢͝Ŗ́D̷͏̕͞Ȩ̶R̀̕͞L̶̛͠Ý̵̷҉.

Twilight felt something on her shoulder and her mind rushed to catch up with what was happening. Turning to see Belladonna her eyes snapped back to Discord and she rushed towards him “Discord!” Mind racing Twilight analyzed the situation

‘It’s obvious the centurions were doing something, but they weren't moving, actually, everything still felt perfectly calm and orderly-was that it.’ Reaching out her senses she found a glass-smooth pond of magic surrounded by the numerous ripples and waves regularly associated with normal interaction with the magical field that permitted the world. But the waves were all broken and smoothed into a featureless plane by the Centurions, and by extension whatever they surrounded. The magic became unnaturally calm where it met in the centre, exactly where discord was clutching himself and whimpering on the ground. Twilight could see the roiling mass that was his magic being forcefully ironed out. It was brutal to watch.

‘He brought this on himself’ a traitorous part of her whispered.

‘He tried to kill their princess! who even thinks of that!?’ it argued. But Twilight knew that regardless of the justification she couldn't let this continue. Despite everything, discord was her friend and she was going to help him.

She tried shaking him out of it to no avail, when every physical means of relocating him failed due to his size she turned to her magic, unsure what result trying to use magic in this unnatural stillness would bring she was reluctant to try it. Lighting up her horn worked fine and so did channelling her magic into a levitation spell, there were strange sensations and a disconcertingly unnatural lack of interference but it worked. But in the end, she failed since the Centurions moved with her to keep Discord the focus of their magic. Losing hope she turned to tell Belladonna to call off her guards and force the issue if necessary. Turning she saw Rainbow trying to tackle three centurions into submission simultaneously. Pin-balling between them wasn't working as even with her speed and power the armoured beings didn't so much as acknowledge her existence. Behind her was Belladonna, Leccy, and Lady Kunai Huddled around a prone Michelle blankly blinking at the heavens. Twilight's protest died in her throat as images of a mangled white Earth Pony bleeding out on the cobblestone with missing limbs and exposed innards clawed its way to the forefront of her mind. She whipped her head back to her front. She would have to do this herself, they were busy taking care of their friend. Probing the field with her magic did nothing but cause a few ripples that faded to nothing almost immediately, however, this minuscule bit of excretion had the same effect as cracking her skull open and pouring molten salt into the wound. Gasping for release Twilight clutched her head and pressed her face against the cobblestone, the migraine was short-lived tho, receding in a matter of second. Opening her eyes she saw Discords eyes focus on her before scrunching closed again. ‘it worked!’ She noted movement from the centurions as they had started flapping again. Opening herself to the magic of the world again revealed there was background interference permitting the silent zone focused on Discord. Stealing her nerve Twilight lit her horn eliciting painfully reminders of her previous meddling. Twilight gathered herself, probing the magic was the equivalent of hovering her hoof over a pool to try and gauge the temperature. She gathered her magic in her horn formed a mildly volatile ball of magic above her head, and separate it from her magic causing it to destabilize above Discord releasing a pulse. Basically belly-flopping into the aforementioned pool and splashing the nearby centurions. Unaffected by the backlash thanks to separating it from her magic, Twilight had to cover her ears as the magical background magic returned all at once. After a few seconds she looked up to see discord getting to his feet, and the centurions drunkenly staggering around, with some flying into walls before falling to the ground. It didn't last tho as seconds later they were on their feet and making their way to their charges. They found themselves interrupted by the pavement springing up to entangle them. Even the delegates who were trying to get their downed comrade back to their yacht were gathered up as discord started to make another one of those destructive orbs. Twilight watched the disoriented white Earth Pony tumble head over hoof through the air, her stomach clenched and twisted as the image of an eviscerated pony organs exposed and spewing blood stared into her soul with unfocused eyes-wide-open-watching-her-breath.

Her body moved before even gathered the will to stop him. Twilight wasn't nearly fast enough. It started forming again that terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-magic-it-was-back-again-to-kill-everypony-

Something white flashed in front of Twilight. Lady Kunai was in-front of her. She was hovering serenely in the air. One delicate foot was pointing down toward the ground. Her other foot was viciously buried in Discord’s gut, and the rest of his body folded around it.

10 Chapter The !O The Pissed Off Agent

Proofread by Hunter Steel

Twilight was still moving. She could see Discord’s face contorted in pain and surprise. They seemed to hang there for hours, days maybe? Twilight didn't see when Lady Kunai put down her leg. She didn't see when she twisted her body around and she didn't see the kick that followed. She didn't blink but she missed every movement. What she did see was Lady Kunai floating horizontally her dress (or was it a part of her body?) wrapping around her lower body, denoting the twist she made, one of her legs pointed down toward a small sinkhole that wasn't there before. There were bits of fur and scattered scales around the lip of the hole among splotches of what her traumatized mind refused to recognize as anything other than hot sauce. The world sped back up. Twilight was staggered and stopped by a gust of air then pushed back by a second, displaced by Lady Kunai's movement. Lady Kunai's delicate form gently floated down to stand at the edge of the sinkhole and she brushed her dress so it settled into its original arrangement. Twilight didn't know when she moved but she was racing back to the hole. Lady Kunai was closer. Her body glowed with a faint blue light and plumes of soil and rock erupted from the hole followed by an unconscious Discord. His underside was rubbed raw from tail to snout and he must have been causing chaos in that hole because he was dripping with tomato sauce and fruity chunks were hanging off him. He floated up in front of Lady Kunai and Twilight adjusted her course, panicked at what would happen next.

Her fears were put to rest when Lady Kunai gently lowered him to the ground. Skidding to a stop at his side Twilight had no clue what to do. CPR came to mind but Twilight hadn't the faintest idea how to start giving a Draconequus CPR. Frantically looking around she saw Rainbow Dash pulling herself out of a pile of ponies bowled over by the gusts of air and the rest of her friends racing to her and only halfway from the ship, ‘how long did all that take? Weren't her friends directly behind her before this happened?’ Applejack and Pinkie were leading, Spike clutching to AJ’s back with Rarity and Starlight bringing up the rear. Why Starlight hadn't teleported Twilight didn't know but she couldn't spare a thought for that now, she needed to help Discord. “His injuries are mostly physical,” Twilight's eyes snapped to the source of the voice. Lady Kunai was trying to help. But she did this so Twilight wasn't sure if she could be trusted. Twilight placed herself defensively over Discords prone form just in case. “You only need to send him back to his pocket dimension and he will be fully recovered in a few days.” Twilight wanted to be furious. “Once you are done you may speak to me on my vessel if you so wish, though considering the situation I wouldn't blame you for insisting we leave, I will extend our stay by seventy-two hours, if within that time you still wish to speak with us you will be free to do so, however, if you have decided not to facilitate us we will leave at the end of the seventy-two hours or when you instruct us to do so, until then, good day Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Kunai turned to return to her ship.

♫♥♠♦♣♫
Kunai’s POV

“Wait!” Kunai stopped and turned back. “Please, can't you heal him like you healed Michele and Leccy!?”

I mentally stiffened in incredulity before calmly replying.

“Twilight, he attacked me unprovoked and attempted to kill me and my guards while we were down and distracted respectively, in addition to the three delegates you spent the entire day negotiating with.”

A minuscule caress of psychic influence made Twilight's mind flickered back to the sight of a mangled white earth pony, her open wounds and shredded stump writhing as flesh regenerated.

“All of whom happen to be my friends.”

Another gentle brush brought Images of her friends lying in puddles of blood to her mind unbidden, open wounds writhing in agony as Discord floated through the chaos capital of the world tut-tut-tutting with a fake look of pity on his face. His expression alone made bile rise in Twilights throat.

“To answer your question Princess, yes, I could easily heal him, however, I am not nearly that kind or forgiving. The most I would be willing to do is ensure he doesn't die, and I am quite certain he will recover on his own given time in his pocket dimension.”

Twilight didn't try to stop her again. A final caress of psychic energy set Twilight's thoughts on a certain path and she was left to do the rest, Kunai could tell that Twilight’s thoughts would take the first train and derail it. So she made one of Twilight's darker train of thought stand out, not anywhere near enough to be the most prominent, she didn't intend to be caught after all, but just barely enough to put it in the vicinity of the top hundred most likely options. Then with a feathers touch, she sporadically outlined random indisputable bits of logic in that train of thought. Dark as it may be, and left Twilight to analyze them and come to her own conclusion.

If she were in Kunai’s place would she do the same? Twilight wondered. She turned her attention back to the creature she stood above, did she know him? He felt like a dangerous stranger now more than when he escaped the first time. The magic of friendship didn't prepare her for this.

She didn't respond when Rainbow tried and failed to tackle Kunai and was repelled by a shield from one of her guards. She didn't react when her other friends showed up and started fussing over Discord and she didn't react when their attention turned to her and all the while her eyes never left Discord. Kunai made sure to choose a path that would likely have Twilight reconsider everything about Discord, the open-mindedness that would produce was going to be very important for the future, Twilight’s mind was a skyscraper in its youth and Kunai’s influence, even though completely gone from Twilight's mind, had pointed out a flaw in the design, nothing deeply structural, but still something that bears investigating for the stability of the entire structure. Of Course, there was no guarantee it would work out in her favour, the mind is a complex thing and it was perfectly possible that nothing would come of this, or worse it would backfire, but centuries honing natural and acquired skills in psychic and mental manipulation made those chances negligible, even so, they were already contingencies for such outcomes.

§That was satisfying.§ Thought Kunai.

I wish I was there in person, I haven't even met him face to face yet and I can tell he's going to be more trouble than he's worth.

Thalassemia, he's millennia older than all of us combined, freakishly powerful, and a complete unknown, even for his age and presumed experience. No offence but I honestly don't think you could straight up win a fight against him. I don’t think he actually went down that easily, he wouldn't be the first being to fool my senses, it's possible he’s decided to try another method of attack since attacking head-on wasn't working out for him and he didn't want to get on the Equestrians bad side. And while I wouldn't mind taking out more of my frustration on him that would only negate the leverage his attack gave me.

You could of at least used a better hex, but I can't really argue with your logic at this point, we just need to wait for the princesses reaction.

Them are fightin’ words Thalassemia.

Thalassemia gave a mental eye roll. I already know Twilight won't be a problem, it's the other Princesses I was talking about.

Did you forget that you’re not skilled enough completely to keep your thoughts from me yet?

…

Thalassemia I know your still there and you know I know.

…

Aren't you going to say anything?

Not really, I was just going to watch the three of you and see where this goes. But now that you mention it, I'm sure we're all wondering why Wavelength Suppression completely crippled him instead of just preventing him from using his magic to its fullest. For all his power he should have still been in the fight. He was knocked for a loop that much I'm sure of.

Tho, why so careless Kunai? Their cooperation isn't worth your wellbeing. I know you saw our collective concern when your thoughts leaned toward becoming a marter, regardless of the defences you put up, might be walking right now but we have no clue what he could have done to you.

I could feel Anarchy’s heart metaphorically clench, I don't think I'll ever get used to that.

Dully Anarchy could be registered trying to deny the accusation before remembering that was pointless with his agents, giving up, and making his feelings on the matter easily recognizable to them.

Anarchy I'm fine, the three of us have been repeatedly checking me over from the moment it happened and we haven't found anything other than that poorly executed spell he used to attack. And honestly, bringing this planet up to the point we want will be much easier if we have decent influence in Equestria, we can get them to do a lot without any significant Influence.

Kunai already knew they weren't going to accept that excuse given the situation, and they knew she knew. She sure as hell wouldn't have accepted it from any of them.

I'm not intending to do anything like that again I already have what leverage I need and now I'm just going to meet the Princesses drop them a line and leave. Other Delegations can handle everything else, they have to reach out to us eventually, and if we want to speed up that timeline we can just have word reach them that Discords attack is the reason I didn't return.

Accepting her reassurances their shared mental space faded to the background of their minds, all the while keeping them intimately connected and aware of each other.

‘Now let's see what the Princesses choose.’ thought Kunai. Having finished her mental conversation Kunai completed her turn away from Twilight, ignored the occasional flashing cameras and made her way toward a group of injured ponies to lend her aid. She ended up spending the rest of the evening helping ponies injured in the collapse and using her powers to repair whatever damages she could and brought the day to an end helping a few children to find their parents.

11 Chapter the I| a more forcefull form of negotiation

11 Chapter the I| a more forceful form of negotiation

Unedited

The next day.

Sensing company Kunai made her way to the deck. It was just a little after the break of dawn as she looked out across the water as a salty breeze rustled through her hair. She was out there for a few minutes before her guests arrived on the docks. Turning her attention to the voice of Princess Celestia greeting an on duty sentry Kunai made her way toward their side of the vessel. Coming into view Celestia, Luna, and Twilight’s attention quickly turned to her. Celestia’s expression was disarmingly serine, Luna maintained a gaze of neutrality, and Twilight's face echoed her emotions of fear and conflict fighting to escape a shell of neutrality. Celestia and Luna’s emotions on the other hand spoke primarily of fear and anger. This was underlined with hope and a mixture of emotions that spoke of redemption offered tho more so in Celestia than Luna, that one honestly caused Kunai to quirk a delicate eyebrow ever so slightly. The expression did not go unnoticed by the elder princesses and their emotions shifted to express such. Wasting no more time Kunai exchange platitudes and invited them to join her for refreshments. They easily accepted, tho their emotions revealed it was more from fear of a negative response and they were anxious to bring this matter to an end and get rid of her. after all anyone who could defeat the lord of chaos so viciously and easily was not one to needlessly antagonize. Kunai led the trip to the sitting room in silence until Princess Twilight spoke up.

“Are your guards ok”.

“They are recovering, tho I had to directly order more than a few of them to rest while their physicians remove the harmful chaos magic from their system.”

“They sound like loyal and dedicated guards”. Luna broke in “Praytell are their injuries the reason I have seen so few of them”.

“Indeed it is. The armour managed to completely protect some of them tho not many”. Kunai could detect a swell of pride and confidence from Princess Luna. She ignored it.

Celestia was the next to speak as they entered a luxurious yet minimalist sitting room. “We wish them a swift recovery. Tho that does bring me to one of many topics I hope to discuss”.

Gesturing to a group of four overstuffed armchair situated around a glass coffee table Kunai's response elicited a wave of pleasant surprise from her guests. “Indeed, there is quite a bit to discuss and I owe you an explanation. Despite the events of the past few days I assure that the situation we find our self in is not quite as simple as it may first seem.”

At this point a Minotaur made her way into the room drawing the attention of the group as she dropped off a tray of glasses accompanied by two cold jugs of a fruity smelling beverage.
As the Minotaur made to leave Twilight surprised herself by asking “why juice.” It was more a statement to herself but the Minotaur stopped nonetheless. However Kunai cut in.

“It is customary to offer refreshments to guests is it not, I am quite certain Equestria has something similar” the Minotaur exited the room. Twilight’s response was more reflex that anything else but she carried on nonetheless.

“We do, but I ment why juice specifically, we generally offer tea”.

“I see, Well, StormFront has a more temperate climate and does not experience winter, few people will choose to drink a hot beverage on a hot day and most days in StormFront are hot and humid compared to Equestria's generally cooler climate. That's not to say no one drinks tea, it generally accompanies breakfast.”

“But don't your Pegasus control the weather? Why wouldn't they make it snow?”

“They can and do, however it is only done on any notable scale by small private companies that have strict restrictions on what they are allowed to do.” At Twilight's frown Kunai gave a reassuring smile and continued. “Despite how it may sound to you seeing as you grew up in a society that upholds the tradition of maintaining constant and near complete control of the weather, I assure you it is this way for a reason. There are more than a few spirits and natural manifestations that would be quite cross with attempts to seize control of their element’s or homes.” At Twilight's curious look she continues. “One of which I believe you would be familiar with, if only from stories, Windigos tend to be quite vengeful and relentless when they feel they have been wronged, particularly the younger ones.” Taking the opportunity provided by the wave of renewed fear to pour four glasses of the fruity beverage Kunai changed the subject.

“That said we do have more pressing matters to discuss,” she took a sip of her drink, “where would you like me to start?”

Seizing the opportunity Celestia took control of the conversation. “I would like to start from the beginning. In regards to the Draconequus that appeared in Equestria several days ago, we would like to negotiate her returned to our custody.”

Kunai shook her head. “That is one thing that I cannot allow to happen under any circumstance.” At Celestia's wave of irritation she continued. “Allow me to explain. But first I should ask, how much do you know of the behaviour of younger Draconequus.”

Not surprised by the question Twilight responded. “Admittedly not much, However what we know of the Radge variant of the species is that like the relation between Earthponies, Pegasus, and Unicorns they are the same but different. The primary difference is that Radge all have slitted pupils, and tend to travel from world to world, seeking nothing more than to destroy the planets they encounter or cause widespread destruction regardless of the planets inhabitants or lack thereof, this is compared to the originals like discord who, while not all innocent, tend to be significantly less, um, murderous.”

“We were attempting to put a stop to her machinations and prevent such before thow interfered.”

Kunai stared at Twilight with an uncomfortable level of intensity before continuing in a resolute tone. “Allow me to make this clear”. Kunai panned her eyes across the other two princesses “The term Radge, when used to describe a Draconequus, is an extremely derogatory insult, and I will request that you not utter that word in my presence, and if it is not too late I strongly suggest that you refrain from making it public in any way shape or form. Furthermore I certainly hope you did not refer to the young lady you attacked by that term”. She took a sip of her drink. “While I will not say that every member of the species is innocent and pure hearted, that explanation is misinformative, tho grounded in some truth, Draconequus have an… an instinct let's say, that when it kicks in compels them to leave their parents and explore, some don't go very far from home, while some end up on the other side of the multiverse. And more often than not their parents make an active effort to keep an eye on them.” The last sentence was said while directing a pleasant smile toward Princess Luna Who visibly stiffened. “That said I doubt any parent would accept your reasoning for killing their child.

“Now regarding your knowledge of Draconequus customs, the only bit of truth albeit skewed is the destruction of planets. While some Draconequus do destroy planets I very much doubt that one of her age would have the skill or power to achieve such a feet. As such I am going to assume the destruction Discord no doubt referred to was the assimilation of physical matter. This involves saturating matter in their magic and dragging it into a subspace pocket of some sort. This is what many of them do to make their permanent homes and I doubt she has any serious interest in doing this with anything more than the trinkets she might have encountered on her journey.” Punctuating her rant with a sip of juice Kunai allowed them to digest this information.”

“Are you insinuating that Discord manipulated us into attacking a child based on prejudice.”

“She would be in her early teens by pony standards, but I have no doubt she is several decades old, likely no more than three hundred.”

Twilights emotions spoke of conflict. “Discord is my friend and I know he wouldn't do something like that, he's reformed and even before that he never did anything like that!” Twilight looked to her fellow Princesses for support and received it in two resolute nods. But Kunai could sense the doubt in the words.

“Tis true, even at the height of his tyranny Discord wouldst endeavour to avoid causing injury much less death.”

“Not to be rude or offensive, but whether or not it was born of ignorance, a malicious act, or a mistake on his part, is honestly irrelevant, that does not change the fact it happened, and had your attempts to kill her succeeded you would likely have to deal with several of her grieving relatives out for revenge, and the confrontation he had with me yesterday tells me he would have been easily killed, at which point I would assume princess Luna would be next, and events would only cascade from there. Grieving parents tend not to be the most reasonable of people”. another sip, “It's quite likely that you would succeed in dispatching one maybe two of them with your elements of harmony if your lucky you would get them all. At this point the next group to arrive intent on avenging their brethren would likely go the route of destroying your country from orbit if not the planet.” lips were dry all round. Sip. “There is of course no guarantee that this would happen, it's quite possible her parents would never find out and nothing more would come of it. Well not on that end at least.

“Tell me Princesses what are your thoughts as to the reason both the sun and moon were high in the sky during the events of the plunder-vine incident.”

The Princesses blinked. Cautiously Celestia responded “We did not think much of it, when it was brought up I assumed it was Discords doing, or that perhaps it was simply a result of our magic being restrained, as such not much effort was put into finding a cause. But I believe you know exactly why.”

Nodding Kunai spoke, “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, the two of you are among the most feared beings on this planet and this stems from your control of the sun and moon.” Twilights irritation was palpable. Kunai pressed on regardless. “And there are many people who are working to remove the threat you pose. When the two of you fought over control of the heavens thirteen hundred years ago, millions died, and a few species went extinct. All this because the heavens stopped, this gained you no favours with the world at large, and is impart why your country is so peaceful and isolated today. To this day many countries are developing ways to prevent the events the lunar wars had on the world from repeating themselves, Most focus on developing ways to keep the sun and moon moving in your absence. This in turn opens the way for those that intend to try to remove you by force and take your country, so far their nothing has come of it primarily due to a lack of support stemming mainly from concerns of what your absence means for this world. Today there are very few countries with any interest in engaging in open warfare with you. That said most have chosen to watch you closely and ready themselves for the next big event, and big events have been happening with increased frequency for the past two decades, many people are anxious, and tensions are high. The problem here is this little incident has the potential to push them over the edge. Their are alot of myths and rumers surrounding Draconequus, but there's one thing that every culture, every story and every myth has in common. Their trust is hard to gain, and their loyalty is second to none. Now i can tell you from experience that this isn't always the case, it's more of a generalization, a stereotype to be frank, Draconequus are as varied if not more so than any given species, but that's not the image most of the world has of them. So when word of the moon princess attacking one of their children gets out, and believe me one way or the other it will get out some will not hesitate to try and use it to have the two of you… removed, lets say.”

Sip.

12 Chapter the 12 Speaking Her Mind

Unedited

“During the plundervine incident dozens of different devices were activated to try and take control of the sun and moon, however, they were all independently operated and caused massive amounts of interference for each other, effectively locking the Celestial bodies in place and preventing the establishment of a proper connection. When you were released your connection with the sun and moon were fully reestablished. That, however, has since been fixed and while your magic currently supersedes any other the matter of the planet dying from your absence is no longer as large a concern. I could certainly keep going but I very much doubt I need too. That said I believe our actions here can be understood”.

…

Sip.

“Lies”

Kunai turned her full attention to Princess Luna lifting a delicate eyebrow in her direction.

“Do you honestly expect us to believe this tripe.” Luna was now visibly angry. “How foolish dost thou think we are, what proof do you have of thine claims.”

“You are free to believe what you choose Princess Luna. Considering your country's relative isolation anything I show or tell could easily be a fabrication. Additionally, quite a bit of the information you are privy too regarding foreign countries is carefully controlled. When was the last time you received any detailed news from or have been too any distant foreign countries, most countries in the northern hemisphere are self-sustained. Regardless I have said my peace. Is there anything else you wish to discuss.”

Luna gritted her teeth as Kunai drank the last of her drink and placed the empty glass on the table.

“But, what about this,” twilight materialised a rolled-up document and placed it on the table between them, “was all the negotiating me and my friends did with Leccy, Belladonna and… Michelle for nothing.”

“Not in the least, I am fully prepared to honour that agreement, tho honestly I had thought you would have gone for multiple long term agreements. I will be honest with you I have a strong doubt that any of your ponies interested in utilizing the armour will be able to do so in a timely manner, properly utilizing it requires a tertiary level education and understanding of the science, technology, and thaumaturgy that no branch of your military is taught or expected to have. I understand that Michelle attempted to explain as much but was rebuffed at every attempt by Miss Rainbow Dash”.

Twilight blinked “Wait, what it's enchanted armour, Doubtless, the enchantments are extremely complex but the armour has to be user-friendly, no offence to them but most military ponies aren’t very technical, I would think it’s the same for you. I mean everyone in your guard can't be a scientist, and if they were they wouldn't be in the guard. But no that can't be right. This couldn't be a trick you wouldn't have pointed it out”.

“Twilight” soothed Celestia placing a hoof on her shoulder, “what are you talking about.”

“The armour!” she exclaimed hoof extended to point at the document “if what she said is true then the thing I thought was worth the most is basically useless to us. If we can't use the armour I negotiated for then what's the point.” at this point, Luna snatched the document to read it over again.

Kunai seems honestly confused “Didn't you also negotiate several instructors to teach proper use and maintenance of the armour to the first batch of Guards who choose to learn to use it? Naturally, that would entail bringing those who choose to learn up to our standards for full utilization of the armour. My previous statement eluded to the fact it could quite possibly take several years to do so should you choose to draw applicants from your standard military.”

“Twilight informed me that you are still willing to make changes to this agreement correct?” Kunai nodded, “I would like a personal suit of this armour,” Celestia blinked. Twilight blinked.

Kunai paused to consider, then shook her head, “Presenting the ruler of a country with personal armour carries the connotation of a mutual defence treaty. And the only way I would agree to that is if your country was to join the United Nations Advancement Organization.”

“And what is the United Nations Advancement Organization” inquired the tallest pony.

“A group of countries dedicated to helping each other advance through education and economy, of which StormFront is a founding member.”

“And how many countries are apart of this group.”

“Thirty-nine currently, expected to be ninety-three by the end of this year as fifty-four other countries are in the final stages of becoming official members, with another three hundred and seventy-five seeking to join the last time I checked and several more somewhere between in the process of joining.”

The room was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time.

“I assume thow wishes for us to join this United Nations Advancement Organization lest thou would not have bothered to linger here seeking to make reparations.”

Kunai gave Princess Luna an honest smile, “That would be one of the preferable outcomes of this meeting yes. Twilights request to establish an equestrian embassy would be another, and there are several others. But yes, you deciding to join the U.N.A.O would reduce the threat to your country while putting you and your country in a more visible setting, I’m quite sure you know how important public relations are. Most in the know either think that you are honestly lovely people or some of the best actors in politics.”

“And what do you think?”

“That depends, do you want the politically correct answer, the answer you likely want to hear, or the cold truth?”

Celestia quirked a brow, “The truth would be preferable.”

“Very well. I know that you are good people who intend the best for your Ponies. That said I also believe that as shown in your country if it was entirely up to you most other species would either go mostly ignored and quietly ostracized as I’ve seen with the few gryphon and minotaur in this city, or become second class citizens as is the case with sheep and cows for whom it is far too late. I believe that you're position has caused you to grow overconfident and cocky in your authority, believing that no normal person would challenge your will, at least not for long. As you allowed your politicians to demonstrate with your attempts to cow my delegates when they arrived in your capital to try and negotiate a compromise. I believe you have good intentions. However, whether or not those good intentions extend to those who do not and will not share your ideals completely is questionable.

Kunai could sense their collective offence Was plain.

"And finally, I believe that you are ignorant to the ways of your own species and are unaware of your full potential as Alicorns, something that has and will cause problems for you, as is the case with Princess Luna, who this very moment is saturated with nightmare fuel and yet seems either unaware or unconcerned." Luna's eyes widened and both Twilight and Celestia's attention jolted to her. Luna's emotions spoke of mortification while Twilight and Celestia's spoke of Fear and deep concern.

“Sister,” Celestia started slowly, cautiously, “What is she Saying.”.

Chapter the 13 Join the Darkside, its Actually Quite Plesant.

Luna gave herself a bit of time by taking an uneasy sip of her thus far untouched drink, that sip turned into several gulps draining half the glass. Dimly she noted the unique taste but her mind was racing.

“Tis but a side effect of vanquishing nightmares.” She said, “I have long learned to cope with it and dispel it when it becomes overpowering.”

“Regardless,” interrupted Kunai, “I doubt that is something you would wish to discuss in my presence. More to the point my patience for this situation has run dry. Since we are here I would like to reach some sort of agreement, even if that would just be to reconvene at another time, in which case you would need to find your way to StormFront.”

This statement served to regain the attention of all the princesses tho Twilight seemed more shaken and Luna distracted. Princess Celestia was the most attentive and even her mask of neutrality was cracked.

She pushed on Regardless. “I should inform you however that we will be leaving this evening regardless. If you wish to make any final changes to the present agreement now would be the time to do so.” Celestia snatched the document from the desk and read through it several times before replacing it.

“Why did you truly come here.” Kunai crossed her legs and eyed Celestia appraisingly as the resulting hush stretched on for minutes.

When Kunai broke the silence both Twilight and Luna,s minds refocused on her. “Recall I stated that several countries are out to remove you from the picture, doubtlessly that would shatter your country and send your nobility scrambling for power leaving Equestria fractured and weak to outside invaders. Even if, as unlikely as it is, a transition of power happens seamlessly this country would be severely weakened, besides five Alicorns, one of whom is a child the Blue Bloods are the only legitimate heirs to the throne. However, the family has done very little to legitimately ingratiate themselves with most other Noble and peasants alike, as such they would be overthrown in a relatively short time, as is the case with most who would ascend to the throne. Truly, like most others the U.N.A.O seeks to add equestrian wealth to its own, some members have suggested a more… direct route of acquiring it, and despite it being the least popular choice the suggestion is still valid and being considered. You must understand there are others who seek your countries wealth some are neutral to us while some are hostile, and should things devolve beyond a certain point, well. Breaking a country no longer requires direct large scale conflict with defending armies, and due to Equestria’s semi-isolationist nature and self-sustaining nature, without the proper safeguards, irreversible damage isn't particularly difficult to inflict. And believe me, there are people poised to do just that both within and without your country. Cities can be burnt to the ground and land around them for miles poisoned in minutes. There are devices designed to nullify magic and some to turn it back on the user in a most gruesome fashion. Honestly, I Shouldn't be here, your isolation has served to protect you as fear of the unknown and deliberate misinformation are the prominent reasons you haven't already been invaded by a competent well-supplied opponent. Trying it would be political suicide and possibly a signed death warrant. Stories of those that tried and failed are pushed to the front page while more successful attempts go quietly ignored but that will only work for so long when the guarantee of a stable day/night cycle seems to have been growing less and less certain for the past twenty years. The aforementioned plundervine incident had a negative influence on many major businesses and economies across the planet. The only reason I am here is because the young lady you brutalized,” she gestured with her head in a seemingly random direction,” is the daughter of a friend, and had you killed her you would not have been the only one to receive backlash for it. As I said, grieving parents tend not to be the most reasonable people.

“Lord anarchy would have come here himself, but he was persuaded otherwise, and as such sent me in his place. Directly contacting you in such a manner would have been ill advisable had circumstances been different. I had intended to try to get you to come around on your own, and came very close to succeeding considering Princess Twilight's request to establish an equestrian embassy in StormFront. From there we would have started establishing stronger ties to your country and getting you acquainted with other members of the U.N.A.O in hopes of you choosing to join of your own volition. That plan, however, was completely destroyed when Discord attacked me yesterday. I certainly was not going to go down and allow him to finish what he started. And seeing as from the point of view of the world at large not only did an equestrian, and one of its most powerful residence at that attack a popular public and political figure unprovoked but it's been confirmed that one of your stronger defences are susceptible to the power of beings like me, many advocating violence will either become more reluctant to act as a result of your boldness. But make no mistake many more will be outraged and side with those who attempt to use it to gain public support to pre-empt the next world-shaking incident. I can say without a doubt that much of the U.N.A.O will be unhappy with the situation, and other beings of significant power will take notice. Of course, there is a good chance nothing too significant to you will come of this, but I think it prudent to pressure you into acquiescing to our preferences. Not only for the economic boon it will bring the U.N.A.O, but because it presents the most benefits to both parties. The U.N.A.O becomes more powerful with the addition of another member, one with considerable resources and good connections to other nations in the Northern Hemisphere potentially helping us to spread our influence. While Equestria gains better security with the acquisition of powerful allies with a vested interest in her protection in addition to a major boost in economic strength from the high potential for the trade of Equestrian products and resources. That is to say nothing of medical and scientific advancements we both stand to gain in addition to lifestyle and infrastructure improvements.”

At this Celestia's continents hardened and her wings unfurled the ambient temperature rose with her. “I see, and I assume we need only bow to this Lord Anarchy you mentioned before, and we need only abandon our current way of life to be a part of this empire you say feared us and wishes for our replacement.” At her words, her fellow Alicorn stood and tried to her side wings unfurled and any weakness erased from their minds. No doubt you intend to exploit our little ponies!”

14 Chapter the... Magamee what chapter is this again? الفصل الرابع عشر Thank you, Chapter the 14

“I see, and I assume we need only bow to this Lord Anarchy you mentioned before, and we need abandon our current way of life to be a part of this empire you say fears us and wishes for our replacement.” At her words, her fellow Alicorn stood to her sides wings unfurled and any perceived weakness erased from their minds. No doubt you intend to exploit our little ponies-”

“Not in the least.”

That took a bit of wind from Celestia's sales but she stood resolute nonetheless.

Kunai’s eyes traced the wings “I always found it fascinating that no matter how advanced a species be it Phoenix, Hippogriff or Alicorn, creatures with wings instinctually extend them to seem larger when agitated.”

That comment made Twilight self-conscious enough to droop her wings significantly but re-extend them when she noted Celestia and Luna still stood unwavering. With Celestia's silence Kunai continued.

“The U.N.A.O is not an empire, nor does it require its members to be beholden to any central leader. Rather, members are beholden to the standards of the organization and each member retains the right to manage their holdings as they see fit. And while there are laws and regulations that all members are expected to adhere to, those were voted in and can be revised or modified whether overall or to fit the situation of individual members with extenuating circumstances. The U.N.A.O as a whole selects its agents from a pool of the most qualified of individuals put forward by each country. They have the authority to investigate any member suspected of breaking the aforementioned laws and regulations as well as providing aide in a number of circumstances. Additionally, you will find that large issues affecting the U.N.A.O as a whole are voted on by all its members. There will be changes you are expected to make, I can tell you that with absolute certainty. One of the aforementioned laws is geared expressly toward second class citizens and forbids members facilitating or otherwise allowing such situations to develop. That would be your biggest concern. Should you join their will also be agents reviewing all your active laws, primarily to filter out laws that facilitate certain atrocities but go ignored but still active in the law books of nations that have a long and varied history. You will be required to repeal or abolish these laws. If you so wish I can provide you all the necessary documents you will need to be up-to-date on the philosophy of the U.N.A.O and its workings, in addition to the powers agents of the U.N.A.O can Exercise. I think you will find we are not an evil organization bent on world domination.” Not in the way you are used to at least.

Celestia had tucked her wings back to her side by this point and was giving Kunai a contemplative look.

“Twilight explained to me the nature of this document.” She tapped the magically binding contract with a gold clad hoof. “Would it be possible to add my own set of fail safes to its current enchantment?”

“Yes, you can, I assume you want to modify the document in such a way as to ensure I am not attempting to deceive you.”

Celestia's steely gaze never left Kunai’s “Indeed, I outlawed such magic many years ago. But seeing as should what you say be true the wellbeing of my family and nation are at risk, I am willing to employ such magic to ensure their security.” Twilight was fidgeting incessantly and Luna had abandoned her attempts to stare down the sitting Gardevoir and turned her eyes to her sister.

Nodding Kunai watched as Celestia’s horn blaze golden as the room temperature rose several degrees before the light died down. Silently the AC worked feverishly to push cool fresh air into the room as a lime green cube of magic shot through with swirls of black floated above the tip of her horn. Leaning forward Celestia touched her horn to the glass like paper and the cube came to rest on the paper before resolving and sunk into it tinting it a sinister red before it faded to its original coloration. Instantly Celestia drew a quill from the ether. And made to sign the contract.

“You will need to focus your magic into the paper for it to work properly.”

Celestia paused and turned to Twilight expecting her to continue, before looking to Kunai.

“That is not where it ends but that is all that is required of you.” Kunai stated.

Celestia looked down at Twilight's signature. Below which she was about to sign. She had already received a report from Twilight detailing what she had observed of her guests, including the full explanation of how the magical contract worked, or at least how they said it worked. In addition to a list of pros and cons of signing in addition to the side effects Twilight experience and her reasoning for not pushing for a less intrusive form of contract. While Celestia couldn't completely agree with all of Twilight's reasoning it was too late for it to make a difference. If she refused to sign she would have to overrule Twilight's decision in front of foreign delegates. Had they been representing only their country she would likely refuse to sign this agreement. That was no longer an option, they were supposedly connected to though not currently officially representing a powerful group of countries that’s still growing. Questions were raised as to twilight and Cadance absence during the attempts at negotiation in Canterlot. She had explained that they were busy governing their own responsibilities. Cadence undoubtedly was but one could argue Twilight's pursuits at the time were negligible. Sending them to her was not expected to yield these results. Now Celestia was cornered between rejecting Twilight’s decision and risk her country looking fractured and easily divided at its highest levels and signing a document that would leave her with half her magic should she deviate from the agreement in anyway. At this point she had no real choice but to honor this agreement to the fullest, and her enchantment would ensure Equestria’s benefit in the long run, among other things. Celestia quickly scribed her signature glowing gold. She passed the document to Luna and the process was repeated with a blue hue. Lastly was Lady Kunai. She placed the document on the table before them and manifested a pen before signing in a line of symbols that radiated a baby blue light that was uncomfortable to look at. The document then illuminated and several other signatures inscribed themselves, three others in similar string of strange symbols, one a faint blue, one a brilliant amber and the other in Vanta black ink.

Noticing the interested stares and sensing a wave of confusion and anger from Celestia in particular Kunai took it upon herself to provide exposition. She then thought better of it and handed the document to Celestia who snatched it a bit more viciously than intended.
Examining the signatures, she noted the added text.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Princess Celestia

Princess Luna

Lady Kunai Representative of The StormFront Islands And its territories.

Leccy Penumbra Representative of The StormFront Islands And its territories.

Michelle Crescent Representative of The StormFront Islands And its territories.

Deathly Belladonna Representative of The StormFront Islands And its territories.

Each of their signatures were comprised of their magic and Celestia could feel something holding fast not to her magical stores but rooting itself into her magical source. As twilight described it held similarities to the sensation of Tirek’s magic stealing abilities. This document was comprised of truly vile magic. The next sensation was a dark magic she employed seeping into her mind, centuries of discipline were the reason Celestia withheld her outward reaction. Luna’s only tell was a widening of her eyes while Twilight audibly gasped and shivered.

“It seems the spell you applied is taking effect.” Kunai stated.

“Indeed, it is” replied Celestia. ‘But this is not how it is supposed to work!’ She thought, ‘What did this creature do, no pony should be able to manipulate that spell but me.’

Kunai smiled and clapped her hands once. “Now, since that bit if business is complete, Princess Twilight Sparkle Miss Belladonnas informed me that you wish to establish an equestrian embassy in StormFront. At her name twilight sat at attention staring at Kunai for a moment before looking to Celestia who was combing through the document. Tilting her head slightly Kunai continued. However, I'm sure you would like time to work on any other details and confer with your fellow princess.” Holding out her hand a glossy white box appeared and floated over to Twilight. You can use this to communicate with us at any time. Materializing a card Kunai presented it to Twilight. “Here is our contact information if you are still interested feel free to contact any of us at any time, the box should contain a manual and some other useful information.” Kunai panned her eyes across the Princesses.

Locking eyes with Kunai Celestia nodded once. “There is another matter of concern. Since there is no timeline or deadline on our signed agreement,” (Twilight’s ears folded back as she adopted an expression of shocked shame.) “I think it prudent to ask when can we expect to receive the promised reparations.”

“Deliveries will begin in 3 to five business days, though I do not expect them to start showing up until about three weeks afterwards, there is quite some distance to be covered. However, there is another way to claim your reparations should you be interested.”

“I think we would prefer thine promised reparations rather than any alternatives.”

“While I agree with my sister I believe it would be wise to at least hear your suggestions.”

“Very well, Equestria does not currently have any ports that can accommodate any of the vessels that would be employed to transport any of your cargo. As a result, once our vessels enter equestrian waters several of your own vessels will need to be employed to transport the cargo from our vessels to your mainland. However, our vessels are not compatible with yours for easy midwater transfer of cargo. As a result, I have decided to give you the option of purchasing any other product tax-free for the equivalent value of your reparations, be it ships, equipment, vehicles or other finished or unfinished products or services. The value you get for your reparations would be subject to inflation, and the tax-free aspect only applies to things bought from StormFront, Nihon, Create, Acheron and any of their colonies. You may ‘spend' any amount of reparations you choose and collect the rest as you see fit.”

“An interesting offer, will it remain open?”

“My offer applies to any portion of your reparations that has yet to arrive at our ports and is no longer valid for any portion of your reparations that are at or are exiting our ports. Additionally, any of you or anyone you give written consent can put it in effect at any time assuming you are in any country that is a member of the U.N.A.O. Otherwise, it will require signed permission from all of you. I should also note that the U.N.A.O primarily uses magical signatures to verify official documents whether the document is enchanted or not. It is the most secure method since magical signatures are particularly difficult to forge. Not impossible mind you, but non-magical signatures do not provide the same level of security.”

Celestia raised a brow, “I see, that is reasonable, if a bit more involved than expected, very well.”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

The meeting had ended hours ago. Staring at the city through the hospital window, Twilight was thinking. She had a lot of thinking to do, Equestria had been her entire world but, the past few days suggested the world was bigger than she could have imagined. Ponies aren’t explorers by nature, they never were, she would freely admit this. Even so, the thought that there are hundreds of countries out there no pony knew about just couldn’t be reconciled in her mind, a dozen? Sure, twice that would feel like a stretch, but hundreds!? The answer is simple, she never thought about it. The thought brought about the image of a blind earth pony sitting at the grand dining hall in Canterlot castle with only hay and alfalfa in hoofs reach, and telling the Pegasus beside him that the rest of the table is covered in the same thing, while unbeknownst to him, said Pegasus is eyeing the barley and bracken fern fried rice that’s being waiting patiently two seats down. She should know that people like Zecora had to have come from somewhere but... Zecora, what are the chances she knew anything about stormfront. The only thing Twilight really knew about where she came from is that it's a really far away country. She never had that much interest in Zecora’s home country. Griffinstone had set a negative president for foreign countries in her mind. But a lot of digging after finding inconclusive information about Griffinstone led her to the discovery that it was built on equestrian land, or at least land claimed by Equestria thousands of years ago that went unused because Equestria didn't have the population to occupy it. Was there a country of donkeys out there somewhere? A country of Minotaur’s like iron will? Does that mean Cantors like Tirek still exist in huge cities somewhere out there, Twilight shivered at the thought of a city of magic stealing Centaurs. Lady Kunai said there were other creatures like her out there, and she had managed to easily put discord in the Hospital and without using her strange magic at that. She needed more information. If what Lady Kunai said was true it stands to reason that some of these creatures didn't think very highly of Princess Celestia and Luna and by extension Equestria. And she was an agent of someone called Lord Anarchy who is presumably stronger than her. Belladonna… Twilight's mind flashed back to memories of mutilation, and blood. She clenched her eyes shut and took deep breaths. Belladonna mentioned other Alicorns and ageless beings, were there more Draconequus out there too? Lady Kunai must know a lot about them considering the things she said. Does that mean Lord Anarchy is a Draconequus? There were so many questions. ‘That meeting made it feel like Equestria had dozens of enemies waiting to take advantage of any slip up’. She looked down at the glossy white cardboard box she was given, removing the lid she took note of several books one was an instruction manual for something named a phone, another was the promised book of foreign customs there was also a paperback titled (The life of the U.N.A.O). The manual was the size of a journal while the other books were thicker than her hoof. There was a smaller box inside grasping it in her magical aura she

“Twilight!”

“GAH.” and flung the box into the air, scrambling to catch it she clutched it to her chest and turned to Starlight.

“Starlight! What is it.”

At the sight of her Starlight sighed. “I was worried about you, you just disappeared, everypony’s looking for you”.

“Twilight turned her eyes down I’m sorry I just…”

Starlight turned to the other side of the room. “Don't worry Twilight it’s Discord, he'll be alright. Right Fluttershy!?”

Having been Freshly startled awake Fluttershy levelled a glare that made Starlight recoil. “This is a hospital, keep your voice down.” She Turned back to Discord, he was in a full-body cast and Fluttershy was trying not to squeeze too hard while clutching his paw between her hooves.

It just wasn't right, discord was always practically bursting with life and couldn't stay still for anything. ‘It just isn't right for him to be so still, it just wasn't right’.

Starlight lowered her ears and Fluttershy turned back to Discord. “How is he”?

At the question, Fluttershy looked back to starlight with an expression of despair before turning her eyes to the rooms Heart monitor. When starlight turned her eyes to it, the sound of a flatline moved up from background noise and became all but deafening in her ears. Mouth opening in horror and face contorting to anguished disbelief Fluttershy quickly corrected her. “It doesn't work on him, we have no way of knowing his condition, but the nurses left it on because none of the doctors know what to do. The princesses are just as clueless. They set his broken bones and took care of his wounds, but they can't use healing magic to do anything, they can’t even reduce his pain or wake him up because they don't know enough about him. It wouldn't be safe, it could make things worse”.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Kunai made her way to the medical bay; the Yacht had left the port for open waters hours ago and all that time was spent explaining their current position to the office. She wasn't surprised that several member countries of the U.N.A.O. were concerned that her presentation was too aggressive, while the rest of them thinks she should have taken the opportunity to kill Discord to make any future campaign easier. There was a myriad of beings represented in the room. From Donkeys and Deer to Kiren and Dragons, and several others. The person who really caught her interest was Lord Anarchy, she honestly didn't expect him to be there. Seated on his right was an elderly Sheep and middle-aged Griffon. The Tyrant and prime minister of StormFront respectively. On his left was a Kirin, distinct with two antlers decorated with white Blossoms and a single horn sprouting forth from her forehead and a Sphinx adorn in gold jewellery. The representative of Nihon and ambassadors of Acheron respectively. Equestria would be left alone, at least until after the reparations were delivered until then no further actions would be taken. When she got back that would officially no longer be her concern.

I didn't expect to see you in the political scene again.

Salina, Hawk, and Mash had been trying to convince me to attend, but Thalassemia wanted to see a Kirin, that's ultimately why I decided too.

Did she say anything?

She asked about Thalassemia

No doubt surprised to find you had another agent.

Not particularly, she did give me one of those ‘you-bastard-you're-the-scum-of-the-earth’ looks though. then she invited Thalassemia for a visit to her palace.

And we all know where this is going.

Yea, Let’s hope this doesn't go badly.

So, what are you up too now?

I'm on my way to the marina, and guess who’s with me.

Thalassemia?

Well, yes, but she isn’t the one I was talking about. Hayami decided to join us. She wants to meet Pandora, she and Thalassemia have been conversing the entire trip.

She talks to me about as much as she talks to you, why the interest in Thalassemia.

Either they are trying to get closer to us or she’s trying to save Thalassemia which is harder to address, I usually can’t hate someone when there sincerely trying to do the right thing. We'll find out I guess. So, how's pandora doing?

I'm about to find out.

Kunai received the occasional greetings and salutes on her way, when she finally arrived she found the Draconequus in question struggling to stand.

Her magic is probably stagnating, painfully at that.

If she’s anything like her father, then being around chaotic natural energies will help a bit. I’ll take her out on the deck after we've been ported, Zyanya will help with that.

[“I would advise against that.”]

Pandora's head snapped to kunai, or they would have if she didn't lose her balance and stumble into the wall before falling onto her back. She turned to give kunai a glare while pulling herself up to sit on the bed, whatever awkwardness she had has apparently evaporated. Pandora seemed to take a small amount of comfort in her presence, it didn't hurt that she was genuinely curious about her. Most of their friends from that dimension had not been in contact with them for centuries, she would have at least expected a heads up before one of there so far unknown children showed up on their planet. They would just have to contact her father when she was on her feet again.

Great, She seems like the special kind of stubborn that doesn't abate until she breaks something.

[“We will be in StormFront in a few hours. The ship is about to be ported to another location and I wanted to check on you before we did so. Are you feeling any worse”?]

“[Yea, I feel weak, light-headed, dizzy and if I stay still for too long my body starts to go stiff.”]

[“There should be something that can help a bit.”] Moving over to a medicine cabinet kunai searched around for a bit before removing a small bottle. She emptied the bottle's content onto a metal tray and separated the small crimson tablets into five groups of twelve and presented the first dozen to Pandora. [Eat these.”]

Pandora spent a second examining the tablets.

[“They are magical stimulants, they will keep your magic flowing without worsening your condition.”]

Glancing at Kunai she took the first dozen in her paw and brought it to her open mouth. The tablets seemed to disintegrate while floating into her open mouth.

[“any improvement?”]

[“I'm still a bit light-headed but the pain and dizziness are receding.”]

[“Good, the pain will flare on occasion but your weakness will get a bit better every time it recedes.”]

[“Thank you.”] she looked to the medicine cabinet.

[“Would you like to go up onto to the deck when we're further away, it is likely to improve your condition somewhat.”]

[“Sure.”]

[“We will be porting closer to StormFront. In a minute, I expect we will reach the deck after that. Can you walk?”]

Pulling herself off the bed Pandora passed Kunai for the door with minimal staggering.

[“You're lucky to be alive”]

[“I said I don't want to talk about it.”]

[“Knowing how you got like this will make helping you significantly easier, different types of Matrice poisoning require different treatments and I'm going to find out eventually. Either that or you die while I am trying to figure it out.”]

{“...”]

Yep, stubborn.

How tedious.

Kunai shrugged [“Ok.”]

Approaching the upper deck there was a momentary feeling of weightlessness, followed by a sudden return of gravity.

Pandora Tensed [“We are approaching StormFront waters now.”] Stepping onto the deck the sky was overcast and off in the distance a Tempest raged from one end of the horizon to the other and seemed to climb to the top of the sky. ‘[“Do you feel any better”?]

Pandora took a deep breath of the wild energies in the atmosphere. [“Yea, that’s a lot better.”] she took the opportunity to explore the decks of the ship while kunai moved to the railing. Eventually she found her way back to Kunai [“Are we sailing into that storm?”]

[“Yes, Stormfront is at the centre.”] A light rain started to pick up. Kunai held up a hand bathed in Psychic energy. [“If you like I could keep the rain off you.”] Pandora nodded her assent and a thin barrier encased her body. The creatures on the deck produced a similar effect for themselves with the exception of those in armour. They allowed the rain to patter off the dull covering as the rain and wind steadily picked up to a deafening crescendo. Pandora noticed most of the crew making their way to the railing she had no clue there were so many species onboard, Sheep like creatures were the most common but there were Zebra, Ponies, Parrots, Minotaur, Deer, and some kind of bipedal Cat. All around the deck crewmembers loiter at the railing. notably, the space around her and kunai was uncrowded for about three meters.

Instead of sailing directly for the centre of the storm the vessel started to pick up speed and entered at an angle. Sailing with the current and wind for hours the vessel was blindsided by rogue waves dozens of times, the smallest of which was at least twenty four meters. Each time the ship was swallowed a streamline transparent shield shimmered in and out of visibility. When inside of a wave the looking over the railings would yield a view of a black abyss hinting at an immense shape moving beneath, the sight was enthralling. Several cries went up, some of the crew were scrambling beneath the deck, others were less panicked and doing a brisk walk, but more still were either laughing staring into the abyss or some combination of the two. Turning to see Kunai peering into the abyss she chose to do the same at every opportunity. Seemingly too soon the rogue waves stopped, a bit after that they were leaving the storm for the open ocean again and the overcast sky and rougher waters started to fade behind them. The sky's closer to the storm had huge shapes ascending from the ocean and flying spirals into the sky. [What are those?]

{Note: The ship in the image is not the one they are riding on. I do not own this image}

[“They are called Plasma Rays, their native to the islands and like most sea monsters are extremely magic resistant.”]

Eventually, they started to pass the occasional small island comprised of rocks and sand, with mangrove trees. Hours passed before mountains could be seen rising in the distance, and more yet before a coastal city was seen. The largest structure visible was an arch-shaped building soaring above all the others. It wasn't much to look at all things considered.

I do not own this image, karracaz does.

The rest of the island continent's coast was thick forest or mangroves with the occasional city on the coast. Off the coast were a plethora of smaller islands some with towns others with houses mansions and others with various marine farms and fishing towns. The sight was somewhat repetitive and remained that way until they reached the northern group of larger islands between the two inner island continents. The island they landed on was named Night Phoenix island and its soaring city of glass conveniently called Night Phenix City. The yacht pulled into a marina filled with various watercraft. The yacht pulled up to a pier long enough to admit a small crowd consisting of a Sphinx, several Sheep, a Griffin, a Draconequus, a Kirin, and a … tiny green tyrant lizard, and ornate one by the look of it. The Draconequus had his tail behind it, a pet loved like family then. Overlooking the rest, the last three commanded her attention.

The Kirin in question was a leafy green with a cream underside covered in the same scales as her cheeks back and shins. The top of her snout adorned the same scales serving to draw attention to her golden eyes. Her long hair was divided into an intricate bun in the back, bangs that left her eyes unobscured, and long side lox extending past her shoulders each held together by two golden beads. Her onyx hair was twice parted by two cream antlers crowning her head each with a golden band around their forward point. Her presence, power and aura were all hidden, most likely in an attempt to seem non-threatening but the potential surrounding her was palpable.

I do not own this image. it belongs to Faith-Wolff

Her eyes flashed from Draconequus to Kiren to the tyrant lizard constantly as her previous demeanour was slowly replaced with fear laced apprehension. When the vessel came to a full stop Kunai was the first to disembark. Unhesitant she walked up to the group and embraced the Draconequus Pandora's eyes kept bouncing off of. In the back of her mind, she wondered if he was being stabbed with the thing on her chest. Returning the embrace, he wrapped his tail around her legs. At that action, Pandora started altering her course to put as much of them as possible between her and the Kiren. Something said Kiren took note of since there was nothing between them for the time being.

Author's Note

My muse snuck up on me last night.
Comments tend to cause such things, strange that.

15 Chapter 15 Cushion Talk.

Kunai Introduced Pandora to Hayami, the Kiren of the group and Nihon representative, Irish Mash, a middle-aged Griffin who is StormFronts Current Prime Minister, and Kitty Hawk, An older sheep and StormFronts reining Tyrant. Needless to say, most of the introduction went in one ear and out the other as she nodded in acknowledgement. Pandora’s interpretation of the local energies, despite the constant distraction of the hurricane surrounding the island continents made the situation quite transparent in regard to the intentions of the Griffin, and the creature that looked like a Sheep, and while the more beings... people, between her and the Kiren the better, she knew they couldn't make much actual difference. Speciesist, she knew, but her dad had already told her that breaking herself of those ingrained biases she was raised with wouldn't be easy, at least she was trying to be open-minded. That said she couldn't read the Kiren beyond a vague sense of concern, Anarchy, for all intents and purposes wasn't trying to hide anything, making her instantly more comfortable around him, and… ‘the Tyrant lizard is sapient! Biases, mental biases’, luckily the Kiren… Hayami was there to make her nervous, otherwise, she would have been more outspoken and greeted it… Her, as a pet, pissing off Anarchy no doubt. Kunai already proved his agents were more family than servants or slaves.

Sailing on to some other destination Pandora's nerves were slowly getting the better of her. Most of the crew had disembarked. Meanwhile, everyone they met at the dock had made their way to a minimalist sitting room that was recently inhabited by Alicorns evident by the lingering magic. The Griffin and ‘sheep’ were conversing to one side while the Kiren had made its-her way to the seat across from them. She spoke up, and her speech was heavily accented and missing some of the nonverbal aspects of the language. Pandora’s understanding of the sentence was along the lines of- [“It is a delight to meet matchless Anarchy has made such a bicker around”.] But a quick application of the ever-elusive common sense suggested that she meant to say [“It is a pleasure to meet the one Anarchy has been making such a fuss about”.] Panicking internally and subconsciously gripping the arm of the couch she could only stare impassively (and hopefully non-offensively) at Hayami’s antlers in an attempt not to lower her head. She opened her mouth emotionless and emitted a strangled croke, that had several ears briefly flicker in her direction before closing her mouth in embarrassment, anxiety and fear.

Concern and indignation rising Hayami turned her slitted eyes to where Kunai sat beside the young Draconequus, then next to Kunai Where Anarchy occupied the end of the couch with his tail around Kunai’s waste and Thalassemia in his lap. He locked eyes with Hayami then glanced at Pandora in concern before apologetically looking back to Hayami. [Sorry about her reaction she grew up outside the Curve, And from her reaction I'm guessing her interaction with other Kiren haven't been positive”. ‘And it's a safe guess you're going to blame me for her behaviour’]. Surprised, Hayami addressed Pandora, her mental walls faltering for an instant. [I... I… My justify! Had I identified… I”.] mental walls flickering, Pandora could get a brief read on Hayami’s intent. She didn't relax from her benign nature but intellectually she was significantly less concerned, too bad her emotions did not agree with it. [Would you deficiency me to leave? I interpret if my beingness makes you miserable.”]

Screaming at herself pandora managed to Shake her head in the negative, reasoning that she needed to adjust, and this was a good start. Hesitantly Hayami settled into her seat and anarchy took up the conversation. [“Pandora what exactly brought you here? And do your parents know where you are?]

Stuttering constantly she managed to explain that she had wanted to leave and explore on her own, for some time, but her mother refused to let her. Her mother is a Dynamic Draconquess, so she doesn't really understand what she's going through, and her dad who is a Blitz Draconquess was busy with a big case, so she didn't see him much. When she got the chance to explain what was happening to her dad, he told her about the curve and recommended she stop by at some point, she isn't sure if her mother knew she was leaving but she jumped at the opportunity at the time. That was a few decades ago, and things haven't been easy. Things seem to have been one mistake after the other since then, but she was getting by until a few decades ago. She’s not sure how she got poisoned but she just started feeling sick and nothing she's done has stopped it from getting worse. She's confident she'll get better eventually but she's getting weaker, so she decided it would be safer to be somewhere safe in case she got too sick to defend herself.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Mindspace POV

“Personally I think it's strange and dangerous that she's so willing to talk about her current weakness a round Hayami considering her obvious fear of her, maybe the poison is affecting her mentally.”

“Anarchy Nothing I've seen suggests it’s affecting her mental faculties, though I suppose our presence and seeming familiarity would be enough to make her think Hayami and us are closer than we actually are. Why, are you concerned about what she might do?”

“Kunai I didn't mean to insinuate that Hayami is a danger to anyone, she's practically harmless, and we all know she’s a genuinely wonderful person.”

“Maybe this is just the safest she's been for a long while. She did insinuate that she was scraping buy, with that constant stress probably everything is just coming out. If that's the case then having her think Hayami is a danger to her could do her more harm than good, and knowing Hayami she’ll help her however she can.”

“Ok that makes sense. Let's have her settle in and see what she needs help with and what she wants help with. She came here herself so I hope this means she isn't prone to get in over her head like Rhapsody was. And Thalassemia, she apparently thought you were a pet at first glance”.

“At least she didn't start treating me like one, that's all that really matters I guess”.

“Not that I'm complaining but you are usually more irritated by that”.

“If it keeps happening as much as the two of you say it will I’m going to have to start dealing with it in some way that doesn't involve leaching away people's life”.

“Perfectly true”.

Author's Note

Merry Christmas Everybody!!!
(...)
What? I'm late!? oh, um... Iiiiiiii mean Happy Newyears. :twilightblush:

1 Chapter One: A Visit from Family

Proofread by Hunter Steel

Chapter One: Visit from a Family

Starlight Glimmer let out a yawn as she entered the castle kitchen. “Good morning Spike.”

“Morning Starlight.” Spike replied as he continued to munch on a combination of gems, cereal, and apples.

Starlight gave his breakfast a quizzical look. “So, big day today?” She inquired with a smirk on her muzzle.

“Bah, I don’t know,” He paused before shrugging his shoulders. “I just felt like having a big breakfast today for some reason. At first I was just gonna eat an apple, but I guess you could say I decided to mix it up a bit. Heh heh.”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Why is it always apples?”

“What do you mean by why is it always apples??” Inquired Spike.

Starlight Opened the refrigerator door. “This is what I mean!” She exclaimed as an army of Red Delicious came flying from the fridge, carried in the glow of her magic.

“Look at this! There are no other fruits in here, and that is not even including the Granny Smiths you keep on the counter!” Starlight huffed, her frustration easily evident on her face.

“I’d easily take a bet that this castle has no other fruits other than apples anywhere!” She exclaimed.

“You really shouldn’t let Applejack here you say that,” warned Spike, “she would throw a fit. Not to mention; what do you have against apples anyway?”
Starlight let out a breath.

“I don't have anything against apples Spike, but I spend most of my time in the castle studying with Twilight, so I don't get much opportunity to go out shopping. I guess I'm just getting tired of apples is all.”

“That’s ok; I’ll just pick up some other fruits for you next time I go out.”

“Really? Thanks Spike!”

“Sure thing.”

“So, is Twilight up yet?” asked Starlight as she moved to procure breakfast.

“I don't know, she’s usually up by now. Meh, she’s probably passed out reading somewhere.”

“Actually, I was talking to Applejack” Came Twilight's reply from the entrance. As she trotted into the kitchen, she surveyed the scene and honed in on the basket of apples on the counter. “Apparently she wants to start trying to crossbreed different apples to develop a new strain.”

“You mean like what they did to get rainbow colored corn?” Asked Starlight as she gave up and moved to grab one of the apples.

“Don't you need a lab and a whole bunch of equipment for that? And besides, zap apples are already rainbow colored.” Commented Spike.

“I don't think it’s quite like that, at most she probably wants to make them bigger or something.” Replied Starlight with an exasperated look.

“Actually she’s-”

“TWILIGHT!!!” Screamed Rainbow Dash as she came zooming down the hall. “What’s going on!? Is it a friendship problem!? Do I need to go back to Griffonstone? Is Spike eating the castle again!?” Rainbow locked eyes with Twilight. “Is the castle under attack!?”

“Rainbow,” Soothed Rarity. “you simply must calm down darling. The castle is still in one piece, your cutie mark isn’t glowing, and Spike is right here.”

“One time and you’ll never let me live it down.” Grumbled Spike.

Applejack spoke up. “Ah’m guessing it's something worse; did y'all see the look on pinkie’s face? I’ve never seen her like that before.” She said as she stepped into the kitchen with Fluttershy trailing behind her.

“I hope she’s ok.” Replied Fluttershy. “She looked like she was in pain.” She lowered her head. "I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she just said to get to the castle, and then she disappeared.”

“I know!” Blurted Rainbow dash. “Something’s definitely happened, when I get my hooves on whoever did this I’ll-“

“GIRLS!!!” Shouted Twilight as everypony started to breakdown into irate chatter. “Can somepony please explain to me what’s going on!?”

Everypony was silent until Fluttershy stepped forward. “Um, Pinkie Pie told me to meet at the castle. She said it's important.”

“She told me the same thing.” Applejack added only to me followed by a series of nods. There was a bright flash, but everypony seemed to ignore it in favor of trying to figure out what was wrong with Pinkie Pie.

Starlight started. “Uh, girls, how did we get here?" Said Starlight as she turned around to come face to face with an angrily glowing Tree of Harmony. Her fur stood on end, her ears flattened to her skull, and she started to cringe back. Spike took notice of this and turned to the direction she was facing, he then started to inch his way behind Starlight for cover.

“Girls?” said a voice everypony recognized, but, it sounded, different? Wrong? It was unmistakable, but completely alien. Everypony turned to see Pinkie Pie standing at the entrance in front of a serious looking Discord. She looked... Sedate, she was still her bubbly self, but anyone could tell something was wrong, the way she walked, the way she moved, it was Pinkie Pie, but, it wasn't.

“PINKIE!” Chorused the group as they rushed to meet their friend.

“Pinkie,” Begun Rarity. “What in the wide world of Equestria is the matter darling?”

“It’s… It’s my Pinkie sense, something… something’s wrong girls, something big. There’s no twitches or itches or shakes or quakes no anything, it just feels wrong, at first I thought I was sick but then I realized I don't feel sick, and no matter where I go or what I do, it’s, it’s, it’s everywhere! It’s like, like, like when I get a doozy, but this doozy isn’t a doozy it feels like how you feel when you reach the end of your favorite story, and it’s everywhere! Everywhere I go, everything I do!!! ALL OVER!!!” Pinkie clung to Rarity “I can feel it Rare, I can feel it stuck in your coat, and in Dash’s feathers!!!” Pinkie then sat down as everypony looked at her worriedly.

“Well that’s not ominous at all.” Commented Starlight with a role of her eyes. “Well I don't feel anything, and that still doesn’t tell me how we got here, or why that tree looks so angry.”

“That would be my doing.” Started Discord. “As for the tree of Harmony, I’m afraid it’s as Pinkie Pie said, something is coming, and we will need all the help we can get. That includes all the more competent members of the royal family.”

Rainbow dash took off and hovered above the group after checking her feathers. "So the rest of the princesses are on their way here?"

"Yes, I sent each of them a letter telling them what's happening.” Discord snapped his talons. Everypony present received a custom pendant of their cutie marks on an ornate silver chain while Spike's was of a pineapple grenade sprouting flowers.

Spike took off his to examine it. "Cool, what is it?"

"Those Spike," Discord said while pointing to the pendant. "Are protection charms, you may just need them, i enchanted them to deploy an intricately woven shield spell should you find yourselves in danger. I suggest you put back on.

"That’s not what I-"

Twilight spoke up, "So would you mind explaining to us what’s happening?"

Spike huffed and kept examining the pendant.

"Hmm, oh yes, of course.” Discord summoned an overstuffed arm chair with an accompanying floor lamp and started to pace around them. "Now, one of the things Celestia asked me to do was to close both the natural and unnatural portals across Equestria. Some of these lead to other parts of the world, some lead to less traversed and dangerous parts of Tartarus, and some," he stopped and turned to Twilight. "Like your mirror portal,” Discord turned the chair into a swing set while the lamp remained. “lead to other worlds, however some of these portals can’t be closed, well not permanently, they just reappear somewhere else." Discord stood upside down on the top bar of the swing set while Pinkie took a seat on the swings.

"Hold on," Said Applejack. "So what you’re saying is sum tin’s cumin through one a them there portals?"

"That can't be all bad," Squeaked Fluttershy. "Twilight said everypony on the other side of the mirror portal was really friendly, right Twilight?"

"Well, yes, this is probably all just a misunderstanding, maybe you’re just overreacting."

"While I will admit that is a distinct possibility," Discord begun as he sat upside-down on the top bar of the swing set and started to gently swing himself. "Seeing as some of these portals open on a regular basis and let creatures through, the Breezies for example." Discord turned to Pinkie Pie. "However I highly doubt that's the case."

"What makes you so sure about that?" inquired Twilight.

"This portal should not exist…”

"Um, what do you mean, it shouldn’t exist, does it lead to somewhere that bad?" Questioned Rarity.

Discord took a minute to think before answering. “Simply put, it doesn’t make sense. Something like that just isn’t possible."

"..."

The silence stretched on uncomfortably long, as everypony present, even Pinkie, who upon till now was looking decidedly distracted, took a few seconds from their day to stare at Discord with deadpan expressions.

Applejack then presented Discord with a specially designed and personalized version of her trademark raised eyebrow, and said in no uncertain terms. "Ok, now Ah’m worried."

"Me too." Meeped Spike.

Twilight looked in turn at each of her friends who just spoke; she then turned back to Discord and articulately depicted what was on her mind. "What?”
Discord blinked. Twilight stared at him.

It was Pinkie who staved off the silence. "W-what do you mean it doesn’t make sense, isn’t that your job!?”

Discord turned his attention to Pinkie. She blinked… Discord face clawed, dragged his talon down his face, and huffed. “Right, the only one of you with a modicum of understanding for chaos magic is Pinkie.” Discord took a moment to look toward the direction of Canterlot. “We only have a few minutes; everypony else should be ready by now.” Discord snapped his digits.

In a flash of light Princesses Luna, Cadence, Celestia, and Prince shining armor appeared. The group could only stare in wide eyed amazement at what lay before them.

Princess Mia Mora Cadenza was present in all her pink glory, clad in a simple yet beautiful and heavily enchanted set of silver armor designed to protect her chest, barrel, and flanks while leaving room to maneuver her wings. Several dozen enchantments ensure that the seemingly expose parts of her body are just as hard to damage as the armor itself. Her shoes differ from her usual attire in that they were silver in color and are designed to trample and kill with custom enchantments to multiply the force of her hits. Her helmet matches the rest of her armor with enough enchantments to make twilight blush. Atop the helmet is a special comb designed to let her main out while keeping it out of her face.

Princess Luna was clad in a suit of silver armor designed with a horn bladed helmet for close quarters combat. The fronts of the helm reaches down to her snout while above her eyes are bladed backward facing fins designed to aid in melee combat. At the back of the helm is a designated space that allows her main to escape into a ponytail. Her shoes and bracers stretch up to her knees and are heavily armored and enchanted to protect the wearer while allowing her to move quickly and powder bones with her bucks. The body armour is simple in design and imitates her regalia while providing protection for parts of her neck, back and flank. The bladed guards for her withers are designed to allow full movement while ensuring the lethality of her body checks. The enchantments on her armour are her own and are designed to maximize speed, momentum, force and protection while along her flanks and fetlocks are depictions of her crescent moon cutie mark.

Prince Shining Armor stood proud beside his wife Princess Cadenza in a set of stylized and segmented armor designed to cover from his upper neck down to his elbow. The front of his neck is covered with a purple tie shaped fabric depicting a fuchsia starburst above a cobalt diamond designed to boost and strengthen his shielding spells. Surrounding the diamond is a stylized heart that ends in a point and carries the armor with it. On each of his withers are miniature ornate shields designed to be detach and deployed to generate or further amplify magical shields and provide additional protection to him or his allies. His horse shoes come up to curve at his elbow in the front and are enchanted to give him a speed boost allowing him to traverse the battlefield quickly to deploy extra defense where needed and bathed in his magical aura was a standard issue royal guard spear.

And at the center of the group, was Princess Celestia the sun goddess. The one who guided Equestria to peace for one thousand years. She was clad in her regalia and looking as radiant as ever, with a mouth full of pancakes and a muffin in her magical aura.

The three of them gave their surroundings a confused look, until their eyes locked on to the other inhabitants of the cave. The ponies and Spike bowed to their monarchs, while Twilight, after seeing the attire of Cadence, her B.B.B.F.F, and Princess Luna, took notice of Celestia’s unarmored form. “Um, Princess Celestia, Where’s your armour?”

Celestia swallowed and gave all present a look. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Auntie?” Cadence begun. “Didn’t you receive a letter?”

“No, I did not. What is happening?”

Luna took point. “Discord seems to believe that something is going to occur that involves portals; I do not know the details, as the letter was not very forthcoming with them.”

Celestia gave Discord a quizzical look. “Is that so,” Discord raised an eyebrow. “Come to think of it, I do recall receiving such a correspondence from Discord.” Celestia placed her muffin on one of the small columns of rock present near the entrance of the cave. “This is by far your least convincing prank yet Discord”.

“So, what, this is just some prank Pinkie and Discord came up with?” Rainbow dash protested. “I thought the world was ending or something! Not cool guys, not cool!” Everypony looked at Discord and Pinkie. Pinkie looked crestfallen and worried. Discord returned to his upright position and dispelled the swings leaving behind the seat hanging by the chains for Pinkie.

Discord gave Celestia a knowing smirk. “Say, Celestia, do you still have that Suit of armour?”

“If you are talking about the one that you know, then no. I haven’t needed armour in Centuries. Is that what this is about?”

Discord stared at Celestia for a moment. “Hmm, not quite.” He replied while pointing at the Tree of Harmony. With a snap Celestia was wearing a matching necklace to the main six. “Time is almost up, if you would follow me.” Celestia tore her widening eyes from the tree to peer down at her new 'bling' with a wary expression.

As all present exited the cave behind Discord, Starlight spoke up. “Sooo, what, that’s it, this was all just a hoax?” she inquired as she snatched up Celestia’s wayward muffin on her way out. As the procession exited the cave a hollow vacuum like sound became more prominent.

“Um, w-w-what’s that sound? Is the portal opening?” Asked Fluttershy whimpered as she retreated into her mane and hid behind Discord. Discord raised an eyebrow and looked behind him. Everypony turned to Cadence who gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Baby monitor Spell, I think the magic of the Everfree is interfering with it.”

Shining Armor smiled and rolled his eyes. “Cady, you can stop the spell, Fleur Heart is in good hooves, you don't need to worry.

Cadence smiled and released the spell. “I know, I know-“

“There it is.” Interrupted Discord.

Everypony present put on their game face and turned to look up at where Discord was pointing.

“… There's nothing there.”

“Oh, there is Rainbow, but it’s on a sub atomic level, so it’s too small to see.”

“Are you sure that’s-”

In that instance, several things happened in quick succession. First, the portal expanded to the size of a house, while producing a sound like ripping static, or more accurately a distorted sonic boom. Then it started to swivel uncontrollably. Finally, it fired a lance of crystal that was as long as a train car and half as thick around in the middle. The lance flew off into the distance toward the Hayseed Swamp.

“…”

“Was that it?” Protested Rainbow Dash, “A flying Gem? Pfft, what a rip off.”

“Not quite yet,” Interjected Twilight. “The portal is still open. Discord can y-”

Crystals started to fire out of the portal at high speed as it swiveled in midair. Everypony ducked behind Shining Armor's erect shield as it strafed the area and started firing off crystal lances in random directions. This only continued for a few seconds, after which all was still.

Shining Armor rose from his crouching position and dropped his shield. The others followed suit. “Well I didn’t expect that.”

“It could a been worse.” Replied Applejack as she inspected the lances of crystal deeply buried in the rock around them.

Luna approached one of the crystals. “So, Um, What now?” Asked Applejack.

“Well, it’s no stretch of the imagination to think these are the cause of the magical disruptions.” Discord began. "And that being the case, I recommend we find and destroy all of them.”

“Yea, and let me guess who's gonna have to fly all over the Everfree to find them.” Huffed Rainbow Dash as Princess Luna started a magical scan on one of the crystals.
“Wait, What!?” protested Twilight, “you just want to destroy them!? But imag-“

“Let me stop you right there Twilight, if these were any other unknown interdimensional crystals, I would let you go nuts trying to figure it out. But these,” Discord pointed at one of the crystals. "besides being more than anything you could ever hope to understand, i don't like them.”

“And I believe I know why.” Declared Luna while waving her horn over the crystal. “These crystals are made entirely of order magic. The spell keeping the magic in this physical form is like nothing I have ever seen.” Celestia moved to observe her sister’s work.

“See, we’re already learning so much.” Rejoiced Twilight with an eager smile.

Discord gave her an irritated look. “I am not letting you play with those things. I’ll destroy them myself if I must.” Discord turned to one of the crystals and raised a paw, but Twilight intercepted him." You will do no such thing, and what did you mean by ‘couldn't hope to understand them’?"

Celestia turned to see what was happening, but it was Pinkie Pie who spoke up. “Discords’ right Twilight, we should get rid of these things.”

“Pinkie, not you too.” Twilight was interrupted by the portal depositing a…… something in the valley.

The crystals begun to pulse with an unnatural blue-green light before they started to exploded into shards, which promptly begun to destabilize and leak 100% pure chaos magic into the atmosphere, which begun to funnel toward the fifth dimensional shape on the valley floor.

Discord lowered his paw and gave twilight a flat look

♫♥♠♦♣♫

POV: Twilight

“What’s happening?” I shouted as I watched the crystals dissolve themselves into an unnatural mist and float toward the strange construct that fell out of the portal last.

“Twilight duck!” the next thing I know, I was tackled from the side by Spike and stumbled back. I looked down at Spike to see a lance of crystal poking through the shield far enough to pierce his shoulder.

“Spike!? Oh Spikes are you ok?”

“Yea I’m fine Twilight. what about you?”

“Spike you're bleeding!” I noticed the crystal started to dissolve.

“What!? Where!?” He gasped.

“Hold still.”

“My magic isn't working!” I turned to see Cadence. “We need to get back to the Tree of Harmony.” I looked up to see Cadence’s terrified face framed by Discord, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the background holding up an archway leading to the cave of the Tree of Harmony, though I noticed only Discord's magic seemed to completely hold them back.

“Twilight come on!” At Spikes shout, i turned back to grab him in my magic and galloped towards the cave.

Once everyone was gathered at the Three of Harmony- “What in Celestia’s name was that!?” Princess Celestia turned to Rarity at her name. “Um, my apologies your Highness.”

“It stopped.” Stated shining armor.

“Um, has anypony seen Discord?” Asked Fluttershy.

“He was holding up the barrier.” I replied.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

POV:???

Discord gazed impassively at the being before him. Atop her head are two Dark purple horns with a slight inward curve and long pink and white striped hair with a pink and dark blue mane trailing down her slender neck to a gathering of fur around her neck, reminiscent of a dark brown lion’s mane complimented by her two lion paws of a lighter brown. Her long slender dragon tail is pink with sharp flat spins. It ends in a lighter pink tassel. She is standing on two brown goat legs with dark brown hooves and in the centre of her back is a pair of dark purple bat wings.

As the ponies tentatively started to exit the cave, she used a paw to move the hair covering her face to one side revealing one of her slitted pupils surrounded by a bright pink iris which is intern surrounded by yellow sclera.

She clutched her head before looking around and spotting Discord. She noticed a pink pony standing by his side.

“Hi I’m Pinkie Pie”

Author's Note

Yep, my first fic. If anyone actually reads this, I might be writing a sequel. Maybe.

Many thanks to my proofreaderHunter Steel for the editing help as well as enthusiasm and feedback on my ideas.

I also want to say thanks to Snowbot for his feedback and help as well as advising me to get an editor in the first place

I'm always open feedback and ideas, wood for the fire and all that fun stuff, though I can’t actually guarantee that I will use any of it in the story. I also welcome constructive criticism.

Draconequus drawn by Lopoddity

8 Chapter Hate: Assaulting Strange Creatures

Chapter Hate: Assaulting Strange Creatures

After spending six hours reading over the contract with her friends, Twilight had made a list of things she wanted to be changed, it consisted mostly of minor changes in phrasing and grammar, After getting a reminder of how innocent-seeming things could be used to her detriment. She had a pretty strong feeling there was a lot more to the contract than just reparations, but she couldn't see it, at this point spike pointed out that they never specified how many suits of armor they wanted, and sure enough neither did the contract, It just said guards armor. Unsurprisingly this got Twilight a bit riled up. “In all fairness that is what Rainbow Dash asked for.” Defended Leccy, “I assumed she meant the armor the guards here with us were wearing.”

Michele nodded. “It was obviously an attempt to embarrass us by declaring to anyone we and our armourless guards passed that you took us for everything we have, but at this point, I don't even care anymore.”

“What! That's not what I was trying to do!” Contested rainbow dash.

Michelle leveled her with a look that said ‘i don't believe you, but I won't contradict you.’

“Don't look at me like that I'm telling the truth.”

All the time Belladonna was content to watch the one-sided argument unfold.

After Starlight got tired of the shouting and magically muted Rainbow Dash, a bit more negotiation mostly on the part of Starlight, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack found Twilight the proud owner of a decade’s worth of armour she had no guards for, an agreement to have someone come and teach the guards she doesn't have how to use the armour she has no guards for, and one special made suit for the rainbow Pegasus herself. After the obvious question was asked it was established that a decade was two hundred and fifty full suits of armor.

Then came the unusual but straightforward method of signing the treaty. It turns out you needed to sign with your magic itself. Simple enough but also unbelievably draining according to Michelle, understandable since the contract binds your magic to your word. Unsurprisingly Twilight was extremely hesitant following the explanation of how this particular form of document worked. This is something she would never usually do, magic was a significant part of her life and she wasn't sure what she would do without it, but she really didn't have anything to lose since all she had to do was get Princesses Celestia and Luna to give an official pardon, not too bad a deal considering the urgency that was put into getting Equestria in good standing with the new country, in addition to keeping Equestria abreast of the unexplored world and in contact with their new allies, something the embassy would greatly help with assuming it works out.

‘We only need one signature to make everything official and net Equestria a new ally.’ Thought Twilight ‘just a one chariot ride and were almost done. Which begs the question how did they intend to get to Vanhoover in time. By the sound of things their ride was leaving today, and only Princess Celestia's personal charioteers were known to manage a sustained flight for such great distanced in under a day without rest.

While leaving the map room for the castle exit Twilight and her friends were offered transportation to Vanhoover by the delegates. Having already informed Celestia of the need for speedy transport to and from Vanhoover Princess Celestia sent her personal chariot, that twilight would likely have to leave without. This lead to questions of why Twilight didn't have her own chariot and guards. Twilight’s response was that she wanted to be treated like a normal pony, and guards weren't conducive to such. At that point, the conversation turned to using undercover guards and safety concerns. Twilight concede that it would be safer but she just didn't like the thought of others putting themselves in danger for her sake. Here Belladonna cut off the conversation saying she didn't at all agree but could respect Twilight’s decision.

And then there was Rainbow Dash.

“Wait, so what, you guys have undercover guards in Ponyville!”

“In essence yes, they came here before we did and will likely leave after we've left, they generally go ahead of us and make sure there are no problems,” responded Leccy “it may seem like a bit much to you but after several past incidences its become a regular practice when visiting foreign countries that are either hostile for whatever reason or unknown to us. And VIP’s visiting Stormfront that don't have their own guards are given a guard detail from the Office.”

At this point Rainbow was scrutinizing every corner she turned and occasionally sticking her head in rooms they passed. “So there undercover guards in the castle right now hu.”

“Only one Miss Dash interrupted Deathly” she has been following us since we entered the castle however the rest are outside somewhere.

“What! so you admit it, you have spies in Equestria!,”

“Miss Pinkamena has already met her. I believe she sold you a game Miss Pinkamena.”

“Wait a minute you mean you know that Batpony?”

“She is a Thestral, not a Batpony,” at that pinkie winced “their is actually a difference, but yes I do know her.”

“Well, where is she I wanna see her again.”

“Well your more likely to see her after she's off duty if at all, but I can't speak on her behalf.”

“Forget about that, and don't change the subject,” Rainbow was Hovering in front of Leccy mostly because Belladonna intimidated her and Michelle creeped her out. “Why the buck do you guys have spies here! what are you planning!?”

Leccy gave Rainbow a perplexed look. “Um, how would I know? it's a pretty poorly kept secret that every country capable of it has spies in Equestria, that's been the case ever since the whole nightmare moon debacle thirteen hundred years ago. Stormfront wasn't around back then but rumors about spies here go back centuries, the weeks of constant night/twilight/day practically destroyed most of the world and killed millions of people in addition to driving dozens of species to extinction or endangerment. It also led to dozens of other wars and supposedly somehow caused deep sea Kiju to start coming ashore ever since. Every piece of land between the equator and Antarctic have had cities destroyed by them. Everyone has been watching Equestria ever since. It's possible the Kaiju aren't a result of the imbalance in the day-night cycle but they didn't start showing up until then so the blame for that got directed towards the Equestrian monarchs. Governments across the world were facing total anarchy and needed to give their citizens someone to blame whether it was the sister's fault or not. So every bad thing that happened for a couple hundred years after nightmare moon was kinda blamed on Equestria.

Exiting Castle Friendship and filing away the information she just received for later, Twilight was interested to find one of the silver-clad guards drawing a circle in the dirt with her hoof. Looking around she confirmed that yes the assumed zebra guard was gone from her previous position and replaced with a Griffin. Turning back to the guard Twilight watched her pull a small flask from her shadow and pour a clear gel in the center of the circle before stepping on it and giving her hoof a sharp twist. With frightening speed, gel filled the ground in the circle.

Noticing Twilight’s fascination Belladonnas preempted her question. “Its a form of teleportation gel, it lets anyone teleport to a preset location, in this case back to our yacht.

“Since we intend to teleport the distance with you we would be glad to provide you some teleport gell and a marker along with a manual on how to use it so you can make your way back here in an expedient manner.”

Twilight gave a small smile, “That's not necessary I can make my way back here myself, it won't take too much to teleport back here with my friends.” At her response Twilight noticed Belladonna adjust her wings, she had no idea why that caught her eyes it was just something many Pegasi do, there were constantly moving and adjusting their wings, sometimes restlessly, she herself wasn't much different, but the movement did intern draw her eyes to Michelle, who was beside Belladonna all this time. Michelle was giving a small frown, well it would be more accurate to say her smile fell a bit, but Twilight, sharp as she is, noticed, quickly modifying her response she added- “But I would relish the opportunity to see more of your magic, so I would be glad to.” Beckoning to her friends the entire group stepped on to the gel, all the while Rarity expressed concern for her hooficure. When Twilight turned, the guards that were behind them now consisted entirely of avians. Unable to hold her curiosity twilight had to ask, “how do they do that? It seems the armor and its occupants change whenever I'm not looking.”

Leccy looked up from her phone to the guards, turned to Twilight, and gave her a friendly smirk, “Ancient Nihongo…

♫♥♠♦♣♫

secret.”

Twilight was completely disoriented, the surroundings completely changed, no flash, no sound, no magical buildup, nothing. She was just suddenly slapped with the pungent smell and sound of seaspray highlighted by a hush that can only be achieved with hundreds of ponies packed into a small space and trying their darndest to be as quiet as possible. Turning her head to the right she saw ocean for miles. Twilight stiffened as a level of scrutiny she was not prepared for pressed down on her like an unwittingly cruel foal playing with a particularly big bug. Stiffly she turned around to see what could feasibly be the entirety of Vanhover blanketing land, dock, sea, and air, some with cameras and many with snacks. Twilight gulped, she could feel the gaze of ponies perched on distant buildings pressing down on her soul with reckless abandon, their binoculars seemingly amplifying their scrutiny, and boosting her self consciousness to levels she only felt during her coronation. Twilight assumed she was standing on the ship the StormFront delegates were reported to have arrived on. At that moment she could feel the immeasurable pressure of the crowd's attention slide off her and leaving an ill gotten sense of relief in its place. Letting out an unknowingly held breath from burning lungs she stiffened again as the crowd's attention briefly flickered back toward her before being wrenched away. Taking the chance to re-orient herself Twilight noted the sound of hoofsteps coming from the entrance to the yacht's interior. Belatedly she realised that's where the relentless attention of the equestrian city was focused. Through the door came a tall white and blue creature with something orange protruding from its chest.

Twilight heard a gasp off to her side, focusing on the source of the sound there was Discord floating level with the deck recoiled and backing away as the creature approached her… The creature was approaching her!. Belladonna spoke first.

“Lady Kunai,” glancing at Belladonna Twilight noted her right hoof was curled against her chest with the frog facing upwards. With no time to see if the other delegates were doing the same thing, she refocused on the tall creature. “Allow me to introduce the bearers of Equestria's Elements of Harmony and National heroins several times over. Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria; Princess of Friendship and Element of Magic, Lady Rarity; Element of Generosity, Lady Pinkamena Diane Pie; Element of Laughter, Lady Fluttershy; Element of Kindness, Lady Rainbow Dash; Element of Loyalty, the fastest Pegasus in Equestria, and only Pony in Equestria to Officially perform the Sonic Rainboom. Accompanying them are Starlight Glimmer, the student of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Sir Spike, Hero of the Crystal Empire, Vanquisher of evil Kings, Saviour of the Crystal Heart, Ambassador to The Equestrian Dragons, Ambassador to the Equestrian Changelings, and Personal assistant to Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Honoured hosts, allow me to introduce to you Lady Kunai, Agent of Lord Anarchy, Princess of Nihon, and the official representative of the U.N.A.O. She will be the one finalizing our agreement.

Twilight had been discreetly examining the new creature before her for all the good her discretion did her seeing as the creature's eyes never left hers. The creature smiled, placed a hand across her spiked chest, and gave a shallow bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you Princess Twilight Sparkle, I apologize for not coming to meet you myself, and sincerely hope that you found the arrangements you made with Miss Belladonna and her team satisfactory.”

Returning the bow far too deeply on reflects than anything else Twilight’s response was short and courteous. “No apology necessary Princess Kunai, and our arrangements went rather well all things considered. And I would prefer if you would do me the honor of simply calling me Twilight, titles need not be a boundary to new friendships.”

Lady Kunai presented a pleasant smile “Very well, then Twilight, and I ask that you call me Kunai.”

Twilight returned the smile and stuck out a hoof for a shake. This wasn't at all what she was expecting but she was adapting rather well.

As Lady Kunai reached a hand forward to reciprocate the action with a smile Twilight saw her Face contort into an expression of surprise less than a second before a red blast of energy slammed into her midsection.

Author's Note

I made some changes to chapter six. The important changed are in the paragraph explaining the Draconequus ability to sense the intent of others. Below is the entirety of the modified paragraph for those who can't be bothered to look for it. Tho, I guess people who couldn't be bothered to look for it probably don't read authors notes either. OH WELL.