Chaotic Neighbors

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.