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.