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.