The Festival of the Dead

Chapter 3: Pleasant Company Excluded

Avnas leaped through the portal, pausing to point his ear toward the gateway just in time to catch, "He is going to die!" Chuckling softly to himself, he turned to the other spirits in the room.

"So, do you think they loved it, or were they just too distracted from loving me?" He was smacked by one of the band members who was still in the process of packing up his trumpet. "Ow! You aren't supposed to hit me. Andras is the one who tries to hit me!"

"You already know that you did fine, now we just have to see if Andras will be able to ruin the mood you set." Remarked the same band member that had smacked him in the knee.

"You still didn't have to hit the knee." Groaned the lord of pain, fully aware that he could remove the pain in an instant but didn't. That would rob his band-mate of the gratification from incapacitating him and, given his position, he could not imagine a more disappointing result.

The ponies all calmed themselves after Rainbow's outburst and looked at their new guest, his hair was done in a feathery style with two distinct tips sticking out of the carefully-groomed mess. Celestia took a distinct interest in the odd protrusions. Horns, perhaps? No, they are much too far back and look to be nearly the same design as the rest of his hair.

"May we perhaps proceed in this meeting?" Questioned the newcomer, seemingly much more concerned with the urgency of the impromptu meeting than his predecessor.

"Of course, though, if we may ask, you still did not answer our sister's question. Why did thou try to put Avnas in a coma when thou arrived?" Asked Luna who, while she was not particularly fond of their last guest, had seemed to get along with the ponies he brought with him as well as with the elements.

"Avnas was given five minutes to establish greetings and nothing more. He was warned of the punishments for wasting time." He stated in a flat voice as if reading from a memo.

"Doesn't that seem a bit... I dunno'... harsh?" Asserted Dash. She loved speed more than anyone else present but the time limit still seemed extremely narrow for someone to go to a new world, meet the leaders, and get on friendly terms with as many ponies as possible. She was also slightly taken aback when she realized that Avnas had managed to actually do all of the above even with the limit.

Celestia seemed to be of the same mindset as Rainbow Dash. "If that was his only mission than Avnas succeeded in his goal quite well within his given parameters."

"We are on a schedule, completing his job means nothing if he doesn't move on after his job is completed." The broad man stated in a low voice, obviously trying to move on in the conversation.

The room was drawing into an awkward silence, nobody else wanted to speak up towards the man for fear of getting shot down in another sentence. He seemed able to settle their arguments without budging an inch in his own opinion.

"Who are you?" Question Celestia, though from what had transpired in the conversation, she had a fairly good guess.

"I am Andras, God of quarrels, argument, debate, and diplomacy."

The last part of his title spurred several strange looks. "Wait, so ya'll are in charge of both ponies arguin' and agreein'?"

"In cases that involve personal opinion, yes but that is not important at the moment. I will admit that I am impatient to begin what my kind have come here for in the first place, the festival."

Celestia found Andras speaking not in anger, but more with a tone of exhausted patience, as if they had been talking for days instead of minutes. "What do you require from us?"

"Just a location, we can handle the labor and materials ourselves."

"Well there may be an issue regarding the location..." Celestia added hesitantly.

His eyes shot up, switching between staring at each of the princesses. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope, nope, nopppeeeeeee!" Yelled a voice so distinct and shrill that it could only be Pinkie. Everybody present, impatient god included, looked around desperately for their missing friend, only to see her bounce out of the portal of all things.

Even Andras was dumbstruck, there was no way to operate those portals without at least advanced knowledge of dark magics. He decided that this girl was just one of those types that seemed to exude controlled chaos and decided to take control of the situation. "You have a solution to the location problem?"

"Yep!" Pinkie chirped, feeling no distinct urgency to continue.

"... And the solution you came up with was?" He was trying to avoid throttling the mare for reminding him of Avnas right after getting rid of him.

"You can use Ponyville!" She announced, surprising everyone with the confidence of her plan. "It's a small town but it's really open around it! The streets are wide and it's near Cloudsdale and Canterlot so we can be sure that lots of ponies will show up!"

It was difficult to guess which act was more surprising, the fact that Pinkie had just basically rented out all of Ponyville to beings of hell for a week, or that the godly figure they had been having a tense discussion with moments ago seemed completely agreeable to the terms. "That seems acceptable, we will be ready to head out in the morning." He was quickly turning towards the portal when he did a complete 180 degree turn and was once again facing the royal alicorns. "That reminds me." He seemed to wave his hand towards one of the walls, "It is customary for my kind to make deals with the denizens of mortal worlds. As such, I would like to make an offer before I go." The wall he had waved towards moments ago started to ripple as if made of water and the statue of Discord seemingly melded through the wall, drawing universal attention. "I would be willing to take him off of your hands, only if you wish, of course." He finished his statement with a smile, an action that had the exact opposite effect from when Avnas used it.

Celestia was immediately suspicious, "What would you want in return for such a deed?" she knew of the weight that she could lift from her world by removing the god of chaos but would not hesitate to refuse if she felt that there was something underhoof.

"All I ask is that you let us do as we want during the festival. Before you refuse, I swear that none of your citizens or property will be damaged during our stay. I also swear that we will not damage any property without providing compensation with both money and labor, were we to accidentally break a window or wall, we would not hesitate to both fix the damage and provide funds for the owner to pay for temporary board." He seemed quite confident in his kin, the number of which was still unknown and, frankly, most present were just fine not knowing.

Celestia was silent. The room had an air of tension right on the precipice of collapsing in any direction and it all balanced on the answer to one question. Celestia could almost feel the man's question hanging in her mind, wanting to observe her decision just as much as the other enraptured ponies in the room. Yes or no princess, you know the festival is not possible to stop by now. All that's left is deciding the fate of the mad-god.

But do I have the right to send Discord to eternal torment? If I send him then I highly doubt there being much chance of them letting him off easy for his crimes.

He has endangered ponies lives and the lives of all races since he was first recorded, leaving him here will only be tempting fate with this option available!

He has never tried to take a pony's life directly, though. There was never a recorded instance of his acts actually resulting in casualties.

"Oh, one more thing, princess." Andras interrupted with suspiciously good timing in her monologue, "Star Swirl the Bearded said that he wanted to work out some grievances against the mad-god. I believe he was killed by... what was it... it was definitely interesting... ah yes," His expression turned to a mask of dark humor, "Transformed into cotton-candy followed by death-by-consumption."

"You may do as you like with him."

Andras bowed respectfully, once more back to his calm and ordered demeanor. "Of course, princess."