Chaos Incarnate

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story except Sanguine Shadowmane.

Beta: PinkiePieFiesta

Private Relations

After the dark flash was over, Sanguine and Clover found themselves standing on the hillock where Sanguine ascended. "Well, this is the safest teleport I can make right now Clover. I haven't exactly been to anywhere specific in this unfinished Canterlot than your bunkhouse."

"That's ok Sanguine; we're closer to the council building from here anyway." Clover began trotting into town, Sanguine following while acquainting himself with the area. "So Sanguine, what have you been doing since you ascended?"

"Well, I honestly spent a few days learning to fly, and I spent most of today flying to that lake you found me at. When I was there I let loose my power. It made the world, or at least that area, move on its own. The weather's effect you saw." Sanguine stated while realizing he was still slightly damp. Not enough to be indecent, but still unbecoming, so he passed a magical wave of heat and extremely dry air over his body to dry himself off.

"You can do that? Then do you think you can move the sun and moon?" Clover was honestly interested in Sanguine's new power. Not just because it's him, and that he's an Alicorn, but because this was more than likely a new facet of magic she had absolutely no experience in.

"Hm…the sun did shift slightly, while I had merely let my power free. I don't see why not. Why don't we see about that this evening, when it comes time to raise the moon?" Sanguine was interested in the idea. Sure he didn't like the idea of taking the responsibility of moving the very celestial bodies about, but he had a hunch about it all, and felt that it would be good to get intimate with the skies above.

"Excellent! I'll arrange it with the Sky Movers after the meeting. Speaking of which: we're here." Clover pointed out the only pure stone building in the budding city.

It was simple, but had the Unicorn elegance and intrinsic detail that magic masons were known for, markedly their smooth and near reflective bleach-white surfaces. It was three stories tall and shaped like a triangle, likely to represent the three tribes in both senses. The first floor's exterior walls were the best crafted, with the Platinum Family Crest engraved on either side of the door. Walking to either corner of the admittedly fairly large building, he saw similar doors.

At each corner there was a staircase leading up to the second floor doors, said floor's walls were plain-faced stone, with the small balconies overhanging the Unicorn entrances. On either side of these doors were hung banners emblazoned with Chancellor Puddinghead's emblem. This was normal for the Earth Pony Tribe, as they usually had a unique emblem for each successive chancellor.

Lastly, the top floor had what looked like clouds lightly etched into the exterior wall. Barely visible, and could only be seen from the sun's light refracting off the stone, and showing the shadows of the cloud's outlines. Those entrances were obviously purely for Pegasi, as they had large balconies overhanging both entrances below them, for the winged ponies to land and enter.

"I could understand the Pegasi getting the top floor, but why the balconies? Why not simply make rooftop entrances?" Sanguine asked Clover as he backed away to get another look at the honestly impressive building.

"Ah, we thought of that but Commander Hurricane; or Hurry as she doesn't mind being called, said that would waste useful space they'd need to coordinate local weather teams. Since the Pegasi offered to have the council chamber on their floor, they wanted the roof for their weather department." Clover informed Sanguine as she walked towards the door.

"So what's the building's name? Unicorn masons like to name their works." Sanguine asked as he looked at the artful, but functional building.

"Canterlot Council Corner. I know, corny huh?" Clover giggled at Sanguine's annoyed and disappointed expression.

"Granite Horn…he was also so unimaginative. Why didn't Princess Platinum at least task Marble Molder with this? Or Tartarus: even Bluestone?! At least Bluestone's work is colorful and eye-catching!" Sanguine's left eye twitched, as he continued to ignore the gaping ponies they passed.

"I know, I said the same thing! But no~! Everypony had to vote on Granite Horn! Sure the building's nice and ingeniously designed, but it's so…dull!" Clover admitted as she pointed out the pure white walls, floors and ceilings, only broken by each floor's unique running carpets, tapestries and other odds and ends.

"So…orderly…it disgusts me…something must be done about this…." Sanguine grumbled as they ascended the final staircase. Said staircases were at each corner of the building, meaning movement between floors was easy and efficient.

"Whoa! Those are some big wings!" Sanguine paused at the slightly cracking voice, before he gasped lightly at feeling somepony grabbing his left wing, and extending it out full since his muscles were relaxed. "Wow…they're beautiful!"

Sanguine looked to his left to see a cyan Pegasus mare, with rainbow mane and tail, in black painted bronze armor holding his wing, while hovering too. Sanguine shuddered, as he felt goosebumps spread through him when she ran a hoof along his feathers, making him blush. "Um…ma'am I don't mean to interrupt but…that's a rather sensitive spot…."

The mare looked at him and smirked, before running a hoof along the underside of his wing, and he had to strain not to groan from the stimulation. "Heh, you really must be new. Only newborn Pegasus foals or Pegasus mares in estrus have wings that sensitive. I'm Commander Hurricane, but beings my title and name are a bit long, just call me Hurry. I'm not one to be kept waiting."

Finally the frustrating mare released his wing, and he practically whipped it to his back, and pranced behind Clover for protection. "Clover! Protect me from that molester!" Sanguine demanded playfully.

"Oh~? Molester am I? Like that little bookworm will keep me from getting my hooves on you." Hurry jested as he waved her hooves at him like she was pretending to cast a spell or something, and the three started laughing. "Hey, I like this guy! I'd vote yay on him, but first we have to wait for the others. Fancy Prancy Platinum decided to go out for a lunch break, and Puddinghead is off…doing something…I can't figure that mare out."

"Hurry if anypony could figure that mare out, she wouldn't be chancellor. You know those Earth Ponies tend to have their kookiest and most creative ponies as leaders." Clover commented as she rolled her eyes before suddenly, Puddinghead popped out of Sanguine's mane!

"Hi!"

"BWAH!" Sanguine flung back and slammed into the wall behind him. "What? Where? WHO WAS THAT?!"

"Hi!" Sanguine jolted violently and almost screamed in surprise again as Puddinghead, in her full attire, popped up right in front of him this time, out of thin air! She then proceeded to gab at a speed incomprehensible! "I'm Puddinghead, leader of the Earth Ponies; it's so nice to meet other ponies! Especially one as interesting as you, not to say you wouldn't be interesting if you weren't an Immortal Alicorn, but being one makes meeting you even more exciting!"

"Um…." Sanguine was rather lost, as he could only stare at the light pink with poofy dark pink mane/tail mare in astonishment. "Hello…?"

"Hi!" She beamed back at him with the air of a total lovable ditz.

"Um…who are you?" Sanguine did not hear a word she said aside from "hi" and both times was rather uninformative. Besides, since when did "hi" translate into anything other than a greeting?

"Didn't you hear me you silly willy? I'm Chancellor Puddinghead! But after things are finished here, I might just be a representative. I tell ya, that'd be nice." She slowed down, thank Faust! "Smart Cookie!"

"What?" At the sudden outburst Sanguine was still confused, until an orange mare with charming white freckles and plain, straight blond mane/tail entered in informal work attire.

"Ah there ya are! Ah've been lookin for ya Puddinghead!" The assumed Smart Cookie walked up to the group. "I see Pansy isn't about, where is that mare?" Smart Cookie directed at Hurry who groaned.

"Pansy's been all googly-eyed at a stallion lately. I keep telling her that trying to court a Unicorn would be foolish. Relations between our tribes may have seriously improved, but I'd say by only roughly twenty percent at most." Hurry seemed annoyed, and Sanguine decided this would be a good topic to get a hoof in the door on.

"About that, I'm Sanguine Shadowmane: Alicorn of Chaos. I sense the Discord between your subjects even now. It is disparate and infrequent, but still there." Sanguine got acknowledgement from everypony present, but Hurry was the most interested.

"Um…hey, it'll be a while before Platinum gets back. She takes forever on her "lunch breaks", so could I ask you a favor?" Sanguine raised an eyebrow, only barely a few minutes and already asking favors. "I'll understand if you refuse, but it's more a personal request really."

"Well alright then. Ask away, but no guarantees." Sanguine waited as the mare fidgeted, not in embarrassment but genuine nervousness.

"Look, I might come off as a callous mare…." This was directed at everypony in the council chamber. "But I care for my soldiers. Pansy isn't exactly a prime example of soldier, that's why I keep her in reach. I can't stop worrying about that delicate mare. Now there's this stallion, and I'm worried he's going to hurt her. I'd like to see if I can't get some help grilling him, but keeping Pansy in the dark about it."

'Hm…a Loyal one is she? I don't see why I shouldn't help. "Very well. You wish for me to sense if he has any animosity towards you while you speak with him?" Hurry nodded.

"Yeah! If he can harbor feelings of hate for me that's fine, but I want you to try and tell if he has those feelings towards Pansy when I bring her up." Hurry pounded her hooves together once and everypony looked to each other.

"Oh, oh, oh! You'll need somepony to distract Pansy! Pick me! Pick me!" Puddinghead literally bounced around in a circle until Smart Cookie held her down, only for Puddinghead to start vibrating and shake them both.

"Perfect. I'll then keep her involved in a conversation, to ensure she doesn't wander back to what I assume she's doing: stalking this stallion." Clover both stated and asked Hurry who nodded. "Of course, she's too shy to confront him, but too head over hooves to stop considering it. Who's the stallion?"

"You might've heard of him. His name is Willow Walker." Hurry informed Clover and she blushed lightly. "Yeah, I know: a looker."

"Oh it's not just that. He's a very down-to-earth pony, who while a Unicorn, has traits strongly aligned to Earth Ponies. He's great with animals, but his magic specialty is the growing, enhancing and improving plants. He's currently working on a strain of trees with bark so hard it's comparable to diamond. I think he mentioned planning to name the breed Gembark." Clover prattled and everypony save Sanguine looked at her funny.

"That sounds impressive. If fire warding runes were engraved into the wood, those trees would be an amazing source of cheap armor, and sturdy building material." Sanguine saw the validity of such hardy trees quite well.

"Well handsome as all buck, and smart enough to interest Clover or not: where is this stallion? Platinum will only be an hour by now." Cookie pointed out and Hurry nodded.

"Follow me; I know where he's staying."

(Minutes later, halfway across town)

Sanguine poked his head around the corner of a ubiquitous wooden shack. Following his lead were all the ponies with him, all over his own head near the ground. He looked up to realize they were all standing on his back, and on each other's backs in a pony ladder. 'How did I not notice that without looking?'

"There he is." Hurry was on top and poked her hoof around the corner. They followed the direction and saw an earthy green Unicorn stallion with straight, well-kept evergreen mane and tail. Sanguine didn't swing that way, but he could see why the mares were interested. Willow was ironically, willowy. And by that definition he was tall, lithe, and graceful in a way that reminded him of those leggy and tall mares he'd seen noble stallions flaunting about like trophies.

Only he was a stallion, and his face was admittedly quite serene, with a mysterious and calm quality that was earnestly captivating, especially with his emerald eyes. Everything about this stallion screamed nature, his Cutie Mark of a blooming, vine-covered willow was the cherry on top.

Tartarus, even wherever he stepped on bare earth, small plants seemed to sprout! "Well…he's certainly something to gander at." Cookie admitted with a gulp and the mares all nodded.

"So what's the plan? Where's Pansy?" Sanguine asked, as he wanted to get this odd yet amusing situation over with, so they could get to business.

"Hi Pansy!" Suddenly, everypony jerked at Puddinghead's needlessly loud voice, and turned to look where Puddinghead USED to be: in the middle of the pony ladder. Only to find her gone, and they all collapsed into a heap. "What'cha doin'?!"

They all groaned as they turned their heads towards the voice and…ok nopony was going to believe this, seeing it or not. Overhead was Pansy, apparently hiding her head in a cloud like an ostrich, with Puddinghead standing on the cloud next to her. "What? How…when…never mind. I think my brain will cook if I try to wrap my thoughts around it." Clover moaned as everypony else silently agreed, as they gawked up at the reality defying pink mare.

Hurry however snapped out of it, and looked back towards Willow to see he hadn't noticed anything, and was currently tending to a small flowerbed. "He hasn't noticed! Everypony help Puddinghead keep Pansy distracted! I've got a stallion to interrogate!" Hurry zipped off the pile of ponies, and quickly nabbed Willow who yelped in surprise, before they both were inside a nearby shack, with the door slamming behind them.

"That's my cue!" Sanguine quickly wormed his way out of the bottom of the pile of mares, and sprinted to the shack, where he hid between the side of it and another shack next to it. 'Let's see if I can't deduce his feelings on the matter of inter-racial relationships.'

Not even bothering to listen in, or even to act as a sort of detector, Sanguine's horn became wreathed in darkness as his focus went entirely into the stallion's mind. Usually such a spell was outlawed, and only used in interrogation. Sanguine didn't care however, and delved in.

'Hm…interesting…so Hurry didn't really have anything to worry about. If anything she should be happy. Let's hope her confronting him about it doesn't change his mind.' Sanguine then trotted out from cover and to the mares; who had by now gotten Puddinghead and Pansy to ground, and were chatting about inane things. "Ladies, I have finished with my business. Ah, you must be this Pansy who I've heard about."

"Eep!" The lightly armored butter yellow Pegasus mare, with impressively voluminous light pink mane/tail, squeaked and hid behind the nearest pony, being Cookie. "…."

"Um…pardon me, but I didn't quite catch that." Sanguine was surprised, especially since his hearing is better than the average pony's.

"h-h-hello…." Pansy uttered quietly from behind Cookie who rolled her eyes.

"She says hi." Cookie clarified. After that it became obvious that Pansy wasn't going to have much to say to Sanguine. "So where's Hurry?" Shortly after Cookie's question, the Pegasus in question flew up to them with a pleased appearance.

"Ok Pansy, I've talked to Willow, and he wants to see you tomorrow evening at the overlook at sunset." Hurry reported with a pleased smile, and Pansy quickly bolted from behind Cookie with a huge blush.

"O-oh my…Commander you didn't have to do that…." Pansy scrapped a forehoof on the ground and Hurry snorted.

"Please Pansy; you would never have gotten the courage to ask him yourself. You're too timid, you need some assertiveness." Hurry stated and Pansy sighed before shaking her head.

"Oh no, it isn't that. I would have just approached him sooner…if he was a Pegasus…." This got everyone's ear by their surprise. "I was worried…what if other ponies ostracized us? What if they didn't want a Pegasus and a Unicorn to be together?"

This honestly got everypony concerned, but none more than Sanguine. 'Is it that bad? I know the bias and the rivalry is seething beneath the surface, but would they all really lash out so cruelly at ponies trying to move forward?' "Don't concern yourself with it for now. Clover, beings you can track me over great distances, could you please locate Platinum for us? I wish to get this meeting started."

"Oh, um, sure Sanguine. Give me a second." Clover focused her magic and shortly, her horn seemed to tug her in a direction. "She's this way." Clover took the lead and followed the pull of her horn.

"What spell is that? It's not one of the tracking spells I remember Star Swirl teaching us." Sanguine was impressed with the spell, because unlike the tracking spells he knew, it didn't seem to require having left an imprint on the item or pony sought after. At least that's what he assumed, considering she casted no such thing on him and she still found him.

"Oh no, I invented it!" Clover beamed and Sanguine was pleasantly surprised. "It's rather simple really. Once I've met somepony, I can recognize their magic signature. From there, all I have to do is focus on the pony and cast the spell. Can't put too much into it though, or you'll get dragged along like a carriage without wheels." That last part made everypony cringe.

"Well then, it doesn't work on inanimate objects, but so long as you've met the target it will track them without fail?" Sanguine felt that while limited in being unable to find objects, the ability to track down ponies from anywhere sounded like a good skill to have, especially for hunting down escaped prisoners.

"Well, basically. However I've tested that it can be blocked by anti-detection barriers like all other detection spells. I'm still trying to find out a canceling spell without having to resort to the Null spell, because by then magic would be pointless." Clover looked ahead and shrieked, as she turned her spell off since it was leading her off the west cliff, which was the furthest edge of the plateau Canterlot was being built. "Oh, and the drag effect can only take you on the most direct path…what is Princess Platinum doing off the cliff?"

"Did the gal fall?" Cookie asked worriedly as she looked down the sudden drop-off.

"Oh my goodness…I hope she's ok." Pansy stated as Hurry flew off the cliff and looked at it.

"Hey! I see a crack in the cliff! It's pretty big too!" Hurry pointed out and Sanguine hummed before he flew down next to her and looked at it. "There, see it?"

"Yes, it is quite large." Sanguine flew down to it and held his hoof to it, feeling a pull of air being sucked in by a draft. "It's a cave. Hold on everypony!" Sanguine backed off and everypony else got away from the edge of the cliff. "I need to be precise with this, don't want half of Canterlot falling down the mountain." Sanguine charged darkness into his horn and then carefully blasted a continuous beam at the crack. He progressively made the crack larger until he could fit through it and he flew into the cave.

"Oh thank Faust! I thought I was done for!" A sudden whiny voice practically shrilled, and Sanguine looked into the darkness to see a roughed-up white Unicorn with exquisite clothing befitting a mare of her station, although said clothing was torn, filthy and shorn for mobility. "Beautiful cave or not, I do not wish to die before I have foals."

"Pardon me my lady. But are you Princess Platinum?" Sanguine asked politely, and the mare quickly straightened herself up as much as she could, before clearing her throat and bowing.

"Honorable Alicorn. I: Princess Platinum, extend to you my sincerest gratitude, for having found me in my hour of need. No truly, I've been down here for an hour and already I'm sick of this place." Platinum cast a light spell and the cavern lit up to reveal it was practically made entirely of crystal. "Beautiful yes, a way back out? No."

"Amazing…this place could be turned into a mine; so Equestria could have a luxury resource to trade with other nations for more strategic resources. How did you stumble across this wondrous place Princess Platinum?" Sanguine asked as he gazed about in awe. The only other place he had seen so much crystal was the Crystal Empire itself, but that's because the region actually grows an organic form of crystal.

"Please, just Platinum. I fear the other tribes do not appreciate the Unicorn tribe trying to retain the title of princess. To answer your question, I have quite literally "stumbled" into this cave, via a hole in the ceiling, hidden by grass and shrubbery." Platinum informed him. "So~ my tall, dark and handsome stallion. How is it that you have found me?"

"Oh~ my refined, brilliant and elegant mare. The credit for finding you lies with Clover; she cast the spell to find you so that we may hold the meeting regarding this alliance becoming unified under me as your prince or whatnot." Sanguine informed her.

"Oh. That was today? I thought we sent Clover to find you days ago. Where were you to keep her so long?" Platinum asked in curiosity, as somepony would have to be really far to hold Clover off their trail for so long.

"A good travel to the south, at a grand lake, near a great forest. I believe you can see both of them from the south cliff. Regardless, we've dallied her long enough. I'll bring us to the surface." Sanguine teleported them back to the group who were waiting. "Sorry I took so long."

"No worries, Platinum's a chatterbox." Hurry sniped and Platinum leered at her.

"Regardless. I have accidentally discovered a massive crystal deposit in the cliff under the plateau. We must search the surface for any entrances, and cordon them off for safety, as I fell into one such entrance. Sanguine has stated that mining it would be beneficial, as then we'll have a valuable commodity to trade with other nations for resources." Platinum informed them while turning her nose up at Hurry; who was honestly impressed with the find.

"Well, whatever. I'll get the word out to my soldiers to do that tomorrow morning; the sun's getting a bit close to setting." Hurry pointed out the sun, and Clover gasped before she quickly teleported away. "Where'd she go?"

Clover quickly reappeared. "Sorry. Ok Sanguine! I just passed word on to the Sky Movers. "Give it a try." Everypony was confused as Sanguine focused his powers and "reached" out and latched onto the sun. Only….

"Ha, ha, ha~! I knew it! The sun doesn't move around the sky! The land turns and makes it look like the sun is moving!" Sanguine elatedly stated and this went clear over most of the group, sans Clover who became giddy.

"So Coltifer's theory that the world is round is true?! Now that an Alicorn has confirmed it, all those closed-minded scholars will be proven wrong! So that's why it takes so much power: we've been trying to move the sun, when we should've been trying to move the land beneath our feet!" Clover pranced in place, giddy as a school filly.

"Yes, yes. Tell the Sky Movers they can relax about their former duty." Sanguine let his power loose, and focused it into the very world beneath him and the sun promptly set in a beautiful display. But the moon didn't rise. "Now hold on…." Sanguine reached out into the sky and looked for the moon, and when he found it he pulled it over the horizon, it was a waxing gibbous tonight. "But the moon DOES move around the world! Interesting…I like the moon better."

Everypony was gob smacked. They had a pony that could single-hoofedly move the sky, or the whole world according to him and Clover. "Everypony for Prince Sanguine say aye. Aye!" Pudding head suddenly put out.

"Aye!" Hurry followed enthusiastically.

"Aye! I'm absolutely impressed! He's just what we need." Platinum looked upon him with awe and Sanguine blushed slightly before he cleared his throat.

"Then it is official. Then; as my first law: Anypony may enter marriage with anypony else of any race or gender without persecution." Sanguine was looking at Pansy as he said this to her amazement. Everypony blinked and then smiled as Clover wrote it down on a convenient scroll. "My second law: Zero Tolerance for Racism!" This surprised everypony. "Anypony found guilty of a hate crime will be arrested, given lashes and imprisoned for a seven day period! Repeat offenders will be imprisoned for a month."

"Um, Sanguine. Isn't that a bit extreme?" Platinum asked and Sanguine shifted his eyes to her and made her sweat.

"I will not accept anypony to discriminate against other beings, regardless of what they are. This land is to be a land of equality and fairness to all. If I allowed ponies to be bias without fair or logical reason suiting the situation, then it would be no different if I left you three tribes to knock heads. I'm here to fix that, and if I have to hold your hooves down with shackles to make you see that, I will." His eyes began to glow. "Nopony has any right to defy the rights of their fellow ponies! That is all for today. Set things in motion, and should you need me or wish to report: send Clover. She can somehow find me anywhere."

Sanguine flashed away in shadows back to that lake. He had a Chaos-aligned forest to get acquainted with.

(Author Notes)

"Wow~! So Sanguine is a tyrannical Liberal?"

Yeah, figured he'd make some waves with that. Being a tyrant usually lends you to being a Conservative, but I decided he'd be a groundbreaking ruler from the word go.

*Pinks opens book on politics and adjusts her "Rarity" glasses* "So what label does that get him?"

Pinks, I hate politics so I couldn't give two blinks to it. As far as I'm concerned diplomacy is dead, and all around the world everyone is engaged fully in "Shotgun Diplomacy" already.

"Like the Middle East? Or Africa? Or Syria?

I don't touch on war either Pinks, even if WWII is one of my favorite history subjects.

"Why?"

History and it's the biggest war the world has ever seen: and let's hope it stays that way.