Feared Love Divided: Chapter 10/The Moor
As soon as they appeared, Gerandquill could taste the salty air under the darken skies. They were a great distance from where they had been. How large was Tartaria?
"Papers?" a Horse asked them. Gerandquill looked at the Horse, and once again could not tell any distinguishing features. Gerandquill used his telekinesis to pull them from his saddlebags, all the while wearing a annoyed frown. Luckily for him this seemed to be the default expression in Tartaria. The Horse checked the papers and quickly returned them.
"Commissar Discord would like to speak with Comrade Slava Artyonova," Gerandquill stated, "preferably somewhere isolated."
"We're in Maregadan!" the Horse replied, and momentarily broke a smile. He quickly reformed his stern look. "Of course."
Discord and Gerandquill had walked to a tor with a view of the sea, and on the top was an isolated cabin. "It is isolated," Gerandquill stated, "and a ten minute walk from the city. Can we speak freely, here?" he asked.
"If anywhere in Tartaria, it's here." Discord replied. "I'm all aquiver. I have not brought chaos on this scale since, well... the Age of Chaos... Such a delightful time."
"Do try to contain yourself until we get things going." Gerandquill snarked.
"Yes-yes." Discord dismissed. "This time it's chaos with a purpose."
"Remember, this country will likely punish Horses for enjoying themselves." Gerandquill stated, "We will have to tread lightly."
"Or float above the floor." Discord stated, as he started to fly. Gerandquill tried looking at him with a sour face but the face quickly broke and he smiled widely.
There was a knock on the door. "Come!" Discord shouted, and the door opened. In walked Slava Artyonova. "Close the door!" Discord bellowed, and she did. "Look out the window." he said to her. She did and saw the turning, churning colours outside and immediately turned away. "As you might expect I'm hardly a commissar." Discord said with great delight, and Slava found herself sitting on a chair, unaware of how she got there. "Go on, say it."
"Who?.. are you?.." she asked.
"Discord. The Ponies consider me to be a god of chaos or somesuch."
"I can attest to his chaotic nature." Gerandquill added. "Before the rise of the Two Sisters, Equestria was filled with chaos and bedlam."
"Why?" she frightfully asked, "are you here?.."
"Oh, don't worry." Discord said with glee, "I've been mostly reformed. Now I only use chaos for constructive purposes." A table appeared in front of her filled with her favourite Tartarian foods.
"Why would you give me such a feast?" Slava asked.
"I'm trying to butter you up into betraying your own country, of course." Discord replied, and she quickly looked away. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not trying to tear down the government or anything, I'm just trying to get rid of some of this rigid conformity. Laughter, sunshine, chocolate milk rain."
"Chocolate... milk?! Milk rain?!" Slava asked him.
"Of course, if I made it rain chocolate milk, the government would probably think it was some sort of evil conspiracy and who knows what they would do. We need to get to the point where Horses will giggle at the thought of chocolate milk rain."
"I..." Slava voiced, "don't even know what chocolate milk is..."
"Ah, yes, sorry." Discord said, and pulled out a glass with brown liquid. The fact that he pulled it out upside down and reversed it made no obvious affect on the liquid disturbed her as much as anything else. He placed it on the table in front of him.
"It is quite safe," Gerandquill stated, "and delicious."
"Delicious?" Slava asked, and licked her lips.
"Let's put it this way," Discord stated, "if i was a commissar, refusing to drink it would mean what for your family?"
Slava looked at him nervously, then at the cup. She slowly picked it up and tipped the glass until she had drank it all in one go. "Delicious!" she stated.
"I know!" Discord exclaimed. "With your help I want to introduce such chaotic joys to the lives all the Horses of Tartaria!"
"All?" she asked, "ALL?!"
"Yes." he said with a brilliant smile.
"You are mad!" she exclaimed.
"Quite." Discord simply replied, "Though I do have some wonderful friends to keep me grounded."
"And?.." Slava carefully asked, "What?.. do you?.. want?.. from me?.."
"I want to make you happy!" Discord said excitedly. "Though not enough to make you the subject of an investigation. The only obvious solution is for you to become a commissar's mistress..."
"I have to?!" Slava asked.
"Oh, no. Terribly sorry." Discord said to her, "Free will is one of the most powerful things known to Ponykind. All you have to do is pretend, and then you can be well fed and giddy. Just keep attending to your commissar, and everypony will assume."
"And what do I have to do?" Slava asked.
"Help me find the strings to tug about Tartaria," Discord replied, "to unravel the horendous state of things."
"I can't promise I will be very good at it..." Slava nervously stated.
"You were punished for questioning the insanity of the regime." Discord said to her, "As somepony who is quite insane, I understand the value of that."
"You... want me to... question... your insanity?" she asked him.
"Yes!" Discord exclaimed, "I've pledged that my insanity should only be used for constructive purposes."
"How about turnips!" Slava asked.
"What about turnips?" Discord asked.
"Give everyone a box of turnips!"
"That's easy enough." he said, "done."
"Maybe you should eat up," Gerandquill stated, "and see if something else comes to mind when you are not hungry."
"I spent hours in an alternate dimension slaving away at a stove." Discord muttered, and Slava started to eat in earnest.
"Now that my stomach is full for the first time in..." Slava said, and trailed off for a moment. "Wow." she uttered. "So, um... why don't you go after the corrupt government officials? They hoard everything instead of making sure it's distributed properly.
"And how should I do that?" Discord asked.
"Take away their vodka?" Slava asked.
"That's easy enough to do." Discord said.
"Can we see them?!" Slava asked.
"No need to get ourselves involved." Discord said with a smirk, and a curious expression appeared on Slava's face.
"I can hear them!" she exclaimed.
"Yes." Discord said with glee. "Tomorrow we should go inspect them."
The door slammed open to General Antonov's office. "Comrade Andriy!" Discord exclaimed as he strode into the room, Gerandquill immediately behind him. The General's initial look was disgust, which quickly changed into fear. He tried his best to hide his fear, but Discord could taste it about him.
"Who are you?!" the General pretended to ask, but Discord saw in his eyes that he had recognized the uniform.
"I am Commissar Discord." he stated, trying his best to hide his glee. "We need to talk about the disturbance last night."
"Who talked to you?!" the General asked.
"I am a commissar." Discord said, with a wonderful firmness he had not summoned in many years. "Every..." he said, and paused, correcting himself, "one - speaks to me! You are here to maintain public order!"
"Yes..." the General quietly stated.
"Then how could you possibly excuse last night?!" Discord shouted, and stopped time so he could smile with glee. Once he retained his stalwart face he resumed time.
"Someone stole my vodka!" the General shouted.
"You would blame other for drinking too much?!" Discord asked, "You are supposed to be an example for your soldiers, for the Horses of Maregadan!"
"Someone... stole... my vodka..." the General repeated.
"You - are - a - disgrace!" Discord shouted. "If anything like this happens again, I will be making a report to the Politiburo!"
"You can't!" the General exclaimed.
"I - can't?!" Discord asked. "My sole job is reporting to the Politiburo! If I have to come all the way out to Maregadan, I can at least make sure the general responsible for protecting it is loyal to the people."
The General had nothing to say in reply. He was obviously furious, but could not think of a single thing he could say that would not make him an enemy of the people.
Discord, Gerandquill, and Slava stood in the cottage.
"I haven't had that much fun since the age of, well, me!" Discord exclaimed.
"I was concerned there for a minute..." Gerandquill voiced, and Discord appeared beside him, picking him up in a hug.
"Oh, don't worry." Discord said to him.
"It was... constraining, no?" Gerandquill asked.
"Quite the opposite." Discord said with glee. "I defeated him with nothing but carefully chosen words." A heavy stone appeared above Discord and appeared to crush him, "I crushed him with his own crushing bureaucracy." The stone disappeared only to have Discord pushing a miniature version of it on the miniature figure of the general. "While I might have developed a respect for Ponies and how much they struggle in their lives, the Horses of Tartaria are quite mad in their lack of madness. They make Big Mac seem talkative. They make Dragonlord Ember seem social. They make Pinkie Pie seem sane."
With this Pinkie Pie appeared beside him, "My ears are burning!" she said.
"What just happened?" Slava asked.
"It's best not to dwell on such things." Gerandquill said to her.
"Want a balloon?" Pinkie asked, and Slava wasn't sure what to do.
"If you don't say yes, this might get quite drawn out." Gerandquill stated.
"Then I will have a balloon." Slava added, and Pinkie Pie gave her a balloon before disappearing into thin air.
"Laughter was always a favourite of mine." Discord stated.
"Favourite of what?" Slava asked.
"Oh, the elements of harmony, of course." Discord replied.
"I will explain in all due time." Gerandquill stated.
"He is a royal scholar." Discord added.
"It occurs to me," Gerandquill voiced, "we have told her little if anything about Equestria."
"Unfortunately," a perturbed Discord stated, as he leaned his head down to her level, "knowing might be a bit dangerous for her. Quite dangerous for her, in fact."
"I am a Royal Scholar, you know." Gerandquill stated, "Sharing knowledge is kind - of - my - thing!" he continued with punctuated emphasis.
"The fact that I am here is dangerous enough." Slava stated, "I want to know what nefarious scheme I am a part of. You did kind of force me into it, you know."
"Are you not having fun?" Discord asked.
"My belly is fed..." Slava replied, "and everything else has been quite fun. But I am Tartarian, fun is hardly the most important thing of my mine."
"Dreary," Discord stated, "but true... I'll go and draw things on the steppes that can only be seen from the sky."
"W?.. Why?.." Slava asked.
"Why not?" a confused Discord replied.
"Could you conjure us some cocoa or something?" Gerandquill asked, "So we can sit cozily by the fire so I can tell my story?"
"Ah, yes." Discord said, and with a wave of his hands cocoa, marshmallows, a kettle, and a couple mugs appeared.
"Now to tell you a story at least a thousand years old." Gerandquill stated.
Discord appeared with his own armchair and blanket around the fire, looking as if he had been there for sometime. They might have believed it if they could not still feel the air moving from his arrival.
"Did you have fun on the moors?"
Slava shook her head and looked out the windows, "Isn't it night?"
"Minor details..." Discord dismissed.
"There is one quibble..." Gerandquill voiced. "There... is only one bed..."
"I've never had a bed..." Slava sheepishly voiced.
"It is sized for a Horse, which is colossal by our standards..." Gerandquill stated, and Slava jumped with a start.
"And you broke my glamour..." Discord mumbled.
"Was I looking like a Horse?!" Gerandquill asked, "All tall and dashing?!"
"Not the words I would have chosen..." she nervously stated, "but looking at you now... yes! Now you just look adorable."
"Adorable is still a compliment." Gerandquill stated, "Especially undestandable coming from a Horse. I suppose from your perspective we must be foals, or something..." With this Discord appeared in front of him appearing as a foal. "It's called hyperbole..." Gerandquill grumbled, and Discord grew so large that he burst through the ceiling and it seemed as if they were staring at some far off stars. "That was... hyperbolic..."
Discord returned to his ordinary size. Slava looked at the roof and it seemed no different from when they had arrived. "So, if Comrade Gerandquill..."
"Please don't call me that..." Gerandquill said to her.
"It..." she tried to say.
"It does make good practice." Discord stated.
"Touché." Gerandquill replied.
"If?.." Slava asked, and looked between the two to make sure they had nothing to add, "If Comrade Gerandquill..." she said, and he shuttered, but said nothing, "will have the bed, then I guess I will be... sleeping outside?.."
"Who decided I was sleeping in the bed?" Gerandquill asked. He looked at Slava and she just looked lost in reply. He looked to Discord who just shrugged. "No one." he said, satisfied. He then turned back to Slava, "We are still deciding that, but I seriously doubt either of us will be sleeping outside. If you have no problem, we could share the bed... Assuming there's enough room for me."
"I'm not that big..." Slava stated.
"She is a delicate little thing." Discord stated, and the two turned to see him in a bed that had appeared out of no where, with a dozen covers ready for the night.
"Then I would not want to soil her." Gerandquill quipped.
"Soil me?" Slava asked, "Ponies actually talk like that."
"Ones with rods up their spines, do..." Discord grumbled.
"How did you two become friends?" Slava asked, "If you do not mind my asking?"
"I said his name backwards." Gerandquill simply stated.
"That was enough?" Slava asked.
"I do appreciate whimsy." Discord added. "He also taught me about how chaotic the world was from Pony eyes, and how every day of their life is a struggle against the creatures of the Everfree forest."
"You struggle against creatures?.." Slava nervously asked.
"They struggled against each other." Discord said to Gerandquill.
"Like the time before the Two Sisters!?" Slava asked.
"Somepony was paying attention." Discord stated.
"Proof you choose the right Horse." Gerandquill added.
"Indeed?" Discord asked. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted." he said, and he and the bed he was in both disappeared.