LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES
Fawn Temps, 234 years ago
"Come on, come on, keep goin'!"
Song Li and her four housemates rushed through town onto the university campus, urged forward by a tiny, fluttering white pony.
"You gotta get back to school—okay, good, we're here, thank you so much for your cooperation. 'Cause, you know, I could never have gotten you this far if I'd actually been pushing you, hehe."
"So why did we…?" Tron demanded. They all turned to the diminutive stranger. "Hang on, who are you?"
He smirked through his curtains of long, wild silver hair, his pale blue eyes leering at them calmly and confidently. "Fork. I'm a pixie pony." He vanished in a spherical burst of blue light.
Song Li glanced around in concern, before her gaze was drawn to the nearly empty campus courtyard. "Who is that?" she asked.
The only creature there was an enormous deer, as tall as Song Li and even bulkier, with silvery-blue fur and a truly magnificent pair of antlers.
"Oh," Tron said in surprise. "That's Minister Giorgi!" The tiny deer smirked up at Song Li in amusement. "You wanted to rule this country, and you don't even know who's ruling it now?"
Song Li stared blankly at nothing in particular. "I… I know who the minister was when I first arrived here," she muttered in embarrassment. "I guess I just stopped paying attention… what sort of deer is he?"
"His mother and father were the last of their kind," Tron said solemnly. "Now it's just him. Tragic, isn't it?"
"Oh, I don't know that I'd say tragic," said Song Li, examining Minister Giorgi from far away. "Death is a natural part of life, which is as true for species as it is for individuals."
"Yes, but that doesn't make it easy for anyone who's going through that cycle," Tron said gently.
"Fair enough," said Song Li. "…What is he doing at the university? What could he want?"
Minister Giorgi was looking up at the stone buildings and tall spires that made up the university. "I know you can hear me," he said calmly, his powerful voice carrying magnificently despite his soft tones. "I know you're all here. The war is escalating, you all know this. The griffons are growing bolder, capturing more territory… and the great blue lightning-spewing dragon, Grapple… he is like nothing we have ever faced. I need more volunteers for the war. I'm coming here, in person, asking you to join me of your own free will."
He continued scanning the windows. "Are you all just shut-in academics with no life outside of your books? It appears I shall have to have a draft put into place. I don't like it, and it will take far too long to arrange, but, you force my hoof." He sighed. "You make me sad. I had thought my people possessed more honor than this."
"A war," Song Li whispered. "A war! This… this is it." She stepped out into the open. "Minister Giorgi, sir, your volunteers are right here! I and my surprisingly diverse group of friends shall aid the war effort."
Tron, Dustin, Airball, and Boomchukka stared at her in disbelief, but followed her out into the open. Giorgi glanced at them briefly, then regarded Song Li with suspicion, examining her from hoof to head. "Song Li, is it?" he said softly.
"Yes, Minister."
"I've heard about you," he said darkly. "The otherworldly being with a god complex, who did not fulfill her promise to take us all over. What are you doing now, exactly?"
"I am attending the university," said Song Li. "After the past century proved unproductive, I decided it was time to get my life on track. I seek only to become a contributing citizen of Westeroceros, if I can. I offer up my services to you, sir. I volunteer for the war as any good citizen would."
Giorgi scowled. "I'm having trouble trusting your word when you won't look me in the eye."
She promptly did so. "Wasn't I?" she said in alarm.
"Glancing at me every few seconds does not qualify as looking me in the eye," Giorgi said dryly.
"Oh…" said Song Li, as if that was genuinely devastating news.
"And these friends of yours?" said Giorgi, looking over her shoulder at the others.
"What she says is true, Minister," said Tron, stepping forward. "She just wants to be one of us, a true Westerocerosi citizen. If you feel the need for someone to keep an eye on her, you can certainly trust me to do so. Though I can assure you there's no need. You have nothing to fear from her."
Giorgi tilted his head at him. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
"I'm Terence di Vrec, sir," said Tron.
"Ah yes, Tyrannus' boy," said Giorgi, nodding. He noticed Airball and nodded again. "And you, the reindeer servant boy with the freak horn."
Airball self-consciously lifted a hoof to conceal the tiny horn in the middle of his head.
"I recognize you now," Giorgi went on. "You've grown up well, the both of you. Though I must say, young Master di Vrec, I… don't particularly care for your family."
"That's quite all right, sir," said Tron. "Neither do I."
Giorgi looked mildly impressed.
"Sir," Song Li interrupted. "If I may, you came here seeking volunteers for the war, and you have them. Do you not accept?"
Giorgi sighed. "Song Li, you must understand, you are not widely trusted. This country has harbored a suspicion of you for the past century. Some still see you as the bringer of some sort of alien invasion. As for myself, I have a hard time trusting anyone who hides their face behind a mask."
Song Li's eyes brightened. "Oh, but sir! The mask is the very reason you should want me among your army! This…" She gestured to her suit of armor. "This is my people's one and only tool of war. I have seen the crusades of generations. I fought in a brutal war against the changelings. I dealt the final blow of some of the most vicious battles against the psionic mindflayers and their elder brain masters!"
She blasted off on the thrusters at the bottoms of her hooves, backflipped over Giorgi's head, and landed behind him.
"Minister Giorgi, for a century I have wanted nothing but to serve your country and its people," she said solemnly. "You must let me fight for you! I alone, with my experience, my power, and the magic of my armor, will be worth fifty new recruits! You can trust me to do this, sir. And, I think you'll agree, you must trust me." She still couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye, instead focusing on the stone beneath his hooves.
Giorgi stared hard. "Very well… you are right about one thing. I must. I cannot possibly afford to turn you down. Having you on board can't possibly make things any worse."
"You have everything to gain, sir," said Song Li, her eyes closing in a smile.
"And as for your friends…" said Giorgi, "Any and all new recruits will be seen as a valuable asset."
Airball raised his hoof. "Um… does anybody else find it a bit presumptuous that she volunteered us along with herself?"
"Yeah, I don't wanna go to war, man," Dustin mumbled, his half-closed eyes rolling back in his head for a moment. "Anyway, they'd never let me in the army."
Giorgi chuckled. "Well, even as stoned as you are, we're actually accepting everyone at this point." He grinned expectantly and looked from one of them to another, as if daring them to turn him down.
"Well, I uhhhhhhh…" Dustin slurred.
Song Li looked over them, and slouched in shame. "I am… so very sorry," she said emotionally. "It's my presumption, always my presumption, that is my downfall. I will go to war myself, then, and if you choose not to see me when and if I return, I shall understand…"
"Song Li, stop that," Tron said sternly.
She flinched away at his intense gaze. "St-stop what?" she stammered.
"Assuming that everything you do or say will make all of us want to stop being friends with you," said Tron, with a bit more tenderness. "We've known each other for what, a year? And that's never happened, so why are you still so worried about that?"
"Because," Song Li said softly, "prior to meeting you, everything I ever did or said did, in fact, lead me to lose every friend I had."
Tron smiled sympathetically. "Well, that's not going to happen this time." To the others, he announced, "I'm going with Song Li. Like I said, I ought to keep an eye on her. Airball? You're not interested?"
"What?" Airball said in alarm. "No, I was just making a point. I'll follow you and Song Li anywhere… brother."
"Oh," Tron laughed.
"Hey, no friends of mine are going to war without me," Boomchukka rumbled. "I've been calling myself the 'drums of war' all this time, it's about time I started meaning it."
They all turned to Dustin, who was still saying "uhhhhhh…" and standing perfectly still. "Well, Song Li did bring up a pretty important point," he said abruptly. "We are surprisingly diverse. That's gotta count for somethin'."
"Anyone else?" Giorgi shouted, staring at the windows of the university once more. "No? Ugh, you disgust me. Don't come crying to me when that great blue storm-drake descends upon this very university, because all I'll say is that you had it coming. These…" He gestured to Song Li and her friends. "These are the true citizens of Westeroceros I came here to find. Come along then. I expect you to prove yourselves as great heroes. Pray you don't disappoint me."
"I shan't," Song Li breathed.
Giorgi started marching off of the campus, down the streets of Fawn Temps. Apparently, he had come alone. The five of them followed behind him, Song Li quivering with barely-contained joy. Eventually she could contain it no longer, and she started giggling wildly, clapping her front hooves together with glee.
"Yeah, we're going to war," Airball said dryly. "Whoo! Yay!"
Song Li laughed appreciatively. "I apologize. I did not mean to make light of such a serious matter as war. At this point, you see, I live only to serve. I am grateful for my chance."