Chapter 19: The Twister and Honey Tongue
"It's not me!" Dissy loudly protested, rearing up and nearly losing his cloak, his wings fluttering under the concealing garment and making it tremble in what would have been -- were he the Earth Pony he was pretending to be -- a most unnatural fashion.
There was a hoofstep behind us.
I looked around nervously, imagining that we had been found out.
It was the children's librarian, a small wiry salt-and-pepper-maned, tan-coated Crystal Pony stallion wearing a pale yellow tunic and an expression of extreme disapproval. I met him socially, years later: his name was Quiet Study. Neither a bad nor at all a frightening fellow, though he seemed scary to a five-year-old filly trying to keep a secret.
Fortunately, Quiet Study only noticed the noise. "Shhhh!" he hissed at us.
Our cover might have been blown right there, had not it been Wind Whistler's habit to hold occasional library classes, during which we were expected to engage in silent study after Wind Whistler set us our assignments. Her purpose, of course, was to teach us foals how to behave in a library -- she in fact intended to take us to the very structure in which we now sat, someday when we were a bit older.
This was fortunate, as I knew how to get us out of trouble.
"Sorry, sir," I whispered to the librarian, giving him an apologetic smile and big sad eyes.
Quiet Study strove to retain his stern glare, but I could see the shadows of a smile starting in his mouth, his ears twitching, his eyes softening. He was outmatched: When young, I was an adorable creature, though sometimes a rather bad little filly. Even adults who knew me well often yielded to my charms, let alone ones who were unaware of my wiles. Faced with my cuteness, the librarian had little chance.
As for my Sister, most of the time she didn't even need to smile, though she did that too. She often had Wind Whistler twisted around her forehoof. Talents sometimes manifest early, and an affinity for the Sun is hardly the only one she possesses. Ponies did, do, and always will love her. Had Celly been here, Quiet Study might have wound up approving of us breaking into a full choral song.
Dissy remembered the role he was playing and subsided.
"This is a library," Quiet Study pointed out, striving to maintain the semblance of his professional dignity, though his expression was no longer entirely professional.
"It won't happen again," I said, nodding in agreement.
Obviously placated, the librarian retreated.
"It's not me," Dissy repeated, insistently but more quietly this time. "If this really happened it was thousands and thousands of years before we were ever born. And ... he's all mean and scary. He's a Monster. I'm no Monster!"
His eyes met mine pleadingly, as if requiring reassurance: those red, red eyes which had always gazed upon me with the kindest regard, that strange scruffy gray face which was to me so familiar, which I recognized as the embodiment of comradeship. He was my very best friend, the being I loved most in the world after my mother and sister, and when I looked at him, I could not -- then -- see any Monstrousness.
I hugged that dear head, and he warmly returned my embrace.
"Thou art right," I said, after we released one another.
The fear subsided in his face -- I realize now that he was afraid of losing even a little of my friendship. Poor, dear Dissy!
"It cannot have been thee." At that age, of course, I knew nothing of the strange cycles of rebirth to which beings such as Discord and I engage in order to exist in the Pony world. "But," I pointed out, "maybe it was somepony like unto thee."
"Another of my Kind?" Dissy asked.
"Why not?" I asked. "There is another Alicorn, like unto me. We are possible. Why not other Ponies such as thee?" At this time, remember, I thought of Discord as at his base just a very strange Pony, of a Kind almost as rare as I thought were Alicorns -- I had heard the term 'Draconequus' occasionally applied, by Wind Whistler, but he did not seem as alien to me as did even our Spike -- so to me he was Pony. And back then, Dissy also thought of himself as Pony.
Dissy's expression shifted to one of excitement. "There could be more like me? That would be wonderful!" he hissed in a stage whisper so loud that for a moment I feared the librarian might return.
I made hushing motions with my hooves. "Yes," I said softly. "Maybe somepony like unto thee is born very very rarely. Maybe 'tis always to a mare without a stallion, just like with Celly and me. It sounds strange," (even in our youth, we all knew in general where foals came from, though neither Wind Whistler nor our mothers had yet gotten to explaining the precise details), "but then we are rather strange so maybe where we come from, we are normal!"
I was right, of course, but I did not yet guess just how strange was the place where we came from.
"Maybe there'll be another clue in the book," Dissy said eagerly. "Let's keep reading it!"
So we did.
The Twister towered, tall and terrible, almost to the roof of the feasting-hall, and all around him the Pony lords and ladies, kings and queens, quailed in fright before this dreadful apparition. A few brave warriors gripped their spears, essaying a rush at him. The Twister simply laughed and snapped with his vulture claw. The spears of the guards instantly transformed into gaily-colored and be-tasseled snakes, which coiled about their limbs, and kissed them repeatedly in most embarrassing fashions.
Dissy snickered at that. I giggled a little too, though neither of us really knew what was there being implied, any more than would the children for which this version of the tale had been penned.
Noble Rose trembled, but she was a true chieftain born, and this was her most-prized son in danger. She could not abandon all hope. So, she leaned forward, and nodded her head in a gesture of respect to the Prince of Chaos who reared up before her, and she said:
"O Great Twister, I beg forgiveness for angering you with my ill-chosen words. But Noble Heart is my beloved son, and he is young and may one day be a lord of much renown. Please, Great One, do not make him suffer for my error. Spare him: if you must win a servant from this adventure, take me in his stead; for I am old and have already seen much of life, of this world." Her voice quavered at first, but at the last her voice rang firm and clear, for while Noble Rose was arrogant, she was also in full measure brave, and she would have given her life ten times over to save that of her firstborn son.
The Twister arched an eyebrow at this, for it was certainly a dramatic thing for her to do, and he loved drama; it was the spice of his existence, one of the three things that had led him to come down from the stars and fare forth upon the Earth. But he knew that drama demanded that he not yield to the first plea, for such compliance would be anti-climactic upon his part. So he laughed:
"Oh ho ho, he said, "A Noble Rose in place of a Noble Heart?" He affected to consider the proposition, slithering toward Rose thrugh the air in a manner most disconcerting. "An intriguing offer, my dear." He coiled himself all around her without touching her, regarding her with a speculative eye -- one unattached to his face at that moment, and circling around her head, the better to observe her from all angles. Then, with his nostrils -- still attached to his face in the usual manner -- he sniffed at her.
"Oh no," he decided. "Too stale." He inspected some strange runes that had mysteriously appeared on her forehead. "Past the sell-by date. Won't do."
Noble Rose did not entirely understand his words, but she darkened, suspecting perhaps rightly that they were meant as insult. Her honor alone might have led her to challenge even one such as the Twister, but she had the welfare of her son to consider, and remained silent.
Noble Heart did not. He could not just stand there and see his mother be spoken of as if she were nothing.
"Enough, Twister," he said bluntly. "You want me. You will take me. Then do so!" he urged. "Only shame not my mother, for everything about me that makes you wish for my service comes from her high breeding and wise teachings. You are a being of great wisdom and power. Surely petty mockery of a poor distressed mare, at the moment of her loss, is beneath your high nature!"
"Oh, you would be surprised," muttered the Twister, but then he smiled benignly upon Noble Heart, for the Twister loved courage well, when coupled with flattery. He reached out with his tail and wrapped it around Noble Heart, who bore this touch unflinchingly. "Come, my lad," the Twister said, almost kindly. "You are a brave and handsome creature, and when you have known the delights of my court, you shall no more desire the company of your boring former friends." He leered at Noble Heart, in a manner which might have been meant as friendly, but which caused the stallion to shudder in uncontrollable revulsion.
"No!" gasped Noble Rose, also seeing and misliking that look. "Please, Twister! Have what is left of my life! Do not spoil that of my son!"
The Twister scowled at that, for he full well knew what Noble Rose was thinking -- that he was a Monster, and would do some foul harm to Noble Heart. Whether or not the Twister would have done such foul harm -- either in his original purpose or out of anger at the accusation, or even both -- will remain forever unknown.
"I don't think he would have hurt him," said Dissy. "I think he was just playing."
"I do not know," I said. "He seems creepy."
"He's probably just lonely," Dissy said. "That's why he gets mad."
Was Dissy right? Was I? It is quite true that Dissy would never have harmed anypony, least of all in the foul way that any adult reading the story would have feared. But Discord ... ah, he is quite another sort of creature.
For at that moment stepped forth Honey Tongue, quick of wit and tongue, and both brave and warm of heart. And what she said, would forever change all their destinies.
"Mighty Twister," she said, bowing low and with the greatest respect, "you are both cunning and powerful beyond all mortal compare. We poor Ponies can do naught but submit to your merest whims, for you are a Being of an altogether higher order then our own." And she looked up shyly at him, her lambent purple eyes half-lidded by her long lovely lashes, delicate yellow face framed in her flowing pink mane.
And that look struck the Twister to the heart, as might have no other weapon wielded by Ponykind. For though in his true form he was beyond mortal ken, he had taken a form of flesh to dwell in the mortal world. And that form was male. And no male that Honey Tongue looked to or spoke to like that was ever entirely unaffected.
Dissy closed his eyes and sighed, clearly enraptured by the tale.
Noble Rose sighed almost in relief when she saw what she thought Honey Tongue was about. For though Noble Rose was, as the Twister had pointed out, a bit past her prime, it had been not so long ago that Noble Rose had been herself a pretty maiden like Honey Tongue, and Noble Rose full well grasped the nature of the weapon that Honey Tongue had deployed, the weapon which makes it the way of Nature for mares to rule stallions in all important matters. She had resented Honey Tongue's power in that respect when Honey Tongue had ensnared her son, but now she was grateful to see it deployed in his defense. At that moment, Noble Rose almost loved Honey Tongue.
Almost -- for Noble Rose thought she knew what Honey Tongue meant to do. She thought that Honey Tongue would offer herself to the Twister in Noble Heart's place, for Honey Tongue's own great love for Noble Heart. And Noble Rose would be happy with this outcome, for she would have her son, free and clear to make a match of advantage with the family of another chieftainess, while Honey Tongue -- would fare as well as she might as the Twister's thrall.
But Honey Tongue had already thought of and rejected this idea, not because she did not sufficiently love Noble Heart, but rather because she judged that it would be too simple to amuse the demon -- instead, he would happily take both of them. Instead, she had a subtler and a better plan.
"Indeed," continued Honey Tongue, "you are so great that to one of your power it would be but child's play to take Noble Heart, and punish Noble Rose for her ill manners. And by doing so, you would demonstrate to all the Ponies assembled here the folly of rousing the wrath of the greatest God of Chaos known to this Earth!"
Noble Heart's ears pricked up at this, and her eyes widened, and she glared at Honey Tongue, wondering if the young mare had perhaps decided to betray her. But she could say naught against Honey Tongue, not in front of the Twister who was plainly quite taken with her, especially after the last bit of flattery.
"Simple and easy for you to do," said Honey Tongue. "But -- I must wonder -- is something so simple and easy for you to do quite worthy of a being of your magnificence, O most-mangificent and puissant Twister?
The Twister arched an eyebrow at this, creating an actual colonnade about his head, at which apparition the Ponies gaped in wonder, for he used keystone arches, a principle not yet known to their primitive civilization. And he smiled with a certain cynical disappointment, for he thought he knew where Honey Tongue was going with this, and if so it was a pathetically-simple ploy, one insulting to his own vast intelligence.
But Honey Tongue had been more than courteous, and so the Twister was himself nothing but polite in his reply.
"Simple indeed, my dear," the Twister said. "Yet effective. What would you have me do? Show mercy to this arrogant little ladyling, and thus show to one and all that I tolerate such disrespect from mere mortals such as Noble Rose -- and yourself?" He smiled at this last, and his smile was predatory, and revealed entirely too many teeth to make the Ponies altogether comfortable with his presence.
And it was a sad smile in part, for he was almost sure he knew what Honey Tongue was going to say. She would claim to him that mercy was greater than revenge, a transparently self-interested argument, and then he would take both Honey Tongue and her plainly-beloved Noble Heart to his Courts of Chaos, where they would in fairly short order go mad, and become boring.
He sighed to himself at this, for Honey Tongue had seemed so promising -- a worthy play-mate, with whom he might have had an enjoying game of trickery. But alas! -- she would be just one more pleading maiden, to use and destroy like all the others.
There was One -- and only One -- with whom he had once joyed to play, for she was full his match in power and intellect. But she would play with him no more, and he must find whatever sport he might from lesser beings, such as the Ponies.
Then, Honey Tongue spoke, and what she said surprised him:
"I wonder if you are very bored sometimes, great Twister? Your power is immeasurable, almost unlimited. You can do whatsoever you wish, and none may oppose you. Taking Noble Heart would be just another thing you can do, which no mere mortals could hope to check by force.
"I wonder, O Twister, if you might instead like to make the fate of Noble Heart the stakes of a game?"
And with that the winds began to blow harder outside, the cedars to sway, the skies to darken. It was no magic of Honey Tongue's, for hers was a magic of voice and beauty and cunning, and unable to call the weather; nor was it the Twister's, though of course calling weather was the least of what he could do.
Rather it was the magic of Fate, as if the Universe were stopping to take notice, and Cosmic forces focusing on the simple meeting hall of simple Ponies in the time of their dawn. For that is exactly what was happening.
The Twister's eyes widened with interest, and he smiled at Honey Tongue, and his smile was almost friendly as he regarded the little Pony, so helpless before his demonic might. And he spoke.
"Do, my dear, go on."
"All things in the world are different in their abilities. The wolf has swift legs and strong jaws, yet he cannot run down the antelope in full flight. Yet the turtle, which but slowly creeps, can endure the wolf's jaws, which the antelope cannot. And the bird sings sweeter than the turtle's hiss, the antelope's cry, or the wolf's howl," Honey Tongue began.
The Twister leaned forward and listened intently, curious as to what she would say next.
"I am but a poor weak little mortal creature," she continued, "nothing compared to your Cosmic powers. Yet perhaps there is something which I can do for you, something which you either cannot do or do not wish to do because it would affront your honor? Perhaps you might set me such a task? You, O great Twister, might keep Noble Heart while you awaited the completion of this task, but keep him in a manner such that he will be unharmed and remain well in all respects, until we see if I can perform this task. And then -- if I can do this thing -- you might in your vast mercy release Noble Heart to the loving embrace of his family and loved ones, and you and I part as friends, in the knowledge that we will have both made a great story to redound to your own further glory. Certainly, I will do my best to ensure that the tale be remembered and retold.
"Does this proposal meet with your approval, O Lord of Chaos, Ruler of the Abysses Both Below and Above? Will you make this wager, and play this game, with a mere mortal Pony?" She looked him directly in his red-and-yellow eyes, fully meeting his gaze for a moment, then flung herself to the floor, hiding her head beneath her hooves and shuddering in a terror both flattering to the Twister, and far from entirely assumed. For she knew that she had left open some very crucial matters, trusting to the Twister's own greed and vanity in this thing.
And besides, there are few -- if any -- Ponies who can look the Twister in the eye unaffected. Honey Tongue was brave, to be sure. But even bravery has limits.
The Twister screwed up his face, which also amazed the onlookers for they had not yet invented screws. And he looked at Honey Tongue and her proposal from all angles, an action which dizzied them, for they were not used to seeing any being, let alone a Draconeques, from all angles simultaneously.
And the gale howled, and leaves tore from the cedar trees, and the window hangings whipped madly in the wind, as the Universe paid heed to the Twister's words.
"Very well," he said. "You shall play my game. And -- because I like you -- it shall be such a task as you may possibly accomplish whole and sane, if you be both lucky and clever. Listen and listen well:"
Outside, the lightning flashed brilliant white. The crash of thunder came hard on its heels.
"On the Mountains of the Sun, the Sun Mare dwells. Let her plead to me for Noble Heart's return. When this happens, I will consider returning Noble Heart to you, whole and sane." His eyes flared dangerously. "Fail to do this, and I will keep both Noble Heart and yourself as my guests, and I cannot promise that either of your minds will long survive my hospitality. You have ... oh, forever ... to do this, though I doubt that you'll be able to quest very well in a century or so, so I'd get started if I were you, if you want to finish your quest in this lifetime."
The Twister smiled at Honey Tongue, and once again the smile seemed genuine. "Good luck, my dear."
The lightning flashed again, and all were blinded, and the crash seemed like the Hammer of Doom descending upon the Earth, and when any could see or hear once more, the Twister was gone.
And so, of course, was Noble Heart.
The Twister had taken him.
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And now we know in the IDW comics, Sombra suffered the SAME WAY by being near the Chrysalis heart due to his NATURE, whether he was evil or not yet!
6073111
Yes. The Crystal Heart is in my fanon an artifact of Law, and harms or weakens Discord simply because he is Chaotic. But I got that idea from your Generation Transitions and Origins, where the Rainbow of Light had a similar effect on Dissy -- and also, despite the fact that Dissy was good before he awoke to his true nature.
The way that Discord outsmarted himself when he created Dissy was that Dissy is the part of him that learned how to deal with Ponies socially. That's why Dissy gets assimilated rather than destroyed; because Discord has to function in the world of Ponies, even if he warps it into something more Chaotic. And the more Discord deals with Ponies in any way other than actively tormenting them, the more Dissy becomes the dominant side.
This doesn't apply so much to the Disccord of the Age of Creation, the one whom Honey Tongue is dealing with. That Discord never was Dissy. The same point goes for D of the Age of Wonders, the one who meets Sweetie Finemare. In both cases, Discord's "problem" (if you want to call it such) is essentially the same as Celestia's.
Both of them simply like the Ponies, and to play with them. Celestia's just more open about it and likes to play nicer with them -- to the point that it's become indistinguishable from identifying with them herself.
The Sun Mare, of course, knows what she really is. Sundreamer doesn't.
The power of Woona compels you!
The saga of the Discord of old is certainly taking an interesting turn. It looks like you'll be able to loop around and make a connection back to the hazards of Discord in love. Given how the story is currently at Reminiscence Depth Two, that will be an impressive feat.
And Dissy suffers what Sombra suffered when he looked into the crystal heart and saw the monster he'd become.
6075762
The thing is, Dissy doesn't realize that he and the Twister of several thousand years ago are Incarnations of the same Cosmic Concept. How could he? But he is, you notice, getting some emotional and mnenomic bleedover. For instance, his description of Honey Tongue's hair is closer to what it really looked like than in the story book version. He liked Honey Tongue -- which was in part her Talent, to be likeable (her talent, more generally, was to be persuasive -- she's "honey-tongued.")
Filly Luna doesn't get it either, because Discord the Twister in the story is scary and malevolent, while Little Dissy her best friend is kind and protective toward her -- one of the three or four beings she trusts most in the world (the others being Celly, Mimic and Wind Whistler). Filly Celly would agree with that list. The tragedy of what's going to happen about a decade and a half in Filly Luna's future should be obvious, especially from the perspectives of Celestia and Luna
6075762
Though, you're right -- Dissy subconsciously suspects. Doesn't believe it to be true, but has a strange feeling that it just might be true, even though it seems impossible.
6074134
Well yeah, that's my intention.
Seems like there should be some sort of reaction to the name Discord coming up in the story. I mean, it's one thing to read about someone who looks a lot like you, but it's another to read about someone who looks a lot like you and has the exact same name.
6078042
You're completely right, and it's TMI for the Ponies of Paradise Estate. So I simply decided that the writer of the version of the Tale found within the story book didn't know the Twister's actual name! Between translations and euphemisms, this is quite easy to imagine.
6990681
Both, but she learned a lot more after she shared a brain with Discord.
6991618
Discord's not pure Chaos, what he is in the SWSV is "Dissonance" as distinct from other chaotic, emergent patterns. (Discord has to be some sort of pattern, or he couldn't think). Chaos emerges early in the Universe: meaningful chaos is a more subtle Concept.
I go into this more in two unfinished stories -- both of which I've written and posted the relevant chapters, though: Royal Business and Undying Love. Both of which I should really finish someday -- I'm at least half of the way through the first one and it's meant to be a fairly short novella.
6992086 Love this although your comment towards Discord being Dissonence, rather than Chaos makes one curious. It begs the question Who and/or what is the Concept of Chaos in this verse, is it something similar to Azazoth that is not quite intelligent enough to make a difference despite its omnipotence? Or something more along the lines of Sheorgorath; utterly unpredictable and infinitely dangerous.
Btw way I am fascinated by the universe you've made. As you've stated it contains heavy Lovecraftian influence, but somehow while exploring this vast cruel multiverse, you kept the fundamental fire of Hope and Decency that draws so many to MLP.
7185732
in the Shadow Wars Story Verse, yes -- because in part of their shared history in previous lives. In vanilla canon, she definitely likes her as a friend.
7210448
I modeled him on Klaus Fuchs, the active end of the Rosenberg spy ring of the 1940's. If you've read even the incomplete Trinity, you know why there's a copy of him living inside Discord. If you've read Ruminations in Stone, you know that he's been hitting on Wind Whistler for the past 2500 years, and that she finds him annoying.