Silent Voracity Chapter 4

There were a lot of ponies that, even if she didn't have anything against them, Rarity certainly didn't expect to be interacting with too often. But the end of the world brought the strangest of individuals together.

"Is this the box, Miss Belle?" Diamond Tiara asked, holding a box that was almost bigger than her torso, and surprisingly heavy for its size.

"Thank you, dear," Rarity said with a smile as she took the object from the filly, opening it with her magic. "Ahh, yes, this is it," she noted, looking upon the contents: a large supply of unused cutlery, still stacked and wrapped neatly together.

"Just in case you had to impress nobles?" Tiara guessed with a cautious yet knowing looking.

"Am I that obvious?" Rarity asked with a soft smile at the filly.

"We had a couple sets too. Mom always..." the filly trailed off as the word left a bitter taste on her tongue.

Rarity's smile turned to sympathy for the young mare. "Has your father been recovering well?"

Tiara shook off her gloom as she latched onto the subject change. "Y-yeah, I guess? Nurse Redheart said there won't be any infection or anything like that. He'll just be..."

Rarity reached to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but was caught short as someone entered into her Canterlot Boutique. "I'm not a cripple, Tiara, just half blind," Filthy Rich assured loudly, bandages wrapped around the left side of his head. Despite this all, he had only smiles to give.

"Daddy!" Tiara greeted, running to give him a tackle hug, eliciting a chuckle as father and daughter embraced.

Rarity smiled at the exchange. Filthy had been gone less than an hour, but she couldn't blame the filly for being happy to see him. Given everything they all had endured, every moment with friends and loved ones felt like a gift. "I take it everything is going well?" Rarity asked politely.

Filthy nodded as he put his daughter down. "It took a while, but I found enough creatures with experience in construction to help with making tables and temporary shelters to have it done sometimes tomorrow. What about you?" he asked, glancing at the box of silverware.

"Provided no one steals them, I should have enough utensils for several hundred, but I never imagined to stock up on that many plates," Rarity lamented, looking grimly amused. "I never imagined one of our first great efforts in this New World would be giving out rations."

"Let's be honest," Tiara interrupted with a hand on her hip. "We were all more concerned about getting here first."

"You have a point, Diamond," he father agreed, rubbing his bandages idly. "So, Miss Belle, any word from your friends in high places?"

Rarity rolled her eyes fondly at the joke, crossing her arms under her chest. She was still getting use to the "features" of this new form. "Only what I've already told you. They are having a meeting today to finalize some initial plans. Logistics and scouting I'd imagine, nothing exciting."

Meanwhile

To call the atmosphere tense would be an understatement. Gazef could feel the worry in his men behind him as he dismounted his horse to speak with the beastmen. Between all the corpses and the reputation of these kinds of creatures, he couldn't blame them. Yet, while the two in armor were obviously at alert, the towering form of Droc seemed as relaxed and untroubled as a fallen leaf drifting across a pond. "You have my thanks for aiding these people, Droc," Gazef stated with polite gratitude.

"It wasn't any trouble," Discord answered with a smile as he reached out a hand to Gazef, noting how all the human soldiers grew ever more worried, many gripping their weapons in fear but not drawing them.

Gazef himself looked surprised by the horned giant's gesture, but shook the larger hand all the same. "Not to sound ungrateful, but I must ask what three beastmen are doing in these parts?"

"We recently moved here," Discord answered with a casual shrug.

"Moved here?" Gazef repeated in surprise.

"In there," Discord answered, waving to the Great Forest. "We were scouting out the area, and stumbled across a rather one-sided slaughter."

"It is the same as he told us, Head Warrior," the village chief assured with a nod. "They asked only for information in return."

"You saved this village, just for that?" Gazef asked, voicing the skepticism of his men. "No offense, but that sounds a little-"

"Farfetched?" Discord interrupted with a chuckle. "Given what we've heard about creatures like us in these lands, we understand the hesitation."

Gazef blinked as he processed that implication. "You mean, you're not like other beastmen?"

"Do we look like other beastmen?" Discord asked with a head tilt, waving to his companions.

Gazef had to admit, he had a point. Beyond not having heard of horsefolk with horns like these, there was something else about them. Most beastmen, with some exceptions, had forms far more monstrous than this with inhuman proportions. And he had never heard of Beastmen fashioning armor of the quality like the two suits he saw before him, save in legends and myths.

"In any case," Discord spoke up, breaking Gazef's line of thought. "I hope you and your king take this as a token of good will on our part."

"You have saved the lives of this village and, by proxy, any men I might have lost in this battle. You have earned my good will if nothing else, Lord Droc," Gazef answered firmly, having no intention to make an enemy out of a civil, powerful beastmen. "When I arrived, you mentioned the Theocracy earlier. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but those corpses had the armor of the Baharuth Empire," he pointed out with a scowl, wondering if that was simply a mistake on this creature's part.

The smile told him it wasn't.

"That's what they wanted people to think, yes," Discord acknowledged with a nod. "They admitted as much to being from Slane when I called them out on it. Funny, I got the impression from the elder here that Re-Estize and Baharuth were already fighting off and on. So I don't see why Slane would bother trying to make things worse between you two," Discord pointed out while eyeing Gazef.

The head warrior sighed with a troubled look behind his eyes. "I have many enemies. Even some back home would see me dead."

Celestia and Luna looked to one another, their helmets turning only slightly. The idea of sending a loyal soldier off to die as a betrayal instead of a duty left an ill taste in their mouth.

"Tell me, Gazef? Would you do us the pleasure of having a spar with my friend, Sun?" Discord asked with a smile.

"What?" Celestia asked in surprise.

"Head Warrior, don't. It's probably a trick," one of the soldiers said in worry.

Gazef raised an eyebrow at Droc. "I apologize for their words. My men are very loyal and worry about me in times like this. But why would you want us to spar?"

"I want to see how the warriors of these lands fight," Droc explained honestly. "The ones we killed were little more than thugs preying on who they could. But you feel like a proper warrior."

Gazef held his ground with a considering look.

"You can consider it as part of thanking us, if you're still suspicious of how little we asked," Discord offered in amusement.

Gazef nodded before turning to his men. "If these three wanted to kill us, I doubt they would have gone through all of this trouble. They have no need for tricks."

His soldiers accepted that logic, even if it didn't put them truly at ease. After all, they believed in Gazef, but it was hard to gauge how powerful these three monsters truly were.

"Sun, if you would?" Discord requested, grinning at her as he stepped away.

"Discord?" Celestia whispered curiously.

"Just see what he can do," Discord answered under his breath.

Celestia paused before deciding to do as Discord asked. She stepped forward, drawing her sword.

She deliberately chose not to set it on fire.

Gazef drew his own blade as the soldiers and villagers watched the incoming spectacle with interest.

Celestia steadied herself, holding her weapon firmly. "Here I come."

The two were suddenly upon each other, blades clashing.

"I thought we were done showing off for the day?" Luna asked quietly.

"This one is a lot stronger than all the other humans," Discord murmured. "He'll give us a good stick to start determining the powers in this world."

Luna nodded, understanding the reason before something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.

The human disguise of Caleph the Changeling was staring right at them with a smile that might be mistaken for gratitude.

"Looks like it was a home run for Thorax's troops," Discord muttered, still watching the fight.

Luna didn't question how he noticed, turning her own eyes back to her sister's spar.

Gazef gritted his teeth as he locked swords with the white armored beastman. Or beastwoman, rather. Her imposing sized loomed over him as he attempted to push back against her blade. "Acceleration!"

He dodged with enhanced speed to get around the blade and within her guard, but was shocked to find the flat of her blade had already moved to block his assault.

"You are very good, Gazef Stronoff," Celestia complimented honestly.

"And you seem rather rusty, Sun," Gazef retorted with a studying look when their blades separated. "You hesitate to commit to an attack and seem less than certain with your moves."

"Hmm, apologies. It has been a long time since I relied only on a weapon. I'm not sure I know my own strength anymore," Celestia offered without offense, sheathing her weapon.

"Bravo, Stronoff, bravo," Discord clapped as he approached with Luna.

"I can only hope that isn't mockery, Lord Droc," Gazef said politely.

"It's not. Many would crumble just attempting to fight the power of the Sun," Discord said with a chuckle. "But I do believe it is time we made our leave. I'm sure we have some growing concerned back home."

"I know the feeling, Lord Droc," Gazef agreed. "I thank you again for saving this village. I hope we meet again under better circumstances."

"We'll see, Stronoff, we'll see," Discord agreed as he turned, looking to the villagers one last time.

And if any bothered to notice, directly at the pair of sisters they had saved at the start of this adventure.

"Until another time, Village of Carne," Discord said as he raised his hand and with a simple snap of his fingers-

They vanished, making everyone gasp in amazement.

"What was that? Invisibility magic? No, teleportation?" a soldier asked in amazement.

"But isn't that some of the rarest, highest magic?" another asked, unsure and alarmed.

Gazef stared at where the trio had been. There was a new player in this area, but they at least seemed to be noble to some degree. "Everyone! We'll camp here for the night, then return to the capital."

Meanwhile

"Unhand me! You foul beasts! You'll pay for this!"

Those were the first words Discord, Celestia ,and Luna heard when they reappeared in the forest.

The sun was setting, and the edge of the forest was filled with humans in robes and headgear that covered the face. All of them were subdued, tied up in ropes and clearly unconscious. Except for one, a blond man with short hair that was glaring fearfully at everything.

Standing above the humans were the changelings sent by Thorax. Despite their vibrant appearance, their abilities allowed them to dull and change their colors to blend in with the forest; above the lone conscious human stood one changeling with two antlers accompanying the normal short horn.

"Prince Pharynx," Celestia greeted. "We weren't expecting you."

The older brother of Thorax nodded, looking down at the human. "This seems to be the leader. All we got was a name. Nigun Gid Lun."

"Nigun Grid Luin, you ungodly savage!" Nigun snapped instinctively.

He stopped as Discord, taller than all the others, loomed over him in all his horned glory. "Oh, you will find we are very "godly," Nigun," Discord said in amusement. "Now shush, the big kids are talking."

With a wave of his hand, Discord rendered Nigun mute. He silently and fearfully tried to scream, but no sound left his mouth.

"Any causalities?" Luna asked to Pharynx.

"None of ours. Two were injured, but they'll live, Pharynx answered, looking to the captured humans. "Five of them died. We surprised most of them, but a few got some spells off. They were trying to summon something, I think."

"Is that so?" Discord said, looking down to Nigun again. He flicked his fingers up, and Nigun suddenly found himself panicking as he was now floating in mid-air. "Stop squirming," Discord said as he forcefully reached into a pouch on Nigun's belt. "Mmm, what have we here?"

The otherworlders looked to see Discord was now holding a large crystal in his hand. "What, is that his spare money?" Pharynx asked, unimpressed.

Nigun tried to protest more, but was ignored as they examined it. "Crystals aren't that common in most worlds I've heard of," Discord mused with a frown.

"I sense a magic in it. Almost like it is alive, yet also...not?" Luna observed uncertainly.

"It doesn't feel undead though," Celestia noted.

"No. I call it a construct; a creature made of pure magic, created to serve a purpose. Normally battle. Like a golem. No individuality or anything like that, "Discord mused, still looking unhappy with something.

"What is it?" Luna asked knowingly.

"I'm not sure yet," Discord answered, turning to the Changeling Prince. "Take them back to Canterlot. Put them in the dungeon after you get rid of anything dangerous they might have."

Pharynx nodded, looking to his underlings, who were already a buzz of activity.

Nigun was summarily dropped to the ground, Discord's tail knocking him out with a strike to the back of the head.

"Was that needed?" Luna asked, mostly unconcerned.

"You don't want to know the curses he was flinging about," Discord said with a snort.

"You really don't," Pharynx agreed. "Anything else, Lord Discord?"

"Keep a couple changelings around the village," Discord answered with a hum as he looked to the darkening night sky.

"You expect more trouble here?" Celestia asked warily.

"I've lived long enough to know that smell. The smell of a person or place that is bound to be involved in interesting times, "Discord said with a hum. "But that's another time. Let's go home. I'm sure the others are getting bored watching us."