Legacies of the Displaced
by Dilos1
First published
Chronicling the stories and testaments of various ponies and other individuals regarding a time when a strange being came Equestria.
Approximately five years ago, Equestria witnessed the arrival of a being never seen before, wielding powers unlike anything else in the world.
And it was not the first one.
More of the strange entities, calling themselves "Displaced", came soon after.
The following are the testaments of those who have been either directly or indirectly involved in the events that followed.
Rating changed to T for certain themes
Other tag for multiple characters, both canon and non-canon
Category tags subject to change
First attempt at a comment driven story
Suggestions for entries encouraged
Introduction
[As we are about to begin our interview, the brown coated mare seated in front of me fidgets around nervously, constantly wringing her hooves despite my assurances that she is in no way under any any pressure to answer my questions. Heedless of my attempts to calm her, I take a moment to make sure everything is ready as I begin to write down our conversation.]
So, where would you like to start miss. . . ?
H-honey. . . Honey Tart's my full name, but most ponies just call me Honey.
Of course. So again, where would you like to begin miss Honey Tart?
. . . Well, I'll admit that my memory of back then isn't exactly all that good anymore. I can't remember everything that happened exactly, but I'll try my best to answer your questions.
That's all I ask for ma'am.
[Honey sighs gently through her nose.]
It, um. . . it was about five years ago I think, back when this whole thing started, back when ponies knew nothing about the. . . what were they called again? Displaced I think? I never really bothered to take note of the date at the time. I was still around fourteen or so years old, and still living with my parents, and. . . um, is this necessary for you to hear? I mean, I can skip past this stuff if you want me to.
No no this is alright. Please, continue.
Alright then. Um, like I was saying, I was still living at my parents place when I first saw her. I had just gotten a new job at the local hayburger joint up in the northern part of Canterlot, and I worked part time as a waitress. It was nothing particularly big or special about it, just another way to earn a few extra bits to blow. Anyway I had worked there for about two months or so, just going about my routine, doing the same things. I was working the night shift like I usually do, and it was my turn to take out the rubbish for the night. I remember that because it was actually Pepper's turn that night, but for whatever reason the lazy mare decided not to show up for work, probably to hang out with her coltfriend.
[Honey Tart stops, looking hesitant to continue. She interrupts me before I can say anything.]
It was cold that night, being so close to Hearths Warming and all that. You could see discarded decorations just lying around everywhere, nopony bothering to pick them up. I didn't care about that though, all I could think about was getting the trash in the dumpster and my flank back inside as quickly as possible. I'm not exactly sure when I started to hear something, but when I did it was like. . . well it was kind of. . .
[Honey proceeds to demonstrate by making an ominous sounding with her mouth, mimicking wind.]
Something like that. I didn't know what it was, but I just knew it wasn't normal, you know? I tried to ignore it at first, but eventually it just grew to the point where I just couldn't ignore it. I remember looking all around, trying to figure what it was, and I was scared because I had heard stories of wendigos and the sounds they make right before they freeze you. Then just like that, the wind stopped, and I was left standing there wondering what the buck had just happened. Eventually I just decided to chalk it to some pegasus getting a little too rough with the wind currents and went back inside. I told the others about it, but they just laughed and said I was getting spooked over nothing.
[Honey looks up towards the ceiling of her house, and shakes her head.]
You have no how much I wish that they were right about that.
[Honey looks back to me as my quill scratches at the parchment.]
Can you describe what happened next?
Yeah. . . yeah I can do that. . . . a little later, half an hour I think, we all heard somepony pounding on the front door. And I mean pounding, like they were trying to break it down. Myself included, there were only three ponies there, and it was a slow night. Lance decided to be the one to check and see what it was about. Everypony else hid, either behind the counter or under tables. He opened the door, and there it was. Or rather, there she was. You probably already know who I'm talking about, do I need to describe her?
If it's not too much of a bother.
Okay. Well to be honest, we had absolutely no idea who the she was, or what she was even supposed to be. She was tall, with bare skin, and black hair on the top of her head with a little red streak going through it. I think it was natural actually. She was dressed in something that looked like a black sailor outfit too. But the one thing that really got all of our attention was the giant red sword she carried over her shoulder. It was huge, easily as long as she was tall. I remember it looked like half of some giant pair of scissors. I'm telling you the truth when I say that when we saw her, we all thought we were gonna die that night. Lance fainted right there in front of her, and all I could do was hope she didn't see me hiding under the table.
[Honey Tart chuckles lightly.]
I swear, looking back I was pretty scared filly then.
Can you describe the events that followed?
[Honey Tart nods.]
When Lance passed out right in front of her, she just kind of stood there for a few moments, looking all kinds of confused, and nudged him with her hoof, or foot rather. She said something that none of us understood. I think it was in Neighponese, or something like it anyway. After that she walked inside and sat down at one of the booths. She saw us right away of course, hiding under the tables like mice or something. She said something and waved us over, and I felt myself being shoved out from under the table by the other pony there. I forget her name. So anyway I just walked over there, shaking like a leaf in my horseshoe, and I asked her what she wanted. I couldn't understand a word she said, so she just pointed at a picture in the menu.
And what happened then?
Just as you'd expect to happen. We made her order, she ate it, paid us and left. I'm not even sure what she paid us with, because it certainly wasn't bits.
[Honey Tart pauses.]
You know, if I had known anything about what was going to happen, what with all of the turmoil and controversy and fighting, I don't know if would've ever had it in me to eventually become friends with that girl, knowing what she really was. To this day I still don't understand a word that she ever said to me, but I still consider her to be one of my best friends, especially after what she did to help us through those times. It was just one of those weird moments, when you know nothing about somepony or someone, yet you know everything about them at the same time, and you can't help but love them.
[My interview with the pony to make first contact with the first known displaced comes to an end soon after. As I walked out of her house and Honey Tart tells me goodbye, I felt my eyes drawn to the crimson sword hanging above her doorway, decorated with fresh flowers. I don't have the heart to ask why it was there, and I feel I already know the answer.]
Author's Notes:
Hello everybody, and welcome back. Now I know what you are probably thinking. "Why is he/she uploading this peace of garbage instead of updating Hollow Shades or any of his/her other stories like he/she should be?"
The answer is simple. I was inspired by recently re-reading World War Z for what must have been the tenth time, and I couldn't help but wonder if such a story could be written about the Displaced in such a fashion. This is the end result. Now, before you comment, I wanted to tell you that this story is open to suggestions for additional entries to be written written by our interviewer, just so long as it fits the theme of the story. I will sure to post a link to your home page for each suggestion that gets written down.
Anyways, that is all for now.
This has been Dilos1, and I thank you for your time.
Document One
[The sparse interior of the small home of my host is very cold. My host, Mister Mortar, seems unaffected by it but still apologizes for the lack of any heating, as it was too expensive to pay for an air conditioning system, magical or otherwise. I quickly tell him that it's no bother at all, in spite of the fact that I can see my breath. The large earth stallion is well muscled, no doubt from a life spent on a rock farm, yet there is a certain gentleness to him that becomes apparent when our interview begins.]
I can't recall exactly when I first noticed all the rumors of these new folks coming around. I didn't even know that they were just showing up, popping up out of thin air out of nowhere. I just thought that they were vacationers, tourists or something from other parts of the globe. It's a big world after all, and Equestria is well known as a good place to go to for a number of reasons. Before I even saw one though, I started to hear rumors about these "entities", at least that's what I heard other ponies call them. They would tell me stories of strange creatures that were just showing up for no reason. In all honesty I didn't really believe it at first. I mean, do you know how crazy that sounds in context? Just people, ponies or whatever coming to Equestria with little to no explanation of how or why they got here?
[Mortar shrugs.]
'Course, I changed my opinion real quick when I first saw one for myself. To tell you the truth I didn't know that it was one of them Displaced to begin with. At first I thought I was just seeing some weird species of bird or something, just a bit more scaly, and a lot bigger.
Can you tell me what happened when you first saw it?
It tried to eat me.
[An uncomfortable silence ensues for a few moments between us. Mortars face is blank.]
I suppose I was just unlucky, I guess. Unlucky enough to meet one of the socios(1) of the bunch. Not good for a first impression. I suppose you want the whole play by play?
That would be appreciated.
'Kay then. Well, it was already a couple of months into the whole Displaced fiasco, where ponies from all around Equestria were trying to figure out what should be done about them. I had somehow managed to not meet a single one during that whole time until, just barely after I sent a card to my daughter for her birthday, one of them showed up right on my farm. I was just going about my way like usual, making sure nothing was going on with our crops. See, My great grandparents had taken to growing a special type of quartz that's used in magilectric stuff. It's pretty hard to replace, making it pretty valuable, and more often than I care to recall I'd sometimes find thieves trying to make off with a whole cart of it.
[Mortar grumbles something under his breath that I can't quite make out.]
Well, as I was saying, I was out one afternoon to check on our stock, when I notice this trail of giant three toed footprints, going right by the shed where I keep my supplies. I had no idea what they were supposed to be, and I didn't recognize them as anything that usually lived around those parts. Biggest critters we usually got were mountain lions and the occasional bear, and even those were hardly ever seen so close to town. My first thoughts jumped straight to a dragon, which, considering my line of work, was really bad news. Thieves may steal a couple cart fulls, but a dragon could eat the whole crop in one sitting. I wasn't going to stand for that, not one bit. So, I decide to gather up a bunch of the other townsfolk to see if we could at least persuade it to go somewhere else. But as you know, not many ponies are willing to take on a dragon in any situation. There were only five other ponies willing to help me.
[Mortar shakes his head before continuing with his story.]
In hindsight, we probably should've known it wasn't a dragon. I mean, if it really was then half my stock would've already been missing. I guess I was just too focused on protecting my land to consider other possibilities. Anyway we traced the footprints back to the edge of the woods, not too far away from my own home. We were all just standing there, wondering what to do then, when all of sudden the beast came out of the brush. It must've been camouflaged, like a chameleon or something, because there's just no other way that something that big can hide right in front of our noses.
[Mortar sighs and closes his eyes, as a deep frown becomes etched across his face.]
Poor Swift Wind never saw it coming. None of us did, not until we heard her screaming her lungs out just before it came down outta the bushes and bit her in half. . . . I can only hope that it was quick.
[I am hesitant to press Mortar to continue, and the scratching of my quill on parchment has stopped as I wait.]
She was my friend you know. She always came by my place every once in a while to make sure that this aging stallion was still taking his vitamins. She was a good filly, fresh out of primary school, always trying to do the right thing. . . . I know that I probably shouldn't hate the guy or gal or whoever was in there. I know that it was just it's instincts driving it to feed on whatever it found. You hear about that a lot in cases like this, where just can't control themselves. But still, not a day goes by where I don't wish that the Royal Guard had just killed the thing when they eventually showed up instead of carrying it off to Celestia knows where.
Did anypony else die?
No, thank Celestia. Not unless you count my leg as a casualty.
[Mortar motions with his head to the stump that used to be his left hind leg. In its place is a prosthetic.]
The beast was still chewing on it when help finally came. Couple of other ponies in town heard the commotion and rushed over. I'm not sure what happened after that. I think I passed out from blood loss. All I can remember is waking up in my house with a tourniquet around what used to be me my leg. Somehow they had managed to get me away from that thing before it could finish me off. We could still hear it walking around out there, looking for us. It was at least another ten minutes before the Royal Guard finally showed up and took it down.
Can you recall what they used to subdue it?
What do you think? Another damned displaced of course. Some weirdo dressed in green. I remember he had a symbol of something like a lantern or hourglass on his chest, but that's pretty much it.
[Mortar sighs again.]
I lost a lot of things that day, thanks to that bastard. I lost my friend. I lost my leg, and thanks to that I lost my ability to work as well as before. The only family I had left was my daughter, and I'd be caught dead before I asked her to give up her life in Fillydelphia just to come and help her dad. The rest of the ponies in town tried their best to help me, and I got little money from the royal treasury to pay for the damages and my leg, but there was only so much they could do before I eventually just had to accept the reality that I was going to lose the business. So I decided to just pack it up, sell off what I could, and move somewhere else.
[Mortar looks at me sternly and thrusts a hoof in my direction.]
Now before you do anything else, I want you to know that I don't hold all of them accountable for what happened. I know that not every Displaced is like that. Everypony does. But what everypony doesn't seem to realize, or is either too willing to forget, is that when they started showing up, throwing their weight around without fear of consequences, a lot of lives were uprooted in the process, and I'm not talking about just mine. I know you've heard about what happened in Appleloosa. I've read the papers. All those ponies, suddenly finding themselves without a roof over their heads, all because one person couldn't stop to think about what he was doing for one moment. Bless those buffalo for giving them a place to stay until they rebuilt. And that's just one example out a of a dozen others, like Manehatten, Las Pegasus, even here in Poyville, all of them at least partially leveled in one way or another by a socio.
[Mortar seems to relax as he settles back into his chair.]
If nothing else, the one thing I suppose that you should take from all of this is that you shouldn't hold a grudge like I did. I hear that one bloke actually did get rehabilitated. Turns out that he or she was one of the lucky ones. Not all of them were able to realize what they were becoming, what they were turning themselves into. Or maybe they did, but just didn't care.
[Eventually I take my leave of Mister Mortar's small house located on the edge of Ponyville. Despite what amount of horrors the small community has witnessed in the past, Mortar claims that it is still one of the better places to retire, due to the overall sense of calm that the town exudes.]
(1) Socios; short for sociopath; a term coined by ponies used to describe Displaced individuals who have been rendered mildly insane by the aspects of their new body, either by having their mind taken over by the body's urges or the feeling of power that their new body grants them.
Author's Notes:
Hello all. Here's another chapter that came to me out of nowhere. I'm going to be taking some time to read up on some of your suggestions for the next chapter. Should be out fairly soon.
Until then, I hope you enjoyed reading this entry, and as always be sure to tell me whatever suggestions you have for more entries.
Document Two
[I have been told by my hostess that it was not originally her idea to agree to the interview. She knew who I was and what I was doing, and wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. It was only thanks to her peers convincing her otherwise that I am even here to begin with. For some reason, she does not trust me to be truthful in my writings, despite my assurances to the contrary. She has also "requested" that I refrain from mentioning her name.]
You've heard about me, haven't you?
[I open my mouth to answer but she cuts me off mid-sentence.]
Of course you have. Everypony's heard of me in some form or another, along with every single Celestia forsaken Displaced that ever decided to come here. They all know who I am, and believe you me, there's nothing that they would like more than to see me rot in some jail cell.
Do you think that you could elaborate on that a little?
[The mare gives me a strange look]
Without context of course.
. . . Alright then. I think that I can give you some idea of what I did. Let me start from the beginning though first. You see, when the event that is now known today as "the Arrival" occurred, of course I'm referring to when the supposed first Displaced came to Equestria, everypony that had heard about it was of course curios about it, or her rather. They were all wondering what she was going to do next. It was like everypony in Equestria was watching her, waiting for her to do something noteworthy. I hear that even the ruling Princesses had taken a mild interest. Everywhere you went the papers, the tabloids, even those conspiracy articles that nopony takes seriously, they were all focused on her and what she would do next. Pony's everywhere were eating up everything that got released. Unfortunately, there was just one problem with that.
Which was. . . ?
She wasn't doing anything. Now, that's not to say that she was not idle, but it just seemed that for the most part, she was just not interested in making a scene. After a little while, everypony just sort of forgot about her, and went about their normal lives like it was nothing. Just another celebrity to keep an eye on, that's all. Of course that all changed when more began to show up.
You mean more Displaced?
Yep. I can't even imagine what was going through those ponies heads when they saw a giant metal golem stomping up the streets of Manehatten, asking where the nearest gas station was at, whatever the buck that is. It took the Royal Guard a whole day to put a stop to all of the panic, and another two with the help of one of the Princesses to get it out of there before he accidentally stepped on somepony. You should've seen some of the headlines back then. Can you believe that some ponies actually thought that the whole thing was some sort of weapons experiment commissioned by Celestia that somehow went rogue? Of course, back then nopony was familiar with the concept of an artificial intelligence. Before long rumors began to circulate that the Equestrian government was actively making golems, a practice that Celestia herself banned, for certain reasons.
How far did these rumors spread before the truth was found out?
Oh, it must have been about three weeks before Celestia was able to speak against the the crying out of ponies demanding to know the truth, and by then it had already spread beyond Equestrian borders and reached places like the Griffon kingdom and Minotauria. Of course you can imagine that they were not happy at all to hear that Equestria was supposedly creating weapons of war in secret. Celestia was able to get them to stand down from their accusations thankfully, but that still left the issue of what should be done about our other problem.
So what was eventually decided?
Nothing at first. A few ideas were pitched.
Such as?
Well, I don't want to go into too much detail about the specifics of some of them. If you really wanted to you could just look it up in any newspaper ad from the last couple of years. Might have to do a little digging though.
Why is that?
Let's just say that some of the ideas that were presented were. . . less than ethically moral. You see, back then everypony in the higher rungs of society, the nobles, the politicians, the elites, they were all afraid of the possible effects that these entities were going to have on Equestria. At least that's what they were saying. Anyway, most of them were at a loss as to what to do. They weren't Equestrian citizens, but they did not belong to any other nation either. Technically they were not subject to any of our laws. Unfortunately it was not long before a few of them realized that and decided that was reason enough to throw their weight around under the pretense of "diplomatic immunity".
I can't even begin to tell you how many millions of bits in damage they caused, all because they thought they could get away with it. I'm sure you've heard some of these incidents.
I have, yes.
In light of all of the recent events, we needed something or somepony to help keep the peace, or at least make sure that they were on a tight leash. Unfortunately the conclusion we came to was what led to even more trouble.
I assume that you are you referring to the Jack of Blades incident?
[The mare's gaze turns harsh as she thrusts a hoof at me.]
Don't ever say that bastards' name to me again. It's because of him that me and dozens of other ponies lives were ruined. A few even ended up in a jail cell from. I'm one of the lucky few to have at least a few bits to my name, and even now there are still ponies who think I should rot in Tartarus.
[The mare seems to calm down slightly.]
We knew about him you know, at least a little bit. When you have a reputation like he has, you tend to be noticed pretty quickly. But we had no idea what he really was, what he was capable of.
[Can you elaborate?]
. . . Fine. I guess at least somepony should know. It's not like it's going to change my situation all that much anyway. It was about a year into the whole Displaced event, and at the time there were around fifty or so documented Displaced spread out across Equestria. Those are just the ones we knew about though, the ones we were able to account for at any given moment. There are some estimations that suggest there may have been as many as several dozen Displaced that had yet to show themselves. For example, you know that one that has a gig in Manehatten? According to her she was around for at least two whole months, living in an alley before she was found by a script writer and given a job. Two months. That's how long it was before we finally found out about just her, and who knows how many others might have been out there. We needed somepony to go out for us and make sure that they weren't causing trouble, and if they were, to put a stop to them.
What do you mean by that?
You know exactly what I mean.
Could you still give some insight?
Alright fine. We needed an individual who was willing to get hooves dirty to keep the peace. You know, nip the problem in the bud, so to to speak. Some of the Displaced were just too powerful to be left alone, but then ponies aren't exactly the best option in dealing with certain matters, are they? We didn't want it to be traced back to us, so we started looking around for somepony or someone that could do it for us.
Were the Princesses aware of what you were doing?
They were aware of what we were supposed to do.
But did they know that you had, for all intents and purposes, resorted to recruiting an assassin to either kill off or imprison any Displaced that were not compliant without due process?
. . . We may have kept certain things aspects of our plan hidden from them so that we could work more freely. Anyway, that was when we discovered Jack, and had the brilliant idea to use him to round up other Displaced. Can you really blame us though? I mean, over half of the ones we knew about were capable of causing massive amounts damage if they felt inclined. Some of them did, and a lot of ponies got hurt in the process. I suppose we should've known right from the start that Jack was no different than them. Did you know he actually killed the pony we sent out to find him? We didn't even suspect it was him that did it at the time.
You mentioned using Jack. How exactly did you plan to employ him?
We didn't put as much thought into that as we should have. We just assumed he would accept bits, but that obviously was not the case as you can probably guess. We finally met him a little while later, but only because he showed up right at our front door, demanding to know why we were looking for him. When we told him what we needed him for he just laughed in our faces and left. We assumed he had just blown us off right then and there, and we started looking into other ways to deal with the Displaced. It was not another week before the reports began to roll in that the bodies of Displaced were being found across Equestria. We also got a message from Jack himself that he would, quote unquote, "play along". We didn't what he meant by that, but we didn't care as long he was doing what we wanted.
When did you start to notice something was wrong?
Less than two weeks later, when more Displaced began to show up dead than we thought would happen. These were ones we already knew about too, ones that had already shown themselves to either be incapable or unwilling to do harm, and we started wondering just what Jack was up to. We only wanted him to take out the ones that would've been harmful to general population. But by the time we figured out that he was manipulating us, it was too late to do anything about it, and we were left holding the bag when he was done. For every Displaced he killed, the evidence against us grew, until two weeks and twelve dead Displaced later he dumped it all on us and disappeared, and we were left holding the bag when Princess Celestia found out what was going on. And let me tell you, she was very unhappy with us, and for good reason. It turned out that in our efforts to keep the peace by eliminating certain Displaced, all we were doing was making the situation even worse.
How so?
When other Displaced heard about what we were doing, they were furious. I don't blame them for it either. They started to band together to protect themselves, and that made a lot of ponies nervous. I bet anypony would be if they knew that a group of individuals with powers that could render an area unlivable were gathering together. Eventually, tensions just grew so much to the point where just about anything would trigger a full blown, nationwide riot. . . . We screwed up big time with what we did. We initially set out to keep the peace. Lot of good that did us.
[A few days after my interview with the mare, whom I will continue not to name out of respect to her wishes, I learn that she had been killed in her sleep by an intruder that broke into her house. The culprit has been caught, but has gone unnamed by the Royal Guard. As of right now, this is the only existing record of her words, as everything else that was in her possession has been confiscated.]
Author's Notes:
Special thanks to rikusorasephiroth for suggesting his story, The Masked Face of Fear for this entry. Sorry this took a little longer than I thought, had to take care of a few other things first at home. You know how it is.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this installment.
As always, suggestions for new entries are encouraged.
Dilos1
Document Three
[I am unsure what to make of the mare in front of me. She is dressed in a black hood and cape, and a white porcelain mask covers half of her face. I am curious to ask why she wears it, though out of respect I decide not to in favor of conducting the interview. During the course of it, the mare seems to be trying to impress me as cool, calm and collected, but as time goes on bits of Lyra Heatstring's real personality bleed through.]
So, can you start by telling me how you first came to know of the entities known as Displaced?
Well, that took actually quite a while. After I met my master, I spent most of my time supporting her like every good servant is supposed to do. You know, basic stuff like collecting information about valuable targets and potential enemies, clean up around the palace occasionally, tailing the Element Bearers and document their daily lives. . . ehrm, sorry, I tend to derail quite a bit. I am just so happy to share the glory of my beloved master with the world. As it where, I had been in the service of my master for a good few months before I became aware of this whole Displaced thing. Mostly because I was tasked to help with the creation of a tool that would allow two or more Displaced to visit each other more freely than they normally could. We worked in her laboratory one day and I asked out of curiosity why we where going through all those trouble with all those highly unstable runes and enchantments. This caused my master in all her benevolence to enlighten me regarding all this Displaced business. I admit all those things she told me, about there being an endless amounts of universes for an endless amount of possibilities was a bit overwhelming and even unnerving at the beginning, and I don't pretend to understand even half of it, but I have not graduated Celestia's School for gifted Unicorns to be floored too easily, nu-uh. Besides, it only takes only one short gaze at my master's dark glory to see that she came from a whole other world originally.
I see. Given the general opinion of most Displaced, have you ever come under fire for your choice of, um, employment?
Oh, have I ever?"
[Lyra puffs her chest out proudly.]
You can bet your flank on that. I mean, I am a cultist in the service of a demon queen after all. After I came out about that, almost no "proper" shop would service me anymore and I had to resort to my masters' grace just to get something to eat for months. Not to mention, most of my family burned all bridges and family ties to me instantly and quite frankly, they can go buck themselves hard! Well, all but uncle Lucky Charm. That old neighrish stallion and I still write each other now and then."
[Lyra sees to calm as she slumps down in her seat.]
Hardest part though was keeping my marefriend from trying to murder my master because "she was an evil bitch that brainwashed me into this". Not that Bonnie was that far from the truth but still, you know what I mean right?
You were brainwashed? And you were aware of it? Don't you find that a little unsettling?
[Lyra nods firmly at my question.]
Unsettling? Maybe just a bit. See, when I first met my master, I guess you can say I came off as a teeny tiny bit forceful. We traded blows and you can't really fault somebody if their default combat spell is also capable of brainwashing, right? Besides, I pretty much gave in willingly as soon as I noticed the subjugation element of the spell.
[Upon saying this, the mare cannot seem to suppress a smirk at my nonverbal reaction.]
I guess you can say I was a very, very broken mare at that time and saw this as some kind of bizarre sheet anchor. But please, don't tell my master. To this very day, she believes she completely subjugated me with that spell on her own. As for your other question, yes, I am aware because she released me from the spell when she thought she was about to perish, not wanting me to stay "chained to a dead tyrant for the rest of my life". It was a really sweet gesture and pretty much what made me stay loyal to her in the end.
I suppose that was selfless of her, I will admit. Now then, on to another topic. You mentioned that no "proper" establishment would take you in, but what about "improper" establishments? Did the fact that you were affiliated with a Displaced, a relatively dark one may I point out, have an effect on them as well?
Hmm, when I say "proper establishments", I mean mostly those open during daytime and run by ponies. You know, Barnyard Bagains, Hayburger and so on and so forth, all those goody two horseshoes places. As much as we as a species love to preach about friendship and harmony, we unfortunately tend to be a judgemental bunch deep inside. I lost count about all the doors that where slammed into my muzzle back then. But as you said, my affiliation to my master opened quite a few new, ehrm, doors for me and most of them lead me to quite some good things. I mean, I was pretty used to visiting bars at night or even buying some bootleged stuff in a shady alley when I could not afford it legaly and stuff but being able to freely roam the infamous Night Bazaar under Baltimare without the fear of being stabbed, pummeled, robbed and left to die, all because of my masters protection was something else. I mean, I was there once before, when I was looking for soul gems for a little pet project. I didn't make it three steps before I had to run for my life as all kinds of thugs like diamond dogs, griffins, zebras and even other ponies gathered around me. On my next visit, I was treated like a normal customer. Some shopkeeps still creeped me out a bit out but they practialy threw all the soul gems I ever wanted at me, for almost nothing! I even got a black one, and those things have been banned since, like ever.
I see. I have a question. You said that your master sort of, half brainwashed you. A lot of ponies, among other beings, would see that as a reason to mistrust Displaced in general, including those that have shown neither a want or need for acts that would have then been considered "evil". Can you give any insight on that? By that I mean have you ever heard of any instances where a Displaced or those affiliated with Displaced were abused?
Well, that´s a whole other bushel of apples. Lemme see. . . ah! I think I remember something. It was something that happened to a Displaced my master told me about named Vera. She was something called a "Dragonborn", if my memory serves me right, it was. Well, point is, she could use pretty impressive combat magic, enchant items with lots of useful effects, make potions and even transform materials like iron into silver and gold. But physically, she was very weak, and I am talking Unicorn yearling weak and sadly, she fell into the hooves of a pegasus crime boss called Wicked Will who used her as some sort of attack animal after beating her into submission. He forced her to make weapons and armor for his goons and got rich by having her turn all the ore from an iron mine he owned into gold. I only met her once, when my master brought me along to bust her out of Wicked Will's villa. That poor girl was such a demure and good natured soul even after all the abuse. I highly doubt she had been able to harm a Parasprite even if she had too. Wicked held her in a very dark and dirty cell in his basement, forcing the poor thing to wear an iron gag all the time because she could do something with her voice, or so the guards watching her claimed. That day was one of the few moments my master really reveled in slaughtering all the way through Wicked's henchponies and to that sick buck himself.
[Lyra's expression and tone becomes noticeably darker.]
. . . And so did I. We broke both his wings and three of his legs before tossing him out the window of his five story apartement.
[Lyra tsk's in a slightly annoyed fashion and sits up a bit straighter]
Sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable. It's just. . . ponies call my master evil and shun me for following her. But the moment another pony abuses and almost cripples a lost, frightened teenager for life, nopony gives a buck, and you know why? Because she wasn't "us". It didn't matter if she didn't hurt anypony, willingly or not. They didn't care if she was separated from everything that she ever knew and loved. They didn't care one damn bit that she was tortured and abused within an inch of her life! No! It didn't matter because she was one of "them"!
Weren't the Princesses, or anypony with the authority or ability to put a stop it, made aware of what was going on?
No. At least not until we where through with Wicked Will. There had been a few members of the Guard that had been on Wicked's pay list and covered up most of everything he did. Afterwards, the Princesses made a surprising effort to help Vera recover.
Weren't they upset that you had effectively taken the law into your own hooves in dealing with Wicked as opposed to letting them handle it?
They weren't upset. They were pissed. Well, the nobles surrounding them like flies were anyway. They tried so very hard to get the Princess to lock us up and throw away the key. They didn't care what Wicked had done, they still had it out for us. Bless Celestia for not listening to them. Don't get me wrong, she was still disappointed, but she seemed willing to forgive us for overstepping our bounds, and from there helped Vera recover. I mean, after they convinced my master to let them since she was convinced they would turn on her the moment we left. Vera was treated to a few of the rarest healing techniques known to ponykind, to heal both her body and mind. She lives in the border regions of the Dragonlands these days now, or so I've heard anyway. Something about her sharing the same soul as the big flame throwers.
That is good to hear at least. . . . Final question. I'm sure that you have heard stories about incidents regarding other Displaced individuals, like "The Monster of Hollow Shades", and the "Jack of Blades incident", among others, such as the one that led to the partial leveling of Manehatten. In your own opinion, are there any Displaced that you feel have earned their mistreatment?
Yes, I heard quite a few stories like that. Lived some of them too. My master was the catalyst for the whole Mourning Star fiasco after all. That sunburn stayed with me for a year afterwards. Anyways, yes, I think that out there, there are some Displaced who deserve the flack they get, and then some. Jerks who get high on their power and abuse it in every way they can, that is a definite no go. Just like my master used to tell me, "You just don't kick every puppy or set fire to every orphanage you come across, just because you can". But that doesn't mean that ponies get to use that as an excuse to treat them like garbage either.
[Our interview concludes soon after. I thank Lyra for her time, and she in turn thanks me for the opportunity to tel somepony about her experiences without receiving bias or judgment. Shortly afterward I take my leave of her, wishing her luck with her line of employment.]
Author's Notes:
Very special thanks to Schroedingers_Katze for suggesting her story, Overlady - Loot Equestria.
Just so everyone knows, I am going to be conducting the interviews a bit differently from now, meaning that I will PM the person who made a suggestion to have a conversation and basically have a rough draft of the next installments. See, I realized that trying to write their characters from what I think their perspective is as opposed to their own was a mistake on my part, so hopefully this change will help make the story feel more natural as a result.
Until then, I thank you all for your time.
Document Four
[The interior of tavern is pleasantly warm despite the cold climate just outside, likely a result of the large amount of patrons filling the establishment known as Rogues Gallery, located in Canterlot. Ponies, griffons, zebras and even a few diamond dogs crowd around me as I sit at the table, awaiting the one I came to see. I can even catch sight of a few of the establishments more exotic customers. One of them is so large he fills up almost an entire corner by himself. Sitting atop his muscular shoulder is a tiny black imp like creature that watches me with vivid red eyes. Eventually Carrot Top arrives, setting aside an empty tray. Conversation is difficult to make out from the activity around us.]
So tell me, what was your overall experience regarding the Displaced?
[Carrot Top shrugs.]
Eh, not really much to say on that front to be complete with you. Most of the time I'm too busy taking care of my business to really take much notice of that kind of stuff. Of course, that's not to say that I've just been living under a rock these past ten years, I just never really had much time to let it become that big a part of my life, until recently that is. Since then it's been pretty much the same. I just have a few extra customers is all. But anyway I'm guessing that's not what you wanted to hear about. The first time I heard of the Displaced was actually when that one with the big red sword came in and ordered something off of the menu. I think it was about a month or so after her and her kind were initially classified as Displaced. I actually missed her, since I was on break that day, but from what the others told me she was pretty polite, even though they couldn't understand a word she said. It was a few days after that I had my official first encounter with a Displaced, when this weird dude came in. Nothing too special about him, not at first anyway. Nowadays he for the most part just comes around every once in a while for a drink and some info.
So he's a regular patron then? How did that arrangement come about?
Well, he's not really a regular per se. He's kind of. . . well, it's kind of a long story. I'd recommend you make yourself comfortable. Would you like me to get you something to drink in the meantime?
[I decline her offer as the interview proceeds.]
Suit yourself then. Anyway it was just a normal day like any other. Me and the rest of the girls were just doing our thing, running business as usual. Every once in a while we'd get somepony coming and having way more to drink than anypony in their right mind should. But I guess that's the point, isn't it? To get out of their right mind. Anyway, they weren't too much trouble most the time, we knew how to deal with them if things got out of hoof. That was not to say that everypony was compliant. Sometimes a few ponies, the ones that knew had too much just by looking, got a little bit, ah, grabby shall I say. You can't really blame them though, they were just looking for something to help forget life for a little bit, but that didn't mean we had to like it.
[Carrot takes a sip of her drink before continuing.]
Anyway it was around happy hour, when we're usually at our busiest, that this weird hooded guy came in and sat down at that table over there.
[She points with her hoof at said table, pushed up into an isolated corner at the back of the tavern.]
At first nopony really thought anything of it. Most just assumed that he was a minotaur because of how he walked. Real shady looking fella too, what with his hood up and everything, kind of looked like some sort of mercenary but hey, it's not like we haven't had worse come here you know. He didn't flag anypony down or say anything, he just sat there. After a little while one of the other waitresses, Sugar Plum I think her name was, went up to service him. It was only then that he talked. He asked for me.
He knew you?
[There is an unsettled look in Carrot Top's eye as she nods.]
By name no less. Now, understand I have no problem if somepony wants me to help them out. I mean, I am a pretty good looking mare after all, and I've kind of earned something of reputation in that part of town. But when somepony that neither I or anypony else has ever seen before, and trust me I would have remembered somepony like him, comes to my place of work and asks for me by name, that's when I start to have a problem.
What did you do?
I'll be honest when I say that I kind of panicked at that point. I mean, what was I supposed to think of that? How did this guy who by all rights should know absolutely nothing about know my name? Was he a stalker of some sort? I didn't know, and I sure as Tartarus didn't want anything to do to with him until I did. I tried to get one of the others to tell him that I wasn't available or something like that, but he just asked for me again. At that point I just wanted him gone, and the only way that was going to happen is if I went out there to see what he wanted. As I was on my way to his table I happened to pass by this one group of regulars that were always getting drunk off of their rockers. One of them, big burly fella who was always trying to grab a mares flank and whatnot, reached out for me and. . . requested my "services" if you will. I didn't have much to say to him, I was too distracted by our other guest to pay much attention, and I just told him that I would get back to him later. He didn't like that answer very much, and he just straight up pulled me up to him.
Can I assume at this point that your newest patron became involved?
You could say that. Nopony even saw him get up and move, he was just. . . there, grabbing the stallions arm. The guy let go of me instantly, and I fell down as he started to scream out his lungs. The others got up to to help him out, but when they guy looked at them. . . they just froze, like a windigo was staring them down or something. . . they don't come around very often anymore.
Do you think this incident is what sparked the nobles to act against the Displaced by enacting certain laws?
I don't know if it was caused that, but it definitely added fuel to the fire I'll tell you that. I didn't mention this, but we already weren't doing well financially at the time, and the fact that this dude pretty much broke a guys leg because he didn't realize what he was doing, it didn't help a lot. Ponies began accusing us of harboring monsters and thugs. I'm not saying we didn't get involved in the occasional but of. . . unscrupulous activities, which we were already suspected of mind you, but they sure as Tartarus weren't doing anything to put a stop to it before hoof. It was only when they heard that a Displaced had supposedly started a quote unquote "all out bar brawl" that they started cracking down by way of propaganda. You should've seen some of the headlines about it, they were so ridiculous and contrived. After that it was really hard to stay afloat, and we almost went under. A lot of us had to take second or third jobs just to feed themselves.
Do you resent Displaced for that?
[Carrot Top shrugs.]
The one that helped me out? No. The ones that were already out there, making a mess of things? . . . I don't know. I don't really resent them, I don't think. I mean, just take a look around. A few of them are even some of our best customers nowadays. If I was so petty as to think that every one of them was bad, I wouldn't have them around. But don't get me wrong, there were a few points at that time when I wished that they had never showed up and changed everything.
What about these other Displaced? Are there any you remember that stand out to you, whether you witnessed it or simply heard of it?
I can't really give you much on that one. The only other Displaced I've officially met was this one that Gai, the one I already mentioned, brought with him. Well, not really brought, more like unintentionally recruited to join him. He didn't like her being around for some reason.
So they were hostile with each other. Would you compare it to how other Displaced were oftentimes hostile to their own kind, often resulting in ponies getting caught in the middle?
It was less like open hostility and more like he was berating a sibling for going somewhere dangerous. True, he could have handled it better, but this general area isn't a place for little girls. As for ponies getting caught in the middle... well, trouble seems to follow the infamous "Silver Scourge" like an overly loyal stray puppy. He didn't have a bounty on his head for nothing, after all.
I've heard of that term being used before. Can you tell me where it originated, and how it applied to this particular Displaced?
Well, I'm no history buff, but from what I've heard it was used to refer to smugglers and pirates back then that had a bounty placed on them that was always paid for in silver, hence the term, "Silver Scourge". It just so happened that Gai himself was a pirate, or at least that was what he claimed, and he just so happened to have a bounty on his head.
[Carrot Top points to a framed picture. Upon closer inspection I see that it's actually a faded wanted poster depicting who I can only assume is Gai. The bounty listed for his capture is five hundred thousand Equestrian bits.]
Those posters started showing up everywhere around nine years ago, a little while after the public heard of his various "crimes".
And what was the general public opinion where you to have a pirate with such a large bounty on his head?
[Carrot Top laughs a little.]
Are you kidding? Every lowlife in Equestria basically went up in arms trying to either collect the bounty, steal his power, or get him on their side. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone or somepony come in trying to get any scrap of info they could on him. Of course I had to disappoint them, even if I did know how to nail him down, but that info's not for sale. Sorry hon.
Erm, that's alright, I wasn't going to ask anyway. Ahem, so anyway, about these lowlifes. While it is understandable they would go after him given the large reward, you mentioned they were also trying to either sway him to their cause or use his power. Can you give any insight on what exactly their goal was in regards to that?
[Carrot Top points at the picture again, indicating his garb.]
You see that suit he's wearing? They were all after that. I can't begin to tell you what it was made of or what it was intended for, but from what I understand that suit basically makes you near invincible to anything that's not magical in nature. Stuff like that is really rare to come by. I man, it was basically outlawed by the Princesses, so you can imagine it would have been pretty valuable to anypony that either wanted to sell it or use it for themselves.
About the bounty, wasn't it placed him by the, uh. . . Zangyak, was it? Yes that's it. From what I heard the nobility contributed to most of it, but they offered to pay the five hundred thousand bits for him before the Princess absolved him of it once the incursion was over. From what I understand they were attempting to conquer Equestria, but were of course were slowed down by the already present Displaced, yet nopony seems to know exactly where they came from. Some ponies think they were just a group of sociopathic Displaced. Was that true?
Gai mentioned once that they were from the universe's greatest space empire... though I can't really back it up with any evidence. They're not really the friendliest bunch around, bastards are even willing to gun down civilians.
[Carrot's face darkens.]
I take it you had some experience in dealing with them. It's alright if you don't want to say anything more.
No no, it's fine. It's just. . . . I really doubt that there's anypony who didn't lose something during their so called invasion, my story's not all that special. At least it got the Guard off it's collective ass.
Barring the bounty that was placed on Gai, which of course has been redacted by the Princess, what was the general opinion of him?
[Carrot Top shrugs.]
He's more or less still hunted by the criminal underworld as far as I know. He made a bunch of enemies that want nothing more than to see him dead. . . . He doesn't come around very often anymore because of that. Doesn't want any of us to be in harms way. As for the general public. . . I doubt there's anypony who sees him as anything more than "Just another pirate taking advantage of the weakened country". Not that he's really done much to sway public opinion in his favor, I don't think he cares what ponies think about him.
Do you think that stems from a bias against Displaced in general?
Most likely, but what else else are they supposed to think when they've already caused so much trouble? I realize that a lot of the time they don't mean to, that most of them are generally good folks, but it gets rather hard to keep believing that after everything that happened. It doesn't help that they pretty much lost almost all their faith in the Royal Guard too ever since a whole battalion was sent to try and quell that Zangyack uprising in Manehatten. It was only thanks to some Displaced name Boro or whatever getting involved that there was no major loss of life, just tons of property damage. The Equestrian government tried to keep a lid on it, but word still got out about the incident, and the Royal Guard has suffered a lot of bad publicity since.
A lot of ponies seem to believe that Celestia should have simply evicted the Displaced from Equestria altogether based on that. This was before she actively began to bar entry to this realm altogether of course. What is your stance on that?
She's free to try, but I think you and I both know she wouldn't get very far without with that plan without some massive casualties. Pretty sure just one Displaced is enough to level a city block sometimes. Given that, I'm equally sure that ponies have more or less just given up trying to force them out and are just trying to live with them, as you can see from this lovely establishment of ours.
What about you though? Are you happy knowing that at any given moment, a power mad Displaced could destroy everything that you have, or do you just not care given the fact Equestria seems to endure calamities on an almost monthly basis even without them?
Tell me then, what would you have us do Mr. Interviewer? We can't force them out, and we can't police them either, not without getting them on our side. And we both know how well that worked out for everypony involved. The way things are now, it's no different than a natural disaster destroying a house, it's just now the force of nature has a face to hate. But you know something? I refuse to live like that, to just perpetually hate something for whatever crap went down. I tried that once already, back when I was about to lose my livelihood thanks to the law breathing down my neck for harboring Displaced. And guess what? it payed off. Those same Displaced that were apparently so evil and monstrous went up in arms and defended everypony when the really bad stuff started to happen, and I mean just what happened with the Zangyack. And you know what? I learned something. For however many villainous or outright evil Displaced there were at the time, the good ones, like Gai, were definitely in the majority, no matter what those snobs up the higher rungs of society continue to say.
After some convincing, I finally accept that drink Carrot Top offered. As I watch the mare walk around serving her guests, be they pony or otherwise, I am fully aware of the small imp once more looking at me. She nods in my direction as she gives a snaggle toothed grin]
Author's Notes:
Soory for making this take so long. Bunch of other RL stuff came up that had to be taken care of, but anyway I'm back now. I hope that The Villain in Glasses doesn't mind me taking certain liberties with his story, Gokai... PONIES?! to better fit the overall theme of this one.
As always I hope you enjoyed reading this installment, and that you keep suggesting ideas for new entries.
Dilos1