//------------------------------// // Built for Chaos // Story: Begotten // by ShadowDave //------------------------------// "Um.. guys, please tell me I'm not the only one who heard him singing." one earth pony guard said to his three companions. They just shrugged and proceeded to chuckle. "Come on guys, honestly, did you hear him sing? Or is he just messing with my head again?" the pony pressed, now basically begging for a straight answer. Finally, one of the other guards, a pegasus, spoke up. "Yeah, alright we heard him. Ignore him, he’s just being Discord.” “Alright, it’s just.. unsettling man. What prisoner would be in a theatrical mood unless they were up to something?” “I said ignore it private. Last time we allowed ourselves to be lured in there, the court alchemist had to put our personalities back in the right bodies. Or have you already forgotten that?” “No sir, point taken.” ----------------------------------------------------------- The dawn of the setting sun and rising moon engulfed the land with a beautiful orange glow, though this was only possible because of the pegasi, who cleared out the unscheduled dark clouds in respectable time. Ponies could already be seen advancing en masse towards the mountainside castle, merging into a large congregation by the castle gate. Discord had watched them with intrigue, noting how uncomfortable most of them looked in their pretentious attire. In addition, many mares were overshadowed by their 'noble' counterparts in discussions of no real importance. Those who had an opinion to voice were either interrupted or silenced. It all was quite frankly disgusting and worst of all boring. Discord waited anxiously as the sun set, and the ponies one by one were cleared to enter the castle for their precious gala. The gala that the sweet Princess Celestia would be attending... without him. Sighing, Discord slipped off the top of his tower, and flew over to the great Canterlot library, which was predictably all but abandoned. Porting inside the massive glass chamber at the top of the library tower, he began to rummage through a shelf. “Who would take the time to read all of these? Look at this one!” he whined to himself as he held up a book with a spine as thick as a brick. This one makes me nauseous just by looking at it! he thought before flinging it behind him as he continued to rummage through the books, desperate to find something interesting enough to hold his attention long enough for the gala to start. An unfamiliar voice sounded behind him however, nearly startling him. Spinning around to meet the visitor, Discord was surprised to see a zebra before him. “I cannot believe you are still alive.” the zebra said, a look of astonishment on his face as he looked Discord over. “My my you’ve grown.” “Wha.. who.. “ Discord stuttered. Something about this zebra reminded him of something, but he was unsure of what. “You don’t remember anything do you?” the zebra asked. “Are you insulting my memory?” Discord quickly retorted, not quite sure why he responded in such a way. “No.. no.. it’s just that, my grandfather was ordered to dampen your memory when you were young.” “Excuse me?” Discord struggled to keep his composure. Could this zebra actually be giving him the answers that nopony else would give him? “I know you have a lot of questions, and that you have no reason to trust me, but please believe me when I say I know how you came to be. Your father has been involved in my family for quite some time.” the zebra said with some hesitation. “My father?!” Discord asked, betraying his nonchalant posture from before. “You know who my father was?” “I shouldn’t say father really, but he was your creator.” “Alright.. I guess, but who?” There was a moment of silence as hesitation flooded over the zebra. But something sparked in him that boosted his confidence. “King Canicula.” Discord looked at the zebra, dumbfounded. But the blank expression on his long face turned into that of pure hysterics. “Next you’re going to tell me that Celestia is my sister aren’t you?!?” he cried. “Oh wait.. I really hope not.. that would be terrible!” he added before continuing to cackle. The zebra tried to interject, but couldn’t raise his voice above Discord’s laughter. Thankfully though, the creature ceased his laughter before long, and returned to his normal posture while wiping tears from his eyes. Another look at the zebra’s stern face told him that it was no joke however. The humor had vanished, and Discord was now dead serious. “So wait... if the king created me, then why does he hate me? And why are you telling me this?” The zebra cleared his throat. “Well for one, Canicula threw my grandfather out of his research division as soon as you came of his work. The family line became worthless to him then, and being a zebra in Canterlot is not easy when you have no royal status and war is brewing between his people and mine. I was lucky to land an janitorial job here at the library.” “As for why he hates you, it’s because you are an abomination in his eyes. A failed experiment.” Discord’s eyes widened. “An.. experiment? I don’t think I believe you.” Discord said, his intrigue now laced with horror, which led to the defensive attitude. “I don’t expect you to take my word for it, but I do know the whereabouts of the facility you were created in. If you can take us there, I may be able to show you.” the zebra spoke as he walked to the edge of the tower, peering out the glass. He pointed to the edge of the city, in the direction of the Everfree Forest. “Won’t there be ponies there to report to Canicula when we arrive? He doesn’t exactly know I’m out and about yet, and I plan to keep it that way.. for now.” Discord retorted. “It was abandoned due to extensive structural damage. It was too dangerous, and nopony could ever go back in to retrieve any material. I figure you could keep us safe as we venture through.” “Alright, grab on to my tail.” Discord commanded after a moment of contemplation. The zebra complied and with a snap, they were gone. They appeared on the edge of the forest. While every square inch of the wall of foliage in front of them was dense, there was one particular portion that had a strange design to it. The trees there had purple leaves and yellow striped trunks. The flowers around it were blue and seemed to radiate a strange magical energy, which it seemed only Discord could feel, as the zebra accompanying him trotted on forward through the flowers, unphased by the sensation that Discord was feeling. “I think.. I think the entrance is buried somewhere around here. If we dig up these mounds around the trunks, we might find the door.” the zebra said, tentatively stomping his hoof at a mound of dirt. “No need, I can feel... a presence. It’s very strong around this area.” Discord said as he hovered on over to a tree and ran his paw over the ground. The zebra on the other hand, started feeling funny in all sorts of places, but most prominently, between his haunches. “Hmm.. yeah, this must be it.” Discord said, examining the tree before him. Clicking his talons, the tree’s roots began rising out of the ground, and then suspended the tree. Then like legs, the roots scuttled the tree out of his way. Another snap and the dirt which was beneath the tree began raining upwards, slowly but surely uncovering his point of interest. “Um.. Discord.. could you take a moment to check me over?” the zebra behind him asked in a strangely feminine voice. “I don’t feel so well.” Discord looked behind him, and his eyes widened in shock, but then narrowed in amusement. The male zebra that had led him here... didn’t look much like a male anymore. His mane was softer and longer, his muzzle wasn’t as pronounced, and his flank was rounder. “This can’t be good.” he muttered, biting his lip as he noticed Discord’s mischievous expression. “Am I breaking out in a rash, did a parasprite sting me, what...” “Say, I never got your name.” Discord cut him off. “Name’s Zorbo.” he answered. “You look more like a Zecora to me.” Discord added, his chin rested on his lion knuckles. “Wha...” Zorbo sputtered. Discord conjured a mirror and levitated it in front of the confused zebra. “No... no.. this can’t be happening.” “Well it is.” “No it’s not, this is a joke.” “Yes it’s a joke, because it’s funny. Doesn’t mean it’s not happening though.” “Did you do this?” “No, but now that I think about it, that tree that just walked away had the same aura about it that those blue flowers did.” “So... the flowers did this? But how?” “I dunno, poison maybe? They sure do have a good sense of humor though.” Discord said with a chuckle, before glancing over to the former tree spot. Sure enough, there was a metal door laying there, uncovered and waiting. “Is this it?” DIscord asked, despite the fact that it was clear to him, as if to annoy his companion. “Of course it is.” Zorbo stated, awkwardly walking over the spot. His hips felt huge, and he could feel Discord’s eyes on him, increasing his discomfort to tremendous levels. Opening the door, he peered into the darkness. Discord joined his side and extended his neck like a telescope into the aperture and scanned the stairs that descended into even more darkness. “Ladies first.” Discord offered, returning his neck to its original length to glance at Zorbo and nod towards the darkness. “I hate you.” Zorbo stated bluntly as he walked into the wall of black. He gulped as vision left him, but at least it was something to take his mind off his current bodily predicament. “Why thank you! It feels good to be hated!” Discord replied, his sarcasm yet again almost manifesting into a physical monster. After minutes of stumbling around in the dark halls, Discord finally conjured a torch for Zorbo. Zorbo led the way, confident in the paths he was taking as if he was familiar with the design. Before long, they arrived at another door, which strangely enough had blue light beaming through the gaps. Cautiously opening it, Zorbo dropped the torch in astonishment. “This isn’t structural damage..” he muttered as he scanned the sight before him. There was an entire ecosystem in place of the underground facility, complete with a miniature sun, which was miraculously contained within a magical field. There was even an immensely dark cloud slowly rotating around the ‘ceiling’, in a path that Zorbo assumed was in line with the ‘sun’, and would periodically block it off long enough to give the ecosystem a sort of seasonal existence. And it wasn’t an arid environment either. In fact, it seemed tropical. Sure enough, in the far corner of the landscape, there was an active waterfall dumping into a lake. But.. the water was brown. “Well, I was certainly here.” Discord stated as he floating onward into the underground paradise, his eyes wide in wonder and glee. This had to be the source of the sensation on the surface. But what had leaked through was nothing compared to this. The feeling was glorious. “This is beautiful! Why can’t the everything be like this?!” he proclaimed, admiring the pink clouds above. He floated on over to the lake and dipped his paw into it. He tentatively licked the liquid, and found that it tasted just like chocolate milk! “This.. is wonderful!” he shouted to Zorbo, who was standing deathly still. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, floating back over to the transsexed zebra. Zorbo was staring at a creature standing several yards away by the tree line. It looked like a lion, but had bat wings tucked by its sides,and a scorpion tail coiled up behind it. “That son of a gelding, he succeeded where my grandfather left off.” Zorbo said through his fear. “The Manticore, a lot of his life went into making it possible, but in the end Canicula took all the credit.” “Canicula?” “Yes, this was his goal. The Cockatrice too. Hybrid animals containing the strength of one prime animal, and covering up the weaknesses with the strengths of other animals.” “And I was considered a failure?” Discord asked, examining his mismatched limbs. “Well, most importantly, he wanted these beasts to be easily controlled. They were to be his warbeasts to use against my people if war was declared. You..” he said, then looking Discord straight in the eyes. “You are the embodiment of unpredictability. You are a mistake.” “Right, so you’re saying I was to be one of those things?” Discord retorted, glancing over to the prowling Manticore, who had been advancing towards them menacingly. Discord raised an eyebrow at it however, and it was flipped onto its side and rolled away like a rug. “You still don’t believe me do you? Even after all you’ve seen?” Zorbo accused, irritation in his voice. “No, I believe you. The moment I stepped in here, I felt... right, like I belong here, which.. I dunno, just makes you a whole lot more credible than you were in the library.” “So then what’s the problem?” “I don’t care about Canicula’s motives. I want to know the full story behind my creation, and why I’m still alive if I’m a mistake to him.” “Well, I know that you weren’t supposed to be a Manticore. I was never told why they did what they did, maybe my grandfather never really knew, but I’m guessing they wanted to try something not in the plans once test runs of animal merging proved a success. But they got it in their heads to splice the embryos of a dragon egg and equine fetus. But to get it to work, they had to increase the magic flow from the standard for the other experiments. When it did work... well, you were the result.” Discord continued to listen intently. It was coming back to him, slowly but surely. He could believe the zebra’s story because each word overwhelmed him with a sensation of deja vu and remembrance. "Grandpa said you were the ugliest newborn thing he had ever seen... his words, not mine. It was enough though for Canicula to want you terminated immediately. What they weren’t expecting was your magic potential. Father had went through the research notes extensively and determined that the magic they were siphoning into you to make the merge a success, mixed with the dragon metabolism to consume magical gems was.. well, it made you a literal spirit of disharmony that they just couldn’t handle, even as a child. I went over the notes myself and was capable of drawing the same conclusion.” “So.. I guess you could say I’m a.. ‘draconequus’?” “Yeah, sure. They never really got around to classifying you because Canicula just wanted you dead. But evidently they couldn’t. Grandpa even told, much to the entertainment of my father and I, of how Canicula actually threw an adolescent Hydra at you after it refused to even go near you. And how you turned that Hyrda into a harmless bowl of pasta. I suppose it only got worse after my grandfather was kicked out.” “And then this happened.” Discord said, the look in his eyes showing his revelation as he surveyed the environment he had created. “I remember now. I was old enough then to understand that they were trying to kill me, not play with me. So I escaped, and turned this place upside down in the process.” “What I don’t understand is why you’re still around. Surely Canicula would have tracked you down centuries ago.” “He didn’t have to, because Queen Portia found me soon after I escaped and convinced Canicula to keep me alive. If you’d call the life he gave me ‘living’.” Discord sighed, and contemplatively looked down at his hands. “What do you mean?” “For all of my life I’ve been locked up and treated like a monster. Canicula never took pity on me. And the only solace I found was in the princesses.” “So you never really escaped did you?” Zorbo solemnly asked. “No, I didn’t. I’ve endured centuries of torment and isolation and for what? Because in his eyes I’m a mistake? I can’t love Celestia because I’m a mistake?!” Discord pouted. “I.. I had no idea.” Zorbo muttered, starting to regret bringing Discord here. This creature before him, the draconequus with limitless power, was undoubtedly becoming zealous. “I can’t go on like this anymore, knowing now that I was meant to be like this. Knowing that I can’t be who I am because Canicula fears me because I am his mistake. It simply will not do. It’s time for a revolution, it’s time to introduce some chaos into the king’s ‘perfect’ little world! It’s time to claim Celestia!” “Celestia!?” Zorbo asked in disbelief. “What do you want with her?” “I want her to love me! And appreciate my ability! But she cannot do that with her father in our way. I aim to correct that!” Discord bellowed. The ground began to quake as the draconequus dramatically raised his arms by his sides, and the ceiling began to give way, leading to debris beginning to fall, as well as the pseudo celestial body above them threatening to collapse. “Discord! Stop this!” Zorbo pleaded, but Discord would not hear him. Fortunately, he was receiving magical protection, as a chunk of rock that nearly crushed him was instantly shattered into dust before it could clash with the unsuspecting zebra. Zorbo could feel the ground above them lifting, as the ceiling of earth above them gave way, letting beams of moonlight pierce into the underground ecosystem. Soon, they were at the surface, hills of displaced earth and forest surrounding the alien intruder of an unnatural jungle combined with forgotten facility. Frightened chimeras ran around the duo, some fleeing into the forest. All the while Discord was madly cackling, until he noticed the pseudo sun had begun destabilizing. Focusing his magic on it, he tried to maintain it, but its power was uncontainable. Realizing this, he made it ascend into the sky, and forced it to implode to minimize the damage to their surrounding area. Regardless, the outburst was magnificent, and Discord was forced to raise a powerful shield around Zorbo and himself. Searchlights could be seen aiming at the Everfree from the faraway city of Canterlot that overlooked the land. Discord’s mouth coiled into a wicked grin. "What better way to make an unveiling than to explode a sun!?” he asked the now shaking Zorbo. “Please...” Zorbo stuttered, tears running from his eyes from the brightness of the explosion despite the defense that Discord had afforded him. “Think this through.” “I’m not sure what you mean by that, but you did remind me of something.” Discord said, momentarily pondering the zebra before snapping his talons, returning Zorbo to his original state. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a kingdom and their king to address!” Discord announced before vanishing. “What.. what have I done?”