The train blows a huge plume of smoke and whistles as it shrieks to a stop. The steady pumping of the engine dies down and you hop off the cart with your flowers, still fresh and completely hydrated, and wave goodbye to Meander. You’re waving rather enthusiastically, as it may be a long time before you see him again. It’s funny how first impressions change when a guy saves your train by singing and exchanging stories with you. As it turned out, he was just a pony who enjoyed stories from others, as you should have expected from a traveler.
A few minutes later, the Old West train departs again and scales a ninety degree rail- with a corkscrew- and you’re left to your lonesome on the platform once more. You readjust your travel bag and turn around to the city.
The sign standing above the train station reading “New Canterlot” should have been enough, but perhaps your suburban life had left you unaware of the severity of the major cities. Even the sign looked unstable. There was a depiction of a pony waving at you… but the paint moved and its eyes followed you. Worse yet, as you stepped closer, it grinned. You take a few steps back and the smile fades away but the moment you’re in range, it returns.
All that’s separating you from the city is one large arch made of stone, the only way into the city itself. Looking to your left, there’s nothing out there but a blotchy sky with patches of color, moving around each other like a lava lamp. You hadn’t noticed the elevation either. You dare to walk to the edge of the platform and each step is placed with extreme caution. You peer over for a moment and you realize it’s like you’re in your own little bubble. There’s no ground, no wind, no clouds… maybe you would have noticed this if you weren’t talking so much to Meander.
Even the train tracks are gone.
You scuttle back to the center. There’s no one else left at the train station as if all the passengers had gone up and left immediately. Your body is urging you to do the same as if something unnatural is occurring. You exhale and frost comes out… but it’s warm.
It’s a steady walk and your eyes can’t help but watch the smile grow as you near the entrance. As you’re almost inside of the stone structure, the smile widens and you can see the teeth inside. The pony’s eyes have narrowed into pinpricks… the teeth are jagged.
You take in another deep breath and pull your flowers closer to you.
You venture inside. Each hoofstep inside the arch, apparently a tunnel, echoed lonely. It’s not so dark that you can’t see, but there’s an uncomfortable lack of lighting. You press onward faster, hoping to just reach the end of it. There’s a bright white light at the end. Your hooves clack loudly against the ground, faster and faster.
It doesn’t come any closer. No matter how fast you run, the tunnel’s end doesn’t arrive.
You begin panting and return to a slow walk.
“You ain’t gunna make it there like that,” a deep gruff voice speaks. He was clearly a smoker. “There’s a trick to this tunnel. Ponies who don’t make it tend to end up grey and it ain’t good.”
You turn around and there’s a tall, rounded out shape like an egg but with two feet wearing a trench coat and a hat that completely covers his face. Despite the coverage, two yellow slits for his eyes are there and they look happy. “Yah look new, so I’m gunna help you out. You just gotta do me a little favor.”
Normally, you’d hate accepting favors from such… a thing. But you were running slightly low on water and it was important to reach the destination with your cargo in pristine condition. You hesitantly reply, “And what did you have in mind?”
He chuckles. “It’s quite simple really, I just want that bag of yours. Surely a pony like you wouldn’t mind giving up such a simple thing to complete your journey.”
The bag? You could just carry the last three waters and the flowers in your mouth, it wouldn’t be-
“Hey, Discordant!” a new, oddly heroic voice shouts. “Stop picking on the weak!”
“You stay out of this, Escort Cism! I found it first.”
There’s a bright flash of light from seemingly nowhere and you suddenly find yourself outside of the tunnel, sitting on the ground on your bottom with your bag and flowers perfectly intact. There’s a purple unicorn in front of you with an odd shade of blue you can’t exactly pin point. Her mane is hanging down on one side to the bottom of her neck and it’s coiled up from there, hiding the extra length. “Are you ok?”
You shake your head and the sound of a cowbell rings out like a sound effect. “I think so. Thanks for, uh, whatever that was?” You pick yourself up and dust off your legs.
“No problem. As you might have heard, I’m Escort, Escort Cism.” She holds out her hoof and you meet it. “I’m sorry you had to go through with that so early in your visit, that was a Discordant.”
“One of those greyed ponies?”
“No, what you saw was concentrated chaos. They wreak all sorts of chaos on the unsuspecting. That one, from the looks of it, was going to take all of your belongings one by one with fake tricks like you were progressing through the tunnel.”
You look back and discover the Arch was only a few feet long.
“It’s not a good idea to travel alone here…” she says while looking over her shoulder. “Not when he’s in town.”
You don’t like the way she said that. “Who?”
“Discord.”
~~~
Your attention is divided between your impromptu tour guide and your surroundings. Maybe it was how none of anything made sense, even by chaotic standards. Everything just was… and wasn’t. Buildings moved through one another like morphing globs and came out perfectly unharmed but the moment they touched a living being, they collapsed. The roads weren’t much better off, like jump ropes in slow motion. Maybe unsurprisingly by this point, walking upside down wasn’t that jarring. Mostly because, due to the atmosphere, it was difficult to tell if you were standing up or down.
Your mind is swimming a bit as she guides you, occasionally ordering you to jump over vast gaps and reassuring you it’s fine. At one point you questioned how she knew her way through the mess. She shrugged it off.
The other citizens of the city don’t seem too disorderly. They move along, avoiding hazards like it’s second nature, and some occasionally wave when you make eye contact. She says not to wave back. You don’t.
“So, Escort, why are you-“
“Escorting you? You looked like you’d never make it. Now, this place?” She stops and points to her left. You follow and observe incomprehension in the distance. Why was there a gigantic lizard saying poetry about sharpies? And did that donut just abduct a pony with hands made of jelly? “This place is almost uninhabitable. A few ponies like me can deflect chaos magic for a few days while Discord’s here in the central towers but everyone else fled.”
She’s right, there was a natural disaster on the horizon every five seconds. But nothing acted like it was being effected. As you observe a tornado made out of the alphabet, Escort nudges you on the shoulder and points you further left. “That central set of towers there? The only things not effected by chaos? That’s where Discord is.”
It was a surprisingly stark contrast to everything else. Six tall, glistening white towers were floating slowly in a small circumference. They looked almost connected somewhere in the middle and at the top of each tower was a colored spec. The smooth surfaces of the rounded structures appeared to be the source of light.
“Do you know the legend of those towers?”
You shake your head.
“Those six towers represent a power that once controlled the land, the Elements of Harmony. They were in the shape of five necklaces and one tiara and supposedly had pure magic flowing through them, and each artifact had a user. When Discord over-threw the princesses, he captured the elements for himself and sentenced five of the six users to stone.”
“What about the last one?”
“Discord was a friend of one of the elements, if you can believe it. But she passed away and Discord, having lost his first friend, turned into the draconequues we know today. If she hadn’t of died, he wouldn’t be like this. But, we all know everyone meets their maker sooner or later. Her body has been preserved and it’s been said her tower is the most beautiful of them all. Watch out for this fire pit.”
You jump over the fire pit and onto the next side walk.
“It was apparently done out of an act of kindness.”
You think about how an eternal god of chaos couldn’t have come to terms with death by that point. As you swim up a waterfall and grab the zipline hanging at the top, you feel stumped. “So…”
“Him and death, right?”
“Are you a mind reader?”
She chuckles to herself, giving an embarrassed blush when she snorts. “I have to be to free people from Discordants.”
Fair enough.
“My theory is, the only ponies he actually knew were the princesses. Since they were immortal, and he was immortal, it just never crossed his mind that normal ponies aged. When you’re causing havoc and mayhem, it’s difficult to notice consistencies.
“Hey, we’re here. And yes, that is my job, freeing them.”
You look up at the small house. You deftly remove the address card from your travel bag and notice this isn’t even close to the place you needed to be. “And where is… here?”
“My house. You’ll want to stay the night, trust me.”
The owl flying out of her mailbox shares your skepticism as it perches on your shoulder. “Mind if I… don’t? I mean thanks for saving me and all, but I have an order to deliver today.”
She rolls her eyes like that was the dumbest thing you could have said. “Listen, the city isn’t like your little town. Things happen here. You could spontaneously combust one moment and then turn into lobster the next. My best friend accidentally turned into my favorite brand of cereal once.” She doesn’t finish the thought. “The only reason you haven’t done any of that is because of me. And, I’m tired. I’ll get you to your place tomorrow… promise.”