//------------------------------// // Strange Games That Bewilder // Story: Chaos Origin // by AAV-sama //------------------------------// The mismatched creature sighed as he flew around the palace grounds. “I wonder what’s taking her so long...” He looked around for the princesses that he had become more familiar with. He raised an eyebrow when he did not find either of them. He had followed Celestia when she rushed back to the palace, though she had given him no satisfying explanation as to why she was in such a hurry. All she had done was talk to a messenger when he approached her, then rush off. “Well, this is boring... Maybe I should go look for her inside.” He was about to teleport inside the palace, but decided against it. He had already caused plenty of amusing trouble through the gardens, so much that the ponies that had to walk by gave him glares and annoyed looks. He laughed a bit as the gardeners mumbled and avoided him. “C’mon, you gotta admit it was funny! Until Celestia made me change everything back to normal...” So he stayed in the grounds, thinking of what to do that did not include turning his surroundings into different, odd creations. That would get him in trouble that he did not feel like dealing with it. He just wanted Celestia to get back out so they could do something fun again. “Hm... What to do, what to--got it!” He floated over to some guards and frowned as he watched them. “Well, they look so serious... We should fix that!” He snickered a bit and decided to try a new trick that he had come up with. “This will be good...” As he lowered down to the wary guards, his eyes started to glow. “Well, hello there...” ~~~ Celestia looked at Luna as they walked down the path to the gardens together. "It was very strange, Luna. I had never seen you do that before." The young mare looked down nervously. "We... We just had a nightmare, that ist all, sister.” “But you were so frightened... Oh, I suppose that was nothing, either?” “Th-Thou knowest how we get with a nightmare, Celestia... R-Really, thou dost not need to worry so much. Instead, we should get to work, since we art both awake and ready for our duties. We cannot believe so many hours hath already passed...” Celestia smiled and chuckled. “Well, you did take a long nap, so that helps. I am glad you are okay now.” She patted Luna’s head. Then she blinked and gasped a little, as if she had forgotten something. “What ist the matter?” “I forgot... He’s still waiting... Oh, dear, I hope he did not get impatient and started again...” Luna frowned and raised an eyebrow at Celestia. “Celestia, what art thou talking about? What dost thou meaneth with--” “I don’t have time to explain, Luna. I have to find a... guest, that I was entertaining and keeping in line until, well, until this incident occurred. Who knows what he might do if I don’t find him soon...” She chuckled a bit. “Oh, he is quite a hooffull.” “But, sister, who art--” Luna saw her sister leave before she could finish her question. She sighed. “Dear... As if that creature from last night wast not enough...” She walked down the garden as she thought about what Celestia had said before she left. She suddenly got an idea. “N-No... She... She could not have meant...” Faint noises came from the side garden. She turned around and sure enough, she found the creature that had so unnerved her the night before. He laughed to himself as he played chess... with himself, it appeared. His body was divided in half, and the lower half floated along with the top and the chessboard. It appeared to be a good opponent for the top half. The pieces for the game, Luna discovered, were a group of royal guards that moved slowly and remained still, with an absent expression, which was not a normal reaction if one was in such a strange situation. "What?!" How didst thou come across him, Celestia?! His upper half stood in a thinking position. His lower half motioned its feet from across the board. The guards clumsily moved to its command. They hardly uttered a sound as they stood quite still once they reached the destined tile. Luna huffed a bit and made her way to him. She scowled up at him and cleared her throat. He put a paw over his mouth as he thought. “Hm... Nice one. Maybe I should move there instead...” Luna glared at him. “Creature! Mind thy manners! As long as thou remainest in this land, thou shalt address thy princess at once!” He moved an ear as he heard Luna’s annoyed lecture. Then he smiled smiling when he saw her. Once again, he completely ignored Luna’s scolding. "Why hello, Luna! Care to join us?" He snapped his fingers and the board became a triangle, with six royal guards on each side. She narrowed her eyes. “It ist ‘Princess Luna’, for thine information. Thou knowest this very well!” “Ah, well. It’s kind of a mouthful. And I guess I just love seeing you get all worked up like that.” He snickered and moved one of his pieces. “Hrrm...” She took a deep breath and chose to ignore his taunting. Calm thyself. Do not let thy composure slip away before... She trailed off in her thoughts as she looked at the board and the guards. She was suddenly upset by the guards’ irresponsibility, once she noticed it again. "What... What art thou doing? Back to thy duties! It ist not thy place to play around like this! Return to thy guard!" The guards could not obey due to the spell. They remained standing on the board, with green swirls in their eyes. Only a few moved, and only when they were commanded to. They stared off into the distance with a vacant look. She saw that some of the guards even nodded off, while the eyes of other guards drooped. She growled a bit and clopped her hooves on the ground, then made several noises to try to startle them into alertness. “Guards!” She glared at them when all they did was move to the tiles they were directed to. The playful creature looked at Luna as she tried to get the guards to return to their duties. Then he glanced back at what he saw now simply as his game pieces. "Oh, were these your toys? I didn't know... Oops! Don’t worry, Luna, just borrowed them for a minute to play with them. Hope you don’t mind." He floated in the air with a grin on his face as he watched the filly fall for his taunting game once again. "How darest--they art not toys. These stallions art our guards! We wilt not tolerate this mockery of--” He put a paw on her head to stop her. “Hey, hey, you need to cool off. C’mon! Play with us and let out a little steam.” He grinned again and leaned closer to her. “Or perhaps we should just play together again~” Luna stepped away from him. “Never! We shan’t be humiliated once again by thine...” She looked at the board in general, noticing its strangeness. She was unnerved by it. It was so out of place, so disorderly, so inappropriate... “Just...” She sighed. “How dost thou managest to do these things...?" He smirked and laughed. "Oh, Luna, you're too curious. I don't even have a name, now you want to know how I possess these awesome talents?” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Yes, We do.” “Oh.” He sighed and started to think. “Well... I don't know.” He pointed at the board as his lower half tapped her shoulder. “So, will you move first or should I?" "How dost this... work?" She had played chess before, but never in that format. She would apparently play against... two opponents... He blinked and scratched his head. "Ehm... I HAVE NO IDEA!" He laughed loudly at his own remark. She looked up at him, a bit startled with his laugh. She could not outdo her curiosity, which he did manage to manipulate so masterfully... She hated it. "...Maketh sure that it ist a fast round.” He still thought about the rules of his absurd game, and seemed quite amused at it, too. "No, really, I’ve been out here for an hour trying to figure out what I’m playing. Your soldiers don’t help much, with them hypnotized and all." He filed the soldiers into one line and made them stand on each other's shoulders to form a pyramid. "How do you play with them, Luna?" She looked at him in a surprised manner. She had never met anypony that could use mind-controlling magic so easily. "Hyp-Hypnotized... That magic ist...” She cleared her throat. “We do not play with them! They art members of the honorable and mighty royal guard! They guard us! They--” A small blush came to her cheeks when a few of the guards snored loudly. “Wh-What--” He laughed at the guards that had fallen deeply asleep. “Aww, how cute! Taking a nap already?” “Thou exhausted their minds!” “I can make them do things while they’re sleeping!” Luna raised a hoof to her face. "This ist ridiculous..." "Guard... As in... ‘protect’ you?” He snickered and snapped his fingers. “They’re not very good at it, are they?" He made the soldiers that were still awake, under his trance, clap hooves with each other like little fillies. He even made them smile and giggle. "How... dost thou maketh them do that? We mean... They would not do it otherwise..." She felt rather embarrassed at the guards' behavior. "Alright. Snap out of it, now! Wake up!" The filly’s solemn attitude was thoroughly enjoyable. It was quite different from Celestia’s, hilarious in a much different way. Celestia was very fun as far as he’d experienced. She seemed to embrace his magic and creations much better than Luna did. But it was Luna’s seriousness, frustration, and temper when he pushed her buttons that made it all worthwhile. He loved tough nuts to crack, and Luna was by far the toughest he had ever encountered. Or most serious, rather. Ah, how he loved challenges. "Say, how ‘bout another game?" He disappeared the board, but the guards continued to play and sleep on the grassy ground. "If you free them from their spell, you can have your toys back. What do you say?" "A spell... Of course." She sighed and rubbed her head. "Dost thou always think of games?" "It makes my questionable existence more tolerable, so yeah.” He rejoined his body, stretching a bit. “Tell me, are you always this boring and serious?" He nudged her slightly, as if the things that he had called out on her were visible objects on her person. "Well, We...” She blushed again and looked aside shyly. “We art not seen this way by others. We art considered attentive to..." She suddenly remembered her nightmare. "To our... To our kingdom. As in, our sister Celestia's and our, kingdom." That was more of an affirmation to herself than to him. "Hm, that's a funny way to put it. She seems to enjoy a good laugh now and then." He floated around the soldiers. "I guess that’s why she’s the popular one amongst the ponyfolk. Don’t you guys think so?" The guard ponies did not look away from what they did as they slowly nodded their heads. They kept their faces blank, but nodded as he commanded them to. “Just a thought, y’know. Even sleepy guard toys seem to think so.” He shrugged. "...Please do not say that. We art as dedicated to the wellbeing of the ponies as she ist. We love them and care for them just as she does. She watches over them during the day, We do during the night. It ist balanced.” She gave him an indignant look. “Some creature that recently arrived to this land would not understand." Before he could say anything to her, Luna walked away with her sad gaze fixed upon the ground. He scratched his head again as he watched her leave. "Hm. What's gotten into her? Oh well..." He flew back to the Everfree Forest, to think of new ideas to create. He chuckled and wondered if the princesses would enjoy what he created, were they to see it. He left the royal guards behind in their trance, though put them all under a deep sleep with a flick of his tail. “You guys deserve some rest, but be around when I wanna play with you again!” Celestia cleared her throat once she approached him before he went very far. "While I do not mind you doing... whatever it is that you do... Don’t you think you could clean up your mess before you leave? It is not good to leave messy things about." She looked up at him expectantly. "Ah, Celestia! A sight for sore eyes. Luna seemed to be in a rather depressive mood. I just saw her, she was simply boring, more than she was last night, if that’s possible. You’d know better than me about that. But ugh! Awfully boring and dull, I tell you. No way to talk to her." “What do you mean? Oh... Don’t tell me she still is upset because of those nightmares...” She looked at him worriedly as he stretched in the air. “Did she say anything that sounded concerning? I would not want her to doubt her abilities, if she ever--” “Hey, look at this, Celestia!” Her new, odd friend cut her off with feats of his magic that were completely irrelevant to her concerns. He twirled an ice-cream cone as he inverted it, making the cone out of ice-cream and the contents of wafers. If that was not strange enough, the wafer balls glowed and changed colors. “Mmm... Pretty neat, huh? Celestia rolled her eyes at his interruption. You have a one-track mind, don’t you...? “Ohhh, and this, too!” Or perhaps the attention span of a goldfish... He snapped his tail again. He made the guards wake up and sit on their flanks without stretching or even yawning. Though they still seemed completely unaware of their surroundings, they suddenly acted like dogs, wagging their tails, sticking out their tongues. "I think I've done an excellent job training them. They can even use the potty now." He let out a slight snicker. She raised an eyebrow as she watched the performance. "Please just leave them alone. It is something to alter inanimate objects, but taking somepony's free will to use them as puppets is another...” She scooted back as one of the guard stallions barked and crouched playfully. “...much more serious thing. Which I do not approve of, by the way.” He looked back at her as he patted the head of another guard. “What?” “We have limits here, remember? Mind-control is covered by them." She stepped closer to him once he set the guards aside. "Now, about my sister... She did act strange before she woke up. She sleepwalked and even used her magic. She says it was a nightmare, but she remained jumpy for a few hours after that, and just seemed so worried... I hope she feels better soon..." "Oh, come now, Celestia. You worry too much over nothing." He snapped his fingers and appeared a chew toy. He threw it over inside the palace and watched the guards bark and chase after it. "See? Why not laugh with the moment? I advised Luna to do so, but she simply wouldn’t budge. That filly has too much in her head for such a young age and her own good." That’s what I am talking about... "Well, we do rule over a potential kingdom, Wilder. We have to be responsible and think of the citizens that will be part of it." She chuckled a bit and gave him an amused expression. "Wilder. From 'bewilder', or 'bewilderment'. Some of the things you do are pretty confusing to say the least. Maybe it is not the best thought I have had, but I think for now it can do as a name. Better than nothing to go by." "Hm. ‘Wilder’, eh?" He separated his head and floated it next to Celestia's. "I love it! It's got a catch to it." She laughed a bit as she looked at his head. "I'm glad you like it, my friend." He joined his head with his body again. "Come. Let's go look for Luna and convince her to play around with us for a bit longer. She can’t sulk on her own all the time!" She nodded and opened her wings. “Very well." She flew after him, laughing occasionally when he came up with other antics on their way through the forest.