//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Lord of Chaos // Story: Oathbound // by ChronicleStone //------------------------------// Everfree Forest April 31, 10:26 PM Just when I thought I was done being angry today. Sky stared up at the unmistakable form of the self-proclaimed King of Chaos himself, Discord. Once the ruler of the lands of Equestria, he had been regarded as a tyrant until his defeat by Celestia and Luna. He returned a thousand years later with plans to remodel all of Equestria with his own brand of mayhem, but was stopped yet again by the power of the Elements of Harmony. Since then, he had “supposedly” been reformed. Supposedly. “Discord,” Sky growled, making a scowl that felt all too familiar, “how about you go crawl back into whatever slimy cesspool you came from?” He could feel the tingle of magic ripple down his spine, causing the hairs of his mane to stand on end. The draconequus turned his yellow eyes on the agitated pegasus. He flashed that infuriating Discord-esque grin as he spoke. “And a heartfelt greeting to you, Sky Streak,” he cooed in a relaxed voice that made Sky’s skin crawl. “It’s so nice to hear some straight talk. All this political correctness wears on the mind,” he added with a rub to his temple. “Is that so?” Sky returned, smiling grimly in turn. “Well, I’m glad to hear that, ‘cause there’s plenty more where that came from, you sad excuse for a—” “Discord.” Nighthawk gave Sky a warning glance before turning his attention to the god of mayhem. “What brings you out here?” “Ah, Firebolt,” Discord called Nighthawk by his true name, casting the same creepy gaze he had given Sky upon the fiery orange pegasus. “The diplomatic approach, I see. To tell the truth, I have many reasons for being here. Not the least of which,” he said, floating out over the pond, “is this lovely flower.” He stooped down to get a closer look. “Hey, paws and claws off, you,” Sky warned, taking to the air and darting out in front of Discord, putting himself between the lily and the god of chaos. “I don’t trust you within fifty yards of that flower.” “My, my, aren’t we touchy?” Discord commented, squeezing Sky’s cheeks together with one claw. He quickly withdrew his claw, and Sky’s skin snapped back into place, as though it had been stuck to Discord’s fingers. “Distance has no bearing over the Lord of Chaos. But you don’t have anything to worry about, you winged bundle of worry,” he said with a pat on Sky’s head. “I don’t want to do anything to this delicate little blossom. I’m simply here to observe it.” His neck stretched as his head moved away from the rest of his body, over Sky (much to his surprise), and down to where the flower rested upon the water. “Oh, I’m so giddy I could just squeal!” Sky could taste the bile in his mouth. Here was Discord—the ruthless, heartless, careless tyrant of the past—and he was carrying on what he must have seen as a normal conversation with two typical pegasi. What was more, he was interested in not just any Everfree Lily: no, it had to be this one. This particular one that, in this moment, meant more to him than nearly everything else in Equestria. His muscles tensed and twitched with an anxious energy that almost begged him to drive his hooves into Discord’s eye sockets. But behind him, he could feel Nighthawk’s eyes burning holes in the back of his head. To be fair, he wasn’t exactly sure how much he could trust Nighthawk, but he believed that he could trust him more than Discord. “And why should one flower be of such interest to you?” Nighthawk pressed in an even tone. “Oh, please,” Discord said, turning around, looking annoyed. “I’ve been a stone statue for the last thousand years, and these flowers don’t just come along every day. I honestly thought that they had gone extinct.” Sky arched an eyebrow in suspicion. “And exactly how would a magical flower go extinct?” “A magic flower isn’t any different from a regular flower,” Discord said, suddenly donned in a graduation cap and gown with a sudden poof. He reached into the water and drew out a chalkboard, complete with a diagram of the lily. “If you kill the original plant, then you don’t have any seeds. Same with a magic flower: destroy the source, no more flowers.” With a snap, his accessories disappeared. “A magical source?” “Oh, come on,” Discord groaned. “I’ve covered this once already. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about this?” He snapped again, and an image appeared of Twilight and her friends around a bright, shining tree as vines black as night vanished from around it. Sky was unfamiliar with the actual scene, though he was familiar enough with the story to know what he was viewing. “The Tree of Harmony?” A burst of sparks and confetti flew from behind Discord and fell across Sky’s body. “Oh, bravo, my boy!” Discord cheered, clapping his claws excitedly. “Correct you are. The Tree of Harmony is, in its simplest state, the physical manifestation of the ‘magic of friendship,’ as it were. And while I’m not entirely sure this is the case, it seems to me that it naturally seeks out nearby places where the overall presence of ‘harmony’ is lessened. As a result, the Everfree Lily blooms as a mechanism to restore the balance.” “Seems like quite a lot to handle for a tree, even one with the power of the Tree of Harmony,” Nighthawk observed. “Oh, indeed,” Discord answered with a nod. “But that’s why it’s the Everfree Lily, and not the Equestria Lily.” Sky found himself becoming more and more interested in the conversation in spite of those he was currently having it with. “So it’s a localized event. But why be so interested in this now,” he asked, still holding on to his suspicions, “when you were the one who tried to destroy the Tree in the first place?” “Oh, I’m a reformed being now, Sky Streak,” Discord replied, sounding offended. “It’s more of a hobby to investigate those things from my past. You understand, don’t you?” Sky wasn’t about to let him off the hook that easily. “Yeah? Well if you were so ‘reformed’ so many months ago, why didn’t you just vaporize all the seeds and vines back then? Surely the ‘god of chaos’ could have handled such a trivial matter with a snap of his fingers?” Nighthawk made a disapproving click with his tongue, and Discord’s face betrayed a look of irritation before it was veiled once again behind a face of passivity. “Oh, I suppose it merely slipped my mind at the time,” he answered, trying to look as innocent as possible…which, to Sky, was the surest indication of guilt he could have given. Behind him, Nighthawk cleared his throat. “You said you had a few reasons for being out here, Discord. What else brought you here?” Sky saw a strange glimmer in the eyes of the draconequus. “Why, you did, of course,” he answered cryptically. “Us?” Sky echoed. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “I am Discord, the Lord of Chaos,” he replied. “If I can honestly say that, then wouldn’t it follow that I would be aware of chaos and disharmony wherever it exists?” Sky blinked as the thought took hold. It made perfect sense…which, coming from Discord, made absolutely no sense. Which, again, made perfect sense. Better stop that train of thought right now, Sky thought, feeling dizzy. “So, you sensed our conflict all the way out here?” Nighthawk surmised. “But surely there are conflicts all over Equestria every day. Why come specifically to this one?” “Because out of all the tussles, arguments, and fights across Equestria, only one featured two magic-wielding pegasi. I brought popcorn,” he said, conjuring a large bucket of the buttery treat, “but you were done by the time I got here.” “You can instantly teleport anywhere. How is it that you were late getting here?” Sky asked out of genuine curiosity. “If you must know, Celestia has tasked me with several important duties within Canterlot.” He raised his head piously and began to strut back and forth atop the water. “I couldn’t just leave them uncompleted.” “There’s probably no point in asking what they were, so I won’t,” Sky sighed. “But you still haven’t answered why you appeared to us. I mean, what’s the point in coming here and talking to us if the conflict is over?” Discord smiled. And not your typical “I’m-feeling-just-dandy” smile you feel whenever the sun is shining and all’s right with the world. This was a “you’d-better-sit-down-because-I’m-about-to-rock-your-world-and-enjoy-every-minute-of-it” smile. “Because the conflict isn’t over.” “…And? Is that it?” Sky deadpanned. “Oh, certainly not,” Discord replied. “I’m sure that you’ve figured out that poor Firebolt—or Nighthawk, or whatever he wants to be called—isn’t your real enemy in all of this.” The idea wasn’t new to him, but the fact that Discord seemed to be aware of so much surprised him. “Go on,” he pressed. “I’m not as oblivious as most ponies think I am,” he continued. “I know all about your little tussle with the Chimera last year, the Alicorn Guard and its members, and quite a few other things.” He spread his arms out wide. “I have eyes and ears all over the place!” All around, eyes and ears of various shapes and sizes (and species, from all indications) popped into view. An uncomfortable chill ran down Sky’s spine. “Wonderful. Your point?” “No one understands chaos better than me,” Discord explained, acting strangely…normal. “When I felt you two fighting down here, I was naturally intrigued. But as I continued to investigate, it became obvious that your half of the fight,” he said, gesturing towards Sky, “wasn’t the same as his.” He nodded towards Nighthawk as he finished. “I don’t even remember the fight, though I certainly feel its effects,” Nighthawk said. Sky turned back to see the orange pegasus rubbing his left shoulder gently. Struck by a sudden pang of compassion, Sky glided back to the shore and pressed his own hoof into his companion’s upper back and began to massage. His face tensed in response, but he managed a pained smile. “Thanks,” he groaned. “Exactly,” Discord continued. “Sky Streak was the very essence of rage, if I do say so myself. He was burning with emotion, and those emotions had a very distinct target: you. But when it came to you, there was a distinct…absence…of any kind of feeling whatsoever. It was almost as if you weren’t awake, or didn’t even exist, save in body.” “But I still fought him,” Nighthawk said, unable to piece the evidence together. “How could I not be present and yet still fight?” Something rang in the back of Sky’s mind. This feels familiar, like I should recognize this. A body that acts without its own will… As if on cue, his memory focused again, and he heard a pair of voices from the not-so-distant past. “Spike, I’m sorry for what you saw back there. It…it was just too much to handle then. I feel like I’m losing control of myself.” “Is it really that bad? I mean, is the Chimera trying to take control of your body?” “I don’t know what it wants, but it’s trying to make me lose control, at the very least. It’s like getting hit in the head over and over; eventually, you’re not going to remember anything.” Sky’s eyes slowly drifted across the water to lock gazes with Discord, who nodded with comprehension as he saw Sky’s horrified face. “Ah, I see that Sky Streak understands,” he said nonchalantly, waving a hand in the air. Sky’s horror gave way to a new rush of anger. “I got played,” he growled. “What?” Nighthawk asked. “Someone used you to lure me here,” Sky explained. “They wanted me to come here, so they used you to accomplish that. By controlling you.” Nighthawk looked horrified. “Is that even possible?” “The Chimera could do it. I can only imagine that it’s possible for ponies, too.” “Well, perhaps that’s not exactly right,” Discord interrupted. “I don’t think it was so much where they wanted you as where they didn’t want you.” Nighthawk’s eyes suddenly lit in understanding. “Canterlot,” he said. “Canterlot was the goal. Oh, what a scheme,” he continued, putting the pieces together. “They staged a theft of the Crystal Heart to get Celestia out of Canterlot, then used me to get rid of you, Blitz. The city is without its leader and two of its strongest defenders.” “But there’s always the rest of the Guard,” Sky noted. “I mean, Canterlot should be…” Suddenly, his thought was cut short by a terrible realization. “Oh, no,” he muttered. “What?” “When I was fighting you over Canterlot, you told me that I was mistaken to believe that the Alicorn Guard was enough to protect the city from whoever this guy is. But now we know that wasn’t actually you: it was someone else speaking for you. Which means that someone else knows about the Guard. And if he’s so confident in his plan, he must have designs on every member.” “My, my,” Discord said, tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth, “this enemy of yours is quite clever. A pony after my own heart, you might say.” “If you had a heart in the first place,” Sky muttered. Nighthawk shot Sky another reprimanding look. “We have to get back to Canterlot immediately,” he said. “Oh? And do what?” Discord asked. “Do what? Stop this guy, duh!” Sky shouted. “And you know who this enemy is, then?” Discord pressed. “Well…alright, no. Not yet, that is,” Sky emphasized. Discord began to float over the water to the pair of pegasi. “And even if you knew who it was, what would you do? You said yourself that he must have plans for every member of the Alicorn Guard. You’re merely hoping to rush in there and stop them without any real plan of attack.” “You just going to criticize me, or do you have something constructive to say?” Sky growled, agitation growing. “Hmph.” Discord held up a claw and conjured a sparkling orb of light. “No one understands chaos better than me. And this foe of yours seems to be quite adept at creating it: he has single-hoofedly turned friends against each other and rendered you incapable of opposing him on your own. He has removed nearly every obstacle that could have stood in his way and is in the precise location he desires to be in. As it stands, he is virtually unassailable. Bravo to him,” he added, summoning a horde of disembodied hands in applause. “Cut the crap, Discord,” Nighthawk snapped. “Where are you going with this?” “Fine.” With a snap of his fingers, the hands disappeared, and the orb of magic grew in size until it was a large vertical circle in the air. “You need two things: you need his identity, and you need a plan to oppose him. Right now you have neither. I’m offering you a chance to change that. Just step through this portal.” Sky could barely contain his skepticism. “And that takes us where, exactly?” “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” Discord began. “I know where it leads, though I think you would be better at interpreting what you’ll find there. And I’m perfectly willing to take you there…all that I ask is that you do something that neither of you have done since I arrived.” “And what is that?” Nighthawk queried. “Trust me,” Discord replied simply. Sky choked on his breath. He hacked and coughed for a few seconds before he could regain his composure. “You? Trust you? Trust the villain that tried to cast all of Equestria into a night of eternal pandemonium, not once, but twice! Trust the guy who, by his own admission, understands chaos better than any being in the empire! Trust the one who tried to destroy a source of benevolent magic ages ago, and then, after his supposed reformation, doesn’t do anything to rectify that situation! Trust you!” Sky shouted, almost laughing at the incredible irony of the situation. “I’d be better off having a staring contest with a cockatrice!” “But that doesn’t pose any possible positive outcomes,” Nighthawk countered. “Blitz, let’s face it. Right now, we don’t have any real options. We don’t really know what the whole situation is. Discord is offering us his help. We can’t afford to turn that down.” “He’s a snake,” Sky replied with a leer in Discord’s direction. “If he’s so willing to help, then he must know something. Why not just tell us and speed things along? He’s hiding something.” “Of course he is,” Nighthawk agreed. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t take what he offers us. Look, most ponies across Equestria would have a hard time taking Discord at his word. Myself included.” He looked across to Discord, who merely shrugged. “But he’s got something that we need. We can’t let our personal grievances get in the way of the larger picture here.” “‘Personal grievances’?” Sky shook his head in stunned disbelief. “Nighthawk, you yourself admitted that we don’t really have any idea what’s going on here. For all we know, he could be the very one behind all this! We can’t trust him!” “You know, Sky Streak, I expected better from you.” Sky swung his head around and stared at the draconequus. “What?” he growled in a low voice. The shimmering portal disappeared. “Well, you’re brutally honest, so you’ve obviously got that down from Applejack,” Discord began, “but I would have thought that Twilight Sparkle—oh, excuse me, Princess Twilight Sparkle—and her friends would have rubbed off on you a bit more than it appears.” “What the hay are you going on about now?” “Why, the Elements of Harmony, of course,” Discord answered, summoning images of the legendary stones in the air around the ponies. “Since Twilight and her friends were their bearers for a time, I expected them to have left an impression on you, though it seems as though I was wrong.” Sky arched an eyebrow. “And how’d you come to that expert conclusion?” Discord disappeared from where he stood as the five necklaces and one tiara appeared right in front of his face, looking just as they did when they were borne by Twilight and her friends. “Let’s start with Honesty,” Discord’s voice said as his face appeared in the orange stone. “You’ve shown a natural tendency to speak your mind, and you aren’t afraid of the truth, so I have to give you that one.” A green checkmark was drawn over the image of the Element, and Discord’s face appeared in the next one. “How about Laughter? Well, you haven’t so much as smiled since I’ve been here, much less laughed at all. So no credit for that one.” “Let’s see you go through what I’ve been through and do it laughing the whole time!” Sky protested. “I can only judge by what I see, and based on that, I don’t see it.” A giant red “X” ran across the blue stone, and Discord moved onto the next one. “Kindness…that’s a failing grade, too. Care to argue that one?” Sky grunted, but made no attempt to debate the point. Another red “X” appeared as Discord moved again. “Generosity. If anything, I’ve been the generous one here, offering you my assistance. You have offered nothing in return; not even a little bit of graciousness to treat me as something more than an enemy. A no for this one, too. And,” he said, moving to the last necklace, “as much as I’d like to give you credit for Loyalty, all you’ve been able to say are derisive comments that haven’t shown an ounce of Loyalty to anyone or anything. And lastly,” Discord’s voice continued as his face moved to the fuchsia gem of Twilight’s old crown, “the Element of Magic was the ‘spark’ needed to trigger the power of the other five. But what good is Magic when you only have one of the others?” Discord’s body reappeared as Sky surveyed the scene. One green check and five red X’s. “Oh, Sky Streak, what would your friends say?” Discord asked, and Sky could’ve sworn that he was taking too much pleasure in asking. “Yeah, well, they’re not here,” Sky said simply. “Oh, aren’t they?” Discord returned. Sky opened his mouth with another caustic comeback, but, as had happened so infuriatingly often over the last week, a memory interrupted him. “If Lily completes you, then that means you changed because of her. You learned from her. And even if she can’t be with you physically, you can carry her love and faith in your heart. Just because she isn’t there doesn’t mean she isn’t with you.” “…Dangit.” Sky stared into the eyes of Discord, whose face was the very essence of infuriating. “Listen, you, I don’t know where you get off on trying to pose as the good guy here, but I’m not having any of it. I would rather see Equestria in flames than trust its future to you!” “Looks like you’re going to get your wish, then,” Discord fired back, looking somewhat insulted. “You’re on the verge of it.” “Would you just shut up!?” Sky shouted. His feelings of aggression toward this miscreant had finally come to a head. “You just waltz in here uninvited like you own the place and are completely deserving of our trust in a situation that could determine the future of the entire land! Well, I’ve got two news items for you, you overgrown patchwork eel: one, you don’t own the place, and two, you are in no way deserving of anypony’s trust!” Discord’s expression changed to one of distinct disinterest, but he maintained his silence. “Why should we trust you?” Sky pressed, and his typical blue color almost appeared to be changing to a shade of furious red. “That’s something that you have to earn! And lemme tell ya’, you aren’t anywhere close to having earned it!” “And just how am I supposed to earn it if no one will give me the chance?” Sky was so angry that he almost missed the question, but when it registered with him, it forced him to take a moment in thought. “You…well, I mean…wait. You’re Discord. The self-proclaimed king of chaos. We’re trying to preserve order in Equestria. Why should a being whose sole existence is the very embodiment of conflict help us maintain peace?” “Conflict?” Discord echoed. He shook his head and spread his arms in a gesture of innocence. “Oh, you misunderstand me, Sky Streak. There is a difference between chaos and conflict. Conflict is the nature of battle and war. It inevitably results in pain and suffering for all those involved.” “And how is that different from what you did in the past?” Sky asked, still suspicious. “I must admit, I did take pleasure in a certain amount of conflict in times before,” Discord admitted. “But since my reformation, I’ve come to a certain understanding.” Six stuffed dolls resembling Twilight and her friends appeared in midair, and Discord made a quick motion and snuggled them all in a disturbingly tight embrace. “Chaos isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Chaos is the essence of surprise; the wonder of the unexpected. How dreadfully dull life would be if everything went according to plan. Don’t you agree?” “What are you saying?” Nighthawk asked. An expression unlike anything Sky had ever seen before came across Discord’s face. It was the look of someone ridden with guilt and desperate for redemption, filled with pleading, yet lined with the understanding that even if he never found forgiveness, he could take solace in the fact that he had found something worth living for. “Even Discord has its place in the grand scheme of harmony.” Sky stared in disbelief at the draconequus. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought that, if only for a moment, he actually felt sorry for him. He had shown a sincere desire to be a good friend to Fluttershy, if nopony else, and Sky couldn’t deny the distinct change that was from what he had been. He found himself remembering the story as Twilight had told it to him: how, when no one else had been willing to give him a chance, Fluttershy refused to give up on him, and managed to make him realize just how much friendship could mean. And now, here he was, offering to be—if it were possible—a friend to Sky, and he was too suspicious to accept that. Or, just maybe, he was too stubbornly holding onto the last vestiges of his bitterness to extend the hoof of mercy to one who needed it. Finally, Sky understood. The anger seemed to drain out of his mind as though a valve had been released. He stared out at the flower resting on the water. “So that’s what it means,” he whispered. Nighthawk cocked an eyebrow and continued to massage his wings. “What’s that?” “I understand it,” Sky replied. The anger had vanished from his head, but it had not left a void of emotion: the feeling of peace was almost overwhelming. It felt familiar…like a magic he had come to know and love. “The Everfree Lily appears in ‘times of greatest need.’ I think I’m finally understanding what that need is here.” Discord’s typically smug demeanor faded as he gave Sky a scrutinizing stare. “Oh? Please, share.” “The Lily appeared here when it was just Nighthawk and myself, right?” Sky explained. “Discord, you showed up later, but I don’t think it was your curiosity that did that.” The draconequus gave Sky an intrigued gaze. “Oh? What do you think it was, then?” he asked, his neck stretching with accompanying sound effect. “I think you were drawn here by the flower itself,” Sky suggested. “Listen, every one of us here needed something. We all had our faults; things that we needed to clear up. Nighthawk needed to come clean about his jealousy and resentment towards me. Discord needed a chance to demonstrate his trustworthiness. And as for me,” he said, voice fading to barely more than a whisper, “I needed to come to grips with my own anger. Anger towards both of you. Anger it seems that was unjustified.” “Alright,” Nighthawk said, still sounding confused. “But what does that have to do with the flower?” “We all had our shortcomings, but now that we’re here, together, we’ve resolved them…for the most part,” Sky continued. “But what if there’s more to it? What if we were drawn here to do more than resolve our differences? What if we were drawn here because we…” His audience gave him a blank stare. “Because we what?” Nighthawk prodded. The words stuck in his throat. As much as he knew he should say it, he couldn’t deny how much he didn’t to say it. It made him feel tremendously guilty, entirely inadequate, and hopelessly cheesy. But deep down, he knew that it all went back to that very first lesson: Nopony can do everything. “Because we need each other.” “How do you mean?” Nighthawk asked. Sky felt his eyes drift towards Discord, who stared back with a face that could only be described as hopeful. “Discord needs us to trust him. We need his help to save Canterlot. We’re meant to work together.” “Oh, this is exciting,” Discord said with building enthusiasm. “I’m going to be a hero! Oh, Celestia won’t ever be able to live this down!” He chuckled to himself, quite amused with the prospect of having the princess owing him a favor. “One step at a time, speedy,” Nighthawk chided. “You’re not a hero yet. We still need to save Canterlot. And if we’re going to do that, we need to see what’s through that portal of yours.” “Ah, yes, the portal.” He again opened his claw, and the shimmering circle of magic returned. “So, does this mean you trust me?” Sky exchanged glances with Nighthawk, who shrugged and gave Sky a “well-here-goes-nothing” face. “Not quite,” Sky said, “but we’re giving you a chance to prove yourself.” His bushy eyebrows rose in genuine delight, and he bowed before the pegasi, as a gesturing to them to pass within. “Then let’s be off, hm?” Sky took a deep breath. A shrill alarm was blaring in the back of his mind, struggling to prevent him from acting against his better judgment. It was true: Discord had done nothing to merit faith of any kind. Nighthawk had, just an hour ago, been Sky’s opponent in a duel to the death. Neither were trustworthy. Neither had any right to try and protect the land they had both betrayed. And yet, Sky was overwhelmed by the feeling that this was the right thing to do. Maybe his judgment was clouded by the rising sense of exhaustion. Maybe he was tired of feeling like he was facing the world by himself. But more than likely, it was the memory of his final battle against the Chimera, channeling the Elements of Harmony. In that one moment, he was filled with the power of love for his friends: the only way he could have been able to have even handled the Elements. And echoing in his mind, the voice of Tread asked the one question he could not ignore: “Do you think you could use them as you are now?” The question stung like a thorn in the flank. No, he thought, I don’t. But I want to change that. “Alright, Discord,” Sky said. He hesitated beside Nighthawk. “Let’s see what you’ve got to show us.” The god of chaos smiled (a perpetually unnerving gesture). Sky closed his eyes. And stepped into the portal.