//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Chaos Dawn // Story: Improbable Truth // by Charon the Chronicler //------------------------------// ARC II of WHEN YOU try to escape insanity, it comes to find you. Ever since the gala, I had been dreading what my mind would cook up for Discord. If this was indeed a hallucination, then I would be dreaming, and I would have no control. Luna was proof enough that my delusion extended to my dreams, although it seemed like I had some modicum of control. However, if this was reality, I would just avoid Ponyville. In both cases, I wouldn’t have to deal with Discord. Of course, I failed to remember something. Chaos is not restricted by borders. My first glimpse of the draconequus was when I tried to visit the library. Once I had cleared through the dense forest, I saw Ponyville consumed by the chimera’s antics. And Discord himself was near the border of the village, playing a golden fiddle on a stump in front of a pony with a light yellow coat, green jacket, and blue mane. Fiddlesticks. I couldn’t help but watch as Discord played the fiddle as a band of mini-Discords joined in to provide backup. Of course, when it was Fiddlesticks’ turn, she utterly dominated him. Discord, ever the gentleman (gentlequus?), laid the golden fiddle at her hooves as she squealed in delight. The mare took the fiddle and galloped off. The lord of chaos watched on impassively. Slowly, he began to grin and turn his head in my direction. After he had completed a full one hundred and eighty, with a creepy smile to match, his disturbing eyes locked onto me. So I turned around and walked away. But Discord won’t lose a potential toy so easily. I felt his presence first. If I were to describe it, it would be like the feeling you get right before you solve a particularly difficult problem, mixed with the feeling right before a panic attack, and a hint of nougat. The presence of impending madness. “Oh,” I heard a silky voice reverberate around me, “What do we have here? A pony who lives all alone? How…unusual.” I snorted. “And how he scoffs! Apparently we have one pony who doesn’t quite live to Celestia’s ideals.” Discord’s face grew out of all of the trees around me, but I continued walking to my clearing. “What? You aren’t going to giggle at the ghostie?” “Pass.” I grumbled. I have to stop myself from having a full conversation with what might be nothing more than a figment of my imagination. “A grumpy one, aren’t you?” A bird with his face said as it landed on my head. “It seems like your life needs a little…chaos.” “There’s enough madness in my life.” I stated, arriving at the clearing. Discord flew off my shoulder, and with an explosion of feathers, he appeared before me, in all of his screwy glory. Steel Fang looked at him and began growling. “What a cute little puppy!” the draconequus squealed, “Too bad he’ll try to interrupt our conversation.” With a snap of his talons, strands of licorice wrapped themselves around Steel’s legs and snout. “There we go.” He dusted himself off and glitter dispersed off of him. “Pah, glitter.” He grunted, “Use it once and you find it everywhere, even millennia later.” I just stared at him, waiting for him to either cause chaos or leave. Discord’s eyebrow did a somersault. “What is with you? You’re not panicking, you’re not laughing, you’re just…here.” “Because reacting to you means the delusion wins. I will not let it beat me.” His head spun a few times on his head as he cocked it. “Delusion?” Discord took out a magnifying glass and started looking over me. “Interesting…” He turned to look at Steel Fang with the magnifying glass as the direwolf growled and tried to snap at him from his restraints. Discord casually began to use the magnifying glass to blow glass bubbles that floated off into the sky. He turned to stare at me with a serious expression for a full second before bursting out laughing, rolling in the grass in glee. “You’re Outworlders! Both of you!” He cried, gasping for breath. “I just have to tell the others.” The spirit of chaos pulled a banana out of his ear before tapping on it a couple times. “Yes, hello, Dissy? You won’t believe what I’ve got here. Outworlders! Yup!” There was a pause. “You know very well I’m not one of those who can pull them here. And even if I could, it would be very risky with the state of the multiverse where I’m at. A real Charlie Foxtrot…What do you mean that gives you an idea? Well, hopefully the other immortals in your neighborhood don’t jump on that bandwagon, it would be a mess. Oh, who am I kidding, that’d be hilarious! Just be careful for the ̶ ” The banana’s stem broke off. Discord observed the broken antennae. “Oh dear. I probably should have upgraded earlier.” He peeled the banana to…an apple. He took a chomp, revealing a dial, and turned to face me. “That Discord is a bit different than I am. But what fun would there be if all Discords were exactly the same? Hay, that one ended up with a son with Celestia. Normally, I would ask how, but knowing him, he doesn’t know either. A lot of us like to keep contact with each other, except maybe that one really old Discord. He’s an odd one. Born from something called ‘Cain’” Discord shrugged. “We leave him be.” “So why don’t you leave me alone?” I finally speak. Of course, the lord of chaos giggled. “Because you have so much potential to do chaos here! It’s not as if I can open a hole to another realm-” Discord pulled a zipper out of nowhere and unzipped it, cleaving space, “-and remove something interesting with surgical precision-” He stuck his lion paw in the hole and pulled out a bleeding black book, “-just to cause some minor chaos!” I gave him a deadpan stare and pointed at the book. He gave it half a glance before scoffing. “This? I just pulled this from somewhere on this realm. Although…it does seem to be giving me the heebie-jeebies. Well, might as well give it back to whoever was using it for whatever malevolent intent.” He stuffed the book back in the hole and closed the zipper before it fell to the ground and slithered away. “But for you, it should be easy!” The grass around him grew into enormous, vertical sandwiches, obscuring him front sight. Discord reappeared, cleaving through the five-foot long subs with a fish as he wore a pith helmet and smoked a bubble pipe. “You just have to go on an adventure! There’s a wide world out there, just waiting for you to explore it!” “A dangerous world.” I answered. “Which may or may not be my world. I’d prefer to stay here and know what’s coming than go out there and rely on nothing more than my deceptive senses.” “From one of those worlds, huh?” Discord threw away his bubble pipe and removed his helmet, patting on the top to get rid of any excess. A tan pegasus with a black and gray mane fell out of it and landed on her rump, rubbing her hoof against her head. “Hey!” she shouted, “Give it back!” Discord rolled his eyes and dropped the helmet on her head. As she stabilized the hat, Discord pounced, stuffing her in a deflated balloon. He blew into the balloon as she struggled, before he popped it with a claw, leaving nothing behind. “You don’t want anything more? Money, power, friendship, memories?” Discord prattled on as if nothing had happened. “I have a home, I have a stable income, I have a friend I can talk to,” I pointed to Steel, “and soon, I’ll have books. I don’t want anything more.” “And what’s to stop me from turning you into the opposite of yourself?” he innocently asked. “If you are real, then you would know that I’m not what I seem. If you do that, you won’t know what I would do. I could go on a homicidal rampage, I could walk about, yelling to the world my secrets, or I would find a way to stop you. But you know what?” I stepped towards him. “I don’t believe you’re real. You are nothing more than the representation of my madness. You are not chaos incarnate, but my delusion given form to mock me with.” I snarled, “You’re nothing more than a mistake, something we all wish didn’t exist. Yet here you are,” I spat, “mocking me.” Discord laughed in an uproar, wiping tears from his eyes. “You’re right.” He admitted, gasping for breath, "There’s nothing I can do that will make this any better. Someone believing their reality is false is quite a decent example of what I want to do: blur the line.” Discord picked me up and slung his eagle claw across my back. “You sir, are quite an inspiration!” I felt something walking across my back and saw a multitude of eagle claws doing the French Can-Can as they moved along my spine, before those at the end jumped off my rump and into the ground, where they disappeared in splashes of dirt. “Why you ̶ oh? What’s this?” Discord squinted as the eagle claws stopped the dance, pulled out construction helmets, and began investigating my back. One of them, wearing a blue helmet, brought up a tiny clipboard for Discord to look at. As he read over the tiny script, his usual smile fell. He began looking more and more morose, until he put me down gently with eyes that I had not expected to be filled with sadness. “I’ll leave you alone now.” And he was gone. No flash, no tricks. Steel Fang, now free of his delicious restraints, came over to me and whimpered in confusion. “I don’t know, Steel.” The wolf gave me a comforting lick on the cheek, which managed to pull a smile from me. “Thanks, Steel. Let’s stay inside for today.” <><><> “And after that,” Shining continued as he looked over the list, “we’ll book into the Riddenhouse Hotel to spend to night.” The couple had stopped at a café in Fillydelphia to go over the plans for the rest of the day. “Oooo!” Cadence noted amusedly, “A romantic hotel! I knew you had good taste Shining, but you should know we bring enough romance wherever we go.” She grinned mischievously when she managed to make Shining blush. Shining tried desperately to use his guard training to remain stoic, but Cadence knew exactly which buttons to press. “Well,” Shining cleared his throat, “I suppose you could say that. It would be nice after all the difficulties at the Alamane. I couldn’t get a wink of sleep on most days.” “Aren’t you exaggerating a tad?” Cadence asked, “I know your last day was very stressful, but I’ve heard you spent a lot of nights playing Ogres and Oubliettes with some soldiers.” The alicorn gave a small smile as her coltfriend sputtered. “What!” Shining yelled before shrinking down from the glares of the other patrons. “Who told you?” “Who do you think?” “Hawk Eye.” He hissed. “I made him swear on his bass not to tell you!” “Well, that’s why.” Cadence rolled her eyes. “You keep mistaking his instruments. I’ve met him once, and I know he has a guitar, a cello, and a violin. No bass.” “Any more embarrassing secrets that he told you?” “No need,” Cadence purred, “I figured out a lot of stuff for myself…like what’s underneath your bed at your parents’ house.” Shining slammed his head on the table and moaned. “I’ll admit that was some prime material, and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. First edition Batmares are pretty hard to come by.” Shining peeked an eye open. “Really? I thought you would find that too nerdy.” Cadence leaned over to nuzzle him on the cheek. “Oh, honey. I knew what I was getting into when I started dating you.” She looked at him in the eyes and gave him the smile that he loved so much. The slightly cocky one, where her lips slightly upturned at the ends that said she was perfect, but with her soft lilac eyes showing that she cared about him. “What was embarrassing was the fact that you only had three non-magical locks protecting them. My first edition Supermares are protected by two normal locks and three magic locks.” “You just love teasing me, don’t you?” Shining deadpanned. “Of course I do.” Cadence said smugly “And I know you love it too.” Their chuckles were interrupted by the sun being replaced by the moon in the span of a second. Instantly, a tense atmosphere fell over the city, ponies walking about skittishly while staring at the sky and conversations either stopping or dropping into hushed tones. Whereas Shining sat straighter, his eyes alert, Cadence just looked to the sky with a cocked eyebrow. “So they’re doing that again, huh?” “You’ve seen this happen before?” Shining asked, keeping his voice calm, quashing any panic. “Yes, back in my…time,” Cadence waved a hoof dismissively, “When I was a little filly, there was a day when the sun and the moon switched places in the sky quite often. The official announcement released later was that Luna and Celestia had to adjust the sun and the moon to properly adjust the chronometric cycle, but my mother had received a personal letter admitting their hoof-wrestle went a bit, well, more extreme than normal.” She chortled. “Maybe you should give an explanation to the populace before one pony trips and starts a riot.” Shining nervously looked at the anxious crowd in the street. “You know how panicked ponies can be.” Cadence nodded and walked into the middle of the street before removing the enchantment hiding her wings. “Attention residents of Fillydelphia!” She demanded. The crowd turned to look at her and a few even bowed when they noticed her wings and horn. “I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but please call me Cadence.” The growing crowd eased up at her familiarity. “I know you are all worried, but this is nothing more than a scheduled adjustment to the chronometric cycle, and it’s the first one since Princess Luna’s return, so they’re probably a bit rusty.” As she talked, the sun rose back into the sky. “There is no need for concern. You can expect this to continue until what is normally sunset. Have a nice day.” The sun fell and was replaced by the moon. “Or night.” The crowd, content, dispersed. With a flash, Cadence reappeared by Shining, her enchantment once more in effect. “Nice to see you doing your Princess duties.” Shining smirked. “You are really fantastic at it.” Cadence’s face reddened at the praise and an invisible wing poked Shining. But his smile fell and he looked away in shame. “Listen…Cadence. You know I love you, right?” Sensing this was not the moment she anticipated, Cadence adopted a serious expression. “Of course, Shiny.” “And you know I will never intentionally hurt you, right?” the alicorn was puzzled, but let him continue. “And when you mentioned your…past…I can’t help but feel like something I might do might remind you of those difficult times-” “Shiny.” “-and I really love you Cadence, but I can’t imagine hurting you. It would ruin me, and-” “Shiny.” “I…just can’t do this without you, Cadence, I don’t want to lose-Mphf.” Cadence interrupted the unicorn with a kiss on the lips. When they finally separated, Cadence was giving Shining another one of her smiles. The one that said ‘you silly stallion. But that’s why I love you’. “Shiny, you can’t hurt me. It was bad in the Crystal Empire, but I wasn’t hurt too bad.” “Cadence-” “Apapapap!” Cadence interrupted, holding up a hoof. “If you want to feel better, I’ll tell you about it. But only if you promise not to tell anypony else. Not even the other Princesses.” “I promise.” Shining stated without hesitation. Cadence nodded and cast a silencing charm around them. “The events leading up to the fall of the Empire began a couple years before my birth. Many of the noble houses wanted a more official role in the government, one where nobles would vote upon issues, much like they do today, but votes held more weight depending on the actions of the nobles. In those days, it was easier to become a noble, and they held a far more active role with the populace. Titles could be bought and sold, but noble ranks were earned. It was at that point that a small but influential group of well-meaning nobles elected to make a Chancellor position to help my mother in her administrative processes. The Chancellor would deal with most of the paperwork and taxes while my mother had final say on important documents and interact with the populace as a part of her alicorn duties, reducing her to an important figurehead in the government rather than the sole proprietor of the executive powers. “Of course, mother was happy that the nobles wanted to have a more active role, so she didn’t veto, and allowed it to pass. And it seemed to really work. Nobles worked hard to do notable things so their votes would weigh more, and those that did the most good eventually had the most sway in the Empire. A prominent young earth pony rose to power as Chancellor. The Parliament was easy to follow behind this pony’s speeches and fantastic charisma. All seemed well. It was only later did we see what had truly happened. In between these honeyed words and shows of affection towards the populace, Sombra was an ambitious stallion. Worse, he was an ambitious stallion that wasn’t afraid to break the rules. He had made his way into Chancellorship through bribes, threats, and even acting upon those threats. All to get to a position of power. But he wanted more. “While he did respect unicorns, he absolutely loathed pegasi. So when he tried to woo my mother, only to find her heart belonged to a pegasus, he became incensed. Enraged, he started tweaking legal forms, working in the dark, and experimenting in forbidden magic to obtain more power. Years passed as he seethed. In the meantime, my mother was married to my father and had me, a pegasus foal. I think it’s safe to assume that Sombra worked harder then. I don’t think he could ever accept the idea that an Ascended pegasus would rule the Empire, even as a figurehead. Sombra finally came to a breakthrough in thaumatic crystals. He had learned how to control their growth using his own innate earth pony magic, so he had a cast built in secret. Before Sombra, a good two dozen Equestrian unicorns lived in the Empire. But before he quickly took power, all of them disappeared. A few days after the disappearances, he strode into the Parliament with a blood-red horn adorning his forehead. “Somehow, he had managed to not only form a perfect crystal horn, but imbue it with the power of twenty-six unicorns and his own crystal magic. Add that to a madcolt with an obsession with power, and you get what happened at the Parliament. A messenger who survived the Parliament slaughter warned my mother and father of Sombra’s actions. Thinking quickly, mother placed an enchantment on me to hide my wings and entrusted me in the care of one of her maids. She snuck out of the castle with me as my father flew away, holding a bundle of clothes to distract Sombra should my mother be defeated. She was, and Sombra fell for the distraction.” Cadence’s eyes moistened, but she continued. “I never knew what happened to him. I was separated from the maid in the panic following Sombra’s ascension to power. The next year was…difficult. I and so many other orphans scrounged for food, trying to survive the harsh life the ex-Chancellor had instilled upon us. I had to take jobs where I could, hoping that one day we would be freed. We wondered why the royal sisters hadn’t come for us. We wondered why the good Chancellor had gone bad. We wondered if we had been abandoned. And then, I was discovered.” Shining, on the edge of his seat, leaned forwards and drew a sharp breath. “I had met our savior. While you may be my Knight in shining armor,” Shining blushed and chortled at her little title for him, “this one was my knight in dirty, used, scratched armor. He looked young, but he sounded so old. He managed to figure out who I was just by looking at me serve his food. He stole Sombra’s journals, detailing how the events had come to pass. He was wise, and completely unfazed by the King. He figured out that Sombra spent time forging letters to the Princesses, even going so far to write to ponies’ relatives outside the Crystal Empire every now and then. He told us how Sombra was using our own ancestral instincts against us. He told us how Sombra ruled through fear, possibly threatening his living guards’ families if they weren’t as callous as he was. His contributions to the Resistance allowed us to fight back. I never saw how the conflict ended, but the knight managed to face down and distract Sombra while the others secured the palace for the Sisters. Of course, we hadn’t anticipated the curse, but I was already through the obsidian mirror.” Cadence’s eyes fell. “Celestia told me she and Luna found Sombra screaming in rage on the porch of the palace. I can only assume the worst has happened to the knight. But you know what his last words were to me, as he fought Sombra?” “…What?” Shining asked, his throat dry. “He told me ‘Run, I’ll be fine. Go find your knight in shining armor.’” Shining Armor blinked and gaped. “Is that why you have that nickname for me?” he managed to ask. “Yup.” “I guess I have some pretty big horseshoes to fill.” Shining noted. “You’ve filled them quite well.” Cadence turned off the silencing charm and leaned towards him to give him a peck on the cheek. “Now it’s getting close to night.” Cadence paused to see the sun and the moon switch places twice in the span of a few seconds. “I think. And I just want to cuddle on a couch at the Hotel.” Shining nodded with a small smile and a faint blush. How did he ever get her to fall for him? <><><> Thunder paced about the cabin restlessly, his messy white mane shaking about each time he turned around. He hated going on trains. He could go faster than a train any day, but now he had to be lugged behind by the stupid ground-pounders. There was that huge steel-gray coated lug, Titanium, sitting quietly with his eyes closed. Thunder Strike thought he was asleep and was about to poke him when the stallion simply said “Don’t”. Midnight would have been the type of mare he would flirt with…if she wasn’t a bat pony. They, like gryphons, unnerved the pegasus because they were meat eaters. He knew that many pegasi living on the coast or near rivers were omnivorous as well, but not all pegasi were like that. Gryphons and bat-ponies, however, were obligate omnivores. And the fact that Hawk’s bag full of jerky would eventually run out scared him. He observed Midnight as she used a mortar to crush some leaves into a blue paste. Apparently, she was also a poison specialist. Now all he needed was a madmare with a sword and his fate was sealed. He turned to walk to the other end of the car once more, noticing Hawk Eye reading a book, casually tapping his claws on the seat to some rhythm heard only by him. He respected Red, despite his odd position as he slept on the seat facing Hawk. They had been in the same training regiment, and he heard how abandoned his family name to join the Guard, and his magical abilities had earned him renown in the Guard. In the next seats sat Strong Recovery, the yellow coated medic unicorn, and Lake Lily, the aquamarine mudpony with a neat green mane tied up in a bun. The two were in the middle of a game of chess, and Strong seemed to be winning. Two moves later, his hooves were deep in his ragged, two-toned cyan and violet mane, as Lake simply sat with a smug expression on her face. Sighing, the medic took off his spectacles and tipped over his own king. “Why can’t something interesting happen?” Thunder exclaimed, waking Red up with a loud snort. Almost instantly, the SCS chimed, signaling a call from one of the Princesses. Hawk bookmarked his page and picked up the crystal tablet before answering. “Hawk Eye and crew,” Celestia’s voice rang out, “There is an emergency. Luna is currently unavailable. She has gone to warn the cities of Equestria of the current crisis.” “What crisis?” Hawk asked. As if in response, the sun disappeared below the horizon. The passengers looked about in surprise. “That one.” Celestia stated grimly. “Discord has escaped his stone prison. You are not to go after him. Continue your mission. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony are on this.” “Sorry your Highness, but are you saying you sent civilians to deal with Discord? Are you sure that’s a good idea?” “I am aware of the implications, Midnight Azalea. But you must remember, even as alicorns, my sister and I never stood a chance facing Discord. But with the Elements, he was finally sealed.” “So we don’t need to get back?” Thunder asked. “Not at all, Thunder.” “If I may, your Majesty?” Intruded Strong Recovery. “I’m worried about Princess Luna. I’m aware that her reputation may be somewhat lackluster due to the Nightmare event, and I do not doubt you are aware of it as well. Are you sure it would be wise to send Luna out to warn the populace while the sun and the moon are switching places so often. Ponies might think it’s the return of Nightmare Moon.” “Rest assured, Strong Recovery, Luna was the best for the job. Ponies need an authority figure right now, and Luna has always been the faster flyer of the two of us. Additionally, she will be up in the sky using the Royal Canterlot Voice to comfort the entire populace at once from afar. She is currently telling ponies that the Bearers will defeat the prisoner that had escaped. Good luck on your mission.” And with a bleep, the screen only showed the reflections of those that gazed into it. “Fantastic.” Thunder snarled. “Discord is loose, we’re going to a disgusting swamp to search for who-knows-what, and we’re not getting any support. How are we going to do this?” On cue, the bathroom door struck open, and out strode Tron. The pudgy gray unicorn was wearing a suit, and had even trimmed his curly black chinstrap beard. “To take on this challenge, I’ll have to think like Lucid, dress like it. Be it.” The solar guards just stared at Tron, while the lunar guards ignored his antics. “Don’t ask how I know they get up in a nice tie and suit. They just seem the snazzy type to me.” “Even better.” Thunder stated. “We’ve got the madcolt, the bloodthirsty gryphon-” Hawk rolled his eyes as Thunder pointed at him “- and the vampiric bat-pony. Luna knows how to pick her guards.” The rest of the team just frowned at him, and Lake Lily, seething, opened her mouth to say something, but Tron beat her to it. “Now you listen here, pip-pip. A racist mind is a racist kind. You, you take that to sleep with you tonight ‘cause I know, it's not gonna change hearts and minds in a day. You don't give a mare a peanut, expect her to have a farm the next day. But it's alright. It's alright. One day, we will all be equal on this earth. Until then, I'm gonna give you a kiss, muffin.” Tron brought his hooves up to Thunder’s befuddled muzzle and pulled him down so he could kiss him on the top of his head. “What. The buck.” Thunder tried to wrap his mind around what Tron just did. “All’s that nice and good.” Lake Lily continued as she regained her wits, “But I’m still in command of your squad. So I say…DROP AND GIVE ME FIFTY, MAGGOT!” Lake pushed him down to the ground and beckoned Titanium over. “Put some weight on him, please.” The huge stallion nodded and complied. As Thunder struggled under the stallion’s massive weight, he couldn’t help but wish it was a bit less exciting in the train. <><><> Celestia watched in silent horror as Ponyvville became more and more consumed by chaos. She knew trying to guess Discord’s reasons for anything would most likely result in a headache, but as for why he chose Ponyville, it was as obvious as a hoof to the face. He wanted her to be helpless, to watch from her balcony as chaos was seeded and dominated her world. She could only hope now. Her ear twitched as the sound of slow hoofsteps reached her. Probably another maid, trying to comfort her, despite Celestia being more worried for the ponies’ well-being than her own. “Please, leave me alone.” She asked. “I apologize,” an unfamiliar stallion’s voice rang from behind her, “but I only wish to talk.” Celestia turned around to see a stallion she had never met before. So not a palace worker, and most likely not a Canterlot resident. He was a black-coated pegasus stallion with a stark white mane. Despite his appearance, something seemed off about him. “What is it you wish to ask me, my little pony?” “Actually,” his voice, Celestia realized, intimidated her somewhat, “I was thinking I may act as someone for you to talk to right now. I know you are stressed.” It was as if he was holding something back, in his speech, his manner, and his being. But Celestia was surprised at the lack of formality, and decided that to humor the stallion would do no harm. “You read me better than most ponies ever have.” Celestia idly commented. “I do. I’m good at many things.” “As for being worried, I have a reason. I have utmost confidence in the Bearers. But this is Discord, avatar of Chaos magic itself, the magic most closely related to primal magic. I can’t help but feel a bit of doubt when I look at Ponyville.” “Maybe you just need to remember who they are. Maybe they need to remember who they are. Good luck to you, Cherubim.” And with that, the goggled stallion began trotting away. Celestia’s eyes widened in realization as to what she needed to do. She turned around to thank the pegasus, but he had disappeared without a trace. The alicorn teleported to her room, and began sending her favorite letters back to where they came from. “Forgive me Spike. It may hurt now, but this will only help us.” <><><> It moves away from the palace at a sedate pace, taking in the view of the streets. It zooms over Canterlot and into the Everfree. The barriers are weakening once more, and that means that something else would be coming through. It would be best if this one came here, despite the danger. It rises slightly above the foliage, only to see a grumpy Discord hovering there. It has met many versions of Discord in the multiverse, but every now and then, it would find one with some sort of vendetta against it. The being decides to become visible, appearing as an oily mass. “Hello there. Am I bothering you?” “The fact you don’t know what you’ve done is what irks me, dear…blob.” Discord intoned. In response, the entity shaped itself into a pitch-black pegasus shape, lacking any features. It just seems like someone had cut out the outline of a pegasus and left nothing more than darkness. “That doesn’t seem evil at all.” “It requires less concentration than an incognito form, and it tends not to blind everything that looks at me.” Discord watches as a few tendrils split off from its barrel, vibrating at different frequencies to mimic a voice. “Is there a reason you came to find me?” “If I told you, that would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?” the draconequus sneers. The thing expands and contracts slightly. A sigh. “Aren’t you supposed to be causing chaos throughout Equestria?” “I’ve already done a bit of that.” Discord waved a claw. “I just finished, I was coming back from Manehatten when I sensed you.” “Good for you. You should probably get back to your ‘Chaos Capital’. The Bearers are getting close to your throne.” “Them again?” He scoffs “I wonder why I just don’t send them to the other side of the planet.” He prepares to snap his claw when it flows over to him in an instant and closes a tendril around his claw, controlling the kinetic energy in the tendril to both hold him still and prevent him from snapping his claws. “Do not.” “Why?” He hisses as his brows furrow. "And how can you stop me?" “I am a constant in the multiverse. For there to be Something, there must be Energy. And I am all types of Energy. I may not have magic, but I could easily stop you and replace you so that events go as they are supposed to. You are aware of the state the multiverse nearby. Certain events must come to pass. And soon, you should be on your throne, facing the Bearers.” It releases the draconequus from its grip. “Fine.” Discord grumbles. “But I don’t have to like it.” With a snap of his claws, he is gone. The consciousness watches as Discord is turned to stone. It watches as Equestria celebrates deep into the night. But it has somewhere to be, like every night. It finds itself in Manehatten, watching late-night party-goers return to their apartments. And it spots her. A gray mare with a dark mane, lugging a case through the dark streets of the city. The cellist. But the entity also spots three stallions following her. It could tell that their blood-alcohol level is quite high, and their intentions impure. The unicorn stallion trots far ahead of the cellist and sneaks into an alley. As she passes the alley, he calls to her. “Excuse me, Miss? I have a question.” The naïve mare approaches the stallion. It understands why. Crime in this society was exceptionally rare, although it was more common in big cities far away from the capital. Add to the fact that half of the crimes go unreported due to ridiculous herd instinct and pony guilt, and it was practically unheard of. So the entity watches as the other two stallions block the entrance. However, Octavia is not a stupid mare. As soon as the other two block her only exit, she becomes skittish. And when the ‘bait’ stallion made his move, preparing a spell to use on the cellist, Octavia acts. A swift buck to the face, and the unicorn is knocked unconscious. But even with her earth pony strength, Octavia is helpless in the face of the other two leering unicorns. Or she would be, if the consciousness hadn’t taken a basic pony form behind them. “Excuse me,” it asks “what are you doing?” “None of your business.” One says, keeping his eyes on the terrified mare. The other one turns around and sees the pony-shaped blot and backs away. “Uh, High?” he stammers, “You might want to see this.” The other unicorn, High, turns around and gasps. “…What are you?” High asks. He shakes his head and continues. “No matter. Two high class unicorns should be able to take care of you, monster!” High fires a stunning spell, but a hole opens up in the being, allowing the magic to pass right through it. “Octavia Melody,” It states, “please close your eyes.” Octavia, panicked, decided to follow its suggestion and closed hers as it opened its own.“They say that the eyes are a window to the soul. And a soul is comprised of memories, personality, and emotions.” Two glowing dots stared from the abyss that was its essence. The two stallions stood still, unable to tear their eyes away from its orbs of light. The unicorns’ minds had flooded with memories; memories of impossible creatures, beings from different planes of existence, and from different dimensions entirely. They saw the birth of worlds, the death of gods, and the end of all of their beliefs. After two milliseconds, they had experienced two centuries of memories. The entity closed its eyes and the stallions slumped to the ground, unconscious. “You may open your eyes, Octavia.” The cellist opens her eyes and sees the creature by her side and the two assailants on the ground. “What did you do to them?” she asks. “Are they…?” “No,” it shakes its black head, “merely unconscious. I showed them some memories of mine. I’ve learned that if I push in an approximate amount of memories in a specific amount of time, it overloads the brain, leaving them in a small coma similar to anesthetic. They will not remember my presence, and they will most likely remember up to the moment they cornered you. They will get strange dreams for a time.” It offers a dark foreleg. “May I walk you to safety?” Octavia gapes at the creature. It had come to save her, and its presence scared her, but it has only shown care for her. She gingerly grabbed its foreleg and smiled. “Are all of your kind such gentlecolts?” she queries. The foreleg was eerily smooth, but gave off a comforting amount of heat. “I believe so. I’m the only one of my kind I’ve ever met.” “Oh, I-I’m sorry.” She stammers. “It was uncouth of me to pry…” “No matter. I’ve accepted it long ago.” “It must be quite sad.” The two trot the dark streets in silence for a while before Octavia asks a question that had been in her mind since she had first seen it. “Why did you help me?” Quiet reigned in the street before it answers, interrupted only by Octavia's muted hoofsteps on the street. “I could tell you that it is because music is different to me than to others. The movement of the air caresses my essence in a beautiful pattern, which I manage to translate into sound. Add to the fact that I ‘see’ using echophotolocation, and it becomes a synesthesia of three senses that most biological creatures take for granted. But it goes beyond that.” It stops in front of a booming nightclub. “I know this place may seem a little out of your comfort zone, but it closes early in the morning. And you might find a friend in there.” Octavia looked to the neon lights decorating the club. Normally, she wouldn’t dare go in a place such as this, but she couldn’t stand the thought of being alone after her run-in with those…stallions. “May I at least have your name? To remember you by.” The being cocked its head. “What do you think my name should be?” Octavia recoiled. It has no name? The more she learned about it, the more she felt sorry for it. “Enigma seems a tad too feminine for you. Mystery may be too masculine…” She noticed the odd lumps on the sides of the entity. A pegasus? “I trust you like exploring the world?” “More than you can imagine.” “Then I shall remember you as Traveler.” Octavia smiled as the creature cocked its head and vibrated. “Thank you.” It bowed its head and vanished from sight. The cellist turned around and took a deep breath. Surviving a nightclub was a small price to pay if she wanted to be surrounded by potential witnesses until morning.