//------------------------------// // Rumors of Chaos // Story: A World in Chaos // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// The five remaining element bearers gathered and bowed low before Princesses Luna Moon and Celestia in a large private room. "Hello mine subjects, hath thy fared well since last we met?" "Sister," Celestia said calmly. "I apologize, Celestia. Ahem, have you all been well since last we met?" Celestia chuckled nobly into her hoof garnering a slight look from her lunar counterpart. The five ponies cowered slightly as Luna Moon spoke to them. "Yes, your majesty. What can we do for your highness's?" Twilight asked as she and the others raised. "Hearths Warming Eve is next week and we'd be honored if you join us in our royal box to view the show." The girls gasped and smiled hesitantly. "Yer highness, we'd be honored. I've always wanted to see it up close and personal. Right girls?" The others looked at Applejack and smiled, their confidence growing as they nodded. "Splendid. Thou shalt join us post haste, we have another matter to attend to that thy may be able to help with," Luna Moon turned and trotted to the door at the far end of the room while Celestia and the others stood still. The ponies were waiting to see what Celestia would do as Celestia waited for something. Luna opened the door and walked through the threshold, turning to see the others a ways back she scowled. "Tia, why hath thy not approached me with thine subjects?" "Luna Moon, where are your manners we spoke about?" "Celestia and her subjects, please come with me." "Luna, we spoke about this; we don't use the royal Canterlot voice anymore. Like we practiced," Celestia said calmly. Luna Moon cleared her throat and spoke in several octaves, each softer than the last until her voice was barely audible from across the room. "Dear subjects, and my sister Celestia. Will thy, you, please follow me?" With a nod Celestia led the others. "Luna just got scolded by her sister. In front of us!" Scootaloo whispered to Rainbow Dash. "Totally. Awesome." She replied loudly enough to make the others look at her quizzically. "Oh, just girl talk, ya know." Scootaloo smiled and fluttered her wings as she jumped onto Rainbow's back. "You're getting big, Scoots. Wanna hang out later and go to the spa? I like getting groomed and then my hooves done. It tickles and totally makes my body all shiny like when Fluttershy gave me my first bath, you gotta go with me. Please?" "Wow, okay Dash. Relax. Lets just see what's up first then we'll talk about going to the spa or whatever. I might be able to get one of my friends to go in my place. Spas are kinda lame but I can't tell Rainbow that, she's addicted to being pretty. I miss Night, she was kinda cooler than Rainbow Dash. They entered a darker room lightly furnished; the lights held the same ominous dark blue glow as what Nightmare Moon has turned the castle interior into during her reign. "Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Twilight Sparkle. You are five of the six bearers of the elements of harmony so I entrust this information to thee all. Discord may return soon," she waited as the gasps subsided, "my sister and I defeated him last time however we are no longer able to bear the elements of harmony. Thy still have five of thy elements and that may be enough to hold him at bay, should he return." "Hey, who's this Dishworm guy? Sounds like a lame-o to me," Rainbow laughed and raised a hoof to Scootaloo for a bump that was returned with a laugh in agreement. "No ya two, he's bad. Discord almost destroyed the whole world a while back, don't ya know yer history?" Maybe I should make a movie about Discord too. "Yes, 1,200 years ago he almost used his chaos magic to turn the world into madness. Luna and I used the elements to stop him and seal him in stone. His stone prison was stolen last week and we have only one pony in custody." Luna stomped her hoof loudly and the floor trembled. The door glowed light blue and Shining Armor walked in followed by four other ponies. "BBBFF! I missed you," Twilight shouted as she charged her brother who entered just behind her in the doorway. Almost knocking him over they hugged tightly before he whispered in her ear. "I'm sorry Twiley." He pushed her away and she stumbled back as he looked back at the other ponies. "Night! What're you?" Twilight was excited for a moment before looking at the bearer of loyalty shackled and her wings tied to her body, a guard on her muzzle to prevent her from biting her guards. She looked well in every respect other than her confinement and a look of fear in her eyes at seeing her friends. "Shining, what's going on? Why is Night... Oh no, Night. You're not a part of this, are you?" Lowering her head in defeat Shining spoke in her place. "She's a child of Discord. A secret group of ponies who worship Discord as the true ruler of Equestria and the world. She was caught after she was betrayed by her conspirators and left tied up in Discords place. She won't tell us where he is or anything about their plans and we can't interrogate her because of her status as an element bearer. We're hoping she'll talk to you, guards, release her and bind her to," he looked at the mares before him and settled on one, "Scootaloo." "What?" "Why?" "Ya can't be serious." "Oh dear." "Wait! Why me? What'd I do, I'm sorry if I did something bad; I didn't know. Please don't hurt me." "Scootaloo, I apologize for this but we know she cares for you and if she does anything or tries to escape from your group, you will either go with her or die. I suggest you two stay close for your best interests. Mages, bind them." Two of his unicorns wearing dark brown cloaks lit their horns and chanted as the other two unicorns levitated the two side by side as Scootaloo cried and fluttered her wings and galloped in the air. The others protested but were held back by Shining Armors magic. A red light engulfed Scootaloo and Midnight Strike before dissipating and a magic rope appeared around their right rear ankles then vanished. "Twiley, I'm really sorry. I have my duty to Equestria." "Shining Armor, I-" Twilight started to cry as he released her and the others from his magic. A sobbing sound was heard from Night as she turned her head from the others. "I'm so sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen. I was just supposed to help get the statue then I was going to live in hiding for the rest of my life. I was going to send my gem to you, Princess Celestia, and just let a new bearer come into light." Her heart was aching so much she couldn't describe it even if she had the words. "Scootaloo." "Don't talk to me, I hate you. HATE YOU." Scootaloo started to gallop away and got to a couch and after jumping on it pulled a pillow over her head. "Scootaloo," Fluttershy started as she trotted to the couch, "it'll be okay. We're here for you and we'll solve this problem together. You can talk to me anytime, you know that right?" All Scootaloo could do was squeak under the pillow as she remained silent. The others dried their tears and began to glare at Shining Armor. "Shining Armor, thy are dismissed. Thank you for you duty and this will work out fine, I'm certain." Shining Armor bowed his head and turned to leave. "Hey, Big Head. You're being a jerk face. Why're you being mean to my friends?" Shining didn't stop as he and his mages left the room, Celestia closed the door behind them. "Princess Celestia, how can you be okay with this? It's almost Hearths Warming Eve and now you've pretty much cursed two of my friends?" Twilight asked calmly, she didn't dare upset the goddess of the sun, reputation or not. "Twilight Sparkle, there is something you have to understand. Discord is worse than you can imagine and even if you do manage to stop his return his followers will still try again someday. I will probably be there to see it happen then if it doesn't happen soon. Another three thousand years is no issue to us, however the world may become less prepared to defend against his return then. We have to take the initiative now and find his statue and return it to the castle where we will seal it in the royal vault for the rest of time." The argument was unarguable. There was nothing any of them could say against it. Now or in the future Discord could return unless he was in the vault and they all knew it. "Princess, I've known ya for a while now. Can ya show us the vault so we can see where the elements are and where he'll be?" "I see no harm in that, also you have to have your elements available to fight if you need it. We now have all of them thanks to Night. Follow us." Leading the group through the castle for what seemed like an hour they finally reached a jeweled door that made them look in awe. "Scootaloo, those are really pretty. Wanna go get some and we can make dresses someday? How about you, Night? I think you'd look really pretty in a dress." "Rainbow, I missed your positive attitude. I don't know what I'd look like in a jeweled dress but I think it'd be nice to try once." "I didn't think you were into acting like a filly, Night," Scootaloo said with mocking aggression in her tone. "Everypony needs to feel pretty or handsome sometimes. When this is over I'll have you in a dress and you'll love it." "You wouldn't dare." "I double dare myself." Night said with an honest smile. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and trotted up to Fluttershy. "I think I'm gonna talk a lot this time." "I understand and am ready to help you with anything I can." "Girls, wait here while I unlock the door. Only I can open it, so wait a moment." Celestia walked to the door and inserted her horn into a slot and imagined a pattern of runes and ancient symbols lost to time immortal. The door clicked and opened revealing a chest. "These are you are elements. Take them and follow me." The chest opened and their elements floated to them and adorned them then they followed Celestia into the vault. "You are the first ponies to lay eyes on the vault. Behold the treasures of Equestria." The room was stacked with books, scrolls, pieces of armor and nick knacks from across the ages lined in order of acquisition along stacked shelves higher than it seemed possible for such a room. Gold items decorated the back wall and jewels with power so great even the passive magic in the Pegasi in the room felt like it was going to do something they couldn't imagine. "This'..." "Yes, incredible. I know, often over the years I've returned here to visit the past of our world. If Discord wins this room will be all that he can not touch. The ancient scrolls from before my time and the armors of creatures that no longer exist or that come from other worlds beyond our reality or other stars. This is what we're fighting to defend, this room contains the history of our world and beyond, there is nothing like this and someday it will be opened to the public. Every pony will know secrets that will shake them to their cores, but that day is far off. You're not ready yet, children. But your children's children may be, do this for them." "We'll do all we can, Princesses," Twilight spoke up for the group. Celestia smiled and gestured to the vault entrance. "You know what you have to do, and Night. I hope you do what's right for the greater good." Celestia walked ahead as the others looked at Night, almost pleading for her to help without any coaxing. Later that night Twilight had just finished a letter to Trixie and asked it to be delivered as soon as possible. She knew it might be the last letter she sent so she tried to convey all she could in it. The others wrote letters to their loved ones before they went to bed, except Scootaloo. She helped Rainbow Dash write a letter to Pinkie Pie for making such great desserts and to her parents. The night was somber as they laid in the middle of a very large bed. "Heya Night, why'd you leave and not say bye. It really sucked and made me mad and sad, ya know?" Rainbow asked as she laid her head on Fluttershys flank. "I had my orders, I didn't plan for it to happen but in the middle of the party one of my clan was there and gave me a letter. I'm bound by my honor to do as the Children of Discord command. I had to leave or they'd kill me on the spot, they don't tolerate disloyalty, especially lately." "But, why in tarnation did ya join them? What about your clan honor?" Applejack asked. "Because, I was young and I was rebellious. The offer came to me through a fellow recruit in the service. Once I was in the room to be initiated I regretted it immediately but leaving meant death or imprisonment until his return in a stasis field. I had no choice, and before you ask the stallion that recruited me is in stasis somewhere in Equestria right now. I'll tell you the same thing I told the guard, I don't know where he is. Discord's statue is somewhere only the high elders know, so where ever that is has to be some place as safe as that vault of Celestia's." "Well, then you're stuck to me for no reason except to punish us both." "Why are you punished, Scootaloo?" Night asked looking at her. "Because I trusted you to be my best friend." Scootaloo turned her head away and huffed. "Scoots, I'm really sorry. I'll always be sorry for this and I'll do anything to make it up to you." Scootaloo mumbled something under her breath. "What was that?" "Nothing," Scootaloo said, but Applejack heard her. You can die. It was unsettling but she knew it was just frustration. She'd let it go, everything should work it's way out in the end. The next morning the girls left the castle ready to find Discord and get back to life as normal. "Scoots, Night. I need you two to take the lead on this one. Night agreed to help us and I trust her enough to not hurt Scootaloo. Where do we start?" "I don't know, every time we'd meet it was always in a different place. A cave, a hotel, a random abandoned house. There wasn't any pattern I ever saw to it." "Great, so now I'm stuck to a dummy who doesn't know anything." "So, like, where are we going anyway? We can go to the park or maybe get some cake or a apple salad!" "Rainbow, you need to calm down. First we have to think, where is a safe place that seems random that they could hide the statue of Discord. A place that no pony would ever look." "Oh, I know! If i was gonna hide something like that I'd hide it under the castle and no pony would ever look there cuz it's, like, totally there but no pony knows, ya know." The others groaned as they walked into Canterlot from the castle gates. "Rainbow, thanks for the idea however you imagination is," Fluttershy tried to think of a nice way to dismiss the idea, "getting the best of you. We need an idea; maybe a cave or a city or one of the old places you visited." "Well, there was a place in Appleoosa that I went to twice. A cave outside Las Pegasus. Under a mental hospital near Manehatten and a store in Whineypeg." "Great, so it could literally be anywhere in Equestria. Where do we start, fearless leader?" Twilight asked sarcastically to Night. "How the flock should I know? How about we start in your house, fillyfooler. Maybe its in your closet." "Woah, not cool Night," Scootaloo scolded, "she's happy and that's all that matters. Also, she lives in a wagon with her marefriend. You'd know that if you didn't disappear to join a cult that wants to kill every pony." "He doesn't want to kill, just wreak chaos." "What the flock does that even mean?" Scootaloo snapped back as she scowled at Night. "Scoots, you shouldn't use such language until you're older. It's disrespectful and shows a lack of class for such a nice filly like you," Fluttershy said, "I think we should start at the last place you met. Maybe there's a clue that was left, where was it?" "Well, that'd be a factory in Cloudsdale." "Great, so Twilight and Applejack can't go. What if we have to fight them there? We can't do it with four elements or even just a sonic rainboom, if that even has an effect. It's a great place to hide, somewhere we can't all get to." "Applejack, you're right except for one thing. I learned a spell that can help, we'll be able to walk on clouds for six hours so we should find something by then." "Or what, we fall through the clouds to our painful and sudden death?" Applejack asked seriously. "Well, the buildings have sold floors in Cloudsdale I heard," Fluttershy nodded in agreement, "so only when we touch the clouds outside the buildings and by then we should have found something or I'll recast the spell and we'll get out of there with the help of our Pegasus sisters here." Fluttershy and Rainbow nodded as Night and Scootaloo smiled. "Don't worry, I'll catch you and totally save you if I need to," Scootaloo said proudly. A round of laughter filled the area as the mares headed for the train station, after a power lunch.