Apprentice of a Chaotic Future.

by Frantic Author

Prologue

First pony fic, but hey, I like ponies. This idea hit me after the season 2 opening episodes a while back – but it stuck with me. It’s a “What if?”, a look at might have beens and could have happened.

This is the tale of the Apprentice of a Chaotic Future.
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A purple unicorn trotted through the city, her nose buried deeply in a book. Her hooves gently pattered along, rising and falling into the dirt as she moved, and her ears twitched as she heard the whispers around her.

“Did you hear? She’s the apprentice of that one…”

She nearly jolted up from her book, wanting to send a withering glare his way, but refrained; remembering the words of her mentor. If she couldn’t deal with such simplistic abuse, she didn’t deserve an apprenticeship, right?

“How can she deal with that without losing her…”

Her mind was in one piece, thank you very much. Just because everypony thought that this life was miserable, doesn’t mean she did. She enjoyed it quite a bit, actually, she reflected as she swerved around one of the many obstacles inflicted on those walking the path to Canterlot Castle – ironically the original name of the place, which had a new name every other week, excepting Thursdays for having “Such a ghastly name for a day! I think we should call them Flursdays, or Twirvesday! Don’t you agree Twilight?”

“I hear she’s already insane…”

She didn’t need to respond to those, she’d heard an infinite variation of them, all of them as wrong as can be. Insanity isn’t what got her to be the apprentice of Equestria’s Ruler – having the “Most remarkable magic I’ve ever seen!” had. When you’re complimented by a creature who has seen (and created) just about everything, you tend to be pretty good at what you do.

She shook her head, disheartened by this lackluster show by her peers in Canterlot (temporarily renamed in honor of the castle’s current name), and continued on her way, swerving past a game of chess that was being played in the Upside Down Garden of Confections, her eyes darting quickly over as a Pegasus braced himself before moving the cotton candy king one space over, a small giggle escaping her as he was trapped inside the delicious piece. He should have known that on the odd days of the even months of the prime year, you have to push backwards to move anything. Honestly, she mused, did nopony ever listen at school?

She supposed not – otherwise her mentor might have more ponies working at the Castle, or at least more than a measly seventy three on the third Monday of the sixth month of the year, with only twenty two permanent members of the staff. She nodded absentmindedly to the guards at the gate, who stood stoically anyways, their candy cane spears sharpened to a fine point, deadly enough to pierce even the toughest ponies.

They had been trained since they were born (made, more accurately,) by the most dangerous and vicious ponies, who slowly but surely honed and fined them into true weapons of havoc and destruction. She didn’t care what her mentor said about her magical prowess, she highly doubted that she could stand up against the misfortune and chaos the mere presence of those awesome creatures – with eight legs and proud faces, they stood at seven feet tall, far higher than her small body could even hope to reach. Pointed faces and eyes that burned with green fire, they were clearly not something that occurred naturally. She did not look at them as she scurried past, she was far too enchanted by her book, and far too frightened of them to even consider it a possibility.

The castle was never a normal place to be inside, the twisting paths and curving roads proved that, Twilight mused in reflection as she walked backwards through the door to the Ring of Memory, in order to avoid the Cake Cannoneer that fired when you walked through with your front. Her eyes barely flicked upwards as she spun back round, and absorbed the scene before her, a one of tinged with familiarity.

Thirteen pillars rose above thirteen windows, and thirteen evenly cut statues stood proudly in between the pillars. Thirteen trees ringed thirteen bushes, and thirteen flowers grew from each bush, while thirteen apples sat, ripe and plump, on each tree. One red rug rolled down to the center, and split into thirteen, each a different color, each rolling towards one of the statues.

The thirteen were each a different creature – and as she looked around she saw a dragon, it’s face frozen in an icy stare, a griffon, forever captured with a look of shock, a changeling, a look of bemusement on its skeletal face, one of those eight legged beasts, staring confusedly ahead, a pegasus, soaring towards an invisible target, a unicorn, glaring defiantly as it strained against an unseen spell, an earth pony, looking hopelessly skyward. There were five others, but their appearances had been long since destroyed by time and wear. She ignored all of those though, in favor of the only statue in the room that held two creatures. The centerpiece of the Ring, the pinnacle of all the sculptures of the kingdom.

Artists wept when they looked at it.

Authors wrote novels about the looks in the duo’s eyes.

Romantics grew besotted at the mere sight, composing lengthy poems about their legacy.

But she felt none of those things as she turned, and sat beneath the statues, flicking another page over in her book, her eyes swiftly rolling through the words that were contained inside of it. She was so absorbed, she completely missed the approach of her mentor, and the subtle tune of its voice.

“Twilight, Twilight, you are soooo predictable! I swear, I could set the moon and the sun to the tune of your destinations!”

She did not react to the short speech, she had heard it a thousand times. She merely replied, saying, “Go away for a bit, would you? I’m trying to study.”

Most residents would be shocked at the casual way the purple unicorn addressed her mentor, the Ruler of the Five Kingdoms. Dragons bowed to the ruler, Griffons volunteered tribute, ponies sung the ruler’s praises. The eight legged beings from a far off land – she believed they were called the glifnir, applied to the army every year, just for the chance to glimpse this being. The changelings invited this one to come to their lands without fail, desperately wanting to renegotiate the Queenly Clause, that prevented them from ever nearing the everchanging realm of Equestria, and had been denied for over a hundred years by this being.

And right now, it was showing how very unruly it could be, glaring at Twilight with shock visible on its face, and shaking its head in amusement. “Twilight, I’m shocked! Shocked and horrified, that you would dare talk back to someone above your station!” It pouted, causing Twilight to move her book closer to her face, attempting to ignore the dratted thing.

“You told me to study! I’m just trying to follow orders!”

It glared at her. “I told you to have fun, not sit in this musty old room again. Honestly, what do you find so appealing about that statue anyway? It’s so… ghastly. Like Thursdays.”

She put her book down, and sent a vicious stare its way. “I like it. It helps me think.”

“They helped me think too. I thought for almost three seconds before I decided to turn them to stone!”

She proceeded to ignore it again, returning to her book, murmuring under her breath. “Starswirl the bearded, first proposed the thirteen orders of magic in the year 127 PDE, attempting to catch the notice of our glorious leader…”

“Oooh, that part’s about me isn’t it? Read it aloud would you, I want to hear about all my ravishing attributes.”

She slammed the book shut at that, and looked up at it, cross. “No.”

“Stop being difficult, you know you want to!”

“I really don’t! You keep interrupting my study time, and I just want to read right now!”

It pouted, twirling itself around her, a claw brushing her cheek, and she flushed, a shiver running up her spine at the very close proximity she was with her mentor. It worried her when it did these things, and she would not, no matter how much it taunted, give into them. “Oh do stop, you’re not like that, are you?”

She felt a soft heat near her ear, as it continued to speak. “You know you’re not, my faithful student.”

A jolt ran through her body, and she looked down, kicking the ground with her hoof in embarrassment. She didn’t want to deal with that, she was still embarrassed that it had decided to call her that when it had caught her studying in the Labyrinth Library when she had just been a filly.

“Come now, Twilight Sparkle. Don’t be such a worry wart, and have some fun.”

She sighed, and looked into its eyes, embracing the inevitable.

“Fine, milord. I’ll have some fun.”

It laughed, twirling itself free of her, and taking a bizarre pose, grinning as she giggled while it sat in midair, tipping an imaginary hat.

“Now now Twilight, I’m no lord! Although if I was one, you know what it would be of…”

“Lord of Cake?”

“Try again!”

“Lord of Hats and Hatlike Things?”

“So close, yet soooooo far!”

She bit her lip, pretending to think. She knew what he would be; she always knew what he would be. It was just that he enjoyed the game, and a very small part of her did as well.

“Oh, alright. Would you be…”

She looked up, into the red pupiled, yellow eyes of the being in front of her, its eyebrows waggling in expectation, waiting for her answer.

“The Lord of Chaos, Discord?”

It-he, grinned right back at her, eyes shining with mirth. Her guess was correct.

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End prologue.
Here was my prompt for this:
Discord has remained the Chaotic Tyrant for more than a thousand years - defeating the power of the Elements in a most twisted way, causing their powers to backlash on the two who wielded them - Celestia and Luna. Discord reigns supreme in Equestria, and looks neither up or down at nopony, aside from one.

His faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

Should be a fun ride, right guys?

Notes: No, the pairing is not Discord/Twilight. Discord is unshippable with anyone but Discord.

There may be OCs, but I doubt they will feature majorly. I have a hard time reading stories that do that, and I'd rather not inflict them on you.

Can I get somebody to bounce ideas off of? I've got a lot of them for chapters halfway down the line. but almost none for the openings bits!

Thanks,

Fran

Comments

[IAmNotFromEarth]

Since I have a hard time telling my thoughts on stories beyond "I like it!" I can't really say anything. I can't wait to see more so you're doing stuff right. Tracking.

Can't think of anything else to add so have a cat.

[Frantic Author]

That's good because I crave cats!

[shadowcat009]

Excellent premis can't wait to see where you go with this.

[iloveportalz0r]

668226>>668235>>668635 Hello! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png

[Frantic Author]

'Lo.

Writing up the next bit, decided to go with that old trope of "Introduce everyone then interweave the story."

Shut up, I'm lazy.

[Theocrass]

At this point, all I can do is complement your writing ability! ^_^

It's very technically competent, and the whole things flows very well! ^_^

Characterizations seem to be spot on, from what I can see! ^_^