Overgrowth

by ezra09

Chase

Law followed a few feet behind Discord, not willing to turn her back on him even with the protection of the contract. If there was a way to cheat, he would find it. That was just who he was. His ridiculous tracking spell led them North, past the treeline and into the forest.

“So, you finally found a champion?” Discord asked as he led the way. “How exciting. Who is it?”

Law arched an eyebrow. “If you really don’t already know, why would I tell you?”

“Why not?” Discord asked. “I could easily find out by checking the contract.”

Law didn’t answer and they traveled in silence for several minutes before Discord spoke again.

“You of course already know about my champion, Scootaloo.”

Law grunted in response, then added, “She spent the day in town. She’s not even trying. That’s what happens when you pick somepony because they’re convenient.” Discord just chuckled in response. “My champion is a mare from the town,” Law continued. Why not? He was right, he could find out easily enough on his own, and it didn’t sit well with her, letting DIscord be the more civil of them. “A law student.”

That got a full laugh out of Discord. “And I thought I was narcissistic.”

“I never asked ponies to call it that,” Law growled. “But she seems to have a good head on her shoulders. I assume that’s why you tried to get rid of her. Or someone else did,” she added before he could object. “You’re not the only one I wouldn’t put it past.”

The light began pulling hard against the leash, and DIscord held one arm up, the back of his paw facing her. She fell silent. They stepped around a fairly large trunk, and a figure came into view. It was smaller than either of them, maybe a little larger than the average pony, and dressed in a dark cloak. It was walking away from them.

Law focused, willing her eyes to sharpen and backing her will with a trickle of magic. The forest came into focus, but the limbs under the cloak remained shrouded in shadow. It was using magic to conceal itself. Nocturne, maybe?

The collar around the light snapped and it bounded after the figure. The figure turned as the light drew closer and cast the figure’s shadow on the trees ahead. The figure fell back a step as the light leapt, forelegs coming up to cover its face. The light hit one of the figures forelegs, sinking into it, and for a moment that one limb was illuminated beyond what the magical shadow could cover. Bird like talons made of glass glowed as the light was absorbed, and then the darkness rushed back in.

The figure lowered its forelegs, and another moment of silence passed.

The figure cursed loudly, its gravelly voice that of a young male. He turned to run.

Law was after him instantly, leaping into the air and focusing on her front paws. She hit the ground with a thunderous crack and the earth beneath her shattered. The ground the figure was running on heaved beneath him, and then split, sending him into a tumble. She pounced.

The figure managed to right himself and shot into the air on wings either disguised by darkness or else made of it. Law hit the ground where he’d been a moment before. Her gaze followed his movements in the dark, a task made easier by the steady stream of vulgar curses he was spewing as he gained altitude.

Law coiled to pounce again, but before she could he twisted in the air, his glass talons glowing with power. Static sparked between them as he gathered his power, and for a split second Law felt a twinge of doubt. Even she would be hard pressed to gather that much power so quickly.

“Catch!”

He swung his talons, putting his full body into the throw, and a bolt of searing heat arced toward her.

Law considered leaping over the spell, but even from here, she could feel the weight of the magic he’d poured into the blow. There was no telling how much damage it could do if she let it past her, toward the town. She roared, and her two front paws clamped over the bolt. The force of it drove her back, her hind legs tearing long furrows in the ground, but she managed to stop it.

“Discord!”

“I know, I know,” Discord said, sailing past her in pursuit of the figure.

The spell she’d caught twisted and pulsed against her paws, threatening to explode. She pushed in against it, teeth bared. Another roar rose in her chest, the sound of it splintering the bark of the closest trees.

The magic collapsed in on itself, the structure of the spell failing in the face of her might. She channeled the free magic into herself rather than letting it out into the air. Her legs burned with the strain, lights flashed behind her eyes, and she felt herself hurled back by the force. Her body snapped cleanly through the hundred-year-old tree behind her like nothing more sturdy than a matchstick.

The world spun around her in a wave of disjointed noise and motion, and finally she came to a stop.

*****

The detonation of the stranger’s magic reached Discord several seconds after he’d passed Law. After that, he couldn’t hear her in the forest behind him.

“Well, it looks like it’s just us, now,” he said conversationally.

“Yeah? Try to keep up, old timer!” The figure called back, twisting out of the way of a thick trunk.

Discord snapped his talons just before colliding with it and appeared unharmed on the other side. “Old timer?” He snapped again, this time appearing in front of the figure. “Now, just what is that supposed to mean?”

The figure slipped past Discord by inches, never slowing down. Discord sighed, snapped and teleported again, but to his surprise, the figure was already past him when he appeared.

“Huh, I guess we’ll do this the old fashioned way.”

It had been ages since Discord had really flown. He twisted through the forest like a snake, pushing himself as fast as he could without colliding with one of the trees, and occasionally using magic to close in on the figure.

And despite all of that, the figure managed to stay ahead of him. It flew at the same breakneck pace, skirting past trees and branches with inches, centimeters, and sometimes less to spare, all while avoiding Discord each time the draconequus teleported.

The figure’s magic may have been crude and clumsy, but it seemed flying came as easy to him as breathing. He might have even given Scootaloo a run for her money.

“Well, as fun as this has been, I think it’s about time we got some answers,” Discord said, straightening into a standing position as he flew after the figure. He raised his talons to snap again. The figure may have been fast, but he probably wasn’t prepared for a half mile wide jello mold appearing above him.

Discord never got the chance to snap. Something hit him in the gut, and his head whiplashed forward as his legs swept out from under him. His body wrapped twice around something thin and nearly invisible stretched between two trees. The breath was forced from his body, and had he been mortal, he might have actually been worried for a moment. As it was, the blow left him momentarily stunned. He lifted his head again, but the figure had vanished in the few seconds he’d been stopped.

“Well, that’s annoying.” Discord felt whatever had stopped him and found himself wrapped around an odd white rope. It was sticky to the touch. A series of clicking noises drew his attention upwards and he found himself facing a large set of fangs and eight dark eyes. Above them was a giant spider, easily twice as wide at the body as the average pony. Black hair covered its segmented body, and long legs held it aloft in an equally giant web.

The spider spoke. The voice that came from between its fangs was ugly and disjointed. “Disscord.”

“Good evening, Weaver. I hope you don’t mind me dropping in?”

The giant spider, Weaver, hissed in what Discord imagined was displeasure. “You maaake too much...” the spider faltered, as though the first four words took too much energy to say all at once. She lowered herself down so that her eyes were level with his. “Noissse. Scare away... predator. Scare away... preeeey.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Thisss web... useless. Caught only... one morsel.” As she spoke, she began snapping some of the lines of the web and wrapping them around one of his legs.

“Actually, I have better things to do than being eaten,” Discord said, snapping his talons and appearing floating in the air beside the web.

If she was disappointed at losing her dinner, Weaver didn’t show it. She moved higher into her web and began snapping more strands. “For now.”

“I don’t suppose you saw someone fly past?” Discord asked. “I was chasing after them. Fast little guy, throwing around power like one of us?”

“I amm not... fast.”

“I didn’t think it was you. Though now that you mention it, it is quite a coincidence that you’re out here.”

“I amm not... fast,” Weaver said again.

“No, I suppose you aren’t.”

“I have seeeen... no one else.”

Heavy stomps and the sound of breaking branches came from the direction Discord had come from. Law appeared, charging through the forest. She leapt, clearing a fallen tree trunk, and her head snapped back as she hit Weaver’s web at full speed. Her legs swung forward, nearly tearing her free, and then she swung back, head and front paws stuck to the sticky strands.

“Watch out, Law,” Discord warned her, voice quietly bored. “There’s a web. Duck.”

“Weaver!” She called, voice filled with rage.

“I amm not... fast,” Weaver said again in self defense.

“What are you doing here?”

“Eaaaating. Hunting. Cannn not... closer. Mortalllls... protected. No matter how tassty.”

“Right, we’re outside the twenty-five mile safe-zone,” Discord said. Twenty-five miles so quickly. Whoever they’d been chasing, he’d really been able to move. And he’d either known where Weaver’s web was, had been able to sense it coming, or had gotten so lucky that even Discord found it hard to believe.

Weaver lowered herself again and began wrapping one of Law’s paws in web.

“Remember last time,” Law said simply. Weaver paused, and then moved away. Law hung limply from the web, catching her breath to break herself free.

“Well, I for one had a wonderful time,” Discord said. “It’s been ages since the three of us got together to do anything.”

Comments

[ezra09]

Here, have a giant spider, just in time for Halloween.

[Lanigiro]

Static power, ‘old timer’, really fast... could this be a Eternal Spirit of Technology?

[KeePony]

how about Change. a spirit of change would have Discords powers but with some control.