Chapter 6: Chaos
Magical power. Almost unlimited magical power. It's mine to use however I want, but I'm going to use it right. I won't waste this power.
I have to see what I can do though. There’s no point using this magic if I’m not sure what it’s capable of, and I know that Discord gave me an incredible amount of power. I’m just realizing that my ability to use magic so conveniently and easily must mean that I have a ridiculous amount of magic. I had no idea my first two spells would work, but Discord's magic is strong. I feel so comfortable using it that it feels as if I mastered it years ago. Discord was an idiot for giving me this much power. He should know that I have no intention of using it to talk to animals.
“I have to change this world,” I say to myself, thinking of what I could do. “No! I have to change my own world! I’ll bring all the poor up and let the rich see what it’s like to be at the bottom. I’ll bring justice to Earth. Real justice.”
I can feel my magic welling up inside me. I’ve never felt so powerful, so whole. I won’t waste this opportunity.
“First, I’ll show these freaks in hoofland what reality is. I’ll show them that the weak suffer and the strong die as weakly as the frailest butterfly in an inferno. I’ll show them what it's like to be powerless and hopeless. Then they'll wish for the opportunity, the freedom, the ease of life they once had. But I won't give it back to them. I'll put them on their knees not so they can worship me but so that they never stand again. Then they'll understand true frailty.”
"I have to take over Ponyville. Then I'll take over the rest of Equestria. I'll kill Discord. I'll kill Twilight and the rest of them. Then I'll return to Earth and I'll become its ruler. They'll have no way to stand up to me.
How do I begin? I've heard how Discord once tried to take over Ponyville, how he failed to take over Equestria twice. But I'm different. I have direction. I won't go soft. That's why I will be able to rule these worthless, stupid ponies. It's why I'll rule even Earth.
I have to research what Discord did to gain control and, more importantly, how he failed to keep it. I'm sure the Canterlot library has tons of information on this, and I should be able to go through it all easily. The magic flows violently inside me, and I can envision my destination despite having never been there. My eyes close as I let the power of chaos guide me through darkness, through confusion, through a portal of endless fear. Suddenly, I’m in the library, and I'm not sure if the lack of light is comforting or miserable.
I look around myself, watching the ever-extending shelves of books as my eyes adjust to the darkness and bring them into focus. I expected the library to be large, but the enormity of it blows my mind. Even as my eyes begin to adjust to the dim lighting, I still fail to see the wall on any side. The next section, alone, is over a hundred yards away.
I don’t need to worry about any other section though. I’m in the middle of the history section of the library, amidst an entire wall fully dedicated to Discord’s plans, possible reasons, musings on his psychology, anything I would want if I cared about it all.
I see right away the book that I need as if I had picked it up a thousand times before, and I take it from its shelf. It feels relatively new, which I realize makes sense since it includes Discord’s schemes with Tirek. I pop open the book and skim through the stories, scanning for his failures.
After the uniting of Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies in the founding of Equestria, unrest slowly claimed the various ponies as they strove to determine a form of government. Despite the guidance of friendship, harmony was still far from within grasp. As unrest transformed into argumentation, argumentation transformed into chaos. Amidst this endless turmoil, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, was born. Discord grew to incredible power with ease, taking over much of Equestria before many knew that he existed. Within a few weeks of his birth into the world, he had conquered the land, ruling it and ever maintaining its disharmony between ponies, animals, and all of his subjects.
After the passing of a half-millennium, two brave sisters stepped forth to oppose him. The young Alicorns Celestia and Luna had discovered the Elements of Harmony, and were able to defeat Discord using these powerful tools, locking him away in a stone coffin where he would have remained for eternity.
However, when Princess Luna was disconnected from Princess Celestia, the magic from the Elements of Harmony began to slowly deteriorate. Eventually, all it took was a slight nudge to awake Discord and his endless magic of turmoil. Discord was able to hide the Elements of Harmony and once again rule amidst chaos, but his reign was cut short as Twilight Sparkle led her friends to once again harness the power of the Elements of Harmony and bring Discord back to his stony prison.
“Well, that didn’t help at all,” I mumble to myself. “All I know is that Twilight and friends have an unbeatable trump card that they can throw out whenever they want. Discord was able to separate them from their harmony though. Maybe I could do the same thing, but do it better.”
“Talking to yourself is a bad habit when you want to sneak around, Caleb,” Princess Luna says calmly as she walks into my aisle. I turn around, and almost try to hide the book. But I stop myself. I have nothing to be afraid of. I have the magic of Discord after all.
“Since you’re curious about the Elements of Harmony, I’ll tell you about them,” she says.
“When did I say I was curious?” I snap back.
“I simply assumed so.”
“Well, don’t assume anything about me!” I shout.
She looks at me for a moment, waiting a long while before responding. “I won’t tell you much about them then. I’ll simply say that they’re gone. Not completely of course. They’ve effectively been absorbed into the ponies you know so well, Princess Twilight Sparkle and her fellow princesses-to-be.”
I almost ask about the ‘princess-to-be’ comment, but I don’t want to get sucked into her emotional yapping. “Thanks for letting me know.”
“I heard that Discord gave some of his magic to you,” she says. “Is this true?”
I turn the book into a flock of paper birds and let them fly away. I don’t need it anymore. “It must be,” I say back.
“I feared as much,” she says and turns her head aside. “If only you knew the burden of such power. You must be consumed in turmoil with all the chaos he has let loose within you.”
“I don’t have any turmoil. I know exactly what I want.” I stare at her until she looks back up at me. I see the glimmer of a tear forming in her eye, and it nearly catches in my throat. I hold back my feelings, holding close to my ideals. “I will change this world. I will make it understand what it is like to feel powerless. Then I’ll return to my home, and I’ll make every human in the world feel as powerless as I felt my entire life.”
She shakes her head and lets her eyes fall to the floor; tears fall to the wooden floor immediately. She doesn’t sob. She simply lets the tears fall as they splash against the ground, sparkling as they fall in the pale moonlight from the windows above.
“I tried to help you,” she whispers as if she doesn’t want me to hear it.
“I never needed help,” I say proudly, making sure she hears me. “I never needed the emotion you gave me. I never needed anything you told me. I just needed this one chance, my chance. This magic is my chance, my destiny; I will not let it pass without this world and my world feeling the effect of my power and will.”
“You don’t understand, Caleb,” she says. “This will only lead to your heartbreak. You don’t know how much worse your life could get.”
“You served a sentence on the moon,” I retort. “I served a sentence in my home with no family and no hope. I’ve done my time.”
“Who’s to say that you won’t serve a longer sentence, Caleb?” She walks close to me so that I can see her. Her face is serious, laden with creases of concern and exhaustion. Her tone is urgent. Her tears seem to be burning down her cheeks. “Who’s to say that your sentence would not be worse? Caleb, this very action of hatred will be your sentence for holding hatred in your heart. You don’t understand how horrible life can be when you take everything away from yourself. You will die, Caleb, and yet you will be forced to live.”
“You’re just spitting nonsense now,” I say as I walk away from her. “Saying I don’t know how horrible life can be? I grew up in the cell of hopelessness. You say that this action, this freedom is my punishment? Then I want more! Give me more of this easy, empowering punishment so that I can keep putting you all under my foot.”
“No, Caleb!” she pleads. “Please, don’t do this to yourself. I don’t want to see you in any more pain. You’ve already suffered so much–”
“As if anyone would know that better than me? I know exactly what suffering is, and I want to end it! I want everyone to understand my suffering so that no one causes it ever again! My suffering will be the last suffering ever.”
“Your suffering will only grow worse. Suffering cannot die except with death.”
“Then death is what I’ll give this world.”
“No,” she cries. “No, no.” Her tears fall like the stars of the end of time, shining brightly before crashing to the ground. I stand straight and watch her cry. I watch every teardrop fall, and I force myself to feel nothing for any one of them. I watch even as she turns away and mumbles more nonsense about how she couldn’t save me.
I watch until she is long gone from sight, long gone from earshot. I try to wait until she is gone from my memory, but I don’t have that much time. I mean, I have to get moving. I have to begin my attack. I know what I have to do to take out Twilight and her worthless friends. I’ll attack them personally, and I’ll destroy their lives until they can no longer feel connected to each other. Therefore, they will be unable to summon their magic, and I’ll be able to conquer them all.
I don’t need to spend another minute here. I know my plan, and I have to get on with it. Something about this place makes me uncomfortable anyways.
I teleport once again, aiming straight for Fluttershy’s cottage. If any pony’s suffering will make them all suffer, it’s her. I find myself high in the sky above her home, waiting for a shift in the wind. Why am I waiting? I could just destroy her house right now, and so I will with this fire.
Nothing happens. I throw my hands in an exaggerated motion at her house, but nothing happens. I can’t let it burn.
A whisper flies past my ear like a fly in the wind. “Who’s there?” I shout, but there’s no one.
I shake my head and look back at the house, around the house. The only thing I see is a tree. “Hmmm, it might work.” I let the tree transform across time and become an incredibly large match as the birds all fly away from their vanished homes. I watch as the side of the cottage turns into a striking strip, and I release the match to fall into the striking strip, igniting in a glorious blaze. Within moments, it catches to the cottage, and the inferno burns as hundreds of creatures crash through the front door, escaping over each other as some are trampled to the floor. Some get up.
I look for Fluttershy, but she’s nowhere to be seen. I shrug and set course for the next target, Applejack’s home in Sweet Apple Acres. She loves her honesty. I'll give her an honest end.
Sweet Apple Acres seems as empty as it could be. All the cattle are gone, and I don’t see a pony in sight. I shrug as the grass below turns into acid, enveloping everything it touches into a horrible-smelling flame. It’s too late to stop, but I’ll never burn property that way again. I wanted to enjoy Applejack’s burning home, but this damn smell ruins all of it.
Screw it. I’m off to Rarity’s house. It’s probably the most disgusting waste of wealth that I’ve ever seen. Everything is so modern and expensive-looking that I don’t even know how to burn it right. Nobody’s home to see it happen unfortunately. I look at some of the jewels laden about the inside of her windows and watch as they sprout lit fuses in preparation to burst into flame. I feel hundreds and thousands more jewels in her house sprout the same angry fuses, and I let a smirk crawl onto my face. I don’t stay to watch this one since the blast will be so large.
I find myself sitting on a cloud where Rainbow Dash must live. The house is fairly modest, seeming smaller in its emptiness. Lightning comes straight from the clouds in this world, so I decide to summon some lightning from the earth, watching as it penetrates and slices the cloud-riding home. The cloud dissipates, and the burning, splintered house falls toward the earth like so many falling stars.
I turn my attention to finding Pinkie Pie’s house, and I immediately find myself right in the middle of Ponyville, in an alley between two buildings. I see a box. This stupid pony is filthy rich and famous, and yet she chooses to live in a box. That makes absolutely no sense! What a total imbecile. I find another box, turn it into a grill, and toss Pinkie’s stupid box on top, letting it sizzle and burn.
I turn around and see Twilight’s palace. I don’t need to teleport or let Discord’s magic guide me to this place. I’ll simply float there and set it aflame slowly. I hope everyone can see it too.
I behold the palace in all of its beauty, and I hate it. A palace dedicated to friendship. I wonder where the palace of people who can’t afford food is. This is all so ridiculous.
“Get out of here!” someone shouts. I ignore her.
“Why are you doing this?” someone else shouts. I wish I was experienced enough at this to tune them out completely. Maybe I’ll get there someday.
An apple clocks me in the side of the head, breaking my focus completely.
“Who threw–”
Nearly the entire town of ponies is standing behind me as I turn around to face them. Hundreds of ponies with all sorts of colors and cutie marks, and they all wear vivid anger on their faces. I show them no emotion. More of them start to pick up apples from nearby trees, but as they get ready to hurl them at me, the apples float gently into the sky.
“What do you think you’re doing, Caleb?” the mayor shouts at me.
“That’s what I meant to ask all of you,” I boom, using magic to amplify my voice. “What are all of you doing here?”
“We’re here to stop you from messing up our town, moron!” a particularly boorish stallion shouts.
“Yeah, quit it!”
“Get out of here!”
“Stop it!” I command them. “All of you, stop your useless shouting! I did not ask why you stand in the middle of town; I meant to ask why you are all here in Ponyville, living off of the work of others, living off of your magic and your unearned possessions and abilities. Why are you doing this rather than sharing everything you have with those who do not have?”
“What the heck?”
“Are you an idiot?”
“Go get a brain!”
“What are you talking about?”
I shake my head and turn away from them. “You’re all such imbeciles,” I say to myself. “If any of you worthless morons had a brain, you could understand that I’m trying to do something good for all rather than simply standing by to allow your unquenchable selfishness.”
“Get back here, Caleb!”
I ignore them all, finally starting to tune everything out as I focus on the palace ahead of me. I will burn it to the ground. I’ll crush it, leaving it in dust and ashes. I look at intently. If they wish to throw apples at me, I’ll throw one at them.
I summon a great tree as it sprouts from the ground, growing larger, wider, taller and bearing a single gigantic fruit to hang over the palace. A small ant hill between the palace and tree rages amidst the chaos around it, so I seize the opportunity to make one final demonstration. I turn them all into fire ants the size of horse heads, dripping with flaming acid from their mouths. They rush from their home to attack the intruding tree and its fruit, lighting the whole construction aflame. Finally, the blazing apple falls from the tree to be penetrated by the castle’s sharp pillars as the fruit spills its fiery liquid all across the cathedral of friendship. I watch as friendship is engulfed in a sweet-smelling fire.