//------------------------------//
// Chaos Magic 
// Story: Resurgence 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

"That will be all. Day Court is adjourned."

I watched the last of the petitioners file out of my throne room and took a deep breath. Day Court had gotten a little crazy since everything that had happened with Discord. Nothing on the level of the war, but definitely enough to be annoying. On the plus side, nopony seemed to have found out that Kristen was the new chaos god, so that was good. The ponies who attacked my church would be in prison for quite some time.

And would probably tell other prisoners.

Who might tell their families and friends when they get out.

And from there...

Ugh. I'd figure that out when the time came. I knew I couldn't keep it a secret forever. Ponies were going to start asking questions when a hundred years passed and Kristen didn't look a moment older.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. I'd worry about that when the time came, and the time would come. Celestia and I were working on a strategy to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible. Kristen was not Discord, and we wanted to make that completely clear.

Speaking of Kristen, she should have been in the middle of her first Equestrian Studies class. I hopped off of my throne and stretched out my legs and wings. Might as well see how that's going.

I made my way down one of my palaces many hallways, leaving Tulip with whatever paperwork needed to be done, and reached the conference room I'd set aside for Kristen to be tutored in. It wouldn't really work if I just put her in first grade with a bunch of other foals. I cracked the door open and peeked inside the room.

"--And so with that, the minotaurs won the Battle of the Plains in 304 After Discord, bringing temporary stability to... Princess Kristen? Are you listening?"

Kristen's head was on her desk, her hooves on the sides of her head in a clear showing of frustration. When the teacher called her, she instantly snapped up.

"Yeah, sure. Totally. Minotaurs and the Battle of the Plains. Got it, Professor Binns."

The tutor raised an eyebrow at her. "It's 'Professor Blackboard', Princess Kristen. Please do try to remember that."

Kristen gritted her teeth, and I could tell she had several sarcastic retorts she'd like to give, but she held her tongue. I figured it was a good time to step in.

"So, how are things going?"

"Ah, they are going well, Prince Antares," Blackboard said, bowing low to me.  "I am following my lesson plans to the letter."

"Yeah, that's great. Just awesome," Kristen said, her teeth still gritted. "I'm learning all kinds of wonderful things."

"Well, in any case, it might be time to stop for dinner. I don't know about you, Kristen, I'm getting hungry."

"Yep!" Kristen shot out of her chair and zipped over to me. "Starving. We'll pick this up tomorrow, Professor Bi... Blackboard."

"Very well, Princess Kristen." Blackboard bowed to the both of us, and I stepped aside so he could leave the room. Kristen poked her head out the door, waiting until Blackboard was at the end of the hallway before collapsing onto her haunches and running her hooves down her face.

"That was so boring!" she groaned. "He was talking about wars and stuff and he didn't make a moment of it interesting!"

"Yeah, I could guess from the nickname." I nudged Kristen to her hooves and walked with her to the dining room. "I hired him to get you caught up on things a little more... relevant, shall we say. Unless they're history professors in college, ponies don't really know all that much about the Battle of the Plains." I stuck my tongue out. "Which, yeah, is a stupid name for one of the most decisive battles in military history."

"Nope, nope, nope, I don't want to hear any more about that!" Kristen said, covering her ears with her wings. "I'm done with school for the day!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," I said, nudging her wings back down. "In any case, I'll go have a talk with him; try to get him to teach you about a little more modern history, unless it's really relevant like the history of Celestia and Luna."

"That does sound a little more interesting," Kristen admitted as we reached the dining room. "Maybe I can learn about some stuff with you, too."

"He'll probably want to cover that, yes." The two of us reached our seats and I paused for a moment to order grilled cheese and tomato soup for the two of us before resuming conversation. "Yeah, the war especially is a big deal. Equestria's whole... everything has been shaped by it. You can't just lose over sixty thousand ponies, shake up the world's political landscape by conquering lands and cities that had never seen a victorious invading army, on top of introducing weapons ponies hadn't even thought of before without things being shaken up a lot."

"Yeah, one of your guards was talking about some of that stuff with me. Blaze, I think his name was."

"Yep, he does kind of like talking about it. It was an interesting time for him." I smirked and shook my head. "It doesn't hurt that he has a bunch of mares swooning over him, not just because he's a veteran who at one point commanded the army, but because he has a nice facial scar to go along with it."

Kristen scoffed and shook her head. "Yeah, he definitely likes talking about it. Not like that other one. The one with the missing ear."

My smile instantly fell, and I looked down to the table and poked at the wood. "Yeah. Rapids. She worries me. I keep asking her to see a psychologist, but she always finds a way around it. I guess if she tries to work through it, it'll all become real for her, and she'll have to fully come to terms with the fact that the scars aren't going away and she's not getting her ear back either."

"You could order her to go see a counselor," Kristen pointed out.

"Yeah, I technically could, but I think that would breed a little resentment, and even more stubbornness. It would do more harm than good for sure."

"Maybe in the short term, but in the long run she might start opening up and realizing why you pushed her so hard." Kristen shrugged. "The alternative is letting her do this stuff forever, and I know it's affecting her performance as one of your guards."

"Yeah, it is. I keep feeling that if I gave her a little space she'd open up a little, but..." I sighed. "She's not the only pony who lost stuff in the war. Dozens of ponies lost stuff like legs and eyes, and she's not even the only pony who lost an ear."

"Yeah..." Kristen's ears flattened, and she rubbed one of her forelegs. "Yeah, she kinda... came up to me and asked if I could fix her. That didn't go so well."

My eyes widened. "Wait, when was that?"

"A couple of days ago. I didn't want to say anything because it weirded me out. She wasn't happy when I said I couldn't. Even if I hadn't been the chaos god for only a month, you and Celestia said that my magic isn't permanent yet because chaos and stuff. I couldn't fix her ear forever if I wanted to."

"Yeah, I know she's been looking for something to fix that. Anything to believe it never happened."

"Maybe she could get a fake ear made or something? Wear it with a string thin enough that she can hide it under her fur? Not sure about the scars."

"The fake ear is a possibility, but I'm not sure how she'll feel about that," I admitted. "In terms of the scar, they're prevalent enough that simple makeup isn't going to cover them. It would take a lot, and that would be noticeable." I shook my head. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I should just order her to go see a psychologist. No matter what she's feeling, she wouldn't disobey a direct order from me." I shook my head and waved my hoof. "Whatever. Let's not bother with that right now. I just had an entire day of court and I'd rather relax."

"Sounds good to me. Professor Binns is boring as all else!" Kristen rubbed her hooves together and focused on a spot on the table. "Practicing my chaos magic is a lot more fun anyway."

"Maybe at some point you'll make food that's actually edible?" I grimaced at her. "And not take bites out of the dining room table when you get really frustrated?"

"One time," Kristen growled. "I took a bite out of the table one time three weeks ago and you're never going to forget it."

"Well, to be fair, it is kind of a unique thing, and we alicorns have a really long memory. Put yourself in my shoes for a bit here: your sibling is the master of all chaos and they just took a bite out of the table. And it didn't even taste good, did it?"

"Oh shut up. I'm working on it, okay?" Kristen focused on the table and put her hooves out like she was going to shoot lightning out of them. "Apple pie!"

Nothing.

"You were doing fine with the cookies the other day. They started to taste like something resembling passable."

"They're not as complicated, now hush." She narrowed her eyes and pointed at the table again. Her ears perked up when a single apple appeared on the table. I was about to congratulate her on her success when the apple levitated a few hooves into the air, twitched for a second, then dissolved into a pile of mush. Kristen groaned and thunked her head on the table.

"Uh... that was... better?"

Kristen shot me a sideways glare. "I guess it is a different kind of failure." She grimaced and looked at her hooves. "I'm better when I'm really stressed or upset, for some reason."

"Well, magic is tied to emotion," I pointed out. "That's why you succeeded in doing stuff when my church got taken over. You were pretty pissed off."

"Yeah, yeah," Kristen grumbled.

"Hey, don't worry about it," I said, draping a wing over her back. "You'll get a lot better. You'll control it, not your emotions. I had similar problems when I first ascended. Every magic user goes through this."

Kristen wiggled out from under my wing and pushed herself farther away. "Yeah, I guess, but I'm twenty seven now. A little old to not know how to do something that kids are doing."

I frowned at her. "No, not really, especially when you've only had powers for a month now. Trust me: you're still a lot farther along than most one month old unicorn foals."

"Oh well then that makes it all better," Kristen snarked. "I'm doing better than a newborn. Yay."

I shot her a glare. "Come on, no need for the attitude. I get that it's frustrating, trust me. I got really pissed off in that fight with Celestia when I couldn't do anything other than shoot out a few sparks or even fly to fight her. But I learned pretty quickly. On the whole you're far more powerful than I am, or at least you probably will be after a few decades or so."

Kristen stuck her tongue out at me and crossed her forelegs. "And when I get to that point you're going to get it."

Heh, I knew she was joking, I really did, but that didn't make her statement any less uncomfortable. Given what Celestia had told me about Discord's history, it sounded like a dark road that I didn't want my sister to go down. If I had to put my only link to my old life in stone because she got power hungry... I didn't want to think about that.

Kristen must have noticed my silence, because her smile fell and she flattened her ears. "I'm not gonna be like him, okay? You're not going to have to fight me off with the Elements because I plan on ruling the world. I don't want the world, TD. Don't know what I'd do with it."

I gave her a weak smile and nodded. "Yeah, of course not. I know that you were joking, it's just that I guess I'm still a little sore about what Discord did to me and my family. You're not going to go down that path. Of course not."

What about in a thousand years? I... no, that's stupid. I know Kristen. She's not like that.

"Well then let's not talk about it anymore," Kristen said, turning to the meal that had just been set before us. I opened my mouth to say something, but she held out a hoof to silence me. "Okay, I can do this. Just a little..." Kristen waved her hoof over her grilled cheese like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It wasn't encased in any magic, but it shook on the table, then floated a few hooves into the air. Kristen let out a little squeal of happiness and took a bite.

"Interesting," I said as I watched her eat. "I noticed that you had a better hold of it when you were happy about your success."

Kristen shrugged and swallowed her bite. "Yeah, I guess so. What's your point?"

"Well, you remember what I said about magic being tied to emotion? I think I have an idea."


*  *  *  *


A few days later Kristen and I were standing in her room. I noticed that she hadn't done too much to personalize it, but she had managed to get rid of the spots on the carpet alongside all of the other damage she did when she freaked out. All of that suited me just fine. I wanted everything to be as ‘normal’ as I could. It would make for a better starting point.

"So are you going to tell me your idea now?" Kristen grumbled. "Your silence has been killing me."

"Well, then it won't kill you any longer." I motioned to the contents of the room. "So, you've been practicing your chaos magic around the room to try to personalize it a little bit, right?"

"Yeah, but that hasn't been working out so well."

"Right. But I got an idea from when I saw you eat the grilled cheese the other day." I smiled and turned to her. "So I said that magic is tied to emotion, right? Well, because I wasn't thinking I didn't see the other side of that. So far your magic has been triggered by extreme anger or frustration. Negative emotions. What happens, I wonder, when you try to use your magic when you're feeling really happy? I know that's been really hard with everything that's been happening lately, but I think I've figured out a way to fix that."

Kristen raised her eyebrow and tilted her head. "Oh yeah? What?"

I opened the door behind us and motioned to one of the servants who came in with a large metal box floating beside him, which had been filled nearly to the top with water. I took it from him with my own magic and gently set it down between Kristen and I.

"Kristen, I feel you might have felt a bit lonely lately, what with being in a strange land and your only connection to your past life is constantly busy ruling an entire nation that's recovering from a brutal war. So I thought you could use a little buddy."

I slid the lid off of the box and motioned for Kristen to peer inside. She slowly moved closer to it, eyeing both me and the box with suspicion, then glanced inside. Her eyes instantly widened and she let out an ear-piercing squee that I'm certain woke up several of Luna's guards.

"Is that an octopus?!"

I smiled and nodded. "Yes. Not just any octopus. Your octopus."

Kristen shakily sat down and put her hoof on the side of the box. "Oh my gosh. My own pet octopus!" Kristen looked up at me with the largest grin I'd ever seen on her face. "I'm going to name him Bob!"

"Bob it is, then," I said, sitting next to the box and looking inside. Bob looked to be a fairly normal looking octopus about the size of my hoof. He lazily floated in his temporary container, seemingly without a care in the world. From what I'd learned of octopi, he was exceptionally intelligent. Him and Kristen would probably get along quite nicely.

"So, does he have a better aquarium than this, or what?" Kristen dipped a hoof into the water and poked at Bob. "He can't stay in there forever."

"Nope he sure can't, but that's where you come in." I motioned to the room. "It's your job to make Bob his own little space. Make it as big as you want, decorate it and fill it with what you'd like, but you're going to have to make it from scratch. Because you can't make your magic permanent yet, I'll help you solidify it so that it's not going to just revert back after a short time."

"Yeah, yeah, sounds good," Kristen said, rubbing her hooves and grinning. “So I think I'll put it right... there!" She pointed to a corner of the room that hadn't been decorated that much. I held my breath. This was a big gamble I was doing here, and if she couldn't pull it off then she'd get really down and that would make it harder to get her skills up. A lot of magic was about confidence.

However, after a few seconds, a giant aquarium that looked like it could hold at least three hundred gallons popped into existence. I was about to congratulate Kristen on her success, but she frowned and waved it away, reducing it to a wisp of smoke.

"No, no, that's not right. I don't want Bob to live in an aquarium. How about... A swimming pool!"

"Wait, a wha--?"

Before I could stop her, Kristen waved her hoof and a swimming pool like the kind you'd find at a rec center appeared, taking up half of her room and going from wall-to-wall from the door to the opposite wall. It was already filled with water. Kristen nodded and walked up to it. She dipped her hoof into the pool, then brought it out and licked it.

"Yep, salt water. Ocean salt water, in fact. Perfect for an octopus." Kristen giddily bounced up to Bob's container and effortlessly lifted it into the air with her magic. She flipped it open and dumped Bob right into the swimming pool before diving in right after him. I cast a shield around the pool, which was a good thing in hindsight. Water would have gone everywhere otherwise.

Kristen sighed contentedly and let her wings push her through the water while Bob explored his new home. Kristen glanced down to him and righted herself. "He's going to want places to hide and some stuff to explore." She shot her hooves through the water and the bottom of the pool became covered with sand and small rocks of the type one would find on the floor of a sea. With more waving hollow rocks and seashells appeared alongside a clear plastic container filled with what looked to be PVC pipe. "Let's see how quickly you get through that, Bob!"

"So, you seem to be enjoying this," I said, walking up to my sister with a grin.

"Totally! I have a pet octopus and..." Her smile faded as the realization of everything hit her. "Did I just create a fifteen meter deep swimming pool out of thin air with everything an octopus might need to be happy?"

I laid down in front of the pool and nodded. "You sure did. Cookies don't seem to be so hard now, do they?"

Kristen blushed and poked at the surface of the water. "Yeah, I guess not. I saw the stuff that Discord did, but I never thought I'd actually be able to pull it off, you know?"

"Well you're still potentially centuries away from gaining that kind of power, but I think this is a nice start, don't you?"

Kristen's smile returned, and she looked down at Bob who darted into one of the seashells. "Yeah, I guess it is." Kristen used her wings to get halfway out of the water and she pulled me into a hug. "Thanks, TD. I needed this a lot. I haven't been happy like this since I came here."

"You're welcome," I said, returning the hug. “You're my sister. I may be a pony who can raise the sun and moon and lead wars, and you might be the avatar of chaos, but that's never going to change."

"Good." She broke away from the hug and sunk into the water up to her neck. "So if you don't mind, I could use a little help making this more... permanent."

I chuckled and got to my hooves. "I think I can help you with that."