Chapter Eight: The Spirit of Madness
To say the situation was bad, was an understatement. Oh the day had started out fine for sure, but then it escalated to this.
Whatever the heck this was supposed to be anyways.
Twilight could hardly fathom the literal madness that surrounded her. The ground was random colors, small bits of which were randomly floating in the air, none of the trees were green, pink clouds rained down hot chocolate, and the sky was a slightly different shade of blue that you wouldn't notice unless you really looked. But when you did notice, it was probably by far the most annoying thing out of this world of chaos.
And all of this was caused by the actions of one, singular spirit.
“Oh ho ho! Isn't this so much fun Twilight?” Discord, the spirit of chaos, asked the once purple mare, who's fur and mane now took on a more grayish color. Twilight, for the most part, wasn't listening. She had failed after all. She failed Celestia, her friends. She failed the entirety of Equestria! Everything that was happening was her fault.
“Oh don't look so down. It's the coronation of my rule!” Discord proclaimed, a cardboard crown held together by tape and a cape that was several sizes too small appearing on his form. “Have some fun! I know I will!”
The chaotic entity chuckled to himself as Twilight began to walk away. She couldn't do this. She couldn't stop him. Discord may have only been a spirit, but he had powers on par with what she thought a god might have. He could do anything he wanted at any time, and no one could stop him!
And so, Twilight did the only thing she could. She walked home. She made her way to the front of her literal tree house, opened the door with a depressed glance, and shut it with an equally depressed sigh.
“Well, she's no fun,” Discord muttered. But he couldn't blame her. He had, after all, made her the opposite of her defining quality. Friendship. And thus, now she was just a depressing loner. Still though, the spirit of madness was not without a conscious. “Eh, maybe I'll turn her into a chaos spirit later. Depressing ponies are no fun to rule over.”
But he did not realize that this, “rule,” he had attained would be so short lived. Something was coming.
And it was coming fast.
Twilight looked in bewilderment at the mess in front of her.
There were scrolls everywhere.
The pile of parchments had built up like a miniature mountain, taking up half the library. Then, the top of this mountain erupted like a volcano, a burst of green flame shooting out from the peak. And from this oddly colored fire, came Spike, laying on top of the piles of paper, a sickened look on his face.
“God, it's like throwing up a forest,” the purple drake complained before his eyes widened as his cheeks puffed out once more, a green tint on their surface, and he burped, letting loose another scroll from his jaws. “Please, no more.”
“Um, Spike?” Twilight called out worriedly. “You alright?”
“Oh Celestia Twilight make it stop! Every second I just-” he was interrupted when another burp let loose, the flames from his mouth creating another scroll. “Oooooh, my stomach.”
“What is all this?” Twilight levitated one of the many scrolls to her view, and saw the royal seal enclosed on it. She carefully removed the ribbon that tied the scroll shut and opened the rolled up letter. “Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that… hey wait, this is one of my friendship reports!”
She picked up another. And another. And another! They were all friendship reports! But what could this mean?
“Is Celestia trying to tell me something?”
BURP!
“Oh god…”
“But what?”
BURP!
“Please, no more…”
“Is she reminding me that I failed? No, she wouldn't do that.”
BURP!
“I can't...”
“Hmm… why is she sending these then?”
BURP!
“Why cruel fate? Why…?”
“Is she maybe… trying to remind me of my successes? Of all the things I've done? Of all the friends I've made?”
BURP!
“Just let it end!”
“Yes that's it! How could I have forgotten? No friendship is perfect!”
BURP!
“Kill me!”
“Everyone has flaws, but that's what makes friendships work! Because our flaws make us different, they also bind us together! Thanks Spike!”
“Twilight don't leave me!” Spike called out as his surrogate sister ran out the door, color returning to her form. The door shut behind her, and Spike was left in silence.
…
…
…
“Huh, maybe it's-”
BURP!
Twilight ran outside, looking for her friends. One by one she gathered them up, and read to them about the times they spent together, and how important they all were to her. And it was with those words that her friends returned. And, after a quick trip back to the library to grab the elements, now that Twilight thought about it Discord’s riddle was really obvious, they headed for the crazy king.
Discord himself was sat on his throne, playing with the sun and the moon like they were children's toys.
“Night! Day! Night! Day! Night! Day!” The spirit of chaos stopped and thought to himself. “I wonder what would happen if I-”
“Discord!” He heard a voice call out. Turning around, he saw Twilight and her friends, all back with their bright pony colors, and the elements of harmony equipped to their forms.
“Well crap,” he muttered with a nervous gulp. He had some doubt in his mind about whether or not this girls could actually use those elements, but he knew what kind of person harmony was. If it meant beating him into submission, harmony would let a five year old handle its power.
“Discord, we have come to end your reign of chaos!”
“Pfft, you can try, but you'll fail.”
“Oh yeah?” Applejack interjected. “Well we've got the elements of harmony, and their ain't nothing you can do ta stop ‘em!”
“True, true. But the real question, can you hit me with them?”
“Can we what?”
“Can you hit me with them? Those elements take a bit of time to charge up, whereas I can do anything instantly! If you were to fire your attack, all I'd need to do is teleport to the other side of the world, then come back when your power of friendship deus ex machina finishes up unleashing the massive rainbow that petrifies people!”
The elements of harmony froze. He was right. If he wanted to, he could simply avoid their attack. They'd waste energy just trying to hit him, and before too long they'd run out of power, and then Discord would win! Twilight could hardly believe it. After all of that. After struggling her way through the maze, after losing herself, and all of her friends, after getting them back and finding the elements. Was it all pointless? Was there really nothing they could do?
“See how futile your struggle is? In the end, no matter what you do, or what you try, chaos always wi-” Discord was suddenly interrupted with a metal fist slamming into his jaw. The draconicus was sent flying, slamming into the ground and colliding with somepony’s house. With a groan, Discord sat up and rubbed his throbbing skull.
“If chaos always wins, then I guess I'd better get involved.” Discord froze. That voice. That distinctive, robotic voice. Discord knew that voice.
Discord feared that voice.
From where he once stood, there was a plume of smoke, his throne of madness having crashed to the ground when he was punched out of it, the heavy stone and gems it was comprised of having made quite the impact.
From within this rising smoke cloud, Discord could see a distinctive figure. It was tall, stood on two legs, and had spines protruding from its head. A red light shown through from its singular eye, its piercing gaze driving right into the draconicus.
“Long time no see,” the voice said again as the smoke cleared, revealing a blue, robotic hedgehog, “Discord.”