//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 - There's a new Age coming, and it's just around the bend... 
// Story: MLP: Dawn of Chaos 
// by religarro 
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Chapter 1


“There’s a new Age coming, and it’s just around the bend”





Today was a perfect day. An inspiring day. Celestia’s sun was shining high in the sky. Birds were singing. The flowers looked brighter and more vibrant than normal. The air smelled sweeter. Everypony couldn’t help but have a smile on their face. It was like all of Equestria had gotten itself cleaned up and everypony could agree they were feeling mighty fine. Today is so perfect it’s almost supernatural, everypony thought in passing. It was a weird thought too, thinking something was supernatural while living in a world where magic was as commonplace as the air itself. In light of a perfect day like today, nopony wanted to burden themself with seemingly unwarranted worries. Everything was so perfectly pleasant that everypony ignored that the perfection itself was strange. 
If one were wise to the ways of the ancient core magicks, and powerful enough to sense their sway, one could discern that something big was coming. If one were to, say, look elsewhere in the world, they would find it weird that everywhere else seemed absolutely normal. They would find it strange that on this particular day, for seemingly no reason, Equestria shined like a polished jewel amongst dull glass. Yes, a wise person would see something was off. A wise person would notice the oddity, the strangeness, maybe even the chaotic influence on such a marvelous happenstance. Deep in a giant and ancient volcano the great dragon king nodded to himself, yes something big was going to happen.
In Canterlot, day court had been concluded uncharacteristically early. It was too beautiful outside and even the nobles thought such a wondrous day shouldn’t be wasted. In fact, the hour long court session had mostly been talk of country clubs and beach property leading up to a vote that unanimously declared today a holiday and canceled all further court proceedings. It was also decided that if tomorrow should bring another such perfect day, court shall be canceled again as well. 
This of course meant a much needed and earned reprieve for Princess Celestia. After bidding everyone a pleasant morning and giving out the odd ‘You’re welome’ to various ponies thanking her for such a perfect day, she teleported back to her private chambers. Switching out of her formal toga-like dress, she decided to change into a simple pair of sky blue capris and a nice cream colored sunshirt. To have the morning off was rare. In fact, she could hardly remember the last time she had a morning off, it had to have been centuries ago at least. 
Giving herself a once over in the mirror to make sure everything was in order, the princess of the day smiled, admiring her full figure. She had been told that her figure was the envy of all mares, but personally she felt she could stand to lose a few pounds off her hips. ‘I’ll do so tomorrowor maybe a week from now’ she thought to herself. “By the sun, I’m immortal!” She exclaimed out loud to her reflection. “I’ll just wait until they develop diet cake and lose weight then!” 
Her eyes lit up at the thought of cake, she had something special she had been saving and today was the perfect day for it. Without another thought, the princess teleported directly to the private royal suite of the castle’s large dining hall. There, waiting for her, was a work of pure art. 
Celestia stared at her cake lovingly. It was a 3 layer cake covered expertly with marshmallow cream icing, each layer of the cake having a different berry flavor; strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry. The cake had been decorated beautifully with fresh strawberries cut to look like small flowers. It was beautiful. It was so very beautiful, and it was all hers. She carefully cut herself a slice, using all her concentration to move the slice to a plate without disrupting the perfectly spread icing. She picked up her special cake fork, silver plated and engraved with her initials, and brought a small bite to her mouth. Her eyes watered in joy, her heart fluttered, her world was complete. This was by far the best dessert she’d had this morning! She giggled to herself, quickly finishing her slice and cutting another. The perfect cake for the most perfect day! 
In the back of her mind she thought that things were going far to well, that something bad was just around the corner. It was odd, after all, for her not to receive news of something suddenly going wrong. Especially weird with Discord (as reformed as he claimed to be) running around. She suppressed these thoughts, deciding that it was better to enjoy this moment of peace, than worry about an unknown future. She nodded to herself sagely and mentally praised herself for such good advice as she cut another slice. After all, it was so much easier to live in the moment when the moment had cake. Besides, if need be, she’ll just summon the Elements to stop any issue that arises.
Speaking of the Elements of Harmony; Rainbow Dash had the weather team move out some extra fluffy clouds and now the whole team (Dash included of course) were napping on them over their small town of Ponyville. 
Pinkie Pie was aiding the Cakes in flipping their menu, tossing the old stale recipes in exchange for new exciting creations. This meant creating and tasting many confectionary treats and the party pony couldn’t be happier. 
Fluttershy’s animals were helping her plant a new garden just behind her small forest shack. After that task was done, she was going to head over to Rarity’s. 
Granny Smith had a feeling that the apples in the east orchard should wait a few days to ripen extra sweet before being bucked; so the Apple siblings were relaxing on their porch with some fresh cold apple juice imagining all the things they could make with extra sweet apples. 
Rarity had completed all her orders the prior night and, after telling her sister to stay out of the shop and play outside before she wrecked something, thought it’d the perfect day to sip some ice tea and sunbathe. Maybe she’ll even take a trip to the spa, and invite the other girls along!
Twilight was relaxing as well; sitting in her new favorite reading chair, wearing her favorite pajamas, reading her third book of the morning in her castle’s very large library. Oh, how she loved this library. While it wasn’t as big as the Canterlot royal archives, it was almost ten times bigger than Pokey Oaks. Sure while she sometimes missed her old treehouse, this library more than made up for it. 
She stopped reading and looked around at the two floors of bookshelves. It was so beautiful, almost half of them stocked and organized. Boxes were stacked neatly in front of various shelves, new books for the new princess straight from Celestia herself. The sun shone through the window, giving warm rays of light directly to the reading tables and large comfy reading chairs situated over in the cozy reading corners. This place was a paradise, and it was all hers. She hugged her book to her chest and gave a happy sigh. Today was just a perfect day. It was a perfectly peaceful day. 
It was too perfectly peaceful. It was too quiet and nice. Nothing was going wrong and no monsters were attacking. While twilight didn’t want to jinx her good fortune, something in the back of her mind kept nagging at her. It felt like this was just the calm before a storm. She tried to suppress the thoughts, remembering her prior lessons on letting her worry and overactive imagination get away from her. The last thing she needed was another panic attack over nothing. Regardless that she was now an alicorn, this level of stress wouldn’t be healthy for anypony. Still, the less she tried to think about it and focus on her book the more the thought wormed around in her head. What if something bad was happening somewhere right now? What if some ancient evil had been awoken and it was making its way to ponyville this very second? Twilight took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. Nothing was wrong. Nothing bad was happening. It’s just an amazingly peaceful day. The princess of friendship snuggled more into her chair, closing her eyes and enjoying the rays of light coming through the windows. She really needed a day like this.
“Good morning Spike” she said cheerfully as her younger brother sleepily walked into the large room. Spike had grown a lot over the years. When they had first come to ponyville he was barely as high as Twilight’s waist. Now he was a few inches taller than her if you didn’t include the crest of scales on his head. The changes to the young drake weren’t just in height, his forearms and legs had thickened out with muscle and new larger harder scales covered his forearms giving him a much tougher look. His hands and feet had developed, giving his claws a wide grip. His tail had lengthened and developed a long diamond shaped spike at the end. He was really growing into himself, looking like a propper eighteen year old. 
“It’s such a beautiful day” said Twilight, putting a bookmark in her current book and placing it on the small table next to her. She looked over at the drake and smiled as he yawned and stretched “Come on Spike, we have a lot to do today” she exclaimed. Spike groaned and continued to stretch, scratching at an odd scale, his tail flexing behind him. Twilight always found it amusing, he was like a cat when he first wakes up.
“So” Spike finally said, a smile on his face as the sun’s rays warmed him up “What do you want for breakfast?” 
“Just my oatmeal and coffee as always; thank you Spike” the purple alicorn replied with a smile “I had been reading some cook books in the kitchen and making a list of inventory, so the table’s kind of messy. If you could put those books back for me I’d really appreciate it. I’m going to go take a shower, okay?”
Spike nodded with a smirk on his lips and a small eye roll as he started the same morning routine as always; breakfast, shower, and then the day’s to-do. Even though they lived in a castle now, things haven’t changed much for him. Mainly because Twilight didn’t use most of the new crystalline structure that was the Castle of Friendship. 
They didn’t have any royal staff even though Celestia had offered to send some of her own personal castle maids and butlers. She had offered at several different instances, as Spike remembers, but Twilight had turned them down each time. The purple alicorn had said that she was more than content with her number one assistant. While the young dragon felt he could use the help, he was still proud Twilight thought so highly of him. 
The workload wasn’t too bad though, they had agreed to lock all the rooms they weren’t using. In reality, they were only using a little over the same living space they had used in the old tree library. There were some differences though. The map/throne room for example, or the much much larger library. Oh, and Spike had his own room and bathroom, having gotten too big to sleep in a basket at the foot of Twilight’s bed. 
She had also become increasingly embarrassed about them sharing a room, saying he was far to old and developed and needed to learn to sleep by himself. He knew what she was really talking about, he wasn’t stupid after all, and the deep blush on her face made it all the more obvious. However, Twilight was his sister, first and foremost, and he didn’t view her like that.

Twilight had showered and gotten dressed; putting on her normal blouse and skirt combo. As she walked down the hall to the kitchen she tugged at the straps of her bra under her top. She really needed to buy some new clothes, these were becoming rather...tight. She theorized it had something to do with her ascension causing her body to develop to the size of the average alicorn, Celestia and Luna weren’t by any means small ponies after all. She’ll have to remember to ask Celestia about it. 
She continued to make her way through the hallway, walking past the locked doors of the castle’s dining hall. It remained unused unless there was some sort of special occasion. Since the only residents of the castle were her and Spike (and Owlicious of course), they normally just ate in the kitchen proper. Stepping into the large kitchen she smiled as the smell of cinnamon oatmeal and fresh coffee reached her nose. Spike had cleaned the kitchen table and gotten breakfast ready in expert time. She sat at the table and smiled at the drake as he handed her a mug of coffee made just how she loved it; lots of cream with only a touch of sugar. She inhaled the scent of the fresh brew and sipped. It was perfect as always. Spike placed a bowl of hot oatmeal in front of her, and sat down across the table with his own bowl; only his was full of tiny gem shards. 
“So what’s on the agenda today, Twi?” He asked, taking a spoonful into his mouth. 
“Same as yesterday Spike; classify, organize, and shelve the new books that arrived so we can open the new library as soon as possible.”
“We could always reopen the library now” Spike suggested “I mean, almost half the shelves are already stocked and all” 
Twilight gasped and shook her head “I will not open a library with empty shelves! What if somepony needs something and we don’t have it?! What if there’s some crucial bit of knowledge we can’t get to because it’s still boxed up?! No no Spike, the library has to be finished. Preferably sooner than later, I’d like to reopen it by next week.”
Spike nodded and sighed. He didn’t really like all the librarian work or having to move the heavy boxes of books around. It could be worse though, he could be buried under the mountain of paperwork Twilight has to deal with. Now that she was officially a princess she had a lot more to do in aiding the rule of the kingdom as well as being the Element of Magic. She was constantly complaining to him about her new workload, ordinances she had to approve, grievances she had to look into, diplomats she had to meet, meetings she had to attend; it all sounded like a stressful nightmare to him. 
Finishing their breakfast in silence, simply enjoying having a meal in each other’s presence, the siblings parted ways to get started on their chores; Spike with the library, and Twilight having to handle some paperwork at the mayor’s office followed by having attend to something over at Rarity’s. Spike had considered asking to go as well, but thought better of it. He had gotten over his crush for the fashionista years ago, but the wound still felt fresh and she still had a way of getting to him. He’d rather try to let his broken heart mend, and begrudgingly got to work. 
Opening a box, he pulled out a book and ready the title: An Extensive Study into Aardvarks and Armadillos Vol 1. He sighed, this was going to be a long day.



Discord had gone out of his way to make this day perfect. He normally wouldn’t use his powers to try and spruce things up, but today was special. Today, a friend and coworker had come to spend some time with him, and he had some rather interesting news to share. He also had an interesting proposition for his friend, and he needed the whole of Equestria to look it’s best. The two beings were floating on a plaid cloud, a wonderful picnic of various snacks laid out between then as they overlooked Equestria from on high. Discord turned to his friend as he gave them the news, his grin faltering somewhat as he didn’t receive the shocked reaction he was expecting. 
“So retirement huh?” the strange creature asked, sipping their checker patterned drink 
“Yup.” Discord replied, his grin slipping even further.
“Giving all this up for that fat pension huh?” the strange creature asked. 
“Yup.” Discord replied, his grin slipping right off his face into his lap. The being looked over at their friend, their three golden eyes focusing on the draconequus next to them 
“You’re really gonna do it. You’re really retiring.” The being said in a small amount of shock, reaching one of their four hands into a bowl of wriggling gummy worms. Ah, there’s the reaction Discord was looking for, not as extreme or exaggerated as he was hoping but he’ll take what he can get. He picked up his grin and put in back on. 
“Maelstrom, we have been friends for what, almost five million years give or take a century? Now, I know I’m a funny guy, hell I’m a riot, but you think I’d joke about this?” Discord asked one of his oldest friends. Oh, him and Maelstrom go way way back. The strange being Discord called his best friend had been doing this much much longer than him, and while the dragonquiss wouldn’t admit it, he kind of looked up to the...whatever Maelstrom was.

“So have you given any thought about a replacement yet? You have around, what? A few hundred Equis worlds? You have to find replacements for all of them, you know the rules” Mael said, smirking “So much paperwork” the cat-like being chuckled, biting into a small cucumber sandwich that screamed out something in Russian. 
“I know, I know” Discord responded, he didn’t like paperwork at all, but it couldn’t be avoided. “As for replacements. Well, I was going to give this particular world to you as a gift. I know you’ve wanted an Equis for awhile, but could never get approved for one.” The draonquiss grinned wider at Mael’s genuinely shocked face. It was so hard to truly shock Mael, and Discord has done it twice in less than an hour. He was on a roll! “Now I know you already have quite a few worlds to manage, but I wouldn’t feel like a very good friend if I found replacements for all these and didn’t give you at least one of them” Discord finished. Maelstrom’s shocked expression turned into a large smile as they pulled their friend into tight hug, wrapping all four of their arms around Discord 
“I’ll gladly take this world off your paws! And don’t you worry, I’ll take good good care of it” Mael said. 
“I mean, not too much care…” Discord replied, and they both laughed. 
Maelstrom looked out over this world of Equis. It was a colorful world, so very colorful. It was so cheerful. It was so innocent. It was oh so very corruptible. Oh, this was going to be such great fun.



Spike grumbled to himself as he continued to catalogue and shelve books. It had been nearly three hours and while he had made more than adequate progress for anyone else in his position, he was nowhere close to being done. “I wish I could finish this faster”complained the young dragon to himself. He was a little desperate, having realized there were more books here than there was shelf space. That meant he would not only have to sort and catalogue all the books, but would have to figure out which ones should be shelved and which ones would have to be repacked and go into one of the back rooms for storage. This also meant that Twilight would probably have him constantly rotating inventory until she felt things were just perfect, so there goes his freetime for the rest of the year.
He picked up another book and the strangest thing happened. A voice sounded from both nowhere and everywhere. “Higitus Figitus Zumadazing! I want your attention everything!” it exclaimed. The book in his hand jerked and he could’ve sworn it was trying to stand to attention. The voice sounded again and he could feel the magic in the air, it was tingly. “Now we’re helping our new friend so come on, let’s go.” The table next to him shifted and the voice quickly spoke up “No no not you furniture; I’m talking to the books you know.” The book in Spikes claws leaped out onto a nearby shelf. Spike stared wide eyed as another book did the same thing. The voice sang out “Higitus Figitus migitus mum! Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!” Soon, boxes were flinging open, and books were flying around left and right, going to their places on various shelves. 
The strange disembodied voice continued singing “Cicero you belong with the Cs; alphabetical order if you please! Ali-ca-fez bal-a-ca-zez! Malacamex meripedes!” Already shelved booked shifted and moved to make room for their literary siblings. “Hockety pockety wockety wack! That’s the way we have to pack! Higitus Figitus migitus mum! Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!” Spare quills came to life, filling in the archive catalogues at incredible speeds. Of course Spikes reaction, while not the most logical one by far, was the most natural; he screamed like a little filly. Immediately everything paused, books floating perfectly still in mid air. Spike gulped and took a deep breath. “Now now every book, let's not get in a traffic jam” The strange voice said sternly. “Alright, let’s start again. Hmm, Spike, where was I?” the voice asked, causing Spike to jerk. 
He looks around, his breath almost catching in his throat as he slowly muttered out “h-hockety po-pockety?” 
There was a few soft chuckles as the voice piped up “Oh yes, you’re right! Ahem! Hockety Pockety wockety wack! Each book on self and box do pack! Higitus Figitus migitus mum, Pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um!” As Spike forced himself to calm down he watched the books slowly started moving again, faster and faster until the whole library has been stocked. Over by the doors to the back storage rooms were nearly stacked boxes, organized with the quills writing labels on each before flying back to the various reading desks and falling limp.
The drake took deep breaths, trying to remain calm to what suddenly transpired. Discord had stayed with them in the castle a few times and each time the major pain had hid pranks with invisible triggers all over the place. Yea, that had to be it, it was one of Discords pranks. Spike nodded to himself “Just a prank, everything is cool. It was even helpful this time” He said. Looking around, the library really was done. Not only were the books put away, but the floor had been swept and polished and the tables dusted off. Wow, he was really done. It was just past noon and he had the whole rest of the day to himself. Firstly, however, he needed a shower. An extremely hot one. 
Heading to his bathroom, he thought over the ‘prank’ in the library. What was the point of it? Discord pranked him by helping him with his chores? Then there was that voice, it wasn’t Discord’s at all. It was all so confusing the more he thought about it. He stripped out of his sweaty work clothes, a basic t shirt and jeans, and stepped into his shower. Spike shivered a bit, no matter how hot he got the water, it was never quite hot enough.
Spike had taken a good long shower. He was now relaxed with a new set of casual clothes; shorts and a nice button up. He was planning on heading out, spending the rest of this beautiful day outdoors. Stepping into the main hall he suddenly heard a familiar voice. 
“There you are Spike!” said Twilight, coming from out of the large doors to the library. “I thought I told you to let me know once you finished with the library, we have a lot to do!” Spike just nodded his head. “Amazing job on the library by the way, though I’ll have to go over the packed books to make sure the right ones are on the shelves” complimented Twilight. Spike gave a small eye roll, he called it, he freaking called it. “Anyway, I need you to take these documents and file them.” said Twilight, handed him a large stack of papers. Spike just stood there holding them, a disappointed look on his face. “Come on, let’s go. You’re my number one assistant for a reason!” Twilight said cheerfully. Spike was turning to get to it when he felt a familiar sensation come over him. 
Putting down the papers on a nearby end table he turned his head and burped up some familiar green flame. The flame solidified into a scroll bearing the royal sun seal. Spike caught the scroll and handed it over to Twilight who promptly opened it and started reading. Her eyes slowly grew larger and larger as she muttered to herself “I knew it! I knew it!” 
Spike raised a brow and asked “Something wrong Twi? What does the Princess want?” 
The purple pony looked up at her brother and nodded “Princess Celestia is summoning the element bearers to the the castle as soon as possible! I knew today was too perfect of a day! It’s probably Discord up to no good. I’m sorry Spike, I have to go!” The purple alicorn said, turning to leave before being stopped by her younger brother 
“Wait!” Spike called “Take me with you, If you are going to go off on an adventure, let me come along! You may need a dragon with you, you know, as backup!” he offered. 
Twilight smiled “Thanks Spike, but I wouldn’t want to see my baby brother getting hurt. Besides, you know Applejack and Rainbow Dash are the muscle of the team, and you’d feel horrible if you felt like you were holding them back.” Spike let go of Twilights arm and deflated a bit. Seeing Spike upset, Twilight quickly spoke up “But hey! If you really want to help, you can watch the pets while we’re gone, ok?” Spike nodded and put on a fake smile. Twilight hugged him and teleported away in a flash to collect her friends. Once again Spike the dragon had been left behind.



“It’s not fair” Spike said to himself. He had been sitting against the hallway way for almost half an hour, feeling devistated. He wasn’t sure what felt worse; that he was always being left behind or that they all treated him like he were still a hatchling! “I could be a huge help! I have...I mean I could...I-I, oh who am I kidding, I’m just the dumb useless assistant!” He cried, tears starting to stream down his face unnoticed by the distraught drake. He had always been treated like this. He knew they meant well, At least, he believed they did. 
“So, they left you again eh buddy?” the same disembodied voice asked. Spike jerked in surprise, but just sadly nodded. “Well, that doesn’t seem fair, or very smart. There has to be a million different reasons to bring a dragon of all people along on an adventure” the voice responded, sounding rather offended at the girls’ choice to leave the young drake behind. Spike couldn’t help but smile a little at this. Someone was taking his side, someone saw some worth in him. Even if it was a strange voice, there was something out there that saw something in him other than a secretary.
“They treat me like I’m a foal…” muttered Spike, wiping his eyes of the tears he didn’t realize were flowing. 
“Foal. Servant. Pet.” the voice has said, each word making Spike cringe. The words hurt. 
“No! They don’t see me as a pet! They’re my friends! I’m Twilights number one assistant!” he blurted out 
“Number one servant you mean. Face it Spike, she sees you as a good servant at best, and at worst a pet. No different than Owlicious, no different than Angel, or Opal, or Tank. You are still just an animal to them” the voice said. Spike clenched his fists, but he couldn’t really argue. 
“I’m a person…” he muttered. 
“Of course you are. You are an amazing, strong, brilliant person” the voice said soothingly “and if those stupid ponies can’t see it, can’t see how incredible you are, can’t see how valuable you are...well screw them” 
With clenched teeth, spike gave a low growl “yea! Buck them! I will do...something….to show them to treat me as a person!” Spike said, the wind falling out of his sails when he realized there was nothing he COULD do. After all, he was still just a teenager, a small dragon in a world of magical ponies. His friends were the elements of harmony too! Oh, who was he kidding, he is always just going to be the little helper drake. 
He would always be the one to pick up after their messes. He would always be the one to reorganize the whole library by himself when Twilight went on a reading binge. He’ll always be the one to make them food. He’ll always be the one to watch their pets. He’ll always be the one to write down all the tales of their adventures. He’ll always be the one who would always be left behind without a second thought. The small drake sniffed again and look down at his feet, he could feel a fresh batch of tears collecting in the corners of his eyes. “There’s nothing I can do” he whispered, mostly to himself. “I’m nothing special..”
Spike felt hands place themselves gently on his shoulders and another pair under his arms pulling him up “I think you’re special Spike” the voice said calmly. This time, he could hear it, or rather the direction it was coming from. 
He quickly looked up. Before him was a being, the likes of which he had never seen before, not in his wildest dreams. The being was tall with cat-like paws for feet, and four long arms two resting on his shoulder, the other pair moved to rest on the creature’s hips.The being as blue, a lazy cool blue that seemed to shift shades depending on how the light was hitting hit. Their tail seemed longer than their body, and ended with a glowing bulb that make him feel sleepy when he stared at it. What caught Spikes attention the most, however, was the creature’s face. They had three big glowing golden eyes. Staring into them, spike felt a sense of calmness wash over him. He felt at peace. The being smiled and pulled him into a hug, whispering “I believe in you spike.” Spike instinctively hugged back, a habit of living in a world of overly huggy ponies. 
“Who, what are you?” he asked, pulling back away from the being. 
“You can call me Maelstrom. As for what I am, well, I’m the new God of Chaos for this world.” Maelstrom said, extending their four arms out striking a majestic pose.
“New god of...but wait! What about Discord?!” Spike stuttered out. New god of chaos, this can’t be good. He would have to go and alert the girls somehow. 
“Retired, I’m afraid” said a familiar voice behind him. He whipped around again, staring wide eyed at Discord 
“Retired? You can retire? You’re saying it like it’s a job or something” 
“But it IS a job. What, did you think I was creating all that chaos and disharmony for fun?! I mean, it was fun, but I’m also getting paid” the now ex god of chaos said with a chuckle. “You see we, my friend here and I, are working for a being of immense ancient cosmic power who is pretty much the highest authority this part of the multiverse” Discord continued, gesturing to Maelstrom and himself “This being, who goes by the name Mr. Boss, runs the multiverse like a large corporation you see. They create all the matter and energy around you. All of it. They then hire other people like us to give that energy and matter shape, to watch over and guide creation” said Discord. 
Maelstrom then spoke up adding “we get paid every other millenia, healthcare, dental, the whole plan. Our boss doesn’t believe in cutting corners. Really, it’s a sweet set up.” Spike was having a hard time wrapping his head around all this. He felt the familiar tingle of levitation magic as he was lifted up and placed in a nearby chair. 
Glancing over at Mael who just smiled at him, he nodded his thanks and turns back to Discord “so you were tormenting Equestria for all that time, for a paycheck...dude if Celestia ever found out…” he mused. Discord just laughed 
“She knows, she’s getting paid too. Same as Luna, and Cadance. The Dragon King and Chrysalis as well.” The dragonquiss then moved in close and placed a finger of Spike’s lips “but shhh, it’s a secret from the mortals.”
Spike looked between the two of them confused “if it’s a secret, then why are you telling me? And Discord, why are you retiring?” the drake asked. 
“It’s because I’m not getting any younger Spike. I’ve been doing this job for almost six million years on multiple words at the same time and I’m tired. I’m really really tired; so I think it’s about time for me to hang it all up and retire. Now, because of my many many many millennia of service, I have a rather juicy pension waiting for me. However, my contract says I have to name a replacement first. That replacement is Maelstrom here” Discord concluded, gesturing to his friend who in turn gave a half bow. 
Spike nodded slowly “Ok, understand that, but that doesn’t explain why you’re telling me all this” This time, it was Maelstrom’s turn to speak up. 
“Spike, when I said you were special, I meant it. I wasn’t just trying to make you feel better, I see so much raw potential in you. It makes me upset seeing how the ponies closest to you treat you.” Mael said, leaning forward and bending down to be at eye level with the sitting dragon. “So, the reason we’re telling you all this, is because I want you to join me Spike.” The new lord of chaos said with a smile, extending one of their hands.
“WHAT?!” Spike yelled. He looked frantically from Maelstrom to Discord. Mael had a gentle smile on their face, and Discord was just grinning and nodding. 
“Surprise!” the draconequus exclaimed, making confetti fall from the sky, small fireworks going off near the ceiling. “You’ve got the grand prize! Soon, you’ll have powers like you wouldn’t believe. You’ll be able to do things you would never have dreamed of! Oh, it’s so exciting isnt it?!”
“But...But...I’m best friends with the Elements of Harmony! I can’t work for Chaos!” Spike sputtered out 
“Of course you can!” Smiled Mailstrom, sitting on a chair that came out of nowhere. Discord followed suit, materializing a cup of brandy, he really liked this brand; as he drank the glass and left the liquid. Classic. 
“That's why you’re perfect for the job! You know them in and out. You’ll know just how to make their lives a living hell haha!” Mael continued, reaching over and poking Spike in the chest “You’re a lot smarter and more resourceful than any of them give you credit for, you know.” 
Spike blushed a bit at the compliment. “I don't want to be evil though” He said softly, he didn’t want to insult the person giving him so much praise. 
Maelstrom laughed, and Discord rolled his eyes; he’d had this conversation before and was now quite bored. In fact he DID have this conversation before, why was he still here? Standing up, Discord excused himself and poofed away in an explosion of cotton candy. The two remaining couldn’t help but giggle as Mael turned to Spike. 
“Chaos isn’t evil. It’s not petty acts of random destruction for shits and giggles. Though we DO do that too. Chaos, by nature, is just as good and necessary as Light, Darkness, Harmony or any other of the ancient forces. It’s probability, freedom, creativity, and most importantly; Change. Our job is to shake things up. We bring forth the renaissance, we inspire. We are imagination incarnate. We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams. Harmony can only bring things to an equilibrium. Chaos, however, can take something and make it exceptional. We are the other half of the same coin you see. Just like how Light and Darkness can’t exist without each other, so too Harmony and Chaos.” Spike nodded as Mael continued explaining, wondering why he hadn't thought of this before? 
“Everyone always associates harmony with goodness; it’s balance, and pure logic, perfection through predictability” Mael continued. Spike nodded again. “But left unchecked it can also breed oppression through conformity. If everyone is equal, it means no one is special, no one is exceptional, no one can stand out and do something amazing. That causes society to stagnate. A stagnant society is doomed to crumble.” Maelstrom finished, folding their arms over their chest and nodded sagely. Spike had a lot to think about. He had always been told that harmony was the supreme good, and Chaos was evil. But listening to what Maelstrom said, it made a lot of sense.
Spike sat quietly for a minute or so before speaking up. “So. Assuming I accept. How do we go about this? I mean I don't exactly know how to be a...um..” 
“Agent of Chaos. Which is kind of a part time gig sort of thing, an unpaid internship if you will. I’ll give you some of my power and see how you can handle it. Once you prove to me you can handle yourself, and really show some grit and talent, you’ll be promoted to Master of Mayhem. Trust me, you want that title, comes with a lot of perks” explained Maelstrom. 
Spike nodded again, mostly to be polite. It’s not as if he was actually considering working for the god of chaos. The idea was just silly! Ridiculous even! Him being granted near unlimited power and freedom to bend and shape reality to his favor?...his eyes widened when he realized just how amazing that sounded. Maybe he should consider this more. “So assuming I accept, do I go through some training or something?” 
Mael shook their head “I personally believe in just diving in and figuring it out as you go along. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be with you every step of the way, but when you’ve been doing this as long as I have you really start to embrace those moments of true randomness. Besides, I like seeing newbies get their feet wet for the first time” they said, materializing a contract and quil and handing it to Spike to promptly began reading it over. “It’s really easy though. Like I said, I’ll give you some awesome chaos powers on top of your normal dragonic ones and you just go to town pranking and making chaos for everyone. We have three main limitations, if you want to call them that. Rule one: You aren’t allowed to kill directly. Rule two: You can’t mess with free will directly. Finally, Rule three: You can never touch the magical harmony macguffins directly” said Maelstrom. Even though Spike was reading the contract he was listening to every word, testament to his time working for Twilight. 
“These three rules have major loopholes of course” Mael continued, causing Spike to stop reading and look up at who may soon become his new boss. 
“Loopholes?” the drake asked. 
Mael nodded “Big ones. You can't kill directly, meaning you can't just will someone to drop dead. But you could create a monster or something and kill them indirectly, or orchestrate their demise though some series of circumstance dependent on their own choices. You can’t alter free will, meaning you can't just snap your fingers and turn people into mindless puppets. You can however just enhance feelings or desires they already have, or even hypnotise them” Mael grinned and rubbed their hands together “And my favorite, you can’t directly touch the magic harmony charms, but you CAN use magic to teleport them or hide them. They will also automatically transform themselves to suit the needs of the user, dependant on the situation. So you can create scenarios that will force the elements to change into certain forms. This last bit of information, of course, is both super important and super useless. The physical elements are back in this world’s Tree of Harmony, having bonded with their pony wielders.” Mael couldn’t help it and laughed, this world was gonna be so much fun. 
Spike however was confused. “Why is that info both important and useless?” he asked. 
“I’ll let you find that out first hand, trust me you’re going to have a laugh when you realize it” Mael responded with a grin. After that the god fell silent and let Spike finish reading the contract. Placing it down in his lap, the drake seemed deep in thought. 
“I...dont want to betray my friends” he finally said. 
“What friends? The same friends that are having a spa day in Canterlot while you slave away restocking Twilight’s library and organizing her paperwork?” Mael asked innocently. 
“What? No. Twilight said Celestia summoned her for a problem or something. She said she suspected it was Discord” Spike said, realizing immediately the fault in his logic. 
“You mean the same Discord that was here with us? The same one who had been treating me to a nice brunch all morning? That Discord?” Maelstrom asked.

Mael snapped their fingers and instantly they and Spike were in the royal spa. The elements along with Celestia and Luna were relaxing in a hot spring, and they were completely naked. Spike didn’t know how much blood could fit in his head, but his face has to be as red as one of Applejack’s apples. Speaking of which, he could totally see hers, right on the side of her perfectly shaped-NOPE! He looked around trying to find a place to escape to before they spotted him. They should have spotted him. He was standing out in the open, why can’t they...then it dawned on him 
“That's right Spike, they can neither see nor hear you” Maelstrom said next to him. Hearing this, the teenager in Spike took over and he couldn’t help but take the a chance to peek at a few of his friends. Wow, he never realized Fluttershy was so endowed. “Having fun?” Mael asked with a smirk 
“Hey! I’m a healthy eighteen year old dragon, what did you expect?!” Spike responded defensively. “Besides, this is just some trick. None of this is real” he said dismissively. 
“No trick Spike. Teleported us straight to the Canterlot royal bathhouse” Maelstrom replied. 
Spike still wasn’t buying it “If this is real, then how did you know they’d be here? You were with me the whole time” he countered. 
Maelstrom nodded, admiringly the dragons observational skills. “This is true, I was with you. However I saw the letter Princess Sunbutt sent. It didn’t say anything about danger, just that she had wanted Twilight and her friends to come to Canterlot due to this particularly perfect day” they said. “Of course, Twilight assumed the worst…” 
Spike just stared at Mael. If this was real then...The blush on Spike’s face was visible through his scales as he surveyed the girls again, his eyes falling on a sunbathing Celestia, or rather, her very large derriere. 
“Well, as fun as being a peeping tom would be, I did bring you here to prove a point” Mael said, gesturing to the group of mares “Is this the royal business you were talking about? Quiet the emergency huh?” 
The young dragon was about to say something back when Rarity suddenly spoke “This is all so simply DIVINE! And I must say Princess, great minds DO think alike! I had invited Twilight and Fluttershy over for a day at the local spa. But this, this is so much better!” She cooed, the other girls giggled and Spike deflated a bit, his shoulders slumping. 
“So while you were slaving away, Twilight was going to enjoy a nice spa day. Then Celestia invites Twilight and her friends to come to the royal spa since she had the day off. I bet they didn’t even think to invite you at all.” Maelstrom said “I mean, sure Twilight probably didn’t know the reason for the invitation at first, but when she found out I bet she didn’t give you a second thought. There wasn’t one thought of ‘Oh, I should go get Spike’ or ‘Spike organized my whole library for me by himself, he could use some R&R’, none of that. Some friends.” 
Princess Celestia had decided speak up “It is great that you could come join us Twilight, what with all the paperwork you told me you had to do.” Spike eyes widen, was Celestia talking about the paperwork Twilight had handed over to him? 
Twilight just smiled and gave a happy sigh as she slid further down into the hot water “It’s getting done, don’t worry princess, I won’t fail you.” 
Maelstrom was about to comment on this but was cut off as Spike shoved the contract against their chest, his signature at the bottom. “You want me, I’m in...boss” he said, a single tear running down his cheek past a slightly dark smirk. Maelstrom smile and shook the dragons hand, teleporting them back to the library 
“Welcome to Team Chaos.”