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// Chapter 1 - The day after the Dawn 
// Story: MLP: Age of Chaos 
// by religarro 
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Birds chirped outside as the smell of pancakes and fresh coffee awoke Twilight. The purple alicorn groaned as she stretched and rubbed her head. Her neck was sore and she had a few knots in her back, on top of the bruises she has sustained the previous night. She shrugged and chalked it up to an old pillow and sleeping in a bad position. Today was a new day and after what could be said to be the worst night of her life she was going to tackle it full of optimism. Yes, that’s exactly what she’ll do, she’ll be optimistic. Of course she’ll have to send a letter to Celestia about the prank Discord pulled. What he did to her and her friends was simply unacceptable. She’ll also have to write to Luna about a terrible nightmare she had.
Twilight stepped into her bathroom, hoping a hot shower would help relieve her aching body. All in all it did help a little, though her breasts were feeling rather tender. Getting dressed took more effort than she expected. It was official, she WAS getting bigger. Not only did her bras and panties barely fit but she suspected she was taller now too; if how high up her skirt was riding was any indication. Groaning in frustration, she put on a pair of sweatpants and a loose fitting t shirt and went down to the kitchen.
“Good morning Spike” she said with a tired yawn as she walked through the doorway. She went straight for the hot pot of coffee on the stove, her back to her little brother and the kitchen table. “Last night was just terribly, I don’t know what Discord was thinking. I mean sure, who ever knows what Discord is thinking, but still! Anyways, I must have been really out of it when I came home because I had the weirdest nightmare. I dreamed that Discord hadn’t done any of that, that he had actually retired, and this new creature had taken over as god of chaos. Can you imagine, haha?! To make things weirder that creature, whose name I can’t remember right now, said that THEY didn’t do it, but YOU did. Yea, crazy right? You gave yourself a new name too, Dis-something”
“Disarray. My name is Disarray now Twi, not Spike” said the black scaled drake, calmly sitting and eating his breakfast.
Twilight froze and slowly turned around, seeing the dragon sitting there, a massive tower of pancakes on the table. She just stared. Slowly she moved over to a nearby wall and started banging her head against it.
From around the other side of the table, hidden behind the massive stack of pancakes, a tall white finger stood up and moved to the purple princess’ side.
“Are you alright dear Twilight?” Celestia asked soothingly, patting the younger alicorn.
Twilight didn’t even notice who was talking to her, continuing to bang her head against the wall harder and harder.
“Am I alright? I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m alright. Last night was the worst night I’ve ever had. Even with the power of Harmony we weren’t able to stop a stupid joke and ended up utterly humiliated! Can you imagine that? The power of Harmony didn’t work! I’m not sure if anything is ok right now! I get home, ready to freeze Discord in stone again and surprise surprise, Discord is retired and named some weird creature the new god of chaos! And then. AND THEN! To top everything off, it wasn’t even this new creatures fault, it was Spike! Spike, my number one assistant and baby brother, betrayed us and orchestrated the worst night I’ve ever experienced!”
“Disarray” corrected Disarray.
Celestia shot the drake a quick look and turned back to her ex student, placing a hand on her shoulder “It’s ok Twilight, you just had a really bad night is all.”
Twilight, her brain finally recognizing the voice speaking to her, turned around blinking in surprise “Princess Celestia? Oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I just realized it was you! What are you doing here?”
The white alicorn shrugged happily “I just came to see if what Luna told me was true. Spike joining Chaos? If I don't see it, I don't believe it. As for this horrible night and new god of chaos, I know you and your friends can overcome anything this new god can throw at you. You are heroes of Equestria after all.”
Twilight sighed “But last night was just so...horrible. Discord was never this hard to beat…”
“You didn’t have to fight him a couple thousand years ago. Luna and I had to deal with him, and you’ll have to deal with this new god of chaos, and of course their associates. Speaking of whom, Spike…”
“Disarray” the dragon responded.
Celestia smirked and gave a nod “Disarray, just remember; even if you work for chaos, even as you bring disorder to the world, don’t ever forget about true friendship okay? Unlimited power is no substitute for good friends.”
Disarray gave a nod and smiled “Not a problem Princess. Only fun and games, silly pranks, and just the right amount of chaos to spice things up. I’m not Discord, I do things my own way.”
The princess of the sun smiled and nodded her head, satisfied that her ex-student’s assistant hadn’t gone completely evil. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ll take my leave of you two now. Thank you for the most amazing breakfast Spi-I mean Disarray” she said before teleporting back to Canterlot.
Twilight just sighed and sat at the table, all this stress and mild panic was giving her quite the appetite.
“Celestria’s right; I shouldn’t overreact to this. I shouldn’t be too upset about last night either. Spike, er, I mean Disarray, last night as an excellent prank” she said flatly, more to be kind than out of any sincerity. Her baby brother had changed and she needed to accept that and move forward.
She reached out and took some of the pancakes and placed them on a plate. Picking a knife and fork she used her magic to pour some syrup over them. Pancakes and a fresh cup of coffee, not a bad way to start the day. She was about to take a bite when a voice stopped her.
“I wouldn’t eat those if I were you” Disarray warned, continuing to munch on his bowl of gems.
Dismissing him, Twilight huffed “If they’re good enough for the princess they’re good enough for me. Please, I just want a nice breakfast”
Taking a bite, her eyes widened. These there the best pancakes she’d ever eaten. They were perfect! She took another bite, and then another. Soon, her plate was clean and she quickly piled on more pancakes and continued eating. Disarray just shrugged
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you” he said.
“I don’t see what you’re going on about! These are amazing!” Twilight said, shoving another forkful in her mouth
“Sure” Disarray responded “unnaturally amazing even?”
Twilight immediately stopped eating, a feeling of dread washing over her. “Disarray...what did you do?”
“Take a closer look”
The purple princess looked at her food. She couldn’t see anything off. They were just normal chocolate chip pancakes. Well, the chocolate chips were a bit harder than normal...wait...
“No. You didn’t!” she cried
“Didn’t what? Make pancakes using tiny versions of the Candy of all Candies? Because I totally did” the dragon said with a grin, finishing up his breakfast.
“But Princess Celestia ate these! Do you know what that means?!” cried Twilight.
“Of course, it means she’ll no longer be able to eat sweets. Come on Twi, you know how she is. Always complaining about her figure, and then not two hours later going on a candy binge. It’s an endless destructive cycle and I’m helping her break it. If anything I’m doing her a huge favor, I should get a medal haha” Disarray said with a chuckle.
Twilight opened her mouth to respond but Disarray cut her off “As much as I’d looooove to hear a lecture from you Twi” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm “I have a meeting to get to, so tootles”
With that, Disarray teleported away in a puff of purple flame. Twilight just sat there dumbfounded, staring at the spot Disarray had been, and down to her half eaten plate of pancakes. It was too early for this.



The black scaled dragon arrived just outside the old CMC clubhouse. He could hear the girls talking amongst themselves as he walked up to the door and knocked. The voices quieted down and he heard his boss call out “It’s open Disarray, come on in"
Opening the door and stepping inside, a task that required him ducking his head, Disarray was surprised at what greeted him. The outside of the clubhouse looked exactly the same as aways, an old rundown brightly painted shack built for foals. However, the whole interior had been impossibly expanded and redecorated. Sure it still looked like a wooden room, but the wood was stained and polished, there was a nice carpet on the floor, and in the center of the room was a large conference table.
The girls were already sitting at the table, folders and notebooks laid open in front of them. All three of them had overly giggy expression on their faces “Glad ya could join us Disarray” Bad Seed said with a smirk
The black dragon smiled and took a seat at the table as Hymn spoke up “Mael told us you revealed yourself. Twilight didn’t give you a hard time did she?”
“No” Disarray answered “though I think she’s still coming to terms with it. Anywho, I’m glad to see you three are still here. That means you’ve accepted the position, yes?”
Shadow Blitz nodded and pumped her fist into the air. “You’re looking at the newest Masters of Mayhem!” she said, standing up and pulling her pants down “And look! We finally got our cutiemarks!”
Disarray blushed and looked away “Cool, but you could have just showed me on your shoulder…”
“Ah said the same thing!” agreed Seed
“But you wouldn’t be able to see all the details!” protested Shadow
“ANYWAY! You all didn’t get in trouble with your sister’s did you?” Disarray asked.
Hymn shook her head “Rarity took a long shower and went straight to bed. Wouldn’t even acknowledge I was there, just mumbling about making someone pay and about her hair”
“I stayed over Rainbow’s last night. She was really pissed but she just flew a few laps around ponyville and collapsed on her couch” replied Shadow
“Well, ah didn’t have any problems per say…” began Seed, suddenly finding herself the center of attention in the room “It’s nothin really! Applejack just asked me if I were a part of that mob that got em last night…”
Maelstrom, who up to this point had just been contently listening to the four talk sat up “And what did you tell her?” they asked.
“Ah told her the truth” replied Seed, grinning “She asked if ah was part of the mob, ah told her ah wasn’t”
Disarray had an amused look on his face. Even Maelstrom seemed impressed that Bad Seed was able to pull one over her sister; the element of Honesty. Being able to stretch or twist the truth, to lie without lying, is good skill to have. However the pleasanties were over and now it was time for business.
“I personally want to extend a company thank you to you three for signing on. I’ve made your powers permanent and, just as we talked about the previous night, you are now lesser gods. This comes with all the previous mentioned perks along with immortality. Speaking of immortality, you’ll be able to make yourself look as old or as young as you wish or need to be” explained Mael. The girls look at their new boss excitedly. Hymnphonic slowly raised her hand “Yes Hymn, I gave you three the ability to hide your cutiemarks. I understand why you don’t wish for your siblings and family to know yet.” Hymn lowered her hand. “Good, now, before we begin this meeting in full, does anyone have any new prank ideas they’d like to suggest?”
The room was silent, as the Master’s of Mayhem thought over everything they could do. Eventually Disarray spoke up “I have a few ideas that I think will end up hilarious. They’re all either half baked or too complicated to pull off, so I’ll present them when I hammer out the details”
Mael nodded “Alrighty, keep working on them Disarray. You did an absolutely amazing job planning that prank you all pulled last night, I expect great things from you”
Disarray beamed with pride “I won’t let you down boss!”
“I know you won’t” Mael responded with a soft smile. Addressing everyone, they continued “Before I begin, I would like to let you all know that I am working on making the team an actual office offworld, back at company HQ.” There were murmurs about the prospect of traveling to a different dimension. “It’ll take me a bit, Discord left things a mess, so I have to go through a lot of paperwork, and then actually construct the room. It’s going to take at least a week, so be patient with me.” they concluded, the Masters of Mayhem nodding to the God of Chaos, eyes twinkling with excitement.
Happy to see their team excited about seeing and learning new things Mael continued “now, I haven’t spent a lot of time on this world, so I don’t know exactly how things work around here. So, the first order of business is the general debriefing. I’ll tell you everything Discord told me. We’ll go through all of his files I already have somewhat organized and you’ll help fill in the blanks with current events and cultural norms. Knowing everything you can will make you all better at your jobs in the long run. Afterwards I’ll help all of you train with your powers. Are we all in agreement?”
There were nods around the table and they began in earnest.



Disarray teleported back to the castle, startling Twilight who wasn’t yet used to her baby brother using magic. Ignoring her shocked expression, he gave her one of complete seriousness.
“I was thinking Twi, we need to invite the girls over so I can better explain things to them” he said.
Twilight nodded “That is an excellent idea! You can also take the opportunity to apologize for last night’s prank.”
“Um, no. I’m not apologizing for doing my job” was all Disarray said as he wrote the letter and sent it along with his green messenger breath.
After about fifteen minutes, the rest of the elements arrived. After having calmed down from the previous night, they all willingly and patiently let Disarray explain the new situation to them. In the end they were all nodding in understandment.
“Look, I’ll admit it was a good prank” said Rainbow Dash “but if this is a job for you, you’re gonna have to do much better. I expect the best!”
Disarray grinning “Last night was just a preliminary skirmish. We have some really good stuff in the works”
“Please don’t encourage him Rainbow” Twilight said with an exasperated sigh “So, this Maelstrom character isn’t threatening you or anything?”
“No, I joined her...him...them, on my own. They’ve been nothing but kind and supportive.” the drake answered.
Twilight seemed satisfied with the answer but was still confused as to WHY he decided to join willingly. At least he wasn’t being threatened or hurt.
Applejack then spoke up, adding with a smile “I think we all forgive ya Spi-er, Disarray. Ah’m just glad you didn’t go full evil. Last night was real embarrassing, but even ah have to admit that was a mighty clever prank ya pulled. Also, thank ya for keeping Applebloom out of it. I had asked her last night if she were part of that mob. She said she didn’t even try that candy of yers”
Pinkie moved up close to the dragon and asked “Speaking of...so Disarray, do you think you can hook a mare up with some of that delicious and famous candy of yours? You know, that ‘best candy ever’ Candy of all Candies? I’m DYING to know what it tastes like! I NEEEEEEED to know!”
Rarity grabbed her arm and gently pulled the pink pony back “Darling, a chef depends on their taste and pallet to hone their craft. As a pastry chef I’d highly recommend you not ruin your taste for sweets. However, back to the more important matter at hand; yes I forgive you Spikey-Wikey, but do you have ANY idea how late I had to stay up fixing my hair and tail after that disaster?! Do try to be more careful next time please!”
Disarray only chuckled, thinking to himself  I make no promises
“I think it’s alright...I mean as long as you don’t do anything really evil” added Fluttershy softly.
With everything explained and forgiven, there was only one thing left to do.
“You know what this calls for right?” asked Pinkie Pie
“A party?” responded everyone else in unison
“But not just any party! A ‘congrats-on-becoming-our-new-evil-enemy-that-isn’t-really-evil’ party!” the pink earth pony cried out.
Before anyone could object, the pink mare had decorated the room, placed out a table full of snacks and drinks, had music playing, and had even somehow got a cake that read ‘Congrats Disarray’ in frosting. Without any complaints the party began.



Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sat in Sugarcube Corner keeping a watchful eye on their sworn enemies; the Cutiemark Crusaders. The two young mares were convinced that the trio were up to something. After that cured Nightmare Night a little over a week ago they wouldn’t stop talking and whispering amongst themselves. Normally this wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary if the general air about them hadn’t shifted so drastically. They appeared calmer, more relaxed and in control. They were still full of energy, but it no longer came off as hyperactive to the ponies around them. It was weird, even for weirdos like them. Silver had even overheard Snips ask Scootaloo what their next stupid hairbrained scheme would be, in an attempt to get her hands on some juicy gossip. Instead of yelling at him for making fun of her or go on about some plan that would never work, Scootaloo just shrugged, said ‘nothing’, and walked away.
“They’re definitely up to something” said Diamond, taking a bite of her cheese croissant, she couldn’t eat sweets anymore due to that Candy of all Candies.
Looking over at the trio eat their large cupcakes, Silver scoffed “they didn’t even eat that evil treat!”
In truth, there was a nice sized handful of kids who weren’t affected by the Nightmare Night prank. Mainly, it was kids who either had decided to not go outside, or were out of town at the time. Across the small bakery, Button Mash could be seen munching on a cookie.
Diamond and Silver continue watching them as stealthily as they could until they say a scroll appear in a small burst of flame and fall in front of Applebloom. The farm mare opened and read it to the other two, with a group giggle all three got up and left after throwing the note in the trash.
“I’ll wait outside and make sure they’re gone, you get the note” said Diamond, Silver simply nodding and moving over to the trash can with a couple napkins in hand. It was a simple task of dropping the napkins in the can and quickly picking up the note before heading out the door.
“Do you have it?” asked Diamond as Silver walked out the pastry show. The grey mare just smiled and raised a hand holding the crumpled piece of paper. “What does it say?”
Opening it up Silver gave a confused expression. “...I don’t get it…”
“Here, let me see” said Diamond, taking the piece of paper and looking it over, her own expression morphing into that of confusion as well.
On the paper was a drawing of a boxing glove with the words “Look closer” written on it.
Diamond continued staring at the paper until she noticed some tiny print written right on the middle of the drawing. She leaned in, but couldn’t quite make it out. “Can you read what this says Silver?” she asked, pointing to the tiny print.
Silver Spoon leaned in as well to try and make out the print. Diamond Tiara leaned in a bit more. Silver followed along with. Soon they were both cheek to cheek with the paper almost pressed to their faces.
“Wait, I think I got it, it says: Kapow!” said Silver suddenly
“Kapow? What does that mea-” Diamond began but never finished.
Before the two could react a spring loaded boxing glove exploded out the paper, socking them both in the face and knocking them on their asses.
Silver Spoon just laid on her back, looking up at the clouds. She’d never noticed how pretty they were before. Diamond managed to sit up in time to see the piece of paper burn away with purple flames. Only one question came out of her mouth.
“Wha...”