//------------------------------// // chapter four- Chaos // Story: the Equestria dialouges // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// chapter four- Chaos "Wind Whistler, where are you?" It was time for our third visit to the Canterlot ruins, and I was unable to locate my partner in the excavation. This is not like Wind Whistler at all... she is usually the most punctual and practical pony. But I have been searching the halls and passageways of Dream Castle for over an hour, and have found no trace of my friend. It is when I'm trotting up the stairs to the third floor, that I see the shadows flicker for an instant. "Wind Whistler, is that you?" I feel a tiny rush of air, and I quickly look around... but no one is there. I start to think I'm just being too jitters, when a voice whispers behind me. "Right here, North Star.... though I am hardly Wind Whistler" "AIIIEEEEEE!" I shriek in surprise, flying up and smacking my head into the ceiling. It is then, that a yellow Pegasus with an aqua-striped green mane materializes out of nowhere. "What's the matter, North Star?" The mare asks me with a smirk. "Afraid of what you can't see?" "Masquerade! You nearly scared me 'ave to death!" I float back down to the floor, rubbing my head with my hoof. "You're apperain' and disappearin' act could get somepony hurt!" The pony master of disguise and deception, Masquerade can make herself look and act like anyone or anything.. not even the most powerful mages can see through her disguises. She is the ultimate spy and gatherer of information for Queen Majesty... this pony's eyes and ears are everywhere! None of us in Dream Valley are even sure that the yellow Pegasus we see when we talk to her is what she really looks like. We may never have even seen the real Masquerade! "Wind Whistler is on the third floor, conversing with Whizzer." Masquerade tells me, holding an eye mask on a stick up to her eyes. "I believe she is asking her to join the two of you on your expedition." "Wait, how do you know where she is?" I ask, bewildered. "And how do you know where we're going?" "I make it my business to know all that transpires within Dream Valley- especially within the walls of this castle." A twinkle-eyed pony, she stares at me with her hollow gemstone eyes, causing me to shiver. "Our Queen depends on the intelligence I gather to be well-informed on both her subjects.... and her enemies." "Blimey, girl." I snort, shaking my mane. "Sometimes, I think you're just a bit too paranoid for your own-" But when I turn again, she is gone again. Don't let Masquerade's 'nice and friendly' act she puts on in public fool you. Nobody knows how she disguises herself and disappears like that... she's not a Unicorn, after all. Every pony in the castle is always watching what they say... lest 'Majesty's pet spy' is listening in. And she seems to know what's going on in the other royal courts of Ponyland almost before it happens. One thing I will say for her... she is certainly very good at her job. As I trot up to the third floor balcony, I find Wind Whistler and Whizzer talking...just as Masquerade predicted. "So Whizzer, I can count on you to help in our endeavor?" "SureIdbegladtohelpyouout." The speedy pink Pegasus told her. "Butwhatdoyouneedaponylikemefor?" "Yes, Wind Whistler." I ask her. "What could we possibly use her help for?" "Why, to speed up the digging process, of course." My analytical blue friend replies. "Especially since we always seem to get distracted and slow down, when that Unicorn friend of yours shows up." "Ah, yeah." I reply sheepishly, scratching the back of my neck with my hoof. "That's good reasoning, I suppose." It's not long before we're on our way to the ruins again... with Whizzer rocketing far ahead of us, of course. I honestly wonder sometimes if that Pony shouldn't lay off the caffeine a bit. When Wind Whistler and I finally arrive at Canterlot, Whizzer is already happily digging away with a trowel she pulled from her pack. "HeyWindWhistlercomeoverhereandhelpmedig." The speedy Pegasus asks. "NorthStaryouhaveadriendherewaitingforyou." "A friend?" I ask, confused. "Why, what ever do you mean?" "I believeth she was referring to me, young one." The Crescent-moon flanked Pegasus came trotting up. "Verily, I did indeed hope that we could indeed converse again, on matters both past and present. What you have told me of modern Pony society hath indeed intrigued me." "I had a feeling it would, elder." Wind Whistler and I had our suspicions on who this was... and if they were correct, we had decided it would be best to treat her with respect. After all, if she of all ponies were disguising herself while addressing us, she probably had a very good reason for doing so. We decided we would play along until she decided to reveal herself. "Your friend over there... she is an odd one." The unicorn noted, nodding her head towards Whizzer. "She is a Jewel eyed pony, is she not? I have never seeneth a pony as fast as her." "We've clocked Whizzer at just under light speed." I tell the unicorn. "She can perform a super-sonic rainboom, destroying everything in a three-mile radius." "But that... that beith even faster than any of the Wonderbolts!" The Unicorn replied, bewildered. "She would even leaveith Rainbow Dash in the dust in a flying race!" "Our court mage, Twilight, told us she as a lot of chaos energy within her.. an unusually high amount." I reply. “If anypony would know, it would be a member of the Twilight clan.“ The unicorn looked Whizzer over. "That pink coat, the beanie propeller cutie mark... I believeth your friend may be descended form an earth pony in the distant past, who was a victim of Discord’s vile magic.” “The Screwball incident… one of the most infamous possession cases in the ancient records.” I shiver, recalling my studies. “The Equestrian unicorn exorcists were never able to purify her with their magic, were they?” The unicorn nodded. “They finally had to let her go, and try to reintegrate into pony society, chaos and all. My guess is she hath passed those energies down, unto your friend Whizzer.” "So Discord strikes from beyond the grave." I look over at Whizzer. "That fiend's chaotic magic was the reason Ponies had to control nature and the seasons in Equestria, wasn't it?" "Indeed! Even after the royal sisters encased discord in stone, the seasons and natural cycles that he had disrupted still would not return to normal." The unicorn looks out the shattered window. "It fell to ponykind to change the seasons and care for the animals, just as the royal sisters took over the task of raising the sun and moon." "But elder... wasn't discord finally destroyed?" I ask her. "Wasn't he slain in battle by Princess Celestia?" "...Yes, he was." She responded finally. "Discord broke free one final time, three hundred years after his first escape. There were no worthy Harmony bearers at the time, so Celestia had to take him on by herself. She cast a spell that took her essence... that of Pure order... and hit Discord with a powerful blast of his opposing element. It managed to finally kill the Spirit of Chaos, but claimed the life of Celestia, as well." "And Princess Luna became the sole ruler of the Kingdom." I finish. "The beginning of the fall of Equestria." "Luna did holdeth out for as long as she could." The unicorn snorted, almost defensively. "But the goblin and troll invasions, and the attacks of the evil warlords Tirek and Grogar, did finally bringeth an end to the Equestrian civilization." "After Discord's death, nature returned to running itself." Wind Whistler trotted up, continuing the Story. "But some of Discord's chaotic energies remained in Ponyland." "What?" The unicorn asked in shock. "Discord's chaos doth still linger in this land?" "When Discord perished, a small number of chaos spirits, called frazits, were born from the energies released from his essence." My companion continued. "A tribe of Gnomes, called the Dell Dwellers, keeps them imprisioned deep beneath Ponyland's Mastificent forest." "...I did not know this... I thanketh thee for that information, my little ponies." The unicorn says with a smile, vanishing before our eyes. "Well, that was abrupt." Wind Whistler noted bluntly. "Yeahaunicornteleportingwithoutsayingoodbye." Whizzer said behind us. "Thatislikesorude." "The records do say Princess Luna was is a bit eccentric." I reply. "I'm not so sure that was her highness Luna." A voice from the shadows growls, startling the three of us. "MASQUERADE!" Wind Whistler yells, in a tone unusual for her. "If you sneak up on me just one more time, I swear by the great horsemaster I'll kick some pony-sense into you!" "How can it not be her, Masquerade?" I ask incredulously. "Why are you being so paranoid?" "An alicorn mage of Princess Luna's caliber should have been able to detect my presence from the very beginning of your conversation, for starters." "You were listening in on our conversation?" My anger flares up. "What are you doing, stalking us?" "Oh please, don't insult me." She snorts. "I listen in on everypony's conversations. Now, I have business elsewhere, so if you'll excuse me..." And with that, the yellow Pegasus is gone, as well. "Well" Wind Whistler snorts indignantly. "That mare certainly has a lot of nerve!" "Idontknowgirlswhatifshesright?" Whizzer asks in a worried tone. "Whizzer, stop trying to think! You're terrible at it!" I tell her. "Now could the three of us please get to work?" As the three of us set about our duties, I began to wonder what really was going on with our strange unicorn friend.