//------------------------------// // Part 3: Terminus // Story: Prelude to Deliverance // by LordBarcha //------------------------------// Part 3: Terminus “When she told me that story, I honestly didn’t believe a word of it.”  The voice commented, “however, a few things convinced me that it wasn’t impossible.  Firstly, she begged me not to share her story, not the kind of thing a braggart does.  In fact, she never even told me her name.  I had to find it out from someone else.  And secondly, none who arrived in this realm after her ever spoke of seeing either Order or Chaos any time after her death.   Eventually, one of the dead spoke of arriving at the scene afterward.  He said that while the details were sketchy, the story lined up with the disappearance of the two leaders, and that he had seen a body, maimed in a way that matched the description.  It is possible that some account of the event escaped my notice, perhaps even working its way into legends or even a history book, but if it did, I have heard nothing about it.”                  The fathomless void around you lightens slightly, fading to a dark grey.  But the voice continues on, “I can tell by your reaction that things have become a bit clearer.  It means that I’m doing my job correctly.  It has, over the long eons, become my job to offer understanding to the dead before they move on.  It serves to show you that there was a meaning to existence, something many have forgotten.  But far from believing me, perhaps you would like an account. This is a short, sad story, and thoroughly disconnected from the universe you now inhabit.  It is being given to you to show two things.  Firstly, you need to know how much difference a single pony can make.  And secondly, you need to know the stakes of the war between Order and Chaos.   In this particular story, Delta was never born.  Because of this, Number 37 eventually served under her sister, Commander, and later General, Stonewall in Order’s army, strengthening a bond of sisterly love.  Eventually, they commanded Order’s armies in her final victory, mostly because the armies finally started to think for themselves a bit.  After Order’s triumph, the world began to shut down, and ponies began to lose their magic.  In a final gesture of wrath and despair at the uncaring entity, Number 37 and her sister tapped into Harmony’s power to seal Order away forever.  They failed to accomplish this goal.  Instead, they killed her outright.     Without magic, gods, or indeed, Harmony itself, that world developed very differently from yours.  In your world, the unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle was well known for her raw magical ability.  Her birth in this world was a very different one, and her death far from extraordinary in its misery.  What made this account interesting throughout was how damaged the world was.  It was on the eve of collapse at that time.  In such a world, where time and space have grown thin and weak, the inhabitants occasionally glimpse things as they are elsewhere in the multiverse, and usually long for it.”   Dully glowing neon lights lit the slums of Ponyville.  Trash from the latest riot blew in the wind, and the stumbling drunkards from a nearby bar tripped over each other as they made their way home.  One of them, a pink earth pony tripped and fell to the ground, laughing and convulsing as foam dribbled from her mouth.  Shuddering, I looked to the north, where the twisting spires of Canterlot pierced the clouds of smog, glowing from the well-lit streets below.  How I longed to be back there.   From the south, a low moaning sound broke the night air.  Glancing in that direction, I was greeted by the sight of a perfectly formed black pearl on the horizon.  As I observed impassively, it drew in clouds and chunks of earth like a ravenous beast.   Then, it hit the edge of the city, and stopped.  The barrier, usually invisible, crackled with energy as it fought the twist in space, before finally deflecting it.   Most of the ponies around had chosen to ignore the devourer, instead carrying on their normal business.  It was far from extraordinary.  In the wastes outside of Canterlot, devourers appeared at random, tearing apart everything around them and then disappearing.  Some hypothesized that life now existed only in the greater Canterlot area.  Certainly, the last time an expedition had actually reached Fillydelphia and returned alive, they had reported no sign that the city had ever existed in the first place, much less the presence of life.  From above, a bright streak crossed the sky.  It was probably just another set of desperate humans, struggling to escape both the devourers and their inevitable extinction.         A voice cried out from a nearby alley, “Hey guys! Look, a unicorn! Get her!”         Of course.  Unicorns generally learned the most quickly, thus acquiring most of the jobs in leadership positions and data management.  The segment of the brain devoted to communication with the horn allowed for unicorns to be hooked into the computer systems with relative ease.  Indeed, the less successful unicorns often rented their minds as cheap processing power, which quickly killed them.  Unicorns who succeeded in life could expect the highest administrative positions.  Unfortunately for me, this meant that the angry earth ponies chasing me probably blamed me for their current lack of a job. Although I ran at the top of my speed, I had no chance of outrunning them.  Even the strongest unicorn couldn’t compete with an earth pony.  As I ran, the questions poured forth.  Why did Harmony give us such a horrible world?  What did we do to deserve this nightmare of steel and electricity?  Where was the true leadership we so desperately needed?  A spark of violet jumped from my horn.  Ha!  Magic was so shriveled and dead.  I was probably the only unicorn left who could get even that much power. Flashing through my head, a vivid picture broke through my mind and caused me to trip.  A gently pony with both wings and a horn, looking down at me in a motherly, kind way.  How I longed for such a pony, someone to love and care about me, but I dismissed it as mere fantasy.  The price of love was simply too high.  I had seen what happens to the loving, a slit throat and stolen purse.  No ponies had ever possessed both wings and a horn, anyway.   As I struggled to my feet, a blow to my legs quickly banished any hope of escape and forced me back to the ground.  However, rather than finishing their task, my assailants cried out and backed away.  Lifting my head, I was greeted with the sight of a set of pegasi dressed in guard uniforms.  Their wings were braced with smooth plates and hooked up to an engine, which allowed them to fly despite their lack of magic.   One of them lifted a hoof, revealing a long rod of metal coated in plastic.  It touched one of the earth ponies, and he collapsed, spasming violently.  The rest of the group quickly dealt with the others, swinging their rods with impunity, and encircled me.   “Thanks for that, I thought I was going to die,” I said, trying to be gracious as I stood on my bruised legs.   “What are you thanking me for?” one of the pegasi asked, and then swung his humming rod.   I woke up sometime later with a horrible metallic taste in my mouth and tried to move, only to find a set of chains holding my legs together.  Panic shot through me.   “Where am I?” I demanded, glancing around desperately.   My voice echoed back at me, warped and twisted by the cavernous room.  Machinery of the old style, brass gears and steam, lay scattered through the room, obviously abandoned.  In the center of the room, an immense conglomerate of wires and circuitry hung from the ceiling.  It shifted slightly, revealing something at the center.  An arm, more like a lion’s leg, reached out and pulled tubing aside.  Chunks of metal and pipinging protruded from the arm, binding it into the machine.  Slow, rattling breaths came from deep within the device.  “Could I have a visitor?” it asked with a wheezing cough.   “Who are you, and where am I?”  I demanded, panic rising in my chest.   “I was once Chaos’ lieutenant, Discord.  Because of your confusion, I am lead to believe that you were brought here by force, correct?”   It was all I could do not to faint.  Discord was a legend.  A beast of unimaginable strength and cruelty.  However, panic would do nothing for me, so I answered as levelly as I could, “That would be correct.”   “Then let me tell you two things.  Firstly, I couldn’t hurt you if I tried in my current condition.  I’m rather tied up.  Secondly, you need to know where you are and why you are here.  In the aftermath of the War of Command, your country’s hero, Resolve, or as most who served with or under her knew her, Number 37, was simply sent home.  Absolutely ignored.  In fact, Order sent everyone home with neither pay, nor thanks.  For the sake of her soldiers, who were starving, Resolve entered Order’s palace to ask what had happened.  I followed, mostly out of curiosity and desperation.  Order didn’t even look at her.  She just jerked a lance off of the wall and ran her through, then went back to work.  What exactly happened next, I’ll probably never know, except that the world went white, and Order disappeared.”   The account was wrong.  All of the books in the library agreed.  Discord had killed both Order and Resolve, “Wait, I was taught that Resolve died protecting Order from you.”     “And that’s rule one of a city like this.  Don’t believe what you were taught.  As a being of chaos, I could feel Order’s movements and location and knew she could feel mine.  There was no way I could even hope to touch a being like her, much less kill her.   Even my creator, Chaos, was incapable of killing her without the backlash killing him.  The only reason she didn’t kill me was because she knew that I would die when the chaos in the universe ran out.  She probably thought it was a waste of effort to kill me before I aggressed.  In the aftermath of that flash, her stench was simply gone.  Besides, she’s such a stickler to rules.  She’d never break them.   Instantaneous transportation breaks every rule she ever made.”   Unfortunately, this made sense.  Could he be telling the truth?  “So, what do you think happened?”   “I assume that the same thing happened to Order that happened to Chaos.  She was killed.  However, something needs to be clarified.  The thing you call magic is actually chaos channeled through a set of rules.  Chaos was the source of all of the chaos in the universe, just as Order was the source of the order.  Chaos’ death was enough to all but kill magic, and with no source of order or chaos, this universe has simply been running on reserve power.  I’m the last supply of chaos.  In short; I’m a battery, and I’m rapidly running dry.”   Although satisfied by his answer, the question still stood.  “So why would they bring me here?”   “That’s quite simple really.  I provide the chaos that keeps the sun going.  The city is currently held together by what fragments of magic remain, which manifests as a force field.  The twists in space that you call devourers are basically chunks of this universe unraveling and falling into the void.  Death keeps chastising me for that, something about not dumping my junk on him, but I can’t really do much about it.   Because of my nature, I’m quite capable of restoring you to the magical strength you should have by flooding you with chaos.  They plan to use your restored magic to refresh the barrier protecting this city, guaranteeing it another hundred years or so to find another magic source.”     This was far too much to take in.  I was being asked to save the world by Discord, who once proclaimed his intention to destroy it. “So why couldn’t they just ask?  It would be wonderful to learn that my magical ability could help save this world.”   “Because they are too terrified that you would refuse.  With Order and Chaos dead, your magic is a finite supply, not something that can be restored by resting or eating.   Because the spell would draw all of your power from you, you would fall out of the universe and into the void.  And there is nothing more certain to kill you than that.”   “So they were so terrified of dying, that they would sacrifice me without even telling me why?”   “And why should they care about you?  You are merely one among the sea of faces.  Are you worth any more than another?  Holding onto this miserable existence is my sacrifice for the world.  It means that I accept this belief and offer myself for the many.”   How far had Discord fallen?  From arrogant conqueror and death incarnate to fatalist.  How I pitied him then. “You poor creature.” “Don’t you dare pity me!  I’m here because I choose to be!”  Discord shrieked.  Then he chuckled, a wretched croaking sound.  “It’s really funny though.  I’ve been rotting down here for a thousand years.  There is increasingly little holding me to life, which has led to some interesting conversations with Death.Don’t look so shocked.  I’ve met Death many times since I came here, and he is not a being to be feared.  He does make a bit of a habit of trying to push his strange philosophies on others, though.   He’s told me about other versions of me, all of which eventually meet you, Twilight Sparkle.  Of all of these worlds, this is the only one where we’ve been on something resembling good terms.  In all but two or three, one or both of us end up dead.  As Chaos would have said, ‘Even the fandom isn’t twisted enough to ship us’.”   “And that means?”   “Your guess is as good as mine.  I never understood half of what he said.  However, my little pony, I must ask you a question.  While you have lived, have you, even once, seen someone truly happy in this torturous world?”   Immediately, the picture of the crowded streets filled my mind.  A few of the drunkards there certainly laughed and smiled.  “There have been a few, I think.  The party-goers seem happy enough.  I know at least one pink pony who literally can’t stop laughing”   “That’s not true happiness, and you should know it.  That’s delusion and eventual death.  It’s basically a pleasant form of suicide.  Think.  There has to be at least one pony who understands their place in the world, embraces it and makes the best of it.”   I thought back further, and finally emerged with a single face from my time in Central Canterlot. “My mother.  She was happy.  She told me so with every hug she ever gave me.”   “Was?  Is she no longer?”  Discord questioned with a sigh.   “She’s been missing since my fifth birthday.  Probably dead in a gutter somewhere, like all the other kind and caring ponies.”   “And what was her name?”   “Star Shine.”   “Ah.”  He coughed violently, as though choking on something, “Star Shine also ended up here.  When I asked her, she named several ponies.  The pony before her gave me a dozen.  And before her, I didn’t even have to ask.  The world was a wonderful, peaceful place to live.”   “And why are you asking me this?” I demanded, tears rolling down my face.   “You need to make a choice.  Will you save this ruined world, or end it here and now?  I won’t end this world, I’ve worked too long and hard keeping it alive to kill it, but I won’t stop you from doing it.”     An eagle’s claw reached out of the wires and pulled clumps of them aside, revealing the patched together remnants of his body beneath.  He waved his claw in front of his chest, creating an exaggerated target.   Snapping his fingers, he spoke in a voice of acceptance, tinged with a joke that only he understood, “In the words of another, from another time, ‘I’m ready to meet my fate now.  Fire when ready.’”   Immediately, my horn began to glow.  Did I have a right to end this world?  A flash from behind me broke my concentration.  A newly forged mark lay on my flank.  A set of rods, bound together with an axe in the center.  The decision came to me and I delivered my verdict,  “This universe has become a place of misery and desolation.  It deserves a graceful end, not this slow, lingering death.”     Then, the magic burst forth in a flood of raw power, and struck Discord in the center of his chest.  Wires snapped with a sharp crack, and the broken body struck the ground.  Moaning, screeching noise burst forth from all directions.  Cracks lined the walls, and the universe crumbled away.  The last thing I heard before I went with it was Discord’s final sentence, “Perhaps I’ll see you again in the hereafter, Twilight Sparkle.”