//------------------------------// // Chapter five // Story: Chaos Runs Rampant // by RK_Striker_JK_5 //------------------------------// Megan walked around the table where the the miniature Discords, four in total, sat. “All right, might as well make the best of–” She ducked as one floated a bowl of cereal and flung it at her head, barely missing her. “And there goes that idea.” Megan looked around, grabbing a chair on the side of the table opposite the Discords and holding it in front of her. “I'd say play nice, but considering who created you I don't think that's an option!” The Discord who had flung the bowl of cereal at Megan sniffed and waved his little paws in the air. “More cereal!” he called out. “I'm hungry!” The other three started waving their paws in the air. “We're hungry!” they chanted out. “We want food!” Megan stared at the quartet, not entirely sure what to do. “I... I can't feed you,” she finally said. “I don't have any food.” The first Discord, Discord-One, pointed at Megan's right. “Check the fridge,” he said. “What a bad babysitter Dad got us! One star online!” Megan slowly turned. Sure enough, where before was an empty corner, an old-style refrigerator, straight out of a 1950's sitcom, now stood. She grabbed the silver handle and opened the lime-green door. “Might as well play along,” she mumbled, peering inside and quickly grabbing a cardboard milk carton. She held it up, eyes rolling as she saw a picture of her younger self under the word 'missing' on the side. “Of course.” She glanced away from the carton for a moment, the picture changing from her to Danny when she looked back to it. She looked away once more, the picture now Molly. Discord-Two slammed his paws onto the table, sending everything on it bouncing up. “Story! I want a story!” The other three Discord's began banging their own paws on the table, while chanting out, “Story! Story! Story!” Their voices blended together, pitching up and down, low enough to hurt Megan's chest, then high enough to force her to drop the milk carton and clamp her hands over her ears. She ran forward, leaned across the table and glared at Discord-Two. “Once upon a time there was a nice lady and an evil demon. The evil demon kidnapped the nice lady and held her hostage, but the nice lady was all right, because unlike the demon she had friends to help her out!” Discord-Two stared at her for a moment. His muzzle lengthened, transforming into Discord proper. “You don't really think you'll win, do you?” Megan kept her eyes locked onto him. “If I don't, my friends and family will.” Discord grinned at her. “Don't be too sure on that, Megan. You'd be surprised.” Megan's lips slowly curled up. “After what's happened to me over the years, Discord? Not much surprises me anymore. You're just one more in a long line of demons and wannabe Tiracs that have come down the pipe. You weren't the first, won't be the last either.” Discord shrugged. “We'll see, Megan. All things do come to an end, eventually.” He teleported away, the other mini-Discords following, leaving Megan alone. Megan slowly stood up and looked around. The room she was in remained, as well as the table and refrigerator. She suddenly opened the refrigerator, pulled out a pitcher and poured some water into a glass. She set it on the table and sat down in front of it. Megan's eyes narrowed as she stared at the glass of water and waved a hand at it. “Come on, come on! Ah, what did they say in that movie?” She snapped her fingers. “Light as a feather, stiff as a board!” She continued waving her hand over the water, repeating the chant. “That's not going to work. Not by itself.” Megan shot to her feet. She whirled around. “All right, no!” She shouted. “I know that voice! That was from that... that thing I went through to change me back into a human! That vision quest Mister Moochik sent me on! I don't have the time for any sort of damned games!” “Then stop twirling about like a ballerina, Megan. Sit back down and look.” Megan stopped spinning. She sat down. “Okay, where are...” She leaned over and stared down at what should have been her reflection in the glass of water. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” The reflection of Megan was one of her much younger; her teenage self, around the time she started going to Dream Valley. The Reflection nodded to her, smiling. “Nope! I know time's of the essence, so I'll skip the whole 'trickster mentor' thing. You need help tapping into your new powers.” Megan cocked her head to the side. “That's not what I was talking about. Who... sorry if this is a bit insensitive, but 'what' are you?” “I'm not quite you. I'm connected to you. I am you, just split off from the main you for a bit.” “All right.” Megan hesitated before continuing. “Now about tapping into my new powers. I was trying some low-level stuff there, but how far are you thinking we should go?” She waved her hands around her head. “Granny Bonnie did warn us–or me–that the human body can't take the kind of high power alicorn magic has.” She wiped the bottom of her nose, indicating the dried blood still there. “Well, I'm not sure we exactly qualify as 'human' anymore. Look at what you've been through. You think all that's not gonna leave some mark beyond locked-up powers?” The Reflection laughed. “Don't be silly! The power and the ability to use it is inside of you. There's just some... barriers to overcome.” “Like?” “Some physical, some mental. I think I know what the biggest mental problem is, too.” The Reflection paused, gathering up her thoughts. “Mike, Danielle, Michelle?” Megan kept her eyes locked onto the reflection. “I don't wanna outlive them,” she finally said. The Reflection slowly nodded. “And that's holding you back.” She held up a hand. “Let me be honest, Me. When it comes to Mike, or even Molly or Danny, there was always a fifty-percent chance of either one of you outliving the other. Even if you hadn't gained the powers of an alicorn, it would be just as likely for you to outlive him, as for him to outlive you.” “And my kids?” Megan finally said. “What about them? Outliving them, watching them die? You think I want this to happen?” There was silence for a few moments from the reflection. “No,” she finally said. “But there's a lot of things that happen to us that we don't want to happen. We just have to make the best with the hand we're dealt. We've been given a gift, with these powers. Should we just lock them up, never to use them, never use them to help others?” Megan stared at the Reflection. She finally closed her eyes. “Dammit. I should've known I'd know just what to say to convince myself.” Her eyes opened. “Although, wait a second. How do I know you're not really Discord, messing with me?” The Reflection shrugged. “If we mess up, you could die. Discord doesn't kill, if only because he doesn't like breaking his toys” Megan pursed her lips. “That makes way too much sense.” She sighed and held her right hand up again. “So, any ideas on how to start?” “One step at a time, like always.”