//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Daring Do and The Turquoise Serpent // by Time Pony Victorious //------------------------------// XII MARE DO WELL Swimming in the Sea of Chaos Here is a list of what not to do at the Sea of Chaos: 1. Don't run on the pier. 2. Don't go swimming. 3. Don't eat the sand. 4. Don't listen to Discord. The experience was indescribable, and no matter how many times she reflected on it, she couldn't concisely put it into words. She felt her memories were slipping away from her; she tried to remember something, anything, but it just sat on the tip of her tongue. That was for her whole life. She was forgetting everything and it was terrifying. For the first time in her life, she felt true fear. She couldn't cry out; all she could do was weep as her entire existence was erased. Everything was being lost… the first time she met Klondike and got lost in his eyes – how stupid she acted in front of him, babbling about the weather. He had laughed at her silliness. The feeling of when she got her fillyhood dream job at the Bridle and when she got her cutie mark… her first kiss, her family, and even her own name. Thankfully, she didn't need to breathe in the Sea of Chaos, but that only made things worse; it meant that even afterwards, she would forget everything. She wouldn't even be able to drown herself. After a while though, she just fell through the sea, falling and falling through the darkness. She just wanted to sleep… ~--~ Why was I here in the first place anyway? Something about a… pony? No, it was a – what do you call those things? Changelings? Yeah, one was… causing trouble or something like that… And coming here was going to solve my problems. It was going to… to help ponies right? There was somepony with me. What was her name? Indiana… no… Derring… No… Daring Do? Oh, her. She was a reckless pony; always enjoyed charging into things without thinking things through. Abrasive, tough, heroic… she'd get mad if she saw me just giving up… "Get up!" she'd say. "I thought you were stronger than this!" She wouldn't give up; she would keep fighting until she couldn't. But I can't fight anymore… I'm tired. I just want to sleep. Chuckling interrupted my sleep. I opened my eyes and saw a… what is that? He had the head of a pony and the body made up of… all sorts of things. "Oh my!" he laughed. "This is priceless!" He floated alongside me and produced a bag of popcorn, eating it liberally. "I never thought I would see the day that you would give up!" Give up? No, no, I'm not… I'm only sleeping. "Oh, dear, don't lie to me. You have truly and utterly given up and, to be honest, I hadn't expected that from you. You were such a headstrong pony, tsk, tsk. Well, all great heroes eventually fail." I didn't fail… I can't fail. There are ponies depending on me like… like… Ugh, what's her name again? A cold shiver went down my spine. I forgot… I think… "Give it up! Didn't I already tell you this? In chapter ten: you need to realize that you can't control every aspect of reality. That's the only way you won't burn up in the Sea of Chaos!" Control… I can't give up control. It's… it's impossible. If I have control, everything would be perfect and nothing wrong. No, this is wrong. Control is good; control keeps everything safe. It keeps everything balanced and orderly. But… look at where it got me: in this dumb sea, where I can't even remember my own name. He's right. I don't control everything. I can't, it's impossible and even bad. Chaos is good – well, not total chaos, but a little disorder, a little discord, keeps everything running smoothly. It helps the system, and it can help everypony. My mind lit up and everything became clearer as memories flooded back. I am the Mysterious Mare Do Well, vigilante. No. My name is Felicity Peridot. That is who I am. ~--~ The sea of swirling foam and wicked waves opened up into a crevice, blasted away by a single pony, one dressed in a strange red and black outfit, bursting out of the sea in a thundering tower of water and lightning. The entire feat was controlled by Felicity, levitating herself with powerful magic and even controlling the sea to tornado around her. She felt liberated, her mind clear, her thoughts no longer clouded by insecurity. Is this what a creature of chaos feels? Good, she thought. Now, for that snake. Xiuhcoatl roared as it struggled against its chains, glaring at Felicity. She felt like she was standing on the dark side of the moon. Such power in a god… His eyes were weird. Well, as weird as the eyes of any other god would be. No, they looked exactly like Danus's eyes. It's the mind control! Felicity needed to hurry – she didn't know how time traveled at the Sea of Chaos, but knowing her luck, it was probably against her. She needed to find the seal. Felicity flew toward Xiuhcoatl who didn't take that very lightly. He shifted slightly, throwing a massive wave against her, but Felicity's magic was stronger. With a single thought, she parted the wave and continued to fly. She needed a way to detain Xiuhcoatl. Thinking quickly, Felicity conjured up more magic and parted the entire Sea of Chaos in half. Xiuhcoatl fell on the dry ground, squirming and struggling. Good, it was as trapped as it could be. Felicity flew downward and landed on him. If logic serves correctly, the seal should appear right… there! On the underbelly of Xiuhcoatl was the same three inch long piece of writing. She could break it, she had to. Galloping as fast as she could, she prepared her seal-breaking spell and shot it at the writing. As expected, the writing popped right off his stomach, floated in the air momentarily and then disappeared. Xiuhcoatl stopped struggling. "Whew, good…" At that moment, Xiuhcoatl had a spasm that could cause earthquakes. He threw Felicity off so fast that her body felt like it was being pressed in by two Diamond Dogs. She managed to catch herself in mid-air, her wings opening, and she looked at Xiuhcoatl to figure out what was wrong. His eyes were back to normal; they were dark red and filled with evil contempt. Oh, right, she just freed a god. He roared and her insides shook. "What now?" she muttered. "I didn't think you'd really be able to do it, to be frank." She wasn't surprised when Discord appeared floating alongside her, "Actually, I don't want to be Frank. I want to be Tom. Man, that boulder has some class!" "Discord, I broke Danus's control over Xiuhcoatl. That should have fixed everything, right?" "Think about it Felicity. Wouldn't you be a little mad if somepony tamed you like some common housedog and you had to be saved by a mare wearing tights?" Felicity thought about it. She couldn't imagine what Xiuhcoatl must be thinking now – she just hoped he wouldn't go about eating Equestria or anything. "But don't worry," Discord continued. "He'll be fine. He'll get over it you know? So, all's good – Xiuhcoatl is no longer possessed and you're still alive!" "Wait, will he let go of the sun?" "Nope." "Discord!" "I'm being serious! If you want him to throw up the sun, you'll need to imprison him again. If he changes back into a statue, everything will be in order… except for, you know, Danus and those changelings." "But I'm not strong enough to do that. I barely survived the sea!" Discord shrugged. "It's all about whether you are willful enough or not. You know that whenever you perform magic, it comes from within, and that you expel it physically, like through teleportation or telekinesis or something. Ancient magic was different: it grabbed the magic surrounding the world and manipulated it to produce the proper results. Magic like this takes different methods." "Surprise, surprise." "What you've got to do is to pour your soul into Xiuhcoatl and overwhelm it so that it detains his entire soul. That's how you control another – that's how Danus did it." Felicity was reminded of her checklist from earlier and wondered if she should adhere to it at this point. Then again, he was right about the Sea of Chaos and she did feel… different. She felt more… grounded, more confident. Usually, it was her Mare Do Well alter-ego that gave her strength, but she felt stronger for a different reason. Seeing Daring triggered something. It gave her the strength to stand back up and fight until she was unable to. Daring never gave up, so what kind of pony would she be if she gave up? Felicity didn't argue; she didn't want to. All she wanted was get this over with. This overgrown garden snake wouldn't beat her! Without another word, Felicity dove faster than she ever had before. Somersaulting, she landed safely on his stomach and without missing a beat, she galloped up the leviathan. The task really wasn't that difficult when conceptualized. All she had to do was scale Xiuhcoatl, go up to his head, do a little dance and mind crush him into submission, but as per Felicity's luck, it didn't go as easily as it should have. Whenever she passed another hill, she always felt like his head would be right underneath her, but no. Another mile always stretched out before her, teasing her to the goal. The Sisyphean part of the task was that he also rolled his body to make it a bit longer than perceived, making her start back two miles from where she had begun. She would never get there in time. She couldn't imagine what Daring must be doing now, but it couldn't have been as difficult as this. Xiuhcoatl shifted once more and raised his tail over her head, the sun blotted out momentarily, and she looked up to see the appendage, the size of a battleship, come down on top of her. She teleported away to safety… …right above Xiuhcoatl's face. It felt like being over a massive whirlpool; all of the water from the sea came down to his mouth and, as he inhaled, was powerful enough to send her tumbling in. He was going to eat her! She couldn't risk flying, the wind too unstable from his breathing, and any devices would be useless, unless… She pressed a button on her belt and four tablets popped out. Dropping them into his mouth, they entered the chaotic fray and exploded. Covering four miles was a pink, sticky substance that glued his mouth shut. The tornado created by his inhalation ceased instantly, but she was still too close to his mouth. Having no time to create a safe landing, Felicity fell like a sack of bricks. Thankfully, the cotton-candy saved her; however, Xiuhcoatl enjoyed the sticky-sweet candy. He began to close his mouth, ready to chomp up Felicity, but she jumped, pressed another button, and her boots changed. They had suddenly become rocket-propelled! The burst of fire that emitted from her boots shot Felicity up and over his nose. She flipped over and stuck a perfect landing between his eyes. Breathing heavily, she felt absolutely exhausted and wanted to say some witty one-liner just before she did the spell, but then, interrupting her thoughts, the snake roared. So she just cast the spell. Her horn glowed and she touched it against his skin. When the spell activated, she found herself on the sun. Thankfully, it was a metaphorical sun, as she didn't burn up instantly and the brightness had been severely lowered. Underneath her was a massive supernova and before her was Xiuhcoatl. The snake, in his stone form, glanced at her with a quiet regard. To be honest, the snake was a little cute in this form; she certainly preferred it over that Herculean beast. Xiuhcoatl said something in a different language, much older than English. It was like him, ancient and powerful. For the first two sentences, she couldn't understand him, but suddenly the words became clearer and she understood. She didn't know if he was really speaking in English or if she had just learned the language magically. "Masked One of Lightning and Water," he said in a quiet yet deadly voice. "Are you the one who has freed me?" "Yes, you no longer labor under the changeling princess," Felicity answered. "You must release the sun." A wave of anger blasted Felicity – maybe telling a god what to do wasn't such a good idea. "Insolence! Is this common amongst you ponies?" Felicity chuckled, "More than you know." "I shall not release the sun. I have been revived after eons of sleep; I must continue with my duty." "But, wait, you can't just-!" "Challenge me mare! My word is final, my will be done. You shall not sway me." Maybe I don't have to, thought Felicity. She prepared another spell, something she had read when she was a filly. The spell, when used back then, was a disaster; she had shrunk Princess Celestia and thought that she would be banished to a dungeon or exiled. Maybe it would work again this time. She shot a beam of magic at Xiuhcoatl, and even if this was a dream, her magic had some influence. Xiuhcoatl roared, "INSOLENT MARE! RELEASE ME, OR I SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR BONES!" No, thank you, thought Felicity. She continued with the magic and felt this world get smaller and smaller. It was working! She just needed to keep going… "AHHH!" Felicity screamed as her entire body began to burn up in unimaginable pain. She felt as if her very molecules were catching on fire. She wanted to cry, but her strength was instantly sapped as she continued to scream in agony. "You are not as invincible as you appear," mused Xiuhcoatl. "I am a god. I will not be defeated by the likes of you!" The pain had intensified so much that all she saw was red. She was going to die here. Well, if she was going down, he was going to go down with her. "I have defeated millions of ponies like yourself! Consumed galaxies of flesh and mind!" She didn't let up with her spell, focusing all of her strength into it. Everything began to black out and she could no longer hear or see anything. She wasn't sure if she was going blind or deaf, but it helped her concentrate. "No," a quiver shook his voice. "You cannot defeat me with such a rudimentary spell! It is of fillies and foals – you shall not defeat me!" "I… think… I will!" Each word was nightmarish to say, her lungs feeling like they were being filled with lava, every cell in her body screaming in pain. She. Could. Not. Lose. "NOOO!" Everything faded and the last thing she remembered was falling from the sky as a rainbow enveloped her. The sight of the sun made her smile.