//------------------------------// // Chapter Eleven: Chaos and Riches // Story: Paper Spike and the Thousand Year Door // by Sakunyan //------------------------------// Chapter Eleven: Chaos and Riches "Daddy! Daddy! Entertain me!" "Not now, sweetheart. Daddy is a bit busy, do you understand?" The Chaos Kingdom was bustling with activity, as it usually was on a day to day basis. Discord, the king and creator of the Kingdom, was busy viewing the daily lives of the other surrounding kingdoms from his crystal orb while his 'daughter', Screwball, was begging for attention. Her along with the other citizens of the Chaos Kingdom were merely creations made by Discord, so to speak, they were all his children. However, Screwball was the one who stood by him as he made decisions for the land. "But Daaaad, I'm really bored! There's nothing to do!" Discord looked at her, then made appear in front of her a simple yo-yo. "Here. Go use this outside on some of the other ponies. It'll wrap them up in the string, it's endless, you'll see." He quickly returned to viewing the crystal orb. Screwball took the yo-yo and looked at it, attempting to fasten it over her hoof. "Daaaddddyyyy it's too small for me! Ponies can't use yo-yos!" Discord covered his ears as her voice pierced his eardrums. "If you want to do something, why don't you help Daddy a little?" The mare's face lit up, her eyes stuck in an ever constant swirling motion. "What can I do for ya, Daddy?" she asked enthusiastically. Discord thought for a moment. "Here, uhh…" He quickly conjured an umbrella with the top folded inside-out. "Go outside and collect all the chocolate rain from the clouds, alright?" She nodded happily and took the umbrella, floating away outside. Discord sighed in relief and returned to the orb. "Now, then, let's see how my little Princesses are doing…" Within the orb lay a vision of a town laying in ruins. Ponies were either fleeing the town or trapped, locked up in their own homes. The town was dark, and although that was a feature the town usually possessed, the lack of visible life made it all the more fitting. Discord watched as three ponies patrolled the town, eyes a swirl of color. "Perfect! Just perfect!" He laughed maniacally as he viewed his plan unfolding quite well. "Oh, Celestia, if only you could see yourself now. Maybe I should have a picture taken, hmm?" He laughed again. "I'm sure Equestria is having a wonderful time trying to cope without the sun and the moon! Not to mention, nopony knows where their precious Princesses even are!" With a flick of his wrist, the vision inside of the orb changed to a view of Canterlot where ponies were running amuck. "And the Unicorns have all gathered to use their magic and control night and day meaning Shining Armor can't come after his precious wife! Ha!" Discord leaned back on nothing, conjuring and sipping from a glass of punch. "Just precious!" "Daddy! This is harder than I thought, can I do something else?" Screwball came up suddenly beside Discord, startling him and causing him to crash into the pedestal holding the orb. "Whoops!" Discord frantically grabbed for the orb, catching it just before it crashed into the marble floor. He sighed and put the orb back, then turned to his daughter. "Sweetie, you can't just do things like that! Do you know how precious this orb is?" He rubbed a smudge he had gotten on the crystal. "I stole it directly from the Canterlot library!" Screwball looked down, disappointed in her scolding. She suddenly pointed to the orb. "Daddy, look! It's that mean mare who hurt you before!" He looked over to see Twilight Sparkle, the familiar Unicorn who had banished him from Ponyville with the Elements of Harmony. To his surprise, she had in possession with her four of the Elements. "Twilight? Impossible! What is she doing outside of Equestria?" He looked closely, noticing her dragon, Spike, holding something which appeared to be on a map. "Oh? Did they lose the Elements of Harmony?" He scratched his chin. "Hmmm… but could that mean that Twilight knows about what I've done to Celestia?" He slammed his taloned fist into his hand, turning back to Screwball. "Screwball! We have an assignment to work on!" She put a hoof to her forehead, standing at attention. "Yes, sir! Screwball, reporting for duty!" Discord pointed at Twilight Sparkle and Spike. "We need to stop those meddling fools to get a hold of the Elements of Harmony, alright? Specifically, the Element of Magic, which is currently being held by Princess Celestia. Now, normally, I don't think this would be a problem, but I'm going to be calling backup on this, alright? You know who to call." The mare nodded her head, a serious expression on her face. "Roger that, Daddy! I'm on it!" Before she left the room, she stopped and turned to him. "Um, who would that be exactly?" He slapped his face. "Ugh, never mind, I'll just do it myself." Saddened, she floated over to him as he had turned back to his crystal ball. "Daddy! I still want to help!" Angered he turned around. "Sweetheart, Daddy doesn't need your help right now!" Screwball, looking as though she was about to cry, picked up the crystal ball. Discord lunged for it, grabbing a hold and ending up in a tug of war with his daughter. Eventually, he got the orb back and set it in its rightful place. "You're going to be in serious trouble after I-" "…and I heard she got another one of the Elements in Glitzville! Daddy, we have to stop her before she gets all of them!" "Now, now, dear. Daddy will make sure that they don't get all of the Elements of Harmony. Even if they do, we just make sure to take them back before they can make any use of them, alright?" Discord returned his focus to the crystal, his interest heightened. "That's great, Daddy, but how do we know where they're going next?" "Why, we've already sent Silver Spoon to scout, darling. She was able to report back the locations of four of the Elements and since they already have three of those, we know for sure where we go next in order to ambush them! In fact, I've already sent fifty stallions to guard outside of Twilight Town!" The image in the crystal faded. Discord hugged his daughter, laughing merrily. "For once, your little mistake was able to make things work out for all of us! Now I just have to make sure these new guys don't get a hold of the Elements before I do and I can quickly gain complete control over Canterlot and Equestria!" He laughed and spun her around. "Now, then, it's time to give a call to a little friend of mine…" Rarity woke up from a troubled sleep in the dead of night, drenched in a cold sweat. She looked around, finding that the room was still dark. Feeling sick, she went into the bathroom to splash water into her face. "Calm down, Rarity, they only need more time. They're still coming to your rescue! Nopony forgot about you! Don't kid yourself!" She laughed hysterically as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. "Just look at yourself, darling, you're worrying yourself sick! Have you seen your mane lately?" She frowned as she brushed a hoof through a frazzled curl. "Oh, my, you really are letting yourself go. Calm down, Rarity, everything will be alright." Suddenly, the lights of her cell flashed on, startling her. Right on cue, the breakfast tray came through the slot. Rarity pounced on it maliciously, beginning to devour the food with no use of manners. As soon as she realized what she was doing, she wiped off her face, embarrassed, and began sobbing into her pillow. "Just what kind of pony have I become?" "Rarity, my dear, have you really fallen apart so quickly?" She jolted her head up and turned to the door to find Filthy Rich standing in her room. She hadn't talked to him since she had first come to in her prison. "Just how much longer are you going to keep me here?" she sobbed in anguish. The stallion smiled back at her. "Only until your little sister released that precious little Element she's holding. Along with the other three she seems to have managed to get along the way." Rarity sat up, startled by the unexpected news. "They already have four of the Elements of Harmony?" She teared up a little, thinking of her to be heroes. "Sweetie Belle… my little Spikey-Wikey…" She bunched up the pillow in between her hooves. "They will stop you, Filthy Rich! You can't win this!" He laughed confidently. "Oh, now, dear, you can't possibly think that! Sure, they seem to be doing fairly well, but you don't think I have some sort of plan as how to stop them?" Rarity's expression faded. "Of course, I'm going to stop them. In fact, they're really only helping me get closer to my goal by giving me most of the remaining Elements when I do capture them!" Rarity gulped. "B-but then you will just let me go, right?" Filthy Rich smiled kindly, but there was evil lurking in his eyes. "You're a much more important factor in this than you realize, Rarity. There's so much you don't know, so much I can't tell you." She glared at him, but was scared on the inside. "You're a monster, Filthy Rich. There's no way you can win this with my friends trying to help me. I've learned from them that friendship and love can overcome anything, you need to know that. You. Will. Fail." Filthy Rich walked up to Rarity, putting his face up to hers, smiling. "You don't seem so sure about that, Rarity. I could tell from a mile away that you don't seem completely confident in your friends abilities. Is that true, Rarity?" After not responding, he stepped away. "That's what I thought. I'll leave you to your room, now, I don't want to keep you preoccupied. Good day, Miss Rarity. I'm sure we'll speak again soon." After Filthy Rich left the room, Rarity paced the floor, trying to keep composed. "Of course they're going to be ok! I'm sure they will have some sort of plan as to how to get around them… besides that, Spike and Sweetie Belle can't possibly be alone, can they?" She shook her head. "Nonsense! Celestia couldn't possibly be ignoring the situation… I'm sure they're working on it right now! Yes!" She took a breath, trying to calm herself down. "Besides that, he could have easily been lying. Criminals do that, right? Of course! All the time! He was bound to be lying just to make me lose hope! Ha! It's not going to work! I believe in my friends, and they're going to rescue me!" By now, Rarity was standing on the bed triumphantly, feeling quite confident in her friends abilities. She looked down, realizing what she was doing. "Oh… I must have gotten a bit carried away." She sat down on the bed, holding her head. "I'm so light-headed. Maybe I should lie down…" As Rarity fell back to sleep, her dreams were still troubled. She tossed and turned, feeling hopelessly trapped in her lonely prison. When she awoke once again, her confidence had vanished and she returned to her sobbing state. The figured paced her tower, watching the town from a distance. She frowned as she watched the chaos unfold, something she had not wanted to be a part of. A voice suddenly sounded inside of her head. Remember when you told me you could do a little favor for me sometime? She sneered at the voice. "Discord." Oh, good! You do remember me then! Right, well, you know the little incident I've caused in the town rather close to you? "That was you, was it? If I could get a hold of you, I-" Now, now, calm down, dear. I think I know of a way where we can all benefit from this! First, though, I need your help getting rid of a few pests. "I'm listening?" Yes, well, you see, if you didn't notice, the Princess Celestia is among that crowd, correct? You see, as long as you keep her there under my spell, you can take her place in Canterlot! "Continue…" Besides that, back to the ridding of pests. I'll tell you the plan and once we're done, you can have everything your little Changeling heart has ever desired back in Equestria… Queen Chrysalis smiled wickedly as she listened to the unveiling of Discord's ingenious plan. "I'm in. Those pests will be gone in no time at all."