//------------------------------// // Discord's Game // Story: A Game Of Chaos // by dudenotactive //------------------------------// It is a brand new dawn for the ponies of Maretime Bay, the tribes were once again united under the same flag. Unity forever, friendship and love for all. Before hatred and distrust separated the tribes and as punishment for their selfishness, magic slowly drained from Equestria. The ponies were doomed to lose it all, unicorns nothing but regular ponies with pointy heads, pegasus, a bunch of flightless birds shackled to the ground. The earth ponies were affected the least. And it would have stayed that way... If it were not for Sunny Starscout, an extraordinary mare from Maretime Bay, armed with the knowledge of the past and hope in her heart, she set out to bring these tribes together.  But she was not alone, with the help and support of her friends, magic was restored, thus ushering in a new dawn. This was what Sunny's father dreamed of, seeing altogether, laughing and smiling as the sun shines brighter than ever.  Sunny couldn't help but smile as she stood atop the edge of a cliff, a vast ocean of blue before her, a vast ocean of new opportunities. She was in awe of what lies before her, none could predict what adventures would come her way. All she does know is that she was surrounded by friends, love, and support.  "Sunny!" A cheerful voice called, Sunny would turn to see that it was the ever so happy, Izzy Moonbow, Sunny's first unicorn friend.  She wasn't alone of course, with her was Sunny's childhood friend, Hitch Trailblazer, also known as the respected sheriff of Maretime Bay.  "Hey Sunny, whatcha doing?" Hitch asked as the two approached Sunny.  "Just thinking, that's all." She answered.  "Oh, I like thinking!" Izzy said. "Thinking helps me think up amazing things to make! Just now, I wanted to make a pretty mirror that plays a happy song to make you feel better!" Hitch chuckled awkwardly. "Uh, yeah, that does sound cool. Anyway, Sunny, the girls and I thought we'd hit the town and grab some smoothies, maybe some pizza if anyone is hungry. The sisters have already gone out for some sightseeing." "How can I resist? Nothing like hanging out with my friends." Sunny quickly jumped to their side, eager to get some refreshing drinks with her buddies.  The three hurried to town, it didn't take long but they had already entered the main road, countless ponies would wave and greet as they ran by. Back then, there were only earth ponies, but now several pegasi and unicorns walked the streets. Some are there to learn earth pony culture, while few were there for the sights. Especially the ocean, it had been so long for the ponies of Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights, none of both tribes were prepared for the beauty of their blue planet. The town was never the same, and Sunny wouldn't like it any other way. It was for the best for ponykind, magic was and always will be an important part to them. No, it's a part of every creature that walks on Equestria.  Now, Maretime Bay was busier than ever, ponies they respectively knew would smile their way, unicorns and pegasi would constantly thank Sunny. Of course, if it weren't for her determination, then nothing would've changed. Thanks to the efforts of Sunny and her friends, the world was back on track.  Soon enough, the three finally met up with the sisters, the princesses of Zephyr Heights, proud daughters of queen Haven, Zipp Storm, and Pipp Petals. Two sides of a coin, one was very popular and loved the attention she got, while the other was both athletic and clever.  Zipp was busy admiring the ocean, sat in one of the many vacant tables with a smoothie in hoof, while her sister, Pipp, streamed her experience on Maretime Bay to her followers.  "Zipp, Pipp!" Sunny greeted them both. "Sunny!" Zipp smiled back. "Where have you been, girl? We got smoothies for everyone!" "Just relaxing, you gotta agree that it was very stressful yesterday, it's time for me to unwind and stuff," Sunny said as she sat down followed by Hitch and Izzy.  Zipp smirked. "Well, you deserve it if you ask me, so relax all you want." Suddenly, Pipp wrapped a foreleg over Sunny's shoulders and held her smartphone in front of them both. "Look here my adoring fans! It is none other than Sunny Starscout, let's give a Pipp Pipp hooray folks!" "Nice to see you too Pipp," Sunny said as she moved away. "And also, hey everyone in Zephyr Heights, hope you all have a wonderful day!" The screen was then filled with hearts and happy emojis, fans showed their love and support with this.  "Yo Pipp, drop the phone for a second will ya? Today is an 'us' time, we should stay off the internet for now." Zipp said, she had no problem with Pipp's constant need to stream or posting stories on her profile page, but just as Zipp said, it was the time to hang out with friends. "Well, the fans can wait," Pipp did as she was told. "plus, I still have to try out what Maretime Bay has to offer." "I'm actually in the smoothie business, you know?" Sunny informed the mares, since Hitch knew this already, being her childhood friend of course. "Maybe next time I can give you all a taste." "Oh, do you have any cups I can take? I have great ideas to unicycle them!" Izzy asked.  "Plenty, we can drop by my cart and go gather up some old cups." "So," Hitch began. "What's on the agenda? I have a clear schedule until trouble happens, you know how it is." Zipp smirked once more. "We do, sheriff, just don't go scratching that face of yours, we need a good-looking mascot for the group." "I am not a mascot!" He whined.  "We can put that on an online vote, and see what the fans think." Pipp teased.  "Please don't," The group shared a laugh after, this was what Sunny wanted, sitting at a table with a pegasus and a unicorn, a cold beverage in hoof as the sound of the ocean waves filled her ears like sweet melodies.  They shared stories, some questions revolved around the idea of unicorns reading minds, which got Izzy curious if she could even do such a thing. They tried, but all they got was a funny look on Izzy, which was still a good result in their book.  The day went on, the group started going around town with Sunny and Hitch leading the way. The two ponies showed their friends everything Maretime Bay has to offer, Hitch was especially proud of the sheriff's office, the mares only humored him and stroked his ego. Izzy and the sisters were introduced to many ponies that knew Hitch and Sunny, many of them were so nice and were happy to meet them.  Time seems to flow on by as the group exited the theatre, all laughing and joking about how absurd the story was.  "Seriously, that was the dumbest movie I have ever seen!" Zipp said. "Look at me, I'm a pegasus who turns ponies into clouds!" "Yeah, knowing what pegasi really are, the movie just hits different now." Hitch agreed.  "That scene where the hero saves the day was my favorite!" Izzy squealed.  Before Sunny could even put a word in, she bumped into something hard and fell flat on her rear. "Oh, I'm so- what?" She became befuddled, so did her friends and a few other ponies who were just passing by. A tall and strange-looking statue stood right in front of the movie theatre,  it was snake-like in appearance but with mismatched limbs. The statue was bowing to Sunny, a spine-chilling smile on its face. And the eyes looked as if it was watching them, no matter where they moved, the eyes followed as if it was alive.  "This... wasn't here before..." Sunny said. "You're right," Pipp approached the statue carefully, ponies started to gather around them, curious about this mysterious object that appeared out of nowhere.  Sunny got back on her hooves and followed Pipp's example, the rest of her friends did the same after. She reached a hoof and caressed the pedestal the statue stood on, and admired the clean cut of the marble stone. There was something familiar about the statue, but Sunny could not bring up any answer, no matter how hard she tried.  Suddenly, the statue began to shake, the mane 5 took a step back, nervous and unsure of what would come next. The crowd could only watch as the statue shook intensely, and questions filled the air. Slowly, the statue started to crumble from the top, all eyes widened as it broke down... into nothing.  Everyone became even more confused, the statue came out of nowhere and just turned to dust without reason.  "It is rude to stare," A voice echoed through the street, everyone snapped around looking for the source, but found none. Perplexed, the ponies wanted an answer but found none. "Down here!" Sunny followed the voice and found herself making eye contact with the marble pedestal, yes, there was indeed a pair of eyes on the pedestal. Surprised, Sunny jumped in fright as she faced the unknown and confusing object, even her friends were caught off guard.  "W-what is that!?" Pipp did what came naturally, and pointed her phone at it.  "It has eyes!" Hitch gasped.  "Why wouldn't I? I am a living person, you know!" The pedestal was insulted. "Sorry, mister uh..." Hitch was unable to think of a name for whatever this object was.  Everyone jumped back as the pedestal bounced once, then started to distort. It was unnatural, the stone acted like a slime, it was simply beyond their understanding. It stretched up high, then squished itself, before slowly taking on a new form. Soon the pedestal took on the shape of a serpent with mismatched limbs, colors started to appear on its body. The creature groaned loudly and stretched all its limbs.  Sunny couldn't believe what she was seeing, a new race just popped out of nowhere, they were nothing from what her journal told her. It was a mix of different species, the best way to describe them is that they were chaotic... The creature yawned and groaned as his joints popped. "Oy! 1,000 years will give you such a crick in the neck!" "Woah!" Zipp was awed by his words alone. "Who are you?" "Me?" He held a paw to his chest. "I am appalled! How are you not cultured? Well, seeing as you ponies have somehow advanced into a modern age, I can actually understand, everyone forgets one day, they always do." "Hi, I'm Izzy!" Izzy just went ahead and introduced herself.  "Oh, hello there Izzy, you can call me Discord!" He greeted back. "Discord?" Sunny parroted. "I have heard of that name before..." Quickly, she fished out her journal from her satchel and began flipping through the pages. Only to be interrupted by Discord who swiped the book out of her hooves. "Hey!" "Hmm, look at this!" Discord hummed. "My, you are quite an egg head! Wonderful, wonderful!" He snapped his talons and out of nowhere, a chest appeared, which he then tossed the journal into before sending the chest away.  "No, no, we can't have you cheating now, Sunny Starscout." He said as he received looks of surprise from the mane 5. "My journal- y-you can do magic? You know my name? What!?" Sunny tried her best to understand. Even the crowd that gathered was taken aback.  "I can do more than you could ever believe!" Discord laughed as the sky itself turned pink with the clouds transformed into cotton candy, which started to rain chocolate milk. Streetlights morphed into candy canes, the very stone road they stood on changed into gold that sparkled. Never before had anyone seen magic as powerful as Discord's, being able to bend reality with just the snap of his fingers, it was both amazing and terrifying at the same time. Before anyone could even utter a word, Discord picked both Hitch and Zipp up. The two protested and were ready to fight back, but a third arm reached out to Zipp and popped her wings off like a costume, and planted them on Hitch's back. He then set both ponies down to take in what had just happened, Zipp especially was affected the most.  Discord snickered into his paw. "You know, I like you better this way, Hitch Trailblazer. Something about you makes me feel happy just having you around." "My wings, I just started flying yesterday!" Zipp cried out as she glared at Discord. "Give them back, or else!" "Oh, now I have wings, this is super weird." Hitch was having trouble with his new pair of limbs, he stumbled on the feathers too much to even stand straight.  "Sorry," He smiled. "but I plan to inconvenience you five before the game starts, and I'm almost done." His eyes landed on Pipp who hid behind her sister.  "Please don't take my wings Mr. Discord, I'll give you a shout-out to my followers!" Pipp backed away from the chimera as he stretched towards her like a piece of gum, Zipp tried to stop him but found her hooves each stuck in buckets full of pudding. "Hmm, I would have taken your wings, but that itself had already gone bland, instead, I'll just do this."  He gave Pipp a quick boop on the nose, nothing special happened, the others only watched as Pipp waited for an effect. Yet no change happened, leaving Pipp with a sense of dread.  "There we go! Now onto the last one!" Discord turned towards Izzy and simply placed a tennis ball on the tip of her horn. "Sorry, even if you don't know any spells, magic is forbidden in this game! So please, respect the rules I've just made for this special occasion!" "This again?" Izzy attempted to take the ball off her horn but found herself unable to, somehow Discord had given her a real spell shield this time. "Oh, I have no magic again, bummer. Hmm, I kinda like it now!" "Wait, why are you doing this!? What game are you talking about!?" Sunny wanted answers, it would seem Discord was dead set on playing his game with them.  "Sunny my dear, you should know that adventure will now come your way since you are a hero and all!" Discord laughed. "Do not worry, you'll all be free of your curse after the sun sets, I'm not evil or anything, just very mischievous! And oh, you'll have your journal back too, don't wanna forget that." "Wait-" Hitch slipped on his new wing and crashed on the ground.  "Hey careful Hitch, watch your balance." Zipp instructed him.  "Ahem! As I was saying, wait, if we get back to normal after sunset, why would we even play a game with you?" Hitch finally asked.  Discord stroked his beard deep in thought. "You're right, I don't exactly take anything hostage anymore, and I did say you would be fine after sunset. What to do?" His eyes bounced between the mane 5 seeking an answer to help him with his problem with reluctant players. Then his eyes landed on Sunny, and an idea came to mind. "I am a fan of Twilight Sparkle as well if you didn't happen to know." "R-really?" Sunny said, her heart skipped a beat upon mentioning the Princess of Friendship.  "Don't be tempted, he's probably lying!" Hitch accused Discord.  "Now why would I lie? I mean, I did know Fluttershy more than anyone could, of course, I was practically her number 1 fan." He said smugly, he knew he had Sunny in his claws now, the others could see it as well. "How about this, I can answer a single question of whatever subject you want if you win the game. Science, math, which chocolate milk brand I prefer... history?" He said the last one as he eyed Sunny, Discord could see that sparkle in her eyes.  "I mean, it's a harmless game right?" Sunny asked, which earned her a few glares from her friends.  "Yes, very harmless! You don't have to worry about losing a head, not like you need it." He cackled loudly.  "Sunny, listen, I have a feeling that maybe we shouldn't go on with this." Hitch acted as the voice of reason.  "As an added bonus, if you finish the game I will reverse the effects I cast on you all immediately. Sounds like a deal, does it not?" Discord made his offer much more tempting. "And to show you that I am telling the truth, I Pinkie promise!" Sunny gasped. "A Pinkie promise!?" She exclaimed. "D-do you know how it goes, Mr. Discord?" His smile turned into a prideful smirk as he stared deep into Sunny's eyes as if he was attempting to intimidate her. His talons started to move as he began to chant the magic words. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" "No way!" Sunny couldn't believe it, she knew the importance of a Pinkie promise and how one should not break such promises, it was said to be an old ritual among the earth pony tribe but was forgotten through time.  Sadly, her friends were not in disbelief like her, Hitch could only scratch his head with his new wing while Zipp and Pipp looked at each other with questions in their minds. Izzy on the other hand was ecstatic upon learning the ritual of old. A few other ponies who watched mimicked Discord in an attempt to understand, some made promises to each other as well, and somehow, they could feel the great power of the ritual, as if a mighty force of nature listened to their words. Bounded by a promise, unsure if they should even dare to break it.   "So," Discord leaned down to Sunny's level and gestured a paw towards her. "care to play a game of chaos?"