//------------------------------// // Learning the ways of chaos // Story: Messing up timelines sure does cause mayhem // by ShadowLord Ver50 //------------------------------// For the next few days, Discord had set up a training regiment for Aster. His reasoning was simple enough, surprisingly. Equestria can be a dangerous place, and while some welcome you in with open arms, there are also those who'd attempt to exploit you for power. He knew that he may have to come into contact with one of those creatures soon enough. So in the meanwhile, Discord decided that Aster needed to at least convincingly play the act of a natural Draconequus. Of course, he didn't have to be as chaotic as Discord, but he at least needed to seem natural. He's a bit embarrassed to admit Day 1 of training was basically re-learning how to walk. It's just...a Draconequus body feels so weird compared to a human one, he still wasn't exactly used to it. Being able to walk efficiently on four legs was also a weird feeling. Day 2 was flying. His wings were sorta like Discord's, impractical. Unlike his, which one can tell is completely unusable by just by looking, Aster's wings seem functional at first, like dragon wings. However, given his bizarre biology, his wings didn't actually work, they just resorted to magic like Discord's And that's not to mention flying itself, which was weird wet so fun it was hard to describe. It was similar to walking...in a sense. After a certain point, you didn't need to think too much about it. You just do it. And oh boy was it fun! The wind rushing past him...being able to soar high in the clouds...it was the best thing ever. Well, it would be, had Day 3 not come. Day 3. The day he finally learns magic. To say he was excited...would be an understatement. For this topic, he actually was more energetic than Discord. Childishly tugging at his hand, constantly asking: "So, when are you gonna teach me!?" Discord, of course, took it in good humor. Constantly chuckling and telling him to wait up. And to let the important stuff come first. Of course, magic itself is probably the most important thing to a spirit's life, but basic movement also counts. Aster giddily waited for Discord to return from his tea party with Fluttershy. He could feel it, this odd sensation. His magic, swirling around, just begging to be used. He remembers feeling it naturally dance as he flew through the air. He wanted to try it himself, but he didn't know how to. Plus, this was Discord's realm, it wouldn't be good if he destroyed a part of it by accident or something. After what seemed like ages, (time itself is very hard to quantify in the realm), Discord stepped through a tear in reality. He literally flew over, the beat of his wings shooting him off the ground into the air. "My, my. Someone's been rather impatient." Discord noted, amusement thick in his voice as he watched the younger come flying up to him. "Well, you can't blame me! You'd be just as impatient as I would be!" He retorted, bobbing up and down in the air. Discord shrugged. "Fair." He snapped his fingers, and the scenery changed to mountains and green jungles. Immediately, he could feel it. The magic in the air. The odd buzz of energy his human self would never have picked up. He flies up, taking in the breathtaking view of the mountains, rivers, and the sun, high in the sky. There was no doubt about it. This was Equestria. "I picked a place where there would be little interference and little risk of damaging others." Discord explained as Aster stared in awe. The boy suddenly flies back down to the ground, bouncing up to Discord. "So, how do we start!?" He practically squeaks in excitement. "Making chocolate milk rain from the sky? Turning the floor into a checkerboard?" "With the way chaos magic works, I reckon you'd be able to do that all by the end of the day." Discord said with an amused smirk. "Oh yeah..." Aster recalled, "I've been meaning to ask you? How does Chaos magic work?" "It'd be best for you to try yourself." Discord replies. "Now, focus your magic, and think of an object." Aster nodded sharply and did what he was told. He focused his magic, feeling the spark of excitement within him grow as he felt it swirl in response. Through all of his excitement, it took him a while to decide on the object, but he decide to go with a sword. Nothing better than a classic right? After thinking of his item, he focused his magic once more, and- POOF! A sword appeared in a bright burst of light and fell to the floor. He gasped in awe at what he had just done. He had felt his magic suddenly converge at a spot then poof! The sword was there. He stared at his own paws in amazement, completely unable to believe he'd just done that. Discord approached, whistling. "A sword eh? Not in my tastes, but certainly not uncreative." He examined the object, holding it up. "H-How did I do that!?" Aster ran up to Spirit of Chaos, eyes sparkling with wonder. Discord laughed, it had been so long since someone took such enthusiasm in the workings of chaos magic. "That, is the beauty of chaos magic." He grinned, ear to ear. "No complicated spells, no boring connections. Just you, your imagination, and magic." "So, you're telling me I'm basically already a pro?" Aster asked, tail wagging behind him. "Not really a pro. There are still some more difficult things with chaos magic I can do but you can't. But yeah, you're basically an intermediate chaos mage." Aster jumped into the air, and immediately tested his newfound abilities out. Discord grinned as he felt the very fabric of reality flicker and rip as the boy gave the floor checker patterns, made it rain chocolate from the sky, and even made trees dance. All with the biggest grin on his face, not one of superiority, but childlike wonder. This, is why he has a soft spot for kids. A day later, The Spirit Of Chaos was simply cleaning up after lunch. (As of course, courtesy of being a good housemate and the adult in the room). When an innocent question made him freeze in his tracks. "Say, how powerful are you, exactly?" The Chaos Lord paused as he froze the dishes. "How powerful am I?" Discord chuckled, warping the dishes away. "Tell me, child, how would you quantify my power?" "Ummmm...well, I think it might be equivalent to like...two alicorns worth maybe?" Discord blinked. Well, that was insultingly low. "What makes you think that?" He asked, slightly offended. Aster shrugged, biting down on his hamburger. "Well, despite Tierk absorbing your magic, he still couldn't beat Twilight when she had the power of four alicorns. The battle was at a stalemate. Of course, you're the most powerful being in all of Equestria, so I'd assume your magic would be doing like, half the battle, while everyone else's magic would be doing the other half." Discord stared blankly at the kid before snickering. The poor, poor sheltered soul. Aster stared at him laughing, confusion dawning on his expression. "What?" He asks, taking the final bite out of his burger, "Was I wrong?" Discord chuckles, "Quite so," He snaps his fingers and suddenly, they're in what can best be described as a desolate wasteland. A world long dead. Aster fell, going from being on a chair to being on the air and then being on the floor. "Ow! Could you at least..." He trailed off, seeing exactly where he was. "Is this one of Starlight's timelines? Y'know, the ones she created during the Cutie- err, the whole time travel fiasco?" Discord simply nodded before standing out to a clearing. "We're here for demonstration purposes, since Celestia, Twilight, practically every pony would be scared witless if I did this in Equestria." He snapped his talons and a large, orange ball of energy formed. "This is Tirek's magic power when he fought Princess Sparkles," Another snap, "This is her magic level during the fight." A multicolored ball of energy formed, containing magical power equivalent to that of four alicorns. Aster stared at them with fascination. Discord smirked, boy would he give him something to be fascinated about. "And this, is my energy ball." with a third snap, a purple ball of energy, completely dwarfing both Tirek's and Twilight's. The Spirit of Mayhem stared with wide eyes as Discord commanded all three to fire at a mountain range. Twilight's and Tirek's proceeded to decimate the mountains, while his decimated a good chunk of the range. "Wow...." Discord couldn't help but feel pride well up within him at having rendered the boy speechless. He stared for a good few seconds, before turning to face Discord. "Wait, if you're that strong...how come Tirek didn't just obliterate Twilight?" He asked. Discord snickered. "That's because Tirek had no way of controlling my magic. When he absorbed my magic, he shortly realized that if he let it mingle with all the other magic, he'd quickly lose control over his own power. Thus, he isolated my magic in his body, not using it at all." "But, didn't he grow larger when absorbed your magic?" Aster asked. "That's because my magic was still his body, so of course he'd gain some power from it. That's like your body growing wings when in contact with chaos magic." Discord was about to snap his fingers again, but another question made him freeze. "But then...how was Tirek able to absorb your magic in the first place?" Discord paused for a moment, "...You are aware of how Tirek gained power through absorbing the magic of other's right?" The younger nodded, "Uh-huh. But he needed to be stronger than them to absorb their magic right?" "Do you know how Harmonic magic works?" The question made him freeze, but his eyes widened with excitement at the prospect of learning something new. "Not really," He shook his head, "The most explanation we get is "The Power Of Friendship", which isn't much of an explanation is it?" "Well let me take you behind the scenes a little," Discord snapped his talons, and two balls of light appeared. "You see, magic has a little effect, if you willingly combine it with another's magic, it becomes stronger." The orbs merged to form an even bigger orb. "This is the pinnacle of Harmony's strength." "However," His expression noticeably darkened, "For something to be considered Harmonic, it needs to work in conjunction with other things. The same goes for magic. So... say a magic draining centaur was able to drain half the magic of Equestria, and force the magic to work in unison to make himself stronger. Do you know what you get from that?" "N-no?" "Forced Harmony, forcing the magic of others to work in unison without giving them a choice. It uses the same principle as Harmony but corrupts it so it only severs the user, not everybody in general. And since it still counts as a type of Harmonic magic, it was able to overpower me." "But, wouldn't Forced Harmony be Order?" Aster asked. Discord sighed, "Not exactly, Order magic is calm, and Order doesn't like variety, variety introduces Chaos. If Tierk used Order Magic, it would convert every pony's magic to his own brand of magic, instead of having all the other magic act as a fuel source for his own magic. And he wouldn't be able to absorb my magic at all. Trying to do so would likely kill him, and leave half of Equestria magicless for all eternity unless I or the Tree do something about it." "Anyway, this whole thing got needlessly wordy fast," He snapped his talons, and they were back at his house. "I'm sensing something interesting is happening in Equestria. I'll be going into the theater room to check, would you perhaps like to join me?" Aster shrugged. "Not like I have any responsibilities or anything." He drawled, walking towards the Spirit. With another snap, they were in a large theater, with two bags of rainbow popcorn and a large screen and projector that was playing: "Now presenting, another chapter in the life of Twilight Sparkle!" In the middle of a dark council room, the scene showcased Twilight Sparkle, filled with other ponies. The moment the screen registered in his brain, he immediately recognized it. 'The Equestrian Education Administration,' Aster noted, 'Well, at least I have a proper timeline placement now.' "Every pony should be should be ready to defend our way of life," Neighsay spoke, leveling a hard look at Twilight Sparkle. "So, if your work is in order, provisional EEA approval is granted." Aster frowned as he stared at Neighsay...he never really liked how the chancellor behaved during his earlier episodes. Petty and spiteful, really, the two things a chancellor of his position should avoid being. "Y'know, I'm wondering how this guy even got elected." He muttered, taking a claw full of popcorn and stuffing it in his mouth. "Are you looking at this council right now?" Discord asked, "Every pony on there is like him, he's just the figurehead." He chucked another paw full of popcorn in his mouth. "It's not as if he's a bad guy, more or less an obnoxious good guy." Aster was about to stuff more popcorn into his mouth before a question entered his head. "Hey! Wait a minute! Where were you during the Storm King's invasion?" Suddenly the theater grew silent as the screen turned off. Discord turned to look at him blankly, and he wasn't afraid to admit he shuddered a little. Well, that was before Discord collapsed into heaps of laughter. "O-oh my!" He said in between hysterical wheezes. He laughed a bit more, before eventually regaining a bit of his breath. "Y-you HONESTLY think I'd bother getting involved The 'Storm King'? Puh-lease! The Storm King was nothing more than a yeti-manchild with a powerful magical staff. He didn't even actually have the ability to naturally control storms or weather for that matter!" Well, it was clear as day the utter disrespect Discord had for the Storm King. And it seems as though the spirit wasn't even done ranting. "The only reason, his invasion was of ANY success, was because of Tempest Shadow, and the fact Celestia seemed to forget how to dodge!" He drawled on, "If it weren't for Tempest, I'm pretty sure Twilight could've just confronted the Storm King herself! And how does the Storm King reward Tempest after she captured FOUR Alicorns for him? Completely go back on his end of their deal, despite having more than enough power to complete it, and tell her he used her to her face. Do you have any idea how wasteful that is!? Good Minions are hard to come by, especially ones as efficient as Tempest! He could've WON, had he chosen not to be flankhole! Granted, if that did end up happening, I probably would have intervened, but my point still stands!" Aster himself practically descended into a ball of giggles at the Trickseter's rant, literally curling up into a ball and laughing away. "W-well," He wheezed, "When you put it that way..." "He was a buffon with a shiny staff. Nothing more." Discord huffed before focusing back on the screen. Aster giggled a bit more, before finally managing to calm himself. The screen started playing yet again, this time showing the construction of the School Of Friendship. The Spirit Of Mayhem watched as the construction ponies did their work. He had to admit, those were some dedicated ponies. Especially given the structure of the building. He really hoped they were getting paid enough. "Say..." Discord murmured, "You know what happens in the future, right? Because of the show you used to watch?" Aster cocked his head at him, "I thought you already knew?" "I don't like spoilers," Discord shoved more popcorn into his mouth, "Predictability is something that I tend to avoid, it just takes the fun out of things." Aster then remembered something. Something rather, important. 'Season 9's finale...ugh I don't like thinking about but, could I perhaps convince him it's a bad idea?... Wait! Then I could save everyone a lot of trouble!' A spark of determination lit up in his eyes, as he faced the Spirit Of Chaos. "Hey, Discord?" The Draconequus looked at him, expressing a curious 'hm?'. He took a deep breath. "I know you generally hate spoilers, but this is important." He'll try his best to leave out the finer details, but the message needs to get across. "So in the Season 9 of the MLP show...you uh...pull something very, very stupid." Discord quirked a brow. "Stupid by Pony standards?" "Stupid by everyone's standards, including yours." He replied, "I'll try to leave out the spoilerific details, but basically something happens in the future that leads you into thinking that uniting the most dangerous villains in all of Equestria would be a good idea. As a test. However, it kinda...backfires horribly." "Wait, wait, wait," Discord held a paw up. "Most dangerous villains in Equestria...does that include Tirek and Chrysalis?" Aster saw how the older spirit's mouth dug into a frown at those names. "...Yes," He replied after a bit. Discord guffawed in shock. "Really? Honestly, that sounds like a recipe for disaster." "It was," Aster nodded, "They ended up getting their hooves on the Bewitching Bell and used it to drain you, Celestia, Luna of magic." The theater went dead silent once more, but this time, Aster could feel the weight behind it. "The...Bewitching Bell?" Discord asked slowly, his eyes portraying genuine confusion. "The one that...how did they even find it?" Aster winced, "That's not that important...all you need to know is that you shouldn't do something like that if you ever think of it. It won't end well." "I see," Discord scratched his chin. "I...knew I was impulsive but to let them get their hands on such a powerful magical artifact..." He shook his head. "Nevermind. I'll see to it that it won't end up happening." Aster watched the reaction with a sense of bafflement. 'That was...weird,' he thought, 'Discord's reaction...there's something more there, but I can't quite figure out what it is...' "Well," Discord suddenly stood up abruptly, "I think there isn't much else interesting going on! I'll be heading out to Equestria now! Wouldn't want to keep Fluttershy waiting, now would I?" And with that, he vanished in a bright white spark of light. Aster stared at the empty seat in thorough confusion, ignoring the background blaring of the theater screen. That was odd. He was about to teleport back to his own room, before it suddenly clicked to him. The fact that he had just altered the course of history. He was pretty sure Discord was now thoroughly dissuaded from pulling the Grogar stunt, which meant Season 9's finale wouldn't happen. A major event in history was canceled because of him. Because of his actions, his words. He didn't know how to feel about that. Come to think of it, he was capable of preventing many things from taking place. He could stop the events of School Raze before Cozy's plan was put into motion. He could stop Chancellor Neighsay from insulting Equestrian World leaders to their face. He could track down the Student Six before anyone else could. He could theoretically take away every major problem before their roots even began to form. But should he? Aster paced around the theater, debating this very question. On one hand, solving every problem would be robbing everyone else of the major lessons those problems provided, and would stop friendships from growing. On the other hand, was he supposed to sit idly by as others suffer? Just like the people in his old hometown would? 'My old home...' Aster paused for a moment. He hadn't thought of it at all in a few days, and he had very little reason to. The people there were awful and judgmental. Not to mention gossipy. Failed a test? Your parents would know long before you arrived home, simply because a teacher decided keeping their darn mouths shut was to much to bucking ask for! Aster heaved as old memories and disappointed stares burned in his head. 'I refuse.' Lightning crackled from his claws. 'I refuse to be ANYTHING like them!' He slammed his fist into the theater, leaving behind a smoking scorch mark. He stared at it for a moment, then looked back at his paw, heaving emotions out. He snapped, and the mark was gone. He teleported to his room and warped a book into existence. He decided to take one page out of Discord's book. Just because he wouldn't help sometimes, doesn't mean he won't help at all. He labeled the book, 'Plans,' and summoned a pen, and began scribbling his first courses of action. And it all begins with the Studen Six.