//------------------------------// // Ch 16 - New sights in Nowhere // Story: Chaotic Visage // by Orderly Disassembly //------------------------------// The void rushed back in around me when the light died and I was forced to my knees by a bout of exhaustion. I couldn’t tell if my vision blurred or not, given the lack of things to see, and my heart was still silent. However, a voice, similar to mine, cut through the buzzing in my ears. “W-what happened?” I tried to answer but my words kept breaking into gasps before any meaningful string of them could form. A draconequus entered my view and leaned down to look me in the eyes. His brows were drawn down into a scowl. “What. Did. You. Do?” I wheezed a few more times before dragging myself to my feet. A deep ache was starting to set in around the center of my body but I could tell I was stabilizing. Despite the pain in my chest, the fatigue that drained every part of me, and the pressure crushing my skull, I smiled. “I gave you a chance.” My doppelgänger’s brows rose as he stepped back. His mouth fell open and his eyes were open wide. My heavy breathing was the only sound between us for a moment before he began to laugh. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” His claw had moved to cover his eyes and a smile had cut across his face. His mad grin gave me pause but I responded anyway. “I failed so many times. I wanted to do one thing right. I wanted to succeed for once.” My double returned his gaze to me before collapsing into a heap as he guffawed. His fists struck the ground of the void and his legs flailed. Eventually, he climbed to his feet while wiping a tear from his eye. “You really don’t get it, do you?” I raised an eyebrow at the statement, so he continued. “You grasped a piece of your own mind, held it in the palm of your magic, and ripped it out to give it its own body. You could have died, should have died, but somehow I’m here. It just doesn’t make any sense!” With that, the new draconequus fell to the ground once more to roll around and laugh. I snorted before shaking my head. “You need a name.” He stopped cackling to stare at me with a crooked smile. “Alright, I’ll bite. What do you have in mind?” I matched his beaming face as I waved a claw at him. “Discord.” My smile widened when Discord raised an eyebrow. I continued. “The name has a history behind it. One that I can barely remember, mind you, but history nonetheless.” “Didn’t you reject that name yourself? Why would you give it to me?” I shrugged. “You fit the name better than I would have.” Discord remained silent for a moment but his next words let me relax. “I like it.” With the name issue finished, I glanced around the void. Not much of note, just cold and empty like before… It doesn’t have to be though.  With a snap of the fingers, a wave of light crashed across the blackness and was followed by a cascade of madness.  Purple grass pushed up from the darkness to form a floor because why would I make it something so bland as green? Solid blocks of string cheese sprouted from the ground before peeling apart into bushes. No one would go hungry here if I had anything to say about it! Masses of writhing tentacles erupted from neon yellow earth and wrapped each other in a warm spiraling embrace. Everyone needs somebody to lean on, right? The resulting lumps of red limbs grew eyes on the sides of the trunks and their branches were wreathed in tendrils of gold. For they would know, they would see, and they would witness my triumph. I turned to see my companion stare at the skyless landscape with a slack jaw and chuckled while spinning back to my work. Discord whispered something about how none of this made sense, how it had to be a dream. Though, when I glanced over my shoulder, I could see the kinship in our thoughts. I could tell that we both had the same line stuck in our heads, it was written in his eyes, and no doubt in mine as well. So we let the wisdom remain unsaid as I wove a new world for us in this kingdom in Nowhere. Getting past the gate guards was a simple matter of flashing royal seals for Clover. Her initial worry was compounded when she saw the glass-eyed stares of the guards. Though, she had to admit that the sudden intensity was more unsettling. It made Clover think of a pair of statues coming to life. A quick head shake dislodged the thoughts of the gate and Clover continued down Main Street. Carts lined the road but many were empty and in various states of disrepair. The ones tended to by vendors seemed to be mostly alright minus the occasional broken wheel. Some of the abandoned stands were missing their canopies, others suffered broken axles, and a few were reduced to splinters. She traveled the road several times, admiring the wares as she went. Clover spotted baskets of beats, bowls of celery, and a cart for carrots. She smiled at the mare behind the counter but couldn’t quite make out the face because of a shadow.  Clover blinked before stepping forward. As she got closer, previously faded lines sharpened, and the smell of roasted carrots flooded her nose, but the mare’s face remained a blank slate. Clover glared at the colorless facsimile of a pony. However, the drone of a crowd flooded in around her, interrupting whatever thoughts she had about the fake. Ponies talked, wagons rumbled, wings flapped, and children laughed. Clover spun on her hooves to find a street filled with blank fakes. Some had smiles, some frowned, some yelled, some laughed, but they all moved, all lived. Something seemed to pull at the center of Clover’s chest and a tear rolled down her cheek. For a moment she could see, she could feel, she could know that everything was fine, that life would continue no matter what. Then a child's scream cut through the din of the crowd and the shining light bled into a deep crimson. The fakes reared in place before sprinting in every direction at once as dark silhouettes plunged from the skies. The invaders cut down the peaceful blanks with hardened wings and sharp teeth. Clover stared on as the shades rampaged through the square. However, just as she pulled enough of her mind together to begin casting, a newcomer stormed in. One moment it was a pony, the next a griffon, then a dragon, and each time the shadow shifted, its form grew more twisted.  It ripped, it tore, it consumed the invaders in droves. The shades were dark but this thing was black as pitch. The shades had teeth but the thing brandished a mouth full of fangs. The shades were monstrous but it was their king.  At first, they fought, some in duels others ganged up on it. They all fell. Then they ran and hid, but they were neither fast nor stealthy enough to escape the monster. It always caught the runners, pulling their legs off before moving onto the head. Where the shades blended with the shadows of evening, the monster dove into and hopped between them as if the pools of darkness were lily pads on a pool of light.  Eventually, it finished and no more shades walked the street. The lithe form twisted about to look at Clover and she spotted a familiar pair of yellow eyes. Just as she raised a hoof to speak, the images blew away in a passing gust. All Clover could do was stare down the mostly empty street with wide eyes and a slack jaw. “You alright?” Clover shook her head before turning towards the voice. “Y-yes, I’m fine.” The owner of the voice stared at her with a small smile. He remained silent for a moment, but before Clover could continue, he spoke. “Don’t worry ‘bout whatever ya saw too much, that stuff is nothing more than a bad memory now.”   He winced when he glanced behind Clover and added. “Well, mostly anyhow.” Clover followed his quick look and gasped. The wooden cart was barely more than a heap of sawdust. However, the worst part was the splotch of dried blood that seemed to leak out from beneath the scrap.  She spun to stare at the stallion with wide eyes. “W-what happened? Why is there blood? Why is the mess just left out? Why-“ The stallion cut her off with a tired voice. “I’ll answer your questions, but only one at a time.” Clover looked him in the eye and spotted lines etched there, far too many lines for how old he looked.  She nodded before asking. “What’s your name?” “Hotshot.”