//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Cloudsdale // Story: The Heart of Chaos // by Jaestring //------------------------------// "We are so sorry we don't have anything especially prepared for your arrival, Princess. Perhaps if we had known you were coming..." The Governor of Cloudsdale rambled, frustrated, as she escorted them to Cloudsdale City Hall. "This is an unofficial visit, Governor. No inspections, no negotiations, no political posturing of any kind is going to be necessary. I am just passing through and need a favor," Celestia said, shining the most inauthentic smiles Discord had ever seen grace her face. No political posturing my shiny, dragon-tailed rump. Discord thought. The Governor looked at Celestia, not even bothering to hide her suspicion "what sort of favor?" "We need you to send one of your fastest fliers to the Griffin Kingdoms in order to warn them of our arrival." The Governor looked as though she still didn't buy it, "Is that all? Couldn't you send one of your palace couriers?" "I could have," Celestia said with a nod, "but you know the griffins, they all stand so highly on ceremony and tradition and most of the ponies in my kingdom have become rather modern. Not that I think that any of them would be lax in their duties, mind you, but no place in Equestria stands on tradition more than Cloudsdale." "Indeed..." The Governor said, still unsure of Celestia's motives. Discord wasn't sure he understood either, but politics put him to sleep. Instead of listening to continuing conversation Discord allowed himself to wander away from the two. Celestia always seemed to know how to find him when she needed him. It was a curse. *** Discord actually found himself enjoying Cloudsdale, it was so much more exciting than Canterlot. The city defied gravity and was made entirely out of various types of clouds, yet the pegasi were actually able to live there as if they were earth ponies on land. Pegasi could either walk or fly to their destinations, and no two buildings looked alike, yet it all blended together artfully. Even better, underneath the tightly controlled exteriors of the pegasi an undercurrent of chaos hummed through the entire city - even through the clouds themselves. As he explored the city, no pegasi gave him more than a second glance. They didn't want to show shock or fear on the well-controlled exterior of their faces. It might not be overt respect, but it was more than the ponies in Canterlot afforded him. Just as he was about to turn back and join up with Celestia he felt something tug at him, a secondary current of chaos. This chaos, however, was different somehow. He followed it, tested it. This current was filled with the zest of fear and desperation... was that a hint of hysteria he tasted? It lead him to the Cloudsdale weather factory, but it didn't permeate the entire plant. Dark, ominous clouds formed an extension of the factory above the rest... that was where the current originated from. "Oh, you naughty, naughty ponies," Discord chuckled as his magic drank in the chaos. He hadn't felt chaos this strong since he took over Equestria. The city of Cloudsdale was the closest he'd ever seen ponies of any kind come to recreating the sort of chaos he had created during his reign, and he loved it. He wanted more of it, to relish it. He teleported himself to the roof of the factory and laid atop of it. He instantly heard alarms sounding and the frantic shuffle of hooves and wings. Oh, such nervous little ponies. He formed some sunglasses on his nose and drew a sun tan reflector in front of him. They would get here faster than he wanted, but he would get the most out of it he could. Yet, it still was mere moments before a herd of pegasi had encircled him. "C'mon guys, you're blocking my rays," Discord whined foalishly. His fun was going to be over too soon. A young, red pegasi with a smartly slicked-back, black mane and bright, white labcoat separated himself from the rest, rage written across his features. He stuck his face as close to Discord's as he could, "What do you think you are doing here?! These premises are private property, and you are TRESPASSING." The closeness of the chaos flowing through these ponies was almost too much for Discord, he laughed happily. This was so much fun! "Why, I'm simply keeping myself entertained! You see, Princess Celestia is..." "Princess... The Princess is here?" The pony squeaked. Suddenly, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been turned over on each of the ponies. "Why... yes, and I'm just trying to keep myself out of trouble while I wait for her." Discord grinned impishly at the thought of anyone believing he was trying to stay out of trouble. The ponies all looked at each other nervously. "Well," the red pony said, much more calm and collected this time, though much more nervous, "Why... why would you come here to stay out of trouble?" "The air here is just wonderful! It has an atmosphere that is most... invigorating," his lips curled up into a menacing smile. The red pony opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted before he could get a word out of his mouth. "And what, pray tell, is going on here?" Princess Celestia asked. "Princess!" Each of the ponies choked out. They practically fell to their bows on the rooftop. "Don't worry, your majesty," Discord said sarcastically, bowing, "I was just making some new... friends." As Celestia hovered by the edge of the roof, she looked at each of them suspiciously. The governor hovered behind her, a pained expression drawn plainly on her face. Discord and ponies alike waited for the Princess to say something. As she landed each of the pegasi finally stood, practically vibrating with anxiety. She looked directly at Discord "And what did you do that caused such panic? We heard the alarms from halfway across Cloudsdale!" The red pony jumped in before Discord could speak, "Nothing, Princess. He did nothing. We simply have motion sensors around the facility in case someone gets too close. A lot of the work going on inside is very... delicate. We don't want anypony wandering in and causing enough problems to set back production." "Production of what, I may ask?" She looked at him critically, ears perked at full attention. A dragon could have crash landed inches away and not disrupted that stare. "Rainbows, majesty." "I see," she said, "I did not know that rainbows were so delicate to create... I made them for hundreds of years myself, you see. Perhaps I should take a look at your methods and could give you some pointers on how to improve your process... make it less volatile..." "NO!" Everyone looked at the red pony, shocked. "I mean, no, Princess. That won't be necessary. We are currently undergoing maintenance that will take quite some time, and is potentially dangerous. I don't want to risk your getting hurt..." "Hmph... Very well," The Princess said dismissively, "Maybe upon my return I can stop by. Discord, if you will come with us, the Governor has invited us to watch the rest of the days flight exams." "Oh, skippy gee," Discord said dryly, "that sounds like so much fun." ...not. *** As expected, the flight exams were boring. The only thing that caught Discord's interest was a carriage that was flying away from the factory as they approached, and he sensed that it was tainted with the same chaos that emanated from the factory. Celestia watched a crestfallen student who had received three hooves down walk towards the exit, "What happens to the students that fail?" "Oh, uh... they're sent to remedial flight school. Normally they are sent to ones outside of Cloudsdale, as Cloudsdale Flight Academy is almost always filled to capacity with new and willing students..." "I see," Celestia mumbled, watching as a colt took off over the edge of the starting platform, yelling FOR THE FLOCK "And what about..." Boring. Discord huffed, he hated politics. That was when a hapless little horse-fly landed in front of him, letting out a little niiiiiiiiii! The tiny, white horse with parasprite wings pranced on the railing in front of him, whipping its little pink tail. In fact, it looked a lot like Celestia before her magic matured so much it flooded her mane and tail. This might be fun, after all. He had long been imagining how he would take his revenge on Celestia, but hadn't had any chance to practice. What could he do? There were so many possibilities. On the real princes, he would have to be subtle, oh so subtle, to keep from alerting the ponies to his betrayal. With the horse-fly he could be a little more creative. Discord snapped his fingers with sudden zest, that was it! He began to mold and improve the little creature. A second head grew from the little creatures rump and the hind legs reversed themselves. In fact, he allowed a second set of legs to grow, maybe a second set of wings... He had gotten so involved in his work, or perhaps it was his musings of revenge, that he had forgotten to be gentle. The little creature cried out in obvious pain as horns burst out of the forehead violently, NIIIIIIIIIIIIII! blood spilled from the two foreheads and onto the railing. "DISCORD!" Discord looked to his right. Celestia was livid. The Governor was watching in obvious shock and disgust. He quickly, but gently, reverted the horsefly back to it's normal state. He closed the wound smoothly. It wobbled a little, then shook itself as it got its bearings. He grinned worriedly and gestured towards it, fixed and whole again. It flew away quickly, terrified. But Celestia just glared. The glare was full of... disappointment. He was suddenly half his size, looking up at a much younger Celestia, her pink mane awry and partially burnt. The smashed figurine lay between them, escaped lightening still crackling across the floor. He hadn't meant to drop it. It had just slipped from his claw. He still had trouble caring very small and delicate objects with his awkwardly formed claw and paw. He had even tried to catch it, to no avail. He quickly dropped to his knees, and quickly tried to re-form the little statuette with what little bit of magic he was beginning to learn. "Don't bother!" She yelled, stamping a hoof as tears beginning to fill her eyes, "That was my grandmare's! AND NOW IT'S GONE!" With that she turned and bolted. He looked down and began to gather the pieces of the broken, glass alicorn. *** The rest of the day was tense. Celestia wouldn't speak to him, or even look at him. Even as they left Cloudsdale and began to head for the border she remained quiet. He followed, watching her. Anger and shame battling against each other. It was as if two pieces of himself were fighting each other. What does she expect? I am Discord! That is what I DO. She expects me to be reformed, to help her. She must obviously worry that I'll betray her and Fluttershy. Well, she's RIGHT to expect that, I'm planning vengeance! She deserves my loathing, she deserves my scorn! Maybe if I did something funny to cheer her up she'd stop being mad and at least talk to me... I'm starting to get bored again... If I try to do something funny she'll hate me even more. Discord formed the little glass statuette in his hands. It had been put back together roughly, with magic that looked a lot like glue. The lightening inside barely glimmered, let alone flash and sparkle as it once had. He had tried to fix it, once. Before he left Canterlot. Before he took over Equestria. He looked at it now and thought Maybe if I do something that isn't destructive she'll start to trust me again. Yes, make her trust her so you can take your revenge, a voice at the back of his mind whispered. He stopped for a moment, and Celestia hadn't seemed to notice and kept walking. He quietly started to channel magic into the glass, molding and shaping it. He only pulled magic from the air directly around him, he didn't want to alert Celestia when she was already being so wary. He only had the vaguest recollection of what it looked like, but he tried his best. He hoped that her memory of it wasn't so perfect, either. It was finished, "Celestia?" Celestia stopped, and waited, but she didn't turn to face him. "I have something for you, its, uh... you see I... oh shoot, I'm no good at apologies. I just hope this shows you what I mean." He held out the little glass statuette of the alicorn mare flying in the clouds, miniature thunderbolts dancing through the blackness inside. As Celestia levitated it from his grasp roughly without looking and drew it into the air in front of her. When she saw it she nearly dropped it, then stared at it for a long while, unmoving. Finally, she whispered, "Thank you, Discord." *** By the time they stopped to camp for the night, Celestia's attitude towards him had thawed. She had teleported the little statuette to her room in Canterlot. A thought occurred to Discord, "Why can't we just teleport to where we're going? Why walk and fly?" Celestia sighed, "You should know this Discord. For one, We don't know exactly where we are going, we just have to follow Galaxis' presence. We don't know the land, or the indigenous, it could be dangerous. Secondly, my magic isn't going to be as reliable outside of Equestria, since most of my power comes from the Equestria itself. For all I know, we could re-form inside of a mountain." "Oh all right," Discord sighed. He poked the fire he had started with a stick. It jiggled like gelatin, and turned different colors every time he poked it, which made Celestia laugh. So she does still appreciate my creations he thought maybe she hasn't gotten as boring as I thought. He knew he wouldn't get much conversation out of her until after the moon came out. Watching the moon rise made her feel closer to her sister, and she had watched it in silence every night since they had left. So they watched it together, and commented on the constellations Luna had created that night. Eventually, their conversation moved on to other things, things such as the events of this afternoon. "It was so perfect! I couldn't tell you right then, but you causing such a stir at the weather factory was just what I needed to shake them up. Get them worried," Celestia was laughing at the memory of the looks on the ponies faces. "But why go to Cloudsdale? You didn't really need them to send a courier to the Griffins, did you?" "Not at all," Celestia chuckled, "Cloudsdale would eventually find out I was gone and needed to be reminded that they cannot misbehave in my absence." "Why would the Pegasi misbehave?" "Because they don't consider themselves as a part of Equestria, though they surrendered to us before I had to send Luna to the moon. They follow my rule because they know what will happen if they don't. I gave them the responsibility of the weather as a distraction, and I let them keep that distraction even after Luna returned even though I no longer needed the help. The less time they have to plot a revolt again, the better. Let them tend to their... flock," Celestia wrinkled her nose in disgust. Discord scoffed, "Is that what you're doing with me? Distracting me? Keeping me from trying to cause chaos across Equestria again?" Celestia chuckled a little, "Maybe a little, but I really do need you for this Discord. I couldn't hope to do this alone. Besides, if you got to become too much of a handful, I could just have Twilight and the others turn you to stone again." She ignored his glare and continued, "The kingdom has enough to worry about without our internal squabbles. The creatures of Everfree, diplomatic tightrope walking with the Griffins, rogue dragons, changelings..." Discord's interest piqued, "Changelings are still a problem? I thought you scared them all off after Twilight's brother's wedding." "Yes, we chased most of them off after Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's wedding, but some managed to hide out in Canterlot and Ponyville, and they are always trying to sneak back in. They're becoming bolder. We've had to more than double our security, and conduct regular sweeps," she sighed, "I almost didn't want to leave because they have become so bold. In fact, they started stepping up their efforts not long after I felt Galaxis' presence and had you reformed." "Do you think they are connected?" She looked down, "I sure hope not..." She pawed at the ground in front of where she lay with a hoof, lost in thought. Discord knew she was worrying herself in circles again over things she couldn't know or control. He decided to break the silence. "So, Princess, where do changelings come from?" "Nopony really knows. We all have our suspicions. The prevailing theory at the moment is that a pony becomes so unhappy and is so unloved that they undertake a physical transformation to become changelings. They say that is why they feed on love and emotion." "Well, that seems like a very dull way to become such a fascinating creature," Discord mused. "I said it was only a theory." *** Discord looked at the field. He just didn't get it. He looked at it from the left, then the right. He stood on his head. He took his head off and threw it to the sky for a bird's eye view. No matter what angle he took, he just didn't get it. "Are you sure princess? This is the border?" "Yes, what are you looking for?" Celestia said with a nervous smile. "There isn't a line? A line that show's where the border is? You would think the border would be more adequately marked." She laughed and walked over to the edge of the field, "You see this stream here, Discord? While it's not exact, this more or less marks the border to Griffin lands." "So now I'm in Equestria," He jumped the stream, "And now I'm in the Griffin territory. Just like that?" "Just like that," She said as she followed him across the stream. That was when the spear flew from above, so fast that Discord couldn't stop it. She crumpled to the ground as it struck home in her back, blood turning the little stream red.