//------------------------------// // Overbalanced // Story: The Spirit Of Order // by TheSupremeLeaderOfChaos //------------------------------// Chapter 1 - Overbalanced The throne room was silent. Celestia and Discord stared at each other, Celestia with confusion and Discord with an emotion almost like anger. "Constance?" Celestia murmured. Discord huffed and turned toward the window, staring at nothing. The six Elements looked back and forth between them, utterly lost and waiting for an explanation. When none came, Rainbow stepped forward uncertainly. "Uh, one little question?" Rainbow raised her voice slightly to get their attention. "Who the hey is Constance?" Celestia turned and opened her mouth to answer, but Discord teleported over to her and clapped a paw over her muzzle. He snapped his fingers. A book flashed into existence overhead. It spiraled to the ground and Twilight caught it with her magic. She stared at the cover in astonishment. It was simply titled, The History of Chaos and Order. "How old is this book?" Twilight asked with amazement, opening its cover to old, worn, yellow pages. "Pretty darn old," Discord blew off the question and flicked the book's pages until he reached his desired entry. "There," He pointed at a passage. "That's kind of a summary." Twilight looked back at the book and read aloud, "Constance Spirit of Order Origins Unknown Estimated Magical Power Level: Extreme Estimated Physical Power Level: High Description: Most commonly used form is one of a large cat. Can also take the form of a large falcon. Both forms are colored only black and white. Eyes change color from ice blue and forest green. Occasionally, one eye is blue and the other green. Represents: Order, Logic, Control, Stability, Water, and Earth. Examples of Power: Demonstrates the ability to raise the sun and moon with ease, as well as control all the natural processes of world with minimal effort. Personality: Little is known about this. Seems to show little to no emotion and highly values logic. When Threatened: Can easily crush most opponents. Extra Information: Magical power level is doubled when combined with the Spirit Of Chaos." Twilight fell silent and began to scan the passage again. Her eyes stopped on one particular sentence. "Control all the natural processes of the world with minimal effort..." She murmured. She looked up at Discord, eyes wide. "When this book says 'Magical Power Level: Extreme', what does that mean, exactly?" "The scale goes, none, minimal, medium, high, extreme," Discord replied. "In that book, there are various creatures and monsters as well as her and I, but we are the only two with that rating. In fact, my summary is nearly the same as hers, except for the description, what we represent, and personality." "And your name!" Pinkie reminded him, bouncing up and down. "You forgot about your name, silly! Your name isn't Constance, it's Discord!" "Yeah, well, I thought that went without saying," He smirked at the pony, who couldn't keep her hooves on the ground for all of her excitement. "Where's your summary? I want to read it," Twilight asked, idly flipping the pages of the book. Discord picked it up out of her magic and slipped it in her saddlebag. "You keep it. Then you can read the whole thing. I'm sure you already want to, right?" Twilight blinked gratefully at him. "Of course I do!" "The rest of the book is mainly history from a long time ago, so it may seem a bit different than what you've read out of some of your history books," Discord continued. "But I don't think you should read it right now. That'd take too long, and we have something important we, regretfully," He muttered the word. "Have to do." Celestia shook herself out of the daze she had been in for the last few minutes. "What?" Discord glanced at her. "We have to find Constance." "Why?" "The fact that she woke up has overbalanced the world. She may have physically been sleeping here, but her presence left this world. That overbalanced the world into chaos. I, left alone, had to take a lot of chaos out of the world to make up for it. Now that she's back, the world has overbalanced to the orderly side. But, if I tried to add chaos to the world now, Constance might sense it and add more order, thinking something is wrong. So, basically, I have to go talk to her and get her up to date. She missed the whole thing when it happened fifteen hundred years ago," Discord huffed. "She was too caught up in herself to care about anyone's safety. Why I expected anything else from her is beyond me," Discord growled. Celestia looked dismayed. "Discord, what are you talking about?" She tried to ask. "You knew her! You can't honestly tell me that you wouldn't have expected it," Discord said. "When I knew her, Discord, she would have done anything she could have to help! She was one of the most loyal beings I ever knew!" Discord raised an eyebrow at the alicorn. "Loyal? I don't know what Constance you knew, princess, but it wasn't the one I did. She could've cared less about the well-being of the creature's around her. She would've destroyed the world if it meant everything would be orderly." Celestia stared at him, unable to form words. "As much as I hate her, we have to go tell her about the overbalance. If she hasn't realized it already." Applejack stepped forward. "Do ya know where she is?" "Uh, kinda?" "Do ya, or do ya not?" "I do!" Discord rushed. "She's somewhere in the Everfree forest." "That's helpful!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "The Everfree forest is huge! She could be anywhere in there. How is 'somewhere in the Everfree forest' going to help us at all?" "Just trust me. I know I can find her," Discord said. "All we need to do is get going," He paused. "You guys are coming, right?" "Well, duh!" Pinkie shouted. "We wouldn't miss it for the world," Twilight said. "Should we bring the Elements?" "Yeah, probably. You never know what you'll run into in the Everfree forest. Not that we'll run into anything that I can't take on with one hand tied behind my back!" Discord smirked. "Don't get too cocky, Discord," Celestia warned. "Sure, whatever." _______________________________________________________________________ The trees of the Everfree forest loomed on the path ahead. The ponies shivered as they gazed into the deep darkness that filled the woods. "Why do we always have to go into this hideous place?" Rarity complained. "It's a conspiracy, honey," Discord drawled as he floated ahead. "The whole world is plotting against you." "Very funny," Rarity retorted. "I was really trying to be sarcastic, but funny works, too," Discord shrugged and flew into the gloom. The rest of the ponies followed a bit slower. As they trekked, it became darker, and the trees became thicker and denser. The path got smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely, and the ponies, plus one draconequus, were left without a clear direction to go. After ten minutes of this, Fluttershy finally broke the silence. "Um, are we sure we're going the right way?" "Of course!" Discord reassured. "Oh, good," Fluttershy whispered. The silence fell again. It went on for quite a while until Discord apparently got too bored to keep his mouth shut. "Don't you guys like the chaoticness of this place? It's amazing!" Discord admired. "The sheer randomness of it is wonderful! Nothing's in a line, nothing is predictable. Isn't it just grand!" "That's an opinion," Rainbow muttered. "You really are a spoil-sport, Dashie," Discord said dejectedly. "You never see stuff like this in Equestria. It really is a nice change of pace." "I like it!" Pinkie Pie laughed. "It's really funny!" "Funny?" Discord stared at her. "It just makes me wanna laugh!" Discord chuckled. "I think everything makes you want to laugh, Pinkie." He suddenly stopped flying, causing Rainbow to crash into him from behind. "Hey, what gives?!" She yelled. "We're getting close," Discord said. "How do you know?" Twilight asked. "The trees." Twilight blinked and looked at the vegetation around them. "The trees?" "They're starting to form lines. Look," Discord pointed. "And the flowers are gathered according to their color and shape. That sort of stuff happens when Constance stays in one area for a long period of time." The ponies looked around. "That is so strange!" Rarity commented. "But it is a very nice change from all this unruliness." Discord rolled his eyes. "It's boring. Come on, you'll be able to see it more clearly the closer we get." They started walking again, now paying more attention to their surroundings. As they continued to walk, the trees became more and more widely spaced, making it easy to see the lines. "Feels like Ah'm walking through the apple farm!" Applejack said, looking up at the tops of the trees. A clearing opened up ahead. About twenty feet from it, Discord stopped. Once again, Rainbow ran into him. "Jeez, please give me some warning next time!" "Be quiet!" He whispered. "She should be right up there." He gestured at the clearing. "So, why are we stopped?" AJ asked. "I'm bracing myself." "Oh, come on!" Rainbow pushed him forward. "Fine." They walked into the clearing. "I don't see anypony!" RD complained. "Shut up and look right in front of your face and maybe you will," Discord muttered, and pointed at the other end of the clearing. Fluttershy followed his finger with her eyes and saw what he was pointing at. She made a noise that was too high to be anything else but a muffled shriek and dove behind the draconequus. In the darkness of the bushes at the other side of the clearing shone two bright, burning blue eyes. "Discord."