//------------------------------//
// Anarchy 
// Story: Chaos and Anarchy 
// by -Mazer 
//------------------------------//

	“You have a brother?” Twilight gasped. “But how is that even possible?”
Discord raised an eyebrow. “Well,” he cooed in a sugary sweet voice. “When two spirits fall in love with one another, they go into the bedroom and…”
“That’s not what I meant!” Twilight squealed while covering her ears. “I mean: How can you have a brother and we’ve never heard about him until now?”
“Ah,” Discord twirled his finger through his beard. “For that, we’ll need to take a trip back in time.” He clicked his claws and a sofa suddenly popped up beneath Luna and Twilight, forcing both ponies to sit down upon it. Discord jumped off his chair to settle himself between the two ponies. “Scoot over, Luna.” He growled. “You are taking up all the cushions.”
Luna glared daggers at Discord. “Would you just tell us what is going on? We do not have time for this nonsense!”
“There is always time for nonsense, Princess.” Discord grinned. “Now,” He cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice was suddenly a lot deeper. “Long ago, in an Equestria far, far away, there lived two spirits.” He snapped his fingers. A large wooden box sprang into view in front of the sofa. It was painted in blues, reds, and purples, and there was a hole cut out in its center. Surrounding the hole were two velvet curtains and mounted above them was the word “Theater” carved out of wood. The curtains spread apart exposing a badly painted landscape. Little plastic butterflies suspended by fishing wire were bouncing all over the place as Discord continued his story. “The elder spirit was named Discord,” As he said this, a sock puppet version of Discord popped up from underneath the stage. “And he was the spirit of disharmony and chaos.” Discord shot a smile towards Luna. “This is his story.”

My Little Discord!

Luna’s eyes widened as a chorus of fillies, all sounding like her, began to sing from inside of the box. In fact, smaller sock-puppet versions of Luna poked their heads from the stage and wiggled back and forth as they sang.
“You have your own theme song?” Twilight groaned while slapping her hoof against her forehead. “Really?”
“Shush!” Discord snarled. He clapped his hands together in a child-like glee. “This is my favorite part!”

My Little Discord
You used to wonder what chaos could be
My Little Discord
Until I shared its madness with thee!
It creates Adventures
That are tons of Fun
A blackened Heart
Laughter is strong
Sharing the Madness
Is the thing to beat
And Chaos makes it all complete!
My Little Discord
Don’t you know that you are my very best fiend?

“Enough!” Luna’s voice boomed. The puppet theater collapsed. Discord picked the puppet version of himself up and cradled it to his chest. A single tear rolled down his cheek. “It didn’t even have a chance to dance.” He sniffed. “How could you be so cruel?”
“We have no time for this! Tell us what happened to my sister or face my wrath!”
Discord’s eyes flashed a bright yellow. “Tell me, Princess,” he slithered onto his stomach before rising up in front of Luna, so his chest was pressing against hers. He leaned down so that he was now nose-to-nose with the dark princess. “What could you possibly do to me that haven’t been done already?”
Luna glared up into his eyes for several seconds. Finally she conceded to his point. “Tell us the story.”
He vanished in a cloud of pink smoke only to reappear back onto his original chair. “Say please.”
Luna began to grind her teeth together. “Please.” She hissed.
“Oooh,” Discord clapped. “I always love hearing you beg. Brings back such delicious memories!”
Luna’s cheeks flushed but she didn’t respond to his goading. Twilight was once again left wondering just what exactly happened between the two of them so many years ago.
“Well since you asked nicely.” He twirled his claws up over his head causing a white cloud to appear. As he spoke, the cloud played back the scenes he was describing. It was as if Luna and Twilight were looking into Discord’s very memory. “Spirits are not born, we just are. Since the dawn of Equestria, I have existed, as did many other spirits. My brother was no exception.”
A draconequus that Twilight had never seen before appeared. He had the same body and face as Discord but that is where the resemblance ended. First of all, he had red eyes with black pupils whereas Discord had yellow eyes with red pupils. His right wing was that of an eagle, the left one looking as if it belonged to some kind of creepy insect. His teeth were thin and sharp, like a cat’s and he only had one horn jutting out from the center of his head like a unicorn. His right arm was that of a dragon, the left a lizard with sharp black talons, his left leg belonging to a goat, the right to a wolf. Finally, his tail was like a lion’s. Twilight couldn’t put her hoof on it, but there was something very wrong with how he looked. Not that he looked normal by any means, but there was just something that didn’t feel right. His eyes, Twilight realized. His eyes seem…wrong.
“This is Anarchy.” Discord explained. He summoned a bag of popcorn and began nibbling on it – the bag, not the popcorn. “My younger brother – I use the term brother loosely as we are not related for we are not born.” A younger Discord appeared. He looked exactly as he did today except a bit smaller and without the beard. He coiled himself around Anarchy while laughing, turning Anarchy into a ballerina complete with tutu and slippers. Anarchy rolled his eyes, clapped his hands together, and the dress vanished, reappearing onto Discord’s body instead. Discord looked at the outfit before falling onto his back, laughing tears.
“We oversaw the chaos of the world.” Discord pealed another strip from his popcorn bag and nibbled upon it. The popcorn kept the shape of the bag as he did so. “There were no towns for us to play with, only tribes of earth ponies, horses, buffalo, and donkeys. Pegasus, Unicorns, and Earth Ponies have yet to interact with one another which limited our playtime but we made do.”
Young Discord and Anarchy were shown sneaking through a thick forest. Discord’s attention was focused on a tiny rabbit. He made a gesture for Anarchy to stay put as he turned himself into a carrot. He threw himself into the clearing besides the bunny. It almost turned tail and ran but upon seeing the carrot, it hopped on over eagerly. As it picked Discord up to eat him, Discord returned to normal. He scooped the bunny up while howling in laughter at the look of absolute fear upon the rabbit’s face. “Watch this!” Discord cackled. He squeezed the bunny gently, causing it to squeak. Discord rolled onto his back, kicking his back legs into the air like some child who just discovered a new toy.
“Delicious!” Anarchy cheered. His voice was rather gravely, deeper than Discords, scratchier. “Let me try!”
Discord threw the bunny over to Anarchy who caught it in his claws. He squeezed the bunny just as Discord had, resulting in another squeak. Anarchy and Discord alike started to laugh. Discord was pounding the earth with his fist while Anarchy squeezed the bunny again.
And again.
Anarchy’s laughter began to die down. His dark eyes were starring deep into the eyes of the bunny as he squeezed again, harder this time. The bunny squeak came out more like a gasp. He squeezed harder, his laughter stopping altogether. The bunny gasped in pain.
He squeezed one last time, his jaw clenching, his muscles flexing.
“Anarchy?” Discord coughed. He wiped away the tears from his eyes. “Anarchy?” His golden eyes widened and he rushed Anarchy, snatching the rabbit from Anarchy’s clutches. “What are you doing?” He lifted the bunny by its back foot. It wasn’t moving. “You broke it…”
Anarchy stared at the rabbit for several seconds. Twilight felt a chill roll through her body. The expression on Anarchy’s face was that of pure delight. It was a sick, almost perverse expression. “Anarchy!” Discord snarled. Anarchy shook his head, blinking. “Huh?” The dark expression had vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “What?”
“You broke it!” Discord thrust the rabbit’s corpse in front of Anarchy’s face. “You broke our toy!”
Anarchy blinked. “I did that?”
“Yes!” Discord dropped the rabbit onto the ground. “Why did you break our toy?”
“I-I don’t know. I didn’t mean to!”
Discord stared deep into Anarchy’s eyes. “Don’t do it again.” He whispered in a tone Twilight had never heard before. 
“I won’t!” Anarchy raised his claws. “I promise.”
The memory cloud swirled about before vanishing. Discord had finished eating the bag and was now throwing popcorn across the empty chamber. He was uncharacteristically quiet.
“He didn’t keep his promise, did he?” Twilight whispered.
Discord’s clenched his fist around the popcorn. “He didn’t.”
“What happened after that?” asked Luna.
Discord clicked his fingers together. A new cloud appeared overhead. It showed Discord sitting on top of a rocky hill, overlooking a sprawling valley. Black smoke was billowing up from the valley’s center and bright orange flames were licking the country side. Amidst the disaster, the sound of laughter could be heard echoing throughout the entire valley. Young Discord’s claws clenched into tight, trembling fists. He snapped his claws, teleporting himself into the center of the inferno.
Anarchy was in the thick of it. A single buffalo child was pinned between Anarchy’s foot and the ground. It was kicking and struggling against Anarchy’s grip but to no avail. Anarchy was just too strong for the child. “Anarchy!” Discord’s screamed. He snapped his claws summoning several hundred barrels of water to appear over the tribal land. They emptied themselves upon the fire, dousing the flames. Discord took a deep breath before blowing the black smoke away. What he exposed was a nightmare.
Buffalo of all ages were strewn across the valley, their broken, bloodied bodies limp and lifeless. Many of them seemed to have been either self-inflicted or caused by other buffalo. “What have you done?”
Anarchy’s eyes flashed with irritation. “What have I done? What have you done?” He waved his arm to encompass the entire valley. “Do you know how much time and effort it took me to create such a state of absolute chaos? Now I have to start all over again with another tribe!”
“This isn’t chaos,” Discord growled. “This is murder!”
Anarchy placed a hand to his chest. “Murder?” He said in a hurt tone. “Why, I haven’t murdered anyone. All I did was observe.” His lips curled up into a sick grin. “Why sully my claws with the blood of lesser beings?” He shook his head. “Tsk, tsk, Discord. I thought you knew me better than that. How could you accuse your brother of such things?” A single tear rolled down his cheek. He wiped it away and flicked it off. The tear exploded as it hit the ground.
Discord looked at the bodies. “You did this,” he whispered. “You manipulated them. You turned them against each other.”
“So what if I did?”
“Why?” Discord hissed. “Why would you do such a thing?”
Anarchy’s dark eyes narrowed into slits. “Do you really want to know?” He applied pressure against the buffalo child’s ribs. He screamed out in pain. “Fine. Do you know the difference between the two of us? You get by feeding off the naivety of others. All you do is create riddles and pull childish little pranks. You are nothing more than a court jester, dancing around like a fool. You don’t think, you don’t plan, you just do. You don’t see the overall picture.” 
Anarchy exposed his teeth as he grinned. “I, on the other hand, am a thinking creature. I plot, I hypothesize. I pick out each and every little flaw before executing my plans. I spend days, weeks, putting the pieces together before I make my move. Your approach is so impersonal, innocent evil, and cause only mild irritation to those around you. I take it a step further. You see, I find that special pony, that one creature whose down on their luck. I meet them, comfort them, befriend them. I make that pony so happy that they begin to beam with job. I see that glow of happiness and I revel in it.” He licked his lips with his forked tongue. “Then I wait. I wait for that day when they are at their happiest; whether it be their birthday, wedding, or surrounded by friends,” He giggled. “Then I strike. I rip from them everything that made their lives worth living. I take away what they love, their friends, turn them all against each other. I ruin them, Discord, and that is what makes what I do so delicious. You see there is this beautifully magical thing that happens when all their joy is taken away.”
Anarchy applied more pressure to the buffalo. “Your definition of fun involves chocolate rain and cotton candy clouds. Do you know what’s really fun? It’s that look in a pony’s eyes when you squeeze the life out of them. Their little beady eyes contain a whirlwind of emotions; fear, anger, panic, and just before the end – betrayal. 
“It’s beautiful. That one, tiny, insignificant moment as the light of happiness leaves their eyes,” He shuddered with pleasure. “It’s that one moment that I feel something better than joy. It’s Euphoria, Discord, and it makes all the scheming and planning worth it.” He ran his claws over his body. “Mmm. And the best part about it is that I don’t even need to get myself involved if I don’t want too. Betrayal can come from anyone. All one needs is that one, final,” he flexed his leg. “Push!”
The buffalo child squeaked. Anarchy looked down to see that Discord had replaced the buffalo with a plush squeaky toy. The child was nowhere to be seen.  “You understand nothing!” Discord shouted. He approached Anarchy, his golden eyes ablaze with fury. “There can be no pleasure in chaos if there is nopony around to appreciate it! By slaughtering these foals, you are ridding the world of the very thing that makes life worth living! These creatures are our playthings! What will you do when you’ve broken all the toys?”
Anarchy did not flinch under Discord’s gaze. “Then I will just find more.” His black eyes sparkled in mischief. “So what now? Do you plan on stopping me?” He smiled. “I am just as powerful as you are, Discord. Make my day.” He made a motion in front of his chest. A red and white bullseye appeared over his chest. He stared into Discord’s eyes. “Come now. You said it yourself. They are mere playthings. What do you care if I break a few?” 
Discord raised his claws, his index claw and thumb resting against one another in mid-click. He stood there for several seconds, contemplating his next action. Finally he lowered his claws and crossed his arms. “No. I won’t stop you.” Discord hissed. “You’ll see the error in your ways soon enough.” He curled his upper lip into a sick grin. “But let me warn you, Anarchy. If I ever catch you doing this again, I won’t hold back.”
Anarchy grinned. “Oh, you will never catch me ever again.” He turned his back to Discord and began to walk away. “The world is huge. I will find my fun somewhere else.” He vanished in a poof of black smoke.
The memory cloud vanished. Discord was now laying across the armchair, his head on one armrest, and his legs over the other. “So we went our separate ways. I heard stories of the monster that brought to the land war and misery, but I did nothing to stop it.” 
“Why not?” Twilight asked. 
“All good things come to those who wait.” Discord remarked. “It didn’t take long for Anarchy to meet his end.” A coy smile played across Discord’s lips. “He destroyed quite a few tribes in the west and once he had no one else to play with, he moved his antics north. He was able to turn three tribes of ponies against one another and waged a war that the world had never seen.” Discord’s smile grew into a toothy grin. “But he did not take into account that there are spirits just as powerful as him and I. The war he created served to be the perfect smorgasbord for the local Windigos. The sheer amount of hatred he birthed was enough for the Windigos to flash freeze the entire valley. Not a single pony survived the event, neither did my brother. He was frozen solid.” Discord began to giggle at the memory. “You should have seen his expression. It was priceless. He was screaming up at the sky when he was frozen. It is obvious that he was annoyed that his magic couldn’t rid the Windigos.”
“So that’s why you didn’t stop him.” Twilight commented. “You wanted him to realize that you are not all powerful.”
“Something like that.” Discord stretched out across the chair. “I used the opportunity to make sure that Anarchy could never return to Equestria.”
“What did you do?” Twilight asked.
“I paid him a visit.” Discord turned his head so that he could look into Twilight’s eyes. “When I found him,” He smiled. “I tore out his heart.”
Twilight gasped. “You did what?”
“I tore out his heart. Oh, don’t worry. I am sure he did not feel a thing. His heart, like is body, had crystallized. To ensure that he would never darken Equestria with his antics, I broke the heart into six pieces and spread them across the land.” He rolled his eyes and his voice took on a rather sickly, whiny tone that reminded Twilight of a spoiled child who didn’t want to do his homework. “But the shards were corrupted by the kindness and – gag – love of the ponies that lived in the regions. Anarchy’s elements; Selfishness, Betrayal, Treachery, Greed, Sadness, and Magic were corrupted.” He crinkled his nose in disgust. “Each shard was altered thanks to the personality of the pony that lived nearby. You call these corrupted shards the…” He grumbled. “The Elements of Harmony.”
Luna’s jaw dropped and Twilight practically fell off the couch. “Wait, you are telling me…”
Discord gave her a look. “Please, Twilight Sparkle, use your brain. Do you think six shiny stones would really be enough to stop a spirit of chaos? No. It is because they were spawned from the essence of a spirit that has given them such incredible power.” He gave a dramatic sigh. “If I had known then what I know now, maybe I wouldn’t have split his heart.”
“But we don’t understand,” Luna said. “If the removal of his heart is what kept him asleep for some many years, why has he awoken?”
“The more you use the Elements in their corrupted form, the weaker their hold upon him is.” Discord snorted. “Ironic, isn’t it? The very thing you ponies use to enforce the peace is the same thing that will destroy you. I would find it funny if it wasn’t so tragic.”
“Well,” Twilight offered. “Now that we know what we are up against, all we need to do is gather my friends and face Anarchy. Without his heart, we should be able to send him back from where he came.”
Discord called upon a golden pocket watch. He opened it. “As much as I love raining on your parade, Twilight Sparkle, I am afraid that you may be too late.” He snapped it closed. “You’ve been here for several hours.” He looked to them both. “If it is true that Anarchy is on the loose, then Ponyville may already be destroyed.”