//------------------------------// // A Pony Obsessed // Story: Chaos Week // by CuppaTea //------------------------------// It's an especially beautiful day in Ponyville. The sun is shining brightly, the birds are singing and a pleasant breeze drifts through the town. While the majority of ponies enjoy the afternoon frolicking together in the fair weather, Twilight Sparkle has hidden herself away in the darkest corner of her library. In her hoof is a book. "The Origin of Chaos" is scrawled in gold serif on its leather bound cover. Ever since his defeat several days ago, Twilight has been unable to get Discord out of her mind. Not even sleep has served as an escape from the draconequis. She dreams of chaos reigning as she's trapped in stone, unable to escape; unable to move or to breathe. "It's the thought of him escaping that's making me stressed," she tells herself. Or at least that's what her friends tell her. In her heart she knows that the knot in her belly isn't one of fear, but of guilt. She knows what it's like to be turned to stone; the cockatrice saw to that. It is a fate Discord claimed to have never subjected anypony to. "A thousand years," Twilight shudders. She doesn't even want to imagine the horror of being a living statue for a THOUSAND years. She thinks about bringing it up to Princess Celestia but quickly dismisses the idea. When Discord was free, Twilight had never seen the princess so angry. In fact she couldn't remember EVER seeing the princess angry before then. She sighs. Whatever the reasons behind her feelings, she's going to deal with them the same way she deals with anything she feels uneasy about. She's going to read and read and READ. Though her books she will learn to tolerate the subject of her dislike; or at the very least learn to understand it. Before she left Canterlot, she borrowed every book there was on Discord from the imperial library. Much to Twilight's disappointment, there was very little reading material pertaining to draconequis or his origins. What she found was mostly descriptions of his form and his magic. Somewhat useless information considering she observed him and the extent of his powers with her own eyes. The book before her is different from the ones she read previously. It's formatted much like a book for little fillies. There are beautiful watercolor images on each page and it's told as a story instead of the dry descriptions she's accustomed to. The pages are brown and threaten to crumble if she isn't extremely delicate with them. It's clear that this book is very, VERY old. "In the beginning there was order," Twilight reads aloud. "All of Equestria was ruled in harmony by King Cosmos, creator of the world and the ponies who inhabit it. Everypony had a life's purpose, which was assigned to them from birth based on their specific caste. The unicorns worked the land with their magic and the pegasus controlled the weather from the skies. This left the alicorns; who were made in his image; free to rule over the lesser ponies." "Lesser ponies?" Twilight makes a face but continues. "For eons Equestria was perfect and all of the ponies lived long fulfilling lives. In time however, a dark forest began to grow within the world. Even King Cosmos, with all of his divine power could not bring order to it. Though he knew it would probably cause him great grief, he could not bring himself to destroy any part of his beloved creation." "The King lived among the ponies for many years and despite their company, became lonely. He called upon all of the mares in Equestria in search of a bride. One by one he turned them away finding that he could never truly love any of them. When he was on the verge of abandoning his search and had come to the very last mare in the world, he knew that she was destined to be his queen. Her coat shone purist of white and nopony came close to the beauty and grace she possessed. In truth, she was almost as perfect as he." "King Cosmos took the alicorn as his wife and she bore unto him two beautiful fillies: Celestia and Luna. For a while he was content but continued to feel the chaos stirring within his world. It seemed to be growing stronger by the day and it worried him deeply. He saw visions of his daughters being kidnapped by whatever force dwelled within the forest. He cautioned his little ponies to stay far away from the woods but that did nothing to deter young Celestia. She was a filly nearly bursting with the curiosity of all things and entered the area against her father's wishes." "The King's worst fears were recognised when his daughter awoke the previously dormant chaos beast within the woods. Cosmos rescued Celestia and valiantly fought the monster with all of his might. But it was no use. The chaos had grown too strong and overcame him. In an act of desperation and a need to protect his daughters, the King transferred to them his divine power after hiding them away on the moon. He locked them there for one hundred years. Then they would be old enough and perhaps powerful enough to face the beast themselves." "Enraged that the princess had escaped, the beast unleashed a mighty curse on all of alicorn kind. He took away all of their magic; cruelly removing their horns and wings. Even the King himself had succumbed to the powerful spell. The beast declared itself to be Discord, new and last King of Equestria. And thus began the reign of chaos..." "Wow... does that mean all earth ponies were once alicorns...?" Twilight tilts her head, taken aback at the revelation. "I wonder if it's true. I should ask the-" "Twilight...?" Spike calls timidly. She turns her head sharply, annoyed at the intrusion. "Spike, I thought I told you not to bother me when I'm studying." "But Twilight, I think you better come see this." She recognises the worry in the baby dragon's voice and decides to humour him. "Alright Spike, what is it?" she says with a sigh. She pushes herself to her hooves with some effort. Sitting in the same position for so long has left her legs stiff and aching from disuse. "Over here," he calls to her through the doorway. She follows him into the main section of the library, squinting at the brightness of the candles which illuminate it. "Look," Spike points to the window nearest him, but Twilight can't see anything outside through the darkness. "Oh wow, it's night already? I guess I was studying longer than I thought!" she puts a hoof to her neck, embarrassed that she had lost track of so much time. "No Twilight&... It's not even dinner time." Twilight's eyes widen. "WHAT? When did this happen?" "I don't know, I was organising the library and when I looked up, the sun had gone down. I came to get you as soon as I noticed." "What could this mean? Has something happened to the princess?" Twilight trots franticly around the library, trying to make sense of the situation. After all of the studying she's done today, she can't help but wonder if Discord has something to do with this. She hears Spike belch and turns to see a letter fall to the ground. He picks it up and hands it to Twilight. "I think you got your answer."