//------------------------------// // C1 - Discord Unleashed // Story: Discord Meets Ruby Rose // by Maxes Altho //------------------------------// “Hey, Twilight, are you home?” Fluttershy sang as she entered the library, me floating lazily along behind. Gosh, I haven’t had a day off with Fluttershy in a while! This is going to be fun! …And we start the day by going to the library. Fun. Oh, I guess I haven’t introduced myself, something about this being a sequel of another story told from first-person, and it would be confusing if I didn’t. I am Discord, Lord of Chaos, Destroyer of Worlds, Kicker of Puppies (on rare occasion), and most recently, reformed citizen of Equestria and friend to the Elements of Harmony. I had started getting unruly again, as Celestia put it. I mean really, what’s the harm in reversing gravity every once in a while? At least I did it indoors this time! But no, dear Princess Celly got all fussy and sent me to have another lesson in friendship with Fluttershy. “Oh, hi Fluttershy! Twilight’s out right now, what can I help…you…with…” the little purple dragon, Spike I think, comes down the stairs and into the library proper. He stops when he sees me; I’m guessing he still remembers the last time I turned him into a puppy for fun. Hey, when a guy gets the urge to kick… “Well, Discord’s in town for the day, and I was wondering if the eight of us could get together for a picnic.” “Gee, Fluttershy, I’d love to go on a picnic, but Twilight wanted me to do her weekly experiment re-inventory, make sure none of them escaped.” Experiments, you say? That sounds like fun. I put on my best ‘nice guy’ voice, along with matching top hat and coat. “Oh, dear Spike, could we assist you in your endeavor? Maybe you could tell us about some of these experiments.” To seal the deal, I summon up a ruby in the shape of Rarity’s head to dangle in front of him. Anyone with eyes can see he has a thing for her. As he begins to salivate, I know he’s hooked. He leads us down to the basement. It’s dank, dusty, and a lot of the stuff down there is covered in tarps. Spike produces a candle, a list and quill, and starts wandering, checking tags, then checking off the appropriate item on the list. “Let’s see… Pinkie Brain Analyzer… Memory Relocator… D-Hopper Mk. 1… Diamond Dog Seismograph… Shark-Repellent Bat Spray, no idea what she would do with that…” My ears perk up. “D-Hopper? What’s that?” Spike gives me a worried look, then turns to a device tucked far into a corner of the basement. “That. According to Twilight, it allows her to go to different dimensions.” “Oh, you mean when we went to that other world with Ruby Rose? I loved that place!” Fluttershy peeps up. Other world, huh? I pluck one eye and one claw off, and send them a searchin’. My body keeps following Fluttershy (no need to get them suspicious), while my mind, eye, and claw get a gander at the machine. It’s a simple enough thing, a box of dials and sensors with two fairly large pylons to either side, and a small circular platform in the middle. I look at the tag. Six months ago! Twilight found a way to breach the fabric between dimensions, and Celly had her scrap it? A memory comes unbidden to my mind. One of me, ruling over thousands, sowing chaos against my enemies. Then, two figures, one as bright as day, the other a blackest night, rising up from my people to overthrow me. Me then having to run, fleeing across different worlds, having a bit of chaotic fun every now and again, but those two keep finding me, forcing me to the next world. It ends with… nothing? I shake my head. It isn’t often I remember a time before Equestria, but that memory seems like a warning. Where there’s a warning, there’s usually consequence. Where there’s consequence, there’s potential for chaos. I power up the machine, pulling my body to it. I ignore the cries of alarm sounding across the basement and focus on the machine. Since, due to cosmic drift, it’ll be nigh impossible for me to find any of my old stomping grounds, I settle for the last inputted coordinates. A portal opens in the center of the platform. “Ooh, pretty!” I say to myself. Well, as a good friend of mine is fond of saying, Allons-y! I grab my bag, screwdriver, and fez, and step into the rip. ---------- “Isn’t this fascinating, Discord?” Fluttershy asks of the Incarnation of Chaos. When he doesn’t answer, she looks up. He’s floating along as usual, but seems distracted. Suddenly, he vanishes. “Discord?! Spike, did you see where Discord went?” “No, is he gone?” Spike asks, not looking up from the parchment. A hum resonates through the basement. Fluttershy sees a purple glow in the far corner. "Um, Spike? What’s in that direction?” That gets Spike’s attention. “Let’s see, that’s close to where we started, nothing too dangerous over there, but the purple shimmer means,” he turns to Fluttershy, and she makes the connection at the same time. “The D-Hopper!” Fluttershy launches forward and gallops for the far side. She skids to a stop just in time to see the portal open. “Discord! What are you doing?” He doesn’t seem to have heard. Fluttershy can only watch in dismay as he steps into the portal, and it closes behind him. “D-Discord? What have you done?” ---------- I end up in a forest. It wasn’t a very nice landing, but it must have been troublesome enough to find another dimension, much less make sure you arrive safely. A for Effort, Twilight. Now, where am I? I pull out my map of the cosmos (updated every century or so, to account for drift, mentioned above), and study it. “Let’s see, the Equis Realities are over there, and I seem to be somewhere over here… Hmm. Doesn’t seem to be a livable plane nearby. Oh, silly me! This darn thing’s upside down! I’m in the Realities of Remnant. Ooh, have I ever been here? Let me just check my little black book.” I summon my little black book, appropriately titled Little Book of Forms for Major Chaos Gods, and begin to leaf through it. I remember taking different forms on each world I visited, so as to evade those two forces. Can’t very well go around a place looking like a draconequus if the people of this world haven’t ever heard of one! “Hmm… no… no… close, but no… ooh! Haven’t had anybody call me ‘Shaitan’ in a while… no… nope… not even close… hmm, haven’t been back to Asgard in, what, fifteen hundred years? I better check in on how Loki’s doing with the whole ‘rule the realms’ thing… come on, where is it?” My mood begins to sour. I feel sure I’ve been here before, but for the life of me, I can’t remember when or how! The bushes nearby begin rustling. I shoot them a look, and a small beast comes lumbering out. It’s about ten feet tall on its hind legs, covered in black fur, with a white head with red streaks running across it, and bony spikes running down its arms. It growls at me, but then it catches my scent and it… bows? I reach my mind towards it. Yes, I can do that! How do you think I was able to trick the Element Bearers before? Dumb luck? No, I read their minds, and pulled out what would turn them against each other. As my mind brushes it, I don’t get true thoughts, more like emotions and remnants. Remnants like Master…Creator…Betrayed… and the feeling of pure chaos power. I get hints of its ancestor’s ancestors, and me governing them. That’s different. I vaguely remember that, while I did have some agents of chaos, carefully selected from the population, I most certainly never stooped to creating my own. Then, I look at the book, and facepalm. “Oh! Fool me twice! I was looking under ‘Realities’, when Remnant is under ‘Realms’! Okay, let’s see, Realms of R…E…M…N… here we go! Ooh, I have to put my foot where? Well, I’ve always wanted bigger wings, so let’s try it out!” My new friend scampers away as I begin to grow. My arms and legs lengthen, my wings biggify, everything gets larger. Armor of some kind sprouts all over my body, covering everything except my head. I summon a mirror, and see my head has taken on the motif of the creatures, white on top with large red streaks over the eyes, but red is definitely the in-color for the season. As my transformation completes, I look over the tree line and see a city in the distance. My mind has changed a bit, becoming a bit more feral, ancient, untamed. I try to rein it in, but it’s a struggle, a real Sméagol-Gollum thing. Ooh! Another thing for my list! I need to check in on the dark lord on this one world, see how he’s doing with that ring I gave him. Even though this second mind is oppressive, I’m able to glean some information from it, while still remaining in control. Grimmfather, they called us. We were the most feared in the realm the pitiful mortals called Remnant. We ruled with iron fist and breath of flame. Then, they came. They gave the mortals the power to destroy our sons and daughters. They. Will. Pay. My more rational mind tries to fight. “Oh come now, can we stop the whole ‘doom and gloom’ thing? This is my first time out of my current dimension in about one thousand two hundred and nineteen years. So, let’s try not to destroy this dimension before I have some fun, ‘kay?” NO! We must destroy the children of them. “And we will. But first, how about we try to turn them against each other, have some entertainment? That way, their strife brings Them back, and the two of us together can defeat Them.” Hmm. This pleases the Grimmfather. I accept your proposal. I sense we were once one and the same. By what name do you go now? “Why, dear sir, I am Discord, at your service.” I bow to myself. “Now, let’s go cause some chaos.”