It's a futile pursuit, trying to hold up the image of an untarnished god-like being. It only takes the smallest of breezes to tear it down...
-Celestia
Chapter 7
Annoyed Appearances
How he escaped I will never know. But he did, and that is all that matters...
-Celestia
Luna
The Princess of the Night lowered herself into her bed, with a groan, prepared for her daily sleep having just lowered the moon. She decided not to join the ponies partying during the festivities of the Summer Sun Celebration. Luna could never catch the fever that swept through the land during that one day as it had nothing to do with her element and her favorite being, the Moon.
She grumbled to herself quietly as her attempts to sleep were thwarted time and time again by the sounds of the Celebration. Even the upper crust of Canterlot could find their wild sides during that time. The noises from below suddenly stopped as the sun started to rise above the horizon, sending crimson streaks darting over the mountain tops to the awe of the ponies watching. Luna took this opportunity to finally slip into unconsciousness. Her vision receded and her muscles relaxed. A sense of tranquility settle-
The courtyard’s siren wailed in emergency. The harsh sound reverberated throughout the castle walls and into Luna's bedchamber. The startled Princess flew out of her bed and collapsed into a pile on the floor with all the dignity of a falling whale...
The flower arrangement next to Luna's bed muttered darkly to itself, but nopony heard.
Luna tried to recover before somepony could see her in her current state and rose, huffing indigently. She was prepared to send whatever pony had sounded the alarm to the moon. She shook her head violently, trying to expel the old thoughts, and her sudden craving for bananas, before trotting towards the balcony.
Below, ponies were milling wildly, confused by the change of pace that had overcome the celebration. The quiet conversation had turned to panic. No matter what the status, no matter what occupation, sirens were hard to misinterpret.
And this one was pretty loud.
As could only be expected, wild shouts and accusations were shot across the crowd in the calamity.
"What's goin' on eh?!" One pony would shout.
"I demand to know the cause of this disruption!" Another would shout over another.
"-so then I told him, well yes, I did get fleas from my dog, but they would be gone so-" For that particular moment the conversations died down and a deathly quiet settled upon the masses as they stared at the pony in question. This silence stayed until the siren returned for round two.
As Luna watched, ponies from the Royal Guard sprinted into the courtyard where the majority of the ponies were gathered in an attempt to control the crowd. Her Sister could be seen sprinting towards the Garden with her faithful student hurriedly in tow. Luna decided to fly down in order to investigate for herself.
Within seconds, she had flown down from her balcony and into the midst of the guards. The highest ranked guard hesitantly approached while the rest did their best to contain the milling populace. He bowed down but rose quickly when Luna impatiently motioned to him. He stood panting for a moment, trying to regain his breath before speaking. "You…. your Majesty." He started panting again at a slower rate and finally slowed his heartbeat to a normal speed. "One of the Statues! It's missing!"
The statement seemed to flow through the Princess' brain like treacle, waiting to be realized. Luna stood in shock. The statues were the most durable and most impenetrable form of containment in the whole of Equestria. There was only one entity that had escaped from one before, and that was Discord, an embodiment of one of the Pure Elements. They were the strongest and most everlasting beings in the whole of existence, different from the Elements of Harmony due to them being creatures incorporated purely of the element they represent, only in a physical form, Celestia being the Sun and Luna herself, the Moon.
Luna shuddered as she recalled the memories that led to Discord's corruption. Contrary to common belief, the type of Pure Element in question didn't affect the being. Discord wasn't naturally cruel.
The Shadow however, was an entirely different matter. It was Darkness, in the sense of thoughts and emotions. It had changed Discord. It wasn't any easier facing him the second time either. Luna was lucky, only a thousand years with The Shadow and a cleansing from the Elements of Harmony. Discord had something closer to fifteen thousand, give or take a couple hundred or years...
Luna blinked as she returned to the task at hand. The guard who had been talking was looking at her with worry in his eyes as his princess drifted into thought. She nodded in acknowledgement briefly, before turning and rocketing into the sky in the direction of the Garden, leaving a very confused Royal Guard to deal with a panicking mob.
She flew overhead, searching frantically for her Sister and her student. She had come to the conclusion that it was Discord who had escaped. Again. No other creature should be capable of breaking out.
Unless...
A scream echoed from the ground, alerting Luna instantly. She tucked her wings in and fell into a dive bomb, trying to reach the ground as quickly as possible. The screaming stopped.
Luna redoubled her speed, furiously trying to streamline her body so as to help the victim below her. She fell into the center of the Gardens, causing a layer of dust to fly from the ground as she did so. The Statues were standing in their usual places, their eyes watching her. Leering at her. Daring her to do something that she would regret. The Night Alicorn tore away, desperate to check on the Statue of Dis-
She halted instantly, shocked. The Statue of Discord stood in its usual place. The place where it had stood for millennia, undisturbed but for a single incident the previous year. It yet stood with a horrified expression on its face, complete all but for the eyes. The eyes weren't horrified. No, the eyes were furious. The hatred burned inside and shook Luna to her core as she maintained contact with them. She turned, unable to continue gazing into their murky depths.
Luna looked down the row of Statues and started running, the Statues on her right, towards the end. There was a small gap in the row where a path ran between leading to the nearby maze, but apart from that, the row was an unfaltering line straight through the Gardens. As she ran across the path, a few Royal Guards sprinted past towards the maze, completely oblivious to the screaming, or perhaps thinking that it was just another distressed civilian. The Princess watched them run into the maze and become quickly lost from sight.
She turned and continued her tense run past the Statues. Each and every one of them watched as she passed, evidently happy for the commotion injecting a little bit of interest into their utterly boring existence. She reached the Donkey’s statue and drew a sharp breath, shocked at what she saw. Or rather, what she didn't.
The scream came once again, followed by the muffled sound of a giant explosion and a flash of light. She turned and ran towards the source. Luna galloped across the Garden, trampling the beds of flowers carelessly, intent on getting to the source of the noise. A few guards noticed her and signaled for their colleagues to join them as they ran after the Princess. She approached one of the corners of the Garden, the maze preventing a line of sight, and peered around tentatively. She gasped...
Light
Wow, this has to be the most fun in what, 2 months...
...
Though counting isn’t much of a benchmark really...
I tried my hardest not to burst out laughing at the faces of the two ponies in front of me. The purple one looked to be on the verge of outright fainting, while the Princess had only widened her eyes a little bit. Both of them were speechless.
I stood silent, content to watch patiently for the ponies to recover. The Princess managed that feat first and narrowed her eyes angrily. The purple one just screamed.
Sweet mother of walnut flying dishwasher that thing is loud! Like, come on, that pony could be a bloody weapon just by itself!
I clapped my hands over my ears to block out the incredible scream that seemed to be coming from the purple pony. The edges of my body flickered more than usual in the face of the onslaught, my trench coat being blown backwards. Luckily, the scream only lasted for a few seconds before the pony shut her mouth, a look of pure shock on her face. I smirked, which seemed to infuriate the Princess. She stepped forward and looked like she was about to say something.
I decided to help it, or rather her, so I punched her in the face. Hard.
She leaped back a good 10 metres, stunned at what I had just done, a small trickle of blood flowing from her muzzle. The purple one screamed again, less loudly, too shocked by what I had just done to put any real effort into it.
HAHAHAHA! Take that, I just punched the Princess... Good thing I know who she is or that would be a lot less satisfying. Thaaaaankyou insecure ponies that talk to Statues...
A small growl came from Princess. She motioned for the purple pony to back away. I watched, curious. A deep golden glow started to form at the tip of the Princesses horn, accompanied by a deep rumbling. The dirt at her feet swirled in a slight breeze. The glow formed into a ball. It grew larger and larger, tendrils flashing angrily from the outside of it. Sweat beaded the Princesses face as she poured more and more energy into her attack. This was obviously powerful. And I knew just the way to turn it into a joke.
I tried my hand at making something that I had only done once before.
An illusion. I never used these that much due to the concentration it took to get all of the detail right, and because in my sabotage mission the plan was less stealth and more 'go in a break everything'...
They were very good for pranks however...
I prepared the illusion to look identical to me in every way and, just as I released the form into the world I threw up a Shadow Cloak around myself, shielding myself from the Princesses eyes. The only evidence of the switch was the momentary lapse as I switched places. I looked down at myself to make sure it worked and sure enough my body was completely invisible except for the occasional random burst of light or shadow that escaped from my form, but these emissions were too small to give away my location unless I was being studied intently at close range.
I stepped away from my illusion, barely containing my laughter as I watched the Princess focus her power on me.
The wrong me.
I stole a quick glance at the purple pony. She was staring at the illusion intently, a look of suspicion on her face. I frowned, knowing that she had noticed something. My head jerked around as I realized that the illusion hadn't moved since the switch, a good 10 seconds or so. I focused and the illusion raised an arm to wave at first the pony, and then at me, winking as it did so. I allowed myself another grin as her expression changed to nervousness again, scared at my calmness in the face of the Princess. Over rather, my illusion's calmness.
There was a faint popping noise. I looked over at the Princess. The ball of energy had become the size as a small dog and was rapidly expanding. Then, all of a sudden, it imploded on itself, sucking in the air and dust around it. It shrunk to the size of a pinprick, before shooting towards the illusion...
Celestia
The heat from the energy ball was started to singe the edges of her coat as it hovered at the end of her horn. Celestia injected one final bit of energy and started the detonation sequence. The ball imploded, dragging her fur towards it slightly, tugging at her tiara and mane. She grunted from the effort before launching the ball towards Light at a furious speed. Celestia watched intently, waiting for him to make his move. He didn't even move. Just before the destructive energy reached him, Light winked and gave an elaborate bow.
Celestia's eyes widened, thinking that he must have somehow sabotaged her attack. She waited as the ball got closer, closer, closer...
BOOM
The explosion rocked the ground sending the trees swaying. The smoke cleared, revealing a small, concentrated patch of dirt that wasn't there. The only thing that remained was a spherical crater large enough to fit the Princess herself in it. She cautiously approached the rim and saw-
Nothing. The crater was completely void of Light.
Celestia let out a breath she didn't even know that she had been holding before. She sat down and closed her eyes, saddened by the loss of life tha-
The noise of slow clapping interrupted her thought process. The Princess jerked around to see where the noise was coming from. There was nothing there. She continued to search for the source. Her sharp eyes scanned the vicinity, looking for anything. There was nothing. Suddenly, a small patch of shadow appeared for only an instant before vanishing. A few seconds later, a bright tendril drifted through the air for a moment, before vanishing as well. More and more tendrils of light and darkness started to appear. A distortion rippled briefly, and started to dissolve into a mess of tendrils that dispersed and retreated as Light stepped from the air, completely unscathed and grinning his head off, rivaling the expression of that pink pony from the mess two months ago. The tendrils swam around lazily before changing their paths and flying into Light, assimilating into his form.
He was completely unfazed by what had just occurred. His clothes, along with his hair, were pristine and flapping in an invisible breeze. His body momentarily flared and shifted as he accepted the tendrils before he settled down to a more stable form. Everything about him said that he hadn't even been in a fight at all. He looked different from their last encounter; the body had become white again while the hair was pitch black, absorbing any and all light, like he had been the first time he had fought them.
His grin widened. "Now it's my turn..."
Celestia's jaw dropped...
Slipstream Nexus
"Fuck! I fold..."
"Heh, pussy! Knew you couldn't play with the real men!"
"Shut up! I can too! Just sto-"
"Will the both of you just shut up!"
Altercation and Annoyance both looked away from their argument towards Order. He was peering over the edge of his novel, frustration clearly evident on his features. The smoky haze of the Poker Room made it hard to make out most of him, but his eyes penetrated the smog like a stallion would pen-
"Hey!"
What, I was just making an observation!
"Seriously dude, that kinda stuff is not cool. There could be young-uns' reading..."
Fine, whatever...
-his eyes pierced the smog like a sword through a terror-
"Stop it! That one was just as bad!"
Ahhhh! Just let me write something alright!
"Just stop the rude stuff or I'll get Mod in here..."
Fine fine!
-but his eyes shone through smog like a car's headlights through fog... That okay?
"Much better."
"Ummm, Order? Who are you talking to?"
Order gave an evil smile that sent shivers up Altercation's spine.
"Never you mind... Now the two of you, shut up and stop arguing!"
Annoyance poked a finger at Altercation. "He started it."
Altercation glared at his 'friend'. "Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did to-"
Everyone in the room stopped as hysterical laughter echoed around. They looked towards the source. In the corner of the room, Surprise had collapsed and was writhing on the floor as the uncontrollable paroxysms swept her body. Her voice could be heard between the laughing. "Hahahaha! Did you see that?! He just appeared there! She didn't even see that coming!" She took another deep breath. "She though he was dead! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!! And then she was all like whoosh! What? Ahhhh! He's aliiiiiiive?! ARGHHHH!"
The sound of footsteps alerted the trio to the arrival. Physics barged through the door to find the commotion. The others just pointed at Surprise. Physics only looked for a moment before his eyes widened and he collapsed in a heap on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably at the familiar site of physics bending madness. Order just shook his head and mumbled something, while Altercation just looked at Annoyance.
"Yeah, Surprise does remind me of her a bit too..."
Annoyance nodded in agreement and looked at Physics. He grinned wickedly and took the opportunity while Physics was distracted.
Order looked up a few seconds later to find that Annoyance sitting on the roof hurling cards at Altercation, who was watching a machine that created energy out of nothing. Order groaned and returned to his book again. "Damn kids..."
Light
As I approached the stunned Princess, I was blocked. The purple pony had jumped in front of the larger pony, supposedly to offer some sort of protection. "Leave Celestia alone!"
Her speech lost what little effect it had when her voice broke. I leveled my gaze at her, and within seconds she was quaking in her boots... hooves... whatever...
I walked closer to the Princess. The purple pony stepped away from the Princess to reach me in the middle. Her horn started to glow a deep purple as she charged some sort of energy. She lowered her horn and released the energy at me. It was obviously meant to be both invisible and unavoidable. I could see the 'invisible' energy as it flew towards me. I looked past it and noticed that the pony had a smug look of her face. It annoyed me.
I looked back at the incoming projectile. I could see the warped light around it, giving away its location; there was even a faint buzzing noise. I waited for the right time to make my move...
I leaned to the left. The ball of energy passed me without getting close. Looking back to the pony, I could see that she didn't know what had happened. My smile widened even further. Behind me, I could hear a buzzing noise getting louder. I snuck a quick glance over my shoulder and saw the ball turning around to follow me. Tricky bugger, it's a homing projectile. A thought struck me and I turned to walk closer to the pony. The buzzing noise kept getting louder, and louder, and louder...
With no warning, I phased in a small whirlwind and broke off to the side. The pony didn't know what was happening, but that didn't matter. The ball couldn't change course quickly enough.
As the energy hit the pony, she collapsed in a heap, screaming. It didn't take a genius to know that she was in a lot of pain. I phased back into my human form and stepped over her writhing body. She didn't even notice me pass by her. Small delay, this is just getting fun... The Princess was still where I had left her, but looked to be recovering. She looked tired, possibly from the huge amount of energy she had shot at 'me' moments earlier. I walked over leisurely and stopped next to her. I reached down and grabbed her neck with my left hand, using it to pull her up to a standing position, and then to a hanging position.
I pulled her ear next to my mouth and whispered in it. "You know, I don't even know why I'm here, do you?" She didn't answer. "I didn't think so. I don't like being imprisoned, It really isn't much fun, and you've just wasted 2 months of my time. Can I tell you something?" I pulled her even closer. She started whimpering, on the verge of tears. I spoke quietly, my voice dripping with venom. "I don't, like having, my time, wasted!" On the last word I drew back my right hand and prepared to deliver the final blow. My fist started on its path to the Princess. I almost hit her. Almost.
As my fist neared its destination, I heard the sound of running hooves. I looked to the around and saw myself surrounded by about 100 ponies, all wearing armor. I dropped the Princess roughly and stepped back, preparing to fight these newcomers. As my temper flared up, I started to flicker more and more, like a picture on a TV with bad reception. My clothes and hair flowed more violently too. The guards shuffled nervously at the sight of me, suddenly unsure.
I phased, spinning in a vortex of light and shadow. I could see honest fear in the eyes of the ponies now. I shot towards the nearest one...
Ahhhhh, now the defecation hits the oscilation...
That really is my favourite part.
"Dude, that's just... messed up!"
Oh come on, it's not that bad! I mean, it is about to happen... Right?
"..."
...
"Fuck you."
Hey! What happened to 'No, don't say that because there might be immature people/things/other reading?!
"..."
For a guy that reads a lot of books, you really are...
Shit, forgot where I was going with that one... How about this, Order, shut up and get back to the game before Annoyance takes a peek at what you're reading...
...
Okay, he's gone.
Aaaaanyway, this chapter was really fun to write, and to have it bounced back to me within a couple of hours by Meeester was great, so stay tuned for the next installment!
Or don't... I mean, if you want to... If it's alright with you that is...