“SPIRIT WIND AND SCREWBALL, THOU HAST WROUGHT CHAOS TO EQUESTRIA!” A booming voice echoed across Everfree forest.
“Uh oh…what’d we do?” I asked, panicking.
“dunno I!” Screwball responded.
A deep blue-purple alicorn landed upon our incomplete construction. “SINCE THOU HAST BROUGHT IT, THOU MUST FIX IT!” Princess Luna commanded. I covered my ears and asked, “What are you talking about?” My words must’ve caused her confusion, as her voice lowered to normal, “You mean thou does not know what befalls Canterlot this day?”
“No, we’ve been free on the edges of Ponyville for hours now. What’s going on?” I asked again, more worried this time.
“Discord has broken free again, we had assumed that thou wast at fault.” Luna explained.
“Daddy!” Screwball exclaimed happily. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she disappeared at the speed of light. At least I’d know where to find her.
“I’ll go see what’s going on. Where is Discord?” I wondered.
“Discord hath taken up residence in the throne room of my sister and I. The Elements of Harmony are on their way.” Luna answered.
“I gotta hurry then, see ya!” I said before warping away. Only later will I realize how much I had actually offended her by not showing any sign of submission. My time in the castle had made me more arrogant than I realized. This did cause me problems after this whole event; I needed a hard lesson in humility from Twilight, but that’s not part of this story.
Appearing at the castle, I was greeted by a marshmallow staircase leading to a gram cracker door. I could tell that Discord was at work. There were rainbow streams flowing upward towards the door, and beaver ducks swimming down the stairs. With a mixture of excitement and confidence, I opened the doors to the castle. My first thoughts were ‘holy moving sidewalks’ and ‘why am I suddenly hungry?’. The once-simple hallways of the castle were now a funhouse of conveyer belts, chandeliers and toll booths.
Now, I thought this would be easy to unweave considering I could control chaos myself, but I didn’t realize how powerful Discord really was, no matter what twists and turns I unweave, coils upon coils of chaos laid before me. I had to give up and flow through the chaos instead of fighting against it. Eventually, I reached the throne room. Discord was sitting upon the throne in all his mismatched glory, Screwball was spinning around the room happily. There was also a grey alicorn huddled in the far corner of the room. “Celestia!” I shouted.
“Spirit!” Screwball shouted in response. Chills ran down my spine as I heard a cold, yet childish laugh come from the spirit of chaos. Something deep within me resonated, almost calling out to Discord himself, driving to return to him, at the time I didn't know what it was.
“Why hello there. Screwball’s told me soooo much about you. It seems you have a fan.” Discord mocked.
“Discord, what did you do to Celestia?” I asked, playing the hero role.
“Oh? I did nothing more than tell her of her faults, would you like me to tell you yours?”
“Like you did to Fluttershy?”
“Pah! That filly was too kind for her own good.”
“That was just cruel.”
“You want to talk about cruel? Talk to your Princess, or to Twilight Sparkle and her friends! You cause a little chaos and the penalty is imprisonment in stone! Now that’s cruel.” Discord frowned in anger.
“The chaos you make isn’t little! What I do is little!”
“Ah, yes, that’s right, you still have some of my power. I’ll be taking that back.” Discord sneered. Right before he snapped his fingers, the elements of harmony burst through the throne room door.
“Discord!” Twilight Sparkle shouted.
“The Elements of Harmony, welcome to my new castle! I hope you enjoyed the tour.” Discord announced.
“I don’t know how you escaped, but we’re going to put you back!”
“I don’t think so, not this time. I’m having too much fun to go back.” Discord scowled at the group, me completely forgotten. “Let’s break this little friendship apart again. Starting with Twilight Sorrow.” Discord had teleported behind the group and levitated Twilight up to his eyes. He was about to turn her grey when an orange mare bucked his stomach through the closed doors to the hallway, Twilight dropped in her place.
“Nawt today, Discord, keep ya paws offa my friends.” Applejack commanded.
“Oof, you have some strong legs there Liarjack, I suppose I don’t stand a chance.” Discord stated overdramatically. “Oh, Screwball dear, would you help out your poor, old dad?”
Screwball saluted and said, “dad yes!” before grabbing baseballs out of nowhere and began pelting the Elements with her own brand of chaos. I was shocked at the fight going on before me, not because the chaos was hard to follow, but because there didn’t seem to be anypony with a clear advantage.
Maybe I was a bit arrogant thinking that I could change the battle in anyway, but I still thought it. I was given a choice between chaos and order, fun and friends. The balance of two separate worlds was at my hooves. A world of everchanging, ever-entertaining chaos, or a world where you would be able to rely on anything to act the way it was supposed to. It wasn’t hard to believe that I wanted both. To make matters worse, I was recruited by both sides. Screwball shouted out, “me and dad my help, Spirit!” at nearly the same time twilight shouted, “Spirit, take her out of the fight!”
When it came down to my decision, I panicked, hard. Trailed by my scream and a harmless chaos stream, I ran. Normally, I can make simple decisions, like what to eat, but when I had to decide something major, I usually let someone else handle it. Since freedom is my calling, I can never dedicate myself to anything for long, and decisions that will have major lasting effects are a form of major dedication, I can’t ever make that choice, no matter how simple it seems.
So I ran, or flew, either way, I kept going, farther and farther from that scene. I only stopped when I had reached the ocean. Once there, I screamed my hardest, knowing that I made another stupid decision. By the time I had reached the ocean, the battle had already been decided but not without problems, Luna had stepped in and assisted the Elements and Discord was sealed away, along with Screwball. Not that I knew any of this until I was spoken to by Twilight herself.
I swear, Nightmare Twilight is probably more terrifying than even Nightmare Moon. Even if things had turned out for the better (Even to this day I’m not sure what the right decision would’ve been), I was still angry and dissapointed at myself for flailing when the decision was mine. When Twilight showed up, I thought she was going to comfort me, knowing I needed it, although the way she approached me suggested a more hostile response. My fears were proven when the first words out of her mouth were, “Hey! What was up with running off like that!?”
“I got scared” I replied meekly, I wasn’t in any way up for a fight.
“Scared?! You weren’t the one being attacked!” Twilight was furious, I didn’t know why
“You made me choose! I don’t handle commitment well.” I spoke up, beginning to feed off of her anger.
“There was no choice! You were supposed to help us! What choice are you talking about!?”
“You wouldn’t get it! You are so devoted to your precious harmony that-“
“So that’s it! You were on Discord’s side all along!”
“No! I-“ I started flagging. I never was good in arguments.
“No wonder you were there before us! You were plotting with Discord to return him to power!”
“I jus-“
“That gem turned you against us! You’re no better than Discord himself!”
“Twi-“I had tears forming now.
“You, the blank-flanked freeloader with absolutely no sense of loyalty, are just another disaster waiting to happen!”
“Sto-“
“Maybe you should be sealed in stone as well!”
I had absolutely broken at that point. Tears had started falling, and I had turned into a sobbing mess of a colt. This was an embarrassing moment for me, and I’ve been in even more awkward situations. The accusations of being evil, brainwashed or whatever, paired with the threat of never being free again was too much though. Without any awareness, I just sobbed for a long time. When I started to quiet down, I noticed Twilight was sitting down at the shore, looking much calmer staring at the ocean.
Against my wishes, I pulled myself up, walked over, and sat down next to Twilight. Even with her being the reason I cried, I just needed to be next to somepony; Comfort reasons, you know. Silence was present everywhere, even the ocean was quiet. I finally spoke up and said, “I’m sorry.”
Twilight responded with, “I know.” Seemingly still a bit annoyed, nowhere near as much as before. We sat quietly watching the ocean for a while longer, until Twilight shattered the peace,
“Fluttershy was injured in the fight you know. We’re not sure she’s going to live.”