//------------------------------//
// Mares and Chaos, part 2 
// Story: Split Second 
// by wille179 
//------------------------------//

	While Cobalt and Sparkle were failing to navigate the twisted streets of Canterlot, the latter’s sister, her sister’s friends, her sister’s mentor, and all their doubles hurriedly made their way towards the vault that kept the elements safe.
However, when they reached the vault, both Celestias moved to open the sealed door and ended up whacking their heads together. While rubbing their heads, they said, “Luna always did insist I had a hard head.”
“Princess,” Twilight said, then amended, “My princess Celestia, act first. Trixie’s should hesitate and act second. You’ll keep hitting each other otherwise.”
Trixie cast a glance at Twilight. Nopony else noticed.
“Good idea, Twilight,” her mentor said. The other Celestia nodded, agreeing to the plan. The former stuck her horn into the slot, illuminating with the light of her magic.
The jeweled box floated out of the vault, held aloft in a sunshine yellow aura. Celestia held out the box and flipped open the lid.
Twelve ponies gasped.
"They're gone!" Trixie exclaimed. "Isn't this vault warded, Princess?"
"By over a dozen ponies, myself included," the princess answered.
"It must have taken some powerful, dark magic to get the Elements of Harmony," Trixie stated. One of the Celestias frowned, while the other looked at her lavender student.
Defensively, Twilight retorted, "You- My sister had NOTHING to do with this." The scowl adorning her face was an unusually hostile expression for her. Trixie stepped back, seeing shades of Sparkle in Twilight's eyes.
"Twilight," Trixie's Celestia said, "It is entirely possible that your sister has joined forces with Discord. Be it through her own free will or through Discord's influence, the result is the same. I trust that she wouldn't fall so easily, but it still remains a possibility."
"Are you so sure about that?," a masculine voice said, emanating from the walls. The fourteen ponies by the vault door jumped, looking for the source. "It took remarkably few words to get Sparkle to start spreading chaos.”
“What did you do to her, Discord?” Twilight demanded.
Appearing before them, completely upside down, Discord laughed. “That’s for me to know and you to find out on your own. Although, I distinctly remember overhearing a conversation between you two... something about her talking ponies to death?”
Twilight stepped back. “No... you didn’t...”
Popping out from behind her back, a smaller Discord asked, “Didn’t do what?” He snorted mirthfully. “Well, whatever I may or may not have done, you twelve Element Bearers have more pressing concerns, namely where I hid your Elements. And might I remind you that, no matter how many twists and turns I throw at you, this,” - an hourglass on a wrist strap appeared, adorning his lion’s paw. He tapped it, signifying the time - “is a race.
“Well, Ta-Ta, little ponies!” Discord suddenly jumped up and disappeared in a flash of white light.
“Hmph, if that freak wants a race, I’ll give him a race,” The two Dashes said in unison. “There’s nopony faster than me!”
“That’s great and all, Dash... and Dash,” an Applejack said. “But we still have no idea where in tarnation our Elements are.”
Trixie’s eyes just happened to gaze out the window at that moment. “Twists and turns... The hedge maze! That’s where Discord hid our Elements!”





The two Applejacks galloped swiftly through the maze, sticking together as best they could. Twilight had the right idea suggesting that they stick together, especially after Discord had added his no magic, no flying, no quitting rules. 
Their breath was labored, their lungs aching. True, they were very strong mares, but the two Applejacks had been galloping at their absolute top speed, wearing out their bodies just a tad faster than the disorientation wore on their minds.
Of course, the metallic-tasting fog didn't help one bit.
They came to a fork in the road. Without hesitation, Applejack turned left/right, knowing that her double would be following behind her. She ran and ran, her heart thumping in her chest. Worry for her family and friends took root in her mind, and began blossoming into an insidious flower.
"Where's Applejack?" A hollow voice whispered on the wind. "Where is the mare that gave you her word that she would be by your side?"
The orange-coated farmer stopped dead in her tracks. The silence was both deafening and all-telling; she was alone. No, not alone, isolated. She spun around. The way back was closed, as if it had never been there.
"Who's there? Come out, ya' varmint," the orange mare commanded. 
"No, why would I?" Pinkie's voice emerged from the fog. Applejack swore she could just make out the faintest hints of the pink mare in the fog. "You broke your word. You left her. You're a liar."
"She left me! She was behind me."
"Really, Applejack? You're still lying?" Rainbow Dash's voice said.
The fog condensed behind Applejack, forming two ghostly images of her. They sprinted past, the one in front going right/left, while the one behind went left/right, just like she had. "No, ah couldn't have," the orange mare said, taking a small step back.
"You're always lying, Applejack," The soft voice of Fluttershy commented.
"We've just been playing along, Darling, but it's time to wake up. This is reality. Your fantasy is killing you," an ethereal Rarity said.
"Poor Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle," Twilight/Trixie said, "having to pretend that Applebloom actually exists to keep you from lashing out."
Applebloom walked out in front of her sister. "What do they mean, pretending that ah exist?"
"Don' listen to them, Applebloom! You are real. You are mah sister!" Applejack moved towards the little filly to embrace her, but something snagged her hoof, sending her tumbling into the ground.
"But ah don't, Applejack."
The farmer looked up. There was nopony there, only fog.
"The truth hurts, doesn't it, Applejack? The truth is such a murky, foggy thing, isn't it? You could alway accept it, and suffer for the rest of your life, or you could just go back to the way things were. Forget this, tell your little lies. Be happy in the clarity you make for yourself." The fog swirled around her, making her drowsy and confused. "Lie and be free."
And so, the twin Applejacks, separate by only a bush, fell to chaos.





Pinkie and Pie, as they had dubbed each other, pronked down the path in an alternating rhythm. Merrily, they chatted over whatever topics popped up in their hyperactive minds. 
The fog, thicker than pea soup and strangely metallic tasting, occasionally obscured them from each other's view, but they could still hear each other.
Then Pinkie/Pie tripped. "Hehehehehe. You're such a klutz." A hoof appeared out of the mist, offering support for the downed mare. Pinkie/Pie took it, grateful for the assistance.
That is until a second hoof emerged, grabbed Pinkie/Pie, and flung her up, over, and down onto the rocky ground.
The laughter that followed was a hundred times louder (as if there was a full crowd watching) and far too genuine-sounding for Pinkie/Pie's comfort.
Achy and bruised, the party mare stood up. "What was that for?"
From the fog emerged her traveling companion, straight-maned and smiling from schadenfreude. "Everyone knows slapstick is funnier than jokes and gags, and laughing at an idiot is a riot of its own."
"Hey, I'm not an idiot!"
"Keep telling yourself that, Pinkie/Pie," the other pony said.
"If I'm an idiot, the you are one too," the baker retorted.
The straight-maned pony hummed and nodded. "I guess you could say that. But I'm not that other mare; she left you a while ago. Pinkamina Diane Pie, I'm your subconscious, and it's high time we had a chat. You've been ignoring me for so long that I've had to take drastic action."
"What do you mean?" The baker asked.
"We know funny. We're the Element of Laughter. So why are you letting your friends laugh at us?" The other pony said.
"They're not laughing at me, they're laughing with me," She declared.
"You sure about that? I beg to differ. Remember those looks you get when they think you aren't looking, the whispers, the pitying remarks?" The fog swirled around them. "Think about it, they want you ignorant, they like seeing you suffer. Don't give them the satisfaction. Don't let them laugh and make them suffer instead."
And so, separated by the swirling fog, the two Pinkie Pies fell to chaos.





"It's beautiful!"
"Gorgeous!"
"Simply Divine!"
The twin Rarities stared at the stone they had excavated from what they thought was simply a jewel-encrusted wall. Their Gala dresses were filthy, but in comparison to the wealth they saw before them, what was a measly little dress?
The metallic fog swirled faster.
"How should we split it?"
"Split it?" Rarity scoffed. “Splitting a gem such as this would ruin its value. I could get so much more working with it  and selling it on my own.”
“On your own? Why should you get it? I deserve it more that you.”
“On what grounds?”
“How long were you held captive by the diamond dogs, and how badly were you hurt?”
“A few hours before Spike brought my friends, and I was mostly unharmed. I don’t see how this has anything to-”
“Four days. Four days I was down there. FOUR DAYS I WAS BEATEN AND BROKEN AND FORCED TO FIND GEMS. IF THERE IS ANYPONY WHO DESERVES IT, THAT PONY IS ME!”
“You don’t look like somepony who was beaten and broken.”
“I was healed by Thorn.”
“Eww... You’ve probably been corrupted by dark magic. Why would I give my jewel to somepony like you?"
"That's it, Bitch, I'm going to kill you!"
The eyes hidden in the fog contorted with an unseen smile. And so, the not quite as rare gems fell to chaos without a single word from its lord.





The spirit of chaos scowled. The problem with chaos - the good kind, not the more flamboyant effects of his magic - was that it required pulling all the right strings in just the right ways to cause the whole tapestry of fate to unravel. And it irked him so when one of those strings. Just. Wouldn't. Budge. 
And his routine for Fluttershy was perfect, too. Sure, maybe it was in the style of the younger, more cruel version of himself, but it was still a masterpiece...
And then the Fluttershies had to ruin it by being little goody-four-shoes. He really thought that bit with the dead rabbit would have done it, but nooooo....
Well, Discord could adapt. It wasn't like her mind was any more defended than any other ponies against a being like him. It worked out fine in the end; she too fell to the hypnosis of his Wonderland's fog.
As the little butterfly changed back into the hideous draconequus, Discord smirked. Just a little more to do, and victory would be his. He was sure of it.





“Where the hay are we?” one Rainbow said to the other as they both galloped through the maze.
The other replied, “No idea. This fog is messing with my sense of direction.”
The first frowned. “What’s the deal with this stuff anyway? It doesn’t feel like any fog I know of.” Experimentally, she planted her hoof into the ground and spun around, using her momentum to buck the air.
Nothing productive happened.
Picking herself up off the ground, Dash grumbled to herself - herself herself, not the other herself. The other Dash, despite not being able to clearly hear the first, could guess what she was saying.
A scream, inequine in nature but clearly fearful, pierced the muffled quiet. “Where am I? Anybirdy, please! Help me!”
The Dashes knew that voice. “GILDA! Is that you?”
“Dashie?” the voice trembled.
“Over here! Follow the sound of my voice. Come on, Gilda. Over-” the speaking Dash was cut off by a sudden and fierce hug.
“Oh, Storm Lord, I thought I’d never see anybirdy again. What in Tartarus is going on?” She blinked her tear-soaked eyes. “Um, Dash, if you’re over there, then who am I hugging?”
Rainbow, the one being embraced, snickered. “Double Rainbow, all the way.”
Gilda pulled her head back and looked at the Dash that she was holding, and then the other. “I’d be surprised, but this isn’t nearly the most extreme thing I’ve seen today.”
“What could be more awesome than two of the most amazing pegasi in the world?” The two Dashes were smiling, but their expressions quickly melted away when they saw that there was absolutely no mirth in Gilda’s eyes.
“Dash... Dash... Cloudsdale’s gone. There were things in the sky... they attacked without warning. Most of us were able to fly to the ground before it got too bad, but...” Gilda trailed off, choking back tears. “The rain... the rain...”
“Gilda, snap out of it. What happened? What about the rain?”
The griffin looked like she was going to be sick. “The rain was red.”
“D-Do you know what happened to my parents?”
“Don’t know. I-I was flying to get help. Please, we’ve got to fly out of here. I need your help,” the distraught griffin replied.
“But our wings-” one of the Rainbows said, only to be cut off as her wings ruffled in anticipation. “Of course Dipcord would make us think our wings were gone. Come on!” The speaking Dash took to the skies, passing through the swirling fog, followed closely by the other.
Behind them, the whites of the griffin’s eyes turned yellow, the golden irises turned red, and he chuckled to himself. Thus, the prismatic pegasi fell to chaos.





“There you are, Fluttershy, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. Behind her, two angry Pinkies in magical straight-jackets, two thoroughly bruised Rarities (with the occasional bite mark or missing tuft of fur), and two delusional Applejacks followed. “Am I glad to see you two.”
Fluttershy one growled, glaring at Twilight. The other hissed, baring blood-soaked teeth.
“Or not.”





The devilish serpent slithered up behind the lone, blue mare. Though the game was over already, there was nothing saying he had to tell them it was over, that they hadn’t found the Elements in time. Everything was right on schedule, Discord thought. His darkest little pawn was just about to find an interesting little book shop, and everything would be in place. Harmony would fall, yadda yadda yadda, eternal chaos.
AS for the mare in front of him, Discord didn’t even have to corrupt her. No, all it would take is a simple little idea to take her down. “Ah, Trixie, the Great and Entertaining Trixie. Enjoying yourself?”
The hornless unicorn replied, “No thanks to you. Give us back the Elements.”
He cackled. “Ohohoho. What would be the fun in that? Besides, the Element are a big-fat lie.”
“What are you wasting Trixie’s time with now?”
“I’m just saying that you’re not really in a maze at all right now. That everything you see, everything that you have seen for a long time, has been all just a dream.”
“Beatrix, Wake-”



“- up,” the nurse said. “Beatrix, sweetie, it’s time for lunch.”
“Ugh... my head. Where is Trixie?”
There was a loud clatter of a clipboard and tray being dropped. “Doc. DOCTOR! Beatrix Lulamoon is speaking again!” The nurse called out with much excitement. Turning back towards Trixie, the white unicorn said, “Beatrix, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Trixie can hear you just fine. Why are you so close to Trixie. Where is she? Who are you?”
Backing up a tad, the nurse quickly apologised. “Sorry about that. My name is nurse Euphoria. I am the head nurse in the chronic wing of Canterlot Psychiatric Hospital. Beatrix, you’ve been unresponsive for four years. Can you tell me the last thing you remember?”
Dazed, Trixie replied, “I... Trixie was in a foggy maze. Trixie was separated from my friends. Discord came up and was taunting Trixie. Then Trixie was here. Wait...” She frowned. “Why is Trixie in a Psychiatric Hospital. Trixie is not crazy!”
“Shhh...” The nurse pleaded. “I never said you were crazy. Never think that. But, you were admitted because your mind was attacked by dark magic, which left you without your higher brain functions, or so we thought. That you’re speaking now is nothing short of a miracle!”
At the mention of “attacked by dark magic,” Trixie’s brain went into overdrive, overwhelmed by the implications to the exclusion of everything else happening around her. “Sparkle.”
“What was that, Beatrix?”
“I’m going to kill Sparkle for what she did to me,” Trixie decreed.
The nurse hummed pleasantly. “I wouldn’t worry about her too much, dear. She was banished to Tartarus a week after you were admitted. You can just relax.”
The door to her room opened and in walked a pony Trixie assumed to be the doctor. “How are you feeling, Trixie?”
“Scared, confused. My head hurts.”
“Don’t worry,” the doctor said. 
His yellow and red eyes glinted, reflecting a light that wasn’t there, “That’s only because-”



“-you’re lost in a world of pure imagination,” Discord sang. “Face it, Trixie, which is more likely? That you’re searching for magical artifacts with your doppelgangers that only your friends can wield, questing to defeat the personification of chaos, disorder, disharmony, and madness, or that that same personification is your mind telling you that this world isn’t real, that Twilight is just a reflection of the one you hate, the one that did this to you?”
Smiling, Discord slowly faded away, taking the swirling metal fog and the maze with him. “Game over, Trixie, it’s time to wake up. Hahahahaha.”
Then she was alone in the clearing, though only for a second.
“Trixie! Please tell me you’re still yourself,” a voice called. Trixie turned. It was her.