//------------------------------// // It's a Small Place // Story: The Orchestrator // by Blitz Habanera Tuscania //------------------------------// Normal is just an illusion. What is normal to the spider is chaos to the fly. “Pppppbbbptttt.” Was the sound Discord made as he rolled around the ball of tea in his hands, wondering on whether to leave the flavor alone as Fluttershy had given him these tea packets, specifically because she'd thought he'd like them. But on the other claw he mused, rolling the orb of tea into said claw, he often times hated plain things. There was a reason he took on the name Discord. He sighed before pushing off the wall where he'd been sitting, ignoring gravity but avoiding the ceiling because that was cliché, he floated to the little tea cabinet he had hidden in the wall of water, which was normally ice for him to skate on. Or a deep sea trench, he did so love seeing those freaky fish that didn't have eyes. He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and returned to wondering of whether or not to change the flavor of the tea, said tea now balancing on the tip of his tail. He reached into the water and pulled out a portrait of himself, lying on the floor in front of a roaring fireplace in a smexy pose, rose held in his lips. He ignored that and moved the painting aside to reveal the hidden compartment behind it, with his tea set inside. He quietly yanked it open and pulled out one tea cup, completely plain in color, cloud white to be exact and plopped the ball of tea into said cup. Humming a merry tune to himself he tossed his portrait and the secret compartment behind it, back into the water wall before leaning on it. Swishing the now cold tea around in the cup he shrugged before giving a snap of his fingers to reheat the tea and taking a sip. Sweet yet bitter; with a slight hint of the earthy smell it was giving off somehow being evident in the tea. With another sip he decided it wasn't half bad and decided to leave the flavor alone as he watched his room explode, roll around and the like. Yesterday it had been a jungle for him to adventure through just to find his toothbrush, which he realized he could have poofed into his hands at any time as he had finally reached it. Today it was, mainly, a small ecosystem featuring north and south. The middle of the room was a slight desert and with him speeding up the time flow in his room he watched the rain come and go every few minutes, the equivalent of weeks for any critters that might have evolved down there. Just north and south of the desert were green and grassy plains, splotches of random colors thrown in there by him of course, with storms raging every few seconds, resuming its cloudless sky for a few seconds and returning to its cycle. At random spots in the plains were forests full of creatures making sounds, audible only by him enhancing it all and at the very two ends of the room were ice plains, just like the planet he called home now. Then for the finishing touch, the sun held aloft in the middle of the room by balancing out gravity, was a highpowered lava lamp. He sighed as he watched the little mock version of his planet grow and storm every few seconds, taking a few sips of the tea every now and then. Content to just watch it all go naturally, with him shooting a few blobs of paint or what have you into the ecosystem when he felt like it. It was a Saturday and as per his agreement with adorable sun-butt and moon-rager, he was taking it easy today. They were all worried by his chaos magic leaking off into the surrounding area and accidentally corrupting it, which made him scoff in annoyance. He knew how to use his abilities and he knew damn well that if he wanted to he could remove the harmonic taint from the land itself and return it to a neutral state, nevermind his own magic he had grown up with. He grumbled slightly as he sipped the tea again, to find his tea cup was empty. Sighing he threw it into the wall behind him, knowing it'd find its way back into the secret compartment. While they had the wrong reason for telling him to take it easy on Saturdays, of all days he remarked with a roll of his eyes, it was a good one, made him step back and take a few breathes and look at what he had done thus far. Steal the Princess' manes and turn it into cotton candy, good memory. Genderbend them and have them wake up with the usual morning problem, hilarious as Luna thought she was possessed and tried to bash the offending 'spirit'. Even when he turned them back she still walked with a limp for the next few days. Get Pinkie and Dash to come along and do pranks throughout time, even without being as old as him and having as much experience, those two mares still surprised him with at least two new pranks he hadn't thought of. Another good time. Go back in time and watch Twilight as she kept drinking that vile white potion thing, the name of which escaped him right now, still made a good 'drama' as any. Pushing off the ocean wall behind him he floated over his little world he made. One of his most intricate designs yet, hand made every element, law of physics, time, gravity and etc. and it turned out perfect, good enough for life, but not enough for sapience by his standards, didn't go to hell even when he meddled with it. His best one yet, totally worth nearly missing tea time with Fluttershy about an hour ago. It was nice to have a moment to reflect when he wasn't planning his next fun time. Would have been better if it was just a few hours instead of a whole day though. Bored now and wanting to do something else with his room he gathered his magic in his claws and spread them outwards with much fanfare, trumpets, confetti, fireworks and all, as he bathed it in his magic. Closing his claws the world he made in his room started to shrink, keeping pace with his claws as they shut. Then he started curving his claws in a ball shape, the small world following suit and gathering in his claws, somehow keeping its design completely the same. As the rest of the world gathered in his claws he slammed them together, the world now hidden from view, until he peeled his claws apart and revealed the snow globe sized ecosystem sitting in his right paw. Kicking off of the air he floated slowly to his cabinet in the corner, the one permanent feature of the room and put down the ecosystem on it, and with a snap of his fingers was encased in glass just like his ten other ecosystems he had built. Nopony, and nobody had ever seen these little beauties of his for what they were, seeming to assume he had a child-like love for them. If somebody finally figured out what they were, then they deserved a little something something for being so observant, not even the royal highnesses had noticed them when they walked in. He moved to turn around before pausing and reaching back towards it, moving it ever so slightly to the right. Gazing at the small ecosystem he nodded to himself and turned around to the empty room, his claws raised upwards for something, that even he didn't know what he was going to do. Then he froze as he felt something frighteningly familiar, and somewhere it shouldn't be. Magic was being warped, it was only a tiny amount sure, but it shouldn't be doing that. He himself warped magic slightly, his magical 'pressure' as it were, was so massive that it bent the magic around him same went for Celestia, Luna, Twilight and so on just to a lesser degree. It could be compared to a laser pointed to his right, the laser was the magic and he was himself. The magic would keep curving towards him until it eventually passed by, never actually touching him unless it was almost directly pointed at him. Twilight would never have the 'laser' touch her unless it actually was pointed at her, the warp still there but very slight. The warping of magic he felt was drawing it inwards to the center of where it was, but yet it in itself was light, much lighter than the average unicorn and should have no right to warp magic at all. But it was. Normally he would have brushed that off and just told one of the two Princesses if they didn't already know, and let the harmonic warriors do what they did best. Even now he normally would do that, closely trailing behind to offer help just in case. What kept him from doing any of those was the fact that it wasn't even remotely close to his planet, which meant that the Princesses wouldn't notice. Never-mind the fact that they couldn't even get there. His eye twitched as he focused on the warping of magic and gave it a better view in his mind, before actually going out to see what it was. When he pin-pointed where it was he snapped his fingers and he was gone, room left completely clean of his meddling. He stood in the empty hallway, towering high above him and extending out far behind him, so far it seemed to curve as it dissapeared into the distance, its steel silver making the walls glaringly bright to the eyes. If any of his soldiers, peons, acquaintances or even his fellow mercenaries were around all they would have seen was a madman, with green spray-painted cornrows staring at a wall wearing a suit and tie, mouth set in a slight frown. Then they would have quietly ran away as his shadows started to lash out from under him, corrupted black oozing out from it like a sickness. He sighed as he watched the figure only he could see as of now float out in space motionless, seeming to watch him too, the power radiating off of it. Something that dwarfed him and his power like a star to... well him. Though he couldn't taste malice coming from it, more like cautious curiosity if anything. Play his cards right and he'd get an ally, play half them right and he'd be able to watch its world from afar and learn that way. Worse comes to worse, he could let loose some of the freaks he'd found on this ship. They did love otherwordly beings. He shook his head and turned to continue walking down the hallway, the inky shadow following close behind, the steel silver color which had been shining just earlier, completely empty of life and a dull grey. The creature teleported into his ship and every sensor on the ship went off as it finally detected the Void presence that had been watching them for ten minutes. The intercoms blared to life as his loyal army of cutthroats sprung to life and began rushing throughout the ship, the sound of feet sounding like a horrible drum of war. He hoped that wasn't foreshadowing, he had so wanted a vacation from war for at least a week before getting back into it.