//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 - Not what you'd expect... 
// Story: The Creation of Chaos 
// by The Truth of Chaos 
//------------------------------//

Twilight opened her eyes hesitantly. Her vision had been blurred by the intense light that surrounded her and Spike after she made her wish. She found herself lying on a cold, sterile, metal floor. Not the rough, wooden one from the library. She opened her eyes wide, and jumped to her hooves. Next to her was Spike, still sleeping soundly like a baby. And even further beside him was the magical lamp containing the genie.
She walked over to it, and using the magic in her horn, lifted it from the floor. She glanced around, examining the new room she was in. It was a small bedroom, but not like any bedroom she had ever seen. The walls were made of hard steel, the floor made of the same cold material. Her bed was rather inviting, until she spotted several wires above it, dangling down to where her head would be lying. There was a small bedside table, with what seemed like an advanced digital clock. She had only seen those in the richest of houses in Canterlot. There were no windows, with a pale, white light on the ceiling keeping the room bright. Behind her, was a huge, metal door with a large, steel pad with several glowing strings surrounding it, with a imprint of a hoof in the center of it.


Twilight slightly scared, yet slightly curious, nudged Spike. If she was going to do anything, she wanted her loyal assistant to be with her. He stirred a little more, curling up into a ball. She groaned, and gave him a kick. He yelped, and jumped to his feet, looking around. At first, he had a look of confusion, but, as he saw the lamp in her magical grasp, he giggled in delight.
"It worked! It worked, didn't it?" He asked, curious, yet excited. She nodded in agreement. Spike was most defiantly right about the wish, confirming his suspicions and proving Twilight wrong. Then Spike took a good long look at the room around them. He shivered, never seeing so much grey in his life. "I don't like this place Twilight.... It doesn't feel right...." 
"Oh Spike, don't worry, everything will be fine..." She exclaimed, smiling. But, she too felt uneasy in the presence of such a grey and grim place, like it was hollow emptiness. Then she realized something. 


Everything was silent. She didn't hear anypony before waking up Spike. There were no sounds, except for the sounds of their own voices. This made Twilight jump. Though she liked silence, this silence was different. Normal silence you would still here the trotting of hooves, the sound of pages being turned, and the occasional cough every now and then. "Spike... It's--"
"Quiet, I know...." He interrupted, glancing around. "It just doesn't feel right!" He looked around frantically, trying to find some way out. The only thing which he knew of was the large, knob-less door. He pressed against it, though it didn't move one bit. "What kind of door is this?!" The silence finally starting to get to him, he started knocking against the door. "Let me out!" He cried out desperately, hoping somepony would hear. 
Twilight pulled Spike away from the door, and pushed him to the ground. He groaned a bit, and glanced at her, his expression upset. "Ugh... What was that for Twilight?!"
"You were losing it, Spike. If we are going to get out of here, we need a cool head." She exclaimed, walking up to the door. She pressed her hooves against it, with the faint hope it would budge. It did not. She sighed, and then moved away from the door. Instead, she turned her attention to the metal pad on the wall. She began examining it, especially the hoof indent in the center. Being the only thing she could do, she lifted her hoof, and pressed it against the indent. The pad glowed, and a large siren noise was heard, booming inside the silent room. The door then slowly slid open, into a long, metal corridor, with large metal doors much like the one that had just slid away. 


She walked out into the corridor, being slightly thankful that corridor was not as silent as the room she was trapped in for a while. The corridor emitted a low hum, and, with her ears trying to find the source, her eyes glanced to the ceiling. It was entwined with wires and electronics, including several flashing lights and strange screens. Spike quickly followed her out, shivering with the noise of the hum overhead. 
"... I don't like this place Twilight.... Where is everypony...?" He asked, fear well heard in his voice. Twilight looked around, just as worried as Spike. 
"I don't know..." She began walking through the corridor. She continued glancing to the doors, noticing each had the same metal pad beside it like the one in her room. The genie lamp still in her holding spell, she contemplated asking the genie what was wrong. Surely erasing Discord from existence wouldn't have caused anything bad. Right? Twilight kept her thoughts to herself, not wanting to worry Spike even more, for he already seemed terrified. He was only a baby after all. Her own deep worry was enough. And although they had escaped the room they arrived in, they seemed to be stuck in another room much similar, just longer and with more doors and less beds. With nothing better to do, she asked Spike his opinion on what they should do. "Spike, what do you think we should do?"
The small purple dragon looked around, pondering. "Maybe we should try opening one of these doors?" He suggested bluntly. Twilight pondered on it. Since they had nowhere in particular to go, she walked up to the closest door on the left side of the corridor. She pressed her hoof in the indent, and the siren boomed its horn. 


Slowly, the door began to slide away, and as soon as Twilight could see properly inside, she wanted to puke. Inside, the room was much like the room they found themselves in, with a bedside table, and the most horrific sight. The bed contained a mare sleeping in it. She was skinny, her bony ribcage very visible, along with her scrawny legs, gaunt head; there where several wires from the ceiling entering her mouth, nostrils, and ears. Her fur was a dull cyan color, with the same color, along with white streaks, in her mane. She was a unicorn upon the sight of her horn, and Twilight gaze traveled to her cutie mark, the sign of her talent. It was a lyre. Twilight backed away, her mind in haze. She pressed her hoof against the indent, and the door slid shut. Spike, luckily, did not get a chance to see what's inside, but looked at Twilight, scared to see such a deathly scare on her face. He was afraid to ask, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Twilight, what was in there...?" 


She muttered "...Lyra..." to herself, before turning to her dragon assistant. 
"Spike, we need to get out of here. Now!"
Suddenly, alarms began emitting from everywhere. Their sound deafening as a strong, feminine voice began shouting. 
"Warning! Warning! Unauthorized access to hub #0863! Begin immediate detainment procedure!" 
Then words boomed in the mare's ears, along with the alarms. Suddenly, over all the deafening noises that could be heard, Twilight heard a strange, metallic clanking. She turned her head to the opposite side of the hall, and saw three, large pony-like robots galloping towards them. A few panels in their bodies moved away to reveal what looked like...weapons. She turned, using her magic to lift Spike onto her back, and gave him the lamp, and with only one last backwards glance, filled with fear, she began to gallop and concentrated solely on running. The robotic pony quickly followed, chasing after the lavender pony. She charged on, not looking back. She had Spike to do that for her, shouting and pointing to "Go faster!" because “They're catching up!". She continued to run at her fastest pace, being chased down the seemingly endless corridor. Suddenly, she had, well to her, a brilliant idea. Concentrating, she poured all her energy into a spell, hoping to teleport away from the robotic ponies. She released the energy... But nothing happened. Something was denying her magic. After several minutes of intense running and Spike's shouting, Twilight had ground to a halt. A dead end. It seems like the endless corridor had an end after all. She looked back, seeing that the robot ponies stopped, and began readying their weapons. She felt all her hope lost. That was when Spike jumped off her back, and in a last ditch attempt, threw the lamp on the floor, hoping for anything, just as the metallic ponies fired their weapons. In a white flash of light, Spike and Twilight disappeared, causing the fired missiles and bullets to hit the wall behind them. The magical lamp faded from view, and the robotic ponies, no longer picking anything up on their sensors, turned and began trotting back to the deployment point.

Twilight and Spike found themselves in an endless void of space and time, stranded on a single piece of what seem like land. The universe around them was constantly changing; stars appear and disappear, worlds flying past them into massive black holes. It was simply amazing and terrifying at the same time. Suddenly, Twilight felt like a being of unknown power was directly behind her, similar to the way she felt around Celestia. But this...this was on a whole new level. She slowly turned her gaze to a familiar being, the spectral transparent body with the orb containing those yellow slim eyes all too unnatural. The two exchanged a long, hard glare, before the genie finally spoke.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" The genie said, glancing at the two. Spike jumped, not knowing the genie was there, but sighed in relief as he recognized the being.
"Where are we?" Twilight asked, the dimension around them warping and changing.
"We are in what I call home, the lamp." He replied, now watching the surrounding realm with a strange form of content placed upon his face.
"Wait.... You live in this place?!" Twilight shouted, horrified at the genie. More than a day of this constant chaos would drive her insane.
"Yes... It takes a while to get used to... But it's not usually like this." His gaze came back to Twilight's eyes. "You should thank your little friend here..." He gestured towards Spike. "If he did not throw my home so abruptly intcrashing when it crashed on the floor, I would not have realized you two were so endangered."
Twilight's ears perked up, and she looked at the genie curiously. "So... You saved us?" The genie nodded in response.
"I am not a heartless wish-granting specter. If your wishes are not evil based, which it was not, I will care for your well-being as long as you have me in your care." He gave her a stern look.
"But... My wish... How could it cause--"
"Such horrifying things?” He interrupted, his sight going back to the chaos around them. Twilight followed his gaze, and the world around them seemed to slow down. "Discord is one of the most crucial parts of Equestrian History. You may think he is the worst thing that happened to Equestria, but it is quite the opposite." Twilight gave the genie a quizzical look. "Without Discord, the Princesses of Night and Day would not exist, along with the Elements of Harmony." He implied. Twilight's jaw dropped.
"What?! But....But...!" Twilight was left speechless.
 
 
She had never heard something so preposterous in her life. Discord was the Personification of Chaos and Disharmony. How in the land of Equestria did he have to do with the Princesses' existence if he wasn't created? Even more unbelievable was that his creation had some connection to the Elements of Harmony existing. To Twilight, it didn't make sense.
"You seem confused..." The genie exclaimed. "Perhaps now is the time to use your second wish..." Twilight gave him a quizzical look.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you want to find out how this..." He made a gesture his transparent hand, and a shadowed figure of Discord appeared, though it was more of a lifeless statue. Soon, it faded with a swipe of the genie's hand. "... Contributes to the Land of Equestria you know.... And this..." He made another gesture, signaling them to look to the world around them. Slowly, it changed to a barren wasteland, a fiery sky spanning above them. They continued moving until they reached a single building, which shined white, along with pure black smoke rising from it through strange tubes that looked like chimneys.
 
 
Suddenly, in a flash of light, they appeared somewhere else. At the sight of another poor pony, Twilight's first reaction was to cover Spike's eyes. But it was too late. Spike shoved Twilight's hoof out of the way of his eyes, looking at the horrific sight of Lyra. It took him a few seconds before Spike turned to the genie.
"W-what happened to E-Equestria...?" He stuttered, scared and shivering.
The genie placed his hand on his head. "I believe correctly, your master said you may obtain a wish."
"I didn't say that! I said mayb--" Twilight began, when the genie gave her a dark glance.
"I know you want to find out what happened just as much as he does..." The genie said, looking back to Spike. "So, what is your one wish?"
Spike took another glance at Lyra, or what was left of her, before turning to the genie. "I wish to know what Discord has to do with all this..." He answered, staring at the genie. 


He nodded in response, and the world around them began to fade, including the land beneath them...and the genie. Soon, Twilight and Spike were only standing on tiny eocks, when that faded too, and they fell into everlasting blackness. Twilight began screaming, when the genie spoke to her, and Spike, as it seemed the voice was so close, so far, and all around them.

"Do not fret... Just close your eyes, and soon you will see the truth."

Spike and Twilight did as the genie asked, and they both held each other close as they slowly shut their eyes, waiting for whatever was to come...