It was chaos. Complete, and utter chaos.
Discord hated it.
Baltimare was on fire, as the two armies clashed. The guard was warned, the ponies evacuated for the most part, but Discord knew for a fact that the place was never recovering from a conflict as titanic as this. He winced as a four armed stone golem, the size of a house, crashed through the bell tower, the structure collapsing under the weight and sending the clockwork clattering across the ground. The bell itself toppled over and slammed into the golem’s head, along side a few tonnes of bricks and mortar. A small tremor went through the earth as the golem fell, and was immediately set upon by countless monstrosities, serpentine people and car sized hounds all chipping away at its arms and legs, hoping to make a dent in this giant. A single sweep of the arms, and the tiny creatures were swept away, crushed by the weight of the creature’s limbs.
As the golem was standing up, a two headed dog the size of a truck, one of Typhon’s original hellhounds, barrelled into the golem again, its claws scrabbling ineffectually against the rocky skin of the golem. Its mouth opened, and a burst of fire ripped out, searing the golem and slowly softening the creature’s body. The golem groaned as its arm, taking too much to a beating, broke off and came crashing down, crushing what remained of the bell tower and squashing many of the hound’s allies under the stone.
The golem swung a massive granite club, and the dog was sent flying, breaking through the walls of the city hall with a sickening crash. Burning blood leaked from its body, but before the golem could finish it, a great goat like creature with claws instead of hooves, with three heads and a pitch black pelt, double the size of the hound, stepped protectively over the first and opened all three of its maws, unleashing a torrent of hellfire on the golem. The golem could barely make three steps before it was melted to slag. The goat thundered towards the remains of the golem, and the liquified giant was torn apart as the creature ran it through with its curved horns.
Only a few paces away, in the ruins of the old museum, sat a horrifying creature. Its barrel like body sat motionless in the ruins, covered in scales too thick for any mortal weapon to pierce. Twelve necks protruded out of its neck, and at the end of each neck was an ugly fanged head, that spewed toxic gas like the stench of a thousand rotting corpses. The hydra roared, the guttural sound shaking the air around it and forcing enemies to stop and stare as its twelve heads each stretched out from the museum to pick off attackers. Each head was as tall as a man, and the necks widened at the bases, the barrel of the creature filled up the entire museum.
Discord grimaced as he looked over the battlefield. Things weren’t going his way at all. Whoever his enemy was, they were well prepared, countering all of his chaos beasts with strategically selected troops.
His wyverns screeched across the air, trailing a particularly nasty blend of venom that his ‘master’ had devised, a horrible substance that drained magic from the envenomed and released it in an arcane explosion: a bomb powered by the victim’s own magic. The myriad of magical beasts that Typhon’s army was composed of were easy pickings, large explosions rocking the battlefield as his wyverns passed them over.
In the air, across the battlefield, massive birds and other fliers filled the air, in densities much higher than his chaos hordes. This was a battle he would not win. What were they? Discord frowned, calling upon his vast repositories of knowledge. The ponies took him for a fool, a mere prankster, immature and illogical.
They were right, to an extent. He was a prankster. He was immature and illogical. But anyone who has ever crossed swords with him would know that Discord was no fool. He has lived for years numbering the stars, and for every day of them he has been learning, and adapting. Chaos, after all, never stagnated. After the first millennium of his existence, he tired of sanity and logic. He experimented. He adapted. He broke the boundaries of magic, the illusion of possibility, and ascended to a higher level.
He should not be tied down, fighting a mortal’s battle, creating mortal minions for a mind numbingly idiotic cause.
“Ah. Stymphalian birds. Excellent biological weaponry, outstanding mobility and durability. Far outclassing my creations.” Discord muttered, his usual bluster and snark gone. “And those are the legendary rocs, I presume. I never thought I would see one alive again.”
The two flocks clashed in mid air, the screeching of birds and roars of wyverns filling the air. Their wings beat with hurricane winds, their claws slashing at one other with bloody abandon. Massive winged… things, took to the skies on Typhon’s side, a thousand tentacles whipping in tandem, bringing down wyverns left and right. Blood dripped from the skies as the two armies tore at each other, then suddenly, Typhon’s forces drew back, the different creatures swerving back as one to reveal the Stymphalian bird.
It was gargantuan, easily the size of an airship, with metallic feathers lined with a razor sharp edge. It gave a single piercing screech, and it flapped its wings, the motion shooting hundreds, if not thousands of projectile quills towards the enemy lines. Discord snapped his fingers, disintegrating as many quills as he could, but the bulk of the volley still broke through, shearing through the ranks of his wyverns and sending hundreds plummeting to the ground.
Discord sighed as he watched his creations be skewered alive in mid air, and looked away as the the rocs swooped in and gouged out chunks of wyvern flesh with their jagged beaks, tearing through the reptiles with gusto. Though the wyverns managed to snag a roc now and then with their scorpion like tails, the rocs would recover with outstanding speed, correcting their trajectory to bring their downward spiral into a safe retreat. Finally seeing enough, Discord snapped his fingers, and a new batch of wyverns took to the skies, ready to engage their foes. The draconequus’ shoulders slumped, his powers drained by maintaining so many detailed creations at once. It was an exercise in futility anyway. The Stymphalian bird could bring down the reinforcements in one wingbeat.
On the ground, Discord’s forces were not faring much better.
For ground assaults, Discord had designed a delightfully chaotic creature that abused the properties of the poison joke to disable his opponents. It was basically a massive clump of walking poison joke, a perversion of the ancient ent that had dwelled the forests long ago. They were powerful, had remarkable durability, and could hex enemies from a distance then engage in melee with the vastly weakened enemies. Of course, there were other creatures as well, beasts the size of carriages with five legs and no face, using its size to crush its foes, massive worms that burrowed through the ground, and enlarged insects of various degrees.
Somehow, they were getting overrun. Discord’s mysterious adversary had deployed a range of enemies that could either nullify the poison joke advantage or simply resist its effects. Chimeras, somehow bloated to the size of houses, goat men who simply barrelled through the plants unharmed, these bizarre three horned creatures with a massive crest which shrugged off even the worst of the ent’s bludgeoning.
Discord’s eye twitched as he watched his ents be mowed down by the masses of chimeras and fire imps and other creatures that were sent out against him. “Right, that’s it. It’s golem time.”
He snapped his fingers, and the ground in front of him exploded as an absolutely gargantuan beast of stone burst out of the ground. It had three heads and four arms, each arm equipped with a different tool: club, sword, axe, and shield. The golem was easily the size of a dragon, even taller, coming close to Tirek’s shoulder height.
“AT LAST, A WORTHY FOE!” Discord was nearly blasted back by the cacophony from the enemy lines that erupted when the golem appeared, as a horrific, powerful looking beast leapt over the chimeras and demons to engage the golem.
Discord’s jaw dropped. “…Behemoth? Seriously? How the hell am I supposed to win this war with buggers like Behemoth on their side?”
The monstrosity crashed into Discord’s golem, and the two giants grappled, the golem lashing out at the creature with its stone implements and Behemoth likewise retaliating with gouging horns and tusks. The stone giant slammed its club into the side of the Behemoth, and even through the monster’s thick hide the strike was immensely powerful as the massive beast was sent staggering, its steps thundering through the ground and cracking the earth.
The giant wasted no time, taking the opportunity to swing the axe at Behemoth’s neck. The blade bit flesh, but the slice was not deep, and Behemoth shrugged the attack off easily, the axe still lodged in the monster’s hide. The massive beast wound up and slammed into the golem with its tusks, the golem barely fending off the assault with its shield, which shattered on impact and forced the golem back a few steps.
Behemoth followed through with the slam with a head butt, slamming his horn into the golem’s chest which fractured the stone easily, burying the horn into the golem’s body. Behemoth gave a thunderous roar, and actually lifted the golem over his head with his horn and tusks, before giving a mighty swing of his head and throwing the golem off, where it slammed into the earth and exploded into a million pieces, the impact shaking the ground and causing earth and dust to be lifted up from the impact.
Discord winced, but did not miss a beat, summoning another golem to occupy Behemoth while he thought of a counter plan.
“This is going all wrong…” Discord muttered, his finger snapping like mad, summoning minions left and right to engage the swelling enemy lines. “Just how many inmates escaped from Tartarus? And where did they find that many chimeras? Heck, I didn’t think there were that many alive!”
“That’s a trade secret, my friend.” A voice behind him made him jump, somersaulting in the air before landing a good ten feet away from the voice. Discord turned, and glared at the intruder.
“Seth. I should have known you were in charge of this farce.”
“Working for Tirek, I see.” Seth smirked, whirling his was sceptre around in an elaborate display of skill before slamming the pronged tip into the ground and causing a ring of fire to spring up around him. “Discord, it’s been too long.”
“Speaking as one chaos immortal to another, I recommend you back off, right now.” Discord warned, his eyes narrowing. His claws flared brightly with balls of fire, though it was coloured a dark purple with multicoloured sparks around it. Chaos magic. “Or else I might accidentally hurt you, and no one wants that now do they?”
“Discord, Discord, Discord.” Seth chuckled, bringing his was sceptre to a combat position. “You know, with all this summoning draining your powers, I dare say that I might be a match for you. After all, I’m also a war god.”
Discord eyed his opponent carefully. Despite the staff being mostly ceremonial, its two prongs were sharpened to a needlepoint, and the curved blade at the other end made of gleaming obsidian: one of the few materials that could in any capacity wound an immortal spirit. Not kill, spirits never die, but dispel enough of a spirit’s essence and one could send them packing for at least a few millennia of regeneration.
“En garde!” Seth suddenly shouted, thrusting the pronged end of the staff at Discord. The spirit of chaos growled and ducked out of the way, his head splitting in half to avoid the attack. His claws balled up to fists and he hurled a flaming glob of chaos magic at Seth, which the god smacked away expertly with a swing of his staff, the magic detonating violently into fire, ice, lightning, and confetti all at once.
Discord wound up for another throw, but Seth was faster, moving close and slicing down with his sceptre, the razor blade just barely missing Discord’s form as Discord bisected his body to dodge the strike. His body came back together once the blade was out of his body’s range, and he threw a desperate punch at Seth, his lion claw, coming within inches of Seth’s snout before the god parried the strike with the prong end of his sceptre, taking a step back and holding up his staff cautiously.
“Two can play that game, Discord.” Seth said, his staff coming alight with chaos magic. Discord growled, feeling his magic drain away steadily as more of his power was committed to resisting Seth’s army’s dogged offence. “Have at thee!”
Seth thrusted forward, shooting a bolt of lightning from his staff at Discord, which the draconequus blocked with a hastily summoned pie. “No, have at thee!” Discord shouted, telekinetically hurling the pie at Seth, which the god blew up with a quick blast of fire.
Seth twirled his staff again, this time sending out blasts of random elements at Discord with every arc, shards of ice, balls of fire, and bolts of lightning surging towards the spirit with every motion. Discord growled and answered in kind, bursting into a heated dance routine that sent equal amounts of charged pastries at Seth, the foodstuffs exploding into destructive elements whenever the spells collide.
Seth growled as he felt his magical reserves decreasing rapidly in the crossfire. Discord definitely held the upper hand in sheer magical capacity, but Seth wasn’t just a caster. He was a tactician, and he must be intelligent with his resources.
Seth leapt aside, ceasing his firing and rolling back to his feet, his staff up and deflecting Discord’s pies with minimal motions. Quick snaps to the left and right, sent pastries flying to the side, or above him, none of the deadly food ever touching him.
Raising his staff, Seth prepared to deal the decisive blow when the battlefield was interrupted by an ungodly, unholy roar. The two chaos gods froze, staring up at the sky as a massive, horrifically gigantic serpent crossed the skies on black wings that blocked out the sun. Seth recovered first, his lips curling up into a savage grin. “Excellent, it’s the cavalry.”
Tapping his throat, Seth shouted up to the drakon with a magnified voice. “MIGHTY LADON! THANK YOU FOR GRACING THIS BATTLEFIELD! NOW, CRUSH THE ENEMIES OF OUR MASTER!”
Discord’s jaw dropped. “L-Ladon? As in, THE Ladon? Guardian of immortality?”
“One and the same.” Seth smirked, and quick as a flash brought his sceptre up and stabbed Discord straight in the chest, causing the spirit to scream out in agony. Twisting the sceptre and pulling it back out, Seth nodded at Discord before teleporting back behind friendly forces. “Have fun, old friend.”
Discord roared in anger, his eyes flashing red for a moment before he waved his injury away, snapping his fingers and disappearing from view.
“This isn’t over, Seth.” Discord growled. “I’ll be back, and next time, I’ll get the big guy to stomp you.”
With another snap, Discord was gone.
“Princess!” A guard burst into Celestia’s throne room, where the alicorn was sitting on her seat of power, staring intently into a scrying pool. “Urgent news from Baltimare!”
Celestia looked up from the scrying pool, staring blankly at the guard for a moment before shaking her head and focusing on the stallion. “News? What news?”
“It’s terrible, Princess! Two massive armies of horrific monstrosities has assaulted Baltimare! They’re battling each other right now, tearing each other apart! Reports indicate larger than normal dragons, chimeras, birds of prey and wolves among the ranks of one of the armies, and walking trees and giant bat creatures as the primary forces of the other!” The guard said.
“Thank you, guard.” Celestia said, nodding her head. “You are dismissed.”
The guard bowed, and backed out of the throne room. Once the guard was out of sight, Celestia slumped tiredly, her will strained to the limit. “Baltimare, now? Last I tracked Typhon’s army, they were only up to the badlands… As I thought, they are tracking Tirek’s movements. But where did the new army come from? And why did they attack Typhon’s army? Are they on our side?”
Celestia growled and slammed a hoof down onto the armrest of the throne, denting the material. “It makes no sense! If only Discord… was…”
Her eyes widened.
Leaning over the scrying pool, her horn lit up and she spoke clearly to the water. “Show me Discord, Spirit of Chaos.”
The pool shimmered and rippled, its surface warping and distorting from magical influences, before finally settling on an image of the draconequus that Celestia was familiar with.
“Damn those creatures…” Discord was lying on top of a purple, velvety bed, in an immaculately decorated room. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly everything in the room was blue. Then red. Then pink and green polkadots. Celestia ignored the shifting colors, focusing on the spirit himself, and her mouth parted slightly when she noticed the gaping wound in the center of Discord’s just. “That Seth… how dare he injure me like this? A wound of this size will take… ugh… hours to heal at best!”
Celestia’s ears splayed back. If Seth the Usurper was free, then without a doubt he would have pledged his services to either Tirek or Typhon. “Seth… that snake almost took over Saddle Arabia singlehandedly before we intervened…”
“And Behemoth? What the hell? Who thought it would be a good idea for him to lead the armies?”
Celestia’s breathing quickened. Behemoth was so powerful that it took three days for the elder dragons and her telekinesis to subdue him. If he was free again, there was no way he could be contained.
“Tirek better give me a way to fight them on more even footing, or else he’s gonna end up pulverised before we know it… My chaos beasts aren’t nearly a match for Typhon’s brood. Where the hell did he get those things anyway? So many in so little time? It’s been barely a week since his escape!”
Celestia’s jaw dropped. Discord was helping Tirek?
Impossible. Celestia wanted to believe that it was impossible, but she knew was she heard. Discord had turned against them. He had betrayed their trust, all in the name of cowardly survival.
Celestia’s expression was frozen in a state of shock, but her mane slowly turned to a fiery orange as her emotions bubbled up inside her. “I should have expected this.” Celestia gritted her teeth, turning away from the scrying pool and banishing the image.
“Luna!” Her magic flared, and she sent a magical message to her sister. It was a taxing spell, and the message could be garbled- but this time, it would be clear. Celestia willed it, and so it was. The rage and hurt gave her clarity of mind. “Discord has betrayed us. He aids Tirek now.”
It took all of three seconds for Celestia to feel the wave of pure rage cascade through the palace as Luna processed the message.
“DISCORD!”
My army was arrayed before me. Now no longer composed of only three hundred hardened criminals, it boasted tens of thousands of monstrosities of my creation, returning after a thousand year’s absence. There was hidden power even in the pathetic excuses of dragons, chimeras, hydras and other beasts that were considered predators of this age. My blood still ran in their veins, however diluted, and all it took was a reminder of their true identities to coax out the true strength of these creatures.
It started with Ladon and the drakons, but soon after the Chimera and his brood of amalgamations, Rukh and her flock, the Lernaean Hydra and the rest of the multi-headed serpents, all creatures that were once my flesh and blood, returned to to the fold with the promise of untold power.
My own strength has swelled, too. By simply drawing forth the life force of the earth itself, I devoured the life of the world and grew strong from it. The land died around me, but it served its purpose as fodder for its eventual ruler. “Seth. I have heard the rumblings of battle as I feasted.”
“Your ears do not deceive, my lord. Tirek and his lackey, the insufferable draconequus Discord, have created a host of chaos driven beasts to challenge your army.” Seth bowed, smartly avoiding my gaze. Even a creature of considerable intellect such as Seth can be disabled with a mere glance at my visage.
“Was Tirek there?”
“Unfortunately not, my lord, but you should be pleased to hear that our army annihilated theirs. Rukh’s rocs and stymphalian birds ensured aerial superiority, and we devastated the flying chaos beasts that Discord created. I believe he called them Wyverns?”
Classy. I’d wager the old dog made them with stinger tails, too.
“And on land?” I asked, impatient. I cared little about the enemy’s brilliance, only their weaknesses and news of their defeat. “How did our hordes fare?”
“Just as well, my lord. Chimera’s and Orthrus’ brood were more than a match for Discord’s walking trees, and though Discord summoned a few stone golems, Behemoth was quick to topple them. When Ladon and his brood arrived, our victory was set in stone. Truly, a landslide victory for us.” Seth said, tapping his staff against the ground and creating an image in a ball of fire, depicting the events of the battle.
“And losses?” I asked, leaning forward.
“I’m sorry?”
“Losses, Seth. Do not insult both of our minds by acting like a fool. You are not a clown like Discord.” I growled, a claw erupting into sparks.
“Ah… We lost a quarter of our roc troops, and perhaps half of the shock triips suffered debilitating wounds.” Seth said, bowing deeply. “The fault is mine, lord. My command was not enough to mitigate damages.”
“Weak.” I snorted. It seems that even though I tapped their ancient potential, their blood was simply too diluted to have full effect. “Do not blame yourself, Seth. I have seen your wit. The fault is in these… modern pittances.”
Don’t be too harsh on your troops, man. They tried.
“Weaklings, still. My old servants could destroy Tirek alone, without need for support.” I growled, recalling old memories of past times. “Do not tell me how to raise my troops, Trickster. You exist to give guidance when I ask for it, and I asked for nothing now. Seth!”
“Yes, lord?”
“I want you to occupy Tirek while I seek out my oldest allies. If my senses are correct, they were too powerful to be slain like the rest of my brood, and to this day they remain sealed in stone.”
“Who should I be expecting, lord?”
“My mate, Echidna, and Kampe. Both are capable of producing soldiers for the legion, so be sure to account for that.” I said, as the Trickster fed me instructions on the command of an army.
Where exactly will you be looking for these allies? I don’t have the same senses that you do.
“My magic tells me that their petrified forms can be found at the heart of Equestrian land.”
Wait. Canterlot?!
Seth’s eyes widened. “My lord, please, you must consider this course of action carefully. Canterlot is without a doubt heavily fortified and defended by the Princesses. Although you were more than a match for them in the past, your form is weakened due to Tirek’s treachery, and perhaps you might be more vulnerable to their tricks. I advise you to gather your strength before striking, lord.”
“No, Seth. Echidna and Kampe are…” strategic assets. “Strategic assets, and will definitely alter the course of this pitiful excuse of a war. With my mate and the rogue jailer of Tartarus at our side, the world will fall before us, and Tirek will not stop me.”
Look, I know that they’re hugely beneficial to our cause, but Typhon, you could get killed. This isn’t a risk that you have to take.
“Hah! The princesses couldn’t lay a finger on me, much less slay me. I am the eternal Typhon, Trickster, do not forget that.” I growled, feeling the frustration boiling in my being. Could these fleshlings not see that my power was without limit, even in this weakened form?
I’m sorry that I have to do this, Typhon, but I need to do something real quick.
I suddenly grunted as the pressure at the back of my head increased, and I reached up with a claw and grabbed my forehead, the pressure spiking into pain.
“My lord?”
I gave another grunt, and my claws slipped, sinking deep enough into my own flesh for the noxious ichor that flowed in my veins to dribble out, the pain in the head compounding to an almost unbearable roar in my ears.
Nighty night.