//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Chaos Falls // by Black Hailstorm //------------------------------// Chaotic Meetings “So this is the guy causing all the chaotic disruptions huh?” Discord said with an extended lower lip in consideration. “Yeah, his name’s Hailstorm” Twilight said. After dealing with the god of serpentine, Discord and the gang now all sat around Hailstorm’s sleeping figure. Fluttershy and Zecora had given him medicine that would numb the increasing pain that had been travelling through his body since changing back to normal. The substance Fluttershy had applied to the stallion’s injured shoulder as Zecora had explained was both a antiseptic and a sort of bandage. Taking out any forms of infection that may have come from the wound while also stopping him from bleeding anymore. Zecora had mentioned that she was surprised he’d had enough strength to fight the medicine they’d been trying to get him to drink to numb the pain. Judging from her and Fluttershy’s examination, his muscles should have been sore enough for him to be in enough pain that he should have been incapable of moving. “A tough stallion indeed” she had said with a slight smile when Discord and the others came inside. Now sitting around and watching the former human sleep, every now and then Fluttershy would mop the sweat that trickled down his face, threatening to soak his mane. “How long has he been asleep?” Discord asked after a few seconds of silence. “Not long” Fluttershy replied. “He just passed out right before you guys came in after he hit his head on Zecora’s roof from the aftershock of that last earthquake.” Discord slowly nodded, staring silently at the stallion. Multiple things about the stallion were off. One main thing being he could sense three different forms of magic embodied within Hailstorm. The first one was most definitely Hailstorm’s natural earth pony magic. Though it seemed weaker, not as strong in comparison to what could be considered a natural earth pony’s level of magic. It was strange, bizarre almost how low it was and the feeling it gave him. Discord grinned then glanced over to Screwball who was sitting directly in front of him by Hailstorm’s head. Every now and then the mare would occasionally move a lock of his mane so Fluttershy could dab up the sweat beginning to form there. His little apprentice of chaos had been slacking off recently but whatever this stallion had about him it had certainly grabbed the little chaotic entity’s attention that was for sure. Discord turned his attention back to Hailstorm who had just let out a weak cough. Sounded dry. Discord grinned. “Twilight” he said looking up at her innocently. “Twilight looked up at Discord, brows raised in quizzical questioning. “Yes?” “Would it be alright if we get Hailstorm a glass of-” in a flash Twilight had both her forehooves over Discord’s maw, her eyes radiating venom and practically daring him to finish that sentence. “A glass of what?” she said through firmly grit teeth. Trying to finish and say “water” the sound that came out of Discord’s mouth sounded more like “Mmpasdhsd.” Twilight smiled to herself contently. “That’s what I thought.” “So Discord” Pinkie Pie said. “You have any idea why Hailstorm’s causing those whole magical ouchies in the magical balance?” Discord looked at Pinkie with a raised brow. More at the way she had phrased the question instead of the fact that she had actually asked the question. Pinkie Pie was always an easily distracted mare, but she definitely had her moments when she wanted. What really made him stare was the fact she had said “ouchies” instead of “disruptions.” Throwing those thoughts away for later reflection Discord turned his attention back to Hailstorm, still having not answered the party planners question. “Well I can say for a fact that your friend, is different from the average pony.” “Ya don’t say” Applejack said with a roll of her eyes. Discord ignored this. “And I’m sure Twilight over here” he said stretching both arms and pinching the young alicorn’s cheeks, “will be interested in knowing that Hailstorm has more than one magic aura.” “WHAT?!” she and Starlight exclaimed. Everyone instantly covered their ears but were too late to protect themselves from two mares shout. Discord smiled with smug innocence as Rarity gave Twilight a displeased stare, rubbing her ears. Twilight smiled sheepishly and apologized when Zecora’s head poked in through a nearby room with a frown. “Anyway” she said hurriedly. “What does him having more than one magic aura mean anyway?” Fluttershy asked, noticing the scowl that had formed on the sleeping stallion’s face. “It means-” Twilight began only to be cut off by Discord’s cough. She looked at him, he gave her the expected “I was going to say it” face. Her wings drooping by her sides and her ears flopping on either side of her head, Twilight nodded and with a wave of her hoof Discord began explaining. “Thank you Twilight. Now as I was about to start saying, having more than one or two magic aura(s) without the aid of an ancient artifact is basically an impossible law of our known universe” Discord stated. Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity stared in confusion. “Could you please be a bit more explicit?” Rarity said. “He’s saying that any creature on our planet that has more than one or two natural aura(s), ranging from three or more without the use of ancient artifacts is a paradox in itself” Pinkie explained. “So you’re saying Hailstorm is extrinsic?” Daring Doo asked. “In a sense yes” Discord replied. “That does explain his whole transformation thing” Starlight said. “But that still doesn’t explain anything else about him.” “Well from what we know that ‘transformation’ of his, at least according to Hailstorm himself is known as a species called human” Twilight replied. “We still don’t know anything else about him though” Rarity said sadly. “Yeah and what was that whole deal with the God of Serpentine, warning us to make sure we question him. He’s been keeping a lot of secrets from us but if a god is telling us to question him than something big is definitely going on” Dash said. “I’ll say” Discord said with a chuckle. Hovering from his seat between Rarity and Rainbow Dash, Discord floated above the sleeping stallion and leaned his face over Hailstorm’s. Carefully deducing what he was sensing between the three forms of magic that this stallion held. “There are two aside from his earth pony magic that I can’t tell are what” he said after a few seconds of silent thought. “One is..familiar. Potent almost. It feels exactly like the first magical disruption before all the others began. The second is well, I honestly have no way of saying but it’s definitely been with him for quite a while.” “So what does that mean exactly?” Screwball asked, being the first to speak in a long time. Discord stared at his minion, subject, servant he supposed would be the better term. The room fell silent as draconequus and the enigmatic pony stared at each other. And after a few seconds of taking note of FLuttershy’s slightly concerned look, along with the feeling of tension rising in the air from the others Discord landed beside Hailstorm and shrugged. “Not a clue, but I guess that’s what I’ll be going to find out.” “What do you-” before Fluttershy or anyone else could ask another question Discord simply touched Hailstorm’s forehead with his paw and in an instant the draconequus was out. ///O\\\ A buzz. A small annoying electric buzz came off a flickering light in a less than decent, messy hotel room. I don’t know why but here I was. For the past -I looked at the clock with the shattered glass frame to check the time- hour or so I’d been asleep. My dream self has been stuck in this messy hotel room ever since I passed out back at the forest. Every now and then I’d wake up. I could clearly recall the last time I’d awoken. A clear sense of pain had hit my shoulder like I’d been stabbed where I could clearly remember the mark of that timberwolf hitting me. Also I tasted something extremely sour, felt like I was drowning when I couldn’t breath for a brief few seconds. The most recent out of them all was when I had abruptly awoken to my head hitting wood. Man that was painful. From all of this I’d simply have to assume I’m currently with the others at Zecora’s place. Hopefully whatever had caused that quake when I awoke earlier was not something that would put everyone in danger. I’d already caused enough trouble as it is, inviting more would just be plain awful. Rising up on my hooves I looked around the room. There was a door, but I still hadn’t been able to open it. It was strange, especially this place. Why Bill had decided this run-down hotel was the next place he’d torture me was beyond me, but for some reason something told me that this little setup wasn’t meant for just me. But for someone else. Suddenly the whole room shook. Pieces of stone that made up the ceiling above me chipped off and fell to the ground. The light bulb that had been illuminating the entire room and buzzing with annoying incessance exploded into glass particles, ditching its core components along the laminate ground, and spraying me with a few pieces of glass as well. Luckily I wasn’t harmed. A few seconds pass, giving my eyes a second to adjust to my new dull room and the sudden loss of light. I look around, taking in the darkness that filled the room. In all honesty I was starting to feel a bit nervous. Time moved slowly in this plane, so to me minutes could pass when hours had actually passed in the real world. Other times whenever I fell into a dream phase, especially when it involved this place called “Gravity Falls” hours sometimes even days would pass for me, but in reality it was just a few minutes no shorter than an hour or even two. I sighed, my ears dropping to the sides of my head. “Wish I could get out of here.” My ear twitched, one rising to get better hearing. Something had moved in the room. I waited for a minute, possibly two, then I heard that familiar hum from above. Instantly the there was a new bulb that replaced the old broken one. As soon as the light turned on I was able to gain a short look at something large and puffy laying on the extremely dirty old mattress, I had refused to touch. Blinking a few times so my eyes could adjust I stared at the large brown puffball...with a tail. Stepping over the glass and anything else that may be on the laminate floor I moved towards it. As I got closer I noticed the puffball was actually alive. It had a lion’s paw and a eagles claw. “A draconequus?” I said slightly bemused. I lifted a hoof closer to the being, but in doing so the floorboards creaked hauntingly. The draconequus awoke, stretched, yawned then sat up on the mattress raising a large ball of dirt and sending it into the air in the process. I lifted a hoof up to cover my nose, as I waited for if I was correct on who this was, to finish what he was doing so I could ask him why he was in here. A few seconds after the draconequus finished he stretched his paw and snapped, the bed went from a dirty pile of roach infested, torn up mess, to a banana style bed with whip cream as pillows. I simply stared in silence. Discord looked back at me with a toothy smile. “You must be Hailstorm?” I nodded, slightly wishing I had the power to turn things into bananas or anything else with just a snap. “What are...you doing in here?” I asked. Discord hopped off the bed and floated next to me. “I came to see what’s bothering you.” “...Why?” I asked with a raised brow. The history I had read about Discord told me he cared about no one during the Chaos Era, all he cared about was chaos, disorder and anything related to the other two. But then again Twilight had informed me that he was trying to make a change. He gave me a slightly crossed look. I maintained my expression and cleared my throat. “Allow me to rephrase. I can’t believe I’m saying this, what are you doing in my dreams?” Discord’s look of displeasure soon turned into a pleasant satisfied smile, “I came here because I sensed a familiar power in you, one that’s been bothering me since your appearance.” “See, was that so hard?” I said smugly, Discord rolled his eyes and turned towards the only door in the room. “Didn’t feel like leaving this trash pile behind huh? Too many memories?” he asked his eyes scanning the room, a few cockroaches scurrying away from his gaze in the process. “Yeah, chock full of joy” I muttered sarcastically. “Anyway you think you can get that door open?” He gave me a look that I didn’t like. The “Really?” look. About to open his mouth to say something smart I raise prod him with my hoof and stare at him with annoyance. “I have hooves okay. Quit smirking and make use of those thumbs!” Opening the door Discord and I stare down a long, dimly lit hallway leading out of the room and into another. I look at him then look back down the hallway. “Ladies first.” Discord bats his eyelashes, much to my chagrin, and leads the way down the hall in a dress. I follow after. “So how did you meet the elements?” Discord said as we walked down the hall. I remained silent not wanting to say anything and act like that faint humming in the background had made it hard for me to hear. Discord’s tail cracking like a whip though, and my reflexive defensive kicking in told me he knew I was avoiding the question. “Fine” I sighed. “Rainbow Dash caught me when I fell from the sky.” Silence. My ears perked up a bit so I could make sure I was hearing things correctly and it wasn’t the buzzing playing tricks with me. Glancing up at Discord, I saw him trying to fight the urge to laugh.” “D-Did you think you were a bird or something?” he said between stutters. Shaking my head with indifference I picked up the pace so I wouldn’t have to hear the oncoming list of bad jokes he would make out of all this. “We’re almost on the other side, quit making so much noise.” “What, can’t take a joke?” he asked still grinning. “Not if it’s a bad one” I replied with a flick of my tail. About to make a comment Discord, paused. I glanced over just in time to notice his jovial expression grow slightly serious as we reached the exit. “Something wrong?” I asked, ignoring the slight feeling of nervousness that had begun to creep into me. “I’m not sure” Discord said. “It’s just this feeling. I know I’ve felt it before.” All nervousness left me instantly as Discord and I exited the hallway and came across a rather large stage. “Bill” I said with a grimace. “Why does that sound familiar?” scratching his head thoughtfully “Because” a voice said from above, making me and DIscord look up into the sky and see a giant triangular shape floating down towards us. The triangle lands on the stage, which is no more than two feet tall, made out of wood of course, usual set up of red curtains draped over to hide the back. Then an eye opens, blinks and stares at us. I maintain my glare at the being, Discord however grew eerily...silent. I give him a quick look and notice he has a slightly surprised look on his face, but I brush it off as him being mesmerized by a floating magic triangle. I snickered “If only he knew.” “So Bill” I said with a forced smile. “What brings you here today?” Bill’s arms and legs appeared and in the process a white light filled the room, sucking up the entire space that was the hotel room, leaving all three of us in nothing but a bright light and the stage. “Oh you know” Bill said his eye looking amused. “Just came to see how my number one camper is now doing in Equestria” he said floating towards me. There weren’t enough forced smiles, facades, or anything in between in the entire world that equalled to the one I was trying to maintain now. “Doing great” I said through clenched teeth. “You know aside from the fact that I just got attacked by a wolf like creature made out of wood, nearly eaten by a giant spider, and I’m assuming a strong entity of some kind came here judging from the only thing I remembered hearing after I hit my head was a deep voice I’d never heard before, aside from that. I’m doing swell” I said. Bill nodded understandingly, then a pleased look came over him. “Glad you’re doing so well. Now who is th-” He froze. Bill, Bill Cipher. Dream demon from the mindscape, just froze. The guy who had the power to enslave an entire world just for the heck of it from what I could recall from my past dream, just froze. Bill was in front of me and Discord. His eye wasn’t staring at me anymore. It was looking at Discord. I looked at Discord and noticed he still had that slightly surprised look on his face. A knot formed in my stomach and immediately tightened. Oh no. I backed up as the two neared each other to get a closer look. Discord stared at Bill. Bill stared at Discord. Neither saying a word, both just staring at each other. “So...you’re the one I sensed surrounding Hailstorm over here. And from the looks of it” Discord said with a raised brow. “You have quite a bit of power at your disposal, maybe even more so.” “And you're the being I sensed off in another dimension upon coming here with Hailstorm. You...definitely still seem to have your powers. If I recall correctly the last time I remember talking to you was brief. Cut short if I remember correctly” Bill said with a narrowed eye. “Yes well what can you do. Over a thousand years ago I was a bit too overconfident in my powers, and underestimated the Elements of Harmony” Discord replied slowly tilting his head back as he studied Bill with his eyes. The knot in my stomach doubled. I think I was actually starting to sweat in my own dream. “Y-You guys don’t-” “Know each other?” Bill asked as him and Discord looked at me simultaneously. Anxiety decided to course through me with it’s date; fear. I swallowed, hard, my lips feeling dry. “Do you?” I asked turning my attention to Discord. “Do you know Bill?” Discord and Bill looked at each other once more, then they did something I had never hoped or expected would ever happen. A crack of thunder filled the room. Thunderstorms made out of cotton candy began raining chocolate milk as Bill shifted the dream domain onto the streets of what looked to be the image of an abandoned building. On Discord’s side of the street it rained chocolate. On Bill’s it rained cats and dogs. Literally. Being caught in both was not fun for me, but I maintained watch, not forgetting this was only a dream. A horrible, horrible dream. Discord flexed his lion paw, Bill flexed his hand. In an instant lighting struck both the chaotic being’s hands and I watched as the ground around us shook with a force. Yet I remained unaffected by the tremors. Since all this had begun both powerful entities had separated quite a distance. Bill moved towards Discord. Discord moved towards bill. Bill’s electric, red glowing hand pulsed, shocked and scared the heck out of the raining animals and with his eye widening and glowing blue, all raining clouds made by either side disappeared, revealing the night sky. Discord snapped his eagle claw raising his electrified blue lion paw, and the night turned to day. The two moved towards each other slowly, looking ready to fight. I simply decided to maintain position and watch. This is my dream phase. Nothing that bad can happen,...except maybe to me. The two were now inches from each other. Bill’s electric hand lifted high in the air ready to strike. Discord’s lion paw raised just as high ready to do the same. My body tensed, ready to intervene but I willed myself to stop. I needed to see what was about to happen. A giant explosion of electric energy filled the atmosphere as the two firmly clasped hands with each other. In what I had feared most. A handshake. Discord’s serious expression now gone he and Bill shook hands with both looking quite convivial. “Pleasure to meet you again Master of Chaos. It’s been a long time” Bill said, his eye expressing one of elation. “I didn’t think I’d get to see you again either, old amigo” Discord said with a large grin. I gawked. “Oh yes and Hailstorm” Discord said looking at me with a smile. “We do know each other.”