//------------------------------//
// Chapter III: Chaotic Tendencies (Part 1) 
// Story: The Sons of Discord 
// by Gapeagle 
//------------------------------//

I inspected the shard in its glass case. It was faintly letting out a ringing noise through the thick glass. I could only guess it was trying to communicate to me. It was spawn of an Element. What Element, I had no idea. Neon had tried to look into it after we came back, but his toil through the night proved worthless. It was still unidentified and we were too scared to let it out of its cage.

"So, which shard do ya think it is, Akay?"

My head turned to see Vinyl had entered the room. I casually tossed her the shard and shook my head. 

"I have no clue," I then paused. "You know, that reminds me. Didn't Celestia and Luna have dozens of shards hidden in the Grand Royal Palace? Do you have any idea what happened to them?"

Vinyl kept her eyes on the shard while she answered me. "Yeah, I do. After Octavia was kicked out of the Brotherhood, she knew jus' what to do. Her and Trixie assigned some trusted men and women to hide the shards around the whole world. Ya know, bury them in a random field in the middle of nowhere. We've found some of them, but most are still missing. This one's probably one of them."

"Heh, Octavia didn't want ya to get a hold of them, huh?" I chuckled.

"She was pretty paranoid."

From the tone of her voice, I could tell she didn't want to talk about her old friend. Perhaps "old friends" was not the right term as I remembered how they separated after the death of the Bearers. Maybe she still held a grudge against Octavia?

Vinyl leaned on the and gave an unimpressed look at the shard. Her other hand  gently scratched her bare abs as her top barely reached the end of her ribs. The midriff was just one part of her usual outfits. I had noticed she liked to wear sleeveless white hoodies and black, fingerless, thin, leather gloves. She often just wore short jean shorts, but she would also wear her ripped up black yoga pants. Her shoes changed the most. I had seen her wear high tops, converse, high heels, sandals, and even work boots. Her style was most unpredictable.

Her nails were all uneven as she obviously had a bad habit of clipping them with her other nails instead of using a nail clipper. Her bare arms showcased muscles that only an athletic woman would possess. The only tattoo she had was on her left shoulder muscle. The tattoo was of the symbol of Chaos: eight arrows going every way out of the center. 

Her ears were heavily pierced. Gold and silver rings lined up the edges, but she was pierced no where else. Her lips were always wearing blue lipstick that match both the eye-shadow she used and her electric blue hair. Her punkish hair style had not changed at all since I had first seen her in the memories of the Bearers. Overall, she did not appear like an agent or even an Assassin, but more like a party animal DJ.

Her red eyes looked at me. "So, Akay, how's ya liked the Sons of Discord so far? Pretty exciting, huh?"

"You guys are crazy, I'll give ya that," I replied.

She chuckled. "Hell yeah! Trust me, ya ain't seen nothing yet."

I made a face. "Huh. Ya know, after that Thorne punk shot me with the berserk juice, my head's still been hazy. So what exactly do we do that makes us so important? I mean, apparently our cause is more important than people's lives. So could ya remind me why the Sons exist?"

Vinyl sighed. She knew I was lying about my memory loss. "Akay, progress comes through trials. We are the trials. If we let this world just become boring, then nothing changes. We like Change. That's why we fight for Chaos. Chaos is not good nor evil, it's right there in the gray. If Ahuizotl gets what they want, we won't have Chaos but just a bunch of dictating Order. It would suck if that ever happened."

"So we create Chaos for the sake of Chaos?"

"If ya want to interpret it like that, sure. Everyone looks at it differently. After 500 years of livin', I've lost care if one of us doesn't get it. I'd say, you'd have to be a Survivor to fully understand what we are gettin' at. But I don't see red eyes on you, so you still ain't a Survivor."

I shook my head. "And I'll never be one."

"I know that's ya choice an' all, but don't be scared of becoming one," Vinyl said as she lit a cigarette. "Not only do ya become immortal, but ya get to see the beauty of Chaos. C'mon, Discord would want ya to be one too. Think of it as an honor."

"Sorry, but I've seen what it did to you. You weren't always like how you are now. Sure, I'll take long life, but I don't wanna lose myself. Ya used to be a very different person way back when."

Vinyl breathed out some smoke and sat down beside me. Her other hand placed the shard's case on the cold floor. Those bright red eyes of hers looked at me with a sideways glance. It was easy to tell she did not appreciate my words. After making herself somewhat comfortable, she let out a soft sigh. She wasn't angry in the slightest, but rather on the edge of being annoyed.

"Don't ya go on 'bout how I used to be. That was over 500 years ago. Ya pretty ignorant in all this. Being a history buff, ya should know just how much has passed since Octavia's time. The Crystal Revolution, the Equestrian Civil War, The Griffon War, the Gargoyle Treaty, the Great War, the Second Great War, and the Western Bloodshed. It's about time ya forget about Octavia being so righteous and all. Even those Bearers you talked to have been dead even before her. You have outdated information. It's time to think ya level zero again, hun."

"You don't like talking about Octavia, do you?" I leaned back and rested my head on my arms behind me.

"Not really. If she was still alive, I'd still call her my friend, but we didn't end on the best of terms. That girl got me through the first thirty years of my life. I still regret that I couldn't get her to become a Daughter of Discord, but hey, it was her choice. I'd just like to keep her as a fond memory than a reason to fight or something higher than that. She was a friend of mine that passed away. That's all there is to it."

Looking at the 500-and-something-year-old-woman, one would never guess that she had some ancient wisdom in her. She probably didn't, but the usual conclusion was that with age and experience comes wisdom. Perhaps her being a Survivor of Chaos did not let her become such a wise guru to follow. 

I decided to fake a smile and change the subject. "You know, most people from 40 years ago or something would never dress like that. You come from so many time periods and stuff. Yet you look as modern as can be."

"I have to adapt. We all do," was the reply. "I've gone through just about every style out there. I was a hippie, a classic gangster, factory worker, chimney sweep, ya name it, I've worn it. Since we don't age none, it's hard for us to keep to time periods that are long dead. In twenty years, I'd probably look pretty different and even more different in the next twenty. But so far, this has to be my favorite look. I feel so free and comfortable. I've been through times where women had to where some pretty uncomfortable things. Now? Now I can look as lazy or professional as I want and no one cares."

"Now that I think about it," I said. "You guys must have really kept yourselves secret to last so long without anyone noticing, especially with today's technology."

"Well, the Sons of Discord have never become as large as the Assassin Brotherhood did at its prime, so that's helped. I don't think we've ever gotten more than a hundred members at one time. And we've always been ahead of the government in terms of tech, so they're hardly a problem."

"A hundred? You mean there's a lot more hackers out there like us?" I was a bit surprised.

Vinyl chuckled and took another puff of her cigarette. "Oh yeah. We have guys and gals stationed in all six of the major Equestrian cities: Baltimare, Canterlot, Manehatten, Vanhoover, Cloudsdale, and Dodge City. We even got boys in the small towns like Ponyville, Hollow Shades, and Appleloosa. We aren't the only hacking group out there either. Well, if ya could call us a hacking group. There's Erebus, an anarchist hacker group that we have loose ties with. Then there's the Krystal Blu..."

The venom in her voice made me sit up. "Krystal Blu?"

"They are an enemy hacking group. They refer to themselves as 'Fixers' or 'Anti-hackers.' They've worked with the Equestrian government and even have worked for Ahuizotl Industries. Krystal Blu and the Sons of Discord were the first organizations to use such extensive hacking abilities. We wanted to use it for Chaos, they wanted to use it to stop crime and monitor everything. They are fully against privacy and will hack into people's own homes for surveillance. They can turn that little webcam or your cellphone into a camera and spy on you. We got pretty loose morals around here, but we don't like doing stuff like that unless there's a true reason behind it. Krystal Blu jus' wanna be a Thought Police. Worst of all, they've killed more Sons of Discord than we have killed them. It's an uneven score that needs to be settled."

What could I say to this? I had only heard of such organizations in fiction novels or TV series. Knowing that the Sons of Discord were not the only ones who had hacking abilities made me shudder a little. I had already seen plenty of how the Sons can cause Chaos and destruction with only simple button presses. Imagining two hackers fighting each other seemed like a recipe for complete devastation.

"Ya probably won't encounter them though," Vinyl continued. "It's rare to fight a Fixer. Sure enough to say you won't find one here in Manehatten."

"So, it's been back-to-back missions ever since I joined. I'm guessing you guys got another job to do?" I changed the subject.

"Not really. I mean, there's always somethin' to be done, but we're in no hurry. Ahuizotl will be pretty mad about losing the shard, so I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing more of them patrol about." She paused and pointed a bruised finger at me. "Tell ya what, I got somethin' for ya. Could ya go by Karl's and get some pizza?"

"You guys want pizza?" I was disappointed.

"Yeah. There's one close by," she stated casually.

"I am a trained Assassin and you want me to jus' go out and get ya pizza?"

Vinyl chuckled. "Ya a newby, Akay. You should remember how Novices were treated in the Brotherhood. We ain't the Brotherhood, but we are based on them. If this errand is soooooo below you, it shouldn't any problem."

"You just want me out of the base, don't you?"

"No, I want pizza," she quickly corrected. "So would Neon and so would Scoots."

I pulled out my phone and searched to where the closest Karl's Pizza was. It was about 16 miles away. Our base was pretty isolated from food chains and I could only sigh at this. It was too far to walk (especially across the dumb bridge) and I needed a car.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll need the keys to your van."

"Ya ain't touchin' my van, kiddo," was the cold denial.

"Then what will I drive?" I asked.

"Anything ya find out there," Vinyl said casually as she gestured at the walls.

"You want me to steal a car just to get you some pizza?" I couldn't hold back my astonishment.

"We need a new car anyway. You said so yourself last night."

I stood up and shook my head. "I meant buying one. Aren't we like some heroes meant to protect humanity from Absolute Order? What about Harmony?"

"Harmony doesn't exist. Now get off ya high horse and listen to some orders for once."

My shoulders drooped and I grunted in frustration. Her words both infuriated me and disturbed me. So far in my Sons of Discord career, I had only seen violence without cause and criminal activity. Well, could I be surprised? The leader was Discord, the Lord of freakin' Chaos. I guess I had more faith in the new Assassins, but that faith was diminishing rather quickly.

In my frustration, I gave Vinyl a obscene and immature sign with my hand, causing her to chuckle even more. I went over to closest where we kept small weapons. I did not feel like putting on two hidden blades, so I strapped on one to my right wrist using Velcro straps. After that, I walked over to another closest where we kept most of our coats and jackets. It was warm that day, so I simply took a light black jacket to go over my beige tank top. To finish off with a white bandanna around my neck and a pair of cheap sunglasses, I was ready to go out.

I walked by the smirking Vinyl once more. "Not taking a gun with ya?" she asked.

"Why would I? I'll be right back," I told her.

"Pays to be prepared, I say. Here, take mine."

She tossed me a small pistol. I was startled by her lack of safety and snatched the weapon out of the air like it was a piece of expensive glass. Now that I had the gun, I looked for a place to hide it on my body, but I couldn't find one.

"Where am I gonna conceal it?" I asked.

"In ya jeans," she shrugged.

"Ya know these are skinny jeans," I snarled. "It'll be tough to put a whole gun in there."

"Not my problem."

I rolled my eyes once more, making her chuckle once more, and stuffed the pistol in my jacket's pocket. It was quite loose in there, but it was the only place it could fit. Now that I was fully prepared to leave, I promptly left.





There was a commuter's parking lot close by to our little base. With Manehatten's skyscraper's in the distance, I approached this lot with reluctance. I knew it wasn't right to take one of these cars, but I also knew that it would be a pain and then more to walk 16 miles for two boxes of pizza. Not only that, if Vinyl didn't get her food soon, I felt like I would not be alive tomorrow. So, using this logic and determination to escape the situation unharmed, I chose to steal a car.

Of course, I wanted a good car. As I inspected the lonely cars parked there, boiling up in the noon sunlight, I pitied them. All their masters were away at work in the nearby shipyard or somewhere else entirely, and they simply sat there, being nothing but idle. However, I was about to take one lucky car for a joyride...or pizza-ride.

I passed by mostly old or used cars. Some had rust, some had ugly paint jobs, some were just not "cool" enough for my liking. If I was going to be some agent of Chaos and a hacking extraordinaire, I might as well have a car to match. I whistled a tune while I tried to find my perfect car.

There it was! It was a yellow two-passenger sports car that was far too extravagant to be seen with the junkers around it. It made me wonder why this car was here in such a poor and misshapen part of Manehatten, but then again, the poor can still lease a car. The owner probably had dozens of payments on it or was renting it, so tough luck I say. I pulled out my phone and started the hacking process.

It took only a few seconds before it roared to life. I then unlocked it and threw myself right in behind the wheel. The newer cars were always easier to hack than the old ones. Car companies kept adding more and more wireless or electronic features which just gave hackers more doors to get in. This car must of had a remote ignition key, because it was far too easy to control.

With this nice car, it did not take me long to get on the road and head towards my dull destination. There weren't many obstacles in my way since I could control all the street lights. I had green lights all the way to the pizzeria. Of course, I didn't pull any stunts like Vinyl did with the street lights. I made sure all the lights still had their reds and greens. 

Since Karl's was on the edge of downtown, I had to parallel park. In the sports car, it was not that hard, but as always, it was a bit frustrating. After that little bit of annoyance was over, I got out and locked my precious new car with my phone. My phone blew up with all the signals around it. Hundreds of Manehattenites walked on the sidewalks with all their electronics and phones in their hands. Emails, texts, voice conversations, and all source of other goodies filled my phone.

I walked inside the pizzeria. Before I arrived at the commuter's lot, I had ordered the pizza on my phone and apparently they still had not finished baking it. So I kept standing there, waiting for my order. I was not one to patiently stand anywhere, so my eyes wandered. There was a flat-screen TV up high in the corner of the room for those waiting to watch. It was showing the news and I soon realized what they were talking about.

The TV was mute and they were showing images of the wreck Vinyl caused last night. Not only that, but all the gunfire that took place before the wreck. Because we forgot to turn off the street lights on the road, our unmarked van was there in full light, though still pixelated in the poor quality. Using my phone, I took the audio from it and streamed it through my phone. Raising the phone to my ear like I was talking on it, I listened to the news without anyone noticing.

The anchor on the news was an older woman with short hair. I glanced at her occasionally, but I kept my eyes towards the floor. 

"We have not identified the culprits of this attack. Police and Wonderbolts and still trying to find any leads to these criminals. Authorities are also saying that the armored vehicle is not po-wait? Excuse me, the armored vehicle is police force. The reason for the horrid wreck is still unknown, but we suspect it was a malfunction of the street lights. We will have more information in six minutes."

I shook my head. Once they were about to mention Ahuizotl, they stopped and called it something it wasn't. Either the police and Wonderbolts were Templar, or this news channel had ties with Ahuizotl. I felt like it was the latter. Why? Well, why would Ahuizotl have its own military if all they needed was to call for the BOLT squads? It seemed like a waste of man power. 

My order was up and I walked over to pay for it. This time I used cash and decided to not rob anyone of credit. It was much riskier to hack like that when there was a cashier, so I only used it when I was working with a machine instead of a vigilant human. 

I walked out while whistling a tune. Without much care, I threw the pizza boxes in the car and was about to head in when my phone started to pick up a distinct signal. I looked down to see that it was a police transmission. This made me look about to see if any police cruisers were going by, but there was nothing, not even sirens. Whatever they were talking about, they weren't on top of. I hacked in the transmission and brought the phone to my ear.

"There has been two reports of a rapist in the Horseway District. The victim described him as tall, black-haired, and is wearing a blue hoodie jacket with matching pants. Last seen on George Avenue. We believe this man could be Curt Nightway."

Curt Nightway eh? George Avenue was hardly a ten minute walk from where I was. I got off the transmission and searched his name. I soon found him and man, he was nasty. He had already gone to jail due to domestic violence and alleged sexual harassment. Guess he wanted to take it a step further. He was a man preying upon the weak. A man the old Assassins would definitely not approve of. I was an Assassin, so I didn't approve of him either.

I took a glance at the pizzas. They would keep warm, I thought. I shut the car door and started heading towards George Avenue. It was time to get back into my vigilante ways. I was a trained Assassin, not some puppet of Discord. If I called myself Assassin, I might as well act as one. My hidden blade was ready, I was ready, and the manhunt began right then.