//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Chaos Incarnate, Part 1. // Story: The 7th Element Season 2: Part 1, The Rise of Maelstrom. // by Rojack79 //------------------------------// cha·os ˈkāˌäs Complete disorder and confusion. synonyms: disorder, disarray, disorganization, confusion, mayhem, bedlam, pandemonium, havoc, turmoil, tumult, commotion, disruption, upheaval, uproar, maelstrom. PHYSICS behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions. GREEK MYTHOLOGY the formless matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe. the first created being, from which came the primeval deities Gaia, Tartarus, Erebus, and Nyx. 8,1, 1000 C.E. 11 Day's had past since the fight at the coliseum. Gadget, and the other fighter's were taken to the I.C.U. at C.R.H While most of the fighter's were ok, only suffering miner wound's Gadget, Swift Wing, The Prince, and Whip Lash were held for a week so there wound's could heal. While the magic on the armor made it impossible for anypony to get seriously hurt something interfered with it long enough to allow a significant pertain of the weapons damage through. That and Gadget using a lighting bolt to fry Whip Lash didn't help matter's. So the fighter's had to stay at the hospital for a few week's to recuperate. For Gadget he had a lot to think about. 7, 27, 1000 C.E. 7:00 A.M. "Gadget you are suspended." Gadget looked at Midnight with tear filled eye's. "What? Bu- Princess? Why?" He wined like little foal. "You have been stuck in this Castle for almost a month." She said looking out the second story window to the city below. She turned around to see Gadget looking forlorn. She shook her head and sighed. "Look Gadget, I know that you take your duty's very seriously." She said as she raised a hoof to his face. She tilted his head in her direction. She smiled at his sad expression. she gave him a peck on the forehead. "You silly silly stallion. Look if you want me to i will give you a formal order." She let go of his face and stood as still as a statue. "Sir Sky-Rose." She said with all her authority at her beck and call. "I Princess Midnight of Equestria hereby order you,-" Gadget tensed up a little,- "to take a vacation." she said snickering at the dumbfounded look on Gadget's face. "What?" Gadget said looking slack jawed. Midnight laughed at Gadget even more. "You heard me mister. You are going to take a rest from being my body guard. Indefinitely." she said with a stern look. Gadget had learned long ago to not argue with mare's. He would loose. Every. Single. Time. So he sucked up his shock and confusion and went with it. "Yes ma'm." He said giving a salute only to wince in pain at such an action. Midnight went over to Gadget's bed and gave him a hug. "Princess?" Gadget was a little shocked at such an act. Midnight however was fine. Ever since there first intimate moment together she wanted more of them. But with her being a princess and constantly being scrutinized she was loath to try and let the media get new's of her being in a relationship with anypony. The Prince was still trying his hardest to win her over but he was wasting his time. He really couldn't take a hint that one. Then her thought's drifted over to Gadget and her heart began to race. "Why do i feel this way?" The more she thought about it her feeling's had started to come about after the Gala. Something sparked in her that night. Something powerful. Something new. She would have to convene with her sister's about this. "Uh Princess?" Gadget said patting Midnight's back. "Hum?" She said absorbed in the moment. "I think it's time for me to leave." He said pointing to his door. Midnight let go of Gadget having to uncurl her wing's from his body in the process. She looked over to see the nurse looking red in the face. "Did i interrupt anything?" The nurse said pawing at the ground nervously. Midnight Looked back to gadget her own face reddening from embarrassment. She cleared her throat. "No nurse you did not. In fact i was just about take my leave." She said bowing to the nurse. She looked back and waved at Gadget before disappearing in a flash of light. Gadget sat there in his bed thinking hard. 8, 1, 1000 C.E. 8:00 A.M. Ponyville. Gadget plodded about in his workshop. Today was just another day at his house. Hot Shot had went out to play with the C.M.C. His mom and dad went out to go and get grocery's. His uncle went out to go get some new part's for the clock tower. Gadget had been fiddling with his magic detector. Lately it had been getting some very strange reading's so Gadget set about re-calibrating it. Right now he was realigning the focus crystal's and attuning them to the proper frequency. After that he had to reinstall the mana-dampener. As he toiled away at his tech he noted the sound of the door opening and closing upstairs. He looked up from his work and sighed. "I should take a brake." He said pushing away from his work bench and trotting up the stair's. He didn't notice the detector come to life humming as it detected a huge influx of magical energy. Gadget trotted into the living room to see his parents were back. He went and hugged them. "So you two how was the trip?" He said as they hugged him back. Releasing there son the two trotted into the kitchen to put the food away. "Oh same old same old. The Carret's are getting divorced. The Rich's are getting richer." His dad said putting the veggies in the cooler. "The Apple family had a bountiful harvest this year like always." His mother said as she put some milk in the fridge. His dad's head popped out of the cooler. "Did you know the Apple's are having a new contest this year?" He said handing Ruby the last of the grocery's. "Thanks dear." "Your welcome sugar pudding." He said giving ruby a quick peck on the lip's. Gadget stuck his hoof in his mouth. "Get a room you two." He said giggling at his parent's mushiness. Both parent's eyed him. "Oh really mister 'I'm going to totally hit on royalty and not bat an eyelash'" His dad said as he smirked. Gadget's face went red. "We-- i'--we--" Gadget stopped from sputtering as he calmed down. "Well what can i say?" Gadget said getting his composer back. The more he thought about it he would like to ask Midnight out. Hopefully they could have normal evening out with no distraction's, emanate threat's to equestria or random stalker's. His parent's laughter brought Gadget back to reality. They were staring at him with smirks on there face's. "You know son," His father piped up, "If you want we can all go down to canterlot and go check up on midnight." He said resting a hoof on Gadget's shoulder. Gadget pondered his dad's word's. Then a smile grew on his face. He nodded his head. "Sure i would like that." He said. He turned around to go and pack his bag's for the trip. Usually when his parent's went to canterlot now the Sparkle's would want to go and hang out with them. So he went to go get his thing's from his room in the basement. As he rummaged around his messy room his gaze fell upon his armor. For a sec he thought about dawning it. Then he thought better of it. "No. I'm not on duty. Just going to go and check up on a friend." He thought. As he gathered the last of his thing's he gave the room one final sweep. His eye's then fell upon his necklace that his parent's had given him. "Strange?" He said. The heart shaped crystal clear stone was glowing. He scooped it up in his magic and clasped the silver chain around his neck. As soon as the gem touched his skin it stopped with the light show and shone no more. He cocked his head and then shook it. "Weird." "Hey son did you fall in or something?" His dad shouted from up stir's. Gadget chuckled, grabbed his bag and headed up to the ground floor. He set his bag down and looked at his parent's. "So who's ready to go visit our favorite Princess?" He asked a grin plastered on his face. Same Time, Across Town. Twilight was frantic. She had gotten a scroll from Celestia telling her to gather her friend's and to meet her at Canterlot at once. She was busy running around town to gather up her friend's. So far she had run into Apple Jack and the two were looking for the other's. "If i know Rainbow she'll be nap'in in one o my tree's on the farm." Apple Jack said shaking her head from side to side. "I swear if that pony spent half the time she do nap'in up and at'em doing som'tin productive she'd be in them wonderbolt's faster than you can say-" Her sentence was cut off by a gust of wind blowing past her and Twilight, nearly knocking them both over. Luckily the pony that caused the sudden bout of rushing wind had stopped herself just in time. Her magenta eye's locked onto her friend's, an excited fire in them. "Did somepony say wonderbolt's?" She excitedly pumped her hoof in the air. AJ just rolled her eye's. "You know we've been looking everywhere for ya rainbow?" AJ said a scowl set on her muzzle. Twilight coughed to diffuse the tension before it could get any thicker. "Hey rainbow glad your here. Listen can you come along with us to canterlot? The princess want's to see us." She said hoping the mare would come along without a fuss. "Say no more Twilight. If the princess want's to see us then it's got to be important." And with that Rainbow Dash zoomed off toward's Canterlot. She stopped about halfway outside of Ponyville before making a sharp u-turn. She found the other two starring at her with unamused look's upon there face's. She gave them a sheepish grin. "He he sorry about that. Let's just take the train up there huh?" she said setting down on the ground. The other two laughed and went to go gather the other four member's of there group. After a few minute's of searching they found the rest of the girls. The only pony left was Gadget. They searched high and low. Pinky was walking along when she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Her face contorted into a huge smile as she pulled a microphone out of nowhere. "HEY GIRLS I FOUND HIM!!!" She screamed at the top of her lung's. Needless to say Pinky scarred the living daylight's out of everypony in town wit her outburst. Gadget was walking with his family to the train station when his ear's were assaulted by the extremely loud voice of none other than Pinky Pie herself. He took a few deep breath's to calm himself down and steady his rapid heart. He glared at Pinky. "Pinky what in all of Equestria are you doing scaring everypony like that?" He asked in a surprisingly level voice. She bounced up to him, smiling all the way. "Well silly we're looking for you!" She sang as skipped around him. He looked at her with confusion. "We?" He asked. "Hey!" a voice shouted from behind him. Gadget wasn't a Pegasus but he caught some air that day. He jumped into the air and spun around. Just a little to fast to because he came crashing down to the ground in heap. When his world stopped spinning he looked around to see Rainbow Dash on the ground wiggling with laughter. "Oh man! You should have seen the look on your face!" She said rolling around. Gadget regained his composer and he gave rainbow a smirk. "I'll get you back, one of these day's" He said as he trotted over to the train were his parent's were waiting. The girl's went after Gadget and they all took over a train car. "Gadget we need to talk." Twilight said taking a seat across from him. He looked at her serious expression and steeled himself. "Sure what's up?" He asked concern in his voice. She gave him a nervous smile. "Well we," She said motioning to her friend's and them back to him, "Are needed in canterlot right away." She said giving his parent's a friendly bow. They smiled back. Gadget just heaved a sigh of annoyance but he nodded his head. He guessed the princess's wanted there help with something important. "Ok what's the situation?" He asked. Twilight looked even more nervous than before. "Twilight?" Gadget said looking anxious. "Twilight what's wrong?" He asked getting more fearful by the minute. "I don't know!?" She said a little louder than she would have liked to. She shoved her hooves in her mouth from embarrassment. "Oh dear i'm sorry." She said her ears splaying back. Gadget looked puzzled. "You mean the princess's didn't give you a reason?" He asked. She nodded. "Ok. So we'll know when we get there then." He said sitting down and relaxing while the countryside flew by, his mind wandering just would could be wrong now. Canterlot. 9:05 A.M. The small band of pony's disembarked from the train and headed strait away to the castle. The guard's gave a salute as Gadget lead them to the castle gate's. He returned the gesture and they all kept on going through the big double door's. Once they were all inside they were greeted with the site of Princess Celestia, pacing. She went to and fro from one side of the great hall to the other, concern was clearly etched onto her face. When her gaze found her guest's she went from worried to relieved. She ran down and embraced twilight in a brief hug "Thank you all for coming." She said looking back to the great hall. She motioned for all of them to fallow her and they obliged. "I'm sure your all wandering why you are all here?" Celestia asked as she opened the door's to the memorial hall, full of the exploit's of hero's long past and the deed's of the seven hero's of this age all preserved in stain glass window. She stopped at a jewel encrusted door. As she turned to look at her entourage she noticed that her sister and Discord had came to the hall as well. She gave Discord a look. "I believe you shall be qualified to explain the situation Discord." The group looked at him as he gave Celestia a bow. "As you wish Princess." He said turning to the group. He cleared his throat. "So you got our letter?" He said looking at Twilight. She rummaged through her saddle bag and grabbed the letter. She waved it about. Discord chuckled and continued. "Good. So to the point." He looked over at one of the many stained glass window's. It showed him. His first banishment at the hand's of the Princess's. He remembered that day. Then his mind sprang forward. To the day he gained his freedom. He was a solid statue, that was until he felt the element's magic lose its hold upon his form. As his stone prison cracked around him he felt a wave of relief from being set free from a thousand year posture. He cracked his aching back and brought his paw's to his head and gave it a good twist. His neck gave a satisfying creek and he settled down on the grass. "So long since I've felt the touch of the cool earth." He looked around and beheld a beautiful sunset, painting the sky a vivid pinkish hue. "So long since I've seen the sun set." He then closed his eye's and listened. "Heard the sound of the air through the tree's." As Discord went down memory lane Gadget got the sense that he was hurting inside. He went up the lord of chaos. "Discord are you ok?" He asked, an edge of concern laced in his voice. Discord snapped out of his reminiscence and looked down to Gadget. He smiled and crouching down to the pony's level, gave Gadget a hug. Gadget felt strange at first but he gave the hug back in full force. With his emotional turmoil over for now Discord deposited Gadget with the other's and continued his tale. "Sorry about that my friend's. But some thing's can never be forgotten." he said his face hardening into one of pure hate. He through his gaze to the, vibrant, lush, beautiful world outside window. "Now you all are wandering why you are all here. Well let me tell you of how i came to be here." He turned toward's Gadget. "That should help you all understand why we have called you here today. World, 277, 6, 23, 1017, W.H.E. Discord looked upon the desolate landscape before him. Where once bright shining city's once stood, now smoldering crater's took there place. Where bright sunny sky's once resided now dark cloud's hung upon the horizon, choking the very life from the before green field's. Discord looked on in horror at the senseless destruction that had been unleashed upon Equestria. Through all the chaos and disorder he sensed several small bits of hope. Several light's sent forth to fight the darkness that had consumed the land. There amongst the maelstrom of powerful chaotic energy those seven light's turned into one. Then in a flash of bright prismatic light the world went silent. As Discord got his vision back he saw a sight he never thought he'd see again. The dark cloud's began to dissipate. The first ray's of sunlight began to peek through the darkness at long last. And then a wave of happiness crashed over discord as the seven emerged from the crater were the evil had once stood. The one who had caused the destruction of Equestria was gone for good. But not without a heavy cost. As Discord looked at the seven he noticed one of them was being carried by all the other's. Discord felt his some of his magic return to him once more as he snapped his finger's and the group materialized in front of him. He scanned the seven and his heart sank. All of them had mortal wound's of one sort or another. He brought his finger's to bare once more and snapped. Nothing happened. He snapped again. And again. And again but the result was the same. There wound's would not close. "No." He said to himself. He scanned there face's. They all looked worn, tired and in desperate wan't of a good night's sleep. Through it all one of them never kept there eye's off of him. "D-d--discord?" Came the soft voice of an angle. Discord's head snapped to the one who called out his name. She was one of his first friend's in this world. Discord got down to the pony's level as he rested on the grass with them. "Y-y-yes Fluttershy?" He asked barely able to keep his voice from choking. There eye's met and she gave him a soft smile. "I-i-it's g-g-going to b-b-be ok." she said her voice coming out in between soft gasps of pain. Discord scanned not only her but the other's as well. His breath caught in his throat. Several of them had already passed on. Pinky lay there, a smile frozen on her face as her cold, lifeless eye's stared at the bright sky, a hole in her chest were her heart used to be. His vision swept over to Apple Jack who was trying to wake Rainbow from her slumber. "Come on now girl this aint the time to be sleeping!" She said as she shook her friend in vain. Tear's blurred her eye's as she shook her friend some more. With her wing's missing and the severe blood loss Rainbow was not moving any time soon. It didn't help that her chest was crushed. Then his gaze settled on Twilight as she and Rarity put Gadget down on the ground. His breath was coming in short ragged burst's and Discord was loath to look at why. Gadget's entire lower body was missing, his internal organ's hanging out like gory streamer's. "D-d-di-d-d w-w-e-e do i-i-t?" He wheezed out his eye's trying to focus on something. Twilight cradled his head in her hooves as her body shook with tear's. She looked down to her missing hind leg and squeezed her eye's shut to block out the pain. "Y-e-e-e-s we d-d-id." She said as she brushed a hoof through his mane. Rarity had gotten over the shock a while ago. Now she stared at her friend and tried to remain strong. She went over to Apple Jack and brought a hoof to her cheek. Apple Jack looked at Rarity with her one good eye and sniffed in defeat. "Why?" She asked as Rarity slumped to the ground, her chest burning from broken rib's and her body convulsing in pain from a punctured lung. She looked at AJ and smiled. "W-e a-l-l m-u-s-t g-o d-e-a-r. W-h-e-n ou-r ti-me h-as co-me." Rarity said as she exhaled her last breath. Her coat was a mess. Covered in scrape's bruise's, mud and blood, some of which was not her own. As Twilight shook from her teary haze she felt a shudder and looked down. Gadget was dead. A content smile on his face. Now only her, Applejack, and Discord were the only living being's left on the whole planet. She looked to Discord who had Fluttershy cradled in his arm's. He was trying to hold himself together but even she could see his mind beginning to snap. She looked over to Applejack who was leaning against the crater wall. Her face was emotionless. Twilight dragged her broken body over to her friend. "A-a-applejack?" She asked. AJ looked up, her eye glassing over as she did so. AJ Just smiled. "D-d-d-on't you wor--y sugar c-ube." AJ looked at her fallen friend's. Then her gaze settled on Twilight. "W-e-ll s-e-e- each o-th-er a-gain." She said as her head slumped down. Twilight began to cry. She didn't want to die like this. Alone, in some hole, covered in blood. As if Discord could hear her thought's he brought his hand up. His magic was fading but he still had some small ounce left. "Twilight." He said in a soft voice. She looked up to him weakly. There eye's met and she smiled. "Yes?" She asked. Discord moved closer to the unicorn. He brought his hand to her forehead. "You won't be alone." He said as he used the last of his magic to give Twilight a jolt. She squeaked in surprise but soon the fear on her face was turned to joy. "Mom? Dad?" Twilight said as her happiness grew at the sight of her deceased relative's. As she continued to gaze about she saw the rest of her friend's and family. Discord looked on as Twilight slowly faded from this world. "Princess- Cel-e-st-ia?" She asked as she ran to give her mentor a hug. As soon as Celestia wrapped her pupal in her embrace Twilight left this world. Now Discord was all alone. The last of a now extinct race. And he sat there. He sat there for a long time. Finally unable to contain himself any more he wept. For all that he had lost. 3, 30, 0001, A.H.E. Discord looked at his handy work. Slowly, painfully he knelt down to touch his paw to the grave stone of his once close friend. As he gazed down upon her grave stone, a single tear dropped and splashed down upon the butterfly shaped cutie mark engraved in the stone. He stayed there for awhile not moving, but uttering a silent prayer. Then he got up and repeated the process several more time's. All in all he went and mourned for all of over 300+ individual's that day. It had taken him the better part of a month to gather up all of there body's and bury them. When he was through with the burial's he went about building there grave stone's. Each one had the recipient's cutie mark etched into it by Discord's bare paw's. His magic had returned to him slowly over the course of the past few month's but he still used his paw's not only as a sign of respect but also out of habit now more than ever. As he looked out over the grave field he had created to honer all of those who had fallen his mind began to wander. "Why? Why did this have to happen?" He found himself asking. Soon however his thought's were brought back to reality as he felt something vibrate around his neck. He looked down and saw the only thing's left of his friend's. There Element's of Harmony. Discord lifted them up in his magical grasp and examined them. They had been restlessly vibrating every now and then ever since... He shook his head. "No! No more crying." He thought. His gaze settled on the Element's once more. Still he dreaded the thought of being alone for all of eternity. As he thought this his dam broke and a single tear fell. It landed upon the element of love and with that single tear Discord felt like his whole world had been engulfed by the sun. As his eye's adjusted to his surrounding's he saw that he was in a vast void of pure white. ??,??,????, ?? "H-hello?" He tentatively called out. Nothing. "Great." He mumbled to himself. He looked around. "Let's see. White as far as the eye can see." He said to himself. "Yup. I'm in hell." He said remembering what little Gadget had said of the his world's version of the afterlife. So he waited. And waited. Finally he got bored and decided to wander off. As he trudged on his mind wound up coming back to one thing. "The Element's!" He fished around his interdimensional pockets for the only thing he had left of his world. He felt his paw's clasp around something solid and pulled it out. What he saw confused him. It looked like an old locket but not one he had ever seen before. It was a soft golden color with band's of silver outlining a small set of jewel's embedded in it's surface. As Discord looked at it even harder something in his brain clicked. The small jewels were exact replica's of the element's of harmony in miniature. All of them except for one. "Were's Gadget's element?" He asked himself. He flipped the locked over and saw some writing. "Think about your deepest desire's and reveal the past ahead?" He read aloud. He was puzzled now. "That doesn't make any sense!?" He shouted. "And i'm the king of not making sense." He huffed as he stored the watch away. After wandering around for what felt like eon's Discord finally sat down. He pulled the watch out and looked at it. At the sight of his friend's cutie mark's he broke down in tear's. "WHY!?" He screamed to the void. "Why did they all have to die!?" He yelled as he clenched the locket tightly in his fist. He was so angry he didn't notice beginning to glow. Soon his mind was full of image's of his long gone friend's and family. He felt hot tear's burn down his cheek's as he let all of his pain anger and agony go. Finally he collapsed to the ground in a weeping sniveling mess, grasping the locket like it was the most important thing in his world. Soon he felt a magic unlike any other course through his body. He opened his eye's to see something truly unexpected. He was seeing a bunch of random image's and scene's that were not his to see. They all flew by at fast speeds, he was having trouble telling them all apart from one another. Soon however they all collapsed in on one central memory. "These are the memory's of my friend's." He said as they all stopped at the same memory of him trapped in stone. He felt his heart brake. "Why am i seeing this?" He asked himself looking away from the painful memory's. The locket caught his eye as it glowed once more. Then he thought about the riddle. "Think about your deepest desire's and reveal the past ahead?" Then it all clicked. He knew what his deepest desire's were. He wanted his friend's back. Not just his friend's but all of Equestria. He looked at the locked. It was now shining as bright as the sun. But Discord never looked away. "Ok you strange magical thing you. If you can really bring my world back then let's see what you've got." He said as he held the locket close to his heart and thought about his world. The Place: The Seventh Element Verse. The Time: June, 10th, 987, The Fields Outside of Canterlot. Discord opened his eye's to see. "Beautiful. Clear. Blue. Sky." He said to himself. He looked around his surrounding's. He was in a forest of some sort. As he looked around he felt something off. He reached down to were the locket should have been but found it missing. He panicked at the thought of loosing such an important piece of his own world but stopped when he heard the voice of a ghost. "Is this thing even working?" Discord peaked through a bush and his heart almost stopped. "G-g-gadget?" He stammered. Right here in the flesh was one of his life long friend's when by all right's and account's he should be dead and buried. Discord could only watch as Gadget fiddle with one if his invention's. He hit the strange metal box a few time's and them grabbed a small tool kit from his saddle bag's. "Ha never leave home without it!" Gadget said as he began to disassemble the small box and then put it back together. Discord was frozen in place. He couldn't think or move. Hell it was a miracle he could even breath at this point. Suddenly he was swept up by the same magic as before and his world went dark. Present Day Equestria. The whole group was shocked. Even the Princess's were speechless. Finally Twilight asked one simple question. "Discord what doe's that have to do with now?" As horrified and saddened as she was she still wanted to know why they were called here. Discord looked at all those present. "Because the one who did this to my world is here. And he will not stop until all who appose him are dead." He said as he gazed back to the darkening sky. His face blanched. "Oh no!" He said backing away from the window in fear. Gadget stepped forward. "What is it Discord?" He asked looking concerned for his friend. Discord's face looked absolutely horrified. He turned to the group and uttered two word's. "He's here."