YAHES 2: Season of Chaos
By: Bardic Knowledge
Chatper ?: SeeeeePETemBBBbBBBDBer !‽, ehT DEFAT uv Harmony 2 Act
Time held little meaning in Discord's world, the sun and moon dancing without a beat across the horizon, so I had no idea how long it had been since Trixie and the Elements had gone to Canterlot. Already there were dancing Buffalo and floating buildings outside. With the unusual physics caused by Discord's magic, I wasn't sure how long it would take for them to get back.
I stood in my living room, watching out the window towards Ponyville. Eventually, I saw a flash of light from town, though it was short-lived.
Round two to Discord. But this game was all or nothing. And round three would be his undoing.
As I stood there, contemplating the future, the door slowly creaked open and in walked Trixie, looking quite despondent.
“Trix?” There was no reply. “Trixie? You okay in there?” She continued to plod along, eventually making it to her room, where she just nudged the door open and flopped onto the bed.
“...Trixie?” Her mouth seemed to be moving, but I couldn't make out the words from the doorway, so I moved closer.
“nopony cares... it doesn't matter what trixie does, she'll never matter to anypony... why didn't they find me...? what hope does trixie have when she can't even be loyal enough for the elements to work...?”
A chill ran down my spine, as I finally noticed the Element of Loyalty around her neck. No. He wasn't supposed to... She wasn't one of the girls I was referring to! I clenched my fist, teeth grit. Discord still followed the letter of the wager, so I couldn't do anything to help snap her out of it, because that would be interfering.
“What do you think? It's so much more peaceful without her loud mouth, isn't it?” Discord stepped out from behind one of the posts of Trixie's four-poster bed.
“I am not pleased to see you, Discord.”
“Ah, but you see, I've won our little wager, so that means you're mine until I tire of you. So come along, little human!” He clenched his eagle claw around my right hand and a wave of pain shot through me.
“Yes... Master Discord...” I sighed. Hopefully, Twilight would remember to stop by here and fix her. “I'm so sorry, Trixie...”
With a flash of light, our location changed. With all the changes to the world, the only thing I could discern was Canterlot in the distance, a few floating buildings, and Discord's throne. Discord himself was not present, but I found that I could not move more than a few yards from the throne, though I could move anywhere within that uneven circle I wanted.
I was also rather disconcerted to notice that my clothing had changed into something resembling a jester's outfit mixed with a suit of armour, but with no real function. Some of the jester bits were metal, some of the armour was cloth, and it was all one ridiculous mess.
I could guess where Discord was, likely tormenting Twilight a bit more, or possibly the princesses. So I sat down beside the throne (no telling what Discord would do if I sat in it) and stared at a square of off-white somewhere in sight (distances being hard to judge and all).
Eventually, a few flip-flops of the heavens later, I heard a slorping noise as Discord melded out of his throne.
“What a wonderful world I'm making, wouldn't you say?” he crowed.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and said, deadpan, “O frabjous day. Callooh. Callay.”
“Oh, come now, let's put a smile on that face!” and with a snap of his fingers, my lips contorted into a toothy grin. After a moment of staring at him with my lips stretched away from my teeth, he wiped my face down with a towel, unfreezing my lips and mixing my features about.
“,retsaM ,meop a uoy eticer ot em wollA” I said. I paused for a moment as my ears blinked at what had just come out of my nose.
“A poem, you say? How fascinating. And why would I enjoy it?”
“liking. nonsense of it is certain poem will It to your words, I'm be a” came from my right eye.
He snapped his talon, restoring my face to its proper shape. “Very well, let's hear it.”
“Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogroves, and the mumraths outgrabe,” I began, with an air of loftiness.
“Mm. Sounds stuffy. Nevermind.” And Discord stopped paying attention to me, staring off into the distance at something beyond my sight, chuckling and guffawing at odd intervals. I returned to the square I had been staring at before.
“Why do you keep watching the ground there?” asked Discord, glancing in my direction. “There's so much happening out there, and the ground is just so boring.”
“Just, something on my mind, Master,” I muttered.
“Really? Well, let's see what it is!” and he jabbed me on the forehead.
The next thing I knew, I stood in the aisle of what seemed like Watt Auditorium back home, save for several differences: instead of the normal walls to either side of the stage, one was a giant bookshelf and the other was a large television screen.
I knew this place. It was my mind. The first thing I did upon realizing this was to concentrate on time dilation, making time in my mind slower than the time outside.
Discord stood beside me as he looked around. “How utterly boring. Say, who are they?” He gestured at the four figures I knew were in my head.
“They're me. The facets of my personality. Luxord, my muse. Yin, my darkness. Yang, my light. And Ember, my anger.” As I spoke, the words appeared on the TV screen, reflecting my tendency to visualize the words I think and speak.
“Really? I wonder what you'd be like with this darkness of yours in control.”
“She is.” I gestured. “That's why she's on stage.” I gestured to the vaguely feminine blob of darkness that stood on the stage, copying my movements exactly.
“She? Aren't you a contradiction? I'm surprised you're actually dating your housemate!”
I rolled my eyes. “Just because I'm feminine doesn't mean I'm homosexual. After all, the concept of Yin and Yang includes the idea that Yin has some Yang in it, and Yang has some Yin.” The white eyes of Yin on stage stared unblinkingly at Discord, and, in mirror, Yang turned in his seat to stare as well with his black pits.
“And what about your muse and your anger?”
“Luxord won't shut up sometimes and is maddeningly quiet otherwise, the heartless bastard. And Ember, thankfully, is asleep. Hasn't woken up since the Parasprite incident.”
“Parasprite incident?”
Two books on the shelf glowed and started sliding off the shelf. “It's a bit of a story,” I said quickly, pulling Discord's attention to me. But before I could say anything else, a voice echoed from the speakers to either side of the stage.
Trixie's voice.
“Discord! Get your claws off him!” There was a violent snap and a strange rushing feeling, we stood back in the world of chaos.
I stumbled back as Discord's claw slipped out of my forehead, and he turned to the Elements plus Trixie standing before his throne.
“Hello, my little ponies!” he laughed. “And what brings you together before me?!”
“Friendship!” declared Twilight.
“That's right!” agreed Applejack. “You couldn't break our friendship!”
“Oh, please, Applejack, I'm the one who made you a liar. Don't try lying to me.”
Hand on my forehead, arm over my face, I smiled. Good. His little diversion didn't alter things enough to invalidate the endgame.
Out of the corner of my eye, Discord grabbed the Element Necklaces and pulled them towards him. As per the agreement, Discord had to give them a second shot with the Elements, but he didn't even seem to realize that they had been restored. My smile widened as Pinkie zipped under a Cotton Candy Cloud and got some Chocolate Rain before rejoining her friends with a growl.
The Rainbow of Light flowed over us before Discord had a chance to do anything, and I felt a slight tingling sensation before the Rainbow manifested its World-Healing Wave, restoring Equestria to its true beauty.
---
Chapter 2: September 28, The Return of Harmony Part 2 (finale)
---
I then turned towards the fallen statue of Discord, my severed hand laying beside it, a glower on my face. “I win.” I picked up my hand and put it beside the stump at the end of my arm. “Oh, and you were right, Discord. The wager was rigged. True Chaos is completely unpredictable. But you're not True Chaos. You're a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain.” My skin flowed as the hand restored itself, and I felt power well up within me.
I snapped my fingers, my new Chaos Magic creating a pseudo-copy of my laptop from back home, The Return of Harmony already playing on the screen. “I'm not just a Troper, I'm a Brony. Which means I've watched the cartoon you're in from start to finish. Repeatedly. I knew they would win. Which is precisely why I made that wager.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Trixie. I turned to the girls, the Elements still glowing faintly.
“The night of the Gala, I did go and talk to Princess Luna. But before that, I approached the sealed form of Discord and offered him a wager. If he won, I would be his servant. If I won, I would get some of his power.”
“And because you come from a world where we're characters in a story...” Rarity murmured.
“Like I said, that's exactly why I made that wager. Because I knew I would win, just like he believed he had won when he broke you with corruptions of your own elements.” I skipped ahead to the maze, showing each of them their breaking from another point of view.
“A half-truth for Applejack. You did split up as friends because of the mission in the maze, but he was the cause of it and didn't tell you that.” Her eyes widened slightly.
“Mocking laughter is the worst kind, but if you can truly laugh at yourself, it can never harm you.” Pinkie looked away. I patted her on the head, then snapped my fingers, producing a miniature Chocolate-Filled Cotton Candy Cloud (With Whip Cream Snow) made, literally, out of thin air. She was all over it.
“An illusion is the only gift he could give, even when he had all the power.” Rarity bowed her head in shame. “But he never really gave you the greatest thing in the world: a choice.”
“Fluttershy, however, resisted. He tried to be tactlessly kind, to strike at your pride. But, to his frustration, you have no pride. And he was forced to dispense with the games to strike at you.” Fluttershy blushed as the others looked at her in surprise.
“Rainbow Dash, you were in the same boat as Rarity. He didn't give you a proper choice. His hypnotism tore at your loyalty to your old home and your loyalty to your friends and made you betray both.” Dash nodded.
I then knelt down and hugged Trixie, making her stiffen in surprise. “At this point you were out in the world, being laughed at by others for the revelation of your false boast. I never thought you would wind up Discorded. I'm so, so sorry.” She nuzzled me back, the fur on her muzzle tickling my cheek. I let go and turned to the last member of the party, jumping the video to the next episode, after the Discorded others had left Twilight behind.
“And finally, Twilight. Here, Friendship is the greatest Magic of all, so he struck at you indirectly, by attacking your bonds. By destroying your friendship, he tried to destroy your magic.” The others all hugged Twilight. “But, as you said, Friendship is worth fighting for.” At that point, I turned towards Canterlot, where a beacon of light was flying our way.
“But the world would have been lost, if you had never sent those letters.” Celestia touched down in front of us, and I bowed with the Mane Six, closing my laptop with a wave of my hand. “Princess, my new powers are at your disposal.”
“New powers?” she asked, blinking.
I smiled, still bowed, and snapped my fingers. In a literal flash, we all appeared in Canterlot Castle, with Discord's new statue-form beside me and upright. “I conned the 'con-equus.” Twilight groaned and face-hoofed, and I had a feeling that Pinkie would have been laughing if she wasn't still eating the CFCCC(WWCS).
“However, my powers are nowhere near as strong as the original's,” I gestured to Discord, “so I can't completely break physics like him: things that I create have to work with reality, and work best when I understand their inner workings." I said. "For example, I know a little about computers, but not enough to properly create one, so this thing," I waved a hand through the computer I had conjured up, "is little more than an illusory medium. I don't really understand the multiverse, so I don't know if I'll be able to use my magic to go to Earth."
“Then it's a good thing you are always welcome here.” Celestia smiled. The others nodded their agreement, Pinkie leaping on my back and hugging me to the ground. Which prompted the others to the pile on the hugs as well.
Three days later, preparations were complete for the awards ceremony for the Element Bearers having resealed Discord. Trixie, Spike, and I stood off to one side as the new window was unveiled, none of us being upon it. The day before, I'd had a bit of an adventure and even patched things up with Spike (more on that next chapter), but now I had some magic I could properly use, and the world was right again. I also tried to use my magic to go to Earth, but, as soon as I tried, it felt like my magic was screaming the word "no" at me at the top of it's metaphorical lungs. So no jaunts to my birth-world
Otherwise, "all's well" and all that, I suppose.