The Puppeteer's Creation

by Arreis Of Avalon

Prologue: Let The Games Begin

Author's Note:

Hello readers, old and new! What you're reading has been heavily edited from its original inception. This story was initially posted when I was in high school. I am now an adult (if by age only) and have struggled for years with coming back and wrapping up these old, incredibly poorly written stories.

So I'm changing them, and making them better.

This is my send off on this account; I plan to wrap up all of my fanfictions and move on to other things. Maybe one day I'll return more heavily to the MLP fandom, but that day will not be soon.

In the meantime: Enjoy the completion of many fanfictions that have not seen the light of day in years.

Interested in the original copy? Here -- have a link to the google doc version of the old edits. Warning: Cringe Ahead!

Humming filled the tiny library as the mare walked, trying to get the hang of her new balance. The new weight at her sides caused her to stumble and struggle far more than she’d anticipated. Such was the price to pay for gaining wings!

Twilight giggled to herself slightly. Back when she first came to Ponyville, she certainly hadn’t imagined this. She hadn’t imagined anything of this sort, ever! As far as she was aware, it had never happened.

After her coronation as the Princess of Friendship, Twilight had chosen to remain in Ponyville. Certainly, it would be easier if she stayed at Canterlot with the other princesses; but Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna, had agreed completely with her decision. After all, her friends were here -- where her friends were was where she should stay.

It would be tough going, she knew. The balance issues aside, she would have a lot to learn about her part to play in the world now. But, despite everything, she had faith she would make it. She was the type of pony to be able to do anything she set her mind to.

Which is why she absolutely did not mind when she fell flat on her face when walking to the door. “Ow ow ow ow…” She rubbed her face gently as she opened the front door. “Hello?” She groaned out to the visitor.

He was an older unicorn, gray around the edges with a beige coat. His hair was tame, with a few stray loose ends, and he wore a small vest of a deeper brown. The buttons and brooches on the coat of various colors started to indicate the nature of the man, even before Twilight could take in the deep yellows and reds of his eyes. It helped that Twilight knew the nature of the man fully, though, given that she knew this disguise by now. “Discord??”

He grinned at the confusion. “Hello, Twilight -- or, well, Princess of Friendship, of course.” He flourished in a bow. Twilight rolled her eyes with a somewhat good-natured smile. The pony in front of her might look calm and orderly, but there was no mistaking the mischief in his voice. “Lovely to see you, really.”

“What brings you? It’s so early.” The sun may have risen, but it was still fresh in the sky, on its ascent with the mist of night still clinging to the ground. “Here to eat a couple more of my books?”

He winced. “Oh, Princess, that was ages ago. You wound me.” In a flash from his horn, the pony had a cartoonishly fake knife sticking out of him, thankfully sans the blood. Twilight still grimaced and turned away. Not a pleasant sight this early in the morning. Another fast flash and he went back to the closest approximation of normal that he could achieve. “I actually came to check in! It’s been so long since I saw you, old friend. It’s like you practically don’t care about me at all anymore -- no notes, no letters, not even a single wire message!” He swooned.

Twilight shook her head, once again with a smile. Discord, for all his faults, was also one of her close friends now. They’d worked closely with him to help him reform, and with how close he was with Fluttershy, and how much effort he was putting into friendship and no more chaos (well, less chaos), she couldn’t be upset at him.

“Well, come on in, Discord. I can get some tea ready, if you like?”

“Oh, splendid!” He snapped back to standing and strode in as she opened the door wider. Then he paused, looking at the piles upon piles of books on the floor. “Twilight? What in Equestria happened here? It looks like a bad case of me.”

Twilight beamed back at him as she started working on getting the tea prepared. “It’s sorting day!! Oh, I’ve been looking forward to it for months -- I’ve even had it on my calendar since last years day! See, the library gets into disarray fairly quickly, despite all my best efforts. Once a year, I sort everything. Right now I’m on the nonfiction “A” letters!”

He picked up a book titled Amaranth and You: A Gardening Treasure, and another titled Adoration and Astrology: 10 Signs the Signs Align. “This is quite the undertaking,” he said, scrunching his nose slightly at the books. The nature of libraries to have drivel, he supposed. “And you’re doing this all by yourself?”

Twilight blinked. “Oh!! Well. Spike would normally help, but… He’s off to see his little phoenix friend right now. He won’t be back for a few weeks.”

“A few weeks?” He looked over as she poured him the tea. “Why, Twilight, how ever would you manage to sort this entire library in a single day without help?”

Twilight dismissed the thought with a wave of her hoof. “Oh, don’t you worry -- I’ve been organizing libraries for ages now! I can handle a small place like this.”

“Well, I am happy to offer my services, Twilight.” He held up a hoof even as she bit her lip, clearly ready to defend himself. “No shenanigans! I know how important your books are for you. This is just me being a good friend.”

Twilight smiled and sighed a little sigh, a mix of emotions rising up. He never would have done something like this at the start, when they first allowed him to try the whole ‘friendship’ thing out. He had made leaps and bounds of progress. “I’d appreciate the help, even if I know I can do this. Thank you, Discord.”

Thus began the next few hours of mind numbing, exhausting work. It wasn’t labor intensive, but it was time consuming. The sun’s ascent slowed and finally seemed to pause as the little town of Ponyville woke up and began its day in earnest. Shopkeeps opening, children playing. All the while, Twilight and Discord worked silently and in tandem, infrequently asking questions, and somewhat more frequently making quips about book titles. It was an easy quietness between the two, rarely needing to be broken. The library was completely meticulously organized and Twilight’s notes on the books were extensive, to say the least. Really, there was no way to get this bit of organization wrong.

Which, of course, was simply dreadful for Discord. But patience was a virtue he had practiced well in his years of imprisonment. He worked for hours upon end, but finally, enough became enough.

Left alone with the books by an overly trusting fool, Discord began his game. A simple move on the chess board: a single book, out of place, out of time. In a flash, muted this time, as though the magic knew what would happen from this step, a book appeared. It was leather-bound and worn with time, pages sticking at odd angles. He smirked at the sight. How long had he held onto this? How long had he planned?

Finally, his patience was paying off.

He contorted his face into something pathetic, confused and troubled, walking over to where Twilight was currently shelving some other drivel who couldn’t care less about. “Twilight? There’s no notes on this book’s location. I don’t even see a title page.”

Twilight hummed. “Uh-huh?” She squinted at the book she was currently focused on, not even paying the slightest bit of attention to the God of Chaos.

He tsk’ed his tongue and tapped her shoulder. She jolted and turned back to him. “What? Sorry, I didn’t quite-”

“No fret, Twilight. I just wanted to ask where this book should go. There’s no notes about it.

Twilight looked at the book, confused. “Well, that’s strange… I don’t remember ever having this one…” Slowly, Twilight took the book with her magic. Just as he had expected, Twilight's first action was to flip open the book and look through it. Her eyes slowly widened. “Wait… this is Princess Celestia’s hoof writing! Why on earth would I have this? It looks…” The word ‘ancient’ died on her lips as she started to read instantly.

Discord shrugged as nonchalantly as possible, even as he felt a cheer in his soul. “Maybe Spike got the book from her and forgot to mention it?”

Twilight nodded half mindedly, already ingrained into the discoveries she was hoping to find. “Yeah, maybe…” Discord smiled as she sat with the book. “I suppose I can re-sort the books tomorrow… I want to get to the bottom of this.” She paused and looked up, startled. “Oh! Well. If. That’s okay with you, Discord?

Discord smiled happily. “Of course it is, Twilight. I’ll leave you to your book. Have fun reading it. And let me know if you read anything interesting!”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah-huh…” She poked her nose into the book to flip a page.

A simple moment later and Discord was trying not to laugh so loudly he disrupted the peace. Instead he settled for a dark chuckle as eight small figurines appeared around him. Two stood out, different from the rest, made of cheap plastic and colorful paint. The other six were familiar to him, more familiar than anything else. He eyed them with excitement. He had so carefully maneuvered each of his game pieces over the years, planning and waiting and showing ever so much patience in his imprisonment. Breaking free to see the elements at play the first time had been a real treat, a taste of what was to come. Now, the game was finally set, ready to be had, with everything having fallen into place.

Six figurines, made of clay and flesh and bone and magic. In Celestia’s morning light, with the sun as his witness, Discord made each small piece disappear in a blaze of his magic. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight, Luna, and Celestia. He lingered on each one momentarily, pausing the most on the final piece.

Cheap plastic. Cheaper facade.

In a flash, the figurine burned to ash. He grinned a fanged, toothy grin. “Time for round one.”