After Celestia dismissed the meeting, the group broke apart rather quickly. Lucario had asked if there was anywhere he could go train, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack offered to show him the castle gym; having no better alternative, Korrina had tagged along as well. Twilight invited Professor Juniper to the library so the two of them could exchange more notes on their respective worlds – Juniper had been happy to oblige. Fluttershy had taken Cubone for a tour of the castle gardens, and Misty and Togepi had gone with. Rarity said she was going to look at some of the tapestries and decorations around the castle in hopes of getting inspiration for refurbishing Luna and Celestia’s old castle in the Everfree. Gene and Belle left with Fang to explain everything to the Houndoom, then planned to get Fang his own room so the two of them could be alone. And Spike and Princess Luna had snuck off to their rooms for a quick nap.
This left one spirit of chaos and one Earth pony mare wandering the halls of Canterlot Castle.
“-And then I said, oatmeal, are you crazy? And… Discord, are you even listening?”
The spirit of chaos turned and looked down at Pinkie Pie. “Oh, um, of course… actually, not really, no. Sorry but something just feels… off.”
“Is it that little doohickey?” Pinkie pointed at the inhibitor around his neck.
“Maybe,” Discord tapped his chin. “But it doesn’t feel like it’s coming from there, more like… everywhere.”
“What do ya mean?”
Discord didn’t answer, but instead looked around the hall they were in and spotted one of the palace’s many windows. “One second.” Discord floated over to the window and began to unlatch it. “Tia has spells throughout the castle that prevent too much chaos magic from leaking in.” He explained.
“Ok,” Pinkie Pie replied. “But why does that make you feel weird?”
“Oh, normally it doesn’t,” He answered, finally unlatching the window. “But since the clearing of the Everfree drained me I suppose…” Discord stopped as the magical equivalent of getting hit with a bucket of ice water slammed into him, nearly knocking him over. “My, oh my,” He said with a devious smile. “Those spells work better than I thought.” The glint in the Draconequus’ eyes was similar to the one he often gained while torturing Twilight and the others after his escape. That is to say, mischievously evil.
Pinkie Pie noticed this and shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, Discord?” She chuckled nervously. “You alright, buddy?” Pinkie wanted to trust the reformed lord of chaos, it was part of her nature. But she couldn’t just forget everything he had done, or how they no longer had a way to stop him.
Discord ignored the Earth pony for a moment and took a deep breath in. “This,” Now that he was beyond Celestia’s protective spells he could feel the forces of Equus again. He liked what he felt. “Is,” The world was completely out of whack. And because he hadn’t even done anything to cause it, all the excess chaos was flowing into him. “Delicious.”
Pinkie Pie gulped and took a few more steps back. She was considering running to find Twilight, or Princess Celestia, or her Party Cannon. Discord noticed her again and smiled, this doing very little to reassure the mare.
“Now don’t you worry your pretty little pink, puffy, party pony head.” He patted Pinkie on her head. “I’m just absorbing the largest amount of natural chaos since before my rule is all.”
Pinkie smiled. “Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better!” She cried happily.
“Oh, yes,” Discord nodded. “Much better,” He rose up to his full height. “Thanks to everything that’s been going on, the entire world has gone entirely, for lack of a better word, ‘wonky’ and thanks to this wonkiness I am absorbing a metric ton of chaos magic!” He smiled again. “And the best part, thanks to this nifty little device my dear friend Bio Chem made for me,”
“I thought you didn’t like him.”
“Almost none of it is draining.” Discord was, in a very basic way of thinking, a chaos magic generator. He naturally created chaos magic and it naturally left his body at a rate that was relatively normal for a magical being. But ever since the Pokémon’s arrival his bodily functions had, much like the planet itself, been thrown out of whack.
Up until after Celestia and Luna had left the palace yesterday, Discord had felt as normal as a Draconequus could. Then, around the time he suspected the campaign to de-chaos the Everfree had begun, he felt a drain on his magic levels as the forest attempted to draw chaos directly from him.
But as soon as Bio Chem had placed the inhibitor around Discord’s serpentine neck, he had been cut off from the drainage portion of Equus’ magical field. What had not been expected was for him to remain connected to the portion that fed energy into him. This meant, that while his magic was draining, it was draining at his normal levels, this made almost no dent in the amount of extra chaos that was pouring into him.
“Pinkie Pie,” Discord said suddenly. “I need you to do me a favor.”
“Okie-dokie-loki!” Pinkie replied happily. “What is it?”
“I need you to inform the princesses that I will likely not be in attendance at this next meeting.”
Pinkie Pie gasped. “But, but what if they need you?”
Discord waved a claw through the air. “Pish-posh,” He replied. “I’m sure those three are perfectly capable of coming up with a plan without little old me. And besides,” Discord looked out the window and towards the Everfree. “There’s a little something I need to take care of.”
“But-” Pinkie tried to speak up, to tell Discord that he should stay and help but was interrupted when Discord turned back to her.
“Pinkie Pie,” He said. His voice lacking its usual mischievous tone. “This is something I need to do.”
Pinkie could tell Discord was being serious, and that fact alone let her know just how important this was to him. “Alright,” She finally answered. “But don’t do anything stupid.”
Discord smiled. “Don’t you worry one bit,” He said as he floated out the window. “When have I ever done anything stupid?” Discord disappeared in his usual puff of smoke. Leaving Pinkie Pie alone with her thoughts.
“I wonder what Gene and Belle are up to.” She asked herself before hopping off.
Princess Celestia shook her head as she walked, trying to get Mewtwo’s mental images out of her head. “I cannot let this get the best of me,” She told herself. “Just have him move them to a different planet.”
Celestia could no longer force Arceus to return to Earth and keep a clean conscious. That man… Giovanni, he was only comparable to Sombra really; Discord was more chaotic evil, and Chrysalis had her hive’s best intentions at heart, granted she also had an outright hatred for the other races of Equus there as well. Nightmare Moon hadn’t actually done anything as cruel as what Giovanni had, but this was mostly because she had only been on Equus for a few hours total, including her return.
“Did he plan for this to happen?” She asked herself. It certainly seemed that way to her. Celestia was almost to her room, where she hoped to take a quick shower before her next meeting, when one of her guards came rushing down the hallway.
“Princess Celestia!” He exclaimed as he saw her. “There’s a crowd gathering at the front gate. They’re demanding to be told what is going on.”
Celestia sighed, she knew this would happen sooner or later. “I’ll get right on it.” She said, upset that yet another problem had presented itself.
The guard shifted nervously. “There’s… something else, your majesty, that creature you ordered us not to attack?”
Celestia groaned. “Aegislash.”
“Yes, it’s, um, blocking the gates.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “That… actually doesn’t sound too bad; we can’t have a mob breaking into the castle.”
The unicorn nodded. “Yes but, it’s scaring the citizens. Also… they have another one of those… creatures with them. Some kind of fox type thing. They have it in a cage and it seems to be upset.”
Celestia shook her head and started towards the front hall. Why can’t Luna or Twilight ever deal with the citizens? She thought to herself.
Once Celestia finally reached the front hall, she was surprised to find Rarity there, admiring several of the tapestries hanging on the walls. Once she spotted the Princess she smiled and trotted over to her. “Hello, Princess,” She said with a small bow. “I suppose you’re here to deal with those ruffians at the front gate?”
Celestia smiled. Talking to any of the former Element bearers always cheered her up, especially Pinkie Pie, but Rarity was good too. “Yes, I have to explain the situation to the citizens of Canterlot… or at least as much as I can without causing panic.”
Rarity nodded and kept pace with the Princess as she exited the castle. Once outside, they saw a crowd of ponies right outside the front gate. They were standing a few feet back though, because a very intimidating four foot sword was floating in their path.
As Celestia neared the gate the crowd’s murmuring ceased and they waited for the Princess to speak. Celestia used her magic to open the gates, she stepped beyond them and Aegislash moved out of her way, Rarity opted to remain inside the gates.
Celestia surveyed the crowd, she saw a few nobles, workers, even a few tourists. She also spotted a large cage, some kind of dog pen, at the center of the group.
The Princess cleared her throat. “My little ponies,” she began. “I understand that you are all unsure of what is happening, and I wish to answer any questions you have to the fullest of my ability, but first, I would ask you to show me the Poké-… the creature, that you have found.”
The crowd shifted and an elder Unicorn pushed the cage to the front of the congregation. “Caught it myself,” He said proudly. “Use ta catch critters for them fancy fur coats.” Celestia gritted her teeth. Fur coats and other such commodities had been introduced to Equestria after trade agreements were made with Griffinhiem and Canida. While many ponies found the idea appalling, others, nobles and the upper class mostly, had actually liked the outfits. “S’too bad I retired – could’ve made a lot a bits off of this one.”
Once the cage finally reached the front of the crowd, most of the ponies were feeling uncomfortable. Fur coats had fallen out of favor in the past few years, thanks in no small part to several animal rights groups.
When Celestia finally laid eyes on the creature in the cage, she gasped. Having lived for as long as she had, Celestia had thought she’d seen it all, up until yesterday, but she was still getting used to just how different the Pokémon looked from each other. Aegislash was intimidating, but not that scary; Belle and Gene both had a more regal appearance, like a princess and her knight. Several of the legendaries were awe-inspiring, some were actually rather cute, at least one looked like a pony, some were downright strange, and still other Pokémon could even be considered horrifying. Of the ones she’d encountered, this meant Hydreigon. But the creature in the cage before her was beautiful, regal, awe-inspiring, and intimidating. Yet, it was also quite normal, considering the Pokémon she had seen, something that could nearly be mistaken for an Equestrian native, and almost… cute, in a way.
The creature before her had a white coat, but unlike her own, this one’s appeared to be tinted light yellow or almost orange. It was fox-like in appearance, but bigger than any fox she had seen. Its entirely red eyes also struck her. But it’s most defining trait was, without a doubt, its tails. All nine of them.
“Nine?” The Ninetales’ eyes were filled with fear and apprehension as the Fire-type looked up at the princess.
“Could’ve made at least a few coats outta this one, I’d bet.” The stallion said aloud. The Ninetales whimpered and tried to move further from the stallion, but the cage stopped her.
“Open it.” Celestia ordered.
“Pardon, your highness?” The stallion asked, not believing what he had heard.
“Open the cage,” She repeated, staring directly at the unicorn. “Now.” Celestia didn’t want to be harsh with her ponies, even the ones whose life choices she disagreed with. But seeing the Ninetales in the cage, she reacted the same way she would if someone caged a phoenix or another pony.
The stallion realized the Princess wasn’t joking and walked to the front of the cage where he inserted a key into the lock pad and swung the door open. The Ninetales immediately leapt out of the cage, and hid underneath Princess Celestia.
Celestia’s eyes went wide as the creatures nuzzled her legs affectionately. “Thank you.” she said to the Princess, although without the translation spell Celestia could only guess what she had said, she guessed thank you.
“You’re… welcome, little one.” She said with a smile. She turned back to the assembled crowd. “Now I assume you’re here because you have questions about these creatures?”
A murmur of agreement went up from the crowd.
“Then I’ll explain,” The Princess took a moment to gather her thoughts, then explained. “These being are all members of a race collectively known as Pokémon. Due to recent events, an… acquaintance of mine felt it was imperative that the Pokémon be moved to Equestria; I have yet to work out all the details myself, but one thing is clear – the Pokémon are just as intelligent as you or I, and they all have their own special kind of magic. I suggest you treat them as equals and, if you find any that seem to need help, direct them to the city guard. The same goes if you encounter any that are hostile. Do not engage them, just contact the guard.”
Celestia finished with a smile. She didn’t like lying to her ponies, but in certain cases she knew it was necessary. For example, telling the ordinary pony that a being more powerful than the princess had moved to Equestria and that there was very little she could do about it would cause mass hysteria.
Just as Celestia was about to dismiss the crowd, a stallion near the front asked a question that, in retrospect, seemed rather obvious.
“Princess, just what is that thing?” He pointed to Aegislash, Celestia turned to the Steel-type that floated silently beside her. She had ordered Aegislash earlier to patrol the castle, figuring he couldn’t get in too much trouble that way, with explicit directions not to harm anyone and to protect any ponies who needed help, she figured if this thing was going to be around for a while she might as well make use of it.
“This is… one of the Pokémon, they come in many, many forms, and he is... serving as a temporary addition to the palace guard.”
“Greetings, little ponies.” Aegislash greeted.
Several of the ponies took a few steps back and most decided that they would wait for the next open court before asking questions, hoping that the Aegislash wouldn’t be present.
The crowd dispersed and left Celestia at the gate with her loyal sword and the Ninetales she had freed.
“Well, I think that went rather well, actually,” Rarity noted. “It certainly could have gone worse.”
“Yes, I suppose so.” Celestia agreed with a nod. “But what about this?” She gestured to the Ninetales now sitting at her side.
“Nine!” She cried happily looking up at the Princess, unlike most Pokémon, Ninetales were more in tune with magic, and at times, psychic abilities, which was where their curses came from, so this Ninetales could sense just how magical the princess was. Plus, she could tell that the Alicorn would likely live as long as she would, which was a plus.
“Oh, how sweet,” Rarity cooed. “I think she likes you.”
Celestia tilted her head and looked back at the Fox Pokémon smiling up at her. “Wait a moment.” The Princess cast the translation spell again, making it so Ninetales could speak. “That’s better,” Celestia bent down and looked right into the Pokémon’s eyes. “You realize that you don’t have to stay with me, don’t you? I would have done the same for anyone.”
“But I can stay, can’t I?” Ninetales asked hopefully. “I sorta just evolved and I don’t have a den anymore.” Ninetales had no idea where she was, or what was going on.
Celestia picked up on this and silently cursed Arceus again. Just one more thing to add to the list. she thought. Seeing the sad look in Ninetales eyes, Celestia sighed. “Of course you can stay here, miss....”
“I’m Ninetales,” She answered happily. “Unless you wanna give me a nickname?” Ninetales had always wanted to meet a nice Trainer and travel the world. That was part of the reason she had sought out a Fire Stone.
Celestia’s expression turned to confusion until she remembered what Gene and Juniper had told her, that singular Pokémon could be called by their species name or, after being caught, given a nickname by their Trainer. “Um, no, that’s alright.” This didn’t deter Ninetales in the least.
“Ok,” She followed Celestia as the solar princess headed back to the castle, Aegislash and Rarity following behind them. “What’s your name?”
Celestia smiled. “I’m Princess Celestia.”
Pinkie Pie trotted down one of the many, many halls in Canterlot castle, she had spent the past half hour searching for any of her friends but had yet to find anyone.
“I’ll go… this way.” She said happily as she came to an intersection, despite never having been in this part of the castle before Pinkie wasn’t the least bit worried about getting lost, she’d just have to wait for one of her friends to ask where she was.
Pinkie Pie hummed to herself as she continued down the peaceful hallway, suddenly her left ear got itchy and her back right leg started twitching. “Oh, oh, somethings gonna-” She was cut off when an orange spark of light shot down the hallway, ricocheting off the walls.
“Rotom, tom, tom, tom, tom, tom, tom!” Pinkie ducked as the little orange speck shot past her head and into a vase, knocking it over, but not breaking it.
“-Fall over.” She finished redundantly.
Pinkie was about to check out the vase to see what was inside when a familiar brown Earth pony ran into view. “Miss Pie!” Bio Chem called. “Thank goodness.” He came to a stop in front of Pinkie Pie, grinning wildly. “I need your help, you haven’t seen an electromagnetic, plasmic, non-corporeal, self-sustaining energy being around here by any chance have you?”
“...Uuuuhhh... no?” Pinkie understood about one outta every three words in that sentence.
Bio Chem sighed. “Alright, thanks anyway.” The stallion shook his head before rushing off.
“Well, that was rude,” Pinkie said to herself. “He asks me something I have no way of understanding, then rushes off without explaining himself? Who does that?”
“Tom?”
Pinkie turned to see a tiny orange head sticking out of the vase. Once it saw her, it ducked back inside.
“Hey,” Pinkie called after it, running over and somehow sticking her head in the mouth of the vase. “It’s alright. I’m not gonna hurt ‘cha.”
After getting over the shock of Pinkie sticking her entire head in its hiding place, the Rotom looked up at the mare, and she smiled back at him. This was the first smile he had seen since winding up in the castle that didn’t scare him; it was a true smile, one that made him smile, which in turn made Pinkie’s smile even wider. That made Rotom laugh.
Pinkie giggled and pulled her head out of the vase. “I’ma bet you’re a Pokémon, aren’t you?”
Rotom zipped out of the vase and floated in front of Pinkie. “Rotom.” He nodded affirmatively.
“Well, you’re a neat little Pokémon.” Pinkie replied causing the Plasma Pokémon to laugh. Suddenly Pinkie Pie gasped.
“Idea~! You can come with me. I’ve been looking for my friends and a few of them are Pokémon, they can translate and then we can really get introduced.”
Rotom snickered and zipped into Pinkie’s mane, causing it to stick up in random places and puff up even more than usual. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Pinkie looked around, then turned back down the way she had come. “They’re probably this way.”
After a few more minutes Pinkie spoke again. “I’m Pinkie Pie by the way, but you can call me Pinkie, all my friends do.”
“Rotom?” He asked.
“... I’ll figure out what you’re saying later. Until then I’ll just call you Zap, ‘cause you’re all static-y and stuff. And cause meeting you was a real shock!” Pinkie laughed at her own joke.
Zap smiled at his new name. As Pinkie continued to search for her friends, she told Zap all about herself, her friends, and Ponyville. “-And then Twilight became a Princess, so she has wings now. Not long after that there was this little incident with some of Discord’s plants, but he apologized afterwards, and – oh, look, we’re here.”
Zap stuck his head out of Pinkie’s mane to see that they had stopped in front of a pair of doors pretty much indistinguishable from any others. “I think Belle and Gene are in there.”
Pinkie Pie pushed open the door just as Belle threw herself into Gene’s arms, kissing him deeply.
“-This is where the Princess said you could stay.” The Pegasus guard said as he led Gene and Belle into their room. “If you require anything, all you have to do is ask.”
“Thanks.” Gene said, closing the door behind them.
After the meeting Gene and Belle had explained everything that had happened to Fang, the Houndoom had actually taken the information in stride and hadn’t even freaked out all that much when they explained how Arceus was involved. The Dark Pokémon was currently resting comfortably in a room adjacent to the one Belle and Gene had been given.
“So,” Belle whispered to her mate. “What do you wanna do?” The tone in her voice made her choice obvious, but Gene had other plans.
“Can we talk about something, Belle? Something kinda serious?” Belle sensed Gene’s worry and immediately turned to him, placing one hand on his cheek in reassurance.
“Anything.”
Gene smiled. Belle was always willing to listen to him, no matter what. This was extremely important since, until recently, their relationship had been a bit… troublesome at times, although neither would have changed a thing. Except for a few laws.
“What did you want to talk about?” Belle asked.
“It’s more of a request really,” Gene answered. “I know it’s part of your nature to be protective and all but, could you stop threatening to tear people’s minds apart? I don’t think the ponies understand, and I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you because of it.” Back on Earth, people at least had a vague understanding of Belle’s protective nature, although very few knew the entire story behind it.
Belle sighed. “I’ll try Gene, but like you said, it’s part of who I am, you’re my mate and Trainer… or, you were my Trainer, I guess.” Belle giggled. “Funny isn’t it? Even without a Pokéball, I’m still just as protective and Fang still treats you the same.”
Gene smiled. “Yeah, you think the others are alright?” To Gene, his team was his family, in some ways more so than his actual family, and he worried for their well-being.
“After all we’ve been through? I’m sure they can take care of themselves.”
Gene knew she was right, but he still worried, especially for a couple of his Pokémon who weren’t exactly the most peaceful-looking creatures.
“Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?” Belle asked after a moment, sensing unease in her partner.
Gene nodded. “Yeah, and this one is about… us.”
Belle could tell he was having trouble putting exactly what he meant to words. “If you can’t say it I could always…” She put one hand on his temple to show what she meant.
“No, I – let me do it.” For a second, Belle didn’t know what he meant, but soon his intentions were made clear. Using his new psychic abilities Gene transmitted his thoughts to Belle’s mind, expressing what words never could.
The love he felt for her, memories of their most precious, and most difficult, moments together, and his hopes for their future together including…
Belle’s breath caught in her throat and for a moment everything was silent. She looked up at her mate, tears of joy in her eyes and threw herself into his arms, kissing him deeply and whispering a single thought in his mind. “Yes.”
The pair might have stayed like that forever, but as fate would have it, somepony was there to interrupt. Again. Gods everywhere must have had it out for them.
“Awww.” Pinkie Pie cried, startling the Pokémon.
As the pair turned to Pinkie, the pony noticed the tears streaking down Belle’s face. “What’s wrong?” She asked.
Belle just smiled. “Nothing,” She grabbed Gene’s hand and looked to him, still smiling. “Nothing at all.”
Pinkie looked between the pair for a moment before asking. “Is this a bad time? ‘Cause Mr. and Mrs. Cake said I’m supposed to knock before going coming into somepony’s bedroom but I keep forgetting.”
Belle just laughed, nothing could upset her good mood. “No Pinkie, we were just talking.”
“Oh, alright, in that case would you mind-”
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight interrupted her friend as she rushed into the room. “Glad I found you; where’s Discord? We’re supposed to meet Princess Celestia in her room to talk about royalty-level problems and I can’t find him.”
Pinkie Pie visibly winced. “Uhh, Discord said he had to take care of something in the Everfree, he said he was sorry he had to miss the meeting but he said it was really important.”
Twilight gaped in disbelief. “He. Just. Left?! And what’s he planning this time? Oh, I’ve got to find the princess!”
Twilight galloped out of the room and Pinkie followed her calling. “Don’t worry Twilight! What’s the worst that could happen?”
The Everfree Forest, about forty-five minutes ago.
Discord appeared in a puff of green smoke on the outskirts of the Everfree, not far from Ponyville. He normally would’ve teleported further in but the fluctuating energies were a veritable mine field of unstable magic.
The spirit of chaos didn’t care, his mind was set solely on finding the problem and solving it, by whatever means necessary.
“Get ready, whoever you are,” Discord said as he walked into the Everfree. “For a storm of chaos!”
Man, this might be less of a curbstomp than I thought if the inhibitor lets Discord keep his powers and not be drained by the clearing of the Everfree Forest.
Oh yeah! This is going to be good!
Yes more More MORE More MORE!!!!!
Ninetails and tia? I think that'd work out QUITE well
the upcoming fight should be quite entertaining the consept of order against a avatar of chaos? archaos or tia better step in and save a certain pokemon's butt before it's reprogrammed
Cue the Epic music!!!
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I actually hope Discord wins this. The ponies need a victory under their belt.
Plus, John De Lancie be too awesome for pokemon.
I so want Discord to win. Zygarde's been a jerk so far.
Discord vs Balance pokemon thing wats the worst that could happen
Discord will win. Odds 10 to 3
I don't know....
I wan Zygarde to win, but I also like the Everfree Forest...
Can't they just tie?
Oh boy. I hope this can be resolved peacefully before it gets too out of hand. I'd hate to see the situation between Arceus and Tia go south because of Discord's stupidity. Keep up the good work.
Pls make discord win
Zygarde may be good at fixing chaos, but Discord is good at throwing the rules right out the window and not giving a damn.
Discord wins, easy.
Who will win? Who will be next? You decide!
Epic death battles of History!
Discord, do your crazy thing!
Though I think both Arcerus and Celestia will forgive the battle due to the whole, "actions of the few will not be held to the many" agreement they made.
More please!
So wait if the Griffons see the Pokemon wouldn't they skin them for their fur, coats, etc to make a profit. Also lets not forget the Pokemon are intelligent, so would that count as murder? So some Pokemon would be killed and wouldn't this outrage Arceus.
What's the worst that could happen? Oh dear god, the accursed words have been mentioned, we are doomed.
3981255 you do remember that pokemon have the forces of nature by their side. It should at least give then an edge.
I really, really, really think Discord should win this.
For a couple of reasons, but primarily, because Discord is actually the good guy in this conflict. Well, not good -- he's being a little too bwahaha to be "good" -- but righteous, at least. As the avatar of chaos, it's Discord's job to maintain the balance by ensuring that there is sufficient chaos in nature, and protecting the existence of entities that depend on that chaos. When he does stuff like trying to unleash chaos all over Equestria, he's way overstepping his boundaries and being a bad guy -- kind of like if Robin Hood starts stealing from everyone to give to the poor, whether they are rich or not. Or if a vigilante hero starts beating the crap out of jaywalkers. Discord's "job" is necessary and helpful when he does it right, although it is never seen as "good" by anyone; when he overdoes it, he's a bad guy, but chaos isn't evil or wrong, and a certain amount of chaos is beneficial and required.
Zygarde may have played an important role in maintaining the balance back home, but here, he's pretty much gone insane. Marching into territory that was previously home to a vibrant and balanced ecology and mucking it up to match every other biome around it is just wrong. And it's wrong in a way that even the Pokemon ought to understand. Fire types wouldn't much like it if someone came along and converted their home to a swamp; even moreso than ponies, who, like humans, tend to modify any territory they move into to match their own needs, Pokemon ought to get the idea that existing biomes full of creatures that are well adapted to them should be left alone, not modified to meet the needs of new creatures that have just moved in. Zygarde's behavior is wrong by Pokemon standards even moreso than by pony standards, and he deserves to get a beatdown from the local chaos avatar, because his own pantheon is too busy to notice or care that he's screwing things up.
So by story logic, where "good guys" win and the whole reason Arceus is basically allowed to pwn Celestia without this turning into an Epic Battle Against The Forces of Sauron is that Arceus is a good guy and is looking out for the well being of his Pokemon... Discord should win for the same reason. He's looking out for the well being of the Everfree Forest and its unique life forms, which Zygarde does not give a damn about because said life forms live a particularly chaotic existence.
Also, having absorbed massive amounts of chaos from the disruption the Pokemon have caused everywhere, Discord should be several zillion times more powerful than Zygarde right now, even if they would normally be more evenly matched. It takes a lot of energy to impose order on chaos. If Zygarde had a source of high order to draw from, he'd have a good bit of power, because order begets order -- highly ordered structures make it much easier to generate more order -- but he doesn't. He's not on his own world, and the world he is on has just undergone massive disruption. And the fact that he successfully weakened Discord earlier, before Bio Chem cut Discord off from the Everfree, means he's been imposing huge amounts of his own energy on the Everfree, which led the Everfree to try to drain Discord. He's already been fighting Discord, except that by being cut off from the drain, and leaving the castle so he can now absorb the world's ambient chaos energies, means Discord isn't left handed either (sorry, obligatory Princess Bride reference.) Zygarde's been fighting Discord by proxy all day... but Discord just got a massive powerup, and Zygarde did not. And can't, because there is no source of order Zygarde has to draw from that's anywhere close to the chaos caused by the arrival of the Pokemon.
I think that, if Discord shows mercy and merely defeats Zygarde, Arceus would consider it perfectly reasonable. Pokemon battle each other for much stupider reasons all the time and Discord is in the right here. Arceus might be inclined to come in and defend Zygarde if Discord lets his emotions get the better of him and tries to kill or permanently maim Zygarde, which... on the one hand, Zygarde is an Order Avatar who has just been personally harming Discord, and Discord came up with the plunder vines to kill the Harmony Avatar the last time he was faced with the possibility of personal harm in that way, and Discord's never been known for being calm and reasonable. On the other hand, Discord doesn't generally kill or cause a lot of direct physical torment -- he's very much about psychological torture, not physical -- and Fluttershy would be pissed with him for trying to kill another living creature that wasn't actively trying to kill him or the Everfree. Zygarde isn't evil either, and if Discord wants forgiveness for his own actions of going over the top, he has to be prepared to give it. So I'd say it could go either way. Discord could go too far and end up getting a smackdown from Zygarde's fellow legendaries, or he could recognize where he should draw the line, in which case I can't even see Arceus getting seriously pissed off at him.
'BOUT TO GET FUCKED!
3981255 Still doesn't stop them from probably killing a few. I'm not for killing animals at all if they're intelligent.
The feces have just reached corporeal existence!!!!!!!! *cue bad@$5 battle music*
There is a surplus of chaos magic and Discord is not being drained of almost any of it. I'd like to see how the fight goes, Zygarde did cause a disturbance to the natural order of things by removing some chaos so I wonder... Did he cause some natural chaos as well from the panicking Everfree creatures?
This is getting interesting! Tough, to talk truthfully, I dont see how Zigarde could really even fight Discord. The Draconequss is too strong compared to anithing of his own verse.
3981559 about the no source of order... HALL OF LEGENDS CLOSE BY WITH SEVERAL LEGENDARYS THAT CAUSE ORDER IN SOME WAY?!?!?!?!?! I think Zygarde can win.
Naw man, just naw. Discord is going to be viciously penetrated by Zygarde. I'm waiting for the Curbstomp Battle to begin.
without the everfree's chaos, everything will be thrown out of balance then arceus has to leave AND help take the ponies cuz they can't live there because it was his fault. (remember, arceus told shamin and zygarde to cleanse the forest of chaos)
therefor, discord must win. if needed, i will somehow find a way to help him
3982175
One can make the argument that the Hall of Legends is the source of chaos in this story with all the pokemon in side adding to it.
3982175 How about A WHOLE EFFING WORLD IN DISORDER!?!?!
Tia, now with two Pokemon, are on her way to fight all the kingdom leaders and become the Pokemon Master!
3982175
Naah. I think that to think so misunderstands the nature of order.
Take a highly ordered environment like Twilight's library. Take another highly ordered environment like a laboratory. Drop one on top of the other with no attempt to integrate or re-order them to account for the other. The result is chaos. The harder Twilight tries to make her library function exactly the way it normally would, without regard to the scientists trying to make their laboratory function, the more disharmony is generated and the more chaotic the situation becomes. The only way to resolve this in favor of order is to destroy the existing order of the library and the laboratory, temporarily, in order to re-order them both into a harmonious whole.
The power of order derives from order. When the situation is chaos, order consumes more energy than it provides. Any legendaries whose power derives from order are going to be at a severe disadvantage, because by coming to this universe, the ordered structure they previously had access to is gone, disrupted by uniting with the structures of this universe. Any legendaries whose power is to create order are, frankly, much more needed elsewhere. Who cares about whether the Everfree Forest, which has always been chaotic, remains so, when the whole world is in chaos?
By bringing Pokemon to this world, Arceus has destroyed all existing ordered structures that the Pokemon had access to, and massively disrupted the ordered structures of the world he has brought them to. His endgame must be harmony, a re-ordering where the Pokemon enter equilibrium with the denizens of this world. If that's his goal, setting Zygarde on the Everfree was either unbearably stupid, because it doesn't further the goal of creating equilibrium, and it actually disrupts an existing biosphere... or it was a very clever strategy.
See, Zygarde, from what I've read, is a spirit of natural balance and order. Zygarde disrupting the Everfree to remove the chaos so that ponies and Pokemon can control it more easily is like Discord trying to be a diplomat and stop a war because ponies at war won't laugh at his pranks. An avatar has free will and can choose to prioritize one aspect of its nature over another, but this doesn't change the fact that the avatar acting against its nature will be at a serious disadvantage (seriously, does anyone think Discord would be a successful diplomat, even if he wanted to be?) The only reason Zygarde might even think this is a good idea is that Zygarde doesn't recognize the degree to which the harmony of this particular biome depends on chaos.
So if Arceus sent Zygarde to do this, there's one of two reasons. Either Arceus is an idiot, because he just set Zygarde up to fail. Or he's playing a deep game. He has to know that the two most powerful entities of this world are the Avatar of Chaos and the Avatar of Harmony. By bringing Pokemon to this world, Arceus has disrupted Harmony, potentially making an enemy of the Tree, and if Arceus' end game is to re-harmonize the world so that Pokemon are integrated with ponies, griffons, dragons, etc, then the Chaos avatar may stand in his way... after Arceus' own actions have fed Discord to the point where he might be unimaginably powerful. Striking at the Everfree allowed a situation to be created that drained Discord faster than the world's disharmony fed him (in part because he was stuck behind a shield that blocked chaos magic), and once Discord recovered, his first reaction was not to go play with the existing disharmony and try to exacerbate it, but to go protect the Everfree Forest.
So Arceus may be playing a sacrifice gambit. Set Zygarde up on a task that Zygarde shouldn't actually be doing at all -- as it is a "re-ordering" and removal of chaos from a system that depends on chaos, a violation of the nature of an environment as profound as paving over part of the Kalos Forest and building a shopping mall would have been -- because by doing so he occupies Discord. If Discord is focused on protecting the Everfree and defeating Zygarde, then Discord is not focused on keeping the existing state of disharmony going. Arceus didn't create chaos for its own sake, he created chaos as an unavoidable byproduct of his goal of saving his Pokemon. His end goal has to be to achieve harmony between Pokemon and this new world. He can count on the Tree to help him if he can win over the Tree's agents, the Elements of Harmony, who answer to Celestia, so he's negotiating with Celestia. But he could have strongly suspected Discord would try to stop him, and keep the chaos going -- and Discord has Celestia's ear and would have been made very powerful by the chaos Arceus' own actions caused. So Zygarde is entirely a distraction for Discord, to keep Discord from ruining Arceus' attempts to harmoniously integrate Pokemon with this new world.
I don't think Arceus is an idiot. So I think Zygarde is intended to fail. Discord will succeed at protecting the Everfree... but be too occupied with doing so to go out and rile up trouble to perpetuate the "delicious" chaos the world is now in.
3981156 I'm not so sure. Basically the first thing Zygarde did once it left the temple was destroy a local ecosystem and he's actually one of those that should be held responsible for their actions, being one of the legendaries and thus one of those who made the call to teleport them. If not even they can't show some basic respect for the order of things in the new land, it doesn't shine a good light on the whole project.
And Discord is basically just defending his land. I imagine the Everfree is actually quite important in guarding the castle, and as such the Elements of Harmony+ Tree. Without the dangerous forest virtually anyone could just walk in and grab them.
*reads chapter a third time*
Wait. Did Gene just propose to Belle via telepathic link?
I must somehow get my team ready so they can come and see the wedding!
3981559
Wow that is a long long long fight prediction.
I'm with you though I'll use smaller words: Zygaurde is essentially redecorating someones house without permission. And that house basically belongs to Discord.
This does beg the question: If a Pokemon uses an attack against anything in Equis, would the attack try and put the target into a type(s), or treat it as type-less?
3982913
Touché, but both beings are simply following their own nature, thus nullifiying each other in the eyes of their higher ups.
Arcerus knows about Discord, so he would not be surprised if Discord and Zygarde get into a scuffle. If anything he may even be letting it happen as a way to show Celestia a rather big time example of equal forgiveness on both sides.
Actually, the more I think about it, Celestia knows how much of a threat the Everfree is to her ponies, she may even be thankful to Zygarde for giving the forest some order. Perhaps(just head cannon mind you,) during the whole Nightmare Moon incident it left a chaotic scare on the forest turning it into the Everfree, a hostile environment, pock-marked with evil and unnatural creatures that came into being because of it. The Tree isnt really guarded by the forest, it seems to me to be more of "the eye of the storm". With a majority of the Everfree tamed she could actually set up an outpost for the Tree's protection and possible studies...but that is just my head cannon going off.
As for the Tree of Harmony, well Discord might give it a kick by accident during a brawl
Hope Discord wins
3983094 While, I don't have a strict headcanon for the beginning of the Everfree, what you described does come pretty close. However, Celestia seems to go by a "let time wash it away"-policy.
Hardly anypony even knew that the Elements existed. And if you keep them in the forest, then it won't be long until they've become legends again. (Well, generations, still. But that's not all that long compared to her life span). And then all ponies see is a dangerous forest with a few legends. Nothing anypony would risk their lives over. If you had a guard post there, the Elements would be known for as long as that guardpost existed and then some. And we've already seen that there are ponies who are up to no good in the Daring Do episode.
That would just be a farce. Arceus knows that having both sides be accepting would be beneficial. And you just don't build trusting relationships on the basis that as soon as you appear(which in itself was already a big problem) you destroy a part of the original landscape, just because you didn't like it.(Which is kinda what Zygarde is doing). Doesn't really show the respect that's needed for such a relationship.
Also, he doesn't get to forgive Discord for anything, because the only one in the wrong is Zygarde. After all (even though this isn't intended [although I would like to know whether or not Zygarde would attack Discord on principle]) he is attacking Discord indirectly through the draining, so Discord's counterattack could be counted as self-defense.
And let's not forget about all those cute little critters in that forest. Like, manticores, parasprites, cockatrices, timberwolves(although I think these appeared, but I'm not sure right now), and so on. What happens to these? Will they have to leave because Zygarde is destroying their habitat? Then ponies everywhere are going to have a harder time travelling from town to town if they start roaming the land. And if they can't leave? Getting thrust into a completely new environment can't be that good for them.
Zygard vs a Supercharged Discord?
Some-mon's gonna get a tail-kicking.
And did Gene just propose to Belle?
…
…D'aww, that's sweet.
hmm... i'm going with discord, zygarde is the pokemon of harmony i know that for sure but discord can do anything in existence, even stuff from the human world (reference the song glass of water)
3983260
..You've convinced me. I cannot think a response. I tip my hat to you sir.
As for the critters, wouldn't Zygarde's renovations of their natural habitat sped up their "conversion" to pokemon? It would not exactly pacify them, but it would (probably) lower their hostility for anything that isn't food. I believe that was mentioned in a earlier chapter.
See, Zygarde does not understand the difference between Order and Harmony. Order is not the natural state of things. It is the absence of both of the forces that allow life to exist in the universe: Novelty and Entropy. Harmony is not order. Harmony is balance. Good and Evil, Order and Chaos, Light and Dark... we may prefer one over the other, but without both, both are meaningless.
What I am trying to say is that Discord better remember his friendship lessons.
And his prophylactics.
Touch... Touch tails.
3983619
Order has nothing to do with harmony.
Order is rule.
Order doesn't require creativity.
Order is what government stands for, and they can get corrupted very easily.
I can list a couple of people who tried to bring their kind of world order.
Hitler, Stalin, you know. Dictators.
3981559
Preach.
Keeper: Betting on the chocolate mint snake with fins
Me: Betting on the living Picasso piece
3984092 I do hope there's nothing like a conversion to pokemon going on for the animals. Not every pokemon is peaceful, as we've seen with Hydreigon. It would just make them more powerful. A cockatrice with extra powers through added pokemon nature? Ouch.
And it's not renovation, but destruction. He's taking out everything that is chaotic and replacing it with order. And that whole forest is chaotic. There could be animals whose survival depends on certain types of plants from there, which just up and disappeared overnight thanks to him.
It would be a renovation(well, kinda) if he were to slowly erase the chaos(would still be wrong imo, but that's irrelevant here) and replace it with order, to give everything the time to adapt. I'm talking generations here. But the issue of the animals would remain.
And to think of an example for the renovation stuff. Think that one day you get home and suddenly your bed is on the wall. You can still sleep in it, but you'd have to figure out how to do that. And similar things happened to the rest of your furniture. The time you need to adapt to that is something the animals in the forest don't have thanks to having to survive in it.
And I just remembered that the fact that the forest draws chaos in on its own should tip him off that it's natural.
Just saying, but, the Equestrian really needs a victory under their belt. I mean, they just can´t make em helpless against the pokemon cause that would be no fun, it wouldn´t be a challenge. Cause I mean, if the stronges of one verse can´t do shit, then what?
1. Luna needs a pokemon perhaps a Zoroark
2. Lucario VS. darkrai
3. they must meet Lunatone and Solrock
3982607 how about THE CREATOR OF A WHOLE WORLD WITH ORDER?!?!?!?!?!
3982510 actually the only place that seems to have order in this story is the hall of legends and the castle. And the castle not much usually so the hall of legends is better.
3982832 or mabye this idea from this person is better.
If you guys are interested, this is something that you guys might like to watch.
Sort of relates to Gene and Belle and humans marrying Pokemon.
(Don't worry about the strange titlecard. This isn't a satirical parody video.)