True Chaos

by Woolytop

Chapter 12: The Cube

Moonstruck dodged aside as the cube rocketed towards her and slammed heavily into the wall. She shot a bolt out of her horn at it, only to realize how lame that was seconds after it left her. The bolt, of course, did nothing useful. If anything, it looked like the cube absorbed it somehow. It launched itself out of the wall, and this time it grazed her left shoulder as it flew by.

In an instant, Moonstruck's vision had turned grayscale, as if she were looking at a shaded picture of the cavern rather than actually being there. Her body became unresponsive for a moment, and it felt all of her parts were pulling apart from themselves. Color slowly returned to her eyes. She was met by the scent of singed fur and feathers as her sweat resumed, washing white streaks down her body that had suddenly been charred black.

“That thing dissipates chaos,” she thought. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if she took a hit full on. She teleported well out of the cube's path as it charged her again.

Moonstruck blinked as she arrived on the other side of the room. The cube seemed just as interested in hammering the cavern into a square room as it was in ending her existence, as it left a dent in the wall exactly next to the first one. It flew across the room at her again. She dropped on her stomach as it zoomed over her head. She snapped her fingers, and the cube vanished, then reappeared to slam into the wall where it had before, only slightly higher and little bit to the left, so the pattern in the wall was no longer a perfect rectangle.

The cube buzzed slightly, then proceeded to slam itself into the wall until the indent once again became a perfect square. This gave Moonstruck precious time to think.

“Alright, so. Magic affects draconequines differently because of our chaotic nature. This was made to make it so magic could work on Discord, but weaker draconequines vaporized on contact with it.” Moonstruck smiled despite the situation. It was nice to know she was strong for her species, at least. “Discord just jammed this thing down here... Did he know I would find it here? Was his plan to have it kill me?” Moonstruck snapped her fingers. The cube shivered as she tried to make a flower grow out of its top, but nothing happened. “There's no way he would have had that kind of foresight more than a thousand years in advance. Maybe he just couldn't destroy it? Then how am I supposed to?” She quickly looked around for a means of escape.

She ran out of time. She dove aside as the cube nearly took her head off. She quickly tried to replicate what she had seen Discord do... it had probably been simple telekinesis... through chaos magic.

“I don't know how to do that!” Moonstruck groaned as she dodged another rush. She took a breath. “Okay. I can manipulate its position, but I can't change the cube itself. It doesn't seem to like irregularities.” Something squished under her feet. “...Ew.”

The cube shivered violently. Moonstruck looked down; She'd stepped on the remains of the growth the cube had come out from. She blasted away the bit that had gotten stuck on her foot, and the cube began to shake more violently. It rushed her once again as she rolled aside.

She noticed that the imprint it left on the wall was slightly smaller than previous imprints, So slight that she wouldn't have noticed if the cube hadn't slammed a spot touching a previous imprint, and immediately hammered the edges out to match. Moonstruck looked at the organic bit in the room, and began to shred it with blasts of magic. The cube visibly shrunk as it flew through the air to stop her. This time Moonstruck could dodge its attack with a simple tilt of her head. It had shrunk to about an inch on all sides; Pretty much the same size it had been in the pool. Moonstruck smirked and snapped her fingers.

One of the cube's corners sprouted a flower. It promptly vaporized in a puff of rainbow magic.

Moonstruck let out a sigh of relief, and fluttered out through the hole she'd come in from. She was quite content to head someplace else now.

Moonstruck made her way back out to the boat. “Well, my obligations are set,” she said as she smiled at Rumble. He let out a few hacking coughs.

“*cough cough...* Bleh... Where're you gonna head now?” he asked.

“Anywhere I want, I suppose,” Moonstruck said as she leaned back on her tail. “We could go... Anywhere.” She indicated idly to the ocean.

“Yar, we ain't be goin' nowhere without a main sail, or crew,” Cap'n Waters said as he emerged from below deck. “Or a rudder. Or food.”

Moonstruck tapped her fang. “Cap'n, would the Shine still float if there was an adult dragon on deck?”

Rumble, now back to his original size (no matter how much he swore he felt a little shorter), stood on the deck of the Night Shine with his wings spread. His claws dug into the rails on the side of the boat as he essentially paddled with his wings through the air. Every so often, he'd let out a fitful cough, but the plan had worked perfectly. The Shine was faster with Rumble's wing power than with the sail, but obviously they couldn't go as long. They dropped anchor at around midnight to rest.

“I'm really sorry your boat got so beaten up,” Moonstruck pledged as she helped Cap'n lug what little provisions survived the last wave, a couple of barrels of apple cider and some canned vegetables.

“Ar, she's seen worse lass,” Cap'n said. “'Slong as the keels intact, she can be repaired. It'll be costin' me a shiny bit, though.”

“That's what I'm saying,” Moonstruck replied as she placed the barrel of cider on deck. “It wouldn't have broken if I hadn't tricked you into taking us out here.” She tapped her fang. “I'll figure something out once we get back to port. Do you need something to eat, Rumble?”

“Nah, you two go ahead,” Rumble coughed. “I think I'll turn in for tonight, and get some gems from that mountain in the morning.” He put his head down and closed his eyes.

“I hope Rumble's alright. I wonder what a dragon coughing means?” she thought as Cap'n tore open a can of asparagus and slid it over to her. They ate, had some cider, then went to sleep.

Moonstruck yawned as she woke up the next day. She blinked. The sun was just coming up. Rumble shook the boat with another cough.

The cap'n was already up. He stood at the bow and pawed uncomfortably. “Ya know what happened tha las' time tha sun was late, lass?” he said.

“The sun's late?” Moonstruck asked. In her entire life, she'd never even heard of the sun coming up late. Aunt Celestia was far too dedicated to her duty for that.

“Ar. Las time was more'n seven years ago,” he reached up and tapped the bow just behind the bust of Nightmare Moon, “when the mare'n the moon returned. It never be good iffen the princess doesn't get the sun up on time.”

The boat shook again as Rumble sat up, wobbled, then laid back down before he threw himself overboard. “*cough cough* Ready to sail whenever you two are,” he reported.

Seaside was bustling with activity as they drew close. It looked like ponies may have been panicking because of the approaching dragon, but Moonstruck noticed that only those very close to the docks even paid Rumble any heed. There were a lot of royal guards around, but even they failed to keep the peace. She ducked down to keep herself out of sight. It was unlikely the guards would really be able to apprehend her and force her to return home. Then again, if Auntie failed the raise the sun on time, then that meant something was very wrong. If she was going to head back to Canterlot anyway, might as well get somepony a promotion while she was at it.

“Hey Rumble, how do you feel about visiting Canterlot?” she asked.

“No way. I heard any dragon that comes within a hundred yards of Canterlot gets blasted out of the air,” Rumble coughed. “Shame with all those gems in that mountain, really.”

As they docked and disembarked, Moonstruck turned and snapped her fingers. A tall, straight tree grew from where the mast had been on the Night Shine. After a few more snaps, excess wood was carved away to reveal a mast, complete with crows nest and rigging. “Thanks, Cap'n Waters.” She said as she patted his head. “Sorry, Rumble. I really need to get back to Canterlot. Maybe I'll be able to come and visit you in the Everfree sometime, though.”

Rumble coughed. “You know, I'd like that,” he replied. “I'd better get out of here before I break anything. We'll see each other again, Moonstruck.”

“Don't forget to do what makes you happy!” Moonstruck called after him. In two strokes of his wings, he was gone.

Moonstruck felt strangely at ease as she walked through the streets, in sharp contrast with the ponies scattered wildly about, and the guards that tried to keep them in check. She craned her neck around to find what had gotten them so worked up that even the guards who were no doubt on orders to find her completely disregarded her presence. She decided she'd go to the top. Whoever was in charge of this squad was no doubt in the town hall.

“Helllllllloooooo!” she called as she pushed the doors open. A group of ponies were gathered around a table with a map. Most of them were royal guards, but there were a few rather porcine stallions that probably made up Seaside's local government. Moonstruck recognized one of the guard ponies right away.

“Hello, Captain Armor,” she smiled.

Comments

[Woolytop]

So, I've been having illusions of grandeur recently. I've been thinking of submitting my story here to EqD. If I get on the site, then the exposure and additional comments can only be good for my writing, and if I don't, then maybe the pre-readers there can at least help me improve.
What do you guys think?
Edit: Oooh, I've been featured. :D

[Jack Ass Knife]

322637 On L.F.s deviantart she spelled it: Draconnoquus. That's how I spell it.

[Salnax]

I'll put this on my "Read Later" list. Congrats on the feature, however brief it will be.

[Woolytop]

626295 Well, easy come easy go, I suppose.
Also GUH. My perfect like/dislike ratio!

[banjo2E]

PRRRRRRRRROMOTIONS

i.imgur.com/mzjp3.png

[heliolithicJellybeans]

626199 I think it's worth a go. What could it hurt, right?

[L1]

nice story, I hope to read more soon

[Meeester]

Do it! post to EqD!

I just love the flow of these chapters.. nothing is abrupt in my opinion when I think of this whole story as episodes of MLP or its own cartoon. Love it.

[Woolytop]

Well, the die is cast. Let's see what the pre-readers think of it.

[Qussar]

Mr author sir may i ask about your upload habit?
Best story i read in a while

[Woolytop]

630363 I upload once a week, on mondays.
*edit: But, I may start updating a little faster since we're getting close to the end now.

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

626904 I know what story that picture is from.
I hope Rumble is O.K.. Still a great story and good luck with getting it on E.Q.D.. One of the things that I like about this story is that it gives a view of the other side of chaos, the good or neutral side.

[Woolytop]

Well, the story got rejected because of some spelling and mechanical mistakes (I spelled 'prologue' wrong was the example in the notice. GUH). Still, it's only one strike. But I think I'll finish posting before I go back and fix everything.