True Chaos

by Woolytop

Chapter 13: The Return

“Moonstruck! There you are,” Shining Armor said, as if he had been expecting her. Captain Armor had always been very professional when speaking or referring to her. “Princess Celestia has been worried about you.”

“And now I'm worried about Aunt Celestia. The sun didn't come up on time today?” Moonstruck asked as she walked around to look at the map. She titled her head and leaned it on top of the lieutenant's helmet (Captain Armor didn't like being touched). The map showed Seaside and the immediate area around it. Large portions out in the field were covered in a red, circled X symbol. “Is she alright?”

“We haven't been able to get in touch with Canterlot since early last night,” Captain Armor admitted.

“Why not?” Moonstruck pressed.

“Didn't you feel it?” he replied. “Just after sundown, there was a breakdown in the planet's leylines. I can barely manage a solid shield big enough to protect this room, and some of my best fliers can't even get off the ground in armor.”

Moonstruck thought back to her most recent feat of magic, growing a tree out of a boat and turning it into a mast. It hadn't felt any harder than it should have been. “I really didn't notice a difference,” she said.

“Sir, the princesses may be in danger,” a unicorn guard pointed out. “We must return to Canterlot at once.”

“Canterlot is days off on hoof,” the lieutenant Moonstruck was using as a pillow pointed out. “We can't simply leave Seaside in this state, we have no idea if we'd be of any help in Canterlot, and we still have a mission to accomplish.”

“I could probably get you back to Canterlot quickly,” Moonstruck volunteered.

“Alright,” Captain Armor started, “we're going to split the squad. Wind Force, you take a dozen stallions and try to restore peace in Seaside. The other dozen are pulling back with me.”

“Yes, Sir!” Moonstruck dodged back as the saluting lieutenant nearly got her in the face with his hoof.

The guards moved quickly to fulfill their orders.

“So, Moonstruck. How'd you get by my guards and spell wards to run away in the first place?” Shining Armor asked.

“The same way I'm getting us back. Is this everypony?”

They arrived with a flash in the throne room. Moonstruck blinked, every horn in the room pointed squarely at her, including both Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna's. Celestia lifted her head.

“Stand down,” she ordered.

“Did everypony make it?” Shining Armor shouted at his squad. Not a hair or feather was out of place.

“Auntie! I heard you didn't get the sun up on time today, and everypony's magic has been weakened. What happened?” Moonstruck asked as she took a few steps forward.

“We're not certain,” Luna spoke up. She didn't look any less regal than usual, but she kind of sounded dead on her hooves. “You are aware of the network of leylines that criss-cross the planet, correct?”

“Of course.” Moonstruck nodded. “The leylines form a sort of super-highway of the planet's magical energies. A creature using order magic, with its personal energy, siphons a little bit of that energy off to power its spells.”

“Precisely,” Luna continued. “Early last night, one of the leyline nodes... a location where many of them intersect... seemed to have been heavily damaged, snapping the leylines and cutting us off from the source of most of our power.”

“Oh, no! Can we fix it?” Moonstruck asked.

“No. The lines will reform on their own with time, but we have much more pressing matters for the moment,” Luna replied.

“Mwahahahahahahaha...!”

Moonstruck's ears perked up. “Did anypony else hear that?” she asked. As she received a series of concerned looks, she darted off. There was only one voice in the castle the she and nopony else could hear. As she ran, she started to work things out in her head.

Discord, all those years ago, had most likely figured out that the cube could absorb magic and launched it into the depths of the planet, where the leylines connected, as the Draconequine home island happened to be over a node. The cube, suddenly presented with a large amount of energy, and likely embedded in the node itself, contented itself to suck up the magic, which was why it was so huge when she faced it. She doubted Discord himself could have destroyed it without first severing the leylines. It must have been his plan to have her destroy the leyline node, but why?

She leap-frogged over a guard, then skidded to a stop in front of Discord, who continued to laugh. His laughter redoubled as she glared up at him.

“You tricked me,” she accused. He'd made her dance like a puppet to the music he played. He had only said she had to visit the island. She could have made landfall, turned around and come home and still have been completely within the bounds of their deal, but he knew that her own inquisitive nature would have demanded that she explore, and if she explored she was bound to find the only thing on the island that wasn't in constant flux.

“Oh, you should SEE your face!” Discord choked through gales of laughter.

“You knew exactly what I was going to find on that island, didn't you? That's why you sent me there,” Moonstruck continued.

“Yes, but even I never imagined it could have turned out so spectacularly!” Discord explained. “MY intention was for the monolith to eliminate you so I would go unchallenged when this prison broke. But rupturing a leyline node to disrupt all of the order magic in Equestria, including the spell that presently holds me? Bravo, filia. Bravo!”

A slow clapping sound filled the air.

“I didn't do it on purpose...” Moonstruck objected quietly.

“Oh, face it kid. You're a draconequus. Making chaos is in your very being!”

“Chaos isn't always a bad thing,” Moonstruck said shakily.

“That's the spirit. Now, with the bars weakened, and with the panic you've caused...” Discord began to laugh, and the statue vibrated. Moonstruck took a step back in shock. He was going to break out.

And it was her fault.

She turned to run as the statue vibrated again. She ran straight into Celestia as she rounded the corner.

“Moonstruck, what's wrong?” Celestia asked.

“It's D-discord,” Moonstruck stammered and gestured wildly behind her, “He's breaking out!” Celestia looked down at Moonstruck, giving her a stare that demanded the full story. “It... I... When I ran away, Discord taught me some chaos magic that would get me out of the palace.” She felt her cheeks begin to flush, and her words started to catch in her throat. “I... ! agreed to go someplace for him if he taught me. It seemed harmless enough! When I got there, I accidentally broke the leyline node and...and...I didn't mean to! I just wanted to see Equestria!”

Princess Celestia flashed a small frown, then turned around as Moonstruck began to whimper and cry. Without thinking, she snapped her fingers to teleport away, her destination anywhere but there.

Comments

[Woolytop]

Getting close to the climax now. Sorry the updates so late, I slept in, and then Background Pony and Sweetie's Mansion happened.

[Countpony]

I completely understand!

[Woolytop]

Those updates are so long! It took me like three hours to read all of Background.

[Qussar]

Just three hours ? fast reader ( took me 4 and a half with the eye breaks and neck cramps) any ways i enjoyed this update but seemed rushed .. Could've given more details and i thought that the cube vanished how did it still break the leylines ? Am i missing Something here ?

[Woolytop]

660941 The cube didn't break the leyline node, Moonstruck did. I thought maybe that a physical manifestation of a place where a lot of the world's energies met should have been organic looking in nature. Plus if I made the structure the cube had been in too obviously important looking, I felt it would have foreshadowed how bad wrecking it up would have been far too heavily. Finally, it would have made better sense in my mind for an organic structure to heal on its own.

In retrospect, having Moonstruck say something along the lines of "Oh. I did that, didn't I?" When somepony mentioned that a leyline node had been severely damaged probably would have cleared any confusion like that right up.

Also, I fear these last few chapters are going to come off as a little rushed. As I said, we're approaching the climax, and stuff's happening, and I wanted to pace with the stuff that was happening. I think I may have to double check and make sure I didn't skip any more important details.

[Qussar]

662154
that clears a lot ,thanks and continue on