True Chaos

by Woolytop

Chapter 2: The Argument

Moonstruck groaned as she swished her tail. It slapped on the ground on one side of her bed, then the other. Today was the second day of her grounding, which meant if she wasn't studying or eating, she was in her room.

“I'm so booooooored,” she thought aimlessly as she lifted her legs and kicked them in the air. She'd finished the other part of her punishment the previous day. The paint she'd replaced Blueblood's bed with had been foal's hoofpaint, so it even came out of the carpets easily. All in all, it only took three hours or so to make it as though it'd never happened, although whispers circulated the castle that a strange unicorn mare had been seen leaving the castle with a purple stain on her back.

Not that Moonstruck knew what that meant, or much cared. All she cared about was all her pent up energy. She titled her head to the side so her horn pointed straight up at the ceiling, and a rubber ball appeared on its tip. She grabbed it and tossed it at the space of wall above her desk to start a game of catch with herself.

knock knock knock

Moonstruck looked at her door as the ball impaled itself on her horn and vanished. “Come in,” she called. Lullaby pushed the door open and trotted in.

“Oh, hi Nana!” Moonstruck said as she bounced up. “What are you doing here?”

“I figur'd a sprightly filly like you'd be just 'bout fit to burst all penned up in her room all day.” Lullaby smiled. “Thought I'd come up an visit 'cha 'til yer sprung for dinner.”

“Are you sure that's alright, Nana?” Moonstruck asked as she helped her onto a cushion. “I am supposed to be getting punished.”

“It's fine,” Lullaby insisted as she allowed herself to be set down. “Even prisoners get ta have visitors.” Moonstruck grabbed another cushion from across the room and slid it under her own body. She wrapped her tail around Lullaby and propped her head up on her hand and talon.

“So how have the babies been?” she asked.

“Well enough. Li'l whippersnappers need ta learn gums ain't gonna tear their...” Lullaby smirked, “Oh, ya meant the foals.” Moonstruck smiled.

“I saw a neat new toy the last time I was there," she mentioned.

“There's always some neat new toy somewhere'n that nursery,” Lullaby replied.

“It looked like a miniature train,” Moonstruck elaborated.

“Oh, that darn thing? I swear, Cradle's been getting more fun out of that than the kids. All these new-fangled toys and their 'adult assembly required' horse apples.” Lullaby sighed heavily. “Back'n my day, kids played with dolls, an' paints, an' if they were real lucky, tin whistles.”

“Or stuffed animals and horns?” Moonstruck asked.

“Ezactly.”

Moonstruck giggled. “Come on, Nana, wouldn't you have liked to play with a toy train when you were a filly?”

“Darn thing runs on its track an' dings. 'Tidabin novel for all o' five minutes.”

“Well...” Moonstruck's horn began to glow as a small, spectral blue train appeared around them. It chugged along and spat puffs of smoke into the air. Every couple of feet it would let out a high-pitched ring ring! “Let's see... Here we have the Trustwater Express, conducted by... Clickity Clack, the brave explorer,” she said. “He's taking a load of important medical supplies out to the frontier, past the treacherous Draco Mountains!”

Moonstruck blew at the train. Its smoky composition shifted a little from her breath. “There's a storm brewing, but if Clickity doesn't make it to Fetlock by sundown, his daughter won't make it through the night! He presses the train as hard as he can, but,” she twitched her tail a little so it blocked the track, “there's a tree down! There's no time to stop and move it, so it looks like he's gonna have to jump!”

Lullaby chuckled. She lifted her wing and draped it over Moonstruck's shoulder. “You've got quite an active imagination, Li'l Dragonfly. Don't ever lose that.”

A guard knocked on the door. “Miss Lullaby, Miss Mobile has sent word that nap time will be over soon.”

“Yeah, yeah. Duty calls, sprout.” Moonstruck helped Lullaby to her hooves. “I'll see ya later.”

“Bye Nana. Thanks for visiting me!” Moonstruck waved her off.

Moonstruck managed to entertain herself for another hour with her magically conjured train set. She had a working knowledge of trains, and saw them go in and out of the station way over near the base of the castle town. She understood that trains were used to freight ponies and supplies from place to place, but she'd never gotten the chance to examine one up close.

Prince Blueblood had joined them for dinner that night. He and Celestia conversed quietly about something when Moonstruck arrived. Celestia politely nodded at her. Blueblood only paid her the barest heed to be socially acceptable.

“Oh, come on, Brother. I already cleaned up all the paint and turned your bed back to normal,” Moonstruck said with a pout. He didn't even dignify her with a response, although Moonstruck only interpreted this as him finally accepting her assertions that he was her big brother.

Princess Luna arrived a few moments later. With her schedule, what normal ponies called 'dinner' she referred to as 'lunch', but regardless of what it was called, it was one of the only times she and her sister were awake concurrently.

“Good evening, Sister. Nephew. Moonstruck,” she said as she sat down.

“Good evening, Luna,” Celestia replied. “How is your night court running?”

“Things are going well enough,” Luna replied. “But... I sense an uneasiness in our subjects. Hath thou felt it as well?”

“Mind your diction. I have, but perhaps we should discuss this more privately,” Celestia replied. Luna nodded in agreement.

“Very well.” She turned to Blueblood. “Nephew. I understand you are joining in wedlock this coming month.”

“Actually, My fiance has called the wedding off,” Blueblood said with as much dignity as he could muster.

“My apologies. I had not heard,” Luna said.

“Oh no, what happened?” Moonstruck asked. Blueblood shot daggers from his eyes at her.

“It seems as though because of some nasty rumors flying about, she no longer trusts me,” Blueblood replied.

“Speaking of rumors,” Moonstruck said as she detected a subject change was in order, “did you hear about that unicorn with a big purple spot on her back? That's pretty strange. Do you think she was born that way, or...?”

“Are you making fun of me?!” Blueblood demanded as he pounded one of his hooves on the table.

“What are you talking about?” Moonstruck asked.

“Don't play coy with me, Draconequus.” He spat the word as if it would kill him if he allowed it to linger in his mouth. “You knew, didn't you? You orchestrated this, you insane, manipulative, evil monster! You're no different from that dreadful statue in the yard!”

Moonstruck shrunk back a little.

“Blueblood, that was uncalled for. Apologize to Moonstruck,” Celestia said.

“Oh yeah?” Moonstruck growled and stood up. She leaned on the table to loom over Blueblood and remind the stallion exactly how small he was compared to her. “You're a spoiled, boorish, pompous, self-important, inconsiderate, jerk who wouldn't know good humor if it came up and bit you on your fat, cushioned rump!”

“Moonstruck!” Celestia said.

“Well, you...” Blueblood began.

“ENOUGH.” Thunder crashed in the night sky outside the window as Luna spoke. The lights flickered and winked out for just a moment before returning to life. “THIS DINNER TABLE SHALL NOT BECOME A FORUM FOR PETULANT CHILDREN.”

Moonstruck fell back on her rump. Blueblood's pupils shrank to roughly the size of a quill tip.

“BOTH OF YOU ARE TO RETURN TO YOUR CHAMBERS AT ONCE,” Luna shouted.

“But, Au...” Blueblood began.

Luna shot Blueblood a look that could have slain the young, elderly, and those with heart conditions. His jaw fell slack for a moment before he closed his mouth.

Moonstruck was the first to move after what felt like an eternity. She stood and turned to walk out the door as she had been told.

Once in her room, she flopped in her bed and buried her face in one of the pillows. She could take being called insane. She could take being called a monster. She could even take being called manipulative, but she was nothing like Discord.

Right?

She flipped over and held the pillow over her chest. Her talons dug into it as she squeezed. Discord used his magic to pull cruel jokes and sick pranks to keep the entire pony population off balance, for no reason other than his own amusement. She swiveled back to a couple of days ago. She had been the only one laughing at the table. She sighed, flung the pillow up to the ceiling, and pinned it there with telekinesis. How was she any different from Discord, anyway? She'd grown a little bit out of her innocent supposition of his nanny biting, but he couldn't have started out rending the very laws of physics asunder, right?

Moonstruck released the pillow and let it fall onto her face. She tossed it aside and sat up. Aunt Luna had told her to return to her chambers, and she was technically still grounded until tomorrow evening, but she had something important she needed to do. Something Aunt Celestia had told her to never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER do. She moved silently to her balcony, grabbed the banister, and leaped into the night.

She landed on the northwestern side of the castle. Her target was in the eastern gardens. To get there, she needed to go through a part of the castle. If she flew over, she'd be seen for sure, and teleportation was too loud and flashy.

The night guards, however, were thankfully incompetent. She latched her eagle claw onto her right shoulder to keep it from clicking against the marble floor as the rest of her limbs carried her silently through the castle. Once in the gardens, she flitted between statues to evade detection. Aunt Luna had said something recently about some... what had she called them? Little knaves? In any case, she'd been having a vandalism problem in the gardens at night, so she stepped up the security out there. For every statue in the garden, there was a guard to watch it and the surrounding areas. Fortunately, she'd duped the guards before and continued to do so tonight.

She sighed as she finally arrived.

Even as she drew up to her full height, Discord dwarfed her. Maybe it was because of the extra three feet of marble he stood on, maybe it was because of the long, serpentine body he possessed that she lacked, but she just looked and felt insignificant next to the older draconequus. She breathed in heavily.

“I am NOTHING like you!” she shouted defiantly. “Absolutely nothing!”

Moonstruck winced and looked around like a scared prairie dog. She hadn't meant to yell. If she teleported, she might have been able to get back to her room before the guards showed up. She strained her ears to search for incoming hooves, but somehow her outburst hadn't attracted any attention. No wonder the statues were being vandalized.

She glanced at the statue one last time, then turned to leave.

“Are you certain of that?”

Comments

[Woolytop]

I had to scrap and rewrite the original version of this chapter because I didn't like where it was going. I've still got a long way to go in terms of tone and theme control, but I don't think I would have realized that without some of your comments. So, thanks for your views, and comments, everyone!

[Meeester]

I'm enjoying how well Moonstuck appears to mature. Another excellent chapter

[Lord_Kalbario]

uh oh...

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

Balance, Moonstruck, balance.