True Chaos

by Woolytop

Chapter 8: True Chaos?

Moonstruck once again ran herself ragged during the party. The yeti's music had a much deeper bass then the ponies, and their dances were a lot more rough. She flopped herself down in a chair near the banquet table and looked over her choices. There were so many fruits and vegetables that she'd never seen before, as well as a variety of meats, cheeses, puddings and pastries. She shied away from the meat, and instead picked up what looked like a peppermint-striped banana.

She took a bite. It tasted kind of like raspberries, but with a deeper flavor, and a smoother texture. She let out a happy “Mmmmm” as she devoured it. The next thing she tried was a golden apple with a red filigree on it that tasted like butterscotch. Then there was a bright orange berry that tasted like chocolate, and a terribly normal-looking kind of nut that tasted like buttered popcorn.

“Where did you find all of these?” Moonstruck asked Yeshe as she scooped the entire bowl of nuts. “They're wonderful!”

“These are the fruits of the great trees,” Yeshe replied.

“Is this the kind of food you eat all the time?” she asked as she munched greedily on them.

“Yes. Would you like to try some spit-fried cockatrice? Or some Manticore tail?” Yeshe offered.

“Nnnno thanks,” Moonstruck said as Yeshe indicated to a couple of platters of meat. He took a chunk off of the latter and took a large, crunching bite from it. Moonstruck shivered and put the nuts down. “Were those gifts of the previous draconequines as well?” she asked.

“No. With the exception of goat, all of our meats are foreign.” Yeshe indicated to a large platter which bore what looked sickeningly like a prepared pony. Moonstruck turned a pale shade of green and stepped away from the banquet table.

She elected to instead examine what the band was doing. Yeti music was largely percussion based with all kinds of drums, gongs, and bells. There were horns as well, and simple string instruments like lyres and sitars. The band tensed up a little as she approached, but didn't stop. Moonstruck smiled as she let the thrum sink into her core. She looked around the room.

“Chaos doesn't have to be a bad thing,” she thought. “The yetis all seem happy and healthy, even if they do eat meat.” Moonstruck could feel herself swell with happiness.

The party went on for some time after. Moonstruck stretched as it wound down and yetis headed home.

“I need to get going,” she said with a stifled yawn.

“Can you not stay a while?” Yeshe asked.

“I'd like to, but I can't. I have to meet with Rumble. And I have someplace to be,” Moonstruck said.

“That...is unfortunate,” Yeshe said as he looked up at the ceiling of the cave.

“Maybe I'll come back someday,” Moonstruck said. She smiled and snapped her fingers.

She appeared on Rumble's head. The dragon let out yelp and almost choked on a mouthful of gems.

“Did I scare you?” Moonstruck asked, clicking her talon against his brow. He'd made it to the other side of the mountain range, and sat on a huge hill of multicolored gemstones. They were in the foothills of the mountain range. The air was crisp, and salty. In the distance, Moonstruck could see a small village, and the sea.

“No, you surprised me," Rumble replied. "I was getting hungry,” he explained as he jammed his claw under one of the hills, then produced a clawful of gems. “Lucky thing these gems were here.”

“Lucky thing indeed,” Moonstruck agreed. “Maybe we can get lucky again and find more signs of the home of the draconequines.”

After Rumble finished eating, the pair soared over the foothills in search of their destination. Moonstruck pondered deeply as she scanned the skies for anything strange.

“I've always been pretty lucky, now that I think about it,” she thought. “I got to live in the palace, I've had the best magical instructor in Equestria, and the only thing that's ever raised a claw to harm me is now one of my best friends.” Was that because she was a draconequus? No. Discord had been decidedly unlucky. Or maybe he'd just had bad luck because he'd done bad things? She'd read a word for that somewhere a while ago, but even that meant he had to bend to some kind of grand-scale cosmic law.

“Maybe Auntie was wrong about him?” she thought. “She thought of chaos as a bad thing, too... but it isn't always.” Moonstruck tapped her fang several times. “Maybe... since chaos isn't always bad, order isn't always good?” She nodded. Yes, her life had been in perfect order, but she'd hated it. But maybe that was just because she was a draconequus? She shook her head. Draconequines weren't bad. She couldn't think that way. But if neither chaos nor order were good, then what was?

Rumble suddenly landed, and jostled Moonstruck out of her thoughts.

“There's a village ahead,” he said. “This is as close as I can get without raising an alarm.”

“They're going to panic when the see me anyway,” Moonstruck pointed out as she fluttered to the ground. “Come on, it feels like we're getting close.”

Rumble shook his head. “I want to, but what if I accidentally smash something with my tail? How's that going to make you look? 'Oh, stay away from that draconequus, she brought a huge dragon into town!'”

Moonstruck tapped her fang. “I hadn't thought of it that way.” She pondered for a few moments. “What if I shrink you to the size of a pony? Oh! I could disguise myself, too! We'd be like spies!” she bounced excitedly.

Rumble's mouth curled into a smile. “Alright, but only if you go first.”

Moonstruck snapped her fingers. In a flash, she shapeshifted into something very close to a unicorn. It wasn't a very good disguise. Her head hadn't changed at all, she looked like she was half-zebra, and lacked a cutie mark.

“How do I look?” Moonstruck asked.

“Good!” Rumble said with a nod.

“Alright, I'm going to shrink you now. Hold still.” Moonstruck reared up and clicked her front hooves together. Rumble began to shrink down, down, down, to about the size of a pony. He clicked his claws together, wagged his tail and flapped his wings, as if to check each of them. Besides having been scaled down, he hadn't changed a bit.

“Yes! First try!” Moonstruck said as she happily clapped her new hooves together.

“This is surreal. I haven't been this small in decades,” Rumble said as he looked up and around.

“Come on, let's go! Maybe we'll find somepony in town who knows something!” Moonstruck galloped off into town.

Comments

[Woolytop]

Short one this time, since Moonstruck's getting all philosophical on us.
((Spoilers for season 2 finale start here)) I might be alone on this one, but did anyone else think that Queen Chrysalis was a pretty pony, like with the straight, pinkamena hair? No? Okay... ((End Spoilers))

[Rhulain]

488261

Hey. I agree about Chrysalis. Very awesome character design

[Meeester]

I liked Moonstruck's internal dialog during this chapter; it gave the chapter a nice deep feel to it for how short it was.

[Bachelor 2]

i have to agree when she says order is not always good for with out chaos there would not be change and with out order....well the world would be nothing but a ball of turmoil or how discord wanted it im not sure

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

488535 I agree with what you said.
I like deep thought.