• Published 7th Apr 2012
  • 27,223 Views, 916 Comments

Scion of Chaos - SilentBelle



Sweetie Belle plans on learning the basics of magic, but what she discovers is so much more.

  • ...
29
 916
 27,223

Chapter 20 - From Within the Stone

Scion of Chaos – Chapter 20: From Within the Stone

By: SilentBelle

“Why does it have to be uphill?” the filly asked aloud as she followed the path before her. The forest had all but thinned out, and she could once again make out the city every hundred feet or so, whenever she caught a glimpse from between the sparse branches of the trees. A few miles away, it loomed. Alabaster in its majesty, under a mostly sunny, late-morning sky.

“Perhaps, because you are walking up a mountain,” Scoddri replied. “Mountains are often guilt of such hikes.”

“Well, yeah, but I didn't mean it as a question.”

“Of course you didn't,” he said with a chuckle. “And I didn't mean it as an answer.”

Sweetie Belle shook her head, she was certain that she would never truly understand why Scoddri said half the things he did. “Then what did you mean?” she asked while quirking an eyebrow.

“If you have to ask, then you have missed the point my dear.”

“Right,” she deadpanned. “Sometimes I don't even know why I bother asking.”

“Of course, that hasn't stopped you yet.”

“Oh, be quiet,” she said with a frown, then her eyes caught sight of something new behind a few bushes on the overgrown path. “Oh, look, it's the main road!” she whispered excitedly. “It should be much easier to walk on.”

“And it should also have much more traffic.”

Indeed, the voice had spoken true. Not long after Sweetie Belle had made it onto the well-kept highway, had she noticed a mostly-empty cart heading her way, away from Canterlot. It was pulled by a hefty, mahogany-hued earth pony who was whistling a merry tune as he passed by.

Sweetie Belle began humming the tune herself and picked up her pace. I'm almost there, Canterlot!

Sure enough, the brilliant walls of the city entered into her field of vision once again as she got closer. Other traveling ponies passed her by, more ponies than she had had reason to believe would be leaving Canterlot. All of them were pulling carts or were heavily burdened by bulky saddle bags. Each one had passed her, without offering so much as a second glance. Too busy with their work, she supposed

This came as a fortunate surprise for the filly, since she'd rather not draw any unnecessary attention to herself. However, there was one particular question that she wanted to ask Scoddri, but she was afraid to voice it with all these ponies passing by. As she looked ahead to the open gates of the city, she could see a constant stream of ponies, groups, pairs, and individuals, all trickling out, one after another. It looks like I'll have to keep my questions to myself until I'm inside the city.

She approached the entrance to the city and a nervous energy filled the filly.

Well, here goes, Sweetie Belle thought to herself as she entered the gate. It was a large entrance, beneath the heavy, shining stones of the wall. The spokes of the raised gate reminded the filly of teeth, as if it were a large gaping maw of some dragon.

She spotted a couple guards standing idly on either side of the large, open portcullis. She gulped and lowered her eyes, hoping that the guards wouldn't apprehend her. If they catch me, they'll ask me why I'm here in Canterlot and not back in Ponyville, then they'll drag me back there. I've been through so much already, I can't let them stop me now!

While beneath the stone wall, she tried to mix in with a melange of other ponies, she did her best to stay in the middle of the bustling crowd so that the guards wouldn't notice her.

As fortune would have it, the guards merely nodded as the pony passed through with the mass of others. Sunlight caught her eyes as the throng of ponies quickly dissipated on the other side of the alabaster bulwark. Each pony who entered alongside her seemed to have something incredibly urgent to do, and with nary a pause they scattered down the various streets.

Blinking, Sweetie Belle glanced around trying to figure out where to go. As her sense of nervousness only seemed to intensify, the filly walked forward quickly, looking for a spot where she could talk to Scoddri while out of earshot from the other ponies.

She traveled down the busy streets at her urgent pace, almost frantic. Everywhere she looked, ponies were walking, talking, or otherwise loitering. Did that one just look at me? Does she know Rarity? It seemed as though, with every pony she passed, another question came, unbidden, to the forefront of her mind.

“Is something the matter girl?” Scoddri asked with a light laugh. “You look as though you have a guilty conscience.”

Her eyes darted back and forth before she responded. “All these ponies, they are looking at me,” she whispered as quietly as she could.

“Oh, come now,” the jolly voice responded. “You can't honestly expect these ponies to care about where you're from or why you are here. These are city ponies, they only care about themselves. Unless you go out of your way to trip one of them, they aren't going to do anything to you other than give you a cursory glance.”

“Really?” she asked in a surprised, yet quiet voice.

“Yes, my dear. You know how I dislike repeating myself.”

“So then, where should I go?” she muttered, still feeling the itch of strangers' eyes on her back. “I don't know my way through Canterlot. I've only been here twice before, and both times I came on the train.”

“Your fears are quite unfounded, for your path lays before you. Just raise your eyes from the hoof-beaten roads and look upon your destination.”

She raised her gaze from the cobblestones and saw above her, looming in the distance, the truest eye-catcher of the city, the spires of the castle. “My destination is the castle?”

“The castle is a mere landmark, my dear. Your path, should you choose to follow it, leads to an area near the castle. Although, you cannot see it from here.”

“And that's where you are?” she asked, as she quirked an eyebrow.

“Indeed, one could say that is where I reside.”

“But it's not where you are now?”

“That is a matter of opinion my dear. If I was there, then how could I be talking to you here?”

“Umm, magic?” she offered as she made her way uptown, the buildings she passed seemed to increase in size and grandeur as she went. “Twilight and Rarity talked to me from far away with magic. Aren't you doing the same thing?”

“But have you considered, my dear, that you cannot see any magic when I talk to you?”

“That's...” she looked all around her and was surprised that the thought had never occurred to her before. Why didn't I ever think to look for his magic to find out where his voice was coming from? She felt like such a foal. Glancing about, she strained her senses, looking for some glowing of magic, listening for some light hum and feeling for some gentle warmth, but she found none of them. All that she noticed was the soft glow emanating from the white stone architecture, the warm caress of the sun, and the hubbub of the city ponies going about their business. “Where's your magic?” she asked in a worried whisper. “How can you be talking to me?”

“How, indeed? Imagine my surprise when you actually heard me the first time.” Scoddri let out a light chuckle. “It truly was a moment of reckoning.”

“But there has to be some magic,” she insisted, as she continued onward to the upper echelon of the city.

“Magic, yes there is much to magic, and it can explain the inner workings of almost anything. But there is a reason why magic is called what it is my dear. It's an elusive force that few can understand. It only stands to follow that ponies would decide to call such a thing 'magic', as if to give up on having to explain it.”

Sweetie Belle considered the voice's words for a while, drawing ever closer to the castle walls. “There are some ponies though, like Twilight, who think that magic can and should be explained. They study it.”

“Yes, but she is an exception to the general rule, and likely looked down upon by others for dabbling in the world of magic. Think girl, when was the last time you saw a pegasus or earth pony who was interested in magic?”

“Uh,” she paused, drawing a blank. “I haven't, ever,” she admitted. “I guess it's because they can't use magic that they wouldn't find it worthwhile.”

“It's that misconception which leaves magic in its primitive state to all but a select few, a sad fate for all who study magic.”

“Hmm,” she hummed but otherwise fell silent. She kept her silence until she reached the crest of the final hill before the castle. The crowd had slowly lessened as she had made her way through the increasingly posh areas of the city. There hadn't been another pony in sight that wasn't wearing some form of clothing or garment. She felt uncomfortably noticeable as she approached the open gates of the castle.

Royal guards could be seen patrolling the walls, and a pair played sentinel by the gate, stoically and sternly. Sweetie Belle was certain that entering these gates was sure to do more than evoke a light nod from these guards. This was the castle, they wouldn't let just anypony in. “What should I do?” she whispered, as she darted to a nearby alley and poked her head around the corner, observing the imposing stone obstacle that blocked her path. “They'll stop me for sure. I don't have any reason for being in the castle.”

“If you are so worried about being caught, then just enter the castle without them seeing you,” he offered nonchalantly.

“Oh, that sounds so very simple.” Sarcasm coloured her voice thickly. “Why don't I just go up and ask them to escort me as well?”

“Hah! Now that might take some convincing. Why not give it a shot?”

“Because I don't want to be caught and thrown in a dungeon.”

“Thrown into a dungeon you say?” he questioned with a chuckle. “How very imaginative children can be. Perhaps that imagination can be used to find your way into the castle grounds.”

Sweetie Belle breathed a heavy sigh. “You just enjoy watching me struggle with these things don't you?”

“Oh, very much so.”

With a roll of her eyes, and then a stare of concentration, she studied the large wall that encapsulated the castle from the rest of the city. She blinked in surprise as she noticed a rather potent concentration of magic that resided within the walls. Like roots running through soil, this magic spread between the thick stone of the wall. Then with sudden clarity, a plan sprung to her mind. Maybe I can use that. But I have to get closer.

The filly looked around the upscale neighborhood and found what she was looking for. A manor positioned upon a large, well-maintained yard, with trees, bushes and gardens, many of which ran adjacent to the wall. And most importantly, it was not completely fenced in.

With a quick glance to make sure that nopony was around to see her, she darted into the yard and behind some of the well-groomed bushes, hoping that they would provide enough cover to keep her from sight.

Once inside the yard, Sweetie Belle, paused to view her surroundings, the bushes ran all along the fence, right up to the base of the wall, and would provide sufficient cover for her plans. There was only one immediate problem she faced as she peered through the green summery leaves. Further into the yard and closer to the wall, was an earth pony with a watering can and a rake nearby. He performed his duties as the custodian of the yard and whistled to himself, tunelessly, as he went about his business, watering plants and raking any leaves that had fallen. He even picked out the dead-looking leaves right from the very plants themselves. He was quite meticulous with each plant he worked with.

As the filly made her way toward the wall, the crunch of her hooves stepping on wayward twigs and the shifting of branches sounded overly-loud to her ears. Of course, she realized. He hasn't tidied up these bushes yet. Then that just means I have to do this before he gets over here. Every movement she made caused her heart to beat a little faster, and her breath sound a bit more ragged to her straining ears, despite her best efforts to take each step with more care than the previous one.

Almost there, she told herself. Just a little further. She inched her way onward, as quietly as possible, attempting to avoid tangling any offending branches in her mane. For she was well aware now, of just how close she was to the gardener-pony.

“And to think, after all the time spent traveling through forests, and just yesterday, managing to finally comb out your hair, you crawl into yet more branches and leaves,” the voice observed with a hearty laugh.

Sweetie Belle stifled and exasperated sigh as she continued on her journey through the vegetation. And over the next few excruciating minutes of progress, she finally made it to the base of the large wall.

Now for the next part of the plan. She thought back to the moment when she had struggled to escape the chains within the diamond dogs' cave, and that time when Rainbow Dash had tried to take her away. She remembered that desperation she had felt, the need and urgency.

With those feelings firmly in her mind, she turned her focus to the magic within the whitewashed walls. It was a powerful magic for sure, its yellow glow reminded her of sunlight. The wall held more magic than any of the gemstones she had come across before. Closing her eyes for better focus, she gingerly reached out with a tendril of magic from her own horn, a movement which seemed so natural to her now. She let her magic touch upon the static web of energy before her.

Letting out a breath in preparation, she then tested the strength of the magic. Surprisingly, the magic gave into her coaxing after only a few tugs on her part. A smile spread across her face as she siphoned away the magic into her horn and felt it change to her own emerald sheen. Once she held as much as she figured she could manage, she drew her magic to the tip of her horn.

Delving into her own thoughts, she brought forth those feelings of urgency and desperation to the forefront of her mind and focused. I have to get on to the other side of the wall, she told herself. I have to! She trusted her instincts to use the magic the way it had before. She wasn't going to focus on what would happen if she failed. She wouldn't fail. It was as simple as that.

The unicorn felt the magic begin to flow around her as it responded to her will and urgency. She sensed the magic as it flowed to the other side of the wall, its strands weaving together into a strange intricate pattern that somehow felt 'right' to her. Additional tendrils of light poured from her own horn, and encompassed her whole body in the the same patterned magic.

“Hey, filly!” a voice shouted. “What are you doing over there?! Get out out of the garden, you're hurting the bushes!”

The gardener, her mind told her, jumping at the conclusion. Out of reflex, the filly spun around and opened her eyes to see the tan-coloured earth pony. The sudden addition of sight being added to her other senses gave her an overwhelming feeling of vertigo and she felt the pattern of the spell beginning to shift with her sudden movement.

“I'm sorry,” was all she managed to get out before the spell finalized and took effect. A jolt of pain ran into her horn, as though she had just slammed it against a wall. Her breath left her as the world became a blur of twisting strands of magic. She couldn't see properly or hear beyond a light humming and the piercing sound of fracturing stone. She even realized for a moment that her mouth tasted strangely of stone, or what she imagined stone to taste like had she ever decided to lick a rock. The world became a distorted web of senses that seemed to tangle itself around her.

These strange feelings only lasted for a moment before her senses reawakened to her surroundings. Just in time to hear the echoing boom of a loud crack which pierced the air. Just as suddenly as the sound had come, she felt ground form beneath her hooves, causing her to stumble sideways. She crashing into a sharp bed of hedge branches in a feeble attempt to catch herself.

With a groan, the filly blinked her eyes and tried to get a bearing on her surroundings. Pulling herself out of the hedge she had fallen into, she got to her hooves. “I'm definitely on the other side of the wall,” she said to herself as she looked around.

Her attention was quickly summoned to the top of the wall's ramparts. Some of the guards were shouting and running, further away from her position. When she trained her gaze upon their destination, her mouth fell agape.

“Did I just cause the wall to fall over?”

“I can't imagine that anything else would have caused it.” Scoddri said cheerily.

“Uh, remind me to never try jumping with magic again.”

“The proper term is 'teleportation'.”

“Yeah, but that was dangerous. I hope the gardener didn't get hurt.”

“He's fine,” Scoddri said simply.

Sweetie Belle breathed a sigh of relief, she knew that Scoddri would never lie to her. Just as certainly, she knew that she would never be able to forgive herself if she had hurt somepony else with such reckless use of magic.

“And now the guards are all distracted. You are really close, my dear.”

“Wait, this is, the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens. I've been here before.”

“Indeed, and I'm waiting for you, just around the bend.”

Looking ahead, she knew where he meant, and she knew what lay behind that corner of the hedge, past the sculpture of victory. “So, it's true then, isn't it Scoddri...”

“Ah yes, it has been so very obvious though, hasn't it my dear?”

She trotted forward, silently hoping that she would be wrong. But, how could I be wrong? He's told me all I needed to know to figure it out. He's mentioned being trapped in stone, he knows more about strange magic than even Twilight. He's... Suddenly she recalled the words that they had spoken so many months ago: Confusion! Evil! Chaos! She turned the corner and saw the statue standing before her. Its tongue outstretched in a peculiar fashion, and it pulsated with a deep emerald magic. Misunderstood, she thought to herself.

“Discord,” she said quietly, with a slight look of defeat on her face.

“Indeed. Welcome, dear Sweetie Belle. I'm glad you decided to come here. You know you didn't have to, you still don't have to be here.”

“No!” she interjected. “I've come here by my own choice, because I had to know and because you had to know.”

“I see,” he said with a hint of surprise in his voice. “Perhaps being surprised is something that I have grown unaccustomed to over the years. But it remains, in my eyes at least, a welcoming experience. Perhaps that is why chaos has always been such a joy.”

“What do you mean?”

“Quite simply, you surprise me, girl. Willing to put yourself through such perils just to talk with one such as myself, face to face. I never thought I'd see the day when such a thing would happen.”

“It doesn't matter what you are, a draconequus, or a spirit of disharmony. Scoddri, you're my friend, I said so before, and I meant it. Is it really so strange for me to want to see my friend face to face?”

“Ah, the beautiful simplicity of youth,” he said with a chuckle. “Yes, my dear, it is very hard to wrap one's head around such a simple idea. So I have something I want you to do Sweetie Belle, as the first pony who would ever be willing to call me 'friend', for as long as I care to remember.”

The filly gulped in anticipation. “What do you want me to do?”

“I'm going to ask of you, something that only a cruel adult could ever ask a child to do. This,” he said as his pulsating glow turned into a pure sheen that almost blinded the filly. Blinking her eyes to free her sight, the filly was able to make out a simple shape amongst the glow. It was a glowing heart-shaped crystal emerald. “Take this girl.”

“What is it?” she asked in wonder, squinting at the bright object. “Its overflowing with magic, it almost hurts just looking at it.” Nevertheless, she reached out with her magic and touched the glowing stone. With a spark, similar to a static shock, she let out a small exclamation and the light came rushing toward her channeling into her horn. It lasted only a moment. She felt the intensity of the magic burning at her very being, like being splashed with boiling water, except that, by the time she had registered it, the feeling was gone. Only a light cry of surprise escaped her lips and she panted slightly as the world returned to its somber colours.

“It's an element, my dear. It's the core of my being, and I choose to give it to you. That's right, my friend, I'm being a cruel adult, I'm asking you to make a choice. I've given my very being to you and I'm leaving my fate in your hooves, to the whim of a mere child. I'm forcing you to choose.”

“Sweetie Belle!” a voice called out, and with a pop of magic the filly saw Twilight Sparkle materialize before her. “Stop! You have to leave! Now! Discord, is dangerous!”

“Stand down Twilight Sparkle!” Discord's voice called out deep and regal, it almost didn't sound like him at all. The heart-shaped emerald burst with a wave of magic, and Twilight let out a gasp as the light passed over her.

Sweetie Belle looked at the lavender unicorn, aghast by what she saw. The older unicorn's back legs had greyish weaves of magic crawling up them, and the unicorn in question had turned her head around and was channeling her own magics toward her hindquarters slowing the gray pattern's advance.

“Ah, please do not interrupt Twilight Sparkle, I do hope this petrification spell does the trick. Poetic justice, I do believe.”

A look of pure concentration befell the studious unicorn as she fought with the spell upon her. She couldn't even spare a moment to respond to the voice.

“Scoddri!” the white filly shouted at the glowing emerald heart. “Why did you do that? That's not nice!”

“Nice? Nice?! Dear, Sweetie Belle, I am about to give you one of the hardest decisions you are ever going to make. Of course I'm not being nice. I'm Discord, the spirit of evil and chaos, the being who can only be tolerated when imprisoned within stone.”

“No, you're not!” Sweetie Belle shouted back, her eyes quickly assessing the progression of the petrification spell. Twilight was now half-turned to stone. “You are Scoddri, my teacher, my guide, and my friend! Please, stop the spell!”

“Only if you make your choice first Sweetie Belle.” The emerald core of Discord floated right before the filly. “What will you do with my spirit, my essence? Will you take it?”

“I-I,” she stuttered. No, he can't do that! He'll be gone if he he turns his spirit into crystal, won't he? I won't be able to talk to him ever again. He'll disappear, then he won't be able to teach me, or be my friend. “No! I don't want it! Take it back, Scoddri! I don't want you to leave.”

“And have you ever thought that might be what I want?” he asked in a strained voice. “Do you have any idea what it's like to be forced to stay still, to live motionless and held imprisoned, yet to be conscious of every passing second? To have your dreams erode from your mind over the years, to not have a single creature to talk to and no way to respond to them even if they had decided to talk? Do you know what it feels like to be alone for over a thousand years unable to sleep? I'm tired of it, Sweetie Belle. I ask only for your choice, I ask that you release me from this curse.”

“No, you're my friend, I don't want you to disappear!” she shouted back adamantly as tears formed in her eyes. At that moment she felt something, a tingling sensation upon her flank, but the thought quickly slipped away to the back of her mind. “Take your element back!” She grabbed the emerald with her magic and thrust it toward the statue.

Just as the two objects collided, a series of sparks shot out between the two. Tremors shook the statue as cracks began to form across it's surface and a wailing sound began to call out across the Sculpture Garden. In that same instant, the spell of petrification on Twilight grew wild and shattered.

The older unicorn didn't waste a moment. She charged toward the statue. “No, Discord!” she shouted as she cast out her own complicated weave of magic. “I'm not letting you come back! Equestria isn't your plaything!”

Sweetie Belle could only watch in awe as Twilight's own magic pattern intermingled with the chaotic mess of energy that was already coursing across the statue. With a defiant scream, and an explosion of light, Twilight wrenched the emerald stone away from statue.

Sweetie Belle saw the purple unicorn get tossed away by the burst of magic, and she herself was pushed a few feet backward, even as she braced herself against the wave of energy. But what caught her eye, a sight that would stay with her for the rest of her life, was at the very center of the eruption; the statue of Discord crumbled into pieces and was tossed away like a fine dust sown upon the breeze.

With a light thud, the stunned filly's eye was drawn to what remained of the emerald. Roughly half of the heart rolled to a stop right before her hooves. It looked empty to her eyes, with no trace of magic to be seen.

“Scoddri,” she whispered as her tear-filled eyes widened with shock. “Why?!” She then collapsed to her hooves in a fit of sobs. Her new cutie mark, a heart-shaped emerald, glistened in the sunlight of a nearly-cloudless summer's day, entirely forgotten in the wake of her sorrow.

End of Chapter 20

* * *

End of Scion of Chaos

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading to the conclusion of this story, it means a lot to me.

There is now a longer epilogue immediately following this chapter: An Emerald Treasure