Aspects of Chaos

by LordLycaon

Backstabber

Twilight and Dusk were stuck in a deadlock, their respective beams of magic energy slowly pushing back on each other. The purple mare could feel the strain that expending so much magical energy would leave. If this keeps up any longer, she didn't think she would be able to really face off with her clone anymore. And worse yet, Dusk didn't even look close to exhausted. Things weren't looking up.

"The only logical option for you is to surrender," Dusk stated heartlessly. Her cold, empty eyes practically bore into Twilight's own violet orbs. "You can never defeat me. I can never be defeated."

"There's a first time for everything, Dusk!" Twilight cried as she pumped more power into her attack. Come on, Twilight, think! How can I beat her when she matches me in just about every way!? She thought harder than she ever had before, which was made all the more difficult considering she had to focus on keeping Dusk's blast at bay. Every plan she came up with was quickly scrapped, as Dusk would likely always be thinking two steps ahead. If only she wasn't such a logical thinker!

... Wait… An idea slowly came to mind. But that was all it was: an idea. But it was certainly better than nothing.

Before the purple alicorn could try anything, however, Dusk's magic blast overpowered hers and sent her flying through the Canterlot Castle throne room and skidding across the floor. She groaned in pain as Dusk patiently walked towards her, the dark alicorn's hoofsteps sounding like thunder to her.

"I told you," Dusk began as her horn glowed with an evil red light. "You will never defeat me." Twilight's eyes widened in fear before she shut them as tight as she could, too frightened to watch what would happen next.

Suddenly, two blasts of magic, one blue and one pink, slammed into Dusk's side, sending the dark mare flying away. Twilight's eyes shot open when she heard this, then faced the source of the blasts. Her face then beamed with hope. "Shining Armor! Cadance!"

The two leaders of the Crystal Empire stood tall beside each other at the entrance to the throne room, both looking ready for a fight. "Twily!" Shining called as he and his galloped over to his sister. "Are you all right, sis?"

Twilight nodded and rose to all fours. "I'm fine. But what are you doing here?"

"Princess Celestia sent us a letter explaining the situation," Cadance explained. "I'm sorry we're late, Twilight." She looked over to Dusk, who was now standing and eyeing the newcomers with that cold glare of hers. "I think we should save the pleasantries for after we've finished here."

Twilight nodded her agreement. "Be careful. She's my doppelganger, and has access to every spell that I know of. Not only that, but she's an excessively logical thinker. She'll probably be able to see through any plans we come up with."

"Then how do we beat her?" Shining Armor inquired.

The young princess thought on that for a moment. "I think I have an idea. You'll have to trust me on this, and not interfere."

"What?" Cadance said in shock. "But, Twilight, you just said that she can see through all of our plans!"

"This is more of an idea than anything else," Twilight admitted seriously. "Please, you both have to trust me on this." Shining and Cadance glanced at each other worriedly, but nodded reluctantly. Twilight nodded back to them and trotted toward Dusk, who raised an eyebrow at her counterpart.

"To refuse aid is an illogical decision," she said dispassionately. "It will lead to your downfall. Not that accepting aid would have changed the outcome."

Ignoring, Dusk's statements, Twilight simply said, "You're the Aspect of Logic, right?" Dusk again raised an eyebrow at this, but nodded nonetheless. "Then explain to me this. If you're so logical, then why do you work for the forces of chaos?" Dusk didn't answer. "Chaos is the very essence of illogicality. You're supposed to be the epitome of logic, but you yourself are a being of chaos! Where's the logic in that, Dusk?"

The dark alicorn opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it to think on what Twilight had said. She… couldn't think of a truly logical explanation as to why she was working with chaotic forces. Was she really a being of chaos? But she was logic ponyfied! How can she be logical and chaotic at the same time!? She was Logic! Or was she chaos? Or was she just like any other pony? These thoughts quickly became train wrecks in her mind. Her eyes widened with grave realization.

"But… I am the Aspect of Chaos known as Logic. But that inherently contradicts itself. I am logical, but I am chaotic. I am stable, but I am unbalanced. I… I…" She practically froze, her brain basically shutting down from the self-countering logic. She blacked out and collapsed onto the floor.

"Uh… what just happened?" Shining Armor asked in confusion. Cadance's expression was no less baffled.

"I countered Logic with logic," Twilight explained. When her brother and sister-in-law still gave her confused stares, she said, "I told you, she's an excessively logical thinker. I basically said that since she's an Aspect of Chaos, she's naturally flawed, and not as totally logical as she believes herself to be. She's really just an ordinary pony, just like the rest of us."

"Oh, I get it now," Shining said as he tousled his little sister's mane with his hoof. "Thinking outside the box! That's Twily for you!"

"Um… guys?" Cadance said, getting the others' attention. She pointed to the nearby balcony, where Discord and Nightmare Moon were still having a stand-off. "I don't quite think we're done here yet."

"Oh, don't you all worry about me," Discord assured the ponies with a cocky smirk. "I can handle this. Besides, I've sort of been waiting for a moment like this."

Nightmare Moon laughed mockingly. "You honestly think you have a chance, you mix-and-match freak of nature? Ha! I'm nothing like Luna or those worthless Aspects of Chaos! I am Nightmare Moon, mistress of the night!"

Discord yawned in boredom. "Really? That's all you've got to say about yourself? Please." Suddenly, he spirit of chaos was right next to Nightmare, his claw slung around her shoulder nonchalantly. "I'm Discord, master of chaos, bender of reality, lord of disharmony. I can literally turn you into a foal with a snap of my fingers!" He then snapped his fingers, and Nightmare instantly shrank down to the size of a foal, though she still had her original body.

"What the!? Change me back immediately, draconequus!" the evil alicorn demanded with a hilariously high-pitched voice.

Discord just stared at her in surprise. He pondered this for a moment and said, "I guess my powers really have been weakened." He shrugged. "Oh well. Tell you what, little Nightmare. You move the moon out of the way of the sun, and I'll change you back. Deal?"

"What!? Of course not!"

"Very well. Have it your way. "The master of chaos snapped his fingers again, and Nightmare was returned to normal… but was now trapped within a sphere of purple energy.

"What is this!?" she demanded.

"Simple. It's a bubble. Nothing more. Of course, this bubble has a nasty little trick up its nonexistent sleeve." Just then, Nightmare Moon rapidly dissolved into a cloud of ethereal smoke that greatly resembled her mane. After a few seconds, Princess Luna fell out of the bubble, unconscious.

At this, Twilight was pretty much forced to ask, "What did you just do?"

"I removed Nightmare Moon from Luna," Discord explained. Then, rather dramatically, he held out his claw and paw towards the smoke-filled bubble and said, "Behold, the true Nightmare Moon! Without Luna to act as her body, Nightmare is basically just a living cloud of anger and aggression. No more, no less."

Cadance gulped at this. "I'm glad you're on our side, Discord," she said, sounding quite relieved.

It was then that the rest of the Mane 6 and even the remainder of the Aspects of Chaos, minus Monochrome, stormed into the room, all but Fluttershy looking ready to rumble. "Don't worry, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "We're here to-!" She stopped when she saw the sight before her. "What happened here?"

"Discord took care of our Nightmare Moon problem," Twilight explained. "We won't ever have to worry about her again!"

"Well, I'll be!" Applejack said with a grin. "Ah guess this means we all beat them Aspects!"

"Hooray!" Pinkie Pie and her double shouted gleefully. "This calls for a party!"

"Uh… hold on, guys," Rainbow interrupted, feeling a little bit awkward. "Are you saying that you all beat your evil doubles?" Everypony nodded. "Oh. Um…"

"Rainbow, are you saying that you didn't find your duplicate?" Rarity asked, suddenly feeling worried.

"No, I found her. But she got away. She said something about a plan, but she escaped before I could get her to spill the beans."

"And now it's gonna bite you in the flank!" called a voice that was painfully similar to Rainbow's. All eyes fell upon Rainbow Dash's double, Monochrome, who stood upon the balcony, right next to the bubble containing Nightmare Moon's essence. Before anypony could react, she slammed her forelegs into the bubble, actually cracking it and freeing the evil fog within. Instead of returning to Luna, however, the cloud was forcibly pulled into the dull gray pendant upon Monochrome's neck. The gray-haired pegasus's eyes glowed an ominous white, which was accompanied by a manic grin on her face.

"Oh, yeah, this is gonna be fun!" she shouted as, just as suddenly, the other Aspects of Chaos began to scream out in agony. The others could only watch in horror as the Aspects' bodies became ethereal masses, which were pulled into Monochrome's pendant. Discord suddenly gripped his chest as though he were in pain.

"D-Discord!" Fluttershy shouted in panic. "W-what's happening!?"

Pained, Discord replied, "She's… absorbing all the sources of chaotic power… within her field of vision! And that includes me!"

"How do we stop her!?" Twilight hollered.

Despite the pain, Discord still managed to grin mischievously. "You'll think… of something, ponies… You always do!" With that, his body faded and was absorbed into Monochrome's pendant.

The ponies, Celestia included, watched with shocked eyes as Monochrome was enveloped in a dark red light. Her body grew larger, clearly becoming stronger, and a horn grew from her forehead. The light faded quickly, revealing…a blue alicorn with a dull gray mane, her pendant gone, and a silver tiara with a black bolt-shaped gem upon her head. She grinned maliciously.

"Everything up to now has led to this exact moment," she said in far more adult voice. "Everything's gone exactly how I planned it! I am this world's new god! And all will kneel before Monochrome!" She released a villainous laugh that echoed in everypony's ears. It was a sound that easily silenced hope.