The Assembled Letters of Twilight Sparkle, Protégé of Emperor Discord

by Caligari87

Epilogue

Twilight stepped into the office, leaving her bags outside in the hall. With luck, a palace assistant would take them to her room. Or some room. Or not. Any which way, she didn’t care.

The interior of the office, such as it was, could only be described as schizophrenic. The pulsing surfaces of a tesseract swapped or changed themes and colors constantly, random objects either came to life or melded into furniture, bizarre animals galloped in nonsensical antigravity constructs. And sitting king over it all in a swivel chair mounted to one of the ceilings, blowing melted plastic bubbles from a panpipe, was Discord.

Suddenly feeling very plainly, nakedly normal in the midst of such unbridled, almost incomprehensible Chaos, Twilight cleared her throat. “Um…. Your Highness?”

The dragonequus glanced from his perch at her. “Ah, Twilight!” he exclaimed. His voice sounded excited, but his attention was obviously more engaged by a novelty toy that had replaced the panpipe. “I was wondering when you’d be arriving.”

“You… you wanted to… see me?” Twilight’s mouth had difficulty forming the words.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Discord said, casually snapping his fingers. The pan-dimensional walls collapsed inward, animals stampeded to points of infinity, and the entire room reverted into a simple, tastefully designed, well-organized office.

Twilight gasped. The shocking difference threw her completely off guard; such mundane normalcy was never found in the presence of the Emperor. It took every once of her self control to keep from hyperventilating in panic.

“Please, sit.” Discord motioned from behind a large engraved oak desk to a simple leather chair opposite his own. Twilight, still reeling, did as instructed.

“Your Highness, I—” She stopped as a clawed paw raise to silence her.

“I know you want to explain, to defend yourself,” Discord stated calmly. “However, there is no need.

“You see, Twilight, as I mentioned in my letter, I knew this would be a challenge, a crucible of sorts for you. You’ve always been fighting against your nature, becoming an Agent of Chaos. I can see it in everything you do. You’re innately organized, neat. You’ve been secretly making schedules and lists since you were a filly. And yet you couldn’t bring yourself to stand out or be singled from the thousands of others who accept their situation. I’d be willing to bet you chose this path not because you’re really in love with Chaos, but rather because you’re too scared to accept your own nature.”

Discord sat back and twirled his beard absently. Twilight started trembling and sweating.

“I know you crave acceptance. Despite your efforts to hide it, you want nothing more than to be loved and told that you’re fine the way you are. You know that can’t happen, so you try instead to change yourself, to be the best, but not break the mold, because then they’ll reject you and leave you alone.

“That’s why I sent you to Ponyville. I wanted to see if you’d truly given yourself to entropy, or if you still harbored that desire to be yourself and be loved for it. Those five mares and their oh-so-boring Friendship gave you that. They accepted you for who you were, or at least who they thought you were. And when that happened, you started to think that maybe you could be Twilight Sparkle the Organized, instead of the Agent of Chaos you pretend to be, because you knew they’d love you either way.”

Twilight felt tears pricking her eyes. In spite of herself, she was cowering before her mentor like a scolded filly. His words opened door after door she’d thought long-hidden and locked. She swallowed and tried to speak past the tightness in her throat. “So I... failed?”

Discord nodded coldly. “And if it were up to me, you’d be banished to some distant corner of the continent, to a place where Harmonizers like you might still remember to call it ‘Equestria’.”

Twilight shrank in her seat, her forehooves going numb. But a logical thinking part of her mind grasped at the tiniest straw in Discord’s words. “Is… is it not up to you?”

The dragonequus sighed heavily, as if the question should be rhetorical. “If it was, I wouldn’t be any better than you or the rest of them. I live by entropy, Twilight Sparkle...”

A small golden coin appeared on the desk.

“...And I’m asking you to prove you do, too. You can accept my decision and cut your ties with Chaos forever, or we can trust it to chance.” He motioned to the coin. “Heads, you stay an Agent of Chaos, as my student. Tails, you’re banished.”

Twilight began panting as the words crushed into her. Reject Chaos, be herself, and be banished, cast out like trash, rejected. Trust Chaos, forsake herself completely… and forever become something she wasn’t, or possibly be banished anyway with the knowledge she’d willingly betrayed her true nature.

There was no pre-planned malice behind Discord’s torturous game; she knew him too well for that. He was ruled by the moment, just as likely to cause joy as suffering, and yet he’d managed to pick the ultimate, soul-destroying trap that would either make Twilight a perfect hollowed shell to do his bidding, or a broken outcast without an ounce of self-worth.

She stared at the coin for a long time.

Finally, standing at the peak of the shattered Friendships she’d destroyed, she looked desperately at the only being she knew that offered her acceptance. Even as a shadow of herself, it was better to have a chance at belonging. She pointed a hoof at the coin.

“...chaos…”

A clawed paw snatched the coin and snapped it into the air. It spun, dropped, bounced twice on the surface of the desk, and came to rest.

“Heads!” Discord’s voice was back to its cheery, devil-may-care babble. “Congrats, Twilight Sparkle! You’ll remain an Agent of Chaos!” He bounded over the desk and shook her limp hoof enthusiastically. “All is forgiven and forgotten! Go unpack somewhere, and tomorrow we’ll get back to learning chaos! Woohoo!”

The listless empty husk of Twilight Sparkle shambled toward the door of the office. Yes... unpack…

“Oh Twilight! One more teensie, tiny thing before you go!”

She turned to see Discord playing hacky sack with a small canvas bag. With a kick, he sent it flying toward her. Reflexively, she caught it in her magic and opened the drawstring. Inside was a loose bundle of black, shiny… seeds? Twilight’s brain refused to work for a few moments. “I… don’t…”

“Remember how you wrote me that the Tree of Harmony needed to be destroyed?”

Twilight nodded. That did seem to be an appropriate name for it, although she’d never heard the term before.

“Well, the Tree of Harmony is elemental. It can’t be destroyed, or I would have done it myself a thousand years ago. It can, however, be neutralized for a time.” Discord strode over to Twilight and pointed into the bag. “These are the Seeds of Discord, pure distilled Chaos magic of the highest order. I cultivate them in my personal garden, but they take forever to grow, and I obviously didn’t use enough last time.”

He placed a paw under Twilight’s chin and lifted her eyes to his.

“These must be spread around the Tree of Harmony, where they will fester and grow, choking the ever-living normalcy out of it, until there’s nothing left but a tiny withered stem, bound for ten thousand years in endless, circling tendrils of glorious Chaos...”

Twilight’s heart was practically exploding as Discord’s face came within inches of her own.

“...and you’re going to plant them.”

---

TO BE CONTINUED

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Wow. Great story. I can't wait for the sequel. Great job.

[Caligari87]

5349812
Thank you! It's been a blast to write; gotta wrap my head around the sequel now, but I've got a lot of ideas.

[SageBrony07]

5349827 Good luck with that. I'll be waiting for the sequel.

[Ac3_Jackson]

I enjoyed it, I will be watching for a sequel, and I will say that I really like the framework of the story. Both in terms of the structure and limited perspective, but also in the overall world. While you have tied down your plans, I can think of a number of other ways things could have formed up or panned out. I like it when a story manages to create such a large possibility space in my mind.

You've set quite a stage, and if you will continue to use it yourself, I look forward to seeing more of it.

[PiMan]

Will your sequel be in this same letter/journal format, or are you planning for a more traditional narrative style?

[Yaniis]

yet he’d managed to pick the ultimate, soul-destroying trap that would either make Twilight a perfect hollowed shell to do his bidding, or a broken outcast without an ounce of self-worth.

She stared at the coin for a long time.

Finally, standing at the peak of the shattered Friendships she’d destroyed, she looked desperately at the only being she knew that offered her acceptance. Even as a shadow of herself… it was better to have a chance at belonging. She pointed a hoof at the coin.

“...chaos…”

This needs a dark tag.

[PhycoKrusk]

No....

"Plant the Seeds of Discord?" That can't be it. That's too easy, too direct... too organized....

[Fluxxdog]

5349955

It's be the last thing you'd expect!

[Caligari87]

5349916
Probably moving to a more traditional narrative format because the stage is going to be bigger, and some events will possibly transpire too fast. However, letters and journals will still play an important role, they won't be forgotten completely.

5349953
Kinda debated adding one, but overall I don't think it's dark-dark. Just a slightly darker grey than normal, certainly not much more than Return of Harmony or thereabouts.

[AnAsianToaster]

I'ma be honest, I wish this story was written in a narrative style, but the idea of the sequel makes up for that entirely. I'm looking forward to Twlight butting heads with her "friends".

[dancing mop]

Huh. Well, that was neat. I'll watch for the next one!

[Reiku]

I truly hope that this doesn't end with Twi going all friendshippy. This has been a fantastic little surprise fic, and I can't wait to see where it goes, but seriously consider not taking the obvious ( however well written it may be) route, get some chaos up in this bitch~

[shadowfalcon76]

A nice way to wrap up this part of the overall story, and to transition to the next. Good job. Looking forward to the sequel.

[ferret]

If only Twilight could realize that Chaos is not the opposite of Harmony.
Sometimes I think that was Discord's entire plan in playing the villain. It showed how utterly nonsensical it was to try and oppose order with... nonsense. He couldn't just bewitch them instantly, steal their magic and send them to the six corners of the earth, because that would be predictable and boring, so in a way he had no choice but to facilitate his own defeat and bring Harmony to the land... because Chaos is not the opposite of Harmony. He seems like one of those fellows where it would be like,

"I did just what you asked, Honorable Emperor!"
"Oh, you did. I'm so disappointed in you Twilight."

[Gloaming]

This is a very interesting and convincing take on Twilight. I enjoyed reading it a lot.

[Aurora Dimmet]

Chaos breeds Order. Chimps, typewriters, etc.
Order destabilizes and breeds Chaos.

Can't have one without the other.

[Caligari87]

5688393
Your guess would be correct! Really a throwaway reference because I'm really not implying that the queen of the Changling hive is chilling in Ponyville with her sentient pillow/lover. Just a fun little Easter Egg.

[Wiriamuzu]

That choice was the scariest thing I've ever seen.

[Caligari87]

6432476

I am rather proud of that one, if I do say so

[DarkSpark]

Huh.
Would've bet money that was gonna land on its side.

[ParodiaTheSilent]

Guaranteed, that coin was a trick coin.

[Zuabug]

[S C R E E C H E S] CLIFFHANGER.