Discord's Apprentice

by Architect Ironturtle

Metamorphosis

"Pinkie, are you sure you're feeling all right?" Mr. Cake asked, worry etched into his face, "Because, well..." He gestured at her body, which was currently jiggling like a glass of water in front of a loudspeaker.

"Don't worry, boss, I'm fi-" Pinkie Hic-urped, then spat out a prismatic colored bubble that hung in the air for a few seconds before dropping like the twins before nap-time and shattering against the wooden floor, "-ine," she finished awkwardly.

Mr. Cake just rubbed his brow with a hoof and gestured towards the door. "Pinkie, for as long as I can remember you have never taken a sick day. Please don't make me force you to."

Pinkie slumped and nodded, still twitching, and wobbled out of Sugarcube Corner and towards the Ponyville hospital. Now that she thought about it, she really was feeling out of sorts. She considered asking Twilight if she had any to spare, but quickly dismissed it since lists weren't her style and instead sprouted a set of roller-blades so she could get to the hospital faster. Of course, that was assuming the world would stop spinning first.

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"PiNkIe..." a familiar voice said, sounding like it came from under a pile of oversized blankets. Blankets that Pinkie desperately wanted at the moment. By Celestia, she was cold.

"PINKIE!" came the voice again, much louder this time, and she cracked open her eyes to see Twilight standing next to her bed, her voice twisted in anxiety. Wait, Pinkie didn't remember falling asleep, so how-?

She looked around. Off white walls, cheap but clean linoleum, the stench of disinfectant in the air, yep, no doubt about it: this was a hospital room. Well, that and the fact that Pinkie could see the red cross outside her window.

She tried to sit up, only to fall back with a gust of expelled air as the room tilted around her. Twilight's surprise glomp certainly did not help matters.

"Twilight," Pinkie gasped, "Air."

Twilight blushed heavily as she let go, muttering, "Sorry, sorry, I'm just so glad you're all right."

"Twilight," Pinkie said slowly, having trouble grasping the words for some reason, "What, happened?"

Twilight froze, then gave Pinkie a forced smile, "You don't remember?" she asked.

Pinkie just shook her head, still careful not to overexert herself. Twilight sighed, paced for a few moments, then said, "You collapsed just outside Sugarcube Corner. Mrs. Cake called the ambulance. After you got here, well, the doctors ran a few preliminary tests and realized you were afflicted with an unknown condition that was making your magic go haywire, on top of a sudden growth spurt. That was when they called me. I managed to get you stabilized, but even I don't fully know what's going on, so I sent a letter to Princess Celestia. She's on her way right now."

Pinkie held up a hoof as Twilight reached a pause in her speech, and said, "You, don't have to, get the Princess, involved. I'm sure she's -cough- very busy."

Twilight just gave her a look and replied, "Pinkie, you're my friend, and if calling in a favor from the princess is what it takes to keep you healthy, that's what I'm going to do. Uh-uh!" she continued when Pinkie tried to protest, "You'd do the same for me. I'm not going to change my mind, and that's final."

Pinkie didn't know what to say to that, but fortunately she didn't have to.

"Hello, my apprentice," Discord said as he squeezed through the cracks in the window pane, "and your highness."

"Discord," Twilight said coolly as Pinkie waved at him, "Why are you here?"

"What, can't I show concern for my dear student's well being?" he placed a paw over his chest in mock hurt, "Besides, your scroll smacked me in the face, so the news was hard to miss."

Twilight's face clouded in confusion, "What do you-"

Pinkie giggled, "I guess last night's date went well?" she teased, wiggling her eyebrows at him. Twilight's jaw dropped, and she started making these little squeaking noises like an overheated teapot as her pupils shrank.

"I guess you could say that," Discord said evenly as he reached over and pushed Twilight towards the door, "Now, if you'll excuse us for a moment, Twily, the grownups need to have a chat." Twilight just kept squeaking as she was shoved out the door, which slammed shut behind her.

When Discord turned back to Pinkie, his face was calm. He was smiling, true, but it was far more gentle than his usual smirk, and the spark of mischief was missing from his eyes. In fact, Pinkie thought he looked... proud?

"You know what's happening to me," Pinkie said. It wasn't a question.

"Of course," Discord said as he stuck a chair to the ceiling above Pinkie's bed and sat in it so she wouldn't have to strain herself to see him, "I've seen it before." When Pinkie didn't say anything, he continued, "Back on my world, whenever somepony wanted to master the chaotic arts, it was almost always a three stage process." Three of his talons floated into the air between them, "The first stage was simply getting the right mindset to channel the magic at all, and most who tried never made it past that." He smirked, "That's why Twilight been having such a bad time."

"Anyway," he said, "The second stage is learning how to use chaos magic, and where the former can take an entire lifetime, the later rarely exceeds a couple of months. You started here, already understanding instinctively what to do, which is why your training has progressed so rapidly. The hard part was behind you."

Pinkie cut in at this point, and asked, "But what does have to do with me being sick?"

Discord smile widened, and he sat up straighter, "Stage three," he said simply, "You see, a normal, 3-dimensional body can't handle the strain of sustained Chaos. That's why you had trouble controlling your spells. You might have noticed yourself changing in other ways as well." He indicated her increased height, loss of body-fat, and now pronounced split tail. She took it all in, growing increasingly alarmed. "This is all part of the process of obtaining a True Form. Now how do I put this..." he muttered, stroking his goatee, while Pinkie stared at him in outright disbelief.

"Here, take this piece of paper." He held up a sheet, "This paper represents the world." He drew a squiggly polygon on the page, " and this is you. When you take a True Form, this happens," The shape on the page became 3-dimensional, only some of it still passing through the surface. "You will no longer be just a pony, but something more. A part of you will exist outside of time and space because it just can't fit anymore. Remember what you saw out in the Bush?" He gestured to himself, "I have a True Form as well. I'd explain it better, but it's impossible for a 3-dimensional creature to understand the concept without showing them, and even then it wouldn't stick. It's what I meant when I said you live in a small, impoverished subsection of reality. In fact, it's a bit like becoming an Alicorn, only they don't break dimensional barriers upon ascension. And don't worry about your appearance afterwards. Every True Form is different, as tailored to you as your Cutie Mark is. Whatever you True Form looks like will be you in the purest sense of the term."

Pinkie Pie was curled up bed now, having completely failed to resist the urge to panic. Discord could already see the first wave of blood-red energy growing at the tips of her hooves, and leaned down to pick her up. He held her against his chest, providing what comfort he could. "This won't hurt a bit," he mumbled, "The gem I gave you yesterday was built to help you through the transformation. It will take care of the pain, and make the transition as smooth as possible."

"Discord," Pinkie whispered, "I'm scared."

"Don't be," Discord, his voice full of conviction. "This isn't the end. It's only the beginning."

The glow increased, and it pulsed faster, obscuring Pinkie's body. Discord had to look away, just because it was too bright, like that one time he'd tried to have a staring contest with the sun. Soon the glare turned the entire room a bright, glowing red, before it rippled out in a shockwave that shattered every window in Ponyville and rattled the trees in the Everfree forest.

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System's head snapped up from where he was lying on Cerberus's back. He'd done it. Discord had actually gone and done it. He'd brought another chaos user into the world. Perfect! Now that the Compromise wasn't in the way, System could kick that disruption out once and for all.

With a flap of his wings System took to the air and raced for the surface, quickly rounding a corner and squinting as he eyes detected sunlight for the first time in millennia. Just a little farther-

System slammed headfirst into an invisible forcefield and crashed to the ground just inside the cave mouth. What? He bolted upright and stepped to the entrance, slamming his hooves against the barrier in frustration. How? The compromise was broken, the barrier shouldn't be there anymore, so why-

Then System sampled the chaotic essence again, and let out a string of extremely creative swear words. Of course, Discord had found a loophole and squeezed right through it. He didn't know why he was surprised. However, he did know as he sat back down to wait, that as soon as he was free Discord was a dead Draconequus.

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Princess Celestia dropped out of her Chariot and blasted forward under her own power, leaving her guards far behind her. That idiot! Discord had to know Pinkie wasn't ready! At least when Celestia had done something similar to Twilight it had been after carefully testing her worthiness first! Celestia's magic brushed the green gem hidden under her collar, and she put on another burst of speed. Her mages had told her they weren't finished testing it yet, but as long as it held together long enough to be used that shouldn't matter. Celestia just hoped she had enough of whichever element this one happened to be to activate it, since her researcher's hadn't been able to tell.

All too soon, and yet not soon enough, Celestia was diving towards the Ponyville Hospital, aiming for an empty window on the first floor that was blindingly bright to all but her. She crashed to the floor inside, horn flaring as she prepared to cast-only to find the glow was fading, and Pinkie Pie was gently floating out of Discord's arms and towards the bed below her.

Pinkie landed on her hooves, wobbled for a moment, then stabilized, one of her five tails using its split five tips as a makeshift claw to grip a chair for support. Celestia's mouth fell open. She'd been ready for a lot of things, but not this.

Pinkie was drop dead gorgeous. Taller than Cadence, but shorter than Luna, with the proportions of an alicorn but neither wings nor a horn. Pinkie stared into the mirror that Discord had conjured for her, his face beaming with pride, and sat down hard on the bed. At that precise moment, the door fell off its hinges and Twilight tumbled into the room, her face displaying a total brain meltdown.

Discord turned to look at Twilight, then at Celestia, "I take it I have a lot of explaining to do?" He said smugly. It was all Celestia could do to restrain her response to a sharp nod.

Author's Note:

The endgame has begun with the transformation I've been building towards almost from the beginning. You all saw the signs, although you didn't guess what would actually happen. How could you when I was going out of my to break your expectations?

Now, some news. First, today marks the one year anniversary of my return to writing with I Don't Think I'm Supposed to be Here. Unless you already like that kind of story, I do not recommend reading it.

Second, I have set a lent penance of writing 1,000 words per day, if I can. Hopefully this means the next few updates will come much more quickly.

Next time on Discord's apprentice: Celestia learns the loophole and Twilight gets to experiment.

Edit: My deepest apologies. I forgot the soundtrack.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

If Pinkies new form is so close in appearence to her old form, couldnt she very easily and simply return to her old form, by stepping back a little? Maybe with a small turn to deal with the slenderness?

Thinking of what Pinkie is, is a lot easier if you watch a four dimentional screen saver for a few hours.

[link4]

oh celestia.. over-reacting i see.

[Scruffy]

So... Pinkie is a Tailed Beast? Huh.
I mean, I know she's not, but that's the first thing that came to mind.
Anyway, glad to see this story is still alive and kicking! Good to have you back boss!

[Alondro]

6940488 Now I'm thinking we should force-fuse this story with "Your Summons is Pink".

[Alondro]

6939619 Now be fair, chaos magic isn't something you trifle with and Discord has a long history of being incautious.

[Dipti]

ohhhh i want to see a detailed picture of pinkie now. Also i think i know how Discord got around the compromise. He didn't make another chaos ascended she made herself old school enlightenment.

[Majk]

Looks like Rarity will have a field day with Pinks. Chaos Princess makeoooooveeeeer!

[EnderHooves]

Wow, clever discord, very clever indeed. Can we get some art of what pinkie's 3D form is? I know that you can't really draw a fourth+ dimensional being, but I want to see what she looks like now in her true form. Hopefully not an eldritch abomination like in the loops.