Way of the World
“Twi? You in there?”
“Hold on!” Twilight shouts back at the castle’s front door before glancing around her current workspace. Stacks of books and papers occupy most of the floor space, all material kept within claws reach of her current project. Nearby, a map of chaos events was posted, the red and blue pins indicating the events making out a lazy spiral centered on the Everfree forest. What was lacking, however, was a clear route out of the room. When had that happened?
After a moment of consideration, Twilight decided to just sidestep the problem – and reality. Squinting in concentration, she reached out with both claws like she was framing a picture – and then she brought them closer. In response, the room shifted, two piles of material becoming one and a half and leaving her just a few steps from the door, “Aha!” she said triumphantly to nopony in particular as she pulled open the door, “I reject your reality and-”
Her celebration was cut off by a loud ‘woomph’ behind her as reality re-imposed itself and decided that the most expedient way to un-merge her piles was to simply send everything everywhere, “...horseapples,” Twilight muttered to herself as she closed the door behind her and started down the hall. As she reached the main entry way, Flash and Spike trotted in from the opposite hall, laden with boxes of papers and equipment, “Did we have any guests on the schedule Spike?”
“Twi, you haven’t had any appointments in days,” Spike replied with a look, “Maybe its not for you?”
At that, both of them turned to glance at the pegasus, who blinked owlishly, “Hey, don’t look at me – I just work here!”
With a sigh, Twilight continued on toward the door, “Its probably just one of the girls stopping by to see if I’m free.”
“Which you are, technically.” Spike pointed out as he fell into step behind the purple draconequus, “The mapping work can wait a day you know.”
“I have other projects going at the moment,” Twilight replied, and even to her own ears it sounded lame. Luckily for her ego Spike didn’t get a chance to say anything more as she finally reached the front door and pulled it open.
“Sup Twi?” Rainbow Dash greeted her with a relaxed wave, “Not like you to lock the front door these days...”
“I didn’t want to risk anypony wandering into something dangerous, given what I’ve been working on recently,” Twilight explained, “What’s up?”
“You’ve been in there all week, Twi,” the blue pegasus said without further preamble, “I know your work is important but come on!”
“That’s what I said!” Spike interjected.
“And like I told Spike,” Twilight shot the dragon a quick glance before continuing, “I have multiple projects at the moment and some of them are… time sensitive.”
“So sensitive that you can’t spare time for family?” Twilight blinked at the familiar voice before leaning out the door and peering around the corner to see Cadence and her brother standing just out of view near the bottom of the steps.
She narrowed her eyes at them, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Cadence blinked, “Did what?”
Twilight sighed as she pulled the door open and beckoned them inside, “Since I doubt you’re all going to just go away, we might as well do inside.”
“Do you really want us to go away that badly, Twily?” Shining Armor asked as they followed her down the hall, “Rainbow Dash called us because she was worried – and after what she told us, so are we, given last week.”
Twilight glanced back at her blue feathered friend, who just looked a hair sheepish. A few steps behind her, Cadence was busy talking with a very nervous Flash Sentry, “Sorry Twi,” Rainbow Dash said, “But me and the girls were just worried.”
“It’s fine, Rainbow, really,” Twilight replied to her friend as she pulled open the door to the room and stepped in, “It’s not like I’ve really explained what I’ve been doing anyway.”
“You’re trying to keep reality from accidentally imploding itself,” Shining replied with a chuckle, “I know Discord leaving for Canterlot was… problematic for you. You managing to keep up with things solo?”
“Spike and Flash have been a great help in that regard, speaking of which,” Twilight replied before she glanced back at the orange pegasus guard, “Flash – is the south library fit for visitors?”
“Spike and I just finished cleaning up the last experiment, ma’am,” Flash replied with a self-confident smile, “Spike finished replacing the floor tiling this morning.”
That got Twilight glances from Rainbow, Shining and Cadence, “We were, um, testing the properties of an arcade ball we recovered from the festival. Turns out that it had a gained a quasi-negative inertial mass so after we performed the initial inquiry it began exponentially accelerating.”
“Could you, uh, say that again, but with small words, sis?” Shining Armor said, chuckling nervously.
“We poked it and it started bouncing around the room at ludicrous speed,” Spike replied helpfully from her side, thinking for a moment before adding, “You know it would have actually been really cool it it wasn’t trying to kill us.”
“That does sound pretty cool,” Shining said with a nod, “So – how did you stop it?”
“Pause button.” Twilight replied simply.
Rainbow blinked, “Come again?”
“I created an isolated bubble of frozen time around the ball and then negated the balls momentum to zero.” Twilight said, elaborating.
“You know,” Rainbow Dash said after a moment with a smirk, “Its actually kind of cute that she still thinks those sorts of explanations make sense to anypony else.”
“I can still cancel your Daring Do pre-order, you know,” Twilight shot back before continuing, “Simple version? I froze time for the ball and then shoved it in a shoe box.”
“Oh, that makes more-” Shining paused, “wait, A shoe box?”
“It has a lid,” Twilight replied as they finally reached the south library, the doors opening with a dramatic groan, “Now, Spike, would you kindly prepare a pot of tea while I answer any questions our guests might have about-”
Everypony, dragon and draconequus paused as they took in the scene before them, “...Flash?” Twilight asked in a level tone.
Flash Sentry gulped nervously, “Yes, ma’am?”
“How long ago did you say you had finished in here?” Twilight asked.
“About five minutes ago, ma’am,” Flash replied, “Maybe ten.”
“Five to ten minutes, okay,” Twilight said with a nod, “So – where did all the animals come from?”
Staring back at them was a wide variety of animals in various shapes and sizes. Birds lined the top of the stacks, while the tables and chairs were covered by bears, cats, ferrets, rabbits… basically, anything Twilight had ever seen living at Fluttershy’s cottage. “Well,” Spike said as he looked around, “This is interesting – chaos magic?”
“Chaos magic.” Twilight said with a nod, “and – oh, there’s Harry. Hello Harry!” The bear waved back from one of the tables, a book held daintily in one paw, “Would you mind asking him if he knows anything while I poke around, Spike?”
“On it,” Spike gave a languid wave as he plodded over to the bear.
Twilight glanced around the room before turning her attention skyward, “Flash, do you mind getting us an overhead view?”
“Aye, ma’am,” the pegasus gave a sharp salute before leaping into the air, climbing high into the library’s atrium.
“That leaves me and...” Twilight began patting herself down, “oh, wear did I put it…?”
“Um, Twilight, dear,” Cadence said as she watched Twilight search herself, “You do realize that you aren’t wearing anything with pockets, right?”
“You’d be surprised at how irrelevant that sort of detail is to my life these days,” Twilight replied, “Pocket dimensions are hard to explain without a chart and – aha!” she finally stopped searching as she pulled a blocky device that looked like a cross between a radio and a television monitor from… somewhere, “I designed this after the festival to help locate anomalies more rapidly.”
“Yes, but you just… from...” Shining said as he tried to work out what he’d just witnessed, “...Oh dear, I think I’ve gone cross-eyed.”
“First rule of chaos magic, Shiny,” Twilight said with a smirk as she started to sweep the room, “’It’s just magic, you really should just relax.’,”
Shining smirked, “Somehow I doubt you actually follow that rule, sis.”
“No, I do not,” Twilight replied, “And it got me looking like this-” she gestured at herself with the meter, causing it to briefly click wildly, “- though in your case, trying that would probably just make you blow up.”
“Wait, what?”
“Well, that was what Discord said on out first day,” Twilight said with a shrug, “Something about an energy field larger then my head or some such,” she turned toward the other end of the ro0m, “Spike! Any luck?”
“Harry says he just woke up here a few minutes ago,” Spike replied as he rounded a corner, “Figured he’d catch up on some reading since he was here.”
“I think I have something!” Flash interrupted as he swooped down and landed in front of them, “There’s a spot about four rows out toward the east wall with all of the stacks knocked over like dominos. Big scorched spot in the center.”
“And the animals?” Twilight asked.
“Uh… real?” Flash replied, “One of the birds tried to peck my eye out after I almost landed on their nest by mistake.”
“Wait, nest?” Shining raised an eyebrow at that, “How long have they been here?”
“I dunno, sir,” Flash replied, “despite the feather’s I don’t speak bird.”
“Interesting...” Twilight mused, “If they were constructs that would explain the nests, but according to Discord chaotically generated constructs either need a controller or simply loop very basic behaviors. Being summoned would explain the behavior, but why would they all be so calm? It should be pandemonium in here… spacial transposition mayhaps? But I should have felt that sort of event...”
“Um, ma’am?” Flash Sentry interrupted her musing, “Would you like to see the, um… epicenter? That’s the word, right?”
“Oh, um – yes, it is,” Twilight said with a nod, “and yes – please lead the way.”
The route to the event’s origin point ended up taking a bit longer then expected on account of a combination of false-turns, toppling book stacks and having to go around a sleeping timberwolf, “Gah, this is taking forever,” Shining groused after another dead-end, “Sis, can’t you just teleport us?”
Twilight considered it for a moment, “Well, I could – but do you like your skin being on the outside?”
Shining blinked, “...yes?”
“Then I probably shouldn’t teleport us – if there’s still an anomaly nearby it could destabilize the spell mid-transfer,” Twilight explained before adding cheerfully, “Oh! You might want to be careful about spells in general until we confirm what’s going on – at least anything beyond basic telekinesis.”
“...okay.” Shining said as he nodded nervously, “Um… walking is still safe though?”
“At least for the moment, yes,” Twilight replied, “I should be able to tell if anything ahead… is…” she trailed off as she peered around in confusion, “...does anybody else here singing?”
Flash pricked up an ear, “...yeah I can hear it too; off to the left? Sounds kinda of familiar too...”
Twilight started down the aisle to the left with a cheerful grin, “Lets go take a look then!”
“Wait, Twilight! Slow down!” Rainbow Dash yelled after her, “You just finished telling us about chaos things and – argh! Stupid crazy egghead...”
“So, wait – she isn’t always like this?” Flash asked as they followed behind her at a more sedate pace, “I just figured the, uh… eccentricity was a smart pony thing.”
“Eccentric? Sure,” Rainbow replied, “Impulsive? That’s new...” she paused, “...at least, I think it’s new… oh, hey,” Dash suddenly perked up, “I know that singing,” she continued, more loudly, “Hey, Shy! Know anything I can dance too!”
The singing suddenly cut out, and Twilight let out a groan, “Great, Dash – now we’ll never find her.”
Rainbow Dash grinned, “Wait for it...”
Flash arched an eyebrow, “Wait for what?”
“Oh, um, hello?” everyone turned as the pink and yellow pegasus stepped out from behind a nearby stack, much to the surprise of Princess Cadence, given Fluttershy had appeared about four steps behind her, “Thank goodness I found you, Twilight – I’m, um, actually not sure how I got here...”
“Just take it from the top, Fluttershy,” Twilight said as she stepped closer, “What do you remember?”
“Well,” Fluttershy began, half-hidden behind her pink mane, “I was just stepping out of my door to feed all my animals like always when I suddenly walked into a bookcase. Which was strange because I don’t remember putting a bookcase outside my cottage. But when I turned around my door was gone – all that was there was another bookcase!”
Shining tapped at his chin, “That’s…. really, really weird – any ideas sis?”
“Some sort of mono-directional temporal rift, perhaps,” Twilight suggested, “Or maybe the effect had the concept of unnoticed?”
“Wait, these chaos anomalies can just have… concepts like that?” Flash asked, “Just like that?”
“More or less,” Twilight turned to Fluttershy, “Would you mind getting all of these critters home while we make sure that whatever this is isn’t going to transport the town to the moon or something?”
“Oh, no problem Twilight,” Fluttershy said with a nod, “Most of them are supposed to be at home anyway...” At that point, a bluejay landed on the tip of Fluttershy’s snout, “Mister Tweeter! What are you doing – oh, your wife?” she glanced up from the bird to Twilight, “I’m sorry Twilight, but I need to take care of this – that is, if you don’t mind...”
“Go ahead,” Twilight said with a chuckle, “We have our own problems to deal with,”
“Be careful Twilight,” the yellow pegasus said as she turned and headed down another aisle, deep in conversation with the blue-jay.
“Well, she took that in stride,” Shining commented as he watched her leave.
Rainbow Dash scoffed, “Are you kidding? In Ponyville this is barely a five on the weird-day-o-meter.”
“Speaking of a weird day,” Flash cut in, “The epicenter is just around the corner.”
“Excellent!” Twilight said with a grin as she followed Flash Sentry into the space. As she took a look around, she grimaced, “Looks like you’re going to have to replace the tiling again, Spike.”
“Figured as much,” Spike replied as he began to poke around at the edges while Twilight made her way to the center, “Doesn’t look like any of the books were damaged though – that’s some good news.”
“My dear Spike, that is the best news,” Twilight replied as she swept the room with the scanner, “And some bad news to go with it – the anomaly is still here.”
Shining Armor froze mid-step, standing as still as a statue until Cadence gave him light bop to the head, “Oh, grow up.”
“Excuse me for not wanting to lose all of my skin!” Shining exclaimed.
“Oh, don’t worry Shiny, you wouldn’t lose it,” Twilight assured him as she continued sweeping with the scanner as she moved closer to the center, “I doubt your dermis would fly very far; it would probably stay in visual range even.”
“Not helping!”
“What?” Twilight glanced up from her device, “I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was saying and- ouph!” She was cut off as she suddenly ran into a wall of… nothing. Twilight blinked, “...What the buck?” Carefully, she reached out with one claw until it bumped into something that felt and – when she tapped on it, sounded – like glass. She carefully blew a breath at the barrier, and it seemed to go right through it. A moment to make a paper airplane and it passed forward with a toss… only to suddenly crash like it was made of lead once it reached the center, “...okay, so we have a barrier that stops me but not paper, and gravity is apparently really messed up in the middle...” she glanced back, “Hey, Flash! I need you to poke something!”
A moment of silence before the reply came back, “...Is this going to hurt?”
Twilight considered it, “Probably not.”
“...Oh, what the hay,” Flash trotted down the aisle toward her, “So what do you want me to- ouch!” he recoiled back, rubbing at his nose, “The buck did I just walk into?”
“What I wanted you to check,” Twilight replied, “Thank you for your time.”
“So, what’s the verdict?” Flash asked as he studied the scene, “Are we all doomed?”
“Probably not,” Twilight said back, “Could you tell everyone to not look this way until I say so, and tell me when everyone is turned around?”
“Sure,” Flash said with a shrug, “Why?”
“Because I don’t want to accidentally fry anypony’s brain if I accidentally rip a hole in reality.”
“...okay, fair enough. Give me five minutes,” Flash replied before walking away. As he went, Twilight took a deep breath and focused. With surprising ease, the strings that tugged at the world faded into view, and she could see that inside the circle every single thread was pulled taunt, converging at a single point at about Shining’s eye height. Probingly, she reached out again and watched as a loop of thread suddenly expanded out from that infinitesimally small center point and deflected her touch away before retracting again, “...huh, that’s a new one.” Twilight mused.
“All clear, Ma’am!” Flash’s shout carried over.
“Okay! Just hold on!” Twilight shouted back before turning her attention to the center point. Now she just needed to find a thread that actually reached her position. Sadly, none of them seemed to reach that far. The only one that had come out far enough had been the shield effect from before… “Oh, that could work.” Idea in mind, Twilight raised her claws until they were just above the ‘surface’. With a deep breath, she pressed both hands into the barrier. On cue, a flurry of threads jumped out at her claws. The moment they reached her, she extended her own effort toward them, entangling them and preventing them from retreating. She still couldn’t press forward, but that wasn’t her plan.
Slowly, laboriously, she pulled back until the bundle of threads was just far enough forward that she could wrap her claws around them, “Gotcha,” Twilight said with a smirk as she channeled another burst of her own magic into the threads and down toward the center point.
As soon as the pulse of energy reached it, there was a ear-piercing screech like nails on a chalkboard before the convergence point imploded with the sounds of shattering glass. Twilight staggered a few steps, suddenly aware of how heavy her breathing was, before shouting, “Okay – all clear!”
She glanced back to see everypony turning to look in her direction, “So… It’s gone?” Rainbow asked.
“It’s gone,” Twilight confirmed for her, before glancing around the library – or, rather, what was left of it, “But, uh… I think we’re going to have to go somewhere else.”
“Wherever is convenient is fine, Twilight,” Shining assured her, “Though to be honest I’m curious to see what you’ve actually been doing lately...”
“Research, mostly,” as she started out of the library and back toward the main hall, “Though with the library like that it’s going to be a little more difficult…”
“At least Fluttershy got all the animals out,” Spike pointed out, “...though maybe I should make sure they got out of the castle alright.”
“Good idea, Spike,” Twilight replied, as they started down the hall, “We’ll probably be in one of the labs when you’re done. Do you mind grabbing a tea tray on your way back?”
“No problem,” Spike said as he started toward the front of the castle while Twilight led them further in.
“So, this is the sort of thing you usually deal with these days?” Cadence asked as she followed behind her fellow princess, “This is what’s keeping you inside so much?”
“Only partially,” Twilight admitted, “Most of what I do research work; sort of hard to explain without showing it to you.”
“That might help us out some- woah.” Rainbow’s sudden surprise brought Twilight up short, and when she followed the pegasus’s gaze she figured out why. She’d accidentally led them back to her project room. Stupid autopilot, “...Twi,” Rainbow said after a moment, “Why do you have a conspiracy board about Princess Celestia?”
She supposed that was what interpretation of her current project, Twilight mused. A timeline ran down one side of a large pin board, a map of the greater Canterlot area – including Ponville and a good chunk of the Everfree – taking up most of the other. In between and around them were notecards, articles, papers, sticky notes and pictures of various sorts. Connecting all of them were a wide variety of yarn to create a dizzying web of colors. “Because,” Twilight said as she sat herself down in front of it, “I can’t figure out why.”
“Why what?” Shining Armor asked as Spike arrived with tea.
“Why he went,” Twilight replied, face scrunched up in vexation, “Or why she did it. There was no warning, no preamble, no signs of discontent. The work was good, the scenery changed, and I let him use chaos magic. On top of that, she was fine with all of this at the start. So what changed? Was it something I did? Something she uncovered? Something he did…?”
“Um, just to be clear,” Flash said, speaking up nervously from behind everyone else, “We’re talking about Princess Celestia and Discord, right?”
“Yes!” Twilight spun around, “Everything was fine up until the festival, and suddenly Discord is working with Celestia. Why?”
“He’s trying to get his memories back,” Everyone but Twilight turned to stare at the dragon after he said that, to which Spike just stared back, “What? Apparently he’s missing a big chunk of his memories or something – he asked me to dig up books that might be able to tell him something a while back.”
“I figured as much,” Twilight replied as she continued to stare at the board, “And he basically confirmed it last week but...” she paused before turning to the dragon, eyes narrowed, “He asked you? When?”
Spike shifted nervously, “Back around the start of the festival? ”
“You and I are having a talk later, mister,” Twilight gave him one final stern glare before turning back to the chart, “That explains how, but not why. Why drag him away when she knows how much he helps me with my work?”
“Maybe Celestia is just worried about you,” Shining suggested, “I mean, I know I am – you’re practically living with something that’s taken over Equestria twice! - so her being worried isn’t much of a stretch.”
“But that’s what I don’t get!” Twilight held her head in frustration, “If Discord and I had been fighting this whole time, or if we’d been causing accidents, or anything like that then I would understand. But its been the opposite – him and I have been getting along like a-” Twilight paused, “Oh. OH.”
Shining raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”
“When… when this whole thing started,” Twilight asked carefully, “Who would you figure would be in charge?”
Shining frowned, “You, obviously.”
“So, what would you think if I started acting more…” Twilight waved a claw vaguely, “Draconequus-y?”
“I would think that...” Shining blinked, “If I didn’t know better, I would think that Discord was influencing you somehow… But shouldn’t Celestia know better?”
“Maybe she thinks me being like this makes me vulnerable,” Twilight replied with a frown as she turned to the board and started re-arranging some of the strings, “But… his memories? As leverage? Would she really…?”
“Ponies do strange things in the name of love,” Cadence said, finally speaking up, “It can make us take chances would wouldn’t consider otherwise.”
“But blackmailing a Lord of Chaos?” Shining said, incredulity tinting his voice, “That seems like a little much!”
“Even if that is all true, it still leaves the question of Discord,” Twilight said as she traced out the web of yarn, “As valuable as those memories might be, Discord values his agency even more…” she frowned, “or, at least, I thought he did.”
“Twilight, he’s Discord,” Shining pointed out, “He’s literally chaos. He isn’t supposed to make sense.”
Twilight chuckled, “You know, I used to think that too? Heaven’s know he was random enough to fit that image, but,” Twilight shook her head, “Do you know what chaos – actual, proper chaos – actually is? It’s noise. Just random white noise. The sort of thing you can tune out and ignore. Discord is the opposite of that – he’s anything and everything that’s ever made a plan go sideways. His actions are designed to force a response - any response, as long as its not normal. Normal is boring. The same thing, day after day, is boring. He doesn’t do boring. And just going off with Celestia… just like that… is pretty boring,” the small smile Twilight had been wearing for the last minute faded, “He’s playing at something. He has to be.”
“And what if he’s not?” Cadence asked as she stepped closer, “What if he just decided Celestia could offer him a better deal?”
“Then I’ll drag him back here myself,” Twilight replied sharply, an edge of steel slipping into her voice, “We had a deal! He helps me with chaos magic, I help him actually get the chance to use said magic without getting petrified again. And it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy the work either!” at this point, Twilight was pacing, “He was almost as invested as I was – you know, I don’t think he’d ever considered turning a critical eye to his own capabilities? Depended entirely on instinct. Though, to be fair, for somebody like him those are probably some really good instincts. But we managed to work out phase-shift realignment! And he got to fight a giant angry bird thing, and an evil tree – though I guess the tree might be more of a minus since he sort of got beat black and blue by it. But my point remains! We had an excellent working relationship going – he had to have known I’d help him with something as mundane as research. But did he ask? No! He just runs off in the middle of our research and… argh!”
Cadence just smiled softly, “Are you done?”
Twilight stopped and blinked, “Wait, how much of that was out loud?”
“All of it,” Cadence replied helpfully, “You started with something about him not getting petrified...”
Twilight buried her face in her claws as she sat down with a groan, “You know what? Nevermind. Just… leave me here, barricade the doors shut and let me spend the next century or two pretending that didn’t just happen.”
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Cadence wrapped a foreleg around her sister-in-law and pulled her close, “I know this is hard – I can’t imagine finding somebody who can keep up with you and your work is common. But sometimes ponies don’t turn out to be who or what we think they are. We find out that it was a mask or just a small part of them. Sometimes ponies just disappoint us.”
“Technically,” Twilight pointed out, “he’s not a pony.”
“Yeah, he’s Discord,” Rainbow Dash quipped, “Say what you want about him, Twilight, but he’s still Discord. You can’t fight yourself.”
Twilight was silent for a long moment before letting out a soft sigh, “...Yeah, maybe you’re-” she paused, “Wait – say that again.”
“That Discord is still Discord?” Rainbow Dash said, confused.
“No, the other part!”
“You can’t fight yourself?” Rainbow Dash said, “It’s like in the Daring Do books – no matter what happens, Ahuizotl always-”
“That’s it!” Twilight leapt up, cutting short what was sure to have been a rather impressive dissertation on the moral themes of A.K. Yearling’s seminal work as she dashed over to a different wall and began pinning notes to it, “Think about how all of this started.”
“You messed with chaos magic and ended up looking like Discord’s first dating chance in three millenia?”
“And then I couldn’t turn back,” Twilight continued, ignoring the second half of the comment, “I couldn’t use my normal magic – and why is that? Because I was now a walking chaos magic conduit and the two don’t play nice. Discord told us as much. But what about what happened in the forest? That shrubbery was a chaos entity, right? So why didn’t his attacks work – and why did mine?” She threw up a few charts from her own research files along with pictures of herself and Discord before pulling out a flier from the festival, “And then we have the monster from the festival. We couldn’t attack it without significant alterations to the baseline spellforms. Discord said it was because the creature was unraveling any magic that wasn’t its own. But its own magic wasn’t effected,” She ran a few more stretches of yarn before she turned back to the room, “So – what do all of these events have in common?”
“You and Discord nearly breaking reality?” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“Besides that,” Twilight replied with a dismissive wave.
“Conflict of magic?” Shining Armor suggested, “First you blocked your own magic with chaos magic, then the shrubbery with the freakish magic, and that monster that could ignore magic that wasn’t its own...” he paused, “But I can’t quite get what happened with the shrubbery.”
“The shrubbery was a hybrid between roots of the Tree of Harmony and Discord’s plunderseeds,” Twilight explained, “The resulting plant somehow managed to hybridize both forms of magic.”
“Unlike you?” Shining said.
“That’s what I thought!” Twilight said as she pulled out another set of diagrams – this one was a set of zig-zagging lines of several colors, “But then what Rainbow Dash said clicked – you can’t fight yourself. For the festival, we had to re-modulate the spells but I didn’t have to for the shrubbery. If we assume that there isn’t anything else going on, that means that my magic was already somehow modulated to match the shrubbery. And the only thing I had in common with the shrubbery was the combination of chaos and normal magic.”
“So, what’s all that mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“The shrubbery was able to use both forms of magic – Discord said that it was using the Tree’s magic to grow itself while using chaos magic to consume and power itself. It could use both forms of magic – which means I can to,” she pulled out a scroll of parchment and began to write as she continued to talk, “My normal magic and chaos magic are fully entwined – I literally couldn’t channel my normal magic any more. And Discord’s spells would just bounce off me for similar reasons. But I still have my normal magic – I just have to stop fighting it and work with it.”
Shining stepped closer to his furiously working sister, “How?”
“The converter,” Twilight replied simply as she worked, “The converter Discord and I used to fight the monster at the festival – the same principle could be used to map standard spell constructs to my altered magic. If this works the way I think it works...” Twilight looked up from her scroll, “...I could turn myself back.”
Shining blinked in surprise, “Wait, really?”
“That’s awesome!” Rainbow Dash cheered behind him, “So – what are we waiting for?”
“It’s just a theory right now, Dash,” Twilight replied, “I still need to design the entire spell – and that would be after I verify the underlying theory,” At Dash’s confused blinking, Twilight sighed and said, “A week or two. Maybe three.”
“Back to normal in a month!” Dash cheered again as she threw a hoof around Twilight, “You must be so excited right now, am I right?”
Twilight stared down at the scroll in front of her, “Excited, right...”
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It's the finaaaal Countdoooown! *Bwadadaaa, bwadada*
But this was very fun to read. Had amusing notes, and certainly some real self realization moments. Looking forward to everything going orange shaped.
I think you meant fry or flay, but since this is chaos magic, I suppose fly works.
Back here
Go inside
Shouted back
Love the Mythbuster reference!
Oh good you are finally figuring stuff out.... and then you figure something else out instead.
Good chapter, as expected Twilight is going silly.
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Why must everything turn into the shape of a fruit? If it's not pears, it's oranges! Why not something more creative, something inspired, something unexpected? Why not make everything go Eldrazi-shaped instead? Wouldn't that be more fun?
Here's hoping this helps you find it faster.
Since I doubt you’re all going to just go away, we might as well do inside
what Discord said on out first day
does anybody else here singing
Hey, Shy! Know anything I can dance too
it probably stay in visual range even
Because I don’t want to accidentally fly anypony’s brain if I accidentally rip a hole in reality
Then I’ll drag him back her myself
which means I can to
1. Go.
2. Our.
3. Hear.
4. To.
5. It'd.
6. Fry.
7. Here.
8. Too.
Still holding to my theory of Twi finding out when the number reaches zero and Chaos happens. Well, more chaos anyways.
Looks like chaos magic leaked into the story
we might as well do inside
you mean go inside.
Know anything I can dance too!
Do you mean to and ?
I think that Mythbusters reference was re-used, but it's so good I'll let it pass.
Literal pocket dimensions. Heh heh.
The "It's just magic" line is even funnier.
Chaos magic is awesome. (I only now noticed, but between that and the strings... was that a hidden joke? Still, it's one of the best-"explained" soft magic systems I've seen, and should really be canon. :D )
The sort of reality-breakage and the sheer awesomeness of how they go about it is great.
Uh oh... Twilight has realized some of what's going on and wants to get Discord back, but also may have found a way to de-serpentify herself. That's a bad combo. Still, if she can use her normal magic, if with some effort, plus she's arguably more powerful... Those are good excuses to stay that way, even without the shipping aspect. I wonder how normal magic works, because the Chaos one seems more like how I'd imagine magic would work to begin with, plus it is rather more versatile and useful. Why do I suspect that regular magic is just Chaos magic with a few macros slapped on it, and the full version got a bad rap since Discord likes trolling (though I am pretty sure that would quickly become a trait of anyone with reality-warping powers)...
If she ever DOES decide to change back, I think she should maintain her powers (blame it on magic, or on Chaos having a failsafe to make sure that its wielders can keep access to it no matter what happens to them)... and a formshift to Draconequus when using Chaos, when she wants to, or under periods of strong emotion. The last one for the humor value, obviously. The second is because the shipping is cute.
... wait a minute.
After all that rant about her and Discord, why neither Cadance nor Shining suspected that Twilight might have some beyond-normal feeling for Discord? I thought at least Cadance should sense any kind of romance developing.
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oh she can now but the real question is,
does she want to??
You definitely need to have an editor go through this chapter, plenty of spelling errors and a couple random words in places as well.
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I think Cadence knows. But she takes love seriously, and lets it develop.
Not saying something often gets you a lot farther. And she isn't one to be shocked or appalled at the relationship, either. The only way she'll step in is if the relationship is seriously threatened by an outside force, or everyone already accepts is, so she's able to safely tease.
At least that's what I get from her personality.
Sounds like Flubber. If you aren’t careful, Twi, Fred McMurray is gonna come through a temporal rift to sue you for patent infringement.
WE>>>>NEED>>>MORRREEEEE
such a fricken good story!
"If you're wondering how he eats and breathes, and other science facts, just repeat to yourself..."
Just found this story and it's amazing. I really like what you're doing with it.
So many references. Did I see a "machine that goes ping" and a Hellsing one?
Also, here's some corrections/typos. (Sorry, I'm really picky about this sort of thing)
Fluttershy looked at the purple curiously.
looked at the purple what?
Discord levitates himself all the time." she leaned
capital S for She?
earning a surprised look from Discord as she came to his aide
aid
As Discord attempted to summarize the situation with his usual flare
flair
boarded on three sides by woods
bordered
Hrm. It’s almost like. Discord
Shouldn't the second "." be a semicolon, comma or ellipsis?
a wormhole would look more like rippling water then-
then -> than
grabbed to wardrobe doors
to -> the?
Twilight finally managed to clamor off the cushions
clamor -> clamber
There was A rustle of movement
Lower case a
Twilight replied as she dismissed him with a wave of his claws,
his -> her
I like really like nuts,” she blinked
double "like"
stopping at a chard with
card?
The rest of the walk to the lab was uneventful and without further interrupt.
interruption
context or clarification one a hoof-ful of points
one -> on?
against his chest with his chin rest just on top of her head
resting
Discord reached down, finding Twilight claw
Twilight's
leaving a fifteen and three-quarter radius
missing units
Cutting in lie for Pinkie Pie cupcakes
lie -> line
Twilight sighed, “I’m fine, really,” she tired to assure Cadence
tired -> tried
Other then get the organs alphabetized
the -> their
her eyes slipping close for a moment
close -> closed
“oh, wear did I put it…?”
wear -> where
she turned toward the other end of the ro0m
0 instead of a o, room
does anybody else here singing
here -> hear
want to accidentally fly anypony’s brain
fry?
She supposed that was what interpretation of her current project
what->one
But its own magic wasn’t effected
affected
Love is complicated.
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Agreed, but my current work schedule means waiting until I get chapters back from an editor could push release back to, oh.... December?
That countdown worries me.
I've long wanted an excuse to make my own conspiracy wall.
Hmmm....
Keep that one.
*sees new chapter, proceeds to bounce around like a tiny Twilight*
Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!!
8894170
Amen to that.
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Evil Overlord Rule #22: No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.
See new chapter:
media1.tenor.com/images/cc66513145a48e4e4b05df7a31af52e1/tenor.gif?itemid=8229873
Holy Nacho chips in a Sundae!
Absolute phenomenal bit of writing here, you've got me thoroughly hooked.
Truly thrilled to see that you still wish to see this story through, thank you for gracing us that much!
Dammiy i really hope they end up together. Dicordian twilight for the win!
Yeah new chapter.
So another day, another chaos anomaly.
And oh what's that? A possible solution for Twilight turning back to a pony. Are we nearing the end?
Mistakes found :
Spike didn’t have a chance to say anything more
we might as well do it inside.”
if
room
fry
Promisingly (I think)
an
you
here
somepony
So Twilight has figured out how to make an adapter so she can use Unicorn Magic again. By extension, she now knows how to turn herself back into a pony. Ignoring the shipping and self-identity issues, who wants to bet that her magic remains hybridized regardless of which physical form she ends up with?
Nooo Twilight
stay as draconequus, a pony body is so weak and fragile but a draconequus body is powerful and strong
(a little crazy but no evil Twi) lol
Great story so far, I like where this story is headed, i can only hope she stays a draconequus but whatever happens i will still like it.
Keep it up and to see next chapter soon
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Pretty sure you're right, the joke/reference has been used twice now, but I'm okay with it. I'll just say one is a "Mythbusters" reference and the other was a reference to "The Dungeonmaster", lol.
Sooo need more of this story.
I just binge read this over two shifts at work.
I want more.
Please give me more.
8895729
I am also pretty sure it's influence from her new body type. She's not normally that fun. I like it this way better, because she has picked up a slight trollish personality, but it has made her even more effective, in a Girl Genius sort of way. The crazy ones are always the best. SCIENCE!!
8898541
I did, and hope so too.
8900275
What's the second one?
8894961
I think that one got covered back when Discord actually said it, but yes. Glad to see another reader of the List.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG
https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/1001_things_Mr._Raymond_can%27t_do_when_he_GMs
The other lists are good too. :D (WARNING: Do not consume beverages while reading, unless you were already planning on buying a new monitor anyway.)
For that matter, there's a story called A Practical Guide To Evil that seems dedicated to using and then subverting the items on the Overlord List. It's to the point that the world's physics actually run off of tropes and archetypes, and the main characters are villains who refuse to hold the idiot ball. The whole thing is pretty much one big crowning moment of awesome, and it has one of the longest TVtropes pages for a single work that I've ever seen.
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The infamous quote from Adam Savage of the Mythbusters is actually itself a quote from the movie "The Dungeonmaster" alot of people don't know this and mistakenly think he made the quote up himself. Funny enough, he has been one of the most fervent in correcting this bit of fan misinformation.
8902309
Huh. Well, cool. Now I really need to see that.
Once I'm done with this, I'll have to go back and hunt for typos
This verb feels wrong. "go inside", instead?
our
feathers
hear
to?”
bluejay
taut,
She supposed that was one interpretation of her current project,
back here
too,”
Huh, looks like Twi is realizing her own lack of interest to be a pony again if it hurts being with Discord.
I hope that this story doesn't die off. I hope to see this completed.
... Alright, I'm a bit confused... Why is Twilight acting like she didn't/doesn't know that Discord is trying to get his memories back? That was told to her by Discord himself. That should not have been a surprise, and why was Twilight surprised to see Cadance and Shining? She talked to them just last chapter!
Did you forget to delete the previous chapter? Is she stuck in some sort of time loop? The story is starting to lose cohesion, I'm feeling like.
8931065
Nah - I'm just losing cohesion. I'm going to go back and handle some edits before I move on with the last few chapters - unfortunately, it will have to wait until after (another) business trip.
8931823
Alright. And I apologize for being a bit blunt for that comment. I need to watch my wording better when I am tired and still physically ill.
2 things
one I don't know how far you want twi and discord to go but hope it go's for wiard kids or even pandora like the art don't know if you want to do it as pony or draco? that sounds dirty
Two I hope that twilight keeps the power she has gand from becoming what she is controling both harmony and chaos would be cool and what she can do with her power right now is great reminder thay can do anything
I’d stay as is. Relationships aside Twi has had a much better outlook on life in general.
8958146
THAT'S MY LINE!!!!!
Plz update