WWC: Crystalline Chaos

by Chris-Cross13

Prologue

Another night dawns on Equestria. Both Ponyville and Canterlot are again awash in a deep slumber. The castle is also in a state of still quietness besides the few guards that roam the halls for intruders. Yet outside the castle, the air stirs with movement. The winds shift as to allow another’s presence in the darkness. Suddenly, a periwinkle portal opens; and from it emerges Paradox and Trixie. Both are eager to begin with task at hand as they approach the large doors of Canterlot Castle.

“So, what is our plan, Paradox?” Trixie asks as they stand right in front of the entrance to the castle. Paradox halts the two of them before they advance any further.

“Patience, my student. Remember, we are here to see an old friend of mine. He is essential to Phase Three. The series of events that I have been waiting for weeks shall start tomorrow. We must act now if we are to be successful in our true plan.” Paradox throws out his right hand and the doors to the castle fly open. The two slowly enter the dark castle, both avoiding making any loud or sudden noises. As soon as they two of them reach the inner hall of the castle, Paradox throws another hand at the doors, closing them shut with a slow wave of the palm. “We must be quick, Trixie. The guards will circle back here in ten minutes.”

“Trixie knows this, Paradox.” The unicorn says. “Yet we are not the ones that need to hurry. Where is this friend of-”

POOF!

Trixie is cut off by a sudden flash of unknown magic. Blinking as to get rid of the daze cast upon her. Trixie squints forward to see the cause of this sudden interruption. The figure before her is a thin creature made up of an amalgamation of various animals. Only one creature has such features: The spirit of chaos, Discord. Seeing the chaotic being before her; Trixie’s horn starts to glow blue. Seconds later, Trixie fires off one periwinkle beam at Discord before Paradox throws his staff in front of his student to cease her fire. Discord quickly bends to avoid the spell; his serpentine body twisting as the spell is narrowly dodged and impacts the throne in the background.

“Well, THAT’S no way to welcome a guest.” Discord says, a bit insulted. Paradox laughs at the comment.

“You should have knocked first.” He comments back. “It is nice to see you again, Discord.” Paradox stretches out a hand as he and Discord exchange a friendly handshake. The two of them look at each other with the same expression of content and remembrance as they greet one another.

“Ah, it’s great to see you again as well, my friend. How long has it been? One, two thousand years since we last met?” Paradox nods at his guess.

“Yes, two thousand sounds right.” The time spirit eyes Trixie, who is still on edge at the being of chaos before her. “Pardon my student, Trixie. She had no idea that the friend I was implying to her was you.” Discord shrugs off the comment before turning into a wizard hat that is almost identical to Trixie’s own, albeit a darker shade of blue.

“Of course I don’t mind at all, Paradox.” The shape-shifting Discord says casually as he swipes Trixie’s real hat off of her head and puts himself in its place. “You’ve been teaching her well. She might actually be a threat to Twilight all on her own this time around!” Discord pops out of his disguise and reappears as his old self in front of the pair. Trixie growls at Discord’s little comment, which prompts Paradox to roll his eyes.

“Trixie could easily take that pathetic ‘Element of Magic’; but that is besides the point. We have a job to do.” Paradox starts walking towards the end of the hall over to Celestia’s throne. Trixie and Discord follow suit. Paradox lifts another hand and in one swift motion, casts the throne aside and snaps his fingers to cause the throne to freeze in mid-air. “There.” Paradox points his staff at the small hole in the wall behind where the throne once was. Trixie and Discord exchange a look of confusion.

“You realize that only Celestia can open that, right?” Discord points out. Paradox laughs at his comment as he approaches the hole.

“That is what you think.” Paradox stomps down his staff and flips it around; the pointed end now facing upward. “Remember Discord, I am much older than you are. I have learned many things in my time in this universe. For example,” Paradox thrusts his staff into the hole in the wall and sharply turns it to the right. A small click is heard, making Paradox grin as he removes the staff and makes another motion with his hand. The wall opens to reveal a pedestal; on top of which, is a peculiar looking necklace. One that Trixie knows all too well.

“The Alicorn Amulet?!” She exclaims. “What does this have to do with anything?” Paradox plucks the necklace off of its pedestal with a conniving grin written on his face.

“Poor Trixie. You only know this as The Alicorn Amulet.” He presents her with the amulet in front of her. “This, my dear, is The Element of Structure. An Element of Conflict.” Trixie’s jaw drops at this realization. She had USED an Element of Conflict without even knowing! To be fair, she DID end up losing again. But still, she curses to herself on not actually knowing the power she had once wielded.

“WHAT?! TRIXIE USED AN ELEMENT OF CONFLICT?!” She screams louder that a megaphone. Paradox quickly shuts her mouth with his hand.

“Silence your tongue! We do not want the guards getting back here any sooner!” He hisses at her quietly. Trixie nods rapidly as her teacher lets go of her muzzle. “To answer your question, my student; you did indeed once posses an Element of Conflict. However, being that you were not the true owner; you were not able to use the true power of the element.” Trixie ‘hmm’s’ with understanding at Paradox’s explanation.

“But then what do we want it for?” She asks. “Trixie thought you said that these elements were of no use to us?” Paradox snickers and her memory of the past.

“That is true. WE care not for them… But I know someone that would love the idea of more power.”

“Who?” Trixie asks. Paradox snaps his fingers and a mysterious object falls into his hand. Trixie and Discord get closer to see that the object is a long, maroon spike of sorts that appears shattered towards its base. Trixie suddenly senses a surge of dark and malevolent magic coming from within the object; making her own magic pale in comparison. “Paradox,” She whispers, astonished. “What IS that thing?”

“This, my student, is the horn of the late King Sombra.” Trixie’s eyes widen in fear at the mention of the very name. “You see, he was defeated by those meddlesome ponies. However, his life essence lives on in this remaining fragment of his horn.” He hovers the horn and the amulet above each of his hands. “Now comes the fun part… Discord?” He looks at his draconequus’s friend, who is looking out the window.

“Hmm?” He responds.

“I need your chaotic power, Discord. You are the only one who can allow Sombra’s essence to transition from his horn to the amulet. This is vital for our Equestrian rule if we are to succeed. Will you not help us, old friend?” Discord looks at Paradox nervously. Apparently, Paradox had no idea of his new nature.

“Uhh… Well, actually…” Discord starts with a nervous laugh. Paradox raises a brow at his suspicious behavior.

“Is there something the matter, Discord?” He asks with a stern impatience in his voice. Discord starts twiddling his thumbs rather quickly as his friend waits for an answer.

“Well… Actually Paradox, here’s the thing: I’m not really for the whole ‘Taking over Equestria’ thing anymore.” He answers while flying around Paradox’s form. The time spirit looks at his friend with a very unimpressed and stupefied expression on his face.

“...What?” Is the only thing that he manages to say out of shock value.

“You see; one of The Elements of Harmony, Fluttershy, helped show me the value of friendship and I vowed to use my powers for good instead of evil. She’s such a good pegasus.” Paradox continues to stare at Discord in disbelief. The last time he saw Discord; mountains were flipped upside down, half the world was a game of chess, and he is pretty sure it was raining chocolate for a century or so.

“You have got to be kidding me. This is another joke, right?” The spirit says, harshly. Surely, the spirit of chaos is just pulling his leg once again.

“Sorry, Paradox! You and Trixie are on your own this time around.” Paradox continues to stare at his friend; his left eye twitching out of utter surprise, confusion, and anger. Trixie looks back at her mentor; wondering if their plan had hit a brick wall. However, Paradox has an ace up his sleeve.

“...Trixie.” He says suddenly, still staring at Discord. The unicorn immediately looks up at her mentor.

“Yes, Paradox?” She answers, a bit curious as to what he has planned.

“Remember that spell that I taught you just in case something like this were to happen?” Trixie’s eyes bug out for a second as she remembers the spell in question. Yet she is still confused as to what purpose it would have now.

“Yes, Trixie remembers. It is the enhanced mind manipulation spell.” She tilts her head and eyes Paradox, confused now as to what he is thinking.

“Then you see where I am going with this?” Paradox says. Trixie looks at him curiously before her eyes widen at a sudden idea.

“Say no more. Trixie understands completely.” Trixie gains a mischievous smile as her horn starts to glow a dark blue. Discord takes no notice to the unicorn as he starts to fly away from the duo. Trixie shoots of a deep blue magic blast straight at Discord’s head. The spirit recoils as he is thrown a little bit forward by the hit; grabbing his head in pain and falling to the ground. Trixie and Paradox move a bit closer to the fallen spirit, inspecting to see if the spell has worked. Suddenly, the spirit springs back into the air with a chilling laugh. Turning back to the duo, his eyes now have a dark blue hue with an evil glare. Paradox smiles at the results, but he wants to be sure that it worked.

“Now Discord, are you with us?” He asks without haste. Discord eyes Paradox with a confused yet satisfied smile.

“Why wouldn’t I be, my friend? I can’t wait to cause some chaos!” Paradox nods, the spell had worked perfectly. His plan was back on track. And not a moment too soon, hoofsteps could be heard approaching the castle from outside. Yet Paradox keeps his calm state of mind.

“Good. Now quickly, use your chaotic power and send the life essence of Sombra into the amulet!” Discord grabs both Sombra’s horn and The Alicorn Amulet, and starts to make the two objects approach each other above him through levitation. Discord then closes his eyes and starts to focus on the horn in his mind. Without warning, a red glow starts to envelop the horn after a few seconds. The glow grows in size before slowly focusing into a jagged beam that starts arching towards The Alicorn Amulet. As soon as the beam makes contact with the amulet, the entirety of the red light jets towards the amulet at lightning speed; creating a loud whooshing noise as a result of the transfer. After five seconds, the connection between the two objects abruptly ends and Sombra’s horn shatters into hundreds of fragments that fall into Discord’s open hand. Trixie gasps, fearing that the connection had failed. Paradox however gazes in awe at the amulet as it lowers in Discord’s other hand. The red diamond and the eyes of the amulet begin to glow a deep maroon.

“His essence has been transferred successfully.” Discord says happily before blowing away the shards of Sombra’s horn into the air. Paradox plucks the amped up Alicorn Amulet from Discord and marvels at the new power within.

“Yes… Sombra should be quite pleased with his new home.” The spirit comments as he floats over at returns the amulet to its pedestal. “And he shall be even more pleased when he gains his new body tomorrow.” He motions a hand to shut the wall that originally hid the amulet. Suddenly, the front doors of the castle begin to open. Paradox slowly turns around, a grin on his face. “Right on schedule.” He says to himself. He quickly floats back to the others. “Discord, you are to come with us for the time being. Tomorrow, I will explain your task and what you are to tell Sombra to do when the time is right. As for now…” He slams his staff on the ground just as two guards are about to enter the castle. “Let us not waste anymore time.” Paradox says as he clicks a button on the stopwatch on the top of his staff.

“Are you sure you heard something in here?” The guard in front questions as he walks through the front doors; peering around for any kind of activity. The second guard peeks his head inside before joining the other inside. Both guards start shining a light from their horns as they search around the castle’s throne room. Yet nothing seemed out of place: The windows were unbroken, all the doors were closed and undisturbed and the throne was stationary at the end of the room. The first guard glares at his partner, who nervously looks around the castle.

“I could have sworn I heard something.” He pleads in defence. The first guard rolls his eyes as the two start to leave. But not before both guards get a simultaneous chill up their spines as the sound of either a creepy laugh or the passing wind seems to rush past them. The two guards look at each other and gulp.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here. The castle’s halls are eerie at night. Can’t stand it.” The first guard says as he walks back outside. The second guard takes one final look around the castle, before realizing that his partner is leaving without him.

“H-Hey! Don’t leave me here!” He shouts as the second guard races after the other; the door slowly creaking closed once more. Canterlot Castle returns to a quiet and dark state. That is, except for a low and ominous red glow faintly showing from behind the throne.