The Chaos Within

by StapleCactus

A False Front

Discord had only interacted with Sinis, so I hoped I could imitate my mind under Chaos. I wasn’t sure how perceptive he could be. Recalling the actions of Sinis, I mimicked his mannerisms as well as possible.

Attempting to spread chaos, not that I can. That sword technique you taught me doesn’t help much.

“Oh-hohoho? And you wanted me to do what, exactly?”

Where is your chaos? Here I am, near Canterlot, and I don’t see your influence.

“That’s because I’m not bothering with them. I’m enjoying my free time before I attempt an attack again. Unless you have a plan?”

I do.

“....” My sword continued to vibrate, relaying Discord’s silence. “Come to Everfree Forest.”

The undulation of metal stopped abruptly. Between his lack of riddles and blunt speech, I feared that he was onto me for not sounding chaotic enough. My destination in mind, I headed further from Canterlot, doubt and contained anger clouding my thoughts.

A few minutes into my journey, I started to dwell on previous experiences. How did I fight better when I was angry? Why did I need to win if all it does is cause me to lose my fo...cus.... A simple question turned into an epiphany. If I lose focus during battle, I can ignore the finer details of my enemy; doing so allows me to follow their movements. In that case, wouldn’t removing my glasses give an equal result?

My thoughts led me to the border of the Everfree Forest and under its canopy. Celestia’s noon-time sun bled through in miniscule amounts, forcing my eyes to adjust to the dark path. Despite this being my second time in the forest, and a different entrance, my feet carried me in the direction of the old castle ruins.

To keep my wits about me in the dark, foreboding forest, I tested my energies. My Chaotic energy had leveled out with my Harmonic energy during the short rest at the castle and the following journey to my current location, allowing me to affect more and act like Sinis with greater ease. It would be useful in the upcoming fight I was sure to have.

The castle of the Royal Pony Sisters slowly came into view, its great, yawning moat halting my approach. Unlike with Twilight and her friends, and the first time I visited the area, I was facing no straight entryway into the dilapidated building. I crouched and collected energy beneath my feet. As I jumped, the built up forces extended my thrust, easily sending me across the chasm and above the castle.

Discord sat upon a conjured throne with an eyebrow raised as I fell back to earth. My perfectly timed entrance did not seem to change his demeanor at all. Landing on my feet with a barely noticed bend to my knees, I looked upon him with as neutral an expression as I could muster.

“Three points,” Discord said, placing his head on his lions paw.

“Outta five?”

“Twenty.”

“Psh, everyone’s a critic.” I rolled my eyes.

“You were late, the dismount was horrible, not a single stunt was performed mid-flight, and you got dirt in my drink.

“I think you got drink on my dirt,” I said, just noticing the chocolate milk in Discord’s talons.

He drank the rest of the liquid before setting the glass down on the throne’s armrest. A smirk flickered across his face for a moment at my disappointed expression. “Tastes like cinnamon.”

No exploding? Aww. “You ate my dirt...”

“It will be my dirt soon enough.”

“Not without my help, it won’t be.”

“And without me, you’ll never cause enough chaos to matter. Now tell me your plan.”

Discord’s bored expression didn’t change when I told him of my role in his release, but warped to excited glee at my role in the dethroning of the princesses. I would be his front man, using the sword to deflect and distract the Elements of Harmony while he dealt with Celestia and Luna. After disposing of the bearers, I would take Luna off his hands.

“The best part? Heh... They are all gathered at the castle as we speak! We could defeat them in one fell swoop and rain chaos for all time!”

“How will you defeat six ponies where I could not?” His voice threatened to destroy me if I spoke against him on his failure.

“I will attack them physically, now that I cannot fall.”

Discord snapped his talons, causing a boulder to appear above me. I stood my ground as it fell, tons of rock spelling my doom. It met my skull, only to crack and fall away in two halves. As they crashed to the ground, I raised an eyebrow to Discord’s amused smile.

“Happy now?”

“Oh, what else can you do?” He paused to contemplate my perceived torture. “Ah, lava!”

A river of lava flowed from around his throne at another snap. Again, I stood and allowed it to wash over me. The heat bore down on me, causing sweat to pool above my brow, as I continued to keep my body hardened. Soon enough, the lava ceased.

“Really, Discord. You can have your fun after we destroy the diarchy of Equestria.”

Discord’s laughter rang throughout the castle, rebounding off the moss covered walls again and again. “This is too entertaining.” Yet another snap and yet another obstacle.

Water formed a sphere around my head, cutting off my air supply. This time, I walked towards him, holding my breath for the sake of image. I got right in his face and inhaled the water until it my lungs were full and the sphere was gone. Then, I proceeded to shoot every bit of it into his face. The liquid sprayed him for a second before he put his paw in the way, forcing the stream to fan out and away.

“Enjoy the water, Discord?” A smirk played at my lips as revenge.

He lowered his paw to glower at me. Seconds slowly ticked by, as I learned from a walking clock that wandered into the room. “Touche.” With one last snap of his fingers, a bright light surrounded us as we were warped away.

Either warping was different from teleporting, or I had gotten used to spatial displacement, as I had no ill effects from the transfer. We appeared within Canterlot Castle to the mild shock of maids and guards. The servants ran immediately as the sentries set themselves for a fight. Hope Luna told them I’m an enemy.

“Halt! In the name of Her Majesties, Princes-”

“Oh hush and step aside. I’ve got a date with Celestia,” Discord said as his talons clicked together.

The great protectors of Equestria were warped into shadows of their former selves as Discord released a wave of Chaotic magic. Just as Twilight and her friends were turned into opposites, the guards started to act like children or cowards, running in terror.

“New spell? I seem to recall you had to do that one at a time,” I said.

“The Element bearers were different.” He strolled by me, making it easy to keep up.

Soon enough, we were at the doors to the castle throne room. Odd, where are the guards? I pushed the great doors open and allowed Discord entry first. Stepping in after him, I stood at his side and scanned the room. Princess Celestia and Luna, Twilight and her friends, and Panacea all stood to face us with a few guards lined against the walls. Why is Pan here?

“Celestia! So good to see you,” Discord said, sarcasm dripping from his voice and a smile on his face.

“Discord!”

“That’s me! I must say, Celestia, you were quite foolish. Allowing this human to roam free after I specifically said he was my key.”

With a quick draw of my sword, I brought it up and across his exposed side. In a howl of pain, Discord jumped away, clutching the wound and glaring at me. I saw the mares look towards me in shock. Sorry, Pan.

Comments

[Tyrant Molestia]

damn that last part was awesome. i think i'll derp your comment thing again dude. there im happy now lol great story as always.

[I Brained My Damage]

I'm confused... was Dex balanced (or still good) before going to meet Discord? And I'm not sure if I missed something, but why was he meeting Discord in the first place?

[StapleCactus]

855640

Last time, on- yeah, not doing that. Okay, so, Dex is balanced (as shown last chapter and in this one[via testing energy paragraph]) since he hasn't been hit with any energy since the dungeon. In this chapter, Dex was trying to trick Discord into thinking he was Sinis. By the way, there isn't really a good/bad just because of Harmony/Chaos levels, it's just harder for a Chaotic being to be good than a Harmonic one.

Dex was meeting Discord because read the last chapter. He blames Discord for Stone's death and Luna tells him to go after him, is the short answer.

Because Twilight is awesome: and