Foaly's Enlightenment
“…ow I’ll tell you all about the Era of Chaos, where Discord ruled with an iron hoof.”
“I’d much prefer if you didn’t…”
He wasn’t entirely certain how things had ended up like they did. It all started with a cup of tea with Celestia in a small room in the back halls of the castle. Things moved quickly from there: he toured the castle, entered the gardens, and found himself with a severe urge to touch the statue of the snake-like beast composed of a dozen different animal parts. When Foaly’s hand came within a few inches of the strange decoration, all hell broke loose.
Literally hell, he mentally groaned as gravity took hold again, pulling him toward the ground.
“Nonsense! You’re my guest, and guests deserve to know all about their host’s fortunes!”
A bolt of lightning followed the almost-contact, swallowing the entirety of the cliff-side town of Canterlot in a bright golden light. One ear-wrenching screech later, and the statue was bouncing around on its legs. Then, as if that weren’t bad enough, the entire town had been twisted and contorted in unnatural angles, houses and ponies standing complacently upside down above the main town. And Foaly was at the epicenter of the proverbial storm of impossibility.
Wrapped up in some sort of extremely long silk scarf, he swung like a pendulum in front of the pedestal on which the statue had rested. What the scarf was hanging from, he couldn’t say. It was just…hanging. Sometimes he would float further away from the ground, and others he would come crashing down. It was entirely unpredictable.
“Oh! I meant to ask, do you like the scarf? It suits you!”
“Does it? Couldn’t tell.”
The beast that was freed from the statue was the single source of all the nonsense Foaly was being made to suffer. And that beast stood on its pedestal, grinning horn to horn with amused yellow eyes.
Discord laughed, “You mustn’t be so serious all the time, Foaly. It’s bad for the kidneys!” A small glass of water appeared in the beast’s claws, which he extended toward his prisoner guest.
“I’ll pass!” the centaur snapped as gravity lost its grip on him once more. Into the air he went, still swaying from side to side.
“I must admit, for an earthling you are quite calm about this whole mess. Why is that?” The draconequus dropped the glass in favor of clapping his hands, the silk scarf severing from its nonexistent pivot with a burst of flame. Foaly fell to the ground in a useless heap.
Is this thing serious right now? Civil conversation? His mind wandered as he stood, barely concerned for the childish games of the beast. “If you want honesty, it’s because you aren’t very threatening.”
“Am I not?” the beast looked utterly heartbroken, tears filling its eyes as it slumped over. “I suppose there’s no real threat in childish games?” He popped out of view for a split second, reappearing just behind the half-man. “But I wouldn’t tell that to our dear little Tia over there!”
Several yards away, where the entrance to an extensive hedge maze used to be, stood a massive stone pillar. The nondescript outline of an alicorn jutted from the rock, words scrawled neatly all around it. ‘Princess,’ ‘Sun,’ and ‘Sister’ were a few.
“Do you know,” Discord began, slithering through the air to look his guest in the eyes, “what the one redeeming factor in being beaten twice is?”
The centaur scoffed, “Not having to shower?”
“I like the way you think! But sadly, no.” The draconequus manifested a large purple gemstone in his paw. “The best thing about being defeated is that I’ve learned how to not underestimate my enemies!” The gem changed to red, then to orange. “So I’m not going to play games with them. The ponies, I mean.”
“I just don’t believe that,” Foaly sighed dismissively, his mind somewhere else entirely.
“I imagined you would be much more interested in what I have to say. It was my magic that brought you all here to begin with!” Discord sounded almost genuinely annoyed.
The centaur laughed cockily, “You say that like I didn’t already figure it out!”
“You what?” the beast’s expression fell instantly, any smugness he’d felt melting away.
“How thick do you think I am, Discord? The light that swallowed Canterlot had a nice golden shine, just like the light that swallowed my box, and the time-stopped barrier around Fowl Manor. Not hard to put two and two together.”
The mismatched monster stared at his intelligent guest with dropped jaw, genuinely impressed with such mediocre deduction skills. The gem in his paw shifted to green, then immediately to cyan. He smiled slyly as he lifted into the air, swirling around the centaur with little sign of seriousness.
“You’re quite intelligent, Foaly,” he mocked.
To which Foaly responded, “I know.”
“No more so than that smug little human, I’m afraid!” the beast sighed, ending its circular motion above what once held his statue. “I’m certain he’s deduced the very same. And it shouldn’t be long before his entourage shows up here.”
The centaur chuckled dismissively, “Sounds like you’re running out of time.”
“Time?” Discord snapped. “Time is inconsequential. Especially to you earthlings.”
“Oh?” he cocked an eyebrow, almost interested.
“Why yes! You creatures have all the time in the world! Well, except for your dear Commander.” His grin stretched wider, the gem changing to pink as he gripped it tighter.
Foaly’s expression dropped at the shift in tone. “Why do you say it like that?” he probed, attempting to keep some of his curiosity in check.
“Oh, the things that man has been through, the trials he’s faced! They’re almost delicious to think about! Well, I suppose I should say they will be.”
“If you’re trying to ruffle my coat, it won’t work. You might’ve played Artemis like a fiddle, but I’m not that ignorant!” Foaly’s eyes scanned the immediate area, his stationary position finally allowing him to take in the full extent of the monster’s influence. The castle itself looked almost demonic in its contorted glory.
The playful beast tittered, “Is that so? What a shame! And to think you could save him!” The gem in his paw returned to its original purple state, a dark brown mist surrounding it.
“Save him? Save who?” the centaur craned his neck toward the beast, confused.
“Your precious commander, of course! What’s his little nickname? Beetroot?”
“What do you mean I could save him?”
“I could show you, if that’s what you want. But knowledge can be so boring! I’d hate to put you in that position!”
“Tell me what you mean!” Foaly stomped his hooves; a surge of anger coursed through him out of nowhere. The anger felt familiar, flowing from somewhere deep in the back of his mind.
Discord shrugged his shoulders in indifferent acknowledgment, crushing the gem with his grip. The mist condensed into a thick ball before launching itself at Foaly. It smothered his head, changing from brown to golden as he fell to the ground with agonized screams. Images danced around his head, each familiar and personal, emotions surfacing with them. Anger, pain, love, and a deep, crippling hatred all washed over him.
The mist cleared away as quickly as it had attacked him, and he was left sitting silently with wide eyes. A million thoughts raced through his head, fragments of a greater memory.
Discord chuckled, “I told you knowledge was boring. You aren’t even talking anymore!”
Foaly sat stiff, his hooves refusing to lift him up, his mind refusing to accept what he was seeing. He could only stare up at the beast that had set the world awry.
“Oh come now, don’t just stare at me; say something!”
The images settled in his head, his eyes focused back on the landscape around him, and he choked out, “If that’s our future, why are we here?” He closed his eyes tight, calling back one particular image he’d managed to catch a glimpse of.
“Your world’s already neck-deep in a time paradox; I figured you could spare some of the chaos to help me out! I couldn’t just activate my magic on my own!” Discord bounced around the disbelieving centaur. “I was a statue, after all.”
Time paradox, Foaly repeated. Are these…memories?
“Bravo, horseman! Bravo! You figured it out!”
My memories? From the me that’s already been through all that? How does that even work?!
“Very, very carefully. Takes a very light touch, I’m afraid.”
“What in the name of everything natural are you?!” Foaly shot to his hooves, the flood of anger from earlier coming back with a much more familiar energy. He knew why he was angry this time, and that made it much easier to accept the emotion. “You steal us from our homes for your childish games, while our world’s tearing itself apart?”
“Oh please!” Discord snapped in indignation, “I didn’t steal anyone! It was that spoiled brat that opened a door he shouldn’t have! I only unlocked it for him.” His body floated gently in the air, barely stirring the dirt below him. With a grin he added, “Besides, your world’s not in trouble yet. Not for another few years.”
“Is that supposed to make it better?” Foaly scoffed, his anger subsiding in favor of calculation. Whatever was to happen, the centaur knew he needed to find some way to get out of the abomination of a town. He needed to speak to his comrades. “I’ll admit that it makes sense why you would show me those memories.”
“Makes sense? Does anything I do ever really make sense?”
“This time it does. You showed me the future because you know I won’t remember it. Is that right?” The centaur smiled smugly, accepting the inevitable truth.
We either rot here in Equestria, or we lose our memories of it when we go back. A chaotic failsafe all thanks to chaos itself. Predictable.
“You aren’t near as naïve as that foil helmet made you seem.”
“I would hope not,” he chuckled, putting his emotions aside. This wasn’t a time for feelings and reflection; it was a time for strategy and cunning. “After all, a foil helmet is just crazy!”
If I could only get some form of message to Holly, maybe… thoughts began to link together in the centaur’s head, a plan forming slowly and uncertainly. His eyes scanned the landscape around him, stopping onto each object that had even a slight chance of being useful. He glossed over a silhouette in the distance as he hurried to find some sort of possible out.
Discord grinned as his guest’s eyes opened wider, head pivoting back in the direction of the silhouette. He couldn’t help but sigh, “Has it really taken you this long to think of it? You might not be as wise as I thought after all.”
My workstation! Why hasn’t it moved any with the town?
The beast’s tone lost its playful ring, the seriousness in it suddenly spiking. “I would think it obvious, Foaly. For someone of your talent, surely you can think this through!” It was weirder than the normal one. It was threatening, for once.
“You turned Celestia to stone,” the centaur started cautiously, “and twisted the town all to hell. But my box is still right where it landed, and I’m still my normal self…” A nudge in the right direction from an imaginary future version of himself sent his brain into overdrive. Dots began to connect that he couldn’t have seen otherwise. “Fairy magic is born on Earth, with the Book to govern its usage…”
Discord clapped his hands in excitement, seeing the understanding slowly wash over his guest. He prodded, “Go on…”
“The book that Mulch showed me was transfigured into a tiny cube; it couldn’t be opened…” The pieces fell from the box already connected, an almost perfect picture from an almost perfect shuffle. “If this world could somehow limit Earth fairy magic, then why can’t our Earth objects nullify this world’s?” The dots connected. Mostly.
But how do I explain the few powers Holly kept? And the way their magic drained my workstation’s electricity? There are too many holes!
“Everyone needs a few holes, don’t they? Gotta have a place to hide when the bombs fall!”
So…my box…
“I can contact Holly!” Foaly snapped, finally accepting whatever inane logic he was conjuring. What other choice did he have?
Discord chuckled, “You’ll have to reach it, first, silly horsey!”
Foaly barely had time to register what he’d just been told before the beast snapped its claws with a threatening crack. A blast of golden light later, and everything was once again twisted and broken, worse still than before. The fairy workstation sat, untouched, what seemed like light years away, the terrain around it contorting in violent purpose.
He was placed almost strategically in front of a large archway, the statue of Princess Celestia having been moved to the side carelessly. He could hear a horrendous growl come pouring from the maze on the other side. And without magic…
“Intelligence will only get you so far, Foaly!”
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Nu-nu-nu-nuuuuuuu!
OOC-ness? Well, in this chapter, only slightly, and nothing too unusual for this fandom.
Sorry. I tend to be a bit nitty-picky about Discord and my views on him.
Other than that, however, great job.
4830153 Of course, the reasons as to why the characters are not themselves is addressed later on in the story. By Artemis himself, in fact.
4830383 He he he. I thought a lot about that quote when I wrote the Celestia scene. A complete contradiction lost on any character that wasn't there when he said it; i.e. Foaly.
4830153
I agree with you at 100%
~ Super-Brony12