Discordant Melody

by Tatsurou

Darkness Rises

2. Darkness Rises

Mobius, In the fifth year of the Reign of Empress Fluttershy...

Workers toiled as they gathered the discarded metal components from the surface of Angel Island. There was a lot to gather, but they worked hard. Their orders were to make sure that not even a single piece was left behind. As they worked, one of them turned to his companion. "Say...any idea why Her Holiness wants these components gathered?"

His companion shrugged. "Something about them being pieces of a monster. Doesn't want to risk it coming back or something. I don't ask questions, I just do what I'm told."

The first worker nodded. "I getcha. We've got most of what we were told to find." He looked down the checklist, then at the pieces they'd gathered so far. "Say...looks like a creature in pieces alright...but where's the head?"

"We were told we might not find the head...apparently, something hatched out of it or something."

"Don't we need to find it?"

"Nah...it's taken care of."

"Alright, that's everything." The one with the list dusted his hands. "Pretty advanced tech, that's for sure."

"Not our problem. Let's just get it all out of here before the Guardian or his wife start harping on us."

They airlifted the tech components out. Hidden within bushes nearby, red eyes watched them as metal teeth formed a grin. It was so easy...obviously, Eggman didn't want him coming back. He should have thought of it years ago.

Discord thought Metal Sonic had been fully suppressed. He was mistaken. Metal Sonic had LET him take control of his body and watched how he did things. He knew all his plans had come to naught, and he sensed how advanced Discord's mind was in terms of treachery. He decided to learn from a master...and feed off him in the process. He'd gathered a good store of chaos energy...and as soon as the heroes had left the area, he'd reformed his body and hid. He'd already gathered the chaos emeralds and equipped them to his body...though he didn't access them just yet. He'd learned a few new skill sets from Discord's work...and he wanted to make use of what he'd learned. While Discord had great power...his ambition was rather paltry. Make his new body and sow chaos? Pathetic. Metal Sonic HAD learned his lesson regarding his obsession with Sonic, though. He had a new goal...he would conquer not just Mobius or Equestria...but ALL worlds! And, thanks to Discord's workings, he knew where to find powerful allies who - with the right motivation - would be eager to help.

"Chaos...control," Metal Sonic's voice whispered, and he vanished. He reappered in Eggman's former fortress, shaking his head. "You abandoned this place, Ivo? Foolish. So you have the world...you shouldn't leave such wonderful toys unguarded." He made his way to the world gate Ivo had used to kidnap Rainbow Dash. "And Discord...for such wonderful imagination, using the net to give you power, and learning how new worlds were born from it...you never once considered the feedback effect? That a strong enough mind could use such a place to craft a world all on its own? Or how devastating to a psyche it can be...when nightmares are real..." Placing his hands on the device, he assimilated the tech into his own systems. He glanced at himself in a mirror - barely intact - and sneered. His form shifted.

The spikes on his head became longer and sharper. His body shape lengthened. His claws took a more streamlined shape. A black cape billowed from his back. His core became streamlined, and the blue of his chasis darkened. He grinned, watching as his face became metal flesh, his eyes burning like fire. "Now...this is a face to bring awe to allies...and fear to enemies." His mind scanned through the multiverse open to him with the gate technology. "And I know how to find good allies. ...I'll start with the weaker one, though. The big one will be more impressed by show, after all. Chaos...control."

Metal Sonic vanished from the lab.

00000000000000

Dragon's cavern, date unknown...

The white dragon gloated over her hoard, smiling at the immense pile of precious gems she watched over. Still the ponies toiled, seeking more gems for her, though they hadn't found more in a long time. Perhaps it was time for her to eat another one of them, to push them further in there efforts.

"A most impressive hoard," a voice said nearby, and she spun to face the source.

A metal hedgehog stood there, a black cape billowing from his shoulders. It was he who had spoken. "A most impressive hoard," he said again, "...for one with such limited scope."

"Limited!" she roared. "How dare you speak so to Rarigan, Queen of Dragons! I should roast you where you stand!"

"Why?" the creature asked her. "I speak only truth. And I bring this." He opened a bag he held at his side...and gems spilled forth, gems she had never seen before.

She yearned for the gems, eager to examine them, polish them...horde them. "What do you want?" she asked, looking down upon the small creature.

"This paltry offering is but a sample of the gem wealth I can make available to you...if you agree to my terms."

She glowered. "What terms are those?"

He smiled at her. "This world you have power in...it is but one of many. I seek to conquer all. I could easily lay waste to this world and destroy you...but it will be easier to work with you, since we are of like mind. Serve me, aid me in conquering all worlds...and all jewels of all worlds are yours. I will even provide you with more efficient servants to retrieve them for you." He waved a hand, and an image of gemstone wealth beyond what she could imagine appeared before her eyes. "All this and more...all yours, in exchange for your service."

Rarigan salivated at the sight of all those gemstones. Suddenly, a voice spoke up.

"Don't do it, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle stood there, calling up to the dragon that had once been her sister. "He's evil! He'll just use you and cast you aside! I know there's still good in you!"

As Rarigan snarled her irritation, Metal Sonic spoke up. "Perhaps this will sweeten the deal." He leveled his hand at Sweetie Belle. "Gemma carcere!"

A bolt of lightning leapt from his hand and wrapped around Sweetie Belle. She screamed...and when the scream faded, a white and pink gemstone the size of the unicorn floated in the air.

Rarigan drooled over the gem. "Can...all ponies be changed thus?"

Metal Sonic grinned. "All that LIVES can be changed thus...and their souls remain in the gems eternally, adding to their luster." He stroked a claw across the gem. It hummed with the sound of Sweetie Belle's scream. "And their voices add music to its sound. Serve me...and I shall also teach you this spell."

Rarigan's greed consumed her. "Done!"

Metal Sonic leapt to her back. "Then let's fly." He waved his hand, and metal constructs arose from the ground and took up guard positions. "My troops will guard your hoard, that none but you may touch it."

Rarigan took flight, following Metal Sonic's directives to the portal that opened in the sky.

00000000000

Nightmare Castle, 8th year of the reign of the Eclipse...

The dark queen gazed out at the world of her creation. The world was shrouded in the eternal darkness of the eclipse. All plant life - save lichen, moss, and mushrooms, things that thrived in the darkness - had died, feeding her death magic. All with magic who had resisted her had fed her power, and those without struggled feebly just to survive, feeding on what plants grew in darkness. What few growths that were palatable were reserved solely for her consumption, as all life served her alone.

One of her mystic constructs, a servant creature, formed out of the shadows of the throne room. "Mistress," it said, its voice a sibilant whisper, "someone comes."

"Oh?" she asked, her bat wings spreading and folding to her back. "Who?"

"A white dragon, bearing a metal man. The Enforcer demanded his purpose, and he said he came to discuss a proposition with you."

"A proposition?" The dark queen stretched out on her throne of bones. "A metal MAN you say?" She thought for a time. "What is his power?"

"His power is...over 9000..."

"Really? How intruiging..." The dark queen's eyes glowed a brighter red. She arranged herself on the throne to accentuate what she felt were her best features. "Grant him leave to land...and show him in."

Metal Sonic entered the throne room and gazed on the one he'd come to speak with. Her purple coat was streaked with red from where old blood had been. Her mane and tail had been colored almost black, and her spiral horn now had visible blood channels. Black bat wings folded against her sides, and the stars on her flanks were blood red. "Greetings, your Majesty," he said, bowing to her.

She smiled flirtatiously at him. "Greetings stranger. What brings one as powerful as you to my castle in the dead of eternal night?"

Metal Sonic smiled. "Your majesty, I have heard many wonderous things about you...and I wondered if I might interest you in an alliance."

"Really?" The queen was pleased. "To what purpose?"

"The conquest of all worlds."

The queen frowned. "Explain yourself," she said, her voice no longer pleasent.

"This world over which you reign is but one of many. I came from another world, and the dragon who carried me here comes from yet a third. I seek your alliance to conquer all worlds. I have great power of my own...but it is technological, and drawn from chaos. If you would lend me the aid of your magic...we would be unstoppable."

"Really?" She seemed intruiged. "And why should I trust you?" Before he could respond, she held up a hoof. "A moment," she said, smiling. "Entertainment approaches." She languished on her throne.

A moment later, the doors burst off their hinges. "YOU!" Discord cried as he charged in, gathering a sphere of chaotic energy. "You will pay for what you've done, b****!" He hurled the sphere of energy.

Smiling, the queen batted the sphere aside. "This is the 13th time you've come against me, Discord. And each time has proven more fruitless than the last." She vanished, reappearing several times in various places around the throne room. "You'd think you would practice more before challenging me again..." She suddenly appeared before him. "Or at least heal this." She jammed her horn into a hole above his heart the exact shape for her horn to enter.

Discord screamed in pain as - like a dozen times before - his blood on her horn drained his chaos magic into her. "You won't get away with this..." he whispered as his magic drained, and his body turned to stone.

The dark queen laughed. "You would think you would find a better quip to throw at me as well. BLIND!" The last was a summons.

An earth pony filly - nearly a mare - walked in. Her coat was yellow, and her mane and tail red. There was no cutie mark on her flank...and her eyes had been cruelly gouged out. "Y-yes mistress?" she said, slowly wheeling in a cart that was hitched to her.

The dark queen levitated the statue into the cart. "Take that out to the garden with the other statues. See if you can't make it look better this time, though."

"Y-yes mistress." The pony pulled the statue behind her, manuevering through obstacles through long practice and memorization.

Metal Sonic remained silent as he watched the dark queen pace. Suddenly she called out, "ENFORCER!"

The pegasus who had acosted Metal Sonic on his way in flew into the throne room. She was a cyan pegasus with a mane and tail that had once shone with the colors of the rainbow. Now, however, both mane and tail had been darkened by streaks of blood. Dark magic bound her, sealing her will. She bowed to the queen. "Yes, mistress?"

"You are supposed to make sure no threat enters the throne room...but Discord got in. Where were you?"

"I was watching the dragon, to ensure its behavior."

"That was the wrong action. You have failed me." She stared at the pegasus for a time. "You are no longer of use to me," she said coldly.

Suddenly, the harness that was the focus of the dark magic came to life, binding tightly across the pegasus' throat, wings, and limbs. Her eyes widened as the magic released her will. She struggled against the magic that was killing her...and the memories of the killing she had done. "T...Twilight..." she gasped out barely, reaching for the queen.

"Twilight no longer exists, fool. When you get to hell-" She kicked with her hind legs, slamming the pegasus against the wall, her skull striking with a sickening crack. "-tell them Nightmare Sparkle sent you!" She smiled as she watched the bodies last death throes fall still. "GIMP!"

An orange pegasus filly - the same age as the one called Blind - came at this summons. She had a purple mane and tail...and one of her wings had been cruelly torn from her body some time ago. "Y-yes mistress..." Her eyes fell on the broken body against the wall and her voice failed her.

"Take this trash from my sight...and toss it in the dark pyre with the rest of the bodies!"

The pegasus nodded, tears falling from her eyes, as she struggled to drag the body out of the throne room.

Nightmare Sparkle turned to Metal Sonic. "Now...about your proposal..."

"Not so fast!" A pony garbed in a purple and black costume and carrying a staff leaped into the room. "Your reign of terror ends here, Nightmare Sparkle!"

Nightmare Sparkle laughed at the appearance of this interloper. "Pinkie Pie...I never expected you to be the one to ressurect Mare Do Well. What makes you think you stand a chance against me?"

"I know your power, Twilight!" Pinkie cried, slamming the staff against the ground. The top opened, revealing a strange, glowing crystal. "And I know, so long as this crystal glows, your magic is beyond your reach!" As Nightmare Sparkle hissed in pain, flinching back from the crystal's light, Pinkie Pie lunged. "For Equestria...fall!" She aimed the staff right at Nightmare Sparkle's heart.

Metal Sonic seized the staff. "Excuse me," he said, easily yanking the staff from her hooves, "but you are interrupting negotiations." He slammed the crystal against the floor, shattering it and extinguishing its light, before swinging the staff into Pinkie Pie's gut.

Pinkie Pie flew backward. "No...that's not possible...nothing magic can function in the crystal's light..."

"Bad luck for you: I don't run on magic." Metal Sonic's words were the last ones Pinkie Pie heard as a blast of magic erupted from Nightmare Sparkle, incinerating her. Nightmare Sparkle then turned to Metal Sonic.

"It seems this alliance will prove beneficial...in many ways," she said, her voice like velvet. "Weapons geared to one of us won't work on the other. Between the two of us...we'll be invincible."

"Yes..." Metal Sonic said, his voice low and seductive. "So...do my terms satisfy you?"

She grinned. "That depends...will you?" She lay down on her throne. "Come to me...tell me your name, and show me your power."

"I am Metal Sonic, my queen," he said, approaching the throne. "And I have power to spare."

"If you live up to expectations...then we shall rule side by side for eternity."

Comments

[Black-Briar Memery]

"His power is...over 9000..."

[Mothra_Leo511]

Nice Dbz Reference

[ShadwSonic]

3942932
Well, thanks to Mario Bros. Z, he IS the only one I can take that statement seriously for...