The Madgod's Freedom

by _No_One_Remains_

You Can't Spell 'Funeral' Without 'Fun'

Sheogorath was happily perched on a chandelier, swaying gently back and forth through the air as the funeral service was carried out. To the sane eye, there simply appeared to be a draft rocking the decoration. To Discord, the cause was the same as his anger and fear. To Aegis’s brother, the cause was his soon-to-be puppet master. But none of them knew that, except for the Madgod. He knew that better than anypony else. He’d already planned the next ten steps of his plan. And if he only needed five of them, they could be traded for the first steps of the post-domination plan.

Celestia stood at the front of the room beside a large coffin that housed what remained of Aegis. She was performing the funeral ceremony, while all those who cared stood in the crowd with tear-filled eyes. Turns out, despite only being a castle guard, he had quite a few friends that would miss him. Almost half of the crowd consisted of random ponies that had been friends with him, be it through service or recreation. At the head of the crowd stood the guards, each wearing a special suit designed for such occasions.

On Celestia’s opposite side stood the brother of the victim, who would be giving the eulogy. It wasn’t until the alicorn princess ended her rambling that the Madgod decided to tune in to the service from his chandelier post.

“…Buckler Shield has prepared a eulogy for our dearly departed.” With those closing syllables, the princess walked to the side, giving the mourning guard the spotlight.

Buckler started with force, “My brother was an amazing pony; I doubt that anypony in attendance can argue that. He was a friend to those who needed him, a loving and supportive brother, and a devout guard to the Royal Family.” He lowered his gaze as he continued, “We all know him as the captain of the guard. He was trained personally by Shining Armor to defend Canterlot.”

Sheogorath shifted in anticipation. He’d heard these kinds of remarks before, and he was certain he knew what would come next. In fact, his whole plan was counting on it.

The sorrowful stallion stomped a hoof and groaned, “My brother’s actions last night were not his own!” The few ponies that had attended the dinner raised inquisitive eyebrows, not certain whether they agreed or not. He continued, “Aegis was a professional soldier, and would never act out in such a way as he had! On top of that, he simply did not feel like the pony I’ve known my entire life!”

Discord nodded in approval. Somepony had connected the dots. The only problem was…what kind of picture did they draw?

“His eyes were an odd color. His voice was distorted. His face was full of…insanity!”

Madness, Buckler! Not insanity! Sheogorath internally groaned from his perch.

Buckler took a deep breath before sighing, “Aegis wasn’t himself last night. I can promise you that. Somepony or something made him act that way. And I won’t rest until I find out who or what it was!” He turned away from the crowd, tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.

C’mon, you weak little equine! Just say the magic words! Sheogorath was literally on the edge of his seat, waiting for one simple phrase to escape the stallion’s lips.

If he was going to continue, he wouldn’t have been able to. Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, a sad but curious expression on her face. She looked around the room before turning toward the other Elements. Taking a deep breath, she started, “Forgive me for interrupting…but I think I have something to add to this mystery.”

For some strange reason that he couldn’t grasp, a ball dropped in Discord’s gut.

She continued, “You said that Aegis wasn’t acting normal, and I’ll agree that last night’s behavior was weird…” She glanced toward Discord before immediately focusing back on her friends. “There was a time not too long ago where my friends were manipulated by somepony into acting weird. In fact, they were the exact opposite of what they really are.”

The ball nearly tripled in size.

“It was the first time Discord was set free from his prison.” Hesitantly, without much conviction, she pointed a hoof at the floating abomination. “He used his magic to turn us Elements into angry, chaotic ponies. Why couldn’t he do the same to your brother?”

Sheogorath burst into maniacal laughter, the tension down below serving as an amazing form of entertainment. Sure, things weren’t going as planned, but he could easily work this into one of his steps.

Discord raised his claws up, utter disbelief covering his face. He stammered, “T-Twilight, you can’t honestly believe that I…I killed somepony, can you?” He looked desperately upward, hoping the Madgod would do something to distract from the situation at hand.

“Who else could it have been?” Princess Celestia asked, directing it toward her student rather than the abomination.

Twilight tilted her head, thinking for a moment. She sighed, “Unless last night’s Aegis was a Changeling imposter, nopony. Discord’s the only creature I’ve ever seen do something like that.” She looked toward the beast in question, her eyes showing the hope she had that she might be wrong.

Discord groaned, “You absolutely must believe that it wasn’t my doing! I may enjoy Chaos from time to time, but I would never—never—kill another living creature!” Suspicious whispers began to spread throughout the crowd, eyes locking on to the draconequus.

Up above, Sheogorath was having the time of his life.

“Discord, do you promise that it wasn’t you who--?” Celestia lowered her gaze, beginning to ask the supposedly redeemed beast of his innocence.

Rainbow Dash cut her off. She scoffed, “It doesn’t matter if it was him or not, Princess! But I promise we’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth and make whatever’s responsible pay!” There it was.

The key phrase. The one chain of words the Madgod had waited for throughout the entire ceremony. ‘Whatever it takes’ might as well be saying ‘possess me, Sheogorath’. It was up for interpretation, sure. But a Daedra’s logic can’t be disputed, especially when there is none. It was even more magical considering it had come directly from an Element of Harmony. Rather than using Buckler as a middle-man to acquire one, he was going to get it without fuss. With a mad laugh, the humanoid dove off of the chandelier, his eyes locked onto the Pegasus’s.

With a loud shriek, she collapsed to the ground. Golden sparks shot from her body as the more powerful soul slowly crammed its way into the vessel. Everypony in the room watched as Rainbow writhed on the floor, her wings starting to unfold under the pressure. As suddenly as the show had started, it ended with a relieved gasp from the victimized body.

The voice that came out was not the rightful owner’s. It chuckled, “There’s definitely more room in here than that other poor mule. It’s a shame this one’s not a guard.”

The vacant expression and confusing language left everypony wondering just what had happened. Oddly enough, the only creature with knowledge of what was happening refused to give any sort of feedback to the utterly astounded ponies. Instead, he floated lazily in the air, thankful that something took the attention off of him.

“Rainbow, darling, are you okay?” Rarity stepped toward her obviously-pained friend, concern smothering her features.

Sheo-Rainbow snapped, “Of course I’m okay, you useless mule! I’m simply having a tough time dealing with this stress. Is that a problem?!” Something about this new body made the Dementia grow. Rather counter-productive, honestly.

Applejack stepped forward. She groaned, “I…don’t think ya are…”

The pony-form Madgod growled, “I’m fine, AJ! I’m doing better than that monstrosity will be when I’m finished with him!” A beam of green magic shot from her head, directly targeting Discord.

The abomination smiled, realizing that he was finally being challenged. For whatever reason, he was being attacked now of all times. With a snap of his claws, everypony within range of the beam vanished. Fewer witnesses and less crossfire damage meant more points for his case. That’s not to mention how magic had shot forth from a pony without a horn.

He slid to the side to avoid the evil magic. He chuckled, “Your true colors finally show, eh old ‘friend’? You must not know what you’ve just done.” After the beam stopped flowing, he darted toward Sheo-Rainbow, finding some slight enjoyment in attacking the body as well as the soul.

“Discord, stop!” Celestia called out. The abomination wasn’t listening.

Sheo-Rainbow burst into laughter, “You wanna dance, Chaos?! Let’s tango!” He opened his wings to their full extent, leaping into the air and rolling into a nose dive at the charging beast.

Twilight screamed, “Rainbow Dash, stop it! There’s no sense in fighting!”

Discord scoffed, “You’ve messed with the wrong Equestrian, Daedra!”

The two bodies collided, several golden sparks flying from the impact point. The pony-form Madgod locked his hooves with the draconequus’s claws, staring deep into one another’s eyes. The Elements and Princesses watched on in fear as the tension between the combatants tightened. With a blast of magic, Sheo-Rainbow launched Discord several yards across the room. By this point, most of the remaining witnesses were stampeding from the room, not wanting to be caught in the fray.

The beast spat, “Limited magic my left claws!” On cue, he snapped the aforementioned appendages, sending his own brand of offense at the murderer.

Leaning against the far wall, Buckler watched as the two most likely causes of his brother’s death battled it out. He examined their eyes for signs of the Aegis from the prior night. In the cyan Pegasus he found the serpentine gold that appeared just before the cheese spell. Whatever had killed Aegis was controlling Rainbow Dash. An Element of Harmony, no less. How can you battle something that can control the most powerful magic in Equestria?

Not expecting a full assault, Sheo-Rainbow was easily knocked to the ground by the draconequus’s magic. With a smile, he retaliated by back flipping midair into the chandelier he had perched upon earlier. With a well-placed kick, the décor came crashing to the ground just as his opponent passed underneath. With a loud crash, Discord was bound by the shards of glass and fire.

Nopony on the sidelines could so much as move, let alone intervene. The sight was just too surreal. The master of chaos was being overwhelmed by a blue-coated daredevil. A daredevil that was using magic without a horn, no less.

Sheo-Rainbow tittered, “Is that the best you’ve got, Chaos? I am severely disappointed.” He looked toward the paralyzed ponies, noting the overwhelming fear in their eyes. He chuckled, “I suppose now that I own an Element I’ll just have to take the rest. And then—correct me if I’m wrong—nopony will be able to keep me from ruling this province with an iron…dare I say…hoof.”

“In your dreams, you murderer!” Something zapped the pony-form Madgod in the back of the head. When he turned around, he saw Buckler shooting beam after beam of magic toward him. Tears fell from the guard’s eyes as he angrily attacked.

And then everything went black. For both Discord and Sheogorath…

Comments

[Grey Warden]

Well that happened. FIRST!!!

[ArchAIngel]

Berserk mode Daedra lord? Can't wait to see Sheogorath go all out and turn the guard into cheese, or do something worse. I can think of so many possibilities!

[Zephyrion]

AUGH! SUSPENSE!

[The Random Lord]

oooo wait a minute are you gonna kill rainbow dash

[Asylum]

Is it bad that I want RD to die....? Probably

[Lord Charles]

2257204 na just one step closer to the madgods victory. Ya madgod!

[Emperor of Jurai]

Weeeellllll that escalated quickly now didn't it?

[skultech]

For some reason I feel Discord has been a bit underpowered here. A chandelier defeats him? Is there a part of god of chaos that I don't understand.

[Alex Wadegrove]

Next: gods shall fight.

[_No_One_Remains_]

2260424 After beng berated by Madgod Magic, yes.

[Festive Sombrero]

Sadly more people are voting for sheo then discord

[Holographic]

Rainbow Dash vs Discord. This reminded me of swag.mov. Coincidence?

[_No_One_Remains_]

2277628 Actually...yes.
I never actually realized the allusion... I didn't even watch the Pony.MOV series until last weekend, to be honest. And by then, I had the entirety of this story written...
That's a really weird coincidence.

[Holographic]

2278999 Kay, kay. I'll be waiting for the blood flood.

[Holographic]

2256747 Herp Derp.

[Vonglory]

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