Death's Bargain

by Haseo

Chapter 7 - Devouring Chaos

Chapter 7
Devouring Chaos

The stairs underneath their hooves creaked and crunched by every step they made downwards. Complete darkness enveloped them, only the brightly ignited horn of Shadow brought light into the room. All the sockets where candles once stood were smeared with remains of wax and ashes. There was nothing to add light at all. The foul smell of rotten flesh climbed into their nostrils and drove tears into their eyes. The urge to vomit was rising inside Fluttershy's mind, she was only barely able to withstand. “Uhm... sorry. But I really, really don't like this awful smell. I would rather choose to stay upstairs… if thats alright with you.”

Shadow turned around and looked briefly at the others. He quickly nodded and went further down. Fluttershy stopped her way and went upstairs again to wait in the secureness of the warm light outside.

Their way down ended abruptly, the darkness preventing them from anticipating the end. They finally reached the flat of the basement. The magical light illuminated the basement and threw long shadows against the floor and walls.

Rarity stepped down the last step and felt some strange liquid on her hooves. It radiated in a faint green light and smelled like rotten apples. “Ehew, this is certainly poison for my pretty, hooficured hooves. I think it will be alright with you, if I support you from here. On the stairs. Where it is dry.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and hovered carefully further into the darkness. Her hooves were always stretched out to avoid unpleasant meetings with the furniture. But the room seemed to be completely empty. Rarity illuminated her horn and supported them light from behind while Shadow searched through the room. Strange pillars seemed to be distributed along the wall. Between each of them was a deep hole hollowed out. Pinkie and the others gathered around the hole and tried to see what was inside. They could feel a faint breath come from the inside but couldn't detect its source.

From the stairs Rarity tried to catch a glimpse of the happening in front of them. But despite the light that Shadow's horn provided, the hole continued to be wrapped in darkness. She heard something rustle behind her head. When she turned around she could nothing see but the wall.

Rarity leaned forward as much as she could manage without stepping into the awful smelling swamp beneath her. Behind her a grey and brown snake like body meandered along the wall. Above her head, two yellow eyeballs with red pupils of different size appeared. The being exposed his teeth, only a single razor sharp fang protruded. Out of the shadows its claw reached out for the fashioner. The claw that seemed to belong to an eagle stretched one single finger forward and bopped Rarity's head. Only to vanish back into the darkness.

The mare was startled in the first moment and gasped but she quickly calmed down completely. The expression in her eyes changed, inside her mind her thoughts were twisting and turning into something different than before. Rarity began to stagger while her coat and mane lost their usual shine and became dull and grey. The light that shone from Rarity's horn extinguished. Shadow and the others turned to the general direction of the stairs and waited for any life signs of Rarity. The only sound was the flapping noise of Rainbow's wings. Angrily, her flapping rate increased. “Hey Rarity! Did you run out of magic or something? Keep it going and switch the light back on!”

No words rang back from the usually so talkative mare. Instead they could hear a pair of hooves dipping inside the liquid on the ground. Pinkie narrowed her eyes to get a better view into the darkness but she couldn't even identify some sort of shape. “Rarity? So you decided to step into that stinky and slimy stuff and help us? Great! But why did you turn off your light?”

The response was none of words. They could hear a hoof raising from the sticky liquid and the clicking of a switch quickly afterwards. All around the room the lighting inside the hole lit up and exposed their containment. A wolf made of black matter flashed his teeth towards them. Rainbow screamed in fear but the creature remained in its stasis. It seemed like it was in a deep coma. Shadow checked their surroundings and saw that the other beings were still sleeping as well.

Pinkie Pie couldn't withhold a giggle, she playfully nudged her winged friend and flashed her a childish grin. “Looks like even Dashie is afraid sometimes. I bet you almost peed your feathers!”

Rainbow's heartbeat was visibly increased, her heart pumped violently by the horrifying revelation of the creatures they had to fight two years ago in an uncountable measure. She didn't even look at Pinkie, Rainbow stared into the direction of the stairs. Pinkie Pie twisted her neck and turned her head upside-down to catch Rarity in her field of view.

The dull mare hid her body in the shadows only the right half of her face was illuminated in the poisonous-looking green radiation. Rarity's glare was empty and dark. Her confidence, pride and even her arrogance were gone. “You shall not roam through the darkness of this basement. Nothing here is defined for the eyes of others. But you have nothing to worry, your trespassing won't go unpunished. None of you will leave this place...”

Shadow gasped in shock. He hadn’t known her well, but he could definitely hear a difference in Rarity's voice. Not only her choice of words was different, but the tune of her voice had changed. Rainbow eyed her friend suspiciously. The dangerous glow in Rarity's eyes irritated her. “Hey! Stop talking horsefeathers and help us find some hints about what got Twilight to go nuts!”

From below the hovering mare, a familiar voice rang through their ears. It was most certainly Pinkie, but the darker and more aggressive hue of her voice drove wrinkles of worry onto her forehead. “Those who violated the domain of our mistress shall perish inside the eternal emptiness of her unfulfilled desire...”

Rainbow tilted her wings and swung her body around. Hanging upside-down in the air she watched Pinkie in horror. Single wisps of her multicoloured hung in front of her eyes but they couldn't hide the mare below. Pinkie's mane had neatly straightened and laid flatly in the gelatinous liquid. Her eyes were shadowed in the darkness and hidden from the view of others. It may be the poor lighting inside the basement, but Pinkie seemed to have lost colour as well. From the corner of his eyes, Shadow could see something moving inside the shadows. He didn't know if he could trust his eyes or not since the movement seemed to come from inside the shadow. The unreal matter waved almost invisible in the space behind Pinkie Pie.

Shadow reacted quickly with the reflexes he had obtained during the hard training under Captain Soul Tearer. The stallion grabbed Rainbow's rear hoof and stormed at the glaring form of Rarity. His horn ignited brightly. The pegasus only managed to gasp when the reflection of his raging magic was visible in Rarity's eyes. Shadow was ready to strike the changed fashioner down in order to escape.

The mare didn't show any fear or take any measures to dodge. The brightness of his magic reached its peak but a powerful tug accompanied by the sound of a powerful wing-flap tore him to the ground. The liquid luckily didn't stick to his black suit. Easily, he spun back on his hooves and shouted from the bottom of his lungs at the pegasus. “What is wrong with you? Something has taken control of them! We have to leave immediately before...”

His words got stuck in his throat when his eyes focused on Rainbow Dash. Her usually so vibrant mane became dull and lifeless. Even her wonderful magenta eyes were reduced to plain grey orbs. “There is no meaning in escaping. Our mistress won't allow anypony to live on after seeing the inside of this place. You will be imprisoned inside the thick walls of this room and never leave!”

Shadow's eyes shrank together, he was surrounded by the three mares of different kinds. Slowly they closed in and put the stallion under distress. For a second time his horn ignited and let him melt into the shadow beneath his hooves. He was halfway through until he felt the pressure beneath his body rising. The heat drove him out of the unreal realm and burned the tips of his hooves and ripped the fine suit apart. The cracks exposed his ash grey coat and a part of his deep brown mane. “This room is magic-proof? This whole scenario has been planned all along! Show yourself, evil scum!”

Inside the closed room a strong gust blew against his face. The sharp wind forced him to close his eyes for a brief moment. Sheer terror raged through his mind when his eyes caught sight of the being in front of him. His long snake shaped body glided through the air. His whole body was barely visible in the twilight. Only his glowing yellow eyes and his one sharp fang shimmered in the dark. “Be careful with your wishes, little fool. Wishes are desires, forged inside your own dreams, deep within your mind. And it is not up to you to decide whether it is a wonderful dream or a disturbing nightmare!”

The lone stallion cringed in fear of the gruesome draconequus. The shadows around him grew and crossed his terrified body. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind but he couldn't possibly flee. Even a fight would be pointless. Maybe the mares around him were beatable, but then there was the immortal hybrid creature seeking for his life. “Are you really Discord? The Spirit of Disharmony and Chaos? The very mystic monster that had lost against the Lord over Time and Space a thousand years ago?”

This was certainly the wrong question, but the monster stopped his minions, at least for a moment. Discord snickered with his tongue, it seemed he didn't like to be remembered with Soul. “Yes, indeed. I'm Discord, the Spirit of Disharmony and the Harbinger of Chaos. The stallion you speak about is a lie. There is nothing real about him anymore. A thousand years ago, he was pure but now he is rotten. His original light is weak and will fade soon under the permanent influence of the unholy power he wields. The power that once belonged to me is running through his veins again and corrupts his mind with each of his heartbeats. The very power of his beloved Harmony together with the uncontrolled force of the time vortex that he obtained by murdering his best friend are the only things that are keeping him in balance right now.”

Discord erupted into a heavy laughter. He even curled up by the pain of his uncontrolled laughter. “But there is more. He obtained a new power that he hasn't fully discovered yet. Sadly, you won't be able to see what he will be capable of doing. I'm curious to learn how the upcoming fight against him and my mistress will end.”

Shadow's eyes widened but wouldn't move from the shadowed form of the draconequus. His body tensed up, but the liquid on the ground seemed to drain even his last reserves. “Don't denigrate my Captain! He is our saint! Our saviour that defeated countless threats and saved countless lives! Every single one of his soldiers would die for him, He is the one and only. So don't you dare lower his achievements, you sick monster!”

Attracted by the emotional verbal fight between Shadow and Discord, Fluttershy decided to carefully check what was happening down there. She watched them through a small fissure in the wall between the actual stairs and the basement room. Completely undetected, she managed to witness the fall of her friends.

The liquid from the ground began to move in an unnatural pattern. It waved up violently to Shadow's legs and tore him to the floor. The mass stuck to his coat and wasn't willing to peel off. Despite the torture, Shadow never took his eyes off the monster above him. The dark matter devoured his body and swallowed him almost completely. With his last strength, the stallion lifted his head to keep his left eye unoccupied from his sticky prison. “Soul Tearer will come after you and send you to hell, moron!”

The prison around him closed and forced his eye to wander down Discord's throat. The last thing he could caught sight of while his gaze blurred and slowly let him drift into unconsciousness was a fine bright necklace that reflected the only light inside the room brilliantly. It was like a dark veil was lifted around the mystic being. The very last thought that wandered through his mind was.

When the twilight is gone the sun will rise.

Proud of himself, the draconequus raised his head and spotted by chance the gap where Fluttershy's eye was observing before. But the place was completely empty. The liquid rose up and grabbed every one of the other ponies in Discord's control and sealed them along with Shadow. Discord slowly disappeared into thin air, but his grin grew only wider every second. “Only two weak Elements left. They are no longer a threat to us. Only this tacky old stallion might cause trouble.”

Fluttershy's wings pounded as hard as they could and carried her away from the awful scene. Never before had the timid pegasus gone this fast. Her velocity almost reached the speed of Rainbow Dash and the pain in her wings would drove others into unconsciousness. Only her fear kept her awake. Fluttershy never felt so alive before.

An ear-splitting sound burst through the air and caused Fluttershy to sway in mid air. Barely she could managed to stop and turn around to look for the source of the terrifying noise. From high in the air, she caught sight of the radiating remains of Twilight's library.

Her breath stocked when she saw the library in the grip of the black liquid from inside the basement. Black tendrils expanded from the lake of darkness and tore countless branches into its seemingly endless abyss. Only the tip of the once-so-proud wood looked out from the lake. But only seconds had passed until the area was flattened and the lake of darkness turned back into the grassy meadow it was before.

There was no time to lose, unconsciously the mare began to move. Faster and faster, the treetop raced beneath her body. She did her best but couldn't resist to shed tears at her friends miserable burial. For her, there was nowhere to go. Every single one of her pony friends were gone and Discord was running wild through Ponyville. Not even her shed was safe. She had to go somewhere safe, somewhere she could get help. But where can she find such a powerful magician? There was no trace of Princess Celestia or Soul, so she decided to head for Canterlot Castle.

Soon the environment beneath her changed when she finally crossed the Everfree Forest, but she had no time to admire the wonderful meadow below. Her eyes focused on the silhouette of the castle at the horizon. Flap for flap, she came closer to her destination, the thought of all her little critter friends that were lost against Discord’s power crept into her mind. “Be strong, Fluttershy! They have to wait, I have to save my friends before I get to them! They will be doing great without me!”

Over and over, the mare told herself these obvious lies to keep the façade up. Nothing was safe in face of chaos itself. The landscape below was spiked by the homes of many different ponies. They become more numerous as the miles passed. The city limits of Canterlot get just beneath her hooves when the pain finally kicked in. Her wings convulsed under the strain of the flight from so far away, but her will didn't allow her to bow down to the inferior feeling.

The saving balcony of Princess Luna was so close now. Nothing could hold the brave-hearted mare. She elevated into the air, only to let her light body glide through the opening in the wall seconds after.

Fluttershy landed a little bit more clumsy than usual and was forced to her knees. The relief through the sensation of folding her wings after such a long intensive flight was huge. Even before she was aware of her surroundings, Applejack raced to her side. “What happened, sugar-cube? Ya look horrible. Did somethin' survive after we've left?”

The exhausted mare panted heavily. A high pitched tone escaped her lungs, inflicted by the unusual strain. Blaze slowly retreated unseen when he saw the crashed-down mare. Since Soul's and Princess Luna's attention was to Fluttershy, it was easy for him to get away unnoticed. Applejack supported Fluttershy with her well-trained body and helped her raise to her hooves. Still coughing, the pegasus tried to explain herself. “We wanted all… all together… look what was in… Twilight's basement but-”

Soul dashed forward between Applejack and Fluttershy. Both of them were forced to fall back down on the cold floor. Applejack straightened her hat back on and was about to give Soul a hard time, but when she saw his horn brightly ignited, she didn't dare to start a fight. The radiation of his horn mirrored in Fluttershy's eyes. There was so much fear inside of them. He lowered his head and calmly talked to her. “I'm sorry but we might not have the time to wait until you have calmed down. This might hurt. Please be brave.”

His last statement was more of a rhetorical thing. He left Fluttershy no time to answer or even to prepare herself. The fully charged horn tipped her head and let Fluttershy glide into some state of trance. The glassy expression in her eyes documented her mental absence. She even began to drool under the total loss of her senses.

In astonishment, the Guardian of the Night and the smart farmer distanced from the highly concentrated stallion and his victim. Only seconds had passed when Soul abruptly whipped his head back and broke the connection loose. Fine wires of magic still connected him and Fluttershy but they faded away rapidly, leaving the mare alone.

For the eyes of the others, the stallion seemed to struggle with himself while Fluttershy was completely motionless staring at him. Applejack carefully got closer and tried to comfort him. Something drove her to stop. The room temperature could be considered cold before, but now it was freezing. A dull bass sound rang through their ears. The Princess tried to rub it off her ears, but the sound didn't want to disappear. She realized what the source was when the small stained windows in the framing of the balcony began to vibrate and finally tiny cracks became visible.

Even the heavy chandelier began to shake under the influence of his rage. Soul's neck was overdrawn with vein-marks. He ripped his eyes open again and exposed the raging magic beneath. They were brightly glowing the the very same light that had shone two years before. His voice was loud and boomed through the entire castle, not even Princess Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice could reach this volume easily. “DISCORD, THAT BASTARD! HOW COULD THIS FRAUD DARE HURT THE PONIES THAT USED TO BE UNDER MY PROTECTION! THE DEATH OF SHADOW AND THE OTHERS WON'T GO UNAVENGED! THIS PROVOCATION WON'T BE UNPUNISHED. HIS DEATH IS CERTAIN!”

The air in the room vibrated under his massive power. Fluttershy was sitting in front of him the entire time. The colour paled out of her face and the air pressure of his shout drove tears into her eyes. Princess Luna enveloped her quickly into her magic and pulled her out of the dangerous area around him. Crackling sparks were raging from his horn and violently hit the ground. The floor underneath his hooves got deep cracks and the shards of the marble tiles began to levitate. Princess Luna placed both mares behind her and shielded them behind her wings. “Soul! Calm down! This is exactly the reaction Discord wants to evoke! He only wants to drive you into an open fight! Only because you're a threat to him, he wants to set up a trap!”

The ground was shaking, the earthquake-like feeling made it hard to stand upright. The pressure of his violent shouts made it even worse. “THEN HIS WISH SHALL BE FULFILLED! HIS DEATH WILL BE SLOW AND PAINFUL! NOTHING WILL WITHSTAND MY WRATH!”

The terrifying echo in his voice let the blood inside their veins almost freeze. Princess Luna raised her magic up to oppose his rage with her power even if the attempt was nearly meaningless. “They are not dead! As Guardian of the Night, one of my duties is to help the ponies travel from the world of the living to the realm of death and they didn't pass this gate yet! THEY ARE ALIVE!”

The stallion's head turned around abruptly and faced the Princess directly. The gnashing of his teeth was witness of his pure rage against the murderer of his family. Soul snorted and turned quickly away in disgust. The shards fell down on the floor and split into a thousand pieces. He finally snapped out of the torrent of his unrivalled might when he closed his eyes completely.

Applejack and the Princess watched him with huge eyes. They were simply amazed by the attitude of the stallion. Despite the fact that he released such a monstrous amount of magical power, he wasn't sweating or even panting. Soul could’ve just got out of the bed, nothing alluded to the fact that he had strained himself. His head was still turned away from them, but his eyes narrowed. Deep in thought, the stallion searched for an answer to get Equestria out of its misery. “Famine, Pestilence and Conquest are at Equestria's doorstep. I might be powerful, but I'm still one single pony. Many will die until I can help them all.”

Applejack proudly presented her chest and tried to make herself as big as possible. “Ah will help ya! We experienced so much so far, nothin' can stop us!”

Soul's gaze turned around and met Applejack's. The thoughtful expression on his face was gone and replaced by a expression of danger. “I really appreciate your offer, but I don't want to risk your life. You can barely defend yourself if it comes to a fight. Additionally, I have to hold back to prevent you from any harm of my magic. There is no chance that I take a pony that is not trained for war with me.”

Applejack snickered with her tongue. She had to find something that could change his mind. The doors behind her swung open loudly and interrupted her thoughts. The light blinded them and many beings of different shapes entered the room.

“How about us, my faithful Captain?”