We all know the Spirit Of Chaos. But what if there was another, not of chaos, but of order. What havoc will be released upon the world when this being finally returns?
The world must be balanced. Chaos and order in an everlasting dance, creating havoc if one misses a step. When a being that has been asleep for fifteen hundred years wakes up, will the world be torn apart from the seams? Or is there another factor? One that no one could have imagined?
This story will try to be true to the show rating-wise. No 'adult' content.
The darkness of the Everfree Forest lay thick beneath the heavy branches of the trees, the sunlight from outside making no dent in the murk. In the dank forest, scarcely a creature moved. It was quiet. From the thickest part of the forest, a light growl was heard. Brambles rustled, and something moved. Red eyes opened and blinked.
The water of the lake gleamed under the rays of the bright summer sun as a light breeze rushed through the apple trees to the south. It was an incredible day. The pegasi must have worked harder than usual to make sure the sky was crystal clear and sparkling for the day of the annual Summer Sun Celebration. All the ponies in Ponyville were bustling about, going about their usual business, with maybe a bit more spring in their step than usual, and a sense of cheerfulness filled the air.
This year, the Celebration had been held in Fillydelphia, so there had been no need for a huge get-together; rather, everypony was relaxing with their friends, and they were all having a delightful time. Fillies giggled behind their hooves with their friends, watching colts were caught up in fierce, competitive games of hoofball, each yelling louder than the last. Mares and stallions alike quietly walked around town, tuning out the young ones and enjoying the wonderful day. There was nothing more peaceful than a day like that day.
In the library, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were gathered together laughing, reminiscing their first Summer Sun Celebration together.
"I really was annoyed with you guys at first, wasn't I?"
"Annoyed is an understatement, Twilight! You didn't want us around at all!"
"'Member how she tried ta go into the forest alone?"
"And how Rainbow Dash didn't have a tail for a full five seconds when Applejack said,
'We're sticking ta you like carmel on a candy apple!'"
"Yeah, and- Wait, what?" Rainbow Dash turned to look at Pinkie Pie in confusion. "What do you mean, I didn't have a tail?"
Pinkie Pie patted her rainbow mane comfortingly. "It's all right, Dashie! It was just an animation error! Nothing too serious!"
"Ooh, remember how Fluttershy tamed that manticore? You were absolutely spectacular, Fluttershy!" Rarity cooed, smiling at her friend.
"Oh, it was nothing, Rarity," Fluttershy said, looking at her hooves.
"Nothing? Why, darling, it was-"
"Buurrp!" Spike was thrown back by the unexpected letter. Rubbing his chest in annoyance, he grabbed the letter off the ground and read it to the curious ponies.
"My dear Princess Twilight,
I have finished my part in the ceremony in Fillydelphia and have decided to spend the rest of the celebration in the castle. I would very much enjoy it if you and your friends came to celebrate with me. I await your response!
Princess Celestia"
The six ponies looked at each other for a moment. Then Rarity asked hopefully,
"Twilight? We're going, aren't we?"
"Of course we are!" Twilight said matter-of-factly.
"Yay!" Everypony yelled, except for Fluttershy, who just said it slightly louder than normal. They all ran off in opposite directions to get their stuff. _________________________________________________________________________________
The train chugged up the tracks, making quick time. They were to arrive in the capital in only a few minutes!
"Isn't this going to be wonderful, Spike? We're going to celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration with the Princess!" Twilight said, excited. She pulled him off her back with magic and set him on the ground. "I can't wait to talk to her! I've barely been able to speak with her since the coronation! I really hope she'll want to talk with me!"
"I'm sure she's looking forward to chatting, seeing as she was the one who invited you," Spike replied.
Twilight chuckled. "You're right, as always, Spike."
As they spoke, the train slowed and the ponies stepped out onto the platform.
"Let's goooooo!" Pinkie yelled, and raced up the steps towards the castle. Everyone else followed behind, taking in the beautiful capital.
Rarity gasped. "Oh, goodness, Fancy Pants!" Rarity called, hurrying over toward the white stallion with the blue mane.
"Ah, Rarity! How wonderful to see you again! And your friends as well! Are you quite well?" Fancy Pants beamed.
"We're all doing fine. The Princess invited us to spend the day at the castle!" Rarity replied happily.
"That is marvelous news! I do hope you have a good time. But look, your friends are getting away from you! Wouldn't like to lose them, would you?" He gestured at the retreating figures of the ponies.
Rarity gasped. "Oh dear! Well, I have to go! I hope to see you again!"
"As do I. Goodbye!" Fancy Pants laughed as Rarity dashed off. "She sure does know how to get sidetracked, that mare." He turned to Fleur-de-lis, who had just exited a beauty salon. "Well, shall we return home, darling?"
Fleur nodded contentedly. "You like this new mane-cut, don't you, honey?"
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight called, walking through the double doors.
"Princess Twilight!" Celestia got up, and met Twilight halfway down the red rug. "How are you?"
"I'm doing great, Princess!"
"That is wonderful, Twilight. Are you enjoying the Summer Sun Celebration so far? I tried to do something different today," Celestia said.
"Something different?"
"Yes. Back when I was a child, someone else raised the sun, and when she would do it, she would decorate the sky around the sun in such a way that the sun would look more beautiful, and would hit the clouds just right. I tried to mimic that. What do you think?" Celestia smiled.
"You did that? That's amazing!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "I saw it this morning and thought it was just an accident with the weather team that the clouds were like that!"
"Yes, Rainbow."
"That's so cool!"
Celestia laughed. "Well, I'm glad you think so. It was absolutely exhausting. I don't know how she did it day after day. I was only able to recreate part its wonder." "Wow," Twilight breathed while she looked up at the sky. The sun was accented by a ring of clouds, each gleaming white where the sun hit them. The sky seemed to be sparkling, rays of sunshine beaming everywhere. "I had barely glanced at the sky today! This is marvelous!"
"You should have seen it when I was young," Celestia murmured. She turned towards Twilight. "So, have you made any interesting discoveries lately?"
Twilight tore her eyes from the beautiful sight and focused on the Princess. "Um, yes, actually!"
She pulled a scroll out of her knapsack and handed it to Celestia.
"Goodness, Twilight! This is astounding!" She gasped.
Twilight beamed. "I improved on the gravity spell I used at the Crystal Empire. I wondered if I focused the gravity on the objects around me instead of on myself, I could make the objects around me weightless!"
"So, what does it do?" Applejack asked.
"It nullifies gravity on the objects around the caster of the spell, causing them to float freely around with no magical help," Celestia explained.
"That's awesome!" Rainbow said.
Celestia laughed and went back to studying the scroll. She felt a small hoof tap her. She turned and looked at Fluttershy.
"Um, I was wondering. Discord told me he'd be staying at the castle. Do you know where he is?" She asked softly.
"Oh, Fluttershy, Discord is not here today. He's out guarding the western border of Equestria. He said that he had a weird feeling about something-or-other and wanted to check it out. I was worried, but he blew me off. I believe his words were, 'Don't worry your pretty pony princess head.'" Celestia mimicked Discord's voice. He said he's probably just imagining things. I wouldn't put it past him; he has the strongest imagination of anyone I know!
Fluttershy looked stricken. "A-aren't you still worried?"
"Not at the moment. Discord will come back if anything happens. I'm sure nothing is wrong." Celestia smiled.
*CRACK*
A flash of light illuminated the room and everypony had to cover their eyes.
"Celestia, we may have a- Oh, hi Fluttershy!" Discord's attention slipped towards the yellow pony.
The pegasus beamed and embraced her friend.
"May have a what, Discord?" Celestia asked, getting Discord back on track.
"Oh, yeah. We may or may not have a problem," Discord stated, hands behind his back.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said!" Discord replied, puzzled.
Celestia sighed. "Discord, riddles are of no use right now. What's going on?"
"I didn't use a riddle. It all depends on your point of view. To me, this new development isn't a problem. However, it probably is to you." Discord snapped his fingers and a holographic map of Equestria appeared before him. He zoomed in on the western corner, and pointed to an forested area. "Right around there, the clouds are moving on their own. The weather is fixing itself. It rained while I was there. The wind too began changing directions rapidly, as they should."
"As they should?" Rainbow cut in indignantly.
"Sorry, I meant, as I like them," Discord replied with derision. "You see, I haven't checked all over Equestria yet, but I checked a bunch of places, and they're all like this. Except for Canterlot. Canterlot hasn't been effected yet."
Celestia focused on the map intently, then looked up at Discord.
"Don't take offense to this, but you are honestly the only existing being I can think of that could cause this," She said cautiously.
"It would seem," Discord waved a hand lazily. "But it's not me. I would know." He floated over the window and glanced outside. "Oh, hey, you did that cool thing with the sun!"
"Discord, I hardly think that's the most important thing right now," Celestia said sharply.
"Why not?"
Celestia facehoofed. "Because if you are not the one changing the weather, who is?" Discord stopped short at that. "Oh," He stroked his goatee, apparently thinking hard. He seemed to think of something, for his eyes widened and his lion paw slowly went back down to his side. "Uh-oh."
Everypony stood there staring at him.
"What?" Twilight asked after a minute passed.
"Wait a sec," The draconequus raised an eagle claw.
"Discord, what is it?!" Celestia almost yelled.
"Give me a second, sheesh, I'm trying to be absolutely sure," He lasped into silence again and closed his eyes.
"What are you-" Twilight began to ask indignantly, but Celestia put a hoof over her mouth and shook her head slightly.
Discord's hands glowed slightly and when he opened his eyes they were filled with light. The ponies took a large step back. But as suddenly as it had begun, the glow left his disappeared and Discord sat down abruptly, eyes wide. Fluttershy walked forward.
"D-Discord? A-are you okay?" She whispered.
"I- I'm fine," He said defiantly, and got up. He turned toward the window. His tone changed to something almost like apprehension. "But the world's not," He said quietly. "For the first time in a fifteen thousand years, the world is overbalanced. But not because I made it so," His voice broke slightly.
The throne room was silent. Celestia and Discord stared at each other, Celestia with confusion and Discord with an emotion almost like anger.
"Constance?" Celestia murmured. Discord huffed and turned toward the window, staring at nothing. The six Elements looked back and forth between them, utterly lost and waiting for an explanation. When none came, Rainbow stepped forward uncertainly.
"Uh, one little question?" Rainbow raised her voice slightly to get their attention. "Who the hey is Constance?"
Celestia turned and opened her mouth to answer, but Discord teleported over to her and clapped a paw over her muzzle. He snapped his fingers. A book flashed into existence overhead. It spiraled to the ground and Twilight caught it with her magic. She stared at the cover in astonishment. It was simply titled, The History of Chaos and Order.
"How old is this book?" Twilight asked with amazement, opening its cover to old, worn, yellow pages.
"Pretty darn old," Discord blew off the question and flicked the book's pages until he reached his desired entry. "There," He pointed at a passage. "That's kind of a summary."
Twilight looked back at the book and read aloud,
"Constance Spirit of Order Origins Unknown
Estimated Magical Power Level: Extreme Estimated Physical Power Level: High
Description: Most commonly used form is one of a large cat. Can also take the form of a large falcon. Both forms are colored only black and white. Eyes change color from ice blue and forest green. Occasionally, one eye is blue and the other green.
Represents: Order, Logic, Control, Stability, Water, and Earth.
Examples of Power: Demonstrates the ability to raise the sun and moon with ease, as well as control all the natural processes of world with minimal effort.
Personality: Little is known about this. Seems to show little to no emotion and highly values logic.
When Threatened: Can easily crush most opponents.
Extra Information: Magical power level is doubled when combined with the Spirit Of Chaos."
Twilight fell silent and began to scan the passage again. Her eyes stopped on one particular sentence. "Control all the natural processes of the world with minimal effort..." She murmured. She looked up at Discord, eyes wide. "When this book says 'Magical Power Level: Extreme', what does that mean, exactly?"
"The scale goes, none, minimal, medium, high, extreme," Discord replied. "In that book, there are various creatures and monsters as well as her and I, but we are the only two with that rating. In fact, my summary is nearly the same as hers, except for the description, what we represent, and personality."
"And your name!" Pinkie reminded him, bouncing up and down. "You forgot about your name, silly! Your name isn't Constance, it's Discord!"
"Yeah, well, I thought that went without saying," He smirked at the pony, who couldn't keep her hooves on the ground for all of her excitement.
"Where's your summary? I want to read it," Twilight asked, idly flipping the pages of the book. Discord picked it up out of her magic and slipped it in her saddlebag.
"You keep it. Then you can read the whole thing. I'm sure you already want to, right?"
Twilight blinked gratefully at him. "Of course I do!"
"The rest of the book is mainly history from a long time ago, so it may seem a bit different than what you've read out of some of your history books," Discord continued. "But I don't think you should read it right now. That'd take too long, and we have something important we, regretfully," He muttered the word. "Have to do."
Celestia shook herself out of the daze she had been in for the last few minutes. "What?"
Discord glanced at her. "We have to find Constance."
"Why?"
"The fact that she woke up has overbalanced the world. She may have physically been sleeping here, but her presence left this world. That overbalanced the world into chaos. I, left alone, had to take a lot of chaos out of the world to make up for it. Now that she's back, the world has overbalanced to the orderly side. But, if I tried to add chaos to the world now, Constance might sense it and add more order, thinking something is wrong. So, basically, I have to go talk to her and get her up to date. She missed the whole thing when it happened fifteen hundred years ago," Discord huffed. "She was too caught up in herself to care about anyone's safety. Why I expected anything else from her is beyond me," Discord growled. Celestia looked dismayed.
"Discord, what are you talking about?" She tried to ask.
"You knew her! You can't honestly tell me that you wouldn't have expected it," Discord said.
"When I knew her, Discord, she would have done anything she could have to help! She was one of the most loyal beings I ever knew!"
Discord raised an eyebrow at the alicorn. "Loyal? I don't know what Constance you knew, princess, but it wasn't the one I did. She could've cared less about the well-being of the creature's around her. She would've destroyed the world if it meant everything would be orderly."
Celestia stared at him, unable to form words.
"As much as I hate her, we have to go tell her about the overbalance. If she hasn't realized it already."
Applejack stepped forward. "Do ya know where she is?"
"Uh, kinda?"
"Do ya, or do ya not?"
"I do!" Discord rushed. "She's somewhere in the Everfree forest."
"That's helpful!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "The Everfree forest is huge! She could be anywhere in there. How is 'somewhere in the Everfree forest' going to help us at all?"
"Just trust me. I know I can find her," Discord said. "All we need to do is get going," He paused. "You guys are coming, right?"
"Well, duh!" Pinkie shouted.
"We wouldn't miss it for the world," Twilight said. "Should we bring the Elements?"
"Yeah, probably. You never know what you'll run into in the Everfree forest. Not that we'll run into anything that I can't take on with one hand tied behind my back!" Discord smirked.
The trees of the Everfree forest loomed on the path ahead. The ponies shivered as they gazed into the deep darkness that filled the woods.
"Why do we always have to go into this hideous place?" Rarity complained.
"It's a conspiracy, honey," Discord drawled as he floated ahead. "The whole world is plotting against you."
"Very funny," Rarity retorted.
"I was really trying to be sarcastic, but funny works, too," Discord shrugged and flew into the gloom. The rest of the ponies followed a bit slower.
As they trekked, it became darker, and the trees became thicker and denser. The path got smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely, and the ponies, plus one draconequus, were left without a clear direction to go. After ten minutes of this, Fluttershy finally broke the silence.
"Um, are we sure we're going the right way?"
"Of course!" Discord reassured.
"Oh, good," Fluttershy whispered.
The silence fell again. It went on for quite a while until Discord apparently got too bored to keep his mouth shut.
"Don't you guys like the chaoticness of this place? It's amazing!" Discord admired. "The sheer randomness of it is wonderful! Nothing's in a line, nothing is predictable. Isn't it just grand!"
"That's an opinion," Rainbow muttered.
"You really are a spoil-sport, Dashie," Discord said dejectedly. "You never see stuff like this in Equestria. It really is a nice change of pace."
"I like it!" Pinkie Pie laughed. "It's really funny!"
"Funny?" Discord stared at her.
"It just makes me wanna laugh!"
Discord chuckled. "I think everything makes you want to laugh, Pinkie." He suddenly stopped flying, causing Rainbow to crash into him from behind.
"Hey, what gives?!" She yelled.
"We're getting close," Discord said.
"How do you know?" Twilight asked.
"The trees."
Twilight blinked and looked at the vegetation around them. "The trees?"
"They're starting to form lines. Look," Discord pointed. "And the flowers are gathered according to their color and shape. That sort of stuff happens when Constance stays in one area for a long period of time."
The ponies looked around. "That is so strange!" Rarity commented. "But it is a very nice change from all this unruliness."
Discord rolled his eyes. "It's boring. Come on, you'll be able to see it more clearly the closer we get."
They started walking again, now paying more attention to their surroundings. As they continued to walk, the trees became more and more widely spaced, making it easy to see the lines.
"Feels like Ah'm walking through the apple farm!" Applejack said, looking up at the tops of the trees.
A clearing opened up ahead. About twenty feet from it, Discord stopped. Once again, Rainbow ran into him.
"Jeez, please give me some warning next time!"
"Be quiet!" He whispered. "She should be right up there." He gestured at the clearing.
"So, why are we stopped?" AJ asked.
"I'm bracing myself."
"Oh, come on!" Rainbow pushed him forward.
"Fine."
They walked into the clearing.
"I don't see anypony!" RD complained.
"Shut up and look right in front of your face and maybe you will," Discord muttered, and pointed at the other end of the clearing. Fluttershy followed his finger with her eyes and saw what he was pointing at. She made a noise that was too high to be anything else but a muffled shriek and dove behind the draconequus.
In the darkness of the bushes at the other side of the clearing shone two bright, burning blue eyes.
The very force of the word shook the ground beneath the ponies' feet, causing a few leaves to fall from the trees that lined the clearing and the ponies to shout out, afraid. Fluttershy held tightly onto Discord's tail. Grimacing slightly, the draconequus reached behind himself, pulled the pegasus off and set her on the ground next to him, raising an eyebrow at her before facing the bushes again.
"Yes, Constance, my name hasn't changed over the last fifteen thousand years. Good to know your sense of dramatics hasn't either," Discord inspected his claws closely. "Why are you in the bushes anyway?"
Said vegetation trembled and parted as a large creature came through them. Constance stepped into the light, and all of the ponies scrambled back a few feet, Fluttershy making small, frightened noises in her throat. Constance had the form of an enormous black and white striped cat, making Opal look like a mouse in comparison. Her body moved as smoothly as a snake's, her teeth were sharp, and her claws, half-out, gleamed in the dim light. Despite her fearsome appearance, though, she did not look angry. In fact, her face was devoid of emotion as she stopped right in front of the draconequus.
"Speak for yourself," The cat said shortly. "This is a forest. It is rather hard not to be in the foliage. In point of fact, you were in the bushes too, until you entered the clearing."
Discord snorted. "At least I wasn't hiding in the bushes."
Constance raised an eyebrow. "I was not 'hiding in the bushes'."
"Looked like it," Discord sing-songed.
It was silent for a moment as Constance seemed to decide not to reply to the taunt. None of the ponies wanted to speak. There was a sense of power that seemed to weigh the very air down, and it had the most interesting affect of making their mouth's not want to move, and their vocal chords to not function properly.
Constance's ice blue eyes slowly wandered over to the six. As she registered their presence, the feeling suddenly went away. Twilight stepped forward, wondering whether the cat had made the pressure lift or not.
"Um, excuse me," She said softly. Constance looked directly at her, and Twilight shrank back slightly from her piercing gaze.
"I was lead to think you did not like ponies, Discord. Why did you then bring six of them with you?"
"It's a long story," Discord said bluntly.
"Oh, a long story. You and I are not immortal or anything," Constance replied, so subtly sarcastic that Twilight could see almost see her roll her eyes.
"Constance, we have something to tell you," Twilight continued. "There's a-
"Oh yeah!" Discord nearly yelled. He flew over to Constance and grabbed her shoulders. She looked slightly shocked at the sudden contact. "Don't know if you've noticed, but there's an overbalance of order, and I really need to pull in some more chaos, but I needed to let you know so that you wouldn't try to block the effort, and now that you know, I can do it!" Discord let go of the Spirit, and she stepped back a few feet, still looking shaken, as the draconequus flew up above the trees. There was a brilliant flash of light, and a light breeze began to blow. Landing lightly on his hind legs, Discord wiped his hands, looking pleased with himself. "Done, and done. Well, we can go home, now! Bye, Constance, see you later!" He began to walk back the way they had come.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"I just said! Home," Discord gestured vaguely in front of himself. "We're done, you don't ever have to see me again, bye-bye!"
"Get over here."
Discord stayed where he was.
Constance sighed quietly. "Please."
Smirking, he flew back. "What do you want, old buddy, old pal, old friend?"
Constance muttered something derogatory under her breath, and motioned the others back. Closing her eyes, she waved her paw. With a brilliant blue flash, the air shimmered. Constance opened her eyes and began examining the thing that had appeared in front of her. Discord sat back as if he'd seen this before, but the ponies gaped at it.
"What the hay is that?" Applejack muttered.
"It's so shiny!" Pinkie Pie shouted. Rainbow looked at the pink pony with annoyance, Fluttershy stayed silent, and Twilight was unable to form words.
"It is a live, holographic map of Equestria," Constance explained, finally glancing in her direction.
Twilight snapped out of her state of shock. "A live map? Like, it shows the weather? And what all of the ponies in Equestria are doing at this very moment?" Her voice was full of excitement.
In response, Constance put her paws over a city and pulled outward, causing the map to grow in size, and the city to get bigger. At this scale, they could see the forms of ponies walking around, talking, and going about their daily business.
"What city is that?" Applejack asked.
"It looks like Manehatten," Fluttershy said quietly.
"Are we really watching what those ponies are doing right now?" Rainbow asked.
"Yes," Constance seemed distracted as she maximized the map again and began to look carefully at the clouds.
"That's awesome!"
Discord leaned forward, peering at the map. "What are you looking at?"
"Are those pegasi moving the clouds?" Constance pretended not to have heard his question.
"Yep! We pegasi control the weather!" Rainbow boasted.
Constance blinked at the cyan pegasus. "Fascinating."
She looked at the map for a moment longer, then glanced at Discord. "I gather the clouds are not supposed to move on their own, then."
"No, the ponies don't particularly like that. Nor do they like cotton candy clouds and chocolate milk rain," Discord scowled.
"But I loved the chocolate milk rain!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in excitement.
"Oh, Pinkie, you're not like other ponies. You're special," Discord's voice dripped sarcasm, but the pink pony was unaffected.
"Ooh, yay!" She shouted. Discord rolled his eyes, smiling.
"Quiet," Constance snapped. She was focused on one end of the map, where a storm was pouring down rain on Phillydelphia. "This is not manufactured weather. This is random," She glanced at Discord. "You are not doing this?" She pointed at the dark cloud.
"No," Discord said, annoyed. "I don't do stuff like that anymore, thank you very much."
"Well, I am not creating it either, so that is a problem. If it is not you, and it is not me, than who is it?"
"Nopony alive today has the capability to do that except for us," Discord countered.
"I woke up today. Maybe someone else did as well," Constance stated bluntly.
"But who..." Discord trailed off uncertainly. "Can't you do your scan thing? You're pretty good at that."
Scowling, Constance turned back to the hologram and waved her paw over it. The whole map glowed blue, except for a small dot north of Phillydelphia. The dot glowed a deep red.
"What's that?" Twilight asked softly.
"Let us find out," Constance replied, and zoomed in the map. An image came in clearly. The two Spirits looked at each other.
"Malade," They said at once.
As the name left their mouths, the wind whipped around the clearing, causing the trees to sway in the wind. The sound of branches hitting each other filled the air, and dead leaves rained down from above. There was a sudden, strange pulling sensation, a loud bang and everything went dark.
As Constance registered this fact, she heard a faint high-pitched noise at the edge of her consciousness. She listened for a second, but unable to decipher it, she decided to ignore it and focused on getting her thoughts in order. She leapt into the darkness of her mind, forms shifting, shaping, emerging from the nothingness. The room appeared exactly as she pictured it; a vast room stretching into the distance, with a ceiling so tall that she could not see the top. The whole area was very dimly lit. The things inside the room began to take shape. Filing cabinets. The entire room was filled with filing cabinets. 'One for every moment of my life,' Constance thought. The grey boxes extended to the left of the Spirit, towering overhead, disappearing into the inky blackness above her. They seemed to go on forever, and they very nearly did, though Constance was sure if she began walking, she would eventually reach the end. However, how much time that would take, she was not entirely sure. She turned her head slightly to the right, looking the other direction. There was nothing there. An eerie nothing. Space to be used for times yet to come. Shaking her head slightly, she turned from the disturbing sight, and mentally took a deep breath. She began to think of what she could last remember.
First things first. She had woken up for the first time in fifteen hundred years, which was a miracle within itself. Fascinated, but finding nothing incredibly important in that, Constance filed it away in a cabinet that had appeared out of nowhere in front of her. And so she progressed, mentally sorting every moment from then on, each with its own specific cabinet labeled with a very, very long number. She continued with this until she reached the moment when Discord had reappeared into her life. Pausing, she thought hard about the emotions that had run through her.
The first had been anger. How dare he turn up right after she had woken, when he had been the reason for her leaving in the first place?! For one moment, she had wanted to leap at him at shred that stupid smirk into a million pieces. Only for one moment though, as she had shoved that emotion down within the next second.
The second emotion had been shock. How could she have not known he was coming? Why had she not sensed him before? She should have known he was there! The failure of her abilities did not make sense as they had worked well enough merely seconds later. She abhorred things that did not make sense.
The third and final emotion was confusion. Why would he have come? He hated her as much as she did not like him. And what exactly was the purpose of bringing those colorful ponies that he had used to so despise? For that matter, what was the point of bringing that alicorn? Was he trying to create an effect on her emotions, or did he genuinely bring them along because he wanted to, or rather, because they wanted to come?
All of those emotions had happened within five seconds, each subsequently being shoved to the back of her mind to be examined later. A short-term but effective way of keeping her emotions in check. After all, emotions were for the weak and illogical, of which the Spirit was anything but.
Successfully purging the emotions from that moment, she filed the information away. Having a burst of curiosity, she mentally glanced at the number on the file folder. It read 'Moment 793, 562, 781, 349, 828, 243, 749, 638, 497, 325, 304, 921, 754, 3-'. The Spirit lost her place as the high-pitched noise echoed through her mental shield, sounding strangely metallic in the enormous, virtual storage room.
Face baring the slightest hint of annoyance, she glared at the nonexistent ceiling. Ignoring the incoherent sound once more, she continued her meditation, skipping over the duller parts of the encounter.
Discord had grabbed her. A small detail, probably overlooked by everyone but herself, but the draconequus had grabbed her shoulder, just for a second. She shuddered from the memory. The Spirit of Order had the most annoying touch-telepath ability, and with his touch, his mind and emotions had barraged her mental shields, his sheer chaoticness shaking her to the core. She had felt his anger, distrust, concern, urgency, and the most random craving for candy all at once, and as he had released her, she had been too shocked to completely register what he had said. Thankfully, she had been able to get the gist of it, so she did not have to ask him to repeat himself.
Fascinated by the moment, Constance turned and stuck it in a small cardboard box labeled 'Things To Think About Later'. She skipped forward to the last few moments she could remember, still ignoring the noise, which she had just realized was a voice.
The last few moments were possibly the most perturbing of the whole incident.
Malade.
The name alone brought uncharacteristic shivers down the cat's spine. Malade, an enemy she had fought long ago. The evil spirit brought sickness, dangerous weather, and despair in his wake, and he was incredibly powerful, nearly as powerful as herself. In fact, the only reason she had been able to defeat him and seal him in the Everfree Forest was because she had joined forces with Dis-
She paused. She had joined forces with Discord. But why? The two could not even bear each other's presence for long before they began to argue; why would they agree to help each other? She searched her mind for a reason, becoming confused as she came up blank. She turned and stared at the filing cabinets. 'This does not make sense. I remember everything; the proof for that is right in front of me. Why can I not explain this?' The Spirit thought, nearly worried. As she thought, a sudden explanation appeared in her mind. 'Ah, yes, we had worked together because there was no other way to defeat Malade. They had then went their separate ways. Correct?' She stopped again. She had a nagging feeling, as if this information was not correct, not in the slightest. But it had to be correct. She, the Spirit of Order, had every moment of her life filed away perfectly. 'I can not be wrong. Of course this is correct. It is the only logical explanation.' She filed the matter away, carefully avoiding the remaining confusion revolving around the subject.
'What was the final thing that happened? Oh, yes, the weather went ballistic and there was a sound like an explosion and everything went dark. I wonder what caused that?' Unable to answer that question at that time, she put it in the cardboard box and sat down.
Finally finished with the meditation, she let the mental room fade away. The dull grey cabinets went first, then the dim lighting faded and the Spirit was left in the utter darkness of the depths of her mind. Composed and stabilized, she allowed her attention to turn to the voice. It was discernable now, but it sounded slow, as if a film was taken and slowed down to create a comical effect. That was to be expected, as the outside world had always seemed to move at a slower pace than her consciousness. Still listening closely, she mentally formed a bridge toward the voice. As she stepped onto the path, she could feel her body waking up, and she felt herself physically move. She could sense the distinction from dream to reality and the dream was melting away. The last thing she could register from the trance was reaching the other side of the bridge. It then melted away completely and the voice sped up, becoming even higher in pitch, causing the cat to press her ears flat against her head. Attempting to sit up, Constance blinked her eyes open and was immediately startled back into her lying position by the sudden appearance of a creature right in front of her nose.
'The pink one. Of all the other ponies, I had to be woken up by the pink one.'
