> The New Face of Chaos
>  by ragingbatpony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue - Choice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Prologue: Choice


Canterlot Royal Gardens – Statue of Discord

Sun shining, skies clear, not even a hint of clouds. A gentle and pleasant warmth sat in the air – another idyllic day which a lone being within the Royal Gardens was pondering over.

‘I have never been more bored.’ Discord thought, his ponderings weren’t particularly profound at present, but boredom led to something quite unusual for a being of chaos: Planning.

‘Boredom’s been a bit too close a friend for my tastes recently, things need spicing up. Not like I haven’t tried to do that already, but trigger-happy children with mega-rainbow lasers that get fired directly upon my tushy are quite the problem. Blasted Elements…’ The chaos spirit grouched, as effectively as one could whilst petrified. This state also meant that the mischievous twinkle in his eyes and large smirk on his face were not actually visible, as he experienced a mismatched piece falling into place within his equally mismatched brain.

‘There’s an idea… Oh-ho-ho! Now there’s a glorious idea!’ Discord mentally laughed, plans solidifying in his mind. ‘Righto, first things first…’ He mused, before flexing his power just so, shattering the once imprisoning stone statue and appearing with a stretching yawn.

“Ahhh, freedom of movement! Ouch, it’ll take years to work out these kinks.” Examining how an arm was bent somewhere it really shouldn’t be, Discord looked thoughtful before giving a small shrug. “Eh, or not I guess.”

A snap of the chaos spirit’s fingers saw all apparent bodily harm vanish, while something new appeared: An ever-shifting chart that would likely frazzle the mind of any lesser individual, listing every sentient being in the multiverse. Discord examined the chart in what may have been the first moment of seriousness in his life.

“Now, immediately exclude the likes of the Equestria Girls universe on the basis that those are, for all intents and purposes, just another Equestria – far too harmonious. Also, scratch out any excessively violent dimensions, I want this to last after all.” Sticking his tongue out from the corner of his mouth, Discord stared intently at the remaining information for a moment before reaching a decision.

“Well then, Universe C-132, aren’t you such a delightfully tight ball of chaos? Now, who lives in this little paradise? Greys… No, too logical. Reptilian folk? Bah, far too aggressive. Ah, Humanity, how I’ve missed the chaotic little monkeys. A human would do brilliantly, but the choice must be perfect, so which one?”

With what an onlooker might dare call a look of concentration upon his face, Discord examined the now much smaller chart further before developing a rather pleased smile. “C***** N***, male, aged 19, and quite the interesting chaotic philosophy. He’s perfect.” Having reached a decision, the draconequus disappeared in a flash of teleportation that left him in the centre of the Everfree Forest, completely isolated from prying eyes. 

Not even sparing a glance at the new surroundings, Discord snapped his fingers, summoning the phenomenal amount of power that allowed rapid inter-dimensional travel, and watched as a hairless ape-like creature fell from the resulting portal.

========================================***=======================================

P.O.V. – C**** N***

“-and that’s whAT THE FU-oof!” 

Following his rather hard landing, the human groaned and rubbed at his sore everything before slowly lifting his head to examine an unknown environment. The interruption of what he was doing prior to going splat was left forgotten to make room for rapidly growing confusion.

“Where the hell am I..?” The human asked aloud, his voice began to waver towards the end of his sentence; fear was setting in. ‘Starting to freak out, starting to freak out, and now I’m freaking ou-’

*Ahem*

A throat being cleared cut short what likely would have been a glorious freak-out on the human’s part, and he turned so sharply that he almost lost his balance, then sort of wished he hadn’t turned at all. It was certainly a sight to see, what the man would describe as ‘the most fucked-up animal ever’, gazing with uneven eyes into those of the human. Of course, everything was uneven; legs, arms, antlers, teeth, wings.

‘Human slack-jawed stare mode’ lasted for several seconds, his brain believing that the metaphorical car crash was now as ugly as it could be.

Then the circus-freak creature opened its mouth, and talked.

=========================================***======================================

P.O.V. – Discord

Discord spent the short span of time in which the human fell, from portal to floor, mentally debating how to best use the freedom of movement having an heir to his chaos granted. The whole point of this undertaking wasn’t to just give up the chaos game after all, it just wasn’t going so well in Equestria. As per usual, the not entirely consistent genius of the draconequus mind provided an idea which was suitable.

‘How more widespread could chaos possibly be, than across the entire multiverse? So, Discord old chap, you go a-wandering throughout the multiverse and cause chaos everywhere you go, while the good man takes care of business here. Perfect!’  This deliberation was cut slightly short by the evident confusion of Equestria’s newest human resident, who was being quite vocal about such. Upon seeing confusion start devolving into panic, Discord gave a loud clearing of his throat, in order to garner the attention of his desired heir. This was quite effective, if the crack heard from the man’s neck as it was turned a bit too fast was any indication.

“Hello there C****, how are you doing? Well, I suppose you look rather confused, which is fair, so I shall explain!” Discord opened, flourishing an avian hand against his chest. “You see, I am Discord, the god of chaos within this universe… Well, for the next few minutes at least, I’m retiring from this particular corner of existence. That’s the part where you come in, you’re going to carry on my work here, congratulations!” He cheered, throwing a small bunch of confetti in the human’s face, making him splutter slightly and shake his head.

Despite being broken from his state of shock, the man had no time to vocalise the many problems he was starting to develop with the scenario.

“Now given your lack of knowledge in the ways of true, artistique chaos, I’ve compiled a series of references for you in book form, convenient right? Well, as good as that is for teaching you about the world you’re in and how best to get around, you’ll need a proper starting point, so…” 

After summoning the aforementioned literature before the human who looked about ready to pop, Discord’s words trailed off as he approached the man.

=======================================***========================================

P.O.V. – C**** N***

Before he could protest, a lion paw was placed on the man’s forehead, shortly followed by an unnatural and decidedly searing pain. His brain flip-flopped in his skull, exploding several times most likely, whilst a mouth that wanted badly to scream but couldn’t hung slightly open below wide eyes. 

Now, it’s extensively debatable what having masses of information gathered over dozens of lifetimes forced into the human brain would do, not least due to the question of just how one would do so. In this case though, chaos magic was at play, so it worked. There weren’t zero side-effects however.

With humans having no innate magic to speak of, such an abrupt introduction to large amounts of chaos magic of all things, already caused… damage. Then again, with chaos magic fuelling the process and a plethora of concepts being introduced to the man’s mind, it was irrevocably changed to allow it to handle the almost entirely new mentality he had developed in a normally impossible time frame. This odd patchwork of damage and indirect repair left behind what can be considered a being of true chaos – where even their own psyche doesn’t really make sense to them, but will still do things if asked. 

It also left behind a very unbalanced human.

“Mrglflrbplefwahahoi…”

Following that contribution, the man was brought back slightly unto coherence, when the mismatched creature now identified to him as Discord opened a deep red portal to God-knows-where. Looking back at the new local artisan of chaos (who had just enough of his sensibilities to feel a chill run down his spine), Discord spoke a rather simple line before going of on his merry way.

“Good luck.”

And then he was gone.

…

…

“Huh.” The man observed simply, before glancing at the mound of reading material still untouched before him. With the gears of a freshly discombobulated mind swiftly gaining speed, he bent to pick up a book at the top of the pile, before beginning to read ‘So you just became a chaos god…’

The first page of the hard-backed tome (which was fairly small next to its fellows) was a simple affair titled ‘Rules that even you must follow’, which gave the human pause.

‘Chaos? Following rules? Surely that’s completely redundant… Fine, right, what are the rules to being something that shouldn’t damn-well follow any?’ With brow raised, he read on.

Rule 1: This rule covers the concept of death, where there are two crucial considerations to make: A – You may not directly take a life; lethal traps of both yours and the target’s making are acceptable, as is leading them into a dangerous scenario through trickery. B – While reviving others from death is allowed, it is not recommended in any frequency, as doing so while quickly anger Death herself (which is something you really don’t want).

Rule 2: Any child brought into the world by you will inherit a degree of chaos magic, plus any magic possessed by the mother.

Rule 3: You may not lie. Once again, this refers to doing so directly; double, even triple negatives, are allowed along with convoluted wordplay. Otherwise, the spirit or letter of any agreement must be followed, manipulating a poor choice of words in said agreements is fine, on the other hand.

With the three basic rules of chaos now mentally ingested, the human hummed thoughtfully. 

“Well, I suppose those are kind of fair, in the spirit of chaos as I now understand it.” He said with a miniscule sigh.

=======================================***========================================

P.O.V. – Celestia, Royal Gardens

Celestia, The Daylight Herald, Princess of the Sun and co-ruler of Equestria, had her gaze settled on the former site of the statue of Discord. Her tone was one of bewilderment and no small amount of worry as she turned from the leftover rubble to address her sister.

“Where could he have gone that would not be readily apparent considering his nature? In fact, how could he possibly escape to begin with?”

Luna, Warden of the Night, Princess of the Moon and also co-ruler of Equestria, wore an expression which matched her sister’s tone of voice. Her brow furrowed somewhat in thought at the queries.

“Your questions hold merit sister, it is far from the chaos menace’s typical behaviour to go both unheard and unseen for any length of time… But as for how he escaped, I would speculate an upsettingly long list of possibilities given the nature of the individual.” The dark blue alicorn replied, leaving Celestia to nod solemnly. 

‘This is a situation that could prove disastrous very quickly.’ The sun princess thought to herself. She opened her mouth to discuss a course of action, but was rather spectacularly interrupted. Giant waves of magical energy that spread in rapidly expanding circles from the Everfree Forest will do that, it would seem.

‘Ah… Sometimes I quite dislike the realisation that I am more than likely right about things.’
> Chapter 1: - Adapt and Prepare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter One: Adapt and Prepare 






P.O.V. C**** N***
 

As I walked through the forest I came upon a massive clearing, summoning up my powers, I snapped my fingers and a Victorian sword-cane snapped into existence. I snatched it out of the air as a huge manic grin appeared on my face. I regarded the clearing, with the look one might give a lump of stone, full of potential, and waiting to be carved into a statue to last the ages. I slammed my newly acquired cane into the ground and a massive wave of magic transformed the surrounding trees into massive black marble columns and sending every animal nearby fleeing, with another tap of my cane the marble pillars uprooted themselves and formed two rows leading to the center of the newly expanded clearing. I hit the earth with my cane yet again, and this time a marble arched roof appeared on top of the column rows, walking underneath it till I reached the far edge from where I was, another impact from my cane caused all the earth in front of me to turn into a chessboard pattern of purple and red marble, forming a courtyard before the main space . Walls made of purple marble formed on opposite ends of the clearing, as the house popped into existence and expanded into a massive Greek temple styled mansion made of black, purple and red marble, I walked away from my new palace and tapped my cane to the ground and a stone wall complete with battlements and parapets, walkways and archer cover, as towers appeared in the four corners of the wall,  gates appeared at the cardinal points, the newly created wall completely surrounded my creation. 

I walked into the courtyard and willed some decorations into being, a garden complete with a pond, a few statues of myself appeared, as well as a gazebo and a fountain complete with water, satisfied so far I walked into my as yet bare mansion's main corridor, I struck the marble walls and suddenly stained glass windows, tapestries, some with chaos stars, and others with scenes detailing famous struggles, people, and events from human history, the battle of thermapolye, the shelling of Fort Sumter, The Boston tea party, the assassination of Julius ceaser, the battle of Gettysburg, the Normandy invasion and others. I rapped my cane on the floor and a thick purple carpet appeared in the middle of the hallway and started unrolling down the hallway. I followed the plush rug as it went down the hallway before it ended and I came to a massive central chamber with eight hallways including the one I came through, one leading in every direction on the compass. I walked to the far edge of the central room and slammed my cane into the floor, causing a black marble throne with a purple cushion on it's back and seat to appear, I pointed my cane at the wall above and to the left of my new throne  and a black stained glass window with a silver chaos star in the middle, then I pointed my cane at the same point on the right side and a twin window appeared, with that done, i added a sword rack to the right of my throne.

I then spent some time walking the halls adding rooms such as a treasury, an armory, several guest bedrooms, a master bedroom, a bathhouse, an observatory in one of the towers, a library, a map room, a dungeon, a study, a secret hideaway, a bar, a pool a ballroom, and a security room, I then added more decorations, before finally spending the rest of the day adding traps, security cameras which were all wired into a massive flat screen in the security room, as the sun set, I set up three layers of wards, the first created a dome around my home, preventing anyone from entering the mansion from the air, the second removed all magic from anyone who wasn't a guest in my home, and the third made any intruders show up in a random location in the mansion excluding my throne room, and the master bedroom.

As the moon ascended into the sky, I walked to each gate and made a magical stone statue at each, at the main gate, I made a hyena statue out of amber, at the north gate I made a statue of a snake out of emerald, at the west gate I made a statue of a monkey made out of ruby and at the east gate I made a statue of a raven made out of obsidian, each was enchanted to only allow people other than me through the gates if they answered a puzzle unique to each statue. Staring at my beautiful new home, I started to wonder what I should do next. 'now what to do, should I reveal myself, or should I play it safe and stay hidden? chuckling to myself before continuing my internal monologue.'stay hidden, right, screw that, I'm gonna have some fun and reveal myself; but wait, my outfit doesn't fit a god of chaos does it?

Walking back inside my mansion, and entering the master bedroom, I looked in front of a full body mirror and snapped my fingers, suddenly I was wearing a black pinstripe suit, a red dress shirt, a purple vest, red silk socks, black leather dress shoes, a red silk pocket square, in the breast pocket of my suit jacket, and the Piece de Resistance a black crushed velvet top hat and silver pocket watch appeared. I grabbed the hat and watch, placed the hat on my head, and the watch in my pocket, before spending some time standing in front of the mirror admiring the new fashion. walking out of the master bedroom, down the hall, entering the study and grabbing the three books Discord gave me. I reviewed the second book, titled threats to you and your plans  opened up to the first chapter titled, the elements of harmony and started to read aloud.

"The elements of harmony are one of the few true threats to you. The elements bearers & their elements are as follows: Pinkamena Diane Pie A.K.A. pinkie pie, element of laughter, Rarity Belle, element of generosity, Applejack Apple, element of honesty, Rainbow Dash, element of loyalty, Fluttershy Zepher element of kindness and finally Twilight Sparkle, element of Magic, personal student of Princess Celestia. Alone, even with their elements, they pose very little threat to you, but together, with their elements supercharging their magic and combining them, they are the single greatest threat to you in Equestria, even Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna's combined power, while still a great threat to you, is nothing compared to the elements. As the elements amplify the users magic, they then multiply each other's power according to this formula: (kindness X laughter X generosity X honesty X Loyalty) + magic^2. If you remove any value from the formula, the power amplification doesn't apply properly and is negated." Pausing my reading, to talk to myself aloud.

" It seems that my first plan should be to first remove one of the elements from the equation, but which one?" Continuing to read I discovered that the elements are stored in a secret vault in the capital of Equestria, Canterlot, more specifically, the castle of the two princesses. Flipping to the section on the Princesses, before starting to read. 'The princesses of Equestria, are sisters, the older; Princess Celestia, is responsible for the daytime concerns of the ponies under her and her sister's rule, as well as raising the sun at dawn, and lowering it at night, while her sister, Princess Luna, is responsible for the safety of the dreams of her subjects and raising and lowering the moon.' I spent a good hour coming to terms with that knowledge. 

"They control the heavenly bodies, how the bloody hell are they that powerful?" I said to myself, partially in awe. I started to pace trying to come up with a plan before an idea struck me like a lightning bolt. "Alright, so that's the plan, pop over to the castle before dawn, grab the elements, and Celestia; after raises the sun, but before she can start her royal duties for the day, of course, and then get the hell outta dodge. with a plan in mind, I snapped my fingers and a map of Canterlot castle appeared, I then spent the rest of the night pouring over the plans, forming dozens of back up plans, and several backup plans for those backup plans.
> Chapter 2 - A Guide to Thieving and Capture
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2- A Guide to Thieving and Capture







P.O.V.: C**** N***: Manor: study


"Ok, let's see, checklist: cane?" the ivory-handled cane-blade floated eagerly into the hand of its owner as if begging to be used. "Check, hat?" the velvet headwear floated daintily above the lord of chaos's head before settling down at a quirky angle on top of his head. Chuckling the chaos lord marked hat off his list "check, and finally, pocket watch, check" he said as he slid the silver timepiece into his pocket, the human tapped his cane against the marble flooring and started his opening move. 





Location shift: city of canterlot


I stepped through the portal into a dirty alley, I could see the castle over the rooftops of the nearby buildings. If the map I had was correct, the solar wing of the castle, which contained both my objectives: the element vault and Princess Celestia's bedroom was on the east side of the castle. Looking out from the alley, I could see a few unicorn guards with spears and what was either polished bronze or gold armor. As well as a few pegasus guards patrolling the skies above. Casting a spell which allowed me to see any enchantments, finding none I was surprised. 'What kind of world is this where they have access to real defensive magic, but don't cast it on the entryways to the royal palace, well at least it makes my job easier.' With that, I teleported to the middle of the solar wing of canterlot castle. I then trecked to the element vault, upon arrival, I noticed there were only two things preventing me from getting my prize; a ward spell designed to alert Princess Celestia if the wards were tripped, and a custom lock, designed to be unlocked by a horn, probably Celestia's. Dispelling the ward, carefully as to not trip it, I didn't bother with the lock and just teleported into the room. acting quickly, i grabbed the element of magic and swapped it for the duplicate; I tapped my cane on the ground and the crown teleported to my treasury, tapping my cane once again, I teleported into celestia's bedchambers, not seeing her in her bed, I grew worried before I heard a shower running, and someone singing noisily, loud enough to be noticeable over the water.  "Is she? she is." I said to myself. as I sat down on her bed and faced the bathroom before a wicked idea popped into my head. 





P.O.V.: Celestia: royal bed chamber

In the royal chamber of Princess Celestia I, the alabaster alicorn lay sleeping, when the bane of her existence started its baleful ringing.  The dreaded demon, known across the world, simply as 'the alarm clock' rung until the pearl princess ended its noisy rampage by placing her hoof on the reset button, as she yawned and slid out of her soft, warm bed and onto the cold, hard floor. trotting over to the bathroom,  "ugh, I hate waking up, 2,500 years of them, and I still hate early mornings, ironic considering my charge." Wondering what happened to discord, I thought to myself. ' It's been three days since he disappeared and that massive wave of magic rippled throughout the world.' Various scenarios, each worse than the last, running wild through my head; I shook my head, to clear the mental cataclysms from my mind. Hopping into the shower, I turned on the hot water, then twisted the cold on, creating a nice warm middle ground. letting out a contented sigh I levitated the shampoo and started to apply it to my mane and tail before I started to sing. As I finished washing my mane and tail and started on my coat, I started the second verse of the song, singing loudly and happily, fully awoken, underneath the warm water. As I finished my song, got out of the shower, trotted happily over to my mirror, and started to brush my teeth. finishing that, cantered eagerly out of my bathroom when I saw the strangest creature I have ever seen sitting on my bed playing with my crown, suddenly the creature turned to face me with what appeared to be a grin on its face before speaking with humor smothering his tone.





P.O.V shift: C**** N***


"Oh, hello, Celestia, you have a lovely singing voice by the way," I said, causing the pale alicorn to blush heavily.

"You flatter me,"  she said, still blushing. I smiled honestly, before replying. 

"Not flattery if it's the truth, beautiful." Celestia blushed harder before she turned and walked out onto her balcony and looked towards the sky with a smile on her face and a question in her eyes.  I smirked before responding. "Oh go ahead, you'll need to raise the sun before I can take us both back to my castle and start the game, dear." Puzzled she looked me in the eyes before asking a simple question. 

"What game?" she asked; with a puzzled look on her face. I simply grinned. Then with a chuckle, I answered.

"Why the one that will show the world that there's a new face of chaos in this beautiful world. My dear, Celestia, are you ready?" Surprisingly she smiled, before answering me.

"Am I to assume I am a hostage? or perhaps am I being kept prisoner to remove a powerful enemy from the chessboard. It has been so long since someone has had the guts, honor, and guile to ponynap me, after letting me know they were going to do so." Looking at her for a minute before responding. 

"You, Celestia, are what your sister and the Elements of Harmony are playing for. For this to be a game there has to be something to win." Looking me in the face she paused before her response came. 

"And what, if I may be so bold as to ask, is stopping my sister from summoning the elements of harmony and having them neutralize you? Surely someone as cunning as you must be thought of that?" The princess said with the mother of all Cheshire cat smiles.

"Of course I did, who do you think I am, an idiot? I swapped the element of magic for a very realistic duplicate, so the magic link between the elements is broken, now let us be off, shall we? Oh before I forget, got to leave a clue, I swear, I'd lose my own head if it wasn't attached to me." Dropping a black card with a silver chaos star and a gold border on the ground before wrapping my left arm around her neck, I tapped my cane, which was in my right hand against the ground, and teleported us to my forest manor.





Location Shift: Everfree Manor


Arriving at my manor, we stood outside the wall, Staring; Celestia at my mansion's architecture and splendor, and me looking in smug satisfaction at Celestia's gobstruck face. Walking up the path to the columns at the front of the manor before turning to Celestia. " the architecture is inspired by the Hellenic culture from my world, every great empire mimicked their culture after their collapse, I guess everyone wanted a piece of that era of my people's history, understandable of course, their culture dominated the entirety of the known world from the year 500 BC, that's before Christ mind you, to around 50 BC."  She just stammered before clearing her throat.

"and what year is it now?" She asked, hesitantly. Regarding her hesitation with humor in my eyes. I responded.

"It's 2018 AD, almost 3,000 years later. and in that time, our technology has grown to make the technology of that era seem simple and crude. granted sometimes we encounter something from the classical world it takes us a few years to solve, but in the end, we always do, we're just stubborn like that." Celestia seemed genuinely impressed.

"Amazing, your people are truly magnificent, to build this in the far past, and be even more advanced in the modern era." Celestia seemed chipper and smiled before she spoke again. "Well let's get inside, shall we?" We both walked into my manor, as we entered the manor, Celestia seemed impressed and intrigued by the tapestries. "While they are beautiful tapestries, no doubt, I see so much violence in them, why do you display them so proudly?" I walked up to her as she viewed a tapestry detailing the assassination of ceaser.

"Every one of these is a monumental event in my people's history, the one you are currently looking at is the assassination of Julius ceaser, this was important because the civil war that followed gave birth to the Roman empire, the single greatest empire in human history." Turning, I saw she was staring at a tapestry detailing the Normandy invasion. "Ah, June 6th, 1944, or as it is more commonly known to my people, D-day; that was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany, a cruel regime that believed themselves to be genetically superior to all other races. And as such, wanted to exterminate the inferior races." At this statement, Celestia gasped in horror. "That regime caused the second world war, there were sixty million casualties." Celestia just stared slack-jawed, dumbstruck that a race could be so violent as to have not one, but two global conflicts. 

"That war ended with my country dropping two bombs on another nation, those bombs each leveled an entire city, the first killed 126,000 civilians and 20,000 soldiers; the second, 80,000 more civilians, for a total of 246,000 people." Celestia's eyes were misty, I continued to speak. "We learned our lesson though, that war taught us that racism is wrong; consider yourself lucky, your ponies learned this lesson easy compared to my people. But anyway are you hungry?" I asked Celestia before she could reply though, her stomach growled rather loudly.

"Guess that answers that question, doesn't it? Alright, let's get some breakfast." Walking towards the dining room, the solar alicorn followed behind me, the bloody history of my people forgotten as she thought of breakfast. Entering the dining room, I clapped my hands and a few purple storm elementals set up a place for me and Celestia to eat. 

"I assure you, Celestia, you will not be disappointed in the menu here as it is anything you could ever want. "When the mentioned alicorn nodded, I snapped my fingers and a storm elemental with a notebook and a pencil approached me. "Bacon and cheddar omelet, please, with home fries and pineapple juice, what do you want Celly?" She smirked at the nickname before replying.

"Waffles with hashbrowns and coffee, cream and 4 sugars please." The storm taking our orders wrote them down and then thundered off towards the kitchens.

"So Celestia, would you like a tour of my home after the meal or would you rather I show you straight to where you will be staying while you are my guest? or perhaps we could walk through the gardens, what is your choice?" She Seemed to think about it for a few moments before she answered.

"I would love a tour of your home, it is magnificent, truly an architectural marvel." She said in between bites.

Finishing my food a few minutes later, I looked up and saw Celestia was finished with her breakfast as well. Clapping my hands a chaos spirit took our plates, I stood. "Come with me celly, we'll begin our tour in the throne room."




P.O.V. shift: canterlot: Solar Aegis, lieutenant of the solar guard:

"Your majesty?" Solar Aegis was worried, Princess Celestia was never this late before. Knocking on the door, he waited for the princess to answer. When he received only silence as a response he opened the door. Seeing no sign of the princess he then trotted into the room to investigate further. 'Still no sign, this is not good. Where could she be?' Seeing no sign of Princess Celestia, lieutenant Solar Aegis ran from the room and shouted at the top of his lungs. "The princess has been ponynapped, she's gone. Raise the alarm!" The castle broke out into a panic, and Princess Luna was woken up.






P.O.V. Princess Luna:
Dazed I rubbed my eyes as guards from both the solar and royal divisions processed the scene of my sister's ponynapping. I was awoken 30 minutes ago by a solar guard, I was just standing in the center of the room when a guard walked up to me. 

"Princess, we found this. maybe whoever took the princess left it." Floating the object to her face she saw it was a black business card with silver and gold trim and a strange star like symbol in the center.

"Summon the elements of harmony. Now!"
> Chapter 3 - Chessman's Dance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.O.V.: Twilight Sparkle, golden oaks library, ponyville

I was nervous, I had gotten a message from Princess Luna saying, Princess Celestia had been ponynapped and no one knew who had taken her. The princess had told her to gather her friends and get ready for a transport to take them to canterlot. Pacing nervously, I looked at spike before speaking.

"Spike, I need you to go get Pinkie and Fluttershy, have them get Rainbow Dash and Applejack, tell them to hurry here when they're done, if they ask why, tell them it's a matter of massive importance." Rushing out the door, I ran as fast as I could to Rarity's house. As she ran through ponyville, her thoughts ran wild. 'Who could have taken the princess? Discord? No, he's a statue. Then who could have taken the princess? The lavender unicorn was shaken from her thoughts by almost ramming face first into her friend's door. Taking a breath to compose herself, she raised her hoof and knocked on the door. A minute later and the door opened and Rarity stood in the doorway, with curlers in her mane and rubbing the sleep from her eyes before noticing who was at her door.

"Twilight? Whatever do you need this early? It must be important for you to be this riled up." Rarity looked twilight up and down, seeing her nervous demeanor Rarity removed her mane curlers with her magic and placed them on her table.

"Well dear, if you deem it necessary to wake me up this early it must be an element matter. Let's go." With that said Rarity and Twilight ran back to the library as fast as they could. When they got there they found Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.  As if on cue, Applejack spoke up, saying what everyone except twilight was thinking.

"Twilight, what in tarnation is so important that you had Spike take me from the farm, right as we was starting chores?"
Twilight spent a moment to catch her breath before she replied. "Sorry girls, if it wasn't the biggest mission we ever got as element bearers I wouldn't have woken you up so early but it's seriously important. Princess Celestia was ponynapped, she's gone!"

The collected elements of harmony gasped in shock. Rainbow Dash was the first to recover. the Chromatic Pegasus flew into Twilight's face, before speaking. "Who did it, just point us at them and we'll kick their friggin butt, right girls?" The rest of the elements nodded while Twilight just shook her head. "Unfortunately Rainbow, we don't know who did it or even where they are hiding now. I called you all here because Princess Luna has sent a chariot to pick us all up and take us to canterlot to meet with her so we can plan our next step." As she said that a royal sky chariot appeared in the sky, before landing roughly 3 meters from the crowd of mares. 

Twilight looked from the chariot to spike, before she addressed the dragon. "Spike, I need you to watch the library while the girls and I handle this, can you do that?" The dragon's response was to snap to attention before replying. 

"yes, mam." The mauve Unicorn Nuzzled the young dragon briefly. 

"Ok girls let's go save the princess" There was a chorus of agreement as the girls piled into the chariot. Once all passengers were in the chariot, the pegasi pulling it took off, then ascended far above the buildings of the small town on a route to canterlot.




P.O.V.: C**** N***: forest castle:

"First stop on the grand tour, the library." Celestia just stood there smiling as I opened the massive mahogany doors, her smile quickly turning into a look of awe at the multi-story size room, with most of the walls covered in massive floor to floor bookshelves crammed tight with books from every era of human history. The greatest authors in human history were here, Homer, Aristotle, Stephen King, William Shakespear, Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemmingway,  F. Scot Fitzgerald, J.R.R Tolkien, and numerous others, as well as the works of the greatest Philosophers. 

"This place is massive, how much is here?" Celestia asked, in awe.

"Roughly 6,000 years of literature, poetry, and Philosophy." Celestia seemed even more awestruck now that I told her what was in here. 

"Oh Don't worry my dear, sweet, Celestia, it gets better." I motioned for her to follow me out of the massive library. Celestia seemed puzzled by something. 

"you know, you never told me your name. You do have one right?" taking a moment to think of a new name, before replying.

"of course Cels, my name is Entropy, at your service." Taking her hoof into my hand before kissing the top of it with a smirk, as the alabaster princess blushed. Chuckling lightly at her expense, I continued the tour. "Next up the gardens, you'll Love them Celestia, seriously, I put a lot of effort into it. You'll really appreciate the variety." Exiting the main part of the manor and starting on a cobblestone path, and entering the gardens. I turned to Celestia. "Welcome to the gardens of the palace of chaos, filled to the brim the most beautiful and deadly flowers, and other plants of my world. I know you're a herbivore but remember, almost every plant in this garden is Extreamly Poisonous and while it may not kill, you as you're immortal, it would definitely make you seriously sick, so make sure you don't eat them, I wouldn't even recommend touching them okay?" I asked Celestia with noticeable concern in my voice. 

The Pale Princess seemed to notice the concern in my voice, as she smiled gently before simply nodding.

P.O.V. Shift: Mysterious Being: The deepest pit of Tartarus: 

"So you're telling me that, Discord is gone, and he left some insignificant alien worm as his replacement? That's Fucking fantastic!!" The shadowy figure roared its displeasure, shaking the cavern around it. The massive stalactites on the roof of the cavern shook violently before falling from the roof of the cave only to meet their fate by shattering on the floor after leaving cracks in the stone. Small scaled and horned creatures, scurried about, avoiding the effects of the wrath of the dark titan. Once the behemoth calmed from its wrath, it spoke quietly to itself. "Great now I must make new plans." It would have been bad enough to suffer working with discord but now we have a new and unexpected player. Now I have to adapt to this new god of chaos. "I will have my revenge, I don't care if there is a new god of chaos, I'll just have to accelerate my plans."

Suddenly a series of footsteps could be heard entering the cavern. "Don't you mean 'we'll have to accelerate our master's plan.' Asmodeus?" The cavern was suddenly lit with a sickly pale green light revealing to two tall figures surrounded by a couple dozen kneeling smaller figures. The first figure turned, his already red skin, flushed a deeper shade of crimson as he addressed his compatriot. 

"Of course Azazel, I would never even dream to plan against our master's wishes." The green and purple figure just looked on unconvinced.

"Of course Asmodeus, I just came to tell you that regardless of the recent development, the plan will remain on its current schedule. We're not going to blow our one chance to destroy the princesses of Equestria over simple impatience. We must learn everything there is about this new player. In fact, our glorious master has given you orders." The red-skinned titan simply bit back a snarl and replied. 

"Well? What are my orders?"

"When the master is ready, your job will be to learn all you can about this Entropy, what his strengths are, his weaknesses and if we can get him to join us. For now be patient and stay hidden. Am I clear?" The red-skinned titan nodded. 

"If our master wills it, it shall be done" the Pair of titans looked to each other before uttering a simple phrase.

"Glory to the king of demons, may his will be done, and may his reign be eternal." After the chant was over Azazel walked out of the room and Asmodeus returned to his musings.





P.O.V. shift: Princess Luna: Canterlot castle: Royal chariot docks:

"CAPTAIN!" 

"Yes, Princess Luna, how might I serve you?" The guard captain of the lunar guard, Blood Moon, was a thestral unicorn stallion with a scar over his left eye and a red moon as a cutie mark. Like all lunar guards his fur was grey and his mane black. Standing at attention, the veteran guard awaited his reagent's command. 

"Where in Tartarus are the elements of harmony? I sent for them ages ago." Looking over his princesses shoulder her saw a chariot land on the strip they were on.

"Well princess, they're right behind you." Turning Around quick enough that Blood Moon was worried that she gave her self whiplash, the princess trotted up to elements.

"Ah, hello girls, I am glad you came so rapidly, as you all know my sister has been ponynapped and we must rescue her from the vile clutches of whoever took her." Twilight then addressed the princess.

"Are there any leads on who Ponynapped her, Princess?" The lunar alicorn nodded.

"Just one Twilight This card with this strange symbol on it. Captain the card." Blood Moon levitated the card to the princess with his magic. Taking the card and levitating it to Twilight, Luna said, "we Have tried every spell we could on it to determine who left it, but there have been no results." As Luna transferred the card to Twilight There was a surge of magical energy emanating from the card.

"Gah, Princess what happened?" Asked twilight.

"I believe something has happened to the card, look here there is now text." Sure enough, when Twilight looked at the card there was text. as well as a needle emanating from the star on the card that was pointing roughly east. "Let the games begin? What does that mean Princess Luna?"

"I believe that whoever left this card and took Celestia has decided that to get her back, we must play a game of their own design." Before anyone could verbally react to that Rainbow dash spoke that.

"excuse me princess but fuck that, why not just track this bastard down and blast 'em with the elements?" Sighing, Luna responded.

"Because my little pony we have no way of knowing where the perpetrator went." Twilight, still examining the card, spoke up. 

"Excuse me Princess but I think this card is now acting like a compass. One of the rays of the star has grown and is pointing east and looking closer I can see a distance meter." Luna's ears perked up at this news.

"Well, how far is it indicating Twilight?" Looking at the card a second time to be sure before responding.

"Roughly 180 miles princess. Uh oh." Luna became puzzled at Twilight's reaction. 

"I am confused twilight, 180 miles is not very far, this matter shall be resolved quickly correct?" Twilight just shuffled on her hooves. 

"well yes, princess the only problem is that 180 miles due east of here is smack dab in the everfree forest. How will we find the princess in a forest with almost infinite places to hide and thousands of dangerous predators stalking the area?" Luna seemed to think for a second. 

"We will follow the card's direction from a chariot and when we reach our target we will land, simple. Captain!" Blood moon ran up to the lunar diarch and saluted. "I want the best guards from both the royal and night divisions loaded up on chariots and ready to deploy to the everfree in thirty minutes is that clear?"

"Crystal Mam!" Captain Blood Moon Ran off to the barracks to get the guard units and twenty minutes the guards were loading onto the chariots, four chariots with five guards each and a royal chariot with Princess Luna and the elements were prepped and waiting for their passengers. Turning to the elements of harmony.

"Come, girls, we must be off, we must rescue Celestia from whatever dastardly and unspeakably evil acts this monster is doing to my sister.





P.O.V. Shift: Entropy: Forest Manor:

Celestia was clearly enjoying the tour. Her face was in a constant smile and there was a happy sparkle in her eyes, it was nice to see her like this, it must get boring being a princess, stuck with the same pattern day after day, top that off with stuck up nobles and their stupid requests, and this is probably the most fun she's had in a long time. Suddenly I got an idea. 

"Celestia, would you like to dance?" My request caught her off guard if the look of surprise written clearly on her face was any indication.

"What did you say?" She asked. 

"I said would you like to dance with an alien to some alien music?" I asked with a smirk. Celestia seemed to think for a second before replying.

"I would love to dance with you Entropy." Grabbing her in my arms I tapped my cane on the ground and teleported us to the ballroom. "we can't dance without music, can we? We'll have to fix that. Let's see what's a good song? Ooh, I know." I took Celestia in my arms as the music started to play. As the music began to play,  Celestia stood on her back hooves without me asking, and she just followed my lead, with a wild smile on her face. I spun her around as we danced wildly as the song ended, I dropped her into a dip as we both panted heavily, I smirked and she blushed as our faces were mere inches apart. "Want to dance some more?" I asked. She just nodded.  as the next song started, I started to dance with her again.





P.O.V. Shift: Princess Luna: Chariot above the everfree.

"Twilight, how close are we now?" Twilight looked down at the card before replying. 

"We should be coming up on it now Princess." Princess Luna turned and, in the royal canterlot voice, shouted out to the guards.

" Land my guardsponies, we must save my sister!!! As the chariots descended a massive manor made of marble and stone came into view. "That must be where Celestia was taken." said the lunar alicorn. Hitting the ground and disembarking, Luna was Greeted by Captain Blood Moon saluting and saying. 

"Your orders Princess?".

"Captain, you are to take a group of guards with me and the element bearers into the fortress of our enemy. Where is a messenger?" Suddenly a pegasus guard came up and saluted. "you are to fly to the nearest town and have them prepare the guards there for a siege if necessary. we will scout out the fortress. Girls, Captain with me. We will save you sister don't worry."
> Chapter 4 - Now We Play! (or Let the Game Begin!) Turn 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.O.V. Entropy: Everfree Manor:

I could not remember the last time I had this much fun. Celestia and I were talking and laughing as if we were old friends. I suddenly felt the presence of a large number of intruders on my manor grounds. I felt several dozen standard ponies auras, as well as six more magically charged pony auras, and a single alicorn aura.

"Well Celly, your sister has certainly proved her loyalty. What say we have a little fun with her and the elements?" Celestia just grinned and nodded her head. 

"Ok here's what I need you to do. I need you to really ham up how much fun you're having, I'll even act like we're new best friends and we'll royally screw with their heads. okay?"

"Deal. But we'll have to start the joke now. I suspect luna is already trying to siege your beautiful home, Entropy." Taking her with me out on the balcony that overlooked the entrance of my manor, I drew the attention of the besieging forces attention with me laughing boisterously.

"Oh, Celestia, you're a riot! I swear you must be the life of the party." Celestia simply chuckles and moves her hoof as if wiping a tear from her eye. 

"I just told the duke, that if he wanted to dance with me he had to grow a few feet first... Oh! Hello, sister! How are you doing?" Luna just stared, slack-jawed, as I just stood on the balcony laughing with Celestia. I Cleared my throat.

"Hello princess Luna, I see you found my hideaway. Then the game can truly begin now, I have taken two things from you, one of which was your sister, the second; well I'll leave you to figure out what it is. Your first challenge is to get through my gates, all you have to do is solve the puzzle and then you can enter. Until then, farewell." Walking off the balcony with Celestia following me, I left the rescue forces to their devices. 





P.O.V. shift: Princess Luna: Everfree manor:

"That bastard, he obviously has afflicted our sister's mind; why else would she be so amicable with her captor, yes that is the only thing that makes sense." Princess Luna was disturbed by the warm relations between her sister and the demon that held her captive. As she pondered on this, confused whispers spread like wildfire throughout the ranks of guards as well as among the elements of harmony.  In an attempt to get answers, Twilight walked towards the princess.

"Uhm, Princess Luna? What are we going to do now? The Princess seems to be enjoying herself, is it possible that the being who took her isn't evil? And what did he mean when he said he took TWO things from us?" Twilight shuffled nervously while Princess Luna stared at the features of the home of their target, looking over the strange architecture, iron gates, and walls made of purple marble. She shook her head.

"Nay Twilight, my sister must be under powerful magical control, it's the only logical reason why my sister would be acting as such. And I know not what that beast meant when he said he took two things from us, but I do not plan on giving that monster one more minute of control over our sister as we figure it out. All forces, form up, myself and the elements of harmony will solve this 'puzzle' and open the gates! Come, girls, my sister needs our help." At the princess' order, the royal guard formed a tried and true formation, the phalanx, a wall of bronze and spears surrounded the princess and the elements as they approached the first gate. As they approach they see a statue unlike any they have ever seen, it is a representation of a strange animal, looking somewhere between a cat and a dog, made from polished amber with spots of obsidian and ruby eyes.

"what the buck is that thing? It looks like a freaky hybrid of a cat and a dog" Asks Rainbow Dash. Before Twilight could hazard a guess Fluttershy responded. "That animal is called a spotted hyena, Rainbow, it's a predator from Zebrica, they're members of the Hyaenidae family, along with the striped hyena, the brown hyena, and the aardwolf." As Fluttershy finished her educational spiel the statue moved.

"That is correct, I am known as Hyrin and I am the guardian of this gate, to get through this portal into my master's sanctum, you must solve my puzzle." The group stood dumbfounded, but twilight recovered quickly.

"What is your puzzle... Hyrin?" The statue lets a giggle escape its stone lips. 

"You must simply solve my riddles. Do you accept?" Twilight looked at the ponies around her before nodding. The hyena statue cleared its throat before speaking.

"Two sisters are born to the same mother on the same day, of the same month of the same year, but are not twins, how is this possible?" All the assorted ponies were confused, suddenly Luna beamed, before speaking. 

"They are triplets, or perhaps a pair of members of a larger group of children. It is the only logical answer." The statue pleasantly smiled; then spoke. 

"That is correct, they are triplets. are you ready for the second riddle? I warn you it is slightly more difficult" Twilight smirked arrogantly before nodding.

"Very well, here is the second riddle: a farmer crosses a river, then calls his dog across, the dog comes immediately, without getting wet, using a boat or crossing a bridge, how did the dog do it?" Twilight turns to the group of ponies. the guards had been growing increasingly anxious. One of them, a night guard, approached Princess Luna.

"My princess, why do we not simply destroy the statue, and blast open the gates, it's not like the statue could stop us." Princess Luna pondered this idea for but a moment before Hyrin spoke, startling them all.

"I assure you, you WILL NOT get through this gate, or any other, without the consent of myself or one of the other gate guardians. We are all capable fighters, and we will defend our master and creator until the moment of our destruction. Now either attempt to solve the riddle or concede and try another gate. My patience withers by the minute." Hyrin said with a snarl baring his razor-sharp teeth.

"Does anyone have an idea of what the answer could be?" Asked Twilight, glancing between the group of ponies and Hyrin nervously. Twilight looked around, as the assorted equines shook their heads, all except Applejack. 

"I have an idea Twilight. When I first got Winona I was about ten." Rainbow Dash interrupted quickly.

"What's the point AJ?" Said the prismatic flyer. Applejack rolled her eyes before she continued. 

"That winter I was taking her on a walk, as we crossed the stream in town Winona stayed on the other side, And when I called her, That dang dog ran across the ice to get to me."

Twilight turned to Hyrin and coughed before speaking. "The river was frozen and he ran across the ice." Hyrin looked at the ponies.

"Correct, you now may enter the gate, enjoy your stay." The great iron gate opened, revealing an inner courtyard filled with beauty, there were statues, gardens, and even a pond, luna ignored all these things as she charged through the gates, the royal guards hot on her hooves.




P.O.V. shift: Entropy

"seems like Hyrin let them through, very well, Celestia, prepare for the end of our time together for now; your sister has gotten through the gate." 'I must be losing my mind, I don't want Celestia to leave.' Shaking my head, as the sound of hoofsteps echoed loudly through the atrium connecting my manor to the courtyard. As I summoned my cane, I heard an explosive shout. 'Any moment now, the separation ward will kick in. Then the anti-magic ward. Then their rules go out the window and the mind games begin.' hearing a warbling noise and seeing a bright light I smirked and set my cane on the rack next to my throne and sat down before feeling eyes on me. I turned to find Celestia looking at me confused. I just smirked, "the opening moves of the second phase of the game."




P.O.V. shift: Princess Luna: Entropy's manor
"PREPARE THYSELF DEMON, WE WILL DESTROY YOU AND MOUNT THINE HEAD ON THE WALLS OF CANTERLOT!!!!" I shouted with the royal canterlot voice as I ran through the halls of this fortress of evil, with the best and brightest of the guards of Equestria at my hooves or so I thought. Suddenly there was a bright light and a warbling noise then silence. Hearing no hoofsteps besides my own I turned to see my self alone in a hallway that extended farther than I had been running indoors. This was obviously the magic machinations of the resident of this home. I was now faced with a choice continue to search for my sister alone or play it safe and look for the others thus gaining the numbers advantage in case my foe was stronger than I anticipated. Setting out to find my guards and the elements of harmony I took some steps down the hall. As I looked around I noticed tapestries depicting strange stars with eight arrows emanating from a central point. some were silver, others were green, quite a few were red, but the majority were purple and black. seeing a light at the end of the hallway I was in, I trotted down the corridor before entering what appeared to be a throne room as evidenced by the massive throne sitting at the far side of the room





P.O.V. shift: Asmodeus: pits of Tartarus
"This is an interesting development. Apparently, Entropy has stolen one of the elements of harmony and ponynapped Princess Celestia. Could this mean he is hostile to Equestria? I need more information before I make any moves. Where is Drogar?"

"Here my lord, how may I serve you?" Asmodeus turned to see his best spy bowing humbly before him, his clawed hand placed over his chest and his eyes respectfully lowered.

Asmodeus spent another moment regarding his spymaster before speaking. "I wish for you to take your four of your best spies and spy on this new god of chaos, Entropy, and monitor his relations with the Equestrians and to regularly report back to me. And Drogar, infiltrate, monitor and report. Do not take any other actions without my express order to do so is that clear?" Drogar bowed even deeper before replying, his mind already running wild with potential spies to use, methods to employ and potential backup and escape plans. 

"yes my lord, I will take my four best infiltrators and monitor this Entropy for you. now, my lord, by your leave, I will start preparations immediately.





P.O.V. shift: Twilight Sparkle: entropy's manor

waking up in a dark hallway, I looked around and saw nopony else. Confused, I tried to light my horn to provide some light only for some unknown power to smother my magic as I attempted to cast it. Growing more and more panicked, I called out. "Princess Luna? Girls? Where are you? Hello? anyone there?"
> Chapter 5 - Now We Play! (or Let the Game Begin!) Turn 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.O.V.: Entropy: Entropy's manor:
"Let's watch, shall we Celestia?" The alabaster alicorn turned to see Entropy's cane to levitate to his hand before he slammed it into the floor of Entropy's bedroom, causing a pair of  large flat screens to come down from the roof one showing video feed and the other showing nine blips of various colors at various points on a diagram of the manor. Two, one, white and the other green in the room the divine duo were in. Tapping his cane again, Entropy summoned a bowl of popcorn. "Hey, Celestia, you want some popcorn?" When the alicorn nodded he placed the popcorn between them.




P.O.V. shift: Rainbow Dash:  Entropy's manor:
"What the buck was that flash? And where am I?" Looking around Rainbow Dash noticed the lack of anyone else first, then she noticed, the banners depicting strange looking creatures, that looked like the monster that had the princess. " what kind of monster is this thing?" Suddenly she heard a loud humming noise followed by the strangest sound in a situation like this, it sounded like carnival music then a voice. "Hello everyone, this is Entropy, the owner, and lord of this madhouse. I would simply like to tell you all a few things; first, welcome, be sure to appreciate the decor, I put a lot of effort into the banners and such. Second, there are going to be a few changes in the rules, as I'm sure you all have noticed, there is no one near you, that is deliberate. The first part of this phase of the game is to find everyone you came in with. The second rule change, well why spoil the surprise. Oh and watch out for the guards. Have fun." As the now revealed Entropy finished with his speech Rainbow set off. As she was walking she heard a thumping noise turning her head, she saw what appeared to be a dragon looking thing except it was made of stone. It had two horns on its head, two arms with claws on each hand and a tail with spikes on the end. As she stared at it, it finally noticed her and let out a head-splitting roar and charged her. As it got closer, Rainbow did the smart thing and ran. It chased her all throughout the castle, until, taking a sharp turn, she ran into someone. Looking down she noticed it was Twilight.



P.O.V. shift: Twilight Sparkle: Entropy's manor: everfree forest
As I walked down the hall, I occasionally called out to my friends. As I called out, I never got a response and I grew increasingly nervous. Turning down the corner, something ran into me at high speed. After being knocked to the ground, I got my bearings back and looked to see what was on top of me. I saw a rainbow mane and blue fur, realizing it was Rainbow Dash I groaned. "Ughhh Rainbow, get off of me. Please." At that, the prismatic hued mare clambered off of me.

"Twilight! We have to move now!

"What's wrong Rainbow Dash?" As I asked that, a roar sounded from around the corner, Rainbow froze, but before I could question what that sound was, the sound of loud stomping could be heard. Suddenly Rainbow jumped up. "Oh crap, Twilight, run it found us!"

"Wait what found us Rainbow? Why are you so scared?" I asked. My answer came in the form of an animated stone gargoyle walking around the corner. It was in the shape of a dragon-like creature, but it had ram's horns that curled back on the top of its head. Seeing us, it roared before leaping towards us, partially closing the distance by at least ten feet. It had claws the size of my foreleg and stood at the impressive height of eight feet at the shoulder, it's realistic looking wings were an amazing 14 feet from tip to tip. As I was analyzing it, it took the opportunity to run at Rainbow and I, instinctively I ran in terror; fleeing down the hallway, Rainbow a good few feet ahead of me. My hopes of escape were dashed when a second gargoyle landed five feet in front of us. I immediately charged up a powerful bolt of magic only for it to fail when I launched the spell. I stared dumbly at the gargoyles when suddenly I heard a booming voice call out: "You shall not harm the elements, knaves." Looking to where the voice came from I saw Princess Luna charging the gargoyles. before they could react she plunged her horn in the back of one of them and it stopped moving, seeming to return to a statue, it's mouth frozen open in a silent roar.



P.O.V. shift: Princess Luna: east atrium
As I walked down the hallway I was in, I heard the screams of two ponies I knew very well; spurred into action by Twilight  and Rainbow dash's screams I charged down the rest of the hallway to see a pair of animated gargoyles attacking the elements of magic & loyalty, looking over the gargoyle closer to me, I saw what I was looking for in the middle of its back, a purple glowing gem, the animation core, I attempted to blast it with magic, but for some reason it failed, so with no time to waste I simply charged the beast, fortunately for me, my target noticed me too late and I managed to destroy its core with my horn causing it to freeze. unfortunately for me, the second noticed me before I could destroy its animation core. It backhanded me, which sent me flying. My flight across the room ended abruptly when I hit the wall of the hallway. staggering to my feet, I saw the gargoyle walk menacingly towards me before it charged me. As it got ever closer, I waited until the last moment before jumping to the right, and in the split second of confusion, I turned my head and slashed the core on the creatures back.



P.O.V. Shift: Lieutenant Jimmy Hook: west wing entry hallway
As I walked down the hallway, still blinking blurriness out of my eyes, I heard screaming, roaring, thundering stomping, and finally silence. I charged down the hallway, my black, purple and red mane fluttering in the wind, my spear held firmly at my side, in the special notch all guards had in their armor. As I turned, I saw two strange statues, and three ponies, one statue frozen only feet away from attacking the elements of loyalty and magic, and the second frozen only inches from the wall, next to a panting princess luna. As I approached my princess I dropped into a bow. 

"Princess Luna, I should have been here sooner to help you, please forgive me," I said with a humble tone.




P.O.V. Shift Princess Luna: west wing main hallway

"Rise Lieutenant, you are not at fault, the vile monster that built this bastion of evil is truly the one to blame, this creature is clearly far more intelligent than I gave it credit for, it has obviously soaked every inch of this place in enchantments, wards, and charms, to sperate and weaken his enemies. But we must not falter, we will overcome this monster and then free our sister." Twilight looked around at everyone before speaking.

"Uhm, Princess? Maybe Entropy isn't evil." seeing Luna's face sour, Twilight quickly clarified. "I mean Celestia clearly looked happy, and this place doesn't really feel like a 'bastion of evil' as you put it." Princess Luna just huffed and looked at Twilight before replying.  

"Twilight, you of all ponies should know, there are a plethora of spells that affect the mind, plus who says there aren't hidden torture chambers and dungeons in this house, do you know every inch of this place Twilight? Come we have no time for arguing among ourselves, we must find the rest of the elements before taking the fight to this 'Entropy'." As she finished her speech, Princess Luna trotted off up the hallway and not wanting to be left behind, Twilight, and the rest quickly followed.




P.O.V. Shift: Celestia: Entropy's room

"Your sister is a smart one Cellie, and strong too. Don't worry, by the way, anyone who gets captured by the gargoyles and other guards or by one of the traps, doesn't get hurt, they get taken to the captured room, it's got food, juice and a screen showing all the other players still in the game, they'll wait there until one side or the other wins ok?" Entropy's words filled me with relief. I trusted him when he said that no one would be hurt. For some reason, I felt happy that I knew that I could trust him to take care of the ponies involved in this 'game'. I must also admit that this was a fun diversion from the tedium of court and daily routine of my life. I wonder if I could get away with inviting Entropy to the Grand Galloping Gala and watching the resulting chaos. I think that would be the first Gala I enjoyed in a while. Realizing that I had been staring at him this entire time, I quickly turned back towards the screens, with a slight blush on my face, luckily he didn't see it, hopefully.



P.O.V. Shift: Entropy: Entropy's room:
As I finished my assurance of the safety of her ponies, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a slight blush on Celestia's cheeks, causing a slight blush to appear on mine, I turned back towards the screen, noticing that pinkie was walking down the hallway with a smile on her face, no surprise there, but what was interesting was that Applejack and Captian Blood Moon were close to meeting each other. And then the two of them would be within spitting distance of Pinkie Pie. Rarity and Fluttershy seemed to have met up at some point and were walking together.



P.O.V. Shift: Applejack: south atrium:
As I walked down the hallway, I kept feeling like I was being watched. I continued to walk when suddenly I heard what sounded like someone or something moving towards me. hiding behind the corner they would have to turn down. I prepared to give whoever was coming down the corner a right good thrashing. But before I could they jumped around the corner and realizing that it was Luna's guard captain I relaxed.

"Woah, there, Cap'n,  I ain't-a threat, I'm a friend." The Captain seeing who it was visibly relaxed.

"Hello, Applejack, sorry about the scare, but you can't be too careful in the enemy's stronghold can you?" I just smiled when I heard a familiar voice humming before a bright pink mane and coat bounced around the far end of the hallway. Counting down in my head, I saw Pinkie's eyes widen before she ran in a blur up to me and gave me a bone crushing hug, before switching into a rapid rant about how excited she was to see me. hearing two groups of hoofsteps, I saw the Princess, Twilight, and Rainbow come down the left hallway and, Rarity and Fluttershy enter the atrium from the right one. As all three groups noticed each other, we quickly fell into happy greetings and hugs, before Princess Luna cleared her throat loud enough to be heard by the entire group.



P.O.V. Shift: Princess Luna: Entropy's mansion: central atrium:
As the assorted Ponies greeted each other, I waited a moment before clearing my throat and addressing the elements and guards in the room. 

"We have made it to the threshold of our enemies sanctum sanctorum, we must now just make our way into his chamber and free my sister, but first I would like to thank all of you for your bravery..." I was suddenly interrupted by a slow, sarcastic, clapping, looking towards the source, I saw my enemy and my sister standing at the top of a  staircase, wasting no time I called to the elements. 

"Now girls the elements, use them on the creature." Not noticing the small smirk on Entropy's face, I looked on as the girls charged up the elements of harmony, Equestria's most powerful weapon, only for the beam, upon reaching the element of magic, to fade away. The whole room looked at the elements in shock, all, except Entropy, who simply laughed.

"Aw, man, you should see your faces, you all look so confused. Well, now, that I've had my fun, allow me to explain. You see the reason the elements didn't work is simple." At that, he tapped his cane into the floor and another element of magic appeared in the air over his shoulder. " The element of magic you have is simply a well-crafted fake." Everyone's jaw, except Celestia's for some reason dropped. chuckling at our expressions, he started down the stairs with Celestia following him. " But worry not you won the game, so you get both prizes, the return of both the beautiful Princess Celestia and the real element of magic."

As we all loaded into the chariots, I stood next to my sister who for some reason was talking to Entropy, I wasn't really paying attention until I heard Celestia invite him to the grand galloping gala.

"What!! Celestia, you can't be serious." She just smiled. 

"Of course I am Luna, if Entropy would like to come, he is more than welcome to." Before I could protest more Entropy spoke up. 

"I would love to come to the gala, Cellie, when is it?" shocked, all I could do was stare dumbly as Celestia giggled. " I will send you an invite with the date on it, my friend. Maybe I could see you for tea before then though?" I thought I couldn't be more shocked, but hearing that proved me wrong. 

"I would love that. Say in three days?" Celestia smiled. 

"see you then Entropy." As we boarded the chariots and headed back for canterlot I regained my faculties before exploding. 

"What are you thinking Celestia?!! He's evil, he's Discord's replacement, and that demon could only pick someone as evil as him to replace him." Celestia turned to me with a fire in her eyes that immediately took the wind from my sails.

"I'll have you know Luna, we talked long and hard about his views of his powers, and while he is the new god of chaos, he aims to use his powers for balance and peace, rather than mayhem and destruction." I lowered my head with a sad look on my face, Celestia then wrapped a wing around me before speaking again. " I know you were worried, but we have an opportunity to make a powerful new friend or a powerful new enemy, I don't know about you dear sister, but I would rather Entropy be a friend." Seeing the wisdom in her words, I wrapped my wings around my sister and resolved to spread the magic of friendship to entropy. As canterlot approached, I planned to make Entropy's first Gala, the best in centuries.
> Chapter 6 - Tea with the princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter six: Tea with the princesses
P.O.V. Drogar: Everfree forest:

I sat in a tree about a quarter mile away from this Entropy's fortress. My eyes scanning for weaknesses in the magical security. ever since Entropy's game with the elements and Princess Celestia reached its conclusion. I had ordered my squad to scan for a way to infiltrate the home of the god of chaos. Taking note of the time, I jumped off the branch I was sitting in and stalked into the shadows created by the canopy. I looked around before pulling out a polished brass bowl filled with a black liquid. Summoning my magic I placed a call to my master. "Master, I have called to report as instructed."

My master looked at me before bidding me speak. 

"Entropy appears to have ended his game with Equestria, he seems to wish to ally with them."

"Well, then I guess we can count on the new chaos god being an enemy instead of an ally. Continue to observe and make sure to report regularly Drogar. I must think about these developments." At that, the magical transmission ended and I put the bowl back in my pouch, before climbing back up the tree to continue my observations.

P.O.V.: Princess Celestia: Canterlot Castle: Canterlot: Equestria:

I sat in front of my vanity, running a brush through my mane. As I combed my ethereal mane, I thought about my time with the creature known as Entropy, it would be a lie to say I did not enjoy his game. In fact, it was the most fun I had in a while, after returning to the castle from Entropy's home and talking with Luna, I discovered that she felt similar after she calmed down. It had been an interesting experience returning to work after my day with the new god of chaos. Ponies throughout the castle were in a panic. I quickly calmed everyone down, then sent a gala invitation to Entropy. I hope he comes, it would make the gala more interesting certainly. He would most certainly cause an upstart, whether he would do so on purpose or not is another matter. It had been a week since Entropy's game and I already missed his company, I would have had lunch and tea with him sooner but I had been swamped with gala preparations. As I finished brushing my mane a knock sounded at my door, trotting over I opened the door to see a guard who snapped to attention before reporting. "Your majesty, the chariot you requested prepared has been readied and is available to go to Entropy's castle at your word."

"Very good, Corporal, I will be at the chariot pool momentarily, I just need to finish putting on my makeup, an old mare such as myself needs all the help she can get. now run along and tell your superiors I will be there in a short while." The guard saluted before setting into a brisk trot back towards the chariot pool. Going back into my room and shutting the door before sitting back down and starting to apply a light touch of makeup. As I applied some eyeliner, I thought about Entropy, his sense of humor, his laugh, his bright eyes, and all the other things that made him special and unique in my opinion. He also has a really positive view of his powers. One that while rooted in chaos, is focused on balance and harmony. Making him a far better force in Equestria, and who knows, he might even spread some chaos in the form of his alien knowledge. Imagining all the ways Entropy could benefit Equestria. Finishing with my makeup I walked out of my room, with practiced grace, and headed for the chariot pool. Upon arriving I saw a group of six solar guards waiting around a chariot; upon seeing me trotting towards them, they snapped to attention and saluted. Approaching the captain I saw stoic professionalism in his eyes. “ At ease captain, is everything ready?” The captain relaxed before replying.

“Your majesty, we are fully prepared, and everything has been set up for your trip to Entropy’s castle. We can leave whenever you wish." Said the captain finally. Stepping into the chariot, my escort boarded a moment later just in time for the team of pegasi driving the chariot to start their take-off process. as we took off, I was struck with more thoughts of Entropy. More specifically I was thinking of how to Introduce him at the gala without causing a panic. I could introduce him as Discord's replacement, but that might cause some suspicion, still, suspicion is better than fear, or hatred.  I want my little ponies to show Entropy the magic of friendship.

As thoughts like these dominated my mind we neared Entropy's castle. Soon we landed just outside the castle and my guards exited the chariot, stepping out myself I walked up to the gate guarded by Hyrin.

"Hello Hyrin, how are you today?" The amber statue regarded me with a friendly smile.

"Hello Celestia, I am good. And you are expected, so go on in." As the gate guardian said that the gate opened revealing a familiar but still beautiful courtyard. As my guards and I walked in, Entropy walked out to greet us. As my eyes met his gaze he smiled and I felt my cheeks blaze, hopefully, he didn't see. As he got within arms distance he bowed and grabbed my hoof, causing my guards to stiffen, before he simply kissed my hoof. If my cheeks were burning before, then now they were hotter than the surface of my sun.



P.O.V. Shift: Entropy:

"Welcome Celestia, how have you been since last I saw you?" Celestia smiled before replying.

"I have been well Entropy, but I have been buried in paperwork and preparations for the gala. Speaking of the gala, do you think you will attend?" 

"Well Cellie, I would love to go, just to dance with you. So yes, I will be attending." Celestia visibly brightened at that statement.

"Come, Celestia, we have met for tea and lunch, not to stand around in my courtyard and dilly-dally all day."



P.O.V. shift: Celestia.

I was overjoyed by Entropy's response, not only would he be coming to the gala, but he also intended to dance with me again. I had so much fun the last time we danced. I was excited beyond normal for some reason, probably because this would be the first gala in centuries that I actually had fun. As I walked after him with my guards, I wondered why I was so excited by the thought of Entropy and I dancing at the gala. No matter, I was with a new friend.

"Well here we are Celestia, my dining hall, I already have some peppermint tea ready for brewing if you would like, It should be ready momentarily. What would you like for lunch?" Turning to entropy, I smiled.

"Peppermint would be wonderful, and as for lunch, I think I'll just have some salad. If that would be alright with you, of course."

"That's fine." Entropy said as he turned to a storm elemental. " And I'll have a bacon cheeseburger, with garlic curly fries." As the storm elemental flew off I saw a second come in with two teacups and a still steaming teapot. While the elemental placed the teacup in front of me and filled it, I looked towards Entropy who was putting two lumps of sugar into his tea and stirring it with a spoon. I took a sip of the tea before turning to my new friend.

"Well, Entropy, I must say this tea is amazing, where did you find it?" Entropy simply smiled before he snapped his fingers and a storm elemental walked in the room carrying a peppermint plant. Upon reaching me, the living storm bowed and extended the potted plant as if handing me a gift, I was confused for a second before I took the plant in my magic and handed it to one of my guards to hold. Then our lunch was carried in by a pair of storm elementals. As the storm servent placed my salad in front of me I noticed entropy digging into his lunch. Upon seeing me looking at him, his face flushed with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry I forgot to mention burgers are made of cow, don't worry though I summon the meat from my home, completely non-intelligent." I was confused as to why he would be embarrassed when I realized he was an omnivore, eating meat, having a meal with a herbivore. I laughed at his sense of compassion and empathy.

"I am not worried Entropy, you forget, I have played diplomat to more carnivorous species for thousands of years. I am not as easy to disturb as some of my little ponies." She said laying on the charm. Having dispelled Entropy's nerves about his choice of meal, the chaos god laughed before flipping the charm back onto her.

"Well you certainly don't look it, you don't look a day over five hundred." He said, a smirk confidently on his face. As he said that, my face erupted in color and I laughed.




P.O.V. Shift: Entropy:

As Celestia laughed it caused a warm feeling to spark in my chest, probably happiness at having such a good friend. Having finished my lunch and noticed that Celestia was finished as well. I then looked outside and seeing the sun approaching noon.  I stood and walked around the side of the table and as I approached Celestia, the storm elementals took care of our plates and cups.

"Well Celestia, it seems we both have finished our lunch and tea, so would you like to go on a walk with me around my home?" Celestia wiped her face before replying in the affirmatory.

"I would love to go on a walk with you Entropy. But I must get back to work, I hope we can see each other again at the gala." 

"Of course we can, Cellie. Let's go." As we started to walk towards the courtyard celestia's guards followed us at a decent distance while looking around and scanning the environment. Upon reaching the courtyard, Celestia and her guards boarded her chariot while I stood a foot or two away saying my goodbyes. 

"I will see you at the gala Celestia, don't worry I will be sure to look even more stunning than usual, In an attempt to match your infinite beauty and grace." Celestia blushed yet again.

"You need not worry about that Entropy, your charm and exotic good looks aid you plenty in that department." Entropy raised an eyebrow at that. 

"Is that a nice way of saying I look like a freak?" He said with a lacing of humor in his voice.

"Of course not, Entropy I am simply saying that your alien nature lends itself to a predatory and foreign beauty in of itself." It was entropy's turn to blush at that remark.

"Well then thank you, Celestia, alas it seems your guards are fully prepared for your departure, so I will see you at the gala, also send my greetings to your sister." Entropy stepped forward and hugged the solar diarch tightly, after a moment she returned the hug by wrapping her wings around his torso, causing butterflies to erupt in his stomach. They stayed there for a moment, their entire world consisting entirely of the other throughout their hug. Much to the disappointment of both parties, they had to eventually end the hug. As Celestia's chariot took off, Entropy stood waving at the departing princess. Who returned the wave before leaving sight by passing behind some clouds.




P.O.V. Shift: Celestia:
As Entropy finished speaking, he surprised me with a hug. Shocked, it took me a moment but after composing myself I returned the hug by wrapping my wings against his body, as we stayed there, there came a warm feeling in my chest. But much to my sorrow, the hug had to come to an end. As my chariot started it's ascension, I looked back and saw entropy waving at me. I returned the wave with a smile on my face. I continued to wave until my chariot passed through a stray cloud. Putting my hoof back on the ground. I smiled at the relaxing lunch with a friend I had today, no doubt the pile of paperwork I would have waiting for me would be quite large indeed, but it would be well worth it. Time with Entropy was quickly becoming one of Celestia's favorite pastimes. As the chariot approached Canterlot, I stood, and upon the chariot's landing disembarked before dismissing my guards and walking back to my chambers. Upon reaching the mahogany door embossed with my cutiemark, I pushed the door open and walked towards my desk noting with a sigh, the pile of paperwork that was in my Inbox and upon sitting down at my desk, starting what would be a multi-hour task, thoughts of Entropy still in my mind. As I signed the last paper for the day, I stood and stretched and walked out onto the balcony on the far side of my room. Noticing it was time to end the day, I proceeded to lower the sun, across from me Luna raised her moon. I then set out for the dining, hoping to see Luna before she started her shift. I walked quickly but elegantly towards the dining hall. Upon reaching the large double doors, a pair of guards opened the doors and I walked through. As I entered the room I saw luna eating a bowl of cereal and nursing a cup of coffee, her favorite breakfast, all the while, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, as she saw me she brightened. 

"Hello, sister how was your day?" I then spent the rest of our meal telling Luna about my time with Entropy and the fun I had.
> Interlude 1- Canon in D
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rain outside formed a perfect mirror for Entropy's mood: dark, stormy, filled with rage, consumed by sorrow and drowning in grief all at once. It was that day again, the Aniversary of the day his world came crashing down, and shattered into a million billion pieces. Had it been four years, Entropy was shocked how his world died an entire four years ago. All with one phone call, that GODDAMN phone call, where he heard the sentence that destroyed his heart, soul, and world at once. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, she's dead, she killed herself."

Entropy walked slowly through the dark halls of his manor, his servants giving him a respectful distance, and a mournful look at their master's grief and misery. As he approached his destination, his already sluggish pace slowed to a depressed trudge, almost a crawl by the time he reached the doors, their black wood, seemed to suck in what little light the candles scattered throughout the manor produced. Pushing open the doors Entropy saw his goal, A piano, tucked near the back of a small ballroom, normally locked, this day would be the only time this year where the former human would be anywhere near this room.

As he neared the piano, Lightning flashed outside, briefly illuminating the room, Showing Entropy sitting at the little bench before the piano, sitting down in a slump, the chaos lord sucked in a ragged breath, knowing despite the pain, he must do this, he promised her, and he always kept his promises to her. As he braced himself thunder boomed. as it died Entropy began to play a familiar song, once associated with joy and love, now the only feelings the sole occupant of the room felt about this song was despair, agony, self-hatred, guilt, shame, and pain. As he played Images started to dance in his mind and tears started to well in his eyes.

Images of a girl, pale-skinned, with long hair as dark as coal, eyes, a strong-willed defiant gun-metal grey, bumping into a boy with messy black hair, green eyes, and a crooked smile, them talking, laughing, suddenly the image changed, the boy and girl were now teenagers, standing in a grassy field, the girl drew the boy's attention and as he turned to face her, she smashed her lips against his, suddenly the girl pulled away, shocked at what she had done, the boy then surprised her with a kiss of his own, the image faded into a swirl of walks on the beach, hiking, dancing, laughing, hugging, kissing, all the while tears streamed from Entropy's eyes as he sobbed harder, as the song neared the end the girl became alone in the image, tying a noose, with tear stained eyes, as she ended her life, the boy's heart broke, he knew something was wrong, but when he got the phone call that was when he knew. As the boy dropped his phone in shock at what the person on the other end told him, the song ended, and the image faded. All the while Entropy, letting out an agony filled sob, cried out a name between mournful wails. "SKYE! Why did you leave me?!!! I loved you! Why didn't you tell me?!" Lightning flashed angrily outside, and the thunder roared the same pain the god of chaos was filled with.  All the while tears streamed and wails sounded as the child from the vision, now an adult cried out at the unfairness and cruelty of a shattered love.
> Chapter 7- A dance of balance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.O.V.: Asmodeus: The deepest pit of Tartarus:

"According to Drogar's latest report Entropy has been invited to the gala, and is becoming attached to that damn Princess, Celestia, I could use this, oh yes, I could use this." Asmodeus, Demon Lord of hate and destruction, chuckled quietly to himself in the barely illuminated space that was his inner sanctum. Plans upon plans forming in his twisted mind.

P.O.V. : Entropy: private chambers: 24 hours until Gala.
Tomorrow was the big night. The night of the gala, currently all over Equestria, the social elite, the rich, famous ponies and influential figures alike were preparing for a chance to network with others of their status, many were even preparing to suck up to Princess Celestia in an attempt to further hidden political or personal agendas. But for Entropy, his sole reason was to spend time with the royalty of Equestria, especially Celestia. Speaking of preparing though, Entropy couldn't decide between his main outfit of a black and silver pinstripe suit or one he had created earlier that week, it was similar to his primary suit but instead of black and silver, it was purple and black. Snapping his fingers, he was left wearing the purple and black suit. Deciding that this one would look better, he snapped his fingers again and the suit he chose was hanging on a hanger off the top of his coat rack. Deciding that he was as prepared as he could get tonight, the chaos god went to sleep.




P.O.V. shift: Celestia: Canterlot castle ballroom: 21 hours 22 minutes until the gala.
Celestia was exhausted but still had five minutes before Luna took over preparations for the gala, and the night crew with her. As the tired princess directed the various crews and teams that made up the day shift's final rotation she thought excitedly about what tomorrow night would bring. As the moon rose, signaling the end of the day shift and the coming of the night shift, Celestia yawned, while her tired ponies set down tools and left the room in small groups. As the day shift left the night shift walked in, along with Luna. As her sister walked up, Celestia let loose a tired yawn. 

"You look exhausted Cellie, you should go to bed, you don't want to be too tired for entropy's dance request do you?" Luna said with a smirk in her voice, her opinion of the new chaos god only improving since their admittedly rocky introduction. Having thought about how his views differed from Discord's, Luna realized that he would be easier to work with.

"Well, Lulu, I won't deny that I am looking forward to dancing with my new friend, but I am also looking forward to spending the night with my sister."

Luna smiled warmly. "Thank you for that, sister. Entropy seems to be a very close friend, especially for such a new one." Luna giggled. The quiet giggle becoming a loud chuckle at her sister's blushing face.

"Relax sister, I am only teasing, despite our rather interesting introduction, I have come to approve of entropy. He is a rather enjoyable companion to have. He has a marvelous view of chaos and its place in the grand scheme of creation. He also seems to care about you and the two of you make each other happy; so I approve.

"Thank you, Luna, it means much to me to know that you are so supportive. Well, I will leave the finishing touches to you and the night crew. I will see you in the morning." After bidding goodnight to her sister, Celestia walked out the door, and through the halls until she got to her room. Pushing open her door Celestia walked through, her horn lighting up as her regalia floated to its place on her desk. Closing her door Celestia popped off her horseshoes and walked over to her bed before moving the blankets and sheets to one side.




P.O.V. Entropy: 3 minutes until the gala:
"Alright, that's everything, now to teleport my way to the gala, but I'm gonna need a damn good entrance.  Now what to do for one... that's perfect. Entropy's face twisted into a grin as he snapped his fingers.



P.O.V. Celestia: 15 minutes into the gala:
Celestia stood at the top of a staircase shaking hooves with a noble who wouldn't stop talking. On the outside, Celestia's face was a picture of grace, but inside her mind the Princess of the sun was worried. 'where is he? Did he decide not to come after all?' Her internal monologue was brought to a halt by the sudden stop of the music, the band, having stopped mid-song. Suddenly the focus of her worries appeared in a flash. His appearance was causing a murmur of confusion to ripple through the crowd. Entropy snapped his fingers and the band's instruments transformed into an assortment of strange, curious looking instruments. The lord of chaos walked up the stairs passing nobles who were to shocked by him to protest, approaching the alicorn, he dropped into a bow before grabbing her hoof.





P.O.V. Entropy:

'ladies love a gentlemen' remarked Entropy in his mind upon seeing the blush on Celestia's face when he placed a kiss on top of the hoof in his hand.

"Might I have this dance, fair Celestia?"

"Why of course lord Entropy, I would be honored. However, I get the feeling that this is not a typical dance that I am getting myself into."

"You are correct milady, I find normalcy boring, and I think you will enjoy this song anyway." Entropy snapped his fingers and songa began to play. Suddenly Celestia found her body pressed against Entropy's causing Celestia's blush to erupt again. She found herself being led in a fast dance to upbeat sounding music, Entropy leading her in some spins and dips, causing the alabaster princess's heart to speed up. As the pair danced the entire room watched shocked.




P.O.V. Shift: Luna:

"Remarkable, centuries of nobles, spending fortunes attempting to court her and an alien manages to do what they couldn't with a dance." Luna turned to see her niece smiling as she watched the lord of chaos and the princess of the sun dance.

"Yes, it truly is remarkable; but Entropy is a remarkable being, while he embodies chaos, he chooses to serve balance."

"Thier dance is truly remarkable, a display of balance, The embodiment of chaos dancing with one of the pillars of order. It is a beautiful dance of balance that is on display here." Cadence said with a tone that Luna found unnerving for some reason. Unknown to Luna, as she focussed on the dance Cadence used her magic to search the feelings Luna held for entropy seeking to confirm her suspicions, what she found caused a smirk to form on her face and a devious idea to take shape in her mind.
> Chapter 8- An Encounter With a Demon Part 1- The Duel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The days after the Gala was very dull for Entropy, Celestia and Luna were busy with bureaucratic hell. So the God of chaos decided some more practice with his powers would be a good idea. After all, practice makes perfect. As Entropy prepared to practice, a chill ran up the chaos deity's spine. Suddenly, a black and red tear opened in front of Entropy and out stepped a 7ft tall creature that looked like a mixture of a crocodile and goat. It had deep green, scaly skin that turned to black fur covered goat legs complete with cloven hooves, curved ram's horns, and a crocodilian tail, tipped with spikes.

"Attention, I am Boragoz, Captain of Demon Lord Asmodeus, and I have come to destroy you in my master's name." With that declaration out of the way, the demon launched a bolt of black lightning out of his left hand, when it connected with Entropy's chest, It sent the unsuspecting God flying backward until his flight was stopped rather roughly by a surprisingly robust Oak tree. Another bolt rushed towards Entropy, who, now aware of the purpose of this visit, teleported out of the way and returned with a bolt of lightning of his own, this one a deep and majestic looking purple. Suprised, Boragoz barely dodged, the blast blowing off his left horn. The roar the demon unleashed was one of an equal mixture of pain and annoyance.

"Don't dish it out if you can't take it too, you bitch," Entropy said with a laugh. Entropy then tore a massive boulder out of the ground nearby and sent it hurtling towards the demon, who blasted the rock into pieces, but Entropy merely meant for the stone to be a distraction and a massive chunk of ice smashed into the fiendish mage-captain not a moment later. Entropy watched his opponent regain his footing after being knocked prone by the truck-sized piece of frozen water.

"Enough of this shit, I will annihilate you!" As he spoke he charged up a massive bolt of pure raw magic, which he then launched at Entropy, which met its mark, sending the Master of Chaos, flying before carving a deep trench in the earth. Struggling to stand, Entropy got to his knee's just in time for Boragoz, to slam a magically charged punch into Entropy's face causing it to erupt in purple Ichor. Entropy, by this point, wholly enraged, ported behind the demon and landed a magically charged stomp kick into the middle of Boragoz's back, which had the effect of sending the demon flying face first into a boulder, which in turn led to the fiend's other horn snapping in half. 

Divine blood gushed from Entropy's face and onto the ground. Snapping, the formerly pristine pinstriped suit, now torn and burnt was replaced with a suit of armor, a chest plate made of a mixture of plate mail, and scale mail, Leggings of plate mail, greaves, with spikes on the knees, designed to add more damage from knee based attacks without sacrificing mobility, boots of metal, shoulder pauldrons with spikes, and vambraces and gauntlets both with spikes. The vambraces had their spikes curving outward from the outside of his wrist to halfway down, and the gauntlet spikes were placed on the knuckles to inflict maximum punching damage, another snap summoned a bastard sword with a sword breaker edge and a spiked pommel.

The demon wore a bemused expression and summoned his arms and armor, a staff topped with a curved blade, with obscene runes carved into the entirety of the weapon and a set of armored robes with foul glyphs woven into the fabric and cut into the metal, and an occult grimoire chained to the creature's waist. The pair paced around each other both parties looking for an opening, Entropy, decided to use the moment wisely and sent a psychic scream for help to the princesses of Equestria, not necessarily needing help, but positively not refusing the advantage of superior numbers.




P.O.V. Shift: Princess Celestia:

Princess Celestia, the lady of the rising sun and diarch of Equestria, was doing paperwork when suddenly, Celestia's mind was battered with a cry for help, the call coming from none other than her new close friend Entropy, receiving all the information she needed from the mental message. She quickly teleported down to the armory, seeing Luna already there and half armored with her sword, Lunar Edge strapped to her side along with an assortment of throwing knives, filled Celestia's heart with grim determination. Walking towards an armor stand, and quickly donning her ancient suit of enchanted mythrill battleplate, she thought to herself what could be harming her friend as she prepared to come to his aid.

"Hurry sister; Entropy would not have summoned us to his aid if the threat to his person was not great." Said Luna slipping into old equestrian in her worry. Celestia grabbed her halberd, Solar Fury and attached to her back along with a pair of miniature crossbows, making sure to grab more than enough arrows.

"I am ready Luna, come, we must hurry to Entropy's aid, who knows what foul beast is threatening him as we speak."

"Verily sister." At this both Luna and Celestia, thoroughly equipped for battle charged their horns to teleport to the castle of their friend.



P.O.V. Shift: Entropy:

To say Entropy was pissed was an understatement of epic proportions, he had been attacked out of the blue and now his attacker was a right pain in the ass by launching pieces of  Entropy's castle at him, the demon had already collapsed the arches leading into his palace, and was now throwing parts of said arches at him.

"Keep breaking my castle, the more you do, the more pissed I get, the more pissed I get, the more pieces I'm going to tear you too." Boragoz just smirked smugly and launched yet another chunk of the god of chaos's castle at him.

"Promises, Promises. I would love to see you try." While the demon was distracted with grabbing another piece, Entropy ported into melee range and swung his bastard sword across the face the fiend, cutting cleanly through the demon's eye. The pain caused the foul beast to drop the chunk of the pillar he was grabbing. But before Entropy could get another hit in, Boragoz returned the favor by slashing Entropy across the chest. Teleporting away from his foe, Entropy checked his newest wound, the slash was long but luckily was blocked by his chest plate. Entropy then launched a Massive purple fireball at his attacker, the fire burning more of the demon's already damaged robes. Getting an Idea, Entropy summoned a large amount of magic and sent a spell at his target, that turned what remained of his armor into a solid piece of glass. The demon's confusion allowed Entropy to lunge at his attacker in an attempt to finish him, but the devil shattered the glass, allowing him to move, but not by enough. Instead of landing a blow directly in the devilish creature's heart, Entropy's sword instead fell an inch to the left. Still, a fatal blow, but not an instantaneous one like Entropy had hoped. The confusion on Entropy's part allowed the dying creature to stab Entropy through the gut with the blade of his staff. Just in time for Celestia and Luna to arrive.

"Entropy! NO!" Both Princess cried out. As the Demon's body turned to ash, Entropy collapsed to his knees, as Celestia and Luna rushed to his aid, whatever they said lost as The God of Chaos blacked out.
> Interlude 2- I am beaten, bloody and bruised, But my head is unbowed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Young man walked down the streets of his home town, his backpack bouncing against his side as he walked from the bus station that he used to get to and from college to the crappy one bedroom apartment that most of his financial aid went to each month. His dark hair shining in the sun and his green eyes were bright with mirth. As he approached a parking lot, he cut through to get home quicker. He heard a cry for help. Turning his head, what he saw filled him with pure rage, a man, if you could call the eternal frat-boy man-child a man, was arguing with his girlfriend and had hit her. Her blue eye surrounded with a deep purple bruise. Walking towards the man-child, he dropped his bag on the sidewalk before placing himself between the woman and the man who had hit her before he could strike her again.

"Move Shitwad. This doesn't concern you." The young man didn't move despite being 6 inches shorter and probably one hundred pounds lighter.

"I think instead of moving I'm going to kick your fucking ass, you see, the way I was raised I was taught many things about being a man. Two of which were, one, a real man NEVER under ANY circumstances hits a woman. And two, a real man must beat the shit out of any so-called man who does lay his hand on a woman like that." The frat boy paused briefly before bursting out laughing. Taking advantage of the douchebag's distraction, the young man dropped quickly into a wrestling stance before lunging through the unaware frat boy's legs, grabbing and lifting him, before slamming him HARD onto the ground. Spinning around on his hands and knees, the young man prepared for an attack from his victim, unaware the cur had friends. One of which used the opportunity to slam his fist into the face of the young hero, bursting open his lip in a spray of ruby blood, now aware the fight was four on one, the young man didn't even bother to wipe the blood off his face. He turned to the young woman who had an awestruck look on her face.

"Run, now, I won't let them go after you." The young woman stood quickly before running.

"You REALLY shouldn't have done that. Now we have to hurt you." One of the frat boys pulled out a knife, approximately six inches long, with a serrated edge. The young man didn't like his chances. All his instincts told him he'd have to be quick and smart. Before they could even take a step towards him, he slid up to the man with the knife, dodged a swing of the blow used the opening to slide beside him and slammed his foot into the back of the older man's knee causing the man's head to fall right into a brutal uppercut; knocking him out instantly. Spinning on his heal, he slammed his heel into the temple of another man, again knocking him out immediately. At this point, the other two jumped him at the same time, their combined weight being too much for the young man, he collapsed, allowing the pair to rain a flurry of blows onto the young man's face and chest. After regaining his senses, he held his arms over his face to block the blows, placed his feet under one man's chest, and used his considerable leg strength to throw him up and off of him, the older man landing on the curb with the back of his head slamming into the curb rendering him unconscious. The last man, the one who had struck the young lady, got up and started to run, not willing to let this end without fulfilling his statement, of hurting the man who hit the woman. The young man chased after the frat boy, upon getting close enough, he launched himself into a missile kick at the back of the man's head, knocking him out. The young man walked away to applause showered upon him by the crowd of people who had gathered to watch the confrontation.