Red Sun over Paradise
Equestria, shortly after Discords reformation
“Yes princess I'm ready to use my powers for good instead of evil, Good luck” Discord chuckled as he bowed his head. Hearing his mumble Rainbow Dash rushed to his face with a suspicious glare.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Pfft, I don’t want to ruin the surprise.” The chaos spirit chuckled with a grin which brought suspicion to the others. Suddenly he felt a hoof on his lion paw he looked down to see Fluttershy looking up at him with those sweet eyes.
“Discord, a part of being friends is communication,” she smiled. “If there’s something we need to know then you should tell us.”
Finally succumbing to her gaze the draconequus sighed, "Well..." he trailed off scratching the back of his neck with a slight look of embarrassed guilt.
The realm was an empty dark void of shifting liquid, the only source of light sat in the center where a small blob of the same black sludge sat before a plethora of screens large and small, rapidly displaying numerous media of different ages, in different times from different worlds. The small faceless blob remained still before the incoherent and chaotic ramblings of the televisions. Suddenly a screen went to static followed by another and another, soon every screen was filled with the static before simultaneously blacking out. The void remained silent and dark for several seconds before the largest television sparked back to life and began to play a single video.
“My little pony, My little pony, ah ah ah Ahhhhhhhhhhhh,”
As the video played the creature's blank face began to shift as two glowing bright white circles appeared continuing to stare, enchanted by the multitude of colors and soothing melody the blob slowly sprouted an arm reaching towards the screen, It wanted to see more, it wanted to be there, to bask in the new sensations that were firing through its mind and body. Another arm grew as it began to crawl for the screen hypnotized by the magical melody. Its white eyes filled with color as it reached the screen, its tiny sludge hands pressed to the screen. As the song reached its final verse the creatures liquid form began to solidify and phase into the screen
“Don’t you know you’re all my very best (Friends!)”
With the final line, the creature fell headfirst into the screen before it blacked out.
Back in equestria
All the ponies' eyes widen after discord finishes his explanation. The most concerned being Twilight.
“You’re telling us that another Chaotic being will be coming to Equestria to replace you?!” Twilight yelled, her eye twitching uncontrollably
“No, I said another More powerful Chaotic being will be coming here to replace me,” he crosses his arms “ try to pay more attention Twilight”
“T-then what will happen to you?” Fluttershy asked, concerned, holding his hand.
“Relax Fluttershy, I’m not going anywhere now that I’ve made my first real friend,” he holds her cheek in his paw, smiling at her before turning to the rest. “ But my magic will be more limited and I cannot and will not interfere with the chaos to come," he states with an oddly stern tone
“Why not?” Applejack asked, prompting the others to look at the draconequus.
“Well for starters, chaos can’t combat chaos, second, it won’t be the same chaos as mine, and third it will be hilarious to watch” he replied with a chuckle as he materializes movie seats and popcorn with traditional 3d glasses for him and the gang. "Imagine the fun." He joyously tossed popcorn in his mouth.
“Discord, this is serious!” Twilight yelled, ripping the glasses from her face.
“Yeah!, there's no caramel on this!” Pinkie added, her face stuffed with popcorn.
“Ahem,” Celestia draws attention back to herself. “ Discord, is there anything you can tell us about your replacement?” she asked with a regal tone masking her own fear. “Anything that might help?”
“Sorry princess.” the former chaos lord shrugs. “ No chaos lord is the same, it may be as whimsical and fun-loving as me or it may be a sadist monster who enjoys misery, Who can say?” he casually stated, shrugging again.
His words had hit Celestia's mind like a meteor, she internally cursed herself that her arrogance in trying to control chaos may have brought a worse doom upon her little ponies. She was almost tempted to allow discord to run rampant again in hopes of preventing new chaos from rising, but as she looked back to the elements of harmony her mind calmed, remembering that with the power of harmony and friendship there’s always hope.
Celestia sighed before stepping forward “Alright then, I’ll leave the elements with you Twilight when the new lord of chaos arrives you’ll be ready.”
“You can count on us princess,” Twilight smiled confidently.
“I know I can.” Celestia nodded with a smile
“Don’t worry princess, we beat chaos before we’ll do it again” Rainbow confidently speaks
“As long as we’re together ain't nothin that’ll stop us.” Aj added, tipping her hat.
“Who knows maybe it’ll be a load of chaotic fun!” Pinkie hops excitedly.
“Alright girls, I'll head back to the library to do some research, in the meantime, we should leave our elements on until we encounter the new chaos lord.”
“Right” they all respond in unison.
Discord looked to the sky smiling “hehe, this should be very amusing.”
Golden oaks library, Two weeks later
Twilight sat on the table with books and papers surrounding her, in the center of her desk was a large scroll with a question mark at the center titled: Chaos Theory, the study of chaos spirits. Several notes surrounded the paper with history books describing discords' reign flanking them.
Spike meanwhile was arranging the shelves. “Hey Twilight, are you still at that, it's been two weeks and you’ve hardly left your desk.”
“Spike, if discord is any example the next Chaos Lord will make a grand debut.. We need to be as ready as possible,” she answered, not even looking as she turned the page of her book.
“Exactly! So how bout we start planning for that instead of writing notes.” Spike started walking to the lavender pony.
“I am, I’ve marked several possible locations if the new lord of chaos shows up, these are the most likely spots.” she pointed to a map of ponyville on the wall marked with lines, X’s, and Just a little red string.
“We have to make sure we’re ready to handle whatever brand of chaos they’ll come up with.” Twilight closed her book
“Maybe they’ll be friendly,” Spike suggested with an optimistic smile.
“Sure, a friendly chaos spirit, next thing you know books will be flat and made of glass.” she taunted with a wave of her hoof
“You know, that’s mean even for you.” a voice echoed through the library causing twilight to jump back.
Her inkwell began to float and flip upside down causing the bottle to pour out from the Ink to the left. Discord rose from the liquid bottle chuckling from his antics.
“Oh, it's just you discord” Twilight sighed, calming her rapidly beating heart.
“Just me, Is that all you have to say? And here I thought we were friends now.” he crossed his arms
“We are, which is why I’m actually relieved to see you and your chaos.” she calmly replied with a smile
"Oh? That's a first.” He said floating around the lavender unicorn.
"I'd like you to help with my research." She pointed to her table. “As a chaotic being yourself I'd like your opinion.
Discord shrunk down and looked over her notes. " Ah, trying to figure out my replacement before they arrive?"
"Not just that, I want to know more about chaos spirits in general" she stated bringing out her clipboard. "So I'd like to ask you a few questions."
" Oooo an interview, how exciting." The chaos spirit snapped his fingers and the room morphed into an impromptu set with lights and a set background, with the chaos spirit sporting a green blazer with polka dots and slicked-back hair.
"Alright let's begin then." Twilight sighed sporting a trilby with a paper on the side reading press, She was willing to tolerate discord shenanigans if it meant she could grasp the knowledge and insight of chaotic creatures and magic.
"It all began when I was young, I had just awoken into the world." He spoke with a touch of drama prompting the unicorn to roll her eyes as she began to write.
Hours passed, as the sun flew towards the horizon, “That was a great therapy session, I hope we can do it again Twilight.”He waved his lion paw as he flew off into the sky.
Twilight sighed as she returned to her desk with the fresh notes. Discord's interview had yielded some knowledge, but the rest was so packed with so many random events that she couldn't get anything out of it.
Once she had organized the papers. she cast her magic onto them, the papers congregated and massed into a single massive black book with a draconequus sigil on the cover etched in brass, with the title also etched in the same brass color. With a calm sigh, she opened the book to the first page. With a quill held in her magic, she began to write.
“This is a compiled study of the unique oddities known as Spirits of Chaos,”
“Hello, I am Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn of Equestria, as well as the Element of Magic. I’m writing this as a study of the chaos spirits as well as possible counters to their dangers. At the time of my writing, I and my friends have encountered the Spirit of chaos known as Discord, and have managed to befriend him.”
“However after befriending him we have learned that If a chaotic being embraces harmony, the universe will send another spirit of chaos to replace them. According to Discord himself, no chaos spirit is the same. Personality and chaotic events vary depending on the individual.”
“As we await our new Lord of chaos and whatever they bring, I’ve interviewed Discord of his own methods of chaos as well as our counters for his shenanigans within the first parts of this book. The rest will contain information gathered from Me and my friends' experience of the New chaos Spirit.
This research will help us understand these creatures better as well as give future generations' insight on how to deal with and even counter the threat of their chaotic magic.”
As the moon rose into view twilight closed the book with a satisfied smile, she was overjoyed to not only be studying this new unknown topic but also creating her own book on the matter. She cheerfully trotted to bed with a sense of pride taking one last look at the glow of the full moon before turning out the lights.
In the outer fields of ponyville, the moon is just over the horizon signaling the coming dawn, atop a great hill reality ripples like a pebble striking water as a small black droplet falls atop the grass plain causing yet another ripple as it struck the ground, amassing itself the creature assumes its blobbish form. The mass sits motionless as drips continuously fall and rejoin its body. The silence of the twilight is broken by the shriek of a fruit bat passing over as it flies across the sky, the sounds of the flying rodent halt the dripping, freezing them even in mid-fall before causing them to reverse their course and a mass to form a set of large bat ears. Instinctively they wiggled taking in the subtle sounds from the wind blowing to the rustling of grass feeling it against its body the body motion to match its wavy motion.
Minutes moved by as the creature moved with the flowing grass but soon a new sensation struck, the once cool air began to warm as the dark sky began to brighten to dim orange. The morning sun rose into view casting first light upon the hill. As it bathed in the warmth of its first sunrise the ears began to flop to the back of its form. As the sun rose into full view, its form began to shift again as two perfectly round dents pressed into its mass directly facing the sun before emitting a bright red glow staring aimlessly at the sun.
At Canterlot castle, Celestia embraced the calm breeze of another beautiful morning, the birds were chirping and the schedule was set for clear skies all day she calmly turned to exit her chambers and begin another day but she stopped once she noticed the natural light dim, confused she turned back to find what was blocking the sun. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of bright blue sky darken into a bloody crimson, what few clouds she saw in the distance darkened to baje, letting out a gasp as she saw the source of this terrifying event, her once beautiful golden sun now a glowing orb of crimson malevolence. Instinctively she activated her magic but there was no reaction, the sun remained motionless staring down onto the now reddened land.
Panic arose through the castle, guards scrambled across the entire area, servants hiding beneath the furniture they had just cleaned before long Luna stormed into her sister's chambers in a terrified huff. “Tia! Thank the harmony you’re alright.” she rushed in hugging her sister with tears in her eyes. “When I saw the red sun I’d thought you were endangered or worse!.” Without hesitation, Celestia hugged her sister doing her best to hold her own fear.
“I-I’m alright Luna” she stroked her sister's mane not even attempting to let her go
“What could cause this?” Luna asked, wiping her tears as she stared into the crimson sky.
“I may have an idea.” she looked to the sky with frightening determination
In Fluttershy's cottage, the animals were in a frenzy, clamoring at the walls or hiding in the furniture though when it seemed they were going to collide with one another they quickly changed direction as if they were fleeing a predator, Fluttershy herself was tucked in a corner hyperventilating with angel shivering in fear under her wing.
“W-w-w-what’s happening?” she shivered doing her best to keep the smaller animal safe as the rest thrashed about, oddly the birds were as calm as ever and flew off out the window.
“Come back! It’s too dangerous to go out there!” the timid pony called out but the birds just flew off as if drawn by the red sky.
In ponyville the townsfolk were equally in panic, many stayed in their homes hiding in their closets or under their beds to stay out of the red light, others were clamoring to town hall seeking aid and guidance from mayor mare, but even the town head was terrified but she had to do something.
“Attention Ponyville,” she announced from her podium atop the town hall steps. “ I know you are scared but we must try to remain calm even in this terrifying time, I’ve already sent a letter to the princess and I’m sure the elements of harmony will find a way to solve this, for now, stay indoors, hold your families close, I’m sure there will be a solution for this dilemma very soon” the mayor's speech managed to at least calm the mob as they disbursed.
At the golden oaks library, the red light provided the perfect atmosphere for the intense research session the lavender unicorn was performing, book after book she searched to find a spell that could return the sun to normal or at least find the source of this terrifying event. “Anything yet spike?” she asked with her eyes rapidly cutting across the lines of the page before grabbing the next book.
“Not yet Twi- Burp!” a scroll popped from the small burst of green flames.
Twilight quickly grabbed the scroll and began to read.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I regret to say that the time of the new lord of chaos may have come, despite my and Luna's best efforts, we are unable to move the sun from its current position and its effects seem to be causing mass panic, I fear this new chaos spirit to be malicious in nature and advise you gather the elements before our foe makes its next move.
Signed Princess Celestia”
Without a moment to lose Twilight ran out of the library with the element's chest in her magical grasp. Her eyes gazed at the red star in the sky which now had numerous birds circling the sky outside of town, Twilight was confident that the new chaos lord was there but she needed her friends to face this new threat and save Equestria. Her first stop was Sugar cube corner, where she found the bakery crowded with ponies, many seeking comfort food for their fear. The cakes were in a stressed rush packing and selling pastries.
“Twilight,” Pinkie called from the counter, waving, “ have you come for the red sun sale too?”
“ Red sun sale?” Spike tilted his head confused.
“Yeah, with everyone so scared we figured they’d want some sweet treats to keep them happy and calm,” she answered, handing off another box.
“Pinkie, the new lord of chaos is here and the princess is worried they might be hostile. We have to gather everyone so that we can use the elements to stop them.”
“Okie Dokie Loki” the pink pony responded before diving behind the counter.
“Pinkie?” confused twilight looked to where her friend had disappeared
“Yes?” Pinkie answered, appearing next to her friend already donning her element and holding a wagon of sweets prompting her friend to raise her eyebrow.”What? New discord may want some sweets.”
Twilight wanted to protest but it was Pinkie pie, so she wasn’t going to question it. They exited the bakery and rushed to their next destination, the Carousel Boutique. The store's interior was darkened with no sign of anyone present. “Rarity? Are you here?” her voice echoed in the empty store.” Let's check upstairs” rising the stairs they heard crying from the neighboring room.
Inside they found rarity holding a crying sweetie belle. “There, there Sweetie it will be alright.” Rarity patted her sister's mane before noticing her friends, “Oh thank Celestia, have you found out what's causing this dreadful event?”
“Princess Celestia thinks the new chaos lord has struck, we need to gather the elements and stop this,” Twilight responded by floating Rarity's necklace to her.
“Then let's stop this beast” she all but swiped the element before planting a kiss on her sister's forehead “Don’t worry Sweetie, we’ll fix this.” as rarity walked away Pinkie approached giving the filly a box of cupcakes bringing a hopeful smile to her face.
“Thank you.” she wiped her tears before taking a bite “Good luck!” she waved them away as they trotted out of the shop.
As they moved through the town they began to notice a large amount of Pegasus in the sky around cloudsdale. “What's going on up there?” Spike asked
“Twilight!” Rainbows' voice echoed as she sped to her friends, as she landed her face was covered with sweat and exhaustion “Somethings wrong with cloudsdale!”
“What happened?” she asked as pinky provided her friend with a well-needed drink.
“Everyone was already freaking out because of the red sun, then the clouds started to turn black. Then suddenly everyone started falling.”
“Falling?” Rarity asked, confused.
“We couldn’t stand on the clouds anymore! They’re as thin as air.” Rainbow answered in a panicked tone.
“Is everyone alright?” Twilight asked concerned and was relieved to see her friend nod
“Most ponies managed to get airborne before it happened and the wonder bolts helped everypony that was stuck in the falling debris.”
“So why are they still up there?” Pinky asked, watching the sight in the distance.
“we’re holding the weather factory up while it's being emptied,” Rainbow commented. “If it falls it’ll cause a natural disaster.” she takes another swig of water “so what’s going on?”
“Discord’s replacement is here and is causing all of this,” she explained causing the rainbow pony to perk up.
“Where are they? I'm gonna kick their flanks!” she yelled aggressively, flapping her wings.
“ I think they’re over there,” she gestured to the hills outside of the town, where the sun sat idle on the horizon bathing the hill in red light giving them a burnt black appearance, while even more birds seemed to be flocked around it flying in circles around the hilltop. “ It looks like the source of all this.”
Without another word, Rainbow Dash flew into the air ready to dash at her target before being lassoed. “ What the!?”
“Easy there rainbow dash, we can’t just charge it like an angry bull”. Applejack yelled from the side as she pulled at the rope bringing the eager pegasus back. “Best we think on what to do?
“We don’t have time to wait!” she argued, pulling herself out of the lasso. “If we wait too long, the factory will fall.”
“And if we attack now we can’t stop them.” twilight spoke up standing between them. “ We need to get Fluttershy so we can use the elements, if we turn the sun back it may fix the clouds.” She finished passing them their elements.
“Alright I'll go get Fluttershy and we’ll be right back.” Rainbow took to the air again.
“Meet us at the base of the hills so we can do this together,” Twilight called out before turning to the others. “Alright let's get to the hill”
“Hey, flutters are you here?” Rainbow burst into the cottage door. Surprisingly it was eerily quiet, all the scurrying animals were now peacefully sleeping across the room. “Uhh, Fluttershy?” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head confused by the sight before flying to each room looking for her friend. “Where is she?”
As she was about to leave she was struck in the head from above.
“Ow, what the!?” As she looked up she spotted Angel bunny standing on the ceiling. “What are you doing up there?” she asked flying up to grab the bunny. “Where's Fluttershy?”
Angel did his best to explain the situation, but it was impossible for Rainbow to understand him.
“Uh, she’s stuck in a well?” Rainbow jokingly guessed, causing the rabbit to facepalm then turn the ponies head to the window pointing to the red-lit hill.” wait she’s already there, then I gotta get over there fast, she yelled dropping the bunny that fell back to the ceiling.
“Oops hehe,” she chuckled, placing a pillow on the ground beneath the gravity-challenged bunny before flying off to the hills.
Back at the Hills the rest of mane six had reached the foot of the hills, eagerly waiting for their pegasus to return so they could stop the crimson onslaught.
“I wonder what’s keeping them” Applejack questioned
“They should be here soon, this is a dire situation. Who knows what this dreadful spirit will do next.
“Maybe I should take a look” Twilight responded, lighting her horn, but ceased the moment she spotted the rainbow approach. “There you are, where's Fluttershy?”
“Up there” she pointed to the hilltop.
“Oh no, what if something happened to her?” Rarity looked to the ominous peak in concern.
“We won’t let that happen, quick let's get up that hill!” Apple responded, running ahead with the others following her, as they trotted toward the summit they felt the tension, unsure of what to expect from this new breed of chaotic anarchy that awaits them.
As they reached the top they were frozen in shock at the unbelievable sight they were witnessing. There she was lying upon the ground, her eyes colored black as she was covered in the dark birds pecking at her center, the ominous crimson light painted the truly bleak and horrific sight before them. Tears began to form in their eyes as a thousand thoughts flew through each of their heads trying to deny their eyes.
“Oh there you are,” Discord called out from the side. “Was wondering what was taking you.'' The former chaos lord was dressed in a blue button-up with a large bandage covering his left ear, his white goatee replaced with an orange beard standing in front of an easel.
"Discord?" The aimlessly confused twilight asked, looking at the painting draconequus then back to her assumed dead friend.
"Twilight?" Fluttershy spoke up, removing the sunglasses from her eyes. " Are you alright? You look pale." The yellow pegasus asked concernedly as she sat up prompting the birds to scatter.
Without another moment the gang dogpiled her into a group hug. " We..we. were so. so. soooo. worried." Pinkie spoke through the monotony of sobs.
"When we saw you on the ground like that we thought that dreadful monster had hurt you."
"Monster? What monster?" Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion.
"The one causing all of this! The red sun, the thin clouds, the crazy animals.”
“They're not crazy, they were just scared by the sudden color change like everypony else. Discord helped me calm them down then gave me these shades to help me see the birds' colors," she said pointing to her rounded shades.
“Then why were they pecking at you?” Rainbow asked
"Oh!" She reached behind her and pulled out a bag of seeds. “They were looking hungry so I wanted to feed them, then Discord had a funny idea to let them eat off of my belly." she giggled with a slight blush.
"The sight was so great I had to paint it." Discord chuckled, showing the ponies his masterpiece, an oil painting of Fluttershy casually relaxing with the birds perched on her highlighted by the bright red of the sun.
"Wait then why are they circling around? Pinkie’s eyes swirled in circles following the birds' motions
"Red is the color of love for the birds. when the sun changed, they flocked here to find a mate." She looked up to the circling flock. “But it's so red that they’re confused.” She held up the bag again. “When they get tired they come down and I give them a little snack.
“I’ve really enjoyed this red dawn, nothing like a little chaos in the morning.” Discord joyously smiled taking in a deep breath of the red-tinted air.
"Wait, then are you doing this discord?" Twilight asked, ready to give him an earful for scaring everyone.
"Nope." He answered by bringing everyone's attention to him. "That's all them" he pointed to the end of the hill where the sun resteted on the horizon only blocked by a small silhouette rippling in the waves of the sun.
Everyone just stared at the shadow in the distance casting a large shadow over the grass from the red rays of the sun giving it a very mysterious and imposing look, the ponies were too confused to even think of what to do before discord cleared his throat. “Well aren’t you going to say hello?” he chuckled, slightly amazed by how scared the ponies were.
“H-has it done or said anything?” Applejack whispered to the equally surprised Fluttershy.
“This is the first time I even noticed them,” Fluttershy answered, not taking her eye off of the creature.
Before long pinkie shook her head, gaining a determined look in her eyes, there was no way a scary shadow was going to keep her from welcoming someone new, grabbing her cart she moved forward prompting a group gasp from the rest and a pleased nod from discord. Her approach was slow as she opted to walk over bouncing; she didn’t want to startle it. She stopped her cart and grabbed a single box.
“Hi I’m Pinkie pie, are you new? You must be new.” She spoke with an excited but calm voice as she laid the box in front of the creature, opening it to reveal a white and blue cake with the words welcome written in chocolate. The creature however did not budge as its eyes were continuously locked upon the sun.
“Hello?” she waved her hoof in front of it with no response, not even a wiggle. She then resorted to her next move, a barrage of funny faces.
In the distance, her friends watched in fear, then confusion, and after 10 minutes they were sick of watching her make funny faces at what seemed to be a motionless rock given its lack of reaction to the unignorable force of nature that was pinkie pie. They approached slowly bringing the motionless creature into better view. It was small, about the size of a foal, it had no limbs or appendages aside from the drooped bat ears. And its eyes were just glowing red dots in the deep sockets of its head.
“Is this it?” Twilight asked, looking to discord, who only replied with a nod.
“But you said it was going to be more powerful,” Rainbow commented, eyeing the statue-like creature.
“It is, look at all that's done,” he gestures behind them. “ panicking ponies, terrified animals, and a falling factory, all from just turning the sun red.” he chuckled.
“Hold on, you’re saying that all it did was turn the sun red?” Applejack asked
“Mhm, nothing else” discord answered, kicking his feet up as he floated in place.
“Then why's everyone panicking?” rarity asked
“Because ponies are superstitious and easily scared,” he responded, pulling up a newspaper.
“Then why’s the factory falling?” Rainbow yelled pointing at the slowly descending mass of weather machines.
“ The red light pierces the clouds making them thinner and unable to hold anything but rain. He casually turned the page of his paper.
The quick answers from discord were simple and surprisingly accurate when twilight took the time to think about the events, recalling how everypony acted when they first saw Zecora. Taking a deep breath she let the stress go, now that she has heard the logic of the situation. She was ready to act
“Alright let’s use the elements and fix this,” she announced to the other's agreement
“This should be interesting.”Discord watched with curiosity as they surrounded the motionless chaos bringer.
The element began to glow; a pure white aura engulfed the ponies as a helix of rainbows shot into the sky and descended upon the small creature. Impacting it with great force. and spreading a blinding light across the area that everyone from Canterlot to the ever-free could see. But when it ceased. The Crimson light of the sun remained and the creature was completely unphased, its sight unbroken from the star. The Mane six stood in surprise, usually, the problem was solved upon the elements' use. They expected the creature to be encased in stone or at the very least the sun to be restored but nothing changed.
“Uhh, shouldn’t everything be, y’ know fixed?” Rainbow broke the silence looking at her friends
“Usually yeah.” Applejack agreed, scratching her head.
“Did we miss?” Fluttershy asked as pinkie went back to her cart and dug through the collection of boxes and sweets.
Discord, however, was chuckling as he floated in the sky “Hahahaha! I had a feeling that would happen but it's even funnier to see!” he continued to snicker much to the annoyance of ponies before putting a party hat on.
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head. “ Did we miss something?” another hat was placed on her head.
Discord snickered again with a tear in his eye at how the ponies couldn’t tell what they did wrong before calming himself. “Those elements purify to restore balance to the land. They are pure harmony without personality or opinion. Just pure harmony. Right?”
“Well duh everyone knows that” Rainbow stated as Pinkie placed a party hat on her head.
“Then, what do you think that is?” he pointed over to the still creature who was having a paper crown placed upon its head by Pinkie.
“That’s your replacement, the new spirit of chaos,” Twilight answered, still lost as to the discord point before having a party favor shoved in her muzzle.
“Umm Pinkie darling, what are you doing?” rarity asked, noticing that the hill was decorated with streamers, balloons, and picnic blankets surrounding the crowned chaos creature, whom pinkie was currently wrapping in streamers of every color.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m prepping the party.” Pinkie responded. Placing the bakery boxes around the blankets.
“Party?” Rainbow tilted her head in confusion.
“Oh, that's a great idea let me help '' Discord snapped his fingers summoning a short circular table in front of his chaotic colleague. With pillows on the ground for everypony to sit.
“Pinkie, why are you setting up a party?” Twilight questioned again.
“Didn’t you hear discord?” Pinkie was confused as to how her friends missed the obvious answer. ”Sigh, it's their birthday!” she pointed to the decorated living statue at the center.
The ponies were still lost as to the meaning, to the point where Pinkie just got frustrated and resumed her task, hanging up streamers, in the meantime, Twilight began to write a letter to Princess Celestia.
Dear Princess Celestia,
We have encountered the New Chaos Spirit, at the current moment it seems to be idle, but we are unsure of its motive. We have run into a problem: the elements of harmony seem to have no effect or even a reaction from the odd creature and I feel we may need your wisdom for what to do next.
Signed, Twilight Sparkle
Celestia and her entourage arrived in a burst of golden energy, her guard escort was clad in full golden plate armor and they quickly positioned themselves around the newly set party.
“So, where is our new nemesis?” Celestia was pointed to the center of the party zone, her face was riddled with confusion at the sight of the terrifying black mass covered in ribbons and decorations.
“I know how you feel princess, I’m not sure what pinkie is thinking either."
The group amassed at the center, taking their seats around the chaotic idol. “Oh good you made it,” Discord called waiving as they approached. “Grab a seat.” he took a sip of his tea.
“Strange, aside from the ears and eyes it has no features, and it hasn’t moved or said anything?” She questioned taking a seat to the right of the creature.
“Nothing, all it’s done is stare at the sun.” Twilight sat next to her mentor taking a cup of tea for herself.
“OH! I got it, maybe if we cover its eyes the sun may turn back.`` Before anyone could protest, Rainbow placed her hoof over the idol's glowing red eyes, causing everything to go dark.
Nothing. The entire area was pitch black, absent of any form of light, and in what seemed like the distance the screams of panicked ponies filled everyone's ears.
"Rainbow Dash." Pinkie sternly called.
"Y-yeah?"
" Move your hoof."
As if flipping a switch the red sun returned light to the world, many sighed in relief while others trembled on the ground in fright.
"Please don't do that again" Fluttershy shakingly requested holding on to discord like a frightened puppy.
"Well at least we know the active cause," Celestia commented wiping her brow
"But we still have no idea how to stop it"
"Sure we do. It's pretty obvious." Pinkie replied, placing the last party hat atop the princess's crown tip, before taking her seat directly in front of the frozen chaos spirit.
"Pinkie what are you?.." on cue discord snapped his fingers lighting the candles and they both began to sing.
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you" soon Fluttershy's fear faded as she joined in.
" From good friends and true, to old friends and new,” As they sang the elements began to glow again, seeing that the rest followed along.
“Happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday to you!” As the song finished the elements' energy began to resonate, surrounding the table and cast their beams upon the cake. The flames began to slowly fluctuate in colors.
Suddenly the creature began to move, its large bat ears stood up as its eyes motioned towards the cake, the once ominous red glow soon changed to blue, then green, then yellow, matching the transitioning colors of the candles. Within seconds the sun reverted back to its glistening gold and with it the calm blue sky and white clouds.
The ponies watched the tiny creature carefully, this was the first motion they’ve seen, while they were relieved at the return of the sun's natural color the tension remained high.
“So what now?” Rainbow whispered to twilight who could only shrug
“I don’t know, I’m surprised this actually worked,” she responded, not taking her eyes off the small black creature.
“Ok, now we blow out the candles!” Pinkie spoke up scooching closer to the cake. Causing the creature's eyes to look up at her then back to the cake. “Don’t worry it’s easy, lemme show you.” The pink pony reached into her mane and pulled out a simple pinwheel, Once again grasping the little one's attention. With a deep breath, she gently exhaled pushing the wheel into a brief motion before slowing to a stop.
As Pinkie repeated the process the ponies eyes were glued on the creature, whose now multicolored eyes were locked on the party pony, at first it sat motionlessly, but then they noticed a shift in its body as it was increasing and decreasing in size
“It’s... breathing” Twilight whispered, instinctively taking notes on parchment as she watched, documenting everything she was witnessing
The creature's smooth body began to reliquify, clumps of its mass moved to the center of its head just below its eyes, pushing forward molding into a rounded shape before stretching vertically before tearing in two. The group's eyes shot wide as they realized the creature had formed a muzzle and mouth, matching pinkies breathing motion even stopping when she stopped.
“It looks like... a pony,” Applejack commented.
“It’s starting.” discord spoke up briefly bringing everyone's attention to him.
“What’s starting?” Twilight asked, looking back and forth between the two chaotic entities.
“It’s taking shape.” Discord nodded as he observed his replacement mimic Pinkie’s movements
“It’s...like a foal copying its parents,” Celestia commented curiously, staring at the scene before her. The rest of the ponies were just as much surprised but having been around pinkie long enough, they were oddly relieved that she managed to make something positive happen with her quirkiness especially since the new threat to Equestria was responding so well to her
“You got it!” Pinkie praised clapping her hooves. “Now let's blow out the candles” she pointed to the technicolor flames. Every pony watched carefully as pinkie and the blob both inhaled. Twilight was crafting hypotheses in her head on what would happen, would the spirit be turned to stone, will it go to sleep? Or will it attack?
With an audible sound the two blew out the candles together, the smoke rose from the wicks sporting the same rainbow coloring as the flames. But rather than rise into the sky they surrounded the small blob and entered it's being through its newly formed snout. Everypony watched as the element's magic now began to take its effect.
Its body began to rearrange itself again, the once rippling body solidified and formed a furred texture, four appendages sprouted from its mass in the shape of what seemed to be hooves. Its dark glowing eyes began to dim as the dents reformed into proper eyeballs, as they blinked the color of its iris shifted from color to color before eventually stopping at red and blue. The bat ears atop its head remained there but slightly shrank to better fit its shape.
The ponies were surprised to see the new “foal.” It had no mane or tail shape but was undeniably pony-shaped.
“It’s so cute!” Fluttershy spoke up grasping the little one in her hooves, nuzzling its head, the creature copied the act of they shy pegasus prompting everypony present to let out an audible “Aw”
As the nuzzling continued its body shifted again, as a dubbing mass shot out the top of its head covering the back of its neck and its eyes before solidifying into what seemed to be a mane. It was similar to Fluttershy's covering one of its eyes.
“Aw, you look like it's mommy,” Pinkie commented with a smile, causing the pegasus to blush a bit.”
“Actually I think it likes you more, pinkie,” Twilight commented, pointing to the foal. “It hasn’t taken its eyes off of you since it got them. The rest looked back at the small creature to find out twilight was right. Its eyes were focused on pinkie, not even blinking.
Pinkie bounced to the right, then slid to the left, and as her friend said its gaze didn’t leave her. “Huh, how about that.” she wagged her tail as she bounced in place.
The foal began to move its hooves copying the pink ponies' movements. Seeing this Fluttershy placed it down, the two bounced together, in perfect synchronization as they did another shift in its form, another appendage shot out from its rear, as it bounced. The mass shaped itself into a perfect copy of pinkie's puffy tail but oddly unlike the rest of the foal's body the tail was the exact same size as pinkies, the tail size, however, was far larger than the foal but it didn’t seem to weigh it down at all.
“So uh, what do we do now?”Rainbow scratched her head.
“What do you mean? The party’s just started!” Pinkie responded before bouncing over to one of the tables with the foal following. “Now we open presents!” she picked up the little black pony, placing him atop the table with a cheerful smile.
With no better ideas the ponies followed, gathering around the birthday foal, Pinkie grabbed one of the first presents, a small red box with a yellow ribbon, and placed it in front of the staring foal, but it only stared at the box then back to pinkie.
“Go on, open it.” the little one continued to stare between her and the box.
“Uh pinkie, I don't think it knows what open means,” Rainbow commented.
“Here let me help.” Spike climbed onto the table and used his claw to cut the ribbon open, prompting the creature's head to suddenly look in his direction, staring intensely at the dragon's claw. Spike looked around hoping somepony could help him escape the estranged foals' gaze. But before anypony could respond the foal raised its hoof towards the dragon's small claw.
“Uhhhhh,” Spike looked at the stretched hoof then to the young one's blank wide-eyed stare before grasping the hoof. “H-happy birthday, hehe.” he awkwardly smiled wide, his face screamed uncomfortable as he slowly shook its hoof. He attempted to release the hoof but was unable to loosen his grip. The ponies watched in fright, unsure of how to respond, Applejack held Rainbow in place not wanting to risk her getting stuck as well, Twilight was watching, recording what she was witnessing.
Spike's awkward smile shifted to panic as he continued his attempts to free himself, all the while his captor stared expressionlessly. Staring right into the creature's eyes Spike smiled wide again, sweat trickling down his head. The foal responded with a smile of its own, its mouth opened into the shape of a smile but instead of the adorable image many pictures the inside of its toothless mouth dropped with the same black ooze as its body. The sight made many visually cringe.
The dripping slowed to a stop as the foal closed its mouth tilting its head for a moment before smiling again. Instead of an empty horrific dripping abyss the foal now sported a full set of sharp fangs. The ponies gasped in surprise, Discord nodded in approval while Twilight continued to take her notes using them as a means of keeping calm in this crazy event. Spike was in such shock that he hardly noticed the creature retract its hoof and sprouted four appendages that stretched outward molding to a new shape. The once flat hoof stretched out and split into several four appendages molding into an identical replica of spikes clawed hands.
“So that’s how they get their odd shapes.” Twilight watched in amazement as the foal admired its new claws opening and closing its palm
“Yep.” discord acknowledged
“Then how did you get yours?” Twilight asked, eyeing up the numerous pieces of the chaos lord.
“Oh I fell down a mountain and bumped into all manner of creatures, since my form was already chaotic as it was, I chose to keep it this way,” he answered admiring himself in a conjured mirror.
“Well, the ribbon’s already cut so why don't we see what they got.” Pinkie called out, returning attention to the present. “This one from Twilight, Spoiler alert it's a book” Pinkie giggled placing it to the side.
“And this one from Rainbow Dash” Pinkie picked up a blue present, prompting the group to look at each other confused, how could they have gotten gifts for a creature they just met.
“Um, Pinkie dear, where did you get these gifts?”
“Oh I got them,” Discord responded as he passed Pinkie the next one. “ It's just some things I picked up from your homes.”
“Discord!” they all yelled upset from the former chaos lord's lack of care for private property.
“Oh don’t worry, they were mostly things you wouldn’t notice or miss.” His response was met with agitated glares. “What? You should thank me since only me and Pinkie actually got them gifts.” he pouts, offended by his friend's lack of planned gifts for the new arrival.
The present opening continued with little issues, the gifts were pretty basic, Rarity's was a gem-encrusted ribbon, Applejacks was a simple carved wooden apple, Rainbow dashes was one of her repeat daring-do posters.
“Now for my gift” Pinkie dug into her mane pulling out and placing back several items from party favors to her party zooka. Prompting the little one to do the same, being unable to pull anything from its straightened hair but after briefly switching its attention to its gifts it began to place them inside.
“Ah ha! Found it” Pinkie yelled, pulling out a ball. Everyone was surprised at the surprisingly simple gift, some were worried she was feeling sick from its sheer simplicity. As if feeling their stare she looked back. “What? He’s a baby, what else would I get him?”
The ponies looked at each other silently agreeing with her statement with Applejack face-palming feeling foolish for not realizing it.
“So Discord, what did you get them?” Pinkie looked over with the group, all were curious as to what one chaos entity would give another.
“Oh, nothing much.” with a snap of his fingers a platter appeared in his hand with a silver cover marked with a chaos symbol. “ Just something I’ve recently discovered on my trip to the Stormlands.” all eyes were on the platter, including the foals who were even more curious. Discord lifted the cover to reveal an odd item, its appearance was shiny and transparent with a bright turquoise color.
“What is it?” Fluttershy tilted her head curiously
“It looks like some sort of gemstone, the color is absolutely radiant.” Rarity admired the elegance of its appearance.
“ It’s jiggly” Pinkie commented, poking it causing it to wobble but maintain its shape.
“It’s called gelatin, a beloved snack of the Storm empire. I thought the best way to welcome our new trouble maker is with a fresh snack to nurture its mischief.
The creature began to move, crawling off the edge of the table. Pinkie quickly jumped below to catch it but it kept crawling defying gravity.
“Ooh I think they like it” Discord shake the tray jiggling the treat once again as if tempted by its shape. The foal moved from crawling to hopping causing what seemed to be a slight ripple in the air it landed on. Stopping just before the tray, Discord released the tray leaving it floating while the ponies observed.
The foal's head moved forward and pressed into the gelatine's mass before suddenly slipping into it. Everyone, including discord, was surprised to the point where he dropped the tray to the ground, a black mass appeared in its center as it began to shift and bend, expanding and receding before the cover was slammed on top by Rainbow Dash.
“Discord, what the Buck was that!?” she yelled, flying up to his face.
“I. Have no idea. that's a first, even for me” he scratched his head looking back at the shaking tray.
“What was that thing?” Applejack questioned
“It was just a treat from overseas I swear.” he held his hands up as he sweated small pieces of lead.
“Well, what's it made of?” Twilight asked, looking at the still shaking tray.
“Um, I don’t know actually,” Discord scratched his chin “but it was delicious.”
“What’s it taste like?” Pinkie asked curiously.
“Fruit and sugar mostly, but I heard it can be made to taste like anything.”
While the ponies discussed the odd event and the flavor potential of the mystery treat, Celestia’s eyes were locked on the covered tray, the thrashing and shaking had slowed to a simple shake. The once intense aura of the creature had reduced itself to a smaller size but maintained its potency as it began to pulse in a steady rhythm to her heightened magical senses.
“A heartbeat” she spoke out loud bringing back the attention of the rest. “I sense the rhythm to its magic.”
Discord was first to act, forming a stethoscope and doctor's hat upon himself, before placing it atop the tray, his eyes widened. Instead of the subtle beats of a new life, he heard a menagerie of wubs and boosted bass.
“Well done nurse.” he smiled, snapping his fingers, in a flash of light Celestia was sporting a nurse's hat atop her head. “ It's not a beat I'd choose but I guess I'm not as young as I used to be” he slouched while holding a cane. And rubbing his back.
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked the now elderly chaos lord.
“Oh nothing, just the youngin's heartbeat” he spoke in a crotchety voice refusing to drop the bit, as he picked up the tray.
“Wait Discord, what are you doing?” Twilight asked as he placed the tray atop the present table, clearing everything in the way with a snap of his fingers.
“They have a heartbeat, which means they should be done by now.” grabbing the lid he looked to the rest as they gathered around. “ Now, are you ready to meet your new menace?”
The ponies were a trail mix of emotions, Pinkie was the closest with an excited smile, Fluttershy was right behind her, her head tilted curiously, Twilight was at their side with her quill ready, while Spike hid behind her frightened. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow dash kept to the back with the princess with cautious expressions. Even though the creature was small it was still a spirit of chaos and they weren’t going to let it get the drop on them again.
The lid was lifted revealing, not a mass of darkness, nor the same foal they witnessed earlier. Sleeping atop the tray was the new Spirit of chaos, Its body was the same bright turquoise of the gelatine but had black blotches that shifted in shapes and position similar to a Rorschach test, the bat ears were back to their large size and drooped over its now shiny wet looking mane that slowly shifted colors as it flowed like a pool of water, its claws were pitch black and thicker resembling that of a sloth and its large poofy tail was wrapped around its form also shifting through colors.
Everyone approached slowly to take a good look at the young creature, its sleeping form causing even the cautious ponies' expressions to soften.
“He’s even cuter than before” Fluttershy whispered as she eyed the sleeping chaos bringer.
“I know right?” Pinkie moved her hoof to pet the little one's head, its mane had an oddly moist texture as if she was touching custard. “Hehe, squishy.” she giggled mindlessly poking the young one's squishy mane.
Fluttershy was next to pet the small creature, aiming for its back but instead of fur, she felt only the cold semisolid feel of gel, which jiggled to her touch. “Oh my, that’s a strange feeling.” she giggled, still petting the little one.
Soon every pony stepped forward to witness the gelatinous foals' new form, all of which found it oddly amusing to poke, Twilight was tempted to take a piece of it for research but kept the thoughts to herself.
“So what now?” Rainbow asked, still poking at the creature's jiggly body.
“What do ya mean?” Applejack asked.
“Well we stopped the chaos, but what happens when it wakes up?”
“Then maybe you should stop poking it dear.” Rainbow quickly retracted her hoof with an embarrassed smile.
“We could use the elements again, maybe it will work now that it's fully formed.” Twilight suggested
“Absolutely not.” Fluttershy stomped her hoof “We’re not turning this sweet little one to stone."
“Yeah! and especially not on his birthday.” Pinkie stood beside Fluttershy with a stern look.
“Well we gotta do something,” Rainbow pointed to the creature, now being held by Discord.
“Rainbow’s right girls, even though we stopped the chaos today, We have no idea what they’ll do next” Twilight responded
“We could try teaching them to be nice to creatures. That way we won’t have to worry about them causing trouble. Fluttershy suggested with a cheerful smile
“Um, wouldn't that bring a third chaos spirit to take over?” Applejack's point caused the ponies to fall silent. “I really don’t wanna tempt fate on this”
“Nor do I,” Celestia agreed, “We were lucky to receive a...simple chaos spirit.” she looked at the slumbering creature.
“Sim...Hahahaha..simple?” Discord burst into laughter. “Eu contrair Celestia, this is far from simple.'' The ponies' concern began to rise as they watched the laughing draconequus.
“The kid’s a blank slate, no schemes, tricks, or thoughts. Just pure mindless chaos” he chuckled. “And they’ll only get smarter.” As discord laughed, the ponies looked at each other, each thinking of a way to solve the issue in front of them.
“Well if we can’t stop the chaos we can at least limit it.” Twilight spoke up, summoning her whiteboard with a poorly drawn picture of ponyville. “ If we keep them in ponyville we can at least keep an eye on them,” she explained drawing a circle around the sketch.
“That ain’t a bad idea, but how do we keep them in town?” Applejack questioned.
“I’ll need to do some research, maybe there’s a way to craft a barrier or some kind of a bind to keep them in the town.”
“I’ll look through the archives and see what I can find." Celestia added before stepping away “ In the meantime, you’ll have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t wander.”
“You can count on us princess” Twilight's confidence was backed by the sure look of her friends.
“We’ve entered a new age my little ponies, good luck” In a bright flash of Light Celestia and her entourage teleported back to the Canterlot. Leaving the group with their new charge.
“So what now?” Fluttershy asked as they began walking back to ponyville.
“We should probably let the town know what happened,” Twilight Suggested as she looked over her new notes.
“Great idea, we can’t keep 'em in the dark,” Applejack agreed.
“So where are we gonna keep 'em?” Rainbow asked, looking at the sleeping foal being carried on pinkies back.
“I’d like to examine them at the library but I don't feel comfortable letting them loose in the library until I have a spell to stop them.”
“We could keep them at my cottage,” Fluttershy offered, “I’m sure the animals would love them.”
“Eh... Darling, are you sure that's wise, after all, look what happened when Spike touched them, I don’t want to imagine what they’d turn into after a night in your cottage.” rarity commented with spike nodding next to her.
“Then where?”
“Oooh I’ll take him” Pinkie waved her hoof-like an eager student, causing the rest to look at each other then back..
“You sure Pinkie?" Applejack asked. "you already have to plan everypony’s parties ”
"And help at Sugarcube corner. " Fluttershy added
"And even help look after the cake twins" Twilight looked to her friend with concern. “ We don’t want you to get overwhelmed.”
"Psshhh, I can do it all even with this sweet little jelly belly" she responded nuzzling her squish passenger " we already got plenty of food and knick-knacks for him to play with."
All of a sudden the infant's head poked up. Surprising the group
"Um, good morning" Fluttershy greeted with a smile but the infant only stared blankly.
"Hmmm." Discord rubs his chin curiously
"What is it Discord?" Twilight asked
"Pinkie pie can you say that again?" Discord grinned
"Jelly belly?"
"After that" he replied
"Food?"
"After that", he rolled his eyes.
Knick Knacks? " the foal jiggled upward at the end of her statement.
"I think they like that word" his smile doesn't leave his face.
"Knick?" The creature remained still. " Knack?" The creature jiggled again.
"Hehe, I guess we know what to call them now." Discord nodded in approval.
"Knack? What kind of name is that?" Rainbow commented before realizing the little one's eyes were now on her.
"Theirs now" Discord confidently replied looking toward Rainbow.
“Is that how it works?”Twilight asked, curiously reading her notes
“Kind of?" Discord responded scratching the back of his head. " I'm not entirely sure myself."
"Aren't you a chaos spirit too?" Rainbow dash asked.
"Yes but they're the first one I've met besides my reflection," he responded, looking into a hand mirror "And he's no help either." The reflection pouted, sticking his tongue out.
"So in other words you don't know," Applejack questioned with a raised eyebrow.
" I did say every chaotic spirit is different." Discord awkwardly chuckled with a light shrug of his arms.
"*sigh* at least we know what to call the little dear." Rarity commented petting Knack's watery mane. "Now how do we go about raising a little fil...col…" she stopped confused. "Um pinkie dear, is Knack a filly or a colt?"
The question caused all the girls to look at Knack's curious form. The foal showed traits of both genders, the shape of its muzzle was feminine but its eye shape resembles that of a colt. Soon their attention shifted to Discord hoping to get an answer.
"I'm sure they'll choose in time, so why not treat them as both for now." He explained
"Fascinating, so gender is as optional as appearance?" Twilight excitedly noted
"Yep," discord nodded. " Tho I personally prefer to stick to one, unless the situation demands otherwise"
"Then, what made you pick yours Discord?" Fluttershy asked curiously.
" I really liked the beard look" he boasted stroking his long beard proudly. " just imagine what they'll be like after a few years" he chuckled bopping the little one's snout.
"These chaos spirits get more confusing by the minute." Applejack shook her head as she approached the town's entrance.
" I hear ya Applejack," Rainbow agreed, before noticing their fashionista friend sporting a creepy grin and muttering to herself."
" So many outfits, so many possibilities." She whispered with a creative glint in her eye as she looked at Knack. " Pinkie dear, Auntie Rarity would like some time with our dear little Knack." She asked in a polite tone as she batted her eyelashes, prompting Knack to copy her.
"Sure, would you like weekends? Or alternate days?" Pinkie responded with a joyous smile.
"Oh I'm sure we can work something out later, but if you don't mind holding still for a bit. " She responded magically, moving three measuring tapes to Knack's body, as she tightened them, the foal's body squished in demonstrating its malleable nature.
Despite the lack of accurate sizing Rarity seemed pleased with the results as she retracted the tape."Perfect" she smiled, making a note of the numbers. "I'll be seeing you soon Knacky Wacky" she chimed before trotting off towards her boutique.
"What was that about?." Rainbow questioned slightly disturbed.
"Ah don't know, but I can tell it ain't good" Applejack shuddered "Well, with the sun back to normal, the apples need a Bucking, See y'all later." Applejack excused herself moving towards her farm
"Bye Applejack!" Pinkie waved with Knack copying her motions. "Whelp I guess we'll be getting back to Sugar cube corner. See you tomorrow girls" pinkie waved off as she bounced away with Knack in company copying her wave.
With her friend's departure, Twilight began to think about what she could do to protect Equestria from the new Lord of Chaos; Knack. No matter how much she repeated it, the name still had an odd taste in her mouth.
"Well if you'll excuse us, Me and Fluttershy have tea plans, Bye Twilight". With a snap, he and Fluttershy vanished leaving only Twilight and Rainbow dash behind.
“So what now Twilight?” Rainbow asked as they entered the Town
“ Me and Pinkie can handle things here, you go make sure everyone in Cloudsdale is ok.” With a nod, Rainbow Dash flew off. Leaving Twilight and Spike alone.
"Looks like we got lucky Twilight since Knacks just a foal we shouldn't expect too much trouble" he smiled with optimism but Twilight was still stuck in thought.
"Knack, why that name?" She mumbled to herself
"Twilight?"
"We said plenty of words the whole time but it reacted to that one, why?" She scratched her chin as they walked towards the library.
"Maybe because Pinkie said it?" Spike suggested.
"Yeah but she only said it once," She replied, not dropping her suspicions. " and Discord definitely noticed something."
"Maybe you're overthinking it." he waved his hand as he started to move away
"Maybe, But I'm going to look into it anyway."
"Alright, do you want anything from Sugarcube corner then?" Spike asked deadpan, knowing better than to argue with Twilight's research mode.
"A coffee cake, with extra whipped cream." With a thumbs up the purple dragon left her to her books.
Back at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie was in the midst of explaining the morning's events since she left with Twilight.
"And with that, I'm now the proud guardian of sweet little Knacky." After recapping the day's events, Pinkie kindly passed the now jaw-dropped Cakes two glasses of water.
"Well...that's quite the story Pinkie." Mrs. Cake spoke looking over to the playpen where the cake twins were crawling around and playing with their toys with Knack curiously watching from the opposite end. “ Welp with all you do around here, the least we can do is let them stay here”
“Yeah, it will be just like adding another family member.” Mr. Cake smiled looking over to the cute sight of the twins playing with Knack's giant poofy tail.
“Thank you so so so much Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I’ll make the yummiest thanks for letting me adopt a baby chaos god cake you’d ever seen.” Pinkie leaped up and made for the kitchen before being grabbed by Mrs.Cake.
“No need for all that pinkie, you helping us and taking care of the twins is enough.” a chime from the entrance drew their attention. “ Why don’t you take that, while we put the little ones down for a nap.
“Okie dokie” Pinkie saluted before bouncing to the front counter, just in time to see Spike walk. “Hi Spike!” she waved her friend in.
“Hey, Pinkie can I get a box of vanilla cupcakes and a Coffeecake with extra whipped cream?”
“Twilight doing another marathon?” She giggled raising an eyebrow
“So how are the cakes handling this?” he asked taking a look behind the counter
“Very well they’re putting the foals to sleep right now.”
Upstairs, the Cakes had just put the twin foals into their cribs and kissed them on the cheek.
"Huh, that was oddly easy," Mr. Cake whispered, wiping his brow.
"Maybe, but the real challenge is this one." Mrs. Cake responded turning to see Knack on the table staring into the eyes of gummy mimicking the crocs stance and slowly blinking.
"What should we do?" Mr. Cake asked.
"I'm not sure, we don't have a crib for them yet. And they won't fit in the twins due to that tail." Mrs cake was puzzled as she went to pick up the knack who Instinctively Knack nuzzled her neck.
"Aw aren't you a little sweetie." She smiled, the foal's body was soft and cool to the touch. "Hmm, where can we put you to sleep?" Upon further inspection the cakes noticed an unused muffin basket sitting next to gummy. With a smile, Mrs.Cake, dressed up the basket with blankets and placed the little one in wrapping him in a second blanket.
"There we go, have a nice nap, little Knack." She spoke in a gentle motherly voice as she kissed Knack's forehead. Knack watched as the Cakes left the room, seconds later gummy joined them in the basket prompting Knack to kiss the gator's head mimicking Mrs. Cake.
Back at golden oaks library, Twilight was sitting at her desk surrounded by books sprawled across the floor surrounding her. “Nothing,” she slammed her head on the desk. “I don't get it.” She took another bite of her coffee cake.
“ I looked through every legend and arcane tome I have, but there's nothing related to the word Knack.” As she became distraught, her eyes wandered to her shelves, many of which had gaps from her intense study session, her eyes stopped on a red book with gold accents.
“Oh no bucking way.” her eyes narrowed as she used her magic to pull the book forward as it came into the candlelight the title was brought to view, Dictionary. The book dropped in front of her with a loud thump opening into the “D” section. Her eyes instantly found Discord.
Dis·cord | \ ˈdi-ˌskȯrd
A: lack of agreement or harmony (as between persons, things, or ideas)
“ must we fall into the jabber and babel of discord while victory is still unattained?”
B:active quarreling or conflict resulting from discord among persons or factions
-marital discord
-discord between the two parties
“Hehe, that actually describes Discord very well.” She chuckled before her eyes shot wide at her realization "…...Oh no,” with a face hoof she turned the pages to the K section and found it.
Knack: noun
noun: knack; plural noun: knacks
- an acquired or natural skill at performing a task.
"she got the knack of it in the end"
- a tendency to do something.
"the band has a knack of warping classic soul songs"
(originally denoting a clever or deceitful trick)
"If I'm right, then we're going to have a lot to deal with." She sighed, closing the dictionary and summoning her Chaos theory book, and began to document the day's discoveries.
Entry 1: The Red Sun
The Debut of the New lord of chaos was a terrifying experience, When dawn came the sun was turned a malevolent crimson. The clouds were made so thin the pegasi fell from the sky, animals and ponies panicked across the land.
But when we faced the creature we found not a monster but a formless mass of darkness whose only defining features were its large bat ears and terrifying glowing red eyes. We had assumed the worst thinking the creature was causing all of the sufferings on purpose but discord explained that all the creature did was change the color of the sun, and everything else was simply a reaction.
Our first attempt at contact was met with Silence, the creature neither spoke nor acknowledged our presence, even when we surrounded it.
When we used the Elements of Harmony, we were surprised not only to see nothing change but that it also had no effect on the creature, only now do I understand Discord’s words.
This new entity is the purest and chaotic thing that can exist; An infant. Too young to understand its own power or existence. It's ironically innocent and therefore the elements could not harm or even seal it away.
Amazingly our friend Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter managed to find a solution in her usual pinkie fashion; She threw them a Birthday party, decorated the entire hilltop, and even arranged a picnic for all present.
Amazingly it worked, during the song both the elements and the creature reacted. And upon the blowing of the candles, the creature assumed the shape of a foal. It began to copy features from contact with others. Copying Fluttershy’s hair, Spikes Claws and teeth, and even Pinkie’s poofy tail. According to Discord, this is how chaos spirits acquire their forms.
Its attention was primarily dominated by pinkie as it watched her the entire encounter, copying her movements and mannerisms. We had assumed that this would be the end until discord brought out his gift, an odd treat from overseas called Gelatin. The creature’s attention immediately shifted to it and it began to approach it with the same clumsiness as a newborn.
Defying gravity itself and causing ripples in reality with each step it got closer before coming face to face with the object. The moment it made contact, it shot into it. Before we could see anything else Rainbow Dash closed the tray.
At first it thrashed about but it slowly calmed, Princess Celestia detected a shift in its magic and related the rhythm to that of a heartbeat. With that confirmation, Discord took it upon himself to open the Tray.
The creature inside was different than before, its size and ears were the same but its color now matched the glistened texture of the gelatin, its mane and tail were similar to idle water waves with the tail being the size of a grown pony’s, its claws were smoother and more pronounced, and its body had black blotches that continuously shifted.
The oddest part came later, as we approached the town, we discussed the new chaos spirits living situation. Upon Pinkie's mention of Knick Knacks, the creature sprung awake.
Knack, the moment that word was said it would bring its attention to the one who spoke it. While discord was unsure himself, he assumed that was the creature's chosen name to which we chose to follow. I had my suspicions and through advanced research. I’ve crafted a hypothesis.
“A Chaos spirit's name is a key trait to their personality and use of their power.”
For Discord it was the direct antithesis of harmony, he warped reality to bring as much disharmony as he could.
Knack however is defined to be an acquired or natural skill for a task. So I fear that this is only the beginning, for Knack Child of chaos.