> Passed the Chaotic save > by TheCatalistComet2005 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > They took Fluttershy? Discord asked calmly. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Odd, I was trying to get us directly to Fluttershy but there is no Fluttershy.” Said Discord as he lifted a rock to see if Fluttershy was under it. The moment Discord had heard that Fluttershy was taken by the changelings he immediately decided to get serious. While the leaders of Equestria getting pony-napped was concerning, he didn't really cared all that much. Not that he didn't care about them at all, it was just that the girls often get into dangerous situations all the time. And time and time again the get out of it unscathed. This time though, all the important heroes were captured. And all that's left were an ex cult leader, a stage magician and a friendly changeling. He briefly considered letting them save the day, but then realized what they were up against (An army of shape shifting insects that somehow manage to pony-nap the princesses in Canterlot). And so it was decided that he ‘The Lord of Chaos’ would be the one to defeat the changelings and save Fluttershy. (And maybe the others as well as all of Equestria). ‘It should have been easy’ he thought. One snap of his fingers and he and the spectators would be sent directly to Fluttershy. Another would free her (As well as everypony else) . A third snap would incapacitate every ‘evil’ changeling in the area. So imagine his confusion when the first snap produced no Fluttershy. “um, I think I might have a good idea where she might be” Trixie said as she pointed toward what looked like black structures in the distance. “I had hoped to never see that place again” said Thorax with a hint of fear. It was then that they realized what that place was; The Changeling Hive. The place where the changelings called home, The base of their operations and of course the place where all their friends were being held captive. Where Fluttershy was held captive… “Oh this is so strange, were here and that’s there. But I clearly meant for us to be there and not here.” Discord said with a bit of confusion and annoyance. “oh, I could probably explain…” Thorax tried to say but was interrupted by Discord. “Oh well, if at you don’t succeed…” Discord said as he tried to snap his fingers but was interrupted by Starlight. “Maybe we should come up with a plan first.” She said as she held Discord’s lion paw in her magic. “ A what?” said Discord. “You know, figuring out the best way to do something before you actually do it” said Trixie, slightly annoyed at the draqonequus impulsive behavior. “I know what a plan is, what I meant was what plan besides the obvious?” asked Discord. “The obvious?” asked Starlight in confusion. “You know, the plan where I snap my talons and let my magic do all the work”. he said as he snapped his talons to conjure up some sort of flying pig in armor and let it charge directly at the hive. It didn’t go very far though as after flying a few feet closer to the hive the pig disintegrated into pure mana. Confused at what just happened, he snapped his talons to try again only to get the same results. Very familiar results. “ That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! Nothing other than changeling magic works here. Chrysalis throne is carved from an ancient…” Thorax tried to explain but was once again interrupted by Discord. “Dark Stone.” Discord said in an annoyance. “A type of enchanted stone that can absorb magic from the spells made by any magic user other than the enchanter.” “ That’s correct… how did you know? Asked Thorax. “Well lets just say this isn't the first time I encountered this particular enchanted rock.” answered Discord sagely as he was dressed in a scholars uniform. “What do you mean by that?” asked Starlight who was a little curious as to where the draqonequus had seen this rock before. “ Well if you must know, Dark stone was one of the few things ponies used against me during my reign in Equestria that actually had an effect on me.” said Discord as he reminisces back to when he ruled Equestria. He used to look back at his reign rather fondly, but now that he had friendship all he could think about was about how lonely he had been back then. “Wait, If that’s the case then how come I’ve never heard about it?” She asked, a little confused. She had heard about Discords reign from Twilight and the other princesses but had never said anything about Dark stone. “ That would be because I made sure to erase its existence as well as how to make it from history” Discord said as a matter of factly. “ What… Why did you need to do such thing?” asked Starlight who was a little concerned after hearing Discord say he erased something from history. “Because Starlight, other than the fact that it uses dark magic, in order to make such powerful enchantments on some random rocks, you’re going to have to use the magic from several ponies to make it work. And the size of the ‘anti-magic field’ created by the Dark stone is dependent on the amount of magic you put in it.” said Discord, still wearing the scholars uniform as he educated the side characters. “On a related note, how big is the AMF anyway?” Discord asked Thorax . “The AMF?” “The Anti-magic field.” Answered Trixie, thinking it was obvious. “Oh right… well Chrysalis throne can soke up all foreign magic from here to the end of the valley.” answered Thorax. “Oh, is that right.” Discord said as he scowled in displeasure. “Wait, so you’re saying that we can’t use magic at all in there!!?” Trixie asked, clearly panicking as she realizes how hopeless the situation is. “Trixie, calm down.” said Starlight. “Calm down!? How can you expect Trixie to calm down!!? The princesses as well as Twilight’s friends have been captured by the changelings!! And the only creature who could have stop them is currently powerless!!” Trixie all but screamed into Starlight's ears. “Trixie, please just calm down! Freaking out about all of this isn’t going to solve anything!” “Oh no, by all means, continue to scream. I’m sure all of our problems will be solved if you yell loud enough.” Discord remarked mockingly. Trixie glared at him but wisely chose not to retort. Starlight on the other hoof decided to ask him a question. “Discord, you’ve dealt with Dark stone before right? Do you know any way we can counter it?” “Of course I do. In fact, I have several different methods when it comes to dealing with those pesky rocks.” Discord said as his scholars uniform somehow looking even more scholarly. “Well? What are they then?” Starlight asked with a bit of hope. She had to admit that she was a bit stumped about what to do. “See… about that. In order to understand what I can do about it, you need to first know about how Dark stone works.” said Discord as he snapped his lion fingers together. There was a bright flash and suddenly the trio of side characters found themselves in a strange classroom. The desk were unorganized, the chairs flew from the ground with their wings, and the walls were seemingly made of cookies. (Cookies plural. As in the walls were just a collection of cookies that were stacked together to form a building). Discord stood in front of a whiteboard, wearing a teachers outfit. In his lion paw he held up a black chalk and used it to draw a picture of a bunch of rocks stacked together to make a throne. Upon closer inspection, the trio realized that the whiteboard in question was actually a blackboard that had been turned white. “Now, the first thing you need to know about Dark stone is the fact that it can only absorb magic from certain distance. The distance of course is depended on how big the stone is and how much magic is put into the enchantment itself. “The AMF or anti-magic field around the stone often takes the shape an invisible sphere that encompasses it.” Discord said as the chalk he was hold flew out of his paw and onto the white-blackboard. Which then drew a perfect sphere around the throne. The bottom half of the sphere was underground. “In addition to reducing any and all spells into pure mana, it also sucks the mana from everything within it, from the ground, the plants and to the very air itself.” Discord continued to give the exposition as the black chalk continued to add more details. Drawings of plants dying, clouds evaporating and the ground becoming less fertile. Discord then cracked open a window from seemingly nowhere which led to the changeling hive. “As you can see, the absorption of magic from the surrounding area is doing wonders for the environment.” Starlight listened in to Discords lecture with rapt attention. She suddenly understood why Twilight would write down every little bit of information on parchment. She even had the urge to write everything down herself. Thorax was looking over the valley in realization and then regret. He had always wondered why plants such as grass and flowers wouldn’t grow anywhere near the hive. Trixie was having trouble paying attention. Of all the things she was expecting this adventure to turn out, getting lectured by the lord of Chaos was definitely not one of them. “Although it does throw a wrench into my little rescue mission, the Dark stone has plenty of weaknesses that I can exploit.” Discord said as he snapped his talons. The classroom disappeared and the group was now standing at the edge of the AMF. Discord, now no longer wearing any outfits walked up to the edge and spoke. “ The Dark stone is only capable of absorbing magic. Any spell you make would be reduced to pure mana before its can even do anything.” He demonstrated this by conjuring a cotton candy cloud and pushed it towards the edge and watched as it was reduced to pure mana. “However, if the spell was made by using something other than magic…” He picked up a nearby rock with his magic and turned it into chocolate milk and threw it into the field. Instead of turning into mana like the cloud from earlier, it continued to soar through the air until it hit the ground. “The AMF can’t absorb it!” said Starlight. She was glad to learn that they wouldn’t be completely useless against the changelings. Trixie on the other hoof was confused. “ Wait, how exactly is this supposed to help us defeat the changelings?” Starlight and Thorax looked toward Discord for answers. While this information was definitely something, they weren't really sure what to do with it. Discord just smirks at them as he snapped his claws together. He told himself the moment they told him that the changelings took Fluttershy that he would be taking this seriously. And he is about to take this very seriously. > Chrysalis is having a very bad day. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a good day for the changeling hive. And it was a good day for Chrysalis. After months and months worth of planning, scheming and preparing, she had finally succeeded in her quest for revenge. The ponies that had defeated and utterly humiliated her all those years ago in Canterlot were now in her mercy. Hanging from the ceiling, trapped in her slime pods, and unable to escape. The heroes of Equestria, as well as their rulers were reduced to nothing more than glorified food dispensers! And now that the country has been rid of their protectors, Canterlot will fall to the changelings, and Equestria will be hers for the taking! All those ponies, all that LOVE! It will all be hers to feed!! And that's not all. Now that the sun and moon were under her control, no other nation would dare try and stop her. She would have the entire world in a choke hold. And there was no one left to stop them Her! At that moment, while Chrysalis was sitting on her throne, enjoying her victory, the ground shook. 'RUMBLE' It all happened so fast. First, the entire hive shook and cracked as earthquakes ran through it. They were strong enough to cause alarm, and knock some changelings off their hooves. But not enough to cause serious damage to the hive. And yet, screams of terror sounded throughout the hive all the same. After a few moments, the rumbling quieted down while something new took its place. It felt as if the very hive was being lifted of the ground. At first, it was barely noticeable. And then it became very noticeable. Every changeling that was currently in the air was intercepted by the floor beneath them as the entire hive was lifted in the air. And then, just as suddenly as it began, the hive stopped moving. Chrysalis got to her hooves and looked at her surroundings. Most of the changeling guard were already on high alert while the weaker grunts were down on their side. She immediately went to barking orders to her subjects. 'Search the hive, help the injured, check the nursery'. Everything a leader should be doing during a crisis such as this. She was the queen after all. She had been for centuries. The hive has been through worst crisis. She had to have some level of competence to be able to make it this far. Though no amount of competence would prepare her for what happened next. "You're Highness"!! called out a voice. "Commander Pharynx, report!" answered Chrysalis. Pharynx was Chrysalis head off patrol. He looked like a typical grunt but with red frills and purple irises. When the crisis happened, she had assign Pharynx to search the outside the hive to asses the damage. And now he was back. And he seems to be a bit hesitant in speaking. "Well? On with it then! I don't have all day commander. Chrysalis said, a bit impatient. "You're Highness, its... well... You might want to see this for yourself." Pharynx finally answered. Chrysalis wasn't sure what she was seeing was real or not. She was currently flying outside of the hive, along with an army of changelings. A good chunk of them was made up of her guard, but most of them were just grunts that were curious and wanted to see what was going on. They didn't quiet know what to make of this. All they knew was that right there, just outside the border to their kingdom, was a dome. A dome that seemingly encompasses the entire hive. At first glance, it looked like it was some sort of magic barrier. But upon closer inspection, the barrier in question was actually made of glass. No, not glass. Glass was supposed to be hard yet fragile. This dome was more springy and stretchy. Plastic maybe? Who or what would have the power to trap an entire valley in an unbreakable plastic dome? Chrysalis didn't know, nor was she capable of even asking that question. Just beyond the dome, where there were once grass and forest, was replaced by the unmistakable view of cloudy skies. The hive, I as well as the entire valley was currently floating high in the sky. "H...How?" was the only response Chrysalis could muster. Who could have done this? Why had they done this? How did they do this!!? "This doesn't make any sense!" Chrysalis yelled in confusion. "Hahaha, makes sense? What fun is there in making sense?" asked and ominous voice. There was a flash of light that blinded them for a moment. After it subsided, Chrysalis and her changelings were greeted by the sight of some sort of chimeric creature. It had the head of a goat, serpentine body and tail, and limbs from all sorts of different creatures. It was also sitting on some sort of red and black throne. Chrysalis recognized the creature instantly. She had seen it back in Canterlot as a statue. Back when she was pretending to be Princess Cadance. "Discord! What is the meaning of this!?" she asked while motioning towards the dome. "Well what ever do you mean?" asked Discord nonchalantly as he lounged about in his throne. "This! This dome! The valley! All of it! Why!" Chrysalis asked angrily. "Isn't it obvious? This... is a rescue mission." Discord answered as if it was obvious. "A rescue mission?" Chrysalis asked in confusion. "Of course! What? Did you really think you could pony nap my friends without having to deal with me?" Chrysalis could only scowled at him. She knew he was friends with the ponies now, and that she would have to deal with him eventually. She just assumed he wouldn't be able to do anything to the due to the Dark stone. Unfortunately she was wrong. "How?" It was a simple question. One that he didn't have to answer. But she had to know. "How are you still able to use magic? The Dark stone should have been able to stop you!" "Oh I'll admit, while that pesky throne of yours is rather annoying, there are still plenty of loopholes I can exploit." Discord explains as grabs onto a piece of cloud. Using his chaos magic, he transforms the 'normal' piece of cloud into glass of chocolate milk. He then proceeded to drink the glass itself and then throw the now solid chocolate milk through the dome and past all the changelings, which then exploded when it made contact with the ground. Chrysalis could only stare at the crater that the explosion left behind. Not only did Discords magic still work this close to the throne, but they also had nothing else that could counter the draqonequus. Before she could come up with a plan, Discord continued while holding a microphone. "I'm only going to say this once so you all better listen carefully. Release my friends and whatever pony prisoners you have in there and I'll leave you all to your own devices. Fail to do so then I'll have to take matters into my own paws. So what it gonna be?" Discord said, his mismatched eyes glowing red. It should have been an easy choice, between keeping the prisoners and face the Lord of Chaos themselves, or release the prisoners and he backs off, leaving them to only deal the ponies when they launch a counter attack. Still, she refuses to back down. She had invested a lot of effort into getting revenge, and she was not about to let this Thing take that away from her. "I would rather die than surrender to the likes of you!" Chrysalis answered with venom in her voice. "Oh please, I'm not going to kill any of you, I'm simply going to make it so that you can't fight back." Discord said in annoyance. If there was one thing about his past that he was proud off its the fact that he would never stoop so low as to kill someone who couldn't fight back. At least in a way that matters. "I suppose the rest of you are with her on this?" He asked the rest of the changelings. Most if not all were more than a little afraid of what the draqonequus was capable of. But they were all loyal to their queen, so if she says she would rather fight, they would fight along side her. "Well, suit yourselves." Discord said as he snapped the digits on his lion paw. The changelings never stood a chance. Starlight was at a lost for words. Right in front of her, where there was once a changeling hive was now replaced by a gigantic hole in the ground. Not a crater, but a hole. It was about as wide as the entire valley. She couldn't tell how deep it was, mostly because she couldn't see the bottom. Right above the hole, up high in the sky was some sort of sphere. The bottom half of the sphere was made entirely out of dirt, while upper half was made up what she could only guess was glass. Right above the dome was an entire storms worth of pink clouds. They had originally been normal storm clouds from the surrounding area but Discord had used his chaos magic to round them all up and turn them into his signature cotton candy clouds. Which then proceeded to rain chocolate milk through the dome and all over the floating valley. As if that wasn't pushing it, all around her, rocks, trees, dirt and basically anything within the surrounding area were lifted off the ground and turned into pastries (cupcakes, ice cream, cookies, you name it) which were then thrown right through the dome and at the hive. Starlight knew what Discord was capable of, (Twilight and her friends have told her as much) but she wasn't expecting him to do any of this! The trio looked on at the scene with horrified expressions. All of them for different reasons. Starlight was acutely aware that her mentor, her friends and the princesses were still trapped in there. But all she could do was stand there and have faith that Discord knew how to be careful. Thorax was starting to get worried. He may have been a traitor to the hive, but he was still born and raised here. He had at least some attachment to this place. There even times during his exile that he actually missed this place. And now here he was, standing around uselessly as the Lord of Chaos has a food fight with his childhood home. Trixie wasn't fairing much better. When she had first met Discord, she found him rather annoying. First he shows up out of nowhere and inserts himself into the group. Proceeds to treat the entire situation like a game (until Fluttershy got involved). And then he had the bright idea to teleport them here without so much as a plan! But now... now she was looking at the draqonequus in new light. All that confidence and arrogants was made whole lot more sense. Why would Discord ever need to worry about anything when he could just all do this. She was also made aware of how she treated Discord before this and realizes that she should probably watch what she says around him from now on. Discord was starting to get bored. After all this time holding back his chaos against the ponies, he finally gets a chance to let loose and spread chaos and disharmony all while still being one of the good guys. It was even a bit of a challenge this time around since he couldn't use his chaos magic directly, forcing him to use his surroundings as a means to spread chaos. And yet here he was, slouching on his throne while throwing random food stuff at the changelings. Or at least the ones that were still outside. After five minute of being constantly pelted by pastries and vegetables (he added those in just for the heck of it) and the that they couldn't attack him anyway due to the dome, Chrysalis order her changelings to retreat into the hive. Discord tried to stop them of course but without any way to cross over the AMF, all he could do was try and trap them in more sticky foods to try and detain them. Alas, it was all for naught. Most of the changelings including Chrysalis had manage to escape to the hive. He could probably break through the wall if he threw something a bit harder, but decided against it in fear he might accidently hurt his friends. Speaking of his friends, he should probably go and save them already. They were probably as bored as he was right about now. And so he grabbed a piece of his cloud and started to use his chaos magic to mold it into a bag filled with very familiar seeds. Plunder seeds. A special kind of root with a mind of its own that not only do they not need magic to function, but would also heed the every command of their creator. Himself. "Go forth my precious seeds, capture every changeling you can find. And while you're at it please do me a favor and destroy that pesky rock throne for me." he whispered to the seeds before throwing them at the foot of the hive. The plunder seeds then proceeded to bury themselves underground as they start to enact their fathers orders. They didn't need to be controlled when he was turned to stone, and they certainly didn't need guidance now. > The Plunderseeds heed the call of the Chaos Lord. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "After that I simply let my plundervines do all the saving while I sat back waited for the moment the throne stopped working. And when it did..." Discord gestured towards his surroundings after he finished catching everyone up to speed. Among them were of course the princesses, the main 6, Spike, Sunburst, Shining Armor, and team side characters. They were all standing in what used to be the throne room of the changeling hive. Key word 'used to'. What used to be a wide yet dark chamber in the middle of an equally dark an dreary bug hive was now replaced by an open field made out of a black and white checkerboard. The ever changing walls had been completely torn down in favor of more space for Discord's chaos. Speaking of chaos, there was a whole lot of it going on around them. Floating mountains, upside down chocolate milk falls, flying fish, etc. However, the most eye caching thing among the chaos was undoubtedly the huge translucent plunderseed pods that each contained over a dozen changelings. All of them had long since given up trying to escape, and were now sporting looks of fear. And right in the middle of the room, where chrysalis throne once was, sat the Lord of Chaos himself. Up upon a very familiar black and red throne, he sat idly by while overlooking the symphony of chaos he had created. Right next to his Throne was a small jar on a pedestal that contained a certain changeling queen, who was currently glaring at the draqonequus as if to try and blow up his head with her gaze. It didn't work. The moment the darkstone throne was destroyed by the plundervines, there was nothing stopping Discord from using his magic on the changelings directly. But instead of using his original plan and simply snapping his talons, he decided to take his time and spread the magic of chaos just like the good old days. He lasted exactly 2 minutes before succumbing to boredom and decided to get on with it. He had a Fluttershy to save after all! Also, just as stated in the last chapter, it just wasn't fun anymore. After the hostages were freed, they were understandably confused about what was going on, and after seeing the surrounding chaos, most of them ( minus Fluttershy, Luna and Flurry Heart ) thought that Discord had decided to go back to his chaotic ways. Slightly offended by the assumption, Discord snapped his talons and gave them all a flashback of his daring rescue mission. To an outsider, it probably looked like the ponies where just staring ahead with glowing eyes while mumbling. While they were in the middle of that, he decided to put the valley back on the ground, since team side characters couldn't get to them while in the air. When they finally got there, he decided to give them the same treatment as everypony else, if only to save him the headache of explaining himself. Blinking the last of the flashback out of their, Twilight and her friends took a moment to process what they had just saw. Discord had saved them from the changelings, which also led to him saving Equestria. But more importantly, Discord had saved the day. Rainbow Dash was the first to break the silence. "That was awesome!! Way to finally pull your own weight Discord. N-no offence." She said in a proud tone. "Yeah! You really showed those changelings whose boss." Said Pinkie, while drinking from a nearby cotton candy cloud. "Discord, on behalf of Equestria, we would like to thank you for your efforts in defeating the changelings and rescuing us from their clutches." "Truly. Who knows what could have happened if you hadn't stepped in. And for that, you have our gratitude." Celestia and Luna said before giving a polite nod. "Oh, it was no big deal. After all, somepony had to save you sorry lot, if not me then who else? Them?" said Discord before gesturing to team side characters. "Gee, thanks for believing in us Discord." said Starlight rather dryly while everypony else snickered. "So now that that's all over, "Applejack began before gesturing at the changelings. "What in tarnation are we suppose to do with them?" "well, we can't just leave them like this." said Twilight, while looking at the state of the changeling hive. "I suppose we could put them all in Tartarus, at least for a while." suggested Luna. "Pardon me princess, but doesn't that seem a bit much? And on that note, could Tartarus even fit them all?" asked Rarity. "While it may seem a bit, shall we say 'overkill', Tartarus is pretty much the only place we have that can accommodate this large number of prisoners. That is unless the spirit of chaos could do something about it?" Luna replied before looking at Discord expectantly. "Oh, ill do you one better. How about instead of locking away our problems out of sight and out of mind, you all could put in the effort and try to reform them?" suggested Discord while idly checking his talons. "You want us to reform an entire hives worth of changelings?" asked Spike. "What, don't think they deserve a second chance?" asked Discord in mock incredulity. "I didn't say it was a bad idea, I'm just pointing out how many changelings there are and how hard its going to be to reform them all." Spike tried to defend himself. "Oh, well that sounds like something you should all try and figure out. Preferably without my help." Discord said as he proceeded to pack up his throne in a suitcase. "Wait, you're not gonna stay and help us?" Twilight said, a hint of panic entering her words. "I have helped. I helped a lot in fact. If I were to help you do everything, how would you learn anything?" Discord said as he continued to pack little bits of chaos into his suitcase, including the cotton candy cloud Pinkie was eating despite her protest. "Fluttershy, aren't you gonna try and stop him." Twilight said as she looked to Fluttershy for help. Fluttershy looked back at her and shrugged. "I'm sorry Twilight, but Discord has a point. He's already helped us enough. Now its our turn to deal with the changelings." Twilight could only sigh. Fluttershy had a point. Discord had basically save their lives and the rest of Equestria out of his own volition. Asking him to do anything more would be quite selfish on her part. But as she turned towards the changelings, a question popped into her head. "Could you at least tell us how to deal with the plundervines?" "Oh, don't worry about those. I made it so that they will listen to all your instructions. Just ask them nicely and they'll follow your every command." Discord reassured her. "Really? That's very thoughtful of you." Twilight complemented him sincerely. "Well I try. By the way, Fluttershy are we still on for tea later?" Discord turned to Fluttershy and asked. "Um, I think were going to have to reschedule. I'm not sure how long this is going to take." "Fair enough, I suppose." Discord said as he finally finished packing. He turned towards the rest of the group and continued. "Well, its been fun but I really should get going before something else pops up and forces me to do something about it. That's it, I'm out of here!" He said before dressing up as a certain blue hedgehog, wags his talon at the group and then jumps of the edge of this page. After Discord left, there was a short moment of silence before Rainbow Dash decided to ask the question that was on everyponies mind. "Sooo... how are we supposed to reform the changelings again?" Luckily, Starlight Glimmer had an answer. "I think I might have an idea. Thorax, remember what you said about not being hungry anymore?"