Discord Rules

Chapter 7

Twister!

Several days passed, and Harmonia grew tired of the endless plains before her. The grasslands were certainly varied, and if one grew used to the strange colors, they would never be bored. However, after weeks of travel, the chaos became boring to Harmonia. It was as if… as if it were natural for them.

Crossing over a large, undulating hill, Harmonia spotted a single oasis of stability. It was a town, albeit one with strangely shaped buildings, but a town nonetheless. There were several pony-shaped silhouettes wandering throughout the town, and Harmonia’s eyes were drawn to them. There was something… off about the outlines. As if… as if they weren’t even really ponies.

Despite these ominous-sounding thoughts, Harmonia continued to approach the town. One figure seemed to notice her, and it waved. She waved back.

A few other figures gathered around the first. It wasn’t nearly as large as the last town’s mob, not even close. As Harmonia got closer, their shapes became more defined, and Harmonia stopped in surprise.

One of them was a bluish mare with a fifth leg, two horns, and a single wing. Another was made up of three colors, purple, red, and green, was androgynous, and had a mane made out of fire. The last one was a black and red alicorn stallion, with a glowing, rainbow cutie mark that seemed to be an explosion and a mane and wings made up of what seemed to be steel. He stood slightly apart from the others.

The pony with the wrong amount of limbs approached Harmonia first. She spoke, “How are you? We welcome you to Twister, home to the mutants and rejects of pony, changeling, and gryphon societies. I am Vestigial Limb, and I’m the doctor here. I see to new arrivals, make sure that their mutation isn’t causing any problems. Would you like me to examine you?”

Harmonia simply stared, not comprehending for a moment. After a second, she registered what Vestigial had said, and replied with a negative.

“No? Well, I hope that’s because you don’t have any problems, and not because you are too shy! Remember, I’m friendly, and these extra limbs aren’t going to hurt you at all! Anyway, this is Various Chlorides, whose name I’m not too sure about,” she gestured to the androgynous pony with the burning mane, “and Author’s Downfall!” she pointed at the other alicorn. She then leaned in to whisper into Harmonia’s ear, “He says that he isn’t a writer, but I know better than to be fooled by that. Names never lie!”

Various Chlorides simply stared emotionlessly in Harmonia’s general direction, not giving away if they have even noticed her. Author’s Downfall glared at Vestigial, apparently able to hear a whisper from a larger distance than most ponies.

“And so that’s introductions! Now, why don’t you tell us about yourself? You can start with your name, previous appearance, relationship to Discord, new powers, old powers, family, friends, previous address, previous identity, previous occupation, and previous knowledge of history!” Vestigial listed all of that without taking a breath. She then pulled out a clipboard, and pencil and began scribbling things down.

“Uh… our, er, my name is Harmonia. I previously used to be six ponies, but we were fused together by Discord. Um… as far as I can tell, we, uh, I have the same abilities as other alicorns, like Celestia and Luna. Uh…” Harmonia began before being quickly cut off by Vestigial.

“No, no, no! Why!? Why is this happening!? You can’t be a creation of Discord! You simply can’t! You aren’t chaotic enough!” She cried.

Harmonia just sighed and said, “If he is chaos, then why would everything he does be absolutely chaotic? His biggest trait is his unpredictability, meaning that if there are standards for his chaos, then he would be betraying himself. Meaning, chaos has no standards, and therefore, you cannot judge me based on standards that you imposed on a system that you have no understanding of.” As soon as she realized what she said, Harmonia clamped a hoof over her mouth. What had she just said?

Vestigial and Author simply gaped at her, Author too surprised to keep himself looking irritated. Various didn’t react at all, making Harmonia wonder if he was even paying attention.

Vestigial pulled herself together quickly, turning to Various and saying, “Well, that was unexpected. But, is she authorized access?”

Various’s expression didn’t alter, but he said, “Authorization for entering location designated: “Twister” granted,” he turned to Harmonia, his movements slightly jerky, “You are now permitted inside the town. However, you will be observed for the next three days, or until you leave. You will be observed by Author’s Downfall. Please comply, or we will use force.”

Vestigial awkwardly grinned at Harmonia, “Well, these days everything is dangerous. We can’t just trust you right off the bat, you understand. We need to make sure you’re safe to let into town.”

Author’s Downfall finally pulled himself together and nodded once. He folded his metallic wings around himself, before disappearing in a flash of light, and reappearing on a nearby rooftop. He then closed his eyes, and turned invisible.

Harmonia had wry grin, “You know, I wasn’t even going to go inside the town, right? I was just passing by, when you stopped me. Look, I was even heading straight past the town,” she pointed in the direction that she had been heading in. It passed by the town without entering it. It didn’t even come close to the town. “I’m really heading for something much, much farther ahead.”

Vestigial just stopped in shock. Her head turned toward Harmonia, “Y-you didn’t want to go in? Then… what? How? Since when does a mutant not want to stay here!?” She just clapped her hooves over her eyes and laid on the ground.

“Well, I’ll be off, then!” Harmonia cheerfully cried, before walking away with a smirk on her face. Then she slapped herself. She was causing chaos. That was the opposite of what she was supposed to be doing.

But, if chaos really is the enemy, then why does it feel so right?

“Oh, come on!”

Ahead of Harmonia lay the Shattered Jungle. Above it, stone clouds zoomed around, knocking everything out of the sky. She had been planning on flying over most of the jungle, but her plans were apparently canceled.

She looked around. The jungle really was as big as the old pony had made it out to be. It stretched from horizon to horizon, with no apparent end in sight. The plants that stood near the edge of the treeline seemed to be normal plants, but as you went farther in, they became weirder and weirder.

So, Harmonia needed to pass through a massive jungle, with some sort of ancient guardian inside, and somehow make it to the other side without dying. Oh, and she needed to do it as fast as possible, so as to minimize damage to the rest of the world.

Well, just another day in the life of a newborn alicorn, now isn’t it?

“Hmm… she is entering the jungle. Just as I planned,” Discord the Puppetmaster, otherwise known as the True Chaos, muttered under his breath. He looked down at the vines running through the jungle. They varied through the entire spectrum of colors, and came in every thickness. However, there was one constant. A thick, purplish vine that wrapped around trees and large, sleeping animals.

The True Chaos put one claw on the vine. It began to wrap itself around him. He quickly quelled its desire to devour him, and focused on the vine.

The vine unwrapped itself from several nearby trees and animals, shrinking into the jungle. The True Chaos admired his handiwork for a moment, before disappearing and leaving the jungle entirely.

Author's Note

Well, sorry this one took so long. But you know, Christmas and all that crap. Anyway, the True Chaos is doing something that is totally evil and everything.

So, yeah. I just realized that the plot of this story (and its possible sequel) are both written in a way that could be rewritten quite easily as a video game, with bosses and stuff.

So, did you guys get what you wanted for Christmas?