Discord's Apprenticeby JP JacksonChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 1Draw focus from confusion, courage from fear, and energy from apathy. Eris remembered these lessons well as she stalked her prey. A small rabbit, one grown just out of bunnyhood. She focused her magic to it and pounced! The bolt of energy hit the rabbit before it even knew she was there! it screeched in terror as a fifth leg sprouted from it’s chest. It flopped onto it’s back, unable to move with the weight of the hoofed leg sprouting from it’s stomach. Eris rolled on the ground laughing hysterically watching as the creature struggled. “Hmm, not bad,” A voice said from behind her. She turned smiling with recognition at the pointed face of her master. “Evening, Mr. Discord,” she said smiling as the Draconequus slithered into full view. He looked pleased, which was fortunate, usually when he came to visit her in her little hideaway in the Everfree Forest his face was contorted with frustration. ‘Those blasted ponies and their friendship!’ He would say referring to the current Guardians of the Elements. ‘Every day I have to deal with those nincompoops!’ For hours he would rant about past transgressions and new ones. But today his horse like face was marked by a smile. “You have far exceeded my expectations in your studies,” he said, examining the struggling rodent. Eris beamed with pride. Prase of any kind was rare from her master. And more often than not it was backhanded or sarcastic. “But you still lack a major factor in your spell casting!” “What’s that, Sir?” She asked, eager to please her teacher. Then pointing his finger at the struggling rabbit he said: “Creativity.” The middle leg sprouted wings, it’s ears began flapping wildly carrying it up. As it flew up into the sky it’s cries of fear turned into a harsh donkey's bray. Eris collapsed to the ground, whooping with laughter, watching as the rabbit soared high into the sky. “Remember,” her master intoned “Causing others pain is perfectly fine, so long as you gain joy out of it.” “A great truth indeed, Sir!” Eris coughed between laughing hiccups. After her giggling fit had subsided she turned to her master. “What has you in such a good mood?” He grinned wider, showing uneven bizarrely angled teeth. “Those foolish ponies have surrendered their Elements!” “They’ve put them back in the Tree!?” Eris was ecstatic! If what her master was telling her was true, this could mean that he would finally be able to begin his conquest of Equestria! “Indeed they have.” He said with his wonderfully menacing grin. Eris bounced around Discord, she was so happy she felt like singing! “OH! I can’t wait,” she sang jumping with excitement. “I’m going to wreak so much havoc!” “Well I’m afraid that will have to wait.” Eris froze mid jump and floated in the air for several seconds before collapsing to the ground in a dejected heap. “What! Why?” “Because, even with the Elements gone that Twilight Sparkle is a powerful foe, she’s potentially stronger than Princess Celestia and Luna combined!” “WOW! That’s like, four times as strong as you!” Said Eris. Discord glared at the little brown unicorn and turned away. “Don’t worry though, you’ll have your chance to wreak chaos and destruction soon,” he said returning to his grinning self. Eris groaned. She disliked very few things, popcorn, rabbits and the color puce were some minor irritants of her’s, but one thing she could never stand; was waiting! “But, while rampant destruction will have to wait, you will not.” he continued. Eris looked up at her master excitedly. “What do you mean?” She asked her eyes widening with excitement. Discord smiled wickedly looking down at his young pupil. “You will go on ahead of me, to Ponyville, you will scout out Twilight Sparkle and tell me what her weaknesses are.” Eris gasped with excitement, to be trusted by her master with such an important mission! “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” She bounced around Discord but was promptly stopped by the master of chaos by a levitating taloned hand. “Now you listen here,” he said, his levitating limb moving independently from the rest of his body waging a single clawed finger. “As we already know, Twilight Sparkle is incredibly powerful, more powerful than a runt like you will ever be, but you are more clever! If I've trained you right anyway. You must trick Sparkle into believing that you are one of her ‘Friends’ that way you will be able to find the weak point in her armor, then we may exploit it!” Eris Saluted. “You can count on me Sir!” she said, puffing out her chest. “I won’t let you down!” “See that you don’t,” he replied. *** Eris slunk into the town under the cloak of night. Pulling the cloak tighter around her, she snuck into the shadow of a building. Looking around the corner she could see several of the vermin milling about in the town square. “Disgusting…” she moaned her horn glowing with a dark purple light. “They’re so drenched in Friendship that my magic won’t even work!” This mission would be much more difficult if she couldn’t use her Chaos Magic and had to be limited to natural unicorn spell-craft. She pulled of the cloak abandoning it’s invisibility magic. And began to sneak around the side of the building. “Why are we sneaking?” A voice hissed into her ear. Eris jumped straight up into the air and landed flat on her flank, her head spinning wildly to try and identify where the voice had come from. The voice let out a snorting laugh. “What’d you go and do that for?” Eris turned behind her to face her assailant, a pink mare with a pink mane the shape (and, Eris assumed, the consistency) of cotton candy. Just as Master Discord had described! “The Guardian of Laughter!” “Guardian?” The mare asked letting out a snorting laugh. “I’m not a guard! I'm a baker, my name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?” “Um…” Eris was unsure about whether she could trust the mare. She was one of the Guardians after all wielder of one of the most powerful arcane artifacts in Equestria! Although, if what Discord had told her about the six was true, this one would be the easiest to fool into trusting her. “Eris,” she said finally offering her hoof to Pinkie as discord has instructed her to. “Nice to-.” Her sentence was cut off as Pinkie dashed in and began squeezing her violently. What was this? Had she found out? Did she know? “UNHAND ME!” she shouted, trying to summon any whisper of her magic to fight against the assault, but to no avail. “What’s the matter?” Pinkie asked loosening her grip. “You never been hugged before?” A hug? Was that what it was called? She had heard about hugs from Discord, one of those nasty things Friends do! being constricted to the point of near suffocation! How in Equestria could anyone find this enjoyable? Eventually the ordeal was ended and Pinkie let go of her. “So,” the pink mare began. “Are you just passing through or are you staying?” “I’ll probably be staying for a while. Anywhup-!” Eris was cut of as Pinkie assaulted her with another hug! “HEEHEE! That’s awesome! I can’t wait to get to know you!” Pinkie let go of her and Eris immediately gasped for air, if this is what she had to deal with for just one of the Guardians, how on earth would she survive all six?! Pinkie began bouncing away. “Come on!” she said excitedly. “I’ll show you around the town!” “Oh no…” *** Several hours later Eris dragged herself across the ground and collapsed. She couldn’t take it anymore! The post office, the town hall, the church, even the damn wishing well! Pinkie had indeed given her a thorough tour of the town. “This pony,” she moaned. “How does she have so much energy?” As she spoke Pinkie bounced up behind her, still as energetic as she had been when she first assaulted her in the alley. “AH! Perfect!” She said Ignoring the collapsed Eris and looking up at the building in front of them. Eris followed her gaze up to the bizarre construction that sat in front of them. They were standing in front of a colorful building decorated to look like a giant cake. It even had a roof made to look like gingerbread. “This,” Pinkie began proudly, puffing out her chest and stepping in front of the building. “Is Sugar Cube Corner! The life blood of our little town!” Eris pushed herself up and turned to Pinkie. “Thank you for the tour, but I should probably find a place to stay.” “Well you can stay right here with me!” Pinkie squealed. “NO!” Eris shouted startling the little pink horse. “I-I mean,” she blustered, damn it! You have to make them consider you a friend! be… uhg… nice. “You don’t have to do that.” She said, putting on a forced smile. She had barely survived the morning with this pony, how on earth could she survive however many months it took to make friends of all the Guardians! Pinkie took her by the hoof and dragged her inside the bakery. “It’s no trouble at all!” she said happily, “I’m always willing to help out a friend!” “A Friend?” Could it be! Had this stupid little pony already let down her guard and accepted her as a person she could trust? If the others were half as easy as this one she could be out of her by the end of the week! As Eris was thinking this Pinkie burst through the doors with a hearty. “Were heeeeeeeeeeeeerreeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Eris examined the room, it was set up in a bizarre fashion. The tables were covered with fancy cloth and large colorful inflated orbs hung around the room on strings. Eris had never seen such a sight in all her life! Was this some kind of chaos magic? “You could be a little more excited!” Said Pinkie “We threw this party just for you! It doesn’t look like anyone’s here yet though.” A party? Yes, another one of those thing Friends do she remembered. As she was examining one of the inflated sacks several other ponies walked into the room. “Quite the short notice, Pinkie,” said a pegasus with a rainbow mane. “Yeah, what’s this here emergency you were tellin’ us ‘bout?” Questioned an earth pony sporting a cowcolt hat. “It is the biggest most exciting thing ever!” Pinkie shoved Eris so that she was in full view of the five mares. “This is Eris, she’s new in town so I thought we should throw her a party!” “What a great idea!” “Let’s get partying!” The party lasted well into the evening and it was a long time after that that everyone went home. Pinkie introduced Eris to all of the guest, Rainbow Dash, the local weather pony. Apple Jack, a farm mare who worked on the local apple farm. Fluttershy, a shy quiet mare who cared for the local animals. Rarity, a fashion designer who owns a local shop, and… “Twilight Sparkle,” Eris looked at the young Alicorn. With docile eyes, a gentle voice and bookish manner she didn't look very powerful. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She said smiling. Eris wasn’t sure how to respond. How could she convince her that she was nice, to trick her into thinking she was friendly? Then she remembered. She reached forward, front legs stiff and attempted to hug her immortal enemy. If Master Discord could see her now… She broke from the hug and stepped back. Twilight it appeared had an expression mix of shock a repressed laughter. “Um, thank you, I guess.” Eris flushed with repressed rage and embarrassment. Quickly Twilight changed the subject sparing Eris. “Are you going to be here long?” she asked. “As long as it takes.” She replied. “As long as what takes?” Twilight asked. BY THE OLD ONES! Eris drove her hoof into her face in frustration. She had to learn to be more subtle! “Umm…” she trailed off, what in Equestria was she thinking! If Sparkle learned of her true intention it would risk everything Master Discord had worked for! “Until my studies are done.” She finally said “OH! Are you studying magic?” Twilight asked excitedly. “Yes actually,” she said wiping a droplet of sweat from her muzzle. “Bramerian or Star-Swirlian?” The two of them continued to talk about magic for a long time. Each presenting their own opinions and theories. Eris trying desperately to hide the fact that she was a chaos magic user. She could tell from the way she spoke about the subject that Sparkle was very well versed in magical lore and literature. Twilight in turn was impressed of what seemed to be Eris’ ‘unique’ views on magic. “Do you have a place to stay?” Twilight asked, breaking the conversation. “Well Pinkie was going to let me sleep here... but…” Twilight let out a little laugh. “She can be exhausting can’t she?” The two mares shared a laugh then Twilight turned to Eris. “You can stay with me if you’d prefer.” YES this is perfect! Living with Twilight would give her ample opportunity to study her. She would be able to watch her constantly! Even when the foal Alicorn was sleeping! She looked at the little purple Alicorn, oh the naive expression on her face! “I would enjoy that.” She said smiling. Author's Note Hello every one, this story is a bit different then what I usually write. I hope you like it. I will probably not be posting the next chapter for SOME TIME because I still need to write the outline for the rest of the story. Also if you are or know anyone who would be willing to make a art piece for this story I would greatly appreciate that! WRITER AWAY! Chapter 2“It’ll take me a few moments to set up the bedroom,” Twilight said to Eris when they entered her little Library/Treehouse home. “Feel free to make yourself at home while I’m upstairs though.” Eris examined the front room of the meticulously organized library carefully, making sure that there were no hidden magical traps or spells scattered throughout the house. Behind the books, on the shelves, under the table, in the closet, even in the sink. But in the end she found nothing that she considered dangerous, nothing except that damn owl. The feathered beast had bitten her at least twice while she was searching the house as if Sparkle had trained the avian monstrosity to attack anyone who dared snoop around her house. She glared at him channeling her rage through her focused gaze, imagining the owl bursting into flames. But sadly no hellfire engulfed the bulbous bodied bird, he merely continued to preen his feathers. “Stupid beast,” Eris hissed at him through clenched teeth. “I’ll make sure Master Discord makes your punishment extra painful!” “Hoo?” the owl cooed, making Eris jump, she didn't’ know that the beast was smart enough to speak. “My great master, Discord? Haven't you heard of him?” “Hoo?” “The Lord of Chaos? Last of the magnificent Draconequus race?” “Hoo?” “This is going to take a while isn’t it?” Eris said sighing. “I see you're making friends,” Twilight’s voice called from behind her. Eris turned to see the Alicorn descending from the bedroom back into the library. “Friends? … Why yes!” Eris said, putting on her now well practiced smile. “I was just conversing with your… wonderful pet… what is his name?” “Owlowiscious!” The Alicorn said grinning. Eris glared back at the owl. “A stupid name to match a stupid mind,” she hissed at the feathered fiend. But luckily neither the owl nor Twilight seemed to hear. Eris followed Twilight up the steps into her bedroom, letting out a bit of magic she made sure that there was no hidden enchantment on the stairs to spring a trap. But just like the rest of the house, she found nothing. Eris sighed, she was honestly disappointed in her quarry, she had searched the entire house and found not a single sidgle, seal or sign protecting it. “What is it in this little Alicorn that Master Discord fears?” She asked herself, shaking her head as she followed the purple mare up the short staircase. She and Twilight soon reached the top of the steps and Twilight gestured to the far end of the room where two beds had been neatly laid out. “You can take the bed on the right,” she said. Eris walked over and examined the strange contraption. So this was a bed, she thought. A bed was one of the (many) luxuries that Discord had forbade her for the purposes of her training, but she supposed it would be acceptable if she used it for the goal of her mission, so long as she didn’t give was to the pampered lifestyle of the other ponies. She turned to her host, giving her a now genuine smile. “Thank you,” she said through. “It’s wonderful.” Suddenly Twilight dashed over and smothered Eris in a firm grip. “AGAIN WITH THE HUGGING!” Eris screeched, all semblance of control lost. But Twilight ignored her cry of distress and continued in her attempted asphyxiation of the unicorn. “Hee! Sorry! But it’s exciting having someone over! Most nights it’s just Spike and me.” “Spike?” Eris inquired, slipping loose from Twilight’s vise like hug. “He’s a baby dragon,” Twilight said simply “We’ve been together since we were both little!” A DRAGON!? No wonder Twilight didn’t have any protections around her house, a dragon she knew, even a baby one, would be an incredible obstacle to overcome. Below them a door opened and a voiced called out. “Hello?” it asked. “Anyone home?” Twilight brightened and slipped past Eris and skipped down the stairs. “There he is now,” she said cheerily. Eris froze where she stood. This was bad, this was very, very bad! From her years of study she knew that as a dragon’s hoard grew, so did it’s power and age, eventually leading to the glorious dramatic irony of killing itself with greed by dying of old age once it achieved a big enough hoard. She was sure that this dragon must possess at least a few hundred TONS of gold and gems, as it was the guardian of an Alicorn princess. Cautiously Eris proceeded down the staircase back into the main room of the library. She look cautiously around the moonlit hall Twilight stood at the front door blocking Eris’ view of the doubtlessly monstrous creature awaiting them outside. Twilight turned to look at Eris and beckoned her with her front hoof. “Eris, come meet Spike,” she said to the cowering Chaos Mage. Slowly Eris plodded forward toward her doom. she was sure that with her Chaos magic she could easily defeat a dragon. But with Sparkle right there and her magic weakened by the abominable taint of Harmony that lingered over this town she wondered if she would be able to draw up enough power to do the deed! As she reached the door she clamped her eyes shut and gulped then looked up at… the empty night sky. “Wh-where is-.” “Uh, down here maybe?” a small voice asked from below her gaze. Eris glanced down from her vantage point. her dark purple eyes met the two bright green ones of a small purple and green dragon. He was not a village destroying monster. Hells! She doubted the scamp could destroy a bag of cookies! he was about the size of a newborn foal and stood on his back claws leaving the front ones to cross angrily across his skinny chest. The brat hadn’t even grown wings yet! Eris scoffed, discussed with herself that she could have ever feared something so insignificant! “Eris, this is spike, my personal assistant!” Twilight said to the fuming Eris. Eris stared down at the little scaled purple anthropomorphic iguana, who stared back up at her, confusion and mistrust, written plainly on his pointed little face. “Charmed…” she said, and turned to return into the house. Twilight and Spike entered the library behind her. “Um, Spike this is Eris, she’s going to be staying with us for a while.” “Oh, is she?” The infant dragon asked. “Eris, I just thought,” Twilight began. “I never asked what town you’re from!” Eris stopped in her tracks, halfway up the stairs. “Um, I’m from…” Eris glanced around the room looking for something to help her. She had never been good at lying, that had been one thing that discord did not tolerate from his students. She searched the room hoping for anything that would help her. “I’m from Lampshade,” she said finally. “Lamp...shade?” Twilight's expression showed that she didn’t believe her for a minute, but Eris stood firm, she was in too deep to back out now. “Yes, it’s a town far away, on the other side of the forest.” “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of it,” Twilight said, her disbelief replaced by a pensive expression. “Can’t say I believe it exists,” Spike interjected. Eris began to back slowly up the stairs. “Yes well, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, but golly! All this celebration has made me plum tuckered out and I think I’ll run to my bed now. Gute nacht!” With that she sped up the last few steps and stormed into the bedroom painting. LAMPSHADE?! That was the best name she could come up with? Eris pounded her head angrily against the wall. Eventually her horn chipped a chunk of the wall of and caused it to tumble down towards the steps! Eris cursed and dashed forward to snatch the splinter up just before it reached the top step. “I don’t like her Twilight.” spikes voice wove up the stairs and into Eris’ ear. She stopped and moved in closer to listen. This should be interesting, one of the tenants of Chaos was: ‘An honest opinion is only given when the subject is nowhere to be seen’ this would be an opportune moment to study what sort of impression she had made on Twilight Sparkle. Her ears perked as the Alicorn began to speak. “I admit, Eris is a little… strange. But as a princess I feel that it’s my duty to help her out, she’s not from around her so I’m sure she’s scared.” “Yeah, I bet they do things differently than us over in Lampshade.” “Eris will tell us the truth when she’s ready, until then we treat her as our guest! Do you understand?” “uhg… yes.” Eris smirked and stepped away from her perch at the top of the stairs. It appeared her trickery had be sufficient enough to persuade Sparkle that she would do the Princess no harm. How wrong she was! Author's Note some things that went through my head wile writing: "should i capitalize Alicorn?" "I need to stop using 'said' so much" "Buck, what's a better word for 'walked'?" "BUCK! That was all misspelled?" "Buck..." Why does writing have to be so hard?! T_T Chapter 3As Eris slept, she dreamt. She wandered alone in the forest. She was cold and hungry, she had killed a squirrel in order to get at its meager store of nuts. But that had been hours ago, her stomach growled impatiently at her. She cursed her parents for abandoning her when she was a filly. She knew neither why they did or how long she had lived in the forest but she knew that if she ever found them again she would waste no time in inflicting ten times the pain on them she had suffered through while in the forest. Her ears perked up as she heard shuffling footsteps up ahead. She slunk forward in the underbrush keeping to the shadows until she knew what creature she was up against. Reaching the edge of the foliage, she sat and listened. The stepping noise was strange one step made the sound of a claw against wood, making Eris believe it was a cockatrice, but another sound lead her to believe it was a pawed creature, like a manticore. Cautiously the unicorn stuck her head out between the bushes, the light glinted in her dark purple eyes and she blinked furiously trying to regain her vision. When it returned to her, she could not believe what she saw. A long snakelike body, with feet of both a bird and a lion. It’s arms were the same, one taloned and the other, a paw. It’s head was like a goat’s and it had the horns of a gazelle and a deer. It stroked a tiny goat beard as it passed around the clearing mumbling to itself. But it was the eyes that fascinated Eris the most. They were golden discs with small red pupils, they had both a madness and a beauty about them that Eris could not explain in any words she knew. Granted, the few words she did know where from the constantly swearing woods stallions that she would steal food from. She inched closer to the strange beast. Hoping to catch a whisper of what it was saying. “Quite the pickle you’ve gotten yourself into Discord, yes quite the pickle,” the creature’s voice was high and nasal, with a tone that sounded as if he was used to being obeyed. “Yes you're free from that abysmal stone prison but what’s the fun in that if you can't do anything with this? Not allowed to use magic for ‘Evil?’ I’m not Evil, they're all just boring!” A bed appeared in the middle of the clearing and the creature collapsed onto it dramatically, sighing. “This is going to be a very dull Reign of Chaos…” Eris moved closer to see if she could get a better look at the strange convoluted creature, she stepped up onto a small mossy log when suddenly, CRACK! The log broke under her with a ear splitting snap and she tumbled into the clearing in full view of the beast. “Well, well, what do we have here?” The creature said slithering off the bed and getting closer to the terrified young unicorn. She hissed at him and snapped viciously at his encroaching paw. “Now, now, no need to be rude,” the creature said. He then snapped his fingers and Eris’ mouth was sealed shut with a zipper. She struggled, pulling at the zipper but to no avail. “What’s a little creature like you doing this deep in the Everfree forest hmmm?” The beast began pacing around Eris, chuckling menacingly to himself as he watched her struggle with the magic zipper. “Are you a little spy Celestia has sent to watch me? Well?” He snapped his taloned hand again and the zipper unzipped and disappeared Eris looked around wildly wondering where it had gone. “Now then, answer my question.” Eris growled at the creature, the fur on the back of her neck pricking up. The beast sighed and covered his face with his paw. “I see now, you’re a wild one aren’t you?” He moaned. He looked down at the little chocolate colored unicorn. “Guess I have nothing to worry about from you.” The creature folded the bed up into a suitcase and pulled a small hat out of nowhere and began to walk off. But Eris followed close at his heels. The creature attempted to shoo the unicorn away several times, one time attempting to use magic. But Eris just dodged the spell and kept walking. “Look, kid,” the creature began, kneeling down next to Eris and putting on a pair of dark glasses. “I’ve gots ma’ own problemos to attend to ya see? I can’t have a little kiddy following me around!” Eris in response sat down on her haunches and stared stubbornly at the creature, attempting to see through the dark lenses of the glasses. The creature glared back and the two sat there for a while, each waiting for the other to break. Finally the creature moaned and stood up. “Those ponies are a bad influence on me,” he said shaking his head he turned away and beckoned to the little unicorn. “Looks like I’m going to be the one godfather tonight.” *** “This will do nicely,” the creature said as they reached another clearing. A single fat old tree sat in the middle of the clearing, dejectedly, as if worried that the other trees would not accept him. The creature stepped up to the tree and began rubbing his hands together furiously, then he stuck both hands in a hole in the wood and pulled, making a small opening in the trunk. He turned to Eris. “Well go on,” he said pointing to the opening. Cautiously Eris climbed up into the hole and fell into the tree. It was bigger on the inside. The room was round and the walls were made of rough tree bark. Eris paced around the room (surprised that there was enough room to pace in) taking it all in. “You won’t be needing a bed.” The creature said suddenly at her side, Eris jumped and skittered away. It was a statement, not a question. “But I will provide you with a few things.” Suddenly several bookshelves popped into existence and, seeming of their own will, filled themselves with books. Eris stepped up to one on the floor, and sniffed at it. it was a big thing, it smelled like trees and something else, faint and bitter. Cautiously she put the thing in her mouth, and hurriedly spat it out. It was definitely not for eating! The creature groaned and picked up the thing. “Looks like I’m going to have to teach you a few things,” he grumbled “First, I am you master Discord and second, this is called a book, you read it, not eat it. All right?” Eris wrinkled her nose up at the book. She hated books. *** After several weeks Discord had pounded the rudiments of reading and spell casting into his young apprentice. Eris had even learned (with difficulty) to speak. But she rarely did, her stubborn and independent attitude made for poor student material and Discord seemed to think lack of food and water was appropriate punishment for misconduct. But master Discord was not a bad teacher. He fed her and let her stay in the tree. He even showed her how to find her way in the forest with the stars and sun. He was also very wise in the ways of Chaos Magic, able to answer any questions the young unicorn had for him. Although his favorite answer was: “you’re not ready to know that.” One day while Eris was studying a particularly difficult and dull book, her master popped into the tree house and slithered next to her. “I have a special lesson planned for today.” He said grinning. Eris slammed the book shut with a quick spell and turned to Discord eagerly. Her master’s lessons were never easy, but any excuse to stop reading that book would be welcome. As per usual, Discord pulled a chalkboard out of seemingly nowhere and began to write across it: The Elements of Harmony. “Aren’t the Elements just a myth?” Eris asked. “Not at all!” Discord said turning away from the chalkboard, the chalk, ignorant of his letting go, continued to write on the board. “The elements are very real, and are our most feared enemy, or more accurately, their Guardians!” “Guardians?” “There are six elements correct?” Discord asked. Eris nodded. She rattled off the names of the six from memory. “Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty and Magic.” “I’m glad to see some of my training has stuck with you,” Discord said. “Yes those are the elements, and each element has a respective pony who can use it and its powers. They are called Guardians.” Eris watched a rough sketched of six mares appeared on the chalkboard. “The Guardians are always six mares; each one exemplifies one of the Elements.” A farm mare, a wild haired pegasus, a curly haired earth pony, a sophisticated unicorn and a shy long haired pegasus (draw with greater care and detail than the others). “These are the current Guardians; learn their names and their traits.” Discord said, grabbing the chalk out of the air and proceeding to munch on it causally. “But there’s only five…” “Bright little one, aren’t you?” Eris beamed at the comet at first, until she saw the cynical expression on her master’s face. “The sixth one is a special case.” Discord waved his hand across the board wiping away what had been there before and began to draw a sixth pony. One with both wings and a horn. “This,” he said, with a tone of disgust in his voice. “Is Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, and a young Alicorn princess. She is your most dangerous foe.” Eris spent the rest of the day studying the elements and their properties. but Discord wasn’t satisfied with just that, he had her learn not just the individual powers of each of the elements, but what time of the day they were most powerful, what parts of the body the governed, what color they were, what emotions countered them, even what Old Gods were represented by each one. At the end of the day, Eris, gleefully collapsed into the pile of stolen blankets that she had made a nest out of. “Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty and Magic,” she muttered to herself. She grinned. At this point she probably knew more about the Elements then the Guardians themselves did. Then she closed her purple eyes and went to sleep. Author's Note HAHAHA! I'M WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY BEHIND SCEDULE! *dies* Chapter 4Eris blinked wearily up at the solid wood ceiling. The fact that it was cleanly washed and not crawling with termites told her that she was no longer lying in her little tree hut in the woods. She rolled her head left and right looking around the room. She was lying in a proper bed, not a nest of blankets and leaves. Her head rested on a soft down pillow and a soft cotton blanket was wrapped around her tightly. She sat up and looked around. The room was small with only a few furnishings, A large picture window showed a view of the town and its inhabitants, it was the middle of the day and they were all bustling about. How long had she been asleep? She remembered now, she was in Twilight Sparkle’s tree house home in Ponyville. She was supposed to be spying on her, learning her weaknesses. Instead she had attended a party with her, HUGGED HER for some unknown reason, and spent the night at her house. Eris moaned, slid slowly out of bed and plodded over to the small vanity table that sat in one corner of the room. She looked at herself in the mirror, two purple eyes stared back at her tiredly. She sighed and levitated the brush to try and flatten the bird’s nest that her mane had become. She had made no progress in her mission, Discord must be very disappointed with her. A soft clip-clop from the steps warned of her quarry's approach. She hastily hid the brush and turned to face the oncoming threat. As Twilight gracefully cleared the top of the steps Eris dove back into her bed and attempted cover herself with the blanket. “Eris, are you awake?” Twilight whispered. She had apparently missed her spectacular barrel roll into the mattress. Eris lay under the covers for a while, not responding, then she realized she was being silly. Sparkle meant her no harm, at least not yet. She sat up and looked over at Twilight. “Yeah, I’m up.” She mumbled sleepily. “I’m going to pick up some of my friend’s sisters from school. Do you want to come?” Eris though, if she went with Twilight she would have an opportunity to ask her questions without Spike there to watch. Plus she did not want to spend any more time alone with that owl! “Sure,” she said slipping back out of bed. “It’s better than nothing.” Twilight smiled and lead the way, briskly trotting down the steps. *** The two of them stood outside a red wood school house, next to a small fenced in playground up on a hill. They waited a while until the large brass bell at the top of the school began ringing of its own accord and the students started filing out of the building. Dozens of little fillies and colts stormed out screeching and laughing wildly running to greet parents and siblings who had come to escort them home. Eris cringed at the unpleasant sound, covering her ears with her hooves. Finally three young fillies dashed up to them. An earth pony with a red mane and a pink bow, a little unicorn with a swirling white and pink mane and tail, and a pegasus riding down the hill on a scooter. “My little ponies! How are you?” “Ready to rock and roll!” The pegasus said, skidding to a stop. “Girls this is Eris,” Twilight said turning to the cringing unicorn. “She’s going to be living with me until she completes her studies.” Eris uncovered her ears and studied the fillies closely. She had never seen young ponies before, apart that is, from pictures in her books, but she could tell that even the three here with their smiling faces were enough to trigger her motherly instincts. She hated that. The five of them plodded off back to Twilight’s house. The young earth pony walked up beside Eris and smiled up at her warmly. “Are ya’ll gon’ to be joinin’ us fer Twilight Time?” “Twilight Time?” She responded. Was this some unknown ritual that the princess was teaching the younger generation, could it possibly be something linked to her power? “It’s just what we call the time I spend with them after school teaching them,” Twilight said, obviously wiping up a quick cover story to save face in front of the young ones. “Teaching them what exactly?” Eris asked. “Oh, this and that,” Twilight replied. “These three are trying to get their cutie marks, so we try a little bit of everything to see what clicks with them.” “I thought you might be lookin’ fer yer cute make as well cus-” “Applebloom!” “What?” The little Earth pony stopped in the middle of the pat and looked up at her teacher, who glared back down at her like a mother who had just caught her child swearing. “It’s not polite to talk about that.” “But we were just talking about it!” “That’s because you’re still young, when you're older it’s a little more embarrassing…” Twilight turned to Eris, an apologetic expression on her face. “Sorry about this,” she said, gently. “‘Sallright,” Eris replied nonchalantly. She wasn’t really sure what the big deal was about. True she was confused as to why Twilight had not mentioned the fact that she didn’t have a Cutie Mark as was customary. But she didn’t see what the deal was, she had never been particularly good at Chaos Magic, even natural unicorn magic she was no better than above average at. And as that had been what she had done mostly for the past year or so. Honestly she wasn’t surprised she hadn’t discovered her special talent. They walked the rest of the way to Twilight’s house in silence. When they did finally reach the library Twilight had the little earth pony, Applebloom, apologize to Eris. Then with everything cleared up, they went inside to begin the ritual. *** “Watch the stove, Applebloom. Hold the paintbrush with your magic Sweetie Belle, It’ll be much easier. SCOOTALOO! BE CAREFUL WITH THAT SNAKE!” Twilight dashed over to the little pegasus to help untangle her who was slowly turning blue from the python beginning to slowly constrict her. Eris laughed and shifted in her seat at the bottom of the steps. Each of the fillies had continued a project that they had been working on over the week; none of them were very good. It was quite entertaining to watch them struggle. “Eris, can you give me a hoof?” Twilight asked as she untangled Scootaloo, saving her from becoming the serpent’s lunch. “Go help Sweetie Bell with her painting, if you would be so kind.” Eris let out a quiet groan and slid off the bottom step and clip-clopped her way over to the squeaky voiced unicorn. “Alright, what do we have here?” Eris asked looking at the blob of colors on her canvas. Obviously is was a work of abstract genius, the swirling blues the dark greens the vibrant pinks, all mixing together into brown nothingness, signifying- “It’s an apple tree!” ...Or it was an apple tree. Eris examined the painting closely no matter how hard she squinted she could not make out the tree in the storm of pigments. “My mom says I’m a very talented artist, I’m thinking I’ll write a play!” The little unicorn squeaked gleefully. Eris was convinced now, there was no way that this could be a tree, it must be some ancient Alicorn symbol that Sparkle had told her to paint for the ritual, that Twilight Sparkle was a clever one. “Here, let me see if I can help you a bit,” Eris said, snatching the brush from Sweetie Belle with her magic. She dipped the brush into the small built in rack for paint and filled it up with dark black paint. Then with quick flashy motions she painted big black lines all across the painting rendering its ancient Alicorn magic ineffective! Then she proudly returned the brush to the gaping unicorn and trotted off to “help” Applebloom. “What’s going on in this neck of the woods?” Eris asked as she approached the little earth pony who was busily cutting apples. “Mm mamim aml farlocma!” The earth pony grunted through the knife in her mouth. “You’re… what?” She spat the knife out and wiped her face on the little flowered apron she was wearing. “I said: ‘Am makin’ apple sharlotka! It’s like apple cake!” Sharlotka… In the old tongue Shar meant scar, and Lotka was a mare’s name. Shar Lokta would be the name of a witch. Was this little pony trying to revive some dead spirit with a cake!? Necromancy was the lowest form of magic looked down upon by all magic users, even Chaos Mages. Eris glared over her shoulder at Twilight; she was still helping Scootaloo untangle herself from the python, which was now stubbornly clinging to her tail. She was shocked that the supposed ‘Element of Magic’ would stoop so low as to teach an earth pony of all things Necromancey! At least teach the unicorn! “I’m almost ready to put it in the oven, can ya’ll help me out?” Eris looked down at the young filly, so innocent, didn’t she know she was going to be taken advantage of? She sighed and opened up the oven so the little earth pony could carry her concoction into its fiery depths. Applebloom slammed the door shut and walked away proudly. Checking over her shoulder to make sure that Sparkle was still occupied with the snake, Eris the used her magic on the oven raising its temperature tenfold! Little tendrils of smoke rose from the metal box and mingled with each other in the air. After admiring her work she proudly trotted off out the door, knowing that she had saved those three fillies from a horrible fate.
Chapter 1Draw focus from confusion, courage from fear, and energy from apathy. Eris remembered these lessons well as she stalked her prey. A small rabbit, one grown just out of bunnyhood. She focused her magic to it and pounced! The bolt of energy hit the rabbit before it even knew she was there! it screeched in terror as a fifth leg sprouted from it’s chest. It flopped onto it’s back, unable to move with the weight of the hoofed leg sprouting from it’s stomach. Eris rolled on the ground laughing hysterically watching as the creature struggled. “Hmm, not bad,” A voice said from behind her. She turned smiling with recognition at the pointed face of her master. “Evening, Mr. Discord,” she said smiling as the Draconequus slithered into full view. He looked pleased, which was fortunate, usually when he came to visit her in her little hideaway in the Everfree Forest his face was contorted with frustration. ‘Those blasted ponies and their friendship!’ He would say referring to the current Guardians of the Elements. ‘Every day I have to deal with those nincompoops!’ For hours he would rant about past transgressions and new ones. But today his horse like face was marked by a smile. “You have far exceeded my expectations in your studies,” he said, examining the struggling rodent. Eris beamed with pride. Prase of any kind was rare from her master. And more often than not it was backhanded or sarcastic. “But you still lack a major factor in your spell casting!” “What’s that, Sir?” She asked, eager to please her teacher. Then pointing his finger at the struggling rabbit he said: “Creativity.” The middle leg sprouted wings, it’s ears began flapping wildly carrying it up. As it flew up into the sky it’s cries of fear turned into a harsh donkey's bray. Eris collapsed to the ground, whooping with laughter, watching as the rabbit soared high into the sky. “Remember,” her master intoned “Causing others pain is perfectly fine, so long as you gain joy out of it.” “A great truth indeed, Sir!” Eris coughed between laughing hiccups. After her giggling fit had subsided she turned to her master. “What has you in such a good mood?” He grinned wider, showing uneven bizarrely angled teeth. “Those foolish ponies have surrendered their Elements!” “They’ve put them back in the Tree!?” Eris was ecstatic! If what her master was telling her was true, this could mean that he would finally be able to begin his conquest of Equestria! “Indeed they have.” He said with his wonderfully menacing grin. Eris bounced around Discord, she was so happy she felt like singing! “OH! I can’t wait,” she sang jumping with excitement. “I’m going to wreak so much havoc!” “Well I’m afraid that will have to wait.” Eris froze mid jump and floated in the air for several seconds before collapsing to the ground in a dejected heap. “What! Why?” “Because, even with the Elements gone that Twilight Sparkle is a powerful foe, she’s potentially stronger than Princess Celestia and Luna combined!” “WOW! That’s like, four times as strong as you!” Said Eris. Discord glared at the little brown unicorn and turned away. “Don’t worry though, you’ll have your chance to wreak chaos and destruction soon,” he said returning to his grinning self. Eris groaned. She disliked very few things, popcorn, rabbits and the color puce were some minor irritants of her’s, but one thing she could never stand; was waiting! “But, while rampant destruction will have to wait, you will not.” he continued. Eris looked up at her master excitedly. “What do you mean?” She asked her eyes widening with excitement. Discord smiled wickedly looking down at his young pupil. “You will go on ahead of me, to Ponyville, you will scout out Twilight Sparkle and tell me what her weaknesses are.” Eris gasped with excitement, to be trusted by her master with such an important mission! “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” She bounced around Discord but was promptly stopped by the master of chaos by a levitating taloned hand. “Now you listen here,” he said, his levitating limb moving independently from the rest of his body waging a single clawed finger. “As we already know, Twilight Sparkle is incredibly powerful, more powerful than a runt like you will ever be, but you are more clever! If I've trained you right anyway. You must trick Sparkle into believing that you are one of her ‘Friends’ that way you will be able to find the weak point in her armor, then we may exploit it!” Eris Saluted. “You can count on me Sir!” she said, puffing out her chest. “I won’t let you down!” “See that you don’t,” he replied. *** Eris slunk into the town under the cloak of night. Pulling the cloak tighter around her, she snuck into the shadow of a building. Looking around the corner she could see several of the vermin milling about in the town square. “Disgusting…” she moaned her horn glowing with a dark purple light. “They’re so drenched in Friendship that my magic won’t even work!” This mission would be much more difficult if she couldn’t use her Chaos Magic and had to be limited to natural unicorn spell-craft. She pulled of the cloak abandoning it’s invisibility magic. And began to sneak around the side of the building. “Why are we sneaking?” A voice hissed into her ear. Eris jumped straight up into the air and landed flat on her flank, her head spinning wildly to try and identify where the voice had come from. The voice let out a snorting laugh. “What’d you go and do that for?” Eris turned behind her to face her assailant, a pink mare with a pink mane the shape (and, Eris assumed, the consistency) of cotton candy. Just as Master Discord had described! “The Guardian of Laughter!” “Guardian?” The mare asked letting out a snorting laugh. “I’m not a guard! I'm a baker, my name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?” “Um…” Eris was unsure about whether she could trust the mare. She was one of the Guardians after all wielder of one of the most powerful arcane artifacts in Equestria! Although, if what Discord had told her about the six was true, this one would be the easiest to fool into trusting her. “Eris,” she said finally offering her hoof to Pinkie as discord has instructed her to. “Nice to-.” Her sentence was cut off as Pinkie dashed in and began squeezing her violently. What was this? Had she found out? Did she know? “UNHAND ME!” she shouted, trying to summon any whisper of her magic to fight against the assault, but to no avail. “What’s the matter?” Pinkie asked loosening her grip. “You never been hugged before?” A hug? Was that what it was called? She had heard about hugs from Discord, one of those nasty things Friends do! being constricted to the point of near suffocation! How in Equestria could anyone find this enjoyable? Eventually the ordeal was ended and Pinkie let go of her. “So,” the pink mare began. “Are you just passing through or are you staying?” “I’ll probably be staying for a while. Anywhup-!” Eris was cut of as Pinkie assaulted her with another hug! “HEEHEE! That’s awesome! I can’t wait to get to know you!” Pinkie let go of her and Eris immediately gasped for air, if this is what she had to deal with for just one of the Guardians, how on earth would she survive all six?! Pinkie began bouncing away. “Come on!” she said excitedly. “I’ll show you around the town!” “Oh no…” *** Several hours later Eris dragged herself across the ground and collapsed. She couldn’t take it anymore! The post office, the town hall, the church, even the damn wishing well! Pinkie had indeed given her a thorough tour of the town. “This pony,” she moaned. “How does she have so much energy?” As she spoke Pinkie bounced up behind her, still as energetic as she had been when she first assaulted her in the alley. “AH! Perfect!” She said Ignoring the collapsed Eris and looking up at the building in front of them. Eris followed her gaze up to the bizarre construction that sat in front of them. They were standing in front of a colorful building decorated to look like a giant cake. It even had a roof made to look like gingerbread. “This,” Pinkie began proudly, puffing out her chest and stepping in front of the building. “Is Sugar Cube Corner! The life blood of our little town!” Eris pushed herself up and turned to Pinkie. “Thank you for the tour, but I should probably find a place to stay.” “Well you can stay right here with me!” Pinkie squealed. “NO!” Eris shouted startling the little pink horse. “I-I mean,” she blustered, damn it! You have to make them consider you a friend! be… uhg… nice. “You don’t have to do that.” She said, putting on a forced smile. She had barely survived the morning with this pony, how on earth could she survive however many months it took to make friends of all the Guardians! Pinkie took her by the hoof and dragged her inside the bakery. “It’s no trouble at all!” she said happily, “I’m always willing to help out a friend!” “A Friend?” Could it be! Had this stupid little pony already let down her guard and accepted her as a person she could trust? If the others were half as easy as this one she could be out of her by the end of the week! As Eris was thinking this Pinkie burst through the doors with a hearty. “Were heeeeeeeeeeeeerreeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Eris examined the room, it was set up in a bizarre fashion. The tables were covered with fancy cloth and large colorful inflated orbs hung around the room on strings. Eris had never seen such a sight in all her life! Was this some kind of chaos magic? “You could be a little more excited!” Said Pinkie “We threw this party just for you! It doesn’t look like anyone’s here yet though.” A party? Yes, another one of those thing Friends do she remembered. As she was examining one of the inflated sacks several other ponies walked into the room. “Quite the short notice, Pinkie,” said a pegasus with a rainbow mane. “Yeah, what’s this here emergency you were tellin’ us ‘bout?” Questioned an earth pony sporting a cowcolt hat. “It is the biggest most exciting thing ever!” Pinkie shoved Eris so that she was in full view of the five mares. “This is Eris, she’s new in town so I thought we should throw her a party!” “What a great idea!” “Let’s get partying!” The party lasted well into the evening and it was a long time after that that everyone went home. Pinkie introduced Eris to all of the guest, Rainbow Dash, the local weather pony. Apple Jack, a farm mare who worked on the local apple farm. Fluttershy, a shy quiet mare who cared for the local animals. Rarity, a fashion designer who owns a local shop, and… “Twilight Sparkle,” Eris looked at the young Alicorn. With docile eyes, a gentle voice and bookish manner she didn't look very powerful. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She said smiling. Eris wasn’t sure how to respond. How could she convince her that she was nice, to trick her into thinking she was friendly? Then she remembered. She reached forward, front legs stiff and attempted to hug her immortal enemy. If Master Discord could see her now… She broke from the hug and stepped back. Twilight it appeared had an expression mix of shock a repressed laughter. “Um, thank you, I guess.” Eris flushed with repressed rage and embarrassment. Quickly Twilight changed the subject sparing Eris. “Are you going to be here long?” she asked. “As long as it takes.” She replied. “As long as what takes?” Twilight asked. BY THE OLD ONES! Eris drove her hoof into her face in frustration. She had to learn to be more subtle! “Umm…” she trailed off, what in Equestria was she thinking! If Sparkle learned of her true intention it would risk everything Master Discord had worked for! “Until my studies are done.” She finally said “OH! Are you studying magic?” Twilight asked excitedly. “Yes actually,” she said wiping a droplet of sweat from her muzzle. “Bramerian or Star-Swirlian?” The two of them continued to talk about magic for a long time. Each presenting their own opinions and theories. Eris trying desperately to hide the fact that she was a chaos magic user. She could tell from the way she spoke about the subject that Sparkle was very well versed in magical lore and literature. Twilight in turn was impressed of what seemed to be Eris’ ‘unique’ views on magic. “Do you have a place to stay?” Twilight asked, breaking the conversation. “Well Pinkie was going to let me sleep here... but…” Twilight let out a little laugh. “She can be exhausting can’t she?” The two mares shared a laugh then Twilight turned to Eris. “You can stay with me if you’d prefer.” YES this is perfect! Living with Twilight would give her ample opportunity to study her. She would be able to watch her constantly! Even when the foal Alicorn was sleeping! She looked at the little purple Alicorn, oh the naive expression on her face! “I would enjoy that.” She said smiling. Author's Note Hello every one, this story is a bit different then what I usually write. I hope you like it. I will probably not be posting the next chapter for SOME TIME because I still need to write the outline for the rest of the story. Also if you are or know anyone who would be willing to make a art piece for this story I would greatly appreciate that! WRITER AWAY!
Chapter 2“It’ll take me a few moments to set up the bedroom,” Twilight said to Eris when they entered her little Library/Treehouse home. “Feel free to make yourself at home while I’m upstairs though.” Eris examined the front room of the meticulously organized library carefully, making sure that there were no hidden magical traps or spells scattered throughout the house. Behind the books, on the shelves, under the table, in the closet, even in the sink. But in the end she found nothing that she considered dangerous, nothing except that damn owl. The feathered beast had bitten her at least twice while she was searching the house as if Sparkle had trained the avian monstrosity to attack anyone who dared snoop around her house. She glared at him channeling her rage through her focused gaze, imagining the owl bursting into flames. But sadly no hellfire engulfed the bulbous bodied bird, he merely continued to preen his feathers. “Stupid beast,” Eris hissed at him through clenched teeth. “I’ll make sure Master Discord makes your punishment extra painful!” “Hoo?” the owl cooed, making Eris jump, she didn't’ know that the beast was smart enough to speak. “My great master, Discord? Haven't you heard of him?” “Hoo?” “The Lord of Chaos? Last of the magnificent Draconequus race?” “Hoo?” “This is going to take a while isn’t it?” Eris said sighing. “I see you're making friends,” Twilight’s voice called from behind her. Eris turned to see the Alicorn descending from the bedroom back into the library. “Friends? … Why yes!” Eris said, putting on her now well practiced smile. “I was just conversing with your… wonderful pet… what is his name?” “Owlowiscious!” The Alicorn said grinning. Eris glared back at the owl. “A stupid name to match a stupid mind,” she hissed at the feathered fiend. But luckily neither the owl nor Twilight seemed to hear. Eris followed Twilight up the steps into her bedroom, letting out a bit of magic she made sure that there was no hidden enchantment on the stairs to spring a trap. But just like the rest of the house, she found nothing. Eris sighed, she was honestly disappointed in her quarry, she had searched the entire house and found not a single sidgle, seal or sign protecting it. “What is it in this little Alicorn that Master Discord fears?” She asked herself, shaking her head as she followed the purple mare up the short staircase. She and Twilight soon reached the top of the steps and Twilight gestured to the far end of the room where two beds had been neatly laid out. “You can take the bed on the right,” she said. Eris walked over and examined the strange contraption. So this was a bed, she thought. A bed was one of the (many) luxuries that Discord had forbade her for the purposes of her training, but she supposed it would be acceptable if she used it for the goal of her mission, so long as she didn’t give was to the pampered lifestyle of the other ponies. She turned to her host, giving her a now genuine smile. “Thank you,” she said through. “It’s wonderful.” Suddenly Twilight dashed over and smothered Eris in a firm grip. “AGAIN WITH THE HUGGING!” Eris screeched, all semblance of control lost. But Twilight ignored her cry of distress and continued in her attempted asphyxiation of the unicorn. “Hee! Sorry! But it’s exciting having someone over! Most nights it’s just Spike and me.” “Spike?” Eris inquired, slipping loose from Twilight’s vise like hug. “He’s a baby dragon,” Twilight said simply “We’ve been together since we were both little!” A DRAGON!? No wonder Twilight didn’t have any protections around her house, a dragon she knew, even a baby one, would be an incredible obstacle to overcome. Below them a door opened and a voiced called out. “Hello?” it asked. “Anyone home?” Twilight brightened and slipped past Eris and skipped down the stairs. “There he is now,” she said cheerily. Eris froze where she stood. This was bad, this was very, very bad! From her years of study she knew that as a dragon’s hoard grew, so did it’s power and age, eventually leading to the glorious dramatic irony of killing itself with greed by dying of old age once it achieved a big enough hoard. She was sure that this dragon must possess at least a few hundred TONS of gold and gems, as it was the guardian of an Alicorn princess. Cautiously Eris proceeded down the staircase back into the main room of the library. She look cautiously around the moonlit hall Twilight stood at the front door blocking Eris’ view of the doubtlessly monstrous creature awaiting them outside. Twilight turned to look at Eris and beckoned her with her front hoof. “Eris, come meet Spike,” she said to the cowering Chaos Mage. Slowly Eris plodded forward toward her doom. she was sure that with her Chaos magic she could easily defeat a dragon. But with Sparkle right there and her magic weakened by the abominable taint of Harmony that lingered over this town she wondered if she would be able to draw up enough power to do the deed! As she reached the door she clamped her eyes shut and gulped then looked up at… the empty night sky. “Wh-where is-.” “Uh, down here maybe?” a small voice asked from below her gaze. Eris glanced down from her vantage point. her dark purple eyes met the two bright green ones of a small purple and green dragon. He was not a village destroying monster. Hells! She doubted the scamp could destroy a bag of cookies! he was about the size of a newborn foal and stood on his back claws leaving the front ones to cross angrily across his skinny chest. The brat hadn’t even grown wings yet! Eris scoffed, discussed with herself that she could have ever feared something so insignificant! “Eris, this is spike, my personal assistant!” Twilight said to the fuming Eris. Eris stared down at the little scaled purple anthropomorphic iguana, who stared back up at her, confusion and mistrust, written plainly on his pointed little face. “Charmed…” she said, and turned to return into the house. Twilight and Spike entered the library behind her. “Um, Spike this is Eris, she’s going to be staying with us for a while.” “Oh, is she?” The infant dragon asked. “Eris, I just thought,” Twilight began. “I never asked what town you’re from!” Eris stopped in her tracks, halfway up the stairs. “Um, I’m from…” Eris glanced around the room looking for something to help her. She had never been good at lying, that had been one thing that discord did not tolerate from his students. She searched the room hoping for anything that would help her. “I’m from Lampshade,” she said finally. “Lamp...shade?” Twilight's expression showed that she didn’t believe her for a minute, but Eris stood firm, she was in too deep to back out now. “Yes, it’s a town far away, on the other side of the forest.” “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of it,” Twilight said, her disbelief replaced by a pensive expression. “Can’t say I believe it exists,” Spike interjected. Eris began to back slowly up the stairs. “Yes well, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, but golly! All this celebration has made me plum tuckered out and I think I’ll run to my bed now. Gute nacht!” With that she sped up the last few steps and stormed into the bedroom painting. LAMPSHADE?! That was the best name she could come up with? Eris pounded her head angrily against the wall. Eventually her horn chipped a chunk of the wall of and caused it to tumble down towards the steps! Eris cursed and dashed forward to snatch the splinter up just before it reached the top step. “I don’t like her Twilight.” spikes voice wove up the stairs and into Eris’ ear. She stopped and moved in closer to listen. This should be interesting, one of the tenants of Chaos was: ‘An honest opinion is only given when the subject is nowhere to be seen’ this would be an opportune moment to study what sort of impression she had made on Twilight Sparkle. Her ears perked as the Alicorn began to speak. “I admit, Eris is a little… strange. But as a princess I feel that it’s my duty to help her out, she’s not from around her so I’m sure she’s scared.” “Yeah, I bet they do things differently than us over in Lampshade.” “Eris will tell us the truth when she’s ready, until then we treat her as our guest! Do you understand?” “uhg… yes.” Eris smirked and stepped away from her perch at the top of the stairs. It appeared her trickery had be sufficient enough to persuade Sparkle that she would do the Princess no harm. How wrong she was! Author's Note some things that went through my head wile writing: "should i capitalize Alicorn?" "I need to stop using 'said' so much" "Buck, what's a better word for 'walked'?" "BUCK! That was all misspelled?" "Buck..." Why does writing have to be so hard?! T_T
Chapter 3As Eris slept, she dreamt. She wandered alone in the forest. She was cold and hungry, she had killed a squirrel in order to get at its meager store of nuts. But that had been hours ago, her stomach growled impatiently at her. She cursed her parents for abandoning her when she was a filly. She knew neither why they did or how long she had lived in the forest but she knew that if she ever found them again she would waste no time in inflicting ten times the pain on them she had suffered through while in the forest. Her ears perked up as she heard shuffling footsteps up ahead. She slunk forward in the underbrush keeping to the shadows until she knew what creature she was up against. Reaching the edge of the foliage, she sat and listened. The stepping noise was strange one step made the sound of a claw against wood, making Eris believe it was a cockatrice, but another sound lead her to believe it was a pawed creature, like a manticore. Cautiously the unicorn stuck her head out between the bushes, the light glinted in her dark purple eyes and she blinked furiously trying to regain her vision. When it returned to her, she could not believe what she saw. A long snakelike body, with feet of both a bird and a lion. It’s arms were the same, one taloned and the other, a paw. It’s head was like a goat’s and it had the horns of a gazelle and a deer. It stroked a tiny goat beard as it passed around the clearing mumbling to itself. But it was the eyes that fascinated Eris the most. They were golden discs with small red pupils, they had both a madness and a beauty about them that Eris could not explain in any words she knew. Granted, the few words she did know where from the constantly swearing woods stallions that she would steal food from. She inched closer to the strange beast. Hoping to catch a whisper of what it was saying. “Quite the pickle you’ve gotten yourself into Discord, yes quite the pickle,” the creature’s voice was high and nasal, with a tone that sounded as if he was used to being obeyed. “Yes you're free from that abysmal stone prison but what’s the fun in that if you can't do anything with this? Not allowed to use magic for ‘Evil?’ I’m not Evil, they're all just boring!” A bed appeared in the middle of the clearing and the creature collapsed onto it dramatically, sighing. “This is going to be a very dull Reign of Chaos…” Eris moved closer to see if she could get a better look at the strange convoluted creature, she stepped up onto a small mossy log when suddenly, CRACK! The log broke under her with a ear splitting snap and she tumbled into the clearing in full view of the beast. “Well, well, what do we have here?” The creature said slithering off the bed and getting closer to the terrified young unicorn. She hissed at him and snapped viciously at his encroaching paw. “Now, now, no need to be rude,” the creature said. He then snapped his fingers and Eris’ mouth was sealed shut with a zipper. She struggled, pulling at the zipper but to no avail. “What’s a little creature like you doing this deep in the Everfree forest hmmm?” The beast began pacing around Eris, chuckling menacingly to himself as he watched her struggle with the magic zipper. “Are you a little spy Celestia has sent to watch me? Well?” He snapped his taloned hand again and the zipper unzipped and disappeared Eris looked around wildly wondering where it had gone. “Now then, answer my question.” Eris growled at the creature, the fur on the back of her neck pricking up. The beast sighed and covered his face with his paw. “I see now, you’re a wild one aren’t you?” He moaned. He looked down at the little chocolate colored unicorn. “Guess I have nothing to worry about from you.” The creature folded the bed up into a suitcase and pulled a small hat out of nowhere and began to walk off. But Eris followed close at his heels. The creature attempted to shoo the unicorn away several times, one time attempting to use magic. But Eris just dodged the spell and kept walking. “Look, kid,” the creature began, kneeling down next to Eris and putting on a pair of dark glasses. “I’ve gots ma’ own problemos to attend to ya see? I can’t have a little kiddy following me around!” Eris in response sat down on her haunches and stared stubbornly at the creature, attempting to see through the dark lenses of the glasses. The creature glared back and the two sat there for a while, each waiting for the other to break. Finally the creature moaned and stood up. “Those ponies are a bad influence on me,” he said shaking his head he turned away and beckoned to the little unicorn. “Looks like I’m going to be the one godfather tonight.” *** “This will do nicely,” the creature said as they reached another clearing. A single fat old tree sat in the middle of the clearing, dejectedly, as if worried that the other trees would not accept him. The creature stepped up to the tree and began rubbing his hands together furiously, then he stuck both hands in a hole in the wood and pulled, making a small opening in the trunk. He turned to Eris. “Well go on,” he said pointing to the opening. Cautiously Eris climbed up into the hole and fell into the tree. It was bigger on the inside. The room was round and the walls were made of rough tree bark. Eris paced around the room (surprised that there was enough room to pace in) taking it all in. “You won’t be needing a bed.” The creature said suddenly at her side, Eris jumped and skittered away. It was a statement, not a question. “But I will provide you with a few things.” Suddenly several bookshelves popped into existence and, seeming of their own will, filled themselves with books. Eris stepped up to one on the floor, and sniffed at it. it was a big thing, it smelled like trees and something else, faint and bitter. Cautiously she put the thing in her mouth, and hurriedly spat it out. It was definitely not for eating! The creature groaned and picked up the thing. “Looks like I’m going to have to teach you a few things,” he grumbled “First, I am you master Discord and second, this is called a book, you read it, not eat it. All right?” Eris wrinkled her nose up at the book. She hated books. *** After several weeks Discord had pounded the rudiments of reading and spell casting into his young apprentice. Eris had even learned (with difficulty) to speak. But she rarely did, her stubborn and independent attitude made for poor student material and Discord seemed to think lack of food and water was appropriate punishment for misconduct. But master Discord was not a bad teacher. He fed her and let her stay in the tree. He even showed her how to find her way in the forest with the stars and sun. He was also very wise in the ways of Chaos Magic, able to answer any questions the young unicorn had for him. Although his favorite answer was: “you’re not ready to know that.” One day while Eris was studying a particularly difficult and dull book, her master popped into the tree house and slithered next to her. “I have a special lesson planned for today.” He said grinning. Eris slammed the book shut with a quick spell and turned to Discord eagerly. Her master’s lessons were never easy, but any excuse to stop reading that book would be welcome. As per usual, Discord pulled a chalkboard out of seemingly nowhere and began to write across it: The Elements of Harmony. “Aren’t the Elements just a myth?” Eris asked. “Not at all!” Discord said turning away from the chalkboard, the chalk, ignorant of his letting go, continued to write on the board. “The elements are very real, and are our most feared enemy, or more accurately, their Guardians!” “Guardians?” “There are six elements correct?” Discord asked. Eris nodded. She rattled off the names of the six from memory. “Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty and Magic.” “I’m glad to see some of my training has stuck with you,” Discord said. “Yes those are the elements, and each element has a respective pony who can use it and its powers. They are called Guardians.” Eris watched a rough sketched of six mares appeared on the chalkboard. “The Guardians are always six mares; each one exemplifies one of the Elements.” A farm mare, a wild haired pegasus, a curly haired earth pony, a sophisticated unicorn and a shy long haired pegasus (draw with greater care and detail than the others). “These are the current Guardians; learn their names and their traits.” Discord said, grabbing the chalk out of the air and proceeding to munch on it causally. “But there’s only five…” “Bright little one, aren’t you?” Eris beamed at the comet at first, until she saw the cynical expression on her master’s face. “The sixth one is a special case.” Discord waved his hand across the board wiping away what had been there before and began to draw a sixth pony. One with both wings and a horn. “This,” he said, with a tone of disgust in his voice. “Is Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, and a young Alicorn princess. She is your most dangerous foe.” Eris spent the rest of the day studying the elements and their properties. but Discord wasn’t satisfied with just that, he had her learn not just the individual powers of each of the elements, but what time of the day they were most powerful, what parts of the body the governed, what color they were, what emotions countered them, even what Old Gods were represented by each one. At the end of the day, Eris, gleefully collapsed into the pile of stolen blankets that she had made a nest out of. “Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty and Magic,” she muttered to herself. She grinned. At this point she probably knew more about the Elements then the Guardians themselves did. Then she closed her purple eyes and went to sleep. Author's Note HAHAHA! I'M WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY BEHIND SCEDULE! *dies*
Chapter 4Eris blinked wearily up at the solid wood ceiling. The fact that it was cleanly washed and not crawling with termites told her that she was no longer lying in her little tree hut in the woods. She rolled her head left and right looking around the room. She was lying in a proper bed, not a nest of blankets and leaves. Her head rested on a soft down pillow and a soft cotton blanket was wrapped around her tightly. She sat up and looked around. The room was small with only a few furnishings, A large picture window showed a view of the town and its inhabitants, it was the middle of the day and they were all bustling about. How long had she been asleep? She remembered now, she was in Twilight Sparkle’s tree house home in Ponyville. She was supposed to be spying on her, learning her weaknesses. Instead she had attended a party with her, HUGGED HER for some unknown reason, and spent the night at her house. Eris moaned, slid slowly out of bed and plodded over to the small vanity table that sat in one corner of the room. She looked at herself in the mirror, two purple eyes stared back at her tiredly. She sighed and levitated the brush to try and flatten the bird’s nest that her mane had become. She had made no progress in her mission, Discord must be very disappointed with her. A soft clip-clop from the steps warned of her quarry's approach. She hastily hid the brush and turned to face the oncoming threat. As Twilight gracefully cleared the top of the steps Eris dove back into her bed and attempted cover herself with the blanket. “Eris, are you awake?” Twilight whispered. She had apparently missed her spectacular barrel roll into the mattress. Eris lay under the covers for a while, not responding, then she realized she was being silly. Sparkle meant her no harm, at least not yet. She sat up and looked over at Twilight. “Yeah, I’m up.” She mumbled sleepily. “I’m going to pick up some of my friend’s sisters from school. Do you want to come?” Eris though, if she went with Twilight she would have an opportunity to ask her questions without Spike there to watch. Plus she did not want to spend any more time alone with that owl! “Sure,” she said slipping back out of bed. “It’s better than nothing.” Twilight smiled and lead the way, briskly trotting down the steps. *** The two of them stood outside a red wood school house, next to a small fenced in playground up on a hill. They waited a while until the large brass bell at the top of the school began ringing of its own accord and the students started filing out of the building. Dozens of little fillies and colts stormed out screeching and laughing wildly running to greet parents and siblings who had come to escort them home. Eris cringed at the unpleasant sound, covering her ears with her hooves. Finally three young fillies dashed up to them. An earth pony with a red mane and a pink bow, a little unicorn with a swirling white and pink mane and tail, and a pegasus riding down the hill on a scooter. “My little ponies! How are you?” “Ready to rock and roll!” The pegasus said, skidding to a stop. “Girls this is Eris,” Twilight said turning to the cringing unicorn. “She’s going to be living with me until she completes her studies.” Eris uncovered her ears and studied the fillies closely. She had never seen young ponies before, apart that is, from pictures in her books, but she could tell that even the three here with their smiling faces were enough to trigger her motherly instincts. She hated that. The five of them plodded off back to Twilight’s house. The young earth pony walked up beside Eris and smiled up at her warmly. “Are ya’ll gon’ to be joinin’ us fer Twilight Time?” “Twilight Time?” She responded. Was this some unknown ritual that the princess was teaching the younger generation, could it possibly be something linked to her power? “It’s just what we call the time I spend with them after school teaching them,” Twilight said, obviously wiping up a quick cover story to save face in front of the young ones. “Teaching them what exactly?” Eris asked. “Oh, this and that,” Twilight replied. “These three are trying to get their cutie marks, so we try a little bit of everything to see what clicks with them.” “I thought you might be lookin’ fer yer cute make as well cus-” “Applebloom!” “What?” The little Earth pony stopped in the middle of the pat and looked up at her teacher, who glared back down at her like a mother who had just caught her child swearing. “It’s not polite to talk about that.” “But we were just talking about it!” “That’s because you’re still young, when you're older it’s a little more embarrassing…” Twilight turned to Eris, an apologetic expression on her face. “Sorry about this,” she said, gently. “‘Sallright,” Eris replied nonchalantly. She wasn’t really sure what the big deal was about. True she was confused as to why Twilight had not mentioned the fact that she didn’t have a Cutie Mark as was customary. But she didn’t see what the deal was, she had never been particularly good at Chaos Magic, even natural unicorn magic she was no better than above average at. And as that had been what she had done mostly for the past year or so. Honestly she wasn’t surprised she hadn’t discovered her special talent. They walked the rest of the way to Twilight’s house in silence. When they did finally reach the library Twilight had the little earth pony, Applebloom, apologize to Eris. Then with everything cleared up, they went inside to begin the ritual. *** “Watch the stove, Applebloom. Hold the paintbrush with your magic Sweetie Belle, It’ll be much easier. SCOOTALOO! BE CAREFUL WITH THAT SNAKE!” Twilight dashed over to the little pegasus to help untangle her who was slowly turning blue from the python beginning to slowly constrict her. Eris laughed and shifted in her seat at the bottom of the steps. Each of the fillies had continued a project that they had been working on over the week; none of them were very good. It was quite entertaining to watch them struggle. “Eris, can you give me a hoof?” Twilight asked as she untangled Scootaloo, saving her from becoming the serpent’s lunch. “Go help Sweetie Bell with her painting, if you would be so kind.” Eris let out a quiet groan and slid off the bottom step and clip-clopped her way over to the squeaky voiced unicorn. “Alright, what do we have here?” Eris asked looking at the blob of colors on her canvas. Obviously is was a work of abstract genius, the swirling blues the dark greens the vibrant pinks, all mixing together into brown nothingness, signifying- “It’s an apple tree!” ...Or it was an apple tree. Eris examined the painting closely no matter how hard she squinted she could not make out the tree in the storm of pigments. “My mom says I’m a very talented artist, I’m thinking I’ll write a play!” The little unicorn squeaked gleefully. Eris was convinced now, there was no way that this could be a tree, it must be some ancient Alicorn symbol that Sparkle had told her to paint for the ritual, that Twilight Sparkle was a clever one. “Here, let me see if I can help you a bit,” Eris said, snatching the brush from Sweetie Belle with her magic. She dipped the brush into the small built in rack for paint and filled it up with dark black paint. Then with quick flashy motions she painted big black lines all across the painting rendering its ancient Alicorn magic ineffective! Then she proudly returned the brush to the gaping unicorn and trotted off to “help” Applebloom. “What’s going on in this neck of the woods?” Eris asked as she approached the little earth pony who was busily cutting apples. “Mm mamim aml farlocma!” The earth pony grunted through the knife in her mouth. “You’re… what?” She spat the knife out and wiped her face on the little flowered apron she was wearing. “I said: ‘Am makin’ apple sharlotka! It’s like apple cake!” Sharlotka… In the old tongue Shar meant scar, and Lotka was a mare’s name. Shar Lokta would be the name of a witch. Was this little pony trying to revive some dead spirit with a cake!? Necromancy was the lowest form of magic looked down upon by all magic users, even Chaos Mages. Eris glared over her shoulder at Twilight; she was still helping Scootaloo untangle herself from the python, which was now stubbornly clinging to her tail. She was shocked that the supposed ‘Element of Magic’ would stoop so low as to teach an earth pony of all things Necromancey! At least teach the unicorn! “I’m almost ready to put it in the oven, can ya’ll help me out?” Eris looked down at the young filly, so innocent, didn’t she know she was going to be taken advantage of? She sighed and opened up the oven so the little earth pony could carry her concoction into its fiery depths. Applebloom slammed the door shut and walked away proudly. Checking over her shoulder to make sure that Sparkle was still occupied with the snake, Eris the used her magic on the oven raising its temperature tenfold! Little tendrils of smoke rose from the metal box and mingled with each other in the air. After admiring her work she proudly trotted off out the door, knowing that she had saved those three fillies from a horrible fate.
