The statue stood as a reminder, a promise, and a warning all in one. The scared face, torment covering its entire body, like he never expected it to happen. The girls stood in silent reverence to the defeat of their newest foe, Discord. His chaotic reign over Equestria was short-lived but memorable to say the least; remnants of his magic still lingered even after Twilight Sparkle and her friends resealed him using the elements of harmony.
“Twilight are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, what if whatever set him free comes and does it again?” Rarity ponders what exactly led to Discord’s escape, but eventually was more concerned on the now to care. The fear-stricken face of Discord now stood right where it began: in the gardens of Canterlot amidst the rest of the stone statues and the large hedge maze now fully reconstructed. “Not to worry Rarity, I doubt whatever freed Discord will likely try again after seeing how easily we defeated him.” Twilight remarked with a smug grin. The girls all took one last look at Discord before leaving; even Pinkie Pie was silent much to everyone’s surprise.
It wasn’t until later that night that a bright flash of light upset the glow of Luna’s moon over the gardens. A scream echoed as a body fell to the grass and hedge below. With an audible crash the guard immediately went on alert, five armored ponies of the various races all clamoring over to the site. One guard stared for a moment before looking at everypony else. “We do not tell the princesses of this. It could mean our jobs.” He spoke grimly looking back down.
On the ground, breathing heavily in an unconscious heap laid a small colt. He was gray of color and white on his mane, with a short tail that looked like he cut it himself with a rock or something equally useless. His flank was bare signifying his age; however the most intriguing part of his physique was the twisted horn that was atop his brow. Gray as he, the horn was slightly dulled at the tip and looked more akin to a screw than a point with how much it was twisted. The guards looked at one another before nodding, one tossing a small blanket over the colt before returning to his post. Another hefted him up and carrying him inside as fast as he could gallop. All were silent throughout the ordeal, the rest watching with restless eyes.
A grim laugh echoed timelessly throughout the garden, yet no guard heard it, only the colt. The statue of Discord, its terrified expression somehow staring at the young one before snapping back, emitted a large black cloud from itself and seeped into the air, drifting to the young buck. However due to the stallion carrying him the speed was simply too much for the cloud to keep up with, and in a final effort launched itself only to catch on the stallion before jumping to the colt immediately after. The colt’s eyes opened wide and the once blue eyes turned to yellow, jaundiced, irises. The guard carrying him felt uneasy at first, glancing back feeling like something was about to attack, however just as fast as it occurred, the colt fell back into silent slumber.
Far back in Ponyville a sleepless Twilight stared out into the star-filled night, sighing once at the recollection of past events she had just turned around when a bright light flashed, catching her attention. Turning back she saw it was just over Canterlot gardens, judging by her own intuition. However sleep beckoned her and guided her hooves quickly to her bed, her mind mulling the thoughts that it may have just been Luna herself playing around with the night sky. Nestling snugly in her blankets Twilight’s last thought on what tomorrow would bring, unaware of what had transpired.
~~~~~
Morning couldn’t come soon enough for the residents of the castle. Everyone had heard the commotion of an unconscious little colt found in the gardens by the guards and all were clamoring to see who it was. One guard, an Earth Pony by the name of Gamma stood outside the door, imposing his stature to all that encroached. One nurse poked her head outside and looked at Gamma with a half forced smile, nodding to him before disappearing into the spare room once more. The commotion reached uproar, many of the castle residents and workers shouting out questions to the guarding stallion, all of which merely gained his scornful glare.
“The colt is fine; he was just asleep when we found him. We’re investigating his home as we speak. For now all we can do is wait his waking. Now don’t you all have jobs to do?” The blue stallion questioned as his gaze shot out over the crowd once more. “Trust me; the gossip will reach you… that I don’t doubt at all.”
The door to the bedroom suddenly burst open as the nurse stepped out with a smile. “He’s fine, and waking up. Mister Gamma sir, you were the one who brought him in, I believe if anypony should see to him it’s you.” The nurse’s smiled widened as she stepped past. “And I doubt he’ll need anything other than his own answers… I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything about the horn though. I fear that’s an old malformation of his.” The nurse added, finally disappearing back to her work.
Gamma, one of the guard ponies from the previous night, slowly entered the room, his helmet still on and hiding most of his face. The blue Earth Pony stood silently next to the colt that lay in the bed, tossing in his inevitable waking with the Princess’s sun. The stallion tried to find the words suitable for the situation and mulled over his thoughts before the colt shot up in a panicked scream, sending Gamma stumbling back in shock.
The colt looked about frantically, as if a horrible terror had stricken him in the night, his eyes were beads and his breath ragged. It took a few moments before the colt started to calm down, Gamma stepping up finally with a cough.
“Do you know where you are little colt?” His voice was slightly rasped, having stood all night by the door to ensure no intrusions from cleaner or otherwise. Still Gamma’s voice carried depth and maturity that the colt instantly looked toward. Shrinking back a bit in the bed he laid upon, the colt shook his head slowly. “No, I kind of… fell asleep back home. Th-then I woke up here.” He stumbled over his own words still in a fit of bewilderment. After glancing outside the colt’s eyes widened in awe, gasping slightly at the gardens where he was found that lie just out the window. “This can’t be… Is this Canterlot?” The gray coated pony turned back to Gamma almost expecting immediate answer.
Gamma could only chuckle at the scene, nodding once in reply to the question. “Indeed it is. This is Canterlot, and I am Gamma Ray, one of the royal guards that protect this castle. Now, who are you?” He narrowed his eyes a little as he looked the colt over once more. “You obviously aren’t from around here if you’re this excited about being in Canterlot.”
The colt nodded a few times before slipping out of the bed, standing proudly on his hooves he looked up at Gamma before smiling rather widely. “I’m Dizzy Tracks! Most everypony just calls me Diz though. I’m from Seapple, that’s why I’m so excited mister Gamma.” The colt hurriedly finished his sentence and stared out into the gardens where he crashed, eyes wide in bewilderment. Gamma himself was in a bit of bewilder as well, Seapple? “All the way from Seapple you say? You know that’s about 3 day’s flight by pegasus carriage alone to here right? So you just popped over here with your teleportation 3 days flight away from your parents?” Gamma’s tone fell to a reprimand, watching the colt’s every move as Diz hurriedly ran back and forth between windows.
Dizzy stopped suddenly, turning back to Gamma with a puzzled stare. “Teleport? I can hardly use basic levitation with my twisted horn. Every time I try even the simple tricks like picking up a pencil my horn blows up in my face and random stuff happens.” Dizzy’s face looked down as he spoke of his shortcomings. Gamma didn’t truly understand the plight of a magic-less unicorn, however it did explain how such a young colt was able to use such powerful magic as teleportation, as a side effect.
Gamma tried piecing the puzzle together, not that there was much of one. Dizzy appeared the last night next to the statue of Discord as his team made their rounds, the colt had wily yellow eyes that next to never kept still as he looked around like a curious foal he was. Dizzy also had appeared in this fashion by a spell knocking him unconscious in the resulting explosion and also teleporting him as a side effect across the continent. No matter how Gamma tried to make sense of it all, it just seemed a bit too… “Chaotic?” Gamma shot up from his musings, his trained eyes scanning for the slightest motion. He heard a voice, but who's?
It was evening now of the first day of Dizzy Tracks’ arrival. The colt was busy pestering other guards about their job, as they’d all taken agreement to sharing the burden, and Gamma was busy mulling over things in his head when that voice spoke to him. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” He called to the empty room in front of him; a stern look took him over as his natural instinct as a guard came in effect. The voice spoke again, and Gamma could swear he was thinking it, but it was real.
“Who’s where? I’d introduce myself but you know full well who I am already don’t you Gamma Ray? I have to say though, I was aiming at the colt the first time, but you’ll make a fine little toy yourself as well.” The voice cackled inside of Gamma’s head, it was filled with malice, seething in malcontent. Gamma turned to the wall and closed his eyes. “Dizzy if this is a joke then I’m going to count to three and turn around, then open my eyes. If it was you then just stand there so I know this job isn’t making me crazy…. One.” Gamma started counting, right as an image popped into his head, against his will.
While its head was that of a pony the rest of it was rather far off from saying someone cut a bunch of pictures up and tried piecing them back together in the dark. One gryphon’s claw, one lion’s paw a leathery wing as well as a feathered one. A cervine’s horn and a ram’s situated atop its head. It was without a doubt the same creature that he stood watch near in the gardens. “Discord! But you’re gone!” Gamma questioned himself as the draconequus sat in a red bathrobe on a leather recliner. He held a brown hardback book in his lion’s paw and a mug filled with a hot liquid, possibly tea, in the other. The entire scene was set in front of a well decorated fireplace, Discord grinning towards Gamma in his mind. “Well you see Gamma; I’m not really as ‘gone’ as you would think. Am I dead? Aren’t I still trapped in that concrete coffin out in your gardens? Here’s a better question: How do you suppose I knew everything about everypony during my last release? Well now you know. See I may be trapped but I am still as free as a pegasus to do as I please. And it’s only a matter of time before I make my grand third return! Won’t it be wonderful? I just need to cause a little bit of a…” Discord paused a moment and sipped the tea in his claw, oddly enough it was actually the tea that was drank, not the cup. “A bit of a distraction is all. The colt will do just nicely for that.”
Gamma thumped his head quite audibly against the wall of the castle in thought, Discord was loose, but a prisoner still? Caught but roaming free? No matter how Gamma looked at it he couldn’t shake the feeling that Discord in his head was the real one, mostly on account he wasn’t trying to imagine the worst threat to Equestria in his mind at any point in his life. “So tell me then Discord, what makes you think I won’t go to the Princess about this? You just sold out your plan to a guard.” Gamma spoke softly to himself, whispering in a hurried manner while trying to keep an open mind to see Discord inside his conscious. It worked.
Discord had finished the tea before tossing the book in his hands into the fire, the words “Law & Order” written on the cover. Discord sat there, just watching it burn with interested eyes.
“I’m glad you’re not as stupid as I initially thought Gamma. That question is the one I was waiting for.” Discord seemed oddly calm in the matter, like he was explaining a life lesson to a foal. “See, Dizzy is a special case. He’s pitiable. A small colt, many days away from his home, a serious malady afflicting him, that and he’s not the most sociable pony either just makes him all the more endearing. Now tell me what you think would happen if you ran up to little Celly and said I was possessing him to make a comeback? You’d be laughed out of the room I’d suspect. That’s what makes this so perfect, and the reason I tell you? Well, I always did like reading Fetlock Holmes, and seeing the detective thwart Coltiarty after he revealed his plan was never my favorite part. I want to see the villain win for once.” Discord’s laugh resounded after his lecture, leaving Gamma none too fit for guard duty he had later that night.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Time passed, night was soon upon the great castle of Canterlot and Gamma heard Discord’s laughing the entire day now. He was immersed in his mind; every time Gamma blinked he saw some antic the chaos bringer was up to in the fabrications of his imagination. He was tormented, ridiculed, and berated about how little power he had in the situation. Even worse was that Gamma knew that Dizzy was in trouble and he couldn’t just sit back and let an innocent young pony be used as the toy he was. Wracking his brain Gamma continued to think, right up to his shift on guard duty.
Standing next to Gamma in the formation line were the two other stallions that made up his side of the watch team. It had become customary for teams of three to be formed so one could take a rest while the other 2 stood duty for some time, then they would rotate positions. The movements were brisk and uniform… most of the time anyway. Gamma’s team was one of the better renowned but mostly for the fact of who his partners were.
On Gamma’s left was Alpha Centurion, he seemed nondescript enough from the rest of the guard ponies. White coat, blue eyes, always a stern expression. Alpha was the youngest member of the group by far and was going through leaps and bounds to shove himself as far up the chain as he could without hurting anyone else in the way. He was ambitious but at the same time caring for his fellow pony, which was one reason he joined in Gamma’s team, often calling himself the conscious of the group. It was a little known fact but under the guard helmet Alpha hardly ever took off was a bright red mane that made tomatoes pale in comparison, a fact Alpha hated to be revealed above any other.
Then on Gamma’s right was the oldest member of the entire guard Beta Maxim. Beta wasn’t old enough to retire but he was close, and willingly took the position as a casual guard above a watch commander’s position for the simple reason, as he put in his own words: “I can run circles ‘round them new cadets, so I’ll be taking the front once more to show ‘em how it’s done!” Beta was wise in his knowledge of the castle, yet often forgetful of current events. He’d slip into delusions of the past quite often, mistaking some guards as old friends of his, and even some of the castle workers as former acquaintances from his ‘glory days’. Still the graying mare stood proudly with his dull helmet, the brush on the top mostly bare of bristles from years of wear and tear. He called it his lucky helmet and refused to be issued a new one.
While Alpha may be the conscious and Beta the wisdom, Gamma could only be described as the intuition. Even then, with what had happened earlier that day Gamma couldn’t truly live up to his implied trait in their group. Discord had begun to make reality twist every so often for Gamma, a worrying thought for the guard stallion.
There was good news, humorous and juvenile as it seemed Gamma had come to understand the limits of Discord’s power inside his own mind. About an hour before he mustered up for duty Discord was singing, rather horribly, about his first encounter with the Elements of Harmony. Gamma was so furious that he wanted nothing more than for a zipper to close Discord’s mouth. And lo and behold no sooner than her imagined it a zipper slid over the Draconequus and sealed his lips shut for a few seconds. Pulling the zipper open Discord could only stare in disbelief. If anything, Gamma knew one way to fight back at the bedlam in his mind now.
Still Gamma worried, if Discord could alter what he was seeing in reality now, what was that to say about what powers he had already regained not even a day after escaping, well pseudo-escaping? As Gamma pondered he never noticed the older stallion talking until he was hit with a rather hard hoof to the chest.
“Wake up maggot! For Luna’s sake Gamma you always zone out during briefing!” Beta’s voice was reminiscent of a drill instructor’s: Firm and confident that everyone else was mud. Gamma brushed his chest off and stared with antipathy at Beta. “You an’ I are on the first hour tonight, you’ll be takin’ the break once Alpha gets his rest in. Understood?” Beta never waited for a response and trotted off to his post with a stern look in his eyes.
Sighing in defeat Gamma nodded once to Alpha then proceeded to follow. That nagging voice popping into his head once more. “Oh come on! Who does that fossil think he is? You could totally take him Gamma. I think you should. It’ll be fun!” Discord taunted Gamma, making a punching bag with Beta’s face and helm on it. Discord took out a pair of boxing gloves and gave a quick right hook to the dummy, causing it to explode in a white dust that covered the chaotic being. Taking a claw he brushed some of the powder off before licking it experimentally and smiling. “Powdered sugar!” It was going to be a very long night.
A few hours had passed and Gamma found himself back at his original watch post for the night. It had been a particularly boring night so far, even Discord had made minor intrusions on the serenity of the scene. It was the sound of rushing hoof beats that broke the silence. Beta and Gamma both standing alert to the possible intruder coming from the darkness of the road.
~~~~~~~~
Earlier that evening Twilight found herself in a state of unrest. She had received a letter and was trying to make heads or tails of it. She was used to receiving mail all the time, but her mail usually came from the princess and delivered by Spike’s flame, this one was left on her table, Spike saying it was delivered earlier.
Packing a saddlebag with a few things Twilight hurried stepped outside, Spike trailing behind her. However in a flash Twilight had broken out in a full gallop heading towards Canterlot, the letter left on the table drifted down to Spike from the wind, the young dragon curiously looked the note over before staring in the direction Twilight left in with a bewildered look on his face.
