Prologue/ Chapter 1: Awakening
Stormclouds hung heavy over the Everfree Forest, lightning flaring in the depths of the thunderheads. The light of Celestia’s sun was blocked entirely by the titanic storm, the forest beneath as dark as night. Within the forest itself the creatures cowered in their meager shelter, even the most ferocious monsters frightened by something on the wind. There was a rumbling in the ground, as if something massive had begun moving within the stony earth; and indeed there was, gears built in ages past turning for the first time since their construction. The confines of the subterranean structure began to flood with light as power sources both mechanical and magical began their work. This continued for hours, impossible machines coming to life in preparation of their master’s awakening. In the very center of those depths, a figure upon a steel throne twitched as elemental powers filled him. As a single bolt of purple lightning struck in the far reaches of the forest, permanently leaving a corrupt scar upon the surface of Equestria, the figure upon the throne opened its eyes.
Two hands clenched upon the armrests of the throne; in the ruined earth of the lightning scar above, two hands dug at the earth. Two beings drew in shaking breaths and cracked their necks. Rolling their shoulders, each of the two looked down at their hands. The one below listened to the clicks of gears as the steel and silver of his left hand flexed; the one above smiled, showing a mouth impossibly full of sharp teeth, as purple veins pulsed in his bare forearms. As one, the two beings raised up their heads and laughed aloud, their mirth’s echo distorting the very air around them.
In far-away Canterlot, two other beings sat bolt upright, one from her bed, another shattering free of an ice sculpture of a tire swing. Discord’s body shook with unnatural seizures, and his eyes flashed a burning orange. As the shaking ceased, the God of Disharmony teleported outside the castle, staring blindly in the direction of the Everfree Forest. Though the orange light passed from his eyes, the draconequus could still see the other, its own fiery eyes shining as it took its first strides through the dark forest and towards its quarry. “Well, well,” Discord muttered, casting off his frilly nighty, “this could be concerning.”
Celestia was standing at her desk, her expression grim as she quickly penned a letter, her horn glowing as the quill rapidly scratched across the parchment.
“Ooh, are we writing a love letter?”
Discord’s voice bubbled up out of the quill, His face appearing on the side in a flash of light. Celestia dropped the pen in fright, prompting a groan from the draconequus as he returned to his true form, rubbing his head from the impact. The Sun Princess recovered from the scare admirably, spreading her wings and lowering her horn towards the God of Disharmony. “What have you done, Discord?” Celestia demanded.
“Nothing, of course!” Discord replied with a huff. “Surely you know little old me had nothing to do with what you felt in the Everfree Forest!” Discord vanished again, this time hopping out of one of Celestia’s ears to hover in front of her with a cane and bifocals.
“For someone who had nothing to do with it, that was an interesting guess, Discord,” Celestia shot back, “and you’re not as trustworthy as you try to seem.”
“Please, Celestia, are you still hung up on that little business with Tirek? You need to learn to move on,” Discord countered, but he had lost his smug tone. “This is far more of a bother than Tirek, anyway.”
“More trouble than all our magic being stolen?” the white alicorn questioned, following Discord’s gaze out of her massive bedroom window. The view perfectly framed the Everfree Forest, a massive storm roiling over the treetops. It was something within those woods that had woken the Princess of the Sun from her slumber: a massive discharge of Chaos. She had suspected Discord, as anyone would have, but something about the cast of the draconequus’ face as he stared at the storm began to set her doubts into motion.
“Something is in there, Celestia,” Discord said grimly, his usual demeanor gone. “Something that arrived in that storm. I don’t know what it is, but it woke both of us. The way it feels in the air, the way it smells…” Discord took in a massive breath of air and Celestia followed his example. To her surprise she did smell something on the air, something vaguely wrong. “It’s real Chaos, Celestia. Pure, undiluted, corrupt Chaos.”
These last words sent a shiver down the alicorn's spine, and she looked up at the tall draconequus. Discord turned to meet her gaze and his eyes shimmered with orange for an instant. It was too fast for Celestia to see, but sow enough for Discord to feel it. He blinked slowly to clear his mind, at least as much as one such as he could, then returned his gaze to Celestia.
“What should we do, Discord?” Celestia asked, a tremor in her voice.
“I haven’t the foggiest,” Discord replied, trying to hide the tremor in his own voice. In silence, the two looked back to the storm brewing over their mysterious foe and unknown ally.
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The man beneath the clouds walked implacably onwards, his grey coat flapping about him in the heavy gusts of wind. His white hair hung lankly out from beneath his hood and he kept his eyes fixed on the ground. Their faint glow illuminated his path, though he had no need for the light. As he walked, the pulsing from the new organ embedded in his chest lulled his thoughts away from his trek and back to the other side of the storm.
The man's master had been pacing for hours, staring into the portal and mumbling about the Hero. The man had understood little of it, his master speaking too quietly to be heard. At last, his master seemed to see something else in the portal, something that drove him to mad laughter. The man didn't share his master's amusement; he had only just returned from the Mirror Realm, and hadn't known of the Hero's betrayal. Still, there would be no rest for the weary.
"Listen to me, Scipio," Drakath had said, grasping the man by the shoulders. "You have another journey now. I may fall to the Hero, but this world is not the only one where Chaos dwells! There is another I can see, one where the only being of chaos is weak. You must go through and claim the world, my herald; become its Champion of Chaos, open its portal, and bring me through."
Scipio had merely nodded and walked into the portal after Drakath had embedded the chaos seed in his heart. Drakath had watched him go, and then flown off to Battleon to face the Hero one last time.
A deep growl stirred Scipio from his reverie. He threw up an arm just as massive jaws closed on it, splinters flying as sharp teeth tried to pierce Scipio's hardened flesh. The Herald of Chaos raised his head slowly, coming face to face with a timber wolf chewing on his forearm. His orange eyes bored into its green eyes, the two glows blending into a sickly yellow. With a yelp, the timber wolf tried to leap away. Scipio reached out faster and grasped hold of the creatures throat. Lifting it bodily from the ground, purple and green tendrils snaked from his arm into the sticks that formed the wolf, and a new eye snapped open in its forehead, the pupil moving randomly.
The timber wolf fell from Scipio's iron grip, landing on its back. It rolled over onto its feet, and bowed to its new master. "Good boy," Scipio rasped, patting his new companion on its head, "Lets go find your friends."
The Chaos Herald continued into the forest, his first chaorrupted minion loping eagerly beside him.
Author's Note
So, a couple of things. First, this is my first time writing fanfiction, so feedback is appreciated. That is, as long as it's either helpful or just compliments(not that I expect any, even if anyone reads this). Second, I wrote this in a day without an editor or proofreader, so there are likely a lot of errors. Third, this is mostly a side project for me, so I won't update it super often, if anyone reads it at all.
As a little clarification by the way, upcoming chapters will alternate between Chaos and Order. So, the next chapter will be about what Scipio is doing in the Everfree, and the one after that will be about what the Herald of Order up to in the Everfree. Chapters that feature both characters will be marked differently.
Finally, I'm so sorry for having such a long author's note on my first stories first chapter! You have my most sincere apologies.
