The Seeds of Chaos

It was faint, but unmistakable. A distinct glow was being emitted, blood red in color, pulsating from scarcely visible to a weak but telling glow in stark contrast to the whiteness of the stone it came from. If one stood perfectly still in the dead of night, one may have even heard a light ba-bump in a slow, rhythmic pattern. Indeed, one did stand perfectly still in the dead of night. She watched the glow, and heard the sound. She took a few steps closer and squinted her eyes, as dark as the skies above. What in Equestria could that be?

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. It was steady and unending, a regular beat that seemed to coincide with the light. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. The unyielding pattern, both sound and light, seemed to be… Almost inside the stone rather than on it, or near it. They seemed to come from the very core.

Her hooves clicked on pavement, going closer to the source of the light. The lavender unicorn had been a ways away when she first heard the noise, thought she caught the first glimpses of light. Surely though, surely nothing in Canterlot Gardens would do such a thing? It seemed so strange and unnatural of an occurrence, something that could’ve occurred in the Everfree forest, but not in the regulated gates where she stood now, so near the Palace.

She had arrived there with her friends a few days prior. Rarity had thrown her birthday party in the Canterlot Palace Ballroom, after her poor Opal coming down with an illness rendering them unable to travel. Fluttershy had been so proud of the little dear’s recovery, it had only taken a few hours for the cat to go from a shivering mess to her normal self, though she’d seemed a tad spiteful with her owner for reasons no one quite understood. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had taken little notice of the surprising recovery. Twilight herself was the only one that sensed something had been amiss, but decided not to act on it. She’d still had a wonderful time after all, and Rarity had made her that lovely ever so plain, practical dress.

That dress was what really had spoken volumes to Twilight though. As much as she adored practicality and simplicity, she knew for a fact that Rarity didn’t. Rarity was larger than life itself, and so was her work. Twilight had trouble believing that the white unicorn would suddenly alter her style, especially after such grandiose promises of an elaborate ensemble. Secretly, the lavender pony found herself somewhat annoyed. Did she like the dress? Sure, it was quite nice. But it wasn’t Rarity, it wasn’t right. Overall, the situation seemed wrong. Twilight felt… Almost blown off.

It had been a couple days now since everypony else had gone home. Twilight, however, had decided to stay in Canterlot for a little longer, catching up with her brother who had been away from even Canterlot during the actual birthday party. He was such an important pony now, Twilight remembered, but he still made time for his little sister. The thought brought a smile to her face, even as she followed the light, and now the sound which had gotten louder as she got closer to what she assumed her destination would be.

She took a look around. She’d entered a different part of the garden than she’d ever been in before, which surprised the mare. Twilight had explored almost every nook and cranny of the Palace during her time under Celestia’s direct tutelage. This area could’ve been added in the past months, she supposed, but still found it strange. The garden was rarely altered in form. The lavender unicorn wondered if it was some of Luna’s doing, but found that to be an unlikely thing. From what Celestia had said of her sister, she hadn’t been much of a gardener.

Something about this area felt… Off, somehow. Twilight caught herself almost tempted to turn around, forget the light, forget the sound, forget it all, but a combination of curiosity and another feeling she couldn’t quite place made her press onward. Suddenly she realized that the light seemed to be getting distinctly brighter, and the pulse of light and sound was most definitely getting more rapid, closer together. It sounded something like a heartbeat, the mare noted.

She lost track of the light for a moment, as a large hedge came into view. She could swear that hedge hadn’t been there before… Or had it been? Surely it had been. Hedges didn’t just pop up out of nowhere. /Why not? Why shouldn’t they? Maybe the hedge likes it here, it thinks this is just a perfect place to grow and wants to grow right here./ The thought was silly, but caught Twilight off guard. /Hedges can’t just grow willy-nilly. Then no one could have a proper garden. Imagine if plants just grew wherever they pleased. We’d have chaos./

Twilight stopped abruptly in her tracks as she rounded the hedge.

The light was undeniably brighter now, not just a maybe, and the sound was loud, touching her somewhere deep.

Perhaps most disconcerting, it came from the statue of Discord.

In that second, Twilight knew she shouldn’t be there. She knew she should turn around, and go tell the princess what she had just seen. The palace could double security and get some guards on duty in this area. Thinking about it, she noticed there’d been surprisingly few sprinkled around at all, especially here, in the deeper part of the garden. But if she told Celestia, she could go home and forget this ever happened unless her mentor needed help handing the situation. It would be so much simpler. It only took a few moments of thinking before the lavender mare realized that despite knowing exactly what she should do, it simply wasn’t what she was going to do. At least not without doing a little of her own investigation first.

She felt like an outside force had taken over her body as she moved forward, her legs stepping on of their own accord despite her internal misgivings. Discord was a bad thing, a bad creature. He was the embodiment of Chaos and all manner of disorganization, her exact polar opposite. She was of order, not disorder. She was of structure, not disarray… Right?

Something about this felt familiar, and an odd sense of Déjà vu overtook her. Twilight realized she was now directly in front of the statue. The pulse throbbed through her entire body, louder and faster than ever before, and the light was a bright, blood red hue. As if in a trance, the mare raised herself onto her haunches, and reached her hooves out to touch the light. They connected with the stone.

Everything stopped.

The light was gone, the sound was gone.

All Twilight could hear was the pounding of her own heart in her ears. The spell was broken. Whatever had possessed her to… To just reach out and touch the statue of a creature she herself had helped lock away, was gone now.

The unicorn sat back down in the ground before the statue, breathing heavily.

“This doesn’t make sense.” She murmured, magically wiping away the sweat that had accumulated on her brow.

“Oh, what fun is there in making sense?”

Twilight blinked. That voice. She knew the voice. Where had it even come from? She’d heard it, she knew she’d heard it. But where had it…

There was a chuckle, an all too familiar chuckle that froze her to the bone. This was impossible, improbable, unthinkable, of all manner of unlikely and unusual occurrences this must be the least likely to happen and yet…

“Oh, it’s been far too long, my dear. Left old Discord encased in stone for quite some time, you did. But you’re here now, Twilight Sparkle.”

/Inside./ She realized, her eyes wide with fear and awe. /He’s in my head./

“Quite right, Twilight. You always were such a bright one, after all. I’m not surprised you figured it out already.”

/Inside my head. How.../

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. Are you really so surprised? You couldn’t possibly think locking me away in a little stone would keep me away from such a curious pony like yourself.”

Her breathing rate rapidly increased and became far more shallow. Twilight’s heart pounded in her ears, unable to make any sense of the situation.

“Discord! But you... You’re encased completely in... You can’t still be... We defeated you months ago! You can’t possibly...” The unicorn stopped talking, and shook her head violently. What was yelling at a hunk of stone going to do? Even if this stone was talking and had a what seemed to be a distinct heartbeat... He was imprisoned. He wasn’t going to hurt her or her friends anymore. She heard him chuckle.

“Now Twilight, don’t lie to yourself. Sure, I may be encased in stone now, but that hardly needs to be a permanent condition. Moreover, now that you’ve come by, I’ll be much more free than I was before.”

Twilight blinked. What had she done? Had she somehow broken the spell the elements placed over him, or at least a part of it?

“There you are, Twilight Sparkle! You’re the magic, aren’t you? The binding agent of all that ‘lovely’ harmony.” His voice oozed sarcasm as he spoke the word lovely, showing he really believed it was anything but, thought for some reason he decided to still humor the unicorn. “So it’s only natural that you’re the agent who can unbind it as well.”

She stood as still as the statue before her. How had she... There was no way she’d broken the spell. Was it when she touched him? Or...

“Now, now. Don’t get yourself in such a tizzy, Twilight Sparkle. You have limited power in the unbinding. All of the elements have to agree, and I doubt we’ll be getting their approval any time soon. No, you cannot free me entirely. At least, not for long.”

The unicorn felt herself relax. Mostly, at least. Something about it irritated her. For a moment, she’d had total control of the situation. She could free or encase Discord as she saw fit. Not, of course, that she would ever even slightly entertain the notion of freeing him, but just the same. She /could/ if she so chose. It was her choice, not a choice belonging to tons of other people. even just her six best friends, that meant she’d have to organize votes and make sure their schedules all lined up and all the other work that went into making a choice... That... What was she thinking? There was no choice to be made.

“Well of course there’s a choice, Twilight. There’s always a choice.”

It hardly seemed fair that he could just access her thoughts like this. He knew just what to say to make her question... Well, no, no, not that there was anything to question (She continued to hear him insisting there was), but just the same. He did provide an interesting viewpoint, a unique one she couldn’t find in anypony else, save maybe Celestia but-

“I’m older than her, Twilight.”

He was, wasn’t he? He was older than even her mentor, Celestia. Older than anything could or should be, and yet for some reason was. He knew things nopony else could, because he was so old, so ancient, so lonely... /A lonely old draconequus./

“The last one of his kind.” Discord added. By the way he spoke, the unicorn could almost feel him grinning.

His words echoed. They were so familiar, as if she’d heard them before, as if she’d lived this moment previously... For some reason, an image of roses came to mind, a scent she recognized from something she couldn’t quite put her hoof on, sweat and cotton candy. Twilight focused harder, struggling to grasp whatever it was that was just beyond her reach. She felt Discord almost reveling, but seeming reluctant to do so. It was as though he wasn’t even sure he wanted her to get whatever she was getting to.

Her curiosity was getting the better of her.

“I can show you, Twilight.”

The mare blinked, and looked at his statue.

“I can show you that, and so much more. I’ve learned all sorts of powerful magic, things I couldn’t teach you in ten life times! Things that could make your very soul bleed, but things that could bring-” Twilight cut him off.

“Bring me to the highest reaches of happiness.” She murmured, finishing the sentence. Fractured pieces of a memory she couldn’t have, that couldn’t have existed. Sensations she was so sure she’d never really felt before. She felt herself becoming excited against her will. The statue before her now seemed to be more of a taunt than anything else, standing in the way of her and what she wanted. She wanted him, she wanted him out, she wanted him with her for reasons she didn’t understand.

Thoughts flew through her mind, rapidly recalling that day, the repressed piece that was just now resurfacing. Discord had gone strangely silent during this most recent occurrence.

Something about this made Twilight angry. How could he have... How could she have let him... But she knew, because she knew herself. She’d had so much sympathy for him. In reality, she still did. More than that though, she wanted answers. Answers she was only going to get from one source. She needed him out of stone. In an instant, the spell came to her, and she began to flow magic into her horn then out into the heart of the statue.

For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen, and then suddenly the stone cracked and fell apart. The lavender unicorn maintained the magic in her horn, glaring furiously at the form before her, who seemed entirely shocked.

Discord moved his mouth a couple times, as though he couldn’t quite speak yet. He was still stunned. He glanced around, perplexed.

Twilight took a step forward, eyes flashing and horn glowing dangerously. Anger flared through her entire being.

The Draconequus stood, perplexed for another moment, before he grinned and began to laugh.

Comprehension entered Twilight’s eyes, and she took a step back. She, an element of harmony, had just broken all order. She had once more loosed chaos on the pony world. She stepped backwards, terrified, as she watched Discord come towards her before the entire world went black.