Balance

by thechicken95

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Alternate Universe
Length: 1662

Twilight learns a lesson from the last place she'd ever look.

Broken. Lost. Confused. After a failed attempt to defeat Discord, Twilight finds herself in a weird place. Never in her life would she have thought she would get a quick lesson from the very thing she's trying to defeat.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-02-17 06:14:31 UTC

Balance

I look around and see nothing. Just a dark void, waiting to swallow me up like I am sort of editable prey. I put my hoof on my chin. Where did everything go wrong?  Why did everything go wrong?  The spell that I cast would never have backfired. Alas I was wrong. I try to think back to the start, but my memory is fuzzy. All I know is that I am Twilight Sparkle, and my friends and I tried to stop Discord. Then after that. Nothing.

"Hello?"  I cry out, hearing the echo spread out into the emptiness. No response. I try to charge my horn to shed some light. It starts to work, as I feel the magic flowing from my body towards my horn, but the strain is too much for my body. I feel every muscle starting to tear. I grit my teeth.  This is just a simple illumination spell. Why is it so hard for me to create a damn spark!?  I collapse on the floor, the small spark extinguished. There is a small crackling sound, and I feel a quick chill flow down my spine.  Am I standing on ice?  I take a quick breath. I squint, and see a small patch of fog in front of me. Was it this cold before, or was it always this cold?

"Hello my darling."  My thoughts are shifted.  That voice. It sounds very familiar. The crisp sarcasm I can hear ooze from the void. It is also a little seductive. Discord.

"Well hello my dear. It seems that you've finally caught on."  I turn around, and meet the Draconequus face to face. Well, just his head anyway. It seems that he is twenty times larger than when I fought him in Ponyville. Then I notice something else. I look down and see that the ice is no longer there. Nothing is there. Am I floating, or am I caught by one of Discords spells?

"What are you doing here?"  I say, with a small quiver in my voice. I avoid eye contact with him, afraid that he might hypnotize me. I hear a small chuckle, and the Spirit of Chaos clear his throat.

"Oh Sparkle, don't be scared. This is my realm. I can't hurt you in here. Directly any way."

"Oh, that makes it so much better then."  I say as I roll my eyes. I hear another chuckle that turns into full laughter. Discord wipes a playful tear from his eyes and continues.

"You're too funny Twilight.  And trust me, I'm not going to hurt you. It seems that you've already done enough damage with that illumination spell. And here I thought that you were Princess Celestia's personal student!"  He says with wit, and bearing a sarcastic smile. Celestia?  Now where have I heard that name before?  I once again put a hoof on my chin and ponder. Again. Nothing. I feel my heart begin to race as sweat begins to form on my brow. The beads fall into the nothingness.  My eyesight begins to blur as I feel a sharpness in my brain. Almost like a steak knife cutting through.  I feel my heart skip a beat. Then another. And another. I clench my chest, gasping for air. Weakly, I look up at Discord. My eyes are pleading for him to do something. He just sits there. He speaks to me, but I can barely make out what he says. It's as if my hearing is fighting with all my other senses for control. Suddenly I feel a sharp flow of magic coming from my horn and spreading throughout my body. The chest pain stops. My hearing returns. I feel as if I could scale the entire Everfree Forrest in a single day!  I also feel something else return. All of my memories. My friends. My mentor. All of our adventures. They come back. I nearly fall over at the rate of which these memories are coming back to me. My brain nearly bursts with excitement. Then a question forms in my head. Why?

"Why would you do this?  You and I are natural enemies. Harmony and chaos can not exist!"  I stomp my foot in the air. I can feel hot air come from my nostrils each time I breath.

"You have much to learn young one."  Discord says, waving his index finger at me. I see him revert to his regular height, and he has me in a telekinesis spell. I try to break free, but it does nothing. I feel solid ground, and suddenly feel weight lifted off from me. I can move again. I look up at Discord, and he motions me to walk with him. I sit there for a moment glaring at him. Then I take a step forward. Then another step. When we start walking at a steady pace, he continues on. "Not only do harmony and chaos coexist with each other, they need each other."  I stop in my tracks.

"Need each other?  Now what kind of ridiculousness is that!?  The two are opposites. They are never meant to exist with each other. One wishes to create life. The other is meant to destroy life!"  I yell, my booming voice shaking the void.  I turn to the God of Chaos to see him do nothing but laugh. I feel my face tighten up and even more hot air from my nostrils. Clearly this fool doesn't know what he talks about.

"Like I said. You still have a long ways to go young one. The fact that the two are opposites makes it all the more prevalent that they need each other. One can not exist without the other my dear."

"That's not true!  If everything were good, then that would be well, good wouldn't it?"  I asked confused.

"Not necessarily."  I try to speak up, but he shushes me, putting a finger on my mouth. "Hold on until I'm finished.  Now, if there was all good, and only good then how could you combat chaos. Heck, how could you even tell what chaos even is?"

"Well I-I..."  My words leave my mouth jumbled trying to find a counter argument. I come up empty. I curse under my breath. He's right. I can't let him be right.  The gears in my brain begin churning to try and find a way for me to win.

"Seems like you're at a loss for words there Twilight."  He smile at me, and pinches my cheeks with his claws. I try to charge at him but he simply snaps his finger and I'm frozen.  My body stiff.   "As I was about to say; let's take a step back. If everything were, oh a true utopia that would still be bad. There would still be an imbalance and chaos would rise up to bring back balance. Same if the world was a dystopia. That's where I failed the first time. I failed to see that good would eventually rise up to take the crown from me."  I look at him in shock and awe. Discord admitting himself to be wrong?

"But then why are you attacking them now, or at all?"

"There is a thing called revenge Miss Sparkle. They turned me into stone for a thousand years, and I shall do the same to them."  I scoff at the notion. There has to be more reasons than just simple revenge.

"So it's that simple?  You're a God."  I say.  He rolls his eyes.

"Yes Twilight, it is that simple. Not everything has to be complicated as rocket science. It might seem petty to you, and in a way it is. However, petrifying me with the Elements killed me!  Not literally of course, but you can only dream of the boredom that I experienced. You can only do so much when encased in stone."  We sit in a long silence. Finally, he speaks up again. "I can tell that you're thinking about something."  He prods, flying too close to me than I would care for.

"Why did you tell me all of this?  You very well know that I could, and will, use this knowledge against you."

"Eh, like I said being trapped in stone for a thousand years makes you think about a lot of things. I also need a challenge.  Celestia has become too boring for me being only good.  I needed someone who while good, was corruptible as well. And that's were you come in Miss Sparkle."

"So all of this is just a game to you then?"

"In a way. I also know that if you do defeat me, I'll just come back any way. Might be in this same form, might be something completely different.  You can never completely get rid of me."  I look at him again. Then an idea comes to my head. I smile wily at him.

"While I might not be able to get rid of you, I can contain you for as long as possible!"

"That's the spirit!  Seems that you've learned a lesson after all.  With that, I bid you a farewell and good luck in trying to defeat me."

"Wait!  Where are you going!?"  Where am I going?  The void fades and I found myself suddenly surrounded by my friends, who are still grey.  We are standing in front of my library.  I see all sorts of chaos about.  Ponies flying upside down. Houses flying.  I return attention to my friends. I hear them argue. I turn around and see Discord, floating and laughing. I feel a fire inside. This fire is expanding. I need to stop the fighting.  "GIRLS!"  I yell to no avail. They are still arguing. Them something comes into my head. "GIRLS!  We are going back into the library to try and stop Discord!  The sooner you girls get in the sooner we spilt up!"  I stomp my foot, and the arguing stops. They all get a huge grin on their faces and rush into the library, nearly trampling poor Spike, who came out to be Rainbow Dashes replacement. I smile, amazed.  Never even thought about doing the same thing twice. I turn to wink at Discord, then I walk into the library with a plan already forming. I know how to stop Discord and to maintain balance.