Apprentice of a Chaotic Future.

by Frantic Author

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Adventure, Discord
Length: 4713

Equestria's past and future has never been set in stone. Ripples in time, and, nothing is the same.

Equestria's past and future has never been set in stone. A single pebble sends ripples through the fabric of time, and now nothing is the same.

An ancient being rules a kingdom with an iron, yet playful fist.

His apprentice questions her loyalty, both to herself and to her country.

An earth pony leads a revolution against a ruler who may be a tyrant.

A pegasus learns to fly on her own merit, but struggles to face reality.

A unicorn desperately tries to convince a dear friend that murder is not, and never will be the answer.

A farmer tries to find another way to live, and yet cannot even fathom why she has been left here.

A pony who loves nothing binds herself to the ground, desperately searching for a reason to exist.

And two princesses are trapped together in stone, communicating to the only one who can save them in the only way they can.

The board is set. The die is cast. Fates are never linear, and the cards lie through their teeth to get what they want. Who will live, and who will die? Who will fall and who will fly?

Dear reader, I apologize...

But that is not for you to decide.

Published 2012-05-30 08:04:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-10 06:00:57 UTC

Prologue

First pony fic, but hey, I like ponies. This idea hit me after the season 2 opening episodes a while back – but it stuck with me. It’s a “What if?”, a look at might have beens and could have happened.

This is the tale of the Apprentice of a Chaotic Future.

A purple unicorn trotted through the city, her nose buried deeply in a book. Her hooves gently pattered along, rising and falling into the dirt as she moved, and her ears twitched as she heard the whispers around her.

“Did you hear? She’s the apprentice of that one…”

She nearly jolted up from her book, wanting to send a withering glare his way, but refrained; remembering the words of her mentor. If she couldn’t deal with such simplistic abuse, she didn’t deserve an apprenticeship, right?

“How can she deal with that without losing her…”

Her mind was in one piece, thank you very much. Just because everypony thought that this life was miserable, doesn’t mean she did. She enjoyed it quite a bit, actually, she reflected as she swerved around one of the many obstacles inflicted on those walking the path to Canterlot Castle – ironically the original name of the place, which had a new name every other week, excepting Thursdays for having “Such a ghastly name for a day! I think we should call them Flursdays, or Twirvesday! Don’t you agree Twilight?”

“I hear she’s already insane…”

She didn’t need to respond to those, she’d heard an infinite variation of them, all of them as wrong as can be. Insanity isn’t what got her to be the apprentice of Equestria’s Ruler – having the “Most remarkable magic I’ve ever seen!” had. When you’re complimented by a creature who has seen (and created) just about everything, you tend to be pretty good at what you do.

She shook her head, disheartened by this lackluster show by her peers in Canterlot (temporarily renamed in honor of the castle’s current name), and continued on her way, swerving past a game of chess that was being played in the Upside Down Garden of Confections, her eyes darting quickly over as a Pegasus braced himself before moving the cotton candy king one space over, a small giggle escaping her as he was trapped inside the delicious piece. He should have known that on the odd days of the even months of the prime year, you have to push backwards to move anything. Honestly, she mused, did nopony ever listen at school?

She supposed not – otherwise her mentor might have more ponies working at the Castle, or at least more than a measly seventy three on the third Monday of the sixth month of the year, with only twenty two permanent members of the staff. She nodded absentmindedly to the guards at the gate, who stood stoically anyways, their candy cane spears sharpened to a fine point, deadly enough to pierce even the toughest ponies.

They had been trained since they were born (made, more accurately,) by the most dangerous and vicious ponies, who slowly but surely honed and fined them into true weapons of havoc and destruction. She didn’t care what her mentor said about her magical prowess, she highly doubted that she could stand up against the misfortune and chaos the mere presence of those awesome creatures – with eight legs and proud faces, they stood at seven feet tall, far higher than her small body could even hope to reach. Pointed faces and eyes that burned with green fire, they were clearly not something that occurred naturally. She did not look at them as she scurried past, she was far too enchanted by her book, and far too frightened of them to even consider it a possibility.

The castle was never a normal place to be inside, the twisting paths and curving roads proved that, Twilight mused in reflection as she walked backwards through the door to the Ring of Memory, in order to avoid the Cake Cannoneer that fired when you walked through with your front. Her eyes barely flicked upwards as she spun back round, and absorbed the scene before her, a one of tinged with familiarity.

Thirteen pillars rose above thirteen windows, and thirteen evenly cut statues stood proudly in between the pillars. Thirteen trees ringed thirteen bushes, and thirteen flowers grew from each bush, while thirteen apples sat, ripe and plump, on each tree. One red rug rolled down to the center, and split into thirteen, each a different color, each rolling towards one of the statues.

The thirteen were each a different creature – and as she looked around she saw a dragon, it’s face frozen in an icy stare, a griffon, forever captured with a look of shock, a changeling, a look of bemusement on its skeletal face, one of those eight legged beasts, staring confusedly ahead, a pegasus, soaring towards an invisible target, a unicorn, glaring defiantly as it strained against an unseen spell, an earth pony, looking hopelessly skyward. There were five others, but their appearances had been long since destroyed by time and wear. She ignored all of those though, in favor of the only statue in the room that held two creatures. The centerpiece of the Ring, the pinnacle of all the sculptures of the kingdom.

Artists wept when they looked at it.

Authors wrote novels about the looks in the duo’s eyes.

Romantics grew besotted at the mere sight, composing lengthy poems about their legacy.

But she felt none of those things as she turned, and sat beneath the statues, flicking another page over in her book, her eyes swiftly rolling through the words that were contained inside of it. She was so absorbed, she completely missed the approach of her mentor, and the subtle tune of its voice.

“Twilight, Twilight, you are soooo predictable! I swear, I could set the moon and the sun to the tune of your destinations!”

She did not react to the short speech, she had heard it a thousand times. She merely replied, saying, “Go away for a bit, would you? I’m trying to study.”

Most residents would be shocked at the casual way the purple unicorn addressed her mentor, the Ruler of the Five Kingdoms. Dragons bowed to the ruler, Griffons volunteered tribute, ponies sung the ruler’s praises. The eight legged beings from a far off land – she believed they were called the glifnir, applied to the army every year, just for the chance to glimpse this being. The changelings invited this one to come to their lands without fail, desperately wanting to renegotiate the Queenly Clause, that prevented them from ever nearing the everchanging realm of Equestria, and had been denied for over a hundred years by this being.

And right now, it was showing how very unruly it could be, glaring at Twilight with shock visible on its face, and shaking its head in amusement. “Twilight, I’m shocked! Shocked and horrified, that you would dare talk back to someone above your station!” It pouted, causing Twilight to move her book closer to her face, attempting to ignore the dratted thing.

“You told me to study! I’m just trying to follow orders!”

It glared at her. “I told you to have fun, not sit in this musty old room again. Honestly, what do you find so appealing about that statue anyway? It’s so… ghastly. Like Thursdays.”

She put her book down, and sent a vicious stare its way. “I like it. It helps me think.”

“They helped me think too. I thought for almost three seconds before I decided to turn them to stone!”

She proceeded to ignore it again, returning to her book, murmuring under her breath. “Starswirl the bearded, first proposed the thirteen orders of magic in the year 127 PDE, attempting to catch the notice of our glorious leader…”

“Oooh, that part’s about me isn’t it? Read it aloud would you, I want to hear about all my ravishing attributes.”

She slammed the book shut at that, and looked up at it, cross. “No.”

“Stop being difficult, you know you want to!”

“I really don’t! You keep interrupting my study time, and I just want to read right now!”

It pouted, twirling itself around her, a claw brushing her cheek, and she flushed, a shiver running up her spine at the very close proximity she was with her mentor. It worried her when it did these things, and she would not, no matter how much it taunted, give into them. “Oh do stop, you’re not like that, are you?”

She felt a soft heat near her ear, as it continued to speak. “You know you’re not, my faithful student.”

A jolt ran through her body, and she looked down, kicking the ground with her hoof in embarrassment. She didn’t want to deal with that, she was still embarrassed that it had decided to call her that when it had caught her studying in the Labyrinth Library when she had just been a filly.

“Come now, Twilight Sparkle. Don’t be such a worry wart, and have some fun.”

She sighed, and looked into its eyes, embracing the inevitable.

“Fine, milord. I’ll have some fun.”

It laughed, twirling itself free of her, and taking a bizarre pose, grinning as she giggled while it sat in midair, tipping an imaginary hat.

“Now now Twilight, I’m no lord! Although if I was one, you know what it would be of…”

“Lord of Cake?”

“Try again!”

“Lord of Hats and Hatlike Things?”

“So close, yet soooooo far!”

She bit her lip, pretending to think. She knew what he would be; she always knew what he would be. It was just that he enjoyed the game, and a very small part of her did as well.

“Oh, alright. Would you be…”

She looked up, into the red pupiled, yellow eyes of the being in front of her, its eyebrows waggling in expectation, waiting for her answer.

“The Lord of Chaos, Discord?”

It-he, grinned right back at her, eyes shining with mirth. Her guess was correct.

End prologue.
Here was my prompt for this:
Discord has remained the Chaotic Tyrant for more than a thousand years - defeating the power of the Elements in a most twisted way, causing their powers to backlash on the two who wielded them - Celestia and Luna. Discord reigns supreme in Equestria, and looks neither up or down at nopony, aside from one.

His faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

Should be a fun ride, right guys?

Notes: No, the pairing is not Discord/Twilight. Discord is unshippable with anyone but Discord.

There may be OCs, but I doubt they will feature majorly. I have a hard time reading stories that do that, and I'd rather not inflict them on you.

Can I get somebody to bounce ideas off of? I've got a lot of them for chapters halfway down the line. but almost none for the openings bits!

Thanks,

Fran

The Revolutionary and The Seamstress

I write inconsistently.

The Revolutionary and the Seamstress

It was a cold night, and she shivered slightly as a breeze wafted over her, her form sinking deeper into the grass as she did so. The grass warmed her by an almost miniscule amount, but it distracted her ever so slightly from the job at hand. Peering into the distance, a small grin covered her face, as she watched a single pony - unicorn, by the looks of the slight flicker coming from his horn – circle a barricade of silvery spikes, a flourish of red paint swirling around them, reminding her of those candy canes she always had as a child, and a dark look soured her face, memories and disconnected thoughts rising to the forefront of her mind.

She shook them free; now was not the time to think of broken hopes and ruined joints – no, now was the time for action. She moved slowly forward in the grass, approaching the unicorn with care. It wouldn’t do to have him notice her now, and sound the alarm, right as she reached for him, right as she finally completed the blissfully serene act of ending his meager existence. Her knife reached for him quickly and just when she thought his existence was ending –

He whirled, and a single shout ripped itself from his throat, even as the knife slit through him, and he tumbled to the ground, blood leaking from the wound in his neck like a fountain. She cursed, looking him over, and finding his damn Mark. A megaphone. He was a Shouter, specifically designed to lure out ponies just like her. This was no normal outpost, as her information had said. This was a Legion Outpost, an outpost that was always ready for battle, stuffed to the brim with battlehardened Legioneighers. She began moving back quickly, knowing what was coming.

A hundred, a thousand, maybe even ten thousand ponies poured out of the small barricaded area, each wielding a weapon of their own, be it held in their hooves or their teeth or by magic, and they all faced her, the singular pony in the field.
Or so they thought. She grinned wickedly, mockingly tilting her head at them, and inviting them forward. The world was quiet for a moment, and the chocolate breeze rolled along silently, the endless plains of candy grass silent as the hundred ponies faced the one.

And then they charged, and fell right into battle. For as they charged, the single pony fled, and a barrage of arrows rained down upon them, easily cutting through the flimsy armor and shieldless ponies before the unicorns finally comprehended, and threw up their shields. The group was in total disarray for several seconds, watching in panic as their friends fell around them, and they could do nothing to stop it. The arrows easily slid through the shields, and nothing could prevent them. The single pony who had fled, sitting underneath a cliff, had a brief moment of hope that it would be just that. Plain and simple, over and done with. But sadly, she was wrong. A tall white unicorn, with eyes like iron and a body that looked as if it could hold the strength of a dragon, grit his teeth, and lowered his horn, which pulsated with power. Sparks and crackles erupted from the tip, and the ground itself appeared to be twisting with the sheer magic he was summoning. The pony watched helplessly as the unicorn raised his head high with a cry, and a burst of magic erupted from him, sending arrows cascading every which way. This was no longer a slaughter – it was a battle. He raised his levitated sword in the air for merely a second, before cutting it down.

“CHARGE!” he roared, and the Legioneighers obliged, rushing forward. The pony had no choice. They could not be allowed to move closer.

She quickly got on her hooves, and hopped up the cliff with ludicrous ease, landing gently at the top of it, pulling out a small bag as she did so. She twirled once, then twice, and then let the bag go flying into the midst of the ponies, and smiled grimly as it exploded outwards in an array of color, creating a simple shape that signaled her side.
The rising sun.

Perhaps it was a bit of bitter symbolism – for the revolution never truly rose, it continuously faltered in its steps, and backed down at the most important moments. But she thought of it more as a sign of hope; that tomorrow can still rise, that hope can still exist.

Ponies poured out of either side of the rainbow topped woods, rushing across the candy plains with ferocious cries, and for a moment the armored ones were startled – but the Legion would never be startled for long. Drawing into a tight circle, the enemy quickly surrounded them, but the Legioneighers trained for these sorts of situations.

Thirteen unicorns circled in the middle, their horns all shining faintly as they whispered something that she could not see – for even with her eyes she could only see the thirteen.

She could definitely see; or rather, watch, as they finished their chant, and all of their horns sent out a beam of magic, thirteen of them gathering in the middle, slowly forming a shape. A circle of magic bobbed in front of the thirteen now, twisting and writhing like a nest of snakes, so they did the only thing they could do.

They released it.

The magic blew outwards, washing over the circular formation of ponies, and suddenly their strength increased tenfold, easily blowing back the more numerous and tactically advantaged ponies.

She cursed, turning swiftly and quickly running towards one of their last remaining hopes. She should have guessed they would use a chainspell, but she never would have considered doing a thirteen chain.

Chainspells were notoriously difficult in the first place. Everypony had to be focusing on the same goal, at the same time, say the same words, all in exact unison. Even a two chain is almost impossible for two normal ponies, getting thirteen who could all do that was nigh ridiculous.

The pony stopped running as she finally found who she was looking for – the archers. Gasping for breath, she quickly walked forward, looking left and right for the one pony who could save them.

“Darling, you look positively awful! What on earth happened?”

There she was.

The pony who had fled turned to the speaker, who spoke with just a hint of a regal accent, and gave her a small smile. The speaker was beautiful, far more beautiful than the runner. Her mane was stylized in a fantastic twirl, in such a way that accentuated her horn to perfection, and her tail was similarly twirled. Her coat was similarly magnificent – white as new snow. Her eyes however, while usually such a beautiful shade of blue, were sparkling with worry as she looked at the runner.

“Dear, are you alright?” asked the speaker, worry and slight revulsion in her voice.

The runner looked down at herself, and flinched. Her coat was covered in candy grass and caramel. That’s what she got for not checking for puddles.

“It’s alright Rarity. I’ll be fine,” said the runner, her eyes darting back and forth as she looked from the beautiful unicorn to behind her. “I need you to do that thing.”

Rarity looked startled. “Dear, are you su-“

“Do it.” The runner snarled, her voice filled with fury and her eyes burned with hatred. “Ponies are dying out there, Rarity! And you could stop it, if you just used that thing!”

Still, she paused. “Pinkie, dear, I don’t-“

The runner growled, fire and brimstone pulsating in her eyes. “Pinkamena. You know that Rarity. And you know that the only way we can save anypony is if you do that thing!”

Rarity tilted her head, but her eyes still shone with hesitance. “Are you absolutely certain, Pinkamena? If I do this, we can never go back.”

Pinkamena snorted, turning sharply forward to watch the battle. “If you don’t do it, ponies will die.”

The magnificent unicorn sighed, and tossed her violet mane slightly, while she tilted her head to the ground. “As you wish, dear.”

Rarity closed her eyes, concentrating. This spell was no simple task. It was layered very, very finely, and a single misstep would mean that she and everyone nearby would die.

…That would still probably fulfill Pinkamena’s request, but not to the specifications she wanted.

Rarity sent a pulse through the ground, looking for anything that she could use, anything that could be remotely useful. Her magic trickled through the ground like a fountain, coating it to its pores with Rarity’s magic as she searched and searched.

There. She had found what she was looking for – gems. A hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand gems, buried deep beneath the surface. Normally she would dig them out, but not today. Today was different, and it did not matter if the gems were a little ruined.

Rarity pulled the gems out of the ground, and the archers nearby jumped in fright as tens of thousands of gems burst from the ground, all completely saturated with Rarity’s magic as she pulled more and more out of the ground. The white pony was straining to grasp at the magic now, and she let out a gasp, looking at Pinkamena while sweat poured down her brow.
“That’s… that’s all I can manage dear. Terribly sorry.”

Pinkamena shook her head, giving the unicorn a quick grin. “No, that’ll do just fine.”

The pink pony’s eyes hardened. “Now… do it.”

Rarity tilted her head slightly, closing her eyes once more. Her horn glowed with even more power, as she lifted the massive amount of gems over the sky, and then sliced downwards.

The Legioneighers never saw what hit them.

Hundreds died in seconds, be they friend or foe, as the seemingly infinite number of gems rained down upon the battlefield. Screams of pain and suffering could be heard, even from the distance between the duo and the battle itself. Rarity’s face paled in horror as she watched, awestruck and revolted, while her gems (her gems!) slew more ponies than she had ever sold dresses to in her life. Tears began to grow in her eyes, and she started to turn, but Pinkamena dragged her back.

“No. Watch, Rarity. Those are Legioneighers, not people! This death is too good for them! Watch and understand that!”

Rarity watched, but she did not understand. All she saw were ponies dying, everywhere she looked. The gems seemed to never stop falling, shredding through armor like it was not even there, breaking through shield walls as if it was child’s play. She watched as a group of Legioneighers staggered to their feet, struggling to fight back, only to fall against the next onslaught of gems. The gems stabbed into the bodies over and over, as if it would change the world with the blood that it was spilling. It was horrifying. It was incredible.

And then it was over, just as quickly as it began. A cry of relief was let out across the battlefield, and many Legioneighers slowly staggered to stand.

Pinkamena turned away. “Rarity, toss the second wave.”

Rarity’s eyes were covered with a film of wetness, but she nodded anyways, preparing to do so when, suddenly, a cry came up over the battlefield.

“Wait! Do… do you see that?!?”

Rarity looked up, and gasped as a streak of rainbow flew directly over her, headed straight for the battlefield. Pinkamena shrieked in rage.

“No no no! It was going so well! She can’t ruin everything, she just can’t!”

The streak trekked over the sky, moving faster and growing thinner as it reached the epicenter of the battlefield, and a victorious cheer rose from the Legioneighers, even after so many of their number had fallen.

“It’s her! It’s really her! ”

Rarity felt her control over the spell waver for a second, then shatter as an explosion burst through the sky, circular rainbows flying outwards. She watched in complete awe as the streak suddenly flipped around in mid-air, and flew towards the battlefield with a laugh, cutting a swathe through several rebels advancing on the remaining Legioneighers. Rarity let out a gasp and Pinkamena let out a curse as the rebels all fell as one, and the streak flew up into the air again.

“Hahaha! You think you can beat me like that?! Get a hold of yourselves! Legioneighers, show them what a real army is, with a real commander like me! The amazing Rainbow Dash!”

The Legioneighers roared their approval, moral restored by the sudden appearance of the rainbow creating pegasus, who was killing several rebels every time she flew towards the ground, her laughter echoing throughout the candy plains.

“Who… who is that?” Rarity asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“That,” Pinkamena said bitterly, turning away from the battlefield. “Is the captain of the Wonderbolts, one of only seven creatures in the world to create a Sonic Boom.”

She shook her head, shaking with fury as she looked at Rarity with tears of rage in her eyes. “That is Rainbow Dash, the Sonic Scythe.”

Rarity turned to look at the battlefield, and gasped. Rainbow Dash was arcing down, slicing up at least ten ponies every time she moved, and when she reached the apex of her swing, she’d merely move slightly over, and go again. She was like a guillotine, except all that awesome might was contracted into such a tiny package. Rainbow Dash carved up at least a hundred rebels in a minute, and their bodies flew all over the battle field, but still the rebel army refused to scatter, holding their ground even against Rainbow Dash and the newly invigorated Legioneighers.

“Oh come ooooooon rebels! Is that all ya got!?!”

Rainbow Dash was flying in the middle of the battlefield, casually floating in her armor. She carried no weapons that Rarity could see, but then she noticed the pegasus’ wings.

The feathers were not feathers. Each feather was a finely honed razor, carefully fitted to the armor that Rainbow Dash wore. The pony could fly down and carve up the entire army if she chose to, it was immediately obvious. She just didn’t want to. Although… that might have not been correct.

She just didn’t feel like it.

Rainbow Dash snorted, and flicked some hair out of her face. “How lame! Legioneighers, remember that spell they threw at ya?!?!”

Cries of fury rose from the ground, bloodlust and hatred reverberating through the valley.

“How about…” Rainbow Dash said as she punched the air, “We show ‘em some real magic?!”

Pinkamena started. “No… She couldn’t have…”

But then the shout went up. It wasn’t a shout, however. It was more of a chant. A chant that made anything that Rainbow
Dash had done pale in comparison.

“STORMCRASHER! STORMCRASHER! STORMCRASHER! STORMCRASHER!”

Dash laughed, doing a twirl in the air, lazily flying around. “Are ya sure? Do they deserve Ol’ Stormy himself?”

“STORMCRASHER! STORMCRASHER! STORMCRASHER! STORMCRASHER! STORMCRASHER!”

The pegasus inclined her head in respect, and shot straight up into the air, climbing higher and higher until she was barely a speck in the clouds. She did not come down, for this was part of what would happen next.

Lightning slammed to the ground, and the tallest pony Rarity had ever seen appeared like a silhouette in the wind, standing tall and proud on the cliff. He raised his head, and magic poured out of his horn, and arced upwards, following Rainbow Dash higher and higher into the clouds. His horn was bursting with power, and he just kept going. Rarity wasn’t sure where he pulled that sort of strength from – it seemed physically, and mentally impossible!

And that’s when the Sky Crashed.

All that magic, all that sheer power, was pouring into Rainbow Dash, who, in turn, poured it into her speed, which naturally exploded at the sound barrier. And this time, the Sky could not take it, and it fell.

Rarity watched in awe as Pinkamena did in distaste. The Legioneighers had scattered the instant Rainbow Dash had begun her ascent, but the rebels watched dumbstruck as the Sky itself rushed towards them, a hundred tons of cloud and lightning bursting at the seams as it fell on them. It was like an unstoppable force, the electricity crackling and exploding outwards as it moved. The cloud layer itself had hardened into something like iron, and nopony would want to be underneath when it hit the ground.

Then the screaming started. The screams of the dead and the dying, slowly burning alive in an endless inferno of pain and misery. Rarity covered her ears, but Pinkamena just turned away in disgust.

“C’mon Rarity,” she said, self-loathing evident in her voice as she walked away. “We lost this one.”

Rarity hesitated for but a moment before following the aggravated pink pony.

And in the background, all she heard was screaming.

I think this makes up for the wait! Maybe!