Chaotic Neighbors

Twilight saw Lady Kunai’s Face contort into an expression of surprise less than a second before a red blast of energy slammed into her midsection.

The Shiny Gardevoir flew across the docks through the crowd, and sea vessels alike before rag-dolling over the ground and being viciously forced through the stone of a multi-story dock house wall by a second blast of red energy.

The subsequent explosion blew out the windows and collapsed the structure atop her and blanketed the docks in thick dust.
The shrill screams rising from the crowd were drowned out by a Marshal cry of “CENTURIONS!!!” originating from Michelle. Her almost ever-present smile had vaporized and replaced with a neutral gaze. At her call the silver-clad Centurions exploded into action. The dust was cleared in seconds of the collapse by disproportionately powerful gusts of wind from dozens of Centurions that appeared from nowhere. Faster than Twilight could register the delegates were at the collapsed building helping the Centurions dig out rubble with hoofs, talons, and all sort of magic to save the ponies who were crowding the upper levels of the collapsed building. All this had happened before Twilight’s panicked group could so much as scream “Discord!!!” The Draconequus in question Vanished in a cloud of rice noodles to simultaneously dodged the flying tackle from a Griffin Centurion and dispatching the centurion in one move, tho not for long as the tangled Griffin flowed through her tackle into a role and flip to stand despite the noodles actively trying to fold her into the fetal position.

Twilight's attention was drawn to Discord appearing above the crumpled building as several ponies started to join in the effort to dig away the rubble. Reacting before things could get worse Twilight teleported in front of Discord and erected a shield between him and the crumbled building. “Discord what are you doing!!!” One snap later and Twilight was trapped in her own shield turned bubble, another snap found all the equestrians, both those trapped in the rubble and those helping, sent to the hospital and other side of the street respectively, the only exception being the Centurions and delegates who seemed to get splashed with a plethora of colours. Discord then generated an orb of magic and hurled it toward the rubble. A second round of screams rose up from the equestrian bystanders. Immediately the collapsed building was engulfed in a spear of hellish red light that drowned out the mid-evening sunlight.

Twilight thought she knew the power of Chaos Magic. The suffocating display of concentrated Chaos Magic in front of her was sufficient shock to remind her that she still had a lot to learn.

The energy exuded by the spear made the sample of chaos Twilight was subject to the day of discords escape seem like ‘he was just… playing, Around’ she realized. She realized this in the midst of staring at the spherical spell that atomized everything within its radius. The spear of chaotic magic was still raging when mouth agape, Twilight slumped to the bottom of the shield. She’d just watched Discord kill a foreign Princess, her guards, and Delegates right in front of her.

“Believe me twilight, this is for the best, that this was-” Twilight wasn't listening. How could she? Listlessly she watched the magic rage on. ‘He killed them’ ran rampant through her mind. Twilight, of course, knew what Discord was capable, or she thought she did. She thought she'd experienced it first hoof when he escaped, but she never thought he was capable of this. ‘What… what's happening. This can't be happening.’

“-light? Twilight!? Are you even listening to a word I'm saying, hello is anyone home?.” playful expression in hand, (quite literally) Discord reached forward to tap Twilight on her head. The movement snapped her out of her mental break, she recoiled from his touch and scrambled back and off the now flat shield she was sitting on before being caught from behind. Twilight panicked and twisted her head around to see Rainbow, relaxing she was gently lowered to the ground before almost being knocked off her feet by a gust of air that preceded the passage of a particular petite Pegasus. Twilight watched Fluttershy with tears streaming down her face fly up to Discord and proceed to blubber indecipherable.

“What the buck is going on Twilight.”

“I don't know Rainbow, but something's gotten into Discord we need-” Twilight had turned around and was frozen by what she saw.

The Centurions were clawing their way out of the spear of pure chaotic disintegration. Chunks and clumps of what was definitely super-thin form-fitting armour ripped, melted, warped, and fused to their flesh most with visors shattered or broken out. What parts of the armour were missing had flickering and fading shields struggling to protect the body suit clad being inside. Falling to the ground and moving away from the sphere they shed their damaged suits and scrambled off toward the yacht across the docks, those capable of flight or teleportation ferrying others once a set distance away. Twilight watched many of them create portals allowing others through. This, of course, did not escape Discords notice, Twilight looked up in time to see the Draconequus in question staring in a mixture of shock and fear at the ball of destruction he created as the Centurions clawed their way out. Twilight could feel the destructive energies radiating off the ball of... of, of pure chaos. All her magical senses screamed indecipherable nonsense at her because it was destabilized beyond what she could possibly comprehend. Her exorbitant vocabulary failed her as she struggled to conceptualize what she was seeing, the strain grinding away at the walls of her sanity. AND THEY WERE CRAWLING OUT!!! The spear exuded so much raw power that she had no doubt even the rats in the Griffonstone sewers could feel it AND THEY WERE CRAWLING OUT OF IT LIKE SAND!!!

The surface of the spear distorted as several amber chains of crystal twice as thick around as a hoof shot out and lance through the cobblestone. Twilight watched an amber briolette bigger and taller than a small house started to pull itself out of the unstable magic. Inside the crystal was Belladonna and Leccy alongside Michelle who was being supported by Lady Kunai. With the exception of Lady Kunai, they all had form-fitting shields flickering and failed across spots of their body. Michelle had it worst of all, Two of her legs were missing, one below the elbow and the other at the shoulder leaving wounds reminiscent of pulled pork if the pig was still alive during the process. Spots of her coat were missing along with the underlying skin flesh and parts of bones in some cases. She was blankly staring off into the middle distance,

Twilight couldn't comprehend how she was still conscious. Belladonna's body was completely encased in a thick layer of the crystal leaving her with nothing worse than helmet mane. Leccy was heavily leaning against the crystal. All the shorter black fur and its underlying skin looked like someone went over it with a cheese grater leaving her face and legs flowing with blood, her shredded eyelids exposed her destroyed eyes leaking vitreous fluid. Within in the crystalline structure, they stood, Kanai's free hand resting on Belladonna’s back and encased up to the elbow in the amber crystal. Twilight saw Kanai's mouth move before Leccy stumble over to lean against her and Michelle. They all vanished and reappeared decimeters in front of Twilight. Twilight shrieked and recoiled at the pungent scent of blood and gore. Belladonna now crystal-free ran off toward the anchor holding the briolette in place. Kunai immediately lowered Michelle to the ground and pressed her hand to the earth ponies side. Twilight watched the dangling flesh from her stumps begin to writhe about before, right in front of Twilight’s eyes bone grew to replace what was lost, Twilight watched veins, muscles and ligaments sprout like grotesque plants before skin crawled over the wound followed by fur barely pushing up from her bare flesh. This was happening all across her body, bones reconnected, muscle grew, damaged organs could be seen regenerating through gaps in the flesh that were hurriedly covered as skin rushed to over her all within seconds. More than enough time for the grotesque sight to permanently burn itself into her memory.

Twilight herd a splattering sound to her side. turning she saw rainbow dry heaving over a puddle of sick. Her attention was drawn to what lay behind her friend. Belladonna transitioning from a low glide into a wing first dive that severed the hoof thick chain in a single blow before she took off toward another chain.

A deep wosh of distorted wind hailed the reappearance of the re-armoured Centurions, some of who made swift work of the remaining anchors sending the crystal formation back into the chaotic maelstrom. Seconds later the magical spear began to collapse in on itself. When done the crystal was solid, fading swirls of colours contained within. When it crashed point first to the ground Discord was surrounded by Centaurians who kept their distance. Between those in the streets, purchased on buildings, and hovering in the air Twilight was sure this was the entirety of their guard detail. Their new armour was considerably different. Gleaming silver was replaced with a foggy grey. Where there were golden visors was now smooth featureless metal, and the stinger on the end of their tails now seemed longer, more dangerous and gleamed a furious crimson. Twilight watched movement among them slow, their wing beats faded into stillness. They seemed to be standing motionless in mid-air with wings flared. But now nothing was happening everything seemed to slow as the world calmed as the resonance of an unnaturally deep tone filled the air. The only exception to this was Discord who seemed to become more agitated as time passed. Even the ponies watching from on yonder seemed to become more sedentary as the world relaxed. Lazily looking around Twilight dimly noted rainbow dash zoom in and drag Fluttershy away.

“What are you doing! STOP IT!!!” Eyes lidded Twilight calmly turned to see Discords twitchily pointing at the centurions at random. She didn't understand. Why couldn't he just relax and enjoy the calm? The stillness. the Ò͞R̛͟D̡̕E̴̶̢̛R̵͟҉. Twilight blinked. That's what was wrong. Discord was spazzing out because there wasn't any chaos to cause. Twilight sighed and shook her head sluggishly. The motion seemed unnecessary. So she stopped. Discord would just have to get used to it. Twilight yawned. Again the motion seemed unnecessary. So he stopped. Twilight was feeling sleepy. Twilight blinked. T̵̷̡͟͞w̕͏̷̸̕i͠͠҉͢l̶̵͘í̕͠͞g̢̛͜͝͡h͠͏̡͠t̵̷̡ looked around for somewhere comfortable. Unnecessary. Stop. Calm. T̴̕w̛͡͞I̧̕l̷̨͘͠i̴͢͟͝g͜͡h͏̸̸͟͞t̴̸͜͏ noticed Miss Belladonna trotting over to her. T̵̷҉̀͘ẃ̵͘̕͠I͘͜҉l̶͝į̶͘g͘͜͞H̴̀͝҉t̕ her feathers looked to be in perfect O̢̢̨R̴͜D̡҉͝E͏͜R͏͝. a place for every feather and every feather in its place. Her mane could use a bit of reordering tho. none of the hares were parallel they curled and bounced disgustingly. Tho Ţ́W̶͘͡I̛͏L̡̛I̶͞͏G̴͜͏̛͟H̵̕͜T҉̛̛͝ supposed it could be pardoned. After being trapped in the F̡͠͡͝I̴Ĺ͝T̴̨H͢҉̕Y͜͞ ̶̀̀͢͞spear of Destructive T͢͡W͏̕͝͝I̢͟͞͡͡l͢i҉́̕͡g̢̡H̕̕͝t̶͢ chaos. T̷͘W͘͢͝I̷̴̴̡l͘i͜͟g͟͜͏̧H̨̢͜T̴̵̡͘̕ wondered if Belladonna would let T͏́͢W͟͜Į̴l̷̵͠i͝G̛͘͟͢͝H̶̕T̛͡ -

“STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP IT.”

Discord T̶͠W̸̧͘͏I̵̵̡̨͟l̢̢͠I͏̨͟҉G̵̨͞͡H̴̴͠T͠͞͏҉͘ was screaming again. Maybe T̶͠W̸̧͘͏I̵̵̡̨͟l̢̢͠I͏̨͟҉G̵̨͞͡H̴̴͠T͠͞͏҉͘ could ask him to be Q͡͠U̵̷͢Į̧̕҉́T͏E̛͘͞͠ ̶̧́͢͞ . Quieter. More Ţ́W̶͘͡I̛͏L̡̛I̶͞͏G̴͜͏̛͟H̵̕͜T҉̛̛͝. O̸̵͟͢͝Ŗ́D̷͏̕͞Ȩ̶R̀̕͞L̶̛͠Ý̵̷҉.

Twilight felt something on her shoulder and her mind rushed to catch up with what was happening. Turning to see Belladonna her eyes snapped back to Discord and she rushed towards him “Discord!” Mind racing Twilight analyzed the situation

‘It’s obvious the centurions were doing something, but they weren't moving, actually, everything still felt perfectly calm and orderly-was that it.’ Reaching out her senses she found a glass-smooth pond of magic surrounded by the numerous ripples and waves regularly associated with normal interaction with the magical field that permitted the world. But the waves were all broken and smoothed into a featureless plane by the Centurions, and by extension whatever they surrounded. The magic became unnaturally calm where it met in the centre, exactly where discord was clutching himself and whimpering on the ground. Twilight could see the roiling mass that was his magic being forcefully ironed out. It was brutal to watch.

‘He brought this on himself’ a traitorous part of her whispered.

‘He tried to kill their princess! who even thinks of that!?’ it argued. But Twilight knew that regardless of the justification she couldn't let this continue. Despite everything, discord was her friend and she was going to help him.

She tried shaking him out of it to no avail, when every physical means of relocating him failed due to his size she turned to her magic, unsure what result trying to use magic in this unnatural stillness would bring she was reluctant to try it. Lighting up her horn worked fine and so did channelling her magic into a levitation spell, there were strange sensations and a disconcertingly unnatural lack of interference but it worked. But in the end, she failed since the Centurions moved with her to keep Discord the focus of their magic. Losing hope she turned to tell Belladonna to call off her guards and force the issue if necessary. Turning she saw Rainbow trying to tackle three centurions into submission simultaneously. Pin-balling between them wasn't working as even with her speed and power the armoured beings didn't so much as acknowledge her existence. Behind her was Belladonna, Leccy, and Lady Kunai Huddled around a prone Michelle blankly blinking at the heavens. Twilight's protest died in her throat as images of a mangled white Earth Pony bleeding out on the cobblestone with missing limbs and exposed innards clawed its way to the forefront of her mind. She whipped her head back to her front. She would have to do this herself, they were busy taking care of their friend. Probing the field with her magic did nothing but cause a few ripples that faded to nothing almost immediately, however, this minuscule bit of excretion had the same effect as cracking her skull open and pouring molten salt into the wound. Gasping for release Twilight clutched her head and pressed her face against the cobblestone, the migraine was short-lived tho, receding in a matter of second. Opening her eyes she saw Discords eyes focus on her before scrunching closed again. ‘it worked!’ She noted movement from the centurions as they had started flapping again. Opening herself to the magic of the world again revealed there was background interference permitting the silent zone focused on Discord. Stealing her nerve Twilight lit her horn eliciting painfully reminders of her previous meddling. Twilight gathered herself, probing the magic was the equivalent of hovering her hoof over a pool to try and gauge the temperature. She gathered her magic in her horn formed a mildly volatile ball of magic above her head, and separate it from her magic causing it to destabilize above Discord releasing a pulse. Basically belly-flopping into the aforementioned pool and splashing the nearby centurions. Unaffected by the backlash thanks to separating it from her magic, Twilight had to cover her ears as the magical background magic returned all at once. After a few seconds she looked up to see discord getting to his feet, and the centurions drunkenly staggering around, with some flying into walls before falling to the ground. It didn't last tho as seconds later they were on their feet and making their way to their charges. They found themselves interrupted by the pavement springing up to entangle them. Even the delegates who were trying to get their downed comrade back to their yacht were gathered up as discord started to make another one of those destructive orbs. Twilight watched the disoriented white Earth Pony tumble head over hoof through the air, her stomach clenched and twisted as the image of an eviscerated pony organs exposed and spewing blood stared into her soul with unfocused eyes-wide-open-watching-her-breath.

Her body moved before even gathered the will to stop him. Twilight wasn't nearly fast enough. It started forming again that terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-magic-it-was-back-again-to-kill-everypony-

Something white flashed in front of Twilight. Lady Kunai was in-front of her. She was hovering serenely in the air. One delicate foot was pointing down toward the ground. Her other foot was viciously buried in Discord’s gut, and the rest of his body folded around it.